Going through the vents like they're children waddling through the cramped slides at parks, the trio struggled as they're mindful of the narrow vents, the sudden drops, and the cobwebs!
Poor Theodore felt disgusted having cobwebs stuck to his stitched long coat, he used his deerstalker to bat the cobwebs away from him, as he maneuvered through the vents, the hatred in his icy blue eyes.
"Filthy!" Theodore lambasted the state of the vents, leading to Lila to remind him of the matter at hand, causing him to respond with, "All this candy, could they bother those figures?"
With the sugar content in molten sugar, surely the bugs could bugger off and bother the figures, not invade the vents, the one place that he and the two needed to traverse!
"I'm likely to agree with you!" commented the Doctor as he found the myriad of cobwebs to be distasteful, so much he used a handkerchief to swat at the offending cobwebs.
The men did everything possible in the vents to swat away numerous cobwebs, fling a few straggler spiders to their doom, until the trio came across a wall vent overlooking an office.
It's empty and naturally, the trio worked to get out of the vent, the moment their feet touched the ground, Theodore and the Doctor worked to pat down their clothes, shrugging off any cobwebs still on their persons, while Lila went to work looking through the office.
Belonged to Miser from looking through the drawers of the big ironwood desk, allowing Lila an opportunity to go through files left in the drawers.
Predictably, there was a Kershaw who owned the building, but as it stands, he was no longer part of the picture, and undoubtedly, didn't leave on his own accord.
Miser Todd took over soon after, set up shop, and the more she looked, Lila found that Swenson wasn't Miser's son, he was Kershaw's, but when he "unexpectedly" left, Miser took over the role.
"Disturbing," the Doctor commented as he read through the files after Lila was done looking through them, going through the desk for more, while Theodore rummaged through the filing cabinets.
The more they scoured, the more the pieces came together, revealing that the figures on the floor of the museum weren't candy, traditional wax, but when Miser came into the picture, he started making new figures with the aid of Swenson.
What perturbed the trio the most's the fact that Swenson willingly helped Miser, despite what he'd done to his father.
Didn't appear that Swenson conspired to have his father killed, but it's strange that he wasn't despondent over his father's murder, and the more the trio thought about it, the horror of what happened to the body.
"He was dead when he was put into the vat, right?" Lila wearily looked to Theodore for guidance, thoughtfully Theodore pondered for a great deal, before admitting to her, "I'm not sure we want the answers to that question, my dear Watson."
The thought of having carved out a piece of Kershaw, trapped in his candy tomb, uneases Lila, causing her to exhale, "How can Swenson not think about that?"
His own father!
Theodore reminded her that nothing everything's easily explained, they couldn't simply ask Swenson's thoughts on the matter, however they couldn't rule out the possibilities that there were more underlying reasons for why Swenson didn't show negativity to the crime.
Without all the pieces to the puzzles, they didn't have a concrete answer, for now, they work with what they know for certain.
"Though, I wish we had answers on the changes. While certain candy composition works decently for figure making, it's a rotted mess waiting to happen if it's not properly maintained," the Doctor grew curiouser why the change from wax to candy.
The question would be answered another time, as the trio hurried back through the vent after putting everything back where it belonged, hearing footsteps coming towards the office.
Hiding in the vents, the trio quietly watched as someone stepped through the doors.
It's Swenson.
His green eyes slowly moved around the office, before going towards the the filing cabinet that Theodore had rummaged through, opening one of the drawers that Theodore hadn't gotten a chance to search through.
He pulled out a black box, hidden away, before going around the desk, sitting at the plump chair.
Opening the box, the trio's able to see that there's candy inside, truffles, and Swenson began consuming them.
Safely talking through telepathy, the trio discuss the unusual sight, seeing Swenson calmly eating the truffles, surely, he would've known by now that the trio escaped.
"Odd place to hide sweets," the Doctor commented the oddity in hiding a box of truffles in a filing cabinet within an office that wasn't Swenson's, leading Theodore commenting that perhaps Swenson's got a rebellious streak.
This office used to belong to Kershaw, so maybe Swenson wanted to defy Miser out of spite.
"Dunno. There are more ways to show anger towards the guy who killed your father," Lila found it odd that this was what Swenson considered as a way of spiting Miser, though remembering what Theodore told her, she couldn't be sure how Swenson felt.
Except.
"Me?" Theodore looked at her.
Shrugging, Lila goes, "Yeah, who else? Come on, man, just peek in his head, see what's going on inside. Maybe he knows where they stuck the TARDIS."
It couldn't hurt peeking into Swenson's head, explain why he didn't seem to notice anything wrong, and Theodore obliged, cautiously gleaming into Swenson's mind.
Briefly, Theodore heard his inner monologue as he chomped on the strawberry-flavoured truffle.
"Served him right!" Swenson internally monologues as he sat at the desk.
The monologue afterwards faded, as Theodore's unable to gleam anything more, attempting not to make him known, and prevent harming Swenson.
At least, until they're sure which spectrum he falls under in terms of threat level.
"Well, that doesn't say much," Lila commented on the sparse monologue that Theodore's able to gleam.
