Chapter 3 – The Artists
It wasn't long before Clara caught up with the teen near a pedestrian tunnel that when underneath the railway line. The school teacher observed from a distance as the girl met up with five other youths of a similar age together with a Police officer. Completing the little group was a grizzled looking older man with a sour look on his face. Positioned near the group was an assortment of cleaning equipment and a couple of buckets of paint.
Fortunately for Clara the path leading to the tunnel was a little overgrown with tall weeds, allowing the brunette to merge into the background. She moved as close as she could to the group as she dared, trying to avoid catching anyone's attention, "Alright you lot, you know why you're here", the miserable looking man began, "you've got your assignments so get to it quickly and quietly. The council's not paying me to listen to you bleat on all day".
"And I thought you were here out the kindness of your heart", one of the group snorted. It was a dark skinned teenage boy, a grey hoodie sticking out the top of the regulation hi-vis jacket.
"Needs to have a heart first Rigsy", the girl who ran into Clara commented, drawing a small smile from her fellow workers.
The only one not smiling was the council employee present to supervise their work. He glared at the two teens before grabbing one of the paint cans, "I changed my mind about the assignments, you two can cover over the graffiti that's polluting this lovely piece of council property". He dropped the can at the feet of the two teens, "Shouldn't be too much trouble for you, I hear from my officer friend that you're pretty handy with a can of paint". A smile was now plastered over his face but it was one of malicious joy rather than genuine happiness.
Clara watched as the young offenders began to go about their jobs, slightly reluctantly in the case of Rigsy and the girl. Clara thought that she had been mistaken in her earlier feeling, there didn't appear to be anything out of place here other than some juvenile delinquency. She still had more of the city to explore though and this tunnel lead to the city centre. The teacher emerged from her hiding place and slowly walked down the stone steps and into the underpass.
At first glance and smell, this tunnel appeared to be identical to the one's she had encountered back in London. The general smell of stale alcohol and urine stung her nostrils but coming from a major city, she quickly adjusted to the unique odour. Like most tunnels it was covered in graffiti, illuminated by the cheapest set of lights that the council could install. It was only as she moved further down the underpass that she noticed the intricate nature of the graffiti. There were the usual tags but they were interlaced with shadowy figures vaguely in the shape of people. Some were painted in stationary position but others were bent over like they were in pain and some looked like they were reaching outwards, begging for someone to save them.
Standing in that poorly lit tunnel covered in creepy graffiti, Clara really wished that the Doctor or Jenny was with her. They could reassure her that these paintings weren't as creepy as she thought, either with some comforting words or a flash of the sonic screwdriver. She inched a little closer to one of the walls, stretching out her fingers towards the painted ones on the wall. As her fingers got closer to the graffiti, Clara could swear that she could hear someone whispering. The noise continued to get louder until she was practically touching the surface. She was certain she heard a shriek of pain, followed by a loud crash. Startled, Clara jumped back from the wall and bumped into one of the workers, "Woah careful", the school teacher turned around and noticed that it was the one identified earlier as Rigsy, "are you alright, you look like you've seen a ghost".
"Yeah, fine", Clara gasped breathless, her voice barely audible over the sound of a train passing overhead. She swallowed deeply, reassuring herself that the noise she heard must've come from an approaching train. "Interesting graffiti", she continued, "I've never seen anything like this before".
"I wouldn't call it graffiti", Rigsy replied, almost sounding a little offended, "something like this is a work of art".
Clara raised an eyebrow, "Your supervisor for the day doesn't appear to agree with you", the teacher looked around and noticed that the sour faced man was tormenting another one of the workers at the other end of the tunnel. She turned her attention back to the walls, "Is this some of your work then?"
Rigsy snorted, "I wish, truth is no one know where this comes from. Another figure gets added to the mural without anyone noticing, sometimes in broad daylight". Now Clara's internal weirdness alarm was blaring loudly, something about this tunnel was seriously creeping her out. Strange noises and mysterious graffiti appearing without anyone noticing, this was beginning to feel more like the Doctor's territory. "You're not local are you?" Rigsy asked and Clara shook her head. The worker looked around quickly, checking that the Police officer and supervisor were out of sight. He beckoned her back to the end of the tunnel where she had entered, "This wall has earned the name the wall of the missing", he stated.
