Osgood was sitting in the kitchen when Jenny came downstairs the next morning; she was thankful that she'd decided to put on a robe. "Strax let me in," Osgood said, a little nervously. "I hope that's okay."
"No, of course, that's alright," Jenny yawned. "Is something the matter? It's early…"
"No," Osgood replied. "I just thought we could… Well, get started. On the investigation. The silurian, you remember."
"Yes, I remember," Jenny said slowly. She made her way to the counter opposite the small breakfast table Osgood was sitting at, and began to sleepily fiddle with the kettle. "Tea?"
"Yes please," Osgood said. Jenny noticed a mug already in front of her, but she pushed it away, and looked over her shoulder. "Strax offered me some of… this. I'm not sure what it is." Jenny took one look at it, and turned her nose up at once.
"Yes, probably a good idea not to drink that," Jenny said. "Sontaran protein supplement. It's mostly some kind of alien testosterone." Jenny squinched up her nose in mock disgust. "I thought it smelled… musky," Osgood replied.
"I'll make us some nice earl grey," Jenny said, "and you can tell me what's goin' on."
"Will the um… Mistress of the house be joining us?"
"Probably not," Jenny replied. "She's… Indisposed. At the moment."
"I see," Osgood said nervously.
"Milk and sugar?" Jenny said with a pleasant smile.
"Yes please."
Osgood explained the situation as she knew it, Jenny filling in what she'd learned from Vastra's tale of her own investigation. UNIT had been keeping a perimeter around the location of what they called 'the incident,' and so far, no breach had been reported, meaning the silurian was still hiding somewhere within a fairly small radius. That gave them somewhere to start searching. More encouraging was that, whoever the rogue silurian was, it had not yet attacked anyone else. That gave both Jenny and Osgood pause as they sipped their tea, sitting across from one another.
"Why did he attack those people in the first place?" Jenny asked.
"We don't know," Osgood said, "and without actually er… meetinghim, I don't think we'll ever really know."
"Could he have been attacked? It might 'ave been self-defence," Jenny suggested.
"Maybe," Osgood replied, sipping her tea and finding it still too hot. "It was a… pretty big mess. If it was self-defence, why not just run away? Hit to… to wound. Not…" She shuddered.
"It is strange," Jenny agreed. "But we'll get to the bottom of it. Leave us the location of the UNIT perimeter, and we'll begin our search."
"Okay," Osgood said. "Thanks for the tea. I really should be going."
"Of course," Jenny said, smiling. "Come by anytime. It's nice to have someone to talk to who's, y'know… not Strax."
"Oh is he always like that?" Osgood asked. "I thought he was in a bad mood or something."
"No, that's just Strax," Jenny said. She led Osgood to the door, and bid her farewell.
It was time to get to work.
It was a brisk day (which was odd given the season), so Jenny, Vastra and Strax were each bundled in jumpers and long trousers, each of them hidden behind the veil of their perception filters.
Well, except for Jenny.
She led them, a spring in her step as they walked through the crowds, as normal and as workaday as any of the other people passing them by. A few people even bumped into Vastra, and once into Strax, and no one seemed to mind - or care, which bothered Jenny some. They were just three faces in the crowd, and Jenny couldn't have been happier.
"Perhaps you shouldn't be acting quite so perky when we're investigating," Vastra suggested as they reached Piccadilly Square. It was lit up from every angle with screens Jenny expected from spaceships and starports of the distant future, but not of that present Earth. She was dazzled.
"We always 'ave fun, don't we?" she said. "What's wrong with showin' it a little?"
"In deference to the deceased, for one," Vastra muttered. "Do you think we could hurry it along? I do not enjoy being in this… form."
"Are you sure?" Jenny said, linking her arm in Vastra's and looking up at the constantly-changing screens. "I think you look lovely."
