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The first thing the Doctor noticed was his head hurting. Then his arms, legs, his chest. Generally all of him was aching terribly. He opened his eyes to find a huge mass of wire and rubble lying on top of his torso. Ah, that made a lot of sense. He was fine, perhaps a cracked rib but nothing that would put a damper on his day and he moved to try and get out from underneath the pile of debris.
"Crack it open." He heard someone command in a low voice and he froze his movements. Best not make his presence known until he was certain he wasn't in danger. The rubble on top of him shifted as someone climbed on it, and then the sound of something being hit rather forcefully rang through the air, moving the rubble even more. The person grunted with each loud bang. He looked up through the wires and spotted the brightest blue in the universe. They were trying to break into the TARDIS. He would have been offended if he didn't know that they had no chance of getting past them doors.
They tried what sounded like a laser next, the sound of the disturbance making it to him even though he was currently being slightly crushed. Again it didn't have any effect, as he could have told them, but he had to admire their determination. At least Danni would have been safe inside. Chances are she wouldn't even have noticed something was wrong, so that was fine. In fact, what a great thing for him to play up later; terrifying crashes, a dashing hero coming and saving the day. As soon as he was free, he would fly them away and tell her about the danger he was in and how he got free.
"It's doing nothing." Another voice reply, sounding amazed and he had to smile. This one was still male, but different from the one who'd issued the command to break into his TARDIS. He tried to assess his situation and decided it would be rather easy to get out of the pickle he'd found himself in once the coast was clear, so he focused on why he was there in the first place. He'd crashed, obviously, but there was something he was missing. Something almost as important as his wife, but not quite.
"Use the thermo-charge and blast it." The Doctor would have shook his head if he didn't think it might have brought attention to himself. Now that was a bad idea, but then someone was running across the metal floor and he didn't have to make himself known to stop it.
"No! No! No! Wait..." A third voice cried and the rubble shifted another time, "It's like she's alive." Their voice broke, sounding very mechanical. The sure sign of a cheap synthetic voice box, "She's...she's suffering. I can feel it. I can feel it." Their voice rippled again as he became more emotional, making him sound strangely human underneath the computerised sound. What was the Doctor missing? He must have hit his head harder than he thought.
"That's just robot-rant." One of them dismissed with a scoff.
"No, Gregor, he's right. Looks like there's a broken fuel line." The third protested.
"All right. All right, put it back." He relaxed ever so slightly in relief. A laser was one thing, but a thermo-charge might actually do some damage. Not loads, but some, "No salvage today, boys. Open the bay doors." Ah, scavengers. That would explain the Magnetic hobble-field they'd been pulled into. Of course, that's what he got for letting anyone but himself fly the TARDIS. At least everyone else would be safe inside that-
Hang on, broken fuel line?
"Wait!" The man with the mechanical voice cried, "Somebody's under that thing. The crew were still on board when we dragged her in." Ah, they'd noticed him. That's a shame, but it would stop them throwing him out into space without being inside the TARDIS. Now he just had to get back in his wondrous ship, fix her up and get them all out of there.
The sound of them leaving him alone provided the perfect opportunity, so he quickly untangled himself. A quick look at the TARDIS showed him that more damage had been done to his machine than he first thought, and he wasn't sure he could get her into a flying condition before they'd noticed he'd moved. They seemed pretty harmless, just three men, one he suspected of being an android, but he knew that appearances were deceptive. He needed to be able to get into the TARDIS, check the damage, check on his wife and get them all out of there. He glanced back at them, analysing them as quick as he could; he needed them on side if he had any chance of being able to get into the TARDIS and not have them chase him, and at the same time he had to keep Danni safe. He could play up the 'mad man in a blue box' persona he'd perfected over the years. Show he wasn't a threat to them, and they should let him go on his way, all the while keeping quiet about his wife unless it was absolutely necessary.
"And you, make sure you keep your oily-mouth shut." One of them barked at who appeared to be the youngest one. That seemed a bit mean, but he didn't dwell on it too much. There was still something he was missing, and he couldn't put his finger on it.
