Finally got this chapter finished! Updates might be a bit slow again now I'm back at Uni and have a ton of work to get started on, but I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews so far and I hope you continue to enjoy and review :D REVIEW FOR SASSY LOKI!
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From Leaps to Greater Bounds
Chapter Three
-The Little People Count-
The entire meeting hall had fallen silent for a moment as the white haired Time Lady strutted into the room. Her blue orbs eyed up its occupants, looking vaguely surprised to see Sherlock and John there, before her attention turned to the female prime minister that had spoken. Said dark haired woman looked surprised by her appearance.
"I had hoped that the Doctor would have also been able to attend, I had heard you both are usually together."
"Yes well," Loki's eyes darkened slightly, "I'm all you're getting," before she slipped off her scarf from around her neck, slinging it over her shoulder at one of the guards who had escorted her, "take care of that," she warned him with a finger, "so. Tell me whose bright idea it was to strike a bargain with an alien that likes to use children as their personal drugs?"
Her voice was light as usual but everyone in the room caught the icy tone. One of the men around the table spoke up, a French accent heavily clouding his voice.
"If you are so abstained to our previous methods then why were you not here when the creature first appeared? I had heard you and the Doctor were always behind saving Earth from these sort of creatures."
Loki rolled her eyes, "well excuse me for not playing mummy and keeping an eye on you all 24/7! Sometimes you humans have to watch your own backs, and well done, you screwed up big time," she could have applauded them as she paced around the room, eyes following her every move, "you made the choice to agree with their terms those years ago, and you almost did it again from what I hear."
"Sacrifices are necessary-"
The man fell silent as Loki's finger pointed in his face, her eyes narrowed at him angrily.
"There are no 'necessary sacrifices'. You brought around their deaths by blindly believing you could keep the creature at bay with a steady supply of kids," she drew her hand back, "but I suppose I can't completely blame you, you guys still aren't ready for this sort of stuff. So why is this, 456, back? It probably wants revenge, after all you did send it packing but that's not enough when it knows you don't have the technology to completely defend yourselves against it," she ran a hand through her hair, "please tell me you still at least have the containment cell you used last time."
"Yes…"
"Now hold on a minute," Colonel Oduya suddenly spoke up with narrowed eyes, his fist clenched on the table before him, "are you actually considering bringing the creature here? Even after last time?"
Loki waved a hand, "yeah but last time I wasn't here, and that's not the ego talking."
"Then shouldn't we bring back that group…Torchwood was it not?" someone asked.
She was quick to shoot them down, "No. You lot have done enough to my friends," she sent Oduya another glare that he reciprocated, "now I suggest you brace yourselves, this 456 isn't going to be happy you've brought me in."
"And why is that?" Oduya questioned, "should we remove you from Earth also?"
"I'd like to see you try," she shot back challengingly, "and that's because whatever it is, is old and smart, probably has reasonable mental abilities and it wouldn't surprise me if they are time-aware. If that's right then they'll know about me and it will know what I can do. I might not be the Doctor, but I'm as good as."
There was a murmur amongst those gathered while the Time Lady merely stood there, hands in pockets, eyeing them all up. She didn't particularly trust the majority of them and it wouldn't surprise her if they turned against her, offering the children to the 456 behind her back. Loki supposed she couldn't blame them, they were like scared children being faced by their nightmares, something they couldn't handle. Fear made people do strange and stupid things. Before anyone could say anything on the matter the doors were flung open and in stumbled one of the UNIT soldiers.
"Colonel! We're picking up activity on the 456 frequency!"
Loki was darting towards the door before anyone was even standing, "show me."
"Hang on a minute!" Oduya didn't look pleased that she was taking over but she merely waved a hand at him to shut him up.
"Listen here Colonel, I like you as much as you like me, but you lot wanted my help and here I am. So let me do what I do best, saving your asses and dealing with the big bad aliens."
Following the soldier, Loki wasn't surprised when several people followed after her, either curious to hear what the 456 had to say, or what she was going to do. One such was the tall, dark haired consulting detective.
"Didn't think I'd see you here Sherly, John."
He didn't look at all pleased by her nickname for him but John almost choked on nothing.
"Did you just call him Sherly?" he looked amusedly at his silent friend.
"Shut up John," Sherlock admonished him before looking at Loki, "you've been a part of these cover ups for a long time, haven't you?"
She eyed him up with a small smile, "I see you've been reading up on us. Pretty much, yes. Although I'm starting to think they keep attacking Earth just because they know the Doctor loves it so much."
"And you don't."
"Maybe not as much as the Doctor," she admitted with a chuckle, "but I've grown to love you humans. But I'm just surprised you're handling this well, you don't seem like the type of guy to adjust well to new things."
