𝔖𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔞𝔯𝔶 𝔅𝔞𝔰𝔢 𝔖𝔦𝔵, 𝔎𝔯𝔬𝔭 𝔗𝔬𝔯
𝔜𝔢𝔞𝔯 4221
The Ood were closing in on them, their beady eyes piercing into EJ as his hands hit against the yellow door. They were becoming red and raw, bleeding from the bone, as he begged for the system to let them through. It was yet to work.
Mr Jefferson was protecting them as best he could with his singular gun, the female guard at his side. EJ momentarily felt bad that he didn't know her name, but that went away as soon as he began to bang his knuckles against the doors again. The pain overrode everything.
Jefferson screamed. "Open fire!" And the woman complied.
Their bullets came in rounds, fast and hard, letting the Ood take the bulk of the damage. The shells fell discarded. For now, in that room, they were safe. Matters only became better when they heard Zack on the comms.
"We're stabilising." He sounded just as relieved as the rest of us were. "We've got orbit."
Rose wasted no time, because when the Ood were knocked down completely, and there was no chance left that they could stand, she ran back to the communicator, leaving EJ by the door. He was half offended, but he knew that the Doctor was at the forefront of her mind. He was at the front of EJ's too. How could he not be?
"Doctor?" She took it in her hand, and she called out again. "Doctor can you hear me? Doctor, Ida, are you there?"
As EJ stepped towards her, the door opened, and the guns cocked. He turned around to see Danny with his hands up. "It's me! But they're coming... it's the Ood. They've gone mad."
"How many of them?" Mr Jefferson asked as the door closed.
"All of them. All fifty."
"Danny, out of the way." He commanded, pushing the boy aside. "Our of the way!"
"But they're armed!" He tried to warn them. "It's the interface device. I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon."
The door opened without them even doing anything, which meant the Ood had more control over the base than they did. The interface was a sphere, the ones that had been attached to their grey shirts, and glowed brightly. As soon as they became known, one of the spheres leapt forwards to grip the young guards head.
Her screams were bloodcurdling, electricity spanning over her skin, until she dropped down dead. Another to add to the talley. Jefferson shot at them in response, having nothing else to protect them with.
All of the noise forced EJ to tune out, and he became acutely aware of Toby. He was sat all by himself, out of the way, untouched by everything and everyone. However, he didn't yet go to him. He would, eventually, but only when they were safe, and away from the Ood. Or, at least they would have a plan.
"Jefferson, what's happening there?" Zack asked, clearly hating that he was being kept in the dark.
"I've got very little ammunition left, sir. How about you?"
"All I've got is a bolt gun." Zack groaned. "With all of one bolt. I could take out a grand total of one Ood, fat lot of good that is!"
"Given the emergency," Mr Jefferson stalled a moment. "I'd recommend... Strategy Nine."
"Strategy Nine, agreed. Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose? What about Ida and the Doctor, any word?"
"I can't get a reply." Rose tapped her foot, anxiously. "Just... nothing. I keep trying, but it's..."
"No, sorry, I'm fine, still here!"
The Doctor's voice was enough for EJ to start breathing normally again. He was so terrified that they'd lost him. "Jesus bloody Christ."
"Oh, you could've said, you stupid..."
The feedback whined, aching their ears, as the Doctor complained. "Whoa. Careful. Anyway! It's both of us, me and Ida, hello! But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this... chasm."
Zack asked. "How deep is it?"
"Can't tell." He hummed. "Looks like it goes down forever."
"The Pit is open." Rose relayed. "That's what the voice said."
"But there's nothing... I mean, there's nothing coming out?" Zack was flabbergasted.
"No," The Doctor sounded amused. "No sign of the Beast."
"It said Satan." The Tyler girl looked down.
"Seriously." EJ scrunched his nose, and shook his head. "You don't believe that do you?"
"Come on, Rose." The Doctor said, attempting to keep the mood up. "Keep it together."
"Is there no such thing?" Her query was met with silence. "Doctor. Doctor, tell me there's no such thing."
