Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.
EARTH, 2019 CE
SHEFFIELD
Ryan checked the clock again. 9:34. Whatever assignment Yaz was working on, it definitely wasn't taking a short amount of time. He glanced at the Doctor, who was clearly sharing his misgivings.
"Do you want to take a walk?" she asked.
"Yeah," Ryan admitted. "You're bored, too?"
"Definitely," she said. "I also don't feel like watching telly all day."
Ryan raised an eyebrow. "So what are you waiting for?"
The Doctor stood, stretching. "Where do you want to go?"
Ryan grinned. "I wanted to try that bike again, if that's alright with you."
The Doctor nodded. "Absolutely."
ONE HOUR LATER…
Ryan stood, wincing. He'd already fallen into the grass more times than he'd cared to count, and his side was starting to ache after falling on it so much. He looked up, seeing the Doctor and Graham, the latter of whom had joined them some time previously.
"I think that's enough for a bit," he told them.
Graham glanced at the Doctor. "So, what now, Doc?"
The alien woman shrugged. "I was thinking about taking the TARDIS out for a quick trip—just to stop by and say hello to Yaz while she's at work."
"You sure that's a good idea?" Graham asked sceptically.
"She's bound to get on break eventually," Ryan pointed out.
The Doctor nodded. "Looks like it's settled, then."
They entered the TARDIS, materialising around Graham's car. He sighed. "Doc, how many times do I have to tell you? Not the car!"
"Like I've said every time, Graham, your car's fine," the alien retorted. She gestured to the vehicle. "And for the record, you were parked under a group of pigeons, so it looks like I just did you a favour."
The TARDIS ground its gears in response. The Doctor pulled a face. "Relax; you'll get a bath in the Time Vortex."
Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Pigeons?"
"Unfortunately," she admitted. "Apparently she just got hit with what would have happened to the paint job on Graham's car."
Ryan frowned, disgusted. "Seriously?"
"Yeah. She'll be fine once we get her cleaned up." She pulled the lever, and the familiar sound of the engines filled the console room. They stopped a minute later.
"Hey, Ryan?" the Doctor asked, fiddling with the console. "Can you step outside and check on the TARDIS exterior? I'm having trouble getting readings here."
"Sure." He opened the door, craning his neck upwards as he stepped backwards, aiming his phone torch at the top of the TARDIS. "I'm not seeing any pigeon shite on the roof, Doctor."
"That's wonderful news!" the woman called. "Come back inside!"
"Got it!" Ryan turned around, about to snuff out the torch when a particularly gruesome sight caught his eye—that of a rotting corpse with what looked like its spine ripped out. The smell was a lot worse.
That is proper disgusting.
His eyes widened. Before he knew it, nausea and panic got the better of him and he ran back into the TARDIS, hyperventilating over the console.
"Everything okay, Ryan?" the Doctor asked, concerned.
"No way," he admitted, pointing outside. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Well don't do it in here!" Graham complained.
"I did a scan of the place, and it looks like there's a men's room once you turn on the hallway to the left," the Doctor informed him. Ryan felt her hand on his shoulder. "What did you see out there?"
Ryan looked up at her, scared. "Dead body; decomposing, dead body, with its spine ripped out!"
The alien's brow furrowed. "I wonder what could have done that." She straightened, removing her hand from his shoulder. "Come on, you two."
Ryan briefly thought about objecting, but the prospect of a lavatory nearby overruled his fear. He exited the TARDIS, once again forced to look at the corpse.
"Poor bloke," Graham breathed. He shone his phone torch on it, revealing a police uniform. "I hope it's not anybody Yaz knows."
"I doubt it," the Doctor said, looking closer. She scanned it with her sonic. "Staffordshire Police. He's local. Was local."
We're in Stafford? Ryan frowned, trying to control his nausea. "I thought we were going to find Yaz."
"We were," the Doctor confirmed. "This was where the TARDIS said she'd be." Her expression darkened. "In any case, we have to find Yaz and get out of here, quick as we can. It's likely that whatever killed this man is still around." She gestured to the humans. "I understand this is…well, disturbing. Like I said, men's lavatory is a left turn away. Do what you need to."
Graham nodded. "What about you, Doc?"
The alien frowned. "I need to cover the body. Also…there's something I'm missing, and I don't like it at all."
"Be careful." The Doctor nodded, her expression unreadable. Graham and Ryan ran to the lavatory, barging in. Ryan vomited for several seconds, vaguely aware of Graham's presence in the stall next to him. He wiped his mouth, flushing the toilet before poking his head out and —
"Yaz?!"
