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Description
John Steed considered that, running down the corridor at the pace he was, bordered on being uncivilized. It was most certainly impolite.

The small, squat, chuckling things that followed him (obviously some form of robot, which suggested very nefarious minds behind the creatures), had their arms outstretched, like some gruesome parody of children in a playground. Children, however, could not shoot bolts of fire from their fingertips.

Well, not most children, anyway.

Despite the unflattering speed at which he was running, Steed still saw the rather more elaborately gilded door which he had been looking for, and quickly he was able to turn the door handle and move inside, gracefully shutting the door behind him.

He paused; adjusted his tie and bowler hat, and then felt more comfortable in merely strolling to the opposite side of the extremely large room he now found himself in. There were a number of Louis XV chairs scattered around the room in small groups, and a very large mahogany desk on which an ink blotter and some very neatly arranged papers were laid.

Steed approved of the room in general. It had class, and frankly he liked class.

He rested his umbrella on the desk and moved behind it, and the chair at it, to the large portrait of a scantily clad Greek woman. The art was a touch gaudy, which was a shame because it ruined the overall look of the room. Not that Steed particularly objected to bare breasts, but they really needed to be in the pages of a Playboy magazine, discretely tucked into a copy of the Times, rather than hanging in frames above the mantle piece.

He reached forward and pulled the painting forward, exposing the entrance to a safe set into the wall behind it. Steed tentatively touched the safe and wondered for a moment how to open it.

"Allow me, old chap," came a voice behind him, with a curious lisp. Steed turned and an elegantly dressed man with a shock of white hair and a lined face that seemed ageless, gave him a smile. He noticed that one of the bookshelves that lined the right hand side wall was now pushed aside revealing a secret tunnel, and Steed guessed that this was how the man had got in. Based on instinct and his approval of the man's frilled shirt, Steed stepped aside with a matching smile.

"By all means, old man," he said. The other man moved forward, taking out a metal wand. He held it up to the safe and it gave a small buzz, which was followed by a distinctive clunk as the safe door swung open. "Extraordinary," Steed said in approval.

"Thank you very much," the other man said with the same smile, and reached into the safe, removing a purple, egg shaped device. "Were you looking for this?" he asked.

"No, I think," Steed began, and reached into the safe, grabbing hold of a folder inside, "that this is what I've come here for." He flicked through the folder and saw the nuclear destructor codes that were supposed to be kept highly secret by Sir Joseph Chambers, Minister for Security. Steed would be advising that Sir Joseph moved the files to a new location if they were this easy to get into.

"Well, as it seems we're both satisfied, I suppose I should be on my way," the man in the velvet jacket said.

"I might join you in your exit, if you don't mind," Steed said apologetically. "I'm afraid my way out is full of funny little robots."

"Ah," Velvet Jacket replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yes, well, I'm afraid mine leads directly from the heart of the chaps behind this whole thing."

"Oh," Steed mused.

"If we had some sort of weapon, we could possibly fight our way out your way," Velvet Jacket pondered. "If only old Sir Joseph kept swords around. I'm quite good with a sword."

"My dear chap, why ever didn't you say?" Steed said. He reached forward and retrieved his umbrella, clicking the handle and pulling the sword that was hidden inside, out. He turned the handle around and offered it to Velvet Jacket, who took it with appreciation.

"Excellent craftmanship," Velvet Jacket said, his voice full of admiration. "I should really get one of these myself."

"I'll give you the name of my tailor as soon as we're out of here," Steed replied.

"Do you have something to defend yourself with, old chap?"

Steed smiled and tapped the edge of his bowler with the remaining part of his umbrella. With a mutual smile, the pair made their way towards the door Steed had entered, and Steed stood to one side, his hand on the door handle. He paused, and then turned to Velvet Jacket, his hand outstretched.

"Steed," he said.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said, taking Steed's hand and shaking it.

