The Alchemist's lab was dark, though it was obviously cavernous. The only light came from candles standing on every surface possible. Beakers and jars of oddly colored liquids stood on a series of shelves, carefully placed beside notebooks upon notebooks.
Drake gritted his teeth, straining against the stone he and the others had been incased in up to their necks.
"You have comrades still within my city," said their captor, drawing a circle on the floor with a piece of chalk. "I imagine that by now they've discovered you are missing. Tell me, do you think they will spare any time to look for you or will they take all the gold for themselves?" Drake rolled his eyes.
"How many times do we have to tell you," said the S.O.L.D.I.E.R., more annoyed by the man's persistence in his delusion than even the bindings he had trapped them in. "We are not here for gold." The alchemist glared at Drake, making only a miniscule movement. The stone rose up, covering his mouth.
"You can lie all you want. Really, your friends can even come looking for you, I don't mind. I'm always looking for new power sources."
Eve stood at the center of the town square. The Professor and his group, Rosie, Athena and Sam, stood several feet away.
"I'm not really sure how this works," she said, looking at the array made of bricks. "It doesn't act like a normal transmutation; it's more like a transfer of energy."
The Professor stepped toward the outer portion of the array, just inside the pillars. He bent down, examining the stone that made up the circular portion of the array. He reached into his pocket, pulling out his sonic screwdriver, running it over the stone as it whirred. He stared at the readings for a moment before cracking a grin.
"Oh, Fantastic," he said.
"What," said Eve, striding toward the Time Lord. "What could possibly be good about this?" The Professor turned to her, still grinning madly.
"Do you know what this stone is," said the Professor. The alchemist stared.
"No," she said. "Granite or something. What does it matter?"
"Wrong," said the Professor. "First off, it isn't even rock. It's metal. A very special metal."
"Care to be a little less ambiguous, Doc," sighed Athena. "Not all of us can speak rock." The Professor shot her an annoyed glance, but continued.
"This is Naquadah," said the Professor. "Ring any bells with anyone?"
"I've heard of that," said Sam. "The government has been experimenting with it for a while. It's some sort of super power source, isn't it?" The Professor nodded.
"Among other things, yes, Naquadah can be used as a power source. But the way it is here, it's more likely a piece of hardware of some sort. Probably a transport or-" He stopped dead, looking around the array. "OF COURSE," he shouted his grin widening.
"Why didn't I see it before," he said, more to himself than to the rest of them.
"Maybe because you're dense," said Athena, gaining a chuckle from Sam. The time Lord rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, maybe," he said. "Either way, I know what this is and how it works."
Stern struggled vainly against his stone bindings. Their captor was examining his armor closely, a wide, crooked grin across his face.
There was a loud whoosh as, without warning, the rings that had risen from the ground in the town square rushed down. There was a bright light and, with another whoosh, the rings rose again, revealing the Professor, Rosie, Sam, Athena and someone new.
The Professor smirked, looking to the new girl, who was half crouched, her hands on the ground.
"I thought so," said the Time Lord, looking around the room. His eyes lit up. "Oh, this place is beautiful."
"And who might you be," growled the alchemist, clenching his fists as he strode forward toward the Professor.
"Customarily, one would give their name first," said the Professor. "But, I suppose I haven't met very many well-mannered people lately."
"Father," said Eve, cutting the Time Lord off. "Father, I implore you, let these people go. They mean no harm."
"Eve," said the alchemist with an evil smirk. "How kind of you to return home after all these weeks. Your father was worried." At this, the alchemist threw out his right hand in their direction and flung at Eve what looked to be a cannonball. The girl was just as fast though; a silver dagger, shaped roughly like a snake's fang appeared in her hand, deflecting the projectile into the ceiling, where it impacted as two separate pieces.
There was a loud crack as the Alchemist was impacted by a jet of silver light, throwing him several feet back. Eve looked to her side, where Athena stood with her wand drawn and pointed at the alchemist. The man stood, smirking at the witch.
"Such interesting abilities you have," mused the alchemist. "But I can't have something so troublesome in my laboratory. You might break something." The man raised his hand in front of him, his fingers pointing upwards.
Red light exploded around Athena, and she fell to the ground, motionless. The Professor swooped down, a silver device scanning the fallen witch.
"She's okay," said the Time Lord, looking to his companions. "He just paralyzed the neural relays to her voluntary muscles." He looked to the girl. "Athena, listen to me. You're going to be fine. Absolutely fine, but I need you to not panic."
The Professor stood, his eyes blazing at the alchemist. "Undo what you just did to her," said the Time Lord.
"No," said the man, smirking at the Professor.
"I wasn't asking," growled the Professor, his gaze burning into the man. The alchemist smirked, red light streaking around the Professor, but leaving him unharmed.
"No," said Eve, her hands on the ground. Her father's smirk died, replaced by a furious scowl.
"Don't interfere you impudent brat," growled the alchemist. Red light flashed, and a pillar of stone flew at the girl.
There was a green flash and the stone split apart, falling to the ground and revealing the Professor, rage blazing in his eyes. In his left hand he held the sonic screwdriver, but in his right was clenched none other than Pi-edi's lightsaber.
The alchemist's gaze didn't falter in the sight of the Professor; in fact, it seemed to become more heated, rage growing in tandem with the Time Lord's own.
"You are quite the troublesome little human," growled the alchemist. "Tell me, where did you get that device?"
The Professor smirked. "For all the good it would do someone like you to know the origins of my technology, I may as well try teaching mathematical codes to an ant." The Time Lord was mocking him, and not even trying to hide his contempt. His friends stared between him and the alchemist, Eve alone knowing the consequences that would come if the Professor continued to infuriate her father.
The alchemist growled, stepping forward for the first time since Eve had led them into the laboratory. The Professor smiled his lightsaber at the ready as a stream of rock shot at him with the force of a cannon. The laser sword ripped through the rock as though it was little more than water, the Professor reaching the Alchemist in a blur of green light. The lightsaber slashed through Eve's father with less resistance than the stone he had transmuted.
Electricity crackled, the alchemist smirking as he punched the Time Lord, knocking him across the chamber. Eve was at her father's side, her arm covered in black armor, claws raking the alchemist's face.
The man glared at Eve, fury exploding at the girl. "How dare you," he yelled, the back of his hand striking her across the face. Red lightning crackled between them, part of Eve's face peeled away but healing with red electricity.
"How dare you, a homunculus I created strike me?" The alchemist made another movement toward the girl, but was met instead by Drake's sword which severed his hand cleanly. Rosie, while the alchemist was distracted, had freed the others from their bounds. Billie was currently seeing to Athena, muttering incantations over her while Rosie and Stern helped the Professor to his feet.
The alchemist growled, his hand reforming. "Out of the way," he said, flinging Drake away with no effort.
Eve was thrown to the ground by a blast of burning energy as powerful as it was corrosive. Eve could feel her skin being burned away slightly.
"I gave you life," said the alchemist. "It is time you gave it back." A circle appeared on the ground around the girl, panic clear on her slightly burned face.
"No," she said. The alchemist's maniac grin widened.
"Give me the philosopher's stone," he said, reaching toward Eve.
"Avada Kedavara!" The words rang out like a clap of thunder, the bolt of green light seeming to engulf the alchemist. Athena crouched on the stone floor, sweat pouring from the effort required of the curse.
The alchemist convulsed, red light sparking out from his body as he fell, collapsing into black ash leaving behind only a glittering red stone the size of a softball.