It's been a few months since Jack joined us in the Tardis and I had explained something to him. Why I behaved the way I did and I apologized.
"Who the hell are you?" Jack asked after a knock sounded at the door. We had landed in Cardiff a few minutes ago to refuel on the rift that was opened when we were in Cardiff last with Charles Dickens.
"What do you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?" Mickey spat from outside.
"Captain Jack Harkness. Whatever your selling, we're not buying."
"Get out of my way!"
"Don't tell me. This must be Mickey," Jack remarked, coming over to the console.
"Here comes trouble! How are you doing, Ricky boy?" the Doctor gibed.
Mickey glared at the Time Lord "It's Mickey!"
"Don't listen to him, he's winding you up," Rose grinned.
"You look fantastic." Rose and Mickey hugged, while the Doctor is up a ladder mending something.
"Aww, sweet, look at these two. How come I never get any of that?" Jack questioned sarcastically.
"Buy me a drink first," I smirked.
"You're such hard work," Jack complained.
"But worth it," I muttered. When the men stared at me, I waggled my eyebrows.
"Did you manage to find it?" Rose asked Mickey when they separated.
"There you go." Mickey handed over Rose's passport.
Rose smiled "I can go anywhere now."
"I told you, you don't need a passport," the Doctor explained for the tenth time since Rose brought it up.
"It's all very well going to Platform One and Justicia and the Glass Pyramid of San Kaloon, but what if we end up in Brazil? I might need it. You see, I'm prepared for anything."
"Isn't that what the psychic paper is for?" I joked.
"Sounds like your staying, then. So, what're you doing in Cardiff? And who the hell's Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don't mind you hanging out with big-ears up there. Maybe I should start to flirt with Tyra over there," Mickey sighed "But this guy, I don't know, he's kind of –"
"Handsome?" Jack suggested.
"More like cheesy."
Jack frowned in confusion "Early twenty-first Century slang. Is cheesy good or bad?"
"It's bad," Mickey and I said simultaneously.
"But bad means good, isn't that right?" Jack reasoned.
"Are you saying I'm not handsome?" The Doctor climbed down from his ladder.
"We just stopped off. We need to refuel. The thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running through the middle of the city. It's invisible, but it's like an earthquake fault between different dimensions," Rose told Mickey.
"The rift was healed back in 1869," the Doctor continued.
"Thanks to a girl named Gwyneth, because these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it."
"But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the human race," Jack joined in as well.
"But perfect for the Tardis, so just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and –"
"Open up the engines, soak up the radiation."
"Like filling her up with petrol and off we go!"
"Into time!"
"And space!" the other exclaimed together.
I shook my head in bemusement "Am I the only sane one here?" I questioned "Huh. Never thought that I would call myself sane one of these days. First time for everything."
"My God, have you seen yourselves? You all think you're so clever, don't you?" Mickey shook his head.
"Yeah," the Doctor nodded.
"Yeah," Rose agreed.
"Yep!" Jack – of course – took it a step further and had to slap Mickey lightly.
"Should take another twenty-four hours, which means we've got time to kill," the Doctor said, as we exited the Tardis.
"That old lady's staring," Mickey pointed out.
"Probably wondering what five people could do inside a small wooden box," Jack laughed.
The younger boy blinked at Jack "What are you Captain of, the Innuendo Squad?" The Captain made a 'Whatever' sign and started to walk away with the rest of us following "Wait, the Tardis, we can't just leave it. Doesn't it get noticed?"
"Yeah, what's with the police box?" the Captain questioned "Why does it look like that?"
Rose leaned against the side of the blue box "It's a cloaking device."
"Ah," the Doctor sighed "It's called a chameleon circuit. The Tardis is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands like if this was Ancient Rome, it'd be a statue on a plinth or something. But I landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box and the circuit got stuck."
"So it copied the real thing?" Mickey wondered "There actually was police boxes?"
I nodded "On street corners, I think. You could phone for help and shove the suspect in there till help came, like a little prison cell."
Jack tilted his head "Why don't you just fix the circuit?"
"I like it, don't you?" the Doctor grinned.
"I love it," Rose nodded.
Mickey waved his hands around a bit "But that's what I meant. There are no police boxes anymore, so doesn't it get noticed?"
The Doctor sighed in annoyance "Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it." He clapped Mickey's back and started walking again "Now, stop your nagging. Let's go and explore."
"What's the plan?" the blonde girl questioned.
"I don't know," the Time Lord shrugged "Cardiff, early twenty-first century and the wind's coming from the east. Trust me. Safest place in the universe."
