Glad I could get this up relatively on time. Got some work to catch up on but nothing really major. What I should be catching up on is sleep but really. Once you're on a roll with something do you stop just because you're tired?
Anyway, the schedule should stay the same regardless of the fact my lab project is starting up and midterms are rearing their ugly heads. If anyone has time I'd like to ask for another beta or two maybe? I think I've lost all of my usual betas to Mystic Messenger hell;;;; I'll be honest, Jaehee is my absolute favorite and as Ghost says, Jumin is everyone's problematic favorite. Mystic Mistake man, mistaaaaake;;;
Anyway, thanks to all of my betas for this chapter, all of my references and such. I really need to make myself a proper list. Disclaimer on Doctor Who but damn this is fun to do B)
It didn't take very much convincing on Caligo's part to get the Doctor to park the Tardis in the observatory after the last time they'd left the big blue box in the middle of the sidewalk. If the civilian law enforcement in Pillar were also the type to shoot first and interrogate one's corpse later, they'd end up in the same mess as before most likely.
"Okay then. How are we getting down from here? Gliders," he asked, gesturing to the collapsed glider she'd now removed from her leg holster.
"No. That's much too dangerous. It's very cold up here Doctor. Perpetually snowing and the wind chill would be enough to give you hypothermia."
"I sort of like the cold… Nice and refreshing. Feels good."
"Not at twenty below," she said with finality. Caligo paused a moment in front of a blacked out computer screen to examine her appearance. Her hair was neatly pulled back despite its wild appearance that really was beyond all help. Her jacket had no unsightly scratches, scuffs or tears, jeans neatly tucked into her polished, standard issue matte black boots and not a lace out of place. Fairly acceptable for her. The last and most crucial detail; her rank insignia…
"All set?" The Doctor strode over to her side of the room and looked at the monitor with her, smiling. "What're we looking at in here? It's off isn't it?"
Caligo stepped away the moment she was sure the silver insignia was straight, the black skull showing with an ominous gleam in the light. She swiped a helmet off from one of many equipment racks and held it out to him. "Safety first. You're going to need this."
He really had to admire the condition she kept her things in. The helmet was simple, looking made for a motorbike and shiny enough to see his own reflection in. "Is black your favorite color? Noticed most of your things are black but your entire lab is silver and white."
"I don't favor one color over others. It's simply standard issue for most of my gear and rather pointless to be bothered by something as insignificant as color."
"Ah but colors can say a lot about a person. Maybe they're peppy pink or hot rod red or – Oi! Are we leaving already?" The Doctor quickly followed Caligo who had left the second 'peppy pink' left his mouth without once looking back. "Bit rude to just walk off like that," he grumbled, a little hurt.
Caligo was beyond being apologetic however. "Doctor, I'm not sure if you realize but you've a tendency to talk a lot and I figured you would most certainly be able to continue while walking." In the five or so minutes it took them to make it down to her shuttle bay, the lieutenant wondered just when exactly she had perfected tuning out the sounds of civilian conversation. Since when had it become almost distasteful to hear another person's voice? "How odd," she murmured.
Before he could even ask if she'd been listening to him at all Caligo had put her helmet on and gestured for him to do the same. It looked like any other motorbike helmet he'd seen before, though a full face visor wasn't quite his style. "Minus twenty-degree weather. I think I can understand a bit," he sighed, putting it on. It was dark for the first few seconds until the visor seemed to suddenly adjust itself. His field of vision was as clear as ever even behind the dark visor.
"Can you hear me?"
"Yikes! Hundred percent better. How," he stammered, having been caught off guard for the moment. Caligo's voice was level and detached as ever and coming in clear as a bell as if she were standing right next to him.
"High grade speakers ensure that team members can easily communicate at distance and in poor weather conditions such as the ones outside." She swung her leg over one side of what looked to be a motorbike without wheels, straddling the seat and adjusting the handles for a minute. "Get on."
It was more of a command than an invitation, but then again she was the boss here. He hopped onto the back of the bike with a little less grace than her and wrapped his arms around her middle innocently enough. The Doctor briefly contemplated teasing her with a hug but almost certainly wouldn't put it past her to make the ride and potentially the landing as uncomfortable for him as possible if he dared. "Just about the closest we've been since you tried to strangle me~" The bike roared to life beneath them and slowly rose to just about four feet off the ground. Clearly she was hell bent on ignoring him since he was sure that he could be heard over the engine.
