Light flashed throughout the reddened hallways as officers patrolled the corridors. Areas becoming further restricted with armed guards on high alert with everyone except required personnel segregated to their living quarters during the power outage.
Outside the quiet corridors, the storm raged, and thunder rumbled throughout the base, as officers quietly patrolled, giving status updates via their radios.
Their feet pattering against the gun grey floors, Theodore and Lila followed Commander Ryan towards the command centre where Lieutenant Commander Hoyts paced around the oval table, he stopped once he sees the three walking through the doorway.
"Have you secured the Plague Doctor?" Lieutenant Commander Hoyts sharply asked Commander Ryan as they exchanged looks while the light from the portable lights cast them in a pale hue.
Commander Ryan stated it was the first thing he did the moment the power went out. The Plague Doctor remains comatose and he posted four guards to guard the room and the Plague Doctor.
No one in and out unless he gives command.
If there's so much as a twitch coming from the Plague Doctor, the commander gave them permission to fire on sight.
Expend however much ammunition needed.
"How about Isaac, have we found him yet?" Commander Ryan asked if the lieutenant commander found anything, but he shook his head instead.
No one can find Isaac and they're sure if he left the base, they would've known about it, and Theodore asked where was Isaac last seen before he inexplicably disappeared.
Commander Ryan replied the last they heard of his whereabouts, he was coming back to the lab with the Plague Doctor, but they checked, he wasn't inside.
They double checked everywhere, it's as though he upped and disappeared.
Lieutenant Commander Hoyts spat, "Nobody can just disappear from the base. We've got sensors, cameras, armed guards, officers, nobody can just disappear!"
He argued that Isaac's still in the base somewhere, for whatever reason he's gone radio silent, and that nobody saw him leave or saw him signing out of the base.
The two argued until Theodore stepped in, pulling them apart, he calmed the two as he stated that he and Lila would look for Isaac.
"You two, do what needs doing," Theodore pointed at the commander and lieutenant commander before he and Lila head onward, searching for Isaac.
"Lieu seems certain Isaac didn't leave, but why hadn't nobody found him?" Lila wondered as she followed Theodore through the red lit hallway, looking for Isaac, passing by weary guards and officers, trying to get a handle on their situation.
Rain slammed into the base as the winds picked up, Theodore said if they're wrong and Isaac's outside, there's a slim chance he could've survived the harrowing storm.
"I know one thing for certain," Lila noted their situation as she's walking with Theodore. Turning his head, Theodore asked, "What's that?"
Lila replied as she went with him around a corner, checking every available doorway they're able, "My dad woulda cold cocked him. Never put yourself in the position of danger without reason."
Theodore inquired what he thinks of her adventures and Lila snorted as she said, "I have a reason for being in the position of danger: you."
Since the day they met, they've been adventuring and dealing with dangerous beings and situations that Lila's fortunate that she hadn't gotten critically injured, yet.
Of course, she jinxed herself by thinking that, but she affirmed that her dad would've punched Isaac's lights out for giving them a scare and possibly putting people in harm's way.
Engineer at heart or not, Paul M. Watson, did not hesitate to lay down the law of the ship when needed.
"Now, I know where you get it from!" Theodore noted where Lila gets her temperament from and she sharply looked at him.
He pointed out that it wasn't helping her case and she exhaled before she decided it wasn't worth pressing, they have more important things to do, and they hurried on, looking for Isaac.
Lila had the thought of trying to get him to come out of wherever he's at by suggesting they call someone, it was a stupid thought, she knows, but he looked like Radar and hoped that he'd have sharp hearing.
Well, it was the thought that counts, besides, it wouldn't work anyway, else he'd already know people were looking for him, and while it seemed excessive, under the right people, everyone on base's like an unit. When one's missing, the unit isn't in harmony until the missing one's returned.
Trying to think of places where Isaac could've went that they haven't checked, nothing stuck out, the officers they passed said that Isaac would've gone back to his living quarters since he's a scientist. They even checked his living quarters, didn't find anything that pointed anything out of place, and it's wracking Theodore and Lila's brains trying to come up an answer.
"You don't think he accidentally wandered into a rift, do you?" Lila looked towards Theodore for an idea where Isaac might've went.
Shaking his head, his wild hair bouncing, Theodore replied he doesn't think so, like they're told, so much as touching a blade of grass would've roused the base into action. If a rift opened, they would've saw it clear as day on the scanners.
Lila suggested that Theodore use his telepathy and he reminded her that he doesn't know Isaac very well that he couldn't use it properly.
"Well, I'm out of ideas," Lila threw up her arms frustrated at them not finding one tiny man with a tiny head in the entire base.
Theodore comforted her as he tried to think of ideas, surely there's something they're missing, and he walked with her through the eerily quiet hallway, there's a feeling in his gut that made its presence known.
Turning to Lila, Theodore sheepishly tells her that he's stopping off at the loo, and for her to wait for him nearby.
As she nods, Lila stood near the men's loo while Theodore disappeared through the darkened doorway with a red hue at the end.
Standing nearby, Lila waited for Theodore's return, in an empty stretch of the hallway, with no one else there but her.
Her back pressed against the wall; Lila stood underneath the red light as she waited for Theodore.
Outside, she heard the storm raging, and it's barely audible through the concrete wall. While she waited, Lila started hearing a raspy voice calling further down the hall, "Doc... tor..."
It sounded like Isaac.
Lila stretched out her neck, trying to see through the darkness ahead, but couldn't see anyone, of course, she should've known better, and she would've gone into the men's room to tell Theodore, but well, that'd be awkward for the both of them, even with context.
"Is...Isaac?" Lila called out to him in the darkness. She waited, but he didn't say anything else, except, "Doc... tor..."
