Bellamy had been leaving the pub the night he had died, having spent the evening drinking and complaining along with Strax. It wasn't very far from the factory, but that surprised no one at the stage.
The tavern was as rundown at the area it was situated in. The paint was peeling of the windows and the sign that hung outside, that was so worn Danni couldn't actually tell what it was called. The windows were dirty and made it almost impossible to look in, but also meant that no sunlight lit up the dull and dusty room as they stepped in.
"You would think this was somewhere out of a movie," Danni said lowly to her husband, who nodded in agreement. His eyes were looking around for whatever he deemed was important.
A group of builders in dusty clothes, obviously trying to fit in to the surroundings, stood up and left the pub. The Doctor nudged her over to their vacated table before someone else took it, although there didn't seem to be a rush of people.
Strax forced his way through to the bar – where he was obviously recognised. He returned a few moments later with three pints of ale.
Danni pulled a bit of a face, but thanked him all the same. "Are we looking for someone in particular?" she asked lowly, holding the glass with both hands as she sat between her husband and the Sontaran butler. "Or is it just a 'we'll know when we see it' sort of thing?"
"We'll see," he confirmed before taking a swig of his beer. Danni smiled slightly to himself as he seemed to enjoy it. Eleven had hated alcohol like nothing else. Twelve, though, seemed to be able to tolerate it in small doses. He'd join her for a glass of wine, and he'd take a drink of beer just to make himself seem less conspicuous. He still preferred a cup of tea, but it was one of those little things that seemed to change drastically between regenerations. It made her wonder how much she would change if and when she regenerated.
Strax, however, had downed his pint in one long gulp and now was impatiently waiting for more orders. He never had been the waiting type and he was now eyeing up the other patrons as if he was trying to decide who to interrogate first.
"Him," the Doctor suddenly declared, pointing across to the bar where a thin, elderly man was sat. He was at a little table, all on his own, holding a tankard and watching the world go by.
"Why him?"
"He has his own tankard, so he's a regular. They probably keep it behind the bar. He's on his own, happy in his own company. And he's watching. He knows everyone – see how he nods as people pass."
"You think he saw something?" Danni asked.
"Saw something, heard something, knows something. He probably won't know what he knows, but he's it. He's the one."
"The one what?" Strax asked. "The one to be taken outside and ruthlessly interrogated?"
Danni shot him a look at how happy he sounded to be finally about to hurt someone. He caught it and almost hung his head.
"No," she replied pointedly. "He's the one who we've got to ask."
"No," the Doctor corrected. "The one we need to buy a drink."
They sent Strax to the bar to purchase another drink while the couple headed over to the table. The old man didn't seem too perturbed about them approaching him.
"Mind if we join you?" the Doctor asked. The man shrugged and gestured to the chairs on the other side of the table.
"You get bored over there, did you?"
Danni smiled at him. Of course he would have noticed them. He would have noticed anything new, and especially the group of people talking and pointing at him.
"We just wondered if we could ask you a couple of questions," she said pleasantly. The old man raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yes?" he replied, looking between the pair suspiciously.
"Our friend is getting you a drink," the Doctor added.
The man's frown turned into a smile. "Then I'll be more than happy to speak to you."
The man's name was Anderson, and the Doctor was right. He saw everything that happened in the pub and heard about everything that happened outside. While they were buying him drinks, he was happy to answer all the questions.
He wasn't too impressed with Milton either, which was oddly reassuring to Danni. Even the locals seemed to want to stay away. He'd seen the machinery being put in and then, only a few months later, stripped out again and moved off.
He didn't know way but, with another drink, directed him to a young lad called Billie Matherson; a labourer who had helped move the machinery to its new location. He worked for himself, lugging boxes and bags all over the city. Today was his day at the Waverly Street Mill, moving flour down to Harriman's Warf, so that was where the Doctor, Danni and Strax headed to next. After buying him one last drink, of course.
Anderson watched them leave curiously. He knew that his place was at the bar, but sometimes people caught his attention more than most. The man, his wife and their squat butler were definitely one of the more curious things to happen to the pub that day. Not as much as the man who followed them once they'd left, though. He never saw the man's face but, by his clothing, he guessed he was an undertaker.
There had been such a person around that oaf Bellamy's death, he had heard. Still, he sipped at his beer, there were plenty of undertakers in London. Didn't mean anything at all.
