Expect the Unexpected

by Arctic Vulpix

The animatronics are going to have to learn quickly with the new night guard. Ruby is unpredictable and prides herself on it. How are the 'bots going to react to the girl who refuses to die at their hands but also refuses to hate them?

184. A Whovian Halloween

Author's Note: We intended to write a nice short one-shot for Halloween and since it's almost Christmas now, and it's definitely no longer short by any definition of the word, you can probably tell that it got out of control lol.

This chapter is technically canon but isn't necessary to understand the rest of EtU's plot so if you really don't like Doctor Who, then don't read further. If you don't know Doctor Who, it's still just a fun ride. For our fellow Whovians, buckle up. This is gonna be fun.

This is our self-indulgent Christmas present to ourselves since the story is going to start getting darker with Sister Location on the horizon. So enjoy this bit of lighthearted fun just before Christmas.

Corona Pax: Some of the writing here is very silly. We went off the rails and had fun with this lol. Speaking of 'darker' I have updated the "Things Go to Shit" scale on the discord server to include story points we've added since the last time I made it.

Hope you all enjoy this fun crossover and have a merry Christmas!

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A Whovian Halloween

The manager wanted a haunted house on Halloween. Everyone else thought it was a terrible idea, but for once he was sticking to his guns. He wanted a grand opening of Fazbear's Fright and since Spring was technically repaired (bar a few squeaky joints and the inconvenience of snapping ribs if Spring moved too fast), he wanted it on Halloween.

The bots were even less keen on the idea when he revealed that he wanted to capitalise on the urban legends. Something stupid about using rumours to their benefit.

Ruby had pinned him to a wall with Betty by his throat and sweetly told him that she was in charge of the Halloween decorating. Hedy was in charge of the rest of the event.

Wisely, the manager shut up and agreed.

The day staff could volunteer if they wanted and despite all of them being nervous, most of them did. Apparently they were curious about what happened during the night shift. Hedy didn't think that they'd believe her if she told them that most nights they watched movies and played card games.

The other nights there were massive paintball fights or high stakes hide and seek matches.

Very little spooky scary urban legend stuff happened now.

Anyway, all of that culminated in Hedy being a bit wary as she pulled up to the pizzeria a couple of hours early on Halloween night. Ruby had refused to tell her what she was doing for decorations, but that manic sparkle in her eyes that never ended well was present so… concerning.

Studying the place from the outside, it looked surprisingly normal. Still lit up as everyone prepared for the night, but there were no...questionable things hung around the building. Hopefully the teen remembered that the haunted house was for anyone over thirteen and the front and main room was for younger trick or treaters and wouldn't go overboard.

She wasn't super keen on interacting with children, but she wasn't sure if the party Alex, Sarah, and Rena invited her and Mike too would be much better. Too many people she had to play a part around in either case. She ached for a chance to interact with her other friends, but she had already promised the Day Staff coming that night that she wouldn't leave them alone with Ruby. Not that her friends were very happy about it. Rena and Sarah were used to Hedy cancelling plans with them given how they lived together, but Alex and a few of the others had more vocal complaints. Alex did a whole speech about how she was starting a new job soon and they wouldn't be able to see each other and hang out much afterwards.

Hedy had to sate her with a promise to let Alex drag her to a Christmas party.

She shoved down the guilty little voice calling out the excuse. Whatever. She could deal with holding the pieces of her "normal" life together another night.

Nothing could have prepared Hedy for what she saw when she entered though. Nothing.

"What do you think?" Ruby asked from where she was positioning a mannequin in the middle of the room. The teen was wearing a brown trench coat over a brown, pin-striped suit. There was a long scarf wrapped around her neck and a fez balanced on her head. "I even got some angel statues AND replicas of Daleks and Cybermen."

Hedy stared at the scene, mouth agape, for a moment before she smirked. "Holy shit, Ruby. This looks great. I didn't know you liked Doctor Who."

Ruby bounced over excitedly. "Like Doctor Who? I love it! It's one of my favourite shows. I am a proud Whovian." She did a twirl to show off her costume. It was more heavily focused on the tenth doctor, but there were elements from the fourth and eleventh too. "Wacky adventures, dark stories and characters, great humour. What's not to like?" She suddenly narrowed her eyes at Hedy. "Who's your favourite Doctor?"

"What kind of question is that?" Hedy asked, mildly insulted as she squinted back at Ruby. "I will say that I think the writing for Eleven was the best."

"Well yeah. I adored Ten but the constant falling in love with him was annoying. Eleven was a hell of a lot of fun. And River. Such a great character." She sighed. "Favourite companion?" She was back to moving the mannequin's arms but Hedy knew she was listening. These were important questions for Whovians.

What a couple of nerds.

"Amy and Rory, but that doesn't mean I don't like some of the others," Hedy said, still appraising the decor and Ruby's costume. "Even Rose was okay, though she wasn't my favourite. I love Donna."

"Donna was the best!" It was a little weird to have Ruby gushing over something that wasn't explosive or a fox. "I cried when she had to leave."

"Me too, that was so unfair!" Hedy agreed.

"Speaking of unfair," Ruby said, squinting at Hedy. "Where the heck is your costume?"

"This is my costume," Hedy said, plucking at her graphic t-shirt which read "If the Broom Fits, Ride it" with a cartoon witch and black cat.

"That's not a costume!" Ruby said, incredibly offended. She touched her fez and considered forcing Hedy to wear it. Better than nothing.

She didn't get a chance to wrestle the hat onto her mechanic though.

"Uh...is this a bad time?" Jerry asked from the doorway, cautiously staying outside. It was technically after hours and he wasn't sure if there were "rules" he had to follow. This whole thing was going to be a night shift wasn't it?

The two blinked out of their discussion and looked over at the door.

"Oh, no it's fine. Just don't move the decorations. And if you see an angel don't blink," Ruby chirped.

Jerry eyed the statues. He looked at Hedy. "Should I be worried?"

Hedy smiled. "Just don't disrespect Doctor Who. Welcome to almost-Night Shift, Jerry. Did Henry decide to come?"

That question was answered when Henry shuffled through the door, grumbling.

"No costume?" Ruby asked with all the judgement in the world and he just glared at her. "Great, you and Hedy can be the Party Pooper Pair."

Hedy huffed and rolled her eyes while Henry grimaced.

"Oh! We stopped by the store and got more candy for the kids," Jerry said, brightly holding up a bag. He was dressed up as a wizard

"I can't believe the stores aren't already sold out," Hedy said. She had bought candy for this event weeks ago. "It's literally Halloween night."

"Last minute is kinda my style," Jerry said. He looked up at the decor. "I like it. I didn't take you for a Whovian, Ruby."

Henry rolled his eyes. "Hedy? Less of a surprise."

"Careful. You're on our turf tonight," Hedy joked, pleased the two guys were familiar with the show as well.

Ruby's smile was a little more manic than usual.

"I have so many ideas for tonight."

Not ominous at all...

"As long as none of my stuff gets broken and we don't get sued, fine," Hedy said, essentially giving Ruby free rein tonight. "I want to work on a couple repairs before kids start arriving and you go all out though."

Ruby practically squealed before running off with a yell of "Allon-sy!"

Well, it looked like it would be an interesting night at least.

Hedy sighed, and the guys wondered just how much crazier Ruby got during night shift and how that balanced with how used to her Hedy was by now.

The mechanic eyed them. "Just hang around and keep an eye on kids when they show up. You know, normal day stuff just without the food serving."

"Frank said that he was planning on coming to make caramel apples in the kitchen," Jerry remembered.

"Oh that's cool," Hedy said, making a mental note to keep Ruby far away from the kitchen.

"Hedy, a word?" Puppet called, startling the two men as he appeared in the doorway out to the hall and the rest of the building.

Hedy left the two men with a short wave and followed Puppet out into the hall.

"What is it, Mari?"

"I don't like this."

"You don't like a lot of things, Mari."

"That's besides the point. This entire idea is ridiculous. We don't need to have people inside at night."

"You plan on trying to kill any adults during shift?" Hedy deadpanned with a raised eyebrow.

"No."

"Then I think we'll be fine."

"I am not concerned about any non-existent murderous tendencies on myself and the other animatronics' parts. Both you and the Night Guard's lack of concern regarding Michael and the children disturbs me."

"And what exactly can they do?"

"Show themselves."

"You'd be surprised what humans can rationalise for themselves," Hedy said. "They know it's Halloween and that Ruby is involved. So therefore, anything that happens falls under 'Ruby did it'."

"That's highly irrational and risky anyway," Puppet retorted.

"Mari...what are you?"

"An animatronic?"

"An animatronic that's alive. That's pretty irrational."

"I don't deny it."

"What is Ruby?"

"A nuisance."

Hedy rolled her eyes. "Besides that."

Puppet squinted at her and refused to speak, knowing she had trapped him.

"Say it," Hedy demanded.

Puppet growled at her a little and huffed. "Highly irrational and risky."

"Something like that. Look, Puppet, I'm not worried about Michael tonight. That counts for something doesn't it?"

He still looked dubious about the entire thing.

"Goldy said that she's going to haunt Fazbear's Fright tonight," he warned.

She probably wanted to keep an eye on Spring.

Hedy blinked before she cracked a smile of realisation. "That's great, Mari. She can interact with kids. She can show herself."

"It could be dangerous," he argued but it was half-hearted.

They all knew how much Goldy missed interacting with the kids.

"For Goldy?" Hedy asked cautiously. "For everyone? How exactly?"

Puppet looked like he was trying to find the right words. "Do you really think that humans can rationalise a floating bear suit teleporting around?" he finally settled on.

"I think..." Hedy said. She got that distant look that seemed like she was talking to someone else in her own head. "I think the building affects people's perception of normal."

She could tell that he still wasn't satisfied by that answer but they were interrupted by a group of the employees walking in.

"Hey Hedy? What's with the creepy statues and how is Ruby making them move?" Andrew asked.

Both Hedy and Puppet looked confused.

"The angel ones?" Hedy guessed. She didn't put it past Ruby to have a system for that. Maybe they were like mannequins and could be posed when someone wasn't looking. "I don't know. I'll ask Ruby but she might not even tell me."

"Well could you ask her to tone it down a bit? We're not even open and one of them just about gave me a heart attack," Andrew was shaking a little.

"Yeah," Jess said, clearly a little freaked and confused over how Ruby was pulling it off. "Call us wimps, but geez."

Hedy snorted a little but nodded sympathetically. "Are you serious? That bad. Well, I'll see. Which one was it?"

Frank shrugged. "One of the weeping angels. Creepy things. Where the hell did Ruby even get them?"

"I'm sure it's just..." Hedy trailed off and looked up at the ceiling, startled. She froze and dug her fingers into her arm rest as something pressed into the front of her mind. "...the fuck...?" She murmured.

She shook herself as Puppet and the employees stared at her.

"Uh...I'll ask." She smiled at the group and Puppet was immediately suspicious.

They shrugged off the odd moment and went back to work.

Puppet stood and stared silently at her, waiting.

"I don't know," Hedy answered Puppet's unasked question. "Something's weird."

"Dangerous weird?" Puppet asked, crossing his arms and staring. "I know that look of yours."

Hedy stared back at him and Puppet couldn't even find any amusement in her eyes. Whatever spooked her didn't have to do with Ruby. She looked genuinely worried.

"Is it the ghosts?" Puppet asked.

Hedy immediately shook her head, now confused. "Something else. I don't know. I...I need to see that statue. I think the craziness of my life and Halloween is getting to me. Or the building decided to play its own version of a prank."

He shifted uncomfortably at the idea of the building pulling a prank.

Ruby would know the location of everything she set up. She always remembered every prank and trap.

"Come on," Hedy said, gesturing for him to follow. "We need to either find Ruby or check out that statue." She grimaced. "I might be overreacting. Am I overreacting, Mari?"

"You're certainly acting strange," Puppet said, walking beside her. "But I'm not keen on ignoring it when you sense something is off here."

They lapsed into silence until they finally ran into Ruby. The teen was bouncing around the room with a pretty accurate looking replica of a sonic screwdriver, waving it at things.

"Ruby," Hedy called, not the keenest about being super close to the excitable night guard. "I need to ask you something."

The teen turned to face them, throwing a mild glare at Puppet out of sheer habit.

"Yeah?"

"How far did you go with the weeping angels? We don't want to freak out the kids too much, you know? Jess looked a little freaked and you know how not a lot scares her," Hedy said, "Andrew was shaking and yeah yeah I know that's not saying much, but still."

Now Ruby fully turned to her, a frown on her face. "What are you talking about? Sure they can look a bit creepy, especially if you're a fan of Doctor Who, but I didn't set up anything special. They're just there to look creepy."

Hedy's confusion clouded her head even as that sinking feeling she suspected was from the building burrowed into the pit of her stomach.

"So they aren't supposed to actually move?" she asked, her tone quieter now.

Ruby's frown grew. "Of course they don't move. I'm not looking to traumatise kids Hedy. It's just spooky."

Hedy just stared at her.

"Perhaps the day shift was pulling their own Halloween prank," Puppet said in irony of him being rational wasn't lost.

"Maybe," Hedy said, rolling her eyes slightly. "I just..." she cut off as her eyes shifted behind Ruby and she suddenly grabbed Puppet's thin arm. "Puppet," she hissed, forcibly turning him to face one of Ruby's statues on the other side of the room. "You don't need to blink. So don't."

"What on earth are you-"

"Puppet." This time both a confused Puppet and Ruby heard the fear in her voice. "Keep your eyes on that one and do. Not. Blink."

"What on earth? Is this a prank?" Ruby asked, twisting to follow Hedy's gaze. She paused and squinted. "I...did not put an angel statue in this room..." her tone was strangely uncertain. Which was terrifying in itself since Ruby didn't do "uncertain".

"I'm not falling for this," Puppet deadpanned, turning to glare at both of them.

The girls didn't exactly have a moment to coordinate their blinks.

"Puppet!" Hedy screamed.

Puppet turned and jerked away from the statue, falling backwards half on Hedy and hitting his arm against Ruby's shin. His eyes widened as he stared at the angel looking straight at them, barely three feet away from where he was standing, a vicious snarl on its stone face.

"What the fuck," Puppet hissed, not disobeying Hedy again as he kept his eyes on the thing. They glowed brightly in his shock. He didn't blink.

"What the fuck," Hedy echoed, carefully helping him up and pulling him back with her. "Ruby what the fuck did you do..."

The teen was staring at the statue in shock.

"I found the thing in the junkyard!" She yelped. "What the hell?"

"How many did you find?" Puppet suddenly asked, not looking away.

Ruby hesitated. "Six..."

"Doctor Who is a television show, right?" Hedy asked, tugging both Ruby and Puppet back with her, "I'm not wrong about that. Right? This is a little beyond our usual bullshit." She looked behind them to check that their exit was clear, which it was for the moment.

They had to do something. There were other people in the building. Other bots. Kids were coming in a couple of hours.

Hedy hoped none of the angels got anyone yet. What the fuck was going on?

"Well we thought this place was just a building for a long time," Ruby pointed out reasonably as they backed away.

And since when did she sound reasonable?! Ruby didn't do reasonable either!

There was a moment of silence between them.

"Would this be a bad time to admit that the angel statues terrify me?" Ruby asked.

"If it means you can't think of anything to trap or stop them, then yes," Hedy said while Puppet made a weird noise.

Ruby had admitted a fear that wasn't clowns. They were doomed.

All the bots had been subjected to Doctor Who at one point or another, the Originals before Hedy and the Toys came along, and the Toys and Puppet during Hedy's stay at the Warehouse. There hadn't been a time where they all watched it together recently so that at least explained why Hedy and Ruby didn't know that they were fellow fans.

Puppet felt that his mind was going to snap if he tried to think of the impossibility of this for much longer. "Are there any behind us?"

"No," Hedy reported.

"Um I also scattered the six across the building," Ruby admitted.

They finally reached the doorway but weren't sure what to do next.

They just sort of stared at the statue for a long moment, at a stalemate.

"Oh dear, found one," the unexpected voice behind them made them jump and the girls spun around.

Ruby made an odd choked squeal-like noise.

"You're River Song," she breathed. There were practically stars in her eyes.

Hedy saw Puppet stiffen in utter confusion, but to his credit, he still didn't take his eyes off the angel.

"Well then..." Hedy murmured as she stared at the woman, trying to keep the statue in the corner of her eye. "Either that or Alex Kingston decided to vacation in our city. I can't fricking believe which of those is less likely than the other..."

She still subconsciously pulled at Ruby's sleeve, as if to move her slightly away from whatever was left of her logical brain trying to tell her it was an illusion or trick. But she wasn't one to just deny the insane, not after the way her life had turned out.

The woman who looked an awful lot like River Song tilted her head, a slight smile playing around her lips.

"Oh? How do you know me?"

"Big fan," Ruby breathed. "Massive fan. Can I have your autograph?"

"Ruby, can you maybe wait a little bit?" Hedy complained, clearly stressed.

"I'm going to have to agree," Puppet said, a slight irritated strain in his voice as he shifted on his striped legs, arms stiffly held at his side as he didn't stop looking at the weeping angel.

Hedy still wouldn't quite call it 'fear' but it was fairly close for Puppet.

The teen shook her head to snap out of it. Right, time to fangirl later.

"How are you real?" She asked and then gestured at the statue. "That thing too."

"There was a slight inter-dimensional incident apparently," River shrugged. "The Old Girl decided that it was important to come here."

Ruby stared at her. "I did something big enough to get the attention of the TARDIS. Oh shit."

"I'm afraid so." She at least looked sympathetic with her mix of curiosity. She didn't seem caught off guard about them knowing her though. Maybe she was a celebrity as an archaeologist and to those that knew her connection to the Doctor. But how they knew of her or the TARDIS or any of the other things in another universe was worrying.

"Shit," Hedy squeaked with a hysterical laugh. She noticed how River stared at Puppet with a very curious look.

Puppet must have sensed it because he almost looked away from the statue to glance at the woman himself, but had better self-control than that.

"Is someone going to do something anytime soon? I don't need to blink, but I would prefer not to be stuck here," he said sourly.

"Oh that's simple," River said cheerfully. "This is the part where we run!"

With that she grabbed Puppet by the neck and yanked him out, slamming the door closed.

The group took off, Ruby pushing Hedy's chair while River dragged a cursing Puppet along.

Hedy gripped her chair and tried not to panic as she kept her feet off the ground.

"Where's everyone else?" she snapped at Puppet, him and her being the only ones not running out of breath.

"The Originals are in Fright. The Toys are in the prize corner," he grunted out as he was dragged along.

"How are we supposed to get to-" Hedy started, sounding worried. Who did they try to get to first? She was cut off by Ruby taking a turn with her chair too sharply. "Ah!"

The next thing they knew, they practically ran straight into another group, screeching to a stop.

Ruby honestly gaped at the sight of the brunette in the bowtie.

He blinked at them. "Nice fez," he pointed at Ruby.

"Hedy, is this what heaven is like?" The teen whispered.

"Well we've got the angels for it," Hedy said torn between also geeking out now that the shock was starting to ebb, and worrying about the current situation, the bots, and the other humans in the building. Could she afford to get excited right now?

Puppet just looked like he wanted to curl up in his box and wake up when things made sense again. He indignantly pried himself out of River's grasp.

