We were outside the Tardis.
"What just happened?" Rickey asked.
"Shadow teleported us," I heard Rose say.
I stumbled, and the Doctor caught me before I could hit my head on the pavement.
I pointed at him weakly. "Stay. Out. Of trouble," I said. I closed my eyes.

"What happened to her?" Rose asked. "Is she dead?"
"Not dead, just tired. She just teleported herself and five others 25 some odd miles to the east. She needs to rest, and recharge," the Doctor explained, picking her up.
"I don't understand, I thought she wasn't a robot," Rose said, opening the Tardis door for him. She followed him to Shadow's quarters, and he put her down on the bed.
He straightened, walking out and closing the door behind them.
"She isn't a robot no. She's more of a cyborg actually, technology and flesh combined to create the perfect life form. She can blend in on almost any planet, she eats food like a normal creature, but she has a teleport, and perception filter built into her, and like a robot, she has to follow her orders."
"So she shuts down to... recharge when she uses to much energy?" Rose asked.
"She just goes to sleep," he said. "Like any other form of life. Resting, and getting better."

Two days Later

I opened my eyes, and heard, a rumbling noise. I frowned, and got up, stumbling a bit as the blood started circulating properly in my legs again. I walked out of the Tardis, and saw that my surroundings were drasticaly changed. I decided I had slept a bit too long. I looked down the street, to see the Doctor and Rose riding away on an odd contraption, a kind of mechanical bike.
I tried to tap our link, and collapsed, suddenly very dizzy. Something was blocking the link, something powerful. I didn't know what it was, but I couldn't reach the Doctor that way. I looked up, and saw the Doctor and Rose turn a corner. I stood, and ran after them.

A red London bus drove past the end of the street, the Doctor stopped. The Doctor looked bemused, Rose laughed it off.
"Digging that New York vibe!" Rose said.
"Well... this COULD still be New York, I mean this looks very New York to me... sort of... Londony New York, mind," the Doctor said.
"DOCTOR!" someone yelled from behind them. They turned, seeing Shadow, running after them.
"Oh, it lives!" Rose cried as she caught up with them. Shadow bent over, gasping for breath. She pointed at the Doctor accusingly. "Where... Where were you- where were you going?" she gasped out.
"We were going to see Elvis, but he took us to London," Rose said. She looked down at my feet. "You're barefoot," she commented.
"That's your fault," she said, pointing at the Doctor accusingly. "You were going off lord knows where, without me!"
"You were sleeping," he protested.
"Then you should have waited," Shadow said.
"Why didn't you just call him with that link you two have?" Rose asked.
"I tried," Shadow said. She looked at the Doctor. "There's something blocking it," she said.
"Woah," the Doctor said, swaying. Rose steadied him. He shook his head. "Yeah, you're right. Something's blocking it, something powerful."
A van rode up, and parked itself on the side of the road. Two errand boys took out a television and carried it into a house. The house owner looked on.
"There you go, sir, all wired up for the great occasion," a man said to the recipient of the TV.
The Doctor got off the bike thing, and walked over to the van.
"The great occasion? What d'you mean?" the Doctor asked.
"Where've you been living, out in the Colonies? Coronation, of course," the man said.
"What Coronation's that, then?" the Doctor asked.
"What d'you mean? THE Coronation," the man asked.
The Doctor looked blank, turning to Rose for help.
"The Queen's," Rose said as if it were obvious. "Queen Elizabeth!"
"Oh! Oh, is this 1953?" he asked the man.
"Last time I looked. Time for a lovely bit of pomp and circumstance, what we do best," the man said.
"Look at all the TV aerials... looks like everyone's got one. That's weird, my nan said tellies were so rare they all had to pile into one house," Rose said.
"Not round here, love. Magpie's Marvellous Tellies, only five quid a box," the man said.
The Doctor wandered a short way round the street, thinking. He suddenly cut in, all smiles and energy.
"Oh but this is a BRILLIANT year! Classic! Technicolour, Everest climbed, everything off the ration-
The Nation throwing off the shadows of war and looking forward to a happier, brighter future!" he said.
Rose laughed, and we heard a woman scream.
"Someone help me, please! Ted!" she yelled.
A man with a blanket over his head was being bundled into a black police car by two suited men. The Doctor and Rose ran over.
