A/N: minor editing, has been done to this chapter and the following five chapters. 02/04/2021
Chapter One: Annamae
"Good morning," I greeted my sister quietly as I walked by her with a pile of cloths in my arms which were to replace the stock brought the day before. I was meant to be using the trolley but the one for this floor had been stolen by floor three which meant I was having to make multiple trips from the stock room to the floor with different types of women's cloths piled in my arms.
"Morning, Anna." Rose greeted back with her tongue in tooth smile, and started to fold the loose shirts on display. "You didn't come home last night... Sooo how was that date with that Ben fellow?" the look she gave me was very suggestive. If it had been her out on a date and she didn't come home it meant she had gotten lucky (something which was happening a bit more now that her relationship with Mickey was more stable, since she was spending a couple of nights each week over at Mickey's place).
I rolled my eyes as I started to help her sort out the cloths. The customers never put them back in size order and sometimes cloths ended up in the wrong section of the shop which made re-stock a more complicated job then it needed to be because you had to first identify and sort the correct section. It was especially annoying when management decided to move around or rotate the stock in order to keep the 'bestselling' or latest fashion near the front of the store. It wouldn't be a problem if we simple rearrange stock seasonally – being four times a year – but it was often that front displays were change every two or three months.
"It was okay." I answered, not bothering to elaborate any more than that in the hope that someone would come over and distract her. But the hope was in vain, it was too early in the morning for there to be many shoppers in yet and the British preferred to shop in piece – rarely asking for assistance.
"Okay? Just okay? I thought you two looked lovely together. I mean, I was the one who put you two together." Rose asked, her never-ending curiosity shining through as well as the more self-centred personality she had gotten from their mother.
"He was self-absorbed and by the time the night was over he was lucky I didn't put him in the hospital." I decided that the blunt approach was properly the better option to get Rose to stop asking questions. Despite the bluntness, I decided not to mention that he got violent when I told him that it wasn't going to work, especially when he made it clear that he wanted the bragging rights of sleeping with the 'untouchable' as I had been called by many on the estate. Once I'd ditched him, I'd headed to my own flat instead of going home and dealing with Rose's questions.
Rose was always trying to set me up, believing I should get a boyfriend, especially since she started dating Mickey (and if I was being honest, even before then with Jimmy. She thought that my lack of boyfriend had been the reason I tried to get her to break it off between them). But I wasn't interested in starting a relationship with anyone – especially someone under the age of twenty-five or with minimal life experience. To me, they were all children and I didn't want the life of an estate child – for me or for Rose.
The day passed by, helping the customers find what they needed inside the store and returning misplaced cloths to the correct place. The day was just coming to an end and I was about to walk Rose home when the security guard came to me and handed me Wilson's lottery money.
"I'll see you at home." I promised Rose before turning back around and heading to the stairs. I never took the lift unless I had no other choice. Which had, so far, only happened twice in my time at the store because the security key for the stairs wasn't working.
Wilson's office was down in the basement, but when I knocked on his door there was no response. "Wilson?" I called walking further down the corridor to see if he was in the store cupboard. "Wilson, I've got your lottery money." I called.
There was still no answer.
A noise from further down the corridor caught my attention and despite all my instincts screaming at me to turn and run I entered a room that stored the shop dummies. An old saying came to my mind as I walked in: "Curiosity killed the cat".
Andromeda used to tease me whenever I would tell my more light-hearted tales to Teddy. I had always leaned towards Teddy, with a little conspiring smile and replied with: "Satisfaction brought it back." It had become almost common-place to be said at least once during a visit.
A noise behind me caught my attention and I turned in time to see one of the dummies step off its podium and the others following close behind. Backing up I kept my eyes locked on them. Of all the things to come across in a store basement, living dummies was not one of the top one hundred on my list.
Finally, I was trapped, backed against the wall. I dropped the Lottery money and was about to cast a wide spread blasting spell when a large hand reached out and grabbed one of my small ones. I snapped my head round to look and saw a man wearing a V-neck t-shirt, a leather jacket and a large smile making him look slightly insane because of the big ears and nose.
"Run." He stated simply.
Then we were running through the shop's basement. He appeared to know the way so I let him pull me along. Until we came to a lift. I hit the ground floor button but the doors didn't close in time (how could they run so fast – they were made of bloody plastic?!). One of the dummies arms got stuck inside the elevator door. To stop the doors from opening and allowing the rest of the dummies in, I kept my finger on the close door button while the man grabbed the arm and after a couple of tugs manged to pull it off.
"You pulled his arm off! You're a Mad Man!" I exclaimed looking at him, my brain not quite functioning after the mad dash and panicking. It had been such a long time since I had contemplated using my magic, especially for fighting.
"Yep!" he said happily. I had no idea if he was agreeing to the first part, the second part or both parts of what I had said. He tossed me the arm, which I caught on instinct. "Plastic."
"Ok, not a trick." I muttered examining the arm, before taking a deep breath and pulling my composure back together. I could have an existential crisis later. "How did they come to life?" I asked curiously. It had been far too long since something exciting happened in my life I decided, when I realised, I wasn't scared – I was intrigued.
"Very good questions. Well done." He said, rocking on his feet and not answering.
"Well, whatever they are, Wilson's going to call the police, once he finds them." I said, he was always the last person to leave the store once it closed. Even the security guard would have left by now since they had outsourced security to a company instead of paying a couple of guys to stand around doing nothing once the shop was closed.
"Who's Wilson?"
"The Chief Electrician. I was down here looking for him." I explained.
"Wilson's dead." He said before stepping out of the lift.
"Oh dear, he's just had a son." I frowned slightly but otherwise didn't comment as I followed the man out of the lift. I was so used to death that I knew when to mourn their loss and when not to. Considering the fact that there was a possibility that the plastic dummies might be alive on the other floors of the ship, I couldn't say we were out of danger and so allowing myself to grieve or feel sad over the loss of Wilson, wasn't practical. Then there was the fact that I didn't know Wilson particularly well, and so I was simple sad over the loss of a life as opposed to a loss of a friend.
"Hold on," he moved me out the way and pointed a screwdriver-type-thing at the lift making it spark.
"What were them things, and what's your name?" I asked, as we started walking again.
"They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device on the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this."
He pulled out a small timed bomb, which couldn't have possible fit in his pocket unless they were bigger on the inside. Which was both worrying and exciting because I knew he didn't have any magic (I would have felt it) which meant that this man had the technology to replicate some of the things I could do with magic.
"So, I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed."
He pushed me out the fire exit that we had reached and closed it behind me. Before I even had the opportunity to turn around, he opened the door again.
"I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"
"Annamae." I answered instinctively.
"Nice to meet you, Annamae. Run for your life!"
Before he could run off again, I grabbed his jacket, so that I could hold him still long enough to kiss him on the cheek. This man probably never stopped and stayed long enough to actually be thanked and he was risking his life to save countless numbers of innocent people, he deserved some acknowledgment.
"Good luck."
And only then did I turn and run away from the shop. Heading towards the High Street. Unfortunately, I had to run all the way around the shop before I could make it to the High Street. Before I was more than five feet away from the shop there was a large KaBOOM that started at the roof of the shop. Within seconds a fire had spread down through the store. The shock wave had thrown me to the floor but I was up again in seconds and running. Car alarms were blearing and a couple of people had screamed in shock. Ignoring the bruising that was forming on my arms and legs from where I had landed and the panicked masses, I kept on running away from the building.
I ran all the way back to my mum's flat.
