STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND

Chapter Four

Well, we walked up towards Donna and she turned her head to look at us. She didn't look alarmed so either the Doctor's disguise worked or like the Doctor said, she's just not one for paying attention. She was going to go back to her paperwork when the Doctor strode up to the desk and slammed his fist down on the side of it.

"What?" Donna said, annoyed.

"You're coming with us," the Doctor said.

"Why?" Donna challenged.

"Because…I said so and I outrank a temp," the Doctor said.

"For what reason?" Donna said. "I have paperwork to do and…"

"Sod the paperwork. I'm a big, bad guard and I outrank you," the Doctor said.

"What's wrong?" Donna said with a sickening sweetness, "need me to show you where the loo is now?"

I noticed the Doctor was grinning and Donna looked confused when he suddenly gave her a big hug.

"You never change, do ya? That's what I love about ya, Donna Noble," he said into her hair as he hugged her.

I really had to work to keep from laughing since Donna now looked creeped out by this stranger man hugging her tightly. Unsure of what to do, she slowly put her arms around him and gave him a brief hug in return.

"Yeah…I never…change," she said hesitantly. "Now could you let go and let me breathe?"

"Breathing's overrated," the Doctor said, letting go and leaning back up. "Come on, Noble, you're coming with us! Up, up, up and at em!"

"But I have paperwork!" Donna protested. "You're not my boss, you're just one of the peons who work here and I can't swan off and leave all this paper…"

The Doctor suddenly put his hands on the side of her head and Donna gasped as her eyes rolled up inside her head.

"What are you doing?" I said.

"Allowing her a semblance of memory so she'll cooperate with us," the Doctor said. "It's risky but we can't afford to dillydally here while she whinges about paperwork. I just hope this bit of memory release I'm giving her won't cause an overload in her mind."

He did something to her mind for a few minutes and then Donna woke up when he let go of her mind. I watched while she came to and blinked in confusion for a few seconds before looking at us. The Doctor took his helmet and glasses off and Donna stared at him. At first I thought it didn't work since she didn't seem to know who he was but then tears came to her eyes and she jumped up to embrace him.

"Where were you? Why did you leave me behind?" she said as she hugged him.

"I had to, Donna. You know the reason why. Even now I'm taking a big risk by doing this and the moment your mind starts short-circuiting, I'll have to take away the memories again. But Rose and I need your help. We need to find my friends. Where are the other prisoners because I've been in the torture chamber since I got here."

"This…is a prison?" Donna said, looking around.

"Yes, Donna, what'd you think it was?" the Doctor said.

"They told me it was an office building. A high security office building with lots of guards."

"I asked where the torture chamber was and you didn't think that was odd," I said.

"I thought it was a joke name for the break room or the boss's office," Donna said weakly.

"And the Doctor? What'd you think when they brought him in here?"

"It was at night, it must have been at night because I've never seen him until now," Donna said.

"They did bring us here during the night," the Doctor said to me. "So we can't fault her for not knowing I was here."

"But what about this…Argelion Regime or whatever it is," I said.

"The what?" Donna said.

"They don't call themselves that," the Doctor said to me. "I found out about them but they've been working in secret and infiltrating the government. There was a terrorist attack recently, wasn't there?" he said to Donna.

"Yeah," Donna said. "A bomb exploded on two of the tube platforms during rush hour and killed about a hundred people. Then several buses were blown up by suicide bombers. The government said they were posting guards everywhere for everyone's protection until the terrorists were found and they've been on the street and in a lot of buildings including this one. They told me that this place kept top secret documents so I assumed they were keeping watch in case terrorists decided to nick them."

"I'm afraid it's been a lie, Donna. This Argelion Regime is from another planet. I don't know who they are yet, but I know they're not from Earth."

"So what can I do to help?" Donna said, glancing at me before turning her focus back on the Doctor.

The Doctor grinned.

"You can be brilliant like always," the Doctor said. "So you have no clue where any prison cells might be in here?"

Donna shook her head.

"Then we'll have to find someone…Rose, I think we might have to speak to Jack again," he said to me.

"But he won't help, he wants to kill us," I said.

"I might be able to momentarily block what they've done and allow his old personality to emerge but it'll take time we don't have. But I don't have a choice. I don't want to arouse suspicion here. I think he'll still be unconscious so I'll tap into his unconscious mind and work with that. But enough talk. Come on, team, there's work to be done!"

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