There was a knock on the bedroom door and Danni looked up from the desk that Madame Vastra had kindly put in there, smiling slightly as she called whoever it was the come in. Jenny opened the door, dressed in her full maids outfit.
"Ma'am has a visitor." She told the blonde woman, "She thought you might want to sit in." Danni nodded eagerly, putting a piece of scrap paper in her book before closing it. The Doctor had promised to bring Clara first thing the next morning to meet the Paternoster gang, so naturally it had been a couple of weeks since she'd seen her husband. However, she had planned for this inevitability and had brought a load of clothes and books and was now trying to understand the book she'd found in Gallifreyan. So far she thought she had a few words down, but then again she wasn't entirely sure how useful 'fly-fishing' was going to be in her everyday life. She'd work it in somewhere.
"Who?" She asked, standing up and brushing her dress down to make it look like she'd not been sat at desk all hunched over all day.
"A Mr Thursday." Jenny explained, "Something about his brother, I believe. He recently passed away."
"A murder, then?" Danni asked, more intrigued. There was something so very exciting about solving a murder in the Victorian era. Obviously she would rather that these people were alive and well and not to have died in such terrible circumstances, but there was something very 'Jack the Ripper' about it all and it was very addictive.
"That's what Ma'am believes." Jenny told her, "She said she thinks you'd be very interested in. Apparently his brother was a victim of the Crimson 'Orror." Danni frowned as they headed down the stairs.
"What, that thing in Yorkshire?" She asked, "I thought that was just people drowning in the canal?" The Crimson Horror had been all over the newspapers in recent weeks, but Vastra had concluded it was nothing more than a scaremongering attempt from the newspapers to sell more copies. It was working, and people were terrified, but they'd decided it wasn't worth their time.
"Apparently this man thinks differently." Jenny replied with a bit of a shrug, opening the door and letting her into the conservatory. Madame Vastra was already waiting for them, her veil in place which meant the visit was pretty imminent.
"I didn't think this 'Crimson Horror' was worth your time?" Danni asked the Silurian as she sat in the vacant chair next to her.
"Mr Thursday is not a man of fancy. If he has something to tell us, perhaps we were foolish to dismiss the deaths as quickly as we did." Vastra replied.
"But we're not going to let him know that, are we?" Danni asked and Madame Vastra shook her head.
"Of course not." She agreed before turning to her lovely wife, "Jenny, if you could bring him straight through when he arrives, I believe he won't be long." Jenny ducked her head, the perfect image of a maid.
"Of course, Ma'am." She replied, heading out the door.
"Do you think your husband will be gracing us with his presence today?" Vastra asked their houseguest.
Danni shrugged, "He'll either appear when Mr Thursday is in the room, or not at all. You know his timing." She turned in the chair slightly, "Did you find out any more about Mr Thomas and his missing wife?" She asked eagerly, "I still think he has her body stashed away somewhere."
"Fortunately it just appears she had run off with a man she met while walking in the park a few months ago." Vastra replied, "I do, however, think we may have a case appearing shortly. It seems a young man was found outside his local pub missing an eye, yet no one heard a thing."
"Someone stole his eye?" She asked with a slight furrowing of her brows, "Why just one?"
"That is the question, Danielle." Vastra replied and Danni could hear the smirk in her voice. She was just like the Doctor in that way, she loved the give just enough information, knowing how easily it was to hook someone in with that.
"Are we looking into it after Mr Thursday?" Danni asked and Madame Vastra nodded as there was a knock on the conservatory door, signalling the arrival of the man in question.
~0~0~0~
"I did not think we would have company." Thursday declared as he sat down in the chair opposite the two woman, eyeing Danni with an almost suspicious look. Jenny followed him, taking her place at Vastra's side - a maid for show, but Vastra needed her there as much as Jenny wanted to be.
"Whatever you want to ask me you can ask in front of Miss Fielding." Vastra reassured him, an edge to her voice that suggested that if he wanted her help, Danni wasn't going anywhere. The blonde had to suppress the smug look that threatened to break out on her face. It wasn't the first time someone had protested to her presence, but none of them had gotten up and left. Thursday was no exception, although he didn't look too pleased.