EARTH, 1973 CE
LONDON
Grant frowned. "I don't get why he'd name a piece after an emotion. 'Ode to Joy'? How can there be a serenade to a feeling?" "Music is a complicated thing, Jo," the Doctor said, trying to explain. "Remember how I played the flute?"
"Yeah."
"And you were terrible at it," Lethbridge-Stewart added.
"I'm trying to make a point here," the Time Lord muttered, turning back to the woman. "Well, you see, Jo, each piece that I have learned is based on a composer's interpretation of a given concept, such as an emotion or feeling," the Doctor summarised. "It isn't always named, but it's still beautiful. And Beethoven…well, to be honest, I have no idea why he chose to name that particular piece the way he did."
Benton piped up. "Well, you've got a time machine, don't you, Doctor? Why not just ask him?"
The Doctor beamed. "I hadn't thought about that. What a splendid idea! We'll go tomorrow morning!"
"I personally do not mind one way or the other," Lethbridge-Stewart muttered. "Just so long as you let me get some sleep first." And do not disturb me about Cybermen or anything like that for the rest of the night, thank you very much.
Unfortunately for the Brigadier, his rest was indeed disturbed.
His eyes snapped open at the sound of arguing men, one of whom sounded very much like the Doctor. He groaned, checking the time on his alarm clock. 0217.
Perhaps spending the night at headquarters isn't such a good idea after all. He stretched, putting on a bathrobe over his pyjamas before walking into the common area. Sure enough, the Doctor was shouting at someone—Benton, probably—about TARDIS maintenance. Lethbridge-Stewart shook his head, stepping foot inside the open TARDIS doorway.
"Gentlemen!"
Both men stood, eyeing the Brigadier. "Ah, good morning, Lethbridge-Stewart! Care to join us?" the Doctor asked.
The Brigadier raised a bemused eyebrow. "Maybe once I've woken up a bit, Doctor."
Understanding dawned on the Sergeant's face. "Oh, sorry, Sir. Did we wake you?"
Lethbridge-Stewart nodded. "Yes, you most certainly did."
"Wonderful!" the Doctor exclaimed. Benton raised an eyebrow.
The Brigadier resisted the urge to yawn. "Doctor, in case you haven't noticed, it is very nearly two twenty-five in the morning!"
"Is it?" The Doctor scratched his chin. "Would you like to sleep in here, then, Brigadier?"
Lethbridge-Stewart threw up his hands. "It's clear I won't get sleep anywhere else. I'll go get my uniform-in case I get woken up again."
True to his word, the Brigadier returned to the TARDIS with his uniform on, also having brought a book along with him. He figured that, if the Doctor and Benton kept him up, he'd have something better to do than complain.
It was either that, or paperwork.
"I'm back, Doctor," he announced, even though it was blatantly obvious. "Do you have anywhere I can sleep for a bit?"
The alien opened a door in the back. "There are a few guest bedrooms in the back. You should be able to get some rest there. Captain Yates has also decided to crash in here for a bit," he added.
"Thank you, Doctor." Lethbridge-Stewart walked down the corridor, promptly crashing as soon as he found an empty bed he liked. He eventually woke up much more refreshed, stretching. "I've got to hand it to the Doctor," he told the empty room. "He really knows how to make these rooms soundproof." He'd had no further disturbances to his sleep.
Lethbridge-Stewart walked out of the bedroom, making his way to the TARDIS console room. Surprisingly, there was no sign of either the Doctor or Benton, and he hadn't seen Yates or Miss Grant either, come to think of it.
Maybe they finally decided to get some sleep.
The TARDIS doors opened. The Brigadier walked outside, and his eyes widened as he realised that they were no longer in the UNIT HQ common area.
Goddamn it. I didn't ask to be spirited away from there; I just wanted to sleep. He sighed exasperatedly. "Doctor? Come out here at once!"
No response. The Brigadier rolled his eyes, closing the door behind him. "Honestly. What is it with that man?"
He looked at the landscape. The ground was black, almost crystalline, and the sky was a light shade of grey. Except—
Is that smoke?
His eyes narrowed as he saw the tell-tale trail in the air. Yes. That is. Doctor, what the hell did you do?
He heard the sound of a weapon cocking behind him. He reached for his gun, turning around so he had the unknown person at gunpoint.
