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The Gatecrashers on Baker Street

Chapter 2

Back in their flat, John had chosen most of the early part of that evening to cook a meal for himself and Sherlock. It was to prove his cooking choices were far more appealing than ever.

"You were really attacked by one of those creatures at your surgery?" Sherlock asked his friend, he was actually showing some surprising concern for his friend for once. John didn't really wish to make a big deal of this especially while he was making sure the chopped potatoes were simmering well in the pan.

"Yes I was. I actually thought it was bloody you with one of your deduction games at first, dressing up in character...waiting to see how long it takes for you to scare the life out of me but then the elderly patient sort of...morphed into this disgusting and hideous orange, red creature."

"Fascinating. The stuff of nightmares becoming a reality." Sherlock couldn't resist grinning about the description of John's story. Normally he had the habit of finding some of John's many stories boring and lacking excitement.

"Fascinating? Sorry, is that all you can say?...No wonder I didn't want to tell you all about this, after it happened. Somehow I knew you'd be blown away by how everything occurred in a minute between me and the...Zygon, as our new friend likes to call them." John began to wonder whether listening to The Doctor had made matters more intriguing than he first believed.

Doing nothing for the time being had given Sherlock a reason to trigger a childish argument between himself and his brother via Skype, two hours ago. Before this happened, Sherlock had contacted a few people who belonged in his network and gave them a task of posting outrageous posts to Mycroft's private email account. One thing led to another; causing the oldest brother to report to their father that Sherlock needed to hear some home truths about how his behaviour affects people. This he was more than happy to remind his younger brother about.

"I apologize." Sherlock never apologized often nor did he regularly show regret for putting his foot in it with his friends and with his family. Now he was surprising himself by attempting to right a few wrongs, starting with John and hopefully next with his brother. As well as this, he also had a curious question on his mind about The Doctor, which was clearly none of his business but still it needed solving somehow.

John was becoming far too distracted by the god awful smell and taste of whatever sauce which he was heating up in a pan. "Hope you're not going to be making fun of this food I'm cooking."

"Oh I'm sure I won't. You have my absolute word John. Anyway since when did I give you hints I didn't enjoy your cooking?" Sherlock asked John, after claiming he wouldn't dare say another bad word about John's latest cooked meals.

"Last week after I tried cheering Mrs Hudson up with a Fish Paella. You pulled the worst giveaway face ever, one that read John for god's sake have you lost your mind with this food look and you weren't even the one eating it!" John certainly was in a changeable mood, perhaps the attempted grotesque creature attack was still troubling his mind, Sherlock presumed.

xxxx

The TARDIS' current location had brought Bill and The Doctor to Beijing two years ahead of it's last known location, according to the timeline reading. Bill and The Time Lord set off on foot as soon as possible, both of them remained hopeful of finding their lost friend, wherever he may precisely being held against his will and then avoiding a possible attack by the Zygons. The Doctor was stressed and unhappy enough as it was; feeling betrayed and helpless, as he begun to acknowledge the fact, that the previous deal he accomplished with Zygella over the tensions between humans and Zygons had now been broken by a group of rebellious Zygons in the near future.

"Don't keep blaming yourself Doctor. So some make mistakes in a bad situation. You got to remind yourself, the blame isn't in your court...it's in their court. We'll find Nardole. Hopefully your plan will work."

"Of course my plan will work. 95% of the time my plans work in my favour." The Time Lord remained a man with plenty of back up plans, yet only a small percent of them didn't quite go according to plan "only thing is... 5% of the time they don't." He claimed before turning to walk ahead of Bill.

"Oi Doctor, don't go abandoning me here!" Bill shouted, once she lost some ground with him and then tried her best to keep up with The Doctor's lightning pace.

His mind had the funny habit of racing ahead of itself in varied situations they found themselves caught up in. He hadn't better be letting this happening again, not when Nardole needed them to come to his rescue.

"And what makes you think that?" He responds with an expressed look upon his face, without even glancing over his shoulder at her.

"Because you told me yourself after you first met me...I run for adventure, I run because one name keeps reminding me I should never give up the reasons for why I live and breath traveling through time and space." Bill put The Doctor on the spot, reminding him of the first proper conversation they had shared with each other.

