Somebody seen him hangin' around
As the old dance hall on the outskirts of town
He looked into her eyes when she stopped him to ask
If he wanted to dance he had a face like a mask
Somebody said from the bible he'd quote
There was dust on the man in the long black coat.
The
Man in the Long Black Coat
Bob Dylan
“Daily log
entry commences. Commander Strax
reporting. There has been no change in
the situation in this Earth city they call Lon-Don. The citizens are, as mentioned in previous
log entries, by and large unarmed, and easy targets for even a single Sontaran
vessel. Their military forces, such as
they are, would be no match for the might of the Sontaran Empire!”
Strax
paused, looked around, and then quickly grabbed a biscuit from a nearby
plate. Looking about one last time, he
took a large bite before continuing.
“In the
interim, since my ability to obtain current field reports under current
conditions is limited, I have begun to take a survey of the humans’
foodstuffs. I do believe it will provide
important tactical information for the coming invasion. At this time, my survey shows that these
so-called butter orange mint biscuits are of particular interest, and could
perhaps be used as…”
The
clicking of a door latch snapped Strax out of his biscuit-induced log entry
almost immediately.
“Log entry
ends!” he muttered, clicking a button on the wrist recorder built into his body
armour. Quickly tossing the rest of the
biscuit into his mouth, he rolled down his shirt sleeve, rebuttoned the cuff,
and pulled his jacket sleeve down just as Jenny Flint and Madame Vastra rounded
the corner, towels draped over their shoulders.
Without a word, Strax quickly walked past his housemates and attempted
to make himself absent as expeditiously as possible
“I must
say, Jenny,” Vastra spoke, her voice tired yet slightly playful, “your reaction
times are improving.”
“Improving,
ma’am?” Jenny replied, one eyebrow slightly raised. “I thought my reaction times were never an
issue before.”
Vastra
chuckled.
“You know
full well what I mean, Jenny. You know I
was impressed by how quickly you picked up the use of my ōdachi, even when I found it a bit unwieldy. The katana
is more my style…quicker, subtler. But
there is a difference between swordplay and hand to hand combat, and you…”
Vastra
paused, sniffed once, and furrowed her brows.
She spun on her heels, causing Jenny to jump back just a bit in
shock. Without skipping a beat, Vastra
yelled.
“STRAX!”
The call
echoed through the house and left nothing but silence.
“STRAX! FRONT AND CENTRE IMMEDIATELY!”
Jenny could
hear Vastra’s nails clicking against the countertop. They beat a slight counterpoint to the
shuffling steps that slowly made their way down the hall. Those steps were followed a few moments later
by a very nervous looking Sontaran dressed in tailcoat, waistcoat and tie.
“Yes,
Madame Vastra?” Strax replied, the nervousness clearly audible in his voice.
“You have
been at the biscuits again. Am I
correct?”
Strax
paused for a moment before replying.
“No…Madame. I…have not been at the biscuits. Again.”
Vastra
sighed.
“First off,
Strax, there is a distinct odour of orange mint in the air…far stronger than
there would be had the biscuits not been disturbed. Secondly, when Jenny and I went downstairs to
practice her Daitō-ryū, the plate of
biscuits was near the oven, while now, on our return, they are sitting here,
nearer where we came across you after our session.”
She then reached
out and brushed some crumbs from the lapel of Strax’s coat.
“Finally…there
are these.”
Jenny
barely stifled her giggle as Strax deflated in defeat.
“But Madame
Vastra…”
“No buts!”
she exclaimed. “You are already
complaining about how difficult it is for you to fit into your Sontaran battle
armour as it is. Do you think I can just
pop down to the local haberdasher and ask, ‘Pardon, good sir, but have you any
Sontaran Battle Armour in a size…”
She looked
at Strax and struggled for the right word.
“…in a size
bigger than this?” she finally replied, pointing directly at Strax.
“But…”
“I SAID NO
BUTS!” Vastra yelled. Both Jenny and
Strax jumped at the cold steel in her voice.
Vastra herself was taken aback by how sharp her words sounded, and took
a deep breath before continuing.
“I apologise,
Strax. I know it is difficult, adjusting
to a new life and a new planet. Even
though I was born here, after years in hibernation, it seemed very much a new
planet for me as well. Luckily, I have
the fortune of having had a longer time to adjust than you. But you are barely making an effort! I hear you making your log entries about the
softness of this planet and ‘the glories of the Sontaran Empire, Sontar Ha!’”
She paused
and took a breath.
“But
please, Strax…do try and make an effort here.
Jenny and I have both seen what you can do…we saw it on Demon’s
Run. This may not be to your liking, but
it is a good place, and there is room in it for you.”
Vastra
smiled.
“As long as
you do not eat us out of house and home, that is.”
Strax
exhaled in a huff.
“Fine,
Madame Vastra. Is there anything further
you need of me this evening?”
