The Doctor managed to pull his ID card off, much to the surprise of Green and the other Slitheen. He grinned. "Deadly to humans, maybe." He surged forward and pinned the card onto the collar of the Slitheen that had revealed itself. The Slitheen started screaming as the electricity washed over it, and through the link, over Green. The Doctor ran out into the hall, seeing dozens of armed officers. "Oi!" he called. "If you want aliens, you've got them. They're inside Downing Street. Come on!" He turned and ran back to the briefing room, the police following.
~~~
Margaret the alien stood up from the Emissary's attack and started forward. The Emissary, Rose, Harriet and Indra Ganesh backed up slowly, then stopped in shock. Out of nowhere, electricity had warped around Margaret, stopping the alien in its tracks.
The Emissary shook out of her shock first. "Come on, move!" she ordered the humans. They ran out of the cabinet room.
~~~
Mickey walked back to the Tyler flat after the police and soldiers had cleared out. Opening the door, he walked in to see Jackie cowering as a big green... thing stood over her. "Jackie!" He looked around, then picked up a chair and slammed it down across the back of the thing. That did nothing but make it angry and Mickey stepped back as it turned on him. Out of nowhere, it started screaming as electricity spread from its collar to cover the entire body. Mickey took the opportunity to grab Jackie and pull out of the kitchen. Safely in the doorway, Mickey paused to pull out his phone and get a picture before running out of the flat with Jackie.
~~~
Green reached forward and grasped the ID card, pulling it off the collar. Immediately, the electricity stopped. The Slitheen grabbed the General's skin suit, starting to pull it on. "Reinstate my disguise," he told Green, who was helping. "Hurry up! Hurry! Hurry!"
~~~
Harriet suddenly stopped running. "No, wait," she said, the others stopping to turn to her. "They're still in there. The emergency protocols. We need them." The Emissary and Rose started to run back with her. Ganesh shook his head.
"I'm getting out," he told them. "Good luck." He turned and kept running.
The Emissary and Rose followed Harriet back to the Cabinet Room to find that Margaret had recovered and was angry. They turned tail and ran back the way they came. The alien chased them throughout the floor, smashing through doors as it came.
~~~
The Doctor led the police into the briefing room to find that the Slitheen had put his skin suit back on.
"Where have you been?" Green asked the police in an accusatory tone. "I called for help. I sounded the alarm. There was this lightening, this kind of, er, electricity, and they all collapsed."
The policemen checked the bodies. Sergeant Price looked up in horror.
"I think they're all dead," he said to the others.
"That's what I'm saying," Green answered, then pointed at the Doctor. "He did it! That man there."
The Doctor looked around as the police all turned to him. "I think you will find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise," he tried. He looked at the officer to his left as everyone just stared at him. "That's never going to work, is it?"
"No."
He shrugged "Fair enough." He shoved past the officers and took off running. In the hall, he was met with a squad of armed officers. He turned and saw the officers come out of the briefing room to box him in.
"Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols," the General told the officers, "I authorise you to execute this man."
"Well, now, yes, you see, er, the thing is," the Doctor stalled, a nervous grin firmly in place, "if I was you, if I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, between you and me, little word of advice." The was a ding and the lift doors opened behind him. He grinned for real. "Don't stand them against the lift!" He took a step backwards into the lift and pressed the button to go up a floor. When the doors opened, he was face to face with another Slitheen. "Hello!" he greeted cheerfully. Behind the Slitheen, he noticed the Emissary and Rose standing with another woman. He got the Slitheen's attention when it started to turn, allowing Rose, the Emissary and the other to get past behind it. When they were safely out of his sight again, he waved at the Slitheen and closed the lift doors.
~~~
With the Doctor distracting Margaret, Rose, the Emissary and Harriet were able to get past and into an ornate room.
"Hide!" Rose ordered Harriet, then joined the Emissary behind the cabinet. Harriet hid behind a folding screen. They sat in silence for a minute before they heard Margaret come in.
"Oh, such fun," she said. "Little human children, where are you? Sweet little humeykins, come to me. Let me kiss you better. Kiss you with my big, green lips." The Emissary grimaced at the imagery and Rose poked her head over the cabinet. Swing Margaret's back was turned, she grabbed the Emissary's hand and dart from the cabinet to hide behind a curtain.
~~~
The Doctor stepped out of the lift onto the second floor. He wandered around for a moment before he heard the lift ding open again. He ran for the staircase as two naked Slitheen walked out.
"It does us good to hunt," one said. "Purifies the blood."
"We'll keep this floor quarantined as our last hunting ground before the final phase," the other replied. The Doctor listened as they left the hallway, then stood cautiously and followed, pulling a fire extinguisher off the wall as he went.
~~~
The Emissary looked at Rose when they heard two more aliens enter. "My brothers," Margaret greeted.
The Slitheen that had been Green answered. "Happy hunting?"
"It's wonderful," Margaret told them. "The more you prolong it, the more they stink."
"Sweat and fear," Asquith agreed.
