In normal situations, having two stalkers somewhere in the area hellbent on capturing them, would've warranted police intervention, however, these weren't normal situations, and instead of going to the police, anyway, Theodore wanted to try his hand at giving the stalkers what they wanted.
They want him, yes, but they'll have to catch him, and he's going to use that against them.
If they're smart, they won't attempt to cause mass panic among the night shift workers lingering around after hours, thus giving him and Lila time.
Two people against half-blooded Time Lord, not too bad of a stake, once he and Lila immobilize them, they're going to tell him everything he needed to know, one way or another.
Who put them up to this?
How did their boss know how to disable the TARDIS?
Where is their boss?
Who is their boss?
Then proceed to toss them to the proper authorities, Theodore and Lila see them get their comeuppance for the conspiracy, once that's done, off they go, and back home, again.
Might have to sneak a layover before coming home, this area's putting a damper on things with the blue tinted darkness that's broken through with sparse lighting around the city.
"Wait," Lila briefly stopped as a thought crossed her mind, "maybe you can't track the TARDIS, what about my iPod?"
Sometimes on layovers from adventures, Lila listened to her iPod, and well, maybe if the Sonic Screwdriver couldn't track the disabled TARDIS, she always kept her iPod on and on charge for when she needs her music fix.
Thinking it over as they crossed the street, blending with the crowd, Theodore's icy blue eyes twinkled at the idea before stealing a kiss from Lila, thanking her for the idea.
When they're in a group waiting near a hotdog stand, Theodore dialed the Sonic Screwdriver onto Lila's iPod.
Not as technologically advanced as the TARDIS, but with fine tuning, Theodore's able to narrow on Lila's iPod. Faint, but he's getting a signal coming from it, dim, but it's a start.
"Here," Theodore gave Lila the key to the TARDIS for safekeeping, while it's disabled, she's still able to get inside, and she hid it underneath her jersey as she looked up while Theodore's icy blue eyes glided around, looking for the man and woman, surely lurking somewhere nearby, they would've blended in with the crowd.
Chewing on his inner lip, Theodore then gave Lila the plan he wanted her to follow.
He also handed her his Sonic Screwdriver, still warbling as she held it in her hand, with Theodore reminding her how to use it, as he instructed her to find the TARDIS, and figure out how they disabled it.
"Teddy, what're you thinking?" Lila raised her brow suspiciously as she's seeing cogs turning in his head, as he tells her that they wanted him.
He'll lure them away while Lila searched for the TARDIS.
"You sure this's a good idea?" Lila asks if Theodore's sure about the man and woman turning attention to him solely and not come after her, which Theodore says that whoever disabled the TARDIS would've known about his unusual nature.
If they wanted a chance, both on him's better than focusing one on him and one on Lila.
"Don't forget the knife, hm?" Theodore winked at her, reminding her of the replacement knife she brought with her, couldn't be too careful, and Lila nodded.
Now, the problem came's finding the man and woman, trying to lure them away from Lila, gaining their focus on him only, which with the crowds, Theodore noted they wouldn't attempt it.
So, he's going to do something incredibly stupid, unsurprising, he knows, but Theodore wanted answers and the TARDIS, back.
"You stay with the crowds while you're looking, understand?" Theodore looked at Lila as he stole another kiss from her while she hugged him before he braved singling himself out from the crowds while Lila blended in with the people walking among the stretch of sidewalk as she stared at the blinking light on the Sonic Screwdriver.
Blending in with the crowds while staying on point, Lila hurried, mindful of the drunks, druggies, name it, they walked among the nightlife as she's avoiding the traffic that came from people entering the city from the interstate.
Mindful, Lila kept looking around every corner and every step she took, making sure neither man or woman's coming her way, just in case they saw through the ploy of Theodore going alone.
Wouldn't know how to undo whatever happened to the TARDIS, but Theodore trusted Lila, and she sometimes wondered how he could've trusted her to do something like that, yet here she was, doing just like that.
Hadn't seen either half of the pair, yet, Lila would've considered it a good sign, but knew better to put her eggs in the basket, as seen with previous adventures.
"Come on, where the hell are you?" Lila curses as she must've left the financial district towards the warehouse district with the aid of finding a serviceable map of the city and much of the way's accessible by walking.
Though Lila ran into difficulty with some areas restricted due to construction going on, but with stubbornness, comes perseverance, and with the aid of the psychic paper, she's getting through areas, while watching her back.
