Chapter Twenty-Two: TV's will still your soul
The Doctor and I spent the day in the dinosaur room. They were all unexpectedly friendly because the Doctor could talk to them. Apparently, they had all adopted the Doctor as their own. Each of the different species had different stories as to how they ended up under the Doctor's care, and the majority of the dinosaurs he currently had were actually descendants of the originals – the Doctor was quite literally older than a dinosaur. Something that I had a great laugh over, much to the Doctor's embarrassment.
Once we had seen all of the dinosaurs we headed to the medical room, where the Doctor confirmed that my telepathy, and brain structure matched a Time Lady who had lived more than 500 hundred years. A frustrating development since that meant I was biologically even less human than before. And when the Doctor run a species test, it confirmed that I was coming up with half human, half Time Lady. They weren't sure how that was going to affect me, but they both knew that they would deal with any fall out – together.
Having spent so long in the TARDIS, and being fully rested, they decided to pick Rose up and distract her. With something safe, like New York in the 60s to go and see Elvis. An old music favourite that the Doctor wanted to meet and Rose liked as well.
"So, do I get to dress up?" Rose asked excitedly when they told her where they were heading. She didn't often get to dress up appropriately for the era they landed in – mostly because they rarely ended up with forewarning about the time period (or planet) of landing.
"Sure, go look through the wardrobe, there will be something in there." The Doctor waved them off.
"You going to change as well?" I asked the Doctor as Rose disappeared with an excited squeal.
"Oh, I'll think of something." The Doctor said with a smile.
"Changing your shirt doesn't count." I warned him before heading to my room since the TARDIS would give me a selection of things to wear. This also meant that whatever I ended up wearing would be time period appropriate, stylish and comfortable.
Opening the wardrobe, I raised an eyebrow; the fashion would fit in to the 1950's but this wasn't the roc/mod style that would fit in at an Elvis concert. Instead, it was more conservative classic women. The dresses were all of the same design and cut, but with different colours and patterns.
All of the dresses came to around mid-calf, and they had the iconic collar, and synched in waist with belt. The skirt of the dress went down from the hips instead of flaring out like the rock and mod dresses. The synched waist, belt and lightly padded shoulders gave enough of a shape to the dress that it just isn't needed. After a little bit of perusal of my choices, I settled on the dark emerald green dress.
With the dress chosen I had to do something with my hair since a pony tail isn't something the ladies of the 50's settled with. Nor did they normally have hair as long as mine. But there were several designs for women with long hair, which I could adapt to my hair which fell much lower than my shoulder blades (the normal length for a woman with 'long' hair the 1950s).
I settled on a double French twist. I styled the front of my hair by pulling the fringe up into a wave which was curled to the right. I then split my hair at the back into two, which was twisted on each side inwards making a roll that covered the back of my head and met in the middle. Since I didn't like makeup, I threw that part of 1950s fashion to the side, and settled on light massacre and a mat red lipstick.
Finally, ready to face the 1950s I left my room and headed to the console room where I found Rose. She was in bright pink high heels (as opposed to the flat, black slip-on shoes I had settled for) and a layered tulle skirt with a blue demine jacket. Very Rose, and very mod chick gear. Her hair was pulled back into a bun at the back of her head, with a pink head band and two strands framing her face.
"Where's the Doctor?" I asked when I didn't see him in the console room.
"Outside, waiting for us." Rose explained. "Um, I thought we were going to see Elvis? You look like you're going to a tea party."
"That's more your style, this suits me better." I shrugged before offering Rose a hand. "Come on, let's journey to the 50s."
"I thought we were going for the Vegas era, you know the white flares and the… grr… chest hair." Rose said while stepping out of the TARDIs.
The Doctor was sat on a moped, with a second one next to him. Like I had predicted he hadn't changed his clothes, but he had gone through the effort of putting his hair into a Teddy boy style quiff.
"You are kidding, aren't you? You want to see Elvis, you go for the late fifties. The time before burgers. When they called him the Pelvis and he still had a waist. What's more, you see him in style." The Doctor revved the engine while holding out a pink helmet for Rose to take. "You going my way, doll?" the Doctor put on his best Elvis impersonation.
"Is there any other way to go, daddy-o? Straight from the fridge, man." Rose quoted with a large smile, accepting the helmet.
"Hey, you speak the lingo."
"Mum's a Cliff fan." I explained, taking my own helmet from the handle of the moped the Doctor had brought out for me. "Don't you dare crash that thing Doctor, you're moped driving hasn't been tested in this body." I warned
"Hey, my driving is great." The Doctor pouted offended while Rose got settled behind him. "When was the last time you drove a moped?" he challenged.
