"The question we must ask ourselves now is what do we know so far."

Vastra, Strax, and I were sitting in opposite one another in the drawing room. Madame had her wine glass of animal blood, which she sipped on throughout the conversation. I kept my notebook at the ready for reference, while Strax cracked his knuckles at the thought of another great battle.

"Benjamin Vanderbilt was murdered two days ago," I said, consulting my notebook.

"A man who seemingly had no enemies is murdered," Vastra said, more for her own benefit than for ours, "our murderer lacks motivation, if we can discover this, the rest of the case will unravel."

"The murder was also committed in a most gruesome and efficient manner. Most impressive."

"Strax!" I said sternly, "don't compliment the murderer!"

"Sorry. I do look forward to conquering this lawbreaker and to the righteous battle that I shall engage him in…as punishment for his crimes, of course."

"That's better."

"Whoever the murderer is," Vastra continued to air her thoughts aloud, "they have an enormous amount of strength, enough to be capable of lifting a massive man and crush his arms with their bare hands."

"What about the blueprint, mum? You seemed to think it was important."

Vastra seemed to come out of a trance at the mention of the enigma on blue paper that we discovered.

"That, my dear, is where I believe the answer to all of our queries rests," Vastra turned to Strax, "Strax, what do you know of a race called the Nestene."

Strax let out a chuckle, "A pathetic race, barely worth destroying. Their invasion tactics lack the honor of a true battle! They invade by possessing the form of inanimate objects, and then, like a foul, sneaking grath-snatch, they strike when the alien scum of the planet least expect it. Sontarans have the courtesy to allow their enemies to prepare before they are inevitably extinguished from the universe."

"Consider," Vastra took a sip from her glass, "a race that arrives on a planet in their intangible forms courtesy of small, compact sphere that could easily be mistaken for-"

"Meteorites!" I was gleeful in my deduction, but then quickly embarrassed, "sorry, mum."

"Do not apologize for intellect, my sweet," Vastra gave me a tender smile, "you are, of course, correct. Our unexpected meteor shower was, in truth, the beginnings of an invasion force. They will posses forms of objects made from the most ubiquitous substance on their soon-to-be conquered planet. And here it would be steel, metal. And who do we know who has the largest steelworks plant in London?"

"It would have to be-"

A knock on the door interrupted me before I could finish.

"Are we expecting company?" Vastra asked, throwing her veil onto her head.

Another knock on the door made Strax threw up his hands in disgust.

"Does no one on this wretched planet have respect for the proper channels when scheduling dinner plans?!"

"Oh dear," Vastra said as she watched Strax go to answer the door, "I do believe we may have domesticated Strax a bit too much."

"He's certainly the most polite violent butler in the county," I said as Vastra and I struggled to hold back our giggles.

Strax reentered the drawing room with a pair of men by his side. One was a skinny man with thick glasses who kept a meticulously neat appearance. Every crease in his suit was perfectly ironed and every stand of his hair was flat on his skull. The second man completely overshadowed his companion. He was a tall man with pitch black hair that shined in the light. His busy mustache gave him an air of sophistication, which wasn't necessary considering the quality of his richly colored clothing. He wore a crimson suit jacket made of velvet. The entire ensemble seemed to pale in comparison to the shining walking stick with the solid gold head in the shape of a gorilla.

"Good evening, Madame Vastra. I must say it is an absolute honor to meet the legendary detective herself. My name is-"

"Carthwright, Theodore Carthwright. This visit is an honor for me as well, sir."

Vastra always knew that the best way to begin an unofficial interrogation was to start by complimenting them first. Make them feel comfortable so they begin to put their guard down.

"I should have known you would have been able to deduct who I was the moment I walked in the door. Oh, where are my manners? This is my personal assistant Gregory Summerdale."

"Pleasure to meet you both," Gregory had a meek voice and a tiny smile. He had become accustomed to living in the shadow of a giant like Carthwright.

"Mr. Summerdale handles all of my personal and business affairs," Carthwright said.

"And yet he can't call ahead for dinner," Strax muttered to himself.

"We won't be long, Madame. I just wanted to ask how your investigation into the death of Benjamin Vanderbilt was progressing."

If Vastra was shocked by Carthwright's knowledge of our investigation, it didn't show on her stoic, green face.

"I try not to discuss investigations with people outside of my immediate circle," Vastra said while nodding towards myself and Strax, "but you will be relieved to hear that we have a few promising leads."

"That is such a relief to hear, Madame," Carthwright continued to speak with the kind of forced sincerity of someone who has all of their statements prepared and rehearsed, "I've already visited Mrs. Vanderbilt earlier this evening in order to deliver the first of her widower's pensions. I hope that can bring her peace."

