trans_9 | It's The Final Countdown

The battles raging in the hanger continued as more Ohm swarmed in increasing numbers, compromising the ships. The hanger itself shook as the floor rolled underneath those in the hanger, bucking underneath the hit. The lights flickered, died, and an eerie red light flooded on in the hanger, this dim sort of light that would make it even more difficult to fight the Ohm.

He wasn't too keen on the Doctor's plan of using the TARDIS to attempt to stabilize Stacy (seeing as it was the Doctor's plan), but the Master was well aware that the best place to be in the thick of a losing battle was near escape craft. Especially if one happened to have a well-armed guard standing by to draw fire. And so he trotted along behind the other two as they made their way into the hangar. Best to let them go ahead first.

He did wish he'd had the foresight to bring along more powerful weaponry himself. A laser screwdriver was more than enough for humans, but he wasn't so sure it would work as well on the Ohm.

The Master swallowed as the doors opened (well, one door-- the other was hanging by its... could those even be rightly classified as 'hinges'?) and the scene became absolutely clear.

The hangar was filled with smoke, illuminated by red light and brief flashes of gunfire of various sort. And the Ohm. The Ohm were everywhere, spilling into every available space like cockroaches. Strangely segmented, militarized cockroaches.

"Probably not so clever, walking in through the front," he commented acidly, but if the Doctor or River cared to take a look behind them, they'd see he'd gone ghost white.

The Doctor threw out an arm to catch himself as the floor pitched under his feet. Nearly took a tumble there! He imagined he could hear Stacy groaning and trying to compensate, but he supposed it was much more likely that was whatever power reserves in there chugging and burning up on them. A jet of moist humid steam hit him in the face as one of the conduits running alongside the wall burst. He chose that moment to glance over his shoulder, still on wibbly slime legs and trying to catch his bearings.

He hadn't seen that look on the Master's face in, well, centuries.

The Doctor had that brief second flash where he thought about reaching out to touch his best enemy on the arm.

The Hanger rolled again, sending the Doctor fighting for his footing again as he pointed toward the TARDIS -- a brief spot of faded blue in the emergency lighting and the mass of Ohm clustered and swarming. Right! The good news! The good news (he liked good news first, personally) was that that the old girl was still intact, her beautifully wonderful boxy self, and so far the Ohm hadn't been able to get in. Maybe they didn't know she was a ship. It would explain why the TARDIS was currently knocked over on her side, as if she was just another piece of the Hanger.

He made wobbly progress toward the TARDIS, keeping to the sides. So far the Ohm hadn't quite noticed them yet -- probably only a matter of time, the Doctor holding his slimy sonic screwdriver in one hand and trusting River and the Master to be right there with him.

Again, River was used to the Doctor's crazy plans. She was either just as mad as he was, or she trusted him explicitly to see them all through this mess. It was probably a bit of both, really. She trusted that man with her life and had stated that several times before, but sometimes she swore he came up with these nutty ideas just to watch her jaw drop and see those worry lines on her face deepen.

Now boys, in the midst of all this chaos, weapons, and war - this is where River Song shines. There's a gleam to her eyes as she surveys the situation within the Hanger and a slight bounce to her step as keeps pace with the Doctor, the Master lagging behind - Coward.

Going unnoticed in all this mess? Not going to happen. It's not long before River's heavy plasma rifle is going off, clearing the way to the TARDIS. She was born to be a weapon and what a beauty she was to behold - those long golden curls a wild mane about her face and shoulders as she trains her weapon and fires without so much as a hint of remorse.

"Get to the TARDIS, I've got you covered sweetie. Wouldn't want a hair on that floppy head to be harmed before we save the day." She flashes him a wink and motions with her free hand for him to move on ahead. She'd cover him from behind and keep the path to the TARDIS clear for them. What the Master did, however, was entirely up to him.

Edited 2011-08-24 06:10 (UTC)

The Master, scrambling for balance as the ship lurched and rocked, turned to River, his mouth opening. He was about to say something indignant, something along the lines of "What about me?" But when the ground tilted a second time he slid into a heap, cursing.

And then cursing again as he looked up to see one of the insectile invaders on its way toward him. The Master pedaled backward, frantically and awkwardly digging his screwdriver out of his pocket.

