Soundproof

by Loki Milano

A concert in Holland turns in to a feeding ground for aliens and two of the audience members are on the case. As they head back to London, they're joined by a mysterious stranger in a long brown coat... Collaboration, written just after Doomsday.

Hey all! This is a collaboration between myself and Aurora Wright, a friend of mine. We wrote this story a long long time ago! Just after Doomsday had aired. It's quite long, but we had so much fun writing it :). I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. We know it's not perfect, but we're still quite pleased with it!

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Soundproof

Hasty footsteps resounded in a room as two girls attempted to get ready in time for the concert they were going to

Hasty footsteps resounded in a room as two girls attempted to get ready in time for the concert they were going to. Tonight there was going to be a performance of Apologetic Mind, a combination of Indie and Rock band. It was their favourite band, and they had been lucky to get the tickets, as it had almost been sold out.

"Come on!" one of the voices yelled, "We'll be late!"

The other caught up, and they nipped through the gates, which promptly closed behind them. One of them had loose brown hair with red highlights in it. She was dressed in her favourite long vest-top with a silver butterfly on it, beneath it a pair of jeans and sandals. The other had dark brown hair, tied up in a wild knot. She was dressed in a black halter top with white angel wings on it; beneath it she had jeans and black sneakers. Their names were Clare and Bonnie. The two of them had met one and a half years ago on the internet, and had been friends ever since. Now, Clare had come to visit Bonnie in the Netherlands.

"Now that's cutting it close." pointed out Clare.

"Yep." agreed Bonnie.

Talk about the nick of time. Literally minutes later, the lights went off, and everyone burst in to cheers and claps, waving glow sticks and lighters. The two girls were dwarfed by the crowd, grabbing hands they slipped through gaps in the mass of bodies to get nearer to the front, nobody noticed, they were far too excited. Apologetic Mind was one of the most popular bands around, and rarely did live gigs. Everyone who got to one saw it as a privilege. The pair joined the screams and adrenalin-fuelled actions of the people surrounded them. They didn't waste time with tribute bands, and the girls' eardrums almost burst with the explosion of noise as the band waltzed on stage.

"Hey, everyone." The nervous lead singer greeted, "As you know, we don't do this often, so I hope you'll treat us kindly."

He was greeted by a roof-raising cacophony of support, clearly, everyone was willing to be more than kind, just for the sake of seeing them play. Done with his introduction, he stepped back, and strummed the first chord of his guitar, more shrieks from the women in the crowd. One was so nearby Bonnie and Clare they covered their ears, looking at each other, and grinning. The band started off with the song that was their namesake, and everyone, bar none, sung along, like mass karaoke. Even the two international friends did. It was the same with the second song, "Heart Attack," and the third, "Quick Silver." Time seemed to fly by, everyone getting more and more excitable and louder as it went on. Several times, a sprinkler like system was used on the crowd so no-one passed out from dehydration. Both of their ears were ringing with the volume, and their throats were sore and hoarse from shouting to be heard, but it was all in all a good time. Before they knew it, the finale was bursting out of the speakers, Apologetic Mind's newest song.

"OK, nobody in the world has heard this before." The singer beamed at their fans, "So I hope you don't mind being our guinea pigs."

They didn't. One girl even passed out, she was so overcome with the gesture. An intro from the drummer and bassist, and then came the song.

"Another day passes by,

I stare at the sun as it starts to die,

Another lonely night locked in my room,

Facing alone the anger and gloom,

I wish for someone to hear my yell,

Someone to walk me through this hell,

A person who will see me through,

I swear on my life, anyone will do."

The crowd cheered them on, talking to each other about how beautiful the tune was, it was a gentler one than their other music. They didn't realise it, but the band were suddenly becoming overwhelmed with tiredness. They exchanged nervous glances, without letting the crowd in on their concerns.

"Anyone will do

I just need you

To stand by me

And set me free,

I don't care if you're young or old,

If your heart is coal or gold,"

It was just then that the crowd realised they were slowing down, and the singer was so pale, they thought he might pass out. Bonnie and Clare looked worriedly at each other, realising what might be going on before anyone else did, they had specialist knowledge.

"I just need you

To see me through

I swear on the stars,

Anyone will do..."

Then the music died. The band slumped to the stage, just as their instruments short circuited, sparking out of control, which caused the electricity to fail. The crowd was terrified, the whole building went haywire, the sprinklers came on, the fire alarm sounded, and the speakers blew out. Then came the icing on the cake. There was an ear-piercing shriek, and a flutter of wings. Half a dozen or so, things, appeared. They looked like a cross between gargoyles and bats, the wings and sharp teeth, with the grey, genderless skin. There were screams and shouts from everywhere. Unable to move, as everyone was running around like mad dogs, heading for the exit, Bonnie and Clare shoved their way in the opposite direction, diving behind a speaker for safety, near the band.

"I don't think this is a publicity stunt." Bonnie looked hesitant.

"Me either…" agreed her friend.

By the time the room was cleared, everyone had found their way outside, screaming and panicking, the creatures had disappeared in a deafening sound which could be described as otherworldly laughter. The two friends were still behind the speakers, apparently no one had seen them there, or they'd been to busy to bother paying attention to them. Some of the technical crew hurried out onto the stage after they had made sure the creatures, whatever they were, had disappeared. Phone calls were made to the paramedics, worried looks exchanged and water gathered to wake the band members up.

"It must've been dehydration." one of them stated.

"If that was dehydration, I'll eat my hat." whispered Clare as she peaked out from behind the speaker.

"You don't have a hat." Clare shot Bonnie an annoyed glance and Bonnie shrugged innocently. "Alright…" Bonnie hastily added. "Let's see if the band's alright."

Clare nodded and together with Bonnie appeared from behind the speakers. Unfortunately they had no way they would get past the technical crew without having a cover of some sorts but they could try, couldn't they? One of the security guys noticed them as they drew nearer, and stopped them, asking them what they thought they were doing.

"Can we see them?"

"No." the man, very muscled as you'd expect of a security man, crossed his arms in front of his chest. Bonnie bit her lip while Clare spoke.

"But sir, my friend here's going to freak, maybe even faint without knowing the band's alright. I mean… those…" she pretended to be frightened. "Creatures didn't seem from this world!" Bonnie, picking up on Clare, put on big eyes of fright.

"The band could've died. They may be dead! They might never perform again! I will die without them here to provide me with good music!"

"They're fine." the man simply said.

"Of course you'd say that, wouldn't want to worry a true fan." Clare had to look up to actually looked up at the man's face, which was pretty intimidating. Bonnie could see that the security guy was getting annoyed with them.

"Get out, before I have to kick you out!"

As if on cue Clare and Bonnie turned and made it for the door. This wasn't good, all this wasn't good. Bonnie stopped before they were out of the door; she wasn't going to go away without having seen the band, or having found out more. A grin spread across Clare's face as she held up her mobile phone, on her display was a picture of one of the creature, it was blurry, but it was a picture. Apparently she had taken it before, but hadn't shown her friend yet. On silent agreement they ran to the exit, not without comments from the technical crew, mostly as to what they had been doing in there. But they ignored it; they were girls on a mission.

"You know what we gotta do right?" asked Clare.

Bonnie nodded, they'd both had the same thought. "To the world wide web."

It was probably the last thing everyone else was thinking of doing, but these were unusual circumstances. Catching a bus and a taxi back to Bonnie's house, which was thankfully free from people, for now, they all but ran to the computer, Clare already sending the photograph to an e-mail address. What they were doing requires some further explanation. See, the two girls co-ran a specialist website, named . It had been up for several years now, but had not gained much attention until about two years ago, when the first webmaster died in mysterious circumstances. After that, a young guy called Mickey Smith had taken it over. Bonnie and Clare had joined at that point, and after they had worked with each other for two years, they became quite good friends. Only, now Mickey had mysteriously disappeared, and the girls knew, even without evidence, that it had to do with the subject of the website. A man calling himself The Doctor, a time-travelling alien, well known for intercepting when things went awry, and saving the world. Now, they felt it was down to them, and that was where they were heading.

"Wait til the members get a load of this." Clare beamed, and Bonnie grinned back at her.

The photo was waiting for them in the inbox, along with about three dozen e-mails from members. They would have to wait, this was much more pressing. They started up a new bulletin, sticking the picture in the middle of it. It was kind of pixelated, because of the resizing, but it was clear enough.

Big Finish!

Hello out there, time for another update already? We hear you cry. Damn straight! You all know that I'm visiting Bonnie at the moment, it's been a good trip, lots of places to see and people to meet. But it's just typical, isn't it? I leave tomorrow, and tonight is when we hit something big.

We went to see Apologetic Mind tonight, we've been waiting absolutely ages! We only just got in, the doors literally closed behind us. We're only small, so naturally we fought (or rather, snuck) our way to the front to see them up close and personal. Two sets, totally perfect, they're gorgeous as ever (I second that notion! – B.) But then something really odd happened. OK, ok, I'll stop drawing it out, and pass you on to Bonnie.

Well, the last song (first airing, and we were there!) came, and a verse and a chorus through, and the whole band passes out! It's total chaos. Screams, shouts, running, sparks, the works. So here the two of us are, heads down behind a speaker, and these weird gargoyle things attack. Half bat, half gargoyle. We went to check on the band, but the security guy looked about ready to wring out necks after Clare's nagging, so we legged it and came straight here.

