His stitched coat fluttering in the breeze as the cold air sets in the area, Theodore's icy blue eyes stared straight as he walked. His hands safely in his pockets as a cold breeze passed over him, sending his multicoloured scarf fluttering upwards.
The schedules said that after the school day, Professor Stanford stays back in his class, not to check homework, Theodore thinks, and doesn't go home well into the night. He's not overtly social, only for parties, otherwise, he's hardly outside school grounds or his home, which he doesn't visit very often.
Theodore doubted the professor knows he's coming for him, he was only concern with Lila's answer and nothing else. She kept herself from calling out to him, so the professor wouldn't know Theodore's existence. Quite the one-track brain, him, couldn't see through Lila's disguise and the psychic paper, and it's what Theodore plans to use against him.
It played in Theodore's head how he wanted the interrogation and how the punishment he wanted to dole out to the professor. There's no good and bad cop, only an irate cop who wants answers. The punishment, Theodore wants him to see justice and he wants him to feel the helplessness as the students felt when the professor brutalized them into silence.
By the time Theodore's finished, Professor Stanford should be thankful that Theodore wasn't planning on killing him, because if not for him wanting justice for the victims, there's worse things Theodore's capable of doing that few even realize.
While he's an aloof giant with wild hair and a Cheshire grin with pearly whites, Theodore's not green, his father taught them all the sins he committed for the good of others, and that there's points in their lives that they'll have to commit their own for the good of others.
It helps that the professor gleefully walked onto Theodore's bad side, not checking the sign for the walking symbol, by brutalizing Lila, so Theodore's less than willing to talk things out.
Harkening back to what his father told them, he told them a story of him and their mum going to a carnival where they met a variety of characters. A co-owner of the carnival kidnapped their mum and brainwashed her into becoming his star acrobat, forcing her her to do death defying acts until his father intervened.
Seeing the co-owner brutalizing the workers in the carnival and having rescued his love from a near-death, Theodore's father took vengeance on the man, and only because of his mum, his father didn't get the killing blow.
From what Theodore gathered, the co-owner came back sometime later and took over the carnival completely, restarting his heinous treatment of the carnies, experimenting on at least two of them, but someone else killed him. Who, exactly, Theodore doesn't know, but they did the world a favour by killing him.
The carnival closed and that's that.
Making his way through the empty halls of the university, Theodore searched for Professor Stanford's class, and when he saw it coming up on his walk, he briefly stopped as he mentally prepared.
Professor Stanford doesn't know he's coming and Lila risked her life preventing him from realizing there's someone else involved.
He likely isn't expecting confrontation, probably unused to the idea of someone punching out his lights for his abuse.
Thinking, Theodore got an idea on how to give the professor a taste of his own medicine, in the form of using tears to appear in different corners of his classroom, and Theodore's own telepathy.
Chewing on his inner lip, Theodore surveyed the area, looking for any cracks, but there doesn't seem to be one in the vicinity.
Without one to use, Theodore simply made his own.
Like one expected, it's not like he can easily wave one into existence. Time Lords manipulate them where they go, sure, but making one on their own's impossible.
Perhaps someone mistook them using their own personal devices as them creating their own ways around, but honestly, they're fortunate they're able to manipulate tears at all.
Only those capable of controlling them's able to get anywhere, those incapable, saw only accidents for their trouble, and lots of ruined robes, apparently.
They can't do everything, now can they?
Using his father's pocket watch, Theodore used it to form a tear in the brick wall near him, by tuning it precisely to the universe he's in and one that's closest to it.
Magnificent piece of technology, the pocket watch, alas the Council on Gallifrey never saw it as such, and gave them out as graduation gifts, nothing more. Only his father saw potential and modified it, plus from looking through the internals, it looked as though others after him might've added their own flare to it. Not unlike his father forgetting the pocket watch in the TARDIS, he left it behind for someone to use, because he saw it useful, and wanted to give whatever Doctor knows its worth, an edge.
Holding onto it, Theodore stared at the tear in front of him, before using his free hand to manipulate it, before he stepped through it, transporting him in between him and the classroom.
