Mistressnmoon: So, I'm really sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter out, but I'm use to writing much shorter chapters so it takes me a lot longer to finish a chapter when I start one. Also, my life has been crazy the last month. In short I had a falling out with one of my close friends, and I've had a lot of school work to do. And finals are coming up in a few weeks (one week to exact). So I've been keeping pretty busy. But, since school is ending soon I'm hoping to have more time to write, so hopefully it won't be a full month until I post again.
Also, if there are any error feel free to let me know! I know there's a few mistakes since this has only been checked by me~
One more thing, I wanted to ask if anyone had any idea for what Robin's sonic device should be? I've been thinking it over and I really cannot decide. So if you have any ideas or preferences please let me know in a review, or message me! It'll be greatly appreciated~
Shara Raizel: Thank you! And yeah, I hope to get Robin into the story more, but it might take me a few more chapters to fully get her working with the other characters since I've never really written a Doctor Who fanfic before :\ But I agree, I really want to get her doing more in the story :]
Captain Maximum Storm: Thank you! I'm really glad you liked the ending, I wasn't too sure of it myself ^~^"
Chapter Three
"Knocking? Who the hell knocks on a police call box?" Jack gave me an odd look, before he opened the door saying,
"Who the hell are you?"
"What d'you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?" Sounds rude… I wonder if it's Rose's sorta boyfriend Mickey, because like I said, who the hell would knock on a random police call box?
"Captain Jack Harkness. Whatever you're selling, we're not buying." I gave Rose a mock annoyed look,
"Geez he's rude. I really need to work on that, don't I?" In response she gave me a small smile, I think she's having a harder time warming up to me then she was to Jack. But that's okay; she's warmed up to me a little bit since the time we first met. I chuckled as Jack was pretty much pushed back and a dark skinned man, with his hair shaved close to his skull and dark brown eyes, walked through the door. Jack shut the door while rudely stating,
"Don't tell me, this must be Mickey." The Doctor, who had a red flashing light attached to his head, which made him look extremely dorky, answered with,
"Here comes trouble! How're you doing, Ricky boy?"
"It's Mickey!"
"Don't listen to him, he's winding you up."
"You look fantastic." I gave him a grin, sarcastically telling Jack,
"I should hope she does, with all the running we seem to do around here." The couple seemed to ignore me as they hugged each other while grinning. Jack gave me a grin in response, nodding his head as well, before he stated,
"Aww, sweet, look at these two. How come I never get any of that?"
"Because I know you too well Jack." I winked at him, teasing him about the fact I knew all about the company he normally was around. After all, Jack is the man who can flirt by simply saying hello.
"Have to buy me a drink first."
"You're such hard work Doctor."
"But worth it." I chuckled at the two, earning myself a wink from Jack.
"And Red, that just means you should be more willing."
"Psh, as if!" I stuck my tongue out at Jack, once again teasing him.
"I've told you Red, if you aren't going to use that, you should keep it in your mouth." As usual my face flushed, and my tongue darted back into my mouth. Something tells me that one of these days he's going to actually act on those words, and I'm rather dreading that day. After all, there's a very good reason I'm only friends with Jack.
"Did you manage to find it?" I turned my attention away from Jack, and glanced back at Rose and her sorta boyfriend. He handed her a small blue book, which I recognized as a twenty-first century passport, telling her,
"There you go." Rose grinned at the Doctor, brandishing her passport,
"I can go anywhere now!"
"I told you - you don't NEED a passport!"
"It's all very well going to platform one and Justicia and the Glass Pyramid of San Kloon but what if we end up in Brazil? I might need it. You see, I'm prepared for anything." She then stuck her tongue out at the Doctor, smile on her face. And just as I was about to comment on how Jack wasn't calling Rose out for sticking her tongue out, Mickey simply stated,
"Sounds like your staying, then." And Mickey's statement killed any comment I was planning on making. Instead we all stood in an awkward silence, in which the Doctor stared between Rose and Mickey curiously. I suppose Mickey sensed the awkwardness he created, because he placed a smile on his face, and spoke up again, "So, what're you doing in Cardiff? And who the hell's Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don't mind you hanging out with big-ears up there-"
"Oi!"
"Look in the mirror." I chuckled as the Doctor shook his head, and went back to whatever he was working on. "Or Red over there." Gosh, what's with guys and calling me Red? It seems to be a reoccurring problem. "But this guy, I dunno, he's kinda..." Jack gave a grin while he supplied the word,
"Handsome?"
"More like cheesy."
"Early 21st Century slang - Is cheesy good or bad?" I shook my head at that statement. Really, Jack? You don't spend enough time in the 21st century. It's pretty much my favorite era to relax in. Well this and the 1990's, so many cheesy kids cartoons, so little time…
"It's bad." I nearly gave Mickey a glare for being so rude to Jack, but decided that since he was just being jealous, and since Jack IS Jack, that he didn't deserve to be glared at.
