Fighting Against Fire [One] (The Protector Chronicles)

The Long Game - II

The Doctor pulled his screwdriver out and started to work on getting the mainframe door open while the Protector watched. "We are so going to get in trouble," Cathica told them. "You're not allowed to touch the mainframe. You're going to get told off."

"Leah." The Doctor said in a bored tone.

The Time Lady rolled her eyes. "I'm not your tin dog."

"Close enough." He smirked.

The Protector narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you calling me a bitch? because it takes one to know one Doctor."

The Time Lord snorted at her. "I wasn't but when you put it that way..."

The Protector huffed as Cathica continued to moan about them as they continued to ignore her. "You can't just vandalise the place. Someone's going to notice!"

"They won't Cathica," the Doctor finally acknowledged her, "and if they do, it's the right people who notice."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The woman asked as the Doctor grinned when the door to the mainframe opened.

The Protector leaned against the wall, her arms casually crossed against her chest with her legs crossed at her ankles. "This is nothing to do with me." Cathica finally settled on as sparks flew when the Doctor soniced something. "I'm going back to work."

"Go on, then." The Doctor nodded, grinning. "See you!"

"I can't just leave you, can I!"

The Protector laughed at the woman going around in her own circles as Rose huffed. "If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling." She frowned. "What's wrong with this place? Can't they do something about it?"

Cathica shrugged. "I don't know. We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine."

The Protector smiled while shaking her head as the Doctor repeated the woman almost mockingly. "Something to do with the turbine."

"Well, I don't know!" She huffed.

"Exactly. I give up on you, Cathica." The Doctor stated and stopped sonicing for a moment to look at the woman. "Now, Rose. Look at Rose." He nodded at the blonde. "Rose is asking the right kind of question."

"Oh, thank you."

"Why is it so hot?" He questioned.

"One minute you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!"

"Well, never underestimate plumbing." The Doctor told her. "Plumbing's very important."

"And the two could easily be linked." The Protector cut in. "We can't walk past any coincidence right now, not when we don't know what we're dealing with."

The Doctor turned a monitor around showing the schematics for the station. "Here we go. Satellite Five, pipes and plumbing." He frowned as the Protector leaned closer to the monitor. "Look at the layout."

"This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core." Cathica scoffed. "You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange and you're looking at pipes?"

"But there's something wrong." The Protector frowned, squinting her eyes further at the monitor. "That's not right at all."

"What is it?" Rose questioned.

"It's the cooling ducts." She explained, crossing her arms and frowning further at the monitor. "They're all working flat out channelling large amounts of heat from the top to down here."

"Floor five hundred." Rose guessed.

The Time Lady nodded as the Doctor cut in. "Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat."