Of Biro Pens and Odd-Looking Cybermen
Righty-o ... Army of Ghosts. This was a hard one to write. But huge plot developments so every word counts.
Some bits are my own creation; some are taken from AOG. Most of the diologue is different, be warned.
And, you were warned at the beginning what this story entailed :) and my title rhymes! :)
"What do you mean, 'a footprint doesn't look like a boot?'" Rose said incredulously, her eyebrows meeting her hairline.
Jack looked at Rose. "You mean you don't know what he's on about either?" he said, turning his gaze on the Doctor.
"Rose ..." the Doctor started carefully, as if he was treading carefully on what he was saying. "I have officially no idea what I'm on about. But whatever these things are - they aren't human."
"You don't know?" Jack said, dubious.
"I DON'T KNOW! I don't always know everything, Jack! For God's sake!" the Doctor yelled, running his fingers before letting out a "Arggghh!" of frustration. Rose's frown smoothed out when she saw his annoyance at being kept in the dark. She walked over to him, slipping an arm around his waist, drawing nonsense patters on the small slice of skin between his trousers and his shirt.
"Don't worry about it," she said, soothingly. "We'll figure it out, like we always do. The old team, Shiver and Shake, yeah?" She heard his breathing, which was laboured and coming out in puffs, slow until he was breathing evenly again. Rose didn't know why this was bothering the Doctor so much, but her main concern was getting him to calm down.
"Thanks," he muttered, embarrassed. "But I still have no idea. I don't like having no idea. I always usually have a faint idea, a nudge in the right direction. But now? Zilch. Nada. Zip. Je ne pas de information."
Jack came up and stood beside the Doctor. "Well, like Rose said, we'll figure it out, together. The old TARDIS team back together once again!" he said, throwing his hand up in the air. The Doctor couldn't help but laugh and high-fived his hand. Rose did likewise, but stopped in mid-air, her face pale white.
"I think I'm going to be sick."
"Bathroom's that-a-way, Rosie," Jack said, pointing in the direction of the bathroom - he'd barely finished his sentence when Rose barged past him, one hand over her mouth. The two men stared after her for a second before running headlong down the corridor of the TARDIS.
"Rose! Rose! Are you okay? What's wrong?" the Doctor's voice called through the door anxiously. They could hear her retching and tried to open to door, but it was locked. "TARDIS!" he moaned, pulling on the door. The retching stopped.
"Rose?"
The tap ran for a few minutes, and they could hear Rose brushing her teeth; the two men looked at each other with identical bemused expressions. The door unlocked, and Rose stepped out. She barely had time to registered the Doctor and Jack standing there then the former pulled her into his arms, squeezing her lightly.
"Hey. Sorry, I don't know what came over me," she said into the Doctor's shoulder. He pulled back from her, still keeping her in his arms, and lightly stroked her hair.
"Are you sure you're okay? You do have a lot more colour in you than you did, I must admit. You looked like you'd seen a ghost!" the Doctor said, as the three chuckled at the pun.
"Yeah. I'm feeling much better," Rose said, rubbing her stomach lightly. "I honestly don't know. I just suddenly knew I was going to be sick, I was the oddest feeling. Anyway, can we get back to boot-shaped ghosts?"
"Yep," the Doctor said, popping the 'p'. "I still have no idea what's causing it."
Jack nodded. "Me either. And if we don't know what's causing it then we can't-" He was cut off by The Killer's 'When You Were Young', which trilled into life.
Rose looked sheepish. "My mobile," she said as an explanation, pulling the offending item from her jeans pocket. "Mum," she sighed, flipping it open as the Doctor threw himself down on the Captain's Chair, feet resting on the lip of the console. Jack joined him, but kept his feet on the ground.
"Hey, Mum," Rose said, biting her lip, miming 'sorry' to the Doctor. He shrugged his shoulder in return.
"Hey darlin'. Listen, where are ya?" Everyone could hear Jackie's shrill tones on the other end of the phone.
"Cardiff," Rose replied, "But we only just left, Mum ..." she trailed off, not wanting to hurt her mum's feelings.
"I know love. But it's just that there have been these really weird ghosts poppin' up an' I knew the Doctor would like to know wha' was goin' on. As would the rest o' the world."
