Disclaimer: Magnus may own the Sanctuary and the Doctor may own the TARDIS, but I own neither of them. Sadly.
"Henry, check if there was any energy spikes in the past few hours," said Magnus.
"Sure thing, Doc," responded the tech.
"Should we call in Kate from her day off?" questioned Will.
"No, I don't think it's that serious…yet."
They were in Henry's tech room. Magnus had called Will up from his reading in the library, and she had just informed them about the physic attack on Smith.
Magnus's thoughts were zooming. She had a few theories as to what had attacked her patient, but none of them seemed possible at the time. And they didn't really address the reason why he was attacked in the first place. Was he was a threat of some kind? It seemed highly unlikely. He appeared harmless enough, but then again she didn't really know a lot about the man. Who was he?
"Seems like there was, Doc," began Henry, breaking her away from her thoughts. "There was an energy spike about 5 minutes ago in the infirmary of the Sanctuary."
"Around the time that Mr. Smith was attacked, right?" added Will stepping closer to the desk.
"Right…Henry, pull up the security footage of the attack," responded Magnus, leaning in over her employee's shoulder.
A few taps of the keys later and the recording was up on the screen. As the image of Smith convulsed, Magnus pointed to the lights on the wall in the background. They were flickering.
"Okay, so that explains the power surge…," commented Henry.
"Wait, what's that?" questioned Will, pointing to another spot on the screen.
The tech stopped the footage and closed in on the place Will pointed out.
"Enhance the image," said Will, putting his arm down.
They all leaned slightly forward as Henry altered the picture by heightening the contrast and sharpening image. Suddenly, once he accomplished that, a slightly shimmering gas could be seen leaving Smith's mouth.
Magnus caught a gasp in her throat. That gas was exactly what she had seen in the corner of her eye when in the infirmary. At the time, she had only her instincts to say that it wasn't something particularly friendly. Now she had proof that the thing had malicious intent. Whatever it was. She had meet quite a few psychic abnormals in her day, but none of them had been exactly like this. Whatever had attacked Smith was something that she had never encountered before. And while this moment, on some small level, was an occasion to celebrate, the villainy of this particular abnormal meant that their lack of knowledge was a serious and possibly lethal side-effect.
But lethal to whom?
It hadn't attacked her or any of her employees or any of the other abnormals. Now that's not to say that it won't, given time, but it did chose to attack Smith first. Why? Magnus had a feeling that the answer to that question was hidden in mystery of the true identity of Smith. But before her mind could dive further into that subject, she was brought back to reality by the reaction of her employees.
"What in the hell is that?" questioned Henry.
"Haven't the faintest," replied Magnus. "But I think I caught a glimpse of it when I tended Smith after the attack."
"It looks like some kind of electrical creature," added Will.
"You know what…that does make sense," began Henry. "I've noticed a few slight power surges in the past few hours."
"Really, Henry? How come I'm just learning about this now?" questioned Magnus with a surprised and slightly irritated tone.
"Don't worry, Doc. I was gonna tell yah. But it's just that you've been so focused on this Smith dude and they're barely anything really…you know the kind of power surges that you'd get when they're tuning up the generators. I didn't really think much of it until now."
"So this thing is electric and physic. You think it could be the same creature that's in Druitt?" questioned Will, turning towards his boss.
"No I don't think so. It hasn't displayed any other malignant qualities besides attacking Smith," replied Magnus, facing her employee.
"You think it was just after Smith? But why?"
"That's exactly what I was wondering."
"Okay…then will it go after him again?"
"Possibly…Probably…Hopefully not. But just in case I should see what kind of protection Sally could give him. Smith said he was able to fend off the first attack, but in his weakened state I'm doubtful as to his ability to do it again. In the mean time, we should probably start looking for this abnormal that attacked Smith. Once we have it, then we'll know if he and the rest of us are safe. It attacked Smith first, but we don't know for sure that it will not go after us or any of the other abnormals. We can't afford to be careless."
"Right…um…I guess I should start looking for any recent power surges and where they are originating from and then…find some way to capture this thing," said Henry starting to type away at his computer.
"Thanks, Henry. Will and I will be with Sally, trying to if there's and protection we can give Smith," stated Magnus, and with that she turned off towards the center level, her employee following closely behind.
