"Okay, there was at least a hundred or so people who were on task keeping everyone in Durham drugged," Lila counted the names on the spreadsheet that she found in one of the rooms, lined with names, and the duties assigned.
Had everything from drugging the cough syrup to drugging the ibuprofen with specific dosages for each person working in the complex, with time stamps when they're supposed to receive their next dosage.
Everything calculated to even compensate if someone accidentally dropped an Advil on the ground and tossed it in the trash.
Everyone unknowingly receiving the drug had it in their system constantly, enough they didn't risk overdosing, but it kept them drugged.
Looking at the date, Lila sees that this roster was from four weeks ago, around the time John and Mary no longer received the drug.
The absence of everyone working in the hidden area, on top of the people in Durham, made it all creepier.
John and Mary couldn't get out through the conventional means, but the way it looked, nobody left the complex.
Yet, except the two, she and Theodore didn't find anyone else.
Got some bad vibes from this and it's reinforced by the fact that Theodore found where the workers clocked in, their cards all stamped four week ago, and no one stamped theirs out.
They didn't get the chance exploring every corner of the complex, but if there's still people here, they'd pop out by now, especially after Theodore put on his serious tone while using the intercom.
One thing stood out, there's no entrance, as strange as it sounds, they didn't find a hidden entrance or exit.
Something they expected in their search, but didn't find anything, just the punch-out cards.
Scouring the hallways, they didn't find anything dictating entrances and exits, no way for those boxes getting inside, no chance they took the same entrance as everyone else, and Theodore consulted the mental blueprints Al sent him.
Didn't seem like there's anything, until Lila inspired him into thinking outside the box, something he thanked her for with a kiss on the head.
If there's no conventional ways getting inside, there's always unconventional ways that wouldn't allow anyone from snooping easily.
"John, how far are we from Alex Industries?" Theodore asks him as he's searching through abandoned cabinets looking for evidence against the complexes.
Pulling out a drawer, John stopped for a moment, thinking to himself, before saying that they're at least about, 241.4 kilometers, give or take, if they take the main road and follow it through the stretch.
"150 something miles, that's a little far for an underground tunnel," Lila looked over to Theodore while she and Mary sorted through files in the desks of one of the workers in charge of distributing the drugs, trying to find a name and the purposes for it.
She's right, but Theodore cleverly pointed out, that it'd be suspicious if Alex Industries manufactured the drug in secrecy, out of sight.
Even if it's cleared for manufacturing, someone's going to ask questions about the drugs that aren't for any contracts.
John agreed with his thoughts as he said that Alex Industries answers to people above them, anything they do's cleared by them, they can't do anything without their say.
They'd have to receive clearance to develop the drug, but even then, they wouldn't been allowed to do it in the extent they're doing, it'd go against laws and regulations, it'd get them shutdown.
"Why would they risk their hides doing it, then?" Lila wondered what was calling Alex Industries' name to the point they're willing to buck the trend and commit illegal acts against innocent workers from a different complex.
Of course, the number one answer's money, but Alex Industries had more money than she and Theodore would see in their lifetimes, even after the taxes and distribution throughout their business.
"I don't know, Lee, suppose we'll see. I think we've saw enough, now let's find our way into the underground, maybe we'll find the evidence," Theodore ushered them along as they left the room, looking for the way into the underground.
It's somewhere they're able to bring up the boxes without making too much noise, at least where they're able to move the carts through with relative ease, that much apparent.
They're comfortable enough leaving boxes of pills out in the open, they didn't think people would've found their way inside, so in theory, where they're getting their deliveries in's in view, too.
Easier said than done, there's deep marks on the floor from the wheel carts coming from a direction, and they followed them to a wide doorway with a security panel that was no match for the almighty Sonic Screwdriver.
It's even colder than out in the hallways and there's soft lights overhead, casting the loading docks in a milky hue.
In the centre, there's a cutout for the trucks, and Theodore's intuition says that it's a lift. There's grips and treads for the trucks to lock into when they're lifted up to this part.