“No,”
Vastra replied, still smiling. “You may
retire to your chambers. Go…polish your
guns, or play with your grenades or something.
But please…do not blow up the house.”
“Yes,
Madame,’ Strax said, his voice expressing the frustration he felt as he turned
and left the kitchen. Jenny and Vastra
both heard him clomp up the stairs, down a hallway, and then heard the
inevitable bang of a door as it closed in frustration.
“You didn’t
need to be that hard on him, madam,” Jenny said after a few moments
silence. Vastra turned and her face
softened as she gazed at Jenny. Slowly
she raised her hands and placed them on Jenny’s shoulders.
“You are,
as usual, correct. I shall apologise to
him further in the morning. Right now I
think it best we give him his space to pout and mutter. I would prefer that to any further
confrontation. Still,” she continued,
having taken a deep breath, “he does rather eat more than the two of us
combined, and I do worry what might happen should we truly have need of his
armaments and we cannot get him through the front door.”
Vastra
pulled her right hand from Jenny’s shoulders and idly began tapping on the
counter top.
“Perhaps
some exercise program would do him well, Jenny.
I could have you supervise it.”
“Me?” Jenny looked at Vastra with a mix of shock
and surprise. “He already continually
calls me boy, and you think I should be in charge of telling him to march on
the spot, swing his arms, bend at the waist, and skip around? Not only will he laugh at me, he’ll do it
while licking custard off his fingers!”
Vastra
considered that image for a moment and burst out laughing. Jenny looked at her, aghast, as the laughter
showed no signs of subsiding.
“Are you
alright?”
Vastra
waved a hand at Jenny as the laughter finally began to fade.
“I am quite
sorry, my dear,” she finally said. “I
just imagined the scene you just described, and I could not help myself. No, perhaps this is not a job suited for
you.”
Vastra
reached out and wrapped an arm around Jenny’s shoulders. She spun her around and they began to walk
together toward the grand stairs. Jenny
rested her head against Vastra’s side as they made their way down the hallway…a
walk that came to a sudden stop as they entered the foyer and Vastra noticed a
plain white envelope resting on the floor just inside the door. She dropped her arm from Jenny’s shoulder and
quickly moved toward it.
“Madame?”
Vastra
raised a closed hand, her index finger pointing straight upward.
“A moment,
Jenny,” Vastra replied. There was
silence, followed by the quiet sound of an envelope sliced open by the sharp
edge of a claw-like nail. The envelope
fluttered to the floor, and Jenny could but watch from behind as Vastra read
the letter. She watched as Vastra
stiffened slightly, and then folded the letter back up. When Vastra finally turned, Jenny could see
her face had stiffened, turned hard, her eyes narrowed to slits.
“Madame?”
Vastra
strode past Jenny forcefully, taking each step up toward their room with
purpose. Jenny took a few steps toward
her mistress, her lover, her wife, and was shocked when Vastra turned and
pointed directly at her.
“Jennifer
Flint, you are to remain where you are.
Do I make myself clear?”
Jenny’s
lips trembled. “Vastra? You’re scaring me…”
“Do. I.
Make. Myself. Clear?”
Jenny
nodded, grasping for the banister for support as her face went white with
terror. She could feel her insides twist
as terror began to seep up from somewhere inside her. She had never seen Vastra like this before,
and she truly had no idea what was about to happen next.
Time
passed.
It passed
with the slowed intensity that comes with a terror that threatens to engulf
everything. Jenny stood where ordered,
as much out of fear as out of obedience.
Time passed, and with each moment she could feel her heart beat that
much faster. After what felt like hours,
Vastra strode from their room, clad head to toe in black. Jenny recognized the dress…Vastra had
several, and it had been specially designed to allow her the greatest freedom
in movement when on the hunt. Jenny
watched as Vastra walked down the stairs slowly, almost pausing at each
step. As Vastra reached the bottom step,
Jenny cautiously reached out and touched Vastra’s arm. She flinched slightly, then reached over and
took Jenny’s hand in her own. Vastra’s
lips parted, about to speak, and then closed just as quickly.
Jenny
turned as Vastra walked past her. She
fully expected to watch as the matched pair of katana were strapped at her lady’s side, but Vastra walked past
those as well, steadfastly making her way to the front door. Jenny watched as Vastra’s right hand reached
out slowly and took the door handle lightly.
“Madame? Please?
Tell me what is going on. You’re
terrifying me!”
Vastra
turned, and tears rose, unbidden, as Jenny saw the almost indescribable look on
Vastra’s face.
“I…”
Vastra
paused.
“I cannot,
Jenny.”
“But…my
love!”
Vastra
closed the distance between them quickly and took Jenny’s face gently in her
hands. She looked deeply into Jenny’s
eyes before she spoke.
“I would if
I could, dear heart. I shall be honest…I
am not even sure what is about to happen.
