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Considering the high-profile event taking place downstairs, it had been very easy for the trio to find an empty, unguarded lab. Danni had expected there to be more time spent trying to find one, after all not everything was shown on screen, but it still all felt a little convenient as the Doctor took them practically direct into the laboratory and they helped themselves to the equipment.
Well, perhaps not 'they'. Danni had never been that great at science and Martha was happy to let the Doctor do what he needed if it meant they got answers quicker. He slipped on his 'I'm Clever' glasses and got to work examining Lazarus's DNA. Soon enough the results were on the computer screen he'd been using. Maybe she should get him to show her how to do stuff more in depth, just in case she ever needed to do it.
"Amazing," he breathed.
"What?" Martha asked. She was a smart woman, but even this was beyond her expertise.
"Lazarus's DNA."
"I can't see anything different," she said.
"Look at it!"
They all watched as the strand of DNA being shown flexed and warped, taking on a different shape with different coloured molecules.
"Oh my God! Did that just change?" Martha exclaimed. "But it can't have. It's impossible."
"Says the woman travelling in a time machine," Danni muttered. "It's not a good sign, though, that it's still changing, is it?"
The Doctor shook his head. "That's two impossible things we've seen tonight," he pointed out before grinning at Danni. "Don't you love it when that happens?"
"Three," she corrected. He looked slightly confused and she waved down herself. "I'm one big walking impossible thing, Spaceman."
He paused for a moment before grinning again, happy with all the impossible things that were happening around him. It wasn't like he went looking for trouble, but he thrived in it, especially when he had friends by his side.
"That means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns," Martha stated, staring to see if the DNA changed again. They did.
"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilise the cell structure then a mutagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strand," the Doctor explained to the pair.
"Want to slow it down for us non Time Lords?" Danni asked.
"Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate."
"And made himself regenerate," she finished. "But it hadn't worked properly because he's still… well, look at it!" She motioned to the screen. "That's not right, is it? He didn't even get a new face! It's just his old one, but younger."
"'Cause he missed something," the Doctor replied. "Something in his DNA has been activated and won't let him stabilise. Something that's trying to change him."
"Change him into what?" Martha asked.
"I dunno but I think we need to find out.
"That woman said they were going upstairs," Danni said, remembering the horrid way Lazarus treated his wife just because she was old.
"Let's go!" he exclaimed, slamming his hands on the desk before turning and running out. Danni and Martha followed a fraction of a second later, Danni rolling her eyes.
"You know," she panted to Martha, "I hate running. It was my worst thing in school. And now look, running after a madman in a blue box. I must be bloody crazy."
Martha laughed, panting lightly herself. "We both are," she reassured her friend as the found the Doctor waiting impatiently by a lift door, tapping his foot as he watched the numbers climb down.
"Come on," he hissed and it dinged, the doors opening slowly. He stepped in, dragging Danni with him and pressed the button for the top floor. The assent went much to slowly for all of them and, once they reached the top floor, Martha was out of the doors before they'd even had a chance to open fully, the Doctor and Danni right behind her.
Danni couldn't quite shift the pit in her stomach that something very bad was going to happen. She was sure that the monster that Lazarus became didn't happen until he was with Tish – who she should have probably warned, now that she thought about it – but what else could have happened here?
The office was dark and large, with a model of an old cathedral on one table and some fine art dotted around. The Doctor located a light switched and flipped it on, showing how the antique wooden furniture contrasted the modern chrome and glass of the building.
"This is his office, all right," Martha said as she took in the room.
"So, where is he?"
"Dunno, let's try at the re—" She trailed off as she looked over at the desk, spotting two skeletal legs poking out from behind it. "-ception."
Danni caught sight of them too and blanched, her stomach rolling as she remembered what had happened in the office. "Oh no," she whispered. How could she have forgotten? She'd watched this episode more times than she could count.
The Doctor and Martha rushed over, crouching down by the body but she could only approach slowly. She didn't want to see the body, but morbid curiosity almost beckoned her forward.
