Dr. Snip Ch. 06

Angel was away on a mission for Steve, he was trying to see if he could help Alison have children of her own. Steve was reading the news on his computer, he was now aware that his self appointed task was world wide and he needed the internet to keep him abreast of any trouble that may require his special talents.

Merlin had supplied him with a 26th Century computer, and had programmed it to flag any news story that contained certain key words. The computer was completely holographic; it was basically a figment of Steve's imagination projected by his implant, as was Merlin's avatar.

It was a three dimensional cube, that appeared to float in midair. Any news deemed relevant to Dr. Snip, was presented in an orderly fashion. He still liked to keep his hand in, combating the grass roots level of Crimes involving the young.

The Newspapers in Ohio, were reporting the disappearance of a young boy. He had been missing for two days, and his parents were frantic with worry. They had even been on their local TV, appealing for help from the public.

Had Steve not been so busy lately, he would have been on the case earlier. Still time as they say was on his side; making a note of the parents address he finished his tea. He dressed as usual in his long black Kevlar coat.

Excalibur was concealed in its hidden sheath, or as concealed as a four foot long sword could be. He jumped to the parent's house, ensuring he picked a time in the evening when it would be dark.

The boy's parents were Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, their son Toby had gone to school as usual and that was the last he had been seen by anyone. They lived in Ohio, in a little town called Lysander. Paul Jackson was a big black man who had his own tyre business in the town, and was a well respected member of the community.

When his doorbell rang he looked through the spy hole before opening the door. He and his wife had been plagued by reporters; since appearing on the TV. He had known that this would happen, but considered it a small price to pay if it helped get his son back.

He couldn't quite make out who was standing there; it looked like a black silhouette. He squared his shoulders and opened the door, the man standing on his porch didn't look at all like a reporter. As Paul stood looking at him, Steve handed him his calling card. It simply said "Dr. Snip."

At the start of his quest he used to use a pair of secatures, as his calling card. They were a reminder of what fate had in store, for any criminals that caught Dr. snips attention. However he realised that he would also be interacting with good people; so had some mundane cards printed for that purpose.

Paul's hand shook as he read that name; he had read of this man. In Britain he was wanted for murder, but Paul was a well informed man, and knew about the sort of people that this man was accused of killing.

'I am honoured to meet you, please come in,' he invited the tall dark man.

Steve followed Paul into his living room.

'My wife is upstairs trying to sleep, Paul explained 'she is exhausted from the constant worry.'

'I would like to help find Toby,' said Steve, ' it would be best if nobody knew I was involved. To be blunt, I may have to kill whoever has your son, and if I do you may be accused of hiring me to do it.'

Paul was shocked at the cold blooded way this man spoke of killing. However he wanted his son back at all costs, so he gave Steve all the details he required in order to track Toby. Steve thanked him and let himself out of the house. This was almost routine to Steve, he jumped back in time to the last location Toby was seen, and then just kept an eye on the boy until something happened. As usual it was a pretty simple snatch, a van pulled up beside the boy as he walked home.

A man showed him a map and asked him to point out a certain place. When the helpful boy leaned in to see the map, he was dragged inside the van and it drove away. Steve was very tempted to just stop the van, kill the driver and rescue the boy. However he decided to follow it for a while, in case there were others involved.

Steve had been discussing a certain QT effect with Merlin. When he was dealing with Jeckell the rogue War Minister, he had left one version of him on Angels sunning ledge in the Jurassic. When he had returned Jeckell was gone, or at least Steve couldn't see him.

Merlin had theorised that perhaps he was now slightly out of sync with our timeline, and so was effectively invisible and intangible. Steve's curious mind had wondered if it were possible to set the QT to throw himself slightly out of phase. Not enough to make him intangible, but just enough to make him invisible.

Melin aka The World Brain; had spent quite a few seconds on this question. This translated into years of thought for a human being. He finally came up with a modification to the QT; that had the effect of an interference field.

This wouldn't make Steve perfectly invisible, but it would make him transparent to light. Steve with the bravery of the ignorant; tried it out in front of a full length mirror. When the field was on, his body was pushed slightly out of phase with his universe.

