taxonomites | 009: Hunting for the Hunter [Visual]

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009: Hunting for the Hunter [Visual]

It had been a long and difficult night, but, at nine o'clock the next morning, Martha opened her surgery as usual. Despite the relatively low numbers of prisoners, she always had more than enough patients to keep her occupied. She treated Extras for coughs and colds and broken limbs and stomach bugs. She gave the young Extras their childhood inoculations. And, now, she treated them for vampire bites.

They didn't have vampires in her world, but her time on the TARDIS and her experiences at UNIT had taught Martha to trust her instincts and, occasionally, to improvise when treating non human patients or extraterrestrial illnesses. (There were no medical text books available for her line of work. There were just a few determined individuals - like Martha, like Doctor Elizabeth Shaw at Cambridge, like the Torchwood team - who always tried to do the best for their patients, no matter who or what they were.) The marks on the neck of the Extra that Fitz had rescued were real bite marks. The attacker had left bruises as well as bloody holes, not just the twin pinpricks that you saw in horror movies.

The Extra that had taken a seat in front of her desk - marched there by an Extra that, if asked, Martha would have guessed to be a concerned partner - had the same sort of wound. Which meant that this wasn't an isolated incident.

She cleaned and dressed the wound, prescribing lots of rest and fluid for the patient. (And he was a patient, whether he was programmed to be one of not. In fact, the idea that the aliens were programming illnesses and injuries to give her something to do was physically sickening. But she had to treat them. Leaving them would have been barbaric.) Then she washed the blood off her hands and picked up her tablet.

"It looks like last night's attack wasn't an isolated incident," she informed the people of the city, "I had an Extra with exactly the same bite marks in here this morning."

After a brief pause to give them a chance to digest that information, she carried on.

"Which means we've got two options. Either the aliens have created a vampire Extra to keep us on our toes ... or it's one of us."

She wasn't keen on either option.

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Well this is interesting. Party clicks on the visual and the look is that of slight amusement--wherever he is, it's not the jailcell.

"Don't look at me," He states. And, after a few seconds, tilted his head to the side.

"Pretty slaughtermatic, though. Vampires aren't real." Pause.

"...Are they?"

"They're not real in your universe," Martha corrected, "Or in mine. But we've got a large population in Taxon."

He had to realise that there were worlds other than his own and that the people of Taxon came from a variety of places. Including places other than Earth.

Although she doubted that the knowledge would change his opinions about doctors. That sort of distrust would take years to overcome.

"So... The whole bitey, dracula thing? That's all here?" Party's face is unreadable, though there's a slight amount of confusion that seeps through something else.

"That's messed up."

"Is it any stranger than anything else you've seen since arriving here?" Martha asked, raising an eyebrow. "Hatches that can create whatever you want. Programmed people. Bracelets that you can't take off."

She could have gone on and on, but he hadn't been in the city for long and he was already on edge. She had no desire to push him too far.

"I'd say Taxon is more than messed up."

Party opens his mouth to counteract with something. Anything. Come on, show your dry wit, Killjoy.

"...I never thought about it that way." And--yup. That's a pout, right there. "I guess the concept of being frightened of fairytale monsters seems silly when what's in front of you is a helluva lot more spooky."

And, after a brief moment of looking thoughtful: "They come from where you are?"

"I've never met any in my world, but that doesn't mean that they're not out there. There's a lot of life out there in the universe."

One of her best friends was a time traveller with two hearts and another of her best friends was an immortal from the fifty first century. She'd encountered extraterrestrial friends and extraterrestrial foes. Her definition of 'spooky' was very flexible indeed.

There's a long pause as Party hears what she has to say. Something guarded, slightly apprehensive.

"...Not in my world there isn't. But vampires.. Cool. Not cool, but...Cool." Like that makes the best sense in the world.

"I know what you mean," she said, a distant expression crossing her face briefly. "It's impossible and it's ridiculous and it's almost frightening. But it's still amazing."

