Two Sleuths, Some Bloggers, and A Timelord - Ch. 7

“I don’t like it.” The Doctor said as he looked out the window down at the street below. Agents Jay and Kay were escorting the Master to their car to take him away to the MIB facilities.

“What are you talking about? Aren’t you the one who asked them to come?” Lestrade asked as he stood outside the door counting down the seconds until he could break it down to arrest Moriarty.

“Yes, but he came too easily. There’s something wrong here. Terribly wrong.” The Doctor watched the car begin to drive away and then noticed two familiar figures run out in front of the car. “Uh, Detective?”

“Yes, Doctor?” Lestrade raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t think you should have to wait any longer to open that door.” He replied.

“And why’s that?” Lestrade crossed his arms irritably.

“Because they aren’t in there anymore.” The Doctor shrugged and Lestrade turned to the door, kicking it in forcefully. Sure enough, the room was empty and the window was open. He scolded himself angrily and everyone ran to the window to catch a glimpse of Riley and Jim, weapons drawn and aimed at Kay’s car.

“What are they doing?!” Tori asked and no one seemed to have an answer for her so they all just watched silently. Riley moved to the passengers side of the vehicle and opened the door. Jay stepped out with his hands raised and Kay did the same from the driver’s side. The MIB agents then walked to the side walk with their hands still up and stood there. Riley and Jim got into the car and peeled out as they left.

“Why’d they let them leave?!” Lestrade asked in shock.

“You’d be surprised what a threat from Moriarty will make you do.” Sherlock said as he recalled past encounters with the villainous mastermind.

“Uh, there was four people in that car.” The Doctor pointed out and Lestrade gave him a desperate “please tell me you are joking” look before turning around to see that Sebastian had in fact gone missing from the room.

“Great.” Lestrade let his head fall into his hand while grumbling to himself. “Why do I even pay you people?!” He shouted angrily to the four officers in the room.

After some awkward silence from the ridiculed Scotland Yard force, Tori decided to break the silence. “Well, now what?”

Riley carefully removed the bandage from around Jim’s arm, the skin was puffed up and red around the stitches. “How’s it look?” Sebastian asked casually from a chair across the room, pretending he didn’t care too much.

“It doesn’t look great but it will heal.” Riley answered looking up at him but for a brief moment. Once he had the confirmation that his boss was okay, he looked out the window at the morning. She didn’t understand what Jim saw in Sebastian to keep him as close as he did. Then again, he’d probably say the same about Tori. Tori. She felt terrible for leaving her but she couldn’t bear to see them take away James. She wished that she could blame it on the clone in her and maybe it was a little bit of clone interfering with her decision making but she doubted it. Riley loved James. It’s why she had kept an eye on him even after she had left to join S.H.I.E.L.D.. She knew he was bad news but love doesn’t discriminate against sides and it is definitely isn’t something you plan for. Riley thought back to that fateful day that she met James and wondered how her life would have been if she… Riley threw the thought from her mind. It didn’t matter to her anymore. She had made the jump. Leapt for love. Switched sides for him and no other reason.

“You look troubled.” James stated and Riley realized that she had been staring out into space.

“I’m fine.” She smiled at him and he raised his arm, his hand extending out to stroke her hair. His fingers danced between the locks as he ran them down the side of her face. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the serene moment. He curved his hand to let it come up underneath her chin and lift her head as he leaned down to kiss her.

“Do you know how awkward it is every time you do that?” The Master cut in, ruining the romantic moment. “I mean, I am her father after all.”

“Yea, that is pretty awkward.” Sebastian agreed while nodding.

“When, and if, I want your opinions, I will ask for them.” Moriarty replied coldly. “Which will not be anytime soon so keep it to yourself.”

“James, be nice.” Riley whispered in his ear and he rolled his eyes reluctantly. The room was painfully quiet for a few moments before the Master finally broke the silence.

“Who are we meeting here?” He asked while leaning back as far as possible in his chair without having it tip over backwards.

“Contacts of mine.” Jim answered cryptically. “They’ll be here tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?!” The Master stood up. “Well, if I had known that I wouldn’t still be up! This evil stuff isn’t any walk in the park you know! I need my sleep!” He then promptly left the room to find a place to sleep.

“I am feeling a bit sleepy myself, boss.” Sebastian stated while yawning and leaning back in his chair.

“Then go to sleep nitwit.” Jim rolled his eyes at his right hand man who tiredly shrugged off the insult. Sebastian leaned back in his chair and almost instantaneously began snoring loudly.

