#ada gillyflower | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

legends-of-time · 1 year ago

Text

Thorn Bush (Doctor Who Story)

Chapter 29: The Crimson Horror

Masterlist

1893 AD/CE

Jonas Thursday sits before them in the conservatory in 13 Paternoster Row, brother of Edmund Thursday who's been killed by the Crimson Horror. The mention of the death in the news and his brother's subsequent request for an audience means it's the beginning of a new episode as well as the fact that the Doctor and Clara have fallen into the clutches of Mrs Gillyflower.

"Thank you for agreeing to this meeting. I'm told you are the investigator to see if there are strange goings-on." Mr Thursday says from where he sits across from Kathy and Vastra, heavily veiled, while Jenny stands next to them.

"I read of your brother's death. Another victim of the Crimson Horror, I believe." Vastra says.

"So, it is claimed. He was a newspaper man. He and a young woman were working undercover." Mr Thursday further explains. "Tell me, madam, do you know what an optogram is?"

"It is a silly superstition, sir. The belief that the eye can retain an image of the last thing it sees."

"Now, now, what's wrong with silly?" Kathy pointedly remarks.

Vastra gives her a slight nod, realising what she's implying.

Mr Thursday hands over a couple of the photographs he had taken of his dead brother Edmund's staring eyes to Jenny, who hands them on to Vastra and Kathy. Kathy feels dread fill her as she spots a face that she knows is Eleven.

Vastra throws back her veil to have a better look as she murmurs in shock, "Good grief."

"Oh, God." And Mr Thursday faints.

The three women share an amused look, shaking their heads.

——

Kathy, Jenny and Vastra enlarge the photographs to reveal an image of a red-faced, screaming Doctor. Just as Kathy had remembered. They immediately make plans to head to Yorkshire.

"According to my research and what Kathy has been able to tell us," Vastra explains as they travel in the carriage to Sweetville, "Sweetville's proprietor holds recruitment drives for her little community. She is only interested in the fittest and the most beautiful."

Jenny and Vastra sit on one side while Strax and Kathy sit opposite.

"You may rely on me, ma'am." Strax smugly declares.

Vastra looks at him blankly. "I was, in fact, speaking to Jenny and Kathy."

Strax pulls a face. "Jenny? If Madam Davis only has this weak and fleshy boy," Vastra holds back her wife at that remark, "to support her in this assignment, I strongly recommend the issuing of scissor grenades, limbo vapour and triple blast brain splitters."

Kathy sighs, even if she doesn't already know his reply because of the show, she knows him well enough now to know. "And what for, Strax?"

"Just generally. Remember, we are going to the north."

Kathy sniggers to herself at that last remark.

——

Kathy and Jenny go ahead, leaving behind Vastra and Strax, to join Mrs Gillyflower's meeting on the Present Moral Decay and the Coming Apocalypse at a local chapel.

Mrs Gillyflower stands in front of her congregation, a good turnout, speaking from a podium. "Bradford, that Babylon of the moderns with its crystal light and its glitter, all aswarm with the wretched ruins of humanity. Men and women crushed by the devil's juggernaut." The congregation murmur in agreement.

Jenny is listening carefully while Kathy just stares in disbelief, wondering how people can be so entrenched in these ideas.

"And moral turpitude can destroy the most delicate of lives. Believe me, I know. I know."

A curtain is drawn back to reveal Ada, the blind daughter of Mrs Gillyflower.

"Me own daughter, blinded in a drunken rage by my late husband. Her once beautiful eyes, pale and white as mistletoe berries."

Of course, Kathy knows the truth. But it is not something she wishes to think about at this moment. They need to save Clara and the Doctor first. The rage towards what Mrs Gillyflower had done will come later.

Ada gets up from a chair and taps her way to a covered board.

"And what, my friends, is your story? Will you be found wanting when the End of Days is come, when judgement rains down upon us all? Or will you be preserved against the coming apocalypse? Do not despair. I offer a way out. There is a different path. Sweetville!"

Ada pulls the cover from an illustration of an ideal community. Factory with two rows of terraced homes, its own chapel, bandstand and gardens. Basically along the lines of the original model village of Bourneville. People gasp excitedly.

"Join us. Join us in this shining city on the hill." Mrs Gillyflower declares. The congregation let out murmurs of agreement while Jenny and Kathy keep quiet.

"Bring me my bow of burning gold. Bring me my arrows of desire." Mrs Gillyflower sings along with the congregation.

