This chapter contains mild gore. It's also a crossover with a another TV show based in Las Vegas.
Also, I really don't mind the bumbag/fanny pack.
The three Time Travellers teleported into a Console Room none of them even recognised. The walls, which appeared to be taupe with a hint of stony-grey, were covered in a mix of hexagonal and round Roundels that were the colour of off-White or Ivory with light turquoise lighting behind them. The Console itself had the look of pewter about it with a hint of lemon yellow on the control panels. The Time Rotor itself had light purple lighting and that was giving off an eerie purple afterglow. As for the rest of the Console Room it did look pretty much unique.
Just like all the other modern Console Rooms, the console was on a platform that appeared to be marble in the colour of space grey. A set of steps led to the TARDIS' front door and the lower workings of the console. A ramp led to another space grey marbled platform that had a range of comfy looking seats, side tables and a rather large and sturdy looking shelves full of books. When Jaime looked over the side of the Console Platform all she saw was an endless darkness.
"Oi! What's the big idea, Space-girl?" John enquired of Jaime. "I thought you were taking us home?"
Stepping away from the railing, the Scots-girl turned towards J.D, waves of annoyance washing off him. "I did. But the TARDIS said we had tae take a detour first." Jaime replied.
John blinked in surprise at what she told him, his eyes narrowing soon after. "The TARDIS told you?" He asked in confirmation and Jaime nodded. "Well isn't that just Wizard!" John let out a sarcastic remark. "It must be pretty important to knock us off course like this…" The Half-Time Lord looked around the Console Room. "I don't even know how far into the future we've gone!"
"A long way." Jaime said, that look of distraction on her face once again.
Having listened to them talking, Alexia thought she should at least add something to the conversation. "Well, wherever everyone else is they're currently travelling through the Vortex." She said, nodding at the Time Rotor that was going up and down while making such a racket. Everyone else had gotten so used to it they ignored it as background noise.
"Yeah, but where too? Where are the Monitors?" John asked, noticing the lack of Monitors around the Console.
Jaime stared at the Console before approaching one of the panels and looked at it, eyes narrowed. There was something different here! She reached over and flicked a couple of toggle switches on. Above the Console two Holographic screens popped up, at first looking see-through before becoming solid.
"Oh, brilliant. Holographic Monitors." J.D exclaimed. "Swipe-screen as well!"
Alexia looked confused at the hovering Monitor. "Swipe-screen?" She asked.
"Yep!" The Half-Time Lord popped the 'p'. "A one-up from from Touch-screen. Watch." He swiped at the screen of the Monitor and the info they wanted popped up. "See, easy peasy!" He said. "Now, let's see." John and Jaime looked closely at the info on the Monitor while Alexia huffed out in annoyance.
"Well? What does it say?" She asked. "I can't read Gallifreyan unlike you two!"
"Oh, yeah, sorry." John said. "Basically the co-ordinates show that the TARDIS is travelling to Las Vegas, Nevada in the year 2017. No idea why anyone would want to go somewhere as garish, light polluted and headache inducing as Las Vegas!" He uttered with so much contempt as he rubbed the back of his neck, frowning when he felt a breeze in the room.
"Maybe because it's work related!" Spoke a Northern accented voice that sounded very Yorkshire.
A yell of surprise came from John while Alexia let out a little scream, then they all turned to the person who had spoken. Jaime saw that the woman wasn't alone. Rose, still in her second incarnation stood beside her. And stood behind them was a tall looking boy with blue eyes, a lantern jaw and a cheeky looking smile. He looked similar to Jack apart from the curly light brown hair. As for the woman herself, Jaime couldn't remember where she'd seen the face before but it was familiar from somewhere.
Her hair was blonde and her eyes were hazel, much to Jaime's surprise considering her own eyes used to be the same colour. As for what the woman was wearing, it was a very odd mix. Her top was a deep blue with coloured stripes across the chest and she appeared to be wearing multi-coloured suspenders. Over those she wore a pale blue trench coat. On her feet were dark brown lace up boots and her socks were blue and stripy. The woman also wore teal coloured short legged trousers, but Jaime didn't think they were like her own Capri's she wore. Those were different. They were Culottes which were similar to Capri's.
Jaime also had the oddest feeling she knew who this woman was and it was so Mind-bending she couldn't quite believe it. "Did you really need tae sneak up on us like that?" She asked with a hint of a grin.