Motioning with his large hand, he went with the three towards it, their footsteps echoing, they passed the empty wheel carts left abandoned by the loading docks.
Stepping into the centre with the three, Theodore's icy blue eyes noticed the control panel, and went over to it, it didn't need any clearance, and simple to use.
Hitting the button, he felt the jolt of the lift as it started preparing the descent. The grips and treads locked into place and Lila gripped Theodore's arm while Mary gripped John's as the lift started descending.
The cogs groaned as the lift slowly descended, going down treads in the walls, clanking each time.
"Well, I hope you have a plan on getting us back up there," John looked at Theodore with his eyes glistening in the lights in between the treads.
Theodore assured him that he has a plan, but he noticed a look in Lila's shadowed face.
"I have a plan," he asserts.
Lila raised a brow at this claim and he said that he always has a plan.
"And yet, the Cybermen say otherwise," Lila brought up an incident regarding one of the infamous aliens that Theodore's father, bless his two hearts, routinely dealt with during his tenure.
Blowing a raspberry at her, Theodore says it was an honest mistake, only for Lila pointing out he threw gold bricks at them.
"Yeah, because Cybermen run screaming from gold!" Lila denounced the attempt and Theodore snorted that he had a good plan, it wasn't executed like he wanted, but he had a plan, nonetheless.
Shaking her head, her pulled back chestnut hair wavering in the breeze, Lila exhaled as she felt the lift descending underneath them into the deeper parts.
Where it's taking them, maybe the center of the earth, who knows, but hey, maybe Lila gets to meet Brendan Fraser, that'll be something!
Unfortunately, Lila wasn't going to meet the actor, doubt he'd like the scene they're in, everything's colder than hell, it looked like a factory floor, and there's soft white light everywhere.
It's bright enough they're able to see where they're supposed to step over the gap, complete with yellow and black cross-sections.
"Um, silly question, er, when was Durham Industries built?" Lila inquired when the complex was built and why shouldn't she be surprised at knowing that it was only built about ten years ago and Alex Industries was the first complex.
It was to offshore work and keep things separated when the government contracts started coming in.
"Of course," Lila exhaled sharply as she held onto Theodore's arm while they're walking through the rows of trucks left behind.
Ahead of them, there's a winding path up, too far for them to walk, so with some help from the aloof giant, they got their hands on a free ride.
Huddled in the seats, they see a badge hanging from the mirror, belonging to a driver.
"Al, come in," Theodore reached out to him as he drove the truck.
Al came through and asked what he wanted and Theodore informed him what they found and where they are, he wanted Al ready for when things get dicey, and when the adventure's done.
"About that," Al tells him.
Theodore's confused and Al informed him that he honed his scanners, there's something going on, and he can't make heads or tail, but it's like astronaut dots.
"There's people up ahead?" Theodore responded with Al's findings and Al replied that he can't be sure, he just knows that there's a lot of dots congregating in one spot.
The spot they're going to, by the way.
"Are they the people who brought the drugs to Durham?" Theodore asks Al.
Unsure, Al told him that he doesn't think so, none of it's looking right on his end, it's weird.
He managed to break into an unsecured firewall and poked around where he shouldn't, all the people who worked in the hidden area went dark four weeks ago, about four hundred if he counted the drivers, but on his scanners, he's roughly seeing over a thousand.
Way too many people keeping this kind of secret under wraps.
"All I know's you four be careful, I'll see what I can do. You know how to reach me," Al reminded Theodore that if he's in a hairy situation, that he's only a telepathic message away.
Can't let the son of his old friend, die on him, that's bad business, and what would his old friend say to that?
Sighing, Theodore heard Al leave his mind, leaving him to drive the lonely tunnel leading towards a gate.
He stepped out and got it open, no one's there anyway, before jumping back into the cab, leading them onward.
"I've heard Alex Industries doing things to keep their trade secrets under their banner, but how did they manage doing this?" John wondered how they created an elaborate system underneath the complex without anyone suspecting anything or leaking it.
True, they have NDAs for their NDAs, but this project goes over the heads of those above them, they couldn't have gotten crews who're experts at keeping their mouths closed on this project.
