A/N: new chappie! Jack the Ripper case finale! enjoy!
Chapter 28: Twenty-eight Buttons
Talik watched the inn where he knew the Doctor and Olivia were staying from the shadow of an alleyway. He'd delivered the postcard Mary was meant to send, then came straight here, waiting until nightfall. He knew Olivia would have brought Mary straight to the Doctor and their new friends for protection, now all her needed to do was wait. Wait for either Mary, Olivia or even the Doctor to come out. One more feeding and his ship's baby will be born…it would just have to be a big feeding. Then he could get back home and maybe, just maybe, have some kind of life there.
He straightened when he noticed the door of the inn open and a couple head down the stairs. He gave a smirk of triumph. He would know those two anywhere. The Doctor and Olivia. He wondered why they seemed so relaxed, considering Olivia had just returned from being his prisoner, and they were meant to be stopping him from striking again. Well, he was nearly finished. All he needed to do was capture the two of them and take them both back to his lair to dissect them there. He had a feeling it was going to be a bit more difficult than usual, but if he could take Olivia again, he knew the Doctor would follow her.
Using the shadows, he followed the couple, keeping them in his sights as they seemingly didn't even notice they were being followed. He waited until they turned down an alley, then darted across the street, still following them but quietly closing the gap between himself and the couple. He didn't have his mind controlling device, but there were other methods to take someone captive. He pulled out a thick piece of rope he had hidden in his cloak and quickly wound it into a kind of noose before racing up behind Olivia to throw it around her neck and pull her from the Doctor's arm. She cried out as he pulled her back, making him spin around and Talik grinned, evilly.
"We must stop meeting like this, Doctor," he grinned, pulling the rope a little tighter around Olivia's neck when she struggled…but not very much. "I'm in a bite of a hurry, so if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to skip threatening to strangle Olivia here in front of you to the part where you just come with me to the park."
"Yes, Talik, we really must stop meeting like this," the Doctor replied…but something was different about him.
Talik frowned in confusion at the tone of his voice. It sounded different. But he didn't have any time to react or question it before he was elbowed in the gut by the captive in his arms. He doubled forward with grunt of pain as she ran back toward the Doctor, but a sound from behind him caught his ear.
"For Sontar!"
"What—?!"
Talik's exclamation was cut short when he looked up where the shout had come from to see Strax and Vastra falling toward him from the top of the building where he'd jumped. Strax landed in front of Talik, aiming his blaster at him just as Vastra landed behind him, cutting off his retreat.
"You think you can stop me?!" Talik snarled, lifting the rope in his hand to try using it on one of them, but Vastra grabbed both ends and used it against him, taking him down swiftly and shoving him face down into the ground, Strax keeping his blaster aimed at him as he struggled.
"Well, that worked out well," Olivia smiled…with a cockney accent, making Talik freeze and stare huge, red eyes at the woman that looked like Olivia. Jenny pulled off the black wig and pulled her own hair down as she turned to the figure behind her. "Wouldn't you say so, Mr. Holmes?"
The Doctor…who was actually Sherlock Holmes in the Doctor's clothes, stepped forward with a smirk as he pulled off the wig he was wearing as well, smoothing his own hair back, nodding, "Yes, Miss Jenny, it did work out splendidly. Let's just hope the Doctor and Olivia have made quick work of their task as we have."
"What are they doing?!" Talik demanded, struggling to be free as Vastra knelt down with a knee to his back to keep him down.
"They're taking care of your ship," Vastra snarled, binding the rope around his wrists to keep him bound in order to stand him up. Strax still aimed the blaster at him as Vastra stood him up and Holmes handed a handkerchief to Jenny while keeping one for himself so they could wipe the make-up from their faces.
Talik stared at Vastra in disbelief as he panicked, questioning, "What do you mean 'taking care of it'?!"
"With any luck, rendering it useless," Holmes retorted, wiping his face as Talik stared between them in more panic.
"No!" he growled, struggling to be free again, and Vastra struggled to keep him still. "You can't! Leave her alone!"
"Stop moving, reptile!" Strax snapped, jabbing the end of his blaster into Talik's stomach, but it didn't stop him struggling.
"Allow me, dear fellow," Holmes chimed in, tapping Strax on the shoulder to silently ask him to step aside. He stepped in front of the still struggling Talik and lifted a hand toward the underside of Talik's chin, pressing his index and middle finger there and Talik fell forward, unconscious. "And now he'll be easier to handle."
"How on Earth did you do that?" Jenny wondered in wide-eyed shock as Vastra handed the now unconscious Talik over to Strax to drag away.
