A/N So this is a pretty short chapter, but Thursday's is longer! Just the way the episodes and story worked out. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who.
Episode Spoilers: Bad Wolf S1E12
Rejected Bonds - Chapter 4, Bad Wolf
After dropping off Margaret the Slitheen's egg on Raxacoricofallapatorius, the group was deciding where to go next. They were standing around the console room of the TARDIS laughing when a brilliant white light blinded them and they were each pulled away. The Doctor woke up in a small cupboard only to find he was somehow on a gameshow. He'd been teleported into the Big Brother House as a new contestant. Jack woke to find himself facing two large robots in a future version of What Not To Wear. He took it in stride when his clothing was defabricated off his body and he was left nude on live TV.
Hermione and Rose, however, woke up together, dazed and confused in what seemed like a large dark room. A man was bending over them and helped them to sit up more comfortably. "What happened?" Rose asked, rubbing her head. Hermione stood up quickly, trying to shake off the disorientation and survey her surroundings.
The man tried to assure them, "It's all right. It's the transmat. Does your head in. Get a bit of amnesia. What're your names?"
"Rose. But where's the Doctor?" She looked at Hermione questioningly.
"I'm Hermione," she told the man and turned to help her cousin stand, "I don't know where he is but we need to play along, got it?"
The man introduced himself as Rodrick and ushered the pair over to a lit area with podiums arranged around a robot in a semi-circle. "Just remember, do what the android says. Don't provoke it. The android's word it law."
"What do you mean, android? Like a robot?" Rose was looking around completely confused.
"Come on, hurry up." He helped a wobbly Rose to her podium and Hermione went to the one on his other side.
Rose ignored Hermione's pointed looks to just go with what was happening and kept talking. "I was - we were travelling, with the Doctor and a man called Captain Jack. The Doctor wouldn't just leave me!"
Hermione glared at her to shut up as the floor manager got everyone into position and asked them all to be quiet.
"But I'm not supposed to be here," Rose whined.
Rodrick rolled his eyes, "It says Rose on the podium."
"Hold on, I must be going mad. It can't be. This looks like the-" she trailed off in shock, "Oh my God, the android. The Anne-droid."
The android in the center of the half circle then announced, "Welcome to The Weakest Link!"
Rose continued to talk and complain, much to Hermione's annoyance. Can't she just shut up and use her brain?
Rodrick spoke the words she was too polite to say, though, "Just shut up and play the game."
Hermione stifled a laugh at her cousin's outraged face.
The android turned to the first contestant to begin the game, rapidly firing questions with each contestant. Hermione had a grim look on her face but Rose just kept laughing in disbelief at the situation they found themselves in.
As the contestants were choosing the weakest link of the round, Anne Droid turned to Rose, "So, Rose, what do you actually do?"
"I just travel about a bit. Bit of a tourist, I suppose."
"Another way of saying unemployed."
"No," she frowned.
"Have you got a job?"
"Well, not really, no, but-"
"Then you are unemployed. And yet, you've still got enough money to buy peroxide. Why Fitch?"
"Er, I think she got a few of the questions wrong, that's all."
"Oh, you'd know all about that."
Rose looked sheepish, knowing she hadn't done well in the round. She also wondered how Hermione had done as well as she had, only missing two questions. "Well, yeah, but I can't vote for myself, so it had to be Fitch. I'm sorry, that's the game. That's how it works. I had to vote for someone."
Fitch was in tears and begging, "Let me try again. It was the lights and everything. I couldn't think."
The robot continued, however, "In fact, with three answers wrong, Rose was the weakest link in that round, but it's votes that count."
Fitch was sobbing, "I'm sorry. Please. Oh God, help me!"
"Fitch you are the weakest link. Goodbye!" A barrel came out of the robot's mouth and a beam fired at Fitch, disintegrating her.
Rose looked shocked, "What's that? What's just happened?"
Rodrick wiped off his board, "She was the weakest link, she gets disintegrated. Blasted into atoms. Don't try to escape. It's play or die."
Despite being horrified at the game, a calculating glint entered her eyes that Hermione did not like one bit.
A couple rounds later it was only Rodrick, Hermione, and Rose left. Rather than voting for Rodrick, Rose had voted for her cousin, knowing that Rodrick would most likely do the same.
Hermione fumed and glared at her cousin, who met her eyes challengingly. The android once more asked Rose why she voted for Hermione, "That's how you play the game. I want to go to the final round."
The droid then turned to Hermione, "Hermione, despite having answered the most questions correctly this last round it's votes that count. You are the weakest link. Goodbye!"