But this has been a very long time in coming, I think…”
Jenny
sniffled as Vastra wiped a tear away.
“I don’t
understand…”
“So many
things, my love. Everything draws
together. Every explosion starts
somewhere, and I have missed so many clues in so many of the cases I have
taken. So busy ensuring the quarry was
captured, I failed to notice the subtle hints that were laid bare…all lines
leading to a single point.”
Jenny’s
voice broke as she spoke. “I don’t understand.”
“Nor do I,
Jenny. Nor do I. This evening is my opportunity to find that
understanding. If luck is on my side,
dear heart…”
She held
Jenny’s face for just a few moments more, then let go with reluctance and
turned back toward the door.
“…with
luck, I will see you in the morning.”
“And if
luck is not with you?” The tears flowed
freely, running down her cheeks in rivulets.
Vastra
opened the door and stepped through it.
She turned, one hand still on the door handle, and in the dim light that
filtered out from the hallway, Jenny saw something she never thought she’d see.
Vastra was
afraid.
“If it is
not, then know this, Jennifer Flint…I loved you with every beat of my heart,
with every ounce of my being, and that what was done this night was done to
protect the dearest possession I could ever have wished for.”
Jenny
reached for the banister, but still felt herself slump to the stairs. She began to cry…it came in fits and starts
at first, but the tears truly fell uncontrollably after Vastra turned and
closed the door behind her. Jenny’s
hands twisted in the towel still wrapped around her shoulders, which shook with
her body as she sobbed.
~~~//||\\~~~
Time lost
all meaning. For all Jenny knew, she sat
there weeping for hours when a hand settled itself on her shoulder. She launched herself away and screamed,
scuttling on the floor as feet and hands struggled to gain traction against the
polished wood. She pushed herself up
against the door and looked up into the eyes of a very confused, and possibly
perturbed, Sontaran.
“What is
the meaning of all this crying, boy?”
Jenny
pushed herself up against the door, used it as leverage as she finally steadied
herself on her feet before she lunged forward toward Strax. She grabbed at him, shaking him roughly as
she screamed.
“She
left! She left, Strax! She left me!
She could be dying right now, and I don’t know what to do!”
Strax
looked at Jenny, certain she was deep in some kind of human fit. He filed this away for a later data log.
“What do
you mean, she left? Madame Vastra can’t
just leave. She runs this house with an
iron fist, or haven’t you noticed? I
can’t even have one butter orange mint biscuit without her…”
“Oh shut up
about your damned biscuits, Strax!”
Strax
stepped back and took a closer look at Jenny.
Her clenched hands, tightened jaw…all signs of more than some hysterical
fit. He could even smell the fear and
adrenaline coming off of her.
“Where has
she gone?”
“I DON’T
KNOW!” Jenny screamed, punching a closed fist against Strax’s armour to
punctuate each word. Strax held back
from returning the courtesy and hoped she would tire herself out enough to get
a full report from her. In her current
condition, however, he knew she would not offer any solid tactical
information. His blood began to
race…perhaps there would be action more suited to him this night after all.
“We were
going to bed, and she…she…”
Jenny
sniffled, composed herself, and continued.
“She found
an envelope on the floor, just inside the door.”
“An
envelope? There certainly wasn’t one
there when I went to my chambers,” Strax replied.
Jenny
nodded. “Yes, an envelope. She opened it, read it, and told me to wait
here. When she came back downstairs, she
was dressed for one of her cases.”
Strax
motioned toward the rack just inside the door.
“Jenny…her
swords are here. She couldn’t have been
out on a case.”
“That’s
exactly it, Strax! She wasn’t acting
like herself at all. She…she was
afraid.”
Strax
laughed.
“I don’t
think there’s a thing in this would that could scare Vastra, boy.”
“I’m
telling you, she was scared. I could
hear it in her voice. And she was
talking all strange… lines leading to a single point and stuff like that. Saying she’d see me in the morning if luck
was on her side…and that if she didn’t…”
“If she
didn’t, what?”
Jenny
shuddered.
“I don’t
want to think about that.”
“Where did
she go?”
Jenny shook
her head. “I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.”
She paused,
then began running up the stairs.
“She wasn’t
acting like herself at all. And I didn’t
see her carrying that letter. It must be
upstairs! We can find out what is going
on…where she’s going!”
Strax
smiled.
“Yes!”
He strode
up the stairs behind her. Jenny heard
him clomping down the hall as she made her own way to her bedroom, and she
turned, a look of confusion on her face.
“And what
do you think you’re doing?”
“Getting
prepared, of course. I believe a plasma
railgun with laser sights, positron grenades and electrode saws should see us
through this!”
“You know
what Vastra says about those weapons of yours, Strax.”
“Only use
them when needed?”
“That is
not what she says…and you are wasting my time.
Vastra’s time.”
