DOCTOR WHO: THE KEYS TO DEATH

Chapter 1

It was early morning when the front door of Amy and Rory's house sprung open to reveal Amy dressed as provocatively as ever. In a short, tight top and an extremely short purple skirt, she traipsed out of the house with a small hold-all in hand.
"An overnight bag?" she said back in the direction of the house. "Whatever for?"
"Just do as the Doctor says..." came the reply which belonged to Rory. He, as ever was dressed smartly but today looked more like a Lumberjack with his red and green checkered shirt and bright blue jeans.
"Come on though..." sighed Amy. "An overnight bag...I feel like I'm on a School Trip!"
"Ahhh..." remembered Rory. "Schools Trips...they were the best...do you remember Mrs Reign and the infamous History Trip?"
"Didn't you get lost on that one?" Amy asked.
"Yeah..." replied Rory. "But it was the best sleepover I'd ever had...albeit it was in a cave..."
"She'd really lost her marbles by then, hadn't she?" said Amy. Rory could only agree as the pair of them just waited for the Doctor to come out of the house and join them. Amy however was being as impatient as she always was. "DOCTOR!" she then cried. "Come on!"
"Yes, okay..." replied the Doctor sheepishly before coming out of the house. Rory then promptly locked up and then could relax once more. He had a thing about locking the door very quickly, he never understood why like everyone else.
"So, off to the TARDIS?" beamed Amy brightly. The Doctor then awkwardly looked around. The TARDIS was in the back garden but he'd led them out to the front of the house, so there was clearly something odd about the Doctor's mannerisms, even more so than normal.
"Well..." he began. "I don't think that'll be possible..."
"Why not?" asked Rory.
"Well...the TARDIS is running on empty..."
"And it needs refilling?" asked Amy.
"Yes..." said the Doctor. "...but it needs 24 Hours to fully get back to its normal self..."
"And how long has it had?" asked Rory who could sense something was definitely not going to be good.
"10 Minutes..." replied the Doctor. "Sorry..." Amy immediately pulled one of her usual faces of disgust and then shunned the Doctor. Rory then looked around thinking through the possibilities of their travel arrangements.
"So, no TARDIS means we've got to travel by other means...so what exactly were you planning, Doctor?"
"Well..." he began. "Um...I don't know how to put this Rory, but..."
"But what?" asked Rory before he realised the Doctor was staring at his bright red Mini. "Oh...oh no...you can't be serious!"
"Sadly I am..." said the Doctor.
"Where are we going to then?" asked Amy who had now stopped her shunning.
"London..." replied the Doctor simply.
"London?" said Rory. "That's over a 100 Miles away! You'll be paying the Petrol then..." he then huffed before taking his and Amy's hold-alls and putting them in the boot of the Mini. "Come along then!" he then said. "London here we go..."

"Are we there yet?" bemoaned the Doctor as the Mini was making reasonable progress towards its destination. Both Amy and Rory ignored him and just wished the journey would be at its end, Rory more so. Amy had put on some music from her MP3 Player and to both Rory and the Doctor, it was a ghastly selection in music. It was all modern and contrived with barely distinguishable lyrics. Rory being brought up by his Mother around the music of Dusty Springfield and others of that era definitely couldn't get a grasp of the music whilst the Doctor couldn't tell if the singer was male of female on most of the songs. The awkwardness of the journey continued until the Mini arrived in main London where the Doctor then directed Rory around to their destination.
"Where exactly are we going?" asked Amy.
"Holmes House..." replied the Doctor before saying "Left! NOW!" quite loudly.
"Is it just us going to be there?" asked Amy.
"No...there will be a familiar face and then some new ones..." replied the Doctor before then shouting abuse at Rory for missing the turn-in.
"I'm sorry..." apologised Rory. "...but you do mislead people easily..." he continued before turning the Mini around and then going where he should have been. Soon, the Mini came into sight of an old, dilapidated Mansion. It was surrounded entirely by land and its posh gates at the front made Amy smile a lot.
"Wow..." she said simply before noticing the soldiers all around. Dressed in black and wearing a red beret, they certainly stood out and all Amy could do was admire them. One came upto the side of the Mini and checked for ID. The Doctor passed Rory his Psychic Paper and soon they were let through. In the distance by the entrance, they could make out that someone was waiting for them. They weren't close enough to tell who it was yet but the Doctor couldn't help but smile. As they got closer, Rory realised who it was and then Amy soon after.
"Well..." smiled Rory. "You never said she was coming..."
"Didn't I?" joked the Doctor. "Must have forgotten!" he added as the Mini then pulled up on the gravelly road. There waiting for them was a woman dressed very business-like with extremely curly hair. She walked over to the driver's side where Rory then wound down the window for her.
"Hello everyone..." she smiled. "Lovely to see you again!"

