A slight breeze blew through her ringlets. Her white skirt fluttered gently as she walked slowly, cautiously, towards the opposite house with the open door. She thought she heard somebody call her name. But the young girl payed not attention to it, stepping through into the beige hallway.
Why would somebody leave their home like this? was all Sky could think about at that moment in time. I thought when people were out you were meant to have - what was that word Luke used? Oh - 'SECURITY'. She soothed the creases in her silky, sleeveless tee, and heaved her denim jacket back onto her shoulders. It was not in Sky's knowledge that this was the place where the Drakes were living, so she assumed that the terrace belonged to some other family whom she had not yet come across. In fact, Sky was actually oblivious to the whole dangerous scenario that was going on around her, sitting dreamily in the car which was now Rani's, gazing up at the leaves of the trees planted by the kerb, rustling with the same gust of wind that made crumples in her clothes.
...Maybe it's a family, that need help?
A loud crash came from ahead, startling her. "Hello?" she called out, creeping further into the living room. There was nobody in sight. Looking more into the distance, Sky realised that there was another PVC door, possibly leading elsewhere in the building. Drifting her eyes left and right, she slowly moved towards it, resisting the quivering of her small fingers as she wrapped them around the handle. "I don't like this," the young girl whispered to herself in a shaky voice.
But, storing up all the courage that she had inside her, she jammed the entrance open.
Nothing.
Not a single thing, living, dead, or never even having the ability to live at all, could be found in the room. Garage, rather. Not a single thing, except from a cold, eerie darkness that bounced from the walls. Or so was thought.
Sky was about to back out of the garage, concluding that the violent noise she heard may have been all a part of her wild imagination, until an almost familiar voice, with the exclusion of maybe going down at least 2 octaves, sounding slightly older, and not a small stutter invading it's way into speech, twirled it's way into her eardrums.
"Oh. Hello, Sky. I must have left the door open..."
The clouds of black parted, to reveal the colossal machine created by Luke through force; well, it was pretty hard to miss. Only this time during it's discovery, it was active.
"Seraphine?" Sky exclaimed.
The computer sighed. "Well, urm, YES," it replied, in the voice heard previously.
"Mr Smith's form looks better." Sky spouted.
The blue and green diamond warping on Seraphine's screen expanded in annoyance. "Shut up, you little shit," she said flatly.
Despite what the machine said, Sky carried on. "You have three screens. But only the big one works," she pointed out.
Seraphine let out an irritated hiss. "What did I just say? Shut your fracking trap. I somewhat knew your brother would throw in a few faults out of spite, but at least it still WORKS like my Father's. CHRIST." She let the expanded diamond shape shrink, changing her hostile tone. "Right-"
"Where's your human form?" Sky interrupted.
Seraphine knew that getting Sky's full attention would be hard, so she tried to stay calm. "You may want to watch out for it. Chances are it's lying around somewhere on the flo-"
"GWAH!" Sky screamed, breaking into her part of the discussion again.
"Did you just tread on it?"
The girl lifted the lifeless corpse in the air from beneath her feet. It's long arms drooped from the shoulders, and it's lengthily legs swayed dead to the ground. As Sky let go, the body flailed like a rag doll into the wall beside, dark locks of hair jumping up swiftly, then back down again.
"Yes..." Sky cringed. "I don't know whether I damaged it or not."
Seraphine disregarded the matter, desperate to try steering the conversation back onto topic. "Although you are an absolute pain in the arse," she declared. "I am aware that you are also a very important MacGuffin for various instances." A compartment of the machine opened, revealing the idiosyncratic ESPAC device in it's weirdly-formed glory, glistening like precious jewels. "After deep analysis, I have discovered that this valued artefact of science is to be worn around the nape." A code was inputted into the ESPAC via the energy transmitted from the structure on which it sat, and it moulded into a necklace shape.
"This is a brilliant creation - one that will change the world," Seraphine told her next captive. "And you are the number one candidate for a wearer. Why don't you try it on?"
Sky frowned. She looked at the ESPAC. She looked at Seraphine's chassis. The ESPAC. Chassis. ESPAC. Then back to the chassis again. "You don't like me."
"I know, but we both want to do something good for the world. Do we not?"
"Yes."
"So put the ESPAC on."
Sky moved slowly towards the ESPAC, and began to reach for it. She paused. "Do the others know about this?"