"Leave him alone, it's my husband!" the woman said.
"What's going on?" the Doctor asked.
The blanketed man was pushed into the back seat.
A boy came out of one of the other houses. "Oi, what are you doing?" a boy asked.
One of the suited men addressed the Doctor.
"Police business, now get out of the way, sir!" he said.
"Who did they take, do you know him?" Rose asked the boy.
"Must be Mr Gallagher," the boy said.
The car drove off, leaving Mrs Gallagher in despair.
"It's happening all over the place. They're turning into monsters," the boy said.
A man stormed out of the boy's house.
"Tommy! Not one word!" he shouted at the boy.
Rose and the Doctor looked at the man.
"Get inside now!" he yelled.
"Sorry, I'd better do as he says," the boy said, running back into his house.
Mrs Gallagher was still sobbing, but the Doctor ran over to the bike-thing and kicked it into life.
"All aboard!" he yelled. Rose hopped on back.
"Hey, wait!" I yelled, running after them.
I fell behind, and they turned a corner. I ran as fast as I could, and ground to a halt behind them.
"Lost 'em! How'd they get away from us?" the Doctor said, staring at a dead end. There were some men sweeping the road, but no car.
"You've got to stop doing that," I said breathlessly.
"Surprised they didn't turn back and arrest you for reckless driving, have you actually PASSED your test?" Rose said, ignoring me. And I didn't have my Shadow Device on either.
"Men in black?" the Doctor said, ignoring Rose. "Vanishing police cars? This is Churchill's England, not Stalin's Russia!" "Monsters, that boy said," Rose said thoughtfully.
The Doctor turned to her.
"Maybe we should go and ask the neighbours," Rose said.
"That's what I like about you. The domestic approach," he said.
"Hold on a minute, now just STOP!" I said. They both looked at me. That was better.
"Nobody's approaching anything, domestically, or otherwise, until I catch up." I looked at Rose. "First things, did he stay out of trouble?" I asked.
"Well..." she said, sounding uncertain. "Yeah, for the most part, I think he did," she said.
"Alright, good. 2: Where's Mickey?" I asked.
"He stayed in the alternate universe to fight the cybermen," Rose said.
"That is of no consequence. 3rd issue. This method of travel," I said, indicating the bike-thing. "Is no good. You keep leaving me behind."
Rose and the Doctor looked at each other, and grinned.
"Well, you run fast, catch us," Rose said. The drove away.
"YOU'RE LUCKY I HAVE TO PROTECT YOU, OR YOU'D BE DEAD RIGHT NOW!" I yelld at the Doctor's back. Then I stopped. I felt..different. I didn't know what it was, so i just stood there for a few minutes, trying to work it out. Then I realized something. I was angry. At the Doctor. That was not right. Anger was one of the emotions I was programmed to feel, but only a enemies of the Doctor. Why was I angry at the Doctor? And then I remembered. There was something, a feeling, nagging at me, in the back of my mind. Like there was something really important, something that I should know that I didn't. And then it was gone. I shook my head, thinking that I'd slept to long. I ran after the Doctor and Rose.

I ran down the street, not seeing any sign of them. And then I spotted their bike-thing, parked on the side of the street. I narowed it down to only the houses on this street. I trid the one they'd parked directly in front of first.
"Doctor!" I yelled. A very startled little girl looked back at me. "Have you seen a man called the Doctor?" I asked.
She shook her head. I sighed, and closed the door, going to the house next to this one. It was empty. I went to the house on the other side of the first house. There was the Mrs. Gallagher, crying on the couch. But no Doctor, so I left that house too. I checked all the houses on that side of the street. Then I started on the other side. As I walked out of the third house on the right side, I saw a black police car arrived outside the house. Two men came out, and walked into the house. I walked into the next house. This one was empty too. I walked back out, and saw the men, hurrying out of the house with a blanketed figure.
"Back inside, Rita!" someone yelled.
"She's my mother!" a woman yelled.
"Back inside now, I said!" he yelled.
the car drove off,and the Doctor ran out of the house.
"Doctor" I yelled, running down the street The Doctor ran to the bike-thing.
"Rose, come on!" he yelled.
"Get back inside!" the man was yelling at the woman.
"But Dad, they took her!" the boy said. It was the same boy we had spoken with in the street earlier.
