Chapter 7-

Raid of the Shadows

"Goddamn you Bernard!"

The said man just grinned drunkenly as he scraped the stacks of coins towards him, not even caring what the currency was.

"I'll give ya tha' though, if there's somethin' you're good at, it's poker," guffawed a man in the corner, chewing on a cigar.

"You're no' one ta say, John! You ain't good at nuffin', not even drinking!" a third man chimed in, raising a mugful of ale in the air, consequently showering the party with alcohol. John twisted his face into a grimace.

"Don' even mention tha' Greg."

"Yeah, or wha'?"

In a flurry of drunken confusion, John flew at Greg, knocking them both on the floor. Greg cried out as John pummelled his face, until a sharp call from Bernard the Poker Master ceased all movement.

"'Ear tha'? Them footsteps?"

The other two listened, suddenly sobered, and nodded. Bernard slowly finished polishing the end of his spear, ears still pricked up.

"So? Whass' wrong wi' tha'?" the two men on the floor asked.

"We're the only ones meant to be on duty."

Strax gave a two-fingered signal from the alley corner, signalling to the other three that it was an 'all clear'. Three figures darted forward, going from the tallest to the shortest. They drew straight into another shadow like two magnets, and seemingly disappeared into the darkness.

Halfway down an alleyway, Tim doubled over and stumbled. Both the women turned as Tim continued to stagger towards them. Jenny knew what was happening before he even said anything, and quickly slapped a hand over Madame Vastra's eyes.

"It's-it's startin'," he spluttered, dropping onto all fours.

His fingers started first. They elongated and grew knobblier, and started growing claws, slightly hooked and very sharp. His feet grew too, and his ankle seemed to grow outwards, pointing back. Stubbier claws grew from his toes, but they were lethal nonetheless. Dark patches of fur started sprouting from every inch of skin he had, which was accompanied with a deep ripping sound of fabric. Tim's face elongated, and he squeezed his eyes shut in pain. His teeth grew longer and ended at sharp points, as did his ears which had moved back and up. When he opened his eyes again, they glowed a deep, burning red.

After waiting a short while to be certain that the transformation was complete, Jenny slowly removed her hand from her mistress' face. Knowing Madame Vastra, the Silurian would have watched the transformation due to the curiosity of a detective (or out of sheer horror from tradition). The green lady reacted to this as well; at first, she tensed up and prepared to lash out, but then she realised what her maid was doing and relaxed.

"Well, we're ready as ever now," Jenny said, to which the towering mass of fur nodded to in agreement.

The strange party stopped just before the alleyway opened up to a deserted square.

"Madame, boy, Tim," (Strax must have taken quite a liking to Tim for him to remember his name) "Battle positions!"

Strax remained where he was, checking his settings on his gun, whilst Jenny and Vastra darted left and right, respectively, after exchanging a sorrowful and slightly longing glance. Tim made use of his claws and scaled the wall next to him, moving just as quickly vertically as he could horizontally.

All four of them patiently crouched in the shadows, eyes fixed on the fortress-like building, listening intently for any disturbances. Tim and Vastra sniffed or tasted the air, searching for the one scent that would signal for their raid to begin.

"'Ere, Greg, pass us them keys," grunted Bernard, hand outstretched, into which a grubby set of keys were dropped into.

"Wha' are ye gonna do?" asked John, dragging deeply on his cigar.

"I bet ya 'alf ma income that them footsteps was from that goddamn werewolf. Y'know, the one tha's bin pokin' abou' for 3 month or somethin'?" proclaimed Bernard, tapping his nose knowingly. "We're gonna kill off tha' pest once an' for all," he continued, dramatically sweeping up his spear.

"Wait! It's not just us, is it?" piped up John, panic slowly bubbling in his eyes.

"I can get the lads, all of 'em," suggested Greg, grinning rather evilly. Bernard nodded in agreement, and stood, spear in hand.

"Listen out carefully now boys. It's time we got a pay-rise."

