A/N: Goin' into the next part… A bit of Rose coming up and still heading into Firefly.
OtherMeWriter, thanks (many bows and cases of Jelly Babies to you). I'm wondering where my other reviews have gone; maybe I scared them off? Anyway. Here's the start of 'Rose' with just a bit extra… How does a Time Lord track an elusive Nestene Consciousness? With help, of course. And when is a Rose more than a Rose? When A TARDIS really wants to meet her… ;-)
PS: The scene with Zoe, Mal, and Wash is based on a flashback scene from 'Out of Gas' from the show Firefly.

Summary: The Doctor, reeling from the effects of the TimeWar as the last surviving TimeLord, stumbled into a situation he could not ignore when the TARDIS landed him inside a ship that was clearly in trouble. After the rescue, he's left with eight survivors that he must somehow get to safety. But the situation is not as cut and dry as he might like. His people may be gone, but the stamp he's made on the universe is still there, and he finds himself caught in a web spun of the choices he's made in the past…

It's 2517. Something in history has prompted humanity to explode out from their home world. Could the events of 2164 be responsible? Was Earth a myth or was it real? In fleeing Earth-that-Was, humanity scattered to the stars across the galactic arm. Initial survey teams targeted likely planets and systems for habitation and not all of them ended up on the same side of the sector. Blue Sun exists on one side, separated by a patch of 'wild space' filled with exotic binary and triple star systems, from the rest of civilized space.

Few ships brave the route. But luck had it that one ship did. Risking a ghost run, the only contact that the two sides have, the Hunter-Gratzner crashed midway through the journey. Original Port of Departure: Eavesdown Docks, Persephone. Mixed Sino-Anglo culture. Original Port of Call: Tangiers-5. Darkside. Mixed Islamic-Anglo culture. Crew complement: Four. Passengers: Forty. Living 'Cargo': Two. Survivors: Eight plus One

So what happens to Dr. Simon Tam, his brilliant but damaged sister, a convicted murder by the name of Richard B. Riddick, and the other survivors from the crash of the Hunter-Gratzner at planet M-344/G-2 now that they are on their way home? They end up slightly out of their own Time, on a ship filled with living sculptures and then a 'quiet' trip to London brings them face to face with living sculptures of another kind… And just how is this related to the TimeWar?

A Doctor Who / Firefly / Riddick crossover.

Features Doctor 9, companion Rose Tyler; The cast of Firefly; 'Jack B. Badd' and Richard B. Riddick…

Doctor Who and the Ties that Bind.

Part Twenty-Two

BriarRose

It had taken months to reach this point, months of hard work, sweat and tears and blood, mostly hers. Lots of cleaning and structural work, and ripping up and doing over. Most of the scrap heap next door was gone, now. Either traded in parts for something else, used as is, or sold for a coin as scrap. Zoë actually felt strange to be clean, for once, because they were interviewing pilots and she needed, as second in command of this ship, Serenity, to look professional. For Mal's sake if nothing else. The fairly new pilot's chair, matched by sheer luck with a co-pilot's chair in just as good shape, nearly the same style, and almost the same color, was empty. The top candidate for the job was sprawled out on the freshly swept and scrubbed floor half inside the innards of the console.

"Yeah. This is all very do-able," he says in a calm collected drawl. At least Hoban Washburne hopes it sounds calm. Because he's been itching to get onto this ship as a pilot ever since he set eyes on the second in command. It's a lousy reason, he knows, but once the chance is gone it will be gone forever, so he better jump at it while he can. Of course he mustn't let the ship's owner know that. The strawberry blonde slides out, huge monster of a moustache, long hair, loud tropical print shirt that could stop stars from spinning, and all. Zoë suppresses a wince. "Shouldn't be a problem at all. A few modifications, get some real maneuverability out of this boat. You'd be surprised." He might be talking about himself, as far as that goes...

Beside her, Mal asks the man, 'Wash' in tones that sound too casual, like he's hiding the fact that he's begging, "So you'll take the job, then?"

He plops himself into the pilot's chair, and with near glee spins, "Might do, might do. Think I'm startin' to get a feel here." Oh, he does believe this is a very good match.