He can see into the classroom, there's the professor, he's writing out things at his desk, and Theodore began tormenting him.
"So, you like abusing others for your own gain, huh?" Theodore's Glaswegian shown through as he couldn't withhold his anger towards Professor Stanford who jumped up, distressed. "I didn't know abuse's a main component in curing, but let's be frank, it's not really about you helping, is it?"
Wearily, Professor Stanford called out, his voice echoing throughout the classroom, as he demanded Theodore show himself, but the irritated Theodore wouldn't.
He leered at the professor who kept looking around the classroom for him before saying, "You wiped their memories every time you hurt them, so they don't remember what you did to them, and then make them into shells of their former selves so they don't turn on you. Under the guise of helping, correct?"
Professor Stanford argued against Theodore's assumptions, he claimed he helped his students see through their problems, but Theodore let out a dry chuckle before inferring Professor Stanford tells himself that every night, but he doesn't believe it.
"You caused two students to kill themselves, desperately trying to find their coins you gave them. What's the purpose of them, professor, did you abuse them that terribly they no longer make decisions on their own, because their minds can't process anything due to your bullish "class," as you call it?" Theodore laid the blame squarely on Professor Stanford's feet over the deaths of the two students. He questioned the coins the professor gave to his students, if the professor's abuse caused the erosion of their own free will that they depend on the coins.
Growing agitated as he's searching for Theodore, the professor denied the claims, saying that his students earned their coins fairly, causing Theodore to mockingly chortle.
When asked about the two students who died, Professor Stanford insisted he had no part in their deaths, they died from actions of their own making, causing Theodore to snap at Professor Stanford with a harsh, "They died because of you!"
The constant abuse Professor Stanford put them under, the dependence over the coins, made it a perfect catalyst for the students to die in desperate hopes of reclaiming some semblance of normalcy that they're barely afforded.
"What did you do to them?" Theodore pointedly demanded answers from the professor as he's investigating every corner of the classroom, looking for him.
The professor proclaimed he did nothing wrong, but Theodore didn't believe him, and demanded answers once again.
However, the professor wasn't going to give it easily, so Theodore intervened. He stepped out of his hiding spot from the tear, it closed promptly behind him, and he appeared out of thin air to the professor who sharply turned to face him.
"I said it once, professor, don't make me ask it again," Theodore stared into his eyes with his icy blue eyes fuming with anger.
Trying to escape, Professor Stanford attempted to run up the staircase, but Theodore yanked his collar from behind and used his strength to fling the professor into the whiteboard behind him.
A loud thud, the professor slid to the ground, groaning before he yelped as Theodore yanked him upright, tightening his hands around his pressed shirt.
"They wanted my help and I gave it to them," Professor Stanford said in earnest.
Theodore flung him to the side of the classroom and he flew into the wall. Couldn't get up fast enough before Theodore grabbed him yet again and hoisted him up.
Eying him, Theodore asks, "Abuse is helpful?"
Groaning, the winded professor professed that treatment for problems varied and people reacted it differently.
"You left bruises and more on them, professor, shall we wager how you'll fare when I bring your world down and have it all taken away from you?" Theodore eyed him as he held a firm hand around the professor's collar.
Panicking, the professor professed his innocence, saying he helped his students with their problems. They're better people with his help. Something Theodore nearly threw him across the classroom for hadn't he demanded answers about what the professor did to Lila.
"The newly arrived student, what've you done to her?" Theodore demanded the professor tell him what he did to Lila. It took prodding on Theodore's part, but he got the professor to tell him under duress and Theodore threatening to throw him across the classroom again if he failed to answer.
Stammering, Professor Stanford said he wanted an answer from her, she wouldn't give it to him, so he had to take it from her. He asked for answers and she wouldn't give it to him, of course he was forceful.
"She can't even remember your damned class, professor, fortunate that she's even standing at all. If otherwise, I wouldn't be wasting my time with you," Theodore leaned forward as he stared into the professor's eyes. He demanded answers from the professor about what the answer to the question was, tightening his grip as he made the professor grovel with fear.
