〖 〗

Valarie could evoke - apart from screaming - was to clasp her hand over her mouth out of sheer shock. She remained that way as Richard began to take pictures with his still elderly wife, a smile stretched across his now young face.

"It must be a trick." Martha whispered to her. "They can't be the same person." Valarie felt almost appalled staring at him. The man before her had done nothing that was impossible, yet had raised so many questions in Valarie's mind.

"What's he done?" She asked silently. She did not like the idea that some eccentric billionaire was now playing God - rendering himself virtually immortal with no consequences.

"He's changed what it means to be human." The Doctor replied. Concern spread over his face like a translucent mask, his eyebrows knitted and a frown on his lips. Valarie shook her head, stepping away from the two. "I need a drink she grumbled."

She silently slipped between formally dressed bodies, eyeing the counter where drinks where being sold. She leaned on it, bouncing her knee as she quietly pointed at a champagne bottle behind the counter. She watched the bar tender swiftly pour the glass and hand it to her. Valarie did not hesitate to raise it to her lips. She turned away from the counter, looking back at Richard.

She continuously tried to wrap her mind around what had happened to him in that chamber; his awful screams were burned into her memory. But he stood there now, seemingly healthy and youthful as he spoke gleefully to his wife.

With a sudden movement, his craned his neck upwards, teeth barring as his shoulders and neck seemingly popped violently. He grunted, turning his head to a waiter walking by a snatched the tray off his hands. He proceeded to stuff his mouth swiftly with the food on the tray. Valarie's confusion swiftly moved to concern that his youthful transformation seemed to have gone with consequences. She set the champagne glass down and moved through the crowd again, not taking her eyes off of Richard. She gripped one side of her black dress tightly, heels clacking on the floor as she hurried her way across the room.

She slowly stopped in her tracks as she saw the Doctor move in on Richard, having seen the same thing she had. She moved towards his back, coming into his conversation with him.

"Energy deficit. Comes with the process." He quickly explained to him.

"You talk as if you see this everyday sir."

"Doctor, actually. And oh, well, not everyday but I have some experience with this sort of, transformation." Richard cracked a smug grin.

"There's no way."

"Using hypersonic sound waves to create a sort of resonance, but that's expired!" He scrunched his face up, impressing Richard.

"You understand the theory then." His face was flat, obviously not happy that someone who could know more then him maybe in the room.

"There's no way you could've allowed for any variant."

"That experiment was worth any risk."

"That thing could've exploded." The Doctor was flabbergasted by Richards blatant disregard for the safety of everyone else in the room. His selfishness was evident by the bored look in his eyes as he sucked crumbs of food off his thumb. "You might as well have stepped into a blender."

"You aren't qualified to give you're input." Mrs.Lazarus blurted, angry that anyone would question the process that would restore her youth.

"If I hadn't of intervened it would've exploded."

"Then thank you Doctor, for you engineering input. But what happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less."

"You have no way of knowing that." Valarie blurted, still taken back having seen his outburst. "Until you run proper tests."

Richard laughed. "I'm all the proof you need!"

"The device will need to be certified before we advertise commercially." Mrs.Lazarus gloated.

"Commercially?" Martha asked, eyes large in apparent shock at their plans. "You are joking? That'll be chaos."

"No, it'll be change." Richard smiled.

"This isn't about change. It's about you and your customers living a little longer."

"Not a little longer. A lot longer, Doctor." His voice was low and almost sinister, as he gazed at the Doctor.

"Richard, we have things to discuss." His wife insisted. With that, the odd couple departed from the three with a wave; not before Richard took Martha's hand and kissed it.

Valarie felt sick to her stomach as the Doctor and Martha began discussing to explore the lab: run tests on the DNA now left on Martha's hand to see if the process really worked. The two began to walk, Valarie remained in place. The Doctor turned back to her, his eyes quizzical.

"I feel sick." She quickly announced, pushing past them as she made haste for the front doors. She stepped outside, taking her phone out again and quickly dialing a familiar number. She placed the phone to her ear, ringing until it abruptly stopped.

"Hello?" Valarie sniffled and laughed at her sisters familiar voice accompanied by children's loud voices in the background.

"Hello Mabel." She laughed, not realizing how much she missed her sisters voice. She looked towards the night sky.

"Val? Are you alright?" Mabel asked. "You sound upset."

"No, just homesick. What day is it?" Valarie asked, not yet used to standing in her own time once again.

"October eighth." Valarie bit her lip. She had been gone only four days. Only long enough for people to begin to notice her absence. She was a busy student in her time after all. But who know how much time she had really spent with the Doctor now? She felt the sudden craving to spill everything to her elder sister. She choked it back behind a sniffle.

"Val, are you alright?" Mabel questioned. Valarie shook her head, peeking at her black heels.

"Yeah. I've just been busy. Lost track of time, with work."

"Work? Valarie, Brion is gone. The company is under investigation, you couldn't have gotten another job already could you?" She sounded concerned. Valarie looked up, the wind gently pushing the free strands of hair around her face. She had almost completely forgotten about Brion, and the fire that consumed it and the creatures inside.

"I..." She began, eyes darting around. She paced in her spot, looking up and around as she began to wonder what she could use as an excuse. Her eyes settled on the building she just left. "I was relocated. To Lazarus."

"Lazarus? I saw that place on the t.v. Are you at the big reveal party tonight?"

"Yeah, I am." Valarie said, her eyes settling on a window where two figures peered below. Even from a distance, Valarie could barely identify the figures as Richard Lazarus himself and his wife.

"That must be incredible. You know, Jane wanted to go to that but it was employees and press only event." Valarie continued to listen to her sister gush about her wife, who was a science nerd, as she watched them talk.

The hairs suddenly raised on the back of Valarie's neck, as she watched something unusual begin. Richard began to visibly move in weird maneuvers and motions, his body contorting in inhuman ways.

Then he looked inhuman. A monstrous form loomed over Mrs.Lazarus, before it pounced on her. Her screams didn't need to be heard.

Valarie's jaw dropped, as her phone slipped from her fingers and clattered against the ground.

[

]