"When I was sixteen. They wouldn't let me drive a motorbike till I was eighteen." I shrugged.
"Wait, you have a motorbike license?" Rose asked shocked.
"Yes. I'm licenced to drive pretty much anything." I answered with a mysterious smile. Since I had always gotten public transport everywhere Rose hadn't been aware of the fact that I had managed to get my driving licence. If Rose had ever expressed an interest in learning to drive, I would have offered to teach her, but she never saw the need since she worked in a shop which was along a bus route. Perhaps, when she finally stopped travelling with the Doctor she would be up to learning how to drive since her job opportunities would be far broader.
"Come on, we've got a date with Elvis." The Doctor kick the stand up and set off. I rolled my eyes and followed at his side. We weren't going that fast so they could still talk with each other without shouting.
"Where we off to?" Rose asked excitedly.
"Ed Sullivan TV studios. Elvis did Hound Dog on one of the shows. There were loads of complaints. Bit of luck, we'll just catch it." The Doctor answered, smiling happily.
"That'll be TV studios in, what, New York?" Rose asked, just as excitedly.
"That's the one." The Doctor answered as they came to a stop at a junction. As always, the Doctor's iconic timing was in effect because it was at that moment a red, London, bus drove past. The London bus encouraged them all to look around properly and see the British flags that were hanging out windows of various houses and between the telephone and light poles.
"Ha!" Rose laughed, clearly amused at the wrong location – again. "Digging that New York vibe."
"Well, this could still be New York." The Doctor began in the most unconvincing manner he could manage. "I mean, this looks very New York to me. Sort of Londony New York, mind." The Doctor gave up.
"What are all the flags for?" Rose asked curiously.
"A celebration of some kind." I answered. "We only get this patriotic for sports and royal celebrations."
"Cynical."
They drove slowly through the streets until they came to a quite road with a delivery van. In the back of the van was TV sets, with the owner speaking with a man who was clearly a customer.
"There you go, sir, all wired up for the great occasion." The seller was saying.
"The great occasion? What do you mean?" The Doctor asked curiously approaching the man as the one who had brought the TV went back into their home.
"Where've you been living, out in the Colonies? The Coronation, of course." The man smiled at them, shooting the Doctor a weird look for his question and Rose another look for her dress.
"What coronation's that then?" The Doctor asked oblivious.
"Seriously, you've never that far off. Queen Elizabeth." I sighed, grabbing the Doctor's arm and leaning slightly onto his arm – perhaps I should have gone with the heels, but I really need a three inch heal to reach the Doctor's shoulder.
"Oh!" The Doctor looked to me wide eyed as he realised what I meant. His dates were never that far off and he had been aiming for the late 1950s. "Is this 1953?"
"Last time I looked." The man – likely called Magpie, based off the name on the side of his van. "Time for a lovely bit of pomp and circumstance, what we do best."
"Look at all the TV aerials. Looks like everyone's got one. That's weird. My nan said tellies were so rare they all had to pile into one house." Rose tried to talk quietly but was overheard by Magpie.
"Not around here, love. Magpie's Marvellous Tellies, only five quid a pop." Magpie said, promoting his TV's.
"Oh, but this is a brilliant year." The Doctor began wondering away from them while looking around in circles. "Classic! Technicolour, Everest climbed, everything off the ration. The nation throwing off the shadows of war and looking forward to a happier, brighter future." The Doctor took on a posh British accent as he quoted something from one of the Royal speeches.
Suddenly one of the houses front doors slammed open and two burly men in black suits came out, dragging another man with a blanket over his head.
"Someone help me, please! Ted!" a woman shouted, following the men from the house and trying to get to the man. "Leave him alone! He's my husband! Please!"
"What's going on?" the Doctor shouted, running to try and help as a boy ran out of his home, clearly also looking to help.
"Oi, what are you doing?" the boy shouted.
"Police business. Now, get out of the way, sir." A third man who had been by the car moved the Doctor out of the way and forced the hooded man into the car.
"Who did they take? Do you know him" Rose asked the kid who had come out of the house, clearly worried after the man.
"Must be Mister Gallagher." The boy answered as the car drove away. "It's happening all over the place. They're turning into monsters."
"Tommy!" An angry man emerged from the house that the boy had left from. "Not one word! Get inside now!"
"Sorry!" Tommy bowed his head, "I'd better do as he says."
