Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, I only own my OC Time Lady, the Hatter.
The Three Doctors and Hatters, Part 1
Unit Laboratory
The Hatter lightly swung her legs as she flickered through the mechanical magazine that she was reading ideally, perched up on the edge of the lab's main work bench. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed the Doctor eyeing her with a mildly disapproving expression crossing his lined face, before quickly returning his attention back to the small device that he was fiddling with from the TARDIS. The Time Lady couldn't help being inwardly amused by his disapproval of her habit of sitting on top of the bench, he would never dare to attempt to scold her, he was far to intelligent to realise that he would only be opening himself up to the chance for her to scold him in return for something else, but it didn't stop him from throwing her discreet looks whenever he thought she wasn't looking. He wasn't aware, apparently, that she was doing it completely on purpose, just her attempt to try and relieve some of the boredom of constantly being stuck on Earth, it wasn't her fault if he was simply too easy to stir.
Several minutes of complete silence went by, broken only by the turning of the magazines pages and the faint tapping of the back of her heels hitting the cupboard. The Hatter struggled to keep her eyes fixed on the page of a very shinny and clean looking sports car engine, while she noticed out of the corner of her eye the Doctor's hand twitch very slightly, barely noticeable to a human's eyes but so very clear to that of a Time Lady's. She was starting to get to him, she was rather impressed he hadn't snapped before now, but she was quite curious to see how long it would take. Blimey, boredom truly could drive one to astonishing lengths…
The Doctor cleared his throat, making the Time Lady lower her magazine to peer over to him, her expression completely innocent as she meet his knowing blue eyes, "Would you mind?" he gave her a polite smile, though the Time Lady could see the annoyance bubbling beneath the surface.
She sighed heavily and made a rather great show of slipping off the bench, deciding that she truly didn't wish to fight with her best friend today, not just because she was bored, "It's such a lovely day, Doctor," she remarked, casting the window across the other side of the lab an almost longing look, "Perhaps we ought to take a spin in Bessie?" she suggested hopefully, giving him a quick grin.
"The idea is very tempting, my dear, Hatter," he agreed, his eyes lingering on the window himself, before shaking his head and looking back to her, "But I doubt very much if the Brigadier would approve very much of us abandoning our post".
"And that has stopped us in the past?" she raised her eyebrows, leaning casually against the bench, tucking her left foot behind her right ankle.
He shot her an amused smile, full of fondness and mischievousness that one would not expect from his outward appearance of an older gentlemen, his eyes dancing as he gently placed the device he had been working on down onto the bench, moving to stand beside her, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Are we feeling rebellious today?"
She flashed him a grin, her bare arm brushing against his velvet blazer, "Aren't I always feeling rebellious, Doctor?"
"You never have dealt with rules and constrictions well, this is true," he smiled widely, his expression soft as he looked at her.
"You're hardly one to talk".
He laughed, making her smile happily in return, "Very true, my dear," he winked at her playfully, unable to help leaning closer to her, until his arm was pressed against hers, feeling the warmth spreading through the fabric. It was very pleasant, even more so given that he was able to smell the faint smell of apples coming from her hair standing so close to her. It was just so…her.
The laboratory double doors swung open and the Doctor very nearly flinched away from the Time Lady, even though nothing had been going on, he still felt as though he'd been caught in some act. A guilty concisions, perhaps, over what he had been thinking about before the interruption, but the emotion quickly changed to annoyance that his alone time with the Hatter had been so suddenly interrupted.
"Oh…" Jo Grant paused as she stood in the doorway, looking between the Time Lords with wide eyes, "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"
Yes, the Doctor thought with a hint of exasperation, forcing himself to put some distance between himself and the clearly oblivious Time Lady, returning to the device he had been fiddling with before. So close, so painfully close, he could very well have finally found the courage to tell her how he felt, ignoring the less then helpful voice at the back of his head that scoffed. He would tell her, he just…well, he wasn't sure what he was waiting for, he just knew that the moment would come one day, soon.
"Of course not, Jo," the Hatter shook her head, giving her a bright smile, "We were just discussing the possibility of taking Bessie for a spin, since it's so terribly boring today".
"I wouldn't say that too loudly, Hatter," Jo warned her, stepping further into the room, letting the doors swing closed behind her, "The Brigadier will have you spending all afternoon doing paperwork," she pulled a face, which made the Time Lady laugh.
The laboratory doors swung open again and the Hatter and Jo instantly stopped laughing, exchanging a look as the Time Lady coughed slightly to try covering up her giggles as the Brigadier himself marched into the room, looking very important and frowning sternly as he eyed the three of them. When he looked at you like that, it was enough to make anyone feel as though they were about to be court marshalled. Behind him, a second, dark haired man followed, wearing a grey tweed blazer and a white checked shirt with a tie, and cardigan waistcoat. It wasn't his appearance, however, that caught the Time Lords attention, rather the rectangular orange box that he was carrying with black sides and a brown leather briefcase.