"I am so bloody done with this interdimensional nonsense," the redhead huffed.

Ruby grabbed Hedy's arm. "It's Amy and Rory!" She whisper-yelled.

"Shutupshutup," Hedy stammered as Ruby shook her. "I can see! Ruby, don't lose it on me now." She looked at the TV show characters. "Hello," she managed. "It's uh...it's great to meet you. I don't know how much you know of our...dimension but this is..."

"Bizarre," Puppet cut in. "Can we do an explanation later? Fan-girl later for fuck's sake."

Ruby smacked Puppet over the head. "Leave me to freak out over meeting some of my tv heroes!" She hissed.

"What?" Rory asked in confusion.

Hedy sputtered, trying to come up with some short explanation, but words were failing her for the moment.

Shit. Did they keep it a secret or… "You're a famous sci-fi tv series in this universe," she blurted. "You're fictional characters to us. But I don't really think that's important right now. Hi. Nice to meet you. My name's Hedy and this building is haunted." She winced, well aware of how confusing and bizarre that word vomit sounded.

The Doctor (and that was a stunning thought) perked up. "Haunted?"

"How about we focus on the Weeping Angels first sweetie?" River suggested in amusement.

"That would be preferable," Puppet snapped.

"Be nice," Hedy scolded the animatronic.

Ruby crossed her arms a bit defensively. "I didn't do it on purpose for once," she grumbled.

"Why did you bring them to a kids' restaurant?" Amy asked.

"Halloween. For tonight, this is a Doctor Who utopia!" she bounced in place a bit.

"Halloween?" Rory stared at her. "Are you...dressed up like the Doctor?"

Ruby positively beamed. She pointed at the scarf. "This is from his fourth incarnation." She pointed at the fez. "This is from the eleventh." Then she did a twirl. "And the rest is from the tenth. Ten and Eleven are the best but Nine holds a special place in my heart too. But it was either the trenchcoat or the leather jacket and I attract bikers when I wear leather."

River laughed in delight when she saw her husband torn between embarrassment and feeling flattered.

'If I don't see the Tardis at least once tonight, I'm going to kill someone,' Hedy thought. Instead of saying that, she asked, "What do we do? We can help." This was one of those moments where Hedy felt like they might be able to handle it themselves, but she wasn't the most hopeful. Mirrors, cameras, magnets, Ruby's explosives etc. But if the professionals were here, well...

Rory was a little distracted. "I can't see you in leather, Doctor..." he looked mildly disturbed.

"It was a phase," the Doctor defended.

"Like the fez is, I hope," Amy sighed, raising her eyebrows.

"Fezes are cool," both Ruby and the Doctor defended at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise.

"There's two of them," Puppet and Rory groaned simultaneously.

River burst out laughing.

"Question, what happens if a steel bat travelling at high speeds hits one of the angels? I've always wanted to know. For hypothetical reasons."

The Doctor, to Hedy's horror, looked thoughtful and intrigued.

"Would they break? Would it not work? How about a chainsaw?"

"Is it even 'real' stone?" Hedy wondered. "In one of the uh...episodes..." Hedy considered if even the Doctor was disturbed at the idea of being a fictional character. He hadn't reacted very much but maybe was just setting the idea aside for now. "I recall you saying that they turn to stone because you can't hurt stone. That always confused me. I mean, you can crush and break stone, can't you?"

"Eh it's complicated," he made a so-so motion with his hand.

"Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey?" Ruby asked with a small grin.

The Doctor snapped his fingers. "Exactly."

"I hate him," Puppet deadpanned.

Amy huffed. "All I know is that I'm not looking at the bloody things again. Not after last time."

Both the Doctor and River winced at the reminder.

"Those two episodes were both brilliant and terrifying," Ruby sighed. "I screamed from sheer excitement when River showed up again."

Before anyone else could say anything, Ruby suddenly slammed the door shut.

"Um, so I saw something that wasn't an angel at the end of the hall..."

"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED," Came from the other side of the door.

"Such a classic villain," Ruby sighed. "Love-hate relationship with them. Leaning more towards hate right now."

The Doctor looked a little more serious for a moment before he cracked a smile and clapped his hands. "Right! So what's the best defendable position? Where can you put everyone and set up a base? I love a good base. A good headquarters."

"Uh. Do we want them all in one place?" Hedy asked, suddenly very worried about the employees and bots. Luckily there shouldn't be any children in the building yet, right? The Cybermen and Daleks worried her with the shooting and actual death that could come with that. With the angels, so long as they didn't think to kill them, at least the problem there was time travel. The Doctor could go back and retrieve anyone caught by the angels, right?

"Do you have any rooms that would be good?" the Doctor asked, turning to her.

"Several."

"Perfect!"

Ruby had also switched more into her 'game' frame of mind.

"We could convince everyone to stay in Fright. A practice run or something. Only one entrance in to there and that door doesn't open for anything except the key."

"Even death rays?" Rory asked sceptically.

Ruby glanced at the door when something hit it but it held. She glanced at the ceiling.

Hedy got the feeling that the building was pretty annoyed with the Dalek but intrigued and suspiciously not surprised with the four TV show characters.

"They'll hold," she shrugged. "I set off TNT by accident once and it barely scratched the paint."

"What?!" Both Puppet and Hedy yelled and Ruby went wide eyed.

"I mean...nothing. Certainly no serious explosives or anything." She gave them an innocent smile.

Hedy grunted and looked at the ceiling after a sharp look at Ruby.

"This building isn't...normal," she explained shortly.

"Nothing's normal around the Doctor," Amy muttered.

"Normal's overrated," The Doctor waved a hand dismissively.

"How many, uh, props, did you end up bringing here?" River asked Ruby.

The teen thought for a moment. "Six angels, seven Daleks and five Cybermen. There are some mannequins too but I got those from shops that were throwing them away."

"And a partridge in a pear tree. Still dont trust them," Puppet said.

"This grump is Puppet, by the way," Hedy said, gesturing at the robot.

"Yeah I was about to ask what year it is," Rory admitted with a greeting nod at the animatronic but still a curious look.

The Doctor and River were obviously the most interested in Puppet, probably never seeing something exactly like him, which was saying a lot. Amy and Rory were more trusting that this was just one more alien or strange thing they were going to run into travelling with the Doctor.

Ruby absently told them the year, making them look at her in shock.

"I thought we were years into the future!" Rory yelped. "This is just a little before our time."

"Yes yes. I'm an abomination," Puppet snapped, glaring as the Doctor whipped out his screwdriver. "Get that thing out of my face."

"It's the sonic screwdriver," Ruby freaked out all over again.

"Well this is new. I love new things. I especially love not knowing what the new thing is," the Doctor said, looking Puppet over.

Puppet squinted at the man.

The Doctor smiled enthusiastically at him before snapping the screwdriver closed. "Right!" He turned to the girls again. "Amy, Rory. You stay with Hedy, lovely name—I met a Hedy once. She was brilliant. Terrific inventer. Helluva actress too. Great kisser but let's pass on that—and move everyone to, what was it? Fright?"

"It's a haunted funhouse thing we have," Hedy explained, flushing both at the compliments and at the implication the Doctor had met one of her real life idols. And namesake.

Ruby was already looking at the cameras on her tablet, skipping over angels before they could come out of the screen. She was going to have to erase the tapes in the morning.

Hedy got out her tablet too.

"This is both the coolest and most terrifying thing to ever happen to me," Ruby breathed. "At the moment the only people in the building are a few volunteer employees and the bots. Oh, and one ghost bear."

"Ghost bear?" Amy asked. "Like 'rawr'?" She put her hands up in mock claws.

"No," Goldy said, popping in next to them. "Ok I'm guessing the Cybermen threatening to upgrade the Toys have something to do with this."

"What?!" Hedy demanded in a panic.

"Oh this is turning out to be an interesting day," River grinned at the Doctor who returned the smile just as brightly.

"Do they know the Cybermen are real? Or do they think this is one of my pranks?" Ruby asked warily.

"They think it's a prank and Toby is very offended," Goldy answered.

"He's offended when I breathe in his general direction," Ruby waved that off. "Can you convince everyone to go to Fazbear's Fright? If Foxy glares a little the employees should go with no problem."

"You might have to explain more to Spring," Hedy said. "I don't think he's seen Doctor Who."

Goldy nodded sharply, trying her best to ignore the fictional characters. "I might need to pull the Toys out. I came to get you because I'm worried the Cybermen will get annoyed and..."

Ruby nodded. She smirked. "I don't think Barbie Rabbit's had the pleasure of being teleported."

Goldy gave a thumbs up. "I'll tell the Originals too."

"Goldy's doing all the work for us," Hedy said as the bear disappeared. "Remind me to get her a collectable book set of Harry Potter for Christmas."

"Hedy!" Mangle shouted as she skidded into the room before anyone could react. She saw the strangers and immediately looked dismayed. "We have customers already?" She plastered on a practised smile. "Hello!"

"It's okay, Mangle. You don't have to pretend," Hedy said.

That was all the leeway the fox needed. She grimaced and moved her hand from where she was covering the melted plastic of a laser burn.

"I'm okay!" She said at the sight of Hedy's expression. "It just...hurts. One of those uh... one of those Cybermen shot me. What the heck is going on?"

"Inter dimensional bullshit," Hedy said, very alarmed and worried as she came over to look at the wound.

Ruby let out a growl that startled their guests.

"Where did that bat come from?" Rory asked.

"I know for a fact that the Cybermen are a hell of a lot more fragile than Daleks!" she snarled.

"I almost pity them," Puppet muttered.

"You will be ex-" the Dalek behind the door started before Ruby cut it off.

"Shut up you salt shaker on wheels!"

The Dalek didn't speak, perhaps a little startled at being insulted with no fear behind the voice.

Hedy was reminded that daleks were actual creatures that at least had feelings compared to Cyberman. That made it funnier.

"Where are the other Toys?" Puppet asked. "Goldy went to get you out of there."

"I got shot and we scattered. Teddy was with me but we needed to separate."

"Goldy will be able to find them," Ruby waved a hand dismissively. "Now, kindly point me in the direction of the sucky robot so I can 'deal' with it."

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Amy demanded.

Mangle gestured behind her as she limped over to a table so Hedy could look at her properly. She stared at the Doctor and others in interest.

Hedy grunted as she pulled out her pocket knife multitool. "My equipment is in Parts and Services and there's a Dalek in the way. We need to go the long way."

"Or blow it up," Mangle suggested.

Ruby pointed at Mangle. "I like that idea."

"It's got my vote," River added.

"River," the Doctor sighed.

"I do not like Daleks sweetie," she gave him a sugar-sweet smile.

"I have pent up hatred from that time their stupid plan made you lose Donna." Ruby muttered, nearly inaudible. "I loved Donna."

"Who the hell is Donna?" Amy muttered. Both she and Rory looked perplexed.

"Sorry," Ruby shrugged, grimacing when she realised she'd probably accidentally poked at an open emotional wound of the Doctor's. Might as well go all in then… "She just wins best companion. I mean, I love Rory as a companion too. But Donna? She was the best. Purely platonic best friends."

Ruby suddenly looked like she was about to cry now. Damn she still thought that entire thing was unfair…

Hedy didn't want to admit it but she wanted to as well. The Doctor standing right there staring at Ruby with a blank expression made it worse.

"Imma blow up the Dalek," Ruby decided firmly, deciding to avoid her emotional turmoil with violence.

"Oh goodie," River grinned.

"Why do I feel like this will end badly?" Rory whispered.

"I even have dynamite today!" Ruby was starting to get excited.

"For once, I can't even be upset that you do," Hedy said. With resignation she headed to part of the wall, prying out a panel to grab a spool of explosive fuse wire.

Ruby looked smug and unbothered that Hedy knew that was there.

"What about the armour?" Rory asked, disturbed that there was explosive equipment in the walls.

Ruby got a disturbing grin that actually matched River's a little.

"There's always a weak point. And I have watched every episode of Doctor Who multiple times. I will find it." With that, she wrenched open the door and threw a glitter bomb out. The Dalek let out a confused scream at the explosion of glitter. "Geronimo!"

And she was gone.

"I'm starting to think she may have got some of her questionable habits from watching this show," Mangle mused.

"Well..." the Doctor said, deciding not to outwardly worry about the fact he just let a teenager run at a Dalek. It was hard to explain he just…didn't feel like he needed to worry. Very strange. "She might be brilliant or mad."

"Both," Mangle said.

"The Doctor's a bad influence on children?" Amy asked. She chuckled. "Hm, so surprising."

"Not surprised at all," Rory deadpanned.

Puppet made a weird grumbling noise as Hedy rolled her eyes and pushed him toward Mangle.

"Help Mangle walk, Mari," she ordered as she moved to follow Ruby.

Mangle growled at Puppet. She rarely let him forget that their relationship had a particular strain in it.

"I am a brilliant influence," the Doctor huffed in offence.

They heard the Dalek scream somewhere. Then there was the sound of lasers and maniacal laughter.

"Oh I really like her," River beamed.

"Aaaaand that's the signal," Hedy said at the sound of a Dalek shrieking once again. She opened the door right as the offending alien streaked by, spinning out of control and crashing into the wall at the end of the hall.

"Hey! I'm not done with you yet!" Ruby yelled, chasing after it.

"Is that a chainsaw?!" Rory sputtered in disbelief.

"Probably," Puppet said, not even looking.

Mangle shrugged.

"Daleks sometimes have colour," the Doctor said, appraisingly. "Never seen pink with glitter however."

"Hey Ruby, I think you impressed the Doctor," Hedy called to Ruby as she ushered them down the hallway. "I'm jealous just so you know!"

She got an excited squeal in reply.

"She's rather energetic isn't she?" River mused as another explosion went off.

"Won't the explosions draw attention?" Rory asked.

"Oh probably," Hedy said. "But the building can loop the hallways for something coming towards us if I ask."

Rory stared at her. "What?"

"Huh, the TARDIS can do something similar," River mused.

"She did say our building isn't normal," Puppet reminded impatiently.

Mangle laughed through a grimace of pain. "Yeah, it's like our own TARDIS. Without the time travel, teleporting, or other creatu— oh wait..."

"We haven't had a time travel incident," Hedy scolded. "Don't jinx it."

Mangle continued. "It really loves Hedy. She's the favourite 'pet'."

Hedy scoffed.

"Emotional support mechanic," Puppet correctly dryly.

Amy snickered at Hedy's long suffering expression.

Hedy didn't get a chance to retort before the sound of clanking footsteps started coming toward them as they left the Dalek and Ruby behind.

Ruby would catch up after she'd had her fun.

Hedy wordlessly shifted closer to a wall and touched it. A moment later the footsteps retreated.

"The hallway flipped," she explained.

Hedy looked up at the sound of the sonic screwdriver and found the Doctor waving it an inch from her face. She wasn't surprised, a little amused even, but she still instinctively batted it away from her face. She didn't like many people getting in her personal space.

No one really looked all that surprised but Puppet and Mangle were a little shocked that Hedy didn't smack him automatically. Only Ruby really got away with crowding into her personal space like that.

"Is it really all that safe to leave her behind?" Rory asked. "She looked only fifteen."

"Sixteen," Mangle and Hedy corrected.

"She's..." Hedy didn't really want to say 'fine'. There was still a slight risk Ruby could get hurt. "Resourceful. Reckless, but resourceful."

"Does she happen to have two hearts?" Amy asked with a smile and a squinted look at the Doctor.

"I'm not...!" The Doctor trailed off. There was a pause as everyone stared at him. He huffed and flashed one more scan at Hedy before holding the sonic up to his ear to listen to the readings, ignoring Amy.

River rolled her eyes fondly before they glanced back as another explosion went off.

"Ooh, that was a chocolate bomb," Mangle tilted her head as she listened. "No, wait, caramel!"

Hedy squinted at Mangle. She couldn't hear the difference between whatever food Ruby blew up, only that Ruby tended to use fewer explosives for caramel because molten caramel could cause severe burns. But if there was something she really wanted to hurt, like a Dalek, would she care? Hedy thought Mangle was making up her assessment.

Whatever the case, Hedy hoped it wasn't the chocolate. She hated when Ruby wasted chocolate for her pranks.

"Quite creative that one," The Doctor noted. "Now, we should probably run as the angels seem to have found us."

"I got you," Rory offered as Hedy groaned, locking her eyes on the statues.

The robots seemed a little busy helping each other, although Mangle nearly pushed Puppet off her to make him help Hedy.

"Ruby!" Hedy called back as Rory got ready to push her, "Hurry up! There are angels this way!"

"Good! I've got anger to burn!" the teen yelled back. "This is the best therapy I've had in years!" there was a bang and the Dalek screamed again.

"She's fine," Mangle decided. "She'll probably catch up with us and pop out in the most startling way possible."

"At least the angels don't really look like they can fit in vents," Puppet muttered as he and Mangle each picked an angel at the end of the hall they were trying to get through and didn't blink.

"Careful, Mari," Hedy said, "That almost sounded like concern for Ruby."

"I'm still concerned," Rory offered.

"Don't be," Mangle waved a hand. "I'd be more worried over the fact that being a genocidal alien gives Ruby a lot of moral leeway in her retaliation."

"I was hoping you wouldn't point that out," Hedy sighed as they quickly made their way through the hallway, dodging angels and quickly getting further from the increasingly concerning explosions.

Eventually, they reached a dead end in the form of a ratty looking wooden door with a dramatic funhouse sign saying Fazbear's Fright and 'you must be 13 and older to enter' painted on the door.

"Do you have the keys?" River asked. "The sonic-"

Ruby popped out of nowhere. "Doesn't do wood!"

She grinned manically as Rory yelped. She was covered from head to toe in paint and caramel. A fairly common sight for Hedy and the bots.

There was no way Mangle heard a caramel bomb though… no way.

The Doctor slipped out a chuckle as he looked the teenager up and down. "This a usual thing eh? Having fun?"

Ruby's smile widened.

"Maybe too much," Hedy deadpanned, eyeing a couple of charred bits on the corners of Ruby's sleeves.

Ruby noted her looking and rolled up the cuffs just enough to hide the burns, but not enough to show much of her arms. She looked at Hedy defiantly. Nothing unusual there either…

"No such thing!" the Doctor proclaimed, throwing a hand up in the air and almost hitting an already sour Puppet. "So about this door..." He spun on his heel and pointed at Hedy, leaning further into her space again. "Do that again."

Hedy blinked at him and jerked back, resisting the urge to slap him again. "Do...what?"

"Th-the thing," he gestured widely at the door. "You know the thing. The touchy thing. And be extra polite, yeah? I want to get on her good side. Is it a she? Seems like a she. Oooh, would it help if we said please too? Amy, Rory, say please to the door if you don't mind."

"What?" They looked completely bewildered by the turn in the conversation.

Hedy felt the amusement dripping from the ceiling.

"I have my keys..." Hedy said.

"Keys are boring!" the time lord said. "Keys? Everyone's got them. You have something far more interesting."

"Doctor, do you have to ask her about...that...right this very moment?" Rory asked anxiously.

"Probably," Amy sighed while River just smiled serenely.

"Absolutely."

Ruby tilted her head and looked at Hedy with a smirk.

"Come on emotional support mechanic. Show off a little," she grinned. Then she looked thoughtful. "I wonder if the building is non binary?"

