City of Ashes

Au'Nvratyis nodded at The Doctor, and took a few steps back from the ledge. He dropped the teleport beacon onto the ledge, then took off with a running start. He leaped from the ledge, landing on the roof with utmost grace and agility. He was somewhat surprised that it didn't cave in on him, but as soon as he took a step towards the maintenance hatch, the roof gave way, and he temporarily lost his balance as he fell back-first. He quickly righted himself mid-air, and landed on his hooves on a catwalk. He took a moment to look around, before jumping into the air so he could poke his hand out and give The Doctor a thumbs up before landing back on the catwalk and taking a look around. He saw the generator several flights below him, but at least the catwalks led straight to it. the catwalk itself however, had little to no cover available, so if anyone decided they wanted to open fire on Au'Nvratyis, he wouldn't be in much of a position to argue otherwise.

"Allons-y!" The Doctor mumbled to himself before taking a few steps back then dashing forward and leaping over the edge. His coat billowed in the breeze as his body seemed to hover in mid air as he soared down to the opening caused by his very large friend, Au. Falling down next to him, The Doctor paused for a moment to get his balance back, then looked up and gave him a reassuring nod before sniffing and continuing down towards the generator. Taking his sonic screwdriver out, he quickly made his way down a series of stairs, "We need to hurry. Take this thing a part as quick as we can before they notice us. With any luck we might be able to escape without being shot on sight." he called back to Au, "You've got a sonic i believe".

In his mind he thought about the possible sonic technology Au could have, but it wasn't his main focus as he came upon the generator in all of its glory. Gazing down at it, The Doctor stared at the control panel for a moment before finally running his sonic screwdriver over it, "Allons-y shall we?".

As Au'Nvratyis followed The Doctor, he couldn't help but admit to himself that that was a pretty nice jump. For a Gallifreyan. Au'Nvratyis shook his head in response to The Doctor's question. "No, I do not posess this 'sonic' technology. My people were more concerned with figuring out ways to kill daleks than develop screwdrivers." He muttered as he stared at the generator they were supposed to disable. "This belt is the most advanced piece of technology we ever developed. Time and space travel, without the use of vortex technology." He added. He looked over the generator, as it pumped ash out into the sky. "Maybe instead of destroying it, we could reverse it so it would suck the ash back up, and then blow it sky high." He suggested.

Crash heard a loud smashing noise and figured that The Doctor and his friend had arrived. Dalek Jast had come to the same conclusion and was already moving toward the source of the sound. "Exterminate!" Dalek Jast fired at a figure hiding in the catwalk. Sadly, he was a scientist and wasn't a very good shot. Unless he was aiming at nothing, then he was a professional marksman. "Doctor, come out come out wherever you are." Crash started to taunt the Timelord. He wanted them to make the first move. That way they would know what they were up against.

Ryder ran his fingers through his hair, slowly bringing his hand back down a minute or so later. Like Mal, his fingers were tinted red and becoming itchier within seconds. He looked back at her, catching sight of her hands. Pulling off his hoodie, he tossed it to her, "put it on and pull the sleeves over your hands." He instructed gently, turning back towards the stilled traffic. Just about everyone had abandoned their cars, wandering the streets looking at the remaining pools of water and the continuous ash falling down. No one took notice to Ryder or Mal. Ryder stepped towards one person wearing shorts and a t-shirt, which didn't make sense because it wasn't the warmest day ever. But that wasn't important, especially when the person's skin was bright red in the exposed places. And he was scratching at it, just like he had caught Mal doing. "We need to go faster..." He whispered, wanting to itch his own arms just by seeing everyone else tend to their red patches.

Mal blinked in surprise and just barely caught his hoodie. She was proud it happened. Normally she let things that flew at her fall to the ground, not intentionally but it still happened. "What about you?" She inquired but still put on his hoodie anyway, covering all the exposed skin that she could. Man, was she itchy. She almost just wanted to stand there and scratch her arm clear off. It was heating up too. Wasn't that a sign of inflammation or something? Shrugging she looked around at the people still outside and groaned a little. Great. If this, whatever it was, was contagious.. that would not be good. Mal looked at Ryder then walked over to the man, touching his hand and using her ability for the second time today, "Get anyone you see indoors, it isn't safe out here. And try not to scratch yourself, man." The last bit was mostly due to jealousy. It was taunting just watching him satisfy the burning itch Mal felt herself. At least she was satisfied in one aspect and that was the man actually obeying her.

Slipping around several parked cars, Ryder ignored the growing itchy feeling on his arms. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt, like he always did. The man Mal had first spoken to was moving, saying one or two words to everyone he saw. And it continued like that until a stubborn couple were left. Ryder slowly approached them, clenching and un-clenching his fists. "You both need to get inside," Ryder said quickly and the man shook his head. "Not until we know what's going on!" He yelled, wrapping an arm around what seemed to be his wife. "We don't know what's going on. Just that this stuff isn't safe." He stuck his arms out, showing his bare skin to the couple. The woman gasped, staring at the bright red skin that had several marks from scratching. The man, without saying a word, slid past Ryder and hurried to the first shop he saw, his wife tagging along behind him. Ryder shouldn't have been entirely proud for scaring them, but he sort of was.