"Delighted," Steed said, and then pulled the door open. Right outside the door, one of the robots was standing waiting, but the Doctor took Steed's sword and drove it straight through the delicate crystals in the sphere that was essentially the robot's head. There was a small explosion, and smoke billowed out of the robot's interior. As the Doctor pushed it aside, Steed came from behind him and saw the second robot moving towards his new colleague. Swiftly, Steed took his bowler hat off and launched it at the head of the robot, hitting it and almost taking the head clean off.

"Good shot," the Doctor approved. A small chuckle, and the two turned to find a third robot standing, it's arms outstreched.
"Oh, how unsporting," Steed reflected. "They got reinforcements."

"Quarks are all controlled from the central control room," the Doctor started to explain, but there was a sudden crack, and the crystal that came from the top of the robot's head, shattered. A second crack, and smaller crystals splintered; smoke pouring out of the robot.

A man in a fashionable brown suit, with a pale yellow shirt and matching tie emerged from the corridor, holstering his pistol.

"You chaps really need to keep count of the enemy," he said.

"Gambit!" Steed exclaimed. "Doctor, allow me to introduce my newest colleague, Mike Gambit. Where's Tara?"

"She's been captured," Gambit replied, his darkly handsome face becoming serious. "She's tied up to some sort of strange device in the courtyard. There are four of them. A pretty young blonde has been tied to one as well."

"Ah, that'll be Jo," the Doctor said. "My assistant," he added. He held up the purple device he had taken from the safe, and then smashed it onto the floor, driving his foot into the remains. "Well, that takes care of our friends attempting to explode a nuclear device in the centre of the Earth. But we probably should stop their drilling operation. The four strange devices in the courtyard," he added, seeing the perplexion on Steed and Gambit's faces.

"Right," Steed said, his voice taking on a new authority. "Let's get down there and stop them." The three men turned to move down the corridor, but were shocked to see two women walking towards them - one, a slight blonde girl, the other a taller, brunette with bedroom eyes, both in very funky, modern clothes.

"Jo!" the Doctor exclaimed as Steed and Gambit said "Tara!" at exactly the same time. The girls smiled sweetly at their male partners.

"How on Earth did you get out of there?" Gambit asked, almost as though he'd been personally insulted that he hadn't been able to rescue his colleague.

"I think you'll find I have a lot more experience in the field than you do, Gambit," Tara King replied silkily. "But in this instance, I have to thank the extraordinary escapology skills of Jo." She indicated Jo Grant, and looped her arm through her new friend's.

"Yes," Jo said enthusiastically. "I was able to get out of my bonds, and as soon as those awful Dominator people had turned their back on us, I quickly went over and freed Tara."

"Well, what's going on with the drilling operation?" the Doctor asked, still reeling from being unnecessary to the escape his assistant had entailed.

"I smashed it," Tara said simply.

"You did what?" Steed and the Doctor asked incredulously.

"I. Smashed. It." Tara spelled out. "I found a rock and threw it at the centre device, and that seemed to smash it and stop it."

"Oh," the Doctor said crestfallen. "Yes, that would probably be the simplest way."

"Then we escaped, as those Quark things started to get panicky and shuffled around looking for orders," Jo continued.

"Well," Steed said, but couldn't really go on.

"What you did was very silly, Jo," the Doctor chastised, "and very risky. You could've been killed."

"I would've been fine," Jo said, accepting the comforting arm of her friend as he wrapped it around her. "Tara and her friends work for the Ministry. I told her we worked for UNIT, so we're all on the same side."

"Good grief," the Doctor suddenly said. "Lethbridge-Stewart!"

"What?" the others asked, but before the Doctor could continue, the very man himself emerged from the doorway that Steed and the Doctor had left earlier.

"Oh, that Lethbridge-Stewart," Steed said, with a grin.

"Ah, there you are," said Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, his moustache bristling as he put his swagger stick under his right arm. "Good lord, Steed," the Brigadier continued.

"Lethbridge-Stewart, good to see you again," Steed said with a smile. "Lethbridge-Stewart and I go way back," Steed said, turning to Tara and Gambit. "We were in the army together."

"Oh," Tara said, dotingly. Gambit fought to stop from rolling his eyes.