There's a change in the professor's tone as he turned cold as he tells Theodore, Lila needed treatment. She's shuddering from acute guilt, burying her anguish deep within the well of her memories, if she stayed in his class, he would've helped her.
"I've helped my students, more than anyone would've done. You think the world cares about someone who stutters terribly, someone who can't do maths, or someone who can't handle the guilt of their childhood?" Professor Stanford responded to Theodore's inquiries.
In his mind, the professor thinks he's helping his students. They wouldn't get help anywhere else, nobody cared enough to spare time for them, except the professor. He's the only one who showed compassion for the students' woes, the things they can't share with their own peers out of fear. He reasoned that their woes caused them embarrassment or shame, they'd wallow in them if not for him helping.
Bruises and selective amnesia come with the treatments, but the professor stated that it's worth it in the end. He proclaimed Shemi cured of her stutter after receiving help from him. She's able to hold conversations without a stutter, speaks well, not a problem at all. Much more than she would if she gone to a specialist.
"What of their relationships, was it worth destroying them, as well?" Theodore questioned the professor as he kept him in a firm hold.
The abuse the professor committed against his students bled out in other ways, causing students to leave their significant others in otherwise stable relationships. Giving them anxiety about a mere touch.
"Relationships fail at any point, it was not my doing that they failed, they would've fallen at any point, that much apparent," Professor Stanford explained that it wasn't his fault the relationships among the students ended. He concluded that they would've ended anyway, a mere coincidence.
Seeing how the professor didn't see what he done wrong, only made Theodore fume, and he then demanded what Professor knew about the trustee. What's his name, where he came from, where he went, everything he can muster before Theodore flings him across the classroom.
Coughing as he held his hands around Theodore's long arm, Professor Stanford stated that he doesn't know where the trustee came from, he only knew that he found him, he doesn't know where he went after the university, and he swears that he doesn't know.
The trustee never told him.
"What's his name?" Theodore demanded an answer from the professor as he felt his temper rising.
Stammering, the professor said he couldn't remember his full name. It sounded too foreign that he couldn't possibly remember it completely without butchering it.
"Al Jinn, that's all I remember, I know he wasn't British, that much I can tell you, I don't know where he's from," Professor Stanford swore to Theodore as he processed what the professor told him.
All the frightened professor remembers, his last name being "al Jinn."
Don't know what kind of last name that was, Professor Stanford never heard it before, and he didn't bother to ask the trustee what kind of name it is, out of fear.
Theodore probed the professor's mind for the answer and found that it's true, he didn't remember the trustee's full name, just what he told him.
When asked about the coins, Professor Stanford stated he obtained them from the trustee. He doesn't know where they came from, probably from wherever the trustee's from, and gave them to his students because he couldn't use them as legal tender. They're too foreign that nobody's able to discern their origins and Professor Stanford knows they're not worth much, he checked out of curiosity, but with the scorched and marred backs, they're virtually worth nothing.
"That's all I know about the coins," the professor insisted that it's all he knew about them, he didn't see any significance in them.
Asking him, Theodore wanted to know how he's able to use telepathy and wipe memories of his students, to which Professor Stanford replied that he learnt it from the trustee.
"He asked if I-I wanted to know what true power is," Professor Stanford explained to Theodore what the trustee said to him.
His curiously got the best of him and he went down a rabbit hole that he didn't expect. At one point, he wanted an out, but he couldn't on account that he couldn't trust the trustee. Something about that man bred fear in the professor, that he's forced to follow along, up until his confrontation.
The professor fought the trustee over the definition of power and that the trustee believed he didn't share the same capacity as him.
He insulted Professor Stanford, calling him a cur, that it surprised him that he gotten far as he did, considering the trustee expected him to flounder and die from complications caused by using his fledging telepathy.
"How did you learn to be one if you weren't one before?" Theodore wanted to know how it's even possible as he eyed the terrified professor.
Professor Stanford's only human and Theodore probed his mind enough to know that he doesn't possess any qualities that'd naturally enable him into becoming one. This universe's completely normal, no alien technology or other, that's all he knows from looking at the monitor.
Slowly, the professor put his finger up to his lobe as he tells Theodore how the trustee made him a telepath without the conventional means.
