CULT OF THE CYBER MESSIAH

Chapter Thirteen

"Well, here goes nothing," the Doctor said.

They were hidden behind a group of TVs about thirty feet from the entrance of the building. Edison had pulled one of them down to the ground and Max was on it, listening in. The Doctor, who had the imager off, glanced at him.

"Go in ahead of me and turn off any alarms and deactivate the damper and the blocks, alright?"

"Alright," Max said.

The screen winked out. The Doctor looked at the others.

"Since he's doing that, we'll all have to shield our minds including me so the Cyber Messiah won't feel us. Jack, come here, I have to do the shielding for you."

He nodded and came forward. Edison watched, fascinated, while the Doctor put his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes. While he was doing that everyone else went ahead and threw up a block around their minds. After a minute, the Doctor opened his eyes and lowered his hands.

"Shielded," he said to him.

He threw up a block around his own mind and turned the imager on.

"Okay," he said in his own voice. "I have my screwdriver and the mobile. Let me see the maps one more time."

Edison handed him the maps and he studied them, committing the details to memory. After a couple of minutes, he nodded and handed them back to Edison.

"Okay, I'm ready now," he said.

He kissed Rain and squeezed her hand before he stood up and quickly dashed to the entrance. The others sat in a huddle and watched him go. He reached the door, tried it, used the sonic screwdriver on it and disabled the CCTV camera just inside it. He unlocked the other door and ran across the lobby. He headed down a corridor towards the elevator. Beside it was the door to the stairs. He went inside the door and headed down to the basement level. When he got to it, he stepped off the last step and walked over the dirty linoleum floor scanning it with his screwdriver. His screwdriver finally picked up a reading and he walked over to the spot. On the floor there was a series of thin cracks in a rectangle. The Doctor smiled as he knelt down and put his fingers in a tiny groove in the floor. He pulled and the section of floor swung up to reveal the entrance to the shelter. There was a metal ladder going down. The Doctor looked around the bottom of it but couldn't see anyone guarding it. He put his feet on the rungs of the ladder and climbed down. He reached the bottom, turned and saw he was in a tiny room with a huge metal door at the other end of it. He walked over to the door, grabbed the metal wheel that operated the lock and with a grunt, turned it. Once it was turned all the way, he slowly opened it a crack and peeked inside. he couldn't see anyone on the right side of the door so he opened it up more, tensing his body in case someone was on the other side waiting for him to emerge. He squeezed through it and quickly jerked his head around but no one was there. The moment he stepped through, he instantly felt the mind of his sister and the Cyber Messiah. He breathed a sigh of relief knowing Awinita was still alive. He turned to close the door and noticed it was built into the wall and when he shut it the seam was hidden as if it wasn't there.

"So that's where the exit is, eh?" he muttered to himself. "Very clever indeed."

He looked around, committing the location to memory before heading off.

"Now, my sister, time to get you the hell out of this place," he muttered to himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thomas walked out of Awinita's room. He had told her about the Cyber Messiah wanting to starve her and she took it well. He figured she'd been tortured so much in the past month that the starvation was just one more thing she had to deal with. He did tell her about Max and she was overjoyed about that, hoping that meant her family would come to rescue them. Thomas tried to correct her and tell her he didn't deserve to be rescued but she was adamant that the Doctor take him too.

"You don't belong here, Thomas," she said. "You're not like them. You've taken care of me the best you could and you're my friend. I'm not letting Bro leave here without you."

After taking her to the bathroom, she had drifted off to sleep and Thomas decided to go rest a moment and see if he could sneak some food off before they put locks on everything. He walked out, closing the door behind him and headed down the corridor. He reached the end of it, turned and stopped short. There was a mirror image of himself standing in front of him.

"What the hell?" Thomas murmured.

"Hello, Thomas," the Doctor said in his own voice.

"Who are you?"

"You don't recognize my voice? After all, you did tell me to piss off and get out of your flat after I got angry at you."

Thomas was stunned.

"Doctor?" he said.

"The one and the only."

"How…how the hell did you…"

"I'll explain how I managed the disguise later. First things first, where is Awinita?"

"Her room's down this other hallway. Follow me."

The Doctor followed behind him. Thomas walked up to the corner, glanced at him and looked around the corner to make sure there was no one around. He nodded to the Doctor and he followed him back to Awinita's room. He opened the door, the Doctor stepped inside and his hearts nearly burst from his chest when he saw his sister asleep in bed. He waited until Thomas had come inside and shut the door before he reached up and turned off the imager. Ignoring the stunned expression on Thomas's face, he walked over and bent over, laying his hand on his sister's head. He smiled when he noticed she was sleeping peacefully and gave her a feather light kiss on her temple.