River’s aim was ridiculously excellent, the Doctor had time to think.

So ridiculously excellent, in fact, that he found himself frowning at her.

However ridiculous, incredible (and a little bit scary) it was, it wasn’t quite ridiculous enough to deal with all the Ohm in the Hanger – as the closest one crumpled into a heap, another was already chittering over its body and if it was saying anything at all, the Doctor couldn’t understand it. As much as he didn’t like to do this, he’d have to leave River to continue being ridiculously good and concentrate on the TARDIS. Not much for guns, him! Or shooting. Really, he’d much rather sit down and have a talk with one of these Ohm – or pantomime, he liked to think he was brilliant at pantomiming – but if they didn’t get the power stabilized, there wouldn’t be a place to sit.

He rushed for the TARDIS. The doors opened as he skidded next to it, boots sliding on the floor as he whirled to take stock of the situation. More Ohm than you could shake a stick at! Possibly even two sticks! River’s work had left something of a grisly little barricade for them in front of the TARDIS. The Ohm that decided to turn their sights on their little group would have to climb over the bodies of those she’d gotten deadly ridiculous at, the Doctor thinking that one of these days he was going to ask her how she could be that good.

“Give me a mo, yeah?” He disappeared into the TARDIS to try to jury-rig something together, leaving the Master and River to protect the old girl and the Doctor while he tried to work. One of the Ohm went right for the Master, mandibles clicking as it tried to close in for the kill. The floor pitched and rolled again, sending the Ohm jittering sideways and giving the Master a brief second to do something brilliant and use that laser screwdriver of his before it could recover. Behind it more Ohm were swarming, some going for the ships still docked in the hanger, the others attacking the other crew that were making a stand there. Ozono from the weapons hung in the air as debris showered everyone from some near misses.

There was an ugly smell, as well, far uglier than that pit in Engineering. The Master might even recognize it from personal experience. Death, and loads of it.

Edited 2011-08-24 10:30 (UTC)

River was beginning to notice that for every Ohm she managed to shoot in the head or shoot off it's limbs, five more sprung up in it's place. There were simply too many and they were fighting back as well. She knew of one tactic that would work, but she needed the Master to be out of range.

Glancing back, she happened to notice the Master wobble on his feet, lose his footing, and sliiide in the general direction the hanger had lurched. Even though she thought of him as expendable, she aimed her heavy plasma rifle towards the oncoming Ohm and fired off a shot (feel free to have the Master already have taken care of the Ohm with his laser screwdriver, this is just encase)

While watching the Master, she points the rifle in the opposite direction and fires again, hitting an Ohm grunt that had been trying to rush at the Doctor - right in the head. Stopping him dead. "Get to the TARDIS, Master!" She was good, yes, but she couldn't cover both there asses in this swarm when they were in opposite directions. "Or cover my back."

The Doctor abhorred war and death. The Master had gone pale. River Song? She smiled. It was like coming home...

Edited 2011-08-24 15:24 (UTC)

As River fired at the Ohm grunt, the Master finally fumbled his screwdriver out and sliced a vicious arc of laser fire across what he thought might be its midsection. The two of them managed to hit at the same time, resulting in a blackened mess of limbs and mandibles, neatly divided into two chunks.

The Master had about three-quarters of a second to be once again impressed, before ten more grunts began skittering toward him in the first one's place. Even with no apparent facial expressions, somehow they seemed extremely angry. The Master got to his feet and made a dead run for the TARDIS, not having to be told twice.

River could keep being ridiculously deadly but the fact was the sheer numbers were against her...and she was drawing quite a bit of attention to herself with the growing number of Ohm corpses. Chittering, more Ohm Grunts came forward in that creepy series of stop-motion movements of theirs, jerking and spasming over their dead friends and trying to swarm the TARDIS. One of the Ohm squealed as it was bisected by the two Time Lords. The two pieces flopped to the ground.

While the Master was probably gong to be glad he had a new body put through its paces -- the Ohm were right behind him -- a different Ohm shouldered its way through the cloud of them off at the end of the hanger. All armor and spiky bits, as the Doctor would describe them, the Grenadier reared that big plate of a head and weaved, eyes glowing in the emergency lighting.

