𝔏𝔬𝔫𝔡𝔬𝔫, 𝔈𝔫𝔤𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡, 𝔈𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔥
𝔄𝔭𝔯𝔦𝔩 2005
Aliens were something that EJ had been infatuated with for as long as he could remember. They were an escape from real life whenever he needed it, and the stars always seemed like the best place to go. When everything went wrong, all he could think of was space, and the first place he would like to go.
Of course, meeting an alien never seemed to be on the cards. It wasn't on the cards for anyone, actually. Ever. No one knew any aliens, and if they did, they'd be sectioned.
But the Doctor- he had to be an alien. Every single thing he said was ridiculous, despite making complete sense. He knew the sort of things that people just didn't know. He couldn't be normal.
And of course, there was his ship. The TARDIS. The police box. It sat in the corner of the corridor, just out of sight. Although, it didn't looks big enough to hold one person comfortably, never mind two, but that didn't matter to EJ.
He was told to have a look, so he did, and he wasn't disappointed.
"Holy shit!"
EJ, almost instantly, ran around the control room. He wanted to take everything in. He wanted to remember ever second of this for the rest of his life.
It was a large space, an impossible size for the police box which supposedly held it. There were too many colours, objects and things he couldn't describe that it was hard to embrace all of it. But it felt warm, the plate being deep golds and bronzes, there was an other-worldly quality to it all. Beams sprang out of the flooring, mimicking the Tudor cottages that EJ had grown up nearby. The most interesting thing, however, was the control panel in the centre.
There were so many parts. So many knobs, and dials, and buttons. He wanted to touch them all so badly. He wouldn't, but he wanted to.
"This is... gorgeous." The Doctor nodded along, like he'd heard it all a million times before. "How does this even..."
"Well, it's-"
"It's bigger on the inside." He gasped, eyes never staying still for a moment. "Its bloody bigger on the inside."
"Like it, then?" The Doctor was smiling like a child.
"Like it?" EJ scoffed, landing back in front of strange man beside the doors. "It's the best thing I've ever seen. I mean, the, the intricacies in the... and look at that! I-" Everything kept catching his attention, and he couldn't quite stay focused on one thing. "How does this even happen? Is it like... dimensional engineering or something?"
"How'd you know that?" The Doctor was taken aback.
"My friends a huge nerd." The blonde boy shrugged. "Studies astrophysics at Uni, and I know this isn't astrophysics, but it's the closest thing I can think of."
"Okay, right." He nodded, and made his way over to the control panel. "Hold on."
The Thompson boy followed in his stead, and watched as a few bottoms were pressed, and a lever was pulled. Then, the engines started, and a clunk was heard. EJ felt weightless for a split second, and recognised exactly what was happening.
They were flying!
Despite not feeling like they were moving, EJ knew that they were. Even if it was just by the Doctor's reaction. He didn't even know where they were going, or where he was being taken, but it didn't matter. This was every childhood dream come true.
When they landed, the Doctor barely moved as he pulled a screen over to himself so that he could check something. EJ couldn't read it, but he did try. After giving up on that, the boy decided to occupy himself with the beams. He was spinning around, and touching them, trying to figure out what they were made of. It was stone-like, but clearly wasn't.
Some time later, though not very long after, the doors opened, and though the Doctor didn't look back, it caught EJ's attention. A blonde girl, with all of the life in the world inside of her, and the biggest smile anyone had ever seen, waltzed in. She ran straight over to the Doctor, and began talking as if there had never been any sort of interval between them.
"Alright, so I lied. I went for a look." The Doctor said, without even looking to see who was beside him. He could just tell that it was this girl. She must have meant a lot to him. "The whole crash-landing's a fake. I thought so- just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben, come on! So I thought, let's go and have a look at the pilot."
"It's a pig!" EJ butted in, climbing in between two of the branches of the beams, like it was a tree.
"Who's that?" The girl raised her eyes brows, offended by his presence.
"EJ, Rose. Rose, EJ." The Doctor said as if introductions didn't matter at all.
"Nice to meet you." The boy greeted, smiling her way, and dangling his legs. "Or not. I don't know you yet."
"Uh, yeah." She agreed, absentmindedly. "Are you replacing me?"
"What? No." It didn't even occur to him. "I met him at the hospital."
"He's a doctor?"
EJ couldn't tell whether or not he was offended by the tone of her voice. He hated hospitals, so being a doctor would have been a nightmare. However, it did mean that it made him sound stupid, which he wasn't.
"No." The Doctor shook his head. "He broke in."
"I'm really good at picking locks." The boy in question added. "And for the record, I'm a tattoo artist."
Rose retaliated, ferociously. "You don't have many tattoos for a tattoo artist."