"That doesn't sound ominous at all", Clara commented out loud, although she intended for it to remain internal.
Her new friend though simply laughed, "Every out of towner says that". Once outside the tunnel the pair spotted the girl with dyed hair standing on a low wall with a bucket of water next to her. She was washing down the tunnel wall in preparation for painting, "Hey Nova you missed a spot", he called up to the girl.
"Nova?" Clara snorted, "please tell me your parents didn't christen you Nova".
"Nah it's my tag name", the girl chuckled, jumped down off the wall and landing next to Clara, "us artists never refer to each other by our real names, sign of respect ya know".
Clara looked at the wall and noticed a large red tag baring the name Rigsy and next to that was an electric blue one which read Nova, "Aww that's sweet, regular Bonnie and Clyde aren't you". Almost immediately the two teens came over shy, scratching their heads and looking anywhere other than each other. Clara smiled coyly, working as a secondary school teacher had given her some insight into the teenage mind. Clearly the pair had a thing for each other but were too shy to admit their feelings for each other. She would've loved to play matchmaker but she was desperate to get back home, "So wall of the missing?" she returned the subject back to the tunnel.
Nova quickly snapped back to the present, "Ah a tourist", she smiled and reached behind Clara, pulling a piece of paper off the wall. "People have been disappearing for the last few weeks", she handed over a missing person's poster to the brunette, "usually one a day but in the last week it's been two or three".
"The Police haven't found any clues", Rigsy picked up the story, "clearly catching artists like us is much more important than dozens of missing people". Clara turned around and almost kicked herself. The wall at the entrance of the tunnel was covered in missing person posters. How she had missed this on the way into the tunnel was anyone's guess, "The spooky thing is that for every poster on this wall, there's a corresponding figure on the wall".
Clara's head snapped up and looked at the teens, "Thirty four missing people, thirty four posters and thirty four ghostly paintings", Nova added, "little creepy if you ask me".
This was too much of a coincidence to ignore although Clara wasn't too sure how this was connected to the shrinking TARDIS. It was a lead though and worth investigating further, "Do you mind if I keep hold of this?" she asked the teens.
"Be my guest", the trio froze, it was the council supervisor, "they're illegal notices that need to be moved".
"Come on Fenton", Rigsy snorted, "these are people's friends and family who are missing, show a little compassion".
Clara had come across people like this Fenton character many times, an inflexible stickler for the rules without an ounce of genuine compassion or imagination. Someone who, when given a tiny amount of authority, proceeded to lord it over everyone they perceived as inferior. It made Clara wonder why the Doctor spent so long fighting Daleks and Cybermen when the micro managers of Earth were the true danger to society. "Need I remind you that you're here on community service", Fenton drawled, "taken those posters down is servicing the community". He inched a little closer to Nova, "Or maybe I should tell PC Forrest that you're refusing to cooperate, you must be one strike away from some jail time by now".
"They're just doing what they think is right", Clara glared at the man, "perhaps you should try it once in a while".
"And just who are you?" Fenton asked, turning his stare on Clara.
"Just your average tax payer, concerned how her hard earned pounds are being spent", Clara shot back, "don't you have some pens to be pushing?" Clara sometimes clashed with the Doctor and her acerbic personality but she really wished that the Time Lady was here to give this horrible man a piece of her mind.
Seeing that he wasn't intimidate Clara, Fenton sniffed and shuffled back slightly, "Just get back to work and stop bothering this law abiding citizen". He stopped to point at the teens, "And I'm taking this out of your lunch break".
Once he was out of sight Nova scoffed under her breath, "What an absolute prick".
"Couldn't agree more", Clara agreed with the teen, "look I'm going to look into this but I need to bring a couple of friends along". She bounced up the stepped, tucking the poster into her bag, "Just try not to annoy him too much, don't get yourself arrested just because you annoyed pond scum like him".
