Hi, remember last month when I said that bookworm made two pieces of art? They in fact made three. I'm just a dummy who forgot about one of them. I'll go into my shame cupboard now.
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Jack Ward was tied to a chair in Ravensworth's office. If he had been fighting before, he wasn't now. And he didn't try to attack the Doctor when he, on the Lord's request, examined the man.
"There's nothing to it. The man needs rest." The Doctor said after a moment.
"Rest?"
"They've been robbed of the power of sleep!"
"Robbed of the power?" Ravensworth complained, "Oh, confound it, man, I don't understand what you're talking about."
Marion found it fairly easy to understand. And she couldn't imagine why someone as smart as Lord Ravensworth had an issue.
"I haven't got time to explain now." the Doctor shook his head and started making towards the door. "Marion, stay here. See what you can do."
"Uh-"
The Doctor nearly barreled into Luke Ward. He took a step back.
"Ah, Luke. I'm looking for Stephenson. Do you know where I can find him?"
"Nay, sir."
"Didn't he give you any idea where he'd be?" Ravensworth asked.
"Nay, my lord."
"None at all?"
"He never said nowt."
The Doctor opened his mouth like he was going to say something. He glanced at Marion and then he paused, shook his head, and raced out of the office.
Marion watched the Doctor out of the window for a moment, before she sighed and turned back around and stared at Luke suspiciously.
Marion noticed a couple of red flags. The first was the way that he was talking. His tone of voice seemed flat and his responses seemed short and clipped.
The other issue was the fact that his father was tied to a chair in the corner, and the young man hadn't even glanced in that direction. His eyes seemed glazed and unfocused.
Clearly, he hadn't listened to her when she told him to avoid the Master. Or he did but that Master managed to seek him out anyway.
She had to figure out a way to ask without asking.
"Now what's he up to?" Ravensworth asked.
"Who?" Marion asked. "Oh!" she said absentmindedly. "The Doctor. He's looking for George Stephenson I assume. That's what he said, wasn't it? Probably had some questions about the meeting?"
"The meeting?" Luke Ward asked.
Marion was going to assume that Luke had been hypnotized by the Master unless Luke said otherwise. And she didn't want to tip him off and get him aggressive.
"Yes," said Marion. She turned to make pointed eye contact with Peri. "The meeting that's happening later today with all of the greatest minds of the 19th century. That meeting." she turned back to look at Luke "I assume that everything is going to continue as planned."
"Marion!"
"Peri!" Marion replied in the same tone. "Well, Luke?"
"Yes." The young man replied monotone "Everything is alright."
"Ah," Marion snapped her fingers, "Well, I wouldn't say that. Right now, the town is overrun with people unable to sleep and violent because of that. I wouldn't exactly call that alright."
"Yes, unable to sleep, what did the Doctor mean by-"
"Hold that thought for a moment," Marion said. She reached into her bag and pulled out the first aid kit, hoping that she'd be able to find what she was looking for. She had the medicine the Doctor gave her, but swishing it back and forth for a moment showed that it clearly contained liquid and not pills. And she needed something to put it in. She set the bottle down on the table.
She wondered if the box had sleeping aids of any kind.
Maybe she should have asked the Doctor earlier. Oh well. Anyway, Lord Ravensworth wanted some sort of explanation.
"How much do you know about brain chemistry? Doesn't matter, I'll explain. So, in order to get your brain prepared for rest your body produces this chemical right? I think it's connected to daylight somehow and circadian rhythm. Not 100% sure about that. Doesn't matter how the brain produces it. The point is-" Marion finally found one of the tiny cups, "The point is, that your brain makes melatonin and if your brain doesn't have enough of that chemical, then you get insomnia, you can't sleep. Are you following me, Lord Ravensworth?"
"So," Lord Ravensworth said, "Someone has stolen the chemicals out of these men's brains?"
"Exactly!"She held up the medicine bottle the Doctor had given her and checked the dosage amount.
Luke was an adult, she was pretty sure. And he was taller than the Doctor who was six feet tall, so he was probably over one hundred fifty pounds?" Marion stared at the man for a moment. Up to the second notch was probably safest.
That's what the dosages were measured in. Notches. Not ounces or milligrams or milliliters.
"Why?"
"No clue!" Marion replied. Only half paying attention to the man. "But I know who did it! The woman at the bathhouse."
"Perhaps sleeping draught's the answer," Luke suggested.
"Marion, is there something like that in your box?"
"I need to keep looking. But maybe?" Maybe if she knew the dosage but she wasn't looking for that right now "If there is, there might not be enough. I don't see any melatonin gummies or sleeping pills. However, I might have found something to keep it from spreading."
Marion poured the medication the Doctor had selected into the cup. It was clear and thick and smelled like fake cherries.
Fascinating that despite how often things changed artificial cherry-flavored medication remained a constant.
"Now, I don't know how it'll spread, but considering your father has been so strongly affected by it well, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Take this."
Marion hoped that this would work. She had checked the back of the bottle and the worst-case scenario seemed that he might end up super dizzy for a while, none of the side effects listed included death or blindness or any of the dozens of other complications pharmaceutical companies would have rattling off in their commercials as a woman frolics in the park with her grandkids.
Luke seemed ready to down it moments after she put it in his hand.
"Wait," said Lord Ravensworth, "What is that?"
"I just said," Marion replied, "It might be too late for Jack Ward to take this, but not for his son. It's a preventative you see. Not a cure. It works best if you might've been exposed to it but you haven't had the time for it to fully metabolize. The Doctor recommended it. There's a reason they call him the Doctor you know."
"And you're sure that it's necessary?"
On one hand, Ravensworth's hesitance to let a woman he'd just met give Luke some random liquid out of a bottle was commendable.
On the other hand, she wished that he would just shut up and let him take the medication.
"Yes," Marion said firmly. "Unless you want him to end up like his father."
