No Matter (a Doctor Who/Sherlock Holmes crossover) 5/?

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Title: No Matter
Author: sarah531
Rating: PG13
Fandom: Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes
AN: This is set after the Hiatus for Holmes and Watson (oh, and it’s the bookverse, despite my icon) and after Human Nature for the Doctor and Martha.
Summary: A detective, a doctor, a would-be doctor and a Doctor walk into a bar.

Previous chapters: One Two Three Four

No Matter

The others looked on with blank expressions.

“Doctor,” Martha said nervously, “what-”

“Nanogenes!” he shouted. “It’s them, they’re doing it! They’ve killed people!”

“Um-”

“The nanogenes were in this bucket!” he shouted, and picked it up. “Now, they’re not! When we crashed they must’ve got out somehow and now we’ve killed three people!”

“Nanogenes can’t do that,” Martha said, although she had little knowledge of the subject. “You programmed them to stay in that bucket…”

“Well, it didn’t work!” the Doctor shouted, and to Martha’s surprise, because she’d never seen him so angry before, he kicked the bucket across the room. It clattered against the wall and lay there.

“You have solved our mystery, Doctor?” Holmes asked, quite hesitantly.

“Yes, I have,” the Doctor said, and suddenly his anger was gone and he sank onto his seat by the console. “It’s my fault. Me, being careless. Me, being stupid. Me, killing three people.”

Silence.

Martha walked to the bucket and picked it up. “But nanogenes only do what they’re programmed to do. That’s what you told me. They can’t just leave.”

“Well,” the Doctor said gloomily, “this is out of the ordinary, landing in a different universe. Maybe that’s what did it.”

Holmes got up from where he had been sitting and poked the bucket with his walking stick. “Magic,” he said thoughtfully. “These tiny particles. These nanogenes. You said they listen to you?”

“They did. Clearly, some didn’t.”

“Can you get them to reverse what they did? Because I suspect nothing is beyond you.”

The Doctor looked, for one second, sadder than Martha had ever seen him. “Some things are.”

“So you cannot?”

“Nanogenes, they…they’re clever. They give you what you want if you ask them right. They brought a little boy back to life once. But I don’t think they can save those three women. They’ve been dead for too long, for starts. And I don’t think this world works the same, the nanogenes won’t know how if we asked them. It’s a lot easier to kill than to bring back.”

There was a pause while everyone considered things, and Martha took the opportunity to say, “Doctor, are you alright?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said.

“So,” Watson suddenly spoke up, “where are the escaped nanogenes now?”

The Doctor stood up. “We’ll find them,” he said. He picked up the Timey-Wimey Detector and put it in his pocket. “Martha, bring me that bucket.”

Martha picked up the bucket, the Doctor took it from her, and without looking at any of them he ran out of the door. Holmes followed, and Watson and Martha were left alone.

“He shouldn’t be rude to a lady,” Watson said.

“What?”

“He didn’t thank you when you handed him the bucket. It is bad form.”

“Oh. I don’t really notice.”

“Don’t think my friend is the only one here with powers of observation,” Watson said, holding the TARDIS door open for her. “You’re in love with the Doctor.”

“Yeah,” Martha said. “Afraid so.”

They ran.

*

“Hurry up, you two!” the Doctor shouted as they caught up to him. He’d taken the Detector out and was pointing it at random. He was gaining some very funny looks.

“Doctor,” Watson said, “I can’t run like you can. I took a bullet in the leg back in the-”

“Right, well, you stay behind!” the Doctor yelled. The Detector beeped. “This way! Everyone who can run, run!” He took off like a rocket into a side street, nearly knocking over several people on the way. Holmes ran after him, also nearly knocking over several people on the way. The Doctor was a faster runner, but Holmes eventually caught up to him.

“Doctor!” he called, “I will not have you dismiss my friend so easily.”

The Doctor stopped just for a second. “What happened to Martha?”

“I imagine she stayed behind with Watson.”

“Well, we can’t wait around because one of us can’t run, we have to act very quickly before those things kill anybody else!” He started to run again. Holmes followed him.

“They’re confused, the nanogenes,” the Doctor explained between breaths. “The sudden change in universe has warped their programming. They’re trying to kill everyone they come across, but they’ve only suceeded in killing three. That we know of.”

“Why are they trying to kill?”

“Well, me and Martha picked up those things while on a particularly…interesting planet. I deactivated them all. But something must not have worked, something went wrong…” He trailed off.

“And do you often fail in this way?”

“No,” the Doctor said. “I don’t.”

“Perhaps a third party was involved?”

“We’ll think about that later. Let’s get them under control first.”

*

Watson and Martha followed their comrades at a much slower pace.

“How long’s your leg been like that?” Martha asked, to make conversation.

“Since the Afghan War, where I was shot.”

“Oh yeah. I remember that from the books I read. I forgot a load of stuff, though, I was only about twelve when I read them.”

Watson paused, as most people would do when reminded that their universe was, in a different universe, apparently complete fiction. “These books, they’re quite well-known?”

“Very.”

“And are we well known?”

“Yes, you are. Both of you.”

They walked on in silence for a moment or two.

“Martha Jones, if I was reading of your adventures, instead of the other way round,” Watson said, and Martha wasn’t prepared for what came next, “I would advise you to leave the Doctor behind, to return to your own time and place, and to be whatever you could be there. Because I see your face every time he speaks, every time he looks at you. He’s a grieving man. He’s breaking your heart.”

“I know,” Martha said wearily.

“Why do you stay there, Martha Jones?”

Martha thought about it. The answer was easy, but she wasn’t sure how to express it. “He’s…awful,” she said. “In the old fashioned way. Full of awe. He’s a Timelord and I’m just a human, and I know deep down that it won’t ever work and I just…can’t care.”

Watson listened intently.

“It’s like, you know…there’ll always be someone who likes you no matter how awful you are. And for him that person is me.”

“I think I understand,” said Watson.

*

“They’re here,” the Doctor said. “They’re getting closer.” The Detector was beeping and flashing red lights. As he pointed it at the sky Watson and Martha came around the corner. “Hello, you two. Nice of you to join us!”

“Doctor,” Martha said, “you’re tiring yourself out.”

“I don’t care! The nanogenes are here, homing in on us!” He placed the Detector on the floor and took the sonic screwdriver out. “When I say duck I want everyone to duck, right? If I’m very very clever, and I am very very clever, this should turn them off completely.” He raised the screwdriver to the sky. “Duck!”

Everyone threw themselves on the floor. The sonic screwdriver shot a beam of light into the air, sparks shot out all around them, but nothing happened after that, although Martha was expecting something astounding. The Doctor slowly lowered the screwdriver, and stared around.

“It worked,” he said. “They’ve turned off. They’re dead.”

Martha rose to her feet. “All of them?”

“All of them. Fixed it,” he said, in a dead voice.

Martha glanced at the ground, and it seemed like little sparks of light were dancing there and fading away. Then, she suddenly realised Holmes and Watson hadn’t stood up along with her.

“You didn’t fix it, Doctor,” Holmes said, and Martha turned around to see him bending over the unconcious body of his friend.