The three of them stood in front of the Eye of London, looking at all the people and all the shops.
"Think of it," the Doctor said, "Plastic, every artificial thing all over the world waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables-"
"The breast implants..." Rose continued. Isla's eyebrow twitched as she looked at her friend.
"Still, we've found the transmitter, the Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."
Rose looked around, then took off towards the beach, where a sewer entrance was.
"What about down here?" She called. Isla and the Doctor rushed to her side.
"Looks good to me!" The Doctor replied, grabbing their hands and dragging them towards it. He opened the hatch, and they climbed down into a chamber filled with heat and red light. The Doctor pushed open a door and led them through it, looking into a vat of liquidus, molten plastic.
"The Nestene Consciousness," the Doctor spoke softly, "there, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature."
"Well then, tip in your Antiplastic and let's go!"
"I'm not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance!"
He walked down a bit further so that he was overlooking the vat from a lower place.
"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract, according to Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."
The plastic in the vat moved and groaned as though talking. Rose and Isla crept down closer to the Doctor, watching with rapt attention.
"Thank you! If I may have permission to approach?"
The plastic groaned again. Rose caught sight of Mickey and gasped, rushing down the stairs to where he cowered against a railing.
"Mickey!" She cried.
"Shhh! That thing down there, the liquid, Rose, it can talk!"
"Doctor, they kept him alive?" Isla asked, looking up at him. He nodded.
"That was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy."
"You knew that and you never said?!" Rose snapped.
"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" The Doctor snarked, and continued his descent towards the plastic. The Nestene gurgled as he approached, and the Doctor looked down into the vat. "Am I addressing the Consciousness?" The reply was an even louder gurgle. "Thank you. If I may observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, might I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" He was grinning now.
The Consciousness took form of an angry face and made a noise of protest. Clearly, the 'greatest respect,' wasn't enough.
"Oh, now don't give me that! It's an invasion, plain and simple! Don't talk about constitutional rights!"
"Doctor! May I suggest not pissing off the thing that can kill us?" Isla called down to him from her spot at the rail. The Consciousness shrieked, already enraged. The Doctor ignored Isla's suggestion.
"I AM TALKING! These humans, these stupid little people have only just learned how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you, on their behalf, please, just go!"
"DOCTOR!" Rose's warning came a little too late, as two mannequins came from behind and grabbed him. One of them pulled the Antiplastic from his coat pocket and the Consciousness roared in outrage.
"That was just insurance! I wasn't gonna use it!" The Consciousness roared some more but the Doctor shook his head. "I wasn't attacking you! I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy, I swear, I'm not!" Another shriek. "What do you mean?!"
A wall shifted to show the TARDIS behind it, and the Doctor started shouting, "No! No, please, honestly. That's my ship!" The Consciousness replied, and the Doctor shook his head, "That's not true! I would know, I was there! I fought in the war, it wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world, I couldn't save any of them!"
The Consciousness started growling and hissing, thrashing in the vat.
"What's it doing?" Rose cried, holding Mickey to her.
"It's the TARDIS!" The Doctor replied, "The Nestene identified it as superior technology, It's terrified! It's going to the final phase! It's starting the invasion, all of you get out! Just leg it! Now!"
Rose didn't move, instead, she grabbed her phone, dialling her mother and shouting into the receiver.
"Mum?!" Pause, "Mum, where are you?...Look, just go home! Just go home right now! Mum? Mum?!"
What looked like lightning formed around the Consciousness, shooting up towards the Eye of London.
"The activation signal, it's transmitting!" The Doctor explained, panic in his voice.
"It's the end of the world," Rose breathed. Isla shook her head.
"We need to get that Antiplastic."
"No!" The Doctor cried, "Just get out. Go, run!"
There was a rumble, and Isla turned just in time to see the stairs crumble.
"No good," she replied. She turned to Rose. "Go to the TARDIS," she whispered. "I have to try and help the Doctor."
Rose nodded and grabbed Mickey, dragging him up towards where the TARDIS was. Isla took off her heeled shoes and jumped over the railing, tackling one of the plastic men that held the Doctor.
"Isla, I don't have the key!" Rose cried. Mickey clung to his girlfriend desperately.
"We're gonna die!"
More mannequins came from behind and tore Isla away, but she refused to relinquish her hold on the first mannequin's arms. As she was pulled away, she braced her feet on its back, and yanked, tearing it's arms off. She whacked the two holding her upside the head with them, and they toppled a little, but had their arms around her again in an instant.
