When the Doctor told them they were going to Cardiff, Rose toyed with the idea of calling Mickey. She hadn't even needed her passport the first time, she'd just used it as an excuse to see him while she was stringing him along. In the end she decided against telling him about Cardiff, though she did call to see how he and Trisha were doing. She still didn't think it would last long, but she was glad that he was with her for better reasons now, in as much as "I want a steady shag" is better than "I want to make my absent girlfriend suffer."
She had been quiet when the Doctor explained to Jack the Rift and what had happened in Cardiff in 1869. Jack's eyes had cut to her once or twice, especially when Gwyneth was mentioned. He had flatly refused to let the Doctor take his memories, saying that Rose needed someone on board who she could talk to. The Doctor had fought against it, reminding the Captain how dangerous it was for him to know too much of his own future. Rose pulled him aside and explained, without giving specifics, that Jack wouldn't be on board much longer, and promised not to tell him anything that would endanger any of them. It also occurred to her that perhaps there was more to the Face of Boe's knowledge than telepathy, given what had happened. He'd finally relented, again with the threat of "on your own head."
She felt better with Jack around knowing at least some of what was happening. The TARDIS hadn't given her any angry buzzes or appeared in her dreams, so she assumed that it was alright, for now anyway.
And so they went to Cardiff for their pit stop. Rose remembered the geeky conversation they'd had when they explained it all to Mickey, and almost wished she had invited him after all.
"Should take another twenty-four hours," the Doctor said as they stepped out of the TARDIS. "Which means we've got time to kill."
"Oh, the irony," Rose teased, then looked over and noticed something. "That old lady's staring."
"Probably wondering what three people could do inside a small wooden box," Jack said, patting the Doctor's shoulder.
"You're hopeless," Rose said, laughing.
"I still can't believe that thing never gets noticed," Jack said, eyeing the TARDIS. "What's with the police box, anyway? Why does it look like that?"
"It's a cloaking device," Rose told him.
"It's called a chameleon circuit," said the Doctor, never missing an opportunity to lecture. "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," he said, winking at Rose. "It disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck."
"So it copied a real thing?" Jack asked. "There actually were police boxes?"
"Yeah, on street corners. Phone for help before they had radios and mobiles. If they arrested someone, they could shove them inside until help came. Like a little prison cell."
"Why don't you just fix the circuit?"
"I like it," the Doctor told him. "Don't you?"
"I LOVE it," Rose said, patting the side of the box. Jack snorted, but the Doctor smiled.
"Besides, think about the Human Race," the Doctor went on. "You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town and what do they do?" Jack raised his eyebrows. "Walk past it. Now stop your nagging, let's go and explore!" He took Rose's hand and started wandering off, Jack trailing behind.
"What's the plan?" she asked, skipping a little beside him.
"I don't know! Cardiff. Early 21st Century," he said. "And the wind's coming from the... East. Trust me - safest place in the universe."
Rose grinned. He really should learn not to say things like that.
oOoOo
In the cafe, Jack started telling the same story he had before. Rose still laughed along with him, still not knowing how much of it to believe. Jack had an incredible knack for exaggerating the truth for the sake of a good story. She glanced over and caught sight of the paper the same time the Doctor did.
"And I was having such a good day," he said, disappointed as he showed them the picture.
They made their way to the government building, Jack rattling off a plan and leaving the Doctor disgruntled because he hadn't come up with it first. Rose rolled her eyes and told them to get on with it, taking up her assigned place...then moving quickly to the unassigned exit. The Doctor phoned before she got there, and she took off. She tried to get a jump on Margaret, but the woman shoved her off and still managed to use her teleport as Jack and the Doctor ran up.
"She's got a teleport! That's cheating!" shouted Jack as he stopped next to her. "Now we're NEVER gonna get her!"
"Oh, the Doctor's very good with teleports," she assured him.
Sure enough, the Doctor stepped forward and with a flick of the sonic, Margaret was back and running toward them. She immediately turned around and ran the other way, teleporting away again. Again, the Doctor brought her back, just a smidge closer. She turned and vanished again, only to reappear directly in front of them, panting.
"I could do this all day," he said cheerfully.
"This is persecution," Margaret accused as she put her hands up. "Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?"
"You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet," said the Doctor calmly.
"Apart from that," Margaret said dismissively.
The Doctor simply shook his head and took her by the arm, leading her back into the building.
"So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped," the Doctor said as they entered the presentation room. "Your family get killed but you teleport out, 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?" he asked as they all turned to study the scale model of the nuclear plant.
"A philanthropic gesture," Margaret said haughtily. "I've learned the error of my ways."
"And it just so happens to be right on top of the rift," the Doctor noted.
"What rift would that be?" Margaret asked innocently.
"A rift in space and time," Jack said slowly, clearly seeing through this. "If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would go schwwwupboom!"
"This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity," said the Doctor.
"Didn't anyone notice?" Rose asked. "Isn't there someone in London CHECKING this sort of stuff?" She still couldn't believe that Margaret had gotten this far in her plan.
"We're in CARDIFF. London doesn't care!" Margaret said derisively. "The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice- oh... I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I've gone native."
"And I'm sure that anyone who DID managed to catch on vanished…" Rose realized.
"There were some accidents," Margaret said, drawing herself up. "Accidents cannot be avoided in a project this size."