"Don't get comfortable," the Doctor heard her say over the mic, "It's not that long of a ride."
"You just can't take a joke, can-" He swore that the only reason they were out of the gate so quickly was because she thought there was something amusing about constantly interrupting him. It didn't really matter though. At this point he was just trying to do his best not to fall off and not to hold onto anything higher than her stomach. How Caligo managed to navigate through this snowy mess was beyond him but as long as they got there alive and in one piece, why not trust her? It was the least he could do really.
Eventually the snow lightened into nothing at all and the frozen tundra gave way to a rocky mountainside dotted with vegetation and little critters scampering about. At last, there was an actual path he could see leading down the mountain into the large city at the base. It was long and winding and he was very glad that it didn't circle around the entire mountain. That would take hours, he thought with just the slightest tinge of impatience.
Along the entire circumference of the city was a large steel wall at least forty feet in height and another twelve to fifteen feet of electric fencing. A pylon of matching height joined every forty foot section of wall and wiring and the dull gray steel looked as if it were very well maintained. The entire structure looked to be extremely stable and would certainly deter a great number of invading forces for sure, but there was something at the base lined along the entire wall that caught his eye. As Caligo's bike slowed to a crawl, the more time the Doctor took to staring at those slightly discolored sections of metal and the longer he looked, the more they began to appear.
"Identification," a clearly masculine voice suddenly demanded, though the soldier that caught his attention seemed to be only addressing Caligo rather than him. He didn't look terribly friendly, which only made the Time Lord more tense when he remembered their last visit to a human colony. Caligo's track record when it came to interacting with large men holding guns wasn't looking too great.
The soldier's sudden appearance didn't phase Caligo in the slightest. It was a regular occurrence after all. Caligo turned slightly so that the insignia on her left sleeve was visible, along with the matte black skull sealed into it.
"Pass," the man muttered gruffly, and the sudden distaste in his tone wasn't missed by either Caligo or the Doctor. The only one who cared was the latter, however.
The Doctor was about to reach for his psychic paper tucked away in his coat when Caligo produced an actual pass, though he couldn't imagine what it was for. This was her home but he couldn't help feeling that it was like living in a prison.
Eventually it seemed that the soldier was satisfied with the document presented to him and passed it back to Caligo with no semblance of politeness. "You've got two days on it. Better not see your sorry hide back here until you get it renewed." He and his partner stepped out of their way and the gate behind them opened with a low grinding sound.
The city of Pillar itself didn't look much more inviting than the walls surrounding it and the Doctor quickly got the impression that its residents were even less so. The streets were still occupied by groups of people here and there smoking cigarettes, drinking and talking and the road itself was only moderately lit by light strips running along the boundaries of lanes and sidewalks.
"Try not to be too alarmed. This is quite normal for this time of the evening. The effects of the solar flares simply put on more stress that civilians don't need and most tend to be grumpy but they usually aren't hostile." Caligo pulled over to the emptier of two sides of the street and shut the engine off before looking back at him. "You appear to be in one piece."
It sounded like a joke, at least to him. The Doctor chuckled as he finally removed the helmet and hung it off of one of the bike's handles. There was a little nip in the air that he caught on to. It must've been the start of winter here, though he couldn't quite see his breath just yet. The Doctor's gaze swept across their surroundings, taking in what little there was to see. The movement of people slowed at their landing, and groups certainly made sure not to get in their way. "So what's been going on here as of late? Concerts? Street fairs? Parades?"
Caligo hesitated a moment, not that she needed to think about what the answer to all of that was, but whether or not to tell him that. He really doesn't care for such things. The reality of the situation is that people have more or less lost such customs with all of the fighting that's been done over the years. All it's been is waiting for the next invader. Planning the next attack. What greater purpose would a truthful answer serve him but make him feel depressed? Don't tell people things they don't need to know. That had always been a good rule to abide by. "I couldn't say, but I haven't heard of any. You're better off asking someone else about it, if they would know."
"You don't celebrate birthdays? Thanksgiving? Christmas?"
"No?"
It truly astounded the Doctor that none of these occasions seemed to register to her. "Boxing day?" The almost uncomfortable look she was giving him was most likely a no.
"I don't know what that is."
"Okay. We need to do some serious work with you." Caligo's protests to whatever it was he was suggesting were quickly cut off as the Doctor strode off down the street. He didn't know where to start or how long it would take, but there was a desperate need to find a party store. "You said that it's December right?"
