Outside of Rose's apartment building, they hailed a passing cab and climbed in. Rose gave a set of cross streets about five miles from her flat, and the Doctor realized uneasily that they were very close to the location of the second anomaly.
"Rose."
"Yeah?" She had been looking out the window quietly, and didn't turn around.
"The other night, after we left the pub..." He paused for a moment as she stiffened. "...when I got back to the TARDIS, it alerted me to a second anomaly being opened. It's located very near the flying reptile sightings. The anomaly was tiny when I examined it, but it's an interesting coincidence."
Rose turned to look at him. "What, so the dinosaur... reptile... whatever, flew through the anomaly?"
He shrugged. "Perhaps the anomaly was somehow going into our Earth s past. Or maybe not. When two strange things happen near each other, odds are that they're related."
She nodded, and turned back to the window. The rest of the cab ride passed in awkward silence. He would periodically glance over her, open his mouth as if to begin speaking, then close it and go back to sitting quietly. He missed the easy rapport they had begun to develop when he was still 'Jamie'.
He was relieved when the short ride ended, and they soon found themselves climbing out into a busy street and looking in all directions.
"Where do you think we ought to start?" Rose asked.
"Well... I'd say there." He nodded his head toward a crowd of people clumped tightly up ahead. There were periodic screams in that direction. The Doctor smiled for a moment, then began jogging toward the crowd with Rose in close pursuit.
It took a minute to push their way through the tightly packed people, most of whom had their phones out and raised to take pictures. It wasn't hard to see why. A huge winged reptile with an enormous crest and dark red stripes was swooping back and forth across the street. Periodically it would land for a moment, stretch its wings and let out an ear shattering shriek.
Rose looked around at the large crowd and shook her head. "This is gonna be a mess to clean up."
"It's a vortisaur," the Doctor whispered, half to himself.
"A what?"
"A vortisaur. They live in the Time Vortex. I briefly had to enter the Vortex before I crossed the Void. My guess is that it followed me along the TARDIS's path, then exited through the nearby second anomaly. Interesting, I didn't imagine that vortisaurs could enter the void safely. Then again, I've never seen one that big either."
"Right, okay. And didn't you say the anomaly was tiny?"
"It was. Someone must have expanded it. Probably got quite a shock when this cute fellow flew through."
"Cute fellow?!" Rose exclaimed in disbelief as she watched the creature tear an awning off a building.
"We used to ride them back on Gallifrey, you know. I even had a pet one in the TARDIS for a short while. Didn't work out too well. Probably should have settled for a cat."
"Okay, so how do we catch it?"
"Hold my coat." Slipping off his navy jacket, he handed it to a curious Rose. He strode over to a nearby shop window that had been shattered by the vortisaur's claws. It was simple to pull a large, jagged piece of glass from what was left.
Before Rose could object, he rolled up the sleeve of his jumper and cut a large gash along his arm. Dark red blood welled up from the wound.
"Doctor, what do you think you're playing at?" cried Rose in alarm.
"This is how I caught Ramsay. Vortisaurs are attracted to chronal energy. A bit of time-infused blood, and he'll be as gentle as a lamb. Or a lamb that's about to turn at any moment into a bloodthirsty carnivore. That would be a very strange lamb."
He walked out to the open courtyard, offering his bleeding arm to the creature. Hello there, he said soothingly. "Let's have a taste of this, all right? Calm down and have a bit of a snack."
The vortisaur screamed and swooped down to land in front of the Doctor. It tilted its head and eyed the bleeding wound.
"Yes, that's it," the Doctor continued to talk to it. "Tuck in."
The vortisaur leaned in and tasted the dark blood. Rose felt slightly nauseous.
"That's right," the Doctor continued to coo. The vortisaur leaned in and began steadily lapping the blood.
"Oh, right, 'cos that's not creepy," muttered Rose.
The Doctor smiled. "It's all right. The food will soon make him a bit sleepy, and-" The vortisaur reared back and screeched loudly, a wild look in its eyes. "...or, perhaps not." The Doctor looked up at the beast looming above him, then back at Rose.
"Run!"
He started running full speed away from the wild creature, just as its beak came crashing down in the spot he had just occupied. Rose was right behind him. Without thinking, he reached back and grabbed her hand. They ran together into a small shop just as the vortisaur hurled itself into window display, sending glass and mannequins in every direction. The creature was having trouble fitting its entire body through the broken window, and Rose and the Doctor took the moment's reprieve to duck down behind the cashier s counter.
"Why didn't it work?" Rose panted while the vortisaur s head crashed around the room behind them.
"How should I know? I told you I only spoke dinosaur." The Doctor poked his head up above the counter, and was rewarded by a deafening screech. "But just looking at it, I'd say it's mad."
"I haven't had the best day either, but I'm not smashing up shops."
"No, it's mad - insane. Probably from passing through the void. Or from looking at some of the clothes in here. Is that dress meant to hypnotize your date?" He gestured at a nearby fallen mannequin in a black and white print.
"Doctor, can we leave the fashion opinions for later? What should we do next?"
"Well, after careful consideration, I'm in favor of not bleeding to death."
Rose glanced down at him in alarm, cursing herself for forgetting the open wound in his arm. The gash was bleeding steadily, and his skin had taken on a slight pallor.
Ducking out from behind the counter, Rose scrambled to grab a piece of broken glass. The giant reptile spotted her, and renewed its efforts to reach her, its beak snapping only a foot from her leg as she retreated.
Once back to the Doctor, she used the glass to quickly tear his jumper up the arm, cutting the sleeve into a single piece of cloth. Folding it, she applied pressure to the wound, already feeling the blood soaking into the cloth. She couldn't help notice the feeling of his cool skin underneath her hand. She had almost forgotten that about him. Her Doctor had always been as warm as a human.
