An: FINAL PART I PROMISE
The deputy Commander followed her silently into the kitchen, looking around and sniffing the air. He had that air of looking for something. Hunting for something.
"You've got a rat problem." He said eventually, in the same cold almost disinterested voice.
"Really." Jenny threw him a sarcastic smile as she loaded up the tea tray, wishing the kettle would boil sooner. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of a rat, though it wouldn't surprise her if there were some about. A random thought floated across her mind; they ought to get a cat. Or maybe one of the Irregulars knew someone with a ratting terrier. The whistle of the kettle brought her mind back to the situation at hand. The deputy Commander, Vandemar the Queen had called him was stood staring at her blankly. It was a look Jenny would see again on the face of another before the year was out.
Hastily splashing the boiling water into the tea pot, she didn't wait for the tea to brew before carrying the tray hastily back into the plant room, pushing past Vandemar with disdain. She poured the weak tea into the cups and handed one to Vastra, who locked eyes with her as she took the cup. The Silurian had gone a very light shade of green but her blues eyes steadied Jenny, who took the next cup to the Queen, wondering what had passed between Vastra and their guest in the short while she had been in the kitchen.
"You're very brave aren't you." the Queen noted, as Jenny held it out. Jenny was pleased to see her hand didn't shake too much.
"Thank you ma'am." Jenny bowed her head and went to give Croup a cup. He waved her away.
"My associate and I do not require such refreshments at this time." He smiled condescendingly.
"To what do we owe the honour of your presence, your Majesty?" Vastra asked, taking a sip of her own. Her nose twitched in disgust; it was not Jenny's best made tea, and she placed the cup and saucer back on the table.
"To business then, Madame Vastra. It has been reported to me, in full," the Queen paused to emphasise her point that yes, she knew everything that had happened, up to and including incidents with trousers. "the happenings at the very beginning of this year. As you have not fled the country, I can only assume you are therefore willing to face the consequences of your actions." She took a sip of her tea, frowned and followed Vastra's suit of placing it down beside her. "You need a better brand of tea, Madame Vastra. Of course you were successful in retrieving the locket, but breached the security of Torchwood twice in order to do so and launched an assault on the centre of operations. Such actions could well count as treason, for which there is no excuse, not even your alien nature."
"She ain't an alien!" half of Jenny cheered at her saying it, the other half really wished she had a vortex manipulator so she could go back in time and stop herself saying it. The Queen turned her shrewd eyes onto Jenny, wordlessly demanding that she explain the interruption. "She…she were born on earth just like you an' me. Just a long time ago."
"I see." Queen Victoria's expression gave nothing away as she returned her attention to Vastra. "You were born in Britain then?"
Vastra glanced at Jenny who nodded as vigorously as she could without acutally moving her head.
"Technically, yes. I was born in what is now Britain." Vastra shifted in her seat.
"I see." The Queen seemed to contemplate this information and then come to a decision. "If you were born in Britain, whatever time it was, this would make you a subject of the British Empire."
Vastra eyed Jenny again, who communicated by a slightly pained facial expression that technically yes. "I suppose that would be true."
"As my subject, you would naturally swear allegiance to the British Empire. To fight for its interests and mine." It was a statement. Not a question.
"You would wish me to work for you?" Vastra's blue eyes went wide as they looked to Jenny once more, who almost imperceptibly shook her head.
"For Torchwood. Your skills are lauded as formidable Madame Vastra, and your methods whilst crude, have proved effective. I am not accustomed to overlooking attacks against my institutions but in this case, I feel it would be beneficial to the both of us for you to work for us. I have noticed that several of your cases wander in the realm of the fantastical, even otherworldly. Egypt, spectral hound attacks, even the kidnapping of a certain royal personage…why do you keep looking at your maid?" Queen Victoria asked impatiently, having noticed Vastra's glances. Both she and Jenny turned to look at the Queen. "You take counsel from your maid?" The Queen got up and walked imperiously over to Jenny who tensed so much she was incapable of stepping backwards.
"Jenny is…" Vastra saw Jenny's frantic glare. "She assists me in my cases. She may be my maid but her insight and advice is invaluable to me."
"I see." The Queen said again, not taking her eyes off of Jenny. "And what is your advice in this case?"
"I don't see as 'ow we can work fer you ma'am." Jenny replied faintly, unclenching her jaw.
In a flurry, the Queen spun round to face Vastra. "And on her advice you would refuse me? You hold her insight in such high esteem? I came here today to solicit your services, so useful to me in recent days, particularly now in light of your acknowledgement as a subject of the Crown and I did not expect a refusal." Queen Victoria took a slow deep breath. "But it is no matter. You are foolish, Madame Vastra, to reveal your weakness, if you wish to negotiate." The Queen gestured with her hand and the two men grabbed Jenny.