"Yes!!" The Doctor proclaimed with a grin appearing on his face before it quickly dissipated with the echoing sound of a dalek hitting his ears; dashing to the edge of the stairs, he peered over to see the shadows of the two Dalek's hovering around, looking for him. Spinning on his heel, The Doctor turned his attention back to Au, "To reverse the ash creating process i will just have to access the central control of the machine then from there i can rewrite the mechanics of the machine. Have it suck in all the ash instead of pushing it out", he paused as his eyes made their way down to Au's belt then gravitated back up to the face of his friend, "Two questions. Just two. Can you buy me some time? And..is that belt of yours able to send objects in the vortex like a port key?".

Mal watched the couple speed away as she walked up beside Ryder. Her face was unreadable for the longest time but one look at Ryder sent her into a fit of laughter. "Oh my god! Did you see their faces? Ah, I would have reacted the same way but still." After she calmed down a bit she cleared her throat and glanced at a car that was still running. Oh, that was useful. Normally she would never do this but she figured the itch she couldn't scratch was driving her mad. "You said something about another intersection?" Mal tossed at him as she began to walk towards the car, both excited and nervous.

"What are you doing?" Ryder asked, though hurried after Mal anyway. He ran his fingers through his hair, stopping at the hood of the car to watch her. "Oh, ah... Yeah, a few blocks from here. It intersects with this road." He replied hesitantly, studying her and then the car. It was still humming with life, the radio even on inside. And even in this situation, with all of this going on, he couldn't help but get the sudden feeling that if they got in that car, they'd be stealing. Getting arrested for that didn't seem as bad as it should. "You're... You're not taking some guy's car, are you?" Ryder said lightly, though he already had the idea going in his mind that she was. And without even realizing it, Ryder began scratching at his arms, his hands moving up until he was rubbing at the skin directly below the fabric of his short sleeved shirt. He wasn't aware he was breaking his own freshly established rule. Not at all was he even focused enough to notice.

Au'Nvratyis looked at The Doctor, and a smile crept across his lips. "Directional Vortex shifts are only a few of the capabilites of the Ky'D Dr'Ik." He said, and stood up. He looked up at the catwalks, and studied the beams stretching across and over. He could definitely keep them distracted for long enough. He drew all four of the pistols again, and bounded onto the railing, leaping between and over beams until he stopped in full view of the two daleks. Everytime he stared down those eye stalks, all he could see was legions of the beasts mowing down his people in droves. It kindled an ancient rage inside him. He sprung into action, running down the catwalk as he fired two pistols at Jaast and two pistols at Crash. The shards fired by the pistols fragmented before reaching the daleks, not doing any damage but disrupting their aim with the bright flashes of light. During this, he activated his belt, and kept on the move.

"ALERT, ENEMY APPROACHING!" Dalek Jast insisted on saying the obvious. "Shut up and shoot at him, then!" Crash was angry at the member of the Cult of Skaro for being a terrible shot. They might have wounded him or perhaps even taken his life. Two shots were fired at Crash but they turned into bright lights before they could reach him. At first he thought that he had missed or his weapons were malfunctioning but he then guessed that he was going to slip away during the flashes of light. Soon after the light went away, the enemy was nowhere to be seen. "Dalek Jast, initiate a thermal scan of the perimeter. I want to know where they are and what they are doing. We need to be one step ahead of them." Crash gave the order, knowing that he would do as told in a combat situation. No one wanted to die.

The Doctor smiled, flipping out his sonic screwdriver as he spun around and peered down at the series of vents and pipes leading down to the control panel, which held the activation and deactivation codes. Extending his sonic screwdriver down to a support column that held up his particular section, The Doctor proclaimed, "ALLONS-Y!!!!" then activating it, causing sparks to fly as the section beneath him gave way. As the ramp beneath him fell, The Doctor slid down straight into a series of pipes that strung across the sections of the machine, grabbing them as he fell he alleviated some of the fall speed allowing him to land softly in front of the control panel.

"Right then" The Doctor mumbled to himself with a sniff as he activated his sonic screwdriver over the control panel and began to go to work deactivating the shrouds of smoke and ash from rising up out of the machine.

Au'Nvratyis ducked under some more inaccurate fire from the scientist dalek, and looked down at his belt as he weaved through the maze of catwalks. The gem in the middle was glowing brightly, signifying the vortex functions were ready for use. He set his eyes on the scientist dalek, and his mouth curled into a smile. The bare physique was not meant for visits to the vortex, no matter how brief, but it was the only way to remove one of the threats. He leapt up and put a hoof on the railing, firing another volley at Dalek Jaast, before spinning into a kick. His hoof seemed to connect to Dalek Jaast's eye stalk, and both Kathractian and Dalek disappeared in a blink of light. After a second, another blink lit up the area, and Au'Nvratyis came tumbling out of it, roughly landing on the catwalk. He rolled for a few feet, before coming to a stop face up ten feet away from The Doctor. He was breathing heavily, and he rolled onto his belly and tried to get up, getting as far as getting on his knees before collapsing back onto the ground. The exposure to the vortex had wreaked havoc on him, and right now he just needed to rest for a minute to regain himself.