She bit her lip, staring at his wound and silently thanking Pete for his insistence on first aid training. "We've got to get you fixed up before we can deal with that thing."
The Doctor had been watching her quietly, a half-smile on his lips.
"All right." He slipped his new screwdriver out of his pocket with his other hand, and aimed it at the wound. The gushing slowed and stopped.
Rose sat back on her heels, her jaw dropping in astonishment and irritation. "Why didn't you do that in the first place?!"
"You looked like you were enjoying yourself." He smiled at her with a look of satisfaction.
Rose snapped her mouth shut and glared him. "How about we stop the thing that's trying to eat us?"
"If you insist. Vortisaurs are attracted to chronal distortions."
"The TARDIS?"
"Too far back to your flat. And I don't need another passive aggressive cab ride."
"Hang on, passive aggressive?!" she said indignantly.
"Never mind. We can sit and pretend to ignore each other later. We don't need the TARDIS for this. We're chronal distortions, Rose. Travelling in time has built up enough warped chronal energy around us to cause a permanent mild distortion effect. That's why the vortisaur is following us, and not pursuing the crowd outside."
"Right, okay. So he's going to chase us. Then what?"
"Well, no, I actually was thinking he would chase you."
"Me? Why do I have to be the bait? What are you going to be doing?"
"Something brilliant, I imagine."
Rose groaned. She knew how these plans tended to go. "All right, so I just what, look tasty then?"
"Yes. Don't worry, you're very good at it."
Rose raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, who grinned at her. She steeled herself, then jumped to her feet and ran out from the counter.
"Oi! Over here!" She waved both arms at the vortisaur and then sprinted across the shop. Its jaws snapped closed just behind her as she leaped onto a display platform. She picked up a mannequin and thrust it at the reptile as it struggled to get its beak close to her. It was starting to wriggle through the broken glass of the window and into the shop itself.
The vortisaur struck again, this time shredding part of the mannequin. There was a blur from the shop counter as the Doctor leaped up onto the counter and across to the vortisaur's back. It reared back, shrieking, as he wrapped his arms around its neck. He was struggling to stay on as it thrashed about, slamming him into the wall above the shop window.
"I used to know how to ride these things!" he shouted.
"Used to?" She wasn't so sure about this plan suddenly.
"Oh yes, about 12 lifetimes ago!"
"Probably goin' to get us both killed," she muttered, then charged at the vortisaur yelling and swinging the heavy mannequin. It screeched as she hit it in the beak, but otherwise seemed unphased. She scrambled back to her platform just as it recovered. The Doctor was now climbing up to its head and seemed to be looking for a weak spot.
Rose's hip bumped a mannequin, and suddenly she recalled the alien gun in her pocket. She slipped it out and stared at it. It would be an easy solution to shoot the beast, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. It wasn't the creature's fault it was here, it had just been following the TARDIS. And she was worried she might hit the Doctor.
"Doctor!" she yelled. "See if this helps!" She tossed him the weapon as the vortisaur moved in close to her again. It was almost through the window and would be on her in another minute.
The Doctor caught the weapon and looked at it, a grin spreading across his face. "On three, duck under something... One... two..." He leaped off the vortisaur and behind the counter again. "Three!" Aiming upward, he shot the ceiling a few times, and several chunks of wood and concrete rained down atop the vortisaur's head. It slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Rose rushed over to the Doctor, her heart beating. She was still feeling the adrenalin rush, and grinned wildly to herself. Adventuring with the Doctor was different than the planned operations with Torchwood. Mad and heart-pounding. Just the way she liked it.
The Doctor was examining the weapon. "Standard Vicallik laser drill. Very handy for spot demolition. Have you been doing much construction on your flat lately?"
"Dad gave it to me last night... when I followed you." She shifted awkwardly and looked down at the ground. It was uncomfortable to be discovered with a gun by the Doctor, even if it was really a drill. "I only took it to make him feel better. He didn't like the idea of me following someone on my own."
She looked up, and was surprised to see the Doctor grinning broadly at her.
"But why didn't you use it earlier?" he asked.
"I forgot about it, till just before I threw it to you."
"A great giant beast, trying to eat you, and it never even occurred to you to use it, did it?" He was looking at her very intently now, still smiling. He lifted his hands to her shoulders gently. She looked up at him, uncertain.
"And that, Rose Tyler, is why you-"
There was a throat clearing sound behind them. Rose turned and the Doctor let his hands drop. Brian Parker was standing by them. The Doctor wasn't certain, but it seemed as though he had an angry glare on his face just before wiping it away with a broad smile.
"Looks like we're here a little too late to help you much," Brian smiled at Rose.
"Oh, Agent Parker. Yes, it's under control now. Um, Agent McCrimmon and I handled it. But there s still plenty to be done. Please arrange for transport back to Core before it wakes up, and put someone on retcon and cleanup duty."
"Yes, ma'am!" Parker smiled broadly at Rose and then at the Doctor, before hurrying off.
"Guess that's sorted then," Rose commented, watching the swarms of Torchwood agents hurriedly wrapping the creature in nets and loading it into a large truck.
"Not quite. Let's take a look at the anomaly." The Doctor led Rose away from the crowds and around a corner. It didn't take him long to find the alley where he had originally examined the second anomaly. There was only one problem. The anomaly was missing.
The Doctor scanned the alley repeatedly with his screwdriver. "It's completely gone. If I weren't looking for it, I wouldn't have guessed anything had ever been here."
Rose frowned. "Are you sure it was here?" He gave her a long look and put away his screwdriver.
"We need to get back to Torchwood and see if the first anomaly is gone."
"And what if it is?"
"Then until I can recover that device, there's no good way back into the other universe."