He clapped his hands on the shoulders of the two taller men, leaning in between them, "It's rude to whisper." He whispered cheekily and they all jumped as he walked around to stand in front of them, "Hi. I'm the Doctor." He leant in, shaking on of the man's hand, "And you are...?" He noticed a name badge on the man's arm and dipped his head to read it, "Van Baalen and..." He turned to the other, leaning in as he spotted something in his pocket that looked very intriguing. Keeping him focused on shaking his hand, the Doctor snatched out the small metal device and held it behind his back, "Van Baalen." He looked between the two, "Van Baalen and Van Baalen. That's going to get confusing later."
"We found you drifting." The shorter of the two men started quietly, trying to stick to their plan of blaming the state of his ship on something else that wasn't them. If he hadn't meant to damage the TARDIS, they probably weren't a threat.
"Your ship was junked-up pretty bad." The taller one added. The Doctor leant in closer.
"What broke my ship was a magno-grab." He whispered with a grin before pulling the device out from behind his back, a metal device with red lights around the top, "Found this remote in your pocket. Eh?" He walked past them, towards the TARDIS as he tossed it once in his hand. The fact that they'd put his wife in danger was starting to override all of his other thoughts, and was probably the reason he couldn't think of what he was missing, "What are the chances? Outlawed in most galaxies. This little beastie can disable whole vessels," He growled, turning around, trying to calm himself down. Getting angry wouldn't get him anywhere, "unless you have shield oscillators," He slapped himself on the forehead; he really was an idiot, "which I turned off so that Clara could fly..." He tossed the remote back and forth between his hands, "Damn it!" He was never going to hear the end of this. Even if Danni hadn't noticed, Clara was bound to tell her.
"Clara!" He cried in realisation, his brain finally catching up to what he was missing. His companion wasn't on the floor of the large room with him, so where was she? "Where is she? Girl." He spun around on the spot, trying to spot any sign of her at all, "About so high." He motioned with his hand the approximate height of their companion, "Feisty." The look on their faces just confirmed they had no idea what he was talking about. He turned back to look at the TARDIS, which looked worse than she did just a couple of moments ago, "She's still on board!" They were both on board. Possibly hurt, possibly dying for all he knew. How was he supposed to find both of them and fix the TARDIS before something disastrous happened?
He dashed forward, deciding to work all that out once he'd found his wife. She had to be safe, he'd promised she'd always be safe. He'd only been trying to show off to her and he'd put her in danger.
"No, wait," the android cried, grabbing him by the arm and stopping him in his tracks. He stepped between the Doctor and the TARDIS, "your pod is leaking fuel. If she's still in there, she's dead." He broke to the strange man as gently as he could. The Doctor shook his head once; he wasn't talking about Danni, but it was all he could think about. Danni choking on the noxious fumes that came from a leaking fuel pipe. Danni crying because she was scared and he wasn't there to find her and make it okay. He turned back to look at the two men stood in front of lockers filled with equipment he knew he would need. They were going to help him. They were going to find them both, and if they didn't find his wife, he was going to make them pay.
~0~0~0~
Danni sighed in angry exasperation as the door opened, the Doctor dipping his head in to see if she was there. It wasn't so much the fact that he'd managed to find her in the kitchen, but rather his immediate decision that she wasn't capable of carrying a plate and a packet of crisps on her own. Ever since they'd gotten back from Jack's a good few months ago he'd been going out of his way to make her feel safe and loved. It was sweet for the most part, and the fact that he really was trying to make up his mistake made her hearts sing, but it was becoming increasingly more annoying as time went on. He kept asking her again and again if she was alright, which of course she wasn't but being reminded of it constantly was just making her feel worse. She could carry a sandwich, and last time she checked she was more than capable of finding a book in the library. She wasn't made of glass!
