Prisoners of War (Open RP!)

"Best not use the sonic unless we have too, might draw attention with it's sound...but i know decomposition, doesn't look like our chair bound friend is fairing too well. Wonder what it has to do with the whale" The Doctor replied to Charity, trailing off into thought before refocusing back on the door and the task at hand, "I'd say follow, see if we can't gather more information. Keep low". Choosing to follow the trail, The Doctor kept low as he sprinted across the loading bay his mind reverting to thoughts about the makeup and composition of the slime. It's definitely from something decomposing..wonder what it could be. The Collector..sounds so familiar but from where?

Stopping at the door, The Doctor peered through the small window at the top; glancing over the various bodies inside the next room before lowering back down. Sounds of mechanisms churning echoed from the bay, the whale crying out in a deep roaring shriek, "Get it restrained!" belched the familiar voice of the older man. The voices of the old man, and his guard, came closer to the door before stopping, "This must go to plan. Profits beyond measure my friend, that is what will happen. We shall be rich and i can continue my life in a forms across the galaxy" he boasted, "As long as the money is good" the guard replied.

Suddenly The Doctor's memory flashed to life upon processing the words of the older man, "Profits..slime..collector. He's a Usurian! I thought i knew that name...must have escaped his prison sentence" he deduced before turning to Charity, "Usurians are highly intelligent beings..resemble a bit like kelp but can transform into human form. This one must be dying..hence the slime..he must be planning something with the whale to prolong his life".

Charity nodded as the Doctor explained about the sonic screwdriver. That did make sense, she supposed, but still.. sticking a foreign substance that you found on the floor in your mouth? What would possess a person to do such a thing? She shook her head slightly to herself as she followed along behind him. What a strange friend she had, for sure. Still though, she couldn't help grinning. Even though it was dangerous and they might get caught, this was a little bit thrilling, and just the sort of thing she had trained for.

She nodded in reply to him as he talked about decomposing, and she kept low and close to the wall as she followed him. She took a turn peeking through the window after he had, and then ducked back down.
"What now?" She asked quietly. She wondered what they had planned for the poor little star whale, and was determined that she would do whatever possible to keep it from harm.

Then, the Doctor seemed to recognize the guy, or at least what he was. She tilted her head in curiosity as he proclaimed that the man was a Usurian. Was that a sort of alien race? Or a nickname the man had given himself? She decided not to ask about it right now. Maybe later. Then the Doctor explained about the Usurian, and she nodded slightly, thinking carefully about that information.
"So..." She thought for a moment. "How do we stop him and save the whale?" She whispered, trying to think up a plan in case the Doctor had nothing. It was hard though, having hardly any information about the situation or the person that was behind all of this. Hopefully, the Doctor had a good plan...

The Doctor arched his eyebrow, pondering the final question Charity had given him before reaching into his pockets, "Well let's see what i've got in my pockets..." he mumbled. Slowly he pulled out a banana, a yarn ball, a gray wind up toy mouse and a small empty plastic bottle. Looking down at the items in his hands, The Doctor shrugged his shoulders, "Bit of a DIY project but i've had worse. So! Are you ready Charity? Because we're going to save a Star Whale with some string, a bottle and a toy mouse" he grinned as he glanced at Charity.

The first item to grab The Doctor's attention was the toy mouse, which he carefully untwisted and removed parts and set them aside. Second was the bottle, which was quickly tucked into his pocket, letting it stick out just slightly. Third was the yarn, The Doctor used to tie around his ankle, pulling it back to give slack before handing it over to Charity, "Here's the plan" he started with a whisper, "I'm going to do what i do best...talk! I'll distract them, i got a good look at that chair the Collector has, not exactly top quality. Maybe i can drop a few of these screws in and mess it up somehow, while they aren't paying attention. I'll give you a tug with the yarn, have your blaster ready...that Star Whale is gonna need a little fire power to get free. No killing! Nobody gets hurt on my watch if we can help it...we can use the chaos to run out".