))))
Sally was their resident mermaid with remarkable telepathic abilities. If there was anyone that could help them, it was her. Magnus wasn't exactly sure how she could help, but she knew that there was something that the mermaid could do. She wasn't about to leave Smith defenseless. It would be a rather low point in her career if she let a new abnormal die from another unknown abnormal. But mainly it was because she didn't want him to die under her watch. After so many years and so many deaths, she sought to do everything in her power to stop another casualty.
There was also a further reason behind her want, a reason that she tried to push back and was almost ashamed to think of. She didn't want Smith to die when there were so many questions about him unanswered. It was a selfish reason and she knew it, but she couldn't stop that small bit of her from thinking it. This man was different and she desperately desired to know why.
But this want was shut out of sight. She couldn't let it interfere with what she was trying to do. Something that turned out to be harder than she thought, for when Magnus and Will reached Sally's tank, they saw someone there that they didn't expect to see.
Smith was standing with a wide smile his face. He was still in his white T-shirt and shoeless state that was when she left him and his hand on the glass where Sally had placed her hand on the opposite side. He seemed to be having a conversation with her.
"Well, actually I didn't plan on doing that either but…you know how things go. That's why I rarely plan because nothing really goes according to it," he said looking into the mermaid's face.
Sally nodded, and then turned towards Magnus and Will who had just walked in to the scene. Smith followed her gaze, and waved hello at the sight of them.
"Mr. Smith, what are you doing out of bed?" questioned Magnus, thoroughly confused. Last time she checked this man was in no condition to be up walking around, and yet here he was. He must've been a faster healer than she first hypothesized.
"Ah, well…All I needed was some potassium and a good cuppa. Oh, and congratulations. That was the best tea I had in America so far. I had some really good Earl Grey in this tiny place in New York…but that was a long while ago and in a completely different…um…setting," babbled the man, placing one hand in his pocket.
Magnus notice that while the man was smiling and able to stand, he was still pale and a bit shaky in the knees. He was also leaning slightly on Sally's tank with his hand. He might be up walking but he was far from being fully recovered, and that worried Magnus slightly. His wounds shouldn't be stressed, and she didn't know enough about his physiology to safely say predict when he would be able to up and about. She didn't want to take any chances with this man.
"Mr. Smith. You shouldn't be moving around," stated Magnus firmly.
"Is that why you locked me into that infirmary? No offence, Doctor Magnus, I'm sure you have good intentions at heart, but I think I know enough about my body to be able to tell when I need rest and when I could go on without it…," replied Smith, seriously.
"Plus," he continued with a lighter note to his voice. "I couldn't just lie around and let you track down what attacked me. I would miss out on all the fun! And, on that note, I just couldn't help myself. I had to have a look around this facility that you have here. Which, by the way, is absolutely brilliant! A wonderful balance between research and care and protection, and believe me, that's a hard thing to do."
Magnus didn't know if she should feel worried that Smith had taken the liberty to walk around unattended, or if she should feel gratitude for his gracious praise. She decided to go with a combination of both and expression of softened seriousness.
"I'll take that as a compliment, Mr. Smith. But I'm not comfortable about you wondering around the Sanctuary unsupervised. It is mainly for your safety. There are a lot of hazardous abnormals in this facility," stated Magnus.
She was stretching the truth just a tad about saying that it was all for his safety. That was part of it, yes, but this man was still a mystery to her and she hated to think it, but she'd rather not have a possibly dangerous person roaming about.
"Ah, yah…noticed that bit," replied Smith, taking the hand out of his pocket to scratch the back of his head. "But don't worry. I've handled dangerous…creatures before. It's sort of my hobby…well I guess you can argue that's my job, but it's never really felt like a job to me. I'm sure you feel the same way Doctor Magnus. From what I can see you do the same thing practically. Only a bit more scientifically oriented."
What did he mean when he's handled 'dangerous creatures' before? Magnus thought. Was he an abnormal hunter? He didn't seem like one, but then again anything was possible.
Suddenly the lights around them dimmed. The three of them looked around in confusion, hearts pounding in ears, until the lights flared back up to normal strength. A chill ran down Magnus's spine. There was something glinting in the corner of her eye. She whipped around. Nothing. The skin on the back of her neck prickled.
She heard a buzzing and looked back. Smith was waving some kind of thin device around, a blue glow and hum emanating from the top. He frowned and dropped his arm; the device grew dark and quiet.
"I really need to get out of here," he murmured.
"What do you mean?" questioned Magnus. The man had been saying this the moment he and woken up, but this time was different. It suddenly seemed much more serious.
