Another day at the library, a normal day, which is preferred due to the events of the previous adventure that remained in a corner of Lila's mind, though it's understandable as she was a hair's inch from death and the imagery of V's fate never went away, however deserved the fate was, almost a black comedy.
Whatever wish V wanted, the wish maker twisted it to whatever resulted in her demise, further proving Nikita's point, the door doesn't always grant what a person wanted, and what's terrifying's the fact the door disappeared shortly after granting Nikita her wish, to reappear elsewhere, to harm to those who wish to abuse its power, in more ways than one.
Al admitted that he was responsible for the sudden fortune for Nikita and Peter, after the zone let him go, he went and scoured for a chest worth of money, dropped it off at the bar while it wasn't busy, figure it was better than the blood money that V promised, and on that subject, he says he found news reports of murders and thefts.
It'd appear that V was a stalker herself — a killer.
Maybe it attributed to V's demise, it's hard to say, but Lila's happy that they're away from the zone, even if they didn't encounter one of the things that made it their homes upfront, the thought an entire exclusion zone's sentient and willing to kill's just one of those concepts Lila doesn't want to think about for a long time.
Until she's inevitably forced back into it, because that is her lot in life, as it goes, but at least she knows what to expect the next time it happens.
Honestly, though, if she had to choose her poison, in regards to the revelations that bear statues were sentient in the zone, Lila's willing to deal with the Weeping Angels, at least if she had to fight something, it won't be a bear wrapped in stone.
Don't even think the Weeping Angels could've survived the chaotic zone if they wanted, anyway, the zone very well could've done a number on them even before they got their feet wet chasing people who go into the zone, or perhaps co-opt them for its own use.
That's a scary thought.
Now, in a much happier mood, Lila's working at the library with Bill, putting up books left out by children who gone home for the day, cleaning the tables, fixing the shelves, and tending to people checking books in and out.
As they're amongst themselves with their coworkers working different corners of the library, they started talking.
"What do you think?" Bill gave her thoughts on her latest gossip, it was about Theodore, and of course, Lila had to oblige for the sake of gossiping.
Pondering the gossip as she's putting up loose books, Lila says that she'd know about it.
Trust her.
"As much as he doesn't turn bright red whenever Hamon talks about his parents, anymore, I think there's some truth to it, my dear Watson," Bill's eyes gleamed with interest in the latest gossip.
Shaking her head as she made sure the books were aligned on the shelf, Lila mustered that he probably resigned himself to hearing the uncomfortable details about his late parents to the day he's a head in a jar.
"You really don't think he finally found someone?" Bill looked towards Lila while she retrieved loose books from the tables.
Looking at their labels and finding the shelves they belonged in, Lila responded with, "I'd know. Why don't you just ask him yourself?"
All this gossiping and nothing concrete, dear Bill Potters should go to the source and find out for herself if the latest gossip is true or not.
Her glossy lips shining under the light, Bill stated that she would, but reminded Lila of Theodore's schemes in misdirecting her if she asked him.
He naturally wouldn't tell them anything, so she found it hard that Lila's certain about it.
"I'd know about a guy I work with, Bill," Lila fully leaned on the truth and it's enough for Bill to pout as she shoved the last book back in its rightful spot.
They converse for a bit until they noticed an unusual sight, there's an officer hanging around the counter, looking around quizzically.
Bill went over to talk to him, her hands adjusting her hair, fashioned with a pink scrunchy holding a loose puff of hair in place, patting down her yellow sundress, as she went behind the counter, putting on a smile.
"Hello sir, how may we help you?" Bill put on her cordial speak and the officer asks for Hammond.
The sentence threw Bill off before she snapped back and checked a book under the mouse pad.
"Oh, he's in his office, I'll call him," Bill's prepared to call Hammond, but the officer refrained from calling him, he wanted to speak to Hammond directly, asking for directions to his office, instead.
Blinking, Bill's dumbfounded and she helped the officer find his way to Hammond's office, before rushing to the puzzled Lila's side with her mouth gap, asking if she heard right.
Nodding, her chestnut hair tied behind her, Lila affirmed that Bill heard the officer right, he wanted to talk to Hammond.
"I knew it, it's always the quiet ones," Lila dramatically said as she stood near the counter, looking through the threshold to their department, looking for a sign of the officer reappearing.
The killer librarian strikes, again!
Poking her, Bill brought her back to reality, if that's even possible at this state, reminding her that Hammond has been unusually invested in a local disappearance this week.
A tween, about twelve, went missing sometime the start of the week, no leads, and it appeared the girl's a known troublemaker who'd occasionally make and harness the power of cherry bombs.
Don't think she ever came to their library, Lila would've remembered it, but with her scheduling, the girl probably came on her day-off, but then again, Bill would've at least saw her if she did.
Why Hammond's concerned about her, they don't know, and it isn't wise getting into Hammond's business.
So, when that fails, fallback to the tried and true.
"Are you among the living?" Lila called out to Theodore in her head and he stirred, saying that he gotten up from his nap.
Immediately, he's alerted that an officer asked for Hammond and Bill showed him to Hammond's office, and he reappeared in the lobby, his icy blue eyes blinking as he pulled on his stitched suit jacket.