"Come on." The Doctor jumped on the moped, with Rose following
"You go, I'll stay with Mrs Gallagher. Keep in contact with me." I ordered the Doctor.
"Will do." The Doctor promised before shooting off on the moped.
"Mrs Gallagher, come on. Let's get you inside." I looped my arms around the distraught women and helped her into her house. Once she was seated, I made a cup of tea and handed it to her in the hopes of calming her down.
"Can you tell me what happened?" I asked softly.
"They took my husband." She hiccupped. "I don't even know how they figured out… I never told anyone."
"Told anyone what?" I asked encouragingly.
"That he's… my god… that he's… a… monster." Mrs Gallagher finally managed to get out.
"What do you mean, he's a monster?" I asked softly, trying to coax the answer out of her.
"His face is gone." As Mrs Gallagher completely brock down I pulled her into a hug, trying to comfort her.
I wouldn't get any more information from her until she had calmed down. But face's being missing, that definitely indicated alien intervention. Or at least technological intervention that shouldn't be possible in this time period.
Mrs Gallagher was just starting to calm down when my phone rang. I excused myself and moved to the hallway so I wouldn't be overheard.
"Doctor?" I greeted.
"We followed the car to a dead end. Where are you?" The Doctor asked.
"I'm with Mrs Gallagher, where you heading?" I asked seriously.
"The kid's house. Rose thinks he might know something." The Doctor explained.
"Alright, keep me updated. Mrs Gallagher knows something. People are losing their faces, Doctor." I told him quietly.
"Their faces?" The Doctor repeated.
"Yeah, that's what she said. Be careful, and safe." I told him before hanging up.
I made Mrs Galligher another cup of tea before sitting next to her. "You feel up to continuing?" I asked her gentle,
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I never asked, who are you?" Mrs Galligher accepted the cup of tea.
"I'm Agent Tylor," I introduced pulling out the psychic paper that the Doctor had given to me after I asked for it. I had a couple of other ID cards I could pull, but the psychic paper was better for civilians. "Now, have they taken any other people?"
"Five that I know off. But I've heard rumours that there were others." Mrs Galligher admitted, whipping at her stray tears as she tried pulling herself back together in order to hold onto her British composure.
"Where they all from this neighbourhood?" I asked softly.
"This street. Mrs Francis from number six, Mr and Mrs Trevor's from number eleven, Mr Davis and… and…" Mrs Galligher stumbled near tears again.
"And your husband." I said gentle. "Where was your husband when you found him?"
"He was in here. He was just watching the TV. I've not been able to turn it on since." Mrs Galliger waved at the arm chair she had avoided sitting in.
"When was this?" I asked.
"Three days ago. We got the TV the day before that." Mrs Galligher
"Would you mind if I took a look?" I asked seriously.
"Sure. But it's just a TV." Mrs Galliger frowned.
Before I could check the TV set, shouting was heard from the house next door.
"Stay here." I ordered Mrs Galliger before running from the house. I was in time to see a black car go speeding off down the road. The Doctor was just leaving the house next door to give chase.
"What happened?" I asked, jumping on to my own scooter.
"They've taken Tommy's grandmother" the Doctor answered. "Rose, we're going to lose them again!"
"Rose, phone us. We'll be back." I shouted, kicking off with a look to the Doctor who did the same.
They followed the black car through the streets, with the Doctor taking the lead since he had already done this chase once that day. In the time that I had been talking with Mrs Galliger the sun had set which means they were chasing the car in darkness.
The chase came to an end in time to see two people move a cart in the way of two wooden doors. Clever, it makes it seem like they had simple lost the car since this was a dead end – yet that wasn't true.
"Oh, very good. Very good." The Doctor complimented.
"Shall we see if there's a back entrance?" I asked the Doctor with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." The Doctor agreed, turning his moped around. They went around the corner to ditch the mopeds out of sight before going to investigate the yard that the people had been taken into.
Although the front entrance had a wooden door and guards, there was a back entrance which had a smaller gate. The Doctor used his screwdriver to open that door. They were just in time to see two burly men padlock a wire door and walk off.
"Looks like a holding area to me." I whispered softly to the Doctor.
"Let's go and find out."
Inside the wired fence area was a large cage with people hidden within. The area was so dark that they couldn't make out any features. The Doctor pulled his torch out of his pocket and opened the cage. They walked among the people, all of whom had no face. The only sign of life from them was the opening and closing of their fists.