~0~0~0~
Billie Matherson was not at the Warf as they had suspected, so Danni and the Doctor left Strax to help move flour and wait for the boy to appear when he was on his way back.
He wasn't at the mill, either, though, so the Doctor left Danni to wait there while he walked the path back to see if he could see Billie in any of the various cafés and pubs that lined the streets.
Danni hadn't been too happy about being left behind, but considering her skin still stung with the many little cuts that the paper birds had given her, she knew it was probably for the best. With a small amount of coins just in case someone knew where Billie was but didn't want to talk, and a quick kiss, he was off and she was left to watch and wait.
Luckily she didn't have to wait long. The men moving the flour out seemed to enjoy having a friendly face to talk to, and Danni could get them chatting pretty quickly. She gathered a little bit of a crowd of people who wanted to speak with her, although none of them had seen Billie for a little while. It seemed to be quite normal for him, though. He didn't seem to be the hardest of workers.
"What do you want Matherson for, anyway?" one man asked. "He's just a boy; you want a man."
The others laughed with him, and Danni couldn't help but giggle along. The Doctor always complained about people, but everyone was so happy and friendly.
"We need to ask him about a man called Orestes Milton," she explained. "He owns a factory a little bit away from here. Apparently Billie moved some machinery for him."
"I remember that," said a man to her left. She turned and found him standing nearer than she remembered, leaning on the wall she was sat on. That made him easier to find, though, in the group. "He got paid a pretty penny for it. Didn't share the job with anyone else, mind."
She smiled at him. "Do you know anything else about it?" she asked.
"What do you want to know about that, for?" someone else asked. "You're not the police, are you?"
"Of course not," she replied, almost indignantly. "Why would I work for the police? No, I know of a man who died and I want answers."
"And you think Matherson had something to do with it?"
She shook her head. "I know Milton did though. That's why I need to talk to Billie."
"Billie Matherson?" someone at the back called. They all turned to look at one of the many carts that had been passing by. There was a middle age man sat on the front, looking over the group.
"Yeah," she called over. "I'm looking for him. Do you know where he is?"
"He's where he always bloody is this time of the day," he replied. "The Old Goose on Lanchester street."
"Brilliant!" Danni cried, hopping off the wall. "Could you give me directions, please?"
He nodded behind him. "Hop on the back of my cart, I'll drop you off."
"Oh, thanks!" she smiled. The group groaned as she made her way over.
"Get back to work, the lot of ya. Leave the lass alone," the man on the cart replied as Danni hopped up. She looked at the crowd and shot them a dazzling smile.
"Thank you for your help," she said. "I'm sure I'll be back."
The crowd looked distinctly happier as the man on the cart started forward. She smiled to herself, enjoying the novelty of being on the back of the cart.
People were so friendly.
She watched down the street, bending around the wooden walls to see where they were going. The two chatted over the noise of the cart; the man's name was Fred and apparently he'd known Billie since he was a young lad. He was a bit lazy, but he was a good man, he was just down on his luck and wanted everyone to know it. She reassured him that he wasn't in any trouble, she just wanted to ask him about a job he did.
She spotted the Doctor on the street, talking to a man with hair that immediately reminded her of Eleven. She felt the old but familiar twang of grief at being reminded of one of her husband's old bodies, then called up to Fred. "Actually, can you drop me off here?" she asked. "That's my husband, he's looking for Billie too."
Fred pulled to the side of the road, but looked at her with confusion. "You 'ave a 'usband?"
She nodded. "Yeah, the one in the black suit," she replied, jumping down and moving to the front of the cart. "Thank you for your help."
She offered him some money for his trouble, but he waved her away, giving her directions from where they were before heading on his way. She watched him go with a smile, wondering why all adventures couldn't be this nice, before heading over to her husband.
He turned to her, eyes narrowed as the man he had been talking to seemed to slink away, realising he wasn't wanted there. "What are you doing here?" he snapped, irritated.
Danni blinked in surprise, having not expecting such a harsh response. "I – er… sorry, it's just, I found out where Billie was…"
He saw the upset flicker on her face and sighed, calming himself down. "I'm sorry, my Pet," he said. "I have been hounded by people for this entire walk. No one in this city seems to know how to take no for an answer. All so incredibly friendly."
