Boom Town
"Now this is just getting stupid…" Eliza thought as she woke up. The amount of memory dreams she was getting recently was ridiculous, and they kept getting more and more confusing as time went by. Opening her eyes, she found she was led on her stomach, one arm touching the fur of Wolf's coat, the other under her in a funny feeling position. Eliza yawned, stretched until she felt one of her bones click, and then walked to the kitchen, leaving the door open for Wolf.
After breakfast, she wondered to the Console room, surprised to see Mickey there. "My God, have you seen yourselves?" He asked to the three happy looking people in front of him. "You think you're so clever, don't you?"
"Yep!" The Doctor replied, Jack slapping Mickey around the face playfully.
"Think of me." Eliza complained. "I've had to put up with them for months. And him," She pointed at Jack. "He's the worst."
"That's gotta be the most kindest thing you've ever said to me, Lizzie." Jack replied. "By the way, your boyfriend's gone out."
Eliza blushed, and then looked back at the night before. "No…" Jason muttered. "This is wrong… sick…"She shook her head, and then replied, "He aint my boyfriend."
Jack nodded as Mickey and Rose began talking. "Bad break up?"
"No. I just think you scared him off with all your flirting." Eliza accused. She sat in the jump seat, accompanied shortly by Wolf.
After being told they were in Cardiff to kill the time of twenty four hours, the day seemed rather… normal. No running, no aliens, nothing. Jason seemed to think it best to keep his distance and the other six were actually having a nice day. Until they went to the café.
Jack was telling a story, making the other laugh their pants off, even the Doctor.
Eliza wiped her eyes, turned to the left and paused. She saw an elderly man reading a newspaper, but not just any newspaper. It was the cover that got her attention. "Doctor, over there." She nodded towards the man, the Doctor also noticing what- and who- was on the front cover. He walked over, snatched the item from the mans hands and read, the look on his face filled with horror. The others noticed his sudden change in behaviour and waited for him to explain.
"And I was having such a nice day." He said pitifully. He raised the newspaper to show a woman, a woman who they'd encountered before. A woman in disguise. A woman in disguise who was part of the Slitheen family. Underneath the photo was the text 'New Mayor, New Cardiff'.
Time wasn't wasted. The six of them rushed to the City Centre, Eliza stopped outside as she wasn't allowed in with pets.
"It's alright, I'll wait here." Eliza offered, sitting down by the wall. The others went in, her and Wolf staying behind. In truth, she knew the Doctor would ask to wait there anyway, cover the exits sort of thing. And in the end, it worked. She heard a scream and looking in the direction of the sound. She saw the familiar face climbing down a ladder, and smiled as she told Wolf action was coming. She got up and ran towards the ladder, just as the woman turned to run. She noticed Eliza and recognised her, instantly running in the other direction. The Doctor was climbing down the ladder by the time Wolf was chasing her, the other four were on her case.
"Be fair, it's not like she's gonna outrun us, is she? Let alone a dog." Rose commented as she stopped to catch her breath. As Wolf was inching closer and closer, he jumped the last couple of meters. Where his teeth were meant to connect with the mayor's dress, he was met with thin air. He looked around, hoping to see the Slitheen, but was met with nothing.
"She's got a teleport!" Jack exclaimed in outrage. "That's cheating, now we're never gonna get her!"
Rose scoffed as the Doctor played with the dial on his Sonic Screwdriver. "The Doctor's very good with teleports."
The Doctor smiled cheekily at her, and then pressed the button on his Sonic. With a huge, triumphant smile on her face, the woman had reappeared in the same place, except she was running towards them. When she saw this, her smile faded and she ran the other way, Wolf looking as the scene unfolded in confusion. She disappeared again, only to reappear, closer than last time. This carried on until she was directly in front of them. She let her shoulders slump in defeat, glaring at the Doctor. "I could do this all day." The Doctor said happily.
"This is persecution." The woman, who Eliza remembered was Margaret, spat. "Why cant you just leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?"
The Doctor frowned. "You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet." He replied.
Margaret blinked. "Apart from that."
"I could think of a bunch of reasons." Eliza added as they all walked back towards the City Centre. "So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. You're family get killed, but you teleport out, just in time. You have no means of escape, so what do you do? You build I nice, big power station. But what for?" The Doctor stopped walking as he approached a small scale replica of the power station.
