Alec's head span. Things changed shape, shone and faded away. Nothing quite seemed to work, his eyes, legs or brain. Where was he? Who had taken him? The ground was hard and cold, grating against the side of his face as he squirmed back to consciousness. Wherever he was, it was dark, but Strax was at the opposite end of the room, no unconscious, just sleeping, and snoring.
"Doctor, where is Alec?" Vastra asked the Doctor, following the Doctor through her house.
"I don't know, otherwise I'd be telling him to get here quicker."
"He should've been back ages ago, do you think something's happened?" Sasha asked.
"I, myself, would not want to be unaccompanied in London at this time at night, especially at his age," Vastra added.
"He did work for MI5," the Doctor reminded them.
"Yes, but he's my brother. I've only just got him back and I don't want him to ever be in trouble again," Sasha said.
"Then you shouldn't have let him on the TARDIS. Trouble is a necessary side effect to time travel; have you never seen American movies?" the Doctor joked.
"Doctor, please be a little more serious," Vastra insisted. "At the end of the day he's a missing boy. It should be in our interest to find him."
"But he could be anywhere!" Jenny said, "So where do we look?"
"He could be anywhere in London, but if I were to guess, Professor Sturridge must have made the link between a suspiciously alien creature that's virtually been handed to him on a plate, and a sudden challenge from a mysterious couple," the Doctor explained.
"Of course," Vastra sighed. "We should've taken more caution."
"Doctor, is my brother in the hands of a psychotic surgeon who cuts his victims alive?" Sasha panicked.
"And Strax?" Jenny asked. "Will they have Strax as well?"
"Maybe. We should go to the mansion . . ." Vastra began.
"No." The Doctor interrupted her. "I'll go back. This was my plan, and me who's put Alec in danger. I don't want any of you coming with me; if he got any of you I would never forgive myself."
"And if you get into trouble?" Sasha challenged him.
"Oh, Sasha, weren't you listening. Trouble comes hand-in-hand with time travel, and I've travelled for longer than anyone. Trouble is my best friend. Don't follow me," the Doctor warned, fixing his top hat as he left the house, smiling to his friends as he closed the door behind him.
"What do we do?" Sasha asked, turning to Vastra and Jenny, worry building inside her.
"The question, my dear, is what do you do?" Vastra corrected her. "The Doctor only travels with the best, so prove yourself. Prove yourself to us, and the Doctor, that you deserve to be his companion. His companions have absorbed the time vortex, given their lives, echoed themselves across time and walked the Earth to save him. What will you do? Maybe not today, but what will you do to save the Doctor?"
Sasha gulped, a sudden duty rising through her. She stood up straight, making her stand. Thoughts tumbled through her mind: what to do? How would she help the Doctor?
"OOD!" Sturridge screamed. He was panicking; not quite his usually self. Scrambling, he hurried about his mansion, rummaging through desks and grabbing files. "OOD! Get over here you filthy creature!"
"Yes, Sir? May I provide assistance?" Ood asked, appearing beside him.
"Take these," Sturridge barked, forcing the files at Ood. "And find some matches!"
"May I ask what the reasoning for these actions are?" Ood wondered, taking the files as Sturridge threw them at him.
"The Doctor knows! He knows what I've been doing and no-one else must know! If he tells the police, I'm done for! There can be no evidence, no scrap of paper work that can link me to the truth!"
"And what do you propose?"
"BOOM!" Sturridge screamed. "I'll take my research and run far from London as I leave the gas on here. When I'm safe, you will strike a match and all evidence will be destroyed!"
"This plan will result in the deaths of many of my kind . . ."
"So?"
"Social human protocols state the death of innocent beings is wrong."
"Forget that! It's wrong! I need to be safe so they must die!"
"Then what must I do, master?" Ood asked.
"Turn the gas on, everywhere!" Sturridge cried, stamping his way back into his lounge, where the red chair sat. His chair had moved a little, and over the top of it perched a tattered hat. "Ah, back already I see, Doctor."
The Doctor turned to look at Sturridge. "Well, it wasn't part of the original plan, so I thought I should take a visit. Hello, Ood!"
"Good evening, Sir," Ood said.