Mal was already at the car, hand on the driver's side handle. She looked at Ryder with a worried expression as she cleared her throat, "Take it? Nah, I'm borrowing it in the name of citizen protection. Or the Doctor, because apparently he's the highest authority around. He said it himself, actually. So either he's very important or just very egotistical. Seriously, I won't even put a scratch on it, I'm a good driver. It's faster than walking. Plus it'll keep us safe from even more exposure to the ash." Noticing him scratching his arm, Mal walked over and pulling his arms away from each other, "Stop that. Now come one. I don't like this at all.. stealing is not my thing. I'll probably suffocate from the guilt later but it's an option and I think it's a good one." She turned away from him and returned to the car, opening the door and sitting inside. Adjusting the seat, she hit a button so the radio wasn't blaring at her. Taunting little device. She waited for Ryder to get in and prepared to go about her horrible plan.

Looking over his shoulder nervously back towards the buildings full of people, Ryder started towards the car. A very uneasy feeling plan, but she was right. It's faster than walking. Opening the opposite door, he slipped in, ignoring the seat belt as he shut the door and placed both hands on the dash. "Okay," he said softly, turning his head to look at her after a moment. "Not stealing. Just borrowing. We'll return it." He added towards one of her quick comments, though this was definitely stealing. It wasn't like he hasn't been in a situation with a stolen car before, his step father had done that on many occasions. But it didn't mean he had to like it. Pulling his hands onto his lap, Ryder slipped his fingers together. "And for that guy, I'd say he's probably both. Important and egotistical." His tone was light, as if he were trying to ease his tension, though it didn't help. "Do we have any more steps to this plan besides the stealing of a car?"

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder as he heard the voice of Au echoed into his ears, "I can stop the smoke!" he told him, "But i will need your directional vortex shifter, the Dalek's are stubborn and most of all, ruthless. Once i stop this they will kill every single person down there in the town..we are the last defense for those people, in failing them we fail this planet". Pausing, he hovered his hand over the final button to stop the smoke clouds from slithering out of the top of the building and flowing into the city beneath the mountain. Looking over to his shoulder to Au, The Doctor smirked, "Ready?" he asked him, giving the man a few seconds to reply before he pushed down onto the button, aiding it by the activation of his sonic screwdriver on his other hand which lay beside it, holding up against the panel.

The building shifting to the right with an, earth shake, like thrust before the ash finally ceased from expelling from the top of the building. The clouds overhead began to take the shape of columbus clouds, ready to release a down pour to cleanse the land of the fallen ash as the smile on The Doctor's face grew before falling back down as he spun around back towards Au, "Now we're really in trouble.".

"Uhm... no, not really." Mal admitted sheepishly while swallowing her nerves down. She couldn't show Ryder she was really not okay with this, other wise he'd probably bale and Mal wouldn't be able to go through with this. Shifting the gear to drive, Mal stepping on the peddle and began zooming to their destination. Her grip on the steering wheel turned her knuckles white and she stammered, "Get there, honk the horn for attention, tell people to move it inside or die of a mysterious, itchy death. Actually I don't know if this stuff is lethal... b-but still."

Before they got to the intersection, the clouds above began taking on odd formation. Was that... a good thing or a bad thing? In her distraction, Mal almost ran them off the road and yelped as she turned the wheel, avoiding the lamp post and slamming on the brakes. They skid to a stop and Mal was panting, adrenaline now coursing through her. She wanted to apologize but couldn't bring herself to talk. Yeah, tell the poor boy she's a good driver and then almost get him killed. That would leave a fantastic impression.

Ryder quickly glanced at Mal, then out the windshield up towards the sky. "Come on," he muttered, opening the car door and slipping out. He left the door open as he rushed over to open Mal's, reaching in and grabbing her hand immediately to pull her out. He didn't exactly care about her poor driving skills. He couldn't do much better if he was put to the test. "I don't think they'll listen to a bunch of weird teenagers honking the horn and telling them they might scratch themselves to death." He said hastily to the previous stammered words she had managed to get out during the hectic drive.

Truthfully, he should have buckled in. Once Mal slammed on the brakes, he had flung forward into the dash. He must have hit his own head somewhere in there, because it felt like it hurt. Though he wasn't entirely focused on that as he started off down the road. "We just need to think of something else to get them inside. Quickly." He bit his lip, looking back and forth over the street at the people still passing by in their cars and some still continuing to walk around. They hardly seemed to care about what the skies looked like.