Just A Bit Unlikely….
Summary: Rose did what The Doctor failed to do. She saved The Master and cured the drums. Now The Master is a companion and when they bump into Donna Noble, you can bet that trouble will follow. But what happens when The Doctor returns, along with familiar enemies and friends? Sequel to Just One Second. AU of series 4 with a sarcastic Master.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DOCTOR WHO!
Songs for the chapter:
- A Noble Girl About Town (Doctor Who: series 4 soundtrack)
- Who's Up For an Adventure? (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island)
- Corridors and Fire Escape (Doctor Who: series 4 soundtrack)
Chapter One: Partners In Crime: Part 1….
It was a bright and sunny day in London, England. A woman with red head was walking down a street, holding a bright red folder and was dressed in a suit. Donna Noble had a determined expression as she stopped near a building that was called 'Adipose Industries'. She may look like she was job hunting, but she had a hidden ambition. She was looking for Rose Tyler, the woman who showed her what life could be like with adventure. Donna took a deep breath before she walked inside the building.
On another street, a man with short brown hair and a woman with blonde hair were walking towards the same building. The man was dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and black boots while the woman wore navy blue blazer, a white button shirt and a navy blue pencil skirt with black high heels and her hair was tied up in a neat bun.
These two people were Rose Tyler and The Master. Since Rose cured the drums on board the Tardis, The Master was easier to cope with. Despite his mood swings and sarcastic comments. While Rose was opening the back door, The Master was tapping his foot in an impatient manner. When the door did open, Rose rolled her eyes at The Master before she entered the building with The Master following her.
When they passed a security guard, Rose flashed the psychic paper to him.
"Rose Tyler and Harold Saxon. Health and safety," she said and the guard let the go.
The Master raised his eyebrow. "Really? Harold Saxon, Health and safety?"
Rose just gave him a look. "I didn't hear you making any suggestions," she hissed as they snuck into projector room.
The two Time Lords watched as reporters settled into a lecture room with the director, Miss Foster giving a meeting about the pills that seemed to make people lose weight. Miss Foster was dressed in a black suit, shoes and glasses. She looked rather intimidating.
"Adipose Industries," she began. "The 21st century way to lose weight. No exercise, no diet, no pain. Just lifelong freedom from fat. The Holy Grail of the modern age," she said as she held up a small red and white pill. "And here it is. You just take one capsule, one capsule, once a day, for three weeks. And the fat, as they say..." she turned to a screen behind her and letters came onto the screen with a loud males voice came through the room.
"The fat just walks away…"
Master nudged Rose in the stomach and nodded to the man who was staring at them curiously.
"Rose Tyler and Harold Saxon. Health and Safety…. Film department…" she said and the man nodded before going back to what he was doing. He didn't notice that Rose was glaring at The Master.
"Why are we here again?" The Master grumbled, looking annoyed.
Rose huffed. "Because this pill is taking England by a storm something weird is going on if a million customers are paying for one little pill."
The Master scoffed. "So you think that it's alien?"
Rose shrugged. "It could be…"
"Excuse me, Miss Foster, if I could?" A reporter spoke up. "I'm Penny Carter, science correspondent for The Observer. There are a thousand diet pills on the market, a thousand con men stealing people's money. How do we know the fat isn't going straight into your bank account?"
Miss Foster laughed. "Oh Penny, if cynicism burnt up calories, we'd all be as thin as rakes. But if you want the science, I oblige."
An animation of the pill came up on the screen. "Adipose Industries. The Adipose capsule is composed of a synthesised mobilising lipase, bound to a large protein molecule. The mobilising lipase breaks up the trigycerides stored in the adipose cells, which then enter..."
Rose sighed while The Master smirked, clearly enjoying Rose being bored. When the film clip was done, Miss Foster turned back to the reporters.
"One hundred percent legal, one hundred percent effective," Miss Foster said, smirking.
"But, can I just ask, how many people have taken the pills to date?" Penny asked.
Miss Foster seemed irritated but she answered anyway. "We've already got one million customers within the Greater London area alone. But from next week, we start rolling out nationwide. The future starts here. And Britain will be thin."
Rose turned to The Master with a raised eyebrow who rolled his eyes.
"Alright, alright. You win," he muttered.
Rose smirked. Of course she was right. Something fishy was going on here, and she was going to find out what.
….
The two strolled through the corridors and ended up at the call centre of the industry. The Master and Rose sat down next to a dark-skinned woman who was talking on a headset. She looked at them surprised.
"Rose Tyler and Harold Saxon. Health and Safety, don't mind us," Rose whispered as she flashed up the psychic paper.
