A/N: Part two ready to go!
I don't own Doctor Who. All I own my OC Katy.
Please review and no flaming will be tolerated.
Enjoy!
A HORROR MOVIE RIGHT THERE ON MY TV
"It's bound to get ya in. Get right under your skin.
Hit you right on the chin - oh yeah.
It's bound to be a thriller. It's bound to be a chiller.
It's bound to be a killer - oh yeah."
– Skyhooks: 'Horror Movie' (Living in the 70s [1974])
Holding Yard
The Doctor is hot on the black car's tail and manages to see the tail end of the trick the cops pulled last time. An excited grin spreads across his face.
"Oh, very good. Very good!" The Doctor was impressed.
He hops off the moped and goes exploring, using his screwdriver to open a small door in the big gates. He walks inside the holding yard and spots the two burly men from before padlock a wire door and walk off out of sight. The Doctor cautiously walks over and uses the screwdriver to unlock the door and goes in.
The room was full of large cages, and he curiously opens one and steps inside to investigate finding it full of blank-faced people, who occasionally clench their fists. They turn towards the light of the torch he carries when he shines it on them. A couple of searchlights switch on, causing the Doctor to turn.
"Stay where you are." A cop orders.
Magpie's Electricals
Following the clue they got from the back of the Connolly's television set, Katy and Rose made their way to Magpie's shop. It looked like any other shop on the outside, but the sisters had been on way too many adventures with the Doctor to be fooled. Rose goes to walk inside, but Katy stops her.
"Hold up."
"What?" Rose frowned at her, impatiently.
"We can't just barrel in there, guns blazing. We gotta wait for the Doctor." Katy pointed out, logically. However, Rose just rolls her eyes and shrugs off her sister's grip on her shoulder.
"Well, stay out here if you're so scared. But I'm going in," Rose ignored her warning.
"I'm not scared, I'm being realistic." Katy retorted, and wanted to scream out of frustration when Rose ignores her and goes in. The overhanging bell chimes, startling Magpie who sees Rose waltz in followed by a very reluctant Katy, who looks about nervously.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Misses. I'm afraid you're too late. I was just about to lock the door." Magpie tries to get them to leave, but Rose instantly brushes him aside.
"Yeah? Well, I want to buy a telly."
"Come back tomorrow, please." Magpie suggested, urgently. Katy frowns at him in suspicion.
"But you'll be closed, won't you?"
"What?" Magpie blinks at her.
"For the big day?" Rose prompts. "The Coronation."
"Yes, yes, of course." Magpie nods distractedly. "The big day. I'm sure you'll find somewhere to watch it," He goes for the door and opens it. "Please go."
"Seems to me half of London's got a television, since you're practically giving them away," Katy observes.
"I have my reasons," Magpie states. Katy raises her eyebrow, disbelievingly.
"And what are they?"
The Wire suddenly appears on one of the television screens.
"Hungry! Hungry!" She moans, and both Katy and Rose eye the television looking a little creeped out; particularly with how she appeared.
"What's that?" Rose asks.
"It's just a television," Magpie reassures unconvincingly. "One of these modern programmes. Now, I really do think you should leave. Right now!" He insists, now very urgently.
"Not until you've answered our questions," Rose stated sternly. "How come your televisions are so cheap?"
Magpie looked like he was at his wit's end.
"It's my patriotic duty," He improvised, trying, and failing to avoid Katy's scrutinising gaze as he explained his reasons for providing cheap prices for televisions. "Seems only right that as many folk as possible get to watch the Coronation. We may be losing the Empire, but we can still be proud. Twenty million people they reckon'll be watching. Imagine that. And twenty million people can't be wrong, eh, so why don't you both get yourselves back home and get up, bright and early, for the big day." He attempts to corral both sisters out the door, but they manage to manoeuvre themselves out of his reach.
"Nah, I don't buy it." Katy insists.
"And I'm not leaving 'till I've seen everything," Rose added, glancing about the shop for something obvious and out of place.