Sorry the picture's not very good, my actual camera was back in England. Freaky huh? If any of you guys know about this, let us know, ok?

Bonnie & Clare

EDITED TO ADD!!

It took a grand total of 45 minutes for someone to report back to us, and thank you etcomehome53, similar looking things have been spotted! Where else, but in…London! (shocker – B) Yep, that's right. So far no attacks, but they seem to be converging in one place, where people are setting up for an amateur music festival. Guess where we're going? Yep, that's right. Bonnie's flying with me to London (thank heavens for summer holidays! – B) tomorrow, our mission? To investigate the scene. Here's hoping, we're not the only ones!

Til next time, B&C x

So that's just what the two friends did. First thing in the morning, armed with cameras of all types, various other gadgets, and of course, the trusty clipboard, Bonnie and Clare packed up their worldly possessions, and hopped on the next flight Amsterdam to Heathrow.

They arrived the next afternoon in London, where they were going to stay. Because Clare didn't live in London they were going to stay at her uncle's house, who was happy to put them up. It was too late to get tickets for the concerts held that night, so they'd have to keep track of the news. They had however looked up all the bands that were playing, not that they necessarily expected those creatures, whatever they were, to show up. For now, they kept logged in on the site for any new more sightings of the creatures. While Clare did that, Bonnie went to dig deep onto the internet to find out more about those creatures.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Bonnie slammed the top of the laptop shut and yawned; it was already midnight. So far, she'd found fictional stories, manipulated pictures, pictures from movies. All in all, unuseful things. Clare hadn't had useful reactions either. Mostly members saying they'd spotted them, but no attacks yet. Bonnie shook her head and took the remote control, turning the television on.

"This is BBC News 24. We're live at Sigma Concept, the hottest club in town. Something extraordinary is happening right now!" The two girls saw the reporter and behind him was the club, Sigma Concept. It was not calm as you'd expect in the middle of a concert. People were running out of the club, screaming, like Clare and Bonnie had experienced the night before. "We're going to see what this is all about." And instead of running with the crowd he ran into the opposite direction, pushing his way through the crowd, followed by the camera man.

The two ran over to the television, practically pressing their faces to the screen. The filming was rather shaky, due to the camera man having to run and keep up. There was an all too familiar screech and the camera man almost went straight in to the back of the reporter as he stopped suddenly.

"It's amazing!" said the reporter on the screen, "There seem to be gargoyle-like creatures, with the features of a bat too. They…"

The reporter was cut off, as an almighty shriek was followed by a total power failure of the camera. They came back to the studio, both newsreaders looking astonished. Clare turned off the television, they didn't need to hear the speculation. It was quite late, but the pair of them didn't have much choice in the matter. They had to go down to Sigma Concept. There were questions that needed answering. They grabbed their laptops, notebooks, and other things they might need, put them in their bags, and went out. Luckily, the tube station was just the other end of the road where Clare's uncle lived, and they had week long passes. As the practically deserted carriage rattled along, they were both frantically typing on computers, Clare reporting back to the website, Bonnie keeping track of the news. They arrived where they needed to be, switched the laptops for note books, and as they emerged, opposite them was the club, sirens were going off and flashing everywhere, and there were millions of people.

"Ok, so where do we fit in?" asked Bonnie, "A couple of teenage girls randomly out in the middle of the night, after an alien attack?"

"Journalists, naturally." Clare winked.

They squeezed through the various reporters, they seemed to be secretly slipping in to a lot of places lately. They were immediately stopped by a policeman, this was not a place for a couple of kids to be hanging around. He cut them off as behind them witnesses were lined up to be questioned.

"Evening girls, you're out late. Your parents will be worried, run along now." He said. The patronising tone of his voice made both girls inwardly cringe.

"We're reporters, officer." explained Clare, "Interns at…" she looked to Bonnie for a company name.

"Eye on London." She invented, and Clare gave her thumbs up behind the policeman's back.

"The paper said they'd give us a chance to scoop this for them, because we live nearby." It wasn't a total lie…just two or three stops away. "We have ID…"

The policeman waved them off, clearly he didn't have time to check out every single person insisting they were with the press, they shrugged, and ducked under the tape.

It wasn't hard to find people who wanted to talk about what they had seen, they were all so spooked, and they were desperate for somebody to tell them they weren't crazy. The first people they stumbled across was a young couple, probably not that much older than the girls. He was tall, built like a mountain, shaved head and everything. She was tiny compared to him, with blonde hair, slim and scared.

"Hello there, we're from…" begun Bonnie.

"We don't care." The young man said gruffly, not out of rudeness, but desperation, "We just want someone to confirm details. I'm Bradley Connors, she's Miriam Webb." he finished.

"OK then." Bonnie nodded, "So, when did you notice things seemed a little, odd?"

"The last song." the girl said instantly, "It was great, then about half way through, it seemed to get slower, and slower."

"We thought they were building the suspense for the finale." continued Bradley, "But then they all slumped. A split second later, there was like a scream." He shuddered at the memory,

"Then those…things, gargoyles? Bats? Don't know, but they appeared. All the power went mental, and then over loaded. We all ran out after that." Miriam sighed.

"Don't blame you. We did the same in Holland." sympathised Clare. "Those creatures, did they look like this?"

She wrestled her phone out of her pocket, scrolling to the picture. Bradley and Miriam's eyes both widened, and they nodded emphatically, clinging to each other they were so happy they weren't crazy. Miriam clutched a startled Bonnie's wrist.

"You saw them too! That's them! We're not losing it?!" she begged,

"No, you're not." replied Bonnie calmly.

They said goodbye to the couple, and weaved in and out, stacking up quite a lot of information from the eye witness reports. A little while later, another troop of news screws and newspaper reporters squealed in to the street. Using their common sense, the two of them made a swift exit, so they didn't get crushed in the chaos that was likely to ensue. Clare suddenly stopped as they were on the way back to the station. She could have sworn that she saw the end of a long brown coat disappear in to an alley. Bonnie had seen it too, and they sprinted as fast as they could. They were created by the sound of engines whirring, and as they appeared around the corner, a flashing light just disappeared, although, Clare already had her phone out, and took another shot.

"We've got company." Clare gave a mischievous little grin.

"About time too." agreed Bonnie.

The two girls agreed to go to bed and review things the next day. Though they didn't go to bed immediately, not before Clare had let their members know what was up. It took Bonnie about half an hour to an hour to fall asleep, she was thinking everything over in her head, about what they had seen tonight, and the night before that. But she also thought about what was yet to come. And finally, after restless twisting and turning, she fell asleep.

It took Bonnie a few moments to realise where she was the next morning, seeing as it was still too early for her own liking. It soon came back to her and she sat up, looking around the room. Clare was still asleep in the bed next to hers and Bonnie decided to let her sleep for now, if she wouldn't make it too late that was. She threw the blankets off her and rose, deciding to get dressed first.

By the time she was dressed and had settled behind the computer with a mug of tea Clare woke up too. It took her a couple of minutes to get out of bed though, almost dozing off again.

"Good morning." Bonnie sipped her drink while clicking the mouse.

"Morning." Clare said as she slowly sat up in the bed.

Clare made for the bathroom too, getting dressed and all that while Bonnie went to see if they were any new messages. There were some of people who had been at Sigma Concept last night, nothing new. Most of them asked what was going on. That's what I'd like to know… Thought Bonnie. After a couple of minutes Clare settled in a chair next to her with a cup of Cinnamon Latte.

"Anything new?" Clare asked, to which Bonnie shook her head.

"I think it's safe to say though that those creatures have something to do with the band members collapsing." Bonnie pointed out. "The band collapses in the middle of the last song, and after that the creatures appear. It's like a pattern."

"Don't jump to conclusions. There have only been two bands collapsing… It could be coincidence."

"Well then, I guess we're going to see the next band." a grin spread across her face.

The next concert wasn't until later that week, and it really wasn't a band they'd normally go to, but they felt like they didn't really have a choice, they needed to get this figured out. For the remaining part of the week they mostly kept track of the news and kept the site updated, checking messages from members, but they also went to do a little sightseeing around London. The main reason for that was because having to report nothing new got a little boring after a while.

On the night of the concert, the two girls still dressed up, seeing as that was what you did when you went to see a concert. This time they managed to get in time, so they didn't have to hurry. Unfortunately they'd caught a full carriage in the tube station, so it was pushing their way through the crowd. At Sigma Concept it was the same thing all over again as everyone tried to push their way in, but of course they also had to present their tickets to the ticket holders.

"Hey, careful!" Clare scolded, as she grabbed Bonnie's wrist, pulling her out of the way of someone trying to slip passed security.

"Sorry." he said shortly.

There was something vaguely familiar about him, messy brown hair, brown eyes, a tweed suit; which caused them both to snicker; and white sneakers. He disappeared as quickly as he had arrived, and Clare rolled her eyes. What a weird kind of guy. He was soon forgotten, as four huge men reared up in front of them, and the two girls stopped short. Evidently, people were still worried about things going haywire. They made a kind of wall, leering at them as they wrestled their tickets from their purses. One of the men suddenly grabbed the hand of each girl, holding it out, palm down. The other two men stamped a symbol on their hands, a capital sigma. Original…not.

"Move along ladies, lots of people to stamp." grunted one of the men.