"I can smell an old girl," Green said. "Stale bird and brittle bones."
"A young woman," Asquith said, "strong and powerful, a treat."
"And a ripe youngster," Margaret continued, "all hormones and adrenalin. Fresh enough to bend before she snaps." Rose screamed when Margaret yanked her curtain aside. The Emissary yanked Rose back, stepping in front. She held up a fist, glowing blue, when Harriet jumped out from her hiding spot.
"No!" she shouted. "Take me first! Take me!" The Doctor suddenly burst into the room with a fire extinguisher. He sprayed the Slitheen with it.
"Out," he shouted to the girls. "With me!" Rose yanked on the curtain, making it fall and threw it over Margaret. She leaped over the curtain rod and ran for the Doctor, the Emissary close behind. Harriet joined them a moment later. The Doctor looked at her strangely.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked. Harriet held up a badge.
"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North."
"Nice to meet you." He smiled at her and she returned it.
"Likewise."
The Doctor threw the fire extinguisher aside as it ran out and grabbed the Emissary's hand, pulling her out of the room. Rose and Harriet followed.
"We need to head to the Cabinet Room," the Emissary informed him.
"The Emergency Protocols are in there," Harriet added. "They give instructions for aliens."
The Doctor looked back at her. "Harriet Jones, I like you."
"And I like you too." They ran through the halls, Slitheen crashing through behind them.
~~~
The group entered the Cabinet room. The Doctor grabbed a decanter of port wine from a side table and stood in the doorway, the Emissary on his right, Rose on his left. Harriet stood behind him. The Slitheen came running into the antechamber and the Doctor held up the port.
"One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol," he bluffed, pressing his sonic screwdriver to the decanter. "Whoof, we all go up. So back off." The Slitheen took a step back. The Doctor nodded to himself, pleased. "Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"
"They're aliens," Harriet answered.
"Yes. I got that, thanks," the Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Who are you," Green the Slitheen asked, "if not human?"
Harriet started. "Who's not human?"
Rose pointed to the Doctor and Emissary. "They're not human."
Harriet gaped. "They're not human?"
The Doctor looked behind him. "Can I have a bit of hush?"
"Sorry," Harriet apologized.
"So, what's the plan?" the Emissary asked the Slitheen, arms crossed.
Harriet spoke up behind them. "But he's got a Northern accent."
"Lots of planets have a north," Rose answered, sounding as if she was quoting.
"I said hush," the Doctor ordered. He turned back to face the Slitheen. "Come on. You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government. What for, invasion?"
Asquith the Slitheen scoffed. "Why would we invade this God-forsaken rock?"
"Then something's brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?" The Slitheen chortled.
"The Slitheen race?" Asquith said incredulously.
"Slitheen is not our species," Green informed. "Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service."
"You're a family," the Emissary realized.
"A family business," Jocrassa agreed.
"Then you're out to make a profit," the Doctor said. "How can you do that on a God-forsaken rock?"
Asquith looked at the decanter, then back at them. "Ah, excuse me? Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability?"
The Doctor looked up sheepishly. "Is that what I said?" The Emissary facepalmed, shaking her head.
"Dollophead," she muttered quietly.
"You're making it up," Asquith accused.
"Ah, well!" the Doctor said, lowering his screwdriver. "Nice try. Emissary, have a drink." The Emissary took the decanter and promptly passed it behind her to Harriet.
"I think you're gonna need it," she said. Harriet shook her head.
"You pass it to the left first."
"Sorry," the Emissary passed it to her left.
Rose took it. "Thanks."
Asquith laughed evilly. "Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter."
Rose looked at the two Time Lords. "Don't you think we should run?"
"Fascinating history, Downing Street," the Doctor started. "Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mister Chicken. He was a nice man."
The Emissary took over. "In 1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet is in session and in danger, these are the four safest walls in the whole of Great Britain."
"End of lesson," the Doctor finished cheerfully. The Doctor lifted a small panel by the door and pressed a button. Metal shutters slid from the door and window frames, crashing shut in the Slitheen's faces. "Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in."
Rose gave him a look. "And how do we get out?"
The Doctor winced. "Ah."
~~~
Jackie took the cup of tea Mickey handed her and looked at it in dismay. "Got anything stronger?"
Mickey shook his head. "No chance. I've seen you when you've had a few. This ain't time for a conga."
Jackie looked at him. "We've got to tell someone."
"Who do we trust?" Mickey asked. "For all we know, they've all got big bog monsters inside of them." He started towards his living room. "I mean, this is what he does, Jacks, that Doctor bloke. Everywhere he goes, death and destruction, and he's got Rose in the middle of it."
"Has he got a great big green thing inside him, then?" Jackie asked, following him.
Mickey stopped for a second, thinking. "I wouldn't put it past him. But like it or not, he's the only person who knows how to fight these things."
"I thought I was going to die," Jackie said, crying. Mickey gave her an awkward hug.
"Come on, yeah? If anyone's going to cry, it's going to be me," he comforted. "Now, you're safe in my flat, Jacks. No one's going To look for you here, especially since you hate me so much."
