The elevator door opened and revealed the winding hall of the South Wing. Unlike the other wings, the South Wing was something else entirely. The walls were cold steel with a matte finish. The floors were dark grey with pronounced marks on them. Lights that lit up the hall had a soft glow to them as the Doctor and Sherlock exited the elevator. The moment they exited, the elevator powered off.
Sherlock held the gun in his hand as he scanned the area. The Doctor held up his Sonic Screwdriver as he also scanned the area. They were alone. It frustrated them both equally. They knew they weren't alone but whoever was here wasn't keen on introducing themselves in a timely fashion.
"My Sonic Screwdriver says if we keep to the right we can find Sofia's office," the Doctor turned to Sherlock. Sherlock nodded.
As they walked, the Doctor and Sherlock found the staircases. Like the top of the staircases in the Main Plaza, these were also blocked off.
Effectively, the two were stuck in the South Wing.
"No human can put up blockades this quick," Sherlock turned to the Doctor. The Doctor tilted his head, "Must've been the other bunch she got here."
They continued on. The halls progressively gotten bigger as they went through winding corridors, eventually finding the South Plaza where there was no glamor like the East Plaza, not as dark as the West Plaza, not even as cordial like the North Wing.
The South Wing wasn't built for anything short of science experiments. The walls reflected that with the steel and matte finish.
As they looked around, Sherlock stopped and knelt down. He got the Doctor's attention and showed him. "Doctor, these footprints are recent," Sherlock pointed at the footprints. They were large, steel toes, and looked to be from a man. They led toward where Sofia's office was located. The Doctor and Sherlock looked at each other.
"Theory, detective," the Doctor looked at him. Sherlock glanced at the footprints. "Not only are we not alone. We're not the only ones looking for Sofia," he heard Sherlock. The Doctor ran a hand through his greying hair and chewed on his lips. "No doubt Sofia had a list of enemies left and right," he reasoned.
Sherlock frowned, "But Doctor, how could anyone get here. There's no way through the conventional means and I doubt anyone has a TARDIS on hand."
"Suppose we'll get our answer, come on," the Doctor gestured to Sherlock. Sherlock slowly nodded and stood up.
The hall where Sofia's office was located in appeared to have suffered extensive damage. There were scorch marks on the walls and the like that were old. What caused them, neither knew.
There was one door that was different from the others. It wasn't like the cold steel doors that they had passed; instead it was a different color. The Doctor guessed that Sofia was someone who wanted to be distinguishing from the others. Sherlock agreed.
Upon reaching the door, it was found lock.
"So, how you want to do it?" Sherlock turned to the Doctor. The Doctor shrugged, "It's not made of wood. I can get it open."
The Doctor attempted to use his Sonic Screwdriver, but found it was for naught. No matter how he tried, the door would not budge. "Blood hell," the Doctor cursed. "This never happened before."
"Perhaps we can try my way?" Sherlock offered. The Doctor scoffed, "Of course. Go ahead, Mr. Detective."
Sherlock knelt near the door and using some pins he stuck in his hair he picked the door. It wasn't hard but it surprised Sherlock how the door could be so vulnerable to one thing but so to another. As Sherlock stood up to open the door, the Doctor turned his head toward the end of the hall.
"Doctor…?" Sherlock looked at him. The Doctor turned his head and blinked, "Right, sorry."
"Doctor, are you alright?" Sherlock stared. The Doctor shrugged, "I don't know."
They entered the office. It was furnished with French décor, down to the carpet. There were a few paintings here and there, from artists neither could rightly identify. There on the desk was a neat stack of papers. Forms for things such as equipment and the like, nothing in particular, but one paper was something the Doctor and Sherlock were interested in. It was a missing person's report for a Jack Greene. The Doctor confirmed it was the detective he had found details about in one of the suites. Apparent from the wordiness of the report, Sofia and the others figured out that Jack was a detective and planned to do to him as what happened to the others. Yet, the report wasn't filed. Odd, it either meant Sofia never had the time to file it or something happened and she couldn't.
Rummaging through her desk, Sherlock found pictures of a young child. She looked like a spitting image of her mother and on the back, there was a name: Emma. From what Sherlock managed to find, it was apparent that Emma was born in Utopia, evidence being the birth certificate. The father was never named but as Sherlock rummaged through the desk while the Doctor checked the bookshelves, he found love letters.