She nodded. "I know, that's how I found out. I was talking to the men at the Mill, they were really lovely. They didn't want me to be on my own, so they all stopped work to talk to me-"
The Doctor's panicked look caused her to trail off. "All of the men?" he asked and she shrugged.
"Well, probably not all of them, no. But they were really nice to me," she explained. "They said they didn't want a pretty young thing like me to be on the streets on my own. I mean, they called me young. I haven't been young in centuries…"
"Pretty young…" he grumbled. He shouldn't have left her at the mill. "Where is he?"
"Oh!" she exclaimed, slightly embarrassed at being so vain. "Yes, he's at the Old Goose on Lanchester Street. Fred gave me directions when he dropped me off. It's that way."
He stalked off in the direction she pointed, making sure to keep hold of her hand and keep her close. He shot a glare at the young man who'd accosted him last as they walked past, then paid him no more thought. "He dropped you off?"
She nodded. "Yeah, he gave me a lift on his cart. He works with Billie. Says he's lazy but a good boy. He should be able to help."
Behind them, the young man with the floppy hair wiped his hand over his face, blanking it out like he had done for Vastra and Jenny. He needed to pass on word about where Billie Matherson was to be found.
~0~0~0~
The landlord told them that they had just missed Billie, and could offer no more information that the fact he left with a 'undertaker'.
"You know, Strax said there was an undertaker seen where his friend died," Danni said to her husband. "That's not good is it?"
"Very not good," the Doctor agreed and the pair rushed out into the street. He reached out and took hold of the nearest person, who happened to be a girl selling matches.
"Bald man and an undertaker," he snapped. "Did you see them? Where did they go?"
"Doctor," Danni snapped, knocking his hands off the little girl. "Sorry about that. Did you see them?"
"Buy some matches?" the girl asked nervously.
"Love to," the Doctor told her. "I'm a big fan of matches. Even the sort that burn for a bit then go out. Tell us where they went, and I'll buy some matches."
The girl nodded towards the alleyway. "Down that way. Behind the pub. Dunno why, there's only the back yard there." She handed the Doctor a box of matches. "Three farthings for you, guv."
"That sounds a bit steep," he replied but the girl just rattled her box of matches in return. Danni reached into her pocket and pulled out the bag of coins the Doctor had given her.
"Here, sweetie. Have these and get yourself something warm to eat."
The girl opened the bag and her eyes positively lit up in happiness. "Thanks Ma'am!" she exclaimed before darting down the street.
Danni smiled after her for a moment, then the two Time Lords darted down the alleyway to the gate to the back yard. Danni gasped as they saw Billie Matherson, or what she assumed was Billie Matherson. But he wasn't the young lad she was expecting, he was ancient. His body was withering in front of their eyes, his skin sagging, turning grey and lifeless.
All because of the man who was stood in front of him. Danni could understand why people thought he was an undertaker. He was in all black, with a top hat and he looked very solemn. He held his hand on Billie's shoulder as the boy withered away, his face pulled into the snarl of pure anger before it suddenly fell away.
The Doctor pulled her into shadows, holding her close and she barely breathed until the man walked through the gates and away. He then took her hand and they quickly fled the scene as well.
"I don't like leaving him there," Danni panted as they hurried out of the alleyway after the undertaker. "Will someone find him?"
"Most definitely," the Doctor replied reassuringly.
"What was that thing?"
"I'm not sure. But I have a few nasty suspicions."
"Definitely not an undertaker, though," Danni added as they stayed as far behind him as they dared without losing him from view. He seemed to be heading towards the river, where the people at the Frost Fair went about their business with no idea of what was going out in alleyways or factories. "We can't let him near the public. If he does it to someone else, there could be chaos."
"I don't think he's heading to the fair," the Doctor replied. He was right. Just before the Embankment, the man turned and headed in another direction, away from the fair. It wasn't far, so they didn't need to follow him for long until they arrived at a large house set back from the road in its own grounds. The gravelled driveway was lined with trees, so there was plenty of cover as the couple followed up to the front of the house.
"Are we waiting or following?" Danni asked as the undertaker went inside.
"Following," he replied, pulling out his sonic screwdriver to open the door. Danni reached up and snatched it out of his hand. "Oi!"
"I was locked in a factory and attacked by paper birds. I'm opening the door," she replied. He rolled his eyes but, at the cheeky little nudge he felt in his mind, he motioned her forward.
