Rose ran into the console room as the TARDIS jerked wildly. She was a little shocked to see that the Doctor was alone, since she knew the Emissary had developed a habit of sitting up with him long after Rose went to bed, and then she was in the console room before Rose was, every morning. At this point, Rose wasn't sure either alien ever even slept. The TARDIS jerked again and nearly sent Rose careening into the wall. The Doctor ran around the console, flipping switches.

"What's going on?" she asked him. "What's the emergency?"

"It's mauve!" he answered. He sounded far too excited for her liking. She shook her head fondly.

"Mauve?"

"Universally recognized color for danger," the Emissary said from behind her. Rose turned to see the Time Lady walking in with a cup of tea in her hands. "What's mauve?"

"Wait, what happened to red?" Rose asked them.

The Doctor waved a hand absently. "That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp." His voice took on a reminiscing tone. "Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing."

The Emissary flipped a switch and the flight stabilized a bit more. "Doctor, what are we chasing?"

He flipped a screen around so she could see the transport on it. "It's got a very basic flight computer," he told the girls. "I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go."

"You did what?!" The Emissary shook her head at him. "Honestly, I left for two minutes."

Rose suppressed a snicker at the exasperation in her voice. "Slaving the TARDIS, that's safe, is it?"

"Totally," the Doctor answered.

"No," the Emissary said at the same time. As if agreeing with her, the TARDIS suddenly jerked with a loud bang, spilling the Emissary's tea and sending both girls toppling to the floor. The Doctor winced at their glares.

"Okay, reasonably," he corrected. "Should have said reasonably there." He offered the Emissary a hand up. She took it and went straight to the console.

"Doctor," she said, looking at the screen. "Whatever it is, it's jumping time tracks."

Rose got a better grip on the railing. "What exactly is this thing?"

"No idea," was the Doctor's answer. The Emissary rolled her eyes, but didn't comment, more concerned with helping him fly the TARDIS.

"Then why are we chasing it?" Rose asked. The Doctor looked up at her, face serious.

"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the center of London."

~~~

"Do you know", the Doctor asked as they landed, "how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?"

Rose pretended to think. "Five days?" she guessed, a teasing grin on her face. "Or is that just when we're out of milk?"

"Of all the species in all the universe and it has to come out of a cow," he grumbled. The Emissary laughed.

"What do you have against cows?" she asked. Both girls were laughing at him.

The Doctor ignored the question and swung the screen around to look at the tracking. "Must have come down somewhere quite close," he mused. "Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."

Rose stopped laughing in shock. "A month? We were right behind it."

"To be fair to him, it was jumping time tracks," the Emissary said. "Even I would have been a bit off."

"Oi, do you want to drive?" the Doctor asked. The Emissary threw him a smirk.

"Yes," she answered, "considering I actually passed my test."

"Yeah," Rose interrupted them. The two aliens had been bantering more and more lately. Well, she'd call it flirting, but they always argued against it whenever she mentioned that. "How much is a little?"

"A bit," the Doctor said vaguely.

Rose raised one eyebrow. "Is that exactly a bit?"

"Ish." The Time Lords headed outside, Rose right behind them.

"What's the plan, then?" Rose asked. "Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?"

"He should," the Emissary muttered.

The Doctor shook his head. "Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask."

The Doctor flipped open his psychic paper and held it out for her to see.

"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids," Rose read off.

"It's psychic paper," the Doctor explained. "It tells you-"

"Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember," Rose cut him off, nodding. The trio reached a door. "Not very Spock, is it, just asking."

"Door, music, people," the Doctor said, gesturing at the locked door before them. "What do you think?"

"I think you should do a scan for alien tech," Rose grinned. "Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?"

"Probably," the Emissary answered cheerfully. "I think he thinks it's more fun this way." She looked Rose over as the Doctor sonicked the door. "Are you sure about that shirt?"

Rose hummed, looking down at herself. "Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin."

"Mummy? Mummy?" Rose turned to scan the alleyway behind her. There was no one there. She looked back at the Time Lords. Neither one appeared to have heard anything.

The Doctor smirked triumphantly as the lock clicked open. "Come on if you're coming," he said, pulling the door open. "It won't take a minute." He went inside, the Emissary right behind him.

Rose made to follow when she heard the voice again.

"Mummy?" She jerked back around, scanning the alley. She caught sight of something above and looked up, gasping. A child wearing a gas mask was staring down at her.

"Doctor? Emissary?" she called back. "There's a child up there!" There was no answer. She turned to see the door had shut behind them. She shook her head. "Alright then. Guess I'm on my own." She looked back up at the kid. "Are you alright up there?"

"Mummy?"

Rose ran for the fire escape.

