Chapter 7 - Working the Odds
Dar had enjoyed his chat with the lab tech. She'd made surprisingly good tea over her Bunsen burner. Without her realizing, he'd used his remote to hack her computer and download all the case notes she'd made privately for herself.
She was very good and he regretted that she'd probably never pass a UNIT psyche test. With a cheery wave, he departed from Scotland Yard and made his obvious way to Heathrow, where he boarded a plane for Italy and then used the Trans Mat recall to teleport out of the bathroom, showing up at Torchwood, where he quickly shed his disguise and went back to Gallifrey, pondering his discoveries.
Within the first thirty seconds, Masha had used her rifle, in conjunction with Andred's inhuman movements, to take complete control of the skirmish area. Anyone who presented a threat to the Doctor went down first, followed by those that threatened civilians, followed by anything that looked like an officer or anything to do with communications. Then she took out anyone whom she disliked the look of.
For it being only five people, they were decimating their opponents' ranks, leaving the scholars to tie up scores of them in neat bundles, and finally the enemy called a retreat, pulling back into the Mathematics Department Building.
When it was obvious that the enemy had retreated, and they had a breather, she checked her rifle, and then moved to Jake.
"You all right?" she asked him, although it was clear that he was.
"Of course, this is a walk in the park," he teased.
There were soldiers scattered about, their scaly bodies crossed with bandoleers of weapons, their chests rising and falling softly as they slept. The Doctor was leaning down over one who was still conscious, talking to him.
"They are vermin! We merely exterminate the things that overrun our home!" he croaked out in disgust at whatever the Doctor had asked him.
"They are a sentient species!" the Doctor protested. "You can't just come out shooting!"
"It is... what... is... to ... be," the soldier told them, his voice trailing off as he finally succumbed to the drug.
"We'll see about that," the Doctor grumbled.
Dar stepped off of the Trans Mat into the rich pre-dawn of Gallifrey. The Shobogans were racing across rooftops and treetops, the Flits were winging by overhead, darting hither and yon, looking for the first morning blooms to open. Cakaellia exploded from a nearby tree, their raspy cries mingling with the calls of a dozen other birds. He stopped to watch the way their two pairs of wings beat against the air, their ashy coloured feathers bright against the darkness.
He made his way into the TARDIS, hearing Koschei in his workshop and Susan working in her lab. He stepped into the kitchen and caught Rory asleep at the table, head pillowed on a pile of educational sheets.
He smiled, got himself some food silently and retreated to his office, leaving Rory to his impromptu nap.
They had just driven the intruders out of the "Drawing and Fine Arts" building, so they had a moment: and Masha paused just to look.
The chance to see art, any art, under any circumstances, was absolutely not to be missed. There would be no art in the Loop when she returned there; this was her last chance to see anything of this sort for an unknown period of time, possibly for decades: and she simply could not pass up the opportunity to allow her eyes to skate around the room, lighting briefly on framed paintings and graceful sculptures, committing them to memory so that she might be able to savour them later.
But she kept an eye on the Doctor at all times, her nerves taut, ready to move out the moment he nodded his head.
He got up; looking disheartened, and looked around at the carnage.
"Right. Let's get moving," he ordered his voice flat and a bit angry. "People aren't vermin," he muttered and strode off towards the Mathematics Department with a scowl on his face and Masha fell into step at his left, Jake slotting in on the right.
Leela was moving ahead of them, sweeping the area, while Andred was behind them, watching their six. Masha hadn't heard any gunfire for a bit and it was making her nervous. Her eyes swept everywhere, up and down, side to side. Why was it so quiet?
She felt, rather than saw, the explosion. Mostly because, in order to have seen it, there would have to have not been a well-muscled shoulder in her face. Jake was on top of her, shielding her from the blast and the Doctor was underneath them both as they'd both tried to protect the Doctor at the same moment. Leela and Andred were crouched nearby, looking alert and ready, the Doctor looked irritated, and Jake looked suddenly embarrassed.
"Sorry, forgot for a moment that you were probably a lot faster than I am," Jake murmured in her ear and then rolled off of her with a wince. His back was lacerated with shrapnel and he looked deeply chagrined. "Damn knight-errant instincts, when will I learn?"
Dar set his plate down on the desk, settled into his chair and downloaded the data from his watch. Soon, he had three-D models of Charlie's corpse and his apartment. He leaned back and studied the apartment model, reaching into it and taking books off of the shelves, searching under the cushions of his couch, and otherwise ransacking the dead man's place virtually.