She pointed it at the door, doing as he told her and 'thought' about unlocking the door. She frowned when there wasn't the normal 'click' of the lock releasing. "Did it work?"
The Doctor reached out and gave the door a push. It opened. "It was unlocked."
Danni pouted and handed him back the screwdriver. "I never get to have any fun."
They stepped into the hallway where the sound of footsteps could be heard from further inside the house. "This way," he whispered, taking her hand and pulling her along. They watched the undertaker walk into a room just off the hallway, and found themselves in a large library that would have normally impressed Danni, and pulled a nod of the head from the Doctor.
They dove behind a leather chair, then across to some large velvet curtains that covered a bay window, peeking out from behind it to watch their undertaker head over to the other side of the room. He stopped in front of a large glass sphere. It was mounted on a bracket, not unlike an ornamental globe only larger. Inside, dark smoke curled lazily like drifting smog. As they watched, the undertaker opened a circular hatch, like a porthole, in the side of the sphere. He leaned forward and stuck his head inside.
They could see his face, distorted by the curve of the glass and hazy through the dark mist. Again, the man's placid expression twisted into a sudden mask of fury. His mouth opened wide. A stream of black mist spewed out, the anger draining from his expression as the mist vented into the sphere.
After several moments, the stream faded. The undertaker closed his mouth and withdrew his head. He quickly closed the hatch again, and he left the room with no expression at all.
"What the hell was that?" Danni hissed. "Did he just… Did he just spew up some anger?"
The Doctor didn't get a chance to reply. The curtains were abruptly drawn back.
"How good of you both to join us," a voice said, close to Danni's ear. "Mr Milton has been expecting you."
The Doctor grabbed her, pulling her away from the woman who had appeared. Silhouette, now without her cloak but with a crimson crystal necklace glowing proudly around her throat, held the curtain out of the way. She didn't seem happy to see them, or smug, or amused.
"If you would like to come with me," she continued.
Danni looked at her with a calculating look. She didn't seem bothered at all that she'd caught two people snooping around. "Why should we?"
She smiled, but there was no real emotion behind it. "Then I am instructed to inform you that your friends, the lizard lady and her maid, will die."
"We'll be right behind you," the Doctor said grimly.
They followed her as she led them out into the hallway and towards the back of the house. Danni held onto the Doctor's hand tightly, nervous. "How did they get Jenny and Vastra?" she asked lowly. "I thought they were at the Fair?"
"When does anyone stay where I tell them to?" the Doctor asked in reply. "No one ever listens to me."
He looked around and caught one of the old portraits staring at them as if its eyes were really able to see. "I'm guessing that our audience is down to you?"
Silhouette glanced up and saw what he was looking at. "Sorry. Force of habit, I'm afraid."
"You can make the eyes follow us?" Danni asked, slightly impressed despite not particularly wanting to be. "That's pretty cool."
Silhouette didn't reply, probably because she didn't quite understand the turn of phrase. She motioned to a door in a more open area. "After you."
The room they entered was dark, except for the light from the focused beams that formed a cage around Vastra and Jenny.
"Are you okay?" Danni called over.
"Yes, we're fine, thank goodness you're here!" Vastra replied, her relief palpable. However, her face fell as Silhouette stepped into the room after them. "They have you too."
"They think they have," the Doctor assured her. "I'll get you out of there, don't worry."
"Milton's selling weapons," Jenny said horridly. "He's an alien, and he's turning people into weapons."
"Oh, hush now." Milton had joined them in the room, looking more pleased with himself than his minions seemed to. "You'll be telling him all my secrets, and then what will we talk about over tea."
"Tea?" Danni asked.
"Is there any other way to have a chat?" Milton replied.
"Let them go," the Doctor demanded in reply.
Milton laughed. "Certainly not. They are far more valuable to me where they are, where death can be administered at a touch of a button or the mention of a certain control word."
"You kill them and-" the Doctor started angrily but Danni placed her hand on his arm, rubbing it gently.
"We'll go have a chat," she said softly, smiling at him in reassurance. "No one's going to die unless they have to, we've seen that already." His brows furrowed. "Everyone who has been killed has been killed for a purpose. Michael because he saw something, and Hapworth was the same. He won't kill them unless he has to."
"She is quite right," Milton replied. "It is such a messy business. Why kill anyone when we can go to my study and Silhouette can bring us some tea?"