——

The line into Sweetville moves very slowly. Dozens of people – both men and women – are packed together down a standard of white painted walls and bland windows. The very peculiar place made in uniform, brick by brick, looking very much like some sort of staged production or a child's play model of what a city might look like just screams of something sinister going on to Kathy. If she didn't know something strange is going on, she would've realised by now.

Kathy huffs as she sees the many people still far ahead of her. "We need to slip away soon." She remarks quietly to Jenny, conscious of those around her.

"Agreed." Jenny murmurs, her eyes flickering around. Kathy knows she can also hear the loud rumbling, clanking, and banging of gigantic machinery coming from somewhere in the building. It is muffled from where they stand.

"Where you going?" A red-headed woman, Abigail Kathy remembers, speaks then, startling Jenny and Kathy.

"My friend here needs some air." Jenny quickly replies. Kathy nods in agreement, trying to appear flustered.

"Nervous? Me too." Abigail says. "They have to be sure, you see. Only the best for Sweetville. I hope me teeth don't let me down." She flashes her teeth and they're not the best, but Kathy honestly hopes that it does mean she won't get in. Saves her from the possibility of the venom not working and being a reject. "I'm Abigail."

"Pleased to meet ya." Jenny awkwardly says.

"You're not local, are you." Abigail says.

"We've come up from London." Kathy answers, noticing the door she knows Jenny had slipped into in the show up ahead.

"Different here, I bet."

"Yeah, a bit." Kathy says. "Do you know anyone who's come to live here in Sweetville?"

"I had a pal who come here three month back. She wrote to tell me how perfect it all were. Funny, though. I've not heard a peep from her since."

Kathy shares a pointed look with Jenny.

"Next, please!"

Jenny immediately, as they move forward, steps aside to a door with Kathy behind her, who gets her red and silver sonic out.

"What're you doing?" Abigail questions.

"How about a guinea for you to cause a distraction, have a funny turn. Fit of the vapours?" Jenny asks, straight to the point, holding out the money.

Abigail grabs it. "Done." She gasps for breath loudly and then faints. A crowd gathers around her, and Kathy and Jenny get through the locked door.

——

They go along the corridors, following the sounds of machinery. Kathy speeds up her pace, coming to a large green door. Deciding this must be where they were looking for as the noises seem to be coming from there, she yanks open the door and allows Jenny to step in first before closing it behind them.

They are on the factory floor. The loud rhythmic clanging of machinery was deafening the moment they stepped into the room causing them both to cover their ears. And instead of finding a room full of working machinery, they find three large gramophone horns where the deafening thumps of machinery are being broadcast from. The brick room they had stepped in, by all accounts, should be a factory room, but of course, just like the rest of Sweetville, it is nothing more than for show. Jenny looks on in surprise at the sight.

Kathy looks around the place as she walks past the gramophones, inspecting more of the large 'factory' room, when Jenny taps on her shoulder. She immediately ducks behind the gramophones along with the maid, peeking around the edge of the devices to see a group of Mrs Gillyflower workers pass by. Kathy had forgotten about them. Each of the workers is holding what appears to be strange jars of red liquid. Kathy narrows her eyes at them, knowing what the liquid is. They watch as the group shuffles into a gated lift, going down into the bowels of the factory.

After the lift goes down, Kathy motions for Jenny as she runs over to the gated entrance to the lift. She waits for a bit to make sure the people had gotten off the lift from down below before calling the lift back up for them. Once it arrives, Kathy and Jenny step into the tight space and begin their descent.

——

They reach the bottom and Kathy feels the familiar snap of the mental connection with the Doctor. They step out of the lift to find themselves in a familiar, at least to Kathy anyway, corridor. Kathy glances over to the door that has the crimson light shining through the circular window and on the other side is the door that leads to somewhere deeper into the facility.

Kathy immediately senses that the Doctor's room that he'd been placed in is somewhere through the latter door and immediately walks towards it but then quickly realises Jenny isn't following.

"Jenny!" Kathy hisses as she sees the maid step towards the red lighted door. The girl turns to her and Kathy gestures in the opposite direction. "We need to go this way. I sense the Doctor."

Jenny nods, glances curiously at the red light door, and follows Kathy into a smaller room dimly lit with a set of spiral stairs that leads to where the Doctor is. They arrive at the top to find a loft sort of area with the large metal door that keeps the Doctor with bolts and a hatch at the bottom for food.

