Outside a dilapidated church, Inspector Quick is approached by a woman called Lizzy Laithwaite. She repeats a certain rhyme:
Half a pound of tuppenny rice,
Half a pound of treacle,
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop goes the weasel
Hearing this phrase, Quick goes into a trance. Laithwaite tells him his master is waiting for him and leads him inside the church to The Master. The Master informs Quick and Laithwaite that to bring The Doctor to him, he needs to find Jago and Litefoot. He orders Quick and Laithwaite to come with him to the church’s underground crypt. The Master hypnotises Laithwaite and activates a device that drains her life essence into himself, sustaining his decaying body a little longer. He explains to Quick that human life essence only temporarily sustains him. His true plan is to endanger Jago and Litefoot to a point that they will summon The Doctor to save them. When The Doctor arrives, The Master will steal his artron energy…
Later, Quick snaps out of his trance and finds himself in an alleyway by the dilapidated church with no recollection of how he got there. He immediately discovers a dead woman at his feet and calls for his fellow officers for assistance.
At the mortuary, Quick explains to Litefoot about the dead woman he discovered. He identifies her as Lizzy Laithwaite, a street scavenger from his earlier days in the force, now reduced to a withered husk. As Quick turns to leave, Litefoot thanks him for the new mirror he provided, but Quick tells him that the mirror was not his gift. Litefoot looks at it for a moment and gasps at something he sees within it. He explains to Quick that he swore he saw himself in the reflection, but his features were withered like the corpse on his slab…
That evening, Litefoot takes Ellie out to Jago’s theatre. They watch the top billed act, hypnotist Madame Sosostris, perform a hypnotism act on the entire audience, which amazed the crowd. Litefoot notes how she has the power to unlock people’s lost memories.
During the interval, Ellie spots Quick carrying a large parcel. Ellie calls out to him, but he fails to take notice of her. Litefoot assumes that he is on an errand for Jago.
Quick arrives in Jago’s office with the large parcel. He remarks to Jago that he cannot rightly remember much these past few days, he even forgets about the parcel that he had just delivered onto Jago’s desk. Jago opens the parcel to discover the delivery is a large mirror. Quick points out that there is space on the wall behind Jago’s desk to hang it on.
At the end of the show, Litefoot and Ellie decide to find Jago to congratulate him on another wonderful theatrical show…even though he comments that he is feeling rather tired. Litefoot and Ellie arrive in Jago’s office. Jago asks if it was either of them who bought him the large mirror. Litefoot is disconcerted to discover that the mirror is the exact same as the one that he recently received…
At the Red Tavern, Ellie meets Inspector Quick. Quick tells her that he is meeting a friend. Moments later, Ellie is approached by a cloaked man wearing a mask. He introduces himself as ‘Dominus’ and asks to find Inspector Quick. Ellie points him out to Dominus, and he hobbles over to the Inspector’s table. Ellie is curious about the mysterious stranger and asks Quick about him. Quick tells her that it is police business that should not concern her. Dominus tells Ellie that Quick informs him that she is familiar with Jago and Litefoot, which she confirms. Dominus asks Ellie to sit with them and he hypnotises her. He notes that Ellie has a metabolic anomaly that has been crudely corrected (her vampiric immortality) and uses an alien device to properly correct it, causing Ellie a moment of discomfort. Dominus informs him that he has information for her that would prove most enlightening for her. He tells her to visit the Scarlet Gallery and find a picture called ‘Death on the Platform’, it has something of interest to her. With that revelation, Dominus asks Ellie to tell him everything she knows about Jago and Litefoot…
At the New Regency Theatre, Jago calls in a substitute to take over as master of ceremonies for the evening as he explains that he is not feeling too well.
At the Red Tavern, both Jago and Litefoot complain about feeling tired all day, even falling asleep at inopportune moments. After a small drink, both men decide to call it an evening, much to Ellie’s surprise. Ellie mentions Quick coming in earlier but confesses that she cannot remember much about his visit. Jago decides to leave and head home for the evening. Both he and Litefoot decide to meet again at lunch to check in on each other.
At his lair, The Master instructs a hypnotised Quick that he must make sure Jago and Litefoot contact The Doctor…
The next afternoon at the Red Tavern, Jago and Litefoot meet up at the Red Tavern for lunch. Both men feel exhausted. Quick arrives and joins the Infernal Investigators at their table. He offhandedly mentions that maybe their lifeforce is being stolen and suggests that The Doctor could probably help them find a cure for their exhaustion. He leaves the two men to their drinks. Litefoot agrees with Quick and arranges for him and Jago to meet up at Baker Street later that evening at the old apartment The Doctor gave them during their days on the run. Maybe there is a way to contact him there.