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He stared after the strange human for a moment. He had thought she was just like all those other humans, bumbling along with their eyes closed and getting themselves in trouble. Yet she reacted rather calmly to the idea of living plastic and had even understood what he was trying to do. She didn't try to stop him or question him. She just wished him luck.
How strange…
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I walked in through the front door to find that News 24 was on. Mum and Rose were both sat on the edge of their seats in worry. 'The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire. From what the police can…"
"Anna…" Mum said in worry, chewing her finger-nail for lack of anything else to do with her hands. If I had been Rose, she would have reached for the phone to call me by now but I didn't have my phone on while I was at work. And, even if I wasn't at work it was rare that I would answer the phone unless I was expecting the phone call since I preferred communicating via email or in person. Many times, it wasn't safe or appropriate for me to take a call, so I set the president early in my life about having my phone off or silenced.
"I'm alright mum." I said, making her jump having not heard the door open. I had gotten so used to moving silently and without notice that I needed to be consciously trying to make noise in order for people to know I was there. My thoughts were a little bit too jumbled to manage that right now.
"ANNA" she shouted getting up and hugging me. "Oh, my god. Rose heard the explosion and came home, telling me that the shop had gone up."
"I'm fine. I wasn't in the shop when it happened." I answered, going over to Rose and hugging her as well. I placed the forgotten arm on the sofa before turning the noise off on the TV so we could talk without the distraction.
"I thought you were killed; I was on the bus when I heard it and I thought you were still inside." She muttered into my shoulder, trying to still her tears.
"I'm fine Rose. There was this man, he told me to run and got me out of the shop before it went up." I murmured softly. I knew that after Jimmy, Rose started to lean on me a lot more then she used to and that she hated seeing me injured because it reminded her that I wasn't invincible – that I was still human.
"A man?" Rose repeated in question. "Was he the one who blew the shop up?" Rose asked looking up at me curiously.
"I don't know, but he seemed to know what was going on and I think he was some kind of government agent. That's why he was in the basement making sure everyone got out. But he told me not to call the police, that if I did people would be hurt." I added on the end so she wouldn't suggest I do exactly that. Rose was always strong willed and stubborn, and if I didn't stop her line of thought quickly, she wouldn't stop nagging until I gave in or she lost interest. Hopefully, describing the Doctor as a member of the government would help by giving him some official authority.
We fell silent as mum came in the room holding two mugs of tea in her hand and talking to someone on the phone. Assuring them that Rose and I were perfectly fine by the sounds of it. Rose and I had come to an understanding when we were very young to not discuss anything heavy around mum unless we had absolutely no choice. After dad died, she clung tightly too us and didn't want either of us to leave her alone on the Estate, which was why her words sometimes came across as harsh or degrading. She didn't mean it; she was just scared. Her hearing us talking about one of us being injured or nearly dyeing would probably send her over the edge, back into her depression.
I smiled in thanks as I took the honey sweetened tea mum offered me. Rose could never understand why I drank it, but I found it very relaxing and honey was cheaper than the processed sugar they insisted on filling their tea and coffee cups with. It was also healthier and the body could break the sugar down easier because it was natural and not man-made.
I looked over my shoulder when I heard the front door bang closed behind someone. Mickey came into the room, obviously out of breath after having run all the way there. Mickey ran around the sofa and reached out to Rose.
"I've been phoning your mobile; you could've been dead! It's on the news and everything. I can't believe that your shop went up!" I took Rose's tea before it could be spilled everywhere as Mickey pulled her into a hug.
"I'm alright! I wasn't even there when it went up. It was Anna that was there when it happened." Rose turned to me in concern once again. Apparently, she hadn't quite been reassured yet that everything was fine and I was uninjured. Only the fact that I had a known history of playing off injuries prevented me from rolling my eyes at her concern.
"Well, what happened?" Mickey demanded to know as he sat down next to Rose and looked to me for answers.
"Not sure." I answered passing Rose her tea back, and trying to be as evasive as I could without tricking them with my words – something I tried to avoid doing on family.
"What was it though, what caused it?"
I sighed knowing he wasn't just going to give up – he was much like Rose in that way. I could continue saying that I didn't know, but they would just continue badgering me. But I could say something that sounded like more information without being informative at all. "I wasn't in the shop when it went up. I was outside. All I saw was the roof going up, then I came home."
Mum walked back into the room then. "It's Debbie on the other end, and she knows a man from The Mirror – five hundred quid for an interview." she seemed generally excited about the prospect.
I turned to her with my hand outstretched. "Do you mind?" I asked. Mum handed it over to me without question (foolish really considering my general dislike of the media and gossip).
"Hi Debbie, would you mind telling the man from The Mirror for me that there was a man inside that shop when it went up and he's probably dead. His name was Wilson and I would appreciate it if you would kindly keep your nose out of other people's business. Thanks." Then I hung up and handed the phone back to mum.
"Well, you've gotta find some way of making money. Both of you. Your jobs kaput and I'm not bailing you out." The phone rings again and she answered it. "Beth! They're alive."
I rolled my eyes as I turned back to Mickey and Rose taking a sip of my tea.
"What're you drinking? Tea? No, no, no, that's no good, that's no good. You're in shock, you need something stronger."
Mickey took Rose's tea but knew better then to attempt to take mine. The last time he had tried I pinned him to the ground without spilling a drop of said tea. I had never stopped training my body – a holdover from fighting some kind of war for so much of my previous life. I was actually better at it in this life than I was in my last life, because I'd started training earlier in life. And even if I was (as Mickey claimed) in shock, he knew that I would still be able to land him on his back and return to drinking my tea before he could even reach the cup.
I raised an eyebrow at him. Silently asking him 'why'.
"You deserve a proper drink, you, Rose and me, we're going down the pub, my treat. How about it?"
I shook my head, I hated alcohol. Never drank it except one glass of white wine on Christmas day to appease mother (it was a tradition she insisted on since I turned fourteen). I would cheat and drink Lanbreany which was the most un-alcoholic, alcoholic drink I could get away with (and it was very cheap). Alcohol was something that I had rarely drank in my last life because I always needed to be alert and, in this life, I just didn't see the point in it – it didn't even taste nice.
Rose got up from the couch, smiling at Mickey. "Is there a match on?"
He turns to look at her, "I'm just thinking about you, Babe!"
"There's a match on." Rose nodded her head, his statement confirming that. Mickey was a terrible liar so he wouldn't even try denying it – rather he would ty and redirect the conversation.
"Well, that's not the point. We could catch the last five minutes."
I rolled my eyes while Rose shook her head. "Go on then. We're fine, really. Go. Get rid of that…" Rose gestured to the dummy arm that I had carried home.
Mickey points to his lips and Rose gives him a kiss. I smile softly – they were so cute together although I worried that Rose underappreciated Mickey who had so much potential. I feared that Rose would spot some handsome man one day and stop paying attention to Mickey, leaving him heartbroken but ever loyal. Mickey pushed her back onto the chair and they laughed. He turns to go and Rose puts a leg out to trip him but he jumps it. Mickey picked up the arm and waves with it.
"Bye, bye," He said.
"See you in the morning." I replied since he never stayed away for long. Why Rose hadn't just moved in with him already I didn't know.
"Bye." Rose waved. Mickey placed the fingers of the arm around his neck so it looked like he was being strangled, before he left after Rose scoffed at him. We both shook our heads fondly once he was gone and turned our attention back to the news which I turned up to see what the official statement was at the moment. Hopefully the Doctor had made it out alive and Wilson was the only casualty of the night.