Kathy hears the clanging and rustling of chains coming from the room. She winces in pity at the thought of the Doctor being trapped there. Jenny stares at the door in alarm but Kathy gives her a reassuring smile. She knows the Doctor is likely making all that noise to try and get their attention as he likely heard someone coming up the stairs. Kathy swiftly goes over to the door and pulls out her sonic, ready to open the door and get the Doctor out.

Jenny puts her hand on her arm, stopping her. "You sure?"

Kathy nods. "Don't worry." She sonics the door and the two of them burst in to find the Doctor but with red skin and a gaping mouth. He is in chains and his clothes are lying nearby in the straw. He groans, reaching out to them, struggling to speak as he's all stiff.

"Doctor!" Jenny exclaims. "What happened to ya?" The Doctor just groans. "Can't you speak?"

"We need out of here," Kathy says, whipping out her sonic again to unlock the chains from the Time Lord while Jenny grabs the Doctor's folded clothes from the straw scattered on the floor.

Kathy shifts to place one of the Doctor's arms around her shoulders, giving him enough support so that he can move and Jenny hovers next to them, ready to grab him if it's too much for her.

——

Kathy wishes the show had shown how Jenny had gotten the Doctor down the stairs, probably would've made things easier but they manage to get him down the spiralling stairs and to the bottom floor.

After they pass the lift, they hear someone come out of the compartment. Kathy glances over her shoulders to see Ada. She panics as Ada tilts her head in their direction, obviously hearing them, as she knows at the moment Ada is very loyal to her mother and may give them up to said mad woman.

However, she must assume they are mere factory workers for she continues down the hallway towards the stairwell. Her cane waving in front of her to guide her way back to where she has kept the Doctor all this time. Kathy knows she will have to thank the kind woman later.

Kathy and Jenny hurriedly guide the Doctor through the red glowing door and into a new corridor, passing a window that shows where the crimson red glow is coming from. They come up to the window just as a group of six people, in only their undergarments, hoisted over a large vat of boiling crimson liquid, on a strange dipping frame attached to a crane. It looks as though each person were unconscious, fast asleep and unaware of what they are being lowered into just beneath their bare feet. Small mercies Kathy supposes, especially the ones who sadly die and do not survive the process.

"Oh, my god." Jenny breathes as they watch the group of men and women being lowered into the vat of boiling liquid.

"Come on, we need to shift it." Kathy says as she swiftly picks up the pace in getting the Doctor where he needs to be. He groans, stiffly lifting a hand to point towards a corridor up ahead.

Kathy rolls her eyes amusedly despite their situation. "I know, I know."

Finally, they come up to a row of strange cubicles. As quick as she can, Kathy unlocks the door and opens it for the Doctor. She and Jenny help him step inside before handing him his clothes and sonic screwdriver. He struggles as he lifts it up in his hand, sending out a pulse into the machine cubicle he had stepped into. The two women then close the door, allowing the Doctor to reverse the process that had been done to him.

Briefly, they have to step around to hide from a group of Sweetville workers. But once the coast is clear, Jenny and Kathy stand in front of the cubicle the Doctor is in. Both of them anxiously staring at the metal box in their own way, watching the green glow and steam coming out of the vented window on the door.

Suddenly, without warning, the door bursts open and out comes the Doctor. Properly dressed, skin all back to normal, and grinning his usual smile with glee. "Ah! Missed me?" He immediately sprints up the corridor, leaping into the air and rambling on about chamber maids and something about Kathy being Jesus (whatever that means).

The Doctor comes running back over to them and Kathy knows what he's about to do so she immediately places herself in between the Doctor and Jenny. This causes the Time Lord to come to a sudden stop, almost tripping over his feet.

Kathy gives him a pointed glare that a mother would give to her child and points at him sternly. "No." The Doctor pouts. "We've got more important things to do."

The Doctor stops pouting and straightens. Seemingly remembering what's at stake. "Right. Got to stop Mrs Gillyflower and get to Clara. Speaking of, do you know where she is?"

"Well, of course. Where else would she be other than one of those display cases of Mrs Gillyflower's." Kathy replies with a roll of her eyes as they begin to walk out of where they are.

"I meant the exact house she had been placed in."

"I vaguely know the street."

"Clara?" Jenny finally speaks up. She sped up in the pace, coming beside them. "What do you mean? Better yet, what happened to you? How long have you been like that?"

"Days... Weeks? Don't know. Long story." The Doctor mutters.

——

The Doctor, as they move through the factory, proceeds to explain to Jenny what had happened to him.

