I do not own Doctor Who.
Chapter Eleven
They were both triumphant.
"The best way to kick-start the Time Lord knowledge," said the Brain as both he and his daughter grinned deviously into the computer screen, "is to have her remember something very important to the Time Lords. And what do the Time Lords hate the most?"
"Only their enemies," his daughter replied. They sat back and watched the screen, where the little figures of the Doctor and his companions, and the most important woman in the universe, were walking towards the cafeteria.
"Operation on the Doctor's daughter was successful, by the way," the woman added. "If all else fails, we have her."
"All else will not fail," the Brain declared.
The two waited with an eager air about them. Soon, it would be time. Soon, they would possess the most knowledge in the universe, and they could finally begin.
"EXTERMINATE."
"And I said to her, isn't that just silly!" Carnation was saying to John/Doctor as they walked back down the hallway they'd just come from, towards the lifts. They'd just visited her sister Hyacinth, and Carnation's twin had been less than happy to see the both of them.
"There's absolutely nothing wrong with Plexle," she had said severely when they asked if she'd seen any odd things during her time there. "Except, possibly, with the fact they hired you," she'd added contemptuously to her sister. "Honestly, what they were thinking."
"Maybe they weren't," Carnation had responded, not realizing she'd insulted herself.
Both Hyacinth and the Doctor had rolled their eyes. "Have you met any of the staff, working outside of your department?" asked the Doctor, trying to glean any information from the closed-off woman. "Perhaps the Vice Principal, or a secretary, or a Head of Department?"
"Plexle is very busy," Hyacinth had returned in a clipped tone. "It's an honor to meet any of the people you mentioned, and even though I have been on the staff here longer than most, I have yet to gain enough trust to be honored in such a way."
Carnation had visibly deflated at this tone. "We'd better get going then," she'd said to the Doctor, smiling widely. "She's not going to tell us anything more than she already has."
"Thank you for your time," the Doctor had said to Hyacinth as he followed the pink-haired girl out of her sister's office.
"I can't say the same," Hyacinth had said.
And that was how the Doctor was walking with Carnation Schwann, listening to all her totally random - interesting - stories from when she and her sister were growing up. She was talking his ear off, and he couldn't think with her yammering nonstop. "And when we were eight, we both had these pink rabbit stuffed animals that we absolutely adored, but I decided that I wanted Hyacinth's too, so I took it and she got so angry at me," Carnation continued. "I even gave her my old pacifier in its place, but it wasn't enough. I mean, how selfish can she be?"
At least Carnation was hanging onto his arm like she had the entire way up to her sister's office. She was too busy using her hands to animatedly prove a point in her story. "And then when we were eleven, I took her side of our special twin necklace that we've had since forever and I've kept it ever since, but it was because she totally deserved it after..."
Finally, the Doctor managed to tune her out. He needed to think about the clues - but there weren't very many. They hadn't gotten any actual or useful information out of Hyacinth, unless...
"Miss Schwann," the Doctor cut through Carnation's babbling.
"And she said - oh, are you talking to me, Doctor?" Carnation asked, giggling madly. "Isn't it just rude, what Hyacinth did to me then!"
"Absolutely," the Doctor said, and she giggled some more. "Miss Schwann," he tried again.
"Oh, call me Carnation, Doctor," she said flirtatiously, with a wink.
"Right then," he said, letting out a huge internally exasperated sigh. "Carnation, is your sister always like that?"
Carnation giggled a bit more. "Weren't you listening to anything I said? She's always been rather rude to and around me, but I think that's just a twin thing, you know? I get I'm annoying but she's fairly annoying herself when she wants to be, like when I took her half of the twin necklace as punishment for - "
"So her behavior, in the office," the Doctor interrupted. "Was that usual for her, or more severe than normal?"
Carnation finally looked thoughtful. "I suppose she was a bit more abrupt than usual," she said at last. Then she scrunched up her nose, as if thinking very hard. "Hmm, I do suppose she didn't make fun of me. She usually can't go a few sentences without saying something nasty about my hair or something, but again, probably a twin thing. And I do it back to her. Although," she leaned forward a bit, standing on her tiptoes so she was closer to the Doctor's height, "she did say she'd never met anyone important, and now that I think about that it's rather strange she should say that. A few months back she came home elated because she got to meet Dr. Brian - the head of her department - and she just wouldn't shut up about it."
"So she lied," the Doctor concluded.
"Yeah, she lies a lot," Carnation said carelessly. "How will that help us with whatever's going on, though?"
"Why'd she lie?" asked the Doctor.
"OH!" Carnation gasped as if suddenly was very clear. "That's exactly it! Why did she lie? That's the big mystery. Nope, I still don't understand," she said, looking disappointed. "I don't know why she lied. It's like she was brainwashed or something. That doesn't happen, does it? Brainwashing?"