"…fire then spread throughout the store. There appears to be very little chance of saving the infrastructure…"
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The next morning, I was sitting at the dining room table having breakfast. Rose had gone with bacon sandwiches while I had banana on toast. Although I wasn't a vegetarian, I didn't eat meat very often and never in the morning because it sat heavily in my stomach. Mum was nattering on about us getting new jobs as she puttered around the kitchen, making her own breakfast.
"There's Finches… you could try them. They've always got jobs."
"No thanks," I answered wrinkling my nose before taking a sip of tea. I didn't actually need to get a job; I was getting plenty of money from the books I had written and then there was the high paying consultations I did. I was only working at the shop to placate mum since she didn't know about the side jobs I worked (despite the flat she knew I stayed at when I wasn't around hers).
"Oh, great. The butches." Rose muttered sarcastically.
"Well, it might do you both some good. That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about getting compensation – Anna, you had genuine shock and trauma. Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek!" I raised an eyebrow at her. "I know she IS Greek, but that's not the point – it's a valid claim."
Finishing my toast, I washed the plate I had used. I was going back to my room to use my laptop when I heard rattling. Walking to the front door I called out to mum in frustration: "Mum, you are such a liar. I thought I told you to nail the cat flap down before you get strays."
"I did it weeks back!" I heard her call from her bedroom.
Kneeling down in front of the door I raised an eyebrow when I discovered that there were screws on the floor. "Okay, not lying then." The cat flap moved again. Slowly I reached out and poked it open. The Doctor's face was leaning down in front of the flap.
Standing up quickly I opened the door. He lowered the screwdriver thing. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"My family live here." I answered, blinking at him in shock, not even consciously recognising that I had stopped saying 'I lived here'.
"Well, what did you do that for?" he asked motioning to the door.
"Silly question really, why do we do anything?" I countered with my own question.
"Must've got the wrong signal." He said lifting his screwdriver-thing and putting it next to his ear. "You're not plastic, are you?" he knocks on my forehead gently. "No, bonehead. Bye, then!" he makes to go but I grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.
"You, me, living room now." I ordered closing the door behind him.
"Who is it?" I heard mum's voice from her room. I poked my head into her bedroom. "It's about last night, he's part of the inquiry." I said thinking fast. "Give us ten minutes, mum." I left him for a moment so that I could talk to Rose.
"She deserves compensation." I heard her say.
"Huh, we're talking millions" the Doctor said playing along. I listened to their conversation with half an ear as I told Rose the man from last night was in the house and that I needed a few moments to talk to him and I needed her to not say anything accusatory. There was a chance that if I didn't say something that she would decide it was best to rudely pester the man believing that he was the reason my life had been placed in danger.
I walked back to the Doctor as mum said "Well, anything could happen." I pulled a face at my mother's flirtation. She had several boyfriends since dad died, but none that lasted more than a couple of months since she hadn't truly gotten over dad. Even if they had started arguing more often since Rose was born, they had still been very much in love. Mum had just been insecure, believing that dad was sleeping around when he was doing nothing of the sort.
"No," the Doctor answered bluntly, only now realising that he was being flirted with, before he walked off, following me back into the living room when I motioned for him. The Doctor winked at me as I giggled softly, amused at the way he had handled the situation. Most wouldn't so bluntly turn my mother down, they would be more polite about it, even if they didn't want anything to do with her.
"Do you want a coffee, or a tea?" I asked.
"Love a tea thanks. Just milk." I was about to go and make it when Rose popped up from the coach.
"I'll make it, Anna." I nodded my head in thanks, grateful she was removing herself from the conversation since it meant I didn't have to be so careful with my words.
"Okay, so you said we can't go to the police about the plastic. What does that leave - UNIT?" I asked as the Doctor picked up one of Rose's gossip magazines.
"That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien."
I sighed. "Doctor? What do we need to do?" I asked as he picked up one of my books and flicked through it.
"Sad ending."
"No it's not, it's thought provoking." I answered, easily enough. I had been defending my book choices for years. I enjoy stories that had lots of character development, and a storyline which wasn't – this happened to character A so that they could reach point B and fall in love with point C. Just because the book didn't end in a 'happy ever after' didn't mean the ending was sad, or the book wasn't good. And especially didn't mean that a sequel was necessary. Sometimes it was better to just end the story and allow the imagination of the reader to take up the rest.
The Doctor ignored me again and picked up an envelope.
"Annamae Tyler." He said reading my name from the front of the envelope. It was a postcard from one of mum's friend's sons who didn't know I had moved from the estate. Very few people knew my new address so most of the social letters I was prone to receiving came here.
"Ahh, could've been worse!" he said looking in the mirror that mum insisted must be on the wall. He prodded his large ears. "Look at my ears."
"Could have been worse," I mimicked, realising he probably won't be answering my questions anytime soon.
He picked up a pack of cards and started shuffling. "Luck be a lady!" he sang. I shook my head again as he managed to make the whole pack of cards go flying.
"Maybe not," he muttered but I stopped listening as I heard scurrying from behind the sofa. I span round to face it.
"What's that then? You got a cat?" the Doctor asked interestedly.
"No." I told him seriously.
The Doctor looked behind the sofa and the dummy's arm leaped out and grabbed him by the neck. He spun around trying to get it off and I reached out, grabbing the arm and trying to help. However, the moment I got it off it attached itself to my neck. Cutting of my oxygen. The Doctor tried to get it off and we fell, crashing into the glass table that shattered under us. I rolled, dislodging most of the glass from my back. The Doctor pushed me against the sofa and got out that screwdriver thing and disabled the arm.
"It's alright, I've stopped it. There you go, you see?" he tosses it at me. "Armless."
"But I'm not." I croaked whacking him on the arm.
"Ow," he pouted, rubbing the spot where I had hit him.
Rose comes in from the kitchen, having been nattering to herself and so missing the commotion, placing the cups on the hatch between the two rooms as she took in the ruined coffee table.
"Anna! Are you okay?" she asked shocked.
"Fine," I answered before I noticed that the Doctor had left the room while I was distracted with Rose. Getting up I ran after him. Much to my relief he had decided to run the stairs as opposed to risk the rather small lift. We were about half way down when Rose decided to speak.
"Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off." She said, slightly out of breath since she didn't often take the stairs (and especially not at a run). Unlike Annamae she was not as into fitness and keeping her body in peak condition. Rose used to be relatively fit but had started letting herself go when she left education since she no longer had to do PE or gymnastics.
"Yes, I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off. See ya." The Doctor said mockingly as they finally got outside of the building.
"Rose," I said, stopping a few steps behind the Doctor. "Maybe we should go back, he seems to know what he's doing." The look she gave me basically said she wasn't going to drop it. I sighed, I really didn't want to place her in danger and it seemed as though danger followed this man; or rather this man turned up when danger struck.
"That arm was moving, it tried to kill Anna." Rose accused, moving quickly after the Doctor.
"Ten out of ten for observation," he exclaiming pointing the fake arm at Rose.
I raised an eyebrow at that, how rude. But then again, he was trying to work and Rose's pestering was probably very distracting and rude as well. I suppose he had every right to be rude and dismissive of any of their questions – especially when he was moving like a man on a mission.
"You can't just walk away, that's not fair! You've got to tell us what's going on." She exclaimed as we started walking towards the park.
"No, I don't." the Doctor responded flippantly.
"Alright then. We'll go to the police. We'll tell everyone. You told Anna, if she did that, she'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell us, or we'll start talking."
I turned and stared at her in horror. She wasn't bluffing she actually would go to the police if she didn't get the information she wanted. "Rose!" I said sharply, the disappointment clear in my voice.
I knew that technically Rose was raised by mum, who would have a similar reaction when placed in an unknown, potentially dangerous situation, but I had also helped raise her. I had hoped some of those lessons and morals I spoke of would have rubbed off on her, especially considering what happened with Jimmy.