The Doctor continued to look at his wife. She wasn't particularly comfortable with the arrangement, that was true, but then again they had been in much worse situations than they were now. A little chat over some tea might not be the worst thing they'd had to do with a bad guy, but it was infuriating none the less.
They followed him out after reassuring Vastra and Jenny that they would be back. The study was definitely not in keeping with the Victorian town house it was inside, showing just how alien the man was. It's desk and seating area reminded Danni more of the offices she'd seen the Face of Boe use rather than the dark, ornate room that Hapworth had been killed in.
Silhouette happily offered tea to the pair as if she did it every day, and both accepted because it was the polite thing to do when a man was threatening to kill your friends if you didn't.
Danni was the first to strike up the conversation. "You're turning people into weapons," she said.
"There will always be war," he replied. "So there will always be weapons. Someone has to make a profit, why not me?"
"Because you're profiting off people," she replied. "No one wants to be turned into a weapon, most of all for someone else's profit. People are suffering…"
"I'm not defending the concept of war," Milton protested. "I'm merely ensuring that I benefit from it. As I'm sure you'd be among the first to point out, there's more than enough suffering generated by war to go around."
"It's not just benefiting," she retorted. "You are adding to it. Enough people suffer from death and war, why would you enslave people to add to it?"
In answer, Milton turned towards Silhouette, who stood nearby ready to offer more tea. "Do you feel exploited, my dear?" he asked. "Enslaved?"
She smiled. "Of course not." However, there was the briefest flicker in her eyes and her hand went to the red crystal around her neck.
Danni sighed. "You're never going to see that what you're doing is awful," she commented. "How many?"
"Three, so far," he replied, sounding rather proud. "Silhouette here you know, of course. And you've also met Affinity."
Danni and the Doctor shared a look. "Was he the one who killed Billie Matherson?"
"Oh no," Milton leant back in his chair. "He is a very interesting character, though. Or rather, many interesting characters. One of the things he can do is assess a personality, determine what makes someone tick."
"Oswald," Danni stated rather than asked. "He looked at me and created a man based off my best friend."
Milton nodded in agreement. "But I gather he had quite a had a hard time with you, Doctor."
"I can't imagine why," the Time Lord replied.
"Neither could I," Milton admitted. "Which is why Silhouette gave you that particular cup." The Doctor frowned, inspecting his tea cup. It didn't look any different to the others.
"What's so different about it?" Danni asked.
"DNA and biometric sampling?" the Doctor suggested.
"Analysis of saliva, perspiration, skin cell content as well as monitoring life signs," Milton agreed. "All beamed directly to my computer up there. Should have a result fairly soon, I think."
Danni pulled a face. "I hope you washed it properly," she commented. "I don't want my husband covered in who-knows-what."
"Don't worry, my dear," he replied. "Nothing has come into contact that can infect humans for quite a while."
"Good thing she's not fully human, then," the Doctor commented sharply. He looked at his wife, looking baffled. "They always dismiss you, I don't understand it."
"You're the only one who sees me as anything but ordinary, sweetie," Danni replied softly before turning back to Milton. "Why not ask?"
"Because I'd have to trust that you would tell me, and that what you told me is the truth."
She couldn't argue with that. Admitting that you were a Time Lord was never a good idea. So much history came from those words, it was always best to keep it to yourself unless necessary.
"What happened to Billie Matherson?" she asked in reply.
"Who?"
"I think that rather makes the point of all of this," the Doctor said quietly. "You have no moral sensibility at all. No feeling for the people you kill – no, let me rephrase that; the people your weapons kills." He leaned forward. "What happened to Matherson, anyway? And all of the others your undertaker friend murdered?"
"My undertaker friend?"
"The man who sucked all of the life out of Billie then put it into your library," Danni replied.
Milton's face lit up in recognition. "Ah, you must mean Empath. He's my third creation. Yes, an interesting case, I'm glad you asked about him. He is key to my latest weapon. My latest and, though I say so myself, greatest weapon."
Danni was horrified as he went on to explain the origins of Empath. A poor man who had done nothing more than be empathetic to those who he met. He worked at the Carnival as well, but she guessed they were chosen more for the fact that people wouldn't notice them missing. No one noticed a missing traveller, after all.
"So he absorbs the most dominant emotion in the people he kills. Drains it out of them, and leave them empty, dead husks," the Doctor summarised.
