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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄, 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 in a lone metal chair with her hands tied behind her back, chewed at her bottom lip. She stared at the scuffed floor below her white sneakers, trying hard to not listen to her alien captors. She glanced up at them, a scowl firmly placed upon her brow.

"Why are you not scared?" the captain asked, both sets of her arms crossed over her chest. She was frowning in a way that made her forehead crinkle, and her usual shining blue skin was now rippled with curiosity. "Small, insignificant, little human." She stepped towards her prisoner, leaning down so that she could see her captive's youthful face, and any abnormalities or facial ticks she might have. "What makes you so brave?"

"The Doctor," the captive stated plainly, her expression unchanged.

"The Doctor?" the captain laughed, standing upright once more. Her lower pair of arms now rested on her hips, while the left hand of the upper set waved about absentmindedly as she spoke. "What's one Doctor going to do? We have an army, and we have you, his precious little tag-along. Why should we fear him? He is weak."

"See, that's the thing about the Doctor," the woman spoke, leaning back in the chair. "He can love so ferociously and so deeply. For you, that's weak, but it's why he's been the one protecting the universe for over a thousand of his years. The Doctor, through all of his faults and fallacies, cares. And sometimes he hates that he does." She smiled to herself, pausing to glance at the aliens standing before her. "That's the reason you need to fear the Doctor. Not because he's dangerous. Not because he has the ability to destroy entire races and planets and solar systems without even a moments notice. But because he cares, and you should never hurt someone who cares."

The hairs on the back of her neck began to prick up, on high alert now at the low rhythmic whirring that could be overheard on the alien intercom system. She smiled wider as she recognised it.

"The second thing you should know about the Doctor," she concluded, revealing her now loosened wrists and standing up from the chair she had been tied to, "is that he always comes back for me."

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