Seren
Seren Jones's day went as it normally did. She woke up at 7:30 in the morning, got dressed in a beige tank top with a beige blazer over it and dark blue denim jeans, her long loosely curled hair tied into a high pony. Her jewelry consisted of a pair of dangling earrings, a cuff bracelet on her left wrist and a heart-shaped necklace around her neck. On her feet were a pair of beige 5" heeled ankle boots.* Once dressed, she made breakfast for her sister Siwan who had a later shift at the hospital, greeted her god-mother Jackie Tyler, went to work at Henrik's with her god-sister Rose Tyler, had lunch with Rose and Rose's boyfriend Mickey Smith, and returned to work for the rest of her shift. It was as she was leaving that her life changed forever...
Seren, Rose and a few of the other girls that she worked with were just heading out when the security guard at the door called out to Seren.
"Oy!" he said, making her turn around.
She saw him holding out a sealed bag with money inside. He shook it slightly and she took it from him with a sigh.
"Do you want me to go with you?" Rose asked, looking at the smaller dark-haired woman.
"No, it's okay." She replied with a soft Welsh accent, looking up at the taller blonde with wide amethyst doe eyes. "You head home. I'll be there shortly. Just send Siwan a message telling her I'll be a bit late."
Rose nodded and left the building as Seren turned and walked at a fast pace to the service lift, pressing the down button when she reached. Waiting for it to arrive, she saw the guard close the doors of the shop and lock them. Getting in with a resigned sigh, she pressed the button of the floor she wanted to go to and watched as the doors slowly slid shut and take her down to the basement.
The lift bell 'Dinged' as it reached the requested floor and Seren slowly got out. Standing in the bleak corridor, she looked both ways and didn't see anyone.
"Wilson?" She called out loudly, turning to right and walking towards his office. "Wilson, I have the lottery money." Reaching his office, she saw that his door was closed. Knocking on the door that said 'HP Wilson, CEO', she called out again, "Wilson. Are you there?" Trying the door, she found it to be locked. "I can't stay, they're closing the shop." She called through the closed door, still receiving no response. "Wilson!" she sighed in frustration when she still received no response.
She was just about to try calling again when she heard a sudden noise behind her.
"Hello?" she called out, turning to the sound in curiosity. She began slowly walking down the corridor in the direction of the sound, believing it to be Wilson. "Hello, Wilson. It's Seren. Hello?" Stopping in front of the fire door, she called out again, this time somewhat more hesitantly. "Wil…Wilson?"
Trying the door, she found it unlocked and it opened with a slight push. Walking in and taking in the darkness of the room, making it look all the more frightening, she switched on the lights, revealing it to be the storage room for the shop's mannequins.
"Wilson?!" She called out again loudly, walking between the rows of stored dummies. "Wilson!"
Reaching the end of the row she was walking down, she noticed another door, this one with restricted access. As she tried it, the fire door she had just come through slammed shut, making her jump around in alarm. She ran back to the door and tried to open it, only to find it locked.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" she muttered to herself angrily, tugging at the door handle with all her might. Hearing a sound behind her, she turned back to face the room. "Is that someone messing around?" She cried out, slightly scared but managing to keep a brave face. She slowly walked deeper into the room, absently tucking a curled lock of hair behind her ear as she tightened the grip on the bag containing the lottery money. "Who is it?" She called out, her masked fear giving way to visible anger.
Behind her, a male mannequin's head turns of its own accord with a slight 'creak'. Hearing the sound, Seren's head whip[ed around, just in time to see the mannequin step out of the shadow of the pillar it was standing beside. It slowly walked towards her as Seren slowly walked backwards.
"If this is a joke, you got me." She said softly. "Very funny." She saw another mannequin behind the first begin walking towards her as well. "Right, I've got the joke." She said loudly, trying to draw out the pranksters. "Whose idea was this?" she glanced around behind her before turning to the mannequins still walking towards her. "Was this Derek's idea? Was it?" She stepped back to avoid some of the other mannequins that were approaching her. "Derek, is it you?" She called out as she moved away from the mannequins that were, unknown to her, herding her towards the wall. "I swear, if this is Derek's doing, I'm going to kill him." Seren muttered to herself darkly as the mannequins moved closer to her.
Walking backwards and taking in the slowly moving mannequins, she tripped over a box. With a slight whimper, she regained her footing and continued walking backwards, wanting to get away from them as well as keep them in sight. The slowly herded her towards the wall, reaching a hand up towards her. She took a deep breath and kicked the one directly in front of her, sending several tumbling backwards.
Seeing them regain their footing and begin marching towards her once more, she tugged on the door, trying to get it open.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" She exclaimed again, this time in exasperation.
She turned back to the approaching mannequins and moved into a defensive position, her legs spread apart slightly and her hands in front of her as she kicked out at them as they approached her. There was no way she was going to die in a shop basement and leave her sisters alone. They already lost their parents and her elder sister, Rhiannon, had just had another baby. As the mannequins temporarily halted their approach, she lowered her hands and took a breath. Suddenly, a hand grabbed hers and she turned to look at the man holding hers.
"Run." He said as he pulled her through the door just in time as the mannequin lowered his hand and severed the pipeline that was directly behind her, missing her by a hair's breath. They ran through the doors with the mannequins in close pursuit behind them. As they ran down the corridor, Seren saw other mannequins reaching out to them, stopped only by the locked grates holding them back. Running through another set of double doors, they came to the service lift.
The man pressed the 'up' button and the doors opened. Just as the man pulled Seren inside, the mannequin in front stuck its hand through the closing lift doors. He wrestled with the mannequin as it made grabbing motions with its hand. Seren watched in shock as the man yanked at the arm a few times before it finally came off, letting the lift doors to close completely.
"You pulled his arm off!" Seren said in shock, staring at him.
"Yup! Plastic." The man said cheerfully in a Northern accent as he threw the arm at her. Seren caught it on instinct as the man grinned maniacally at her and turned back to face the doors.
"You're mad!" Seren breathed, shaking her head. "Completely mad!"
She took in his appearance. He had blue eyes, a slightly large nose, closely cropped short hair with large ears, and a well-muscled 6"4 frame. He was wearing a dark maroon jumper under a well-worn dark brown-black leather jacket and black trousers with a watch on his wrist. He looked to be in his late thirties – early forties.
What seemed to strike Seren was that his eyes seemed so old, older than his face and seemed to portray a pain that could not be described. A pain that could only be understood by those who experienced it.
"Okay, that was odd." Seren said shakily, causing him to look at her. "Who were they? Were they students?" she asked, her shock giving way to irritation. As she looked at him, she got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Please tell me they were students." She thought to herself.
"Why would they be students?" The man asked confused, turning to face at the young woman. He took in her 5"1 hourglass figure, hip-length chestnut brown hair in loose curls (currently up in a pony), large amethyst purple doe-eyes framed by long thick eyelashes, arched eyebrows, high cheekbones, pale white skin and cupid bow lips.
"I don't know." She replied with a shrug.
"Well, you said it. Why students?"
"Because, to get that many people dressed up and being silly. They have got to be students."
"That makes sense." The man said with a small smile. "Well done."
"Thanks." Seren replied sarcastically.
"They're not students." He said.
"I was hoping you weren't going to say that." Seren said with a groan. "Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's going to call the police."
"Who's Wilson?" he asked.
"Chief electrician."
"Wilson's dead." The man told her calmly as the lift doors opened and he walked out.
"That's not funny." Seren said with a frown, shaking off her shock at the man's attitude and walking out of the lift. "That's sick!"
"Hold on." The man said as he took something out of his jackets' inside pocket. "Mind your eyes."
"I've had enough of this now." Seren said, building towards a rant as the man aimed his device at the lift mechanism and pressed a button and it emitted a fluorescent blue light at the control, causing it to disable with a few sparks.