Milton jabbed his finger in the air triumphantly. "You have it exactly."
"And all these people that have died, you what, drained their emotions? Why?" Danni asked.
"Because the people he's been killing, according to Strax," the Doctor said, "are angry. Very angry. Disaffected, downtrodden, seething with rage at the injustice of the world and their place in it."
"Billie apparently hated his job," Danni commented softy. "He probably was angry about it all of the time." The Doctor nodded in agreement. "And it gets stored in the library. For what? Energy?"
Milton shook his head. "To create a cloud – a creature – of pure anger." He jumped to his feet, giving a sudden laugh as he did. "Now that is a weapon."
"That is contemptible," the Doctor retorted.
"It's horrific," Danni agreed. "It's not a weapon, it's torture!"
But Milton didn't really care what they had to say. He hurried across the room, up to his desk where he picked up a thin tablet – another thing that didn't sit right in the Victorian era. Whatever he saw gave him pause for thought, before he nodded and re-joined them.
"Well, who would have thought it?" he said. "I can see why Affinity was so confused."
"I don't know what you mean," the Doctor replied offhandedly.
"A Time Lord, no less," Milton went on. "Not something you come across every day. In fact, not something I would expect to come across ever."
"I doubt it will happen again," the Doctor told him.
"And you have the audacity to lecture me about the creation and use of weapons?" Milton clicked his tongue and waggled his figure as if he was telling of a child. "When you are some of the race responsible for the most destructive and apocalyptic war ever thought. And here I am, a humble arms dealer trying to evade justice and make a decent living. Oh, we are in the presence of an expert here, someone who when it comes to war is in another league altogether."
Danni placed her tea cup down on the table, glaring at the man in front of her. "Don't you bloody dare," she snapped, her own anger building within her. "Do you know the difference between us and you? We tried to end it, you're trying to prolong it. I've seen Daleks and Cybermen and everything in between, and I'll tell you something; you're not an arms dealer, you're a warmonger plain and simple."
Milton watched her with a tilt of his head, almost fascinated by her. He then turned to the Doctor. "She's rather strong-willed, isn't she?" he commented. "I can help with that, you know?"
The Doctor's hand shot out and grabbed her arm, his fingers digging into her skin as he glared Milton. "Don't you dare," he snarled, pulling her back into her chair.
"The necklace?" Danni asked and the Doctor nodded.
"Cerebral implants powered by crystal induction," he replied. "The bigger the crystal, the stronger the will, correct?"
"Silhouette was quite strong-willed. Much like you, my dear."
There was silence for several moments, Danni feeling rather queasy about the prospect of being turned into a weapon, while the Doctor fumed. No one, no one, threatened his wife. No one threatened to take what made her his Danielle and got away with it. Her strong-willness was a blessing, not a problem to be removed.
"I think we're past tea," Milton said at last. "Silhouette, my dear, perhaps you could clear away the cups? Then I suggest we adjourn to the library."
~0~0~0~
Empath was waiting in the library for them, stood by the door as if he was a butler. He felt into step behind them all as Milton led them over to the glass sphere.
"Pure, raw anger," he said proudly. Behind the sphere was a pipe leading to the fireplace and up the chimney.
"You're not going to release it?" the Doctor asked, appalled.
"What use is a weapon if it's never tested?" Milton replied. "Imagine what it could do to a city like London. An obvious choice, of course, for a demonstration as it is the greatest and largest city on this rather backward planet."
"A demonstration?" Danni asked before nodding slowly in realisation. "Of course. You need to prove it works to the people you're going to sell it to. Sorry, I forgot that you were just that despicable as well as stupid."
The Doctor snorted at her commented and she shot him a smile. Milton looked less than pleased as he turned to Empath. "What do you think will happen?"
"There will be riots," he said, his voice as calm and unaffected as Milton's. "Violence. Bloodshed. Murder. Within a few hours the whole city will be at war with itself. Within a few days there will be no one left alive."
It truly was the lack of care that made this seem so much worse. The Daleks had been joyous to convert people, to exterminate them. While she was sure that was down to the crystals, Milton's definitely wasn't. He just didn't care about the people at all. No remorse, just a shrug of the shoulders.
"What about us?" she asked. "Are you going to let us die with the rest of London as well? Or do you have bigger plans for us?"
