Untold Knowledge (Doctor Who x Genius Fem! Oc) [Book 1]

Chapter 63: The Runaway Bride

The elevator doors opened to reveal a green, eerily lit corridor. "Where are we? Well, what goes on down here?" Donna asked expectantly.

Echo shrugged with a playful smile. "Let's go snoop where we shouldn't and find out." she said with contangeous confidence, setting the red-head at ease for the time being. "Oh, goody. We even get to play with a few toys." She then eagerly went over to a Segway and got on; followed by everyone else. Lance and Donna got their own while Echo and her Doctor shared without objection.

Not long after did they arrive at a bulkhead door labeled 'Torchwood, Authorized personnel only' When the curious Doctor turned the wheel to open it, they found a ladder. "You all wait here. Just need to get my bearings. Don't do anything."

As he started up the ladder, Donna turned to Echo. "Are you worried he won't come back?" she whispered, unable to silence her own curiosity.

"I'm just enjoying the view." the brunette answered with a mischievous grin, then looked back up to her climbing Doctor. Donna smiled with sudden and intense fondness for them spreading through her system. 

Lance then turned his fiancé to look at him. "Have you thought about this?" he asked with a bothered attitude. Echo, however, sensed an underlying emotion she couldn't quite place yet. To be completely honest, she didn't care to do so. "Properly? I mean, this is serious! What the hell are we going to do?"

"Oh, I thought July." came her absent reply.

"I love July, so cozy. Although, I'd probably go with September. On a Tuesday. Or Friday. It's a toss up." the dimension hopper rambled freely. Before her beloved Time Lord crossed her unlikely path, she had always been avoidant of the mere thought of matrimony. The longer she was his, the less scary the subject became. It was nowhere near time for such a step; but it slowly became an actual possibility.

Not long after did the man in question return. "Thames Flood Barrier right on top of us. Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath." he informed, mainly to his love.

Donna furrowed her brow, "What, there's a secret base hidden beneath a major London landmark?"

"Oh, I know. Unheard of." he said sarcastically, then led them off to another door nearby. Upon entry, they found lots of bubbling tubes of all sizes. "Ooo. Look at this, my love. Stunning!"

Echo, too, looked around with an impressed gaze. The Huon particle occurrence then made sense. "What does it do?" the red-headed woman asked with great curiosity.

"You're correct; absolutely brilliant." the brunette woman said before explaining while examining. "They've been manufacturing the Huon particles via extrusion. His people got rid of them. Ever so meddlesome."

"Well, of course. They unraveled the atomic structure." he shot back at her without hesitation.

Confusion swept over Lance with the need to know more. "His people? Who are they? What company do you represent?" he practically demanded.

The Doctor gave him a brief glance. "Oh... We're just freelancers. But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river. Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result, Huon particles in liquid form." he swiftly changed the subject back to the more important subject at hand. He and his girl were looking at a small container of the water-like substance, wanting to know more quickly.

"And that's what's inside me?" Donna asked with intense concern. When they turned a knob at the top of the small container, the liquid glowed a bright gold. In response to the mild activation of the particles, she too glowed. "Oh, my God!"

Echo frowned at the reaction as her Doctor grew more fascinated. "Genius. Because the particles are inert, they need something living to catalyze inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then-- Ha!" he exclaimed as he jumped back enthusiastically. "The wedding! Yes! You're getting married, that's it! Best day of your life. Walking down the aisle. Oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside. Adrenaline, acetylcholine. Wham! go the endorphins! Oh, you're cooking! You're a walking oven. A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away. The particles reach boiling point. Shazam!" Unexpectedly and all deserving, Donna slapped him across the face to stop him. "Hey! What did I do this time?" he whined as Echo couldn't stop her twitch of a smile.