Silence loomed while the four stood near the stripped billiard room, outside they heard nothing, not even the sound of guards talking among themselves. Jimmy almost went out and checked if his guards went off somewhere if not for Kira pulling him back while Theodore and Lila became alarmed.
"She couldn't have killed them all," Lila wearily looked towards Theodore, she didn't believe someone's capable of killing the guards silently. One should've felt something off and sounded an alert.
Yet, nothing. Not even a man running through the doorway.
"She's done this before, she knows how to do it," Theodore concluded that Annika managed to kill them without any alerting the others or Jimmy.
Thinking to himself, he quickly led Lila as she helped him putting up barriers in front of the front door, ordering Jimmy and Kira boarding up the windows.
No time to explain, just do it, and his Glaswegian came out in full force as he demanded Jimmy's best. It's his life at stack, he ought to do everything possible keeping it, and in extension helping the people who wanted him to keep his life.
As misbegotten it may be.
Not sure how good of an idea this is, but Theodore hoped Annika doesn't burn the house down, attempting at trapping Jimmy in a burning inferno.
For once, Theodore hoped an enemy attempted their lives head-on and not with off-hand attempts.
As he and Lila worked boarding up the windows, Theodore listened for anything, but he heard only silence, and Lila wondered if the guards took off running after seeing Annika.
"I doubt it," Theodore thoughtfully said.
Frowning, Lila remarked, "You could've lied, y'know!"
Shaking his head, his wild hair bobbing up and down, Theodore replied he didn't want to lie about something like this, not his character.
He's alerted to movement outside the boarded-up window in the parlor while Lila's nailing the last half of the wooden board in place.
When she finished, she looked over to Theodore, seeing him quizzical, and asked him what he's doing, only for him to tell her, "Run."
As they've traveled through time and space, Theodore and Lila developed a set of verbal cues they used together, alerting the other whenever something's happening, in few words possible.
Clenching her hammer, Lila nodded, as she's about to take off running, she asked about him.
"Trust me, I'm the Doctor," Theodore gave her a cue before telling her covertly that she needed to find Jimmy and Kira, get them to a safe spot, and wait for his cue.
Chewing on her bottom lip, Lila nodded, as she turned her back, about to run, she tells him that if he gets hurt, she's telling on him.
Hammond made it known that Lila's to tell him every injury Theodore incurred from his adventures, especially if he's lied.
Theodore knows the consequences if he gets hurt and he doesn't want Hammond putting him on the spot for any more of his meetings. He purposely elongates his meetings just to annoy Theodore!
Lila hurried onwards, looking for Jimmy and Kira somewhere in the house, as Theodore turned his attention back to the boarded-up window.
Outside, he only heard silence, but for a moment, he thought he heard faint movement.
It's coming towards the boarded-up window and suddenly stopped short of the glass.
Rule of horror, never stay near the window after hearing noises outside it that suddenly stopped short of the glass, everyone knows that, Theodore especially, and he fled from the boarded-up window without looking back, because that's another rule of horror.
You go slower turning your head back and not only that, it's how every monster gets a person.
Watching enough horror movies and experiencing them firsthand, Theodore's wise enough that he follows the rules.
As he hurried up the stairs leading up to the second floor, Theodore heard something slamming into the window, shattering the glass, and he continued keeping his face forward as he run up the stairs.
He called out to Lila in his mind and heard her as she told him that Kira helped her hide Jimmy. He protested and Kira helped them keep Jimmy hidden by tapping his mouth shut.
Theodore tells Lila to be on standby as he prepared the traps, they're to ready to spring the moment Annika trips them, and it'll give him enough time for the last trap.
His father would've skipped the whole charade and attempt to kill Annika with something less complex, but unfortunately, Theodore gave his word, he's helping Jimmy.
What happens after this, Theodore doesn't care, as far as he's aware, they did what they set out to do, and that's that.
Unless, God willing, they're brought back, Jimmy's on his own.
Don't know if he'll turn his life around and find a better habit than smoking worse than a chimney, going by the state of the air quality in the house, but that's not Theodore's job.
He just wants to survive this adventure, as he done in adventures prior, and take a warm bath.
"You still alive?" Al called out in his mind as he sets up the first trap.
Tightening the bolt on the side, Theodore replied that he is for the most part, before Al said he dug through the crates of the bootlegged liquor, almost downed enough that a small population would've died if they'd drank the amount, and he's ready to aide them in their fight against Annika.
"Al, she's here!" Theodore warns him that the tryannus showed up, they're unable to vacate the premises with Jimmy and his skepticism holding them up.
Al mentioned that they wouldn't made it out the front door, Annika took shortcuts reaching the house, and Jimmy's guards, well, he already read off what Annika did with her victims.
"How much power do you have?" Theodore quickly asked the TARDIS after it consumed exorbitant amount of bootlegged liquor.
Al says he's sauced enough that he has it in him for two trips. One to get to them and one to take them home.
"My conductor coils are too rusted and I've been trying to de-rust them with the liquor!" Al bemoaned that the liquor's not strong enough to remove the rust from the conductor coils.