There was just a slight problem: The alien in front of him had a much bigger gun.
EARTH, 2019 CE
STAFFORD
Yaz had been sitting down next to Rasmus when the door suddenly opened, two figures running inside the lavatory. Rasmus scooted closer to the door, spooked, shutting it promptly. The constable raised an eyebrow, frowning as she heard sounds of vomiting coming from at least one of the stalls, followed by flushing. She stood, about to ask if everything was okay when one of the figures emerged, staring at her in shock.
"Yaz?!"
"Ryan!" she exclaimed, surprised. They embraced, Ryan holding her tightly—a little too tightly. She grimaced. "You're squishing me."
"Sorry." He let go, panting. "You're okay!"
"And clearly you're not," she retorted. "What are you doing here?"
"Here's a more important question," Graham's voice complained from one of the stalls. "What the hell are you doing in the men's lavatory, Yaz?"
"I'm at work!"
Ryan raised an eyebrow, breathing having started to return to normal. Yaz rolled her eyes. "Look. I got a call from dispatch at four a.m., and it was serious enough for me to have to drive over a hundred kilometres to get here. Didn't you see my note?"
"Yeah, the Doctor and I both did," he told her. "It was kind of vague."
The sound of another toilet flushing interrupted them. Graham emerged, washing his hands at the sink. "Well, carry on, then," the older man muttered. "Don't let me stop you."
Yaz shrugged. "Did you two come in the TARDIS?"
"Yep," Graham confirmed, voice surprisingly heavy as he shut off the faucet. "The Doc's still over by the dead body Ryan found near it."
"WHAT?!"
Ryan nodded, a pained look in his eyes. "It's…grisly."
"Was it a woman or a baby?" Rasmus asked, worry in his voice.
Ryan shook his head. "No; it was a man. Staffordshire Police."
Rasmus sighed, probably with some relief. Graham walked over to him. "What's your name?"
"Rasmus," he responded shakily. "My family and I were—" He faltered. Graham knelt down in front of him. "I'm Graham, and this is my grandson, Ryan. Where are you from, mate?"
"Co-Copenhagen. We were on vacation."
"He's the reason I'm here," Yaz piped up. "The Danish Embassy contacted Scotland Yard, but those officials also went missing. Staffordshire's own police started investigating, but the same thing happened. That was also the case with Derbyshire last night."
"So your division was next," Ryan guessed.
"Yeah," Yaz confirmed. "I was the only one they sent."
"They probably didn't want anyone else missing," Ryan said. "Smart move."
"Anyway," Yaz said sternly, "We have just confirmed this is a major incident. A man has died here, and who knows how many others have gone missing. I need to update my report."
"So how did this happen in the first place?" Ryan asked.
"Angels," Rasmus said, panic starting to settle in his voice again.
Ryan frowned, perplexed. "Angels?"
"He means the statues," Yaz explained. She glanced at the other present members of Team TARDIS. "You…did see statues, right?"
Ryan and Graham exchanged nervous looks. "We weren't exactly paying attention," Graham admitted.
Yaz paled.
EARTH, 2019 CE
STAFFORD
ELSEWHERE IN THE CASTLE MUSEUM
Keep it to Earth, they said.
Out of all of the things that could have happened, this was the last thing that the Doctor could have expected. She looked down once again at the police officer's corpse, failing more than once to control her gag reflex. She'd seen gruesome things, sure, but this—
No. Focus.
"I am so, so sorry this happened to you," she whispered sadly. "I promise, I will find out who you are, and whoever did this, and I will do my best to make sure they are dealt with." She gingerly removed his radio, walking inside the TARDIS before placing it on the console and exiting once again, a medical blanket in her arms as she closed the door shut behind her.
Perhaps that radio will tell us more about who he is, and how he died.
She hoped.
The Doctor placed the medical blanket over the poor man's corpse, scanning his body with her sonic screwdriver. She checked the device, frowning.
Time of death was two days ago. I'm surprised no one found him sooner.
Unless whoever was looking didn't make it this far.
Without warning, the screwdriver's power went out.
"Seriously? You want to do this now?" The Doctor frowned, attempting to turn it back on again and again, to no avail. "Come on!" she hissed, annoyed.
A quick look in front of piqued the Time Lord's interest—something stone. It hadn't been there a moment ago.
Dread coursed through the Doctor's being. She looked up slowly, terror increasing as she saw the very pissed-off Weeping Angel in front of her.
Don't blink. The Doctor gulped. "Hi."
