The Doctor and Tegan Jovanka are property of the BBC – you know the drill. Kimoto Takita and most everybody else are my creations!
Just as the Doctor, Tegan and Kim are ready to leave, climax occurs with the unexpected – and unwelcome – arrival of Chancellor Ashim and a horde of armed guards. What can save our heroes now?
Warning: Graphic torture ahead!
Part twelve
Kim jumped forwards like a coiled spring released, rolling in order to raise her gun and shoot towards the guards, but only managing to land in a heap as several electric shots hit her before she could get a clear aim. Her inhuman wail as the electricity surged through her made both the Doctor and Tegan wince.
"Was that really necessary?" the Doctor asked quietly.
"Quite," chancellor Ashim said as he marched into the room, escorted by several more armed guards. Their weapons were trained on the Doctor and on Tegan, who was now cursing having put her electro gun in her belt. Not that it seemingly would have made much difference…
Two of the samurai knelt next to doctor Krentz and made quick assessment of his condition, and then they scooped him up, placing him onto the bed that the Doctor had just abandoned where he lay almost still, moaning quietly.
"He may have a small fracture in his cheekbone, Ashim-sama," the one samurai said as the other found an ice-pack and placed it against the man's swelling face. "But other than that, he has suffered no grave injury."
"Not yet," Ashim observed coolly. "Secure the prisoners and put her highness onto that other bed."
"N-no," Kim stuttered, fighting to get up from the floor, her eyes wide with fear. "I had treatments just yesterday. It's not time yet. I… I can go upstairs again, forget the matter. Completely."
"Obviously her highness' condition has been worsened by the dangerous influence of these strangers," Ashim insisted, gesturing for the samurai to continue. "We need to set right whatever damage their interference may have caused. Strap her to the bed, we wouldn't want her to accidentally hurt herself."
"No! Please, no!" Kim whimpered and almost turned to jelly in the strong hands of the two samurai who effortlessly lifted her onto the bed. She tried to get up, still weakened from the low dosage of electric shock she had received and there were fresh spots of blood on her side, but they easily forced her down and started to secure insulated leather straps with electrodes several places around her arms, legs and torso. "Please, uncle Ashim-sama. Please-please-please…"
Ashim ignored it and turned to look at the Doctor and Tegan with a stern expression, finding that the guards had already placed them both in solid – and non-conductive – plastic cuffs.
"You seem to have recovered quite well," he observed, nodding to the Doctor. "Almost as if you were doing what you did on purpose. Trying to escape my questions, hmm?"
"Why are you insisting on this?" the Doctor asked furiously over the sobs from the feline. "Look at her, she's in tatters already, you needn't do any of that unconscionable torture to make her conform. Stop it, I beg of you."
"You don't like to witness the ministrations of my otherwise excellent doctor Krentz, hmm?" Ashim smiled. "Well, perhaps it's because you're not human after all. But I suppose that this little lady here is quite human, yes?"
"I am, thank you very much," Tegan said, glaring at him. "Which is a lot more than I can say for you, you bastard!"
"Human, indeed," Ashim grinned, and then wiped any trace of mirth from his face. "Put her in the big chair and have this Doctor secured firmly into another. I am sure that a humanitarian such as our guest here will not just escape into some state of unconsciousness when it is his friend who is at the receiving end rather than himself. And," he added with spite, quieting the Doctor with a warning gesture, "if he should chose to do so, we will simply continue the ministrations until he finds it acceptable to rejoin us."
"You are a maniac," the Doctor observed quietly. "But very well, I shall –"
"Silence him!" Ashim barked, immediately obeyed by a samurai who forced a plastic gag into the Doctor's mouth. "Just to make sure, you understand precisely what predicament, you and your friend have gotten yourselves into here, I will make a small demonstration before we even contemplate discussing the matter at hand. Consider it a small reprieve because of your former stubbornness!"
"You're insane!" Tegan exclaimed, trying without any luck what so ever to free herself from the bindings to the chair. "You can't do this!"
