It'd been a few weeks since the Doctor had dropped Elise off with Madame Vastra.

Of course, she'd teased him saying he only wanted alone time with Clara. He'd blushed and stuttered and then sent her on her way.

She wasn't worried however. He'd come back for her eventually. He always did.

"Elise, come to the conservatory dear. We have a visitor," Madame Vastra told the young redhead.

"I fail to see how this concerns me."

Vastra had to keep reminding herself that this Elise wasn't the shy and timid girl she had first met. This one was flippant to anything that didn't have to do with her father, Clara, or herself.

"I believe it may have to do with what drew your father here in the first place."

Elise relented and followed Madame Vastra to the conservatory.

A man, Mr. Thursday, was waiting for them.

Jenny stood on one side of Madame Vastra, while Elise stood on the other.

"Thank you for agreeing to this meeting. I'm told you are the investigator to see if there are strange goings-on."

"I read of your brother's death. Another victim of the Crimson Horror, I believe?"

"So it is claimed. He was a newspaper man. He and a young woman were working undercover. Tell me, Madame, do you know what an Octogram is?"

Elise had no idea what that even was.

"It is a silly superstition, sir. The belief that the eye can retain an image of the last thing it sees."

Thursday pulled out a picture and handed it to Jenny.

Jenny handed it to Vastra who removed her veil to see better. "Good grief."

"Oh, god," Mr. Thursday gasped and fainted. Once Mr. Thursday had been removed from the home, the three women went down to a darkroom where Jenny and Vastra enlarged the picture.

"Well, I'll be blowed. I think, Madame, that we'd better make plans to head north," Jenny said.

Staring back at them from the picture of the dead man's eyes was the Doctor.

Elise sighed. What had he gotten himself into this time?

They quickly assembled what they would need for their rescue mission and started their carriage ride to the North.

"According to my research, Sweetville's proprietor holds recruitment drives for her little community. She is only interested in the fittest and the most beautiful," Madame Vastra explained.

"You may rely on me, ma'am," Strax said, causing Elise to roll her eyes.

"I was, in fact, speaking to Jenny."

"Jenny. If this weak and fleshy boy is to represent us, I strongly recommend the issuing of scissor grenades, limbo vapor and triple blast brain splitters."

"What for?"

"Just generally. Remember, we are going to the North."

"I think I should go with Jenny," Elise said.

"Absolutely not," Vastra told her.

"Why not?" Vastra sighed.

"Because your father put you under my protection and frankly dear, your temper would get you in trouble."

"My temper? I don't have a temper!" Elise settled back into her seat and crossed her arms over her chest and sulked like a small child.

Vastra smiled to herself. It didn't matter how old the Timelord got, she still acted like a spoiled child when she didn't get her way.

A day or so later, Mr. Thursday came around and had to be dragged into the drawing room.

"He faints an awful lot. I'm not human and I know that's not normal," Elise said.

"It asked for permission to enter and then it fell over. What are we to make of it?" Strax asked.

"I imagine Mister Thursday wants to know what progress we are making. The question is, how did the Doctor's image come to be preserved on a dead man's eye? It's a scientific impossibility. I wonder how Jenny is getting on."

"If she hasn't make contact by nightfall, I suggest a massive frontal assault on the factory, Madame. Casualties can be kept to perhaps as little as eighty percent."

"I think there may be subtler ways of proceeding, Strax."

"Suit yourself."

"Why do you keep him around?" Elise asked.

Vastra sighed. "Because he's a surprisingly good butler."

Vastra and Elise headed to the morgue to find out more about this "Crimson Horror".

"Them new manufacturers can do horrible things to a person. Horrible. I've pickled things in here that'd fair turn your hair snowy as top of Buckden Pike," the morgue owner said.

"You know what I'm looking for."

"Oh, aye. All them bits found in t'canal. The Crimson Horror." He handed Vastra a large bottle about half full of red liquid.