"Poor Edmund must have come looking for us and then fallen into a vat of the pure venom. Or was pushed. Didn't stand a chance." The Doctor says as he finishes his tale.

"I'm going with pushed." Kathy remarks.

"What is that stuff, though?" Jenny questions.

"Deadly poison. And Mrs Gillyflower's been dipping her pilgrims in a dilute form to protect them. Preserve them." The Doctor explains. "Process didn't work on me. Maybe because I'm not human. I ended up on the reject pile."

Makes sense that it didn't work on him since Mrs Gillyflower had almost perfected it for humans. She wouldn't have anticipated the Doctor's arrival.

"Preserve them against what?"

"Well, according to her, the coming apocalypse." The Doctor makes the universal cu-koo gesture with a whistling noise.

"Yeah, we went to her sermon. She said, 'when the End of Days is come and judgement rains down upon us all.'" Kathy tells him.

"What?"

"That's what she said. Anyway, Madame will come looking for us. We best get on." Jenny says.

They have been a while in the factory. Knowing Jenny's wife, Vastra will most likely have begun to worry about her and Kathy by extension.

"Yes, Clara, got to find Clara." The Doctor agrees. He grabs Kathy's hand and makes a quick way towards the door down the hall.

"Yeah, best find her before anything else happens." Kathy adds in agreement, walking just as fast alongside him.

"But... Clara's dead. Isn't she?" Jenny asks them, making each stop at the doorway just before exiting the corridor. Each look at one another. The Doctor raises an eyebrow while Kathy merely shrugs. They then look at Jenny.

"It's complicated." They say together before taking their leave through the door.

Jenny continues to question them as they search for Clara outside through the different homes built in Sweetville. The Doctor and Kathy run from home to home, still simply telling Jenny that things are complicated when it comes to Clara. Nothing the Doctor can explain as to why there had been a Clara before. And nothing Kathy can say without giving away spoilers. Questions will simply have to remain unanswered until Clara officially becomes the Impossible Girl when she jumps into his timeline.

Eventually, they find Clara in a glass bell jar in one of Sweetville's houses, sitting there with a smile and dressed in her purple gown. A man is inside the jar with her, standing beside the chair Clara had been set in. Kathy pauses for a moment as she's suddenly become frozen at seeing Clara again after the death of her Victorian echo.

"Doctor, maybe we should—" Kathy tries to say but it's too late and the Doctor breaks the glass with a chair causing it to shatter everywhere.

——

They pull a frozen Clara back inside the factory and put her inside a similar metal cubicle that they put the Doctor in.

"Can she be revived, like you were?" Jenny questions the Doctor.

"I hope so."

"Don't worry she will, I promise." Kathy assures him.

"Doctor. Kathy." They turn at Jenny's voice to find Mrs Gillyflower's followers have turned up.

"Oh, great. Great. Attack of the supermodels. Time for a plan." The Doctor grumbles.

"No need, Jenny's got this." Kathy remarks.

Jenny grins at them before removing her bonnet and dress to reveal a tight all leather outfit. She deals with the three male pilgrims in three moves.

"That is a plan." The Doctor grins.

It's then that more pilgrims advance, with rounders bats.

"Sontar ha!" Enter Strax, in his Sontaran armour, firing his big gun, laughing with glee. The supermodels flee.

Vastra is close behind with a sword. "Let's go."

"No, ma'am. We're not escaping. We've got to help the Doctor with Clara." Jenny argues. Vastra gives the Doctor, and then Kathy, a questioning look.

"Long story." The Doctor replies. It is and he doesn't know the half of it.

"What now, madam?" Strax eagerly asks. "We could lay mimetic cluster mines."

"Strax—" Kathy tries to interrupt. Maybe she shouldn't have given Strax that treat.

"Or dig trenches and fill them with acid!"

"Strax!" Vastra is able to interrupt his tirade. "You're overexcited. Have you been eating Miss Jenny's sherbet fancies again?"

"Madam Davis gave me some." Strax admits.

Kathy looks at Strax aghast. He just threw her under the bus! "Strax!"

"Go outside and wait for me until I call for you." Vastra instructs their Sontaran butler.

"But madam, I—"

"Go!"

"I'm going to go play with my grenades." Strax grumbles as he leaves.

"Okay, I think she's about done." The Doctor opens the cubicle to a less frozen Clara, who's swaying on her feet. "I know who you think she is, but she isn't. She can't be."

