Rose
Powell Estate
March 4th, 2005
A blonde, teen girl of 19 years groaned as her alarm woke her up at 7:30am, shutting it off before shooting up out of bed, remembering to get to work. Hurrying to get dressed in her usual pink jumper and dark blue jeans, she gives her mother a kiss on the cheek as she hurries out of the door. "Bye Mum!" She calls.
"See ya later, Rosie!" Her Mum calls back.
Catching a bus into town, she heads into her work, Henrik's Department Store. The rest becomes a routine blur for her; Do as she's told, arrange the new clothes, go out with her boyfriend Mickey at lunch break, return to work, continue until 5:00pm, get the lottery money and deliver it to Wilson, the chief electrician before heading home again. She heads into the elevator, giving a slight sigh at her routine life. The elevator stops in the basement, so she heads out into the hallway, filled with boxes both opened and unopened as she knocks on the door, saying 'H.P Wilson C.E.O'. "Wilson? Wilson, I've got the lottery money. Wilson, you there? Look, I can't hang about cause they're closing the shop. Wilson?" She calls but receives no answer. "Ugh, come on." She mumbles. Her answer to this is a distant clattering followed by small footsteps, making her turn around. She walks to a nearby red door. "Hello? Wilson, it's Rose. Hello?" She pushes the door open to see a pitch-black room, making her flick on the lights. "Wilson?!" She calls, uncertainty not beginning to lace within her voice. She walks towards another red door, only to find it locked.
*SLAM*
Rose jumps as the door she entered through closed on its own, the noise echoing throughout the room. She runs towards the door and attempts to open it, but finds it locked from the other side. "You've got to be kidding me." She mumbles in fear. Items banging against each other are heard down the corridor, making her turn to look. "Is that someone mucking about?!" She walks forward in uncertainty, slowing as she hears a low, creaking noise, making her turn to see one of the mannequin dummies turning to look at her. She looked at it with wide eyes, a cold chill of fear racing up her spine as the dummy starts to walk towards her. "Right. You've got me, very funny." She says sarcastically. More dummies turn and start to walk towards her. "Right, I've got the joke! Whose idea was this?! Is it Derek's?!" The dummies start to corner her against a wall, her small amount of bravado fading fast. "Derek is this you?!" She turns to run but a dummy grabs her arm and shoves her against the wall, before raising its hand above its head, ready to strike. She closes her eyes in fear, before turning to look to her left as a hand grasps hers.
"Run." The Doctor says before leading her away just as the dummy strikes at where she was, only hitting a gas pipe. He leads her through another red door before running down the hallway, looking back to see the dummies starting to run to catch up with them. They arrive at an elevator, which after pressing the button opens, so they rush inside and get the door closed, just in time as the dummies arrive yet one of them shoves its hand through the door. The Doctor grabs it and wrenches hard a few times, which the 3rd pops the arm out and nearly stumbles him over as the door closes fully.
"You pulled his arm off." She said, swallowing the fear of death inside her.
"Yep. Plastic." He says with a smile as he tosses the arm to her, which she catches as he crosses his arms in patience.
"Very clever, nice trick. Who were they, then…students? Is this a student thing or what?"
"Why would they be students?" He asks.
"I don't know." She shrugs slightly.
"Well, you said it. Why students?"
"Cause, to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they've got to be students."
He nods slightly. "That makes sense. Well done."
"Thanks." She says blinking.
"They're not students."
"Look, whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's going to call the police."
"Who's Wilson?"
"Chief Electrician."
"Wilson's dead." He said sombrely as the door opens and they move out, Rose looks at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"That's not funny! That's sick!"
"Hold on. Mind your eyes." He said, pulling out his sonic and sparking the elevator controls so they couldn't be followed, the flash of light from it makes Rose wince.
"I've had enough of this now. Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there?" She asks but the Doctor just rushes off without saying a word, making her groan. "I said, who are they?!"
The Doctor then rolls his eyes as he leads her to an exit. "They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures and 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 said, pulling out a homemade bomb, which was beeping in small noises. "So, I'm going to go upstairs and blow them up and I might well die in the process. But don't worry about me, I'm more worried that I'll be found out I'm doing this by-" He stops as Rose raises her eyebrows at him. "Okay, never mind that bit." He says, turning to hide his slight blush, making Rose look at him in confusion. "Just go home, go on. Go have your lovely beans on toast." He said, pulling Rose out of the door. "Don't tell anyone about this, cause if you do, you'll get them killed." He said before closing the door, leaving her blinking in confusion before he opens the door again. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"
"Rose."
"Nice to meet you, Rose. Now run for your life!" He said with a grin before closing the door again. Rose then turns around before sprinting off from the back alleyway, heading in a fast walk down the street to a bus stop. She turns back to look at the store before shaking her head with a sigh.
*BOOM*
The store explodes, making people around duck and look at in fear before running off. Rose looks at it with wide eyes before she hops onto the oncoming bus to head home, shaking slightly from the sudden explosion as the bus passes the TARDIS, parked silently in an alleyway.
