Stephanie Havilland has now entered their lives, and has proven herself to be a charismatic and empathetic individual. But first things first: where the hell is Curtis? Did Daniel Edge intercept him, and if so, where did the bastard take him?
Get ready for kind of a nasty cliffhanger...
Enjoy!
TEN
Stephanie Havilland owned a blue hatchback car of some sort, that looked and ran like it was about ten years old, and most definitely needed an oil change. It didn't have much room, but it was fine for four people who weren't particularly large (the Doctor was tall but not broad, and he was thanking the gods of regeneration for that fact, just now).
"Okay, then," Stephanie said, pulling out of the estate. "Where are we headed?"
"Well, we can try some of the posh hotels in town," the Doctor suggested.
"Where are there posh hotels in Leeds?" Tim wondered, sounding a bit incredulous.
"I dunno," answered the Time Lord. "You're the one who lives here."
"I've lived here for like six weeks, and do I look like I stay in posh hotels?"
Martha had already pulled out her phone, and begun to search. "Looks like the Quebecs Hotel might be our best bet," she said. She read off the address, and Tim very shakily pointed Stephanie in the right direction.
"Okay, so, if this doesn't work, then what?" Stephanie asked.
"I hate to say it, Stephanie, but you're the only one of us who knows Daniel Edge at all," the Doctor said. "I'm afraid that if anyone were to guess where he might take Curtis, you'd have the best chance at being right."
"Oh God," she groaned, knowing that the Doctor was right, but also feeling buggered. "All I know is that he likes to party, he makes a big show out of everything, and he's got zero sense of accountability."
"So, what does that add up to?" Martha asked.
The car was quiet for a few moments, except for Tim, giving directions without much confidence.
"He likes to party, makes a show of everything, and no accountability," Martha muttered.
"Is anyone else picturing him sniffing cocaine on the stage of a night club?" Tim asked.
"Well, now I am!" Stephanie shrieked.
"Night club, though," the Doctor said. "That's not bad. Is there any way to find out if he's got any friends, connections with night club owners in Leeds? Those places are secretive, sometimes dodgy, they usually have dark rooms in the back…"
"Ugh," Tim groaned.
"Sorry," the Doctor whispered, patting Tim on the shoulder, realising he'd forgotten himself for just a moment. They weren't just looking for Daniel Edge. They were looking for Tim's very probably kidnapped brother, who had only a limited capacity to fend for himself, especially in highly nuanced, sensitive situations. "We'll find him, Tim."
Tim nodded, and swallowed hard. He continued to give directions to Stephanie, until they reached a Victorian-era red stone building. "Okay… here it is," he said. "It's a miracle I got us here."
"Well, now that we're here, what do we do?" Stephanie asked. "It's not like we can just walk in there and ask whether Daniel Edge is a guest here."
"Leave it to me," the Doctor said, climbing out of the car.
"Leave it to us," Martha corrected, also climbing out. As an afterthought, she said, "We'll be back in a mo'. Don't go anywhere."
"Welcome to the Quebecs Hotel, sir, madam," said a woman behind the large, mahogany desk in the lobby. "May I book you in a room for the night?"
The Doctor flashed the psychic paper, and said, "Detective Inspectors Smith and Jones, London Metropolitan. Wondering if you can help us with something."
"Oh! Oh, yes, sir, erm… and ma'am. If it is within my power."
"Have you have any, say, notable guests in the last week or so?" the Doctor asked.
"Notable, how?"
"Notable in the sense that perhaps the tabloids might be interested."
Martha chimed in, "Any guest who asked for discretion. Any guest who seemed familiar to you."
"What, like a famous person?" she asked, her businesslike demeanour dropping away slightly.
"Exactly," the Doctor said. "Or someone who fancies themselves as such."
"Who are you looking for?"
"I'm not at liberty to say."
"If I knew, then maybe I could tell you if I've seen them."
"Have you had any guests of late, like the one I'm describing?" the Doctor asked, with finality, and a hint of weariness.
"No," she admitted. "Nothing like that."
The Doctor simply walked away.
Martha, however, had the presence of mind to say, "Thanks for your time," before following the Doctor back out to the street.
Stephanie's car was still there, so they climbed in.
"He hasn't been here," the Doctor said.
"Well, it was a long-shot," Tim said, as the Doctor and Martha clicked their seatbelts. "Any bloody place we try is going to be a long-shot. But Stephanie had a thought."
"Yeah," she said. "When you asked about connections, I remembered that Daniel tried to charm me with an invitation to a party at the Devenish mansion."
