A/N: I was supposed to post this way earlier, but first I had important exams to pass, and then my computer decided it was the right time to die on me, and I had to take it to the repair shop and it stayed there for a rather long time (it was awful). But now, I have my computer back and I can finally get back to writing. Sorry for the long wait! Well, at least you didn't wait another year... Yeah, that would have been bad. This chapter is longer than the last one. I hope you enjoy it!
The Empty Child (Sonya).
Song: Doctor Who Theme (Album Version), Murray Gold, Doctor Who: Series 1 & 2 Soundtrack.
The TARDIS was moving quickly, going through space at an alarming velocity. Apparently, it was an emergency, though neither of them had any idea what it was about. That, and they were too busy holding on to the railing to properly worry about whatever emergency they were — literally — flying into. "What's the emergency?" Rose asked, holding on to the railing as well.
"It's mauve," the Doctor answered, being rather unclear.
"Mauve?" the blonde questioned, and the three fangirls exchanged a look. Could it be The Empty Child?
"Universally recognised colour for danger," the alien explained, and Sonya immediately knew the answer to their question was yes. Rose had never encountered a Code Mauve before The Empty Child, and this clearly was the blonde's first Code Mauve.
"What happened to red?" she wondered.
"Well, that's just humans," the Doctor answered. "For everyone else, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings! All those Red Alerts, all that dancing, It's got a very basic flight computer, I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."
"And that's safe, is it?" Rose asked. Sonya almost laughed.
"Totally," the Doctor replied without hesitating.
Cassidy snorted. "Yeah, right."
As if on cue, part of the console exploded, proving Cassidy's point. "Okay, reasonably. Should've said 'reasonably' there," the Time Lord corrected himself.
"Does 'reasonably' even cut it?" Sonya wondered.
Before anyone could answer, all their attentions returned to the Code Mauve, which disappeared through the time vortex, frustrating the Time Lord. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."
"What exactly is this thing?" Rose asked.
"No idea," the Doctor answered, honestly.
"Then why are we chasing it?"
"It's mauve and dangerous!" Of course that would be the alien's reason. What else could it be?
"And we're suicidal, apparently," Sonya added.
"And it's about thirty seconds from the centre of London," finished the Time Lord.
"Right. That too." Nya and the other two fangirls exchanged another look. If they weren't sure before that this was an episode, now they definitely were. The only thing that reassured her a bit was knowing everything would turn out all right, regardless of how dangerous everything seemed. She wasn't that reassured, though. This was, after all, one of the creepiest Doctor Who episodes in existence.
Song: Clockwork TARDIS, Murray Gold, Doctor Who: Series 1 & 2 Soundtrack.
The TARDIS materialised in London, and Rose was the first one to exit it, as usual. The other three girls followed her lead, and so did the Doctor, who closed the door behind him. "Do you know how long we can knock around space without having to bump into Earth?" the Time Lord asked, but Rose didn't pay attention to him.
"I'm guessing it's either a lot of time, or very little," Cassidy answered. "What do you say, Rose?"
"Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?" the blonde answered, hesitantly.
"Of all the species in all the universe and it has to come out of a cow," the Doctor commented.
"Good thing too, or do you want to be the one to squeeze the milk out of a Raxacoricofallapatorian?" Cass asked him, and when she got no answer but a grimace, she added, "Didn't think so."
Returning to the Mauve thing they were chasing, the Doctor spoke up once more, "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."
"A month?! We were right behind it!" Rose exclaimed.
"Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey," Sonya replied automatically. "The Time Vortex is messy; get out a second after and you're in the next century."
"Do you wanna drive?" the Time Lord asked his flower-named companion, slightly insulted at her comment.
"I do!" Cassidy chipped in.
"Not a chance," the alien answered automatically. Nobody gets between him and his Sexy, eh? Sonya thought. They walked out of the alley, and took the adjacent one.
"What's the plan, then? Are you gonna do a scan for alien tech or something?" Rose asked him as they walked.
"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm gonna ask," the Doctor answered in a "duh" tone.
"You should probably go with the scan," Camyl suggested.
"There's no point making a scan for alien tech when you can just ask people. Why make things even more complicated than they are?" the Time Lord wondered, taking something out of his pocket, and handing it to Rose.
The blonde read, "Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids."
"It's Psychic Paper, tells you—" the alien started but the blonde finished it for him.
"Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember."
"Sorry."
"Not very Spock, is it? Just asking?" Rose wondered, in a tone that suggested she wanted the Doctor to be more "Spock-ish".
The Time Lord ignored her, pressing his ear against the door. Even without that, you could hear the sounds of people laughing loudly, and the music that was playing at whatever place they were at. "Door, music, people. What d'you think?"
"That behind this door, there's music playing, and a lot of people," Cassidy dead-panned.
"I think you should do a scan for alien tech," Rose answered the Doctor's question. The alien ignored her, crouching in front of the door's padlock and using his sonic screwdriver to open it. "Gimme some Spock!" the blonde exclaimed, exasperated. "For once, would it kill ya?"