"Oh my god. What could possible do this?" I asked horrified. It was one thing to hear about something stealing people's faces, completely different to actually see and feel it. At first glance they felt completely normal, but there was something missing. "They feel, incomplete."
"Do you think you could find the other part of them?" the Doctor asked, examining the faces of the people.
"If I was stood in the building maybe. Or if they're all in the same place." I answered thoughtfully moments before flood lights turned on behind them.
"Stay where you are." A voice shouted at them.
"We're in a cage." I called back, the sassing being automatic in response to such an order given the situation.
"We can't exactly go very far." The Doctor agreed.
"Enough with the wise act, keep your hands where I can see them and step slowly out of the cage." The voice shouted.
They did as ordered and were then escorted to what was clearly a functioning office in an abandoned building. An odd juxtaposition, especially when the people they were being escorted by were the police. Clearly, they did not want their location known or knowledge getting out about these people. Retrospectively, that's probably a good thing since the general population would panic.
The Doctor took a seat in a chair opposite the detective's desk while I stood at his shoulder.
"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know." The Detective demanded to know, leaning over the desk. Clearly trying to intimidate them for information.
"Well…," the Doctor drew out the word before sprouting a random fact. "…for starters, I know you can't wrap your hand around your elbow and make your fingers meet."
"Don't get clever with me." the detective snipped while the burly guard stood on my right attempted to see if it was possible. "You were there today at Florizel Street, and now breaking into this establishment. Now you're connected with this. Make no mistake."
"You'll find, Detective Inspector Bishop..." I began but was interrupted.
"How do you know my name?" he demanded angrily.
"It's written in your collar. Bless your mum." The Doctor explained with a smile.
"That we're investigating the people who have had their faces taken from them and then been kidnapped." I pulled out my ID card to show the Detective. It was the one which identified me as working for MI9. "Now we know that it's the police which are taking the people. We just need to know who is taking the face of these people."
"And I can't help thinking, Detective Inspector, you're not exactly doing much detective inspecting, are you?" The Doctor tagged on once I had gotten the man to back down and establish a cover identity.
"I'm doing everything in my power." Detective Bishop affronted.
"All you're doing is grabbing those faceless people and hiding them as fast as you can; don't tell me orders from above, hmm?" the Doctor asked, making it clear he didn't blame the Detective. "Coronation Day. The eyes of the world are on London Town so any sort of problem just gets swept out of sight."
"The nation has an image to maintain."
"But doesn't it drive you mad, doing nothing? Don't you want to get out there and investigate?" the Doctor asked, clearly leading Bishop down the path he wanted.
"Of course, I do. But, with all the crowds expected, we haven't got the man power. Even if we did, this is beyond anything we've ever seen. I just don't know anymore. Twenty years on the force, I don't even know where to start. We haven't the faintest clue what's going on." Bishop sunk into his chair in despair.
"Well, that could change." The Doctor pointed out.
"How?" Bishop asked confused, he haven't clocked in to what she and the Doctor had been hinting at.
"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know." The Doctor stood and leaned on the desk in the same way Bishop had done.
Bishop let out a sigh before he started talking. "We started finding them about a month ago. Persons left sans visage. Heads just blank."
"Is there any sort of pattern?" the Doctor asked with a frown.
Bishop pulled a cover of a note board that had been stood in the room revealing a map of London with pins on. The Doctor put his glasses on as he studied the map. He didn't actually need the glasses, but he used them when he was examining or studying something. 'Brainy spec's' I had taken to calling them when I saw the Doctor pulling them out.
"Yes, spreading out from north London. All over the city. Men, women, kids, grannies. The only lead is there's been quite a large number in..."
"Florizel street." the Doctor cut in.
"Found another one, sir." A police officer knocked on the door.
"Oh, er, good man, Crabtree." Bishop said, moving back to his desk as they all turned to the door. "Here we are, Doctor. Take a good look. See what you can deduce."
Crabtree and his partner led in a young woman who I could identify even before the blanket was pulled off. I grabbed the Doctor's hand and squeezed it. They had left Rose behind and now she had been attacked and her face stolen.
"Rose." The Doctor whispered her name, somewhere between angry and devastated.
"You know her?" Bishop asked surprised.
"She's my sister." I answered, reaching out to touch Rose's cheek. I could still feel her, she was alive, but it was like Rose's mind was somewhere else. This was just Rose's body, none of her intelligence or emotions was here.
"They found her in the street, apparently, over by Alexandra Square, abandoned." Crabtree began giving them information nervously, clearly sensing the emotional storm brewing.
