Iris and the Werewolf
Doctor Who is copyright to the BBC. I own nothing except for my OC Iris Pangbourne.
This is a one-shot story featuring my OC Iris Pangbourne from my story The Adventure of a Lifetime, only she's in series 2's Tooth & Claw instead of Rose. This one-shot is non-canon to Iris' main story and is just a bit of what-if fun. Regarding Iris' appearance, I picture her as looking like Kate Winslet circa 1997.
Iris bounded into the TARDIS' console room, having dressed for the day. "Will this do, Doctor?" she asked, gesturing to her outfit. Today, she was wearing an ivory long-sleeved silk blouse, a forest green knee-length skirt and black knee-high leather boots.
"Yeah, you'll blend right into the 1970's." the Doctor replied. "Hold on, listen to this." He bunged a CD into a player built into the console and Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick by Ian Dury & the Blockheads began blaring out of the speakers. "Ian Dury & the Blockheads." the Doctor explained to Iris. "Number one in 1979."
"Hmm you learn something new every day." Iris remarked.
"It's nice to be a lunatic..." the Doctor sang along to the song.
"And that's what you are, Doctor." Iris laughed as she watched him.
"Would you like to see him?" the Doctor asked.
"Who?"
"Ian Dury of course, live at the Top Rank, Sheffield, England, Earth, 21st of November 1979. What d'ya think?"
"The Steel City it is." Iris said.
"Hold on tight!" the Doctor grinned. He pulled a lever and they both lurched forward as the TARDIS shuddered and span through the Time Vortex. The song continued to blare, the Doctor whacking the console with his trusty mallet, much to Iris' amusement. "LAAAANNNDIIIING!" the Doctor whooped.
The TARDIS settled into land with an almighty jolt, knocking both of her occupants to the floor. "Another happy landing!" Iris laughed as she picked herself up and brushed her skirt off.
"1979, hell of a year!" the Doctor said eagerly, leaping to his feet and bounding over to the doors. "China invades Vietnam, the Muppet movie, love that film! Margaret Thatcher... ugh!" he grimaced as he grabbed his coat. "Skylab falls to Earth... with a little help from me. Nearly took my thumb off..." he rambled as he and Iris went outside. "I like my thumb, I need my thumb. I'm very attached to..." He abruptly faltered when he realised that they were in a field in the middle of the countryside with redcoat soldiers on horseback surrounding them on all sides with their guns aimed at them. "My thumb." the Doctor finished lamely, he and Iris putting their hands up as the soldiers released the safety catches on their weapons. "1879. Same difference." the Doctor muttered.
"About 100 years' difference." Iris said dryly. "You know, Doctor, maybe you should consider checking we're in the right place before rushing out.
"You'll explain your presence." the soldiers' captain ordered. "And the nakedness of this young lady." he gestured to Iris, who tugged at her hem, embarrassed.
"Are we in Scotland?" the Doctor asked, noting the captain's accent.
"How can ye be ignorant of that?" the Captain asked sceptically.
"Oh, I'm... I'm dazed and confused." the Doctor said in a spot-on Scottish accent. "I've been chasin' this... wee naked child over hill an' dale. Ain't that right, ya... timorous beastie?" he asked Iris, who rolled her eyes at him.
"He said we were going to Sheffield." she said to the soldiers, wisely deciding not to even bother trying to attempt a Scottish accent.
"Will ye identify yourself, sir?" the Captain demanded, keeping his revolver trained on the Doctor.
"I'm Doctor James McCrimmon." the Doctor replied. "From the township of... Balamory. I have my credentials, if I may..." He gestured towards his pockets and the captain nodded his permission. The Doctor and Iris lowered their hands and the Doctor reached into his pocket, produced his psychic paper and showed it to the Captain. "As you can see, a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. I trained under Dr Bell himself."
"Let them approach." a refined female voice came from the carriage that the soldiers were escorting
"I don't think that's wise, ma'am." the Captain answered, still suspicious of the two strangers.
"Let them approach." the voice repeated, her tone leaving no room for argument
"You will approach the carriage." the Captain told the two time travellers. "And show all due deference."
The Doctor made an acknowledging hand signal and the duo approached the carriage. A footman opened the door to reveal none other than Queen Victoria sitting primly inside. "Iris... , might I introduce Her Majesty Queen Victoria." the Doctor said. "Empress of India, defender of the faith."
Iris immediately curtseyed.. "Iris Pangbourne, Ma'am. It's an honour to meet you, your Majesty." she said. "I apologise for my, er, state of undress." she laughed nervously.
"I've had five daughters." Victoria replied impassively. "It's nothing to me. But you, Doctor, show me those credentials."
The Doctor obligingly handed over the psychic paper and the Queen studied it for a moment. "Why didn't you say so immediately?" she said. "It states clearly here that you have been appointed by the Lord Provost as my protector."
"Does it?" the Doctor muttered. "Yes, it does! Good, good! Um, then let me ask... Why is your Majesty travelling by road when there's a railway line all the way to Ballater?"
"A tree on the line." the Queen answered.
"An accident?"
"I am the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Everything around me tends to be planned." Victoria replied primly.
"An assassination attempt?" the Doctor asked.
"No..." Iris breathed. "There are people that treacherous?"
"I'm quite used to staring down the barrel of a gun." Victoria replied nonchalantly.
"Sir Robert MacLeish lives 10 miles hence." the Captain informed the time travellers. "We've sent word ahead. He'll shelter us for tonight, then we'll reach Balmoral tomorrow."
"This Doctor and his... 'timorous beastie' will come with us." Victoria informed the Captain.
"Yes, ma'am." he replied. "We'd better get moving. It's almost nightfall."
"Indeed." Victoria agreed. "And there are stories of wolves in these parts. Fanciful tales intended to scare the children. But good for the blood, I think. Drive on." she ordered her driver.
