Summary: Everything was going just peachy for Sophie Coulson. That is until she is nearly killed by living plastic and rescued by an overly handsome British man. The Doctor/OC
"We're in," Mickey's voice followed the beeping and the almost too dead serious look on The Doctor's face nearly disappeared as he faced the table.
"Now then," The Doctor said, "On the left, at the top, there's a tab, an icon, little concentric circles, click on that." Sophie gripped the edge of one of the many chairs. Her eyes flicked over to Rose. Fear was flickering in her eyes, her knuckles were white as she clutched the edge of her pink tee. She was terrified for her life.
There was a beat of silence until a strange warbling echoed from the phone.
"What is it?" Mickey asked.
"The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal." The Doctor said, his voice hard. "Now, hush, let me work out what it saying."
Sophie heard her aunt mutter something indistinguishable but was cut off by Mickey. Sophie shook her head and glanced over at Bobbi and Hunter. Both looked deadly serious, per usual.
"Some sort of message," The Doctor murmured. His eyes shot to Sophie. So serious, his companion looked and she looked like an absolute disaster. Her hair was in disarray, her eyes seemed to be glowing with some ethereal golden light. She seemed to be avoiding eye contact with the two agents like she'd rather not even be in the same distance as they.
"What's it saying, Spaceman?" Sophie asked.
"I don't know," The Doctor replied, although his concern for this alien attack was big..he was more concerned for the girl he had grown to care for quite a bit. "It's on a loop, keeps repeating."
"Trying to send for backup, maybe?" Hunter asked. A loud buzz echoed through the room as he spoke.
"Hush," The Doctor snapped.
"That's not me," Mickey grumbled, "Go and see who that is," He said to Jackie.
"It's three o'clock in the morning," Jackie said, her voice filled with confusion.
"Well, go and tell them that!" Mickey snapped, his voice irritated. The doorbells kept buzzing and Sophie watched the Doctor grow more and more irritable.
"Can you just shut the fucking doorbell off?" Sophie finally snapped, "Jesus Christ!"
"It's beaming out to space...Who's it for?" The Doctor snapped his eyes to Sophie, as if she could answer.
Hunter coughed, "Calling for backup?"
As the doorbell kept buzzing, Sophie felt her anxiety rise more and more. The chair was suffering under the weight of her heated hands, cushion and wood melting underneath them.
"Soph?" Bobbie whispered softly.
"Don't call me that, Morse." Sophie cut her off and released her hands. The doorbell finally stopped ringing and as Sophie relished in the relief, she heard muffled cry and words from her aunt.
"They've found us." Mickey said finally as Jackie continued to scream. Sophie felt her heart pounding in her chest. Boom, boom, boom.
"Mickey, I need that signal." The Doctor said urgently.
"Never mind that," Rose cried, "Get out! Mum, just get out! Get out!"
"We can't," Mickey said, "It's by the front door."There was a beat of silence. "Oh my god...it's unmasking. It's gonna kill us." The fear in Mickey's voice chilled Sophie to the bone. Her family (and Mickey) was gonna die.
"There's got to be some way of stopping them!" Harriet shouted, waving her arms around. "You're supposed to be the expert! Think of something."
"I'm trying!" The Doctor said. The Doctor moved around the table and Sophie could tell he was getting tenser and tenser by the second.
"I'll take it on, Jackie. You just run." Mickey said. "You just run." Clattering and thudding came from the phone.
"That's my mother." Rose pleaded to the Doctor. Her eyes were watery and they were angry too.
"Right, if we're gonna find they're weakness...we need to find out where they're from, which planet!" The Doctor moved around the table, past Bobbi and Hunter, past Rose and stopped next to Sophie. His hand slipped into hers, the perfect fit, and squeezed as if to say he'd make everything better. The heated pulsing vibrating throughout her body seemed to still as he did so and her body temperature slowly began to cool down.
"Judging by their basic shape, that narrows it own to five thousand planets within travelling distance." The Doctor stated, releasing Sophie's hand and moving to the head of the table. "What else do we know from them? Information!"
"They're green!" Rose yelled.
"That narrows it down." The Doctor muttered. Rose huffed in reply.
"Good sense of smell?" Hunter offered.
"Narrows it down." The Doctor said.
"They can smell adrenaline!" Bobbi said.
"The pig technology!" Harriet gasped.
"Narrows it down." His eyes turned to Sophie. "Got anything?"
"Slipstream engine." Sophie said. "That what you said about their ship. It has a slipstream engine."
"That definitely narrows it down, beautiful!" The Doctor said.
Over the phone, they heard angry screeches from the alien and cries from Jackie. "It's getting in," Mickey yelled.
"They hunt like it's a ritual." Bobbi said.
"Narrows it down." The Doctor replied.
"Wait," Harriet said, "did you notice when they fart, pardon the word, it doesn't just smell like a fart, if you'll pardon the word. It's something else. What is it? It's more like...um..."