Jenny
shuddered at those last two words.
“Jenny, for
all we know, right now the hordes of the Twenty-Seventh Hyperion Fleet of the
TechnoCore are seeking your…wife…out in the streets of Lon-Don. How do you propose we prepare? For that matter, do you even know where we
are going? We can’t decide on a proper
tactical assault with controllable casualties without that vital information!”
“That’s
what I’m trying to find out!”
Frustration seeped into Jenny’s voice, and she was about to slap him
when a sudden realization struck her.
“While I do
that, I have a very important job for you.”
“Load the
carriage with tactical antimatter missiles?”
“More
important than that.”
Strax
looked at her, shock clearly visible on his face. “What can possibly be more important than
tactical antimatter missiles against the Twenty-Seventh Hyperion Fleet of the
TechnoCore?”
Jenny
smiled.
“A soldier
should never go to battle on an empty stomach, Strax…”
Strax
looked at her oddly, and then his eyes opened wide.
“Do you
mean…”
Jenny
nodded. “And, if you’re quick enough,
there’s a rosemary-lemon verbena tea cake that I baked earlier today in the
sitting room under cover. I’d never even
know…”
Strax
pushed past Jenny and bounded down the stairs.
“Out of my
way, boy…I must prepare! For the glory
of Sontar!”
Jenny shook
her head, she smile quickly fading as worry began to reassert its hold. Nervously she turned and walked toward the
door to her room.
Their room.
She reached
out and took the handle. She feared what
she might see behind it, yet hoped secretly that everything so far had been the
worst of dreams, that she would open the door and see her Vastra sleeping in
their bed, waiting for her. She closed
her eyes, felt the cold brass against her skin, and turned the handle. The door opened inward, swinging silently on
its hinges, and she heard it thump quietly against the wall. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
As she
expected, the room was barren, save for the expected furnishings and their
various personal effects. So many of
them were unidentifiable to her, even now, but some held deep memories. There was the blaster pistol from Demon’s
Run, an orb from a Dalek from the time Jenny and Vastra helped the Doctor face
down an invasion on Albertus Alauda.
There were strings of alien crystals from the natives of Extopius-426,
gifts from a festival they had witnessed.
So many things…so many experiences together, and now, on this night,
they sat balanced on a razor’s edge. One
breath could bring them all back…one push could take them all away.
Jenny
looked carefully, as emotionlessly as possible, for anything that seemed out of
place or different than usual. Each
moment nothing turned up, the fear became harder and harder to hold back. Distantly she could hear Strax make his way
from the kitchen to the sitting room, and for that brief second she was amazed
that he was able to finish an entire cake that quickly. Or perhaps he was bringing them with him to
the cake, so he could have them nearby and…
No.
Hold
it together, Jenny. Vastra needs
you. There is something out of place
here, and you have to find it…
She closed her eyes, took a deep
breath, and opened them again. Within
seconds she muttered.
“Hidden in plain view…how could I
have missed it?”
She knew how, of course…emotion had
a way of making even the easiest tasks harder to do. Vastra kept trying to teach that to her in
their sparring lessons, and now she finally understood what Vastra had meant
when she said her reaction times were improving. She was learning to push down the emotion
when needed, to think about what needed to be done in the moment. This
was what Vastra must feel when on a case, Jenny thought for a moment, then
shook her head and bounded across the room to grab the folded paper from the
vanity.
My
Dear Madame Vastra…
We
have played this game far too long, don’t you think? We have seen each other in part, I do
believe, but now it is time that we meet, face to face, so that you may know me
as I know you.
Come
alone, if you cherish your beloved ‘companion’ as much as I believe you do.
M.
Jenny looked over at the clock in
the corner of the room.
Fifteen minutes.
Cursing herself, she quickly
retrieved a jacket from the closet and pulled it over the white shirt she had
been wearing during her lessons. There
was no time to change her trousers or shoes.
She paused for just a moment, thought, then grabbed a second piece from
the closet. She burst from the room and
took the stairs in twos as she ran to the sitting room.
“Strax! I know where she is! We have fiftee…”
Strax looked up at her, one hand
holding a huge piece of tea cake, the other fist filled with biscuits.
“Oh. Oh, Strax…”
Strax looked up at Jenny, guilt
washing over his face as a piece of cake dropped down and stuck to his battle
armour.
“Whmf abmf th plshmf rllgn n?”
“No. Most definitely not. You fire off a plasma rail gun or drop a
positron grenade and I can assure you that not only will you likely kill my
wife, but you will likely flatten three city blocks. Can you rest easy with hundreds of innocent
deaths on your conscience?”
Strax opened his mouth to answer,
but Jenny shushed him.
“I already know your answer, and my
answer is no. No rail guns. No grenades.
No saws. Besides, we have this.”
Jenny held out a huge piece of
equipment, oiled walnut and blued metal glowing warmly in the gaslight of the
room.
