Impossible Girl, Again
Chapter 2 – Rose
oOoOoOo
Clara and the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and found themselves on an ordinary London street. Clara scowled at the Doctor. "I was promised all of time and space!"
"Well, I didn't promise you a thing." The Doctor smirked. Clara rolled her eyes, pretending not to notice the subtle way he watched her when he wasn't looking. She grabbed his hand and tugged him out of the alleyway the TARDIS had landed in.
"Sure you did. Now, what are we doing here?"
"I told you. Nestene invasion, using plastic-"
"London 2005." Clara finished for him, somehow reading the place and time from her surroundings. Huh, how did I know that? Maybe a side effect of the timestream? Or just a side effect of being a time traveller. Well, I certainly can't ask this Doctor. Stars, I miss Chin.
"Well, at least you were paying attention. Now, the signal seems strongest…" The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver – Which had been replaced by the TARDIS, Clara noticed, and was the same one as Ten used, which meant this Doctor was the Ninth – and scanned the surrounding buildings. "That way." He announced finally, and followed the humming screwdriver like it was a scent hound. Clara smiled fondly at the sight and followed.
They ducked around the back – no reason to be chucked out of the building before they even got in – and followed the signal to the basement. As they walked through, Clara snatched the sonic out of the Doctor's hand, missing the outraged look he sent her, in order to cancel out the distinctive whine and hear better. As she looked around, she spotted a pair of feet sticking out from behind a box. "Doctor." She called softly.
He came up behind her, and stiffened. Clara noticed the dead man was wearing overalls, and appeared to have been strangled to death, if the large purple handprints around his neck were anything to go by. "Who was he, do you think?"
"Probably the chief electrician. Clara, we have to go." Clara nodded, before leaning forwards and arranging the poor man's body more comfortably and closing his eyes. As she stood up, she realized that that was the first time the Time Lord had called her by name. She smiled to herself.
As they headed down the corridor, the Doctor cocked his head slightly. A second later, Clara heard it too. A girl's voice, with an obvious London accent floated back to them. "Right, I've got the joke. Whose idea was this?"
"We should help her. She sounds scared." Clara whispered to the Doctor. He scowled at her.
"Why should we? Just because some silly little ape gets herself part of a prank-"
"You said the Nestene controls plastic, didn't you? Well, look around! What are we surrounded by!?" Clara couldn't believe the nerve of this Time Lord. Willing to just waltz off, eh? Well, I hope Rose – If this is Rose – Disabuses him of this notion fairly quickly.
The Doctor looked around, noticing the plastic dummies surrounding them – dummies that were starting to move. "Oh hell. Fine! Let's go rescue this pretty damsel in distress of yours!" The Doctor snapped, and, grabbing Clara's sleeve, tugged her through the doors just as a dummy reached for her.
"Stars, how you managed this alone is beyond me!" Clara muttered. Pulled her arm free and dashing down the corridor towards the sound of the voice. The Doctor looked at her.
"What?"
"Oh don't act like you didn't hear me. Time Lord hearing, yada yada yada." Clara snickered at the look on his face. He clearly hadn't been caught out in a lie like that in quite some time. They rounded a corner, and spotted a young blonde girl, backed against a wall by a crowd of dummies.
"I'll distract them. You grab her." Clara whispered. He shot her a startled (and something else, fear?) look.
"Now, wait a second-"
"We don't have any time to wait! Go!" She pushed him forwards. Clara had definitely recognised the girl, especially from seeing her in the timestream once or twice, or… many times, actually. Oh stars. This means that she was possibly going to run into one or more of her echoes, didn't it? Clara shook herself out of her thoughts, and raised her voice.
"Oi! Over here!" She'd leave the fancy insulting to the Doctor, any Doctor, thank you very much.
As one, the Autons spun around and started heading for her. She backed away, thankful that she had the corridor behind her and she wouldn't be trapped like the blonde girl. She spotted the Doctor making beckoning motions with his free hand, the other one grasping the wrist of the blonde girl. Clara dashed over to them and kicked the door behind them shut for good measure.
"Hello. Got her then?" She directed the question to the Doctor. He scowled, although Clara was sure she saw relief in there too.
"Obviously. Now c'mon, we've gotta go!"
As if on cue, the doors slammed open and an army of Autons staggered towards them. They ran down the hall, the blonde girl's hand still held within the Doctor's. Just as they reached an elevator, the Doctor soniced the doors open, grabbed Clara and Rose, and tugged them in with one hand while sonicing the doors shut with the other. One arm of a particularly persistent Auton got through the doors, and the Doctor leaped forwards and wrestled with it for a second before tugging it off.