"Ah, Doctor, Hatter," the Brigadier nodded to them as he strolled further into the room, seeming quite pleased to see them. Instantly, the Time Lords straightened and exchanged a brief look, rather curious to know just what he had in store for them today, "This is Doctor Tyler," he introduced the second man, "He works with cosmic rays".
"Oh, how do you do?" the Doctor smiled politely at Doctor Tyler, offering him his hand in greeting.
Tyler returned his smile, carefully shifting the box in his arms and sitting his briefcase down on the floor, straightening to accept his hand, "Very nice to meet you, sir…"
The Hatter quickly shook his hand as the Doctor released him, smiling brightly, "Pleasure, Doctor Tyler," she said, shaking his hand three times before letting go and bringing her hands together behind her back, "Oh, and this is our assistant, Jo Grant," she nodded to Jo, who shook hands with Tyler too, giving him a friendly smile, "Cosmic rays, you say?" she raised her eyebrows curiously, looking at the box, "How very interesting, the study of radiation emanating from space".
The Brigadier cleared his throat, drawing the Time Lords attention to him, "Doctor Tyler called us," he informed them, giving them a significant look.
The Time Lady was even more curious now, wondering just how a scientist such as Doctor Tyler would even know about UNIT, let alone attempt to contact them. Research into cosmic rays was interesting, she wouldn't mind having a look at his research so far, but when one travelled through time and space, such research was really quite trivial when compared to other branches of science, such as time travel, but then again, it was the twentieth century in human history. Still, clearly the man had an important reason for wishing to contact UNIT and that in itself was of great interest to her, people didn't just contact UNIT.
"Jo…" the Hatter glanced at the young woman beside her, deciding to play host, "Would you mind getting us some tea?"
Jo looked rather displeased, but still nodded and slipped out of the room to do as she was asked, more then used to making tea and coffee for the Time Lords, since they tended to be so busy with whatever work and little projects of theirs that they barely even seemed to take a break unless she made them by making tea for them. Sometimes, very rarely, the Hatter might make a pot of tea, or even rarer still, the Doctor might bring a cup of something for the Time Lady if she was concentrating on something, but most of the time they left it to Jo. She suspected it was probably mainly to get her out of their hair for a while so that they could work in peace.
"So, Doctor Tyler," the Doctor began as the doors swung closed behind Jo's retreating back, turning back towards the man, "How might we be of help to you?"
"Ah, yes," Tyler nodded, and stepped forward to carefully place his orange box down on the laboratory bench, sitting his briefcase down beside it, the Time Lords casting it a curious look. He took a step back, focusing his attention back onto them, "This morning I got called out to Minsbridge Wild Life Sanctuary," he told them, "One of the balloons transporting this…" he pointed to the orange box as he spoke, "…device had come down on the property and the owners contacted me to come collect it. It's not unusual, you can't always predict where the balloons might come down or when…"
"But something was unusual about this situation, yes?" the Hatter cut in, peering curiously at the orange box, which she could see now had Doctor's Tyler's name written across one of the sides and the contact details for the Wessex University. She knew already what the device was, of course, but obviously something odd had happened, otherwise Doctor Tyler wouldn't currently be speaking to them. A strange reading, perhaps? That didn't exactly follow with his story.
"Quite so," he agreed, frowning at the box, "I drove to the Sanctuary myself and spoke briefly to the owner's wife, Mrs Ollis, who informed me that her husband had found the balloon and was waiting with it. So I went to meet the man, it didn't take me long to track him down, either. He was standing right by the balloon, he even waved at me, but by the time I drove around the bend to reach him…" he shook his head, his frown deepening, "He'd vanished".
The Time Lady blinked, glancing across to the Doctor, who was looking rather confused, "He vanished?" she repeated, looking back to the man, her eyebrows rising.
He nodded again, "I know he was there," he insisted firmly, perhaps concerned that they might think he had imagined it, "I saw him wave, clear as anything. So there you are," he looked between the Time Lords, who exchanged another puzzled but curious look, just as the laboratory doors swung open again and Jo appeared, carefully balancing a tea tray with six blue and white cups on it, "Mrs Ollis says her husband's down there, I see him wave, get there and there he is, gone," he took a cup off the tray as Jo offered it to him, the Brigadier reaching across to take one too, before she moved across to the Time Lords. Tyler glanced at the Brigadier beside him, "So I got in touch with you lot".
"Well, quite right too," the Brigadier nodded to him, just as the Doctor and the Hatter, flashing Jo a grateful smile, took their own cups from off the tray. He lifted his cup up towards his mouth before pausing, looking across to the Time Lords, "That's what we're here for, eh, Doctor? Hatter?"
The Doctor lowered his cup, swallowing his mouthful, "Yes, of course".
"We're always delighted to help," the Hatter added, giving Doctor Tyler a fleeting smile from over the rim of her cup, "It certainly does sound quite interesting, a vanishing case worthy of Sherlock Holmes," she playfully nudged the Doctor's side, thinking of his Inverness cloak that he did so enjoy wearing in this body.
"I always rather thought of you as Holmes, my dear," the Doctor remarked fondly, giving her a knowing look, no doubt knowing exactly why her mind had jumped to that comparison in the first place.