~~~

A waiter led the Time Lords through a beaded curtain onto a stage.

"I don't think asking is going to work," the Emissary told the Doctor. It'd taken her a minute once they left the TARDIS, but she was certain now of when they were.

"It would have been a very loud explosion," the Doctor countered. "People would have noticed, even humans." She sighed as he stepped up to the mic. "Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick." He smiled at the audience. "Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?" For a long moment, there was silence. Then the whole club burst into raucous laughter. "Sorry, have I said something funny? It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago."

A siren went off and the club began to empty. The Doctor looked back at the Emissary, confused to see her also laughing at him. She came up and laid a hand on his shoulder, pointing towards a poster.

"Welcome to 1941," she said.

~~~

Rose panted slightly as she reached a flat roof just below the child. She looked around for a way up.

"Mummy?"

"Hold on!" she called up to the child. "Don't go anywhere!" She smiled when she found a rope hanging down and walked over, beginning to climb. Halfway up she heard the child speak again.

"Mummy! Balloon!"

She paused, confused. "What?" The rope shook as she looked around, then shrieked in terror. She clung tighter to the rope as she floated farther away from the building.

"Doctor!" she cried, hoping the Time Lords were back outside. "Emissary! Doctor!"

She squinted against the bright searchlights that filled the air around her. Explosions began to go off below her and suddenly she knew exactly what was happening. She swallowed, trying her best to hide her shirt as German planes surrounded her.

"Ok," she squeaked. "Maybe not this shirt."

~~~

"Rose?" the Emissary called when they came back out to an empty alleyway. "Where did she go?"

"You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing," the Doctor sighed to her. "Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it's the only thing left to surprise me."

"Maybe she's just-" The Emissary cut off in surprise. The TARDIS phone was ringing. She exchanged shocked looks with the Doctor. "Is that the phone? I thought it didn't ring."

"It doesn't," he said, opening the little door and staring at the phone. "How can you be ringing? What's that about, ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?" He pulled out his sonic and scanned it, mystified.

"Don't answer it." The Emissary jumped a little at the voice. A young woman stood at the end of the alley, watching them. "It's not for you."

"How do you know?" the Emissary asked her.

The girl shrugged. "'Cos I do. And I'm telling you, don't answer it."

"Well, if you know so much, tell me this," the Doctor said. "How can it be ringing? It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not-"

"She left, Doctor," the Emissary interrupted. "Just answer it."

He shrugged and picked up the phone. "Hello? Hello? This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?"

"Mummy? Mummy?"

"Who is this?" he asked. "Who's speaking?"

"Are you my mummy?"

"Who is this?"

"Mummy?"

"How did you ring here?" the Doctor asked. "This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything."

"Mummy?"

The Doctor pulled the phone back when he got a dial tone. The Emissary stepped around him and knocked on the door to the TARDIS.

"Rose?" she called as she opened the door. "Are you in here?" She stepped further inside. "Rose?"

The Doctor went to follow her, but stopped when he heard a noise at the end of the alley. He took off running towards it.

"Ali!" he called out telepathically. "There's something out here!"

Inside the TARDIS, the Emissary jerked in shock. She swore in Gallifreyan, ignoring the TARDIS' disapproving hum, and left, running after the Doctor.

~~~

When the Emissary caught up to the Doctor, he was crouched by a stone wall, watching a family go into a bomb shelter. She crouched next to him.

"You called me Ali," she said quietly. He looked back at her, a bit shocked.

"Did I?"

"You haven't called me Ali since our first regenerations," she continued.

He shrugged, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Well, heat of the moment."

"I—" she sighed and let it go for now. "What are we looking at?"

He nodded towards the house the family had just left. As they watched, the young woman from before hurried across the street and went inside. A few minutes later, she came back out and whistled loudly. A group of children followed her in.

"I'm guessing we're doing the same," the Emissary sighed. The Doctor's only answer was a grin before he was off and crossing the road. The Emissary huffed fondly and followed.

~~~

On a balcony in a military base, an officer stood with binoculars, staring out into the night. He grinned when he saw a blonde hanging onto the rope of a barrage balloon.

"Jack?" another officer asked him. "Are you going down to the shelter? Only I've got to go off on some silly guard duty." He came up to Jack's side and looked out at where he was staring. "Ah, barrage balloon, eh? Must've come loose. Happens now and then. Don't you RAF boys use them for target practice?"

Jack grinned, zooming in on the blonde's arse. "Excellent bottom."

The other officer spluttered in shock. "I say, old man, there's a time and a place. Look, you should really be off."