The Doctor turned round and looked at me with a raised eyebrow instead of the angry glare he had started giving Rose.
Rose blushed and ducked her head but she wasn't going to give up. "Who are you anyway?" she asked stubbornly.
"The Doctor!" he answered, an undercurrent of anger in his voice because of what Rose had threatened but it wasn't as sharp as I was expecting it to be. His eyes had softened slightly when he realised I was just as angry and upset with Rose about her threat. This man had endangered his own life to stop plastic dummies from killing innocent people, complete strangers, and here Rose was threatening to put them in danger once more.
"Yeah. But Doctor what?" Rose asked, not really noticing the anger.
"I believe the correct question would be, Doctor Who?" I corrected while I started to walk again. This broke the tension that Rose had created with her threat.
"Just the Doctor." He said calming down and smiling slightly at my response, as he fell into step next to me. The Doctor let his frustrations go in light of one of his favourite sayings – next to only 'it's bigger on the inside'.
"The Doctor," Rose stated dryly.
"Hello," he said in the same tone of voice he had used when he said 'Yep' in that lift. The confident, self-assured tone, that said he was completely and utterly correct.
"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" Rose said snidely to him.
"Sort of." The Doctor shrugged, seemingly throwing off what Rose said, but I could tell he was slightly stung by it (his eyes were very expressive). I couldn't blame him, after all The Doctor was his name and far more telling than a name like 'Harry' would have been. The Doctor is a chosen name, telling them that he wants to be a man of healing, a man who helped anyone who needed it – good or bad. A man who wasn't cruel.
"Well, if it's any consolation I find it impressive. It's nice to meet you, Doctor. I'm Annamae Tyler and the blonde is Rose Tyler, my little sister." He shook hands with me, smiling.
"Nice to properly meet you, Annamae." He smiled as we continued walking.
Rose barged in between us so as to bring the attention back onto her. "Come on, you can tell us. She's seen enough. Are you the police?"
"No. I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home." The sadness in his tone made me turn a questioning glance at him.
"But what has she done wrong? How come those plastic things keep coming after her?" Rose kept on with her incessant questions.
The Doctor turned to me, "Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you! You were just an accident, you got in the way, that's all."
I nearly jerked back but ignored the feeling and instinctual reaction since he probably didn't mean it to sound as rude and insulting as he had. Rose looked ready to slap him.
"It tried to kill her!" she exclaimed outraged.
"It was after me, not her! Last night, in the shop, I was there, she blundered in. Almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down; the only reason it fixed on her is because she met me."
"So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you." Rose said in an angry hiss.
"Sort of, yeah."
"You're so full of it!" I informed him bluntly, a slightly teasing tone to my voice too take any of the sting away.
"Sort of, yeah." He laughed, although there appeared to be a bit of surprise behind the laugh - like he hadn't been generally teased in a long time. I use to be like that – surprised when I would laugh. And I suppose, in a way, I still am like that when I'm not in a familiar situation with people I know. Recognising that he was starting to relax, I decided now was the time to start asking my own questions.
"Okay," I said, gently taking the arm from him. "Start from the beginning."
"If you're gonna go with the whole living plastic thing, and we don't even believe that, but if we do, how did you kill it?" Rose looked over to me for support when I didn't make any motion of agreement. "Anna? You don't believe this right?"
I looked towards her. "Of course, I do Rose. I had an army of shop dummies after me and then a plastic arm attacks me and him in our living room, so yeah, I do believe what the Doctor is saying."
The Doctor smiled at me, pleased that a human was showing support to his idea; I just nodded my head back in reply to his silent thanks, only half understanding what the smile meant. In my old life, I was used to doing things and either being condemned for my actions, being called delusional and a liar, or being ignored. I imagined that there was something similar happening with the things the Doctor dealt with, especially if they were all outside the norm like the living plastic were.
"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead." He answered Rose's original question.
"So that's radio control?" Rose asked, trying to relate the information she had been told with something she knew.
"No, Rose, it's thought control." I corrected, recognising the terms the Doctor had used and noting the lack of 'technological' terminology that would have indicated control through artificial means. He seemed like the type of person who would sprout techno-babble at the slightest opportunity "So, who's controlling it, then?" I asked the Doctor who had been giving me an appraising look.
"Long story." He supplied me with.
I looked him in the eye, trying to get a read on this man. Normal humans were easy; even without reaching out to touch their minds, they were easy to read. But this man, he was deeper… more complex… just more. His was strong, and in a way, he was darker (and yet brighter) then I was. His blues eyes also showed an age, of wisdom and experience. It was like he had been a solider, forced to fight to defend and he had only recently escape from the war, but he had lost so much in the process.
"Doctor, who are you?" I asked softly as I turned to face him completely. We both stopped walking and stared at each other. Assessing each other. Judging whether the other was worthy of their words and trust – even on a most basic level. Rose stopped just between us, but a step behind so that we stood in a triangle, noting the tension that had formed as the Doctor and I stared each other down; trying to get an assessment of each other and whether or not they could be trusted.
"Do you know how we were saying? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like its standing still. I can feel it." He takes my hand in his, and my eye's widened ever so slightly. No one had been able to connect with my mind before, not since I had been successful in repelling Voldemort the first time that he tried to possess me. But the Doctor somehow created a surface connection between the two of us and I felt the turn of the Earth – just like he said.
"The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go." He released my hand and the sensation of moving suddenly stopped. "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Annamae Tyler. Go home." He took the arm and waved at me before turning and walking away.
Rose turned and started heading back to the estate with a shake of her head. I watched the Doctor's back as he walked into a Blue Box. The wind picked up and there was a type of wheezing noise as the box faded from view.
I shook my head again before turning and jogging to catch up with Rose. I didn't want her to get in any trouble attempting to research the Doctor (which I had no doubt she was about to go and do).
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Rose led the way to Mickey's apartment. I stayed silent the entire way while she kept on asking questions about the Doctor that I couldn't possibly know the answer too. Mickey's apartment was only a block around the corner to their apartment. He hadn't wanted to be far away from them and the estate they lived on was cheap. Mickey let us in with a smile after Rose knocked. He still hadn't gotten around to giving her a key even though they had been together for two years and he had a key to their flat.
"Hey, hey, here's my woman."
"Shut up," Rose muttered kissing him.
"Good morning Mickey." I greeted as I followed Rose into the apartment.
Rolling my eyes, I immediately started tiding up. That boy had no sense of hygiene. He had lost his mom at an early age, and his grandmother had been blind. I'd never met his father before he disappeared to Spain, but from what I had heard he wasn't exactly big on 'care'. I ended up accidently filling the older sister/mother role to Mickey as they grew up and even though he had moved into his own flat following the death of his grandmother, those instincts still remained with me. To protect and look after Mickey. Although he had started getting better recently since he got the apprenticeship at the local garage (the more responsibility he had, the more grown up he slowly became).
"Coffee?" Mickey asked, as they moved towards the kitchen.
"Yeah, but only if you wash the mug. And I don't mean rinse, I mean wash. Can I use your computer?" Rose asked, leaning in to whisper in Mickey's ear when she spoke about the washing.
"Sure, any excuse to get in the bedroom." He said as I walked past him with a pile of cloths. Putting it in the washing machine; I pointed at the washing up liquid and stared disapprovingly at the dirty dishes on the side, as a silent order.
