"Where did you get this?" Clara asked, gingerly holding a serrated knife with a wooden handle.
"A... friend gave it to us. It kills demons," Dean said.
"But it also kills the host. So, we try to exorcise it instead, especially if we know that the person who's being possessed is still alive and in there somewhere."
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Sherlock, there's a big box downstairs that says 'police box'. Do you know anything..." Mrs. Hudson trailed off as she opened the door and saw the room full of strangers.
Sherlock sighed. "Sam and Dean, Americans, Castiel, an angel, an unmarried, but dating, elementary school teacher, and a doctor of some sort." He gestured to each of them in turn. "Mrs. Hudson."
"Clara," John said. "Her name is Clara. And that's - well, he just calls himself the Doctor."
"It's very nice to meet you all," Mrs. Hudson said. "The box... Is that...?"
"Mine," the Doctor said. "The TARDIS. She's a time machine. Space ship, too."
"Oh. Would you all like some tea?" she asked weakly. She glanced at Sam and Dean. "Or coffee?"
Sam looked up from his computer. "Ah, no thank you," he said with a smile.
"Alright. I'll be downstairs if you need anything, Sherlock." She closed the door.
Clara laughed. "She used to this sort of thing? She didn't seem to react much to the TARDIS or Castiel."
"You could say that," John said.
Sam cleared his throat. "Could we get back to the demon?" Clara nodded. "Thank you."
"Like we said, we tracked it here from Salt Lake City. We don't know why it seems to have chosen to stop here, but it has," Dean said.
Castiel spoke up. "That means you are in a lot of danger, Sherlock. If the demon were to possess you, it would know everything you know, with potentially disastrous consequences, with your brother being who he is."
"Wait," John interrupted. "How do you know about his brother?"
"You think we'd let someone that important go without some sort of protection?" Dean asked. "You've met his assistant. Often goes by "Anthea"? She's one of us, a hunter of sorts."
"Dean. Look at this."
Dean walked over to Sam and his computer, closely followed by Clara and the Doctor. Dean looked at the map on the screen that was overlaid with a mess of numbers, lines, and other symbols. "That's not good."
"What? What's not good?" Clara asked.
The Doctor spoke before either Winchester could explain. "It's raining quite a bit in Scotland."
"Yeah, that's normal, Doctor. It's autumn."
"Eastern Scotland. Rains, yes, but not this much. Too protected by the highlands."
"The Doctor's right," Sam said. "Weird weather is a sign of lots of demon activity. That and livestock deaths," he explained. "I've set my computer to track reports that might show us where our demon is."
"I remember something on the telly about that. Said it was some virus," John said.
"I knew it wasn't a virus," Sherlock muttered.
"No, you didn't. You just about bought a train ticket to go up there and diagnose it!"
Sherlock shot John a look. Sam cleared his throat. "Well, that's usually what the authorities think. Let's see..." He hit a few keys on the computer. "Look at this."
Dean looked at the screen. "Look at what? There's nothing there."
"Exactly. There hasn't been a single report of dying livestock for... Two days."
"Since we got here."
"So, what now?" John said. "The demons were here and now they're gone, so we can all throw a big party and go home."
"Um... Not quite," Dean said.
"We have reasons to believe that the demon-"
"Or demons."
"...Are still here. And that they've targeted you, Sherlock."
"They're not here. Nobody has changed," Sherlock said.
"Are you sure? I mean, they-"
Sherlock cut Sam off with a look. "I am the greatest detective in the whole of London, and probably the world, and you ask if I'm sure?"
"Humble, aren't you," Clara remarked.
"You should have seen him at the Palace," John replied.
Sam cleared his throat. "We know this particular demon likes to –"
A symbol suddenly popped up on Sam's computer. "What's that?" Clara interrupted, pointing to it.
Sam turned back to look. "That is... Crap. That is not good. Actually, no, it is good. It's saying there's a high possibility of a powerful demon, or group of demons, being there."
"Yeah, we need to move quickly. You and you stay here with Cas," Dean said, pointing at Clara and Sherlock. "Sorry, but you'll get in the way."
Clara was about to object when the Doctor interrupted. "I need her. She's coming."
