2

"Now quiet everyone", whispered the Doctor. They stood in a row next to each other. The large, one-storeyed warehouse rose behind the small car park where the four of them were standing. It was a grey, stone building with a flat, corrugated iron roof which was very rusty. Apparently the building was fairly old and had been abandoned a pretty long time ago but as it was located in an area of London where a lot of houses looked slightly derelicted and only very rarely a tourist caught sight of there, obviously no one had ever bothered to replace it or simply care about its decay.

"You don't actually think we'll find anything here that'll help us", John said in a whisper as well.

"We need to check everything that could possibly be a help before we can eliminate it", objected Sherlock. "Only that way we have a chance of solving that case, John. You should know that. And anyway", he added," Mr. Barlow had seen something that sounds suspicious so I'm certain there'll be something, at least one or two clues. Why would he lie to us?"

The small group slowly approached the decayed building. In the light of their torches they could see several large windows which were dusty and soiled with cracks or- in the worst case -even smashed. A narrow metal door was situated on the very right hand side of the building.

Rose felt a bit cowed which was weird because she had experienced so many frightening situations on her travels with the doctor that in comparison this place was rather dull. And yet it seemed to her that she was being observed from somewhere in the darkness around her- or maybe through the ruined windows of the warehouse…

But every time she fixed the glow of her to torch on the windows, there was -naturally -nothing to be seen.

What gave them all shivers, though, was the complete silence. The adjacent houses were deserted as well, so there was no sound or noise to be heard. The moon had disappeared behind the clouds again and there was not even a swishing of leaves or grass (not that there was much green around).

They gathered around the door.

"Ready?", John asked and a smile, visible for a split of a second only, played around the corners of his mouth. He prepared his pistol.

Sherlock emulated his deeds.

For some reason John didn't seem nervous in the slightest. The doctor noticed that with a faint spark of discomfort. Even though John might be used to situations like that his calmness in the face of the unknown and possible danger was peculiar- and he hadn't missed that hinted smirk.

The doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and two torches and handed Rose one.

"Where'd you get that from?" she asked startled and peered hard at his pockets at his pockets. "That can't possibly fit in there."

"You know, they're bigger on the inside", he grinned.

"What is that?" Sherlock pointed with the glow of his torch at the screwdriver. "Don't you have a gun?"

"No, I never carry guns", was the doctor's response. "This'll do." He held up his sonic screwdriver.

"What the hell is that?", John asked bemused and tried the door. Locked. The doctor stepped forward and a buzzing sound resonated as the sonic screwdriver opened the lock.

It clicked. The door opened slowly (and fortunately not creaking.)

"See?", the doctor said. "Very useful." And he stepped into what appeared to be- at a first glance- a large and empty room. He put a finger to his lips to sign that neither John nor Sherlock should say another word and entered.

Sherlock found that man more eccentric with every minute but he couldn't tell whether he liked or disliked him. But he definitely disliked being shutted up- although he was clearly right. They mustn't talk anymore. But normally everyone followed him or his orders and for the first time in his life he followed someone else- he couldn't acquire a taste for that at all. Rose followed directly after Sherlock inside and after a mouthed "Rose" and a nod from the doctor's she joined him.

The four of them separated – Sherlock went straight ahead to the opposite side of the room, John headed for the centre and the other two turned left but soon separated, too- but all they found in the corners -and occasionally directly in front of them, so they had to mind out not to stumble- where boxes and planks that lay stacked or individually on the cold, dusty concrete floor. The room was vast and the ceiling seemed higher than it had looked from the outside.

Out of the sudden a in the silence deafening and echoing crash resounded that let all of them startle. "Rose", the doctor breathed, but it still echoed nearly as loud as if he had shouted. The darkness was so thick that he could hardly see any further than a few metres for the occasional moonlight didn't find its way through the windows.

"Doctor", came another breathe back but it wasn't Rose's voice, it was Sherlock's. "John?"

Suddenly the doctor brushed with his back against something solid and tall and he spun around – just to find himself pointing his torch in one and the screwdriver in the other hand at Sherlock's chest.

The detective hardly ever showed an emotion but when he bumped against something big behind him it still made him jump- until he saw the Doctor, an appalled look on his features.

"Doctor, for God's sake!" he muttered annoyed but relieved. "So you can't find your friend either", he added questioningly. The doctor shook his head, frowning. "John's gone, too. But he'd have told me if he'd found a door or passageway to further rooms."