He cocked his head slightly with narrowed eyes, "what makes you say that?"
She merely grinned at him for a moment before turning serious again as they entered another room full of computers. A large screen up front showed the world map, several red markers blinking but her attention was on the old radio that was drawing so much attention. What sounded like static seemed to be coming from it, a high pitched noise squeaking through it.
Loki drew out the old sonic screwdriver from her pocket, pointing it at the radio and tuning it to the proper frequency, getting rid of the static.
"Much better," however she fell silent along with the rest of the room as a noise like high pitched screeching and other strange noises reverberated in the air.
"What the hell is that?" John gaped at the noise, wide eyes moving between Sherlock and Loki in search of answers.
Suddenly Colonel Oduya strode past them and tapped onto the keyboard of a nearby computer.
"You should see this," he commented darkly just as the large screen flickered from a map to several CCTV cameras.
"We are coming."
All across the screen showed several areas around the United Kingdom of children pausing in their normal lives, pointing up at the skies.
"We are coming."
"Is it everywhere?" Loki suddenly questioned, almost shouting as she looked round at people answering calls over their headsets.
"Reports coming in from the United States…Australia…South Africa…everywhere!"
That's when she sensed it, a shift in the air that came along with space travel from different galaxies. Racing out of the building leaving everyone behind to stare at the screens, Loki skidded to a halt outside, spinning round and looking up at the previously blue sky. Clouds had now gathered, blocking out the sky before a column of fiery mass descended slowly down and through the building. Space travel at its best, no need for a ship. Sometimes she hated being right.
"We are here."
Sherlock found his mind a whir of activity that was most disconcerting. He wasn't used to the sudden onslaught of new and very different things from normality. He had to sort out his mind, delete the unnecessary and understand just what was going on. Aliens, he had always had the notion in the back of his mind that such things could possibly exist, after all once the impossible was deleted it left only the improbable. His theory had been proven that day they had stumbled across the Doctor and Loki those years ago, although their visit had been brief, Sherlock had a feeling it had been deliberate. They had not hung around for his questions, knowing that his human mind wouldn't be able to comprehend it all. But he would, they had underestimated him and he would prove that by resolving their current issue.
"Come along John," he muttered to his friend as he strode past the still stunned blonde, said man glancing between the screens and Sherlock before hurrying after him.
"Where are we going? We can't just leave now!"
Sherlock rolled his eyes, John always had a habit of letting his emotions get the better of him and no doubt the display of children being used by the creature, relaying the eerie message, had been unnerving to the man.
"We are going to speak with this creature."
Now John did stop in his tracks before he laughed lightly, "tell me you're kidding…oh god, you're not. No, no Sherlock! We don't deal with…aliens! Just, just leave this to Loki and the others."
Sherlock spun round with a scowl, "this is my case and I am going to solve it."
"It's already solved! We know what did it, this alien did it! So just leave it before you go and get yourself killed!"
The world's only consulting detective shook his head with a dry laugh, "really John? This is by no means solved! If that alien was the one killing children then why is it here? Why not just kill them all and be done with it when it quite clearly has the technology and ability to do so? Don't you see John? Someone else is behind these killings. Someone is working with that creature!"
It all clicked into place in the ex-soldier's mind, oh he understood but he couldn't agree with Sherlock rushing headfirst into uncharted territory. They just didn't deal with aliens, they dealt with psychopaths and serial killers!
"Sherlock, please, just leave it to someone else."
"Why?" Sherlock almost growled, looking completely infuriated and confused as to why John didn't want him to solve the case, "why would it matter to you if I risk my life to talk to this alien?"
"Because I'm your friend!"
The two men stared at each other, John looking at him evenly despite his lack of height, however Sherlock had fallen silent, staring back at him as if reading his every possible motive; peering into his soul. Finally he sighed, looking away begrudgingly.
"Fine, I won't just yet," John almost growled at that, "first we will need to find out who's in league with the creature."
"He's got a point," Loki's voice made them both turn, the white haired woman walking towards them, a storm seemed to be brewing behind her eyes, "I've already got an idea but I need to find out how those children died. Think you can do that for me, Sherly?"
"Of course I can," he scoffed, "but you must desist with that infuriating nickname."
That made her crack a small smile, "we'll see. Keep an eye on him John, everyone needs someone to keep them in check," she patted said man's shoulder as she passed him.
John frowned but it was Sherlock that asked what had been on his mind.
"Does that include you?"
She didn't even pause as she headed back up the stairs slowly, "I'll leave that to you to deduce. Now go show me that not all humans are stupid."