"Ida." Zack interrupted. "I recommend you withdraw, immediately."
"But we've come all this way...!"
His tone changed, swiftly. "Okay, that was an order. Withdraw! When that thing opened, the whole planet shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole. This thing stops, right now."
Ida still didn't want to leave, and her reluctance was concerning. "But it's not much better up there, with the Ood."
"I'm initiating Strategy Nine. So, I need the two of you back up too, immediately, no arg... Ida. Ida?"
They hadn't lost connection with her at all, she'd just turned them off. Presumably, Ida and the Doctor were talking through their options. It gave EJ the chance to ask the question that had been burning on his mind.
"What's Strategy Nine, then?" He leant against one of the metal gratings. "Cos everyone's talking about it, and I've got no clue."
"All the Ood get thrown out of the airlock." Danny sighed. "We're safe, in a lockdown."
"Mate, you're meant to be on the ethics committee." EJ deadpanned, staring at him, and his blank expression. "Don't you have a problem with that?"
"If it's between us and them, I'd choose us."
This could have been an argument which lasted a lifetime, because EJ wasn't willing to step down, but the comms static started again, and they knew that the Doctor and Ida were back with them. "EJ, Rose, we're coming back."
She sighed in complete relief. "Best news I've heard all day."
"We'll be here waiting, Doctor." EJ snatched the communicator. "Don't be long."
That was when Jefferson cocked his gun. If EJ hadn't wanted to speak to the Doctor, he would have noticed that the barrel was being pointed directly at Tony's head much sooner. The man was on the floor, unable to look him in the eyes. His fe at was more real than anything else.
Rose hurtled towards them, EJ following in her stead. "What are you doing?"
"He's infected." Jefferson spat. "He brought that thing onboard. You saw it."
"Are you gonna start shooting your own people now, is that what you're going to do?" She raised her eyebrows, skeptically, pushing him as far as he could go. "Is it?"
"If necessary."
"Well, then, you'll have to shoot me. If necessary. So what's it gonna be?" Jefferson pulled the gun back reluctantly, and Rose crouched down beside Toby. "Look at his face. Whatever it was, it's gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean."
Whilst it was good enough for now, he still returned a remark. "Any sign of trouble, I'll shoot him."
EJ crouched down on Tony's other side, and noticed how heavily his hands were quivering. "You're shaking."
"You alright?" Rose followed up.
"Yeah." He whispered, before pausing. "Um... Dunno."
"Can you remember anything?" She asked, but it was most likely a long shot.
"Just... it was so angry. It was fury, and rage, and... death. It was him. It was the Devil."
Toby was so out of it, and Rose couldn't help but hug him tightly. She even pulled EJ in, more because he was taller than her. It often made people feel more secure in risky and threatening situations. He was yet to decide if he just get crowded, or if it was working.
"Okay, we're in." Ida sighed. "Bring us up."
Mr Jefferson had gone back to the machine, and was flicking buttons left, right and centre. "Ascension in three... two... one..."
Before they could begin to move, there was darkness. Every light turned into pitch black, and their senses were numbed. They were left, waiting for something to happen, and then they heard it. The voice came back, but not alone. The screens turned on, revealing the Ood waiting patiently for them.
"This is the darkness. This is my domain. You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns, which die, in the end..."
"That's not the Ood." Zack warned them; but they already knew. "Something is talking through them."
"Only the darkness remains."
"This is Captain Zackary Cross Flane, of Sanctuary Base 6, representing the Torchwood Archive. You will identify yourself."
EJ nudged Rose's side. "Torchwood?" She just shrugged in response. It probably wasn't the time.
It growled, tauntingly. "You know my name."
Zack refused to give into it, that which EJ could easily admire. "What do you want?"
"You will die here. All of you. This planet is your grave."
"It's him." Toby began to rock himself in the corner, speaking over and over again. "It's him. It's him."