"I was right, then. You and Clara have unfinished business." Vastra declares, getting over her shock.

Clara falls into the Doctor's arms. "There, there. Hello, stranger."

Clara opens her eyes, staring at him in a daze. "Doctor."

Kathy sighs in relief and pulls Clara into a relieved hug. "Oh, thank God."

Clara laughs slightly but Kathy can tell she's confused. Despite this, when Kathy pulls away, Clara gives her a warm smile. "Hi. What's going on?"

"Oh, haven't you heard, love? There's trouble at mill." The Doctor remarks in what Kathy believes is meant to be a Yorkshire accent. "She's a lizard." He adds offhandedly.

"Okay." Clara breathes. "Um," she looks back at Vastra and Jenny, "nice to meet you. I'm Clara."

Jenny and Vastra mutter their hellos, seeming at a loss of what more to say. Kathy knows it must be very odd for them to be seeing a seemingly dead woman.

——

Now that Clara is okay, they get to be business as they exit into another factory corridor.

"My people once ruled this world, as well you know, but we did not rule it alone." Vastra speaks. "Just as humanity fights a daily battle against nature, so did we. And our greatest plague, the most virulent enemy, was the repulsive red leech."

"Ooo, the Repulsive Red Leech." The Doctor remarks. "Nah. On balance I think I prefer the Crimson Horror. What was it, exactly?"

"A tiny parasite. It infected our drinking water. And once in our systems, it secreted a fatal poison." Vastra explains.

"One that's been hanging around in the shadows evolving, maybe even with some help." Kathy adds.

"Doctor, I've been thinking. The chimney—" Clara tries to say.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Way past that now." The Doctor interrupts. "Yucky red parasite from the time of the dinosaurs pitches up in Victorian Yorkshire. Didn't see that one coming."

"Yeah, but the chimney—"

"But what's the connection to Mrs Gillyflower? Judgement will rain down on us all. An empty mill."

"Doctor!" Kathy interrupts. "Listen to Clara."

"A chimney that doesn't blow smoke."

Realisation dawns on the Doctor's face.

——

Once they are up on the main floor, they keep in the shadows, watching as Mrs Gillyflower's followers set to work quietly. They are gearing up, getting ready for the so-called apocalypse.

"She's going to poison the air." The Doctor explains.

"How?" Jenny asks.

Lights turn on within the room, showing them a gigantic, crudely made rocket.

"Well, you don't see that every day in 1893." Kathy comments quietly from their hiding spot, staring at the rocket in disbelief.

Glancing down, she sees the workers pulling a blanket off a very large glass jar of red liquid. She taps on the Doctor's shoulder, pointing it out.

"And there's the poison." The Doctor mutters to the group. "All right, gang, I've got a plan." He stands up quickly, only to duck back down when he knocks a spare metal bolt off the piping they are hiding behind.

They hold in a collective breath, fearing they have been found out. Luckily, it seems the sound of steam from the rocket is enough to muffle the sound the Time Lord had made.

"Okay." The Doctor sighs. "Kathy, Clara, you're with me. Vastra and Jenny, you two take care of the poison. Do whatever it takes to keep it out of that rocket."

The two nod firmly. All rushed off in opposite directions, going to their set destination.

——

Soon, the Doctor, Clara, and Kathy are walking down a hallway to find Mrs Gillyflower. They halt in place when they hear soft sobbing coming from behind them. They turn in place, seeing Ada sitting on a crate in the corridor, rubbing at her eyes as tears run down her face. She sniffles, shifting her head up with her cloud eyes towards them, having likely heard them enter.

"Who is that? Who is there?" The Doctor takes her hand and runs it over his face. "You. It's you. My monster. You've come back. But you're—"

"Warm. And alive, thanks to you, Ada. You saved me from your mother's human rubbish tip." The Doctor replies softly. Ada begins to cry again. The Doctor places a hand on the woman's cheek, close to the scars around her eyes. "Now, hey. What's wrong?"

"She does not want me, monster." Ada explains, voice wavering from trying to hold back her tears. She swallows, appearing steadier as she speaks next. "I am not to be chosen. Perhaps it was my own sin. The blackness in my heart that my father saw in me."

"Oh, no, no, don't say that." Kathy speaks up, feeling her hearts weep for the poor woman. She walks over, crouching down beside her husband. "You're much, much better than that."

Ada stiffens. "Who is that?" She questions.

"Her name is Kathy. She's my friend." The Doctor replies.