"That's unusual. That's the first one out in the open. Heaven help us if something happens in public tomorrow for the big day. We'll have torchwood on our backs then, make no mistake."
I stopped paying attention to what Bishop was saying, focusing instead on the Doctor. I could feel his anger brewing. The Doctor had lived for so long, and he had loved and lost so many. That when his companions, his friends, were put in danger the anger burned hot. His previous body had a cold anger, born from constantly holding onto his sorrow and range at the Time War and how it ended. This Doctor, his anger was hot and instant, constantly shimmering on his regret. The problem was that the Doctor's anger in this form created a tunnel vision like effect and he struggled to see past what had angered him and notice the feelings of others and the larger plot that their enemy was brewing. That became her job until she could calm him down again.
"They did what?" the Doctor suddenly asked darkly cutting through anything else Bishop may have wanted to say.
"I'm sorry?" Bishop asked confused, not knowing what the Doctor was asking.
"They left her where?" the Doctor clarified his question.
"Just in the street." Bishop answered, taking a warry half step back when the Doctor turned round and he could see the rage on the man's face.
"In the street." the Doctor repeated. "They left her in the street. They took her face and just chucked her out and left her in the street. And as a result, that makes things simple very, very simple. Do you know why?"
"No." Bishop answered looking to me for help but I remained silent. At the minute there was literally nothing I could do to calm the Doctor's rage.
"Because now, Detective Inspector Bishop, there is no power on this Earth that can stop me. Come on!" The Doctor grabbed his coat from the back of the chair he had been sat on early and ran from the warehouse as dawn approached. The detective and I followed him.
"It's quicker if we take the detective's car." I grabbed the Doctor before he could run from the yard. "We're we heading?" I took the driver's seat since I didn't trust the Doctor to drive while in his current state.
"Florizel street, Tommy knew something." The Doctor answered with a frown. "Can't you go any faster?"
"She's already breaking the speed limit." Bishop snapped from the back seat, holding onto the handle like his life depended on it.
"No, this is the streets of London, and this car doesn't have the handling or the horse power to go any faster without crashing. I'm already doing 60." I answered, proving my point by taking a sharp turn without really slowing down which had the car leaning dangerously to one side.
It took nearly ten minutes to make the drive that had previously taken them twenty-five minutes. The Doctor barely waited for the car to come to a stop before he was out and ringing the doorbell of the house he had been in the night before. His hand was tapping impatiently on the brick next to the door although it took less than a minute for Tommy to answer. He slipped out of the house and closed the door behind him.
"Tommy, talk to me. I need to know exactly what happened inside your house." The Doctor said urgently.
Tommy didn't get the chance to answer because his father came out of the door with a frown. "What the blazes do you think you're doing?" he growled at Tommy.
"Mister Connolly," the Doctor began clearly not impressed with the interruption.
"Shut your face, you, whoever you are." Mister Connolly snapped angrily, cutting the Doctor off. "We can handle this ourselves. Listen, you little twerp, you're hardly out of the blooming cradle, so I don't expect you to understand. But I've got a position to maintain. People round here respect me. It matters what people think."
I frowned at Mister Connolly's little tirade. That sounded a lot like how her uncle used to sound. But Tommy didn't look scared of his father despite the way that the older man was leaning over him.
"Is that why you did it, dad?" Tommy asked as though he had been struck with a sudden realisation.
The Doctor clearly look frustrated with the little family squabble but I placed my hand on his arm. "Let Tommy do this." I spoke near silently, only the Doctor able to hear what I was saying. The Doctor shot me a look but he remained silent.
"What do you mean? Did what?" Mr Connolly tried to play the ignorance card, but the shift in his eyes told me that he knew exactly what his son was accusing him of doing.
"You ratted on Gran. How else would the police know where to look, unless some coward told them."
"How dare you!" Mr Connolly drew himself up right, his pride insulted by being called a coward. "Do you think I fought a war just so a mouthy little scum like you could call me a coward?"
"You don't get it, do you? You fought against fascism, remember? People telling you how to live, who you could be friends, who you could fall in love with, who could live and who had to die. Don't you get it? You were fighting so that little twerps like me could do what we want, say what we want. Now you've become just like them. You've been informing on everyone, haven't you? Even Gran. All to protect your precious reputation." Mr Connolly seemed to deflate slightly in the face of his son's disgust and disappointment.
"Eddie is that true?" the quiet, sorrow filled voice, alerted Eddie and Tommy to the fact that Rita Connolly had opened the front door.