The Doctor silently mouthed "River"as he slowly walked further on from Bill. The truth was ridiculously clear to see; How his hearts ache as he longs for his much missed wife and how moving on was more tougher than he expected it to be.

Bill certainly proved she was smarter than she looked, by working out why he behaved like he always does. She could tell he longed for a loved one who wasn't a part of his life anymore. She didn't wish to poke her nose in where it wasn't wanted, after all the two of them never dared to individually ask too many questions regarding the other's personal life.

A sudden reminder of a previous slap by River, which he had unsurprisingly found himself on the receiving end of, eventually stops him in his tracks completely. Although she slapped him when he had a different body, he was able to feel the effect of the slap many, many years later. It rarely hurt one bit yet he knew she only slapped him because she felt he needed to wake up properly and know that her feelings should always remain important to him as well as herself.

"Doctor! Are you okay?" Bill's voice soon snapped him out of his daydreaming thoughts.

The Doctor sighs with relief just as he starts pacing around alongside some bamboo scale fencing near to where the both of them were presently standing.

"It's quiet...perhaps far too quiet." Possible suspicious circumstances were coming into play, more or less from The Doctor's point of view - the fact nobody else was around anywhere to greet or annoy them with some less inspiring gadget and the fact, countless cars were mysteriously abandoned in the middle of some of Beijing's popular busy streets. The Doctor disliked this greatly and so made his mission to uncover the truth with Bill's help.

"Yeah it is. Where is everyone? Do you think they've ran because they're scared Doctor?" Bill sometimes felt she didn't have enough patience to keep up with him, so much so she decided to resort to asking questions again.

"The Zygons must be near here somewhere. Oh trust me, I go way way back with them, to know exactly what they're fully capable of." The Doctor hinted of the checkered and intense past he shared with his enemies from Zygor.

"I'll take your word for it then. We're doomed."

"Doomed? No...you and I, we're Team Clever because we're not losers...we're the best winners in Time and Space." The Doctor was seeking to motivate himself and Bill with self-assurance.

"Okay. Doctor. How do you see this plan of yours working against them?" She knows he hasn't quite told her everything about his latest plan, what it involved and how the Zygons will be left to regret crossing paths with their Time Lord nemesis.

"Because Sherlock Holmes is our golden card."

"What makes him more important than you Doctor? I mean he's not what I'd call a play it by the book, 'Negotiator, Peacemaker'. He even laughed in your face after you told him about the Zygons, in the TARDIS."

"I looked into his eyes and saw a special skill even a Time Lord could never grasp onto in two heartbeats. Visualizing a past event by going through each detail." The Doctor described the moment he picked up on when the Consulting Detective attempted to outsmart him, by unlocking a past encounter/event between The Doctor and The Zygons with an invisible mind key.

On the board the TARDIS: Sherlock's show-off smile evaporates temporarily for at least 30 seconds while he strolls around the TARDIS, with his back turned to everyone, he's careful of not touching anything around him. Suddenly he twirls on right foot, so he comes face-to-face only with the Time Lord. Naturally he doesn't say a word or give much away on what he's hoping to learn through the ancient eyes of the man standing opposite him.

"So tell me then...Einstein...apart from that, why do you really think he's got that skill?" Bill had a curious look in her eyes as she questioned him over how he knew this.

"Because he was trying to read my mind, perhaps he does it to a lot to any normal Pudding Brain. Well...a Time Lord such as myself can have the ability to know when someone they've only just met, doesn't know whether to trust me and tries to piece together a better picture of my past...it's a long story."

"Pudding Brain?" That term sounded strangely intriguing to say the least especially from the way The Doctor said it.

"Well I can see, you've still got a lot to learn about me Bill." He grinned widely, hinting she might discover one or two surprises she would never have honestly expected herself to learn about him.

xxxx

Four weeks had certainly flown by quickly, since Sherlock Holmes and The Doctor had memorably crossed paths with each other for the very first time. The heightened warning of which the mysterious stranger had left John and Sherlock to ponder over what bizarre circumstances may unravel in their lives next. Life was no different for the residents of 221B Baker Street, Mrs Hudson was lately being wooed by a Mr Redman, a tall elderly gentleman who required a walking stick to aid him with walking. John had now begun dating Mary Morstan, who he met at the local Doctor's surgery.