Rose sat in her home as the news of the destroyed store is shown on the television as her mother, Jackie, comes in the room with a cup of tea and the home phone in her hand. "I know, it's on the telly. It's everywhere. She's lucky to be alive. Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now, you'd think I was her daughter." Jackie ranted into the phone as the door opens and closes, Mickey walking into the room. "Oh, and here's himself." She said, motioning Mickey into the room as she leaves.
"I've been phoning your mobile. You could've been dead!" Mickey said in slight hysteria. "It's on the news and everything! I can't believe that your shop went up." He pulled her into a hug as she raised one eyebrow at him.
"I'm all right, honestly, I'm fine. Don't need to fuss." She said softly.
"Well, what happened?"
"I don't know."
"What was it though? What caused it?"
"I wasn't in the shop, I was outside. Didn't see anything."
Jackie walks back in, the phone held to her shoulder. "It's Debbie on the end. She knows a man on The Mirror, 500 quid for an interview."
"Oh, that's brilliant. Give it here." She mumbled. Jackie hands her the phone before she hangs up and places the phone down with a hand on her forehead.
"Look, Rose, you've got to find some way of making money. Your job just went kaput and I can't bail you out." Jackie said softly.
"I know. Just give me a couple of days."
Jackie then sighed before the phone rang, making her pick it up. "Beth! She's alive. Yes, I've told her; Sue for compensation. She was within seconds of death." Jackie entered rant mode again as she left the room.
"Wait a moment, why are you drinking tea? Nah, that's no good. You're in shock, you need something stronger." Mickey said as he took the cup from her hand to place down on the coffee table.
"I'm all right."
"Now, come on. You deserve a proper drink. We're going down to the pub, you and me, my treat. How about it?"
"Is there a match on?" She said slyly.
"No, no, no. I'm just thinking about you, babe." He rambled.
"There's a match on, isn't there?"
"Yeah, we could catch the last five minutes, but that's not the point."
"Go on then. I'm fine, really. Now go." She said, shaking her head. "Oh, get rid of that." She said, pointing to the plastic arm on the armchair.
He looked at her, raising his eyebrows. She sighed before leaning up and giving him a kiss before he playfully shoves her back, making her chuckle. He gets up to leave, making her raise her ankle to trip him slightly, making him chuckle. He picks up the plastic arm as he walks out. "Goodbye." He says, in a high-pitched voice and using the plastic arm to effect.
"Bye." He uses it to pretend choking himself before leaving, Rose looking back at the TV, her improved mood going back into silence. Outside as Mickey walks away, he chucks the plastic arm into a nearby trash can, not noticing as he leaves the rattling noise inside.
March 5th, 2005
Rose groaned as her alarm woke her up at 7:30am, shutting it off before shooting up out of bed, remembering to get to work. "There's no point in getting up, sweetheart. You've got no job to go to." Jackie called through the door.
Rose then sighed, before falling asleep for another hour, waking up at 8:30am and getting up out of bed as the sun shines through the window. Getting dressed in her usual clothes, she headed into the living room as Jackie brought her a cup of tea.
"There's Finch's. You could try them; they've always got jobs." Jackie offered.
"Oh great. The butchers." Rose grumbled, shaking the drowsiness from her head.
"Well, it might do you good. That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about compensation. You've had genuine shock and trauma. Arianna got 2,000 quid off the council just cause the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek." Jackie rambled, grabbing her cup of tea to get dressed. "I mean, she is Greek, but that's not the point. It was a valid claim." She called back, making Rose chuckle.
The cat flap on the door fluttered before soft pattering was heard on the carpet. Rose gets up and walks to the front door. "Mum, you're such a liar. I told you to nail that cat flap down, we're going to get strays."
"I did it weeks back!" Jackie denied.
"No, you thought about…it." Rose trailed off as she noticed that there were nails, just on the floor by the hole like they had been wrenched out. The flap then fluttered, making Rose jump slightly before she presses a cautious finger to the flap and pushing it, leaning down slightly to see the Doctor looking through with furrowed eyebrows, making her jump up to open the door.
"What are you doing here?" He asked incredulously.
"I live here." She said bluntly.
"Well, what did you do that for?"
"Because I do. And I'm only because someone blew up my job."
He pulled out his sonic to look at it in confusion. "Must've got the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you?" He asked, tapping his knuckles softly on her forehead, making her lean back a bit. "Nope. Bone head. Bye then." He said with a grin, yet Rose grabbed him by the arm to pull him inside.
"You, inside, right now." She said before closing the door behind him as he blinked a few times.
"Who is it?" Jackie called.
Rose moved to the door of Jackie's room. "It's about last night, he's part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes."
Jackie nodded as Rose moved away, the Doctor standing where she was. "She deserves compensation." Jackie said before looking at him in appreciation, which he didn't notice.
"Oh, we're talking millions." He said, his sarcastic tone going unnoticed by Jackie.