"Not really," the woman with the Yorkshire accent spoke. "But the TARDIS told me we'd be having a couple of extra guests. Shouldn't you have gone back to your own Timeline by now?" She asked.
Jaime nodded her head. "Aye, we were meant tae, but we're on a detour. The TARDIS told me we had tae come here." The woman smiled and nodded her understanding.
Now it was John's turn to speak up, considering he'd been gawping at her the whole time ever since he'd set eyes on her. "Doctor?" The Half-Time Lord squawked out a question, surprised that his brother…or his sister now…had regenerated into a more feminine form.
And that really set off Alexia. "Wait a minute!" She looked from the Doctor to John and then back at The Doctor. "That's the Doctor?" She asked. "I was wondering why she looked like that Jodie Whittaker from Broadchurch!"
"Och, aye!" Jaime uttered once she realised why The Doctor looked so familiar.
Both Rose and The Doctor looked at each other before rolling their eyes. They had obviously had this reaction before.
"What number are you?" Alexia now asked and The Doctor sighed.
"I'm the 13th Doctor, the 14th regeneration and the 15th incarnation."
John frowned, puzzled, while this news set off Alexia even more. Jaime smiled grimly when she realised her mother was actually fangirling.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" The woman exclaimed and was going to waffle on about 'Doctor Who' and Jodie Whittaker taking over from Peter Capaldi. That was until her eyes slipped to The Doctor's waist. "Oh…my…god! Is that a bumbag you're wearing?" Alexia blurted out, eyes wide. A sigh came from The Doctor and Rose giggled at the reaction.
"I like it." Jaime, who knew nothing about the history of bumbags, said.
"They were popular in the eighties and nineties," Alexia said. "Why are you even wearing one?"
"That's what I asked," Rose said. "She seems to think they're cool." She looked at The Doctor with a hint if a smile. "I remember my mum used to wear one in the nineties."
The Doctor let out a playful growl before answering Alexia's question. "I wear a bumbag, as you insist on calling it, because none of my clothes have any pockets. And it's a storage pouch." She corrected, ignoring Alexia's snort of laughter.
"Is it bigger on the inside?" Jaime inquired, sounding very interested.
"Of course!" The Doctor answered her with a grin.
"Hold on. Did you say you're the 15th incarnation?" J.D questioned The Doctor in a bid to understand what was going on.
"Yes." The Doctor said and decided to let her brother do the maths.
"But…that would mean your previous incarnation would have been the 14th." John realised and The Doctor nodded.
"That shouldn't be possible though," he said. "You've gone past the allocated Thirteen all Time Lords were given. How'd you even manage that?" The Half-Time Lord asked.
In reply The Doctor smiled and said; "That's for me to know and you to find out."
At her answer, John gawped and Jaime giggled when she felt his frustration. "What? What kind of answer is that?" John blurted out.
"At least you didn't say 'spoilers'." Jaime spoke up.
The Doctor nodded. "Of course, darling. I know how much you hate that word. She answered her daughter.
"There's actually a limit of 13 Incarnations a Time Lord is allowed?" Alexia asked. "I always thought it was just something made up by the Producers of 'Doctor Who'."
John rolled his eyes. "At least they got something right!" He uttered in a sarcastic way. "All Time Lords are given a limit of how many bodies they are allowed. Well, apart from the creators of Time Travel and the High Council. Once they reach their limit and die of old age their…spirit you could say…is uploaded to the Matrix ready to be reincarnated sometime in the future."
Humming thoughtfully, Alexia was appreciative of the little bit of Time Lord history she was given. Now that just left the mystery boy who suspiciously looked similar to a certain 51st Century former Time Agent. "And who is this?" She asked about the boy.
Both Rose and The Doctor looked back at the boy before returning their attention to Alexia, Jaime and John. "Oh, this is…uhh…" The Doctor stumbled until she was interrupted by the boy.
"You can call me Storm." He introduced himself as he stepped forward, the cheeky smile on his face.
The Time Travellers from the past noticed he had a hint of an American accent bit it was mostly British. "Storm? That's your actual name?" Alexia questioned, finding it to be similar to 'The Oncoming Storm'.
"Oh no," The Doctor spoke before Storm could. "That's not his real name. He just likes to be called 'Storm'. This is our Grandson."