"The Doctor was kind enough to let me in on a secret in Cathulian physiology," Holmes smirked, straightening his jacket out. "They have a pressure point in the underside of their chin that may render them unconscious with the slightest pressure."
"How nice of him to share that with you and not the rest of us," Vastra retorted, irritably, straightening herself out in her battle outfit before following Strax in the direction of the carriage. "Now, let's get him over to Aberline. He's been hounding me for a swift ending to this case since he handed it over to me."
"Should we go help the Doctor and Olivia?" Jenny wondered as they all followed her back to the carriage.
"If I know the two of them, Miss Jenny, they'll be perfectly fine on their own," Holmes replied. "No need to worry about them."
Meanwhile...
The Doctor held tightly to Olivia's hand as they stumbled through the halls of Talik's ship. They had broken their way in…and this pregnant ship did not like it. They were jostled violently to one side of the hall, sending them into the wall then toppling to the floor, the Doctor grunting when Olivia landed on top of him.
"You had to touch something, didn't you?!" he snapped at Olivia before she shoved herself up and scrambled to her feet, pulling him with her. He grabbed her hand once more and staggered through the shuddering ship. "I tell you not to touch anything and you just didn't listen to me! Why doesn't anyone listen to me?!"
"I told you! I bumped into it! It wasn't my fault!" Olivia shot back, struggling to stay upright and keep up with him as he dragged her along. "How did I know that lever would set off the self-destruct?!"
"You didn't!" he conceded before stopping and turning to loom over her. "Which is why I told you not to touch anything!"
"Are we gonna argue or get out of here?!" she snapped back.
"We're not leaving yet, Olivia Felton."
She frowned up at him in wonder but it seemed to dawn on her before he turned to drag her down the hall again. He pulled his sonic from his jacket pocket and aimed it ahead of them, scanning for the baby somewhere inside the ship.
"She can't give birth yet!" he explained. "She doesn't have enough energy, but this quaking is being caused by her trying to give birth to save the baby before she self-destructs! We have to find it and induce labor!"
"How are we gonna do that?!" she questioned, but before he could answer the ship rocked violently, shoving them into the wall, which fell through and opened up into a room drenched in a red glow and a deafening, pulsing sound. Olivia groaned as she rolled onto her side from her back to look around the room, the Doctor struggling to get to his feet, and when they looked up, they found what looked like a hangar…with a huge spaceship inside it. "Well…I'm guessing this is baby, huh?"
"Oh…" the Doctor breathed, trailing off and slowly stepping toward the long, sleek, silver ship, his eyes wide in awe as he continued, "…you're gorgeous."
"Admire it later!" Olivia snapped, shaking his arm as she questioned, "How are we gonna save it!"
The Doctor shook his head, snapping himself out of his trance and looking to Olivia before grabbing her hand once more and running toward the ship.
"We'll have to start it up!" he replied, stumbling a few times before they reached the hatch where he aimed his sonic and the gangplank came down. They raced up the stairs and into the spacious halls of the ship, both heading straight for the control room after Olivia hit the button next to the entrance to lift the gangplank again. "Let's hope none of the rest of this ship is deadlocked. If it is, we'll be in it deep."
"We're in it deep already!" Olivia retorted as they ran through the halls, finding the control room and they both examined the panels filled with switches, buttons and lights. "Where do we start?!"
The screen in front of them lit up with directions on how to fly the ship out, making Olivia frown in wonder, but the Doctor instantly understood.
"It's the mother," he realized, beginning to operate the console in front of him. "She knows we're trying to save the baby. Follow my lead, Liv!"
She didn't argue as he told her what to do and where to do it. Twenty-eight buttons pushed later, the engines burst to life, the thrusters blasting on and maneuvering around to lift the ship off.
"The hangar doors are still shut!" Olivia noticed as the ship sailed through up and toward the doors. She looked to the Doctor who had a solemn expression over his face before he resumed operating the console. "What do we do, Doctor?"
"We'll have to blast through them," he replied, sadly. "The mother doesn't have enough energy to even open them. On my mark, hit the accelerator for port thruster and hold tight."
She stared at him for a moment before nodding and bracing herself. He counted down from three and they both hit the accelerators for the thrusters and blasted through the doors, clutching onto the edges of the console as the blast from the self-destruct shot them even farther out, and into the skies. Once the rattling stopped, they sighed in relief and the Doctor steered the ship to level it out before Olivia raced toward him and threw her arms around his neck to hang on him, bouncing on her feet in excitedly.
