A/N: new chappie! enjoy!
Chapter 38: Thirty-eight Lock Codes
"So, what do we do now?" Eona asked the Doctor as they, Olivia and Dax all marched down a corridor in the basement below the bank. "What's the plan? Olivia said you always have a plan."
"I don't know," he shrugged. "The Architect set all this up. It should make sense. My personal plan is a thing that will probably happen quite soon."
"That's it?" Eona frowned at him in disbelief. "That's your plan? A thing will happen?"
"Probably," he nodded before frowning back at her as they walked. "Problem?"
"The way she talked about you made it sound like everything you did was a little more…thought out," she admitted.
"In fairness, I never actually said the words 'thought out'," Olivia replied, making her way down a ladder they came to after Dax went before her. "I said we 'got out.'"
"Right!" Eona suddenly recalled, making the Doctor glance between the two women and Olivia gave him a wink as she made her way down the ladder. "My mistake. Sorry."
"You two are making fun of me," he pouted slightly as he followed Olivia down the ladder, Eona heading after him.
"There's another case down here!" Dax called, heading toward it as Olivia followed him.
"Here we are!" the Doctor grinned, jumping down the last few rungs of the ladder and hurrying toward the case. "Thing time!"
"How did he get the cases here, though?" Olivia couldn't help but wonder as Eona made her way down the ladder and toward the group as well.
"By breaking into the bank in advance of breaking into the bank," the Doctor replied, as if it explained everything.
"But if he can do that why are we here?" Olivia wondered. "If you can break into a bank, why send a team to break into the same bank?"
"Not our problem, Liv," the Doctor replied.
"What the hell is our prob-prob-prob-prob—?" Dax asked, but the last word came out like a skipping CD, his head twitching toward the side, making everyone frown at him in wonder until he stopped a moment later.
"You ok?" Olivia wondered, looking him over.
"Drive glitch," he explained, dismissively. "It's fine."
"Our problem is guilt," the Doctor began. In this bank, it's fatal, because the Teller can hear it. We've been targets since we opened that first case. The more we know about the plan, the louder our guilt is. That's why we wiped our memories. For our own safety."
"Blank slates," Olivia nodded in understanding. "Plausible deniability…literally."
"Exactly," the Doctor nodded, lifting the case they were gathered around and explaining, "Now once I open this, I can't close it again."
"Would it be safer if only one of us saw what was in it?" Dax wondered.
"I'm waiting for you to volunteer," the Doctor retorted.
"The hell?! Why me?!" Dax snapped back.
"Because you didn't need a memory worm," the Doctor explained. "You're half computer, which means you can perform a manual delete. You can clear your thoughts completely."
"That's why you took that chip from your head when you heard you'd wiped your memory," Olivia realized as Dax rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You were checking to see if you'd done a manual delete."
"Fine," he sighed as the Doctor set the case down again.
"Thank you," the Doctor nodded to him.
"Whatever," Dax shot back with a sigh before carefully and slowly opening the case, not knowing what he would find, and when he had opened it, he gave a frown of confusion, explaining, "You may as well look, 'cause I don't know what it is."
The Doctor frowned as Dax turned the case toward him, revealing six short tubes with metal ends and pins that could be pulled out of the top. He lifted one to examine it as everyone else frowned at him and the objects.
"What are they?" Olivia wondered, lifting one as well to see if she could figure them out.
"No idea," the Doctor shrugged.
"How very interesting," Eona hummed, making the three frown at her in wonder as she only stared at the Doctor with a narrow-eyed gaze of evaluation.
"What's interesting?" he asked, meeting her gaze.
"You're lying," she blurted, making his frown deepen as Olivia looked to the Doctor in wide-eyed wonder.
"Why would he be ly-ly-ly-ly-lying?" Dax questioned, sounding like a skipping CD again before wincing, "Sorry, stress drains the batteries."
"Here, interface with this," Olivia suggested, taking his arm and gently pulling him toward the wall console.
"Do we have time?" Eona hoped, taking Dax's other arm as he leaned slightly on Olivia while making their way to the wall.
"Don't see why not," the Doctor shrugged. "It doesn't look like they know we're here yet."
As if on cue, the security alarm blared and the computer called, "Warning. Intruders detected."
"You need to stop saying things like that," Olivia snapped as they pulled Dax closer to the wall.