The royal procession was soon on the move again, with the time travellers walking behind the carriage. "You know, Doctor, when I think of assassinations, I never imagine Queen Victoria as a target." Iris remarked.
"1879... she's had... ooh... six attempts on her life." the Doctor replied. "And I'll tell ya something else: we've just met Queen Victoria!" he beamed with delight.
"Tell me about it." Iris smiled. Although Victoria had still been the reigning monarch when Iris was born, she was too young to remember anything about that era. "You know, I thought she was going to have me arrested for indecency, yet she let me off. I guess she was amused after all."
~8~
Presently, the procession arrived at a stately home; Torchwood House. A footman opened the carriage door and helped Victoria to disembark. The homeowner emerged from the house, his butler behind him.
"Your Majesty." the homeowner bowed.
"Sir Robert." the Queen greeted. "My apologies for the emergency. And how is Lady Isobel?"
"She's... indisposed, I'm afraid." Sir Robert replied, looking rather nervous, through Victoria didn't seem to notice. The Doctor did, however. "She's gone to Edinburgh for the season. And she's taken the cook with her, the kitchens are barely stocked... I wouldn't blame your Majesty if you wanted to ride on."
"Oh, not at all." Victoria waved him off. "I've had quite enough carriage exercise, and this is... charming." She looked at the house. "If rustic. It's my first visit to this house. My late husband spoke of it often."
The Doctor's attention was caught by the butler and the household staff. They were all athletic-looking men with shaved heads and giving the Queen sinister looks, which she was oblivious to.
"The Torchwood Estate." Victoria continued. "Now, shall we go inside? And please excuse the naked young lady."
"Again, I apologise." Iris said sheepishly, once again trying to pull her skirt down lower to cover herself up.
"She's a feral child." the Doctor said. "I bought her for sixpence in old London Town. It was her or the Elephant Man, and I couldn't resist her pretty red hair." he winked at Iris, who rolled her eyes at him again.
"Shall we proceed?" the Queen asked Sir Robert, who nodded reluctantly and led the way into the house.
Once they were alone, Iris stomped her boot down on the Doctor's foot. "Ow! What was that for?" he moaned, clutching his sore foot.
"That was for comparing me to the Elephant Man." Iris grumbled.
The Captain meanwhile addressed two of his men, "Mackeson and Ramsey, you will escort the Property. Hurry up."
"Yes, sir." Mackeson and Ramsey acknowledged and they unloaded a brown leather box from the carriage and carried it carefully into the house.
"So what's in there, then?" the Doctor asked, interested.
"Property of the Crown." the Captain told him. "You will dismiss any further thoughts, sir."
"I'll make sure that he does, Captain." Iris said
The Captain nodded his acknowledgment and addressed the rest of his men. "The rest of you, go to the rear of the house." he ordered. "Assume yer designated positions."
"You heard yer orders." the Sergeant said. "Positions."
And the soldiers went off to comply with their orders, while the two time travellers went inside the house.
~8~
Sir Robert entered the house's observatory, followed by Victoria, the Doctor, Iris, the butler and three servants. Standing prominently in the room was a massive telescope. "This, I take it, is the famous endeavour." Victoria commented.
"All my father's work." Sir Robert replied. "Built by hand in his final years. It became something of an obsession... he spent his money on this, rather then caring for the house... or himself."
"I wish I'd met him, I like him." the Doctor remarked, impressed with the telescope. "That thing's beautiful. Can I um...?" He gestured towards the telescope.
"Help yourself." Sir Robert replied.
The Doctor and Iris moved forward to examine the telescope and the wheel next to it. "What did he model it on?" the Doctor asked.
"I know nothing about it." Sir Robert answered. "To be honest, most of us thought him a little... shall we say, eccentric."
"Hmm, sounds just like you, Doctor." Iris commented to the Time Lord, who was busy looking up the scope's viewfinder
"I wish now I'd spent more time with him." Sir Robert said regretfully. "And listened to his stories."
He glanced at the Queen, who didn't notice.
"It's a bit rubbish." the Doctor commented. "How many prisms has it got? Way too many. The magnification's gone right over the top, that's a stupid kind of... Ow!" he flinched back as Iris whacked him on the shoulder "Am I being rude again?" he asked her.
"Yes, you are, Doctor. Very rude." Iris replied, her hands on her hips as if she were scolding a naughty child.
"But it's pretty." the Doctor said hastily to the others. "It's very... pretty."
Iris rolled her eyes at him for the third time today then looked up the viewfinder herself. Although the Doctor had been rude, he did have a point; the magnification was too strong.
"And the imagination of it should be applauded." Victoria said.
"Forgive me for saying this, your Majesty, but I would have thought you would disapprove." Iris said as she finished looking at the telescope. "Stargazing is a bit fanciful, is it not?"
"This device surveys the infinite work of God." Victoria told her. "What could be finer? Sir Robert's father was an example to us all. A polymath, steeped in astronomy and sciences, yet equally well versed in folklore and fairy-tales."
"Stars and magic. I like him more and more." the Doctor remarked.
"Oh, my late husband enjoyed his company." Victoria reminisced, then explained to Iris, "Prince Albert himself was acquainted with many rural superstitions, coming as he did from Saxe-Coburg."
"Bavaria." Iris nodded.
Victoria turned to Sir Robert "When Albert was told about your local wolf, he was transported."
"So, what's this wolf, then?" the Doctor asked, interested.
"It's just a story." Sir Robert tried to wave him off.
"Then tell it." the Doctor pushed.
Sir Robert tensed, clearly uncomfortable. He glanced round at the sinister-looking butler behind him. "It's said that..." he began haltingly.
"Excuse me, sir." the butler interrupted. "Perhaps her Majesty's party could repair to their rooms. It's almost dark."