It hissed, made a gurgling sucking sound which was about as pleasant as nails on a chalkboard, and sent a spray of caustic acid shooting toward the team by the TARDIS.

The pack trying to pursue the Master to the TARDIS didn't even look behind them. One of them, deciding it was going to be an overachiever, pulled away from the rest of them and closed in on the Master, the front legs reaching out to try to grab at the Master before he could slip into that little glowing hole in the blue box.

The fact of the matter was, River couldn't babysit the Master and the Doctor at the same time. So, once she saw that he had his sonic laser on hand and was fully capable of utilizing it to slice through Ohm flesh, she turned her concentration towards the TARDIS. She had her own pack of Ohms to deal with They didn't seem too pleased that she was such a good shot. Too bad for them.

She kept the path to the TARDIS open so that the Master could try and make it to the safety of the Old Girl. Firing again and again. Noticing that a good number of the Ohm had closed in around her - they must be pretty steamed that she was so good at killing their little friends - she drops low to the ground and 'twirls' her body while firing off shots in all directions. She'd checked to make sure the Master was out of firing range before doing this, though some of her shots might seem to graze right past him. Employing this tactic seemed to take out even more of the Ohm at once and kept them from closing in around her.

That little over-achiever just managed to trip the Master up enough to send him sprawling again. He kicked at it ineffectually, striking out with the laser behind him in a blind panic and managing to cut off roughly half of its legs. And then he was crawling the rest of the way into the TARDIS, yanking the doors shut behind him just as the acidic projectile hit them with a wet, sizzling thud.

The Master took a moment to compose himself, climbing to his feet and brushing off his suit as best he could, shaking the remains of spindly, bristled legs off his shoe. Ruined. Utterly ruined. The Doctor definitely owed him now.

The console room was just as on her side as the outer shell of the TARDIS, and it took him a little while to work out exactly HOW to shimmy into the lower levels to go looking for the Doctor. At some point he'd emerge beneath the main console, covered in oil as well as goo now and looking positively murderous.

"Brilliant plan, did I tell you that yet?" he snapped.

The Doctor's head popped up over the mass of coils and fire hose he'd managed to drag back with him. He eyed the Master and his wonderfully ruined shoes.

"Not yet, but it's a start," the Doctor flashed him with a cheeky grin. He began trying to climb back onto the main console, dragging a satchel filled with tools, junk, and Misc Stuff along with all the cables and on second thought, maybe he'd tried to bring too much up at once. He pulled a face at what the Master dragged in after him. Lovely, bug legs on his floor. Wonderful stuff.

"Here, I've got the conduits and -- yes, here it is!"

The Doctor flopped some more bits and bobs across the floor, trying to slide back toward the doors so he could get to work outside, his sonic screwdriver clamped between his teeth. The TARDIS shell was still intact but he wasn't sure how many hits she could take, not when this was the old girl's first encounter with the Ohm. The Doctor glanced at his best enemy, a part of him not quite able to trust him in his control room again. The Master ought to consider that a new look -- as far as he was concerned, it was loads better than cheetah -- and anyway, they had a job to do. Several jobs, even: Fix the Power and Hopefully Survive at the top of the list.

Outside River would find herself surrounded by a pile of Ohm corpses. The last one to rush into her range collapsed with a hissing gasp, legs twitching, and the Grenadier skittering to the side for a better shot. By now the Ohm were amassing all over again, a seething crowd of segments and exoskeletons gearing up for another go . The Grenadier took another shot at River even as River's pulse rifle flashed and burned through its guards.

It had to stand up straighter to get a better fix on River, leaving its massive head exposed...

River comes to a calm stop once the very last of the Ohm grunts collapses with a hiss. The plasma rifle was becoming quite heated and for a second, she wondered if it could possibly over heat from so much use? She was starting to like to weapon, so it would be shame if that happened.

River doesn't get much time to dwell on that as another swarm begins to gather. "Again? Honestly, are you lot incapable of fear or just incredibly stupid?" As she took aim, she felt a sharp pain in her side. She's been hit by something, one of those little buggers had gotten her, but that hit barely seemed to phase her. Damn Ohms! All that did was piss her off enough to blow that head clean off that Grenadier.

