The Wizard sighed and turned a dial on the TARDIS' screen, waiting for the inevitable.
'What about this?'
She glanced up for a second before returning to her calculations. 'Not sure about it… definitely like the clown's nose, though.'
'Very funny, ha-ha,' The Doctor replied sarcastically, 'what do you think, then?'
'Just let the TARDIS decide for you, she knows what you're like.'
'All right then, I will.'
'Good. And seriously get rid of that nose.'
'I can always rely on you, Wizard.'
'Someone has to keep you in line, Doctor.'
As The Doctor's footsteps faded The Wizard turned her full attention back to the TARDIS, clicking her tongue when she noticed the scuff marks The Doctor had made with his latest contraption.
'Poor girl. I'll fix that up in a second.'
The TARDIS' speakers beeped in response.
'What about this?' The Doctor had returned.
'Now that's not bad. Like the leather jacket, shows off your ears.'
'What do you mean, my ears?' The Doctor's face drooped.
'Haven't you looked in a mirror yet? You've had that face for how long?!'
'I've been busy!'
'Well we've got no time for that now, the TARDIS has found something she wants us to take a look at.'
John F Kennedy, the Titanic, a few natural disasters and a trip to the north pole later the two landed in London, early 21st century.
'Why has she brought us here?' The Doctor looked around in disbelief as he stepped out.
'I don't know, do I?' The Wizard stepped out of the TARDIS, sidestepping The grumbling Doctor and buttoning up a long TARDIS-blue coat, 'Come on, get a move on.' She pulled a beeping device from her pocket.
'Where are we going?'
'I'm tracing a signal. Nestene consciousness. Come on. Not sure about this coat…' she flicked the sleeve.
As they turned a corner The Doctor sighed. 'You're taking us into a shopping centre, aren't you?'
'I'm not, this thing is.'
The Doctor mumbled something as The Wizard showed no interest in listening as they went inside.
'Lift or stairs?'
'Lift, please.'
'Of course you'd take the lift,' The Wizard sighed, pulling out her sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the lift.
'Rooftop, set the explosives?'
'No, hang on. Someone's still down there.'
'Down it is,' The Doctor grinned and pressed the lowest button, grinning wider when it beeped as he did.
The lift doors opened and immediately The Wizard veered off to the left. 'Someone's there… oh. He's dead.'
'Wait, shh-shh-shh,' The Doctor held up a finger, 'there's someone else here.'
'Derek is this you?' the woman's voice was faint but without a word the two Timelords crept silently around the corner until the woman came in sight. She was blond, sort of short and was wearing jeans and a pink jumper. The two moved faster when she backed against a wall, pushed by clothes mannequins moving toward her. The Doctor and The Wizard moved closer as the mannequins did. As the girl shut her eyes, The Doctor grabbed her hand. The woman's eyes flew open and shot to the side, blinking at the two in utter surprise.
'Run!'
They pulled the woman around the corner and through double doors, The Wizard running ahead and leading them down the corridor back to the lift, auburn hair flying behind her. She aimed her sonic at the doors and they opened as they approached. She ushered the woman and The Doctor inside before pointing the sonic at the lift buttons.
'Hurry up; we've got an arm in here.'
'Oh, just pull it off,' The Wizard grumbled in response.
The doors closed, the arm of the mannequin separated from the body.
'You pulled his arm off!' the woman gasped from her position at the back of the lift.
'Yep,' The Doctor tossed the arm to her and folded his arms, 'plastic.'
'Very clever, nice trick! Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?'
The Wizard swung round for a moment to glance at the woman from her device as The Doctor turned around.
'Why would they be students?'
'I don't know...'
'Well, you said it! Why students?'
''Cause...' the woman shrugged, 'to get that many people dressed up and being silly... they gotta be students.'
The Wizard chuckled as The Doctor grinned.
'That makes sense! Well done.'
'Thanks.'
The Doctor stopped smiling and turned around again. 'They're not students.'
'Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's gonna call the police.'
The Wizard clicked her tongue.
'Who's Wilson?'
'Chief electrician.' The lift doors opened.
'Wilson's dead.' The Doctor stepped out of the lift.
'Down in the basement,' The Wizard added and walked after him, followed by the startled blonde.
'That's just not funny, that's sick!'
