The TARDIS Crew
Chapter 1: The Eleventh Hour
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.
This is the sequel to Dame Rose of TARDIS. You can check that out first if you want. And if you don't want to, here are some pointers. The Vixen is the Time Lord version of Rose Tyler. The Vixen was born on Galifrey and Rose Tyler had a fob watch. There you go.
PREVIOUSLY
The Doctor and the Vixen's new bodies screamed and gasped before taking inventory. The Vixen muttered, "Okay. Okay. Legs. Arms. Hands. Fingers. Ears. Eyes." She looked in a piece of broken glass. "Electric blue! Nice to have a change. They're always gold. Hope no one will be too creeped out by them. What's up with my voice? Martha Jones. Donna Noble. Oh. Southern accent. Nice. That's new." She touched her nose. "Nose. Chin. Hair." She touched the nape of her neck and exclaimed, "Short hair! Never had that before." She pulled her bangs in front of her eyes. "And blonde again?! Something's wrong here. I'm always blonde!" The Doctor said, "Legs. I've still got legs, good." He kissed his knee. "Arms. Hands. Ooh, fingers, lots of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose, I've had worse. Chin, blimey. Hair..." He ran his hand through longer hair. "I'm a girl!" The Vixen muttered, "I hope not." The Doctor felt his Adam's apple and said, "No! No... I'm not a girl." He pulled his hair in front of eyes. "And still not ginger! And something else, something important, I'm, I'm... I'm..." Something exploded and the Vixen shouted, "Crashing!" The TARDIS tumbled back to Earth. The Doctor whooped in excitement, "Geronimo!" The Vixen fell to the floor.
The TARDIS flew out of control over London. The center console sparked and the room was in flames. The newly-regenerated Doctor hung out the doorway, the newly-regenerated Vixen sprawled on the TARDIS floor, holding onto him, her sonic in her mouth. Her short hair ruffled in the wind as she began to pull the Doctor into the TARDIS. The Doctor turned at the sound of a bell and saw that he was about to hit Big Ben. The Vixen looked up and used her screwdriver on the controls. The Doctor slipped out again as the TARDIS sped up, narrowly missing the top of the tower. The Vixen pulled him inside, closed the doors and fell against them with a sigh. The TARDIS lurched and spun out of control.
DW?DW?DW?
A child's windmill was turning. In a modest house a young ginger haired girl was kneeling beside her bed, eyes closed, saying her prayers.
"Dear Santa, thank you for the dolls and pencils and the fish." She said. "It's Easter now, so I hope I didn't wake you. But honest, it is an emergency. There's a crack in my wall." She turned to a wall where there was a crack spreading across it. "Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but... I know it's not, because, at night, there's voices. So please, please, could you send someone to fix it? Or a policeman. Or..." The sound of the TARDIS materializing could be heard. Then a crash and glass breaking. The young girl turned her head towards the window. "Back in a moment."
She got up from the floor, picked up a torch from the nightstand, ran to the window and pulled back the curtain to look outside. The TARDIS had materialized on its side and knocked down part of the shed. There was smoke rising from it. The girl looked up at the sky. "Thank you, Santa." She whispered.
DW?DW?DW?
The girl stepped outside wearing a red jacket and matching wellies. By the light of the torch, she made her way through to where the TARDIS had crashed. The doors suddenly opened at the top and a rope with a grappling hook was thrown out. It latched onto a lawn roller. The girl watched as first one hand then the other came over the edge followed by the Vixen's head. The Doctor's head followed.
"Can I have an apple?" The Doctor asked. "All I can think about - apples. I love apples. And kissing Vixen." The Vixen slapped his arm, almost losing her balance. "Maybe I'm having a craving. That's new - never had cravings before."
The Vixen straddled the side and looked back inside the TARDIS. "Whoa!" She exclaimed. "Look at that! Can I have an apple as well?"
The girl asked, "Are you OK?"
The Vixen helped the Doctor onto the edge and put both legs over the side, sitting on the edge. "Just had a fall." She said. "All the way down there, right to the library. Hell of a climb back up."
"You're soaking wet." The girl said.
"We were in the swimming pool." The Doctor replied.
"You said you were in the library." The girl said.
"So was the swimming pool." The Vixen said.
"Are you two policemen?" The girl shook her head and asked.
"Why?" The Doctor asked. "Did you call a policeman?"
"Did you come about the crack in my wall?" The girl asked.
"What cra...?" The Vixen started but fell to the ground. "Agh!" The Doctor jumped down to help her but stumbled and fell to his knees. They both wore torn clothes.
"Are you all right, miss?" The girl asked.
The Vixen knelt and helped the Doctor up. "No, I'm fine, it's OK." She said. "This is all perfectly norm..." She opened her mouth and released regeneration energy. The Doctor coughed out some energy as well.
"Who are you?" The girl asked.
The Vixen shrugged, energy rising from her hands. "We don't know yet." She replied. "We're still cooking."
The Doctor asked, "Does it scare you?"
"No, it just looks a bit weird."
"No, no, no." The Doctor said. "The crack in your wall. Does it scare you?"
"Yes." The girl replied.
The Vixen and the Doctor jumped up. The Vixen said, "Well, then, no time to lose. I'm the Vixen. This is the Doctor."
The Doctor said, "Do everything we tell you, don't ask stupid questions and don't wander off."
The Vixen said, "Don't pay any attention to him. He makes up rules just so he can break them himself."
The Doctor protested, "I do not!"
The Vixen shrugged and strode away, right into a tree, knocking her to the ground.
The girl asked, "You all right?"
The Vixen replied, lying on the ground, "Early days. Steering's a bit off." The Doctor helped her up.
DW?DW?DW?
The Doctor and the Vixen stood in the little girl's kitchen, looking around.
The girl asked, giving each of them an apple, "If you're a doctor, why does your box say "Police"?"
The Vixen took a bite of the apple she offered, chewed it and then spat it out before coughing. "That's disgusting." She asked. "What is that?"
The Doctor took a bite and said, "Tastes fine to-" He chewed a bit then spit it out. "No. Awful. What is it?"
"An apple." The girl replied.
"Apples are rubbish." The Vixen said. "We hate apples."
The girl said, "You said you loved them."
The Doctor said, "No, no, I love yoghurt. I don't know about you, Vixen but yoghurt's my favourite. Give me yoghurt."
The Vixen said, "I'll pass, thanks."
The girl ran to the fridge and got the Doctor a yoghurt. He opened the container and poured some of it into his mouth. He spat that out as well.
The Vixen snapped, "That's disgusting. Gimme that. It's not that bad." She took the container from him and ate some. She swallowed and shuddered. "I was right. It's not that bad. It's the worst thing in all of creation."
The Doctor said, "I hate yoghurt, it's just stuff with bits in."