"I need to close," Magpie whined pathetically, and both Katy and Rose look at him with pity and disgust.
"Mister Magpie, something's happening out there," Katy started to reason with him. "Ordinary people are being struck down and changed, and the only new thing in the house is a television. Your television. What's going on?"
"I knew this would happen," Magpie sags in defeat, much to the sisters' confusion. "I knew I'd be found out," He closes the shop door and locks it, immediately putting the sisters on high alert.
"Alright then," Rose steps up, shoving down how uncomfortable she felt when she saw Magpie close and lock the door. "It's just me, you, and Katy. You going to come clean, then? What's really in it for you?" She demanded, trying to discreetly put herself in between Magpie and Katy to protect her sister as she was obligated to do as the 'elder' of the two. Katy wished she could laugh at the irony of this situation; considering that technically, she was the elder … possibly the same age as the Doctor himself.
"For me?" Magpie pondered. "Perhaps some peace."
"From what?" Katy asked.
"From her," Magpie pointed towards the Wire who was calmly watching this entire situation with an amused expression on her face. Both Katy and Rose looked at the television image and back at Magpie, wondering if this man was 'mental'.
"That's just a woman on the telly," Katy stated. "That's just a programme."
"What pretty little girls," the Wire immediately cooed, causing both Katy and Rose to freeze.
"Of course…" Katy mutters sarcastically, as Rose looks at the screen with wide eyes. It just had to involve something to do with the latest technological craze in this era; a television none the less.
"Oh, my God. Are you talking to us?" Rose questions the Wire, who smirks at her condescendingly.
"Yes, I'm talking to you, little one." She replies and takes in what Rose was wearing. "Unseasonably chilly for the time of yeah, don't you think?"
"What are you?" Rose mumbles looking freaked out.
"I'm the Wire, and I'm HUNGRY!" More red energy suddenly lances out and grabs Katy and Rose's faces. Both girls begin to panic and freak out.
"Magpie, help us!" Katy begs, but the poor man shakes his head; helpless and powerless.
"Just think of that audience tomorrow, my dear, all settling down to watch the Coronation. Twenty million people. Things will never be the same again. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Magpie whimpers.
"Help me!" Rose begs.
"Doctor! It hurts!" Katy screams, trying desperately to escape, and failing. The very last thing both girls heard before everything went fuzzy was the Wire's sinister voice calling out to them.
"Goodnight, children, everywhere…"
Bishop's office
The Doctor found himself sitting in an interrogation room. It was a very derelict building with broken windows. The cop who had found him in the room with the blank-faced people was towering over him, looking stern.
"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know," The cop, Bishop, demands. The Doctor was impatient; he had other things he needed to do, and being interrogated was at the bottom of the list. But he decided to play along, get this whole interrogation over with.
"Well, for starters, I know you can't wrap your hand around your elbow and make your fingers meet," the Doctor responded, very flippant. Bishop narrows his eyes at him, unamused.
"Don't get clever with me," He snaps, sternly. "You were there today at Florizel Street, and now breaking into this establishment. Now you're connected with this. Make no mistake."
The Doctor sighed heavily.
"Well, the thing is, Detective Inspector Bishop—"
"How do you know my name?"
"It's written inside your collar," the Doctor explained, apologetically. Bishop flushed in embarrassment and tried to readjust his shirt collar to hide his name. The Doctor smiled. "Bless your mum. But I can't help thinking, Detective Inspector, you're not exactly doing much detective inspecting, are you?"
"I'm doing everything in my power," Bishop stated defensively.
But the Doctor shook his head.
"All you're doing is grabbing those faceless people and hiding them as fast as you can," He stated. "Don't tell me, orders from above, hmm? Coronation Day. The eyes of the world are on London Town so any sort of problem just gets swept out of sight."
"The nation has an image to maintain," Bishop insisted.
"But doesn't it drive you mad, doing nothing?" The Doctor questioned, noting the troubled expression on Bishop's face, which told him he had hit the nail right on the head.
