Chapter Text
London, England, Earth, March 2005...
An alarm clock beeped in the bedroom of a South London flat, arousing 19-year-old Rose Tyler from her slumber. The young blonde smacked the clock to stop the noise and dragged herself out of bed to begin her day. She was soon dressed and bidding goodbye to her mother Jackie, before leaving for work.
Rose worked as a customer assistant in the ladies section at Henriks department store on Oxford Street. Her morning passed without incident. She performed her usual daily tasks of putting clothes out on the shop floor, helping customers in the changing rooms and serving customers on the checkouts. At lunch time, she met up with her boyfriend Mickey Smith in Trafalgar Square, where they had lunch, a laugh, teasing each other and kissing each other.
After lunch, Rose returned to Henriks for several more hours of shop work until at last 6 PM came and the store closed. Rose was just reaching the door ready to go home when a security guard waved a bag of money in her face. Today was Friday, which meant it was the day the money was handed in for Henriks' lottery syndicate. Rose begrudgingly took the the money and rode in the lift to the store's cellar.
When she stepped out of the lift, she found the cellar deserted, which was unusual, as there was usually technicians and cleaners working down there. "Wilson?" Rose called out, heading down the corridor to the door that led to chief electrician H.P Wilson's office. "Wilson, I've got the lottery money." Rose said, knocking on the door, but she received no answer. "Wilson, you there? Look, I can't hang about 'cos they're closing the shop. Wilson?!" There was still no answer. "Uh, come on!" Rose grumbled to herself. She just wanted to go home, have chips for dinner and go down the pub with Mickey for the evening. A sudden sound came from further down the corridor and Rose snapped her head in that direction. "Hello?" she called as she went to investigate. "Hello, Wilson, It's Rose. Hello?" She stopped outside a pair of fire doors and pushed them open to find herself in a storeroom full of shop floor dummies. She turned the light on and ventured further in the room. "Wilson?" she called out. "Wilson?" She was just trying a door at the side of the room when the doors she'd entered through suddenly slammed shut by themselves. Rose ran back and tried to open them, but they wouldn't budge. Then, she heard a creaking sound from somewhere behind her. "Is that someone mucking about?" Rose called out, ventured back into the room. "Who is it?"
Suddenly, a dummy's head turned on it's own accord. Rose turned around just in time to see it step out of it's alcove and slowly walk towards her. "Heh... ya got me, very funny." she said as she backed away. The dummy said nothing and continued to walk towards her. Two more dummies came to life and joined it. "Right, I've got the joke." Rose said, getting unnerved now. "Who's idea was this? Was it Derek's, is it?" The three dummies continued to advance on Rose. "Derek, is this you?" she called, continuing to back away. More and more dummies came to life and soon, every dummy in the store room was advancing on Rose, who backed away from them until she tripped on a box and found herself cornered against the wall, the dummies advancing on her from all sides. As they closed the distance, the first dummy raised it's arm, ready to deliver a karate chop. Rose closed her eyes and braced herself for the blow.
Suddenly, she felt a hand take hers and she opened her eyes to look at the owner of the hand; a tall man in his early forties with close-cut brown hair, piercing blue eyes, rather prominent ears, a hawk-like nose and dressed in a battered black leather jacket, a burgundy V-neck jumper, black trousers and black doc martin boots. "Run!" he urged Rose, his voice a thick Lancashire accent. And so they ran! The man pulled Rose out of the way as the dummy's arm came down and sliced through a pipe like a knife through butter. Rose and the man burst through the doors and raced down the corridor towards the lift with the army of dummies in close pursuit.
When they reached the lift, Rose could see that it was being held open by a very pretty young woman in her early twenties with long, wavy, chestnut brown hair, hazel eyes, an ivory complexion and dressed in a black leather jacket, a black tank top, black skinny jeans, black biker boots and black fingerless gloves. Once Rose and the man were inside the lift, the brunette woman hit the button for the ground floor and the doors began to close. But before they could close fully, the dummies caught up with them and one stuck it's arm through the doors, preventing them from closing properly. Both the man and the woman tugged on the arm until it came off with a pop and the doors closed. "You pulled his arm off!" Rose stared.
"Yep, plastic." the man said nonchalantly, tossing the arm to Rose, who caught it and looked it closely. It was solid plastic al the way through.
"Very clever, nice trick!" Rose remarked. "Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?"
"Why would they be students?" the woman quizzed. Unlike the man, she spoke with a Surrey accent.
"I dunno." Rose shrugged.
"Well, you said it." the man said. "Why students?"
"'Cos to get that many people dressed up and being silly... they gotta be students." Rose reasoned.
"That makes sense, well done." the man said in a patronising tone.
"Thanks." Rose retorted, matching his tone.
"They're not students." the man said darkly.
"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds 'em, he's gonna call the police."
"Who's Wilson?" the man asked.
"Chief electrician."
"Wilson's dead." the man said matter-of-factually as the lift doors opened and he stepped out. The woman gave Rose an apologetic look and followed him.
"That's just not funny, that's sick!" Rose burst out as she followed them out onto the ground floor, emerging in a back corridor.
Once they were all clear of the lift, the woman reached into her inside jacket pocket and produced a small silver metal cylindrical object with a blue light on the end and aimed it at the lift controls. "Stand back." she warned Rose, and switched the device on, causing it to light up and emit a strange buzzing noise.
"I've had enough of this now!" Rose grumbled, then she yelped and flinched as sparks flew out of the lift controls. "Who're you two, then?" she questioned as the man and woman walked off down the corridor. "Who's that lot down there?" Rose insisted as she followed them. "I said who are they?!"
"They're made of plastic." the man explained. "Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He reached into his pocket and produced a homemade bomb; two blocks of C4 with a timer strapped to them. "So..." he continued as they reached a fire exit and opened it, "we're gonna go upstairs and blow it up. And we might well die in the process. But don't worry about us, no. Go home, go on! Go and have yer lovely beans on toast."
"And whatever ya do, don't tell anyone else about this." the woman warned Rose as they ushered out into an alleyway behind Henriks. "'Cos if you do, you'll put them in danger."
The doors were slammed shut and Rose was left staring in bemusement. Suddenly, the doors opened again to reveal the two strangers. "I'm the Doctor, by the way." the man introduced. "And this is Gazelle." He gestured to the woman, who gave Rose a small wave. "What's yer name?"
"Rose." the befuddled blonde replied.
"Nice to meet yer, Rose. Run for yer life." the Doctor grinned manically, waggling his homemade bomb, then he and Gazelle shut the doors again.