"A philanthropic gesture." Margaret replied. The Doctor gave a tight mocking smile. "I've learnt the error of my ways."
"And the power station just so happens to be right on top of the rift." The Doctor remarked.
"What rift would that be?" Margaret asked calmly.
"The rift between Space and Time." Jack supplied. "If this power station were to go into melt down, the whole planet would go-" He made a sucking noise, followed by a bang, indicating the planet would close in on itself and blow up.
"This station is designed to explode the minute it reached capacity." The Doctor said thoughtfully.
"Didn't anyone notice?" Rose asked. "Isn't there someone in London checking this sort of stuff?"
"We're in Cardiff." Margaret scoffed. "London doesn't care. The south Wales coast could fall off and they wouldn't notice." She looked distant for a few seconds, then added, "I sound like a Welshman. God, help me, I've gone native."
"But why would she do that?" Mickey asked. "A great big explosion, she'd only be killin' herself."
"'She' has a name, you know."
"'She's' not even a she, she's a thing." Mickey spat at her.
Margaret actually look hurt at the comment. She glared at Mickey, stopped to look at the Doctor when he said, "Oh, but she's clever." He glanced down at the model power station, gripping the grey board underneath it and pulled. The power station went on the floor as the Doctor examined the board. "Fantastic…" He muttered to himself.
Jack, who looked like a child who just opened a present, said, "Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator? Genius!" He turned to Margaret. "You didn't build this." He took the board off of the Doctor to examine it further.
"I have my hobbies." Margaret said smugly. "A little tinkering."
"No, I mean you really didn't build this. Way beyond you." Jack said as he looked in wonder at the board. "It's a transporter. The reactor blows, the rift open. Phenomenal cosmic disaster. But this thing surrounds you in a force field. You have this energy bubble, so you're safe. Then you feed it coordinates, stand on top, and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system. It's a pan-dimensional surf board."
"And it would have worked." Margaret said regretfully. "I would have sailed away from this dump and back to civilisation."
"You'd blow up an entire planet jus' to get a lift?" Mickey asked doubtfully.
"Like stepping on an ant hill." She spat.
"How'd you think of the name." The Doctor asked distractedly. Through Jack's explanation, none of them seemed to notice the Doctor had moved. He was standing in front of a banner which said 'Blaidd drwg'.
"It's Welsh."
"I know, but how did you think of it?" The Doctor pushed.
"Chose it at random." She shrugged again. "Just sounded good. Does it matter?"
The Doctor turned, looking slightly confused. "Blaidd drwg…"
"Bad Wolf." Eliza ended. She too was looking at the Doctor; his confusion grew when she translated.
"But I've heard that before, Bad Wolf." Rose stuttered. "I've heard that lots of times."
"Everywhere we go, two words always following us." The Doctor nodded in agreement with Rose.
"How could they be following us?" Rose asked as she glanced at Eliza, who was deep in her own though. The first time she'd heard it was with Eliza and Gwyneth. Gwyneth claimed that Eliza had seen the Big Bad Wolf, and Eliza seemed to be thinking the same thing as well. Except, she'd heard it somewhere before she even met Gwyneth.
They were both brought out of their thoughts by the Doctor. He smiled jokingly, but Eliza could still feel his doubt. He was doing this so Rose wouldn't panic, so she played along. "Nah, just a coincidence." This did seem to calm her down a bit, but not entirely. "A bit like hearing a word on the radio, then hearing it all day. Never mind, things to do." He looked at the more silent woman and he piped, "Margaret, we're taking you home."
"Wait, isn't that the easy option?" Jack asked. "Like letting her go?"
Rose, looking hopeful, said, "We actually get to go to… Raxa… wait, hang on… Raxacor…"
"Raxacoricofallapatorius." The Doctor corrected.
"Raxacorico… urm…"
"Raxacoricofallapatorius." The Doctor said slowly.
"Raxa…cloricofallapatorius!" Rose exclaimed in victory.
"That's it!" The Doctor joined her, catching her as she dived into his arms and hugged him. "I did it!" Rose called.
Margaret, however, was not so happy. "They have the death penalty. The family Slitheen was trialled in its absence many years ago and found guilty, with no chance of appeal. According to the statues of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed." She looked down at the floor as she explained, and then glanced at the Doctor. "What do you make of that, Doctor?" She spat. "Take me home, and you take me to my death."
"Not my problem." He replied after a moment.
