MISSING IN ACTION
Chapter 4 His face lit up with an enormous grin, the Doctor looked up to see River. She was standing framed in the doorway, gun in hand, the smoke of the explosion dissipating behind her. And, there, coming through the smoke, coughing and waving their hands, were also Amy and Rory. "I knew if I waited long enough," the Doctor greeted them, " I'd be 'bound' to say hello to you three sooner or later. Ha-ha! Did you get that, River?" "Um-hmm." She said, "And that joke's older than you are." She was clearly unimpressed. "Word of advice, Doctor. Don't go on X Factor with that repertoire. No one would ever take you seriously again." River strode over to a frowning Doctor, who gave her a hurt look. She looked down at him with a cheeky grin. "Oooh, you know, this reminds me of that time I found you at that seedy hotel in Las Vegas , and you were lying on this heart-shaped bed all covered with...oh, sorry. Spoilers." "Are you alright, Doctor?" Amy asked, as she and Rory came to stand beside River. "We were worried half to death about you." "Actually, you were worried half to death. I was just very concerned." Rory corrected her. Getting a jab in the ribs from his wife, for his remark. "No. I mean, yeah, right. I was really...very worried, Doctor." Rory hastily corrected himself. "Doctor,." River whispered urgently, her demeanor becoming more serious. "There's something I need to tell you. It's important." "Look River, if it's about that Cyberman, I totally understand. I mean, maybe it was a bit kinky..." The Doctor began to say. "Nobody move!" Came Margatha's voice from the doorway. "If you move, I'll shoot to kill. The Doctor first." River, Amy and Rory all stood very, very still. "And don't turn around." Margatha added. "Well make up your mind." The Doctor said chidingly. "How can they turn around if they can't move?" He beamed a smile up at River, who was blocking his view of the doorway. "Is this a party game? I like Party games. Simon Says. Wonderful!" "Quiet!" Said the newcomer. "Nah. Don't think so." Replied the Doctor. "For one thing, you forgot to say, 'Simon says.' You're really rubbish at this, aren't you? I wouldn't recommend you doing children's parties. They'd all end up throwing cake at each other and going home." In response, Margatha shot a hole in the floor, only a few centimeters from Amy's feet. Amy gave a frightened shriek, automatically leaping back from the smoking black hole in the floor. "Amy!" Rory shouted with alarm, placing his arms protectively around her shoulders, and pulling her towards him. "Doctor. I really think you should do what the nice lady with the outer-spacey ray gun says." Amy told him. Darting an angry glance down at the blackened hole near her feet, she added, "At least, for now." "I'm warning you, Margatha." The Doctor said, his eyes darkening and narrowing with anger. "If any harm comes to my friends..." "It's alright, Doc-tor." Came Altaar's more reasonable voice from the doorway. "Stand down, Margatha. We have no need for your weapons or threats here." "I'm telling, you, Altaar. We cannot trust this Doctor." They heard Margatha protest. A light came on in the room. "It's alright everyone. Let's stay calm." Altaar reassured them, acting the part of the diplomat. "You will not be harmed. I give you my personal guarantee. Come, Doc-tor. Let me release you from your cell, so we can have our little talk. That is, if you're still agreeable after what Margartha just did. For shame, young lady. You broke your promise to leave your weapons on the ship. Have you young people no sense of respect or honour anymore? Tsk-tsk-tsk, what are the universes coming to, these days? River, Amy and Rory all turned to face the doorway. As they moved aside, this gave the Doctor a view of his kidnappers for the very first time. What the three of them saw were a pair of humanoid aliens with tall, slightly domed heads and long ginger coloured hair done up in dreadlocks. Their noses and mouths were just like any other humans, and the pair's almond shaped eyes were a piercing blue. But there, all semblance to Earth humans ended. That's because these people had leathery orange skin, and six long, thin webbed fingers. Their clothing reminded Rory of something out of a sixties or seventies science-fiction television programme. The man, whom appeared to be quite old, stood tall and dignified. He wore a black Cossack style shirt with wine red trim and silver buttons. Around his neck was a jeweled chain of office, seemingly made of rubies and diamonds. Across his chest was a wide black leather belt studded with decorative silver badges of office. Attached to this on his left side, was a black leather scabbard carrying what appeared to be an old-fashioned rapier with an engraved silver hilt. He also had what seemed to be some kind of communications device strapped to his wrist. His trousers were well-tailored with flared bell bottoms and a wine red stripe going down the outside leg. On his feet he wore shiny black ankle high boots. The woman seemed tense and impatient. She was considerably younger than the man, and much less formally attired. She was wearing dark teal blue, low-cut form-fitting top, trimmed in black. The tight black skirt went only halfway down to her knees. Rory stared unconsciously at alien's shapely legs, which were encased in sexy black tights. Until Amy cleared her throat and nudged him. Unlike Altaar, Margatha wore dark burgundy leather knee-high boots. Around her waist was strapped a utility belt with assorted pouches and a holster for her proton pistol. She too, had some sort of device strapped to her left wrist. Amy noticed a few decorative gold and black jet bangles on the right wrist, which seemed to be Margartha's only concession to decoration. Altaar strode over to the Doctor and released him from his bonds. River stepped forward and helped a stiff and sore Doctor to his feet. Making a face, he gave out a small groan and rubbed his back. "You're going to do your back in again, if you keep getting yourself tied up and thrown into dungeons." River lightly scolded him. "I've never hurt my back." The Doctor said indignantly. "You will do." River said knowingly. "Are you alright, Doctor?" Altaar asked anxiously. "Yeah, cheers, Altaar. No worries." He said, already striding towards the door. Then he stopped so abruptly that Amy, who was following behind him, almost crashed into his back. She quickly stepped backwards and rolled her eyes at Rory. He shrugged his silent agreement. Whirling about, the grinned and pointed his two fingers at the alien man. "Thanks for releasing me Altaar. You da' man! So tell me, man, where can we go for our little schmooze session? I'm burning with curiosity to know just what was so urgent that you needed to kidnap me right out of my own TARDIS." Again, he turned on his heels and brushing past Margatha, headed out the door. "That was some fearsome technology, by the way. I thought only the Daleks could do that." Unnoticed by anyone else, Altaar and Margatha both exchanged startled glances. They watched as the Doctor turned right through the doorway. "Wrong way, Doctor." Margatha said sneeringly. "How do you pilot your ship with such a poor sense of direction?" The Doctor choose to ignore the question, as well as the low snorts and chuckles coming from Amy, Rory and River. He simply did a clipped about-face and carried on walking. They were in a mid-sized conference room. There was a long black table with a built-in computer work surface. It was surrounded by standard office chairs. Around the drab, gray-walled room were a few small neutral coloured sofas and some exotic potted plants. Amy thought it looked boring. Not at all what she thought the inside of an alien space complex would be like. Except for the futuristic table, the plants and the view, it could have been a room in any in any office block on Earth. There was a large window overlooking the barren rocky surface of the planet. The Doctor was about to sit down, when suddenly he ran to the window. "Oh no!" He cried out in dismay. The Doctor was stood there, face pressed up against the finito glass, like a child looking through a toy shop window at Christmas. Only, it wasn't a toy he was staring at out on the planet's surface. It was a Dalek battle saucer. "That important thing I was trying to tell you about, back there?" River said quietly, as she stood behind him. She was also staring nervously out the window. "That was it."
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