Darkness had fallen out in Cardiff, and the four travelers with Mickey had dragged Margaret to the TARDIS.
"This ship is IMPOSSIBLE! It's SUPERB. How do you get the outside around the inside?" Margaret wondered, and as a fellow thief, Kayla could tell that she was putting her sights on the ship.
"Like I'd give YOU the secret, yeah." The Doctor scoffed.
"It's rather simple. If you're such a genius at building, then you tell me." Kayla tacked on, watching Margaret carefully, one of her hands on her blaster.
"I almost feel better about being defeated. We never stood a chance. This is the technology of the Gods." Margaret complemented, trying to get them to take their guards down to no success.
"Don't worship me-I'd make a very bad God. You wouldn't get a day off, for starters...Jack, Kayla, how we doing?" the Doctor asked, looking over to where the two sat, wiring the extrapolator into the TARDIS.
"This extrapolator's top of the range." Jack commented, looking at it. "Where did you get it?" He peered over to Margaret .
"From the Time Agency vaults. It matches the one I was about to steal." Kayla answered for Margaret , who looked shocked for a second but then changed her face back to the mask she had been wearing.
"You're right, but the way you speak…do you not work for the Time Agency anymore?" Margaret wondered, and Kayla stared straight at her.
"Nope, I quit." She answered simply, not giving her any information.
"It's stacked with power." Jack told the Doctor.
"But we can use it for fuel?" the Doctor wondered.
"It's not compatible...but it should knock off about twelve hours. We'll be ready to go by morning." Kayla answered.
"Then we're stuck here. Overnight." The Doctor stated, making it official.
"I'M in no hurry..." Margaret commented, but everyone ignored her.
"We've got a prisoner! The police box is really...a police box." Rose stated, staring at Margaret , who smiled unpleasantly.
"You're not just police, though. Since you're taking me to my death, that makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you..." She gave each of them a quick glance.
"Well, you deserve it." Mickey said coldly.
"You're very quick to say so. You're very quick to soak your hands in my blood. Which makes you better than me, how, exactly...?" Mickey had no answer for that, but Kayla did, but she didn't say it. This was Mickey's fight, not hers. "Long night ahead..." Margaret continued. The Doctor eyed her beadily as did Kayla while she worked. They both watched as Margaret took her time walking around the console, ravishing it, before elegantly taking a seat in one of the chairs. "Let's see who can look me in the eye." She finished.
Margaret fixed Mickey with a calm, collected stare, He managed to hold it for few seconds and then dropped it, feeling guilt for the first time. Next, she glanced to Rose, who turned her eyes towards the Doctor guiltily. The Doctor glanced up only for a few seconds because he was helping Kayla and Jack, and then went back to his work, still aware. Kayla scooted away and glared at Margaret , feeling the atmosphere of the TARDIS.
Mickey stood outside of the TARDIS in Millennium Centre Square, watching the water features. Rose stepped out of the TARDIS, her breath caught as she felt the sudden change from the warm TARDIS to the chilly Cardiff.
"S'freezing out here!" She noted, standing next to her boyfriend.
"Better than in there." Mickey nodded towards the TARDIS, pausing as he gathered his jumbled thoughts. "She does deserve it. She's a Slitheen. I don't care. It's...it's just...weird, in that box." Mickey tried to explain, still unsure if he was getting his thoughts across.
"I didn't really need my passport..." Rose grinned tentatively at Mickey, hoping they were still good. Mickey smiled, pleased that she wanted to see him. She nudged him playfully, and he nudged her back with a wide grin.
"I've been thinking, you know...we could...go and have a drink. Have a pizza or something. Just you and me." He offered, hoping they could have a date without evil aliens, or the Doctor, or Captain Jack Harkness, or Kayla Hark, who he actually liked. She was nice, smart, but different, scary different.
"That'd be nice." Rose said, nodding.