"But bad means good, isn't that right?"
"Jack, stop trying to turn his insult into a compliment." Jack gave me a flat look, not seeming to be amused with me, while the Doctor tottered down the ladder asking,
"Are you saying I'm not handsome?" I hide my smile from the Doctor, because everyone just ignored his question, and I was on the brink of laughter.
"We just stopped off. We need to refuel. Thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running through the middle of the city. It's invisible, but it's like an earthquake fault between different dimensions—"
"The rift was healed back in 1869—"
"Thanks to a girl named Gwyneth, 'cos these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it." I took a glance towards Mickey, only to chuckle at the lost look on his face. He clearly had no clue what so ever about what Rose and the Doctor were talking about, and I don't blame him for that. It's harder to understand these things when you've never time traveled before.
"But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the Human Race-"
"But perfect for the TARDIS, so just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and—"
"Open up the engines," I grinned at Mickey while I finished Jack's statement,
"and soak up the radiation—"
"Like filling her up with petrol and off we go!" I hi-fived the Doctor while Jack and Rose hi-fived, grinning wildly the entire time.
"Into time!" I then turned towards Jack and gave him a hi-five while Rose hi-fived the Doctor. I slapped Jack's hand as hard as I could, and gave him a wink when he gave me a small glare.
"And space!"
"Whoo!" I joined Rose in her cheering; only momentarily, before it turned into chuckling when Mickey asked us,
"My God, have you seen yourselves? You all think you're so clever, don't you?" What a silly question to ask us… we're all such narcissist after all.
"Yeah!"
"Yeah!" I chuckled, Rose and the Doctor having proven my internal point, and I already knew that Jack would say pretty much the same thing.
"Yep!" I gave Mickey a wink, telling him,
"Maybe." As he walked by, Jack gave Mickey, what was supposed to be, a friendly slap on the cheek. I followed Jack towards the doors, and left the TARDIS with everyone else close behind me.
"Should take another twenty-four hours, which means we've got time to kill." Hm, wonder what I'm going to do for the next twenty-four hours… I could go off on my own adventure, but knowing my luck my watch would decide that it was a good time to slip up and send me too far. So I'd better not do that option, I suppose I was best off catching up on sleep or something.
"That old lady's staring."
"Probably wondering what five people could do inside a small wooden box..." Jack wink at me, before patting the Doctor on the shoulder suggestively. Everyone but Mickey sniggered at Jack's actions, Mickey instead asked,
"What are you captain of? The Innuendo Squad?" I laughed at Jack as he made the 'whatever' sign, before he started walking away. "Wait! Er, the TARDIS - we can't just leave it. Doesn't it get noticed?"
"Yeah, what's with the police box? Why does it look like that?"
"I think the better question, Jack, is why not police box?" I winked at him, only a little frightened to be sticking my tongue out at him again. Rose sighed, before telling Mickey,
"It's a cloaking device."
"It's called a chameleon circuit. The TARDIS is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like if this was Ancient Rome, it'd be a statue on a plinth or something. But I landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck."
"So it copied a real thing? There actually was police boxes?"
"Yeah, on street corners. Phone for help before they had radios and mobiles. If they arrested someone, they could shove them inside until help came. Like a little prison cell." Jack leaned towards the Doctor asking him,
"Why don't you just fix the circuit?"
"It would be pretty easy to do Doctor…"
"I like it! Don't you two?"
"I do, though I'm just saying it's an easy fix is all."
"I LOVE it." I glanced over at Rose, wondering if she was being passive aggressive, or was just trying to prove a point.
"But that's what I meant! There's no police boxes anymore, so doesn't it get noticed?" Ah Mickey, you think you've just made a valid argument, but you're giving the human race far too much credit.
"Ricky, let me tell you something about the Human Race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town and what do they do?" The Doctor placed his hands on Mickey's shoulders, and Mickey opened his mouth to answer, only to be cut off by the Doctor. "Walk past it. Now stop your nagging, let's go and explore!" The Doctor let go of Mickey's shoulders and started to walk off, linking his hand with Rose's. And she says Mickey is her boyfriend. I sighed, shaking my head at them.
"Ah, nice to meet you Mickey, I'm Robin." I grinned at him, before I linked arms with both Mickey and Jack. "Now come on boys, we don't want to fall too far behind!"
"What's the plan?"
"I don't know! Cardiff. Early 21st Century." Rose seemed to be hopping up and down in excitement, I'm not sure why though since she's from here… "And the wind's coming from the... East. Trust me - safest place in the universe." I barely held back my snort, as if anywhere with the Doctor or Jack is safe. They get into the strangest situations, most of which end up being life threatening. Not that I'm going to be telling this to Mickey, I don't want to make him worry about Rose more then he already is.