"Wow!" Alexia gasped, stunned. The handsome Jack-look-alike was a part of their family.
Storm chuckled at her reaction. "Nice to meet you too, ma'am!" He said, shaking her hand. Alexia seemed to blush and mumbled incoherently.
John rolled his eyes. "I don't think we need to ask who his father is!" He muttered. It was too obvious and it made him wonder who would actually want to procreate with the likes of Jack Harkness?
As for Jaime, she found she couldn't read his Mind as it was mentally protected.
"Are we all introduced then?" The Doctor questioned and approached the Console. "The reason we're going to Vegas is because the gaffer at UNIT asked us to investigate a series of unusual deaths that are currently being investigated by the Las Vegas police. They know we're coming." The Time Lord swiped at the Monitor screen. "Here, taker a gander at this."
An article from the Las Vegas Sun was shown on the screen, it's headline read; 'Sixth Mystery Death in the Las Vegas Area', followed by 'Police Department baffled'.
"Right, so it's a spate of possible murders not related to anything supernatural. What's it got to do with us?" John enquired.
The Doctor groaned in annoyance. "Didn't you read the article?" She asked. "It didn't say anybody was murdered. Put your glasses on you daft apeth and read it again."
Sighing, John put his glasses on and turned back to the monitor to read the article.
"Why exactly are these deaths a mystery?" Alexia asked The Doctor.
"Well that's the really interesting thing, Lexy." The Time Lord replied. "No doors are forced open, nothing is ever taken and no marks ever appear on the skin to suggest the death is normal."
Brow furrowing, Alexia tried to understand what was going on.
"Except that's not all, is there?" Jaime queried and J.D's attention was pulled away from the Monitor.
"No," Rose answered her. "All the victims suffered from internal burns."
"What?" John exclaimed. "How come that's not mentioned in this article?"
"Information withheld," The Doctor told him. "Only Las Vegas P.D and UNIT know about it. And now us." She swiped at the screen in order to make a police report appear in screen. "As the police incident report states, all the internal organs were burned beyond recognition. At first they thought it was some sort of radiation but that didn't appear on the scans."
Alexia was thankful that the police report didn't use show any pictures. By the sound of it, it was not something she wanted to see. "Isn't Area 51 slap bang in the middle of the Nevada desert?" She asked.
"Yes, but these people didn't work there or were members of the United States Air Forces or Military. They were ordinary people. Nor was there anything in their homes to suggest foul play." The TARDIS landed with a thud and the Time Rotor stopped moving. "Looks like we've arrived. Let's take a gander shall we!" The Doctor said, putting the brake on before approaching the door.
Everyone else followed her.
The TARDIS had landed them inside a storage cupboard, so the troupe of Time Travellers stepped out of it into a foyer of what looked like a crime lab of an American Police Department. It looked incredibly busy and The Doctor started looking for anybody of authority.
"How very high tech!" Alexia commented on the building they were in. "They never look this good on cop shows based in the UK."
Rose and J.D nodded in agreement.
"Hey, you!" The Doctor called to somebody walking past. "Where's your gaffer?"
The person stopped and turned to The Doctor with a very mystified expression. "Sorry?" He said with a typical Nevada accent.
"Your boss," John translated. "Where are they?"
"Oh, I see." The person who worked somewhere in the building said, sounding friendly yet gave them all a look of suspicion. "Does she know you're here?" He asked.
"Oh, aye. She requested us." The Doctor spoke.
"Okay, then I'll just go find her for you." The worker said before quickly scurrying away.
While they were waiting, the Half-Time Lord turned to his sister…and that still sounded strange, not to mention she was shorter than him. "You need to tone it down or they'll never be able to understand you!"
The Doctor raised her brows at him. "There's nothing wrong with my accent." She argued.
"Unless you're an American," J.D argued back. "They can get easily befuddled at the best of times!"
Both Alexia and Storm were heard to chuckle, while Rose groaned and Jaime silently shook her head, once again appearing distracted. It wasn't long before they were approached by a woman with long shoulder length ginger hair that was slightly wavy.
"You must be the expert from UNIT." She said, looking at John.
"Uhh, no. That would be me." The Doctor spoke up. "He's just my assistant." She ignored John's squawk of disbelief.
"Oh, sorry." The woman said and gave the British woman a quick once-over, immediately having her pegged as an eccentric because of the clothes she wore. "I wasn't actually expecting you so soon considering I called UNIT nearly ten minutes ago."
