Notes: the characters aren't mine, and the story is! This is meant to be chapter one of my birthday gift to Pat; knowing how much he enjoyed playing Salamander, I wanted to bring Salamander back into a fic. This fic was also largely inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, but I've worked out the details of the fic to ensure that prior knowledge of the game is not necessary to enjoy this fic. Also, this is a Season 6B fic, and as for why Zoe and Victoria are back, that is explained in the last few chapters of my Jamie drabble series "Those Who Help Us Most to Grow."
It had been a long, long time since the TARDIS was this crowded, Jamie McCrimmon realized as he looked around at the others standing with him in the console room. The Scotsman had to admit to himself that he didn't think that the TARDIS ever would have been this crowded again.
Oh, sure; the Time Lords had said that he and the Doctor could travel with Zoe and Victoria again if they managed to deal with the Whispermen that had invaded various regions of time and space. But Jamie had long since known not to trust those "space crocodiles," as he called them. Nevertheless, he was astounded when, after stopping the Whispermen (along with the Great Intelligence, which had been controlling them), the Time Lords stayed true to their word.
Jamie had to admit that after nearly ten years of just being him and the Doctor alone in the TARDIS, it was odd to have others around again. He barely recognized Zoe and Victoria—they had both grown, as Jamie himself had. And Victoria, having lived in the 1960s all this time, had modernized herself completely in line with that era, looking nothing like the girl Jamie had met in Victorian London; this had, initially, caused a lot of confusion for the Doctor, who accidentally called her "Dodo" a few times before he finally reestablished Victoria's new dress style with her identity.
Still, it was also nice to have them around again. And Jamie noticed that he often ended up with a considerable amount of time alone with the Doctor anyway, as Zoe and Victoria found ways to keep each other entertained—though most of it seemed to be swapping stories about some of the sillier things that Jamie and the Doctor had done.
The Doctor certainly enjoyed the company, of course—the crowded console room, the crowded table at mealtime, and the giggles that often greeted him and Jamie as the girls noticed them entering a room they were in.
"…Doctor, are they laughing at us?" Jamie had asked him.
"I can guarantee it," the Doctor had answered.
The Doctor certainly didn't mind being laughed at, and as the TARDIS traveled aimlessly through the Time Vortex, with the four of them chatting casually over breakfast, Jamie had to admit that he didn't really mind it, either.
The TARDIS eventually decided to land herself as they were putting the dishes away. The Doctor took a look on the console display before smiling.
"It's quite alright," he said. "We've landed in England—in the 1970s." He blinked, pausing as the display kept switching back and forth. "…Or is it the 80s? …Well, it's one of the two, anyway."
The Doctor waved a hand in dismissal and opened the doors, allowing the three humans to leave first. They found themselves in a laboratory, and Jamie was quick to point out that there were some papers with notes jotted down in rather sloppy Gallifreyan.
"This is yer writing, Doctor," the piper pointed out. "And I recognize the building now; it's UNIT Headquarters."
"Oh, dear…" the Doctor said, frowning. "I wanted us to have a pleasant getaway, and it looks as though we're stuck with Old Fancypants again!"
"Ah, the tall one?" Jamie asked. "He was verra nice t' me the last time we were here. Ye'll like him, Victoria."
"Will I?"
"Aye—he's a real gentleman, always well-dressed—"
"He's an insufferable dandy!" the Doctor fumed.
"Och, relax; ye know ye're my favorite one of ye," Jamie teased, drawing an arm around the Doctor.
"Well…" the Doctor said, cheering up. "That's more than enough for me."
"Five hundred years old, and he acts like a child sometimes," Zoe murmured under her breath.
"You have no idea; you weren't there that day we went to the seaside," Victoria murmured back with a smirk.
The door to the laboratory now opened, revealing Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
"So, Doctor, you're finally back… Good Lord, it's you!" he exclaimed, obviously not expecting this version of the Doctor. He then did a double-take as he noticed the others. "And McCrimmon, Miss Heriot, and Miss Waterfield!"
They all took turns greeting the Brigadier, as the Doctor mulled over the Brigadier's words.
"Am I to understand, then, that my other self isn't here at the moment?"
"Afraid not; ever since the Omega incident, it's been difficult keeping him tied down here. He's actually been gone several weeks now; he and Miss Grant are off somewhere into the unknown."
The Doctor laughed, clapping his hands together.
"Brigadier, that is the best possible news you could have given me!" he exclaimed. "I do believe that I shall find this diversion quite enjoyable."
"Hopefully, you shall," the Brigadier said. "Other than some odd happenings, it's been rather quiet here as of late."
"Odd happenings?" Zoe asked.
"Well, there have been no Cybermen wandering about," he assured her. He turned to Victoria before adding, "Or Yetis."
Jamie involuntarily cringed at the mention of the Yetis before reminding himself that stopping the Doctor from draining the Great Intelligence may have caused problems later on with the Whispermen, but doing so had also prevented the Doctor from being corrupted by it, as a stumble into an alternate timeline had so cruelly taught Jamie.
"Then what has been happening?" Victoria inquired.
"It's nothing of importance right now," the Brigadier said, hastily.
The Doctor didn't seem to be satisfied with this explanation.
"Nevertheless…" he began.
"Doctor, I assure you, if it was something that was an emergency, we'd have done our best to get back in touch with you sooner," the Brigadier assured him. "Now that we've settled that, may I suggest that we have breakfast?"
"We just ate," Victoria began, only to be interrupted by Jamie.
"Aye, but we'll eat anything, if ye've got it!"
"Jamie…!" Victoria chided.