Voices from outside the door caught The Doctor's attention once more; grabbing the loose screws and bolts, The Doctor turned towards the door with banana in hand, "Allons-y...". The Doctor stepped out into the loading bay initially undetected, The Collector and his guard to his right hand side deep in conversation. Peeling back his banana, The Doctor sauntered over to them, the bolts and screws in his left hand as he approached; the guard was first to notice as The Doctor bit into his banana and leaned up against The Collectors chair, "Good plan. Bit boring though..". The Collector jumped slightly, the guard bursting into attack position, The Doctor releasing a bolt into one of the several one holes and gaps in the machine, "And who might you be?!" The Collector proclaimed.

Charity raised an eyebrow at the odd things that came out of the Doctor's pockets. She grinned, giggling softly as she watched this unusual sight. A toy mouse? Yarn? Did he have a cat in there too? She half expected a kitten to emerge next, but instead it was a plastic bottle. Maybe for milk? She wondered where the Doctor's cat was, and made a mental note to remind herself to ask him about that later. For right now, this was serious stuff. A baby star whale was at stake here. She became serious as she watched him work,, but couldn't help a small smile remaining on her face.

On hearing the Doctor's plan, she listened closely and nodded. She took out her blaster and set it on a lower setting that would only stun a human, not kill.
"Got it. I prefer it that way, myself." She whispered back with a grin. She was pleased to be working with someone who wouldn't ask her to shoot to kill. That was one thing she didn't like about the Forces, and having to fight Strabotunians. Since he didn't go into further explanation about what she was to shoot at, she assumed that he meant to shoot the guards and the Collector. Stunning them should work out fine, but she wondered what they were going to do with them? Surely, not let them go? They would just go right back to capturing poor helpless, endangered species, poaching and other such things. Maybe her authority as a Galactic Forces officer would be enough to entitle her to arrest them?

She was thinking about those things as she watched the Doctor wander out and begin his plan. She held onto the yarn and waited for her cue, holding her blaster ready. She watched the scene intently, waiting anxiously in case the Doctor needed assistance or rescuing or something. She tried to tell herself that he would be fine, and that all would go according to the plan. But, while plans were great to have and all, there was never any way to truly predict what other people were going to do, especially if you don't know them. For all she knew, that Collector guy might order his guards to shoot and they probably weren't going to be shooting on stun level...

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he took another bite of his banana, "Oh don't mind me, just a mad man" he mumbled, pushing the banana to one side of his mouth as he spoke. The Collector scowled at The Doctor, "You're trespassing on private property! Gua-!" before he could finish, The Doctor looked over to the Star Whale with wide eyes, "Ooo! What's that?! Hold on i know....a Star Whale! Aren't they endangered though?" he asked rhetorically, looking back at The Collector and releasing another bolt into his machine. Glancing down at the control panel on the hover chair then back up at The Collector and the guard, he grinned, "Tell you what. If i can figure out your plan then i get to live..if i don't then shoot me. Plan?" he asked. The Collector chuckled, glancing over to his amused guard before looking back at The Doctor and nodding his head, "Load your gun Tom" he instructed his guard.

The Doctor slapped the back of The Collectors hover chair, releasing yet another bolt before starting, "Okay so! Call me crazy but that panel looks like it shows signs for a Usurian life support system, which means you're a Usurian! But hold on it gets better....i bet that the capture of this whale isn't for what these guards think it is, am i right?". The guard looked confounded, glancing at his employer before back again at The Doctor, "What do you mean?" he asked, "Don't listen to him!" roared The Collector. "You see Usurian's have a marvelous breeding system, bit like a plant they release pores and latch onto things. The trick is they need a lot of energy to develop, which conveniently this whale back here feeds on exactly that." The Doctor explained before glaring at The Collector, his tone changing, "You realize you'll kill it. You'll take away it's food like a parasite, and what? These men are supposed to scavenge a decaying corpse with no meat on it? Let me guess....you tell these men to release it then you release your pores and it flies away and these men loose a pay day. Not very good business at all".