"I read of your brother's death." Vastra declared, starting the conversation up again, "Another victim of the Crimson Horror, I believe?"
"So it is claimed." Thursday agreed, although he didn't sound to convinced, "He was a newspaper man. He and a young woman were working undercover." He shifted in his seat, leaning in closer to Madame Vastra and quite obviously not towards Danni, "Tell me, Madame, do you know what an optogram is?"
Vastra let out a scoff at the word while Danni shook her head slightly, having never heard of the word, "It is a silly superstition, Danielle." The Silurian explained, "The belief that the eye can retain an image of the last thing it sees. Total nonsense, as is obvious." Thursday reached into his pocket, silently pulling out a black and white photograph and handed it to Jenny. It was just a picture of the man's eyes, but there was something reflected on them, so she handed it to her wife for further scrutiny. Madame Vastra took the photograph with all the distain that she felt at the notion of the eyes reflecting anything after death, but when she saw the shape of a figure she chucked her veil over her head to get a better look.
"Good grief!" She exclaimed, surprised as Danni leant over, seeing the fuzzy shape in the grainy image.
"Oh, God!" Thursday murmured and they all turned to watch him fall to the floor, shocked unconscious by the lizard woman's appearance. They paused for only a moment, however, before Danni turned to Madame Vastra.
"That can't be real, can it?" She asked, "There's someone in his eyes, and not in a miniaturisation ray type way."
"It is quite real." Madame Vastra replied, "And you cannot deny the shape in his eyes." She looked up at Jenny, "Get Strax to escort Mr Thursday out, and tell him we will be in touch with any further news." Jenny nodded.
"What are you going to do, Ma'am?" She asked her wife.
"We shall be in the dark room." She told her, turning her attention back to the photograph, "I want to see who that figure may be."
~0~0~0~
Watching Jenny and Vastra work together was very similar to watching the Doctor and Alec working in harmony up on the moors in the 1970's. Again, Danni wasn't much use in the situation and the two women developed multiple copies of the dead man's eyes, hanging them up on a washing line to dry out and come to life before her eyes. It only worked with the two of them, much like the Doctor and Alec, because they seemed to work in tandem, Jenny in a much more supporting role to Vastra, but that was the way they had always been. Danni just stood and watched the pictures slowly develop, each other a closer shot to the man's eye.
The last one was going to be the money shot, so as Madame Vastra was researching anything that could possibility leave an imprint on a human's eye, which was pretty much an impossibility, while Jenny developed the picture. She and Danni stood side by side as they watched the picture take shape and Danni's mouth fell open in shock.
"Oh my god," she breathed, pushing her glasses up her nose as she took a step closer.
"Well, I'll be blowed!" Jenny exclaimed, obviously agreeing with her sentiments. She turned to Vastra, who was looking up from her book with great interest, "I think, Madame, that we'd better make plans to head North!" She walked over to the pair, staring in amazement as the image of the Doctor stared back at them, his hand outstretched like he was trying to reach for the dead man.
"What the hell has he done?" Danni whispered, "He's supposed to be picking me up, not gallivanting up in Yorkshire!" She reached up to grab the picture, wanting to rip it down but Jenny stopped her as it was still dripping with chemicals.
"It can't be him, though, can it Madame?" Jenny asked, looking up at her wife.
Madame Vastra sighed, "If there is trouble, if there is something strange and alien occurring, then the Doctor is usually found in the centre of it."
"You are not wrong." Danni murmured.
"Jenny, pack us a bag while I look into what exactly Mr Thursday's brother was investigating." She turned to Danni, "Shall I assume you will also be joining us?" Danni nodded.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
~0~0~0~
"Danielle." A voice called to her, but Danni shied away from it, turning into whatever she was lying on in the desperate hope that she could sleep a little bit longer, "Danielle." Oh, why wouldn't they just leave her alone?
"Boy!" Danni jolted awake at the violent sound, her glasses tumbling off her face and onto the book in her lap. The unexpected rocking of the carriage startled her slightly as she scrambled to put the glasses back on her face and found herself staring at both Vastra and Jenny, who were shooting Strax exasperated looks.
"There was no need to be so loud, Strax." Vastra admonished firmly, "You could have frightened her awfully." Strax frowned, he didn't understand why these fleshy beings were so delicate, but he turned to Danni.