"Shut up!" Sturridge screamed. "Go, filth! Do your job!"
"But I advise you don't," the Doctor insisted. "He has made it clear, what you're doing?"
"Yes," Sturridge replied. "Perfectly clear, and yet Ood will do my bidding." Ood did as instructed and left.
"That is all Oods will every want to do," the Doctor said, raising from his seat, "but it doesn't mean you should abuse their vulnerabilities."
"And why not? What will they do about it?"
"That's not the point!"
"And what are you going to do about it?"
"You clearly haven't met me before," the Doctor smiled. "What you're doing here is wrong and disturbing, so I won't bother with my tricks and schemes. You're only human; you're easy to sort out. And talking about humans, where's Alec? And Strax, if you've got him?"
"I don't have a clue what you mean."
"Don't play with me, Sturridge. Who else would take him? And I know you would've taken Strax too, he is the alien after all."
"Fine, you got me!" laughed Sturridge, pouring himself a drink. "I've kept them safe, like bargaining chips."
"I'm great at bargaining. Let's start!"
"On your head be it. Ood, let them in!" Sturridge called. Ood reappeared with Strax and Alec in chains, a strong smell of gas suddenly entering the room. He kept them opposite to the Doctor, on the other side of the room, with their mouths covered, pulling them along as they struggled to keep on their feet. "Here they are!" Sturridge smiled. "And look, a living potato."
"Don't call my friend a potato; it'll only make me angrier," the Doctor frowned.
"But I have the upper hand, Doctor. I have your friends."
"But I've also got an upper hand on you."
"And it is?"
The Doctor faced Ood. Sturridge looked too at his servant with a puzzled expression. Every couple of moments, Ood's eyes flashed red, than back to their usually state. "Your Ood is changing its loyalty, Sturridge. I did warn you. Any moment, it'll join a link with the other tormented Oods, and will want nothing more than to kill you."
"No." Sturridge snapped. "Ood obeys me; it's the only thing he can do."
"You can see the change, Sturridge, but you're so self-involved you can't accept it! Look, Sturridge!" Ood's eyes flickered red, then back again.
"No, I don't believe you. He can't get red-eye, like the others; he's got a communication orb."
"If you don't believe me, I don't care, but whatever happens is your fault. Even when you're put behind bars."
"I don't understand you're meaning."
"I could just get the police and have this done with in one moment." Alec crumpled to his knees, unable to stand, turning pale and waxy. "Please, undo his chains! Let him speak at least!" the Doctor pleaded. As Sturridge accepted, the Doctor crawled beside Alec, undoing the rope that stopped his friend from speaking. "Alec, can you hear me? What is it?" The smell told the Doctor immediately.
"It's the gas," Alec wheezed. "Too much."
"Turn it off!" the Doctor shouted.
"Why would I?" Sturridge laughed. "You don't seem to understand, Doctor, that I have the advantage. If you leave to fetch the police, your friends will choke from the gas. Kill me, and Ood will kill you. Any minute now, I'll leave for Plymouth. When I'm far enough, Ood lights a match, and everything I've done goes up in flames. Tell anyone about this, and they won't believe you."
"Why? There'll be a burnt hole in the ground, surely that'll only prove what I say?"
"And with what evidence? Hours from now, this building will be on fire from a suspected gas leak. And was it my fault? Rich Professor Sturridge who studies biology and was in Liverpool for a conference on skeletal structure? Rich means power, and power means respect. No officer will suspect me."
The Doctor looked up. He could hear something coming. Roaring of an engine, turning wheels. Hurtling towards the mansion, growing louder and louder. Turning to Sturridge, the Doctor smiled. "Really, Sturridge? Not even a bad police officer?"
Bricks and debris tumbled through the air as the mansion wall was smashed open, scattering apparatus and furniture across the room. The Doctor shielded Strax and Alec as best as he could, blocking them from the flying bricks. The roaring engine stopped as a tractor slipped to a halt, halfway through the wall it had torn through. It was battered and mangled, but Sasha sat safely inside it, out of harm. She brushed the hair from her face and threw her hat to the ground. She rolled up the bottom of her dress and leaped to Alec, smothering him with hugs.