"It...really doesn't care what you call it either way," Hedy grumbled. "How long is the emotional support mechanic joke going to last?"

"Forever," Puppet deadpanned.

"Now you're stalling," Mangle laughed.

"Because I don't see the point!"

"Easy. I'm curious," the Doctor said.

"You didn't say please sweetie," River said with an amused smile at Hedy's conflicted scowl.

"Please?"

Hedy stared as she processed that. ...shit. The Doctor just begged for me to do something.

Ruby was beaming widely as she watched the interaction.

"While I scan you," the Doctor added with a cheeky grin as he wiggled the sonic between his fingers.

Hedy rolled her eyes and shifted her gaze up to the ceiling. She sighed, feeling a blush creep up her cheeks. "Hey look I know you don't like doing pointless things and I do have my keys. But if you open the door, I'll get your window washing scheduled from once a month to every two weeks." She looked down at them to explain after a moment. "The window washing, while it's something it wants, is a disproportionate offer to just opening the door. The building is always fair."

As if to agree, the door rattled a bit. It sounded almost irritated, earning a smirk from Hedy. Ruby just stayed quiet. While she was fairly good at figuring out fair deals quickly, she wanted to see what they came up with.

"Oh shush," Hedy retorted to the ceiling. "You could just open the door just for me. You're absolutely a show off. You know what would be really impressive? If it didn't just open to the entrance of Fazbear's Fright but instead teleported us directly to where everyone else is."

"This is taking longer than normal," Puppet said.

"It doesn't like strangers expecting it to do things. It doesn't like to work for everyone."

"It's also got a teeny bit of stagefright with all the attention," Ruby added.

A tile dropped from the ceiling, inches from her head, but she didn't flinch.

"Hey, don't give me that. It's true!" She huffed and shook her head, turning to poke at the door and pulling out the puppy eyes that even worked on Hedy most days. "Please? This is one of my heroes asking."

The Doctor looked at her with a schooled neutral expression. Those that knew the show could guess what he might be thinking. Bad things sometimes happened to those that might call themselves "fans". At least in their universe.

The mechanic and the bots just hoped that she didn't list her other heroes… Ruby had some… dubious choices. And Hedy just knew that one nemesis of the Doctor's was on that list. That would be very awkward.

Hedy could practically hear the building coo at Ruby's words, and her rare politeness. It really did have a soft spot for the teen. Hopefully Ruby never realised HOW MUCH of a soft spot it had since she could do terrifying things if she took advantage.

It already broke the rules of physics for her sometimes. The paint slide came to mind.

Hedy poked the door in near insistent teasing, almost threatening to bring it up.

It was an obvious bluff, the building knowing she wouldn't dare.

Nevertheless, the door creaked open with a squeak that almost sounded like a complaining groan.

The Doctor looked delighted. "I really must introduce Se-the Old Girl to it."

"Oh she'd love that," River agreed, catching his slip up and grinning madly. His ears were bright red as he didn't look at her.

Ruby clapped her hands in delight at the thought, looking like a kid in a candy shop.

The building poked Hedy with its interest.

"The building's up for it," Hedy said as she went through the door, Ruby ushering the adults through with her and River taking up the back.

Ruby and River gave each other a look, each wanting the protective position of being the last one out, Puppet watching the angels behind them unblinking. After a beat, Ruby surprisingly conceded the position to River. That got a doubletake from Hedy.

The Doctor was busy pelting questions at her as the sounds of other voices drifted in from a bit farther away in the hallway.

Apparently, the building had in fact moved the entrance closer to the Fright office where the other's apparently were, because Hedy noticed they definitely weren't at the usual entrance.

Such a show off.

They closed the door firmly behind them, blocking off the angel's approach. A moment later there was a bang on the door but it didn't even shake in the slightest.

"So..." Ruby started as they began walking. "Hypothetically, what would happen if an Angel took an RPG to the face?"

"Ruby, please tell me you don't actually have a rocket launcher..." Hedy groaned. "Wait, why am I asking? Of course you do."

Ruby gave her a sweet 'who me?' smile.

Amy squinted at her. "That grin reminds me way too much of River's..."

Puppet squinted at River while Hedy frowned a little. Ruby's smile only grew. That was a hell of a compliment to her.

Hedy poked Puppet's face. "Behave."

"Me?!"

"Yes, I'm finding I don't need to tell Toby that as often as I used to."

Ruby paused when she looked down at her tablet. "Ah, Cybermen heading towards the office. Imma backtrack and ambush them. That area's clear of angels."

"Be careful," Hedy said automatically, but her voice was casual and there wasn't much concern.

"Don't die!" Mangle sang, a bit blunter. She waved at Ruby, making Puppet go off balance and almost send them both falling over.

Ruby waved back and disappeared into a nearby vent, climbing up the wall like a demon child. Hedy shouldn't have let Ruby talk her into those horror movies the other night...

"She's going to kill someone," Mangle stated matter-of-factly with the sort of smile that uncomfortably reminded Hedy that Mangle was also a former murderer, something she didn't like to think about most days.

She made a conflicted expression.

"In all seriousness... I hope not," she muttered to herself.

Mangle patted her head. "You're so naively optimistic about her sometimes," she said cheerfully.

Hedy rolled her eyes and gently slapped Mangle's hand away.

"What species are you?" the Doctor asked.

"Human," Hedy answered dryly, having half-expected the question eventually. She tilted her head at the sounds of some employees talking with the Originals.

"Are you sure?" Amy asked dubiously.

…Rude.

---

Meanwhile Ruby was gleefully attacking Cybermen who didn't know what to do with the tiny force of nature opposing them.

"You are incompatible," one Cyberman intoned after a few minutes of trying to "upgrade" Ruby.

Apparently they decided to give up on that plan.

"Delete. Delete."

"Just try it," Ruby gave them a vicious little grin. "I'm going to make scrap metal out of you for my craft's projects and then go after those damn Daleks." She revved up her chainsaw. "Let's get started shall we?"

She wouldn't say inside the building or near Hedy, but this was the best Halloween ever.

The Building "heard" pieces of the thought nonetheless and was very pleased with itself.

---

Hedy shivered a little of her own volition, but decided to focus on the situation in front of her as their group got to the office.

"Is this all the employees?" she asked Foxy when the Originals saw her and hurried over.

He nodded but didn't look very sure while Freddy frowned.

"Everyone that's shown up so far at least. Where's Ruby?" he demanded with a slight squint at the oddly familiar strangers

"Okay. More animal robots..." Rory hummed.

"She's...busy," Mangle answered. "She took her chainsaw."

Foxy was eyeing the strangers warily. "Why did she bring out the chainsaw?"

"I love how the question is 'why did she bring it out' and not 'why was it in the building again?!" Chica snapped.

"Killer robots," Hedy said, unable to resist the slightly tactless joke as she smiled at the bots with a bit of tease.

Puppet muttered something rude while Mangle snorted. "I resent that. Aren't they technically cyborgs? Not the angels of course."

There was a lot of confusion on a lot of other faces suddenly.

"Eh," said Hedy.

Mangle shot Hedy a half amused glare.

Foxy ran a hand down his face and sighed. "Do we want to know?" The Originals looked like they were contemplating living in ignorance for a bit longer.

"Maybe," Hedy said simply. She gestured at the Doctor and his companions. "The building may have pulled something I think."

The building let out a tiny indignant rumble and they were reminded that the staff had little idea about the supernatural stuff as Henry of all people "eep"ed and the other's freaked out at the slight rocking beneath their feet. They weren't given a full explanation about the building during the body swap after all.

The Doctor just looked fascinated.

"It pulled something." Freddy deadpanned. It wasn't even a question. More like a resigned statement. Like he was resigned to this being their life now.

"But why," Hedy groaned, ignoring the rumbling.

"Did we just have an earthquake?" Jess asked.

Everyone looked over at the employees awkwardly. No one had an answer to that.

---

Ruby finished tormenting the Cybermen that she'd found and had just dealt with the last one when she heard footsteps approaching.

She looked up just as someone new walked into the room.

And she may have had another fangirl moment.

"You're Missy," she breathed, frozen where she was standing on top of a downed Cyberman.

Missy hid her surprise really well and excitedly hopped off her perch to take a few steps Ruby's way with so much swag it really should be illegal.

"Ooh, well this is a little more exciting. Fan? Follower? Zealot? I will say, not expecting to be recognized around here. I'm a bit from out of town, dearie."

"You bet I'm a fan! You were the best incarnation of the Master ever! You and the Doctor had the best frenemy chemistry," she sighed happily, smacking the Cyberman on the head when it moved again.

"Interesting interesting. Well this is a twist isn't it?" Missy laughed, getting really close to look Ruby in the eye (bending down a bit to do so). "I love a good fan. Are you the rabid type? I hope so." She straightened up sharply. "And you know who the Doctor is too! Hmm what to call you though. Disposable? Rather, a good play against that silly little word 'companion' don't you think? The Doctor and his companions. The Mistress and her disposables...ooh doesn't that sound a tad saucy. Oh dear I hope you aren't too insulted. If you know me, surely you know how this works, pet?" She smiled mischievously, fishing for just how much Ruby knew about her or any of this.

Ruby's smile was sharp and more manic than she usually allowed around others. "Oh I know all about you. I know how you were best friends with the Doctor. I know how you survived the Time War. I know that you put the Doctor through hell a few times. There was that time you took over the Earth before that timeline was erased. I know you were driven insane by the Time Lords' crazy plan to come back. I know you have a really complicated relationship with the Doctor and he'll still try and save you no matter what you do." She cocked her head, green eyes bright with a manic energy. "I know that I'm probably more similar to you than to the Doctor. I know I understand you too much to be healthy." She hopped off the cyberman and grinned up at the taller woman. "I know you Missy and I'm still a fan. So I'll say you should stay away from River because I'm pretty sure you two never met. And she wouldn't hesitate to shoot you." She stepped back and that intense look faded from her eyes, leaving behind unhidden giddiness. "As for what to call me, I'd say minion is a good choice. Missy and her minions." She hummed happily, kicked the cyberman and peeked out the door. "I'm sure the Doctor wouldn't notice if one Cyberman went missing...I always wondered what would happen if you put one through a trash compactor..."

Missy smiled, maybe a little viciously. "I rather think I like you, minion." She laughed at the word.

Ruby's eyes sparkled. Best. Night. Ever.

Then she hit the button for the door and something slammed into it.

"I think that was one of the weeping angels. Ever met one?" Ruby asked, staring at the door as it pounded against the metal viciously. It really should be buckling but, well, nothing broke in this place unless the building let it.

"Occasionally," Missy said. "Irritating buggers." She crossed her arms and regarded the door critically with a curious little smile.

They both watched the door shudder but never even groan at the blows.

"So... what would happen if I hit a weeping angel hard enough to shatter stone when it's in its statue state?" Ruby asked innocently, bouncing in place.

"Oh it will hurt it, but you can't really kill them," Missy said with a shrug. "They'll regenerate or heal from the smallest speck of dust. Might take a while though."

"Damn. That takes the fun out of it. I have a vendetta against those things," she scowled at the door. "Then again I have a vendetta against the Daleks too..."

There was silence for a moment.

"Still... I have plastic explosives. Wanna blow a few up anyway?"

"Is that really a question?"

And the manic grin was back.

---

Across the building, Hedy jumped when a string of explosions suddenly went off. Checking the cameras showed Ruby with... well... that was concerning.

Oh geez, she thought, turning off the camera before the others could see.

"That...sounded big. What the hell is Ruby even doing?" Jerry panicked.

"Blowing up statues."

The employees stared at her.

"Why?" Andrew asked warily. At least he was accepting it as fact.

"You assume there's a reason?" Puppet asked dryly.

"She is quite enthusiastic isn't she?" River asked. "I like her."

Hedy snorted, not sure how to answer that.

"That's one way to say it," Toby said.

Jerry huffed. "Is there a reason you made us all come here? We have to open soon." He looked at the strangers weirdly still.

"We may have to postpone." Hedy admitted. She looked at the group worriedly. "Has anyone seen Mike?"

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

"With his luck he probably ran into one of Ruby's traps again," someone muttered.

Hedy looked properly worried for the first time that night. With a serious look that seemed out of place, she placed a hand on a wall and silently begged that the building not put the man she loved in danger if he couldn't handle it.

Thankfully, the building seemed to respond to her concern and rumbled appeasingly. Now it would take that offer of window cleanings.

If Mike learned about this, he absolutely was going to make a tasteless joke about his life being worth a couple windows.

Of course that was the moment Mike ran into Ruby and her new friend. Hedy didn't know how to react to that as she watched it on the cameras.

---

He looked between them. Well, fuck. He knew something was going on, his instincts on high alert and sensing danger even before he saw a Dalek and ran the other way before they noticed him. He trusted his instincts and wasn't about to think it was a Halloween prop. Would have been an awesome costume though. Sneaking away didn't completely work but he got away without actually being shot anyway.

"You know, I'm suddenly worried about you taking over the world Ruby," he said, squinting between the two, more wary about Missy understandably.

"Too much paperwork."

"Uh huh..." Mike said, eyeing Missy. "So um...I'm guessing the Dalek shooting me wasn't one of your pranks? Cause if not, I think I nearly died. Again. Where's Hedy? Where are the others?"

"Oh yeah. Apparently they're real. This is the coolest day of my life. I got to meet Missy, the Doctor and River Song. And I got to beat up Daleks, Cybermen and Angel Statues. My life is complete and I can die happy now."

Mike groaned and jogged a couple feet until he was beside them and Ruby was between him and Missy. "Fuck. Ruby, you can't say things like that!" Especially here.

She tilted her head. "I met my favourite characters from my favourite show. Yeah I can."

Missy was just watching with amusement. This girl had a fire to her.

The young man who the girl clearly knew, however, looked more like a dead weight in her opinion.

Mike noticed Missy looking at him like a piece of meat and scowled. "I watched the same tv show you're from, lady. I'm not cannon fodder, got it?"

Ruby tilted her hand back and forth. "Eh."

Missy couldn't quite stifle a laugh at that.

"For fuck's sake, Ruby," Mike complained, already stressed.

Ruby laughed and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry Mike. I'm joking. I'll get you home to Hedy safe and sound and in one piece, okay? You've grown on me, like a fungus. And you make Hedy happy. You won't die to Doctor Who villains. Tonight anyway." She grinned brightly at him. "This is the best Halloween ever," she declared.

She shoved him out of the way and attacked the Cyberman that had been coming up behind him.

"I rather want to keep her," Missy mused as they watched the teen tackle the killer robot with giddy excitement.

"No. She's ours," Mike snapped protectively.

Missy raised an amused eyebrow. That was rather adorable.

Mike didn't care how he sounded. He kept watch on Ruby and followed the teen. He didn't know exactly what was going on but damnit he wasn't going to die from getting shot by a salt shaker. His focus was on making sure Missy did nothing suspicious, Ruby did nothing too stupid, and make sure he got to Hedy and the others in one piece.

And also made sure Missy didn't try and steal their night guard. She was their reckless and crazy teenager.

Eventually they all met up again, Hedy and their guests stumbling on Ruby and co. Ruby's eyes suddenly widened and she looked between the Doctor and Missy in something that was almost a panic. Technically they were from different times in the show. The Doctor only met Missy in his twelfth incarnation.

Missy, on the other hand, was grinning madly. Clearly she recognized the Doctor, though Ruby and the others weren't sure how. She never ran into Eleven as far as they knew.

Still, it wasn't a leap to make with him waving his screwdriver around...

Ruby leaned over to Missy subtly. "I'll give you gossip on the Time Lords if you don't let on who you are," she whispered.

Missy smirked and whispered back. "Wasn't planning on it, minion. But I'll take you up on the offer nonetheless." Not that she really believed this weird little girl knew very much but the offer was curious enough.

The Building rumbled a little and Hedy tilted her head back and groaned. Someone just made a deal and she suspected who. She glanced at Mike who was glaring at Missy.

"Mike, you okay?"

He waved her off and smiled, though he squinted confusedly at the Doctor. "Is what I think is happening actually happening or did Ruby spike the punch?"

"The one in the staff room maybe. She wouldn't spike the kids' punch."

"The bottle did slip when I did the staffroom punch though," Ruby admitted freely. "So maybe... avoid it unless you want to get plastered."

River looked at the Doctor. "Can't we take her with us? Three companions is a nice round number."

Ruby looked absurdly pleased at those words. That was a high compliment for her.

Mike tried not to smile at how jealous Hedy looked. He was concerned over how Missy pouted at River's words though.

Hedy didn't have a moment to dwell on it as a very protective Building rocked the floor and let them know no one was taking its mechanic or its night guard.

It was just a flood of possessiveness. It was hard to tell if it was differentiating her or Ruby.

"Geez! Calm down!" Hedy said, patting the wall scoldingly.

Most of the staff looked ill from the movement.

"I liked it better when I didn't know about all this weird shit," Henry complained.

"Language," the Doctor scolded, pointing at the man who just grimaced at him.

"Right, well, anyway," Ruby clapped her hands together, ignoring Henry entirely. "We need a plan to figure out what to do. "The cybermen will no longer be a problem. And I may have sent one dalek into hiding. I also blew up a few statues but they can apparently regenerate. We need to sort this out before the kids arrive. And Hedy and I need an appropriate amount of time to fangirl before they leave. That is of utmost importance."

Hedy nodded and eyed the staff for a moment. "Anyone make a deal?"

"After swapping bodies with Stickman Magee?" Jerry said. "Heck no."

Puppet glared at him.

"Just checking," Hedy said. "Someone blew a hole through dimensions and I wanted to check if it was us or not." She suddenly pointed at Ruby. "Where did you find everything?"

"An old junkyard. I told you before," Ruby huffed. "They were just props! Probably for that Sci-Fi convention we took the bots too. No weirdness going on, I swear."

"I still think this is the building's fault," Mangle said. "Maybe they were just props and the Building brought them to life? No idea what you are though." She pointed at the Doctor, River, Amy, and Rory. She eyed Missy, who was doing pretty well at being ignored. She was probably thriving off the chaos.

The Doctor had probably noticed her and either assumed she was another staff member or was waiting for her to do something suspicious.

Hedy looked at him. "And how did you get here?"

"Got a strange signal, got bored. Thought we'd drop in and say hi," he smiled at her. "Ran into a Dalek and figured we'd stick around a bit. Didn't realise we popped into an alternate universe at first." He frowned a little. "That's going to be a problem later." It was far too easy to come here. The TARDIS gave no indication they were going to another universe. The ride was bumpy as ever but nothing strange. He thought of Rose. They couldn't be in her universe could they? He shook that painful thought away. No. That didn't make any sense.

That wasn't very helpful but Ruby still nodded sagely like it was the answer to life itself.

"Hedy," Ruby suddenly spoke up. "Did you ever explain what trick or treat actually meant to the building?"

Hedy froze, which was enough of an answer. "No..."

Mike groaned. He had no idea what assumptions the building might make but it couldn't be good.

"... what if the dimensional rift thing was its attempt at a 'trick or treat'? A... prank. Or giving us a night in our favourite show?"

"...then I'm going to be annoyed," Hedy admitted, rubbing her eyes in exasperation.

The Doctor looked incredibly interested.