"Sorry, lad." He grumbled and she shot him a disorientated smile.
"It's fine, Strax." She promised, "Are we almost there?"
"Not long at all." Vastra promised, "But we need you alert for when we try and get into Sweetville."
"Sweetville?" Danni asked, feeling like she'd missed an entire conversation. She probably had, she had spent most of the trip trying to learn something a bit more suitable for everyday conversation. She really wanted to learn something useful, but when you didn't understand most of a book it became very boring very quickly.
"According to my research, Sweetville's proprietor holds recruitment drives for her little community." Madame Vastra explained, "She is only interested in the fittest and the most beautiful."
"You may rely on me, ma'am." Strax declared, a proud look on his face for being allowed to undertake such an important task.
"I was, in fact, speaking to Jenny and Danielle." Vastra corrected him and he almost pouted. He looked between both women, who looked amused at his put-out expression.
"If these weak and fleshy boys are to represent us, I strongly recommend the issuing of scissor grenades, limbo vapour and triple-blast brain splitters." He told the Silurian, the three women's faces the picture of confusion.
"What for?"
"Just generally." He replied, like it was obvious before leaning in close, lowering his voice, "Remember, we are going to the North."
"Oi, I'm from the North." Danni protested, "Only I can make jokes like that."
"I'm not joking." Strax told her, "The North is a very dangerous place, we need to be prepared." Danni felt like she should have been offended, after all she'd spent pretty much the first 22 years of her life being raised in a northern town with her northern parents. And up until the moment she had regenerated she had been a fully-fledged northern girl.
However, he also wasn't wrong so she just shrugged, turning to Vastra, "So, what's the plan?"
"As I was saying, she is only interested in the fittest and most beautiful." Vastra continued as if Strax hadn't spoken up, "Yourself and Jenny will try and get recruited so we can get inside the mysterious little town. I do believe you both fit the bill perfectly, however the proprietor may have different tastes to I. If both of you attempt, at least one of you should be successful." Danni nodded, trying not to smile at the slightly deflated happiness that Jenny was displaying. They all knew that the two women had eyes only for each other, but as she did with Jack in front of the Doctor, creating a little harmless jealousy was never a bad thing.
"And once we're in the factory, we sneak you in, right?" She asked and Vastra nodded, "Sounds fun, I'm in."
~0~0~0~
This was not fun. She had been wrong, this was not fun at all. She sat in the pews in the church hall that had been set up ready for Mrs Gillyflower and her rant upon the modern world and it was incredibly dull to say the least. There was always one, someone who was scared of the changes technology and progression would bring and would condemn it to anyone who would listen. And it was quite a lot, it would seem. She and Jenny were squished together in a space that was really only meant for one person, listening to her talk about the sin of others. Danni had never really been into the whole 'hell and damnation' thing, it had always seemed a strange direction to take any religion in if you were trying to get people to follow your beliefs. She would take a 'love thy neighbour' over 'the devil's juggernaut' any day.
She took a glance at Jenny who, judging by the look she was giving the room full of people, seemed to echo her sentiments.
"And moral turpitude can destroy the most delicate of lives. Believe me, I know. I know." Mrs Gillyflower was saying from her podium looking over the room. Underneath her was what looked like a shower curtain hanging from a circular pole. One of her little peons pulled the cord to open it, revealing another young woman dressed in a posh grey outfit and a hat, "My own daughter. Blinded in a drunken rage by my late husband!" The woman turned around, showing her scarred eyes to the audience and the whole room gasped. The daughter looked decidedly uncomfortable, and Danni didn't blame her. What kind of mother paraded her daughter like that?
"Her once-beautiful eyes, pale and white as mistletoe berries." Mrs Gillyflower continued, holding a handkerchief to her mouth like she was crying. Danni looked at Jenny, who again didn't seem particularly taken in by the act either, even if the rest of the room was.
"And what, my friends, is your story?" Gillyflower asked, her upset leaving her pretty quickly as her daughter made her way across the stage, her cane showing her that the path was clear, "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!" The daughter had reached an easel with another piece of cloth covering what was sat on it. At the cue, she pulled it off and revealed a beautiful rendition of Sweetville, the factory sat right in the middle of it. There was gasps of surprise from around the room, people murmuring in delight at what was being promised to them.