"Devenish? As in, Trace Devenish?" Martha asked.
"Yes," Stephanie said. "And don't they own a bunch of pubs and clubs?"
"They own a shell company that owns a bunch of pubs and clubs," Martha said, once again pulling out her phone. After a pause, she said, "Looks like that shell company is associated with three establishments in Leeds, the closest is All Bar One." Again, she read out the address, and Tim tried to get them there.
When the Doctor and Martha's Smith and Jones routine yielded nothing at All Bar One, nor at the other two Devenish-owned bars and clubs (even after being allowed to inspect the back rooms), they slid once more into the backseat of Stephanie's hatchback.
"Okay, then," Tim said, with a sigh, as they peeled away from the kerb. "Anybody got other ideas? Stephanie, can you think of anything else that you know about Edge?"
"No," Stephanie said. "No, I'm not driving to any other shot-in-the-dark places until I get some answers."
She swerved to the side of the road, and landed in front of a parking metre.
"What sort of answers?" Martha asked.
"Er, hang on," said Tim. "We can't park here unless…"
The Doctor aimed the sonic screwdriver at the parking meter, and the thing began to tick. "There. We've got fifteen minutes."
Stephanie's jaw dropped. Then she turned sideways in her seat to address her backseat passengers. "Let's start with who the hell you two are."
The Doctor sighed, having known this was coming, sooner or later.
Martha looked at the Doctor, who wasn't about to say anything in a decent amount of time, so she spoke first. "We haven't lied to you, Stephanie. We told you that what's going on has alien origins… well, we investigate things of alien origin."
"That's putting it mildly," Tim muttered.
"What, like the X-files?" she asked.
"No," Martha said. "More freelance than that. And a lot more competent. I'm a doctor. A physician, I mean. I'm from London, like you, which you probably already worked out. Until about four weeks ago, I worked for UNIT, do you know what that is?"
"Yes," Stephanie said. "They're the… weird branch of the military."
"Right," Martha said. "But I never would have got that job without this guy. This is the Doctor."
"So you said. What the hell does that mean?"
The Doctor frowned, and made eye-contact with no-one. He didn't speak, but he also didn't stop Martha from saying anything.
"He's the expert. If you've got an alien problem, or a disaster of global proportions, this is the man you want on your side. He's the guy that even UNIT call when things get too weird, even for them. He knows more about things outside of this planet than everyone on this planet combined."
"How?" Stephanie asked, nonplussed, looking the Doctor over. "I mean…"
"You said you believe in life outside of this planet, Stephanie, because you seem quite clever," the Doctor suddenly chimed in. "So I think a part of your brain has already got there."
She looked him over, and he dared to actually look her in the eye.
"But…" she said, meekly, after a heavily pregnant pause. "You look human."
"So do a lot of species in the universe, believe it or not," he said. "The upright, what you call humanoid body structure is surprisingly advantageous throughout the universe."
Stephanie was quiet for a few moments, as was everyone else. She studied him. She seemed to be examining his facial features, perhaps looking for anomalies.
"You're an alien? Really?"
He nodded. "Yep. Still the same guy, though. If you liked me before, you can still like me – nothing's changed. I still want what's best for Curtis, and Tim, and you, and if possible, even for Edge. Ultimately, I want what's best for this planet, and all planets."
"He's not lying," Tim told Stephanie. "I've seen him work."
"All right, then tell me more about Curtis," she said. "You told me… he's autistic?"
"Yes," Tim said. "I've been looking after him since our parents died. He's ultra-clever, ultra-talented, and he's higher and higher functioning each day, it seems."
"And his autism, or rather, some of the neurochemistry associated with it, gives him the ability to manipulate reality through his drawings," the Doctor said. "This thing with you, Stephanie… well, we've been considering it our primary problem. Making sure that you don't get raped or killed is paramount, and to be honest, is a more or less human issue that… well, there are definitely people better-qualified to deal with it than me. Starting with, perhaps, the police. But they might be in Edge's pocket… in fact, I think it's fairly likely, and is why you didn't call them yourself.
"But secondary is the fact that Curtis is trapped with this unbelievable power, that causes a lot of problems. That's really my wheelhouse right there. Bizarre things happening in the cosmos, affecting real people's lives, you can call me. That might as well be tattooed on my arm as a manifesto. Which is why, Stephanie, we have a solution that might sever Curtis' connection with the source of his power, but as you might have noticed, we have zero plans in the way of any practical method of dealing with Daniel Edge. Frankly, having you here in our midst is reassuring, because it means we can know that you're safe. However, now we have Curtis' physical person to worry about, and not just his brain."