"Go back inside, don't fight it," the man said.
"Rose, come on," the Doctor said again as he fastened his helmet. "Rose, we're gonna lose them again!" he yelled.
"Dad, they took her! That was Gran and they took her!" the boy cried.
"Come on, back inside now," the man said, still not letting the boy out.
I reached the Doctor, and climbed on the back of the bike-thing. "She isn't coming Doctor, go!" I yelled. He started the thing up, and we shot off after the car.
The black police car swerved around a bend, and out of our sight. We turned the corner to, only to see that the car has disappeared in what appeared to be a dead end. There were the same two workmen, apparently clearing away some rubbish from the stall and sweeping the street. The Doctor stopped swiftly.
"Oh, very good! Very good!" he said to the men appreciatively.
He got off the bike-thing, parking it on the side of the road, and walked around the building, looking for a way in. He found finds a small gate at the side, and broke in with the sonic screwdriver. We walked in, and saw two policemen locking up some cage-like gates. We waited until they were gone, and then walked over ot the cage. It contained several dozen people. He opened those gates too with the sonic screwdriver, and started to walk in. I put a hand on his arm. He looked at me, and nodded, understanding. He walked into the cage, with me holding onto his hand, ready to teleport if need be. None of the people in the enclosure had faces. They clenched and unclenched their fists in a creepy, almost mechanical manner, and shuffled towards the Doctor. Suddenly, a bright light flared on, and I activated my Shadow Device, keeping a hold on the Doctor's hand. The Doctor turned around and squinted, seeing the two policemen who had locked up the cages earlier, standing in front of the headlamps of their car.
"Stay where you are!" one of them said. He let go of my hand, to put both of his up in the air. They hauled him out of the cage rudely, and walked him into a small room off to the side.
They sat him down in a chair across from a desk, and I stood behind him, ready to grab him and teleport out. But he was in no immediate danger that I could see, so I just stood behind him, waiting.
The man who had spoken outside stood over the Doctor imposingly. "Start from the beginning, tell me everything you know," the man said.
"Well... for starters... I know you can't wrap your hand around your elbow and make your fingers meet," the Doctor said seriously.
The man pointed at him. "Don't get clever with me. You were there today at Florizel Street, and now breaking into this establishment. Now, you're connected with this. Make no mistake-" he started. The Doctor interupted him.
"Well, the thing IS, Detective Inspector Bishop-" the Doctor began.
"How do you know my name?" Bishop asked, interupting the Doctor.
"It's... written inside your collar," the Doctor said.
Bishop looked slightly embarrassed and adjusted his collar.
"Bless your mum. But, I can't help thinking, Detective Inspector, you're not exactly doing much detective inspecting. Are you?" the Doctor asked.
"I'm doing everything in my power," Bishop said.
"All you're doing is grabbing those faceless people and hiding them as fast as you can. Don't tell me - orders from above, hmm? Coronation Day... the eyes of the world are on London Town... so any sort of problem just gets swept out of sight," th Doctor said.
The Doctor started spinning from side to side in the chair, completely relaxed. Bishop looked slightly irritated.
"The nation has an image to maintain," Bishop said.
"Doesn't it drive you mad? Doing nothing? Don't you wanna get out there and investigate?" the Doctor asked him incredulously.
"Course I do. But-" he cut off, and sat down, looking exhausted.
"With all the crowds expected, we haven't got the man-power. Even if we did... this is... beyond anything we've ever seen," he said helplessly. "I just don't know anymore. Twenty years on the force... I don't even know where to start. We haven't the faintest clue what's going on," he said.
The Doctor leaned forward, listening intently.
"Well... that could change," the Doctor said.
"How?" Bishop asked.
The Doctor stood, looking down at D.I. Bishop, and it occured to me that he had effectively reversed their roles.
"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know," the Doctor said, and I snickered. Then I stopped. I thought it was FUNNY. I never thought things were funny. What was going on?
Suddenly, there was light. Everything around me changed. I wasn't in the warehouse anymore. I was in a garden. I saw a little girl, running, and yelling happily. There was a man running after her, but she wasn't afraid. She looked so happy. She laughed as he chased her in circles around a fountain. "Gottcha!" he yelled as he snatched her up, swinging her in the air. She shrieked with glee. Then I was back in the warehouse. The Doctor and Bishop were standing by a large map on a stand.