"A being that is able to manipulate the very fabric of reality just to keep you happy?" Maybe he was a little concerned but he wasn't about to let them on to that.

Rory frowned. "That doesn't seem safe."

"No," River said. "But very fun." She smirked but it seemed a bit forced as she eyed the girls.

Hedy met her eyes. That seemed to be a lot of suspicion and judgement from a woman who almost let the universe burn to save the Doctor.

"Seems benevolent enough," Amy said, uncertain. She leaned toward the Doctor. "Doctor, are we sure this isn't anything like House?"

"Of course not, but it seems very nice so far." He patted the wall with a smile.

"Besides the things that want to kill us that is," Rory deadpanned.

"Yes, besides that. Really very nice of it in its own way it seems."

Missy was staring at the Ponds in interest while still paying attention. "Well that's no fun."

The Building dropped a ceiling tile next to Missy threateningly. It let her stay since Ruby liked her, but it could tell Hedy didn't trust the character.

Missy smirked up at the ceiling.

"At least it takes its morality cues from Hedy," Ruby sighed. "You're going to have to have a long talk with it after this is over if it was the building. No matter how awesome I think it is."

Hedy moaned. "That's like trying to explain... I dunno... material refractive indexes to a little kid that only hears every third word! AND it speaks a whole different language."

Mike patted her shoulder in sympathy. "You're such a nerd Hedy…"

She stuck her tongue out at him while forcing a glare. She looked silly.

"Can I just leave?" Henry asked, raising his hand a bit. "This seems like a level of insanity that could get us killed."

"If you can get to the door without running into something, sure," Mangle said easily, smiling at the man.

"I really thought the night shift was a lot less crazy than this," Jerry admitted with a nervous laugh while Izzy looked like she needed to sit down.

Harrison was looking very tired but he just muttered, "Why couldn't it be Star Trek?" under his breath.

Ruby looked thoughtful. "Next year," she muttered. "I wanna meet Q. And Picard."

Hedy glared at both Harrison and Ruby in horror. Oh great. Still, she sucked in a breath and resolved to deal with that later. "Oh this is nothing in the grand scheme of danger and stuff," Hedy said. She pulled out her tablet and flipped through, taking stock of where everything was.

River leaned over her shoulder and did the same.

"At least we aren't trying to kill you too," Toby said.

"Toby!"

"Whaaat?"

"And we're all very proud of you barbie rabbit," Ruby said. "But you're not helping. Shut up."

She turned to face the others.

"We need to round them up and get rid of them somehow. Can they escape the building? Cause that would be bad."

Everyone looked at Hedy. She blinked and looked up to the ceiling again.

She frowned and didn't say anything for a minute.

"It can keep them in," she said eventually. She seemed to be listening for another moment. "The angels are the most dangerous. The building can manipulate the halls to help us with the Daleks and Cybermen if asked. And if it likes you. Henry, you should stick with Jerry."

Henry looked offended but Hedy continued.

"It won't save you if you do something stupid and run right into them. Be alert. But it doesn't care about the angels sending you back in time."

"That doesn't sound worse than getting shot," Andrew admitted, shifting on his feet. He glanced at the characters. Damnit. He had the chance to dress as the tenth Doctor for Halloween and ended up doing Jason from Friday the 13th instead.

Hedy looked at him pointedly. "Do you really want to risk showing up in the pizzeria, during night shift, any more than six months ago?"

She obviously pointed at the originals.

Mike paled. "Oh shit." He groaned and facepalmed. His guard nights were not something he wanted to relive.

The Originals all grimaced.

Goldy hummed. "This location is only 3 years old. You'd probably be okay."

"Not if we want to keep this all in the Building," Hedy pointed out. "This building thinks of all its locations as itself."

"Hey maybe I'd actually get a chance to really punch Michael," Mike joked.

Hedy glared at him. "Don't even joke about that."

Ruby entertained the idea of punching a flesh and blood Michael for a moment before sighing and focusing on the task at hand.

"I think I got most of the Cybermen," she admitted. "They're not all that durable. The Daleks take a little more work though."

"So," the Doctor cut in, "Your Building likes to keep you happy right? Or entertained?" He kept talking through Hedy and Ruby's somewhat useless nods.

"I think it confuses the two…" Hedy cut in tiredly.

"Then we do just that." He pointed to Hedy and Ruby. "Nothing bad happens to these two! Now!" He looked at them. "How do we tell your lovely friend to wrap this up?"

Hedy frowned.

The Doctor smiled. "You already know."

"A game," Ruby said, smirking.

All the bots let out loud groans.

Hedy shot Ruby a sour look. "It likes games," she admitted to the Doctor.

"Perfect," The Doctor spun around and addressed the ceiling. "OI! I have a game for you."

The Building rumbled slightly, getting a few shocked looks out of everyone else who was used to it. It was weird it was responding to anyone other than the girls.

It was curious. Hedy could feel it leak through her connection like music through a closed door.

"Very simple. Scavenger hunt. That's a game right?" he looked at Amy to make sure. After her confused nod he continued. "Love a good scavenger hunt. Like Hide and Seek with all your friends."

"Hide and Seek is usually with friends, Doctor," Amy said.

"What's that other one then? The one with flags."

"Capture the Flag?" Rory asked.

"Is that what it's called? I don't like it. Boring name."

River rolled her eyes.

"It's more fun with tasers," Ruby offered helpfully.

"Wait, which one are we playing?" Hedy asked, hoping the Building didn't get confused. Capture the Flag sounded potentially more deadly with the enemies involved. Plus Ruby might feel the need to 'spice it up' if the Doctor got bored.

"A scavenger hunt," Mike said with a cautious nod. "Ok so what are the rules?" he asked the Doctor.

"Find stuff," the Doctor said. "What kind of stuff though? We need a list. Rory make a list!"
"Why me?! Of what?"

"Let's do something easy then, yeah?" Amy said. "Easy stuff to find. And if we find it all, the daleks, cybermen, and weeping angels go back to what they were."

"Props for a comic con?" Jerry mumbled.

"And we can just leave."

Hedy shook her head. "No, it has got to be some kind of challenge. We need to actually try. The building doesn't like cheating."

"How is it cheating if we make the rules?' Rory asked.

"Here here," Henry said.

"If we make it too easy just for the purpose of winning and finishing the game, then the building wouldn't count it as a game," Hedy said. "If we want to play a game, we actually have to have a risk of losing. Or else it isn't a game in the building's eyes. You can't win unless you can lose too."
"Losing in this case could mean death! How is that a game?" Rory said.

The bots, the girls, Mike, and the staff all exchanged looks, some more uncomfortable than others and still others with some shame in their eyes.

Missy raised her eyebrows. She wanted details. So many curiosities about this universe. Maybe she wanted to stick around for a bit. After all, there was a lot of potential in a world with artificial intelligence of this level this early in the 21st century, not to mention the sentient building. What other strange and potentially useful things were in this world?

Ruby grinned. "Same ol' same ol' then?" She rubbed her hands together gleefully. "I love a good game. No fun if it's too easy. How about this?" she pulled Betty out of nowhere, making Rory and Amy do a double take. "I am highly attached to my bat. So therefore I'd be motivated to get it back. So Betty can be one of the items. And Hedy's favourite wrench too."

"I don't have a favourite wrench!" Hedy argued.

"Yes you do," the bots chorused, Spring laughing.

"It's either your wrench or Mike," Ruby pointed out with a smirk.

Mike immediately waved his arms. "People are not things to find!" he yelled frantically at the ceiling.

"Then," Ruby smirked wickedly. "Explain hide and seek to the building."

"Completely different game!" Mike continued to yell at the ceiling, looking ridiculous.

"I mean, scavenger hunts can include people. Like, 'find someone wearing blue'," Andrew said distractedly.

Mike covered his mouth. "SHH!"

"Sorry!" Andrew mumbled behind Mike's hand with wide eyes.

"Okay okay! My wrench then," Hedy said quickly before the building got any ideas. She grimaced. Yeah she knew which wrench Ruby was talking about. She used it a lot because it was the only one she could find that fit a lot of the bots' weird shaped bolts. It would be a pain if she actually lost it.

"Let's see," Ruby mused. "We need… at least five items to make it fair. That's one from both Hedy and me. So we need three more. Guitars and music boxes are off-limits." Her tone turned a lot more stern as she directed the last bit to the building.

Puppet didn't want to admit his relief. He kept a carefully blank look.

"What about the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and the TARDIS," Missy suggested with a pleasant smile.

River immediately glared at Missy.

The Doctor froze, eyes on Missy, who he still hadn't recognized but was now more wary of. "No no don't…" The screwdriver abruptly disappeared from his hand and he stared for a moment.

Hedy checked her bag. "Damnit." Yeah her wrench was gone…

Ruby wasn't holding Betty anymore either.

The teen shot Missy a look that every animatronic (and the ghosts) were intimately familiar with. Toby ducked behind Teddy automatically.

"The TARDIS is way off limits since she's older than the building is and would most likely take offence to being treated like an item instead of the lovely lady she is," she stated firmly, poking the floor with her foot. "Plus, I'm the only morally dubious person you listen to Building. I'm feeling hurt here, I thought I was special."

There was an eerie sound from the lights and it took most of them a moment to think it sounded like a whine.

"No, don't give me that. I can see when I've been replaced. The next unstable person comes along and it's a new shiny toy," she crossed her arms, pouting and looking her age. "I see how it is. At least Hedy never replaced me. I'm still her annoying little sister."

Hedy grimaced as the building prodded her, whining for her to defend it. It was a good idea to involve the Doctor and his friends! Hedy shook her head and the building whined more. Hedy was getting a headache from the successful guilt trip.

The problem wasn't that Ruby didn't agree with the idea. It was that the teenager was instantly jealous over how quickly the suggestion was taken. That usually only happened with her and Hedy.

Ironically enough, the mechanic was pretty sure Ruby wasn't even being manipulative. She was having a genuine teenage moment.

What a strange night.

"Okay moving on before we get anymore hurt feelings," Hedy said. "We need two more items then."

"River's gun?" Amy muttered under her breath.

River heard though and checked that her weapon was still there. Sorry Mommy Dearest. Apparently the building wasn't listening.

"My car keys?" Mike suggested.

"Why would you suggest that!?" Puppet snapped, stunned by Mike's stupidity.

Mike shrugged. "Confident we'll get them back."

Puppet stammered with an "are you serious?" look. Actually, several of them were looking at Mike the same way.

"Okay," Hedy said, touched by Mike's confidence in them.

"Well, just one more then," Ruby said cheerfully. "What about-"

She was cut off as Goldy appeared again. She'd popped out for a bit to check on some things but now she looked murderous.

"Where is my special edition Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?!" she shrieked.

"...we have our fifth item and the building has guts today," Ruby whispered.

"Ruby! Did you take it?!" Goldy asked, a bit of hurt in her voice. Ruby got it for her after all, with Hedy making the trip to pick it up from the city. It was signed!

Ruby looked honestly offended. "I am reckless. Not dumb."

"The building did," Hedy said. "Sorry… We're playing a scavenger hunt to take care of the Doctor Who things."

Goldy's glare slowly turned to the nearest wall.

Hedy shuddered.

"Wait, the TV show you say we're from?" Rory asked. "Is it really called Doctor Who?"

"Not surprised," the Doctor said. "I get that question quite a lot."

"Best show ever," Ruby sighed dreamily.

Rory rubbed his temples. "This day is just a bit difficult—"

"Then let's not think about it too much, Dad," River said.

The Doctor clapped his hand to change the subject again. "Right then! Five items. Let's make teams then. Find everything quicker then eh?."

"And less of a bigger target as a group," Missy added.

The Doctor shot the strange woman another look. "Who are you?"

"Spoilers."

River looked like she was about to punch Missy. She did not like this woman.

Missy potentially said that just to screw with them, although those that knew the show weren't sure how she knew about that word. Still, maybe it was best to make sure Missy and River were in separate groups.

Ruby had never felt so torn on which team she wanted to be on. She wanted to hang out with Missy, but she also wanted to hang out with River and the Doctor. She let out a sad little whine before making the difficult decision.

"I wanna go with River!" she declared. She'd spent time with Missy already after all.

"Good," the Doctor said. "River, you take the scary teenager and one of the animatronics so they can look at the angels. Oh that's a good idea. At least someone who doesn't need to blink on each team."

"I'm staying with Hedy," Puppet said immediately.

Spring pouted at him. But he knew he shouldn't play. He just wasn't fast enough.

"I'm going with Ruby," Foxy said firmly. That wasn't predictable at all… But he was also the most likely to be able to keep up with the pair admittedly.

"Does it count if you don't have eyes?" Goldy asked mildly.

Olivia laughed at least although the other staff looked uncomfortable.

"Go find an angel and test it," Hedy said dryly. She frowned. "Don't actually please. That was a joke." She didn't want Goldy stuck in the past.

Puppet groaned while Goldy smiled and vanished.

"She is literally one of the biggest shits out of all of us," he scolded Hedy. "You should know this!"

Thankfully the ghost bear reappeared moments later. "It works," she told them simply. "Also, side note, I can put them in my poster. The angel screamed."

Even the Doctor looked shocked.

Spring started laughing so hard he was wheezing while everyone still looked stunned. That said a lot since he didn't need to breathe.

"I pity it," Ruby mused. "Then I remember every episode that had those fuckers and my pity vanishes." She shook her head and focused. "But anyway, who do you want to go with?"

Goldy pointed at Amy and Rory. "The ones most likely to need teleporting if something goes wrong. The building won't let its prank hurt Hedy. And Ruby is Ruby. And River is River. And the Doctor is literally the Doctor. And Missy is MIssy. The Ponds need emergency teleporting abilities more than the rest of you people with plot armour."

"What about us?" Henry asked, freaked out.

"Either stay in the staff room and the building will lock you up here. Or pick a team and help. And don't slow anyone down."

"The only people that really need to be involved are those that lost an item," Ruby added. "The rest are optional. I don't think all the bots should be involved either. Maybe groups of three? Me, River and Foxy. Hedy, Puppet and Mike. Goldy and the Ponds. Doctor and Missy are not allowed on a team together cause things will happen and I don't want the TARDIS mad at me."

The Doctor was clearly resisting the urge to ask why.

Missy pouted. "Well then who do you suggest I go with?'' She turned her concerning smile on those left and those that were caught up with the show or even had to deal with the fan discussions in the staff room during break knew that that was potentially a death sentence. None of the humans at least were jumping to volunteer.

Ruby answered without hesitation. "Mangle."

Mangle smiled back at Missy with a fair degree of confidence. Her teeth looked a bit more sharp than usual.

"And if you really wanted a third person?" Ruby mused. "BB. He acts dumb but that little shit and Mangle can keep up with you easy."

Jerry hummed at the way the teams were turning out. "Looks like each team has at least one smart person, someone to look at angels, and someone who can go in the vents. And someone who can kill something…"

Ruby looked over those left and looked thoughtful. "As for the Doctor, he'd run circles around most of you. So I'll ask the most important question. Who can run the fastest?"

Mike glanced at Hedy. He wanted to stay with her but if he was honest, if anything, the Doctor needed at least one person with him that at least knew the building. And he was faster than most of the bots besides Foxy and Mangle, and Ruby could always beat him in a race of course.

Ruby met his eyes and pulled a face. She was going to say something wildly unpopular now.

"Mike and Foxy should go with the Doctor."
"What?!" Foxy demanded, hackles already up.

"We need Mangle with Missy. And you foxes are the fastest bots. The Doctor inevitably ends up running so he needs people who can keep up. So you and Mike go with him. Someone needs to go with Hedy and Puppet though. Puppet's a stick and can't pick Hedy up if need be."

Puppet grumbled but it was true. Hedy patted his arm in mock sympathy.

"They should have someone with them who can fight," Jerry mused.

Puppet looked offended. But now wasn't the time to threaten the day staff.

Henry gave his best friend a look. "This isn't like your DND party, dude."

Jerry mocked him with a face.

"Uh, I can go with them?" Rory offered, trying not to look at his wife who was looking miffed already. He eyed Goldy. He had weird feelings about all the animatronics but at least he felt pretty confident nothing bad could happen to Amy if she stayed with the freaky teleporting bear. She seemed sweet at least.

Before anyone could make a crack about how they said they needed someone who could fight, Ruby produced a sword from somewhere and cheerfully handed it to him.

"That solves that! So we just need someone to go with Amy and Goldy. Although admittedly, Goldy is a trump card on her own. Amy's probably the safest out of everyone."
That comment seemed to help Rory a little. The Doctor seemed pleased too.

"Easier for me to teleport one person than two," Goldy pointed out.

"Someone still needs to go with you and River," Spring pointed out.

Ruby shrugged and looked at the woman. "Do we? Honestly I was fine earlier and River is badass. I was just going to blow the angels up again."

"And if you get sent back in time?" Freddy asked dryly.

"I get to play the games all over again!" Ruby said with a grin. "And the Doctor will go fetch River since he's a good husband who loves his wife very much."

Missy looked suddenly prickly.

Hedy wondered if the Master/Missy knew the Doctor had married. He/she hated humans so much that they probably would have taken a lot of offence for their frenemy. River being a hybrid probably wasn't a point in her favour anyway.

"You shouldn't be happy about that!" Foxy scolded, disgusted by the idea of him trying to kill Ruby again.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about the very tiny possibility that one of them actually gets me or River. This woman made a Dalek beg for mercy. I'm not particularly worried."

"Now we've started wasting time," Missy complained. She snapped her fingers at Mangle. "Come along puppy. And whatever you are." She gestured dismissively at BB who glanced at a frowning Mangle, amused.

"Hi!" he declared and everyone that knew him just knew that he was going to be as annoying as possible. He was returning to the days of the bowling ball.

"Right, five items to find. You find one, you bring it to the main room. We'll gather there. Five groups, so one item each," Ruby declared, ignoring the clear plotting going on between Mangle and BB.

Hey, she was a fan of Missy. But if she had to choose?

She'd pick River and the Doctor any day.

They all split up, the remaining staff and bots heading to the staff room where it should be safe. In theory.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Izzy asked.

Jerry strode to a cabinet and pulled out some DVDs. Hedy's collection that she was nice enough to leave at work. He added to it. He put one disk in the player and hopped on the couch.

"Homework," he said, looking far too amused as the Doctor Who theme song started playing.

"You can't be playing that!" Harrison said. "What if they come back?"
"They already know they're in a show."

"We are not watching the Midnight episode!" Bonnie demanded, getting a fair amount of nods in agreement.

The room descended into arguments over what episode from which season they were going to watch.

Spring ignored the arguing and looked at the door, wondering where Kitty was. The building liked her, despite her occasional "accidents" so he was pretty confident it wouldn't let her get hurt but he was still a bit worried.

---

Hedy had to admit that it was ironic that her group was made up of technically the more sensible people. 'Technically' for Puppet.

"Um, so we just wander around and hope we find one of these things and not a statue or Dalek or something?" Rory asked nervously.

"Yes," Puppet said shortly. Didn't matter that Rory was a tv show character. He still was cold to adults. Hedy was an exception of course. Mike and Jeremy were tolerated for Hedy's sake.

"Ray of sunshine you are," Rory said sarcastically.

Hedy snickered.

