Vengeance - Chapter Fifty-Five

Author: Milady Dragon


4 February 5193 (Earth Standard Date)

London Island

Alright, the last thing the Doctor had expected was to find Alyce and Detective Shraeger making out in their cell, but it really shouldn't have surprised him all that much.

After all, humans – and human-shaped dragons – were slaves to their endocrine systems. The stress of being held would have gotten to both of them. The Doctor felt it was a weakness in some races, but hey…if it worked to keep people from dwelling on possible death, as long as it didn't get in the way of a really good rescue who was he to argue?

Besides, in a way he had the same problem, only his showed up in a different way. As in the need to run a lot.

He was a little worried about Robyn's reaction, however. If the Doctor wasn't mistaken, she'd been just a bit jealous of what they'd found in that cell. Oh, it wasn't because she was in love with Alyce, which would be a bit wrong on a lot of levels, them having been raised as sisters and all. No, the Time Lord got the distinct impression that Robyn was finally realising that there would come a time when she would have to share her beloved sister with someone else, and she didn't care for that one little bit.

Well, she'd have to get used to the idea eventually. Hopefully this wouldn't do any damage to the close relationship the pair of them had. Robyn had enough issues, she didn't need to feel abandoned by the one person she was closest to.

They'd need to worry about that later, though, when they weren't deep within enemy territory.

They met up with the others who'd infiltrated the facility. The Doctor was a little put out that he hadn't been asked to accompany Phillip to the security suite, but Toshiko had volunteered, and he hadn't had the heart to argue against it despite the fact that the genius was now physically ten standard years old. This place had once been a prison for her, and Toshiko had the right to help take it down, even though it was now HYDRA in charge and not UNIT. What UNIT had done to the original Toshiko Sato still angered him, and he mourned for the days when the only thing he'd had to be concerned about with UNIT was an overabundance of explosions when they were in the area.

"The entrance is that way," Phillip pointed down the hallway. The old facility practically reeked with age, although at one point in the near past the carpet must have been replaced and the walls repainted. That hadn't stopped the incessant mould and damp, and it was gradually taking over once more.

The Doctor got the distinct impression that this place wouldn't be existing much longer. Which was a good thing.

The immortal took the lead, and the Doctor fell into step beside him. There was a pervasive chill radiating from Phillip, colder than usual, his magic at the ready for any contingency. Someone had passed Detective Shraeger a stun gun – either her partner or Cadi, it was even money on whichever one it was – so everyone was as prepared as possible for any trouble they might run into.

Still, when the man stepped into the hallway from a door on the left, it brought everyone to a stop in surprise.

The man was human, about Phillip's height but stockier, dark hair and eyes and a grin that was just on the wrong side of playful. He didn't look armed, but that didn't really mean much. He could have magic, or just be very good at fighting.

"Phil!" the man exclaimed jovially, holding his arms out as if he was expecting a hug. "It's been way too long!"

"John," Phillip greeted the man, his tone as cold as his magic.

Ah, so this was the mysterious John Garrett. Honestly, the Doctor had expected someone a bit more…imposing.

Garrett dropped his arms, pouting. "Now, is that any way to greet an old friend?"

"Old enemy, more like."

"Now come on! Don't be that way! This should be a happy reunion!"

"John, you are guilty of crimes against my family. I've made a Vow of Vengeance to make you pay for that. Will you submit?"

The Doctor could sense the others behind them shifting, waiting for some sort of signal on what they were going to do next. They were all happy to let Phillip take the lead on this, knowing that he had more reason to want vengeance than anyone else who'd come with them, with their past. Phillip had been the one to kill Garrett back during that mess with HYDRA, back when SHIELD was trying to stay afloat and Phillip had been suffering the worst of the consequences of the GH325 formula.

Garrett sighed, shaking his head. "How could we have believed we be back in the same situation again after so long?"

"It's not the same at all. This time, I'm the one with the power." Icy fire began to dance around Phillip's raised hands, and the ambient temperature in the hallway dropped several degrees. "You're not getting out of this, John. Surrender, and you might just spend the rest of your life in Stormcage…which, as I understand, isn't all that bad. You'll have plenty of company…Uther Pendragon, Lucy Cole, Morgause Gorlois, and Agravaine du Bois will be more than happy to see you."

"Do you know," Garrett mused, putting his hands in the pockets of his trousers, "way back when, we had no idea what that damned formula would do to either of us. It gave me a vision of the universe that no one had ever seen, and you…" he waved a hand toward Phillip, "it made you immortal. And a wizard to boot. We could have ruled the world, Phil, if you hadn't let duty get in the way."

"The formula didn't do either of those things to me, not on its own. And I don't want to rule anything, there's too much paperwork. I'll leave it to the people who actually know how to do it. Now, as much fun as this has been, we're going to take you into custody now. Are you going to go quietly, or do we have to get rough?"