"Oh, but you do pull off that cloak so well and technically, I am the only one out of the two of us who is a properly trained medical doctor".
Jo shook her head at their antics, not even bothering to get involved as she placed the empty tea tray down on a table off to the side of the main laboratory space, moving to take a closer look of the orange box, "What exactly is this machine for?" she asked, looking it over curiously.
"Cosmic Ray Research, Miss Grant," Tyler told her, sticking one hand inside his trouser pocket, while the other grasped his cup.
She looked up in mild surprise, glancing at him, "And you still use balloons?"
"That's right," he confirmed, nodding, "We may not be NASA, but we get the results. Inside that…" he gestured towards the box, holding his cup in his hand, "Is the most sophisticated Cosmic Ray Monitoring device between here and Cape Kennedy. You see, I was going to get in touch with you people anyway, even before this business," he turned slightly towards the Brigadier, lifting his cup up to his mouth.
"Oh?" the Brigadier eyed him curiously, "Why is that?"
He lowered the cup and glanced at his briefcase, sitting his cup down on the bench, "Can you give me that briefcase, please?" he asked the Time Lords, since they were closest to it.
The Hatter swallowed her mouthful of tea, reaching out to grasp the briefcase handle, "Here you are," she passed the case across Jo, who was still looking at the box, placing the case down within reach of Tyler before returning to lightly sipping her tea.
Tyler slipped his hand into his inner blazer pocket, retrieving a pair of black framed glasses and sliding them up his nose, "Well, we've been getting some pretty funny results on these latest tests," he commented, pulling his case towards him, unlocking the small latches. He reached inside the bag as he continued, "Now this is the first one you see…" he pulled a x-ray picture out, passing it to Jo, who quickly passed it to the Time Lady as she and the Doctor leaned closer to see, the Hatter holding the image up to the light. The image was quite large, covering almost the entire x-ray, though it didn't resemble anything, "Ah, this is normal," Tyler waved towards the image, before reaching back into his case, "Now then, this is why I'm here…" he pulled a second x-ray out his bag, while the Hatter carefully stood on her tip-toes to peg the first x-ray to a line running above the bench, "Last week's test. Now, look at that".
He passed the new x-ray to Jo again, who handed it to the Hatter. She held it up to the light as she and the Doctor looked up to the much more narrow image on the x-ray, so very different from the first, normal x-ray. Alarmingly different.
"Good grief," the Doctor blinked, staring at the image.
"That is vastly different, isn't it?" the Hatter muttered, frowning deeply at the image, her mind already starting to try and piece together exactly what she was seeing.
"Yeah," Tyler nodded, watching them observing the x-ray, his expression grim, "Nobody knows what to make of it. Well, they've all seen it," he shrugged lightly, "Yanks, and the other lot," he turned his attention back onto his case, fiddling around with something inside it, seeming to be searching.
The Brigadier frowned, "Oh?" he eyed Doctor Tyler, seeming rather displeased with the notion that there might be another 'lot' who had seen these very odd images.
He didn't seem to notice, however, still searching for something in his case, "Now here somewhere…oh yes," he pulled stack of white paper out of his case, looking at whatever was written upon it, "Now this is what really put the tin hat on it. From that deep space monitor Houston put up," he turned towards the Brigadier, showing the results to him, while the Time Lady looked on with amusement, "Just take a look at those readings…"
"Er…" the Brigadier glanced at the paper and quickly over towards the Time Lords, looking mildly panicked that Tyler was asking him to look at something he couldn't understand in the slightest. The Hatter struggled to hold back a laugh, catching the Doctor's amused eye, "The Doctor and the Hatter's the…" he began hastily, looking back to Tyler.
"What?"
"The Doctor and the Hatter's…they know all about…" he cleared his throat, nodding over to the Time Lords again, his hands firmly clasped behind his back.
Tyler blinked and looked back over to the Time Lords, the Hatter giving him a bright smile and wiggling her fingers in acknowledgment, "Oh, I see," he turned away from him, holding the paper to the Hatter.
"Ah, thank you, Doctor Tyler," the Hatter nodded to him, accepting the paper. She edged slightly closer to the Doctor, allowing them both to clearly see the graph results running across the paper, flipping the page to find that the data continued over the other side. Her eyes winded, startled as her eyes flew down the page, "Goodness me…" she muttered, shaking her head.
The Doctor leaned closer, looking just as alarmed as the Time Lady, "Well, it's travelling faster than light," he reached out to flip one of the pages, the data simply compiling that all the more.
"Yes," Tyler agreed, watching them examining the results, "And it can't, can it?"
"Hmm," he hummed, frowning as he continued looking at the data. The Hatter was shaking her head slowly, running her finger down one of the data columns on the page, but the information spoke for itself. The cosmic radiation was travelling faster than light, something that really shouldn't be possible.
"I don't know what to make of it," Tyler sighed, reaching up to slip his glasses off, "It's come all that way, through millions of stay systems. It must have been directed, and it must been directed at us. Now why?" he looked back across to the Doctor and the Hatter, still looking over the printout.