"Bad breath." Sophie said, pointing at Harriet.
"That's it!" Harriet shouted.
"Calcium decay!" The Doctor let out a laugh, "Now that narrows it down."
"We're getting there, Aunt Jackie!" Sophie shouted. "Hang on."
"Too late, " Mickey cried as a loud, monstrous roar boomed. There were sounds of wood crackling and little sniffles she knew came from her aunt. Was that how her aunt would die? By an alien?
"Calcium phosphate. Organic calcium. Living calcium. Creatures made out of living calcium. What else? What else?" Sophie followed him across the room. He kept moving, moving, moving as he spoke and he spoke quick. "Hyphenated surname...YES! That narrows it down to one planet! Raxacoricofallapatorius!"
"That's a fucking mouthful." Sophie said.
"Yeah a bit, yeah." The Doctor laughed. He walked towards her now and in one swift motion, he grabbed her hand and twirled her in a circle just as Mickey spoke angrily.
"Oh yeah, great, we can write 'em a letter." Mickey snarked loudly.
"Get into the kitchen," The Doctor into the phone.
"Oh my god, it's gonna rip us apart!" Jackie cried out, followed by loud growls and roars.
"Calcium weakened by the compression field. Acetic acid. Vinegar!" The Doctor yelled.
"Just like Hannibal!" Harriet said.
"Just like Hannibal!" The Doctor confirmed. "Mickey, do you have any vinegar?"
"How should I know?" Mickey asked.
"It's your kitchen!" The Doctor sighed. Sophie thought she saw his eye twitch for just a second.
"Cupboard by the sink. Middle shelf." Rose said.
"How do you know that?" Mickey asked in confusion.
"Because I know YOU." Rose replied, the tiny bits of sadness in her voice.
"Oh, come on, give it here. What do you need?" Jackie's voice suddenly flooded the room.
"Anything with vinegar." The Doctor replied.
"Gherkins!" Jackie said. "Yeah, pickled onions! Pickled eggs!"
"And you want to kiss this man?" The Doctor scoffed, looking at Rose with disappointment.
"Oh, shove it, you git!" Rose snarled.
There was a sudden loud screech, loud and angry and violent. A bit of pure silence then the sound of like a balloon popping. An exhale of relief exited Sophie's mouth and she leaned against the table. Rose let out a cry of relief, a little sob coming out.
"Hannibal?" Rose asked after a few short seconds.
"Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar." Harriet sighed loudly.
"Oh." Rose laughed. All of them picked up a small glass of wine and raised it. "There you go then." Sophie tipped it down quick, finishing it off in one gulp. After the stress she had all day, she needed it.
"Listen to this," Mickey suddenly said, and there was quiet until the lead alien's voice echoed throughout the room. "Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads. And they have found massive weapons of destruction capable of being deployed within forty five seconds."
"What's going on, spaceman?" Sophie asked.
"I haven't a clue."
"Our technicians can baffle the alien probes, but not for long. We are facing extinction unless we strike first!" The alien continued. "The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mothership. I beg of the United Nations. Pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes. A nuclear strike at the heart of the beast is our only chance at survival, because, from this moment on, it is my solemn duty to inform you, planet Earth is at war."
"He's making it up," The Doctor scoffed. "There's no weapons up there. There's no threat. He just invented it."
"Do you think they'll believe him?" Harriet asked.
"Well, he did last time." Sophie snorted.
"That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle. They want the whole world panicking 'cause you lot, you get scared, you lash out." He said in such a disgusted way but lost the cold touch in his eyes at the sight of Sophie's frown.
"They'll release the defense codes," Sophie started. She, along with the other four followed him to the metal door and he began to take out his sonic screwdriver.
"And the Slitheen go nuclear." The Doctor finished.
"But why?" Hunter asked. The Doctor didn't answer as he opened the great metal door and revealed a group of Slitheen waiting for them.
"You get the codes, release the missiles. But not into space, cause there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth, they retaliate, fight back." As he spoke, a Slitheen still in a human suit slipped through the gap and stood in front of the other Slitheen. "World War Three. Whole planet get nuked. "
"And we can sit through it," She giggled, "safe in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed, just parked. Barely two minutes away.."
"But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place, what for?" Harriet said sadly.
"That's what the signal is, beaming into space." The Doctor scoffed.
"An advert." Sophie said disgusted.
"Sale of the century," The Slitheen cackled, "We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chunks capable of powering every cut-price starliner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel."
"At the cost of five billion lives." The Doctor said darkly.
"Hmm." She laughed. "Bargain."
"I give you a choice. Leave this planet, or I'll stop you." The Doctor said. In reply, she started giggling loudly.
"What? You?" She laughed. "Trapped in your box?"
"Yes." The Doctor said, deadly serious. "Me." With that, he pressed the red button and shut the door.