IT WAS 20,000 YEARS AGO TODAY

Chapter Thirty Five

After getting some information from the terrified Diablons, the Doctor left them in the force field while all of them prepared to go down into the pyramid.

"Right, there's thirty of them in total," the Doctor said to the others. "Mex and his minions. We have two here so we only have to deal with twenty eight."

"Oh, is that all?" John said. "Wow, and for a moment, I was worried we'd be overwhelmed once we got down there. So do we get guns?"

"No," Amy, Rose, Jeremy, Rory, Paul and Bill said in unison.

"Then what do we do to defend ourselves?" John asked them, "run up and kick their little demon bollocks?"

"We use our minds, that's our best weapon," the Doctor said. "And we use whatever's at hand. But no guns, we're better than that."

Paul looked back when John came up behind him and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Bye, Paulie, see you and other Paulie when I get to Heaven," he said to him.

"Don't say that, I haven't used a gun yet since I've been with him and I'm still here," Paul said. "You didn't use guns as a ted; just remember when you were younger in Hamburg."

"You mean when people used to threaten to beat the hell out of us and I had to run and hide to avoid getting a knife in the gut? Are those the days you're referring to?" John said.

"Come on, Johnnie, we'll be alright. I trust you to watch my back," Paul said, patting him on the back.

While they were talking, Jeremy walked up beside the Doctor. The Doctor gave him a questioning look.

"What you said earlier, calling me brother? Did you mean that?" Jeremy asked.

"Well, I thought about it and you, me and John Smith share the same genes so I believe that would make us brothers," he said with a shrug.

Jeremy's face fell. The Doctor frowned when he walked away from him with a muttered, "Oh, I see…" The Doctor sighed angrily and quickly walked around him.

"What's wrong now?" he said.

"You were speaking in a literal sense, not an emotional sense. Sorry, my bad. Carry on as before," Jeremy said with just a trace of bitterness.

He started to walk away but the Doctor grabbed his wrist and led him back towards the back. He let go of Jeremy's hand when they reached the hatch and yelled through the metal door for John Smith to open it. He told Jeremy to wait with him and they stood there waiting for the hatch to open. A moment later, they heard the bolt being slid back and watched the wheel spin as John Smith opened the door. He lifted it up and blinked in shock.

"I thought you were gone," he said to them.

"Not just yet, we have to talk, the three of us before we leave," the Doctor said. "Can we come down there so we can have some privacy?"

John Smith nodded. He let the hatch door fall back and went down the ladder again. The Doctor indicated that Jeremy should go first and then he followed him. He grabbed the door and closed it as he went down. He heard giggling and turned his head. Smiling, he saw John Smith playing peek-a-boo with Tia while she hid below the blanket on the first bed. The Doctor jumped off when he was two rungs from the bottom and motioned for John Smith and Jeremy to come to him. Tia watched and then slid out from under the covers, going over to the Doctor. He smiled and lifted her up, holding her to his body while she held on to him.

"Now…" the Doctor said to John Smith, "I know you didn't hear me either but this is what happened…"

He quickly gave John Smith a brief rundown on events. John Smith nodded.

"Good. Then you have some clue of how to go about rescuing the humans," he said.

"Yes, but…you did hear me say I called Jeremy brother, right?" he said to John Smith.

John Smith nodded.

"Yes. What's your point? He is genetically your brother as I am, yeah?"

"Precisely. However, Jeremy is upset because he thinks I meant brother in a purely logical sense, merely calling him that because that's what he was, my genetic brother. However, Jeremy, I didn't mean it in a purely logical sense."

"What?" Jeremy said in shock.

The Doctor smiled.

"Look, I was thinking while I was repairing the ship, about the three of us and this interesting development we find ourselves in. Now, with John, I had no control over his being born, which was Pepa's doing."

"Same with me, I came about because you were trying to save your regeneration."

"Yes, but…let me finish," the Doctor said, holding up his hands. "That's true but what I'm talking about is the situation right now. I had no choice having John Smith here but you, I had a choice to bring you along when I went to get Rose."

"And now you're regretting my being here," Jeremy said bitterly.

"No, no, I'm not. It's true that when the idea was first brought to my attention, I had mixed feelings about it, especially in light of what I did. But…I then realized I had a golden opportunity here, a chance to make amends for a rash and callous act which is why I decided to let you come with me and help me out. And…Observing you, I see now that you have changed and you're no longer filled with rage and bitterness. You've helped me out, helped us all out and I realized that perhaps I misjudged you. I've had time to think about everything that's happened and the situation as it stands and I was wondering if perhaps the three of us might consider ourselves brothers."

Jeremy and John Smith glanced at each other and huge grins spread over their faces. They both hugged the Doctor and he grinned as he set Tia down and hugged them back.

"Now, my brothers, how about going up and going down and finishing this once and for all?" the Doctor asked them.

They nodded and the Doctor hugged Tia and gave her a big kiss. John Smith picked her up and watched as the Doctor and Jeremy went back up the ladder.

Once they were assembled, Pepa lowered the ramp. They froze when they saw two more Diablons staring at the ship. Their heads jerked over to the ramp and they looked at each other before they walked over. Everyone stepped back as the Diablons came up the ramp. Nanth and his friend tried to warn them but the moment the two of them stepped inside, they were caught in another force field.

"You fools, there's two Time Lords and a bunch of humans in here," Nanth said to the new captives. "They saw you coming and stepped back so you'd come in here."

