TITLE: The Case Of The Artist's Legacy
AUTHOR: Talepiece
RATING: 12 cert.
PAIRING: Vastra/Jenny
SERIES: The Casebook Of Madame Vastra
CONTINUITY: This is the fourth and final story in the third volume of Vastra/Jenny stories. It references iThe Case Of The Severed Hand/i and iThe Case Of The Red Goddess/i amongst others and follows on directly from the previous part.
DISCLAIMER: Own them, I do not; sue me, please do not.
CREDITS: This story is loosely based on Manly Wade Wellman's iThe Golgotha Dancers/i and The Man From The Ministry is taken from the description of a certain literary sibling.
NOTE: I'm still taking liberties with Who cannon/continuity and I'm still entirely unrepentant.
The blog is now up on the TP web site, where I'll be posting about future plans for the Casebook Series and the upcoming Christmas story.
POSTED: November 2014
When mourning the loss of her beloved companion, Madame Vastra was saved by the presence of the most remarkable of men. She and her newfound friends set out to deal with the hideous threat unleashed upon London.
Jennifer Strax Vastra-Flint.
London, 1950.
"So what you're saying," Perpugilliam Brown said, "is that you started quantum mechanics by telling some old Greek guy about atoms?"
The Doctor harrumphed, "Not in so many words, no, but I may have had a very pleasant chat with him. By a river, as I recall."
Peri rolled her eyes and watched as he rushed around the console, tinkering with various controls and occasionally dropping down to his knees to stare accusingly at the underside. He had foregone his coat of many colours in favour of rolled up sleeves and loosened braces. Suspenders, Peri thought and cursed herself for picking up the Doctor's Anglicised vocabulary.
He muttered something about reversing the polarity and rushed back to the other side of the console.
"OK, so what exactly is the problem here?" Peri finally said.
"Well," the Doctor drew out the word, "I wouldn't want to confuse you with a lot of technical language -"
"You don't know, do you?"
"I didn't say that," he looked up at her with a sharp glare that was somewhat neutered by his position.
"You didn't have to, Doctor."
"Now listen here, young lady -" he began in his most pompous tone but the sudden movement of the time rotor stopped him, "Ah, apparently I've fixed it."
"Yeah right."
Peri hurried over to the Doctor's side and they watched the rotor rise and fall. She glanced up to find him staring intently at the screen on the console.
Peri tensed, "What is it, Doctor?"
"I have no idea but the old girl does seem to be rather determined to get us somewhere."
"Somewhere? Can you be more specific?"
"I'm afraid not, Peri. Back in a tick."
With that he ran from the control room and Peri was left to watch the rotor and wonder. The Doctor returned in a few minutes now dressed in his beloved coat and carrying Peri's own, more muted jacket. He handed it over distractedly, his eyes immediately set on the console.
"Well?"
"Well," and again he drew out the word, "this time I really haven't the foggiest."
"You're not filling me with confidence here, Doctor."
"No, I suppose not. Still," he pointed to the rotor as it ground to a halt, "at least we're about to find out."
"Oh great," Peri said but she was already donning her coat and heading for the Tardis door.
The Doctor threw the control and the doors opened before her. Peri hesitated, overwhelmed by the heavy scent of earth and something else that almost overpowered even that.
"Jeez, what's that," she began but stopped in speech and movement as she stepped clear of the doors, "Oh."
She had stepped out into the mouth of a tunnel, man-made and still under construction. The dim illuminations of a city at night could be made out at the entrance and there were torches dotted around. A few more flames flared and guttered where they had been thrown to the ground. Ground that was carpeted with bodies.
The Doctor joined her and was equally stunned by the sight, though only for a moment. He rallied quickly and took hold of Peri's arm in a firm grip. Easing her behind him, he made to move towards one of the bodies but a low, desperate keening sound stopped him once more.
"Doctor?" Peri said from around his shoulder.
"Yes, Peri, I hear it. Be careful, won't you?"
"You bet I will."