"Um. *Clears throat* I'm in my dressing gown." She says, attempting a flirtatious tone.
"Yes, you are." He said obliviously.
"There's a strange man in my bedroom."
"Yes, there is." He said, now noticing her behaviour.
"Well, anything could happen."
The Doctor forces himself not to laugh at her, instead going for a sly smile. "No." He said, moving from the room, Jackie giving a 'Rude' face at his back. He enters the living room, where Rose is doing a hasty clean before moving into the kitchen.
"Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?" She offers.
"Might as well, thanks. Just milk." He says as he picks up a gossip magazine off the table.
"We should go to the police." Rose says, starting to ramble but the Doctor somewhat blanks it out.
"Hmph, that won't last. He's gay and she's an alien." He mumbles before putting it back down to pick up a book called 'The Lovely Bones'. Flicking through right to the last page, he frowns at it before putting it down. "Hmm, sad ending." He comments before finding a class picture and seeing the girl there yet younger. "Rose Tyler." He reads, before looking in the mirror. He gives a shrug before frowning. "If only she wouldn't keep poking fun at them." He says, flicking his ears and picking up a deck of cards. "Luck be a lady." He hums before trying to perform a card trick that ends up scattering the cards everywhere and him looking sheepish, yet Rose doesn't notice. "Maybe not." He groans before looking to the couch as a pattering noise is heard behind it. "What's that, then? Have you got a cat?"
"No." The Doctor gasps as a plastic arm shoots out and grasps hard onto his neck, choking him as he struggles to breathe and wrench it off. "We did have, but there's these strays, they come in off the estate." Rose says, coming into the room and rolling her eyes at him. "I told Mickey to chuck that out. You're all the same, just give a man a plastic hand." If the Doctor could, he would've given her the most obvious "Are you kidding me?" look. "Anyway, I don't even know your name. Doctor…what was it?" Before she continues, he finally wrenches the arm off completely, yet it hovers in the air for a split second before flying at Rose, placing its hand on her face, cutting off her sight and breathing as the Doctor jumps up to help her. He tries to wrench it off yet only succeeds in sending them tumbling into the coffee table, smashing it. He then pulls out his sonic and wrenches the arm off Rose before hastily flicking settings and killing the arm stone dead, making them breathe a sigh of relief.
"It's all right, I stopped it. You see? Harmless." He says with a smile, holding back a slight roll of the eyes as he hears a blow dryer on.
"Do you think?" She says before whacking his arm with the plastic arm.
"Ow." He says, wincing at the pain before grabbing the plastic arm and moving to leave, Rose looking at him with furrowed eyebrows and wide eyes.
"Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off!" She says as they leave the flat and descent down the flight of stairs to the ground.
"Yes, I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off. See ya!" He says with a grin.
"That arm was moving! It tried to kill me!"
"Ten out of ten for observation." He mumbles which she doesn't hear.
"You can't just walk away! That's not fair! You've got to tell me what's going on."
"No, I don't." He says as they reach the bottom of the stairs and head outside, the Doctor heading down the route he took from the TARDIS.
"All right, then. I'll go the police, I'll tell everyone. You said if I did that, I'd get people killed, so your choice. Tell me or I'll start talking." She says bluntly.
"Is that supposed to sound tough?" He asks, not impressed.
"Sort of." She mumbles.
"*Scoffs* Doesn't work."
"Who are you?"
"I told you; The Doctor."
"Yeah, but Doctor what?"
"Just "The Doctor"."
"The Doctor?"
"Hello!"
"Is that supposed to sound impressive?"
"Sort of." He says smugly.
"Come on, then. You can tell me, I've seen enough. Are you the police?"
"No! I was…just passing through. I'm a long way from home."
"But what have I done wrong? How come those plastic things keep coming after me?"
"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you! You were just an accident, got in the way. That's all."
"It tried to kill me!"
"It was after me, not you! Last night, in the shop, I was there. You blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down and it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on you is because you've met me."
"So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you?"
"Sort of, yeah."
"You're full of it!"
"Sort of, yeah."
"But, all this plastic stuff, who else knows about it?"
"Clara knows. Clara always knows." He says with a fond smile.
"Oh, who's Clara?" She asks, raising her eyebrows.
"Oh, nobody! She's just a friend." He squeaks yet she notices his blush.
"So, where's Clara at?"
"Oh, she's resting. Been knackered lately."
"Oh, knackered?" Rose teased.
"Not like that!"
"Hold on a minute! Last night you were worried you'd be found out. Did you mean by her?"
"No!"
Rose laughs. "Entire world revolves around you? Sounds like you revolve around her."
"No, I don't!"
"You're blushing." She points out.
The Doctor stammers for a bit. "Shut up."
"So, is there anyone else who knows about the plastic?"
"Who else could there be? You lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed and watch telly, when all the time underneath you, there's a war going on." He rambled.