"Is that Lady Thaw?" Martha asked the Doctor.
"Used to be. Now it's just a shell. Had all the life energy drained out," he replied before looking up at her. "Like squeezing the juice out of an orange."
"Lazarus," Martha breathed in realisation and the Doctor nodded.
"Could be."
"So he's changed already?"
"Not necessarily," the Doctor replied. "You saw the DNA. It was fluctuating. The process must demand energy. This might not have been enough."
"Oh god."
They looked up at Danni, who couldn't take her eyes off the corpse in front of them. There barely anything left of her, with only her clothes giving any indication of who she had once been. She looked mummified, like she had been there for thousands of years.
Was this all her fault? Did, in forgetting this moment, she cause this death? Was that now all on her shoulders too? Could she even stop it? Should she even stop it? Her head spun with all the thoughts jumping around, all the questions and worries that stemmed from seeing the body of woman she hadn't saved.
The Doctor shared a look with Martha, not used to Danni being so out of her depth. He stood up and walked over, taking both of her hands in his. "Hey, it's alright," he reassured her calmly. "He's not here. You're safe."
She shook her head minutely. "I... The last time I saw this it didn't bother me," she told him, her shaking increasing. "I just thought, 'oh, they'll stop him, it doesn't matter'. But look at her! He killed her!" Her voice broke as she started crying. "She's a real person, and I didn't care! Oh god, I'm a monster!" She tore her hands away from his so she could hold her head in them, sobbing heavily and blocking the view of the woman from herself. She didn't want to look at her anymore. On television she had just been a lady who had been in Coronation Street, and the corpse just a prop. But here, she had been someone. A real person who had lived and probably had a family, and now she was dead. The Doctor stared at her in shock before pulling her in for a hug, looking over her shoulder at Martha who looked just as bewildered.
"You are not a monster," he told her gently as she clung to him, shaking her head. "No, listen to me." He tilted her head up. "You're not a monster, you care now, don't you?" She nodded, biting her lip and he smiled gently. "Then that's all that matters, isn't it? When it actually happened, you cared. We can't help her, but we can stop him before he does it again, can't we?" She nodded again, sniffing slightly. She pulled away to wipe her tears off her cheeks. "And that's the Danni-Girl I've always known. The girl who always cared, okay?"
She blushed slightly at being flattered, but nodded again all the same. His kind, reassuring smile really did help whoever saw it, didn't it? She wasn't sure what she would have done if it had been anyone else's time line she was stuck travelling around, but she was so happy it was the Doctor. He didn't let her go and she was grateful that, for a moment, his focus was all on her. He just wanted to make her feel better.
"Hold on, so he might do this again?" Martha stated, registering what the Doctor had said to Danni. He blinked, also realising that had something very important to be doing, and he let go of Danni. They rushed over to the lifts and he began hammering the button again to take them back downstairs, the moment between the pair gone.
~0~0~0~
The party downstairs was still running calmly and smoothly, which said that nothing bad had happened yet. The Doctor ran out first, hoping to find Lazarus before he killed anyone else like his wife. Martha was fast behind him, but Danni immediately started looking for the rest of the Jones family. Her legs felt just a little too shaky to continue running around. She knew Tish was safe, even if she was with Lazarus, but she still didn't know where the line of her interfering was. Everything felt so big and… and… someone had died. She'd been around dead people and she had barely paid attention. Now, though, it was all that she could think about.
She grabbed Martha's arm before she could get too far away. "Your brother," she muttered. "Talk to your brother."
Leo had already spotted them and walked over a smug look on his face. "Hey, you alright Marth? I think mum wants to talk to you," he greeted with a taunt in his voice that came from years of teasing his siblings.
Martha didn't pay it any attention. "Have you seen Lazarus anywhere?"
"Yeah. He was getting cosy with Tish a couple of minutes ago," he explained. Martha stared at him, mouth open as the Doctor joined them, followed by Martha's mother.
"With Tish?" she exclaimed, pointedly looking at the Doctor.
"Ah, Doctor," her mother drawled but he ignored her as Danni tugged on his arm.