The girl stared. "You pulled his arm off. And you watched." She swung her head from the Doctor to Clara.
"Yep. Plastic." The Doctor waved the arm at her. Clara resisted the rapidly growing urge to facepalm. Could he be any more terrifying to someone who had no clue what was going on?
"Very clever. Nice trick!" The girl was working up a head of steam now. "Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?"
"Why would it be students?" The Doctor looked honestly confused, but Clara detected something in his expression. He was testing her, sizing her up to see if she was good companion material. Clara had seen it several times on his previous (and future) faces.
"I don't know." The girl seemed to be calming slightly now, although she was probably still in a state of shock.
"Well, you said it. Why students?" Yeah, he was definitely sizing her up now.
"'Cos to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students." She was gaining confidence in her theory now. Clara simply lounged against a wall and listened to the conversation.
"That makes sense. Well done!" The Doctor praised, but Clara knew he was about to burst her bubble.
"Thanks."
"They're not students." He added.
"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's going to call the police." She was puffing up again, and Clara marvelled at the mood swings this girl could go through.
"Who's Wilson?" The Doctor frowned.
"He's the Chief Electrician."
"Wilson's dead." Clara stepped forwards and spoke soothingly. The girl looked at her in shock. They exited the elevator before she got her voice back.
"That's just not funny. That's sick!" the girl looked angry now.
"Hold on. Mind your eyes." The Doctor soniced the elevator. The girl ignored him, ranting to Clara.
"I've had enough of this now." When she realized that neither the Doctor nor Clara was listening to her, she raised her voice slightly and took a step forwards. "Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they?" She almost shouted.
"They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He waved a small bomb at her. Clara stepped forwards.
"I thought you didn't do weapons!?"
"It's not a weapon. It'll just destroy the relay, and they'll just keel over. Like unplugging a telly." The Doctor reassured, while sending her a strange look. Clara winced inwardly. Great. Now he was suspicious of her.
"So," He continued to the blonde girl, "I'm going to go up there and blow them up, with her along if she's stubborn enough to follow me, and we might well die in the process, but don't worry about us. No, you go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed." He slammed the door in her face, apparently remembered that Clara was on the other side, and opened it again to yank her inside. Hmph, so much for leaving me behind. Clara thought to herself, trying not to smile. Then he turned back to the girl.
"I'm the Doctor; this is Clara Oswald by the way. What's your name?"
"Rose." She answered automatically, still staring at the unlikely duo.
"Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!" Then he slammed the door again. Clara glanced at him.
"This is the part where you start cackling maniacally." She informed him matter-of-factly. He stared at her cluelessly. She snorted. "Wow, you really don't have a sense of humour yet, do you?"
Now he snorted. "I wonder why." He muttered, tone dark. Clara, wincing at her mistake and desperate to distract him, started walking back towards the stairwell.
"You coming? Or do I have to destroy this relay all by myself?"
"How? I've got the…" The Doctor asked, reaching inside his coat to encounter – nothing.
"Bomb?" Clara waggled said bomb at him. "Not anymore you don't."
"Gimme that!" He snatched it off her with a scowl. She smirked at him tauntingly.
"So, where's this relay?"
"On the roof." He grumbled, pushing past her and stomping into the waiting elevator. Clara followed, now no longer able to conceal her giggles.
oOoOoOo
After they'd destroyed the relay and thrown themselves away from the impending fireball, Clara followed the Doctor back to the TARDIS. He scowled at her grumpily as she helped him pilot the TARDIS again, but she happily ignored it. He landed, and stuck his head out to scan the air with his sonic. "Traces of Auton energy, further west of here." He told Clara, running to the console again.
What followed was a giant game of Hot and Cold all over London. Clara let the Doctor do the controls, and soon he would basically land, stick his head and sonic out, check the readings then shut the door and run back to the console. Finally they landed outside one of London's many council estates.
"Found it!" He grinned, throwing the door wide open. Clara poked her head out dubiously.
"You sure about that?" She asked. He pouted at her.
"Do you doubt my genius?" Clara grinned and walked forwards, throwing a smirk over one shoulder.
"Oh, definitely."
oOoOoOo
Once the unlikely duo had come to the right door, Clara watched in befuldement as the Doctor dropped to the ground and started sonicing the cat flap set in the door.
"What're you doing?"
Checking to make sure this is the right flat." He responded to her. Clara rolled her eyes and pressed the doorbell. He jumped upright and glared at her. "What'd you do that for?"
