Commander Ryan asserted that the unknown male's hadn't regained consciousness since UNIT security guards shot him with the tranquilizers, if he did, automatically they'd know it, his vitals set to notify the moment there's even brain activity. He's strapped to the table and with the posted security guards and officers, the unknown male wouldn't get far in the lit UNIT base without someone spotting him. He'll likely hide in one of the strategically darkened rooms, allowing them to coral him if he'd ever escaped.
"As much as I appreciate your optimism, commander, I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Lila voiced her concerns about the bad feeling as she looked at the unknown male strapped to the table. It's not her nerves, that much apparent, Lila's not seasoned as some previous companions before her, but she's experienced enough to follow her gut when it's telling her that something's off about a situation.
The jury's out what the hell's the unknown male, but Isaac saying there's some part of human in his DNA's enough to make Lila's skin crawl, and she faced off against some things nobody needed to know exist for the sake of their mental health.
If anyone saw him, they'd think he's just someone dressed up as a plague doctor, whether that's intentional or not on the unknown male's part, Lila doesn't know or want to know.
One could only shudder that there's a chance there's more like them and Lila doesn't want to know either.
Theodore sensed Lila's uneasiness and comforted her while her chestnut eyes locked with the unknown male. She nearly jumped when Isaac let out a loud sneeze before he apologized before fetching a tissue to blow his nose.
Holding her chest, Lila shook her head as her curled hair fluttered in the breeze as Commander Ryan asked for Isaac to cover the unknown male and he nodded as he went to do as ordered after throwing away the used tissue.
His hands behind his back, Commander Ryan suggested Theodore and Lila come with him, they seen enough of the unknown male, and honestly he's sick of the strong musk smell coming from him.
Nodding, Theodore shoved his large hands in his stitched pockets as he followed the commander while Lila briefly turned to look at Isaac as he pulled the sheet over the unknown male.
Turning around, Lila hurried to catch up to Commander Ryan and Theodore as they're walking towards a conference room where the commander wanted them to voice their opinions about the unknown male.
"Well, how about a name instead of 'unknown male' for starters?" Lila asked for something easier to say than what UNIT settled initially for the, whatever the hell it is, and Commander Ryan agreed with her.
They haven't gotten an idea what to call him, some suggested 'plague doctor' because of his appearance and others suggested 'raven' or 'crow' but nothing stuck so far, they're just as mystified like them.
"How many people know about him?" Theodore inquired how many personnel know about the unknown male's existence and the commander replied that they couldn't hide him from everyone working on the base since the mimicking incident and them hunting down the unknown male with the causalities.
Outside that and the admiral, no one knows about him, and the commander kept any information from slipping through, because the less people know, the better, just until they figure out something.
"I'll admit, I never thought to see something like this in my twenty-year career," Commander Ryan lightly touched the side of his head as he tells them that he never experienced anything like this before until now. It's even amazed him that he's relying on the Doctor of all people, usually he keeps the matters with the top brass and no one else. Here he is, talking with the Doctor he sent help from, and he's not sure how to take this turn of events.
Theodore optimistically told the commander that it's a good thing he called him rather trying to control the unfamiliar situation on his own and Commander Ryan agreed with him.
"Admiral Hackett's furthest from someone to show fear, but when I gave word about it, his face just turned pale white. I don't think he'll do anything to jeopardize this mission. Personally, I think he's as much afraid as I am about it," Commander Ryan gave his thoughts on the admiral that he took orders from as he walked with the two towards the conference room. The admiral didn't believe Commander Ryan until he saw what Theodore and Lila saw strapped to the table. Like them, when he saw the unknown male, it was enough for him to change his tune instantly, and proactively worked to understand the situation.
Lila asked if other admirals knew about it, but the commander told her that Admiral Hackett's adamant about letting the other admirals know about it out of abundance of caution. He didn't want them hastily making decisions without his input.
"You're cutting it close, commander," Theodore noted that Commander Ryan's putting a lot on the line for this and he admitted that he is, but they don't know what they're dealing with, and don't even know if there's only one or not.