"They went upstairs to the roof," she told him.
With a nod he pushed passed Mrs Jones, spilling her champagne all down her arm. Danni winced as Martha followed him. "I'm so sorry, Mrs Jones," she tried but she was much more bothered about the man that Martha was following so obediently.
"Doctor!" she shouted after him. "I'm speaking to you!"
"He's just rude, there's nothing else to worry about," Danni told her.
"Who is he?" she demanded. "Who are you?" and Danni shrugged.
"Good question," she replied. "We're just her friends, I promise. But I've got to…"
She motioned after them before running off as well, catching them just as the door to the elevators opened again. She stepped in after the pair and the Doctor began jabbing the button to take them back upstairs.
"You should be nicer to her mum," she warned it. "It'll bite you in the arse later on if you're not."
"Yeah, killer human mutation on the loose, don't really have time to worry about mothers," he retorted. "Plus, I'm sure saving her daughter will calm her down."
"She doesn't know her daughter is in danger," Danni pointed out as they zoomed up to the roof.
"Well, she wouldn't be if you'd just told us where she was in the first place," the Doctor said sharply.
"Oi," she snapped. "I'm still getting used to the rules of this whole 'traveling along your timeline' thing. It's not like she's in immediate danger. You're the one who is always going on about messing with time. Tell me, what should I have done?"
He sighed. "Are they definitely on the roof?" he asked. She nodded.
"About to snog, if I remember correctly," she replied. Martha looked horrified.
"You what?!"
"Don't worry. She's fine," Danni replied. She glanced up at the numbers ticking ever higher. "Also, two words for you. Jackie. Tyler."
The Doctor winced, absentmindedly reaching up to his cheek as he remembered the blonde mother slapping his Ninth self. That had really hurt.
"Okay, I will worry about her later," he conceded.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor almost forced the lift doors open as the three of them burst into the office, but a quick glance around told them neither Tish nor Lazarus were there.
"Any idea how to get to the roof?" Martha asked Danni who shook her head.
"I only know that's where they are," she explained.
The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver. "Fluctuating DNA will give off an energy signature. I might be able to pick it up," he explained as he began slowly turning on the spot as he scanned the area. The sonic began beeping wildly to signal it had picked up something and he stopped. "Got him!"
He followed the signal, the two women on his tail as he dashed across the room to a door with the staircase behind it. They rushed up to find Tish and Lazarus looking out over London.
"Still can't take it in," Tish told him as she tentatively stroked his cheek, amazed.
"I'm still adjusting myself," Lazarus admitted. "I've been working toward it for too many years, it's hard to believe the moment has finally arrived."
"And is it like you expected?"
He regarded her for a moment before he put his hands in his pockets. "I find that nothing's ever exactly like you expect," he replied. "There's always something to surprise you. 'Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act—'"
"'Falls the shadow,'" the Doctor finished for him, alerting the pair to the trio's presence. They turned, Lazarus looking at them with a smirk while Tish just seemed confused.
"So, the mysterious Doctor knows his Eliot. I'm impressed," he said sarcastically.
"Martha, what are you doing here?" Tish asked.
"Tish, get away from him," Martha told her firmly, motioning to her side.
"What?" Tish said with the tone of an outraged older sister. "Don't tell me what to do."
"I wouldn't have thought you had time for poetry, Lazarus, what with you being busy defying the laws of nature and all," the Doctor commented.
"You're right, Doctor. One lifetime's been too short for me to do everything I'd like. How much more would I get done in two or three or four?" he replied.
"Doesn't work like that," Danni said, taking the Doctor's line from him. She hoped he wouldn't mind. "Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It's not the time that mattes; it's the person."
The Doctor looked down at her, wondering if she had somehow managed to read his mind, whereas Lazarus smirked at her. She bit her lip, a flash of Lady Haw's corpse running through her head, and she stepped back instinctively towards the Doctor.
"But if it's the right person, what a gift that would be," Lazarus pointed out.
"Or what a curse," the Doctor said. Lazarus's glare hardened. "Look at what you've done to yourself."