With that done I headed to Mickey's bathroom. I took a few minutes to make sure that all the glass had been dislodged from the cuts in my back and that my accelerated healing factor had scabbed over the cuts. Grateful that I always wore black so that the blood wasn't visible I quickly cast a reperio and cleaning charm (some of the few pieces of magic I regularly practised) before I pulled my shirt back on and headed to the bedroom.
In the time that I had been away, Rose had searched the web for the Doctor. It seemed she had found the webpage of a man known as Clive. He had a picture of the Doctor and contact information.
"Rose don't…" I warned but she ignored me and sent an email to the man anyway.
His name appeared on the list of those who are marked for death. It doesn't normally alert me to individual deaths unless the person added to the list is someone I know or have/am about to meet, their death wasn't supposed to happen or they were a component of change. It was always depressing when I was informed of a name because the circumstances of their death were normally fixed and so there was nothing that could be done to save them. Sometimes it would happen that someone who wasn't meant to die would appear on the list, and I was able to locate them and help. But normally, the people who weren't meant to die who appeared on the list appeared due to split second decisions so even if I could locate them, it was generally too late to save them.
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They were in Mickey's yellow car outside of Clive's house. Rose had been communicating with him all morning and she had finally decided to come and meet the man in person since he had some information about the Doctor that he refused to give over the internet. I was sat in the back of the car, watching the two of them argue.
"You're not coming in! He's safe, he's got a wife and kids." Rose said to Mickey.
"Yeah, but who told you that? He did. That's exactly what an internet lunatic murderer would say."
I fully agreed with him on this, but Rose got out of the car anyway, grinning. I had no choice but to follow her out so as to make sure she was not in harm's way. Mickey didn't look any happier than what I felt and he ended up glaring at a perfectly innocent man who was taking out the trash. Rose knocked on the door of the house and it was answered by a boy of about eleven.
"Uh, hello, we've come to see Clive? We've been emailing." Rose said hesitantly to the boy. She didn't like children, and was really bad at relating and interacting with them,
"DAD!" the boy turned and shouted into the house. "It's some of your nutters!"
I raised an eyebrow at the kid who was revealed to be Clive's son. The boy disappeared into the house as Clive appeared.
"Sorry. Hello. You must be Rose and Anna. I'm Clive. Obviously!" we shook hands and I claimed his soul as taken.
"I'd better tell you now – my boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill us!" Rose and Clive laughed.
"No, good point. No murders." He waves to Mickey who nods, still distrustful - as he should be.
"Who is it?" a voice from the stairs said. I looked over to see Clive's wife, Caroline a voiced whispered in the back of my mind, coming down the stairs holding a basket of washing.
"Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor. They've been reading the website. Please come through, I'm in the shed." Clive's wife came down the stairs completely.
I stared at him in shock. The Shed!
"They? They've read a website about the Doctor? They, as in two girls?" she smiles ironically and shut the door behind them.
How many men had come looking for information about the Doctor? I wondered as I silently followed behind Rose. I didn't particularly like the idea of looking for information on the man, and I especially didn't want Rose getting involved (those lifelong instincts telling me it wasn't a good idea) but there was nothing I could do or say that would get Rose to leave this alone. She had to learn more before she would back off, and hopefully nothing else would happen that would trigger her interest again.
Clive shows us around the shed, which was nothing short of a shrine to the Doctor. I raised an eyebrow, yes because this man wasn't getting creepier by the minute.
"A lot of this stuff is quite sensitive; I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean." Clive said in a hushed voice, doing his best to fill the role of a stereotypical conspiracy freak. "If you dig deep enough – keep a lively mind – this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories. Even ghost stories. No first name, no last name. Just 'The Doctor'. Always the Doctor. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son, it appears to be an inheritance. That's your Doctor there, isn't it?" he points to a photo of the Doctor on a computer screen behind us.
I had been reading most of the things from the walls, all of them about my Doctor but from different time periods. All of them referenced 'The Doctor' (and that was capitalised in almost every instance) but not all of them had the same face as her Doctor. Every time the name appeared something dangerous, and generally life threatening seemed to have happened, and after the situation was resolved there seem to be no other mention of the name. But there was something else that was common between lots of the articles – even if the face of The Doctor was different – the Blue Box seemed to appear with the man and then disappear again when he did.
I was pulled from my thoughts as Clive pointed to an enhanced photo – which was slightly pixelated – on his computer screen. "That's him," I confirmed.
"I tracked it down to the Washington Public Archive last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original…" he shows us some more photographs of the Doctor standing in a crowd. "November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy."
It was the same man, the same Dumbo ears and big nose, even the same leather jacket. His eyes were the same as my Doctors, so when Rose said "Must be his father…" I could do nothing but disagree. The face, the body, the cloths and, most importantly, the eyes were exactly the same, it's impossible for it to be anything but the same man.
"Going further back… April 1912." He brings over a photo album. "This is a photo of the Daniel's family, Southampton. And friend." He points to the Doctor, standing with them, looking exactly the same. "This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World. On the Titanic. And for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And…" he shows us a sketch. "1883. Another Doctor. And look, the same linage. He's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is legend woven throughout history. When disaster strikes, he's there. He leaves a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion." I looked over to Clive.
"Who's that?" Rose asked the, in my opinion, question with an obvious answer considering the three sightings Clive had given us and the newspaper clippings that were pinned to the wall.
"Death," we answered at the same time.
Clive turned to me then because Rose had mentioned in the emails that it was me who first met the Doctor (despite my protests). "If the Doctor's back… if you've seen him, Anna… then one thing's for certain – we are all in danger. If he's singled you out, if the Doctor's making house calls… then God help you."
I moved close to Rose then. Protective instincts stirring once more. The Doctor himself may not be dangerous but that didn't mean the things he stopped weren't dangerous. He was a man of action, a man of protection who would do his best to save everyone – but not everybody lives.
"Who is he? Who do you think he is?" Rose asked him as I reached out to take her hand.
"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."
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Rose and I came back to the car; Rose was ranting before we even made it in. "Alright! He's a nutter! Off his head! Complete online conspiracy freak. You win! Oof." She collapsed into the front seat of the car.
I raised an eyebrow when I looked at Mickey. Mickey was not Mickey. He had no pulse or distinct life force. He wasn't a robot, since they didn't give any feeling of life instead, he seemed to being giving of feelings similar to plastic. Rose didn't take notice of the fact that her boyfriend was replaced by something else despite the distinct shine to his skin and the unnatural wide smile and eyes, and just continued talking.
"What are we going to do tonight? I fancy pizza." Rose spoke up, looking at me through the rear-view mirror.
"Pizzaaa! P-p-pizza!" the plastic-Mickey spluttered.
I looked at it warily, if the connection to Mickey was weak enough then the plastic-thing might attack. They would need his memories so as to program it right so Mickey might just be unconscious – I hoped; unless whoever was controlling the plastic had developed technology strong enough that they didn't need the psychic link. I dismissed this thought, not willing to think about what that would mean for Mickey, especially considering the fact that I hadn't felt anything from him.
"Or Chinese," I said not wanting to be around to many people as I kept my eyes on Mickey. When Rose wanted Pizza, she would always go to the restaurant (trying to make it seem posher), while her preferred Chinese place was a take away place which didn't have any sit in eating.
"Pizza!" Plastic-Mickey yelled and drove off in a wobbly line. I grabbed the oh-shit-bar and prepared to grab Rose and jump out of the car at a moment's notice. It wouldn't be the first or last time I had jumped from a moving vehicle – even if this was the first time doing it from the back seat with a front seat passenger. Perhaps it would be easier to simple undo Rose's seat belt and push her from the vehicle before following suit?