Lord Ravensworth nodded.
"Go ahead, Luke."
Luke Ward, still out of it, downed the liquid, likely due to him being overly suggestable due to the slug.
For a moment, Luke's eyes shimmered a bright blue. And then he started to cough heavily. It was a deep wet cough. Like there was something in his throat that shouldn't be.
"Good Lord!" exclaimed Lord Ravensworth.
Marion moved quickly towards the young man as he doubled over and lightly pat him on the back, being very careful not to hit too hard. "Luke? Luke? Are you alright?"
The young man nodded, and then he froze, then his face looked green. He stood up and rushed past her and out of the door and fell to the ground on his hands and knees. Marion went to follow him and then paused as she heard the unmistakable sound of someone throwing up heavily. Marion rubbed him on the back as he hurled into a shrub.
This was not the first time she had rubbed someone's back while they hurled into a bush.
Finally, there was a final very gross-sounding noise that she assumed was the grub the Master had had Luke swallow. Luke backed away quickly from the shrub breathing heavily.
She helped the man to his feet. His eyes still looked glazed, but it was the sort of glazed that comes from being sick to your stomach, not the sort of glazed that comes from being controlled.
Marion rummaged through her bag. She found one of the water bottles she had stashed in her bag. She quickly untwisted the bottle and held it out to him.
"Here. It's just water, I'm sure you want to get that taste out of your mouth." Marion remembered the year that she was in, "It's clean?" she added.
Luke took the bottle from her and downed half the bottle in one go.
"Better?"
He didn't speak, but he nodded.
"What the devil was that about?" Lord Ravensworth was at the door glaring down at Marion. "I thought you said that it was something to keep the madness from spreading."
The woman shrugged. "I lied."
"What?"
Lord Ravensworth sounded kind of angry about that. Again, understandable. But Marion spoke quickly.
"The medicine I gave to Luke wasn't to make him immune to the affiliation that affected his father. It was an antidote to an affliction that had befallen Luke himself."
"What affliction?"
Before Marion could answer, Luke spoke. "There was a man. He said he had been summoned by Lord Ravensworth. He was dressed in all black with black and white hair. Sort of a sharp beard. An older-looking man."
"I don't believe that I've sent for anyone with that description."
"Miss Henson warned me about the man. But I- I didn't realize that I was looking at him until he started talking to me."
"And then what happened?" Peri asked.
Luke looked stricken. "He pulled something out from his jacket. And then- everything felt hazy. Like I was in a dream. And then when I woke up you were asking me if I was alright."
"What happened to him?" Lord Ravensworth asked.
"The man Luke came across is a colleague of the woman from the bathhouse. He wants to take advantage of the fact that many great minds are supposed to be meeting here soon. He realized that Luke was going to be sending you a letter advising that you cancel the meeting due to violent attacks that have been occurring recently so he intercepted the letter, and gave Luke a substance meant to make him more complacent and easier to control."
"And how did you know that this man is the one who did it? Or that he did anything at all."
"Because I know the man and I know what he does. And anyway, I didn't know for sure until I noticed Luke's odd behavior and manner of speech just now. I needed to give him the cure without him realizing that that was what I was doing."
"Why?"
"Because if I said 'I've got a cure for the affliction controlling your mind' that might trigger something in what was done to him. That might make him aggressive to himself and others. This was safer for everyone. And see, he's fine! Aren't you?"
"Aye Miss Henson. Thank you.."
"Just. Making sure."
"Marion! Does he need to lie down?"
"Maybe? I don't really know. There shouldn't be any major side effects from what I gave him. But the aftereffects of mind control probably don't feel great."
"Have you got something in that box of yours for the men? To bring back their ability to sleep?" asked Lord Ravensworth.
"Like I said." Marion said, closing it and tucking it into her bag, "I'd have to ask the Doctor. I wasn't lying about that. The only medication in here that I was certain about usage and dosage was the one I gave Luke. I'd be guessing with the sleeping medication, and that's not something you want to guess with. Too little and it doesn't work. Too much and they'll sleep all right, but never wake up again. The affliction affecting Luke was from a different source from what's affecting his father. So even if I gave Jack a dose of what I gave Luke, I doubt that it'd do much of anything. No, our best bet would be seeing what's around and making some sort of sleeping draught. You could make one," Marion looked away from Ravensworth and towards the woman, "couldn't you Peri? On account of you being a botanist. That should be right in your area of expertise!"
"If I had the right herbs. Trouble is, I know absolutely nothing about the plant life in this area. Do you Marion?"
"Not especially no."
"Well, I might be of some use to you then." said Lord Ravensworth, "I'm something of an amateur botanist myself."
They walked back to Ravensworth's office. Ravensworth took out a large book from off one of his shelves and placed it down on the desks. Peri ran over to look at it and the two of them flipped through the book.
In a sharp contrast from before, Luke seemed to be unable to stop alternating between staring at Marion and staring at his captive father.
'Will my da be alright?"
"Hmm? Yeah. We'll get this all sorted out just fine, he'll be good as new don't worry."
With a much clearer head, Marion was thankful that she hadn't hurt Jack Ward. She had been angry at him. And she has wanted to at the time. But looking at the way Luke looked at his father…
She was just glad that she'd kept her head clear enough to not do something she would regret now.
"Tim Bass said he'd want nawt to do with me as long as I was working under Stephenson."
"That would be the lack of sleep talking," Marion said with a nod and an amount of confidence in her voice that greatly outweighed the amount of confidence she had in what she was saying.
"Don't worry. Everything will be back to normal soon enough."
Marion moved away and looked over Peri's shoulder at the book.
She knew very little about plants. Just enough to know that she didn't know much about them and so she should avoid eating anything she found in the woods without checking with someone who knew what they were talking about first.