Vastra turned around and threw off her veil, examining it. "It hardly seems possible."

"What is it?" Elise asked her

. "I think...I think I've seen these symptoms before."

"You have? When?"

"A long time ago."

Elise narrowed her eyes at the lizard woman. "How long ago?"

"About sixty five million years."

Elise took the bottle from Vastra. "How the hell is something from that long ago surviving today?"

"That's precisely what we need to find out."

After getting lost and picking up a small boy for directions, they finally made it to Sweetville.

They infiltrated and found the Doctor.

Elise strode in with Vastra, brandishing a sword. Instead of wearing a leather outfit like Jenny, she wore her signature leather jacket, black skinny jeans, blank tank top, and black combat boots.

The Doctor had to admit, the previous Elise had looked odd with any weapon in her hand but this Elise looked born to handle a sword or a gun.

"Let's go," Vastra told them.

"No, ma'am. We're not escaping. We've got to help the Doctor with Clara," Jenny said.

Vastra looked at the two Timelords.

"You didn't tell her?" Elise asked her father.

"I thought you were gonna tell her!" The Doctor looked at Vastra. "Long story."

"What now, Madame?" Strax asked, "We could lay mimetic cluster binds!"

"Strax," Vastra said.

"Or dig trenches and fill them with acid."

"Strax! You're overexcited. Have you been eating Miss Jenny's sherbet fancies again?"

"...no."

"Go outside and wait for me until I call for you."

"But Madame, I..."

"Go!"

"I'm going to go play with my grenades." Strax left.

The Doctor soniced the cubicle in front of him. "Okay, I think she's about done." He opened the door and there stood Clara. "I know who you think she is, but she isn't. She can't be."

"I was right, then. You and Clara have unfinished business," Vastra said.

Clara fell forward into the Doctor's arms.

"There, there. Hello, stranger."

"Doctor," Clara said, poking the Doctor on the cheek. She finally realized they weren't alone and turned to look at Jenny, Vastra, and Elise. "Hi. What's going on?"

The Doctor put on an accent. "Oh, haven't you heard, love? There's trouble at mill." He dropped the accent and pointed at Vastra. "She's a lizard."

As they walked around the factory, the Doctor turned to Elise. "You didn't...use that on anyone did you?" He couldn't bear the thought of her killing someone.

Elise laughed. "Of course not. Speak softly and carry a big stick."

"Theodore Roosevelt."

"Yep."

"You know we should visit him some time. My good ole pal Teddy."

"Of course you've met Roosevelt."

"Course I have. Who doesn't want to meet Roosevelt?"

"My people once ruled this world, as well you know, but we did not rule it alone. Just as humanity fights a daily battle against nature, so did we. And our greatest plague, the most virulent enemy, was the repulsive red leech," Vastra said, interrupting the duo's conversation.

"Ooo, the Repulsive Red Leech. Nah. On balance I think I prefer the Crimson Horror. What was it, exactly?" the Doctor asked.

"A tiny parasite. It infected our drinking water. And once in our systems, it secreted a fatal poison."

"If it's been hanging around, lurking in the shadows, maybe it's evolved. Or maybe it's had help."

"Doctor, I've been thinking. The chimney..." Clara started.

The Doctor waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Way past that now. Yucky red parasite from the time of the dinosaurs pitches up in Victorian Yorkshire. Didn't see that one coming."

"Yeah, but the chimney..."

"But what's the connection to Mrs. Gillyflower? Judgement will rain down on us all. An empty mill."

Clara put her hands on his shoulders and for a second, Elise thought she was going to kiss him like Victorian Clara had.

"A chimney that doesn't blow smoke."

The conclusion finally made it's way to the Doctor's brain. "Clever clogs."

"Missed me?"

He grabbed her face and kissed her forehead. "Yeah, lots." He let go and looked at Elise.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

He pushed past her mental barriers for just a split second.

Shut-up.