"Sorry, old man," Jack said, lowering the binoculars. "I've got to go meet a girl." He paused as he walked past, patting the man's butt and winking. "But you've got an excellent bottom too."

~~~

Rose was becoming a bit desperate as the wind blew her around, miles above London. She screamed in terror when she lost her grip and started to fall. She was sure she was dead when suddenly, she stopped in midair.

"Okay, okay," a male American voice rang out around her. "I've got you."

Rose looked around, confused. "Who's got me?" she asked. "Who's got me, and you know... how?"

The voice ignored her question. "I'm just programming your descent pattern," it told her. "Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field."

"Descent pattern?" She was ignored again.

"Oh, and could you switch off your cell phone?" Rose huffed and crossed her arms. "No, seriously, it interferes with my instrument."

"You know, no one ever believes that," she grumbled, but she pulled out her phone and switched it off.

"Thank you," the voice said. "That's much better."

Rose scowled. "Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is," she shouted. "I'm hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest, but hey, my mobile phone's off."

"Be with you in a minute," the voice said. For a few nerve wracking moments, Rose hung suspended in silence, the only noise around her the planes and explosions. Then the voice came back online. "Hold tight!"

"To what?!" Rose shrieked.

"Fair point," the voice acquiesced, and then Rose was hurtling downwards. She screamed as she fell and landed in a pair of arms. "I've got you. You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble your head just a little."

Rose looked up to see a handsome man attached to the mysterious voice. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart.

"Hello," she said breathlessly. Bright blue eyes sparkled down at her.

"Hello."

"Hello," she said again, then blinked. She felt a bit fuzzy and she shook her head to try and clear it. "Sorry, that was hello twice there. Dull, but you know, thorough."

"Are you all right?" the man asked. Rose nodded.

"'M fine," she answered. The man set her on her feet, but kept his hands hovering near her. She looked at him, amused. "What, are you expecting me to faint or something?"

The man shrugged, a hint of worry in his eyes. "You just look a little dizzy."

Rose blinked. "What about you?" She swayed slightly. "You're not even in focus."

Everything went black.

~~~

The two Time Lords entered the dining room silently to see a bunch of children sat around the table. The young woman from the alley sat at the head of the table, passing a plate of meat around. "All right, then," she said to the kids. "One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly."

The plate made the rounds, a 'thank you, miss' coming from each child. The Doctor and Emissary took seats at the end of the table. When it came to them, the Doctor took the plate, a grin on his face.

"Thanks, miss!" he chorused cheerfully. The Emissary's face hit her hand as the children all panicked.

"Well done," she said sarcastically. He just smiled at her.

"It's all right," Nancy told the children. "Everybody stay where you are!"

"Good here, innit?" the Doctor asked no one in particular. He looked around. "Who's got the salt?" The Emissary reached across a child and handed him the salt. "Thanks."

"Back in your seats," Nancy told the children. She gave the Doctor a stern look. "They shouldn't be here either."

The Doctor took a bite of ham and looked around at the kids. "So, you lot, what's the story?"

"What do you mean?" one boy asked warily.

The Doctor shrugged. "You're homeless, right? Living rough?"

"Why do you want to know that?" another boy asked. "Are you coppers?"

The Emissary shook her head. "We're not cops."

"What would cops do with you kids anyway?" the Doctor asked rhetorically. "Arrest you for starving? I make it 1941. You lot shouldn't even be in London."

The Emissary nodded her agreement. "You should all be evacuated by now."

"I was evacuated," a boy said, raising his hand. "Sent me to a farm."

"So why'd you come back?" the Doctor asked.

"There was a man there-" the boy answered. Another kid interrupted.

"Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago."

"Shut up," Ernie grumbled. "It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food."

"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us."

"So this is what you do, then, Nancy?" the Emissary asked, looking up the table at her.

Nancy's expression went defensive. "What is?"

The Doctor set his cutlery down to look her in the eye. "As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you."

"Something wrong with that?"

"Wrong with it?" The Doctor laughed. "It's brilliant! I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical."

Nancy shook her head at him. "Why'd you follow me? What do you want?"

The Emissary leaned forward. "I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call," she said. "You were the one to warn us not to answer, I figure you're the one to ask."

"I did you a favor," Nancy told her. "I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you."

"Great, thanks," the Doctor brushed past it. "And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving." He looked around. "Anybody seen a girl like that?" He looked up in surprise as Nancy came over and took his plate away. "What have I done wrong?"

"You took two slices." Her voice was stern. "No blondes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?"

"Yeah, there is actually." The Doctor leaned forward. "Thanks for asking. Something I've been looking for. Would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb. Not the usual kind, anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this." He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and held it up to show a drawing of the alien transport.