Hermione flipped off her cousin who was smirking at her as the barrel once more came out of the robot's mouth. As the beam was firing Hermione turned quickly on the spot to apparate back to the TARDIS. She'd been planning on trying to take her cousin with her if the Doctor hadn't rescued them by that point, but it looked like her baby cousin wanted her out of the way.
Hermione was relieved to find that the TARDIS wasn't out of her apparation range, and proceeded to scream in anger when she appeared in the console room. I can't believe that bitch tried to have me killed! She went over to the monitors to find out where the TARDIS was and try to discover the locations of Jack and the Doctor. She found she was in a place called Satellite 5, and also found that the Doctor and Jack were quickly converging on Rose's location. Oh sure, they manage to get there in time to save Rose, she thought bitterly. Tapping into the live feed for the game she watched the final round between her cousin and Rodrick.
As Rodrick won the game he exclaimed, "Oh, my God! I've done it! You've lost!"
Rose went pale. "But I'm not meant to be here. I need to find the Doctor, he's got to be here somewhere he's always here! He wouldn't just leave me!"
The droid turned to Rodrick, "Rodrick, you are the strongest link, you will be transported home with one thousand six hundred credits."
"Oh, thank you, thank you so much."
Rose was starting to panic, "This game is illegal. I'm telling you to stop!"
The Doctor and Jack barged into the studio as Hermione watched on the monitors. The Doctor raced past security guards. "Rose! Stop this game!"
The Anne-droid continued regardless of the distractions. "Rose, you leave this life with nothing."
Jack was struggling to get away from the guards. "Stop this game!"
"I order you to stop this game!" the Doctor shouted.
"You are the weakest link." The Anne-droid shot Rose as she was running to the Doctor, leaving a pile of dust on the floor.
Jack was infuriated. "What the hell did you do to her?"
Hermione watched on the monitor as the Doctor knelt over what he thought were Rose's remains. Jack was running around pointing a gun at people and shouting, "Don't you touch him! Leave him alone! You killed her! Your stupid freaking game show killed her." He looked at the names on the podiums and realized that Hermione had been there too. He went into a rage and tried fighting the guards but was quickly subdued, as tears fell down his face.
A guard was cuffing the Doctor, "Sir, I'm arresting you under Private Legislation Sixteen of the Game Station Syndicate."
Hermione had noticed that Rose's signal was beamed away to the edge of the solar system just before the pair reached her. She felt a small amount of satisfaction knowing that Rose's ploy to stall and/or win the game had failed, despite trying to sacrifice her cousin. Hermione also realized that the disintegration beams were actually transport beams and that Rose was on another ship. When she tried to leave the TARDIS the doors refused to open. For some reason the ship was keeping her locked up, for now, so she sat down to wait until the Doctor and Jack broke out of jail.
It didn't take too long in actuality, but Hermione was still bored and anxious as she waited. She couldn't believe Rose had tried to kill her! It was painfully obvious that the girl was extremely jealous of anyone who took the Doctor's attention away, but Hermione was well aware of the Doctor's feelings for Rose. It was painfully obvious that her soulmate only had eyes for her cousin. As much as it killed a part of her inside she accepted it. She'd known about this part of her Doctor's past, she just hadn't expected to be living it herself. And besides, Jack had been a loyal and supportive friend. She sometimes felt like she was cheating on the Doctor having such strong feelings for Jack, but the way the Doctor fairly well ignored her and her own loneliness drove her to be even closer to Jack. They wouldn't be a forever kind of relationship if they ever decided to do more than snog a bit, but they were a nice for now kind of thing.
Jack burst through the doors and before he even registered she was there, Hermione had leapt into his arms in relief. "What the hell?" He was shocked to see Hermione alive, convinced she'd been disintegrated as well.
"Oh, Jack I'm so happy to see you!"
"Hermione!? You're alive! But wait, if you're alive, where's Rose?"
"She's not here. I apparated away when the droid tried to shoot me."
"I don't know how to tell you this, but Rose, Rose is-" he choked out.
"Alive," she interrupted him. She dragged him to the monitors and showed him what she had seen.
"Oh thank God!" He went to run back to the control room to tell the Doctor the happy news but stopped when he felt a tug on his arm.
Hermione was biting her lip and fidgeting. "Jack wait a second, please. There's something you should know."
"What is it? We should go tell the Doctor the good news! Why have you been in here? Why didn't you come to find us?"
"Jack let me talk! The TARDIS wouldn't let me leave first of all. And you need to know, Rose tried to kill me."
