The Deadly Arcade

In the midst of the chaos on the battlefield distracting everyone from the Dalek he had summoned, The Doctor had taken the opportunity to slip away and finally begin his search for the boy’s mother.

A quick scan with the Sonic Screwdriver confirmed his suspicion that there were in fact multiple secret passages through this bizarre structure coming and going in every direction with random dead ends and false entrances-it was a rat’s maze.

‘Much like Eight’s mind.’ he thought to himself.

He lifted another floor panel and climbed into the tunnel it had been hiding, feeling like he was trying to squeeze himself into one of those tubes some fast food places had for kids to play in.

The thought occurred to him that he could call out for her before realizing that he didn’t even know her name and lamented the fact that such information could have been invaluable had he thought to collect it beforehand.

“Now I know what a TV dinner feels like.” He commented before feeling disheartened at the fact that no one else was around to hear it, much less appreciate the reference.

As he pulled out his Screwdriver once again, he was able to lock onto the similarities between Button and his mother’s genetic codes thanks to his foresight to link him into the TARDIS telepathic circuit earlier-it would also make navigating this maze much less of a chore.

The irony of his greatest nemesis being his greatest asset to buy time in this situation wasn’t lost on him either, the Dalek’s militaristic nature and unforgiving brutality would also ensure the kids’ safety for a while.

Every duct he crawled through seemed to have a different color, as he reached a series of orange ones he began to wonder whether or not they were color-coded to help Eight get around when he was venturing through them.

He examined the readings on his Screwdriver once again and was shocked to discover that the signal for the genetic code he had been tracking was now directly below him.

The section of the duct he was in lurched along with his stomach as his heart leapt in his chest once it collapsed to the level below and kicking up a large dust cloud.

As a result he let out a shocked gasp at this point, dust particles began floating into The Doctor’s oral cavity, sending him into a coughing fit as his lungs tried to expel the foreign objects forcing their way down his windpipe.

Once the issue had been resolved, he noticed that coughs were still coming from another source that sounded a bit more feminine.

He turned his head to see a tan mare with a light brown tail and mane, she also had the peculiar Cutie Mark of a pink heart with a bottle of baby formula over it-perhaps it had something to do with pediatrics?

“Oh, hello.”

Once the dust had cleared and she had finished hacking and wheezing, she removed the back of her hoof from her mouth and her eyes which had been squeezed shut, slowly opened up to reveal a pair of beautiful bright blue eyes.

“Are you Button’s mother?”

“I…yes, but who are you?”

“Ah,” he stood up and held out his hoof for her to shake. “I’m The Doctor and I’ve come here to rescue you.”

“Thanks but, I already broke out of the room that strange stallion had locked me in-WAIT!-where’s my SON!?-I swear, if he hurts my baby…”

“He’s fine, the last time I checked he was with the owner of the arcade.”

“Light?” she sighed. “Well, that’s a relief…she’s a good kid, responsible too-she reminds me of myself at her age.”

“Yeah, but we should still hurry-we’ve managed to distract him by playing one of his twisted games-so I could sneak away and find you.” He replied.

Button’s mother looked up at the large gap in the ventilation shaft that The Doctor had fallen through.

“Give me a boost up.” She instructed.

He picked her up and lifted her above him as she got a grip on the section of the vent he originally came through.

She then grabbed his hooves and with some effort managed to pull him up.

With two of them in there, the feeling of claustrophobia had increased even more.

Although, given the fact that stallions were typically much larger than mares he found it quite impressive that she was able to pull him up so easily by her self given how petite and slender her body was in comparison.

“Which way leads back?” she asked.

“Hang on.” The Doctor once again pulled out his Screwdriver.

“We take a left, a right, another left, and then there should be a secret floor panel directly above us that can be removed that should lead us back to the others…it would have been nice to know that earlier.” He muttered.

“How do you know this?” she asked as she began crawling forward.

“It’s my Sonic Screwdriver, I have it linked to my TARDIS in case of emergencies where we end up being separated.” He replied.

“Your what?”

“Never mind, I’ll explain later.”

He lamented the fact that he didn’t have the foresight to be crawling in front as it became increasingly difficult not to stare at the flank in front of him.

“Stupid male hormones.” He growled to himself in irritation.

“What was that?” she called back to him.

“Uh, nothing! Never mind!” he called back as his face flushed.

The sooner this ordeal was over, the better.

“So how did you find me, anyway?”

“Well, when we were in the TARDIS and I was devising a way for Button and Light to defend themselves and distract Eight, so I could come and search for you, I was able to patch them both into it’s Telepathic Circuit, but at the same time it also analyzed their genetic codes-all I had to do was set my Sonic Screwdriver to scan for the closest proximity of any genetic codes that shared similarities with Button’s.” He explained.

“That was pretty smart, but there was a comment you made earlier about the path being much more difficult when you came in…?”

“Yes, what about it?”

“Well, it seems pretty easy now-why is that?”

“If I took an educated guess, I would have to say that this labyrinth is rigged on some sort of preset timer every hour, sections seem to rotate, if nothing else, Eight really seems to enjoy puzzles and mind games-a monument to his own insanity.”

“So do you have any idea why he abducted you?” he asked.

“Well, I had so many groceries I stopped at the house to drop them off, I had just finished putting all of the perishables in fridge when I found my son’s Joy Boy just lying there on the kitchen floor, which I found odd at the time as I knew for a fact that it wasn’t there earlier…I bent forward to pick it up before someone slapped a cloth over my face…I recognized Eight, shortly before passing out.” She replied.

They then turned left.

“So I take it that you knew him before all of this happened, then?”

“Only in passing, I knew that he worked at the arcade under Light and well…other things.” She added, cautiously.

“If you refer to the stalking, Light told me earlier.”

“Good, because I don’t think this is about me or my son at all.”

“I suspected as much.” The Doctor replied. “Wait, what do you mean?”

“Aside from you, as far as I know I was the only who Light has ever told about the issues she was having with Eight-we’re close friends, since Button enjoys playing at the arcade so much.” She explained.

They took a right.

“So what are you saying?”

“Well, I’ve had a lot of time to think about it-and this isn’t about us at all-it’s about Light.” She replied.

“The only reason he wanted me was for a bargaining chip and Button was just extra insurance, he wants her.”

That was when realization hit The Doctor, it was all obvious in hindsight-he knew something was off earlier-but, he had been so sidetracked with trying to locate and rescue Button’s mother that his mind didn’t piece it together.

It made a certain amount of sense within the context of Eight’s insanity; if he still had feelings for Light that he knew would never be reciprocated, he wanted to force her into a relationship with him, but his twisted sense of morality saw the use of a love potion too distasteful and saw using a hostage situation more ethical.

This gap in morality and circular logic was definitive proof that this stallion was not mentally well and encouraged him them to crawl faster as they took a final turn left.

“That reminds me, I’ve forgot to ask you your name earlier…”

“It’s-”

A large explosion could be heard coming from above them as they exchanged worried glances before pushing the tile up.