“What on Earth is that?” Strax
muttered in disbelief.
“A gift from an old friend of the
Doctor. Said he got it as a gift when he
turned 18 and never used it. No better
time than now, I reckon.”
“Jenny, it’s more likely that will
blow up on you than actually fire. At
least with a properly maintained railgun…”
“I said no. Now you will come with me and get in the
carriage, or so help me, if we all come out of this alive, I will make sure
that Vastra knows about every other sweet and dessert you have hidden away in
your room.”
Strax’s mouth dropped.
“How…?”
“Doesn’t matter, does it?” Jenny’s eyes narrowed. “Now, are you coming with me or not?”
Strax looked down at the half eaten
cake and biscuits.
“Fine,” Jenny huffed. “Bring them if you must. But we have to hurry!”
~~~//||\\~~~
Vastra walked out of the shadows
and into the lamplight at Camden Lock.
By her reckoning she had a few minutes’ grace before the appointed hour,
and she took that time to examine her location.
Secluded, but just…easy access in and out, but plenty of places for
someone to hide…or to hide someone, as the case may be. And the canal, of course. Floaters came up all the time…but how would
they explain one like her? She knew this
was a trap, but she knew she had to face it on her own.
Calm
yourself, Vastra. You need to be in
control of yourself now more than ever.
She thought back to all her
previous cases, ran through them with the cold casualness of a professional,
looking for clues, hints, anything that might give her some kind of advantage
of the situation. All she had was that
one fateful packet of letters she’d turned over to Inspector Abernathy all
those years ago, when the waiter-who-wasn’t tried to first poison, then gut
both of them at dinner. She wondered
about Parker, her devoted driver. She
wondered how he was doing…she couldn’t put him at risk anymore, not with how
dangerous and deadly her cases seemed to be getting with each passing
year. She hoped that he was enjoying his
early retirement at Llanwrtyd Wells, raising horses near the spa springs.
She heard a click.
She sighed. Assuming she got out of this…assuming there
was a way out, with no idea who or what she was facing, unarmed, with every
possible advantage in their favor, he thought perhaps she and Jenny would take
a trip there to visit Parker. She knew
they’d be welcome…he’d said as much, in the letters he dutifully sent month
after month. He seemed happy, Vastra
thought, and she was glad. He seemed at
peace, and if she read between the lines of his letters, she could pick up the
slightest hints that he was glad to be away from the danger.
Click.
In the distance, a bell began to
chime midnight .
As the twelfth bell’s ring faded,
Vastra waited. Her hands clasped
tightly…almost too tightly…her eyes darted back and forth, trying to pick up
any movement near her. She sniffed at the
air tentatively, but the stench of the canal obscured anything that might point
her toward her intended.
Nothing.
Click.
She turned slightly, and that was
when she heard the voice.
“On time. Of course you are. I should expect nothing less of the one the
people in the street call the Great Detective.
If only they knew…”
“Show yourself!” Vastra called out,
her voice loud, yet modulated.
Controlled. She had to maintain
control, even the illusion of control.
It was all she had right now, and until something else presented itself,
it was perhaps the only thing close to an advantage she had.
“In due time, Vastra. After all, that is all we have, isn’t
it? Time. Time is the master of us all, and in the end,
it’s time that makes its call.”
“How do you know my name?”
A laugh came from the darkness, and
Vastra was frozen by its chill.
“How can I not? A better question is, how much more do I know
about you? Would you like to know
that? Would you?”
Vastra considered the question.
Control.
“In…time.”
“Oh, so you will play the game with
me? That is excellent. Most of the time, in your position, people
just…give in. But not you. No, never you. Made of sterner stuff, you. A Silurian…though that evolutionary moniker
is far from accurate, isn’t it? What
woke you up, hmm? Was it mining? No, something less prosaic than that. I seem to recall reading about a strange
incident at one of the locations earmarked for the expansion of the London
Underground. A minister from the
Department of Geology…a ministry department that, in fact, has never
existed…put a stop to that.”
Vastra gasped.
“How…how could you possibly know
that?”
A shape slowly emerged from the
darkness. From this distance it was hard
to tell, but it was male. To Vastra’s
eyes, the silhouette was human. At the
very least, it was humanoid. She could
make out a top hat, and a long coat. The
top hat was pulled down, obscuring the man’s face, and even in the dim light,
her eyes could tell the coat was black.
Beyond that, she had nothing at all to go on.
“I have been waiting so long for
this meeting. Do you know that?”
“I have gathered that. After all, your letter did imply such.”
“Oh, you have no idea. Asleep for millions of years…what I would
have given for such a gift. But no, my
gift for saving this forsaken planet was to be pulled into an eternity of dying
over and over and OVER AGAIN! Can you
imagine the agony? CAN YOU?”
He choked out a cold laugh.