Zoë watches him stop the chair with his back to them and begin to take a hands-on approach to 'feeling' out the station, touching and playing with everything like a little child in a sweet shop. Mal surprises her by sounding grateful, "Good. Well, take your time. Make yourself to home. Just, uh -- fiddle with the dials, there. We'll be nearby." He taps her and draws her towards the dining area; "He's great, ain't he?"

Oh, god in heaven…"I don't like him."

Shocked Mal catches her arm, "What?"

She's always been honest with him, and even though this is a gut feeling she's still going to be, "Something about him bothers me."

"What? What about him bothers you?"

"I'm not sure. It's just... something."

Mal gets that 'debatin' to win' look back on his face and Zoë figures she's overruled no matter, but at least she's had her say and he's been forced to explain his position, "Well, your 'something' comes up against a list of recommendations long as my leg. Tanaka raved about the guy. Renshaw's been trying to get him on his crew for a month. And we need us a pilot."

"I understand, sir. He bothers me."

Now Mal knows she's giving in, going along with him, but he still needs to justify his overrule of her concerns, "Look, we finally got ourselves a genius mechanic. Its about time we hired someone to fly the damn thing."

That mechanic, Bester, marches past, munching on something and nodding, " 'Genius.' No one's ever called me that before. Shiny."

Zoë ignores him as she mostly does, finally giving it up with a shrug, "Just bothers me."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

They'd landed in London the night before, after three tries, two very hectic invasion attempts, and one instance of the Doctor dodging himself. The assassination in Dallas, Texas, US of A, happened as it should, even if the creature in the car was not human and Rich had to pull the damn trigger. The eruption of Krakatoa, in Sumatra, was helped along by a chemical cocktail to destroy yet another invasion fleet, thanks to Simon and Jack. And then there was the Titanic, where the Doctor convinced a couple to not board, while dodging his younger self, spotted by River…

Humanity never even guesses how hard their collective guardian angel works to keep them safe, time and time again. Even when he's under the weather, infected with a Skaro-based parasite, and really should be resting.

Undeterred, they still went to London.

No matter how he was begged, pleaded, threatened even, the Doctor insisted that he could, in fact, land them in the fair city at a time when it was, invasion-wise, quiet. He even set the time to land them there when he was already in residence, although on the other side of the country, so that his younger self could take care of any threats… Only Verity caught something in the time stream that made her very excited and, like most times when she was hot on a scent she simply twisted the readings to land them when she wanted instead of the thirty years prior.

Besides, he wasn't supposed to do that, deliberately crossing his own timelines. One near bump was quite enough for the day, thank you.

They'd found a chip shop, one open all night, stuffed themselves on the creation, to the point that the Doctor was good and sick of them, for a few days anyhow, and set back to the TARDIS. The intent was to show them his house, maybe stock up on milk and tea, just take it easy for a while, and then something blipped on a sensor and he froze. Now, what was that again?

It took a long pause, with everyone gathered around breathlessly waiting, for the blip to reappear. It did so finally, almost as if it suspected someone was overhearing. He knew that signal. Almost intimately. Oh, it had better not be. The blip teased its way into the screen again. Damn, it was. Curse the Master for ever showing it the way here! So much for quiet. The debate was, internally, could he do this alone? Could he risk the others? Now they were right here, and they saw that blip, and his reaction to it, and they are not going to believe it is nothing. And the dematerialize button is off line again. Verity? Why are you fighting me this time?

"Doctor? Why, once again, am I getting the impression that this is bad?" Ah Simon, my boy, because it is? Um. He has to tell them. He can't figure out where the blanket signal is coming from without some footwork, and it will take him days to do this alone. He might not have days. So he explains to them what is going on, and how it is going on, and who it is, and why he expects the creature is here… And of course this is his fault, like so many other instances in the war of empires that he couldn't save. He has a feeling he's got a lot of refugee mop-up to do. And not just for this species. Maybe he can convince it to find another planet.

They agree to help him, again. By Rassilon, he loves this bunch. He breaks out the gear they need, both to keep in contact with him and each other and to follow the signal. They'll need to peg down the source, and he suspects someplace with lots of plastic people, err, dummies, like a mall or shopping strip, someplace tall, and central. Oh, he hates fighting this creature. But he puts the anti-plastic in his pocket and hopes he won't have to use it.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It started like a day, normal as any other. She got up on time, got ready, grabbed a bite, snagged her keys, kissed her mum goodbye, and headed out the door. She notices that the sky is clear and thinks that life is good as she hurries down the stairs. A normal day. She catches the same bus at the same corner, takes the same seat, and waits for the rest of the same people to get on or off at each of the same stops. But why does that dark haired young man in the tailored clothes with his swanky PDA on the bus catch her attention? Maybe it's the sleek earpiece from his cellphone? Weird.