Peculiarly he noticed a pattern. In the letters, "would you kindly" was something that happened to appear quite frequently.
Sherlock's attention was pulled away when he found a recording device. It looked no different than an answering machine but looking at it, it appeared that Sofia was recording conversations. One of the microphone pins was missing; indicating Sofia never took hers off or lost it. Not that it mattered; the device had a button that would locate the missing pin.
The Doctor stood beside Sherlock and pointed, "It stopped recording."
"Must've run out of tape," Sherlock mused. The Doctor nodded. "So she was recording her conversations," he theorized.
"Not only that, given the nature of our search. I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't sending men to their death for what they said," Sherlock said grimly.
The Doctor agreed. He then pushed buttons on the device, allowing them to listen to the last few things that were recorded.
Jack looked around the room. He was strapped down to the table. He couldn't move an inch without whimpering in pan. In his mind he couldn't fathom what was happening. All he could think about was his brother. "Damn it," Jack wept. He inexplicably sent his brother to his inevitable death. He gave all the details about Utopia and now his brother was a marked man.
"Celia!" cried Jack. But Celia never came. She had been deactivated. Jack attempted to cry out again. He hoped that she would reactivate from his duress. His hope was for naught. She was never coming.
The door to the lab opened and Sofia stepped in. She stared down at Jack with a look on her face. "You have made us fools, Jack," she hissed. Jack screamed at her, "Look what you have done, Sofia!"
"I did it for our universe," Sofia screamed back. Jack struggled in his restraints as he talked. "Your universe, what about their universe?" he asked her. Sofia gave a cold stare, "Why would I care about someone else's universe?"
"Damn you!" Jack shouted.
Sofia went toward a locked cabinet where she unlocked it. She brought out a large jar that had silver liquid inside. However, the liquid was moving even when she wasn't moving the jar. Sofia sat it down near the table Jack was tied down on and turned to him.
Jack struggled as he continued to shout at her. "Are you doing it for the Cybermen or are you doing because you can?" he sneered. "Look what you have done! They'll come after you!"
"They won't touch me," Sofia scorned him. Jack scoffed, "And what happened to Warden Ryan?"
"What happened to him was unfortunate. He knew the risk," Sofia coldly said. Jack stared, "What are you going to tell her?"
Sofia eyed him. Jack smiled, "You're right. I'm one helluva detective. So much so, I know your private life like the back of my hand."
He yelped when Sofia inserted a knife in his left arm. Sofia leaned in to look into his eyes. "And who will believe you?" she asked him. "Your dear sweet brother, Fredrick, can't possibly believe you."
"What the hell are you on about?" Jack caught on. Sofia smiled. Jack stared at her, "What are you smiling about?"
"Your brother's employer was quite a charming man. Thankfully he didn't mind being shorthanded," Sofia only said. Jack realized, he was never talking to his brother at all. He was communicating with the enemy. "What did you do to my brother?" Jack shouted at her. He screamed when Sofia slowly pulled the knife down his arm from the elbow to the wrist. Blood slowly oozed out of the wound as Sofia pulled out the knife.
"The nanonites did not work as intended," Sofia only said. "But, I have a feeling the fourth time's the charm."
"Damn you all to hell!" Jack bellowed. "May God smite you and the Devil damn you!"
Sofia came around the side and did the same thing to his right arm. Jack screamed aloud, "Help me, someone help me!"
"No one's going to help you, Mr. Greene. No one will," Sofia only said. Jack's tears fell freely down his face as he wept.
Sofia rested the knife down on the table and picked up a syringe. She grabbed for the jar and stabbed the syringe through the specially made top and pulled out the silver liquid.
"It is a mix between Amber and another compound," Sofia explained to him. "The nanonites were preprogrammed beforehand to your recommended specifications."
"What the hell does that mean?" Jack yelled at her. Sofia smiled. "It means that my dear detective, these won't kill you as they did your brother," she only said. She stabbed the syringe through the wound of his right arm and injected the silver liquid.
At first, Jack didn't feel anything. When Sofia went around and injected the second round into his left arm, he began to feel it. He felt tiny armies moving through his body. Jack began to shake violently as he began to cry out for his brother. Sofia watched him as he yelled incoherently. The incisions on Jack's arms slowly healed as small waves moved underneath the surrounding skin.