'Hold on!' The Doctor pushed the woman out of the way, 'Mind your eyes.' The sonic whirred and the lift panel sparked as The Wizard whacked her device on her hand.
'I've had enough of this now!'
The two Timelords began to walk away, though the woman followed them.
'Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there?'
No response came from either Timelord.
'I said, who are they?'
'They're made of plastic,' The Doctor explained, 'Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof. Which would be a great big problem if we didn't have this.' He pointed at The Wizard, who without a word held up the thing she was still fiddling with. 'So!' The Doctor opened the fire exit, 'We're going to go up there and blow them up, and we might well die in the process. But don't worry about us, no.' He pushed the woman out of the doors. 'Go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast.'
'Doctor, come on,' The Wizard warned.
'Coming. Also, don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed.' He shut the door on the confused face of the blonde. 'Oh, hang on.'
The Wizard sighed and rolled her eyes fondly.
The Doctor opened the door again. 'I'm The Doctor, by the way, and this is The Wizard, what's your name?'
'Rose.'
'Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!' The Doctor shut the door again and The Wizard started running.
'Why does something tell me we're going to meet her again?' The Wizard asked.
The Doctor chuckled. 'Got that thing ready?'
'Tell you what, let's find out.' The Wizard pressed the blue button and the building shook. 'Yes.'
'Good, good. Let's try and trace the signal.'
'Never gonna work, but there's nothing else to do.' She shrugged.
The Doctor burst out of the doors as The Wizard fiddled with the same blue coat.
'Ah, look at that sky!'
The Wizard glanced at the blue as she pulled the doors shut. 'I managed to get a signal from that arm you pulled off, though why it travelled here I have no clue. I can't see a transmitter, can you?'
The place in question was Powell Estate in London, apartment buildings surrounding them.
'Nope. Will we be able to trace it?'
'That way, that building.'
'Oh.'
They set off side by side through the garden. Or rather, over the grass. 'You know, maybe you should have brought a drop of the anti-plastic.'
'Nah, it's fine. That'd be cheating, that would.'
'It's not cheating if it keeps you alive, Doctor.' They reached the apartment block's entrance.
'Tell you what, though, those stairs might just be my downfall.'
The Wizard chuckled and examined her sonic. 'Fourth floor, at least. Come on, the sooner you start.'
'Yeah, yeah. One, two, three…'
'I get the point, Doctor, thank you.'
'Just helping,' he sent her a grin, before frowning at The Wizard's face. 'What?'
'You really haven't looked in the mirror yet, have you?'
'Why?'
'Those ears just sell that grin.'
The Doctor's frown deepened and he tripped up a stair, though The Wizard ignored it with a chagrin expression.
'This way.'
'That one?'
'No, next one.'
'I'll check the flap.'
'Don't just stick your hand in, you'll scare-,' they heard a gasp, 'oh nevermind.'
The door was wrenched open and Rose was standing on the other side in a grey shirt.
The Doctor blinked in surprise. 'What're you doing here?'
'I live here.'
'Well, what do you do that for?'
The Wizard sighed.
'Because I do! And I'm only at home because someone blew up my job.'
Both Timelords got out their sonic screwdrivers, one with a blue end the other with a black end. Both pointed theirs at Rose.
'Must've got the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you?' The Doctor leant forward and tapped his knuckles on the peeved Rose's forehead. 'No; bonehead. Bye, then!' He turned away simply, only was pulled back by Rose with a grip on his jacket.
'You, inside. Right now.'
The Wizard stepped in without a word and shut the door.
'Who is it?'
Rose poked her head into the room on the right. 'It's about last night, they're part of the inquiry. Give us 10 minutes.'
The Wizard followed Rose while The Doctor stopped to talk to the woman in the next room.
'That's my mum. You watch her with him, she can be a little… oh what's the word?'
'Yeah, I got it,' The Wizard chuckled.
'Sit down if you want.'
'No thanks, though I might mess with your TV if you'll let me.'
Rose paused for a second, clearly not expecting that answer, before shrugging.
'The antenna was bothering me; you'll never get a good signal on it.'
The Doctor walked in before Rose could thank The Wizard.
'Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?' Rose walked into the kitchen.
'Might as well, thanks! Just milk.'