Rose stared at the closed doors for a moment, still trying to comprehend what was going on, then she remembered the bomb and so she turned and ran down the alleyway until she reached the main road, then she ran over to the other side, nearly getting run over by a black cab in the process. Rose ran until she was a safe distance and looked back just in time to see Henriks explode in an enormous fireball. All the windows were blown out and flames tore through the structure of the building. Rose stared at the burning building for a moment, before turning and running off towards the bus stop to go home. In her shock, she didn't realise that she was still holding the plastic arm, nor did she notice a blue police public call box from the 1960's tucked away in an alcove between two buildings.
~8~
Rose was soon back at home in the Tyler family flat on the Powell Estate. The telly was turned to BBC News 24, which was doing a report on the Henriks fire, and Rose was sat on the settee watching the news. "The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire." the newsreader announced. "Earlier reports in the..."
Just then, Jackie entered the room with a cup of tea for her daughter in one hand and the phone pressed to her ear. "I know, it's on the telly! It's everywhere!" she said into the phone. "She's lucky to be alive!" She handed Rose the tea. "Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter! Oh, and here's himself..." she remarked as Mickey appeared in the doorway.
"I've been phoning your mobile." Mickey fussed to Rose. "You could've been dead! It's been on the news and everything! I can't believe that your shop went up!" And he hugged his girlfriend tightly.
"I'm alright, honestly, I'm fine!" Rose reassured him. She loved Mickey, but he could be very clingy at times. "Don't make a fuss!"
"Well, what happened?" Mickey asked her.
"I dunno." Rose lied, remembering what Gazelle had said about putting people in danger.
"What was it, though. What caused it?" Mickey persisted.
"I wasn't in the shop, I was outside. I didn't see anything..."
Just then, Jackie returned, still on the phone. "It's Debbie on the other end." she said to Rose. "She knows a man from the Mirror. 500 quid for an interview."
"Oh, that's brilliant! Give it here!" Rose said sarcastically, taking the phone and hanging up.
"Well, you've gotta find some way of making money." Jackie remarked. "Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out." Rose could see her point; Jackie had sacrificed a lot in single-handedly bringing her daughter up after the death of her husband Pete in a hit-and-run back in 1987 and Jackie had continued to support Rose through her teenage years, even after the Jimmy Stone fiasco. The phone rang again and Jackie answered. "Bev! She's alive! I told her 'Sue for compensation.' She was within seconds of death..." Jackie went off into the kitchen, gabbling for England.
Rose turned her attention to her cup of tea. "Whatcha drinking? Tea?" Mickey questioned. "No, no, no, that's no good. You're in shock, ya need something stronger."
"I'm alright." Rose insisted.
"You deserve a proper drink." Mickey persisted. "You and me, we're going down the pub, my treat. How about it?"
"Is there a match on?" Rose smiled, knowing Mickey by heart.
"I'm just thinking about you, babe!" Mickey protested.
"There's a match on, ain't there?" Rose said knowingly.
"Well, yeah, but that's not the point." Mickey said hastily. "We could catch the last five minutes."
"Go on, then, go." Rose told her boyfriend. "I'm fine really, really. Go. Get rid of that." She gestured to the dummy's arm, which was lying on an armchair.
Mickey pointed to his lips and Rose gave him a kiss. He pushed her back into the chair and they shared a laugh. Mickey got up to leave and Rose put a leg out to trip him up. Mickey picked up the arm and made for the door. "Bye-bye!" he said in a silly voice, waving with the arm.
"Bye." Rose called back. Mickey then pretended to strangle himself with the arm and left the flat. Rose shook her head fondly and turned back to the news.
"... fire then spread throughout the store..." the newsreader was saying. "... there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure..."
~8~
Mickey walked across the estate and tossed the arm into a bin, and that was that, or so he thought...
~8~
Next morning, Rose's alarm clock went off at 7:30 as usual and she whacked it to shut it up, then sat up in bed "There's no point in getting up, sweetheart." Jackie's voice called. "You've got no job to go to."
Rose flopped back on the pillow to have a lie in. An hour later, Rose was sat at the breakfast table contemplating her prospects. Thanks to the Jimmy Stone fiasco, she had no A-level qualifications, so that severely limited her employment options. She'd been very lucky to get the Henriks job, and that had literally gone up in smoke.
"There's Finch's." Jackie suggested "You could try them. They've always got jobs."
"Oh great, the butchers!" Rose huffed
"Well, it might do you good." Jackie persisted. "That shop was giving ya airs and graces. And I'm not joking about getting compensation. You've had genuine shock and trauma! Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek." Rose was about to retort to that, but Jackie was ready for it. "And I know she is Greek, but that's not the point, it was a valid claim." she said as went off to her bedroom to dry her hair.
Just then, Rose heard a rattling sound and stood up to investigate. "Mum, ya such a liar." she grumbled "I told ya to nail that cat flap down, we're gonna get strays!"
"I did it weeks back!" Jackie called indignantly from her room.
"Nah, you thought about it!" Rose huffed, going to the front door. She found that Jackie had indeed nailed the cat flap down, but the nails had fallen out onto the floor. Then, the flap moved suddenly, causing Rose to leap back. She came forward again and gently prodded the flap, then pushed it open to see the Doctor's face on the other side.
Rose promptly stood and opened the door just as the Doctor stood too. "What you doing here?" he asked in surprise.
"I live here."
"Well, what d'yer do that for?"
"'Cos I do." Rose retorted. "I'm only at home 'cos someone blew up my job!"
The Doctor paid her no attention. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver and blue light-up metal cylinder identical to the one Gazelle had used to disable the lift in Henriks last night, only his had a cream crackle finish to the handle instead of the cyan finish Gazelle's one had. "Must've picked up the wrong signal." he muttered, switching the blue light on for a moment, then he put the device away and turned to Rose. "Yer not plastic, are you?" he asked rhetorically as he knocked on her forehead like a door. "Nope, bonehead. Bye, then." He made to leave, but Rose grabbed his arm.
"You, inside, right now." she demanded, pulling him into the flat, determined to get some answers
"Who is it?" Jackie called from her bedroom.
"It's about last night." Rose told her, poking her head through the bedroom door. "He's part of the inquiry. Give us 10 minutes." she went off to the living room, while the Doctor paused in the hallway, looking around with interest.
"She deserves compensation." Jackie told him.
"Huh, we're talking millions." the Doctor answered, going along with the charade.