"If you are the Beast, then answer me this. Which one?" They had to be grateful the Doctor had so much to say. "Mmh? Cos the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Arkiphets, Quoldonity, Christianity, Pash-Pash, New Judaism, San Claar, the Church of the Tin Vagabond... which Devil are you?"
It didn't falter. "All of them."
"What, then, you're the truth behind the myth?"
"This one knows me." If it was ever going to laugh, then this would have been when. "As I know him. The killer of his own kind."
EJ felt himself freeze as the Doctor became harsher within an instant. "How did you end up on this rock?" He shouldn't have known. How could he know?
"The Disciples of Light rose up against me, and chained me in the Pit for all eternity."
"When was this?"
"Before time."
"What does that mean?" The Doctor didn't understand.
All the Beast did was reiterate his previous point. "Before time."
"What does 'before time' mean?"
It barely paused before speaking. "Before time and light and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created."
"Thats impossible." The Doctor whispered, but they could still hear him. "No life could have existed back then."
"Is that your religion?"
When he replied, he sounded unsure. "It's a belief."
"You know nothing. All of you, so small. The Captain, so scared of command. The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife. The scientist, still running from Daddy. The little boy who lied. The virgin."
It wasn't hard to work out who was who; but that didn't mean EJ wanted to know. These were their secrets, and he knew them all. The Beast knew the Doctor too.
"The lost boy, forced to live eternal, forever falling in love, a modern day Cupid, with everyone he meets because the moment he stops will be his last."
EJ wanted to scream. That wasn't him. He wasn't lost. He wasn't eternal. He was himself. And yet, nothing came of it.
And then, it turned its attention to Rose. "And the lost girl, so far from home. The valiant child who will die in battle, so very soon."
Afraid, she opened the comms. "Doctor, what does that mean?"
"Rose, don't listen."
"What does it mean?" She reiterated, teeth gritted, so very afraid.
"You will die..." The Beast answered. "And I will live."
Suddenly, the Ood disappeared, and the image shifted into a horned skull. It was red, and burning, roaring angrily. It was falling apart, never fixing itself.
Danny cried out, terrified, jumping back. "What the hell was that?"
"I had that thing inside my head!" Toby whimpered, still shaking.
"Doctor, what did it mean?" Rose was begging for an answer; it was surprising EJ that she could even speak about it.
"What do we do?" Danny panicked. "Jefferson, Zack, what do we do?"
"Captain..." Zack began to speak, but it was all just turning into one great mush of noise. His hands covered over his ears, fingers stinging, and head aching.
Toby wiped his face with his hands. "The orbit, the planet, the black hole, everything's true."
"We've lost pictures."
"Doctor? How did it know that? What battle? What did it mean?"
It just went on and on until feedback shined through the speakers, forcing everyone to a stop. The Doctor took full advantage of it. "If you want voices in the dark, then listen to mine. It's playing on very basic fears. Darkness, childhood, nightmares, all that stuff."
"But that's how the Devil works." Danny deadpanned.
"Or a good psychologist." The Doctor offered an alternative.
Though, not everyone was onside, because Ida seemed concerned too. "How did it know about my father?"
"Okay, but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine? Cos I'll tell you what I can see. Humans. Brilliant humans. Humans who travelled all the way across space, flying in a tiny little rocket, right into the orbit of a black hole just for the sake of discovery! That's amazing! D'you hear me? Amazing! All of you. The captain. His officer. His elder. His juniors. His friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him..."
The Doctor was making perfect sense, and that was the issue. If he'd, at all, been lying, then it probably wouldn't have happened. But the cable snapped. EJ watched it happen.
"Doctor, we lost the cable!" Rose practically screamed into the comms, searching for his voice again. "Doctor, are you alright? Doctor?"
Instead, the only reply was Zack's. "Comms are down."
Still, she tried. "Doctor? Can you hear me?"
"Rose..." EJ put a hand on her shoulder, and tried to convince her. "It's not going to work."
"I've still got life signs, but... we've lost the capsule."
"Say something." Rose begged. "Are you there?"
"There's no way out." Zack said, apologetically. "They're stuck down there."