The Wizard chuckled.
Rose called from the kitchen amongst the sound of jars and cupboards. 'We should go to the police. Seriously. All of us.'
In the living room, neither Timelord was listening very hard. The Doctor picked up a magazine and frowned at the cover. 'That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien.'
'Oh really? Pass it here.'
The Doctor tossed the magazine to The Wizard.
'Oh, wow. That's not going to last three more days, judging by her hairline.'
'I'm not blaming you,' Rose continued, 'even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong.'
The Doctor picked up a book and flicked through the pages in a few seconds. 'Sad ending.' He offered it to The Wizard, who shook her head and continued fiddling with the TV.
'They said on the news they'd found a body.'
The Doctor picked up an envelope and read it aloud. 'Rose Tyler.'
The Wizard noticed the mirror on the wall and walked over to The Doctor, turning him to face it.
'Ah! Ahh, could've been worse!' The Doctor flicked his ear lobes. 'Look at me' ears.'
Neither of them heard what Rose had said next.
'Luck be a lady!' The Doctor picked up a deck of cards and tried to do a trick with them, only to send them flying into the wall, and some through the small wall hole into the kitchen. The Wizard picked up a random card and flicked it through her fingers, making it disappear. The Doctor responded with a peeved look.
'Well anyway if we are going to go to the police, I want to know what I'm saying. I want you to explain everything.'
Both Timelords looked into the kitchen. 'Maybe not.'
The Doctor whizzed his head round at the sound of a scuttling noise. The Wizard frowned, her eyebrows arching together neatly.
'What's that then?' The Doctor was cheerful. 'You got a cat?'
'No...' drifted Rose's reply.
The Wizard's frown deepened and she, out of habit, got ready to pull The Doctor from danger. He leant over the back of the armchair. A plastic arm shot out over the top and latched around The Doctor's throat.
Rose walked back into the living room with two cups as The Wizard calmly put her hand in an inside pocket for her sonic screwdriver.
'We did have, but there's these strays, they come in off the estate...' Rose noticed The Doctor with the hand. 'I told Mickey to chuck that out...' When she put the coffee down and The Doctor continued to have his hands round the plastic arm she sighed. 'Honestly, give a man a plastic hand... anyway, I don't even know your name, Doctor... what was it?'
The Doctor, just as The Wizard pressed her sonic, threw the hand off. Because it moved The Wizard missed by a fraction and the glass on the coffee table shattered, sending the full mugs to the carpet. Rose gasped, but couldn't react further as the arm landed with spread fingers on her face and she backed against the wall.
Immediately The Doctor jumped on it and The Wizard rubbed her nose. The Doctor and Rose continued to struggle before The Wizard pulled him back by the jacket and aimed her sonic again as Rose fell onto the couch. The plastic fingers popped back into shape and sprang off Rose, who was sitting like a startled cat on the couch.
'It's alright, I stopped it. There you go, you see?' The Doctor threw it at her again. 'Armless.'
'Do you think?' Rose whacked him on the shoulder with the hand.
'Ow!'
'Technically I stopped it,' The Wizard pointed out, 'you are responsible for the coffee table.'
'Come on, then. That's that. Time to go.' Completely unfazed and hunky-dory, The Doctor stood up and walked to the door, The Wizard next to him. Rose sat stuttering for a second before springing after them, shouting at them as they ran down the stairs.
'Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off.'
'Yes we can. Here we are, this is us, swanning off. See ya!' The Doctor still was yet to lose his nutty charm.
'That arm was moving, it tried to kill me!'
'Ten out of ten for observation.'
The Wizard laughed, a sound Rose took a moment to admire for the almost song underneath before stuttering again. 'You can't just walk away, that's not fair! You've got to tell me what's going on.'
'No we don't.'
'Sorry, Rose,' The Wizard added cheerfully.
The Doctor and The Wizard jumped down the last three steps and waltzed happily through the doors, The Doctor still carrying the plastic arm.
'A-alright then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You said, if I did that, I'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell me, or I'll start talking.' Rose was sidestepping for a minute as they walked back on the path through the lawn.
'Is that supposed to sound tough?' The Doctor scoffed.
'Sort of,' Rose said sheepishly.
'Doesn't work.'
'Who are you?'