She flinched at the sparks as the man began to head down the corridor at the back of the department store.
"Who are you, then? Who were they down there?" Seren asked, still holding the plastic arm as she began following him when he didn't answer. "Please give me an answer, who are they?"
"They're made of plastic." The man replied, ducking through the clear sheets that separated the storage area of the department store from the loading, shipping and receiving areas. "They're living plastic creatures." He began rummaging through his pockets as he spoke. "They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He stopped for a moment and turned to her, showing her the device, which was a small bomb. "So," he continued as he began moving again, towards the back entrance to the department store. "I am going to go upstairs and blow it up." He held the door open as he gently pushed Seren out of the building. "And I may well die in the process." He smiled at her. "But don't worry about me. No, you go home. Go on." He gently pushed the young woman out and she turned to face him as he continued. "Go and have your lovely beans on toast." His voice turned serious. "Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed."
Without waiting for a reply, he turned back inside and let the door close behind him as Seren stood and stared in shock.
The door opened again just as she turned to head down the street.
"I'm the Doctor, by the way." The man said cheerfully as he poked his head back out. "What's your name?"
"Seren."
"Nice to meet you Seren." The man, the Doctor, said with a genuine smile that lit up his face. "Run for your life!" he waved the small bomb in his hand and he shut the door once more.
Seren turned and, after a moment's hesitation, ran out of the alley and down the street to the main road. Reaching the main junction, she leaned against the building pillar and panted, constantly looking nervously at the mannequins in the windows of the shops around her. Catching her breath, she crossed the road, only to nearly become a hood ornament of a black taxi cab.
"Watch it!" the driver called, honking his horn as he passed by her.
Getting to the other side of the road, she looked back at Henrik's only to see it standing tall as it always did. She had just turned around to head home, ready to brush the whole thing off as a bad dream, when there was a loud explosion behind her. Turning back to look at the building, she saw that the whole upper levels of Hendrik's had gone up in flames, as a secondary explosion took out the second level directly below the first. With wide eyes, she turned and ran down the street as people began screaming at the sudden explosion on the, until then, ordinary night. With a gasp, she ran, not noticing as she passed an out-of-date blue police box that was standing between two shops.
When she got home, the 8:45 BBC News 24 was playing on the television and keeping everyone informed of the situation.
"The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire." The news caster was saying. "Early reports indicate…"
Seren curled up on the love seat in front of the television and flipped through a magazine, having tossed the plastic arm (the only evidence that her encounter with the Doctor was real) on another sofa. Rose had her arm looped through hers, having not let her go since the moment she returned to their joined dual-flat.
"I know. It's on the telly." Jackie said as she came out of the kitchen holding the phone to her ear with one hand and a mug of tea with the other as she spoke to the person on the other end. "It's everywhere." She handed the mug of tea to her god-daughter who took it with an exasperated look at older woman. "She's lucky to be alive! Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now, you'd think I was her god-daughter." Mickey walked into the flat. "Oh, and here's himself." Jackie muttered as she walked further into the flat as Mickey went straight to the girls and ignored Jackie's comment.
"I've been phoning your mobile. You could've been dead. It's been on the news and everything." Mickey cried hysterically as he knelt next to Seren and put a hand on hers. "I can't believe your shop went up!"
"I'm alright. Honestly, I'm fine." Seren said as Mickey pulled her into a hug, grateful that his best friend was safe and unharmed. "Don't make a fuss." He pulled away and sat next to Rose.
"But what happened?" He asked, putting his arm on the back rest behind Rose's head.
"I don't know." Seren replied, rubbing her forehead.
"What was it? What caused it?" Mickey probed.
"I wasn't in the shop." Seren lied as she took the warning she was given seriously, leaning forward and putting the magazine back on the coffee table, before leaning back and slouching again. "I didn't see anything."
"It's Debbie on the end." Jackie said to Seren as she walked back in to the sitting room with the phone held against her chest to keep Debbie from hearing what she was saying to Seren. "She knows a man on the 'Mirror'. 500 quid for an interview."
"Oh, that's brilliant." Seren said, sitting up with a smile. "May I?"
Getting the phone from her god-mother, Seren ended the call and slammed the phone on the coffee table before sitting back on the sofa in her previous position as Mickey and Rose watched the pair. Jackie crossed her arms in indignation.
"Well, you both have got to find some way of making money." Jackie pointed out to her. "Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out." The phone rang again and Jackie picked it up and answered. "Bev! She's alive!" She said into the phone. She paused for a moment as Bev said something. "I've told her," Jackie began, walking out of the room. "Sue for compensation. She was within seconds of death!"
Seren rolled her eyes as she heard her god-mother's side of the conversation with Bev.
"Mum's right." Rose said softly. "You were within seconds of death."
"I wasn't in the shop Rose." Seren said softly, painfully realizing just how close the two blondes were to the truth.
"What are you drinking, tea?" Mickey asked her as he took the mug she was holding from her and looked at its contents. "Nah, nah, nah." He said, standing up and putting the mug on the coffee table. "You're in shock. You need something stronger." He took he hand in both of his slightly larger ones and gently tugged at her.
"I'm alright." Seren repeated her statement from before, which was rapidly beginning to sound like a broken record to her.
"Now come on." Mickey insisted. "You deserve a proper drink. We're going down the pub, you and me. My treat. How about it?"
"You know I don't drink." Seren said with a light laugh.
"Is there a match on?" Rose asked him with a knowing smile.
Mickey looked affronted at the question as he sat back down next to her.
"No, no." He said shaking his head and looking at her. "Just thinking about Seren."
"There's a match on, ain't there." Rose said knowingly as she smiled at him.
"Well that's not the point." Mickey muttered, slouching slightly as his girlfriend caught his true intention for wanting to go to the pub, though he was truly worried about his best friend. "But we could catch the last five minutes." He added hopefully.
"Go on, then." Seren said with a smile, leaning over Rose and gently pushing at his chest. "I'm fine really. Go." As Mickey stood up, she gestured to the sofa where the plastic arm was. "Can you get rid of that, please?"
Mickey smiled and gestures for her to come closer. She leans up and he kisses her cheek before Mickey turns to Rose and kisses her briefly and pushes her back into her slouched position as he stands up and picks up the arm Seren was referring to.
"Buh-bye." Mickey says in a high voice, waving the plastic arm.
"Bye." The two god-sisters replied with a laugh as Mickey pretends to be strangled by the arm and walks out of the flat.
Seren watches him go with a smile, Rose curled around her, before it fades when he's out of sight as she ponders whether or not the mysterious man survived the explosion. She turned back to the television that was now showing the fire department putting out the blaze, as the news caster provided the commentary.
"Fire then spread throughout the store. Fifteen fire crews are in attendance though it's thought there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure."
Outside, Mickey whistled to himself as he ignored a couple nearby that were having a blazing row and tossed the plastic arm into the bin that was standing beside the building before walking off towards the pub.
A short while later, Seren's sister, Siwan, entered the flat and went straight to her. The two girls were identical, except for the eyes and the age. Seren had amethyst purple eyes and was 23, while Siwan had sapphire blue eyes with sleek rectangle, black wire-framed glasses covering the orbs and was 22. Aside from those aspects, they had the same long hip-length chestnut brown hair in loose ringlets that started from mid-back in natural layers, 5"1 hourglass figures, large doe-eyes framed by long thick eyelashes, arched eyebrows, high cheekbones, pale white skin, small button noses and full cupid bow lips.
Rose moved to the side so that the two sisters could hug, as the younger took in the fact that the older was alive. Siwan didn't ask any questions, the three girls sitting on the sofa and holding each other, while Rose filled her in on the little that Seren had told them.