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We ended up at a restaurant. I had manoeuvred us so that Rose sat opposite Mickey and I sat next to him. We were on the far side of the restaurant, so the other patrons were closer to all the exits then we were. I was taking no chances with this plastic-Mickey. Rose was being her normal self and talking about herself. It was something she had picked up from their mother.
"Do you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen. That's it then…dishing out chips…I could do A levels…" plastic-Mickey stares at us both grinning insanely. "I dunno. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left education because of him and look where he ended up. It's a good thing you made me complete my GCSE's or I'd have nothing to show for it. What do you think?"
"So, where did you meet this Doctor?" plastic-Mickey asked.
I looked at him blankly – really not even the real Mickey was so blunt.
"I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a second?" I rolled my eyes at her attitude. How has she missed the fact that her boyfriend had been replaced despite spending quite a bit of time in his presence? They didn't look the same!
"Because, I reckon that it started back in the shop. That night it blew up. Am I right? Is he something to do with that?" he said still looking at me.
"No, it had nothing to do with him. Only a gas leak." I answered easily, using the story that the police had developed. I was not going to inform whoever was controlling the plastic-Mickey about the Doctor.
"Come on." He said trying to smile winningly at me. "What was he doing there?"
"We're not going on about him, Mickey, I'm not, because I know it sounds daft but I don't think he's safe. I think he's dangerous." I looked at Rose incredulously. She decides to come to that conclusion now? Maybe visiting Clive had done some good – not a lot, since it had also peaked Rose's interest in the Doctor's past – but maybe it was enough to keep her relatively safe and out of danger.
"But you can trust me sweetheart." Plastic-Mickey said to Rose, then in quick succession, "Babe, sugar, darling, sugar." Rose looked confused whilst I shifted slightly further away from plastic-Mickey. This was not going to end well. "You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning. I can help you, Rose. Anna. Because that is all I really want to do, sweetheart, babe, sugar, darling, sugar."
"What're you doing that for?" Rose asked plastic-Mickey.
Plastic-Mickey turned to face me as I stood. I heard the approach of someone behind me but I didn't turn around, preferring to keep plastic-Mickey in my sights at all times. If Rose had been more aware of her situation, and my body language, she would have stood as well, but instead she continued to look at Mickey in concern, even leaning across the table slightly. I couldn't just grab her and pull her away from the table since that would put me in a position which would allow plastic-Mickey to get a strong hold on me.
"Your champagne." The Doctor's voice said from just behind me. Hearing his voice, knowing he was there, made something deep inside of me relax for a reason I wasn't able to identify. I didn't know this man, and yet, hearing his voice and knowing he was here, had all my protective instincts relaxing because he would make sure Rose was okay.
"We didn't order any champagne." Plastic-Mickey said before reaching out and grabbing my wrist before I could move out of his reach. I hadn't anticipated it moving so fast because of the week connection, but it seemed the plastic had more than one intelligence feeding it. "Where's the Doctor, Anna?"
The Doctor moved so that I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He frowned slightly and held the bottle out. "Ma'am, your champagne."
"I don't drink alcohol but I'm sure Mickey would love some." I answered twisting my wrist around in Mickey's hold and pulling free.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked plastic-Mickey at the same time as I pulled my wrist free. 'Oh geh thanks Sis, love you too.' I thought mentally rolling my eyes.
"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?" Plastic-Mickey demanded.
"Doesn't anyone want this champagne?" the Doctor asked before plastic-Mickey could make a second grab for me. Plastic-Mickey looked up to the Doctor for the first time.
"Look, we didn't order-" he trailed off as he realized the waiter he was talking to was, in fact, the Doctor. "Gotcha."
The Doctor shakes the bottle. "Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!" the cork pops out and hits plastic-Mickey squarely on the forehead. His forehead absorbs the cork and he spits it out of his mouth. Rose finally realised that Mickey has been replaced by a plastic version of himself as she stared at him in horrified fascination.
In one swift movement I turned and hit the fire alarm. "OUT!" I shouted at the patrons. Rose continued to stand and stare at plastic-Mickey whose hands turned into clubs. He smashed the table and made his way to the Doctor. Rose screamed and finally ran out of the restaurant with the other patrons, not even registering that the Doctor and I weren't behind her.
The Doctor and I ran through the kitchen and out of the back exit, deciding that going the opposite direction to civilians was the best idea – Plastic-Mickey following close behind smashing anything that got in his way. The Doctor locked the metal door with his screwdriver-thing while I waited patiently behind him.
"What is that?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"What, this?" he motioned to the screwdriver-thing. "This is a sonic Screwdriver."
"Sonic screwdriver? What did you wake up one day and decide, 'hay this screwdriver could be more sonic'?" I asked sarcastically.
I followed him into the middle of the yard where his Blue Box was. I raised an eyebrow but decided to suspend disbelief for the moment and followed him inside. The Doctor closed the door behind me as I stared in wonder. I walked around what appeared to be the console, running my hand across anything that I felt was safe enough to touch.
I turned back to the Doctor to see he was staring at me as he wired up the plastic-Mickey's head (he had pulled it off while I was getting the patrons out). "You see, the arm is too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right." He turned to me completely, giving me his full attention. "Where do you want to start?"
"You're an alien, and your people have the ability to contain large spaces insides something comparatively small?" I asked.
I knew beyond reasonable doubt that there was no one with magic alive on the earth. I also knew that it was more than possible that alien life existed and that their scientific knowledge was likely to be far more advanced than humans in some cases. That combined with the knowledge that this man was able to connect on the surface of my mind, suggested that this man was in fact an alien and the ship clearly belongs to him.
"Basically, yeah." He answered after a moment of shock. It appeared he hadn't been expecting that statement worded as a question. "Is that alright?" he asked.
"Fine." I answered smiling at him. "What do you call her? She's gorgeous." I said staring up at the column in the console as a warm humming sound filled my head. I looked around but I couldn't find the source.
"It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space."
I glanced at the Plastic-Mickey's head. "Have they killed Mickey, now that you pulled the things head off?" I asked him. Trying to keep my emotions in check was becoming more difficult the longer Mickey was in danger even if I was absolutely certain I would be informed if he was killed. But by the time I got the alert, it may be too late to save him (especially if I couldn't find where he was being kept).
"Oh…" the Doctor paused for a moment. "I didn't think of that." He admitted, distinctly sheepish at allowing such a thing to escape his notice.
I pulled a face at him. "You didn't think that you could be killing him, and now you're just going to let him melt?" I demanded.
"Melt?" he turns around in time to see Plastic-Mickey's head melting with a bubbling noise.
I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Really plastic melting was horrible and created such a smell. I could put up with it, but I tried not to surround myself with smells that triggered the gag reflex.
"Oh, no no no no no no no NO!" the Doctor starts running frantically around the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers. The humming sound turned from being comforting to being annoyed the more leavers he was pulling. I grabbed onto the railing as the TARDIS started vibrating under my feet.
"What are you doing?" I demanded.
"Reviving the signal, it's fading. Wait I've got it…" he looks at the screen, "NO NO NO NO NO!" the column started moving faster than the almost lazy up and down it had been doing during the Doctor's scan. "Almost there! Almost there! Here we go!" the engines stop and the Doctor runs out of the TARDIS doors without another word. I followed him outside curiously. "I lost the signal, I got so close."
I stepped out of the TARDIS, closing the doors behind me as I looked around confused. We had moved to the other side of London. Just across from the London Eye.
"We moved?" I asked looking back at the TARDIS in admiration.
"Disappears there, reappears here, you wouldn't understand." He said flippantly looking around himself.
