We quickly left the TARDIS, scooted around to Mr. Garcia's back door and through the house and out the front door. Nyssa and Tegan exited first, chattering loudly about nothing, hopefully calling a lot of attention to themselves. I came out next, running after them, making a racket as well. "Wait for me! Don't leave me here alone!" It was the middle of the night. Hopefully someone other than irritated neighbors would notice us.
"Mr. Garcia," they addressed me, "don't panic. We'll take good care of you." They put me between them and the three of us rushed around to the dirt path leading to Mr. Garcia's meadow. When we got to the tall grasses we spun around and faced an impossibly large man with dark hair and another man with red hair, both all dressed in black but without dark glasses. They had been following us but stopped when we spun. They hesitated, apparently assessing their odds, and, liking them, rushed us. "Run" I yelled. Tegan raced for the dirt road and Nyssa sped for the next meadow. Our stalkers hesitated just long enough to make a difference. The redheaded man chased Tegan and the giant came for me.
Each of us was armed with a can of Azmilon, popular on Korda, which is periodically attacked by intoxicated Zoltanian students on their infrequent and irregular three-earth-year-long Spring Break. Azmilon knocks them out and sobers them up. To my knowledge it had never been used on Earth, so I didn't know what it would do to humans; we were wearing latex gloves just to handle the cans. I had no time to deal with Tegan's pursuer and could only hope she would either outrun him or have a chance to use the Azmilon. I barely had time to hope, as the giant was on me before I could spray him. He didn't even have to body-slam me. All he had to do was lope into me and I was down, and Plan B was down along with me.
I rolled out from under him as he bent down. I knew what the handkerchief in his hand was for and I wasn't going through that again. As I rolled, I grabbed the can of Azmilon I'd dropped, rolled again and sat up, holding the can in both hands, my arms fully extended. He grabbed the can from me and all I could do was roll again, out of the way. Grinning, he sprayed the Azmilon at me, or so he'd apparently intended, but he had the can turned around and sprayed himself in the face.
He was down and I was up. I grabbed the can from the unconscious giant's hand and popped it into one of the two plastic bags I'd stuffed into a pocket; Plan B had been well thought out and wasn't as dead as it briefly had seemed. I bagged the hanky separately and ran off to find Tegan and my other abductor. What I found up on the dirt road was the latter running top speed toward me in the darkness, Tegan in close pursuit, screaming obscenities at him and recklessly waving the can of Azmilon.
I had no time to unbag my can, nor even to step out of the way. I grabbed at him but he grabbed me first. He may not have been a giant but he was as tall as I, and heftier; he had me in a stranglehold in no time. "Let him go!" Tegan shouted, coming to a standstill. He tightened his grip. I kicked him and he yelped but didn't let go. Tegan stood a couple yards away, the spray was useless and she is five foot two – although, I later observed, the redhead's right eye had some swelling about it and his lip was bleeding. "Doctor!" she cried, "What do I do?"
I couldn't answer because I was being strangled, but my attacker shouted "Drop the can!" Tegan gently set the can on the ground. Before she could straighten, he ordered her to lie down there in the road. She sat down. "No, lie down!" She complied, slowly.
I was trying hard to free myself and trying hard, too, not to pass out, when suddenly I heard a thud and an "Oof" and the stranglehold on me loosened slightly. My strangler fell, dragging me down with him. Nyssa dropped the two by four she'd used to crack him in the head and pulled me free. Tegan got up and let loose a few final expletives.
"The can!" I gasped, so she retrieved it.
"Doctor, are you okay?" asked Nyssa. I'm afraid I was leaning on her rather heavily. Tegan came and helped her support me.
"I'm fine," I croaked, trying to be fine. "Get his shoes off." Tegan began to do so. "Use the laces to tie his hands and feet. Hurry up before he comes to." Nyssa let go of me and I sat down rather hard but immediately stood up. As soon as Tegan had got one shoe off of him, I dragged the man to the side of the road. The two of them worked to secure him. I pulled the bag with the hanky out of my pocket. "Here, put the shoes in here." As they worked I stumbled back into the meadow to deal with the giant. Even in the darkness he was easy to find again. He wasn't stirring. I checked his pulse. He was in no danger, just unconscious. I pulled off his shoes; to my dismay they were loafers. I went through his pockets and found only a small bottle of chloroform, some car keys and his sunglasses in a hard yellow case. I requisitioned all three and returned to the road. Nyssa had stood up but Tegan was still on her knees, tying a last knot. "His pockets," I said. Tegan found, and offered me, a length of that same scratchy rope the man had used to tie me up, a pack of chewing gum, $18 in one dollar bills and a French postcard that, unlike me, looked its age. I took the rope and headed once more for the giant. Nyssa came with me and Tegan followed us. As we had nothing with which to cut the thick rope, we had to hogtie the giant and it took all three of us to accomplish this.
Out of bags, I carried the loafers loose in my hands, back to Mr. Garcia's house.