The Mind Palace

Chapter Eleven

We spent the next hour resting: Sherlock and I falling back asleep, the Doctor regaining his full health, Jack complaining about the lack of excitement. I had been awake for far too many hours- we must have been in the place for eleven or twelve hours by that point, not that I had any sort of watch to confirm or deny this guess. With all of the chaos, it felt like years were spent sprinting through those halls.

This time, rather than having Sherlock wake me, I opened my eyes on my own, feeling much better rested. The Doctor appeared to have dozed off, and Sherlock, who lay next to me, looked as though he had just woken up. His curls were flat on one side, as they had been pressed against the floor.

I laughed quietly, so as not to wake the Doctor. "Your hair's a little..."

Sherlock fluffed up the flat side a bit and smiled sleepily at me. "It does that. Minor inconvinience. You get used to it."

"I daresay I think I will eventually," I said quietly. Sherlock's eyes widened as he realized exactly what I'd said, but before he could flirt back (or, perhaps, completely shut down my suggestivity- I would never know) we were interrupted by the great Captain Jack Harkness, who had come from his place across the hall.

He took a seat next to us. "Don't you two think we should head out? I feel like one of those Shakri could come racing around the corner any second." He shuddered.

I shrugged. "We kind of have to wait for the Doctor, I think. If his wounds reopened, I'm really not sure what we would do."

Jack sighed. "So we're really stuck waiting here?"

Sherlock sat up straight. "We aren't stuck. You're free to leave any time you please."

"Sherlock, please," I mumbled.

Jack let out a sharp breath, obviously a bit ruffled by Sherlock's cold tones. He moved back across the hall to the Doctor, who was just waking up. I followed, curious about the time lord's medical status.

He was already standing by the time I'd walked over, obviously confident in his health. "Alright," he said brightly, "shall we go? I think I'd like to leave this place, can't say it's been a very pleasant stay. Now, we just need to find Irene, I think."

Jack beamed. "We've taken care of her, don't worry. Let's just leave." He held up the vortex manipulator. "I think I'll be off, then?"

The time lord nodded. "I'll be seeing you soon, I hope."

"I'll definitely visit." Jack turned to us. "Hopefully these two will still be with you. They're pretty cool." He turned his eyes to me. "Well, John is, at least." With that, he slammed his palm onto the vortex manipulator and disappeared.

The Doctor smiled at us, and we began to walk- slowly at first, so as not to reopen his cut. Surprisingly enough, we had much more luck with the winding halls this time, and soon found ourselves standing back at the false 221B living room near the entrance. This time, however, something was very wrong.

Everything was a mess. The chairs were turned on their sides, fabric ripped and stuffing astrew. The bookshelves were almost completely cleared of books- the books could be found all around the room, as though someone had thrown them about. The curtains were ripped, the coffee table was upside-down and halfway into the fireplace, even the skull that usually sat nicely on the mantel was shattered on the floor.

"You travelers are interested in time, correct?" The voice was all around us, as though it was coming from all directions. I recognized it immediately of the voice of the Shakri's leader. "Consider this a look into the future."

The Doctor tilted his head towards the ceiling. "What do you want?" he shouted.

"What do we want?" The voice was deep, booming. "We want to rid the universe of all of these nasty little pests. You three are certainly some of the nastiest we've encountered, and you must be killed. We will succeed, of course. If, somehow, you find your way off of this planet, this is what you'll be met with upon reaching your home. We couldn't find just the right corpses to complete the mood, but don't worry, they'll be in the center of the room for all to see as soon as we're done with you nasty creatures."

My heart was racing. This had to be a trap. "You're bluffng!"

The Shakri laughed, and it was a terrifying, cackling sound. "The Shakri? Bluffing? We have no need for such tactics, as we are already powerful to such a level that no argument is ever needed. We do not fight- we prefer to skip to our favorite part of the battle." I could hear the smile in his voice, and it sickened me. "Winning."

The Doctor spoke confidently. "That doesn't seem like a very fair game to play. Makes me think you would be bad at making deals, too, eh? Well, how about I offer one to you. You let us leave, I let you live. Is that clear?"

"Are you suggesting that a lowly traveler like you has the power to defeat the Shakri?"

Despite the aggresive words of the Shakri, the Doctor kept his cool. "I'm suggesting no such thing- that would be offensive to you. No, what I mean to say is that I am so much more than your run-of-the-mill traveler. I am the last of my kind, the best of my kind, and I'm certainly strong enough to defeat you 'pest controllers.' Oh yes, dealing with exterminators is my specialty. Have you heard of me? I'm the oncoming storm. And honey," he was even louder now, "I am feeling the thunder!"

I leaned into Sherlock. "Would that energy be..."

He nodded. "The nicotine patches. Definitely."

We quietly turned our attention back to the Doctor.

The voice was booming loudly again. "You may be a storm, Doctor, but what is a storm without its wind? If it cannot move, it cannot do harm. Say, I think we actually have your wind here. Would that be... Your TARDIS? It's a pretty old thing, I'll give it that. But I think it will look much better shattered into pieces, perhaps mixed with your ashes. We'll see what a storm you are then."

The Doctor looked confident still. "I don't think you realize how regeneration works," he said quietly. He turned around to look at Sherlock and I. "Now. You two. I think I'm going to need your help."

Sherlock raised his eyebrows. "Actually, it seems you'll need quite a lot of it."