The guard glared at The Collector, "Is this true?!" he roared, "Now don't listen to him! What does he know?!" The Collector said defensively, "Oh...quite a bit. I'm The Doctor" The Doctor grinned before taking the last bite of his banana. The Collector's eyes jolted over to The Doctor, his eyebrows lifting in surprise and fear, "Wha..what?!" he exclaimed. "Boys wrap it up! We're done here" The guard shouted to the other men, spitting on The Collector before walking away, his men not far behind, "No wait! He's lying!! Don't believe him!!" The Collector pleaded.

Charity continued to watch from her hiding place, watching and listening. The Doctor was doing pretty well, it would appear. She kept waiting for him to tug on the yarn, the signal that he needed her assistance. Maybe he wouldn't need any, after all, though. He seemed as if he had things pretty well under control, from the looks of things. She wondered, however, what would happen to that hover chair once the nuts and bolts and things the Doctor was dropping into it started to do whatever they were meant to do. Would it make the chair stop hovering? Or perhaps it would just stop and the whole system would shut down?

She couldn't help a tiny smile when she saw the guards beginning to doubt the Collector, and then it felt like a small victory when they all turned and left. At least they didn't have to worry about the guards anymore, so that was some success. She peeked in through the doorway, unseen, but trying to see what was going on. It seemed that things were going well, anyway. When would he need her help? Or would he need her help? She chewed the nails on one hand, absently, while she waited, feeling a little bit anxious.

The Collector glared at The Doctor, eyebrows arching downwards in pure hate, "You've ruined my operation! You shall pay!" he proclaimed. Looking down at his controls, The Collector went to touch a button but was stopped by a sudden glitch on the screen, "Wh-what is this?" he asked, "Ooo..that doesn't look good. Might wanna get that checked out" The Doctor commented. "What did you do?!" The Collector roared as he suddenly began to notice the lack of oxygen funneling into the tubes in his nose, "Well..i just added a few extra screws, you're machine did the rest. You see this chair's engine is magnetized, it helps stabilize it to help hover more, which means..anything loose will head straight to the engine. Then what you have there is a not so life supporting life support system".

The Collector released a menacing grin, "Even if i die here, my spores will infest the Star Whale and i will live on! You've lost!" he proclaimed before flinging his body back in his chair. His chest suddenly popped open, revealing eight glowing, floating circles that hovered out of his body and slowly towards the Star Whale. Yanking on the string, The Doctor signaled Charity, "Chare! Blast those clamps! I'll take care of this" he called back to her as he flipped out his plastic bottle. Holding the cap in one hand and the bottle in the other, The Doctor eyed the glowing green balls carefully, "Come on, that's it. Time to check out your new prison cell" he called to them.

Charity listened intently while the Collector ranted at the Doctor and wondered what was going to happen next. The Collector was obviously angry. Could he hurt the Doctor? She hoped not. But of course, she was there to watch his back, in case of something like that happening. She stayed where she was, listening while the Collector revealed all of his evil plans. Honestly it seemed like a stupid thing to do, telling all his plans. Why would he do that? She thought, if she was up to some evil plan that she didn't want to get caught in, that she wouldn't stand there telling people all the details of the plan.

Shaking her head a little, she grinned to hear the Doctor explain about the screws and things and how he'd basically ruined the chair. She peered around the doorway again to watch the scene unfold. She blinked in surprise watching the Collector open up his chest to send out his circle things. And then it was finally her time to do things. She felt the string being yanked, and she stepped out of her hiding place. Having earlier set her blaster onto a stun setting, she took aim quickly and fired at the spores, hovering in the air, and hoped that would help the Doctor in his plan, somehow.

