AN: Sorry for this update taking so long, I was kind of side-tracked and everytime I wanted to write it Microsoft Word wouldn't load, for some reason I now need internet connection to use Microsoft Word. For the lack of updates I tried to make this chapter longer than the others.
Thank you for the lovely reviews everyone :). Tell me, when and how should I post the alternate chapter(s)? When this story ends or as a separate entry? I can upload it on this story and do it like that. Or, I can upload it as a separate story, a different entry that is not attached to this one. I just might do that.
Does anyone need any ideas for a Sherlock story? My mind came up with a new story last week that has the potential to be a really good one. I don't wish to focus on it because I'm focusing on this story and if I focus on that one, then I'd abandon this one and I do not wish for that to happen. I have no idea how to write it either. If you need a new idea, let me know and I'll PM you or something.
Anyway, next chapter, enjoy :)
Sherlock quickly followed The Doctor, grabbing his coat and scarf along the way. The Doctor seemed to be talking, mostly to himself than at Sherlock.
"Alright, it's 3:36, and we have 17 minutes to stop Draxon otherwise the Earth burns. We can do it; I once saved the world in 11 minutes and in this body before I was even used to it." He said, staring at his watch and walking down the stairs, "Now, Draxon is 10 minutes away, my TARDIS is 15 and I bet we can make it to Draxon in just over 5 if we run." He quickly set off running, with Sherlock following beside him.
They ran left, right, right, down an alley, right, left, down a second alley, right, right, right and then came to a halt outside a small building. It was the size of a house, a small two bedroom house with a living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. It was in poor condition too, the windows were boarded up, others were smashed, the paint on the door was peeling off and the roof was in tatters. Why here? Why would they pick here to hide a great big machine? It would attract too much attention, people always look back at house's that look scary, why would he pick here to do it? The Doctor looked back at his watch.
"We have less than 14 minutes. Sherlock, when we go into this building, I need you to start looking at all the machinery, there is a button there that makes it self-destruct and I need you to find that button while I talk to Draxon." He said.
"And why can't you find that button, Doctor?"
"Because every button in there looks the same, I have no idea as to how Draxon planned to use it, but I know that your deductive skills will find that button. Okay? Good, now, let's go stop him."
The Doctor pushed open the door as if he owned the place and entered, it certainly didn't look like a house anymore. It was just one big room from start to finish, nothing around them except advanced computers and a door hiding away in the corner. The computers were attached to the walls and all it featured were switches, switches that you needed to flick up and down. How was anyone supposed to work with machines like that? It was like you would have to flick them up to do something and flick them down to turn it off, you wouldn't be able to get much done with them. They were all the same colour and weren't labelled. Draxon must be really good with machines to understand what they mean. In the middle of all the big machinery was a screen, it had glowing bright red symbols on it that kept changing, possibly a clock, maybe the countdown clock? If he was going to destroy the Earth then how was he planning to get off the planet? That's what the door was; it must have some kind of thing that would transport him away. For now, though, he would have to focus on finding that self-destruct. Why people put in those things Sherlock would never know. He would need to look amongst the dust; if there was a self-destruct button then people wouldn't go near it as they'd be scared that they'll get themselves blown up, so the layer of dust will be slightly thicker than all the rest. This area appears to be regularly used, so it's not going to be near here. No; if they were to include a self-destruct then they would put it somewhere on its own, where nobody would venture, to avoid anyone pressing it by mistake.
The Doctor was looking at the door. This was not going well; this is going bad, definitely not good. Draxon was meant to be in here. He was meant to be in this room, fiddling about with the machines and ready to blow up Earth, if he wasn't here then what else could he do? He smiled slightly; this was going to be a challenge. He loved those, nothing to make his day better than a challenge. Let's hope this one's worth it. It's not good if that happens. He looked over at Sherlock, whose attention was strictly on the switches, he was glad Mycroft had done as he'd asked, he doubted Sherlock would still be around if he hadn't. So he lied, it wasn't a self-destruct button he needed but it was similar, and he did need it to get rid of Draxon and the machinery. He looked at his watch, 12 minutes and 36 seconds. Draxon must be in that room, he knows part of what he's doing but without Draxon, he can't save Earth. He walked towards it and entered. Draxon was in there, sitting down at the table with his feet up ever so casually, as if he was expecting The Doctor to arrive.