On her mind, weighed Theodore, worried about him, as he's setting himself up as a bait for the stalkers.
Paying attention to the light on the Sonic Screwdriver guiding her, Lila saw it strengthening as it guided her through the dwindling crowds, leaving her alone among the smells of the industrial area, the oil stains among the cracked roads, and the heavy smoke coming from the trucks that drove by, heading towards the docks in the areas further up from Lila.
"Come on, where are you?" Lila muttered as she moved around to the back of the area, the smells as about as one expected in the industrial area, stunk of cigarettes, expired liquor, and everything else.
Her chestnut eyes glided as she searched for any building with the Sonic Screwdriver growing bright as she's getting closer to where the man and woman hid the TARDIS.
There's a warehouse in the distant and seeing the light grow brighter as Lila held out the Sonic Screwdriver, she ran towards her, her sweat soaked jersey stuck to her as she reached the warehouse, breathless, as she struggled to catch her breath before looking for a way inside the warehouse.
Thankfully, there's a broken lock on the worker's only door that opened without issue, and Lila snuck inside.
The air's stale, smelled heavily of oil and wood shavings, the once gray floor's completely stained from the oils, that it became impossible to see what the laminated floor used to look like.
No lights anywhere in the old warehouse, Lila wouldn't be surprised if the warehouse's abandoned, made sense, and she scoured the warehouse floor for any sign of the TARDIS.
The blue light's brighter than the sun, as Lila's nearing where the man and woman hid the TARDIS and there, she sees it stowed away in the corner.
Shuffling across the floor, her vanes barely scuffing against the floor due to the layers of oil still present.
Retrieving the key from around her neck, Lila opened the TARDIS with ease, thankfully they couldn't get inside, and or break the lock on the TARDIS.
Rushing inside, Lila's in darkness, and she tried to think of what to do to restore the power.
"Think, think, think," Lila tried to control her emotions while she's stumbling around the darkened console room, until the answer came with a realization, yet dull, and she barely made it down the steps towards the console, her hand feeling around the controls.
Popped open a secret compartment and while gripping the lit Sonic Screwdriver in between her teeth, Lila pressed a blue button while turning the key in the keyhole beside it.
Override switch, Theodore and Al thought of it.
Lights above came on with the console room enshrouded in light, Lila exhaling sharply as she called out to Al, "You with me, good buddy?"
Materialized beside her with a dazed look on his face as he's shrugging off the disablement, Al slowly blinked, wearing his loud outfit, before muttering, "That was some strong drink!"
Lila immediately told him about what happened and Al's eyes widened as he heard this before saying, "Yeah, I remember falling asleep. I should've known that statue's bugged! Listen, it's still somewhere in the warehouse, you have to destroy it before I can get back in the groove or else, I'll be disabled, again."
Informing her that the statue that was used to disable him's still around the warehouse, Lila sucked air through her teeth as she's told by Al, that she needed to destroy it to effectively ensure that it couldn't be used, again, and Lila pointed at him, telling him, "I'll go destroy the statue, but you better have a plan. Teddy's baiting himself as it."
Nodding, Al motioned with his hand as Lila stowed the Sonic Screwdriver on the console with the key, before braving another trip outside the TARDIS.
While Al couldn't touch it himself, he was able to ping it for Lila to see in the darkened warehouse, as he says that it hadn't been connected to the power grid for a few years, that he couldn't hack it to turn the lights on.
Nothing strenuous, the statue's weaker than cheap statues people buy from furniture stores.
One good throw against the solid wall's enough to shatter it into pieces, thus the statue can't be used against him, again.
"And, what about the radioactive substance that surely comprises the statue internally?" Lila brought up with a raised brow before Al changed his mind on the thought and gave Lila a different alternative.
Al gave Lila the opportunity to relieve a childhood pastime by having her throwing the statue as high as she can from them and with his finger, Al shot the statue from afar with a phantom laser beam coming from his fingertip.
The statue exploded in a contained fashion that prevented the spread of radioactive isotopes, thus neutralizing the possible radioactive threat.
"That was easy," Lila turned to Al as he rubbed his hands together triumphantly as he chortled, "All in the wrist!"
Although Lila didn't deny he did a good job destroying the statue without risking himself shutting down again, Lila pointed out that his aim caused a sealed off window to break apart, pouring light from outside.