"Perhaps he'd tripped over something and that's what caused the noise. Or... I dunno… He's unconscious and that's why he didn't response."

"But what about your girl – Rose? It cannot be a coincidence that both of them blacked out at the same time."

"No, you're right. Hold on." The doctor raised his sonic screwdriver to his left ear and adjusted some settings – then he scanned the environment.

"Doctor, what's that – " "We're alone." "Pardon?" "In the room. We're the only living beings in this room. Not the foggiest where the others are but they are not here."

"Well, there are two doors on the other side, but both are locked so they can't have gone through there. John's got a picklock but firstly he'd have told me and secondly he went to the middle of the warehouse when we separated- he wasn't anywhere near me. Then I heard that…that crashing noise and you calling for Rose. She didn't respond and nor did John when I tried. So I stepped backwards and I bumped into you. I think we can deduce that there must be a hidden door like a trapdoor somewhere and it's likely that Rose and John have been kidnapped."

The doctor started pacing and Sherlock noticed his furious expression. "You're right. If they've taken Rose that means we need to find her right now. C'mon!" His voice had risen whilst speaking, it wasn't important any more not to make a sound – after all someone or something already knew they were there.

"Hold on- you seem to know something you're withholding. What do you mean 'they'? You can't know yet who it was. It could've been a single person."

"Well, I could say 'he'-"

"If you don't explain yourself-"

The Doctor sighed and looked pitiful as he expounded , "I'm sorry but I think you're friend wasn't himself anymore when we've encountered him at the bus station."

"So you mean to say someone's pretending to be him?", Sherlock asked incredulously.

"Sort of."

"That's ridiculous!", he exclaimed. But his thoughts were racing.

"Doctor", Sherlock called across the gloomy room. They had quickly separated again to search for a possible trap door.

"Blimey", came a voice from beside him.

"I thought you were on the other side of the room?"

"Nothing there. And my torch has conked out. I tried to fix it but actually it wasn't worth the time."

"Here it is."

"What?" In the pale light Sherlock pointed with the beam of light on the floor to a spot right ahead of them where a few square metres were totally blocked by some boxes- larger and smaller ones- and other junk.

"This is it, right? I was just about to clear it."

The doctor went on his haunches and had a closer look. The outline of something that could be a trap door leapt to his eye. "That's odd", he murmured. "This passageway hasn't been used for ages. It's dusty as its environment and hardly visible at all since it fits perfectly in the ground. Well spotted! But Zygons actually don't have …" He trailed off.

"Who doesn't have what?" Sherlock looked suspiciously at the silhouette below.

"Um, nothing. C'mon, let's move this stuff away and find the other two."

"Hang on. This trap door hasn't been used for quite a long time, I agree with you. Certainly not - but Rose and John can't have disappeared through there either. They can't be somewhere down there- if there is a 'down there'- unless there's another trap door around here which I doubt…"

His new "partner" joined him and it didn't take them long to reveal the trap door. There really was no difference to the floor around it- only a tiny difference of colours. The door was made out of wood but all the dust made it look like it belonged to the concrete.

A tiny black ring to pull it open was placed on the side opposite to Sherlock. He threw back his long coat, seized the ring and gave it a tug. The trapdoor was incredibly heavy for a wooden panel and it was supposedly also a bit stuck.

The Doctor came to Sherlock's aid and together they slowly managed to pull it open. It creaked horribly. After the dustcloud had disappeared the two men peered- slightly coughing- into the darkness below lit only by the torch. No ground.

"Usually there's always a ladder somewhere…", Sherlock muttered. "Ah."

There was indeed a ladder but it was hardly visible as there was a niche in the wall below where the ladder was hidden in.

"I'm still not sure we should go down there", Sherlock objected abruptly and eyed the Doctor with a frown.

"Why not?"

"We want to find our-well, friends, in the first place, don't we? And we've agreed that they must've found another way or at least that they've certainly not passed through this very trapdoor."

"Sure", the Doctor acknowledged. "But as you will remember we initially came here to solve your case and don't you think these incidents are kinda connected to Rose and John?"

With that he jumped into the hole, clang onto the ladder and started to make his way down.

"For God's sake", Sherlock mumbled with an eye-roll and glared at the with the darkness merging figure of the Doctor and after a moment he followed him.