"Who are you to judge me?" he demanded.
"Over here, Tish," Martha tried again at the look of anger on his face and Tish stormed over to her.
"You have to spoil everything, don't you?" she accused, reminding Martha of every teenage argument they'd ever had. "Every time I find someone nice, you have to go and find fault."
Martha stared at her sister, incredulous. "Tish, he's a monster!"
"I know the age thing's a bit freaky, but it works for Catherine Zeta-Jones."
"She-She really means that," Danni stuttered out as Lazarus flailed on the floor, his limbs growing and his skin cracking. On the television it had been rather questionable CGI, with the actor's face plastered over the top of a computerised monster. In real life you could see the pain of the transformation, hear each bone break as it changed shape. Soon, towering over them, was a large scorpion man with a sharp pointed tail and claws. He reared up, roaring loudly.
"Run!" the Doctor cried, grabbing Danni by the hand and pulling her back inside. Martha and Tish were hot on their trail and the moment they were all together, the Doctor pushed Danni at his friend. Martha took hold of her and Danni was very happy to be pulled along and away from the monster she hadn't been able to tear her eyes from. The Doctor slammed the door shoot, sonicking the lock. She didn't look where they were going until he was following. She didn't want him to get trapped behind them.
Martha jabbed the button for the lift a few times, in the way people seemed to do as if it would make it come quicker. She looked at her sister, who was panting lightly.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Tish nodded. "I was gonna snog him," she replied. Martha relaxed slightly as, seeing that she was more worried about almost snogging a monster rather than almost being killed by one, she could fully focus on getting them all away from it.
The lights dimmed and Danni's hand tightened on hers. "He's getting in!" she cried.
"Security breach. Security breach. Security beach," called an automated voice over the PA system, joined by the sound of alarms blaring.
"What's happening?" Martha asked.
"Uh, an intrusion," Tish replied unsurely. "It triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts. Seals the exits."
The Doctor looked up towards the roof, where he could hear Lazarus bang against the door he locked. It was metal and strong, but only against the average strength of a human. Lazarus was neither average nor a human at this point. "The stairs, come on!" he instructed and they abandoned the lift. Martha and Tish bolted for the stairs but Danni didn't follow, staring up at the door Lazarus was breaking through. Her feet felt like lead; she wasn't sure if she was ever going to move again. Was she just going to drop into every episode, one minute away from her potential death?
The Doctor had started going down the stairs but, when he glanced back to see if she was following, saw her frozen in the spot. "Danni, come on!" he snapped, grabbing her hand and pulling her after him. "What is wrong with you tonight?!"
"It's just hitting… Um…" She looked back again. The door was going to give way any moment now. She turned around and looked at the man dragging her down the stairs instead. Even the sight of the back of his head was strangely calming. He was the Doctor. Her many years of watching his show and reading his books had told her that, whilst still incredibly dangerous, as long as you were by his side you were still in the safest place. She just had to calm herself down. "It's just hitting me how real this all actually is," she explained. "Just pull me along. Once I stop freaking out about the huge fucking monster chasing us, I'm sure I'll be of some use!"
The door broke off its hinges and she yelled slightly in fright. It was just a monster. It was just a man. "He's inside!" Martha exclaimed as they made their way down to the ground floor. Lazarus roared, breaking down the railings that lined the staircase.
"I think we've all noticed that!" Danni cried in reply.
"Haven't got much time!" the Doctor said, leading them back into the reception room. It was still full of guests, all of whom were causing a bit of a commotion over the alarms and the noise. They stopped in the middle of the room as he looked around, looking for a plan. He had a million small ideas rushing around in his brain, he just needed to form them together. "Tish! Is there another way out of here?" he asked the elder Jones daughter.
"There's an exit in the corner, but it'll be locked now," she replied, pointing at it. The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and tossed it to Martha, who caught it as if she had been expecting it. She probably had been.
"Martha, setting 54. Hurry," he instructed and Martha nodded before she ran off to open the door with Tish following.