Jackie looked at him. "You saved my life. God, that's embarrassing."
Mickey snorted his response. "You're telling me."
"He wanted me dead," Jackie said. "And he's still out there, Mickey. That policeman. That thing."
Sure enough, Commissioner Strickland, back in his skin suit, was outside Powell Estate. "Right, you head off," he ordered his officers. "Inform Control I have got one or two things that still need doing. I haven't quite finished with Mrs Tyler yet."
~~~
The Time Lords, Rose and Harriet stood behind the metal shutters. Rose suddenly turned to the Emissary. "Since we're not running for our lives anymore," she started, "can you tell me what the glowy blue thing is?"
The Doctor eyed the Emissary. "Glowy blue thing?" he asked, just a bit suspiciously.
The Emissary ignored him and answered Rose. "It's called Artron Energy, and the training I went through back home allows me to harness it in a weaponized form." Rose looked more confused than before, but she let it go.
"Right, what have we got?" the Doctor changed the subject. "Any terminals, anything?"
"No," Rose said, looking around. "This place is antique." She spun to face the Time Lords. "What I don't get is, when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?"
"He's too slim," the Doctor said. "They're big old beasts. They need to fit inside big humans."
"But the Slitheen are about eight feet," Rose recalled. "How do they fit inside?"
"That's why they have those collars," the Emissary explained. "Compression field. Literally shrinks them down."
"That's why there's all that gas," the Doctor continued. "It's a big exchange."
Rose looked at herself, smirking a bit. "Wish I had a compression field. I could fit a size smaller."
Harriet looked at her sharply. "Excuse me, people are dead! This is not the time for making jokes."
"Sorry," Rose apologized. She gestured to where the Doctor was scanning things with his screwdriver. "You get used to this stuff when you're friends with him."
Harriet scoffed. "Well, that's a strange friendship."
"Harriet Jones," the Doctor mused. "I've heard that name before. Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?"
Harriet blushed. "Oh, hardly."
"Rings a bell," he muttered. "Harriet Jones?"
"Lifelong backbencher I'm afraid, and a fat lot of use I'm being now," Harriet started dryly. "The Protocols are redundant. They list the people who could help and they're all dead downstairs."
"Hasn't it got, like, defence codes and things?" Rose asked. "Couldn't we just launch a nuclear bomb at them?" The Emissary snorted from her seat next to Harriet, who stared at Rose in astonishment.
"You're a very violent young woman," she informed her.
"I'm serious," Rose continued. "We could."
Harriet shook her head, looking down at the red briefcase. "Well, there's nothing like that in here. Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations."
"Say that again," the Doctor said suddenly, turning to join them at the table.
Harriet blinked at him. "What, about the codes?"
"Anything. All of it."
"Well, the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a Special Resolution from the UN."
"Like that's ever stopped them," Rose snorted to the Emissary. Harriet heard and nodded her agreement.
"Exactly, given our past record," she held up her hands. "And I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the government's hands and given to the UN. Is it important?"
"Everything's important," the Doctor told her seriously.
"If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted. Listen to me. I'm saying Slitheen as if it's normal." The Emissary patted her arm sympathetically.
"What do they want, though?" Rose wondered.
The Emissary tilted her head. "Well, they're just one family, so it's not an invasion. They don't want Slitheen World. They're out to make money. That means they want to use something. Something here on Earth. Some kind of asset."
"Like what, gold? Oil? Water?" Harriet listed. The Doctor gave her an appraising look.
"You're very good at this."
"Thank you."
"Harriet Jones," the Doctor mused aloud, turning to the Emissary. "Why do I know that name?" She shrugged. She'd been trying to place the whole time.
A phone beeped and Rose started, pulling hers out to check it. "Oh, that's me."
"But we're sealed off," Harriet said. "How did you get a signal?"
Rose gestured to the Doctor. "He zapped it. Super phone."
"Then we can phone for help," Harriet said hopefully. "You must have contacts."
"Dead downstairs, yeah."
"It's Mickey," Rose said slowly, staring at something on the screen.
"Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy," the Doctor scoffed. The Emissary smacked his arm without looking away from Rose.
"Be nice," she scolded.
"Yeah," Rose agreed. "he's not so stupid after all." She turned her phone to show them the picture Mickey sent, the face of a Slitheen. She walked away to a corner and quickly dialed Mickey's number. After a minute she walked back over.
"No, no, no, no, no," the Emissary heard from the phone. "Not just alien, but like, proper alien. All stinking, and wet, and disgusting. And more to the point, it wanted to kill us!"
Jackie's voice came through. "I could've died!"
Rose sighed. "Is she all right, though? Don't put her on, just tell me." The Emissary snorted. She knew if Jackie got on that phone, Rose would be there for hours. She looked up when Rose squeaked indignantly, to see the Doctor taking Rose's phone from her hands.
"Is that Ricky?" he asked. "Don't talk, just shut up and go to your computer."
"It's Mickey, and why should I?"