He found nothing that seemed of much value to him, so he moved onto the corpse. There was evidence of a slight electrical charge in the wound and Dar considered what he knew about alien races. A swordfish with an electric charge didn't sound familiar to him, so he sent an enquiry to the Shadow Proclamation, hoping that their more extensive knowledge of this universe would solve that mystery for him. While he was at it, he sent another enquiry to some of the few contacts he'd managed to make in this universe.
Then he settled in and hacked into Charlie's computer, using the tiny device he'd attached to the side of the hard drive when he'd been there. He rolled his eyes at the primitive lines of code and grumbled under his breath. It was going to take ages for him to figure this mess out. He began typing furiously, occasionally pausing to eat something as he worked.
Masha felt her heart stuttering in her chest at the sight of his injuries. It occurred to her that if anything ever happened to Jake, she'd be really upset. This surprised her, because she had always tried to help people, but had never felt this... attached to anyone before. She covered her confusion in seeing to his wounds.
"Dammit Jake! No, don't move! Here, let me see." She glanced quickly around at the others. She, Leela, and the Doctor were unscathed. Jake had the worst of it by far, but Andred had also a little, and hadn't been quick enough to dodge the piece of debris that had embedded itself in his shoulder. It was a single piece of shrapnel, and didn't look life-threatening, but it looked as if it was being tricky to remove. Both Leela and the Doctor were tending to him for the moment, leaving Jake to Masha.
She dug in her pack for supplies. Pulling out the Torchwood issued medical supplies and setting them out.
"I wish Susan was here, but never a doctor when you need one," he chuckled softly.
The Doctor continued working on Andred, while Leela scanned the area, watching out for any further dangers.
"That was set on a timer, I'll bet," Leela grumbled. "Explains why they withdrew so quickly."
"They should be back soon then, to see if they got us," Andred muttered.
"Yep. I'll try and be quick." Masha looked at Leela. "Just try and make sure they don't get the Doctor for the next minute or two, would you?" She quickly attached a painkilling disk and then tweezed out the larger shrapnel bits, before spraying it with liquid skin and sealing it.
He winced, but looked more annoyed by his injuries than anything else.
"Thank you for sparing my dignity," Jake teased and then winced a bit as she flicked out another piece. "You haven't once pointed out that what I did was dumb, which was very kind of you." He was bantering with her, but his hand was still on his pistol, and even as she worked, his eyes were moving along the perimeter, keeping watch.
Something moved and Jake squeezed off a shot from his prone position, taking the lizard down with a single neat shot. It tore one of his wounds a bit, but he'd not moved much at all to do it.
Leela and Andred, now with his wound neatly bandaged, moved to take out the rest of the scouting team, while Leela waved the Doctor and Masha back.
"Let me have some fun this time, girl, you hogged most of the juicy bits last time!" she ordered and the two of them moved to flank the incoming lizards. "Fix the boy!" she called back and then they vanished around the corner as the sounds of mayhem erupted.
"She's having a ball," the Doctor sighed with a rueful shake of the head. "Even hundreds of years on Gallifrey didn't change her at all."
"She's true to herself," said Masha, "Just like you are true to yourself, at least most of the time. You," she said to Jake, "are always true to yourself. Your brave heart just overwhelms your sensible head sometimes, that's all. Are we making any progress at all? It's hard to tell."
"We're making excellent progress, that big building over there is the Mathematics Department and you've managed to make Jake blush a deeper shade of red, than any I have ever seen on him before," the Doctor teased and Jake's flush went a shade deeper still.
"That's just a pain response," the prostrate blond assured them both in a slightly higher pitched tone than usual. The Doctor shot him a look of pure disbelief and rolled his eyes.
"Of course, Jake, we believe that," the Doctor snarked, while Masha scowled fiercely at him. The last thing she needed was him encouraging things between her and Jake when she was going to have to bow out really soon.
"Doctor," she chided. "Stop that. Not staying, remember?" She flicked out another piece and the Doctor sealed it.
"When we get to the Mathematics department, what's the plan?"
"Well, I suspect Leela will cut us a rather messy path to whoever is in charge and then we will negotiate an end to violence here," he told her with a resigned tone. "I do hope she sticks more to the darts than to the knife," he sighed.
"Tell you what, you can do the negotiating, while I sit back and admire your brilliance," Jake quipped and the Doctor laughed.
Dar rubbed his eyes wearily and stood up, stretching his arms above his heads to work the kinks out of his back.