That evening, Jago and Litefoot meet up in The Doctor’s apartment in Baker Street. Both men feel exhausted and rather than urgently contact their timelord ally, they sit down in the drawing room. Litefoot theorises that they can write him a letter requesting his help and leave it on his desk with the date. When The Doctor next visits the Baker Street apartment, he will see the letter with the date and travel in the TARDIS to help the Infernal Investigators. With no other options at their disposal, this is the only way they can hope to get help from their friend.
The two investigators leave Baker Street and wonder how long it will take for The Doctor to arrive. They are approached by a man in a mask and cloak. The man asks the two investigators if it would be possible to arrange a meeting with the owner of the Baker Street apartment they had just walked out of. The two investigators explain that they are watching over the property of ‘Professor Darke’ and will not be back for some time. But they promise to keep an eye out for him. The man asks them to give his name to Darke as Mr. Dominus. The Infernal Investigators leave, while Dominus mutters darkly about how The Doctor’s allies have led him to one of his safehouses…
A few days later, Jago and Litefoot meet up at the Red Tavern. The two men can hardly stay awake, with Jago pondering that for a time traveller, The Doctor would have a better sense of time. Even Litefoot’s friend Dr. Luke Betterman is unable to provide anyway of helping them. Jago leaves to try and host the evening show. Ellie mentions how Jago looks exactly how he looked in the new mirror he received. Litefoot realises that the image he saw in his own mirror of his own corpse-like face is coming true, like a sinister premonition. Can the corpse of Lizzy Laithwaite and their current situation be connected in some way? Litefoot hurries away to find Jago.
Jago is awoken with a start by a knock on the door of his office. Litefoot enters and explains the situation about the withered corpse of Lizzy Laithwaite. He recalls that before she died, Inspector Quick saw her not long beforehand. Litefoot assumes that he may have contracted a wasting illness from her corpse and he and Jago are now infected by it. But they need to know where she was seen before she died to find out where she could have got it from.
The weary investigators arrive outside a dilapidated church. Jago looks down in a rain puddle and sees his own face reflecting a weary corpse-like face. Litefoot recalls how they both received mirrors from some persons unknown that reflected a rather deathly visage of their reflections…around the same time they were both infected with their illness! Their next lead is to find out where their mirrors came from…
At the mortuary, Jago covers the mirror with a sheet. Litefoot had just finished making enquiries in the police station and learned that the mirror was delivered by Inspector Quick, but Litefoot recalls Quick not knowing anything about the mirror when it was delivered. They both decide to head to the New Regency Theatre to enquire about Jago’s mirror, but not before they get lunch from the Red Tavern.
At the Red Tavern, Ellie is incredulous about their deduction. But she remembers Quick carrying a large parcel at the New Regency Theatre during the interval the night she and Litefoot visited. Realising that Quick delivered their parcels, their next line of enquiry is Inspector Quick himself…
Both men meet with Inspector Quick. Quick does not remember delivering any mirrors, despite the testimony of an officer at the police station witnessing Quick deliver Litefoot’s mirror, and Ellie seeing Quick carry a large parcel for Jago. Which can only mean Quick is lying or having memory problems. Quick admits that he is rather forgetful recently, he admits that he cannot remember delivering their mirrors. More pressingly is that he cannot remember discovering the body of Lizzy Laithwaite, all he remembers was stumbling over her corpse without any recollection of how he came to discover her. Jago deduces that Quick’s lapses of memory have all the tell-tale signs of hypnotism, and there is only one hypnotist that they are aware of…Jago’s newest stage performer Madame Sosostris!
Jago, Litefoot and Quick confront Sosostris and her assistant Nocturne. Sosostris vehemently denies any involvement, stating that her hypnotism is merely for theatrical entertainment, plus she and her assistant have never met Quick before. Quick corroborates this, but the Infernal Investigators are not convinced and assume Sosostris had hypnotised Quick to forget their faces. Sosostris admits she can hypnotise people to forget, but the question is how would she benefit from the acts she is being accused of? Nocturne explains that if Quick has truly been hypnotised, he and Sosostris can prove their innocence. Sosostris instructs Quick to look into her eyes and Quick enters a trance. She orders Quick to remember everything he was instructed to forget. With a snap of her fingers, Sosostris awakens Quick from his trance. Quick’s mind is suddenly flooded with memories long forgotten. He reveals that Sosostris and Nocturne are truly innocent. He proceeds to describe a man with a horrifying corpse like body and face who calls himself…The Master – a name that gives Nocturne a shock and he orders Quick to tell them everything.