"Yes, quite," Lethbridge-Stewart huffed, uncomfortable with discussing his private life, though he could see the Doctor was quite amused with the reminisces. "I've just had Yates round up those Dominator chappies that were in that secret room back there, and Benton is finishing off the last of those Quark things."

"Well, I've got what I came for, so we can go back to Mother and give him the good news," Steed said with to his associates. "Wonderful to meet you both," Steed said, extending his hand and going through the various pleasantries. The Doctor gave him a nod as they shook hands, and Steed turned to leave, his colleagues turning as well.

Steed suddenly turned back, and looked at the Doctor.

"Look here, old chap," he said, "My club is Blades. Why don't you pop in sometime and we can have a snifter or two."

"That sounds very cultured," the Doctor said with a smile.

"Excellent," Steed said. And with a swing of his umbrella, he turned and walked down the corridor of the stately home, Tara and Gambit flanking him on either side, the light turning the three into silhouettes.

"Greyhound Leader from Greyhound Two," a voice squawked from the two-way on the Brigadier's chest. Lethbridge-Stewart grabbed it and replied.

"Go ahead, Yates."

"Ah, sir, we have everything wrapped up and we're all ready to move out," Yates said.

"Good work, Yates," the Brigadier replied. "Move out." He turned back to the Doctor and Jo. "I assume you two are going to go back in...Bessie," he said, struggling with the name of the Doctor's car.

"Yes, I think so," the Doctor said, his arm going around Jo's shoulders. "Would you like to come back with us, Brigadier?"

"I have a jeep waiting, Doctor," the Brigadier said. "Enjoy your journey." He turned on his heels and followed the Ministry spies out of the building.

"You, the Brigadier and me," Jo mused. "We're almost exactly like a mirror copy of Steed, Gambit and Tara," she said.

"Good grief, Jo," the Doctor said, with slight exasperation.

As they made their way out of the building, the Doctor watched as a Bentley sped off down the cobbled drive.

Superb taste, the Doctor reflected.

Description
John Steed considered that, running down the corridor at the pace he was, bordered on being uncivilized. It was most certainly impolite.

The small, squat, chuckling things that followed him (obviously some form of robot, which suggested very nefarious minds behind the creatures), had their arms outstretched, like some gruesome parody of children in a playground. Children, however, could not shoot bolts of fire from their fingertips.

Well, not most children, anyway.

Despite the unflattering speed at which he was running, Steed still saw the rather more elaborately gilded door which he had been looking for, and quickly he was able to turn the door handle and move inside, gracefully shutting the door behind him.

He paused; adjusted his tie and bowler hat, and then felt more comfortable in merely strolling to the opposite side of the extremely large room he now found himself in. There were a number of Louis XV chairs scattered around the room in small groups, and a very large mahogany desk on which an ink blotter and some very neatly arranged papers were laid.

Steed approved of the room in general. It had class, and frankly he liked class.

He rested his umbrella on the desk and moved behind it, and the chair at it, to the large portrait of a scantily clad Greek woman. The art was a touch gaudy, which was a shame because it ruined the overall look of the room. Not that Steed particularly objected to bare breasts, but they really needed to be in the pages of a Playboy magazine, discretely tucked into a copy of the Times, rather than hanging in frames above the mantle piece.

He reached forward and pulled the painting forward, exposing the entrance to a safe set into the wall behind it. Steed tentatively touched the safe and wondered for a moment how to open it.

"Allow me, old chap," came a voice behind him, with a curious lisp. Steed turned and an elegantly dressed man with a shock of white hair and a lined face that seemed ageless, gave him a smile. He noticed that one of the bookshelves that lined the right hand side wall was now pushed aside revealing a secret tunnel, and Steed guessed that this was how the man had got in. Based on instinct and his approval of the man's frilled shirt, Steed stepped aside with a matching smile.

"By all means, old man," he said. The other man moved forward, taking out a metal wand. He held it up to the safe and it gave a small buzz, which was followed by a distinctive clunk as the safe door swung open. "Extraordinary," Steed said in approval.

