Halfway Out Of The Dark || The Doctor

Dalek

"No, it just looks silly." the Doctor snorted and held his hand out for the object. The soldiers all promptly raised their guns at him but the balding man held a hand up to stop them and handed the Doctor the object. "You just need to be..." The Doctor gently ran his fingers over the object and it played a soft note, rather like a harmonica. "...delicate."

The Humans all looked suitably impressed. "It's a musical instrument." the balding man observed.

"And it's a long way from home." the Doctor said, then offered the instrument to the Artist. "Want a go?" he offered.

"Why not?" the Time Lady shrugged, "Haven't seen one of them in years." She took the instrument and ran her fingers over it, playing more soft notes.

"Here, let me." the balding man said, snatching the instrument from the Artist and running his fingers over it, causing it to make harsh bleeping noises.

"He did say delicate." the Artist advised, "It reacts to the smallest fingerprint, so it needs precision."

The balding man touched the object more gently and softer notes played.

"Very good." the Doctor commented, "Quite the expert."

"As are you two." the man said, tossing the instrument aside, "Who exactly are you?"

"I'm the Doctor." the Time Lord replied, giving the man a disdainful look over his careless disregard for the valuable instrument, "And who are you?"

"Like you don't know." the man scoffed, "We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in world and you just stumbled in by mistake."

"Pretty much sums us up, yeah." the Doctor said simply.

"The question is, how did you get in?" the man asked coolly, "53 floors down. With ya little cat burglar accomplices." He looked at the Artist and Rose with leering eyes. "Quite a collector yourself, they're rather pretty."

"You are gonna get a smack if ya keep looking at us like that." Rose threatened.

The man seemed amused at the threat. "This one's English too!" he laughed, and turned to the Englishman. "Hey little Lord Fauntleroy, got ya a girlfriend."

The Englishman just rolled his eyes. "This is Mr Henry Van Statten." he said.

"And who's he when he's at home?" Rose asked, unimpressed.

"Mr Van Statten owns the internet."

"Don't be stupid, no one owns the internet." Rose scoffed.

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that, right kid?" Van Statten smirked, then turned to the Artist. "And what about you, gorgeous? You English too?"

"That's none of your business." the Time Lady replied coolly.

The Doctor wasn't amused by Van Statten either. "So yer an expert on just about anything except the things in yer museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up."

"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten challenged.

"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am." the Doctor said flippantly.

"Modest as ever." the Artist commented dryly.

"And yet, I captured you." Van Statten said to the Doctor, "Right next to the Cage. What were you doing there?"

"You tell me." the Doctor challenged.

"The Cage contains my one living specimen."

"And what's that?"