The Doctor was fixing the tie on his tux, fussing with it to get it even. He hated this suit. Every time he wore it, something bad happened. He grinned, remembering someone who once suggested that maybe it wasn't the suit, maybe it was just him.
"Nah," he said out loud to his reflection. "It's the suit. Bad luck, it is. I just need to get a new one and leave this one in the closet." He turned, checking the back to make sure it was fitted properly. "Then again….this one just makes me look sooooo good!" He winked at his reflection, and after one last quick glance to make sure his hair looked as good as it could, he left his room to go meet the delegates for the treaty signing celebration.
………………………………………………………………
Pranis ran down the hall towards the rooms that he and the Doctor were housed in. Just as he approached, the Doctor stepped out, dressed smartly in his tux. Pranis pulled up just short of running him over.
"Whoa! What's this then? You have to hurry if you're going to make the ceremony!" The Doctor's cheerful voice called out. "Um….no offense…..but a quick shower maybe? On second thought….a thorough shower?" His nose crinkled as the pungent odor drifted over to him from Pranis.
"No time. Doctor, you have to come with me. The trolls – they have canisters of gas that they're going to use to stop the treaty signing. Everyone will be killed!"
The relaxed bearing of the Doctor immediately evaporated and turned into one of intensity. He started strolling down in the direction that Pranis just came from, barking questions.
"Where is this gas?"
"Down in the sewers," Pranis replied.
"That explains a lot. How do you know what they're doing?"
"I overheard them in a bar, and I followed them and watched them set it up. But I could only follow one group – there's three more somewhere."
The Doctor stopped walking for a moment, looking at Pranis with amazement on his face. "Did you really? That's incredible, do you know that? Good job, Pranis!"
"Did you hear me? There's three more groups!"
"Well, we'll just have to find them, won't we?" He responded.
They started walking again, and Pranis filled the Doctor in on the specifics of the last couple of hours. They reached the grate in the garden, and Pranis held it open for the Doctor to jump down.
"Oh….yuck! I hate cleaning these shoes!" He cried out. "Show the way!"
Pranis trotted down towards the equipment which was now emitting a small cloud of steam. The Doctor squatted next to it, reaching into his pocket and taking out his sonic screwdriver.
Speaking quietly, almost reverently, the Doctor said, "Oh, this is good. Very good. Professional, even. They knew what they were doing." He pointed his screwdriver at the tripod, and the steam immediately stopped.
"It's easy to deactivate, we're lucky for that. We'll need a clean up crew – this gas is very toxic. If it's released into the sewers, it would poison the entire city. Not to mention that it would continue to poison for the next three years or so. In fact, this stuff is illegal in most systems."
"Is it safe for now?" Pranis asked.
"For awhile, yes. Eventually it would corrode its own canisters and release itself, but there's plenty of time to arrange for its removal. Now…you said there were three more crews?"
Pranis led the Doctor back through the tunnels to the cross section below the street where the trolls had split up. They traveled much quicker than the original trip as they weren't worried about stealth and they weren't carrying any heavy packs. Still, though, there just wasn't enough time to travel in all three directions and back to deactivate all of the gas tripods.
"We need to get help." The Doctor stated. He picked his way to the nearest grate, and Pranis reached up to push it aside, giving the Doctor a leg up for his exit. They were down the street from the pub that Pranis had earlier visited.
"I know where we are," Pranis stated. "The ministry is this way." They took off at a run, the sun now a memory in the sky and the darkness was falling quickly.
"We have very little time if it's going to detonate at 8:00!" The Doctor yelled while pumping his legs as fast as he could. He thought to himself that it had been a long time since he last ran this hard, and it was going to hurt in the morning!
They reached the ministry and quickly located Chancellor Shue who raised the alarm. Within moments, security teams were being briefed by Pranis and dispatched to find the other tripods.
The Doctor and Pranis were both recovering from their desperate run through the streets. Pranis brought him a glass of water, handing it to him with a grin.
"Not too bad for a scrawny old man!" He teased.
"Scrawny old man!" He stood up and faced Pranis. "I'll have you know that I used to wear trainers every day because I did so much running!"
Pranis looked down at the ruined shoes that were on the Doctor's feet at the moment.
"Been awhile since you've wore them then, huh?"
"Cheeky devil, you are!" The Doctor's good humor was restored with the relief that the disaster was being averted.
A short while later, Chancellor Shue approached them with a broad grin on his face. "Security just confirmed – we got them. As a bonus, they apprehended the Tedgims as they were loading their transport.
"Tedgims? That's who did this?" The Doctor looked at Pranis. "You said they were trolls!"
Pranis shrugged. "Fred said they were called trolls when he told me that they always brought trouble with them. That's why I followed them to begin with!"
"Fred? Who is Fred?"
Pranis smirked sheepishly. "The bartender."
"We just went through all of this because of GOSSIP from a bartender named Fred?"
"Well, he was right, wasn't he?" Pranis defended.
The Doctor threw his head back and roared with laughter.
The Chancellor approached him, and putting a hand on one of his shoulders, whispered into the Doctor's ear.
"Please tell her highness that we will be there as soon as we can get cleaned up" he said softly to the Chancellor. Turning to Pranis, he stated "it would appear that we are requested to meet with the princess this evening."
Pranis snorted. "She wants to kiss you again. Just wait and see."
The Doctor rolled his eyes and did a perfect turn on his heel before striding out of Pranis's presence.
Pranis looked at the Chancellor. "Bet you a bottle of wick nectar?"
"You're on!" He said with excitement.