Author's Note: I'd like to update this every week, but I'm pretty busy. I'll just say it'll be updated on the first of every month, and if it gets updated more often I've been particularly ambitious. Again, please, no haters, this is a first attempt.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Doctor Who universe, because if I did, David Tennant would be mine, but only on days that end with a "Y."
Chapter One: Rose Serum
The Doctor had set the TARDIS for "random". He had traveled with the TARDIS for 900 years, and he wasn't stupid. He knew that the TARDIS accurately interpreted his pressing random to mean "send me to a place where people need saving, and I can forget about the pain." Usually setting the TARDIS for random meant ending up on Clom or in the Medusa Cascade, or, as often as not, squarely in the middle of an unspecified battle.
Instead, he appeared to be on the corner of a somewhat-busy street in (he checked the monitor in the TARDIS) Willaton, Wisconsin. He was mildly surprised. He'd never been to Willaton before. He heard they made excellent sugar candies.
The hum of the busy street was suddenly interrupted by the horrible wailing of a loud siren, as a police car, a fire truck, and an ambulance whizzed by, one after the other. They turned into a parking lot in front of The Doctor, and appeared to head up a driveway to a building obscured by trees.
The Doctor had traveled with the TARDIS for 900 years, and he wasn't stupid. With a grin, he headed toward the red and blue lights.
Closer to the building, he was met by chaos. The doors to the building were wide open, but the heavy locks and card-swipe machine told the Doctor that this was unusual. The doors should have been closed and locked.
More alarmingly, on the front lawn, a girl was screaming obscenities and attempting to punch and bite at two middle-aged women who were draped across her securely. A staff lanyard was hanging from one woman's neck, and a second staff lanyard had been cast aside in the grass near the second woman. Both staff members looked tired, but resolute. More screaming was coming from inside the building. In the distance, two teenage boys appeared to be running into the woods, and an elderly lady with a staff lanyard was chasing them half-heartedly.
The front of the building clearly said, "Pennies for Mental Health".
He had come to a mental health facility, seemingly for teenagers. And, judging by the usual pattern of his adventures, the residents seemed to have all become aggressive at the same time.
Time to dive in. "Allon's-y!" The Doctor started with the two running boys. While running after them, he searched in his pocket, digging around and ultimately pulling out a small, silver dart gun device. He turned his sonic to setting 2,072 and inserted it into the dart gun.
The Doctor could have caught up with the boys, but in truth this was easier, and it was more humane not to let this go on. The first dart hit the first boy squarely in the shin, and the second hit the second boy in his upper arm.
Several things happened at once. First, the older lady with the staff badge yelled, "Hey!" Simultaneously, the first boy grabbed his leg and screamed, "Ow, you asshole! You'll pay for that!" He began to run toward the Doctor. Not a split second after, both boys appeared to shake in shock as the serum in the dart began to affect them. Large pupils slowly regained their normal size, and both boys appeared to slump.
The first boy continued toward the Doctor with his hand up, though the fire had gone out of his eyes. The second boy grabbed his arm. "Malichi, stop! I don't know what he gave us, but it's helped, look! Where the hell were we even trying to run to?"
The staff lady shot the Doctor a look of relief tinged with suspicion, and the Doctor took his chance. "I hope you feel better now. I've given you a shot of a special, ah, government-regulated serum that should balance your chemical levels. Are you hurt at all?"
The lady with the staff badge appeared to be in shock, and Malichi appeared to be trying to decide whether or not he still wanted to hit the Doctor. The second boy, who was skinny with sandy brown hair, recovered first. "Thanks for that. My name is Seth. I don't know what it is, but I've been going nuts all day! I'm not sure what's going on, but I've never seen anything like this before. It's like the worst times in my life, the worst feelings I've ever had, all decided to come together and have a party."
Seth appeared ready to say more, but the lady with the staff badge cut in first. "Thank you very much, Sir. But I'll need to see some sort of identification. I'm Miss Carolyn, by the way."
"Of course," the Doctor said, whipping out the psychic paper. "Head Detective of the Wisconsin Mental Health Association. Name is John Smith, but most people call me The Doctor." And, because Miss Carolyn still looked suspicious, he added, "We've been having quite a time of it at the ol' WMHA. I was deployed as soon as they could spare me to sort the problem, and these young gentlemen ran past me on the way in the door. And please, young man, do put your hand down. It's very rude in some cultures to take so long to decide whether or not you're going to attack."
Malichi put his hand down, and the Doctor continued, "Thank you. Now, please, tell me when this started." He directed the question at Seth.
Miss Carolyn sighed. Her eyes were confused. She began to walk toward the building after Seth, Malichi, and the Doctor. When Seth began to speak, she spoke across him sharply. "I really must insist that you speak to my Supervisor, Lawrence, or our Program Director, Kara."
"I most certainly will Miss Carolyn, thank you. However, I would very much like to hear what's been going on from Seth's point of view."