Bonnie looked at Clare, "Is it me, or is 'bad mood' in every security guy's job description."

Her friend shrugged, and they made their way in to the club. It would have been quite easy to get lost in it, to say the least. It was a huge circular room, and it looked just the same from every angle. The only difference was a red-carpet section, off the top of the circle from the entrance the two had come in. Presumably VIPs only. The place was already full. They wheedled their way to a rather wobbly table, by the bathrooms. That would not be fun, but they were also stage right, so would be able to see the band well enough, even if from 90 degrees. They had vetoed the laptops again, way too risky in a full to bursting club like this, note books and pens all the way. Security officers were scanning the crowd. One of them came up to the two of them, holding out his hand like he wanted money. They looked at each other blankly, before suddenly realising he wanted their hands. Oh. They both presented their stamps, and much to their amusement slash annoyance, he scanned a UV pen over them. Underneath the initial sigma sign, was a kind of barcode thing. Bit extreme, wasn't it? He nodded, and disappeared.

"I think we just became the property of a building." Clare blinked.

Without further ado, the lights went down, to be replaced by the ones on the stage. Clare discreetly pressed the record button of a Dictaphone, concealed in her bag, and Bonnie started a little machine to record the pattern of sound waves. They may just be two teenage girls, but they knew what they were doing. After a trying-to-hide-their-nerves introduction, the band began. About halfway through the first song, the strange man from before suddenly appeared at their table.

"Mind if I share? Everyone else is drunk." he asked, holding up his glass of coke.

"Go right ahead…" replied Clare slowly.

She looked at Bonnie, who gave her a knowing kind of nod. Things were going to get very interesting. Unlike the band, which in the girl's opinion downright sucked. As Bonnie pointed out the singer didn't quite sing, but he did something that was closer to screaming. However all the other people in the club seemed to like it. The man next to them seemed to be enjoying the songs, yet at the same time he was watching everyone closely.

"Yawn…" Bonnie said as the last song didn't seem to come nearer. It was definitely not her kind of music. Clare nudged her to be quiet as she realised the last song was coming on. This seemed to be a different kind of music and Bonnie lifted her elbows of the table to stand up straight to listen.

"Taking off,

Into the air,

Flying high,

Flying fast,

Going straight home."

It was like the first concert, the band seemed to exchange nervous glances, but none of the fans seemed to notice it as they were too busy cheering. Bonnie and Clare noticed this however, and when they looked sideways, they could see that the man next to them had a slight frown on his face.

"Howling winds,

Shaking wings,

Clouded sky,

Rainy night,

A raging storm."

They were slowing down and the girls knew what was going to happen soon. They could hear the guitarist miss some notes, but the fans didn't seem to notice this either. They were far too caught up in the song.

"Going down,

Crashing hard,

This is the end,

Just wreckage

No survivors,

Nothing at…"

The singer stopped mid-sentence, and so did the rest of the music. Some drumbeats sounded as the drummer dropped his sticks, the microphone fell onto the stage with a thud, followed by the band members. It was just like the first time. Clare and Bonnie were ready for what was next. There came the ear-piercing shriek, followed by screams and footsteps; the whole crowd was headed for the door, everyone except the two girls and the man next to them.

The security was trying to calm the crowd down, trying to lead them out safely. No one dared to go near the creatures, nor near the band members as the creatures were fluttering right above them, shrieking as they did so. It was a sad sight, the band members on the stage, passed out. You could almost say they were dead if it wasn't for their chests moving up and down.

And then, after a couple of seconds, the creatures disappeared. With a last shriek, the electricity blew out. Bonnie and Clare ducked as the speaker beside them blew out, and pulled the Doctor down with them, an arm each, much to his total astonishment. Leaving him, rather stunned, they jumped up on to the stage. They checked the band over. The Doctor, regaining his bearings, joined them, and was about to take measurements. But the two girls nodded at each other, closing their books with a snap, they already had them.

"You better exit stage right." Bonnie said to the man,
"Even a doctor would be flattened by the security lot around here." Added Clare.

Before the afore mentioned security could get on to them, they made an abrupt exit. As they walked to the tube station, they were discussing all sorts of things, like pitches, and sound waves.

"Wait just one minute!" came a voice behind them.

They didn't hear, just kept on walking with him following them, "You can see here, the waves get smaller, as they're absorbed. That purple line on your monitor, that's the things communicating I think. There's a certain pattern. Just here…" Clare replayed the Dictaphone, only backwards. "They…"

"I said, WAIT A MINUTE!" repeated the man, catching up with them.

The door girls stopped, and turned around, just as the suited man appeared behind them. They both hid their grins, and instead put on perfectly sensible and professional faces. They folded their arms, looking quite the formidable team, even though the Doctor was more than a head taller than both of them. He was confused, annoyed, and impressed, all at the same time.

"Who are you exactly?" he asked, for a basis.

"I'm Bonnie, this is Clare." she introduced.

"I'm…"

"The Doctor." The girls chorused, "We know. We were wondering when you'd show up."

"Wait…what?" protested the Doctor.

"Tonight makes it three attacks! We were there for all of them." pointed out Clare.

"Even though one was in the Netherlands." added Bonnie.

"Hang on…what?!" he was getting a major deja vu from his last Christmas visit.

"These bat creatures." carried on Clare, "Communicate through sound waves, by the looks of it." She held the monitor up for him to see, "Seem to convert the band's music in to sort of energy. Now, physics wasn't my best subject…"

"Can I…?" attempted the Doctor.

"Mine either." continued Bonnie on her friend's behalf. "But, the waves might be contained by lead. Not quite sure how we'd safely surround something with lead…but it could draw them out…"

"OK, ok, enough! You're clever, I get it!" the Doctor had reached his limit, "But who the heck are you?" he paused, "Wow. That sounded backwards."

"We run the website called Who is Doctor Who." They chorused.

"That explains it." The Doctor nodded. He looked at them, a mixture of curiosity and admiration. "I've never been on the receiving end of this before."

"We know." they said at the same time again, and both of them giggled.

"I…figured…" The Doctor scratched his head thoughtfully. "Ugh. I'd never thought I'd say this. But…can I borrow your notes?"

That was probably the most embarrassing thing he'd ever have to do. The girls shrugged, and deciding to throw him a bone, handed them over. The two girls crossed their arms in front of their chests, a satisfied grin shown at their faces while the Doctor reviewed their notes.

"You've done your research." said the Doctor,

"We try." smirked Clare.

"We've pretty much worked out most of it. Except the name."

The Doctor seized the opportunity, "They're called Tabre Cutrea!" he declared proudly.

"That's great." said Clare, deadpan, "Can I have my notes back?"

"Oh, yeah, of course." he clumsily handed them over.

It seemed that the Doctor was put off by the two girls knowing so much about things he was supposed to know of. He was supposed to be the clever one and explain it to other people. It was downright intriguing. The Doctor started walking again, lost in thoughts. The girls, grasping the opportunity with both hands, followed him. They were both looking at their notes again, to see if they'd missed anything. They followed the Doctor into some sort of building, but they didn't pay much attention to it.

"I can handle it alone now, thanks." the Doctor had snapped out of his thoughts and had noticed the girls by now.

"Excuse me, who was it who…" Bonnie stopped mid-sentence and she stared around, a smile spreading at her face.

"Bigger on the inside." beamed Clare.

They had wandered, without realising it, straight into the Doctor's 'vehicle'. It was a large room, with a glass tube in the middle. The two girls had never seen it before, yet they knew. They ran towards the middle and both walked round the console, each in an opposite direction, checking it out much to the Doctor's annoyance.

"Wow…" breathed Bonnie.

"It's amazing!" agreed Clare.

The Doctor was still inwardly pouting slightly, because they knew more than he did. He wasn't used to that, he wasn't used to it at all. It worried him. Maybe he would have to read more…nah, not half as fun. The girls seemed to know precisely what everything did. It was worrying, like if he left the key around, they would know how to drive it and take a trip. Subconsciously, he patted his pocket, where they key was.

"Yes, it's amazing, it's fantastic, it's mine, of course it is." said the Doctor enthusiastically, "But seriously, I can handle this now."

"Oh no you don't." Bonnie had regained the ability to speak, "Just how long would it have taken you to find everything out, without us?"

"She's right. We've done nothing but oblige, and now he's turfing two vulnerable young girls out in to a London street, in the middle of the night, after an alien attack."

That had got him. Despite Clare's mockingly hurt tone, she spoke the truth. He'd met them all of fifteen minutes ago, and they'd already helped him more than he could have figured out by himself that fast. Which was a first, to be totally honest. In frustration, he groaned, and ran his hands through his hair, looking at Clare.

"Do you do that often?" he glanced at her.

"Oh, I'm dead honest, me." Clare grinned cheekily.

He got the feeling that these two would be a handful. They knew exactly what they were talking about, even though they were more than nine centuries younger than him, but he couldn't help quite liking their manner. It was a breath of fresh air, the famous 'youth of today' interested in more than boy bands, bright white trainers and mobile phones, talking to him of all people about physics.

"Besides," voiced Bonnie, "We hadn't finished talking before you so rudely interrupted us. We have the rest of our data back home on the laptops. Comparisons, reports and the like."

Clare knew where she was going with this, and coughed to hide a giggle as the Doctor stared daggers, although not necessarily malicious ones, at them. It was quite like being a teacher in a class of abnormally bright, but rather cheeky pupils. Hard work, and you liked to complain about it, but in truth, you wouldn't have it any other way.