'I told you! The Doctor.'
'Yeah. But Doctor what?' Rose was becoming more confused.
'Just The Doctor.'
'The Doctor.'
'Hello!'
'Is that supposed to sound impressive?'
'Sort of.'
The Wizard chuckled.
'And you're just "The Wizard," I presume,' Rose said, pointing at the tall Timelord. 'Come on. You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you the police?'
'No. We were just passing through. We're a long way from home.' The Doctor and The Wizard still remained cheery.
'But what have I done wrong? How come those plastic things keep coming after me?'
'Oh!' The Doctor exclaimed, 'Suddenly the entire world revolves around you! You were just an accident, you got in the way, that's all.'
'Honestly, humans are becoming too predictable for words.' The Wizard added.
'It tried to kill me!' Rose shouted.
'It was after us, not you! Last night, in the shop, we were there, you blundered it. Almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, we were tracking it down, it was tracking us down... the only reason it fixed on you is that you met us.'
Rose frowned as she hurried to keep up the others' long strides. 'So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you.'
The Doctor grinned wider. 'Sort of, yeah.'
'You're full of it!'
'Sort of, yeah.'
'But, all this plastic stuff, who else knows about it?'
'No one.'
'Not strictly true, Doctor,' The Wizard pointed out.
'What, you're on your own?'
'Well, who else is there?' sighed The Doctor, clearly enjoying teasing Rose.
'I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly! When all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on!'
'Okay, start from the beginning.' They reached the carpark and Rose took the arm from The Doctor. 'If you're gonna go with this living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do... how did you kill it?'
'The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead.'
'So that's radio control?'
'Thought control.' The Wizard and The Doctor blinked a few times when Rose was silent. 'Are you alright?'
Rose shook her head, trying to get it working. 'Yeah. So, who's controlling it, then?'
'Long story.'
'Very long,' The Wizard added when Rose showed signs of pressing further.
'But what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies... what's that about?' They made it onto a street footpath. 'Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?'
All three laughed.
'No.'
'I know.'
'It's not a price war.' Both Timelords chuckled with Rose before The Doctor suddenly became serious. 'They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?'
'No.'
'But you're still listening.'
Rose stopped, glancing between the two, who kept walking. 'Really though, you two. Tell me. Who are you?'
Both stopped and turned back to look at her.
'Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?' The Doctor walked back to where Rose was frowning. 'It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. We can feel it.' The Doctor took Rose's hand. 'The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and we can feel it. We're falling through space, you and us. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go...' The Doctor dropped Rose's hand, 'That's who I am. The Wizard isn't too different from that. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler.' The Doctor snatched the plastic arm back and waved it in Rose's face. 'Go home.'
'Nice meeting you, again,' The Wizard called. Rose sent her a smile, though she didn't want her to leave.
'If we meet her again, promise me you won't tease her as much,' The Wizard laughed.
'No promises,' The Doctor was laughing as well as they reached the blue box.
The Wizard threw the doors open. 'Oh, hey old girl!'
'I've found another Auton!' The Wizard called.
The Doctor appeared from the stairs.
'It seems Rose was investigating us, she's somehow landed herself an entire plastic replica of her boyfriend.'
'I remember when that happened to me once,' The Doctor reminisced.
'Not the time,' The Wizard smiled, 'Rose is in trouble.'
'Again. Where is she?'
'A restaurant. A pizza place. If you want that plastic, you're going to have to get it without a sonic.'
'Nice challenge, just what the doctor ordered. Fantastic!'
'I've already landed,' The Wizard headed for the doors, 'and we'll need this.'
'What's that?'
'Champagne, bottled a few hours ago. But it'll do if all we need is to fire a cork.'
'Good thinking, like the plan.' The Doctor hopped out of the TARDIS as The Wizard swung the door shut.
'After you,' The Wizard gestured.
The Doctor bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly as they entered the restaurant. 'Ooh, trouble already.'
'Oh yep, plastic's glitching already.'
The Doctor walked up beside them. 'Your champagne.'
A hostile, 'We didn't order any champagne,' came back for them. The plastic grabbed Rose's hands. 'Where's The Wizard, where's The Doctor?'
The Doctor moved to the other side of the table, shaking the bottle slightly and held it to Rose. 'Ma'am. Your champagne.'