“Of course you can’t. No one can.
And then spit out of a locked impossibility, sent back to nearly the
same place I left, a hundred plus years earlier and with nothing but
tatters. Try to wrap your tiny reptilian
brain around that. You can’t. Not even after everything you’ve seen and
everything you’ve done, you can’t.
Because in my eyes, you might as well be human for how pitiful and
limited you are.”
Vastra took several steps forward.
“How dare you speak to me like
that!”
The shadowed man lifted a hand, and
Vastra felt herself being held back by some force.
“Hush, now! Listen to your superior!”
“You…”
“I said HUSH!”
Vastra tried to speak but found
herself unable.
“The game ends this night, Vastra.”
He paused.
“Not all of it, mind…just your
part. At first I wanted both of you…you
and your precious, beloved Jenny Flint.
That certainly would have worked.
But in the end, I think you’ll suffice…and in a strange way, it actually
pleases me to not only call him out of hiding like this, but to break him that
much more.”
Vastra’s eyes opened wide.
He
couldn’t possibly mean…
“Oh, I know you can’t tell. But I can.
We always can. It’s in our blood,
you might say.”
Silence fell, broken only by
Vastra’s ragged breathing and the gently lapping of water against canal walls.
“You wanted to know who I am. Which name would you like? I’ve been known by so many, after all.”
He took a step forward.
“On Uxarieus they called me Martin
Jurgen. At the Newton Institute, I was Professor
Thascalos…such a step down, but needs must and all. Once I even fashioned myself Count Marius
Castillo, which was to my tastes a far more fitting title.”
He stepped further out of the
shadows, and beneath the lowered brim of his top hat, Vastra could just barely
make out hollowed cheeks, sunken eyes, roughly stubbled beard and moustache on
an emaciated face.
“But between you and me, my dear
Vastra, let’s drop all disguises. After
all, I know what lies behind your mask, and it’s only fair that you know what
lies behind mine. I am ever so tempted
to say ‘pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name,’ but as we’re nearly
eighty years too early for that…”
He stepped fully under lamplight
and doffed his top hat.
“Hello, Vastra. I am the Master, and our little game ends tonight.”
His right hand slipped inside his
long coat. He fumbled for a few moments
before fingers wrapped around a familiar item.
His hand slowly withdrew, and in it was a long, cylindrical object. Holding it lightly, he looked up toward
Vastra and smiled coldly.
“There was one benefit to my little
eternity in Hell. Would you like to know
what I mean by that, hmm?”
Vastra shrugged. “I do not suppose I have much choice in the
matter, do I?”
The Master laughed. His laughter, much like his smile, was cold,
devoid of any genuine humor.
“Oh, indeed not, Vastra. Indeed not.”
He effortlessly tossed the object
in the air, watched it flip once, twice, then fall back into his open
hand. His fingers quickly wrapped around
the item’s shaft. Even in the dim
gaslight, Vastra thought, certainly she should have been able to pick up some
flash, some hint of form or shape or function.
All she could tell was that it was every bit as black as the clothing
the Master wore.
“I called it Hell, Madame, because
that was exactly what it was. Fire and
death without any sign of end. Dying in
unbearable agony, yet hopeful that perhaps this time there was an end to the
eternity of suffering…only to have my eyes open again and again. War without end…or without any hope of
end. You would think that would appeal
to me, but no. In the end, I just wanted
it to stop.”
His lips parted in a smile…the
smile of a predator.
“But it was more than Hell. At one point, far in some distant past I’m
not entirely sure even existed, it was home.
And home meant that I finally could get my hands on a few items I had
left behind…in case of emergencies just like the one I found myself in.”
He held his arm out toward Vastra,
the black cylinder in his hand pointed directly at her.
“This was just a tiny little
invention of mine. It is barely a trifle,
really, yet I have missed it so much these last years. I should like to introduce you to my Tissue
Compression Eliminator, though I imagine that you won’t find the meeting to be
as enjoyable as I will.”
Four flaps snapped open at the end,
and inside, a light began to glow…dimly at first, but quickly growing brighter.
“Farewell, Madame Vastra. I shall ensure that your beloved Doctor knows
how much you suffered at the en…”
An explosion…an explosion to end
all explosions…broke the silence. A
massive gout of flame erupted from the dark several hundred yards away, and
Vastra watched as the man…this Master, whoever he was…wheeled on the spot from
the impact. He grabbed at his shoulder
and looked up at Vastra. She could see
his eyes blazing with a mix of pain and anger.
Still held in place, she feared what was next.
“You think a mere gun can stop
me? An eternity of fire and death, death
without end, and you think a gun can stop me?
I don’t think!”
Voices rose up from houses all up
and down the street from the canal. In
the distance Vastra heard someone yell out ‘Someone’s been shot!” From another direction someone screamed
“Someone get the police!” Hundreds of
yards away, she could hear the sound of feet running their way.
