Torchwood Two, Glasgow:
"No, no, no and more no. I can't believe you're even asking me this!" The man was small, balding, and bespectacled, complete in a velvet red coat and a green plaid tie. He was on his feet, but still barely stood tall enough to slam his hands down emphatically on the paper-covered desk in front of him. A small gold placard on the corner of his desk read Archibald Reagan, Vice President.
"Last time I let the two of you go off on an unauthorized mission, you brought back two dozen Cybermen that I-"
"Cyberprotectors. We're callin' 'em CPs," the Professor replied cheerfully.
"-that I then had to clear through not only Torchwood, but the UN itself. Do you know how awkward it is to go to the Secretary of Planetary Defense and say yes, I know, we just got done fighting a global war against these creatures, but could you possibly be okay with us keeping a squad of them as pets?"
"They're not-" Rose began.
"And don't you think I've forgotten the incident with the Chief of Homeland Security's wife's dog. You can't just go around and let your little robot-men vaporize anything that even slightly annoys them!"
The Professor shrugged one shoulder. "In all due fairness, that poodle was on the offensive - and I mean full-on attack-mode with teeth and foam and all - and the CPs were only protectin' their-"
"Now you want me to go to the Emporer of Japan - the man responsible for two-thirds of the zeppelin industry worldwide- and ask him to give over his top secret laboratory codes so that you two can traipse around in his advanced space flight prototype development labs and follow up on a hunch?"
"It's really more of an educated guess, but-" The Professor cut off. "Right. Not helping. Sorry."
"Oh don't you even start. There's a very good reason all of your security clearances were revoked two decades ago, alien genius or not!" The short man's face was now nearly as red as his jacket as he wagged a finger at the dark-haired woman.
"Aw, don't insult my intelligence, I hate when lesser lifeforms-"
"Professor!" Rose hissed.
"Get. OUT!"
The gilded double doors slammed shut behind them, leaving the two women standing in the hallway without even so much as an aide to show them the way out. It might have also been in large part due to the tall silver creature standing in the middle of the foyer, facing the hallway that lead towards the elevators, a protective sentinel.
At Rose's sigh, the CP turned to face them with the hiss and clump of firing pistons.
"Action re-qui-red?"
"No, CP-2. It's okay. Let's just head back to London."
The Professor simply looked amused, striding down the hallway without waiting. Rose and CP-2 hurried to keep up with the dark-haired woman. "I told you it wouldn't work. This very organization was built to tell me no, which is all quite unfair. It's not my fault that that silly Queen Victoria let that stupid lupomorph bite her and now the formerly royal family is running around the plains of Northern Scotland furry and angry everytime the moon is high."
"Yes, but -"
"Still! All for the better, I say. 'President' is much more efficient than 'Your Majesty' anyway and then we're not held captive by the whims of genetics, which - I'll have you know - are very whimsical which surprises a lot because, really, you wouldn't expect subatomic particles to have such a splendid sense of humor." The elevator dinged shut behind them, complete with an ominous groan of protest at CP-2's full weight. The Professor didn't seem to notice.
"But, Professor -"
"That reminds me, though, I do owe her a bit of an apology, what for how our last meeting turned out."
Rose stared at the dark-haired Time Lord. "Who, Queen Victoria?"
The Professor leveled a look down her nose that made Rose shut her mouth and make good her escape through the now-opening elevator door. "No, President Jones. Whyever would I apologize to Queen Victoria?"
"Well, you apparently got her and her entire family turned into werewolves. Somethin', I might add, that the Doctor and I managed to prevent." Rose smirked smugly, then stepped forward a bit quicker, amending, "mostly..." under her breath. One of the Professor's eyebrows shot skyward but Rose plunged on before the Time Lady could pick at that. She did so love to pick things apart. "That still leaves us with a problem - a big problem. We need that engine for the dimensional cannon, or it's not goin' t' work."
They emerged out into a spacious glass foyer bordered by a busy sidewalk, the skies overhead dark and heavy with clouds. Despite the bustle, the city seemed strangely quiet and subdued. A heavy pall lay over the city like a fog, smothering the color out of everything. Rose let her eyes wander over the people, hunched and bundled against the cold and the grey, so few talking and no one laughing. Even the clanging steps of the large Cyberman behind them seemed muted in the dim light from their own fading sun.
"It's like this everywhere," she said softly. "In every city, on every continent. It's like, as the stars go out, so does the hope in people's hearts. Everyone is givin' up, and we're runnin' out of time." Her throat constricted, and she closed her eyes, hands clenching in her pockets. Every day she was here he seemed further away, slipping from her grasp. Every day, it seemed like the walls between their worlds were that much taller, that much thicker.
"Hey." A slim hand gripped her shoulder, prompting her to open her eyes and look over at the Professor. "Don't give up on him now, Rose Tyler. I promised I'd help you get back to him, and I will."
Rose nodded once, swallowing hard. The Time Lady smiled slightly in approval, and then turned towards CP-2.
"Very good. Almost all charged up?"
"A-ffirm-a-tive. Teleportation circuit at 98%. Estimated charge time two minutes-thirty two seconds and counting." CP-2 raised one arm and a small metal plate slid back to reveal a charge bar that was nearly full. Several small diagnostic screens fluctuated underneath, graphs that the Professor scrutinized for a long moment.
"Fantastic. We'll be back in London in two shakes of a Cyberprotector's hand. Well, arm. Well, not really shaking at all but depolarization of the temporal field generating a flux-"
"Professor," Rose interrupted. "We still don't have a power source for the dimensional cannon. What're we goin' t'do?"
"I'll tell you what we're not going to do, Rose Tyler. We are not going to apologize to that stodgy President Jones after all because yes - I do know who she is, and she's a terrible cheat at cards. I've just decided that's absolutely unforgivable, President or no. What we are going to do, however, Rose Tyler, is go back to London where you are going to round up that bickerin' couple of lads with their ridiculously large guns and we're going to go get us an engine."
Rose perked up. "We are?"
"Absolutely! Because what am I? I'm brilliant that's what, and-" The Professor rounded on Rose with a swirl of skirts, her eyes sparking maniacally. "And I just got a really interestin' idea."