After a while, the events of the evening caught up to Seren and she let out a yawn, Siwan following suit as she had just finished a double shift with another single shift beginning the next morning.
The two girls said their good-byes to the Tyler women and went to their side of the dual flat, which had initially been two separate flats but had been renovated with the Council's permission after the girls moved to London from Cardiff after their parents' died.
"You were in the shop, weren't you?" Siwan asked quietly, pulling her pajama tank top on as her sister brushed out her hair.
Seren put her brush down and looked at her sister.
"Yes." She replied after a moment.
"And you didn't say so because everyone would make more of a fuss." Siwan said, not asking but pointing out a fact.
Seren nodded in response. Even if the Doctor hadn't warned her not to tell anyone what had happened, she still wouldn't have said she had been in the shop.
"There's more." Siwan said, looking at her sister. The older girl had the same look on her face that Rhiannon did when telling them that their parents had died in the car accident that sent the two near-twins into three-day comas.
Seren nodded.
"Thank you for telling me. Even if you can't tell me everything, know that I am here." Siwan said.
"I know." Seren replied, tears in her eyes as Siwan kissed her cheek and walked to her own room.
The next morning, Seren and Rose's alarms went off at 7:30 as usual. Turning the alarm off, Seren sat up in bed, her eyes still filled with sleep and her long hair tussled.
"There's no point getting up, sweethearts." Jackie called from the other room when she heard their alarms go off. "You've got no job to go to."
Realizing the truth in her mother's words, Rose flopped back against her pillows with a sigh as she went back to sleep, at least for a little while longer.
Seren on the other hand, got up and got dressed, years of routine not letting her stay in bed for very long. She dressed in a purple sleeveless blouse that matched her eyes, a blue denim knee-length skirt, purple 5" high heeled sandals, and a pair of silver and amethyst earrings with a matching bracelet on her right wrist. She pulled her long hair back into a half-pony, securing it in place with a matching purple ribbon. She checked in on Siwan who was still sleeping, and, after a quick look at the alarm clock that showed it was set to go off at 8:00, Seren went about making breakfast, all the while pondering about where she could find employment as she needed some way of supporting her and her sister, so Siwan didn't have to worry about it while still in school – even if the younger girl insisted on being able to provide for her own pocket money so she wouldn't need to constantly ask her sister for money.
Seren had just finished platting the scrambled eggs when Rose, dressed in a grey short-sleeved shirt that showed off her shoulder joints, jeans and trainers, with a pair of hoop earrings that Seren and Siwan had gifted her with one year on her birthday and usual amount of make-up, consisting of mascara and lip gloss, wandered in.
"Smells good." She commented, taking the plates to the table where the blonde was joined by Siwan and Jackie, both in their dressing gowns (Jackie's in pink while Siwan's was powder blue and she had her glasses on). Siwan went to the kitchen to make the coffee and tea for them while Seren grabbed the toast and the two Welshwomen joined the two blondes at the table as they ate. They ate in silence, too early in the morning for proper conversation, especially since the caffeine hadn't made it through their systems.
"Thanks Seren." Siwan said after finishing her food and taking her plate to the sink, rinsing it and putting it on the drying rack. She kissed Seren's cheek before going to shower and get ready for work.
With no job to get to, Rose and Seren found themselves sitting at the dining table a short while later, Rose playing with an apple, as Jackie gave the two ideas of where they could get another job.
"There's Finch's." Jackie suggested, coming out of the kitchenette with a mug of tea in her hand, still dressed in her pink dressing gown, and sitting down next to Rose at the table. "You could try them. They've always got jobs."
"Oh, great." Rose replied sarcastically. "The butchers!"
"We can check it out." Seren said practically. "Although there is a reason why they always have jobs Aunt Jackie."
"And it might do you good." Jackie told them, though mostly Rose. "That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about compensation, Seren." She stood up. "You've had genuine shock and trauma." She stopped behind Rose's chair as she continued. "Arianna got two thousand quid of the Council just 'cause the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek!" she went into her room as Rose and Seren frowned in confusion. "I know she is Greek, but that's not the point. It was a valid point."
Hearing something rattle at the door, Seren and Rose looked towards the front door, before glancing at each other and letting out exasperated sighs.
"Mum, you're such a liar!" Rose yelled.
"Aunt Jackie, you were supposed to nail that cat flap down." Seren called to the older blonde as she went to the door. "We're going to keep getting strays."
"I did it weeks back." Came Jackie's defensive reply from her room as Seren came to a stop in front of the door.
"Somehow, I get the feeling you thought about it." Seren muttered, squatting down next to the door and holding her long hair back with one hand.
Seeing several nails on the floor in front of the door, clearly removed from the cat flap. She picked one up and, out of the corner of her eye, saw the cat flap move. Moving back slightly, she crouched down on all fours, and moving her hair to the side, she pushed the cat flap open. She stood up with a shocked gasp when she saw the Doctor on the other side. She opened the door to see an equally surprised Doctor standing outside her door. The Doctor was wearing the same thing he was the day before, though his jumper was a lighter maroon.
"What are you doin' here?" the Doctor asked her in surprise.
"I live here." Seren replied.
"Well, what do you that for?" he probed.
"Because I do." Seren said back, before adding pointedly, "I'm only home because someone blew up mine and my god-sister's job."
"I must have gotten the wrong signal." The Doctor muttered turning to Seren. "You're not plastic are you?" he knocked her forehead getting a frustrated growl from the young woman in response. "Nope, bonehead. Bye, then."
He turned to leave when Seren reached out and grabbed the Doctor's arm and pulled him inside.
"You, inside." She muttered, closing the door behind them.
"Who is it?" Jackie asked from her room, hearing the nose coming from the doorway.
Seren ducked into the doorway of her god-mother's bedroom where the older woman was putting on her makeup.
"It's about last night." Seren said, making Jackie turn to her. "He's part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes, please."
Seren turned back around and walked further into the flat.
"She deserves compensation." Jackie told the Doctor, making him stop in the woman's bedroom doorway.
"Oh, we're talking millions." The man replied seriously.
Jackie stood up, realizing that she was in her dressing gown and that there was a strange man in her bedroom.
"I'm in my dressing gown." Jackie said softly.
"Yes, you are." The Doctor replied absently, looking in where Rose, seeing that they had a guest, was quickly clearing up some of the clutter.
"There' a strange man in my bedroom." Jackie commented leadingly, making him turn to look at her once more.
"Yes, there is." He agreed.
"Well, anything could happen."
The Doctor's eyes widened as he finally realized what the woman was saying.
"No." the Doctor shook his head and walked further into the flat.
"Don't mind the mess." Rose said as she stacked some magazines that were lying about and putting them on the coffee table.
"Do you want a coffee?" Seren asked, heading towards the kitchen.
"Might as well, thanks. Just milk." The Doctor said.
"Seren, I'll make it." Rose said as they heard Siwan's mobile, which was on the counter charging, start to ring.
Seren nodded and picked up the mobile and answered it.
"Hello, Siwan Jones' mobile." Seren said into the phone.
"Seren?" came the voice on the accented voice on the other end. "It's Adam. Adam Pierson. Can I talk to Siwan, please?"
"Sure, give me a moment." Seren replied as the Doctor picked up a magazine that was on top of the pile on the coffee table.
"Siwan, Dr. Pierson is on your mobile for you!" Seren yelled through the door, and heard the shower turn off.
"One moment!" Siwan called back. "I'm almost done!" A second later, Siwan came out of the bathroom in a towel, with her long hair wrapped up in another towel. She took the outstretched phone with a smile of thanks and held it to her ear. "Jones here." Siwan turned and headed to her room, barely glancing at the man standing in the living room.
Seren turned back to the living room, where the Doctor was commenting on the magazine he was looking at.