With that they began to edge forward. It was hard enough to manoeuvre on the rough ground and in such poor light but having to negotiate the fallen men added to the difficulty. Peri stumbled, her foot catching at the arm of some poor soul. She looked down in alarm and froze yet again.
"Er, Doctor? Have you noticed something here?"
"You mean the many dead bodies littering the floor? Yes, Peri, thank you for pointing it out but I had, in fact, noticed them."
"No, Doctor," she said a little more sharply than she meant, "not just that."
The Doctor halted his slow progress to the source of the keening sound and turned back to Peri. She was staring down at one of the dead and his own gaze lowered to discover what had so disturbed his companion.
"Ah."
"Ah? Is that it? Just 'ah'?"
"Ah, that explains it then."
The Doctor looked around the carnage, this time considering the faces of each of the fallen. Peri waited for more information but none was forthcoming.
"What are they, Doctor?"
"Silurians." At Peri's impatient glare, he continued, "The original inhabitants of Earth. They were sharing space - quite happily, I might add - with the dinosaurs before you apes were out of the sea."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously, yes. Being a remarkably clever species, they spotted the impending doom of an on-coming meteorite or two and decided to wait things out beneath ground."
"And they're still there?" Peri's eyes flicked to her feet, "Now?"
"Oh yes. They would rather like their planet back but I had hoped they'd realised that you apes had over-run the place."
"Apparently not. Is this an invasion?"
"With a handful of warriors? Bit half-hearted, wouldn't you say?"
"A bloodbath is what I'd say."
"Yes, that does raise another question, doesn't it?"
"Does it?"
"Well, look at these wounds," he indicated the slaughter with a wave of his hand, "bullet wounds, knife and sword wounds and, well, whatever did that to the poor chap."
Peri followed the Doctor's outstretched finger and immediately wished she had not. The man - she assumed he had been a man - had suffered the most vicious attack of any of the bodies she had seen. He had been ripped apart. And that wasn't an exaggeration.
"Jeez," Peri muttered. She swallowed hard and dragged her eyes away from the body to stare up at the Doctor, "What the hell did that?"
"I have no idea, Peri, but hell might not be too far from the truth."
The keening suddenly grew louder, filling the tunnel for a long moment. It was only as the sound died away that both the Doctor and Peri realised that another noise had stopped.
"Someone's outside," Peri said.
"Or they were," the Doctor looked around the tunnel, trying to identify the location of the keening sound, "And that keening is a Silurian's mourning cry. Come on," and with that he was moving again.
Peri followed, hardly able to keep up with the Doctor's dancing steps as he made his way through the maze of bodies. They were moving deeper into the tunnel, almost to the point were it dropped down into the underlying rock.
"Doctor, where exactly are we?"
"London, possibly," he whispered over his shoulder, "Paris, even? I'd say sometime in the late nineteenth century."
"Why?"
"Because I think this is an early underground railway system."
Peri glanced around, "So this is either the Tube or the Metro?"
"Yes. Though neither of them were called that originally."
The Doctor stopped suddenly and Peri found herself pressed close to his back. She eased around him and followed his gaze. A tall, thin creature was crouched over a smaller figure. The head was reptilian, scaled and obviously green, even in the dim light. Its hands... No, Peri realised, her hands were pressed to the face of her fallen comrade and she appeared to be weeping.
"My name is the Doctor. Can I offer any assistance?"
The lizard woman sprang up, face jutting out, tongue extending from her mouth and lashing out towards them. She gave a loud hissing sound and glared at them with her burning, red-rimmed eyes.
The Doctor leaned back dramatically and Peri followed the movement of his body, tucking her face in behind his shoulder until he straightened once more.
"Easy, easy there," the Doctor said in his most soothing tone, "We're here to help. I'm the Doctor," he repeated, emphasising the title.
A flicker of understanding danced through her eyes and the tongue flicked back into her mouth. There was another hiss but this one a little less intimidating.
