"Ah! At last, good old London!" The Doctor greeted the city beyond the blue wooden doors like a welcome friend, his grin stretching from ear to ear, while I stood in dull dread at the prospect.

"The quietest location in the galaxy," I remarked sarcastically, not sure whether I intended him to hear it. Whether he did or not, I never found out, his shoulders remained square and poised for adventure. He seemed to enjoy saving this place as though it were a damsel in distress.

I followed him from the TARDIS as I tugged on my coat, my hair battling the winter winds as it flew about like wild fire around my face. The Doctor stood out a couple of feet away, examining each perspective rapidly while keeping his hands firmly in his pockets as his coat tails flapped away. "Well? Where is it?"

The Doctor came to a halt, and settled into a stance facing me directly. He looked far over my head with a distant gaze. "Ah..."

I followed his line of sight, and landed on the huge building behind, silver and polished windows glistening in the low light. I looked back at the Doctor, and then again to the building. He seemed to be watching it.

"Is this it?"

Quiet footsteps approached, and he was standing right beside me. "Yep."

"How do you know?"

His eyes hovered darkly over the towering structure, brown eyes far away. "I've been here before. Well, that very building in fact. Remember Adipose?"

"The weight loss pill thing?"

He nodded, and began rubbing the back of his neck. "This was headquarters. Mrs Foster, died right there." He pointed to a concrete slab just as a blonde business woman walked over it. I allowed my eyes to trail upwards, all the way up to the top of the building. The mere thought was dizzying.

"The spaceships. The tiny creatures floating up in the beams."

"Children, thousands of them."

"I heard they were made from fat," I recalled in disgust, but I also remembered their tiny plodding bodies as they flocked into the streets in the masses. Children.

"Yep, most of them anyway. Some people died. Born from death. They probably didn't suspect a thing," he said, and his voice trailed away. "A friend of mine, she watched it happen."

"What happened to her?"

Suddenly the melancholy expression was wiped clean, and he swiped my hand in his and we pursued the building with enthusiasm and the promise of adventure. "We can't just wonder in," I warned him, but knowing him, he had his ways.

"Yes we can!"

The doors opened, and my hand fell out of his as he reached into his pocket without stopping, while I blindly followed suit. Two security guards approached, but the Doctor was ready with his wallet and practically shoved it in front of the guards faces. "Health inspectors," he asserted with authority, and we ploughed on, he as though he owned the apparently cursed place.

We passed through some 'STAFF ONLY' doors and descended a stair case, the lights becoming dimmer and less artificial. We began to slow to a normal pace, and the Doctor resumed his scanning.

"Let me see that ID," I requested, and he passed it over automatically. While I wasn't sure what I was expecting, I wasn't expecting what I found.

"It's blank."

"Psychic paper," he informed flippantly, and turned a corner. I looked up when I heard the familiar drone of the sonic screwdriver as he held it before him like a gun.

"You really rely on that thing too much, you know-"

"Shhh!"

Eyes flicking between the blue light and the end of the corridor ahead, his face slowly grew into a faint smile, and he began turning while I watched in awe. "There!"

I turned and faced a new door I hadn't even noticed in the side of the long wall, and the Doctor pushed it open with his free hand. We entered a dimly lit room, although I couldn't see a window, a lamp, any light source at all. Opposite us was a second door.

"Come on," his voice said softly, and he placed the silver object back in his inside pocket. A sense of dread washed over me, but I resisted the urge to grab his hand, such a childish motion in fear. As though in slow motion, his large bony hand lay flat on the door, and I wished I could see his expression. If he looked calm, I had to trust that calm. If he looked scared...I hadn't even witnessed it, and I never wished to.

The door refused to open as pressure was put upon it, and increased. I thought about suggesting it was locked, but I noticed the lack of handle. Perhaps it was just jammed.

"Can't the sonic screwdriver do anything?"

The Doctor began feeling his way around the frame and digging his fingers between it and the door.

"The simplest ingenious object in the galaxy does not require a sonic screwdriver. Besides, it doesn't work with wood." I smirked.

"AND Miss Morton I do not rely on it...too...MUCH!" The door flew open with one strong pull, and light filtered in. But this one was a grey light, much like outdoor. But again, I found no windows, no rows of lights.

What I did see was a humongous room, far too big to fit underground beneath an office block. Even one of this size. The only sound was a quiet, gentle thudding. My eyes landed on desks. Rows and rows of them, going as far back as the eye could see, hundreds of workers sat behind them, eyes down. Each mimicking the other, fingers tapping furiously. From this distance, perhaps 20 feet away from the closest row facing us, I could see a green glow on their faces.

"Doctor?" I whispered, my voice trembling. Not one of them so much as peered up. I looked up to see his face, to evaluate the situation, but it was cold. Icey, solid, set, as a cold mask. Something I had never seen. I probably would have preferred anger, or even fear, but not this.

"Doctor? What is it?"

His large brown eyes were low, slow moving and perceptive, as they made their way to his left, and landed on a fixed point. I turned my head to the wall behind, huge and grey and imposing, flawless save for a small square of glass overlooking the work force. A black figure stood, and, while I could see no features on the silhouette, something felt wrong about it. Not quite human. Not even close. Something seemed to be protruding from its back.

"What...is that...thing?" I asked, glancing at the workers for just a second, before snapping my eyes back to the window. It was gone.

"Ah, a familiar face," a pompous, smooth voice droned. "At last, a reunion."