The Doctor twirled around the TARDIS control panel, pulling levers, pressing buttons, spinning wheels, honking horns. Rose laughed at a face he made at her. The blue box spun through space and time, hurtling toward its next exciting adventure-
Something went "ding!"
The Doctor spun to a stop in front of one part of the console, pulling a monitor down to where he was. He frowned and turned to a different screen, typing on a keyboard. His sudden silence and frown concerned Rose, who came over to stand beside and behind him.
"Doctor?" She asked, worried but a smile still on her face, "what is it?"
He tapped a few keys and spun a dial, frowning at the screen. "I'm not sure, exactly. Stuff. Stuff is definitely going down, serious stuff." He scrolls in and a small smile tilts his mouth, his brows still drawn in. "It's centered on Earth-"
"It's always Earth, it seems," Rose commented wryly.
He smirked at her, "Yes, Earth tends to be at the center of drama quite a lot."
Rose rested her chin on his shoulder. "What year?"
He sucked in a slow breath, looking at the data. "2017. This is bad, Rose." His voice was dark and serious, the laughter in his eyes clouded by worry and unhappiness. "From what I can tell, someone is going to try to bring out the Apocalypse. Well, AN Apocalypse. Multiple someones, maybe. It's hard to be certain, the signal isn't very specific as to the who." He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, gazing at the screen worriedly.
Rose watched him watch the screen expectantly. A few minutes pass and her patience is gone. "Well," she demands, hands moving to her hips, "what are we going to do about it?"
He starts as if she had interrupted his thought stream and he turns to her, eyes still distant. " Right, right." He finally focuses on her and tucks a hand into his pocket out of habit, rocking on his heels as he spoke. "Well, for starters we'll need to start countermeasures, oooh, a year in advance."
"Countermeasures? What sort of countermeasures?"
The Doctor was redirecting the TARDIS, flipping switches and turning wheels. "I can't do this alone, Rose. I'm going to need help." He grinned at her from around the Time Rotor Column. "Thankfully, the Earth has some of the mightiest heroes defending her. Let's go pay them a little visit, shaaall we?"
He threw down the last lever and the TARDIS shuddered as she changed direction. Toward Earth, toward the year before the end, toward the next adventure.