Kathy takes this chance to take Ada's hand and place it on her own face so that she can feel Kathy's face.

"Then you are fortunate indeed. It isn't good to be alone." Ada says sombrely.

"Now, Ada, I need you to tell me something. Who is Mister Sweet? Ada?" The Doctor questions.

Ada turns away, letting out another sob. "Oh, dear monster..."

"Please, tell me."

"I cannot. Even now, I cannot. I cannot betray Mama." The woman shakes her head. Kathy can see that she wants to tell the Doctor everything but going against her mother hurts her too much to even think about.

"It's okay." Kathy assures the woman, squeezing her hand kindly. "You love your mother very much, and we won't ever force you to betray her."

Kathy and the Doctor share a glance before looking back at Ada.

"We want you to come with us, though." The Doctor says, slowly helping Ada to stand. "There is something you need to know."

——

They enter Mrs Gillyflower's study, with Ada hiding in the hall, listening in.

"You do seem to keep turning up like a bad penny, young man." Mrs Gillyflower laughs as she strolls over to the trio. The wall behind her has an enormous control panel, blinking lights, levers, and the works, something that was far more complicated and complex than anything to be found in this time period. Kathy knows it's connected to the rocket.

"Force of habit." The Doctor bites back, putting a smile on his face.

Mrs Gillyflower simply giggles. "Can I offer you something? Tea? Seed cake? Oh, a glass of Amontillado?"

"No, thanks. We've had a skinful already, as you might say." The Doctor remarks.

Mrs Gillyflower giggles again before sobering up. "Very funny."

"Yes. I'm the Doctor, you're nuts and I'm going to stop you." The Doctor declares as he walks around her, looking at the machinery behind her.

"I'm afraid Mister Sweet and I cannot allow that."

"So, it wouldn't be impolite of us to question why you and Mister Sweet are petrifying your workforce with diluted prehistoric leech venom?" Kathy remarks sarcastically, knowing the response.

"So, when do we get to meet him, this silent partner of yours? Why's he so shy." Clara slyly asks.

"Mister Sweet is always with us."

"You seem to have a very close relationship, you and your pal." The Doctor says pointedly.

"Oh yes, Doctor. Exceedingly close. Symbiotic, you might say." She opens the top of her dress to reveal a large red leech attached to her skin. All of them, even Kathy, repulse at the sight. Still as disgusting as Kathy remembers.

"What is it?" Clara grimaces.

"A survivor!" Mrs Gillyflower hisses, defensive. "He has grown fat on the filth humanity has pumped into the rivers. That's where I found him."

"Very enterprising." Even the Doctor looks a bit green at it all.

"His needs are simple. And in return, he gives me his nectar."

"You mean his poison." Kathy corrects.

"It is a nectar of the gods!"

"Mrs. Gillyflower," the Doctor cuts in, shaking his head, "you have no idea what you're dealing with! In the wrong hands, that venom could wipe out all life on this planet!"

"Do you know what these are?" Mrs Gillyflower smiles simply, holding up her hands for him to see. "The wrong hands!" She chuckles as she goes over to the control panel and pulls a lever.

"Planning a little fireworks party, are we?" The Doctor comments as they look out of the window, towards the chimney at the factory as it lights up.

"You have forced me to advance the Great Work somewhat, Doctor," Mrs Gillyflower retorts, "but my colossal scheme remains as it was. My rocket will explode high in the atmosphere, raining down Mister Sweet's beneficence onto all humanity."

"And wiping us all out. You can't!" Clara cries. The Doctor and Kathy grab her arms, holding her back.

"My new Adam and Eves will sleep for but a few months before stepping out into a golden dawn. Is it not beautiful, Doctor?" Mrs Gillyflower continues gleefully.

Kathy narrows her eyes at the woman, a dangerous smirk on her lips. "Now, tell us about Ada, Mrs Gillyflower."

This throws the woman off. "What?"

"Your daughter. You do remember your daughter? Tell us about your daughter." The Doctor says pointedly.

"How can you speak of such trivia when my hour is at hand? The child is of no consequence." Mrs Gillyflower dismisses.

"Your own child should never be trivial." Kathy says angrily. Children never are trivial matters. Not Carlyle, not her precious Payton.

"No consequence. Is that why you experimented on her?" The Doctor asks.

Clara looks at Kathy and the Doctor in surprise. "Experimented?"

"The signs are all there. The pattern of scarring. You used her as a guinea pig, didn't you?" Kathy says angrily. She always hated what Mrs Gillyflower had done to her own daughter.