'It's not ours... Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?'
'I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?!'
The Wizard could tell The Doctor was enjoying himself. 'Doesn't anybody want this champagne?'
The plastic Mickey looked angrily at The Doctor, though any remark was lost when he did. 'Look, we didn't order i...'
The Wizard clicked her fingers. 'Ah. Gotcha.'
The Doctor started to shake the bottle properly. 'Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!'
The cork popped out, aided by The Wizard's sonic and shot through the plastic Mickey's forehead, which absorbed it. The cork came out of his mouth and Rose gasped, jerking toward The Wizard who put a hand on her shoulder.
'Anyway,' the plastic Mickey said. Both of his hands turned into flat clubs and he brought them down onto the before beautiful and pristinely set table. Cutlery and shards of dinner plates scattered through the air and over the ground as people jumped in fright nearby.
While The Wizard pulled Rose out of the way in a protective hold The Doctor ran forward and after a few sharp tugs pulled the head of the plastic body off, though the head continued to talk.
'Don't think that's gonna stop me.'
The headless plastic body knocked over a table and The Wizard released Rose in favour of going to stop the flailing limbs. A man screamed as his table fell over and The Wizard looked around as The Doctor laughed.
'Rose!'
Rose glanced at The Wizard and knew she was being asked to help. She looked behind her and saw a fire alarm. Without a second thought Rose broke the glass with her elbow. 'Everyone out! Out now!' The alarm rang through the building as the body smashed more tables. 'Get out! Get out! Get out!'
The Wizard took Rose's hand and pulled her out of the back doors, The Doctor following with the Auton head.
'I've got it,' The Wizard said as The Doctor went to lock the door with his one spare hand.
Rose stayed with The Wizard as she locked the door but ran around as soon as it was. The only way out Rose could see was blocked out by sheets of metal over the gate. She hit it urgently.
'Open the gate! Use that tube thing, come on!'
'What, that?' The Doctor pointed at The Wizard's sonic, 'That is a sonic screwdriver.'
'Use it!' Rose shouted, while The Wizard and The Doctor walked calmly to the TARDIS.
'Nah. Tell ya what, let's go in here.'
The Wizard unlocked the doors and they slipped inside, ignoring Rose's shouts.
'We can't hide inside a wooden box! It's gonna get us! Wizard! Doctor!'
A second later the doors swung open and Rose stopped dead in her tracks, looking around.
Pleased to see this reaction again, The Doctor and The Wizard paused in their work at the console to watch as Rose ran out of the TARDIS again, no doubt inspecting the other side.
Then she ran back inside. 'It's gonna follow us!'
'The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried,' The Doctor called as he walked back to the Auton head.
'Now that was funny to watch,' The Wizard chuckled as she stuck a cord into the plastic neck.
'Now, shut up a minute.'
'Won't be long.'
Rose was shaking a little as her head traced the arches of the TARDIS' ceiling.
'Pass me a radio cable, Doctor,' The Wizard said, flicking a row of switches.
The Doctor pulled a purple chord from the nearby pile of wires before glancing at the still overwhelmed Rose. 'You see, the arm is too simple, but the head's perfect. We can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right.'
The Wizard continued working on the head, though she glanced at Rose when The Doctor turned his attention on her.
'Where do you want to start?'
'Um... the inside's bigger than the outside?'
'Yes.'
'It's alien.'
'Yup.'
'Are you alien?'
'Yes.'
The Wizard noticed Rose's stare.
'Is that alright?'
Quickly Rose recovered. 'Yeah.'
'It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space.'
Rose sniffled, then shook in a small sob.
The Doctor's voice became kinder. 'That's okay. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us.'
'Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?'
'Oh... didn't think of that.'
The Wizard rolled her eyes and also turned her attention to Rose.
'He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think?'
The Wizard opened her mouth to tell Rose that Mickey was probably still alive but Rose continued.
'And now you're just going to let him melt?!'
'Melt?'
Both Timelords turned and their eyes immediately widened, brains whirring. The Doctor ran around the circular console screaming.
'Oh, no, no, no, no, no, NO!'
The head was sinking and losing shape over the console as The Wizard and The Doctor flitted around the levers, buttons, switches and cables.