"Riiiight," Rose said, drawing out the word before shaking her head and turning to the Doctor. "But if the whole thing blows up, won't she get caught in it?"
"No," the Doctor said, studying the model. "Because she's clever." He knocked the tiny buildings out of place and pulled up the middle section from the model, revealing the circuitry underneath. "Fantastic."
"Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?" Jack asked excitedly.
"Couldn't have put it better myself," the Doctor replied with raised eyebrows.
"Ooh, GENIUS!" Jack said, taking the board from him to examine it more closely. "You didn't build this," he said walking over to Margaret.
"I have my hobbies," she said with false modesty. "A little tinkering-"
"No, no, no, I mean, you REALLY didn't build this," Jack said. "Way beyond you."
"Probably stolen," Rose commented. "What is it?"
"It's transport," Jack explained after a sharp look. "You see, the reactor blows, the rift opens, phenomenal cosmic disaster, but THIS thing shrouds you in a force field, you have this energy bubble, zzhum, 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 surfboard."
"A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah."
"And it would've worked," Margaret said bitterly. "I would've surfed away from this dead-end dump and back to civilization."
"Yeah, yeah, if it wasn't for us meddling kids," Rose said wearily, making Jack laugh and the Doctor smirk. "But why? You'd blow up a whole planet just to get a lift?"
"Like stepping on an anthill," Margaret said with a disgusted look on her face.
"How'd you think of the name?" the Doctor asked suddenly, staring up at the poster.
"What, Blaidd Drwg? It's Welsh."
"I know, but how did you think of it?"
"Chose it at random, that's all," she said. "I dunno. Just sounded good. Does it matter?"
"Blaidd Drwg," he said, turning around again with his brows furrowed.
"What does it mean?" Jack asked.
"Bad Wolf," the Doctor said, and Rose shivered. He was noticing. It was all starting.
"But I've heard that before, Bad Wolf," she said in a hollow voice. "I've heard that lots of times."
"Everywhere we go," the Doctor said softly. "Two words. Following us. Bad Wolf."
Jack was watching Rose intently, but she couldn't meet his gaze. It took all her effort just to keep her from grabbing the Doctor's hand and taking off for the TARDIS, getting them as far away from Bad Wolf as possible...
"How can they be following you?" Jack asked finally.
The Doctor stared into the middle distance for another few seconds, then shook himself. "Nah! Just a coincidence! Like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Never mind! Things to do." He clapped his hands and walked briskly to the door. "Margaret, we're gonna take you home."
"Hold on, isn't that the easy option, like letting her go?" Jack asked in disbelief.
"We actually get to go to Raxacoricofallapatorius?"
The Doctor did a double take at her, then grinned widely. "I can't believe you got that right on your first go!"
"Neither can I," she said, matching his grin.
"I can," Jack muttered, and Rose elbowed him.
"They have the death penalty," Margaret informed them darkly. They all turned to her. "The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty. With no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed. What do you make of that, Doctor? Take me home and you take me to my death."
The Doctor fixed her with a cold stare. "Not my problem."
oOoOo
They brought Margaret back to the TARDIS, and Rose's uneasiness grew with each step. The Doctor, she knew, would be sure of himself as always, and she wasn't sure how to explain Margaret's plan B without blowing her cover.
"This ship is IMPOSSIBLE!" exclaimed Margaret once they got inside the TARDIS. "It's SUPERB. How do you get the outside around the inside?"
"Like I'd give YOU the secret, yeah," the Doctor said with an eye roll.
"I almost feel better about being defeated," Margaret said magnanimously. "We never stood a chance. This is the technology of the Gods."
"Don't worship me," he told her. "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 said from his place on the floor amidst wires from the console. He looked up and peered at Margaret. "Where did you get it?"
"Oh, I don't know…some airlock sale?" Margaret said evasively. Rose snorted.
"Must've been a great big heist. It's stacked with power."
"But we can use it for fuel?" the Doctor clarified.
"It's not compatible…but it should knock off about twelve hours," Jack told him. "We'll be ready to go by morning."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rose asked before she could stop herself. Jack looked up at her sharply, then back down to the board in his hands.
"What d'you mean?" asked the Doctor.
"Well...I just mean...what Jack said, it's incompatible," she hedged. "What if it...I dunno...makes the TARDIS sick or something?"
"Rose, Jack and I can handle it," the Doctor said, and Rose bristled at his patronizing tone. "The TARDIS will be fine, and we'll be gone in the morning. 'Til then, we're stuck here. Just relax."
"I'M in no hurry," Margaret put in quickly. Rose glared at her.
"Of course not. You're the prisoner," Rose taunted. "How about that? The police box is really a police box."
"You're not just police, though," Margaret replied, a twisted smile on her face. "Since you're taking me to my death, that makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you."
"Well, you deserve it," Rose told her.
"You're very quick to say so," she retorted. "You're very quick to soak your hands in my blood. Which makes you better than me, how, exactly...?"
"Oh please," Rose burst out. "You're really going to sit there and try to make us feel guilty for delivering you to a sentence brought down on you long before you tried to destroy us and the planet...Honestly? Hours after being found out for ANOTHER plan to destroy the planet?"
"Rose," the Doctor said, his voice a low warning.
She spun around, opening her mouth to say more, but felt a warning tingle in the back of her mind. She couldn't afford to raise his suspicions again, especially so soon…but it was just so ludicrous. She hesitated, then pushed past Margaret around the console and out the door.