"Why indeed, Professor Tyler, why indeed".
"Thing is, Doctor, Hatter," the Brigadier watched the Time Lords, his eyes flickering between them, still busy looking over the information, "Is there anything I can do?"
"Yes," the Doctor said distractedly, his eyes still fixed on the paperwork as the Hatter turned to the last page, her frown only growing, "Pass me a silicon rod, will you?"
The Brigadier did as he asked, picking up a clear, silicon rod that had been left sitting on the end of the bench by him, passing it to Jo, who handed it to the Time Lady, who, without taking her eyes off the paper, gave it to the Doctor with an eye roll, knowing perfectly what he intended to do with the rod. The Doctor caught her eye, giving her a little wink as he reached out to grasp his cup from where he had left it on the bench, using the rod to stir the cups contents as a makeshift spoon. At the other end of the bench, the Brigadier shook his head in exasperation, while the Doctor loudly tapping the rod against the brim of his cup to shake off any drips of tea.
"Yes," he sighed, "What I meant was, is there anything UNIT can do about this space lightening business?"
"Lightening?" the Hatter looked up from the printout, settling her eyes on the Brigadier, considering his words with a faint frown, "Well, I suppose that you could call it that, it does resemble it somewhat…" she said slowly, before shaking her head firmly, turning her gaze back onto the two x-ray images pegged to the line running above their heads, "But it's far from accurate, calling it compressed light would be far better".
"Hmm," the Doctor nodded thoughtfully, eyeing the x-rays, "A sort of controlled superlucent emission," he added, rising his cup up to his mouth.
"A what?" the Brigadier questioned blankly.
"He means it travels faster than light," Jo clarified for him, also peering up at the x-rays, earning an approving look with the Time Lady.
"Thank you, Miss Grant".
"Tell me, Professor," the Doctor lowered his cup, casting his eyes over the orange box sitting on the bench, ignoring the slightly annoyed look the Brigadier shot himself and the Time Lady. It was hardly their fault if he didn't understand the terminology; he just wished to not look foolish in front of Doctor Tyler, "Is this machine of yours functioning properly?"
"Far as I can tell," Doctor Tyler replied, frowning very slightly, glancing back over to the Doctor, "Haven't developed that latest plate yet, of course".
"Then I suggest that you do so immediately and let us know the results of your findings," he instructed him quickly, and Doctor Tyler nodded. He looked across to the Hatter and Jo, "Ladies, we are going to take a look at the scene of the crime".
"Right," Jo agreed at once.
The Hatter broke into a wide, slightly teasing grin, "Oh, go on," she lightly nudged his arm, making the Doctor sigh in mock exasperation, knowing already what she wanted, "Say it, you know you want to, Holmes…" she winked playfully at him.
The Doctor tried hard to look stern, but he failed miserably, the corner of his mouth twitching as he linked his arm with hers, "Shall we, Doctor Watson?" he raised his eyebrows, unable to resist playing along, not when she looked at him like that with that glimmer in her eyes.
She laughed, delighted before she remembered that they still had company, "Oh, Doctor Tyler…" she forced herself to grow serious, looking back over her shoulder to the man, "Do please make yourself at home while we're away, you ought to be able to find everything you need. I'm quite sure Alistair will be able to supply anything that we don't have available," she smiled, inclining her head towards the Brigadier.
"Oh, right," Doctor Tyler blinked slightly, seeming mildly surprised as he glanced at the Brigadier and back to her, "Er, thanks".
"No worries," she wiggled her fingers at him and the Brigadier in a quick goodbye, before allowing the Doctor to lightly pull her away, across the room to where the hatstand was beside the door, Jo already pulling on her very fluffy coat. She and the Doctor dropped each other's arms to pull their own coats on, the Doctor's Inverness cloak and her tan coloured trench coat.
They swiftly left the room and began to make their way through the hallways to the garage, leaving Doctor Tyler behind to finish developing the most recent plate. Hopefully, by the time they returned, it would prove to hold some clue as to just what exactly was going on, but first, they had a mysterious disappearance case to investigate, the Hatter probably shouldn't be nearly as excited by the prospect as she was, considering that someone could very likely be in a great deal of danger, but she just couldn't help herself. No more boredom for her.
…..
The Doctor, the Hatter, and Jo soon arrived at the Minsbridge Wild Life Sanctuary where they were greeted by Mrs Ollis, an older woman and wife of the missing Mr Ollis. She proved to be quite useful, once they had reassured her that they were attempting to help locate her husband, leading them to the very spot that her husband had seemingly vanished from in the middle of a large field, just on the edge of a rather large lake that had a number of ducks and other waterbirds inhabiting it. It was actually rather lovely, the grass very green and an aged tree looming over them as they approached the spot that Mrs Ollis insisted that her husband had been the moment he disappeared, the sound of the birds lightly chirping around them only adding to the idyllic feel of the Sanctuary. Sadly, however, they were not there to enjoy the birds and fresh air, they had worked to do.
"This here's the place, all right," Mrs Ollis said firmly, while the Doctor and the Hatter knelt on the leaf strewn grass, the Doctor carefully flashing the spot with his sonic screwdriver, scanning for radiation, while the Time Lady plucked a piece of grass from the spot, eyeing it critically.