"But we've got to bring them back!"
"They're ten miles down." Mr Jefferson explained, which made her stop. "We haven't got another ten miles of cable."
There probably would have been another swift argument but they were cut off rather quickly. An electrical crackle came from the door forced them all to look in its direction. Mr Jefferson once again pushed himself between the others and the door, not that it would do much difference.
"Captain?" He said. "Situation report?"
"It's the Ood." Zack replied, nervously. "They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in."
"Yes. Same on Door 25."
"How longs it gonna take?" Rose asked; she didn't really want to know.
"Well, it's only a basic frame, should take ten minutes." Jefferson said, and then another bolt went. "Eight."
"I'm not dying here." EJ grit his teeth with a groan. "I'm not dying cos a tentacle things got a temper."
"I've got a security frame. It might last a bit longer, but that won't help you." Zack grumbled.
"Right." Rose waited a moment, and paused, before coming back to herself, no longer quiet and worried. "So! We've got to stop them, or get out, or both."
"I'll take both, yeah, but how?" Danny furrowed his brows.
"You heard the Doctor. Why d'you think that thing cut him off?" Rose sighed at their sheer lack of optimism. It wasn't something that we were used to. "Cos he was making sense. He was telling you to think your way out of this! Come on! For starters, we need some light. Zack, there's got to be some sort of power, somewhere."
"There's nothing I can do." Zack's fist hit against the console. "Some Captain! Stuck in here, pressing buttons!"
"But that's what the Doctor meant!" Rose countered. "Press the right buttons!"
"You heard the lady, Zack." EJ grinned, hoping he could be heard. "Lights!"
"They've gutted the generators... but the rockets got an independent supply. If I can reroute that... Mr Jefferson! Open the bypass conduits, override the safety."
Jefferson opened a cabinet like box and flicked a few switches. "Opening bypass conduits, sir."
"Channelling rocket feed in three, two, one. Power!"
EJ grabbed onto Rose's hand as he hoped that the light would work. He didn't like the darkness in unfamiliar places. And when it did, Rose's arms raised in utter joy as she clapped enthusiastically.
"There we go!"
Zack was laughing away in the console room. "Let there be light!"
Then, she asked something more, knowing there was more needing to be done. "What about that Strategy Nine thing?"
"Not enough power." Jefferson shut it down. "Needs 100%."
"Fat lot of good that is." EJ rolled his eyes as he looked over the room. "Did they not think about emergencies?"
"Obviously not." Rose shrugged. "Right- we need a way out. Zack, Mr Jefferson, start working on that. Toby, what about you?"
He stood defensively, turning his back. "I'm not a soldier. I can't do anything!"
"No, you're the archaeologist." She told him firmly, putting him in his place. "What do you know about the Pit?"
"Nothing. We can't even translate the language," When he realised she'd turned away, he called her back. "But... hold on, maybe..."
"What is it?"
"Spit it out." EJ egged him on.
"Since that thing was inside my head, the letters make more sense."
"Well, then, get to work. Anything you can translate, just... anything. If you need a hand, EJ can help?"
The Thompson boy's eyebrows raised as he turned to face them both, his attention piqued. "EJ will do what?"
"Just go with it." She whispered to him, walking back up to the others. "As for you, Danny boy, you're in charge of the Ood. Any way of stopping them?"
"Well..." It was almost promising. "I don't know."
"The find out." She dragged him over to the computer screen. "Sooner we get control of this base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. Now get going. Shift!"
As she leant over the shaft, looking down to where the Doctor was supposed to be, EJ leant against the railings with her. "You looked pretty fit taking charge like that."
"Yeah?" She laughed, which was good. "Nice, thanks."
"Yeah, the Doctor would be proud."
Despite being the one to bring it up, EJ felt rather disappointed. He'd been given no task, and his knowledge wasn't good enough to help where he wanted to. If the Doctor was proud of Rose, then EJ would hardly be able to look him in the eyes.