The Time Lord looked up at her and frowned, though he did not answer her question. Instead, he asked one of his own, "Are you sure about that t-shirt?"
The blonde looked down at her Union Jack shirt. "Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin," she answered, defiantly.
"Oh God," Camyl said, but the Doctor and Rose ignored her, probably associating that with something else — like her exasperation at the two of them fighting. Only Sonya and Cassidy understood what her two words were really about. Or Rose would've gone and changed her shirt immediately, that's for sure.
Just then, a child's voice can be heard. The voice of a lost child calling for his mummy. But there's something wrong with the voice. It sounds like an echo, as though the child didn't really exist, or was empty. Camyl shuddered, and Cassidy and Sonya exchanged a look. The Empty Child, the latter thought.
"Come on if you're coming. Won't take a minute," the Doctor spoke up once he'd opened the door, and stepped through immediately. Sonya followed him, and after a moment, turned around, only to see she was the only one who had followed him. Very well, then, she thought, and followed the Time Lord to the main area.
It was a sort of nightclub, or pub, or bar, or whatever people called it back during World War II. The Doctor and Sonya leant against the wall, waiting for the song to end. The brunette sighed. "Ah, good ol' music. Used to be so much better," she commented, and the Doctor nodded, though he didn't say anything.
Everyone clapped when the song ended, including the two time travellers. As soon as the singer left the stage, the Doctor practically jumped on it and approached the microphone. "Excuse me! Excuse me!" People turned heir heads to look at him, annoyed. "Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick, eh... hello!" He waved cheerly, and Sonya face-palmed. She was practically dying of second-hand embarrassment. "Eh... might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?" he asked.
For a moment, there was a complete silence, and then everyone burst into laughter. They probably thought it was a comedian. The brunette saw a chance, and she took it. She walked on stage, and pushed the Doctor aside, trying to make him sway a bit. "Excuse him, he's had a bit too much to drink, and now believes he's a comedian," she improvised.
"No, I'm serious—" the Doctor started, but Sonya interrupted him.
"I'm sorry, I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening," she addressed the public, before turning to the Time Lord. "Come on, John. Time to get you back home." The brunette started pushing him away from the microphone.
"But—" Loud sirens interrupted his poor attempt at trying to catch the public's attention once more, and Sonya decided to explain the situation to him.
"We're in the middle of World War II, Doctor." She pointed at a poster that read Hitler will send no warning! "The Code Mauve probably got mixed with the bombs or something."
The Time Lord closed his eyes in despair. Should've done that alien tech scan, Sonya thought. It might have been quicker than what's going to follow.
Song: Seeking the Doctor, Murray Gold, Doctor Who: Series 1 & 2 Soundtrack.
The Doctor ran out of the place in a hurry, looking for Rose. Sonya followed him, knowing the blonde was hanging off a barrage balloon, but she would be fine. After all, Camyl and Cassidy were with her, and Jack would come and save them — wait a minute. Are all three of them hanging off the barrage balloon? the brunette suddenly panicked, and joined the Doctor on his search, except she was calling for her two friends. Please, let them not be with Rose. Please, please, please, she chanted in her head, but they were nowhere to be found.
The Doctor stopped near a dust bin, and Sonya stuck with him, despite her urge to find her friends — all three of them. "Meow." The brunette turned her head towards the bins.
"Koshka," the word escaped Sonya's lips almost without her meaning to. The Doctor ignored her and picked the cat up.
"You know... one day. Just one day, maybe... I'm gonna meet someone who gets the whole 'don't wander off' thing," the Time Lord tells the cat.
Sonya looked at the Doctor, then at the cat. Then at the Doctor once more, and at the cat. Then she looked at somewhere on her right side. "I've been replaced by a cat," she commented.
"Nine hundred years of phone box travel and it's the only thing left to surprise me." The Time Lord started caressing the cat. Sonya rolled her eyes.
As if on cue, the TARDIS's phone rang. "You sure about that?" the brunette asked, questioning the alien's previous words. The Doctor left the cat on the bin and, after giving Sonya a questioning look, walked towards the phone. He looked one of the panels of the TARDIS's exterior, and opened it, confusion written all over his face.
He dropped it, and the panel opened wider. "How can you be ringing? What's that about, ringing?" the alien scolded it.
"It's a phone, it's not gonna answer your questions," Sonya pointed out.
"What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?" The Time Lord asked her, taking out his sonic screwdriver, but Nya had a feeling he was also talking to the object in question. Anything was possible with the Doctor.
"Don't answer it. It's not for you," a young woman in the alley spoke to him, and Sonya almost jumped. She'd forgotten about her. What was her name, again? she wondered, silently cursing herself for forgetting something so important.
"You do realise now he's going to answer it, right?" Sonya ask, pointing out a very important trait of the Doctor's: his curiosity.
"And how do you know that?" the Time Lord asked her, approaching the stranger.
"'Cos I do. And I'm tellin' ya. Don't answer it."