"Of course." Sir Robert said hastily. "Yes, of course."
"And then supper." the Queen said. "And... could we find some clothes for Miss Pangbourne? I'm tired of nakedness."
"Sorry, your Majesty." Iris mumbled sheepishly.
"Sir Robert, your wife must have left some clothes. See to it." Victoria ordered. "We shall dine at seven. And talk some more about this wolf. After all... there is a full moon tonight."
"So there is, ma'am." Sir Robert said uncomfortably and bowed.
The Queen left the room and Sir Robert and the servants followed.
The Doctor and Iris hung back for a moment. "Did you see how uncomfortable Sir Robert was?" Iris asked.
"Yeah, he's clearly hidin' something." the Doctor agreed. "I bet it's something to do with this wolf story."
"Do you think there could really be a werewolf?" Iris asked him.
"Hmm, maybe." the Doctor replied. "I'll know more once I've heard Sir Robert's story. I'm gonna see if I can get him to reveal it."
"In the meantime, I think it's time I made myself more presentable." Iris said, glancing down at her anachronistic outfit.
"Right, see ya at seven." the Doctor agreed.
~8~
That evening, Iris was in one of the guest bedrooms searching the wardrobe. She pulled out a brown dress, considered it, then put it back. Next, she pulled out a frilly blouse, held it out and immediately decided against it. After considering a few more options, she finally settled on a pretty navy-blue velvet dress with lace trim and changed into it. She'd just finished putting her boots back on when she heard a noise coming from another wardrobe. She pulled open the door and found a young maid crouched inside, breathing heavily in fear. "What are you doing in there?" Iris asked her, concerned. "I thought you were all in Edinburgh with her Ladyship."
"Her Ladyship and the staff are being held captive!" the maid trembled.
Iris held a hand out towards her. "Come with me." she said kindly. "I'm here to help. Tell me everything."
The maid shakily took her hand and Iris led her over to the bed where she began explaining what had happened. "They came through the house." she breathed. "The incitements, they took the steward and the Master. And mi 'lady."
"I understand." Iris said, squeezing her hand comfortingly. "I came with a friend who can help. He'll know what to do. Come with me and tell him what you've just told me."
"Oh, but I can't, miss." the maid protested.
"What's your name?" Iris asked.
"Flora."
"Nice to meet you, Flora. My name's Iris. I promise you you're safe now." Iris reassured her. "The Queen's guards are here. They can help us too. Trust me. Come on."
She peered cautiously out of the bedroom door and saw that the coast was clear, so she took Flora's hand and led her down the corridor. Just around the corner, they found one of the soldiers, who was lying on the floor unconscious.
"Oh, miss, I did warn you." Flora said nervously.
Iris knelt down and checked the soldier's pulse, her medical training kicking in. "He's still alive." she diagnosed. "Looks like he's been drugged. I'll see if I can bring him round..."
Suddenly, someone grabbed Flora from behind and their hand stifled her scream. She was dragged away and before Iris could react, she was also grabbed and dragged away.
~8~
Meanwhile, The Doctor, Victoria, Sir Robert and the Captain, who was named Reynolds, were all gathered in the dining room when the butler came in "Your companion begs an apology, Doctor." he said. "Her clothing has somewhat delayed her."
"Ah, that's alright." the Doctor said. "Save her a wee bit of ham. Besides, we're all waiting on Sir Robert! Come on, sir! You promised us a tale of nightmares."
"Indeed." the Queen agreed. "Since my husband's death, I find myself with more of a taste for supernatural fiction."
"You must miss him." the Doctor said.
"Very much." Victoria said quietly, lost in her thoughts "Oh, completely. And that's the charm of a ghost story, isn't it? Not the scares and chills, that's just for children, but the... hope of some contact with the great beyond. We all want some message from that place... it's the Creator's greatest mystery that we are allowed no such consolation. The dead stay silent. And we must wait."
The Doctor looked at her intensely, understanding what she meant only too well.
Victoria shrugged herself out of that line of thought and turned to Sir Robert. "But come, begin your tale, Sir Robert. There's a chill in the air, the wind is howling through the eaves. Tell us of monsters."
~8~
Iris found herself chained up in the cellar with Lady Isobel and the household staff. Across from them was a young man sitting quietly in a cage.
"Don't make a sound." Lady Isobel warned Iris. "They said if we scream or shout, then he will slaughter us."
"He's in a cage." Iris frowned. "Isn't he a prisoner like us?"
"He's nothing like us." Lady Isobel shuddered, her voice full of fear. "That creature is not mortal."
The man in the cage raised his head and opened his eyes, which were completely black. Lady Isobel and her staff all whimpered in fear, while Iris stared grimly.
~8~
"The story goes back 300 years." Sir Robert began nervously. "Every full moon, the howling rings through the valley. The next morning, livestock is found ripped apart and... devoured."
"Tales like this just disguise the work of thieves." Captain Reynolds remarked comfortably. "Steal a sheep, and blame a wolf, simple as that."
"But sometimes a child goes missing." Sir Robert continued. "Once in a generation, a boy will vanish from his homestead."
~8~
Iris stood up and and cautiously approached the man in the cage. "Don't, child!" Lady Isobel warned.
Iris ventured forward, her chains rattling slightly. When she was as close as the chains would allow her, she knelt down in front of the cage. "My name is Iris. Who are you?" she asked carefully.
"Don't enrage him." the household steward warned.
"Where are you from?" Iris asked the man in the cage. "I know you're not of this Earth, so which planet are you from?"
The man in the cage spoke up, "Ohhhh... intelligence."
"Where were you born?" Iris asked him.
"This body... 10 miles away... a weakling, heartsick boy." the man said. "Stolen away at night by the brethren from my cultivation. I carved out his soul and sat in his heart."
~8~
"Are there descriptions of the creature?" the Doctor asked.