"I know about them, Mum. That's kinda why we're in Cardiff, catching up with an old friend. But we'll hopefully sort out the ghosts soon," Rose said comfortingly.
"Yeah right, love. Ya may fly around space an' time but ya don't save the world!"
"Yeah, you're right Mum," Rose said, trying to shush the Doctor and Jack who were rolling around on the Captain's Chair in silent laughter, fists in their mouths to stop them from laughing out loud.
"Well, I jus' thought ya'd like to know. I'll be off - I'm takin' Bev to Tesco. D'ya know she lost 'er drivin' licence again? Drink drivin' and speedin'. I swear I'm never goin' in a car with 'er!" Jackie's voice was one of disbelief, as if she couldn't believe her best friend could be so stupid as to drink and drive.
"Again? Geez, is that the third time? Well, bye Mum, love you," Rose said, rolling her eyes as her mum prattled on about Bev and her reckless driving.
"Bye, love."
"Bye," Rose said, snapping her phone shut. "Just Mum telling us about ghosts. Apparently they're in London too."
"They're all over Britain, actually," Jack said. "And much of Europe. I wouldn't be surprised if it's all over the world."
The Doctor cringed. "If that's the case, we better get to ... wherever the TARDIS tells us to go." He jumped up suddenly, reading once again the array of symbols.
"Where exactly are we going, Doctor?" Rose said, confusion written on her face.
"Torchwood One, London," he replied, getting ready for flight. "Are you coming, Jack?"
Jack thought for a moment. "Nah, I better not leave that bunch of mine," he said, jamming a thumb in the direction of the TARDIS doors. "We'll try and keep the media from getting anywhere too near the truth, and we'll try to keep the ghosts under control. Here," he extended a hand for Rose's mobile, and punched in some numbers, "There's my mobile number if you need me. I'll be a moment's notice away. And I'm not gonna kiss you guys this time 'coz I know you'll make it out of here!"
"We will," Rose said, but nevertheless gave Jack a bear hug, squeezing him tightly. "See you soon."
"See you soon, Rosie," he agreed. "Bye Doc!" Jack ran over to him and gave him a hug identical to the one he'd just given Rose.
"Don't call me Doc!" the Doctor reminded him, but laughed anyway.
"Au reviour!" Jack said one last time as he exited the TARDIS. Rose ran to the doors to wave, shutting them after ten seconds.
Rose walked back up the ramp slowly towards the Doctor.
"Just you and me, then?" he said, extending his hand towards her, pulling her against him tightly.
"Yep. Better with two, isn't it?" she said, and the Doctor nodded as the TARDIS set off for Torchwood London.
Rose only had one thought - he'd have to get used to it being better with three.
Meanwhile, in Torchwood London, thirty-nine year old Yvonne Hartman was smirking. Everything was going to plan.
The ghost shifts were working. Neither she, nor her collegues, knew what they were.
But they were very useful for one thing.
Getting the Doctor to Torchwood.
"TARDIS on flight route to Torchwood London!" A male voice called, grabbing Yvonne's attention.
"Where's he going to end up?" she asked, peering over his shoulder at the screen.
"Storage Cupboard Eight," he replied.
"Right," Yvonne said, and looked around. "You men!" She pointed to the small group of soliders who were guarding the door. "With me! Storage Cupboard Eight!"
Yvonne walked briskly to the cupboard. At last, the Doctor would be caught. And she would be the Director of Torchwood when he was caught. Oh, the glory. She smirked broadly once more.
"Don't shoot unless I tell you too," she said to the men, as the TARDIS wheezed into existence.
The Doctor managed a uneventful flight through the Vortex. His nervousness seemed to emanate from him as Rose came over, once again her very presence calming him. She gave him and hug, rubbing her hand up his back.
"Don't worry about this. It can't be nothing too bad, right?"
"Don't know anything," He said.
"Can't be worse than Daleks," Rose reasoned, and the Doctor brightened considerably at that.
"Yeah, can't be worse than Daleks, can it?" He said, and ran a hand over the console. He frowned at Rose. "Don't go out there, please. Stay here until I tell you it's safe."
Rose frowned. "What?"
