ABDUCTION

Chapter Twelve

The Doctor cursed himself. Since their captor knocked Rose unconscious, her mind was inactive but he was a secondary mind inside hers so he was still awake. He could hear everything that was going on but couldn't see anything since Rose's eyes were shut.

Bollocks, the Doctor thought to himself. I thought that would work. Apparently, he's cleverer than I thought. I should have stayed inside my body and fought him there. But it can't be helped now. I'm sorry, Rose; I didn't mean to make him punch you. I hope you forgive me when you regain consciousness.

"Is everything alright?"

The Doctor fell silent and listened when he heard James.

"Yes, we…we're moving Rose. We're being targeted and it's not safe here anymore," he heard Jack say.

"She's still unconscious," James said.

"She's been in and out of consciousness," Jack said.

The Doctor was impressed by his friend's improvisation of why Rose needed to be moved and why she'd been unconscious so long. It made him realize how much he missed him. He had run away from him and left him and he felt bad for it but he was glad that Jack was able to get away from the Gamestation and find a way to be of service to the Earth. He felt the slight vibrations in Rose's body while Ianto walked and he figured they were going out of the inn. He began to work to restore Rose to consciousness. Not only for Ianto's benefit but his own as well. He began to go through her mind, trying to stimulate parts of it so she would wake up. He was going through some of her memories and daydreams when he stumbled onto an image of Rose having passionate sex with him in her bed. They hadn't gotten this far in their relationship so he realized he was looking at one of her fantasies. He paused for a moment, observing the passionate lovemaking with bemused interest.

Rose, Rose, Rose, you do have an active imagination, he thought to himself.

He lingered a bit longer before pulling himself away and carrying on with his mission. Then suddenly, he stopped when he heard his own voice yelling out something about escaped slaves. He listened again and realized that their captor was yelling to someone that Jack, Ianto and Rose were escaped slaves. He then felt Rose's body being jostled around and heard the sounds of struggle from Jack, himself and several other men. He sensed the body flying from Ianto's arms and there was a feeling of weightlessness for a moment before Rose hit the ground and pain rocketed through her mind. He felt it as well since he now shared her mind and he was thankful Rose wasn't conscious since she landed hard on the pavement. He then listened and heard yelling and screaming from men who were calling for others to help restrain the slaves. He felt Rose being picked up, but by who, he couldn't say. It couldn't have been Ianto though since Rose was being held firmly and wasn't moving around.

"Thank you," he heard the Possessed Doctor say, "these three tried to escape from the stables. I found them and were bringing them back for auction."

"You bastard!" Jack said.

He realized then that their side lost the battle. He could hear the clanking of chains and Jack and Ianto's curses followed by the sound of fist hitting flesh and someone grunting.

"Shut up, slave," a man said. "You'll be punished, all of you, for trying to escape before being sold!"

"He's lying," Jack said. "We've been kidnapped by him and now he's trying to sell us into slavery."

"I said, shut up!" the man said before the Doctor heard more fist hitting flesh and Jack grunting.

The Doctor tried to stimulate Rose's mind so she'd wake up and he could do something. He felt something going around Rose's neck and judging from the clanking of the chains, she was being shackled along with the others.

"Now, Doctor, you and your girlfriend will be sold into slavery," the Possessed Doctor whispered in Rose's ear. "And you'll be separated from your body forever while you and Rose live out the rest of your lives in servitude. Have fun."

The Doctor tried frantically to wake Rose up but he realized that the fall to the pavement undid the progress he made and he was back to square one. Still, he worked on getting her to wake up so he could do something besides listen. The men were chuckling and taunting Jack and Ianto and he could sense them touching Rose's body, especially her breasts and anger filled his being. They were on the move again and he could hear men making crude remarks about Rose and wondering if they should rape her before the auction "to break her in" as they put it. He hoped they would refrain from doing that, because he was helpless without Rose's body.

They walked for about twenty minutes before the Doctor heard one of the men calling for a door to open. He heard the loud click of a deadbolt being drawn back and the squeak of a door opening.

"Three escaped slaves," one of the men said. "We're bringing them back in time for auction."

"We're not escaped, we've been abducted," Ianto said.

He heard someone slapping his face and yelling at him to shut up before they were moving again. It was another twenty minutes before he heard another door being unlocked.

"No, let us stay with Rose," he heard Jack say.

Then he felt another brief period of weightlessness and once again, Rose was thrown onto a hard surface.

You're gonna have one hell of a headache when you wake, my love, the Doctor thought to himself as he felt the new surge of pain throughout her body.

He heard Jack and Ianto asking to be with Rose while he heard a door being shut and locked at the same time.

"Damn it," he heard Jack say. "Now what?"

"Maybe we can ambush them, attack them when they're not expecting it," Ianto said.

