The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 19
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, if I did, then I wouldn't be running out of disclaimers.
A/N: And here's the second chapter of The Idiot's Lantern. I wonder how the Doctor will react when he finds out that Rhea's face was stolen by The Wire. And what happened to Rose? Will she be all right? By the way, the title for this chapter comes from one of the first movies about aliens back in the 1950s. I thought it would be appropriate. And this is a very Rhea-lite episode, except for the last scene between the Doctor and Rhea. And I'm glad some of you seem to be following my Tumblr!
Notes on Reviews:
Mionerocks: I'm sorry your review didn't show up. The Wire had better run for it, the Oncoming Storm is coming for her. I'm glad you like the flirtation between Rhea and the Doctor, it's getting more serious.
YingWhiteyWolf: I'm so glad you think my story is that good! Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of Rose myself, I do like her a lot, but she's not my favourite companion, but I'm not going to make her a bitch in this story, I'll probably make her jealous and bitchy in my Time Lady story though. Yeah, I try not to answer anything on my phone, cause it always ends up really bad, plus I can't type all that well on my phone. I'm glad you're feeling better, but again, if you want to talk, my inbox is always open.
Grapejuice101: Yeah, the Doctor will be very angry when he finds out that it was Rhea who was taken. His thought process will be a bit whacked out in this chapter, his mind won't be all that clear. There are a few very fluffy bonding moments between the two at the end of the this chapter, so I hope you like it!
Beulah2013: I'm so glad you like her sarcasm. Rhea seems like the sort not to take crap from anyone. She's a very hard person but she's starting to care for the Doctor.
Queenylime2: Yes, the Oncoming Storm will be making an appearance in this chapter ;) I can't wait! Yeah, there was, Rhea was overly sexual in the previous chapter, she's getting very bold with him, you should see her in the next chapter. Rose won't be featured in this chapter all that much, except for the beginning, it'll be more focused on the Doctor trying to get Rhea back.
Gothic Immy: I'm happy you liked the chapter and I hope you like this one as well!
Hayleyrayxx: I'm so glad you like it!
Warnings: Swearing, sexual innuendo…
Italics – Rhea's thoughts/The Doctor's thoughts
The Idiot's Lantern: The Day The Earth Stood Still
He averted his eyes as Rhea's face was sucked into the screen, while the woman groaned in pain.
"Goodnight, children. Everywhere." The Wire whispered, serenely, utterly and completely pleased with herself.
"Start from the beginning, tell me everything you know." The man in charge ordered the Doctor. He was standing over the Doctor, who was seated at the other side of the man's desk.
"Well... for starters... I know you can't wrap your hand around your elbow and make your fingers meet." The Doctor said, maintaining his serious expression.
The man pointed at him in a reprimanding manner. "Don't get clever with me. You were there today at Florizel Street, and now breaking into this establishment. Now, you're connected with this. Make no mistake." The man scowled.
"Well, the thing is, Detective Inspector Bishop-" The Doctor said, leaning forward.
"How do you know my name?" D.I. Bishop interjected.
"It's…written inside your collar." The Doctor said, mildly apologetic.
Bishop looked slightly embarrassed and adjusted his collar so that the label couldn't be seen.
"Bless your mum." The Doctor commented, before continuing. "But, I can't help thinking, Detective Inspector, you're not exactly doing much detective inspecting. Are you?"
"I'm doing everything in my power." Bishop said, defensively.
"All you're doing is grabbing those faceless people and hiding them as fast as you can. Don't tell me… orders from above, hmm?" The Doctor nodded, agreeing with himself. "Coronation Day... the eyes of the world are on London Town... so any sort of problem just gets swept out of sight." The Doctor was spinning from side to side in his chair, completely relaxed. When he took a look at the D.I's face, he looked slightly irritated, probably because the Doctor seemed to know all about their inside goings-on.
"The nation has an image to maintain." Bishop said, stiffly.
"Doesn't it drive you mad?" The Doctor asked, incredulously. "Doing nothing? Don't you wanna get out there and… investigate?"
"Course I do. But..." Bishop trailed off. He sat down, ready to confide in the Doctor. "With all the crowds expected, we haven't got the man-power. Even if we did... this is... beyond anything we've ever seen." He looked helpless and totally confused. He had no idea what was happening around here and no idea how to fix it. "I just don't know anymore. Twenty years on the force..." The Doctor leaned forwards, listening carefully. "... I don't even know where to start. We haven't the faintest clue what's going on."
"Well…" The Doctor drawled. "That could change."
"How?" Bishop frowned.
The Doctor stood, looking down at Detective Inspector Bishop, it looked as though their roles had been reversed from the beginning of their conversation.
"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know." The Doctor told him.
A black car pulled into the warehouse. Two men get out, one pulling someone covered in a blanket out of the back seat and leading the figure away, and the other carrying another person, this one awake and aware but confused and lightheaded, in their arms.
The Doctor and Bishop were standing by a large map on a stand.
"We started finding them about a month ago. Persons left sans visage. Heads just... blank." The detective explained.
The Doctor frowned, looking at the map, intently. "Is there any sort of pattern?" He examined a file he found on a nearby desk.
"Yes, spreading out from North London. All over the City. Men, women, kids... grannies... the only real lead is there's been quite a large number in-"
"Florizel Street." The Doctor finished.
There was a knock on the door and the Doctor and Bishop looked up.
"Found another one, sir. And a girl, this one's awake." A policeman said.
"Oh, er - good man, Crabtree. Here we are, Doctor..."