"Has he finally killed someone with a book?" Theodore immediately asked the women, causing Bill to press her palm against her face, before she lowered her hand to tell him, "No! What's with you two?"
Hearing about the officer in detail and how they think it corresponds to the missing tween, Theodore's miffed as much as they are, baffling them before he reminded the women that he doesn't exactly hang around his older brother after work.
Lord knows what he'd do to get out of that!
"Do you at least know why he's invested in the missing girl?" Bill asks if Theodore knew why Hammond took a special interest in the case and the aloof giant stretched out his limbs, popping joints, as he pondered Bill's question.
He avoided Hammond the moment his time's up in the library and only encounters him whenever there's something to do with their sister or their uncle, he couldn't really tell them much about what the short man does whenever he isn't lording over Theodore.
"Okay, is it possible he might've mentioned something to Hamon and you didn't listen, again?" Lila inquired that it's possible that Theodore knew what reason Hammond might've had for this, but he just ignored it as he often did.
Reaching far back in his mind, Theodore did recall a time when he was with his beloved uncle and Hammond, the two helped Hamon with something one day and Hamon asked them questions, as he often did.
Maybe Hammond mentioned something about mentoring someone, hard to say, but Theodore didn't treat it much because mentoring under Hammond's one of the worst things anyone could've reduced themselves doing.
"Ah! Dear Watson, I believe we have our motive!" Bill pointed up in the air much to the two's bemusement as she says that it's possible that Hammond mentored the missing girl and the disappearance spurred him into action.
Seeing the looks between the two, Bill weakly shrugs as she says that Theodore said it himself, he doesn't know what his brother does when he leaves the library, and isn't exactly jumping to spend time with him after work.
Circling around the counter once again, Bill dug in the desk until she found that a spare poster that none of the librarians had chance to put up, and on it there's a picture of the missing girl.
Dorothy Aldred.
Child to a single mother, no siblings, no father figure in her life, everything else, it's a recipe for some sort of disaster.
"Oh! You know who'd know, Mark!" Bill clasped her hands together as she mentioned another librarian who would've known something about Hammond's unusual behaviour.
Mark.
She hurried from behind the counter and went looking for him, leaving Theodore and Lila to converse amongst themselves.
Looking down at the poster, seeing the last known picture of the missing girl, Lila mused that she didn't think Hammond had it in him to mentor someone with a rap sheet as tall as her, normally he would've blown his top at the sight, and while Theodore would've agreed with Lila, he does go on to say that despite his disagreements with Hammond, and Hammond not liking this fact known, he does in fact have a heart.
Shocking, Theodore knows.
"Next thing you'll tell me's he actually likes a different brand of jelly babies!" Lila's shocked at the revelation that Hammond, the normally uptight librarian lord, in fact, has a heart.
Theodore admits that it came as a shock to him, as well, but he remains persistent in the brand of jelly babies.
Hurrying back to them with her yellow sundress fluttering, Bill revealed that the missing girl came to the library a couple of times, and in those times, Hammond joined her at a table, seemingly helping her with homework, unusually patient with her, which weirded Mark out, considering Hammond's nature.
"Sounds serious," Theodore noted that his brother generally wouldn't go this far for anyone, given the girl's rap sheet, though, it's perplexing him, and he had a longer rap sheet than her!
Allegedly.
Shrugging her shoulders, Bill insisted that it's what she got from Mark, before their conversation ended when Theodore's brother senses tingled, urging them to look the part, else Hammond's likely to go off on them.
Doing what they're supposed to do, trying to look like they haven't spent time gossiping, they see Hammond stepping into the department, a look on his face that looked like a cross between contemplating and resentment.
It worsened the moment he sees Theodore pushing the cart along and it's almost as though Hammond wanted to say something to him, be refrained, before he went on to ask Bill that if any more officers come to the library, to have them wait at the lobby downstairs.
"Um, sure," Bill winced as she felt the intense aura coming from Hammond and she quickly added it to the to-do list before he passed over Theodore and Lila, hardly looking at them.
'Twas a weird experience and it became weirder later that evening when Theodore clocked out of work, prepared to lounge in his chair, a bowl of whatever he threw together, and the company of his beloved ferrets, and the moment he left the library, he found his brother and K9 waiting for him.
A disappointed look on his face, but not geared towards Theodore, it was to himself, and he gritted when he talked to Theodore.
"I… need… your help," Hammond felt that pit in his stomach rising as he's forced to turn towards his little brother for help.
It took a few moments, but the message reached Theodore's brain, and he's surprised that Hammond wanted his help.
"Are you pulling my leg?" Theodore glanced at his brother with confusion, unsure if it's another one Hammond's heavy-handed comments, but he noted the look in his big brother's eyes.
Shaking his head, Hammond insisted that he wasn't, he truly needed his brother's help, and he hated it.
Curious, Theodore asked what he needed help with, but Hammond made it aware he knew Theodore and the others discussed it behind his back, afraid of his reaction had he found out about it.