"Hey, start from the beginning. I mean, if we're going to go with the living plastic, which I don't believe for a second, but how did you kill it?"
"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, stone dead." He explained.
"So, like radio control?"
"Thought control." He corrects. He looks at her, noticing her faraway look. "You, all right?"
"Yeah. So, who's controlling it, then?"
"Long story."
"But, what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies, what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" They start laughing at this.
"No. It's not a price war." This makes them laugh harder before they revert to comfortable talking. "They want to overthrow humanity and destroy you. Do you believe me?"
"No." She shakes her head.
"But you're still listening." He points out, making her pause yet he keeps on moving, finally seeing the TARDIS on a corner sidewalk.
"Really though, Doctor. Tell me, who are you?"
The Doctor stops as he turns to look back at her. "Do you know like we were saying, about the Earth revolving?" He asks as he walks to stand next to her. "It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning, and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. But I can feel it." He then takes her hand as she looks at him in raptured confusion. "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 trails off, not needing to finish as he lets go of her hand. "That's who I am. Now forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home." He says before walking away to the TARDIS with the plastic arm. Rose slowly walks away, full of confusion at his words yet oddly enchanted by them. She stops as she hears the TARDIS engine, like rushing wind yet not feeling anything. She turns around to see the TARDIS disappear from the street, her eyes widening at this. She then gets an idea and heads off to Mickey's flat.
Knocking on the door, Rose waits until Mickey opens it, smiling to see her. "Hey, hey! Here's my woman. Kit off." He slaps her arse playfully.
"Shut up." She teases before giving him a kiss.
"Coffee?" He offers.
"Yes, but only if you wash the mug. And I don't mean rinse, I mean wash. Can I use your computer?"
"Yeah, any excuse to get in the bedroom." He flirts as he heads into the kitchen, turning back as he realises. "Don't read my emails!" He calls, the only answer being a mumbled 'sure' and the door closing, making him shrug as he moved to make the coffee. Inside the room, Rose sits at the computer, contemplating what to do before opening a search engine and typing in "Doctor". This brings up over 17 million results. She thinks before typing in "Doctor Living Plastic". This brings up over 55 thousand results. She thinks for another idea, before typing in "Doctor Blue Box". This brings up nearly 500 results with the first being a website called "Doctor Who?". She clicks on the link, bringing up a page with giant letters and a photo of the man she had conversed with not long before. "Doctor Who? Have you seen this man? Contact Clive".
"You're not coming in? He's safe, he's got a wife and kids." Rose says as Mickey pulls up to Clive's house.
"Yeah, but who told you that? He did. That's exactly what an internet lunatic murderer would say." He rambles in paranoia.
Rose shakes her head before exiting the car and heading to the front door of the house as a neighbour rolls out his bin to the side walk. Rose knocks on the door and a kid answers it. "Um, hello. I've come to see Clive, we've been emailing."
"Oh. Dad! It's one of your nutters!" He calls before heading back into the house as Rose raises one eyebrow at his words before shrugging as an adult man comes to the door.
"Oh, sorry, hello. You must be Rose, I'm Clive." He says warmly as he shakes her hand.
"I better tell you now, my boyfriend's waiting in the car just in case you're going to kill me." She says, her words making them laugh.
"Good point. Don't worry, no murders here."
"Who is it?" Clive's wife calls.
"Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor. She's been reading the website." He calls back, before turning back to Rose. "Please come through. I'm in the shed." He motions Rose inside as his wife comes down the stairs with a basket of washing.
"She? She's read a website about the Doctor. She's a she?" She mumbles incredulously as she closes the door.
"A lot of this stuff is quite sensitive, so I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept, if you know what I mean." Rose nods in understanding as he rummages through his findings in the shed. "If you dig deep enough and 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". The title seems to be passed down from father to son, like an inheritance, that's your Doctor there, eh?" He asks, pointing to the computer with the website.
"Yeah."
"I tracked it down to the Washington Public Archive, just last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original…" He pulls out a photo, containing the Doctor standing in a crowd as they watch President Kennedy in a car, waving at them. "November 22nd, 1963: The assassination of President Kennedy."
"Must be his father."
"Going further back…" He puts down the photo to pick up another. "April 1912. This is a photograph of the Daniels family of Southampton and 'friend'." He points to the black and white picture, containing a family of six and the Doctor, standing by them in a suit. "This was taken the day before they were due to sail for the new world on the Titanic and for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. Another one…" He picks up another photo, this time a drawing of the Doctor outside a barn with a volcano in the background. "1883, another doctor. See the same lineage? He's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very night that Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend, woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings a storm in his wake and he has one constant companion."
"Who's that?"
"Death." He says bluntly. "If the Doctor's back, if you've seen him, Rose, then one thing's for certain; We're all in danger. If he's singled you out, if the Doctor's making house calls, then god help you." He says in warning.
"But, who is he? Who do you think he is?"
"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."