"Of course I do," Bishop agreed. "But, with all the crowds expected, we haven't got the manpower. Even if we did, this is beyond anything we've ever seen. I just don't know anymore." He raked a hand through his hair in frustration. "Twenty years on the force, I don't even know where to start. We haven't the faintest clue what's going on."
"Well, that could change," The Doctor said, optimistically.
"How?"
"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know," the Doctor requested, all-business.
"We started finding them about a month ago," Bishop began. "Persons left sans visage. Heads just blank."
"Is there any sort of pattern?" The Doctor asked.
"Yes, spreading out from North London. All over the city. Men, women, kids, grannies. The only real lead is there's been quite a large number in—"
"Florizel Street," The Doctor concluded, looking grim.
Bishop's colleague, Crabtree, knocks and enters the room.
"Found two others, sir."
"Oh, er, good man, Crabtree," Bishop acknowledged absently, beckoning him to show the faceless people in. "Here we are, Doctor. Take a good look, see what you can deduce."
The Doctor's eyes widened in horror when the two people were escorted in. It was the large baby pink poodle skirt and brown pedal pushers that gave their identities away.
"Katy… Rose…" The Doctor murmured.
"You know them?" Bishop raised an eyebrow, surprised. The Doctor raised both his hands and touched the sisters' blank faces, lingering longer on his girlfriend's blank face.
"Know them?"
"They found them on the street, apparently, abandoned." Crabtree explained. Then almost immediately, the Doctor's shocked face slowly changed into a look of cold fury.
"That's unusual," Bishop commented. "They're the first ones out in the open. Heaven help us if something happens in public tomorrow for the big day. We'll have Torchwood on our backs then make no mistake."
"They did what?" The Doctor questioned, coldly. Bishop looks at him, taken aback by the hard tone in his voice.
"I'm sorry?"
"They left them where?" The Doctor elaborated.
"Just in the street," Bishop confirmed. The Doctor stood up sharply and started to pace the length of the room.
"In the street," The Doctor was furious. "They left them in the street. They took their faces and just chucked them out and left them in the street. And as a result, that makes things simple. Very, very simple. Do you know why?"
"No."
"Because now, Detective Inspector Bishop, there is no power on this Earth that can stop me!" The Doctor vowed, before going over to Katy and cupping her blank face in his two hands. "I'll fix this, don't you worry. I'll make it right!" He leans in and plants a brief but gentle kiss on her forehead. "Come on!" He says sharply to a slightly bewildered Bishop, who follows him out.
Connolly Residence
Coronation Day dawns and guests file into the Connolly's house, ready to observe the Queen's Coronation on the television. Eddie pulls Rita aside and whispers harshly at her.
"You've had your fun with your little Doctor, but now you're left with me, Rita. So, you'll behave yourself and smile," He warns before plastering on a fake smile of his own and wondering out to play the perfect host to his guests, while Rita watches him with a defeated expression on her face as she follows him in. "Here we go, everyone. Here we go! Grub's up, grub's up. Tuck in, everyone. Tuck in. Take a sandwich." The scene on the screen changes to the opening sequence to the programme hosting the events of the Coronation. "Oh, here we go, here we go, it's started." Eddie crows. "Look, look. Take your places. Sit down, sit down. That's it. There we are."
Eddie takes a seat in his comfy chair, while the rest of the guests take the other seats or a spot on the floor in front of the screen.
"The East front of the palace on which all eyes are…" The presenter narrates on screen.
Betty, one of the neighbours, turns to Rita.
"Rita, love. Just look at that Telly box then. Ee, innit marvellous. The picture's so clear."
"Here, Bet. I says to Rita, I says, you didn't need to get your hair done special, love. The Queen won't be able to see you!" He chuckles at his little joke, and Betty looks around, frowning a little.
"Where's your old mum, then?" She asks Rita, who freezes. "She can't go missing it."
"Sorry. Er, mum can't make it down," Rita improvises, and Betty tuts sympathetically.