I looked around in confusion, and felt something wet on my cheek. I brushed my cheek, and my hand came away wet. I was crying. I sat down heavily in the chair that the Doctor had been sitting in. I never cried. why was I crying?
"We started finding them about a month ago. Persons left sans visage. Heads just... blank," Bishop was saying.
"Is there any sort of pattern?" the Doctor asked.
He examined a file he picked up off the desk.
"Yes, spreading out from North London. All over the City. Men, women, kids... grannies... the only REAL lead is there's been quite a large number in-"
"Florizel Street," the Doctor finished.
There was a knock at the door. The Doctor and Bishop looked up.
"Found another one, sir," I looked up, and saw tha the figure was wearing a pink skirt and matching pink shoes.
"Oh, er - good man, Crabtree. Here we are, Doctor," Bishop said.
The Doctor drops the files on the table and walks slowly towards teh figure that I already knew was Rose.
"Take a good look. See what you can deduce," Bishop said.
The policeman took the blanket off Rose's head. The Doctor's eyes widened in horror as he approached her. I got up, moving to his side. I would think about the girl in the garden later.
"Rose," the Doctor said.
"Do you know her?" Bishop asked.
"Know her? She..." he didn't finish. He walked right up close to her, staring down at her featureless face.
"They found her in the street, apparently, over at Master Square, abandoned," Crabtree told Bishop.
"That's unusual, that's the first one out in the open. Heaven help us if something happens in public tomorrow for the big day, we'll have Torchwood on our back, make no mistake," Bishop said.
The Doctor was gazing down at Rose.
"They did what?" he asked Bishop coldly.
"I'm sorry?" Bishop asked.
"They left her where?" he said.
"Just... in the street," Bishop said.
"In the street," he said quietly. "They left her in the street. They took her face and just chucked her out and left her in the street. And as a result, that makes things... simple. Very, very simple. Do you know why?" he said.
He finally tore his gaze away from Rose's face, and took his glasses off, turning to the two men.
"No," Bishop said.
"Because NOW, Detective Inspector Bishop, there is no power on this Earth that can stop me. Come on!" he shouted.
And without a moments hesitation, he made for the door.
The Doctor, Bishop and I burst out of the gates into the dawn sunlight.
"The big day dawns," Bishop said.
The Doctor didn't reply. He moved on immediately, walking briskly down the streets, seeming to know exactly where he was going. He walked up to a house, the same house he'd been in with Rose last night when I'd been looking for him.
He knocked on the door, and it was answered a moment later by the boy.
"Tommy, talk to me," the Doctor said.
Tommy stepped outside the door, closing it behind him. "I need to know exactly what happened inside your house," the Doctor said.
Tommy's father pulled the door open violently and rounded on Tommy. "What the blazes do you think you're doing?" he asked Tommy.
"I wanna help, dad," Tommy said.
"Mr Connolly," the Doctor said warningly.
"Shut your face, you. Whoever you are. We can handle this ourselves," he said, turning back to Tommy. "Listen you, little twerp. You're hardly out of the bloomin' cradle, so I don't expect you to understand. But I've got a position to maintain. People round here respect me. It MATTERS what people THINK," he said.
"Is that why you did it, dad?" Tommy said.
His father looked taken aback. "What d'you mean? Did what?" he asked.
"You ratted on gran. How else would the police know where to look? Unless some coward told them," Tommy said.
"How DARE you? You think I fought a war just so a mouthy little scum like you could call me a coward?" he raged.
"You don't get it, do you?" Tommy said. "You fought AGAINST fascism, remember? People telling you how to live - who you could be friends with - who you could fall in love with - who could live and who had to die. Don't you get it? You were fighting so that little twerps like me could DO what we want. SAY what we want. Now you've become just like them. You've been informing on everyone, haven't you? Even gran. All to protect your precious reputation."
"Eddie... is that true?" Tommy's mother said, coming out from the hall.
"I did it for US, Rita! She was FILTHY. A filthy, disgusting THING," Eddie said.
Rita looked shocked. "She's my mother. All the others - you informed on all the people in our street - our friends," Rita said quietly.
"I had to," Eddie said, flailing slightly. "I did the right thing-"
"The right thing for us... or for you, Eddie?" Rita asked him.
