velet luna
"How do you know where..." John was flung forward, but his hands gripped the bars for dear life. "Moriarty and those aliens are?"
Sherlock was shifting only slightly. John envied his poise. Another sway of the TARDIS caused another jerk, this time irritating his shoulder. "Damn."
"Okay! We have arrived!" The Doctor landed her like he always did, mashing on those breaks. Brilliant noise. I love that noise. "Now, let's go be sneaky and figure out a plan to overcome their plan once we figure out said plan that is not ours, but theirs."
John wondered if this man, timelord, whatever, actually formulated the words that come out of his mouth, or if it was just like "word vomit."
The night was still and eerily quiet. The Doctor stopped and turned to his companions. "Right then, since this is your line of expertise, I'll leave you two to it then, ha! I'll cover you." He flashed his screwdriver. John let Sherlock lead, giving the consulting detective room to take in their surroundings. It was Bodiam Castle, hundreds of years old.
"I remember good ol' Richard number two invited me for tea here. But then the French tried to invade and it got really messy." The Doctor recalled, sticking his tongue in and out as if trying to rid himself of a bad taste. "FYI do not ever put gunpowder in tea. It simply ruins it."
"Doctor, may I ask you to please keep your thoughts to yourself." Sherlock kept moving.
John paused then turned to the Doctor. "He actually said 'please,' a rarity for him, so I would take his advice." He smirked.
"The Doctor laughed quietly. "Is he always like this when he's playing detective."
"Yes." John sighed. "But he's bloody brilliant."
"Indeed, my fellow doctor of another profession."
They came up to the moat of the castle, the water gently rushing in a continuous pattern. It looked murky, so there was no way to tell what was below the surface. The drawbridge was up, of course, for the enemy did not want them to interfere. Sherlock stopped a couple of feet before the edge and crouched down. He shined his torch over what looked like sliding marks then smooth mud that blended into the water.
"What do you think?"
Sherlock did not answer John's question. The drawbridge would not reach this far, and it would not make this shape when it landed. It did not look like it had been opened for a very long time. Footprints stopped just behind the marks. One pair he knew for sure was Moriarty's, recognizing that style of designer shoes anywhere, and the other had to be the Master.
The Doctor analyzed the markings with his screwdriver, then stared at it. John and even Sherlock had no idea how that thing worked. To them, the sound was almost like nails on a chalkboard.
"It's them. The Daleks. They stopped here and carried the two men over the walls.
"They can fly? Those big medal things you showed us pictures of?" John could not imagine how a bulky thing of metal like a Dalek could fly, but stranger things have happened in the past 24 hours.
"There's no other way to get in, then." Sherlock stated, eyeing every inch of the castle. Through the windows of the castle, no lights could be seen, but in the central courtyard, fire was burning with smoke billowing into the air.
"John." Sherlock's eyes widened. They all turned around to see an Angel calmly pointing at the Doctor's screwdriver, staring at him.
"Don't mock me!" The Doctor wined. "It's very very useful 90% of the time!"
"Doctor, what?"
"Mmmm...not quite. Sorry, um. The Angel is pointing at my screwdriver because it knows that I cannot open this door."
"Why not?"
"Well, while it can open or close anything in the entire universe, it's Achilles heel is...wood."
"You have got to be joking." Sherlock rolled his eyes, not concerned, knowing John was going to stare at that statue enough for all three of them.
"It's extremely irritating." The Doctor frowned.
"EXTREME! EXTREME! THE DOCTOR IS HERE!"
Jumping out of their skins, a light cut through the darkness, moving slowly towards them.
"THE DOCTOR IS HERE WITH HUUUMANSSS! THEY MUST COME TO THE MASTER AND MR. MORIARTY IMMEDIATELY!"
John could not believe how terrifying something could look while sounding more annoying than Sherlock on any given day. Even though it stood only a hair taller than himself, John felt even smaller standing next to Sherlock and the Doctor. Its presence alone made it seem huge.
"Well, then take us to your leader!" The Doctor laughed. "Sorry, I always love saying that."
"TAKE THE DOCTOR AND JOHN WATSON AND SHERLOCK HOLMES TO THE MASTER AND MR. MORIARTY!"
The drawbridge creaked open slightly before falling down with a thud that shook the earth around them. Dust fogged everyone's visions, but they did not stop moving backwards all while keeping eyes locked on the Angel, which had its fangs showing, pointing behind them to the opened doorway.
"GO AWAY! YOU ARE NOT NEEDED AT THIS TIME!" The Dalek ordered the Angel, who disappeared in a blink of an eye.
"OK, we're going. Come along Holmes'zzzzz...right, that sounds weird. Come along Watson's."
"We're not a...um..." John did not know why he was stuttering. Might have had to do with a terrifying statue and obnoxious tube yelling behind him. Yeah, that was it.
"Let's just get on with it." Sherlock was put out. John could tell he wanted to have a chance to study the interior of the castle in silence before getting caught. Nothing really goes according to plan. With the Doctor, things were more spontaneous.
A laugh shrieked through the stone walls, sending chills down all three of the men's spines. The Dalek's plunger, as John decided to call it since that was what it looked like was too close for comfort almost touching his back. He tried to not physically show the discomfort of something supposedly so dangerous anywhere near him. Coming up to a door, the Doctor turned and looked the Dalek face on.