"It's much less suspicious, for one thing. And for another-" Clara was cut off as Rose opened the door.
"You two!" She hissed, eyes widening. "Inside. Right now." She grabbed the Doctor's arm and Clara's sleeve and tugged them into the apartment.
Clara looked at Rose pointedly, who let her sleeve go with a light blush, and gestured towards the open door where presumably Rose's mother was, judging by the loud voice. Rose nodded in permission before immediately engaging in a verbal debate with the Doctor, who was demanding to know why she lived in the place she did. Clara rolled her eyes and turned away. Oh Doctor…
"Hullo, Mrs… Tyler, we're just here to talk to your daughter about compensation for last night's accident." Clara lied smoothly, after seeing a satchel with 'Property of Rose Tyler' printed on the side in childish writing printed on the side.
"Oh, well, that's very good of you." Mrs Tyler replied, looking as though she had just been about to start on a big rant and was now deprived of a topic. Clara wryly mused that Rose had definitely gotten that from her mother.
Without anything more to say to the woman, Clara gave a quick goodbye and joined the other two in the living room area.
"That won't last, He's gay and she's an alien." The Doctor remarked casually as he looked over a magazine. Clara looked at the cover in spite of herself, and stared curiously before she forced herself back on topic.
"I'm not blaming you, even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong." Rose commented from the kitchen as she prepared three cups of tea. Clara snorted.
"We told you last night, that was no prank!" She called out. Rose walked out of the kitchen and scowled at her.
"What, so you just expect me to believe that those dummies came to life on their own?"
"We don't expect you to believe anything. However, the truth is that it was not a prank."
"Have you got a cat?" The Doctor interjected suddenly. Clara turned around to demand he not interrupt conversations thank you very much, even if he was an almighty Time Lord, when she spotted another auton arm trying to strangle the Doctor. With a small yelp she hopped over the coffee table to grab the arm and yanked at it furiously. Suddenly it loosened as she stumbled back in surprise before it spun around in her grip and latched onto her face.
"MMMMMMMMMMMPH!" Clara flailed uselessly, trying to prise the stupid hand off her face, to no avail. Soon, she felt another pair of hands helping, before the (for once) blessed sound of the sonic blaring and the arm fell from her face. Taking deep breaths she looked around, and spotted the doctor, also panting slightly, and a shocked looking Rose.
"So, you weren't kidding, yeah?" She asked, moving to sit on the armchair closest to her.
"Yeah." Clara nodded, eying the blonde critically. She didn't seem like she was panicking too badly, which was a big plus. Deciding to leave it to Rose, She turned back to the Doctor. "Is that arm safe?"
"Yeah. Armless." He grinned goofily. Clara growled, ripped the arm out of his grip, and whacked him with it.
"Ow!"
She spotted Rose giggling, and laughed with her. The Doctor pouted, but in the face of laughing females, even his ever-present scowl lightened a few shades. Trying to distract himself, he grabbed the arm, gave Clara a 'let's go' look, and headed out the door without a word of goodbye to Rose. Clara shoved him playfully.
"Rude." She warned him, grinning. He shot her a look.
"Do I seem like I care? At all?"
Clara laughed outright at this. "You're just grumpy on the outside."
The Doctor stopped suddenly, causing Clara to walk an extra few steps before she realised. Frowning, she turned around. "You okay? Haven't just had a world-shattering revelation about the location of the Nestene or anything?"
"You-you treat me so differently." He stated, rather than questioned. "You act like we've been friends for years, and we've only known each other for a day. Why do you know so much?" He tried to sound threatening and intimidating, but Clara knew he was just uncomfortable with the ideas that his mind presented to him.
"Doctor." Clara started slowly, watching him just as closely as he was watching her. "I can't tell you, but sometime in you tenth body, at the latest, is the time when you will figure it out. If you can get it before that, well, good luck. But I can't tell you."
"What?" He stared in shock, but Clara was saved the upcoming interrogation by Rose clattering down the staircase behind them.
"Hey! Wait for me!" She called out. Clara watched the Doctor pull a tight mask over his face before he turned around to look at the young blonde.
"Why should we?" he spun around and continued walking down the staircase as though he'd never stopped. Clara noticed in surprised pleasure that he had used 'we', not 'I'.
"You can't just go swanning off, that arm tried to kill me!" Rose protested, following the pair angrily.
"Yes I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off. She can stay if she wants. See you." He spun around, but Rose would not be that easily dissuaded.