There it was! The metallic scent of the keys! According to the interrogation earlier, a watchman always locked up for the night, and a few men stood guard inside. A few men that could be easily gotten rid of.

Tim raised his head and howled into the deep darkness above–the signal. The other 3 warriors in the shadows tilted their heads and listened to the long, low, and somewhat melancholy, sound.

They all knew what it meant, and slowly started closing in on the edifice. It was strange, how such a structure existed, isolated in a deserted square on the edges of the East End.

They surrounded the fort in a square formation, with Strax and Vastra circling towards Jenny and Tim, eventually forming an obtuse semi-circular shape outside the front, and only, entrance. Crouching in the shadows, all they could do now was wait.

Ever so slowly, a thin makeshift door (if one was being generous; it was basically a sheet of corrugated metal on hinges) creaked open, and 3 figures slipped out. They seemed jumpy and nervous, like fox exiting its den for the first time that particular evening. All 3 clutched a long sharpened pole and dispersed routinely onto a long platform midway up the building.

They'd barely settled themselves onto the flimsy wooden planking when a female, blood-chilling scream of absolute agony sounded, turning all ears towards the source. Vastra tasted the air for any clues on the cry, only for her tongue to pick up something else. Something dangerous. Something fast. Something heading directly towards her.

Vastra's eyes snapped up and her muscles only just jerked her out of the way of the spear. It landed with a hollow, wooden clatter which mixed with the snarl of its target as she thought how little apes had actually progressed. Granted, their aim and weapon quality had grown, but the same abject degenerates still remained behind the spear.

2 more clatters confirmed that the other spears had missed their targets, which happened to be a perfect signal to the opposition. A deep rumbling vibration of the ground was accompanied by a belligerent war-cry, echoing and splitting off all surfaces, surrounding the four beings. Indeed, a swarm of man and spear had erupted from the roof of the fortress, and was slowly sliding down the façade via rope ladders that had, mere moments ago, been hastily flung over the edge.

Jenny's eyes widened as the spiky, howling mass made its slow progress downwards. This wasn't expected, but such events as this gave her rarely-used improvisational skills free reign; with Vastra, everything was planned to the absolute millimetre. Then again, circumspection wasn't necessarily a good quality to possess in their line of work. An extempore dash towards her mistress' position is what her mind demanded, and what her body followed obediently. After all, waiting around at the front of the building was asking for trouble.

Descending from a stout structure nearby, Madame Vastra caught sight of a very Jenny-shaped silhouette. Indeed, it was, but the 'spear mass' was nearing and the Silurian feared that the men would get to her maid before she did.

Jumping the last 30 feet, Vastra landed with a slight crunch, but paid no heed as she spied a large figure approaching from behind Jenny. Well, that's what her vision told her, but her tongue reported that it was just the mammal pu–...child, Tim. That war cry of 'SONTAR-HA!' was unmistakable, and, for the first time so far, relieving to hear.

A bitter silence hung in the air. The wind, that earlier had inflicted a cut as sharp as the blades some ruffians wielded in these sordid alleyways, had wasted away until it was barely a languid whisper. Menacing and hollow, wooden spears tapped out their war chants against the damp stones placed upon the dead land.

Jenny tried to take it all in. It was the four of them against...how many? A mob of twenty strong lined the outskirts of the fortress, whilst at least another 50-crammed and quietly shoving each other about for a good gander at the invaders-had remained on the raised platform.

'Of course they would,' Vastra thought darkly. 'They wield spears, which are of little use on foot.'

With dignity and daring, Vastra drew both her katanas, stubbornly retaining her pride to never drop eye contact with any of the apes. Not that they could even tell, the pathetic vermin. Jenny followed suite, though looked decidedly more worried than her mentor. Even Strax had silenced, the enormity of this battle awakening his inherent war spirit. The four of them stood proud and ready; the entire Earth wouldn't dare convince them to flee.

A/N: I wasn't too happy with their 'battle plan' in this chapter, but I was never born a tactician. Besides, it would start to get boring if it was too complicated.