TWENTY-ONE
"Well now we've got this, we'll be off," the Doctor said, spreading his fingers over the small black patches on the analyser again, watching the lights go out. "We're off to Manchester."
"Woah woah woah," Jack said quickly, putting his hands up, and the Time Lord looked at him, surprised. "Don't think you're going anywhere without me at your rear."
"Jack, if I didn't know you better, I'd say you were bored," the Doctor said, grinning. Jack shrugged.
"Hey, we're busy enough, but come on – you, me and Martha all together again? Even for just one gig? Can't say no to that," he smiled.
The Doctor caught his gaze wandering past him to the sisters, and rolled his eyes.
"I'll bet," he allowed. "Well… you're not completely useless, I suppose," he breathed to himself.
"Oh come on now – you need someone who can kick the shit out of anyone who gets in the way. I'm not too bad at that, if you remember," he said defensively.
"Well that's Mister Campbell's department," the Doctor said, surprising Jack by turning and landing a heavy hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Just don't annoy him."
"Charming," Jack smiled, then winked at Fergus. He just looked back at him. "So let's go then – Manchester, Old Trafford Football Ground, East Stand," he said.
"Right then," the Doctor said, looking at Martha with some expression she couldn't quite identify. He waved his hand out and Jack grinned, turning and grabbing his long coat from the back of his chair before leading the two girls and Fergus toward the large circular door.
The Doctor took Martha's arm as she walked past him to file out with the others. She stopped and looked up at him.
"What?" she asked quietly. He leaned down slightly, looking over her head still as he spoke.
"Do us a favour, make sure those two stay apart," he said quietly. She looked around, watching the two sisters and Fergus leave the door, Jack looking back at the two left behind.
"Jack and Fergus?" she asked quickly. "Why?"
"Trust me," he said, looking down at her now. She nodded dumbly, and he let go of her arm. She turned and walked out quickly, smiling as she passed Jack. The Doctor put his hands in his pockets, following.
"Problem?" Jack asked him.
"I'll say – you could have painted this place," the Doctor said, wrinkling his nose as he ducked through the door.
Jack grinned and followed them all out.
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The TARDIS materialised right outside a large glass fronted building, just off to one side of the locked doors.
The growing number of travellers slowly emerged from the transcendental craft, looking around warily.
"It's dark," Bronnin pointed out.
"Yeah – sorry. Small time slip. Having that thing connected to the Time Rotor causes problems," the Doctor said.
"So disconnect it," Jack put in. Fergus stepped out with Kickick and Martha, eyeing Jack as he walked past them all, up to the glass front. Jack stopped and looked up, hands on his hips, smiling. "So this Sir Matt Busby, huh?" he asked grandly.
"Apparently," the Doctor allowed. He looked around, noticing the street noise and sounds of the city not too far away. He lifted the boomerang-shaped retro-active wave analyser and ran his fingers over it, turning it on. "Jack," he said curiously, watching the lights come on.
"What?" he asked, turning to look at him.
"You know you said the statue comes to life when there's a power drain on the sun?"
"Yeah," he said warily.
"How were you measuring this power drain, exactly?"
"I was kinda hoping you wouldn't ask me that," he said awkwardly, and now the Doctor looked up at him. He simply raised his eyebrows, and Jack squirmed, his hands fiddling with each other absently. "We ah… We've got a kinda power meter," he admitted, putting his hand in his big pocket and pulling out what looked like a PDA.
"And?" the Doctor said warily.
"Well I can get the readings through this. It's connected to the… Well, we're using a ah… It's a Folian EM radiation meter," he admitted.
Martha and Fergus watched the Doctor's face turn from one of trepidation to accusation.
"Wait!" Jack said quickly, holding up his hands. "We disconnected the refraction –"
"Do you wake up in the morning trying to think of ways to destroy the hope I had in you?" the Doctor snapped, and Martha put a hand over her mouth quickly.
Jack just stood there, stunned.
"As soon as this is sorted, you're turning it off and destroying it," the Time Lord snapped, his large eyes pinning the once Time Agent with the full force of his righteous indignation.
"Ok," Jack said lamely.
It was silent for a long moment as the two men stared at each other. Jack cleared his throat eventually and looked away as fast as he could.
The Doctor looked down at the analyser in his hand, then up at the statue of Sir Matt Busby, over the door in front of them. He tutted to himself, apparently disgusted, and turned away abruptly.
Fergus gave Martha a look before walking after him, hearing him mutter to himself.
She looked back at the two sisters and Jack.
"Well," she said, trying to break the silence. "Er, how about we go back inside and wait for them to bring us news?" she said patiently. "It's not like we can do much out here. And anyway, we can be watching for power and moving statues from the TARDIS monitor."
"Good idea," Kickick said quickly, and Jack looked at them.
"You guys go ahead," he said quietly. "I'll see what I can do to help."
"Good luck," Martha said meaningfully, before turning back to the two girls, guiding them toward the familiar blue doors.
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Martha and the two girls sat on the high chairs, sipping their hot tea, watching the Time Rotor monitor.
"So Fergus has decided to leave after all, to go with you?" Martha asked gingerly. "You must be pleased."
"I am," Kickick grinned. "He's absolutely adorable, isn't he?"
"He is," she confirmed. "You're just lucky he's willing to give all this up," she sighed. "A lot of men wouldn't."
"Did you?" Bronnin asked curiously.
"Yeah. Yeah, I did," she said. "For my family though, nothing as noble as falling in love with an alien," she rattled off.
Bronnin cast her a sly look, and she looked down at her tea quickly.