He ushered in the blanket-covered figure. The Doctor felt as if something heavy had dropped into his stomach, his muscles weak, when he recognised the black and white striped pattern on the figure's skirt. She had made his mouth dry when he had first got a glimpse of her outfit, and she had known it. Rhea always knew what buttons to push. He looked down at honey skinned legs ending in tall black heels. The Doctor dropped the files on the table. He closed his eyes, briefly, before walking over and pulling the blanket off the figure's head. The Doctor's eyes widened with horror.
"Take a good look. See what you can deduce." Bishop said, not taking notice of the Doctor's reaction to the identity of the latest victim.
"Rhea." The Doctor croaked.
Bishop frowned. "Do you know her?"
"Know her. She's my…" He trailed off. He raised his hand and touched her black curls briefly before his arm fell back to his side, staring down at her featureless face. All the voices in the background faded out, utterly meaningless to him, his only purpose now was to find the thing that had taken Rhea's face and stop them. No matter what. He looked down at her, pained, when he saw absolutely no response on that beautiful face. Eyes that shined bright green when she was happy or darkened when she was furious or when she wanted him desperately, a nose that scrunched up adorably when she was confused and lips that widened into bright smiles or were bitten when she was hiding something from him. He wanted her to scream "Gotcha!" and throw her arms around him and maybe kiss him. Or maybe he'd kiss her in his relief, and she'd be mad at him for a minute, and maybe punch him, but then she'd kiss him back. It wasn't as if he thought Rhea's face was the only thing beautiful about her, he wasn't shallow, not about her at least. What made him furious was that they had taken everything that made her Rhea. It hurt. He needed her back. He need her back right now. And he was going to get her back.
No one would stop him.
Someone help them if they tried.
"They found them in the street, apparently, over at Master Square, abandoned." The policeman was telling Bishop.
The Doctor heard the first bit of that sentence. "Them?" He asked, not taking his eyes off Rhea for a second.
"There's a girl. She was unconscious when we found her, but she woke up while we were in the car. She's still a bit confused, though." The policeman told the Doctor.
"Where is she?" The Doctor asked.
"She's outside." The policeman went outside and pulled in a familiar looking girl with pink heels and a matching skirt.
"Rose." The Doctor said, with relief, as the blonde girl came closer and hugged him tight, her face wet with tears.
"She pushed me out of the way. I tried to stop them, but they knocked me out first." Rose sobbed into his shoulder.
The Doctor hugged her back, just as tight. He pulled back, looking Rose right in the eyes. "I'll get her back, Rose. I promise." That's my Rhea, she'd only go out fighting.
"That's unusual, that's the first one out in the open, left in a street like that. Heaven help us if something happens in public tomorrow for the big day, we'll have Torchwood on our back, make no mistake." The Detective Inspector muttered to the other policemen.
The Doctor was staring at Rhea, heartbroken, when he heard Bishop speak, the man's words registering in his mind. "They did what?" The Doctor asked, icily, trembling with rage.
"I'm sorry." Bishop said, confused.
"They left her where?" The Doctor asked, with incredibly forced calm, but his voice was nearly a growl.
"Just…in the street." The D.I told the Doctor.
"In the street." The Doctor said, quietly, nodding. "They left her in the street." He exhaled. "They took her face and just chucked her out and left her in the street." They took her away from ME and just threw her out in the street. His voice lowered to a snarl, the Oncoming Storm breaking from his shackles and rising to the surface. "And as a result, that makes things… simple. Very, very simple. Do you know why?" He asked, finally tearing his eyes away from Rhea's blank face, taking his glasses off, turning to the other men and Rose.
"No…" The Detective Inspector said, slowly, suddenly terrified of the merciless man in front of him.
"Because, now, Detective Inspector Bishop, there is no power in this universe that can stop me. Come on!" The Doctor shouted, practically spitting the words out furiously. Without a moment's hesitation, he made for the door, not even bothering to see if the men were following him. "Rose, stay with her." The Doctor ordered, not looking back for a second. Get her back, NOW!
The Doctor and Bishop burst out of the warehouse gates into new sunlight as the dawn of a new day approached.
"The big day dawns…" Bishop murmured.
The Doctor, however, did not give any indication that he had heard Bishop speak. Instead, he moved on immediately.
A small boy was fiddling with the television in the Connolly household while a little girl came over and slapped his hand away from the set. The room was crowded with people, friends and family, all chatting away, everyone eager to watch the coronation live on the television. Mr Connolly came through the front door, closing it behind him. Rita approached him and he looked down at her, menacingly.
His voice was low and threatening. "You've had your fun with your little Doctor... but now you're left with me, Rita. So you'll behave yourself. And smile."
Rita was entirely too scared to disobey him. She fixed a small, fake smile on her face, though if you looked closer, you could see her lips trembling. They entered the crowded living room together, all smiles.
"Here we go, everyone! Here we go! Grub's up, grub's up, tuck in, take a sandwich." Mr Connolly exclaimed to his guests. He squeezed into the room. The first footage of the coronation appeared on the screen. "Oh, here we go, here we go, it's started! Take your places, sit down, sit down."
They all settled themselves down in chairs or on the floor.
"Rita, love! Just look at that telly-box then, eh? Innit marvelous? The picture's so clear!" One of the older woman exclaimed to Rita, very impressed.
"Here, Beth, I says to Rita, I says, "You didn't need to get your hair done special, love! The Queen won't be able to see you!" Mr Connolly leaned forward to talk to her, Betty and Eddie laughing as he did so. Rita didn't look amused at all, but smiled politely anyways. Tommy looked affronted at this joke at his mother's expense.