"Oh yes, Doctor." Sir Robert replied "Drawings and woodcarvings. And it's not merely a wolf. It's more than that. This is a man who becomes an animal."
"A werewolf?" the Doctor smiled, leaning forward in intrigue.
~8~
"So your body is Human." Iris surmised. "But what are you inside?"
"So far from home." the man said vaguely.
"We can help you to get home." Iris offered.
"Why would I leave this place?" the man scoffed. "A world of industry, of workforce and welfare. I could turn it to such purpose."
"How? Tell me."
"I would migrate to the Holy Monarch."
"The Queen." Iris breathed, her eyes widening in horror.
"With one bite, I would pass into her blood. And then it begins, the Empire of the Wolf! So many questions..."
The man promptly lunged forward, making the Humans all jump and gasp.
"You burn like the sun, but all I require is the moon!" the man smirked.
~8~
"My father didn't treat it like a story." Sir Robert continued. "He said it was fact. He even claimed to have communed with the beast, to have learned it's purpose."
While he was talking, the butler's attention was caught by something outside the window.
Sir Robert noticed him, then went back to his story. "I should've listened." he said regretfully. "His work was hindered... he made enemies. There's a monastery in the Glen of St Catherine. The Brethren opposed my father's investigations."
"Perhaps they thought his work ungodly." Victoria suggested.
"That's what I thought." Sir Robert replied. "But now I wonder... what if they had a different reason for wanting the story kept quiet?"
The Doctor noticed that the butler was chanting in Latin under his breath, the same phrase over and over again: 'Lupus deus est'.
"What if they turned from God and worshipped the wolf?" Sir Robert asked seriously.
"And what if they were with us right now?" the Doctor agreed, pulling everyone's attention to the butler.
~8~
The cellar's delivery hatch was pulled open and moonlight flooded in, over the man's cage. He pressed his face against the bars with a blissful smile. "Moonlight..." he breathed.
The prisoners all shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to make of this. The man shed his cloak and grasped the bars of his cage.
But what the man didn't know was that Iris Pangbourne knew how to keep her head in a crisis and think quickly. "No one look at it." she urged her fellow prisoners. "Flora, don't look! Everyone listen to me. Pull on your chains as hard as you can!" She pulled on her own chain to illustrate her point. "Quickly now! Altogether! Pull!"
Growling sounds emitted from the cage and Lady Isobel could only stare in horror.
"I said pull!" Iris continued to urge. "We've got to get out of here! Come on, your Ladyship, we need your help too!
The others all took the young woman's advice and helped her to pull on the chain, trying to wrench it free from the wall.
~8~
"What is the meaning of this?!" Victoria demanded as everyone got to their feet.
"Explain yourself, Sir Robert!" Reynolds added, aiming his revolver at Sir Robert.
"What's happening?"
"I'm sorry, your Majesty." Sir Robert said shamefully. "They've got my wife."
The Doctor approached the chanting butler. "Where's Iris?!" he demanded, losing his Scottish accent in his concern for his friend. "WHERE IS SHE?!"
The butler ignored him and continued chanting.
The Doctor realised he'd get nothing out of him and turned to Sir Robert. "Come on!" he urged and they both ran from the room.
~8~
In the cellar, the man in the cage was slowly transforming into a wolf. He screamed in pain as his skin bulged horribly. His screams turned into growls as he began to look more and more like a wolf.
"Pull!" Iris urged her prisoners, seeing that the wolf's transformation was almost complete "1... 2... 3... pull!"
The wolf completed it's transformation and growled and flexed it's claws as the prisoners screamed.
"1... 2... 3... pull!" Iris said, and with one great big effort from everyone, the chain came free just as the Doctor booted the door in and rushed in with Sir Robert. "Doctor!" Iris called, relieved to see the Time Lord.
The Doctor turned and stared at the wolf with wide-eyed awe as it grabbed hold of the bars of it's cage. "Oh, that's beautiful!" he breathed.
Sir Robert meanwhile was busy freeing the prisoners. "Get out!" he urged them as the wolf began to bend and break the bars, throwing the cage off. The household staff all clamoured to get out of the room.
The Doctor suddenly remembered the urgency of the situation and turned to help free the last of the staff "Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!" he hollered, ushering them out. Once they were all safely out, he turned to look at the wolf, which was now standing tall, free of it's cage. The Doctor turned on his heel and quickly followed Iris out of the room. He slammed the door shut and locked it with his sonic screwdriver, then he and Iris ran to catch up with the others.
~8~
In the gun room, the steward was handing out hunting rifles to his men. "At arms." he ordered. "Lady Isobel, take the girls. Get them out through the kitchen."
Lady Isobel approached her husband. "Robert, I can't leave you." she said. "What will you do?"
"I must defend her Majesty." Sir Robert replied. "Now, don't think of me, just go."
Lady Isobel kissed him and then gathered up her maids. "All of you at my side." she ordered. "Come on!" And she led them out towards the kitchen.
The Doctor meanwhile was using his sonic screwdriver to release Iris from her shackles. "Could be any form of light modulated species triggered by specific wavelengths." he mused rapidly. "Did it say what it wanted?"
"It wants the Queen and the throne." Iris replied grimly.
"Nice dress, by the way."
"Thanks."
Then, they heard a thumping sound coming from the direction of the cellar and they looked round. The Doctor ventured out into the hallway to investigate. The wolf had managed to knock down the door and was stood at the other end of the hall. They stared each other down for a few moments before the wolf growled and the Doctor ran back into the room. He took Iris' hand and they ran behind the line of men with guns poised and ready.
"Fire!" the steward ordered and they promptly opened fire on the wolf, causing it stumble back a few steps "Fire!" the steward repeated and his men unleashed another barrage of fire.