Waiting in the car with patience, Mickey looks at a nearby trash bin in confusion as it starts to shudder and move towards him. He blinks for a moment before raising his eyebrows as it starts to move more smoothly. He gets out of his car and walks towards it cautiously before grabbing the lid and fining it open. "Come on then!" He yells before pausing as he finds it empty. Shaking his head, he places the lid back down before going to move, except he can't. He finds his hands literally glued to the lid, so he tries to wrench the away, seeing silicon like plastic tethering him to the bin as it starts to growl and open its lid by itself. He looks at it in fear as he tries to wrench his hands away harder, causing him to spin so his back was to the bin before it flicks its lid, making him fly towards it with a yelp as he falls face first into the bin.
Rose returns from the house and enters the car, not noticing Mickey's face now paler with a complexity like someone sanded his skin and created fake hair, with him wearing a dreamy yet evil smile on his face. "All right, he's a nutter, off his head, a complete, online conspiracy freak, you win." Rose rambles. "What are we going to do tonight? I fancy a pizza."
"Pizza. Puh-puh-puh-pizza." Mickey stutters.
"Or Chinese." Rose says, oblivious.
"Pizza." He then drives off, swerving as he nearly crashes into the street lamps and bins on his way.
Now sitting in a restaurant at night, Rose sat across from Mickey, still oblivious to his change in manner and behaviour. "Do you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had jobs going in the canteen. Is that it, then? Dishing out chips? I could do A-levels. I don't know. *Sigh* It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school because of him and look where he ended up. What do you think?" She rambles.
"So, where did you meet this Doctor?" Mickey asks, ignoring everything she said.
"I'm sorry, was I talking about me for a second?" Rose says, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Because I reckon it all started back at the shop, am I right? Was he something to do with that?"
"No."
"Come on." He fails his attempt at a soft smile, yet Rose doesn't notice.
"Sort of."
"What was he doing there?"
"I'm not going on about him, Mickey. Really, I'm not. Cause, I know it sounds daft, but I don't think he's safe. He's dangerous."
"But you can trust me, sweetheart. Babe, babe, sugar, babe, sugar. You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose, cause that's all I really want to do, sweetheart. Babe, babe, sugar, sweetheart." He jerks every time he tries to say something endearing, causing his voice to change pitches, which makes Rose look at him in confusion.
The Doctor walks up to their table, holding a bottle of champagne. "Your champagne." He says to Mickey.
"We didn't order any champagne. Where's the Doctor?" He says, now getting much more serious as he reaches across the table to grasp at Rose's hand.
"Madam, your champagne." The Doctor says to Rose.
"It's not ours." Rose waves him off. "Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?"
"I need to find out how much he knows, so where is he?"
"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" The Doctor asks, holding back his childish whine.
"Look, we didn't order it-" Mickey stops as he looks up to see the Doctor before an evil grin creeps across his face as the Doctor starts to shake the bottle violently. "Ah, gotcha."
"Don't mind me, I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!" He yells, attracting the attention of everyone else as he pops the cork, which fires directly to Mickey's forehead, yet it is absorbed like rocks falling into water. Mickey then chews around with the cork before spitting it out, the Doctor raising his eyebrows at this. "Huh, that was a bit clever."
Mickey shrugs. "Anyway, where was I?" He stands up and turns his hand into a paddle before striking the table, breaking it in half as Rose stands up and moves towards a nearby fire alarm. The Doctor leaps forward and grasps his hands onto Mickey's head, giving it a few wrenches before it pops off, causing him to stumble into a nearby table. Mickey's eyes open as he looks up at the Doctor. "Don't think that's going to stop me." This makes a man at the table scream while the Doctor laughs gleefully.
Rose smashes her hand on the fire alarm. "Everyone, out! Out now!" She yells and they all comply with her order immediately, leaving the restaurant as fast as they can. The Doctor leads Rose through the kitchen to a back exit. The headless Mickey follows them as he turns his other hand into a paddle, banging on the back door as the Doctor locks it with the sonic. Rose heads to a nearby gate, oblivious to the TARDIS sitting there. "Open the gate! Use that tube thing, come on!"
"Sonic screwdriver." He corrects as he heads over to the TARDIS.
"Use it!"
"Nah. Tell you what, let's go in here."
"We can't hide inside a wooden box!"
"Yes, we can!" He says as he unlocks it and enters. Closing the door behind him, he stops as he looks up. Standing by the console, wearing a black jacket over a red dress, with black tights and heeled boots, was Clara, her arms crossed as she looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Where the hell have you been?" She demands.
"I was just dealing with some plastic." The Doctor mumbles, shifting under her gaze.
"Oh yeah, by using an arm and failing, might I add?"
"Did the TARDIS tell you?"
"Yes, and she told me how you blew up a building." She then walks towards him.
"No, wait, Clara, please!" He pleads as she pulls him around and Gibbs slaps him across the head. "Oww! Why did you do that for?!" He whines.
"For being an idiot!" She says before looking down. "Next time, please don't do that, never again." She says softly.