He was only a single nanosecond removed from his main timeline, but the result was as if he was made of glass. If you knew he was there it was easy to see him. However if he stood still, and you didn't know he was there, then your eyes wouldn't see him.

Merlin had been very pleased with himself, even AI's needed praise now and then, and Steve was generous with his.

'Not quite the Invisible Man old friend but close enough I think' he said, smiling at the old wizard. Steve jumped to the top of the vans roof, and switched on the field.

By lying prone and holding on to the roof, he was carried along without being noticed by passing cars. This saved him having to make numerous small jumps to keep the van in sight. His hands were getting tired as the van continued to travel for some miles, before turning off into a dirt track heading into a stand of trees.

There was an old timber house at the end of this dirt road, and finally the van pulled up in front of it and the engine was turned off. Steve was so stiff from hanging on; that by the time he got down from the roof the kidnapper had carried Toby into the house.

Steve turned off the interference field and reappeared. He was not in a very good mood, and decided that he would just walk into the house and ask serious and painful questions of whomever he found there. To his surprise when he entered the house it appeared empty, he looked around the ground floor and climbed the stairs to the upper floor.

There was nobody about. He decided that there must be a cellar; all these creepy old houses had cellars. It seemed to be a requirement of these sort of criminals; that they lurked in cellars.

Sure enough a search of the floor showed a trapdoor, he opened it and walked down the stairs. Steve found himself in a corridor, which had six doors, three each side connecting to it.

He could hear a disturbance from the end door on his right, and walked towards it. Toby was struggling with a heavily built man, who was tying him to a chair. Steve drew Excalibur and without any drama, smashed the man over the head with the solid steel pommel. The big man grunted in shock and pain, before crashing to the ground.

'Your Dad, Paul Jackson sent me to rescue you' he told Toby, who was just as scared of this big man with the sword as he had been of his kidnapper. Hearing the name of his father, reassured the boy that he was going to be all right, and he visibly relaxed.

Steve could have used the razor edge of Excalibur to sever the boys bonds, but thought it might scare him. Sheathing the sword, he carefully untied the knots securing Toby to the chair. He led the boy out of the room, and locked the man inside it for later.

'Are you Ok Toby?' he asked as they climbed the stairs from the cellar.

'Yes Sir,' the boy replied holding tightly to Steve's hand.

'I'm going to do some Magic now, I want you to close your eyes and when you open them you will be surprised,' said Steve to the boy.

Despite his fear Toby trusted this man, and dutifully closed his eyes. Steve picked him up in his arms, and jumped them to Paul Jackson's house. Paul Jackson was on his way to join his wife in bed, when the doorbell rang. It was very late and he considered ignoring it, but when it rang again he sighed and again looked through the security lens to see who it was.

The black silhouette was standing there again. Paul opened the door, and was almost knocked over when Toby jumped into his arms. He looked down at the excited face of his son, and burst into tears of relief.

The heart crushing pain that he had been living with for the past days lifted, and was replaced with a joy so powerful that it was almost painful. He cried out his son's name as he spun him around happily. The big man in black just stood there quietly, drinking in the happiness he had caused.

He needed this to repair the dark areas of his soul, damaged by too much blood and death.

'Please come in and sit down Dr., I must take Toby up to see his mother,' said Paul beaming at Steve.

As Paul ran upstairs with his son, Steve walked into the sitting room and sat on a sofa. No chance of a cup of tea in Ohio, he thought. He wondered how Angel was getting on with Dr. Young in the 26th Century.

Angel was getting on fine; she was enjoying persuading the Doctor. She had persuaded him twice already and he was lying on the bed exhausted.

'Please Angel, no more you will kill me if you keep on,' he begged.

'But I promised I would persuade you,' she said.

'I said I would do the Operation before you dragged me into bed,' he protested.

'Well I obviously didn't hear you did I, perhaps you should check out my ears. You seem to have checked out the rest of my body pretty thoroughly,' she replied cheekily.