Simon notices the blonde watching him. Her aura is gold, sparkly like she has glitter suspended in it. Really, it is stunning. He's never seen an aura like that before. The blip taunts him and he tries to get a direction while asking Rich what he makes of a 'golden' aura. The ex-ranger tells him to get off here, that he's walked the area and it's someplace close. Maybe the two of them can narrow it down. But he has no idea about the aura; he'll have to get a look at the lady himself. So Simon tells him her position in line as she exits the vehicle and slips into the queue himself.

She shakes her head, and realizes this is her stop. She hurries off the bus. Checking left and right and her watch, -- oh my god, how did it get so late? -- the blonde does not notice the broad-shouldered, very tanned man with a buzz cut and sunglasses who is using a similar PDA and wears the same style earpiece, but he notices her with a raised eyebrow. The bespectacled man in solid black casual clothing and the one in his trendy white shirt and brocade waistcoat exiting from the bus pause and nod to each other, before heading separate ways. Rose Tyler misses this as she rushes to her place of work, Henrik's Department Store.

It's decided that one of these buildings on this block is the source. Since it would look strange for them all to go into every one they split up. River ends up following the blonde into the most likely building, as it is the tallest one. It only takes her five minutes to locate the strong point of the signal. She's in the woman's department of the ready-wear store when she confirms it. Yep, this is the building. She looks up at the row of mannequins behind the woman with the golden aura and knows that they are watching her. Bugger. Now why does this shop-girl remind her of Verity?

It's a fairly busy day, lots of customers, lots of stocking, lots of putting things back where they go. Rather normal. They're having a sale after all. The new summer shirts sure are selling well. She moves to restock the table before the boss makes a fuss. She gets the shirts, grabs the folding board, and heads that way. That's odd. She watches a young woman, maybe her age or a little younger, wearing a gypsy styled skirt, combat boots, and an oversized man's v-neck navy blue jumper pause to fiddle with a PDA then put her finger to her ear. Through her long raven hair, Rose notes the earpiece. Then the young lady is looking right at her with expressive brown eyes.

"Would you have this top in plum, in a large? I don't see any here on the table?" interrupts a customer.

Rose blinks, "Plum? Err… Large? Yeah, I think so. Let me look. Any other colors you might be interested in Ma'am?" When she turns back to glance at the strange dark-headed teen she's gone. Weird.

She meets her boyfriend for lunch at their normal place, at the square, by the fountain, just like every other day. She brings the drinks, he brings the food, and they swap. There's the normal stories, the regular jokes, and the funny dance steps. Mickey Smith makes her laugh. Now, that is strange. There's a kid, must be about ten or eleven, wearing cargo pants, hiking boots, and layered shirts. Messy honey-gold hair, and serious green eyes. But what really catches her attention is the PDA he's fiddling with. She furrows her brow as the boy turns like he's trying to catch something, then Mickey's snagging her to say goodbye, -- Did that kid have an earpiece? -- and she kisses and hugs him because it's time to go back to work. She gets caught up in playing with him and misses the fact that the boy meets up with the dark-headed gal she'd seen earlier. She calls to Mickey as they part off their separate directions, "Bye!" It's perfectly normal.

Jack meets River and the others. They circle back to the TARDIS where the Doctor surprised them with a very well thought out plan to blow the building up, after hours. They'll need to sneak around and plant the explosives, which he provides them in a variety of containers and forms, with a series of little sticky tack like dots which he explains will prime it to go when he gives the signal. They quickly go over the plan, each selecting floors of the store to work on and head back out. Why the Doctor has advanced explosives, none of them think to question.

The afternoon rolls past and Rose almost can forget the strange events of the earlier part of the day. Busy with sales, and stocking, and putting things away, she barely notices the passage of time. Suddenly she hears, "This is the final announcement. The store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you." Wow, where did the day go? She hurries to finish restocking the table. Then they close down the rest of the shop, get the last of the customers out the door, and it's time to leave. If she is quick she can catch the bus before it stops for day. She and her co-workers all flood out of the employee area together, a swirl ready to head home. She's nearly out when –

"Hey!" She blinks. The security fellow shakes the bag with cash at her. Right, her turn to take this down.