The Doctor pulled Danni to Lazarus' machine, jumping on the small platform in front of it so he could get everyone's attention. "Listen to me! Your people are in serious danger! You need to get out of here right now!"
"Don't be ridiculous," a woman in gold scoffed. "The biggest danger here is choking on an olive."
It was one of the poshest things Danni had ever heard. Most people wouldn't even consider an olive to be a hazard of any kind, mainly because she didn't really know anyone who ate olives on a regular basis and in her head, she'd somehow associated them with the rich upper classes. Maybe it was stereotypical, but that was where her mind immediately went to.
It was also one of the stupidest things she'd heard because, almost on cue, Lazarus broke into the room with a loud, animalistic roar. The crowd screamed and tried to run out of the locked room, causing Danni to jump closer to the Doctor to avoid getting trampled.
Martha and Tish forced the door open the moment they were unable to unlock it. "Over here! This way!" Martha instructed loudly, and the crowd were eager to follow orders. "Everyone downstairs now! Hurry!"
Danni frowned to herself. Martha was handling the situation better than she was, and she was certain she'd been on as many adventures at Martha by this point. Sure, Martha had chosen to travel with the Doctor whereas Danni had been forced to, but her calm, collected nature was definitely something Danni wished she had. Perhaps she could have it. She looked out into the room, where Lazarus was prowling for his next meal.
What would Martha Jones do?
"No! Get away from her!" the Doctor shouted and Danni turned on the spot to see the woman in gold, frozen in fear as Lazarus headed towards her.
Her eyes narrowed. Whether or not that was what Martha would do, she wasn't sure even if she had a good guess, she knew that not mentioning a death and actively not stopping one were two very different ones. Rude or not, no one deserved to die.
"Not going to happen!" she cried as she ran towards the woman, diving at her and rolling them both on the floor. Lazarus, who hadn't been expected her to save the woman, missed with his tail as his targets moved. Danni pulled her up and off the floor. "Run, now!" she told her. The woman didn't need telling twice and Lazarus roared in anger. Danni quickly moved to the Doctor's side, also very eager to get away from him.
"That was stupid," he scolded and she nodded, brushing her dress down.
"Incredibly bonkers," she agreed. "Did you see that tail move, though?!"
He had, and they were both a little surprised at how amazed she was by it considering how terrified she was. Lazarus turned to find the red-head but caught the scent of Martha's brother, who was concussed on the floor with his mother.
The Doctor saw where his gaze went and immediately knew what his thoughts were. "Lazarus! Leave them alone!" the Doctor shouted, pulling the monster's attention away from the family. Martha dashed over and helped her mother get her brother off the floor. Danni rushed over and helped them, and to get away from the monster. She knew what happened next, the Doctor didn't need her help right now.
"Martha," her mother breathed, scared and grateful for her daughter.
Leo's eyes rolled slightly as he struggled to focus on anything. "C'mon, stay with me. You're okay," Martha coaxed her brother gently and they headed towards the exit, leaving the Doctor to taunt Lazarus and keep his attention off the retreating family.
"What's the point if you can't control it? The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you," he mocked. "You're a fool, a vain old man who thought he could defy Nature. Only Nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus! A footnote in the history of failure!"
With that, the Doctor turned and ran back into the builder as Lazarus snarled and chased after him.
"What's the Doctor doing?" Tish asked as Martha began examining her brother.
"He's trying to buy us some time to get everyone out," Danni replied.
"Let's not waste it," Martha continued. She took her brother's face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. "Leo, look at me, focus on me. Let me see your eyes." He could barely look at her and she didn't need to check anything else. "He's got concussion. Mum, you'll need to help him downstairs." She spotted an ice bucket and put some in a napkin, handing it to her. Her mum immediately pressed it against the bump on her son's head. "This'll keep the swelling down. Go! I'll be right behind you!"
She gently but firmly directed her mother and brother away from the room, turning back to Tish who didn't move from checking to see if Lazarus was coming back. Martha placed both hands on her shoulders, pushing her firmly after her Leo and her mum. "Tish, move! We need to get out of here!"