"And, I mean, if the TARDIS can't leave until morning, we could..." Rose nodded, listening. Mickey looked slightly bashful as he finished. "... go to a hotel? Spend the night? I mean, if you want to! I-I've got some money." He offered, praying that he hadn't overstepped something.
"Okay. Yeah." Rose agreed with a smile.
"Is that all right?" Mickey questioned, his voice betraying his shock.
"Yeah!" Rose laughed.
"Cool. There's a couple of bars around here, we should give 'em a go." Mickey stated, pleased. As an afterthought, he indicated the TARDIS. "And do you have to go and tell him?" Rose smiled brightly at Mickey.
"It's none of his business." She waved away.
On the TARDIS scanner, the Doctor watched Rose walk away with Mickey, their hands clasped together. He wasn't mad at Rose, he didn't want her at all in the way that Mickey wanted her, he was just worried. To him, Rose was his dear little sister, and he wasn't liking how she was treating Mickey. Flirting with Jack and himself and then suddenly flirting with Mickey, who was just being strung along. He glanced down at Kayla, who was humming some song under her breath as she worked.
"So, what's on?" Jack asked, startling the Doctor, who jerked and then hurriedly turned the scanner off. Jack would tease him for a very long time, getting the wrong idea if he saw the Doctor watching Rose.
"Nothing, just..." The Doctor came up with no excuse. Surprisingly, it was Margaret who saved him.
"I gather it's not always like this...having to wait." She stated darkly, pausing as she considered it. "I bet you're always the first to leave, Doctor. Never mind the consequences, off you go. You butchered my family and then ran for the stars, am I right? But not this time. At last, you have consequences...how does it feel?" Kayla looked up and glared at Margaret , but didn't speak.
"I didn't butcher them." The Doctor protested.
"Don't answer back. That's what she wants." Kayla warned, wanting to help the Doctor.
"I didn't!" He protested, wanting Kayla to understand that he wasn't a killer. He didn't enjoy killing, and when he had to kill, he did it quickly, not drawing out the pain on both parts.
"What about you? You had an emergency teleport, you didn't zap them to safety, did you?" He asked Margaret .
"It only carries one. I had to fly without coordinates. I ended up on a skip in the Isle of Dogs." The Doctor, Kayla, and Jack sniggered, the Isle of Dogs was filled with…dogs. Just imagining Margaret stuck there…oh it was priceless.
"It wasn't funny!" Margaret said sharply.
"Sorry." The Doctor said sheepishly. Margaret turned around, and the three grinned at each other, fighting back laughter. "It is a BIT funny!" He protested, and the three started to laugh again, Margaret joining in, glad that she had cracked their shells.
"Do I get a last request?" Margaret asked, more relaxed than before.
"Depends what it is." The Doctor answered, all his humor gone.
"I grew quite fond of my little human life. All those rituals... the brushing of the teeth, and the complicated way they cook things...there's a little restaurant. Just round the bay." The Doctor glanced around her, wondering if he should give in, or let her miss a meal. "It became quite a favorite of mine." Margaret continued. The Doctor walked towards her, leaning over the railing and talking to her properly.
"Is that what you want? A last meal?" He wondered.
"Don't I have rights?" Margaret said definitely.
"She's not going escape, because she knows what I'll do if she does." Kayla threatened, looking straight at Margaret even though she was speaking to the Doctor.
"I can never escape her." Margaret added, supporting Kayla's threat. "But I wonder if the famed Doctor could do it? To sit with a creature you're about to kill and take supper. How strong is your stomach?" She tested, challenging the Doctor.
"Strong enough." The Doctor stated, taking up the challenge.
"I wonder. I've seen you fight your enemies...now dine with them." The Doctor glared at her.
"You won't change my mind." He reminded her.
"Prove it." She decided. The Doctor was tempted, very tempted, but it was horribly risky.
"There are people out there. If you slip away just for one second, they'll be in danger." He stated, wanting to take the challenge.
"Except...I've got these." Kayla added, knowing the Doctor wanted to do it. Hell, she wanted to do it. She held up a pair of metal hoops that looked like bangles.