She narrowed his eyes at him, "Give me back my sandwich." She told him firmly and, to his credit, he did. He did everything she asked, actually, and immediately if it was possible. Another thing he'd stop doing was arguing with her even if it was playfully. She'd gotten past the screaming at him stage a while ago but she was starting to wonder if she really wanted to be cooped up in the TARDIS all day. As much as she loved that he seemed to be doing his best to keep his promise of telling her everything and trying to mend what had been broken between them, she craved normality more than ever and him acting like this wasn't normal at all.
She sat at the table and he immediately sat in the chair next to her, trying to act like he hadn't been rushing around the TARDIS trying to find her. He could have looked for her on the console, he knew that and he would have known in seconds where she was, but he was trying to not invade her privacy, even when she wouldn't have known. She was still so distant from him, but it was slowly getting back to how it used to be.
"I thought you were going to pick up Clara?" Danni asked him, taking a bite of her sandwich and shifting her chair so she was sat closer to him. He was annoying, but he looked so anxious and she didn't want that either.
"Oh, I am, I am." He replied, "I just wanted to make sure you didn't want to come with us after all." He put his arm out, resting it on the back of her chair before snatching it back again, unsure on whether or not she'd want it there. She did, but she also didn't want to tell him that. She really needed to get her head together, and she'd barely had time to think over anything since getting back on the TARDIS. A day out with Clara could, at least, give her some time to herself to gather herself and maybe even get them both out of the limbo their marriage had fallen into.
"Honestly, I think she'll be sick of me. You can spend one day without me, you'll be fine." She promised him, "She'll be waiting for you, Spaceman." He nodded as he hopped out of the chair, happy with her response if not happy with her decision. He hovered for a moment, then dipped his head and placed a kiss on her cheek.
"You know how to get me, Danni-Girl." He reminded, "But I won't be long." She nodded.
"I know." She replied, "Love you." He beamed at her, echoing the sentiments and she couldn't help smiling as she watched him bound out of the room. Honestly, it was so hard to stay mad at him all the time that when she did remember, her mood changed so completely no wonder he was confused.
She sighed, turning back to the sandwich and taking a bite. Every day her anger lessened, and now it felt like this background feeling that, for the most part, she was able to ignore. She didn't want to ignore it, though. She wanted to deal with it, move on from it, and soon. They'd only just managed to get back on track, and she missed her husband.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor's plan was a simple one; have an absolutely fantastic time with Clara. Just enough that he had something to brag about when he got back and to tempt her to come on the next trip, but not enough for her to think he preferred it when she wasn't there. His brain went over the million and one places that he could think of to take her, then he had an genius of an idea. He was incredibly impressive, there was no way anyone could deny that, but then again he was always impressive. He needed something more than his extraordinariness. Perhaps, just perhaps, Clara could be the one to draw her onto an adventure, rather than himself. He could teach her some basic TARDIS moves, get her to be able to pilot to a set destination and she could show it off to Danni. She'd be incredibly impressed by it, after all when he'd tried showing over companions she had always seemed so pleased when they'd grasped something, and she'd probably want to go on the adventure with them.
It was a genius of a plan, anyone could see that. Anyone, that was, except Clara Oswald.
"You're not getting me to talk to your ship. That's properly bonkers." She declared as she circled the console. It was one thing to have her try and pilot it, quite another to become friends with it. She'd seen both Time Lords try and talk to the machine, she'd assumed it was some alien thing. An alien thing she was not participating in.
The Doctor looked rather offended, another point to say that his relationship with the machine was a bit too much, "It's OK, it's OK." He murmured, stroking the top of the console as they walked around and around it. She groaned slightly, it was kind of gross.
"You're like one of those guys who can't go out with a girl unless his mother approves." She told him with a wrinkle of her nose.
"It's important to Danni you get along." He chucked back, knowing that like himself, Clara would be more persuaded if Danni was involved. Plus it wasn't exactly a lie. Danni had mentioned on more than one occasion that she really didn't like Clara calling the TARDIS an 'it' and not a 'she'. If he could convince Clara that the TARDIS really was alive, Danni would love that as well, "I could leave you alone together." He suggested and Clara turned back to him, arms crossed over her chest.