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Kickick asked suddenly. "I mean, the three of them out there in the dark?"
"Of course," Martha said, relieved at a change of subject. "Fergus is very handy in tight spots – and Jack isn't all mouth and no trousers, despite how he seems at times," she grinned.
"Good," Kickick said quietly. She looked up, about to say something, but Bronnin started and jumped off the chair suddenly. "What?"
"The statue," she said, pointing at the monitor, ostensibly watching just that.
But as Martha and Kickick turned to look at the CCTV footage, they gasped.
The statue was gone.
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"So this thing is tracing where thi power's coming in fae?" Fergus asked, deliberately loudly.
"Yes," the Doctor replied, ignoring the sound of Jack walking slightly behind them.
"Do we not need tae know where it's going, too?" he offered.
"We know where it's going," the Doctor replied evenly. "It's going to the machine on my grating."
Jack twitched slightly, plunging his hand in his pocket quickly and pulling out the PDA.
"Ah… guys?" he said quickly.
The Doctor looked at him as he heard the phone singing in his pocket. He tutted and stopped, taking the phone from his dimensionally-challenged dress trousers.
"Hello?" he asked, irritated.
"Ah… really, guys?" Jack said more loudly, eyeing the screen on the PDA and then looking around quickly, Fergus watching him.
"When?" the Doctor demanded down the phone, grabbing their attention. "Ok, forget it now. Just watch to see if it comes back," he said. "Did you see it leave?"
Fergus looked at Jack, then his eyes widened and he stared past his shoulder. The hair on the back of Jack's neck stood up swiftly as he felt the urge to turn and look.
He did. He reached out and his hand brushed the Time Lord's shoulder, then found it again by touch and patted at it forcefully.
"What?" the Doctor demanded testily, then turned to look. He sniffed to himself. "Martha?" he said pleasantly down the phone. "Have to call you back. Found the missing statue."
He snapped the phone shut and pocketed it, looking down at the analyser in his right hand. He looked up again.
"It's… not that," he said, as the three men watched it walk straight past them, oblivious. "But something is sucking in background radiation and pressing it into energy. Something… not on the surface…"
"Is that really a statue?" Jack asked, dumb-founded. "How is it moving like a real person?"
"Let's ask it," the Gallifreyan said curiously. He held the analyser behind his back swiftly, walking up and keeping step with Sir Matt Busby. "Evening," he said pleasantly. "Nice night for a walk, isn't it?"
The statue flinched, but kept walking. Fergus hurried to flank it on the other side, and Jack brought up the rear, watching where they were headed and who might be watching the odd group.
"Been busy, Sir Matt?" the Doctor asked airily. The statue ignored him. He leaned behind it to hand Fergus the analyser. He fell back into step with the statue before taking his screwdriver from his pocket. "I mean, you've been retired for a while now. Can't think there'd be much to do at your time of life. You know, bronzed," he said cheerfully.
He flicked on the screwdriver.
The statue turned swiftly and grabbed for the sonic instrument. The Doctor yelped and jumped back.
Fergus and Jack had time to register the image of the statue flicker and weave. Then it flickered back to look like a statue again.
The statue hurled itself on the Doctor.
Jack and Fergus didn't even hesitate. They leapt at the metal creature almost as one. The four of them went down in a heap. They scrabbled and fought, until suddenly it all went silent and still.
"Gotcha," Jack wheezed, his hands and ankles still squeezing its left wrist into the grass beneath. The statue was still struggling and wrenching, but it was definitely trapped.
"Gah! Stae still yi slippery bastard, ye!" Fergus growled. He was sprawled over the statue, clutching the right hand in his, the statue's throat in the other. "Yir no going anywhir!"
"When you've finished congratulating each other do you think you could get off me!" the Doctor cried, frustrated.
Jack and Fergus looked at each other, then down at the statue.
Jack slewed his body round and to the side, finding the Doctor underneath. He was pinned under the heavy metal, his head and shoulders sticking out from the small of the statue's back.
He couldn't help it; the Captain started to laugh.
Fergus tutted and grumbled, shifting round while keeping a good hold on the thing.
"Alright pal, c'moan and get him oot," he said irritably. Jack uncrossed his ankles from round the thing's wrist, turning round quickly.
"Right – one two three and go," he said. "Roll him over, pin him down. Got it?"
"Right. Go," Fergus nodded.
The two men twisted and heaved, rolling the struggling statue onto its front and off the Time Lord. They shifted their weight onto it quickly as the Doctor rolled, groaning, onto his front to be further away from the heap of men.
"So now what?" Jack asked. "Can't exactly pump him for information, can we?"
"Well he doesnae like thi screwdriver – Ah vote we find oot why," Fergus replied.
"Oooh, a thinker and a fighter," Jack winked at him. Fergus rolled his eyes, then looked over at the Doctor.
"Hae – wuid yi tell this buftie Ah'm no interested," he called, amused.
The Doctor rolled onto his back, winded, his fingers reaching for the deactivated screwdriver. He got to his knees slowly, then stood. He bent over, snatching up his screwdriver and catching his breath.
"Right then," he breathed, walking over, "let's see who you really are, shall we?"
He flicked on the screwdriver. The statue struggled and began to wrench, but the two men held it fast.
It began to flicker, as if it were simply a picture underneath them. Jack found his hands empty and shifted, trying to grab onto whatever was appearing underneath.
He found his hands tight round spindly, short limbs. Fergus was clamping his hands round the semblance of a throat.
"Well, well, well," the Doctor said, grandly, looking down at the struggling female Krimmanhellanian. "Madame Premier."