Mary had already met Sherlock in person and immediately thought he was bonkers. So if she happened to meet Basil or whatever the hell he likes to call himself by any chance, she might think the same about him too... perhaps worse.

Seeing as Mycroft hadn't made a long awaited at his brother's flat for 4 weeks, Sherlock presumed his older brother may gotten himself to some bother with their parents.

"Don't you care about Mycroft?"

"John, Mycroft's a grown-up. He's far more capable of looking after himself, in times during worrying times."

"I know but don't you think it's a bit strange he hasn't made one phone call to you since the email hacking incident."

"He's bound to come round to forgiving me when he knows he's got no other choice. He's my brother afterall, the Holmes brothers will stick together through thick or thin." Sherlock's words caused great surprise.

"Yes more likely to get his revenge on you. I wouldn't blame if he did try to accomplish this." John suggested, he didn't look his friend in the eye as he dropped this hint.

Although Sherlock didn't really voice his annoyance at the possibility of his brother delightfully getting his own back on him, he did start to question whether Mycroft's career was crumbling around him because of certain decisions he had wrongly made at work.

"I want to see our absent associate again." Sherlock announced, rather surprisingly out of the blue.

"Christ Sherlock, you might as well roll the red carpet out for him, seeing as you've clearly gone from disliking him to now being his No.1 fan." Unaware of his friend's actual reason for admitting this aloud, John unwisely tried to poke fun at him for this revelation.

"He knows something I don't. I hate not knowing. Not knowing is boring." Sherlock flung himself backward on the sofa, landing only inches away from the wall.

"Wow. The great Sherlock Holmes feeling upstaged by a man who hides away in a vintage police box filled with impressive technology." John looked out of the nearest living window with a bemused expression.

"No need to make winding me as your latest hobby John." Sherlock pulled a half grumpy face and then turned his attention to seeking some mind-palace solutions in the hope of finding The Doctor once and for all.

"Sorry Sherlock. I'm just stating the obvious." John knowingly smirked.

Sherlock shot him a "Fine you're forgiven" look and then silently gestured for him to leave the living room, without the need to tell him this properly. His mind palace was now ready to be entered and thoroughly explored for important clues.

Soon as John left the room, Sherlock begun his latest trip inside his legendary Mind Palace.

The Consulting Detective's first task was to connect three unusual words together. "UNIT, Pact, Peace." He envisions himself standing inside the Police Box. His eyes inspecting every clear-cut detail from one part of this strange yet avant-garde room to another. He literally had no such time to take a breather once he made the effort to absorb this mysterious surrounding, which was currently projecting itself around him.

"Slow down, time isn't a statement 24/7." He kept reminding himself.

He next sees 13 figures positioned behind and opposite him. The figures were hard to see from a far distance. He focused back on solving this mind-blowing puzzle. Visible air whooshed throughout the control room, this presented him with the best chance to find out everything he needed to know. He caught three scrunched up pieces of paper, believing them to be the three words he was seeking, yet they weren't as he soon began to learn, nothing was as it seemed. He therefore switched to another vision, one that felt all too familiar to him, Mycroft's office.

His brother facing the worst scenario ever, found himself trapped in his office by two individuals who looked like they were dressed in Halloween costumes and who were intending to scare the life out of him. Sherlock looked on speechless and baffled - was this a premonition of what his brother may face next or of a previous situation. Then a lightning bolt knocked him off his feet. When he came around clutching his head, his vision was blurry but still he was able to recognize a familiar individual who was helping Mycroft back onto his chair.

"Who the hell are you and how did you persuade Anthea that you had an important appointment?, which as far as I know you haven't got one with me." Mycroft obviously hadn't expected this person to enter his office unannounced.

"Ah that would be telling...Yep.. I'm not a person who likes to reveal a spoiler or two about myself."

"Security will remove you...on my say so. Last chance...who are you?"

Sherlock's mind palace begun to fade away. All he could hear was the person claiming to be The Doctor.

He suddenly opened his eyes, to find Mrs Hudson was now hoovering the carpet in the living room. "Oh sorry Sherlock, I didn't want to disturb you while you were asleep on the sofa." She was beginning to regret making the decision to hoover at the wrong time of the day.