"Can't I?" the Chancellor asked silkily, suddenly reminding Tegan of other, earlier megalomaniacs, those people who seemed repeatedly to pop up wherever the Doctor and his companions went, trying to force their will onto other people. Yes, she knew that arrogance only too well, as she had seen it before. And as she helplessly watched one of the guards, not a samurai, attach several electrodes onto her body, she knew without a trace of doubt that he both could and would do as he said.
"After this small demonstration, I shall ask you again, Doctor, what your business is here," Ashim continued smoothly. "And you shall answer, because failing to do so will be, hmm, most unpleasant for the young lady. I am sure you understand the implications here."
"Let them go, please," Kim's voice broke through. "Please. I'll do whatever you ask of me. I'll even marry Nobunaga without any further ado. Please, I promise. They are no threat to you."
"You are right, Princess, they are not," Ashim said, turning towards the feline and calmly walking over to her. "Because they are in my power as are you. I don't know what scheme the three of you have been working on, nor do I care particularly much. But it ends here. You may have managed to take Krentz out of operation, but I assure you that I personally know the drugs, the currents and the procedures as if I'd performed them myself many times."
"You probably take pleasure in watching the tapes, over and over again," Kim spat, giving up on begging the chancellor for anything.
"And I know your limits, as the good doctor has educated me many times about them," Ashim went on, picking up several cables next to the bed and fastening them to plugs on the straps and attaching two to the feline's temples. "In fact, I am quite capable of administering your next and final treatment, the one finishing this entire project," he added, turning to search for a particular bottle on the table and starting to fill a syringe from it.
"Final?" Kim asked as her ears flattened once again. "What do you mean? How can you be so sure? Uncle, please, tell me what you're doing. Please."
"Very well," Ashim conceded, clicking bubbles out of the fluid in the syringe, studying it against the light from an overhead lamp. "Count Matsudaira Nobunaga is, as you well know, a person who treasures beauty. He has agreed to marry you because of your lineage and beauty, certainly not because of your spirit. One might add that your spirit, complex as it is, is really not a part of the bargain."
"I don't understand…" Kim whispered, staring at him as he calmly wiped the crook of her elbow with an alcohol swab.
"No, off course not, my Princess, my niece. We, Doctor Krentz and I, have tried for so long to subdue your rebellious personality, all for naught. Even now, after the last, most intense series of treatments, you grasp onto the first opportunity you get, teaming up with foreign intruders, even aliens, to run away from home like some spoiled brat. Again, I might add."
"What are you doing to me?" Kim asked hoarsely as the tip of the needle pierced her skin.
"Krentz is a skilled man," Ashim said peacefully, skillfullyinjecting the liquid into a vein. "When he says that you can only withstand so much before succumbing into, ah, I believe the term is catatonia, then I am sure he knows what he is talking about. I believe, however, that this is an acceptable price to pay for assuring this marriage with the Count."
"Christ, you're out of it!" Tegan yelled, having heard it all. "You sick bastard!"
"You c-cant," Kim whispered, her eyelids drooping. "This is… No… You can't do this. I'm…"
"Oh, don't worry, my Princess," the chancellor said, pulling out the needle and wiping a single drop of blood away from her arm. "You won't feel a thing. After the treatment, anyway. Then it will be all over."
"Lord Ashim-sama?" the muffled words came from the bed occupied by Krentz, who was fighting to sit up supported by a guard, his face swollen but his eyes clear with determination. "I think you should leave the actual treatments to me, after all, I am her highness' doctor. I am familiar with her by now, and I'll just need a few moments to gather myself, then I can take care of it if you wish so, Ashim-sama."
"Oh, that would be perfect," Ashim said. "You take care now, Doctor Krentz. I have administered the primary drug myself, so she'll be ready for your ministrations in a few moments. Are you sure you can handle it?"
"I'll apply a local anaesthetic to my bruise," Krentz replied. "As well as something for the swelling. I don't think there's any fracture, so it shouldn't be a problem. By the time the drugs are having their effect, I can apply the treatments if you wish, Ashim-sama."
"Good, see to it then," Ashim said, leaving the bedside of Kim, who was quietly mouthing unclear words. It could be the word 'no', over and over again, but no sound passed her lips.