Just like travelling with the Doctor and visiting plants beyond the imagination.

"Would you be opposed to another opinion?" Helen had been keeping tabs out since the first announcement had gone up, worried of the possibilities that it could mean and Martha had hit it exactly on the spot. That didn't mean that she didn't want a look herself just in case that third lingering option was a possibility.

"Definitely not," said Martha honestly. "Vampires aren't exactly my area. I know there are people in the city who know a lot more about them than me."

She was more than happy to collaborate, especially when lives were on the line. And although they hadn't spent much time together yet, Martha respected Helen's professionalism and hoped to get to know her better.

"They are mine." At least part of it, and she was even more thankful now to have old thoughts confirmed regarding sub-species of the Vampires. It may have made things slightly more difficult but it also ruled some things out.

"I can find you at the Clinic?"

"Then I think you're going to have a lot of work to do."

Though the fact that Martha would do everything she could to help went without saying. Maybe between them - and with help from Fitz and a handful of others in the city - they'd be able to get the bottom of what was going on before anyone else was hurt.

"I'm in my office. You can come straight through."

"Perhaps you may be able to assist me?" Even if she knew little on vampires it didn't stop her from learning or being able to help.

"I'll be there shortly."

She switched off her tablet after that, collecting a few implements that she believed she may need - it was possible that Martha already had them but when dealing with such specialised matters you could never be certain - before leaving the Sanctuary in way of the office. It took her a little time, and map checking before finding it but once she did and had arrived she gave a clear knock on Martha's door.

"Definitely," Martha promised before switching off the tablet and preparing for Helen's arrival.

The surgery was neat and tidy and furnished with the best equipment that the hatches had been able to offer. (Larger pieces of equipment, like the x-ray machine, had been in place when she'd taken over the building.) Her office was no different. She was sitting at her desk when there was a knock on the door, frowning over the photographs she'd taken off the bite marks.

"Come in!"

Stepping in Helen scanned the office, seeing what was there, and how it was decorated - it could tell a lot about a person, their interests and experiences as well as the type of person they were. It was only a brief look, one not meant to be intrusive, before she settled her gaze on Martha and stepped further towards her.

"I take that expression to mean that this may not be quite so straightforward?" Or at least maybe not to Martha given that she didn't deal with vampires.

Martha had known enough vampires during her time in Taxon - she'd even considered Angel and his team to be friends - to know the importance of an invitation. She also knew that it wouldn't work.

"The surgery is public," Martha answered, "They don't need an invitation to get it. Besides, I was expecting you."

"I was referring to the photographs." Helen looked down at them once she'd reached Martha's desk, wondering what it was about this that could cause a frown - unless it was the details themselves. Vampires. That's exactly why she'd created the remedy for Nikola when his nature had been brought out. And now it was happening here.

"Oh." With one final glance at them, Martha pushed the photographs across her desk to give Helen a closer look. "What do you think? I'm not an expert, but I'd say they were pretty straightforward. They're definitely bite marks."

Now they had to find out who had inflicted them and how they could stop them from attacking again. It was only a matter of time before someone - an Extra or one of the prisoners - ended up dead.

Helen leaned over to look at them, finally picking them up and looking through them more closer, and studying them rather intensely. She was silent throughout the whole thing, and although these were indeed bite marks there was something a little troubling to it, although she had to remember that any creature here may differ from those of her world... and it seemed that this was one of those cases.

"They are bite marks, you're right on that." She continued examining them for a moment longer before lowering the pictures to look back to Martha. "Do you have anything to enlarge the pictures or put them on a screen?" If not these, and maybe even Martha, would be coming back to the Sanctuary with her - there was something bothering her about it.

"I can blow them up on the computer screen," said Martha, tapping a few keys to pull up the images. “I miss the equipment I had at UNIT.”

