Disclaimer: There is probably a universe where I am the happy owner of every TV show ever created. Sadly we are not in that universe so all rights to the BBC
Nothing ever happened on the street where Clara lived. It was ordinary and pleasant and dull. So it was a bit of surprise when the helicopters and cars surrounded the building, for the residents at least. For the Doctor, all this fanfare was completely ordinary so it took him a while to realise that Clara might be in trouble. The doctor looked up from the roots of the tree he was examining and finally noticed the abnormal activity. He stood up, dusted himself off and shot one final glare at the tree before wandering over to the block of flats. He saw Kate beckoning him over to the door and strolled over to her.
'What's going on?' He inquired looking around in confusion. ' Two individuals tracking you have broken into Clara's flat. They've-' but the Doctor had already gone running into the building before she could finish.
He flew up the stairs two at a time his hearts pounding,he ran into the flat focused completely on finding Clara. He threw open the door and stopped , breathing heavily as he surveyed the two intruders tied up on Clara's kitchen chairs. One of them, the smaller of the two was only semi-conscious and had a lump on his head that the Doctor suspected came from the frying pan swinging in Clara's hand.
'Well Doctor, looks like you missed all the fun.' Clara grinned at him and he shook his head and smiled back before turning back to the two men. 'Why are they here and what do they want?' he mused frowning, well aware of the fact that the two men were listening to their conversation. 'They won't tell me,' Clara huffed, 'I heard them talking about 13 men and their blue boxes and I reckon they saw pictures of you and thought you were different people.' The Doctor turned to look at the two men. The shorter one, the one with the lump on his head was now fully conscious and was staring rather mournfully at a military issue gun that the Doctor presumed Clara had 'confiscated' from him. The taller of the two was sitting back and taking in the scene with a calculating expression. Their eyes met and the Doctor could see intelligence in his eyes. He was fairly certain the pair were human ( more so of the smaller one than the other) but he used his sunglasses to be sure. They were both human and it wasn't until he got the result that the Doctor realised he had been assuming they were aliens sent to capture him.
A rap on the door alerted them to the fact that Kate was standing in the doorway flanked as usual by her two guards . She nodded at Clara and the Doctor before turning to the two men; 'What are your names?' she asked curtly. 'We won't say.' replied the tall one defiantly at the same time that his friend sighed 'I'm John, that's Sherlock.' 'You weren't supposed to say anything.' snapped Sherlock. 'Well in case you haven't noticed, we're both tied to chairs.' John shot back. As the pair continued to argue the Doctor saw an expression flash briefly across Kates face, an expression that made him very nervous indeed. It was an expression that said I am going to involve you in my plans and there's nothing you can do about it and it had been directed at him more times then he cared to remember. In fact the Doctor was almost certain that to be a member of UNIT you had to be able to do that expression. It was quite a novel experience not being the subject of it, but he had a feeling he would wind up involved anyway. You never knew with UNIT. 'Who put you up to this?' the Doctor queried. 'Mycroft bloody Holmes, that's who.' John shouted before before going back to berating Sherlock. 'Well,' Kate said finally, looking around at the occupants of the room. 'I suppose we'd better bring them in.' Upon hearing this the two bickering men fell into stunned silence. The Doctor chuckled quietly and turned to leave. He was almost out the door when he was stopped by Kate. 'No Doctor, you're coming too.' Clara smirked at the Doctors failed bid for freedom before following Kate and their two captives out the door. As the group made their way downstairs, the Doctor began wishing he was at Disneyland Clom.
John was cross, mostly with Sherlock but also with Mycroft for involving them in this... and with frying pan girl, but mostly with Sherlock. Although that was nothing new. However what was new was the fact that they were in the back of what he thought (and hoped) was an MI5 car on their way to God knows where to be interrogated. When Sherlock had told him what they would be doing he had assumed it was going to be simple albeit completely illegal. Apparently it hadn't crossed either of their minds that the girl, Clara, would be home, or under protection, or have a frying pan. The car slowed to a stop and one of the guards opened the doors for them. Upon getting out he realised where they were and groaned. The Tower of London of all places. They were led through a winding corridor, down several flights of stairs and into an office. The woman- Kate or something sat down behind the desk and gestured for the Doctor and Clara to have a seat.
She told her officers to leave and when they were alone began to speak; 'Why did Mycroft Holmes want you to break in to Miss Oswalds flat?' Sherlock glowered and remained stubbornly silent so John felt he should explain. After all, Mycroft was in charge of these people so they wouldn't get into any trouble, at least he hoped not. 'Well,' John started, 'He found some confidential files and wanted to find out what was in them.' It was only as John said this that he realised how childish the whole thing sounded. 'This is the man who's unofficially running the country?' asked the doctor guy. 'Yeah.' John drawled, his displeasure evident on his face. Apparently he agreed with Johns thoughts. 'Well good luck is all I can say to you.' He said cheerfully. Sherlock looked ready to snap and a part of John hoped he'd see it, however he was spared from this because Clara took the opportunity to speak; 'So what you're saying is someone was just curious? Well we can let them go then, I mean no one need mention this and I won't press charges.'