"That man you spoke to." He felt he should quiz her further, regarding how she came

"Oh I'm sorry Sherlock, I'm very forgetful with faces, you'll have to remind me who exactly you're trying to describe to me." Sherlock thought Mr Redman was perhaps wooing her too well and as result this might explain why her memory hadn't served her greatly over the past two weeks since she got back onto the dating scene.

"It's nothing Mrs Hudson." Sherlock brushed off his own words, with a simple reassuring smile. However beneath the smile, he had a dreaded feeling, Mr Redman wasn't the charming man he appeared to be and was pulling the wool over Mrs Hudson's eyes. Well he had sort of showed up in her life, 24 hours after The Doctor and his young female friend had disappeared without a trace.

xxxx

Still stuck in Beijing and what looked like the ruins of some of the city's world famous tourist locations. The Doctor and Bill were surveying part of the crumbled buildings. The two of them were busy debating one or two crucial matters. "I can't intervene in someone's personal timeline, Bill. I'm afraid it's not as simple as that."

Bill was still unfamiliar to time-traveling, she had so much to be taught the things she can and can't do whenever or wherever in time they ended up.

"So you're saying I can't touch anything around us then." Bill asks.

"Well...yes. Timelines always have a funny way of tempting you into go against your own personal rules like... saving someone you care a great deal for." The Doctor sighs with sadness, knowing they tended to leave you with the worst dilemma possible - well he had faced many during his recent regenerations.

"I'll try my best not to make that mistake Doctor." She vowed regardless of the fact she wasn't too good at keeping promises.

The Doctor only half heard her, yet he certainly started to give the impression he wasn't overly keen on pressuring her furthermore. Besides he'd only known her for what felt like five minutes. So worrying her might be end up turning out to be a wrong move made by him, if he dared to bring up this again.

Given how they had taken their eye off the ball, the Time Lord and Bill found themselves walking straight into a perfectly planned Zygon trap. However it wasn't done accidentally especially on The Doctor's behalf.

"They're here aren't they?" Bill soon sensed their terrifying presence being closer than she first thought.

"Of course they're here. Why do you think the TARDIS brought us here in the first place Bill. You see, The Old Girl is fond of Nardole, so much so she knew exactly where to bring us, to help us find him." The Doctor stayed completely calm and collective. His enemies didn't possess the ability to intimidate him greatly at all.

"Old Girl?" From her prospective, The Doctor really wasn't talking much sense as usual. The different names he blurted out every so often were confusing enough as it was.

"Nickname... Don't worry I'll explain everything about later." Now wasn't really the right moment to tell her this.

The two of them eventually heard Nardole in the distance, sounding upset and sad. The Zygon... of whatever was left of them as a group here in Beijing, were certainly making a statement - they weren't going to accept peaceful words as a way of settling scores with humans.

"You were given an order not to harm humans yet look at you now. Behaving like a bunch of undisciplined Zygon rebels. Too bad you went against your leader, I'm sure she would be very, very unhappy with you, if she could see you right now!" The Time Lord called out to them via a sound-wave he had just created only a matter of seconds ago.

"Doctor this isn't going to work." Bill looked unsure if this plan might succeed or not.

"Trust me, it will. If they know what's good for them, they'll listen to my every word." He was brimming with confidence, even more so when he and Bill encountered a lone Zygon in human form standing by one of the only undamaged monuments.

"Time Lord. At long last we get to meet each other. The leader who you speak of, chose her destiny wrongly. She couldn't prevent our revenge, my army's revenge on the humans of Earth."

"Well her telling you and your fellow Zygons really must have made your Zygonetic blood boil, enough for you to kill her then." The Doctor suddenly believed they had successfully steered and carried out a revenge plot against Zygella.

"What makes you think I or another Zygon killed her. ...No. We do not kill a traitor. We make traitors suffer, just for our personal entertainment and for us to make those traitors see their new life crumble around them." The Zygon gloated proudly as his eyes searched for signs of possible concealed wrath or frustration within The Doctor's body language.

"You really know how to make yourself look like a sour faced bitter, foolish alien." Of the many previous dealings, which he found himself unfortunately caught up in with his enemies, The Doctor was clever enough to know a Zygon inside out and to know one or two tricks on frustrating an enemy.

"You speak so rudely of my kind, Time Lord." The Zygon didn't take too kindly to this frivolous insult.