"Well, since everyone seems to get a kick out of my relationship with wood, have a go then."
"THE DOCTOR AND HIS HUMANS WILL SEE THE MASTER AND MR. MORIARTY IMMEDIATELY!"
"We understand, you stupid piece of metal with your plunger and your, your, whisk!" Sherlock snapped.
The Dalek did not say anything. The laughing only grew louder as the doors opened themselves. They could see the Master and Moriarty doubling over with laughter.
"Oh, dearie, you are so impatient today! Did you have someone besides John make your tea this morning?" Moriarty teased. Sherlock just stared. John crossed his arms, once again hiding his confused and shaken up form.
"I'm so glad you invited us to your little party. The fire looks great with the castle and everything. That was how Richard liked it." The Doctor paced as he smiled like meeting old friends for a get together. Technically, he was meeting one. "I've been meaning to have a chat with you boys anyway."
"I hate to burst your bubble, Doctor." The Master sternly stated. "But we did not bring you in just to be nice. You of all people should know I am not like that."
"Not any more." The Doctor corrected.
"Care to play a game?" Jim was still treating it like a party, him being the one who's bored and once to do something exciting to liven things up.
"Games? I love games! Let's see who can outsmart who. My team is going to win because not only am I smart, but I have two of the brightest humans I have ever met! So I have you beat! It's two against three. Doesn't seem fair? Well, then let's just all put all of our guns down, metaphorically speaking, and just talk. There is no need for...whatever it is you're planning on doing with the Angels and the Daleks." The Doctor's eyes were pleading, although his tone was light.
"I'm afraid it has already begun." The Master said in mock disappointment. "Soon, this world will be destroyed, and we," He motioned between himself and Jim. "Will rebuild a better world for a better future. One that's not so...so..."
"Boring." Jim finished. He was staring into Sherlock's soul, it seemed.
Sherlock could not help but feel a little self-conscious since he hated boring so much. He was not boring, was he?
"So you're going to use these statues and robots to cause world-wide panic and expect us to stand aside?" Sherlock laughed. "I thought you knew me better than that."
"Oh, you're going to do exactly as I say." Jim raised his eyebrows. "Because you don't want anything else to happen to dear Johnny boy."
Sherlock did not even ask what he meant by "else" and turned to see John with terror written all over his face. An Angel's hand had his arm with the bad shoulder twisted behind his back. It happened so fast, of course, nobody noticed until John winced in pain.
"John."
"I don't know exactly where, or should I say when they will send your John to, but the Master has informed me that he will die and he will die all alone, slowly and painfully. Please do as we ask, Sherlock, because I have something much better planned for you all."
"No, just let him go, it's me who's the problem." The Doctor knew they were beat, at least for this round. He could not risk losing John, because while they would be searching for him all over time and space, the world could be destroyed ten times over by the time he was found.
"This is just like you, Doctor. Always trying to save people, when you and I both know all you do is end up disappointing them. You leave them heartbroken. Remember River?"
The Doctor swallowed hard.
"Well, Donna doesn't remember you."
The Doctor looked down in shame.
"Martha left you, you were so pitiful, like some sick puppy."
"Please."
"You can't even take care of your own family. Who gave you the right to say how I do things?"
The Doctor said nothing.
"And don't even get me started on what you did to her."
"I-I'm warning you." The Doctor's voice was shaking, threatening to break completely into sorrow. For so long, he had bottled up all of these memories that hurt so bad. And now, they all flushed back into his broken hearts.
"No, I'm warning you." The Master jabbed a finger into the Doctor's chest. The Doctor stepped back from the forced contact. "Stay out of our way, or you will be sorry. You thought you were in pain now...just wait." He whispered.
"Can we just stop with the useless threats and actually do something." Jim really was getting bored again. He did not want to rehash history. The past was to be forgotten. He was more of a "big picture in the future" kind of guy. What's done is done.
"I agree." Sherlock said, staring hard at John's captor. He came up to John's face. "I'm sorry."
"You're wha-AAAAAAHHHHHH! WHAT THE HELL, SHERLOCK?" John held his shoulder, which was freshly bruised. "Did you just yank me out of a piece of stone?"
"You're welcome."
The Doctor did not give them time to celebrate. Using his screwdriver, he produced an extremely high frequency that sent everyone to their knees. Pointing it away from Sherlock and John, he helped them up and they ran out of the castle, leaving the Master writhing on the floor, Moriarty uncomfortable as well.
"DOCTOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRR!" The Master screamed after him. The drums were louder than ever.
On the other side of the drawbridge, the Doctor looked back at the Master on the floor, his hands holding his head. "I'm so sorry."
Like the moon
A/N: Sorry for the long wait. BTW I'm using the lyrics to kinda give a "theme" of some sort to every other chapter. IDK I'm just going with what I feel like in the story. Round 2 was exciting, huh? I thought putting the evil lair in an old castle. It's fun! And I'm so sorry about hurting the Doctor. The Master is a real ass to him, my description of him may be darker than the show but hey I warned ya! If not, AAAAAAAAANGGGST ahead!