Danni watched her, drinking in her every little movement. Martha would follow her family out, but then would go back to help the Doctor because that was the kind of person Martha was. Even if she hadn't had a crush on him, there was no way she would leave a friend to face that danger alone. Danni couldn't let her fear get in the way of helping the Doctor.
"Come on!" Martha tried, wondering if she could keep an eye on all of the people she had to save. Danni shook her head.
"No," she replied softly. "I can't just leave him Martha. I'd just be useless down there anyway." That was definitely true, because she wasn't any kind of doctor. She nudged Martha forward. "Go with your family. I know he comes back here, and I can help him."
Martha knew there was no way she was going to convince Danni to go with her, and she was finally seeing the Danni she had known all along. She held out the sonic screwdriver to her. "Give this to him, then."
Danni pushed it back. "You need it to get everyone out of the building," she replied. "Don't worry about us. The Doctor once saved the world with no TARDIS, no screwdriver and in 22 minutes. Give it back when you see him again."
Martha wasn't too happy about leaving her, but she hugged her tightly nonetheless. "Be careful," she warned. "Don't get killed, or I'm bringing you back and killing you myself."
"I promise," Danni replied with a laugh before shoving her forward. "Now, go!"
She watched Martha run after her family and felt a small twinge in her chest. Pain at the thought of never seeing her own family again. She'd have given anything to be the one running away from a crazed man who had turned himself into a scorpion.
She shook her head. Was she really at that point already? What an incredibly stupid thought, indeed. It must have been her fear talking. She was in a unique position, something none of the Doctors nor companions ever had; she knew what was coming next. She knew how Lazarus fell – quite literally – why was she so scared? If she was going to do this properly, she had to get onto Martha Jones's level.
She reached into the ice bucket Martha had taken some from and grabbed the champagne bottle, taking a heavy swig from it. She finished it off with a loud 'ah' and nodded to herself. Now she was ready.
She turned and rushed off to the laboratory they had been in before, knowing the Doctor was going to be heading there soon. She hadn't been much use so far, just a person to be dragged around. All of that was about to change.
~0~0~0~
Danni had quite the extensive knowledge of the episodes of Doctor Who. She had called herself 'enthusiastic' whilst other people had called her obsessed over the show. So, she knew what was going to happen next and decided to put that knowledge to good use. She ran around the lab, opening all the gas taps on the counters. She kept her mouth and nose covered with one had whilst she flooded the room with the flammable gas because it didn't seem too smart to breathe it in. Not that her hand did much good at keeping her lungs clear. It just seemed smart.
She coughed as she climbed up onto one of the desks in the middle of the room, pulling the case off a light that sat on a pillar above it. She spent a moment struggling to get the bulb out – turned out it she was supposed to pop it out not twist it – when the door opened and the Doctor ran in.
He skidded to a stop. "What the hell are you doing here?" he shouted.
"Getting you a head start," she retorted, coughing again before she motioned him over. "What do I do here?"
His eyes darted around the room and, as he found himself doing a lot, wondered how she had known his plan before he'd even known it. But the gas was filling the room and that meant that she was trying to create a spark, which was a genius and incredibly dangerous idea. He hopped up onto the desk next to her and nudged her out of the way.
"You should have gone with Martha," he scolded. "You're going to get hurt."
"I thought half the fun was in the danger?" she countered cheekily. He pulled out one wire and twisted it into the fitting next to the other.
"Flooding the room with gas and creating a spark using the light switch, though, that's rather brilliant," he praised, smiling slightly like he couldn't help it.
"I'd take the credit, but I stole it from you," she replied quickly, jumping back down off the desk to hide behind it. The Doctor joined her, ducking down to hide.
"That explains it, then," he said boastfully and she laughed, then coughed. He pulled out a handkerchief from inside his pocket and handed it to her. She took it with a grateful smile before holding it over her mouth and nose. It wasn't much, but it was better protection that her hand.