Clara hoped that the teens listened to her advice and quickly made her way back to the TARDIS. Scored of people disappearing in a short space of time was something that usually warranted investigating. By the sounds of it the Police weren't having much success but that didn't mean that something extraterrestrial was behind their disappearance. If the cause wasn't alien in nature at the very least it would pass the time until the TARDIS was fully operational again.
When Clara returned to the field where the TARDIS had crashed she couldn't spot the blue box anywhere. Her first thought was that the Doctor had made the repairs, quickly followed by panic that the Time Lady had accidentally abandoned her in the very near future. Her mind began to think of excuses to make to Danny and the school for her disappearance when spotted something on the ground. She did a quickly double take but her eyes weren't deceiving her, she had definitely nearly stepped on her ride home.
Crouching down Clara picked up the TARDIS and placed it in the palm of her hand. It had shrunk so much that it would easily fit inside her shoulder bag, making look like a toy replica of the TARDIS. Clara couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation all the while thinking of various 'bigger on the inside' jokes to make. Suddenly her mind thought about the Doctor and Jenny, what kind of condition were they in? "Doctor", she called out, tapping gently on the miniature doors, "are you alright?"
Seconds later the doors flung open, revealing a singular dark brown eye that could only belong to the Doctor, "Clara I'm fine, why-" her voice suddenly trailed off, noticing the comparative size of Clara to her, "we've shrunk again, haven't we?" the Time Lady replied with a resigned tone.
"Oh yes", Clara practically beamed, "on the plus side, the TARDIS looks absolutely adorable".
"Yes, yes keep laughing", the Doctor snapped, "tell me you found something that could help us".
Still with the TARDIS balanced on her open palm, Clara pulled out the missing person poster, "There's a tunnel near the railway line with thirty something posters", the teacher stuffed it into the tiny TARDIS door where it was snatched through by the Doctor. "Inside the tunnel there a mural which keeps updating itself depending on the number of missing people from the city".
"Local vandals no doubt", the Doctor replied dismissively.
"Met a couple of them and they're not claiming responsibility and the Police haven't caught anyone", she paused, remembering the weird feeling during her time in the underpass, "I can't explain it Doctor but I think something alien is happening here".
There was a moment of silence before the Doctor's eye disappeared from the door, revealing the interior of the TARDIS to Clara. It was much darker than earlier but still appeared to be in one piece and most importantly, it wasn't suffering from the shrinkage that was afflicting the rest of the ship. Without warning her vision was filled with the soft light of the Time Lady's sonic screwdriver, "Hey what's the big idea?" she cried.
"If you're going up against an unknown threat you'll need my help", the Doctor replied, "I reactivated the ear piece from that heist a few weeks ago, only now I'm wired for sound and vision".
"You've hacked my central nervous system, again", Clara shouted, unhappy with this turn of events.
"Temporarily", the Doctor stated, ignoring the indignation of her companion, "you'll need these too", she held out the sonic device along with the psychic paper.
Clara played with the screwdriver and the paper, it was rare that the Time Lady let either of these items out of her sight. Even Jenny barely got to use the psychic paper so clearly the Time Lady trusted her judgement. As she tested out the screwdriver, a small smile flashed across her face, "So does this mean I get to be you?"
"Don't push your luck Oswald", the Time Lady shot back with a cheeky edge of her voice. "Just perform a quick scan of the area, perhaps it will give us some answers to our present problem". Clara placed the paper and screwdriver into her bag but now she had a problem. She could hardly walk around with the TARDIS in her hand, that would be too conspicuous. Another grin soon appeared on her face as an evil idea flashed across her face. "Clara what are you doing?" the Time Lady asked as the TARDIS was slowly lowered into the teacher bag, "Clara don't you dare put t-" the rest of the sentence was muffled as the TARDIS sunk into the bag.
"Sorry Doctor but needs must", Clara responded, ignoring the muffled annoyance from the Time Lady. With everything she needed to act at the Doctor, she set off back to the underpass in the hope of finding some answers.
A/N- So this story/series isn't quite so abandoned after all. Had a sudden burst of inspiration so striking why the iron's hot.
I've added in an additional character in the shape of Nova, a romantic interest for Rigsy...well he had to get a baby from somewhere when he reappears in series 9.