"I know you were eager for your procedure, but I wish you stayed in your room," Paul heard the doctor comment on Rebecca not being in the room he left her in, having gone to retrieve her, but noticed her unusual absence.
It surprised him she managed to leave her room, he made sure his patients couldn't without his permission, its bad practice having patients wandering around the hospital unattended.
His eyes moved to Paul and Taylor and though his voice remained calm, he showed displeasure.
"No visitors allowed unless, you are her family, I have to ask you to leave," he insisted Paul and Taylor leave the surgery room, since they weren't related to Rebecca, and also because they're not prepped.
Shaking his head, Paul responded with, "For an unethical doctor you're certainly ethical in following the Oath."
A shrug, the doctor responded with, "There's nothing unethical with my methods. Everyone who comes here leaves happy, I assure you."
Boldly, the doctor claimed that he did nothing wrong and that if he did, he wouldn't have people coming to him for his procedures.
Balking at his claims, Paul retorted, "By stealing, you mean?"
Insulted, the doctor claimed otherwise.
"Does it look like I'm stealing?" He gestured towards Paul; he didn't believe what he was doing was stealing.
Rather, he was helping.
Cross his arms, Paul mustered, "You stole their faces!"
Shaking his head disapprovingly at the accusation, the doctor continues to insist that he was providing a service, that if nobody wanted it, they wouldn't have come to him in the first place.
"They didn't know what they were getting into, did they?" Taylor questioned if the doctor truly informed his patients what his procedures were and he answered with a disinterested, "I informed them of the inherent risks, it's their choice if they wanted to go through it."
He saw no problems with his methods, he informed his patients the risks, but they all agreed to the procedure with no haste, at all.
"Now, I must ask you two to leave and for my patient to lay on the table," the doctor gestured, wanting Paul and Taylor to leave so he may commence the procedure on Rebecca as requested.
Holding onto Taylor for dear life, Rebecca refused, saying she changed her mind, she didn't want the procedure, after all, and like to leave.
Tilting his head, the doctor's taken aback, saying, "Nobody goes this far to turn away. It's the journey, not the destination, all that."
He didn't believe Rebecca.
"We insist," Paul and Taylor stood up for Rebecca, telling the doctor that Rebecca's certain with her choice.
Shaking his head at them disapprovingly, the doctor says, "You are neither her legal guardians or partners or other, thus you have no say in this, I ask again, leave."
Standing in front of Taylor and Rebecca, shielding them from the doctor, Paul continued to insist that Rebecca changed her mind.
Shaking his head in amusement to Paul's display, the doctor, seeing a glint in Rebecca's eyes, didn't believe she was telling the truth.
Seeing her eyes sparkle with determination despite her trembling, the doctor smiled and responded, "You know very well I don't believe her. I can see it. The self-hatred and loathing, if I don't do it, she'll go somewhere else. Who knows what weirdos are out there ready to take advantage of someone with low esteem?"
In his blue eyes, the doctor sees himself as someone of a neutral party, he'll happily give Rebecca what she wanted, that she wouldn't have to risk going somewhere else, somewhere that wouldn't do as good of a job as he does.
"And Samuel?" Taylor spoke up, demanding to know if Samuel's death was part of the "good" doctor's ethics.
Tilting his head as his mouth moved behind the blue mask, the doctor says, "Sacrifices have to be made for the good of humanity, innit that right?"
His angel eyes narrowing on the doctor in anger, Paul gestures as he asks him, "And his daughter?"
Sighing, the doctor insisted that Samuel's daughter was alive, she got what she wanted. Last he heard; she went on to have a movie career in West Germany.
"He found her dead!" Paul grimaced at the nonchalant doctor as he informed him how Samuel came across his dead daughter.
Growing displeased at Paul and Taylor for interrupting Rebecca's procedure, the doctor turned his head slightly, politely calling out, "Would you please see to it that they're removed so I may work in peace?"
Quickly, a creature walked through the two-door, the body pivoted by its arms, as it looked towards Paul and Taylor.
Pale, no face, but they could feel its invisible eyes narrowing on them as they recoiled in fear as it moved forward, its joints popping as it moved its arms.
"What are you?" Paul demanded to know what the doctor is, informing him that he knew he wasn't human.
Lightly chuckling, the doctor retorted, "Calling the kettle black won't do you two any good."
The creature raised upright as it stood a good meter above Paul as it readied to grab him and Taylor with its long arms, but the two managed to escape its clutches, helping Rebecca stay away from both it and the doctor as he attempted to catch her.
The doctor's bent on ensuring Rebecca gets the procedure whether she wants it or not, the creature intent on capturing both Paul and Taylor.
Despite its thin body, it's got enough strength to hoist machinery out of the way as the three attempted to hide behind them while trying to escape.
"The sooner you get it through your heads, the sooner the operation may commence," the doctor insisted that he's right in his desire of performing his miracle on Rebecca, turning her into the perfect woman of her desire.