A little while later, we were sitting in a restaurant, listening to Jack telling stories "I swear," he laughed "Six feet tall and with big tusks."
"You're lying through your teeth!" the Doctor exclaimed.
Rose shook her head in amazement "I'd have gone bonkers! That's the word – bonkers!"
Jack grinned "I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean tusks! And it's woken, and it's not happy."
The Time Lord tilted his head in amusement "How could you not know it was there?"
"And we're standing there, fifteen of us, naked…" Jack explained.
The blonde cut in "Naked?!"
"And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me," the Captain continued "And then it roars, and we are running. Oh my God, we are running! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say…"
Mickey was the one who finished the line "I knew we should have turned left!"
Jack nodded, roaring with laughter "That's my line!"
"I don't believe you," Rose shook her head "I don't believe a word you say ever. That is so brilliant. Did you ever get your clothes back?"
I looked up at the Doctor when he got up to snatch a newspaper from the man at the next table "Doctor?"
"And I was having such a nice day," he murmured, holding up the front page of the Western Mail, with the picture of a very familiar woman. Well, it seemed as if a certain Slitheen showed up again and as Mayor of Cardiff nevertheless.
Jack clapped his hands once we reached City Hall "According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit. Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty-seven fifty-six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face to face with Tyra. That'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two. Rose, you Exit Three. Mickey Smith, you take Exit Four. Have you got that?"
The Doctor cleared his throat "Excuse me. Who's in charge?"
"Sorry," Jack grinned sheepishly, saluting "Awaiting orders, sir."
"Right," the Doctor nodded "Here's the plan," he paused for a moment "As he said. Nice plan. Anything else?"
I spoke up then "Yeah. I'll go with Mickey. Don't fancy the face to face thing."
"Fine with me," the Time Lord shrugged.
Jack looked at all of us and when no one said anything else, he pulled out his phone "Present arms." We each pulled our phones out and chorused 'Ready' before walking off.
I pulled Mickey down the right hallway and nudged the other boy lightly "You alright?"
"Yeah," he smiled lightly "You know… That advice you've given me… Thank you for that."
"My pleasure," I curtsied with a grin.
When I opened my mouth to say something else, the Doctor's voice filtered through the speaker of my phone "Slitheen heading north."
Mickey's eyes widened "Oh, my God."
"Come on, Mickey," I called, running to the exit. I vaulted over the cleaning woman's trolley, landing in a roll, before looking back when I heard a crash. Mickey had run right into the woman and I winced in sympathy.
I burst out of the door just as Margaret was about to run past "Well, hello there, bitch. Missed me?" I asked with a smirk, getting in her way.
She didn't stop though. Whatever I expected, it wasn't the piece of wood that was rammed into my chest "I did my research..." the Slitheen whispered into my ear, shoving the stake in deeper "See you in hell." I choked, falling to my knees in pain. My hands went up to pull at the wood weakly. I could feel the veins creeping up to my face before everything went black.
3rd Person PoV
"Margaret," the Doctor called, running after the Slitheen.
Jack and Rose ran behind him "Who was on Exit Four?"
"That was Mickey," Rose panted.
The Doctor froze, staring at the desiccated body on the ground "And Tyra." The others didn't notice him bending down to brush a strand of the girl's hair out of her face. She was a sickly grey with veins covering her whole body… So that was what she meant. This would happen every time she died. The Time Lord shrugged out of his jacket and put it over the Original's face and upper body, before standing up "You shouldn't have done that," he called after Margaret who had started running.
"She's got a teleport," Jack exclaimed in annoyance "That's cheating. Now we're never going to get her."
Rose grinned at him "Oh, the Doctor's very good at teleports."
The Time Lord, his expression still stormy, held up his sonic, simply pressing the button, making Margaret reappear. She stopped, turned and started running again. She vanished and reappeared, closer every time until she was right in front of them "I could do this all day."
"Oh, my God," Mickey breathed, finally noticing the body of his friend on the ground "You killed her."
That made Jack look down to see the covered body of the girl he liked as a friend. Even though she had been distant for a while, she told him the reason and he understood. More than understood… He could actually relate to it "What? Why did you kill her?"
"This is persecution," Margaret hissed, glaring at the people in front of her "Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?"
"You killed Tyra," the three men exclaimed.
The Slitheen waved them off "The vampire? She deserved it. Freaks like her shouldn't exist."
Jack snorted "Says the Slitheen that's occupying a meat suit… Hang on, did you say vampire?"