Somehow we had ended up at a restaurant for lunch, I'm not really sure how that happened to be honest, and Jack was telling all of us a story. Granted I had already heard this one before, but it was still ridiculously enjoyable to be sitting at lunch with friends.
"I swear, six feet tall and with TUSKS—"
"You're lying through your teeth!"
"If only he was!"
"I'd've gone bonkers! That's the word - bonkers!"
"I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean TUSKS!And it's woken, and it's not happy-"
"How could you not know it was there?"
"And we're standing there, fifteen of us, NAKED—"
"Naked?"
"And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me! And then it roars, and we are running. Oh my God, we are RUNNING! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say-"
"I knew we should've turned left!" We all roared with laughter as Mickey said the punch line. I'm so glad all the male testosterone is hiding, no it's not gone, and it'll never be fully gone, but I'm okay with it hiding for the time being; makes this outing much more fun.
"That's my line!"
"I don't BELIEVE you, I don't believe a word you say EVER, that is so brilliant!" I glanced around the table, smiling at everyone, before I noticed the Doctor's smile fade away. I followed his line of vision to a local newspaper with a picture of a heaver set woman on the front page, her hand held up to stop her picture from being taken. I blinked in confusion as he stood up, and barely registered what Rose was saying,
"Did you ever get your clothes back?" I could hear Jack prattling on, but I was barely listening anymore. Instead I was focusing on the Doctor, who had walked over to the old man with the paper, and pulled it out of the mans hands. We really needed to work on his manners…
"And I was having such a nice day." The Doctor then held up the paper, frowning, and I saw that the headline said 'New Mayor, New Cardiff', which was the only part I wasn't able to see before. I'm not sure why this was a bad thing, but I could certainly tell that it was indeed bad.
I frowned as we headed up the stairs, and into the large building in front of us. We all stopped at the same time, and glanced around the building to observe it. Jack quickly came up with a battle plan,
"According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit. Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty seven/fifty six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face-to-face, that'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two with Red, Rose, you're Exit Three, Mickey Smith, you take Exit Four. Have you got that?" I gave Jack a smile, knowing that Rose was having a hard time keeping up, and that Mickey had absolutely no clue what Jack was rattling on about.
"Excuse me. Who's in charge?" The Doctor spoke with a stern tone, making Jack respond with,
"Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir."
"Right. Here's the plan." The Doctor paused, and changed his tone from authoritative to cheerful, "Like he said. Nice plan. Anything else?"
"Present arms." We all pulled out our phones, showing them to each other, and at the same time we all stated,
"Ready."
"Speed dial?" All our phones beeped when we hit the button, and I tucked my phone back into my back right jean pocket.
"Yup."
"Ready."
"Check."
"A-OK." Jack gave a lazy grin, telling us,
"See ya in hell." I chuckled at him, following him as he headed off to the right, and the others went in other directions.
"So Jack…" Jack gave me a curious glance, probably wondering what exactly I wanted with him.
"Red?"
"I just wanted to remind you that you still owe me dinner, from the Morse con." I winked at Jack, while giving him an amused grin.
"We haven't done that already?" I shook my head playfully at him, grinning widely.
"Nope! There's no getting out of this Jack."
"Never could fool you, could I?" A chuckle escaped my lips as I nodded my head at him,
"Nope, never."
"Slitheen heading North." The Doctor's voice came through both Jack and my phones, before Rose responded,
"On my way." At the same time both Jack and I stated,
"Over and out." I then followed Jack as we ran towards the North entrance. I rolled my eyes at Jack when he did a running jump over the teacart that was sitting in the hall. I simply went around the cart, muttering under my breath about how much of a show-off Jack is. It wasn't much longer until we busted through a door, and made our way towards Mickey's exit. I grinned as 'Margaret' ran towards Rose, only to stop and take off an earring as she saw her. Apparently she thought she could get away, because she went to run in Jack and my direction, only to stop when she saw us running towards her. The woman then tried to run back in the direction she came from, but the Doctor was making his way down the scaffolding, mockingly calling out,
"Margaret!" She then bolted down the only empty exit, the one where Mickey was suppose to be standing, pulling her second earring off. We all reached the entrance to the exit, and Jack angrily asked,
"Who was on Exit Four?"
"That was Mickey!" As if on cue, Mickey appeared, panting and out of breath.
"Here I am!"
"Mickey the idiot." Without thinking, my arm reached out and lightly hit the Doctor's arm.
"Manners." Though I did agree with the Doctor, Mickey wasn't the brightest crayon in the box; I didn't feel the need to say it in front of Mickey. Or Rose for that matter.
"Oh, be fair - she's not exactly gonna outrun us, is she?" I glanced at the stout woman, and nearly nodded my head in agreement, when she suddenly disappeared in a blue tinged light, paired with a small ting. I let a sigh escape my lips. Naturally it was too good to be true.