"You said it was your favourite." The girl said.
The Doctor said, "New mouth, new rules."
The Vixen wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. She said, "It's like eating after cleaning your teeth, everything tastes wro-agh!" She had a small fit. The Doctor shuddered and coughed out more regeneration energy
"What is it?" The girl asked. "What's wrong with you?"
The Doctor asked, "Wrong with us? It's not our fault. Why can't you give us decent food? You're Scottish - fry something."
The girl turned on the stove and began to fry up bacon as the Doctor and the Vixen used towels to dry their hair.
The Vixen said, "Oh! Bacon!" She and the Doctor sat and the table and ate the bacon from plates and the girl watched with a laugh. The Doctor made a face and again spat out the food. The Vixen forked some into her mouth and chewed. She shrugged at first then spat the food out. "Bacon." She whispered. "That's bacon. Are you trying to poison us?"
The girl turned on the stove again and cooked some baked beans as the Doctor and the Vixen watched. The Doctor said, "Ah, you see, beans."
Once more at the table, the Doctor and the Vixen took a forkful of beans each. The Doctor promptly spat them into the sink as the poor girl and the Vixen made a face. The Doctor said, "Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans."
The Vixen said from the table, "Not so bad. Not my favourite, though."
Next, the girl simply spread butter over a slice of bread. The Doctor smirked, "Bread and butter. Now you're talking."
The Vixen said, "No thanks. None for me."
At the open door, the Doctor threw the plate outside. There was crash and a cat meow. "And stay out!" He closed the door behind him.
The girl looked in the fridge as the Doctor and the Vixen paced. The girl said, "We've got some carrots."
The Vixen walked over and asked, "Carrots? Are you insane? No, wait, hang on. I know what we need. We need... I need... we need..." She looked in both the fridge and freezer. "Fish fingers and custard." She took out both items.
DW?DW?DW?
Later, sitting at the table, the Doctor dipped a fish finger into a bowl of custard then took a bite. The Vixen sucked the custard off a fish finger. Across from them, the girl ate ice cream from the container. The Doctor then picked up the bowl and drank the custard from it. It left a moustache which he wiped away with his hand. The Vixen tried not to laugh.
The girl said, "Funny."
The Doctor asked, "Are we? Good. Funny's good."
The Vixen asked, "What's your name?"
The girl replied, "Amelia Pond."
The Doctor said, "Ah, that's a brilliant name. Amelia Pond, like a name in a fairy tale. Are we in Scotland, Amelia?"
Amelia replied, "No. We had to move to England. It's rubbish."
The Vixen asked, "So what about your mum and dad, then? Are they upstairs? Thought we'd have woken them by now."
Amelia said, "I don't have a mum and dad. Just an aunt."
The Doctor grinned, "We don't even have aunts."
Amelia said, "You're lucky."
The Vixen laughed, "We know. So, your aunt. Where is she?"
Amelia replied, "She's out."
The Doctor asked, surprised, "And she left you all alone?"
Amelia said, "I'm not scared."
The Vixen scoffed, "'Course you're not. You're not scared of anything! Box falls out of the sky, man and woman fall out of box, man and woman eat fish custard, and look at you, just sitting there. So you know what I think?"
Amelia asked, "What?"
The Vixen whispered, "Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall."
DW?DW?DW?
In Amelia's bedroom, the Vixen stood to the side with Amelia while the Doctor examined the crack. "You've had some cowboys in here." He said. "Not actual cowboys, though that can happen."
Amelia stood in the doorway, apple in her hand. "I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them." She handed the Vixen an apple with a smiley face carved into it.
The Vixen smiled, "She sounds good, your mum." She tossed the apple into the air and caught. "I'll keep it for later."
The Doctor said, "This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's a thing - where's the draught coming from?"
The Vixen sighed, "Come on. How hard is it to do this?" She walked up and ran the sonic screwdriver along the crack then checked the readings. "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. You know what the crack is?"
Amelia and the Doctor asked together, "What?"
The Vixen replied, "It's a crack." She ran her fingers along crack. "I'll tell you something funny. If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, 'cos the crack isn't in the wall."
Amelia asked, "Where is it, then?"
The Vixen explained, "Everywhere. In everything. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together...right here in the wall of your bedroom."
The Doctor pressed his ear against the wall. "Sometimes, can you hear…"
Amelia asked, "A voice? Yes."
The Vixen pressed her ear against the wall and heard an echoing voice. She took the water glass from the nightstand, poured out the water, then pressed it against the wall, and then her ear against the other end.
She muttered, "Prisoner Zero?"
Amelia said, "Prisoner Zero has escaped." That's what I heard. What does it mean?"
The Doctor and the Vixen stepped back from the wall. The Doctor said, "It means that, on the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner. Do you know what that means?"
"What?"
The Vixen replied, "You need a better wall." She and the Doctor moved her desk out of the way. "The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. Or..."
Amelia asked, "What?"
The Doctor said, "You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?"
"Yes."
The Vixen shrugged, "Everything's going to be fine."
The Vixen held out her hand and Amelia grasped it. The Doctor used the sonic screwdriver on the crack. Amelia peered around him as a bright light shone through the crack as it widened. In the dim light, they could see what looked to be cells.
The voice said, "Prisoner Zero has escaped." The Doctor took a step closer to the crack. "Prisoner Zero has escaped."
The Doctor called, "Hello? Hello?"
A giant blue eye peered at them through the crack. Amelia asked, "What's that?" A small ball of light or electricity shot out from the crack, struck the Doctor and he fell against the bed. The crack then sealed itself.
The Vixen helped the Doctor up. He said, "There. You see, told you it would close. Good as new."
Amelia asked, "What was that thing? Was that Prisoner Zero?"
The Doctor replied, "No. I think that was Prisoner Zero's guard. Whatever it was, it sent me a message. Psychic paper, takes a lovely little message. 'Prisoner Zero has escaped.' But why tell us? Unless..." He and the Vixen shared a look and stood up.
Amelia asked, "Unless what?"
The Vixen looked around and said, "Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here. But he couldn't have. We'd know." She ran out of the room. The Doctor and Amelia behind her. In the hall, she looked around, confused. "It's difficult. Brand-new me, nothing works yet. But there's something I'm missing... in the corner..." She turned to face one of the doors at the other end of the hall. The Doctor followed her gaze. "-of my eye." There was an echoing sound of machinery along with a deep bell.
The Doctor ran down the stairs. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" The Vixen and Amelia followed.
The Doctor and the Vixen ran outside. The Vixen said, "We've got to get back in there! The engines are phasing, it's going to burn!"
Amelia asked, "But... it's just a box! How can a box have engines?"
The Doctor freed the grappling hook and gathered the rope. "It's not a box. It's a time machine."