"River Song...fancy meeting you here!" smiled the Doctor proudly before giving River a gentle hug.
"Well, you did ask for me to be here..." she said as they embraced.
"That's true..." said the Doctor.
"...and the lure of UN.I.T Soldiers being around was certainly one I couldn't miss..." continued River.
"UN.I.T?" asked Rory.
"Unified Intelligence Taskforce..." explained River. "Basically, Earth's way of dealing with Aliens when Bow-Tie Bill here isn't around..."
"Bow-Tie Bill?" pondered the Doctor. "I rather like that..."
"So, what exactly are we here for then?" asked Amy. "It must be something serious if we've brought overnight bags." The Doctor then rushed over to the Mini and looked in the boot.
"Damn..." he muttered, but everyone could hear him.
"Well..." began River. "This house then, Holmes House belonged to the famous Philanthropist Aubrey Holmes and his dear Wife, Deirdre. When she passed away, Aubrey was all on his own and this is apparently when the 'happenings' began..."
"Happenings?" asked Rory.
"Basically, there were thoughts that the house was Haunted, but it was never proven..." answered River.
"But..." the Doctor continued. "When he passed on a few years back, the 'happenings' increased in number and severity...which suggests something strange about it..."
"But its just a Haunted House..." said Amy. "I didn't think you were into all this stuff?"
"I'm not normally..." said the Doctor. "But if UN.I.T are investigating, something very strange is definitely happening in there..."
"And they called you into help?" said Rory.
"Yes..." replied the Doctor.
"But only when the Keys started appearing..." added River
"Keys?" said Rory.
"Yes, keys...they were found all around the House with a message attached to each one...the keys all belonged to one of the rooms here, but those who ventured in never came back..." explained River.
"We can't go in there until the others arrive though..." stated the Doctor.
"Others?" asked Amy.
"Lieutenant Hank Nail and Captain Ingrid Benson..." said River. "They are in charge of this...so we have to obey..."

Soon, a cavalcade of UN.I.T emblazoned vehicles entered the grounds of Holmes House. The main support centre once again as ever with a modern UN.I.T was placed within a bigger than usual Lorry. When parked, out emerged the two UN.I.T staff the TARDIS quartet were waiting for.
"Lieutenant Hank Nail..." announced the Lieutenant proudly with a thick American accent before shaking everyone's hand vigorously. Captain Benson didn't introduce herself and just stood quiet by Lieutenant Nail's side. "Now then, strange things are happening here at this Manor and I wish to uncover the true reasons behind this. As you may or not already know, there have been recent sightings of the deceased Holmes around the grounds here...and quite simply I wish to stop that and ensure a safer London and therefore a safer world..."
"Well said..." smiled the Doctor before starting an awkward applause. "However, you know what you're up against Lieutenant..."
"Well, we don't..." replied the Lieutenant. "That's why we asked you here, Doctor..."
"No..." said the Doctor. "I mean you know with me at your side, and River, Amy and Rory things won't be as simple as they should be..."
"How so?" inquired Nail.
"Because we're Time-travellers..." said the Doctor. "So we know about this kind of thing...Come along, let's investigate!"