"She's got a teleport! That's cheating! Now we're NEVER gonna get her!"
"Nothing is truly impossibly, is it Jack?" Once more I stuck my tongue out at Jack, before he started.
"Must I remind you again?" And with that my tongue was once again back in my mouth. I was grateful when Rose took the attention off of myself,
"Oh, the Doctor's very good with teleports." I glanced over towards the Doctor, seeing him hold up his sonic screwdriver, and clicked it with a dopey grin on his face. Right after clicking the button, Margaret reappeared, much closer to where we were standing, and still running straight at us. I grinned as I saw her self-satisfied smile disappear as she saw where she was, and where she was running. After grinding to a stop, she changed directions again, and teleported away again. Once more the Doctor clicked the button on his sonic screwdriver, making the woman appear once more. She then tried to run and teleport away again. The two repeated this a ridiculous amount of times, until Margaret was right in front of us, gasping for breath with a look of pure exhaustion on her face.
"I could do this all day."
"This is persecution. Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?"
"You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet."
"Apart from that."
We had followed Margaret into her office, all of us curious as to what she's planning.
"So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family get killed but you teleport out, just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station." The Doctor then gestured towards model in the center of the room, which both Rose and Jack were closely observing. "But what for?"
"A philanthropic gesture. I've learnt the error of my ways." I raised an eyebrow at the woman, my doubt showing on my face. It seems the Doctor shared my doubt, because he asked Margaret,
"And it just so happens to be right on top of the rift."
"What rift would that be?" I decided to speak up, and mentioned,
"A rift in space and time." Jack continued, but he seemed to be much more enthusiastic then I was,
"If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would go schwwwupboom!" The Doctor looked down at the model on the table while he told all of us,
"This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity."
"Didn't anyone notice? Isn't there someone in London CHECKING this sort of stuff?" I rolled my eyes at Rose's statement, and muttered under my breath,
"She probably killed them…"
"We're in CARDIFF. London doesn't care! The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice- oh... I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I've gone native." Once more I rolled my eyes at the woman, not really believing anything that she was telling us.
"But why would she DO that? A great big explosion - she'd only end up killing herself."
"She probably has some type a plan."
"She's got a name, you know." Mickey gave Margaret an annoyed look, responding with an annoyed,
"She's not even a she, she's a... thing." I watched as the Doctor eyed Margaret, telling Mickey,
"Oh, but she's clever..." I blinked in surprise as the Doctor suddenly pried the middle piece up, and flipped it over revealing a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator. "Fantastic."
"I told you she had a plan."
"Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?" Jack's excited tone made me blink, and give him a dry look. Of course he would be excited by something like this, at a time like this.
"Couldn't have put it better myself." Jack grabbed the tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator from the Doctor, grinning in excitement,
"Ooh, GENIUS! You didn't build this." I gave a glance towards Margaret, silently agreeing with Jack in my head; it didn't seem very likely that she could have built this, but there's always the very slight chance that I could be wrong.
"I have my hobbies. A little tinkering..."
"No, no, no, I mean, you REALLY didn't build this. Way beyond you."
"I bet she stole it." I must say, for once I completely agree with Mickey, because she certainly doesn't seem the type to have bought this technology, after all it can be expensive depending on when and where you go. And she doesn't have the option of when.
"It fell into my hands."
"Meaning she stole it."
"Okay, but is it a weapon?" I rolled my eyes at Rose, keeping the thought that if it were a weapon we'd be a little more worried to myself. Jack, who was still grinning, placed the extrapolator on the floor and explained what exactly it was to Rose and Mickey,
"It's transport. You see - the reactor blows, the rift opens, phenomenal cosmic disaster, but THISthing shrouds you in a force field, you have this energy bubble, zzhum, so you're safe. Then you feed it coordinates, stand on top, and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system."
"It's a surfboard!"
"A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah."
"And it would've worked. I would've surfed away from this dead-end dump and back to civilisation." A scoffing noise escaped my throat, what reason did she have to sound so bitter? She's the one that was willing to blow up a planet to get to another planet.
"You'd blow up a whole planet just to get a lift?"
"Like stepping on an anthill." I opened my mouth, ready to tell her how horrible that plan was, it's not like she'd get away with killing an entire planet; after all I'm pretty sure there's laws against that, but the Doctor spoke before any words could escape my mouth,
"How'd you think of the name?" I blinked, surprised that the Doctor was more concerned with the name that Margaret had chosen for her 'project', Blaidd Drwg, then the fact that she was planning to blow up the Earth.
"What, Blaidd Drwg? It's Welsh."
"I know, but how did you think of it?"
"Chose it at random, that's all I dunno. Just sounded good. Does it matter?" I watched the Doctor as he turned around, with his eye brows furrowed, wondering what exactly could be so important about two little words.
"Blaidd Drwg."
"What's it mean?"
"Bad Wolf."
