Feeling like he's in a black comedy where he's laying traps trying to stop a murderer from successfully ripping him a new one, Theodore wished he only had to deal with the Wet Bandits, at least they're manageable, and they're not dangerous compared to Annika.
Dealing with them would've gone better, Theodore thinks, they're just bumbling idiots, nothing more, easily dealt with.
Annika, however, not so much, and she's already on a warpath, tearing up every room she gets into, looking for Jimmy.
Furniture turned into splinters, bottles shattering into pieces, liquid of different colours splashed against the wooden floors and the navy-blue walls. She torn apart every room she's able to get into, looking for Jimmy, and her immense strength caused her to tear open walls with her own bare hands, rather than open the doors.
Doors torn off the hinges, thrown into walls, causing holes, as she's tearing through the floor looking for Jimmy.
Theodore's in the master bedroom, near the last trap, he's prepared for Annika tearing through the door at any point, and as he's hearing the commotion outside the door, he plots his escape.
There's no tears or rifts for him to use, haven't felt their presence at all in this time, so he prepared one that'll simply disperse the moment he's done.
No harm, no foul, no chances of it reopening long after the
When in doubt, risk going into a negative zone, and that's what Theodore planned.
If all fails, at least he'll die instantaneously once the negative zone collapses, compared to what Annika planned for Jimmy, but she'll definitely do to Theodore once she finds out he's behind the traps.
He reached out to Lila, she didn't respond for a few minutes, but when she did, she's panicking, saying that Annika's coming down the stairs.
"What?" Theodore's confused as he stated that he heard her practically outside the master bedroom, she should've broken through by now, but Lila informed him otherwise.
Alerted, Theodore asks where Lila and the others were, and Lila says she and Kira hid with Jimmy behind one of the hidden rooms.
There's a passage leading to the outside, but it's behind the walls, and they don't want to move without alerting Annika.
Chewing on his inner lip, Theodore reached out to Al, asking him what's his status, and he replied that he'd taken the painting as asked.
"Al, can you reach them?" Theodore quickly asks him, before he answered he could, but that'd leave little wiggle room for rescuing Theodore without risking his conductor coils burning out further.
After that, he's only got one match for getting them home.
Thinking, Theodore told him that he wanted Lila and the other two out of the house, he'll figure out another way getting out, but he couldn't risk Annika finding them.
"What're you doing?" Al worryingly asked Theodore his plans as the aloof giant's rapidly thinking about what his options before he said that he's going to do something completely stupid.
Al inquired with worry in his voice, "Oh no, you're going to do what your old man did, aren't you?"
Thinking on his feet, throwing plans together when they fall apart, change everything out when they don't work, glue them together if he must, he'll have a plan worked out.
"Al, have a little faith in me, would you?" Theodore asks for the time machine's confidence in him, but Al said that it's in his nature worrying about him, his father would've had his neck if he let his son end up dead.
It's hard to explain to someone who hadn't encountered one before, but the mind of a Time Lord's a complicated mess, worse than a child's playroom, everything strewn about, but in thoughtful locations.
As he thinks, Theodore gets an idea, asking if Al had access to the blueprints of the house, wanting to know what's underneath the master bedroom.
It took a few seconds, but Al found it, saying under the master bedroom's the cellar. Jimmy probably reworked the house since he obtained it, Al wouldn't be surprised if the cellar used to be elsewhere before Jimmy moved it.
Why he would, well, Al's sure that there's a secret passage leading down there from the master bedroom, probably Jimmy's last ditch effort if he's attacked by his rivals.
Of course, he didn't expect an inhuman woman's after him, but there's a first for everything.
"Oh no, you're thinking of doing it, aren't you?" Al realized what Theodore's planning, but the aloof giant said it's the only way he's sure Annika couldn't escape from the burning rubble.
Lure her down into the cellar, trap her, set off the trap she would've set off if she gone through the master bedroom door, the floor caves in, and that's that.
"Just get them out for me, Al," Theodore orders the TARDIS what he expected from him and Al disappears from Theodore's mind as he stood in the centre of the master bedroom with the last trap.
Sucking air through his teeth, Theodore tugged on his stitched long coat, he reworked the trap that wasn't usable now, so it's usable when he traps Annika down in the cellar, before looking for the secret passage somewhere in the master bedroom.
He found it tucked away behind a bookcase filled with liquor and medicine bottles, took two pushes before the bookcase moved aside, and Theodore rushed through the darkness, finding the staircase down.