"NO!" Vastra leapt from her chair. Jenny struggled but the strength of the Commander and Vandemar was inhuman. Vandemar held her firmly by the arms from behind and the Commander rested his hand about her throat.
"You hold no power here, Madame Vastra." Queen Victoria rose out her chair and walked around the Plant room as she spoke. "And I require your services again; to solve another problem Torchwood has been struggling with. There is a man, if he is a man, of which I know you are an associate. He goes by the name of Doctor. Tell me his whereabouts." The Queen demanded, coming to a halt in front of Vastra.
"I don't know!" Vastra was panic-stricken.
"Mr Croup." The Queen called, sitting back down.
"He's been here. I can smell 'im." Vandemar growled.
"He visits!" Vastra cried desperately. "But he travels. I wouldn't know when or where he was."
"And I don't suppose you would have any viable means of communicating with him?" the Commander, Mr Croup, stepped lightly to stand between Vastra and the seated Queen Victoria.
"No. He just…turns up. Usually whenever there's trouble."
"To help out his friends? Such an admirable man, Mr Vandemar."
"Admirable, Mr Croup."
"I am ruminating on the possibility, Mr Vandemar, were we to hurt his little friends, whether he would consider that to be 'trouble'?"
"He might, Mr Croup. He might."
The cold grin on Mr Croup's face reduced Vastra to a pale yellow and her thoughts turned to her sword. "Hurt the maid, Mr Vandemar."
"No!"
Vandemar nodded once and twisted Jenny's arm up behind her back. She went white and limp as something within her arm cracked.
"Jenny!" Vastra darted forward to catch Jenny as he shoved her to the floor.
"Mister Vandemar!" Queen Victoria rebuked. "That was hardly necessary."
"Sorry." Vandemar shrugged.
Vastra paid them no attention, cradling Jenny in her lap.
"I'm fine, ma'am. I'm fine." Jenny sought to reassure her, trying to hold back tears as she clutched her arm.
With a snarl, Vastra surged upright and stalked to the particularly tall plant as Jenny scrambled upright. Vastra drew out a long samurai word that had been concealed against the trunk. In a slick movement she drew it, pointing it at the Queen.
"This is treason!" Queen Victoria spat.
"I am not your subject!" Vastra hissed back.
"Should we kill her?" Vandemar asked.
"Come, come Mister Vandemar. No need for that. Yet. Let us spread about some more distress among his friends." Mister Croup waved him away. Vastra pointed the blade at him.
"You stay away from her." She snarled at him and he backed away mockingly.
"You are mistaken by the way, your majesty." Mr Croup said in a fake friendly voice as he did so. "And Madame Vastra is quite correct. She is not committing treason. I do suppose however, having been so long in your employ; you might consider this as treason." Croup gestured for Vandemar, who darted behind Queen Victoria's chair, flicking out a short knife and bringing it round to hold at her throat. "I am afraid that whilst we have worked exceedingly hard in building up the Torchwood Institute, it has not been for your gain. Our true employer also seeks the Doctor and advised us that Torchwood might be the very way to find him. Although there we part ways in terms of ambition. You merely wish to capture him. Our true employer wishes that the Doctor be opportunely exterminated. A far kinder gesture than a life of rotting away in the tower, don't you think? For such a worthy foe."
Vastra jerked forward. "He will not be caught so easily."
Mr Croup tsked. "Mr Vandemar. It appears there is a queue awaiting your good attentions."
"Fine by me, Mister Croup." Vandemar shrugged. He stood up and as Vastra swung her blade at him, simply reached up and grabbed it, yanking it from her grasp and tossing it to the ground. The Silurian stared in horror; the man's hands hadn't even bled. She tried to gain a stance but was knocked flying across the room, hitting her head on a plant pot and folding to the floor.
"Jenny…" she tried desperately to focus. A loud scream (and it occurred to Vastra that she'd never heard Jenny really scream before) jolted her back to consciousness.
The man, Vandemar, if he was a man, had grabbed Jenny by her injured arm and was holding her off the ground by it.
"Jenny!" she fought her way back to her feet, swaying unsteadily. Mister Croup had done something to the Queen who was now sprawled on the floor, Jenny was fighting Mister Vandemar tooth and claw but to little avail. He was trying to pick up Vastra's sword again but Jenny was squirming too much for him.
