On the Run ♦ 004. Turn for the Worse ♦ with captoftardis

[noblexcompanion]

Donna had been in the library relaxing with a good book, a mug of tea and a box of chocolates from her secret 'me-time' stash. It had all been going so nicely too. At least, it had been going nicely until the TARDIS jerked, sending the mug crashing to the floor, the chocolates following, and Donna barely managing to stay on the sofa

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[captoftardis]

He had thought they were safe, lingering at the edge of a time rift distorted by a black hole. In all honesty it wasn't the best of locations, but he knew the TARDIS was capable of withstanding the gravitational pull in small doses and any other ship would be foolish enough to come by.

Or so he thought.

"Down here!" His suit jacket was fried around the edges and his hair was sticking up a little more than usual as large cables were strung around his neck.

"I'm trying to reroute the power! Something's got a hold of us..!" Without a moment to spare, he ran off trying to avoid tripping over anything.

[noblexcompanion]

Another jerk sent Donna crashing into the console. Downside to the coral? It's not very soft for being thrown into. She tried to steady herself. "Kind of figured that one out for myself, Spaceman."

A spark shot up by her hand, causing her to squeal in surprise. "Right, so, brilliant plan? I mean you have a brilliant plan right? Can't we just... I dunno, slam the brakes on or sommat? No?"

Another explosion, another squeak.

[captoftardis]

"Sorry 'bout that one! That was me! No, if we slam the breaks, we'll really be in trouble... Well, maybe not, but I don't want to test that hypothesis."

Another spark and the TARDIS jolted in the opposite direction.

Sounds came from below as he hot wired connections and lights went out for 2 seconds before coming back on. "DONNA! PUT US IN REVERSE!" He held his breath as the TARDIS groaned and one could feel it resisting.

"C'mon...! C'moooooon!" But then his stomach lurched as they were flipped sideways and he scrambled to his feet. "Give me a tic!" More wires were disconnected and rerouted, sparks flew, and finally "I think I got it!"

[noblexcompanion]

This was going to end badly. Donna just knew it. Still, she followed his instructions, not that they seemed to be making much progress. Of course, that was probably just her insignificant human brain not being able to see the bigger picture and not the fact that things were going very, very wrong...

There was more squealing and squeaking from a certain panicked ginger as more sparks flew. And more panicking as the console not only sparked, but actually started flaming.

"Don't want to worry you or anything... but... WE'RE ON FIRE!"

[captoftardis]

If Donna's head was swimming, his head was quite drowned. He couldn't tell if he was awake or not, and was hearing whispers around him. All of which he recognized, but couldn't put a name on it.

I lost the TARDIS...

The voices grew a little louder, and he recognized them as memories of conversations... There was the Brig, Ramona, Tegan, Ace... He shook his head.

But I lost the TARDIS!

And the amongst the voices he heard the loudest, Sarah Jane, "Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, or a relationship... Everything has its time. And everything ends."

And as if breaking out from the dream, he blinked open his eyes and realized he was surrounded by darkness. And he didn't care.

[noblexcompanion]

Donna pushed aside her own fears. Only one thing mattered right now and that was finding the Doctor. If she could find him, everything would be okay, she just knew it! She got to her feet and fumbled in the darkness for what she assumed was the wall, using it to guide her through the darkness.

"Doctor?!"

For every second she couldn't find him she grew more worried. "Doctor? Where are you!?"

[captoftardis]

He could hear Donna moving around, searching for him. Clearly she was panicked, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything despite being what he guessed was little over a meter away from her on the opposite wall. Finally hearing the heightened panic in her voice, he spoke up.

"Here. I'm over here." He cleared his throat, realizing how dejected he sounded. "You alright? Bleeding any?"

And if she replied, he didn't hear it over the intruding thoughts of, I lost the TARDIS...!

[noblexcompanion]

"Doctor!" Relief washed over her, but it was short-lived. She didn't need to be able to see to know how broken he was. She reached for him in the darkness, pulling him into a hug. Hands groping at his hair, his face and finally his chest, reassuring herself that this was the Doctor and not some cruel trick.

"I'm fine. I think. Can't really tell. You?" Aside from the obvious emotional scarring, of course.