"We deliver within three working days. The box comes with 21 days' worth of pills, a full information pack, and our special free gift, an Adipose Industries pendant," The woman said, passing a black box to Rose who opened it and took out a gold chain with a gold capsule inside. Rose turned to The Master who sat next to her and passed it for him to examine. "It is made of 18 carat gold, and it's yours for free. No, we don't give away pens, sorry. No, I can't make an exception, no," she added, making Rose shook her head as the woman on the phone wanted a pen. The salesperson hung up. "Sorry about that…"
Rose smiled politely. "Mr. Saxon and I need to keep the pill for testing. And we also need a copy of your customers up to date. Could you print them off?" she asked.
The woman nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so."
Rose stood up. "So where's the printer?"
"Just across there," the woman replied as she pressed the print button.
"Has it got paper?" Rose asked.
The woman nodded. "Yeah, Jim keeps it stocked."
As Rose sat down, Miss Foster entered the room with two bald body guards in tow. "Excuse me, everyone, if I could have your attention," she said as Rose and The Master hid in the cubicle and the salespeople stood up. "On average, you're each selling forty Adipose packs per day. It's not enough. I want one hundred sales per person per day. And if not, you'll be replaced. Because if anyone is good in trimming the fat, it's me. Now. Back to it," she demanded before she walked off and everyone went back to work.
That was when Rose and The Master left with a copy of customers. They also left without seeing Donna Noble.
….
A person knocking on the door made a man wearing a dark green sweater answer it. Rose plastered a grin on her face.
"Mr Roger Davey, I'm calling on behalf of Adipose Industries," she said, flashing the psychic paper. "And I just need to ask you a few questions."
When she was inside Roger sat in the chair while Rose was pacing, asking every question she could think of while The Master was inspecting the gold pill inside the Tardis.
"So, how long have you been on the pills, Mr Davey?" Rose asked.
"I've been on the pills two weeks now, I've lost fourteen kilos," Rodger replied happily.
"And that's the same amount every day?"
Rodger nodded. "One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight. Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning."
Rose bit her lip. "What makes you say that?"
Rodger sighed. "That's when I get woken up. Might as well weigh myself at the same time."
Five minutes later and Rose and Rodger were outside of his house, looking at the burglar alarm.
"It is driving me mad. Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot without fail, the burglar alarm goes off. I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes," Rodger said, annoyed.
Rose frowned. "But with no burglars?"
Rodger shrugged. "Nothing, I've given up looking."
"Tell me, Rodger. Do you have a cat flap?"
Rodger nodded and showed her through the kitchen where the cat flap was imbedded within the backdoor. Rose knelt down on the floor, poking it thoroughly.
"It was there when I bought the house. Never bothered with it. I'm not a cat person," Rodger said, frowning as he knelt beside Rose.
Rose snorted quietly. "Trust me, I've met cat people and you're nothing like them," she muttered, assuring him.
"It's that what it is then? Cats getting inside the house?" Rodger asked, ignoring Rose's comment.
Rose sighed heavily. "Well, the thing is with cat flaps, they don't let things in, they let things out as well."
Rodger turned to her. "Like what?"
Rose's eyes widened. "The fat just walks away," she whispered, realizing what was happening.
….
Ten minutes later, unaware that Donna was at a customer's house as well; Rose stepped outside Rodger's house and shook the man's hand.
"Well, thanks for your help. Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so. The trial period had ended and you look great," Rose said quickly when an alarm sound began beeping. "Oh!" she took out a device that The Master made earlier and frowned. "I gotta go!" she added as she sprinted down the street.
As she ran, Rose stared at the device in confusion as it started to go crazy. She stopped for a bit before she shook it, smacked it and blew on it. Rose held it out in front of her and took off running again. Suddenly the device went crazy as a dark van flew by. She tried to ran after the car but ended up being deserted and the signal on the device went dead.
Rose huffed in irritation. "I'm gonna kill The Master," she growled before she walked back to the Tardis and to give the said man a piece of her mind.
….
Rose and The Master went back into Adipose Industries. Rose unlocked the fire exit door and they slipped inside before walking down the corridor and she used the sonic to open a storage door before she locked it when she and The Master were inside.
Rose was wearing dark jeans with a light purple top and a dark purple leather jacket and leather boots while The Master wore dark black jeans, a grey top and a back hoodie.
The Master looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "So we're hiding in a broom cupboard. Are we going play Adam and Eve now?"
Rose snorted. "I told you before, it's not gonna happen."
