Post by Fitz Kreiner on Apr 23, 2009 11:49:54 GMT
Jess arrived into the reception of UNIT HQ, closely behind Loding. She still couldn’t get over how much it still looked like the reception of an ordinary office building. She guessed it was to add to all the secrecy of the organisation. A plain clothed receptionist was stood looking rather bemused by the blackout. Upon spotting Loding, she came up to her and saluted. Jess assumed that she was the plain clothed front.
“What’s the S.P?” Loding asked.
“I don’t know, Corp.” The girl said. “I was working on a report and the electrics went off. The young man, Tom, rushed in a moment ago asking for directions to the cellar. He thinks it’s the fuses.”
“You haven’t seen anyone about acting suspicious.”
“No one’s been about all evening, it’s been rather quiet.”
Loding tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I don’t think there’s much else to do tonight. You might as well head off, finish the report tomorrow.” She said looking at the girl.
“Thank you, Corp.” She smiled, dashing over to the desk and grabbing a bag and coat.
Loding watched as she left the building before turning back to Jess. “What do you suggest now?” Jess asked.
Loding ran a hand through her dark brown hair as she weighed up the possibilities in her mind. Anyone who would come into the building would have to come through this reception, and the receptionist hadn’t seen anyone. The fire escapes were an exit option, but unless someone let someone in that way, it wasn’t possible. Besides, each fire escape was alarmed. The garages were the only other entry/exit point. Those doors were electronically controlled as well, so they were currently out of order. The saboteur still had to be in the building.
Glancing back at Jess, she saw the girl had an eyebrow raised, awaiting the answer to her question. She was about to answer when there was a rap on the glass doors. She turned in time to see a man in a brown suit with grey hair walk in. A uniformed police officer stood behind him.
“Can we help?” Loding asked.
The man reached into an inside pocket of his jacket and removed a warrant card. “D.I. Hammond, Metropolitan Police.” He said, showing his ID. “We have something that you UNIT chaps might be interested in.”
Loding glanced back at Jess, who was now stood, hands on hips, a quizzical eyebrow raised, looking at Hammond. Smiling, Loding turned back. “What can we do to help?” she asked.
“One of our uniform patrols never reported back to the station.” Hammond began. “Their last report was in Camden, they’d been flagged down by a pedestrian. After that, we heard nothing else. Their car was found abandoned and their bodies, along with the bodies of four civilians, found in a street not too far from here.”
Hammond paused and motioned to the PC behind him. The young man stepped forwards holding a file. His age and the look on his face told that he hadn’t seen many bodies, and the scene he had no doubt seen had shaken him. Hammond motioned for the young man to put the file down on the front desk.
“Can you not pop some lights on?” He asked, looking round at Loding.
“I’m afraid we’ve had some electrical problems, we’re working on it.” She replied.
Nodding in understanding, Hammond opened the file and passed the first of the photographs inside to Loding and Jess. “Five of the bodies, we could see no discernable cause of death, other than some scorch marks. Three, well, three kids basically, a homeless guy and one of our PCs.” Hammond pulled another picture out of the file.
“Now this is the puzzler; our other PC. It seemed like he was trying to radio in, but the bizarre thing is this black mess that’s covered his mouth and nose. It looks like his radio melted to him, but there were no burn marks around the face.”
Jess and Loding both turned and looked at each other, their eyes wide in shock and realisation.
“Plastic?” Jess asked.
“I beg your pardon?” Hammond responded looking up at her.
“Was the radio made of plastic? The casing of it, I mean?” Jess elaborated.
“Oh, yes,” Hammond confirmed, holding a hand out to the PC, who passed him his radio. “They’re all standard issue.”
“Can we see?” Loding asked, holding her hand out. Collecting the radio from Hammond, she looked around the encroaching gloom and turned to the PC. “And your torch?”
Stepping towards Jess, she placed the radio down on the desk and shone the torch on it, a bright spot of light in the gloom.
“You know what we’re looking for,” she whispered to Jess.
“Well, not really, but I can give it a go.” Jess replied, gingerly picking the radio up.
“What are you looking for?” Hammond asked, leaning round to see.