"Where's your old mum, then? She can't go missing it!" Betty asked Rita.
Rita paled, not sure how she was going to manage this. "Sorry, um... mum can't make it down." She said, weakly.
Betty nodded. "Ahh, bless her. Maybe we could pop up and see her later." She offered.
Tommy took his chance. "Maybe you could. It's a good idea." He turned to his father. "What do you think, dad? Maybe Aunty Betty could go and see gran later?"
Tommy hid his grin as his father fumed at him silently. Mr Connolly laughed it off to Betty. "Oh, he loves his gran, this one. Proper little mummy's boy all round!" Mr Connolly said, snarkily.
"Oh, you know what they say about them. Eddie, you want to beat that out of him." Betty said.
Eddie laughed. "That's exactly what I'm gonna do." He promised, throwing Tommy a threatening look.
The doorbell rung.
"I'll get it." Tommy said. He went to answer the door, leaving everyone else watching the television.
He opened the door, and the Doctor stood there with Detective Inspector Bishop.
"Tommy, talk to me." The Doctor, shortly.
Tommy stepped outside the door, closing it behind him.
"I need to know exactly what happened inside your house." The Doctor said, the tension apparent in his body, barely controlling himself.
Eddie pulled the door open violently and rounded on Tommy.
"What the blazes do you think you're doing?" Eddie snarled, roughly.
"I wanna help, dad." Tommy retorted.
"Mr Connolly…" The Doctor began, warningly, barely controlling himself.
The man rounded on him. "Shut your face, you. Whoever you are. We can handle this ourselves." He spat. He turned back to Tommy. "Listen you, little twerp. You're hardly out of the bloomin' cradle, so I don't expect you to understand. But I've got a position to maintain." The Doctor and Bishop just watched him. "People round here respect me. It matters what people think."
"Is that why you did it, dad?" Tommy asked him. He had looked at the Doctor carefully when he had opened the door, the man's eyes were wild and dangerous, angry and terrified, and he was missing the two women he was with before, Rhea and Rose he had introduced them as.
Eddie was taken aback. "What d'you mean? Did what?"
Tommy drew himself up to his full height. "You ratted on gran. How else would the police know where to look? Unless some coward told them..."
Eddie bristled with anger.
The Doctor barely managed to keep himself from letting out a furious sigh. I don't have time for this! A much darker part of him raged, screaming at him to get rid of Mr. Connolly, the only obstacle in his way at the moment.
"How dare you? You think I fought a war just so a mouthy little scum like you could call me a coward?" Eddie raged at his son, practically spitting in his anger.
Tommy shook his head, unable to believe that he was related to someone so narrow-minded. "You don't get it, do you? You fought against fascism, remember? People telling you how to live, who you could be friends with, who you could fall in love with, who could live and who had to die. Don't you get it? You were fighting so that little twerps like me could do what we want. Say what we want. Now you've become just like them." Tommy realised something with horror and disbelief. "You've been informing on everyone, haven't you? Even gran. All to protect your precious reputation."
Rita paled as she heard the words her son was saying, slowly coming into view.
"Eddie…is that true?" Rita whispered, her voice barely above a whisper.
Eddie turned around, like a deer caught in headlights. "I did it for us, Rita! She was filthy. A filthy, disgusting thing."
Rita was stunned. "She's my mother." Rita said, quietly. "All the others, you informed on all the people in our street, our friends."
"I had to!" Eddie defended. He flailed slightly. "I did the right thing...!"
Rita frowned. "The right thing for us... or for you, Eddie?"
Eddie just stared at her. Rita turned to Tommy, ignoring Eddie. "You go, Tommy. You go with the Doctor and do some good. Get away from this house. It's poison." She hissed. She glared at her husband. "We had a ruddy monster under this roof, all right, but it weren't my mother!" Close to tears, she stepped back inside, slamming the door in Eddie's face.
"Tommy?" The Doctor said, quietly.
Tommy, the Doctor and the Detective Inspector walked away, down the street, leaving Eddie alone, locked outside his house.
The streets were busy as the neighbours prepared a street party to celebrate the Coronation. The Doctor, Bishop and Tommy walked along the pavement.
"Tommy, tell me about that night. The night she changed." The Doctor said.
"She was just watching the telly." Tommy told him.
The Doctor looked at the roofs of all of the buildings with realisation, staring at the TV aerials. "Rose said it. She guessed it straight away, of course she did. All these aerials in one little street, how come?" The Doctor asked Tommy.
"Bloke up the road, Mr Magpie, he's selling them cheap." Tommy told him.
The Doctor's eyes widened. "Rhea was looking at him strangely when we met him yesterday morning. She knew he was up to something and she went after him." Of course she did, it's Rhea. Reckless thing she is. Without waiting for Tommy or the detective, he ran off down the road in the direction that Tommy had pointed him towards.
"Is he, now?" Bishop asked Tommy, suspiciously.
The Doctor looked back, annoyed at their sluggishness. "Come on!" He yelled.
The Doctor slammed his fist into the glass of Magpie's door when he couldn't gain entry to the shop. He reached in, ignoring the pain from his bloody, sliced knuckles, and unlocked the door from the inside, so that he could open the door.
"Here, you can't do that-" Bishop protested.
The Doctor ignored him, a constant chant rushing through his head. GetRheabacksaveherhelpherIneedhersaveRheabymysidealways
He stormed towards the counter. "Shop!" He shouted. He slammed his palm on the bell, which was on the counter, repeatedly, not caring about the painful indent it made on his hand. He shouted to the back of the shops. "If you're here, come out and talk to me! MAGPIE?" He roared.