"I don't want it!" Rebecca begged the doctor to listen, but he wouldn't.
Chased by the creature like a twisted cartoon, the three tried thwarting it, but it shrugged off their attempts at subduing it long enough for them to escape.
The doctor readied the needle to subdue Rebecca as she stayed close to Paul and Taylor while trying to avoid capture by him and the creature.
Without any idea what the creature was outside what Rebecca knew, they didn't have any idea how to stop it, it's faster than it looked, and they risked getting clawed if they stayed in one place too long.
"I… am… here… Mister… Smith…" Paul heard that familiar voice in his head, having returned despite it disappearing prior, for some reason coming back.
The odd tone of voice suggested that Paul drew it back to him and it then said, "It… is… sensitive… to the… sounds of… explosions…"
Explosions?
"Follow… my voice…" Paul heard the voice order him and he felt compelled to do so, guiding Taylor and Rebecca towards the corner of the surgery room despite their protests.
The voice in his head guided him to using his Sonic Screwdriver on the EKG machines, causing them to turn on, shrieking loud, and the creature reacted negatively to the sounds as the doctor commanded it to calm down.
Like a child, it flayed its arms, its claws swaying in the air as it went after the EKG machines, intent on tearing them apart, the distraction and confusion's enough for the three to rush past the doctor.
He tried grabbing Rebecca, but only tore part of her jacket, as she jerked away from him while Paul and Taylor pushed her forward through the two-doors.
"Come… come…" the voice insisted on Paul following its commands and he had no choice but to do so, as he wanted to keep the women safe, and the voice, naturally knew this.
The voice commanded Paul to stop at a locked door with no doorknob on it and it opened without his intervention.
Rushing in with Taylor and Rebecca behind him, they're met with a lab of some sort, with large canisters lined up, filled with unknown substances, already Paul sees what the voice in his head had in mind, as he sees the flammability on the canisters.
"How're we supposed to escape?" Rebecca caught on what Paul's thinking, and he stopped as he waited for the voice in his head to answer that question and it did, saying, "In time… Mister… Smith… in time…"
Vague as usual, this one!
It seems as though it wanted them to lure the creature and the doctor into the room, something incomprehensible to Paul, but the voice's insistence proved impossible to ignore, that he had no choice but to continue following its instructions, even though it looked questionable in the eyes of Rebecca and Taylor helping him put everything together.
Evident the voice didn't want Paul to find into the hands of either the doctor or creature, but not for his sake, however, part of the plan of speaking with him.
Couldn't speak with a dead man, the voice's practical in that regard.
"Doctor, what are you doing, we're sitting ducks here!" Rebecca insisted they abandon this ploy and flee from the hospital while they still could, but Paul wouldn't budge.
Taylor followed him everywhere setting up the canisters in a way that shouldn't make sense, but only to the voice in Paul's head did it.
The voice remained coy telling him what it intended him to do with all those canisters lined up like a marching band.
It didn't exactly tell him how it intended for them to escape, either.
Some reason, Paul knew to trust the voice.
Or he figured he didn't have much of a choice in the matter hence why he's doing this.
The voice's plans continued until it halted Paul, forcing him to hide with the women, as the creature searched them out, the doctor not too far behind, and once they entered the threshold of the doorway, the door behind them slammed shut, locking them in.
Baffled, the doctor attempted to open the door with the doorknob, but it wouldn't open, and he ordered the creature to try, but even it couldn't, despite it having considerable strength.
It was as though some unseen force is barricading them from leaving the room, thus they're stuck with the canisters facing them.
Seeing this display, understandably caused confusion in the doctor as he stood with his head tilted at the sight.
"This is getting annoying, you know," the doctor decried the three's attempts at barring him from collecting Rebecca and starting her surgery.
Trapped with the doctor and the creature, Paul demanded answers from them, waiting for the voice in his head to instruct him further, knowing that there's a reason for everything.
"Why are you doing this?" Taylor tried buy them time, wanting to know what reason the doctor had of stealing people's appearances and transferring them to others, and the doctor tells her while continuing to insist that he didn't steal anything.
Because he could and to his surprise that there were enough humans around with a vast spectrum of body image issues that he had plenty to work with, and believe him, he was just as shocked as she was that they specifically sought him out.
Apparently, humans were limited in what they can do themselves, that what he does floored them, called him a mad scientist back in Germany, but he didn't care, and to his credit, there were happy patients.
"What are you?" Rebecca forced herself to shout, demanding to know what the doctor and the creature were, but the doctor didn't answer her.
He only said, "I'm the doctor… and you're my patient."
Before any of them asked how he does his procedures' he explained that they're extremely thought provocative enough that the SS sought his head on a pike for what he done to their people, but honestly did anyone truly care about them, the doctor asked with a disinterested tone of voice.