"You both wear one. If she moves...more than ten feet away..." Jack explained for her, and then made a loud buzzing noise, replicating being electrocuted. Margaret jumped in alarm.
"She gets zapped by ten thousand volts." Kayla narrated.
"Margaret, would you like to come out to dinner? My treat?" the Doctor offered, making it sound like a date.
"Dinner in bondage...works for me." Margaret said with a sick smile.
The Doctor and Margaret entered their restaurant, chatting away and holding hands because of the handcuffs.
Jack was lying on his back, happily wiring up the extrapolator. Kayla laid next to him, helping him.
Rose and Mickey walked along the pavement past a restaurant, chatting.
The Doctor and Margaret took their seats.
The lights on the extrapolator lit up, and Kayla cheered softly, watching it with a smile that matched Jack's.
The Doctor and Margaret were reading their menus, picking their meal.
"Here we are, out on a date, and you haven't even asked my proper name." Margaret stated.
"It's not a date! What's your name?" the Doctor protested. If he were with Kayla, then he would call this a date, and he would actually want to be here…
"Blon. I am Blon Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen. That's what it'll say on my death certificate." She reminded him, trying to get the Doctor to let her go.
"Nice to meet you, Blon." The Doctor said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"I'm sure." Margaret said dryly. The Doctor went back to reading his menu, but Margaret put hers down and looked out the window.
"Look...that's where I was living as Margaret." She stated. The Doctor turned in his seat to follow her gaze. "Nice little flat. Over there. On the top. Next to the one with the light on." While the Doctor's back was turned, she opened her ring and spilled some powder into the Doctor's wine glass, hopefully poisoning him. "Two bedrooms...bayside view..." She continued, barely listening to herself. The Doctor turned around to face Margaret , who was sitting in her seat normally. "I was rather content. Don't suppose I'll see it again." She said softly, and the Doctor switched their glasses, not buying her act.
"Suppose not." He agreed, returning his attention to his menu. He was sort of hungry.
"Thank you." Margaret said, her voice oozing with sarcasm.
"Pleasure." The Doctor matched her sarcasm.
"Tell me then, Doctor-what do you know of our species?" Margaret asked carefully.
"Only what I've seen." The Doctor lied. He had looked up the Slitheen afterwards. He had actually looked up all the species he could think of, revamping his knowledge.
"Did you know, for example…in extreme cases...when her life is in danger...a female Raxacoricofallapatorian can manufacture a poison dart within her own finger-" She suddenly pointed her finger at him and a dart flew at the Doctor from her fingertip-but the Doctor was ready. He caught it in his fist without looking up from the menu.
"Yes, I did." He told her.
"Just checking." Margaret said pleasantly. The Doctor grinned at her.
"And one more thing...between you and me..." She looked around, making sure the scum…the humans…weren't looking, and then leaned in to the Doctor, who leaned in too, looking like they were sharing a secret. "As a final resort, the excess poison can be exhaled through the lungs." She whispered, and then breathed out a green gas. Without flinching, the Doctor whips out a Gold Spot and gives her open mouth a squirt.
"That's better." He stated, smirking at Margaret , and leaned back in his chair while Margaret stuck her tongue out at the taste of the breath freshener. "Now then, what d'you think? Mmm, steak looks nice. Steak and chips!" He toyed with her, making her peeved as she opened her menu.
Rose and Mickey were going down a set of stairs near the bay. Rose is chatting away enthusiastically to him, but though Mickey was really trying to be interested, to listen, but he was so tired of listening about the Doctor, about Jack, though he would like to know about Kayla. The one time he had brought her up, Rose had made a sour face and changed the subject.