"But I've heard that before, Bad Wolf. I've heard that lots of times..." I gave Rose a worried glance, she sounded almost haunted by those two words. I bit my lip, wondering if there was anything I could say to help, when the Doctor continued speaking,
"Everywhere we go. Two words. Following us. Bad Wolf."
"How can they be following us?"
"Nah! Just a coincidence! Like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Never mind! Things to do." Coincidence? I highly doubt that, the last time I tried to make that excuse it nearly killed me. So I highly doubt it's a coincidence, nothing is ever a coincidence when you're a time traveler. But this was a topic to discuss with the Doctor another time, right no we needed to deal with Margaret. "Margaret, we're gonna take you home."
"Hold on, isn't that the easy option, like letting her go?" Not if you're a criminal, after all Raxacoricofallapatorius had to have some type of punishment for her.
"I don't believe it! We actually get to go to Raxa..." I smiled at Rose's glee, she seems so happy to be traveling with the Doctor. The Doctor had a different reaction then me, he simply rolled his eyes at Rose. It seems that Rose wasn't happy with his reaction, because she told the Doctor, "Wait a minute! Raxacor..."
"Raxacoricofallapatorius."
"Raxacorico..."
"... fallapatorius."
"Raxacoricofallapatorius!" Rose released a screech of delight, due to the fact that she finally pronounced it correctly, while the Doctor joyfully told her,
"That's it!" They threw their arms around each other, and the Doctor spun Rose around in a circle.
"I did it!"
"They have the death penalty." With Margaret's words the room fell silence, and all of our smiles fell from our faces. Well that certainly killed the mood. "The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty. With no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed. What do you make of that, Doctor?" I glanced between the two, noticing that Margaret was holding the Doctor's cold stare as she continued to speak, "Take me home and you take me to my death."
"Not my problem." I continued to frown, it wasn't exactly fair for the government to have tried her when she wasn't there, but the truth of the matter is that she had committed the crimes she was accused of, and she would have to take responsibility for her actions.
By the time we had brought Margaret back to the TARDIS it was dark out, and I was past ready for a nap. Even though I was ridiculously tired, I still found amusement when Margaret said,
"This ship is IMPOSSIBLE!It's do you get the outside around the inside?"
"Like I'd give YOU the secret, yeah."
"I almost feel better about being defeated. We never stood a chance. This is the technology of the Gods."
"Don't worship me - I'd make a very bad God. You wouldn't get a day off, for starters... Jack, how we doing, big fella?" I glanced down at Jack, who was on the floor next to the console, wiring the extrapolator up to the TARDIS. I had offered to help him, but he had refused by telling me that he could easily do it on his own.
"This extrapolator's top of the range." I nodded my head in agreement, I don't think I've ever seen one this nice; not that I had seen too many extrapolator in my life time. "Where did you get it?"
"Oh, I don't know... some airlock sale...?"
"Meaning she got it from some type of heist." Jack raised an eyebrow at me, before he responded to my comment,
"Must've been a great big heist. It's stacked with power."
"But we can use it for fuel?"
"It's not compatible... but it should knock off about twelve hours. We'll be ready to go by morning."
"Then we're stuck here. Overnight."
"I'Min no hurry..." I rolled my eyes at her; of course she wasn't in any hurry to go back to her planet, there wasn't any reason to remind us of that fact.
"We've got a prisoner! The police box is really... a police box." Once again I rolled my eyes, this time at Rose. I suppose I can see how this is exciting to her, but from my view point it just means that we need to keep an eye on her for even longer, and the longer we had to keep an eye on her the longer she would try to escape, and try to convince us to let her go.
"You're not just police, though. Since you're taking me to my death, that makes youmy executioners. Each and every one of you..."
"Well, you deserve it."
"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 didn't have a response, so I muttered out,
"Because we didn't just try to blow up an entire planet." But it seems that nobody heard me, or they just ignored me, because Margaret suddenly said,
"Long night ahead..." We all eyed Margaret as she took her time walking around the console to sit elegantly in one of the seats.
"Let's see who can look me in the eye." I kept my eyes on Margaret, as she fixed Mickey with a calm and collected gaze. Although Mickey was the most adamant that Margaret is evil, he only managed to hold Margaret's stare for a few seconds before he averted his eyes from Margaret in an uncomfortable manner. Margaret then shifted her stare towards Rose, who gave a guilty glance towards the Doctor. And as if the Doctor could feel the stare on him, he glanced up from whatever he was working on, before going back to his work. She skipped over Jack, who was down on the floor working with the extrapolator, onto me. I held her gaze for a few moments, breaking away from her gaze when I heard Mickey moving towards the door. I followed his movements silently with my eyes as he walked out the doors of the TARDIS. It took a few moments, but Rose soon followed Mickey out of the TARDIS, I guess to go talk with him. The Doctor was sitting in front of one of the scanners, I assume he was watching Mickey and Rose since he wasn't really the type to watch television. I guess that Jack had noticed the Doctor watching the screen, because he asked the Doctor,
"So, what's on?" I bit back my laughter as the Doctor jerked his head back, and quickly turned off the screen. He was definitely watching Rose and Mickey.