"Are you sure, Mrs Ollis?" Jo asked the woman from where she was standing, frowning slightly as she looked around the rather large field they stood in, apparently not convinced.
"Well, the Land Rover tracks stop here, don't they? I told you, you're too late. The other gentlemen's been and gone".
The Hatter carefully brought the blade of grass up to her mouth and lightly bit the very tip of t, instantly pulling a disgusted face and dropping it back onto the ground, "Yuck," she stuck out her tongue as she rose, her nose wrinkled, ignoring the strange looks Mrs Ollis and Jo were giving her, "The grass taste's horrid".
"You're not supposed to eat grass, Hatter," Jo told her patiently, shaking her head at the Time Lady, "It's supposed to taste horrible".
She gave her a mildly exasperated look, absently straightening her coat, "I am well aware of that, Jo," she said with a hint of disapproval, making Jo blush very slightly under her gaze, feeling slightly foolish. She hated when the Doctor and the Hatter looked at her like that, as though she was intentionally being silly and…well, human, "The unpleasant taste of grass was not what I was referring to, but rather the metallic taste that certainly should not be present," she glanced back down at the Doctor's still bowed head, examining the spot, "Something very strange occurred here".
"Indeed," the Doctor agreed, frowning as he lifted his head to meet her eyes for a moment, before looking over to Mrs Ollis, "You haven't seen your husband since this morning, Mrs Ollis?"
"No," Mrs Ollis replied, shaking her, "Nothing unusual in that," she went on, not seeming to be in anyway concerned, "Oh, he'll be off somewhere. We shan't see him now until dark. I'll look for him if you like".
He slowly rose, exchanging a brief look with the Time Lady, both suspecting that Mr Ollis wasn't anywhere that his wife might be able to find him right now, "No," he said, turning back to her, deciding that it wouldn't be worth it trying to explain, "No, it's not important".
"Please yourself," she shrugged, looking between them, "I'll be getting on then," she turned and began to walk away, the wind lightly blowing the scarf around her head.
They watched her go for a moment, before Jo looked back to the Time Lords, eyeing their deep frowns and the hint of worry in the Time Lady's hazel eyes, "It is important, isn't it?" she asked them, already feeling the first hints of nerves washing over her.
"Yes, Jo," the Doctor said grimly, while the Hatter sighed, "Yes, it's much more important than I…" he caught the Time Lady's eye, "…we thought".
"We need to return to UNIT HQ," the Hatter added firmly, her expression very serious and grave, not even looking at either of her companions. Jo instantly tensed, not at all liking it when the Hatter got like this, so serious and yet so calm, it was a sure sign that something very bad was about to happen, "Come along, you two".
Still without looking at either the Doctor or Jo, the Time Lady turned and began to set off through the field, back towards where they had left Bessie parked, the first drops of rain starting to fall from the grey sky. It had to be a bad omen when the weather seemed to be reflecting the Time Lords moods; either that or it was just Britain. More than likely the last one.
…..
By the time they had got on the road and driven back towards UNIT HQ, the rain had already hit them, forcing the Doctor to pull over briefly so that Jo and the Hatter could grab two large umbrellas out of the boot, since trying to put the top up on Bessie would take far too long for the Time Lords liking, both insisting that they needed to get back to base as soon as possible. So instead they drove back with the Hatter holding one large, bright yellow umbrella between herself and the Doctor's heads, while Jo sat in the back seat with a white and black checked one all to herself. Of course, by the time they had arrived and began driving through the entranceway of HQ, the worst of the rain had died down to just a few drops here and there. The Doctor drove Bessie up the long, rain soaked driveway and passed the front of the main building, instead driving them off around the side where the garages were located, pulling to a stop right outside Bessie's usual home and the Time Lords small workshop.
"Right," the Doctor began, pulling the handbrake on and slipping the car keys back inside his pocket, turning towards the Hatter, "Let's see what Doctor Tyler's found out about that plate".
The Hatter sighed slightly, carefully closing her umbrella and climbing out of her side of the car, "I do hope he had a bit more luck then we did," she remarked as she shook her closed umbrella off of raindrops, feeling slightly disappointed that their visit to the Sanctuary had proven quite fruitless. Of course, they now knew for certain that there was something odd going on, but what exactly that was and what might be causing it, was still somewhat of a mystery to them, and poor Mr Ollis still remained very much missing.
Jo hopped down from the car, leaving her own closed umbrella on the footwall of the back seat, when she frowned, catching sight of something, "What's that?" she suddenly asked, peering at a drain in the middle of the driveway.
The Time Lady glanced over to her, raising her eyebrows curiously when she followed her gaze, her eyes widening as she caught sight of the thing that had caught Jo's attention. Much to her own shock, a bright blue and red, shimmering and ever growing blob was beginning to rise up out of the drain, rippling as it moved, making a faint static-like noise. It was very large, appearing to be only growing in size the more that came up out of the drain, edging closer to herself and Jo.