Jackie looked at him for a moment, then stood up flirtatiously. "I'm in my dressing gown."
"Yes, you are." the Doctor said flatly.
"There's a strange man in my bedroom." Jackie continued.
"Yes, there is." the Doctor said in the same flat way.
"Well, anything could happen."
The Doctor was silent for a moment as the gears in his head turned, working out what Jackie was implying, then it clicked for him. "No." he said simply, and walked off. Jackie gave him a dirty look behind his back.
The Doctor entered the living room, where Rose was tidying up some magazines that were lying around. "Don't mind the mess." she said. "D'ya want a coffee?"
"Might as well, thanks." the Doctor shrugged. "Just milk."
Rose turned and began to walk to the kitchen when she suddenly remembered that the Doctor had had company last night. "Where's the other one?" she asked. "The girl, what's-her-name?"
"Gazelle? She's outside." the Doctor replied. "She said she fancied something from that sandwich shop yer've got downstairs."
Rose went into the kitchen and started making coffee "We should go the police." she began. "Seriously, all three of us."
The Doctor wasn't paying attention; he was looking around the living room with interest. "That won't last." he remarked as he eyed a gossip magazine. "He's gay and she's an alien."
"I'm not blaming you," Rose continued, "even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong."
The Doctor picked up a book and flicked through it. "Hmm, sad ending." he remarked.
"They said on the news they'd found a body." Rose said in the kitchen, oblivious to the Doctor's mooching in the other room.
The Doctor picked up Rose's Henriks staff I.D card. "Rose Tyler." he read out, then looked at his reflection in a mirror. "50 years, and I still can't used to these ears." he mumbled, flicking his large ears.
"All the same, he was nice. Nice bloke." Rose rambled in the kitchen.
The Doctor picked up a deck of playing cards from the coffee table and shuffled them. "Luck be a lady." he sang to himself.
"Well anyway if we are going to go to the police, I wanna know what I'm saying." Rose continued.
The Doctor shuffled the cards again and they went flying everywhere. "Maybe not." he shrugged, then he heard a scuttling noise coming from somewhere in the room. "What's that, then? You got a cat?" he asked.
"No." Rose answered, while the Doctor pinpointed the noise to be coming from behind the settee. He leaned in to investigate, only for the plastic dummy arm to come flying up and grab him by his neck. "We did have," Rose continued, oblivious to this, "but now we just get strays coming in off the estate." She finished making the coffees and returned to the living room to find the Doctor sitting on an armchair, apparently being throttled by the arm. "I told Mickey to chuck that out." she huffed, putting the drinks down. "Honestly, give a man a plastic 'and. Anyway, I don't even know ya name, Doctor.. what was it?"
The Doctor didn't answer; he was too busy trying to pull the arm off him. He finally managed to get it off and threw it across the room. It hovered in mid-air for a moment, then suddenly launched itself at Rose, latched onto her face and started to smother her. The Doctor leapt to his feet and tried to pull it off her. Jackie meanwhile was busy drying her hair, and so was oblivious to the commotion in the living room. The Doctor and Rose crashed onto the coffee table, demolishing it and rolled onto the floor. The Doctor pushed her back onto the chair and pulled out his light-up tube, then flashed it at the arm, causing it to let go of Rose. He then continued to jab the arm with the tube until it went limp.
"It's alright, I've stopped it." he said to Rose, tossing the arm to her "There yer go, see? 'Armless."
"D'ya think?!" Rose glowered, giving him a whack on the shoulder with the arm, not impressed with his tasteless joke. The Doctor rubbed his shoulder, then he grabbed the arm and left the flat. Rose threw a hoodie on and went off after him. She caught up with him halfway down the stairs. "Hold on a minute, ya can't just go swanning off!" she complained.
"Yes, I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off." the Doctor said simply. "See yer!"
"That arm was moving, it tried to kill me!"
"10 out of 10 for observation." the Doctor said sarcastically.
"Ya just can't walk away!" Rose persisted. "That's not fair! You've gotta tell me what's going on."
"No, I don't." the Doctor said simply.
"Alright then, I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone." Rose threatened. "Ya mate said if I did that, I'd put people in danger. So, your choice. Tell me, or I'll start talking."
"Is that supposed to sound tough?"
"Sort of."
"Doesn't work." the Doctor said lamely as they reached the bottom of the stairwell.
They walked through the doors onto the estate, where they found Gazelle sitting on a bollard, taking the last few bites out of a bacon sandwich. "Found anything?" she asked the Doctor, who showed her the arm in response. Then she saw Rose. "What's she doing here?"
"She lives here, apparently." the Doctor replied.
"Huh, small world." Gazelle shrugged, binning her rubbish, then she and the Doctor began to walk across the estate.
"Who are you two?" Rose questioned as she followed them.
"We told you." the Doctor replied. "I'm the Doctor, she's Gazelle."
"Yeah, but Doctor what?" Rose probed.
"Just the Doctor."
"The Doctor." Rose repeated in disbelief. Surely that wasn't his real name. Maybe he was Doctor Smith or Jones, or something like that.
"Hullo!" he gave a cheeky wave.
"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" Rose scoffed.
"Sort of." the Doctor shrugged.
Rose turned to the brunette. "And you're called Gazelle?"
"Yes, I am." she replied simply.
"No offence, but what kinda name is Gazelle?"
"My name." was all Gazelle had to say in response to that.
"O-kay." Rose said slowly, wandering if theses two were missing a few screws each "Come on, then, tell me." she persisted "I've seen enough. Are ya both police?"
"No, we were just passing through." the Doctor replied "We're both a long way from home."
"But what've I done wrong? How come these plastic things keep coming after me?"
"Oh! Suddenly the entire world revolves around you?" the Doctor said rudely. "You were just an accident. You got in the way, that's all."
Gazelle promptly whacked him in the shoulder. "Oi, don't be rude!" she scolded, then turned to Rose. "What he means is that last night, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Autons are after us, but they're focussing on you because you've met us."
"So, what ya saying is, the entire world revolves around you two?" Rose turned the Doctor's jibe against him.
"Sort of, yeah." the Doctor said simply.
"You're full of it!" Rose laughed.
"Sort of, yeah." the Doctor repeated.
"Truer words have never been spoken." Gazelle remarked, giving Rose a wink.
"Oi!" the Doctor said indignantly.
"But, this plastic stuff, these Autons, who else knows about it?" Rose asked.
"No one." the Doctor replied.