Amelia asked, disbelieving, "What, a real one? You've got a real time machine?"
The Vixen replied urgently, "Not for much longer if we can't get her stabilised. Five-minute hop into the future should do it." She looped the rope through the door handles.
Amelia asked hopefully, "Can I come?"
The Doctor replied, "Not safe in here, not yet." He hopped onto the edge and prepared to go inside.
The Vixen hopped on to the edge beside him and said, "Five minutes. Give us five minutes, we'll be right back."
Amelia said, dejected, "People always say that."
The Vixen jumped down to the ground and looked into Amelia's face. "Are we people?" She asked, smiling. "Do we even look like people? Do I even look like people? Trust me. Girl to girl, yeah? I'm the Vixen."
Amelia smiled and the Vixen climbed back onto the TARDIS next to the Doctor. The Doctor jumped in first. "Geronimo!" Holding onto the rope, the Vixen gave her a last look and nodded before jumping. The TARDIS doors slammed shut and Amelia watched as the TARDIS dematerialized.
DW?DW?DW?
The TARDIS materialized in Amelia's back garden. The door opened and the Doctor and the Vixen emerged amid billowing smoke, cloths held over their noses and mouths.
The Vixen shouted, "Amelia! Amelia!" She ran towards house, the Doctor in hot pursuit. "We worked out what it was. I know what I was missing! You've got to get out of there!" She used her screwdriver on door lock and smacked it when it didn't work. The Doctor tried with his and it opened after a few tries. "Amelia?" They ran upstairs. "Amelia, are you all right? Are you there?" The Vixen went immediately to the door that troubled her before and tried to open it with the screwdriver. "Prisoner Zero is here."
The Doctor tried to help her opening the door. He said, "Prisoner Zero is here! Prisoner Zero is here! Do you understand me? Prisoner Zero is..." He turned and was hit on the head with a cricket bat. The Vixen turned and got the same treatment.
DW?DW?DW?
The Vixen slowly came to, and, as her vision cleared, she saw a female police officer in a very short skirt speaking into her radio. "White male and female, mid-20s, breaking and entering. Send me some back-up, I've got them restrained." The Vixen shook the Doctor awake as the officer ended the conversation and saw they were awake. "Oi, you! Sit still."
The Doctor groaned, "Cricket bat. I'm getting cricket bat."
The Vixen replied, "Definitely cricket bat."
The officer said, "You were breaking and entering."
The Doctor tried to stand and found out he was handcuffed to the radiator. "Well, that's much better. Brand-new us, whack on the head. Just what we needed."
The officer asked, "Do you want to shut up now? I've got back-up on the way!"
The Vixen noted, "Hang on, no, wait - you're a policewoman."
The officer snapped, "And you're breaking and entering. You see how this works?"
The Vixen asked, "But what are you doing here? Where's Amelia?"
The officer asked, "Amelia Pond?"
The Doctor replied, "Yeah. Little Scottish girl. Where is she? We promised her five minutes but the engines were phasing. I suppose we must have gone a bit far. Has something happened to her?"
The officer said, "Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time."
The Doctor asked, "How long?"
The officer hesitated and replied, "Six months."
The Vixen tried to smack the Doctor and said, "No, no, no! Er can't be six months late! I said five minutes. I promised." She sniffed. The officer walked away, reaching for her radio. "What happened to her? What happened to Amelia Pond?"
The officer said into her radio. "Sarge, it's me again. Hurry it up, this pair knows something about Amelia Pond." The Doctor's gaze went past the officer to that same door from his last visit.
The Vixen snapped, "I need to speak to whoever lives in this house now."
The officer replied, "I live here."
The Doctor said, "But you're the police."
The officer replied, "Yes, and this is where I live. You got a problem with that?!"
The Vixen asked suddenly, "How many rooms?"
The officer asked in confusion, "I'm sorry, what?"
The Vixen asked, "On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now."
The officer asked, "Why?"
The Doctor replied, "Because it will change your life."
The officer pointed and replied, "Five. One, two, three, four, five."
The Vixen said, "Six."
"Six?"
The Doctor said, "Look."
The officer asked, "Look where?"
The Vixen snarled, "Exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look, the corner of your eye. Look behind you."
The officer slowly turned around and saw the door. "That's... That is not possible. How's that possible?"
The Vixen explained, "There's a perception filter round the door. Sensed it the last time I was here. Should've seen it."
The officer said, "But that's a whole room. That's a whole room I've never even noticed."
The Doctor said, "The filter stops you. Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding. You need to uncuff us now!"
The officer slowly began to walk down the hall towards the room. "I don't have the key. I lost it."
The Vixen shouted, "How can you have lost it?! Stay away from that door!" The officer kept walking. "Do not touch that door!" The officer put her hand on the doorknob. "Listen to me! Do not open that..." As the officer turned the doorknob, the Vixen asked the Doctor, "Why does no-one ever listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?" The officer slowly entered the room. "Again...?" The Vixen frantically searched her pockets. "My screwdriver, where is it? Doctor, where's yours?"
The Doctor searched his pockets and said, "I don't know. It's not here. Silver things, one's blue at the end, one's purple. Where did they go?"
The officer called from the room, "There's nothing here."
The Vixen said, "Whatever's there stopped you seeing the whole room. What makes you think you could see it? Now, please, just get out!"
The officer asked, "Silver, one's blue at the end, one's purple?"
The Doctor replied, "Our screwdrivers, yeah."
The officer said, "They're here."
The Vixen said, "Must have rolled under the door."
The officer replied, "Yeah. Must have. And then they must have jumped up on the table..."
The Doctor and the Vixen shared a look and shouted together, "Get out of there! Get out! Get out of there!" They stretched as far as they could with the handcuffs.
The Vixen asked, "What is it? What are you doing?"
The officer said, "There's nothing here, but..."
The Doctor said, "Corner of your eye."
The officer asked, "What is it?"
The Vixen said, "Don't try to see it. If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you. Don't look at it. Do not... look." They suddenly heard the officer scream. "Get out!"
The officer ran out of the room and down the hall to the pair. The Vixen snapped, "Give me that!" She took the screwdrivers and handed the Doctor his sonic. The Doctor used his on the door's lock while the Vixen used hers on the handcuffs, which didn't work. The Doctor tried his, which didn't work either. "What's the bad alien done to you?"
The officer asked, "Will that door hold it?"
The Vixen snapped sarcastically, "Oh, yeah, yeah, course! It's an inter-dimensional multi-form from outer-space - they're all terrified of wood."
A bright light flashed around the edges of the door. The officer asked, "What's that? What's it doing?"
The Doctor wiped his screwdriver with his finger, "I don't know, getting dressed? Run. Just go. Your back-up's coming, we'll be fine."
The officer said, "There is no back-up."
The Vixen looked up, surprised, "I heard you on the radio, you called for back-up."