"He hasn't changed either," Zoe mused, as the Brigadier now led them to the UNIT mess hall. "Tell me, Brigadier, is Isobel around?"
"She's on holiday in the Caribbean; she'll be disappointed that she missed you."
"Oh," Zoe said, equally disappointed. "Well, I'm sure she'll be getting a lot of great pictures there."
Benton was already eating when they arrived at the mess hall; he greeted them warmly as Jamie now began filling a tray with food.
The Doctor, on the other hand, was willing to try again to get the Brigadier to divulge something of what was going on.
"Brigadier, are you entirely certain—?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, Doctor, but Miss Heriot and Miss Waterfield have never traveled with you at the same time, correct?"
"Well, yes, that is correct, but that isn't quite what I wanted to discuss with y—oh, my word!"
This time, the Doctor found himself interrupted by a crack of thunder as lightning appeared outside the mess hall window; the sky, which had, only moments before, been bright blue, was now clouded over with thick, dark stormclouds. Rain was pouring in torrents, and a violent wind was howling all around them, tossing dustbins and anything else outside that wasn't nailed down.
The shock of all of this happening so suddenly was only surpassed by the reactions from the UNIT personnel present in the room. Several were just shaking their heads in resignation while Benton just facepalmed; the Brigadier, for his part, let out a heavy sigh before saying just one word—
"…Again…?"
As Jamie and the girls exchanged baffled glances, the Doctor now turned to the Brigadier with a look of suspicion.
"I take it this was what you referred to when you mentioned those 'odd happenings' earlier?"
"Yes," the Brigadier admitted. "These flash storms have been happening every few days since your other counterpart left. They last only about five or ten minutes at a time—and, somehow, occur only over UNIT HQ. As you can see by the general reaction, they are more a nuisance than anything else."
"But, Sir?" Benton asked. "What about the messages?"
The Brigadier gave him a silencing glare, prompting the Doctor to inquire further into the matter.
"It is no concern of yours, Doctor," the Brigadier insisted.
"Since I am here now, it would seem that it is a concern of mine!" the Doctor quipped back. "Suppose I want to take a nice little jaunt outside? This would ruin my plans; it's no fun trudging through the rain, you know!"
"Aye, and what this aboot messages?" Jamie asked.
"Yes, is someone telling you something about these storms?" Victoria queried.
"And how can there possibly be a flash storm here and only here?" Zoe added. "That is a scientific anomaly!"
"Good Lord, you're all in this together, aren't you?" the Brigadier sighed. "Very well; yes, there have been messages sent to our computers after these storms, claiming that the storms are manmade and intentionally designed to irk us and only us, and asking for various demands to be met, lest the storms continue. And before you ask me how, I may as well tell you that we're all baffled by this."
"I see…" the Doctor said. "And because it was merely an annoyance, you decided that it wasn't necessary to seek my help?"
"…Yes."
The Brigadier's hesitance in his reply didn't escape the Doctor; the Time Lord's eyes narrowed.
"You have attempted to track these messages, haven't you?" Zoe queried.
"Of course we have," the Brigadier stated. "We haven't had any luck with it; by all accounts, whoever is sending those messages doesn't even exist!"
"Now we all know that isn't possible," the Doctor said.
"Aye, they have t' come from somewhere," Jamie agreed, still carrying his tray of food with him. "I know that much aboot computers…"
"Shall I go and wait for the message, Sir?" Benton asked.
"No; I'll go see to it myself," the Brigadier said. "With any luck, we might be able to trace the communication this time as it comes in."
"Right, Sir."
The Brigadier now headed for the door, pausing as he heard four sets of feet following him.
"Oh, very well," he sighed. "The messages are always sent to our central computer; that's where we're headed now."
"I must say, it is quite a feat to send an untraceable message to a UNIT computer," Zoe mused. "Especially since the internet would be in its most rudimentary stages."
"Internet?" Victoria asked.
"It's something future people cannae live withoot," Jamie said, wisely. "The TARDIS has it—when I rejoined the Doctor, he gave me this…" He balanced his food tray in one hand and pulled his smartphone from his sporran with the other. "Ye can go on the internet with this wee gadget and look up videos of people playing bagpipes."
"Among other things," Zoe added.
"Do you mean to tell me that tiny thing has internetworking capabilities?" the Brigadier inquired, looking at the smartphone with interest. "And that its usage has become that commonplace."
"Yes, and completely wireless," Zoe said. "Of course, it won't work here, since there is no wireless capability, but you can take my word for it. In fact, that device in Jamie's hand has more processing power than your central computer."
"What won't they think of next…?" the Brigadier mused.
"As intriguing as it is to discuss the future of internetworking," the Doctor said. "I still wish to know more about these demands that you referred to."
"The majority of those demands involve money," the Brigadier informed him. "Whoever this miscreant is, they intend to line their own pockets with UNIT funds, and have been demanding six-figure sums."
"Aye, and, naturally, ye willnae give them the money," Jamie finished.
"Certainly not," the Brigadier insisted. "We don't bend to the demands of anyone trying to extort money from us."
"And… what else was included in these demands?" the Doctor asked. "You said only the majority of the demands involved money."
"Yes; that's correct."
"Well, out with it!" the Doctor insisted. "I cannot possibly help if you do not give me all of the facts!"
"We don't need your help for every little thing, Doctor!" the Brigadier insisted.
"Maybe not, but I still feel as though I could be helpful in some way! What else are they demanding!?"
The Brigadier sighed again before turning around to face the Doctor.
"You," he stated, simply. "They're demanding that we hand you over to them."