The Doctor found himself standing on pavement that had been reduced to rubble. Probably from the prisoners who had come before him. Tasting the air a bit, he could tell that the prison wasn't very old at all-- only five years old, at the most.

Which meant that the very first prisoners to ever arrive would still be there.

He quickly realized that he was standing in the middle of a cul de sac, in some sort of neighborhood. He looked down at the rubble underneath his feet then back around at the houses.

It had been just a bit hard to tell what exactly was in the prison, since it had been so small, but he should have known that it wouldn't be several jail houses where the prisoners would be cooped up all day. Not every group of people were as cruel to their prisoners as some he could think about.

The Doctor shrugged and started forward.

***

Jorina split the blinds apart with her fingers to peek through when she had heard the impact. A new prisoner... But why wasn't he wearing clothing that They issued to the prisoners?

"What is it, Jor?" Lemp asked as he stood from the couch, head craned to try to see what she was looking at.

"Dunno... I'll be back in a minute," she said with a bit of an absent-minded wave of her hand. She slipped her shoes on and and grabbed her keys before turning to her lanky, thin partner. "That okay?"

"Yeah. Get back soon," he said with a soft smile.

Jorina smiled back at him, then pushed her way out of the front door.

The new prisoner-- or was he really?-- had already started down the road at the entry of the cul de sac.

"Hi! Who the hell are you?" Jorina called after him, breaking into a jog.

The strange man stopped and turned to her.

"I'm the Doctor, I'm here to inspect the prison. Any gang fights recently?"

"Doctor who? And no, there haven't been any."

The man knitted his eyebrows together as he pulled out a strange stick from his pocket and pointed it at the rubbled pavement. It made a buzzing sound as he hovered it over the ground. "Just the Doctor. No explosives." He turned the device off and stuck it in his pocket. "Wot's your name?"

Jorina stumbled back a bit, blinking. "You don't know who I am?"

"Not exactly from around here, sorry," the Doctor said.

"Well, you're a first then. I'm Jorina Kai," she said, rolling her shoulders back a bit. "What are you doing here, specifically, among the prisoners? You know you've got a chance of being killed since you don't have guards with you."

"Well, what's a prisoner doing among me?" the Doctor jabbed back as he pointed his device at the rubble a bit more.

Jorina rolled her eyes a bit. "Besides, none of the inspectors actually enter the prison. And I should know, I was the first prisoner here."

"The first prisoner, eh? Tell me then, what happened here?" He pointed his device at the rubble just a bit more, then slipped it back into his pocket, shrugging his shoulders back.

"It's a long story, and it's hard to explain," Jorina said, "There's been a lot of strange things happening here, and I doubt this place will pass your inspection if I tell you about it."

The Doctor smiled a bit. "Tell me, then."

Jorina glowered at the strange man, clenching her fist. "It's not funny."

"Sorry."

She gave a huff. "One of my neighbors-- Scott "Wolf" Lupus-- disappeared last night, right in front of my eyes."

"That's what the rubble's from?" the Doctor asked.

"The road crumbled there, yeah," Jorina said with a slight tilt of her head as she looked at it. "But that's where I was standing when Wolf disappeared."

He pulled his device out yet again, like it would give him all the answers he would ever need. He pointed ito an area in front of the patch of rubble. "Right there, right? No trace." He frowned a bit as he squinted at his device.

"No trace?"

The Doctor looked up at her. "It's like he was never here." His eyebrows flicked up a bit.

Jorina's mouth fell open. "But, but that can't be. Not even a a speck of him?"

"Not even a speck."

"We have to find him and find out what happened to him," she said, "Before this happens to anyone else."

The Doctor knitted his eyebrows together. "Has this happened to anyone else?"

"No, and I would know if it had," Jorina said, putting her hands on her hips.

"You the leader here?"

"Yes I am. There's few perks to being me, and that just happens to be one of them," she said, exhaling through her nose. "If you're not going to help us, I suggest you get on."

"Oh, but I am helping you," the Doctor said.

Jorina stepped back. "You are?"

"'Course I am. May not have been able to find any bio traces of your friend, but--"

Clang.

Jorina nearly jumped. "No no no not again!" she shouted as she whirled around towards her house.

"Not what again?" the Doctor asked behind her. Clang, clang.

The door of Jorina's house slammed open and Lemp ran out, a wild look about his eyes and mouth. Her eyes were wide as she listened to the sound, only giving him a glance.

"It's happening, and it's day time!" he shouted. "It never happens during--" Lemp started to choke, throthing spit dribbling from his mouth. Jorina put her full attention on him and ran towards him as he began to cough and choke. His pointer finger extended, pointing at something behind Jorina and the Doctor.

Jorina screamed his name, just as there was a burst of blinding light, and a sound that would have made anyone think that their little world was breaking in half.

***

Lemp blinked his eyes open, Jorina's screams now just a memory that rang in his ears. He was sitting, for some reason. He shifted, trying to stand up, but his legs and arms were bound to the chair by cuffs built into it.

He leaned his head back with a sigh.

Just what did he do this time?

"I'm glad to see that you're awake, Mr. Dri," a familiar voice said, just a few feet away. Lemp looked over to see Emlyn Vomer-- the very woman who had been the judge at his own trial four and a half years earlier. She sat in a corner, her posture prim and proper.

"Why am I out of the prison? My sentence isn't over for another twenty years," Lemp said as he wrinkled his nose a bit.

Emlyn smoothed the creases of her trousers a bit as she stood up. She walked over to him, the corners of her lips pointing upwards slightly. "Your sentence is over. You will be released to live your life as a free man, now."

"What about Jorina?"

The woman laughed. "Jorina Kai?"

"Yeah, I don't want to leave her. Is she coming too?" Lemp asked as he turned his head a bit, wondering if his partner was, by any chance, in the room with them.

"She's a known assassin. She cannot possibly have a life outside of Hamartia Druxy, I'm afraid," Emlyn said. "Besides, you won't remember her, when you're out there."

"What, what do you mean?"

Emlyn's mouth stretched into a real smile as she leaned towards Lemp. Her perfume was almost enough to make him gag. She pulled something down from above him, and he felt pressure on his head.

"What is that? What are you doing?" Lemp asked loudly as he shook his shoulders.

The woman pushed a button, and the sound of electricity fizzed from some circuits that lead to the helmet on Lemp's head. Emlyn stepped back a few paces.

"I told you that you won't remember her," she said, smiling even more.

A shock jolted Lemp's skull and the lights were knocked out of him. Sometime later, he opened his eyes again. His head was a bit sore, but other than that he was fine.

That was funny.

He didn't remember putting his uniform on and heading to work that morning.