"Yes," Vastra said with a pleasant tone, "I'm certain that monetary compensation will certainly ease the bottomless pit of emotional pain that one experiences at the murder of a loved one."

For the first time since he entered the door, a genuine expression came across Carthwright's face. It was one of confusion as to how he should respond to Vastra's cutting statement.

"Yes, well, I…I thought so too," he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air until Strax found it impossible to fight against his new found nature as a butler.

"Well, shall I fetch some tea?" he said with a grin.

"No," Carthwright said, "no, I do believe we'll be heading off. Summderdale, give them my information, would you? Please, contact me if you need any assistance in your investigation."

I took the slip of paper from Carthwright with a smile.

"Expect to hear from me again very soon," Vastra said.

We accompanied the men to the door. As they left, Vastra watched their carriage and their driver carefully.

"Curious," Vastra said as the men went on their way.

"What is it, mum?"

"Carriages of that make usually stay a meter and a half off of the ground. This carriage is practically scrapping against the road. But only in the front half."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning whoever that cabby is must be a man of considerable girth to weigh the carriage down in that manner."

"You don't think-"

Before I could continue, Vastra took the slip of paper from me and opened it. A smile spread across her face. She held the slip of paper out to me. On it was an address, as well as office hours written in one person's handwriting. Below it, quickly scribbled in a new bit of handwriting, was a message that read "if you wish to know more, Wonder and Whimsy Toy Shop."

"That my dear," Vastra said as she began to strap the saya of her katana around her waist , "is a trap. One that you and I will have to spring if we wish to stop the Nestene invasion of this planet."

Once Strax and I properly prepared ourselves for battle, we made our way to the toy shop. The store was closed, unsurprising, considering the hour of night, but it looked as if it had not been open for months. The windows dusty and brown with filth, making it impossible to peek in to see if it truly had been abandoned.

"We'll sneak around the side," Vastra said peering down the damp alley next to the store, "I see an entrance to the cellar."

The cellar door had a massive padlock on it with multiple chains wrapped around the door handles.

"Strax," I said, "I think this would be a good opportunity to use that noggin of yours?"

"As you wish, stand back, please," Strax backed up to the opposite end of the narrow alley. With his small running start, he dove headfirst and smashed through the rotting wooden doors. We heard a series of crashes and grunts as he fell down a series of stairs into the cellar and hit the floor. After a second, his footsteps echoed through the hole in the door and he ripped the pair of doors from their hinges.

"I have successfully penetrated the bunker!" he said with great aplomb.

"Fantastic work, as always, Strax," I said giving him a gentle pat on his round head.

We made our way down slowly, barely able to see the steps in front of us. Vastra led the way, as she was able to see far better in the solid darkness. She lifted a lantern off of a post and lit it.

There were hundreds of eyes looking right at us.

Toys, countless dolls and tin soldiers and nutcrackers, and every child's play thing you could imagine surrounded us. Up on shelves, on the floor, everywhere there was space, there was a toy sitting, neglected.

"Mum," I said while trying to hide the quiver of nervousness in my voice, "is it just me, or...are they all...looking at us."

"Don't be ridiculous, Jenny. They're toys. Nothing more."

At the end of the cellar, there was a workbench and a large chair with what looked to be man's arm resting on the seat. As we moved closer, Vastra reached out her hand and slowly turned the chair around. Illuminated only by the lantern's dim light, was an old man with his eyes wide open in horrible pain. His head rested to the side, but it was at an angle that looked unnatural. I reached out my hand and felt his neck.

"It's broken," I said. Vastra lifted the lantern higher and illuminated the walls. The light revealed dozens of sketches on the walls, all similar to the ones we found at the circus grounds. Various designs for metal bodies of different shapes and sizes.

"Look at this one," I pulled one down from the wall that was a design for a mechanical gorilla, "but why kill him?"

"His value had run out, so they simply disposed of him. One thing is certain, this invasion is no doubt moving along quicker than we perhaps originally thought."

I turned and noticed Strax had his back turned to us.

"Strax, what is it?" over his shoulder I could see in the dim light the eyes of the dolls still staring. Dolls who were looking the opposite direction a few moments ago. I quickly grabbed Vastra's arm to shine the light on the rest of the cellar.

"Jenny, what is-?"

The entire basement was now filled with toys, all of which were staring up at us. The lifeless eyes looked unforgiving. Some were standing with arms outstretched, ready to grab us at any moment. Our path to escape was blocked by the miniature mob. At the foot of the cellar stood a man of silver. His face was without features. As he lifted his arm, the sounded of metal scraping metal pierced our hears. The metal man pointed, signaling his troops to attack.

Vastra and I drew our swords. Strax continued to look afraid.

"Did you expect the trap to be anything like this, mum?"

"Believe it or not, my love, even I can be surprised at times."

And that's when the toys attacked.