"Well of course you do," Vastra said. "Imagine yourself green and scaled, however, and I should think…"
"If it made you 'appy, miss, I'd grow a tail. Wouldn't that be fun," Jenny smiled, enjoying the glib, coquettish mood the future had given her.
"You're impossible," Vastra huffed. She was frustrated, but her mood had broken. The skies were clearing. Jenny hugged her closer, and allowed them to press on. There'd been a report by one of the perimeter officers.
"You're Vastra?" the officer asked when they arrived, really pronouncing the first A.
"Is that a problem?" Vastra asked.
"Nah," the man said. "Just… expected somethin' diff'rent, that's all."
"Well here I am," Vastra said. "Would you like to tell me what you know?"
"Yeah, alright," the man said. "We got a hit last night around 11:30 or so. Wasn't much, and I don't think it was a breach. T'be honest, I think 'e knows we've got 'im trapped. I think 'e's in there, waitin' for 'is chance to get out."
"What makes you say that?" Jenny asked.
"Just a hunch," he said. "I been dealin' with these damn aliens for years. Always somethin'. And in all that time, I never even met the Doctor. 'ow is that fair?"
"You've suffered greatly for your cause," Vastra condescended. "Do you have any kind of video from the scene? How did you detect his presence near your marker?"
"Got a biosensor, don't we? At least half a dozen in this block. Don't know who pays the bills for these things, but we got 'em tuned to silurian DNA. Don't know where we got that either…"
Vastra scowled, and Jenny put her hand on her back, just above her waist. She needed to keep her head clear. "Do you or do you not have anything to show us?" Vastra asked.
"Sure," the man said. "Ever seen a silurian weapon before? Didn't think they needed 'em. I heard the descriptions, all teeth and claws and whatnot. But if it ain't the most advanced thing I ever seen. And I was around when all them cars went crazy. Do you remember that? Doctor was 'ere then, too. Still didn't meet 'im."
"Yes I remember," Strax said, a hint of bloodlust in his voice. Jenny tried to brush by that, too. "Show us the weapon," she said.
"Over 'ere, marm," he said. "It's a real doozy."
"None of the victims showed any kind of weapon wounds," Vastra said as they walked to the man's small office. "How can we be sure it belongs to the silurian?"
"Simple maths, marm," the man said, opening a locker and removing the gleaming silver weapon. It looked like it was a gun, though only somewhat. He handed it to Vastra, and she slotted her fingers into the holster, the gun wrapping around her whole hand. A light powered on, and the gun whirred to life. "Well…" the man said, "that's never happened before."
"Why?" Vastra asked, though Jenny was sure she knew why.
"Biometrics, marm," he said. "It's coded. Only silurians can use it. So… Not sure what to say marm."
Vastra sighed, rolled her eyes, and powered down her perception filter. The man barely moved, as if he'd gone blind. It took a moment for Jenny to realize he'd been petrified, frozen and anxious in his amazement. Vastra, now as green as ever, sighed.
"Well, my good sir," Vastra said, examining the weapon, "now at least you can say you've had some excitement."
The weapon wasn't much of a clue, but it was somewhere to start. In part, it only told them what they already knew: that the culprit was silurian. This was unhelpful, and Jenny, Vastra, and even Strax knew it.
On the other hand, however, it told them something more. It told them that the silurian was more than a renegade, out of time. It told them that he was equipped, or was somehow equipping himself. Vastra surmised that he could not have been awoken with such a device; that ruled out his origins being the same as hers. So, that left a few possibilities. Vastra liked one in particular.
"He's a time traveller," she said, when they'd returned to 13 Paternoster. "It must be."
"Why? Miss, it makes no sense. Why would he - "
"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable - "
"Yes, yes, we know," Jenny said. "But 'ave we?"
"Not entirely," Vastra admitted, "but we do know enough to make that leap. Was he awoken with that weapon? No. Does it exist in this time, and he is therefore equipping himself? No. Did he arrive here via spacecraft - which my people neither currently have use of, nor would utilize it given the ape's ability to track their movements, even cloaked - no! Therefore…"
"I understand all that," Jenny said, exasperated. "It's still a pretty big leap…"
"The mistress's logic is sound," Strax said. "While not the only option, time travel does seem the most likely."