"Are you one of those sad mimes? Is that your thing?" Rory continued since he didn't like silence. "Do the kids like the sad mime thing? Is that a popular thing?"

Hedy was trying so hard not to laugh she was having trouble breathing. Mike had made similar comments once upon a time.

Puppet was staring at the man, his white eyes burning.

"Mimes don't talk though…" Rory mused.

Hedy wasn't sure if it was because Rory was used to a different level of danger than Puppet currently possessed, or if he was oblivious to the death glare.

"Are you French?" Rory asked.

This was hilarious.

---

Even if they weren't running (yet), the Doctor still walked fairly fast, a few steps ahead of them.

Foxy's strides were longer so he wasn't as bothered. Mike was panting a bit.

The Doctor poked his head into a party room. "Would the building leave clues?"

"Probably. It wouldn't make it impossible to find," Mike said.

Foxy nodded, still annoyed about having to split off from Ruby. He understood her logic, but he still didn't like it.

"It's worried about having made Ruby and Hedy upset now. It wouldn't make the game harder than it needs to be," he told them. "It can be pretty sneaky with clues though."

"I really do need to introduce the Old Girl to this place," the Doctor mused. "I have a feeling that they'll like each other."

"Ruby and Hedy are desperately hoping that you let them see the TARDIS before you go," Foxy deadpanned. "Ruby at least has been suppressing her fangirling. She won't anymore when everything's solved and she asks you to autograph something. Probably her limited edition fourth doctor scarf."

The Doctor smiled. "I would make a great TV show," he mused. "Like one of those sciencey shows for kids." He hummed the Bill Nye the Science Guy tune.

"Please no," Foxy complained. "Ruby's a menace with that tune and I just got rid of it. Dammit she really is a mini you. I can't even be mad at you for that!"

"Oh I hope not," the Doctor said, serious for a moment. "There doesn't need to be more than one of me."

"Except there's twel–" Mike cut off, realising his mistake a moment too late. He shut his mouth so hard his teeth clicked.

Foxy facepalmed.

The Doctor just stared at him, apparently stunned speechless for a moment.

"As Ruby said once," Foxy muttered. "The universe needs some healthy chaos. So the Doctor can't go yet. Who else is going to annoy the villains?"

The Doctor looked at them, unreadable as he sorted the potentially worrying information dropped on him. He looked Mike in the eye.

Mike swallowed. "Spoilers," he said simply, then walked away quickly.

The Doctor followed, cracking a wry smile.

Foxy cracked up laughing. "You've always wanted to say that!" he accused, following after the Time Lord.

Dammit, he liked the guy.

Mike huffed out a breath, somewhat hoping something would erase the character's memories of this trip. Or at least pieces.

One could hope…

---

Missy was starting to see why Ruby had been so certain of her choice with Mangle. The robot was… bitingly scathing when she tried any of her usual tricks.

"So Puppy, tell me a little bit about yourself?" she had asked, skipping backwards and not looking where she was going with a disarming smile.

Mangle had looked so unimpressed. She snorted. "I like anime and radio dramas. Nothing you care about."

"Oh I don't know about that," Missy said.

Mangle smiled at her. "Let me make something very clear." She stepped so Missy had to turn her back to a wall and stop walking. She wasn't very tall but she was still taller than the Time Lady. "You're not the only murderer in this building."

She and BB turned to keep walking.

"OOoh scary," Missy said with a laugh as she pushed off the wall and followed. "Oh that's no surprise sweetie. River Song hm?"

Mangle glanced at her. "Oh her too."

"Mangle bit people's heads off!" BB declared cheerfully. "Ruby says she's one of the toughest bots to beat along with Foxy. She says that Mangle is feral. A feral gremlin."

"Ruby is a feral gremlin," Mangle shot back immediately.

BB had to concede that point.

"Do you think Ruby would bite someone's head off? If she could dislocate her jaw enough? Like a snake?" He wondered, voice obnoxiously loud.

Mangle snorted. "She would try just to see if she could. She'd do it on bad people though."

"Oh you murdered good people then?" Missy asked, amused. She tutted. "Shame on you dear."

BB cocked his head. "You committed genocide," he deadpanned, strangely at odds with his usual way of talking. "Besides, Ruby says that Mangle is a good person. She never said that about you," he added cheerfully. "Did you know that a lot of the fandom ships you with the Doctor? Ruby says it's more like a strained sibling relationship."

Mangle didn't even have to say anything. BB was in a mood apparently.

"As if our relationship could fit into any of those silly little boxes stupid apes make. It's far more complicated than that."

Mangle snickered. "Right. Complicated. Definitely siblings. Besides, the Doctor loves River." She smirked slowly. "After all, he told her his name."

It might make her a bad person, but Mangle enjoyed the expression that comment earned her. Fury, confusion, and utter shock.

"He what?!"

---

Goldy listened in amusement as Amy muttered about her husband. She was both proud of Rory for offering to help someone, stepping out of his comfort zone to do it. But she was also pissed since he wasn't with her and everyone knew how much she loved him and wanted him close.

"Rory is a good man," she said.

Amy jumped a bit, maybe forgetting Goldy was there, floating a few feet above her head. "Hmm? Oh yes, he is. The best."

Goldy smirked. "He'll be okay. Ruby said you're the safest with me, but to be honest, if he's with Hedy, he's probably safer. The Building adores Hedy."

"Unless it decides to use him as a shield for her," Amy pointed out.

Goldy shrugged. "Maybe, but the building wouldn't want to traumatise her. It just wants her and Ruby to have fun."

Amy frowned. "You have a lot of faith in this place."
"I do."

"What is it?"

Goldy hummed. "No clue. It's always been sort of alive. But it does this thing where it messes with your head a little. Just enough that you don't notice anything strange."

"Like a perception filter," Amy said.

"Exactly."

"How do you know what a perception filter is?"

"It's in your show. In a few episodes. There's the episode where you first met the Doctor and it had Prisoner Zero using a perception filter so you don't notice it for twelve years."

Amy looked a bit disturbed at the reminder.

Goldy politely changed the topic so that she didn't bring up more bad memories.

"Don't you and River want to burn Ruby's fez? It's hideous."

"Ugh, why'd he have to pick a fez, of all things? Why'd she have to copy it? Sure."

---

River looked up at the shelves. "Hmm. This could be a problem."

They were in Parts and Services. But not the right Parts and Services.

Ruby looked up, up, up at the impossibly high shelves that disappeared into the impossible distance. She couldn't really blame the building for deciding to mix it up with some old favourites, trying to appease her with the fun memories of what happened with the ghost hunters.

A bigger on the inside Parts and Services.

"Hmm," she hummed in agreement. "I guess we'll just have to get creative," she turned to give River a grin. "At least it won't be boring. I mean, it's not up to the usual standards of your adventures with the Doctor, but it's not dull at least."

She tested the shelves to see how sturdy they were before turning back.

"So, River Song," she started, leaning back against the shelves. "What do you think are the chances of you guys remembering anything that happens here when you go back?"

"I can't really say," she mused. "This is all a rather strange event admittedly."

Ruby nodded her acceptance of that answer. "This has certainly been one of the weirdest nights here so far. And that's saying something. I'm kinda glad that it happened though. Meeting you and the Doctor was the coolest."

She looked amused. "And Missy?"
Ruby leaned back and studied the darkness above them that hid the ceiling.

"I like Missy. She's a fun character. But the difference is that I respect you and the Doctor. And that's not something I give easily. Do you know how long I imitated the Doctor for when I got into the show? I drove everyone mad. And then concerned them all when I started imitating you after you got introduced," she chuckled. "I declared that I wanted to be a time-travelling assassin at some point. They sent me back to therapy."

She glanced over her shoulder. "There's a Dalek incoming."

River smiled. "Want a gun?"

Ruby positively beamed at her.

---

Hedy still had her tablet with her. She flicked through the cameras and checked on the other teams while guiding herself, Rory, and Puppet. They hadn't run into anything yet, something that would have annoyed Ruby and maybe a few of the other groups. But Team Sensible was grateful. She couldn't see into Parts and Services for some reason but she didn't think much of it since she had seen Ruby and River go that way.

Who knew what the building was up to to suck up to Ruby since she was still pouting.

"Which one are we looking for?" Puppet asked. "It would be better to focus on clues for one thing while still keeping an eye out for anything else."

"I can't even answer that," Hedy sighed. "Because if we state what we're looking for, the building will make sure we never find it."

Puppet only looked more sour if that was possible. Rory gave an awkward laugh as they kept walking.

---

"So do you know what you are?" The Doctor asked him.

Foxy blinked, not expecting the question. "What?"

"I scanned you lot," the Doctor explained. "Nothing alien pops up whatsoever, nothing special about your power source, except it being a few decades ahead of its time, but this is another universe and another timeline so that's not too strange. I suppose it's not impossible that you wouldn't correlate to anything where we're from."

Mike just listened. "Yeah there's technology in your world that probably could never exist here."

"However," the Doctor continued. "Something isn't right. Your power source is big, true. But what's special is that it can recharge itself. Perpetual energy."

Foxy nodded. He never paid any attention to all that tech stuff about how they were made. "Ask Puppet."

"I would but that isn't even the strangest part. Your power source shouldn't be able to charge itself and your harddrives shouldn't be able to handle all that wonderful personality you have up there. Especially the spindly one's."

Mike laughed. "Wonderful? Puppet and Foxy are too grumpy to be called wonderful."

Foxy shot him a glare.

Mike gestured at the bot. "It drives Hedy crazy too. There's nothing scientific that says they should be alive. Their code is crazy and always growing. There's so much more than their hard drives should be able to fit and yet it can still be accessed through the hard drive. And yeah. They don't need to be plugged into anything to charge. They just sleep and that's enough."

"Pretty sure we're just magic," Foxy said dryly.

"That's unlikely." The Doctor said, although he would be thrilled if it were true.

Foxy paused. "You hear that?"

The two men stopped.

"Hear what?"

"Daleks," Foxy grimaced. "In the Cove."

"In the what?" the Doctor asked.

"My room," Foxy said, pointing at the door.

They quieted down and snuck closer.

"REMOVE THE FOREIGN MATERIAL. REMOVE THE FORIEGN MATERIAL!"

Mike peeked in, carefully, and slapped a hand over his mouth to not laugh.

There was a Dalek with Hedy's wrench stuck to its side like a magnet, spinning around as it tried to throw it off. Two other Daleks were in the room just standing there, apparently unsure over what to do.

"Well, I don't know whether to be happy that we found it or mad that they're in my room," Foxy grumbled.

He scowled when the Dalek knocked into the stage. He didn't like people who weren't Ruby (and Mangle even if he wouldn't admit it) messing with the Cove.

"Let's knock the other two into the ball pit," he suggested.

Mike stared at him. "No 'Ruby' suggestions."
"Oh right, you guys don't know that the building made it bottomless for Ruby," he mused.

"When did that happen?!"

"Uh, about a month ago. Don't worry, it's normal during the day. Ruby went proper scuba diving down there the one night."

"That's where she disappeared to with the scuba equipment?! Hedy thought she was just messing around with some secret fish tank!"

The Doctor had another curious look. "Are you sure it's bottomless at the moment?"

"Most likely," Foxy said.
"Brilliant," The Doctor said. "Stay here. I'm going to reuse an idea. You two push them in then get out of the way."

Before Foxy or Mike could stop him, the Doctor ran into the room.
"Look at me, I'm a target!" He only stopped for a moment before diving behind Foxy's ship in the back where it was solid ground instead of the ball pit.

Foxy and Mike shared a glance but didn't dare hesitate as the Daleks started shouting and shooting.
"THE DOCTOR IS DETECTED!"
"EXTERMINATE!"

"Ruby is going to be so mad she missed this. I hope the building is recording somehow," Foxy grumbled. "But I also don't want this to be a valid strategy for her."

Mike didn't point out all the times he'd heard that the teen had done exactly this already in all the stories he'd heard. And some of the moments he'd seen himself.

They both ran up behind the two extra Daleks, Foxy having the wherewithal to put himself between Mike and the third one just in case. He could probably take a shot better than a human could.

The Daleks screamed as they were rolled into the ballpit before they could spin their guns around.

Mike didn't realise until after that the Building must have brought their shields down. It was too easy to touch the things.

"Daleks can't swim right?" Foxy mused as their shouting slowly grew fainter and fainter as the two sank.

He grabbed Mike by the collar and started running as the third Dalek began shooting at them.

Mike choked before he got his feet under him as Foxy practically threw him behind the ship with the Doctor.

The Doctor and Mike shared a look and both climbed into the ship through the portholes (that were made for much smaller human shaped creatures, like children, for example).

"Hey pepper can!" Mike taunted as he scrambled up the inside of the ship. He tossed a ball at the Dalek and ducked as it shot at him.

"Is Foxy going for the wrench then?" The Doctor asked as he also threw a ball.

"No fucking clue!" Mike admitted. "Seems like it!"
"Oi! Language," the Doctor admonished, almost seeming amused. He strangely felt at ease even with the Dalek there.

Mike peered out at the Dalek and made a thoughtful 'huh' noise. "I didn't know that Ruby left her flaming chainsaw here… Wait she promised Hedy that she got rid of that thing! That was a sugar high invention!"

Foxy seemed quite happy to be using it though. With the building keeping their shield down, it was like a flaming knife through… cold steel butter? Mike was going to leave the mental metaphors out of this actually.

The Doctor knew he shouldn't be okay with the casual murder, even with Daleks. It was almost unfair with this as a game to the Building and it clearly disadvantaging their enemies. But he didn't exactly stop the animatronic.

And Foxy was brutally… efficient. He didn't seem to take any delight in it like Ruby or River would. But he did get the job done very well.

In the end, he picked up the wrench and tossed it up before catching it. "Not a scratch," he promised Mike as he strolled away from the melted wreckage.

Mike shuddered at the reminder that Foxy was a little too familiar with taking life and avoided looking at the roasted remains of something that wasn't metal in the ex-Dalek carnage. Foxy was pretty desensitised to it by now along with most of the others. Only BB really got squeamish now.

"Hey Doctor! You think you can take this little toy of Ruby's with you when you leave? She threw it away five times and the building keeps bringing it back for some reason."

"Oooh River would like that. I'll give it to her."

Foxy gestured at the Doctor. "Husband goals, Mike. Give Hedy gifts like that," he joked.

Mike huffed and snatched the wrench before walking off, trying to hide his flushing face from the fox. "I give great gifts. I am a great husband- will be- could be- ah shut up!"

Foxy couldn't stop laughing.

---

Mangle stared at the Cyberman like it was stupid. Which it was…
"State your designation!" the Cyberman demanded again. It wasn't attacking.

Missy could have at least warned them before she turned the corner and then suddenly pushed Mangle and BB in front of her. Nevermind. Of course she wouldn't.

BB and Mangle shared a look.

"I think it thinks we're Cybermen," BB said with a concerning grin, voicing Mangle's theory.

"Seems like! And I'm your poor prisoner being brought for upgrading!" Missy said, jumping into the ruse enthusiastically.

"Oh but that's a lost cause," Mangle informed her gravely. "Sometimes you've just got to give up on a bad model. Not a fixer upper here."

"What is the meaning of this exchange?" the cyberman asked, unable to get the sarcasm.

"She would call it an insult. I would call it the truth," Mangle told him promptly. "Now," she gestured at the cyberman behind it. "I'm going to need you to hand over that bat."
Betty was somehow stuck to the cyberman's back and Mangle was mildly concerned that they'd used her as an 'upgrade'.

The Building wouldn't like its girlfriend being treated like that.

Mangle shook her head violently. NOPE! This was not one of her fanfictions. Stay focused.

"What is your designation?" the cyberman in front of her asked again.

Now, there were a few ways Mangle could go about this. She could play along. She could try throwing Missy under the bus a bit more. She could just try the weave-in-and-out-and-grab-Betty-and-run tactic she was fairly good at.

But she was pretty over the night and not enjoying Missy's company at all. So she chose the more chaotic option.

Tilting her head back, Mangle looked at the ceiling. "I'm telling Ruby that you let some cyberman use her favourite ever weapon that she's had since childhood as a mere accessory unless you give me a suitable weapon."

The chocolate/caramel bomb launcher that dropped into her hands would have to do.

Missy raised her eyebrows, noting the smell of peppermint and the red and white stripes decorating the weapon.

"It's the wrong season but whatever. Yippee ki yay motherfluffers."

One day, she would make Bruce Willis proud and say that line right.

"Language," BB said with a smirk, because he was a little shit. He calmly grabbed Missy's sleeve and readjusted her position.

She at least seemed too curious to notice before it was too late.

The explosions could be heard all around the building and Missy was 'collateral damage' that Mangle was 'oh so apologetic' about.

Mangle plucked a chocolate covered Betty out of the carnage and walked away whistling Jingle Bells.

"That's the wrong season," BB pointed out.

"I don't care. I'm over Halloween."

A Cyberman tried to get up. Tried.

Mangle slammed the bat down on its head.

Now of course, Missy didn't have a crush on some primitive human-made robot with sentience, but she was definitely amused, if a little irritated that her dress was messed up and she didn't get to have as much fun.

She wondered if this explained the Doctor's affection for his TARDIS a little more…

---

"Here kitty kitty…" Amy said lamely with little kissy noises as the cat ran away again. She and Rory didn't have any pets. Too risky when they could be gone at any time and for who knows how long, but she liked to think she was good with cats.

The orange cat that ran out in front of her and Goldy was intent on proving her wrong though.

"Damn, we should have brought Spring," Goldy sighed. "Or Ruby. Kitty only listens to Spring but damn does that cat love Ruby."

"Can't you teleport and grab her?" Amy asked, getting a little impatient.

"And scare her? Spring would have my head. Okay, no. Spring would be sad and Hedy would kill me over that. Kitty doesn't like teleportation."

Amy took her word for it and groaned. Then she paused. "Is her name seriously Kitty?"

"Look, none of us are good at names," Goldy retorted. She looked across the hallway and bit back a groan as Kitty wiggled into an open vent, Mike's keys jangling from her collar as she disappeared. "We need catnip," Goldy suddenly declared. "Ruby uses it to make Kitty leave her alone, but we can't tell Spring. He says it's a cat gateway drug. He's kind of a helicopter parent."

Amy opened her mouth and closed it a few times. "That's…strangely adorable…"

Goldy beamed at her. "My little brother is very adorable," she said proudly. "Now. Catnip. I'll grab some from Ruby's stash. Just… don't go anywhere or run into trouble in the next thirty seconds."
She vanished from view.

Amy crossed her arms and looked down the hallway. After about twenty seconds she tapped her foot. She walked down the hallway to the vent. It was strangely large and at the floor level. And open. That seemed like a terrible idea for a children's restaurant. Kids were curious and loved exploring.

"Kitty?" she cooed.

As she got a good look, she found a post it note stuck just inside the entrance.

MY VENTS. Enter at your own peril. Now upgraded with firecrackers. There was a cartoonish drawing of who she was going to guess was Ruby done in red.

Fair enough.

Amy glanced back at where she used to be standing to see if Goldy was back and stiffened.

"Fuck…"

The Doctor didn't like her swearing, but he wasn't there now was he?
She stared at the angel as she felt around the vent. She would fit barely. Carefully she crawled into the vent backwards, keeping an eye on the angel the whole time. It was too big and…stony…to follow her into the vent. Right? Those wings would be too in the way at least.