Curious, Lila asked what he planned to do if they find that the unknown male's dangerous as they suggest and should be destroyed rather keeping alive. She heard back that they planned on giving the unknown male a lethal injection and burning the body.
"Not scientifically curious, commander?" Theodore's curious as to why they're intent on disposing the body if they go through with the plan on euthanizing the unknown male, only for the commander telling him that they learnt enough from the preliminary studies. He's sure they don't need the body for anything else and he sees no benefit otherwise.
Leading them, the commander walked towards the guarded doors into the conference room and the guards let them through as there's the lieutenant commander sitting with some of the scientists overseeing the unknown male.
Commander Ryan introduced Theodore and Lila as they took their seats and Lieutenant Commander Hoyts looked towards them with disdain behind his olive eyes as light illuminated them while he moved his head to stared at the commander.
"Captain Montoya's on her way, she's in a conference call with Brigadier MacDonald. There was another ammunition mixup," Lieutenant Commander Hoyts gave Commander Ryan a message he received from Yeoman Eunice about another mixup of ammunition shipment at a sister UNIT base.
They received shipment meant for this base and Captain Montoya's smoothing over the slight while shipping the ammunition to the intended base.
Commander Ryan sighs as he mentioned that it's the red tape causing this confusion. The ammunition shipments needed specific stamps and certifications for the intended base, but someone messed up and the wrong base received the shipment instead. The desire to ensure that nothing disappears without someone noticing only caused delays and confusion as bases end up with the incorrect shipments or dealing with delayed shipments as they wait for the network.
"Only three days, Brigadier MacDonald knows this," Commander Ryan gestures as he saw that the shipment's only delayed by three days before it's sent to the correct base.
The brigadier understood that it's a mishap out of their control and he'll receive the proper shipment by then.
Lieutenant Commander Hoyts reminded him that it's becoming increasingly common as of late, the old brigadier's not exactly forthcoming after a few dozen mistakes happening concurrently.
"He can take it up with the admiral," said the weary commander.
Their conversation cut short as Captain Montoya entered the conference room, her arms behind her back as she walked inside, a seasoned stout woman in her fifties with medals glistening in the light on her lapel as she walked.
"Captain," both commander and lieutenant commander recognized her presence immediately as she walked around the oval table.
Her neatly pulled back short blackened hair shimmered under the light as she looked between everyone present in the conference room. Her dark eyes moved towards Theodore and she asked if he's the Doctor that she's heard about.
Nodding, Theodore sheepishly told her that he's the one and she bemoaned that it's come to this, that they sought help from someone unofficially associated with UNIT.
"I hope he's worth the trouble of breaking protocols, commander," Captain Montoya looked towards Commander Ryan as she wasn't on board with him sending for help from outside sources. He didn't go through the proper channels and broke protocols doing this, she'd rather it not end poorly for their sake.
His rigid face animating, the commander insisted that if there's anyone who knows what they're looking at, it's the Doctor, and he's heard good things about him from covertly talking about him with the older brigadiers.
If anything, they'd be in hot water too if it was found they broke protocol sending for him when they needed help, why else would they become cagey when the commander asked if they met him personally.
"Regardless, I hope you're worth your salt, Doctor, this isn't a decision that came lightly," Captain Montoya looked at Theodore as he sat quietly in his chair, his wild hair illuminating under the lights as he moved his head to face her.
Sucking down air, Theodore told her that he's willing to help, but he can't be certain what they're dealing with. Truthfully, he's not sure what the unknown male is, he never encountered something like him before.
"And you're certain that there's no others?" Lila asked if they're positive the unknown male's the only one they captured and the captain told her that they scoured the parameter from here to the seas, but they haven't seen anything else except the unknown male.
When asked about the events leading up to the unknown male's appearance, Captain Montoya told them what the commander said, there was a major storm that slammed the area, knocked power out, and shortly after, the unknown male coming around exclusively at night.
"Maybe he gotten lost in the storm, wound up here?" Theodore gestured as he tried to think of how the unknown male appeared at the base.