Peri was focused on the book. She flipped through each page, looked at them for just a moment, and then quickly moved to the next one. It seemed to Marion less like she was looking for an answer, and more like she had a handful of answers in mind, but wasn't sure which was applicable, and she only needed a moment or two to figure out if what she was looking at was what she needed or not.
Marion wondered if she could get Peri to talk to her about plants. Partially out of a desire to learn about plants, and partially because she loved hearing about subjects from people who were passionate about said subjects.
About halfway through the book, Peri stopped. She traced the text next to the illustration with her finger and mouthed the words to herself before nodding. She stood up abruptly, holding the book in her hands, and showed the page to Lord Ravensworth.
"That's what I need," Peri pointed at the ink illustration. Do you know it?"
"Valeriana officinalis. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. It's an indigenous herb."
"Happen I can assist, my lord?" Luke said clearly, "Take Miss Marion and Miss Peri to collect herbs? Anything to help my Da."
"Excellent idea, Luke. Just be careful where you go."
'And where you step,' Marion thought.
"Yes," said Peri, "we don't want to bump into any of those-"
"Quite, quite. But don't worry, young lady, you two'll be in safe hands with Luke."
Luke nodded. "I was thinking of Redfern Dell, my lord."
"Splendid, splendid. I couldn't have suggested a better place myself." the man pushed Peri forward, "Now off you go."
"If the Doctor comes by," Marion called back as she walked out the door. She knew that he wouldn't need to, but it seemed right to say it anyway. "Tell him where we are and to be careful if he intends to follow after us."
Marion walked back.
"Oh! And before I forget. You know that well near the bottom of the hill from the bathhouse? A bunch of the Rani's victims dumped something of ours. You wouldn't mind retrieving that for us. Would you?"
Peri found a small sprig of Valerian and showed it to them. Marion glanced at it and nodded. Luke, meanwhile, confirmed that he had seen the same sort of plant in Redfern Dell and that he would lead them to it.
It wasn't that far to walk. On the way, Marion found a large stick on the ground. More of a branch really. It was about four feet long, still had some green leaves on the end, and was thick enough that it would probably be a lot more cumbersome to hold if things like "objects being heavy" was the kind of thing that posed an issue to her.
Marion spun it lightly in her hand and then lowered the branch part with its leaves towards the ground, and gently brushed at the leaves covering the forest floor and keeping an eye on Luke.
He was looking a lot better than he had before. Certainly less green.
"Marion, what are you doing?" Peri asked.
"Looking for landmines," she replied.
"Landmines!"
Marion felt the stick brush against something. She carefully moved aside the leaves to reveal a black device with silver-grey buttons on the front. It reminded Marion of the numbers on a payphone.
"Landmines." Marion repeated, "The Rani's handiwork. Not the explosive sort. The kind that turns you into trees."
"That kind that- Marion! Why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"I'm saying something now, aren't I? And anyway, them being here doesn't change the fact that we needed Valerian! Just be careful where you step, and make sure Luke knows too. Just tell him that there's bear traps or something. In case he doesn't believe the tree thing. I'm keeping watch. Just watch where you step. It'll be fine."
"Are you sure!"
"Have I ever said I was sure about something that I wasn't sure about?"
"Yes,"
Fair.
"Ok, well have I ever said I was sure about you not getting hurt and you got hurt?"
Good.
"I suppose not."
"Exactly! I'm sure about you being safe as long as you watch your step,"
"And Luke?"
"I'm going to go find him. Just to be safe."
Marion took off, watching the floor. A wave of nausea made her stumble for a moment, and then it was gone again.
Stumbling didn't send her to the ground, so she kept going. In the distance, she thought that she could make out the Doctor's brightly colored coat. And that at least told her that she was going in the correct direction.
Marion through a clearing, she saw Luke crouched down looking at a sprig of green. He picked it up and then stood back up.
"LUKE!" Marion shouted out. "STOP!"
The young man froze.
"Miss Henson?"
"Don't move!"
Marion started jogging towards him. She kept her eyes on him as she called out. "Luke, you need to watch where you're stepping. The forest floor is littered with-"
Marion was watching Luke, and not where she was stepping, and she wasn't sweeping the ground in front of her as she was in a hurry to get to Luke.
It's important to always look on the positive side of every situation no matter how bad, stupid, or seemingly avoidable it is. That way, when you explain the events to other people, you can do so in a way that makes you not seem like a dumbass.
This is why while the statement "Marion was so focused on making sure that Luke didn't step on a landmine and turn into a tree, that she wasn't watching where she was running and she stepped on the landmine and turned into a tree." was technically correct, Marion, would not phrase it that way.
She wasn't sure how she'd phrase it. Ideally in a way where it seemed like it was on purpose and like she was heroic.
Regardless of how Marion would personally choose to describe the following events, here is what happened.
First, it took an entire second to realize that the thing she had just stepped on did not feel like grass. This was just enough time to think 'Ah fuck'.
Second, was that she couldn't move and she couldn't see, but despite the implications of those descriptions of existence, there wasn't the sense of terror that you'd think would accompany them. Nor the concerning sensation of knowing one should be scared, but not feeling afraid.
Third, a few seconds later, Marion heard and felt something snap. There was a blinding cloud of dust, and she could see and move again. She felt like the ground forest floor had tilted suddenly to meet her head. Luckily, the bit of ground was relatively soft and covered in dead leaves and not large rocks.
Some dust got into her mouth, and she started to cough heavily. The sort of deep long cough where you covered your hand with your mouth you expected to pull your hand away to see it stained in heavy sort of coughs that made you curl up in a ball until they stopped because you couldn't move. She felt a hand lightly hitting against her back.
Marion heard someone calling her name, and she realized that her ears had been ringing and they weren't anymore. It was a man's voice she was certain. Probably the Doctor's and the tone in his voice reminded her of the tone in Five's in the church basement.