"I know," he sighed in exasperation at himself before instructing, "Liv, stay with Dax. Eona, you and me are gonna get acquainted while we investigate. Come on!"
"You be careful," Olivia called as he and Eona began strolling away. He turned and gave her a wink, making her roll her eyes but she couldn't help but smirk as Dax pulled a wire from the wall and jacked himself in to recharge. He sighed as he sat down and pulled a chip from his head to blow over it then plugged it back in. "What's wrong?"
"Storm dust," he explained and she nodded in understanding.
"So, you can delete your memories?" she asked, fascinated at the entire idea of being an augmented human, since she was so good and interested with computers.
"Trust me, it's not as nice as it sounds," he sighed, leaning his head back against the wall.
"Yeah, I can imagine," she nodded. "My boss had two years of his life wiped from his memory. Still…there are a few memories I wish I could lose."
"And I lost a few I wish I hadn't," Dax replied, making her look to him in sorrow, but she didn't ask anything else, rather she allowed him to explain if he wanted to. A moment later, he explained, "I was interrogated in prison. I guess I panicked and I didn't wanna be a risk to the people close to me."
"So you deleted your friends and family," Olivia realized with a sad nod, now understanding him a little more.
"Yeah," he sighed, just as sadly and muttered, "I guess I loved them."
"Sorry Dax, but I'm gonna hug you now," she warned, shifting closer to him and throwing her arms around him as he frowned at her before grunting when she landed against his chest. A moment later he gave a smirk and wrapped his arms around her in return.
"Thanks," he muttered.
"You're welcome," she smiled.
Meanwhile...
The Doctor kicked out a grill he and Eona were sitting behind and slid into the corridor under the bank. He climbed out and brushed some dirt and dust from his blue suede shoes before turning to Eona and helping her climb out.
"Well, go ahead and ask me," he prompted as they made their way down the hall.
She looked to him in wide-eyed wonder before realization dawned on her and she asked, "You lied about the things in the case. What are they?"
"They're…an exit strategy," he replied, hesitantly. "How did you know I was lying, anyway?"
"I've had a lot of faces," she explained. "Thirty-eight, actually. Easy for me to read them, now."
"That's quite a gift," he smiled, fondly.
"If you can call it that," she sighed, making him frown in confusion at her tone and words.
"Well, it got us in here," he replied.
"Olivia told me you've been to many places in the universe," she recalled, both stopping to face each other at the end of the hall. "Have you ever been to the Gamma Forests, Doctor?"
"Many years ago, yes," he nodded.
"Did you ever see anyone that looked like me?" she asked, honestly, making him frown in thought as he searched his memory.
"No…I didn't," he replied, almost sadly.
"That's the mutant gene," she explained. "I'm shunned by my own people as a devil because of how I look. And they don't understand my power, either. For as many people as I've transformed into, they all find it terrifying."
"But…why?" he breathed, absolutely dumbfounded. "Your gift – and it is a gift – is beautiful."
"No one I know thinks it is," she murmured with a shake of her head. "Could you trust someone who looked back at you with your own eyes?"
He was about to answer when they suddenly heard a moan from down one of the halls. They both turned and followed the sound, coming to a wall that had barred windows, like prison cells. They both took a chance and peeked into one of the cells just as they heard Olivia's and Dax's footsteps racing toward them. They all looked through the bars to see the man they'd seen be caught before he could try robbing the bank. He was chained to the wall, his head still caved in.
"Oh, my God," Olivia breathed. "How and why is he still alive?"
"I don't know," the Doctor murmured, glancing to the small dome on the wall where a red light was blinking. "But somebody's watching."
"Doctor," Dax murmured, before swallowing and requesting, "Whatever happens, don't let me end up like that."
The alarm blared once again, making them all jump in panic as the computer announced, "Intruders on the service level."
"Over here!" the Doctor shouted, grabbing Olivia's hand and dragging her behind him toward a vent to use his Sonic on it to open it. "It says 'Place to hide.'"
They all climbed in, one after the other, only to be met with a huge, glass cell, that was fogged so badly that they could barely make out what was inside. Olivia stepped closer to the Doctor to take his hand, being able to make out what was in the cell, just as the Doctor could. Eona and Dax made their way inside, stepping up next to the couple, both trying to see what was in behind the foggy glass.
"Is that…?" Eona whispered, but couldn't even finish out of fear that she was correct.