As she backed up in the vent, another post it note caught her eye.

Last warning. Just saying.

A few seconds of backing up just as the angel disappeared from view had her finding another note.

You shall not pass!

"Oh this is like wading through the fridge on the TARDIS and figuring out which leftovers belong to River," she muttered to herself.

Outside, Goldy appeared again to find an angel sticking its head into the vent and clearly trying to get in.

"...well, she is River's mother. Maybe asking her to stay out of trouble was asking a little much. I hope she didn't get past the Lord of the Rings note though. Ruby was awfully proud of those firecracker upgrades."

She grabbed the angel and deposited her far away from anyone, debating her poster for a second. But the screaming of the first was annoying already. Mildly she marvelled that she was faster at teleporting than an angel was at sending her to the past. Whether or not that was the Building's fault didn't stop the bit of pride.

"Amy? I got the angel!" she called into the vent, floating upside down to get a better view. No answer for a minute. She sighed. The building liked to muffle sound in the vents. Part of the reason why no one could hear Ruby banging around in there, although most of that was her natural sneakiness. But the building liked to help out after the Toy's game. Would it really do the same here?

"That's nice," Amy called back. "I'm making eye contact with a stick of dynamite or something so I'm kinda stuck here!"

Goldy thought for a moment. "I'm seventy-seven percent sure that it's just a firecracker she disguised as dynamite," she offered.

Honestly, getting sent back in time was safer than going into those vents… The Doctor could just fetch her from the past. The vents were a whole other story. The building really had let Ruby turn them into her own little world in there.

"Oh those are great odds," Amy said sarcastically.

"Well, the building rarely lets her bring actual dynamite in. So the odds aren't really all that bad."

There was a moment of silence before Amy spoke again.

"This bloody cat is rubbing its butt in my face."

"Kitty doesn't like when people trespass on Ruby's territory," Goldy admitted. "She's the only one allowed in there."

"I was wondering why the cat didn't set anything off," Amy grumbled. She eyed the cat scoldingly. "You're as much a menace."
Kitty mewled out a sound that seemed like half a growl. At least she didn't scratch Amy's face for trespassing. Maybe she sensed the human was a friend?

After a few seconds of thought, Goldy waved the catnip around. If there was a risk of an explosion, she didn't want Kitty getting caught in the crossfire after all. Spring would be so sad if she got hurt. The cat came trotting out happily to play with it moments later.

"Okay Amy, you're just gonna have to risk it and move it. If you just try and get out now, the worst you'll get is probably some singed hair. But if you go deeper, I'll have to get Ruby to get you out. Physics aren't right in the vents. You don't want to be there very long."

"Actually," a new voice startled Amy, "I think Ruby booby trapped this one so it goes off if you try to go back."

Amy jumped and hit her head on the top of the vent.

The kid staring face to face with her looked amused. "Sorry," the girl said dryly, not sounding very sorry at all. "Ginny. Nice to meet you."

Goldy bit back a groan. "What do you want?" she asked.

"Just wanted to see what the heck is going on," Ginny called around Amy. "Everything feels weird! What the hell did Ruby do!?"

Amy tried to shake off the cognitive dissonance of a six-year-old swearing and settled for staring in confusion. Who the heck was this kid?

"Ruby was decorating for Halloween," Goldy said a little defensively. "The building decided to mess around today since Ruby and Hedy were stressed." She paused for a moment. "She's a ghost Amy," she added. "And she can be a bitch when she feels like it. Don't let her appearance fool you. Timmy is the only one I'd say you can trust. But Benji's a close second. Ginny is a capricious bitch though."

"Meanie. Words hurt," Ginny said and the tone made Amy believe Goldy in the moment.

"So do migraines from possession," Goldy bit back, tone harsher than Amy had heard so far.

Ginny muttered quietly enough that Goldy couldn't hear. "I didn't do it last time…"

Goldy took a moment to get the keys off of a very happy Kitty's collar and sighed. "Can't you just let her out, Building? We found the keys. If Amy gets lost in there then we'll need to interrupt Ruby's fun to get her out."

"I can help her get out," Ginny suddenly said. "We know where Ruby puts her stuff in here."

"Sure," Goldy deadpanned. "I have absolute faith that you know exactly what Ruby puts in the vents when she can sense when you're around and she still doesn't trust you an inch. Don't be so cocky. You know where forty percent is at most."

Ginny glared, luckily not at Amy. "It's easier to lose Michael in here…" her voice lost a bit of the bite at the new name Amy hadn't heard.

Goldy took a deep, unnecessary breath. "Which is why Ruby hasn't ghost-proofed it in a way that doesn't affect her. Ginny, the only entity in this place that knows everything in those vents besides Ruby is the building. Which rotates her traps for her as a favour."

She closed her eyes, hoping that Amy didn't mind what she was about to do.
"If you want to help, which I think you actually do, teleport Amy out please?"

Ginny got very still and Any wondered if that was uncertainty on the kid's face. "...I…I haven't teleported someone…alive before…without you."

Goldy frowned. Ginny had though? She teleported Hedy right in the beginning… oh wait. The building considered Hedy a ghost even back then…

"Well, I'm sure you can," she said after a moment. "Timmy's done it before."

"Hey," Amy said gently, seeing a bit of distress from the girl. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I'll figure it out."

Ginny scoffed at her. "Not before you get blown up, lady."

Amy was quiet for a moment. "Goldy seems pretty confident you can do it. I bet she's right. But still, we can figure out something else if you're not comfortable with it."

Ginny looked a bit shocked at being given the choice.

Goldy stayed quiet. She was pretty sure that Ginny knew more about teleporting than any of the other kids since she'd learned so much when possessing her. But Amy was right. Teleporting could be scary and Goldy herself had been nervous about taking others for a long time.

"You could get stuck in a wall," Ginny said, trying to scare Amy off.

Amy smiled sweetly at the girl. "I'm sure it will be okay. If you can get me close enough to Goldy, she can probably grab me before I get hurt."

Ginny stared. She made a face. "You're crazy." She wasn't saying 'no' though.

Amy just sort of shrugged at her statement. She was a friend of the Doctor's after all.
"Probably. I'm just finding it a little hard to breathe so maybe that's why. So are we doing this or are you going to lead me out of here?"

Ginny pursed her lips. She reached forward.

Amy flinched as the girl's icy hand sunk into her shoulder like mist.

"Don't hold your breath," Ginny said. She remembered how Hedy would get her breath knocked out when she was teleported. It was probably better not to have a balloon of air in your chest when teleported. "Your lungs might pop." She couldn't resist scaring the woman just a tiny bit.

Amy breathed out and between one blink and the next she was suddenly not in a claustrophobic space and now laying on her stomach on a somewhat grimy black and white tiled floor. She coughed, suddenly nauseous. But she didn't throw up.

Goldy leaned over her, noting that she was still all in one piece.

"Nice job," she told Ginny. She did end up helping after all. "Let's get you back to your husband then, shall we Amy?"

Ginny retreated, rubbing her hand and eyeing Amy distrustfully. She ignored Kitty hissing at her even if it upset her. She loved cats.

"What do I tell the others?" she asked, looking at Goldy as she jumped up to float.

"Uh, avoid the angels. I'm pretty sure none of the others can touch you, but the angels are kind of a question mark. Maybe just stay hidden until we sort this out honestly. Tell them that the building did something that actually stressed Hedy and Ruby out a fair amount."

The ceiling gave a sad whine at that.

Ginny nodded. She and the others could sense the stress. Part of the reason she came to investigate. Then she suddenly sneered. "Do I…have to warn…" She paused to think of what to call him. "Purple Guy?"

Goldy snorted. "Fuck no. If he sees the angels, maybe he'll think he's finally being sent down to hell. I know he never watched Doctor Who-like shows so he won't know what the hell is going on. If he does ask, pretend you don't know what the heck he's talking about. Now I hope one of them stalks him…"

Ginny's frown broke into a tiny smirk. She glanced at Amy one more time. "Bye."

Amy waved at the empty space for a moment. She looked at Goldy. "You didn't mention there were children ghosts here." It was almost an accusation. The implication was upsetting.

Goldy shrugged a little. "We were hoping they'd stay hidden like usual. They're a… sore topic for most of us." She glanced at Amy. "Their murderer's ghost is here to. It's kind of a mess."

Amy's eyes widened and she glanced at the spot Ginny was a moment before. "That's horrible," she hissed.

Goldy hummed. "He tried to kill Hedy too. And Ruby it turns out. Like I said, it's a mess. Just… don't ask them. If you really want to know… ask Freddy. He's better at being objective about it all."

"Has anyone tried to help them? I don't know how it works but in all the movies and stuff, ghosts need to move on, right?"

Goldy had to fight the sneer that tried to appear on her face. She knew Amy wouldn't understand it.

"We tried," she said shortly, voice tight. "They spat in our faces. There's a lot of blood staining this place Amy. And most of it can be traced back to those kids."

Amy hid her disturbed shock after a second and nodded stiffly, getting that Goldy didn't want to explain further. Still, she couldn't resist a last word before she dropped the topic. "She seemed…I don't know…sad? Like a kid playing tough."

Goldy shook her head slightly. "She's mostly upset that Hedy won't talk to her after she and her friends tried to kill her brother and boyfriend." She forced herself to calm down, biting back harsher words. "Ruby seems to think there's something left to salvage there. I guess Ruby's like the Doctor in that way. I don't know if she's right, but Ginny's hurt me too much for me to really believe that so easily."

Amy hummed. "And I thought my life was complicated…" she muttered. She straightened up. "So which way to the 'Main Room'?"

Goldy grabbed her arm. "We're taking the shortcut," she told her in an overly cheerful voice.

Getting teleported twice in succession proved to be too much for Amy to handle and she threw up moments after they arrived in the main room where two other groups were already waiting.

The Doctor ran over to check on her, Mike following helpfully with a trashcan. A bit late for it honestly.

Goldy just wanted her damn book back.

---

Hedy had noticed the activity from Ginny in the building but she was stubbornly ignoring it for the moment.

She was too busy studying the conspicuously placed crafted box where it rested innocently on top of Puppet's box.

Puppet was too busy staring at an angel to properly fume about his prize room being included in the game. Also, the craft box permanently leaked glitter and that was all over his box now.

Rory at least seemed amused by the muttered string of curses from the robot. "You don't talk like that in front of kids do you?"

"Of course not," Puppet snapped.

"Where'd you even learn how to swear?"

"That's a secret apparently," Hedy said, looking around the prize corner suspiciously. "I think the answer is Michael, his creator, and probably horror movies."

Puppet shot her a glare but it was hard for him to be really angry with her these days. He still kept the angel in his peripheral vision though.

Rory checked the exits again, still holding the sword. He actually hadn't put it away the whole time. Not like he had a sheath or anything, but he always held it at the ready.

"This seems too easy," he admitted, gesturing at the box. "Are one of the items really just… sitting in there?"

"Along with whatever new gadget Ruby decided would be funny to set up inside," Puppet deadpanned.

"Oh I really hope it's not Goldy's book in there… or if it is, that it's protected from the glitter somehow," Hedy whispered.

The Building wouldn't do something so risky as pissing Goldy off, but then again, it didn't have as strong a connection with her so maybe it wasn't aware how upset the bear would be. Or it didn't think she could retaliate.

It took the book in the first place after all… That took guts.

"Rory, you keep watching the door," Hedy said, taking charge. "And the angel."

Rory nodded. "Got it." He was taking his role so seriously.

Hedy could see why Amy liked him. No she didn't really have a crush on Rory but he reminded her of Mike. She blinked at the realisation. There were a lot of similarities between Rory and Mike. Good hearts, both of them.

She focused on the task at hand. "Puppet, very carefully—"

"And why am I the one opening it?" Puppet interrupted sternly. "I'm watching the angel. Rory will need to blink."

"Because I can't jump away fast enough," Hedy lied. Really she just didn't want to get splashed with the paint and glitter she suspected was in there. She also didn't want Puppet to blame her when it all landed on his box underneath as well…

He didn't need to hear that though.

She wondered if Puppet wanted a new box. He had that same one for years as far as she could tell and he valued it for privacy, not for emotional reasons like his music box. It was getting a bit worn down, the paint faded at the edges and the red painted bow stripes were not vibrant anymore. It was originally supposed to have a giant wire-supported bow on the top of the box too, but that had been ripped off or lost ages ago.

Puppet let out a long-suffering sigh that rattled his voice box. It was more of a waste of time to fight Hedy on the faulty logic. "Switch places," he said.

Hedy came over so she could look at the angel.
Puppet checked she could see fine before disappearing behind them.
"Blinking," Rory said.

"Ok," Hedy said, listening to the sound of Puppet dragging the craft box, probably hoping it wouldn't go off and he could limit damage to his box.

No such luck.

An explosion rocked the room and Hedy flinched as cold paint splashed the back of her head and Puppet let out another string of curses, these ones more vicious.

She and Rory both startled and unfortunately blinked at the same time at the shock of the explosions they couldn't see or brace for.

But the angel strangely didn't come closer. It had changed position though. Its hands were down and it was staring behind them.

Hedy never thought she would see an expression like concern or confusion on a Weeping Angel's face. It made her unexpectedly laugh.
"I'm looking at it now," Puppet grumbled morosely as he came next to her and wetly slapped a plastic bundle to Hedy's chest, getting paint on the Halloween themed graphic t-shirt.

Hedy let out a wordless complaint at the mess before inspecting the book. Apparently, the building had wrapped it in plastic and tape to protect it. She was surprised it had that much coordination for something that detailed. She couldn't look at it to check if it was really Goldy's book and didn't want to take the plastic off and risk getting paint on it. She felt that it was the right book and that was enough.

Rory made sure the angel was taken care of and turned his head to look into the room and let out a low whistle.

Hedy looked and struggled between cracking up and looking at Puppet in pity. The choice was taken from her when she noticed the outline of Puppet on the wall, an afterimage made from the shadow of a not-paint-splattered area. That was a lot of a particular colour.

Puppet growled as she laughed, wiping paint out of one of his eyes.

"You look good in TARDIS blue," Rory commented. "Where did the building get it?"
"Ruby probably mixed it herself to get the shade for tonight," Hedy said, although she was concerned what was the original plan for the paint bomb if the Building hadn't taken it for this game.

Maybe she didn't want to know.

She squinted at the building as they moved away from the angel and headed to the Main Room. Despite the angel, and the bomb, that was way too easy.

The building whined a little. It really couldn't make her happy tonight…

---

Ruby was an excellent shot. She made a note to thank Jeremy for those shooting lessons. It would be awkward as hell but she could do it. Or maybe she should just give him a coupon for one free prank-less night. She and Jeremy hadn't many Saturdays that lined up where they could go to that old man's farm and use Jeremy's small collection of guns, but he had mentioned that she was very good and always improving.

Very good indeed.

The Dalek she shot through an eyestalk before ducking behind and scaling another wall of impossible shelves did not have the same sentiment.

"This is the best laser tag ever!" she crowed happily as the levitating Dalek screamed and careened into the ground, knocking over some shelves.

Ruby grinned as she watched the shelves topple like dominos into the void of Parts and Services.

River chuckled from her own little platform across an aisle. If she was being honest, she was enjoying the makeshift 3D maze and Pacman-like game they found themselves in.

It was certainly a change to have a partner who wasn't trying to limit her damage for a change. Ruby revelled in the chaos and violence. River just knew that if the Doctor spent long with her, he'd be both fond and frustrated with her constantly. She was endearing and a menace all in one energetic package.

She rather wanted to keep the girl. She'd certainly keep Rory and Amy on their toes.

"This night is amazing," Ruby exclaimed again as she knocked another Dalek out of the air.

It was mostly impressive that she'd kept her costume all together despite the activity. Even the damn fez was still in place… Her husband was not a good role model when it came to clothes… Poor dear was very proud of her outfit though so River didn't have the heart to shoot the fez off yet.

"I'm going to climb for the screwdriver!" Ruby called as they temporarily cleared the area. The Daleks on the floor were stuck in some glue-like creation of the teen's and they were having a surprisingly difficult time getting free.

"I'll cover you," River said, mirth in her eyes as the girl started scaling the shelves for a blinking green light high above them.

Ruby clearly didn't have any qualms about heights.

The teenager made a few questionable moves as she climbed but eventually she reached her goal as River went back to shooting the Daleks that started rising again.

"I totally feel like Indiana Jones right now," Ruby whispered to herself as she stared at the screwdriver. "This is a priceless artefact of history. And I'm about to touch it!" She squealed softly to herself.

The sonic screwdriver blinked at her temptingly, like a green, light-emitting jewel letting out a gentle warble as it idled.

Ruby had never picked something up so gently in her entire life. Betty would be jealous but this was a once in a lifetime chance.

"Let's get you home to daddy," she cooed to the screwdriver. She definitely forgave the building for everything now.

River honestly thought that it was adorable how the teenager clambered back down the shelves looking like she was holding some priceless, fragile treasure. The amount of times that screwdriver had been dropped, thrown and that one time someone managed to shoot it had all proven that it was fairly tough.

"Out of my way, you genocidal eggbeaters!" Ruby crowed happily.

Turned out she could shoot even better when motivated by protecting her new treasure, so the Daleks fell fairly quickly and both of them made it down to the ground safely where a couple of the killer robots were still stuck in the glue.

"Aw you didn't even need me," River chuckled with a croon as she holstered her gun. She looked up at the jungle gym of shelves disappearing into the dark, still impressed with the Building's ability. So very much like the TARDIS.

"All the moral support," Ruby told her, not looking up from the screwdriver. She looked like a normal, giddy teenager for the first time since River had met her.

River didn't even bother asking for the screwdriver. Honestly it was probably safer with the teen than with her.

"You're a very resourceful girl," River complimented. "Reminds me a bit of myself at your age. Or something like it." She winked. "Don't tell my mother. That's not necessarily a good thing, darling."

Ruby grinned widely, looking like Christmas came early. "It's a good thing," she breathed. "This is my new happy memory. This is now my safe place thought. You have no idea how much I'm freaking out inside right now."

River laughed. "You're so sweet. I'm tempted to steal you. The Doctor would have to put up with it. Been a while since he's had a child around." She shook her head at the idea. She couldn't just kidnap someone, although admittedly the way Ruby went about things certainly made her wonder about the girl's parents. She shouldn't have room to talk. Her upbringing was not exactly normal.

Ruby snickered, although she didn't look too opposed to the idea. "Foxy would throw a fit," she said as they started making their way back, leaving the Daleks to figure out things for themselves. "Besides, I have a feeling I'd start to irritate you at some point. Even the bots and Hedy need a break between nights."

"Sounds like a challenge," River playfully needled the girl. "I don't travel with the Doctor all the time either, you know. I rather think one psychopath per TARDIS is enough most days." She didn't understand the hurt look that suddenly flashed across Ruby's face before the girl schooled her expression. She didn't seem offended by being called a psychopath. There was something else.

Ruby resolved to not even think about the Angels Take Manhattan at that moment. Or the fact that's what River had said to the Doctor right after losing her parents and he asked her to travel with him.

She was definitely not thinking about any 'spoilers' now. She wanted to keep the moment happy.