"Perhaps," Jack said. "We need Rose to wake up so the Doctor will wake up to. We need to talk to both of them before we end up being sold to the highest bidder. Damn it."

Then they fell silent for awhile and the Doctor continued his work. While he did it, he was thinking. He realized that even though his body was gone, the man inside was gone as well and he didn't recall the man telling the others he was inside Rose's mind and he realized that meant he had an advantage again, if he could find a way to use it.

After twenty minutes, he finally felt Rose's mind waking up. He realized she would be in pain so he tried to stimulate endorphins to counteract that. Then ten minutes after he felt her mind waking up, her eyes finally opened and Rose let out a groan. The Doctor looked out of her eyes and saw a concrete ceiling and the tops of concrete walls but Rose was in pain and she was moving very slowly.

"Rose, are you okay?" he heard Jack say.

"No, not really," Rose groaned. "My head is killing me."

"Well, that's because you were dropped on it a couple of times," Jack said.

Doctor, are you with me? Rose thought to him.

"Yes, I'm here. My new best friend claimed we were escaped slaves and we've been taken somewhere so we can wait for an auction."

He sensed Rose's distress at that but she didn't say anything as she slowly moved her body and tried to sit up. He could see as she slowly sat up that they were inside a small concrete cell with an iron door. There was straw on the floor and a small tin pan in the corner with water in it. Rose turned her head to look at Jack and he could see Jack and Ianto sitting in another cell across a wide corridor. Their cell looked identical and in fact, there were several cells on their side. Both men had been roughed up. Jack had a black eye and both men had steel collars around their necks with a short length of chain hanging off it. He felt the same on Rose's neck and knew she was outfitted with the same thing. One cell two down from Jack and Ianto had two women inside it. They were sleeping; at least the Doctor hoped they were sleeping. They were dressed in rags and their long brunette hair was tangled and matted and filled with straw.

"Is the Doctor in there?" Jack said to Rose

"Yeah, he's here," Rose said.

"Doctor, your body is gone," Jack said to him.

Rose listened for a moment.

"He knows, he was still awake when I was unconscious, he heard everything," she said to them.

"Sorry, he surprised us," Ianto said to the Doctor.

"The Doctor says he knows and he understands," Rose said.

"We did fight them, tried to fight them. There was about twenty of them so we were a bit outnumbered," Jack said. "Not to mention Rose was unconscious so it ten against one for both of us. We were fitted with these collars and so were you and brought in here and dumped. Then they shut the doors and walked off."

Rose reached up and felt the collar around her neck. She picked up the chain to examine it and the Doctor noticed it was slightly rusted. Rose dropped the chain in between her legs in disgust.

"Did he do this to Mum as well?" Rose said. "Is she in some pen waiting for a slave auction too?"

At that, the Doctor imagined Jackie on a concrete stage like the one they found Rose on yelling at everyone in the audience to just try and bid on her if they dared. He didn't realize that Rose could see what he was thinking and Jack and Ianto frowned when Rose suddenly burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Jack said.

"Um…the Doctor made me imagine Mum on the auction block screaming at everyone to just try and bid on her. Actually, that does fit her personality," Rose said.

"So, you're sharing each other's thoughts and memories?" Jack said.

"Um…I suppose so. He thinks to me and I think back so I suppose we do," Rose said. "He took over my mind as well. I mean, he sorta pushed my mind out of the way so he could speak to that bloke earlier."

"Pushing people out of the way so he can be in charge…yeah, that's the Doctor all right," Jack said.

Ha ha, Jack, you're a laugh a minute, you are, the Doctor thought.

Rose sniggered at that.

"Now what is he making you imagine? Himself naked while he's doing the Hootchie Kootchie?" Jack said to Rose.

What the hell is the Hootchie Kootchie, the Doctor thought to Rose. I couldn't imagine it if I tried.

"No, he's thinking to me," Rose said. "He was talking to me and telling me you're a laugh a minute."

"Mm, how about you think to Rose and figure a way to get out of here now," Jack said.

"He says he's doing it so keep your trousers on," Rose said. "Also, he doesn't know what the hell a Hootchie Kootchie is so he couldn't do it if he tried."

"Shall I show you?" Jack said.

Rose paused a moment.

"No, he says that's alright, he's better off not knowing," she said to them.

They shut up when they heard a door open off to their right. Then an old bald man appeared by Rose's cage. He grinned at her as he inserted a key and turned the lock. Rose tried to get up but she was still recovering from being dropped on her head and the weight of the chain and collar also added to her misery as she struggled to get up. Then the man came into the room, seized the chain and Jack and Ianto yelled as he jerked hard on the chain and forced Rose to her feet.

"Come along, little pretty, we need to get your ready to sell," the man said as he jerked on Rose's chained and forced her to walk out the cage door.