The Singer and the twins led the way down the street. The Doctor was a few steps behind, almost continually checking her sonic, and the humans were behind them.
It may have just been Earth, but it was something outside of the TARDIS.
In the TARDIS farms, the Singer used to live entire years never seeing the sun, but this regeneration was much less willing to hide away inside a TARDIS.
The street was relatively populated, seeming some point early in the day.
"Real-life 1950s," Yasmin said, looking around them. "Time travel's awesome."
A couple passed them, though the woman dropped her glove, walking on since she hadn't noticed. Ryan grabbed it and jogged after her. "Excuse me. Excuse me. You dropped this." He held out the glove, but the man slapped Ryan. "Hey!"
"Get your filthy black hands off my wife."
The Doctor rushed to her companion's side. "Whoa. Stop."
"Sir, please take a step back," Yasmin held out a hand to the couple. "You okay, Ryan?"
"I was just trying to give her back her glove." He threw the glove back on the ground.
The man looked at Graham. "Is this your boy?"
Graham pushed out his chest. "He's my grandson, actually."
"Your what?"
"My grandson."
The man looked between the entire group. "You ain't from around here."
The Doctor nodded. "We don't want any trouble."
"I don't know how it goes where you folks are from, but your boy, he'll be swinging from a tree with a noose for a neckerchief if he touches a white woman in Montgomery."
"What did you just say?"
"There is a problem here, Mr. Steele?" a new woman said, rushing up to them. She turned to Ryan, holding out a hand to him. "Step away now. Go ahead, step away."
Steele nodded to the group. "These friends of yours?"
"No, sir. Just on my lunch break, wondering if I can help out with any misunderstanding." The new woman smiled at Steele. "Oh, I believe your suit will be ready tomorrow. The alterations going to make it look just right, sir."
Steele grabbed his wife's arm. "Let's go, Lizzie." They rushed away.
The new woman spun to the group. "Are you crazy?"
"He slapped me."
The woman frowned. "Don't you read the newspapers? You know what they did to young Emmett Till."
"We're from out of town," Rikou said.
"So was Emmett Till, on vacation from the north. Couple of words to a white woman in Mississippi and the next thing, they find his body in the river. You want that to be you?"
"No."
The woman raised her eyebrows. "Did your mother raise you with no manners? I will take a 'no, ma'am'."
"No, ma'am," Ryan repeated.
"You all together?"
The Doctor nodded. "Yes. We're very grateful, Miss..."
"Mrs. Parks, Rosa Parks."
All of the humans and the Doctor's mouths dropped open. It took the Singer a moment longer before she placed the name. When she looked to the twins, they were frowning, even as they recognized the famous Earth figure.
"Brilliant," the Doctor almost laughed. "Rosa Parks. Lovely to meet you, Rosa Parks. Big fan."
Rosa blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Big fan...of Montgomery," the Doctor said, attempting to catch herself. "I am...we are just visiting. Recommend anything for tourists like us?"
"I recommend you get yourselves the hell out of Alabama before you find yourselves in trouble you can't get out of." Rosa gave them a nod before walking away. The Doctor scanned her as she left.
"Oh my God," Yasmin laughed, "can you believe it? Actual Rosa Parks."
The Doctor nodded. "Amazing. Also a problem." She held up her sonic. "Registering traces of artron energy all around her. Why is that?"
-X-
They went to a bar to attempt and discuss the situation but were quickly sent out by the place refusing to serve Ryan or Yasmin. The twins watched the exchange with raised eyebrows. Even with their sunglasses, there was a glimmer in their eyes that the Singer recognized as them communicating over their mental bond.
The group emerged onto the street, the Doctor turning to face the humans. "Okay, listen. We," she gestured at her sister, niece, and nephew, "can deal with this. You guys go back to the TARDIS and be safe."
"While you do what?" Yasmin asked.
"Locate the source of these energy anomalies. We're one day out of a tipping point in Earth history. I don't want anything disrupting that. It's easier for the four of us here. It's more dangerous for you. You can walk away from this."
Ryan and Yasmin did not need to look at each other. "Rosa Parks can't."
"Rosa Parks doesn't."
Ryan nodded. "If she can live her whole life, a couple of hours ain't going to kill me." He paused, reconsidering his words. "It ain't going to kill me, right?"
"No," Nella said, something tinting her words that reminded the Singer of her prophetic abilities. "So long as we stay together."
"I'm cool with it. What do you reckon, Mexican lady?"
Yasmin raised her eyebrows. "Oi. Keep that up, I'll use you as a piñata."
The Doctor took out her sonic again, scanning their surroundings. Rikou went to her shoulder to look over, making the Singer wonder if he had any interest in having a sonic of his own. Or perhaps a laser, given his father's preference. Perhaps even inside of an umbrella, like Missy's - a thought that made the Singer have to take a breath to keep calm. "Epicentre of the artron readings is 1.2 miles that way. Come on."
The Doctor hurried off, the twins and the Singer a step behind. It didn't take that long for them to reach a bus works center. There were workers around them, but if people were staring at the group, they did not intercept them.
"This is where the artron signals converge. At the bus company."
Yasmin shrugged. "All roads lead to Rosa Parks."
"Yeah. Bit of a worry. Let's have a look around."
Graham looked around as they walked. "I'm not sure about this."
Rikou turned in a circle as he walked before guiding the group to a large shed, locked with quite a few padlocks. The Doctor got it open with her sonic.
Inside, it was almost completely empty, save for a few scattered pieces of furniture.
"There's nothing in here."
Rikou raised his eyebrows. "No reason to padlock an empty room..."