"Jo, take my hand," the Hatter ordered her, reaching blindly for her hand, her eyes fixed steadily on the blob. Her hearts were racing in her chest, struggling to try and figure out what it was, but she had never seen anything like it before, but despite never having laid an eye on it before, every single instinct inside her was screaming that it was dangerous, that they needed to get as far away from that…thing.
"Jo!" the Doctor called urgently, standing on the other side of Bessie, "Hatter!" his eyes rapidly flew between the girls and the thing, whatever it was, fear growing inside his chest, just wanting to get them both as far away from it as possible".
"Shh, Doctor," the Time Lady hissed, swallowing hard, looking at the blob like a wild lion that might attack at any second, "We don't want to startle it," she murmured, not even sure if the blob knew that they were there, since it had yet to attack them, but she wasn't about to take that risk. She managed to grab Jo's hand, squeezing her fingers tightly, eyes still fixed on the blob, "We need to back slowly behind the car, understand, Jo?"
Jo nodded hurriedly, looking fearfully at the blob.
"Good, now on the count of three. One, two, three…!"
Without hesitating, the Hatter dropped Jo's hand and whirled back around, practically throwing herself back onto the front passenger seat of Bessie, while Jo scrambled over the back seats. The Time Lady winced as she accidently hit her knee against the steering wheel, the Doctor grabbing her arm and helping tug her the rest of the way, wrapping his arm around her waist as she clumsily landed beside him. It was slightly embarrassing, Jo was the one wearing the impractical heeled boots right now, while she was only wearing flats, but it was hardly the time be getting embarrassed. They turned back to watch as the blob grew on the other side of Bessie, now almost the same size as the little yellow car.
"What is it?" Jo asked, staring at the blob with wide eyes.
"When I tell you to run, you run," the Doctor said instead, his entire body tense, not taking his eyes off the blob, "Right, run!" he suddenly shouted.
Jo took off running, the Hatter and the Doctor right on her heels as they sprinted passed the garage and over to the edge of the concrete, throwing themselves behind a tree amongst the shrubbery. They had barely made it before a bright; blinding flash of white light filled the air before fading just as quickly, leaving the three of them blinking. Slowly, they peered around the trunk of the tree, only to find that Bessie had completely vanished, no sign of it ever even being there at all, but the glob still remained, seeming to be slowly shrinking back towards the drain once more.
"What happened?" Jo questioned, frowning in confusion, looking at the thing, "What is that?"
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted, watching as the blob disappeared back down the drain. He glanced at the Hatter, who was peering around him, partly pressed against his side to see, "Hatter, any ideas?"
"I've never seen anything like it before," the Hatter shook her head, really not liking not knowing. She carefully stepped around him, moving to stand in front of the tree, narrowing her eyes on the seemingly innocent drain, "And I very much hate not knowing," she huffed, annoyance lacing her voice.
Jo sighed sadly, "Poor old Bessie," she commented, looking at the place that the old car had been parked.
The Time Lady glanced back to her, giving her a small little smile, "Oh, she's a tough old thing," she said reassuringly, "I'm sure she'll be fine".
The Doctor shot her a fond smile, stepping out from behind the tree, reaching out to take her hand, "Never mind that, my dear," he said, looking between both women, "Come on".
He turned and began leading the way towards the main building, the Hatter following right beside him, her hand still held in his, while Jo quickly shot the drain one last weary look before moving to join them. they quickly made their way towards the building, mindful of any possible drains as they went, worried that the blob might come after again, but thankfully they managed to make it inside HQ without any further incident, moving swiftly through the corridors until turning the corner into the hallway of the laboratory.
"Well, where is he?" they could hear the Brigadier's voice sound from within the laboratory, drifting down the hallway towards them. He sounded rather impatient, though he apparently knew nothing yet of what had happened at the garage.
"Sorry, sir," Sergeant Benton's voice came next, speaking rather quickly, "We just couldn't find him. Doctor Tyler has just disappeared," the Doctor and the Hatter's footsteps faulted at that, exchanging a worried look, before quickly continuing down the hallway towards the double doors, "We've searched the grounds and the buildings, sir, and there's no sign of him," Benton went on, "Oh, and there was an explosion in the garage, sir".
"Explosion?" the Brigadier repeated, sounding alarmed, "What explosion? I heard nothing".
"That's because it wasn't an explosion," the Hatter said as she and the Doctor entered the laboratory, instantly drawing the Brigadier and Benton's attention. She looked between both men, letting go of the Doctor's hand as he began pulling his coat off, "Explosions tend to be far more noisy," she smiled faintly at Benton, slightly amused by his description of what had happened, which was nothing like an explosion in her mind.
Benton frowned slightly, "But there was a flash, Hatter," he pointed out, his hands clasped behind his back.
"A flash, yes, not an explosion," the Doctor nodded, absently passing his disregarded coat to Jo to hang up, before turning back towards both uniformed men, adjusting his ruffled sleeve cuff, "It was a release of kinetic energy".
"One of Bessie's gadgets misfire?" the Brigadier asked, raising his eyebrows.
