FIC: CSI: TARDIS Chapter One [Crossover; Multiple Pairings]
Rose and the Doctor stayed back and tried to find a way to figure out what was going on while avoiding any looks of "Are you insane?"
"So Doctor, how should we approach this?" Rose queried.
"Well...we sure can't just march up to them and ask them if they've seen any inhuman creatures who may have killed someone they knew," the Doctor quipped.
"Will your psychic paper work?"
"No. Definitely not. Especially with this mist on the air.”
Rose looked up, down, and all around and then glanced back at the Doctor. "Mist?"
"Yes. The bright....pink....oh dear," the Doctor trailed off.
"Doctor? What's wrong?" Rose asked, concerned.
"We're dealing with something with at least a couple of the qualities of a Time Lord. This bright pink mist is only visible to a Time Lord. The only problem is that when a Time Lord uses any of their power, a yellow mist appears. This pink mist...oh dear, what is it characteristic of? Alien....giant Bug....oh. This is definitely good, Rose, my dear," the Doctor finished.
"What are we dealing with?"
"Rose, we've got a highly advanced telekinetic on our hands."
"A telekinetic? How does someone who can move things with their mind pose such a large threat to us other than being able to kill us from a distance, which in retrospect sounds a lot more dangerous than I originally thought?"
"While that much is in fact dangerous, telekinetics don't solely have the power of moving objects with their minds. They can also control the minds of others and have them do things they'd never normally do. With that mist on the air, odds are that that's exactly what happened here. An incredibly strong telekinetic must have influenced someone to kill Miss Monroe over there."
"So explain to me again why the psychic paper won't work."
"With that mist on the air, psychic powers are already in the air and the effects are being felt. If I were to march in there with my psychic paper, they wouldn't be able to see anything due to the psychic powers on the air counteracting with the psychic powers of the psychic paper. We're going to have to go in as is and hopefully be able to convince them that we have a valid reason for being interested in this case."
"Coroners."
"We can't go cutting corners now Rose."
"No...coroners. We can go in claiming to be coroners."
"Perfect, Rose! I have a medical kit back in the TARDIS that we can easily use to manipulate the situation so as it looks like we're here for the legitimate reason of inspecting the body."
The Doctor quickly made a trip to the TARDIS and came back with a medical kit as well as two fake IDs.
"Where'd you get those?"
"I printed them up while I was gathering the stuff necessary for the medical kit. It just makes the disguise more convincing."
They both approached the body, the group that had once been standing there long having been dispersed to search for evidence. There was only one solemn figure standing over the body. This figure, they'd soon find out, went by the name of Danny Messer.
Danny had always been a living, breathing Cinderella story. He grew up in a small family who indulged in their fair share of crimes, just on the opposite side of the law as Danny was accustomed to in his career. He was never Rockefeller rich, but never Great Depression poor. He was always in that uncomfortable niche between "We've got enough to survive with some to spare" and "Oh shit. We're absolutely broke beyond any belief." He still remembered those nights when his brother would be extra hungry and would beat his ass so that he could get Danny's food. That all changed when he had to go to college. He got so many part-time jobs that he was amazed that sleep ever came to him. He made it. He made it through college and now he was a CSI.
The one area he was never poor in was women. He always had women chasing him left and right, but none of them - not a single one - was like Lindsay. Lindsay was...perfect. She had the looks, she had the personality, and best of all, she was a fighter. Lindsay would never cave in to anyone for anything. She could take you down in a matter of five seconds...and Danny knew it. He had made one too many comments about her background in Montana one foggy day when she whipped around and flipped him on his ass. Danny supposed that was the day he fell in love with her. He sure knows it wasn't when he first saw her, because he doesn't believe in that love at first sight bullshit.
None of that mattered now. Lindsay was dead, just like that. He had been sitting in his apartment eating breakfast - well, drinking a cup of low quality coffee - when he received that fateful phone call.
"Hey. What is it Stella?" Danny asked.
"Danny...are you sitting down?" Stella asked, a quiver in her voice.