She didn't like that tone of voice from him.
"Marion? Marion!"
Now this was a different voice. It was feminine. Which the one who had been calling her at first was not. It couldn't have been anyone by Peri. All she could think about was that Peri was coming closer to the mine.
"STOP!"
Marion croaked out.
Marion uncurled and sat up as much as she was able to.
She slowly rolled over off her side. Her hand was right next to the land mine. And Peri was close to her, which meant that Peri was too close to it.
"STOP!" Marion croaked out again. A little bit clearer.
She reached out for the green sprigs that Luke had been aiming for, She grabbed a fistful and then put them in her pocket.
Then she pressed her palm to the ground and stood up. A hand grasped a hold of one of her arms and helped Marion to her feet.
Marion felt more or less normal again. She shook her head. Peri was staring at her in concern. Marion opened her mouth.
"I" Marion let out a loud hacking cough. Her mouth tasted like dirt. "Peri did you find any Valernian?"
"MARION!"
"What? Marion asked "It was just a question."
"Marion, what happened? Why were you on the ground."
"She were a tree." Luke's voice sounded shaky. Like he couldn't believe it.
"What?"
"She callt out to me to tell me to stop. Then she ran toward me, an' there was a poof of dust and there was a tree where she was standing. And then there was another puff of dust again and the tree was gone and she was falling to the ground."
"Marion!" Great, now Peri was mad too. "I thought you said you were being careful!"
"I was being careful? Look at Luke! He's human-shaped and not a tree! I'm plenty careful!"
Marion wished that she would drop the subject. Thinking about it for too long was starting to freak her out.
"Marion! You were turned into a tree!"
"And I'm fine now," Marion nodded enthusiastically standing to her feet. "Peri, hon, stop, please, you're making a big fuss about nothing!" It came across as a bit more pleading than she intended.
"About nothing I-"
Marion put her hands on Peri's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Peri? Peri. Peri? Listen to me for a second. 'I' am not freaking out right now," she hoped that she didn't sound hysterical, "But if you start freaking out, see, 'I' am going to start freaking out. Okay? So let's just calm down for a minute, yeah?"
"Marion!"
"Peri." Marion hoped that she was gripping too hard on the other woman's shoulders. "Please. "
"Mari!" A male voice called out to her.
"Are you alright Miss Henson?"
One of the voices was quite clearly the Doctor but the other one? The one that specifically asked if she was alright? That was the Master.
Marion…didn't think that he'd care about her well-being like that. He sounded legitimately worried. And Marion couldn't really think of a reason he'd have to lie.
She could see the Rani, the Doctor, and the Master at the other end of the clearing. The Doctor was holding the Master's tissue compressor and staring at Marion with obvious relief, the Master was staring at her with a weirdly blank expression, and the Rani was staring at Marion with a mixture of confusion and fascination.
Luke grabbed Marion's arm. "That's him. That's the man you warned me about. What's your Doctor doin' with him?"
"Holding him at gunpoint from the looks of it. They aren't working together if that's your worry."
Marion leaned down and found the stick that she'd been carrying. She spun it experimentally in her hand.
"MARI!" The Doctor called out to her.
"WE'RE FINE!" Marion called back.
The Doctor pointed the Master's gun at the Rani. They were too far away for Marion to make out what they were saying, only the expression on the Doctor's face.
When he looked at her, he looked relieved. When he looked at the Rani, he looked angry.
The Rani replied to him, the Doctor said something back angrily, and then Rani was carefully making her way towards the three of them.
"Marion?" Peri grabbed ahold of Marion's arm. "What is she doing?"
"She's making her way through the mind field to us to guide us out."
"And can we trust her?" Luke asked.
"Enough to guide us out. And walking in her footsteps is a surefire way to prevent any of us from turning into trees. And that's to be avoided at all costs."
"What's the harm?" asked Luke, "You were only a tree for a moment."
"I'm a little bit different. If I had been anyone but me, I'd still be a tree. Permanently."
"She is correct," the Rani said sharply, "Come to me. Keep an absolutely straight line."
"I don't understand."
"Luke, Peri, keep exactly in her footsteps. Don't step anywhere she doesn't."
Rani turned on her heels and began to make the careful trek back around the other side. Marion kept her stick in hand. Keeping the rear and lightly spinning it around in her hand.
The Rani lead the path, with Peri behind her, Luke behind Peri, and Marion taking up the rear. Somewhere up ahead, Peri slammed into the Rani's back making them both stumble. She snapped at Peri.
"Incompetent fool! You're worthless!"
"HEY!" Marion shouted up ahead, "Don't talk to her like that."
"She's not worthless to me," the Doctor said sharply, "You'll do well to remember that."
"She was going too fast!" Peri explained.
"You're fine Peri," Marion assured.
They walked a little bit further and then came to a stop.
"Can you jump without falling on your face?"
"Sure?"
"Well, copy me and you're out of danger."
The three of them jumped over a single mine in the middle of a ditch, and then they walked forward a few more steps until they were standing next to the Doctor.
The moment they were close enough, the Doctor grabbed Peri and pulled her behind him with himself in between the Peri and the Doctor, with his tissue compressor pointed between the Master and the Rani. He then reached out to Marion and grabbed her around the arm and pulled her close to him. His grip wasn't tight. But it was steady and it was pointed. She was pretty sure that if she pulled away or asked him to let go, he'd release, but he'd hesitate for a moment or two.
"Marion said that the Rani filled the forest with mines that could turn people into trees!" Peri exclaimed.
"Irreversible metamorphisation of animal matter into vegetable matter. Or at least it should be irreversible. How did you manage to change back?" the Rani demanded.
"My matter really likes to be a certain way and doesn't take kindly to change. Your mine turned me into a tree, my molecules said 'no thanks' and reversed it."
"You're quite lucky that what your mine did to Mari wasn't permanent."