"The Doctor took me to this planet a while back-it was much colder than this-they called it 'Woman Wept'. The planet was actually called 'Woman Wept'. 'Cos, if you looked at it, right, from above, there's like this huge continent, like all curved round...sort of looked like a woman, you know...lamenting. Oh my God, and we went to this beach, right, no people, no buildings, just this beach like, a thousand miles across! And something had happened, something to do with the sun, I don't know-but the sea had just frozen! Like, in a split second in the middle of a storm, right, waves and foam, just frozen! All the way out to the horizon. Midnight, right, we walk underneath these waves a hundred feet tall, made of ice."
"I'm going out with Trisha Delaney." He broke to her. Mickey and Rose were leaning on the railings looking out over the water. Mickey had long since given up on trying to look interested in what she was saying. Rose looked at him, shocked and injured.
"Right...that's nice...Trisha from the shop?" Rose said, slightly wrong-footed.
"Yeah, Rob Delany's sister." Mickey explained.
"Well, she's nice...she's a bit BIG..." She added, wondering why Mickey would want Trisha over her, Rose.
"She lost weight." He changed his gaze from the water to Rose, wanting to justify himself. "You've been away." He explained, and it was true. She was traveling, and he was stuck by himself on dingy Earth.
"Well, good for you. She's nice." Rose stated carefully, still confused. So she was gone, so are loads of people.
"So, tell us more about this planet, then." Mickey said, much more relaxed.
"That was it, really..." Rose said softly, and they walked on in silence, worlds apart.
Margaret was openly trying to get the Doctor now, begging for her life.
"Public execution is a slow death. They prepare a thin acetic acid...lower me into the cauldron...and boil me. The acidity is perfectly gauged to strip away the skin. Internal organs fall out into the liquid. And I become soup. And still alive. Still screaming." She explained, thinking about the hell ahead of her.
"I don't make the law." The Doctor said coldly.
"But you deliver it." Margaret stated, and she paused. "Will you stay to watch?" She wondered. She felt bad for Kayla…who she could use to get to the Doctor.
"What else can I do?" the Doctor answered resignedly.
"I'm sure Kayla will enjoy it. Poor girl, getting trapped by the Time Agency…" She let her sentence hang like bait for the Doctor, which he took.
"Wait do you mean?" He wondered.
"Well, she's very famous. Anyone who has wronged the Time Agency in some way knows about her. Some say she was kidnapped as a child. Others say the people who were taking care of her died and she ran away as result. And still others swear that she taken by some Madam who was trying to start up some religious group. Taken to be their assassin. That's what I believe. Trained for a few years, and when she was about nine or ten, the Time Agency got her, trained her to be their perfect assassin. She's blown up people, blown up factories, hunted down anyone she was told. The perfect solider, but that's not what others call her. Her enemies call her, Death."
Margaret leaned in slightly closer to the Doctor. "The Slitheen family's huge. There's a lot more of us, all scattered off-world. Take me to them. Take me somewhere safe. Lie to Kayla, tell her I'm dead. She won't hunt me down." Margaret pleaded.
"But then you'll just start again." The Doctor stated, not showing his feelings about Kayla.
"I promise I won't." Margaret whispered.
"You've been in that skin-suit too long. You've forgotten. There used to be a REAL Margaret Blaine. You killed her and stripped her and used the skin. You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips." The Doctor said scornfully.
"Perhaps I have got used to it. A human life. An ordinary life. That's all I'm asking." The Doctor fixed her with his cold gaze.
"Give me a chance, Doctor…I can change." She begged, not wanting to die.
"I don't believe you." The Doctor told her. But I do believe that Kayla can, that she will. He whispered in his mind. Margaret sighed, defeated.
Rose stood at the railings, gazing out across the water while Mickey sat with his back to her on a bench.
"So, what d'you wanna do now?" He asked, bringing up her unspoken question.
"Don't mind." Rose said, angry at Mickey for leaving her.
"We could ask about hotels..." He suggested, bringing up his earlier offer.
"What would Trisha Delaney say?" Rose asked rudely.
"S'pose." He paused, pointed at a random spot. "There's a bar down there with a Spanish name or something-" He stated, and Rose turned on him with sudden anger that didn't shock him. Mickey was expecting this, but that didn't mean he was looking forwards to it.