"Not to mention the fact that he's probably got that bloody drawing on him," Tim said.
The Doctor pulled his hand down over his face. "Yeah. Blimey."
"What's the solution?" Stephanie asked him.
"It doesn't matter," Tim said. "Because it's out of the question, anyway."
"The solution is using a magnetic field that exists in a different galaxy to interfere with the… er… signal between the reality manipulation, and Curtis. And possibly between Curtis and his drawings, and maybe even the people who know about his talent."
"But it will leave him a vegetable," Tim said.
"No, it won't," Martha said. "Where's that coming from?"
"Oh sure, he'll be conscious," Tim argued. "But he'll be like everyone else! If he's not quirky and awkward and pernickety and irritable and a little juvenile, and all the things that are Curtis, then he might as well be a fucking courgette."
"That is not how Curtis feels about it, Tim," Martha said. "He came to us. He said he was willing…"
"He must not understand the consequences fully," said Tim.
"He does," the Doctor said. "And he wants to give it a go, for Stephanie's sake. But it's all moot if we can't bloody find him. And I'm sorry to point this out, children, but we're wasting time sitting here!"
"You said before that Curtis was holding off from finishing the drawing, risking his life for me, a stranger, so I don't get raped," Stephanie said to Tim. "And now, they're telling me he's willing to risk his brain?"
Tim sighed. He was quiet for a while, then he said, "I admit, it does sound like him. He doesn't understand nuance, which makes him extreme and totally selfless at times. Almost to a fault."
"From what I'm gathering here, Curtis embraces his autism," Stephanie said.
"He does," Tim said.
"And so do those who love him," Martha said, gently, squeezing Tim's shoulder. "Perhaps even more than Curtis himself."
"He's quirky and weird and special and he likes who he is," Stephanie said. "Has he ever held a job?"
Tim shook his head. "No. I'm starting to think he could, though."
"But he wouldn't know how to live in the world if suddenly he were just… cured."
"If he were suddenly neurotypical," Tim corrected. "Yeah… I suppose it would be a huge adjustment. As big an adjustment as if one of us were suddenly autistic."
Stephanie let out a huge sigh, then turned in her seat, stuck the keys back in the ignition, and started the car again, peeling once more away from the kerb.
"You okay?" the Doctor asked her, as they merged into traffic.
"No," she responded, and from her tone, they could tell she was crying again.
"It's a rubbish situation, isn't it?" Martha asked her. "There's just no way to win it."
After another silent few minutes, Tim said, "Stephanie, I don't want you to think that I believe Curtis is more important than you in some way. I'm sorry this is happening, I just… I…"
"It's okay," she said, sniffing.
"No… it's not. I mean… maybe Curtis becoming a courgette is better than you getting raped."
She chuckled. "Forever neurologically changed, versus a temporary humiliation for me. Yeah, sounds like a perfect trade."
Dr. Jones did another quick bit of research and discovered that the Edge family owns a shell company that owns another shell company, that had already broken ground for a hotel just outside of town. They tried the construction site, but it was deserted, as was the business trailer.
Then Smith and Jones tried another upscale pub, to no avail. Not that they really expected much.
"I've been thinking, Doctor," Martha said. "We're going to need a fast go-to, if things get bad."
"I know, I know," he said, burying one hand in his hair, and pulling tight. He thought for a moment and said, "I mean, I suppose we could…"
After he didn't finish, she asked, "What?"
He sighed. "No. We couldn't."
"What are you thinking?" Tim wondered. "If you have an idea, we should talk about it."
"Well, for the magnetic field to work on Curtis specifically, we'd have to take him in the TARDIS and experiment with it… that's what we came to your flat tonight to do," the Doctor said. "But now fifty per cent of that equation is gone – we've got access to the magnetic field – the Axiothe Field – but not to Curtis."
"Right. With you."
"The best-case scenario has always been, not only does the Axiothe Field interfere with Curtis, but with anyone who has ever asked him for a drawing. And now that we know that he's gone viral, and there are people even in London who know about what he can do…"
"Ugh, I don't like what's coming," Martha groaned.
"Why? What's coming?" Tim wondered.
"I could rig a way for the Axiothe field just to zap the whole town of Leeds and hope for the best," he said.
"What?" Stephanie shouted. "That's mental!"
