Rose and Jack brought John's unconscious body back to the Hub, instructing the others to meet them there. John had caused some trouble for Tosh and Owen as well, but they were more than capable of dealing with it. As soon as the Doctor arrived, he made a beeline for Rose and swept her into his arms. This man was dangerous and he was relieved that nothing had happened to her at his hands or John Hart would likely be breathing his last.
"So, these canisters he was collecting?" Jack prompted as he examined them. Tosh scanned them, but came up with nothing.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned them quickly. "They aren't dangerous at all. You can open them," he told Jack.
"But what about that radiation stuff?" Owen protested.
"There isn't any, and I didn't think there was. If the Doctor says it's safe to open them, then it's safe," Jack assured him, opening the first of the containers. There were small, metal rods with angled pieces inside each one and Jack placed them on the table as he found them. They made an equilateral triangle.
"Ooh, now that's interesting. Where's the other piece?" the Doctor questioned and began another scan with his sonic which led him to the body of the alien they had been forced to kill earlier. He pulled the last part of the puzzle out of the creature's pocket, but before he could get back to the table and assemble everything together, John started to groan and lifted his head to look at his surroundings.
"That was quite a hit there, Blondie. You like it rough, don't you? That could be fun. You, me, some whips," John commented. The Doctor, who was passing by him at that moment, reached out and smacked him across the back of the head, aggravating his already sore spot from before. "Oh, I was only joking. Give it a rest."
Rose was surprised at the slap. In his last body, she wouldn't have been so surprised, but since his regeneration, he hadn't been like that. Then again, he was still the same man. If his previous self had the capability, he did too.
"Any idea what's in the message on this?" the Doctor asked John Hart directly, holding up the three-sided pyramid shaped piece he'd gotten from the alien. There was a glow coming from within and it was beeping.
"It's come clean time, Captain," Owen told him, crossing his arms stubbornly.
"Yeah, all right. That woman I told you about had herself an Arcadian diamond. It's the rarest gem in the Damascene Cluster. Just when I'd got my hands on her, she only generates her own personal Rift storm. God, I hate technological geniuses," John admitted.
"You said this was a dying woman's request," Tosh growled.
"Yeah, she was dying. I shot her. Thought my luck had changed when I found it had ended up here. So, I'm thinking fifty fifty. Even split, good deal. Or if anyone fancies an orgy?" John proposed, grinning.
"Seriously?" Rose asked, aghast. "You're really going there right now?"
"Well, I think it's time we heard her side of the story, don't you?" the Doctor announced as he moved to activate the device.
"It should give us the location of the diamond," John told them.
The Doctor placed the pyramid piece on the table, clicked the three pieces from the canisters together, and laid the resultant triangle over the pyramid piece. Instantly, a hologram popped up.
"There she is," John told them, gesturing at the hologram of the woman, who really was attractive.
"The woman you murdered," Gwen pointed out calmly. Calm on the exterior, at any rate. Her eyes showed her anger.
"You've travelled several galaxies for this. Well done," she told him.
"Thank you, gorgeous," John preened.
"Except, there's no diamond," the dead woman taunted.
"What?" John questioned the hologram, as if it would answer. Who knew, maybe it could? If there were an AI interface. Rose was a bit familiar with the technology of the fifty-first century, thanks to her two months there, but she didn't know this piece.
"Only this," the woman finished.
Suddenly, the pyramid shape opened up, and the bits from the triangle ring popped open. A glowing, circular device rose in the air
"No," John said and repeated the word at least a dozen times in quick succession. "There's got to be a diamond. It's all about the diamond!" he exclaimed.
The circle stopped glowing and suddenly, barbs shot out of the edge of it, just before it latched itself to John's chest. The Doctor immediately went to go have a look at it, scanning it.
"Doctor, what is that thing?" Rose wondered.
"A bomb," he replied. Oh, that wasn't good. He wasn't rambling.
"It's an explosive device which will latch on to the DNA of whoever killed me. It'll detonate in ten minutes. It can't be removed without exploding so, don't bother trying. Goodbye, lover," the hologram explained.
"No, wait!" John exclaimed.
"See you in hell," the woman taunted one last time before the message ended.
"Deadlocked," the Doctor confirmed, putting away his sonic. It was useless against a deadlock.
"She can't be serious. Ten minutes?" Gwen gasped.
"Get it off me!" John shouted in a panic as he tried to remove the device in vain.
Ianto started his stopwatch as soon as he had heard there was a time limit and responded to Gwen, "Actually, nine minutes fifty, forty nine, forty eight." He held it up and shook it. "Always at the ready," he told them, gleefully.
"Okay, how big is this explosion likely to be, Jack?" Gwen questioned, trying to judge what their options would be.
