Benny rubbed her eyes and sighed. A single red rose still sat waiting in her dreams, drifting from one to the next, always a gift from someone particularly close to her. She was glad to get to go back to it. To a cloudless evening lit by a million stars, standing together, alone. But she couldn't sleep anymore, want to or not, so Bernice pushed it back to her mind.
She checked the clock on the bedside table. Nearly midnight- how long had she slept in?
Benny groaned, pulling on cargo pants and her brown leather jacket- the one that hadn't been temporarily put out of commission by vomit. She still looked a bit sickly, but it was probably because she hadn't gotten any nutrition for over twelve hours. At least the rashes seemed to be gone, their only remnants being the scabbing from where she'd been scratching at them.
Bernice stepped out into the hall and stretched her arms. Remembering what had been said before she got ushered off to bed, a hand pinched the bridge of her nose.
"He said he'd be taking a tour, where the hell did the Doctor wander off to? Probably distracted somewhere." She sent out a quick ping from her holowatch. 'Your phone on?' but there came no reply, and she groaned. "Argh... Seems not. Guess I'm going looking for you... Again."
A clear voice interrupted her thinking aloud.
"He went somewhere with Joseph."
She hadn't even heard him walking up to her, his steps were just so quiet. Considering the general sense of foreboding that usually came with his approach though, it was rather a failure on the part of someone so familiar to at least not notice that sort of thing. Benny ran up to the man making his way towards her room, meeting him halfway. "Brax, so good to see you. I was just worried because he tends to get lost, which really shouldn't be a problem- but it is. Because he's really quite stubborn and wanders off and hates asking for help."
He shrugged. "I'm sure I can track his biodata signature inside the Collection. And if not, I can always track Joseph."
She raised an eyebrow. "You have that?"
"Well, presuming it's the same as our Doctor's."
Braxiatel pulled a small datapad out of his jacket and started tapping away, humming a little as he went. Benny tried peeking over, but couldn't quite get a look at her angle. "Ah. Yes. Hopefully. That screen seems awfully small though. I'd like to see... Well, not that much- just a tiny bit... interested to know what comes up. You know. With him being from a different universe and all."
He melodramatically placed the free hand over his hearts and chuckled. "Bernice, are you trying to peep at my brother's DNA profile? How scandalous..."
She raised an eyebrow and laughed a little too. "More scandalous than you having detailed DNA records from everybody who's so much as blinked at the planetoid? Also, he's not really your brother."
Brax offered a thin, playful smile, but ignored the latter comment- despite their obvious mutual resentment, there was still a faint sentimental fondness- from nostalgia if nothing else. "Well, that's just a basic security measure. What if we were attacked by Zygons, hmm?"
"I just want to see if he shows up- come on, it's not that hard. See, nothing to-'' subtly he gave in and held her torso to help her lean in for a better read, pulling her to his chest. Heat rose in her cheeks and she turned her head away. "Uhhh... Nevermind." Pushing her hands back at him, she muttered under her breath, "Back away, back away..."
"Everything alright, Benny?" he asked, utterly oblivious.
"It's fine. Perfectly fine!" she insisted, then grimaced. "Oh, look over there. Our idiot. Oi!"
Despite the Doctor eventually managing to get back to her office, Joseph was nowhere to be found. Of course he'd wandered off. He stumbled up to Benny, panting. "Huff- Got the ping. I was looking for you, worried you were lost. It's a big place after all."
"I'm the lost one? This place was my home for years, I know my way around. Also, I literally just woke up, you condescending prick," she reminded him, scrunching up her face and running a hand through messy hair.
"Worried she was lost? Honestly, you underestimate Bernice."
"...I may have taken a few wrong turns myself..." he muttered.
"You're an idiot. A bloody crukking idiot."
"You said."
Braxiatel looked down at his datapad, checking where he'd be needing to go next, or if he'd be able to get to go and rest properly himself- something he hadn't managed to do in several days. Mild anxiety about her had kept him up, even before he knew she was ill. Now that he knew she was safe though- after he returned the time ring, if Brax was lucky he might just get a long, dreamless sleep. If he wasn't, he'd be having nightmares. "Right, well, now that you're back, Doctor, Benny should eat something."
She clapped her hands together and waved them off. "Yeah, yeah. I'm craving a sandwich. Something with ham."
"I wouldn't mind one myself, actually," the Doctor responded.
"I'll go get us something then. Unlike you, I won't get lost on the way to the kitchens."
"Hmph. It better be good."
Benny left the Doctor alone for a minute and got closer to Braxiatel, with words spoken quietly and an air of curiosity. "Come to think of it, Brax- why were you there at my room as soon as I got up?"