Jack bellowed out in pain as he felt his nerves being pricked and severed. As he did, Sofia knelt near him.
"So much alike are we," she slowly said. Jack stammered, "When I see you, I see me."
Sofia smiled, "What is your name?"
"It's… It's… It's…" Jack sputtered. He couldn't remember his name. No, he had no name. He had a serial number, a model name. That's it, no actual name. "And where are you from?" Sofia continued.
Jack flinched. He couldn't remember that either. Everything about him was slowly disappearing from his mind. As Jack squirmed, he stared at the only reflective surface in the lab, the ceiling. The ceiling showed his face slowly morphing. His entire body was morphing into a metallic skeleton. Sofia continued to say, "So much alike are we."
"When I see you, I see me," Jack sputtered.
The Doctor stopped the tape for a minute while he and Sherlock tried to comprehend what happened. Sofia Lamb had eventually tracked down Jack and either killed him or turned him into one of the expanding catalogue of Subjects. At this point, he and Sherlock weren't planning to finish that section of the tape.
So, they skipped the entire section to the next and final section.
"Hello, Sofia, did you miss me?" Colton glanced at Sofia. She was tied onto an operating table, strung up to see Colton overlooking Emma who had been tied down to another operating table across from Sofia in clear view.
"Who are you?" Sofia demanded. Colton chuckled. "Don't you remember me?" he looked at her. Sofia stopped struggling for a minute to stare at him. She couldn't remember where she had seen him before. He was tall, thin, had peppered hair, fine lines on the face, and above all else he had… their eyes.
"Which one are you?" Sofia asked. Colton chuckled, "So you do recognize me."
"I asked, now respond!" Sofia hissed. Colton tilted his head, "Well, what one played that… rubbish tune a lot?"
"Delta," he heard her utter. He nodded before he stopped and pointed at himself, "In the flesh."
"How is this possible?" Sofia questioned. Colton chortled. "Answer me, damn it!" Sofia screamed. Colton rubbed his chin before he shrugged. "Anything's possible, you said it yourself," Colton yawned. Sofia grimaced.
"You thought you were smart, thought you could take what you wanted consequences be damned," Colton smiled. Sofia struggled to move, but the restraints pulled her down tightly. Colton shook his head. "Still the same I see, a pity, a pity you never learned from your mistakes. Oh, but that'd be too much," he said sarcastically. Sofia struggled to speak. "Stay away from her," she hissed. Colton glanced at Emma as her hazel eyes moved around the room. Colton shrugged, "I see no difference in her than a simple subject, and oh wouldn't you say my dear?"
He glanced to a Subject entering the lab, silver eyes on Sofia. Colton smiled warmly, "Sofia, you recall the only woman to survive the conversion, don't you?"
Sofia stopped. There was only one that survived the conversion process and she wasn't as keen as the other Subjects were, she was Subject Epsilon. "She'd make a good companion for Beth, if she's lives through it that is," Colton continued. Subject Epsilon looked down at Emma whose eyes widened, but her mouth gagged prevented her from even uttering a sound. "What do you want, I'll pay!" Sofia tried to bargain. Neither Colton nor Subject Epsilon was interested in her prospect. Colton chuckled. "You'll pay, Sofia, as you'll all pay," he sneered. Sofia cringed. "She's not involved in this," Sofia reasoned. Colton glanced to the Subject who glanced back. Colton chuckled in response. "Oh, but she is involved in this," Colton pointed. "You made her involved."
"I'd never!" Sofia balked. Colton nodded. "Oh, you did. Remember Gamma?" he asked her.
Subject Gamma, or formerly known as Callan McDowell. He had been picked up by a Guard in Stockholm. Alongside him he had a daughter with him, Ciri. They were both taken and brought to Utopia; the girl was kept in a room while the Conversion Process was done on her father. However, back then Sofia had no convictions to hold her back…
"She would've been Emma's age had she survived," Colton mentioned. Sofia's eyes widened. Colton tilted his head, "Retribution is a timeless thing, isn't it?"
"Please," Sofia begged. Colton cackled as he slammed his fist on the operating table, a loud thud. He did this a couple of times, stopped around the seventh time before he calmly walked over to Sofia and stared dead in her eyes. "Are you done?" he asked plainly, irritated. Sofia cried out, "Please don't turn my daughter into one!"
"Well, isn't this a funny thing, ain't it?" Colton glanced over to Subject Epsilon. "She's begging, crying, all that jazz. What does that remind me of?"