'Well actually Clara we were hoping that they would help us with something.' Kate informed her. 'What could they possibly help us with?' the Doctor demanded skeptically. 'Well there's an unknown threat underneath London. We need someone with detective and investigation skills and he's the best there is.' Sherlock acknowledged the compliment with a slight nod of his head. 'Is this about the people disappearing off the underground?' asked Clara referring to a recent news story. Kate nodded and handed her a file, 'All the information we have is in here.' As Clara and the Doctor rifled through the file, Kate turned to Sherlock. 'So Mr. Holmes, will you take the case?'
Any stranger would have thought he was about to say no but John knew this was much too interesting to pass up. 'Fine' Sherlock said suddenly, 'But first I need more information.' 'Well basically I'm an alien, this is UNIT and 'The Little Engine That Could' is a very important book.' the Doctor summed up, turning to look at Clara who rolled her eyes and scoffed. John hid his smile behind his hand as Sherlock frowned and looked at Kate for a better explanation.
'To clarify, this man is a Time Lord, a member of a highly intelligent, nearly extinct alien race. He travels through time and space and has saved this planet and many others numerous times. You will be working with him over the course of this project as we have reason to believe that the threat is alien and he is our alien expert.' Kate informed him calmly. 'I'm not sure where 'The Little Engine That Could' comes into this though.' She added. 'Lets go' said Sherlock pulling on his coat. 'And don't tell your brother about this.' Kate shouted after him as the others followed the detective out through the door.
As they walked to the underground station mentioned in the file, Clara fell into step with John. 'So are you Sherlock's companion?' she asked conversationally wrapping her scarf more tightly around her neck as she did so. 'We aren't- I'm not- why does everyone think I'm gay?' John spluttered looking severely annoyed. 'I didn't mean that, I just meant are you the side-kick, because that's pretty much what I am.' Clara replied appeasingly, smiling slightly at Johns reaction. 'Oh, well I suppose I am,' John said slowly, 'Actually what do you and the Doctor do? 'Well,' Clara said breezily, 'We mostly just travel through time and space together occasionally getting into life or death situations, actually that happens an awful lot.' John pinched the bridge of his nose 'My God this...this is strange, You know a few hours ago if you told me there was such thing as time travel I would've directed you towards the nearest mental hospital, but now...' John shook his head ruefully and looked at Sherlock and the Doctor who were walking ahead of them seemingly deep in conversation. 'By the way' John said 'I haven't apologised for the whole breaking into your flat thing.' 'And I haven't apologised for the frying pan.' Clara replied smiling. 'Truce?' she asked holding out a hand. John shook it and smiled at her. Clara had a feeling that if they both got out of whatever inevitable mess they were bound to get into alive, they were going to be good friends. It isn't everyday you come across someone in almost exactly the same impossible position as you.
While Clara and John were breaking the ice, it was a very different story for the Doctor and the detective. They were perfectly civil to one another but there was an underlying sense of mistrust and dislike among the two. The Doctor didn't like Sherlock because his being there meant that he was going to have to share control. The Doctor did not like sharing control. Sherlock's reasoning was a lot more rational; beyond the basics nothing had been explained to him therefore he had no reason to trust the man . 'What happened to the others?' Sherlock asked suddenly. 'What others?' the Doctor responded sharply. 'The men in the boxes before you.' The Doctor looked relieved and Sherlock wondered what others the Doctor thought he had been referring to; 'Well,' the Doctor began, 'They are me. No, hear me out' he said seeing Sherlocks face, 'When my race starts dying we regenerate every cell in our bodies. As such we get a completely new age, face and personality. Those other men were just my previous regenerations.' 'Fascinating' muttered Sherlock distractedly. This new information irked him because he thought he had the man figured out, but if he could change his personality then what could you deduce?
They walked further down the empty street until Sherlock pointed out the underground station they were going to. It wasn't in use and had that dreary dilapidated look that made you want to keep away from it. The three men hesitated and looked at each other when they reached the top step. 'Oh for Gods sake' Clara muttered and pushed passed them down the steps and into the station.
The Doctor hurried after her and John and Sherlock exchanged an apprehensive look before following them into the dank and gloomy underground with the rare but welcome sunlight receding as they went further into the underground.
A/N: Sorry about the long wait, but I couldn't update because the first part of the chapter was written in my english copy, which I left in school over mid-term. I think from now on I'll be updating every 2nd Monday because I'm lazy.