The Time Lord looked ever so slightly uncomfortable. She didn't think it would be an awkward question, so the reaction definitely got a look from her. He spent a few seconds thinking of an answer, then cleared his throat. "You could say I was... passing by. Nothing important."
She believed him about this just barely more than she believed the idea of the Doctor being a competent pilot. "Nothing important... at a quarter to midnight. Uh huh."
He brushed it off, letting himself appear disinterested. "Exactly as I said. Nothing important. Nothing important at all." He paused. "-By the way, I've finished repairing your time ring. I'll return it to you after you've eaten."
"Thanks. I'll... catch up with you later then? See you in your office?"
Bernice split with Brax after a short hug and walked the Doctor towards the main kitchens, finally taking the lead where she should. It wasn't a long distance, but the old man had been up walking all day, so grunted and sighed, aching. Benny rolled her eyes at his behaviour.
"Joseph knows the layout of this place. If you wanted to see the most things with the least effort, you really should've stayed with him," she scolded. "Anyways. We're here."
The Doctor slid himself into a chair as Benny got to the meat storage unit, staring deep into the cavern's worth of flesh. None of it was real. Well, yes- it was really meat. But it was artificially grown via perfectly replicating the cell structure, proteins and enzymes- not from animals. Whenever Bernice was forced to eat the product of a real animal, she gagged- however that didn't stop her from liking the taste if her conscience was scot-free.
Since it was a commonly used food item, the cheaper ham was close by. Lugging it over into the laser-slicer, Benny absentmindedly set it to cut off six paper-thin pieces, nearly also making it slice off a finger by accident. She winced at the small burn it offered before she could pull a hand away. With a sigh of relief at not having a severe enough injury to need to go back to the medical wing, the bread was easier now she was caring enough to pay attention.
Bernice emerged from the pantry with two ham sandwiches to meet the waiting Doctor. He was looking over a holoprint, something from her medscan from the looks of things. When he caught sight of her, he beckoned her over to the table.
He pointed at the hologram for her as she started work on her food, nodding along at whatever he was saying.
"Summerfield, I've been analyzing the genetic sequence of the Krynoid strain you contracted. It appears to have been artificial in origin. We haven't gone anywhere they'd have that lately, has there been anyone you've come across that could spread it to you? Either indirectly or wanting to cause you harm?"
Bernice froze at that as the gears in her head turned for a minute or so. A moment of realization hit and she shot up in her chair with a fiery look in her eyes.
"The Master. He did it! The bastard!"
The Doctor's eyes widened. "When did you encounter him?!"
That was a hard thing to have to answer, so she went back to nibbling at the meat, shifting back towards a more casual tone. "Last week. Plastered. Betelgeuse IV. Don't remember any of it, but judging by the texts in the data link history I may or may not have... kissed him."
He raised an eyebrow disapprovingly, after a bite of his own. "And you didn't consider that he might have drugged your drink."
She rolled her eyes. "You know I've shared wine with him quite a few times, nothing like that. Still stupid, but I'm not that careless. And I can tell when there's something up with my liquor!"
"Alright, point taken. But it was still wildly irresponsible to even stay in the same room as him," he stated.
As if she hadn't already had this conversation, Benny gave the stock answers and just wanted it over with. "I get that, thanks. Just don't tell Brax that I accepted anything from him. Another lecture about that particular meeting is exactly what I don't need right now."
"I wasn't actually planning on informing him of anything you wouldn't want me to, Bernice. In fact, while I did scold you about being careful with what you consume while under the influence, the location of origin was actually very likely in the palm of your right hand."
"That's where I started getting those rashes- it's all coming together now. -Gotta go!"
Benny got up from her seat and rushed out with the remains of her sandwich, not even doing so much as saying goodbye.
A fire crackled in the hearth, and there was a small cup of fresh, hot tea resting on the desk in front of him. This area was darker than the rest of the mansionhouse, and completely windowless- using paintings of the Collection's grounds as a stand-in. All for privacy. As extravagant and ostentatious as the rest though, of course. A painting of Venus even watched from overhead. He allowed few to come here much at all, let alone without an invite.
There weren't a lot of things to do, so Braxiatel returned to the trans-temporal data link. There had been a few words or file types he set up notifications for in the instance of them appearing. Narvin obviously wouldn't approve of anyone else monitoring it- it was meant to have been CIA at one point, but he didn't happen to care much about what Narvin thought, and even less about what went on there most of the time.
