Doctor Who - Incarceration

Part Four - The Chase

The Doctor pulled them aside and around a corner, away from the immediate threat of attack. Whilst the sound of conflict was muffled slightly, it was still enough to require them to raise their voices so they could be heard. Clara found herself marvelling at the acoustics of the prison, which meant that a riot of millions of prisoners sounded to them like only thousands.

"What are you doing here?" he shouted at Jenny. "You died. I saw you. I checked the body, and I'm pretty good at spotting those sort of things, you know."

"Nice to see you too," she said with a smile. "Not pleased to see me at all?"

"Of course I am, I mean, I'm overjoyed to see you're alive. Just a bit confused as to how, unless..." He pointed a long finger at her. "Ooh. No, surely not. But...of course!"

Clara looked from one to the other. "Care to tell me what's going on?"

"Yes, of course," said the Doctor. "Jenny here was an accident."

"Hey!" Jenny protested.

"No offence, but you were a bit of a...Look, we were on this planet and they created new soldiers by extracting DNA. I just happened to stick my hand in the wrong place, and Jenny was born."

"Your hand, you say?" grinned Clara, nudging him.

"Yes, look. Oi!" He protested, finally understanding her point. He held up his right hand. "They extracted DNA from my hand and used it to create Jenny, here, as a fully formed soldier for their army in their mad little war. Thing is, though, Jenny is part Timelord, so she must have regenerated. That right?"

"Well, I was gone and then I came back," she said. "Happened a couple of times since then. Bit weird, but quite useful."

"Don't get used to it," said the Doctor. "You only have a finite number of them. Thirteen, to be precise; that's if you really are pure Timelord. You might have less, given you're not strictly speaking a proper Timelord."

"Erm," said Clara. "Should that be Timelady?"

Jenny beamed. "Timelady, I like that. Sounds important."

"Of course you're important," said the Doctor. "Everyone's important. Question right now is: how do we stay important and get out of here without getting killed?"

"Got any guns?" asked Jenny. "What's that?"

"It's a sonic screwdriver," said the Doctor, waving the instrument.

"A screwdriver? You bring a screwdriver to a fight?" She shook her head. "That's right, I forgot; you're not much of a fighter, are you?"

"That's not necessarily a bad thing," frowned the Doctor. "Violence isn't always the answer to everything."

"I agree," Jenny said. "That's one thing you taught me, before you ran away and left me. But I'd be interested in knowing what non-violent way you'd like to deal with all those horrible people fighting out there."

The Doctor grinned. "That's the beauty of dealing with violent people. Non-violent solutions are usually the last thing they expect!"

The two girls stared at the Doctor. "Well?" asked Clara.

"I'm thinking," he said, staring at his sonic screwdriver. His eyes widened as he noticed a group of grim-faced prisoners storming toward them. "Run!" he shouted.

They turned and ran back down the corridor, doubling back round corner after corner as their pursuers gained on them.

"That's your plan?" asked Jenny. "Run?"

"Never failed me before," panted the Doctor. He held up the sonic screwdriver, staring at the display on its side before pointing at another branching corridor. "This way."

As they ran, they became aware of a pounding noise from behind them, as though a particularly heavy hammer were striking repeatedly against the floor. "What's that?" shouted Clara.

"I'd guess that the facility's going into lock-down," called the Doctor. "That'll be the blast doors coming down, containing the disruption. So keep up!"

He turned to beckon them on, only to be faced with a huge metal door clanging shut only a few paces away, in between him and Clara. He turned to look at Jenny, who had slid to a halt just in front of him. "No," he shouted. "No, no, no!" He waved the sonic screwdriver vainly at the featureless steel barrier.

"Just knew that was going to happen," muttered Clara at the other side of the barrier. Then, louder: "Doctor! Can you hear me?" Her voice echoed back and around her, but no sound came from the other side. For want of anything else to do, she gave the barrier a push. "Yep," she muttered. "That's one pretty solid door."

She examined the sides where it met the wall but the whole thing was seamless, with not even a line to show where, just a few moments before, there had been a yawning gap.

"Great," she muttered. "What does he always say? Stay here, don't wander off?" She looked around, the sounds of rioting still ringing in the far distance. "Very well, Doctor, this time I think I'll follow your advice..."

There was a shuffling sound from behind her: footsteps on metal, plus something else. She turned slowly, her eyes widening as she took in the sight in front of her.