"Hmm, that won't last." The Doctor muttered quietly looking inside the magazine. "He's gay and she's alien." He close the magazine and put it back.
"We should go to the police." Seren said as she sat down on one of the sofas. "Or is that out of the question?" she cocked her head to the side.
"Completely out of the question." He replied, picking up a paperback book and flipping through it.
"Hmm, sad ending." He commented.
"It said on the news that they found a body." Seren said, trying to get him to focus.
"'Seren Jones'." The Doctor read from an envelope that was on the counter as Seren shook her head as the man continued as he was. He got a glimpse of himself in the mirror and peered for a closer look. "Ahh, could've been worse." He commented to himself. "Look at me ears!" He reached up and wiggled his ear lobe.
"Okay." Siwan said, coming out in her dressing gown, with the towel still wrapped around her hair. She had put her glasses back on, unable to see without them. "Dr. Pierson wants me to attend a dinner with him and some of his friends that are in town from Seacouver on Wednesday night." She grabbed her mobile charger and turned back to her sister. "What do I wear?"
"Your black sleeveless dress." Seren replied automatically.
Siwan nodded, before noticing the man in their flat. "Who are you?" she asked curiously, cocking her head to the side.
"He's part of the inquiry." Seren replied.
Siwan nodded, but recognized that her sister was keeping something from her. "I'm in my dressing gown, so I am going back to my room so I can change, since I have to leave for work shortly. It was nice to meet you, whoever you are." She waved at him and went back to her room, mobile and charger in hand.
They heard the sounds of her music playing as she began to get ready.
The Doctor picked up a deck of cards and shuffles them.
"Luck be a lady." He sang as he shuffled the cards once again, and sent them flying around the room. "Maybe not."
Seren shook her head in exasperation as Siwan came out of her room, dressed for work in a pair of slim fit navy blue trousers with a slim belt around her tiny waist, a sapphire blue long-sleeved button-down top tucked into her trousers, a navy blue blazer that was unbuttoned and a simple silver watch on her delicate left wrist with a pair of small sapphire studs in her ears and her glasses on her face. On her dainty feet were a pair of navy blue 5" heeled pumps and her long hair was pulled into her customary French twist to keep it out of her way while she worked.
"What happened in here?" Siwan asked, taking in the cards tossed around the room.
"He tried to shuffle them." Seren replied, rolling her eyes as Siwan kissed her cheek.
"Okay, well, I'm off." She said, heading out the door. "I love you!"
"Love you!" came the reply from the three remaining women in the flat as she left, closing the door behind her.
"What's that then?" the Doctor asked, as they heard a rattling coming from behind the sofa a few minutes after SIwan left. "You got a cat?" he knelt on the sofa and looked behind it.
"No, not anymore." Seren replied, jumping off the sofa and backing away. "We did have, but now we just get strays. They come in off the Estate."
The plastic arm that the Doctor had removed the day before leapt up and grabbed him by the throat and he struggled to fight it off. Seren leapt up to help him, tugging at the plastic arm as Rose, in the kitchen making coffee didn't notice what was happening. The Doctor having both hands on the plastic arm as he tried to pry it off his throat and save himself from death by strangulation.
The Doctor finally managed to tug the arm off his throat and toss it away, only for it to freeze in mid-air for a moment before grabbing Seren's face. The woman let out a muffled scream as she struggled against the plastic, being pushed back against the wall as the Doctor jumped up and began trying to pry it off her face.
In her bedroom, Jackie picked up the hair dryer and turned it, running it through her hair and not hearing any of the commotion occurring in her sitting room with her god-daughter and her guest.
The Doctor tugged at it with both hands forcefully, causing the two of them to fall into the coffee table, smashing it to pieces as the Doctor landed on his back with Seren on top of him. The Doctor pushed Seren back towards the sofa with a grunt as he scrambled to his feet. Seren tugged at the arm on her face as the Doctor rummaged through his pockets and removed his screwdriver. He managed to finally remove the arm from Seren's face, who promptly scrambled as far back as she could on the sofa, as he took the still wriggling arm and aimed his screwdriver at it, jamming it into the plastic palm and the fingers stopped flexing, giving a sigh of relief.
"It's alright." The Doctor told Seren. "It's stopped. See?" he tossed the arm at Seren, who caught with a gasp and held it gingerly. "Armless." He laughed at his pun as Seren rolled her large eyes.
"Do you think so?" She asked, hitting him with the arm.
"Ow!" he cried, rubbing the sore spot and standing up.
Rose came running out of the kitchen, realizing that something had happened.
"Seren, you okay?" she asked frantically. She looked at the arm, "Didn't you tell Mickey to chuck that out yesterday?"
"Yeah, Rose. I'm fine." Seren replied. She turned towards the Doctor, "What about you…?" she trailed off when she saw that he had gone, the door open, "He left!" she grumbled as she grabbed her purple purse that matched her outfit and ran out behind him, Rose following her a second later, stopping to grab her jacket.
The two caught up with him on the stairwell.
"Hold on a minute." Rose cried angrily as she followed them down the stairwell. "You can't go swanning off."
"Yes I can. Here I am." The Doctor replied. "This is me, swanning off." He waved the plastic hand he was holding at her. "See ya."
"Maybe we should listen to him, Rose." Seren said, gently taking the younger girl's arm. "He seems to know what he's doing. And we've already got enough to worry about."
"But that arm was moving." Rose protested. "It tried to kill you Seren."
"Ten out of ten for observation." The Doctor remarked sarcastically.
"You can't just walk away. That's not fair. You've got to tell us what's going on." Rose pleaded.
"No I don't." he replied as they walked out of the building block.
"Alright then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone." Rose said as she and Seren walked alongside the Doctor. "You told Seren that if she did that, she'd get people killed, so, your choice."
Seren's eyes widened in shock as she heard what the blonde was saying.
"Rose!" she yelled in shocked horror, making the two of them turn to look at her. "Why would you say that? I won't be the cause of people dying." She turned to the Doctor. "But really, who are you?"
"Told you. The Doctor." He replied.
"Yeah, but Doctor what?" Rose asked.
"Just the Doctor." The man replied.
"The Doctor?" Seren repeated skeptically.
"Hello!" the man waved his hand at her.
"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" Rose asked him snidely.
"Sort of."
"Well, I find it somewhat impressive." Seren said with a smile, looking up at the larger man. "I'm Seren Jones, and this is my god-sister, Rose Tyler. It's nice to meet you, and thank you for saving me." She gave him a radiant smile that lit up her beautiful face.
"Nice to properly meet you." The Doctor replied with a smile of his own, his eyes dancing with laughter as he shook her hand.
"Come on. You can tell us. Seren's seen enough." Rose said, making the two look at her. She paused for a moment before a thought occurred to her. "Are you the police?"
"No." he replied. "I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home."
Seren looked at him questioningly, seeing and recognizing the look of sadness on his face.
"What has she done wrong?" Rose asked suddenly, making Seren turn to her. "Why are those plastic things coming after Seren?"
"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around your sister!" the Doctor exclaimed sarcastically, before promptly bursting the young woman's bubble. "|She was just an accident. She got in the way, that's all."
"That makes sense." Seren muttered practically, she was hardly important enough for a bunch of plastic mannequins to want to kill her for something other than having gotten in the way.
The Doctor glanced at her curiously, slightly surprised by her practical attitude towards everything, so very different from the blonde.
"It tried to kill her!" Rose reminded him, looking ready to slap him.
"It was after me, not you. Last night, in the shop, I was there, she blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on her is 'cos she met me."
"So what you're saying is that the entire world revolves around you?" Rose summarized incredulously.
"Sort of, yeah." He replied nodding.
"You're full of it!" Seren commented to him with a laugh.
"Sort of, yeah."
"All this plastic stuff," Rose started, turning serious. "Who else knows about it?"