[captoftardis]

The figure stepped into the room and pointed to Donna. "You wish to speak to Authority?"

The Doctor poked his head out from Donna, "Well, she's right. I haven't exactly done anything out of the ordinary." Of course there were exceptions to that statement, but no one asked for the details.

Besides, they destroyed his TARDIS, so what worse could happen?

Digital text scrolled across the face mask of the figure as it stood there still as if reading through all of it. "Inquiry granted."

He held up thick hand-cuff looking objects, and as if magnetized, few to their wrists and locked them together.

[noblexcompanion]

Well this day was shaping up to be a barrel of laughs, wasn't it? She should've stayed in bed. In fact, she should've stayed in bed, in Chiswick and then she wouldn't be getting handcuffed by some reject Power Ranger in some godforsaken ship in the middle of space.

"Oi! What's with the cuffs? Not like we can go anywhere since you wrecked our transport." Donna was one unhappy bunny. This Authority better be well prepared!

[captoftardis]

The cuffs on his wrists seemed to have dull heat to them until a zap of electricity shocked through his body. "Oh, what was that!?" It nearly brought him to his knees as he heard a shriek from Donna.

"Unnecessary comments will be withheld. Consequences will be understood."

Forget reject Power Rangers, they were more like reject Cybermen with ramped up technology and less mechanical voice.

He growled, "You're not with the Shadow Proclamation, are you...!?" His question was met with another jolt of electricity to both of them. "They're not this inhuman!" Another jolt. "Tell me who you are!?"

[noblexcompanion]

What was it with alien weirdos blasting her with electricity? Did she have a big neon sign above her head saying 'zap me'? The jolts were making her feel very, very sick. And her legs had turned to jelly.

Sometimes, the Doctor's mouth was as bad as hers. They both needed mute buttons, especially when either of them opened their mouths they got zapped.

[captoftardis]

The Doctor felt terrible, not only with the effects of the electricity that had gone through him and made his own stomach do flips and his hearts race in anger, but he didn't want Donna to be punished for his own doings

[noblexcompanion]

If she'd been able to, she would've slapped him so freaking hard. They were in this together. Partners in crime... only there was no crime - not that they were aware of anyway.

And this passing out and waking up in a different place? It was getting very old, very fast. Donna was one unhappy bunny. She tried to adjust to the darkness, rubbing at her aching wrists.

"... Doctor?" Her heart was racing, and it was all she could hear aside from her breathing. "Doctor? Where are you?" She still couldn't hear him.

sorry for fail tag.

[captoftardis]

He groaned in reply before finally speaking, "Here." Wait, a single word sentence from the Doctor!? Unheard of!

He tried to sit up but realized it wasn't possible to be comfortable and stayed lying down. "You ok?"

Never apologise <3

[noblexcompanion]

She found her way over to him with some difficulty. Seriously, would it kill the reject Power Rangers to get a few light bulbs in this place?

She flopped down next to him. "Oh, fine, just fine. Never been better." Sarcasm? Oh yes. "Love what they've done with the place. The dark look, very chic."

A pause. "What would you say if I told you I have an idea?"

[captoftardis]

"I do have faith in you, but not when it's a suicide mission!" Really, couldn't she listen?

"Donna, I'm serious when I say we're in trouble. The only reason why we're alive now is we must be worth more alive than dead, but they still wouldn't mind doing us in!"

[noblexcompanion]

"Well unless you can figure out a better plan in the next three minutes? No, good. We'll go with mine then. So just sit here like a good little Spaceman and keep your sonic close."

Her heart was racing. Her words were far more confident than she actually felt. Typical Donna, hiding a world of insecurity behind brash bravado.

[captoftardis]

Obviously arguing was getting nowhere with her, and she wasn't about to let on what she had in mind. Finally with a sigh and brief pace around tugging at his hair, "Fine. Ok."

She seemed rather confident in what she had planned, and she was right when stating he didn't have one. Because he barely got over the fact they were locked up in the first place.

[noblexcompanion]

And with that, she requested... well, more like demanded really, to speak with the higher authority once again. This time alone. Sorry Doctor. No finding out her plan by tagging along.

She was cuffed once again and led away. It must've been a good three or four hours before she was finally returned to the cell.