The Doctor's baffled, "Either he's talking Miser or his father, not very descriptive, this one!"
Pushing on, the trio quietly continued their search for the Doctor's TARDIS, once they're safely away from the vent overlooking Miser's office, Theodore resumed using the Sonic Screwdriver.
Covered in cobwebs, dust, whatever's stuck with them inside, they come across another wall vent, this time overlooking a different storage, there Theodore sees the flashing blue light erratically blinking.
Climbing down the side of the wall, he helped the Doctor and Lila come down, the wall's higher up than in Miser's office, they won't be able to climb back up easily.
Following the blue light, Theodore hurried with the two behind, until he came across…
"Me and my mouth!" Lila exhaled as she sees that the two TARDIS, entombed in the same candy that comprised the figures, and Theodore's aghast at the sight.
The Doctor raised his brow as he quizzically stared at the sight.
"This isn't what I'd expect, trapped in a different dimension," the Doctor commented as he found this unusual, candy shouldn't have the capabilities of sequestering the machines from contacting him or Theodore.
Walking up, the trio stared at the sight closely, this wasn't some sort of time dimensional prison like either expected, that the Doctor reached out, yanking on a corner on one of the TARDIS, until a piece of candy broke off.
Chewing on it for a moment, the Doctor gave his conclusion, still terrible. Nothing about it should've resulted in their inability to communicate with the machines, as previously stated.
"Hands up!" Theodore heard Miser shouting, turning his head, he sees Miser standing in front of them, anger in his eyes, behind there's more wax figures.
Immediately, Theodore pulled Lila behind him as he stared at the guns held by Buffalo Bill, Anne Oakley, and Jesse the Kid, looking closely, Theodore knew they're real.
"I think I've learnt my lesson, Doctor. Bring them to the catwalk," Miser commanded the three wax figures to apprehend the trio, forcing them to walk penguin style with guns buried into their backs.
As he's walking, Theodore demanded to know why the man wanted him so badly, enough to make a wax figure of him, causing Miser to say, "If I was doing something illegal, how quickly would it take before you're led to me, hm?"
In his way, Miser told Theodore why: he knew about the Doctor's penchant for butting into plans and ploys, knowing that he'll inevitably turn up again, stopping Miser.
"We don't rail against tax fraud, if that's what you're thinking," Lila spoke up, informing Miser that they're not the sort to get into conflict over taxes, that's not their department, and tax fraud's a whole different beast than the usual monsters.
Brought back to the vats, the trio walked up the grated steps, going up to the catwalks, waiting near the three reinforced hooks, Swenson.
He's none too pleased seeing the trio escaping their confines, pointing this out to Miser as he joined his side, "For a man who claimed to been memorize by the Doctor, you surely don't understand his capabilities!"
Swatting the air as Miser argues with Swenson while the wax figures made sure the trio couldn't escape from their chains, as they're attached to the factory-grade hooks overlooking the bubbling vats below.
"And not to mention, dear father, why are there two of those machines and Doctors when you always said there was one?" Swenson finished his arguing with his father with that mention, causing Miser to stop for a moment, blinking, before telling his son, "I don't know, but I might as well kill this second one, then, the girl, too!"
Miser didn't seem to have everything planned out, enough that Swenson undermined him in his own ways, including meddling with the vats that once housed wax, as it happened that Miser didn't realize the switch.
Why candy, of all things, drew back to when they caught Swenson eating truffles in the office.
Further confirmed when Miser brought up, "And for one thing, I've told you, no more sweets in my office!"
Swenson's dismayed at the thought, but Miser informed him that he's not as good as he thinks he is, the fact that it was Miser's doing that got them this far.
"Forgive his temper, you know how children are," Miser waved his hand as he informed the trio that his son's difficult when he wants to be, causing Theodore to say, "I'd be temperament too, especially when you killed my father!"
Not the wisest thing he done, but Theodore figured it'll buy them time while they worked out their escape, and it caused Miser to uncharacteristically shout, "I told him it was a bad idea!"
Blinking, Theodore uttered, "What?"
Theodore didn't get an elaboration, because Swenson intervened, ordering the figures to commence the plan.
The figures moved away from the trio, turning their attention to Miser as they blocked him from escaping through the catwalks.
In a 'c' formation, the figures pushed towards Miser, towards the bubbling vat below.
"Oh, where are my manners?" Swenson thoughtfully looked at the three, "I didn't want Mr. Kershaw dead, I just wanted to talk business. We had dealings before, so I figured I could talk him into helping with mine. Of course, the o' Miser here didn't stand to reason. So, he shot him. Made me put up the body."
Nonchalantly, Swenson explained that Miser and Kershaw were his business partners.
Kershaw opened a wax museum because he liked that sort and was mildly successful, so they figured with his business they could expand their own venues elsewhere.
Which, didn't pan out, because Kershaw didn't want to do anything with his partners, not wanting to cut them in with the profits.
Swenson tried to be reasonable, but Kershaw wouldn't listen, so things happened as they did.
"And the candy?" The Doctor spoke up, asking him what his fascination was about the candy in the vats.