"Theta we did it!" she grinned, hugging him close as he quickly found the autopilot and set it then turned and hugged Olivia in return, lifting her off her feet to twirl her as she laughed, "We saved the baby!"
"Yes, we did!" he laughed in return, setting her down and they grinned down at each other before the Doctor's expression dropped and he blurted, "Now what are we gonna do with it?"
"Don't you worry about that, Mr. Sigma," she smiled, smoothing his collar out. "I know a guy that might take it."
Two Days Later...
"I can't believe we're doing this," the Doctor grumbled as he sat with Olivia in Madame Vastra's carriage. Strax was driving them to a place no one was supposed to know existed. "Leave it to you to head to Jack Harkness when you need something."
"Doctor, Jack wasn't even known to Torchwood until ten years from now," Olivia retorted, fixing her hat that matched her dress, pulling the fine veil down over her face as the Doctor tapped the top of his top hat where it sat in his lap. "Besides, this is just their cuppa tea, don't you think? Cover up for alien activity."
"I'm not even sure I should be heading in there with you," he muttered. "I'm still an enemy of the crown in this century."
"You insisted on coming," she reminded him, taking one of his hands in hers. "And besides, they don't know what you look like, and they won't scan you. Just let me do all the talking and everything will be fine."
"You better be right about this, Liv," he sighed, both jostling when the carriage came to a stop.
"We have arrived," Strax announced, but remained where he was in the driver's spot, letting the Doctor open his door and step out to help Olivia out.
"Cardiff Bay, Liv?" the Doctor sighed, shutting the door behind her as they remained near the carriage. "Bit of a huge hint to give them for the future, don't you think?"
"It's neutral ground, for now," she replied, glancing around and pulling her shall a little farther around her to cut the chilly air. "They wouldn't meet anywhere else."
They were dressed in the finest clothes the TARDIS could provide for the century. Olivia thought it would be best to play as though they were moneyed and important people…but they both had to look the part. She had found a purple taffeta dress with all kinds of ruffles and fur lining the collar with a matching hat that had a small black veil to cover her face, but not completely. The Doctor was in one of his usual suits, bright blue with a fine silk vest of green and a black shirt, a black and white checked cravat around the collar of the shirt, which he pulled at irritably. He tousled his hair before placing the navy blue top hat on his head, so blue it was almost black.
"Why do I have to dress up like this?" he grumbled, tugging at the collar of his shirt. "I look ridiculous."
"You look respectable," Olivia corrected, turning to him to fix his collar, then his top hat to fluff the curls around the brim, making her smile at how it came out. "There…much better."
"You always take care of me, Liv," he smiled, warmly at her and was about to lean forward for a kiss, but she lifted a black gloved hand to press her fingers to his lips, stopping him and he stared at her in wide-eyed surprise.
"Not in public, dear," she smirked, looking to adjust the lapels of his jacket and he sighed heavily.
"Spoil sport," he muttered, making her giggle and pinch his cheek.
Their attention was drawn to a carriage pulling up toward them, making Olivia pull back and take a moment to straighten herself out once more before looking up at the carriage when it came to a stop. The Doctor straightened himself out as well, standing tall next to Olivia as the door opened and a man stepped out to help the woman that climbed out behind him.
"Robert Lewis," Olivia greeted, surprising the couple as they approached. "And Eliza Cooper. Pleasure to meet you."
"How do you—?" Robert began in shock.
"Recently put in charge of the Torchwood Institute established about nine years ago by Queen Victoria herself, am I right?" Olivia went on, her head held high and a smirk over her lips.
"Torchwood?" Eliza frowned in wonder, but Olivia could tell they were feigning ignorance. "What on Earth is that?"
"Look, we can go about this two ways," Olivia sighed, her expression under the veil reflecting her seriousness. "We can either go 'round and 'round about how I know about Torchwood, and why you should believe me, and who I am and all that…which would take up for too much time to explain, or I can give you one word that will let you know exactly why you should listen to me without question."
The Doctor wanted to smirk at Olivia's diplomacy…it was just like his.
Eliza and Robert stared at her in wonder before glancing to each other, seeming to make their decision and looked back to Olivia.
"Alright," Robert nodded. "You called us here. What's the word?"
Olivia reached into the pocket attached to her bodice to pull out her Sonic Screwdriver, holding it out for them to see as she replied, "Doctor."
Eliza and Robert stared at her in wide-eyed disbelief, and the Doctor felt his hearts skip in panic, but he didn't dare look at her. He was sure she wasn't giving him up to them, but he was sure they would probably figure it out. Other than his panic at being found out…he had to admit that Olivia played that brilliantly. He'd taught her well.