Loki had said a few choice words to the group of influential men and women, ordering them to not give in to the 456's demands while she was gone. Of course Oduya had asked where she was going but she had merely said 'home'. As soon as she returned to her house, the Cyberman making a mess of things still, Loki finally had enough and turned it off. Lucky she had installed a switch on the back of its head. Ignoring most of the mess, she made her way to her bedroom where she had been working on something for a while. After what had happened to Ianto and Jack when they had tried tackling the 456, she was not going to go in unprepared.
Flopping onto the bed she set to work with the old sonic screwdriver on what looked like a pair of small face masks with small vents either side. Hearing a beep, Loki paused and looked at her vortex manipulator with wide eyes. It was registering the TARDIS and the Doctor somewhere on Earth. Half of her was ready to slam her hand against it and transport to wherever he was, but another part of her argued that the humans couldn't handle this. No matter how much she hated having to play the saviour due to their own stupidity, the Doctor wouldn't be happy if he knew she had simply abandoned them and millions of children. Still, the elation of the fact that he was once again on Earth hit her, even though in the back of her mind she was reminding herself that he wasn't there to pick her up quite obviously. Pausing in her work, she deemed it necessary to at least see if she could hack into a nearby computer to the Doctor and get a look at him, just to ease her worries. She was surprised by how easy it was to hack into a computer with her vortex manipulator, a small hologram appearing in front of her, a view from a computer camera but the sight made her hearts stop.
There was the Doctor, not how she knew him, his regeneration had made him a little younger, a somewhat wavy mop of brunette hair in a quiff at the front. She may have laughed at that and his tweed jacket, not to mention the bow tie, but his angular jaw and bright eyes made her smile. He was still pretty handsome. But the smile abruptly dropped as she noticed the ginger haired woman he was with. Loki's eyes widened as she practically pinned the Doctor against his TARDIS, kissing him, her hands across his torso. Hastily turning off the hologram, Loki sat there in silence simply staring at the wall in front of her. It wasn't until she felt something drop onto her hand she realised she was crying.
"Didn't take you long…" she laughed almost bitterly before letting her head drop into her hands; the masks lay forgotten for the moment.
How could she have been so stupid to honestly believe he would come back for her? Staring at the beautiful wedding ring around her fourth finger, Loki gritted her teeth and pulled it off. For a moment she was ready to throw it across the room but she stopped.
"Be rational Loki," she tried to soothe herself, and it partially worked, but she didn't replace the ring, instead sticking it in her pocket alongside her father's ring.
Wiping her face with her hands, she took a deep breath and set back to work on the masks, trying her best to keep her mind away from what she had seen.
The morgue was never a joyous place, nor one that many liked to visit often. Although the same could probably not be said about Sherlock. He often visited the morgue either for an experiment or to take a better look at the bodies of those he was investigating. Today was no different. The only difference was that John didn't often accompany him but the blonde seemed determined to make sure he kept out of trouble, something Sherlock found most annoying but said nothing. Instead he was allowed access to the body of the child that had died in London at the same time as a child in several other major cities across the globe. Although he had already looked the body over, a little voice in his mind told him that something new would reveal itself to him this time.
Brushing past the mortician, Sherlock eyed up the child's body with a scrutinizing eye. John looked sadly down at the small boy who must have only been around eleven years old, but the taller man was not one to let such things shake him. Caring would not help him solve who had killed the child. However as he looked over the child, his frown deepened until he almost kicked the table in frustration.
"Sherlock…"
"What can you see John?" he asked with a low growl, "have a look and tell me what you see."
The shorter man glanced at him before examining the body, "well…he was in good health before he died…no obvious external wounds and judging by the x-rays and tox-reports, there was no reason for him to die. Didn't Mycroft seem to think it was something to do with the head?"
Sherlock scoffed, rolling his eyes, "please John, don't be stupid," before his eyes widened, "that's it!"
Almost frantically, Sherlock lifted the boy's head and inspected the back of his neck with narrowed eyes.
"It's all starting to make sense…"
"Not to me it isn't," John sighed, "was Mycroft right?"
"Of course not. Look, a small indentation of the spin the size of a pin prick right in the back of the neck," Sherlock pointed out, "a small needle injected an obviously lethal toxin directly into the cerebral cortex to make it appear like the 456 had killed them through their minds. Judging by the state of his body it wouldn't surprise me if the toxin had been something not of this world which would explain why the tox-report wouldn't pick it up."
"Wait a minute," John held up a hand like a confused child whose teacher was talking far too fast, "you said someone injected something into him? Then there's no way it would have healed up so quickly, there would be signs."