"Fine." The Doctor sighed, resigned, "Where are we going?"

"25 Hughley Road." recited Clare.

The Doctor started the engines up, and the two girls could have squealed with excitement, but that would have been rather inappropriate. They had the edge at this moment in time, which the Doctor knew would be very useful to him. In this case, despite him being included, three heads were better than one. The Tardis juddered and shook, sending the pair spiralling off their feet. Clare grabbed a bar to keep upright, and Bonnie clutched a pillar. The Doctor gave a gleeful grin, revenge was sweet, even on a tiny scale, despite the glares.

"Your shoelace is untied." announced Bonnie simply.

The Doctor thought it was just a trick. But oh no, sure enough, he managed to stop himself falling over as he trod on the lace. He was more than relieved the other two didn't see them. Oh well, the win had been nice whilst it lasted. He had a feeling his adventure with them would be quite different.

The house was completely empty as Clare's uncle was usually away on business trips. They went upstairs and turned on their laptops while they also installed a bunch of other things, like the Dictaphone and the sound wave recorder. Clare started up the computer while Bonnie's head disappeared into a cabinet, obviously searching for something.

"What are you doing?" asked Clare as she looked over to her.

"Looking for something." came Bonnie's muffled voice.

With an exclamation of 'aha' her head appeared again and she was holding a map, of London to be precise. She put it down on the table and it was then that Clare and the Doctor noticed it has little dots on it, most of them blue, but one of them was red. The Doctor raised his brows and examined the map. Apparently both of them, he and Clare, were wondering the same thing.

"What's this then?" asked Clare.

"I made it last night, when I couldn't sleep. The blue dots are sightings of the creatures, and the red dots… Or dot… is where the attack happened. I've been trying to see a pattern, but…" she shook her head.

"It seems that they are spotted all over London." noted the Doctor.

"Not just London. Other places too. Couldn't find a bigger map though." she shrugged.

"How were you going to do this?" the Doctor asked.

"Do what?" Bonnie asked, raising her brow.

"Solve this…"

"Just…" started Clare, but she had no idea how to yet.

"You don't have the equipment to solve these kind of things." stated the Doctor.

"We have a lot more than you think, Doctor." said Clare, serious.

The Doctor took the map and looked at it, then he looked at the reports Clare and Bonnie had printed out. It said everything they'd told him, and a little more. Clare and Bonnie just watched, Clare sitting behind the laptop on a chair, and Bonnie now let herself fall down on the bed.

"How do you know all this stuff, how to do this?"

"We've learnt from the best." Clare said proudly.

"Who's that?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"Mickey Smith."

The Doctor froze, "Come again?"

The girls grinned, they knew that'd get him. Clare stood up, arching her back and stretching. Of course they would know him. They worked with him for two years, before he suddenly disappeared, and they took over caring for the site. Clare walked over to the door, turning back over her shoulder.

"Tea?" she asked quite simply.

"Yes, please." replied Bonnie.

"You're doing it again." complained the Doctor, "You can't just dump that on me and go and get tea, it's just too…" he struggled to find a word, "Human."

"Bonnie can explain. I'll be back soon."

Bonnie stared after her, great, she'd been left with explaining more to an alien from another plain entirely. As ever, she figured honesty was the best policy. She sat up again, crossing her legs and looked at the Doctor.

"We told you we run the site. We've been members ever since Mickey took it over. We talked to him when he kept being questioned by police over that girl, Rose." She looked pointedly at him, "Thanks to you." The Doctor had pursed lips. "Anyhow. Once he was cleared he kept us posted on what was going on. We went to visit him a few times, he showed us the equipment, told us what was going on. We were kind of his go to girls when he was worried about Rose and couldn't face Mrs Tyler. He disappeared for a while after about a year and a half. He suddenly came back, when those Cybermen attacked."

At this point, Clare rejoined them as The Doctor perched himself on the seat she had recently vacated. He hadn't replied to her question, but she'd got him a tea anyway, and he took it automatically with a nod of thanks. Bonnie grabbed hers, and she set the tray on the side table. She perched on the desk next to the Doctor. Her friend sipped her drink, motioning for her to finish the explanation.

"We knew we wouldn't be seeing him again when he started saying thanks for everything. Then he said not to worry, he was safe, so was everyone else. He told us to collect all his equipment, he'd given it to us as a goodbye thing." She smiled slightly, "And said that if we ever saw you, we should thank you on his behalf, and he promised to take care of Rose."

She finished, perfectly calmly. She took her mug and drank her own drink in the resounding silence that followed. The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, and the two looked at each other nervously. He wasn't going to cry or anything was he? Neither of them would really be able to deal with that. He suddenly looked up.

"Right. Well." He regarded the strange pair in front of him. Looked like they were his back up for now. "Thanks for passing that on. Maybe you're of some use to me after all."

"Us, of use to you?" Bonnie teased.

"Clare. You said something about playing the Dictaphone backwards?" asked the Doctor.

"Uh, yea."

The Doctor stood up, offering the seat to her. Bonnie came over, leaning on the back of the chair, standing the other side of Clare to the Doctor. The opened the recording, and put it up against the visual representation. She turned it backwards, and the song sounded awful, although it could be argued that it was worse in the wrong order. The pointed the mouse at the reading, and along the bottom was a much lower line, only changing slightly. It was below the human hearing range.

"Oh, so that's what that buzzing was." The Doctor nodded.

The two of them looked sceptically at him, "I think its how they communicate. If you play it forwards…" she did so.

"I can't hear anything." agreed The Doctor.

"If we can work out what they're saying." Bonnie had worked it out too now.

"We can find the next target maybe." Clare nodded. She turned to the Doctor, "Your TARDIS translates languages right?"

"Yes..." the Doctor said slowly.

"Well, if we give it the recording, maybe it can decode it for us."

They headed out to the TARDIS, which was parked right outside. Clare took some of the reports and the Dictaphone and Bonnie took the map. Inside the Doctor went straight for the console and started doing something on a screen. He took the Dictaphone from Clare and plugged it in, he played it. It wasn't buzzing anymore what they heard, it was something else now.

"5A74J8." the voice said.

"Numbers…" Bonnie stated.

"Coordinates." said Clare and the doctor at the same time.

The coordinates turned out to be of a place in London. The doctor was going to work it out, but Clare had already worked it out before him. She didn't know where exactly, unlike the Doctor who had figured it out.

"But… we'll go there tomorrow. You need some sleep."

"We do not!" protested Clare, but Bonnie contradicted this by yawning.

Clare shot her a look, but she simply shrugged. The Doctor insisted that they got some sleep before they went to check out the place of the coordinates. Before they went, Bonnie had a question.

"Do you even sleep?" The Doctor just turned to the console, shrugging.

Bonnie knew they were not going to get an answer out of him. If only he stopped being so mysterious. Reluctantly the girls went back into the house and put on their pyjamas. It took them a while to actually be able to sleep, as they were far too excited to do that.

"Clare?" Bonnie whispered, staring up at the ceiling in the dark.

"Hmm?" Clare kept her eyes closed.

"We're lucky to have met him, aren't we?"

"Yep." A smile crept onto Clare's face, but Bonnie couldn't see this.

"Rise and shine!"

The Doctor opened the curtains so sunlight fell into the room. Clare opened one eye and moaned; it was way too early to get up. Bonnie however pulled the blankets up to her chin, shocked.

"What are you doing here?!"

"Just get up." with that he disappeared through the door.

As soon as they'd properly woken up they were out of their beds in no time, because they'd realised they'd met the Doctor yesterday and were now going to try and solve this with him. Not that they wouldn't have been able to solve it on their own, as Clare pointed out. It took them only fifteen minutes to get dressed and washed and another five minutes to have breakfast.

Twenty minutes later they were presentable and ready, standing inside the TARDIS.

"So, London. 5A74J8!"

The Doctor flipped some levers and pressed a couple of buttons. With the sound of whizzing engines and the shaking of the spaceship itself, the girls knew they'd taken off. It was a more than a rocky journey. They clung on to various pipes and squared their feet to keep standing. It landed with a clunk, throwing all of them forward, both girls grabbed an arm of the Doctor for support, and he just laughed at them. They rolled their eyes and shot out of that thing as soon as they could. The pair looked around, less than enthusiastic. The Doctor came up behind them.

"Watch your…!" they chorused.

There was a squelch as The Doctor stood in something. He pulled a face, and the other two covered their mouths, shuddering. They quickly absconded, after the Doctor changed his shoes. Another pair of sneakers. Exactly the same. Oh well, each to their own. They rounded out of the alley, and were faced with blaring neon lights.

"Ow. I think I'm blind." stated Clare.

"Almost as bright as his sneakers." Bonnie nodded towards their new acquaintance.

It was just as at least two of them, if not all three, had expected. Another club. This one was on a much grander scale, completely contrasting it's fire exit. Red carpets and ropes, and macho security guys in suits, with ear pieces. There were huge posters plastered on the boards outside the building.

FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY, UNTOLD VARIETY IS PROUD TO PRESENT:

CHRONIC TILT!

"Gee, who do you think might be playing?" the Doctor rolled his eyes, and the girls giggled.