"You don't even LIKE Trisha Delaney!" She pointed out.
"Oh, is that right? What the hell do you know?" Mickey wondered, glaring at Rose. She had been gone, and his preferences in women might have changed, she wouldn't know.
"I know YOU. And I know her-and I know that's NEVER gonna happen. So who do you think you're kidding?!" Rose yelled, pouring out all her anger to Mickey.
"At least I know where she is!" Mickey protested. Rose nodded, believing that she knew what he was on about.
"There we are, then. It's got nothing to do with Trisha. This is all about me, isn't it-"
"You LEFT me!" Mickey stood up, shaking with fury. Rose watched, comparing him to the Doctor's Oncoming Storm, not impressed.
"We were nice. We were happy. And then what, you give me a kiss and you run off with him and you make me feel like nothing, Rose. I was nothing." Rose just stared at him, watching as his eyes filled with tears. "I can't even go out with a stupid girl from a shop because you pick up the phone and I come running. I mean, is that what I am, Rose? Standby?" Rose just shook her head, lying to him. To her, he was standby, just standby. "Am I just supposed to sit here for the rest of my life, waiting for you? Because I will." He pointed out.
"I'm sorry." Rose said softly, unsure of what to say. Mickey leaned against the railing and Rose put her hand on his arm, but he shook it off.
Jack and Kayla relaxed in the TARDIS, drinking and laughing.
"Oh, and remember that time…" Kayla started, Jack already starting to laugh because he knew what she was going to talk about.
"I promise you, I've changed since we last met, Doctor. There was this girl...just today...young thing. Something of a danger. She was getting too close. I felt the blood lust rising, just as the family taught me, I was going to kill her without a thought. And then...I stopped. She's alive somewhere right now, she's walking around this city because I CAN change-I DID change. I know I can't prove it." Margaret pleaded, trying to live.
"I believe you." The Doctor said calmly.
"Then you know I'm capable of better." Margaret leaped onto the Doctor's belief in her.
"It doesn't mean anything." The Doctor continued.
"I spared her life." Margaret protested, but the Doctor wasn't gone.
"You let one of them go, but that's nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim's spared. Because she smiled...because he's got freckles...'cos they begged...and that's how you live with yourself. That's how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind's in the right direction...you happen to be kind." The Doctor pointed out, remembering the Time Lord…all of it.
"Only a killer would know that." Margaret said coldly. The Doctor paused, not the answer that he was expecting. He was thrown. "Is that right? From what I've seen, your happy-go-lucky little life leaves devastation in its wake. Always moving on 'cos you dare not look back. Playing with so many people lives- you might as well be a God." Margaret stated, pleased when the Doctor lost his eye contact that he had held throughout the dinner, he was slightly hurt, but he wouldn't show it. "And you're right, Doctor...you're absolutely right. Sometimes...you let one go." She looked into the Doctor's eyes, her own filled with tears.
"Let me go." She said softly, but Margaret had finally hit a nerve. The Doctor stared at her at a loss-he didn't know what he was to do now.
Rose and Mickey are side-by-side on a bench, Rose was stroking one of Mickey's hands, trying to comfort him.
"I'm not asking you to leave him, because I know that's not fair. But I just need something, yeah? Some sort of promise that when you DO come back, you're coming back for me." He said, looking at Rose, who spun around on the bench when she heard a low, almost growling, noise in the background in the direction that the TARDIS was.
"Is that thunder?" Rose wondered, listening hard.
"Does it matter?" Mickey asked, not really caring. Rose casted a quick glance to the night sky, not seeing a clouds, and the noise was getting louder.
"That's not thunder." Rose stated, disagreeing with herself.
Margaret is speaking quickly now, her desperation growing. She only had this dinner to get the Doctor to let her live, and she would win this deathly game she had started.
