8 – The Man Who Wasn't There
Penny awoke with a start, gasping for breath once more. Quickly, she checked her right hand once more – the mark was fresh again, singed into her flesh.
Next, she took in her surroundings. The house was she left it a few hours ago – the crowd of supernaturalists watching her eagerly, Powell, with his hanging flesh, and the faint candlelight illuminating the hall.
"Penny!" cried Powell.
"What…." Penny began, still rather entranced "what happened?"
"You vanished, my dear. The man who wasn't there, he must've taken you!"
"Well, I'm back now," Penny muttered, as she rose to her feet. "Is the Doctor about?"
"No?"
There was one more flash of white on the stairs – and the Doctor tumbled through.
"Penny!" he cried, extending his arms to her, before turning to face Powell.
"Doctor, what on earth happened there?" gasped Powell, eyes wide with bewilderment. "There was a great…white light!"
"That's funny, Powell…" the Doctor muttered "because that's something you've seen before. Not now, of course. Back in '24, of course,"
The crowd gasped in shock – somehow, the Doctor seemed to be getting sick of this.
"I beg your pardon?!"
"Baden and Powell, the owner of Morgan's Way. Bit unoriginal. Penny, do you know what happens if you are to stab someone with a Chronite rod such as this? Well, at first, they die. But this is a neutral source of time energy. After a short while, the wound vanishes. Perfect way to fake your death. Because, for a while, you are dead. Then, you resurrect. Only works with humans, of course. Completely ineffectual with vampires," he added, with a wink at Penny.
Powell stared agape at the Doctor.
"You've been looking for this for a very long time, haven't you, Powell?" the Doctor asked, pulling out the metal rod. "Around 90 years, in fact,". Upon seeing the rod, Powell's mouth fell open, the muscles unable to clamp it anymore.
"I'm been looking in the four corners of the world…" he stammered "for most of my life. And you had it all of this time!"
A sudden bolt of energy rang through Powell. He charged towards the Doctor, staggering up the stairs towards him.
"Now, I should warn you," the Doctor said "that grabbing the rod will be a very, very bad idea, alright?"
"Shut up!" snapped Powell.
"Suit yourself," muttered the Doctor, backing away.
Now, the Doctor was stood against at the wall at the top of the stairs, Powell a yard away.
"Catch!" the Doctor yelled, as he tosses the rod at Powell. For a second, it pirouetted in the air, before Powell grabbed it. The moment the jagged metal touched the wizened man's skin, the white light grew, and exploded, sending waves of the energy all over the room.
As it faded, there was nothing left behind. Only a small pile of ash, on the top step, which was scattered in a silent gust of wind.
Penny stepped into the TARDIS, shutting the door behind her.
"Doctor?" she called, searching around the console room.
"Yes?" he called back, emerging from underneath the console, tools in hand.
"Can you explain something to me?"
"I can try…go on?"
"Well," Penny started "what's happened to Powell?"
"When he touched the rod, the time energy…stuff contained in the rod overloaded. It'd been building up for hundreds of years, and the fresh connection…shorted it out. He is the Man Who Wasn't There,"
The Doctor grinned for a second.
"Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. There wasn't there again today…how I wish he'd go away…"
"Antigonish?"
"Precisely! Interesting example of a free lunch paradox. He called the group, and us, here because of the ghost. We got sent back, brought the chronite into the present, which he grabbed and became the ghost. A time loop. Yes, that seemed to be the running theme here...time loops. A trifecta of times, and a trifecta of loops,"
Smiling away, the Doctor flicked a switch on the console, and the rotor began to thrum away, taking them through time and to adventures unknow…