“I dunno yet,” Jess shrugged.
Turning it in her hands, she carefully examined the case of the radio; studying the buttons and aerial carefully. Glancing up at Loding, the Corporal returned a blank look. Turning it back to study the back, Jess fumbled with the back cover, which held the battery. Removing it, she placed the cover back on the desk and examined the battery inside. It was when she reached to pick up the back cover that she spotted it; an indent stamp. Clearly stamped into the plastic of the cover were the words; ‘Les Plastiques Maîtrisent’.
“That’s the factory that the Doctor went to earlier.” She said, pointing it out to Loding.
Nodding in agreement, Loding turned to Hammond. “Was the radio your other PC had the same as this, made in the same place?”
“Yes, must have been.” Hammond replied.
“If that’s the case, you must have been right earlier. I think we’ve been barking up the wrong tree.” Loding realised, looking at Jess.
“We’ve done some checking on the buildings near where they were found,” Hammond said. “One of them was held to a company called Rutilus Allec, and we’ve done some research on them and they don’t seem to exist.”
Jess and Loding exchanged another look at the sound of the name.
“We’ve been doing some research on them as well,” Jess admitted. “I think we’d better come have a look at this place.”
“I think you’re right.” Loding agreed. “I think the matters here might have to be put on the back burner.”
“It’ll take at least two hours to sort the fuse box and telephones. The rest might take a little-” Toms’ voice came from the shadows as he emerged from the corridor, pausing as he spotted the two police officers. “Oh hello, what’s all this then?”
“There’s been a bit of an incident round the corner, involving plastic.” Jess replied turning round and smiling. “Corporal Loding and me are going to check it out, will you be ok here?”
“Yeah, I should be able to get the basics done for the morning. Well, as long as I can have light, screwdrivers, fuse wire, and of course, a cup of tea.” Tom replied, smiling and winking.
“What about the sab-?” Loding paused and glanced back at Hammond and leant closer to Tom. “What about the saboteur?”
“Well, he’ll think his job’s done now. He’ll be lying low, keeping his head down.” Tom said. “I just need someone you can trust to show me where what I need is, and keep guard.”
“Private Harris should fill that role for you.” Loding said after a few moments thought before turning back to Hammond. “If you’ll wait here, we’ll just get our equipment together and we’ll be with you.”
Hammond nodded his understanding, placing the pictures back in the file and passing it back to the PC.
Sergeant Lovatt glanced up at the glass doors of the reception to the factory office, her eyes widened at the sight that greeted them. The Doctor was struggling with something that was attempting to throttle him. Lovatt couldn’t be sure but it looked like one of the large pot plants in the reception. She didn’t think the Doctor was the sort to play practical jokes like that.
“Captain, we’ve got trouble,” she shouted already heading off towards the doors.
Morris rounded the land rover to see the sight across the car park and instantly set off at a run, shouting back to the troops behind him to follow. He reached the doors just seconds after Lovatt, who was desperately rattling them. He could see inside clearly now; the Doctor and all four troops inside were being attacked by the plants, as if they were living creatures.
“They’re locked, Sir.” Lovatt shouted, turning to face him, still struggling with the doors.
“We’ll see about that,” Morris muttered drawing his pistol from its holster. Aiming carefully at the doors, so the bullets wouldn’t hit anyone the other side, he shot five rounds into the large glass doors, causing them to cobweb. With a swift kick, the glass crumbled into a glistening pile of small cubes. “You men, get them out of there.” He shouted back to the patrol, gesturing through the shattered door.
It took what seemed like an hour before the five men were finally brought out. The Doctor still seemed perfectly alright, rubbing and stretching his neck. Stetham was choking and breathing heavily. Two of the other men had passed out and the last was dead, his head lolling limply as he was lowered gently to the floor. Morris glanced back at the reception area. The branches of the plants were snaking and reaching out like tentacles.
“What the hell?” He asked, turning to the Doctor.
“Remember what I told you about the Nestene animating plastic?” The Doctor replied. “Well, those plants are plastic, and presumably a security device. Just like the Master to leave a nasty little trap like that.”