Grimacing, Theodore asks if he'll have enough for Gallifrey, and Al said he has emergency rations on standby for that trip.
While there's pressing matters at hand, Theodore wanted to know where he stands in terms of getting home and returning to Gallifrey.
"Okay, what about your avatar?" Theodore continued.
Al responds that he's conserving energy, hoping that it helps get them by, after using Kira's likeness for an extended period, three of the hundred conductor coils broke. The rust ate through them completely and by using the avatar for an extended period, the heat burnt through them.
The rest are barely hanging on as is, so he can't use his avatar or concoct a plan by taking Kira's likeness once again.
Exhaling sharply, Theodore tells Al not to try and use the avatar, he'll figure something out, he wanted Al concentrating on getting to them and getting them home.
"What'd you think I'm doing, kid?" Al balks at the assumption that he wasn't already working on a plan of his own.
Theodore quickly tells him to make it fast, he heard the wood splintering, falling to the ground in multitudes of pieces, and something stepping through the opened window, glass crunching under their feet, heavy.
Al insisted that he's working on it and for Theodore to do whatever he's doing.
The first trap readied, it'll deploy sharp silverware at high speed, enough that while Annika's bound to shrug them off, at least a few butter knives would've struck her.
She'll pry them off, too preoccupied as Theodore flees to the second trap down the hall, trying to keep Annika busied on him, when the time comes, he wanted Jimmy and Anika out of the house.
Let's say, his father always told him to have a plan, big or small, and by the end of it, Jimmy's not going to want to see or hear him, again.
Not that Theodore minded, but while he's still in the same time as Jimmy, he wanted this said and done, with Al readied for them.
It's not going to be a pretty sight, but nothing ever is, and once the final trap's sprung, it's when it comes to light.
Quite literary, Theodore couldn't let Annika escape, just in case she manages to slink away despite the swords and weapons they're using against her.
Only when he sees her crispy body among the plumes of ash, her skeleton bursting from the heat, only when he'll feel that she's finally dead.
His father never let anything slip by once he became seasoned during his tenure, too many instances of people and creatures popping up later down the line, intent on wreaking havoc and seeking revenge.
Once he concluded the first trap's ready for the moment Annika showed up, attempting to climb the stairs, she'll trip it, Theodore went and prepared the second trap.
Running quickly, Theodore kept his icy blue eyes straight as he hurried towards the next trap.
Annika, bloodied, irate, would've picked up pace coming after them the moment she realized where they are, trips the second trap, and deals with the launch of the first discarded sword, shot at her face.
Instinctively, she would've tried preventing the sword coming towards her, but she wouldn't noticed three more launching at her.
The last one's bound to hit her abdomen, at an interval she wouldn't catch it, that it'll be too late for her to do something.
Afterwards, her anger's through the roof, she'll want nothing more than getting her hands on Jimmy, to the point that she'll tear through every bedroom door she comes across.
The last door she'll tear open's the master bedroom, where she'll expect Jimmy, hiding somewhere in the room. She'll stay inside it the longest, looking for him.
Chewing on his inner lip, Theodore called out to Lila, and she answered, saying that she's got Jimmy and Kira ready to run like hell the moment Annika gets closer.
"Good, good, not in the master bedroom, are you?" Theodore asks her. She responded with a dry, "Rule of horror, don't hide in the obvious place. Never hide yourself someplace you can't easily escape from on the drop of a coin."
Lila then added that Jimmy showed them a secret hiding spot behind the walls, it leads somewhere downstairs, and Kira said that with effort, they'll get down there before Annika's got a chance realizing that they're not where she thinks.
"What's on the menu?" Lila asks what Theodore's plans amounted and he said that once he gets Annika with the silver, he planned on burning down the house with her trapped inside the master bedroom. Once she's burnt to a bloody crisp, her ashes scattered, and they're safe from a burning inferno that's on standby, hopefully there's enough buffer period for them getting home.
Seeing his ill gotten home burnt down's not going to end well for the lot of them, Theodore things.
"Especially once he realizes you torched the portrait of his aunt," Lila brought up that Jimmy might've showed reason when it comes to his life on the line, but the fact it risks destroying the few reminders of his late aunt, well, it's bound not to end well.
Sucking air through his teeth, Theodore immediately reached out to Al, telling him that he needed his help, getting a specific painting out of the house before the final trap sprang.
"A painting?" Al's baffled at the request until he's told that it's the only way for them to walk away without Jimmy wanting their heads. It had sentimental value to him and Theodore deduced that above else, it's all that he cared about.
This house's just something he claimed for his own use, but the only thing that held any value's the painting.
"I'll get it. Not the most unusual thing I've recovered, but the century's still young," the time machine agreed getting the painting of Aunt Polly for Theodore.
It's a gamble if it worked getting Jimmy off their backs enough for them to escape, but Theodore's willing to use the emotional side of him if needed.
Prepared to run towards the master bedroom, Theodore heard the loud thudding coming up the staircase, a shriek as the first trap sprung, sending silverware at projectile speeds.
"Curse you, Crane!" Theodore heard the thunderous declaration as he took off running.