STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND

Chapter Ten

You coulda heard a pin drop. All around us, eyes were fixed on Donna and everyone was giving her their full attention while she held the gun under Marbella's chin. Donna looked smugly at the crowd.

"What's wrong?" she yelled. "You lot wanted to see someone die, didn't ya? You cheered when it was gonna be the Doctor's neck so why aren't you cheering now?"

I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked over at River. She leaned in close and whispered in my ear.

"Count of three, you, me and Amy run to the fire and grab some of the wood. We can use the torches to get everyone away from the Doctor," she whispered.

I nodded and tensed my muscles, readying myself to leap up and run to the fire. The guards and everyone else were too busy watching Donna so it was a total surprise when River counted three and the three of us leapt up and ran around the guards to the cauldron. I saw a piece of wood sticking out and grabbed it while Amy and River did the same. The fire wasn't burning very well on the other end until I quickly dipped the tip in the oil and put it back down in the fire again. Then the tip erupted in flame and I turned around. By now, River and Amy were menacing the guards with their torches and I joined in. I could see the Doctor was enjoying our rescue and when I looked at the crowd, I noticed that they were watching us as well. I thought for a moment maybe all of them were in shock before I figured that they probably just liked the show we were putting on.

While we held off the guards, the Doctor used the distraction to move in close to Marbella. I noticed a guard tried to go for Rory but Amy saw him as well and quickly stepped in front of him, fending him off with the burning torch.

"Aren't they brilliant?" I heard the Doctor say to Marbella. "Good help is so hard to find nowadays, don't you think?"

"You won't get away with this, Time Lord!" Marbella growled at him.

"Aw, come on, you can think of something more original than that!" the Doctor said, rolling his eyes. "Might as well say you'll never escape here alive or I will see you dead or something like that."

I turned my attention back to the guards on the sides of the platform who were now swarming up onto the steps after getting over their initial shock. I felt River come up beside me.

"Let's knock the cauldron over," she said to me. "The burning oil should be deterrent enough."

I nodded and we ran to it. We tried kicking it with our feet but the cauldron barely budged. We only succeeded in sloshing some of the oil over the side and we had to back away when some of the fire blazed up. River grabbed the end of a log on our side and threw it at several guards. They backed up for a moment but then stepped around it and kept on coming.

"I know the Doctor doesn't like guns but…" River muttered before she ran to one of the guards surrounding the Doctor.

She elbowed him in the face and took his gun from his holster. She then raised the gun up and shot into the sky, momentarily stopping the guards. Donna did the same thing before putting the gun back under Marbella's chin. The Doctor ordered the guards to back up or else and River fired into the sky again when they hesitated.

"Tell the guards to back away or you die," the Doctor growled at Marbella.

"Do as he says," Marbella said loudly.

I looked at the crowd surrounding the platform while the guards slowly left it and noticed they were still watching intently. Perhaps they've never seen prisoners fight back before. But whatever the reason, I was glad they were staying put. Donna kept her gun under Marbella's neck while the Doctor stood beside her. Amy stood near Rory, keeping him safe while he watched us. He still looked so weak and I knew the Doctor needed to get him back to the TARDIS. River was walking around the platform, gun in one hand and torch in the other, looking at all the guards who were now glaring at her from the sidelines.

"Rose?"

I looked at the Doctor when he called my name and he beckoned to me. He told River and Donna to keep an eye on Marbella for a moment while he guided me over towards Amy and Rory.

"That dimension cannon thing. Is there a way to go back to your universe?" he said softly to me.

"Yeah, I have a remote control that activates it and it takes me back," I said.

"Can it carry other people?"

I nodded and told them as long as they were touching me, it could.

"Can you come back to this universe or is it a random thing?" he asked.

"No, the cannon keeps the coordinates of each universe when we use it so I can save the coordinates and use them again," I said.

"Good. I need you to take Rory back to your Torchwood and see if you can mend him," the Doctor said. "I can't get to the TARDIS right now and he's a liability at the moment. He can't fight back and I need Amy. Can you take him back and have someone mend him for me?"

"What about you? What about all this?" I said, looking around.

The Doctor chuckled.

"Come on, Tyler, you know me better than that. This is easy peasy for me," he said. "I just need you to get Rory out of here and walking through the guards is too risky. Will you do that for me?"

"Do you want me to come back after Rory is in the medbay?" I asked.

The Doctor hesitated.

"Um…well, I don't know if you should leave him alone in Torchwood like that. I don't trust them that well. Can you give me the coordinates of your universe? Do you have the remote with you?"

I nodded and reached into my trouser pocket. I pulled out a little white device that sorta resembled an old Gameboy. It had a tiny monitor on it along with a keypad. The monitor displayed the coordinates for my old universe and the coordinates for whichever universe I landed in. I explained it to the Doctor and he nodded and told me he memorized both coordinates while he gave it back to me.

"We'll finish up here and use the TARDIS to cross the void and get Rory," he said to her. "Rory, go with Rose and see a whole new universe, should be fun!"

He kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for doing this while Amy helped Rory to stand up. Rory put his arm around my neck while I inputted a command to return to home base. I put my free arm around Rory's waist before I hit the enter button. I smiled at the Doctor before Rory and I faded away and began our journey back to Torchwood.

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