"Thank you very much," the other man said with the same smile, and reached into the safe, removing a purple, egg shaped device. "Were you looking for this?" he asked.

"No, I think," Steed began, and reached into the safe, grabbing hold of a folder inside, "that this is what I've come here for." He flicked through the folder and saw the nuclear destructor codes that were supposed to be kept highly secret by Sir Joseph Chambers, Minister for Security. Steed would be advising that Sir Joseph moved the files to a new location if they were this easy to get into.

"Well, as it seems we're both satisfied, I suppose I should be on my way," the man in the velvet jacket said.

"I might join you in your exit, if you don't mind," Steed said apologetically. "I'm afraid my way out is full of funny little robots."

"Ah," Velvet Jacket replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yes, well, I'm afraid mine leads directly from the heart of the chaps behind this whole thing."

"Oh," Steed mused.

"If we had some sort of weapon, we could possibly fight our way out your way," Velvet Jacket pondered. "If only old Sir Joseph kept swords around. I'm quite good with a sword."

"My dear chap, why ever didn't you say?" Steed said. He reached forward and retrieved his umbrella, clicking the handle and pulling the sword that was hidden inside, out. He turned the handle around and offered it to Velvet Jacket, who took it with appreciation.

"Excellent craftmanship," Velvet Jacket said, his voice full of admiration. "I should really get one of these myself."

"I'll give you the name of my tailor as soon as we're out of here," Steed replied.

"Do you have something to defend yourself with, old chap?"

Steed smiled and tapped the edge of his bowler with the remaining part of his umbrella. With a mutual smile, the pair made their way towards the door Steed had entered, and Steed stood to one side, his hand on the door handle. He paused, and then turned to Velvet Jacket, his hand outstretched.

"Steed," he said.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said, taking Steed's hand and shaking it.

"Delighted," Steed said, and then pulled the door open. Right outside the door, one of the robots was standing waiting, but the Doctor took Steed's sword and drove it straight through the delicate crystals in the sphere that was essentially the robot's head. There was a small explosion, and smoke billowed out of the robot's interior. As the Doctor pushed it aside, Steed came from behind him and saw the second robot moving towards his new colleague. Swiftly, Steed took his bowler hat off and launched it at the head of the robot, hitting it and almost taking the head clean off.

"Good shot," the Doctor approved. A small chuckle, and the two turned to find a third robot standing, it's arms outstreched.
"Oh, how unsporting," Steed reflected. "They got reinforcements."

"Quarks are all controlled from the central control room," the Doctor started to explain, but there was a sudden crack, and the crystal that came from the top of the robot's head, shattered. A second crack, and smaller crystals splintered; smoke pouring out of the robot.

A man in a fashionable brown suit, with a pale yellow shirt and matching tie emerged from the corridor, holstering his pistol.

"You chaps really need to keep count of the enemy," he said.

"Gambit!" Steed exclaimed. "Doctor, allow me to introduce my newest colleague, Mike Gambit. Where's Tara?"

"She's been captured," Gambit replied, his darkly handsome face becoming serious. "She's tied up to some sort of strange device in the courtyard. There are four of them. A pretty young blonde has been tied to one as well."

"Ah, that'll be Jo," the Doctor said. "My assistant," he added. He held up the purple device he had taken from the safe, and then smashed it onto the floor, driving his foot into the remains. "Well, that takes care of our friends attempting to explode a nuclear device in the centre of the Earth. But we probably should stop their drilling operation. The four strange devices in the courtyard," he added, seeing the perplexion on Steed and Gambit's faces.

"Right," Steed said, his voice taking on a new authority. "Let's get down there and stop them." The three men turned to move down the corridor, but were shocked to see two women walking towards them - one, a slight blonde girl, the other a taller, brunette with bedroom eyes, both in very funky, modern clothes.

"Jo!" the Doctor exclaimed as Steed and Gambit said "Tara!" at exactly the same time. The girls smiled sweetly at their male partners.