There was an undercut of violence in Six's tone when he said that, and the hand around Marion's arm gripped tighter for a moment. Like he was trying to remind himself that she was there.
"I'm fine!" Marion insisted, "It didn't even kill me! I just felt really weird for a moment, and then I was lying on the forest floor feeling like I was coughing up a lung. Not literally. Just breathed in some dust that I shouldn't have by accident. You know how it is!"
"Miss Henson, I must insist that you know that I had nothing to do with the Rani's mines. And I am ever so relieved that despite your stumbling into one, you seem to be alright."
Marion blinked.
"Thanks, I guess."
Marion wondered how much of that was due to actual care for her and her well-being and how much of it was due to the tissue compression eliminator in the Doctor's hand and the dark expression in the Doctor's the fact that the Master was well within firing range.
On one hand, this was the same version of the Master that had shown concern for Jo Grant.
On the other hand, that was Jo "Rain of Sunshine" Grant.
"Right, move, you two." The Doctor said sharply. He shook the weapon in his hand. "I want you off this planet before you commit any further atrocities"
"Off this planet?"
"Oh, right Luke," Marion said with a nod. "You haven't been caught up to speed. See, those three are aliens. Not from Earth you see. We're from Earth, but she" Marion nodded towards Peri, "is from a hundred and seventy or so years in the future and and I'm from later."
"Mari!"
"Oh come on Doctor! It's not like anyone is going to believe him. He knows that. He's not going to tell anyone. Are you Luke?"
"No Miss. I don't know who'd I'd even tell,"
"Exactly!" Marion gestured out with the hand that the Doctor wasn't currently holding onto, "And besides, Doctor, the Master hypnotized him and he saw a woman get turned into a tree in a cloud of dust and then turn back into a woman again. This day has already been goddamn weird. He might as well get an explanation of what's going on out of it."
The Rani only put that sign in that specific part of the woods and so the Doctor led them at gunpoint back to the town proper. The Doctor had the Rani and the Master walk in front of them. The Doctor did eventually let go of her arm, but he still kept her close.
Marion heard loud voices in the distance. She turned her head towards the woods. She could see six men running towards them, and the sense of worry she felt deep in her bones told her that those had to be some of the sleep, the ones that had tried to kill the Doctor.
Marion tugged on the sleeves of the Doctor's coat once, then twice, and then pointed into the woods.
"Hey Doc?"
The Doctor looked where she was pointing and frowned.
The Rani retrieved something out of her pocket. It was a brick-like device with red plastic or glass at the end.
"They're easily disposed of." the Rani remarked. She pointed the device over at the six men.
The Doctor pointed the TCE at her.
"Give me that!"
"If they see you," the Rani reminded sharply, "they'll have no mercy."
"Maybe not." The Doctor replied sharply.
The Doctor glared at the Rani until she put the machine in his palm. Without missing a beat, he spilled the machine over the side in his palm and stomped on it.
"They're heading towards the dell!" Peri exclaimed.
The Master and the Rani looked back and forth between each other and began to talk as if the four of them weren't there.
"The wood's about to become populated with new trees."
"Another dilemma. One of morality."
"And we all know the Doctor's dedication to morality."
"I know those men." Luke said, "They're friends of my da. And if they step on those things…they won't turn back, will they."
"Probably not."
"Oh, Doctor, you've got to stop them. I-" Peri snatched the TCE from the Doctor's hand.
"Don't worry, I won't have any qualms about using this."
"All right." the Doctor said without taking his eyes off the Master, "Take them to the old mine working, straight along that path. Wait for Mari and me there."
"Luke you go with them." Marion said, "Keep an eye on Peri."
Honestly, Marion didn't think that Peri NEEDED anyone to keep an eye on her, at least not here and now in this situation. But she didn't want Luke to argue with her on whether or not he should stay with them and deal with the people and end up getting turned into a tree himself. The men weren't going to care that they knew him or not, not with him working for Stephenson. So any benefits of him being there were outweighed by the possible risks.
The Doctor leaned down to whisper something in Peri's ear. She smiled and nodded. A thought came to Marion, and a thought occurred to her. She had a message of her own to whisper.
"The Rani will laugh too hard and tell you that she's having an asthma attack and needs to reach into her pocket for her pills. She does need them, But when you let her grab it, she'll throw something at you. See if you can get the Master to give her the pills instead."
"Marion are you sure-"
"I'm-"
Marion felt a flare of nausea. She looked up to see the Doctor already halfway to the men in the woods.
"I'll catch up with you later. Go!"
The Doctor had gotten pretty far in the woods. She was so thankful that the person she was trying to find in the woods was Six with his brightly colored suit, and not someone like Ten or Eleven dressed in browns.
When Marion finally caught up to them, one of the men had tackled the Doctor to the ground, and another of them,
Marion clenched her fist. She felt the stick give slightly under her hand. She took a deep breath and relaxed her grip on the stick in her hand. To make it easier to change her grip based on how she needed to swing it.
"Oh look at that!" One of the men said. "Seems the inventor's assistant has come to look for him! Where's the other one? With the yellow dress?"
Luke Ward knew these people. And they weren't fully in their right minds. She figured that she should at least make an attempt to appeal to reason.
"Doesn't matter. Get off him!" Marion demanded. "He was trying to warn you! You tried to kill him TWICE and he still wanted to save your lives."
One of them, that she thought she recognized from the first attack, looked up from the pole he was tying the Doctor to and laughed.
"Do you hear that boys?" he laughed again. "The little lady says that the inventor is trying to save our lives. Like we haven't heard an inventor say that before."
Marion decided to try one more time. Neither of the men tying the Doctor down looked at her. They already had his hands and were starting on his feet and the arm that wasn't holding onto the stick was starting to hurt a bit. She spun the stick in her hand lightly. She shrugged her shoulder trying to relieve some of the discomfort. It didn't work. Marion wasn't even sure if it was a physical sensation or something psychosomatic.