Seth, who had been undeterred by Miss Carolyn's request, had already begun talking. "It started this morning. We took showers, and ate, and took our meds, and one by one it was like… well, it was being the angriest you've ever been, but nobody knew why. And it happened to all of us… well, most of us. The bus never came… I don't think it did, anyway. We waited for it, but it never showed up. And I just kept… and I couldn't stop… none of us could. It was like a normal rage… but it never ended."
It was at that point that Miss Carolyn led the small group back into the building. The Doctor leaned down surreptitiously and grabbed the dart that had come out of Seth's leg. It tasted of blood and normal human chemicals… nothing out of the ordinary. The Doctor continued on.
Unfortunately, the inside of the building mirrored the chaos that the Doctor had seen earlier on the outside of the building. The girl and two staff members that the Doctor had seen earlier on the front lawn had relocated to the stairwell, and a small boy was attempting to kick one of the staff members in the head. Two men with lanyards and a policeman chased a group of five boys up the stairway out of sight. A girls' high-pitched screams came from behind a door on the left, and the door shuddered violently as though someone was kicking it from behind. There were two visible holes in the wall near the stairway, and the glass in one of the doors had shattered entirely all over the floor. Worst of all, the words "Fuck you a" were written in blood on the wall near the shattered pieces of glass.
It was worse than he'd thought. The Doctor turned to Miss Carolyn and explained, "I've got to get some supplies from my… car." Before she could protest, he ran out the door. He had been lucky to have been carrying enough serum even for two humans, but he was sure there was more in the TARDIS. Sure enough, the TARDIS had left a large bottle of serum on the counter, as well as 8 injector devices. "You clever ship you," he grinned, and ran once more out of the TARDIS.
Shortly before entering the main building once more, The Doctor was met by Seth, Malichi, Miss Carolyn, and a short black woman in dress clothes and heels. The Doctor understood the dress clothes to mean that this woman had an administrative position. Her black bun was held squarely on her head, and despite multiple strands which had escaped, she still managed to look professional and intimidating. "My name is Kiara Windthorp, Deputy Director. I'm sure you've heard we've been having quite the day. Miss Carolyn has said you've brought the cure. I very much hope that's true."
The Doctor grinned, holding up the bottle of serum and injector devices. "Weeeeellllll, not a cure, really, but it will regulate their body chemistry for a total of 24 hours. By that time we'll need to have found the root of the problem… although, root of the problem may not be the best term… maybe the amygdala of the problem, in this case, or perhaps the hypothalamus..."
"Doctor Smith!" Kiara said firmly. "I'm sorry, but as you must understand, even in this situation, I must insist that you provide evidence of your identity and permission from our resident psychiatrist, Dr. Frampton, to administer… what do you call it?"
"Rosalophetamine," he stated, not missing a beat, "Or Rose Serum for short. The government reacted quickly to this crisis and is here to help." He also held up his psychic paper, taking advantage of the fact that Miss Carolyn and the two boys had retreated back into the building. "I can get you more detailed paperwork later," he added. "But please, quickly administer this to only the children who have acted abnormally. It will regulate their bio-chemistry and rectify whatever damage has been done for 24 hours."
"In that case, please wait here, Doctor." The psychic paper seemed to have convinced her of the Doctor's identity, but apparently this did not help the Doctor's ability to investigate at the moment. Kiara gestured to the bench outside the building as though gesturing to a large office, then realized her mistake. Eyeing the blood on the wall, she picked up the bottle of newly-dubbed "Rose Serum" and seven of the eight injector devices and flounced inside with pursed lips and a quiet cough.
The Doctor hated waiting, and so it was after he administered three more children with Rose Serum that Kiara found him again. She now eyed him with her coldest glare yet, stating, "I thank you very much for your help, Doctor Smith."
"Just Doctor, please," he replied.
"Yes, well, Doctor, I really must insist that you discuss the situation with me in my office. I assure you that the situation is under control now, at least, as you said, for 24 hours. What is it that the Mental Health Association requires from us to help stabilize the patients past 24 hours, and discover the, as you put it, 'amygdala of the problem?'"
The Doctor was ready for her question. "Please tell me where I can find whichever member of your staff has been here the longest, and best knows the children who are the most severe."
***Doctor Who***
The Doctor hated waiting. At this point he wasn't particularly fond of Kiara either, though he supposed she was just doing her job. "You must be very tired," she'd insisted. "Just wait in my office, and I'll go find one of our Therapists for you."
For the first nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds, at least his wait was productive. He managed to peruse most of the history of Pennies Mental Health, and memorize details of the blue prints and floor plans for the campus. He quickly gained access to Kiara's computer, and just as quickly deduced that nobody with network access had any ulterior motive, at least not on this scale. Two of the employees of the CFO were attempting to embezzle small sums of money from the company. One of the staff members that was labeled as terminated had managed to hack into the computers and do seemingly absolutely nothing. One of the nurses had a habit of not passing out correct medication occasionally and then covering it up, but had not been punished for it. Miss Kiara used her personal account to bet on horse races. None of it was important. Even the last 30 days of security camera footage showed nothing out of the ordinary, though many of the staff seemed prone to sleep during the third shift.