Mr Jefferson was pressing buttons whilst communicating with Zack, Toby was curled in a corner, working through a notebook, and Danny was rafting through the computer system. Rose was keeping a track of them all, and all EJ could do was watch. He felt ridiculous, in all honesty.
"Junctions 5, 6, 7..." Jefferson paused as brother bolt from the door collapsed. "Reroute filters 16 to 24. Go!"
That was still happening as well. The Ood. EJ was trying to block them out. The fact that they were still waiting for them, patiently. It was genuinely harrowing, knowing that it was likely they would never leave that space.
"There's all sorts of viruses that could solve the Ood." Danny sighed, leaning on the device as Rose and EJ listened to what he had to say. "Trouble is, we haven't got them on board."
"Brilliant." He groaned.
"Well, that's handy, listing things we haven't got." Rose grit her teeth, unamused. "We haven't got a swimming pool either, or a Tesco's."
"Oh my God!" He suddenly bellowed. "I can do it!"
"You can do what?" EJ raised an eyebrow, taken off guard slightly.
"Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy." Danny laughed. "Brainstorm!"
Rose looked at him expectantly. "What happens to the Ood?"
"It'll tank them, spark-out!"
"There we are, then! Do it!"
It wasn't as easy as that; of course, it never was, not when they were there. "No, but, I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation."
Another bolt broke, and Rose took a deep breath. "That's what we'll do then." She ran over to the Officer. "Mr Jefferson, sir, any way out?"
"Just about." He grumbled. "There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here."
There was a vague smile on her face. "Ventilation shafts."
"Very Die Hard." EJ nodded in agreement.
"I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact, at all." It sounded unsafe, and daring, wholly out of the blue. "They were designed for machines, not lifeforms."
Another bolt; EJ flinched this time. Not having the Doctor had pushed him to the edge of his nerves. It was ridiculous. He needed to recover from this. He needed to find his independence again, because not having the Doctor was draining him.
"But, I can manipulate the oxygen field from here, create discrete pockets of atmosphere." Zack offered. "If I control it manually, I can follow you right through the network."
"Right!" The blonde nodded. "So... we go down, and you make the air follow us? By hand?"
"Cos that sounds safe." EJ retorted, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.
"You wanted me pressing buttons."
"Yep, I asked for it." She sighed, taking a second. "We need to get to Ood Habitation. Work out a route."
Zack had a task to complete as Jefferson opened up the hatch in the floor. Another bolt was destroyed. There was hardly any time, and yet, Danny was still glued to the screen. He wanted to leave, but there were still things he had to do.
"Danny!" Rose called for him as they stood around the shaft.
"Hold on!" He promised that he wouldn't be a moment. "Just conforming!"
"Danny, we've got to go, now!" Jefferson pressed. "Come on!"
"There!" Finally, the machine beeped, and Danny pulled the chip from it and hung it on his neck like a piece of jewellery. "Put that into the monitor and it's a bad time to be an Ood!"
They had sort of huddled around the hole, looking down. A team talk before the main event, and Rose was in charge. "We're coming back, you got that?"
"Aye, aye, Captain." EJ saluted her, mockingly. "Ma'am, yes, Ma'am."
"We're coming back to this room to get the Doctor our."
"Okay, Danny you go first." Mr Jefferson directed them, one by one jumping in. "Then you, Miss Tyler, then Mr Thompson, then Toby. I'll go last in defensive position."
EJ was terrified, watching at the landed in the metal chute. This just felt like another way to die, but if it was their only chance, then he would have to do it. They had to save the Doctor. It was the only importance they had left.
He sighed deeply before lowering himself into the tunnel once Rose had gone, ever so slightly shaking. His hands were even sweating, lightly, where they ached, which only forced them to hurt even more.
"Now, come on!" Mr Jefferson hurried them, because there was no time. The last bolt had been broken, and there was no going back. "Quick as you can!"
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Disclaimer!!!
I do not own Doctor Who, it's characters and original storylines. The only things I do own are my own characters, my addition to the series and my own storylines. Any similarities to real life are purely coincidental.