'You are insatiable, you wanton hussy,' he accused staggering into her shower room. He allowed himself to fall limply into the pool, and swam slowly towards the waterfall that acted as Angels shower. Angel joined him in the water, and he managed to have his shower despite her helping hands.

'When do you want to do this operation? he asked as she was soaping him in interesting places.

'I have no idea; I don't think Steve has actually asked her if she wants it to be done. He is checking first of all if it is possible, before he broaches the subject to her,' said Angel nibbling Paul's neck.

'It's a relatively simple procedure, but I suppose it would be deemed impossible back then,' said Paul slipping his hand between her legs.

'Why Doctor, not another internal surely,' giggled Angel.

Steve looked up as Paul came back into the room; he was still carrying Toby as if afraid to let go of him. He was followed by his wife; who flew towards Steve and hugged him to her ample bosom. His face was pressed between her enormous breasts, until he thought he would suffocate. At last she let him go, but before he could take a much-needed breath he was being kissed all over his face.

'Thank You, Thank You. O lord Thank You,' she said happily. Steve had to smile in the face of so much happiness; it was like a tonic to him.

He reminded the family not to mention his involvement in case of future complications, and eventually was allowed to leave with much blessings and thanks being rained upon him. Outside the house, he quickly jumped back to the kidnappers house.

There had always been a chance that he might have escaped from the room, but thankfully he was still locked inside it as the hammering on the door revealed. Steve knelt down outside the door to the room, and slipped a calling card under it.

The hammering ceased instantly, and he heard a muffled curse as the kidnapper realised who he was dealing with. Before he dealt with the kidnapper, Steve investigated the other rooms. All the heavy doors were fitted with spyholes. He was shocked to find that they were all occupied by young people.

He unlocked the door to the room containing the oldest of the group, thinking that the young man would be better able to tell him what was going on. He was stunned to realise after questioning this approximately 20 yr old young man, that he had been imprisoned by the kidnapper who was called Joe, for many years.

The young man 's name was Chuck, and he asked Steve what year it was. When Steve told him he burst into tears, and sat on his bed distraught.

'My parents must think I'm dead' he sobbed. Steve left him there, and questioned the other four young people.

They all had a similar tale to tell of being abducted years ago, and simply kept prisoner by Joe. Joe had fed and watered them, but had not told them what was going on in the world. In the early days he had abused them, but as the years went on he lost interest and just kept them imprisoned.

Steve was at a loss what to do here; he should of course just call the cops and let them handle Joe. However he knew about the Stockholm syndrome; and was concerned that the victims of this Joe might find it hard to press charges after so many years. Then again Joe could always plead insanity, and escape justice that way. No, to Dr. Snips way of thinking there was no choice; Joe had to go.

Obviously the name of Dr. Snip although recognised in America, wasn't as feared as he would have liked. He decided to do something about that. Steve had locked the kids into their rooms temporarily, whilst he dealt with Joe.

He stood outside the locked door of the room where he had imprisoned Joe, and knocked politely. He waited a few seconds, and then jumped into the room via the QT. He appeared on the far side of the room, looking towards the door. Joe was waiting to one side of the door with a table leg in his meaty hand, waiting to smash anyone who entered.

Dr. Snip drew his sword slowly; the hiss of steel against leather was reminiscent of a snake before it struck. Joe was a very big man and fast on his feet, he whirled round and threw himself across the room. The wooden table leg held high, ready to smash down onto Snips skull.

Snip swung Excalibur in a vertical stroke, powered by all the disgust he had for such a man, who would take the youth of these kids for his own perverted pleasure. The razor sharp blade cut straight down onto Joe's head; first his skull then the bone and blubber of his burly body parting like butter until Excalibur exited his body between his legs.

The two halves of Joe's body fell away from each other, and hit the floor with a meaty slap. To avoid the blood and guts, Snip jumped out of the room into the top half of the house where Joe had lived. He found paper and pen, and wrote a warning to all those who abducted and imprisoned children.

"Be Warned, what I did to this man I will do to anyone guilty of the same crime, I am watching all of you. Dr. Snip."