"Yeah, Stella. Just spit it out.”
"Danny...in Central Park. It...it's Lindsay. She's-" but she was never able to get that final word out because Danny had snapped his phone closed and had quickly pulled on his jacket, racing down as quick as he could to Central Park. When he got there, he saw Mac crouched down staring at something and Stella behind him softly crying. He ran over to them in the middle of the park and saw what Stella was talking about.
"Oh…dear God....Montana, no," he said too calmly. He slowly sauntered forward until he was within standing directly over Lindsay. "Mac...what the hell happened?"
"Danny...you should really-" Mac started, before Danny interrupted him.
"Don't bullshit me right now, Mac. Just tell me it straight," Danny said coldly.
"She...she's dead, Danny. Her and I went to interview a suspect,” Stella took a deep breath and sighed, closing her eyes before she continued. "And he ran. We both took different routes to chase him. I heard Lindsay scream and then a gunshot. I immediately abandoned my pursuit and ran over to Lindsay. She...was laying there. Just like this. Dead. I'm so sorry Danny.” She turned away, fighting back the urge to cry.
Danny slowly approached her and pulled her into a friendly hug. "It's not your fault Stella. It…it's not your fault," he felt himself tearing up a little and pulled his emotions back. “Don't show your weaknesses Messer. Not now. Not ever,” he thought, chiding himself mentally.
"We should probably split up and start searching for any evidence we can get to peg this son of a bitch. I'll wait here for the coroner."
"Right," Danny said, emotionlessly, and went off to search for any evidence on the outskirts of the park.
"You think he's going to be okay, Mac?" Stella asked.
"No, Stella. You know that he cared about Lindsay more than anyone, but he sure as hell isn't going to show that to anyone." Mac said, "You'd be better off just collecting evidence. Or if you don't want to, we can call Haw-"
"No, Mac. I want this case. You are not taking me off of it," Stella demanded.
"You're too emotionally attached. I can't let you have this case," Mac said solemnly.
"Mac...please. I need to do this. The closure I need involves our team alone bringing this killer to justice," Stella begged, determination seeping into her voice.
"Fine, but at even the first sign of too much emotion, I'm yanking you," Mac warned, looking her straight in the eye.
"Got it," Stella said shortly and then began the arduous search for evidence around the body.
It was at that exact moment that a tall, almost lanky man and a blonde woman who looked like she could either kill you with kindness or a swift roundhouse to your face approached Mac.
"You must be the new coroner and his assistant," Mac said.
"Yes indeed. We're here for Miss Monroe," Rose said.
"This is her. You must understand how sensitive this matter is. We were all very close to her," Mac said, seemingly warning them.
"Of course sir. We'll treat this with the utmost importance," the Doctor said, attempting to ease Mac's fears.
"British, I see?" Mac asked.
"Yes sir. Just came over recently," the Doctor said with a slight smile.
"One of our previous coroners was also British," Mac said coldly.
"Ex-girlfriend?" the Doctor said with a smirk.
"How'd you know?" Mac said, suspicious.
"It's all in the tone of voice sir," the Doctor said, smiling.
"Awfully observant for being a coroner. You sure you weren't a CSI at one point?" Mac joked.
"No sir. Can't say I've ever had the honor," the Doctor said, smiling gently.
"Well, I'm sure you want to solve this as quickly as we do," Mac said, smiling, "You should both probably get to work."
"Yes, sir," Rose said.
It was at that moment Stella chose to come back to the body.
"Oh...hello there, Doctor," Stella said, "And hello to you too, Rose."
The Doctor and Rose looked at each other worriedly, and then back at Stella.
"How'd you know my name?" Rose asked, ready to tackle her at a moment's notice if the need arose.
"What?" Stella asked staring at Rose, "I-I don't know what you mean."
"I never told you my name, Miss. How did you know what it was?" Rose asked, as she slowly started to walk towards Stella, a threatening gleam in her eyes. "Is there something you're not telling us?"