For a second, the Doctor actually thought that Garrett might capitulate. After all, there really wasn't anywhere he could go. He had both magic and weaponry aimed at him, and wouldn't have gotten very far against that sort of thing.

But then, the man's pocket caught on fire.

Garret yelped, pulling his hand out and slapping at his suddenly burning trousers. Phillip acted quickly by icing the man to the wall, putting the fire out with just a touch of the magical ice.

"What the hells was that?" Walsh demanded.

"That was me," Toshiko spoke up.

Those words had every eye on her, and she stood up to the scrutiny. "He and his cronies have been awfully fond of personal transporters, so it stood to reason he'd have one on him – "

"Of course," the Doctor cut into her explanation, beaming at her. "That was absolutely brilliant!"

"What did you do?" Alyce enquired.

"I jammed the signal with this." Toshiko held up the jumble of equipment she'd been carrying around. "Only it looks as if I miss-modulated the signal a bit, and the device blew up." Her expression was downright smug, and the Doctor just knew there hadn't been any sort of mistake on her part at all.

"That's too bad," Cadi snorted.

"I know!"

The Doctor gave her a brilliant grin. He really wished he'd officially met Toshiko back in her Torchwood days, but that would have been impossible given his Tenth self's tendency to hold grudges.

"You could have killed me!" Garrett bleated.

Toshiko shrugged. "I'm not the one who tried to activate a transport disc in their pocket, am I?"

"She has a point," Cadi piped up.

Phillip stepped right up to Garrett, who was struggling to get out of the ice that now glued him to the wall from shoulder to knee. "John, you're mine. You hurt my family. Whatever happens to you now will be at my discretion."

"So, go ahead and kill me," Garrett spat. "But know this: I'll move on. You're stuck here, in this universe, until the stars go out, and eventually you'll lose everything you love."

Before Phillip could react to that, Nicole was up in Garrett's space, glaring at him, her own magic reacting like a golden aurora borealis around her hands and glittering from her eyes. "He'll never be alone," she growled. "There will always be someone here for my Dad. It might not be me, or my brothers, or my sister, or even my other Dad, Goddess forbid. But we take care of our own, and that means we will make certain that Dad will never be alone. Unlike you, who will live the rest of your life in a cell, alone except for people who will hate and despise you, instead of loving you like we do Dad."

"Who did you give up?" the Doctor interjected, wanting to break up the oncoming chaos that was brewing just under Nicole's skin. She was about to do something he was certain she would regret, and he wasn't about to let her do that.

It did occur to him that he was doing Phillip's job, but he seemed surprised at her outburst. The love that shown out of every bit of him made him glow as strongly as Nicole's magic did, only in crystalline stars like the most precious of diamonds.

His question had Garrett, who had been staring at Nicole in shock, snapping his head toward the Doctor. "What?" he asked dumbly.

"Who did you give up?" the Time Lord reiterated. "When HYDRA woke up your previous memories. When you were Garrett Paxton, Captain-Owner of the Typhon. Who did you leave behind in order to get your revenge?"

Garrett simply stared at the Doctor, as if unable to find an answer.

"Your family?" the Doctor pressed gently. "Did you have a wife? A husband? Children? And what about your parents? Who is missing you, Garrett Paxton? Who will mourn you when they discover what you've been up to? Was it worth losing your loved ones, to go after innocents who've done nothing to you and yours?"

Garrett's eyes narrowed, and he snarled, "Fuck you," in a tone that would have had anyone else shaking in their boots.

Not the Doctor, however. People have said worse to him. "My wife wouldn't like that very much," he commented lightly, "unless we invited her, too."

"I don't think he's River's type," Phillip said, not even bothering to hide the laughter in his words.

"Nor mine, really," the Doctor conceded.

"It can't be because he's a criminal," Cadi teased. "After all, you did marry River."

"Yes, but she's merely a sociopath. I'm just not that into full-blown megalomaniacs." He didn't mention the Master. That was something completely different.

"We'll just leave you here for a little while," Phillip glanced back at Garrett. "Grand Master Rogers or Commander Mar-Von of Torchwood will be along presently to take you into custody."

"You can't mean to leave me in this!" Garrett raged, wriggling within his icy cocoon. "I'll freeze to death!"

"Don't be so dramatic," the immortal scoffed. "You might lose a couple of fingers to frostbite, but they can easily be regenerated. We have too much to do, to hang around here and wait for someone to show up. You'll be perfectly fine here, on your own."

With those parting words, he turned back to the people who'd witnessed the confrontation. "Let's get out of here, shall we?"

Nicole looped his arm about her father's. "Let's."

There were nods all the way around.

The Doctor only hoped they weren't too late to witness the outcome.