"Well, if you know so much, tell me this: how can it be ringing?" the big-eared alien asked, and turned his back to the TARDIS. Sonya turned her head to look at the phone box as well, fully aware of the fact that the young woman was leaving. She watched her do so from the corner of her eye. "t's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not—"
"Uh, Doctor? She's gone now," Sonya pointed out, watching the now-empty alley. Confused, the alien hesitated, almost as if he didn't want — or know how to — pick up a phone.
"Just pick up the phone, for God's sake!" Sonya exclaimed, irritated.
"All right, all right," the alien replied, defensively, and picked up. "Hello?" He paused, looking uncomfortable. Probably no one had spoken yet. Sonya approached him, leaning against a corner of the TARDIS and crossing her arms. "This is the Doctor speaking." Another pause. Nothing. "How may I help you?" He started getting better at talking over the phone, apparently.
"Mummy?" The brunette heard faintly over the phone. The grin on the Doctor's face disappeared, and he suddenly became his serious self. "Mummy?"
"Who is this?" the Doctor demanded. No answer. "Who's speaking?"
"Are you my mummy?"
"Who is this?" he insisted, using his Oncoming Storm voice.
"Mummy!"
Silence. And then, "How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone, it's not wired up to anything, it's—"
"Mummy!"
The line went dead, and the Doctor held up the phone in front of his face, in confusion. He looked at the brunette, a frown on his face. "What was that about?"
"Just a lost little boy, looking for his mummy," Sonya answered.
"But it's not even a real phone! How could they possibly ring here?" The brunette simply shook her head, unwilling to answer. It's not like the Time Lord would be happy if she told him. He liked to figure things out all by himself. That's the kind of person he was. He walked around her to get to the door, and opened it. "Rose? Rose, are you in there? Anyone?"
"Hello." Sonya heard Camyl's voice, and was very, incredibly relieved at her friend's appearance.
"Where's Rose?" the Doctor asked, clearly not sparing a thought for Cassidy. Then again, the blonde was incredibly resilient and resourceful. Whatever happened, she would manage to get out of trouble anyway — especially when she purposely walked into danger just for the hell of it. Well, just for meeting Jack, but that's besides the point.
"Cassidy and Rose went up to check something out, but I decided to stay and wait for you inside the TARDIS," the brunette answered.
"See, Doctor? Someone does get the whole 'don't wander off' thing," Sonya chipped in, smiling at her friend. Her friend smiled back.
A loud crash caught their attention, and the Doctor ran off in its direction. The two girls looked at each other, and ran after him. A dog barked and the Time Lord headed towards the sound. A woman on the other side of a brick wall was loudly complaining, scolding her family, telling every member of it to hurry up. There were three bins set against the brick wall, and the Doctor stood on one of them. The two girls quickly imitated him, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening.
They witnessed a very loud family argument in which the mother scolded the father for yelling at the German planes during an air raid, considering the Germans had just interrupted their dinner. The Doctor grinned at that, while Sonya just watched, half-amused and half-annoyed. Once they were inside the shelter, the same woman from before came out from behind it, and headed to the back door of the house. All three of them watched, immediately knowing they had to follow her if they wanted any answers — not that Sonya or Camyl needed them, but the Doctor definitely did. And that alien wouldn't stop until he got his answers.
Song: Only Martha Knows, Murray Gold, Doctor Who: Series 3 Soundtrack.
Sonya, Camyl and the Doctor stealthily entered the recently-desoccupied-then-occupied house and managed to sit at the table without being noticed by the other kids — they were too hungry to think of anything else other than their stomachs anyway. The plate of meat was passed around and when it reached the Doctor's hands, his loud, cheery, out-of-place "Thanks, miss!" brought all the attention to the three intruders and, with a gasp, all the kids pushed their chairs back and stood up, fear clearly visible on their faces.
"It's all right. Everybody stay where they are!" the woman reassured the kids, but no one moved.
"Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?" the Doctor asked, acting as though this was a normal family dinner, purposely ignoring the fact that none of them should be there and that the kids were scared shitless of them.
"Back in your seats!" Nancy insisted. "He shouldn't be here either." Well, she's certainly right about that. In fact, the Doctor should be in Gallifrey, and Sonya and Camyl should be at home in a parallel universe, but that fact was better omitted for the sake of everyone around the table.
Reluctantly, all the kids sat back down, as the Doctor helped himself to some sauce. Time Lords, Sonya thought, rolling her eyes. Always thinking about the food. "So, you lot... what's the story?" the Doctor asked them.
"What d'you mean?" the boy called Ernie wondered.
"You're homeless, right? Living rough?" the Time Lord clarified.
"Why d'you wanna know that? Are you a copper?" the boy called Jim demanded, clearly not trusting of the three strangers. I guess living on the streets does that to you, the brunette thought.
"Of course I'm not a copper," the alien answered."What's a copper gonna do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?" The joke worked, and all the children laughed. The tension in the room eased, and Sonya and Camyl decided to help themselves to some food as well. They would stay there for a long time, and it was better not to be running only on adrenaline, but to have some food in their stomach as well. The Doctor checked his watch. "I make it 1941, you lot shouldn't be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now."
"I was evacuated. They sent me to a farm," one of the kids reply.