"You didn't fly here, and I saw your ship disappear earlier. Which suggests some kind of materialisation and dematerialisation properties, allowing your ship to transverse distances without physically covering it all. You must have some kind of temporal shield around the inner dimensions which protects the people and things within during the dematerialising process." I theorised, making the Doctor spin round and face me. "I'm not stupid like everyone else on this godforsaken planet! You rude, pompous, git."
"Ok, your right, not stupid then. Right anyway, I have to find a way of saving the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet." The Doctor said, apologising without doing so.
"Why's she a 1960's police box?" I asked moving over to the barriers looking down on the Themes. The Doctor standing beside me.
"It's a disguise," he said turning around and smiling fondly at the TARDIS.
"What's this plastic thing got against the human race?" I asked, jumping topics once again.
"Nothing, it loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air… perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth… dinner!" I looked at him questioningly at the mention of the war but chose not to mention it. It sounded personal to him.
"Any way of stopping it?" I asked instead. He grinned at me, producing from his never-ending pocket a phial of blue liquid.
"Anti-plastic!" he said cheerfully.
"Anti-plastic." I returned the smile.
"Anti-plastic! But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?" he asked looking around himself once more.
I raised an eyebrow, not quite prepared to call London small. "Hide what?"
"The transmitter. The consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal. It's close to where we're standing; must be COMPLETELY invisible."
I snorted at that as I stared at the London eye, looming 450 feet above us. He didn't seem to register it though as he stared at me.
"What?"
I nodded at the Eye. He span around, then turned back.
"What?"
I simply carried on staring at it. He turns around again and it finally clicked. "Oh…fantastic!" he grins insanely, takes my hand and we're running off. Hand in hand, we ran across the bridge towards the Eye, without pausing. We finally came to a halt at the foot of the Eye.
"Think of it. Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables; still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."
I run off and find the entrance to a manhole at the foot of the wall. Exactly where I would hide an alien thing if I needed to be near the transmitter.
"What about down here?" I asked catching the Doctor's attention.
He joined me and looked down before grinning wildly. "Looks good to me."
We ran down the stairs to the manhole. The Doctor takes the lid off and red light pours out along with a wave of heat. Not normal, and so therefore the place they needed to be. We both climbed down the ladder underground. Another door led to some old iron steps that we start going down. The Doctor points to a huge, orange thing that took up the majority of the chamber.
"The Nestene Consciousness, that's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature."
"You're not going to kill it straight off, right? You're going to try and reason with it?" I looked over to him, to see him beaming at me. I didn't like killing unless as a last resort – I had taken far too many lives in my previous life.
"Correct! You and your questions." He said almost fondly.
We went down some more steps. The Doctor leaned over the railings and called down to the Consciousness. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract. According to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."
The Consciousness flops around a bit, and the gurgling noise it was making seemed to change to words inside my mind: "I am the Nestene. You may approach." I spotted Mickey on the platform below ours.
"Thank you." The Doctor said starting to descend the stairs again. I ran past him once I knew it was safe to get closer, and crouched next to Mickey.
"Mickey, it's okay, it's alright." I said pulling him into a hug.
"That thing down there, the liquid, Anna – it can talk." He whimpered into my shoulder.
"I know sweetheart." I said softly before pulling back slightly and turning to face the Doctor and the Nestene Consciousness. Mickey was whimpering like a lost, little boy but I didn't really have the time to properly comfort him as the Doctor approached the Consciousness (he had continued onto the platform below us with the vat).
"Am I addressing the Consciousness?"
"Yes"
"Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" the Doctor said, his rudeness showing again.
The vat of plastic wobbled and a sort of face formed that responded angrily. "My home was destroyed. It is my right to seek a new home for my children."
I knew what I was hearing wasn't an exact translation, more of a rough outline of what was being said, since the Doctor's responses didn't match up to what I was hearing. But even hearing and having an idea of what the alien was saying was odd, I should have just been hearing the grumbling growls that accompanied the words.
"Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights." The vat started making tons of noise, the words not really making sense to me as my eyes were drawn to something else behind the Doctor who shouted over the Nestene so he could be heard. "I AM TALKING! This planet is just starting. Most of these stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go."
The movement that had caught my attention were a pair of dummies who were walking towards the Doctor. "DOCTOR!" I shouted in warning. He turns but not in time to stop them. They grabbed him, pining his arms as one of them grabs the anti-plastic from his pocket.
"You claim to be here under peaceful contract when you bring with you weapons."
"That was just insurance. I wasn't going to use it. I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not." He shouted down to the thing, struggling to get free.
"Then what of your technology?"
The Doctor paused, confused, before asking, "What do you mean?"
A door behind me opened up to reveal the TARDIS. I realized that the humming – which had left – returned with the presence of the TARDIS. The TARDIS was making the humming noise inside my head. I absently wondered if she was also responsible for the rough translation because it probably wasn't a coincidence.
"You're ship. I remember them well Time Lord. It was your people who led the destruction of my planet. With your foolish war. You left us all to rot. I won't let you stop me now."
"No. Oh, no. Honestly no. Yes, that's my ship. That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!" he shouted down to the consciousness sounding distraught. It seemed the Doctor had many demons that he had yet to face.
"What's it doing?" I called, trying to focus the Doctor's attention on what was happening now and not on the days long past.
"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene Consciousnes has identified its superior technology – its terrified. It's going into the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Annamae! Just leg it! Now!" he shouted, still trying to break free.
"I'm not leaving you!" I shouted back. However, I pulled my phone from my pocket and hit the speed dial number that would call Rose's number.
{Annamae! Oh thank God you're ok. What the hell was that back at the restaurant? I'm with mum now, we're doing some late night shopping – mum just dragged me down to the police to get a document because of the whole job's been blown up thing.} Rose prattled on.
{Rose, listen to me! Take mum and go home. It's not safe. Do you understand me? Go home!} I ordered her.
{What, why? Look you're breaking up, explain everything when you get home.} And with that she hung up on me.
"Oh you stupid girl." I muttered before pocketing my phone. The Consciousness sends out a signal. "Come on I need to get you out of here." I muttered pulling Mickey to his feet. I looked down to the Doctor to see him still fighting.
"It's started, Annamae, run. Just get out! RUN!" he shouted once more.
I started pulling Mickey up the stairs but part of the ceiling falls in, taking the stairs with it. I pushed Mickey back against the TARDIS and shielded him from the falling debris.
"We're going to die!" Mickey yelled, holding onto me as he cowered.
Pain shot through me, as the list of the dead began to form. I so hated unnatural disasters. It always left a list of uncollected dead, creating a back log that would slowly be filtered by my brain. However, it seemed that the Nestene wasn't prepared to initiate the final phase because the deaths were only coming from London. With great force of will, I pulled myself up and to the railing – looking down on the Doctor as he struggled to get the anti-plastic. I looked around, seeing if there was anything I could do to free the Doctor.
"Just leave him!" Mickey yells to me. I ignore him. "There's nothing you can do!" Mickey pleaded with me.
"There's always something you can do." I muttered grabbing the fire axe from the wall. I went to swing the axe against the chain which was secured to the wall, but a sudden large spike of pain shot through me and the hit wasn't as strong as it should have been. "ARHHHH!" I wasn't able to contain the scream of pain, as the momentum from the swing had me leaning heavily against the wall.
"ANNAMAE!" I heard the Doctor yell in concern, not sure what had happened but recognising my scream as one of pain.
Gritting my teeth, I swung the axe again, and this time the chain came loose. I grabbed the chain tightly, wrapping it around my right hand to make sure I wouldn't lose my grip.