“What do you think we should do now then?” Morris asked. “I don’t want to order my chaps through there.” He pointed at the trashing plastic plants.
“I wouldn’t ask you to.” The Doctor replied. “How are those fellers?”
“One’s dead, the others will live.” Lovatt said, from where she was crouched.
“Right, Will,” the Doctor said, putting his hand on Morris’ shoulder and leading him away from the group. “If you could split your chaps into two teams and cover all exits, I’ll finish work on my device, plus I can help carry one of those poor fellers, and then we can move in, I believe you military chaps say.”
“What about the TARDIS thing you were after?” Morris asked.
“We’ll have to leave that until my device is ready.” The Doctor replied. “Especially with the plastic plants cutting off the reception entrance.”
“Well, you’d better hurry it up, Doctor. I don’t wanna face an army of those Auton things in the dark.” Morris replied.
“Oh, don’t worry, Will.” The Doctor smiled turning and heading towards the unconscious soldiers. “I’m nearly done.” Pausing, the Doctor turned back to Morris and pointed a long finger at him a serious look on his face. “And if we do run into the Master in there, make sure that you leave him to me.”
Morris nodded as he watched the Time Lord walk back to the three prone men. He had a brief chat with Lovatt and they moved off, carrying the injured men. Walking back to the remaining men, Morris ordered them to attention and gave them their orders.
“What do you think our chances are?” Lovatt asked the Doctor.
The Time Lord was sat in the passenger seat of the land rover, the glove compartment hanging open and wires from the light inside trailing out. The Doctor had attached Morris’ radio to the CD player by a thick black wire. The backing of the player was off and Lovatt could see the workings inside. It looked as though the Doctor had added a lot of his own modifications.
“What is that?” Lovatt asked.
“This, my dear Sergeant, is an adaptation on an old design of mine. I’ve modified the CD player to emit an electronic signal that should interfere with the Nestene control signal and stop an Auton in its tracks. I just hope Jess’ taste in music can stop the things.” The Doctor smiled up at her.
“What’s the music?”
The Doctor popped the top of the player open and peered at the CD inside. “I can’t tell whether it’s ‘Megadeth’, or ‘Risk’.” He replied. “Either way, it should do the trick. Just cover your ears.”
Lovatt did so, watching as the Doctor held the radio part of the device at arm’s length, pointing the aerial at the driver’s window. He turned to Lovatt and winked, pressing the play button. A high pitched electronic shriek filled the air. He pressed the button again and the sound stopped.
“I was expecting something more than that?” Lovatt replied, removing her hands from her ears.
“It’s not a bazooka, Sergeant.” The Doctor replied, almost sounding hurt. Passing the device to Lovatt, he jumped down from the land rover and clapped her gently on the back. “Now, I could use your help to use this, Sergeant, if you don’t mind?”
“Right you are, Doctor.” Lovatt smiled, hefting the player, before the smile faded from her face. “How?”
“Well, I can’t hold the main body of it, press the button, and hold the hand piece at the same time.” The Doctor replied, smiling. “Sometimes it would help to have an extra hand, and as I don’t have one, I’m borrowing one.”
Private Eddie Caplin peered through the glass panel in the door and into the gloom of the factory. The light was starting to fade and the inside of the factory was dark. Sighing, he turned back to Joe Adamson, who was stood nearby, his rifle hung slackly from his shoulder.
“Not a thing,” he shrugged.
“Reckon it’s a wild goose?” Adamson suggested, shuffling his feet and stifling a yawn.
“No idea mate.” Caplin replied. “All I know is, I’d rather be in the pub.”
“You and me both, mate.” Adamson laughed. He smile faded as he was sure that he saw some movement inside. “Hang on,”
“What is it?” Caplin asked, turning round.
“There’s someone in there?” Adamson said, pointing to the door.
Caplin peered at the door. Adamson was right; he could see someone moving inside now. No, there were two of them. Caplin watched as they moved closer. There was something odd about them. Cautiously, he cocked his rifle, hearing Adamson do the same beside him.
“What are they?” Adamson asked, his eyes wide as he looked at the figures.
There were four of them now, walking towards the door. They were bald with blank faces. They were wearing boiler suits with scarves tied round their necks.