Pushing his jokes to one side and after Bill gestured for him to stop stalling for time, The Doctor finally decided to start asking some serious questions.

"Okay. Answer me this then, where's my friend? Small in height, very chatty, wears a bright red coat... goes by the name of Nardole."

The Zygon chose not to answer and to blatantly overlook The Doctor's concern for this so-called friend of his. "You cannot stop us this time, Time Lord. No you will watch in vain as this planet is destroyed at the hands of my army."

"Where is Nardole? Where is he? Tell me or I swear I'll play the loudest song ever on guitar, so loudly it will make your Zygon ears burn." The Doctor shouted, his patience was unmistakably being tested now.

"Ah now I have your attention. Your friend is asleep in one of our capsules, ready to be transformed." The Zygon hinted with a cold and menacing look.

"Transformed?" Bill asked with a look of confusion.

"And your other human friend speaks at last."

The Doctor surprisingly staggered back in shock briefly, the very moment he managed to work out the full truth behind their Zygon's latest plan. "You want to use him as a pawn. You want to make him a Zygon King, so powerful enough, enough to wipe out any last remaining human survivors."

"Correct Time Lord." The Zygon relished being in complete control.

Silence fell between all of them, as darkness grew and rested upon the grounds closest to them. It felt like there was no solution to outsmart The Zygons, The Doctor just needed to use another better technique if he wanted to expose a few of their weaknesses. Bill looked thoughtful, as she paced back and forth on foot.

"What was...is your human name by the way?" Breaking the silence some minutes later, The Doctor didn't quite know how to ask this particular question.

"Jim Moriarty..." He answered now in a campy Irish tgne. "I believe you know Sherlock Holmes." As soon as he announced his true former human identity, he decided to have plenty of fun at The Doctor's expense.

"Yes. Who are you to Sherlock Holmes?...oh wait you're his enemy and now you're making me your next enemy. Wrong move..." The two individuals unsurprisingly took it upon themselves to throw sarcastic comments at each other.

"Correct again...Bravo!"

"How did you know I was a Time Lord?"

"Well...duh! my Zygon form detected you weren't human, a Slitheen or an Auton, So the next thing to detect was Time Lord."

"They've certainly resorted to bringing out the worst in you."

"Yes and don't I just love it!"

Bill sensed Nardole's distress for a second time and so not wasting another moment too soon, she grabbed hold of The Doctor's hand, trying to encourage him to stop indulging in mind games with this ugly looking Zygon.

"Bill. I think I might know where Nardole is." She informed him of this unusual claim.

"What? How?" His eyebrows furrowed with curiosity. Had the TARDIS taking a keen enough liking to Bill so much so, that through her...with a bit of luck, wherever in this beautiful looking city Nardole was being kept, this location could now be pinpointed.

"I'm not sure. I guess me and Nardole have more in common than we first realized." She clarified despite not feeling 100% sure on this.

Hand-holding, he was sure they hadn't done before. The Doctor didn't always prefer holding hands all the time, not that he wished to fuss over this thought. River had obviously held his hand many times which always resulted in the couple getting themselves out of whatever awkward situations they almost got entangled up in, while they were meant to be spending their 24 years on Darillium. Adventure and danger constantly stalked them throughout their time on this planet. Still these gestures made River's love for him more stronger than ever.

He left Bill to wonder why he hadn't chosen to squeeze her hand right away, to make sure she knew he was fine with her grabbing his hand unexpectedly. He didn't blame her for making the effort to encourage him to start running alongside her if they wanted to find Nardole within the next few minutes.

"Well if you insist Bill, I don't think I have any other choice do I." The Doctor gave her hand light squeeze and soon the pair were running through a nearby abandoned shopping centre.

"Come on Doctor, keep up." Bill called to him, as she began to sprint ahead of the exhausted looking Time Lord.

The Zygon formerly known as Jim Moriarty wasn't far behind them, chasing them wasn't a problem as he knew the pair were running into a perfectly placed trap.

Nardole's distress became like a beacon, guiding The Doctor and Bill towards where he was - inside an historical temple. As the trap remained quietly set in motion. It was now only a matter of time, of whether The Doctor might wise up to this sneaky plan before it's too late and what he would do if Nardole or Bill ended up hurt.

End of Chapter

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