"Are you ok? Jesus, I thought I wouldn't find you again! Are you alright? Has he hurt you?" Sasha fussed, checking over Alec.
"I'm alright," Alec choked, still finding it hard to believe.
"Oh!" she coughed. "Who turned the gas on?"
"That was too dangerous!" the Doctor cried. "You could've killed us all! Something could've sparked and set this whole building on fire!"
"I'm saving you, Doctor!" Sasha replied.
"How exactly?" the Doctor argued. "You've put all our lives in danger, and for what, to seem cool? Lives aren't saved from doing reckless things, like driving a tractor into a mansion!"
"Well I'm sorry," Sasha gasped, "but I was helping you! See, there's a hole in the wall, all the gas will leave! Year seven physics about diffusion! Ok, I was reckless, but it helped!"
"Don't ever do that again!" the Doctor warned her.
"My mansion!" Sturridge cried. "You've ruined my mansion! And the plan! I could still send this building sky high. I won't have the time to run for it, so I'll do it myself!" Sturridge cried, snatching a box of matches from Ood's pocket.
"Stop! Don't!" the Doctor cried desperately. "Don't do it! You'll kill every one of us!"
"And so what?" Sturridge sobbed. "My plans are ruined; I don't have a choice."
"Yes, you do!" Sasha pleaded. "You have every choice possible."
"Why would I listen to you?"
"Because I make sense, and I'm a human, just like you," Sasha rationalised. "Death isn't the answer, ever. You butchered those poor creatures, taking away their lives for your own gain. What good is this? You don't benefit from it; you only add more to your death toll."
"So what?" Sturridge spat.
"You care about your reputation," Sasha answered. "You've hidden your experiments, refused to let anyone know who you are and aspire to be the best. A man like that doesn't want his darkest secrets to be known. What use is this? This building is losing gas, so it won't all be destroyed. What happens if just one Ood is discovered? The secret will be out; everyone will know that Professor Sturridge is a cruel, heartless man who experiments on the weak. Your name will be known not for the achieving biologist, but the man that butchered."
Sturridge gulped. "You're lying to me!"
"No, no I'm not. I'm just talking about what I can see, and all I see is a desperate man in need of help. Let me help you! We can send the Ood back where they came from, and no-one has to die!"
"And my name will still be tarnished," Sturridge frowned. "Everyone will live on but me. Other people may not, but I'll know what I did! What good is that? Everyone but me will benefit."
"And what did we do? Me, Alec and the Doctor, we're going to stop you from making the biggest mistake in your life. Those deaths, in your mind, were justified. But not these, not even to your blood-soaked standards."
"Don't presume to know me!"
"Oh, but you don't need to know someone to really know them. Humans are secretive, and protective, so nothing can ever be for sure. Even the people you think you know surprise you. All I know is that this is a mistake. Do you want the memory of this staying with you forever? Let us go, and it doesn't have to be. You're so focussed on what people will think about you, but what will you think of yourself?"
A tear rolled down Sturridge's cheek. He dropped the matches to the floor, suddenly limp and lifeless. He'd listened, and he'd changed. Sturridge gave in, falling back into his red chair. "I can't," he stuttered. "I can't do it any more. I want to. The blood, and the violence, and the pain I inflict - I enjoy it. But I can't . . . I can't do it any more. What's happened to me? Why can't I?"
"Because you're human," Sasha replied.
"I'm no human," Sturridge span. "I don't deserve to be human. You can arrest me now. I've done my worst."
Sasha nodded at him, humbly.
"Thank you," the Doctor smiled, and with one instant look, Sasha knew he was infinitely sorry for what he had said.
"Anytime," Sasha shrugged. "I'm not a reckless person, Doctor, and I never am. I just do what I have need to make sure the people I care about stay safe."
The Doctor grinned, hugging Sasha. "I'm surprised you weren't a police negotiator."
"Trust me, this is a one-off. Don't expect another emotional speech; I'm done for this week," Sasha smiled. She untied Strax and Alec, hugging them both.
"Congratulations, boy!" Strax applauded her. "You would show great potential as a recruit to the Sontaran Empire!"
"Who would've thought, my sister, the hero?" Alec joked.