"Maybe he's out." Tommy tried, scared of the Doctor's fury.
"Looks like it…" He growled.
He started ripping apart the drawers behind the counter. He found a device that looked like a mix between a portable radio and a television in one of them.
"Oh, hello... this isn't right. This is very much not right." He muttered to himself. He raised the device and, to the surprise of Tommy and Bishop, gave a long lick across the length of it. He gagged. "Tastes like iron. Bakelite." He placed it back down on the counter. "Put together with human hands, yes, but the design itself..." He scanned it with his sonic screwdriver. He needed to know more about the device, and immediately. "Oh, beautiful work. That is so simple."
Bishop was gobsmacked. "That's incredible. It's like a television, but portable. A portable television!"
The Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver, pointing it around the room, and all of the televisions on display turned on to static.
"It's not the only power source in this room..."
As the screwdriver whirred, the static gradually faded away and a different face appeared on each of the screens, each one of the victims, all the faces of people who were taken by The Wire. They all looked terrified, mouthing pleas for help. The Doctor looked around them, brow furrowed, looking for something or someone in particular. Tommy noticed his grandmother's face in one of them.
"Gran?" Tommy whispered, looking horrified.
The Doctor, who had been looking for her, found Rhea's face on one of the screens closest to the door. She was mouthing his name over and over again. He knelt before the screen, his eyes pained, sad, intense and vengeful. His fingers touched the screen that displayed Rhea's scared yet determined face. "I'm on my way. I'll get you back, I promise." There's nothing that could stop me from getting you back.
"What do you think you're doing?" The Doctor heard Magpie shout from the back of the shop.
The Doctor rounded on him, his face dark, furious and thunderous. "Someone incredibly precious and important to me has had her face taken from her and I want her restored, now! I think that's beyond a little backstreet electrician, so tell me, who's really in charge here?" The Doctor growled, almost grabbing the man by his shirt collar and shoving him against the wall in his uncontrollable rage.
Magpie flinched at his anger.
"Yoohoo! I think that must be me." The Wire said, appearing on one of the screens. The Doctor turned to her, clearly not expecting this. "Ooh, this one's smart as paint."
The Doctor approached the Wire.
"Is she talking to us?" Bishop asked the Doctor, getting closer to the television screen as well.
"Sorry gentlemen, I'm... I'm afraid you've brought this on yourselves. May I introduce you to my new... friend." Magpie stuttered, with false bravado.
"Jolly nice to meet you." The Wire said.
"Oh my God, it's her, that woman off the telly." Detective Inspector Bishop said with wide eyes.
The Doctor shook his head in the negative. "No, it's just using her image."
"What..." Tommy trailed off, confused. "What are you?" Tommy whispered.
"I'm the Wire, and I will gobble you up, pretty boy." Tommy recoiled at her words. "Every last morsel. And when I have feasted, I shall regain the corporeal body, which my fellow-kind denied me." The Wire purred, while her screen gradually colourised.
"Good Lord, colour television!" Bishop exclaimed.
The Doctor pursed his lips, pushing aside his fear and anger so that he could get more information about the alien. He needed to know everything if he was going to get her back. "I won't let you get that far." The Doctor said, in a clipped voice. "The mistake you made was taking her, you shouldn't have done that, now I will stop you, whatever it takes." He paused, getting his emotions under control before continuing. "So your own people tried to stop you?" He growled.
"They executed me." The Wire hissed with barely concealed anger and disgust. "But I escaped, in this form, and fled across the stars." She said, proudly.
"And now you're trapped in the television." The Doctor said, mockingly.
The smirk faded away from the Wire's face, and with it, the colour from the television, reverting back to black and white.
"Not for much longer." The Wire hissed.
"Is this what got my gran?" Tommy asked, looking at the Doctor.
"Yes, Tommy. It feeds off the electrical activity of the brain, but it gorges itself like a great overfed pig. Taking people's faces, their essences, it stuffs itself." The Doctor snarled.
"And you let her do it, Magpie." The detective said, looking over at the frightened man, who still had his back stuck to the wall.
"I had to!" Magpie said, defensively. "She allowed me my face! She's promised to release me at the time of manifestation."
"What does that mean?" Tommy asked.
"The appointed time, my crowning glory." The Wire hinted.
"Doctor," The detective's eyes widened. "The coronation!"
"For the first time in history, millions gathered around a television set." The Doctor explained. A smile formed on his face when he realised something, though. He approached the television set. "But you're not strong enough yet, are you? You can't do it all from here. That's why you need this!" He gloated, producing the portable television. "You need something more powerful! This will turn a big transmitter into a big receiver."
The Wire smiled. "What a clever thing you are! But why fret about it? Why not just relax? Kick off your shoes and enjoy the coronation. Believe me, you'll be glued to the screen." She purred.
Lines of red, glinting light suddenly attempted to pull all three faces, the Doctor's, Tommy's and the Inspector's, into the Wire's television set.
"Doctor!" Tommy and Bishop shouted.
"Hungry! Hungry! The Wire is hungry! Ah! This one is tasty." The Wire yelled, addressing the Doctor. "Oh! I'll have lashings of him! Delicious! Ah!"
The Doctor slowly pulled out his sonic screwdriver, fighting against the power of the light with a great deal of effort, his fists clenched hard around the metal as he struggled. Have…to…stop…her. Pain raged through his mind despite his best efforts to push through it.
The Wire's eyes widened when she realised what was in his hands. "Armed! He's armed and clever! Withdraw! Withdraw!" She screeched and severed the connection between herself and them, withdrawing the red lights, and all three of them fell to the floor, unconscious, exhausted from their ordeal.
