The Shadowmen

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"Here it is. The most beautiful thing in the world." The Doctor spread his arms out, as if to show the world the wonder that was the blue police box. He looked at Sherlock, grinning like a cheeky boy who found out his crush likes him back.

Sherlock, however, was looking at it with disbelief. "What a piece of junk!"

The Doctor ran over to the box and stroked it. "Don't worry, sexy, he doesn't mean it." Sherlock narrowed his eyes, but then the TARDIS emitted a series of alien sounds. "No, no, no. I'll show him now. He just hasn't seen the ins-"

Sherlock just turned around and walked away. "I knew you were eccentric, but not like this. You're wasting my time, Doctor." He suddenly tripped as his coat was pulled taut. "What! No, Doctor, release the coat."

"Just come and see." The Doctor spun Sherlock and had him face the door. "Are you ready?" He raised his hand, while Sherlock glared at him.

"How many times must I say it? Doctor, I am not having my time wasted. Good b-" The Doctor snapped his fingers, and the TARDIS doors opened.

Sherlock walked inside, with the Doctor strutting along behind. He was mentally preparing for that inevitable shocked, "IT'S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE." He had the perfect witty response lined up. "Wow," he would say, "Twelve hundred years of travelling, and I've never even noticed that, you must be some sort of genius."

But what he got was, "Wonderful. Now, onto the case." He walked over to the console. "I assume this is the on switch? Brilliant." He looked at the Doctor, who was just staring, perhaps on the verge of tears. "You all right?"

"I was looking forward so much to say that line. You don't know how long it's been. But all you say is, 'Wonderful!'" He shook his head in disappointment.

No one knows if Sherlock was being kind or trying to get the Doctor to help him when he did this, but he yelled, "OH MY GOD. IT'S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE. HOW COULD I NOT HAVE NOTICED?" He ran outside and checked the walls of the police box, and ran inside.

The Doctor simply smiled. "It's fine. I'm not seventy. I can wait." Sherlock mouthed, 'Seventy', trying to figure out whether it was sarcasm or the truth, as the Doctor bounced over. "Anyway. Let me tell you what I saw that night."

The Doctor recounted how he was walking, clearing his head, when he heard the screams. All about the Shadowmen. But he left out the part where it flashed the scenes of his life. Sherlock already knew too much. Then, he concluded. "I've seen something like this before. They were called the Vashta Nerada, and they were shadows. But they didn't take human form, mainly because they were just shadows. They also didn't flicker memories like something out of a nightmare and they definitely didn't use weapons. Why would they? They can strip a man's flesh off his bones in the blink of an eye."

"So, where were the Vashta Ne-whatsits come from, anyway? They aren't human, which isn't possible, but then again, you aren't human either, and I'm pretty sure you're real." Sherlock spluttered. He was having trouble dealing with aliens, having spent most of his processing power on bigger on the inside time machines,

"They're from... You know, I don't really know. No one really knows. They kind of just, pop up and eat people."

"All right, then. Why? Why would they do this? If they're alien, like you said, you should know how to deal with them!" Sherlock raised his voice, to which the Doctor raised an eyebrow and replied.

"I have no idea. I don't know everything, human, I'm not a computer," Sherlock turned around and sank into the chair next to the console. "Look, now isn't the time to relax, Sherlock, we have to solve this n-"

"Shut up." Sherlock simply said two words.

The Doctor's mouth opened wide in disbelief. "Did you just... Don't be rude! I was trying to be kind."

Sherlock rolled his eyes and looked straight at the Doctor. "Look, I'm going into my mind palace. It takes a lot of concentration, so if you could be quiet, that'd be great. Thank you." He closed his eyes and gave the Doctor no room to argue.

"Fine, then. Be that way." The Doctor decided to go and clean Sexy while Sherlock did whatever he was doing and ambled off.

After a good forty-five minutes, Sherlock smiled and opened his eyes. And they were black. "We've got him now."