"And you'll need Sherlock, too. You want me along, you'll have to put up with him, too,"
Dean and Sam exchanged a look. Dean sighed. "Well, you can't all fit in the rental, so..."
"We'll take the TARDIS," Clara said matter-of-factly.
"Sorry, the what?" Dean said skeptically.
The Doctor sighed. "If you had listened earlier–"
"We'll show you," Clara interrupted. "Sam, you're the one who called the Doctor, right? You probably already know all about it. The rest of you though... Well, you'll just have to come see." And with that, she crossed the room, opened the door, and started down the stairs. A second passed, and she popped back into the room. "Well? Coming or not?" She looked at the unmoving and seemingly oblivious Sherlock seated at his microscope. "That includes you, too, smart boy."
Eventually Clara managed to get everybody downstairs standing in front of the big blue police box. "I'm sorry, I am not getting in that. There is no way that's going to fit all of us," Dean said, turning to go back upstairs. Sighing, Clara walked to the doors and opened them. Dean turned back. "Look, just because you're going in there doesn't mean I'll..." His voice trailed off as he tried to process what his eyes were seeing. "I... It..."
"It is bigger on the inside," Cas observed.
"Really? Never heard that one before," the Doctor said to himself.
Sherlock slowly walked up to the machine, touched it, walked around it once, and then walked inside, carefully observing everything was he went. After a moment or two inside the ship, he came back outside and stared at it for almost a minute. Finally, he said, "Dimensional shift?"
John laughed in disbelief. "That's all you have to say? That it's science? There's an obsolete police box sitting there that's who knows how many times bigger on the inside than the outside and that's all you say! 'Dimensional shift'?"
Clara cleared her throat. "Could we all just get in and go find the demon or whatever it is? You said it was urgent."
"I've got the coordinates right here," Sam said, "if there's somewhere I can, uh, input the numbers?" He stared at the center column and its wide array of devices attached, completely befuddled.
Sighing, the Doctor grabbed the computer out of his hands and set it on the console. Then, he knelt down and reached under the console, eventually finding the chord he was looking for. Pulling it out, he plugged one end into the computer and the other into one of many unidentifiable plugs in the TARDIS's console. As soon as everyone was inside and the door was closed, he hit a few buttons, pulled a lever, and the TARDIS took off. A minute later, it landed once again with a quiet wheeze.
Clara confidently strode over to the door and opened it to see... The same hallway they had just left. Quickly, she closed the door again and went over to the Doctor. "Are you sure you put the coordinates in correctly? Because that is exactly the same hallway we started at."
"Something must be wrong with the..." The Doctor trailed off as he went to go fix whatever was wrong.
"Doctor! Where do you think you're going?" she hissed after him. "At least tell everyone else what's going on!"
"That's what I've got you for! You tell them something."
"Tell them what exactly? That we'll have to take the Rental anyway because you don't know how to work your own TARDIS?"
"I don't know! Make something up! Lie! You're good at that."
"Doctor!" Clara was interrupted by someone behind her.
"If this is not working, I can transport people to the demon."
"Ah, no, Cas, you are not teleporting anyone over there," Dean interrupted. "Last time you tried that, we nearly got hit by a car and you were totally drained after. And that was just us two. No way you're doing that with everyone."
"Sorry," Sam said, "but when exactly are we going to leave? This is kind of, you know, urgent, so if we could go? That'd be great."
"Right! Yes! Well, you're in luck because as well as being a space ship, it's also a time machine and can take us there at the exact time your computer picked up the signal! So, there's no need to worry, because the Doctor is just making sure he's getting us there right when we need to be there. The TARDIS is very precise and can land us within seconds of when we need to arrive–"
"You are a fantastically terrible liar," Sherlock interrupted. "The Doctor put in the coordinates, but his useless machine took us to the wrong spot, so now he's trying to fix it. With very little success I might add."
"Ah, well, yes," Clara said, "he did put in the coordinates, but sometimes they are a touch off. Should be back working in a minute. But like I said. Time machine!"
At that, the Doctor bounded back up the stairs, input a few numbers, spun a wheel, pulled a lever, and once again, they took off to go find the demon.