"What, you're both on ya own?"
"Well, who else is there?" the Doctor remarked. "I mean, you lot, all all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly! When all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on!"
"And what about you two?" Rose probed. "You a couple or what?"
"No!" both the Doctor and Gazelle said together hastily, causing Rose to raise a brow. She was clever enough to know that when people answered hastily like that, they were probably lying. She studied them both for a moment. There was quite an age gap between them, with the Doctor looking to be about 40-ish, while Gazelle looked to be around 24-ish. Still, it wasn't her place to judge other people.
"Ok, start from the beginning." Rose said, taking the arm from the Doctor. "If ya gonna go with this living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do... how d'ya kill it?"
"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm." the Doctor replied. "I cut off the signal, dead."
"So that's radio control." Rose pondered.
"Close. It's actually though control." Gazelle told her. "You alright?" she asked when Rose didn't say anything else.
"Yeah." Rose waved her off. "So, who's controlling it, then?"
"Long story." the Doctor waved her off
"But what's it all for?" Rose wandered. "I mean, shop window dummies... what's that all about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?"
All three shared a laugh at that ridiculous notion. "No, it's not a price war." the Doctor said jovially, then became serious. "They wanna overthrow the Human race. D'yer believe me?"
"No." Rose snorted.
"But ya still listening, though." Gazelle remarked.
Rose stopped at this point. They'd now reached the end of the estate and over the road from them was a blue police box; the same one that had been outside Henriks last night. "Really, though, who are ya both?" Rose quizzed.
The Doctor stopped and walked back to her while Gazelle carried on towards the police box. "D'yer know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" the Doctor said mysteriously. "It's like when yer a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and yer just can't believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it, Gazelle can too." He took Rose's hand. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and we can feel it. We're falling through space, you and us, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go.." He let go of Rose's hand. "That's who we are. Now, forget us, Rose Tyler." He took the arm back off her. "Go home."
He turned and walked off towards the police box, which Gazelle had gone inside during his dramatic speech. Rose watched his departing back, then turned and began to walk back towards Bucknall House. She was halfway back across the estate when she suddenly heard a strange noise. It was a wheezing and groaning sound, almost soulful sounding. She hurried back to find that the Doctor, Gazelle and the box were all gone, apparently disappeared into thin air. Rose was more baffled than ever; living plastic, vanishing police boxes and the strange speech the Doctor made. There was more to those two than met the eye and Rose was determined to get to the bottom of everything.
~8~
Mickey answered the door of his flat to find Rose standing there. "Yahey, there's my woman." he grinned. "Kit off."
"Shut up!" Rose laughed, giving him a kiss.
"Coffee?"
"Yeah, only if you wash the mug. And I don't mean rinse, I mean wash. Can I use ya computer?"
"Yeah, any excuse to get in the bedroom." Mickey grinned, and went into the kitchen, while Rose headed to the bedroom. "Don't read my emails!" Mickey called after her.
Rose soon had Mickey's PC fired up and was surfing the internet for information. She typed 'Doctor' into a search engine, but received no relevant results. Typing 'Gazelle' also proved fruitless. Next, she tried 'Doctor Living Plastic'. Once again, nothing useful. Rose tried 'Doctor Blue Box' and this time, she got lucky. The first result was a link to a website called 'Doctor Who'. Rose clicked on the link to find a webpage that showed a blurry photo of the Doctor with a caption below saying 'Have you seen this man? Contact Clive.'
~8~
That afternoon, Mickey drove Rose to a house in Stoke Newington that belonged to Clive Finch, the man ran the website. Mickey wasn't happy about this at all. He was convinced that Clive was an internet serial killer. "You're not coming in!" Rose insisted as they pulled up outside the house. "He's safe, he's got a wife and kids. "
"Yeah, but who told ya that? He did!" Mickey countered. "That's exactly what an internet murder would say."
Rose got out of the car anyway and made her way towards Clive's house. Mickey watched her like a hawk, giving a man putting his bin out the evils. Rose knocked on the front door of Clive's house and a pre-teen boy answered. "Uh, hello, I've come to see Clive." Rose introduced. "We've been emailing."
"Dad! It's one of your nutters!" the boy called down the hall, and scuttled off back to his game console.
A portly man in his early forties came to the door. "Sorry, hullo." he introduced. "You must be Rose. I'm Clive, obviously."
"I'd better tell ya now, my boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case ya gonna kill me." Rose joked.
"No, good point. No murders." Clive smiled, and gave a cheerful wave to Mickey, who nodded, still distrustful.
"Who is it?" a woman's voice, evidently Clive's wife, called from upstairs.
"Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor." Clive answered. "She's been reading the website." He turned to Rose. "Please come though, I'm in the shed."
Clive's wife came downstairs with a laundry basket. "She?" she remarked in disbelief. "She read the website about the Doctor? She's a she?!" She smiled ironically and shut the front door, leaving Mickey unable to see what was going on inside.
Clive led Rose to the shed in his back garden, which was packed with folders. "A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive." he said, pulling out one of the folders. "I couldn't just sent it to yer. People might intercept it, if yer know what I mean. If yer dig deep enough, keep a lively mind, this Doctor keeps popping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories, even ghost stories. No first name, no last name, just 'The Doctor.' Always the Doctor. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son, it appears to be an inheritance. That's your Doctor over there, isn't it?" He pointed to a computer, which displayed his webpage.
"Yeah." Rose confirmed.
"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive last year." Clive said, opening the folder he was holding. "The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original..." he showed Rose photos of the Doctor standing in a crowd in Dallas as an open top car carrying US President John F. Kennedy passed. "November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy."
"Must be his father..." Rose muttered, trying to assimilate this
"Going further back... April 1912." Clive said pulling, out a photo album. "This is a photograph of the Daniels family of Southampton, and friend." he showed Rose a black and white photo of an Edwardian family. The Doctor was standing with them, dressed in a top hat and frock coat. "This was taken the day before they were due to sail off to the New World on the Titanic. And for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And..." he showed her a sketch showing the Doctor and Gazelle standing on a beach, "1883. Another Doctor, and his female companion. And look, it's the same lineage. He's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very night that Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings a storm in his wake. And he has two constant companions."
"Right, so one's Gazelle." Rose nodded. "Who's the other?"
"Death." Clive answered ominously.
~8~
Outside the house, Mickey was still waiting in his looked around and suddenly saw a wheelie bin scuttling along the pavement on it's own accord.