The Doctor grimaced. "Mickey the Idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but, er, I need you."
Five minutes saw Mickey hacking into the UNIT website. "It says password," Mickey said. The Doctor plugged the phone into the conference speaker on table.
"Say it again," he ordered.
Mickey's voice rang through the speaker. "It's asking for the password."
"Buffalo," was the Doctor's immediate answer. "Two Fs, one L."
"So, what's that website?" Jackie asked.
"All the secret information known to mankind," Mickey said. "See, they've known about aliens for years.They just kept us in the dark."
The Doctor scoffed. "Mickey, you were born in the dark." He winced when the Emissary's hand met the back of his head.
Rose sighed. "Oh, leave him alone."
"Thank you," Mickey said. "Password again."
"Just repeat it every time," the Doctor answered, then turned away to pace. "Big Ben - why did the Slitheen go and hit Big Ben?"
Harriet answered. "You said to gather the experts, to kill them."
"That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon," the Doctor waved away. "You don't need to crash land in the middle of London."
"The Slitheen are hiding," Rose said slowly, "but then they put the entire planet on red alert! What would they do that for?"
Jackie's voice was sarcastic. "Oh, listen to her."
Rose scowled at the phone. "At least I'm trying."
"Well, I've got a question, if you don't mind," Jackie said. "Since that man walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my daughter disappear off the face of the Earth."
Rose rolled her eyes. "I told you what happened."
"I'm talking to him," Jackie said flatly. "'Cos I've seen this life of yours, Doctor. And maybe you get off on it, and maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me.Just answer me this. Is my daughter safe?" The Doctor didn't answer.
"I'm fine," Rose said.
Jackie ignored her. "Is she safe? Will she always be safe? Can you promise me that?" The Emissary watched the Doctor as Jackie spoke, a little worried when he was silent. "Well, what's the answer?"
Mickey broke the awkward, tense silence. "We're in."
Just like a switch had flipped, the Doctor was a flurry of motion again. "Now then, on the left at the top, there's a tab, an icon. Little concentric circles. Click on that."
A repeating signal sounded through speaker. Mickey's voice was confused. "What is it?"
"The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal," the Doctor answered. "Now hush, let me work out what it's saying."
Jackie huffed. "He'll have to answer me one day."
"Hush!" Mickey shushed her.
"It's some sort of message," the Doctor said after listening a moment.
"What's it say?" Rose asked.
The Doctor shook his head. "Don't know. It's on a loop, keeps repeating." He scowled when a doorbell sounded on Mickey's end. "Hush!"
"That's not me," Mickey rebutted. "Go and see who that is."
Jackie scoffed. "It's three o'clock in the morning."
"Well, go and tell them that."
"It's beaming out into space," the Doctor said, ignoring them. "Who's it for?"
~~~
Jackie walked over to Mickey's front door, scowling as the bell kept ringing. "All right!" she shouted, opening the door.
Commissioner Strickland stood there. "Mrs Tyler."
Jackie slammed the door shut again and ran back to Mickey. "It's him! It's the thing, it's the Slipeen!"
Mickey met her eyes in horror. "They've found us."
~~~
"Mickey, I need that signal," the Doctor reminded him. Rose scowled at him.
"Never mind the signal," she yelled, "get out! Mum, just get out! Get out!"
"We can't," said Mickey's voice. "It's by the front door." They heard a zipping sound and then Mickey's voice was back, filled with fear. "Oh, my God, it's unmasking. It's going to kill us."
Harriet looked to the Time Lords. "There's got to be some way of stopping them!" she cried, gesturing to the Doctor. "You're supposed to be the expert, think of something!"
"I'm trying!"
~~~
Mickey held up his baseball bat. "I'll take it on, Jackie. You just run. Don't look back. Just run."
~~~
The Emissary cringed as the sounds of splintering wood came through the speaker.
Rose looked at the Doctor earnestly. "That's my mother."
The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "Right," he said. "If we're going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they're from. Which planet. So, judging by their basic shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!"
"They're green," Rose supplied.
The Doctor nodded. "Yep, narrows it down."
"Good sense of smell."
"Narrows it down."
"They can smell adrenalin."
"Narrows it down."
"The pig technology," Harriet piped up.
"Narrows it down."
"The spaceship in the Thames, slipstream engine," the Emissary remembered.
"Narrows it down."
Mickey's voice interrupted. "It's getting in!"
"They hunt like it's a ritual," Rose offered.
"Narrows it down."
Harriet held up a hand. "Wait a minute. Did you notice? When they fart, if you'll pardon the word, it doesn't just smell like a fart, if you'll pardon the word, it's something else. What is it? It's more like, er..."
"Bad breath!" Rose finished.
"That's it!"
The Doctor grinned. "Calcium decay! Now, that narrows it down!"
"We're getting there, Mum!" Rose called.
"Too late!" Mickey replied.
"Calcium phosphate," the Doctor muttered to himself. "Organic calcium. Living calcium. Creatures made out of living calcium. What else? What else?"