The door burst down and the monster snarled hungrily and angrily. "More hide-and-seek, Doctor? How disappointing," Lazarus drawled. "Why don't you come out and face me?"
The Doctor grabbed her hand, pulling her up to face Lazarus, who had her faltering slightly in her newly-found courage. He really was a big bugger, wasn't he?
"Have you looked in the mirror lately?" the Doctor taunted. "Why would I wanna face that, hmm?" He grinned as Lazarus began to charge towards them and they both ran from the room. The light switches were by the doorway and the Doctor flicked them on as they ran past. There was just enough of a pause for them to get out the door before the whole room exploded and it sent them both to the floor outside. They skidded across the floor, both unharmed if not a bit winded.
Danni quickly took big, gulping breaths to clear herself of the gas she'd flooded the room with as she looked around. Her gaze landed on the Doctor and she really couldn't believe it. She'd just been sent to the floor by a giant explosion, with the Doctor. She laughed in pure delight caused by the strangeness and adrenaline of it all. The Doctor looked confused for a moment but then shot her a big grin before helping her up.
The pair ran off before Lazarus recovered, hand in hand, turning a corner only to bump straight into Martha, who yelled in surprise.
"Not you as well!" the Doctor exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
Martha held out his screwdriver. "I'm returning this," she explained. He took it and put it in his pocket. "I thought you might need it."
"How did you—" he started, confused, and she shrugged.
"I heard the explosion. Guessed it was you."
He nodded, unable to argue with her logic. "We blasted Lazarus."
"Did you kill him?" she asked just as Lazarus burst into the hallway and pounced at them, falling into a gap between the two corridors and breaking a lot of the architecture as he did.
"We definitely just pissed him off," Danni cried and the trio began running away. Lazarus roared angrily before chasing after them.
"I thought you were waiting for him in the reception room," Martha asked Danni, who shot her a smirk.
"That seemed boring. So I went to help him," she explained. "It won't be the first time, or the last. He needs a lot of help."
"Hey!" the Doctor exclaimed and she giggled, squeezing his hand.
"Don't worry, sweetie. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
He shot her a bit of a glare, obviously offended which just made teasing him a lot more fun. "I don't need any help!"
She thought on the Doctor, who she had watched on television, and remembered a man who could get out of practically every situation. She also remembered a man who would stroke his TARDIS and get slapped by mothers quite a lot, and decided there and then to be something in between. "You do from me," she promised.
~0~0~0~
The trio skidded to a stop in the middle of the reception room, with Lazarus's failed machine in front of them. The sound of the monster was still following them down the hallway and they didn't really have many options.
"What now?" Martha asked. "We've just gone 'round in a circle!"
"Well, outside isn't an option," Danni pointed out. "He'll just rip through the crowd."
The Doctor was clearly trying to work out the next part of his plan, his eyes darting around the room as he tried to find an exit strategy, or something to do that would stop Lazarus getting away and hurting anyone else.
His gaze fell on the machine. He didn't like it, but what else could they do?
"Come on, get in!" he shouted, ushering the pair in before him before he climbed in himself and closed the door. It was a tight squeeze with all three of them in the capsule as it had only been designed for one user at a time, so Danni ended up being pressed against the Doctor's chest painfully and Martha was pressed up against her.
"Well, this is cosy," Danni muttered.
"Are we hiding?" Martha asked.
"No, he knows we're here," the Doctor replied, panting lightly from the running. "But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us."
"But we're trapped!" Martha exclaimed.
"Well, yeah, that's a slight problem," he admitted and she stared at him incredulously.
"You mean you don't have a plan?"
"Yes, the plan was to get inside here!"
"Then what?"
"Well…then I'd come up with another plan."
"When you're ready them, Spaceman," Danni told him before twisting slightly to look at Martha. "Quite frankly though, we should be grateful that he had a plan at any point. They're not his forte."
"I have brilliant plans!" he countered, insulted.
"Admit it, you work better under pressure than when you're prepared," Danni replied as she reached up and pulled his screwdriver out of his pocket. "There you go," she told him, moving her hand back down and placing it into his hand. There really was barely enough room to breathe, let alone move. She wasn't sure that he'd even be able to do anything with the extra room taken up by her.
