It was late at night a few days after the meeting with the inspector from Scotland Yard when Vastra finally found herself in the East end of London heading for the address from the case file that she had acquired that day. She had ensured that her driver, Parker, waited for her at a safe distance from the location so as not to draw attention to herself and, incidentally, was forced to keep to the shadows as she crept along the dilapidated streets. Vastra had never liked the East end of London; it was the part of the city that housed the poorest of the poor and, although the Silurian tried not to discriminate, she had found in her line of work that those were the sorts of people who caused her the most difficulty during cases. She always had to remind herself that her Jenny had once called that part of London home and it was only that small fact that made Vastra consider that perhaps the place was not all that it appeared to be - after all, Jenny was living proof that not all hope was lost on its inhabitants.
Realistically Vastra had wanted to head for the location as soon as she could after receiving the case to ensure that any unsavoury goings on were halted before they became too much of an issue but Jenny had had other ideas. As Vastra had prepared herself to leave to investigate the day after the meeting the maid had been hanging around her and begging with her not to rush into anything. The Silurian didn't understand why Jenny would make such a fuss. It wasn't as if she had never immediately involved herself in a case before and, from what she had read of the notes, there didn't seem to be too much of a threat evident at all. Despite the facts, however, the maid was insistent that Vastra should wait. "I just 'ave a bad feelin' about it" she had said. Vastra didn't know what to make of that. She had learned in the time that she and Jenny had been together that more often than not the girl's instincts were correct, but how could she have a bad feeling about something that they both knew very little about? Even so, the Silurian had waited for a few days and gone over the case notes in detail to put Jenny's mind at ease. The last thing she needed was for the girl to worry too much, it could place a strain on the baby and that was the last thing that she wanted.
As Vastra turned another corner she stopped in her tracks, her senses heightened as she stood frozen to the spot. She knew immediately that she had almost reached her destination. The night was still and at first seemingly silent but as she listened she could just make out the faint sounds of machinery working away not far from where she stood. Metal clanked and creaked and every now and then a screeching noise filled the air around her. Whatever it was that was making the noises Vastra was almost certain that it was not supposed to sound as it did.
Pulling herself from her musings the Silurian quickened her pace, hastening down the street until she finally stopped outside the house from which the metallic noises were ensuing. From the outside it appeared to be no different from any other dwelling on the street. Some of the windows were boarded up and the front door looked as though it had been worn down by the unforgiving English weather for decades. The brickwork was grimy from the pollution in the air (a result of the reform in industry that had begun towards the end of the last century) and bar the racket coming from within the house almost seemed to be deserted. The noises, however, had grown louder as Vastra grew closer to the source and, stood directly outside, the unhealthy clanging and screeching sent a shiver down her spine.
"Oi! Who the 'ell are you? An' what you doin' over there?" Vastra span to find the source of the brash voice that had called to her and her eyes fell on a plump and rather ragged looking woman leaning out from a window on the opposite side of the road. She wondered why anyone would be awake at this time, let alone looking out into the street, but from the looks of the woman's bulging chest and the red lipstick painted on her thin mouth Vastra was almost certain that the woman was the sort who spent her nights awake and on the job while her days were frittered away in the land of dreams.
The Silurian hissed to herself in displeasure. Granted, she had not been hidden from view but until that point she had hoped that whoever resided in the seemingly abandoned residence would not have cottoned onto her presence. This woman, however, had most likely just alerted the residents to the fact that there was someone keeping a close eye on them with her ridiculous need to know about the goings on in the street. Seeing as her cover was blown Vastra thought it best that she remove herself from sight as quickly as possible and so she readjusted her veil and rushed over to the other side of the street. She pointed to the front door of the woman's home and, as the woman realised what the veiled figure was suggesting, she disappeared from her window, presumably to allow the Silurian access to her home. Vastra could only hope that the woman would be of some use. She may have ruined the original plan of a discrete approach to investigating but with the house in such close proximity to the source of unrest in the street perhaps Vastra could get some sort of information from the woman that would assist in her investigations.
There was a bump behind the door the sound of something heavy hitting the floor, then the rickety wooden door swung open to reveal a cluttered and filthy entrance hall. Trying to ignore the disgusted feeling building in the pit of her stomach Vastra lifted her skirts so as not to soil them on the dirty ground and slid in through the door which the woman closed abruptly behind her. If it was a whore house that she had just entered Vastra was certain that it was not one of the higher class ones. From the appearance of the woman who had called to her and then the sight of the hallway the Silurian could only assume that this was the sort of place that the cheapest of men would visit.
