Hanger - TARDIS

[makeherblue]

[Takes place right after clone plot and arriving back on Stacy. After there]

“First sharks and now explosions!” The Doctor held up his ruined sonic screwdriver and turned it in the light. “I’ll have to proof against both, I suppose.”

He crossed the Hanger in long strides, expecting Otter Soother Daniel Jackson to keep up. Daniel had held himself rather well during the whole clone thing and what was more, he even saved his sonic for him! The Doctor found himself feeling rather fond of the human right this moment. Good man! Resourceful! But also being annoyingly close-mouthed about what he might have picked up from that encounter with the Other Doctor, which was surprising because he thought he knew humans and if there was anything he learned from all his time amongst them, it was they loved talking almost as much as he did! Questions in particular were their favorite, no matter how obvious or rhetorical or downright silly. Big big fan of the obvious questions. Basically they were a chatty species.

Part of the reason why he’d asked Daniel to come with him to the TARDIS.

If he was lucky, Daniel would tell him what he’d seen from that clone on his own, given enough time and company.

The Doctor was tucking the sonic back into his pocket when they came into sight of the TARDIS. He only paused for the briefest of beats as he took in the fact the old girl’s doors were wide open, positively gaping open! This wasn’t looking very looked out after and he wondered if maybe Jamie’s memory retention was failing thanks to him being an ex-dead man. Clearly the human needed a talking to! He approached cautiously, poking his head inside.

Everything in the console room looked in order, if you ignored the suspicious trail of foam cups leading away from the door and a few minute scratches on the glass which he knew for a fact hadn’t been there since he last checked. The Doctor’s lips pursed as he peered about, head weaving as he checked under the control console and then straightened. Where was Jamie? In fact, where were the rest of his friends?

“Better have a look around,” the Doctor lied, perhaps too cheerfully. “Long time away from home and I’m afraid River’s gone and organized things. I’m very specific on my organization system, I’ll have you know.”

He made a vague shooing motion at Daniel.

((So basically this is thread two, with the Doctor/Daniel/Rory jumping into a TARDIS taken over by the Master. Since the Master can switch up rooms (up to the players in the threads for what's wrong with the rooms) and trap people/shift people around, I guess assume timey-wimey things to allow different characters to stumble into each other? But yeah, I guess do subthreads for characters stumbling and we can subthread different people running into them.

I think we're looking at people in the TARDIS as: Victoria, Martha, The Master, River, Jamie, Doctor, Daniel, Rory, Amy, Eva. If I missed anyone, poke me!))

Comments

[bonnypiperlad]

Those fingers against his cheek were starting to have an effect, as were the Time Lord's words - and a gradually growing awareness that something was decidedly wrong with the corridor. Still, Jamie frowned. He couldn't give up the cup, could he? He had to...had to lead everyone out of harm's way.

But the Doctor said it was safe. Nothing was wrong with the TARDIS. Nothing at all. The Scot's eyes flickered and started to look back and forth - luckily, in a small gap where the walls decided that they weren't actually going to move. It helped lend weight to those reassurances, and he slowly nodded.

"The TARDIS isn't in danger."

Somewhere, deep inside Jamie, something protested that - maybe because those straining, groaning noises were starting to break through. But he trusted the Doctor, and if the Doctor said it was safe...well, then, he could hand him the cup.

He stretched his hand out, still carefully cradling the imaginary object, and 'placed' it in the Doctor's hand, his own hand warmer than the Time Lords. Something about the motion had an effect - his eyes started to focus of their own accord now, focusing on his friend. If the Doctor was going to try and wake up him up, now would likely be a good time to do so.

[makeherblue]

“Not at all. Now, you need to pay attention,” the Doctor snapped his fingers again, giving Jamie a firm, gentle shake on the shoulders. “Cups are taken care of, so I’d like you back to the present. Come on!”

He kept snapping his fingers in front of Jamie’s face, watching as his eyes seemed to focus and actually respond to the stimuli. Humans might not be the most advanced or intelligent species in the universe, but they did share loads of similarities with the other species out there and that was that generally, as a rule, humans weren’t terribly fond of anything close to their eyes. He kept snapping until he could see his Scot blinking more naturally.

The ceiling creaked overhead. The Doctor resisted the urge to duck, feeling it brushing up against the top of his hair and a low groan he could feel in the heels of his boots that was so deep it sounded almost like some sort of giant animal. Probably not the best time to admit he was only fairly sure there weren’t any giant space animals sneaking around the TARDIS, given how long she could’ve been out in the hanger while he was in the pods. It wasn’t as if he could’ve used to the scanners to make sure! The Doctor finally stopped snapping his fingers.

“Jamie?” He frowned at Jamie, searching his face.

[bonnypiperlad]

With that final snapping motion, the last remaining threads of the compulsion broke, releasing Jamie from the Master's spell. He blinked again, then abruptly brought up his hand to rub at his eyes, feeling a bit like he'd risen from a deep sleep - rather muzzy headed and not at all sure what's just happened.

"Hey, how did I get here? Doctor? What's going on?"

The hallway groaned and shifted again. Now the walls were starting to move in as well, the TARDIS apparently deciding it wanted to squish the pair of them in every conceivable way possible. Jamie's eyes widened, and he clutched at the Doctor in alarm, a feeling of fear running down his spine at the realization of what was going on.

"Doctor! What do we do?"

[makeherblue]

The Doctor blew out a relieved breath. "Jamie! You're, uh..."