"Yes it is but I don't understand-"
"We need a tree and some lights and some cookies and milk. And music. What's the holidays without music?"
"Doctor, please. I don't understand what you need such things for in the city. They're pointless." The alien ahead of her simply waved her off, completely absorbing himself in his own thoughts, whatever those might be. Already she recognized that it was rather hard to derail him off a certain train of thought whenever he was upset, though there was still the question of what exactly it was that got him so worked up in the first place. It must've been something a normal person understood despite the fact that the Doctor was anything but normal. I've never had a good understanding of normal people I suppose.
"Oi. There you go again ignoring me."
Caligo's dark eyes shot up to see him facing her with not an irritated expression, but one of obvious worry and that same confusion that seemed to plague her whenever she was faced with these strange outbursts of his. "I was simply thinking that I don't know of a store that sells, ah, decorations. Not in Pillar, at least." He's worrying about something. Does this have to do with this holiday nonsense that he keeps going on about?
"Well that's too bad," he murmured, taking a quick glance around the street before spotting a man walking along across the way and very much minding his own business. "Back in a flash. Just need directions."
The Doctor was clearly a fan of running because the Time Lord could certainly move. He caught up to the man – possibly in his late forties, Caligo guessed – and stopped him easily enough.
"Sorry. Would you by any chance happen to know where we could find a party store," he asked as politely as possible. The Doctor smiled at the man who in turn regarded him with obvious wariness.
"Who's 'we'," he asked, taking a small step back to regain his bubble of personal space, "All's I see is you mate."
The Doctor made a quick gesture to Caligo still standing across the street, about as lively as a statue, although he'd bet on his life she wouldn't move if you blinked. "My friend and I. Thought we'd decorate her place for Christmas and-"
The man practically jumped back a foot from him and looked visibly appalled. "Your friend? You're either nuts or you're playing me but either way, get lost. You and your sorry lot stay well away from me or I'll call the MPs on you. Hear me?" He ducked around the Doctor to shoot a piercing glare at Caligo and shouted, "Hear me Draug? I see you near me and I'll have you walled in like the rest those miserable things!"
"Bit uncalled for don't you think," the Doctor scolded in vain. The man was off in a hurry before he could stop him, but what he didn't realize was that Caligo had made her way over to the two while his back was turned. That man moved like someone who was afraid.
"Leave him be Doctor. You won't find any answers to questions from the people here." Caligo's voice remained cool and unaffected by such biting words. Her flesh-and-bone hand came to rest gently on his arm and she gave him a small smile. Hollow as it was, the expression was nevertheless as gentle as her touch. "I believe I might know of a place that sells the small decorative things you were referring to."
He might've almost been fooled if not for his skepticism of the authenticity of her smile. I can ignore it for now I guess. Must make her uncomfortable, that big scene and all. The Doctor did his best to return her smile, though it's almost as fake as hers and allows her to lead the way this time. The streets of Pillar might've been fairly empty but he couldn't help noticing how people were going to rather surprising lengths to stay out of their way. After all, the sidewalk alone could easily accommodate three people walking shoulder to shoulder and still let a person past them. While he was inwardly glad to have her focus on something other than building shields for the Tardis, he couldn't let go of what the man had said. What could he have meant by 'walling her in'? What was a Draug? "Humans can be so confusing at times," he sighed, milling over the thought.
"Yes they can be. I wouldn't put so much thought into it however. It doesn't make understanding them any easier."
The Doctor laughed. "You do remember which of us is the alien here right?"
"Of course I do. It's most fitting to say that I don't share the same perspective as a human." Caligo came to a stop in front of a rather small and dingy looking building. The sign hanging above the glass door said 'Patty's House of Hobby' and the little wooden puppets, trains and toy cars in the display windows gave it a welcoming feel.
As the two entered the shop, an elderly woman with frazzled, bride-of-Frankenstein hair behind the counter adjusted her thick rimmed librarian glasses and smiled warmly at them. "Welcome~ What might you kids be looking for today?"
"Yes. Party stuff. Something festive like…Christmas! Do you like parties? I think the best one I'd been to recently was in Rome. Lovely summer solstice festival. They really do like to party but the French! Oh," he almost crooned, "They know how."
"Young man." The elderly woman gave him the smile of someone who had experienced much in her lifetime, although it was surely dwarfed by his in comparison, and gripped his arm with a bony hand. "You don't go on talking about your love life when you're out with your lady. Nothing classy about it and you sure aren't impressing anyone."