"I did it for us, Rita." Eddie tried defending himself, but he only dug a deeper whole for himself. "She was filthy. A filthy, disgusting thing!"
"She's my mother." Rita's simple statement took the wind out of his sales. "All the others you informed on, all the people in our street, our friends."
"I had to. I, I did the right thing."
"The right thing for us or for you, Eddie? You go, Tommy. Go with the Doctor and do some good. Get away from this house, its poison. We had a ruddy monster under this roof, all right, but it weren't my mother!" Rita slammed the door in her husband's face while Tommy stepped away from his father now he had his mother's blessing.
"Tommy?" the Doctor led the young man away from his house and down the street. "Tommy, tell me about that night. The night she changed."
"She was just watching the telly." Tommy answered.
"As was Mr Galliger." I informed the Doctor. "They had just brought a new TV."
"Rose said it." the Doctor exclaimed, spinning around in circles as he stared at the roofs. I followed his gaze to the roofs which had far more TV antennas then they should have done for this Time period. "She guessed it straight away. Of course, she did. All these aerials in one little street. How come?"
"Bloke up the road, mister Magpie, he's selling them cheap."
"Is he now?" Bishop said suspiciously.
"Come on!" the Doctor took off running.
When they got to the shop in question, I stepped in front of the Doctor and turned the handle. It was locked, off course, but I simply used my magic to unlock it.
The Doctor marched in, and when he didn't see Magpie inside he started slamming on the bell and shouting. "SHOP! If you're here, come out and talk to me! Magpie!"
I ignored the Doctor since I could feel the human energy radiating from the shop. The same energy of the people at the station. Closing my eyes, I focusing, looking for Rose. She was there, one signal among the horde. Opening my eyes, I moved to the TV screens that lined the wall.
"Annamae?" the Doctor drew my attention. He was holding a portable TV of some sort.
"They're here. Rose and the others." I crouched in front of one of the blank TV screens and touched it.
The Doctor used his screwdriver and all the screens became active, showing the faces of all the people who had been attacked. Including Rose, who was shouting the Doctor's name which meant that they had some kind of awareness of what was happening.
"We'll get her back." The Doctor promised, crouching at her side and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Magpie came in from the back room, before stopping short when he noticed his guests. The Doctor stood with a frown.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I want my friend restored, and I think that's beyond a little backstreet electrician, so tell me, who's really in charge here?" the Doctor's got in Magpie's face who was unable to say anything in the face of the Doctor's anger.
"Yoo hoo! I think that must be me. Ooh, this one's smart as paint." A voice said from one of the TVs.
"Is she talking to us?" Bishop asked confused.
"I'm sorry, gentlemen, I'm afraid you've brought this on yourselves." Magpie took his glasses of and cleaned them nervously. "May I introduce you to my new friend?"
"Jolly nice to meet you." The women said with a smile.
"Oh my God, it's her, that woman off the telly." Bishop said staring in horror when it became clear that the women was addressing them.
"No, it's just using her image." The Doctor answered, moving forward to examine the image.
"What? What are you?" Tommy asked the image.
"I'm the Wire, and I will gobble you up, pretty boy. Every last morsel. And when I have feasted, I shall regain the corporeal body, which my fellow kind denied me." with the wire's anger the black and white image became coloured.
"Good Lord. Colour television!" I was starting to wonder if Bishop had any kind of imagination or detecting abilities. He was very one track.
"So your own people tried to stop you?" the Doctor frowned at the TV. Dealing with criminals who had escaped from the justice of their people was starting to get slightly frustrating.
"They executed me." the Wire corrected. "But I escaped in this form and fled across the stars."
"And now you're trapped in the television." The Doctor jeered.
"Not for much longer."
"Doctor, is this what got my gran?"
"Yes, Tommy." The Doctor stepped away from the screens for a moment. "It feeds off the electrical activity of the brain, but it gorges itself like a great overfed pig, taking people's faces, their essences."
"And you let her do it, Magpie." Bishop turned angrily turn to the only thing in the shop he understood – the human.
"I had to. She allowed me my face. She's promised to release me at the time of manifestation." Magpie admitted, clearly uncomfortable.
"Manifest, she's going to try and make her own body." I frowned at the wire. "From the energy of others."
"What does that mean?" Tommy asked, half lost about the conversation.
"The appointed time. My crowning glory." The wire cheered.
"Doctor, the coronation!" Bishop said realising what the Wire meant.