He looked up at the ceiling just as Jamie clung at him. The Doctor clung back automatically. Maybe it was muscle memory from all those lives back, seeing as the Doctor these days didn't consider himself much the clinging sort and Jamie McCrimmon apparently was one of the few who could bring it out of him!

"Well! I'd say we're about to get squished and the obvious plan is I'd rather not get squished," the Doctor babbled. He looked down, looked back up, and then suddenly looked back down. "The floor! Jamie! Help me feel around for -- "

He cut himself off as he felt around frantically with the sonic and his fingers, groping about as the closest wall started to press in on him. By now it was impossible to stand upright, that ceiling pressing down with a hideous sort of finality. It creaked and groaned and a little bit of dust came filtering through the cracks between the ceiling and walls as the Doctor searched on his hands and knees for any sort of seam.

If they were lucky, they might end up finding that chute to that lake he didn't much care for. It had to be around here, didn't it? This hall looked familiar, as if he'd been this way before, only the Doctor wasn't quite sure.

[bonnypiperlad]

Normally he would say he was fine, thank ye, but the fact that the ceiling and walls were closing in on them was making that part of things just a touch less true than usual.

He quickly found himself on his hands and knees as well, doing his best to try and ignore the way the TARDIS sounded as though it was going to collapse on him at any moment. The dust wasn't quite as easy to ignore, as a rather large-sized puff of it came out of the wall right at head level - or, well, more accurately, right where Jamie's head was at the moment.

Coughing from the dust, his eyes watering, he groped about on the floor for something - anything - that might help them find a way out. His hand bumped up against a rounded shape just barely sticking up from the floor, something small enough that he might have overlooked. He still couldn't quite tell what it was, but it had to be better than nothing, and he called over to the Time Lord to get his attention.

"Doctor! I think I found something."

[makeherblue]

The Doctor crawled over, his head only inches away from banging against the ceiling. He wiped dust from his face as he peered down at Jamie's discovery.

"That's it," the Doctor said, with a silent probably thrown in there for good measure. "Hang on!"

The Doctor began to poke at the rounded little bit of floor - it reacted to his touch immediately, glowing blue and then red as something tick-tick-ticked right out from under him, with the same finality as a bomb about to go off in their faces. The Doctor had about enough time to reach out, grab Jamie by the arm, and brace for what he hoped would be a soft landing before the floor suddenly went out from under them.

The two tumbled through the darkness toward the flicker of water underneath them. The Doctor hit the water first with a loud splash, the water churning white as he flailed to the surface and tried to get a better look around him as he gasped for air. Green dim lighting, the hole they'd tumbled through rapidly growing darker as the corridor they'd been in began to close above them. The Doctor splashed in the water, turning on the spot and looking for Jamie.

"Jamie!" The Doctor yelled. His hand slapped in the water and then moved to brush his bedraggled hair out of his eyes. "Jamie!"

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie had just about enough time to think that he never fell into water quite as much with his Doctor, then he too hit the surface of the lake and disappeared underneath it with a giant splash. This time, he popped up a moment later, automatically gasping for air. Once he got a good lungful, he shifted to treading water and looking around for the Time Lord - well, calling for him, anyway.

"Doctor!"

There was a faint crunching sound as the corridor up top finished collapsing in on itself, and he found himself feeling grateful not to be in it at the time. However, it did cut off the last little bit of light from above, leaving only that dim green illumination coming from...somewhere. He felt a brief tickle as something moved past his legs, but whether it was a beastie or a fish or just a bit of plant life, he wasn't sure. Whatever it was, he didn't want to stick around and find out. So, then, which way was the shore? Maybe the Doctor would know - assuming Jamie could actually find him.

"Doctor! Where are ye?"

[makeherblue]

The Doctor splashed and waved his arms, only to remember that right, humans. Human, singular. Poor sight, etc.

"Over here, Jamie!" He floundered and splashed and generally flailed his way over toward Jamie's voice. "There we are. Safe! Actually, safe as in 'all things considered' -- bit of a mouthful, I'd think!"

He treaded water next to Jamie, turning toward that faint green light. It looked rather sickly, this ugly green color just shy of pea soup and swirling slightly off in its little corner. The Doctor fished around in his pocket for the sonic. The poor sonic, battered after getting half-blown up, buzzed weakly in the darkness and signaled that if they wanted any dry land, that green light up ahead was their best (make that only) bet so far. The Doctor spit out some of the water and splashed so he could face Jamie.

He could pick out the human's features. Despite nearly getting crushed and his TARDIS determined to try to kill him at its own leisure, he could at least say he was glad Jamie wasn't hypnotized anymore. "This way. Come on!"

[bonnypiperlad]

Well, it might be dark in here, but Jamie's hearing was perfectly fine. Once he caught on that the Doctor was heading his way, he started to move toward the sounds, resulting in them catching up somewhere in the middle.

It was a bit of a relief, although that faint, slightly off-sounding buzz of the sonic screwdriver made it somewhat less of one. He had to wonder what happened to it to make it sound like that. Maybe it had something to do with whatever was wrong with the TARDIS...but he couldn't very well ask about it while trying to get out of a large body of water. And it did seem like it was helping point in the right direction, given the Doctor now seemed to know where to go. "Aye, all right."

He started to swim off towards the light, slow but steady. As long as it wasn't too far away, he figured he could likely make it without getting too tired. But, then there was that sensation again, the faintest tickle of something brushing up against his leg. It shouldn't be anything to worry about, he thought to himself. However, for some reason, he was beginning to feel nervous. "Hey, Doctor. You've not got any beasties living in this lake, have ye?"