They've been at this for god knows how long, they're in the morning hours, now, and with the sunrise coming, it's going to make things dicier.
"Come on, let's find the kid and get the hell out of dodge," Al prodded Lila to hurry inside so he can find Theodore on the radar and reach him immediately.
Agreeing with his plan, Lila's about to leave with him when Lila realized that she shouldn't have said this was easy, because there's separate footsteps moving around the warehouse and there's one set nearest to the TARDIS that Lila ordered Al to lock it, even with the key inside.
"Go!" Lila ordered Al to leave quickly before he risks another trick used against him that potentially disabled him a second time and though he's hesitant, Lila forced him.
Hesitantly, Al materializes the TARDIS elsewhere while Lila faced the pair alone, at least until she bids her time.
With the subtle light pouring in, Lila sees two shadows circling her.
She sees the outline of the man coming towards her, a dull expression on his face, turning her head, Lila sees the outline of the woman coming towards her on the opposite side, a dull expression on her face, as well.
"You know, I could've done without the stalker trope," Lila showed displeasure to the pair for what they done to her and Theodore for an entire night.
She noticed quickly that the pair's quiet, not the usual types that Lila and Theodore dealt with in the past that loved nothing more than to talk their heads off, but the pair preferred silence.
"Are you going to at least tell me, what the hell's this about?" Lila felt cornered as she kept the pair away from her as they silently moved closer to her.
None of them talked, despite Lila's best attempts, and thankfully, by the use of the computerized parts in the trucks used by the warehouses, Lila didn't have to come up with another attempt, as a truck slammed through the wall of the warehouse they're in, sliding across the smooth floor, causing Lila to jump to the side as the stalking pair did similar.
While the truck slammed into the back of the warehouse, slamming into the abandoned shelves, and what's it, becoming entangled and inoperable, the gaping hole in the wall's big enough that Lila's able to run through it after quickly recovering.
"Where's Teddy?" Lila coughed as she reached out to Al while keeping pace, trying to keep distance from the encroaching pair, as Al worked to target another vehicle for her to use while they're playing keep-away.
Al says that he found Theodore, he's okay, but Al summarized that they caught on quickly to what he was planning, and targeted Lila.
"Oh, wonderful!" Lila coughed.
She's using every trick in the handbook making sure she doesn't pull every muscle in her legs trying to escape the pair, not looking behind her to see where they're at, just trying to keep pace, and as she dived through an alleyway between warehouses, she's forced to pause as she took a deep breath.
"Wilma Rudolf, I am not!" Lila commented as she felt her muscles like rubber band, trying to keep her legs going, but they struggled moving, despite her best efforts trying to prevent herself from stopping for good due to muscle fatigue.
Forcing them, Lila paced herself, as she did, she felt an arm grabbing her from behind, throwing her against the side of the warehouse.
It's the man.
Dull expression, nothing behind those dark eyes of his, only Lila's reflection.
He has a hold around her neck with one hand as he kept the other to his side.
"Where is he?" Lila heard the man dully ask her, his grip lessening around her neck, allowing her to speak, somewhat.
Struggling, Lila coughed, "I… don't… know…"
Genuinely, she doesn't know where Theodore went and even if she did, she wouldn't tell him.
His grip strengthened as the man raised her above eye level, her back sliding against the silver shingles behind her.
"I know you can talk to him," the man revealed to her that he knew about their telepathic link and raised his free hand to her eye level.
He points with his index finger as he threatened, "Tell me where he is."
Seeing how defiant Lila remained despite the threat, the man then raised his index finger in between her eyes, as he's prepared to do something to her, Lila hears the screech of truck tires.
She fell to the ground with a loud thud as a truck drove through warp speed in between the warehouse, slamming into the man, sending him through the air.
The truck came to a screeching halt further down from Lila as she struggled to recover from almost having life choked from her as well as whatever the man planned to do her with his index finger.
She sees the driver's side of the truck opening and a familiar head of hair popping out the side before Theodore slid down the steps, rushing towards her with worry in his icy blue eyes.
"I'm sorry!" Theodore panicked as he helped her up, "I tried to keep them with me, but they seemed to realized something wrong!"
Should've expected that, but for a little while Theodore had their attention.
Coughing as she struggled to breath, all Lila could do's hug him tightly, and he embraced her, squeezing her tightly, before leading her to the safety of the truck where inside the cab, Al sat on the passenger side.