'What're you doing?!' Rose shouted.
'Reviving the signal, it's fading! Wait I've got it...'
'Not there, Doctor,' The Wizard was calm, but her voice told how much she was concentrating. Her eyes didn't move from the screen as her fingers moved like Beethoven's on a piano over the console.
'No, No, No, No, No, No, NO!'
'Shush, that's distracting!' The Wizard ordered, torso flat against the buttons to reach a leaver The Doctor had forgotten to pull.
The Doctor pulled the final lever and the TARDIS shook as she took off, the whirring of the engines making Rose look around.
'Almost there! Almost there! Here we go!'
'Lost it, but we're close enough,' The Wizard tapped a nearby circuit.
The Doctor bolted out of the doors, nearly missing the handles.
'You can't go ou-,'
'Rose, it's alright.' The Wizard ushered Rose outside onto the path by the River Thames and the London Eye.
'I lost the signal, I got so close.' The Doctor was close to sulking.
Peering cautiously over The Wizard's shoulder Rose gasped before deeming it safe to move out from behind the Timelord in blue. 'We've moved! Does it fly?'
'Disappears there, reappears here, you wouldn't understand.' The Doctor became closer to sulking.
'But if we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose.'
'It melted with the head, are you going to witter on all night?'
Rose looks over the Thames. 'I'll have to tell his mother...' She became outraged when The Doctor gave her a questioning look. 'Mickey! I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again!'
While The Doctor rolled his eyes The Wizard sighed. Rose became outraged at The Doctor's unconcern.
'You were right, you ARE alien.' She turned to walk away.
'I was going to tell you before the head started melting,' The Wizard said, 'Mickey is most likely still alive, kept at the transmitter.'
Rose nodded, before rounding on The Doctor again, cross he hadn't thought of mentioning it, though she didn't have to say what was on her mind.
'Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey...,' The Doctor began.
'Yeah, he's not a kid-,'
'It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?'
'Alright!'
'Yes! It is!'
The Wizard's lips twitched, she clearly found something in that amusing, probably the "stupid ape," part.
Rose shook her head before turning to The Doctor again. 'If you are an alien, then how comes you sound like you're from the North?'
The Doctor folded his arms, peeved. 'Lots of planets have a North!'
'And what about you, Wizard?'
'Me?'
'Where are you from?'
'Same place as he is,' The Wizard tilted her head in The Doctor's direction, 'though not the north,' she teased. The Doctor rolled his eyes sarcastically in response.
'Right… and… What's a police public call box?'
'It's a telephone box from the 1950s,' The Doctor began, patting the TARDIS fondly. 'It's a disguise.'
'Ish,' The Wizard quipped as Rose shook her head with a grin.
'Okay. And this living plastic, what's it got against us?'
'Nothing, it loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air... perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth... dinner!'
'Don't sound too sad about it, Doctor,' The Wizard continued to tease. She began to turn around and look for something.
Rose smiled at her. 'Any way of stopping it?'
The Doctor removed his arms from their indignant fold and he grinned, pulling out a large blue test tube from his pocket filled with a deep blue liquid. 'Anti-plastic!'
'Anti-plastic...'
'Anti-plastic! But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?'
'Hold on... hide what?'
'The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal.'
'What's it look like?'
'Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London.' The Doctor paced around. 'A huge circular metal structure... like a dish... like a wheel, close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible..'
'You could just try scanning for it,' The Wizard said, as though she didn't expect him to listen anyway. She stopped turning when she saw the London Eye, though with an exchange of amused glances with Rose didn't mention it.
Rose and The Wizard raised an eyebrow at The Doctor, who turned his head and glanced behind him. 'What?'
They both nodded at the Eye.
Still nonplussed, The Doctor looked behind him and back again. 'What?'
The Doctor turned around again, glancing twice, but still didn't make any connection of any sort. 'What is it? What?'
Both Rose and The Wizard were hiding a chuckle.
The Doctor turned around again and paused for a second. A faint; 'Oh...' was all it took to send Rose and The Wizard into chuckles. 'Fantastic!'
With a grin at the two, The Doctor led the way, followed and overtaken by The Wizard.
They came to a halt at the foot of the Eye, The Wizard looking around and scanning the structure with her sonic.