"Does this seem a little," Danni started, leaning in closer to Jenny so she could whisper, "culty to you?"
"I was thinkin' the same thing." Jenny agreed as Mrs Gillyflower commanded the crowd to join them, and the crowd cheering their agreement.
"The Doctor's going to be right in the middle, isn't he?" Danni asked quietly and Jenny nodded as they all began singing hymns, "Excellent."
~0~0~0~
Danni stepped up to podium with the sign up ledger for Sweetville. Jenny had got through no problem, but then again Jenny was very pretty and if that was what Gillyflower was looking for then Jenny was it.
"You wish to join us, my dear?" Gillyflower asked her and Danni bowed her head slightly as she did, pushing her glasses up her nose.
"If that is okay, ma'am." She replied.
"I see you wear spectacles." Gillyflower pointed out and Danni nodded again, squashing that voice in her head that wanted to snap at the woman for making it sound like a bad thing.
"I do, ma'am." She agreed, "I knew you wouldn't mind, though. After all your daughter is much more handicapped than I." She raised her voice just slightly, so the people around her would be pulled the focus on the conversation if they weren't already. They had already thought that this might have been a problem, with Mrs Gillyflower wanting 'perfect' people to join her little town. However, she just smiled at Danni like she was about to eat her.
"You are not wrong there, my child." She agreed, picking up the pen and handing it to her, "You will do very nicely." Danni smiled and signed the ledger 'Amelia Smith' before curtsying and heading out of the way. She met up with Jenny and they headed out of the hall together.
"Why do I feel like I've just signed my soul away?" She asked the maid.
"I don't know, but I feel the same." She agreed, "I'm sure we'll find out in the morning, hopefully Ma'am has found us somewhere to stop for the night."
"I'm sure she has." Danni replied, "She has a lot of favours that she can cash in, we'll get something lovely I bet."
~0~0~0~
Madame Vastra had indeed found them somewhere to spend their indeterminate amount of time while they were investigating. A lovely townhouse which almost rivalled theirs for luxury and Danni had been able to easily get her own bedroom. Apparently the actual owners were out of town for some time, so it made the perfect place to make their base.
Danni really hoped they'd find the Doctor soon, but while Vastra and Strax were playing the waiting game back at the grand house, herself and Jenny were in line waiting to be 'checked over' by Gillyflower's own team of doctors.
"I shouldn't have come with you." Danni whispered to Jenny, "I've got two hearts, even in this day and age they're going to notice something's wrong with that."
"Ma'am wouldn't have suggested if she thought you were in any danger." Jenny pointed out, "Plus, I don't think we'll get that far. Look." She nodded up the hallway, "That looks promisin'." Danni followed her gaze and spotted a door that everyone else was ignoring. Well, if that didn't scream Amelia Pond...
They took a step forward as someone else was let into the examination area, "I just don't want to get you in trouble."
"What, don't think I can look after meself?" Jenny retorted and Danni shook her head.
"I just don't want you to have to whoop all their arses." The two giggled and took another step closer to the door.
"I'm dead nervous, aren't you?" A woman asked, dipping her head in between the pair. Jenny looked uncomfortable, she didn't need some woman sticking her head in where it didn't belong, but Danni smiled warmly at her, "They have to be sure, you see. Only the best for Sweetville!" Her smile waivered slightly, "I hope me teeth don't let me down." She broadened her smile again, showing her slightly rotten teeth, "I'm Abigail."
"Pleased to meet you." Jenny replied before Danni could introduce herself. They all knew what the two Time Lords were like, they'd both get to know everyone if they could. However, they were undercover and there was no time for anything more than dismissive small talk. They couldn't get caught before they'd had a chance to look around.
"You're not local, are you?" Abigale asked, sounding slightly amazed at her obviously very different accent.
"Nah. Up from London." Jenny agreed, eyes darting around. She caught sight of the door again, spotting that it had a well-made but very obvious 'No Entry' sign on it. Bingo. But they couldn't get near it until the line moved again, they couldn't pull attention to themselves.
"Different here, I bet." Abigale commented and Jenny nodded.