Since they saw the wings, it's obvious the unknown male's capable of flight, perhaps he became disoriented during the storm and landed on the grounds.
Captain Montoya disagreed as she tells Theodore that they would've saw the unknown male on the scanners that remained operating through the storm via backup power.
Nothing gets on the UNIT base without anyone knowing, even airborne.
"So, he just showed up," Lila concluded what they're told before and the captain nodded.
It's bizarre and Lila broached a theory with Theodore mentally, that the unknown male came through a tear caused by the storm that gradually became bigger enough to become a rift.
Per nature of the storm, once the lighting strikes subsided and the storm moved on, the tear lost an energy source and collapsed, but not before something came through it.
"Hm, it'd certainly explain how nobody saw it on the scanners beforehand," Theodore blinked as he agreed with Lila's theory.
The chaotic nature of storms provided some juice for a benign tear to rapidly grow and form into a rift, but once the storms moved on, the energy provided goes with it. Thus, the tear closing after collapsing.
"But then again, wouldn't the rift show up on the scanners?" Lila brought up as they listened to Captain Montoya discus the topic of the unknown male with the commander and lieutenant commander.
Frowning as he pondered the answer to that riddle, Theodore outwardly asked Captain Montoya if they noticed anything bizarre on the scanners during the storm and the captain responded that they noticed lighting strikes showing up on the scanners that went away when the storm passed over the base and further into the mainland.
Confirming Theodore's suspicion that the unknown male came out of the rift during this event and the rift closing as soon as the storm moved into the mainland, thus UNIT didn't catch the activity.
"I don't know why we're even having this discussion. It's already killed four of our men, it's fortunate the tranquilizers took when it did or else, we'd look at a massacre. What good is it keeping it alive, commander?" Lieutenant Commander Hoyts showed disapproval about the unknown male. He wanted the thing euthanized and destroyed, it's not worth the risk. Already they saw him kill four of their men, men with families, and keeping him in a coma's as flimsy as a wet bandaid.
Commander Ryan stated that Admiral Hackett agreed with him about keeping the unknown male alive, causing the lieutenant commander to snort as he argued that it's dangerous.
One of the scientists, Campbell, spoke up as he agreed with the commander, they don't know everything about the unknown male. They haven't figured out how he became the way he is since there's no signs of radiation or the conventional mutations.
Another scientist, Yevtushenko, showed concerns that they don't fully understand how the unknown male produced the toxins in his body and how he's capable of surviving the toxins he produces. They've witnessed the toxins effect to a horrifying degree, but they don't know why the unknown male has this capability at all and why only the talons on the hands have the toxins and not the talons on the feet.
"I believe that it's a self-defense mechanism, the only reason the toxins deplete so quickly after use. It's not meant to aid the unknown male with quarry, but to protect itself under extreme situations," Aida voiced her theory on the toxins in the talons. Due to the severity of the toxins, the unknown male doesn't use it unless forced. It's not used for hunting, that much apparent. Made no sense otherwise.
"Captain, if they want to study it, they can study the body," Lieutenant Commander Hoyts stated the scientists are able to have the chance to study the unknown male more when they euthanize him.
They squabbled until Theodore voiced his interest in the first victim of the unknown male and the squabbling silenced as the conference room grew quiet. Lieutenant Commander Hoyts finally spoke up as he described the scene in detail.
Security guards found the remains in a blind spot of the base, the unknown male got to him from behind and silenced him before he's able to shout for help by stabbing talons through his throat. His chest carved open and there's a few missing organs, everything else left alone, and that's it.
"We found no bite marks or indicators that it was feeding on him, just missing lungs," Lieutenant Commander Hoyts described the grisly scene as he vividly remembered it. Out of the organs they counted, the lungs were missing, and that's it. Nothing else touched. Picked out of his chest like one sorting through their refrigerator.
Confusing Theodore and Lila, they shared looks as they processed what they're told about the state of the victim.
Sheepishly, Theodore asked about the three security guards and he's told that despite the maiming they received from the unknown male, nothing from them's taken.