"Well? You aint answered my questions yet." The plump woman turned from the door which she had just shut and locked and she faced Vastra straight on. She was even more repugnant to regard up close. The tattered old corset that she wore was barely holding together over she swelling of her body and there was a vile odour coming from somewhere on her person that Vastra couldn't quite place. The woman's ratty, dark hair was piled on top of her head in what Vastra assumed was an attempt to mimic the fashionable hairstyles that the upper class ladies donned in their walks through parks or days spent browsing the stock of local shops, and while the woman had clearly made an attempt at doing her makeup in a fashionable sense it was still very clear how ugly and blemished her skin was. Vastra was glad for the veil shielding her face as she studied the woman before her. She was entirely aware that the expression on her face would have been considered offensive but she could scarce believe that it was possible for a woman who clearly worked in the trade of pleasuring men got any business at all looking as she did.
"I am a detective sent by Scotland Yard to investigate the inhabitants of house opposite your own." Vastra was aware of how simple her explanation sounded but she was determined not to share too many details with the woman before her. From the stories Jenny had told her about East end whores they could not be trusted with anything unless money was involved.
"Yeah, but who are you?" The woman didn't seem to be happy about the lack of description in Vastra's response. Her chubby arms were crossed tightly over her chest and beady black eyes were attempting to see through the veil that obscured the Silurian's face.
"My name is of no consequence. All you need to know is that I am here on official business. Now, if you would be so..."
"Why do you wear that thing? I aint never met a detective who 'id their face yet, so why do you?" Clearly the task of questioning the woman was not going to be as simple as Vastra had first hoped it would. Repellent as she was, she didn't miss much when it came to observations and she did not seem at all shy about asking the questions that she wanted to know the answers to. Usually people with those traits were the least likely to give a straight answer - just Vastra's luck.
"Again, that information is of no consequence. Now, please, if you could..."
"It's o' consequence to me." Vastra was beginning to lose her patience with the woman. She couldn't help but wonder how someone of the same class that Jenny had once been (and presumably with a similar upbringing) could possibly be so different to the girl that at that moment was curled up by the fire in the house on Paternoster Row, knitting little outfits for the hybrid child that was growing inside of her. This woman was far more demanding than Jenny and far more harsh in her demands. Vastra knew how to handle her of course, she had to be willing to share limited knowledge with her, but that did not mean that the Silurian felt the woman could be trusted with the knowledge she would share.
"If you must know, I have a skin condition."
"Show me." Vastra was shocked. She was not prepared to lift her veil, that would be too much, but she would remove a glove. Slowly she edged the silken material off over her fingers and pulled the glove free from her hand. She held her hand out to the woman who peered at it closely in the half light of the candle-lit hall. The woman gasped and took a step back. "Bloody 'ell, an' I thought my skin were bad."
"Now, if that has quite sated your curiosity, may I ask you some questions concerning the house across the road, Miss...?"
"Caroline. Jus' Caroline. An' you can ask but I aint promisin' no answers." The Silurian sighed. It was becoming apparent to her that there was only one way to make Caroline cooperate with her. She pulled a handful of coins from a pocket hidden amongst her skirts and held them out to the woman before her. Caroline's eyes lit up. She immediately snatched the coins from the Silurian's outstretched palm and smirked. "You go ahead an' ask your questions then ma'am, wha'ever you wanna know."
"Good. So, have you encountered the individual who inhabits the residence?" The Silurian slipped her glove back onto her hand as Caroline frowned and Vastra couldn't suppress the feeling that perhaps this woman would not be as helpful as she had hoped. "Have you met the person who lives there Caroline?"
"Oh. I aint met 'im, no, but I 'ave seen 'im. 'e's a shifty lookin' bloke an' all. Only comes out at night an' 'e always walks all 'unched over like 'e's deformed." The woman wrinkled her pig like nose and Vastra sensed that the idea of a deformed being disgusted her. It made her wonder what Caroline must have thought at the sight of her hand and the scales that made up her skin. Of course, she didn't really care what the other woman thought of her, but she still found herself wondering none the less. Still, pushing her curiosities to the back of her mind she refocused her thoughts on the house and the metallic noises from within.
"Is this man the only individual you have seen leaving or entering the property?"
"Yes."
"And the noises? Do you have any idea what might be causing them?" Caroline didn't respond. An ugly frown creased her forehead and she crossed her arms over her chest more tightly as though to protect herself.
"I don't know, but wha'ever it is it keeps scarin' away my customers. I aint got anyone back 'ere in days, as soon as they 'ear it they scarper." Vastra wasn't entirely convinced that it was only the noises that were scaring away the customers but in any case that was not what she was there to investigate.
"Last question, are the noises constant? Do they ever stop or pause?"