Charlie's computer was like wading through the cesspool of a teenage boy's sexual fantasies. The late and unlamented engineer had little imagination and too much time on his hands. Still, the calendar function on his computer had been rather useful. He had a nicely complete picture of the man's illicit activities. It was all in code, of course, but a code so easy to break that it was laughable.
He'd been meeting Aislynn about once a month it looked like, fetching components that were obviously for her to repair her TARDIS, as well as meshes that could be used in place of proper hexacrystallic filters. Human technology wasn't exactly compatible with Time Lord tech, so she must have been utterly desperate. He frowned at that, not liking where that left her.
However, Charlie was also making deliveries to two other contacts as well. Those meetings were more frequent and in different parts of town.
The things he was being asked for and was delivering to those two, were on a far different order. This wasn't good at all.
"Can you stand?" Masha asked Jake. "We need to move or all the good lizard-warriors will be taken," she joked at him, trying to pull that look out of his eyes.
He smiled, then hoisted the pack back on his shoulders, wincing at the pain of it, but then ignoring it, and moving forward, gun out.
"Right, no rest for the wicked, back to work," he sighed out.
"Yup," the Doctor answered. "We should try to save as many of the poor creatures from Leela as we can, he teased.
"OK, Mathematics building, here we come," she looked at Jake.
He looked back, but he was the fighter again now, the survivor, all the pixie sweetness tucked away, while he concentrated on saving lives and stopping the bad guys. There was a moment, very brief, where he squeezed her shoulder lightly, but then he was moving forward again. She felt her pulse speed up at his touch and in that moment Masha finally realized that the sun rose and set on his smile. Which was so just like her, she groused to herself. Her timing had always been awful and this realization was par for the course.
"Hey, wait up! Look right there, between those two bookcases. Tell me that's not a scout." She nodded towards a lizard who was clearly trying not to be seen, whose frill was a much different colour than all the other lizards they had met. The implication was clear: someone, probably in command, had sent someone else to gather a report and inform them of the source of the chaos.
"Bugger," Jake commented and the new lizard, whatever he was, rabbited at once. He was ridiculously fast.
"Dammit!" She spat, and opened fire.
"He hopped down there; it must be an entrance to the underground areas." His hand found hers and held on tightly for a moment.
"I think I hit him but I don't think it was enough to knock him out. I say we follow him. Doctor? Where are Leela and Andred? Do you see them?"
"We won't see or hear Leela and Andred unless they want us to" Jake told her "But, I think following the obvious bait down the rabbit hole is not good strategy."
"Yeah, but it is fun!" the Doctor told them and ran straight at the opening. "Allons-y!" he shouted and jumped in.
"Bloody hell!" Jake swore and then, with the expression of a man who hates himself for what he is doing, he ran after the Doctor.
Masha paused just long enough to pull a Sharpie from her pocket and put a symbol on the wall. Although Masha would never have admitted that she had any artistic talent whatsoever, in a few simple lines she had given the unmistakable impression of the Doctor. Leela and Andred would be able to tell where they had gone.
She followed, keeping them both in sight. Jake caught up with the Doctor and yanked him backwards by the centre seam of his pinstriped jacket.
"Slow it down," he ordered, his voice sharp. "If you're going to be reckless, do it with caution," he added with a sigh. The Doctor laughed and stopped, letting everyone catch up properly and scope out the tunnel.
"Is he always like this?" Masha asked him and Jake paused.
"So, you're leaving in the morning?" he asked and she nodded, surprised by the non-sequitur. "Right. Last chance," he murmured. He leaned in without warning and kissed her lightly, just a soft brush of his lips against hers, a moment of timeless suspension, and then it was over.
The Doctor was reading some inscriptions on the walls, bouncing about in enthusiasm, and apparently oblivious to their private moment, while Masha was reeling in stunned amazement.
"Ha!" The Doctor suddenly said and one of the hieroglyphics depressed under his palm.
All around them, the walls rose, revealing tunnels leading off in every direction. Behind the walls were hundreds of the scout-soldiers, who all seemed to have been waiting for some sort of signal. All of them turned towards the group, raising their weapons. They were now in the middle of a large crowd and hopelessly outnumbered.
"Well, that wasn't quite what I had had in mind," the Doctor muttered, while Jake sighed.
"But, it's what always happens around you, Doctor," he reminded him and the Doctor shot him a weak smile.
The beep of an incoming message roused Dar from his contemplation of the data and he answered it with a frown.
The face on the screen was round, plump, and bright blue.
"Ah, Darginian my dear friend," the unctuous voice addressed him and Dar suppressed a grimace.
"Dorian! Always a pleasure to hear from you," he lied with a straight face and a big smile.