"I was pretending. It's a pretend radio."
The Doctor said, "You're a policewoman."
The officer snapped, "I'm a kissogram!" She removed her hat and her ginger hair fell free. At that moment, the door to the mystery room fell into the hallway to show a man in blue coveralls holding the lead to a large Rottweiler. "But it's just..."
The Doctor said, "No, it isn't. Look at the faces."
The man growled and barked while the dog remained impassive. The woman asked, confused, "What? I'm sorry, but what?" She looked down at the Doctor and the Vixen.
The Vixen explained, as the man and the dog turned their heads in unison, "It's all one creature. One creature disguised as two. Clever old multi-form. A bit of a rush job, though. Got the voice a bit muddled, did you?"
The Doctor asked, "Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?"
The multi-form snarled and advanced on the trio. It opened his mouth showing sharp teeth. The Vixen snarled, "Stay, boy!" The creature halted its advance. "Him and her and me, we're safe. Want to know why? She sent for back-up."
The woman whispered, "I didn't send for back-up!"
The Vixen said, "I know, that was a clever lie to save our lives." She turned to the creature. "OK, yeah, NO back-up! And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we HAD back-up, then you'd have to kill us!"
A voice said, "Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."
The woman asked, "What's that?"
The Doctor replied, "That would be back-up. OK, one more time. We do have back-up and that's definitely why we're safe."
The voice said, "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."
The Vixen said, "Well, safe apart from, you know, incineration."
The creature turned into one of the other rooms off the hall. As the voice repeated its warning, the Doctor pounded the screwdriver on the floor in an attempt to get it to work. "Work, work, work. C'mon." The screwdriver made a sound and it started working. He used it on the handcuffs. It unlocked. "Run." He stood up and pulled the Vixen up with him. "Run!" The Vixen pushed the woman and the Doctor followed them down the stairs.
The Vixen, the Doctor and the woman ran outside and the Doctor tried to use the screwdriver on the door. The Vixen asked, "Kissogram?"
The woman replied, "Yes!"
The Vixen asked, "Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?"
The woman snapped, "You broke into my house! It was this or a French maid! What's going on? Tell me! Tell me!"
The Doctor and the Vixen walked to the TARDIS. The Doctor said, "An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house. Any questions?"
The woman replied, "Yes."
The Doctor replied, "Me too." The key to the TARDIS didn't work. "No, no, don't do that, not now! It's still rebuilding, not letting us in!"
"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." The creature, still in the form of the man and dog, watched from the window, barking at them.
The woman grabbed the Doctor and the Vixen by the arms. "Come on."
The Vixen resisted and said, "No, wait, hang on, wait, wait, wait. The shed." She ran to the garden shed. "We destroyed that shed last time we were here, smashed it to pieces."
The woman replied, "So there's a new one. Let's go."
The Doctor went to the shed and said, "But the new one's got old. It's ten years old at least." He sniffed the wood before rubbing his finger along the wood and tasting it. "12 years. We're not six months late, we're 12 years late."
The Vixen walked towards the woman, who said, "He's coming."
The Vixen snarled, her eyes glowing, "You said six months. Why did you say six months?"
The woman flinched and said, "We've got to go."
The Vixen snapped, "This matters. This is important. Why did you say six months?"
The woman asked, hurt, "Why did you say five minutes?!"
The Doctor and the Vixen asked, stunned, "What?"
The woman said, "Come on."
"What?"
The woman said again, "Come on!" She pulled them by the arm.
"What?"
The voice said, "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." They run out of the back garden past the creature who was standing at the door.
The Doctor stopped and faced Amelia. "You're Amelia."
Amelia kept walking. "You're late."
The Vixen said, "Amelia Pond, you're the little girl."
Amelia snapped, "I'm Amelia and you're late."
The Doctor asked, "What happened?"
Amelia replied, "12 years."
The Vixen said, "You hit us with a cricket bat."
"12 years."
The Vixen said again, "A cricket bat."
Amelia said, "12 years and four psychiatrists."
The Doctor asked, "Four?"
Amelia replied, embarrassed, "I kept biting them."
The Vixen asked, "Why?"
Amelia said, "They said you weren't real."
The voice said, over the speakers of an ice cream van, "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."
Amelia asked, "No, no, no, come on… What? We're being staked out by an ice-cream van?"
The Doctor headed for the van followed by Amelia and the Vixen. "What's that? Why are you playing that?"
The vendor replied, "It's supposed to be Claire De Lune."
The Doctor picked up the player and listened to the voice. "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."
The Vixen stepped away from the van and saw a jogger with a MP3 player recieving the message as well as a woman hearing it over her mobile.
Amelia asked, "Vixen, what's happening?" The Vixen and the Doctor leapt over a low white fence into a pretty front garden. Amelia ran around to the front.
DW?DW?DW?
A large blue eye filled the TV screen. A woman used the remote to change the channel but they all showed the same thing and said the same thing. The Doctor and the Vixen entered the front door closely followed by Amelia.
The Vixen said, "Hello! Sorry to burst in, we're doing a special on television faults in this area." She remembered Amelia's costume. "Also, crimes. Let's have a look."
The Doctor took the remote from the woman. "I was just about to phone." She said. "It's on every channel." She saw Amelia. "Hello, Amy, dear. Are you a policewoman now?"
Amelia replied, "Well, sometimes."
The woman said, "I thought you were a nurse."
"I can be a nurse."
The woman said, "Or, actually, a nun."
Amelia said, "I dabble."
The woman asked, "Amy, who are your friends?"
The Vixen asked, "Who's Amy? You were Amelia."
Amy replied, "Yeah, now I'm Amy."
The Doctor said, "Amelia Pond - that was a great name."
Amy replied, "Bit fairy tale."
The woman said, "I know you two, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before."
The Vixen replied, "Not us. Brand-new faces... First time on." She turned to Amy. "And what sort of job's a kissogram?"
Amy replied awkwardly, "I go to parties and I kiss people." She cleared her throat. "With outfits. It's a laugh."
The Vixen snarled, "You were a little girl five minutes ago."
Amy scoffed, "You're worse than my aunt."
The Vixen snapped, "I'm the Vixen, I'm worse than everybody's aunt."
The Doctor said to the woman, "And that is not how we're introducing ourselves." He picked up a radio and used the sonic screwdriver on it. They heard the same message about Prisoner Zero in French and German before it turned it off.
The Vixen said, "OK, so it's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world." She opened the window and looked up.
Amy asked, "What's up there? What are you looking for?" The sky was a clear blue with a few white clouds.
The Doctor said, "OK, planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core... They're going to need a 40% fission blast." A young man entered and the Doctor walked up to him. "But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium-sized starship, that's 20 minutes." The man was tall and the Doctor stood first on tip-toe and then back down. "What do you think, 20 minutes? Yeah, 20 minutes. We've got 20 minutes."