The Doctor smiled brightly. "We came as quick as we could." She replied before holding out her hand towards the other woman. "The Doctor," she introduced herself. "And this is Smith." She nodded towards John.
"Catherine Willows," the woman introduced herself to The Doctor. "Chief Lead CSI." Willows then looked at everyone else stood close to The Doctor. "You brought a team with you?" She questioned as all experts never usually travelled alone.
"If you say so," the Doctor replied. "They are also my family." And she introduced them one by one.
Willows nodded even though she was becoming increasingly confused with this family dynamic of theirs. She wasn't even going to ask how The Doctor's daughter had two mothers. Or maybe it was three?! Nor was she going to ask how the girl's mother, with the brown hair, was the popular science fiction, fantasy novelist, Alexia MacInarah. "Okay, well it's nice to meet you all," Willows spoke. "If you care to join me, Doc Robbins is about to perform an autopsy on one of the latest victims."
"Champion! That would be handy," The Doctor uttered enthusiastically. "After all, it's what we're here for."
Before anything else could be done they were interrupted by Storm. "Actually, we thought we'd check out any other evidence, if there is any." He said.
A frown appeared on Willows' face for several seconds. "Yes, sure. As long as you wear the visitor I.D's at all times. The Time Travellers all looked confused. "Hold on." Willows said and walked over to where reception was. She disappeared for a moment before returning and handing out the I.D's to the 'Expert' and her team. "They'll let you get around the labs unhindered.
"Thank you." The Doctor said as she placed her visitor I.D on the lapel of her trench coat. "Just don't cause too much trouble." She added to Rose, Jaime, Alexia and Storm.
"Trouble? Us? Never!" Rose uttered and followed that up with a grin. Before The Doctor and John went off with Willows to autopsy, Rose pulled the Time Lord to her and kissed her on the lips. Then she let The Doctor go on her way and watched as she and J.D walked off with Willows.
Lead CSI Willows led The Doctor and John down to the autopsy department where it was a lot cooler than the rest of the building for obvious reasons. After all, they couldn't have their silent residents stinking up the place. When they walked into the autopsy room they found that Doc Robbins and his assistant were already halfway through autopsying the body on the table.
"Hey, Doc, what have we got?" Willows asked the M.D as she stood next to the assistant.
"Hi, Catherine," Robbins replied. "As you can see it looks like the same M.O as all the others." He said, narrowing his eyes when a strange blonde female approached the table and looked at the open chest cavity of the body, followed by a male with spiky brown hair, a blue pinstripe jacket and a pair of ill-fitting baggy jeans. "Uhh, who are they?" He asked out of suspicion.
"Oh, yeah. This is the expert and her assistant from UNIT," Willows replied. "Al, meet…"
"The Doctor," she introduced herself. "Nice to meet you." Though now she was fully embroiled in examining the body to take note of what was happening around her. Every organ inside the body was burned and blackened to a crisp and there was the faint smell of burnt meat wafting from inside the body.
"And I'm Doctor Smith," J.D quickly introduced himself and put his glasses on.
"Another doctor?" Willows commented.
"Yep!" The Half-Time Lord popped the 'p' before looking over at Robbins' bespectacled assistant. "What about you?" He asked.
"I'm David Phillips, Assistant Medical Examiner." Phillips introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you, David, Doctor Robbins." John answered the two men. "So how many of these victims of mysterious deaths have there been?" He now asked, moving to stand beside Phillips.
"There's been ten so far," Robbins answered the Half-Time Lord. "This one's the latest. A single mother of two from West Las Vegas."
"And the others?" John continued to question.
"They're either from the Summerlin or the Centennial Hills Districts," Willows answered him. "Which would be Western and North-Western areas of Las Vegas." She quickly added for the benefit of the two British people in the room. "There's nothing in those two areas to suggest foul play was involved no matter how many times we scan for Radioactivity."
J.D hummed thoughtfully as he looked down at the body's cooked insides. He felt there was something familiar about it, yet he couldn't think why. "And the others?" He queried. "What connects them?"
Phillips frowned, confused. "I don't think they have any connection to each other." He said.
"They were all single or married and had children." Willows told John.
"None of them work together?" Came his next question and Willows shook her head.
"No. They've either worked at a shop, factory or at one of the hotels on the Strip." She said.