"Nothing, just..."
"I gather it's not always like this... having to wait." She paused, as if she was considering something."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?" I rolled my eyes at her, not for the first time, as I thought about what she said. It's not the Doctor's fault that they were trying to commit genocide for the planet, if he hadn't caused their death then someone else would have.
"I didn't butcher them."
"Don't answer back. That's what she wants."
"Just let them argue Jack, it's not like she's going to win anything by arguing with him."
"He still shouldn't answer her."
"I didn't butcher them!" I gave the Doctor a slightly sympathetic look, knowing that he needed, and wanted, Jack to understand that he didn't butcher anyone. "What about you? You had an emergency teleport, you didn't zap them to safety, did you?"
"It only carries one. I had to fly without coordinates. I ended up on a skip in the Isle of Dogs." I glanced at the Doctor and Jack as they snickered, briefly wondering why Margaret was the only one who had a teleport on her at the time, but quickly let that thought go since it's not very important at the time.
"It wasn't funny!"
"Sorry." There was barely a pause as Margaret turned her back towards us, "It is a BIT funny!" The two boys started laughing again, and shortly after Margaret and myself joined in. It seems that joking with us had relaxed Margaret some because she asked,
"Do I get a last request?" Her request made the Doctor become serious once again as he stated,
"Depends what it is."
"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. It became quite a favourite of mine." I watched the Doctor with his eyes as he walked closer towards Margaret, and leaned over the railing so that he could talk to her properly,
"Is that what you want? A last meal?"
"Don't I haverights?" I rolled my eyes at her, and at the same time Jack and I stated,
"Oh, like she's not gonna try to escape."
"Except I can never escape the Doctor, so where's the danger?" I noticed the bitter tone in her voice as she responded to us, clearly trying to convince us to let her go out to dinner. "But I wonder if you coulddo it? To sit with a creature you're about to kill and take supper. How strong is your stomach?"
"Strong enough."
"I wonder. I've seen you fight your enemies... now dine with them."
"You won't change my mind."
"Prove it." For a moment the Doctor looked really tempted to accept her offer, but he suddenly turned around to walk away. I gave Jack a glance, seeing the grin on his face. He flashed electric handcuff, the very ones I had given him as a joke a long time ago.
"There are people out there. If you slip away just for one second, they'll be in danger."
"Except... we've got these." I gave the two in front of Jack and I a grin, both Jack and I holding up one the metallic bangle like hoops.
"You both wear one. If she moves... more than ten feet away..." I chuckled as Jack made a large buzzing noise, mimicking an electric shock; the noise he made caused Margaret to jump in shock. And the moment Jack finished making his noise, I told the Doctor and Margaret,
"She gets zapped by ten thousand volts."
"Margaret, would you like to come out to dinner? My treat?"
"Dinner in bondage... works for me." I gave Jack a grin, both of us moving closer to the Doctor so that we could give him the cuffs. Grinning at Margaret, he put on one of the bracelets, and handed the other one to Margaret; who gave a fake grin in response and tensely put the other bracelet on her arm. I chuckled as the Doctor offered his arm to Margaret, who grudgingly accepted it. As the two were about to step through the door, I shouted out,
"Have fun you two! And don't stay out too late!" I winked at them as they shut the door, and I suppose started to walk toward the restaurant. I turned back to Jack, still smiling, seeing him shake his head at me. I watched him walk back towards the console, and lay down to start wiring the extrapolator in. "Are you sure you don't want any help with that Jack?"
"Nah, you'd probably cause something to explode Red." I could feel my face flush, remembering the first time I had wired anything with Jack. Let's just say that it didn't end well.
"It was one time Jack! And I had never seen that type of wiring before!" I could hear Jack laughing at me, and pouted a little. It really wasn't my fault, he just assumed that I'd be able to wire the gun correctly, so in a way it was totally his fault! Still pouting, not that Jack could see it, I responded, "It was your fault anyways…"
"Sure it was Red." I could just picture him rolling his eyes at me, and he probably was.
"Well since you don't want my help, I'm going to go get something to eat, want anything? It's my treat."
"Sure Red, just don't take too long." I gave a grin, once again it really didn't matter since Jack couldn't see my face.
"I won't be!" Smile still in place, I made my way out of the TARDIS. After walking for a few minutes, I suddenly found myself on the ground, staring up at the sky. I shook my head, before raising my eyes to stare up at the person who had knocked me down to the ground. The first thing I noticed was her long black hair, and her bangs that fell across her forehead nearly reaching her bright blue eye. Then I noticed that she was wearing a pair of brown hiking boots, black skinny jeans, and tight black leather jacket.