The men repeated the process a few more times then ceased fire when there was no sign of the wolf. "Alright you men, we should retreat upstairs, come with us!" the Doctor urged.
"I'll not retreat." the steward retorted stubbornly. "The battle is done. There's no creature on God's Earth that could survive such an assault."
"I'm telling you, come upstairs!" the Doctor hollered.
"And I'm telling you, sir, that I will sleep well tonight with that thing's hide on my wall." the steward sneered and strode across the room to look down the hallway, checking for the wolf. Seeing nothing, he strode back, looking mildly triumphant. "Must've crawled away to die." he crowed.
No sooner had those words left his mouth when he was lifted into the air by something on the ceiling. Everyone shuddered as they heard grunting and screaming as the steward was devoured by the wolf.
Iris could only stare; her eyes wide in horror and her face ashen. "There's nothing we can do." the Doctor told her grimly, grabbing her hand and pulling her away, Sir Robert wisely following. As they ran, they heard gunshots, followed by more growling and screaming. They all knew what that meant; the steward's men had tried to stand their ground and had been slaughtered by the wolf.
Sir Robert and the time travellers hurried into a room at the bottom of the stairs and the Doctor locked the door with his sonic screwdriver. "Your Majesty!" Sir Robert called. "Your Majesty!"
"Sir Robert? What is happening?" Victoria asked as she came downstairs. "I heard such terrible noises."
"Your Majesty, we've got to get out." Sir Robert replied urgently. "But what of Father Angelo? Is he still here?"
"Captain Reynolds disposed of him." the Queen replied stiffly.
The Doctor dashed over, having checked the front door of the house. "Front door's no good." he said. "Pardon me, your Majesty, you'll have to leg it out a window." He gestured through a door and they all hurried through it to find themselves in the living room.
"Excuse my manners, ma'am, but I shall go first." Sir Robert said. "The better to assist her Majesty's egress."
"A noble sentiment." the Queen remarked. "My Sir Walter Raleigh."
"Yeah, any chance you could hurry up?" the Doctor cut in impatiently.
Sir Robert climbed onto the window sill and opened the window, only to hit the deck as gunshots sounded out.
The Doctor peered out of the window to see a bunch of men in orange robes with shaved heads standing outside with rifles. "I reckon the monkey boys want us to stay inside." he remarked.
"Do they know who I am?!" Victoria spluttered in outrage.
"I'm afraid so, your Majesty." Iris told her grimly. "The wolf has, if you'll pardon the expression, earmarked you for biting."
"Now, stop this talk." Victoria chided.
"There can't be an actual wolf."
No sooner had those words left her mouth when a howling echoed through the house. The alarmed company spun round and left the room hurriedly. They ran back into the hallway and heard the wolf battering against the door.
"What can we do, Doctor?" Iris asked.
"We... run!" the Doctor urged. "Unless you've got any silver bullets concealed in that lovely dress of yours."
"I'm afraid not, Doctor." Iris replied.
"There we are then, we run." the Doctor said and turned to Victoria. "Your Majesty, as a Doctor, I recommend a vigorous jog." He jogged on the spot to demonstrate. "Good for the health. Come on!" He took the Queen's hand and led her from the room, Iris and Sir Robert right behind them.
They ran as fast as they could up the stairs just as the wolf finally managed to break the door down and bounded up the stairs in pursuit of them.
"Come on! Come on!" the Doctor urged as they reached the top of the stairs and ran down the hallway, the wolf hot on their heels. It was nearly on top of them, ready to pounce, when Captain Reynolds stepped out, revolver in hand. He fired at the wolf, forcing it to reel back down the hall, then Reynolds ducked back to join the others round the corner.
"I'll take this position and hold it." Reynolds said as he reloaded his weapon. "Ye keep moving, for God's sake!" he urged everyone. "Your Majesty, I went to look for the Property, it was taken. The chest was empty."
"I have it, it's safe." Victoria told him.
"Then remove yourself, Ma'am." Reynolds said. "Doctor, you stand as her Majesty's protector. And you, Sir Robert, you're a traitor to the crown." He finished reloading his revolver.
"Bullets can't stop it!" the Doctor warned him.
"They'll buy you time." Reynolds told him. "Now run!" He positioned himself at the end of the hall, gun at the ready.
Victoria and Sir Robert had already started running in the opposite direction, followed by the Doctor, but Iris stayed where she was, unwilling to leave the Captain. She watched as Reynolds opened fire on the wolf, defiantly standing his his ground. He managed to push it back initially, but it quickly recovered. "Captain, get back!" Iris hollered but it was too late. The wolf pounced on Reynolds and Iris could only watch in helpless horror as he was torn apart limb from limb.
"IRIS!" the Doctor yelled, rushing out into the hallway. He grabbed her round the waist and pulled her into the library just in time to slam the door shut.
"Barricade the door!" Sir Robert urged, and he and the Doctor rushed to do so with chairs and bits of wood. Iris just slumped against the wall, the horrifying sight she'd just witnessed etched in her mind.
"Wait a minute, shh, shh!" the Doctor urged everyone, standing on a chair and pressing an ear to the door. Right on the other side, the wolf sniffed the door and growled, then it turned and left. "It's gone." the Doctor breathed, hearing footsteps padding around outside. He climbed down from the chair and there was dead silence in the library as they followed the wolf's progress around the room. "Is this the only door?" the Doctor whispered to Sir Robert
"Yes." Sir Robert replied, then suddenly remembered "No!" And he and the Doctor dashed over to another door at the end of the room and barricaded it shut.
They all listened with baited breath as they heard the wolf pacing outside, then walk away. "It's gone." Iris breathed thankfully.
"Something inside this room's stopping it." the Doctor mused. "What is it? Why can't it get in?"
"I don't know, but just be glad it can't." Iris said quietly.