"So, it took lungs, what happened to them?" Lila asked the whereabouts of the lungs and no one's able to confirm them, leading to one of the scientists theorizing that the unknown male ate them.
It's the only explanation and the scientist wasn't sure why the unknown male ate the lungs and nothing else.
Hearing this, Lila shirked in her spot as she comprehended what the scientist said as she looked towards Theodore while he grimaced at the reveal that the unknown male ate the lungs from the murdered guard.
"Besides that, we don't know if it's sentient," Aida roused as she reminded them about the plausibility that the unknown male's sentient. There's arguments raised by Lieutenant Commander Hoyts as he lambasted the thought, saying all the unknown male did was mimic voices, nothing more.
He refused to believe there's any semblance of intelligence in the unknown male, purely out of fear, as Theodore noted him tense at the thought.
"Doctor, we need to know, is this thing a threat and if so, what should we do?" Captain Montoya took hold of the conversation as she asked Theodore's opinions on what to do with the unknown male.
Thinking on it, Theodore inquired about the odds of simply transporting the unknown male somewhere else and letting him live. If they're that afraid of him and don't want the risks included of euthanizing him, they ought to reintroduce him elsewhere.
Lieutenant Commander Hoyts bluntly told Theodore that the unknown male killed four people already and Theodore sharply replied that while he doesn't understand what happened with the first victim, from the unknown male's point of view he defended himself against attackers when he killed those three guards.
"How do you know he won't just come back?" Lieutenant Commander Hoyts challenged Theodore's suggestion and Theodore told him that it's very likely that the unknown male doesn't know where he is and presumably as confused as UNIT is about him being there.
He'll want to return to wherever he came from as much as they want him gone and that's something Commander Ryan agreed with Theodore.
Lila spoke up as she pointed out, "Like you said, he's been in a coma for four days, by the time he wakes up, he won't know where you left him."
The unknown male's basically in a medically induced coma, they can take him to an empty field mile away from base, give something to bring him out of it, and run like hell before his eyes open.
"There's another problem, we had no idea how much tranquilizers it would take to bring him down, it's a miracle that he didn't die right then and there," Commander Ryan brought up the problems they had apprehending the unknown male. He wasn't responding to the normal dosage of tranquilizers, causing them to up the dosage until they're able to bring him down.
If they don't do it right, the unknown male's not waking up, and then they'll have worse problems, going by his gut feeling.
"I can't say I've ever encountered something like this before, going by what I've encountered and witnessed, I'm against killing it unless absolutely necessary," Theodore gave his conclusion, "I'm aware of what happened, but my concerns remain. We don't know everything about this unknown male, as you call him, and we don't know if he's the only one. For all we know, he's one of a kind. Perhaps he has as much sentience as a bird, but we can't afford to make mistakes, can we?"
It's a difficult situation, Theodore knows, but they can't hastily decide what to do with the unknown male. Unless they have to, killing's off the table.
Scientific inquires aside, the fact that the unknown male still carries human DNA, makes things even more difficult going by ethics.
The conversation went on for a few hours and at the end, it's a stalemate. It's heavily polarized that they're unable to conclusively decide on anything. Despite Theodore's best efforts, he couldn't negotiate with all of them. One part wants to execute, one part wants to study, and one part just wants to get rid of the Plague Doctor (a name they finally settled on, considering the appearance) before he wakes up.
Captain Montoya said they'll reconvene tomorrow, for now, she has work elsewhere, and she dismissed everyone in the conference room.
"Man, I see why dad would rather fix up ships," Lila mused that she sees her dad's point in refusing positions that meant he'd have to do conferences. Things getting heated as opposite sides argued their points and it felt like she was on set for a reality show without the chair tossing.
Theodore exhaled sharply as he shoved his large hands in his stitched pockets, walking with her as he's beside himself, having failed to get them to reason, and Lila comforted him, telling him that he did his best with what he had.
"I don't know how he did it," Theodore sighs as he wondered how his father put up with the rhetoric and everything else, enough to become UNIT's favourite savior when things get hairy.