Seraphine groaned. "Can we not waste any more time?" she asked, now not doing very well at hiding how desperate and impatient she was. "Take it, child. You'll be doing everyone a favour. That's all you need to know."
Sky placed her hands away from the ESPAC once more, shaking shook her head. "No," she replied. "... I can't trust you."
Seraphine's screen began to flicker, and the mix of neon blues and greens had been replaced by an unclear, fuzzy image. "This could have been done in two methods. The easy way: I tell you to wear the accessory, and you do. Or the hard way. Now, I've just tried the simple route with you; it did not work. Sooooo that means we will have to result to the more difficult one." The picture became sharper, and revealed itself. "This poor sod is most likely to be experiencing a base case of La Déjà Vu, here."
Lying unconscious, there was Clyde, shrouded by the arithmetical red thought patterns and sinister darkness of Seraphine's mind.
"Hello, Clyde!" Seraphine crowed to the prisoner. For obvious reasons, he did not reply. Her attention went swiftly back to Sky. "If you don't put that piece of crap around your neck," she told her in a belittling manner. "Your friend there will be blown to smithereens."
Sky's eyes widened. "PLEASE!" she cried out. "DON'T KILL HIM!"
Seraphine let out a low smirk. "Pick up the ESPAC, then."
The young girl's lips quivered. It was very clear that to just accept what Seraphine had in store for her, and take the device into grasp, was the only option if she wanted to save her friend's life.
Sky lifted the contraption from it's display. Seraphine tracked her every moment. This was it. All the millennia spent waiting and the arrangements made, would now have some worth. As Sky placed the ESPAC around her neck, it began to become more powerful in glow. A crescendoing hum noise filled the garage. As the sound increased in volume, flickers of a blue electric charge became visible, surrounding the device.
With that, the young girl began screaming in pain.
"Oh, SHIT," Luke gasped, hearing the strained cries of his sister outside.
As he cursed, the ground beneath him started to shake violently. The group moved with the Earth's sudden trembles, and each struggled to stay on their own two feet, grabbing onto structures nearby that could be of any help, although it would not be long before the rupture made these become unstable.
Aaron kept hold of Bronwyn as they headed for a heavily-rooted tree beside the concrete. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?" he shouted.
"It's been activated!" Luke called back, whilst being hauled into a lamppost. "IT'S BEEN ACTIVATED!"
Rani clutched onto the Nissan Figaro tightly and hoped for the best that it wouldn't go astray from the road. "THERE'S GOT TO BE SOMETHING WE CAN DO!" she exclaimed.
Luke pulled himself towards the rest of his accomplices, grabbing onto the door handle of his yellow Volkswagen. It had only just occurred to him that without Sarah Jane, he was now the one in charge - and he had to think fast. Otherwise it would be the end of the human race. The lives of all those living on Earth right this moment, depended on him. He needed a plan. He needed a plan quick.
Within a few seconds, the idea came.
"BRONWYN!" he hollered. "AARON! Rani and I are going to get into your garage, and confront and distract Seraphine! Meanwhile, I would like you to find your way up to our attic. Summon Mr Smith. See if he is able to find a way of contacting her, and possibly put an end to her chaos! There is an extra front door key under the mat. GO!" The Drakes nodded, scampering towards Number 13 with their arms over each other for protection.
Luke looked over to Rani. "... Are you ready?" he asked her.
She tried to smile. "Ok."
"We're going to save Clyde."
"Yes."
"And Sky."
"We are."
"And the rest of the world."
Rani went silent.
Luke watched as a tears dropped down both of her cheeks. He tried to make his way beside her, trying to go against the ground's swiftly worsening vibrations.
"We will do this," he told her. "Even without my Mum here, we can save the world. So much has been learnt from her. We're going to be fine. Trust me." He held out his hand. "...Now, are you going to save Clyde or not?"
Rani sniffed, drying her eyes and taking her friend's hand. "Let's go."
So to 14 Bannerman Road, they went.
However, despite what he had said to Rani, Luke was still extremely nervous. This wasn't the first time that they had ever came across a situation this bad without Sarah Jane. But the fact that she was now dead, and was unable swoop in, was daunting beyond words. Luke felt butterflies in his stomach once he and Rani reached the fast crumbling lobby.
COULD they save Earth this time?
