Filled with a raging blood lust for the alien fugitive, Colonel Albright finally arrived with his troop at the weapons locker. He thought about the gorgeous instruments of brutality and destruction that waited for him within. What he wasn't expecting was who was about to pop out.
"Oh," the Doctor was surprised to see his militant annoyance so soon, "hello, Alby. Samuel and I were just, ah..."
"Doing a routine inspection," Samuel quickly covered.
Through grinding teeth, the colonel curled his face into the most intimidating snarl he had practiced in the mirror that morning.
"Out of my way, you moronically bowtied buffon!"
"S'not moronic, bowties are co-"
"Doctor, he's probably right, we should get out of his way," Samuel stepped aside to allow the military menace into the locker.
The Doctor looked back at Samuel, then at Albright.
"You're absolutely right," the Doctor moved and held out his arm to give the soldiers a warm welcome. The troop piled in, but were surprised to see the locker was completely dark.
"Whoops," the Doctor pulled out his screwdriver, "forgot to turn the lights back on."
He pointed his screwdriver towards the ceiling. The device's electronic whir flipped the lights back on, revealing a useless pile of scrap metal and gun parts scattered across the floor.
"Samuel!" the Doctor said, "was the room like this a moment ago?!"
"No, sir," Samuel said, "all of the weapons were fine when we inspected it."
"Well," the Doctor said, reaching for the door controls, "I am positively gobsmacked. Wait here, Alby, we'll see if we can get to the bottom of this mystery!"
Colonel Albright was too slow to catch the door as it slid shut, locking him and his men inside. Outside the door he could faintly hear the Doctor speaking into his walkie talkie saying "Kate, we're on our way to you now!"
"I'm going to string that man up by his suspenders!" he shouted as he pounded impotently on the door.
Despite capturing the Zygon intruder, Kate Stewart's problems were just beginning. Hopefully she'd be able to convince her overseers in the British government that being an accomplice to the escape of an alien prisoner, that was also part of an invasion of Earth, was completely necessary in her duty to fight for queen and country. Harriet McCrimmon was just excited that it was only her first day on the job and she had already punched her first monster in the face.
Kate inspected the Zygon prisoner which was still unconscious on the floor of the UNIT command hub.
"How hard did you hit it?" she asked the young Scot who had been assigned to protect her.
"I barely touched him, I swear! Ya'd think a big starfish could take a punch to the face without fainting like a baby..."
The Doctor and Samuel entered before Kate could give Harriet a stern lecture on proper UNIT procedure on dealing with prisoners.
"McCrimmon, I'm assuming this is your handiwork?" the Doctor said upon spotting the creature on the floor.
"Aye, sir. Sorry, sir." Harriet said.
"It's alright, I'll have to do this the hard way then." the Doctor crouched down beside the Zygon and gently placed his hands over its face and closed his eyes.
For the Doctor, the entire room went dark and all he could see was the Zygon. Why now? the Doctor asked without words. You've been here for years, why escape now? The Doctor felt in his hearts a longing for a long dead home. The Zygon's memories of the jade colored oceans it would swim through as a child's flooded the Doctor's mind as if they were his own precious images of the past. Suddenly, a sharp pain entered the Doctor's body. His skin felt like it was on fire and every organ within his body cramped. The Zygon's eyes opened and locked with the Doctor's. The room came back into sharp focus and the Doctor realized he was lying on the floor.
He slowly got to his feet, with the help of Samuel and Kate. The Zygon was awake, but it did not try to attack its captors.
"I know everything," the Doctor said.
"Know what?" Kate asked.
"I am dying," the Zygon replied with a weak voice.
"The Zygon home planet, Zygor," the Doctor explained, "it was destroyed. That was the whole reason they came to Earth in the first place," he looked to Kate, "I'm sorry, Kate. You did your best to help it, but...you didn't have the proper equipment or nutrients and...this planet just wasn't meant for them."
The Doctor approached the creature and gently took its hand.
"I am sorry...for the trouble I-"
"No need for that. The men you stung were merely paralyzed. They should be waking up any moment now."
The Doctor looked back at his three friends and was struck with an idea.
"How would you like to see those emerald seas one last time?" the Doctor asked. And he couldn't be sure, because it was one of the few things he never expected to see in all of the cosmos, but he thought he saw the Zygon smile.