At nine minutes and thirty seconds, he hacked the internet and found something relevant: apparently, the events at Pennies were not unique; in fact, Pennies was one of many treatment homes for mentally ill adolescents that seemed to have been thrown into chaos. This was mentioned only in reference to its drain on several cities' emergency services, and as an explanation for a slight rise in crime that morning.
After ten minutes and 47 seconds, the Doctor was completely bored. He had erased the horse-racing app from Kiara's computer, and put flags on the various wrong-doings of various staff members so that they would appear on Kiara's computer at random intervals later. He had even briefly investigated the other treatment centers mentioned in various news stories. He had found that there were no links except that each was located in a major city and treated adolescents.
At thirteen minutes and twenty-four seconds, The Doctor began to contemplate rigging the horse races so that Kiara would win and then would have to donate the money to Pennies', but decided against it.
Finally, at fourteen minutes and eighteen seconds, the door opened and a girl entered the room. The girl appeared young, and could not have been older than 30. Perhaps she had looked professional when she had arrived at work that morning, as she currently wore black pants and a dress shirt, however now she appeared unkempt. Her hair was pulled back in a yellow pony-tail which clashed with her shirt, and quite a bit of the hair had fallen out of the pony-tail and was tucked behind her ear. Her pants were stained with mud and what appeared to be blood. She seemed to be favoring one leg, and no amount of make-up could cover up a small cut on her cheek, despite someone's best efforts.
Still, despite her unkempt nature, the girls' eyes were bright with emotion, and a keen intellect. Also, the Doctor could see a deep pain. He could tell that this girl was very disturbed by the events of the day, and she did not hide it well. The glare the girl gave Kiara as she bid the Doctor farewell told the Doctor explicitly that she did not appreciate being removed from whatever she had been doing prior to her arrival.
"You'd rather be someplace else?"
"I'm sorry," she said, acknowledging his presence for the first time. "They administered the serum to my clients before I left, I insisted on it. But I wanted to stay and process with them. They're all pretty shaken up."
"Alright then, Allons-y!" he told her, jumping up. When she appeared stunned, he added, "Please, lead me to them. The best way to investigate is hands-on!"
However, when the girl led the Doctor back to the older boys' unit, all of the clients were sleeping soundly. "It's a good thing," said Miss Carolyn, who was nursing a split lip. "We've been at this all day. We needed a break."
Appearing to realize that she had been rude, the girl finally faced the Doctor. "My name is Lara Nelson. I'm the Therapist for the older boys' unit. Malichi and Seth told me you'd helped them. Thank you very much. I'll answer all your questions. Please step into my office."
Lara's office was tiny, but full of color and life. A picture of Gandhi held the place of honor on the wall, with the saying, "An eye for an eye makes everyone blind." Diplomas were hung regally behind a large desk chair, however one of them was crooked. The office was covered in pictures made by children, and a few photos.
Without preamble, the Doctor sat long-ways on the couch, propping his feet up on the edge and scooting around to get comfortable. "Right. So, what happened?"
Lara sighed, slumping down in her chair. She seemed to collect herself. It took her a long time to speak. "It happened before I got here this morning. I was called in around 7 this morning to help. It was like… well, like their medications weren't working. It was like they all went off their medications cold-turkey… well, most of them."
"Most of them… that's the second time I've heard that. You said most of the boys became aggressive this morning… were there any exceptions?"
Lara looked as though she might have been impressed with his deduction skills if she wasn't so tired. "Only two of my boys haven't shown aggression this morning. One is my anti-social boy, my sociopath. He stood around laughing at everything, but whatever happened to the others this morning didn't appear to make him… well, whatever happened to the other boys. Actually, it seemed to happen to the boys in varying degrees." She sighed again with exhaustion. "I mean to say, the boys that are the most severely mentally ill got the most out of hand this morning, but even the ones that are rarely behavioral got a bit upset.
"The only other boy that didn't react differently is the one who doesn't take medication. That, and the differing degrees in which the boys reacted, has made the other staff think that someone must have done something to the boys' medications." It was there, just for a split second – a look that showed the Doctor that she doubted that the boys' aggression had anything to do with a change in their medications. Then the look was gone, and her face was back to portraying only her exhaustion.
He had caught her slip, the quick look of doubt. "You don't think this is right? Please, tell me everything. What do you think?"
"I think… I mean… I suppose it must be true. I guess it must be their medications." But she wouldn't meet his eye. Her hand started to shake, just slightly, and she was turning pale. The Doctor realized that she was holding back tears.
Suddenly and without preamble, the Doctor grabbed Lara's hand and pulled her across the desk. With his other hand, he stabbed the Rose Serum into her arm.