Amy asked, "20 minutes to what?"
The man asked the Vixen, "Are you the Vixen and the Doctor?"
The woman laughed, "They are, aren't they? They're the Vixen and the Doctor! The Raggedy Vixen and the Raggedy Doctor. All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Vixen and Doctor, it's them."
Amy said softly, "I know."
Doctor asked, bemused, "Cartoons?" He sat down on the couch.
The man said, "Gran, it's them, isn't it? It's really them!"
Amy snapped, "Jeff, shut up!" She asked the Vixen. "What's he talking about? 20 minutes to what?"
The "eye" was still on the TV, broadcasting its warning. The Vixen said, "The human residence. They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship and it's going to incinerate the planet. 20 minutes to the end of the world.
DW?DW?DW?
A young boy ran down the road with a toy helicopter. The Vixen, the Doctor and Amy were walking fast in the opposite direction.
The Doctor asked, "What is this place? Where are we?"
Amy replied, "Leadworth."
The Vixen asked, "Where's the rest of it?"
Amy said, "This is it."
The Doctor asked, "Is there an airport?"
"No."
"A nuclear power station?"
"No."
"Even a little one?"
"No."
The Vixen asked, "Nearest city?"
Amy replied, "Gloucester, half an hour by car."
The Doctor said, "We don't have half an hour. Do we have a car?"
"No."
The Vixen snarled, "Well, that's good! Fantastic, that is. 20 minutes to save the world and we've got a post office. And it's shut! WHAT is that?"
Amy replied, "It's a duck pond." She and the Doctor followed the Vixen to a small pond.
The Vixen asked, "Why aren't there any ducks?"
Amy shrugged, "I don't know. There's never any ducks."
"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?"
Amy replied, "It just is. Is it important, the duck pond?"
The Vixen had another regeneration tremor. She snapped, "I don't know. Why would I know?" She sat on the ground, clutching her chest.
The Doctor stumbled over to help her up but fell flat on his face. He said, "We're not ready, we're not done yet."
The sky darkened and the trio looked up. Amy asked, "What's happening? Why's it going dark?" The sun appeared grey and flickering before returning to close to normal. "So what's wrong with the sun?"
The Vixen replied, "Nothing. You're looking at it through a force-field. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere, now they're getting ready to boil the planet." She and the Doctor stood up and looked at the green where the villagers were taking photos of the sun. "Oh, and here they come, the human race. The end comes, as it was always going to - down a video phone!"
Amy asked, "This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind-up."
The Doctor asked, "Why would we wind you up?"
Amy said, "You told me you had a time machine."
The Doctor replied, "And you believed me."
Amy said, "Then I grew up."
The Vixen groaned, "Oh, you never want to do that. No, hang on, shut up, wait! I missed it." She smacked her forehead. "I saw it and I missed it." Smack. "What did I see?"
The Doctor asked, "What did you see?"
The Vixen snapped, "I won't find out any faster if you don't shut up." She closed her eyes and put her fingers on her temples. "I saw... What did I see?" She replayed everything she saw in her mind like stop-motion photography, from the chain fence, people taking photos, a woman in the phone box and then a male nurse who was facing away from the sun, taking a photo. The multi form was there. She looked at the nurse normally before looking at a clock.
The Vixen said to Amy, "20 minutes. We can do it. 20 minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help us."
Amy replied, "No."
The Doctor asked, "I'm sorry?"
Amy shouted, "No!" She grabbed the Doctor by the tie and the Vixen by a torn strip of her jacket.
The Vixen asked, surprised, "Amy! No! No! What are you doing?"
Amy pushed them against a car as the driver stepped out. She slammed the Doctor's tie and the Vixen's jacket into the door and locked the car with the remote.
The Doctor asked, "Are you out of your mind?"
Amy asked, "Who are you two?"
The Vixen replied, "You know who we are."
Amy asked, "No, really, who are you?"
The Doctor said, "Look at the sky! End of the world, 20 minutes."
Amy snapped, "Better talk quickly, then!"
The driver said, "Amy, I am going to need my car back."
Amy replied, "Yes, in a bit. Now go and have coffee."
The driver muttered something and left.
The Vixen stared at Amy before reaching into her pocket and tossing the apple to her. "Catch." Holding it in her hand, Amy saw the smiley face. "I'm the Vixen and this is the Doctor. We're time travellers. Everything we told you 12 years ago is true. We're real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let us go now, everything you've ever known is over."
Amy said, "I don't believe you."
The Vixen gripped Amy's wrist and said, "Just 20 minutes. Just believe us for 20 minutes. Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to me. And you know it's the same one." Amy looked at the apple and then back at them. "Amy, believe for 20 minutes."
Amy unlocked the car. "What do we do?"
"Stop that nurse!" She ran onto the green, the Doctor and Amy in hot pursuit, and took the nurse's phone. "The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?"
The nurse asked, "Amy?"
Amy said, "Hi! Oh, this is Rory, he's a... friend."
Rory said, "Boyfriend."
"Kind of boyfriend."
"Amy!"
The Doctor asked, "Man and dog, why?"
Rory's eyes widened in realization and he said, "Oh, my God, it's them."
Amy said, "Just answer the question, please."
Rory said, "It's them, though. The doctor and the Vixen. The Raggedy Doctor and the Raggedy Vixen."
Amy replied, "Yeah, they came back."
Rory said, "But they were a story. They were a game."
The Vixen growled and grabbed Rory by the shirt. And the Doctor thought she was freakishly strong in that form. "Man and dog - why? Tell me now."
Rory said, "Sorry. Because he can't be there. Because he's…"
He, the Vixen and the Doctor said in unison, "-in a hospital, in a coma."
Rory replied, "Yeah."
The Vixen said, "Knew it. Multi-form, you see?" She let go of his shirt. "Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed, a psychic link with a living but dormant mind."
The multiform snapped and snarled. The Doctor walked closer and said, "Prisoner Zero."
Rory asked, "What, there's a Prisoner Zero too?"
Amy replied, "Yes."
There was an electrical buzzing and they looked up to see a spaceship fly over the green. The eye began to swivel back and forth.
The Vixen stepped forward and slipped her screwdriver from pocket. "See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver." She turned it on. Nothing happened. "Doctor, be a dear and use yours, will you? Mine's fried. Again." She tossed it away behind her.
The Doctor nodded. He pulled out his screwdriver and held it above his head and turned it on. There was chaos as streetlights shattered, car alarms blared, sirens wailed and everyone began shouting. A fire truck drove away on its own, chased by the firemen.
The Vixen asked, "I think someone's going to notice, don't you?" Prisoner Zero barked.