"Oh, bless her. Maybe we could pop up and see her later."
"Maybe you could," Tommy chimes in, looking a bit spiteful. "It's a good idea. What do you think, dad? Maybe Aunty Betty can go and see Gran later?" He hints, indicating the incident that contributed to his grandmother's absence in the first place. Eddie bristles, but somehow manages to hold his temper as he glowers warningly at his son.
"Oh, he loves his Gran, this one. Proper little mummy's boy all around."
"Oh, you know what they say about them," Betty frowns a little. "Eddie, you want to beat that out of him."
"That's exactly what I'm going to do," Eddie agrees, his eyes glinting threateningly at Tommy who shudders. The doorbells suddenly rings, and Tommy immediately gets to his feet.
"I'll get it!" He practically runs for the door.
"Will first appear in about ten minutes time riding in the Gold Coach of State…"
Tommy opens the front door, revealing the Doctor and Bishop standing on the step. The boy reacts in surprise.
"Tommy, talk to me," The Doctor immediately cuts to the chase before Tommy could open his mouth and speak. "I need to know exactly what happened inside your house." But before Tommy could answer him, Eddie appears behind, looking furiously at both his son and the Doctor.
"What the blazes do you think you're doing?" He growls.
"I want to help, dad." Tommy attempts to explain, and the Doctor immediately chimes in to help.
"Mister Connolly—"
"Shut your face, you, whoever you are!" Eddie snarls at the Doctor, whose own stony face hardens even further. "We can handle this ourselves," Eddie then turns on his son. "Listen, you little twerp. You're hardly out of the blooming cradle, so I don't expect you to understand. But I've got a position to maintain. People round here respect me. It matters what people think!"
"Is that why you did it, dad?" Tommy suddenly realises and confronts his father.
Eddie is momentarily caught off guard.
"What do you mean? Did what?"
"You ratted on Gran. How else would the police know where to look unless some coward told them!" Tommy accused.
"How dare you!" Eddie snarled. "Do you think I fought a war just so a mouthy little scum like you could call me a coward?"
"You don't get it, do you?" Tommy shook his head, despairingly. "You fought against fascism, remember? People telling you how to live, who you could be friends with, who you could fall in love with, who could live and who had to die. Don't you get it? You were fighting so that little twerps like me could do what we want, say what we want. Now you've become just like them. You've been informing on everyone, haven't you? Even Gran. All to protect your precious reputation!"
Throughout Tommy's entire speech, Rita had come over to investigate what was going on at the front door. To say she was shocked at what she had heard her son say about his father was an understatement.
"Eddie, is that true?" Rita demanded.
"I did it for us, Rita," Eddie protested his innocence. "She was filthy. A filthy, disgusting thing!"
"She's my mother," Rita frowned at him. "All the others you informed on, all the people in our street, our friends…"
"I had to. I, I did the right thing." Eddie insisted, but Rita shook her head, disgusted.
"The right thing for us, or for you, Eddie?" She insisted, before looking at Tommy. "You go, Tommy. Go with the Doctor and do some good," She encouraged her son. "Get away from this house, it's poison. We had a ruddy monster under this roof, all right, but it wasn't my mother!" Rita slams the door in Eddie's face.
"Rita!" Eddie pounds on the door, trying to get back inside.
"Tommy?" The Doctor calls out to the boy, quietly. He turns and nods, before following the Doctor and Bishop.
Rita walks back into the living room, ignoring Eddie's demands to be let back inside the flat. Betty looks at her curiously.
"What was all that, then?" She asked. Emboldened by her decision to lock her husband out of the house, Rita pulls a triumphant smile upon her face as she responds to the question.
"That was, that was the sound of something ending. And about time too." Rita beams around at her guests, making herself comfortable on the couch. "Everyone all right? Smashing. Nothing's going to spoil our big day, is it?"
Florizel Street
Trestle tables were being set up for the street party that was to be held later that day, but the Doctor was more preoccupied with solving this current alien problem.