Jack looked shocked but then laughed and pulled away. "Rose!? How did Rose try to kill you?"
Hermione felt her blood turn to ice. Jack didn't believe her. A weight settled in her stomach and she fought back tears. "She voted for me Jack. Just before the final round, she voted for me on purpose to try and get me killed off!"
Jack frowned a bit but then smiled. "I'm sure it was a misunderstanding. She was just playing the game."
"Jack you're not listening! You don't understand! You didn't see her face! She wanted me dead!"
"Hermione you're being hysterical."
She flinched away from him as if she'd been smacked. "Fine. If that's how you see it. Let's go find the Doctor."
Jack had a feeling of dread at her cold tone and expression. She'd gone pale and pulled her lips into a firm line. When he went to touch her shoulder she jerked away from him and glared at him with cold, fathomless eyes. Maybe he'd made a mistake, he thought to himself. But apologizing would have to wait.
The pair entered the game station control room, Hermione making sure to stay well out of reach of her erstwhile friend. Jack headed towards the front of the room where the Doctor had been talking to the controller. "Found the TARDIS. And Hermione."
The Doctor waved off that information and Hermione felt even more rejected. Hadn't he spared even one thought to her own well being?
"We're not leaving now."
"No, but the TARDIS worked it out. You'll want to watch this. Lynda, could you stand over there for me please?"
A short, pixie-like blonde, Lynda looked unsure. "I just want to go home."
"It'll only take a second. Could you stand in that spot, quick as you can. Everybody watching? Okay. three, two, one." He pressed a button and a beam shot at Lynda, who vanished in a puff of smoke.
The Doctor looked outraged, "But you killed her!"
"Oh, do you think?" He pressed another button and Lynda appeared on the other side of the room. "It's a transmat beam. Not a disintegrator, a secondary transmat system. People don't get killed in the games, they get transported across space. Doctor, Rose is still alive!" Jack and the Doctor hugged and Hermione found a seat at one of the control stations.
The Doctor looked jubilant. "She's out there somewhere."
The controller interrupted them. Her pale, unseeing eyes darting around at nothing. "Doctor. Coordinates five point six point one-"
"Don't, the solar flare's gone. They'll hear you."
"Point four three four. No, my masters, no! I defy you! Sigma seven seven-" But she disappeared with a scream before she could finish.
"They took her!" The Doctor looked appalled.
Jack worked with a couple of the people who had maintained control over the games to calculate the last part of the coordinates while the Doctor stepped over to Hermione. He put a hand on her shoulder. Misinterpreting the reason for her distraught look, he assured her, "We'll get Rose back, Hermione. Don't you worry." Hermione just gave him a weak smile in response as she fought to hold back the tears that still threatened to fall from Jack dismissing her claims. Doubt the Doctor would believe me either, she thought bitterly.
The Doctor went over to the group calculating coordinates and chastised Jack for flirting. "There's a time and a place." He mused to himself about the coincidence of events, the name of the company that ran the station - Bad Wolf - and determined that someone had been plotting for a very long time. "Someone's been playing a long game, controlling the human race from behind the scenes for generations."
Jack pointed out on the monitor, "The transmat delivers to that point, right on the edge of the solar system."
The woman at the computer looked confused. "There's nothing there."
"It looks like nothing because that's what this satellite does. Underneath the transmission, there's another signal. Hiding whatever's out there. Hiding it from sonar, radar, scanner. There's something sitting right on top of planet Earth, but it's completely invisible. If I cancel the signal-" he entered commands on the computer and a large flying saucer appeared on a viewscreen. It zoomed out to reveal even more ships.
Jack paled, "That's impossible. I know those ships. They were destroyed."
"Obviously, they survived," the Doctor said, dismayed.
Lynda couldn't help but ask, "Who did? Who are they?"
"Two hundred ships. More than two thousand on board each one. That's just about half a million of them."
"Half a million what?"
"Daleks," the Doctor spat.
A Dalek then appeared on the viewscreen. "I will talk to the Doctor."
"Oh, will you? That's nice. Hello!"
"The Dalek stratagem nears completion. The fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene."
"Oh, really? Why's that, then?"
"We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated!"
"No."
"Explain yourself."
"I said no."
"What is the meaning of this negative?"
"It means no."
"But she will be destroyed."
"No! Because this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to rescue her. I'm going to save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet. And then I'm going to save the Earth, and then, just to finish off, I'm going to wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!"
"But you have no weapons, no defences, no plan."
"Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death. Rose?"
"Yes, Doctor?" she replied from the view screen.
"I'm coming to get you."