"Who would've thought, my brother, the MI5 agent that turns out to be the most useless boy in the world!" Sasha laughed, smacking Alec on the shoulder. "Seriously, first trip out and you're in danger. I'm expecting better for next time."
Sturridge drowned himself in tears, sobbing and twitching in his chair, watching over Sasha, Strax, Alec and the Doctor as the laughed, yet he couldn't be worse. His life, as he saw it, was over.
"Sir," said Ood.
"Yes, what?" Sturridge cried, turning to look at his servant. Immediately, Sturridge's jaw dropped. Ood's eyes were red, as if they were the smouldering pits of hell, burning the soul out of Ood. The monster raised its arm, holding in its hand, a glowing communication orb. As Ood placed it to his master's forehead, Sturridge wailed, screaming as his mind was burned with the energy from the orb. He sprawled himself across his chair where, eventually, the soul died from his withering, tear-stained eyes.
"No!" Sasha screamed, reaching a hand out to the dead Professor Sturridge.
"Step back" the Doctor screaming, pulling his companions away from the red-eyed Ood. "It will kill you!"
"Leave it to me, Sir," Strax insisted. "I am trained in the necessary combat."
"No! One spark and we could die!" the Doctor reminded him, still smelling gas.
Ood stopped, no longer advancing towards the Doctor and his friends. Hell left its eyes, fading away as if it had never been there, leaving the emotionless eyes that had been their previously. Ood tumbled to the floor, its orb rolling out along the floor, stopping at Sturridge's feet.
"No. Please, no," the Doctor gasped, rushing over to Ood.
"Be careful, Doctor!" Sasha called.
"I don't think he needs to be," Alec gasped.
"How come?" Sasha asked.
"Because he's dead," the Doctor stuttered. "No. NO!"
"Doctor, calm down," Sasha said, trying her best to sooth him.
"NO!" the Doctor screamed. "No more death! I told myself, no-one else must die today! But they both died! And he had changed! And Ood. He'd never lived a proper life, kept by a master that insulted and disrespected him. Ood shouldn't have died! He was the good one. It's always the good ones, always the good ones that die at the end."
All Sasha could do was watch; watch as the Doctor paced the room, traumatized by the death. Had she done it? Had she proved herself? Well, the Doctor was alive; that was one of the few successes.
"We've removed the bodies, with respect, of course," Vastra told the Doctor. "And you'll be pleased to know that I've dealt with Godwinson; he won't be getting involved in much plotting any time soon."
"Yeah," Jenny agreed, "I'd imagine it's hard to do anything when you're next up on Vastra's wine menu."
"I trust you'll be able to sort out the surviving Ood yourself. I know you were disappointed by how this ended, but remember that you did your best, and any lives saved are a victory," Vastra added.
"It was lovely seeing you again!" Jenny smiled, waving goodbye as Alec and Sasha jumped into the TARDIS, back on the damp street where their journey had first begun. "Come back again!"
"And Doctor, if you ever need a laser cannon blaster, I'll be here for you," Strax smiled.
"I'm surprised Vastra doesn't take them off you," the Doctor joked.
"No, I confiscate them!" Vastra corrected him as they roared with laughed. "But really," Vastra said to the Doctor, "enjoy yourself. And keep your friends out of too much trouble."
"But it's time travel; trouble's bound to happen," Sasha joked, stepping into the TARDIS with Alec.
"Well," the Doctor sighed, "I'll be back. I always will be. Call whenever you need me, and I'll come. Look after yourselves. And, until the next time," the Doctor waved, saying his farewells.
"But Doctor!" Vastra called. "We still don't know. What happened to Clara?"
The Doctor sighed. How to answer? "Somewhere new," the Doctor grinned, disappearing back into the TARDIS. Its engines groaned and wheezed, as it slipped out of space and time, disappearing in a bright light from that damp Victorian street.
Hi guys, I hope you've liked this story! Please, please review, it genuinely makes me jump out my seat when I see I've got one! I know it's a bit early to ask, but at some point could you tell me if you'd be interested in second series (I've got some exciting stuff planned but I'll only write it if there's interest). Thanks guys, I hope you like the next instalment . . .