Quick recounts how he met a squatter with corpse like features under the railway arches. The squatter introduced himself as The Master and Quick was to obey him. Quick remembers that he felt compelled to do whatever The Master told him. The Master told Quick that he was dying and needed to find The Doctor. To that end, he planned to endanger Jago and Litefoot to draw him out. The Master gave Quick two mirrors each attuned to the DNA of Jago and Litefoot and ordered him to deliver them to the infernal investigators. Each mirror would slowly drain away their life essences and replenish The Master’s own life force via two more mirrors at The Master’s lair.
Quick now remembers delivering the mirrors and further reveals that The Master was behind the death of Lizzy Laithwaite. The Investigators apologise to Sosostris and Nocturne for accusing them. Nocturne poses one more question to Quick, where is The Master’s lair? Quick remembers a dilapidated church with a laboratory under the graveyard. With the location and the name of their enemy now known, the Infernal Investigators prepare to set off to face off against The Master. Sosostris and Nocturne offer to come with them as they may need a hypnotist to fight The Master’s influence. Nocturne tells Quick it is not wise to go back as The Master may reassert control over him and offers to help remove his influence from his mind.
The Infernal Investigators and Sosostris trudge through the cemetery towards a large tomb. Litefoot describes it as the entrance to the catacombs Quick had mentioned. They open the crypt and head inside…
The trio venture through the catacombs and come across an open space. The lights turn on and they discover a familiar cloaked figure…Mr Dominus, or better known now as The Master! The three investigators are disgusted by his corpse-like appearance. The Master commends the group on their resourcefulness, but his body will still be restored by Jago and Litefoot unwillingly. Litefoot warns him that they can still beat him as there are three of them and one of him. However, The Master pulls out a Gallifreyean staser gun and fires a warning shot at the trio and orders them to come with him…
At the Red Tavern, Quick and Nocturne arrive to meet with Ellie. Both men are carrying a large parcel. Nocturne mentions to Quick that he is aware of Ellie and she would be helpful in the battle to come. Quick asks for her help and informs her that they are heading to the morgue, followed by a graveyard, much to Ellie’s chagrin…
In the catacombs, The Master explains that he has been following The Doctor from Gallifrey for some time. Using his TARDIS, he deduced that 19th Century Earth would be the best place to ambush him as he has been shown to visit here frequently. However, he overshot his destination and missed The Doctor’s last visit to this period. The Master explains that he plans to steal The Doctor’s artron energy – the lifeforce of a Timelord, so that he can rejuvenate himself…
In the cemetery, Quick, Ellie and Nocturne find the catacomb entrance. Nocturne hands out three torches to Quick and Ellie, and the three prepare to enter the catacombs to face The Master…
The Master explains that he has been draining the energy of humans to sustain his physical form, but he needs The Doctor’s energy to fully rejuvenate himself. To draw his enemy out, he purposefully endangered the people The Doctor cares about so they would summon him for help. Litefoot realises that they played right into The Master’s plans by writing the letter for The Doctor in Baker Street…
Quick leads the group through the catacombs with the memories he recently recovered from journeying through it in the past. Nocturne suggests they take a longer way around the catacombs so they can sneak into the rear entrance of the laboratory and catch The Master by surprise.
Jago and Litefoot tell The Master that The Doctor will not simply waltz into his trap, but The Master tells them otherwise. He knows The Doctor better than the Infernal Investigators and would risk life and limb for the people he calls friends out of sentimentality. The Master explains that when The Doctor arrives, Jago and Litefoot will involuntarily lead him to The Master’s laboratory because he will bend them to his will…
Quick, Ellie and Nocturne find The Master’s laboratory. Nocturne comments on the advanced technology kept in the room, while Ellie is more puzzled by the grandfather clock in the room. Nocturne finds The Master’s life draining mirrors connected to the mirrors Quick delivered to Jago and Litefoot. Nocturne states that they should hurry before The Master returns and set about sabotaging his mirrors.