"For the first time in history, millions gathered around a television set. But you're not strong enough yet, are you? You can't do it all from here. That's why you need this. You need something more powerful! This will turn a big transmitter into a big receiver." The Doctor held up the portable TV he had found while I had been distracted.
"What a clever thing you are! But why fret about it? Why not just relax? Kick off your shoes and enjoy the Coronation. Believe me, you'll be glued to the screen." The Wire launched red energy at them.
I raised my hand and extended a shield around myself and I was also able to extend it just enough to also protect Tommy who was stood next to me. Unfortunately, since I was shielding from something which drained energy, I couldn't extend the shield to also include the Doctor and Bishop.
"What's happening to them?" Tommy asked in worry.
"She's draining their energy. Tommy, don't move. I can't protect you if you move." I told Tommy, frowning in concentration as I continued pushing energy into the shield. If I didn't keep trying to maintain the shield then the Wire would simple start draining my essence and not my magic.
The Doctor fought through the strain of the drain, to reach into his pocket.
"Hungry! Hungry! The Wire is hungry! Ah, this one is tasty. Oh, I'll have lashing of him!" The Wire sent out another attack to the Doctor. "Delicious!"
The Doctor pulled out the screwdriver.
"Ah! Armed. He's armed and clever. Withdraw! Withdraw!"
The Wire stopped attacking them. Both the Doctor and Bishop fell, while I dropped to my knees, Tommy reaching out to catch me instinctively.
"The box, Magpie. The box!" Magpie took the TV from the Doctor and the wire jumped into it. "Conduct me to my victory, Magpie." The man looked hesitantly at the fallen Doctor before taking off after them.
"No." I growled struggle to my feet. "Tommy, wake the Doctor."
I left the shop in time to see Magpie drive off in his van. Stumbling to the detective's car, I got in and gave pursuit. Driving after being magically drained probably wasn't the best idea, but I pushed the exhaustion to one side and focused on keeping Magpie in my sights.
He headed directly for Alexandra Hill. He was going to connect the Wire to every live feed of the coronation. Thousands drained.
I threw the car in park and got out. Magpie had beaten me because his truck was faster than the detective's car. A ridiculously notion really, but that was the way of the early generation of cars, the police vehicles weren't good enough to catch the bad guys.
Stumbling towards the transmission tower I had to use a wall to keep myself upright which meant that Magpie was able to head into Alexandra palace quite a bit ahead.
"Ma'am you can't go in there." a guard spotted me and headed towards. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." I pulled out my id card which identified me as UNIT. "My friend is on his way. Skinny man, brown coat. Has a young companion. Let him through when he gets here."
"Do you need help? You don't look to be in any state to be investigating." The guard frowned in concern.
"I'll be fine." I waved the guard off before continuing on. I needed to stop Magpie connecting to the mast.
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"Doctor! Doctor, you've got to wake up." Tommy shook the Doctor's arm.
"Tommy." The Doctor shot up. "Where's Annamae?"
"She went after Magpie." Tommy answered.
The Doctor ran out the building to find that Magpie and the detective's car had gone.
"Where'd they go? We don't even know where to start looking. It's too late." Tommy asked looking around in confusion.
"It's never too late." The Doctor ran his hand through his hair. Okay, so Rose had lost her face, Annamae had gone after Magpie despite draining herself to protect Tommy and he had absolutely no idea where Magpie had gone. "As a wise person once said. Kylie, I think. The Wire's got big plans. It'll need. Yes, yes, yes, it's got to harvest half the population. Millions and millions of people and…, where are we?"
"Muswell Hill."
"Muswell Hill. Muswell Hill! Which means Alexandra Palace, biggest TV transmitter in North London. Oh, that's why it chose this place. Tommy?" The Doctor ran back into Magpie's shop.
"What are you going to do?"
"We're going shopping." The Doctor smiled insanely.
He ran through the shop grabbing components for what he needed. The easiest way to stop the Wire is to reverse the transmission process.
"Is this what you want?" Tommy asked folding up a big valve that he had described to him before.
"Perfect." The Doctor added the valve to his pile. "Right, I need one more thing."
He took off running back to the TARDIS so he could grab the VHS and some wires. Once he had that they headed to Alexandra palace, building his little contraption as he went.
"There!" Tommy shouted pointing to Magpie who had already begun to climb the transmission tower.
"Wait, wait, wait!" a guard tried to stop them but the Doctor didn't even pause as he brought his psychic paper.