The Master shrugged with a grin. "Well if that's the case, you're going to have to read this," he said as he pulled out an old, dust and heavy old book from his pocket, Rose briefly wondered how it fitted in there, and dumped it into Rose's lap.
Rose looked at The Master in confusion. "What's this for?"
The Master smirked. "It's going to teach you how to be a Time Lady. Get reading."
Rose groaned as she turned the page. She was going to be stuck here for the next five hours, with a crazy idiot and has to read! Then again, it could've been worse.
….
It was ten past six when Rose and The Master exited the cubical. Both of them cracked their necks and rolled their shoulders to get rid of the tension in their muscles they got within the past hours. Rose made her way to the roof with The Master following in her footsteps. When they arrived, she found a window cleaner box and got inside, dragging The Master with her before they went down.
Rose took out the stethoscope that her mother gave her when The Doctor regenerated and collapsed before using it on the window to hear the voices inside Miss Foster's office. The Master couldn't hear anything and he made it perfectly clear to Rose by glaring at her while he slumped against the box. Rose gave him an apologetic look before turning her attention to the voices in the room.
"Sit there."
"I'm phoning my editor," another woman said. Ah, it was Penny. The reporter. Great.
"I said sit."
"You can't tie me up. What sort of a country do you think this is?"
"Oh, it's a beautifully fat country. And believe me; I've travelled a long way to find obesity on this scale."
"So come on then, Miss Foster, those pills. What are they?"
"Well, you might just as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed. This is the spark of life."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them, that part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanises it to form a body."
"Well, what d'you mean 'a body'?"
"I am surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster, as in foster mother. And these… are my children."
"You're kidding me. What the hell is that?"
Rose stood up slowly, making The Master rise as well. Rose saw Penny tied onto a chair with Miss Foster standing in front of her desk and her bodyguards flanked either side of her.
"Adipose. It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat. Stripped from ordinary human..."
A flash of red hair made Rose turn her head and saw the last person she expected to see staring back at her in shock.
"Donna!" Rose mouthed sending The Master into a silent fit of hysterics, even though he has no idea on who the woman was. It was just entertainment to see Rose in shock.
Donna's mouth dropped open. "Rose!"
Rose looked confused. Why would Donna be there of all places?"How!"
"OH MY GOD" Donna said silently, her eyes wide.
"But… how?"
"It's me!" Donna said, pointing to herself.
"Well… I can see that."Rose mouthed.
Donna grinned. "OH THIS IS BRILLIANT!" she replied silently, giving the blonde two thumbs up before turning to The Master. "Who's that guy?"she asked pointing to The Master.
Rose huffed. "Tell you later," she said making The Master glare at her and nudged her in the stomach. Rose rolled her eyes at him before turning back to Donna. "But what are you doing there?"
Donna continued to grin. "I'm looking for you!"
Rose looked confused as she pointed to herself. "What for?"
Donna then did this elaborate mime about looking for Rose.
The Master turned to Rose with a raised eyebrow. "And you wonder why I think that apes are stupid."
Rose gave him a look before turning back to Donna when she jabbed her thumb to her left and stopped the mime. Her tongue was caught within her teeth as she stared at something. Rose and The Master followed her gaze and saw Miss Foster looking at both of them with an irritated expression.
"Are we interrupting you?" Miss Foster asked.
After a pause, The Master turned to the sinister woman and nodded. "Yes!" he mouthed.
Rose rolled her eyes once again before she turned to Donna who stared at her like a deer caught in headlights. "Run!" she said, using the sonic screwdriver to lock the door, just to give Donna more time as she turned and left.
"Get her!" Miss Foster barked before Rose used her sonic to make the cleaner box go up. "And them!"
Once they arrived on the roof, Rose got out and pulled The Master with her.
"Come on!" she said as she grabbed his hand and they ran down the stairs when they bumped into Donna Noble.
Donna grinned at Rose as she hugged her. "Oh My God! I can't believe it! You're even wearing the same clothes. Don't you ever change?" she asked quickly as she released her before turning to The Master. "And who's he?"
Rose shrugged. "He's The Master… rival of The Doctor and a Time Lord. And yes, I do change!"
The Master snorted. "Great, another stray," he muttered when Donna slapped him.
"Oi! Watch it buddy," Donna growled.
Rose snorted as she looked down to see Miss Foster's bodyguards coming up the stairs. "Don't start fighting you two," she said as she grabbed their hands. "Just like old times," she added happily as they sprinted up the stairs.
A/N: And that's the first chapter done! How did you guys like it? Personally I reckon The Master and Donna would've been great at winding The Doctor up if he survived. But no… he had to die. Anyway the next chapter should be up soon!
Please review!
Thanks :)