But somebody had mentioned his name, and Brax liked knowing when people were talking about him on things like this. Not that anyone could do anything about him with his position nowadays, but it was nice to be sure. The start of what he caught were the words of a young-looking woman with long, dark hair, judging by the picture.
'Braxiatel- that surname's familiar.'
And now, he made his grand entrance, smug and proud, speaking into the communicator with poise and charm. "Irving Braxiatel. You may have heard of my collection."
'I think I may have cased it, actually. Don't worry, I didn't take anything.'
That forced an impressively shocked and indignant expression, straight from a high point of ego, and that wasn't exactly easy. Fortunately, nobody could view this sudden break in composure. "I beg your pardon!"
'I said I didn't take anything. Ask the coordinator. It's probably in my file.'
He hesitated at that, and made a completely baffled expression. "What?" But she had a CIA file- which meant one or more of a few things, none of them particularly good. She was a spy, ex-diplomat, terrorist, time agent, or Rassilon forbid it- a renegade Time Lord. He was having trouble stringing words together now. "The... Narvin?"
''The Narvin.' Yes. But don't get me wrong, it's an impressive collection. I decided you weren't a moustache-twirling villain so, you get to keep it.'
The audacity of it all was almost impressive. It was actually managing to rile Braxiatel up, and making him feel particularly flippant. "First of all, I would twirl my moustache if I still had one. Second of all, who are you to decide whether or not I get to keep things that I paid for?"
'I expect you've not heard of me And exactly, you paid for 'em fair and square. No exploitation. Unless you're telling me you didn't. In which case, I'd change your locks.'
"Oh no, it's all above board." he denied.
'Oh yes, because people who are above board say that. And now that you bring it up, it did seem a bit too neat...'
He did a quick bit of hacking- which was embarrassingly easy- (Narvin only had a couple of computers left nowadays with the situation on Gallifrey, so security was bound to be lacking,) and checked the private user profile sending that particular signal. It was sourced to someone named 'The Redjay.' The actual name, if she had one- wasn't on record here.
Brax rolled his eyes at the stranger. "Look... Redjay, is it? I'm preserving history. Not everything has been acquired in a manner the Time Lords would approve of."
'Oh really? Do tell.'
He cleared his throat, falling into a somewhat pleading tone that luckily nobody would actually hear. "Well... some things need to be acquired by playing fast and loose with certain... laws of time."
'Now see, that bit I have some experience with. So I know that it's sketchy. And yes, I'm the Redjay. Did I forget to sa-'
But the conversation was cut short when one Bernice Summerfield violently burst through the door, as the only woman who was close enough to him that didn't need to so much as knock around here. He'd certainly be making a note of this 'Redjay' person for later- either get her in his corner or get rid of her if things went further, but apparently now was not the time. Flicking it off quickly, he settled back into a more relaxed position as she bolted in.
"Brax!"
"Ah- Benny. I take it you want your time ring back?" he asked, resting his chin above folded hands.
She slowed down, then nodded. "Well- uh, yes. But we have an idea of where I got the parasite from."
"Not some dangerous adventure that Doctor of yours brought you on?" he seemed sceptical, to say the least.
"Shocking enough, no actually- that planet you picked me up from last week."
"Oh- Betelguese IV? You got it from- oh." His expression darkened, storm clouds brewing behind his eyes. "Well-"
"Look, I definitely want him tracked down again for that-" but she was interrupted.
He fell into his trademark eerie calmness, quiet and stern. "That man is my problem now, Bernice. Come near you again and he's dead."
"Uhhh... I think the Doctor's got that bit covered. But also... I don't particularly want to be involved with the search this time. It was enough of a wild goose chase last attempt," she added.
Brax's face softened, just a little. Not completely, of course. His general demeanour shifted when it was with Benny already- but if she was about to say something in particular, he'd rather appear at his best. "And why exactly would you inform me of this if you don't want me to aid in your search and see him gone once and for all?"
"Could I hang around? Not for long, just need to- well. Clear my head, I suppose?"
She reached onto the desk, and he gently handed the time ring back over to Bernice. She slipped it back on her wedding finger. A brief pang of guilt and jealousy ran across him for it, but Braxiatel immediately buried that thought.
"It would likely be best if you spent at least a few days here to fully recover. Make sure you're well before running off with him again."
"Yeah. You're right. I'm- still a bit tired. Maybe... we should take about this... later-"
Benny yawned, blinked a few times, then fell into a chair- immediately nodding off back to sleep again. It had been a long day, even if she hadn't actually been awake for most of it. Perhaps Braxiatel would stay awake, keep things comfortable. Give her a blanket?
But just for now.
