Author's Note: Two chapters today!
Chapter Six
"The toys are coming to life!?"
The Doctor hushed Mycroft who glowered before hissing, "What does that even mean?"
"Well…they're toys," the Doctor explained, "And they're coming to life."
"That's impossible," Sherlock started before gasping. The bear that he had been squeezing was now squeezing him back!
"Leave him alone!" Mycroft cried, ripping the bear away and holding it at arm's length.
"Easy," the Doctor gently said, "He's scared."
"Scared?" Mycroft scoffed before seeing that the Doctor was right. The bear was trembling and blinking up at Mycroft who felt slightly guilty, "Err…sorry?"
The bear gave him a rather annoyed look and Mycroft defensively said, "I thought that you were strangling him."
It continued to frown and Mycroft heatedly snapped, "Look, I said that I was sorry. I'm not about to have a row with a teddy bear!"
"Of course not," the Doctor agreed, "He's our ally."
Mycroft snorted but saw that the Doctor was perfectly serious. Sherlock took the bear back and hugged him. The three then spun around and watched as the other toys leapt from the shelves.
"Are they our allies?" Mycroft nervously asked.
The three watched as a row of tin soldiers raised their guns.
"Nope," the Doctor exclaimed, "Run!"
"They're toys!" Sherlock cried as they raced away, "How can they possibly hurt us?"
He then yelped in pain as a laser hit him, courtesy of an overhead helicopter.
The Doctor clicked the Sonic Screwdriver and the helicopter came crashing down.
Mycroft quickly grabbed Sherlock and pulled him out of the way. He was annoyed to see that his brother had other priorities. Sherlock was anxiously glancing at the stuffed bear. It was completely still.
"We'll fix it later," the Doctor promised, "Come on."
They continued to run. Action figures were racing along the shelves, balls were bouncing down the aisles, stuffed animals were swinging from the lights, and small cars were zooming around his feet. The three turned the corner and the two brothers gasped.
They were standing in a long aisle of baby dolls. The dolls giggled and gurgled as they tottered towards them.
"Bloody hell," Mycroft whispered.
The Doctor urgently prodded him and grabbed Sherlock's hand, silently telling them to keep running. They raced down the aisle, squeamishly watching as the dolls turned towards them. The Doctor lifted the Sonic Screwdriver but he fumbled and accidentally dropped it. He spun around, tripped over his own feet, and fell.
"I've got it," Sherlock gasped, racing back and picking it up. He looked up and saw that the dolls were coming dangerously close. As a last resort, he clicked the top button.
The Sonic Screwdriver opened and emitted the high-pitched noise. To his relief, the dolls collapsed. Surprisingly, the bear squirmed in his arms.
"That's it," Sherlock excitedly cried as Mycroft helped the Doctor to his feet, "That's how they're coming to life. It has something to do with the Screwdriver."
The Doctor motioned for them to duck into a cupboard. He closed the door and the three eagerly looked at the moving bear. Sherlock clicked the Sonic Screwdriver and the bear became limp. Another click and it leapt back up.
"Okay," the Doctor slowly said, "Good to know."
The door suddenly opened and the three screamed. A fourth screamed matched and they realized that they were staring at an employee.
The poor man defensively put up his hands and gasped, "Don't hurt me! I don't have any money! I'm just the stock boy!"
"Easy, easy," the Doctor gently said, "Nobody's going to hurt you."
"We're Toy Inspectors," Sherlock smoothly lied.
"You ought to clear out of here," Mycroft advised, "Something's wrong with the toys."
The Doctor poked his head out the door, observed the situation, and said, "If you follow that aisle over there, you should be able to get to the south-side of the store where you can escape out the Emergency door."
The employee merely gaped and Sherlock commanded, "To the south! Quick march!"
"That's an order!" Mycroft boldly added.
The trembling man had enough nerve to stutter, "Whose orders?"
"Captain Mycroft's orders," Mycroft snapped, "The south-side! March!"
The employee quickly raced away.
The Doctor laughed but said, "You do realize that you have no jurisdiction off of your ship."
"We need to follow him," Sherlock suddenly burst out.
"We don't run away from a battle," the Doctor gently said.
Sherlock frowned and haughtily replied, "Who said anything about running away? Did you see it, Mycroft?"
"See what?"
"The earmuffs."
"Earmuffs?"
Sherlock sighed and accusingly said, "You didn't observe him?"
"He was an employee," Mycroft spluttered, "I was a bit busy trying to make sure that the toys weren't about to get him."
"But he wasn't," Sherlock pointed out, "He didn't even seem that alarmed by the toys."
"As if he already knew that they were coming to life," Mycroft concluded, "But what does that have to do with the ear-muffs?"
Sherlock didn't answer. He was staring off into space but Mycroft knew that was deeply thinking. Thinking, observing, concluding. Meanwhile, the Doctor was leaning against the door, trying to keep the toys from barging in. Mycroft traded places, too distracted to join his brother in his deducing. The Doctor stared at Sherlock, patient and eager.
"Got it," Sherlock suddenly whispered. His eyes focused and he suddenly looked quite pleased with himself, "Got it!"
"Brilliant," Mycroft congratulated. He spun around to glance through the keyhole and noticed that the toys were escalating. They even had several model-tanks. Sherlock once again clicked the Sonic. His bear fell limp along with the first aisle of toys. It still wasn't strong enough.