The Doctor noticed just how shaken up she looked and went over to her. "You alright?" he asked her.
"Yes, yes, I'm ok." Iris said numbly. "But the Captain..."
"There wasn't anything you could have done." the Doctor consoled her. "You did the best you could and we're alive. Focus on that."
Iris nodded and the Doctor hugged her tightly, pressing a comforting kiss into her hair.
Sir Robert sat down on one of the chairs barricading the door and put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, Ma'am." he sighed to the Queen. "It's all my fault. I should've sent you away. I tried to suggest something was wrong. I... thought you might notice. Did you think there was nothing strange about my household staff?"
"Well, they were bald, athletic... ya wife's away," the Doctor remarked lightly, trying to lighten the mood, "I just thought you were happy."
"Doctor!" Iris chided. People were dead. Now was not the time for silly jokes.
Victoria, who had been silent for quiet a while now, spoke up at last, "What, exactly, I pray, tell me someone please, what exactly is that creature?" She was at the end of her tether and had had enough of these strange events.
"You'd call it a werewolf," the Doctor rambled, "but technically it's more of a lupine wavelength haem variform."
"And should I trust you, sir?" Victoria rounded on him. "You who change your voice so easily? What happened to your accent?"
The Doctor realised that he'd accidentally dropped his Scottish accent. "Oh... right, sorry." he mumbled.
"I'll not have it." Victoria fumed. "No, sir, not you... not that thing... none of it. This is not my world!"
Iris took a breath. "Your Majesty, please forgive me for being blunt, but you have to trust the Doctor." she said empathetically. "He is the only person who can get us out of this predicament, I promise you, and I would trust that man to the ends of the Earth."
Victoria considered her for a moment. "Very well." she conceded and sat down in an armchair to calm her nerves.
"Right, first we need to figure out what's keeping the wolf from getting inside this room so we can use it to our advantage." the Doctor said, taking charge. "It stopped at this door first." He went over to the door and his eye was caught by carvings in the woodwork. "Mistletoe." he observed. "Sir Robert, did ya father put that there?"
"I don't know, I suppose." Sir Robert answered.
"On the other door too." the Doctor thought aloud. "A carving wouldn't be enough... I wonder..." He leaned forward and licked the woodwork, much to the three Humans' disgust. "Viscum album, the oil of the mistletoe, it's been worked into the word like a varnish!" the Doctor announced. "How clever was your dad?! I love him!" He turned to Iris. "Powerful stuff, mistletoe. Bursting with lectins and viscotoxins."
"And this wolf is allergic to it?" Iris questioned.
"Well, it thinks it is." the Doctor replied. "The monkey-monk monks need a way of controllin' the wolf, maybe they trained it to react against certain things."
"Nevertheless, that creature won't give up, Doctor," Sir Robert pointed out, "and we still don't posses an actual weapon."
"Oh, your father got all the brains, didn't he?" the Doctor rolled his eyes.
"You're being very rude again, Doctor." Iris chided.
"Good. I meant that one." the Doctor retorted and strode towards the book shelves. "Ya want weapons? We're in a library. Books! Best weapons in the world." He put his glasses on. "This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourselves!" He pulled some books off the shelf and tossed one to Iris.
The library was soon filled with the sounds of pages being flicked as the Doctor, Iris and Sir Robert poured through the books, talking over one another.
"Biology, zoology..." Iris muttered to herself. "Maybe there's something in here..."
"Hold on, what about this?" the Doctor asked her, tossing another book to her.
"If we could make some form of explosive..." Sir Robert muttered as he flicked through his own book.
"Hmm, that's the sorta thing." the Doctor mumbled, flipping through another book. "Ooh!" He slapped the book down on the table, finding something. "Look what ya old dad found. Something fell to Earth."
On the open page was an illustration of a rock falling to Earth from the sky.
"What is that?" Iris asked. "Is it a ship?"
"A shooting star." Sir Robert remarked and read the accompanying text, "'In the year of our Lord 1540, under the reign of King James V, an almighty fire did burn in the pit.' That's the Glen of St Catherine, just by the monastery."
"But that was over 300 years ago. Why has it waited until now to do anything?" Iris wandered.
"Maybe just a single cell survived." the Doctor pondered. "Adapting slowly through the generations. It survived through the Humans. Host after host after host."
"But why does it want the throne?" Sir Robert wandered.
"When we were trapped in the cellar with it, it said something about an 'Empire of the Wolf'." Iris said thoughtfully.
"Imagine it..." the Doctor said seriously with foreboding. "The Victorian age accelerated... starships and missiles fuelled by coal and driven by steam... leaving history devastated in it's wake."
"And the future." Iris shivered, hardly daring to imagine just how different the 1910's would be if the wolf succeeded in rewriting history.
Victoria stood up, having overheard the conversation "Sir Robert, if I am to die here..."
"Don't say that, your Majesty." Sir Robert said, going over to her.
"I would destroy myself rather than let that creature infect me." Victoria told him. "But that's no matter. I only ask that you find some place of safekeeping for something far older and more precious than myself." And she opened her bag.
"Nothing is more precious than your own life, your Majesty." Iris called empathetically from the table.
"Thank you for your loyalty, Miss Pangbourne." Victoria told her. "But there is nothing more valuable than this." And she produced a magnificent diamond from her bag.
"Is that the Koh-I-Nor?" Iris breathed in amazement.
"Oh, yes..." the Doctor murmured as they shuffled forward for a closer look. "The greatest diamond in the world."
"Given to me as the spoils of war." Victoria told them. "Perhaps it's legend is now coming true. It is said that whoever owns it must surely die."
"Well, that's true of anything if ya own it long enough." the Doctor remarked. "May I...?" he held out his hand.
The Queen considered for a moment, then handed him the diamond. He pushed his glasses down his nose to examine it closely.