"In the family Slitheen, we had no choice. I was made to carry out my first kill at thirteen. If I'd refused, my father would have fed me to the Venom Grubs." The Doctor's head turned to the side as he heard the low rumble that Rose had heard, only louder. "If I'm a killer, it's because I was born to kill-it's all I know!" She pleaded, but got no reply. The Doctor still listening to the rumble intently.
"Doctor? Are you even LISTENING to me?" Margaret asked, angry.
"Can you hear that?" the Doctor wondered, his brow furrowed.
"I'm begging for my life-!" Margaret protested, slightly wounded that he wasn't listening.
"No, listen, shush..." the Doctor commanded, holding up his hand to silence her. He peered at the glasses on the table, which are beginning to shake slightly. Without warning, the glass windows shattered and the dinners began to scream.
A street light smashed, and passers-by shriek. Baffled, Mickey looked around for Rose, checking on her, but found her running towards the TARDIS, away from him and towards the Doctor, like it always was. And here Mickey thought that they were working it out, he really was an idiot.
"Oh, go on then-run! It's him again, isn't it? It's the Doctor! It's always the Doctor! It's always gonna be the Doctor and it's never ME!" Mickey yelled bitterly after her.
The Doctor and Margaret hurried down a flight of stairs, the sound of screaming and smashing in the background. Margaret was falling behind because of the size difference.
"The handcuffs!" Margaret called urgently. The Doctor waited for her at the foot of the stairs and quickly pulled the handcuffs off her wrist.
"Don't think you're running away." He warned, her grabbing her now clear wrist.
"Oh, I'm sticking with you." Margaret stated, her voice laced with fear. He pulled her towards the TARDIS, glass shattering over their heads. "Some date this turned out to be!" Margaret yelled over the noise. They ran, bumping into people as they made their way to through the chaos, down another set of steps, and the Doctor's eyes widened with shock as they finally saw the TARDIS on the other side of the square. A huge bolt of lightning ripped from the TARDIS roof and into the sky.
"It's the rift. The rift's opening!" the Doctor yelled as storm clouds gathered above the TARDIS.
The bottles were long gone, Kayla had thrown them out earlier. Now, the father and daughter were nothing like before. Jack was panicking as sparks flew out of the console, the lights on extrapolator flashed madly, as Kayla got it unhooked from the TARDIS, trying not to rip the wires connecting it.
The Doctor and Margaret hurried across the Millennium Square, the ground starting to crack beneath their feats. Margaret looked terrified as the Doctor fitted his key into the lock of the TARDIS, and pulled her inside after him.
The whole ship was shuddering, the lights blinking.
"What the hell are you doing?" the Doctor yelled to Jack, who was fixing up the wires from the extrapolator while Kayla was clicking button on the console, trying to fix the TARDIS, her foot on one of them, and her other hand was occupied with her VM, doing everything she could to help the TARDIS, to save Cardiff.
"It's the rift, something's gone wrong." Kayla told the Doctor.
"It's the rift! Time and space are ripping apart. The whole city's gonna disappear!" the Doctor agreed, elaborating on the subject. Small explosions came off the console, almost hitting Kayla, who didn't flinch.
Rose reached the Square, her eyes widening as she saw the TARDIS and the lightning, and all the cracks in the ground. She flinched at yet another rumble, more lightning coming out of the top of TARDIS and going into the sky. Rose began to run across the Square to the TARDIS, more cracks appearing in the ground.
More explosions on the console as the Doctor, Jack, and Kayla worked furiously, forgetting about Margaret .
"It's the extrapolator! I've disconnected it but it's still feeding off the engine! It's USING the TARDIS-I can't stop it!" Jack yelled to the Doctor.
"Never mind Cardiff, we're going to lose planet Earth!" Kayla yelled as Rose busted into the TARDIS.
"What is it? What's happening?!" Rose screamed to them, causing Margaret to laugh gleefully.
"Oh, just little ME!" She yelled.