"Doctor…" Olivia called in warning as he stepped closer to the glass to stare at the Teller…only to have it react with what sounded like something between a scream and a roar.
"Nobody move!" the Doctor whispered, harshly, making them all freeze. "Nobody say a word. It's in forced hibernation, which means its powers are probably dormant."
The sounds of the security running and shouting on the other side of the grill made Eona jump and in turn making the Teller move to face her. She gasped when she saw it and froze.
"Eona, it's locked onto you, but it may still be asleep, just don't wake it," he whispered, looking to her as everyone remained frozen.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Eona asked in a whisper of her own.
"Keep your mind blank, E," Olivia called. "Block everything out. Remember what we practiced at Torchwood? What Jack taught me?"
"Once it locks onto your thoughts it won't let go," the Doctor warned.
Eona took in a deep breath and tried to recall the training Olivia and Jack had given her, closing her eyes to concentrate. Olivia could see she was struggling, making her want to go to her and help her, but she knew she couldn't, or the Teller might wake up anyway. A moment later, the Teller roared and Eona let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, looking terrified as she looked to the other three.
"This way!" Dax shouted racing toward another vent that was on the other side of the room, hidden behind miscellaneous junk in the room.
They all ran toward the vent, the Doctor using the Sonic to unlock it and push Olivia through it, Dax racing in after her…but Eona shouted in pain as she fell against the wall close to their escape.
"Eona!" Olivia shouted, trying to crawl through again, but the Doctor and Dax both grabbed an arm on her each to keep her from going to her. "Let me go! We have to help her!"
"It's the Teller," the Doctor explained, looking to Olivia and Dax. "It's scanning her brain."
"And then what?" Dax wondered, but Olivia looked to him, knowing the answer already as the Doctor met her gaze.
"Soup," he breathed in sorrow.
"No!" Olivia screamed, tears coming to her eyes as she tried again to struggle from their grip, but they kept her back. She shot her gaze to the Doctor's and desperately pleaded, "Help her!"
The Doctor swallowed, but sadness still reflected in his blue eyes as he looked to Dax and ordered, "Hold her back and cover her mouth."
"What?! Doct—?!" Olivia snarled, but Dax threw his hand over her mouth as he pulled her back, letting the Doctor shove the grill back over the vent and look to Eona, who was struggling to move, but couldn't.
"Doctor," she called in pain. "How do I get away?"
"It's going through your thoughts," the Doctor explained, reaching into his inside jacket pocket to pull something from it. "It's finding all the secrets you've got hidden away, and when it's done, it'll feast on what's left."
"Then I become like that man in the cell?" Eona guessed, her strained gaze meeting the Doctor sorrow-filled one.
"Yes," he breathed, making Olivia shout into Dax's hand and struggle to be free of him, but he held her fast as tears ran down her cheeks and onto his fingers.
"You can't get me out, can you?" Eona groaned, knowingly.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor breathed, tears coming to his own eyes. "I don't know how to once it's got a lock on your thoughts."
"Time…to employ the exit strategy, then?" Eona guessed, making Olivia frown in confusion as she still struggled and still cried as the Doctor held up one of the six cylinders that had been on the case.
"It's an atomic shredder," he finally explained, and Olivia screamed into Dax's hand when she heard it as he bowed his head into her shoulder, hiding his own pain and sorrow. The Doctor slid the thing to Eona who caught it on the floor, straining for it before meeting his gaze again.
"Promise me…when you meet the Architect," she strained, weakly. "Kill him."
"I hate him, Eona," the Doctor murmured, then shook his head, but I can't promise you that."
"Olivia said you were a good man," she smiled, weakly before pulling the pin on the shredder to stab her hand with it and she disappeared in a blue and red light, making Olivia scream then sob as she fell limp against Dax, and the Doctor bowed his head in despair while the Teller roared in frustration.
The Doctor quickly backed away and pulled the grill back from the vent again as Olivia fell forward onto her hands and knees, sobbing. He gripped her hand and dragged her along with him while Dax had moved ahead to push the next grill off the vent and climb out. Once they climbed out, Olivia shoved away from the Doctor, making him frown at her in wide-eyed shock and confusion.
"She was my friend, and you knew that!" she snapped, tears still streaming down her face. "There had to have been a way to save her!"
"Liv, I'm sorry, but if I could have saved her, I would, and you know that," he told her, gently as Dax glanced around the hall they were in, keeping a lookout. The Doctor lifted his hand to her, murmuring, "I know you're hurt, darling, but we still have to get through this. You can slap me for it later, I promise, I'll let you."