The two girls shrunk back as they approached security, they'd had one too many run ins with huge beefy guys in black lately. However, The Doctor proudly strode out, like he owned the place. He got out his wallet, and the girls grinned, psychic paper.

"Hello young man, how do you do?" he said to the lead security guy. "I'm John Smith, here to test out the sound system. This are my apprentices, Bonnie and Clyde…" Clare punched him on the arm, "Er, sorry, Clare."

The bouncers all looked at that little piece of paper, before nodding, muttering a few words in to their headsets, and stepping aside to let them in. As they entered, a woman behind the counter handed them all arm bands, little plastic bracelets for their wrists, with a special hologram in them to show their authenticity. As they were going in, The Doctor looked at Clare.

"One heck of a punch there…I think you killed my arm."

Clare shrugged, "My brother's seven years older than me."

They clipped on the identity bands, and weaved their way to where they hoped was the stage, but there were so many doors and hallways it was kind of hard to keep up. After about 45 minutes of wandering aimlessly, the girls persuaded The Doctor to stop and ask for directions. Typical male, they decided. They came in to the main stage area, and was it impressive. It was in the centre of a huge octagonal room, with the wires leading up to the lights above it. There was no VIP room. Only VIPs were actually allowed in to this club it seemed. Bonnie stopped and stared up, way up, to the speakers.

"How the heck are we meant to get up there?"

The speakers were embedded on the ceiling, like lights normally were. They all had to bend over backwards to get a good view of them. The Doctor turned brightly to them, and grinned.

"I think we'll need a really big ladder." He answered. Then looked over their shoulders, "Or, y'know, that."

They turned around, and saw a kind of crane like one people used for changing street lights, cunningly disguised as just another electronics column, with a seat discreetly hidden behind it. The Doctor bounded over, and the girls shrugged, following him. He looked around, inspecting it. Ah. They had no key. They had forgotten to pick it up on their trek around the building to find the stage. The Doctor threw something at Clare, and she just about caught it, after doing a neat little roll down her arm as her first hand missed it. The sonic screwdriver.

"Clare was it?" the Doctor asked, and she rolled her eyes, "Can you drive?"

She stared at him and blinked, "I don't have my license with me."

"That wasn't my question. Do you crash?"

"Um, no."

"Fantastic. Take the wheel mademoiselle. Bonnie, you direct."

Clare stared at the machine in front of her. It looked sort of like a car, clutch, brake, and accelerator. But she doubted it had power steering, funnily enough. Although she didn't have much choice as the Doctor parked her in the driving seat, and hopped up to sit on the box bit. The Doctor directed her to use the screwdriver to start the engine, and that's what she did. After initially squeaking with surprise, she tentatively pushed the accelerator, and zoomed off.

"Um! Bit fast!" Bonnie called after them, trying very hard to direct. "Mind that table!" They did, she swerved to avoid it. Just. "And those chairs!!"

It was quite a bizarre scene. Bonnie was running after them to keep up, Clare was clutching the wheel so tight her knuckles were white, and the Doctor was laughing, just enjoying the ride. She nipped in front of them, all but throwing the chairs to safety. With a screech of brakes Clare stopped. The Doctor neatly hopped off. A few manoeuvres later and the Doctor held his screwdriver up to the speakers. The girls were very relieved when that was done, and they'd returned the crane to its position, slowly.

"Maybe I should do pass plus." muttered Clare.

"What did you do exactly?" asked Bonnie, directed at the Doctor.

"Just adjusted the frequency of the speakers, so it should backfire on the Tabre Cutrea." He answered.

"And if it doesn't?"

"At worse, the speakers won't much like it. Possibility of a blow out. And I don't mean a party."

"On to the band and crowd?" Clare raised an eyebrow.

"Oh…hadn't thought of that." The Doctor admitted.

"We can't risk that!" cried Bonnie.

"Well, we could just hope it works." suggested the Doctor.

Obviously he had a very high opinion of himself. But he could see that it was a bad idea when Clare and Bonnie both glared at him.

"Any other ideas then?!" he looked at them expectantly.

"No… but…" started Bonnie.

"Yes!" exclaimed Clare, a grin spreading at her face. "We could take their place."

"What? Are you mad?" Bonnie stared at her like she had gone crazy.

"No, think about it. If it goes wrong, it won't be them who get injured."

"No, it will be us." Bonnie raised her brow. "And how would you want to take their place?"

"We could…" began the Doctor, but he was interrupted by Clare.

"We could make them break down." the Doctor shot her an irritated glance.

"What about the crowd?" Bonnie wondered; they'd still get injured.

"They'd have run off… It won't explode until the gargoyles appear, I think." Clare looked at the Doctor for a confirmation and he nodded.

"Oh god, let's just hope this works!" Bonnie said, and then a thought hit her. "We're going to need a band!"

"You can play the keyboard, I play the guitar, and…" Clare turned to the Doctor with a grin on her face. "He can sing and… Any instruments?"

"Oh no, no way!" protested the Doctor, shaking his head heavily.

"Don't you want to stop them?!" it was Bonnie this time.

They agreed that the Doctor was going to play the bass and sing, while Clare and Bonnie were going to play on the guitar and keyboard. Yet there was still the problem of having to think of songs in one day. And as Bonnie classified it; 'impossible.' The Doctor and Clare were more optimistic though. And if they'd work all day, they'd have the song done by the start of the concert.

All three of them wrote the notes, while Clare, with a little help from Bonnie, thought of the lyrics. At some point they weren't sure if they would be able to finish it, but they finished right before the start of the concert. At some point the Doctor had disappeared into the TARDIS, leaving them alone to work on the song. He returned with duplicates of the tickets they needed to get in.

They had ten minutes left to get to the concert and much to the Doctor's annoyance the two girls had to change. They stood in front of the wardrobe, looking for clothes while the doctor tapped his foot impatiently. After five minutes he walked towards the wardrobe, grabbed a couple of clothes and handed it to them.

"Now wear this!"

Much to the girl's surprise he had actually chosen to very cool outfits; for Clare jeans, a top with a white diamond on it, and for Bonnie jeans also, and a top with 'peace' written on it.

"Now come on!" he said impatiently. They only had two minutes left to get to the concert, but with the TARDIS they'd need less. Bonnie had the sheet music and Clare had the Dictaphone to tape everything, in case things went awry. Things already seemed to have done. The manager of the club was frantically whispering to security. Curious, the three of them aimlessly walked by to eavesdrop.

"The band aren't here!" he was hissingly shouting to the security. "They bloody well broke down! Puncture or something! What are we gonna do?! These people are expecting music! Do we have a tribute band or something? To warm them up til the band gets here?"

The security man shook his head. Casually, the three musketeers walked by, complete with instruments, like they were going somewhere else entirely. He nodded to them, and the manager all but jumped on them as he saw the instruments. The trio stopped short as he cut them off,

"Hey! You guys! Are you busy?" he said urgently.

"Us, no, not really." replied the Doctor with a shrug. "Why?"

"You look musical, do you have some time to spare? I promise you you'll be paid top dollar! Well, pound."

"What do you mean?" asked Clare, playing along.

"We have a ready made audience for you in there. Can you warm them up for us? I'm begging you! I'll get down on my knees if I have to! It's the biggest gig you could hope for, I swear!" carried on the man.

"Whoa, no need to go that far." Bonnie blinked.

"You'll do it?" he said, looking hopeful.

The group looked at each other, and shrugged, then nodded. They were pounced on by a dozen make up artists, and another dozen or so members of the technical crew, and hustled in to the building. All the way the manager was saying over and over again he was so grateful, he didn't know how to thank them, how could he repay them and the like. He was so shameless, it was embarrassing. Within about twenty minutes, after the MC apologised to the crowd for the delay, they were all standing backstage, staring at each other.

"Oh, my god." Clare stuttered, "There's a lot of people in there!" she was white with fear.

"They have no clue who we are either." Bonnie was just as nervous, now the reality was hitting them.

"So we're going on to perform in front of thousands of people, pretty much blind, with the risk of having our heads blown off by speakers, and if that doesn't work, the gargoyles will get us."

"Couldn't the effects just be CGI?!" Bonnie whimpered.

Then they promptly shut up, as the MC stopped talking, after getting the crowd good humoured with some stand up. He stopped, and they all clapped. Then he held his hand out, motioning to them.

"Now, I'm sorry about the delay ladies and gentlemen, but I'm told these bright young things are bound to impress you, and they're doing us a huge favour, so be nice to them! May I present to you…" he paused, then looked hesitantly at them.

Clare grabbed a scrap of paper, and looked around for a pen, which Bonnie supplied. She hurriedly scribbled the name down, without the other two seeing, and the MC nodded.

"….REGENERATION!"

Clare looked the Doctor in the eye as the crowd started cheering, "You owe me noodles."

He looked confused, but shrugged, "Deal."

They shakily walked on to the stage, and inwardly sighed with relief that they couldn't actually see the crowd for the lights. They took up their positions, and the two urged Clare to introduce them, much to her horror. She wasn't much a fan of the public speaking.

"OK," she began, deciding to be her usual honest, "You'll love us or hate us, but we're gonna give it our best shot. Without further adue, take it away Johnny!"

So they started. Warming up with a bass intro, after a few bars he was accompanied by Bonnie on the keyboard, but before Clare came in with her part, she looked out to the masses once more.

"We're Regeneration, and we call this song, Superstition." Then it was her turn with the guitar, as The Doctor tentatively started singing.