"That technology, that size? Big," Jack said thoughtfully, making the Doctor and Rose roll their eyes.
"It'll take out the entire city at least," the Doctor informed them.
"So we should really get him out of the city," Owen suggested.
"Nine minutes thirty seven," Ianto announced helpfully.
"You've got to help me. Please," John begged them.
"Why?" Jack asked, clearly still upset with him for endangering his friends. John responded by punching Jack in the face and grabbing Rose, pulling her against his chest as he backed away from the group.
"Don't you dare," the Doctor growled fiercely. Nearly everyone in the room shivered at the fury in his voice, but John didn't release her.
"Get back. Back. Back off. Get back," he warned them all, holding his arm tightly around Rose's neck.
"You are so asking for it," Rose told him as she wrestled to break free.
"Ain't seen nothing yet," he replied and clicked shut a set of handcuffs, attaching himself to Rose. Instantly, the chaos calmed down a little. Rose being handcuffed to the man about to explode and take out a city changed things.
"What?" Rose shouted.
"Big mistake," the Doctor informed him with a glare.
"It's hypersteel, impermeable, deadlock sealed. No way to undo them. Unless you have this key," John announced haughtily before placing the key in his mouth and swallowing.
The Doctor immediately moved to try and remove the cuffs using his sonic, not believing the claim of them being deadlocked, but confirming it quickly. He couldn't remove them without the key. He eyed the man calculatingly.
"You are unbelievable!" Gwen shouted.
"And yet you still find me strangely attractive. Now you had better find a solution pronto or Blondie here'll be blown up with me," John told them.
"Would shooting him stop the DNA trigger?" Owen questioned coldly.
"No," Jack responded, though the thought had occurred to him as well. He couldn't allow this asshole from his past to hurt Rose.
"I could easily have taken him in the TARDIS and tossed him into the nearest supernova, but not while he's attached to my Rose, thank you very much," the Doctor told them.
"So, what are we gonna do now, team? The orgy's still on offer, by the way. Especially now I've got the cuffs out," John taunted them.
"Nine minutes four seconds," Ianto announced. This time with the full weight of the situation in his voice.
"Ok, taking them away in the TARDIS would save the city, but there has to be an option that will keep Rose safe," Jack insisted.
"Oh, don't worry about me at all," John grumbled.
"I'm not," Jack replied.
The Doctor stood in front of John, staring into his eyes angrily. John looked back, suddenly realizing just how dangerous a creature he had awakened. The Doctor scanned John with his sonic, looking for the needed key that would separate this maniac from his Rose. Just as he thought, he found it. "Give me the key," he hissed, holding out his hand expectantly.
"I swallowed it. Just wait a few minutes and it's bound to turn up," John responded.
"No, you didn't. Now, if you don't give me that key and release my fiancée right now, I will use this very nifty little device to force you to empty the contents of your stomach this instant, along with the key that you are holding in your throat. I can disable that device, but you release her first," the Doctor demanded.
John stared at the Time Lord in front of him. He didn't want to give up the only bargaining chip he had at the moment, but he didn't seem to have a choice, now that they knew he could retrieve the key.
"Eight thirty two, thirty one," Ianto told them, breaking the tense silence.
"You're bluffing," John tried.
Jack laughed. "Where Rose is involved, don't count on it."
"Fiancée?" he asked weakly. "This little bird is a Time Lord's mate?"
John hesitated for several more seconds before swearing and handing over the key, allowing his hostage to be released from the handcuffs. The Doctor hugged Rose tightly, then grasped her hand tightly, his other hand taking a firm hold on John's upper arm.
"Ow! Not so hard!" he protested.
"Consider yourself lucky that's all he's doing," Jack responded.
The Doctor pulled him out of the Hub and back towards the TARDIS. He had plenty of equipment there to disable the device and protect the city. If they ran out of time, he could always move the ship away and follow through with the idea of tossing him out into a supernova. But that was a last resort.
Rose, rubbing her arm where John had jerked her around, ran with them, just trying to keep up with the long legged men who were trying to get to the timeship as fast as they could. The Doctor held her hand and wouldn't let it go, not that she could blame him.
The Doctor was on the verge of losing his temper completely and she wasn't sure if he'd just take the man and toss him into a supernova instead of trying to get the bomb off and deactivated.
They got in the ship, but when Rose turned to close the door, Jack came in, with his team following right behind. The ship shuddered for a moment.
"What in the…" Ianto gasped as he paused in the doorway, trying to take in the fact that the ship was bigger on the inside.
The rest of the team made similar exclamations, and half of them tried to step back out to make sure of what they were seeing, but the doors were closed and the Doctor was already starting the take-off sequence. He stopped and looked at them.
"No, no, no, you can't have your friends in here!" he exclaimed. "It was bad enough when Rose insisted on letting you come with us. Bringing everyone on board? You know better, Jack!"