Eddie stared at her. Rita turned to Tommy. "You go, Tommy. You go with the Doctor and do some good. Get away from this house. It's poison. We had a ruddy monster under this roof, all right, but it weren't my mother!" Rita said, looking close to tears. She went back inside, slamming the door in Eddie's face.
"Tommy?" the Doctor asked.
Tommy, the Doctor, Bishop and I walked away down the street, leaving Eddie alone, locked outside his house.
The streets were busy with people preparing for a street party. We walked past it all.
"Tommy, tell me about that night. The night she changed," the Doctor said.
"She was just watching the telly," Tommy said.
The Doctor looked up at the TV aerials. "Rose said it. She guessed it straight away, of COURSE she did. All these aerials in one little street - how come?" he asked.
"Bloke up the road, Mr Magpie, he's selling them cheap," Tommy said.
Without even waiting for Tommy to finish his sentence, the Doctor was off, running down the road. I followed.
"Come on!" he yelled back at Bishop and Tommy.
The Doctor slowed as he approached Magpie's shop. I expected him ot use the sonic screwdriver to open it, but he smashed the glass in the door instead.
"Here, you can't do that-" Bishop protested, but the Doctor was already in teh shop, striding to the counter.
"Shop?" the Doctor yelled. He pressed the bell on the counter repeatedly, shouting to the back of the shop.
"If you're here, come out and talk to me! MAGPIE?" he yelled.
"Maybe he's out," Tommy said.
"Looks like it," the Doctor said.
I gasped, as I saw light again. I saw the same girl as I had before, but this time the girl was sitting on a bench, crying. And we weren't in a garden. I would have guessed we were on a spaceship. I walked up to her.
"Who are you?" I asked.
She didn't respond, just kept crying.
"Tei," came a voice. I looked up to see a woman, walking towards us. She sat down in the bench next to the child.
"Are you still crying?" the woman asked.
"I didn't want to come," Tei said.
"But you should be happy," the woman said. "Hardly anyone gets this honor."
"I don't care, I want to go home!" Tei said. She buried her face in her hands.
The woman put her arm around Tei's shoulders.
"There, don't cry. I'll show you something. Come on," she said, standing and holding her hand out to Tei.
Tei just looked at it for a minute, and then got up, taking the woman's hand.
They walked away down the halls, and I followed. The woman took Tei to a computer. I couldn't see what was on it. She pressed a few buttons. "Do you know who that is?" she asked.
Tei nodded. "He's a very lonely man," she said. The woman nodded.
"That's right Tei. You're going to be assigned to him," the woman said.
I walked closer. "How does that help?" Tei asked.
The woman just looked at her. "He is a very important man," she said. "He saves others. The problem is, that there will come a time when he won't be able to save himself. He'll die, and nothing will be safe again. You are going to protect this man Tei. You're going to save his life, and by doing so, you will be giving your life purpose. There is no higher honor for a Galva Neertan," she said. I walked behind the computer bank, and looked at the screen. I already knew what would be there. I looked anyway. It was the Doctor. My Doctor, the one I was traveling with.
I stared at Tei. She had seemed so familiar. And now I knew why. She was me. Me, as a child. But I had had no childhood. I was grown, not born.
I was back in the shop now. I gasped, my hand shooting out to catch myself on the wall before I could fall. That could not have been me. I had no childhood. I was an Artificially Grown Life Form. There was some other explanation for this.
"I want my friend restored and I think that's beyond a little backstreet electrician so tell me, who's really in charge here?" I heard the Doctor say. I pulled myself out of my thoughts, focusing on the scene before me.
The Doctor was glaring at a man who I assumed was Magpie. On the television screens, were faces. I saw Rose among them. She was mouthing the word Doctor, over and over.
"Yoohoo! I think that must be me," said a voice. It was coming out of a television. A woman had appeared on one of the screens. The Doctor turned to her, surprised.
"Ooh, this one's smart as paint," the Woman commented.
The Doctor approaches the television with the woman on it.
"Is she talking to us?" Bishop asked.
"Sorry gentlemen, I'm... I'm afraid you've brought this on yourselves. May I introduce you to my new... friend." Magpie said.
"Jolly nice to meet you," the woman said cheerfully.