"No one." he replied.
"What, you are on your own?" Seren asked, surprised and slightly concerned.
"Well, who else is there?" he asked back, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."
"Okay," Seren said slowly, reaching around him to grab the plastic arm from his hand and making him and Rose look at her in surprise. "Start from the beginning, please."
The Doctor looked at her for a long moment as she met his gaze. He saw something in her eyes, resignation and acceptance. The look you would only get if you had to struggle and fight for what little you have.
"If we're going to go with the living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do, how did you kill it?" Rose asked, as they three of them walked through a large field. She turned to the shorter brunette, "Seren, you don't believe this, do you?"
"Yes I do." Seren replied. "It's far too elaborate to be fake. Not to mention, I had an army of shop mannequins attack me and one of them come back for a follow-up, regardless of whether they were after me or not." She let out a sigh. "And besides, he's saved me twice, so he at least deserves the benefit of the doubt, if nothing else."
The Doctor nodded at her in appreciation and she smiled back at him.
"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead." The Doctor said, replying to Rose's question.
"So that's radio control?" Rose asked hesitantly.
"No, thought control." Seren corrected her, looking up at the cloudless sky with a sigh.
"Are you alright, Seren?"
"Yes." Seren replied absently before turning them back on topic. "So, who's controlling it, then?"
"Long story." The Doctor replied.
"But what's it all for?" Rose probed, confusion evident in her voice. "I mean, shop window dummies. What's that about?" She gave a slight chuckle. "Is someone trying to take over Britain shops?"
The three of them laughed at the absurdity of the question.
"No." the Doctor said chuckling. "It's not a price war!" he stopped laughing. "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you." Rose and Seren slowly stopped laughing as well as they took in what the taller man was saying. He looked Rose, a move mimicked by Seren. "Do you believe me?"
"No."
"But you're still listening." he pointed out.
"Really, though Doctor…tell me." Seren said, her and Rose coming to a stop as the he continued walking towards a corner where a blue police box was standing. "Who are you?"
He stopped and turned to face her. He was silent for a moment as she watched him.
"Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving?" The Doctor began and receiving a nod from Seren, he continued as he walked back towards her. "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning, and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it." The Doctor took Seren's tiny hand with his own larger one as he looked off in to the distance. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it." Seren looks at him, and sees that his eyes seem so much older than his face. "We're falling through space, the both of us, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..." He let go of her hand as he looked at her. "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Seren Jones." The Doctor took the plastic arm from Rose and waved at the two with it. "Go home."
He turned around and began walking again as Seren stared after his retreating back. Such a strange man, beautiful and strange in an almost otherworldly way, with eyes that seem so much older than his appearance. As he walked, he could hear the TARDIS' song echoing in the back of his mind, the only constant presence he has of his home and legacy that lived on through him alone.
With a sigh, Seren and Rose turned and walked back towards the flats. There was a sudden rush of air, followed by a strange grinding noise. Seren stopped and turned, listening as she heard the strange grinding sound again. She ran towards it, back through the field. She came to a stop where she was just with the Doctor, only to find him to have disappeared. The blue box that stood on the corner had also disappeared. She shook her head and walked off, Rose changing their direction to go to Mickey's flat rather than their where Seren had been intending to go.
Mickey opened the door after the first knock.
"Hey, hey, here's my women." He chuckled, smacking Rose bum as Seren scrunched her face at him in amusement. He was wearing a t-shirt and boxers. "Kit off!"
"Shut up." Rose said, smiling as they kissed in greeting.
"Coffee?" Mickey asked them as they walked into the flat.
"Yeah, only if you wash the mug." Rose replied as they walked towards the kitchen. "And I don't mean rinse, I mean, wash."
"You know I don't drink coffee." Seren reminded him with a smile.
"Can I use your computer?" Rose asked him, already heading towards his room and pulling Seren along as well.
"Yeah." Mickey replied before calling to their retreating backs, "Any excuse to get in the bedroom!" He entered the kitchen and headed to the kettle before yelling out, "Don't read my emails!" He didn't get a reply, only the sound of the door shutting.
Inside the room, Seren let the door shut as Rose sat at the computer chair and looked at the open search engine. After a moment, she typed in 'Doctor' and hit the search button.
"Rose, what are you doing?" Seren asked as the search results in 17,700,000 results.
Rose ignores her as types in 'Doctor Living Plastic' which result in 55,300 results.
"Rose, he had asked us to leave him be." Seren reminded her, only to be ignored by the blonde.
Finally she types in 'Doctor Blue Box' and hits search.
The last search results in 493 results, the top most result being a link that says, 'Doctor Who?' with the caption saying '…do you know this man? Contact Clive here'. She clicks on the link and a fuzzy picture of the Doctor pops up. Below the picture was the caption 'Do you know this man? Contact Clive here'. And below it was a list of contact information.
With a shrug, Rose clicked the email information and opened up the messaging center. She sent the man an email and waited for a reply.
"Rose, he asked us not to tell anyone about him!" Seren hissed, the blonde finally turning to look at her. "I haven't even told Siwan!"
"You may be okay with him swanning off and leaving us with more questions than answers, but I'm not!" Rose replied with an angry hiss as the computer let out an alert of a new email.
Opening it, Rose saw that it was from Clive.
The next hour passed with Rose and Clive exchanging emails - Seren repeatedly telling the blonde to stop only to be ignored - finally settling on Rose and Seren meeting him in person as he had several documents he thought they might want to see. Rose agreed to meet him and Mickey says he'll drive them, not wanting his best friend and girlfriend to meet some strange man on their own.
The entire drive, Mickey was trying to convince Rose to let him go inside with them and she refused.
"You're not coming in." Rose tells Mickey again as he pulls his VW Beetle onto Clive's street. He parks the beetle across from Clive's home. "He's safe." They unbuckle their seatbelts as Rose continues, hoping to assuage some of his paranoia. Mickey turned off the engine and turned to face her. "He's got a wife and kids."
"Yeah, who told you that?" Mickey asked her, before replying to his own question. "He did." He pointed out Rose's window towards the man's home. "That's exactly what an internet lunatic murderer would say!"
Seren privately agreed as Rose just looked at him and shook her head, getting out of the car with Seren flowing with a resigned sigh. Seren shut the door and knocked on the window before the two women crossed the road.
One of Clive's neighbors put out his black bin and gave Mickey a nasty look, receiving one back. Rose knocked on Clive's door and a young boy opened it.
"Hello." Rose said to him with a gentle smile. "I've come to see Clive? We've been… emailing."
The boy looked at her for a moment before calling out into the house.
"Dad! It's some of your" the boy looked Rose and Seren up and down before finishing, "nutters!"
A middle-aged, slightly overweight, dark haired man came to the door as his son went back to what he was doing.
"Hello. You must be Rose and Seren." The man said smiling at her as he put his hand out for them to shake. "I'm Clive, obviously."
"I'd better tell you now. My boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill us." Rose said with a smile at the goofy older man, pointing towards Mickey watching them from across the road.
"No, good point." Clive chuckled. "No murders."
Clive waved at Mickey as the younger man lowered his window, still looking very distrustful.
"Who is it?" a woman called from upstairs.
"Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor." Clive replied back. "They've been reading the website." He turned back to them and said, "Please, come through. I'm in the shed."
He let them into and through the house to the shed.
"They? They've read the website about the Doctor? 'They' is two girls?" Clive's wife asked as she came down the stairs with a basket of laundry in her arms and closed the door.
"A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive." Clive explained as he led the two girls into the shed and turned the lights on. "I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean." Rose nodded as he pulled out a thick file. "If you dig deep enough and keep a lively mind, this Doctor crops up all over the place… political diaries, conspiracy theories, even ghost stories." He put the file on the table in front of them and opened it as he continued, "No first name, no last name, just 'the Doctor' – always 'the Doctor'. And the title seem to be passed down from father to son– appears to be an inheritance of some sort. That's your Doctor there, isn't it?" He pointed to his open webpage on his laptop.