"They normally stop an' restart on an' off all o' the time. It's like someone's tryin' to fix somethin'. If that's what it is though, it don't sound like they're 'avin' much luck." Vastra nodded. She had already come to a similar conclusion herself but it was comforting to know that someone else had had the same idea.
"Well, thank you Caroline." The woman turned back to the door and, with a fair bit of effort, yanked it open to the heightened sound of whirring, clanking and screeching metal in the house across the street. Vastra headed to the door, still holding her skirts up to keep them from getting grubby, but she stopped before she had crossed the threshold. She turned back to face the other woman and added, "oh, and next time, perhaps you should be a little more careful when trying to get the attention of somebody in the vicinity of a suspicious property. I could have been anyone, but you allowed me access to your home as though you had known me for years. That is how women get themselves killed you know - I've seen it happen."
"I 'ate to break it to you miss, but not all o' us 'as a lot to live for. Sometimes you jus' take the risk."
~.~.~.~.~.~
Back out in the open air of the night Vastra crossed the road and once more took to the shadows in the hope that this time she would be able to avoid detection. She checked the pocket watch that she had become accustomed to keeping on her person at all times. It was getting late. The detour into Caroline's whore house had been more time consuming than the Silurian had imagined and she knew that she would not have time to take any action against whatever threat lay behind the doors of the other house that night. Still, it would not stop her from continuing her investigations. Vastra backed herself up to the wall of the house and pressed herself tightly against the brickwork so that she became one with the shadows. Even through the bricks she could feel vibrations coming from within. Something was definitely going on behind the closed doors and boarded windows.
All of the downstairs windows were entirely boarded up, much to Vastra's dismay, but she could see that one of the first floor windows was not. The glass of the window had been smashed in and she was willing to bet that it had been that window through which the mysterious male resident of the house had initially found his way inside the property. The question was, what was he doing in there? Vastra knew that there was only one way to find out. She had to get through that window.
Looking down at herself the Silurian growled. While the fashion of a Victorian lady was rather elegant it really had become problematic for Vastra in her line of work. Proper investigation seemed to be entirely impossible in such restricting outfits and, although she knew she had no choice but to conform to the particulars of the time period in which she lived, Vastra wished that it would be considered acceptable for her to wear something a little less flowing and shaped if only to allow her the ability to move freely. Unfortunately, it was not, and so as she removed her gloves to allow herself a better grip the Silurian turned to face the front wall of the house and slowly she began to scale the wall up to the smashed window. It had been a long time since she had been presented with the opportunity to do something which was once so natural to her and at first the lack of practice along with her restricting attire made it very difficult for Vastra to keep her grip. Once or twice her hands almost slipped but eventually she made it safely to the window on the first floor and slid through the shattered opening with as much ease as she could manage considering her restrictions.
Standing from the spot where she had landed Vastra allowed her eyes to wonder around the darkened room. She was surprised to find that there was not a single thing in sight. Honestly she wasn't sure what she had been expecting. From the sounds she heard out in the street the Silurian had assumed that every room in the house would have been home to at least one mechanical contraption but as far as she could see there was absolutely nothing of the sort anywhere in her line of vision; in fact, there was nothing at all to be seen bar a small wooden crate in the far corner that sat alone and abandoned. Whatever it was that was causing the unrest it was somewhere else in the house and, if Vastra's senses were right, it was coming from somewhere below her.
She was hesitant in her approach of the door but once she had ascertained that the inhabitant of the house was nowhere in sight Vastra slipped out onto the landing area and ducked down next to the banister, peering through the bars to get a good look at the lower levels of the house. The sight that met her, while shocking, was far closer to the image she had expected to see on first entering the house. In the centre of the downstairs room was a great greyish-brown contraption that took up almost the entire room. It appeared to be advanced technology and yet it looked incredibly old, as though it had been hidden away for centuries without the proper maintenance or care to keep it in working order. Patches of rust were spread over almost every surface of the machine and Vastra could finally see why it kept making such unhealthy sounds - the thing didn't appear to be in any sort of condition to be working at all. The small area of floor that surrounded the machine was a mess. There was dust and shards of metal almost everywhere and Vastra wondered how one man could make such a mess. It wasn't until her eyes caught sight of something odd just by the foot of the machine however that it finally made sense to the Silurian what was going on in that house. The light of the candles around the room reflected off of the object and it was the glare that initially drew Vastra's attention to it. For a moment she could not make it out but after staring at the object for a few minutes she immediately shuffled away from the banister at the edge of the stairs.
"It can't be..." she muttered to herself in shock. She had to get out of there and she knew it. A sword would be no good against them. No. Vastra needed the Doctor's help, he was the only one who could counter these particular creatures without a seriously advanced weapon. "Cybermen."