Night 49: Room of Earth

[timedork]

[From here]

"...What?"

The door slammed shut behind them and locked with a rather distinctive click. The Doctor glanced back at the door-which was very different on this side than it had been on that side-but it wasn't the slam or the door that ended up grabbing the Doctor's attention. There was a loud rumbling that did not, he was quite

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[timedork]

The initial shock of the unexpected change in locale was fading, and the Doctor took a moment to assess the situation. On the one hand, the teleport (or else dimensional transport, though that seemed somewhat less likely) through one door and out another was fascinating to have encountered here, and potentially gave one, tiny clue towards the capabilities of the Institute. On the other hand... he had no idea where they had ended up.

He moved away from the door when Dean motioned for room, looking between the door the man was trying to break down and the boulders coming out of the walls and rolling across the room.

Dean's efforts against the door proved futile, so the Doctor focused on the boulders and the door beyond them. "Then it looks like that's our only way out..." he said, indicating the far door. "We'll just have to hope that door is unlocked."

He mentally counted off the amount of time in between the boulders coming from the nearest of the holes once, and then twice to be sure... and then a third time when the intervals didn't match up. He frowned, still gauging the times; not only was the time between boulders sporadic, but their speeds (and therefore the time it took them to move across the room itself) were apparently variable as well.

This would be tricky, but as long as he could judge and time the gaps between boulders... Honestly, it might even be a bit fun.

But there was also Dean to consider. While the Doctor was certain he himself would be able to get past without too much trouble, he wasn't sure if the same could be said for his companion. "Alright?"

[theroadsofar]

Dean snorted. "Man, you make it sound so easy."

There was always waiting until day rolled around but that was spending hours in a death trap and banking on the fact that they'd get pulled to their rooms like before. Dean ran his hand over his mouth, jaw working as he stared at the Raiders set-up there. If the door on the other side was locked, they were kinda screwed, way he saw it. Basically back to where they'd started, except they'd risked getting turned into meat pancakes for no good reason.

But this place was real oddball, even for Landels Institute.

If all the patterns were getting thrown out the window here, then he shouldn't even be assuming that they could wake up tomorrow in the patient beds if they waited it out.

Glaring at the boulders rumbling out each hole and into the next, Dean figured it was either try to ninja past those and hope today wasn't a good day to die or wait here. And hope.

...Yeah, he wasn't that Carebear. If they didn't find a way out and this place didn't pull them back to the beds, they could die of dehydration or starve or one of the spirits could come ghosting in and make things even more difficult. Dean turned toward the Doctor.

"Okay, let's try it," Dean said. He nodded at the guy's jacket. It was damn cool but it was also a major trip hazard there. "You want me to carry that?"

At least the Doc had some good running shoes there. Then again, judging by that cool customer way he'd just looked at those boulders right now, Dean figured he probably wasn't some panicking civilian. Normally that'd be pretty awesome. Right now it was just asking some weird questions, like why the guy was insisting he was the Doctor and did he make it a hobby to dodge death traps or something?

[timedork]

The Doctor grinned at Dean. "Easy? No... But it's a lucky thing you're here with me," he said confidently. Tricky or not, he had a distinct advantage over humans when it came to time.

He considered Dean's offer to carry his coat, and pulled it off. On the chance it were to be pinned under or between anything, it would be a danger... both for them and for the coat itself. He bundled it up and held it out for Dean to put in his bag. "Thank you. Take care of it, alright? I love that coat."

With that, the Doctor turned his attention back to the boulders, looking down first one side of the room and then the other to confirm the directions the boulders would be coming from.

Going the whole way together would potentially be more dangerous than going individually, but without knowing how good Dean's reflexes were, it would be a risk to try guiding him verbally: one slow reaction and that would be the end of it.

"I think it'll be better if we cross together," the Doctor said. He moved close to Dean, clamping a firm hand on his shoulder. He kept a careful eye on the first of the holes, mindful of the ones beyond it. "And..."

He had to do this right. He could always regenerate if this proved fatal, but Dean... humans didn't have that luxury. He had to concentrate, focus on the timing, and do this right.

One boulder passed in front of them, coming in a bit too quickly with not enough time before the next, and then the second passed.

"Forward."

