Gas continued to pour out of the cars. "He's gonna choke!" Donna cried as she saw that Wilfred was on the verge of passing out.
The Artist gave up on trying to stop the ATMOS. She knew there was only one thing for it, so she slammed the bonnet down, pressed her sonic screwdriver against the windscreen and turned it on, causing the glass to crack. Once a large enough area had cracked, she slammed her fist into the windscreen, shattering it. "Right, Donna, c'mon, let's get him out." she called, and the two women had soon gotten Wilfred out through the opening.
"Thanks." he wheezed as they led him back to the house.
"Don't mention it." the Artist replied.
"Nice right hook." Donna remarked.
"Get inside the house." the Doctor warned the humans, "Just try and close all doors and windows."
Just then, Jenkins returned, driving a black cab. "Doctor, Artist." he called, "This is all I could find that hasn't got ATMOS."
The Time Lords ran over to the cab. "Donna, are you coming?" the Artist called.
"Yeah." Donna replied and turned to come over, when Sylvia grabbed her arm.
"Donna!" she pleaded, "Don't go! Look what happens every time those two appear! Stay with us, please!"
Wilfred had other ideas. "You go, my darling." he told Donna.
"Dad!" Sylvia hissed.
"Don't listen to her." Wilfred told his granddaughter, who ran over to the taxi. "You go with the Doctor and the Artist. That's my girl." he encouraged, though Donna felt somewhat guilty, "Bye!"
Donna and the Time Lords scrambled into the taxi and Jenkins drove off. "First things first, let me see your hand." the Doctor said to the Artist.
The Artist held out her right hand, which had bits of glass imbedded in her knuckles and blood coming out of the wounds. "It looks worse than it is." she reassured her fiancé, who pulled out a pair of tweezers and pulled out the shards, then he bandaged her hand up.
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The taxi soon arrived back at the ATMOS factory and the trio scrambled out. "Ross, look after yourself." the Doctor told Jenkins, "Get inside the building."
"Will do." he nodded, then got on his radio; "Greyhound 40 to Trap 1. I have returned the Doctor safely, over." Then he drove into the factory area while the trio proceeded on foot.
"The air is disgusting." Donna coughed. Her lungs felt like they'd been through a cheese grater.
"Isn't so bad for us." the Doctor remarked. He and the Artist had respiratory bypass systems which were protecting them from the worst of the gas. "Go on, get inside the TARDIS."
"I'll come with you, Donna." the Artist said. "We can use the scanner to work out what this gas is." she told the Doctor.
"Good idea." the Doctor nodded, "I'll join ya in a bit."
"Where're you going?" Donna asked him.
"To stop a war." he replied.
"Good luck." the Artist said, giving him a small kiss on the cheek.
"You too." he replied, giving her a kiss back, then they went their separate ways, with the Doctor heading towards the U.N.I.T lorry while the women went to the alley they'd landed the TARDIS in.
The Artist unlocked the door and they entered the box. Once inside, Donna took a deep lungful of the cleaner air. "Better." she wheezed.
"Glad to hear it." the Artist replied, "Now we just need to find a way to stop the rest of the world from choking." She moved to the console, ready to use the environment scanner to identify the gas.
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Halfway Out Of The Dark || The Doctor
FanfictionFollow the adventures of The Last Time Lady, The Artist, saved by the eccentric time-traveler known as The Doctor at the end of the time war, which sees their home plant of Gallifrey lost, as they travel through all of time and space in his unique c...