"Sorry, but I was calling your name. You didn't seem to hear me, so I figured this was the next best way to get your attention." Instantly my eyes narrowed at the woman, and I quickly stood up. I wasn't sure if I liked the fact that she knew my name, while I had absolutely no clue who she was. Just because I was a time traveler, and sometime met people out of order, didn't mean that I was instantly going to trust any person that knew my name.
"And you are?"
"Electra. Clearly you don't know me, but I know you. Quite well in fact."
"And why exactly are you talking to me know, if I don't know you, rather then a future me that actually knows you?" The small smile on her face grew even larger, as if she knew some secret that I didn't. And it was probably true too.
"Because it wouldn't do me any good to talk to the you that knows who I am. Besides, I needed to give you something." I watched her carefully as she pulled out a small envelope, one that was rather fat.
"This isn't a bomb or something that's going to kill me, is it?" Chuckling at my question, she shook her head.
"It's just a cell phone. You're going to loose yours sometime in the future, and you're going to need a new one as soon as you do."
"And tell me again how you know this?"
"You told me about it, and it's not like you could come give it to yourself, after all that would probably cause a paradox." I finally gave in, and shoved the phone along with the envelope into my back pocket. "Oh, and when you get a call, you had better listen to them. Your life could depend on it." I gave the woman a curious look, wondering just what the hell she was talking about. "Don't think about it too much. Just remember that you shouldn't ignore any call you get on that phone." I stared at her for a few minutes, wondering if it was a good idea to listen to her or not, before deciding that I could worry about this later, after we got Margaret back to Raxacoricofallapatorius.
"Okay, fine. I'll answer any call I get. But I'm throwing it out if I don't loose my phone." She gave me a small shrug while telling me,
"Sounds fair enough to me. I'll be seeing you later Robin." I watched her walk off, waiting until she was well out of my sight to start looking for food again. That had just been such a strange experience; usually I'm the one who knows people that don't know me, not the other way around. Sighing, I decided to just focus on getting food and to talk to Jack about this when I got back. So after finally finding a good place to get food, I made my way back to the TARDIS. Only to see, once I stepped into it, that there were sparking everywhere. I quickly rushed over to the console, and Jack, making sure to ditched the food off to the side where it wouldn't be in the way.
"What the hell did you do while I was gone Jack?" I helped Jack rip out the wires connecting the extrapolator to the TARDIS as quickly as possible, hoping that it might make a difference.
"I didn't do anything!" A small shriek escaped my lips as the ship started to shudder, and the lights started blinking. I opened my mouth with a response on the tip of my tongue, when the Doctor and Margaret suddenly busted into the TARDIS.
"What the hell are you two doing?"
"I don't know!"
"It just went crazy!" As the Doctor ran towards the console, I took a few steps back, wanting to keep my eye on Margaret during all this chaos.
"It's the rift! Time and space are ripping apart. The whole city's gonna disappear!" I jumped as there was a small explosion from the console, making me wonder what the hell was going on with the TARDIS. I bit my lip, wanting to help Jack and the Doctor work on fixing the TARDIS, but I'm pretty sure I'd be in the way more then I would be helping. I might be okay with wiring, but I'm terrified to mess up and harm the TARDIS anymore then it already was.
"It's the extrapolator! I've disconnected it but it's still feeding off the engine! It's USINGthe TARDIS - I can't stop it!" I gave a small glance in Margaret's direction, wondering id she had anything to do with the extrapolator's strange behavior.
"Never mind Cardiff - it's gonna rip open the planet!" I glanced towards the door as Rose entered the TARDIS, before quickly turning my gaze back towards Margaret.
"What is it? What's happening?"
"Oh, just little ME!" I quickly tried to move, and push Rose out of the way, once I saw that Margaret had freed one of her hands from the human suit she was using; but my plan backfired as she hit me back, making me hit my head against the wall of the TARDIS. I watched Margaret grab onto Rose's neck, with my head pounding from the hit on the wall. I frowned, while I forced my body to stand up.
"One wrong move and she snaps like a promise."
"I might've known." I watched from my spot against the wall as Margaret moved closer to the Doctor and Jack, Rose still in her grip.
"I've had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it. You - fly boy - put the extrapolator at my feet." I noticed that Jack was hesitant over throwing the extrapolator to Margaret, something that caused her to increase her grip on Rose's neck. Jack gave the Doctor a look, wanting the Doctor's opinion, and the Doctor nodded his head. Once he had the Doctor's approval, Jack threw the extrapolator. I then moved closer to where the Doctor and Jack were standing, my head still pounding as I moved closer.
"Thank you. Just as I planned."
"I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station." I frowned, not liking how forced Rose's voice was sounding.
"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 pulled on Rose's hair roughly, making her whimper.