"I don't know what I'm going into out there. It could be guns. Aliens. Rose-Tyler-Eating-Bugs. Please, just stay here," he said, well aware he was begging her but didn't care.
"No." She said defensively, crossing her arms over her chest in defiance. She ran around him to the TARDIS doors, blocking them.
"Puh-lease!"
"Doctor, they have guns!" she tried to reason with him, but he was having none of it.
"Yeah, they might. I bet they don't. I'll bet you a tenner," he said, and Rose nodded. "And anyway, I don't have any guns. Or any weapons, unless you count the sonic. So the moral high ground is mine," he said, smoothly wrapping an arm around her waist and moved her to the side. "I'll come back for you, I promise." Sincerity rang in every syllable of his voice. Rose couldn't help but give into him.
"Fine, but go out there and get yourself killed and I'll come and kill you again myself."
The Doctor raised his hand in a mock salute. "Ma'am!" he said, and Rose laughed. He pulled her against him and gave her a deep kiss. "See you soon."
"Not if I see you first!" She said after him. He grinned one last time, and slid out the door.
The first thing that came to the Doctor's mind was that he better stop betting with Rose, she always gets things right.
A red-haired woman, who looked around late thirties, stood before him with an army of men baring guns. He sighed.
"Hey ... hello. I'm the Doctor," he said. The woman nodded.
"We know! We're delighted to see you!" she said, clapping her hands in front of her. "Is it just you on your own?"
"Yep, just me!" He lied, but was comfortable in the knowledge he'd kept Rose safe in the TARDIS.
"Really? Our documents say that the Doctor travels with a companion. That is usually the pattern, is it not?" The woman asked. The Doctor was beginning to seriously dislike her.
"Yep, but she's away with her mother. So it's just me," the Doctor said, lying through his teeth. Jackie was the first thing that came to mind when he needed an excuse for Rose - and it was the most likely place she could be.
"Whatever. It's not your little friend we're interested in. It's you," the woman said.
"Okay ... may I ask, who are you?" the Doctor asked, trying to prolong whatever fate he was agreeing to by going with this woman.
"Yvonne Hartman, Director of Torchwood."
"Oh, it's a woman? Never thought planet Earth would get a woman so high up in government. Or elect a woman. It's not that I'm being sexist or anything, it's just society in general, don't you agree?" he rambled, looking at Yvonne.
"Humph. The records were right - he does like to chatter," she said, as the men laughed obediently. "Follow me, Doctor," Yvonne commanded, and the Doctor followed her as she said. He could tell just from her voice that she wasn't the type of woman to be messed with.
"So ... Torchwood One, huh? Not bad," he said as they walked down an familiar corridor. The Doctor would have sworn he'd been down this one three times already.
"Do you know what Torchwood does? Or who it was made against?"
"Me, isn't it?" The Doctor said.
"Yep. So we're taking you prisoner," Yvonne said, and led him into the room, shutting the door loudly with a solid bang.
"Now, what do you make of that?"
The Doctor just stared.
"Our computer sources say it doesn't exist. It has no mass, no weight, no nothing. It makes people upset because it's ... absent," Yvonne continued.
"It's a Void Ship."
"What?" Yvonne said, looking at the Doctor.
"An impossible thing," he said, not taking his eyes of the ship. "It's a ship that used to travel between voids. You could sit in that thing through anything; nuclear war, Big Bang, Big Crunch, anything, and it wouldn't even touch the sides." His eyes went from awed to disgusted in less than a second. "We have to send it back! Where did it come from?"
"That's exactly it, Doctor," Yvonne said in despair, rolling her eyes. "It came through first. Then the ghosts followed. We got readings from this area about four years ago, a blind spot. So we built Torchwood Tower to reach it."
"You built a skyscraper just to reach a blind spot?"
"All in the name of homeworld security, Doctor. Anyway, what in it, then, if you're so desperate to send it back?"
"Anything. Anything from anywhere from anytime. Literally, I couldn't say. It would be impossible to guess."
Yvonne suddenly looked at her watch, and frowned. "We have two minutes until the next ghost shift. Come on, Doctor, let's go see our ghosts." She smiled without any humour.