"Come along," the Doctor exclaimed, pointing to an air-vent. They climbed inside.
"We should be able to cut him off," Sherlock gasped as they quickly crawled.
"How do we know where he's going?" Mycroft asked.
Sherlock raised the Sonic and clicked it. The sharp sound emitted. He continued to hold down the button as they crawled along. After several moments the Doctor eagerly said, "Aha; I hear it. Interference!"
"Right," Sherlock beamed, "Just as expected!"
"There's another device," Mycroft smartly concluded.
"That sends out a beam," Sherlock added, glancing at the stuffed bear that was crawling alongside him.
"Which causes the toys to come to life," the Doctor finished.
As they continued foreword, the shrillness of the interference caused Mycroft to cover his ears. He turned to the Doctor and grunted, "I don't suppose that you have any…"
"Earmuffs?" Sherlock interjected.
"You don't think…" Mycroft gasped.
"Of course I think," Sherlock snapped, "And apparently I'm thinking more than you because I've just figured out that the employee is the one behind it. Keep up, Mycroft."
"My apologies," Mycroft rolled his eyes, "So where did the employee go?"
"He's a stock boy," Sherlock vigorously said, "Where else but the stockroom?"
The three slid down into the dusty room. The Holmes' brothers quickly looked around, the latter finally pointing. A black box was mixed with the cartons. The employee was anxiously kneeling next to it, pushing buttons.
"It's not yours, actually," the Doctor cheerfully cried, "I'm afraid that my beam was the one that caused them to come to life."
The employee froze and turned as the Time Lord quietly said, "Hello. I'm the Doctor."
The Doctor calmly leaned against the box and whimsically said, "I must admit that it was all very clever. When Sherlock scanned the bear, I could immediately see that it was controlled by an implanted chip which was activated when the beam hit."
"But how could a chip make it come to life?" Mycroft asked.
"It's an alien chip," the Doctor explained, "Alien technology. The only thing that I can't figure out is why waste this wonderful technology on a toy shop?"
"Look at his shoes," Sherlock muttered, "They're old and tattered. I'm willing to bet that it's the only pair that he has because it's the only pair that he can afford."
"This is the biggest toy-store in the universe," Mycroft jumped in, "Thousands of purchases a day. That's a lot of money in the vaults."
"But he's not stupid," Sherlock eagerly cried, "Scared but not stupid. He doesn't want his fingerprints on anything suspicious."
"So he puts the chips into the toys," Mycroft explains, "And sends the toys to get the money; getting rid of anyone in its way!"
"But he didn't get to it tonight," Sherlock said, "Doctor, when you used the Sonic to keep the lights on, you triggered the first few chips. Every other time it was clicked caused more chips to activate and the previous chips to deactivate.
"We were in the vents," Mycroft suddenly said, "And holding down the Sonic. That means that the other chips could have been activated."
Sherlock exasperatedly closed his eyes.
"Not to worry," the Doctor calmly said, "His device is clever but mine is cleverer. And together the two can be very cleverer-er."
The two brothers gave him a skeptical glance and he pulled two pairs of earmuffs out of his pocket and handed them over. The brothers quickly put them on, realizing what he was going to do. Sherlock handed him the Sonic and he clicked it. Even with the headphones, the two could still hear the agonizing sound that was heightened by the Sonic. They opened the doors and the sound wafted through the entire store. The toys immediately collapsed, the windows immediately shattered, and the alarms sounded. In a matter of several minutes, security had quickly arrived. They tackled the employee to the ground and dragged him off.
The head guard immediately shook the Time Lord's hand and said, "Doctor! I knew that you would be the one to get to the bottom of this!"
"Does everyone know you?" Mycroft muttered as they removed the earmuffs.
"The Doctor's a frequent visitor," the guard laughed, "I was going to call him in a few days to see if he could help. But as usual he's already on it."
"Yeah," the Doctor sheepishly said, "Honestly, we just stopped by to pick up some toys."
The guard shocked and pleased them by saying that they could take anything on the house. Sherlock glanced down at the stuffed bear, which was completely still. He eagerly took the Sonic and clicked it but nothing happened.
The Doctor smiled and patiently said, "The blast overwhelmed all of the chips. It's just a stuffed bear, I'm afraid."
Sherlock kept it, nonetheless.
The three made their way through the store, practically collecting one of each toy.
"You said 'on the house'," the Doctor cried, upon seeing the guard's annoyed look.
Before he could object, the three hastily raced into the Tardis. The piles of toys practically consumed the console.
"Now," the Doctor quietly said, "You two saw how dangerous it can get. Are you sure that you still want to travel with me?"
"Of course!"
"Absolutely."
A grin spread across his face and he eagerly said, "Alright then! Let's stow these into your bedroom."
"Will they fit?" Mycroft asked.
The Doctor gave him a weird look and led them down the corridor. He opened a pair of double-doors to reveal a humongous and bright room. Two large beds sat along the wall, leaving the rest of the space open to possibilities.
"Whoa," Sherlock whispered, pointing.
"Wicked," Mycroft breathed. The ceiling was a giant glass dome which looked out to the millions of stars.
"How is that possible?" Mycroft slowly asked, "We are in a police box. The last time I checked there wasn't a huge dome…"
He broke off, slightly befuddled.
The Doctor laughed and gently said, "Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, you are now my companions. Anything is possible."