"Oh! I'm very sorry, sir, you partner is already here. But shouldn't you be at the Coronation?" the guard asked.
"They're saving me a seat." The Doctor answered pleased that Annamae had made it their safe.
"Who did he thing you were?" Tommy asked with a smile.
"King of Belgium, apparently." The Doctor flipped the psychic paper so he could read it.
They entered the control centre and the Doctor got to work. Once he had everything set up, he gave his final instructions to Tommy.
"Keep this switched on. Don't let anyone stop you, Tommy. Everything depends on it. You understand?" the Doctor grabbed the coil of copper wire so he could hook everything up.
The Doctor ran to the transmitter ignoring the guard who shouted after him. He found Annamae collapsed at the bottom.
"Annamae?" he paused.
"Go, I'll be fine." Annamae sighed. "I just, need to rest."
Since there was no visible injury or blood, and he needed to stop the Wire, he decided to continue his mission. He would be able to look after her once he knew that all the humans were safe and the victims had their essence back.
The Doctor reached the top of the transmitter tower as the wire celebrated her apparent victory.
"Oh. Feast. Feasting. The Wire is feasting."
"It's too late! It's too late for all of us!" Magpie shouted to the Doctor clinging tightly to the transmitter.
"I shall consume you, Doctor." the Wire crowed.
"I won't let you do this, Magpie!" The Doctor shouted.
"Help me, Doctor. It burns. It took my face, my soul."
"You cannot stop the Wire. Soon I shall become manifest."
"No more of this. You promised me peace!" Magpie shouted, clearly in pain.
"And peace you shall have." The Wire dropped her smile before sending a shot of electricity at Magpie which turned him to dust.
The Doctor reached out to grab the portable TV but had to withdraw his hand quickly when he was shocked.
"Been burning the candle at both ends? You've overextended yourself, missis. You shouldn't have had a crack at poor old Magpie there." the Doctor grabbed the portable TV again, but this time he was not electrocuted. He turned the TV so he could face the wire. "Rubber soles, swear by them!"
He took the cable that he had looped around his neck and plug it in. When nothing happened, he frowned in concern. That should have started working instantly.
"Oh dear. Has our little plan gone horribly wrong, Doctor?" the Wire mocked.
The red energy began to retreat back to the transmission tower causing the Doctor smile up at the sky.
"No!" The Wire shouted to the sky.
"Its curtain down, I'm afraid, and no epilogue." The Doctor laughed. They had done it.
The Wire screamed, which was abruptly cut off as the screen went blank.
The Doctor climbed back down the transmission tower to find that Annamae had managed to get back to her feet.
"You did it." Annamae smiled proudly.
"You okay?" the Doctor asked with a frown.
"I need some food, and a good sleep. But I'm fine." Annamae waved him away. "It's just a magical drain. Where's Tommy?"
"Control room." the Doctor offered his arm to lean on.
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"I used to be able to work with a magical drain, but this body. Well, I'm just not what I used to be." Annamae sighed. This was something that had been bothering her. She still had her magic, but it wasn't as powerful or as flexible as she had been used to. She had been trying since she joined the Doctor to get the strength and versatility back, but it just wasn't working.
"It could be that a lot of your power has been transferred to your connection with Death and Time." the Doctor pointed out softly. "Maybe, you can never go back to what you used to be."
"I want to test what I can do. Spent some time just focusing on seeing what skills I can regain. I need to know my limits. Because it's dangerous for me to do something like shield from a being who's draining energy, without knowing how much energy I actually have." Annamae sighed.
"We can go to one of the deserted planets. Spend a few months camped out." The Doctor promised.
"I haven't told Rose the truth about me. Nor do I particularly want to tell her I've been reincarnated." I admitted with a sigh. "She's still so innocent."
When they got to the Control Centre it was to find Tommy staring blankly at the TV which was playing the National Anthem and showing the Queen as she road through the streets of London after her coronation.
"What have I missed?" The Doctor asked causing Tommy to snap around and stare at the Doctor in shock.
"Doctor? What happened?"
"Sorted." The Doctor meandered over to the contraption he had made. "Electrical creature, TV technology, clever alien life form. That's me by the way. I turned the receiver back into a transmitter and I trapped the Wire in here." he pressed open and a VCR popped out. "I just invented the home video thirty years early. Betamax." The Doctor spotted the TV. "God save the Queen, eh?"
"Are you in the crowd?" I asked the Doctor.
"Yeah. Best avoid Buckingham Palace." The Doctor smiled sheepishly. "Let's go find Rose."