The Emissary looked at it in surprise. "When did you have time to DRAW that?" she asked him. He winked at her and she looked away, surprised to be feeling heat in her cheeks. It didn't last long once she heard the voice from outside.

"Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?"

The Doctor stood and looked out the window. A child stood outside the front door, wearing a gas mask.

"Mummy?"

"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked, voice sharp.

Ernie pointed at the Time Lords. "Them."

Nancy shook her head. "No, they came round the back. Who came in the front?"

"Me," a boy said quietly, raising his hand.

"Did you close the door?" Nancy asked.

"Er.."

"Did you close the door?!"

"Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"

Nancy ran for the door, the Time Lords hot on her heels, and bolted it.

"What's this, then?" the Doctor asked her. "It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know."

Nancy rolled her eyes. "I suppose you'd know."

"I do actually, yes," he answered. The Emissary winced, remembering the stories he'd told her in the Academy, and rested a hand on his arm. Nancy sighed.

"It's not exactly a child," she told them.

"Mummy?" Nancy backed away from the door.

"Right," she called to the kids. "Everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!" She ushered all of the kids out, leaving the Time Lords at the door.

"Mummy? Mummy? Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy." The child reached a hand through the letterbox.

"Are you all right?" the Emissary asked, moving towards the door.

"Please let me in." The Emissary looked back at the Doctor. When he nodded, she reached for the lock. Before she could unlock it, a plate shattered against the door. Both Time Lords whipped around to see Nancy.

"You mustn't let him touch you!" she ordered.

"What happens if he touches me?" the Emissary asked her.

"He'll make you like him."

"And what's he like?" the Doctor asked.

Nancy shook her head, backing away from them. "I've got to go."

"Nancy, what's he like?" he asked again.

She paused, and sighed. "He's empty." The phone rang loudly in the silent hallway and all three looked at it. "It's him," Nancy told the Doctor as he reached for it. "He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw."

The Doctor picked it up anyway. The child's voice rang out. "Are you my mummy?"

Nancy took the phone out of the Doctor's hand and hung it up. From the dining room, a radio started playing. "Mummy? Please let me in, mummy."

The Emissary went back into the dining room, and turned the radio off. As soon as she did, a clockwork monkey started up as well. The Doctor picked it up, looking it over strangely. "Mummy, mummy, mummy."

Nancy backed out of the dining room, a terrified look on her face. "You stay if you want to," she told them, then ran out the back. Behind them, the letterbox rattled. The child stuck his hand back inside.

"Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in."

"Your mummy isn't here," the Doctor said, walking toward the door. The Emissary grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Look," she said, pointing at the hand. There was an oddly shaped scar on the back of it. Nancy's warning rang in her head and she swallowed as she let him go. "Be careful."

"Are you my mummy?"

"No mummies here", the Doctor quipped. "Nobody here but us chickens." He paused. "Well, this chicken."

"Oh, we can both be chickens," the Emissary told him. He looked back at her. She had had her jacket wrapped tight around herself, one hand lit up with Artron energy, and he could see the apprehension in her eyes, but she was right behind him, backing him up.

Whatever his answer was, the child cut it off. "I'm scared."

He faced the door again. "Why are those other children frightened of you?"

"Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs."

The Doctor looked back at the Emissary, a silent question in his eyes. She sighed, but nodded. He reached for the door. "Okay. I'm opening the door now." The child went silent and the Doctor unlocked the door.

"What the hell?" the Emissary breathed from right behind him. He fought the urge to shiver as her breath ghosted across his neck. She stepped past him, using the hand lit up with blue energy like a flashlight to look up and down the street, but it was no use.