"Ah, Doctor." He said in a low growl.
Okay, so, maybe he was expected.
"Draxon, hello, isn't it time for you to run?" He replied.
Draxon smiled and brought his feet down to lean forward, "Somehow, I don't think so. This planet is going to burn in 12 minutes and you won't let me walk away freely. Of course not, The Doctor loves his humans, I can't even begin to fathom why, they're disgusting creatures." He spat out the final words as if he had a horrible taste in his mouth.
"They're wonderful creatures. You, on the other hand, are not." He replied calmly, whilst pointing a finger.
"What are you going to do, Doctor? Once you save the planet, who's to stop the rest of my people from coming down to attack? You've got good old Sherlock Holmes in there, ready to stop me from cooking Earth but, once you've done that, I've got an army waiting for me in the sky. Ready to attack on my word." He replied, keeping his voice low and threatening.
"I'm going to stop you, Draxon, you know that." His voice was also low and threatening.
Draxon then gave an amused smile, "Don't think I don't know who you are, Doctor. You've got Sherlock in there, but not Observer." The Doctor stiffened at the name. Draxon smiled even more and carried on, "I know all about Sherlock, he may be better than your friend at observing but, who's to say Sherlock can survive my army? If you lose Sherlock then you lose your friend. You've been so long without him, what if my army were to kill him on the spot? Then what would you do? You've been this long without him, you won't need him now." His voice was still low and even more threatening.
The Doctor walked towards him, "Trust me, Draxon; I will make you regret ever saying that. If you even touch a hair on his head then you will regret it for as long as you live, until the day you die."
Draxon laughed, "There he is. That's The Doctor I know. The one who will stop at nothing to protect someone. The one who will kill just to stop someone. You're not as 'pure' shall we say, as you'd like to think, Doctor. There is a darkness hidden inside you and I do believe I may have found him." Draxon stood up and got in The Doctor's face.
"I do believe Sherlock is about to find the right switch, and when he does, what's going to happen to you? We've still got another 9 minutes, with a flick of a wrist; Sherlock can send you and your army into hell. We'd save the world, even if it was a completely boring way to do so."
"That's where you're wrong, Doctor. I'm not so stupid as to leave something like that, am I? Sherlock will find the switch to stop me but, once he does, then my army will invade."
The Doctor took a few steps back and put on a goofy grin, "I'm going to call that bluff, Draxon. You see, there's no way you're ship could be around without my TARDIS finding it. There is no army, only you."
Draxon put on a shocked expression. He should have known The Doctor would have realised.
"Sherlock?" He called.
"Yes?"
"Have you found it?"
"Yes, but that's the problem!" He called back.
The Doctor looked confused and spoke to Draxon, "What have you done?"
Draxon smiled, "I told you, if Sherlock finds the switch then my army will come. They may not be around right now but they will certainly arrive."
The Doctor's eyes widened and he ran into the other room. Sherlock was standing by the controls, flipping some up and some down.
"What did you find?"
"If we were to stop Draxon then it would send a message out to the others, telling them that he's failed and they would take his place, with an army and destroy the Earth themselves." Sherlock replied as he looked at the screen sitting on the wall. The words were in English but they didn't appear to make much sense, "Look, this is a Caesar shift cipher. All you need to do is to replace the letters within the message with a letter that is 15 more letters further down the alphabet. It takes a lot of effort to remember and I fail to see why they would write that way but it's clever."
The Doctor groaned, "There must be a way to stop that from happening."
"These switches do not just control the machines, these ones are a keyboard. We need to try and send a message in code to stop them from coming."
The Doctor looked at the computer screen.
