"Boston Harbor, 1775, April the 17th, one hour before we left Lexington. I haven't been here since the Boston Tea Party." The Doctor said, stepping out of the TARDIS. As usual, no one had noticed it.
"You were here for the Boston Tea Party? Now I'm jealous. I was hoping we could pop by, but you'd only end up meeting yourself." Katie said, joining him. She turned around, looking back at the TARDIS. "Out you come Revere! You're the reason we came."
Revere hesitantly stepped out. "We've moved."
"Of course we have. We said we were taking you to Boston, and we have. Now we just have to make sure people see you."
The Doctor turned to face them both. "Right then Kathryn. The two checklist points are to let the bad guys know Revere is here – another unintentional rhyme. Love those. Sorry, the people need to see him, otherwise he doesn't get called to any meetings, and those are important. Second, we need to find out who's doing this and why. So you go with Paul, and I'll scout around." The Doctor pulled his screwdriver out and flipped it in the air before starting to walk off.
Katie crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow, humor dancing in her eyes. "You are going to play spy? Please Doctor. You have got to be the worst person at being unseen. I think you live to be seen. So, the logical thing to do would be for you to go with Revere, and for me to be the one sneaking about. Won't cause any scandals that way either. We can't have one of America's foremost historical figures being seen with a girl half his age."
"Excuse me, you said foremost historical figure," Revere questioned. "How is that possible? I haven't exactly made history."
Katie winked at him. "You will."
The Doctor looked at her, seemingly suspicious. "And just what do you plan to do to find the bad guys?"
"Probably the same thing you were about to do; wander around and hope to find something. I'll just do it better."
The Doctor smiled lightly. "Good plan. So, Revere, ready to take a stroll about town? You could introduce me to everyone." His smile grew larger until it was that wonderful idiotic grin that was his trademark.
"Of course Doctor. Later Miss Moore."
"Don't give me any of that 'miss' stuff. I'm just Katie. I'll meet you back here Doctor. Oh, and you should probably walk in the direction of his old shop. It's close to the church, and ideas need to start flowing. Ta!" She walked off in the opposite direction and turned a corner.
Unlike the Doctor, Katie knew exactly where to start her search, for she had lived as human. He hadn't, as thus had no hard knowledge of how to begin, or at least pretended not to.
"For all the love the Doctor bears for humankind, I don't think he really understands them. If you want to go back in time to change something, you do everything you can to blend in. The easiest way to do that now is to be a Brit. A soldier away from home and off duty is a soldier away from home and off duty, and bar is a bar, whatever nationality or whenever you might be. So, it's down to the wharf I go."
I love rooftops. You can see everything, and almost no one ever looks up, and for the moments when someone does, all you need is a handy bit of canvas. Docks are so terribly full of useful things. Now, I can see most of the main roads leading to the taverns down here. I just need to look for a few red-coats that aren't quite perfect.
Katie stifled an uncharacteristic giggle, mostly brought on by nerves. It's like those puzzles you get as a kid. 'One of these things is different. Find the one that is different and circle it.'
Oooo! I spy, with my little eye, something that is red, doesn't fit with the others, and walking this way. Right next to this building too! And he even has a friend. Do I get the breaks or what?
Half rolling, half crawling, Katie quietly made her way to the edge of the tavern roof she was on. Leaning against the edge, she closed her eyes to switch to what she called her "energy view". While in this "energy view", Katie could see the different energy forms all around her, and who or what they came from, even if she couldn't see them otherwise. Her depth perception always got twisted when she watched people in this fashion, but as long as she focused on figures nearby, and didn't try to run, it worked out alright.
The two men obviously didn't want to be heard as they moved further into the alley. The taller, thicker one that reminded Katie of linebacker pushed the other, slightly shorter one against the wall.
"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be destroying Revere's shop!" the tall one said.
"Relax, it's been done already! It blew two hours ago by local time."
"Really? Then why did I just see Paul Revere strolling around town?"
The second man looked astonished. "You can't be serious Jak."
"Oh, I'm serious alright. He was with some nutcase who insisted on flying a kite in the middle of the street, then setting it on fire."
Katie smiled. It sounded as though the Doctor was holding up his end nicely.
"So….what do we do now?" the second man asked.
"I am going to get rid of Revere somehow. You are going to stay out of my way."
"I can help!"
