To Be a Time Lord

Chapter 24 - The God Complex

The God Complex, part 2 -

They set up around the spa to trap the false god as Howie's words reverberated through the hotel, "Bring me death! Bring me glory! My master, my lord, I'm here! Come to me. I'm waiting here for you. He has promised me a glorious death. Give it to me now. I want him to know my devotion. Praise him. Praise him!"

The heavy footsteps made their way through the corridors, towards the spa that was flanked by Amy, Rita, the Oracle and Rory, and held the Doctor inside.

"Rory, he's in", Amy called out.

They jammed the doors with a mop and a baton of wood and the Doctor turned off the lights inside the spa.

"Let his name be the last thing I hear. Let his breath on my skin be the last thing I feel. I was lost in shadows, but he found me", Howie's words were still heard inside the spa even though they had tied him to a chair in the reception area where he mused his worship, "His love was a beacon that led me from darkness to light, and now I am blinded by his majesty. Humbled by his glory! Praise him!"

In reality Howie was speaking into the sonic screwdriver that was attached to the speakers to reverberate his words into the spa. Now that the monster was trapped the Doctor pulled the cord that kept the system going, "That's quite enough of that."

"Nothing personal. I just think we should take things slowly. Get to know each other. You take people's most primal fears and pop it in a room. A tailor-made hell, just for them. Why?", the Doctor started.

The creature just growled in response.

"Did you say they take? Ah, what is that word? The guard? No, the warden? This is a prison", he concluded from his translation of the growls.

"So what are we, cell mates? Lunch? We are not-", it growled again, "-ripe. This is what Joe said, that we weren't ready. So, what, what, you make us ready. You what? Replace? Replace what, fear? You have lived so long even your name is lost. You want this to stop. Because you are just instinct", the Doctor translated, "Then tell me. Tell me how to fight you."

"My master, my lord", Howie's voice interrupted, "I'm here!"

"That's Howie", Rory told the Oracle where they flanked one of the doors.

"He's got out", she realised with wide eyes.

"Oh, bring me death", Howie called from the staircase.

"We shouldn't have left him with Gibbis", she rolled her eyes.

"No, no, no, no, no! Oracle, Rory watch out", the Doctor called and shortly after the minotaur-creature broke through the glass door, "Stay back!"

The minotaur knocked Rory down on its way out and headed off to find Howie. The Oracle crouched down, "Dad, are you okay?"

"Where'd he go?", the Doctor jumped through the door.

"Somebody hit me", Rory muttered, "Was it Amy?"

The Time Lords laughed for a moment before the Doctor dashed after the minotaur to find both it and Howie.

"Rory, are you all right?", Rita asked as she and Amy came out of the spa as well.

"We should find the Doctor", Amy stepped over him.

"Trust me with medicine now?", the Oracle asked Rory and picked something out of her inside pocket.

"It's not the red bottle of stuff I don't want to know, is it?", he asked.

"Oh", she lowered the red bottle, "Er, I don't have something better."

Rita went after Amy with concern as the Oracle took a proper look at Rory to know how to treat him.