The child was gone.

~~~

"Better now?" Rose heard as she came to. She looked over to see the man who had caught her earlier watching her from a chair. She nodded, squinting a bit in the darkened room.

"You got lights in here?" she asked. He turned on the lights. Rose looked around to see she was in a small spaceship.

"Hello," the man said, smiling at her. His hair was dark, his eyes a bright blue and rather easy on the eyes. Rose smiled at him.

"Hello."

"Hello," he said again. Rose laughed.

"Let's not start that again."

He nodded, chuckling. "Okay."

Rose swung her legs over the side of the bunk. "So, who're you supposed to be, then?" she asked.

"Captain Jack Harkness, One Three Three Squadron, Royal Air Force. American volunteer." He handed her a badge. Rose looked down at it and almost wanted to laugh.

"Liar," she teased. "This is psychic paper. It tells me whatever you want it to tell me."

Jack looked surprised. "How do you know?"

"Two things," Rose said, grinning. "One, I have a friend who uses this all the time."

"Ah," Jack nodded.

"And two," Rose continued, "you just handed me a piece of paper telling me you're single and you work out."

Jack grinned sheepishly. "Tricky thing, psychic paper."

"Yeah," Rose snorted, handing the paper back to him. "Can't let your mind wander when you're handing it over."

Jack took the paper and huffed a laugh, looking at it. "Oh, you sort of have a boyfriend called Mickey Smith, but you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy free."

"What?"

Jack's eyebrows rose. "Actually, the word you use is available."

Rose shook her head, laughing a bit now. "No way."

Jack grinned. "And another one, very."

Rose shook her head and took the paper out of his hands, tossing it on the bunk behind her. "Shall we try and get along without the psychic paper?"

"That would be better, wouldn't it?"

Rose nodded, looking around. "Nice spaceship," she complimented.

Jack shrugged. "Gets me around."

"Very Spock," Rose smiled to herself.

Jack just looked confused. "Who?"

Rose snorted, looking at him incredulously. "Guessing you're not a local boy, then."

"A cell phone, a liquid crystal watch, and fabrics that won't be around for at least another two decades," Jack gestured to her. "Guessing you're not a local girl."

"Guessing right." She pushed herself up and off the bunk, hissing in pain when her palms touched the bed. She looked at her hands. They were an angry red, and a bit swollen.

"Burn your hands on the rope?" Jack asked, seeing what she was looking at.

"Yeah," Rose nodded. She jumped a little as a bomb streaked past the window. "We're parked in midair!" she said, shocked. "Can't anyone down there see us?"

"No," Jack said simply. He reached for her hands. "Can I have a look at your hands for a moment?"

Rose was suddenly wary. "Why?" she asked, pulling her hands in close to her body.

"Please?" Jack rolled his eyes. "You can stop acting now. I know exactly who you are. I can spot a Time Agent a mile away."

Rose was lost now. "Time Agent?" she asked.

Jack either didn't notice her confusion, or he didn't care. "I've been expecting one of you guys to show up. Though not, I must say, by barrage balloon. Do you often travel that way?"

"Sometimes I get swept off my feet," Rose shrugged, holding her hands out. "By balloons. What are you doing?" Jack had taken a scarf and wrapped it around her wrists. He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Try to keep still." He held up a remote and pressed a button. Rose watched, awed, as tiny golden lights swarmed around her hands and the rope burn disappeared before her eyes. "Nanogenes," Jack explained. "Sub-atomic robots. The air in here is full of them. They just repaired three layers of your skin."

The golden lights dissipated and Jack untied her hands. Rose looked them over in disbelief.

"Well, tell them thanks", she said, rubbing her palms together.

Jack took a step back. "Shall we get down to business?"

Rose looked up in surprise. "Business?"

"Shall we have a drink on the balcony?" He grabbed a bottle of champagne and opened the roof hatch. "Bring up the glasses." He climbed up the ladder and disappeared. Rose stood in place for second, then laughed to herself. She grabbed the champagne flutes and climbed the ladder.

When she reached the top of the ladder, she looked around in shock and confusion. There was solid ground under her feet, she could feel it, but she couldn't see it. Miles below, she watched as fires burned through London.

"I know I'm standing on something," she said a bit tensely. Jack pressed a button and out of nowhere, the ship shimmered into view. Rose laughed. "Okay, you have an invisible spaceship."

"Yeah."

"Tethered up to Big Ben for some reason."

"First rule of active camouflage," Jack said, opening the champagne and filling the glasses. He handed one to her with a smile. "Park somewhere you'll remember."

~~~

"Remind me again," the Emissary asked, as she and the Doctor followed after Nancy, "why we can't just go back to the TARDIS and scan for the alien transport?"

"More fun this way," he answered. "Besides, Nancy knows something."

They followed Nancy into a little shack by the railroad. She put the tins in her bag on the shelf then turned to them.

"How'd you follow me here?" she asked.

"I'm good at following, me," the Doctor smiled. "Got the nose for it."

Nancy didn't look convinced. "People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to."

"My nose has special powers," the Doctor replied, shrugging.

Nancy shot the Emissary a look, smiling a bit when the woman just shrugged. "Yeah? That's why it's..." she trailed off.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"Nothing," Nancy said quickly.

"What?" he asked again. He looked over at the Emissary to see an amused smirk on her face.

"Nothing." Nancy hesitated, then asked, "Do your ears have special powers too?"

"What are you trying to say?" The Emissary was full on giggling now.

Nancy smiled. "Goodnight, Mister."

"Nancy," the Emissary said as the girl walked away. She stopped. "There's something chasing you and the other kids. It looks like a boy, but it isn't, and it showed up about a month ago, right?" Nancy nodded reluctantly. "The thing we're looking for, the one that fell from the sky but wasn't a bomb? That's when it fell. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

"There was a bomb," Nancy said quietly. "A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station."