He stepped forward into the recently-vacated space, guiding Dean to do the same both verbally and through the hand on his shoulder. Another boulder and few more hurried steps forward, a mass of rolling rock zooming behind them. The timing was wrong to go forward now, so the Doctor backpedaled, pulling Dean along with him until the next boulder had passed in front of them. It was forward again from there, hurrying past the spot they'd been in before and pulling into a sudden stop as one boulder rolled in front of them and another behind. A step too slow and they might have been clipped.

They had a second to gather their wits and breath before it was time to move again, dashing forward across several boulder-paths until a brief pause to let one pass behind them. An approaching boulder ahead of them was too close, so the Doctor pulled Dean back again to buy time.

[theroadsofar]

Frankly, Dean was just surprised they were still alive. He wasn't real keen on arguing when the Doctor had got them this far and it'd not even been a minute.

Dean could feel a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face as he did exactly as the Doctor prodded him to. They should be dead. All of these looked random as hell to him and several times he could feel the rush of air as one of those huge boulders came barreling past with only inches to spare. Every time he thought they'd hit a safe zone, he'd spot the Doctor looking at something else, almost sidelong, and then he was prodding him forward again. Normally Dean wouldn't be cool with some random dude pushing him around but getting stuck in some freak obstacle course with a guy who had some downright crazy observational skills there tended to kinda change things. No point wasting time bitching when the Doc had got them this far.

Although he was wondering if the guy had eyes in the back of his head there.

Dude's gotta rock at video games.

It was one of those stupid thoughts that really didn't have anything to do with the present, the kind that kinda hit you outta nowhere when you were looking death in the face. The Doctor caught him just as he was about to step forward, jerking him back. Two boulders collided right where he'd been less than a second before. The impact was deafening, his ears ringing.

They hustled through the rubble of the two boulders, Dean stepping over the larger stones, boots slipping and sliding over the smaller ones. The Doctor wasn't even letting him get a feel for where the door was, instead pushing him to gun it that last chunk of the death trap before he got distracted by any hope.

And suddenly they were on the other side.

Dean felt horribly off-balance.

Kinda felt anti-climatic that they'd actually made it. Dean turned toward the Doctor, reaching up to rub at one ear - they were still ringing from those boulders slamming into each other - and grinned.

"You got some serious balls, Doctor," Dean slapped him on the shoulder, still smiling in relief. He wheeled around to watch the Indy Obstacle Course they'd juked their way through, the boulders still spitting out each hole and rumbling their way across. "Christ. How'd you even do that?"

Dean wiped at the thin layer of dust he'd got on his face, feeling his legs starting to get all loose on him. He locked his knees. Fine, so he was gonna pop off the adrenaline sooner than later, but he wasn't gonna go all weak-kneed just 'cause he almost ended up roadkill tonight. That was a fast death. Sucky, but fast. Had that going for it. Even if his body was freaking out about this, Dean knew perfectly well that there were worse things, more evil things, than that death trap. Plenty of things out there that not only would kill you, but would also drag it out just for their sick kicks.

[timedork]

It was a relief to reach the other side. He released his grip on the man's shoulder once they were safe, glancing back at the boulders still speed across the course.

They'd managed to make it across in one piece, but the Doctor felt there had been a few close calls-too close for his own comfort, honestly, especially being so close to that unlucky collision; beyond the noise, a fragment of rock that had shot by nicked his shoulder. He was alright, but his suit was worse for wear from it; he felt fortunate that it hadn't been his coat in the line of fire... or himself. If the Doctor had been shaken by those near-misses, however, he didn't show it as he smiled at Dean.

"I'm good at... lots of things, actually, but especially anything to do with time. Or timing," he said. "Even if I couldn't predict when the boulders would be coming out, once they appeared, well... It was just a matter of calculating where they would be when. Nothing to it."

He slipped his hands into his pockets, nodding towards the door. Now that they were here, it was time to see if it had been worth the risk. "Moment of truth. Would you like to try, or should I?"

[theroadsofar]

"I'll do it," Dean turned toward the door.

He threw a last glance at the death trap behind them, and then back at the door. Seemed like they'd just been at this party and if it wasn't for the crushed boulder and the fresh tear on the Doc's clothing, he would've almost thought they hadn't made any progress. All the rumbling and crash of the boulders made it real hard to get some quiet time to just think.

Dean reached out and tried the doorknob.

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