"Vampires exist?" Mickey blinked "How do you turn into one?"
The Doctor waved his hand dismissively "It's not important right now. You're coming with us, Margaret. Jack, make sure she doesn't run." The Time Lord bent down to pick up his fallen friend to carry her into City Hall. Inside the Mayor's office, he carefully put down the girl on an empty table, pulling his jacket from her upper body. Once the others got a good look at her, they gasped at the sight. Rose sneered at her fellow Companion in disgust, while Mickey and Jack looked on in wonder. The ex-Time Agent had heard about the existence of vampires before but he didn't think that it was true. After all, it was only a folk tale "So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family gets killed just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station. But what for?"
"Doctor," Jack murmured "Is it really the time to ask that now? Tyra is dead."
"Oh," he blinked "She's gonna be fine. Give her a little time."
Margaret looked at the Time Lord and then at the desiccated beast on one of her conference tables. What was he on about? The girl was a vampire and she was sure that she was right in stabbing her in the heart with a stake "A philanthropic gesture," she answered the Doctor's earlier question evasively "I've learned the error of my way."
The Doctor snorted "And it just so happens to be right on top of the rift."
"What rift would that be?"
"As if you don't know," a quiet voice groaned from behind the other time travelers and Mickey. Tyra was sitting up carefully, pulling at the piece of wood that was still in her chest "Dammit… That hurts like hell." She glanced at the Doctor "Remind me to never get stabbed in the heart again. Forgot how painful that was."
Tyra PoV
Mickey gaped at me "How did you do that?"
"You're not supposed to be alive," Margaret pointed out, looking slightly afraid.
I jumped from the table, stalking closer to the Slitheen "Congratulations. You have successfully earned the wrath of an Original vampire. I'd be afraid. Very afraid."
The Doctor caught me around the waist before I could pounce "Stop it."
"She killed me," I exclaimed, veins appearing under my eyes "Just because I didn't kill Adam when he snapped my neck, doesn't mean that I will let that go."
"This is so cool," Mickey gushed, leaning forward to take a closer look at my face.
I raised an eyebrow at him "Well… That wasn't how I expected this to go."
"What did you expect?" Jack questioned, looking just as intrigued as Mickey.
"I don't know," I shrugged "A bit more hatred? Fear, maybe calling me a monster? That is what usually happens after all."
The Doctor rolled his eyes at the three of us and turned back to Margaret "This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity."
That was when Rose stopped glaring at me. She had taken a place as far away from me as possible, hiding behind Mickey and a few tables "Didn't anyone notice? Isn't there someone in London checking this sort of stuff?"
"We're in Cardiff," the Slitheen snorted "London doesn't care. The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice." She froze in surprise "Oh. I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I've gone native."
I groaned, letting my head fall back onto the Doctor's shoulder "That's all well and good… I'm gonna go back to the Tardis and shower. Still feeling a tad… dead." Before anyone could say anything, I slipped past them, hurrying back to the Tardis that was still parked on the Plass. I wasn't sure what to feel about the fact that the others knew that I was a vampire now. Maybe a small part of me was relieved… I didn't have to hide it anymore… But on the other hand, I doubted that the would treat me normally after what they just learned.
It took me about ten minutes to reach the Tardis and another hour to take a long – very long – shower and to get dressed. I pulled on a tight grey top along with a dark red leather jacket and tight black jeans that had a few rips. I quickly braided my still damp hair and made my way back to the console room with one of the blood bags the Tardis provided for me. I didn't normally drink from bags but while traveling with the Doctor, it was the best choice.
"This ship is impossible," the Slitheen marveled when she stepped in. I shot her a glare but ignored her otherwise "It's superb. How did you get the outside around the inside?"
The Doctor shot her a glare, walking over to me "Like I'd give you the secret, yeah." He stopped in front of me "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," I nodded "This isn't the first time something like this happened."
"Doesn't necessarily make it better," he pointed out, placing his hand on my shoulder.
Margaret took that moment to interrupt "I almost feel better about being defeated. I never stood a chance. This is the technology of the Gods."
"Don't worship me," the Doctor rolled his eyes "I'd make a very bad God. You wouldn't get a day off, for starters. Jack, how we doing, big fella?"
Jack looked down at a board in his hands "This extrapolator's top of the range. Where did you get it?"
"Oh, I don't know," the Slitheen shrugged, not really interested in the conversation anymore. I could feel her looking at me in trepidation as if expecting me to attack her at any moment. If the Doctor hadn't been here, she would probably already be dead but since I was trying to prove to myself that I wasn't a monster… I might actually spare someone for once "Some airlock sale?"