Didn't really matter one way or the other really. She knew why she was feeling it, and it wasn't for a good reason.
"I'm trying to be a good person here," Marion said carefully and calmly. "Let. Him. Go."
One of the men turned away from where he was staring down at the Doctor and turned to look at her. He looked angry and tired and his eyes only barely seemed to focus on her.
"An' what if we don't."
Marion relaxed her shoulder and firmly planted her foot. She took a deep breath in, a deep breath out, and felt confident in the fact that at this moment, no reasonable person could make the claim that she hadn't at least attempted to handle the situation with words and actions instead of physically attacking them.
And so she shrugged, gripped the stick with both hands and shoved forward.
"Then I'll make you."
So the thing was that these were men who worked in the mines. They lived and died on how strong and capable their bodies were. If one of them got severely injured, they wouldn't be able to work and the general lack of social safety nets in the early-nineteenth century meant that their family could be in dire straits. And even if they were trying to kill the Doctor, their behavior was the result of chemically induced aggression and mania via the Rani. They weren't in their right mind.
Marion did her best not to forget this. She made sure that when she ran forward and swung her stick at the man's legs she did so in a way that wouldn't shatter his legs. When the man fell to the ground, she heard the sound of groaning but his legs looked like they were bending in the correct direction.
"I'm going to ask you again." she said firmly, "Get away from my friend."
She didn't expect that to work, but it felt important to say it.
She was trying so so so hard to get them to run away. And it wasn't because she didn't want to hurt them. It was because a part of her did. And she knew that she shouldn't. And they were making it hard to remember why that was.
The part of her that wanted to hurt these men was a part of her that she had listened too a bit too closely, at the well. And it was a part of her she KNEW she couldn't afford to listen unless it was a matter of life or death because she was strong. Yes, she wanted to keep the people she cared about safe. And she wasn't naive enough to think that that that wouldn't require hurting people sometimes-
But.
Her Nana never drank. She made a point of it. Not a glass. Not a drop. Not ever. And it wasn't because she hated alcohol. It was the opposite problem. Strong liquor tasted good to her. And so she never drank a drop because she was afraid that once she did she would never stop.
That anecdote had nothing to do with her personally not drinking.
The point was that she didn't want to get to the point where physical violence became her plan A just because it worked and it was easy. Even if she knew she was going to eventually have to resort to it had to be a last resort. Because she knew that it would only take one or two times of slipping up and attacking someone as a plan A and that plan working for her to stop trying to talk it out altogether. Especially if she was in whatever mood she had been in earlier.
And she couldn't allow that to happen.
But in this case, she had tried talking it out multiple times and it didn't work.
The second man lunged at her and grabbed the stick before she could swing it at him. Marion used his momentum and his weight and she flipped the man and slammed him into the third, sending them both to the ground.
In the process, she lost her grip on the stick. And when the fourth man came towards her, she hit him with a messy but strong punch.
Judo wasn't a martial art that involved punching. (Probably why she'd been allowed to do it).
The point was that her form wasn't great and when a shock of pain went up her hand she suddenly remembered the fact that the thumb is supposed to be outside of your fist when you punch.
She might've broken it.
The man didn't fall to the ground, but he did double over. Marion shoved him the rest of the way with her good hand.
The first man stood back up and grabbed her from behind. She ducked down and out of his grip.
She lightly shook her hand as whatever was up with the bones in her fingers righted themselves.
She lunged down quickly, grabbed his wrist with one hand and his upper arm with the newly healed hand, and flipped him over her shoulder.
Then she reached down for the and picked up her stick again. She stared at the two men who were still hunched down over the Doctor and spun it between her fingertips.
"I'm going to ask you to leave one more time." She said very neutrally.
The two men looked at each other, clearly decided that none of this was worth it, and ran off. The other four men ran after them.
Marion stared at them as they ran off. She was pretty sure that they weren't running towards the Dell, but she couldn't be sure. She wasn't going to go after them to check. She had something more important to focus on.
She dropped down on her knees next to the Doctor and examined the knots around his wrists.
"Doctor?" Marion asked, feeling through her bag for her knife. Her hands were shaking too hard for her to untie the knots. She figured she could manage to cut through the rope a little and then break it the rest of the way herself. "Those men aren't running towards the Rani's mines, are they?"
"They went off in the opposite direction. They might circle around and end up back in the Dell."
"They might not." Marion said, instead of "I don't really care." Which is what a part of her felt even though she knew that it was wrong.
She carefully started to saw at the rope.
"You know, originally, I had thought that we could lead them away ourselves," she said offhandedly trying not to sound as frustrated as she felt, "You act like a target, they follow after us, and then we run in the opposite direction. But then I looked up from talking to Peri and you were gone."
"Yes, well, you were taking too long! And time was of the essence. Besides I had it under con-"
Marion paused from where she was about to rip the now frayed rope apart.
"If you're about to tell me that you had everything under control, I'm going to leave you here and get Peri."
"You wouldn't." the Doctor replied flippantly, "You care about me far too much to seriously consider that for even a moment."
Marion closed her eyes tightly for a moment and then opened them again. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. Once, twice, three times.
"Well aren't you lucky that I'm around." she finally pushed through gritted teeth.
"Of course."
Marion grabbed on either end of the now frayed rope and yanked it. She was glad that the Doctor didn't ask her why she didn't just cut them all the way off. He could probably feel the way that her hands shook or just know that they did that. And either way, he hopefully understood why she wouldn't want to be holding a sharp object that close to his wrists.
She unwound the rope the rest of the way. Marion helped the Doctor sit up so the side of his face wasn't pressed into the dirt. She moved to the ropes around his legs as the Doctor rubbed at his wrists. She crouched down and got to work.