She was wounded, but it didn't appear to be fatal just yet and The Doctor and the Master needed her to buy them more time. She began to shoot off the Ohms that were trying to get inside the TARDIS. Her movements a bit slower and blood beginning to form along that crack in her plant-like armor where she'd been hit.

The Master eyed the junk sliding across the floor of the TARDIS-- well, really the wall at this point-- critically. The Doctor may not trust him, but he knew he could run circles around him when it came to this. Perhaps the two ideas were connected.

"You can't honestly think that's going to work without a diphasic accelerator."

There was another thud at the door, and he looked up toward it with no lack of apprehension.

"We could just stay in here," he suggested, swallowing. Let the rest of the ship die. Surely even the Ohm couldn't break through and get into a TARDIS. Could they?

"We could," the Doctor said, in that politely icy tone saying he most certainly won't. "Or you could help me try to get a diphasic accelerator together and we could skip staying in here."

The Doctor tried to maneuver his way toward the doors, not quite trusting the Master to the point of leaving him alone in the TARDIS, despite the Ohm outside in the Hanger. In his opinion, the Master was far more dangerous inside the TARDIS than any acid-spitting giant bugs and he was more tense than he let on as he glanced up at the Master. So far he'd been...well, he wouldn't call it helpful, but maybe plotting in an almost-helpful direction might be more accurate. Could be possibly a self-preservation thing. After all, the Master had shown to be remarkably good at it.

He struggled with the conduits, trying to drag them all together next to the flipped door and feeling that gravity shift at something slammed into the TARDIS. He fought to keep his footing as he began trying to sonic the bits and bobs together.

Unfortunately, whatever shields they had active right now probably weren't going to do much good in the long run -- somehow he didn't think they'd survive Stacy blowing up around them and anyway, he rather liked Stacy! The idea of her blowing up wasn't a particularly nice one. He found himself glancing up every now and then as he frantically worked to make sure the Master was still in the room with him.

Unfortunately, it looked like the Ohm were just as persistent as the heroes were. They kept up their assault against River, firing off a few acid shots for her and the remaining ones went to strike at the TARDIS, hoping to destroy it along with its' passengers.

It seemed as if the numbers weren't going to deplete any time soon, sadly. They were mad and they were going to let it show in their aggression against the TARDIS' crew for sure.

River kept up the battle outside the TARDIS. The same tactics, but at a slower pace. The Doctor had better finish up his little plan soon or else his incredibly deadly future-companion was going to be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the Ohm. She fired at any Ohm that had managed to climb onto the TARDIS. Killing them off, keeping the Old Girl from being overrun by the grunts.

She managed to avoid any further hits, but that wound on her side was proving to be more serious then she'd originally thought. They were running out of time. Anyone else would have made a break for the TARDIS, but not River. She kept up her stance outside.

More wet, sizzling plops against the TARDIS doors. But the Master's eyes were on the Doctor as he hauled the cables, his jaw set. Finally he ducked under the console and ripped out several components matter-of-factly, in a few short, sharp, and needlessly vicious motions.

If there was one way to give the Doctor the Time Lord equivalent of an ulcer, it was ripping out vital components from the TARDIS.

The Doctor gaped at the Master.

The worst part? He could see even from here that it wasn't just random parts. Those parts could easily be put together into the one they needed, except even he hadn't been willing to-to gut the old girl like that. The Doctor shot the Master a betrayed look. It took the sizzling of acid against the TARDIS's exterior shell to get him to shake himself and wave the Master over so they could assemble that diphasic accelerator. However deadly ridiculous River was, she was human, and he didn't think she had time on her side with that many Ohm in the hanger. The Doctor began almost attacking the mess of conduits and junk at his feet, sonicing some here and there so he could attach it to that would-be diphasic accelerator.

He only hoped River could hold out until they could finish up here.

For the Ohm outside, their numbers were thankfully decreasing by now, however their attacks were just as vicious and forceful. For the ones remaining, they decided to stop standing there and advance towards River. One of them aimed a shot right for the open wound she had, hoping it'd hit dead on just to eliminate her.

For the others, they were still trying to knock the TARDIS down by continuing to spray acid at the doors. Surely the ones inside were just biding their time for now, right?

