"So I just said, 'hey pal, don't blame me, I just work here!'"

Lucie couldn't help herself, she completely cracked up, laughing uncontrollably.

Lucas was grinning from ear to ear. It was actually working! She actually thought he was funny! He had a chance!

"Oh God," said Lucie, wiping a tear from her eye, "blimey, did you really say that?"

"Well," said Lucas, drawing out the word, "not in so many words, but I'd like to think that it was strongly implied."

This elicited another series of guffaws from Lucie, so much so that she nearly fell off her chair.

"Woah!" yelled Lucas as he raced to her side, helping her steady herself.

"Blimey! Wow, aren't you me knight in shinin' armour?"

This made Lucas blush and it was at that moment that he realised how close they were. He was still crouching on the floor, while she was sitting on the chair. At this level, their faces were dangerously close – he could feel the warmth of her breath and he could see every detail of her adorable face.

Something changed in her expression which made Lucas' stomach do a somersault. Oh my God, this was it, wasn't it? They were going to kiss!

Lucas began to prepare himself for those incoming lovely lips when suddenly he was knocked to the ground by a whirlwind.

"Come on Lucie, we've got a crime-scene to investigate! Isn't that exciting?"

Lucas looked up in time to see The Doctor bounding outside and joining Jo and Dr. Morgan.

"Wha-wha...?" was all he managed to say.

"Sorry Lucas," said Lucie, looking down at him as she stood up, "maybe next time, eh?" She gave him a wink and with that she was gone.

Lucas just lay back on the ground, shattered. "Kill me. Somebody juuuuust kill me."


"You kids OK back there?" asked Jo's partner, Detective Mike Hanson. He was a not altogether unattractive man with an ethnic heritage that was hard to pin-point. A dedicated cop and family man, he wore the signs of his stressful life with pride. He was obviously finding great humour in seeing Henry squeezed in the backseat of Jo's car with a pretty blonde and wacky British dandy.

"We're fine," said Henry, clearly less than comfortable, "thank-you, Detective Hanson."

Jo took a glance at him in the rear-view mirror and couldn't help but smile.

"You know," said Lucie, "I'd never been in a cop car before today and now look at this – twice in one day. What would me Mum say?"

"Yes, it is becoming a bit of a habit, isn't it?" said The Doctor.

Suddenly there was a funky, 80s rock kind of tune which caused Hanson to rummage through his jacket pocket for a moment, before producing a mobile phone and holding it to his ear. "Hanson. What you got?" There was a long pause as he waited for the caller to respond. "Have next of kin been notified?" There was another pause. "Jeez, poor bastard. OK, thanks. Yeah, we're heading out there now. Bye."

He ended the call and returned the phone to his pocket before turning his attention to his partner. "We got an I.D on the vic. Name's Samuel Simmons – 38. Used to own a construction business until the crash back in '08. Filed for bankruptcy and then his wife divorced him not long after; took the kids to live with her parents in California. Been picked up a few times for vagrancy, possession, drunk and disorderly – picked up a heroin habit along the way and served twelve months. Been homeless for the last few years."

"So a homeless junkie," Jo summarised. "Probably a victim of convenience. A test subject maybe? Someone who wouldn't be missed."

"Everybody is missed, Detective," said The Doctor. "One life is just as valuable as another, regardless of the mistakes and hardships that life has seen."

Jo didn't respond, she just took another look in the rear-view. She was surprised to see Henry smiling back at her.

It was lunch time when they pulled up at the crime-scene, as evidenced by the officer who was about a quarter of a way through a deli-made sandwich when he saw the two detectives' badges and hastily threw it to the ground.

They made their way to the flight of metal stairs that led to the factory's back door.

"Are those scorch-marks?" asked The Doctor. He crouched down to examine a roughly circular pattern of faded black marks, spread over the bottom two steps. Similar patterns could be seen spread all the way to the top of the staircase.

"According to forensics, yeah," said Jo.

"What, so now our guy's got a jet-pack too?" Hanson said, incredulously.

The Doctor tensed as he looked up at the door at the top of the stairs.

"You alright?" asked Lucie. "You look off. You know, more than usual."

The Doctor looked back down at the scorch-marks. "I don't know, I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this. Detectives, I think it would be best if I were to enter alone."