With a snarl, Vastra ran and launched herself onto Vandemar's back, ripping into the flesh on his neck but he didn't bleed from there either; merely tried to shrug her off as if she were an irritating fly. He succeeded in tugging her off with his spare hand and pushing her to the floor. She went to rejoin the fray but Mister Croup had picked up her blade and held against her throat.
"Enough!" a voice called out and Vastra had never been so glad to hear it.
"Ah. Mssr Doctor. So glad am I that you got our invitation to this small soiree of ours." Mister Croup said in an oily voice. "And you brought a friend. The more the merrier, do they not say Mister Vandemar."
"That they do Mister Croup."
"You put her down right now!" The Doctor pointed at Jenny, fury in his eyes.
"Let her go Mister Vandemar."
"Right you are Mister Croup." Vandemar let go and dropped Jenny unceremoniously on the floor.
"Martha!" The Doctor gestured to his companion who rushed over to help. Vastra dodged her own sword edge and gathered Jenny into her lap once more.
"It's her arm." Vastra keened as Martha slid to her knees beside them.
"Okay. Okay! Let me see." Martha ran her fingers gently down Jenny's arm. "Okay. It feels like a radius break. I'm gonna have to reduce it. Jenny?"
Vastra shook the young woman in her arms but Jenny didn't respond. Her eyes were closed and her face white. "Here goes." Martha winced and gently pulled Jenny's arm, feeling the bone slide across one another. "Okay. That should do it." She looked around desperately to find something to use for a splint and a sling and discovered that the Doctor, Croup and Vandemar had disappeared.
"What?" she stood up and looked around the plant room. Queen Victoria was slumped on the floor still, seemingly unconscious. One of the tall plants had had its pot smashed and was leaning at a bizarre angle, dirt and compost strewn all over the floor. But there was no sign of any of the three men. Deciding to deal with that later, Martha tore a couple of large twigs off a branch. "I need some material. Bandages. Rags!" she asked Vastra.
"There's a sewing box in the living room." Vastra told her, still shell-shocked.
"Okay. Stay there. I'll splint her arm and then deal with…Queen Victoria." Martha couldn't quite believe the words even as she said them.
Jenny came round as Martha was gently tying off a makeshift sling around her neck.
"Heya. Back with us?" Martha smiled reassuringly. "There! That should do you. And don't worry about Queen Victoria. She was mildly stunned and then played dead apparently. I've checked her over and there doesn't seem to be any concussion."
"Where's the Doctor?" Jenny asked, struggling to get up.
"He is gone. We don't know where." Vastra answered, helping Jenny to her feet.
"What do we do now? Where're those men? Who even were they?"
"Gone as well. And I suspect they were as alien as the beings Torchwood investigates." Vastra sighed.
"Ironic." Martha snorted.
There was a small cough and they all turned to see a very ruffled Queen Victoria standing there.
"You will take me back to the palace, immediately." There was a fraught pause in which Queen Victoria had the displeasure of being on the receiving end of three simultaneous glowers. "Please."
Martha looked at Vastra and Jenny but the two of them nodded. "Hold on a second. How is it going to look? A lizard woman, a black woman and a maid with an arm in a sling walk up to Buckingham Palace to drop off the Queen?"
"It does sound like a terrible attempt at humour." Vastra agreed. "But alas, Parker is still on holiday."
"I am afraid I relied upon those two creatures to take me back. It was meant to be a secret visit."
"Oh a secret visit was it ma'am? Is that why your carriage has a big royal insignia on the side of it?" Jenny said caustically; the pain in her arm making her throw caution to the wind.
"You will take me back to Buckingham palace and deliver me into the hands of the guards there." The Queen stated again, somewhat more frostily and with a glower of her own.
"And if we do…your majesty?" Vastra drew herself up to her full height.
"What do you mean?"
"Your institute has caused considerable harm to my…maid and my friends. I would ask for an assurance against Torchwood bothering us again."
"You seek to bargain with me?" The Queen did not look amused.
"An agreement." Vastra corrected. "We will continue to work for Scotland Yard and investigate any such cases as we are hired for. But we refuse to work with Torchwood. Now, or in the future. Particularly if your aim is to capture the Doctor."
"The Doctor is a threat to my kingdom. I cannot ignore that." the Queen shook her head.
"He has saved it as well! More times than you know." Vastra cried.
"Oh I am aware, Madame Vastra." Queen Victoria sighed. "Are you to hold me hostage then? Unless I agree with your terms?"
Jenny and Martha shared a look with Vastra. Locking a lieutenant in the larder was one thing; Queen Victoria, entirely another.