"What? No, I'm not-"
Caligo, stone faced, addressed the woman coolly. "You are mistaken Patricia Nelson. There is no sentimental relationship between him and I and I don't know how you came to that absurd conclusion." Whether she noticed that the Doctor looked one hundred percent offended by the statement or not was a moot point when the elderly woman's eyes lit up at the sight of the young engineer.
Patricia took off her glasses and swiped away a suspicious eyelash that seemed to have landed in her eye. "Can't you at least pretend to be happy to see me again," she more or less croaked, voice scratchy and perhaps a little choked.
Caligo's stone like expression almost immediately fell into a lazy smile and her rigid body posture fixed with a slight slouch. Again, the Doctor couldn't help but note the hollowness in the emotions his companion appeared to be portraying. The execution and the accuracy of her actions was a little too perfect, a little too predictable to be natural. The Doctor noted that perhaps this was her tactic to manipulate an individual as she had tried to the first time they had been separated. Anger, irritation, restlessness and wariness were all genuine traits of Caligo Valgus. Not happiness, nor kindness, pity or contentment. The closest she had ever been to such things was a solemn acceptance of reality and the lieutenant was blatantly lying to this woman. Surely even her old eyes could see that.
But as the woman stepped out from behind the counter and wrapped frail looking arms around the young adult, she seemed quite content with this little lie. "That's more like it sweet pea," she crooned like a grandmother. "Haven't seen you 'round these parts much since you were at the depot last. Thought you went and got your li'l butt frozen off in the snow up there." The sentimental moment was broken when the elderly lady stepped back and swatted Caligo on the arm with a satisfying smack. "Seven years girl! You go off and vanish for seven god forsaken years," Patricia swore loudly, a mixture of anger and sadness and hurt in her voice, "An' you didn't even come to say g'bye..."
"I'm sorry Patricia. I really am. I was," Caligo paused, trying to think of the right words. In the end, she thought up a lie and right quick, the Doctor was sure of this. "Out of commission, to put it simply. Since Wilhelm died I have had to put somethings in order. Myself too."
Patricia removed her glasses in a respectful gesture to the mention of her deceased partner and nodded. "Smart of you, but you could've at least said goodbye, don't you think? Two of you used to come in here once a week and buy little things like stickers 'n thread. Sure made my day a heck of a lot brighter." The elderly woman sighed dreamily as if she could recall the two young officers browsing the isles of her little shop nearly a decade ago. A tear welled up in the corner of her eye which she was quick to whisk away.
The tear didn't escape Caligo's notice. The slightest crack in her façade was visible, but only for a moment. "What's the matter?"
"I'm getting old sweet pea," Patricia whispered, "Don't grow old girlie. You get to be too sentimental for your own good when you get old."
The Doctor knew such things far too well. There wasn't anything wrong with being sentimental, but sometimes hindsight made the memories that much more bittersweet. Patricia's eyes were brimming with tears that neither she nor Caligo knew what to do about. He was little more than a semi-confused third party but he couldn't help feeling sorry for the woman. The Doctor caught her looking his way now and warily returned a smile to the Patricia's saddened expression.
The elderly woman sniffled and hastily wiped her eyes dry before returning her glasses to their proper place. "Enough of that. That's not what you kids came in here for. Now. You said you wanted some holiday things?"
"We don't want to trouble you…"
Patricia smacked Caligo's arm lightly and frowned as she shuffled out from behind the counter. "You two came all this way. Least I can do is let you walk away with something," she muttered, heading for one of the aisles near the back of the shop. Not quite wanting to wait, the two followed her down a row of old Christmas sweaters, antique beer steins, tacky garden leprechaun statues and even a pin that said, 'Kiss me, I'm Irish' on it that looked as if it would fall apart if one were to touch it. "Here we are," she grunted, pulling out a cardboard box from an old cabinet.
In all its dust covered glory were twisted coils of silver and gold tinsel, multicolored yarn dolls of Santa Clause and a red nosed reindeer, big old window stickers and what looked to be an old quilt. Patricia smiled and pressed the box into Caligo's hands. "About to be Christmas I reckon, if my calendar is right that is. Heck, it must be Christmas all the time up there on Blackridge. Lord knows why you decided to make a little house on the hill there," she muttered. Again, the elderly woman gave Caligo's arm a light smack before shuffling back to the counter.
