Now You See Her

Rating: PGish, language mainly

Summary: On a routine visit to a perfectly harmless planet, Rose is kidnapped and the Doctor uncovers a massive government conspiracy. Well, every planet has its dirty laundry...

Disclaimer: I have no rights to Doctor Who whatsoever. Which should be obvious, as it predates me...

Notes: I'm an American, new to the fandom with Nine, so please forgive any misused phrases/character lapses. This fic is already finished, so if it isn't all posted already, it will be very soon. There are eleven chapters and an epilogue. Hopefully, none of them are too terrible...

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Chapter One: Now You See Her...

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"Perfectly harmless," the Doctor pronounced, grinning.

"Riiiight. 'Scuse me just a sec while I pop back to the TARDIS to look for weapons." Rose actually turned around before he caught her arm, feigning insult.

"I mean it! This is one of the most peaceful planets in your entire galaxy! Certainly safer than yours; you've no idea how many times I've almost got killed on yours..."

"At least twice?" she guessed. That was a safe bet; she'd been there at the time.

"At least twice," he repeated, shaking his head at her ignorance. "At least twice a week..."

"Yeah, sounds about right for you. You could nearly get killed twice a week in a day-care center."

"Those places are dangerous!"

"Yeah, right. Those two-year-olds are heartless killers, are they?"

"On some planets." He beamed at her, in a particularly infectious way. "Seriously, this is a lovely little planet. Never had any trouble here at all."

"Well..." She grinned. "Okay. But if I get mugged or something, it's up to you to chase 'im down and get my things back."

"Well, that went without saying." He fumbled around in his pockets, and came up with some Abledonian currency. "Go on, look around yourself for a bit. Lots of shows, 'specially festival day. People're very friendly. Oh, but don't whistle. They take that as an insult. But clapping's still fine."

"Right. Should we set up somewhere to meet--?"

"Nah, I can find you. Just meet back up at the TARDIS in a couple hours if I haven't found you by then. No worries." He waved. "Go on, now! What's the point of travelin' around time and space if you don't do a little explorin'?"

"All right. See you!"

She disappeared into the crowd, blending easily into the group around one particularly decorated stall.

It was perfect. Abledonia was one of the maybe five planets in the universe he'd never run into any trouble on. And Erina was perfectly used to tourists; she'd be able to stare at anything she liked without attracting any undue attention at all. Particularly during their yearly festival, when travelling performers and magicians from around the world gathered in the capital city to entertain. All hominids; even looked human. No, she couldn't possibly ask for a better introduction to an alien planet.

He'd thought that before, of course. But then again, if he never did anything that had turned out badly before, he'd probably have to lock himself in a closet... and of course, something would go wrong even there. Had to take some risks.

But really, what could go wrong?

"Hey, mister!"

He turned around. It was a slightly scruffy-looking young man, too young and inexperienced to have a booth or stage, standing in an alley with a rickety-looking box. "Doctor, actually," he corrected, stepping up gamely.

"Doctor. Sorry. Right. Watch the dance of the cards!" He clumsily shuffled around five worn-looking cards on his box. "Four reds, one princess, dancing around in their dance of, uh, eternity."

"Right."

"Shuffle around-- the princess in in the middle. See?" He turned up a card. "Uh-- I mean the princess is on the end! Yeah. Another turn of the dance-- the princess is in the middle." He turned up the middle card; it was the princess card that time. "Another shuffle of the cards-- watch if you can, turn of the hands-- and where's the princess?"

"Second to the left," the Doctor answered.

"Ah, but no, that's--" He turned over the card. "That's... damn."

"Also, I think you were supposed to ask for a wager," the Doctor said helpfully.

"...Damn." The young man pouted. "This is harder than it looks."

"Always is." He glanced at the table. "'Specially when you only picked it up this morning."

The man sagged. "It's that obvious?"

"Well... yeah, it really is. Sorry."

"Nah." He threw his cards down. "Knew I wasn't any good at it."

"You might be," the Doctor offered. "Just takes practice."

"Yeah, but I think I'm just gonna stick with my clerking job. I really don't have a talent for this."

"If it's what you really want to do, you could learn."

"Yeah, but it isn't." He started folding up his box. "I'm not one of those Great-Code-of-the-Magician loonies, if that's what you're thinking. I just wanted some extra cash."

"Which would explain the small-time hustling."

"Yeah. Thought maybe I'd be good at it. There's a lot of money in being a magician, you know."

He blinked. "No, I didn't know that, actually. Thought it was pretty... dodgy."

"Well, yeah, usually, but if you get good enough at it, you can really rake in in."

"What, through shows?"

"Yeah. Best magicians get a government subsidy, and they can charge admission. Great gig if you can get it. But those guys are amazing. I don't think I'm cut out for it." He sighed. "I'm just gonna go out and sell this to some other moron, maybe break even. Good luck, mister."

"Government subsidy?" the Doctor repeated to himself. That was odd.

But probably nothing. He shook his head and walked back into the street.