"Hyphenated surname," the Emissary said, realization dawning in her eyes.
"Yes!" the Doctor agreed. "That narrows it down to one planet." The Emissary said it with him. "Raxacoricofallapatorius!"
"Great!" Mickey said sarcastically. "We can write them a letter!"
"Get into the kitchen!" the Doctor ordered. There was a tense moment when a crashing sound came through the speaker.
Jackie's voice came through a minute later. "My God, it's going to rip us apart!"
"Calcium," the Emissary said, "weakened by the compression field. We need acetic acid. Vinegar!"
"Just like Hannibal!" Harriet exclaimed.
"Just like Hannibal," the Doctor agreed. "Mickey, have you got any vinegar?"
"How should I know"
"It's your kitchen," the Emissary said incredulously.
Rose answered for him. "Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf."
"Oh, give it here," Jackie said. "What do you need?"
"Anything with vinegar!" the Emissary told her.
Jackie started listing things. "Gherkins. Yeah, pickled onions. Pickled eggs."
The Doctor gave Rose a mildly disgusted look. "And you kiss this man?"
~~~
The Slitheen finally broke through the kitchen door. Jackie tossed the contents of the jug over it. It stopped in its tracks, farted, then exploded, covering the kitchen and everyone in it in green entrails.
Jackie gagged.
~~~
"Hannibal?" Rose asked when all was silent, looking to Harriet.
Harriet shrugged. "Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar."
"Oh," Rose held up a glass of port wine. "Well, there you go then." They all toasted.
~~~
Mickey and Jackie sat in his living room, covered in slowly drying green goo, watching the news as Chairman Green and General Asquith came onscreen.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Green greeted, "nations of the world, humankind. The greatest experts in extra-terrestrial events came here tonight. They gathered in the common cause, but the news I bring you now is grave indeed." He paused, a sad look coming over his face. "The experts are dead, murdered right in front of me by alien hands. Peoples of the Earth, heed my words. These visitors do not come in peace."
Mickey looked at the phone he still held, then held out to the TV. "Listen to this."
Green was still talking. "Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction capable of being deployed within forty five seconds."
The Doctor stared at the speaker. "What?"
"Our technicians can baffle the alien probes, but not for long. We are facing extinction, unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg of the United Nations, pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes. A nuclear strike at the heart of the beast is our only chance of survival because from this moment on it is my solemn duty to inform you planet Earth is at war."
The Doctor looked up at the three women when Green stopped talking. "He's making it up. There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it."
"Do you think they'll believe him?" Harriet asked.
"They did last time," Rose pointed out.
"That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle," the Doctor explained. "They want the whole world panicking, because you lot, you get scared, you lash out."
"They release the defence code," Rose realized slowly.
The Doctor nodded grimly. "And the Slitheen go nuclear."
"But why?" Harriet asked, looking confused. The Doctor walked over to the doorway and opened the shutters. The Slitheen were still stood there.
"You get the codes, release the missiles, but not into space because there's nothing there," the Doctor said to them. "You attack every other country on Earth. They retaliate, fight back. World War Three. Whole planet gets nuked."
Margaret smiled. "And we can sit through it safe in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed, just parked. Only two minutes away."
Harriet gaped. "But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?"
"Profit," the Emissary sneered. "That's what the signal is beaming into space. An advertisement, for a radioactive wasteland of Earth."
Margaret was unfazed by the dark looks in the Time Lords' eyes. "The sale of the century," she said gleefully. "We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it piece by piece. Radioactive chucks, capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor, Emissary. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel."
"At the cost of five billion lives," the Doctor snarled.
Margaret smirked. "Bargain."
"I give you a choice," the Doctor told her. "Leave this planet or I'll stop you."
"What, you?" Margaret laughed. "Trapped in your box?"
"Yes. Me," the Doctor glared, hitting the button to close the shutters. He didn't see Margaret's laughing face fall into worry.
~~~
The Emissary sat up with the Doctor long after Harriet and Rose had fallen asleep. She fiddled with the bracelet she wore, the silence in the room near suffocating. She glanced up at the Doctor when he cleared his throat.
"You never answered my question," he said lightly. "How did you survive?"
She met his eyes steadily. "I could ask you the same thing." She sighed when his gaze never wavered from hers. "Halfway through the War, the Council called me away from the front lines."
The Doctor's brow furrowed. "You were on the front lines?"
She nodded. "A lot of Sentries were. A lot of Sentries died there," she swallowed, looking down. "Anyway, I was called away and the Council said they were sending me off world. They sent me to different planets, to restore and keep faith in the Time Lords." She smiled wryly at the Doctor. "It didn't go well."
He was staring at her. "You weren't on Gallifrey when it burned."
She shook her head. "No."
"How did you end up on Earth?"
"When the news came through that Gallifrey had fallen," the Emissary said, "any and all protection I'd been granted for fear of the Council's retribution vanished. I wasn't exactly popular, so I ran. Didn't have coordinates. It was sheer luck I landed here." The Doctor just stared, a pained look in his eyes. The Emissary leaned back in her chair.
