Chapter VII: Return

Saltrall had spent the rest of the day in the library, only leaving when they kicked him out. He sighed as he left, his least favorite part of the day was always when the library closed. He was a nerd like that, always hungry for knowledge and more than happy to search for it himself if he needed to.

Although he was left a little more confused than when he arrived because in the time he had been there someone had showed up in the lobby and was taking pictures of everyone who walked in, or in his case, out of the door, presumably for library cards. The only problem was he gave no indication of that, which raised some red flags in Saltrall's mind. Saltrall just grabbed his picture when it was taken and walked out, but not before using his Sonic to damage the camera. He wasn't sure why, something just didn't seem right about it.

Deciding it was high time to return to the TARDIS, however, he began his trek home. He was lost in thought the whole time he was walking down a main road, glancing around a little and looking at his picture but he was still whistling one of his favorite songs, when he saw a familiar face leaving a familiar restaurant.

He laughed softly and shook his head as he stepped into a nearby alley just as Asami turned to face in his direction and he waited for her to walk past him.

"There's a lot of alleys in this city," he thought to himself, looking around. It wasn't anything special, just a regular alley, but he didn't complain, because for once it gave him a good hiding spot and not an Equalist grunt.

He waited for Asami to pass before continuing on his way. He walked about a mile until he reached the outskirts of town, there he was confronted by a group of five people. All of them were tough looking guys, maybe about 20-25.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here boys," one of them, presumably the leader of them, said as they walked up.

Saltrall grabbed his Sonic from inside sweatshirt pocket and sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Really? a shakedown?" He asked as they surrounded him.

"Well, we got a smart one today boys" The ringleader said, causing his cronies to chuckle softly.

"Just what I needed today," Saltrall thought to himself sarcastically as the group started closing in on him.

"I don't have anything on me, now I suggest you let me go before I get anymore annoyed, I have places to be, you know," he said, his voice becoming more annoyed.

This just made them laugh again as three of them materialized fire in their hands while the ringleader and his, right hand man, pulled out butterfly knives.

"Uh-huh, yeah we're so scared," the ringleader said mockingly, and he stopped walking forward when he was right in Saltrall's face.

"I'm warning you, I'm starting to get angry, not annoyed," Saltrall said, his voice becoming more angry.

"Oh look boys we're making him angry, whatever, he's not worth our time, just kill him," The ringleader said as he turned and started to walk away.

"Big mistake pal," Saltrall said as he elbowed the guy directly behind him. He proceeded to grab him and use him as a shield as the other two shot their fire at him. Saltrall threw his human shield to the ground, screaming in pain and rolling around as he was on fire, and ran at the one of the others.

He shot fire again, but Saltrall already had his Sonic out and used it to dissipate the fire before punching him in the face, sending him sprawling on the ground. He immobilized the last one with his Sonic before turning to the two leaders.

"Hey assholes, your turn," he said walking towards them quickly, Sonic pointed at them menacingly.

They yelled out in fear before turning and starting to run. Saltrall just used his Sonic to immobilize them as well. He flicked open his Screwdriver and scanned them while they tried to move their limbs.

"You idiots should've listened when you had the chance. I'm a pretty chill guy most of the time, but you met me at a bad time, I've had a long day and I want to sleep, so just answer my questions and I'll let you go." He said walking up to the leader.

"I'm not telling you shit!" He exclaimed in defiance, making Saltrall rolled his eyes.

"Please?" Saltrall asked, annoyed, "I don't want to kill you, but I sure as hell won't let you go free if you don't talk."

Just then one of the other grunts ran at him from behind, yelling as he ran up. Saltrall just sighed and stuck his Sonic out behind him and activated it, letting the guy run into it and Saltrall heard something crack and the grunt collapsed.

"See, that could be you too," Saltrall said, looking at the man's limp body. He turned back towards the ringleader, who just spit in his face with a shit-eating sneer on his face. Saltrall didn't say anything, he just wiped his face off and put his Sonic against his temple and activated it, causing the man's eyes to roll up as his brain exploded.

He left him standing there, arms and legs immobilized as his head slumped down, and walked over to his partner.

"What about you, you work for anyone?" He asked, pressing his Sonic against the man's throat.

"The Triad, w-we work for the Triads!" He confessed in terror.

"See! that wasn't so hard, was it?" Saltrall exclaimed, turning and yelling at the dead body of the other leader before turning back to the man in front of him, "now, did they order you to attack me, or was it just a random hit?"

"It was random, I swear!"

"Yeah, you're damn right it was, now get out of here, take your friend too." He said, unfreezing him and pointing at the other immobilized man behind them.

The guy started to run away but Saltrall grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him over to the other goon.

"You see this?" Saltrall asked both of them, pulling out the picture from his pocket, and the men nodded, "go tell your bosses that if they ever see this face walking towards them, turn the other way and run. Fast."

He put the black and white picture from the library in the pocket of the goon before reactivating the nerves in his limbs.

"Now get out of here before I change my mind," he said, pushing them away.

With those words he watched the grunts run back into the city. He sighed and put his Sonic back in his pocket before dragging the dead bodies off and tossing them into bushes beside the path and he started walking again, putting his hood up and moving a little quicker than before. Even though there was nobody around he really didn't want to stick around any longer than he needed to.

He managed to reach his TARDIS without further incident, and he stepped inside and let out a sigh as he put his hood down and slumped down against the door. Even after almost 350 years of killing and maiming anyone who threatened the security of Gallifrey for a living he was amazed that he still had enough empathy to feel remorse once he removed himself from dangerous situations and calmed down.

He had always been worried that as a young Time Lord he suffered from a disease called situational pentamood disorder, a rare Time Lord disease that affects the actions and moods of the individual in certain situations before they return to their normal selves once the situation passes. For his entire life on Gallifrey he had been told that pentamood disorder was a disease and every family who had a child with it was shamed by the community. He believed he had it because that was one part of his brain that stayed the same through all his regenerations, but he never had proof, and he was afraid to ask anyone about it in case he ruined his family's reputation. Now it didn't matter since he wasn't in the same universe, at least, that's what it looked like.

He stood up and went and sat down by the console and rubbed his face. He hated his aggression, he had for years, but there was no way to stop it without becoming cut off from the world as a whole, and there was no way that was happening. No matter how he felt he knew that his empathetic side wouldn't let him become reclusive for any longer than a few months.

He turned to his console and booted up a side computer he had to try and clear his mind. His travels to Earth in the 21st century had piqued his interests on video games, so he bought a computer, modified the processor and hard drive, got a few games and set it up as a means to relax.

In this situation he decided to just play the solitaire game that came with it until he tired himself out, then he shut it down and went to bed, still trying to forget the events of the evening.