“What the bloody hell?” Caplin asked as the door burst open.
The two men, their eyes wide with shock, loosed several rounds off as the Autons raised their hands. Their fingers dropping away and they blasted the two men dead.
“What’s the S.P?” Loding asked.
“I don’t know, Corp.” The girl said. “I was working on a report and the electrics went off. The young man, Tom, rushed in a moment ago asking for directions to the cellar. He thinks it’s the fuses.”
“You haven’t seen anyone about acting suspicious.”
“No one’s been about all evening, it’s been rather quiet.”
Loding tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I don’t think there’s much else to do tonight. You might as well head off, finish the report tomorrow.” She said looking at the girl.
“Thank you, Corp.” She smiled, dashing over to the desk and grabbing a bag and coat.
Loding watched as she left the building before turning back to Jess. “What do you suggest now?” Jess asked.
Loding ran a hand through her dark brown hair as she weighed up the possibilities in her mind. Anyone who would come into the building would have to come through this reception, and the receptionist hadn’t seen anyone. The fire escapes were an exit option, but unless someone let someone in that way, it wasn’t possible. Besides, each fire escape was alarmed. The garages were the only other entry/exit point. Those doors were electronically controlled as well, so they were currently out of order. The saboteur still had to be in the building.
Glancing back at Jess, she saw the girl had an eyebrow raised, awaiting the answer to her question. She was about to answer when there was a rap on the glass doors. She turned in time to see a man in a brown suit with grey hair walk in. A uniformed police officer stood behind him.
“Can we help?” Loding asked.
The man reached into an inside pocket of his jacket and removed a warrant card. “D.I. Hammond, Metropolitan Police.” He said, showing his ID. “We have something that you UNIT chaps might be interested in.”
Loding glanced back at Jess, who was now stood, hands on hips, a quizzical eyebrow raised, looking at Hammond. Smiling, Loding turned back. “What can we do to help?” she asked.
“One of our uniform patrols never reported back to the station.” Hammond began. “Their last report was in Camden, they’d been flagged down by a pedestrian. After that, we heard nothing else. Their car was found abandoned and their bodies, along with the bodies of four civilians, found in a street not too far from here.”
Hammond paused and motioned to the PC behind him. The young man stepped forwards holding a file. His age and the look on his face told that he hadn’t seen many bodies, and the scene he had no doubt seen had shaken him. Hammond motioned for the young man to put the file down on the front desk.
“Can you not pop some lights on?” He asked, looking round at Loding.
“I’m afraid we’ve had some electrical problems, we’re working on it.” She replied.
Nodding in understanding, Hammond opened the file and passed the first of the photographs inside to Loding and Jess. “Five of the bodies, we could see no discernable cause of death, other than some scorch marks. Three, well, three kids basically, a homeless guy and one of our PCs.” Hammond pulled another picture out of the file.
“Now this is the puzzler; our other PC. It seemed like he was trying to radio in, but the bizarre thing is this black mess that’s covered his mouth and nose. It looks like his radio melted to him, but there were no burn marks around the face.”
Jess and Loding both turned and looked at each other, their eyes wide in shock and realisation.
“Plastic?” Jess asked.
“I beg your pardon?” Hammond responded looking up at her.
“Was the radio made of plastic? The casing of it, I mean?” Jess elaborated.
“Oh, yes,” Hammond confirmed, holding a hand out to the PC, who passed him his radio. “They’re all standard issue.”
“Can we see?” Loding asked, holding her hand out. Collecting the radio from Hammond, she looked around the encroaching gloom and turned to the PC. “And your torch?”
Stepping towards Jess, she placed the radio down on the desk and shone the torch on it, a bright spot of light in the gloom.
“You know what we’re looking for,” she whispered to Jess.
“Well, not really, but I can give it a go.” Jess replied, gingerly picking the radio up.
“What are you looking for?” Hammond asked, leaning round to see.
“I dunno yet,” Jess shrugged.