Shrugging his pink pinstripe shoulders, Swenson tells him that he always wanted to make candy, but the vats weren't good for that, too hot, not copper, that the low-quality candy's better off used for figure making, ironic considering.
Not his interest, but Swenson couldn't become legitimate, not with the death of Kershaw and now Miser.
"Unbelievable! You mean all this's just 'cause you couldn't work out a partnership with the guy?" Lila lambasted Swenson for causing this mess, all because he couldn't come to an agreement with Kershaw, the events that happened thereafter, didn't make a lick of sense until Swenson informed her, "I never intended to harm Kershaw, but things happened out of my control. And I promise, I am going to rectify that mistake shortly."
How he planned on doing that?
Forcing his controlled figures to rush into Miser, forcing them all into the bubbling vat below, to the shrilling screams of Miser the moment he touched the bubbling candy.
With his limited body movement, Theodore shielded Lila from the sight, helping her dull her hearing for a moment, preventing her from hearing the screaming.
When the screaming stopped, the three looked at Swenson, who looked up at them with boredom.
"You can't be the Doctor, neither you," he waved his hand at the men, "he's probably in a hospital bed if he hadn't kissed queen-mother's hand at the gates!"
He wouldn't believe both men the Doctor that Miser got obsessed over, causing Theodore to ask him why that is, and Swenson said to him, "I didn't care to ask, I thought by letting him make his stupid figure, he'd leave me alone."
It's unbelievable that these series of events happened because Swenson wanted to partnership with Kershaw, but the way Swenson made it out to be, it was a bad business lunch, nothing more.
"What's your plan, you're just going to stay here?" Lila asks Swenson his plan, now that Miser and Kershaw's gone, and Swenson informed her that because of what happened and the quality of the vats, he didn't care to stay.
As for her and the men…
"If you're really the Doctor, you can figure things out, can't you?" Swenson eyed Theodore with his sharp gaze before strolling away from the three, humming to himself, the trio forced to hear the footsteps as Swenson walked down to the factory floor, there they started smelling smoke.
Like that, Swenson's gone, but not before turning on the hooks, pulling the three out into the centre of the boiling vat of candy.
"Oh, this is just beautiful!" Lila let out as she felt the intense heat coming from the boiling candy, the smoke starting to waft to where they're hanging.
Panicking, the trio struggled to escape from their deaths, the sight of the boiling candy, the smoke clouding their vision as it rises.
Coughing, the three felt their eyes water uncontrollably, until a familiar voice rang out, "Hold on, kid!"
Through the watery tears, Theodore sees Al, materialize on the catwalk, causing Theodore to choke on his cough while trying to shout, "Al!"
Al got what he tried saying before the trio felt the jolt as the hooks swayed in the breeze, pulled back towards the catwalk.
He helped them escape the chains by using the Sonic Screwdriver to laser the chains at precise spots.
Feeling the chains slough off them, the trio flung them off, running towards the stairs as they saw fire rising from the doors they went through when they tried finding the TARDIS.
Fire spread into the museum floor, like lava, walls didn't contain it, eating through everything, the kindling from the displays helped fuel the fire as it spiraled out of control.
Al took his natural form, allowing the trio to escape their inferno, transporting them to safety where they're able to view the inferno from afar.
"Al! What happened?" Theodore asked him what happened, causing him to explain to him as his cigarette bobbed in his mouth, stress in his eyes, that it happened instantly.
He was minding his business when he felt someone taking him for a ride, by the time he realized something wrong, he woke up with candy all-over him!
It took the fire burning it off for him to escape.
"And the other TARDIS?" The Doctor worryingly asked him as he stared at Al perturbedly, before Al assured him that it's safe, too, all the Doctor needed to do's walk out the door, and he'll be right where he belongs.
Exhaling sharply as he ran his hand through his wild curly blonde hair, the Doctor responded with, "All I get for wanting a trip somewhere normal!"
This is the last time he's ever going to a museum!
Crossing her arms, Lila goes, "Something's bothering me, though, candy, of all things?"
Nothing in this adventure made any sense and the fact they're left with answers just annoyed her, before Theodore comforted her, by reminding her that they didn't die a horrific death of being encased in wax or candy.
"Yeah, maybe, but Swenson, where do you think he went?" Lila wondered where the man disappeared after escaping the museum, causing Al to inform her that, no one of that name existed, causing her to rest her palm on her face, the thought of a con-man with a fake name, no past, and insane?
Touching her shoulders as he comforts her once more, Theodore tells her that if they see him again, justice will surely come for him, he can't escape for long, and the Doctor agreed with him.
"Although, I am curious, why they didn't make their presence known sooner?" the Doctor wondered why the men didn't come for him sooner, noting they had hours to take him, and Theodore said that it's improbable to know for certain.
However, they're alive, haven't burnt themselves, or worse, so that made it a good adventure in his icy blue eyes.
Without answers, it's speculation.
Sighing, Theodore decided to have Al put out a bulletin of the description, just in case, and with that, came their decision to take up on the Doctor's offer.
After this, dinner and drinks might be what… the Doctor ordered!
THE END