"Why did you come back, then?" Camyl asked, probably having forgotten their story. Sonya didn't blame her — she'd forgotten about it as well.
"There was a man there…" the kid trailed off.
"Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago," Jim pointed out.
"Shut up," Earnie replied. "It's better on the streets anyway. There's better food."
"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us," Jim agreed. Nancy! So that was her name! Sonya thought, relieved at not having to think of her as The Young Woman anymore. She liked being able to put a name to the face.
"So, that's what you do is it, Nancy?" the Doctor asked, which didn't surprise the brunette. Of course the Doctor would ask about her. She was what he was interested about. She was the one with all the answers, after all.
Nancy glanced at him in annoyance. "What is?"
"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal, still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter, and bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all! As long as the bombs don't get you," the Doctor answered.
"Something wrong with that?"
"Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." At the children's confused looks, Sonya chuckled. Only the Doctor could make jokes like that at the moment. At any moment, really. You can't have Nine without his jokes, after all.
"Why'd you follow me? What d'you want?" Nancy demanded. Clearly, her questions were directed at all three of them, and Sonya immediately pointed at the Doctor with her thumb.
"It's his fault," she said.
"Definitely," Camyl agreed, nodding. If it were up to them, they wouldn't have followed her: they knew all the answers already — actually, they might have asked her to lead them to the Albion hospital or something. After all, she was vital in the resolution of the two-parter.
"I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask," the Doctor answered, this time being his serious self. That was another thing about Nine: he could go from saying a very funny joke to being all serious in a split-second. Then again, weren't all Doctors like that? At least Ten and Eleven.
"I did you a favour. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling ya," Nancy replied. The children looked between the Doctor and Nancy as though this were a tennis match.
"Great, thanks. And I wanna find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one, I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving," the Doctor joked. The children laughed again.
"Don't forget the other blonde in the Nutella shirt," Sonya pointed out, remembering Cassidy.
"Right, her too." The Doctor nodded. The brunette almost laughed when she imagined what Cassidy's reaction would've been at that.
"What's Nutella?" one of the kids asked.
"One of the best things in the world," Camyl answered, but that was all she could say. After all, neither of the girls knew when Nutella had first been released to the public — and even then, these homeless kids would certainly not have heard of Nutella.
"Anybody seen girls like that?" the alien asked just as Nancy stood up. She approached the Doctor and took his plate away. The Time Lord looked up at her in indignation. "What've I done wrong?" he demanded.
"You took two slices," the young woman scolded him. The children laughed, and Sonya and Camyl tried to hide chuckles of their own. "No blondes, no flags, no Nutella. Anything else before you leave?"
Her question was clearly rhetorical, but the Doctor is the Doctor. There's no one in the world who has more unanswered questions than this bloke. "Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking. Something I've been looking for, would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb." He took a notebook out of his pocket. "Not the usual kind anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Probably would've just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would've looked something like..." He paused as he finished his sketch. "This."
Sonya took a good look at his sketch, and gave him an unimpressed glance. "Nine hundred years and those are your drawing skills?" she asked him.
"Hush," was the only reply she got.
"All right." The brunette rolled her eyes.
Nancy's gaze was fixed on the drawing, and recognition flashed in her eyes. She didn't say anything, though. Then again, it's not like she had time to. A knock on the window scared the children once more, who gasped. The Doctor, Sonya and Camyl turned around to see the Empty Child knocking.
"Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?" The Child put his hand to the window.
"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked, clearly scared. Sonya didn't blame her. She was scared of him as well. It might be a child, but it was an empty one. And that was what scared her. Not the mask, not the creepy voice, but the emptiness it reflected with every aspect of its being.
"Them," Ernie gestured at the Doctor and the two dimension-travellers.
"No, they came 'round the back. Who came in the front?" the young woman clarified.
"Me," one of the boys whispered.
"Did you close the door?"
"I…" he trailed off.
"Did you close the door?" Nancy insisted.
The sound of the Empty Child asking for his mummy once more made them all jump, and Sonya decided that if Nancy didn't go and close the door quickly, then she would, despite of what the Doctor would say. Nancy ran to the door before she could stand up, though. The Doctor stood up and followed her, and the two fangirls exchanged a glance before doing the same.
"What's this, then?" the Time Lord asked, concerned about the child. "Never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know?"
"I suppose you'd know," Nancy replied, quite alarmed by the presence of Jamie — that was the Empty Child's name, right? Sonya wondered when his name popped into her mind.
"I do, actually, yes."
"It's not exactly a child," the young woman explained. As soon as the child started repeating "Mummy", Nancy walked off back into the dining room. Camyl and Sonya stayed in the hallway, albeit as far from the door as possible. Then the children ran out of the dining room and headed for the back door. Sonya felt tempted to do the same, but forced herself to take a deep breath and relaxed. Everything's going to be fine, the brunette thought. Even if you get transformed into that weird creature thing, you'll be fine in the end. Yeah, that didn't work well enough.