He grabbed Sofia's head on both sides and compressed his hands around it, "We didn't want to be turned into one either, and you certainly didn't take to being human then."
Colton had a look on his face. It struck fear into Sofia's heart as he chuckled. "Oh, but you mentioned that it was for the good. The good of man that we… subjects could serve and protect against the Cybermen. We weren't fools then, certainly not now," Colton smirked. "See, the difference between us and them, my dear is quite simple. Cybermen taketh and delete, you taketh and only convert, see what I mean?"
"You remember," Sofia struggled as she tried to move her head. Colton's hands pushed against both sides of her head, keeping her head straight, forcefully. Colton nodded. "Why else we'd come back to your precious Utopia?" he cackled. He stopped and had a soured look on his face that made Sofia's hair stand. Sofia yelped when she felt Colton's fingernails digging into her head. "Monster…!" Sofia cried out. Colton moved his face closer to hers and he smiled widely. "You made us this way," he said in a way that made Sofia shiver. He then chuckled, "You wanted monsters, apathetic to the plight of others, the sort of folk that remind me now of you. Well, dear o' Sofia, you got them."
"I'll give you anything, just leave Emma out of it," Sofia begged. Colton tilted his head, "And what would a madman offer her Frankenstein?"
"Me, convert me, but damn it Frank leave my daughter alone!" Sofia shouted. Colton smiled and shook his head, "You don't quite understand, do you?"
He unclasped his hands from her head and stepped back a little before he clasped his hands together. "Now, Sofia, killing you outright would be a stupid thing to do. No lesson learned. Turning you into us would be just as stupid. No, my dear sweet Sofia, we have to make you learn your lesson," he sneered. He stepped forward and was face to face with Sofia again, he knelt closer so she'd look into his eyes. "Take from us, take from you," he said simply. He stopped and glanced over to Subject Epsilon, "It's only fair. She took from us. Only fair for us to do the take something from her, correct?"
Subject Epsilon gave a nod. Colton nodded too. Sofia struggled to move in the restraints, her hands were forced down onto the cold table as Colton watched her. Sofia attempted to scream but the restraints begun to cling to her throat, making it impossible. She watched as Colton went around the table with Emma's eyes moving around the room. Colton cracked his knuckles and removed the gag from Emma's mouth. She coughed as she struggled to speak, "Why are you doing this?"
"Why don't you ask your mother what happened to Ciri?" Colton pointed. Emma's hazel moved to Sofia. "Mother, what happened?" she tearfully asked. Sofia chewed on her lips. "It was an accident!" she spouted. Colton stared dead in her eyes, "You know what they say about liars, Sofia."
"Mother, tell me!" Emma cried out. Sofia shouted, "I tried to turn her into a Subject but she passed before the process finished!"
Emma stared at Colton and he nodded. "Your mother said she was a failure, hocked her into the incinerator. Not a damn tear in her eyes. O' Callan never did forgive you for that, Sofia. Thankfully his efforts paid off well to get us all back here for a big reunion," Colton waved his hands. Emma glimpsed at Subject Epsilon that was staring at her dead in her eyes, Emma stared into those silver eyes in return and it unnerved her that the eyes themselves never moved or did Subject Epsilon blink. "So," Colton looked down at Emma. "Any last words… Oh wait; we never had that luxury, either."
Colton looked over to Subject Epsilon, "Ready?"
Subject Epsilon nodded, Colton moved away from the table as Subject Epsilon stepped near Emma's head. Sofia yelled loudly, "Don't take my daughter!"
Colton stomped toward Sofia, stood dead in front of her and clenched her head in his hands. "You know, I'm bloody tired of you talking. All you ever did was talk. Talk, talk, talk, like a damn parrot! The ravens were at least useful bunch. No wonder you failed as a mother," he said as he smacked her head backwards against the table. It was hard enough for Sofia's vision to become blurred as her mind was in a haze. Her head lowered to the ground as she groaned softly. Colton was human, again, but he had his strength still, had he been brutal, she would've died right there and then. Sofia was slowly able to move her head up, but the pain rattled her mind and made it hard for her to raise her head up further. She witnessed Subject Epsilon prodding the slits on its mask, pulling something out. Emma was screaming, but Sofia was unable to hear her. She watched as Colton forced Emma's mouth wide open with retractors. Subject Epsilon dropped something amber colored into Emma's mouth and Emma squirmed in the restraints. Colton removed the retractors as Emma continued to squirm; he went straight to Sofia and forcefully held her head up. Sofia watched as her daughter squirmed violently, she howled until she suddenly stopped and her eyes closed. Subject Epsilon slowly collapsed to the ground, a loud thud as everything suddenly went quiet.