"I don't think these ghost shifts are a good idea," the Doctor replied bluntly, as the made their way out the room and into the lift to take them up.
It was all silent for a minute. "Well, that's your opinion, not ours, isn't it?" Yvonne said eventually, as the lift pinged, and she stepped out, the city of London mapped below them. Double doors on the right read 'Ghost Shift Room' and Yvonne swung them open for the Doctor to go through. He strolled through, hands in his pockets as if he was making his way to buy a newspaper.
"Ghost shift in one minute," Yvonne called to the six workers sitting at their desks. They were all typing furiously.
"I am warning you, stop this shift!" the Doctor said, abandoning all niceness. No more Mr. Nice Guy for these people.
"No. We've done it a thousand times," Yvonne said, reaching for a pair of sunglasses.
"Then stop at a thousand!"
"No. Ghost shift is commencing!"
"Ghost shift online," a mechanical voice called. Yvonne smirked.
A light started bleeding through the wall.
"Fine."
"What?" Yvonne turned around, staring at the Doctor as if he'd just spoken Gallifreyan.
The light shone brighter.
"I said, fine. Sure," he repeated, and pulled a chair from a stack against the door. "Ooh, can't wait. Can I get a cup of tea? I'm parched." he rubbed his hands together.
The light shone brighter still.
This sudden change of attitude unnerved Yvonne, just like the Doctor thought it would. He raised his eyebrows, challenging her to continue.
The light was blinding; the Doctor realised why Yvonne had sunglasses.
Eventually she gave a small sigh. "Stop the ghost shift!" she called, and immediately the light dimmed. It was now the Doctor's time to smirk. It was wiped clean off his face at Yvonne's next comment.
"Right. You - my office - now."
After half an hour of intense interrogation, the Doctor was ready to kill Yvonne Hartman with a biro pen.
"I don't know what these ghosts are! God, haven't I been through this before? I. Don't. Know," he said, accentuating each word. He was sitting slumped in a chair at Yvonne's desk, Converse on the desk itself.
"Well, if that's the case -" Yvonne said, before being cut off by a buzzing from her laptop. She placed a headset over her head. "Rajesh! Any more news with the Sphere?"
"No, Ma'am, it's still inactive. But I think you might want to take a look at this. We have ourselves a visitor. I don't know who she is but coincidentally she arrived at the same time as the Doctor," a male voice, 'Rajesh' omitted from the laptop.
"Do you know her?" Yvonne said, and she turned the laptop around. Rose was on the screen, with a white overcoat over her blue sweater, sitting next to a intelligent-looking Indian man. He knew she'd never last five minutes without wandering.
"Nope, never seen her before in my life," he lied, to see what they would do.
"Good," Yvonne said, smiling. "Then we can have her shot."
The Doctor sighed, not trying to look too horrified. "Fine, then," he said, swinging his feet down from the desk. "That's - that's Rose Tyler." He waved at the blonde on the screen.
"Sorry," she said back, and he smiled as a token of forgiveness.
"I thought you said she was at her mother's?" Yvonne said.
"Well, I lied. I didn't know who you people were and I didn't want Rose to get in the thick of it. Where is she?" The Doctor loosely explained. Now that Rose's presence was out in the open, he wanted her by his side as soon as possible, preferably now.
"You'll see her in due time," Yvonne said, turning the laptop back to face her.
"No, I want to see her now," the Doctor ordered.
"And as your captor, Doctor, I'm refusing."
Suddenly a whirring noise came from the room next door, followed by the mechanical voice. "Ghost shift online."
Yvonne ripped open the door and ran through to the ghost shift room. "I thought I said ghost shift offline!" she yelled, looking around at the six people who were paying no attention to her. She walked up to one woman. "Adeola! Stop! Gareth!" She looked around wildly. "It's like they're robots! Addy!" she said, waving a hand in front of Adeola's face. She ran to the next man. "Matt!" Yvonne repeated the action, but to now avail.
The Doctor had had enough. He walked up to the woman, Adoela. "She won't hear you," he said to Yvonne. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, pointing the Sonic Screwdriver at her earpiece. Adeola screamed, as did Matt and the other four workers before slumping on their desks.