She wasn't quite sure what the plan was, but she did her best to do what he asked. She had excellent aim, having been the best in training, and she shot a blast at each glowing circle, not missing a single one. After accomplishing this, she turned her blaster on the Collector, keeping him 'at gunpoint'. He didn't have to know that her blaster was on it's lowest, stun, setting. "What about him?" She asked the Doctor, watching him carefully but staying out of range so that he couldn't attempt to disarm her.

The Doctor stood back, his eyes wide with surprise as he watched Charity fire down each of the spores out of the sky with ease and expert marksmanship. His facial expression turned down to a more serious tone as he turned his attention down to the groaning Collector who laid back in pain. Inside of The Collectors open chest lay one final spore, it's glow marking the final ounce of life left inside of him, "Let me help you.." The Doctor said to him. The Collector glared at The Doctor and Charity, his breathing heavy and eyes hung low with tiredness, "Help me?! Hmph. How dare you Doctor...after you destroy my only hope of prolonging my life!" he hissed, "With the expense of an innocent creature? No, that's not the way it's gonna work Collector. You want help you do it my way. I can take that last spore of yours to a planet, where you can grow and live your life, but not the expense of that Space Whale!"

The Collectors eyes danced between The Doctor and Charity for a moment before locking onto the Space Whale in the back of the loading bay, "You won't stop me Doctor!" he proclaimed. His body thrust back violently as he released the final spore. The Doctor's eyes shot wide open, his hands responding quickly as he unscrewed the lid and scooped up the spore. Twisting the cap shut, The Doctor gritted his teeth as he looked at the lone glowing spore inside of the plastic bottle, "Gotcha!" he grinned.

The Star Whale roared to life, waking up from the sedative and breaking free of the loosely held chains and restraints. The Doctor spun around, his grin growing wider at the sight of the Star Whale breaking free; the Star Whale headed up, crashing through the doors of the hanger and roaring up into the sky above. The Doctor's eyes fixed on the young Star Whale as it ascended to reunite with it's mother in the sky above the city; "No place like home.." he commented, looking over to Charity, "I'm sorry i've kept you away for so long. Would you like to stop by? After all...we're only a second away".

Charity watched the exchange between the Doctor and the Collector, and slowly moved further into the room. She held her blaster ready but didn't think she would need to use it. Still, she was ready to, just in case. She wondered if the Doctor had any containers that he could use to put the other spores in, since she figured they were only stunned. She listened as the Doctor offered to help the Collector, and couldn't help smiling a bit to hear him. It made her like him even more, that he was still willing to help the guy even after this. But no, he was an idiot, apparently, and refused to accept the help.

When he shot out the ninth, and last, spore, Charity raised her blaster, prepared to shoot it if necessary, but didn't shoot just yet, waiting to see if it was needed. But it wasn't, because the Doctor caught it in the bottle, and she relaxed a little. She hurried over to help free the baby Star whale, pulling the loosened chains off and then watched as it took off into the sky. She grinned happily, watching it. It felt good to have helped save a life, and she was happy to have been a part of that. She turned back to the Doctor.
"What will happen to these?" She motioned to the spores on the ground. "And that one?" She indicated the one in the bottle.

Then, hearing his question surprised her. She paused, thinking about that for a moment. She hadn't actually thought very much about home. Not that she hadn't thought of her family at all, but so much had been happening, she hadn't considered it that closely. But, now that he did mention it, she realized that she really should go back, at least once in a while. She nodded slightly.
"Yeah. I probably should. I do have.. responsibilities, you know." She put the blaster away. "But.." She hesitated, then smiled a bit hopefully. "If I do go back.. that.. that doesn't mean I'll not see you again, does it? I like seeing new planets and things.." She motioned toward where the star whale had gone. "And helping others, doing good things.. you know?" She really hoped that he didn't mean that he'd take her back home and leave her. But at the same time, she couldn't very well drop out of the Forces and only stop in once in a while. She wondered how to work that problem out.