Seren looked at the web page and nodded.
"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive just last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original," he took out a plastic film and removed a few photographs, showing them to Rose and Seren. He pointed to the image of President Kennedy's cortege going through Dallas, where the Doctor's face, circled in red ink, was just one face in the crowd. "November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy. You see?"
"It must be his father." Rose breathed, the resemblance was absolutely uncanny.
"Going further back…" Clive continued, putting the photographs down and getting another photograph and a sketchbook. "April 1912. This is a photo of the Daniels family of Southampton, and friend." He showed her a black and white photo of a family of six with the Doctor, dressed in that period's clothing, standing next to them. "This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World on the Titanic, and for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. Here we are…1883. Another Doctor." He grabbed a sketch and showed her the man standing on a beach dressed in clothing from the 19th Century. "And look, the same lineage. It's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake and he has one constant companion."
"Who's that?" Rose asked, looking at the older man.
"Death." Clive and Seren said in unison, making Rose look at her in surprise.
Clive paused for a moment before carrying on very seriously. "If the Doctor is back, if you've seen him, Seren, then one thing's for certain. We're all in danger." He walked around the table and put the file back in its place. "If he's singled you out, if the Doctor is making house calls, then God help you."
"But who is he?" Rose asked. "Who do you think he is?" Rose reached out and took Seren' hand.
"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."
Rose and Seren nodded and Clive saw them out of his home with a smile as they thanked him for his time.
"All right, he's a nutter. Off his head. Complete online conspiracy freak. You win." Rose said as the god-sisters walked back to the car where Mickey was sitting in the driver's seat. She opened the car door and waited for Seren to get into the back seat before getting in herself. "What are we going to do tonight?" she asked as she closed the door and settled in to the seat. "I fancy a pizza."
Rose didn't notice that her boyfriend had been replaced with a plastic version while she and Seren had been with Clive. Seren on the other hand, noticed that something was different and looked at the man with a distrusting frown.
"Pizza! P-p-p-pizza!" Plastic-Mickey said.
"Or a Chinese." Rose added another option, looking at Seren in the rearview mirror and misinterpreting the reason for the frown.
"Pizza!" Plastic-Mickey said as he started the car and drove off in a clear weave pattern as if it was his first time driving.
At the pizza restaurant, Seren, Rose and Plastic-Mickey placed their orders and were waiting for it to arrive. Rose, busy talking about herself, still hadn't noticed that Mickey was made of plastic, had shiny skin and a permanent grin attached to his face. Seren was keeping a distrustful eye on him, not knowing what was different about him, just that something was and it was making her hair stand on end.
"Do you think I should try the hospital?" Rose asked, wanting to get his opinion on where she should try to find another job, because her mother was right. She needed a job. "Siwan said they had jobs going in the canteen. Is that it, then - dishing out chips? I could do A Levels. I don't know. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school because of him. Look where he ended up." She looked at Mickey and asked with a smile, "What do you think?"
"So, where did you meet the Doctor?" the Plastic-Mickey asked instead, turning to Seren, who gave him a blank look.
"Oh, I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a second?" Rose asked, her smile fading and irritated that Mickey was changing the topic to something she didn't want to talk about, and focusing on Seren instead of her.
"Because I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Was he something to do with that?" he asked, ignoring Rose and looking at Seren.
"No." Seren replied quietly, fidgeting with the table's center piece.
"Come on." Plastic-Mickey probed, his grin becoming a smile that was meant to encourage the two women. "What was he doing there?"
"I'm not going on about it, Mickey." Rose said as she brushed a lock of her golden hair aside. "Really, I'm not, because, I know it sounds daft, but I don't think it's safe. I think he's dangerous."
Seren looked at her in disbelief. "Now you decide to believe him to be dangerous." She thought to herself.
"But you can trust me, sweetheart. Babe," his voice went deeper "sugar, babe, sugar." He gave her a smile. "You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose, Seren. Because that's all I really want to do, sweetheart, babe, babe, sugar, sweetheart."
"What are you doing that for?" Rose asked, referring to the repeats of pet-names.
Plastic-Mickey looked at Seren, making her look away and over his shoulder. She saw the Doctor with a bottle of champagne in his hand, and noticing her look at him, he raised his finger to his lips in silent motion to remain quiet. Seren gave him a look of acknowledgement as he presented the bottle to Plastic-Mickey.
"Your champagne."
"We didn't order any champagne." Plastic-Mickey replied, grabbing Seren's hand and squeezing it tightly. "Where is the Doctor?"
"Let go, Mickey!" Seren whispered, not wanting to draw attention to them and tugging her hand from the deceptively powerful grip.
The Doctor turned to Seren and presented the bottle to her.
"Madam, your champagne."
"It's not ours..." Rose said absently. "Mickey what is it? What's wrong?" She leaned in towards her boyfriend.
Seren gave Rose an exasperated as she tugged at her hand in a futile attempt.
"I need to find out how much he knows, so where is he?"
"Doesn't anybody want either of this champagne?" the Doctor asked.
"Look, we didn't order it." Plastic-Mickey said, finally looking up at the waitress and waiter, only to see that it was in fact the Doctor.
"Ah. Gotcha." Plastic-Mickey said, making Rose look up as well while the Doctor was vigorously shaking the bottle.
"Don't mind me." The Doctor told the three of them, still shaking the bottle. "I'm just toasting the happy couple." He aimed the bottle at Plastic-Mickey. "On the house!" he called out as he released the cage around the cork and sent it flying straight at a wide-eyed Plastic-Mickey.
The cork flew into Plastic-Mickey's forehead, with Rose staring in shock as she realized that the man she was with was not her boyfriend.
"That is gross." Seren muttered, a disgusted look on her face.
The plastic man's face distorted for a few moments before it spit the cork out through his mouth, as a shocked Rose watched with wide eyes.
"Anyway." Plastic-Mickey said, standing up and turning his hand into a chopper.
Rose stood up and ran to the side, screaming as the plastic man smashed their table, drawing the attention of the other patrons. The Doctor put his arms around the Auton's head and tugged it off, the momentum sending him and the head flying into another table.
"Don't think that's gonna stop me." The head said to the Doctor, making the couple sitting at the table scream in fright as the Doctor chuckled lightly in amusement.
Taking in the screaming and terrified restaurant patrons, Seren pressed the fire alarm.
"Everyone, out! Now!" Seren yelled as the alarm rang through the building. "Out! Get out! Now!"
The patrons needed no further encouragement as they ran out of the building, Rose getting pushed along as well. Seren ran as well, followed by the Doctor carrying the plastic head as the body continued to smash and flail its way around the dining area. The Doctor and Seren ran through the kitchens, yelling for the staff to get out as well as the plastic body followed the pair through the kitchen and down the corridor leading to the back exit.
Seren and the Doctor had just gotten out and closed the door when their pursuer caught up to them and banged on the closed door as the Doctor took out his screwdriver and sealed the exit shut.
"What's that?" Seren asked, panting slightly and looking at the device in the Doctor's hand.
"Sonic screwdriver." The Doctor replied calmly, putting it back in his pocket as he walked towards the blue box, still calm.
"Sonic screwdriver?" Seren repeated, following him. She let out a laugh. "Who would've thought that a screwdriver could be a bit more sonic?"
He walked up to the blue box, and unlocking the door, he stepped through, with Seren following as the banging continued behind them.
She came to a stop directly inside the door and looked around in wonder.
"Is it going to be able to follow us?" she asked, looking around the magnificent room that was bigger on the inside.