"We need to find Martha and Donna," the Doctor said. "Now. They were the ones investigating the waiters."
Before Carnation could reply, he went running. "Hey, I'm in heels!" she called after him, looking immensely confused. Then it seemed to dawn on her. A look of horror filled her face. "Wait - are you saying - did they brainwash my sister? Is she like those waiters now? Doctor! Wait for me!"
The lifts couldn't come quickly enough. The Doctor climbed on the first one that came, impatiently jamming his finger on the lobby button. A few moments later, Carnation, huffing and puffing and glaring at her shoes joined him, and she hastily adjusted her appearance in the lift mirror, sending the Doctor dismayed and embarrassed looks. She was unusually subdued.
Finally, the lift doors opened onto the lobby floor, and shoving through the mobs of people trying to come onto the lift, the two finally made it to an empty spot.
"Where's the lobby?" asked the Doctor, fully intending to step back into the hoards of people going in every direction. "We need to get there as fast as possible, see what Donna and Martha have discovered."
"I'm not sure," Carnation said in a smaller voice. She was not looking at the Doctor now. Her gaze was transfixed on something off in the distance. "But I'm not sure we should go there just now."
"We've got to get there as soon as possible," the Doctor disagreed, somewhat annoyed at her. How could she not understand the urgency of the situation? "The sooner the better."
"I know, but," Carnation pointed a shaking finger at whatever had held her attention for the past few minutes. "Look."
And the Doctor saw just what she was afraid of.
"EXTERMINATE."
Both Jenny and Martha were not there when Donna arrived with Matt/Doctor, River, Amy, and Rory.
"Where'd they go?" Donna asked, dumbstruck by their disappearance. Perhaps Jenny's absence was not that odd, but Martha, she'd promised to stay and talk to Jenny! She wouldn't have left unless something was urgent, or it was against her will.
"Donna," the Doctor said, looking solemn and concerned, "they were here? Martha was sitting at this table?"
"Yes," Donna nodded, and then her eyes widened along with the other companion's as the Doctor held up Martha's doctor badge, containing her image and other information about her.
"What happened, Doctor?" Amy asked. She walked over to the table that Martha had been sitting out, bending over and investigating the chair as if it might have more clues.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began to scan the table, the chair, and the areas around the two. He earned a few strange looks from afar, and when he looked at his device, he glared at his before putting it away.
"Nothing," he said. "No clues. But in case anyone wanted to know, someone recently had hot cocoa."
No one wanted to know.
"Nobody else is sitting over by us," River said, her eyes darting around. "We can't ask for witnesses."
"And what would they say, anyway?" Rory added.
"She could've walked away on her own," Donna agreed. "Or Jenny led her away, but that might not have looked very suspicious."
"Was Jenny talking like the other waiters?" asked the Doctor.
"We established that we're pretty sure she's one of them now," Donna answered. "Perhaps she had orders to lead her away? Martha's a very smart woman, and she's connected to you, Doctor. She could prove very valuable."
The Doctor's eyes clouded. Amy rushed over to his side. "Doctor, we'll find her," she promised. "Wherever she's gone, we'll find her."
Rory examined Martha's badge. "It's funny she left this here," he said. "I somehow doubt it just fell off her person."
River was not looking at the redhead or the Doctor or Rory. Her eyes were focused on something outside of the café.
"Or maybe she left because she knew what was coming," the curly-haired woman said.
"But if that were the case, she would've come found us," the Doctor disagreed.
"Maybe we'd already left to come here," Amy said.
"But then we would've run into her," the Doctor countered.
"We should go," River interrupted, her voice weary. "Now."
"What's the problem?" asked Donna. She came to stand by the other, and saw exactly what the problem was. "River's right. Let's get out of here now."
"But what about Martha?" the Doctor asked, blissfully unaware of the impending danger.
"It'll get a lot harder to find her if we stay here," Donna said, and seized one of his arms, partially dragging him as she headed for one of the café's exits.
River took the Doctor's other arm. "Trust me, Sweetie," she said. "We need to go."
"EXTERMINATE."
Author's Note: ...Doctor Who theme...
Sorry for the late update! But school started up again, and I was super busy. Luckily today we had off, so I wrote this chapter! I'm betting you can guess who's just showed up. Anyway...I'm thinking more characters will show up in the next few chapters, hopefully. I hope I'm writing Amy, Rory, and River realistically. For whatever reason, I find them the most difficult to write for.
Anyway, you can hopefully expect an update sometime over the weekend! I appreciate any comments, and thank you to everyone who reviewed! Happy late new year! Thanks for reading.