"Take us there," the Doctor said. Nancy shook her head.

"There's soldiers guarding it," she told him. "Barbed wire. You'll never get through."

"Try me," he said simply. Nancy sighed and looked between them.

"You sure you want to know what's going on in there?"

The Doctor nodded. "I really want to know."

"Then there's someone you need to talk to first."

"And who is that?" the Emissary asked.

"The Doctor."

The Emissary looked at the Doctor, seeing her own shock mirrored on his face.

~~~

"You know, it's getting a bit late," Rose said to Jack after they'd sat on the roof awhile. They'd gotten through two and a half glasses of champagne, and she knew if she drank anymore, she'd leave buzzed behind for solidly tipsy. "I should really be getting back."

"We're discussing business," Jack protested. Rose raised one eyebrow and held up her glass.

"This isn't business," she said. "This is champagne."

"I try never to discuss business with a clear head," Jack said. He looked over at Rose, a more serious look on his face. "Are you travelling alone? Are you authorised to negotiate with me?"

"What would we be negotiating?" Rose asked warily.

"I have something for the Time Agency," Jack told her. Rose had no idea what a Time Agency was, but figured she should probably play along. At the very least, the Doctor or Emissary might need to know something. Jack was still talking. "Something they'd like to buy. Are you in power to make payment?"

She floundered for a response. "Well, I, I should talk to my companions."

"Companions?" Jack asked. Rose nodded and stood up.

"I should really be getting back to them."

Jack stood as well. "Them?"

Rose pulled out her phone, then remembered she'd had to turn it off. Sighing, she looked at Jack. "Do you have the time?"

He smirked and pressed a button on his remote. Rose blinked as the face of Big Ben lit up right in front of her.

"Okay, that was flash," she laughed. "That was on the flash side."

"So when you say your companions," Jack began, smirking, "just how disappointed should I be?"

Rose pinned him with a mock glare. "Okay, we're standing in midair."

"Mmhmm."

"On a spaceship, during a German air raid," Rose continued. Jack's smirk fell. "Do you really think now's a good time to be coming on to me?"

"Perhaps not."

"Just a suggestion." She was about to walk away when Jack grabbed her hands and pulled her into a waltz.

"Do you like Glenn Miller?" he asked, holding his remote. Before Rose could answer, Moonlight Serenade filled the air around them. "It's 1941, the height of the London Blitz, the height of the German bombing campaign, and something else has fallen on London," he said as they danced. "A fully equipped Chula warship. The last one in existence, armed to the teeth. And I know where it is, because I parked it. If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is going to fall on it and destroy it forever. That's your deadline. That's the deal. Now, shall we discuss payment?"

Rose raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Do you know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think you were talking just then." The music stopped and Rose made to step away, but Jack held on.

"Two hours, the bomb falls," he said. "There'll be nothing left but dust and a crater."

"Promises, promises."

Jack's voice took on a frustrated tone. "Are you listening to any of this?"

"You used to be a Time Agent," Rose said, considering him. "Now you're some kind of freelancer."

"Well, that's a little harsh," Jack countered. "I like to think of myself as a criminal."

Rose snorted. "I bet you do."

"So, these companion of yours," Jack asked. "Do they handle the business?"

"Well, I delegate a lot of that, yeah."

"Well, maybe we should go find him." He started to walk past her.

"And how're you going to do that?" she asked as she followed him back to the ladder.

Jack grinned at her. "Easy. I'll do a scan for alien tech."

Rose laughed in delight. "Finally! A professional."

~~~

Nancy led them to what appeared to be a military crime scene behind the station. They ducked behind some boulders.

"The bomb's under that tarpaulin," Nancy said to the Doctor. He'd pulled a pair of futuristic binoculars from his pocket and was looking over the boulder. "They put the fence up over night. See that building?" She pointed to the building next to the military site. "The hospital."

"What about it?" the Emissary asked her.

"That's where the doctor is," Nancy said. "You should talk to him."

The Doctor shook his head as he ducked back down behind the rock. "For now, I'm more interested in getting in there."

"Talk to the doctor first," Nancy insisted.

"Why is it so important that we do?" the Emissary asked her.

"Because then maybe you won't want to get inside." With that, Nancy stood and started to walk back the way they came.

"Where're you going?" the Doctor asked.

Nancy turned. "There was a lot of food in that house," she told them. "I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now."

"Can I ask you a question?" the Doctor asked quietly. When Nancy nodded, he continued. "Who did you lose?"

Whatever she'd been expecting, that clearly wasn't it. Her eyes went wide. "What?"