She’d had the sleekest and most impressively advanced equipment in the world at her disposal at UNIT.

“I have to work with the equipment that I found here when I arrived.”

She couldn't hatch anything as large as a computer.

"When this is done remind me to show you the Sanctuary." Helen gave her a smile; she trusted the young doctor, the extension of that invitation showed it enough.

Putting the photos back down Helen stepped back to Martha, leaning over to get a better look at the screen. "Can you enlarge the bite any further?" That was what was bothering her, or rather something on it.

"That sounds great," Martha replied, appreciating the invitation and, more importantly, the unspoken implications - of trust and of partnership - that went with it.

She enlarged the picture at Helen's request, giving her a curious look.

"Have you seen something?"

Helen nodded. "There." She made a circle with her finger around the area in question.

"It's typically believed that a bite from a Vampire is that of two puncture marks, side by side." But there's a way to her phrasing that indicates that the belief isn't quite all that. "This appears to be that on first appearance, however on closer inspection it isn't." There are punctures of a 'typical' bite but there's also further bruising - teeth shaped.

"There are people here from a lot of different worlds," Martha pointed out, examining the area that Helen had drawn her attention to. “They might not be stereotypical vampires, but that doesn’t mean they’re not vampires.”

A pause.

“At the moment, all we’ve got are a lot of guesses and no facts.”

"I never said that it wasn't a vampire, in fact I actually do believe it is." The bite of a vampire on her world was similar to this but far from what legend would have you believe, and she'd learned all about the differences when she'd arrived.

"Do you know which vampire?" asked Martha, eager for answers and even more eager to make sure that nobody else was attacked. (If they didn't put a stop to it, someone else would. And they might not be as friendly about it. There was a lot of bad feeling when it came to vampires in Taxon and the last thing they needed was an angry mob.)

"I have yet to meet one, or at least one that has revealed themselves." As unfortunate as that was, and Vampires were... sneaky.

"Angel and Godric used to keep track of the others," she said, with a hint of sorrow in her voice. They hadn't been friends, as such, but they'd been allies and she'd had a great deal of trust and respect for the two vampires. "I'm not sure how many are in the city now. A lot of people have come and gone over the last few months."

"And sadly they're no longer here to tell us." As it went - typical. "Do you happen to know any of them that remain?" Although how that would help? Unless they could convince them to provide them with a bite sample? And even then what if there was another that they had yet to know of.

"Only one," she said, "Her name is Drusilla. But I don’t think she’d be hiding if she was responsible.”

From what she'd seen of the vampire - and from what she'd heard from Fitz, who the creature had taken a bit of a fancy to - Drusilla wasn't the short of person to bother with secrets.

"If there are other vampires out there, they're staying hidden. And, given how prejudiced people can be, I don't blame them."

"It also gives them an advantage in situations such as these - anyone that we speak with could be a vampire or have done this." Although she'd like to believe enough in her judgement that Martha hadn't done this.

"I've only ever yet found one way to detect vampires." Although it registered her as a vampire, also. "Although whether it would work on each vampire here? It's hard to say." And it wasn't something that she wished to meddle with, either.

Something in Helen's tone suggested that she wasn't overly fond of the method, but, with two injuries already recorded and probably even more left untreated, it was only a matter of time until someone was killed.

"I don't think we've got much choice," she said, seriously. "It's worth a try. What is it?"

"A map, actually." If you didn't think that her world was odd as it was, you may now.

"The technology is advanced and within it is an in built defence - one to protect the technology against vampires, to keep the location of the city it holds within it secret." Helen paused, just briefly. "There is one problem, however. That protection also comes attached with a self destruct to it. Removing the vampiric presence from the sensors deactivates it."

And then came another pause, and a slightly uncertain look. "I can't actually activate the map without setting that off." Without the protection that Nikola had created, something that she would need to recreate first. Thankfully she had the plans for it, anyway.