"Oh, yeah! Like a bleedin' horse-market." She joked, eyeing the door again. It wasn't the most secure, it would only take her a few seconds to get through that lock. Someone was obviously didn't think anyone would try and break in.
Danni turned to Abigale, who just seemed nervous about the entire thing. She was sure that the whole thing was wrong, scaremongering people into following Mrs Gillyflower's lead, but she didn't want to cause a fuss when her husband was running about somewhere probably doing that himself, "I'm sure you'll get in just fine. After all my eyes are more shoddy than your teeth." She reassured the northern lass, motioning to her glasses as she did.
"Your eyes are lovely." Abigale protested, "Such a deep shade of brown, you're bound to get straight through." Danni smiled gratefully but shook her head. If she got to the end of the queue, definitely not.
"Do you know anyone who's come to live here?" Jenny asked, more inclined to use the time they had to waste to get some good information rather than prattle it away on small talk, "In Sweetville, I mean."
"I... I had a pal who come here three month back. She wrote to tell me how perfect it all were. Funny, though." Abigale frowned in thought as she thought on her friend a bit more, "I've not heard a peep from her since." Danni and Jenny shared a look - that was definitely a bit strange. And in keeping with what Madame Vastra had found out about the little town. It was why Mr Thursday's brother was investigating in the first place. No one ever seemed to come out again.
A deep male voice called for the next person and the line began shifting once again, "Hang on. We're moving." Abigale moved in front of the pair, desperate to be let into Sweetville for, what she had been told, would be a better life. Neither girl complained, however. In fact the moment she had the chance, Jenny sipped out of the line and to the locked door, pulling out her trusty lock picking kit. No one but Abigale noticed, who was checking to make sure they weren't going to throw a fuss at her cutting in line.
"What you doin'?" She whispered.
"Do us a favour. Cause a distraction." Jenny hissed in reply, shaking the door handle slightly as Danni looked around. Something about having to do this without a sonic screwdriver was really thrilling, and also seemed to be a lot less noisy. Maybe she should suggest learning how to lock pick, just in case they ever needed to be inconspicuous.
"What?" Abigale asked.
"Swoon." Jenny suggested, "Have a funny turn. Fit of the vapours."
"Are you crackers?" Abigale laughed, checking to make sure no one thought she was trying to break into the room as well. She wasn't about to lose her chance for some London lass.
"Go on." Jenny replied temptingly, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a coin, "There's a guinea in it for you." Abigale looked at the coin in thought for a moment before taking it, pocketing it quickly.
"Done." She agreed before taking a deep, wheezing breath, pulling the whole crowds attention to her before she dropped to the floor, the perfect mimic of a faint. Danni grinned, oh how she loved people, then followed Jenny into the hallway behind it, shutting the door behind them as gently as she could.
"Where are we going?" Danni asked as Jenny looked down each way in the hallway. The sounds of the factory echoed in here even more than they did in the hallway where they were waiting in line. She nodded left.
"That way." She declared, not quite used to being in charge but handling it very well. Danni nodded, happy to follow the woman who not only knew Victorian Britain better than she did, but could take down anyone who came after them with just a few kicks. She might be running into danger, but she wasn't stupid.
The noise of machinery became louder and louder until they reached a green door, which Jenny arbitrarily decided was the one to enter. A quick look down both ways and they both entered, looking around the red brick room in amazement.
"What the hell..." Danni whispered. The room was huge, with a platform running across the top just as she imagined a Victorian factory to have. There were lights in a line in the middle of the ceiling running the full length of the room and frosted glass windows letting in light from the outside. However, the loud noise wasn't coming from machinery, but in fact from three large gramophone speakers that were sat at the entrance.
Jenny said something, but over the deafening noise she couldn't hear her, but the younger woman stepped into the room so Danni followed, the pair covering their ears as they went. A factory with no machinery, so definitely a front, but for what? What was Gillyflower doing?
Jenny ducked suddenly behind a speaker so Danni did the same, only spotting the two men walking by the wall as she hit the ground. One of them was carrying a wicker-encased bottle, but other than that they seemed rather harmless. The moment they were out of sight, Jenny nodded towards the door and they both rushed out the way they came.