Jo joined them once more, finishing up hanging up the Doctor's coat, "It's far more serious than that, Brigadier," she told him firmly, exchanging a look with the Hatter, still looking quite shaken after the incident at the garage.
The Brigadier frowned, eyeing her before glancing at the Time Lords, noting their grave expression, "You'd better check, Benton," he looked over to Benton, seeming to realise just how serious they were.
"Right, sir," Benton turned towards the door.
"I don't think that's wise," the Hatter cut in sharply, making Benton pause, turning slightly back towards them. She slipped her hands inside her coat pockets, shaking her head firmly as she looked between the two uninformed men, "No, in fact I highly suggest that you stay well away from the garage, just for the time being".
Benton moved back to stand beside Jo, looking at the Time Lady, "What shall I do, ma'am?"
"The drains," she said instantly, "I suggest you place a guard over them at once".
"The drains?"
"Yes, the drains!" the Doctor snapped impatiently, giving him a stern look, apparently in little mood to be wasting time, not that the Hatter could blame him. That thing that they had encountered outside had made her terribly nervous, just as it had apparently made the Doctor very tense, too. Every single Time Lady instinct inside her screamed that they needed to stay away from it, that it was deadly and extremely serious, made all the more worse if it was capable of just popping up out of the drains and disappearing once more. If it was capable of travelling through the plumbing, it could reach them from almost anywhere, just like the Basilisk in the second Harry Potter book…oh; she really wished she hadn't thought of that comparison. How terrifying, now she was going to be paranoid in every bathroom she entered for a week.
The Brigadier looked quickly back to Benton, "Put the men on standby, Benton," he ordered him.
"Right away, sir," Benton replied respectfully, turning and heading back towards the laboratory door, disappearing off down the hallway.
"All right, Brigadier," the Doctor began, moving around him to stand by the left end of the laboratory bench, "Now then, what's the situation?" he frowned, glancing at the open lid of the Cosmic Ray Machine that Doctor Tyler had left on the bench.
The Brigadier glanced at the Hatter, his expression growing very grim, "Well, I've just had a call from Mrs Ollis," he informed them, the Hatter getting a sinking feeling in her stomach, noting his expression, "Her husband hasn't returned".
"Oh, no," Jo said sadly, looking quickly to him.
"Poor man," the Hatter sighed, shaking her head as she moved to lean against the bench, "Though, it's hardly surprising to us, is it, Doctor?" she looked over towards him, only to blink, catching sight of what he was looking at, clipped to the x-ray viewer sitting on the table up against the wall, apparently Doctor Tyler had manage to develop the latest plate before mysteriously disappearing, just like Mr Ollis. She closed her eyes, reaching up to rub her forehead, "Oh, dear me…."
"Yes, I'm afraid so," the Doctor agreed, his eyes fixed on the new x-ray image, clearly visible with the viewer shining the light through the film.
The Brigadier didn't seem to be paying much attention to them, however, "We're cooperating with the local Police," he continued, not even glancing at them, "But we have got fifteen hundred acres to cover".
"Well, I shouldn't bother going on looking for him, Brigadier," the Doctor said lightly, unclipping the new x-ray from off the viewer and holding it out in front of the Brigadier, who blinked at the image of a man's face clearly visible on the film. The image was rather blurred, making it difficult to make out exactly who it was based upon the facial features, but given the evidence, it wasn't hard to deduce that it was Mr Ollis. He looked back to the Brigadier, sighing, "I think you'll find that that's Mister Ollis," he nodded to the x-ray in his hand.
Slowly, he took the x-ray from him, eyeing it for a moment before moving to clip it to the line above their heads with the first two x-rays, "Is this the plate that Tyler was developing when we left?" he asked.
"Yes, that's right," he confirmed.
He looked back down at the Cosmic Ray Machine, frowning at it briefly, "When I came back with these satellite reports," he started, nodding to the clipboard sitting on the table before him, paper clipped in place to it, "Tyler had disappeared and this box was open as it is now".
"Curious," the Hatter said thoughtfully, narrowing her eyes on the box as she leaned down slightly to get a closer look of the partly open box, though she was careful not to get to close, "I don't suppose you noticed that anything else had been moved?"
"Nothing".
The Doctor nodded slowly, eyeing the box as the Hatter straightened, "Excuse me a minute, will you?" he reached into his pocket, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket as the Brigadier hummed in acknowledgement and picked up his clipboard, taking a few steps away from the bench with Jo and the Hatter, watching as the Doctor began scanning the box, the sonic emitting a sound like a Geiger counter detecting background radiation. He slowly moved further along the bench, scanning more items as he moved closer to the sink, but just as he hovered the sonic over the top of the plughole, the noise grew louder, indicating evidence of radiation.
"Just as we thought," the Hatter muttered, moving closer to the sink, peering over the edge into the plughole, "That…substance, whatever it is, travelled from the box and down this pipe to the garage".
"Quite so," he withdrew the device, lightly tapping it against his palm as he exchanged a look with her, before turning back towards the Brigadier, "All right, Brigadier, go on".