"Must have been a great big heist," Jack mocked "It's stacked with power."
The Doctor leaned over the Captain "But we can use it for fuel?"
"It's not compatible," Jack shook his head "But it should knock off about twelve hours. We'll be ready to go by morning."
"Then we're stuck here overnight," the Time Lord murmured. I got up, leaning against the console next to Jack, watching what he was doing.
Margaret sat down on the seat I was sitting on a minute ago "I'm in no hurry."
"We've got a prisoner," Rose realized "The police box is really a police box."
The Slitheen scoffed "You're not just police, though. Since you're taking me to my death, that makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you."
"Well, you deserve it," Mickey bit out.
"You're very quick to say so," Margaret pointed out "You're very quick to soak your hands in my blood, which makes you better than me, how, exactly?"
I smirked at her dangerously "I think it's better than the alternative. I could torture you to death if that's what you want?"
"Tyra," the Doctor scolded.
"Hey," Mickey jumped in, sitting down on the railing across from me "Can I ask you something?"
I raised my eyebrow at him "You're really into this, aren't you?"
The boy grinned sheepishly "Can't blame me, can you? First aliens and now vampires. Wait a second, you're not alien, are you?"
"No," I shook my head "I was human once… A long time ago."
Jack glanced up from the wires "How long ago?"
I shifted "A thousand years. Give or take a few decades. My siblings and I were changed in 1001 AD."
"So you're over a thousand years old?" Mickey breathed "Woah."
"I know," I chuckled "I'm old as dirt."
"How do you become a vampire anyway?" Rose asked, glaring at me again.
I tugged at my braid and started playing with my hair "In your current health situation? I'd have to feed you my blood and kill you," I murmured "To become a vampire, you have to die with vampire blood in your system."
"Wicked," Mickey leaned forward "How do you feed though? Shouldn't people know about vampires?"
"Probably," I smirked "But I can make you do anything I want. Anything."
Jack frowned "I seriously doubt that."
"Are you challenging me?" I wondered, an idea blooming inside my head. I exchanged an amused look with the Doctor and turned back to the Captain.
"No," he denied "I just don't believe you."
I stalked forward "I can change that." Without so much as a pause, I crouched down, tilting the man's head up "You will let me do anything I want to you. Anything."
"Anything," Jack repeated, his pupils dilating.
"Great," I clapped my hands "Come along then. Mickey, you too."
The Doctor looked after me "What are you going to do?"
"You'll see," I called back, pushing Jack and Mickey through some corridors into an empty room "Now, Mickey. Grab a paintbrush and think of a design," I compelled "Jack. Strip." I watched the happenings with a mischievous glint in my eyes. I really hoped that the Tardis would record this. This was the best blackmail ever.
Half an hour later, the three of us joined the Doctor, Rose and the Slitheen back in the console room "What the…?" the Doctor gaped "What are you doing?"
I snorted "You'll see." I looked up at Jack, gesturing to the Tardis doors "Now, Captain. Would you like to do me the favour and walk right out of here and jump into the Bay?" I pointed at the Slitheen "You! Stay where you are."
Jack nodded, starting the walk out of the doors. As soon as he was out, Mickey blinked a few times "Did I really just do that?"
I patted his shoulder while leaning out of the doors to smirk after Jack "Yup. But look on the bright side, at least you're not walking around the Plass naked with paint all over you."
Rose was standing outside the doors next to the Doctor, also following the Captain's walk of shame with wide eyes "You can actually do that," she breathed, fear in her voice.
The Doctor's lips twitched "It's his own fault for not believing Tyra. She warned him after all. Good one."
"Thanks," I grinned "Kol taught me well."
After we heard the splash, we retired back into the Tardis, grinning at the Captain's misfortune. Before anyone could say anything else, Margaret spoke up "Do I get a last request?"
The Doctor turned to her with narrowed eyes "Depends what it is."
"I grew quite fond of my little human life," she said "All those rituals. The brushing of the teeth, and the complicated way they cook things. There's a little restaurant just around the Bay. It became quite a favourite of mine."
The Time Lord raised his eyebrows in disbelief "Is that what you want, a last meal?"
"It's not like I can escape," the Slitheen pointed out "So where's the danger? I wonder if you could do it? To sit with a creature you're about to kill and take supper. How strong is your stomach?"
The Doctor looked at us "When Jack comes back, tell him to finish with the extrapolator. I'm going to dinner with a Slitheen."