She snags the bag and heads back into the store. She's gonna miss her bus. Rose waits for the lift, watches the guard lock the doors, gets in and heads to the basement. She better be able to find Wilson. The lift doors open and she steps out. She looks one way, then the other. He should be expecting this to come down, and usually he's right here, unless there's something needing fixing, "Wilson?" Or he's on the phone. She heads toward his office. "Wilson, I've got the lottery money." Odd. Nothing. She reaches his door and finds it locked. Very odd. "Wilson, you there? I can't hang about 'cause they're closing the shop." Now her day is becoming decidedly not normal. Rather it's about to ratchet off the scale of normal to surreal.

And really that's the only way to describe it, as the odd noises start. She hopes it's a prank that can be blamed on Wilson or Derek, but then… when it goes from a few scattered clattering sounds to an army of department store mannequins come to life the word 'prank' just doesn't cut it. And when she gets the definite impression that those dummies are going to kill her, she can't question the cool hand that grips hers at the last possible moment, even if those impossibly dark blue eyes and pale skin startle her almost more than his order, "Run!" No, she finds running to be the most sensible thing in the world to do. Even if his very smooth, hairless hand around her own is impossibly strong but gentle. The crashing sound behind her really makes her think that she'd be quite dead if not for the stranger tugging her along.

And they are running. There's an army, ever growing, of plastic people behind them running too. Then she sees the lady with the long black hair and those emphatic brown eyes up ahead, holding the elevator door open, "Hurry!" The army of mannequins are gaining. More are flooding into the passage behind them with every step, and they seem to become more fluid with every second.

"Everything planted?" The strange man pushes Rose into the lift and the young woman in her oversized navy jumper nods. The doors are closing way too slow. The mannequin closest tries to trigger the motion sensor to keep the door open, and the odd gent puts his finger on the button to force them closed. It almost seems like desperation when the dummie thrusts his arm through the narrow opening and begins to struggle to reach the man's throat. The young woman grabs it and pulls, first with one hand, then with two, and finally she makes a little twist and the joint gives sending the slight lass to the floor. Her overly long sleeves slouch to her elbows as she holds the offending arm away from her body. The doors close.

Surprised, Rose looks at the young woman, "You pulled his arm off." The dark haired lass is holding the limb like it might attack at any moment and doesn't even look up. "She pulled his arm off!" Rose says to the strange man.

"Yep," he says looking as not-surprised as one can. The teen offers the arm to her and without thinking Rose takes it. "Plastic," he informs her as he helps the raven-headed gal off the floor. Then crosses his arms over his chest as the lift rises back up into the store proper. It occurs to Rose that these two might just be father and daughter although she's not sure he's old enough to have a child her age.

She looks at the arm, which is unmoving but contorted in a way that none of the dummies are posed. Rose blinks at it, trying to get her mind around the entire set of events, "Very clever, nice trick. Who are they, then? Students? Is this a student thing or what?"

The odd pale man glances at her, "Why would they be students?"

"I don't know."

The man is focused, seemingly busy with his own PDA at the moment, although she's quite aware that it is unlike any other PDA she's ever set eyes on, "Well you said it. Why students?" He seems genuinely curious.

Now why indeed? Rose has to think about that assumption for a moment, " 'Cause to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they've got to be students."

He turns around, ignoring whatever it was he'd been doing, and flashes her a grin that just -- shines. It lights up the entire lift, washes away her fear, makes her feel like she knows him. Suddenly, he's not so odd. Her heart flutters. He's gorgeous, in a very unique way. "That makes sense. Well done."

If anything the compliment makes her feel flustered, "Thanks." She better not be blushing.

The ebony-headed gal says, "They're not students." The man, who might or might not be her father – older brother? – frowns slightly, like she's giving away secrets he'd rather not be told.

Rose had almost forgotten about her, but she feels like she's known the gal forever as she finds herself voicing her mind in a very relaxed way, "Well whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's gonna call the police."

"Who's Wilson?" The man inquires as the lift stops.

"Chief Electrician." Rose supplies.