The Doctor looked down into the one glowing spore in the bottle, eyeing it as he replied to Charity, "Well..i'm going to take this one to a special place he won't cause trouble. So he can grow and form into something better than what he was before. I think it's best to just keep one roaming the universe and not five". Looking over to Charity as she spoke about home, The Doctor smiled, "Of course not!" he proclaimed, flopping his arm around her shoulder as he turned on his heel to head out of the loading bay, "What would i do without you?! Travel space and time alone? Nah! Traveling with you is much more fun..and besides i think it'd be a bit rude just dropping you off and leaving, don't you think?".

A nearby elevator on the far right side of the loading bay helped The Doctor and Charity ascend out of the depths and back into the busy streets of the marketplace. The elevator rising up into a wooden building, an old perfume shop by the looks of the merchandise scattered across the shelves. Dust covered the shop almost as much as it covered the floor of the loading bay beneath it. The Doctor coughed and covered his mouth with his hand as he walked towards the door, "Let's get some fresh air, shall we?" he asked rhetorically, opening the door to reveal the familiar sights of the hustling, bustling, marketplace.

Groups moved past the door, brushing by it and glancing at The Doctor and Charity inside before they moved out of view. "There we are!" The Doctor exclaimed, excited to be back into the sunlight and open air, "So! What do you say Ms. Charity, back home for a bit? I can drop Mr. Collector off at his new home..not sure if you want me to meet your folks. Not too good with mothers..well...most of them, usually get slaps or kicks".

Charity grinned at the Doctor. She was glad that he wasn't intending on taking her home for good, because she didn't want these adventures to end. She happily followed him out of the building, glad to be back out on the streets again, after rescuing the star whale.
"Thanks, I'd love to pop in and see how they all are, and make sure that everything's fine with my mother and brothers, and my friend Felicia too." She smiled as she walked with him, excited about adventures that were to come, but also thinking a lot about her family and friends, and her fellow officers back in the Forces, and wondering how everything had worked out with that, since she'd basically dropped everyone off and went with the Doctor after they were safely home.

Once they had reached the Tardis, she stopped to look back at the busy market place they had left, and laughed softly at his comment about mothers slapping and kicking him.
"Why don't you get along with mothers? Mine's really very nice." She assured him. "I wouldn't mind, if you wanted to meet her, but if you'd rather not.. I won't make you." She shrugged a bit. "My oldest brother is the one you'd have to worry about." She laughed, teasingly. "Keith's in the Navy though, and we hardly see him anymore." She added, a bit sadly. "Daniel lives nearby, and he's married with two adorable little kids. And Josh still lives at home, but he'll probably be moving out before too long, I guess." She realized she was talking a lot about her family, and blushed faintly, smiling at the Doctor. "I.. I guess I've missed them more than I thought." She added, looking down a bit shyly.

The Doctor set the plastic bottle, with the glowing green spore, onto the control console as he sauntered around it, flicking switches and pressing buttons as he listened to Charity. Glancing up at her, he smirked as she mentioned missing them, "Good, that's a good sign. You're not getting too detached from home. Besides you might get lucky and see all of them together...maybe for a holiday or something? This is a time machine after all and we can go any time". The Doctor grinned widely as he yanked down in the main lever, the TARDIS quickly releasing one loud roar before an echoing thud marked the landing. "There we go" The Doctor exclaimed, nonchalantly placing his hands into his pockets as he looked at the screen, "Hopefully nothing important was in this closet because that's where the TARDIS landed us..." he sniffed.

The Doctor began to walk down the ramp, checking on the controls before doing so, "Not sure if i landed the date right..not well with holidays. The days always change, could never find Easter for some reason..well..except for the original one" he mumbled. Stopping midway down the ramp, The Doctor looked back to Charity and motioned to the door with his head, "Coming?" he asked rhetorically, "I promise i'll try and not get slapped or anything..don't hold me on that though".