He turns to Tommy.
"Tommy, tell me about that night. The night she changed."
"She was just watching the telly," Tommy explained. The Doctor nodded, taking in this piece of information.
"Rose said it. She guessed it straight away. Of course she did. All these aerials in one little street. How come?"
"Bloke up the road," Tommy confirmed. "Mister Magpie, he's selling them cheap." This caught Bishop's interest immediately.
"Is he now?"
"Come on!" The Doctor took off down the street, with Tommy and Bishop following close behind.
Magpie's Electricals
In his anger and haste, the Doctor makes it to Magpie's shop in minutes and immediately breaks into it, much to Bishop's consternation.
"Here, you can't do that!" The cop protests back outside on the street. The Doctor ignores him.
"Shop! If you're here, come out and talk to me!" The Doctor calls out loudly. There's no response, and the Doctor's impatience increases. "Magpie!"
"Maybe he's out?" Tommy volunteers.
"Looks like it," the Doctor agrees. He wonders over to some nearby drawers and starts looking through them, before eventually coming across the portable television. His frown deepens. "Oh, hello. This isn't right. This is very much not right," He licks it, much to both Tommy and Bishop's confusion and disgust. "Tastes like iron. Bakelite. Put together with human hands, yes, but the design itself…" He trails off and brightens a little, begrudgingly impressed. "Oh, beautiful work," He praises. "That is so simple."
Bishop comes over to investigate the portable television in the Doctor's hands for himself.
"That's incredible," He marvels. "It's like a television, but portable. A portable television."
The Doctor raises his sonic screwdriver to scan it but picks up a foreign frequency in the process.
"It's not the only power source in this room," He realises. Suddenly the television screens each light up, revealing a different face on each screen mouthing the words "help me".
Tommy spots a familiar face.
"Gran?" He goes over to the screen, looking dismayed. The Doctor walks over also, but fixated on two other screens, one with Katy's face and the other with Rose's face. Rose was mouthing the word "Doctor" while Katy was mouthing "save me". He reaches out and touches both screens with a sad but determined expression on his face.
"I'm on my way," He promises both sisters. Magpie chooses that moment to emerge from the back room.
"What do you think you're doing?" He demands, angrily. The Doctor immediately rounds on him, ready to punish.
"I want my friend and my girlfriend restored, and I think that's beyond a little backstreet electrician, so tell me, who's really in charge here?" Another television screen lights up, revealing the Wire in all her glory.
"Yoo-hoo!" All heads swivel in her direction. "I think that must be me." Her eyes focus upon the Doctor, and she grins with glee. "Ooh, this one's smart as paint."
"Is she talking to us?" Bishop asks, looking lost and disturbed. Magpie sags in resignation and sighed.
"I'm sorry, gentlemen, I'm afraid you've brought this on yourselves. May I introduce you to my new friend."
"Jolly nice to meet you," the Wire grins insouciantly.
"Oh my God, it's her, that woman off the telly," Bishop gasps. But the Doctor shakes his head.
"No, it's just using her image." He corrects.
"What? What are you?" Tommy demands, bravely.
"I'm the Wire, and I will gobble you up, pretty boy." The Wire responds, calmly. "Every last morsel. And when I have feasted, I shall regain the corporeal body, which my fellow kind denied me."
The black and white image changes into technicolour.
"Good Lord! Colour television!" Bishop exclaimed.
"So your own people tried to stop you?" The Doctor questioned the alien lifeform.
"They executed me," the Wire corrected him. "But I escaped in this form and fled across the stars."
"And now you're trapped in the television."
"Not for much longer," the Wire smirks. Tommy grabs the Doctor's attention, looking worried.
"Doctor, is this what got my Gran?"
"Yes, Tommy. It feeds off the electrical activity of the brain, but it gorges itself like a great overfed pig, taking people's faces, their essences. It stuffs itself." The Doctor explains.
Bishop turns and glares at Magpie accusingly.