"It's kinda your fault anyways." Eliza muttered. "You did something the rest of your race didn't like, so you get the punishment, simple as."
"Punishable by death?"
"Then you must have done something to really piss 'em off." Eliza replied evenly.
Margaret stayed silent, then began walking with the rest as they took her to the TARDIS. "Hey, Gramps. What do you really think Bad Wolf means?"
"I don't know." The Doctor replied. "Something we're going to have to learn with time." Eliza's eye brows rose, realising for the first time he wasn't going to figure it out by himself. That, and the fact he didn't want to know what Bad Wolf meant.
The unknown frightens all of us… Eliza thought.
They walked out of the City Centre when Eliza was just about to argue she didn't want to wait, when she saw Jason in the corner of her eye, talking to someone. The person had the same coat on as him, except Eliza couldn't see their face. They had their arms crossed over their chest and shook their head.
Before Eliza could see anything else, the party rounded a corner, her curiosity gauge going through the roof.
"This ship is… impossible!" Margaret exclaimed as she walked through the doors of the TARDIS. "It's superb. How do you get the outside around the inside?"
The Doctor chuckled. "Like I'd give you the secret."
"I almost feel better about being defeated. I never stood a chance." She said as she walked around the Console. "This is the technology of the Gods!"
"Don't worship me." The Doctor warned. "I'd make a very bad god. You wouldn't get a day off, for starters. Jack, how we doing, big fella?"
"This extrapolator's top of the range." Jack commented. He turned his eyes to Margaret and demanded, "Where did you get it?"
"I don't know." She replied, playing dumb. "Some airloft sale?"
"Must have been a great big heist. It's stacked with power." He reported to the Doctor.
"But we can use it for fuel?" The Doctor asked.
"It's not compatible." Jack denied. "But it should knock off about twelve hours. We'll be ready to go by morning."
"And we're stuck here. Over night." The Doctor mused.
"I'm in no hurry." Margaret muttered.
"We've got a prisoner." Rose piped. When Eliza looked at her she added, "The 'police box' is really a police box." She ended the comment with an amused smile, Eliza just shook her head lightly.
This, however, did give Margaret the opportunity. "You're not just police, thought." She said, fiddling with a ball from the Console. "Since you're taking me to my death, which makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you."
"Well, you deserve it." Mickey spat.
"You're very quick to say so." Margaret quipped. "You're very quick to soak your hands in my blood. Which makes you better than me how, exactly?" She smiled, and then walked to the jump seat, sitting down. "Long night ahead. Let's see who can look me in the eye." She looked round each person. Firstly Mickey, who bowed his head quickly, letting the guilt get to him. Then to Rose, who did the same. The Doctor didn't even look at her, and Jack kept his head down. She turned to look at Eliza, who was staring back evenly. "Mickey's right. You probably do deserve it."
"Pray tell, child."
"Well, you do." Eliza shrugged. "You've got to have a death penalty for a reason, right? Death Penalty is usually only for people have killed others. So as far as we know at the moment, you've killed twice."
"How would you know that?" She spat.
"That suit you're living in was once a living human being, Margaret." Eliza glared, seeing the response she wanted. "You killed her for your own good use. Think about how terrified she must have been. How alone and cornered she felt when you murdered her and tore the skin from the skull. And we don't even know what other things you've done, and to be truthful, I don't want to. So, yes, I do think you deserve to be executed." Margaret stared at the young girl for a good long while, before lowering her gaze to the floor. Eliza shook her head and went through the TARDIS doors, Wolf following her.
Eliza didn't know how long she'd walked for, an hour at least. She'd thought that a walk about would calm her down, but as usual it didn't. All she could feel was anger. She was ignoring Wolf's questions about her fidgeting, her desire to shout at him growing with every second, until finally, she snapped. "Fine. You know what? I'm done with you. Why don't you just crawl back into whatever hole you came out of? All you do is follow me around, asking me stupid question that seriously annoy and grate on my nerves. 'Mistress, why do rabbits blah blah blah', just shut up!" Without realising what she was doing, she grabbed the hilt of her sword, let ringing echo through the street. She swung it over her head and smashed it down on a bench, splinters flying everywhere. To her surprise, this had calmed her down a lot more than her outburst. Then the guilt hit her. She turned to see Wolf, cowering near the grass, whimpering lowly. Eliza felt a tingle in her right hand, and looked down to see that the normal black writing was now white-blue, more white than it would have normally been. She dropped the sword on the ground, letting it clatter, realising what she'd done, and walked towards Wolf. Before she could get even a meter within reach, Wolf bolted away. "Wolf!" Eliza called. "Wolf, I'm sorry!" But he paid no mind. He continued until he reached the corner, rounded it and disappeared from her view.