Peri stepped out from the Doctor's side, her hands raised in a placating gesture, "Let him look at your friend. Maybe he can help, eh?"
Another hiss but this little more than curiosity. Peri took another step and another until she was within a few yards of the Silurian. It was only then that she glanced down and clearly saw the figure that she had been mourning.
"Er, Doctor?"
"Yes, Peri, I know. Your friend," the Doctor said to the Silurian, "This is your friend, yes? Were the humans and Silurians fighting a common enemy?"
This time the hiss was angry again. More than that, it was furious and the tongue lashed out, cutting the air between the Doctor and Peri.
"Let's take that as a no, Doctor."
The Doctor edged closer to the fallen human; a small woman, young with dark hair and pale skin. He kept his hands away from his body and slowly crouched down until he was kneeling beside her. The Silurian squatted down too, hissing dangerously but not intervening as the Doctor reached out and eased the body over a little, exposing the raw bullet wound. It oozed blood, the front of the shirt and waistcoat shredded and burned, the skin thick with impending demise.
"I think," the Doctor said very carefully, "that I might be able to save your friend."
"Do it," the Silurian said in a hissing rush.
Peri blinked, "You can speak?"
"Peri! Honestly, I am sorry," the Doctor said to the Silurian, adding by way of explanation, "She's an American, you know. Now then."
The Doctor looked around, wondering if there were any others that he could help. With a deep dismay, he realised that even if there was anyone else alive, the Zero Room would not be able to help more than one of them at a time. He had promised to help the young woman and he doubted that this Silurian would take kindly to him risking her life to help the others. Especially the humans.
"Now, Peri, get back to the Tardis and -"
"Tardis?" the Silurian said and it was less of a hiss now, "You are The Doctor?"
"Oh please, don't stoke his ego," Peri harrumphed.
"Really," the Doctor glared at her before answering the question, "Yes, I am The Doctor."
"I will carry her," the Silurian said.
"I rather think that's best. All right, I'll get everything ready. Peri you lead our friend here to the Zero Room, yes?"
"Okey dokey."
Madame Vastra paced down the long, white corridor of the Tardis, executed a near-perfect turn and paced back again. She repeated the manoeuvre over and over again, each time under the watchful eye of Peri. She felt vaguely ashamed of reverting to her most reptilian nature and with every passing minute that her more cultured self returned, the shame grew.
"I apologise," she said eventually.
Peri started, lulled by the endlessly repetitive movements and the gentle padding of the Silurian's boots.
"Sorry for what?"
"For being so," Vastra hesitated, unable to find a suitable word. She settled on, "Silurian," with a sigh.
"You don't think much of your people?" Peri said, intrigued by the thought.
"I," Vastra continued her pacing, not speaking until she had returned to Peri, "I am not entirely comfortable in the company of some Silurians."
"Diplomatically put. Any chance you could teach the Doctor some of that?"
Vastra halted her pacing and smiled at the girl. She was pretty in a human sort of way and surprisingly friendly, given the circumstances of their meeting. Travelling with the Doctor most probably required such an attitude.
"I had thought him quite skilled in that regard."
"Maybe in the past," Peri grinned, "but not so much this time."
"Then it is true, the Doctor can alter his physical appearance?"
"Oh, it's not just physical, it's the whole kit and caboodle."
"Caboodle?" Vastra stared at Peri.
She had thought the English spoken by Master Archie and his ilk foreign enough but apparently Americans had found new and original ways to torture the language.
"Yeah, caboodle. It's -" Peri began but she was interrupted as the door of the Zero Room opened.
They both turned to watch as the Doctor stepped out, closing the door carefully behind him. He looked concerned but not grieving and Peri relaxed just a little. Vastra did not and Peri reached out and gently pressed her hand to the Silurian's arm. She idly noticed the thick leather band at her wrist but took little notice as they waited for the Doctor to speak.
"Well then," he dragged a handkerchief from his trouser pocket and dabbed at his forehead, "your friend is very ill, as I'm sure you can imagine, but I believe that the Zero Room will save her."