On his mind, he decided to pull something from his late father's playbook, something he did rarely, but when he did it, he found it good fun, and Theodore listened to Jimmy enough that he had an idea.
The cramped staircase wasn't ideal, but Theodore reached the cellar, filled with barrels of whisky, and a square table with pale white powder stuck to it, guess Jimmy came down here, unwinding, as it were.
While moving around the cellar, Theodore found a staircase leading up a hidden door.
Chewing his inner lip, Theodore unclenches his jaw, before mimicking Jimmy. He bellowed harshly, replicating the gritty tone, everything coming to mind that encapsulated Jimmy.
In silence, Theodore waited, and he heard the heavy footsteps coming towards the hidden door.
Hurrying, Theodore hid near the heavy barrels of whisky, preparing a tear that'll let him escape, and ensure the trap goes off.
The footsteps stopped short of the hidden door, for a brief period, there's no movement, until Theodore heard something slamming into the wall in front of the staircase.
Briefly looking over his hiding spot, Theodore sees the hidden door, turned into nothing more than splinters.
He ducked back into cover when he heard the footsteps coming down the staircase, the smell of perfume took over completely in the stagnant cellar.
"Where are you, Crane?!" Annika bellowed with rage as her golden eyes seemingly illuminated in the dim cellar.
The tear's ready and Theodore's readied to spring the trap, but he wanted his answers.
In the voice of Jimmy, throwing his voice everywhere in the cellar that he could, Theodore prodded what Annika done to Kira.
"What did you do to her?" Theodore pointedly asks Annika as he heard her moving around the cellar.
Annika fired back with, "What did you do to her?"
Harkening back to what they know of Jimmy, Theodore retorted that he never injected Kira.
There's a boastful laugh as Annika's searching for him, before she responded that she never put Kira in harm's way. Using her as a grunt, nothing more.
"Funny, I don't seem to see any difference," Theodore commented that as far as he saw, there's a difference between the two.
Only difference's Jimmy's upfront about what a terrible human he is, he'll lie, yes, but he won't mince words.
Annika puts on a kindly face and wants to help, but underneath it all, she's no different than him
She dresses better, has better hygiene, isn't wracked with addiction, much better health, but underneath it all, she's terrible.
Agitated, Annika shouts that Kira belonged to her, now, Jimmy lost that battle, and Theodore asked her if Kira wanted to leave, would she let her.
Or would she kill her like the others.
"She wouldn't, I gave her a new life, I gave her everything!" Annika downplayed it, saying that Kira wouldn't leave her, compared to Jimmy, Kira's living a life of luxury.
Shaking his head, his wild hair bobbing, Theodore retorted, "No different than a gilded cage!"
He ducked when Annika started tossing some of the barrels against the walls, liquid splashing as the wood turned into splinters.
"She's mine!" Annika bellowed.
Theodore prepared to jump into the tear, but he needed to throw in two more questions.
The first one, why.
"Why?" Annika's baffled that Jimmy's asking her why she left those children to die.
Her baffle turned to subdue anger and she replied that they rejected her gifts. She gave each a gift, but they didn't take. A slight severe, that she couldn't possibly keep them.
When she tracked down the banker and his family, she tried using her gifts on them, but they all rejected it.
"What's the purpose of it all?" Theodore gave his last question on the matter before he lunged into the tear.
Annika's quiet for a brief period, but she eventually talked, saying that it is her purpose.
She said nothing more on it, wouldn't tell Theodore what she did to Kira, and she began tearing up the cellar looking for Jimmy.
Fleeing through the tear, with a swift hand, Theodore sprung the trap, allowing it to come crashing down on Annika. Fire erupted from the rubble with it eating away at the rubble like it's treats.
Reappearing outside the house as the fire swept through it, eating through the wood and flammable substances used, Theodore exhaled sharply before he's jolted by a jab to his side.
Sharply turning around, Theodore sees Lila eying him with anger and worry.
"You don't have nine lives, y'know," Lila reminded him as they exchanged looks.
She asks about Annika and Theodore says the weight of the master bedroom collapsing onto her, plus the raging fire, he hoped that it's enough.
His father always told him have a backup plan and in the event that it doesn't seem like Annika's dead, Theodore rigged an explosion with the use of the bootlegged alcohol that Jimmy helpfully stored in the master bedroom.