I swung across the gap over the Consciousness. On the way past I kicked the dummies holding the Doctor hostage into the Nestene Consciousness. The anti-plastic falling in with it. The Consciousness immediately started to writhe and scream as I land safely in the Doctor's arms on the way back round.
"Now we're in trouble," the Doctor grinned at me before we ran off – the Consciousness exploding behind us. With the Consciousness gone, the signal was cut. Mickey, the Doctor and I managed to reach the safety of the TARDIS before the whole place caught fire.
=^^= = ' . ' = =^^= = ' . ' =
=^^= = ' . ' = =^^= = ' . ' =
The TARDIS re-materialised in the ally way just outside the apartment block where mom and Rose lived (and sometimes me depending on whether they were tight on cash and needed help with the bills).
Mickey ran out and hid behind the dustbin. I calmly followed him and crouched by his side. The pain from the many deaths was starting to fade now but there would be echo's for a while to come. I had learnt that it's best if I meditate after such an occurrence because it speeds the process along and stops the echoes.
"Nestene Consciousness?" the Doctor clicks his fingers, standing in the doorway of the TARDIS, "Easy."
"Easy?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow. "You would have been dead if it wasn't for me." I lightly teased him.
"Yes, I would be. Thank you." He smiled at me. "Right then! I'll be off. Unless…" he hesitated and reached his hand to the back of his head in a nervous gesture. "I don't know… you could come with me?" he finished with a question.
I stared at him still holding Mickey in my arms. I had always wanted to see the stars – see that the universe didn't just end with humanity and that they weren't alone out there. That there was beauty exceeding what we had already discovered. In my first home, Earth was nearly three hundred years away from sustained space travel, but maybe I could do so now.
"Don't! He's alien! He's a thing!" I looked down to Mickey with a look on my face that basically said 'what is wrong with that?' I had made it clear to Mickey that I refused to accept any kind of prejudice be it against race, intelligence, background, gender, sexuality etc. I didn't care, I refused to accept unfounded negativity. Why he would think that policy wouldn't carry over to aliens I didn't know.
"Is it always this dangerous?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah." The Doctor nods honestly.
I stood up, gently unfolding Mickeys arms as I stepped towards the Doctor. "Anna, no! Please, don't. What about Jackie and Rose? What about me?"
I stopped and looked back at Mickey to see that he was practically begging me to stay. I looked back to the Doctor. "Give me an hour. I need to make sure Rose and mum are alright and make sure Mickey isn't hurt." I told him softly, letting him know I wasn't rejecting him but I had some human things to deal with first.
"Of course. I'll be here when you're ready." The Doctor smiled at Annamae brightly, pleased that she had decided to join him. Although he had sworn not to take on another companion following the war, he was lonely and she seemed to be full of life and love, and he needed someone like that with him. To remind him why he continued saving people.
I gently pulled Mickey to his feet and took him home. His flat was only a twenty-minute walk at the slow pace we were setting, but when we got there Mickey was practically dead on his feet from the stress filled day he'd had. I helped him get dressed into his PJ's like a mother would her child, using the opportunity to make sure that the plastic hadn't hurt him. After putting him in his bed I sat on the edge and looked down at him.
"I'll come back Mickey." I promised, seeing his fear at me leaving. He had been abandoned by his father and lost both his mother and gran to death, which meant he didn't take well to people leaving his life, especially if they were particularly close. "This isn't the end. You hold onto my little sister alright. I'm relying on you to make sure she's alright until I get home, do you understand? You need to be strong now." I whispered softly, hoping that my words would appeal to his 'alpha-male side' which I knew was there but hadn't had the chance to mature and grow. He needed time and experience before he became the confident man that I knew he had the potential of being. Maybe being without me would do him some good; give him the opportunity to realise he could survive without a guardian.
"I'm going to miss you." He muttered, the shock of the day wearing of as he started to fall asleep.
"And I'll miss you to, sweetheart." I leaned over and kissed his forehead before getting up and leaving the room. I spent half an hour cleaning up the rest of his apartment and writing out a list so that he knew what he needed to do in order to keep his apartment clean and his life healthy.
I didn't know how long I was to be gone for but I would take care of the ones I loved. I also wrote a letter, explaining that it was time I did something for myself – I wanted to go adventuring and see all that there was to offer in life. I reminded Mickey that I loved him, encouraging him to continue studying and working to finish his mechanic apprenticeship so that he could get his degree, and that he should never give up.
I went home to find that Rose and mum were once again watching the news. It was about the sudden attack of plastic things. "There has not been any answers as to why all the plastic dummies came to life but it is believed to be an elaborate terrorist attack."
"Wasn't a terrorist attack." I said stepping in the room. "Well technically not." I amended.
"Anna, are you alright?" mum asked getting up and hugging me tightly. It was twice in as many days that she thought my life had been endangered, and she and Rose had nearly been killed moments before the dummies stopped moving, so I allowed her tight hug despite the restriction it placed on my breathing.
"I'm fine. But I have something I need to tell you." I said making mum sit on the sofa next to Rose and kneeling in front of them. I took their hands and looked up at them seriously. "I'm leaving."
"What?" Rose whispered shocked.
She had always thought I would be there, with them. It had taken a huge argument when I had first moved out of the flat, and only the promise of coming to visit settled both Rose and mum and the promise to return if they needed help. Rose recognised the tone I had spoken in; it was the same way I had said I was moving out. It was a statement of fact, something that was happening and couldn't be changed – no matter how much they argued. And despite her naivety, and her childishness, Rose recognised that she had been holding back her sister, who wasn't truly happy with the life she was living right now.
"There's a man. He's brilliant and he wants me to travel with him. I've stayed here to look after you both but you don't need me anymore. Today, we came so close to dying and I need to live my own life now." I told them softly, grateful that I could see the understanding in Rose's eyes as she nodded and offered a watery smile.
"You're mad if you think I am going to let you go off with a stranger." Mum said, standing up and moving away angrily.
"No mum, this time I'm not listening. Just this once I'm going to go and do what I want. No compromises. I'm going to go and see the world. I love you." I looked back to Rose. "Both of you."
With that I went into my room while Rose moved to comfort mum and stop her from arguing with me. I packed the last of my things that was in my room (everything else was at the apartment I had brought as cover for my 'non-mum-friendly-contacts' and as an escape from her sometimes overbearing personality). I also sent a text to my list of said contacts, telling them I would be out of communication for a while but, if they send me e-mails, I would see about going over them when I could and responding. Just because I was leaving earth didn't mean I couldn't still help.
With everything done I walked out of the apartment. Rose and mum were in her bedroom, looking at some old pictures. Mum never wanted me to move out – to grow up - but I had grown up long before I was adopted into the Tylor family. Rose was smart enough to recognise this even if she didn't understand how. So, when I did something that was guaranteed to get mom up on her high horse, Rose distracted her with the family photo album. It didn't happen very often, but it was good for the both of them to go over past memories.
The photo album they were looking through was the one dad started when he first found me. The first half of the album was fall of pictures of dad and me, dad and mum, dad and a pregnant mum, dad on his own, dad and Rose and then the entire family together. I had been camera shy when I first joined the family, it was only remembering the photo album that I held so dearly in my past life that allowed me to get over that enough for family photos as long as I wasn't alone in the shot (all other photos were expertly avoided like the plague). And I was glad for that photo album when dad had been killed. It was a way of remembering him, and helping to recall events that mum and I could tell Rose who didn't remember anything about her father. I had a copy of all the pictures in my own album so I didn't have to go rummaging through mum's room for them.
Shaking away such unhappy thoughts, I quietly left the apartment and headed to where the TARDIS was still parked. There was a new life awaiting me, and I was going to enjoy it.