"Your turn," she said. "How did you survive?"
He didn't answer for a long moment, and when he did, the Emissary's hearts constricted at the amount of raw pain filling his voice. "I made it happen." Her face must have shown her confusion, because he swallowed and looked away. "I burned Gallifrey."
Her mouth fell open. "You did this?" she cried. She glanced over as Rose stirred in her sleep, then leaned closer to the Doctor, hissing quietly. "You killed everyone! After everything you said to me, you went and killed them all!"
He met her eyes and she jerked back when she saw tears in his eyes. "You weren't there!" he said quietly. "The War, it changed them! I had to end it, for the sake of the universe!" He looked away. "And I wish there'd been a better way. But there wasn't."
The Emissary leaned her elbows on the table, head in her hands. "Yeah," she whispered. "I get it." She pushed away from the table and stood. "I'm going to try and get some sleep," she said awkwardly. "You should too."
She didn't sleep.
~~~
Rose picked up on the tension between the two Time Lords almost as soon as she woke up. They stood on opposite sides of the room, avoiding each other as much as possible. She looked between them. "What happened?" she asked. The Doctor just looked at her for a moment, then turned away. She turned to the Emissary, who just shook her head. Huffing, Rose sat down next to Harriet and waited.
The speaker crackled with Jackie's voice a few hours later. "All right, Doctor. I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do."
Harriet hummed thoughtfully. "If we could ferment the port, we could make acetic acid."
"Mickey, any luck?" Rose asked.
Mickey sighed. "There's loads of emergency numbers. They're all on voicemail."
"Voicemail dooms us all," Harriet muttered.
"If we could just get out of here," Rose mumbled, getting up and examining the metal shutters.
The Doctor looked up, his face solemn. "There's a way out."
Rose whipped around. "What?"
The Doctor swallowed. "There's always been a way out."
"Then why don't we use it?" Rose said.
The Doctor answered to the speaker. "Because I can't guarantee your daughter will be safe."
Jackie's voice was cold. "Don't you dare. Whatever it is, don't you dare."
"That's the thing. If I don't dare, everyone dies." He met the Emissary's eyes as he said this. Rise frowned as something she couldn't decipher passed between them, then the Emissary nodded.
Rose decided their drama wasn't important right now. "Do it," she told the Doctor decisively.
The Doctor gawked at her. "You don't even know what it is. You'd just let me?"
Rose nodded, confident in him. "Yeah."
"Please, Doctor," Jackie pleaded. "Please. She's my daughter. She's just a kid."
"Do you think I don't know that?" he snapped. "Because this is my life, Jackie. It's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will."
"Then what're you waiting for?" Rose asked. He looked her in the eye.
"I could save the world but lose you." Rose faltered a bit.
"Except it's not your decision, Doctor," Harriet suddenly said. "It's mine."
"And who the hell are you?" Jackie asked, her voice a bit scathing.
"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North," Harriet replied, and the Emissary was almost surprised when she didn't automatically hold up a badge. "The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people for the people. And on behalf of the people," she looked at the Time Lords, "I command you. Do it."
The Doctor nodded, then gave Mickey instructions to get back online. Rose watched him.
"How do we get out?" she asked.
"We don't," the Emissary told her, seeming to know the Doctor's plan. "We stay here."
The Doctor pulled the Emergency Protocols from the red briefcase, staring down at them. "Use the buffalo password," he said to Mickey. "It overrides everything."
~~~
Jackie sat down next to Mickey. "What're you doing?"
Mickey grinned at her. "Hacking into the Royal Navy." He turned back to his computer, speaking into the phone. "We're in. Here it is. HMS Taurean, Trafalgar Class submarine, ten miles off the coast of Plymouth."
"Right," the Doctor said, "we need to select a missile."
Mickey looked at his options. "We can't go nuclear. We don't have the defence codes."
~~~
The Emissary shook her head. "We don't need nuclear. All we need is an ordinary missile."
"What's the first category?" the Doctor asked.
"Sub Harpoon," Mickey said after a minute. "UGM-A4A."
The Doctor nodded. "That's the one. Select."
~~~
Jackie watched as Mickey selected the missile. "I could stop you," she told him.
He just looked at her. "Do it, then."
The Doctor's voice came through the phone. "You ready for this?"
Mickey stared at Jackie for a a moment as she got up and walked away. He nodded. "Yeah."
~~~
The Doctor grimaced. "Mickey the idiot, the world is in your hands." He took a breath. "Fire."
The mouse click seemed to ring through the room. There was a beat, then Jackie spoke. "Oh, my God."
Harriet looked around the room. "How solid are these?" she asked, gesturing to the walls of metal.
"Not solid enough," the Doctor frowned. "Built for short range attack, nothing this big."
Rose looked behind her, then nodded. "All right, now I'm making the decision," she announced. "I'm not going to die. We're going to ride this one out. It's like what they say about earthquakes. You can survive them by standing under a doorframe." She walked over to the cupboard. "Now, this cupboard's small so it's strong. Come and help me. Come on." Both Harriet and the Emissary helped her drag boxes out of the cupboard.
