Author's Note: For the confused, Zły Wilk (pronounced zwieh vilk) is the assumed name Rose is using to work at UNIT. I couldn't resist - Zły Wilk is Polish for Bad Wolf.
In terms of the time period, this fic is set in 1989, 3 years after Benton returned to UNIT with a promotion after his brief stint as a car salesman (cited in the novel The Power of the Daleks). Rose has been working for UNIT for 11 years, and the people that work most closely with her, while not aware of most of her past, are aware that she is not human and has spent a significant portion of her life in another reality as well as traveling through time.
As per usual, I don't own it, but I love your reviews!
Chapter 1 – Coincidence, I Think Not
"Coming early is not as good as coming just at the right moment." - Unknown
The Doctor looked on thoughtfully through the window as Lieutenant Benton stepped forward to open the passenger door of the Jeep that had pulled up outside of the hotel where UNIT had set up its makeshift operations center.
The woman who stepped out of the vehicle was young; she couldn't have been more than twenty-five years old. Her hair was dark brown, with golden streaks in it, and flowed in waves to the middle of her back. She was dressed eccentrically, even by his standards-white and pink trainers, black low-slung jeans, a pink midriff top, a navy blue tweed jacket with brown leather patches at the elbows, and a tatty purple scarf slung about her neck. There was a flash of gold under the scarf, where she appeared to be wearing a necklace, and a dark spot on her lower right abdomen, where he could see the shadow of a tattoo, although the second story window he was looking down from did not give him a proper vantage to see it clearly.
The girl greeted Benton with an enthusiastic hug, which was accepted stiffly, with little grace but a humoring smile. She pulled back and said something, giving Benton a cheeky smile in return. Benton gestured for her to follow him, leading the girl indoors.
A moment later, Benton entered the room, the young woman hot on his heels. She smiled at Ace, but stopped short when she saw the Doctor, her eyes widening in shock and her mouth going slack. Benton cleared his throat. "Doctor, I'd like to introduce you to Zły Wilk, our current science advisor. Ms. Wilk, this is..."
"The Doctor, I know," the girl said, seeming to come out of whatever shock seeing him had produced. "Believe me, I know."
"Hello, Ms. Wilk," the Doctor said, tipping his hat to her, "Although I am rather curious as to how you know me. I don't recall having the pleasure of your acquaintance."
Ms. Wilk gave the Doctor an amused smile, and winked at him. "'Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.'"
The Doctor returned her smile. "Thoreau. Good man. You didn't answer my question, though."
Her smile grew into a full-blown grin, and her tongue peeked out to rest at the edge of her mouth. The Doctor found himself warming under the force of her expression, and wondered how this girl was managing to affect him in such a manner. She giggled slightly, and said, "That's because you didn't ask one."
The Doctor smiled, nodding in acknowledgment of her point. Ace chose that moment to step forward, bouncing slightly as she extended her hand, "I'm Ace."
Ms. Wilk shook Ace's hand, her expression inscrutable. After a moment, a wry smile crossed Ms. Wilk's face. "And you can call me Zed; most people do, rather than butchering the pronunciation. You don't bear much resemblance to your missing posters, Miss McShane. "
Ace opened and closed her mouth several times, apparently flummoxed by Zły's statement, sending the older woman into a fit of giggling. "Don't worry, Ace! My mum had missing posters out for me for a year the first time I went traveling, and I wasn't much older than you. I am the last person to judge, especially when it comes to running off with him," Zły said, gesturing towards the Doctor.
Comprehension dawned on the Doctor's features. "A future companion, I take it?" As she nodded in the affirmative, he asked, "When?"
She shook her head and tutted at him. "You know I can't tell you that, Doctor. No one should know too much about their own future, especially a Time Lord."
"Quite right too," said the Doctor, and he noticed distinct distress flash across Zły's features before being subsumed behind a mask of youthful joviality. "Right!" he continued, rolling the 'r' in an exaggerated manner and clapping his hands together. "Now that we are done exchanging pleasantries, I must wonder what UNIT is doing in Northern Wales."
"I could ask you the same question, Doctor," Zły said, her tone skating along the thin edge of sarcasm. She looked at Ace and hooked a thumb in his direction. "His driving off again, was it?"
Ace smiled. "Said something about the Glass Pyramids of San Kloon, and then lands us in the middle of a field full of sheep."
"They arrived not long before you, Ms. Wilk," interjected Benton. "Given the Doctor's nose for trouble, I'm not entirely surprised."