~8~
"If the Doctor's back... if yer've seen him, Rose, then one thing's for certain, we're all in danger." Clive continued.
~8~
Mickey look at the bin. It stopped moving, but after a few seconds, it started moving again. He got out of the car and approached it, believing it was probably either a kid playing a joke or a cat or fox that had gotten trapped inside the bin. He placed both hands on the lid and pulled it open. "Come on, then!" he crowed, only to find nothing in the bin except some bin bags.
~8~
If he's singled you out... If the Doctor's making house calls... then God help you." Clive said grimly.
~8~
Mickey shut the bin lid and tried to walk away, but found that his hands were stuck to the lid. When he tried to pull away, the bin just stretched and refused to let him go. Mickey kept trying to get away, but eventually, the bin opened it's lid and pulled him backwards, apparently consuming him.
~8~
"But who are they?" Rose asked, getting unnerved by Clive's doom mongering. "Who do you think they are?"
"I dunno for certain who or what the girl is." Clive replied. "There's not much information on her, only that a woman called Gazelle was apparently held in high regard by Queen Victoria and Sir Winston Churchill. But I think the Doctor's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."
Rose was silent for a moment, processing this information. It sounded ridiculous, but it also made sense. She remembered the Doctor's speech that morning, about feeling the Earth turning, then there was the light-up tube things that both he and Gazelle used, which were like nothing she'd ever seen before, and there was the living plastic. She thanked Clive for his time and returned to Mickey's car, where she found him sitting in the driver's seat with a cheesy grin on his face. "Ok, still here." she said as she sat down in the passenger seat. "Not a murderer. What we doing tonight? I fancy pizza."
"Pizza!" Mickey said, sounding like an over-excited kid. "P-p-p-pizza!"
"Or a Chinese." Rose pondered.
"Pizza!" Mickey cheered, and drove off, swerving all over the road before he suddenly remembered how to drive again.
~8~
That evening, Rose and Mickey were sat in a West End pizza restaurant, with Rose pondering what to do with her life now that her job had gone up in smoke. "D'ya think I should try the hospital?" she asked Mickey, who was sitting across from her with the same cheesy grin stuck on his face. "Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen. That's it then... dishing out chips... I could do A Levels... I dunno, it's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school 'cos of him and look where he ended up. What d'you think?"
"So, where did ya meet this Doctor?" Mickey spoke up at last.
"I'm sorry, was I talking about me for a second?" Rose huffed.
"Because, I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Is he something to do with that?" Mickey persisted.
"No."
"Come on."
"Sort of."
"What was he doing there?"
"I'm not going on about him, Mickey, I'm not, because, I know it sounds daft but... I don't think he's safe. I think he's dangerous." Rose said. In the wake of what she'd learnt from Clive, she'd decided it was best to leave well alone. "Maybe the girl too, dunno about her."
But Mickey wasn't taking no for an answer "But you can trust me, sweetheart-babe-sugar-darling-sweetheart." he fired off in quick succession, causing Rose to look at him oddly. "You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose. Because that's all I really wanna do, sweetheart, babe, sugar, sweetheart."
"What ya doing that for?" Rose questioned, getting puzzled by Mickey's strange behaviour.
Just then, a waiter in a leather jacket approached the table. "Your champagne." he said in a thick Lancashire accent.
"We didn't order any champagne." Mickey said without even looking at him, then he grabbed Rose's hand. "Where's the Doctor?" he asked fiercely.
The waiter moved over to the other side of the table and held the bottle out to Rose. "Ma'am, your champagne."
"It's not ours." Rose replied, not looking at him. "Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?"
"I need to find out how much he knows, so where is he?"
"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" the waiter persisted.
Mickey lost patience. "Look, we didn't order i..." he trailed off as he looked up and recognised the waiter. "Ah, gotcha!" he crowed triumphantly.
Rose looked round to see that the waiter was the Doctor "Don't mind me!" he grinned, shaking the bottle. "I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!" He popped the cork off and it flew straight at Mickey's forehead, but instead of bouncing off it, it was simply absorbed by his forehead, his skin looking very plasticky while doing so, then he spat the cork out of his mouth. It was then that Rose realised the Mickey sat in front of her was in fact an Auton disguised as Mickey.
"Anyway." the Auton Mickey snarled, standing up. His hands morphed into sharp blades and he swung them down, slicing the table in half. The blades would have hit Rose too had a pair of feminine arms not pulled her out of the way in the nick of time. Rose looked round to see that Gazelle was the person who had saved her. The Doctor grabbed the Auton Mickey in a headlock and began tugging at his head, which came off with a pop. The Doctor lost his footing and fell forward onto a nearby table with the head in his hands. "Don't think that's gonna stop me." the head snarled, causing the couple sat at the table to scream, while the headless Auton swung it's blades around blindly, dangerously close to other patrons, who were all too shocked to move.
Rose leapt into action. She ran over to a fire alarm and slammed her elbow on it. "Everyone out!" she hollered. "Out now!" The restaurant cleared like magic, leaving just Rose, the Doctor, Gazelle and the Auton. The Doctor and Gazelle went into the kitchen and Rose decided to follow them, since they both seemed to know what was going on. "Get out! Get out! Get out!" she urged the bemused kitchen staff as she saw the headless Auton beginning to follow them.
The trio left through the back door and found themselves in the yard. The Doctor braced the door shut with his back, while Gazelle flashed her light-up tube at the lock, apparently sealing it. In the middle of the yard was the blue police box. With the door locked, Gazelle ran inside the police box, while Rose ran over to the gates, only to find them padlocked. "Open the gate!" she hollered to the Doctor. "Use those tube things, c'mon!"
"Sonic screwdrivers." the Doctor corrected, completely unfazed by the pounding coming from the other side of the doors.
"Use 'em!"
"Nah." the Doctor answered nonchalantly. "Tell yer what, let's go in here." And he walked into the blue box with the Auton head tucked beneath his arm.
Rose could see that the Auton was beginning to make dents in the door and knew that it would soon break through. "We can't hide inside a wooden box!" she yelled, running over to the box. "It's gonna get us, Doctor! Gazelle!" Seeing no other way out, she ran inside the box, then stopped in her tracks at what she saw. She promptly ran back outside and circled the box, trying to make sense of what she'd seen inside. Just then, the Auton finally managed to create a hole in the door, so Rose ran back inside the box.