"Unless there's something out there that quickens the healing process," Sherlock muttered, "think about it John, we're amongst a world of growing technology and out springs an alien creature, government conspiracies and even a task force dedicated to dealing with aliens. The impossible became the improbable, and that just became most possible."
All he received was a blank look that made him roll his eyes.
"Really John, even for you, this is slow."
Without another word Sherlock was striding from the building and hailing a taxi despite John's complaints. But it seemed for once Sherlock didn't want to flaunt his deduction so he was left to figure it out for himself. Diving into the taxi, Sherlock on his phone no doubt traversing the internet for something, John narrowed his eyes and stared out into nowhere. And then it finally clicked. Staring wide eyed at his friend, John couldn't help but shake his head.
"You don't mean…that the person helping the creature…is someone from that room we were in."
"Good to see you're finally on the same page," Sherlock remarked, flicking through something, "yes, someone among that group was involved. Someone with access to technology that we don't posses, someone with the capability to act under the scope of the normal government."
John slowly nodded, "someone like…Colonel Oduya."
The grin on Sherlock's face told him he had hit the nail on the head.
"But if that's true, why? He's supposed to be protecting the world from these aliens, why is he trying to help them?"
"Why else? He believes he's doing right by helping the 456. By killing those children, planting agents across the globe to kill them in perfect synchrony, as if it was in fact the alien, Colonel Oduya will pave the way for another transaction. Last time it was for new technology, why not again this time?"
John couldn't believe it, was the human race really so fickle? Now he could understand Loki's anger back in the room when she had first arrived.
"We must look so small to her."
"What?" Sherlock didn't even look up from his phone but John continued.
"To Loki and the Doctor, we must look so small compared to them. I mean there's a whole universe out there that must be alive with things, but those two…they're something different. Time travellers, I mean they've saved us so many times and we didn't even know about it! Just how many times have they been there in the background, just watching, keeping us safe from the stuff we don't know about?"
Bright eyes met his, a small smile on Sherlock's face as if he was proud before it faded, "not a bad deduction there, John. They are not human, that much is obvious, but if you look hard enough you find them," he turned the phone around showing an old photo from the First World War.
Right in the back of the array of soldiers stood two very familiar people.
"It doesn't matter where and when," he showed John another, a sketch from Victorian times and even an old depiction from Pompeii that looked a lot like the two, another woman and the TARDIS, "they've always been there. But if we're so small then why do they keep coming back? Don't knock the human race just yet John, there's still hope for you small people."
John rolled his eyes, noticing he hadn't put himself in the same category as John, but said nothing, merely smiled slightly.
Colonel Oduya narrowed his eyes at several prime ministers continued to debate on their next course of action. No one was ready to act without Loki's guidance, as they had promised, however the commander of UNIT was having none of it. Slamming his fist against the table to draw attention, he glared commandingly at them all.
"While we sit here the creature grows impatient, how many more children's lives do we have to risk by sitting here and doing nothing?"
"We must wait for Loki," someone piped up.
"Damn that woman! She is not human, how do you know she has not merely left us to our own peril?" he questioned, mentally smirking as no one offered an answer, "I suggest we at least speak with the creature, negotiate terms not as steep as last time, and this time we have the weapon Torchwood created to reverse the wavelength back at the 456 should it not comply."
The English prime minister stood up with narrowed eyes, "are you seriously suggesting with offer up our children to this monster?"
"Not our children, those that shall not be missed, the ill etc," some still looked appalled, "think about it. They could offer us the cure to cancer, the answers to the deficit and how to rise from the ashes anew in a brighter, better world."
"One that has been raised on the bodies of the children!"
Oduya narrowed his eyes, "sacrifices are necessary. We haven't got this far on our whims and good luck, we have all given up something to come this far; through War, poverty and destitution. The only difference is that this time we have the upper hand."
Silence fell on the cabinet of people but Oduya had won, a small smirk forming onto his face as he decided to speak with the 456. However as he exited the room leaving behind many solemn faces, he entered the chamber room and stood before the smoke filled chamber, the three shadowed claws visibly swaying.
"You will give us the children."
"The arrangements will be made," Oduya replied, "thank you for your cooperation."
"I don't think so," Sherlock suddenly strode in, throwing open the doors with John at his heels, a gun in hand and aimed at Oduya before he could grab his own.
"What is the meaning of this?" he growled at them, the 456 hissing inside its cloudy prison.
For a moment Sherlock stared at the shadows moving through the clouds of poisonous gas, fixated, before he turned back to Oduya with narrowed eyes, a victorious smile of his own on his face.
"We know your game, Colonel Oduya, I'm afraid there will be no deals to be made with this creature now or ever again."