"Look, ma'am, its basic non-interference." Martha piped up. "Vastra and Jenny won't get in the way of your work, and you don't bother them in the future regarding the Doctor. I mean, I think the Doctor's capable of evading you with or without them. If he survives those two…" she faltered.
Queen Victoria sniffed in affront. "I cannot have aliens running around unchecked in my Empire."
"She ain't an alien!" Jenny rolled her eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me, child. She declares herself not a subject of the British Empire."
Vastra stopped Jenny from arguing back again. "If I did…"
"You do not declare yourself such. As your Queen, I declare you as such. Now take me back to my palace." The Queen ordered.
There was a brief argument between Martha and Vastra as to whether Jenny should accompany them, which Vastra won on the principle that whilst a broken arm needed rest, if Croup and Vandemar returned to Paternoster Row to find Jenny alone, rest was not what would happen. It was therefore decided that Vastra and the Queen would ride in the Queen's carriage, Vastra in her veil and carrying her sword. Martha, in a loaned cloak to cover up her more modern attire would ride with Jenny on the seat.
"How typical of a companion of the Doctor…" muttered the Queen as she walked out into the yard. "…to be so improperly dressed. There is another matter of course." She turned to face the three women. "In part thanks to your assistance, we retrieved a stolen locket. However, it does seem as though Torchwood has been so foolish as to lose the other one. I don't suppose the Great Detective and her assistant would know where it might be?"
Awkwardly, Jenny reached inside her dress with her left hand, trying not to nudge her arm, and brought out the second locket. Queen Victoria took it, holding it up to catch the light before swiftly disappearing it somewhere about her person.
"I suppose I shall have to put Lieutenant Wilton in charge of Torchwood now." She sighed, as she climbed into the carriage.
The journey to the palace passed in silence until the Queen had to give orders for them to be allowed onto the grounds of the Palace. The guards converged on her to accompany her into the palace; not once did she look back. Servants came out to deal with the horses and carriage.
"Time to find out what happened to the Doctor then." Jenny sighed as with Martha's assistance she got down from the carriage top.
"He'll be okay." Martha reassured them as they were ushered hurriedly out onto the street.
"Against the likes of Mister Croup and Mister Vandemar?" Vastra raised her eye ridges. "I suspect even the Doctor will find that battle difficult."
"S'not so much that they were tough or anythin'. S'just…you couldn't 'urt 'em." Jenny was aware that they made a very odd group as they started the long journey home. A veiled lady, a cloaked lady and a maid with an arm in a piece of old dress. She couldn't think of a story to explain them.
It took them over an hour to get across London back to 13 Paternoster Row. Jenny was out of breath and felt sick from the pain in her arm. Walking over the uneven cobbles of London had not helped it.
"We've become too accustomed to Parker and the cab." Vastra huffed slightly.
Martha looked at them in mock disgust. "You should try travelling with the Doctor. All the running about we do."
"I've heard." Vastra snorted as she let them all back into the house.
"Vastra!" A voice called out as they crowded into the hallway. "Jenny! Good. Martha. You're back. What took you so long eh? I've been waiting nearly half an hour!"
"Doctor!" All three of them said in chorus.
"The one and only." He grinned manically.
"But…'ow did you escape Croup an' Vandemar?" Jenny goggled at him, not quite believing he was there.
His grin became a little fixed. "Ah well. Yes. They were employed by someone to track down and kill me. And I uhh…persuaded their employer not to kill me. Yet. Simple really. Ready to crack on Martha?"
"I'd like to put Jenny's arm in a cast first."
"In Victorian London?" The Doctor looked horrified.
"They did have them back then…now." Martha shrugged.
"Right then Jenny Flint. Looks like you need a doctor!" The Doctor grinned. "I never get to say that without it meaning me."
Martha frowned at him.
"What? We don't want any anachronisms!" he argued. "If there're doctors and plaster in this time, let them go to one. Besides I'm all out of plaster of Paris." He wandered out the still open door, waving at Jenny and Vastra over his shoulder.
"Ugh! Fine." Martha threw her hands up in disgust. "Find a doctor. Get some plaster on it. Don't use it for 3 weeks, rest it for 8 and it should be fine. It's a simple fracture so it shouldn't need amputation." She winked at Jenny who looked horrified.
"8 weeks?" She'd barely begun training with the wooden swords.
"Unless you want to make it worse." Martha scoffed. "Get thee to a doctor, go!"
She followed the Doctor out, leaving Jenny and Vastra in the midst of utter confusion.
An: Yah me too…The end. OR IS IT? (no no seriously it is though for the time being like yes absolutely. The end. Of this arc. This fic will never end I fear…)