"They wanted my help, believe it or not, an awful thing, killing people over their appearances, now isn't that barbaric, hm?" The doctor pointed out that by helping those poor despondent Jewish prisoners, they were freed of their fates to flee elsewhere.
Though it sounded noble, Paul wouldn't believe him, as he demanded to know what became of the "leftovers" that the doctor took, and the doctor stated that he gave them back to the SS agents that were after him.
Nobody was the wiser, the SS agents got their comeuppance, try as they might, nobody believed they were who they say they were, all was well, but not for Paul's taste.
Seeing the creature swaying as it looked between the three, eyeless as it was, Paul asked about it, and it was then the doctor explained, "My brother of course. Unfortunately, he had trouble fitting in, nothing ever took. I tried finding him things to help, but it just sloughs off him like oil."
Sadness in his voice, the doctor tells Paul that the creature was his brother, unluckily incapable of looking the part, a defect the doctor calls it, but part of this was just him trying to find a way for his brother to blend in with him.
It was difficult when nothing took, but the doctor had hope that with time, his brother won't have to hide in the forest, he could be among the humans.
"Helping you hunt them!" Paul mocked the thought, but the doctor refused the thought, saying his brother deserves it for all that he done helping him bring patients to the hospital.
Seeing Paul, the doctor goes, "Although your anatomy bothers me, two hearts?"
His brother mentioned that something's wrong about Paul, that was why he left him behind, and seeing him close, the doctor sees what he meant.
Two hearts?
Never saw that in his time.
It didn't sound like a pacemaker or a defect, those two hearts worked in tandem, and it intrigued the doctor as he asked Paul about them, to which Paul stated that he was the Doctor, causing the doctor to mockingly echo, "The Doctor?"
Pointing at himself, the doctor insisted that he was the doctor, that Paul wasn't qualified to give him trouble for his work.
Half-glass full, this one.
"So, you were gonna use me for someone else, then?" Taylor questioned why the doctor did devoid her of her features, but the answer she got in return bothered her.
Shaking his head, the doctor cryptically tells her, "You're already the perfect specimen I've seen, there's nothing left for me to do, nothing to alter, nothing to take."
"What?" Taylor couldn't believe what the doctor told her, but he insisted it was the truth, that she was already perfected.
The tone of voice unsettlingly for her, though Taylor forced herself demanding the Doctor elaborate what he meant, but she didn't get the elaboration she wanted.
It was then, Paul heard the voice stirring in his mind, telling him that it was time, instantly, he felt the energy around them churning, a tear opening behind them, stronger than usual, and phantom hands yanking him and the women from behind through the unseen tear.
When his eyes finally caught up to him, Paul sees they've been taken on the outskirts of the forest, there's a rumble under their feet as they heard an explosion in the distance.
The hospital had been blown up by the canisters, but they couldn't have been able to do that sort of damage, even if the hospital has been disused, Paul argued with himself.
"Are they dead?" Rebecca turned to him for guidance and seeing the smoke rise from where the hospital was, Paul confirmed that both the doctor and his brother were dead.
With haste, he forced them away from the sight, returning to the old-but-trusty TARDIS waiting for them near one of the paths leading into the forest.
"Doctor, how…?" Taylor's confounded that a tear opened behind them, but Paul didn't tell her much, he couldn't as he felt the voice in his head prevent him.
He was only able to tell her, "Luck shines over us, my dear."
The voice left his mind once again, this time for good, he didn't feel its presence anymore, not even hiding in a crevice of his mind, but Paul knew for a fact the voice will be back in time.
It promised him.
"Will you be okay getting home?" Taylor asked Rebecca if she's capable of returning home and Rebecca affirmed that she can, there's a train station not far from here.
Looking her over, Paul asked how she's holding up and Rebecca couldn't believe that the fairy men were real.
"Are there more?" Rebecca wondered, but Paul comforted her, telling her that she didn't have to worry.
She ought to return home before it gets dark, again, and she agreed, but not before asking what they're gonna do about Samuel and his daughter.
"We'll take care of it. Go, you wouldn't want to miss the train, hm?" Paul prods her into hurrying home, he and Taylor will take care of the rest.
Though, telling authorities this wouldn't bold well for the two of them, so Paul relied on what his parents taught him at an early age when dealing with the unexplainable.
Lie.
Returning to the safety of the TARDIS, Paul stood in front of the console while Taylor hung around, a look in her emerald eyes.
"The perfect specimen?" Taylor couldn't understand what the doctor meant when he said this, with him dead, she couldn't get her answer.
Paul convinced her not to think on it more, the doctor already didn't believe what he was doing was wrong as it is, Paul reasoned.
"Perhaps you're right," Taylor nods as she believed him.
They went home after that, the TARDIS disappearing.
After it disappeared, there's movement along the shrubbery, a figure stepping out of the darkness.
A man with illuminating blue eyes as he stares at the spot the TARDIS left.
"Soon… soon," he quietly whispers before he vanished, as if he wasn't there, at all.
THE END