Cryptically, Professor Stanford told Theodore that the trustee made him into a telepath, not in the natural way.
"He wanted to see how it'd fare in me," said the professor as Theodore looked where he's pointing, confused. He checked Professor Stanford's mind multiple times, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Eying him, Theodore inquired what exactly the trustee did to the professor, causing him to dryly laugh.
"You… know… nothing," Professor Stanford tells him. "Even I don't know what he's capable of doing."
Exhaling sharply, Theodore tells the professor he plans on turning him in for the abuse he caused, causing the professor to laugh hoarsely. He said to Theodore that nobody's going to believe him and quickly lost his smile when Theodore informed him that while that may be true, he's quite capable of forcing the professor to tell the truth.
Withholding it until absolutely needed, Theodore stared into the professor's eyes. He struggled, but he's unable to look away from Theodore's icy blue eyes. Slowly, Theodore made Professor Stanford malleable enough that he forced him to tell how he abused the students, and went from there.
Maybe the police won't believe that a man-made telepath did it, but they'll believe a man did it when he has leather straps, car batteries, and whatever else, stowed away in the classroom.
For the victims, it's a tricky situation, but Theodore's able to angle it that they're suffering from selective amnesia due to the abuse.
He probed the professor's mind for the memories and ensured they went back to where they belonged, with the addition that the victims having strength to come forward.
By the time Theodore's done, the professor slumped to the ground as he left the classroom, pocketing the silver coin from him. He doesn't know the significance of the coins since Professor Stanford didn't tell him much, only knowing that they're not worth anything because of the marred backs.
Leaving the university grounds and returning to the TARDIS, Theodore entered, and sees Lila waiting for him, sitting by the steps. She asked if he's fine, he showed her his pearly whites as he sat next to her, telling her that he's fine, and the professor's crimes finally coming to light.
"So, what happened?" Lila asks him as she turned her head to look at him.
Theodore tells her that somehow, the professor became a man-made telepath through the trustee, that's how he read and wiped the minds of his students. Not very good telepath, fortunately, but that's because he didn't focus on it proper. Only what he considered useful.
"What now?" Lila continues as they conversed about the revelation.
Showing her the coin, Theodore says that he doesn't know anything about the trustee, only that he's foreign, gave Professor Stanford the coins, and nobody knows his name fully.
"Al Jinn," Theodore tells her as he studied the coin in his had.
Processing it, Lila shrugs as she tells Theodore that she doesn't know anyone with that name, makes no sense to her, and he agreed with her.
They conversed until Theodore asked her how she's feeling and she admitted that for a moment, she remembered her time in the class, and what happened. How she tried to keep Professor Stanford from her mind, but he forced his way in.
"He… didn't tell you anything, did he?" Lila wearily looked up at Theodore.
Shaking his head, Theodore assured her that the professor didn't tell him anything sensitive, and he wasn't going to prod her for the details.
Nodding, Lila exhaled sharply as Theodore wrapped his long arm around her, pulling her close as he tells her that it's not his business to ask, and she's free to tell him anything as she sees fit.
"Thanks, Doc," Lila weakly smiles at him before he made her giggle, a kiss to the side of her head.
Standing up, the two went to the console where Theodore brought them back to Conan's place, telling him of the news, and he's aghast of what happened. Theodore shorthanded it for him, but it's enough for him to understand, and he thanked Theodore for the help.
While he's uncertain how things turn out between Eve and Conan, with dedication on Conan's part in helping her, Professor Stanford won't win.
The trio conversed until Theodore sees the time and excuses himself and Lila, opting to return to the TARDIS. Their duties done and he wanted to return home with Lila, it's out of their hands now, and on the students and police to do the rest. Can't do everything, now can they?
Returning to the old beauty, Theodore brought them back home and stayed with Lila until he's certain she's fine, before she left for home.
He watched her leave before readying for bed, his fur friends greeting him as he sat on his chair, on his mind, the torrid adventure they had.
It'll be a long road for the students to heal, but Theodore hopes they'll rest easy knowing that the professor can't hurt them anymore.
THE END