It was strange, but Martha worked for an organisation that dealt with alien threats and had a research and design department largely based around making use of salvaged alien technology. She took the information in her stride.

"We can't even be sure this sort of vampire will be picked up by it. I'm not sure we've got enough evidence to justify activating a self destruct sequence."

Although the real question was how much damage the mechanism could cause.

Helen had expected some question as to why Helen herself was unable to use the map without setting it off but she was a little thankful that Martha said nothing - it was a story for another time.

"We can't, although with a vampire here? It would be helpful to at least try something, to see if it was possible." Even with as risky as it was.

Edited 2012-01-19 20:13 (UTC)

There could have been any number of reasons for Helen's inability to use the map without activating it, but that was a story for another day. They had other concerns at the moment. Martha trusted Helen, regardless of what secrets she was keeping to herself.

"If you give me instructions, I should be able to use it. It's better than nothing."

And, at the moment, nothing was all they really had.

"Sadly it's not quite so simple." Or it was but Helen was a little protective - she trusted Martha but she didn't simply wish to give the map away, not with what it was, with what it meant.

"There are components needed to activate the map. It's holographic." The sensors in it activated themselves but turning the map off afterwards? Less simple - it couldn't simply be shut up.

"I have an idea who it could be." Because she doesn't put this past Katherine at. all.

"And do they know that you know?" asked Martha with a frown of concern, swiftly locking the feed to make sure that they weren't overheard. "Because that would put you in a lot of danger."

Martha would do her best, of course, but she didn't know much about vampires and she certainly didn't know how to keep someone safe from one.

This new thing, whether or not it was Katherine, didn't change the danger that Elena was already in from her - here or at home.

"That's a long story." And one that she'd need to explain at least a little of. "There's a vampire here from my home. I don't know that she did it but I wouldn't put it past her."

And she gave a pause. Here was the kicker. "She looks like me." Well, Elena looked like her.

"Complicated, too," noted Martha, thinking of her own doppelganger. She hadn't spent long in the company of the clone, but it had been difficult. She couldn't begin to imagine how horrible it would be to be faced with someone like that - both like you and not like you, doing horrible things that you'd never dream of doing - every day.

"Until we've worked out what's going on, you need to make sure you keep away from her. Is there somewhere safe you can stay?"

"That's the easiest way of putting it." But it was as complicated as it was long, and it went even further back than Katherine - not that she knew that.

"I think home's safe. She hasn't tried to do anything to me," Or Jenna and Caroline. "Since I arrived but who knows what she'll do." She had ways about her.

"Good," said Martha, temporarily satisfied. "We'll have to make sure it stays that way."

There was no UNIT in Taxon, but there were friends and allies - though not as many as there had once been - in the city who would help. They always helped.

"I'm sorry," she added, "I'm planning this before I've even asked your name."

"It's okay. I guess it's better to be safe first." Elena gave her a smile at that, she understood anyway. "I'm Elena."

"I'm Martha Jones," she replied with a smile. The prisoners in Taxon spent a lot of time together and relied on each other a great deal, but the small details - details about their lives at home and the worlds that they came from - were often neglected in favour of the big Taxon picture. "I'm one of Taxon's doctors."

"I guess I know where to come if anything happens. I mean if I cut myself or something, not this." Or with this, but she seriously hoped not.

"You can come to me with anything," Martha corrected with a smile, "I can treat cuts and bruises, but sometimes what people really need is to talk to someone who's been in Taxon for a while. I know as much about this place as anyone."

And more about aliens and the worlds beyond the Earth than most.

"I'll remember that. Thanks." And Elena probably would because even though here she wanted to be open with Jenna there were still probably things that would be hard to do that with.

"You're welcome." It was her job. And it was just as important - if not more important - in Taxon was it was on Earth. "But, in the meantime, I should get back to work.”

Who knew when the next vampire victim would appear?

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009: Hunting for the Hunter [Visual]

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