Ashim came over to the chair where Tegan was fixed and stared at her. His eyes were curious, but also very cold.
"Who are you then?" he asked, fidgeting with some controls on the apparatus next to the chair. "To tell off an Imperial Chancellor like that? Somebody must not have taught you any manners."
"My name is Tegan Jovanka and you are a sick, perverted – EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The chancellor had turned a knob on the apparatus and the effect was instant. Tegan's body arched and she involuntarily let out a screech of pain as the currents tore through her body. Her eyes were almost popping out of her skull and she was in so much pain that nothing else really mattered.
The chancellor briefly stood observing her rigid body, rubbing his chin and ignoring the Doctor's attempts at breaking free from his bonds, obviously trying to say something, his eyes flaring with anger at the scene before him.
"That," he said as he switched off the electricity, "was for addressing me in such a fashion as to arouse my anger. And this is the demonstration, I offered the Doctor."
Before Tegan had a chance to object, the currents once again soared through her, causing her to see nothing but little explosions of light and feeling as if her entire form was ablaze with pain. At least this time she didn't scream, but that was because she had no excess breath to do so.
The Doctor once again struggled against his bonds and without switching off the electricity, Ashim quietly walked over to him and removed the plastic gag from his mouth.
"Was there something you wanted?" he asked, ignoring the quiet hum of the electric torture behind him.
"Please," the Doctor said with barely contained anger. "Please, Lord Ashim, switch that thing off and I'll tell you whatever you wish to know. I beg of you, please!"
"Very well." Ashim made a gesture to a samurai, who stepped forwards and switched off the machine. Tegan slumped in the chair, not even capable of looking up as she sucked air into her tormented lungs, rasping at each careful breath of sweet, precious air and trying to fight down the nausea.
"What do you wish to know?" the Doctor asked, defeated.
"Where are you from?" Ashim asked.
"Gallifrey."
"Gallifrey?" Ashim repeated. "I am unfamiliar with that place. Where is it? Oh, and do address me according to rank, thank you."
"It is a planet very far from here, Ashim-sama," the Doctor breathed, slumping as if having shared Tegan's pain. "There is no official contact between Gallifrey and your world."
"I see. Well, we'll address this here Gallifrey later," Ashim shrugged. "Right now I'd like to know why you and your friend are here. Or is she your lover?"
"Friend, travelling companion," the Doctor said, not noticing the brief glimpse as Tegan looked up at him with wary eyes. "We are here by accident. My ship made an emergency landing here, Ashim-sama."
"But we have heard of no such landing," Ashim objected. "Surely a space craft would have been noticed. Explain this."
"My craft is very small to an outside viewer," the Doctor confessed. "It doesn't actually land. It materializes, and is currently –"
"Ashim-sama," Krentz' voice broke in. "I am sorry to interrupt your interrogation, but how much did you give the Princess?"
"How much?" Ashim asked in an irritated voice. "Oh, how much of the initiate drug? Just a moment."
Ashim left the Doctor without the gag and went over to Krentz, making a small gesture, unseen by the doctor to some of the samurai. Then he took up the bottle and looked appreciatively at it.
"I believe I gave her eleven point five CCs of this, intravenously," he declared.
"Excuse me, Ashim-sama," Krentz said, going pale. "But her dosage is at four point five to six and you have not used all the complementary drugs. Your pure dosage is far exceeding her limitations. Her system is too fragile for such concentrations, even more so without the drip set up, and especially as nobody seems to have tended her wounds, which really should be done before starting the treatment. Are you certain about this?"
"Are you suggesting that I don't know my own measures, Krentz?" Ashim snarled. "Yes, I am sure. Remember that talk we had, you explained about the likely outcome of a doubling of the drug and effect. Well, that is the outcome I wish to produce. Now get on with it."
"But Ashim-sama, this may kill her!" Krentz protested. "Please let me administer an antidote, if we are lucky, we may still prevent any permanent damage. Also, her wounds should be dressed."