"Time Lord," the Nestene hissed at the Doctor. Rose stood up as Isla and the Doctor struggled against the mannequins.
"Just leave them!" Mickey snapped. Isla's head shot up, unable to believe her friend had said that. Rose stared for another moment, before rushing to where an axe sat against the wall near some chains.
"I've got no A-Levels," she murmured, "no job, and no future. But I'll tell you what I have got." She hit the chains with the axe, "Jericho Street Junior School under-sevens gymnastics team." She grabbed the chain and grinned down at Isla. "I've got the bronze!" She grunted as she swung from the ledge toward Isla and the Doctor, knocking the Mannequins into the Nestene Consciousness. Isla ran for the final plastic man, the one holding the Antiplastic, which already had it's hand pointed at her, fingers downwards as though on a hinge, revealing what appeared to be a gun. It fired when she was inches from it, but she dodged, kicking it's legs out from under it.
It tumbled into the vat, the Antiplastic spilling open. The Consciousness shrieked and wailed. Rose came swinging back on the chain, and the Doctor caught her. He, Rose and Isla watched as the signal cut off and the Consciousness thrashed in the vat.
"Now we're in trouble!" The Doctor laughed, pulling the girls to the TARDIS, where Mickey latched back onto Rose. The Doctor opened the TARDIS and they all filed in, Rose pausing to watch the Consciousness for just another moment, then turning to shut the door behind her.
Inside, the Doctor went right to the console and started pressing buttons and pulling levers.
Isla sagged against the rails in relief as Mickey stared around in absolute horror, clutching Rose's waist.
The Doctor pulled a final lever, and gestured to the door. "There you are, right back where you started."
Mickey ran out, and fled, not turning his back on the TARDIS. Rose walked out, as well, holding her phone to her ear to call her mother again. Isla lingered in the TARDIS, looking up at the walls. The Doctor came to stand with her.
"You tried to help," he commented.
"I didn't do much good," she replied, "all I really did was jump, pull, dodge and trip. I can't control it. Whatever I can do, I'm useless."
"Practice," he said, "You'll learn."
"Not with my mother always insisting that I shouldn't leave the house."
"Ah, well," he grinned and left his sentence unfinished, leading Isla out of the TARDIS. He stood at the door when she exited. "Nestene Consciousness, easy." He snapped his fingers before he said the last word.
"You were useless in there, the both of you! You'd be dead if it wasn't for me!"
"Yes, we would," the Doctor agreed, "Thank you."
"I owe you Rose!" Isla shrugged. Rose grinned.
"Right then! I'll just be off. Unless...I don't know, you could come with me," he looked between Rose and Isla. Isla bit her lip, taking half a step closer to the Doctor and his TARDIS. "This box isn't just a London-Op, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe. Free of charge!"
"Don't! He's an alien. He's a thing! A freak!" Mickey protested.
The word freak struck a chord in Isla, and she made up her mind in that instant, stepping back up to the Doctor.
"I'm in," she said. He grinned.
"Don't worry," the Doctor told her, "he's NOT invited. How about you, Rose? You could stay here and fill your life with food and work and sleep or you could go, well, anywhere."
"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked.
"Yeah."
At the Doctor's answer, Mickey latched back onto Rose.
"Yeah, I can't, um...I've got to go and find my mum, and someone has to look after this stupid lump...so..."
"Okay," the Doctor looked disappointed, "see you around." He held the door open for Isla, who smiled sadly at Rose and walked in, waving at her. The Doctor followed the petite brunette and shut the door, crossing to the console. "Anywhere you wanna go?"
Isla didn't answer, she just sighed and walked around the console. The Doctor stared at her, before pulling on a lever. There was a pause as the TARDIS began to move, then the Doctor shook his head and pushed it back down again.
"What are you doing?" Isla asked, surprised. The Doctor just grinned at her, and opened up the door, revealing Rose and Mickey standing at the far end of the alley.
"By the way," he called out to her, "did I mention, it also travel in time?"
Rose grinned and turned to Mickey as the Doctor went back inside, leaving the door open.
"There," the Doctor said, moving to the console, "now you're both coming."
Rose ran in and shut the door behind her, grabbing Isla in a hug.
"Adventure," she whispered, "just what we've always wanted."