"What's it like?" Ruby asked after a moment, looking down as she studied the screwdriver (still handling it like it was fine china). "Travelling all over like that? That kind of freedom?"

She sounded a bit wistful.

Most people asked River what travelling with the Doctor was like. Some asked what being his wife was like. Most expected something grandiose as the answer. Something deep or poetic.

Ruby didn't strike her as that kind of person.

"It's exhilarating. And frightening sometimes. I've been lost many times and not just in the physical sense," River admitted quietly.

"Your childhood trauma wins," Ruby said dryly, making the older woman laugh in surprise.

"I suppose," she couldn't help smiling a little. The blunt, nearly tactless delivery was refreshing. Especially when it came to this topic. Most tiptoed around it.

"But it made you who you are," Ruby continued after a moment. "I sometimes wonder what mine made me. I don't like asking myself that question."

"And what sort of answer have you ended up with so far?" River prompted. She could be blunt too. She didn't quite ask what Ruby's trauma exactly was just yet.

Ruby didn't look up. "Changes according to my mental state at the time. Sometimes I think I'm just a mess. Other times I wonder what broke inside me and how to fix it." She cocked her head for a moment. "Hedy is pretty sure I'm a sociopath. She's probably right. The bots don't like hearing it though. Even Puppet doesn't like it when she says it. Which is fucking ironic given what he's done." She snorted a bit. "I don't think the bots can have the same psychology issues that humans do though. Hedy thinks the way they think is fundamentally different."

River hummed. She wouldn't be surprised if the two girls had already spoken a lot about the animatronics and their psychology. The Doctor would love that conversation. It was rare that she met someone so calm about such a severe statement regarding her own mental state though. Although Ruby had seemed fairly jaded since she'd met the teenager.

"Sometimes you just have to surround yourself with people you truly care about," River said knowingly. "Let them be your moral compass."

Ruby's lips quirked upwards slightly. "Yeah… That's Hedy. You know I hated her in the beginning?" she snorted. "We couldn't stand each other. The bots help though. Even the annoying ones. It… helps. Knowing that I'll disappoint someone if I slip. I don't want to make them sad. But sometimes I do it without meaning to. I haven't figured out how to stop doing that yet."

"Stopping is sometimes harder than doing," River said. "I suggest switching your focus from trying to stop to actively doing more things in the opposite direction. Sometimes a redirection of energy is enough to drown out those pesky thoughts. For a while at least. Focusing on my studies between my little adventures certainly occupies my mind." She smirked. "Even in prison, I'm contacted on my archeological expertise. But going out of my way to do nice things for my parents certainly helps."

The silence stretched between them for a moment before Ruby spoke again.

"I'd do well in prison," she mused. "I'd definitely form a gang. Did you ever try that whole digging your way out with a spoon thing? When the Doctor is taking too long to visit?"

River laughed and didn't answer. "Something like that. Hallucinogenic lipstick is far more fun."

"I'd ask for some but eww," she pulled a face. "That requires kissing to work. Oh, which reminds me. Did you ever meet Jack?"

Across the building, the Doctor had a shiver run down his spine. Why did he feel so concerned suddenly?

---

Mike smirked as Puppet, Hedy, and Rory arrived in the main room. "You look like the end product of the TARDIS eating a Smurf."

Puppet glared at him, his eyes burning very bright. "Goldy, come get your book," he demanded.

Goldy popped up next to them and squealed. "Love you bro!" she declared as she swept the wrapped book up and disappeared to clean the plastic up.

Amy sidled up to Rory, punched him in the arm and then hugged him.

"Any trouble?" Rory asked her, checking his wife for any injuries. She seemed fine.

Amy frowned, resolving to bring up the ghosts soon. It didn't feel right not to try to do something to help. "Don't worry about it."
"See, when you say that, that just makes me worry more!"

They were interrupted when Mangle came strutting into the room with Betty held proudly up. "I got to hit a cyberman!" she declared.

"I shoved a Dalek into the ballpit," Foxy responded promptly, the old (now healthy) sibling rivalry flaring up immediately.

Mangle pointed at the burn mark on his chest, "Well I didn't fu-frick up my suit more getting shot."

Foxy looked down at some damage he hadn't noticed while Hedy made a displeased noise. "You got shot earlier! Besides, at this point does it even matter?"

Hedy glowered at him for that question.

"I didn't get shot during the game!" Mangle cried.

"I feel like Ruby's toys do more damage," Foxy mused. "Also, I can still swear while you can't."

"Hedy, stop them before they argue their way into another Building sponsored contest," Puppet requested sarcastically.

"Missy is sulking cause she's covered in chocolate," BB piped up, derailing the argument as they all looked at the woman.

Missy looked surprisingly morose given what they had seen of the character. She was glaring at Mangle and possibly plotting death.

"Okay, I'll give you this one since I'm pretty sure she wants to steal Ruby," Foxy decided, nodding at Mangle. "Nice."

Hedy muttered something about digging caramel out of joints and the usual annoyance of Foxy not having any more suits yet. "Have Ruby and River shown up yet?"

They all turned to the door when they heard laughter echoing down the hall.

"I've got to show you that picture!" they heard Ruby exclaim. "His face was priceless. Even though he barely has any movement in that mask."

Puppet twitched, knowing exactly who she was talking about.

"Mangle was vicious. Sshe wouldn't give his suit back for ages."
They heard River laughing as she was no doubt shown the picture Ruby was talking about and Hedy caught the Doctor smiling a little. River sounded fairly carefree at the moment. So did Ruby actually.

"Oh and the closet incident!"

"How on earth did you fit that much glitter into that tiny space?!" they heard River exclaim.

"Which closet incident?" BB wondered. "There were a few."

"They sound like they're bonding?" Rory offered.

"I don't think that's a good thing," Amy muttered.

"Want the recipe for that glue by the way?" Ruby asked.

"Oh most definitely."
"Yeah we need to break that up," Hedy said quickly. It better not be that horrible glue that she had to cut her hair for during the coma week. "I don't want them swapping recipes or blueprints."

They apparently heard her because Ruby was beaming at Hedy when she entered the room. She glanced at Puppet and laughed while snapping a picture with her phone she already had out.
River strode over to her husband and surprised him with a kiss. She lazily rested her arms on his shoulders and leaned back to smile. "Sweetie, how do you feel about having a child?"

The Doctor stumbled and choked. "River?!"

Rory's head whipped to the side and he made a strange strangled sound while Amy gaped at them.

Hedy and the rest of the night shift, sans Ruby, were more confused by the statement. It seemed out of character for River and her implication hadn't quite clicked just yet.

Ruby was oblivious for once and raced over with a manic grin, holding the screwdriver out like a prize.

"Found it!" she chirped brightly. "I even polished it!"

"She stabbed a Dalek through the eyestalk with a katana when it tried to shoot the screwdriver," River told the Doctor with a smile.

The Doctor was still flustered as he automatically took his screwdriver and stammered out a thank you to Ruby while still processing what River was saying. He looked between his wife and Ruby for a second before understanding snapped into place and he decided River must have been joking.

"That's kidnapping, River."

Just to rock his new conviction, River swung an arm over Ruby's shoulders and pressed a light kiss into her hair (the others gaping over the fact that Ruby let her).

"Is it though?" she asked with a smirk.

"W-what?! Of course it is!"
"Hmm. I vaguely recall you initially planning on kidnapping my mother when she was seven."

"That was a completely different situation!"

"I got to shoot Daleks with a space gun!" Ruby squealed in delight, completely missing the conversation apparently. "And I did it damn well too!"

"She's a very good runner," River offered with a shit-eating grin.

The Doctor shoved down the sliver of wavering conviction. "River, no."

Foxy suddenly growled as it clicked for him, startling the humans and bots who were still trying to figure out what the conversation was about.

Ruby looked up automatically at the sound and her expression suddenly turned dark and murderous. "WHO SHOT YOU?!" she shrieked.

"They're in the bottomless ball pit and cut up by your scary banned flaming chainsaw," Mike quickly interjected.

"Excuse me," Hedy asked sharply. "What bottomless ball pit?"

Ruby looked slightly mollified. "I hope the shark gets them."
They all stared at her but she didn't elaborate and they weren't sure they wanted to know.

"Are we sure that she's not actually related to them?" Amy whispered to Rory.

Missy was watching River with a strangely calculating look as the woman teased an already flustered Doctor. That weird hybrid freak clearly didn't know the Doctor as well as she claimed as his "wife" if she was so insensitive to bring up children with him. Something about him replacing his family more than he already had was inching her towards something like a plotting rage.

"Are you ever having kids?" Amy randomly asked, looking at the pair.

The Doctor stared at her for a long moment. "Let's put a pin in this," he squeaked and refocused on checking over his screwdriver for the tenth time.

"And never bring it up again while you're here," Foxy snapped, the first time he'd been openly hostile toward their guests.

Rory took a notable step away from the fox.

Hedy glared at Foxy. "Cool it." Her voice was reserved.

Ruby was staring blankly into space before turning to Hedy. "Hey, if they had a kid, how much of that kid would be Timelord, how much would be human and how much would be the TARDIS? Cause we all know the Old Girl did something. I mean the TARDIS loves River to pieces. So what would the split be?"

Hedy looked embarrassed. "This is a weird thing to theorise as fans with them right here."

Ruby cocked her head. "But people discuss baby genders all the time? Is it that weird to discuss DNA splits?"

Amy squinted at her. "Are we sure-"
"Yes!" the Doctor shouted, flailing his hands. "We are sure!"

"It's just you've been around a long time-"
"Amy!"

"And lots of women-"

"Pond! A-and this is a completely different universe anyway!"

"He got the Queen you know," Ruby piped up happily. "That was a great episode. Three doctors all at once."

The Doctor looked alarmed. Of course he vaguely remembered occasions of meeting himself, many regenerations ago, but every time something like that happened, something was terribly wrong."

"It ended well," Ruby assured him, for once recognising blooming distress when she saw it. "It's my favourite special."

"Ruby, if you take one lesson from River, let it be 'spoilers'," Hedy groaned.

Mike grimaced and decided not to mention he let the idea of a twelfth doctor slip. As long as Foxy or the Doctor himself didn't bring it up, he was in the clear.

"Missy's existence is a spoiler," Ruby deadpanned. "I'm pretty sure they won't remember this like they don't remember all the other weird and wonderful timey-wimey fuck ups in their travels."

"We can't rely on that-" Hedy started.

"The building has proven willing and capable of messing with memories," the teenager reminded her with a bitter edge to her voice.

Hedy trailed off while Puppet resolutely kept his attention on trying to wipe off paint with napkins from a table. He was going to have to wash his suit before the paint dried…

"So… the game's over?" Rory asked into the suddenly awkward silence.

Hedy checked the tablet to find not a single Dalek, Cyberman or angel in view anywhere. "Guess so. We won." She looked up at their guests. "Where exactly did you park the TARDIS?" She hadn't seen her anywhere on the cameras.

"Eager to send us off?" River teased.
"Oh hell no. I just want to make sure I see her before you have to leave," Hedy said, already disappointed she had to accept that the night was coming to an end eventually.

Ruby deflated a little at the reminder as well. She'd had so much fun. "Can we see her?" she asked hopefully. The sad puppy dog eyes were out now.

Mangle pointed at Missy. "The Building should send that one back to her time and place before she goes anywhere near the TARDIS."

Missy pouted. "And here I was thinking we were besties!" she whined, flicking a bit of chocolate out of her hair.

Mangle settled for growling at her because swearing was out of the question.

"Yeah, I love you as a character but I think we're done with the drama for the night," Ruby admitted. "It was awesome meeting you though Missy!" She saluted the older woman. "Building?"

The Building rumbled, irritated for a moment.

"Oh, shush I didn't forget." Ruby strode over to Missy, standing on her tiptoes to whisper something to the woman.

Missy eyebrows raised and she jerked back to look at the girl with a mix of anger, shock, and confusion. And a bit of mania as she heard something she didn't like and was about to make it someone else's problem. "What?!"

The chocolate covered woman vanished between one blink and the next. They really did forget how much the building did for Ruby when she was actually being serious. And also how many problems it would solve if she did that more often.

"It's mildly concerning how powerful your Building is," the Doctor admitted. It, supposedly, tossed that strange woman through another universe incredibly easily. Of course there was a risk that she had just been atomized but given what he had seen so far, he had a bit more faith than that.

Ruby shrugged. "Don't think too hard on it. It's easier that way."

River shook her head in amusement, knowing that the Doctor was already running through hundreds of theories in his mind. She didn't expect him to resist asking questions for long.

"Should we introduce them to the Old Girl?" she asked him.

"Ah, yes. I'll go and bring her in here," the Doctor said. "We landed in one of your back hallways and looped the camera footage when we arrived." He wiggled the sonic screwdriver in his fingers.

Hedy got the strangest feeling of pouting from the building. Wait, it knew how much they wanted to meet the TARDIS. Could it… actually not circumvent whatever they'd done? The TARDIS was much older.

Somehow the "pouting" got worse as she thought that, which was a hint she was probably right.

The Doctor ran out of the room before anyone could ask to go with him and he didn't bother telling the Ponds or River to come. At least that meant he wasn't planning on ditching as soon as the situation was resolved.

BB ran off to tell the others in the breakroom it was safe to come out.

Hedy fidgeted as everyone got settled and glanced in the direction of the doors. How long had it been? They still had Halloween to run. She was shocked kids hadn't shown up already but perhaps the building stretched time a little. She glanced at her watch and blinked. Somehow it was still 7 pm. They were supposed to open at eight for the Trick or Treaters. Shit, it wasn't even technically night shift yet.

Ruby hopped up on the table happily and hummed to herself. "Best night ever."
Hedy snickered. "Mangle, I need to see you!"

Mangle let out a loud and long groan. "Oh come on!"
"Get your butt on a table," Hedy retorted while Foxy smirked at Mangle, well aware he was more able to get out of Hedy fussing about a burn than Mangle was convincing Hedy her arm was fine.

Mangle still pouted and climbed up on the table she was next to instead of coming to Hedy.

Hedy rolled her eyes and came over.

River sat down beside them, probably curious about Hedy's work.

Hedy looked at the woman and glanced back to make sure Ruby wasn't listening.

The teen was a bit too busy regaling Foxy and the others with her adventure in Parts and Services.

"Um…were you talking about adopting Ruby earlier?" she asked, wanting clarification.

Mangle winced as she laid down flat and stared up at the ceiling, knowing where this was going.

"Kidnapping," River joked. She noted Hedy's serious expression. "And yes I was considering it." She chuckled and tapped Hedy on the nose. "Oh don't worry, sweetheart. I'm not going to steal your little sister away from you."
Hedy blushed a little.

"But I'm quite taken with her," River admitted. "She reminds me a lot of myself." Her gaze and tone dropped a little. "Which makes me question some things about the girl."

"I'm sure she's flattered," Hedy breathed, her mind reeling at the genuinely possibly universe destroying idea. "But um, she might not take the idea well. Even if you're…joking. Especially if you're joking."

"She doesn't have parents, does she?" River asked knowingly.

Mangle fidgeted but didn't say anything.

"They died six years ago," Hedy said as her bag of tools appeared on the table. She looked up sharply as River hummed.

"But that doesn't mean she's looking for new parents." She felt awful saying it harshly. "She's very resistant to being adopted. I think she's bitten potential parents before." She spoke quickly. "A-and… you can't just take her from us. We…we literally need her. We're a family. The bots would break if you took her and I don't know how she'd fare and—" She was cut off as River took her hand.

"Shh shh. It's alright," the woman said with a wistful smile. "It was just a silly idea. I don't always act on my ideas, sweetheart."

Hedy sucked in a breath, feeling so very guilty. It wasn't a terrible idea. But the risks were too high. And that's still ignoring the fact that if Ruby was gone, they might very well be already dead with how her deals were set up. It just wasn't happening. It couldn't. It was better if Ruby didn't know about the idea. It was too complicated. Too impossible. Too painful.

"We know pretty far into your timeline. And the Doctor's," Hedy warned River. "Ruby with you might break…everything."

"I understand," River said calmly, still holding Hedy's hand.

Hedy looked apologetic. "If you and the Doctor ever do have kids…we don't know about it," she said softly. "I don't know if you keep it a secret from him to protect them. Or if the two of you successfully keep them secret and out of the Doctor's adventures so completely they never show up in the show. Maybe you don't have kids. Not all of the Doctor's life or yours shows up on-screen so it's not impossible."

"Spoilers," River said with a look that might be sad. "But thank you for the ambiguity."

A very familiar sound filled the air and Ruby sat up straight while Hedy froze. They all turned to watch as a blue telephone box started fading into sight.

The sound Ruby made was a weird cross between a squeak and a screech.

Mike thought the two of them looked like they had stars in their eyes. He couldn't blame them. He was staring too.

The Doctor poked his head out and grinned. "Hello! Just had to pop in the closet for a mo." He was wearing a fez now. He gestured between him and Ruby. "Twinsies."

Mangle was ecstatic. No way Hedy was going to work on her now. She moved to get up.

Hedy gave her a look and Mangle froze.

Ruby outright clapped her hands like a giddy child as she scrambled back to the floor and raced over. She screeched to a stop just in front of it and stared in awe.
"I'm standing next to the TARDIS. The TARDIS is in front of me. I can't believe this is happening," she whispered. "It's an honour to meet you."

The Doctor chuckled as the light above him slowly flashed and the TARDIS warbled. Not many people addressed her directly.

Hedy felt a twinge of jealousy from the Building as she shot Mangle a look that said "don't move. I'm coming back." and approached the ship herself.
"Hello," she said shyly. "Very sorry about the…ship-napping?"

"You are such a stunning shade of blue," Ruby was still babbling. "TARDIS-blue is best blue."

"Not when you're covered in it," Puppet muttered.

Ruby completely ignored him. Even Puppet's grumpiness couldn't sour this. "And just so you know, you made police boxes iconic."

The Building made a grumbling whine of sorts before it sort of…relayed a message to Hedy for the TARDIS.

Hedy blinked. Quite a bit was lost in translation but she could tell the TARDIS was flattered. Mildly irritated, but flattered by the two humans.

"Can I touch your door?" Ruby asked, completely and utterly starstruck.

River moved to stand next to the Doctor as they watched. "I think the Old Girl is their favourite," she chuckled. "We've been completely forgotten."

"I'm not even offended," the Doctor chuckled. He cocked his head and looked at Ruby and Hedy. "She's a little banged up from the trip. Crashing through another universe will do that. Not as bad as it should be though. I have a few things to check before we leave."

Ruby looked horrified. "The TARDIS got hurt?!" she looked genuinely upset about that. She only really got like that when the bots got hurt. "Do you want a new coat of paint?" she asked the ship worriedly.

The Doctor waved his hands quickly. "Nothing serious! Your Building was surprisingly gentle with the trip. I'm impressed."

The Building rumbled, rather pleased at the compliment. It recoiled as the TARDIS made a sharp noise. Hedy got the distinct feeling of being scolded. She rubbed her eyes from the headache.

"I just wanna give her a hug," Ruby said, looking equal parts lost, upset and excited. She couldn't stand still, shifting her weight constantly and pacing around the box.

"Er…I think she says you can," Hedy said, "Or the Building says she says you can." She glanced at River to check.