'Think of it.' The Doctor looked around. 'Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables...'
'The breast implants...' Rose added.
'Oh, we've started those have we? Don't worry, they'll go out of fashion eventually,' The Wizard said.
'Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath.'
Rose ran to the edge of the path at The Thames and called back to the others. 'What about down here?'
The Doctor and The Wizard stuck their heads out. Down a few steps was a hatch. 'Looks good to me.'
They ran to the hatch and The Doctor pulled the lid open. Smoke glowing with a red light hissed from the opening and without a word The Doctor climbed in, The Wizard following and then Rose. Scaffolding and chains surrounded them, tracing the edge of the area. When they reached the edge of the platform The Doctor pointed to the bottom where the wobbling, jelly like orange consciousness was.
'The Nestene Consciousness, that's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature.'
Rose stayed a little away from the railing. 'Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go.'
'We're not here to kill it. We've got to give it a chance.'
While Rose looked uncomfortable they went down to the next platform and The Doctor addressed the consciousness. Rose stood behind the two, peering down between their heads.
'I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract. According to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation.'
The consciousness replied, though to Rose it looked more like a wobble.
'Thank you. That I might have permission to approach?'
The Wizard looked around as they heard Rose's footsteps then she appeared, running toward Mickey, who was sitting further down and tied up. In perfect, chagrin sync The Doctor and The Wizard rolled their eyes at Rose's ignorance of respect and strolled down calmly.
'Oh, my God! Mickey! It's okay! It's alright!'
'That thing down there, the liquid, Rose, it can talk!' Mickey was shrieking.
'You're stinking! Doctor, Wizard they kept him alive!'
'Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy. Wizard did tell you that.'
Rose looked at The Doctor, a little annoyed but didn't say anything when The Wizard raised a finger to her lips, telling her to be quiet. Instead, Rose helped Mickey to his feet as The Doctor continued trying to talk to the Consciousness.
'Am I addressing the Consciousness?'
It wobbled and The Wizard held back a sigh.
'Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?' The Doctor finished with a wide grin.
The plastic below them wobbled, causing the Timelords to roll their eyes.
'Oh don't give us that, it's an invasion! Plain and simple! Don't talk about constitutional rights!' The Doctor began to lose his patience.
To Rose, the plastic wobbled. To The Doctor and The Wizard it was ranting.
'I... am... talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf - please, just go.' As The Doctor said this, two Autons came behind the Timelords and jumped them, holding their forearms behind their backs.
'Wizard! Doctor!' Rose's shout came from above where she and Mickey had ended up.
In Old High Gallfreyan, The Wizard let out a curse when the Auton holding The Doctor pulled the anti-plastic from his pocket.
Immediately The Doctor panicked. 'That was just insurance! I wasn't going to use it.
The Nestene Consciousness was not polite in its response and The Wizard swore again.
'We were not attacking you. We're here to help. We're not your enemy.' The Doctor glanced at The Wizard and continued. 'I swear, I'm not...'
The Consciousness interrupted him.
'What do you mean?'
'Doctor, the TARDIS,' The Wizard muttered.
As it dawned on The Doctor, the doors on the platform above them swung open to reveal the TARDIS. The Wizard winced and tried to tug her arm free gently as The Doctor panicked.
'Oh, oh no, honestly, no! Yes, that's my ship.'
The roar from the Consciousness made Rose cover her ears as she watched, scared.
The Doctor was yelling. 'That's not true. I should know, I was there. We fought in the war. It wasn't our fault! We couldn't save your world! We couldn't save any of them!'
'What's it doing?!' Rose shouted.
'It's the TARDIS!' shouted The Doctor.
'It's from our world,' The Wizard added.
'The Nestene has identified its superior technology. It's terrified! It's going to the final base. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Just leg it! Now!' The Doctor continued to struggle.
'Go, Rose!' The Wizard urged, almost throwing the Auton holding her into the liquid plastic below.
Rose called her mother instead. 'Mum?!'
The Wizard glanced up at Rose before aiming a kick at the anti-plastic in the hand of the Auton holding The Doctor. She missed as it was pulled further away.
'Where are you, mum?'
The Doctor wrestled further.
'Go home! Just go home, right now! Mum?! Mum!'