"Xu ndj upxa id sthigdn Tpgiw, lt lxaa ipzt dktg. Lt lxaa sthigdn iwt Tpgiw djghtakth ph ndj rpc'i httb ij sj hj. Lt lxaa qgxcv pc pgbn pcs sthigdn xw hxcvat wpcsxan."
A new message box had opened.
"Iwtgt xi cj ctts udg ndj id rdbt dktg; X pb sdxcv uxct dc blc. Ndj rpc paa gtbpxc iw – "
Sherlock threw his hands away as sparks emitted from the machines. What was going on? If the keyboard malfunctioned and they couldn't get the message through then they would have an even bigger problem.
"Sonic it, Doctor!" Sherlock shouted mindlessly as he ran a few feet to the side.
The Doctor looked at him slightly shocked before pulling out his sonic screwdriver in an attempt to fix it. He held it over the switches, using his sonic to try and fix the damage before realising it was impossible.
"I can't! Sherlock, the insides have melted together, my sonic won't fix it." The Doctor replied frustatingly.
A voice shouted from behind them, "It's too late, Doctor! You may be able to stop the machine but you can't stop the others from arriving. Not anymore!" Draxon laughed evilly and then waved, "Bye now." With that, he flicked a switch and disappeared.
They had 3 minutes, they can stop the machine, but how would they stop the oncoming army? Sherlock desperately flicked some more switches before coming to a stop.
"There, that should do it." He said.
The Doctor looked at him curiously, "How did you know I have a sonic?"
Sherlock looked confused momentarily, "Hm? Oh, that, I saw it in your pocket earlier as I took the fob watch back."
"But that doesn't explain how you knew it was a sonic screwdriver."
"It's called deduction."
The Doctor walked towards him, "It's not, Sherlock. It's called remembering. You have one, too. Do you remember that?"
Sherlock rolled his eyes. He should have known that was going to happen, "Doctor, there is a time and place for us to discuss that part of me, but that time and place is not now. Unless you plan on getting blown to pieces as this place implodes?"
"You made it self-destruct?"
"Yes, it wasn't too hard. Find the right switches and you can make it implode in on itself without affecting the outside world."
The Doctor nodded, "Right, of course. You said it's about to implode."
"Yes."
"This means we should probably run."
"There's that, too. I don't plan on dying in here."
The Doctor smiled gleefully as they both ran full speed towards the door. They had just about made it outside when it all imploded in on itself, making the building collapse. Nobody was around and there didn't appear to be anyone living in the house next to it, or any of the houses around. Draxon had chosen the abandoned part of London, how thoughtful. It was at that moment Sherlock felt his phone vibrate. He had felt it vibrate countless times earlier and was able to ignore it, now though, felt like a good time to check it. 8 missed calls from John, 12 missed calls from Lestrade, 5 missed called from Mycroft's private number, 16 messages from Lestrade, 19 messages from John and 9 messages from Mycroft's private number. Blimey, he's going to be in a lot of trouble when he returns to Baker Street. Mycroft had even attempted to contact him using his private number; Mycroft never uses that one, only in an emergency. Sherlock is going to be in big, big trouble. The Doctor started talking. He seemed to go off in a ramble, talking more to himself than to Sherlock
"Okay, you said that if we were to destroy the machines then the others will know that Draxon had failed and they will send an army to destroy the planet themselves. I had the TARDIS scan the solar system before I went to stop Draxon and there was nothing there. Now, Draxon's also escaped which means they're going to learn sooner about his failure. I know their ways of transport, they're really slow and it would take them at least 3 to 4 hours to get here. This army can be either big or small, but they don't like to work in small groups when invading which means there is going to be a couple hundred ready to invade. We are going to need some help. Who from?"
Sherlock would have responded but his phone started to vibrate again. He looked down, a call from Lestrade. He answered.
"Sherlock Holmes, where the hell have you gone? We've been trying to contact you for the last 15 minutes!" Lestrade shouted down the phone. He was not a happy chappy, "Sherlock, are you listening to me? You are to return to Baker Street right now! John, Mycroft and I have been really worried, you running off with that mad man, claiming that the Earth was about to be destroyed. You have no idea how much you've worried us. If you bring that man with you the he is going straight to the psych ward!"