"And you let her do it, Magpie."
"I had to. She allowed me my face. She's promised to release me at the time of manifestation." Magpie whines pathetically.
"What does that mean?" Tommy frowned.
"The appointed time. My crowning glory." The Wire hinted, and Bishop's eyes widened when he realised the Wire's intentions.
"Doctor, the coronation!"
"For the first time in history, millions gathered around a television set," The Doctor glowers at the Wire. "But you're not strong enough yet, are you? You can't do it all from here. That's why you need this." He holds up the portable television set in his hands. "You need something more powerful! This will turn a big transmitter into a big receiver."
"What a clever thing you are!" The Wire giggles. "But why fret about it? Why not just relax? Kick off your shoes and enjoy the Coronation. Believe me, you'll be glued to the screen."
Red energy lances out at them, engulfing all three of them.
"Doctor!" Bishop calls out in a strangled tone.
"Hungry! Hungry! The Wire is hungry!" She begins to pull their faces from their bodies. "Ah, this one is tasty. Oh, I'll have lashings of him! Delicious!" The Doctor starts raising his sonic screwdriver and the Wire immediately spots the instrument. Her eyes widen in alarm. "Ah! Armed. He's armed and clever. Withdraw! Withdraw!" The three men collapse to the ground, the Doctor and Tommy gasping painfully for breath. "The box, Magpie! The box!" Magpie darts forward and snatches the portable television from the Doctor's grasp, shuddering when he sees that Bishop's face was now blank. "Hold tight." The Wire zaps herself into the portable television. "Conduct me to my victory, Magpie."
A few minutes later, the Doctor wakes up and sees Bishop's blank face. He looks over and spots Tommy, thankfully with his face still intact.
"Tommy, wake up. Tommy, come on!" the Doctor urges. The boy blinks open his eyes and sits up, looking around groggily.
"What happened?" He asks.
"Where's Magpie?" The Doctor demands before he races outside of the shop, with Tommy following him.
Outside Magpie's shop
The Doctor and Tommy regroup outside the shop, using those few moments to recover from nearly falling victim to the Wire and becoming one of the many faceless people, and to figure out what their next move was going to be to stop Magpie and the Wire from succeeding in the latter's plan.
"We don't even know where to start looking," Tommy despaired. "It's too late."
However, the Doctor was never one to give up that quickly and shook his head, defiantly.
"It's never too late, as a wise person once said," He pauses for a moment, trying to remember who it was who quoted this. "Kylie, I think." Tommy gives him a quizzical look, but the Doctor pushes on, pretending not to notice the look. "The Wire's got big plans. It'll need…" He trails off mid-thought, then brightens when he suddenly understands. "Yes, yes, yes! It's got to harvest half the population. Millions and millions of people, and where are we?" He asks Tommy, who takes a brief look around him.
"Muswell Hill."
"Muswell Hill. Muswell Hill! Which means Alexandra Palace, biggest TV transmitter in North London!" The Doctor grins triumphantly. "Oh, that's why it chose this place. Tommy?"
"What are you going to do?" Tommy asks nervously, and the Doctor continues grinning at him.
"We're going shopping!" He turns and goes back inside Magpie's shop, followed by Tommy.
Magpie's Electricals
"I'm gonna need your help to construct this," the Doctor tells the boy who nods and goes off in search of the object the Doctor asks him to find. He eventually finds a valve, which he holds up for the Doctor to see.
"Is this what you want?"
"Perfect!" The Doctor beams. "Right, I need one more thing." He hands Tommy the collection of parts and runs outside to the TARDIS that he had retrieved. He goes inside the blue box and finds said object. "Got it. Let's go!"
Alexandra Palace
While the whole world was watching Princess Elizabeth arriving at the Abbey, Magpie makes his way up the transmitter mast.
"I can't do this!" Magpie gasps. "Please, please don't make me!" He begs.
