The Orphan in the TARDIS

Chapter Sixteen

Jack grumbles, as the UNIT vehicles roll up to the curb in front of him. His eyes widen slightly at the bright yellow 1954 Ford Popular. He tilts his head to the side as a uniformed man exits the vehicle. Martha climbs from one of the vans, approaching the immortal. Jack tears his eyes from the car and the soldier, catching the doctor in his arms. "From within the depths of foggy London town, a nightingale appears."

"Jack, you called. I brought reinforcements, as requested."

"That I can see," he says. The captain leans down, whispering to her ear, "Who's the Brigadier in the yellow death trap?"

Martha smiles at him, "Brigadier Benton!" she calls. The uniformed man turns, approaching the two. "This is Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood, and friend of the Doctor."

Jack jumps to attention, saluting the UNIT soldier. Benton smiles at the immortal, "Nice to meet you, Captain. I know you Torchwood folk like to deal with these things yourself, so, why call us?"

"Well, for one, the Doctor told me too. And two, there are too many of these b*st*rds for us to handle alone."

"The Doctor's here?" Martha asks, a smile finding its way onto her face.

"He's off chasing one of these b*tch*s in the Palace, left us here to deal with all the others."

"What do we know?" Benton asks.

"Tosh!" Jack shouts over his shoulder to the woman. She grabs the tracker, quickly closing her laptop and hurrying over to the others. "Show UNIT the tracker, because, unfortunately, we need all the help we can get."

"Doctor Jones, take point here. Send out squads of soldiers to each site, and tell them, if they need to, to shoot to disable, not kill."

"Where are you going, sir?" Martha asks Benton.

He glances back at her over his shoulder, "The Doctor's about to get himself into danger, and someone has to get him out of it. We both know this."

"Well, good luck Brigadier Benton," Jack smiles.

***

The Doctor, upon entering Buckingham Palace, whips his sonic from his pocket. Sophie slips her backpack off, quickly flipping it open. She reaches her arm in, finding the special pocket on the side. She slips her own screwdriver out, pointing it in front of her. The Gallifreyan's eyes meet the other sonic, and they widen. "Ooh, let me see," he coos, reaching for the blue and gold device.

Sophie smiles at how happy he looks, handing him the sonic screwdriver. He twirls the cylinder between his fingers. Once righted again, he twirls the dial on the side, a blue light shining, with a whirring noise coming from within. His face breaks into a smile, as he hands the device back to her. "Very, very nice. I like it, very sleek."

Sophie smirks, trying not to laugh, as he points his screwdriver in front of him once again. It whirs a deep pitch, as he spins in a slow circle. About a hundred thirteen degrees around it begins to whir higher in pitch, and he smiles widely. "So, that's the way then?"

"Yep! You ready?"

"As ready as I can be," she gulps.

"Hey, hey, hey," he soothes, his face softening at the fear he sees on hers, "Do you want to turn back? I won't blame you at all if you do."

"Hey, someones gotta keep you safe, don't they?"

A goofy grin finds the Time Lord's face, as Sophie moves forward, grasping his hand. "Geronimo!" he whispers to her, as he sets off down a long corridor toward what is probably going to be an angry alien.

The duo moves deeper, and deeper into the Palace, far away from the many touring rooms. They pass by many footmen who give them strange looks, but leave them alone.

Sophie's eyes scan the corridors, while the Time Lord keeps his eyes fixated on the pulsing light of his sonic. She spots something in the shadows, and nudges the Doctor's shoulder with her own. When he tears his eyes from his screwdriver to look at her, she nods at the shadows.

He smiles nodding back at her. He holds out his hand, and the girl passes him a torch from her pocket. He slowly approaches the corridor, the light shining in front of him. He sweeps the torch from side to side, until it lands on a figure, cowering against the wall.

"Oh my Q," Sophie says, seeing the lady crying silently. She moves to approach her, but the Doctor holds his hand up, talling her to stay where she is. Cautiously, the Time Lord kneels in front of her, seeing the blood gushing down her cheek.

"Hello," he says, softly, "I'm the Doctor, and I'm here to help. Think you could tell me what you saw?" Judging by her uniform, she's one of the many servants of the Palace. He cautiously reaches his hand out, trying to look at her face, but she reels back from him. "Hey, hey, it's alright. I'm not gonna hurt you. Can you tell me your name?"

"A-Anneliese," she stutters, as the Gallifreyan once again reaches out to her. This time, she doesn't flinch away, instead allowing him to look at her face.

"Anneliese, eh. That's a brilliant name, isn't that a great name, Lyn?" he calls back over his shoulder.

"Absolutely great," she agrees, from where she had walked slightly into the darkened corridor. She once again flips open her backpack, pulling a jumbo first aid kit from it's seemingly endless depths. She gently slides it to the Time Lord, who swiftly flicks it open.

"Can you tell me how this happened?" he asks the servant, gently dabbing at her face with a piece of gauze.

"Y-You wouldn't be-believe me. Y-You'll think I'm cra-crazy."

"Oh, I don't know about that, Anneliese," he says, while beginning to bandage her cheek. "I've heard some whopper stories. So can you tell me?"

The woman takes a deep breath. "I-I was just doing my job, dusting the artwork that's down here. Someone, no something came out of no where. It couldn't have been human. It's skin looked almost purple, and it had pointy ears, and pointy teeth. When it saw me, that thing hit me with it's claws, and I-I must've passed out, because the next thing I know, it's gone."

The Gallifreyan smiles at her, "See that wasn't too bad, all patched up too." He takes both of her hands, helping her to stand. "Now, Anneliese, why don't you go and take the rest of the day off, eh?"

"Well, no sir, I couldn't, I've got a job to do."

"Alright, but be careful. If you see this creature again, give me a shout, alright."

She nods, quickly wiping her skin beneath the eyes, making sure all the tears are gone. "Wiil do, sir. Thank you." She starts off, grabbing her duster, and moving on with her cleaning.

The Time Lord turns back to look at Sophie, "Well, that was fun." He grabs the giant first aid kit, walking swiftly over to her. "You did great."

"Me?" Sophie asks him, taking the kit to put back in her bag, "I barely did anything. That was all you."

"Now, don't sell yourself short, Lyn. I think I know where it went, and it's pretty bad. We need to go, now."