"Mummy? Mummy? Please let me in. Please let me in, mummy." The Child stuck his hand through the letterbox. Sonya could clearly see the scar in the back of his hand, despite the fact that she was very far from him, and the hallway was incredibly dark.
"You all right?" the Doctor asked.
"Please let me in."
Nancy pushed past Sonya and Camyl and threw something at the door, which smashed into tiny pieces. "You mustn't let him touch ya!" she yelled at the Doctor in warning.
"What happens if he touches me?" the Time Lord asked.
"He'll make you like him," she answered.
"And what's he like?" the alien pressed the issue.
"I've got to go." She was evading the subject. It was probably too painful and scary to think of it, let alone talk about it. It was her own child, for God's sake. How could it not be? Especially if she blamed herself for it. Self-blame often did that to a person.
"What's he like?" the Doctor insisted.
"He's empty," Nancy finally answered. The landline rang, and the Doctor snapped his head towards it. "It's him." The Doctor slowly turned his head to look at the child on the other side of the door. "He can make phones ring, he can. Just like with that police box you saw."
The Doctor picked up the phone. "Are you my mummy?" the Child asked. Nancy took the phone out of the Time Lord's hands and hang up. Then the radio turned on, scaring both Camyl and Sonya. They had forgotten about that.
"Jesus Christ," Sonya whispered. "That little shit scared me."
"You and me both," Camyl answered.
The Doctor pushed past the three women in the hall way to check on the radio. He tried changing the channel, but then a toy-monkey sprang to life. Jesus Christ, Sonya thought. That child is capable of some freaky shit.
"Stay here if you want to," Nancy told them before she left through the backdoor. Sonya and Camyl exchanged looks, and then they both glanced at the Doctor. Guess we'll be staying, then. Oh joy.
The child stuck his hand through the letterbox again, and the Doctor approached him. "Let me in, please, mummy."
"Be careful," Sonya warned as the Doctor knelt in front of the letterbox.
"Your mummy isn't here," the Time Lord informed him.
"It's no use trying to talk to him," Camyl spoke up. "He will keep asking for his mummy until he finds her."
"Are you my mummy?" the Child asked.
"No mummies here. None be here but us chickens," the Doctor answered. "Well, this chicken." He chuckled.
"I'm scared."
"Why are those other child frightened of you?" the alien asked.
But the Child didn't answer, and simply resumed his plea. "Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs."
The Doctor hesitated. Sure, Sonya had also been torn between helping the Child and letting him out there when she'd first seen the episode, before she'd understood what it was all about. But then again, the Time Lord wouldn't know. Not yet, anyway. He needed to talk to that doctor first. It was the only way.
"Okay. I'm opening the door now," the Doctor decided.
"No, don't!" Camyl shouted, but it was too late. The Time Lord had undone the bolts and opened the door. But nothing happened: the Child was gone. The brunette let out a relieved sigh. They wouldn't have to face him, not yet. They still had some time before they had to run for their lives to avoid being turned into Empty People. If that wasn't good, Sonya didn't know what was.
Song: Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, Murray Gold, Doctor Who: Series 1 & 2 Soundtrack.
The Doctor easily managed to follow Nancy through London, and Sonya and Camyl found it easy to follow the alien through the city. They arrived to a wasteland, which was rather cold, considering how warm it had been on the inside of the house. Then again, the temperature never did affect the Time Lord too much, and while the two girls clutched their respective jackets, and Camyl softly complained about wearing a dress instead of trousers — which would've been warmer —, the Doctor simply walked around as though it wasn't freezing. Sonya almost envied him for a moment, but then her mind was brought back to the matter at hand, and she suddenly forgot of the cold.
When they approached the young woman — but not too much —, she noticed them, and stood up, looking at them almost accusingly. "How'd you follow me here?"
"I'm good at following, me. Got the nose for it," the Time Lord answered.
"And we just followed him." Sonya motioned at the alien.
Nancy narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to." Oh, how creepy must we be to her, Sonya thought. She would've been freaked out as well in her place, she had to admit it.
"My nose has special powers," the Doctor replied.
"Yeah? That's why it's, uh…" she trailed off.
"What?"
"Nothing." She was suppressing a smile.
"What?" the Doctor insisted.
"Nothing." She was grinning now. Sonya couldn't help but smile as well. It was contagious, all right. "Do your ears have special powers too?"
Sonya and Camyl joined in and laughed a bit. "Yeah. They compensate for his lack of observational skills," Sonya answered, recalling Cassidy's words from when they were trying to find a transmitter in London during the events of Rose.
The Doctor glanced at the two fangirls, and then at Nancy. "What are you trying to say?"
"Good night," the young woman replied, and turned around to leave.
Of course, the Doctor was having none of that. "Nancy. There's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right?" He certainly was. Nancy turned around, a questioning look in her eyes, and stared at the Doctor. "The thing we're looking for. The thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
Finally, she was going to start admitting things. Not everything, no. But some things, still. The young woman nodded. "There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station."
"Take us there," the Doctor ordered.
Nancy shook her head. "There's soldiers guarding it, barbed wire... You'll never get through."
"Try me!" the Doctor replied, as if offended.