"Doctor," Rose interjected. "Get that thing off him. I'll get us where we need to go, yeah?"
"Six minutes, thirteen seconds," Ianto announced, reminding them of their time limit. It was enough to make the Doctor pull his protesting prisoner off down the corridor.
"Where is? How big is this thing?" Gwen wondered as she watched them go.
Rose started moving around the console, pressing buttons, pulling levers, and twisting dials. "I have no idea," she answered. "Been here about three years now, and know I've only seen a small part of it. This is the TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S. Basically, a timeship that exists in her own dimension and the little blue box you saw is a door to it."
She hit the last few buttons with a flourish, and the ship shuddered to a stop. She turned and faced the team. Gwen looked awed, and a little bit scared. Ianto looked curious. Tosh was staring at the console with wide eyes, and Owen stood there with his arms crossed as if the whole situation was a major inconvenience.
"Nice to see he's letting you handle more of the controls now, sweetheart," Jack told her admiringly.
"Yeah, I can pilot the Old Girl, so long as I don't need coordinates. Still working on understanding that," she replied.
"Should we be worried about that bomb thing?" Ianto questioned.
"Nah," Rose responded. "Maybe a little. I'm more concerned about what the Doctor's gonna do with him on his own. Jack, you might want to check up on them."
"Sure thing, Rosie. Come on, Yan, bring that stopwatch so we can toss him into deep space if we run out of time," Jack replied and headed down the corridor where the Doctor had gone earlier, knowing the ship would help him find them.
"Probably in the medbay," Rose called before they disappeared. The medbay was usually in the same place.
"Madbay?" Owen asked, perking up. "This ship's got one?"
"What self respecting ship doesn't?" Rose asked. "You alright, there?" she wondered. Ianto had seemed to get over the bigger on the inside concept quickly, but the rest of the team were still a little shocked looking.
"So, we're in a different dimension right now?" Gwen asked.
"Yep! The TARDIS is her own dimension. She can be as big or as small as she wants." Rose explained, rubbing the console.
"You talk like this ship's alive," Owen commented.
"That would be because she is," Rose told him.
"You have an AI integrated into the ship?" Tosh wondered. "I know there's been some work on-"
"Not an AI," Rose interrupted. "She's a sentient, eleven dimensional being that was grown."
"Eleven dimensional? What's that mean?" Gwen questioned.
"I don't rightly know," Rose responded with a laugh. "That's what the Doctor says. I'm still learning this stuff and have barely covered the fourth dimension."
Suddenly, they heard loud, running footsteps coming down the corridor and turned to look. The Doctor was running, holding the little disk up in the air. Ianto was right behind him and the other two men were nowhere to be seen.
"thirteen..twelve, eleven," Ianto was counting down the time on his stopwatch.
"Ha!" the Doctor cried triumphantly as he tossed the device out the doors into space and closed them again.
"Hang on, how did we not all get sucked out when you opened the door?" Tosh questioned curiously.
"Oh, the TARDIS protects us from that sort of thing. No worries," the Doctor replied with a grin. A really loud explosion was heard, and the room shuddered. Rose laughed at everyone's expressions. The newcomers had all ducked and covered their heads.
"What're you all down there for?" the Doctor asked as if he were clueless, but Rose could feel his amusement. "It's time to get you lot back to Cardiff!" He dashed back to the console and began pressing buttons in his usual dance around the controls.
Jack and John entered the room. John looked a bit more beat up, and Rose wondered what had happened.
The TARDIS rematerialized back in Cardiff. They stepped out of the ship into the night, looking around. They weren't in the Plass.
"What time is it?" Tosh wondered.
Jack checked his wrist strap and groaned. "Doctor, your driving isn't getting any better," he chastised.
"What?" the Doctor asked.
"We're two days before we left," he informed him and Rose laughed.
"Could be worse. Brought me home a year late when we first started travelling," Rose told them. "And then there was the time when we were going to 1979, but wound up in 1879. Another time he-"
"Are you quite done?" the Doctor grumbled, put out.
"Oh, no, I'm just getting started," she teased.
"Well, we could probably all do with a couple of days off anyway. Just don't run into yourselves," Jack warned his team. "Probably best we get out of town for the time being."
"Well, I could just-" the Doctor started, pointing his thumb at the timeship behind him, but was interrupted by various protests. He turned to Rose. "This is all your fault," he accused.
Rose just laughed.
"Don't be a stranger, Rosie," Jack said as he pulled her into a hug.
"Not to worry. I promised you that you'd be at the wedding and I'm keeping that promise," she assured him.
As they were saying their goodbyes, there was a flash of light and John was gone.
"Good riddance to bad rubbish," the Doctor grumbled and walked back into the TARDIS.