Jenny awoke in a small simple bedroom on a cot. She felt the coolness of metal against her throat and saw three red staser pistols pointed toward her. "The Lord President would like to meet you, Avatar," a gruff man's voice stated, "you are coming with us."
"Like Hell she is!" voiced an angry Vastra. Forgetting she was only an apparition, she attempted to attack the men. Her arm went right through one as her tongue failed to make contact with another. She looked at her hands as her eyes widened with understanding. She could witness, she could not assist. The men could not see or hear her. Only Jenny. She looked at her wife who briefly gave her eye contact.
A man positioned behind Jenny placed his staser in his belt and pushed the woman into a sitting position as his blade remained at her throat.
"Raise your hands," the gruff commander demanded.
She did as she was told, "I am weaponless," she stated.
The man smacked her face violently with his staser. "You will speak only when requested to speak, or when asked a direct question." He told her viciously.
His unprovoked attack upset Vastra even further.
Jenny's head was still turned to the side it had been pushed to. She could feel blood in her mouth and the left side of her face bruising. She glared up at the man who appeared to be the leader of this group. The man nodded to the one behind her. He sheathed blade and pulled Jenny's arms, still above her head, behind her back and placed them into cuffs.
"Stand," the man commanded her.
As soon as she did so, the two other men grabbed her arms at the elbows. The group marched her out of the room. Vastra followed. When outside of the room Jenny saw a man lying on the floor just outside. "Benjamin!" Jenny called out in concern for the man. This earned her a punch to her gut from the leader. The hit was so hard that it would have knocked her to the ground had the other men not been holding her up. She winced in pain.
He pulled on the top of her head until she was looking directly at him, "What did I tell you about speaking?"
She attempted to regain her composure, "Not to do so unless requested," she said.
"That is right, 'Avatar'," He mocked, he put his face within three centimeters of hers. Jenny could smell his stale breath. "And no fancy escape plans," he added before letting go of her hair and backing away.
Vastra watched the exchange and felt sick. How can she see her wife taken captive and do nothing? She walked behind Jenny. She saw Jenny turn her head and wink directly at her. Did Jenny already have a plan? The brown haired woman smirked. Vastra watched, surprised as a bolt of blue lightning zapped out of Jenny's index finger effectively opening the cuffs that bound her hands behind her back. Jenny caught the cuffs before they dropped to the floor. Then it appeared to Vastra as though Jenny was the only one moving in the room. The others were completely still as Jenny freed herself from the men's grip.
Jenny immediately ran back where Benjamin was. She knelt by his side as she studied the body, especially his eyes.
"He's dead," Jenny spoke. Vastra could tell her wife was devastated.
"Who was he?" Vastra asked gently.
"My guard, and my friend," Jenny responded. "He gave his life for mine. He shouldn' have had to".
Vastra remained silent as she attempted to place her hand on Jenny's shoulder, uncertain if either of them would be able to feel the touch. She could not, which saddened her. Yet Jenny's hand briefly overlapped hers in acknowledgement. The younger woman leaned toward the man on the floor. She closed his eyes and kissed his forehead before standing again.
She looked toward the men who had attempted to capture her. Vastra turned her head toward them as well. "How are they frozen?"
"They aren't frozen. I sped up my own time," Jenny explained. "I'm moving at a much faster pace than the rest of the world."
"You can do that?" asked the Silurian, impressed.
"I am the Avatar of Time," Jenny declared, "Time works the way I need it to." She still held on to the cuffs. She walked over to the two men who were once escorting her. She cuffed their hands together. Vastra chuckled, amused at her wife's clever antics. Jenny then grabbed all the staser pistols. She changed the settings and set one in her belt. She decided to hold on to the other two. Finally she stood at an equal distance from the cuffed men and their commander in a place where she could see both. She posed herself, one foot in front of the other and knees slightly bent. She raised her hands, each holding one of the guns, aiming one at the commander's head and the other at the closer of the other men. She winked at Vastra, then made her time flow resume to normal.
"How's this for a fancy escape plan?" she asked the commander. The man looked at her dumbfounded. "Don't move, either of you," she warned, "or I will shoot".
"How did you…" the commander started angrily, as he glanced at his men cuffed together.
"Let's just say, I'm not as delicate as I may look," she glared at him. In her peripheral vision she saw the other men move toward her, still cuffed, attempting to coordinate an attack. She instantly fired the staser pistol twice, hitting each man in the chest without even turning her head to look. Their commander stiffened. "Don't worry, they are only unconscious. Won't ev'n feel pain. I changed the settin's," Jenny informed him.
Weaponless and without men, the commander's face was starting to show his fear.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"My friend back," Jenny stated furiously, "But you can't give that to me."
"I can guarantee your safety," he pleaded.
"No," Jenny scoffed, "Only I can guarantee my safety, as I have done."
"What do you want?" the man repeated.
"I will go to the Lord President on my own terms. Before I do so you and your comrades will tell him what transpired here. Ev'ry word will be true."
The commander hung his head in shame.
"Do you understand?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Answer me!" Jenny asserted.
"I understand," the commander stated, lifting his head and giving her eye contact.
"Good. Leave now, and take your men with you," she demanded.
The commander grabbed the pair by the cuffs binding them together and started slowly dragging them toward the door. Jenny stopped herself from laughing at his efforts. They will be in discomfort from being pulled around when they awaken.
When her attackers were gone, Jenny turned to the apparition of Vastra. "Well," she smiled, "It appears I have some work to do. And you must return to our friends, and eventually to your body".
"Are you alright, my dear?" the Silurian asked, she stepped close to Jenny, within arm's length. She peered at the vicious bruise forming on her wife's face with concern.
"If you like, you could kiss it and make it all better," Jenny said playfully.
Vastra hesitated, believing that any pressure on the inflammation could cause further pain. Then she remembered that she was just and apparition and that the touch would not be real. She leaned in toward Jenny to leave a soft kiss on the swollen cheek. Though neither woman could feel it, they both smiled at the intimacy of the gesture.
"I'll have to send you back now," Jenny told the lizard woman sadly, "But, I'll call you if I need you".
At first Vastra believed Jenny was joking, but the woman's earnest expression told her she was not. "Will you?" she asked, "and how will you do that?"
Jenny smirked again, "Let's just say, you have many pleasant dreams to come," she winked. Then Jenny closed her eyes and moved her arms toward Vastra. The women were holding each other, and they could feel it this time. This told the lizard woman that they must both be dreaming again. The bruise that was just on Jenny's face had disappeared. Their lips touched one last time, until Jenny pulled away. "I miss you," the woman said sadly, "But I cannot keep you in a dream forever."
"I know," Vastra responded as she let go.
"Until next time, my love," said Jenny, refusing to say the words "good bye".
"Until next time," the Silurian replied. She found herself returned to the conference call with the Doctor, Clara, River and Strax. She sat at her place at the round table. River greeted her with a nod.
"Jenny was attacked by what looked to be soldiers. She defended herself brilliantly though," Vastra reported with pride.
"Does she have a plan to return?" Clara asked.
"Not yet," Vastra told them, "But she said… she would be in touch."