"Trouble?" The Doctor queried, eyebrows raised. "What kind of trouble?"
"This town was founded about twenty years ago, with the help of UNIT, by a group of temporal refugees who were dumped in the surrounding countryside by a localized, but fairly powerful, time storm," Zły lectured, cutting off Benton before he could begin. "The people were everything from medieval peasants to 63rd century movers and shakers. Plus a few sentient humanoids and non-humanoids, and a scattering of animal life. The community is fairly insular, for obvious reasons. They almost never accept new residents, and only call us or the police if there is a serious problem."
"Well, I think they may have let it go too long this time," said Benton, talking over Zły in what appeared to be an ongoing game between them, judging by the good-natured smiles they exchanged. "Approximately a month ago, some of the original residents began to disappear. Eight people are now unaccounted for, and the body of the first woman to go missing was found a few days ago. We can't be sure until I can get Ms. Wilk access for a formal examination, but from the photographs it looks like she was somehow rapidly aged. She was only 37, but the body we found was that of at least a ninety year old."
The Doctor's expression grew increasingly serious as they spoke. "Any evidence of violence?"
Zły shook her head. "She didn't have a mark on her from what I saw in the preliminary photographs. If I didn't know better, I would say that she died simply of old age."
"None of the newer residents are among the missing," Benton said. "All but one of the missing are from the more extreme ends of the range of time the residents were pulled from. The exception is the son of our first victim – he went missing two days ago, which is why they called us in. There does not seem to be any evidence of a new temporal disturbance. For their safety, we have evacuated as many of the townsfolk as could be moved, but there are a handful of elderly folk and non-humans who cannot be relocated."
"Well," the Doctor said, "it seems like you folks have everything well in hand. I'm curious as to why you would transport Ms. Wilk all the way out here when most of the relevant research she needs to do would be better completed in the lab at UNIT headquarters."
Zły shook her head and gave the Doctor a rueful smile. "I'm not really here in my capacity as UNIT's scientific advisor, Doctor. I'm here as bait."
"Bait?" The Doctor was incredulous. "Whatever for?"
"As far as we can tell," Benton explained, "Whatever or whoever is taking people is targeting those who have traveled the farthest in time. Ms. Wilk has some rather… unique qualities that make her particularly tempting to whatever is behind the disappearances."
"Don't be so hasty to assume that our culprit isn't human, Lieutenant," Zły admonished. "I've often found that the worst atrocities are those which humans perpetrate upon themselves."
The Doctor studied Zły thoughtfully. She looked very young, and some of her mannerisms reinforced that impression, but her words were of someone much older and much more experienced than her looks would give credit to, not to mention that she was working for UNIT in the position he had once occupied. True, at some future point in his timeline she had been his companion, but he could not imagine that life aboard the TARDIS could account for the sadness in her eyes, or the depth of knowledge she was exhibiting. Not entirely, at any rate. He reached out a mental feeler, attempting to glean some sort of surface thought, and nearly reeled back physically at the rebuke he received. Her mental shields were the strongest he had ever encountered; the equivalent of a dalekanium tower with deadlock seals. Zły's gaze shifted sharply to meet his, and she raised an eyebrow as if to challenge the telepathic faux pas, but did not mention his intrusion out loud.
"Lieutenant Benton," Zły said, her eyes staying on the Doctor, "I need to gain access to Mrs. Delaney's body as soon as possible so I can see if I missed anything when I studied the photographs."
"I can have the body prepared for you to view in an hour, Ms. Wilk," Benton replied stiffly, standing straighter in response to the implied order.
"Good. In the meantime, if you can spare a couple of lads for a security detail to escort Ace and the Doctor? It's been a while since the last disappearance, and they are going to be just as much at risk as I am," Zły explained, her eyes finally shifting back to Benton. "As strangers in town, we're already going to attract attention. A Time Lord and his companion will be noticed for sure."
"I'm afraid we don't have many extra men. If all three of you stay together, I can add one man to the detail that was already planned for you, Ms. Wilk," Benton replied gruffly.
"Fine," huffed Zły, turning and pointing a finger at the Doctor, "but I expect you to follow your own first rule for once!"
Ace looked confused and said, "What, that the Doctor's in charge?"
Zły looked at Ace and her eyes crinkled up in amusement. "Seems he's changed his rules between when he was with you and when he brought me on board."
Zły got very close to the Doctor, ensuring that he was looking her in the eye, and emphasized each word with a poke to the center of his chest. "Don't wander off!"