The Doctor lowered the screwdriver, aiming it at the phone box, which exploded. The screwdriver itself then sparked and fizzled, causing the Doctor to drop it on the ground. "No, no, no, don't do that!" The ship headed away.
Rory noted, "Look, it's going."
The Vixen jumped, waving her arms. The Vixen shouted, "No, come back, he's here! Come back! He's here, Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is..."
Prisoner Zero turned into a "mist" and escaped down the drain. Amy snapped, "Vixen! Doctor! The drain. It just sort of melted and went down the drain."
The Doctor said, "Well, of course it did."
Amy asked, "What do we do now?"
The Vixen said, "It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdrivers, 17 minutes. Come on, think. Think! Doctor! Think!"
DW?DW?DW?
The Doctor, the Vixen, Amy, and Rory were standing above the drain. Amy asked, "So that thing, THAT hid in my house for 12 years?"
The Vixen replied, "Multi-forms can live for millennia. 12 years is a pit-stop."
Amy asked, "So how come you show up again on the same day that lot do? The same minute?"
The Doctor said, "They're looking for him, but followed me and the Vixen. They saw us through the crack, got a fix. They're only late cos we are."
Rory asked, "What's he on about?"
The Vixen said, "Now, be a good boy, give me your phone. If the TARDIS is rebuilding, my phone's done for."
Rory asked, "How can they be real? They were never real."
The Vixen snapped, "Phone, now, give me!"
Rory flinched and gave her the phone, which she handed to the Doctor to look at, "They were just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as the Doctor and made Mels dress up as the Vixen."
The Doctor and the Vixen looked at the photos. "These are all coma patients?"
Rory replied, "Yeah."
The Vixen said, "No, they're all the multi-form. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero."
Amy asked, "He had a dog, though. There's a dog in a coma?"
The Doctor said, "The coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog. Laptop! Your friend, what was his name? Not him, the good-looking one."
Rory nodded, "Thanks."
Amy replied, "Jeff."
"Oh, thanks."
The Doctor said, "He had a laptop in his bag, a laptop. Big bag, big laptop, I need Jeff's laptop. You three, get to the hospital, get everyone out, clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done." He ran off.
Amy said, "Your car, come on."
Rory asked the Vixen, "But how can you two be here? How can the Doctor and you be here?" They drove off in Rory's Mini while the Doctor entered Jeff's home.
DW?DW?DW?
The Doctor entered Jeff's bedroom where Jeff was lying on his bed using his laptop. "Hello. Laptop, give me!" He grabbed it.
Jeff said, refusing to let go, "No, no, no, no, wait, hang on!"
The Doctor said, "It's fine, give it here." He took the laptop and sat at the bottom of the bed. "Blimey! Get a girlfriend, Jeff."
The door opened and Jeff's gran entered. Jeff said, "Gran."
Jeff's gran asked, "What are you doing?"
The Doctor replied, "The sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big video conference call." He kept typing. "All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know what they need? Me. Ah, and here they all are. All the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore."
Gran said, "Ooh, I like Patrick Moore."
The Doctor offered, "I'll get you his number, but watch him, he's a devil."
Jeff said, "You can't just hack in on a call like that.
The Doctor asked, "Can't I?" He held his psychic paper to the webcam.
An expert asked, "Who are you? This is a secure call. What are you doing?"
The Doctor said, "Hello. I know, you should switch me off. But before you do, watch this."
Another expert said, "It's here too, I'm getting it."
The Doctor explained, "Fermat's Theorem, the proof, and I mean the real one, never seen before. Poor old Fermat, got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault, I slept in. Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie - why electrons have mass. And a personal favourite of mine, faster-than-light travel with two diagrams and a joke. Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Fellas, pay attention."
The Doctor typed something on the mobile. An expert asked, "Sir, what are you doing?"
The Doctor replied, "I'm writing a computer virus. Very clever, super-fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on. Why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. OK, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dish - whatever you've got. Any questions?"
Patrick Moore asked, "Who was your lady friend?"
The Doctor scolded, "Patrick, behave!"
An expert asked, "What does this virus do?"
The Doctor replied, "It's a reset command, that's all. It resets counters, it gets in the wifi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will default at zero at exactly the same time. But, yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain." Silence. "Jeff, you're my best man."
Jeff asked, "Your what?"
The Doctor closed the laptop partway. "Listen to me. In ten minutes, you're going to be a legend. In ten minutes, everyone on that screen is going to be offering you any job you want. But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Jeff. Right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."
Jeff asked, "Why me?"
The Doctor replied, "It's your bedroom. Now go, go, go."
He left and Jeff opened the laptop. "OK, guys, let's do this." He started typing.
The Doctor re-entered, "Oh, and delete your internet history." He left again and ran out of Jeff's house, looked around then ran off.
DW?DW?DW?
Rory was talking with other nurses while Amy was on her mobile, the Vixen next to her. Rory rejoined the girls and said, "Something's happened up there, we can't get through."
Amy redialled in frustration. "Yes, but what's happened?"
Rory replied, "I don't know. No-one knows. Phone him."
Amy snapped, "I am phoning him. Doctor? We're at the hospital, but we can't get through. Oh!"
Rory asked, "What did he say?"
Amy replied, "Look in the mirror." She turned to see her reflection. "There. Nothing there." The Vixen rolled her eyes and pointed to Amy's costume. "Oh! Ha-ha! Uniform!"
Amy put her hair up while the Vixen took the phone and talked to the Doctor. "Are you on your way? You're going to need a car."
The Doctor replied, "Don't worry. I've commandeered a vehicle."
DW?DW?DW?
Rory, the Vixen and Amy got out of the lift and saw the corridors were a mess; gurneys and tables overturned, scrubs and utensils littered the floor. A woman holding the hands of her two daughters saw them and said, "Officer."
Amy asked, "What happened?"
The woman replied, "There was a man. A man with a dog. I think Dr Ramsden's dead. And the nurses."
The Vixen, who still had Amy's phone, phoned the Doctor. He asked, "Are you in?"
The Vixen replied, "Yep. But so's Prisoner Zero."
The Doctor said, "You need to get out of there."
Rory turned from Amy to the woman as she spoke again and noticed it was one of the girls. "He was so angry. He kept shouting. And that dog, the size of that dog, I swear it was rabid." Amy tapped the Vixen on the shoulder. The Vixen looked up and slowly backed away with Rory and Amy. "And he just went mad, attacking everyone. Where did he go, did you see? Has he gone? We hid in the ladies."
The woman said, "Oh, I'm getting it wrong again, aren't I? I'm always doing that. So many mouths." She opened her mouth to reveal teeth so did the girls.
Rory gulped, "Oh, my God!"