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Rose found herself pulled by the crowd into a large town square, a simple stage set up at one end. Someone in a dark cloak was talking; she ignored him for the moment, looking around her, still engrossed in her first alien city. So much was the same... crowds were the same, they looked pretty much the same-- the fashion was a little too 80's-meets-Middle-Ages for her taste, though... The buildings were bluer than they should be, and had round windows, but they were still obviously buildings, and they were still obviously getting toward the financial district. The sky was a little greener than it should be, and the sun was a little brighter, but the sidewalks still seemed to be cement, and the occasional trees she'd passed were reassuringly tree-like.

The man on the stage was holding a box in one hand, and waving the other over it mysteriously. Another pass-- and the box was gone, and there was a brown bird, shrieking and flying out into the crowd.

Rose squealed with everyone else and dodged left, out of the bird's way. Meanwhile, the people who weren't dodging the bird were clapping and cheering (but not whistling, Rose remembered) and whispering among themselves. Rose found herself pushed slightly toward the stage, and didn't bother fighting it.

"And now... for one of my greater spectactles," the magician said, smiling at his audience tolerantly.

The murmuring increased, to a hum of excitement. Rose felt a little excited herself; she'd never seen a magician in real life, actually performing, before. And on an alien planet-- who knew what could happen?

"One of the Guild's more popular illusions, as has often been proved. And one that takes many years of study to master. My assistant Gila will now bring out the box."

The magician's assistants' outfits were still ridiculously skimpy, Rose noted critically. These were white, sequined and bedecked with long while feathers. And, of course, skintight. Some things never changed.

"In this spectacle... I will make a volunteer from my audience disappear." The magician surveyed the crowd. "You-- you there, with the yellow hair."

Rose looked around, to see who he was talking about.

"No, you, young mistress-- you there, with the jacket. Yes, you. Come here."

Rose blinked. "What-- me?"

"I see we're just a little slow on the uptake," the magician said, smiling benevolently at the crowd. The crowd laughed with him dutifully. "Yes, you, child. Come on up here, now. Don't be afraid."

Rose hesitated for a moment-- then went forward. It was just a silly magic trick, she reminded herself. What could happen?

"Good," the magician said, when she'd finally managed to clamber up onto the stage. "Now, young mistress, what is your name?"

"Er-- Rose," she said, looking around at the crowd nervously. "My name's Rose."

"Excellent, Rose. Now I ask you to tell our audience, in accordance with the Great Code-- have we ever met before?"

"No," Rose said truthfully, glancing around, hoping she wouldn't make a total idiot of herself.

"Are you now, or have you ever been, in my employ?"

"No."

"Have you been offered any monetary compensation for performing in this spectacle, or been told anything about it beforehand?"

"I don't even know who you are," Rose said, still nervous, but risking a quick grin at the crowd. A faint burst of laughter; she wasn't doing too badly.

"Excellent. Now, young Rose, step into the box, please."

Rose obeyed, and was now facing the audience, which filled the square. And all of them were staring at her, and murmuring.

It was rather unnerving, really.

"Now Gila, close the bottom door."

The assistant obeyed.

"Rose, are you still there? Say something to our audience."

"I'm still here," Rose called.

"Excellent. The top door now, Gila."

The top door closed in front of her, blocking Rose's view of the crowd. She was, oddly, a little bit relieved.

"Still there, Rose?"

"Yeah, still here," she replied, tapping at the walls.

"The middle door, Gila."

The middle door closed, and there was darkness. Rose's heart lurched, and she breathed deeply, trying to steady it. Just a magic trick. There's no danger at all.

"Rose?"

"Yeah, I'm still here," she called.

The wall behind her suddenly gave way, leaving her hard-pressed not to yelp. "Here," Gila whispered behind her. "This way."

Rose obeyed quickly, having seen the sorts of things magicians did to girls in boxes. Gila pulled her back, and down, onto what seemed like a steep flight of stairs.

"The box is larger than it looks," Gila explained. "I pull you into the back compartment and we go down, below the stage."

"Right." Above her, Rose heard a strange metallic sound.

"That's Alorano putting swords through the box," Gila explained.

"Glad I followed you out, then," Rose said.

"He has this silly bit where he's all, 'Oh, I hope she demateralized properly, I never could get the blood out of the box that one time'..." Gila shook her head, still leading her down the corridor.

"Ouch. Pretty cheesy." Rose paused. "Where are we going, exactly?"

"Making you disappear."

"But aren't I supposed to reappear, at some point?"

The laugh went out of Rose's voice as Gila stopped, and turned around in the pitch-black tunnel.

"Of course not, you idiot," said Gila. "That's the whole point of the trick."

"But usually people reappear--"

A long fingernail brushed Rose's neck, strangely sharp and stinging. "Ah, silly little girl. Only if we want them to. Silly, for someone like you to put yourself at the mercy of a magician... And yet, you always do..."

Oh, perfectly harmless my arse. See if I ever listen to him again... Rose thought, and lost consciousness.

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