The box's interior was like nothing Rose had ever seen before. It was a vast dome-shaped room that was far bigger than what the outside implied. The room had an organic look to it, with golden walls studded with roundels, coral Y-shaped beams that reached from the metal grille floor to the ceiling, an overhead gantry in one corner of the room and a mushroom-shaped console that stood prominently in the centre, with a transparent column that sprouted out of it and reached up to the ceiling. Inside the column, there was a series of transparent tubes that gave out a cyan light, while the panels on the console also gave out a cyan light, and there was a monitor attached to the console that was displaying strange circular markings, while several post-it notes were plastered onto the monitor with more circular markings. In addition, there was an ambient hum in the air, like the room was alive.
"It's gonna follow us!" Rose hollered as she ran up the ramp leading up from the doors.
"The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried." the Doctor said from where he was fiddling about the monitor. "Now, shut up a minute."
"Oi, manners!" Gazelle reprimanded. She was currently wiring up the Auton head to the console.
The Doctor paid no attention. "Now, an arm's too simple, but the head's perfect." he said to himself. "We can use it to trace the signal back to the original source." He turned to Rose, who was stood at the top of the ramp in shock. "Right. Where d'yer wanna start?" he asked her.
"Um, the inside's bigger than the outside." Rose said feebly.
"Yes."
"It's alien."
"Yup."
"Are you both aliens?"
"Yes." the Doctor stated.
"Its that alright?" Gazelle asked, coming up to stand beside the Doctor.
"Yeah." Rose said quickly, though she was still in shock from everything.
"She's called a TARDIS, this thing." the Doctor went on. "T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." Rose suddenly broke down sobbing, so Gazelle went over to comfort her. "That's ok. Culture shock." the Doctor said nonchalantly. "Happens to the best of us."
Gazelle just gave him a sharp look for his tactlessness. "Did they kill him?" Rose asked her. "Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?"
"We honestly can't say for sure," Gazelle told her, "but there's a chance that they kept him alive to maintain their copy, so don't give up just yet."
Rose nodded. Despite not talking as much as the Doctor, Gazelle seemed to be the more Humane of the two aliens.
"Who's Mickey?" the Doctor asked obliviously.
"Her boyfriend." Gazelle told him.
"Oh, didn't think of that." the Doctor shrugged.
Rose glared at him. "He's my boyfriend!" she burst out. "You pulled off his head, they copied him and you didn't even think?! And now you're just going to let him melt?!"
"Melt?" both aliens said in unison. They turned to the console just in time to see the Auton head melting into a plasticky goop
"Oh, no, no, no!" the Doctor hollered as he and Gazelle started frantically running around the console pressing buttons and pulling levers. The same wheezing and groaning noise that Rose had heard that morning sounded, the transparent tubes inside the column started moving up and down, and the room began to shake
"What ya doing?" Rose asked the duo, grabbing onto a railing to steady herself.
"Tracing the signal." the Doctor answered, looking at the monitor. "It's fading. No, no, no, no!"
"Oh, come on. Just a little longer." Gazelle muttered, working a few controls.
The shaking and the noise stopped, then the two aliens ran for the doors. "Ya can't go out there, it's not safe!" Rose called after them, but neither of them were listening and rushed outside. Rose stepped out after them to find that they'd moved. They were no longer in the backyard of the restaurant; they were now on the embankment next to the Thames, close to Westminster Bridge.
"We lost the signal! We got so close!" the Doctor moaned, leaning on a wall to sulk.
"We can't be too far off." Gazelle soothed, rubbing his shoulder.
The Doctor seemed to feel better with her ministrations until Rose spoke again. "We've moved. Does it fly?"
"Disappears there, reappears here, yer wouldn't understand." the Doctor waved her off.
"But if we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing?" Rose questioned. "It's still on the loose."
"It melted with the head. You gonna witter on all night?" the Doctor said rudely, earning himself a whack on the shoulder from Gazelle. "Ow! Will you stop that?" he moaned, rubbing his shoulder.
"I'll stop when you stop being obnoxiously rude to everyone we meet." the brunette retorted.
"So, where is he?" Rose asked.
The Doctor looked at her blankly, clearly having no idea what she was talking about. "Mickey, the real Mickey. You went and forgot him, again!" she burst out, having lost patience with the Doctor. "You were right, you are aliens!"
"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey..." the Doctor began bluntly.
"Yeah, he's not a kid."
"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?"
"Alright?!" Rose glared.
"Yes, it is!" the Doctor snapped back.
"Enough, both of you!" Gazelle cut in, fed up with all the bickering. "Doctor, show some compassion for once." The Doctor turned back to sulking against the TARDIS, while Gazelle turned to Rose and said in a much nicer tone, "Rose, I know you're upset and worried about ya boyfriend, but there's a bigger picture to all this and if we don't find out where the signal's coming from, then it won't be just your boyfriend; it'll be the whole planet that's in danger."
Rose decided to start over "If you are aliens, how come you sound like ya from the North?" she asked the Doctor.
"Lots of planets have a North." the Doctor whined, folding his arms indignantly.
"And what's a police public call box?" Rose asked, looking at the TARDIS.
"It's a telephone box from the 1960's." the Doctor replied. "It's a disguise." And he patted the box fondly.
Rose just shook her head at that. Men and their machines! "Ok. And this living plastic, what's it got against us?"
"Nothing. It loves yer. You've got such a good planet." the Doctor remarked. "Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air... perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs."
"It lost it's food stocks in a war." Gazelle chimed in. "All it's protein planets became contaminated, so Earth..."
"Dinner." the Doctor finished, making an eating gesture with his hands.
"Any way of stopping it?" Rose asked.
The Doctor grinned and reached into his pocket, producing a phial filled with a blue liquid. "Anti-plastic."
"Anti-plastic..." Rose repeated.
"Anti-plastic." the Doctor confirmed, putting the phial away again. "But first we've gotta find it. How can yer hide something that big in a city this small?" he wandered.
"Hold on... hide what?" Rose questioned.
"The transmitter." Gazelle replied. "Ya see, the Consciousness can control every single bit of plastic on Earth, but it needs a transmitter to boost the signal in order to do so."
"What's it look like?" Rose asked, wanting to be helpful.
"Like a transmitter." the Doctor replied, standing with his back to the river. "Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London. A huge circular metal structure... like a dish... like a wheel. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible."
Rose looked over his shoulder and saw something that fit the description. She nodded to it and the Doctor turned around for a moment, then turned back, completely nonplussed. "What?" he questioned, wandering what she was looking at.