"Where? I don't see anyone," one of the Diablon said, looking around.

Nanth's eyes bugged out and he looked over at the Doctor and his companions who were standing just to the side of their prison.

"There! They're right there!" he said, pointing to them, "are you fools blind?"

The new captives looked hard but they shrugged when they couldn't see anything. The Doctor silently beckoned to the others and they walked past both prisons while Nanth screamed at his associates, trying to get them to see the Doctor and his companions while they walked quietly past them. Pepa raised the ramp and they walked away as the angry screams from Nanth were shut up inside the ship.

"Boy, these key necklaces sure do come in handy," John said as they headed for the stairs.

"Yes, which is why we still have an advantage over the Diablons even without guns," the Doctor said. "All we have to do is work as a team and we'll be able to beat them and drive them away from Earth."

They opened the door and checked inside. They didn't see anyone so they stared down. Jeremy hung back with Rose and as they went down, Jeremy softly told her what the Doctor had said to them. Rose was ecstatic at that and gave him a quick kiss of congratulations while Jeremy grinned. They neared the end of the steps and the Doctor put his fingers to his lips as they slipped through a doorway into a large room that served as a storage room for spare parts for the ship and other things. They could hear weeping and moaning as they inched towards the door. The Doctor unlocked it with the screwdriver and slowly opened it while everyone waited. He looked around and saw no one and nodded to the others before they followed him out the door. Once they were all through, Jeremy closed it quietly and took Rose's hand while they all followed in a straight line through a corridor. The crying grew louder and the Doctor decided to follow it. He used his sensitive hearing to pinpoint the weeping and found it came from a room about a hundred feet ahead of them. He tried the door and when he found it locked, he used his screwdriver on it.

He opened the door slowly and noticed it was a laboratory similar to the one they had been escorted to when they met Pepa for the first time. The Doctor held up his hand and stopped the others from following him when he noticed a Diablon had a human strapped to a metal table and was standing with his back to him. The blonde woman on the table had an IV drip going into her arm. The Doctor slowly inched up to the Diablon and without a word, seized his neck and administered a knock out pinch to a pressure point there. The Diablon didn't utter a word as he fell to the floor. The Doctor stepped over him and looked at the woman. She was young, a teenager, and a red liquid was going from the IV bag directly into a vein in her arm. She was naked and extremely shapely with a heart shaped face, petite rounded nose and blue eyes. The Doctor had to admit that Pepa did do a good job when he made his humans but he quickly pushed that thought out of his head while he went around to the IV drip and pulled the needle out of her arm. The woman grunted at the slight pain and turned her head towards him, her eyes unfocused as she tried to see what was going on. The Doctor leaned into her face and smiled as he put a hand on her arm so she would see his face. The women blinked and her eyes widened in shock while Paul glanced in and everyone slowly came inside the room.

"Hi," the Doctor said softly, "I'm the Doctor, what's your name?"

"Lila," the woman said in a raspy voice, "help me."

"I will, just relax, you're safe now," the Doctor said gently as he put a hand on her arm. "My friends and I will help you."

Lila looked where he was pointing and saw the others for the first time. She stared at them in amazement.

"You're free?" she asked Paul.

"Yes. And we're going to help you and everyone else in here," he said softly.

"Pepa," the Doctor said, beckoning to him, "What is this stuff in the bag? Do I need to be worried about the fact that it's been going into Lila's body?"

Pepa walked over to him and examined it for a moment.

"Yes, be very concerned. This is Altrocite."

"Poison?" the Doctor said in alarm.

"Yes, we use it to euthanize people humanly."

"Where's the antidote?" the Doctor hissed at him.

Pepa rushed over to the cabinets while the Doctor looked at Lila. His hearts raced when he noticed sweat breaking out on her face as he skin begin to turn ashen.

"Hurry, she's dying," the Doctor hissed at Pepa.

Pepa quickly rummaged through the cabinet and found a small glass bottle containing a clear liquid. Everyone watched in alarm as Lila's breathing became shallower. The Doctor felt her forehead and grimaced when he felt how hot it was. Meanwhile, Pepa pulled out a syringe and quickly filled it with the liquid. He raced back over and without comment put the needle directly into Lila's jugular vein. Lila groaned in pain as he depressed the plunger and the liquid went into her body. For a moment Lila looked like she was about to die and then her breathing evened out and the Doctor felt her forehead cooling down. He breathed a sigh of relief as he, Paul, Amy and Rory undid the straps securing her to the table. Pepa brought over a white lab coat and they put it on her while the Doctor looked around for her clothes. He didn't find anything except her underwear and he handed them to Lila. Everyone looked away when she put them back on and when she was done, the Doctor reached into his pocket and put a perception filter around her neck.

"We're going to rescue everyone in here, Lila," he said to her. "I put a magic key around your neck. It makes you invisible to the bad people but you have to be absolutely quiet, can you do that for us?"

Lila nodded and the Doctor helped her off the table. He smiled when Bill stepped up and took her hand.

"This is Bill. He's a wonderful bloke and he'll look after you, okay?" he said to Lila.

She nodded and let Bill lead her back to Michelle. The Doctor looked at the Diablon and looked at Pepa.

"Is there anything we can use to tie him up and gag him?" he asked Pepa.

"Yes, there's a storage cupboard two doors down. It has rope and blankets in it.

"Good. I'll go down there then with you. Everyone else, keep an eye on Big Red until we get back."

The Doctor and Pepa hurried past them while everyone gathered around the Diablon and waited.

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