"I refuse to fall,

I will not trip

My senses tell me to get a grip,

Forget the black cats,

Number thirteen,

They're all stories to make a scene,"

The audience weren't quite sure how to take them, it was a wholly different sound, almost from another planet, but they couldn't deny, it did have a kind of ring to it. It was an interesting topic, and they were all wondering where they were going to go with it. At the crowd's approving murmurs, the 'band' looked at each other with surprise.

"Superstition, apparition

Broken mirrors and premonition

Ignore the stories

And face the truth,

Don't be naïve,

It's just uncouth,"

Oh, they liked that. They liked it a lot. They suddenly started screaming and cheering, and the girls couldn't stop the hugest of grins creeping on to their faces. The Doctor danced, now he sung, and the adrenalin from being the centre of attention was kicking in. They even dared do their own bits, harmonies and chords, and it all fit together wonderfully. The Doctor turned to Bonnie and Clare, urging them to sing along. Neither of them particularly wanted to, but what the hell.

"Truly I tell you,

Believe in us,

Play it cool and stop making a fuss,

Just ignore the hype,

Step on the cracks,

Feel free to walk on your own track,"

It was then things started seeming a little fuzzier, a little less bright, and quieter. Panicky, they all looked around at each other, the smiles off their faces. Something had gone wrong, this wasn't supposed to happen. They knew it. They tried to carry on, but the chorus got slower and slower.

"Superstition, apparition,

Broken mirrors and premonition,

Ignore the stories

And face the truth,

Don't be naïve,

It's just uncouth,"

The crowd were antsy too, the symptoms were very familiar. There was an ear-piercing shriek, and the crowd already started running out of the doors, the band saw the creatures coming at them, and then slumped to the floor, their vision blurring. The last thing they heard and saw was a wail from the speakers as they exploded, showering them, and then it was all darkness.

Clare slowly opened her eye and moaned; parts of her body were aching. She was covered by bits and pieces of the speakers. It took her a second to realize what had just happened. Somewhere distant she could hear sirens, but in fact they were close. She moved into a sitting position, searching for the other two. They were scattered with debris from the speakers too. Then the Doctor moved a bit better than she had done herself. He wiped the pieces off him as if they were just dust. Paramedics entered the club now hurrying towards them.

"Sir, you're going to have to sit down." A paramedic told the Doctor, who had climbed to his feet.

"Why? Is there something wrong with me?" The Doctor acted shocked.

"Well, that's what I want to find out."

"No need, lad." He patted the man on the back, a big grin at his face. "I'm right as rain."

A paramedic was also leant over Bonnie, who was bleeding slightly on the head. Then the paramedic who had told the Doctor to sit down started examining Clare, but he soon found that she was okay, apart from some minor cuts and bruises. She hurried toward Bonnie, who was conscious now.

"You okay?"

"That didn't go so well then, did it?" Bonnie said with a slight smile and Clare couldn't help but laugh slightly.

The paramedic put a plaster over Bonnie's head after he'd cleaned it. Then he asked if she was hurt anywhere else and she shook her head.

"Alright, let's go then." The Doctor grabbed their hands and hurried to the door. Bonnie stopped.

"Our instruments!" He sighed while Bonnie and Clare hurried back.

"Oh no! Clare had found her guitar but the neck of it was dangling down, only still hanging on the strings. Bonnie's keyboard had dents in it but apart from that there was nothing serious.

"Come on!" urged the Doctor, apparently he was getting impatient.

After annoyed looks from the girls, they followed him with their instruments. It wasn't going to be easy to get away; a police officer came towards them.

"I need your statements." Bonnie rolled her eyes so he couldn't see it.

"We came, we sang, we didn't quite conquer?" Bonnie said with a shrug. The policeman quirked his brow.

"Look, we were unconscious. We didn't see anything." Clare said, hoping they could get away quickly.

"But, tell me what happened before the speakers exploded…"

"Personally, I felt like I was gonna pass out." shrugged Clare. "Like when you suddenly get up too fast." she turned to the others, "You?"

"Yeah… And I felt so tired…" Bonnie added.

"Then there were these creatures…" Clare told the policeman.

"And then… nothing. All went black." The policeman nodded.

"Can you describe the creatures?"

"Like… a cross between gargoyles and bats…" Bonnie said with a frown upon her face, pretending to be trying hard to describe them.

"Alright, that's enough."

The three turned around, running off before someone else might question them. The TARDIS was in an alley further down the road and they had to press themselves through a crowd. Some people recognized them and tried to talk to them, but they hurried on until they were inside the TARDIS.

"Ok." said Clare, staring lamely at her crushed guitar, "Now you owe me noodles and a new guitar."

"What the heck went wrong there?" asked Bonnie.

"Hey, don't ask me." replied Clare, "Ask the tenor over there. Nice voice, by the way."

"Thanks." The Doctor seemed kind of embarrassed. He pressed a button on the screen, heading straight for the news channel. "Let's see…"

Both girls looked over his shoulders to see what was being said. It was really odd, seeing themselves on the television screen. Even odder, was the fact that the monsters were barely mentioned at all. Instead, half a dozen or so critics were talking about this mysterious band, popping up from nowhere, and knocking the club off its feet they were so good.

Clare just blinked, "Were they listening to the same thing as us?"

"Oh yes." grinned the Doctor, "Great, isn't it?"

"Be better if we hadn't passed out before the end and had a speaker explode on us." pointed out Bonnie.

"Wow, Little Miss Optimist I see."

They turned the news off, it wasn't really helping them with the creature coverage. Clare yawned, and logged on to her laptop. Her eyes practically popped out of her head. They had 5000 new e-mails, and at least a thousand new members suddenly signing up to the site that needed to be approved. That was gonna take a while to wade through.

"Bloody hell." breathed Clare, "Looks like you're a star in your own right Doctor."

"Naturally." he grinned.

"Anything useful?" asked Bonnie.

"Uhm…" she clicked on the first e-mail, so she could scroll down. "Wow. Some good pictures here…someone wanting us to start a fan club…" she laughed at the next, "One asking when our single is coming out." She stopped, her finger hovering over the touch pad, "Hello, what's this?"

"What's what?" asked the Doctor.

It was an e-mail from someone who had evidently done their research. Apparently, these strange creatures seemed to have appeared before. A long time ago, further back than Bonnie and Clare had looked in to. They were staring at an artist's rendering, of the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. It seemed to show the Tabre Cutrea flying out of the meteor. The theory was that the few species that survived, were wiped out, by a huge shockwave emitted by them, when they had gathered enough power. But the power exhausted them, and they went in to hiding to recover. Wow. That explained a lot.

"We're so screwed." said Clare plainly.

"Ah, minor inconvenience!" waved off the Doctor.

"Inconvenience?!" she argued, "We didn't beat them, and now we're gonna be the next dinosaurs."

The two girls looked at him in disbelief, but he wasn't concentrating on them. Instead, he was charting the course of the meteor and the flight path of the Tabre Cutrea. He seemed to be using his screwdriver as a kind of measure, reeling off angles and numbers to himself, that the girl's didn't understand. A little while later, he had mapped out his plan. As he turned around eagerly to face the girls, he found them fast asleep, leaning against the railings by him. He felt a sudden rush of a tenderness towards them. They were only human, and young girls at that, but they were pushing themselves to the limit for the greater good. Sighing, and realising he was tired himself, he sat down by them, staring up at the ceiling as he leaned his elbows on his knees, and his head against the rails.

Bonnie's head slipped off the railing and she woke up, startled. She blinked a couple of times and climbed to her feet. She looked at the Doctor and Clare, they were still both asleep. Then she looked at her watch, and saw that it was early, too early. Though she didn't feel like sleeping anymore. She looked around and then got an idea; she was inside the TARDIS, so why not check it out? As she made her way towards the bit that led into some rooms, she almost tripped over something and it made a clattering noise. She looked back, hoping that she hadn't woken anyone up.

The Doctor stirred, but he didn't wake up. Clare on the other hand opened her eyes.

"What's going on? What time is it?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"It's early. I thought I could check out the rest of the TARDIS." Bonnie said, a slight grin at her face.

Clare was immediately awake and she tiptoed towards her friends, joining her. They both walked out of the panel room to check out the rooms. They found that it was huge, even bigger than they'd imagined. And they only hoped that'd be able to find the way out.

The Doctor woke up and stretched his arms, finding that the girls had disappeared. He frowned slightly and walked outside, looking around. Of course they were still in the alley and he doubted that the girls had gone outside. Nonetheless he called for them.

"Clare?" No answer.

"Bonnie?" Still no answer.

"Why do they always wander off?!" He said, an annoyed tone in his voice.

He stepped outside, closing the door behind him. He tried to think of where they could possibly be and figured that maybe they'd gone back to the club, for some reason. He headed out of the alley and towards the club, which was obviously closed. He pulled the doorknob; it was locked. There was no way they could be in there. Seeing as he had no idea where they could be he figured they were going to show up soon enough. He turned around and walked back to the TARDIS.

As he entered the girls just came walking into the panel room, giggling at something they'd seen. He raised his brow and they stopped, smiling innocently. Bonnie started pointing all around her as she explained.

"We were just checking out your… uh… spaceship." Clare nodded a confirmation.

"Well, next time, don't do that." The Doctor simply said. "Now then. Chinese." He pulled a lever with a grin.