The Doctor asked on the phone, "Vixen? Vixen, what's happening?" The Vixen, Rory and Amy ran down the corridor into one of the wards. They closed the doors and slid a broom through the handles. "Vixen, talk to me!" They backed away from the doors to the centre of the ward.
The Vixen said on the phone, "We're in the coma ward. But it's here, it's getting in."
The Doctor asked, "Which window are you?"
The Vixen, "Window? What, sorry?"
"Which window?"
The Vixen asked Amy, "Which window are we at?"
Amy replied, "First floor on the left, fourth from the end."
The Vixen repeated into the phone, "First floor on the left, fourth from the end."
Prisoner Zero broke through and said, "Oh, dear. Little Amelia Pond. I've watched you grow up. 12 years, and you never even knew I was there. Little Amelia Pond, waiting for her magic Doctor and Vixen to return, but not this time, Amelia." She opened her mouth.
Amy's mobile beeped showing a text message from the Doctor: 'Duck!' The Vixen heard the wail of the siren and pushed Rory and Amy down just as the ladder from a fire engine broke through the window. The Doctor climbed up the ladder and joined the trio. He asked, "Right! Hello! Am I late? No, three minutes to go. So still time."
Prisoner Zero asked, "Time for what, Time Lord?"
The Doctor said, "Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies."
Prisoner Zero said, "The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire."
The Vixen spoke up, "OK. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again - just leave."
Prisoner Zero said, "I did not open the crack."
The Doctor scoffed, "Somebody did."
Prisoner Zero said, "The cracks in the skin of the universe - don't you know where they came from? You don't, do you? Neither of you." She spoke in a little girl's voice. "The Vixen and Doctor in the TARDIS don't know." Sing song voice. "Don't know, don't know!" Prisoner Zero said in a normal voice, "The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."
There was a clicking sound. The Doctor said, looking up at the wall, "And we're off! Look at that." He pointed at the clock which read 0:00. "Look at that! Yeah, I know, just a clock, whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute?" He took Rory's mobile out from his pocket. "The source, by the way, is right here." A bright light shone through the windows. "Oh! And I think they just found us!"
Prisoner Zero said, "The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me."
The Doctor replied, "Yeah, but this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Oh, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is - no TARDIS, no screwdrivers - two minutes to spare." He held his arms out, feeling successful. "Who da man?!" He was greeted by silence and a face palm from the Vixen. "Oh, I'm never saying that again! Fine."
Prisoner Zero said, "Then I shall take a new form."
The Doctor said, "Oh, stop it, you know you can't. Takes months to form that kind of psychic link."
"And I've had years." Her form glowed.
Amy almost fell to the floor but the Vixen caught her and lay her down as the Doctor rushed over to her. The Vixen said frantically, "No! Amy?" She put her hands to Amy's face. "You've got to hold on. Amy! Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please."
Rory looked at Prisoner Zero. "Doctor?"
The Doctor looked up to see Prisoner Zero had taken his and the Vixen's forms, standing side by side. "Well, that's rubbish. I know that one's Vixen. Who's that supposed to be?"
Rory replied, "It's you."
The Doctor asked, "Me? Is that what I look like?"
Rory asked, "You don't know?"
The Doctor stood up and replied, "Busy day. Why me and the Vixen, though? You're linked with her."
The Vixen stood up and walked over. "Yeah. Why are you copying me and the Doctor?"
Little Amelia's voice rang out, "I'm not." She stuck her head around the Prisoner Zero Vixen. "Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor and Vixen she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you two have been."
The Vixen shook her head and said, "No, she's dreaming about us cos she can hear us." She and the Doctor ran back to Amy. They both spoke over each other. "Amy, don't just hear me, listen." "Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see? Remember you went inside. We tried to stop you, but you did." "You went in the room. You went inside. Amy…dream about what you saw."
Prisoner Zero shouted, "No... no... No!" He glowed and transformed.
The Doctor faced it and said, "Well done, Prisoner Zero. A perfect impersonation of yourself." Prisoner Zero was caught in the light and writhed.
A voice said, "Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained."
Prisoner Zero hissed, "Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall." He disappeared. "There was a whoosh of air as the ship left. The Doctor ran to the window and dialled the mobile.
Rory said, "The sun - it's back to normal, right? That's... That's good, yeah? That means it's over."
Amy woke up and the Vixen asked, "Amy? Are you OK? Are you with us?"
Amy asked, "What happened?"
Rory replied, "He did it. The Doctor did it."
The Doctor said, "No, I didn't."
Rory asked, "What are you doing?"
The Doctor replied, "Tracking the signal back. Sorry, in advance."
"About what?"
"The bill." The Doctor spoke into the phone. "Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established, level 5 planet, and you were going to burn it? What...? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here. Now!" He tossed the phone back to Rory. "OK. Now I've done it." He left the ward, the Vixen and Amy behind him.
Rory asked, "Did he just bring them back? Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?"
The Doctor strode down the corridor, determined. The Vixen, Amy and Rory followed. Amy asked, "Where are you going?"
The Doctor replied, "The roof. No, hang on." He entered a room and began to sift through clothes, tossing away what didn't appeal.
Amy asked, "What's in here?"
The Doctor replied, "I'm saving the world - I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show!"
The Vixen said, "I'm gonna stay in these ones until we get to the TARDIS, thanks."
Rory said, "You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens," The Doctor stripped off his old clothes. "-deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off... Amy, he's taking his clothes off."
Amy and the Vixen were watching appreciatively. The Doctor said, "Turn your back if it embarrasses you."
Rory asked, "Are you stealing clothes now? Those clothes belong to people, you know." He turned around. "Are you two not you going to turn your back?"
Amy and the Vixen smirked at each other before replying in unison, "Nope."
DW?DW?DW?
The Doctor, now wearing a long-sleeved shirt, trousers with braces and a number of ties draped around his neck, strode over with the Vixen to where the Atraxi ship was waiting. Amy and Rory stood back a bit. Amy asked, "So this was a good idea, was it? They were leaving."
The Vixen replied, "Leaving is good. Never coming back is better."
The Doctor shouted, "Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now."
The "eye" disconnected from the ship and scans the Doctor and the Vixen. "You are not of this world."
The Doctor said, "No, but we've put a lot of work into it." He examined a tie and asked the Vixen, "I don't know. What do you think?"
The Atraxi asked, "Is this world important?"
The Vixen snapped, "Important? What's that mean, important?" She grabbed the tie and tossed it away. Rory caught it. "6 billion people live here - is that important?"
The Doctor asked, "Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" He threw another tie that landed on Amy's shoulder, she gave it to Rory. "Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. IS this world a threat?"
The Atraxi projected a hologram of the Earth with scenes from history. "No."
The Vixen asked, "Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?"
"No."