Still clutching his shoulder, the
Master grinned at her, his face twisted in an almost feral rictus.
“This is far from over. Mark my words, Vastra…mark them well…”
As the footsteps came closer,
Vastra felt the mysterious hold on her begin to fade. She tried to move toward the retreating
figure, but instead watched in shock as he simply melted from view. Everything became watery, her vision blurred,
and in the distance, she heard an almost familiar voice speak.
“If you sick up from all that cake,
so help me…”
Darkness beckoned, and Vastra
willingly walked into it.
~~~//||\\~~~
“Where…”
“Home, love. You’re home.
And safe.”
Vastra tried to sit up, but found
it a harder task than imagined. Slowly
she made it to a sitting position, eyes closed, and slowly opened them. She was, as the voice of her beloved Jenny
told her, home, and in their room. Strax
stood off to one side, hands gently holding his stomach, his face visibly
distressed.
“How…”
“You left the letter behind. We followed.”
“You risked your life, Jenny.”
Jenny smiled. “And you risked yours. Fair’s fair.”
In the far corner of the room,
Strax groaned quietly and held his stomach a little more tightly.
Vastra looked over and shook her
head. She then turned back toward her
wife.
“You do not understand just how
much you risked out there...”
“Of course I do. Do you remember what the Doctor said when he
found out about us?”
Vastra smiled. “Remind me.”
“He said another Doctor once told
him, ‘We are all a little weird and life is a little weird, and when we find
someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall
in mutual weirdness and call it love.’”
“Yes,” replied Vastra. “I do remember him telling that. A lovely bit of doggerel…but true enough, I
think.”
Jenny sat at her on their bed and
watched as Vastra rested.
“That man…”
“What about him, ma’am?”
“He was…looking for the Doctor.”
Jenny’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Vastra shifted a little.
“You remember, I trust, the evening
we went out to dinner after your return?”
Jenny shuddered.
“I shouldn’t like to, but I do.”
“When the man leapt over the table
into the canal, he dropped a packet of papers.
Among them were photographs of both you and me, and a letter from an
individual who signed it only as ‘M.’ seeking our…”
Vastra took a deep breath. She felt Jenny grasp her hands tighter, and
watched as she worked it out on her own.
“He wanted us dead, didn’t he?”
Vastra nodded slowly.
“But why?”
Vastra took Jenny’s hands in hers
and held them gently.
“Because, my dear, we have both
traveled with the Doctor. And somehow,
this man knows this. He thinks that if
he…eliminates us…it will cause the Doctor to come face him.”
“Why would he think that?”
“Because, my dear,’ Vastra
began. She breathed deep and steeled
herself for her next statement. “Because
I happen to believe that he is, like our Doctor…a Time Lord.”
Jenny’s eyes opened wide in shock
as a hand quickly covered her mouth.
“But…how? The Doctor said…”
“…that he is the last of the Time
Lords. I know. But…something tells me this man is not
lying. And he is more dangerous than we
can possibly imagine.”
“What do we do?”
“We wait, my love.”
“Wait? That’s it?”
“It is all we can do. If this man…this…Master, he calls himself…is
in fact a Time Lord, I don’t know what we can do. There is only one person I know who might
have a plan, and until he shows up…”
Jenny scoffed. “IF he shows up.”
Vastra’s grip on Jenny’s hands
tightened. She saw Jenny wince, and just
as quickly lightened her touch.
“WHEN he shows up. Because you know he will, just as I know he
will. When he shows up, we will tell him
everything that has happened.”
“And then?”
Vastra smiled wanly.
“We hope.”
Jenny and Vastra sat as silence
fell between them. A few moments later,
Strax spoke up.
“Madame? Jenny?
If I…erm…”
He
grimaced, clutched at his stomach, and began to quickly shuffle toward the
door. Vastra took the strange sight in,
blinked her eyes a few times, and turned back to face Jenny.
“Dearest…is
there in fact a good explanation for what we have just seen?”
Jenny
fidgeted for a moment before quietly replying “A tray of butter orange mint
biscuits and three-quarters of a rosemary-lemon verbena tea cake.”
Vastra’s
eyes opened wide.
“Jennifer
Flint! What in the world possessed you
to…”
“He was
threatening to bring plasma railguns with laser sights, positron grenades and
electrode saws! And tactical antimatter
missiles! What choice did I have?”
“Apparently
a 30 year old elephant gun that had never been fired.”
“It worked,
didn’t it?”
Vastra
shook her head.
“I should
punish you for disobeying me.”
“But…”
“But you
saved my life. So, for now…”
Vastra
patted the bed next to her. Jenny moved
in closer and laid down, draping one arm across her beloved.
“We shall
allow Strax to recover from his intense tactical explorations of your baking
skills, and we shall get some deserved rest.”