"You just don't understand, do you," Ashim scalded, gesturing at the samurai who raised their rifles. "You have been a magnificent doctor and I do admire your work, but when the Princess knocked you over, you were injured such as to loose your faculties," Ashim explained to the surprised doctor. "You proceeded to administer treatments and, be it vengeance or just because of your injuries, you went too far. By the time I got here with my trusted men, we were too late to save her and unless you proceed as you're told now, we were forced to shoot you to stop you. Do I make myself clear?"
"The Emperor will have my head for this," Krentz said, terror evident in his face. "And yours. If you would have to shoot me to stop me, then you may as well do it now, for I will do your interrogations to hinder incompetent people from doing it, and I will commence treatments to alter the sheerar female in order to learn more, but I will not take part in any action that deliberately causes her to worsen considerably or even die."
"It almost seems as if you are defying a direct order," Ashim tutted. "You really shouldn't try to keep up any appearances. You appreciate your job, and you do not have to pretend to me that you don't. Those soft ideas of yours, presented to better your outward appearances, do not fool me. I have been present at some of the Krentz-executions, they are a real treat, you know. All that friendly hospital staff and a patient, treated as if from imperial lineage? They should be hung, like the scum that they are."
"In death, they help others to live," Krentz said in a husky voice. "That's the idea."
"People die," Ashim declared. "And you have sent many to their deaths. After all, you are the best interrogator in the Palace."
"I send but the guilty ones to meet their destiny," Krentz spat. "It is part of the job to know the difference between confession and lying to avoid pain. And I am seriously considering that you, Lord Ashim, should have the honour next time. It seems that you worry less about the imperial family than the furthering of your own schemes."
"And this is new to you? You fool nobody, doctor. But very well, are you with me or not?"
"I have taken a vow of obedience to the Throne of Honshu II," Krentz declared, straightening up into his full, considerable height. "And it seems to me, obeying you would be acting against this vow!"
"As you wish," Ashim shrugged and gave a signal to two of the samurai behind him.
"TAKITAAA!" Krentz bellowed, perhaps more as a gesture of spite towards Ashim than anything else, but as a few choice bullets ripped through his head and chest, sending him flailing backwards in a spray of blood, it made Kim stir on the bed and open her eyes.
Tegan screamed in terror as Doctor Krentz collapsed against the wall like a rag doll, and the Doctor, who had not dared to intervene, hoping that it would not end like this, turned his head away in disgust. There was no doubt that Krentz was dead even before his body came to rest on the floor.
"Please…" Kim's voice rattled from her bed, making everybody turn to look at her. "Uncle Ashim, please. D-don't do this. I… I can't accept… You mustn't…"
"Keep an eye on the two strangers," Ashim ordered, himself proceeding towards Kim without answering her words. He briefly studied her face and her glazed, unseeing eyes, and then he turned to the machines on the table, noting the readout of blood pressure and heart rate.
"D-don't…" Kim's slurred voice begged again. "Pl-please…"
With a calm as if it was a lab rat on the bed rather than a fellow sentient being, Ashim turned a few dials and then threw a switch.
She didn't even scream. Her body just arched as currents surged through her. Her laboured breathing sounded like a terrible noise and it was obvious that she had immediately soiled herself. Apparently the machine administered a pattern of shocks as she collapsed onto the mattress and then went rigid again, again and again.
"You are the most sick and twisted bastard I have met," Tegan spat. "And I've seen a few sick puppies in my time!"
"Come now, I thought I had taught you a lesson all ready," Ashim said, coming over. "Need I do so again?"
"There's nothing I can say that'll change what you do, now is there?" Tegan hissed.
"No, not really," Ashim conceded. "Perhaps another short demonstration is needed before I resume questioning the Doctor."
"Oh damn!" Tegan muttered, bracing herself from the inevitable.
"You don't have to," the Doctor said. "I'll tell you what you want to know."
"But I feel better if we have things a bit more straightened out," Ashim replied gently, reaching for the switch. "I fact, I… ah…"
Much to everybody's surprise, chancellor Ashim suddenly collapsed to the floor, immediately followed by every last one of the samurai and guards.