The Master is in the process of hypnotising Jago, Litefoot and Sosostris. The three of them struggle to resist his evil voice. Sosostris instructs the Infernal Investigators to fill their heads with nonsense to block his mind control. Jago begins to recite a nonsensical nursery rhyme, which seems to be working. Irritated at their resistance, The Master tells them he still has Quick under his thrall and will not hesitate to use him against them. At that moment, a hypnotised Quick, Ellie and Nocturne arrive. The Master gloats that the odds are once more in his favour. He is armed, he has Quick under his control and he has Ellie for leverage after learning how much Jago and Litefoot value her life. He orders the Infernal Investigators once more to obey him or he will kill Ellie, Sosostris and Nocturne. Nocturne mentions that he does have a small confession to make to Jago and Litefoot as this afternoon was not their first meeting…The Master realises who Nocturne truly is and decides to forgo hypnotising the Infernal Investigators because The Doctor is here now…in fact…Nocturne is The Doctor! Nocturne removes his disguise and drops his French accent and reveals himself to be…The Sixth Doctor! The Doctor explains that he received Jago and Litefoot’s message at Baker Street and arrived much earlier than anticipated, so early in fact that he arrived before the letter was even written! Sosostris is shocked that her assistant was a fraud this entire time, to which The Doctor apologises. The Master is delighted and tells The Doctor his life is now forfeit, but The Doctor is doubtful The Master would even survive the initial infusion of artron energy. The Master explains this is why he has Jago and Litefoot, he can drain their essences and be energised enough to survive the artron infusion. The Master orders everyone to his laboratory, but Litefoot refuses to go with him. After all, he cannot kill them because he needs them alive, catching The Master in a stalemate. But The Master is one step ahead and threatens Ellie and Sosostris. The Doctor advises his friends to follow him for their safety…
In the laboratory, The Master orders Jago and Litefoot to step into the absorption chambers. The Investigators turn to The Doctor for help, but he simply says that they do not have much choice. The Master hands Quick his staser and orders him to shoot Ellie and Sosostris should anyone try to disobey him. The Doctor bargains that The Master can have Jago and Litefoot’s essences on the condition that Ellie and Sosostris leave when the process is finished. Ellie reassures Sosostris that The Doctor knows what he is doing. Jago and Litefoot take their places in the absorption chamber, with Litefoot reassuring Jago that The Doctor will save them. The Master explains that he will absorb the energies from the mirrors and the last portions of their life essences from the chambers to rejuvenate himself. The Master instructs Quick to keep a close eye on The Doctor during the process as he becomes more dangerous when he witnesses his friends in danger. He activates the chambers, and the mirrors power up…but The Master starts to complain about feeling weaker than ever…while Jago and Litefoot begin to feel more livelier than they have ever been! The Doctor and Ellie reveal that they had swapped the mirrors in the laboratory with the ones Quick planted in the mortuary and Jago’s office and reversed the flow of energy. So rather than The Master receiving the energy, the energy’s being transferred back into Jago and Litefoot! Now increasingly desperate, The Master orders Quick to execute everyone in the room…But Quick reveals that he has never been under The Master’s control this entire time, he was pretending to do so to keep The Master’s plan on track so that he would unwittingly activate the machines to reverse the energy! The Doctor frees the now invigorated Infernal Investigators from the absorption machines and he tells them to destroy the mirrors, which they gladly do, much to The Master’s dismay. With his plan well and truly foiled, The Master shoves The Doctor out of the way and runs to the grandfather clock, which he reveals to be his TARDIS. The Doctor is confident that he cannot get away as his TARDIS is low on power…but The Master has one last ace up his sleeve. He reveals that he followed Jago and Litefoot to Baker Street and learned of where The Doctor lives while on Earth. The Master explains that the house was rich in residual time energy from The Doctor’s own TARDIS when he landed it there in the past, which he has channelled back into his own TARDIS with enough power to take off. He bids his enemy goodbye, and the grandfather clock dematerialises before everyone’s eyes…
At Baker Street, The Doctor explains that the reason for his disguise was because he could not risk Jago and Litefoot recognising him as he had arrived much earlier than when the letter was dated. If he had contacted them before the letter was written, it would have resulted in a paradox. The Doctor initially suspected The Master was behind their problems as he realised The Master’s TARDIS interfered with his upon arrival, but could not go to Jago and Litefoot in disguise to get their help as he was not sure if they were under his control! Thus, The Master would have had the upper hand over The Doctor! Jago decides they should catch up and discuss more positive things, to which Litefoot and The Doctor heartily agree.
That night at the Scarlet Gallery, the deputy curator Melchester receives a knock at the door. He informs the woman that the Gallery is only open to accredited members and during the day. The woman is revealed to be Ellie acting under The Master’s earlier instructions she received when he visited the Red Tavern. She begs to see a certain painting, but Melchester tells her to leave. But Ellie refuses to do so…not now that she has found him and is hungry…Ellie bares her vampiric fangs and lunges at Melchester as he screams in terror…