"Now you're creeping me out." She told him bluntly, but he wasn't going to be deterred. Clara was a bright, young girl, and there was no way she could be as bad a driver as Danni was.
"Take the wheel..." He told her, before shaking his head and walking over to a different part of the TARDIS where it made more sense for her to start out at, "not the wheel." He corrected, "I'll make it easy - shut it down to basic mode for you." He began changing settings, spinning cranks and switching switches as Clara leant on the console next to him.
"Basic! 'Cos I'm a girl?" She challenged and he shook his head, this time being the one to look mildly offended.
"No." He replied before smirking to himself slightly. Because she was a human girl, obviously. He quickly wiped it off as she looked up at him and, certain he'd gotten away with it, he turned a key he'd embedded in the console for this very situation. He knew that this was going to work, and Danni would be with them in no time.
~0~0~0~
That had been his greatest mistake, his certainty over the endeavour. If he'd allowed himself even a tiny waiver in his belief that everything was going to go smoothly, then it would have. Even as they all stepped into the console room, the three men stunned by the way the TARDIS was upright inside even though she was on her side outside, he could tell that this was so much more serious than he'd first expected. While the two men and one android - although, since when does an android need a blast suit and a respirator - were memorised by the TARDIS's size, he noticed two things. One, Clara was nowhere to be seen, but he had been expecting that, and two: finding Danni really was going to be harder than he'd first thought. He had hoped that she'd have made her way to the console room to wait for him to return, but not only was she not there, she wouldn't have been able to breathe with the fumes that filled the air. True, the fumes in the air were barely anything at all, a flick of a switch and the vents took care of that, but she had never been good with the console and would have just ended up choking.
The console room was in such a state of disarray; wires and pieces of console were strewn everywhere, the lights dulled down to the emergency read ones and the blue from the time rotor. There was no way this wasn't being echoed in every other part of the ship, Danni would have noticed, and if she'd noticed, she would have headed this way. Which meant that Danni might have been hurt, but he couldn't dwell on that just yet. They'd find Danni, then Clara, then he'd deal with the consequences. Danni was his priory, anything and everything else came second.
"Safe to breathe." He declared, letting them all know that they could take off the respirators they'd put on before entering the damaged ship. He quickly pulled out his screwdriver, heading towards the entry into the TARDIS hallway. He quickly scanned the area, "OK. Now. The last thing I remember, you were right here." He lied, reading the results. Nope, no sign of either of them, "Come on, Clara, talk to me."
"How big is this baby?" One of the men, who the Doctor had found out was called Bram, asked as he walked back, scanning another area. The TARDIS was interfering with everything he was searching for as she cried out in pain. He couldn't get a lock on his wife or their friend.
"Picture the biggest ship you've ever seen. Are you picturing it?" He asked. Come on, Danni, just one sign. That was all he needed.
"Yeah." Bram replied, already impressed. The Doctor slammed the screwdriver against his palm a couple of times, before giving up and heading towards the console. He had hoped it would be easy, but nothing ever was.
"Good. Now forget it. This ship is infinite." He snapped, setting up everything he'd need to find her. A quick flick here, a turn there and the three men were under his control.
"It could take you hours to find the girl." The leader, Gregor, pointed out.
"Days!" The Doctor replied harshly, moving to the monitor, but no luck. Any power that had been going to the screen had been long since diverted, "Plus the whole place is toxic. She could be dead by the time I reach her." He flicked another switch, "So. Here's the mission. We're going to find her in one hour."
"We?" Gregor asked.
"You're my guys for this." The Doctor told him, not leaving any room for mistake in the tone of his voice. He was not about to let them get away with what they'd done to his home, to his family.
"That wasn't the deal." He insisted and the Doctor stormed forward, towering over the slightly shorter man.