Jenny
closed her eyes, a smile softening her face as she heard Vastra’s heart near
her. Just as she began to drift off, Vastra
spoke.
“One last
thing, my dear?”
“Hmm?”
“Strax
doesn’t have any tactical antimatter missiles.”
Jenny
smiled.
“Didn’t
think so. Still wanted to be safe.”
Slight
smiles crossing both faces, Jenny and Vastra drifted into sleep.
~~~//||\\~~~
“Give me
one good reason why I have interrupted my busy day to meet with you, Mister…”
“Blackpool . Nathaniel Blackpool.”
Even a new
suit couldn’t obscure the fact that the man sitting in front of the desk was
emaciated almost beyond belief. He still
held himself with a poise that belied his current state. His eyes darted around the room when he
entered, and he knew that he was not going to actually see the man behind
Mechanika Industries, but seeing wasn’t important. That could come later…if at all.
“I doubt
very much, Mr. Blackpool, that you have anything that might interest me. I have seen plenty of hucksters and con
artists in my day, and I have gotten to where I am by avoiding them at all
costs. You have wasted enough of my time
as it is by coming here, so if you will excuse me…”
“You’re
interested in mechanics, aren’t you?”
“It is in
the name of my company, yes. Having
established that, I will bid you a good day, and…”
“Not just
any kind of mechanics, though.”
The room
fell silent.
“What do
you mean by that?”
Mr.
Blackpool smiled. “I mean exactly what I
said. Not just any kind of
mechanics. Anyone can build a factory
and make cogs and spanners and sprockets.
But not you. Oh, certainly you
dabble. You need to keep up a front. And well done there. No one expects a thing.”
He paused.
“No one but
me.”
“What do
you think you know, hmm?”
“I think I
know enough about your true intentions that I can offer you things beyond even
your wildest dreams. Things that make your
experiments look like child’s play.
Things that will give you power beyond anything you have even thought
of.”
He tossed a
few sheets of paper on the desk, and a hand, fat with thick fingers, snapped
out of the darkness to grab them. He
heard the rustling as those sheets were flipped through, and then a gasp.
“This
is…this design…this kind of augment…it’s…impossible.”
“Hardly
impossible…just merely improbable.”
“And you’re
giving these to me?”
“Giving? Not exactly.”
There was a
pause before the man in the darkness spoke.
“What do
you want? Money? A position at Mechanika Industries? You make me laugh. I could have you killed and no one would be
the wiser.”
The man
leaned forward. “I don’t need anything
like that. All I want is something
simpler.”
“And that
is?”
“Oh, it’s
quite simple, really…”
“You follow
those designs in your secret laboratory.
Take all the time you need…I have plenty of it. I will stay completely out of your
business…save for updates on your progress, of course. But as soon as you have a fully functional
prototype…”
He reached
into a jacket pocket and pulled out two photographs. He tossed them on the desk, illuminated by
gaslight. One was a girl of twenty or
twenty five years, pretty enough, almost indistinguishable for any of a
thousand girls in London . The other, however…there was no way to
properly describe her. At first glance
human, but even that first glance exposed the scaly skin, angled eyes, and bony
frills that ran like ridges up over her skull, like some relic from the time of
dinosaurs.
“As soon as
you have a functional prototype, you use it.”
“For?”
“Revenge.”
Silence
filled the room. Blackpool
sat back down, arched his fingers, and waited.
He could hear the slightly labored breathing across the desk, and could
imagine the sweat on the man’s brow.
“Wealth
beyond compare. Power beyond
reckoning. And all for such a small
cost. What do you say? Do we have a deal?”
He waited
patiently, but he already knew the answer to his question. After all, he was a master of choosing his
targets, and he chose them well.
“How will
we contact you with updates?”
He paused.
“No, I know
how complex those designs are. Three
weeks. And then every other week
thereafter.”
He rose
from his chair.
“I’d offer
to shake your hand, but I know enough of you to know that you’ll not be
returning the courtesy. I’ll show myself
out, since it seems we’re reached an…arrangement. I must say, it has been a pleasure doing
business with you.”
“I do not
believe I can say the same, Blackpool .”
He laughed.
“Oh, but
you will. Trust me. Once you see where this leads, you’ll wonder
why you ever questioned this arrangement in the first place. Now, if you’ll excuse ME…” he continued, the
balance of power in the room suddenly shifted in his direction, “I believe you
have some work to be getting back to.”
“Y…yes…yes
I do.”
“Three
weeks.”
“Three
weeks. Yes.”
“I’m
looking forward to it.”
He spun on
his heels and walked sprightly out of the office. He’d have his revenge, that much was
certain. It would take longer than
expected, that much was certain, but what was time when all of a sudden you had
all the time in the world again?
He reached
into his front pocket and felt the wad of banknotes rolled together and
smiled. Yes, there’d be revenge…but he
was ever so hungry…
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