"How much do I-"
"You can pay me back by coming to visit me some time," she hollered, fixing the two with a scowl.
The Doctor wanted to laugh at the woman's odd character but thought better of it. "Oh don't worry. I'll make sure she does," he assured her.
"I'll hold you to that, you two." Her scowl softened into a motherly smile, eyes threatening to tear up again when she looked at Caligo. "I'll see you soon sweet pea."
"Soon," Caligo replied. The idea of visiting seemed to float around in her head for a moment before she gave an approving nod. "Soon… Thank you Patricia."
The two eventually made it out of the store but were blanketed in an odd sort of silence. The Doctor was fairly certain that Caligo and Patricia the shop keep were in no way related but must've at least been familiar to each other. "Kids," he scoffed. "I'm 903 years old and she's calling me a kid?"
"You look like one."
"Good-ness," he groaned loudly, "Sarcastic and witty. What am I going to do with you and that mouth of yours?"
"Put food in it. It must be about time to eat. Some of the establishments should be open and traveling on an empty stomach is never a good idea."
She didn't need to be forceful. It was easy to see that she was the one in charge of their little excursion, but the Doctor was content to let this be so. He did ask for the tour after all and she knew better than he did. "Do you still have fish and chips in this era," he asked, trying his best not to get his hopes up.
"Fish and chips," she murmured. Caligo surveyed the row of what appeared to be eating establishments, some with lit signs and others shut down for whatever time of day it seemed to be. Her eyes settled on a tavern that seemed to be opening only now but there was definitely a bit of hesitation there. "Yes, there is a place…" She always felt a sort of unease when approaching a civilian establishment, but somewhere in her mind she knew that was a direct contradiction to what she was. A Draugr wasn't supposed to feel and so, she pushed the thought to the very back of her mind in some dark corner. It wasn't out of fear, but self-preservation. Fear was a luxury she couldn't afford…
The tavern worker was just setting up some of the bar glasses when the two of them entered the building. He looked friendly at first until he got a better look at the cold expression on Caligo's face. The Doctor playfully nudged her and murmured, "Bloke behind the counter looks worried. I don't know about you but I didn't think I looked that scary~ Is it the teeth you think? I've been brushing twice a day every day for the last two hundred some years." He laughed, but the humor of the situation eluded his companion. The two took a seat in a booth and the Doctor went straight to the menu on his side of the table to see what eating in this century was like. He was honestly expecting to find things like burgers made from the Pitbull sized Arananthi beetles from Ceres or Witch's fingers made from the tree like parasite lurking in the darker half of the Milky Way but whether he was disappointed or not to find that this wasn't the case, he didn't say. No, the menu of the tavern had things like regular beef burgers, curly fries, apple and banana cream pies and, of course, fish and chips.
The Doctor had been so absorbed in reading over the menu that he probably hadn't noticed that Caligo hadn't even touched hers once, the latter preoccupied with their surroundings. The worker at the counter was watching them with great caution and anyone who had been looking to enter the area had been deterred by her presence for the most part. A few individuals though, most likely coming off from a late work shift at one of Pillar's many electrical grid maintenance stations, had entered the establishment and were now sitting at the bar speaking in hushed tones with the lone employee. They would glance over at their table every now and then, their looks not friendly but not quite something she needed to form a contingency plan for just yet. Attempting to dissuade their attention toward her, Caligo looked back at the Doctor who was slowly unwrapping a straw, his menu on the dessert portion already. He seemed completely unaware of the unrest of the other patrons and that was fine with her. Him enjoying his stay was her mission objective for the time being and so far that seemed to be going smoothly enough.
"Honestly. How long have we been sitting here for? Last I checked we were the first ones here and he hasn't come over to take our order yet. I might have a time machine but I'm not about to spend it waiting for food. Excuse me!"
Of course she could have jumped the gun on that thought. The man behind the counter visibly cringed when he heard and saw the Doctor attempting to wave him over. The night shift workers didn't seem too happy to hear him either. Still, the man mustered as much nerve as he could before coming over to their table.
"What do you want," he asked, more nervous than gruff.
"Well," the Doctor started, a healthy smattering of sarcasm to boot. "considering this is a tavern we kind of want food and something to drink."
"Look man. You're probably new to this or some shit but we don't serve folks like you. This is me telling you nicely…" The man turned slightly toward Caligo, giving her a look that could only be described as nasty. "...to get the hell out of my diner."