"Dead," says the wispy young lady as if it is something evident, factual, and certain. The man doesn't contradict her. The lift doors open and the pair moves out into the darkened store in unison with purpose. Rose stands in the lift, stunned and blinking. She has no reason to call them on it, none at all. It seems perfectly clear and reasonable that she'd be still holding the lottery money and the plastic arm because Wilson's dead.

Then the unreality of it all hits her and she becomes pissed. The strange man is pointing a silver cylinder at the elevator controls as she stomps out of the lift. "That's just not funny. That's sick," Rose says as she gets in his face.

The young woman grabs her arm and jerks her back, even as he turns slightly to look at her. Something in his eyes indicates that there's really no time for this, "Hold on. Mind your eyes," the order seems directed to the surprisingly strong gal holding Rose on the opposite side of the lift doors from the controls. He points the funny tool in his hand back at the button, activates it, making it whirl and glow with a blue light on the tip.

"I've had enough of this now," Rose insists as she tries to tug away from the woman holding her. The gal snaps her fingers near Rose's ear causing her to look away just as there's a bang, flash and outpouring of smoke as the lift controls explode. The strange man and woman both turn and set off at a fast pace down the corridor. "Who are you then? Who's that lot down there?" Neither one stops, and after a moment Rose sprints a few steps to catch up. "I said, who are they?!" They keep going and Rose is pressed to meet their pace but manages as they quickly move through the store.

It's the gal that answers, as the man is very focused on the device in his hand, "Plastic, living plastic creatures."

And the man picks up the thought as if it's totally natural; "They're being controlled by a relay device on the roof which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He wiggles the PDA at her then frowns and pulls a canister out of his pocket with a manic grin, " Or this – rather." It registers that there's no possible way that canister could fit into his coat pocket, but Rose isn't given the time to react. "So, ..." They reach the double doors leading out, "... I'm gonna head up there and blow it up --" the doors are pushed open and he actually hands her off to another man, one that is large and tan, just slightly shorter than he is but broader through the shoulders "-- and I might well die in the process. But don't worry about me, no." He winks to the gent behind her and Rose looks to see he's wearing sunglasses. "You go home. Go on, go, and have your lovely beans on toast." The doors leading back into the store swing closed with a thud and she finds herself in the company of the other man and the gal.

"Don't tell anyone about this because if you do, you'd get them killed," the deep voice of the other fella rolls over her making her shiver. It should be a sin to have a voice like that, so rich and smooth with just a hint of smoky velvet in it. Like audio sex or dark chocolate, that voice is.

Blinking, Rose looks at the tanned man and the wispy lass and backs up a step, then the door opens again, and the pale odd gent with the smile that could melt an ice burg leans out, "I'm The Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Rose."

He flashes that grin at her, "Nice to meet you, Rose. That's Richard and River there," He motions to them. She looks and the gal, River, waves. Then the Doctor wiggles the PDA at her, "Run for your life!" The door slams shut with a bang. The three look at each other. After a moment Richard glances at his own PDA and motions that it's time to move. River and he take off at a fast clip past her, and considering how odd this day has turned out, Rose doesn't argue. She sets off behind them, only to lose the pair once she reaches the sidewalk.

She doesn't pause to think about it, instead letting her feet carry her to the bus stop. She glances back. Nothing. She slows to a fast walk, finds herself heading to the square, and pauses to press her back to a wall because she needs to catch her breath and her wits. What the hell is going on? Did she imagine that entire thing? But no, she's still got the lottery money and the oddly contorted plastic arm. She glances around; looks back at the top of the shop, as the building is the tallest one around and she can easily still see it. Life goes on, like normal, like nothing happened. She has to get out of here. The panic drives her to cross the street without looking.

A black car pulls shy of hitting her, "Watch it!"

"Oh!" she comes up short make a feeble apology and dashes the rest of the way across the road. She glances back, once again at the shop. It's quiet. Nothing has changed. Calming down, she turns to head home, putting the day behind her.

KA-BOOM! The flash of light and heat is like a wave that can't be missed. She turns to see the aftershocks, additional smaller explosions that look like they are shaking the building apart. She can feel the force of them ripple through the ground and into her feet. Around her everyone else breaks into chaos. She was not imagining that. None of it. She really needs to get out of here. Rose takes off in a run, unknowingly sprinting directly past the strange people that have been dogging her all day and their ship in the form of a blue police call box.