"Well," Eliza began, shaking her shock away as Olivia replaced her screwdriver to its place. "That certainly does explain a lot."
"Except who your friend is," Robert noticed, making Olivia's eyes widen as she glanced to the Doctor then looked back at them with a smile.
"Oh, this is John, my husband," she replied, casually as she took his arm then blurted, "He's a mute."
The Doctor tightened his arm on hers, squeezing it between his body and hers, painfully. She winced but kept up her smile as Eliza and Robert watched them closely.
"Your husband?" Eliza echoed with a frown, to which the Doctor held up his left hand and Olivia pulled her glove from her own left hand to hold it up as well, both of them showing off their rings. "I see."
"Now, down to business," Olivia cut to the chase, drawing their attention back to her. "I'm in need of a body and a place to put a Cathulian that's turned out to be Jack the Ripper and his ship. That's just up your alley, isn't it?"
Eliza and Robert stared at her with disbelief before Robert spoke up.
"My dear woman, tell us everything."
"Oh, I plan on it," Olivia smiled, lifting a hand toward the Doctor who knew what she was asking for and pulled out a file from one of his coat pockets to hand it to her, which she in turn handed to them. "All the information you'll need for the cover-up is in this file, and if you have some time, I will tell you the whole story."
That Evening...
"Theta, we should at least say good bye!" Olivia whispered at the Doctor as he dragged her by the hand down the foggy streets of London. "They think we're going to the TARDIS for champagne!"
"Well we are heading for the TARDIS," he replied, still dragging her behind him, but she stopped and tugged on his arm, spinning him around to face her with a frown of wonder. "Liv—?"
"You're really gonna do this to them?" she cut in, making his frown deepen. "You always do this. You always leave without a goodbye, but I never thought you'd do it to our friends."
"But, Liv, this isn't goodbye," he replied, making her frown in wonder this time. He smiled and stepped closer to look down at her from his height and assured her, "We'll see them again, and they know it. There's no need to say goodbye, or 'see you later,' or 'till next time.' There's just coming and going. Thought you knew that by now."
She stared at him in wonder before smiling and nodded in understanding, and he burst into a grin before turning and racing toward the corner where the TARDIS was, dragging her behind him.
"Besides, we have to see Amelia before our next adventure!" he laughed as they approached the TARDIS and he dug into his pocket for the key.
"You know, even though the story isn't exactly as everyone knows it, I don't think we did too badly solving the mystery of Jack the Ripper," Olivia smiled, leaning on the frame next to the Doctor as he tried unlocking the door. "In fact, I think we did better. We saved Mary, stopped a crazed lunatic from getting away with the murders, and Torchwood was even nice enough to give Mar a new identity as Mary Morstan."
"And of course you had to give them a hint as to what name they gave her for that as well, didn't you?" the Doctor muttered, struggling with the key in the door. "You're more meddlesome than me."
"Just because I gave a few helpful hints on where to find Jack in the future does not make me meddlesome," she argued. "And besides, you don't think John and Mary made a cute couple? I think so. Theta, why are you having so much trouble with that lock?"
"I don't know!" he growled, yanking the key out and stomping a foot in his agitation as Olivia only smiled and pulled her key from around her neck to use it on the door…but it didn't work. She frowned and tried pushing on the door to open it but it wouldn't budge. "See?! I don't know what's wrong with it."
"I think the lock is stuck," she guessed, trying her key again.
"It's never been stuck!" he argued.
"Look, try shoving it open while I turn the key, ok?" she suggested.
The Doctor braced himself against the door and when she counted to three she turned the key and he shoved it open. The door finally gave way and they fell forward into the TARDIS, making them grunt when they landed, but they barely had any time to recover when a bright light blinded them and a loud noise deafened them. They struggled to their feet, squinting against the light and clamping their hands over their ears as they tried staggering toward the console, the door slamming shut behind them.
"What's happening?!" Olivia shouted, but could barely hear herself.
"I don't know!" the Doctor shouted back, chancing to lower one hand to try grabbing her arm and keep her close, both still staggering in the middle of the control room. "Hold onto me!"
"What?!"
"Hold onto me! Olivia?! Olivia!"
She had been staggering away from him before she felt light-headed and her hands fell to her sides as she swayed on her feet, disoriented for a moment before she fell to the floor, unconscious.
A/N: I could not resist sticking Torchwood in there somewhere, and I did do some research, they were already established, but Jack wasn't there until 1899...cuz that was my original intent, but it still works. anyway I couldn't resist this next adventure they're about to have, and I couldn't WAIT to get here! I'm so excited! ok, reviews?