Midnight ⋆ Doctor Who²

26. The Confession

RORY LEADS THEM TO THE ACID ROOM. Everything is happening quickly now, to the point that Aurora can't focus on herself anymore but the task at hand ; getting the hell out of here.

She'd have plenty of talking it out with the Doctor later. Or screaming in his face. Most likely the second option, going by how frustrated she is by the whole ordeal.

"We can't leave without Buzzer!" Jimmy cries out as he gets inside the room.

"I'll go back for him," Cleaves promises.

The Doctor immediately goes to the acid vat, Aurora right behind him. They have to get it in check, or they're all toast. Or gooey, if the acid gets them. Aurora really doesn't want to turn into a puddle.

"Er, Rora, look," Rory calls out, standing at the door. "I'd better tell you. I haven't been quite straight with you."

They turn around just in time to see G-Jen close the door and lock them in, Rory on the other side.

Aurora's stomach drops. "Rory!" She doesn't have any prejudices against the Gangers whatsoever, but taking Rory from them is going too far.

Aurora is the second one, after Amy, to reach the closed door. "Rory!"

"Rory Pond, Roranicus Pondicus!" the Doctor cries out when he gets to them.

"Rory, What the hell are you playing at?" Amy cries out.

He sighs and tells them through the door's window; "They've been throwing away old Flesh and leaving it to rot. Alive. I think the world should see that." That is just so Rory of him.

"Rory, there is no time," the Doctor tries. "The factory's about to explode."

They try to bang on the door, Aurora almost punching her way through it, to the point that it hurts her knuckles, trying to get to Rory.

But Amy goes mental when G-Jen and the other Doctor begin to drag Rory away. Aurora freezes when she sees the Doctor's Ganger. Why would he help? He wouldn't try to separate the four of them, and definitely not the two Ponds.

"I'm sorry!" Rory cries out one last time before being dragged.

The girls stare at each other, before immediately rushing to the Doctor. He's scanning the acid vat with the sonic screwdriver, as if nothing happened. "This is going to overheat and fill the room with acid, just as a point of interest." Oh, so this might be why he isn't that concerned about Rory. It's because they're all going to die anyway.

"And we can't stop it?" Cleaves tries.

"Just as a point of interest?" he ironises. "No."

Still, Dicken tries to lower the lid onto the vat. "It'll never hold her," Jimmy tells him.

"If you have a better plan, I'm all ears," the Doctor tells him, helping Dicken. "In fact, if you have a better plan, I'll take you to a planet where everyone is all ears."

"Now is not the time!" Aurora snaps at him, and he shuts his mouth.

The vat is sealed, for a short moment. And then it starts boiling. Cleaves steps closer, frowning. "The acid's eating through."

"Acid tends to do that yes!" Vapor comes out of it and the Doctor quickly yanks Cleaves away.

Jimmy is trying to keep the lid on the boiling vat. It keeps shaking, threatening to open.

Until it does. "Jimmy!"

He cries out in pain, but the acid directly hits his chest. Straight through the heart. No chance of surviving.