"The box, Magpie, the box!" The Wire screamed.
Magpie ran and retrieved the box, from where it had fallen at the Doctor's side. He held it up to the screen which displayed the Wire.
"Hold tight…" She whispered. She jumped via a red light into the portable television. "Conduct me to my victory, Magpie." She purred.
Magpie ran out of his shop, dashing outside and into his van, putting the portable television, with the Wire's face still displayed on it, behind the steering wheel, so he could still see her clearly.
"Hungry! Hungry! Feed me!" The Wire screamed.
When the Doctor woke up from blackness, he saw Tommy and the Detective on the floor, unconscious as well, the latter's face missing. He mustn't have escaped the light quick enough. He looked towards the television screens to see all of them were blank, even the one that had held the Wire, and Magpie was missing, along with the portable television at his side. He looked briefly at the television that had displayed Rhea's face and touched it briefly. He turned to Tommy.
Tommy, wake up! Tommy! Come on!" The Doctor shouted, shaking at him.
"What happened?" Tommy said, blearily, as he sat up.
"Where's Magpie?" The Doctor asked, looking around.
They both ran outside the shop and saw that the car that was previously out the front was missing.
"We don't even know where to start looking, it's too late." Tommy said, helplessly.
The Doctor ran his fingers through his gelled back hair in frustration. "It's never too late, as a wise person once said, Kylie, I think...if it's too late, I can't get her back and that mean's she's gone. I won't settle for that. The Wire's got a big plan... so it'll need... yes, yes, yes, it's got to harness half the population... millions and millions of people..." He muttered, his mind rambling as he forced himself to focus on the issue at hand. "Where are we?" The Doctor asked, looking around.
"Muswell Hill."
"Muswell Hill." He muttered. His eyes widened. "Muswell Hill!" He exclaimed. "Which means…" He looked around, frantically, until he spotted a large building situated on the horizon and gestured at it with shaking hands. "Alexandra Palace - biggest TV transmitter in North London! Oh! That's why they chose this place!" The Doctor shouted. "Tommy?" He asked, turning to the young boy.
"What are you going to do?" Tommy asked.
The Doctor dashed back inside Magpie's shop. "We're going shopping." He crowed.
Tommy joined him inside.
They started gathering equipment from all over the shop. Tommy held up a device. "Is this what you want?" He asked.
The Doctor's glinted with feral pleasure. "Perfect! Right, I need one more thing." He gave the large pile of equipment to Tommy.
Tommy and the Doctor ran out onto the streets, both grasping heavy, large piles of equipment.
"Got it, let's go." The Doctor said.
They ran down a street, the Doctor plugging a device into the massive equipment bundle that Tommy was carrying. While they were running, Tommy spotted Magpie on the pylon.
"There!" Tommy shouted, pointing at the man.
The Doctor growled. "Come on!"
"Woah, Woah, woah! Where do you think-" An official, who was covering the cronoation, protested.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and pulled out his psychic paper, brandishing the black wallet at the man.
"Oh! I'm sorry sir! Shouldn't you be at the coronation?" The official asked.
"They're saving me a seat." The Doctor muttered.
The official nodded, confusedly.
"Who did he think you were?" Tommy asked the Doctor, with a grin, when they rounded a corner.
"King of Belgium, apparently." The Doctor said, looking at the psychic paper, briefly.
In the control room of Alexandra Palace, the Doctor dashed around, gathering the equipment he needed, and Tommy was in front of a video machine and television screen.
"Keep it switched on. Don't let anyone stop you, Tommy. Everything depends on it. You understand?" The Doctor told Tommy. "Everyone is counting on you. Rhea, your gran, everyone who's had their face stolen is counting on you." The Doctor said, his eyes hard and serious, his hands on Tommy's shoulders, hoping that the boy would understand the severe situation.
Tommy nodded.
The Doctor sprinted back around the corner, past the confused official, trailing a stream of magnetic recording tape behind him from a reel around his waist. He ran up the metal stairs and begins climbing up the transmitter, following Magpie.
"You'll get yourself killed up there! Your Majesty!" The official shouted after him.
But the Doctor didn't stop for a minute.
Magpie had already reached the mains plug.
"Feed me!" The Wire screeched from the receiver.
Magpie plugged the portable television into the main current and the Wire cackled, triumphantly. Across the country, TV aerials drew in the bright crimson sparks emitted from the pylon. The people, who were watching the television at that moment, started to be sucked in by the red electricity.
"Oh! Feast! Feast... ing! The Wire... is feasting." The Wire screamed.
"It's too late! It's too late for all of us!" Magpie yelled at the Doctor, who was approaching them.
"I shall consume you…Doctor." The Wire hissed.
The Doctor was blasted in the face with the red light and he cried out, gripping onto the metal of the aerial with a terrifyingly strong grip so that he wouldn't fall.
"I won't let you do this, Magpie!" The Doctor shouted at the terrified man.
"Help me Doctor! It burns! It took my face, my soul!" The man howled.
"You cannot stop the Wire. Soon I shall become manifest." The Wire said.
The Doctor was blasted again and gritted her teeth.
"No more of this! You promised me peace!" Magpie cried out.
"And peace you shall have." The Wire whispered, serenely.
Magpie was blown into thousands of particles with the red light, with the Wire laughing as he screamed and died. The Doctor reached out a hand and tried to touch the portable television but his fingers were zapped by the red sparks on his hand.
