DOCTOR WHO: THE KEYS TO DEATH
Chapter 7
"I hope you still trust me..." said River to the Doctor solemnly as Lieutenant Nail's body was taken away. "I was saving Amy and Rory for you..."
"Thanks by the way..." said Amy.
"You don't know how much we mean it..." added Rory. The Doctor just sighed and didn't speak and this began to worry River.
"I only did what was best, Sweetie..." she said. "I didn't intend to kill him, but I had a strange feeling about him...not long after you doubted his position within UN.I.T."
"There's good reason for that..." said the Doctor with a faint smile. "He was part of the Revex..."
"He what?" said Alison. "But he's human?"
"Don't forget that a Revex can take anything to be its host...living or inanimate..." explained the Doctor. "When they check through his belongings they'll find his true identity...like I did last night..."
"How'd you mean?" asked Rory. "Did he tell you by error?"
"No..." replied the Doctor. "Quite simply he left an ID card on the Dining Tables last night before we went to sleep. I noticed it and saw his picture with the name 'Norman Sanderson' next to it."
"Probably just an Alias..." said River as she put her gun away still shocked at her own actions.
"But its not as after you went to sleep, I sort of looked on your scanner and found one Norman Sanderson who has been missing for 7 years. Went missing from his home town of Oregon and somehow came here with the mind-set of being Hank Nail with a complete back-story and knowledge. The Revex then put a perception filter around him and that's why no-one questioned anything about him..."
"But you said some were questioning him now, didn't you?" said Alison.
"Indeed..." agreed the Doctor. "That's because the perception filter has worn off and everyone was beginning to see 'Norman', not Hank. No-one from UN.I.T here has yet, but by tomorrow, they would have..."
"So, who's in charge then?" asked Rory. The answer was soon found out as Captain Benson joined them. "Following his sad, untimely passing, leadership would pass onto me naturally, but in this instance I delegate it to the Doctor...I'll still help, but the soldiers are under your command!" she said.
"Fab!" smiled the Doctor. "Really fab!"
With the Doctor now in charge, he assembled everyone he could to lay out the plan to defeat the Revex once and for all.
"I think it will be best now if we pair off..." he began. "Soldiers, you can pair off as you wish. Ingrid, I'm leaving your decision up to you as I think your more than capable on your own..."
"Why thankyou, Doctor..." smiled Ingrid as she then went away collecting Mirrors to fight off the Revex. Now with the soldiers and Captain Benson dispersing, the Doctor was just left with Amy, Rory, River and Alison to pair up. Knowing that he wanted to get to know Rory a bit more, the Doctor paired himself with him whilst River paired up with Amy. He left Alison on her own as she, like Ingrid was capable of that and her knowledge of the house was far superior to anyone else's.
"I imagine we just get in contact when we need it then..." said Alison as the Doctor handed her and everyone else a spare communicator.
"Indeed..." said the Doctor. "Any sign of the pink light and we know its here and ready..."
"We know what to do then..." said Amy. "So let's go!" and indeed everyone did.
Time was passing by and for all the pairings around Holmes House, there was nothing at all. Not a thing to report in the slightest.
"It's probably gone..." said one soldier to Captain Benson.
"I doubt that..." she said. "A being like that is hardly going to leave because were here...its just waiting...I don't know what for, but it means business." she continued as everyone just looked round. Amy was getting pretty bored of little activity and so just had a look-through on River's scanner.
"Who are these people?" she asked as she showed River several different men who all appeared to be in the TARDIS, or something similar to it.
"They are all the Doctor..." sighed River. "You shouldn't really have seen them. He can change his face very well, just like the TARDIS can change its theme. Its just a staple part of being a Timelord."
"So he's not always looked like he has now?"
"He'd look a lot older than that face could ever manage..." said River. "Its something he can prevent really happening. Well, you can choose not to change as it were but then there's a bigger issue..."
"And what's that?" asked Amy.
"He'd die..." she said simply. "Like he did in 1969...his regeneration, that glowing look you saw on the beach is his way of avoiding death..."
"He will eventually die, naturally, won't he?" said Amy.
"Sort of and sort of not..." she replied. "Its best if we leave it as it is...talk about something else. Been clothes shopping lately?"
The Doctor and Rory were similarly struggling to do anything with the lack of Revex activity, so the Doctor saw it as his chance to bond that bit more with Rory.
"Well, Rory the Roman..." he sighed as he sat against the landing wall. "Everything ok your end?"