"You, and the other two probably," he replied. "I have a few spare crystals waiting for the right weapon. I should say that some surgery is also necessary, I'm afraid." He turned to the Doctor. "But not you."
"Why not?" the Doctor asked. "They look very fetching. Red is so my colour, you know."
"Perhaps. But I doubt a crystal the size of this house would keep you in check. However, I do have another plan for you."
"Oh really?" the Doctor replied. "Do tell."
Milton nodded to Empath who moved to the side of the glass sphere, his hand on the hatch. He motioned to the Doctor, who walked closer to see.
"Before I test the anger weapon on a whole city, I should like to test it on an individual."
Before the Doctor and Danni could react, Empath opened the hatch with one hand and shoved the Doctor's head into the sphere with another. Caught by surprise, the Doctor gasped and struggled as he tried to get away from the cloud.
"Let him go!" Danni screamed, trying to rush over to his side to help, but Milton held her back. She could see it was too late, though, as he breathed in the gas. She ripped herself through of Milton's grip, eyes narrowing in anger. "I'll kill you if you've hurt him."
"Of course you will," he replied like he didn't find her threatening at all. In fact, he smiled as Empath pulled the Doctor back and slammed the hatch shut. The Doctor collapsed to his knees, his hand at his throat, coughing and retching. His eyes were wide and his whole body started to shake. His expression was one of pure rage.
Milton gave Danni a sudden shove in the back, and she fell to her knees in front of her husband. She could feel herself shaking at the look in his eyes, one she hadn't seen in so long.
"Let's see what happens, shall we?" Milton said. "Will he give vent to his anger by killing you? Or will he try and keep it locked up inside himself. In which case, it will tear him to pieces."
The Doctor's face was a mask of anger and rage. His lips drew back from gritted teeth and the furrows in his forehead deepened. He pitched forward, but Danni immediately reached out and kept him upright.
"Theta, Theta, can you hear me?" she asked urgently as their eyes met again. Her hands moved to cup his face, which she could feel pulling into a snarl. "It's okay, you're okay, I've got you."
He was shaking, trying to breathe through the influx of emotion that was pouring through him. He tried to focus on his wife in front of him, but all he could see was flashes of his own anger. Holding her out of the TARDIS. He had killed her because of his rage, and she wasn't moving away.
"Danni," he gasped. "Danni- I-"
"It's okay," she reassured. "It's okay, you're okay. What can I do? Do-Do you want to share it? Give me some, you know how."
Amongst the pain and the anger, he felt her nudging at his mind and he couldn't let her do it. With a strength he could barely find, he shoved her backwards and away from him. She yelled in surprise, landing hard on the wooden floor as he eyes turned upwards, showing only the whites as he leaned back on his knees, arms suddenly widespread.
"There's nothing you can do," Milton said softly. "I'd say this qualifies as a success."
Danni's hands turned to claws and she turned, ready to jump up and rip him piece from piece herself, when she heard the Doctor laugh.
No one was expecting it, and they all turned to look at him. "I don't think much of your qualifications, then."
Her face broke out into a smile of pure relief as his rasping breathing turned into a cough, before one final exhalation. Slowly, the Doctor pulled himself to his feet, and Danni was right by his side to help him up. He looked like he was in pain, but the anger seemed to have gone.
"You think you can use anger as a weapon against me?" he spat, proving that it hadn't all disappeared. "I've been so angry for so long, there's nothing left you or anyone else can teach me about it."
He turned to his wife. She had hit the floor pretty hard. "Are you okay, my Pet?"
She laughed. "Seriously? You always ask me that at the strangest times," she leant up, placing a kiss on his cheek before turning to Milton. "You can't think you can resist it like he can," she said proudly. "And you can't hide from a cloud in a house. Every single crack will let it in. You won't survive, just like everyone else."
"Sadly, I'm sure you are correct," Milton agreed. "Which is why I shall make sure I don't inhale any part of the cloud.
"I would suspect it will be remotely released?" the Doctor guessed and he nodded.
"I can activate it from my ship," he explained. "Where I can monitor the effects of the cloud remotely as well."
"And emerge once the cloud has dispersed."
"I estimate that in seventy-two hours all the anger will have been absorbed by the population of London. Who will all be dead in another twelve hours. Maximum. Including you, I think, Doctor. You might have been able to resist a small portion of the cloud, but I imagine the full dose will destroy your ability to resist. Or if not, there will be no shortage of other people enraged enough to tear you limb from limb."