"It's after me. I need to leave before anything else happens," he replied cryptically, facing Magnus with grave eyes.
"You mean that shimmering thing that's causing the power surges?" asked Will.
"Yes. It was trailing me when I broke down and ended up here. I hadn't realized that it survived the trip, but apparently it had… Stupid!" he suddenly exclaimed, banging his head. "I should've known better. I've encountered Cerebrivores before, but I didn't think!"
"Cerebrivores?" questioned Magnus. She had never heard of an abnormal species named that, and like Henry has so adequately put earlier, she practically had the whole planet catalogued. So if she didn't know about them, how did Smith? Was that what he meant by 'dangerous creatures'?
"It's an electrical creature that feeds off the psychic waves of the brain by attaching itself to the host. Therefore tries to go after beings with the most psychic capabilities, which is why it was following me…It must've attached itself to the TARDIS to be able to track me so far…"
But Magnus didn't hear Smith's last mumbled sentence; she was too engulfed in the uneasiness that his explanation caused. If this creature was what he said it was, then she was right in her suspicion that it could attack the other abnormals in the facility. And in that case, it needed to be captured as soon as possible. There was doubt in the validity of his statement, yes, but Magnus felt she couldn't take the risk.
"Well since you seem to know so much about this creature, do you know how to capture it?" questioned Magnus.
"Yes…but it will much easier if I just leave. I think my mind is enough to lure it way from your abnormals."
But before Magnus or Will could respond, a shriek emanated from the tank behind Smith. They all looked in horror as Sally began to writhe and twist about, clutching her head with her face contorted in pain.
"Oh, no no no no no no!" exclaimed Smith, placing both hands on the tank, his face centimeters from the glass. "You need to fight it! Concentrate!"
It was a terrible feeling, just standing there, having little to no clue as to what to do. Magnus knew nothing about the creature that was attacking her friend and no matter what her brain came up with, it seemed either foolishly impossible or irrationally implausible. But she couldn't just watch Sally be assailed. That wasn't who Magnus was.
She rushed to Sally's tank, Will following in her wake. "What can you do?" she urgently asked. Smith was the only person here that knew anything about what was attacking the abnormal, and she was going to make sure that he did everything in his power to help.
"Uh…," he looked at her, eyes desperate yet determined. "It doesn't look like she's able to stop it, like I did. She's fighting, though, that's good. It can't take a secure hold. But she won't last that long."
"Well, can you get it out of her?" Will asked.
"Yes…but you'll not like me for doing this."
And with that, he turned around and pointed his device at the lights. Their strength grew exponentially, blazing brighter and bright as the device buzzed. Magnus and Will shielded their eyes at the intensity as Sally continued to psychically wrestle with the Cerebrivore. Soon the light bulbs burst under the pressure, exploding in a shower of glass and filaments. At the same moment, Sally let out a high pitch wail and fell still.
Then…silence.
Magnus looked around, blinking the spots out of her eyes and letting her pupils adjust to the sudden darkness. The glass fragments glinted faintly in the distance glow of emergency lights. Beside her, Will was also gazing around in confused astonishment, while Smith just stood there on her opposite side with a stoic expression, his device hanging limply in his hand. When she spun around to face the tank, she found Sally motionless, drifting in the water. For a horrid second Magnus thought she was dead, but then she noticed the movement in her gills. She was breathing, meaning she was only unconscious. Magnus sighed in relief. She would have to go in and check if she was alright, but at least she was alive.
She turned away from Sally, and towards Smith, who was putting his device into a pocket of his suit pants, wondering what in the world he had just done.
"The increased electricity drew out the Cerebrivore. Because it didn't have a good psychic hold, it was able to be pulled to the stronger electricity," he said, answering the question that was on Magnus's mind. He looked tired, and was leaning heavily against the tank. His fingers were trembling.
A ringing sounded, besides her. It stopped when Will answered his cell. "Yup, we know…It was Smith…Yeah, not sure how. Some sort of device thing he took out of his pocket…Yeah…That's good…Great, we'll be up there soon." He hung up. "So, whatever Smith did to the light only effected the power on this level, but don't worry the backup is on. The only real damage seems to be to the Big Guy's time. He's gonna have a lot of light bulbs to replace."
Magnus only just barely heard her employee's information; she was too focused on Smith. He was turning paler and paler, and soon an ominous spot started to grow upon his chest like a red fern. She rushed to his side.
"Told you you'd break your stitches," she commented as she helped him towards the elevator.