"Rose, move!" Kayla warned the blond, but it was too late. Margaret freed one of her arms from her skin-suit, revealing the Slitheen claw which she used to grab Rose around the neck. The Doctor and Kayla darted forwards. The Doctor seeing his little sister in danger, and Kayla seeing a very distant friend needing her help.
"One wrong move and she snaps like a promise." Margaret threatened, eyeing Kayla rather than the Doctor.
"I should have killed you when I recognized you. It wouldn't even have been murder considering what's coming up on your home planet, it would be putting you out of your misery." Kayla spat at Margaret, who flinched.
"Oh, but the Doctor wouldn't like that." Margaret chastised. The Doctor glared at her.
"I might've known." The Doctor hissed at Margaret, who laughed.
"I've had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it." She looked over at Jack.
"You-fly boy-put the extrapolator at my feet." She commanded, and Jack heisted, only making Margaret tighten her hand around Rose's neck. Jack glanced at the Doctor for help, but Kayla answered instead.
"Just do it, or Rose will die." She commanded her father, one eye on the Doctor, who nodded in agreement, and one eye on Margaret.
"Thank you. Just as I planned." She said pleasantly as Jack put the extrapolator at her feet.
"I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station." Rose chocked out.
"Failing that-if I were to be...arrested...then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to Plan B!" Margaret tugged on one of Rose's plaits roughly, and Rose whimpered, scared. "To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift." She looked around the TARDIS in awe. "And what a power source it found...I'm back on schedule...thanks to you." Margaret continued.
"The rift's gonna convulse-she'll destroy the whole planet." Kayla warned.
"And you with it!" Margaret pointed out, pushing Rose aside so she can stand on the extrapolator, but her grip was still on Rose's neck.
"While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back boys and girl...surf's up."
Outside, a burst of lightning from the TARDIS light. Inside, a panel of the console slid open directly in front of Margaret. A blinding light protruded from it. Margaret looked at it in surprise, then up at the Doctor and Kayla on the other side of the console.
"Well, your plan has many flaws in it. One main one is the fact that opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart with it." Kayla pointed out, the Doctor nodded suddenly, following her train of thought.
"So sue me." Margaret said rudely.
"It's not just any old power source. It's the TARDIS. My TARDIS. The best ship in the universe." The Doctor started.
"It'll make wonderful scrap." Margaret stated nastily.
"What's that light?" Rose wondered, trying to see it.
"The TARDIS, like all TARDIS's, is alive, and that light is the heart of it. That light is its soul." Kayla explained to Rose, worried about the light.
Breathing heavily, Margaret stared into the light, as if she had forgotten everything else. Her voice becoming dreamy and vague. "It's…so bright..." She muttered.
"Look at the soul, Margaret." Kayla pleaded, her voice soft and loving. Kind and gentle. In other words, not her usual voice.
"... Beautiful..." Margaret continued.
"Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light." The Doctor said softly, moving to stand next to Kayla.
Margaret became transfixed with the light, the soul, and her grip on Rose relaxed. Rose stumbled out of the way and to Jack. Margaret continued to stare into the light, a blissful smile spreading across her face. Then, she looked up at the Doctor who gave her a half-smile. Kayla did soon.
"Thank you…" Margaret said softly, genuinely thankful. "Both of you…" She whispered, and then Margaret was engulfed by the light, when it cleared, her body suit landed on top of the extrapolator, empty. Kayla and the Doctor immediately sprang into action, working on the console, trying to get the heart closed.
"Don't look and stay there. Keep your eyes closed!" the Doctor slammed down the levers at the same time of Kayla, and the gap in the console closed, shutting the light off.
"Now, Jack, come on-shut it all down. Shut down!" The Doctor commanded Jack, who rushed to the console, joining Kayla and the Doctor.
"Rose, that panel over there-turn all the switches to the right." Kayla ordered Rose. They worked busily, the console exploding with sparks. Finally, the shaking lessened and outside, the lightning shooting from the top of the TARDIS into the sky disappeared, all back to normal.
"Nicely done. Thank you, all." The Doctor said, leaning back against the railing with Kayla next to him, both panting.