"Chinese? For breakfast?!" Bonnie grabbed the railing.

"Well, why not?"

"You just don't eat Chinese at nine in the morning. You're mad."

That was meant for both Clare and the Doctor, while Clare obviously had no objections at eating Chinese for breakfast. The TARDIS stopped and Bonnie fell backwards as she had been caught off guard. She climbed to her feet and rolled her eyes as Clare and the Doctor made for the door. She followed.

They were seated in the back of the restaurant and one of the waiters had just brought them five different dishes. Clare had started to dish up some food on her plate, the Doctor was obviously still trying to decide what to eat and Bonnie started to put some food on her plate too, having decided that she was actually a bit hungry. Clare and Bonnie started eating, while the doctor was fiddling with the chopsticks, trying to work out how to use them.

"Argh!" He dropped them down and waved his hand to the waiter.

"Do you have normal cutlery too?" Annoyance was audible in his voice.

"Yes, sir."

Soon the waiter returned with a fork and knife and the doctor started eating too, while Bonnie and Clare had almost finished their first portion. They dished up again. Bonnie snatched the last sate away before the Doctor's nose and before he had time to protest she had already taken a bite.

"For someone who didn't want to have Chinese for breakfast, you're sure eating a lot." The Doctor commented.

"For someone who's been around nearly a millennium, you'd think you'd know how to use chopsticks." she shot back.

The Doctor stared at her, "Touché. But it's a tricky skill to learn, I'm more scientifically inclined than culinary. Like…"

He turned to Clare to back up his point, but she'd just finished a mouthful of chow mein, and just kind of stared sheepishly at him, as she put the bowl down and the chopsticks in it.

"Sorry." She shrugged, "Well, that's your noodle debt paid off." The Doctor gave a look that said the penny from earlier had dropped, "But you still owe me a guitar."

"About that…" he replied sheepishly.

But his words were drowned out by a scream and a crash as someone ran in to the waitress, who then dropped the tray she was carrying, that landed on a woman's head as she grabbed hold of the woman's husband's chair to stay upright.

"You! It's you! From last night!" cried one of them.

All three of the crew blanched as a group of about half a dozen girls suddenly came running for them, waving pads of paper. They stared at each other in disbelief, and then they overheard the one that had ran in to the waitress say something about getting their autographs before they were famous, and selling them on E-Bay.

"Cheque please!" called Bonnie immediately.

The Doctor actually had money on him for a change, having planned ahead. He left a large tip, and the three of them sped out of the restaurant, deliberately dodging through groups of people so the six 'fans' would have difficulty catching up. It was surreal, and scarier than any alien. They backed up on themselves to confuse them, and ducked in to a side road, it was rather cartoonesque.

"I'm scared." said Clare, afraid of the surreal aspect, not just of the girls.

"You're scared? I'd rather face the Autons again." replied the Doctor.

"Yea, me too." She agreed. They both looked at her sceptically, "I happened to be visiting my uncle when they attacked." she shrugged.

"Oh, hey, look."

Clare and The Doctor turned as Bonnie pointed behind them. The side road they were on had a few shops scattered about it. The one they had paused in front of, happened to be a music store. The Doctor groaned, but both girls were already pressing their noses up against the glass, admiring the instruments

"Yes, they're very nice. But we have a world to save, if you don't mind." sighed the Doctor.

"Speaking of. How exactly are we going to do that?" asked Clare.

"It didn't work last time." Bonnie folded her arms.

"If at first you don't succeed." The Doctor grinned brightly at them, "Come on."

The pair sighed as he darted off again, and followed him back to the Tardis. They strolled casually along the high street, glancing in all of the shops and some of the street performers. Even the Doctor seemed to be quite interested. He'd often saved London from destruction, but he'd never really enjoyed an alien free day sight seeing. Clare insisted that they go back via her uncle's house, as she wanted to shower and change clothes. They did so, but before long, two of them were sitting on the floor of the TARDIS again, Bonnie and Clare typing manically away at computers, and the Doctor was fiddling with something in the back room.

"I don't get it." sighed Clare, "By all intents and purposes, the speaker thing should have worked. Unless we over estimated their hearing range."

"Say what?" Bonnie asked, only half listening.

"The signal was set deliberately high pitched to confuse them. But, maybe they couldn't hear it."

"That's a fair point." Bonnie nodded. "I was thinking the same. The distance was about right, but maybe the direction?"

They heard a muted shout, and instantly wondered what it was. They stood up, peering in to the back from, either side of the door, a complete mirror image. They saw the Doctor, sucking his thumb, but his back was to them, and there was something on the floor in front of him.

"You ok?" Bonnie asked, "We heard you shout or something."

"Yea, I'm fine. Just a bit of a shock." He turned around to see them.

"What are you doing exactly?" Clare asked.

"Tweaking." Was the answer.

Curious, the two girls wandered over, and it took a second to realise what was going on. In front of him, were the very guitar and keyboard the two of them had been eyeing back at the store. Right down to the maker's name on the neck of the guitar, and the side of the keyboard. They just kind of stared at them, and the Doctor was quietly pleased with himself, for once having shut them up.

"They're for you. I do owe you them after all." he explained.

The girls squealed unanimously in excitement, rushing forward and flinging their arms around his neck either side, hugging him. He laughed, they were just like children, and hugged them back. He nodded towards them, meaning for them to take a look.

"You're a star. A total star." Clare beamed.

"I know." he winked.

"Thank you so much!" cried Bonnie.

"Watch out for the 'A's. They seem to be quite temperamental."

"Oh, by the way, we just wondered something." began Bonnie.

The Doctor didn't hear her though, he was back to fiddling with the strings on the bass he'd got to match them, having left his instrument back at the club when they were attacked. He pushed his glasses up his nose, talking to them without turning around.

"I worked out what must be wrong." He stated, "I think the signal was above their hearing range. It needs to be lowered, so humans can't hear it, but the Tabre Cutrea can. I thought maybe adjusting the instruments to set it off at a certain point might be useful too, as vertical didn't work as well." He looked up then, "What were you wondering?"

"Oh. Nothing." smiled Clare. "Good idea."

"We'd never have thought of it." Bonnie added.

"Liar." said the Doctor softly, but looked at them, impressed.

All the three needed now was a gig, but they weren't sure how to get it this time. They were strolling down a street with shops, Clare and Bonnie fantasizing about what they could do with the money they would get if they were actually famous. The Doctor was just looking around a bit and smiling at some of the stuff the girls said.

"I'd buy a limo!" Clare said after a while.

"Speaking of…" The Doctor pointed down the end of the street.

There it was; a limo. A long black vehicle, exactly as you'd see on television, except this one was real. It had tinted windows, to prevent the celebrities from getting photographed. Clare stared at it, while Bonnie had a look of desire.

"I so want to sit in one!"

Then something strange happened. The limo pulled up, to everyone's surprise, next to them. The window of the driver was lowered and he looked directly at them. Clare and Bonnie looked behind them to see if he really started talking to them.

"Get in."

"Ask and you shall receive." The Doctor opened the door with a grin and the girls got in without hesitating.

Inside was the manager of Untold Variety, holding a glass of whiskey. He nodded to them as they got in. The driver started driving again.

"A drink?" a grin spread across Bonnie's face but it disappeared as Clare prodded her on the arm.

"You're underage." she mumbled, having seen through her.

"Am not."

"Here you are." Clare muttered back to her.

"Fine." she crossed her arms and watched as the Doctor took a small glass of whiskey from the manager.

"I have seen you perform and I must say, I was impressed. The crowd had a blast." he then added, "No pun intended. It was unfortunate that you never got to play till the end. This is why I want to make you a deal." the three were listening carefully.

"You can take it, or leave it and continue walking."

Clare didn't seem to like this idea of walking, seeing as she was inside a limo, something she'd always wanted to do.

"What is this deal?" The Doctor again, sipping his whiskey.

"Perform at Untold Variety tonight."

The three exchanged meaningful looks with each other, but they pretended to have to think about it.

"We will pay you."

"Deal." The Doctor shook hands with the manager, grinning broadly. Clare and Bonnie smiled at each other.

The limo dropped them off at Clare's uncle's house so that they could get ready. They'd even get picked up again that night and, to Clare's delight, in a limo.

Bonnie decided to make them some dinner, just eggs, seeing as that was about the only thing she could do, while Clare and the Doctor disappeared into the Tardis. After ten minutes Bonnie was done and she went to find the other two in the Tardis. Clare was playing something on the guitar while the Doctor was doing the same at the keyboard, apparently they were writing a new song.

"Listen to this." Clare said when she'd seen Bonnie enter.

They started playing a rhythm and a smile appeared at Bonnie's face.

"It's great. But dinner's getting cold."

They both followed her inside the house. They didn't say much while they were eating. Clare and Bonnie were getting slightly nervous for tonight. What if things would go wrong again?

After dinner they practised the song for a while, and then the girls went upstairs, much to the Doctor's annoyance, to get ready. A car picked their instruments up so they could get placed on the stage already. Handy, thought the Doctor as he handed the tweaked instruments over.

After what seemed like hours, but was in fact only half an hour the girls came down, both dressed in jeans. Clare was wearing a black top with a red print on it, while Bonnie was wearing a red top with a black print on it. They then went to sit in the living room, waiting for the limo that would pick them up.