Patting his shoulder, Lila comforts him as they walked to somewhere, they're most familiar with, the cafeteria. All that talking worked up an appetite and it's a good time as any to grab something to eat.
Upon entering the cafeteria, they're greeted by the smell of different food served for the day, and clamoring from off-duty officers and then some getting in line holding their trays eagerly.
Locating the chalkboard, the two sees today's special, Italian.
Something that caught Lila's eye: meatball subs.
Now, that's something up her alley.
Walking towards the trays, the two collected theirs before joining the line as they waited for their turns, as they waited, Lila looked for an empty spot for them to sit.
Slowly, the line moved and they're able to grab their lunches before heading off to an area Lila spotted and they sat across each other as they discuss the predicament.
"Did your dad ever say something about seeing something similar?" Lila asks if Mr. Smith ever encountered something like the Plague Doctor on his adventures and Theodore replied that his dad never did.
Thinking, Lila wondered if there's a possibility one of the Doctors encountered others like it and wrote it down in the large book.
Recalling what he remembered from reading the large book whenever he had time, Theodore remarked that he never came across passages relating to the Plague Doctor, not even a sketch.
"What do we do?" Lila looked to him for guidance as she's unsure what the plan is, if Theodore hadn't come across anything related to the Plague Doctor in the book.
As he munched on the meatball sub, Theodore thought about it, pulling from the experiences they had, and he concluded that they're at a disadvantage. He advised her that if anything goes wrong, she flees to the TARDIS, Doctor's orders.
"Tell that to your brother," Lila reminded him that any heroic sacrifices won't be liked by Hammond, but Theodore tells her not to worry about him. He's his problem.
"I mean it, if I tell you to run, you run," Theodore lightly poked her nose as he instructed her if anything goes wrong. No heroics from her. She's to run back to the TARDIS and stay there.
He even gave her the key for safekeeping and she wearily took it from him, despite her reservations, since Theodore never let anyone have the key. He kept it so close to him that Lila suspected he never took it off when he sleeps.
As she frowns holding the only key to the TARDIS with a metal chain, Lila nodded as she affirmed Theodore's instructions before putting the key around her neck and hiding it under her shirt and jacket.
"What's the chances of that thing coming back if they release it?" Lila wondered what the chances were of the Plague Doctor coming back to the UNIT base if they successfully relocate and bring it out of the coma.
While he munched on his meatball sub, Theodore hoped that it'll leave them be, be on its way, wherever that is, and he encouraged Lila to eat.
Worrying on an empty stomach is detrimental and they haven't eaten at all since breakfast.
Bad form to miss lunch, his brother would thumb their noses if he found out.
Slowly nodding, Lila proceeded to eat from her tray as they listened to overlapping voices of the officers and guards around the cafeteria as they dined on their respected lunches.
While eating her lunch, Lila couldn't help but think about their situation.
They know nothing about the Plague Doctor.
Theodore didn't come across passages describing it. Not even an illustration from one of the more artistic Doctors.
Maybe there's a chance the TARDIS would know what they're dealing with, but it's a fickle machine that barely worked when it should've, that Lila worried it'll break down once again when they need it most.
With the way things are looking, they'll be negotiating and arguing their points well into the next year about what to do with the Plague Doctor.
In Lila's mind, she didn't want to kill the Plague Doctor unless they're absolutely forced. Commander Ryan seemed spooked as it is about the Plague Doctor in the base, he wouldn't want it happening either, but not for the reasons like Lila had. He believed something worse would happen. What exactly that is, he isn't sure, but he's convinced.
Lieutenant Commander Hoyts wanted the Plague Doctor gone, dead or alive, preferably dead, retribution for the deaths he caused.
Still bothering Lila that at one point, the thing on that table was human, and they don't know how it became that way, the fact that someone can turn into that, it's horrifying.
It raised questions.
What led the poor bastard into becoming that thing?
Was it just him or did his family turn, too?
... Is there even a slightest chance it remembers it was human?
... Could it become human again?
... Would that even be wise?
This coming from someone who witnessed things that still haunt her dreams nightly!