Most of them stared at Hedy in shock while Ruby made another excited noise and threw herself at the box in a patented Ruby hug that very few got to experience.

The Doctor was frowning at Hedy in an odd way. He wiped the expression very quickly though. "I'll be at least an hour…or three… Plenty of time for you to work on any injuries your animatronics have." He smirked at Mangle who pouted.

River cocked her head, watching Ruby. "I think she's purring," she pointed at the teen who was nuzzling the TARDIS.

Even less people got Ruby nuzzles. Some of them were starting to feel jealous…

Foxy looked twitchy.

"Can we…er…can we see inside?" Hedy asked.

"Of course! But let me work first," the Doctor promised with a mischievous grin.

"You are the best companion," Ruby was whispering to the TARDIS. "You are his best friend and that should be celebrated more. TARDIS for best companion."

Hedy decided Ruby was cooing enough for the both of them. She'd have her turn when she was feeling a little less embarrassed and starstruck. "Mangle!"

Mangle groaned and walked back to the table, her attempt at sneaking away failing.

Puppet looked up at a noise in the front lobby. "I think we have some Trick or Treaters outside." He went to fetch the candy and go handle that while Hedy and Mangle moved to the stage and out of the way. They didn't need to go to Parts and Services and Mangle's arm shouldn't take so long it would disturb the kids.

The other bots perked up.

"Oh yeah. It's still Halloween," Foxy said.

"Uh should we leave?" Rory asked.

The Doctor locked the TARDIS doors. It probably wasn't a good idea to let children inside.

Ruby looked so disappointed but he smiled reassuringly at her.

The rest of the bots and the day staff wandered in and were quickly filled in.

Jerry gasped at the sight of the TARDIS.

It was extraordinarily easy to play off their guests as part of the theme as children wandered in running around to look at the decor and saying hi to the Ponds who took it all in stride.

Everyone suddenly went to work, the bots doing their jobs as entertainers like usual.

It was a bit of a shock at first, to see them all change gears so fast. The animatronics switched over to work mode with friendly attitudes and over the top acting to get the kids to laugh and smile. Hedy pulled back, clearly not as comfortable with the kids while Ruby jumped right into the fray, collecting a large group of children who fought for her attention as she played games and asked questions, rewarding them with candy.

"And who am I dressed as?" she asked cheekily.

More than a few kids shouted the answer and got treats as a reward.

"The Doctor!" a surprising number of kids had enough sci-fi loving parents it seemed.

The Puppet was organising games. Mangle was managing the younger kids through the Toys since Hedy was still working on her while Foxy was leading a scavenger hunt (ironically). The others were scattered around and entertaining or supervising.

Spring and Goldy were both in Fright and getting into their 'spooky' roles.

The Doctor had snagged some candy from Puppet without even asking and was joining in with making up games as an excuse to give children candy.

Some parents were staring at him, the Ponds, and River in utter confusion and some part of them maybe wondered if they were imagining a random children's restaurant managing to get some 'famous actors' to visit in character. They looked between Ruby and the group a few times before apparently deciding to accept it and chalk it up to something the teenager did.

Hedy was shocked no one had nervously asked for autographs yet. They probably didn't want to be embarrassed if they were wrong.

"Hedy hurry up!" Mangle whined as Hedy worked. She wanted to work with the kids! She was practically vibrating as she sat off to the side of the stage and out of the way of Bonnie and Toby playing 'Monster Mash' on their guitars.

"Is Mangle hurt?" A little girl asked around the fake vampire teeth in her mouth.

Mangle smiled at the girl before Hedy could be too honest.

"Just a little bump sweetheart!" she chirped. "I'll be up and about in a minute! Ooh! I love your teeth. They're even cooler looking than mine!" She flashed the girl a toothy smile.

The girl giggled.

"Why don't you go show Foxy the Pirate those fangs?" She winked and whispered conspiratorially.

Amy and Rory were slowly joining everything by helping out the others. They were fairly good at containing any wayward children and keeping the groups together. River was a little slower. She'd had the least experience with younger children. She took it in stride though and followed their lead, joining her husband with the games.

They were a great team since neither of them minded falling back and following the other when it wasn't their expertise needed. River followed the Doctor's lead when it came to the kids.

"Why do you have a funny hat?" one boy asked, clearly not having seen the show. "What's a police box?"

The Doctor crouched down and grinned and put his hat on the boy's head. "This is a fez. It's a very cool hat."

The boy grimaced and River had to laugh.

"And that's a time machine," The Doctor said. "I'm on good authority that she's the best time machine in at least two, or three, universes!"

The boy rolled his eyes but still looked interested enough to ask. "You ever see a dinosaur?"

Ruby heard the question and coughed to cover a laugh.

"Oh I love dinosaurs! But stay away from the pterosaurs. They can be a bit bitey."

"Pterosaurs aren't dinosaurs," the boy corrected proudly.

"Ooh look at you! You're completely right!"

Hedy snickered as the kid started going off about every dinosaur he knew. Stegosaurus. Gallimimus. Styracosaurus. A bunch of others she couldn't spell.

River was watching her husband fondly as he interacted with the boy, taking everything he was saying very seriously.

Mangle got a bit more whiny and Hedy had to pull her attention away to finish her work.

She grunted as she tried to get a screw out.

Mangle wasn't hurt too badly. It was really two pieces of her casing that were warped and melted, pressing into some circuits. Hedy was just going to remove those and be done for the night. Mangle was careful enough to deal with a bit of exposed endo in her hip and shoulder at least until Hedy could work on her the next day.

The pieces were taking a hell of a long time to get though. The screws were stripped.

"Mangle," Hedy hissed. "Did you try to take your casing off yourself again?" She knew Mangle did, but the fox rarely used the right screwdriver.

Mangle looked a bit bashful.

Hedy grunted. Great.

She was startled by something being held in front of her.

"Here," the Doctor said with a smile.

Hedy stared at the sonic for a moment like she wasn't processing what the Doctor was offering. "What?"

"I promise it does actually work on screws too," the Doctor insisted.

"Given all the other things you use it for, I wasn't sure," River said with a smirk.

They'd wandered over together since Ruby and Foxy were leading some kind of massive, confusing game the kids were loving. The others were all working on mostly containing the chaos they were causing.

Mangle nearly laughed at the dumbstruck face Hedy was wearing. But she was a little too impatient to really enjoy it. "Just take it!"

Hedy snapped out of her staring to gingerly take the tool. She anxiously turned it over in her hand and studied it. She cautiously pointed it at the screw she was trying to get out and looked for a button. "How do I…?" she mumbled out the question, embarrassed.

The Doctor didn't look bothered nor did he make her feel stupid. He just readjusted her aim without taking the screwdriver back. "Just point and think what you want it to do."

Mangle's damaged plates were off in less than a minute, the damaged screws thrown away since Hedy was going to have to replace those anyway. The Doctor even showed Hedy how to run a diagnostic on Mangle, although she couldn't understand the warbling data when he asked her to listen to it. She stared in rapt attention nodding along to the instructions while internally freaking out.

"I think you broke my mechanic," Mangle snickered. "You just made her whole night. Maybe her whole year."

Hedy blushed.

River chuckled and stepped in. "Not bad for your first try with the screwdriver," she told her. "I'm impressed."

"Thank you," Hedy said. "Mangle is good, right?"

The Doctor listened to the diagnosis again. "As far as I can tell. Strong voltage. No stutters in the circuits. Good signal and not too much RAM slow down."

Mangle took that as permission, and bolted almost before he finished speaking.

Hedy nodded. "Sorry. Just sounds like noise to me."

He waved her off. "I was curious about something. I wouldn't expect you to understand it if you never used one before."

River gave him a confused look. "How could she have used one before?"

The Doctor rocked on his heels and hummed before sitting down next to Hedy and looking at her with a touch of seriousness that made her nervous.

"I need you to think very carefully, Hedy," he said. "Do you happen to have any sort of family heirloom? Something that you've always had but you can't quite remember how long you've had it."

Hedy stared at him. Her lips quirked. "Like…a pocket watch?"

The Doctor's eyes lit up. "Yes exactly–"

"Doctor," Hedy interrupted before he could get his hopes up, freaking out that he would even... "I don't have a Chameleon Arch. Sorry to disappoint. I'm not. I…I am floored you think– Holy shit did you think I was a Time Lord?!" It hit her properly and she looked stunned, trying to fight a panicked smile.

"Language," the Doctor chuckled sadly, "Are you sure?"

"Wha—Oh course I'm sure!" She squeaked. "I have baby pictures! An older brother. My dad, even though he died a bit ago." She gestured at the bots. "They watched me grow up."

"Sweetie," River murmured gently, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I know… why you're thinking this. But this is a different situation entirely. Different universe, different rules. I don't actually think Time Lords really exist out of fiction here."

"Why did you think I—?" Hedy stammered. She was never going to forget this.

"The building," River explained. "You have a connection to it that no one else does, not even Ruby."

"On Gallifrey…" the Doctor explained, looking uncomfortable. He did not bring up his home planet or his past easily. Amy and Rory had barely heard anything about the planet of the Doctor's people. He always successfully distracted them from taking questions any further. "On Gallifrey, the Great Houses were both a family and a literal house. The Houses were alive, grown from a seed in ancient times and protectors of the children loomed into the family. Alive much in the same way your building is. In each House there was one member of the family that had a special connection to the House. The Housekeeper. Bonded telepathically and spiritually for life. Literally married to the house in that sense. They communicated with it, and could ask it to rearrange the rooms and furniture. The house would rely on them to understand what was happening in the family. I believe you mentioned that your building relied on you for its decisions and morals."

Hedy swallowed. "It's…a hell of a coincidence but that might be all it is," she said. "I'm fairly sure the building wasn't even aware of your universe before Ruby and I accidentally told it. But…well…we don't even know where it came from."

Ruby popped in and Hedy yelped when she dropped some salt on her, the teen grimacing as it stung her hand as well.
"Hedy almost died. Twice," she said bluntly. "Both times it happened here. The building thinks she's a ghost so since it controls reality here, it treats her like one and she's affected like one. Something similar happened to me but it shows more on the physical side for me. Hedy is more on the emotional side so she links to the building really well. I can't hear it as clearly as she can. Neither can Goldy and she's been here a lot longer."

The Doctor nodded. "Different circumstances, though a similar type of being." He sounded so disappointed.

Ruby was about to apologise in a rare bit of genuine sympathy but he didn't give her a chance. He smiled and clapped his hands to distract them with a switch in attitude. "Well it's extraordinary nonetheless! You should be proud, Housekeeper." He grinned at Hedy and chuckled as she blushed again.

"More like babysitter," Ruby deadpanned. "Did we mention the body swapping incident?"

---

They scattered the next few hours with stories of some of the funnier misadventures they had since Ruby had become the night guard, leaving out some of the worst of the trauma bits.

Eventually the bots and day staff had to corral children out the front doors, loaded down with bags of candy and parents who were already bracing for sugar highs the rest of the night.

Amy had taken Goldy up on the suggestion to ask Freddy about ghosts, waiting until most of the children were gone and he was alone. She was still reeling from what he had told her but she didn't bring it up in front of everyone. She resolved to tell her family in privacy. Freddy said she could tell them, just on their own time. It would ruin the mood of the night for the night shift and the bots.

Once all the kids were out, Ruby having had to carry a couple that tried to hide in the building over to their parents herself, everyone relaxed. They were all tired from that chaos, but it had definitely been better than the fearing for their lives they'd had earlier.

The day staff who had volunteered said their goodbyes and headed out, most of them yawning and muttering about how Ruby and Hedy did the night shift and still showed up for the occasional day shift too.

Hell, how they did school between all of that.

Not even coffee possessed that kind of magic. Andrew definitely had a greater respect for the other teen.

But eventually, it was just the night shift, the bots and their guests left.

"Of course, we need to get the TARDIS back to our own universe," the Doctor said, leaning on the doors with a look. "But it's the strangest thing. Turns out whatever energy your building used to bring her here has some residual effects. Probably not healthy in the long run. We should really burn it off. One or two trips back and forth should do it."

River was starting to smile while Rory and Amy already looked even more exhausted.

Some of the quicker bots were narrowing their eyes at him as well.

"Well we definitely want to keep the Old Girl healthy," River agreed seriously.

Hedy nodded as she came up. "We wouldn't want you to get trapped here or something. That would be very bad for your universe." She stuck out her hand stiffly, resolving to still be polite even through all the coolness and still processing the fact the Doctor thought she was a Time Lord. She was still coming off that high. "It was an honour to meet you all."

The Doctor grinned and snapped his fingers instead of taking her hand. The doors opened and he gestured at Hedy and Ruby with a dramatic flourish. "I did promise you could see inside."

Ruby's jaw dropped and she looked between the Doctor and the wide open doors.

"Seriously!?" she squeaked.

River waved a hand. "Go on. She's curious about you too."

Ruby looked like she was barely breathing as she stepped closer and stared at the interior in awe.

Hedy followed afterward, wheeling out of the way so Ruby could go in first.

Mike watched only a tiny bit anxious as the girls disappeared already knowing what was happening before the Ponds and River followed.

River gave them a cheeky wink before vanishing from sight.

The Doctor was far kinder as he backed up while looking at the rest of them. "We'll bring them back without a scratch. Cross my hearts!"

"Wait a fucking–!" Foxy rushed forward in alarm but the Doctor ducked inside.

"Hey!" Foxy snapped, banging on the door.

"They'll be right back," Mike reminded as a distinct sound filled the room.

"Ruby made all of us watch that show! You know what sort of dangerous things could happen!"

Puppet and Mangle looked just as displeased by this as the TARDIS started fading from view. Spring was a little more unbothered. He trusted Hedy to be smart and safe. The Day Staff had shown him a few episodes in the break room but it didn't phase him.

The Building rumbled grumpily but surprisingly didn't try and stop them. Goldy had a feeling that it had gotten a bit of a scolding from the time machine during the trick or treating.

Mike was shockingly chill about the whole thing. He hummed. "I wonder if we can invite them back for Hedy and Ruby's birthdays. Or Christmas."

Puppet looked at him like he was crazy.

Mike met his gaze head-on. "You ever seen them that happy before?"

No one could really argue with that. Both girls had been so excited and far from their usual burdens tonight. There'd been no haunted looks or loaded silences. And Ruby had acted like a regular teenage girl fangirling over her idol.

They didn't have much longer to consider it as the sound of wheezing and groaning echoed for the third time.

There was silence for a brief moment as they stared at the box before the doors flung open dramatically.

"Home sweet home!" Ruby called as she hopped out. She was wearing completely different clothes. And her hair was cut short…

Very short. Not to mention the shaved sides…

Before they could properly process the abrupt change, she got pushed out of Hedy's way as she exited as well.

She was wearing new clothes too and had a new pair of glasses she looked incredibly pleased about as she carefully slipped them into a jacket pocket. Her chair looked repaired of some of the dents she had gained through the nights. It looked shinier too. Wait, was it completely new? She had been complaining about her insurance lately…

She clearly got a haircut as well but not nearly as short as Ruby's. More like her usual look with her curls.

Something told Mike Hedy's haircut was much more intentional than Ruby's.

"What happened?" Puppet asked suspiciously as the Doctor and River leaned out of the TARDIS behind them.

"Thanks for the fun time," River told them with a smile. "Sorry about the hair again."
Ruby just waved her hand dismissively. She'd never really been attached to her hair at least.

"That was an awesome trip!" she exclaimed. "Thanks for having us along!"

The Doctor handed Hedy a heavy laden bag that she carefully balanced on her lap.

"Remember," he warned, "You can't be using those things for selfish means. Just to work on the animatronics."

"Of course," Hedy said brightly, "But if 52nd century AI textbooks inspire some of my projects, it certainly isn't going to damage your timeline if I make sure the technology naturally progresses."

The Doctor looked at her, unimpressed.

"And don't forget," River was saying to Ruby. "That gun is emergencies only."
Ruby saluted her with a wide grin.

There was so much that was concerning about everything they'd just heard.

"Take care of yourselves!" they heard Amy yell from inside. "Now come on! I need to sleep!"

The Doctor muttered something fondly.

River blew Ruby a kiss and waved at the rest of the room. "Oh, be kind to them girls," she teased before closing the doors.

They all watched the TARDIS slowly fade from view again until silence fell in the room again.

"So…" Mike asked, sideling up to his girlfriend. He cut off with a yelp as she pulled him into a kiss.

"Missed you," Hedy smirked.

The Toys did their token gagging and Goldy wondered if River was a bad influence on Hedy as well as Ruby. Nah, Hedy liked kissing Mike anyway.

Mike blinked. "Er. Are you older than me now?" Hopefully they weren't gone that long.

Ruby put her hands on her hips with a satisfied sigh. "Best three weeks ever."

"WHAT?!"

---

After Credit Scene:

"Where to next, Ponds?" The Doctor asked as they left the strange alternate universe behind with barely a groan from the TARDIS.

Something told them it wouldn't be as easy if they tried to return.

"Doctor, we haven't slept in forty-eight hours," Amy reminded him.

That was mostly Ruby's fault. Of course she couldn't just leave those Judoon alone.

The Doctor complained just a tiny bit but Amy and Rory still headed off to their room.

Rory hugged River and looked at her reproachfully. "Don't run off," he said with a squint. "Not without saying goodbye."

"Yes Dad," River said with an impish smirk.

Rory rolled his eyes as Amy hugged her daughter before taking her husband's hand and disappearing down the TARDIS's hallway.

River waited a moment before heading up to the console where the Doctor was reading a screen.

"Now that we're alone…"

The Doctor hummed distractedly, his eyes still fixed on the screen. He read something he didn't like and he ground his teeth a bit.

River frowned. "What are you looking at?"

The Doctor shoved the screen away and turned to his wife as it swung around the console and out of sight. "Just some diagnostics! Now what do you say about breakfast on the Saturn Rings station, thirty-third century?"

"I think that sounds lovely," River purred with a grin as she put her arms up on his shoulders near his ears. It wasn't often that the Doctor managed to distract his wife, but the mention of that particular station always managed to do it. He didn't use it often in fear that it would lose its effect.

"That place has memories," River purred, leaning closer with a wicked smirk. "We always seem to get into a certain kind of trouble there."

"I don't know what you're talking about. We'll have a perfectly pleasant breakfast and nothing inappropriate will happen."
River's smirk widened. "Oh so close to the perfect sentence. I'll wear that dress."

The Doctor's mouth went dry and he spluttered as she sauntered off to their room. No doubt to actually rest since it had been a fairly hectic few weeks.

He stood there quietly for a moment, the TARDIS a worried hum in the back of his mind. She knew of course. She'd shown him the information herself.

He pulled the console back around and stared at it again.

It was a piece of a new report from 20th Century Earth. This universe. He had checked many times.

Bloody massacre at children's restaurant shocks city. The currently unidentified killer died from his wounds at the scene. The mass murderer had not been aware of the police officer in attendance and while Sergeant Stone didn't survive, he ensured that the killer wouldn't strike again.

Two young children are currently unaccounted for and police are scouring the city.

Enough information to be alarming, not enough to be a fixed point.

Bloody hell, it had been a long time since the TARDIS had encouraged him to break the rules.

---

Author's Note:

And back to our regularly scheduled chaos in the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one-shot and have a great holiday season!