"Awinita," he said in her ear.

"Mmmm?" Awinita murmured in her sleep.

"It's me, Te'lesu, it's the Doctor. I'm here."

He rubbed her arm while Awinita slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Bro?"

He smiled and nodded. He laid his forehead against hers and sent love into her mind when he saw her eyes misting up.

"I've missed you so much, my sister," he whispered to her. "All of us have. Our hearts have been aching for you this past month."

"Mine too," Awinita said.

"Are you ready to get away from this place?"

"Hell, yes," she said as he chuckled.

He lowered the bedrail, pulled back the covers and was relieved when he saw the restraints were off. He helped her to sit up and sat down beside her while they embraced. While he held her, he looked at Thomas who was still by the door.

"What have they done to her?" he said.

"They've whipped her, beat her, shocked her, put her head underwater repeatedly and now they're starving her."

The Doctor held her protectively.

"I'll stop him, Te'lesu, I'll make sure he won't hurt you or anyone else again," he said to Awinita.

He noticed the glazed look in her eyes.

"They're still drugging her?" he said.

"Yes, usually they put it in her food but she hasn't had anything since last night since they're not going to feed her anymore. I gave her two turkey sandwiches and some milk but that was ordinary food from the fridge."

"Thank you for feeding her then," the Doctor said.

"Well at the time I didn't know they were starving her and I got yelled at for doing that but I don't care. I was heading back to the kitchen to see if I could sneak out more food before they put locks on everything and that's when I ran into you."

"Bro, he's not like them. He's taken care of me. He couldn't protect me from the torture because they would have tortured and killed him but he's helped me and healed me and he's been a friend. He doesn't belong here either. Please let him come with us."

The Doctor nodded.

"Thank you," she murmured.

He smiled and kissed her temple. He looked at Thomas.

"I'm grateful to you for doing this. For looking after her."

"It's no problem. Awinita's a sweet girl."

"That she is. I do need your help though. Edison and the rest of our family are waiting outside and I can get her out the real exit and back to them where she'll be safe but I need some information about the Cyber Messiah and I need you to tell me where he's usually at."

"That's not a problem. I wanna see him go down in the worse way. Whatever you need me to do I'll do it."

"Thank you," he said. "I'm glad you're not like the rest of them."

"Well, I was being watched closely in the apartment so I couldn't tell you anything and I was being monitored when I went to kidnap one of you. Everyone around me has been brainwashed, except me. The brainwashing didn't take on me but I don't let on, obviously."

"Interesting that it didn't," the Doctor said. "You have quite a strong mind if you're able to resist something like that."

"I guess so," Thomas said, shrugging.

The Doctor looked at Awinita.

"Do you need me to carry you, Te'lesu?" he said with concern.

"You might have to, Bro. I can walk and the drug is wearing off but I'm not gonna be that fast."

He nodded.

"Don't worry, the real exit isn't far from here," he said.

"Where is it?" Awinita said.

"Yeah, where is the door?" Thomas said.

The Doctor looked at him.

"You don't know?"

"Like I told her, they blindfold and hood everyone who has to go out and they get led out. Then they drive them so I really don't know where I am or anything around me."

"You're in a fallout shelter under the ground," the Doctor said.

"We are? Oh, well I know we have to go up a ramp but I didn't know it was underground. No wonder there aren't any windows in here."

"Ramp? I came down a metal ladder, must be another way up then. And they must have added it because I didn't see it on the map," the Doctor mused.

Keeping his arm firmly around Awinita's middle, he helped her to stand.

"Te'lesu, will you let me pull up your gown so I can take a look at where he whipped you?"

Awinita nodded. Thomas came forward to her front and the Doctor let him put his hands on her sides and turn her so her back was facing him. He and Thomas pulled up the gown until it was just under her arms. Thomas held her while the Doctor looked. His hearts ached when he saw the scars crisscrossing her back and he seethed inwardly wanting nothing more than to do the same to the Cyber Messiah. He put his hand on Awinita's shoulder.

"Remember what I did for Rain when I got rid of her scars? I'll do that for you as well and your back will be good as new," he said.

"You have a way to make those permanently disappear?"

"Yes, I do."

"Thank God," Thomas breathed.

Awinita looked around at him.

"Do the same for him, Bro. he has old whip scars too," she said.

"You don't have to," Thomas said.

"It's no problem. It won't take that long and it's painless. Your skin will be as good as new," the Doctor said.

"Thank you then, I appreciate you doing that."

"Well, least I can do for you since you took care of Awinita for us."

They pulled down her gown and the Doctor sat her back down before gathering her in his arms and picking her up. Awinita giggled which made the Doctor grin.

"What?" he said.