"The time is at hand. Feed me! Feed me!" the Wire ignores Magpie's pleas, as meanwhile the Doctor and Tommy are running through the streets, while at the same time, the Doctor builds a complicated looking contraption. They eventually come to the Palace, with Tommy spotting Magpie making his ascent.
"There!"
"Come on!" the Doctor grabs Tommy's arm and starts pulling him along. However, a guard suddenly intercepts them from getting any closer.
"Wait, wait, wait! Where do you think—" The Doctor shoves the psychic paper in his face, and almost immediately the guard and an official who had come over to investigate himself, back off.
"Oh! I'm very, very sorry, sir." The official grovels. "But shouldn't you be at the Coronation?"
"They're saving me a seat," the Doctor responded hurriedly. Both men accept his reply and leave the Doctor and Tommy be.
Tommy frowns curiously.
"Who did he think you were?" He asks, as the Doctor wills the psychic paper to show him what the official had seen on the blank page. He raises a nonplussed eyebrow.
"King of Belgium, apparently." The Doctor explains, shoving the psychic paper back into pocket.
Elsewhere, the Princess enters the Abbey as the Doctor and Tommy make it into the control room.
"Keep this switched on," he stresses to Tommy who nods. "Don't let anyone stop you, Tommy. Everything depends on it. You understand?" Tommy nods again as the Doctor takes a coil of copper wire and runs towards the transmitter as all around the world, viewers watch Princess Elizabeth process down the aisle. An official watches the Doctor both worriedly and in a puzzlement as he shouts at him,
"You'll get yourself killed up there! Your Majesty!" He calls out, but the Doctor ignores him.
Transmitter
Magpie manages to reach the top of the mast and attaches the portable television to it.
"Feed me!" the Wire shrieks, and Magpie plugs her in, sending red energy filling the small screen which then streams out from the top of the mast to all the nearby areas. It begins sucking off the happy, excited faces of the partygoers in the Connelly household. "Oh, Feast," the Wire shouts happily. "Feasting! The Wire is feasting!"
The Doctor makes it to the top of the transmitter mast, and Magpie turns and looks at him despairingly.
"It's too late! It's too late for all of us!"
"I shall consume you, Doctor!" the Wire both promises and threatens. The Doctor ignores her, focusing on Magpie instead.
"I won't let you do this, Magpie!" He warns, and Magpie starts riving in agony despite not being touched by the red energy the Wire was sending out.
"Help me, Doctor. It burns. It took my face, my soul."
"You cannot stop the Wire. Soon I shall become manifest," The Wire declares, and Magpie looks at her with betrayal.
"No more of this. You promised me peace!"
"And peace you shall have," the Wire agreed before Magpie is zapped into atoms. The Doctor looks saddened at Magpie's loss but turns his frustration upon the Wire.
"Been burning the candle at both ends?" He taunts the alien being. "You've overextended yourself, Missus. You shouldn't have had a crack at poor old Magpie there." The Doctor manages to get hold of the portable television without being electrocuted. "Rubber soles, swear by them!" He says triumphantly, before plugging in his cable, and valves blow down in the control room.
The Wire smirks at the Doctor.
"Oh dear. Has our little plan gone horribly wrong, Doctor?" But unknown to her, Tommy manages to find a replacement valve from the store and plugs the contraption back in. The red energy retreats back to the mast, and into the portable television. "No!" The Wire screams in anguish, as the Doctor fixes a cold, but pleased expression on his face.
"It's close down, I'm afraid. And no epilogue."
The Wire screams, and the screen on the portable television goes blank. Inside the holding area, all the blank faced people have returned to normal, with all their faces reunited with their bodies.
Control room.
The Doctor makes his way back to the control room and finds a confused Tommy watching the rest of the Coronation. On the television, the National Anthem, God Save the Queen, is playing.
"What have I missed?" the Doctor asks, smiling cheerfully at Tommy.
"Doctor! What happened?" Tommy questions. The Doctor holds up his contraption, which turns out to be a VCR tape.