Sonya and Camyl exchanged looks. "Shall we pass as Torchwood agents again?" the former asked, a small smirk to her face.
Camyl raised her psychic paper, a similar expression on her face. "Ready when you are."
"You sure you want to know what's really going on in there?" Nancy asked, all suspicions about her once more.
"We really want to know," the Doctor confirmed.
"Then there's someone you need to talk to first," the young woman told them.
"Who might that be?"
"The Doctor," Nancy replied.
At the Time Lord's face, Camyl pointed out, "Another doctor."
The face of said man popped into Sonya's head, and she remembered having seen the same actor in BBC's Merlin. She turned to her friend in confusion, despite the fact that Camyl had never watched Merlin, but simply its trailer. "Isn't it Gaius?"
Song: Rose in Peril, Murray Gold, Doctor Who: Series 1 & 2 Soundtrack.
The Doctor took out his binoculars to get a better look at the bomb site. Sonya didn't need binoculars to know it was crawling with soldiers. The military, always fucking things up, Sonya thought, remembering all those Torchwood episodes in which the military had been more of a hindrance than a help. They were standing on the steps of a green, damp stair, Nancy right behind them, giving them indications.
"The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up over night. See that building? The hospital," the young woman pointed out.
"What about it?"
"That's where the doctor is. You should talk to him," she advised.
"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there," the Doctor replied.
"Talk to the doctor first," Nancy insisted.
"She's right, Doctor. It's the only way of finding out what's really going on in here," Sonya pointed out, and Camyl nodded in agreement. Three versus one, mate, the brunette thought.
"And then maybe you won't wanna get inside," the young woman added. Sonya and Camyl exchanged a look. That might work to some peopele, but not with the Doctor, they both knew that. If the Time Lord sets his mind on something, he will do anything in his power to achieve his goal.
Nancy started to walk off, but the Doctor heard her. "Where are you going?"
"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now," she answered.
"Can I ask you a question?" the Time Lord asked. When he heard no reply, he continued, "Who did you lose?"
"What?"
The Doctor lowered his binoculars, and turned to face the young woman. "The way you look after all those kids. It's 'cos you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it." He waited for her to prove him wrong. But she didn't. And he knew that. So did the two fangirls.
"My little brother. Jamie," Nancy answered. "One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, told him it was dangerous, but he just... he just didn't like being on his own." She was on the verge of crying. Sonya bit her lower lip and wondered if the Doctor would keep pressing her. She didn't remember, but she was sure the young woman wouldn't be able to stand too many questions about Jamie before starting to cry for good.
"What happened?"
"In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?"
The Doctor nodded, and looked down. Then, he looked up, and chuckled. "Amazing," he said.
"What is?" Nancy demanded, not understanding what the Doctor was talking about.
"1941. Right now, not very far from here, a German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says 'no'. 'No'. Not here." He chuckled. "A mouse in front of a lion." He turned his head to look at Nancy, and he continues, "You're amazing, the lot of you. Dunno what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then. Do what you've gotta do. Save the world."
The Time Lord walked down the stairs, and the two girls followed him, after waving at Nancy, who soon left in the opposite direction. They headed down the path to the gate of the hospital. Above the gate, there was a sign that read "Albion Hospital". Sonya was immediately reminded of the TV series she thought about earlier, and couldn't stop herself from making a reference.
"We interrupt Doctor Who to bring you BBC Merlin," the brunette muttered to herself, yet Camyl still heard, and simply glanced at her, an eyebrow raised. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to unlock the padlock, and they entered the premises, heading for the inside of the hospital, like Nancy had advised them to.
The place was dark, too dark for her liking, yet Sonya didn't say anything as she followed the Time Lord through the place. The echoes of their footsteps were the only sound she could hear, and it was too creepy for her to ignore the ominous aspects of the place.
They entered a dark room, where they could see some shadows. It took some time for Sonya's eyes to adjust, but finally, she managed to see people of all sorts lying on hospital beds. Two columns of beds that framed the room. Remembering what would happen later, the brunette couldn't help but shiver a bit, and she drew her brown leather jacket to herself, despite the fact that she knew it wouldn't be of much help.
The Doctor stopped in the middle of the room, and so did Sonya and Camyl. The alien turned around to get a full view of the room in question, and the two girls looked around as well, albeit trying to keep a calm expression on their face to hide how they really felt about this room, about the state these people were in.
The Doctor left the room, and went into a better lit area. Itching to approach a well-lit room, Sonya followed him, barely noticing that Camyl did as well. They walked into another ward, and the brunette realised the cold, dark ward was not the one where they would get surrounded by Empty People — this one was. Suddenly, she didn't feel like approaching the light anymore.
It was too late to turn back, though.
Another man walked into the room — the doctor. Just as Sonya remembered, he was Gaius from BBC's Merlin. Or rather, Richard Wilson. Actually, it was neither of those. Because this was the real world now, and not just some fantasy world. The man who walked in was the doctor — Sonya didn't remember his name — and no one else.