“Well, that was fast.” Riley whispered and James turned to look at her. “What?” She became uneasy by the look he was giving her.

“I don’t like secrets.” He stared at her coldly and she turned away, unable to look at him. Moriarty leaned down next to her ear and whispered. Riley tried hard not to let his vicious words tear through her and began questioning herself again. “You can’t run from the animal you are inside forever.” Riley’s eyes snapped open, radiating an intense green with a new fierceness in them. She turned to him, looking him straight in the eyes, and pushed him back against his chair.

“You forget who I am.” Riley retorted harshly. “Who I have been. What I have done.” She leaned within inches of his face. “Why I am here.” James sat silently staring at her, watching her bright emerald eyes stare mercilessly into his.

“Honestly, I couldn’t care less.” He coldly replied and she shoved him back harshly, his chair tipping back a bit before leveling out back on the ground loudly. The noise woke up Sebastian who wasn’t so lucky with his imbalanced chair, sending him sprawling to the ground. Riley turned away from James and walked to the window, stepping over Sebastian as if he were just an overturned basket. He finally climbed to his feet and left the room in search of better sleeping quarters. Riley and Jim sat quietly, the sound of her angry breathing and the bustling street outside being the only audible noises in the room. “Does it shock you?” She turned to stare icily at him before whipping her head around to look back out the window. He stood up and walked over to her. “I like you, Riley.” She turned to look at him and he stared back at her, emotionless. “But don’t mistake that for love.” Riley scowled and looked away again, trying to forget what he had just said. Moriarty leaned close to her ear and hissed poison into her ears. “Even if I were capable of love, don’t think for a second I would waste it on the likes of your fickle whims.” She bit her lip then stormed out of the room.

“So you are saying that because she loves him, she is going to keep helping him?” Lestrade sat back in his chair in his office and pressed his finger against his temples to soothe the oncoming headache.

“Well, love is such a fickle thing with her. If there was some way to distract her emotions then we could bring her back to our side long enough for me to figure out a way to cure her.” The Doctor explained as he fiddled around with stuff in Lestrade’s office that he really shouldn’t be touching.

“How do we do that?” Tori asked as she watched the Doctor break one of the knick knacks on Lestrade’s desk. He just smiled innocently before answering her question.

“We need to get her interested in someone else.” The Doctor replied and John lit up for a moment. “Someone she hasn’t met before.”

“Now how are we going to manage that?!” Lestrade was becoming very irritable with all of these people in his office.

“Find someone that we think she will be attracted to and have them win her over.” The Doctor explained as if it were elementary.

“That could take days! We don’t have that kind of time to look for a good looking lad to woo a wishy-washy clone daughter.” Lestrade grumbled, his headache worsening.

“Well boys, today just might be your lucky day.” Agent Kay said as he pulled out a small device from his jacket pocket. Everyone looked at him inquisitively as he began punching small buttons on the device. “I just so happen to know the man for the job.”

Riley wanted to go outside to get as far away from Jim as she could, but the Master made sure to block the only exit. The windows to the building were all nailed shut so she couldn’t escape that way. She felt so tired of being emotionally stretched. It was about time she stop this witch hunt for love in James. He would never love her because he couldn’t love her. Why she had hung on to this feeling all these years was beyond her. Now that she thought about it, he was only nice to her when he needed her for his plans. She felt different knowing about the clone in her. How it changed her emotions and toyed with her head and heart. She wished she could be normal, like Tori and John. The clone was nice when it came to learning and mimicking, giving her excellent sleuth skills. But it was such a weakness to be vulnerable to emotional games. There had to be a way to control this power she held. Power. Since Riley had discovered the truth about her heritage she had never considered the clone in her as a power until now. But that is what is was wasn’t it? Power. She looked out the window and grinned. Surely there is a way to control it and even manipulate it in ways she hadn’t tried before. If she truly was part clone and her behaviors could clone, what was stopping her from cloning everything? Could she clone her voice to match someone else’s? She hadn’t thought about it before but it was worth a try. She thought of Tori and focused on the sound of her voice. Riley then began speaking and the more she thought about Tori’s voice the more her voice began to change into Tori’s voice. Finally she was completely switched over and shocked herself. She then got an idea and looked up at the door, towards the exit and the Master. If she could mimic voices, no doubt she could teach herself to clone other people completely. Perhaps as someone who could get her out.