"Don't you dare hurt her Margaret." I watched as she rolled her eyes at me, and continued speaking as if I hadn't even said anything.
"To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift." She paused for a brief moment to look around the TARDIS in awe. "And what a power source it found... I'm back on schedule... thanks to you."
"The rift's gonna convulse - she'll destroy the whole planet."
"And you with it!" Margaret kept her grip on Rose's neck, but pushed her to the side so that she could stand on the extrapolator. "While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back... surf's up." I blinked in confusion as the panel of the console directly in front of Margaret suddenly busted open, with a blinding light coming out of it. A blinding light that made my headache feel worse. Due to the light hurting my head, I snapped my eyes shut, content to just listen to the conversation if it would make my head feel better.
"Of course, opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart."
"So sue me."
"It's not just any old power source. It's the TARDIS. My TARDIS. The best ship in the universe." I sure hope that means that we're all getting out of this alive.
"It'll make wonderful scrap."
"What's that light?"
"The heart of the TARDIS. This ship's alive. You've opened its soul." With that comment my eyes flew open in shock, not caring very much that the light was hurting my head. I heard Margaret's breathing pick up as she stared into the light, her facial expression becoming one of bliss.
"It's ... so bright..."
"Look at it, Margaret..."
"... Beautiful..."
"Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light." I glanced back at the light, noticing that my head wasn't bothering me nearly as much as it had been when the light first appear. Knowing that I would be able to look closer at Margaret now, I did. And I saw that she was transfixed by the light, by the TARDIS's soul. While she was staring at the light, her grip on Rose loosened, and Rose stumbled away from Margaret and closer to Jack and I. We helped her steady her feet, even while I kept watching Margaret; who was still staring at the light with a blissful smile on her face. It shocked me a little when she suddenly looked up at the Doctor and said,
"Thank you ..." I watched in confusion as she was engulfed by the light. I quickly became even more confused when the light disappeared, due to the fact that all that seemed to be left of her was her body suit. I watched the Doctor dart around the TARDIS's console, telling us,
"Don't look - stay there - close your eyes!" Rather then listening to him, I kept my eyes firmly on him as he slammed down a few levers that made the console close and block out the light. "Now, Jack and Robin, come on - shut it all down. Shut down!" Jack and I quickly rushed over to the console, getting started on turning everything off. "Rose, that panel over there - turn all the switches to the right." We all worked light crazy for a few minutes, while the console occasionally exploded with sparks, and eventually the shaking in the TARDIS lessened, and everything seemed to go back to normal. "Nicely done. Thank you, all."
"What happened to Margaret?"
"Must've got burnt up. Carried out her own death sentence."
"I don't think the TARDIS would kill her…" The Doctor nodded his head in, what I assume to be, agreement.
"I don't think she's dead."
"Then, where'd she go?"
"She looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and even Idon'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..." I watched the Doctor kneel down next to the skin suit for a closer look, and the rest of us followed suit; which lead to all of us huddled around Margaret's human suit. The Doctor then reached inside the human suit, and pulled out an egg.
"Here she is!"
"She's an egg?"
"That's how Raxacoricofallapatorian are born."
"Regressed to her childhood."
"She's an egg?" I gave Jack a glance, raising one of my eyebrows at him; hadn't I just explained that?
"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!"
"Or she might be worse."
"That's her choice."
"She's an egg."
"She's an egg."
"Oh, my God. Mickey—" I watched Rose dart out of the TARDIS, a small frown on my face. I doubt he'll be wherever Rose left him, unless she had a chance to explain, and I highly doubt that happened. I stared at the door for a few more seconds, before shrugging and deciding that it really wasn't my issue.
"I'm going to go heat up my food." The two gave me a small nod as I went to grab my food so that I could go heat it up. I made my way towards the kitchen, only getting lost once, before I microwaved my food. Once I had heated my food, I went back to the console room, nibbling on my fries.
"We're all powered up. We can leave. Opening the rift filled us up with energy - we can go. If that's all right..." For a moment I thought the Doctor was talking to me, before I saw that Rose was back, tearstains on her face.
"Yeah, fine."
"How's Mickey?"
"He's okay. He's gone."
"D'you wanna go and find him? We'll wait..." I noticed the look that Jack and the Doctor share, clearly not sure what to say.
"No need. He deserves better." I gave the girl a frown, and finally made my way into the console room.
"Ready for another adventure Rose?" She gave me a small smile, nodding her head.
"Off we go, then. Always moving on..."
"Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorius. Now, you don't often get to say that." I gave a glance up, noticing that Jack and the Doctor had balanced the egg on top of the console.
"We'll just stop by and pop her in the hatchery. Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again! A second chance."
"That'd be nice ..." I gave Rose a soft frown, wanting to tell her that everything would be okay, but instead I listened to the sound of the engine as the TARDIS faded away.