Rose nodded again and the Doctor looked again, as did Gazelle this time, who realised what Rose was referring to. "Oh, you are very good, Rose Tyler." she chuckled, but the Doctor still didn't get it.
"What is it? What?" he questioned. "What is it? What?" he questioned. Rose gestured again and Gazelle pointed. The Doctor looked, and there, standing proudly on the opposite side of the river, was the London Eye; a huge, 450 foot Ferris wheel. "Oh..." the Doctor said as it clicked for him. "Fantastic!" he grinned inanely, and took off running with Gazelle and Rose hot on his heels.
As they raced over Westminster Bridge, Rose noticed that the Doctor and Gazelle were holding hands. She raised a brow at that, wandering if there was something between them despite their claims to the contrary. They came to a stop at the foot of the Eye.
"Think of it." the Doctor mused. "Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come to life. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables..."
"The breast implants." Rose joked.
"This isn't a laughing matter, Rose." Gazelle told her pointedly. "Countless lives are at stake."
The Doctor wasn't amused either. "Still, we've found the transmitter."
"The Consciousness must have it's base underneath." Gazelle agreed.
Rose ran off and found the entrance to a manhole at the foot of a wall. "What about down here?" she called, and the two aliens came over to look too.
"Looks good to me." the Doctor said, and the trio ran down the stairs to the manhole. The Doctor removed the cover and red light and smoke poured out from the depths. The Doctor found a ladder and began to climb down it.
"Right, thanks for ya help, Rose." Gazelle said as she made to follow him. "We can take it from here. You'd better find somewhere safe."
"No chance." Rose replied. "If Mickey's down there, then I'm going with ya."
"Stay close, then." Gazelle conceded. "And if we tell ya to get out, then you do it, no arguments." Rose nodded, and they both climbed down the ladder.
At the bottom of the ladder was a door. The Doctor opened it and they stepped through to find themselves in a vast chamber with walkways all over the walls. The Doctor pointed to a huge, wobbling orange mass in the middle of the chamber. "The Nestene Consciousness, that's it, inside the vat." he explained. "A living, plastic creature."
"It can adopt whatever form it wants for the planet it decides to take over." Gazelle added. "It's tried invading Earth a couple of times before."
"Took the form of a giant octopus back then." the Doctor remarked, clearly reliving a memory.
"Well then, tip in ya anti-plastic and let's go." Rose said.
"We're not here to kill it." the Doctor scolded. "I've got to give it a chance." They went down a few steps and the Doctor leaned over the railing to address the Consciousness. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."
The Consciousness wobbled a bit and growled out a response.
"Thank you." the Doctor said. "If we might have permission to approach."
Just then, something, or rather someone on the walkway below them caught Rose's eye. "Oh my God, Mickey!" she cried, rushing downstairs. There was Mickey Smith; the real Mickey Smith; grubby and terrified beyond his wits, but very much alive. "It's ok, it's alright." Rose soothed as she raced over to him and squatted down next to him.
"The thing down there, the liquid, Rose, it can talk!" Mickey whimpered.
"You're stinking!" Rose wrinkled her nose, then turned to Gazelle, who had joined them. "You were right, they kept him alive."
"Yeah, told ya there was a good chance." Gazelle replied, squatting down too. "Are you alright?" she asked Mickey. "It didn't harm you, did it?" Mickey shook his head. "What happened? How did they nab you?"
"It was a bin." Mickey blustered "It pulled me in, next thing I know, I'm in here with that thing!" he pointed at the Consciousness.
"Must've been a Nestene-controlled bin." Gazelle mused. "Still, at least you're safe. Everything's gonna be alright. We're gonna fix this." she reassured the terrified young man.
"Excuse me." the Doctor cut in irritably. "Can we get back on topic?"
"Yeah, sorry." Gazelle mumbled, going to stand by the Doctor, who turned his attention back to the Consciousness.
"Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" He smirked at his little pun, while Gazelle rolled her eyes at him.
The Consciousness globbered in what appeared to be a negative manner.
"Oh, don't give me that!" the Doctor retorted. "It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights!"
The Consciousness roared an angry response.
"I am talking!" the Doctor snapped, clearly not taking any nonsense. "This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf - please, just go."
Just then, Rose noticed three Autons creeping up on them from behind. "Look out!" she warned, but it was too late. One Auton grabbed the Doctor in a vice-like grip, while another did the same to Gazelle and the third reached into the Doctor's pocket and pulled out the phial of anti-plastic. The Consciousness was furious.
"That was just insurance!" the Doctor tried to pacify it. "I wasn't gonna use it!"
The Consciousness wasn't convinced and roared an angry response.
"We were not attacking you." the Doctor tried. "We're here to help. We're not yer enemies, I swear. We're not. What d'yer mean?" A door above them opened to reveal the TARDIS. "Oh, oh no, honestly, no! Yes, that's our ship!"
The Consciousness roared something .
"That's not true!" the Doctor protested. "I should know. I was there! We both fought in the war. It wasn't our fault!"
The Consciousness roared something else.
"No, no, we're not like them!" Gazelle protested. "They're all gone gone now!"
The Consciousness just roared even louder. "What's it doing?" Rose asked.
"It's the TARDIS." the Doctor answered, sounded panicked. "The Nestene has identified her superior technology. It's terrified! It's going to the final base. It's starting the invasion!"
"Get out, Rose!" Gazelle hollered. "Both of you, get outta here now!"
But Rose didn't go. She pulled out her mobile and dialled her mother's number. "Mum?"
"Oh, there ya are." Jackie's voice said on the other end. "I was just gonna phone. You CAN get compensation, I said so. I've got this document thing off the police. Don't thank me!"
"Where are ya, mum?"
"I'm in town."
"Go home!" Rose urged. "Just go home, right now!"
"Darling, you're breaking up." Jackie lied "Look, I'm just gonna do a bit of late night shopping. See ya later, ta-ra!" and she hung up
"Mum? Mum!" Rose tried, but it was no use.
Suddenly, four bright blue bolts of energy shot out of the Consciousness and reached into the ceiling. "It's the activation signal! It's transmitting!" the Doctor realised, and indeed, the bolts all extended up onto the Eye, gathering into a large signal which transmitted all over London.
"It's the end of the world..." Rose breathed.
~8~
Elsewhere in London, Clive Finch and his family were walking through the Queen's Arcade shopping centre "There's no point creating a spreadsheet if yer gonna spend summer money in winter months." Clive rambled.
His wife gasped suddenly when a dummy in the window of the shop they're just passed tapped the glass "Oh my God, I thought they were dummies." she remarked, thinking they were people in costumes. They looked around and saw all the other dummies moving too.