"It's on radar." Mickey announced. The Doctor leaned over the speaker to hear better. "Counter defence five five six."
"Stop them intercepting it," the Doctor ordered.
"I'm doing it now."
"Good boy."
"Five five six neutralised."
The Doctor unplugged Rose's phone as the women finished clearing out the cupboard. The group crouched down inside and Rose pulled the door shut.
Harriet looked at them all. "Here we go. Nice knowing you three," she said, gave a cry. "Hannibal!"
The entire cupboard shook violently when the missile hit. The Emissary was tossed around as they rolled several times and she winced when Rose's foot came into contact with her stomach. She could barely hear Rose screaming over the roar of the explosion.
As suddenly as it started, it stopped. They came to a standstill, and the Doctor, who'd ended up closest to the door, gently pushed on it. It fell with a thud and they climbed out to see 10 Downing Street completely decimated.
Harriet patted the cupboard doorframe. "Made in Britain," she quipped.
The police sergeant came running up to them. "Oh, my God. Are you all right?"
"Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North," Harriet introduced, flashing her badge. "I want you to contact the UN immediately. Tell the ambassadors the crisis is over. They can step down." The sergeant stared at her. "Go on," she shooed, "tell the news."
"Yes, ma'am," he finally got out, running back the way he came.
Harriet looked around and blew out a breath. "Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out," she said, then blanched. "Oh, Lord. We haven't even got a Prime Minister."
"Maybe you should have a go," the Doctor told her.
Harriet scoffed. "Me? Huh. I'm only a back-bencher."
Rose smiled at her. "I'd vote for you."
"Now, don't be silly," Harriet said, shaking her head. "Look, I'd better go and see if I can help." She waved at them, starting to make her over the rubble. "Hang on! We're safe! The Earth is safe! Sergeant!"
"I knew I knew her name," the Emissary suddenly grinned. "Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister."
The Doctor's face suddenly cleared in recognition. "Elected for three successive terms," he told Rose. "The architect of Britain's Golden Age." They turned to watch Harriet run up to the reporters.
"The crisis has passed!" she told them. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have something to say to you all here today! Mankind stands tall, proud and undefeated. God bless the human race."
The two Time Lords and Rose shared a grin before walking off.
~~~
The moment they got back to the Tyler flat, Rose was engulfed in a hug from her mum. The Doctor made a face and walked quickly back to the TARDIS as Jackie moved from Rose to the Emissary.
An hour later, Jackie sat watching Harriet on the news. "Mankind stands tall, proud..."
Jackie scoffed at the tv, looking behind her at where Rose and the Emissary sat. "Harriet Jones. Who does she think she is? Look at her, taking all the credit. Should be you on there. My daughter and neighbor saved the world!"
"I think the Doctor helped a bit," Rose reminded.
"All right, then," Jackie allowed. "Him too. You should be given knighthoods."
Rose shook her head. "That's not the way he does things," she told her mum. "No fuss. He just moves on. He's not that bad if you gave him a chance."
"He's good in a crisis, I'll give him that."
Rose grinned, tongue in teeth. "Oh, now the world has changed. You're saying nice things about him."
Jackie smiled at her daughter. "Well, I reckon I've got no choice," she said. "There's no getting rid of him since you're infatuated."
"I'm not infatuated," Rose protested.
Jackie changed the subject. "What does he eat?"
"How do you mean?" Rose asked, sharing a look with the Emissary.
"I was going to do shepherds pie," Jackie replied, looking between them. "All of us. A proper sit down, 'cos I'm ready to listen. I wanna learn about you and him and that life you lead." Rose looked at her mum, a little shocked. Jackie sniffed. "Only, I don't know, he's an alien. For all I know, he eats grass and safety pins and things." Rose snorted at the look on the Emissary's face.
"He'll have shepherds pie," the Emissary assured Jackie. Then she grinned. "You're going to cook for him?"
Jackie scowled. "What's wrong with that?"
"He's finally met his match," Rose snickered to the Emissary.
"You're not too old for a slap, you know," Jackie warned, getting up to go into the kitchen. The Emissary slipped out of the flat. "You can go and visit your Gran tomorrow. You'd better learn some French." Rose stopped paying attention when her phone rang. "I told her you were in France. I said you were au-pairing."
Rose looked down at her phone, face scrunching in confusion when the caller ID said the TARDIS was calling. She answered warily. "Hello?"
The Doctor's voice answered. "Right, I'll be a couple of hours, then we can go."
"You've got a phone?" Rose asked incredulously.
"You think I can travel through space and time and I haven't got a phone?" the Doctor snarked. "Like I said, couple of hours. I've just got to send out this dispersal." Rose listened as he tapped buttons. "There you go. That's cancelling out the Slitheen's advert in case any bargain hunters turn up."
Rose looked round to her mum in the kitchen. "Er, my mother's cooking," she told the Doctor.