There was no disguising the shift in mood from the Doctor now as all eyes in the diner were on them. There was no winning this fight. "Apologies sir." Caligo quickly stood from her seat and bid him to follow suit. If they wanted to avoid a confrontation they would need to move quickly and keep their mouths shut. The Doctor didn't like this at all. Yes he got up, and it was amazing how much more imposing this lanky man suddenly seemed. "Doctor."
"Just a second Cal." He held up a hand to her before she could start arguing back and kept his eyes fixed on the man. The Doctor was smiling but he already had a strong feeling that he didn't like this fellow. "What exactly do you mean by 'folks like us'?" He was focusing so intensely on the man that he didn't notice Caligo's eyes sweeping over the crowd of onlookers. He knew that no one was happy about the situation but no one was unhappier about it than him. It had been so long since he had encountered such a backwards attitude toward aliens but it sure never got old…
The man's expression waivered but not in a way the Doctor had seen before. He was used to seeing just a tad bit of fear, uncertainty in the eyes of his adversaries but this man's smugness gave way to something he was all too familiar with; hatred. He leaned in close to the Doctor, eyes training on his companion and sneered venomously, "Why don't you ask that dirty little Draug."
It was like all the tension in the room coiled up in a spring and exploded at that moment. Caligo was quick to grab hold of the Doctor and leapt over the booth seat, sprinting for the exit. The heavy pressure of a hand grabbing her shoulder forced her to let go of him for a moment to handle their aggressors. Protocol One: Minimal force is authorized in the defense of a civilian from other civilians. Caligo honestly couldn't understand why the Doctor constantly insisted on getting between her and the aggressors to stop the fight but it certainly wasn't making her job easy. The two had finally been forced out of the diner and into the street by the other angry patrons but the fight didn't stop there. The world turned on its side when she felt something practically explode against her right temple and someone yelled out.
Any attempts to pull the descending attackers off of her was more than useless. There were just too many of them and the Doctor himself felt an elbow connect with his jaw for getting too close. It was only when a car pulled up and what he could only assume to be two police officers in uniform get out. He was about to approach them when one drew her pistol and fired off two shots into the air, blowing out a nearby streetlight. The other had his gun trained not on the dispersing mob, but Caligo who was crouched down on the ground in the center. "On your feet," one officer called out gruffly, gun still aimed at her. "Get up!"
Slowly, it seemed, was the only speed at which she could obey but the woman stood up nevertheless. Caligo held her posture straight as a lamp post as usual despite the bruises and scratches peppering her skin. A thin stream of blood ran down the right side of her face only to disappear beneath the collar of her leather jacket. The Doctor locked eyes with her briefly for a moment, some semblance of relief in them before addressing the officers.
"Draugr Lieutenant Caligo H. Valgus. There has been an incident."
"Hands behind your back Draug! You move, I shoot!" The officer nearly had a heart attack when the Doctor suddenly placed himself yet again between trouble and Caligo, fumbling his gun a little. "Step out of the way where it's safe sir!"
"Easy now. We don't really need those do we? Guns," the Doctor scoffed. "Hang on now. I've got something to show you alright?" Slowly, the Doctor reached into his coat and pulled out his psychic paper, opening it slowly to show it to them. It was the woman who took it from him, scrutinizing whatever was on it for a good long minute.
The officer's gaze narrowed at him in suspicion. "What's a health inspector got to do with a rogue Draug?"
Honestly! What's with everyone and this word 'Draug'? Tossing it around like it's some dirty slang, he thought to himself for a moment. "Ah, yes. I asked for an escort. Not quite comfortable in new places and I can see this is a rough crowd." The Doctor cast a glance back at the patrons from the diner, all watching with a morbid sort of fascination. The explanation seemed to make enough sense to them, thankfully, and the male officer finally put away his weapon. The Doctor sighed in relief. "Right. We'll be needing someone to take a look at her injuries if you don't mind." The female officer was looking at him with all the suspicion one human could muster.
"You hurt at all?"
"No, but-"
"Then get out of here." The female officer walked up to him and held the psychic paper up. "I don't know who or what you are but clearly you don't come from these parts. This'll be your only warning." She shoved the paper back into his hands roughly and locked eyes with him. "I better not run into you two ever again or else I'll turn that thing and you over to Central and trust me when I say you don't want that to happen to you. Get your ass outta my sight."