"Could they have went rogue?" Lila asks the chance that Alex Industries might've gotten sick of being a corporate stooge for their corporate overlords and decided to have some autonomy at their expenses.
Thinking to herself, Mary's flummoxed as she asks why they would've done something like that, and John said that it's cutthroat in the complex, that nobody's doing anything without support from the board.
Doing something like this' a gambit that even most businesses won't cross, because if they did it wrong, they're in a world of hurt they've only heard from their courses.
"One thing's bothering me, why would they drug you, that's stupid on their part, they know you have the ability to leave at free will. Anyone of you could've raised flags at any point," Theodore noted that Alex Industries experimenting on the workers of Durham Industries seemed impossibly contrive.
None of it made sense.
It'd be a huge risk of exposure, even if they're lucky.
"He's right. If they didn't want run the risk, they would've stuck with lab mice or something," Lila agreed with Theodore that this didn't make any sense to them.
Seems obtuse experimenting on your sister location's employees, but Theodore and Lila dealt with some interesting people during their myriad of adventures.
"Hey, you know, maybe we're thinking this the wrong way. Those trucks can hold more than just pallets of drugs, what if they took people down here?" Lila had a thought as she sat beside Theodore, looking over the console as he drove.
They didn't find anyone else in the complex and nobody could've gotten out of the complex anyway, because it's locked down.
"Why would they do that?" John wondered the reason why they'd bring people down here and why they wouldn't have brought John and Mary down here.
Recalling the missing page in Mary's folder, Theodore suggested that whoever caught on that Mary was pregnant must've had a change of heart, making sure they weren't taken when Alex Industries started taking people from Durham Industries.
They left Sykes in his room because they saw no further use from them when he died, took everyone else while they're still alive, left John and Mary because whoever had a change of heart misled them, probably lied to them, saying they died, too.
"Suppose even the most nonchalant drones have standards," Lila summed why someone changed their stance on drugging people with a drug that has a chance of causing severe side effects because it mixed with the wrong medications.
Stopping the truck, Theodore sees pallets off the side of the docks, conveyer belts coming from the walls, leading further into the underground complex.
There's a yellow coloured lift in between, large enough for a fleet of people.
Deciding it was time, Theodore looked over to John and Mary, telling them that it's the end of the line for them.
From then on, it's Theodore and Lila.
John initially protested against this, but Theodore tells him, "Our work is dangerous. Whatever's beyond that lift risks injuries, death, or worse. With Mary's condition, it'd be foolish bringing her into dangerous territories."
Pointedly, Theodore informed him that he and Lila were experts at putting themselves in dangerous situations, but only because it's their jobs, and for John and Mary, it's like introducing rabbits to a wolf pen.
"But, what about the proof?" John fretted about the proof before Theodore informed him that he and Lila will obtain the said proof of Alex Industries' scheme.
For now, he's concerned about John and Mary's safety, if things get dicey, he can't afford them getting hurt under his charge, it'll look bad on him.
"Oh… fine," John frowned as he conceded that Theodore's right, he needed to concern himself with Mary, doing this won't get the proof quicker, and with the complex willing to experiment them, it's safer for them to call it.
"Good, now hold on," Theodore orders them as he reached out to Al, telling him to pick them up, get them out of the way for their safeties.
Al obliged and in seconds, the TARDIS materialized adjacent to the truck, much to the shock of John and Mary, before Theodore hurriedly pushed them towards the waiting TARDIS with the door open.
"Don't touch the console, stay in the console room, if you need the facilities, they're four doors down," Theodore summed before he closed the door on them, allowing the TARDIS to dematerialize, leaving him and Lila behind.
Pulling on her sleeves, Lila looks at the yellow lift, weary in her chestnut eyes.
"Dare I ask?" Lila looked over to him as he stood beside her, knowing he talked to Al telepathically, and the aloof giant gritted his teeth, telling her that it's almost guaranteed that their adventure's only going to suck further from then on.
Exhaling sharply, Lila commented with, "It's our lot in life."
TO BE CONTINUED... "Underground Jungle"