Eliza kicked one of the splintered strips of wood in frustration, getting a few bits of wood stuck in her shoe. She looked down at the sword, which was now back to its original appearance. She bent down slowly and picked it up, gripping it and watching as her anger spiked again, the writing starting to glow once again.
Shaking her head, she put the sword back in the scabbard. It's the sword… it's what's been making me angry?
Before she could think about it further, she heard a low rumble. Is that thunder? No… thunder doesn't come from the ground… She took a few steps forewords, then jumped back in surprise as the telephone pole gave a few spark, setting itself alight and falling to the ground in front of her. "Yeah, that aint thunder!
The only place she could think of was the TARDIS, only person, or people, she could think of was Wolf, for the obvious reason and his safety, and the Doctor. With those thoughts, she began to run back the way she'd come, running into Rose halfway there. "Rose!" She yelled. Rose turned, happy and scared emotions running across her face. When Eliza reached her, they both grabbed hold of each others forearms to keep balance. "Where's the Doctor?"
"I don't know." Rose replied. Before she could say another word, Eliza grabbed her hand and yanked them both into a run. They reached the TARDIS not too long after, surprised to see some sort of blue lightning coming down from the sky, latching itself onto the TARDIS. "It's the rift!" Eliza yelled over the increased rumbling.
They ran towards the TARDIS, desperately trying to avoid the cracks that were appearing out of nowhere. Just before they got there, Jason, Wolf and the new figure showed up, also running for the TARDIS. "Riva, wait!"
Eliza responded to her new name, earning a look from Rose, but glad to see that Wolf was safe. They pilled into the TARDIS, Rose immediately asking, "What is it? What's happening to the rift?"
"Oh, just a little me!" Margaret replied happily. She ripped off her human arm, grabbing Rose by the throat and backing away. Eliza felt a spark of responsibility run through her, but was torn between running to Margaret and making her let go of Rose, or taking the sword and swiping at Margaret, the last one she didn't want to do. "One wrong move, and she snapped like a promise!"
The Doctor, looking between the Slitheen and Rose, muttered, "I might have known."
"I've had you bleating all night, Doctor." Margaret snarled. "You, fly boy, put the extrapolator at my feet." Jack looked down at the extrapolator, but stood still. Margaret tightened her grip around Rose's neck, forcing her to make a choked noise. Jack looked back at the Doctor, who gave a sharp nod.
Jack walked over to the extrapolator, took it from the Console and placed it in front of Margaret. "Thank you." She said sweetly. "Just as I planned."
"I thought… you needed to blow up… the Nuclear power station…" Rose struggled, attempting to loosen the grip of Margaret's hand.
"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." She spat. "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." She glanced in awe at the TARDIS Rotor. "I'm back on schedule, thanks to you."
"The rifts gonna convulse, you'll destroy the whole planet." Jack protested.
"And you with it!" Margaret bellowed. She stepped into the extrapolator, keeping a firm grip on Rose. "While I ride this board across the inferno and on the way to freedom. Stand back boys, surfs up." She smiled wickedly, watching so none of the fools in front of her would make a move, until a bright light caught her eye. She looked at the Console, her smile vanishing.
"Of course." The Doctor muttered as he looked at the light as well. "Opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart."
"So sue me."
The Doctor shook his head. "It's not just any old power source. It's the TARDIS. My TARDIS. The best ship in the Universe."
"It'll make wonderful scrap." Margaret said, glaring at him.
"The Heart of the TARDIS…" The Doctor mused, looking down at the light. "This ship's alive. You've opened its soul. Look at the light, Blon Fel Flotch."
Margaret, whose real name was Blon, loosened her grip on Rose. "It's so bright… beautiful…" She looked up at the Doctor, a small smile on her face. "Thank you." There was s small explosion, the skin suit falling to the floor. "Close your eyes- Eliza, look away! Eliza!" A small light began to hover about the Console, calling Eliza's name. The light sped towards her, plummeting into her head, her eyes glowing for the longest time. The Doctor pushed the board back down, re-covering the light. Jason stepped from behind and took her arm, pulling her back to get her out of the way. Eliza, who didn't even notice Jason movement, or the feel of Wolf licking her hand and calling her name, stood there staring into space, shaking lightly, like she had a really bad shiver. Slowly, her eyes began to return to its natural blue.