"It's so beautiful." Iris murmured. "It must be priceless."
"They say it's worth the wages of an entire planet for a whole week." the Doctor remarked.
"I can believe it." Iris replied. "Forgive me for sounding flippant, but it's a good thing my mum isn't here; otherwise she'd be fighting the wolf with her bare hands for that diamond."
"And she'd win." the Doctor smirked.
"Where is the wolf?" Sir Robert wandered. "I don't trust this silence."
"Pardon me for asking, your Majesty, but why are you carrying this with you?" Iris asked the Queen.
"My annual pilgrimage." Victoria replied. "I'm taking it to Helier and Carew, the royal jewellers at Hazelhead. The stone needs recutting."
"But it looks perfect." Iris furrowed a brow.
"My late husband never thought so." Victoria sighed.
"Now, there's a fact." the Doctor said, pulling off his glasses and passing the diamond to Iris. "Prince Albert kept on having the Koh-I-Nor cut down. It used to be 40% bigger than this. But he was never happy. Kept on cutting and cutting."
"He always said... the shine was not quite right." Victoria elaborated "But he died with it still unfinished."
Something clicked in the Doctor's head. "Unfinished..." he murmured thoughtfully.
Iris handed the diamond back to Victoria. "On to something?" she asked the Doctor, recognising the look on his face as the one he had when he had a brainwave
"Oh, yes!" he replied. "There's a lot of unfinished business in this house. His father's research, and your husband, ma'am." he said to the Queen. "He came here and he sought the perfect diamond. Hold on, hold on..." He ruffled his hair violently in his eagerness to work it out. "All these separate things, they're not separate at all, they're connected! Oh, my head, my head! What if, this house, it's a trap for you, is that right, ma'am?"
"Obviously." Victoria replied flatly.
"At least, that's what the wolf intended." the Doctor continued. "But! What if there's a trap inside the trap?"
"Explain yourself, Doctor."
"What if 'is father and your husband weren't just tellin' each other stories?" the Doctor explained. "They dared to imagine all this was true and they planned against it. Laying the real trap, not for you... but for the wolf."
At that moment, a fine sprinkling of plaster fell from the ceiling and everyone looked up to see the wolf walking over the library's glass dome, looking down at them and growling.
"That wolf there..." the Doctor said lamely.
The glass of the dome began to crack and everyone legged it for the door.
"Out! Out! Out!" the Doctor hollered as they cleared away the barricade just as the wolf crashed through the dome, destroying the desk. They all scrambled out and the Doctor slammed the doors shut. "Gotta get to the observatory!" he urged as they raced through the hallways.
They careened around a corner, the wolf close behind. Suddenly, Iris tripped on the train of her long dress and fell flat on the floor, right in the path of the wolf, which tore towards her. Just as it was about to pounce on her and tear her to shreds, Lady Isobel appeared out of nowhere and launched a pale of water at it, causing it to retreat. "Thank you." Iris breathed gratefully.
"Good shot!" the Doctor praised, helping Iris to her feet.
"It was mistletoe." Lady Isobel told him. She'd been unable to get the maids away as the monks had hemmed them in, but she'd noticed that they were wearing mistletoe around their necks and realised that they used it to keep the wolf under control.
The Doctor rushed off down the hall to check where the wolf had gone.
"Isobel!" Sir Robert came forward and embraced his resourceful wife. "Now, get back downstairs."
"Keep yourself safe." she pleaded.
Sir Robert nodded and they kissed again. "My love. Now go."
Lady Isobel hurried her staff away back downstairs to safety just as the Doctor returned from checking on the wolf. "Come on!" he urged.
"The observatory's this way." Sir Robert said, pointing them in the right direction.
The group reached the central staircase and hurried up it as fast as they could, but the werewolf was recovering and soon returned to the chase.
They finally arrived at the observatory, the Doctor in the lead. "No mistletoe on these doors, cos' your father wanted the wolf to get inside." he panted. "We just need time. Is there any way of barricading this?" he asked Sir Robert.
"Just do ye work and I'll defend it." Sir Robert replied.
Iris realised what he was planning "No, you can't!" she burst out in alarm. "There must be another way. Maybe we could bind these doors with rope or something."
"There is no other way." Sir Robert told her determinedly. "I'll find you time, sir, ma'am. Now get inside."
The Doctor looked at him for a second "Good man." he conceded.
"No!" protested Iris. "Doctor, you can't let him do this! He won't stand a chance!"
"I'm sorry, Iris, but none of us will stand a chance if the wolf gets in before I can get everything ready." the Doctor told her gravely as Sir Robert shut the doors, remaining outside. The Doctor ran to the Queen. "Your Majesty, the diamond." he requested.
"For what purpose?" she asked suspiciously.
"The purpose it was designed for." the Doctor replied. Victoria relented and handed over the diamond, then he ran over to the mechanism for the telescope. "Iris, help me with this." he called, and Iris came over to help him. "Lift it! Come on!" he instructed and they worked to turn the wheel that raised the scope.
"Is now the time to go stargazing?" Iris grunted as they strained.
"Yes!" the Doctor replied through gritted teeth.
~8~
Sir Robert stood guard outside the observatory, a sword in hand. The wolf bounded into view and slowly approached him. Sir Robert raised his sword and glared at it, disgusted. "I committed treason for you." he said. "And now my wife will remember me with honour!"
~8~
Inside the observatory, the group all heard the wolf growling, followed by Sir Robert's screams. Iris felt the colour drain from her face. "Sir Robert..." she choked, her heart breaking for the poor man. He'd been forced against his will to aide the treacherous monks, but his sense of honour and loyalty to the Crown had won through and he had now sacrificed himself to make amends.
"I'm sorry, but all we can do is make sure his death's not in vain." the Doctor told her, and they doubled their efforts to get the scope ready.
