Molly and the Bandit

Chapter One: Jailbreak

London. 1941. The sky is alight with fire under the relentless attack of the German bombers. Blimps hang in the air, like beached whales and everyone is on constant guard.

And in the black of night, in an alleyway that has not been used since long before the last time a great war fell across the world, an alleyway that children are afraid to walk down, a blue light shone through the darkness, lighting up the entire street.

The light clears in a second and a man appears, slumping to the ground immediately. His face is adorned with many cuts, leaking blood onto the stones below. He wears a black jumpsuit with the words, 'Kitaeshi Correctional Institute' and black boot with the bottom of the jumpsuit tucked into them. He lies on the ground, motionless. He is going to die very shortly.

And then, starting slowly but getting brighter and brighter and brighter, a golden light begins to envelop him. His face becomes obscured by the light, as well as his face and hands. The energy becomes violent, bursting from him and brightening the dingy alleyway. But this light is something new. Something alien.

And then, the energy fades, appearing to dissolve into the surrounding air and revealing his face once more. But it is a different face. Not the face this man had when he landed here. In fact, he is not a man anymore.

She had regenerated.

Molly Dawson sat in the metal shelter in her garden as hell rained down upon her and her family. She was 18 next week and yet she had not been evacuated to the countryside like she was supposed to have been.

"You're not going anywhere." her mother had said, rather forcefully when she had asked. "United we Stand. Divided We Fall. I'll die before I see my daughter shipped away to some strangers."

So she had stayed. But every day, she wished she had gone instead. Every day, the air raid sirens sounded and they would have to hurry into the shelter and hope the bombs didn't get them. Her mother and father constantly assured her that everything would be alright but she saw the insincerity when they did. The fear. They knew just as well as she did that if a bomb fell directly on the shelter, they would all be dead instantly. They wouldn't even feel it.

Molly closed her eyes and prayed. She prayed to anyone who would listen that the all-clear would sound any second. That they would be let free and she could go back to bed and pretend, just for a brief moment, that none of this was happening.

Knock, knock.

All three sitting in the bunker looked up, their hearts pounding in fear. They all stared at the door. Perhaps they had imagined it. A piece of debris falling near the door, maybe? Nobody said anything. Nobody moved.

Knock, knock.

Molly's father stood, his eyes wide in terror and fixed firmly on the door. He slowly reached down and picked up the knife that he kept in the shelter. He took as step towards the door. And another. Molly had her hands up to her eyes, her knees up to her chin. Her breathing was slow and deep to calm herself and she closed her eyes to try and go somewhere better.

Knock, knock.

"Harold! Don't! Please!" called Molly's mother, tugging on her husband's sleeve. He quickly shook her off and advanced further towards the door, his hand outstretched to pull it open. He pulled it open quickly and held up the knife, ready to attack whoever was there.

He was met with the sight of a woman, with long ginger hair and wearing a black jumpsuit and black boots. She looked to be in her mid-thirties and was standing in the doorway, panting heavily. There was silence in the shelter, it seemed that even the bombs had stopped for a moment, before the strange woman spoke.

"What are you staring aaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" the woman screamed in pain, falling forward into Harold's arms who shut the door with his foot and slowly laid her down on the floor. She writhed on the floor, screaming in agony.

"Do something!" Molly called in fright, as she looked down at the woman on the floor who was clearly in a great amount of pain.

But then, as quickly as it had happened, the woman sat up and coughed out some form of yellow energy that floated in the air for a while, watched intently by Molly and her parents, until it disappeared into thin air.

"Ahhh!" sighed the woman with a great relief. "That's much better! Now I've got rid of most of my regenerative energy, I should be okay!"

She stood up very quickly and then staggered so violently that Molly thought she was going to collapse onto her. She managed to steady herself, however, clutching her head and grimacing.

"Oh, fucking hell…" she muttered. "Time travel without a TARDIS doesn't half do a number on your head. Shit…"

"Excuse me!" said Harold, staring at the woman in outrage. "But I hardly think that language is appropriate for a lady!"

"Look, old man. You can shove-! Wait, did you say 'woman'?" she suddenly gasped in terror, grabbing a nearby mirror that was kept in the shelter and holding it up to her face.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" she squealed, touching her face over and over, like she couldn't believe how she looked. "I'M A FUCKING GIRL! DAMN IT! I WAS UNCONSCIOUS WHEN I REGENERATED SO I DIDN'T HAVE ANY CONTROL OVER THE GENDER! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"

"Excuse me, madam! This is highly inappropriate! Explain yourself at once!" demanded Harold, although the woman completely ignored him, collapsing onto one of the beds in the shelter.

"Fucking hell…" she groaned, hands over her eyes and head against the wall. "Six incarnations a man and now…Fuck."

There was a short pause before Molly slowly edged her way towards the woman and asked, "Who-who are you? What were you doing outside?"

"Picking flowers. What do you think I was doing?" she asked, sarcastically. When Molly didn't reply, she went on.

"Trying to find somewhere to hide from the bombs, of course. So I didn't get murdered. As for who I am…"

The woman suddenly stopped and stared straight ahead, her eyes focused on a spot on the wall opposite. You could almost hear the cogs turning in her head.

"Well?" asked Molly, after the woman didn't say anything for a while.

"I'm trying to think. The Doctor, is it? No, no. The Master, maybe? Oh, god. I hope not. Wait, wait. It'll come to me. A-HA!" she suddenly cried, jumping up and pointing to Molly.

"The Bandit! That's me! The best bandit in the universe! The one and only! At your service!"

The alleyway. Now the Bandit has left, it was quiet. Still. The only trace she was ever here was the fresh bloodstain on the ground.

But then it happened again. The blue. The blue that illuminated the entire alleyway. When it had cleared, three figures stood there, heavily clad in black armour. One bent down to the bloodstain and took out the scanner, holding it against the stain.

After a few minutes, it beeped and showed a reading, confirming what the three figures suspected. The one who had knelt down stood up and the scanner began to beep slowly, as the three figures walked in the direction it told them to go. The direction their prisoner was in.

The Judoon were on the march.