River had an even harder time keeping up with the advancing Ohms now that they were moving straight towards her. That heavy plasma rifle seemed to constantly be firing, keeping a decent amount of space between her and the swarm of Ohm grunts. She knew she was in trouble when one of those shots grazed her wound - bringing a searing pain to her senses. A pain so intense that it caused her to drop to her knees with a grimace. Gun still firing in one hand, the other hand clutching her side.

She was in trouble now. All that pain made her senses and vision a blurry around the edges. So, River did the only thing she could think of. She sent out a message. After all, the Doctor always came when she called for him, right?

Doctor. She sounded breathless and in a slight panic. Her voice little more then a whisper in the back of the Doctor's mind. Doctor, I can't hold out here much longer. You're...running out of time.

And so was River.

"Oh, don't give me that look," the Master trilled back, not half pleased that he'd managed to upset the Doctor and further along the task at hand. It was all about two birds with one stone, really.

"She isn't going anywhere. You've made sure of that. And besides, she's had much worse."

He had the audacity to even whistle while he worked, slapping together the components with minimal effort-- as if they belonged together in the first place. The dull splats of acid kept time from outside, the sharp rapping of the drums inside his head.

The Doctor opened his mouth to retort when he heard an impossible voice in his head, like that little tickle you got when you thought someone dear was right behind you.

"Hurry up!" he snapped, trying to have two conversations at once which normally shouldn't be this difficult, come to think of it. "Unless you'd like to gut the rest of my TARDIS in case you weren't quite finished!"

Hang on, River! He wasn't even sure how River could communicate with him -- she hadn't ever struck him as especially psychic -- and he could only hope that whatever she was doing, she could hear him and it was two-way. Not much time to send more than a few assurances toward her, feelings that really, she needed him to trust him and it was only a little while longer. We're almost done!

The Doctor worked next to the Master, gritting his teeth at the Master having the nerve to whistle as if it was just another day of plotting and instead trying to coddle the bits and pieces of his TARDIS a little bit better than his fellow Time Lord. No respect for the old girl, really!

"Come on, let's get it plugged in -- " The Doctor paused to try to listen for River again, turning to check the doors for any sign there was an Ohm within snapping distance.

Nope, no respect-- and it was clear in the way the Master snatched a cable from the Doctor's hand with disdain. Disdain. Now that was a much more apt word. Though at least he was conscientious enough to test the thing first, something the Doctor apparently hadn't considered. He slotted the cable neatly into the makeshift accelerator, but hesitated a moment before doing the same on his end. He looked up at the Doctor with a begrudging bit of something in his expression. Concern, maybe?

"You might want to hold on to something in case this doesn't work as well as you've planned," he said icily.

And then he connected the cables.

River Song was still struggling to keep up with the swarm of Ohms currently trying their damnedest to annihilate her very existence. Try as she might to hold them off, they were beginning to close in around her. The Doctor's reassurance only went so far.

She thought it was all over, really she did. Those nasty little insectoids had successfully surrounded her. She was just about to say her goodbye to the Doctor when a sudden surge of energy came from the TARDIS.

It was this painful, tingly, numbing sensation that knocked her flat on her face.

Turns out, the TARDIS surge wasn't so kind to the Ohm grunts. It wiped out everything in range.

By all rights, that surge should have killed her. The TARDIS, however, had always been kind to her. So somehow, she had been spared.

Her legs were still numb when she tried to raise up on her hands and knees, fumbling and trying to crawl over to the TARDIS. She wasn't deathly injured just yet, it's just that surge had caused some temporary numbness in her body. At least the pain wasn't so intense.

Open the door.... Came her mental reply.

Guess what? River Song's a bit harder to kill then either the Master or the Doctor could ever imagine.

It's The Final Countdown

Hanger

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Using Grunt Ohms for now, tell me if you want any of the others!

sounds good!

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Did you want me to bring in the Assassin in a bit?

Dunno? River's doing the fighting right now

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Okay, so I guess thread order is now Jess->Ans->Camille->Liz?

Works for me! Sorry I'm late.

np

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Okay, so we'll skip the Ohm until we're ready, yeah? :3

hope this is ok

Perfect

Re: Perfect

I fail

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