"Been burning the candle at both ends? You've overextended yourself missus. You shouldn't have had a crack at poor old Magpie there." The Doctor snarled and picked up the TV, as he was zapped in the foot. He shook his head. "Rubber souls! Swear by them!" He inserted a switch into the TV, but nothing changed in the Wire at all.
"Oh dear! Has our little plan gone horribly wrong, Doctor?" The Wire hissed.
The Wire laughed as the Doctor stared at her, horrified and his face pale. No, it can't be. Rhea…
Suddenly, the Doctor watched as the light beams retreated from the pylons, right back into the Wire's portable television. She writhed and wailed with pain, thwarted.
"It's closed down, I'm afraid, and no epilogue." The Doctor growled.
With one last piercing shriek from the Wire, the television switched off, displaying black. The Doctor stared at it for a moment, then closed his eyes in relief.
Tommy was watching the coronation on one of the screens when the Doctor returned back to Alexandra Palace.
"What have I missed?" The Doctor asked, coming up to him.
"Doctor!" Tommy exclaimed when he saw the man, spinning on his feet, smiling a little whne he could see the relief in the man's eyes. "What happened?"
"Sorted. Electrical creature, TV technology, clever alien life form, that's me by the way. I turned the receiver back into a transmitter and I trapped the Wire in here." The Doctor said, patting the videotape with triumph. "I just invented the home video 30 years earlier. Betamax." He said, proudly. He noticed the TV and the footage of the coronation that it was displaying. "Oh look! God save the Queen, eh?" He said to Tommy, with a smile.
"Whoa!" Rhea said, blinking suddenly, taking slow deep breaths, frowning. Her hands reached up and slid across the smooth skin of her face, touching her lips, the bridge of her nose and ghosting over her eyelids briefly. She breathed a sigh of relief. Everything's back.
Rose rushed to her, throwing her arms around her, Rhea returning the embrace, surprised. Rose pulled back and gripping her arms tightly. It was only then did she feel the heaviness in her limbs, as if she had slept for a week. She gave Rose a smile of gratitude and used her help to stand, the girl keeping her hands on her until she could stand without fear of crumpling.
"What happened?" Rhea asked Rose, rubbing her forehead.
"The Wire took your face and Magpie knocked me out." Rhea winced when she heard the last bit. She had tried her best to make sure Rose had left the electrical shop before her face was taken, but she guessed the opposite had happened. "Then, the policemen brought us here, where they were keeping everyone else whose face had been stolen. When the Doctor saw you like that, he sort of lost it…" She trailed off.
Rhea frowned. "Lost it how?"
"Well, I think he went after the Wire, back to Magpie's shop. I didn't actually get a chance to tell him about Magpie and the Wire." Rose said, sheepishly. "But your face is back, so that means he figured it all out." Rose said, rubbing the back of her neck. "He told me to stay with you."
Rhea sighed. Idiot. "Well, we better go and find him, don't you think." Rhea said, shaking her head to relieve her confusion, and reached out, taking Rose's hand and pulling her out of the room and out of the warehouse.
Tommy and the Doctor returned to Florizel Street, where large amounts of people milled around and met terrified and grateful loved ones.
"Gran!" Tommy shouted, spotting an old, grey-haired woman in the crowed.
"Look, it's my grandson! Oh son!" His grandmother cried.
Tommy ran towards her and threw his arms around her.
The Doctor looked around himself, looking for black heels and a striped skirt or a pink heels and a matching poofy skirt. He smiled when he saw Rose's blonde hair first, the latter smiling widely at him. His face turned into a full-blown beam when he caught sight of the brunette standing next to her, her back to him. He started striding purposefully towards her.
Rhea spun on her heels when she heard Tommy's familiar voice and Rose's resulting tap on her shoulder, her eyes searching the crowds for familiar, lovely brown hair and a brown, pinstripe suit. When Rhea did see him, his face was beaming, he had just caught sight of her as well, his grin was wide, showing all teeth, as he walked purposefully towards her, a little like just before he had gone onto the Sontaran ship. She started walking towards him, a bright, beautiful smile forming on her plump red lips, as the heels of her pumps clacked against the concrete pavement. She strode quicker, stretching out her arms, getting frustrated with herself and with him when the distance between them didn't seem to shorten.
"You're going to have to hurry up, honey." Rhea called out. "I'm too slow because this skirt is too damn tight." She was ashamed to say that she had practically sobbed the words out, her ordeal during the day had screwed with her head and she was desperate to get his arms around her, to touch him in some sort of way.
Finally, the gap between them closed and he used the space given to him by her outstretched arms to lift her up in a tight hug, hauling her up against his body, his hands tightening around her waist. She grinned into his shoulder, her arms coming around him, clutching onto his shoulders. He squeezed her tightly and then swung around, making her shriek with laughter.
"Oh, I've missed you!" Rhea said, fondly, resting her head on his shoulder, her feet still off the ground, her heels pointing in the air. When they came back down, Rhea locked her ankles around the back of his legs so that she could keep her height. It was uncomfortable but it was the best she could do in this stupid skirt. On a good day, with all use of her legs, she might have wrapped her legs around his waist for good support. This position, at least, satisfied her need for contact, which she relished, happily. Not that she would ever admit that to him.
"I missed you too." He mumbled into neck, nuzzling in and pressing kisses to the side of her head. "I thought I'd lost you." He whispered. "Don't ever do that again, got it?" The Doctor said, roughly.
Rhea snorted. "Yeah, cause getting my face stolen by an alien in a television is totally on my to-do list." Her voice softened and she dropped the sarcasm, realising his need for reassurance. "You didn't, though." Rhea smiled, pulling back and cupping his face with her hand, her thumb stroking his cheekbone. "You saved me, you idiot."