"Good," he joked. "Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer."
"She's cooking tea," Rose said. "For us."
"I don't do that," the Doctor said, his voice flat.
"She wants to get to know you," Rose tried. She could almost hear him shake his head.
"Tough," was the answer. "I've got better things to do."
"It's just tea."
"Not to me it isn't."
"She's my mother," Rose pointed out.
"Well, she's not mine," he said harshly.
Rose winced. "That's not fair."
The Doctor sighed. "Well, you can stay there if you want," his voice took on an excited tone, "but right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula. Fires are burning ten million miles wide." Rose started to grin widely. "I could fly the Tardis right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out. Hurtle right across the sky and end up," he paused, "anywhere. Your choice." He hung up.
Rose lowered her phone, smiling excitedly. She got up and ran to her room to pack.
~~~
"Rose, I was thinking," Jackie was saying as she walked into Rose's room. "I've got that bottle of Amaretto from New Year's Eve. Does he drink?" She looked up. Rose had a duffel bag on her bed, packing it full of stuff. Jackie stopped as Rose glanced up at her. "I was wondering whether he drinks or not."
Rose nodded, pulling the drawstrings tight. "Yeah, he does."
Jackie swallowed. "Don't go, sweetheart," she begged, knowing it wouldn't stop her. "Please don't go."
~~~
Mickey sat on a rubbish bin reading the newspaper while a young boy cleaned his graffiti off the TARDIS. He looked up when the Doctor came out.
"Good lad," he said to the kid. "Graffiti that again and I'll have you. Now, beat it."
Mickey watched him run off. "I just went down the shop," he said, turning to where the Emissary had joined the Doctor, "and I was thinking, you know, like the whole world's changed. Aliens and spaceships all in public. And here it is." He held up the paper, showing them the headline reading Alien Hoax. "How could they do that? They saw it."
"They're just not ready," the Emissary said. She opened her mouth to say more, but the Doctor cut her off.
"You're happy to believe in something that's invisible," he insulted, "but if it's staring you in the face, nope, can't see it. There's a scientific explanation for that. You're thick." He grunted when the Emissary's elbow met his ribs.
Mickey raised an eyebrow at them. "We're just idiots."
"Well, not all of you," the Doctor allowed.
"Yeah?"
"Present for you, Mickey," the Doctor said, holding out a CD. Mickey took it warily. "That's a virus. Put it online. It'll destroy every mention of me. I'll cease to exist."
Mickey stared down at it. "What do you want to do that for?"
"Because you're right," the Doctor told him. "I am dangerous. I don't want anybody following me."
Mickey looked over at where Jackie was following Rose out of the flat. "How can you say that and then take her with you?"
"You could look after her," the Doctor offered. "Come with us."
"I can't," Mickey shook his head. "This life of yours, it's just too much. I couldn't do it." He glared at them suddenly. "Don't tell her I said that."
"I'll get a proper job," Jackie was saying as she and Rose walked up to the TARDIS. "I'll work weekends. I'll pass my test, and if Jim comes round again, I'll say no. I really will."
Rose turned to her mum, laughing a bit. "I'm not leaving because of you," she assured her. "I'm travelling, that's all, and then I'll come back."
"But it's not safe," Jackie protested.
Rose sighed. "Mum, if you saw it out there you'd never stay home." She stepped up to the TARDIS doors.
"Got enough stuff?" the Doctor asked, eyeing her large duffel bag.
"Last time I stepped in there," Rose told him, smiling, "it was spur of the moment. Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me." She handed the bag to the Doctor as he went inside and walked over to Mickey. "Come with us," she said. "There's plenty of room."
The Doctor came back out and met Mickey's eyes over Rose's head. "No chance," he told her. "He's a liability, I'm not having him on board." Mickey nodded at the Doctor in thanks.
Rose turned to the Doctor. "We'd be dead without him."
"My decision is final."
Rose sighed, turning back to Mickey apologetically. "Sorry." She kissed him.
"Good luck, yeah," Mickey said as he pulled away. Rose smiled.
"You still can't promise me," Jackie suddenly said to the Doctor. "What if she gets lost? What if something happens to you, Doctor, and she's left all alone standing on some moon a million light years away. How long do I wait then?"
Rose walked over and set her hands on her mum's shoulders. "Mum, you're forgetting. It's a time machine. I could go travelling around suns and planets and all the way out to the edge of the universe, and by the time I get back, yeah, ten seconds would have passed."
The Emissary snorted quietly, walking back into the TARDIS. "Not with his driving," she muttered.
"Just ten seconds," Rose finished, not hearing the Emissary's remark. "So stop worrying. See you in ten seconds' time, yeah?" She hugged Jackie tight, then ran into the TARDIS after the Doctor. Mickey gave a little wave as he and Jackie watched the TARDIS dematerialize. The second it was gone, Jackie looked at her watch, counting.
"Ten seconds," she said softly. She walked slowly back to the flat, leaving Mickey on the rubbish bin, reading the newspaper.