Even though it was night, the shop still carried most of the heat from the day, so as soon as the door closed behind them the warm air swept across their faces, which made it feel like stepping into an oven. The blue light from the Doctor's sonic screwdriver allowed them enough light to make their way through the garage. The sound of their footsteps echoed as they walked, giving the impression of walking through a cave. It was slightly unsettling, especially considering what they were up against. Rebecca's heart began to wildly thump against her chest. She had no idea what was going to happen next. And that was without a doubt the most exhilirating sensation she had ever experianced. That not knowing. The moment of breathless anticipation. The plunge before the fall.

The Doctor must have read her mind because he turned around and beamed at her, saying, "Isn't this brillant?!" Unable to respond she just nodded eagerly, happy that circumstances had brought them all together today.

Without warning there was a loud THUD from the back of the garage. Moving more quickly now the trio hurried the rest of the way through the garage, following the source of the noise. Another crash followed, and they ducked behind a pile of stacked crates. The rear garage door was open, and Rebecca let out a gasp as she recognized her manager lifting 100 gallon drums above his head and, along with another man, was loading them into the back of the shop.

"Is that your manager?" Rose asked her.

She nodded grimly.

"Who's that other guy with him?"

"The sales manager, Mr. Norton," she whispered. "I guess that means he's in on it too?"

"Let's find out, shall we?" The Doctor asked quietly before swiftly stepping out from behind the crates and casually walking up to the men.

"Well now, what have we here? Two managers putting in some overtime! Hope they're paying you well!" He yelled loudly as the two men froze.

My grip on Rose's arm tightened as she asked her, "Is the Doctor insane? He's just going to walk right up to them? He doesn't even have a weapon!"

She chuckled. "It's just his way. You'll get used to it."

Meanwhile Mr. Norton and Mr. Foulks had thrown down the bins and were staring at the Doctor. "What are you doing sneaking around here?" Mr Foulks grumbled.

"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor said as he scratched his ear and looked around. "Guess I'm just wondering what a huge amount of verbanium is doing in 21st Century America."

The managers froze. "How...do you know it's verbanium? Or even what that is? Just who are you?" Mr Norton managed to ask amidst his confusion.

"I'm the Doctor." he grinned. "And I'm here to shut you down."

Both managers hissed and reached up to their foreheads. Rebecca gasped in frozen horror as she watched the two men unzip themselves out of their skin like too-small suits. Blue light flooded the area. With eyes wide she saw the Slitheen's true form for the first time. Bulbous, slimy faces. Claws the length of her arm. Eyes like black, fathomless pits.

Rose sniffed. "Smelly buggers."

The Doctor seemed nonplussed. "Now, that's more like it. Comfortable, are we?"

"WE WILL NOT LET YOU INTERFERE WITH OUR PLANSSSS!"

He raised an eyebrow. "And what plans might that be?"

The Slitheen that had once been Rebecca's boss blinked. "OVER TIME, VERBANIUM CAUSES CORRSION IN EVEN THE STRONGEST OF METALS. ONCE ALL THE CARS ARE DOUSED WITH IT, AND PEOPLE BUY THEM, IT WON'T BE LONG UNTIL THEY BEGIN TO FALL APART."

The second Slitheen piped up, "YES, AND WHEN COMBINED WITH THE VOLATILITY OF THE FUEL TANKS THEY WILL BEGIN TO EXPLODE! MASS PANIC WILL ENSUE! THIS DEALERSHIP IS THE FIRST STARTING POINT, AFTER THAT WE WILL MOVE ON UNTIL WE HAVE CONTAMINATED EVERY SINGLE CAR IN THIS COUNTRY!"

"But what is the point of all that?" The Doctor asked, seriously bewildered. "Why cause so much destruction?"

The Slitheen let out throaty raspy laughs. "PROFIT OF COURSE. ONCE WE FAKE THE NATIONWIDE CAR EPIDEMIC WE CAN PRETEND TO DEVELOP A CURE FOR IT AND CAPITALIZE ON IT!"

The Doctor rubbed at his eyes, as if to dispel a headache. "Always about money, with you lot, isnt it?" He looked up at them. "You know I have to stop you, right?"

The aliens laughed once more. "AND WHAT GOOD CAN YOU DO, DOCTOR? ALL BY YOUR LONESOME!"

The Doctor smiled, and the sight of it made Rebecca's heart skip a beat. "Oh no," he said quietyl. "I'm never alone."

As Rose ran out from behind the crate the Doctor kicked over the nearest drum, spilling verbanium all over the floor, causing the Slitheen to shriek with rage.

Looking around frantically, Rebecca saw a spray can of cleaning solution propped up against the crate. Grabbing it, she yelled out to Rose before throwing it towards her. Rose caught it just before it hit the floor and in one fluid motion turned and sprayed the nearest Slitheen in the face. Howling with rage and blinded, it dropped to the floor.

Suddenly inspired, Rebecca ran back through the shop, stopping at the toolbox of a mechanic she knew well. Fumbling around the top of it she came across what she knew she would find; matches. iI will never be more grateful for your bad smoking habits than I am today, Tony/i she thought wildly as she ran back to Rose who was guarding the fallen Slitheen with the can of cleaner as if her life depended on it.

"Here", Rebecca said, tossing the matches to her as she ran past her. "Light 'em up."

She heard the 'snick' of the match and then the whoosh of flames as Rose threw the match at the alien. It shrieked only momentarily before being compeltely consumed by thre flames.

Rebecca ran out the back door only the bump into the Doctor as he was running back in. "Go, get out of here, the other one's coming!" he yelled as he pushed her along.

"Wait!" she cried out "I have an idea!" Stunned into silence, the Doctor allowed her to manuever him over to the corner where the door was operated. "Wait here," she said "And when I yell now, hit the switch." She ran back over to the door and stood there facing the back of the lot.

The alien saw her. It's black eyes narrowing in anger, it ran towards her, fangs glistening, claws reaching out to rip her to pieces.

She could hear Rose yelling her name behind her but even louder was the sound of the blood rushing through her head. Never had she felt more alive!

As soon as the Slitheen was a few meters away she screamed, "NOW!"

The Doctor hit the switch and the huge garage door came crashing down on top the Slitheen, crushing it dead.