"What happened to Margaret?" Rose wondered.
"Must've got burnt up. Carried out her own death sentence." The Doctor and Kayla glanced at the body-suit.
"She's not dead." Kayla disagreed.
"Then, where'd she go?" Rose wondered.
"She looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and even I don't know how strong that is. And the ship's telepathic-like I told you, Rose. Gets inside your head. Translates alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts..." The Doctor and Kayla knelt next to the skin-suit for closer look. Rose and Jack followed suit, so all of them were huddled around it. Kayla reached into the skin-suit and pulled out an egg.
"Here she is!" the Doctor said proudly, looking at the egg in Kayla's hand.
"She's an egg?" Rose wondered.
"Starting from childhood, and they're eggs when they're born." Kayla agreed.
"She's an egg?" Jack echoed Rose's question.
"She can start again! Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell 'em to bring her up properly, she might be all right!" the Doctor said cheerfully.
"Or she might be worse." Jack stated.
"Then that's her choice, and she'll face me. Might even bring back memories, hope we never find out." Kayla said.
"She's an egg." Rose stated again.
"She's an egg." The Doctor agreed, and Rose suddenly remembered her standby.
"Oh, my God. Mickey!" She yelled, and then ran out of the TARDIS and sprinted across of Millennium Square.
"And there she goes…" Kayla whispered softly, watching. The Doctor heard her, and so did Jack. Both men looked at each other, and agreed to talk each other later.
A police car hurtled down a ruined street, sirens on and lights flashing, an ambulance close behind. Rose ran down the street in the opposite direction. She didn't see Mickey, who was standing alone and watching from a distance, the firelight flickering on his face. He watched Rose tap a paramedic on the shoulder and question him. The paramedic shook his head, and Rose left him, clearly not knowing where to look next. Mickey turned and walked away into the night. Tired of putting up with Rose.
Rose walked back into the TARDIS, to see the Doctor and Kayla next to each other and Jack on the opposite side, the three of them messing with the console.
"We're all powered up. We can leave. Opening the rift filled us up with energy - we can go. If that's all right..." The Doctor stated, already wanting to kill Mickey for being mean to his younger sister.
"Yeah, fine." Rose said, her tone light even though they could all see the tears still on her face.
"How's Mickey?" Kayla asked casually, not looking up from the console.
"He's okay. He's gone." Rose muttered, not wanting to talk about with Kayla of all people.
"You can go look for him if you want. I'll make sure this idiot," she nudged the Doctor, "will stay." She finished. Jack glanced at the Doctor and Kayla carefully, noticing this act.
"No need. He deserves better." Rose said softly.
"No he doesn't, he already has someone who's perfect." Kayla tried to cheer Rose up. She's been broken up with before, and she wanted to help Rose as much as possible.
"Off we go, then. Always moving on..." the Doctor said briskly, his mind flashing back to the dinner with Margaret , which had left its mark, and had given him more information on Kayla.
"Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorius. Now, you don't often get to say that." Jack smirked, glancing at the egg that Kayla had balanced on the console.
"We'll just stop by and pop her in the hatchery. Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again! A second chance." Rose stared off in space, and Kayla watched her sadly, started to reflect on her own past. A second chance seemed too good to be true.
"That'd be nice ..." Rose said to herself. And the TARDIS disappeared into time and space, no one in the same mood they had been in before.
The TARDIS danced her way through the vortex, worried about her Thief and her Wolf. Their love story was playing out perfectly, and then the other Thief joined, killing their story and starting another the second she stepped foot into her. At first, she had been angry, but the TARDIS bit her tongue, watching the other Thief, getting a feel for her and liking it. But they were not yet done. The Soon to be Immortal and the other Thief were to play a big part. Poor other Thief, she would have to sing.
And a chapter on Saturday! Yay! So, just an interlude and then Bad Wolf. The Children In Need minisode will be the interlude after Bad Wolf and The Parting of Ways.