"What did you do?" Yvonne screamed, shaking Matt's shoulder. "You killed them!" she pointed an accusing finger at the Doctor.
"No," he said gravely. "They were dead long before I did anything - long before we arrived here today. It's their earpieces."
"But they're just standard comms devices - how did they kill them?" Yvonne demanded.
"I've seen this before. On another world ... another universe," the Doctor said, before looking at the computers; they were still working. "We're going into ghost shift. Can't you stop it?" he said to Yvonne, who was paying no attention to him.
"What are they?" she said, grabbing hold of Addy's ear-piece.
"Leave them alone, trust me," the Doctor said, going over to Matt's computer.
Yvonne pulled the ear-piece and pulled it right out of her head - and attached to it was a long, thin tube of brain tissue.
"Urgh! Oh, god! It goes inside their brain!" Yvonne said, disgusted. She dropped the ear-piece, looking as though she was about to be sick.
"What about the ghost shift?" the Doctor said, again, and finally Yvonne paid attention to him.
"Ninety percent there. Can't you stop it?" she said, typing furiously as she tried to override it, with no luck.
"They're still controlling it, they've hijacked the system."
"Who's they?"
The Doctor ignored her, instead taking out the sonic screwdriver and laying it flat against his palm. "There might be a remote transmitter somewhere. I can trace it, it's gotta be close by," he said, darting away, Yvonne following him; neither of them notice Yvonne's laptop beeping, the words 'SPHERE ACTIVE' running across the screen.
Rose and Rajesh were currently trying to decide which was a better idea; run or hide.
The sphere was opening and there was nothing no-one could do about it. Another man ran into the room with a clipboard.
"Samuel!" Rajesh's voice was full of relief. "What have you got?" he snatched the clipboard off Samuel and read the readouts.
"Nothing yet, Sir." A rough South London accent that Rose knew very well came from Samuel. She turned around from the Sphere and saw someone she never thought she'd see again in her life.
Mickey.
Her eyes lit up as she looked at her former boyfriend. Mickey winked and raised a finger to his lips.
"Yvonne!" Rajesh yelled into the laptop as the Sphere Chamber shook with the force of the Sphere. "For God's sake Yvonne, it's active! It has mass, weight, density, and electromagnetic field, everything! It exists! YVONNE!"
A sliding noise caught Rose and Mickey's attention - the door was sealing on it's own. Rajesh ran up to it, abandoning the laptop. He groaned in defeat.
"Automatic quarantine - we're sealed in! With whatever is in there!"
"It's all right, babe. We beat them before, we can beat them again. That's why I'm here. The fight goes on," Mickey said, grabbing a gun that was propped up against the wall.
"The fight against what?" Rose said.
"What do you think?" Mickey said, never taking his eyes off the Sphere.
"What's down here then?" the Doctor said, following the sonic screwdriver's beeping.
"Nothing - just renovation work," Yvonne explained as they made their way through the curtained area.
"I think you should go back," the Doctor said.
"No way. This is my Torchwood, I want to know what's going inside it. What's down here? What's going on?"
"Ear-pieces, ear-pods. This world is colliding with another one and I know exactly which one," the Doctor said, as shadows became visible through the curtains.
"What are they?" Yvonne said, taking a step towards the Doctor.
"They came through first. The Advanced Guard."
The shadows turned into metal - they slit the curtains with their metal hands.
"Cybermen."
"The Cybermen found a way through," Mickey explained to Rose, "but so did we. So we followed. And whatever is in that Sphere - Cyberleader, Cyber King, Cyber Controller - he's dead meat."
"The Doctor said travelling between the worlds is impossible," Rose said.
"It's not the first time he's been wrong."
The Sphere crashed again.
"It's good to see you Mickey, even if we are about to die."
"Don't say that. I'll get you out. And it's good to see you too," Mickey replied, as the top part of the Sphere opened a plunger-looking Cyberman exited.
"That's not a Cyberman ..." Rose said, as the full shape of four Daleks came out of the Sphere. Their eyes swivelled as they look in the room's three occupants.
"Location: Earth. Life forms detected. Exterminate! Exterminate!! EXTERMINATE!!"
laughs evilly ... mwah ha ha ha ha!