"I thought you said this telescope didn't work." Iris recalled as they heard the wolf banging on the doors
"It doesn't work as a telescope cos' that's not what it is!" the Doctor told her. "It's a light chamber, it magnifies the light rays like a weapon. We've just gotta power it up!"
"With moonlight." Iris realised. "But the wolf's made from moonlight."
"You're 70% water but ya can still drown." the Doctor retorted. "Come on!"
With one final effort, they got the light chamber into position and they stood back as moonlight bounced off the prisms inside. Just as the wolf broke through the door and began to advance on the terrified Queen, the light spew forth from the end of the light chamber onto the floor just short of the wolf.
The Doctor dived across the floor and threw the Koh-I-Nor diamond into the beam of light. A prismatic beam of light hit the wolf and jolted it off the floor. As everyone looked on, the wolf retook it's Human form. "Make it brighter." he said quietly. "Let me go."
The Doctor went over to the light chamber and flicked a switch. With one final howl from the wolf form, the creature vanished, gone for good, and the light shut off. The Doctor went to retrieve the diamond while Iris went over to Victoria, who staring intently at her wrist. "Are you alright, your Majesty?" Iris asked her. "Did it bite you?"
"No, it's... it's just a cut, thank you." Victoria waved her off.
"If that thing bit you..." the Doctor began, coming over as well.
"It was a splinter of wood when the door came apart. It's nothing." Victoria insisted.
"Please, your Majesty, let me see..." Iris offered, reaching out her hand, but the Queen pulled hers away sharply.
"It is nothing." she said firmly.
Iris wisely decided not to press the issue. "Then may I please be excused, your Majesty?" she asked. "I wish to find Lady Isobel and tell her of how her husband gave his life to save us all."
"Then you may be excused, Miss Pangbourne." Victoria consented, and Iris left the room.
~8~
Next morning, everyone was gathered in the drawing room. The Doctor and Iris stepped forward and knelt down before Victoria, who was standing with Lady Isobel by her side, dressed in mourning.
"By the power vested in me by the Church and the State..." Victoria began, "I dub thee: Sir Doctor of TARDIS." She tapped the Doctor on each shoulder with a sword. "By the power vested in me by the Church and the State, I dub thee: Dame Iris of Reading." She tapped Iris on each shoulder with the sword. "You may stand."
The two time travellers rose. "Many thanks, ma'am." the Doctor bowed.
"Thank you, your Majesty." Iris curtseyed.
"Your Majesty, you said last night about receiving a message from the great beyond;" the Doctor said to Victoria, "I think your husband cut that diamond to save your life. He's protecting you even now, ma'am, even from beyond the life."
"Indeed." Victoria replied with a small smile which then disappeared. "Then you may think on this also: that I am not amused." she said sternly. "Not remotely. I don't know what you are, the two of you, or where you're from, but I know that you consort with stars and magic, and think it fun. Especially you, Sir Doctor." she told the Time Lord severely. "But your world is stepped in terror and blasphemy and death, and I will not allow it!" She turned to Iris. "Dame Iris, you at least see the evil and know when it is time to mourn and when to rejoice. Hence, I shall abstain from banishing you both, but when you leave this place, I hope that you will both reflect on how you came to stray so far from all that is good. And how much longer you will survive this... terrible life. Now go." she finished commandingly.
~8~
After Iris had changed back into the clothes she'd arrived in Scotland in, she and the Doctor hitched a ride on a farmer's cart back to the field where the TARDIS had landed. "Cheers, Dougal!" the Doctor called to the driver as he hopped off and helped Iris down, then they began to walk across the field. "Are you alright, Iris?" the Doctor asked. He'd noticed that she'd been silent ever since leaving the Torchwood Estate.
"Yes, I'm fine, Doctor." Iris replied, brushing some hay off her skirt. "I was just thinking about what Victoria said, and about all those people who lost their lives last night. I don't want to sound rude, Doctor, but how can you be so blasé about it all?"
"Because I have to." the Doctor sighed. "I do care, it's just... I've had to deal with so much death in my long lifetime," he admitted, "and it just... it just got too much. That's why I have to pretend not to care, because it's easier that way. It's easier than regretting all my mistakes, but I do regret them, every single day. But pretending not to makes the burden easier to carry."
"I'm sorry, Doctor." Iris said, understanding where the Doctor was coming from. After all, he was over 900 years old; she couldn't even begin to imagine what sort of horrors he'd witnessed in all that time.
"Well, I'm glad I've got you, Iris." the Doctor said. "You're kind, compassionate and selfless. I think Victoria liked you."
"Dame Iris of Reading." Iris pondered. "Mum, Dad and Trevor are never going to believe this!" she smiled as they reached the TARDIS. "And I never knew mistletoe could be so powerful. I've always thought of mistletoe as something you stood under to receive a kiss at Christmas time."
"Hmm, a fine old tradition." the Doctor smiled. "So, where to next?" he asked as he held the door open for Iris.
"Well, I do believe you were planning to take me to Sheffield." Iris recalled.
"Why, so I was." the Doctor said, and they both went inside the TARDIS, ready for their next adventure.
Author's notes: And here's my next one-shot; Tooth & Claw with Iris Pangbourne instead of Rose. It's interesting to think about how different certain episodes can be when the characters present are different. That's the case here; with Iris' presence resulting in a change at the end of the episode. Thanks to Iris taking the situation more seriously than Rose did, Victoria lets her and the Doctor off with a slap on the wrist instead of banishing them like she did with Rose and the Doctor in the original episode. I like to think that this alternate ending is how the episode would've ended if Rose had stopped making stupid jokes and shown some consideration for all the people who died. Admittedly, I haven't thought of how the Doctor and Iris met in this AU, but with it being a one-shot, it's not much of a problem. So, hope you like this one-shot and goodbye for you.