The rope around his legs was mostly around his pants, not his bare leg and her hands had steadied. She could just cut through them.
"What would've happened had you not been here?"
Marion paused for a moment. "The main differences were that Luke steps on the mine. He, as a tree, manages to keep Peri from stepping on it too. And, if it hadn't been for me, you would've been halfway back to the dell by now tied to that pole. The two men carrying you would have accidentally stepped on mines and turned into trees, and you would've had to have found a way to shimmy your way out without falling on a mine yourself. All the other men would have fled."
"Ah, so I would've been alright then.."
'Unless of course the pole snapped or you fell weird and there ended up being three new trees in the dell instead of just two. Or, if they managed to get out of the dell unscathed and did God knows what."
"Surel," Marion replied, keeping her voice even. "Just fine."
"Mari, the words coming out of your mouth don't seem to be lining up with the expression on your face."
"Really?" Marion replied. The edges of her smile shook. "Can't imagine why that would be." She sliced through the last of the rope a little bit more aggressively than necessary. "It's not like there have been times when things go slightly differently than they should have and something that was supposed to only be sort of dangerous ended up life-threatening. And it's not like, in spite of the fact that you KNOW this, and I know that you've known this because I've most certainly told younger you's this you keep taking risks that you don't need to take. Risks that could very well get you killed. And Doctor, I mean killed. Not changed. Killed. No regeneration. Dead."
Marion stood up. She leaned down and grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulled him to his feet.
"Has anyone told you that you have a tendency towards pessimism?"
"Dr. Roe did."
"Dr. Roe was?"
"The therapist everyone at my university whose last name was between Harrison and Lambert had to have one mandatory session with as part of a mental health initiative."
"Did she say anything else?"
"Not that I remember. It's been years. Anyway," Marion clapped her hands. Distracting the Doctor from whatever he was about to say next. "We should go find Peri and Luke."
"Mari?"
"What?"
"They're that way."
"Ah."
Marion figured that the Doctor knew where they were going better than she could. She'd gotten very turned around in the woods and had spent more time following Peri and Luke around and brushing away the dirt and the leaves instead of thinking about which direction she was going and when.
She had never claimed to have the greatest sense of direction. She was willing to admit to that. They came to the mouth of the mine. Marion couldn't hear any talking. This was something that she was concerned about.
Marion saw a flash of yellow in the distance mostly towards the ground. She darted into the cave as fast as she could. There was a faint chemical smell in the air, and both Peri and Luke were lying on the floor. Their chests were very clearly rising and falling, so even without checking for a pulse, she could tell that they were just unconscious and not dead.
The Doctor seemed to notice what Marion did a few seconds after she did.
"PERI!"
The Doctor grabbed the woman by her shoulders and shook her lightly.
Luke groaned slightly, but outside of that, he didn't wake up.
"Luke-" Peri said softly, "Oh, the Rani. Tablets. My, my fault." She broke out into hacking coughs.
"'snot your fault," Marion assured. She lightly pat the woman on the back.
"He'll be fine Peri." The Doctor said quickly. He brushed aside some of the dust that had fallen on her face. "How about you? Are you alright?"
"Yes. I'm-"
"Shush." the Doctor hushed her. In the distance, Marion heard the sound of rock breaking off and slamming into other rock. "Listen. Typical. He's decided to stand and fight. Why couldn't he just leave? All right, come on. We've got to get those two into the Rani's TARDIS"
"Any chance of an explanation?" Peri asked.
Marion stood up. Luke still hadn't woken up yet fully, and she didn't want him getting trapped in the mineshaft. She picked the young man up in a fireman carry. She wobbled for a bit, and then he felt weightless.
"The Doctor is going to trick the Master into starting a cave-in by getting him to try…to…shoot at him…" Marion blinked for a moment. "Hey, Doctor?"
"Yes, Mari? Do you remember which one of these pillars was loose?"
"I didn't notice any of them being loose. I was too busy trying to figure out if I could scale the walls. Now Doctor, do you think perhaps, you could take Luke? So then I could-"
"Better you take ahold of the young man. The Master's not likely to shoot at you. He knows it would be a waste of time. Now, you two, keep against the walls."
The Doctor glanced down the path. Marion was pretty sure that what she was feeling was just normal, garden-variety anxiety and worry and not the vaguely supernatural sense of anxiety.
The Doctor ran across the opening of the tunnel. A flash of red light beamed down the tunnel where the Doctor would've been if he had moved a moment slower and then ran back across back to the three of them followed by another burst of bright red.
The rock in the cave started to make a creaking noise that Marion hadn't been aware that rock could make. Then the creaking gave way to dust falling down.
The Doctor gestured with his head towards the opening of the cave and they darted out of the tunnel and into the fresh air. A cloud of coal billowed out from the exit. Marion took Luke from her shoulders and laid him down in the grass. The fresh air seemed to be exactly what the young man needed. He began to cough heavily and then his eyes opened.
"The Rani!" he gasped "And that man- where's Peri? Miss Henson?"
"Peri's fine," Marion assured. "She's right over there." Marion moved aside so that she wasn't blocking his view. "Don't worry, you won't find the Master or the Rani sniffing around Killingsworth anymore."
"But Marion, what's to stop them materializing at the other end of the village?" Peri asked.
"Ah-" the Doctor spun his sonic screwdriver between his fingers, "While I was in the Rani's TARDIS I made an adjustment or two to the navigational system and velocity regulator."
"But they're Time Lords. They'll repair the TARDIS."
"I mean- eventually they might," Marion said with a shrug. "And by the time they figure it out, I don't know that they'd want to bother."
"They'll be beyond the Milky Way. For that matter, beyond most galaxies. I've heard that conditions are very primitive in the outer reaches of the universe," The Doctor threw an arm over Peri's shoulder and started to walk off. "Hardly the setting for a harmonious relationship."