The Half-Time Lord nodded thoughtfully, appearing to be in deep thought. There had to be some sort of connection going on here.
"The only connection they have is that their insides were burned beyond recognition," Doc Robbins stated morosely. "There's barely even any blood loss because all vital blood veins were cooked and…" An odd warbling buzz cut him off and his attention focused on The Doctor as she ran some sort of instrument over the cavity of the body. "Hey! What is that?" What are you doing?" Robbins fired off his questions at The Doctor.
"It's a Sonic Screwdriver and I'm scanning for extraterrestrial activity." The Time Lord explained.
John watched as his sister continued scanning the body with her Screwdriver. He noticed it looked like the sleekest Screwdriver he'd ever seen. It was the same shape and size of an expensive ballpoint pen and its casing was TARDIS blue and white…or maybe it was a very light blue. The light on the end was flashing a light purple colour.
"Extraterrestrial? As in alien?" Phillips asked almost as if in disbelief.
"Hmmm," John hummed and folded his arms. "That's what she said."
Willows watched with a smirk as David became excited. "You mean real, actual, proper aliens?" He continued. "Not just people dressed up as aliens?"
John frowned at the Assistant M.E. "Yes, on both counts," he replied. "How is that hard to believe?"
"I think what David is trying to say is that he's never come across an actual alien before," Willows said to J.D. "90% of alien activity always seems to happen a lot in the UK than anywhere else."
"Also, David thought an alien had actually been discovered in the Nevada desert, buried." Robbins added while Phillips sighed.
"Imagine my disappointment when it just turned out to be a cosplaying alien impersonator of a Drive-Thru Wedding Chapel." He muttered.
A grimace appeared on J.D's face. That was something else he never liked about Las Vegas. Quickie Weddings. It just wasn't right.
"And before you ask, it was the Elvis impersonator that did it." Willows uttered.
J.D shook his head. To be honest he had no interest in their past cases. Just about their current case which was this one.
"Result!" The Doctor exclaimed once she'd finished scanning the body. Everyone turned their attention to her.
"What did you find?" John asked.
"Well for one thing, I found lingering traces of an energy beam." The Doctor answered as she placed her Sonic back in her pouch.
"Energy beam?" Phillips repeated. "Where would an energy beam come from? Because that sounds like something from Star Trek or Star Wars."
A very grim expression appeared on The Doctor's face, followed by putting her hands on her hips. "Aye, that's the thing. Where could it be from," she said, her thoughts speeding through her Mind like crazy. Then she looked over at John. "Does this not remind you of anything?" She asked him.
Looking up from the body, John frowned at his sister. "There's something familiar about it, I just can't figure out where." He muttered and was surprised when the Doctor let out an annoyed groan.
"You and your sex addled Mind!" She growled out, stunning he Half-Time Lord and ruffling the feathers of the three CSI's. "It's very reminiscent of the Shoreditch Incident." There was various reactions to this claim. Robbins raised his brows, both Willows and Phillips looked confused while John gasped, eyes wide.
"No, it can't be!" He breathed out.
"Sorry, but what's the Shoreditch Incident?" Phillips asked. He was answered by Doc Robbins.
"Shoreditch, 1960's London. It was thought to be some sort of alien incursion involving robots. Several victims were found in the area with most of their vital organs burned but no visible injuries."
John wondered how Robbins knew of the incident when that invasion and fight between factions wasn't strictly public knowledge.
"They weren't robots, they were Daleks," the Doctor corrected. "I should know. I was there."
The reaction from the three CSI's showed that they all knew what the Daleks were. Also, Robbins gave the Doctor a look of surprise following her claim to have been there. Especially when she looked far too young.
"What? Are you serious?" Phillips blurted out. "Daleks? Real actual Daleks…as in the pepperpot-like aliens?" His eyes were wide in fear. "Are we being invaded?"
But The Doctor shook her head. "I didn't say it was the Daleks. I just said it reminded me of the Daleks. There's likely to be another explanation for this. Let's see if the others have found anything of interest." With that said, the Doctor turned away and hurried out of the autopsy room, with J.D quickly following her.
"What if it is the Daleks?" J.D questioned once he'd caught up with the Time Lord.
A scowl appeared on The Doctor's face and her hazel eyes took on a chilling coldness. "Then we've got a bigger problem than we thought we had!" Was her answer.