"How on Earth did you get out of there?" Gambit asked, almost as though he'd been personally insulted that he hadn't been able to rescue his colleague.

"I think you'll find I have a lot more experience in the field than you do, Gambit," Tara King replied silkily. "But in this instance, I have to thank the extraordinary escapology skills of Jo." She indicated Jo Grant, and looped her arm through her new friend's.

"Yes," Jo said enthusiastically. "I was able to get out of my bonds, and as soon as those awful Dominator people had turned their back on us, I quickly went over and freed Tara."

"Well, what's going on with the drilling operation?" the Doctor asked, still reeling from being unnecessary to the escape his assistant had entailed.

"I smashed it," Tara said simply.

"You did what?" Steed and the Doctor asked incredulously.

"I. Smashed. It." Tara spelled out. "I found a rock and threw it at the centre device, and that seemed to smash it and stop it."

"Oh," the Doctor said crestfallen. "Yes, that would probably be the simplest way."

"Then we escaped, as those Quark things started to get panicky and shuffled around looking for orders," Jo continued.

"Well," Steed said, but couldn't really go on.

"What you did was very silly, Jo," the Doctor chastised, "and very risky. You could've been killed."

"I would've been fine," Jo said, accepting the comforting arm of her friend as he wrapped it around her. "Tara and her friends work for the Ministry. I told her we worked for UNIT, so we're all on the same side."

"Good grief," the Doctor suddenly said. "Lethbridge-Stewart!"

"What?" the others asked, but before the Doctor could continue, the very man himself emerged from the doorway that Steed and the Doctor had left earlier.

"Oh, that Lethbridge-Stewart," Steed said, with a grin.

"Ah, there you are," said Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, his moustache bristling as he put his swagger stick under his right arm. "Good lord, Steed," the Brigadier continued.

"Lethbridge-Stewart, good to see you again," Steed said with a smile. "Lethbridge-Stewart and I go way back," Steed said, turning to Tara and Gambit. "We were in the army together."

"Oh," Tara said, dotingly. Gambit fought to stop from rolling his eyes.

"Yes, quite," Lethbridge-Stewart huffed, uncomfortable with discussing his private life, though he could see the Doctor was quite amused with the reminisces. "I've just had Yates round up those Dominator chappies that were in that secret room back there, and Benton is finishing off the last of those Quark things."

"Well, I've got what I came for, so we can go back to Mother and give him the good news," Steed said with to his associates. "Wonderful to meet you both," Steed said, extending his hand and going through the various pleasantries. The Doctor gave him a nod as they shook hands, and Steed turned to leave, his colleagues turning as well.

Steed suddenly turned back, and looked at the Doctor.

"Look here, old chap," he said, "My club is Blades. Why don't you pop in sometime and we can have a snifter or two."

"That sounds very cultured," the Doctor said with a smile.

"Excellent," Steed said. And with a swing of his umbrella, he turned and walked down the corridor of the stately home, Tara and Gambit flanking him on either side, the light turning the three into silhouettes.

"Greyhound Leader from Greyhound Two," a voice squawked from the two-way on the Brigadier's chest. Lethbridge-Stewart grabbed it and replied.

"Go ahead, Yates."

"Ah, sir, we have everything wrapped up and we're all ready to move out," Yates said.

"Good work, Yates," the Brigadier replied. "Move out." He turned back to the Doctor and Jo. "I assume you two are going to go back in...Bessie," he said, struggling with the name of the Doctor's car.

"Yes, I think so," the Doctor said, his arm going around Jo's shoulders. "Would you like to come back with us, Brigadier?"

"I have a jeep waiting, Doctor," the Brigadier said. "Enjoy your journey." He turned on his heels and followed the Ministry spies out of the building.

"You, the Brigadier and me," Jo mused. "We're almost exactly like a mirror copy of Steed, Gambit and Tara," she said.

"Good grief, Jo," the Doctor said, with slight exasperation.

As they made their way out of the building, the Doctor watched as a Bentley sped off down the cobbled drive.

Superb taste, the Doctor reflected.