"The way you look after all those kids," he said. "It's because you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it." The Emissary looked at him in surprise at the tone of his voice, like he knew what it felt like to feel the need to atone.

"My little brother," Nancy answered him. "Jamie. One night I went out looking for food." She gestured to the covered transport. "Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just. He just didn't like being on his own."

"What happened?"

"In the middle of an air raid?" Nancy asked sarcastically. "What do you think happened?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Amazing."

"What is?"

"1941," he replied. "Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion." He huffed a laugh. "You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me." He gave Nancy an encouraging smile. "Off you go then. Do what you've got to do. Save the world."

Nancy stared at him for a second, then left. The Emissary and Doctor went over to the hospital she'd pointed out and the Doctor used the sonic to break in.

"Where is everybody?" the Emissary asked quietly. "There should be doctors, nurses, but there's just... no one." Several steps ahead of her, the Doctor stopped in a doorway.

"Come look at this," he said to her. She walked over to him and looked inside the room. The entire ward was filled with patients, one in every bed, all of them wearing gas masks.

"Still no staff," the Emissary noticed, confused. They went to the next ward, only to see the exact same thing. The entire floor, all they found was patients wearing gas masks. As they walked upstairs, the Emissary decided to break the silence. "Doctor?" she asked hesitantly. "What you were saying to Nancy earlier..."

He glanced back at her as she trailed off. "Yeah? What of it?"

"Just, the tone of your voice," she said. "Is that why you run around saving worlds and fixing the universe's problems?" He didn't answer, so she forged ahead. "Do you think you need to atone for what happened during the War?"

His only answer was a fierce, heated glare as they entered the first of the second floor wards. He walked away from her, into the ward. She sighed. "We'll have to talk about it eventually," she told him. He gave no indication that he heard her, so she followed him into the ward.

"You'll find them everywhere," an older man's voice said from the back of the room. The Emissary stopped before she ran into the Doctor, startled. A man in a doctor's coat stood by the desk in the center of the room, leaning heavily on a cane. "In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them."

"Yes, I saw," the Doctor said slowly. "Why are they still wearing gas masks?"

"They're not," the doctor said, which cleared up nothing. "Who are you?"

"I'm, er," he cut off and rephrased. "Are you the doctor?"

"Doctor Constantine," the doctor nodded. "And you are?"

"Nancy sent us," the Emissary told him.

"Nancy?" Constantine gave them a considering look. "That means you must've been asking about the bomb."

"Yes."

"What do you know about it?"

"Nothing," the Doctor said. "Why we were asking. What do you know?"

"Only what it's done," Constantine said gravely.

"All these people," the Emissary said, waving a hand to encompass the whole ward. "All of them got caught in the blast?"

Constantine chuckled. "None of them were."

Before he could say more, he broke off in a fit of violent coughing. The Emissary took a step towards him, but he waved her off.

"You're very sick," the Doctor said once he'd settled in a chair.

Constantine nodded. "Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time." He looked up at them. "Are you doctors?"

"I have my moments."

"Have you examined any of them yet?"

"No."

Constantine made a go-ahead gesture. "Don't touch the flesh," he warned.

"Which one?"

"Any one."

The Doctor walked over to the nearest bed and scanned the patient with his sonic.

"Conclusions?" Constantine asked.

"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right," the Doctor rattled off. "There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns."

Constantine just nodded. "Examine another one."

The Doctor did, then looked up in shock. "This isn't possible."

"Examine another."

He shook his head in disbelief. "This isn't possible."

"No."

The Doctor came back to stand by the Emissary and directed his next words to her, voice still unbelieving. "They've all got the same injuries."

Constantine nodded at her shocked face. "Yes."

"Exactly the same?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Identical, all of them," the Doctor agreed.

"Including the scar?" she asked, catching sight of it on Constantine's hand. She stepped back, grabbing the Doctor's hand and pulling him with her. When he looked at her, confused, she nodded towards Constantine's scar.

"How did this happen?" The Doctor asked him. "How did it start?"

"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim."

"Dead?" the Emissary asked.

"At first," Constantine nodded. "His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague." He looked between the two Time Lords. "Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"

"The head trauma," the Doctor guessed.

"No."

"Asphyxiation."

"No."

"The collapse of the chest cavity."

"No."

"All right", the Doctor said, giving up. "What was the cause of death?"

"There wasn't one," Constantine said. "They're not dead." He rapped the waste basket with his cane.

As one, every single patient sat straight up. The Emissary jumped a bit at the sudden movement, and the hand not holding the Doctor's lit up with Artron energy.

"It's all right", Constantine told her. "They're harmless. They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don't die."

"And they're just left here?" she asked, a little angrily. "You're the first medical staff we've come across. Is no one helping them?"