"God." Clara murmurs, horrified.

Mrs Gillyflower is unperturbed by this. "Sometimes sacrifices must be made."

"Sacrifices?" The Doctor spits.

"It was necessary." Mrs Gillyflower argues. "I had to find out how much of the venom would produce an anti-toxin to immunise myself. Don't you see? It was necessary!"

"Mama?" Ada's quiet voice calls, drawing all their attention to the door where she is standing, her expression set in one of horror. "Is it... is it true?"

"Ada..." Mrs Gillyflower casually remarks as if she hadn't just confessed to abusing her own daughter.

"It is." Ada gasps, clutching her walking cane tightly to her chest. "It's true. True." Kathy knows that the shock will soon turn to anger.

"Ada, listen to me..." Mrs Gillyflower tries to step towards her daughter, but Ada sets off on her own, angrily stomping her way across the room towards her mother.

"You hag!" Ada rags. "You perfidious hag! You virago! You harpy! All these years, I have helped you, served you. Looked out for you. Does it count for nothing? Nothing at all?"

Ada lifts her cane and begins to strike her mother. Ada swings and swings, ignoring her mother's pleas to stop till she is too exhausted to hit again, leaving Mrs Gillyflower to slump against the door beside her.

The Doctor looks ready to step forward during the assault, but Kathy pulls him back. The lights on the controls are starting to flash faster than they were before. Clara quickly turns and grabs a chair, lifting it above her head when the Doctor notices.

Hang on, I've got the sonic screwdriver!" The Doctor tries to stop her, pulling out his sonic.

"Yeah?" Clara scoffs. "I've got a chair!" She then smashes it into the control panel, with a satisfying shower of sparks, and the lights flicker off as the controls shut down.

"See? No need for a sonic." Kathy remarks. "You rely on it too much."

The Doctor's petulant reply is cut off by Mrs Gillyflower crying, "No!"

"I'm afraid your rocket isn't going anywhere, Mrs. G." The Doctor grins at the woman, flipping the sonic and putting it away.

Kathy isn't so sure about that. She remembers that there is a second firing mechanism that they need to get to as well.

Mrs Gillyflower glares at the Doctor a moment, before closing her eyes, bowing her head. Kathy isn't fooled as she then turns to look at Ada, reaching out for the sobbing woman. "Please, come to me, Ada."

Kathy quickly steps forward, grabbing Ada's arm, and pulling her back as she knows what the mother was about to do. "I don't think so."

Mrs Gillyflower shrugs, unfazed. "Fine." She pulls out a revolver and, before Kathy knows it, has pulled Kathy by the arm.

Kathy lets out a cry of alarm while the Doctor and Clara step forward as if to stop her, but Mrs Gillyflower puts the gun to Kathy's temple causing them to stop in their tracks.

"No, Mrs Gillyflower." The Doctor pleads.

But Gillyflower just gives him a sinister grin, placing the gun back to Kathy's head and backing up towards the door she'd fallen against. Kathy doesn't dare fight back as this woman is such a loose cannon, Kathy can't predict what she might do.

"Kathy?" The Doctor calls to her.

"It's fine, we can still stop her. Just make it to the rocket." She reassures him.

"And now, if you'll please forgive us, we must be going." Mrs Gillyflower turns, shoving Kathy through the door and slamming it closed behind them, a lock falling into place.

——

Mrs Gillyflower drags Kathy up the staircase encircling the rocket, gun pointed at her every step of the way. Kathy doesn't fight it at the risk of being shot, she's already been through it more than once already and doesn't want to increase the count if she can help it. They reach the lever, the secondary firing system, beside the rocket when the Doctor, Ada and Clara appear just below them.

"Just let her go, Mrs Gillyflower. Let Kathy go." The Doctor pleads.

"Secondary firing mechanism, Doctor. Mister Sweet and I are too smart for you, after all." Mrs Gillyflower gloats, not moving the gun.

"Just let my friend go, Mrs Gillyflower."

Kathy feels Mrs Gillyflower loosen her grip and takes her chance. She flings herself forward, falling out of the woman's grip and onto the corner between the Doctor and Mrs Gillyflower. The Doctor steps towards her but Mrs Gillyflower shoots at him, making him retreat.

"I'll labour night and day to be a pilgrim." Mrs Gillyflower sings.

Mrs Gillyflower pulls the lever and the rocket's engines ignite. Kathy quickly crouches against the wall, facing away from the rocket with Clara doing the same. The Doctor quickly shields Ada with his body as it takes off.