Emma slowly opened her eyes and they moved around, her eyes moved until they stopped at Sofia. Sofia saw in them not her daughter, but someone else. Colton removed the restraints and held out a hand, "Welcome back, my dear Beth."
"Hm, it's good to be back," Beth smiled as she was pulled off the table. She stood up and stretched, she twirled around and stopped. She stared at her old body and frowned, "It feels so strange. I always felt so compressed, my lungs hurting, everything was distorted. And now I don't feel anything."
"You'll get used to it," Colton assured her. Beth nodded, "Will Callan and the others be joining us?"
"Oh, they will be, luv," Colton lightly touched Beth cheek. Beth giggled, "Oh, I missed that!"
"What have you done?" Sofia asked softly. Colton and Beth turned their head toward her. Tears rolled down Sofia's face. "What have you done?" she repeated. Colton smiled with a crazed look, "Guess."
"You made us this way," Beth said mournfully. "We were just doing what you told us to do."
"Emma," cried Sofia. Beth looked at Colton, "Oh, it's so good to be back!"
"Indeed it is," Colton nodded. Beth giggled as she planted kisses on his lips. "Oh, how I missed this," she happily said amid the kisses. Colton chuckled, "Come, come, there will be time for celebration. For now, I believe Sofia has learned her lesson now, have you?"
He looked at Sofia who had a look on her face, she didn't make a sound, her mouth was gap and her eyes wide, and she was certainly dead had Colton not checked her. She was alive and in a shock that she might not escape from. Beth crossed her arms, "Will the Doctor be joining us?"
"The Doctor, hm, the bloke isn't my concern. Alright, she got the message; now let's go find us a body for Callan. He specified he wanted a tall one, is Brody still about?" Colton replied. Beth nodded, "In the backroom with the others."
"Excellent," Colton smiled as he glanced at the old body of Beth. "First I got to burn the body."
He begun to pour substances on the old body, smoke started to climb as the leather burnt away and the mechanical parts started to melt. Afterward, Colton went to the door and Beth skipped across the room to join him, they both wrapped an arm around each other's waists as they exited the room. Sofia could only stare as fire started to crop up from Beth's old body.
The Doctor and Sherlock stared at each other once again after the tape finished. Sherlock asked the Doctor, "Doctor, who is Frank?"
"I don't know," the Doctor shrugged. "I don't even know any Franks."
"Doctor, he said he always played the "rubbish" tune," Sherlock pointed at him. Doctor slowly looked to the ground and ran a hand through his hair. "And she called him Delta," he mustered.
The Doctor and Sherlock put two to two together. "What's the date this was recorded?" the Doctor pulled the recording device towards him. The last recording was dated recently. "Doctor, how did he?" Sherlock looked at him. The Doctor chewed on his lips as he pushed the recording device back. In his mind the picture came together. The Plague Doctor was actually Subject Delta and that wasn't even his actual name either. No, it was Frank. In the Doctor's mind, he tried to figure out how Frank could've survived the incursion done unto him by UNIT.
"Doctor, he lied to us," Sherlock told him. "He wasn't the last one."
"I know that," the Doctor snapped at him. He recoiled and shook his head as he told Sherlock, "I don't understand why he lied to me—to us."
"Doctor, it's evident that Frank lied to us to cover up what he was really doing," Sherlock quickly said. "Think about what happened in the recording. Somehow, Emma became Beth and if this date is accurate, well, Doctor something's wrong."
"Body snatching," the Doctor summed. Sherlock stopped when it dawned on him. "Doctor, remember Grissom?" he asked. "UNIT never found a body, never found what happened to him."
The Doctor lowered his head to the recording and blinked. It came to him like a freight train going at maximum velocity. Frank somehow got Grissom's body and is using it. "Frank is still here. He has to be. Why else are we here?" Sherlock pointed.
"Then why send the letter?" the Doctor reasoned. Sherlock shrugged, "Who said it was him?"
"It was me," said a voice.