"The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door." The Doctor said cheerfully as he examined the plastic head with his screwdriver. "Believe me, they've tried." The Doctor connected a few cables to the head as Seren walked up to him. "The arm was too simple, but the head is perfect. I can use it to trace the original signal back to the original source." He turned to Seren, who was looking around in awe, absently listening to the Doctor's explanation. "Right. Where do you want to start?"
"The inside's bigger than the outside." She breathed in wonder.
"Yes." The Doctor replied.
"It's not magic, so it must be alien." Seren looked at him.
"Yep."
"And you're an alien?"
"Yes."
"Wow!" Seren breathed. "What is she called?" she looked around the room once more as she heard a gentle humming at the back of her mind, filling her heart with peace for the first time in 5 years.
"She's called the TARDIS." The Doctor replied. "T-A-R-D-I-S. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."
Seren glanced at the head on the console and lost her look of wonder, dropping her purse on the floor.
"Did they kill him? Mickey?" She asked quietly, afraid of what the answer might be. "Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?"
"Oh. I didn't think of that." The Doctor said softly, frowning.
"He's my best friend, and my god-sister's boyfriend." Seren retorted to the man, getting angry. "You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let him melt?"
"Melt?" The Doctor repeated as he turned to console were the head was indeed melting, still attached to the cables.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor exclaimed, as he ran around the console, setting the TARDIS into motion with its typical grinding noise.
"What are you doing?" Seren asked, as the humming increased slightly, calming the furious Welshwoman down as she stayed out of the mad man's way.
"Following the signal. It's fading." The Doctor said, running around the console and hitting a button before pressing a lever. He looked at the screen. "No, no, no, no, no!" he pressed a button and looked back at the screen. "Almost there. Almost there." The Doctor said as he grabbed hold of the console as they felt the shift as the TARDIS moved locations. "Here we go!"
The TARDIS landed and the Doctor ran for the door. She followed him and saw that they weren't in the alley behind the restaurant any longer but rather in Westminster on the north bank of the Thames, next to the RAF monument.
"I lost the signal." The Doctor growled frustrated. "I got so close!" he began to pace.
"We've moved." Seren commented in wonder, looking back at the unassuming box momentarily before turning back to face the two aliens. "Does it fly?"
"Disappears there and reappears here." The Doctor replied, resting his arms against the wall of the bridge. "You wouldn't understand."
"Look, I'm not an idiot, you pompous arse!" Seren snapped at him angrily, getting fed up with his attitude. "I'll have to tell Rose." Her voice became soft, making him look at her in confusion. "Mickey." she explained. "I'll have to tell his girlfriend that he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again! I can't believe I stood up for you to her."
"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey-" he began.
"He's not a kid." Seren interrupted.
"It's because I am trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, all right?" he continued on as if he wasn't interrupted, now close to yelling.
"All right!" Seren yelled back.
"Yes, it is!" he crossed his arms.
"Why do you sound like you're from the North?" Seren asked him, calming down.
"Lots of planets have a North." The Doctor replied defensively.
"And I'm guessing the public police call box is a sort of disguise because you would want to blend in, but why a telephone box from the 1950's?" Seren asked, her head cocked to the side as the humming continued at the back of her mind.
The Doctor looked at her in pleasant surprise.
"You really aren't an idiotic ape." He said.
"Thank you." Seren replied sarcastically.
"Asking the right questions." He chuckled lightly. "The Chameleon Circuit broke when I landed in the 1950's not long after I began travelling."
"Okay." She turned serious. "And this living plastic, what's it got against us?"
"Nothing." He replied "It loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!"
"Anyway of stopping it?"
The Doctor pulled a vial of blue liquid out of his pocket with his freed hand and held it up.
"Anti-plastic." He said gleefully.
"Anti-plastic?" Seren repeated in disbelief.
"Anti-plastic." The Doctor confirmed with a smile. "But first I've got to find it." He lost his gleeful look as he began pacing. "How can you hide something that big in a city this small?"
"Hide what?" Seren asked confused, watching him pace.
"The transmitter." The Doctor stopped pacing and looked at her. "The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."
"What's it look like?"
"Like a transmitter." The Doctor replied. "Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London." He walked to the other side of the bridge, and turned to look at her. "A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible." Seren looked at the London Eye looming behind the oblivious man. She looks behind him at the massive landmark and back at the oblivious man, "What?" she gestured to the structure behind him. He glanced back, but didn't see what she meant. "What?" she gestured again, but he still doesn't get it. "What is it?" Finally Seren rolled her eyes and pointed at the Eye, making him turn and properly look at what she was pointing to. "Oh." He looked back at the beautiful woman as a large smile spread across their faces. "Fantastic."
He began running with Seren following half a heartbeat later. They ran across the Westminster Bridge, the Doctor taking Seren's hand, and down the stairs, coming to a stop right in front of the large landmark.
"Think of it – plastic all over the world." The Doctor told Seren letting go of her hand as she caught her breath. "Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables."
"Breast implants." Seren added.
"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath." The Doctor said, looking around.
Seren looked over the side of the bridge to the maintenance shaft.
"What about down here?" She asked, drawing his attention.
"Looks good to me." The Doctor said with a maniacal grin.
They ran down the stairs to the closed shaft. The Doctor knelt and opened the hatch, letting steam billow out for a moment before he began climbing down the short ladder. Seren followed close behind him. They glanced around the brick-built area, filled with chains before heading through the only door they could see. Going through, they went down a flight of steps, into a multi-level chamber.
On the lower-most level, there was a large vat with a glowing fire-orange substance moving around inside.
"The Nestene Consciousness." The Doctor said to Seren as they came to a stop on the mezzanine and looked down. "That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature."
"You're not here to just kill it, are you?" Seren asked.
"Nope." The Doctor agreed. "I've got to give it a chance."
Seren nodded in understanding as the two of them went down another short flight of stairs and came to a stop on the mezzanine directly in sight of the vat. The alien stood against the railing as Seren stood back and out of sight.
"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."
Inside the vat, the plastic flexes with a growling sound in response.
"Thank you." The Doctor smiled slightly. "If I might have permission to approach?"
Seren looked around and saw Mickey huddled up in a corner as the plastic flexes once again with a growl.
"Oh, God!" She exclaimed, running down the steps to Mickey as the Doctor shook his head in exasperation. "Mickey, it's me." she cried out, rushing towards the bound young man. "It's okay." She reached him as Mickey put a finger to his lips to get her to not make noise.
"That thing down there, the liquid." Mickey whimpered, clutching the woman's arm in fear. "Seren, it can talk!"
"Oh Gods, you're stinking." Seren gasped, turning to the Doctor. "Doctor, they kept him alive!" she frowned, "Why?"
"Yeah, that was always a possibility." The Doctor said offhandedly, turning the corner of another flight of stairs, pausing at the top stair as he continued, "keep him alive to maintain the copy."
"You knew and you never said?" Seren asked angrily.
"Can we keep the domestics outside, please? Thank you." The Doctor snapped before going down the stairs and coming to a stop directly above the vat.
"Am I addressing the Consciousness?" there was a growl as a large blob reached out from the vat. "Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warp-shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?"
The Doctor smirked as the Consciousness growled and a face formed in the blob.
"Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple." At the continued growling, he snapped, "Don't talk about constitutional rights." There was a series of loud growls as the plastic blob got bigger and moved from side to side. "Oy! I am talking!' The Doctor yelled back as the Consciousness stopped growling. "This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go."
A pair of shop mannequins came up behind the pair, unseen by them as the Doctor pleaded on Earth's behalf.
"Doctor!" Seren called out in warning, making him look up at her, but it was too late as the Autons' grabbed hold of him.
He struggled against his two captors, but ultimately, the grip on him was too strong. One of the Autons reached into the Doctor's pocket and removed the vial of anti-plastic and held it up.