It sounded like Isaac's further away from her, going down the hallway, and Lila tried calling out to him, but he didn't say anything. He's already gone.
She jumped when she felt a hand on her and sharply turned to see Theodore recoiling, having returned from the men's room.
"Jumpy today, aren't we?" Theodore noted the theme, but Lila wasn't having it, she immediately told him that she heard Isaac calling for him down the hall.
Blinking, Theodore echoed, "Isaac?"
As she nodded, Lila told him that it sounded like him, a little raspy, but he went further down the hallway, and she noticed Theodore thinking about it before he told her that they're going to find Commander Ryan.
"Why?" Lila asks him as she followed him opposite direction of where she heard Isaac. As he walked, Theodore didn't tell her much, that they needed to find Commander Ryan.
Their feet pattered against the ground as they walked through the empty hallway, their only source of light coming from the red fixtures at the top of the walls, in intervals.
In the red lit hallways, they wandered until they found at least one officer, spooked by their sudden appearance. Theodore asked him where Commander Ryan went and the officer told him that he's with the captain and the lieutenant commander.
Thinking on his feet, Theodore told the officer to contact the commander and tell him to come down to the lab that Isaac worked. Don't dawdle and keep his eyes open. When the officer asked him why, Theodore only told him to stay away from areas that haven't been patrolled in a long time. Stick to the corridors that have a constant patrol. Wearily, the officer looked at Theodore, but he convinced the officer to do as he asked, and he agreed to do it while Theodore gently prodded for Lila to walk with him away from the officer.
"Wanna fill me in?" Lila asks Theodore as she hurried to catch up to him as he hastily hurried back to Isaac's lab. Only when he stopped short of the armed guards, he turned around to face her. On his face, the usually jovial Theodore held dread on his face, as he tells her that he might've figured out where Isaac went and why no one can find him.
He didn't say anything more and Lila followed him towards the guarded door, and the guards wouldn't let him through, but Theodore told them that it's important. He has authorization from Commander Ryan and he flashed the psychic paper in front of them, showing the authorization for him to go inside the lab with Lila.
They're unable to see through the facade and let him and Lila through as he hurried into the darkened lab with the guards on the opposite side animating as they saw Theodore running in.
His icy blue eyes looked towards the table and he heard footsteps behind them.
"Doctor, what's the meaning of this?" Theodore hears the commander calling for him and he turned his head briefly.
Immediately, Theodore asked what results they found from searching through the security tapes and Commander Ryan said they didn't saw Isaac leave the lab more than once, but he went back to it and he was seen leaving it again just before the storm hit.
Frantic, Theodore asked if anyone checked the Plague Doctor and Commander Ryan stated that he made sure it's secured the moment the power went out, but Theodore asked if anyone checked the Plague Doctor.
Looking towards the guards, the commander asked if they did, and they adamantly said that the smell's too much for them, they just stayed away from it, and watched from afar.
His baby blue eyes looking towards Theodore, he asked what he's implying.
Theodore said to the commander, "I know where Isaac is."
Tilting his head, Commander Ryan asked him where and watched as Theodore hurried towards the table covered with the sheet.
Turning his head, Theodore called for light, and Commander Ryan granted it, guards used their torches to give him enough light to see clearly as he yanked off the thick sheet.
Lila summed everyone's feelings with, "Holy sh... wha?!"
Underneath the thick white sheet... the mangled body of Isaac.
His face... his face wasn't there... his chest... his chest... where are his lungs... where are his lungs?!
Stumbling backwards, the commander turned towards his guards and asked if they saw anything out of place at all, them replying they didn't and swearing it didn't satiate Commander Ryan.
"H-how, there's no blood on the ground!" Lila recoiled as she instinctively grabbed Theodore's arm as he held her away from the grisly sight.
She's right, there's no blood or any scuffle, no way for the Plague Doctor to have killed Isaac without anyone knowing.
Glimpsing around the large lab, Theodore sees a large metal door, and asked the commander where it leads. Commander Ryan told him that it's the storage, kept to a proper temperature at all times, and Theodore went towards it.
No power, so the door opened with ease, per the laws and regulations, and with his command, there's light flashing inside the lukewarm storage. At the end of the room, there's running water near the emergency showers, water pooling at the bottom of the basin, mixed with blackness and red, and the same pungent smell.
Nearby, there's a disarray of objects strewn on the wet floor.
"That's impossible!" Commander Ryan flinched while he panicked as Theodore processed what happened.
The Plague Doctor woke up from its coma as soon as the power went out, saw itself strapped to the table, and waited for an opportunity. It must've heard Isaac going into the storage and cut its way out of the straps or using its strength. Snuck inside the storage, killed him, and propped his body underneath the sheet, knowing that they wouldn't go near it.
It's a terrifying thought, but Theodore wouldn't know what else to think.
Must've got to him even before he turned around and registered what was happening until it was too late.
Seeing the running showers as the officers turned them off, Theodore theorized that the Plague Doctor washed off the blood and the sweat after consuming what it wanted from him. Like a bird would in a birdbath. Washed off the excess blood and sweat, went on its merry way.
Remembering what Commander Ryan and Lila said, Theodore realizes that the Plague Doctor learnt to mimic Isaac from listening to him while under that sheet, enough that it almost tricked Lila.
"Commander, warn everyone, tell them to stay together, have code words inaudible, don't go anywhere without sufficient light sources," Theodore ushered the frightened commander to warn everyone that the Plague Doctor's awake and somewhere in the base. He made sure the commander warns his subordinates not to open fire unless they have a visual.
Panicking, Theodore turns towards Lila as he tells her that he's going to get the power back on, don't know how, but there's no room for trying or error.
"What do you want me to do?" Lila asks him.
Theodore reminded her, "No heroics from you. I'll get you back to the TARDIS and you stay there, understand?"