There it was again. Another threat on her husband. Danni snarled, then let go of the Doctor, diving at the man with her own anger boiling over the edge. He was strong, and fast, but she managed to get one slap in before he pushed her away and into the Doctor.
He caught her, holding her back as Milton deflecting her didn't seem to want to calm her down. He frowned to himself; he must have let a little slip through the connection, despite his attempts to keep her out. Either that, or Milton had just angered her that much. That was also a possibility.
"Dear, dear," Milton chided. "Don't forget I can kill your friends in moments."
"You threaten my husband again and I'll burn you," she promised harshly.
He tutted. "So much hatred for a woman who touts peace," he replied and she growled from in the Doctor's arms. "Maybe you won't make such a reliable weapon after all. A pity."
"We'll stop you, Milton," the Doctor said. "I can't let this happen. You know that."
"I do," Milton agreed. "Which is why, regrettable, you have to die. I did hope you might be useful in some small way, but evidently not. Now, if you will excuse me I have the final preparations to make for the release of my weapon. So I shall leave you in Empath's more than capable hands." Milton turned to go. The Doctor let go of Danni to follow, but Empath stepped in front of him.
"I need my anger back from you, Doctor," Milton said from the doorway. "And while he's at it, Empath may as well take the girl's anger too. She's demonstrated quite admirably that she has rather a lot of it seething away inside. Regrettably, the process will kill you."
And he left them. Both Doctor and Danni turned to Empath, who was eyeing them with a sense of indifference.
Danni held up her hands. "Look, you- you don't have to do this," she stuttered out but Empath didn't seem to care. Instead, he stepped towards them, his mouth yawning open, ready to inhale their emotions.
The Doctor jumped forward, in front of Danni. "Alright, alright. You're going to kill us. But kill me first."
"What?" Danni exclaimed, rushing forward to push him out of the way. He was in no state to go through that again. Whatever he was planning, he wasn't going to be able to survive it. "Doctor!"
But Empath was already drawing the anger out of the Doctor. A dark mist that reminded her of smog but thinner, drifted out of his mouth and nose. Then it seemed to emanate from his whole body. Empath was breathing it in, his mouth impossibly wide, but the mist didn't seem to want to stop.
"You want my anger," the Doctor gasped. "You want it – then have it!"
He threw back his arms and opened his own mouth. The mist thickened into a fog that crashed over Empath, engulfing him as he screamed in surprise and pain.
The Doctor fell back into a standing position, the smoke clearing and leaving Empath on the floor, unconscious. Danni took a tentative step closer.
"Is he…"
"No, but he'll be out for a bit," the Doctor replied. "Overdosed on emotion. He got all the anger I absorbed from that sphere, and a bit more besides.
Danni nodded, then rushed over to him, chucking her arms around him. He seemed surprised by the attack, but quickly gave her a squeeze back. "You're an idiot," she murmured into him. "You could have died."
"Not today, my Pet," he replied. He let her go to examine the sphere closely, and she joined him.
"I'm not that full of anger, am I?" she asked him, feeling self-conscious. "I mean… I don't think I'm an angry person."
"You're not," he reassured her. "But heaven forbid anyone get close to me. You always have such violent threats."
Her cheeks burnt in her embarrassment. "I don't like you getting hurt," she said, matter-of-factly.
He glanced at her. "And I will be forever grateful," he promised just to see those rosy cheeky scrunch up as she smiled. "There's no way to disperse it safely," he told her, getting back to the matter at hand. "And I don't see a way to detach the sphere from the release mechanism."
"So you're saying we can't stop it?"
The Doctor shook his head. "We can stop him if we get to him on time," he told her. "You go free Vastra and Jenny. No matter what, you have to stop Milton."
She nodded. She didn't argue to go with him. This time she knew that it was more imperative for her to do as she was told. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to wait here for a minute, just until our friend starts to recover. Having absorbed all that anger, he'll be madder than hell. And he'll be maddest at me," he explained. "It's my contingency plan."
She didn't question him. She knew that he knew what he was doing. "Stay safe," she warned. "Those threats apply to you as well."
With a quick kiss, she dashed out of the room and headed towards Vastra and Jenny. A minute later, the Doctor emerged, heading out of the house, closely followed by Empath.