"It's always a pleasure to talk with you as well," Dorian Maldovar replied and the eagerness in his eyes told Dar that this conversation was going to be expensive. The Maldovar family, Dar knew, would continue for many generations to be an excellent resource, but they would survive through cunning, deceit, and cowardice. Dar looked forward to watching the show.
"But surely, Dorian, a business person of your stature must have such pressing issues to take up your time, I'm honoured by your call," Dar flattered with the smile still in place.
"Well, when a friends makes an enquiry into something and I have learned something that they might find amusing and informative, I feel that the effort to contact them is always worthwhile," Dorian assured him and Dar nodded. No matter which universe you were in, the big blue crook never changed. There was something comforting about that.
"I will certainly try to make it worth your while, Dorian," he agreed with a nod.
"For a small remuneration, I can tell you about a certain Piscean race you've been asking about," he replied, practically beside himself with glee.
"How small?" Dar asked without resentment, after all, this was business and you couldn't blame the other person for wanting to come out ahead.
"In this case, only four thousand credits," he was informed and Dar was pleasantly surprised. He immediately sent the coded transmission that would pay Dorian.
"Not a problem," he told the other, who waited until a beep informed him the money had been received, before he continued.
"The race is obscure, they come from far out on the Rim and they are known as Shhee'tish to themselves, but to the rest of us they're just known as a pain in our arses," he groused. "I'm sending you the information I have on them, for you to look over. I personally look forward to whatever you do to them. They are cold fish, Darginian, no pun intended, they act as mercenaries, but only the most brutal will hire them because they are utterly psychotic, the whole race." He shook his head. "I will be happy to see a lot less of them around really," Dorian confided and then signed off with a wink.
"You will come with us!" One of the frilled lizards announced and the Doctor, Jake, and Masha, were soon being marched away down the hall.
They were brought to what seemed to be a holding area. There were several cylindrical cells dotting the area: and into these the Doctor, Jake, and Masha were herded. Each of them got their own individual cell: Jake's and Masha's were next to each other while the Doctor's was across from them, almost forming a little triangle.
Their weapons and things were taken and guards were posted. Undoubtedly their things would be brought to the commander, whoever he was, with news that the three had been captured.
Masha spent a moment pacing her chamber, which only took about four steps, and then sat against the wall.
"Hey," she murmured to Jake, who she knew was on the other side, "Can you hear me?"
Yup," he acknowledged and sighed out. "You okay?"
"Fine," she told him, getting manhandled by a few lizards wasn't a problem for her.
Outside her cell, another conversation was on-going, as two of the frilled lizards walked past the Doctor's cell. He could hear their conversation.
"...and you took them alive?"
"Yes sir."
"Good. We will use them as hostages to force the other two to surrender!" The one in charge said with satisfaction.
"Like hell you will," Masha muttered to herself. They had to get out of here.
Masha watched them, getting rather angry.
"Wankers," she growled. "Doctor, are we doing the whole hostage thing? Is that the plan here?"
"Of course not, I make a terrible hostage," the Doctor told her. "Just give me a moment, this isn't a technology I'm familiar with."
The lizards had left the room and that gave Masha and Jake ample time to sit there, bored, watching the Doctor fiddling with his sonic.
"Is this going to take long, because I was thinking about being somewhere else soon," Jake muttered.
"Coincidentally, so was I," Masha said dryly. "However, this cell is probably better, so take your time, I say."
"Yes, Jake, working on it!" the Doctor groused. "A-ha! I've got their security bamboozled for now, let's move," the Doctor told him and the door to his cell swung open.
They slipped from the cells and headed into the corridors that branched away from them. A patrol marched by and Jake darted into an alcove, Masha pressed against him very tightly in the tiny space. He had his gun out and she could spot the Doctor doing something with some wall panels nearby.
One slid open and Leela stepped out, limping slightly, but looking smug.
"Leela! How did things go?" the Doctor asked and the warrior woman shrugged.
"Well, Andred wouldn't let me take any heads, but I did find the way to their command centre, if you'd like the grand tour?" she informed the Doctor and, in spite of herself, Masha couldn't help but smile.
"Sounds good," She grinned.
"Yes, after all what good is a doctor that won't' make House Calls," the Doctor teased and they all stepped into the hidden passageway.
"Well, let me get there ahead of you, I have to give them diseases first," Masha snarked. In spite of her words, though, it was Leela that took point. "Don't hog all of the good lizard men," Masha scolded her as she went by. Leela's low chuckle in response was more vicious than most villains' cackles, and she found herself really liking the other woman.