She clasped her hands in front of her.

"My hero!" she said in a melodramatic falsetto voice. "At last you've come to rescue me!"

"Nice to know they didn't whip the sense of humor outta ya," he said fondly while she giggled.

She put her arms around him while he sent love into her mind. He nodded at Thomas and he opened the door and glanced out. Seeing no one was around they hurried out. Thomas shut the door back and they ran down the hallway. Thomas looked around the corner and when no one was there, nodded at the Doctor and he took the lead, leading him to the entrance. Once they were there, he sat Awinita's feet on the ground and held her close while he used his screwdriver to trip the lock and open the door.

"I'll be damned, it was in the wall," Thomas said. "And I walked by it a million times since I've been down here."

"You and everyone else I expect," the Doctor said.

All of them stepped inside and the Doctor shut the door. Keeping the mental block up, he reached out to Alan's mind.

Te'lesau, I need you to come into the building, down to the entrance of the shelter. I have Awinita but I'm gonna need help. You have to climb a metal ladder to get up to the building and she's drugged and weak.

On my way, Brother.

He looked back at Thomas.

"Help is coming. I just told my brother to come and help us," he whispered to him.

He held Awinita protectively, rubbing her back while he talked to Thomas about the Cyber Messiah.

"So you are allowed to enter his quarters without being summoned?" the Doctor said to him.

"Yes, but usually that ends up pissing him off. Still, if you're gonna do that, say it's an emergency of some kind or you have news. But that might not work since I've been confined here for a month."

"Has anyone else been outside?"

"Yes."

"So I could tell him that I have news that someone else relayed to me then."

"Yeah, that could work. But you have to go and get on your knees even though most of the time he's behind a heavy screen and can't see you."

The Doctor snorted.

"Well, that's because he's an egotistical megalomaniac, Thomas, of course he wants people to fawn over him whether or not he can see them."

He looked up when the hatch opened up and he saw Alan's face.

"Awinita," he said.

Awinita looked up at him.

"Little Bro, oh God, it's good to see you."

"Ditto, Sis."

He scrambled down the ladder and embraced her. He lowered his head to her shoulder and hugged her tightly.

"I've missed you so much," Alan said. "From here on out, you will never, never go to the restroom again. You will hold it in so you won't leave our sight."

Awinita laughed.

"What if I wet myself?"

"You wet yourself then," Alan said while she slapped his back.

Alan glanced at Thomas.

"Max said you've been taking care of her, thank you."

"Not a problem," he replied.

Alan gave her one more squeeze.

"Oh, come on, Te'lesu, the rest of the family is waiting for ya," he said.

He glanced up at the hole.

"I see the problem with getting her out."

"I can try to climb out," Awinita said.

"No, Sis, you're drugged up. You might miss a step and fall," Alan said. "But are you strong enough to hang on to me?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Okay."

The Doctor helped steady her while Alan turned around so his back was facing her.

"Okay, Te'lesu, put your arms around my neck and hang on. I'm gonna climb up and hopefully this will work."

Awinita put her arms around him and gripped her arms. Alan looked at the Doctor.

"Climb up behind me just in case."

He nodded. Alan walked over to the ladder and began to go up while the Doctor stood beside it.

"Good so far?" The Doctor asked him.

"Yes, so far," he replied.

When he was halfway up, the Doctor began to climb and followed him. Awinita held on for dear life and Alan switched to his respiratory bypass system so she could keep a firm hold on him. He managed to get her out and Awinita let go of him. They stood up and he quickly took hold of her while the Doctor watched from the hatch.

"One down, one to go. Now you just gotta find Nelak," Alan said.

"Oh, trust me, I'm gonna make the Cyber Messiah tell me," he said. "Can you handle her from here?"

"Yeah, I can get her up the steps, no problem."

"Good because Thomas and I still have some unfinished business down here."

"Good luck, Brother."

"Thanks," the Doctor said. "And Awinita?"

Awinita looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"You get some rest because I'm still gonna have a big homecoming party for ya," he said.

She giggled.

"Good, I can't wait."

Alan helped lower her to her knees and she embraced the Doctor.

"Be careful, please," she said to him.

"I will, I promise."

She looked down at Thomas.

"You too, Thomas. Be careful so you can come back to the TARDIS in one piece."

"I will, Nita."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Nita?" he said to Alan.

Alan grinned and shrugged.

Awinita gave the Doctor a kiss on the cheek and he returned it before she let go. Alan gathered her into his arms and he nodded goodbye at the Doctor. The Doctor watched them go back up the stairs and when they were out of sight, he grabbed the hatch and went down while he closed it. When he reached the last three rungs, he hopped off.

"Now, to business," he said to Thomas.

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