"What the hell is going on?" Danni asked her once she'd shut the door and the noise dulled considerably, "A factory with no machinery acting like it has?"
"I don't know, but those men went into a lift. We should follow them up." Jenny replied, "They were carrying sommat, I wonder what it was."
"Maybe they're putting something in the water, which is why none of the people are coming out?" Danni suggested, "Maybe something making them more suggestible?" Jenny nodded, it wasn't too farfetched. She'd already thought there something fishy about how everyone seemed so easily taken in, but then again she always thought that.
"Come on, we need to get up there." She pushed the door open a little, the sound from all the speakers hitting them hard once again. A quick scan of the area told her that it was safe to go, so she motioned Danni to follow her.
The lift only went up a couple of levels, and opened up into a dark hallway. Jenny checked again to make sure the coast was clear then stepped out to allow Danni to exit the lift as well. The floor was covered in sawdust with the footprints of all the imaginary workers that were supposed to be working in the factory. There was a door at one end with a large, circular window that shone with the red light streaming out of it.
"What do you think, that way?" Danni whispered and Jenny nodded, letting her go first so she could keep a lookout behind them. Danni pressed up against the window, but couldn't see anything other than the shadows of whatever it was behind the door moving.
There was a clanging noise from the opposite direction and both women turned quickly to see if they were caught, "You know, this whole sneaking around thing is really doing a number on my nerves." Danni whispered as they headed towards it.
"What, don't you and the Doctor go sneakin' about?" Jenny whispered in reply.
"No, he prefers to declare he's there. Massive show off, you know that." Jenny nodded in agreement, pushing the much less ominous door at the end of the corridor open, revealing a small room with a spiral metal staircase leading upwards sat at one side. She headed up first, walking very carefully so her footsteps didn't echo. Last thing they needed was to alert someone to their presence. At the top of the stairs was a wooden separating wall, a large metal door like the ones on a police cell sat right in the middle. There was a bang from the other side of it and she slowly approached it. She tried the door, giving it a couple of shakes but it was locked.
Danni crouched down, noticing a small hatch at the bottom, probably a way to push food through to whatever was on the other side. After a quick check with Jenny to see if she should, she opened it, trying to get a glance inside. A red arm shot out, trying to grab her and she yelled in surprise, falling back as Jenny grabbed her to get her out of the way.
"You alright?" Jenny asked and Danni nodded, standing up and brushing herself down. Jenny turned to the door, "All right, mate. You just stay calm now!" Sounds of chain hitting the other side of the door startled the two women away from it, but once the ringing settled down Jenny moved back, "I could open this door. Would you like that?" Jenny asked whatever was inside. The chains hit the door again, but much softer this time. Still, it caused Danni to clutch at Jenny's arm, ready to run at a moment's notice, "Thought you might. But you and me has got to come to an arrangement, savvy?" The chains hit the door again, which Jenny took to mean yes.
"Now, you stand well back." She told whatever it was as she pulled out her lock picking tools, "Do you hear me? I don't mean no harm to ya'. But you try anything funny and I'll leave you here to rot. Is that understood?" Two knocks this time and Jenny looked at Danni for confirmation this was a good idea. Danni nodded, not liking the idea of anything being locked up, so Jenny turned back to the door, "Right."
She made quick work of the lock once again and she slowly pushed the door open. Danni pushed past her before she'd had a chance to register the thing on the other side.
"Doctor!" Danni cried, horrified at the sight of her husband stretching out to them, trying to step forward with stiff movements. His mouth was locked open, his skin red and looking cracked.
"What's happened to you?" Jenny asked, eyes wide as he groaned, reaching towards Danni. Danni reached up to his face, hesitating in case the redness on his skin with infectious, before running her fingertips down his cheek. It was hard, almost like he'd been coated in plastic. He groaned again and she quickly pulled her hand away, thinking she'd hurt him.
"Is this what you get up to when I'm not around?" Danni hissed, frightened for her husband. What the hell were they supposed to do? Danni had no idea what they'd done to him, and even if she did how was she supposed to work out how to reverse it? "Oh, Spaceman, you're going to be the death of me."
"Right. We're getting out of here." Jenny decided, stepping forward and working the lock on his left wrist while Danni picked up his clothes from the floor.