Jo looked at Henson then back at The Doctor. "Henson, why don't you stay down here with The Doctor and the others while I go check this place out?"

"No, you can't go in there alone," said The Doctor. "Just let me go in first, trust me."

"Perhaps Jo and I could go in first," said Henry. The others looked at him and he just gave a slight shrug.

"Alright," said Jo, "Henson, keep an eye on these two. Henry, you're with me."

"You've got it boss," replied Henson.

"This is a mistake," said The Doctor.

"Don't worry," said Henry, "I'll throw down my own life before letting any harm befall Detective Martinez."

The Doctor just looked on with great concern as Jo and Henry made their way up the staircase.

"What do you think about that guy?" asked Jo quietly. She had her gun drawn, but lowered. Her footsteps were light and precise, minimising the noise made by the old, metal stairs.

"I'm still not entirely sure," said Henry. "I think that we can trust him, but there's something very odd about him."

"I'll say," Jo scoffed.

They reached the landing and Jo signalled to stay back on the first step. She raised her gun to eye level and, without taking her eyes off the door, she tested the lock. Broken.

Stepping back, she gave the door a light kick, sending it swinging open with a long, drawn out creak. She bit her lip a little – hardly a silent entry, but what could she do?

The Doctor was becoming increasingly agitated as he watched Jo enter through the door. Henry followed a moment later.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" asked Lucie. "I haven't seen you this worked up since we went to that space opera in 6985 and they misattributed that piece to Vivaldi instead of Bellini."

"Something's definitely wrong," said The Doctor, "I can feel it."

"Relax Doc'," said Hanson, "Jo's a big girl. Besides, she'll let me know if there's trouble."

The Doctor clenched his jaw, his eyes never moving from the top of the staircase.

Jo entered through the doorway, slowly and carefully, scanning the area with her gun and torch held at equal level, as per procedure. She heard Henry enter behind her, even though she hadn't given him the all-clear yet.

"Henry, stay back," hissed Jo.

"Not a chance," he whispered back - a smile in his voice.

Jo knew it was pointless arguing with him. "Fine. Well, stay back and out of my way."

Suddenly there was a noise. Something akin to an electric motor moving in the darkness.

"NYPD," called Jo, "who's there?"

Henry peered over Jo's shoulder – there was something moving in the darkness. "Jo, be careful," he whispered.

"If there's anybody there, come out quietly with your hands up," she said, disregarding Henry. "We'd just like to ask you a few questions."

The whirring noise was getting closer now and Jo could see a blue light – a flashlight? It was still out of range of her own torch, but she could see the faint outline of a figure – a machine or vehicle of some sort. Metal clanged as bits and pieces were knocked across the floor.

"OK, stop right there," she said, tightening her grip on her gun.

"Jo..." said Henry, moving closer to her.


The Doctor crouched down and licked one of the scorch-marks on the stairs.

"That's disgusting," said Hanson.

"Yeah, Doctor, I'm gonna have to agree with Columbo on that one," said Lucie.

"Oh no!" said The Doctor before suddenly shooting back to his feet and bolting up the stairs, his footsteps ringing out with heavy, metallic echoes as he went.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" yelled Lucie, racing after him.

"Lucie, stay back!" he shouted back over his shoulder.

"Hey, get back here!" yelled Hanson, giving chase to both of them.


Very cautiously, Jo took a few steps further into the darkness and her flashlight began to reflect off of a smooth, metallic dome sitting atop some sort of casing. She cocked her head and lowered her gun slightly.

"Is that a sink plunger?" she said in disbelief.

"Detective Martinez, get out of there!"

She turned around in time to see The Doctor running through the door.

Henry looked between Jo and The Doctor, then at the thing that was emerging from the shadows. It looked like some sort of bomb disposal robot, clad in bronze, with several attachments protruding from its shell.

"Henry, Jo, get down!" yelled The Doctor, sprinting towards them.

Then, Jo and Henry were taken by surprise as a robotic voice screeched out from the thing before them.

"Ex-ter-min-ate!"

Jo froze in a state of shock and terror as a beam of white light fired from one of the machine's appendages and headed straight towards her.

END OF PART ONE