Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Cold Invasion
As simple as it was getting into Captain Latimer's home, it was not as simple keeping one of the residents – his maid – calm enough to explain the situation. As soon as she got one look at both Vastra and Strax, she fainted. They immediately found the Doctor at the scene with Latimer's two children and Clara, who looked strikingly different from the last time Emma and Snow had seen her, appearing more proper and conservative there and then. Captain Latimer seemed perturbed more from the fact that the Doctor had introduced himself as Clara's "gentleman friend" than the group of living snowmen outside his house.
"What're you two doing here?" The Doctor asked upon noticing Emma and Snow.
"You disappeared without telling us where you went." Snow responded. "Of course we would go out and look for you."
"Yes, but in times like these, it would've been best just to stay where you were." The Doctor retorted.
"Well, how were we supposed to know there'd be live snowmen attacking you?" Snow defensively asked.
After listening to the two bicker like an old married couple, Emma quickly spoke up: "Alright! Both of you chill out!" Her statement garnered some awkward stares from everyone. "Sorry. Poor choice of words."
"Sir, one grenade is all that is needed to blow these 'snowmen' to smithereens." Strax suggested.
The Sontaran's suggestion only frustrated the Doctor. "No, Strax, no! They're snow! They're already smithereens!" He then looked to Clara and said, "See, Clara? My friends again."
"Who's Clara?" Latimer inquired, seeming both confused and aggravated over all that was happening in his home.
"Your current governess is in reality a barmaid called Clara." The Doctor's abrasive response to Latimer's inquiry only made the issue between the captain and Clara more complicated.
"THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT!"
The old, creaky voice had spoken loudly from the top of the stairs. Everyone turned to see what looked like a living ice sculpture to a horrified Emma and Snow emerge from upstairs and stiffly make her way towards them. "What the hell is that?" Emma questioned, having already been spooked by living snowmen, a lizard woman, and a potato-headed man for the two days she had been there.
"Captain Latimer's former governess, now in the form of an ice sculpture." The Doctor explained to Emma and presumably Latimer himself, who stared upon the "Ice Governess" with the same look of horror as Snow and Emma. "Jenny, what have you got?"
Jenny showed an alien device that she pulled out; it looked like a high-tech grenade to Emma, who thought that someone had finally taken Strax's suggestion of using grenades seriously. However, when she threw the grenade at the staircase that the Ice Governess descended on, the weapon was revealed to have been some type of force field generator that blocked the creature's path to them.
"Nice." Snow uttered in approval.
"Sir, this room!" Strax alerted the group, standing in the doorway of a room that he stated the strategic advantages of afterward. His words sounded so complex that Emma wondered why he could not have just said, "It's well fortified."
Everyone rushed into the room except for Snow and the Doctor, who ascended the staircase halfway and aimed his sonic screwdriver at the Ice Governess as she continued pounding at the force field blocking her. Snow approached the Doctor with a smile and voiced her satisfaction of his engagement in the situation: "Nice seeing you back in the swing of things, Doc."
"I'm not in the 'swing of things,' Snow – who ever says that anymore?" He remarked. "I'm under attack."
"Admit it – you love every moment of this."
He aimed his sonic screwdriver her way with an intense glare that slowly morphed into a satisfied smile. "Shut up." Snow refrained from laughing in the midst of their perilous situation while she and the Doctor rushed into the room that turned out to be Latimer's study where everyone else had been hiding – or, in Latimer's case, drinking. "Strax, how long have we got?"
"They're not going to attack. They make no attempt at concealing their arrival. An attack force would never abandon surprise so easily. And they're clearly in a defense formation." The Doctor then rewarded the Sontaran commander on his brilliant observation with a noogie and kiss on his potato-shaped head, much to Strax's displeasure. "Sir, please do not noogie me during combat prep!"
"So what do they want?" Emma wondered aloud.
Clara stepped in and answered: "The ice woman."
"Exactly." The Doctor confirmed.
"Why's she so important?" Jenny queried.
"Because she's a perfect replication of human DNA and ice crystal form – the perfect fusion of snow and humanity." The Doctor elucidated. "To live here, the snow needs to evolve."
Emma began to follow on what he explained. "So…she's like a blueprint for a race of snow and human hybrids?"
"Yes, and that's what they need." The Doctor said.
The idea sickened Snow. "Ugh! That sounds like the most gruesome type of invasion."
"Oh, there are far more gruesome types of invasions – this is merely a cakewalk." The Doctor then focused on Clara and asked, "When the snow melted last night, did the pond?"
"No." Clara answered.
Emma's eyes grew wide. "Living ice that won't melt? Now that's bad."
Horror masked the face of the Doctor while coming upon a terrifying revelation. "Yes, Emma. It's very bad. If the snow gets a hold of that creature on the stairs, it will learn to make more of them. It will build an army of ice…and it will be the last day of humanity on this planet."
That last statement from him made Emma and Snow look to each other, seeing the equally dismayed faces that most of everyone in the room had. It was then that a ring came at the door, prompting the Doctor to leave them. From the look on his face as he exited and the intense way he instructed them to stay in the room, Emma guessed that the person at the door had to be the ringleader of the attack – Doctor Simeon. Regardless of his orders, Clara followed him out, leaving Emma and Snow in a room with two aliens and three humans from another time, not exactly a welcoming atmosphere to them.
"Do you have any idea what we're going to do next?" Emma asked her mother.
"No," Snow answered with a smile. "But the Doctor will. Just wait and see."
"This is a global situation, not some small town catastrophe." Emma indicated. "Breaking the curse is nothing compared to this. How can we hope for him to stop living ice creatures from taking over humanity?"
Snow continued to remain much calmer than she had expected Emma to be. "I've seen that man do great things when he was trapped in my world before the curse. The things we faced in our time there are nothing compared to what he has faced. I don't doubt he will save this world tonight, Emma, because saving worlds is what he does."
Listening to her mother, someone she trusted more than anyone in that house and knew the Doctor much longer than she had known him as just "John Smith," Emma acknowledged her hope in him. Unfortunately, not everyone could be convinced so easily that the Doctor would save them. Latimer in particular rushed to the door, also disobeying the Doctor's orders of staying in the room.
"Hey, where are you goin'?" Emma said, standing in Latimer's way.
"Madam, please move out of my way." Latimer sternly requested.
"The Doc told us to stay put." Emma said. "If I were you, buddy, I'd do as he says to save your own ass."
Needless to say, her words angered the captain. "How dare you address me in such a manner, young lady? Do you know who I am?"
"Right now, you're the guy who's got five seconds to get away from this door before I force you to get back from it." Emma severely warned the captain. "Be smart, pal. Try to live by example for your kids."
The reference to his son and daughter incited Latimer to look their way and see them stand beside his recovering maid, both looking frightened. Taking one last look at Emma, Latimer backed away from both her and the door.
While her daughter sighed in relief, Snow approached and uttered, "Nice job."
Emma smirked. "The advantages to bein' a bondswoman and a sheriff, I guess."