"Thank you Strax," Vastra said, smiling smugly. "Shall we agree, then?"
"I suppose," Jenny sighed. "But if he is a time traveller, why is he still here? Why not leave?"
"Simple. He's stuck. Trapped," Vastra said.
"Then 'e's … What? Looking for rescue?"
"Perhaps," Vastra said. "Or perhaps he has other plans."
"How does this all relate to the murder?" Jenny asked. "He's still killed people."
"Yes, but without his weapon, which he must have had on hand. Or likely did, anyway, given what we know. So why? Why kill with his claws?"
"Maybe 'e was threatened," Jenny suggested. "He felt… I dunno, scared? It's happened before, miss."
"Or…" Vastra said, beginning to pace. "Or perhaps something else…"
"What are you thinking, miss?" Jenny asked.
"It's a hunch, another leap. But bear with me."
"I'm with you, love," Jenny said. "What is it?"
"He is not acting of his own accord," Vastra said, spinning around triumphantly. "He's working for someone else!"
Jenny Flint was holding a tub of popcorn. She had no idea what it was, but the smell was making her head light. Vastra got a pair of drinks for them, and Strax carried a small pack of some kind of sugary sweets, not unlike Turkish Delight. They each held a ticket, which they presented to a sullen teenage girl behind a podium and a roped-off barrier.
"Are you sure we 'ave time for this, love?" Jenny asked as they sidled into the cinema, awkwardly stepping over people's feet.
"UNIT will be more than capable of containing our rogue silurian for now," Vastra said, ignoring the odd looks her neighbours were giving her. "Besides, we must wait until he acts to properly pursue him. Otherwise, we'll just be wasting time, instead of spending it more… Liberally."
"So this is… what, exactly?" Jenny whispered to Vastra.
"I, too, am curious," Strax said, much too loudly for the aura of quiet in the auditorium.
"This is a cinema," Vastra said privately, "and from what I understand, we are going to watch a film. Moving pictures. You saw something similar at Demon's Run, I'm sure."
"Not like this," Jenny said. "This is… People really do this? All the time?"
"When a live show isn't available, I assume." Vastra settled into her seat. "Nothing beats the theatre."
"And what are these?" Jenny asked, holding up a flimsy plastic pair of spectacles.
"Evidently the film will attempt to replicate the sensation of three-dimensional space," Strax said proudly.
"And what about - " Jenny began. Vastra lifted the tub of popcorn to her face.
"Have some popcorn, dear," Vastra said. Jenny took a handful and gingerly placed a piece in her mouth. It snapped, and tasted like warm butter on… with… Jenny had never tasted anything quite like it before. It was glorious.
"What's this one about, then?" Jenny asked, munching away.
"I haven't the faintest idea," Vastra replied, "however, evidently something or someone shall be 'avenged.' Sounds promising."
"Whatever it is, I am for it," Strax said excitedly. "What do you suppose it will be?"
Before either woman could answer, the lights went down, and the screen came to life in dazzling colour. An image prompted them to put on their glasses, and the show began.
Most of it was a blur. Jenny came out with barely any memory of what she'd seen, but she was exhilarated nonetheless. She'd never experienced anything quite like it, at least not for fun. She liked the villain, and found his portrayal sympathetic. She was especially fond of the woman with red hair.
"Do you suppose we could find an outfit like that one?" she asked, as she walked arm-in-arm with Vastra through London's chinatown, all aglow with neon lights.
"Now there's an idea," Vastra purred. "How she fought in it is anybody's guess."
"I'd like to find out," Jenny said, pressing closer to Vastra.
"I liked the green one," Strax said. Jenny and Vastra chuckled, and pressed on into the night.