"How do you turn that thing off?" an unfamiliar voice rang through the room as an elderly gentleman in a kimono rushed in, hurrying towards the machine next to Kim, and followed by several guards who still had their electro guns trained at the fallen men.
"The dark knob, top left, next to the meter," the Doctor yelled. "Quickly, it's too high!"
The man turned the switch off and then tore the electrodes from the now prone form of Kim. He removed the straps as his men did the same to Tegan and the Doctor and then he just stood there, gingerly reaching for her bloody side and caressing her pale face, and weeping quietly over her.
"My kitten, how could I allow this? I didn't know… I didn't know…"
"Are you all right, Tegan?" the Doctor asked with a dark expression, barely taking any notice of the unconscious Chancellor on the floor next to her.
"I'm fine, just a little shaken," Tegan assured him. "But she's not."
"Allow me," the Doctor said grimly as he walked over to the bed.
"Are you a doctor?" the man asked as he let go of Kim.
"Ah, yes. As a matter of fact, I am THE Doctor," he assured him. Then he bent over the unconscious feline and made a brief examination.
"This was what they gave her," Tegan came over, brandishing the bottle from which Kim had been injected. The Doctor took it and sniffed the container, then he made a face, put it down and rummaged through the assembly of bottles and phials until he retrieved one with a satisfied grunt. Giving Kim a small injection with it, he the proceeded to place his hand on her forehead.
"Don't let it be too late…" the newly arrived man whispered, then he looked at Tegan and saw the raw marks on her wrists. "Oh no, not you also?"
"I've been through worse," Tegan assured him, beckoning him away from the Doctor as not to disturb him. "But who are you? The cavalry, arriving at the last possible moment?"
"I am Chancellor William," the man introduced himself. "I was only just briefed by Tetsu-san, a samurai loyal to the throne, who came to me to report that all was not as it seemed under the control of my esteemed colleague, Ashim. I must say, this was not what I expected from him."
"He's a psychopath!" Tegan declared. "A nut."
"I knew, the ki- erh, the Princess was receiving treatments, even electroshock therapy, but it was not until moments ago that I knew she was not sedated during the procedures. And now, as I look at… This…" He gestured vaguely at the disturbing images on the wall. "I have been a fool. For all I know, she was never even truly ill."
"She seemed quite okay to me," Tegan said. "Only when we came here, she started to break down. And I can't say that I blame her. First shot at, then this… Chamber."
"I have been a fool. If I were a bit braver, I would succumb to seppuku, but I am a coward as well as a fool."
"What's seppuku?" Tegan asked.
"Never mind, just a tradition. Another tradition from times bygone, but maintained within the palaces of Honshu II." He sighed. "But tell me, do you think that your friend can help her?"
"I don't know, Tegan admitted, looking over at the Doctor, who was standing quietly, his brow furrowed and his bearing concentrated as he held Kim's head between the palms of his hands. "But if anybody can, he has a good chance."
"I am not a religious man," Chancellor William said quietly. "But I shall light many candles at the shrine tonight if he succeeds."
"How about just helping her out instead?" Tegan asked, just as quietly.
"I could never do that," the man said, taken somewhat aback. "The Emperor-"
"The Emperor is a conservative old fart who may or may not be a good ruler," Tegan interrupted. "He has a large family and lots of daughters, he will not need Kim. In fact, without all this brainwashing of Ashim's, neither will Count Matsu-something. Nobody will be happy if she gets to stay here."
"But…"
"Hey, would you listen to me for once? Nobody around here ever seems to listen to anyone," Tegan hissed, then briefly looked at the chancellor.
"Very well, Miss, I shall listen," William said, bowing ever so slightly.
"Right…" Tegan hesitated, casting a sidelong glance at the Doctor who was seemingly still in some sort of trance with Kim. "Well…"
"Not many intruders get any chance at having the ear of an imperial chancellor," William admonished her lightly. "I was not of the impression that you were easily rendered speechless."
"Right then," Tegan said decisively. "Kim is to marry that count because she is a nuisance when staying here, right? And he's an old friend of the Emperor and very important and all that, yeah?"
"That is so," William nodded.