"Well done, Doctor!"
"Why, thank you Peri. It will take some time, though, and I'd like her left alone for at least twelve hours; the room needs time to work and I'd like to take a look at you too," he added, indicating Vastra.
"I wish to see my companion, Doctor."
"Seriously, you should let the room do its work," Peri said.
"I do understand your desire to see your friend -" the Doctor began.
"She is more than a friend," Vastra hissed.
"Yes, I rather thought she was but that's neither here nor there, if you'll forgive me for saying so," he said quickly, his hands rising to ward off Vastra's growing annoyance, "She needs to rest and so do you. I don't know if you're aware of this but you are very badly hurt yourself."
Vastra stared at him in confusion before following their gazes to look down at her own body. The front of her thick gilet was ripped through, exposing much of her chest and abdomen. Not that you could see her scales, covered as they were with dirt and blood. Her arms had fared worse still, the thinner material in tatters and her scales raw and bloody.
Vastra's first thought was that it was not her own. She had, after all, cut a swathe through the remaining combatants once Jenny's body had slumped to the floor. She could not be certain how many she had felled but she was certain that they were human and Silurian alike. She had barely been aware of the difference at that point. She had fought the creatures from the painting as well but had not, alas, killed them.
It was with some surprise then, that Vastra suddenly felt the deep, burning ache of her lacerations. She held her hands away from her body and studied herself from fingertips to chest and down to her feet. There was little sign of the carefully tailored clothing she wore when in potentially dangerous situations. There was little sign of the scales beneath either. There was simply thick blood, some of it still trickling from her own flesh.
Suddenly she felt faint. She wavered dangerously and had to reach out for the wall to steady herself. It was warm, she noticed, and it throbbed gently beneath her fingers. The Doctor and Peri rushed to take hold of her but she waved them away with her free hand. They stepped back hastily and watched in concern as she shook her head to force her eyes to focus. That accomplished, she straightened and tested her legs.
"I believe I can walk a little way, Doctor. Perhaps I might rest for a moment or two."
"Take three or four," Peri offered.
"Hours," the Doctor added in a firm tone.
Vastra didn't have the energy to argue and she followed along wordlessly as Peri lead the way back through the Tardis to a small room not far from the thrumming hub of the vessel. Vastra could hear the steady rhythm of whatever strange engines carried the Tardis through time and space.
"You have," she sort for the correct term, "left the tunnel?"
"I have," the Doctor indicated a large wicker chair that sat in one corner of the room, "it seemed best not to dally, given the circumstances."
"You are undoubtedly correct, Doctor."
"Why thank you, Madame," he raised a brow in question, "Vastra, is it?"
Vastra had only just lowered herself into the chair and she shot to her feet once more, glaring at the Doctor.
"How do you know who I am?"
"Hey, easy, Madame," Peri hesitated, "er, Madame whoever-you-are, you need to sit down."
Vastra was about to deny the fact most strenuously when all strength left her legs and she slumped down despite herself. Peri reached out and helped her settle into the wicker chair, though with the lightest of touches. Vastra never took her eyes from the Doctor and his gaze held hers without flinching.
"I rather thought you were from the beginning. A Silurian female, fighting with and obviously attached to a human woman. In Victorian England. In the middle of some sort of altercation. Well," the Doctor smiled, "it's not that much of a stretch."
"You're famous?" Peri said.
"Miss Perpugilliam Brown, allow me to introduce Madame Vastra, the Great Detective of Paternoster Row."
"Wow. An honour, I'm sure."
A tiny smile flickered across Vastra's blood-splattered face, "The honour is mine, I assure you. So I am remembered, Doctor?"
"Oh, very much so. And Miss Flint as well."
"I am relieved," Vastra's smile grew, "These humans can be rather selective in their collective memory. No offence, Miss Brown."
"None taken; I know what you mean. And call me Peri."
"Well then," the Doctor said, "now that the introductions are taken care of, let's take care of you, shall we?"