"It tried to kill me!"
"Ten out of ten for observation."
"You can't just walk away. That's not fair. You've got to tell me what's going on."
Clara grabbed Rose's arm gently. "Don't demand from the Doctor. He's much more likely to both answer your questions and help you if you ask instead of badger or demand."
"Stop helping her Clara, I'm not keeping her." The Doctor called from ahead without turning around. Rose scowled, insulted on two levels, but Clara shrugged lightheartedly.
"You might change your mind!"
"What does he mean, 'keep me'!?" Rose demanded of Clara, trying not to scream at the petite brunette as she had been the only one who seemed to explain things to her.
"I'm sorry; he'll have to explain it to you himself. Don't worry; he's not kind of deviant sex pervert keeping young women in a dungeon." Clara smiled, and noticed with satisfaction that the Doctor had choked and stumbled slightly.
"Alright, but Doctor Who? At least tell me that!" She asked, speeding up to be walking level with the Doctor, Clara doing the same on his other side.
"Just the Doctor."
"The Doctor." Rose deadpanned.
"Hello!" He grinned fakely and waved his hand at her.
"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" she grinned smugly. Clara giggled. Rose was definitely a keeper, if she could stop herself pissing off the Doctor long enough for him to see that, anyway.
"Sort of." He dodged the question.
"Come on, then. You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you the police?" Rose switched tracks.
Clara snorted slightly, and Rose looked at her with a curious expression. "Him? The police? No way. The amount of times he's claimed to be an expert on something, them completely bumbled it up is unbelieveable!" She giggled. Rose laughed too at the image.
The Doctor pouted.
"But what have I done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?" Rose asked the Doctor again.
He snorted at her. "Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you. You were just an accident. You got in the way, that's all."
"It tried to kill me!" She snapped, clearly irritated at the blase way he was treating this attack.
"It was after me, not you. Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, We was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on you is 'cos you've met me."
"It's like," Clara tried to explain, "He's got this smell, that only aliens can smell, and since he touched you, a bit's rubbed off on you. If they can't find the strongest source, which is him, then they go for the next strongest, which is you."
"Oh that's lovely, that is. Smells!" The Doctor grumbled to himself. Neither girl paid any attention.
"What about you? Won't they be after you?" Rose asked.
"Yeah but since I'm close to him, his overpowers mine, if that makes sense."
"Yeah, yeah it does." Rose nodded, before turning to the Doctor. "See, why can't you talk like a normal human being for once!?"
"I'm not human, am I?" He scowled. Rose and Clara rolled their eyes simultaneously.
"So are you two on your own? Is there anyone else?" Rose tried to get back on track.
"Who else is there?" The Doctor shrugged, before being whacked on the arm by Clara very pointedly. "Ow. Okay, besides little miss here. Most humans," He glared at her, "you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."
"War with who?" Clara asked, before Rose could interject.
"The Nestene, remember? I told you just before!" He gave her an are-you stupid look. Clara scowled at his back. "I meant, why are the Nestene warring with the humans? Why don't they just kill them? That's not war, that's pest control for them!"
"Oh, right." The Doctor nodded, appearing slightly guilty for a second before he hid it quickly. "Well, they don't have anything but themselves, seeded under London, and they needed to build a transmitter to control the plastic, and once the plastic was under control, then they could start their pest control, as you call it. So right now they're skulking around, but what we destroyed last night was the first of many transmitters that they're preparing to activate."
"So how do we kill them?" Rose asked.
"We'll give them a chance, first. I always give them a chance." The Doctor looked far away, and Clara knew he was remembering the (fake though they may be) far too fresh memories of the Time War he had just ended.
"Really, though, Doctor. Tell me, who are you?" Rose stopped him, and Clara looked around and realized that the Doctor had been leading them on a roundabout route to the TARDIS. He snapped out of his memories and looked at her fully.
"Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, us three, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..." He released Clara and Rose's hands, and Clara was startled to realize that she haden't even noticed him grab it. "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home."
The Doctor turned and looked at Clara questioningly, and she grinned, grabbing his hand and tugging him into the TARDIS. Behind them, Rose Tyler turned and walked away.
oOoOoOo
So, that's part one of Rose, with part two coming... well, whenever I get around to it. I apologise in advance, but I do not type for long periods of time, so chapters will be sporadic and lengthy in gaps. That being said, I hope you liked this chapter! Please leave reviews telling me what you liked or didn't like, and of course, any timey wimey ideas you might have! I'm always up for people to submit their ideas!
Angela