"Sorted. Electrical creature, TV technology, clever alien life form. That's me by the way," He boasts. "I turned the receiver back into a transmitter and I trapped the Wire in here." He holds up the VCR tape, and Tommy looks at it quizzically. "I just invented the home video thirty years early. Betamax." The Doctor takes a brief glance at the television and grins. "Oh, look! God save the Queen, eh?"
Tommy looks back at the television in time to see an image of the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth the Second waving at the crowd from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Holding yard
The Doctor and Tommy head back to the holding yard and see crowds of fully restored 'blank-faced' victims standing about, looking confused. Tommy immediately spots his grandmother in the crowd.
"Gran!" He runs towards her, and the elderly woman turns and spots him as well.
A relieved smile spreads over her face.
"Oh, it's my grandson, Oh, son!" She embraces Tommy, as the Doctor searches for his girlfriend and Rose. He brightens immediately when he spots the girls, and they return his smile as he runs over to them and pulls them both into a warm, relieved hug.
Connelly residence
Back at the Connelly's, Rita finally lets Eddie back inside the flat, but it's only temporary; she's giving him his marching orders.
"This was never your house," Rita tells him. "It's in my mother's name. And on her behalf, I'm telling you, out."
Rita puts down a suitcase in front of Eddie, who picks it up, turns and leaves the flat without another word.
Florizel Street
The street party is in full swing, full of laughing families sharing food, gossiping and playing games; all in celebration of the new Queen. The Doctor, Katy and Rose walk down the centre of the street, with the Doctor munching away on a slice of Victoria Sponge.
Rose glances about.
"We could go down the Mall, join in with the crowds," she suggested. But the Doctor shakes his head.
"Nah, that's just pomp and circumstance," He declines. "This is history right here!" He takes another bite out of his cake, as Katy grins at him.
"The domestic approach."
"Exactly!" The Doctor grins and takes Katy's hand in his. Thankfully, Rose is too preoccupied with the street party to notice. She frowns worriedly at the VCR the Doctor holds out after finishing devouring his cake.
"Will it, that thing, is it trapped for good on video?" Rose questions.
"Hope so," the Doctor shrugs. "Just to be on the safe side though, I'll use my unrivalled knowledge of transtemporal extirpation methods to neutralise the residual electronic pattern."
"Huh?" Both sisters blink at him in confusion.
"I'm going to tape over it," the Doctor explains, and Katy rolls her eyes and laughs.
"Oh, leave that to Rose. She did that a lot back at home," She suggests, and Rose pouts at her sister.
"Oi! I resent that! Even if it is true."
Tommy runs back over to the three of them, and the Doctor greets him with a warm smile.
"Tell you want, Tommy, you can have the scooter. Little present." Tommy looks pleasantly surprised. "Best, er, keep in the garage for a few years though, eh?"
The boy nods, then frowns with obvious disgust as he watches his father leave the house in his hat and overcoat, carrying his suitcase in his hand.
"Good riddance," Tommy mutters bitterly, as he watches his mother and grandmother hug each other, as Eddie walks off.
"Is that it, then, Tommy?" The Doctor questioned him, slightly disapprovingly. "New monarch, new age, new world. No room for a man like Eddie Connelly."
"That's right. He deserves it," Tommy confirms. Katy and Rose look at him sympathetically.
"Tommy, go after him," Rose urges him. He looks at the blonde like she's crazy.
"What for?"
"He's your dad," Katy points out, like it should've been obvious.
But Tommy still looks unconvinced.
"He's an idiot."
"Of course he is. But he's still your dad," Katy reminds him.
"And you're clever," Rose adds. "Clever enough to save the world, so don't stop there. Go on!"
Tommy hesitates for a moment longer, before smiling and nodding at both sisters and running over to his father, who looks surprised to see him, especially when Tommy offers to carry his suitcase for him. Both men carry on down the street, as the Doctor hands a glass of orange juice to the sisters and the three of them clink their glasses together and drink a toast.
A/N: You made it! Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next chapter(s). Please review! TTFN :)