"Oh my God, it's her, that woman off the telly, Bishop said.
"No, it's just using her image," the Doctor said.
"What... what are you?" Tommy asked the woman.
"I'm the Wire, and I will gobble you up, pretty boy. Every last morsel. And when I have feasted, I shall regain the corporeal body, which my fellow-kind denied me," the wire said.
The screen gradually colourized. "Good Lord - colour television!" Bishop exclaimed.
"So your own people tried to stop you?" the Doctor said.
"They executed me. But I escaped - in this form - and fled across the stars," the Wire said.
"And now you're trapped in the television," the Doctor said.
The smirk faded from the Wire's face, and with it, the colour from the television. "Not for much longer," she said.
"Is this what got my gran?" Tommy asked.
"Yes, Tommy. It feeds off the electrical activity of the brain, but it gorges itself like a great overfed pig. Taking people's faces, their essences, it stuffs itself," the Doctor said.
"And you let her do it, Magpie," Bishop said.
"I had to! She allowed me my face! She's promised to release me at the time of manifestation," Magpie said.
"What does that mean?" Tommy asked.
"The appointed time - my crowning glory," the Wire said.
"Doctor - the coronation!" Bishop said.
"For the first time in history, millions gathered around a television set," he said. He approached her, gloating. "But you're not strong enough yet, are you? You can't do it all from here. That's why you need this!" he said, picking up a box thing. "You need something more powerful! This will turn a big transmitter into a big receiver."
"What a clever thing you are! But why fret about it? Why not just relax? Kick off your shoes and enjoy the coronation. Believe me - you'll be glued to the screen," she said.
Lines of red sparking light suddenly pull all three faces into the Wire's TV - the Doctor, Tommy and the Inspector.
"Doctor!" I yelled.
"Hungry! Hungry! The Wire is hungry! Ah! This one is tasty. Oh! I'll have lashings of him! Delicious! Ah!" the Wire said.
I jumped in front of the Wire's connection with my Doctor, hoping this would do something. It did. I saw her. In her actual form, not the woman I saw on the screen. She was just energy. I heard the Wire yelling something, it made no sense to me.
"Armed! He's armed and clever! Withdraw! Withdraw!" she yelled. She severed the connection, and I feel to the floor, unconcious.

The Doctor put the screwfriver away, feeling Shadow's pulse, and then Tommy's and then Bishop's, noticing that Bishop had lost his face. They would all be fine, he hoped. He didn't see Magpie behind him, or the crowbar Magpie was holding. Magpie swung the crowbar down, and the Doctor fell, unconcious.
"The box, Magpie! The box!" the Wire said.
Magpie ran and got the box. He held it up to the Wire.
"Hold tight," she said.
The Wire jumps via red light into the portable television.
"Conduct me to my victory, Magpie," she said.
Magpie left his shop, running outside and into his van.

I woke up. My head was pounding. I was relatively sure that the Wire was what was blocking my link with the Doctor.
I got up, looking around. The Doctor was on the ground a few feet away, unconcious.
"Doctor?" I asked, shaking him. I didn't get a response.
I turned him over on his back, slapping his face lightly. "Doctor, wake up," I said urgently. He didn't respond. I shook him more violently, yelling right in his ear.
"DOCTOR, "WAKE UP!" I yelled. He still didn't wake up. I closed ny eyes, tapping our link. I got really dizzy immediately, but I didn't draw out. I pressed forward, feeling sick in my stomach. I pushed, trying to open the link. I got it open, and poked him mentally, hard.
{WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!} I screamed into our link. He sat up, looking around in alarm. He looked at me.
"You got through the link?" he asked.
I felt sick. Really sick. "Yeah," I said, standing. I swayed, almost falling over. I looked at him.
"The Wire woman, you need to get her," I said.
He looked at me oddly. "Since when do you care about anything except my safety?" he asked.
"I remember now," I whispered. I fell over, and he caught me.
"What do you remember?" he said.
I closed my eyes. "I'm going to forget again. The chip won't let me remember. Don't let me forget Doctor, I said.
"What did you remember?" he asked.
I leaned forward, whispering in his ear. Then I closed my eyes. I would wake again when the chip had done it's job. When I woke, I would have forgotten myself again. I would not remember who I was. But he would help me. He would help me remember.