Anti-Rose.

Chapter One.

Rose went back over to the Doctor. A large purpling lump on the side of his head bore mute testimony that this was one time that the Doctor's phenomenal balance had not saved him. She shook his shoulder, and called his name, but all to no avail. He was not going to wake, and the size of the lump on his head worried Rose. She didn't know anything about Gallifreyan physiology beyond the fact that he had two hearts, but if it was anything like humans, a head injury like that could prove fatal.

Then Rose felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She was home. She could get Mickey to help get the Doctor up to her Mum's and her Mum would probably be able to help look after him. If need be, she could get Mickey to enter that UNIT website again, and maybe let the Doctor's UNIT friends know he needed help. They seemed to know he wasn't human. At the very least, he could rest in her Mum's flat while Rose raided the TARDIS library for information on Gallifreyan physiology.

Rose has found the library a few weeks back, and the TARDIS telepathic translation field seemed to work for the written as well as the spoken word. She was able to read and understand any of the books in the library. Well, almost any: there were a few dusty and old looking books that she could make little out of beside the illustrations, most of which were so nasty that Rose shut the book after seeing just one or two of them. She suspected that it was no fault or mistake that they weren't translated. The TARDIS just didn't want her to read them, which suggested they were evil, dangerous or both.

She first went to see if the Doctor's condition was any different, but it was not. She checked that the key the Doctor had given her was in her pocket, and went out of the TARDIS, carefully locking the doors behind her; she didn't want just anybody walking in. The estate seemed deserted. Rose set off across the tarmac towards the flat she shared with her mother.

It was when she was halfway there that she noticed a figure duck into a narrow side street. Frowning, she changed course, trying to find out who it was. Maybe it was Mickey, mucking about as usual, planning to jump out and scare her. She was also aware it could be someone more dangerous. She cautiously approached, ready to flee back to the safety of the TARDIS if the person was big, mean or there was more than one person in the above categories. Ducking around the corner, she found the person. She came face-to-face with a girl who could have been her sister.

Her hair was jaw-length and black, and she wore a jacket that had similar colours and was identical in design to the one Rose was herself wearing, but with the colours reversed. The face gave Rose the disconcerting sense of looking in a mirror. The face shape and the features were uncannily similar to Rose's. Rose blinked. She would have remembered seeing someone like this before. Maybe she'd recently moved on.

"Why are you hiding?" she asked. "I'm not dangerous."

'I was wondering just who you are and what you're doing here." the girl replied. Her face was hostile. 'I've not seen you around before."

"Actually, I was wondering the same thing about you." Rose responded. The girl's manner, distinctly unfriendly, was getting on Rose's nerves. "I live here." Look, I've got to go, we can sort this out later, the Doctor's hurt and I need to get him as much help as I can give."

'So, you're travelling with him willingly? And he's hurt." the girl said, almost to herself. She turned, as if to go, then swung back, dealing Rose a vicious blow to the head with the clenched fist Rose hadn't noticed. The blow achieved it's objective: Rose dropped to the floor, unconscious.

The girl moved Rose to one side, where she would not been seen unless someone was searching for her, or had watched the incident occur. Then she moved back down the alley, looking thoughtful. She was unaware that somebody had been watching, and had witnessed the whole thing.

Once the girl had moved away, the watching figure moved over to where Rose lay. He looked at her with interest for a few seconds, then crouched to check her. Rose moaned and shifted, in the first stages of coming around from the blow. The figure frowned, took out a blue and silver tube, and adjusted it. A three-second blast from the sonic screwdriver aborted Rose's revival, and she stilled again. He put it back, then reached out leather-clad arms to lift her. He picked her up with little effort, checked to see there was nobody to observe his actions, and turned to leave. He stopped, noticing a CCTV camera on a shop front pointing towards him. Letting Rose's legs go, he took out the sonic screwdriver, and made an adjustment, then zapped the camera with it. It whined and died.

Scooping Rose's legs back up, he walked away without a backward glance.