Turning it in her hands, she carefully examined the case of the radio; studying the buttons and aerial carefully. Glancing up at Loding, the Corporal returned a blank look. Turning it back to study the back, Jess fumbled with the back cover, which held the battery. Removing it, she placed the cover back on the desk and examined the battery inside. It was when she reached to pick up the back cover that she spotted it; an indent stamp. Clearly stamped into the plastic of the cover were the words; ‘Les Plastiques Maîtrisent’.
“That’s the factory that the Doctor went to earlier.” She said, pointing it out to Loding.
Nodding in agreement, Loding turned to Hammond. “Was the radio your other PC had the same as this, made in the same place?”
“Yes, must have been.” Hammond replied.
“If that’s the case, you must have been right earlier. I think we’ve been barking up the wrong tree.” Loding realised, looking at Jess.
“We’ve done some checking on the buildings near where they were found,” Hammond said. “One of them was held to a company called Rutilus Allec, and we’ve done some research on them and they don’t seem to exist.”
Jess and Loding exchanged another look at the sound of the name.
“We’ve been doing some research on them as well,” Jess admitted. “I think we’d better come have a look at this place.”
“I think you’re right.” Loding agreed. “I think the matters here might have to be put on the back burner.”
“It’ll take at least two hours to sort the fuse box and telephones. The rest might take a little-” Toms’ voice came from the shadows as he emerged from the corridor, pausing as he spotted the two police officers. “Oh hello, what’s all this then?”
“There’s been a bit of an incident round the corner, involving plastic.” Jess replied turning round and smiling. “Corporal Loding and me are going to check it out, will you be ok here?”
“Yeah, I should be able to get the basics done for the morning. Well, as long as I can have light, screwdrivers, fuse wire, and of course, a cup of tea.” Tom replied, smiling and winking.
“What about the sab-?” Loding paused and glanced back at Hammond and leant closer to Tom. “What about the saboteur?”
“Well, he’ll think his job’s done now. He’ll be lying low, keeping his head down.” Tom said. “I just need someone you can trust to show me where what I need is, and keep guard.”
“Private Harris should fill that role for you.” Loding said after a few moments thought before turning back to Hammond. “If you’ll wait here, we’ll just get our equipment together and we’ll be with you.”
Hammond nodded his understanding, placing the pictures back in the file and passing it back to the PC.
*
Sergeant Lovatt glanced up at the glass doors of the reception to the factory office, her eyes widened at the sight that greeted them. The Doctor was struggling with something that was attempting to throttle him. Lovatt couldn’t be sure but it looked like one of the large pot plants in the reception. She didn’t think the Doctor was the sort to play practical jokes like that.
“Captain, we’ve got trouble,” she shouted already heading off towards the doors.
Morris rounded the land rover to see the sight across the car park and instantly set off at a run, shouting back to the troops behind him to follow. He reached the doors just seconds after Lovatt, who was desperately rattling them. He could see inside clearly now; the Doctor and all four troops inside were being attacked by the plants, as if they were living creatures.
“They’re locked, Sir.” Lovatt shouted, turning to face him, still struggling with the doors.
“We’ll see about that,” Morris muttered drawing his pistol from its holster. Aiming carefully at the doors, so the bullets wouldn’t hit anyone the other side, he shot five rounds into the large glass doors, causing them to cobweb. With a swift kick, the glass crumbled into a glistening pile of small cubes. “You men, get them out of there.” He shouted back to the patrol, gesturing through the shattered door.
It took what seemed like an hour before the five men were finally brought out. The Doctor still seemed perfectly alright, rubbing and stretching his neck. Stetham was choking and breathing heavily. Two of the other men had passed out and the last was dead, his head lolling limply as he was lowered gently to the floor. Morris glanced back at the reception area. The branches of the plants were snaking and reaching out like tentacles.
“What the hell?” He asked, turning to the Doctor.
“Remember what I told you about the Nestene animating plastic?” The Doctor replied. “Well, those plants are plastic, and presumably a security device. Just like the Master to leave a nasty little trap like that.”
“What do you think we should do now then?” Morris asked. “I don’t want to order my chaps through there.” He pointed at the trashing plastic plants.
“I wouldn’t ask you to.” The Doctor replied. “How are those fellers?”
“One’s dead, the others will live.” Lovatt said, from where she was crouched.