"It became the deal the moment you attacked my ship with my wife inside!" He shouted, stunning them all with the change in demeanour. He glared at them all, panting slightly from the anger pouring through him. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, letting the anger turn into a strong determination to do whatever it took. He shot them an almost twisted smile, like he hadn't been expecting to shout at them. He reached out to the side, flipping a switch and the sound of a countdown rang through the air. Behind him the door slammed shut, trapping them inside.
"I just activated the TARDIS self-destruct system. One hour until this ship blows." He told them lowly. The other three glanced at each other, obviously alarmed. Bram ran to the doors, banging on them to try and get out, "You will help me find my wife, and Clara, and then I will open the doors."
"Wait, there's more than one?" Gregor exclaimed and the Doctor nodded, becoming rather frustrated by their lack of understand over the situation, although he had been the one to keep them in the dark. Every moment spent explaining to them was another moment she wasn't by his side.
"Yes, there's more than one." He snapped, "59 minutes now, and you're still stood here talking."
"You crazy lunatic!" Bram cried and the Doctor turned, eyes blazing with the anger he felt at the mere sight of the men.
"My ship, my rules!" He shouted back in reply.
"You'll kill us all. And your wife." Gregor pointed out, trying to stay calm and talk their way out of strange box.
"She's going to die if you don't help me." He replied, "And if she dies, so do you." The other two joined Bram at the door, trying to get out but he just watched them coolly as they are away. They weren't getting out, he wasn't going to let them, "Don't get into a spaceship with a madman." He taunted, "Didn't anyone ever teach you that?" They all began banging on the door, rattling the handles even though there was no one there to help them. He tutted lightly, some people just didn't learn, did they?
"OK. A little gentle persuasion." He stated loudly, flicking a line of switches then pressing a lovely big button, "Say 30 minutes."
"She'll die even quicker now!" Bram exclaimed, completely panicking at this point.
"And you'll die with her!" The threatened back, "When it comes to my wife, gentlemen, nothing will stop me. Do you understand?" There was no reply, Bram looking towards his younger brother for help, but none of them knew what to do. The man in front of them stood calm and collected, like he wasn't talking about blowing them all up into dust at all. He looked so set on their fate that they all knew he wasn't kidding.
The Doctor smiled wickedly at them as none of them answered, "Anybody want to go for 15 minutes?" He reached behind him, ready to push the button and cut the countdown again.
"Whoa!" They all ran towards him, hands out in surrender, trying to stop him before he did anything stupid. He lifted his hand away, glad he hadn't had to press it a second time. They all looked terrified; good, they should be. They were in danger, not from the dying ship around them, but from him.
"It's your own time you're wasting." He reminded them, "Salvage of a lifetime. You meant the ship. I meant my wife."
~0~0~0~
Danni groaned, rolling over onto her back as she came to. Her head was pounding, her arm was burning and the kitchen looked just as well off as she felt. She reached out to her side, feeling for her glasses, fortunately finding them very quickly. She sat up, putting them on and she grumbled at the crack down the left lens. It didn't do too much to impair her vision, but that would seriously get annoying after a while. She looked around, actually surprised by the level of destruction around her. Cupboards were hanging off the wall, some of the doors strewn around her. The table was upside down next to her, thankfully not on top of her, and she was sure she was lying in a pile of broken plates. She gingerly stood up again, taking care not to push too hard down on the debris and turned to her arm, which was still burning painfully. She'd been making a cup of tea when they'd crashed and now her whole forearm was bright red from the scold. Excellent, fine start to the day.
"Spaceman, what did you do?" She murmured, quite surprised. She'd never seen the TARDIS is such a state, really. Even after he'd regenerated into Eleven and had blown the console room apart, the TARDIS had been in quite good shape. Except for the occasional upside down room. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the kitchen.
She gingerly headed to the corridor, sticking her head out and gasping slightly at the sight. The lights were completely gone, a shine from the red emergency lighting was all she had to see with. Panels on the walls had opened up, there were beams off the ceiling lying on the floor just up the corridor from her.