The Doctor grumbled, although staggered by her faith in him. This Rhea hadn't even known him that long. "Do you always have to end a sentence with an insult?"
Rhea grinned at him. "Yes." She nodded, then pouted. "It's not an insult, it's a term of endearment for me, like when I call you 'honey'."
The Doctor groaned and simply hugged her again, squeezing her tight, making her squeak. "Oh, it doesn't matter, I'm just glad you're all right."
Rhea pulled back again. "Do I always get a free pass when I'm in life-threatening danger?" Rhea asked with a quirk of her lips.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "The amount of times you put yourself in life-threatening danger? No way."
Rhea shrugged. "Worth a try." She smiled into his shoulder, hugging him back tightly. Just for this moment, I can have this. Right now, I need him. Rhea felt him flinch when her hands dragged down his arms and gripped his hands. She pulled back with a frown and looked down, her eyes widening when she noticing the bloody scrapes and cuts on his knuckles. "What did you do? Put your fist through a freaking wood chipper." Rhea exclaimed, pulling them up towards her so that she could examine them.
"Um, no, actually." The Doctor mumbled, sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I broke the glass window of Magpie's shop so that I could get in."
Rhea pursed her lips to hide her smile and then shook her head turning serious. "We need to put some antiseptic on those cuts and clean the glass from it. Has the bleeding stopped?" Rhea asked him, sternly. When the Doctor nodded his assent, she continued. "I'll stitch it up when we get back to the TARDIS. Idiot." She muttered, fondly.
The Doctor smiled down at her. "It'll be fine. Time Lord superior biology, remember? It'll heal." He said.
"I'm still stitching it up. It'll make me feel better." Rhea told him.
"Okay." He agreed, his voice soft, and he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to his side and leading her back to Rose and the party.
Out on the streets, music from the Fifties was playing, people dancing and talking out on the street. Long trestle tables lined the centre of the road, covered in pastries, cakes, puddings, pies, drinks, and more. The Doctor, Rhea and Rose walked down the tables.
"We could go down the mall, join in with the crowd." Rose suggested.
"Nah," The Doctor said, shaking his head and taking a bite out of a Victoria Sponge. "That's just pomp and circumstance. This is history right here."
Rhea smirked. "The domestic approach."
The Doctor laughed. "Exactly." He said, making the two women laugh as well.
"Will it... that thing... is it trapped for good… on video?" Rose asked.
"Hope so. Just to be on the safe side though, I'll use my unrivalled knowledge of trans temporal extirpation methods to neutralise the residual electronic pattern." The Doctor said, dramatically.
Rose frowned. "You what?" She asked, confused.
Rhea's eyebrows furrowed. "I sort of understood that. You're going to take it out of the video tape, right. How?" Rhea asked, looking at him.
"I'm going to tape over it." The Doctor told them.
"Ah!" Rhea made a sound of understanding.
Rose laughed. "Just leave it to me, I'm always doing that."
Rhea smoothed her hands down her skirt. "You know, while I dig the way I look in this outfit, I'm still not sure about the skirt."
The Doctor eyed her. "I think you look great." The Doctor said, innocently.
"Aha!" Rhea shrieked. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I knew you'd been checking my ass out in this skirt." Rhea hissed, triumphantly.
The Doctor looked insulted. "I have not!" He hissed. To be truthful, he had, but he'd never admit it to her, at least not this her. She might shoot him.
Rhea scoffed. "Yeah, right." She wagged her finger at him.
Rose cleared her throat. "Why aren't you sure about the skirt?" Rose asked, directing her question at Rhea.
"Well, Women's Liberation gave us pants and a fair wage. I figure I should make the most of it." Rhea told her.
They ran into Tommy, who was standing near one of the tables.
"Tell you what Tommy, you can have my scooter. Little present. Best... um... keep it in the garage for a few years though, eh?" The Doctor whispered, conspiratorially, to him, while leaning against the table.
Rhea looked in the direction Tommy was and saw his father walking down the street with his suitcase as Rita embraced her mother, warmly.
"Good riddance." Tommy said, looking over the Doctor's shoulder.
"Is that it then, Tommy? New monarch, new age, new world, no room for a man like Eddie Connelly." The Doctor said.
"That's right. He deserves it." Tommy agreed, then looked down. Rhea looked at Rose, both being able to tell the undercurrent of hesitation in the boy's harsh words.
"Tommy, go after him." Rose encouraged, quietly, nudging his shoulder.
"What for?" Tommy asked her, frowning.
Rose raised an eyebrow. "He's your dad."
"He's an idiot." Tommy corrected.
"Of course he is," Rhea smiled. "Like Rose said, he's your dad. Like I said, he's your dad. But you're smart. Smart enough to save the world so don't stop there. Teach him how to be a better man." Rhea leaned closer to Tommy, her voice at a pitch only Tommy could hear. "My dad died ten years ago, ten miserable years where I think about some argument or fight or problem where I could have done something different. There doesn't go a day by where I don't think about him…or miss him." She told him, a sad smile on her face. "Go on!" She nudged him as well.
Tommy gave her a smile and ran after his father. They walked side by side and Tommy took his father's suitcase for him, the two of them continuing down the street together. The Doctor, Rose and Rhea watched them from a distance, fondly, Rhea having a bittersweet smile on her face as she came to terms with watching the burgeoning relationship between the two men and her own pain and heartache. She gratefully took the glass of cool orange juice from the Doctor and three of them clunk their glasses together, smiling.