Olivia glared at him for a moment before stomping toward him and taking his hand as they made their way toward Dax who glared at him as well.
"Oh, is that why you call yourself the Doctor?" Dax snapped, making them look to him. "The professional detachment."
The Doctor glared at Dax, releasing Olivia's hand to march toward Dax to loom over him, growling, "When we're done here, then we can mourn. We'll need it. Till then, what you need is me." He turned to the vault door and gave a sharp sigh as he strolled toward it. "Right! Vault! Quite clear. But what isn't is what we do now."
Olivia stepped toward Dax to whisper, "He's hurting as much as we are for Eona, trust me. I know him better than anyone."
"Yeah, you've been with him for a while, obviously," Dax shot back, irritably, making her frown.
"Why would you think that?" she wondered.
"Because you're really good at making excuses for him," he shot back.
"Well, he's another gift from the Architect," the Doctor called, holding up another case and drawing their attention to him. "Who's gonna help me unwrap it?"
Dax raced toward the Doctor, who set the case back down so that Dax could open it. Dax pulled the jack from the small device he found in the case and groaned in pain as it downloaded the contents into his brain before he went to the computer access alcove next to the vault. Olivia frowned as she found a card inside the case as well, while the Doctor followed Dax into the alcove.
"The system is time-delayed," Dax explained. "There's thirty-eight lock codes I need to break."
The sound of growling suddenly filled the hall, making Olivia and the Doctor look to each other in panic.
"We're trapped," Olivia breathed.
"Dax, how long?" the Doctor asked, not looking away from the hall.
"As long as it takes," Dax shot back, still working on the computer.
"It's locked onto one of our thought trails," the Doctor explained, glancing between the two of them. "We have to split up to minimize the brain signals."
"What happened to your professional detachment, Doctor?" Dax wondered, looking to him as he stepped closer and held out his hand out. The Doctor met Dax's stare in sorrow before handing him one of the shredders, making Olivia's eyes widen in disbelief.
"Dax, no!" she growled at him as he turned back to the computer.
"It's in case it finds me," he replied as the Doctor looked down the hall. "It's my choice, Olivia."
"Don't you dare use it," she snapped. "Promise me you won't."
"Run," he replied, sitting to work and making her swallow hard, her heart clenching in pain as she turned to head down the hall after the Doctor.
The two ran down the hall, turning a few times before they stopped at an intersection.
"We have to separate here," he explained, making her look at him in wide-eyed panic before he took her hands to pull her close. "I'll find you, alright? You still trust me?"
"Of course, but I'm not leaving you," she argued.
"There isn't time for this, Liv," he reported before lifting a hand to slip it around neck and pull her to his lips for a hard kiss. "For luck. Now go!"
Olivia turned and raced down one hall, the Doctor down the opposite way. She ran until she was covered in red light, and she could sense she was being followed. Now she knew the Teller had locked onto her. She hid herself in a small corridor and heard the Teller's footsteps at the end of the hall, making their way toward her. She used her telepathic training to block it, but being out of practice for too long made her weak…and the Teller could sense her thoughts leaking through. She swallowed hard before knowing she had to make a break for it, even as the Teller approached. She silently counted before leaving her hiding spot, running past the Teller and getting only a few feet away before she felt herself stop in her tracks. She cried out, painfully, as the Teller's consciousness grasped hers, and her cry echoed through the halls.
"Olivia!" she heard the Doctor call from somewhere, but as much as she tried to move, she was frozen in her place. She couldn't even cry out any more as she felt the Teller rooting through her mind, tracing her guilt.
"Oi! Come find me!" Dax shouted from somewhere in the halls. "Every thief and villain in one big cocktail! I am so guilty!"
The Teller suddenly released Olivia, and she fell to the floor as it did, panting as she recovered from the strain of being telepathically held.
"Every famous burglar in history is hiding in the bank, right now, in one body! Come and feast!" Dax shouted as the Teller marched down the hall away from Olivia and she struggled to stand. She froze when she heard his next words. "Olivia! For what it's worth, and it's probably not much – when your life flashes before your eyes, you see people you love…and people missing you. Well…I don't see anyone."
"Dax…" she shuddered, her eyes filling with tears before she heard him shout in pain and she cried out, "No!"
A/N: reviews?