Charity wasn't quite sure what he meant by it being a good sign, but she nodded a little bit anyway.
"We might not have the same holidays as you're used to, though." She pointed out, holding onto something as they began the journey through space. "My family celebrates the Festival of Joy in the winter, but that's really an Esmaestean holiday." She explained. "I don't know what sorts they have in earth." She said, confused by his mention of something called Easter. Then they were landed. Apparently, in a closet. She looked at the screen  but that told her nothing. "What closet?" She frowned, confused as she went to follow him out.

Then she couldn't help a little giggle at the Doctor saying he would try not to get slapped.
"My mother doesn't really.. slap people." She grinned. "She's really nice, you'll probably like her. She might try to make you eat though, she'd probably say you're too skinny." She teased, grinning as she followed him to the door. "If it's a holiday, then there's probably going to be a lot of food." She imagined her mother and Felicia baking together, and smiled a bit. Her mother had said, when Felicia came to stay with them, that she was like the daughter she always wanted Charity to be.. quiet and ladylike and into doing girlish things like sewing and baking and wearing pretty dresses.

With a slight shudder at the thought of wearing some fancy, frilly dress, Charity stepped out of the Tardis, and looked back to see where they'd put the ship.
"Oh, it's the barn, Doctor." She rolled her eyes. "It's just an empty stall.. not a closet." She laughed a bit and paused to pet the horse who stood in the stall opposite the Tardis, then she started toward the house, happily taking in the lovely purple sky once she left the barn and headed the short distance across the yard to the house, a nice little white farm house with a second story and a stone pathway going to the porch, and didn't hesitate to let herself in, leaving the door open for the Doctor to follow her inside, anxious to get to see her family again and wondering how much time had passed for them.

((house: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/37/4b/6d/374b6dffc95ad43b0571f8f6aa01fa8f.jpg ))

The Doctor looked around the barn, his eyes dancing over the wooden frames and taking in the smell of animals and other various smells. Glancing down, he laid eyes on the horse and his face immediately brightened up. A grin emerged as he approached, then pet, the animal, "Hello! Aren't you beautiful!" he proclaimed, "I'm sorry your water doesn't taste good. I'll make sure to talk to them about it" he answered the horses huff. Looking over his shoulder for Charity, The Doctor quickly turned on his heel and caught up to her as she approached her house.

Placing his hands nonchalantly in his pockets, The Doctor followed beside her, "So! Anything i should know before i venture inside?" he asked, "I like preparing myself if i'll be trampled, oh by the way. Steve wanted me to tell you that his water tastes funny..i guess he's been trying to tell your parents for a while but they won't listen". Skipping up the two steps before the door, The Doctor waited for Charity before knocking firmly on the door, "Oh! I knew i was forgetting something! I forgot a banana..you should always bring a banana to a party Charity. It's just no fun without one".

Charity paused as she realized the Doctor wasn't actually right behind her. She stopped in the doorway, waiting, until he finally cause up. Rolling her eyes in amusement as he knocked on the door that she'd left ajar for him, she went and opened it to let him in.
"I thought you were right behind me." She said with a light laugh. Then she paused at his mention of meeting her parents, and asking if he should know anything.
"My dad.. died. A few years ago." She explained. "So it's just my mom, Josh, and Felicia is living with us. She's my friend.. she's very shy." She told him. "She was living with her uncle, but.. he's monstrous, so I brought her here to live with us to keep her safe from him." She added in a quiet voice, thinking that might be something he should know, so that he'd know not to start asking her questions like why she's not living with her family, or questions about her parents and such.

She tried to think of anything else he ought to know, while also trying to figure out what he meant about the horse's water.
"Oh, it's probably because of the medicine. They wrote me a while back that the horse was very ill, and I remember something about the vet saying to put some medicine in the water for him." She nodded, deciding that must be the 'funny taste'. Starting toward the kitchen where she heard her mother humming, she paused and smiled back at the Doctor.

"My mom is very friendly and welcoming, don't be afraid." She said teasingly. "We might have some bananas laying around, she might even give you one if you ask nicely." She grinned and led the way to the kitchen, from which came the scent of freshly baked goodies, eager to introduce him to her family.

(We can end there)