"Doctor?" She called out, wondering if the TARDIS would even be able to reroute her voice in the condition she was in, "Oh, sweetie." She ran her hand across the wall, taking some soot off one of the darker spots as she did. Something must have gone really wrong for such destruction to have happened so deep in the TARDIS. Her immediate thought was of her husband, hoping he was okay. She slowly headed down the hallway, stepping around the wreck and ruins as she reached into her pocket. The Doctor always carried his mobile phone on his, especially when they were apart so she would always have a way to contact him.
Of course, that relied on her phone being in a working condition, which when she pulled out only the top half of it proved that wasn't exactly the case. She cursed as she chucked the two pieces on the floor, well, that wasn't going to happen.
Something creaked behind her and she spun around, taking sharp inhale of breath in fright as she did. Down in the eerily lit corridor she could see a few wires swinging in a breeze that wasn't there, but no sight of anyone of anything.
"Doctor?" She called again, her voice shaking slightly. It was amazing how very big the TARDIS could suddenly seem when she was lost in it. The darkness didn't help, nor did the fact she couldn't just call the Doctor for reassurance.
She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. What did she think was going to happen to her, exactly? The TARDIS was the safest place in the universe, that's why the Doctor was always content to leave her behind. Even if anything got through the doors, the TARDIS wouldn't let anything harm her. She was perfectly fine.
Something else crashed behind her and she picked up her pace as she headed for the console room. All she needed was to get there, and she'd be fine. That's why she was rushing, obviously. Nothing was chasing her, she was trying to get to the console to use it to ring the Doctor. That was it, nothing more. He could get back and heal her arm, which didn't look like it had suffered too much damage, just enough to have her hold it out to her side just in case it brushed against her side and stung to high heaven once again.
She turned round one of the many corners in the TARDIS, almost completely believing the lie she'd told herself when she saw them. Two dark figures, completely covered in what seemed to be dry, deep black skin. It was cracked painfully, deep red glowing from the inside. They appeared to be joined at what she would have called their hands, but appeared to make them become one creature.
They both turned at the sound of her skidding to a halt, growling wildly with blood red eyes. She screamed, turning and running down the hallway as they followed her, the hallway now a completely different layout to what she'd just been in. She dived into the first door she came across, straight into the study which was in the same state as the rest of the ship. She barely took any notice, diving under the large, dark wood ornate desk that was still standing, pulling her knees up against her chest as she waited. And waited. And waited.
It slowly became apparent that whatever the hell they had been, they had decided not to follow her into the room. Her hearts raced and she squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to bring them back down with steady, short breaths. Oh, this wasn't good, wasn't good at all. What was he keeping in the TARDIS? How had she not come across them before? Was he keeping more secrets from her yet again?
No, he wouldn't have kept anything in there that would harm her. She was certain in that, so they had to have been what had caused the damage in the first place. All she had to do was keep alive until she found the Doctor, and she would be fine. She could do that, of course she could do that. She wasn't completely useless, she was part Time Lord. She was the Time Child. Okay, that title didn't seem to mean much, but it was something, right?
Something rolled off the desk and she screamed again, slamming her lips shut as she spotted the large, thick pen that landed near her feet. Scared by stationary-what a great start.
She picked it up, popping the lid off to see the dark red tip of a marker. She slowly popped it back on again, giving it a couple of taps while she frowned in thought. She could use this.
She scrambled up, brushing herself down as she headed to the door. She needed to get to the console room.
~0~0~0~
They'd only just begun their trek into the TARDIS, the three men following the Doctor when the scream had rung out, echoing in the halls. A female scream that had the Doctor's lips turn up into what could only be described as a snarl. That was Danni, that was his wife, scared and screaming and he almost turned on the men there and then, a million ways he could make them just as frightened running through his head.
But as he turned, he spotted it on the wall. Something scrawled, barely visible on the metal and he walked up to it. He ran a finger across the writing, a smile of relief tinted with pride spreading on his face.
T - console room. Find me, D x
And underneath it, an arrow pointing the way he was heading. He chuckled, shaking his head, "Oh, you clever thing." He whispered, "Good girl." He turned to the men, "She's this way. Do keep up."