“Right, Will,” the Doctor said, putting his hand on Morris’ shoulder and leading him away from the group. “If you could split your chaps into two teams and cover all exits, I’ll finish work on my device, plus I can help carry one of those poor fellers, and then we can move in, I believe you military chaps say.”
“What about the TARDIS thing you were after?” Morris asked.
“We’ll have to leave that until my device is ready.” The Doctor replied. “Especially with the plastic plants cutting off the reception entrance.”
“Well, you’d better hurry it up, Doctor. I don’t wanna face an army of those Auton things in the dark.” Morris replied.
“Oh, don’t worry, Will.” The Doctor smiled turning and heading towards the unconscious soldiers. “I’m nearly done.” Pausing, the Doctor turned back to Morris and pointed a long finger at him a serious look on his face. “And if we do run into the Master in there, make sure that you leave him to me.”
Morris nodded as he watched the Time Lord walk back to the three prone men. He had a brief chat with Lovatt and they moved off, carrying the injured men. Walking back to the remaining men, Morris ordered them to attention and gave them their orders.
*
“What do you think our chances are?” Lovatt asked the Doctor.
The Time Lord was sat in the passenger seat of the land rover, the glove compartment hanging open and wires from the light inside trailing out. The Doctor had attached Morris’ radio to the CD player by a thick black wire. The backing of the player was off and Lovatt could see the workings inside. It looked as though the Doctor had added a lot of his own modifications.
“What is that?” Lovatt asked.
“This, my dear Sergeant, is an adaptation on an old design of mine. I’ve modified the CD player to emit an electronic signal that should interfere with the Nestene control signal and stop an Auton in its tracks. I just hope Jess’ taste in music can stop the things.” The Doctor smiled up at her.
“What’s the music?”
The Doctor popped the top of the player open and peered at the CD inside. “I can’t tell whether it’s ‘Megadeth’, or ‘Risk’.” He replied. “Either way, it should do the trick. Just cover your ears.”
Lovatt did so, watching as the Doctor held the radio part of the device at arm’s length, pointing the aerial at the driver’s window. He turned to Lovatt and winked, pressing the play button. A high pitched electronic shriek filled the air. He pressed the button again and the sound stopped.
“I was expecting something more than that?” Lovatt replied, removing her hands from her ears.
“It’s not a bazooka, Sergeant.” The Doctor replied, almost sounding hurt. Passing the device to Lovatt, he jumped down from the land rover and clapped her gently on the back. “Now, I could use your help to use this, Sergeant, if you don’t mind?”
“Right you are, Doctor.” Lovatt smiled, hefting the player, before the smile faded from her face. “How?”
“Well, I can’t hold the main body of it, press the button, and hold the hand piece at the same time.” The Doctor replied, smiling. “Sometimes it would help to have an extra hand, and as I don’t have one, I’m borrowing one.”
*
Private Eddie Caplin peered through the glass panel in the door and into the gloom of the factory. The light was starting to fade and the inside of the factory was dark. Sighing, he turned back to Joe Adamson, who was stood nearby, his rifle hung slackly from his shoulder.
“Not a thing,” he shrugged.
“Reckon it’s a wild goose?” Adamson suggested, shuffling his feet and stifling a yawn.
“No idea mate.” Caplin replied. “All I know is, I’d rather be in the pub.”
“You and me both, mate.” Adamson laughed. He smile faded as he was sure that he saw some movement inside. “Hang on,”
“What is it?” Caplin asked, turning round.
“There’s someone in there?” Adamson said, pointing to the door.
Caplin peered at the door. Adamson was right; he could see someone moving inside now. No, there were two of them. Caplin watched as they moved closer. There was something odd about them. Cautiously, he cocked his rifle, hearing Adamson do the same beside him.
“What are they?” Adamson asked, his eyes wide as he looked at the figures.
There were four of them now, walking towards the door. They were bald with blank faces. They were wearing boiler suits with scarves tied round their necks.
“What the bloody hell?” Caplin asked as the door burst open.
The two men, their eyes wide with shock, loosed several rounds off as the Autons raised their hands. Their fingers dropping away and they blasted the two men dead.