Steve walked back down the stairs, and using a knife he had found in Joe's room impaled the note to the door.

All that was left to do was call the Local Cops; he did so and gave them a summery of what had transpired, leaving out any mention of Toby. Paul Jackson had agreed to say that Toby had been found safe and well, without any mention of Dr. Snip's involvement. Steve knew that the media would be so excited over the finding of Joe's body, that they would ignore Toby's return.

As usual Steve waited until the Cops showed up, they arrived in six cars with lights flashing and sirens screaming. When showing himself to the police, Steve always wore an executioners mask to protect Dr. Snip's secret identity of Steven Steele. As the Cops exited their vehicles, they drew their side arms and covered Snip as he stood next to a tree.

'Don't move Dr. Snip, put your hands on your head and step forward,' he was commanded. Steve laconically saluted his fellow law enforcement operatives, and stepped behind the tree. When the Cops surrounded the tree, Dr. Snip had vanished.

The National papers picked up the story, and again the name of Dr. Snip was associated with bloody slaughter. His note was plastered across the front pages of all the papers, and CNN did a special report on this British Vigilante.

Steve was back in his kitchen scanning through these stories, he hoped he had done enough to stem for a little while this sick crime. It lightened his soul to see footage of the kidnappers victims being Re-united with their families.

He was amazed, that the media actually showed the mother of one of the children, publicly thanking Dr. Snip for rescuing her son. All the young people would need counselling but they were alive and had the majority of their lives left to live.

'Ta Ra!' yelled Angel as she appeared in front of him, her beaming face telling him that her mission had been successful.

'What not shagging the lovely Doctor? Surely you haven't tired of her already? asked Angel mischievously.

'Come here and be kissed woman,' he growled at her holding out his arms. With a squeal of joy, Angel jumped onto his lap and kissed him passionately.

'So you haven't be shagging then?' she persisted.

'No you nosy little fucker, I have been busy causing chaos in the USA,' he replied.

'However, now you are back,' Steve jumped them upstairs to the bedroom, and they spent the rest of the day catching up on things. After they had worn each other out, they lay quiescent. Steve asked if everything was arranged with the Doctor.

Upon being assured that the operation would take place as and when required, it left him with the problem of asking Alison if indeed she wanted to be fixed. Steve knew enough about women, to know that he knew nothing about women.

He had no idea how she would react when he offered her the chance to become a mother. She might see his efforts as a fucking cheek, interfering in her life so intimately.

She might see it as a criticism that he didn't want her the way she was, but needed her to be fertile for his own reasons. Women; were a minefield of emotions, and he was suddenly scared to proceed further.

'Help me Angel,' he asked humbly, 'I don't know how to broach the subject to Alison. It is such a intimate and personal matter, that she might resent my interfering.'

Unfortunately as Steve had mentioned to Alison, Angel was almost an Alien when it came to matters of sex and procreation.

Every British woman was fertile, that was ensured before birth. Angel simply assumed that Alison would be overjoyed at the chance to have a baby if she wanted to.

'I think that if you offer this as giving her the choice of whether or not to get pregnant, she might consider it in a better light. At the moment she has no choice in the matter. Regardless of how many men fuck her she will not get pregnant. After the operation, she will be able to choose if she gets pregnant. She is an intelligent woman; she will see that this is a win win situation. Although it would be ironic if after all this effort, she ends up taking the contraceptive pill to avoid getting pregnant next time you fuck her,' said Angel.'Bear in mind Steve, that she may even decide to have a baby by some other man, how would you handle that?'

Angel's words, made Steve realise just what it was about Alison that increased her allure for him. No matter how much Angel loved him, she couldn't have his child. She was British Aristocracy, and simply wasn't allowed to have children with just anyone. Steve simply wasn't good enough, to be the father of her future children.

Alison on the other hand was 20th Century human, and if made fertile could carry Steve's child. Perhaps he was being driven in this, by some sub-conscious primordial need to procreate.

'Fuck it, I will just offer her the option of becoming fertile and see what she says,' he told Angel.