“Harley! You can’t just go out!”
“Why not?” Harley ruffled his hair, sending it in different directions. I waved a hand at his attire; a striped t-shirt, jeans, red high-tops and a dark trench coat would not sit well in 1890.
“Because it’s broad daylight out there and it’s a busy street.” I crossed my arms.
“There’s shadows to lurk in,” Harley huffed, taking the same stance.
“We’ve got three blocks to cover,” I reminded him.
“Ever gone roof hopping?” he asked with a grin.
I mirrored him for a few moments before complying. “If we get caught I’m not getting you out of it.”
“No problem,” Harley insisted. He started towards the front door, but I caught him by his sleeve. “What?”
“Back door,” I pointed out. Harley nodded.
Within the first two weeks of having Harley around, this was the third time we had been left alone. Bored, I decided I’d take Harley to see a little shop run by a man who hid a third eye with his hair. I’d become a regular; going into a place where I didn’t have to arrive in appropriate Victorian outfit was preferable.
“Careful it’s - ” I started as we stepped outside.
Harley immediately slipped on a patch of ice, cursing loudly as he hit the ground. “ - icy,” I added between giggles.
"Shut up," Harley grumbled, lifting himself up. "Which way are we going?" I pointed down the road. "Goddamned ice," he grumbled.
+++++
"There's no way that's human."
Harley held up a small candy that glowed slightly on the outside and in the center.
"Did you not expect me to take you to an alien sweet shop?" I pushed his hand down. "You might not want that one."
"But it looks cool."
"Might not be so cool when it reduces your tongue to cinders." He pulled a face a threw the candy down.
“How about these ones?” Harley held up a round yellow candy with a bright green center.
“You can try them if you want…” I hid a smirk; Harley had chosen the kind that were claimed to be the most sour in the universe. I picked a handful of strawberry-flavored ones.
“Hello, Hugo,” I greeted the man behind the counter. He was tall and burly; only if you looked closely could you tell he had an extra eye on his forehead, between the two normally-placed ones.
“‘Ello, Miss Pond. Where’s the rest of the gang?” Hugo slid the candies into a small paper bag. “And who’s the new kid?”
“Harley. He still hasn’t had his first case - I’m hoping it’ll be something to do with Mr. Turnes. He’s been suspicious lately, with all the night shifts. Madame Vastra’s visiting him today, I think.”
Hugo nodded with a grin. “You haven’t warned him about the Biting Lemons, ‘ave you?”
“Of course not.” I smirked and took the bag, stowing it in my pocket. “C’mon, Harley, I’ve still got a few things to show you.”
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“Does it really?”
“Yep. You can lose years with a bite. Strax’s lost days from single touches. He thinks he’s too good for the gauntlets.”
“But what race is it?”
“Dunno. It’s just ‘the Memory Worm’.”
I watched Harley cautiously poke the jar containing the Memory Worm; it slid a few centimeters over the surface of the table. “It’s really easy to threaten with, too,” I added.
We were both staring at it with our hands on the edge of the table, only the top halves of ours heads peering over it. “Really ugly, too,” Harley said. “What else have you got around here?”
“Weapons, torches, a lie detector or two...some force field-enablers, ooh, this’s one of the cooler things. Activate it, and it puts a bullet-proof shield all around you.” I pointed out every item.
“What about this one?” Harley asked, preparing to pick up a long, thin gun.
“That’s a flame thrower. Strax is in charge of that one, which I think is absolute rubbish because he uses it to cook things in the garden,” I replied. Harley hastily let go of the gun.
He turned to me. “Will you tell me about him, Belles?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Belles?”
“Annabelle’s too long for you. Would you tell me about him, though? The Doctor?”
I studied Harley. He’d suddenly gotten one of those scared-curious-intent looks on his face. His tone was nearly resentful.
“There’s a lot to know, a majority of which I don’t,” I began. “He’s a thousand-something years old, and I’ve only been with him for about eight or nine total.”
“Is he really as bad as they say he is? Did he really assemble an army because someone he didn’t like spoke to his friend?”
I laughed lightly. “Is that what the cover story is? Because it’s completely and totally off. Extremely off. The only reason he got a team on his side was because someone kidnapped one of his best friends and turned their daughter into a weapon against him that ended up marrying him.”
Harley’s head tilted to one side. “It’s a very complicated and intricate history,” I added quickly.
“What about saving the world loads of times?” Harley continued.
“What about them?”
“Are they all true - each and every one?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it. He saves...saved planets. It’s his occupation. He doesn’t care for any acknowledgments, either. If it wasn’t for him, the Earth would probably have ceased to exist a long time ago.”
“He sounds like a hero,” Harley said with a small smile. I considered it.
“He wouldn’t accept that, though. ‘Hero’ isn’t his word; I don’t think it’s in his vocabulary. He thinks he’s less than a hero...but the universe disagrees; he’s always something more. And most of the time, he’s too thick to admit that he does do the saving; he does do the reassuring; he does do the fighting. But, for the moment, I think he's just forgotten all that."
Now Harley was letting my words register. He kept the smile on his face. "You know him well."
"Oh, probably not the best, but I know the gist of it. Now, do you want to see if you've got a better aim than I do?"
+++++
Just after the sun had set, I climbed to the roof of 13 Paternoster Row. I cleared away a tiny patch of melted snow for a clear spot and laid back.
I popped in a pair of earbuds; I'd slowly started having a habit of hiding more modern technology around the house.
Several billion golden years ago
I lost a planet that I loved to the cold
Civilization blooms and then it erodes
And I'd said -
Someone yanked out both of my earbuds; Strax stood behind me. "What do you want?" I asked.
"Madame Vastra would like a word with you and the other girl." I rolled my eyes instead of correcting him.
"What's wrong?" I stood up slowly, brushing myself off.
"She's obtained information about a case." I darted past Strax and down the ladder that led to the third floor and sped down the stairs.
"Is it - Mr. Turnes?" I asked once I'd arrived in the living room, where Harley and Vastra already were.
"How did you know?" Harley said.
"Guessed. Been watching him from afar lately." I turned to Vastra. "So?"
"Mr. Turnes is hosting a small evening party tomorrow night,” Vastra started. “Our suspicions are very high, so we are going to send you two in to assess the situation.”
“But we’re too young,” Harley protested. “They won’t let us in.”
I smirked. “You’ve never heard of a perception filter, have you, Harley?”
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1.6K reads! Thank you all so much!
So, what did you think of Deep Breath? Pretty great introduction of Capaldi. Can’t wait to see where this series goes!