"Is there any way it can go wrong?" wondered Bonnie.

"Well… Technically it shouldn't."

"But it's possible."

"Only 0.1 percent." the Doctor said with a slight grin.

The limo arrived shortly; it seemed to be the same one as that afternoon, but they weren't exactly sure. This time it was empty, seeing as only the driver had come to pick them up. Clare looked out of the window while Bonnie fiddled with the watch around her wrist. The Doctor was checking out all the bottles in the mini-bar.

"Do you reckon anyone would come to see us perform?" Bonnie stopped fiddling with her watch.

"I think so yeah." He stared out the window, pointing.

In front of the club was a huge crowd, all pushing and shouting to see the limo, and the people inside of course. The limo stopped and the crowd gathered at either side of the door. In the middle was a red carpet, like you'd see on television. The two girls stared out of the window too, blocking the Doctor's view now.

"That's for us?" Clare said with wide-open mouth.

"Yep." the Doctor confirmed cheerfully.

The limo pulled up and it was then that Clare started getting a bit nervous; she was the first to get out. As she stepped outside, the crowd started cheering. Bonnie had to prod Clare in the back to get her to walk so she could get out. The Doctor followed and closed the car door. The crowd was going mad; it was like they were so famous already, when actually they had only performed once.

After twenty minutes, the crowd had gathered inside and Regeneration was standing on the stage, holding their instruments. They'd managed to whip up a whole set between them, and the time flew by as they came to their well known number, the finale.

"Superstition, apparition,

Broken mirrors and premonition,

Ignore the stories

And face the truth,

Don't be naïve

It's just uncouth."

There were no shrieks, like last time at this same point. The band members felt energetic as ever. However, the monsters appeared, right above the crowd. For a moment some of them started screaming, but then they realized that there was no harm. The reason for this was that the monsters were frozen in mid-air. The three looked at each other, a smile at each of their faces.

Stand out from the crowd,

"World, here I am,

I'm gonna do the best that I can,

Werewolves don't scare me,

Vampires won't bite,

I'm gonna be me, and I'll take flight."

Last time they didn't get to do this, they never had the time to finish their whole song, but now they knew everything would work perfectly fine.

Superstition, apparition,

Broken mirrors and premonition,

Ignore the stories,

And face the truth,

Don't be naïve,

It's just uncouth.

The Tabre Cutrea started moving again, and shrieks filled the room as the last note was played. Yet the crowd didn't seem afraid, they seemed to be aware of the fact that they were of no harm anymore. They cheered, shouted and whistled. 'Encore!' They called as one. Clare, Bonnie and the Doctor looked at each other, grins at their faces. Clare struck the first note, followed by Bonnie's keyboard and the Doctor's bass. Then the singing started.

"We won't give you a second chance,

So don't you dare come back,

Keep on flying my less-than-friend,
Because you're on a downhill track.

We're the defenders of this earth,

We'll keep it safe from you,

Watch us as we rally the ranks,

We'll be there to see it through."

The crowd seemed to love the song and they weren't aware of the fact that it was actually a warning. Not hidden in the sound waves this time, but just words, meant for the Tabre Cutrea.

"Keep on flying,

There's no denying,

We're gonna throw your stride,

Keep on flying,

You ain't surviving,

We'll spread this song world wide.

We won't feed you our future songs,

Our strength's not yours to take,

We're not afraid of you no more,

To challenge us was your mistake,

We're not as easy to push around,

As you seem to believe,

Rest assured we will stand our ground,

And you betcha, you will leave."

And they did. The Doctor jumped and fell to his knees, adding in a solo while the Tabre Cutrea flew circles and then disappeared like they had never been there.

"Keep on flying,

There's no denying,

We're gonna throw your stride,

Keep on flying,

You ain't surviving,

We'll spread this song world wide."

The screeches died out as the song did. The three of them were greeted by manic shouting, cheering and screams. Girls reached out to try and touch the Doctor's coat, and guys kept asking Clare and Bonnie to marry them. Security had to be stepped up as the fans tried to get on the stage. When things had calmed down some, Bonnie and the Doctor poked Clare to send them off.

"Wow. You're one heck of a crowd." she said with a grin, "Ladies and Gentlemen. We are Regeneration!" the crowd cheered again, "Thank you, and GOOD NIGHT!"

The three of them bowed, before disappearing backstage. They breathed a sigh of relief as the technical crew, make up artists and the like cheered them on and told them how fantastic they were. The adrenalin was still pumping around their veins, but they were glad it was over. Clare turned to the Doctor.

"I bet you've never faced anything like that before." she pointed out.

"True enough." he agreed.

"Can we go home now?" asked Bonnie. "These shoes are killing me."

"Amen to that." Clare held something up, and it was the sandals she had been wearing. The pair stared at her. "I know, I know. I'm not the tallest person in the world."

"The attitude more than makes up for that." said the Doctor innocently.

"Should I be offended?"

"Call it a backhanded compliment."

She shot him a dirty look, threatening to hit him with her shoes, but he just laughed, and ducked out of the way. The three of them slipped their instruments on their backs, walking along together in a line, like the Wizard of Oz or something. As advised by one of the assistants, they took the fire escape, to avoid being thrust in to a crowd. But they were wise to that, and as soon as they stepped outside the door, two security guards stood in front of them, now body guards. It took them another hour to make their way through everyone back to the limo. They got back to Clare's uncle's house, and simultaneously put their instruments down, flopping on to the sofa, exhausted.

"Not that I'm complaining, but were we really good enough to merit all that, after two shows?" queried Bonnie.

"I was wondering the same." commented Clare.

"I may be biased, but I say we were fantastic." The Doctor smirked. "However, I did notice the first message, that didn't reach the creatures, reached the audience. Unleashed some kind of happy chemical reaction in the brain. Naturally, they would want that again. But still, they enjoyed themselves tonight, no subliminal messages needed."

"We rock." Bonnie gave the broadest of grins.

Clare wandered over and flipped open her laptop. They didn't need to ask what she was doing, they had already guessed as soon as she clicked to open the internet. She was posting on the blog, to show the members they still cared.

Encore

It's ok ladies and gents, and anyone else out there. We're still alive. Just about. Thanks for all your e-mails and messages checking we were ok. Just bits of speaker showering us, nothing to worry about. Yes, those of you that asked, it really was the Doctor with us. He's right now sitting in my uncle's living room with Bonnie and me. I can scarcely believe all that's happened lately. My brain is struggling to catch up!

I'll answer the question you've all be bombarding us with, already. That was fast, we only just got home! Yes, the monsters are gone, the Doctor saved our asses again. He has one helluva voice, huh?;-) Who knew Time Lords could play the bass? Many thanks to mrsdoctor for sending us this picture, you must be brave, going to see your lovely webmistresses attempt to be a band.

Moving swiftly on…for the songs, I dunno, maybe we'll put them on myspace. Don't expect any albums though. Just know that we're safe, and you and I both know we always will be, huh? I'm knackered, so I'm off to sleep. Goodnight and take care!

C 

"Blimey, is that really what I look like from that side?" came a voice behind her.

She jumped a mile, which caused Bonnie to start giggling manically, Clare rolled her eyes at the Doctor, who was now paranoid, and struggling to see his reflection in the laptop monitor. She snapped it shut with a smirk, then stood up, stretching and yawning.

"We should probably go sleep." pointed out Bonnie, as her friend looked like she felt, "It's been a really long few days."

"Not a bad idea that." The Doctor smiled.

However, Clare seemed to have other ideas. She shook her head, serious all of a sudden, and looking rather like a child. Bonnie raised an eyebrow at her, mentally asking her what was wrong.

"We go to bed, he'll be gone in the morning." Clare nodded towards the Doctor.

The Doctor looked like he'd been caught doing something wrong. Wow, they really did know him. He turned to them, and Clare folded her arms. Bonnie just kind of stared at him, suddenly feeling the same thing her friend was. She didn't want him to go. They'd never see him again.

"You wouldn't leave without saying goodbye, would you?" Bonnie queried, appealing to his emotions.

"I…uh…"

"We could go with you!" voiced Clare hopefully. "We're on summer holidays…we don't have to worry about school or anything…well, I don't anyway…but…"

The Doctor was secretly delighted. He had wanted to spend more time with them. They were bright, and he wouldn't have to start from scratch. Plus, he quite liked their company, it was an achievement for a couple of teenage girls to impress a Time Lord so much. He stared at their eager faces.

"She's right. She doesn't even have school any more. We'll be good, promise." persuaded Bonnie.

"Besides…don't you get lonely, with only your TARDIS for company?" pressed Clare.

"You know, between you, you could probably write my biography." The Doctor smiled.

"We've already started." Clare winked, pointing to the laptop behind them.

There was a resounding silence for a few minutes. He really did want to talk to them more, and show them the things available to them. What better time to travel than when you were young?

"Grab your instruments. They might be useful."

The girls squealed simultaneously, and both rushed forward, almost knocking him over with their enthusiasm. He put an arm around each of them, suddenly feeling like he had just gained two teenage sisters. Now that would be an adventure.

All the members of the website woke up that morning, knowing something was different. They all seemed to log in at the same time, and there was a new notice up.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Gone on vacation, be back soon.

Much love, Bonnie and Clyde x

The cursor on Clare's uncle's desktop computer flickered in a dark, empty room, as the sound of the TARDIS engines disappeared.