"I'll discuss the matter with you more somewhere, more private, if you don't mind," Hammond wanted them going somewhere else, it would look out of place for them talking something sensitive in the open like this and Theodore agreed, walking with him and K9 back to his flat.
Along the way, Theodore asked why he brought along K9, Hammond said he's certain it'll be of use to their cause and he needed to walk K9, anyhow.
Make that what you will.
Upon returning to his flat, throwing off his work jacket and tie, Theodore settled in his big chair, looking up at Hammond as he stared back.
Glimpsing around briefly, Hammond inquired about the ferrets, and Theodore checked the time, saying they're having their naps, they'll be up in another hour for their dinner.
He made sure his landlady kept them busy while he was at work.
Coming back to the situation at hand, Theodore voiced his opinion.
"This is a police matter, Hammond," Theodore tells Hammond that what he's thinking of trying shouldn't cross his mind, as the disappearance case belonged to the police, not to a civilian.
With his favourite hat in his hands as he sat on the sofa, Hammond tells him that he doesn't think the police are doing a good job, in fact, he thinks they don't know what they're up against.
"You're making it sound like a crime syndicate abducted the girl," Theodore noted his brother's treating this like it's a grand conspiracy, but Hammond corrected him, he checked every avenue before concluding that it wasn't an ordinary person that kidnapped Dorothy.
He reached out to Dom and the Samito, desperate for some clues, and even they said that whoever took Dorothy wasn't of this world.
"Why would anyone take her?" Theodore sat up from his big chair, curious, Hammond sighed as he concluded that he doesn't know for certain, but he knows for a fact that someone took Dorothy, but he feared that if nothing's done, Dorothy will be forgotten, a mere thumbnail on a milk carton.
Worse, she'll be a subject of several documentaries, leading nowhere.
Seeing his big brother distressed like this, it concerned Theodore enough that he made tea for him, just as he preferred, and as he sat with the warm teacup in his hands, Hammond admits that he knows what a handful Dorothy is, he's accustomed to those types, a glance to Theodore, before he said that he sees potential in Dorothy.
In the right hands, the child will grow see her full potential, and grow out of her tendencies, with a brighter future on the horizon.
"That's unusual, even for you," Theodore commented he never saw that side of Hammond before and his brother said that if he'd paid attention, he'd known that Hammond mentors on his off-days.
Yes, the short man in a nice suit does in fact mentor students when he isn't working at the library, it's a shocker, but Hammond wanted his students to see their potential.
He hated them wasting it over tedious drama and the like, he wanted them to exert their efforts into more fulfilling aspects, instead.
Hearing this explanation, Theodore's amazed that his brother willingly took on students, given his temperament, and Hammond admitted that he didn't think it'd happen, either, but here he was, mentoring students, making them realize their hidden talents.
"What was Dorothy's?" Theodore asks his brother as he sipped on his tea.
Lowering his teacup, Hammond says that Dorothy's hidden talents involved explosives made with rudimentary items found around the house, but he wanted her to utilize that skill in a more productive and safer environment.
He hoped that with careful prodding, Dorothy would use her skills in the STEM field for the betterment of society.
"Or demolition," Theodore gave a quick comment before his brother eyed him, before continuing with his story.
He made progress with taming the girl's temperament, teaching her ways to deal with her emotions in a safe and productive matter, but of course, she was a mere child, so it was expected when she grew irritated at times.
When she stopped showing up for classes, Hammond looked in all the usual places, talked with friends of hers, before it became known she was gone.
"What about her mother, how is she dealing with it?" Theodore inquired about Dorothy's mother and it led to Hammond exhaling sharply as he stated that there's friction between the two.
Her mother didn't know a thing about him until they crossed paths in their search for Dorothy.
Instantly, Hammond could tell that Dorothy's mother has issues of her own, but struggles to do right for her daughter, even if Dorothy doesn't see it that way, and he's not only doing this for Dorothy's sake, but because he promised her mother.
For once, Theodore didn't have a joke, snide remark, anything, instead he gave his word as Hammond's brother and as the Doctor, that he'll aid in the search for Dorothy.
Exhaling sharply, Hammond rested the empty teacup neatly on the plate before thanking Theodore for helping him in resolving this sensitive issue.
"I can't believe that Dom and the Samito couldn't find her, even if I'm in France, they'd know!" Theodore found it odd how the two species couldn't track down one girl and Hammond said it confused him, too, that's why he believes that someone might've adducted her and went through an artificial rift, something the two species couldn't track.
He checked every avenue before coming to this conclusion and if he overblown this, he is sorry, but something's amiss, and he couldn't sit by idly.
It's enough for Theodore to quickly change out his outfit, mindful of the sleeping ferrets piled on his bed, before he rejoined his brother at the nondescript door in the kitchen.
Tying his long scarf around his neck, Theodore asks if Hammond had any idea where to start and Hammond looked down to K9, saying he took inspiration from the Ko'gan and the Samito, upgrading K9's sensors with Dorothy's profile and tracking remnants of any unusual rifts.
Link him to the TARDIS and they'll have an idea where to go from here.
"Come along, little brother," Hammond readied, pulling on his cream-coloured jacket.
TO BE CONTINUED… "BROTHERS IN CRIME"