"What're you gonna do with that?" Martha asked him and he began trying to crouch down in the small space left. Danni pushed herself up even more against Martha, shooting her an apology.
"Improvise, like she said," the Doctor replied as he popped open a panel on the ground and began examining the contents.
"I still don't understand where that thing came from," Martha stated as she watched Lazarus's shadows being cast on the walls from outside. He was homing in on them. "Is it alien?"
"No, for once it's strictly human in origin," he replied as he soniced some of the wires in the panel. Danni tried to look down to see if she could work out what he was doing herself. She just knew he was changing how the machine worked, but not how. It never explained that in the show.
"Human?" Martha exclaimed. "How can it be human?"
"The machine unlocked some dormant genes from way back," Danni explained. "They're fighting against the current human ones, but I'd say they're winning."
"So it's a throwback?"
"Some option that evolution rejected for you millions of years ago, but the potential is still there. Locked away in your genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake," the Doctor muttered as he tried to concentrate.
"It's like Pandora's box."
"Exactly." He shifted slightly and looked up at his two friends, specifically Danni. She looked rather nice in that dress, he had to admit. He knew she was still quite new considering how she was reacting to everything, but he had to wonder how many times she'd had the opportunity to dress up. Her whole existence was a conundrum.
"Nice outfit, by the way," he told Danni as he went back to his work. "Blue really does suit you."
Danni blushed slightly but couldn't help but smile, while Martha rolled her eyes at his offhanded comment. They really didn't have time for that right now. Especially considering the sound of the machine starting up suddenly filled the air and the capsule filled with a blue light.
"Doctor, what's happening?" she asked worriedly.
"Sounds like he's switched the machine on," Danni muttered as the whirring increased. "How far away are you, Spaceman?"
"Well, I was hoping it was gonna take him a little bit longer to work that out," the Doctor admitted quickly, hurrying his modifications onto the circuit board he had in his hands. There was a bright flash of light and Martha and Danni slammed their eyes shut.
"I don't want to hurry you, but—" Martha started.
"Screw that," Danni interrupted. "Hurry up!"
"I know, I know. Nearly done," he promised.
"What're you doin'?" Martha demanded.
"Trying to set the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it."
"Will that stop him?"
"When he transforms, he's three times his size—cellular triplication—so he's spreading himself think," the Doctor replied as if that answered the question. It didn't and both women started to get a bit more worried. Danni, who even knew that it would turn out alright, grabbed hold of the Martha in her fight.
"We're gonna end up like him!" Martha cried as there was another flash of blinding light.
"Just one more!" the Doctor promised. He pulled a wire off the board and the bright light disappeared as the energy left the room, throwing Lazarus away from the machine with a yelp. The Doctor was quick to open the door, but slowly looked out to make sure they were safe. He stepped out first, giving Martha and Danni the room to follow him.
"I thought we were gonna go through the blender then," Martha admitted.
"Really shouldn't take that long just to reverse the polarity. I must be a bit out of practice," the Doctor muttered before he spotted Lazarus on the floor, dead and naked. They all slowly approached him, just in case he jumped back to life but he just laid there.
"Oh God. He seems so…human again." Martha looked up at the Doctor. "It's kind of pitiful."
"Eliot saw that, too," the Doctor commented. Danni nodded.
"'This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper,'" Danni quoted sadly. The Doctor looked down at her and saw her fear had gone and now she stared down at him sadly, almost in mourning of a man she'd never met and had almost killed her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze, something Danni very much appreciated.
"It's strange," she commented. "Why he's still young. You would think that reversing the scorpion-gene would reverse all of it."
"Perhaps he died before the reversal could take hold," the Doctor offered before he frowned. "Hang on; 'scorpion-gene'?" She nodded. "We're not calling it that."
"Why not?" Danni protested. "It was a gene that caused him to look like a scorpion, right? Therefore; scorpion-gene."