The Brigadier walked closer to the bench, looking down at his clipboard, "These are tracking reports and assessments from just about every country in the world," he passed the board to the Doctor, since he was closest.
"Thank you," he said, accepting the board as the Hatter edged closer to him, looking over his arm to see the data written on the paper for herself. He flipped the paper up, looking at the rest of the sheets clipped to the board, "It looks as if Tyler was right," he commented after a brief pause of silence, looking at the Hatter, who was frowning deeply with a troubled expression, "That light beam or whatever it is, seems to have scanned the Earth, like a searchlight and picked on us," he looked back to the clipboard, turning to another page.
The Brigadier eyed the Time Lords closely, "Since UNIT is now in charge of this investigation, it would help if you were both a little more forthcoming," he said sternly, his eyes flickering between the Time Lords, as though he thought they were purposely keeping something from him.
The Hatter raised her eyebrows, "And here I thought we were being forthcoming," she said with a hint of annoyance entering her tone, wondering exactly what he expected from them when they themselves barely had any answers to provide. They might be clever, but even they needed a bit more information then they currently possessed.
"Tell him about Bessie," Jo cut in quickly, attempting to avoid an argument.
"Huh?" the Doctor looked up from the clipboard, giving her a blank look for a moment before, glancing at the Brigadier, who looked confused, "Oh, yes," he handed him the clipboard, which the Brigadier took absently, "Well, Brigadier, now Bessie has disappeared".
The Brigadier blinked, startled, "What?"
"But it was after us," Jo insisted at once, the Doctor and the Hatter nodding along with her
"Yes, but what was after you?"
"We're still not completely sure," the Hatter confessed, feeling rather annoyed with herself that she had yet to figure it out yet. She hated not knowing things, it was such a disconcerting and vulnerable position to be placed in, at least with the Daleks you knew what they were generally going to do and how to handle them, but this threat? It was completely unknown territory. She sighed heavily, shaking her head, "I suspect that it's some sort of organism, however I'm not completely sure if it's organic in nature yet. Either way, it's certainly possesses a strong hunting instinct," she shared a look with the Doctor.
"It was hunting you, wasn't it, Doctor?" Jo looked at him quickly.
"Perhaps," the Doctor replied thoughtfully, looking quite worried, not taking his gaze off the Time Lady, "Or it might have been hunting the Hatter…"
"Or both of us," the Time Lady added, gesturing between herself and him. She wasn't sure which one of them that thing had been going after; it could very well have been one of them or just both of them. Either way, it had come very close to accomplishing whatever its goal was; she just wished they knew who its target was, so they might better prepare themselves. Sadly, the baddies very rarely ever were that helpful.
The Brigadier stared at them, "Are you telling me that this whole thing has been arranged just for your benefit?" he looked back and forth between the Time Lords.
"Oh yes, that's right," Jo nodded, not giving them a chance to even respond, "You see that stuff simply ignored me as soon as it saw the Doctor and the Hatter".
"It was certainly more interested in us then Jo," the Time Lady agreed, glancing at the young human woman, thinking about how the blob really hadn't shown any interest in Jo, though it was a little difficult to tell for certain, given that the thing didn't exactly have a face that they could read. Still, it stood to reason that two Time Lords would be of much more interest to a mysterious, obviously alien thing, then a human on Earth.
The Brigadier frowned, "But what about this chap Ollis?"
"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor shook his head, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, considering it, "Well, perhaps this thing was confused, or its instructions weren't getting through".
"And Tyler?"
"That's far more easy to explain," the Hatter told him, already having a fairly good idea of why Tyler had ended up getting caught in this whole mess, if indeed either she or the Doctor was the things target, "I imagine it must have been merely an unfortunate mistake," she explained, casting her eyes around the laboratory, "After all, this is where the Doctor and I work the most, it's exactly where one might go to try and find us. And then there's poor Bessie…" she sighed sadly again, thinking about the poor little yellow car, lost somewhere as they spoke. Still, it could have been worse; they might have snatched the TARDIS away.
"And you two were in Bessie," Jo said, nodding to both Time Lords.
"Exactly".
"And you think there's a link between the beam and this…this organism thing?" the Brigadier eyed the Doctor and the Hatter, his expression troubled.
"Yes, we do," the Doctor answered, meeting his eyes firmly, his face deadly serious, "We think that that beam was the method it used to get here".
"Well, now it's arrived, and it's hostile, and it's still here, so what do we do and how do we find it?"
"I shouldn't worry too much about us finding it, Alistair," the Hatter shook her head, her tone light, as though she might have been speaking of the weather, but her expression was sombre, "In fact, I think it's quite the opposite, soon enough it will find us and then we'll be in trouble".
Suddenly, from outside, the sound of rapid gunfire began going off. The Doctor and the Hatter looked at each other quickly; perhaps they had spoken to late. They had already found them.
It may take me a while, but don't let it be said that I give up without a fight. How long has it been since I started this story? Four years, or something? Maybe more? I think I started writing it around the same time as I was writing the Time of Angels, which was so, so long ago, it's crazy. But here we are, done and dusted, and I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me what you thought, please review :)