"What do you mean?" asked Rory as he sat next to the Doctor. "Everything is ok with Amy..."
"No, I didn't mean that..." said the Doctor. "I mean everything...it can mean many things."
"Well...yeah...its all ok..." replied Rory.
"Is your Mother ok?" asked the Doctor.
"Yeah..." replied Rory simply. "She keeps cooking Gingerbread Men though for no apparent reason..."
"Mothers are always like that!" smiled the Doctor.
"What was yours like then?" asked Rory.
"Brilliant..." said the Doctor. "Fantastic, marvellous...the best of them all on Gallifrey...she could sew like no other..."
"My Mum loves sewing..." laughed Rory. "Every time I pop round, she's sewing something new or she's taken up her other hobby of knitting..."
"Knitting is brilliant! Knitting is cool!" said the Doctor.
"Everything's cool to you..." smirked Rory.
"Well, not everything..."
"Such as?" asked Rory.
"The changing room incident with you and me in the TARDIS...I'm sorry about that still..." explained the Doctor with a deep sigh at the end.
"Well, it has made me confident in myself..." said Rory. "So, it wasn't all that bad, just the being naked with you part was a tad awkward..."
"You live and learn from your errors!" smiled the Doctor. "Like not getting to know you so well..."
"How'd you mean?" asked Rory. "You know me quite well..."
"Not really..." said the Doctor. "I know you, Rory Williams, you have a Mum, a Mini and that's about it...it's not good enough if your travelling with me to know so little about you..."
"Well you don't know much about River, but you don't complain then..." pointed out Rory who was very confused by the Doctor's weird emotional turn.
"Ah...but we go drinking...we get snippets of information from each other then..." smiled the Doctor recalling many drinking sessions with River at the Tavern on Kilkenny Island on Narvuss-Prone.
"We can go drinking..." said Rory. "I've got no qualms with that...apart from your weirdness, but everyone's like that after a few at the Greasy Goose..."
"The Greasy Goose?" laughed the Doctor. "That's your local Pub's name?"
"I know its awful..." laughed Rory.
"It's not!" said the Doctor. "It's a fab name for a pub...Wagon and Horses, the Dragon and all that lot are boring...the Greasy Goose is just brilliant!" he continued as he then patted Rory on the shoulder. "You can be a good friend you know Rory..."
"Its what I'm here for..." smiled Rory. The Doctor just patted his shoulder once more.
"Its all fine and good being happy around Amy and River, but your just that bit of male company that I need...drinking buddy, football friend – oh, I could take you to 1966 and watch England win the World Cup if you want..."
"If you like..." said Rory. "Send Amy to another shopping planet again, she won't mind while were there!"
"Indeed..." laughed the Doctor to his good friend Rory. He'd done what he'd needed to.
Meanwhile, Alison was just searching around the various levels she was surveying when she caught a glimpse of the pink light from under one of the doors.
"It's here..." she said into her communicator. "Room 27...now..." she muttered as the door then violently swung open. There from it burst one of the many keys of Holmes House. It landed just before Alison and she saw it was for Room 56, the last room. The note attached was even more morbid than others she'd come across before. It simply read 'Prepare to melt away from existence and witness the sands of time drain away from you as the Maggots of life eat at you.' Alison, being as brave as she could immediately got out one of the Mirrors she'd picked up earlier and pointed it in the direction of the Revex peering out of Room 27. It didn't stop it and didn't seem to weaken it at all. Alison was puzzled. "Doctor, the Mirrors aren't working!" she then said into her communicator just as the Doctor arrived.
"They should be..." he said picking out one of his. Then he, like Alison discovered the limits the Mirrors had. "Oh..." he muttered.
"Oh what?" said Alison.
"I think there's been a miscalculation somewhere along the way..." replied the Doctor just as River came into view with her scanner beeping like mad.
"Mirrors don't work Doctor..." she said. "The composite in them isn't strong enough...that only leaves one option..."
"No..." said the Doctor. "No..."
"You know it will have to happen..." said River adamantly. "I'll have to inform Captain Benson."
"Inform me of what?" she asked as she arrived with Amy and Rory at her side. "Spit it out, what is it Doctor?"
"I'm so sorry Ingrid, but I've made an error here..." he began. "The Mirrors don't work, everyone is at risk here and that only leaves one option..."
"Which is what?" asked Captain Benson apprehensively.
"Shoot to kill..." said the Doctor and River in unison.