Mrs Gillyflower cackles with glee. "Now, Mister Sweet, now the whole world will taste your lethal kiss!"

Kathy smirks. "I don't think so, Mrs Gillyflower."

She looks over to where she sees Jenny and Vastra further up the stairs, in pilgrim clothes, holding a bottle of venom.

Mrs Gillyflower is furious. "Very well, then. If I can't take the world with me, you will have to do. Die, you freaks. Die! Die!" She waves about her gun, but Kathy is unconcerned and grins when she hears a familiar voice.

"Put down your weapon, human female." Strax points his honking big gun down the chimney. Mrs Gillyflower shoots at Strax. He returns fire, misses and hits the railing by her hand, sending her tumbling over the railing to the floor two stories below. Kathy grimaces as the woman lands.

They all move down the stairs, to have a closer look. Mister Sweet detaches itself from her and drags itself across the floor by its suckered forelimbs.

"No. No. Mister Sweet, where are you going? You can't leave me now, Mister Sweet." Mrs Gillyflower pleads.

"Eurgh... what's it doing?" Clara asks.

"She's dying so she's no longer of any use to it." Kathy replies, grimacing herself.

"Mister Sweet." Ada taps her way down the stairs. "Ada? Ada. Are you there?"

"I'm here, Mama." Ada says, crouching nearby.

"Forgive me, my child. Forgive me."

"Never."

Mrs Gillyflower smiles. "That's my girl." Mrs Winifred Gillyflower dies as the rocket explodes in the sky. The woman didn't live long enough to witness it.

"What will you do with that thing?" Jenny asks.

"Take it back to the Jurassic era, maybe. Out of harm's way." The Doctor says.

Maybe not, Kathy thinks as she watches Ada tap her way across the floor until her stick finds Mister Sweet. Ada lets out a cry of anger as shesmashes the leech to smithereens.

——

They stand in an alleyway by the TARDIS as they say their goodbyes. Kathy gives Clara a tight squeeze.

"It's good to see you again." Kathy says with a smile. It really is after seeing the Victorian echo of Clara die. It's some sort of healing in a way to see another Clara happy and well.

"You too." Clara says with a grin.

"Right. Right, London. We were heading for London, weren't we?" The Doctor remarks.

"Was there any particular reason?" Clara questions.

"No. No. Just thought you might like it." The Doctor says hurriedly.

Kathy knows that the Doctor had come to this era in the first place to try to trigger memories for Clara as he's still trying to figure out who and what she is.

Clara accepts this excuse. "Yeah. Maybe had enough of Victorian values for a bit."

"You're the boss."

This catches Clara's attention. "Am I?"

Kathy grins. "Of course."

"Uh, no, no!" The Doctor splutters. "Get in."

Clara enters the TARDIS with a smile.

The Doctor walks over to Ada. "Now, Ada, I'd love to stay and help clear up the mess, but—"

"I know, dear monster. You have things to do." Ada finishes.

"And what about you?"

"Oh, there are many things a bright young lady can do to occupy her time." Ada replies, smiling. It's the happiest Kathy has seen her. "It's time I stepped out of the darkness and into the light."

"Good luck, Ada. You know, I think you will be just," the Doctor kisses her cheek, "splendid."

Kathy places her hand on Ada's elbow gently before speaking so as to not startle her. "I'll make sure of it."

The Doctor turns to her as well as Vastra, Jenny and Strax who stand behind her. "Well, thanks a million, you four, as ever. Have some Pontefract cakes on me. I love Pontefract cakes. See you around, eh, I shouldn't wonder." He walks back to the TARDIS.

"But Doctor." Jenny stops him. "That girl, Clara. You haven't explained."

The Doctor turns to the maid, he opens his mouth as if to explain before closing it and saying, "No, I haven't." He quickly goes back to the TARDIS. "Ah, look at the muck in here. Right!" He steps into the TARDIS without another word.

"He can't answer because he doesn't know, not yet." Kathy says to them. She simply receives a bunch of confused faces.

"But—" Jenny tries to say.

"Ah! Spoilers!" Kathy sings.

Strax takes the bottle of venom from Vastra. "Another one for the vault."

"Ah, there you are. I called to see whether there had been any progress." The TARDIS dematerialises and Kathy turns just as Mr Thursday faints.

——

A/N: Please leave comments on how you're enjoying this story and what you think.

#doctor who

0 notes