"All right, I'm sorry." He opens his arms as she gives him a hug.
"Whose was that with you outside?"
"Girl called Rose. Found her about to die in the shop then with the arm I was tracking down." He mumbles.
"She sounds a bit oblivious." Clara notes.
"Oh, that isn't even the half of it." The Doctor quipped, making them chuckle as Rose opens the door and rushes inside, looking around with wide eyes at the interior of the ship before rushing outside. "This is the part where people say-"
"It's bigger on the inside, yeah."
"What did I say in Victorian London?"
The Doctor gulped sheepishly. "'It's smaller on the outside.'"
Clara laughed. "Pity, I would've said the same thing but, you know…" They glanced at each other. "Plane." They said in unison with a chuckle. "Now, hurry up with that head." She nudges him along to the console as he gets to work.
Rose rushes back inside. "He's going to follow us!" She slows as she looks around the ship in blinking confusion and awe.
"The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door and believe me, they've tried, now shut up a minute." Clara raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, I'll tell you that story someday." He smiled at her before she grabs the sonic to give him a hand. "Maybe I should get you your own one sometime."
"Maybe. But where would be the fun of not snatching yours?" She says teasingly.
"Oi!"
"The arm was too simple then?" Clara asks.
"Yep. Head is much better. We can use it to trace back to the original source. But first…" He trails off as he nods in Rose's direction, making them both turn to her. "Now then, where do you want to start?"
"The inside is bigger than the outside."
"Yep." Clara nods.
"It's alien."
"Yep." The Doctor nods.
"Are you two aliens?"
"He is, I'm not." Clara says.
"Is that all right?" The Doctor asks.
"Yeah." Rose nods absentmindedly.
"She's called the TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S. That's Time and Relative Dimension in Space."
Rose places a hand over her mouth as she lets out a sob.
"It'll be all right, Rose." Clara reassures.
"Did they kill him, Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?"
"No." The Doctor shakes his head. "That was a duplicate. To maintain it, they would need Mickey alive."
"So, what's going to happen if you let him melt?!" Rose shrieks as she points to the head.
"Melt?" The Doctor mumbles incredulously before he and Clara noticed it. "Oh, no, no, no, no!" He says as he and Clara race around the TARDIS.
"What are you doing?" Rose asks.
"Following the signal, but it's fading." Clara answers. "Hold on, we might have it."
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor whines. "Come on, old girl! We're almost there!" The TARDIS lands as he rushes outside, Clara rolling her eyes at his back.
"He can't go out there, it's not safe." Rose mumbles.
"He's an overgrown child with an ego, of course he would." Clara says, placing her hand on Rose's shoulder, calming her a bit. "Come on, let's hope he doesn't embarrass himself." They follow him outside, Rose's eyes widening as they see their new location of the London waterfront.
"I lost the signal! I got so close!" He whined.
"Well then, we better start looking." Clara pointed out with a shake of her head.
"We've moved. Does it fly?" Rose asks.
"No. It's like teleporting." The Doctor says.
"Well, what about that headless thing? Is it still on the loose?" Rose asks.
"It would've melted with the head." Clara says.
"Well, if the duplicate is dead, then wouldn't Mickey be dead?" Rose asks.
"No, they'd be using him as bait now." The Doctor says, Rose relaxing at his words slightly.
"Wait a moment, if you are an alien, how come you sound like you're from the north?" Rose points out, her words making Clara laugh.
"Lots of planets have a north!" He defended.
Rose raises her eyebrows. "You were right, Clara. He is an overgrown child with an ego."
"I am not!"
"Oh yes, you are!" Clara says, her and Rose giggling into their hands.
"Okay, what's a "Police Public Call Box"?" Rose asks.
The Doctor places a hand on the TARDIS in fondness. "They're telephone boxes, from the 1960's. It's a disguise."
"So, this living plastic, what's it got against us?"
"Nothing. It loves you. You got such a good planet, lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. It's just what the Nestene consciousness needs, since it's food stock was destroyed in the war, rotting all its protein planets so Earth, dinner."
"Is there a way to stop it?"
The Doctor pulls out a vial full of blue liquid, but Clara beats him to it.
"Plasticide." She says.
The Doctor looks at her with raised eyebrows. "Plasticide?"
"Yeah. It's a chemical and it kills plastic."
"No, you don't get to name things. I'm the Doctor, I do the naming." He whines.
"Oh, really?" Clara raised her eyebrows. "What were you going to call it? Anti-plastic?"
The Doctor gains a sheepish blush. "What? No!"
Rose laughs at this. "I think Clara should handle the naming business."
"Aw, thanks Rose." Clara giggles.
"You two going to witter on all night?" He says with a damaged ego. "First, we have to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?" He starts to pace, Clara and Rose following him.
"The Nestene?" Rose asks.
"No, the transmitter." Clara corrects. "If the Nestene is smart enough, he'd be underground, we're looking for the transmitter. The Nestene can't control every single piece of plastic on a planet, it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."