The Vixen asked, "OK. One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here." As the Doctor spoke, the projection showed Cybermen and Daleks, the Queen of the Racnoss, Ood, Sycorax, a Sontaran, a Sea Devil, Reapers, the Hath and the Vashta Nerada in the spacesuit. "There have been so many! And what you've got to ask is... what happened to them?"
The projection now showed all the incarnations of the Vixen and the Doctor before the real deals walked through it. The Doctor said, "Hello. I'm the Doctor and this is the Vixen."
The Vixen whispered, "Basically... run!"
The Atraxi ship departed and Amy laughed. The Doctor felt something in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out the TARDIS key and it was glowing. He showed it to the Vixen.
Amy asked, "Is that it? Is that them gone for good? Who were they?" She looked down from the sky to see the Doctor and the Vixen were gone.
DW?DW?DW?
The Doctor and the Vixen returned to Amy's back garden and the TARDIS. The TARDIS had refurbished its exterior. They stopped in front of it.
The Vixen asked, "OK! What have you got for us this time?"
The Doctor opened the door and he and the Vixen stood there, amazed. The Doctor said, "Look at you!" He smiled. "Oh, you sexy thing!" The Vixen pinched him. "You sexy thing number 2. Look at you!" The Vixen laughed.
Amy and Rory ran up just as the TARDIS dematerialized. Amy closed her eyes, remembering when she was little, how she waited all night. She heard the TARDIS and smiled.
DW?DW?DW?
Amy woke up when she heard the TARDIS. She jumped out of bed and ran to the window where she saw the TARDIS once again in the back garden.
Amy exited the back door now in a robe and slippers. The Doctor and the Vixen were standing outside the TARDIS. The Vixen with slightly longer and messier hair and wearing a new black leather jacket and black skinny jeans.
The Doctor said, "Sorry about running off earlier. Brand-new TARDIS - bit exciting. Just had a quick hop to the moon and back to run her in."
The Vixen asked, "Quick hop to the moon?"
The Doctor said, "Alright. We went to some more places. Peaceful. She's ready for the big stuff now."
Amy said, "It's you. You came back."
The Vixen smiled, "Course we came back. We always come back. Something wrong with that?"
Amy noted, "And you kept the clothes, Doctor."
The Doctor said, "Well, I just saved the world, the whole planet, for about the millionth time, no charge. With help but I always have that. Yeah, shoot me! I kept the clothes."
Amy said, "Including the bow tie."
The Doctor replied, "Yeah, it's cool. Bow ties are cool."
Amy asked, "Are you two from another planet?"
The Vixen replied, "Yeah."
"OK..."
The Doctor asked, "So what do you think?"
Amy asked, "Of what?"
The Vixen grinned. "Other planets. Want to check some out?"
Amy asked, "What does that mean?"
The Doctor replied, "It means... Well, it means... come with us."
Amy asked, "Where?"
The Vixen said, "Wherever you like."
Amy said, "All that stuff, the hospital, the spaceships, Prisoner Zero..."
The Doctor said, "Oh, don't worry. That's just the beginning. There's loads more."
Amy said, "Yeah, but those things, amazing things, all that stuff..." She snapped, "That was two years ago!"
The Vixen muttered, "Uh-oh! Oops."
"Yeah."
The Doctor asked, "So that's..."
Amy replied, "14 years!"
The Vixen murmured, "14 years since fish custard. Amy Pond, the girl who waited, you've waited long enough."
Amy said, "When I was a kid, you said there was a swimming pool and a library, and the swimming pool was IN the library."
The Doctor said, "Yeah. Not sure where it's got to now. It'll turn up. So... coming?"
Amy replied, "No!"
The Vixen said, "You wanted to come 14 years ago."
"I grew up."
The Doctor replied, "Don't worry. We'll soon fix that."
The Vixen snapped her fingers and the door to the TARDIS opened, bathing Amy in a warm orange glow. The Doctor stared at the Vixen in shock. Overwhelmed, Amy entered. The Vixen and the Doctor followed. The Doctor snapped his fingers, to see if the TARDIS door would close at his command. Nothing happened. The Vixen snapped her fingers again and they closed instantly. The Doctor just stared at her.
The Vixen asked, "Well...? Anything you want to say? Any passing remarks? We've heard them all." The TARDIS was more metal now, less organic-looking. The center column was on a floor that allowed one to see underneath. There were also stairs leading to other levels and doors.
Amy squeaked, "I'm in my nightie."
The Doctor replied, "Oh, don't worry. Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe. AND possibly a swimming pool. So... all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will... Where do you want to start?"
Amy said, "You are so sure that I'm coming."
The Vixen replied, "Yeah, we are."
Amy asked, "Why?"
The Doctor said, "Cos you're the Scottish girl in the English village, and we know how that feels."
Amy asked, "Oh, do you?"
The Vixen said, "All these years living here most of your life... and you've still got that accent. Yeah, you're coming."
Amy asked, "Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?"
The Doctor replied, "It's a time machine. We can get you back five minutes ago. Why, what's tomorrow?"
"Nothing. Nothing. Just... you know, stuff."
The Doctor said, "All right, then. Back in time for stuff."
Two new screwdrivers extended from the console's surface. Identical, except one green at the end, one blue. The Vixen grinned, "Oh! A new one!" She tested hers. "Lovely."
The Doctor whispered, "Thanks, dear." He set the controls.
Amy asked, "Why me?"
The Doctor asked, "Why not?"
"No, seriously. You two are asking me to run away with you in the middle of the night. It's a fair question. Why me?"
The Vixen shrugged, "I don't know. Fun. Do we have to have a reason?"
Amy said, "People always have a reason."
The Vixen smirked. "Do we look like people?"
Amy replied, "Yes."
The Doctor said, "Been knocking around on our own for a while - our choice – but it's weird."
Amy asked, "You're lonely. That's it? Just that?"
The Vixen replied, "Just that. Promise."
Amy replied, "OK."
The Doctor switched off a monitor and asked, "So, are you OK, then? Cos this place, sometimes it can make people feel a bit... you know."
Amy said, "I'm fine. It's just... There's a whole world in here, just like you said. It's all true. I thought...well, I started to think that maybe you were just like two mad people with a box."
The Vixen said, leaning in close to Amy, "Amy Pond, there's something you'd better understand. It's important, and one day your life may depend on it. We are definitely two mad people with a box. Ha-ha! Yeah."
Amy laughed and the Doctor said, "Goodbye, Leadworth. Hello, everything!" He hit the dematerialization switch and the trio held onto the console as the TARDIS dematerialized.
DW?DW?DW?
Later, the Doctor asked the Vixen, "Where'd you learn that trick?"
The Vixen replied, "Someone said it worked. Someone who knew more about me than I did about her. And I have a feeling we're going to meet again very soon."
The Doctor smiled and kissed her softly.
.
.
.
There. First chapter to 'The TARDIS crew' done. Please review.