Rhea sat on the scooter, which she had parked back inside the room in which she had found it. She was all alone, Rose having returned to her room a little while ago and the Doctor tinkering with the TARDIS in the console room. She looked over at the Sportster, sitting in the corner and walked over to him, dragging her hand across the leather seat. She looked at the compartment in the centre of the vehicle. She hesitated and opened the compartment. She paled when she looked inside. An old watch, her grandfather's, a little prayer book, her grandmother's, and a gold ring, her father's. She picked up the ring and twirled it around with her fingers, swallowing hard.
"Rhea, are you in here?" The Doctor asked, coming into the room. He paused when he saw her at the Sportster. "You okay?" He asked, cautiously. She always got a bit emotional when she saw the motorcycle and he didn't think she'd ever seen it on the TARDIS before.
Rhea blinked back tears and looked at him. "This, um, this is actually my uncle's bike." She said to him, frowning. "I mean," She swallowed. "It's got the same scratch marks from when I crashed it when I was fourteen."
"Hmm, yes, it is." He rubbed the back of his neck.
Rhea's eyebrows furrowed. "But my uncle's bike was stolen when I was twenty-one. He parked it on the street instead of inside the gate and the next morning it was gone." Rhea's eyes widened. "Did you steal it?"
"Well…." He drawled. "It wasn't more me as it was us." He said, sheepishly.
Rhea smiled widely and then started laughing madly. "I stole my uncle's motorbike. I got so angry when it was stolen. I was cursing the person who did it for months!" She said and giggled.
The Doctor saw what she was holding in her hand. Her father's ring. He slowly walked up to her and they both took a seat on the bike.
"Your father's ring?" The Doctor said, motioning towards it.
Rhea rolled her eyes, but without any real malice. "Figures you'd know." She looked down at it. "It's just with Tommy and his father today and the whole face stolen event, I think my emotions are a little out of whack." Rhea shrugged. "Maybe it's hormones."
"You were thinking about your father." The Doctor guessed.
Rhea nodded, looking at him, briefly, before turning away. This conversation would be better handled if she didn't look him in the eye when she was talking.
"This stupid ring." Rhea whispered, looking down at the object in question. She smiled when she remembered something. "It used to piss me off when I was a little girl." She started, pursing her lips a little. "It was his father's, and he was the eldest, so he got it, it always went to the eldest son, he said. I always wondered what that would mean with me, would he give it to me or would he give it to my cousin, he was the only boy in our generation. He used to take it off sometimes, if he was gardening or cleaning, and he'd leave it on the dresser. I'd sneak into my parents' room after he was gone and I'd try on the ring. But it would keep falling off and I'd get more frustrated every time it did." Rhea exhaled. "It's here. I wasn't expecting it to be here."
"You told me your uncle brought it back to India with him after your father passed away." The Doctor told her.
Rhea shook her head. "Yeah, sorry, I remember." She reached up and rubbed her temples. She looked over to the Doctor to see that he was watching her. She bit her lip. "Thank you." She whispered.
The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed. "For what?"
Rhea smiled. "For saving my life." She leaned over and pressed her lips to his check, softly, for a few seconds, then pulled back, smiling shyly. You stupid bitch, you're done for. A voice raged in her mind, urging her, begging her to pull back. You'll get hurt and you've got no one left to pick up the pieces, you moron.
"Just don't do it again." The Doctor said, knocking her shoulder with his, a bright grin on his face. She could see all of his teeth, gleaming white, his brown eyes lit up like fireworks on New Year's Eve.
"If I do it again, are you not going to save me? What kind of knight in shining armour are you?" Rhea asked, playfully, knocking his shoulder back.
"Of course I'll save you." The Doctor said, seriously. The absolute sincerity in his voice made her look away from him, closing her eyes. "But…" His trailing off forced her to look back at him. "You don't need me to save you all the time. But when you do need me, I'll be there." He promised.
Rhea beamed. "Really?" She asked him, quietly, her breath a little short. She was still not sure whether she could believe him or not.
"Really."
A/N: And, there was the end to The Idiot's Lantern. I hope you liked the Doctor's characterisation in this chapter, I was thinking of how he acted in the actual episode when Rose had her face taken and added a bit more to it, seeing as Rhea's a much older "friend". He came out as very protective in this chapter, but he knows he doesn't have to protect her all the time, she's fully capable of protecting herself. I hope you liked the Doctor's thought process in this chapter, especially after he finds out what happened to Rhea. I figured his thoughts would be very choppy and clipped and totally focused on finding Rhea and getting her back, even that he would have a hard time focusing.
I hope you liked the reunion scene between the Doctor and Rhea. I loved writing that scene, I must have edited it a million times before adding it to the chapter. I tried to mix the emotions as a mix of desperation and relief for both of them. Rhea was traumatised by her ordeal in this episode. She hasn't had anything that serious happen to her yet and the Doctor's always been with her. This was the first time something like this has happened to her and I figured she's be ecstatic and desperate to see the Doctor again, that's why I gave them a lot of touchy-feely affection in this chapter.
Rhea is warming up to him, she's letting a few of her walls down but she's still terrified of the Doctor and what he means to her. She doesn't have a very good view of herself and she doesn't seem to trust herself either, that's going to play a big part in their upcoming romance. And I hope you liked the little clue I gave you into Rhea's past. Her relationship with her father and uncle and cousin play a huge part in the way she acts now. Her father's death had a big effect on her and more of that will be shown in the future.
Oh, and a question, in my Time Lady story, if I had my Time Lady the one who gets her face stolen by The Wire, do you think that would be repeating what happens in this story?
Anyway, Read and Review!