"So, what's it look like?"
"Like a normal transmitter. Round, massive, like a dish or a wheel and slap-bang in the middle of London. It should be close to where we're standing, so it must be completely invisible." He rambles, coming in front of the London Eye, yet not noticing it, Clara biting her lip to hide her laughter. The Doctor looks at her in confusion. "What?" She nods behind him, making him look back for a split second. "What?" She nods behind him, her grin becoming harder to maintain. "What is it, what?"
Rose bursts out laughing, making Clara hold back her giggling with a hand. "You are an idiot."
The Doctor gets the idea, looking behind him to notice the Eye. "Oh. Fantastic!" He says with a grin, taking Clara's hand to race off with Rose to the Eye.
Arriving underneath the Eye, Rose stops to regain her breath while the Doctor and Clara look around. "Think about it; Plastic, all over the world, just waiting to come alive."
"Shop window dummies, phones, wires, cables." Clara lists.
"The breast implants." Clara and the Doctor look at Rose with furrowed eyebrows. "What? I couldn't think of anything better."
"Still, we've found the transmitter, so there must be an entrance to go underneath it."
Clara looks around before heading to a nearby staircase, seeing a maintenance entrance. "How bout down here?" She calls, getting the Doctor and Rose to run over.
"Marvellous." The Doctor congratulates Clara, making her gain a smile as they race over to it and enter. Entering what could be a small cupboard, he opens the door to see a staircase inside, red light bathing them completely while they see a large vat at the bottom of the stairs. Inside the vat was a creature made of something eerily like lava, rolling around inside. "The Nestene consciousness. That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature."
"Well then, tip in your plasticide and let's go." Rose says.
"We're not here to kill it, Rose. We have to give it a chance." Clara says softly as the Doctor goes down the stairs slightly.
"I seek audience with the Nestene consciousness under peaceful contract, according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."
*Growl* (Request granted)
"Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?"
*Growl* (You shall)
Rose notices a huddled and terrified Mickey near the bottom of the stairs. "Oh my god, Mickey." She rushes to his side. "Mickey, it's me, it's okay." She says as she reaches him.
"That thing down there, the liquid, Rose, it can talk." He murmurs in fear.
"You're stinking." Rose mumbles before turning to Clara. "You were right, they kept him alive."
"Told you he'd be fine." Clara says softly. The Doctor begins to walk downstairs. "Wait! You're not going down there."
"You're not either!"
"I can already guess what's going to happen, so you're not going down there." She warns.
"If you can already guess it, then why would it happening to you be any better?"
"Cause at least it's just little old me instead of you." She says softly. The Doctor looks at her in shock. "Doctor just do as you're told."
The Doctor then sighs before handing her the plastic. "Remember, only if you have to."
Clara nods before heading down, missing Rose's worried look at her back.
"She'll be fine, won't she?" Rose asks the Doctor.
"It's Clara, she'll always be fine." He says softly.
Clara walks down to the bottom of the stairs, before standing on a ledge overlooking the vat. "Am I addressing the consciousness?"
*Growl* (Yes)
"If I might observe, you infiltrated this planet by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I ask with the greatest respect that you just shut off?" She says with a giggle. If he was close enough, she would've heard the Doctor chuckling.
*Growl* (This planet is owed to me! Why else would it have so much plastic?!"
"Oh, don't give me that constitutional rights talk! It's an invasion, plain and simple!" She huffs.
*Growl* (All my planets are dead! Where else am I supposed to-)
"I am talking!" Clara shouts, shutting up the Nestene. The Doctor and Rose look on, surprised and impressed. "This planet is only just starting! We, stupid little apes have only just learnt how to walk, so what gives you the right to determine their fate?! I'm asking you, as a Human, please just go."
"Clara!" The Doctor shouts as three dummies come up from behind her, one restraining her while the other searchers her pockets. The third walks to the stairs and opens its hand to reveal a gun, pointing it at the Doctor. The dummy searching her pockets pulls out the plasticide.
*Growl* (You pretend to be kind, yet you would kill me?!)
"I wasn't going to use it!" She denies. "I'm not here to kill you, I'm not your enemy, I'm just here to help you!"
*Growl* (Then why did you bring a TARDIS?!")
"What do you mean?!" Clara asks, her answer being a storage door opening behind her to reveal the TARDIS. "No! She's just a ship, she's not a weapon!"
*Growl* (The Time Lords condemned my planet to die!)
"That's not true! I should know, I was there!" The Doctor denied. "I fought in the war; it wasn't my fault!"
*Growl* (You abandoned my people to die!)
"I couldn't save your world; I couldn't save any of them!"
"What's it doing?!" Rose shrieks.
"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene's identified its superior technology, and it's terrified! It's going to start the invasion!"
Rose immediately pulls out her phone to call Jackie. "Mum?!"
"Oh, there you are. I was just going to phone." Jackie's voice comes through the mobile. "You can get compensation, I said so. I've got this document thing off the police, so don't thank me."