"I don't disagree," the Doctor said. "It's got, I'd say, a sixty per cent chance of working, but it would work on everyone in town, along with Curtis. But to be quite thorough, we'd have to do the whole of Britain, in the next few days. It would erase Curtis' ability from the memory of everyone in this country, including you, Tim. Curtis would be your quirky autistic brother, but he'll never have been a guy who could manipulate reality. You might not even remember me and Martha. And all that business with the D&D characters from a month ago… they might vanish. Certainly people would forget it ever happened. And, of course, the Daniel Edge problem goes away. He'd forget, along with everyone else."
"That sounds big," Tim breathed.
"So, our best bet at the moment, with the circumstances we've been given, is to zap an entire country with selective amnesia," Stephanie surmised.
"Yeah, in a nutshell," the Doctor agreed.
"That's not right. It's a violation of… something."
"I suppose it is, yeah," he shrugged, feeling buggered again.
"Isn't that the sort of thing you set out to avoid, by not letting Daniel get to me?" she asked them all.
Everyone was silent. "Yeah," the Doctor whispered.
"But it's the only option we've got?"
"At the moment."
"Okay, here's the plan," Stephanie said. "We're going to find Daniel Edge, and then we're going to trade me for Curtis."
"What?" Martha asked, shocked.
"Oh, come on," Stephanie whined, tears coming again. "This all started because you lot are all trying to protect me. Me. One person, versus millions. I'll sleep with the bastard, for God's sake. Let's just find him!"
"No!" Martha insisted.
"If Curtis was willing to sacrifice his sanity for me, then I can have sex with a repellent human being for him," Stephanie insisted right back.
"It won't just be one time, Stephanie!"
"I know. I'll do whatever I have to. He wants me, he can have me. I'll consent. I'll give him whatever he wants."
"No!"
"No!" Tim echoed.
The Doctor noted Tim's semi-panicked reaction to this revelation, then sighed deeply, and sat back in his seat. He watched the city pass outside the windows.
"Stephanie, we can't let you do that!" from Martha.
"You don't get a say. It's my body, my choice. This ends now!"
"He will usurp your whole life, your whole identity," Martha said. "You said he never asked about what you study or what your ambitions are… he doesn't care. He will swallow them! You'll be a concubine to him, a trophy and nothing more, and you will always feel used!"
"And how is that worse than what might happen to Curtis?" Stephanie asked.
"Doctor," Martha begged. "Can't we use the Axiothe Field to just put a barrier around Stephanie or something? Something that will repel Edge? And anyone he might hire?"
"I would need Edge himself to submit to experimentation," the Doctor answered. "Otherwise, I couldn't do it without making Stephanie repellent to everyone in the world."
Stephanie chuckled. "Great. So, what's worse? Eternal solitude, or a life as Daniel Edge's trophy?"
"You won't have to make that choice," Martha said. "Will she, Doctor?"
He looked at her, but couldn't answer.
"Look, my body, my life. I've made my choice. We trade – you get Curtis, Daniel gets me. Only, let's get more efficient about finding him."
"You sleeping with Edge won't solve Curtis' problem," the Doctor pointed out, very weary of the whole discussion. "Except for getting Edge off his back. He's still going to have the unwanted power, and he might want us to zap him anyway."
"No, he won't," Tim protested.
"Whatever. I'm doing my part," Stephanie said, resolved. "I'm heading back to your place, Tim. We'll regroup. I'll try to get in touch with some people who maybe get in touch with people who could get in touch with people could track him down, so we can make the trade. I'll call my flatmate in London…"
"Make the trade?" Martha asked. "What are you, a briefcase full of money?"
"No, no," Stephanie said, lightly, sarcastically. "Daniel's already got oodles of those. He couldn't care less about those."
They arrived back at the estate within a few minutes, no one having said another word. Stephanie was the driver, and she was determined, and frankly, no one had any alternatives that were actually better.
"Wait, what's that?" Martha asked, having seen something strange outside the car window.
"What's what?" Tim wondered.
"Up there…"
"Oh, shit! Stephanie, stop!" the Doctor spat, looking where Martha had been looking.
Stephanie slammed on the breaks, and the Doctor nearly fell out of the car trying to get outside to investigate.
They all piled out, and looked up to the roof where the Doctor's gaze had gone.
Against a backdrop of moonlight, they could now see three men on the roof of the fifteen-story estate building. Two were standing – one of the two was swigging from a bottle. The third man was sitting in a chair, dangerously close to the ledge. They could just about make out his red hoodie in the dimness.
Cliffhanger! Almost literally!
Thank you for reading... please leave a review, let me know what you're thinkin'! :-)