Lestrade was in dad mode. Protective dad mode. Sherlock couldn't blame him, what with the way he's been acting and the panicked phonecall, then The Doctor and Draxon. This reaction was pretty much expected from Lestrade.
"Lestrade, I'm fine. The Doctor and I have just stopped the Earth from getting destroyed and I would return to Baker Street but I'm quite busy, I'm afraid. So, I won't be able to." Sherlock replied in a rush, he was hoping Lestrade had heard it all.
"No, you're not, Sherlock! You are to return home right now, mister!" Lestrade shouted, almost as if he were talking to a young child that's been naughty.
The Doctor looked at him, "Is that the Detective? Give it here, Sherlock." The Doctor held out his hand for Sherlock to pass the phone. When Sherlock didn't, he simply snatched it, "Detective, I know you've grown quite attached and protective over Sherlock here, but I still need his help. We're about to return to Baker Street and once you're done giving us both a lecture, I'm going to take Sherlock back as I still need his help. Please, do not give us a very long lecture as aliens are about to take over in roughly 4 hours, okay?" Without waiting for Lestrade's reply, he hung up and gave the phone back to Sherlock. He then curiously asked, "You two have grown quite attached to each other, haven't you?"
Sherlock nodded and then replied, "He's like my dad. I never had a proper dad when I was growing up. Lestrade seemed to fill in the dad position, we didn't realise how much until Moriarty and his bombs."
The Doctor looked confused; he seemed to be feeling like that a lot today. He accepted Sherlock's answer. What had happened to his actual father? He seemed pretty happy with Sherlock when he'd left him there and during the times he visited. Mind you, he only visited twice and both times Sherlock was extremely young both times. Something must have happened afterwards.
"I think it's best if we hurry back to Baker Street. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get lectured and go back to saving the world. It's funny, I haven't met a dad yet, I've met quite a few mothers but not a dad. Wonder if I'm going to get slapped again."
"Lestrade's more of a punching person, slapping someone isn't his area."
The Doctor and Sherlock's eyes met briefly before they both started laughing and heading back to Baker Street.
AN: I'm sorry if Eleven was channelling his inner Ten. I write stories how I see and hear them in my head, the voice The Doctor had was a cross between the two, I'm sorry if he's a tad bit out of character. Seems like a rubbish way of writing but that's how I write.
The countdown clock! I didn't want to leave you in the dark about their numbers and I was just doing a little doodle of it during my break at the school I was at. This is what the countdown clock numbers looked like:
http:/ 24 . media . tumblr . com / tumblr_m49wlbtnZo1r85simo1_500 . jpg
Their language, yes, I was tempted to write alien symbols like I had done with their countdown clock but, I was looking on Sherlock's website a few days ago and saw one of the messages he had received that was written in code and decided to use that instead. This is the translation:
"If you fail to destroy Earth, we will take over. We will destroy the Earth ourselves as you can't seem to do so. We will bring an army and destroy it single handily."
"There is no need for you to come over; I am doing fine on my own. You can all remain th – "
If anyone has any questions, or if I've forgotten to clear something up, or if you're just confused about something, please tell me. I will try my best to clear it up, I will answer your questions and either answer them through AN, PM or in the story.
Um… I don't know about anyone else but, some part of me believes this may have just become a crossover with Sarah Jane and possibly Torchwood. I don't know. I'll realise as I write the next bunch of chapters. I need your opinions; do you think it should do? Do you think it should become a crossover with Sarah Jane and/or Torchwood? I'm not so sure, I haven't watched Torchwood recently, but I know Sarah Jane's character quite well, though I'm still not so sure. Some part of me believes The Doctor can stop the army with Sherlock, the other part believes he's going to need some help. This story is turning out to be a lot longer than originally planned.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Have a nice day :)
~Steffii