Yes, she couldn't help but make a comment about another of her favourite shows, trying to calm herself a little. "Add Colin Morgan and Bradley James and we really would be in BBC Merlin," she mumbled, loud enough for her friend to hear. Camyl gave her a look, and Sonya raised her hands in surrender. "All right, all right. Sorry, I'll stop."
"You'll find them everywhere," the doctor started. "Every bed in every ward. Hundreds of them."
"Yes," the Doctor replied. We've noticed, Sonya finished in her head. "We saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?"
"They're not," the old man replied, but it probably just confused the Time Lord even more. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm, uh… Are you the doctor?" the alien questioned, clearly scared he was facing himself, despite the fact that Camyl had already told him it was another doctor — or maybe she hadn't been clear enough.
"Doctor Constantine," the old man introduced himself. "And you are?"
Sonya was about to introduce herself, but the Doctor spoke first, "Nancy sent us."
"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb." Constantine used his walking stick to walk past them — albeit slowly —, probably trying to get to the chair in the middle of the room.
"Yes," the Doctor answered.
"What do you know about it?"
"Nothing. Why we were asking. What do you know?" The Time Lord stepped towards Constantine, who turned around to face the three of them.
"Only what it's done." He looked at the people lying in the hospital beds, as if to emphasise his point.
"These people, were they all caught up in the blast?" the Doctor asked.
"None of them were," Constantine replied, but didn't elaborate, which just seemed to confuse the Doctor even more. He laughed slightly, but it quickly turned into a cough. The old man sat down on the chair right behind him, and Sonya and Cassidy exchanged a look. Soon, the brunette thought.
"You're very sick," the Doctor remarked.
"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?" the old man asked.
"I have my moments," the Doctor answered.
"Have you examined any of them yet?"
"No."
"Don't touch the flesh," Constantine warned him.
"Which one?"
"Anyone."
Sonya took in a deep breath, and took out her sonic screwdriver. Well, time for her to test a new feature of it. The Doctor did the same and examined the nearest patient in the column on his right. Sonya went to her left, and checked a random patient, trying not to get too close, her heart pounding as she did so.
"Conclusions?" Constantine asked. It took Sonya a moment to understand he was not only addressing the Doctor, but her as well.
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side," the Doctor started. "Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right."
"There's a scar on the back of the right hand, and the mask seems to be fused to the flesh," Sonya continued. "But there aren't any burns." The Doctor looked up at her at that, having arrived at the same conclusion on his side.
"Examine another one," the old man urged them. The Doctor and Sonya exchanged a look, and did as he asked, switching columns and making sure they wouldn't analyse the same patient the other had.
"This is impossible," the Doctor concluded.
"Clearly not," Camyl replied.
"Nothing ever is," Sonya commented, letting her mind wander to future episodes that sounded "impossible", but were oh-so-very possible. Perhaps too possible for her liking.
"Examine another."
They switched columns again. "This is impossible!" the Doctor insisted.
"No."
"They've all got the same injuries!"
"Yes."
"Exactly the same."
"Yes."
The Doctor started wandering about the ward, while Sonya returned to Camy's side. "Identical, all of them. Right down to the scar on the back of the hand." Constantine looked at his right hand, where he had an identical scar. Sonya swallowed, and tried not to look at his hand too much. She wasn't supposed to have seen that. "How did this happen? How did it start?" the Doctor asked Constantine.
"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim," the old man started.
"Dead?" the Doctor asked.
"At first," he replied. "His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him — who had touched him — had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward had the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries, as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"
"The head trauma," the Time Lord answered, but got it wrong. He tried again. "Asphyxiation." Wrong again. "The collapse of the chest cavity."
"No," Constantine interrupted him for the third time.
"There's not cause of death, because they're all alive, aren't they?" Sonya asked Constantine.
"Correct," the old man replied. The Doctor was stunned. Constantine hit a tin bin with his cane. All the patients suddenly sat up. Camyl and Sonya jumped back in fright, and the Doctor quickly stepped away from the beds and joined the two fangirls in the centre of the room. "It's all right," he resumed. "They're harmless. They just… sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just… don't die."
"And they've just been left here?" the Doctor asked in indignation. "Nobody's doing anything?"
"I try and make them comfortable, what else is there?" Constantine answered, asking a question of his own. He was right, though. There's no way people in 1941 could know about those nano-bots-thingies. And even if they did, they wouldn't know how to reverse it anyway.
"Just you? You're the only one here?" the Doctor asked.
"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I am still a doctor." It's the only thing he's got left. He's not going to give it up so easily.
"Yeah. Know the feeling."
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb," Constantine commented.
"Probably too late," the Doctor said, looking around.
"No. They are isolated cases, but... isolated cases breaking out all over London..." The old man's acting weird. Sonya immediately figured he was turning into one of the Empty People. She and Camyl exchanged a look, and the brunette knew her friend had realised it as well. When the Doctor stepped forwards to approach him, he added, "Stay back, stay back." He coughed. "Listen to me... top floor. Room 802, that's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."
"Nancy?" the Doctor asked.