"Where are you, Mum?!"
"I'm in town!"
"Look, go home! Just go home, right now!"
"Darling, you're breaking up! Listen, I'm just going to do a bit of late-night shopping. I'll see you later. Tra!"
The dial tone comes through. "Mum?! Mum!"
The Nestene begins to flare blue electricity, shooting up through the roof and the foundations of the Eye. "It's the activation signal, it's transmitting!" The Doctor yells.
"Doctor just leg it! Just get out, now!" Clara yells.
"I can't leave you!"
"You have to!" The Doctor shakes his head and moves forward, the dummy in front of him fires, missing his shoulder by inches and hitting the staircase connections, causing some of it to tumble away, leaving them trapped.
"The stairs have gone!" Rose says. She and Mickey rush to the box yet finding it locked. The Doctor moves to follow, but the dummy fires again, hitting his shoulder and making him gasp in pain. Rose looks around before seeing a long pair of chains, locked to the wall and next to an emergency axe. She rushes to the chains, Mickey and the Doctor watching.
"What're you doing?!" Mickey yells.
"I've got no A-levels, no job and no future." She mumbles before grabbing the axe and smashing the lock away. "But I tell you what I've got. Jericho Street Junior school, under-7s gymnastics team." She rolls out the chains and grasps onto them hard. "I've got the bronze." She rushes forward and off the staircase towards the ledge. The armed dummy fires three shots but they miss her as she knocks over the dummy holding the plasticide into the Nestene, while Clara shakes off the dummy holding her. The armed dummy turns to aim at Clara, but the plasticide burns into the Nestene, causing it to roar in pain, making the dummy stumble as it fires, aiming instead at Clara's shoulder as she cries in pain. She ignores it to stop Rose, before clutching her shoulder with a wince.
"Now we're in trouble." Clara quips despite the pain towards the Nestene before they rush towards the TARDIS. The Doctor unlocks it, Mickey rushing in first, followed by Rose as the Doctor pulls Clara inside as they pilot away, the Nestene continuing to roar in pain as the electrical transmission goes haywire, causing the tunnel to shatter and fill with rubble as it dies.
The TARDIS lands on an empty street, Mickey rushing out in fear of the TARDIS interior, Rose walking outside and breathing heavily. The Doctor walks towards Clara with a worried look as they help each other patch up their wounds. "Why did you have to be so stupid?" The Doctor murmurs.
"Better you than me. I'm only Human and you're a time lord." Clara mumbles.
The Doctor pulls her into a hug. "Don't do that ever again."
"I can't promise that if you haven't been holding to it either. Besides, you shouldn't worry about me." She says, looking at him softly.
"Rubbish, of course I worry about you." He says, reciprocating her look. They look down at their closeness with a small blush. "Perhaps we should see how they're doing." He nods to the open door.
"Yeah, we should." She nods as they move to the door, not noticing that they were still holding hands. Outside, they see Rose pull out her phone to dial her mother.
"Rose! Rose don't go out of the house, it's not safe! There were these things, and they were shooting and-"
Rose laughs in relief before hanging up, knowing she'll be fine despite her hysterical rambling. She turns towards Mickey who was huddled down by a wooden pallet. "Fat lot of good you were." She then turns to look at Clara and the Doctor.
"Nestene consciousness? Easy." Clara quips.
"You two were useless in there, you'd be dead if it wasn't for me." Rose teases.
"Yes, I would. Thank you." Clara says, giving a soft smile which Rose returns.
"Right then, we'll be off. Unless…you want to come with us?" The Doctor offers. "This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. She goes anywhere in the universe, free of charge."
"Don't. He's an alien, he's a thing!" Mickey mumbles hysterically. "They're both things!"
"Yes, and you're not invited, thank you." Clara says, not appreciating his words. The Doctor rubs his thumb on her hand, calming her.
"So, what do you think?" The Doctor asks. "You could stay here and fill your life with work, food and sleep or you could anywhere."
"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asks.
"Yep." The Doctor nods.
Mickey hugs Rose's legs like a child. "Yeah, I can't, sorry. I've got to go and find my Mum, and someone's got to look after this stupid lump."
The Doctor and Clara look at her, Clara suppressing her disappointment better than the Doctor. "Okay." He mumbles. "See you around." He lets go of Clara's hand to move back to the console as Clara closes the door as the TARDIS dematerializes away.
"Come on, let's go." Rose says to Mickey, untangling his arms away from her legs to walk away. She looks back in shock as the TARDIS materializes again in the same spot, the door opening to reveal Clara with a smug smile.
"Did we mention that she also travels in time?" She asks, her words making Rose grin, so she steps aside, knowing her answer.
Rose turns to Mickey. "Thanks."
"Thanks for what?" Mickey asks.
"Exactly." Rose grins before kissing his cheek and rushing off into the TARDIS, closing the door behind her with after a moment, dematerializes again.
AN: Thank you so much for reading and please leave a review if you wish. :)