"But Kim doesn't want to be locked up in some castle far away from everything, which was going to happen because she was seemingly somewhat insane, am I right?"
"Yes. Go on."
"But now you have, in the nick of time I might add, discovered that Kim is no more a nut than most everybody here, less than some in fact. Will that prevent the wedding?"
"Most likely not, no. The Emperor would loose face if going back on his promise to count Matsudaira Nobunaga."
"So no matter what, even in the light of Ashim's treason, she will still be married off to him?"
"Probably, yes."
"But you like her, don't you?"
"Why…" Tegan's straight forward question seemed to take the Chancellor by surprise, but he rapidly regained his composure. "Yes, I do."
"I could tell from the way you reacted. It's all right, I like her too."
"Well…"
"So if you really want to help her," Tegan went on. "You help us and her out of here."
"But… I am not sure I could do that."
"What other options are there?"
Chancellor William studied Tegan's open face for a moment, then he seemed to reach a decision as he clapped his hands together and suddenly ushered his guard to leave the room, bringing all of the prisoners to the prison dungeon of the palace. The official one by the sound of it.
"Your wisdom surpasses your years and you have persuaded me," William said. "I will allow the two of you to leave and to bring the Princess, should she be able to. But you must allow for a small bit of cowardice on my part."
"How's that?"
"I will demand that you leave at once, as soon as you can. I shall then report your absence after a while, allowing you to make good your escape."
"How does that make you a coward?"
"Because I can claim that Kimoto left with you due to her condition and that I did not suspect you to be able to leave the premises. Are you able to do that? Soon?"
"We are as soon as the engineer has supplied a certain cable," the Doctor's voice broke in.
"Doctor!" Tegan exclaimed, coming over. "How is she? Will she be all right?"
"She's resting now," the Doctor said in a tired voice. "If I am to be certain that she's all right, I'll need to run a few tests onboard the TARDIS. From what Krentz said, I am assuming that the proper treatment, if one can talk of such one, required other drugs along with this one – the complementary drugs he spoke of. Perhaps this has altered or even lessened the effects. It is her fortune that Ashim is as bad at being a doctor as he is as a chancellor."
"What will happen to Ashim now?" Tegan asked Chancellor William as two men helped the Doctor to load Kim onto a gurney – the same as the one, they had brought the Doctor on.
"I will have him placed before the imperial court, charged with treason. Tetsu-san's testimony would suffice to place him in serious trouble."
"Will he be…"
"Executed? I don't know," William said, bowing his head. "I am considering giving him a chance to obey the old codes and avoid the shame of trial. If, however, he declines this, he still may not be executed. Without Kitten's testimony, I am not sure an imperial Chancellor can be proven guilty of those crimes. Remember he has only killed members of staff, and even so, it will be his words against mine and Tetsu-san's. Tetsu, however brave, is but a samurai."
"I thought that samurai were very important and that their word carried weight," Tegan said.
"They are, it does," William nodded, then looking towards the gurney with Kim on it. "But against an imperial Chancellor of high esteem and even of imperial blood, I just don't know. But now I see that you are ready to leave. Miss Jovanka, could I humbly ask you a favour?"
"Sure."
"Tell Kitten that I am sorry," he muttered clumsily. "I may have been harsh to her at times, but I had no idea about this. I believed Ashim and Krentz. We all did. Tell her that I love her and that I wish her well. Would you do that for an old fool, Miss Jovanka?"
"Yeah," Tegan replied. "I will. I promise."
"Thank you. Now, Doctor, Miss Jovanka, please go. I shall provide you with as much time as I can, but don't linger. And if you are accosted by guards, I have no power to help you."
"Domo arigato, William-sama," the Doctor said, briefly stopping to shake his hand. "I appreciate it. We all do."
"Now go."
"Yes. Good bye."
The Doctor and Tegan went through the door, pushing the gurney in front of them and disappeared out of sight from the old chancellor as the double doors closed behind them.
He stood, staring towards the doors as if following them still with his mind's eye for a long time before he finally turned towards the unconscious men on the floor and started to bark orders to his own men.
ooo ooo ooo
To be concluded…