"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she mi—mi—" He brought his left hand to his neck, and the transformation began. Camyl looked away, but Sonya found herself unable to do it. She watched as his "might" turned into "mummy", and as all the features on his face became a gas mask.
In the show, when she'd watched it the first time, she'd thought the special effects were horrible, and laughable. Now, she realised they depicted exactly how the change had happened. And it was certainly not laughable now. No, it was bloody scary, and Sonya wanted to take a step back, but she couldn't. She was glued to her place, and she couldn't even look away or close her eyes.
The brunette watched the entire transformation. First, it was his mouth that transformed. Then his entire face started turning black, starting by his nose. Then his eyes became this plastic, and soon, the black colour of the mask spread across his head, enveloping it all. And then his head fell back, and Constantine's body sat, inert, on the chair.
"Is it over?" Camyl asked in a small voice.
"Yeah," Sonya whispered back.
The sound of Jack, Cassidy and Rose's voices snapped them out of their trance, and Camyl and Sonya couldn't help it: they ran out to meet their friends, who apparently loved travelling by barrage balloon.
Camyl tackled Cassidy in a hug, and Sonya laughed at the blonde's expression. "No, no, get off!" Cass insisted. You know I don't like hugs!" Camyl laughed, and did as her friend asked.
When the Doctor came out, Jack eagerly stepped towards him, and shook his hand. "Good evening. Hope I'm not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over."
"He knows. We had to tell him about us being Time Agents," Rose informed them, and all three nodded, as if she had just told Jack the truth instead of lying to him. Sonya almost laughed at that, but managed to keep a straight face.
"I'm Sonya," she introduced herself.
"And I'm Camyl."
"Hello, girls." Jack, being Jack, winked at them, before returning his attention to the Doctor. "And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr Spock." After patting the Doctor on the shoulder, he walked off in the direction of the ward, his arms around Sonya and Camyl's shoulders. "So, ladies, mind telling me what this place is?"
Sonya laughed, and started explaining everything about the ward, while they let the Doctor, Rose and Cassidy catch up.
Song: Drowning Dry, Murray Gold, Doctor Who: Series 3 Soundtrack.
"This just isn't possible," Jack commented, after scanning some of the bodies.
"Nothing's impossible," Cassidy told him, rolling her eyes. "How did this happen?"
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" the Doctor asked. He had his arms crossed, clearly suspicious of the "free-lancer". Then again, who wouldn't be, in his place?
"What?"
"He said it was a warship," Rose answered, her arms crossed as well. "He stole it. Parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's gonna fall on it, unless we make him an offer."
"What kind of warship?" the Doctor repeated his question.
Jack looked agitated now. "Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this!" he exclaimed.
"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it," the Time Lord replied, angrily. "What kind of warship?"
"An ambulance!" Jack yelled. He pressed a button on his vortex manipulator, and a hologram of the bomb-that-was-not-a-bomb appeared. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle — love the retro look, by the way, nice panels — threw you the bait—"
Rose interrupted him. "Bait?"
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk," Jack informed them.
"You said it was a war ship," the blonde continued.
"They have ambulances in wars," Jack and Cassidy told her in a "duh" voice.
Jack walked towards the door, then stopped. "It's a con. I was conning you, that's what I am, I'm a con man! I thought you were Time Agents but you're not, are you?" he asked in exasperation.
"Just a couple more free-lancers," Rose snapped.
"Ahh... should've known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour… I mean, Flag and Nutella Girls were bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?" he asked, rhetorically, and the Doctor gave him an offended look. "Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship," Jack stated, and Sonya was very tempted to prove him wrong.
"How would you know, Mr. Conman?" Cassidy crossed her eyes, raising an eyebrow. "For all we know, it could have everything to do with that ship. Or is all this just a coincidence to you?"
"What is happening here, Doctor?" Rose asked, looking at the patients in the ward.
"Human DNA's being rewritten... by an idiot," the Time Lord answered. Clearly, he was aware of something, but not everything. Oh well, "something" would have to do.
"What d'you mean?" the blonde questioned.
"I dunno, some kind of virus. It's converting human beings into these things." He nodded at the bodies. "But why? What's the point?"
"Maybe there's no point," Camyl commented, giving them hints, as usual.
"Maybe," the Doctor admitted.
Rose approached one of the patients, and leant in to see it up close… and then it sat up suddenly, and the blonde jumped back. Camyl ran towards her and pulled her back towards the centre of the room. As the patients all started saying "mummy" in their creepy, empty voices, the Doctor, his companions, and Jack all stepped back towards the centre of the room, having no choice but to rely on each other.
"What's happening?" Rose asked, fear evident in her voice.
"I don't know." All the Empty People started getting up — including the one who had been Doctor Constantine mere moments earlier. Sonya swallowed. "Don't let them touch you," the Doctor told Rose, Cassidy and Jack. All of them slowly headed towards the back of the room, trying to get away from the Empty People.
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked.
"You're looking at it," the Time Lord answered.
And what they were looking at, where people, Empty People, walking towards them almost like zombies, with a mask stuck to their heads, and a scar in the back of their right hand, all of them saying one word, only one word: "Mummy!"