"Jack, shut it all down!" He barked. "Rose, that panel over there. Turn all the switches to the right." Soon enough, the rumbling stopped, the lights on the TARDIS wall flickering on and off, eventually staying on.
"Nicely done." The Doctor commented. "Thank you, all."
"What happened to Margaret?" Rose asked, catching her breath.
"Must have burnt up." Jack concluded. "Carried out her own death sentence."
"No." The Doctor denied. "I don't think she's dead. She looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and even I don't know how strong that is, and the ship's telepathic, like I told you, Rose. It gets inside your head, translates alien languages. Maybe be the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts." He wondered. He began looking through the skin suit, lifting up the stomach to find… an egg. "Ah, here she is!"
Rose looked at the egg, not sure whether to laugh or frown. "She's an egg."
"Regressed to her childhood." The Doctor agreed.
"She's an egg." Jack stated dumbly.
"She can start again, live a life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be alright."
"Or she might be worst." Jack said.
"That's her choice."
"She's an egg." Rose said, looking in wonder at the ovel object.
"She's an egg." The Doctor nodded. Before anyone could say anything else, Rose scrambled to her feet and ran out of the TARDIS doors. The Doctor looked over to Eliza, who was being comforted by Wolf and Jason, the new figure had left a little while ago. Eliza stopped shaking, looked at Jason and stood up, inching herself away from him. She remembered who he was now. Who he was to her. With that, she couldn't help but remember the kiss they shared the night before. "Oh, My God! That's disgusting!" She secured her hands over her mouth, smacking herself in the forehead. "Why didn't you said anything?!"
"If you could give me some suggestions of what I could have said to not give anything away, please, I'm all ears." Jason replied coldly.
"You could have told me the truth." Eliza spat. "That would have stopped me from snoggin' you- urghhh I cant even think about it!"
"Hey," Jack butted in. "You locked lips with her, but not me?"
"Trust me, you're as bad as she is." Jason said, swearing that within a few seconds he was going to throw up. "How much do you remember?" Jason asked Eliza.
"Just bits and pieces. They're all scrambled up." Eliza replied in disgust.
Before they could carry on in their conversation, Rose walked back through the doors. "We're all powered up and ready to go."
"Yeah, that's fine." Rose mumbled.
The Doctor nodded, taking note of her sudden change of attitude. "How's Mickey?"
"He's fine." Rose replied. "He's gone."
"Do you wonna go fine him? We'll wait." The Doctor offered.
Rose shook her head at the offer. "No need. He deserves better."
"Off we go, then!" The Doctor replied, happy to get away.
"Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorius." Jack said, in the same mood as the Doctor. "Now you don't often get to say that."
"We can stop by and pop her in the hatchery. Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again. A second chance."
"That'd be nice." Rose muttered. "I think, I'm gonna go to bed, actually. You four can go cradle dropping without me." She didn't wait for anyone to say their goodnights, just walked through the passageway and towards her room.
"Yeah, I think I will, too." Eliza muttered. She walked past Jason and Wolf, grabbing the young man by the ear and dragging him with her. "You can come, an' all."
"Alright!" Jason yelled in pain, taking her hand off of his ear. "No need to wrench my ear off."
"I'll do whatever I damn well like." She spat. She entered her room and sat in the middle of the bed, Wolf jumping up and curling into a ball. She patted his head softly as Jason closed the door behind him. After their very long conversation that lasted for most of the night, Eliza said a teary farewell to Wolf, as well as apologizing for most of the time. Jason had explained why he had to take Wolf away, said something about 'It happened last time'.
Soon, both Jason and Wolf left her room, leaving her with her thoughts. The day had been long, and hard, and tiring. Usually, she only needed a few hours sleep every other two days, but after today's events, she needed some rest. If only a few hours. Eliza fell back, flopping her head on the pillow and closed her eyes, another memory seeping it's way out and into her mind.
A.N: I sooooooo wanted to give away a spoiler at the end there, but I thought it would be way too soon. Best to stick with the original plan, or maybe it's because I like teasing you guys ;) Warning! The next chapter will be a lot more confusing!