"That's not to mention the T-Rex." Marion added.
"The T-Rex?"
"Yeah, you know that T-Rex fetuses she had in a jar? Yeah the temporal fluctuations in the Rani's TARDIS are going to do some fascinating things. Don't worry, neither of them will end up dead."
Luke looked back and forth between them.
"I need to talk to Mr. Stephenson." Luke said suddenly. He stared ahead blankly. "I need to- I need to talk to Mr. Stephenson."
"Alright," replied Marion, Just, careful to avoid the dell." Marion watched Luke run off and realized what she had just said
"Doctor, the Dell. The mines!"
"Once we get back in the TARDIS, I can broadcast a signal that should leave the mines nothing more than harmless hunks of metal."
"Well, that's all well and good." Peri said, "But we don't have the TARDIS!"
Marion shrugged, "I asked Ravensworth to send some of his guys to retrieve it. Don't worry. And if he hasn't already sent someone to retrieve it, then you can ask him. In the meantime, I believe that you had a sleeping draught you were planning on making? You've still got the Valerian Root don't you?"
"And I managed to-" The Doctor retrieved a glass bottle with a white powder inside.
"-pick the Master's pocket when you bumped into him."
"Exactly. Take this to Lord Ravensworth, will you?" He handed it out to her.
"I'll go with her." Marion said, "See if they've found the TARDIS yet."
"Where on earth could he-".
Peri gave Ravensworth the root and the powder. Marion explained that if they gave it to Jack Ward and the other miners, they should be back to normal soon enough.
Not seeing him with the two women, Lord Ravensworth asked after Luke, and Marion was relieved that she didn't have to lie. Marion asked after the location of the blue box she'd asked them to find, and Ravernsworth told them that it had been brought to Stephenson's workshop, as most of the men who weren't sleep-deprived and mildly homicidal were people who worked directly under the inventor and so it was easier to bring him there.
Ravensworth escorted the two women over to the workshop himself. The Doctor wasn't there.
Hence Marion's question and why she had left Peri in the workshop with the three men and the TARDIS.
She found him crouched down looking down at one of the mines and examining it with his screwdriver.
"Doctor?" Marion called. "What are you doing over there? Peri's already at the TARDIS waiting for you."
"I'm attempting to get the frequency of the Rani's mines." he explained, "That will make it easier to disable them from the TARDIS so that no one else experiences a more permanent version of what you felt." The Doctor turned his head to look at her. He looked sad. "I apologise for that, by the way."
Marion blinked. "Apologize- what for? You're not the one who set the mines. And it's not like I didn't know they were there, I just wasn't paying attention. It's fine."
"Still. I could've-"
Marion cut him off. She wasn't going to let the Doctor do that Doctor thing right now. "You had no way of knowing that that mine was there. The only ones who could've known were the Rani and Me. Besides, being a tree wasn't that bad. I've definitely experienced worse." Marion lightly nudged the Doctor's side, "Don't beat yourself up over it. Okay?"
The Doctor was silent.
"Okay?" Marion poked her finger into the Doctor's side harder.
"Alright."
That was probably as good as she was going to get for right then.
The Doctor stood up fully. "I think I've got the frequency now. We best get back to the workshop. Wouldn't want Peri to get impatient." the Doctor said with a smile.
"Oh, of course not."
The Doctor walked through the door to the workshop and pressed his hand on the TARDIS affectionately.
"Ah! Battered but not bowed," he spun on his heels and gently shook Stephenson by his shoulders, "Thank you."
"Where were you?" Peri asked.
"Examining one of the Rani's mines so he could disable them," Marion replied with a shrug. "We can leave now though. The TARDIS is right here."
"Had to get it out manually," Stephenson added, "No easy task. Forty of us."
'Crazy that it only took six guys to get it in that pit.' Marion thought.
"No questions?" Marion asked.
"Just one Miss Henson," asked Luke, "Will I be seeing you again?"
"What? To stop the Rani? She shouldn't be coming back. Neither will the Master. Not for a while. Don't worry, things will be going back to normal. Things should be a bit more quiet around Killingsworth after we leave. Not in London though. Especially around major holidays. Things get weird then."
"So you might be in London then. Around Christmastime."
"Uh...I mean maybe. If things get strange. You cut it pretty close today. I don't know if your luck'll last."
Stephenson pat Luke on the shoulder and looked at him sympathetically for some reason.
Luke opened his mouth and suddenly, Stephenson cut him off " Oh as a man of science, Doctor. This valve's a problem."
"You'll find the answer." the Doctor answered after several moments of hesitation.
"My sentiments exactly." Ravensworth nodded.
"And when you do, your invention will take off like a rocket, Stephenson." the Doctor smiled brightly and Peri groaned.
"Oh, those puns get worse."
"Yeah, we're going pretty off the rails."
"You're both terrible!" Peri groaned.
"Unfortunately, you like us."
"I'm not so sure."
The Doctor put his key into the TARDIS door and pushed it open.
"I will venture just one question, Doctor. What precisely do you do in there?"
"Argue, mainly." the Doctor replied. He lightly pushed the two of them inside and shut the door behind them.
The Doctor pressed the Sonic on the panel of the console and adjusted a few switches and levels on the side.
"There!" the Doctor said, "The mines are inert and now," he flipped another switch. "We can end our little detour and I can take you to the Kew Gardens. Just as we had planned."
"Really!" said Peri, "But I thought you said that you didn't find that sort of thing very interesting."
"You know, I think I've had my fill of excitement for today, Peri. Don't you?"
Next Chapter: Watt's Up
Marion, ranting about how much it freaks her out when the Doctor runs off into danger under the assumption that everything will end up alright: Can you imagine what that's like!
The Doctor, who just watched her turn into a tree, reappear in a cloud of dust, collapse onto the ground, and curl up into a ball coughing like she was dying: …I think I have an idea.