'Rose, what's wrong?' The Wizard shouted.
'She's gone into the shops!'
Another curse left The Wizard's mouth.
A blue signal beamed off the London Eye above them, though they couldn't see it. They could tell by the noise and the signal around the plastic. The area shook as it did.
'It's the activation signal! It's transmitting! Get out, Rose! Just get out! Run!'
A part of the ceiling crashed to the platforms, pulling the stairs down with it to the floor.
'The stairs have gone!' Rose tried the TARDIS. 'I haven't got the key!'
'We're gonna die!'
The Wizard grunted as she loosed the plastic grip behind her.
'Just leave them!'
The Timelords heard Mickey's shout and spared him a glance. Rose meanwhile, noticed by The Wizard, had picked up a fire axe and was talking to herself. The Wizard gritted her teeth and, as Rose swung toward them on a chain, ducked and threw the Auton holding her into the plastic below before wrenching the anti-plastic from the Auton's hand. Rose kicked the one holding The Doctor into the Nestene Consciousness.
Rose landed into The Doctor's arms and watched as without a word The Wizard dropped the large blue test tube directly into the Consciousness, which started to writhe and scream.
'Now we're in trouble,' The Doctor grinned.
The Wizard took Rose's hand and The Doctor took her other as the Consciousness began to explode.
Despite the shaking ground, Rose, The Doctor, The Wizard and Mickey all reached the TARDIS. The Doctor and The Wizard sprang in and both immediately ran to the console. Behind them Mickey gasped and screamed, looking around him and cowering by the door. A moment later Rose entered.
'Door, shut,' The Wizard called from her quick work on the console levers and keys. When Rose shut the door The Doctor flicked another switch and The Wizard pulled the last lever. The TARDIS wheezed as it flew away. Mickey continued to whimper and look around as the noise continued. When it stopped he looked at The Doctor and The Wizard's calm expressions and jumped up, ran backwards out of the TARDIS and fell over.
With a grin to the Timelords, Rose called her mother and exited the ship.
The Doctor and The Wizard moved to the door, each leaning on one side of the frame and peering at their surrounding alleyway.
Rose laughed happily when she heard her mother's voice before hanging up and walking to Mickey. 'A fat lot of good you were!'
'Nestene Consciousness?' The Doctor clicked his fingers. 'Easy.'
With a glance to The Wizard, Rose teased The Doctor. 'You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for us.'
'Yes, I would.' The Doctor glanced at The Wizard and kept his gaze on Rose. 'Thank you.' A moment later he went back to being chipper. 'Right then! We'll be off! Unless, uh... I don't know... you could come with us.' He was offering casually, but looked quite hopeful.
Rose was undecided and put her hands in her pockets.
'This box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe, free of charge.'
Mickey found his voice, to The Wizard's annoyance. 'Don't! He's an alien! He's a thing!'
The Wizard tutted.
'He's not invited.' The Doctor looked momentarily at Mickey. 'What do you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go, uh... anywhere.' He shrugged.
'Is it always this dangerous?' Rose asked.
'Yeah.' The Doctor nodded.
Acting like a kindergarten student, Mickey put his arms around Rose's legs.
'It's not,' The Wizard assured her, 'not on the days he sleeps in.'
Rose smiled, though it faded quickly. She swayed awkwardly. 'Yeah, I can't... I've um... gotta go and find my mum and um... someone's gotta look after this stupid lump...' She gave a small chuckle and patted Mickey on the back, causing him to hug her tighter. 'So...'
'Okay. See you around.' The Doctor nodded slowly and The Wizard turned around and walked back to the console.
Rose clearly hesitated, though she didn't say anything and so The Doctor shut the door. The Wizard pulled the lever again and when the TARDIS stopped making noise The Doctor opened it again, looking at a surprised and a little relieved Rose.
'By the way... Did I mention, it also travels in time?' He grinned and stepped back from the door, sending The Wizard a smile. She returned it.
Rose sprinted in a moment later and hugged The Wizard, who patted her back.
'Before we do anything, I'll show you around. Follow me, you'll need to know where the kitchen and the bathroom is. We'd better make you your own room as well.'
'Make?'
The Wizard blinked, looked at The Doctor and looked back to Rose. 'I'll do some explaining…'