"That was just insurance! I wasn't gonna use it." The Doctor cried out in explanation as the Consciousness growled. "I'm not attacking you." He protested. "I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not…" The Consciousness growled and shrieked. "What do you mean?" he asked as a door opened above them. They turned to look and saw the TARDIS. "No! Honestly, no!"
Seren frowned when she noticed that the humming had stopped when they entered the maintenance shaft. "Is the humming coming from the TARDIS?" she wondered silently.
There was a growl from the vat.
"Yes, that's my ship." The Doctor admitted. There was a series of growls and shrieks as he looked between the Consciousness in the vat and the TARDIS. "That's not true." His voice filled with pain. "I should know. I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault!" There was a growl from the Consciousness. "I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!"
The Consciousness let out a roar.
"What's it doing?" Seren yelled down to the Doctor, seeing the plastic blob sway from side to side as it continued to roar.
"It's the TARDIS!" The Doctor yelled back desperately in explanation. "The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Seren! Just leg it now!"
As the Consciousness continued to roar, she took out her phone and dialed.
"Aunt Jackie?" Seren called into the phone when the line connected.
"Oh, there you are. I was just going to phone. You can get compensation. I said so. I've got this document thing off the police. Don't thank me." Jackie said on the other end, unaware of the danger her god-daughter was in.
"Where are you, Aunt Jackie?"
"I'm in town."
"No, go home!" Seren ordered. "Please, just go home right now!"
"Darling, you're breaking up. Listen, I'm just going to do a bit of late night shopping. I'll see you later. Ta-ra!"
"Aunt Jackie? Aunt Jackie!" Seren called, but didn't get a reply as Jackie had hung up. With a frustrated growl, she dialed another number and impatiently waited for a reply. "Siwan!" she cried out in relief when the line connected. "Where are you?"
"I'm at work." Siwan replied, handing her boss another document that needed to be signed. "Why? What's wrong?"
"How long are you working?"
"I'm here all night. Seren what's going on? You sound absolutely terrified."
"It's nothing." Seren replied, taking a deep breath. "I just wanted to know where you were."
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."
"I love you too."
The two sisters hung up as the roaring Consciousness sent energy bolts flying around, one hitting the ceiling, causing a small explosion.
"It's the activation signal. It's transmitting!" The Doctor cried out in despair, as he struggled against his captors.
"It's the end of the world." Seren breathed, terror in every syllable as Mickey let out a frightened whimper.
The Consciousness let out a roar, getting increasingly agitated.
"Get out, Seren!" The Doctor yelled to the brave brunette, struggling against his captors. "Just get out! Run!"
"The stairs have gone!" Seren yelled back in terror, even as adrenaline pumped through her.
Seren and Mickey ran to the TARDIS as the Autons tried to push the Doctor into the vat.
"We haven't got the key!" Seren moaned as she banged on the TARDIS door.
"We're going to die!" Mickey whimpered, clutching Seren's arm.
The two humans crouched next to the TARDIS, Mickey visibly terrified as Seren looked around for other possibilities, still holding a trembling Mickey close. The Doctor struggled against the Autons that were trying to toss him in to the vat filled with the roaring plastic.
"Time Lord!" The Nestene growled in a low roar.
The Doctor struggled as Seren slowly stood up, Mickey now clinging to her leg.
"Just leave him!" Mickey cried to her. Seren ignored him and looked at the struggling man, who looked back at her. "There's nothing you can do!" Mickey cried out as Seren ran around the chamber.
"I've got my A-levels, but no longer have a job to show for it. A sister to support while she studies in University and works full time. No chance of achieving a dream I had worked so hard for." She growled, lifting an axe and swinging it at a rope that was holding a very long chain to the wall. "But I tell you what I have got... Pan-Olympic Gymnastics Team." When the chain got lose, she took a firm hold of it, wrapping it around her arm to increase her hold. "And what's more, I got the gold."
With a grunt, she ran off the ledge and gracefully swung across the vat. The Doctor shifted slightly so that Seren would swing by the Autons, making them loosen their grip just enough for him to get loose. The Doctor tossed the ones holding him over his shoulder directly into the vat. Seren elegantly swung alongside the cat-walk and kicked the two remaining Autons, one holding the vial, into the vat. As soon as the vial hits the golden Nestene, it screams as it turns blue.
Seren swung back, and let go, landing on the ledge with a graceful pose. The Doctor looked at her in amazement before turning to the screaming Nestene.
"Now were in trouble!" he commented as the two of them ran up towards the TARDIS as a series of explosions rocked the ceiling as the signal stopped transmitting.
Mickey was still crouched next to the TARDIS, holding onto it for dear life as the Doctor took out his key and opened the door. Mickey scrambled in, followed by the Doctor and Seren. As more explosions rocked the chamber, the Doctor piloted the TARDIS and her two human passengers to an Embankment by a row of shuttered kiosks.
As soon as they land, Mickey ran out, terrified and crouched behind a pallet as if attempting to hide behind it. Walking our behind Mickey, Seren took out her phone and dialed her god-mother, who was the one most likely to have encountered the Autons.
"Seren! Seren, don't go out of the house! It's not safe!" Jackie faintly breathed into the phone as soon as she answered, causing Seren to hold back a laugh. "There were these things, and they were shooting! And they…-"
She ended the call and went to Mickey, who looked like he might pass out from shock at any minute.
"Fat lot of good you were!" Seren told him with a slight laugh as he whimpered in response, pointing towards the TARDIS and unable to form a coherent word.
Seren looked to the TARDIS were the Doctor was leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed nonchalantly.
"Nestene Consciousness? Easy!" The Doctor said, snapping his fingers.
"You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me." Seren reminded him.
"Yes, I would." The Doctor agreed. "Thank you."
There was humming at the back of her mind, making her smile.
"Right, then, I'll be off…" The Doctor said as he turned to head inside. "Unless… I don't know…" he shrugged awkwardly. "You could come with me." The two of them looked at each other. "This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."
"Don't." Mickey pleaded with her, seeing the excitement in Seren's eyes as well as the smile on her face as she listened to the Doctor's words. "He's an alien. He's a thing!"
"He's not invited." The Doctor added, nodding his head to a trembling Mickey before looking at her. "What do you think?" Seren let out a breath as the Doctor continued. "You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere."
"Is it always this dangerous?" She asked finally.
"Yes." the Doctor said, nodding excitedly.
Mickey scrambled to his knees and hugged Seren's waist, looking back at the alien. She removed his arms and walked towards the Doctor.
"No, Seren." Mickey pleaded to her back. "You can't go with him. Please don't. You're my best mate. What about Siwan, and Rose and Jackie?"
"One moment, please." Seren said to the Doctor, turning back to a trembling Mickey.
She pulled the taller man into a tight hug before letting go. "Oh, Mickey. I need to go with him, it feels right." She cupped his face in her tiny hands, wiping the tears that fell from his dark eyes. "Remember those stories Siwan and I grew up with? The ones I had told you?" he nodded. "This is my chance to see them for real. And who knows? Maybe I'll be able to tell you some new stories when we return." She reached up on her tip-toes and gave him a gentle Eskimo-kiss, rubbing her nose against his. "You are always by my side, no matter where I am. But right now, I need you to be strong for me, and look after Siwan, Rose and Aunt Jackie. Can you do that for me?"
He nodded tearfully and gave her a tight hug before letting go.
Seren turned, and with a bright smile, ran towards the TARDIS' open doors as Mickey looked on in resignation.
Links:
*Seren 1st outfit - .ca/pin/474566879475981944/
*Seren 2nd outfit - .ca/pin/474566879475865903/
*Siwan outfit - .ca/pin/379076493626129052/
*Siwan hair - .ca/pin/483151866247367808/