"Unless it's not empty," the Doctor finished. In the next step, a suitcase appeared in front of them.
"That wasn't there a second ago," Graham said.
"No kidding."
"It was there," the Doctor said, lowering her sonic. "We just couldn't see it. Perception filter."
They walked up to the suitcase. "Why would anybody do that to a suitcase?" Yasmin asked.
The twins crouched on either side of the suitcase.
"Can we open it?" Ryan asked.
"Is the right question." The Doctor grinned. "Is anyone excited? Cos I'm really excited." As she spoke, Rikou reached out and touched the suitcase, as though poking it to identify something.
"You won't be if it's a bomb."
The Doctor groaned. "Don't kill the vibe, Graham."
"Not a bomb," Rikou reported, just as Nella opened it. They worked seamlessly together in a way the Singer had almost tried to stop them from doing as children. The Singer could almost imagine the Master teaching it to them. Training them. Letting them know that they could rely on each other, that they should feed off each other. After all, for most of their lives, even under the Master, they had only had each other.
Inside the suitcase were various different devices. The Singer didn't recognize a single one of them.
"Whoa, not very 50s."
The Doctor nodded. "I knew it. See, now there's a problem. We're not the only ones in Montgomery who don't belong here."
"Any clues what any of that is?"
"Information brick, multi-intercept, and surveillance device," she explained, gesturing at each as she named them. "All a bit knackered, though."
"Well, why has it been left in here?"
Rikou picked up one of the devices, holding it up to his aunt. "Explains the artron signals."
The Doctor's eyes went wide. "This is very bad news. Secondary charger for a..."
She was interrupted by a bolt shooting past them. In an instant, the twins had jumped up. Nella grabbed the Singer while Rikou pulled out a weapon that the Singer recognized, shooting back at whoever was firing at them.
"Run!" the Doctor cried.
Nella pulled the Singer along, leading the way. They ran from the shed and found some large fuel tanks to duck behind. Rikou darted in behind them. "Don't have that good of aim when the target's moving," he whispered. "He's nearby."
They heard the man climbing on top of one of the tanks. "Stay here," the Doctor told them.
"There's something in his brain," Rikou said, something in his voice reminding the Singer of his empathetic nature. Nella's prophetic had always been more clearly defined, but Rikou's was almost more striking.
The Doctor nodded, took the power cell from Rikou, and climbed up on her own fuel tank. "Oi, Brando, looking for us?" she called. "I'm not armed."
"Is that supposed to make me not shoot you?"
"Ideally."
"Then who was shooting back at me?"
"Nephew is a bit trigger happy," the Doctor shrugged. "So, temporal displacement weapon. Horrible things. Can't stand them."
"Thank you."
The twins exchanged a look at that, which the Singer quickly read as them rather desiring one. She glanced down at the weapons they already held. Vaporizers, that she recognized. Of course the Master had given them weapons, though the Singer was not as upset about that fact as she was fairly certain she was meant to be, as their mother.
"Not a compliment," the Doctor continued. "Takes a lot of power to displace things in Time. I think you and I both know your weapon's pretty much out of juice. And I've got your spare battery." She held it up. "You've been leaving traces of residual artron energy all over 1955."
The Singer quite wished she could see the face of this man. "And what are you, the artron police? Maybe you are. The blue box in the alley. Is it a TARDIS?"
The Singer went still and was only slightly calmed by Nella putting a hand on her arm.
"Might be," the Doctor said, doing quite a good job at pretending to not be concerned. "What's it to you?"
"Well, it could be worth a lot."
"Nah, not that one. Second hand, huge mileage, one careless owner, never brought it in for checks. Mind you, it's better than a Vortex Manipulator, like the one on your wrist." She nodded down to something. "Cheap and nasty time travel." The Singer had to agree with her sister, even if she had used one for a time in order to visit with Missy in the vault. "So, what do you want with Rosa Parks?"
"Who?"
"Oh, now you're being annoying."
"The feeling's mutual."
"How long have you been here?"
Instead of answering, the Singer was fairly certain she could hear the man's sneer. "Get out of Montgomery."
"You're not the first to say that to us."
"If I see any of you again, I will kill you."
"Don't threaten me."
There was some exchange between the two that the group on the ground couldn't see, but soon the Doctor was climbing back down. She caught the Singer's eyes as she reached them, though did not reopen the mental bond that still hovered at the edge of the Singer's focus.
"Chop, chop, on your way now," the man, who appeared human now that the Singer could properly see him, called after the Doctor. Instead of listening, she turned and strode close, sonicing his weapon in silence. "What are you doing?"
She turned away. "Come on, gang."
They rushed up to the Doctor's side. "Are we actually leaving?" Yasmin asked.
"Not in a million years."
The twins had an interesting expression when the Singer looked to the twins. There was a distinct glee. The Singer quite wondered how long it had been since they'd had an adventure, as she was certain they'd been raised adventuring throughout the universe with the Master.
A distinctly different upbringing than what the Singer would have ever hoped for them, and one that she was very desperate to learn about.
Later. They had to finish this adventure first.
A/N: The adventure has begun! Will be interesting to see how the Singer will react to some of the twins' solutions...
Notes on reviews:
Purplestan: Legit, the only time the two enjoyed each other's presence for extended periods of time was when they were quite young, and even then they were both so busy with their own lives that it was never just the two of them together. The Singer may not be so disapproving as you might think...definitely a complicated situation for the Singer in these constant reminders of the Master/Missy.
Guest: We will eventually learn where the Singer was during that time...
Belle: Glad you enjoyed it :)