Constantine sighed as the patients laid back down. "I try and make them comfortable," he said. "What else is there?"

"And you're the only one here," the Doctor said.

"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather," Constantine told them simply. "Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor."

"Yeah," the Doctor said, looking away. "I know the feeling." The Emissary squeezed his hand, trying to offer some form of comfort.

"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb," Constantine continued.

"Probably too late," the Doctor quipped.

"There are isolated cases," Constantine told them. "Isolated cases breaking out all over London." He broke off into another coughing fit, nearly falling off his chair. Despite the scar on his hand, both Time Lords stepped forward to help him. He waved them back. "Stay back, stay back. Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight oh two. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."

"Nancy?"

"It was her brother," Constantine said thickly. It was getting hard to understand him. "She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she might—" He broke off, a look of terror on his face. "Mummy. Are you my mummy?"

The Time Lords watched, horrified, as a gas mask forced its way through Constantine's face and he slumped in place.

"Oh, Rassilon, I can never look at gas masks the same way," the Emissary whispered. The Doctor gave a hum of agreement and they turned to leave the ward only to pause as a man's voice rang out in the silent hallway.

"Hello?"

"Hello?" The Emissary gave a sigh of relief at Rose's voice. The Time Lords left the ward and followed the voices down the hall.

"Hello?"

~~~

They found Rose and a dark haired man near the stairwell. Rose smiled as they approached, a smile that turned to a smirk as she caught sight of their hands. The Emissary realized abruptly that she'd never let go of the Doctor's hand. She dropped it quickly and stepped away from him. Rose just smirked knowingly.

"Good evening," said the man with Rose. He held out a hand. "Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over." Neither Time Lord shook his hand and he dropped it awkwardly.

"He knows," Rose told them. She leaned close and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "I had to tell him about us being Time Agents."

"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock, Miss Emily." He patted the Doctor's shoulder and brushed past the aliens into the ward they'd just left.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Rose. "Mister Spock?"

"What was I supposed to say?" she shrugged. "Neither of you have a name. Don't you ever get tired of Doctor and Emissary? Doctor who? Emissary of what?"

"Nine centuries in, I'm coping," he replied.

"And in my experience, people haven't had to ask," the Emissary put in. She smiled at Rose. "Emily's a nice name, though." Rose smiled brightly back.

"Where've you been?" the Doctor asked her. "We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll."

"Who's strolling?" Rose smirked as she started walking back the way they'd come. "I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid."

"What?!"

Rose snickered at the look on his face. "Listen," she said as they walked into the ward, "what's a Chula warship?"

"Sorry?" the Emissary said, stopping in shock. "Did you say Chula?"

When they entered the ward, Jack was scanning a patient with what looked like a Vortex Manipulator. "This just isn't possible," he said as they approached him. "How did this happen?"

"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" the Doctor asked him, arms crossed.

Jack blinked. "What?"

"He said it was a warship," Rose answered. She looked unamused with Jack. "He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer."

"What kind of warship?" the Emissary asked, looking at Jack.

"Does it matter?" Jack pressed his hands to his mouth and shook his head slightly. "It's got nothing to do with this." He waved towards the beds.

"This started at the bomb site," the Doctor said sternly, walking closer to Jack. "It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?"

"An ambulance!" Jack yelled. "Look." He lifted his wrist and produced a hologram of the alien transport. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait—"

"Bait?" Rose interrupted.

"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk," Jack finished.

Rose glared at him. "You said it was a war ship."

"They have ambulances in wars," Jack said a bit condescendingly. He paced past the trio. "It was a con. I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?"

"Just a couple more freelancers," Rose said.

"Oh," Jack laughed. "Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local color. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?" The Emissary laughed at the offended look the Doctor gave him. "Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."

Rose took that moment to look around the room. "What is happening here?"

"Human DNA is being rewritten," the Emissary told her.

"By an idiot," the Doctor put in.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied. "Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things."

"We don't know why, either," the Emissary continued. "What's the point of it?"

Rose leaned over a patient, wanting a closer look, but jumped back, gasping, when they all suddenly sat up.

"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy? Mummy?"

"What's happening?" Rose asked as the Doctor and Emissary came over to stand by her.

"I don't know," the Doctor said grimly.

"Mummy." The patients suddenly got out of their beds and began to advance on the group.

"Don't let them touch you," the Emissary warned Jack and Rose.

"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked.

The Doctor nodded towards the patients closing in on them. "You're looking at it."

"Help me, mummy."

"Got any plans?" the Emissary asked the Doctor quietly as their backs hit the wall. He just shook his head. She sighed and let her hands light up blue, prepared to fight the patients off if she had to. "Brilliant."

"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy."