Chapter Two

(Meanwhile…high above the Earth…)

The villain du jour looks out of the window of his spaceship. His stocking-shaped ship hovers directly over the island of Great Britain. He lets out an evil laugh.

"At last, I have tracked the Time Lord to this insignificant mud ball of a planet. Soon, he and his companion will be my prisoners and then I shall add them to my collection."

He let out another evil laugh as he moved his stocking-shaped ship closer to the Earth.

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"Okay, are you convinced now that there are no gold Christmas bots waiting to grab us?" Rose asked as she and the Doctor sat down on a bench.

"Yes, I suppose I was jumping to conclusions." The Doctor admitted. "Good, it's nice to know we'll get through one Christmas without being captured by robot henchmen."

He put his arm around Rose as he thought.

"Where do these robots come from anyway? A lot of different villains seem to have them. Is there some gold Christmas bot emporium that they all shop at around the holidays?"

"Beats me. I've only seen them once. I wasn't around for the other two times." Rose said shrugging as she looked at some holiday shoppers nearby.

"Well, trust me, they are all a pain in the arse. It'll be nice to be able to enjoy one Christmas without them around and…"

Rose frowned when she heard the Doctor stop talking. She turned her head around and her eyes widened when she saw a gold robot was standing behind the Doctor with his hands around his throat. She looked at it. It was gold with big, black eyes on its otherwise smooth, blank face. She stared at it. The robot had wooden reindeer antlers tied around its head and a red sash with jingle bells on it wrapped around its neck and torso. There was another sash crisscrossing its mid-section that had the word DONNER on it in big, black lettering.

"Rose, I was right!" the Doctor croaked. "It's a Christmas bot! Get it!"

Rose jumped up.

"Get off of him!" she yelled at it.

She punched it in the face and cried out when the metal surface nearly broke her hand.

"Rose, look out!" the Doctor gasped. "Behind you!"

Rose turned around and saw another reindeer bot coming towards her. The sash across its mid-section said PRANCER. Rose ducked out of the way when PRANCER made a grab for her. She ran behind the bench. Gritting her teeth, she ran into DONNER. The bot toppled over and released its grip on the Doctor's neck. He jumped up and reached into his jacket pocket for his sonic screwdriver.

"I don't know who you are working for this time, but you will not ruin my Christmas again!" he yelled at them.

He paused and took in the antlers and jingle bells.

"Is that it for this year? That's a pretty crappy disguise. You lot aren't even trying anymore!" he said.

He leveled his sonic screwdriver at DONNER.

"Doctor, look out!" Rose yelled.

The Doctor turned his head around and noticed PRANCER had pulled a jingle bell off his sash. He threw it at the Doctor's head. He grabbed Rose and they ducked out of the way as the jingle bell hit the wall behind the bench and exploded. People screamed and ran in all directions as the Doctor and Rose got to their feet.

"Oh great, jingle bell bombs." The Doctor said. "I wonder what else they have up their robot sleeves?"

He cursed when PRANCER lowered his head and fire shot out of his antlers. He walked towards the Doctor and Rose as his antler flamethrower spewed flames. Rose and the Doctor turned and ran through the panicking crowd trying to find some cover. They turned a corner and gasped when they ran straight into RUDOLPH. The Doctor stared at the red clown nose glued to the bot's face and shook his head.

"Now I've seen everything!" he muttered.

He and Rose ran back around the corner when RUDOLPH threw a jingle bell bomb at them. They hit the pavement when it exploded a few feet behind them. They quickly leapt to their feet and dodged the flames still spewing from PRANCER's antlers. They ran across the street and ducked into a shop as the three reindeer bots followed them. The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand.

"Out the back door, hurry!" he said.

They ran through the building trying desperately to get away from the bots. They finally found the back door and ran outside into an alley. They gasped when they found their way blocked on both sides by DASHER and COMET. The Doctor raised his screwdriver and disabled COMET. He turned and tried to use it on DASHER, but the bot quickly lowered his head and used his antler flamethrower. Rose and the Doctor pushed COMET out of the way and they ran out of the alley. RUDOLPH tried to block their way, but they grabbed each other's hands and ran at him at full speed. RUDOLPH toppled over onto the pavement with a loud clang and they kept on running for their lives.

Then, they saw it. Emerging from the clouds above them was a humongous red and green stocking. The Doctor and Rose stopped and stared at it in shock.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Rose said.

"Run, Rose, before the stocking kills us!" the Doctor yelled.

They ran around a corner trying to escape the monster stocking as it pursued them from high above. Both of their lungs were burning now and their legs ached, but they pressed on determined to make it back to the safety of the TARDIS.

Suddenly, Rose let out a scream as her body lifted off the ground. The Doctor gasped and tried to hold on to her, but it was no use. The Doctor watched horrified as Rose was sucked up into the toe of the stocking ship.

"No!" he yelled as Rose disappeared into the big, gaping hole and the toe quickly closed back trapping her inside.

The Doctor screamed curses at the ship. His eyes widened when the toe swung open. The tractor beam came back down and starting coming for him. He took off at full speed and quickly dodged into a nearby alley as the beam followed behind him. He panted and gasped looking for a way to escape. Up ahead he could see the reindeer bots gathering at the entrance waiting for him. The Doctor put on a fresh burst of speed preparing to ram right into them.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a metal door opening in front of him and a man putting a bag of rubbish by the door. He aimed directly at the man and slammed into him knocking them both back into the building. The door slammed shut and the Doctor quickly leaped up and locked it with his screwdriver.

"OI!" The man yelled at him. "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF---"

He was cut off when the Doctor slammed his hand over his mouth.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I had no choice. Someone is chasing me and trying to kidnap me. They just got my friend and I'm next. I need to hide in here until I figure out a plan. Please, just let me hide back here."

The Doctor glanced up when he heard a bell ringing softly.

"Get off me, that's the front door. I have a customer." The man said angrily.

"No! Don't answer it. It's a robot! It'll kill you!"

The man stared at him.

"A…robot?"

"Yes, robots disguised as reindeer are after me. They saw me come in here so they must have found the front door. Don't go out there whatever you do!"

The man sighed.

"Look, buddy, I don't have time to deal with this. Why don't you go back out the way you came and find yourself a crack house you can hide in?"

The Doctor's mouth dropped open.

"I'm not on crack, alright? The robots are real! They've invaded before! Haven't you seen them?"

"No, I moved to London from Halifax, Nova Scotia this past summer." The man replied.

"Well, welcome to London. Hope you've settled in all right. Now, don't go out there whatever you do!"

The man shook his head and pushed the Doctor off him.

"Whatever, I don't have time for this." He muttered.

The Doctor sighed angrily when the man walked out of the room.

"Fine, just don't say I didn't warn you." He muttered to himself.

He got to his feet and nodded when he heard the man scream.

"Told ya, mate." he muttered.

A minute later, the man ran back into the room and locked the door behind him. The Doctor gave him a pointed look when the man ran to his side.

"Oh my God, you aren't kidding! There are robots out there."

"See, I wasn't lying."

"Let's go out this way then." The man said running to the back door and unlocking it.

"Wait!"

He threw open the door and gasped when he saw DONNER and RUDOLPH standing in front of it. The Doctor lunged at the door when he saw the two bots lower their heads. He locked the door and grimaced in pain when the flamethrowers heated the metal door and burned the hand pressed up against it. The Doctor waved his injured hand and blew on it as he stepped back towards the man.

Then, there was a huge clang as the bots tried to break down the back door. The Doctor and the man jerked their heads around when they heard the other bots trying to get into the wooden door leading back out to the shop. The wooden door splintered easily and the man stood in silent shock as he watched a gold fist break through the wood.

"What do we do?" he asked the Doctor.

The Doctor sighed. He glanced around and saw the bots at the back door were making huge dents in the metal. He looked at the man.

"Hide over there. It's me they want. I'll surrender so they won't hurt you." He said.

The man hesitated. He didn't know who this stranger was, but he certainly didn't want the robots to capture him. The Doctor noticed his reluctance.

"Move, hurry, I'll be all right!" he said to him.

The man nodded. He quickly ducked into the shadows as the robots finally broke through the wooden door. it slammed to the ground with a loud bang and they stepped across it into the room. The Doctor raised his hands in surrender when PRANCER lowered his head and aimed his antlers at him.

"There's no need for that. I surrender!" he said to it. "Take me to your leader!"

DASHER came forward and grabbed him by the arm. PRANCER seized his other arm and the man watched silently as the two bots escorted the stranger out of the building.