"Have fun?" I shrugged. Once they were gone, Mickey and Rose stepped out as well. Something about talking about their situation or something. I looked up at the console "Please tell me you recorded this." The monitor in front of me flashed, showing the events that happened in the last hour, along with several pictures of Jack from various angles. I burst into laughter "You're awesome. Thank you, Tardis."
"I hate you," Jack hissed, slinking back into the Tardis, shivering from the cool air.
I raised my hands in surrender "You were the one who challenged me. Never could resist a proper challenge. Oh, the Doctor wants you to finish with the extrapolator thing." I looked him up and down "Maybe you should get dressed first?"
"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer me naked?" Jack leered.
"Oh, if I wanted you naked, I could have already had you," I pointed out, flashing my fangs at him for a moment "Go get dressed."
A while later, after Jack had finished hooking up the surfboard to the console, the Tardis started shaking uncontrollably. By then, I had retired to my room to get another blood bag. Once I felt the shaking, I ran through the halls back to the console room.
"What the hell are you doing?" the Doctor burst in the same time I arrived in the console room.
"It just went crazy!" Jack defended.
The Time Lord ran around the console, checking several things "It's the rift. Time and space are ripping apart. The whole city's going to disappear!"
"It's the extrapolator. I've disconnected it but it's still feeding off the engine! It's using the Tardis. I can't stop it!" Jack panicked.
"Never mind Cardiff, it's going to rip open the planet."
Rose entered, completely out of breath "What is it? What's happening?"
"Oh, just little me," the Slitheen simpered. She ripped an arm off and grabbed Rose by the throat "One wrong move and she snaps like a promise."
"I might have known," the Doctor sneered darkly. I was about to take a step forward to free the blonde girl but the Doctor held me back.
"I've had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it. You, flyboy, put the extrapolator at my feet," she ordered Jack and tightened her grip on Rose's throat. The Doctor nodded and Jack obeyed hesitatingly "Thank you. Just as I planned."
"I thought you needed to blow up a nuclear power station," Rose croaked.
"Failing that, if I were to be arrested, then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to plan B. To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift. And what a power source it found. I'm back on schedule, thanks to you," the Slitheen said.
"The rift's going to convulse. You'll destroy the whole planet," Jack pointed out.
"And you with it!" she spat, standing on top on the extrapolator "While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back, boys, freak. Surf's up."
"I think the Tardis might have something to say to that," I muttered as the central console started to break apart.
"It's not just any old power source," the Doctor agreed "It's the Tardis. My Tardis. The best ship in the universe."
"It'll make wonderful scrap," Margaret sneered.
"What's that light?" Rose questioned, squinting at the Doctor.
"The heart of the Tardis," the Doctor grinned "She's alive. And you opened her soul."
"It's so bright," the Slitheen breathed, staring into the open console.
"Look at it, Margaret," the Time Lord urged.
"Beautiful."
"Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light."
The Slitheen relaxed and slackened her hold on Rose, who ran over to Jack and me.
"Thank you," she smiled at the Doctor before she disappeared into the light.
"Don't look," the Doctor shouted "Stay there. Close your eyes." He started working on closing the console "Now, Jack, come on, shut it all down. Shut down! Tyra, that panel over there, turn all the switches to the right." When the console was like it was before, the Doctor sighed in relief "Nicely done. Thank you all."
"What happened to Margaret?" Rose asked, her voice still rough.
"Must have burned up," Jack shrugged "Carried out her own death sentence."
"No, I don't think she's dead," the Doctor mused.
I crept over to the empty bodysuit and knelt down "I don't think so either," I remarked and pulled out a really weird egg. I mean it had dreadlocks…
"She's an egg?" Rose raised an eyebrow.
"Regressed to her childhood," the Doctor confirmed.
"She's an egg?" Jack echoed Rose.
"She can start again. Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be all right!"
"Or she could be worse," Jack pointed out.
"Let's not hope that," I sighed.
"She's an egg," Rose repeated.
"Seriously, Rose? Get over it." I looked down at the egg Slitheen.
Jack eyed the egg "Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorius. Now you don't often get to say that."
"We'll just stop by and pop her in the hatchery. Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again. A second chance," the Doctor remarked softly.
"That'd be nice," Rose sighed.
I grimaced. Here was a nineteen-year-old basically telling me that her life was so 'bad' that she'd want a second chance. If I could change anything, I'd make sure that Esther didn't even get the chance to make us into what we became. Everything my siblings and I turned out to be, was her fault. Hers and Mikael's.