"I'm guessing details are scarce, huh?" Lila summed what the state of finding out what Annika did to Kira and Theodore confirmed that he couldn't get her to tell him anything. Coupled with him unable to read her mind, it's impossible to tell.
"All she said that she tried giving them gifts, but they all rejected them," Theodore exhaled sharply, speaking in his normal Nottinghamshire with a twinge Glaswegian, as Lila gently grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the blaze.
Don't know what that means, doubtful if he'll find the answers.
"Where's the others?" Theodore asks about Kira and Jimmy, Lila replied that when Al came and got them, he whisked them outside. Said he wanted to reserve his conductor coils for the trip back and the trip to Gallifrey. He risked burning up half of the conductor coils if he tried whisking them away further from the house.
Neither Jimmy or Kira knew what happened, Al assures Theodore, one minute they're hiding, the next they're down the block.
"Good," Theodore sighed.
He's relieved, but it didn't last when he heard Jimmy coming towards them with Kira trailing behind.
"What have you done?" Jimmy angrily asked Theodore with his blue eyes lit with anger and from the raging fire.
Briefly recoiling, Theodore took charge and stated he dealt with Annika. Jimmy wanted her dead, so Theodore kept his end, but Jimmy never said he couldn't use the house as the catalyst.
Always line the contracts with everything outlined next time, Theodore summed.
He sees Jimmy fuming and he asks about the painting, if Jimmy got it at least, and the mob boss temporary cooled as he responded that it was next to him the moment, he opened his eyes.
Don't know Theodore knew how much the painting meant to him, don't care right now, he just wants to know if Annika's truly dead.
Theodore affirmed that she's dead, he made sure of it.
"H-how do you know?" Kira stood next to Jimmy with concern that Annika didn't die in the inferno like Theodore said.
There's a distant boom that shook the ground for a mere second, affirming Theodore's reason that Annika's dead.
"I believe we've done our part," Theodore held Jimmy to his word.
Kira's back with him and Annika's dead.
The house's gone, but that's easily rebuilt.
Jimmy clenched his teeth before he acknowledged that he gave his word, they'll leave without incident, since they did their part. Thus, he holds up his end.
"But, if I catch you around here again, I promise it won't be pleasant," Jimmy warned that he didn't want to see Theodore and Lila ever again.
If he did, there won't be any deals, that much he promised.
"No more than it is, now," Theodore retorted.
While the men locked eyes, Lila asks Kira how she's doing and the giantess replied that she doesn't know how to feel about everything.
She went with Annika only for Jimmy's life, but quickly fell into Annika's ploy. She promised Kira wouldn't have to worry about anything ever again, but as evident, Annika lied.
"Hey, so you know, you don't have to stick with Jimmy, right, you're bigger and stronger, you don't have to put up with him or anyone's crap," Lila tried giving Kira pep talk, trying to tell her that she doesn't have to work with Jimmy forever, if there's an opportunity for a better life, that isn't another gilded cage, then go for it.
Kira deserved her shot at happiness, like everyone else, 1920s be damned, and hopefully she learnt enough from Annika that she can't be tricked or bullied again.
Lila sees the giantess quietly mulling to herself before the men exchanged bitter words one more time, before Jimmy ordered Kira to come with him, they'll need to find a hotel for him while he worked to contract a new house.
Theodore and Lila wasted no time leaving afterwards, since Jimmy put the word out within minutes of reaching the hotel, if they're caught, kill them on sight.
"We knew as much as we did going in," Lila summed that they didn't learn much from this adventure as she and Theodore stood around the console.
Annika kidnapped kids to experiment, left them to die when they didn't give her the results she wanted, kidnapped others in hopes of trying again, but Kira was her success story.
"What was she doing?" Lila wondered as they're unable to find out now, they can't investigate further, their faces known, and their psychic papers won't do much with a mob that fears Jimmy.
Sighing, Theodore replied that he doesn't know for sure, but he's sure Annika's dead, the high heat, the explosions, the weight of everything on her, should've been enough.
"Remember the gilded rule of horror," Lila reminded Theodore of the rule.
If there's no body…
Rubbing her shoulder, Theodore tells her, he just wants to go home.
"Hey, you think she gets a happy ending?" Lila asks him as he's prepared to send them home.
Thinking as he prepared the buttons and switches, Theodore says he doesn't really know.
Maybe Kira has a happy ending, maybe she doesn't, it's hard to say.
With a press of the button, they returned to their home universe, and that's that.
THE END