"No, you can't. I did the hard work, convincing him to move to Lexington. All you had to do was kill him, Adams, and Hancock all in one go. Instead, you set it off too early, destroyed the wrong shop, and Revere is here anyway. You can bet your life I'm reporting you."
Katie saw the heat drain from the second man's face. He was obviously terrified. "No, please, don't. I'll make up for it somehow, just don't rat on me. Please!"
The first man, Jak, was unrelenting. "This was working perfectly until you destroyed everything. we've been in this primitive time for so long I think you've forgotten why we came in the first place, Scraw."
Scraw drew himself up, appearing very offended by that suggestion. "Of course I haven't! How dare you even suggest such a thing?"
"Because it's probably true. Now stay here. I don't want you messing anything else up."
Jak turned away from Scraw and walked off.
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!" Katie thought as she opened her eyes, remembering an old radio program she had listened to on satellite radio. Who knew it would fit an occasion so well 200 years before it started?
Katie carefully looked over the edge of the building just as Scraw looked up.
"Oi! What are you doing-oof!"
Thinking fast, Katie jumped off the roof and pulled out the dagger she always carried. She landed heavily on Scraw's shoulders and wrapped her hand around his mouth as she sliced downward toward his shoulder with her dagger. While Katie had no intention of killing the man, she did want him quiet. The knife made contact and stuck in his shoulder, and Scraw let out a muffled yell of pain.
She nearly forgot to pull the knife out as the prolonged contact with Scraw started becoming apparent. Katie was always careful not to have skin to skin contact with anyone else, less she draw attention by stealing their energy. A quick encounter felt no different from a static shock; she had never gone for any longer amount of time. This was a new experience for her, and she wasn't sure she liked it.
It was like water running through her arm. Warm water that was full of electricity. It stung a bit, but not as much as a bee sting did. It was more like her arm had fallen asleep. It felt good in the sense that it felt right, as though she was built to draw energy out of living beings. That made her uncomfortable.
Scraw collapsed beneath Katie and she released him, cutting off her attack before he died. He lay there, faintly gasping from literal energy loss as she hurriedly wiped her knife off.
I have to move fast. Jak has probably vanished by now. I have to find Revere before he does.
She spun around, and dashed around the corner, smacking right into Jak.
"Sorry! Ah, just in a bit of hurry," she said, smiling falsely.
"What were you doing in that alley? You were listening, weren't you?" Jak grabbed her arm, his grip tight and unrelenting. "What did you hear?"
"And we're running!" Katie said as she grabbed his neck. He released her, the shock from the energy transfer startling him. Katie bolted, zipping down the street and around people.
"Three hearts mate!" she called back over her shoulder. "Catch me now!"
"Not hard, sweetheart," Jak's voice said in her ear as he clamped his hand down on her shoulder.
"How-?"
"Vortex manipulator sweets," he said, his voice making her skin crawl. "Moves across space if you're good, and I am the best."
Katie didn't answer with words, but let her knife speak for her. She slashed it at his face, giving him a long cut down his left cheekbone. She struck him with the flat of her hand, leaving it on his face for a fraction of a second. The energy transfer to her body was stronger, more potent then it had been with unbroken skin. Letting go, she took off again.
She ran along the docks, moving around people and over boxes, while Jak kept flashing into view ahead of her. Continuing to keep an eye out, she watched for a good place to have a confrontation. Finally, she saw a long, empty jetty and turned down it. She stopped half way down and turned to see Jak appear again.
"Who are you? What are you doing in this time and place?" he demanded.
"I could ask you the same thing, Jak. 43rd century man. Quite a ways to go, coming all the way back to the 16th. What sent you here?"
"Duty to the British Empire."
"There is no Empire in the 43rd century."
"There shall be! While most of man kind has drawn together, mixing themselves with others, we true loyalists shall separate ourselves! Britain held the world once. The sun never set upon its face. America should have been ours. It will be ours!"
"Over my dead body," Katie spat out. Jak laughed.
"I can easily arrange that," he said, drawing a gun. Katie desperately wished she hadn't promised the Doctor she would stop carrying one.
"I'll stop you," she said, as though it were a simple fact.
"Really? And who are you that I should be terrified?"
"I'm Kathryn Moore. I travel time and space with an impossible man. I have no family or home but I am an American! I come from the 21st century, and I will stop you!"
Jak laughed again. "Stupid girl." He pointed the gun at her, and Katie took the only escape route.
She dove straight into the sea.
*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*