Caligo didn't budge until the two officers had gotten back into their car and left. She kept her voice low, as if she didn't want anyone else to hear. "We must do as they said Doctor. Before someone gets hurt."
He looked at her as if she had gone mad at that moment and almost instantly regretted it. She was bruised and battered and surely tired. She needed to go home. Get somewhere safe first and they could always talk about it later…
There was nothing calm about the Doctor when they had finally made it back to the observatory. He promptly abandoned his helmet on some open countertop and whipped around to face the lieutenant who had followed him with the coolness of a cat. "What was that," he blurted out suddenly, clearly taken aback by the day's sharp turn of events.
"I'm afraid you must clarify Doctor." Caligo gently placed her helmet down beside his and retrieved a first aid kit from one of the storage cabinets nearby. The wound on her temple had stopped bleeding sometime during the ride, but Caligo could feel shards of glass with the slightest twitch of her facial muscles. Somewhere in her mind she registered that her eye stung a little.
The Doctor had begun to pace while she worked at the wound with a small compact mirror, a pair of tweezers and some antiseptic cream. "That whole thing back at the diner! And that man before we found Patty's shop! Did you conveniently forget about the guards?"
"I doubt she would approve of you calling her Patty."
"Don't change the subject on me," he shot back, lacking any sort of mirth. "What's all this Draug business? You're keeping the city running aren't you? They're talking like they hate you."
Caligo stopped and put the mirror and tweezers down on the countertop. She had been hoping to avoid this ever since he suggested the idea of touring around Pillar. As it always seemed to be with her, the worst things were inevitable. "That is because they do." Caligo dampened a small hand towel by the sink and began to clean away the dried blood on the side of her face, turning to face him just a little. "The designation for my kind is Draugr, a term in what was once the old Norse language meaning "again walker" or undead. Draug is a sort of slur, if you will." She could see the confusion and anger on his face, such a human reaction. "The device on my neck is not for decoration. It is fused to the spines of the deadliest weapons Central command has ever created to ensure obedience without hesitation. It dulls emotional responses and if a Draugr should die for any reason, it ensures that we are still capable of completing our mission objective."
"They make corpses work," he asked, appalled by the idea.
"We are considered objects akin to that of a gun or toaster because we lack the morality of a human."
"Because they took it from you."
"It is the only mercy afforded to us."
"Mercy," he repeated, appalled at the notion. "How is that showing you mercy? Taking away your free will, your feelings. How is taking away your humanity showing you mercy?" It baffled the Time Lord to realize that his companion was perhaps genuinely resigned to her fate. This fate. Someone as smart as he was simply couldn't comprehend the logic behind it.
Caligo studied him for a moment and mentally taking note of his reaction. This wasn't the Earth he knew. "Say you have a choice, Doctor. In your hands rests the means to save countless individuals, but at the cost of hundreds of thousands if not more others. For the greater majority to survive, an entire planet must burn."
The Time Lord's jaw clenched at her words and hands slowly curled into tight fists. Every particle of his entire being was screaming. "You don't have to choose. Sacrificing lives should never be an option." The Doctor saw her smile. Not a real one. More like the pretend smiles she used to trick Patricia from the shop and it still made his blood boil like fire.
"We don't end up with this option by choice. We just tend to be able to stomach the consequences of our actions. It has always been easier for people to hate those responsible for making unpopular decisions." She could feel the anger and distain radiating from him like heat from a fire. Oddly enough, it made her extremely…hesitant to continue speaking. Hesitance. It made her incapable of action and yet the sensation was an anomaly in her mind. Ignoring the odd response to the Doctor's palpable anger, she picked up a canister of antiseptic spray from the first aid kit and continued tending to her wound. "The shield system on your ship is functional. You are free to travel as you wish, be it in this time period or elsewhere."
"What of you then," he practically growled.
Caligo didn't so much as glance in his direction as she taped a patch of gauze over the mess of glass cuts. "I completed my mission aboard your craft and will resume my duties here as we agreed to." She wasn't surprised to hear the strange wheezing sound the Tardis made when he took off some time later. Caligo wasn't a fool. One didn't need to be a genius to see the ghost of horrors past lurking in the Doctor's eyes from time to time. She had struck a nerve in hopes of making him understand why things happened the way they did today but she had miscalculated the effect it had on him. "I understand now why I was never placed on a personal protection detail," she murmured to no one in particular.