Suddenly, the dummies punched through the glass and stepped out of the shops, causing everyone to jump back in surprise. In another part of the shopping centre, Jackie was coming down the escalator and saw the dummies coming to life.
"It's true." Clive breathed, remembering reading stories of shop window dummies coming to life and going on a killing spree. "Everything I read, all the stories, it's all true!"
An Auton walked in front of him and raised it's arm. Clive realised what it was about to do and protectively stepped in front of his wife and son as the Auton's hand opened to reveal a gun and it shot him at point blank range. His wife and son screamed and ran for it.
~8~
In the Nestene lair, the Doctor and Gazelle were desperately trying in vain to get free of their captors. "Both of you, get outta here!" Gazelle yelled up to Rose and Mickey. "Save yourselves, go!"
The two Humans took the hint and began to run for it, only to see that the staircase had been severed by one of the Consciousness'' energy bolts, so they both ran to the TARDIS, but found that the door was locked. "I haven't got the key!" Rose groaned
"We're gonna die!" Mickey whimpered.
~8~
The Queen's Arcade was in chaos. Jackie stood at the bottom of the escalator in confusion, then she saw the Autons walking around shooting people. She screamed and ran for it. Outside, she found that there was just as much chaos outside as there was inside. An army of Autons marched out of shops, indiscriminately gunning down anyone they came across. Jackie ran down the road and ducked behind a car in front of a bridal shop. Suddenly, three Autons in wedding dresses demolished the window, causing Jackie to scream as they set their sights on her.
~8~
Rose watched the Doctor and Gazelle struggle against their captors. The Auton holding the Doctor was now trying to push him off the edge, while the one holding Gazelle kept her back, preventing her from intervening. The third Auton was holding the phial of anti-plastic in front of them, almost mockingly. Rose thought of her mother and everyone else in the streets above, and of the mayhem the Autons were no doubt causing. Then, she made a decision; she was going to take a stand.
"Just leave 'em!" Mickey called as she ran off. "There's nothing you can do!"
~8~
The three bridal Autons advanced on Jackie, holding their arms out ready to shoot her.
~8~
Rose ignored Mickey and picked up an axe. "Got no A-levels." she muttered, "no job, no future..." she hacked at a chain on the wall and released it, "but I tell ya what I have got; Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team." The chain came free and she grabbed it. "I got the bronze." And with that, she took a running jump and swung across the chasm over the Consciousness.
This seemed to spur the Doctor into action and with a great effort, he managed to get free of the Auton holding him and pushed it over the edge into the Consciousness, where it melted into nothing, then he rushed over to help Gazelle. Rose aimed for the Auton holding the anti-plastic and with a well-aimed kick, she sent both it and the phial flying over the edge. They both landed in the Consciousness and the phial shattered on impact, spilling it's contents all over the creature, which began to writhe and scream. The Auton holding Gazelle promptly seized up and let her go, allowing both her and the Doctor to catch Rose as she swung back. "Nice swinging, Rose." Gazelle praised.
"Now we're in trouble." the Doctor remarked, and they all ran upstairs to join Mickey by the TARDIS just as the Consciousness began to explode, cutting off the signal controlling the Autons.
~8~
The Autons in the high street suddenly stopped their killing spree and began to seize up as they lost their control signal. Jackie cautiously uncovered her eyes.
~8~
The Doctor, Gazelle, Rose and Mickey all hurried into the TARDIS once the Doctor had unlocked the box. The two aliens worked the controls and the TARDIS dematerialised just before the Nestene lair went up in flames.
~8~
The Autons on the high street all fell apart, back to lifeless plastic. Jackie gingerly came out of her hiding place and looked at the destruction all around her.
~8~
The TARDIS materialised in an alleyway near the Powell Estate. Mickey ran backwards out of the box and cowered against a wall, terrified beyond his wits. Between being captured by a bin, being held prisoner by a vat of living plastic and now a bigger on the inside box, it was all too much for him. Rose stepped out in a much calmer and more dignified manner. She pulled out her mobile and called her mother.
"Rose! Rose!" Jackie's voice gasped. "Don't go out the house, it's not safe!" Rose just laughed in relief at hearing her mother's voice. "There were all of these things!" Jackie blustered. "And they were shooting! And they..."
Rose hung up with a relieved laugh, feeling rather pleased with herself. She'd single-handedly saved the world; not bad for a shop girl with no fancy qualifications. "Fat lot of good you were." she remarked to Mickey.
The Doctor stood in the doorway of the TARDIS with his arms crossed and a look of macho smugness on his face. "Nestene Consciousness?" He clicked his fingers. "Easy."
"You were useless in there." Rose retorted. "You and ya mate would both be dead if it wasn't for me."
"Yes, we would." the Doctor admitted. "Thank you. Right then, we'll be off. Unless, er, I dunno... you could come with us. This box isn't just a London hopper, yer know, she goes anywhere in the universe, free of charge."
"Don't!" Mickey pleaded, wrapping his arms around Rose's legs. "They're aliens. They're things!"
"He is not invited." the Doctor said sternly, then in a more friendly tone, he said to Rose, "What d'yer think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go, uh... anywhere."
"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked, seriously considering it.
"Yeah." the Doctor replied cheerfully.
Mickey clung to Rose even tighter, which seemed to remind her of her family responsibilities "Yeah, I can't." she sighed. "I've, um.. gotta find my mum and, um... someone's gotta look after this stupid lump..." she patted her boyfriend on the back, "So..."
"Ok." the Doctor said, disappointed. "See yer around." he went back inside the TARDIS and the box dematerialised.
"C'mon, let's go." Rose said sadly, helping a shaky Mickey to his feet. They were just about to walk away when they heard the sound of the TARDIS again and they turned to see the box rematerialise again.
The door opened and Gazelle poked her head out. "Oh, by the way, the Doctor forgot to mention, the TARDIS is a time machine as well." she said, then poked her head back in, leaving the door ajar.
Rose processed this information. Suddenly it all clicked for her: the photos Clive had shown her and why the Doctor looked the same in them. The Doctor and Gazelle were time travellers, and this meant that if Rose went with them, they could literally go anywhere and get her home mere seconds after she'd left. "Thanks." she said to Mickey.
"For what?" he asked.
"Exactly." Rose replied, and kissed him on the cheek, then she ran towards the TARDIS with a broad smile on her face, ready to embark on the trip of a lifetime.