"You just can't see them." EJ stuck his tongue out, playfully. He wasn't sure how much he liked the girl as of right now, however, she did have a good energy, and he could feed off of it with ease. It didn't stop him having fun with it, though. "What crawled into your knickers last night? Jesus!"
Ignoring the boy, Rose whispered to the Doctor. "My Mum's here."
The door of the Tardis had closed fairly loudly, and two more people were stood there. EJ didn't know them, and of course, they didn't know him, so it was interesting to see so much of their private life lain out. The woman must have been Rose's mother because they looked very much alike, only, she was older. The man, however, looked starkly different with flawless black skin, and height on his side.
"Oh, this is just what I need." The Doctor groaned, barely taking note of them. "Don't you dare make this place domestic!"
"You ruined my life, Doctor." The man, who's identity was a mystery, sounded exasperated, and upset. "They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you."
To no one but himself, EJ mumbled. "The plot thickens."
"You see what I mean? Domestic!" The impossible man turned back to his control panel, if only to distract himself.
"I bet you don't even remember my name!" There was a primal anger in his words that made the Thompson boy uncomfortable.
Nonchalantly, the Doctor said. "Ricky."
"It's Mickey!"
"No, it's Ricky."
"I think I know my own name."
"Think you know your own name?" The Doctor said, rolling his eyes. "How stupid are you?"
Without even saying anything, the woman went to leave. It didn't make any sense, as she had to be there for a reason. She couldn't just arrive and then leave moments later.
"Mum, don't!" Rose called after her, and then turned to walk to Doctor. "Don't go anywhere!" And then to Mickey, she warned him. "Don't start a fight!"
Whistling lowly, EJ taunted. "Quite the life you've got, Doctor."
"Don't you start."
When Rose ran back in, she had many ideas, all running around her mind, and she wanted to get them out as fast as possible. "That was a real spaceship?"
"Yep." The Doctor stared at his screen.
"So it's all a pack of lies." She caught on quickly, just not as quick as EJ. "What is it then? Are they invading?"
"Funny way to invade." Mickey mumbled from the corner, crossing his arms. He was like a toddler in how huffy he was. "Putting the world on red alert."
"Good point." Said the Doctor. "So what are they up to?"
As the Doctor excused himself to fix a part of the Tardis, it left three people above deck who didn't really want to talk to one another. Although, he could hear everything that was being said; the only gap between them was a glass flooring. Rose, Mickey and EJ, all of whom had nothing to talk about between them, had been forced to, otherwise silence would ensue. It was difficult to say the least.
Rose had found herself at the controls, and bombarded by EJ's questions. He didn't really fancy being interrogated himself, and this was the next best thing.
"You two dating?"
"Mickey?" She pondered a moment, deciding how much of the truth she wanted to share. "We kind of were-"
"No, I meant you and the Doctor." EJ snorted. He thought it was obvious, but clearly not. "I mean, talk about domestic!"
"Oi!" He could hear the Doctor complain from below deck.
Mickey caught wind of their conversation, which meant it wouldn't be left in the dust and onto the next like all of the others. "If you're asking for her, then don't." He spat. "One guy to the next."
"No offence to you, Rose, cos you're probably really pretty, but I'm more likely to fuck Mickey than you."
"That's graphic." She froze a little, but EJ just raised his eyebrows tauntingly.
Mickey just jabbed him. "You're gay, then?"
"Mickey!" He was scolded by the blonde girl, rather harshly.
"Fuck no." The blonde boy sounded genuinely disgusted by the insinuation of being something as normal as 'gay'.
"Then, what are you?"
"None of your fucking business."
In truth, EJ had never labelled the way he was attracted to people. It was easier not to. When there were so many beautiful people in the world, why would he ever limit himself to just one gender? It only became a problem when he was asked those sorts of questions, because normally he was surrounded by the sort of people who didn't care about that sort of thing. He was completely unprepared, in that sense.
Getting nowhere with EJ, Mickey changed his attention over to the Doctor, in hope of finding out what the hell he was doing. He was fiddling with wires, but apart from that, he had no idea.
"What are you doing down there?" Mickey questioned, curiously."
"Ricky-"
"Mickey." He corrected.
"Ricky," The Doctor continued shamelessly. "If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time-ship, would you even begin to understand?"
Embarrassed, the man shook his head. "I suppose not..."
"Well, shut it, then." He smiled, sarcastically, bidding him a goodbye.
"Some friend you've got." Mickey complained, grumbling to a complete stranger, and a woman who may-or-may-not still be his girlfriend. (EJ hadn't entirely worked that out yet.)
"He's winding you up." Rose bit her lip. "I'm sorry."
"Okay."
"I am, though."
There was a big silence that Mickey intended on dragging out. He wanted to make her feel uncomfortable. After everything that she has put him through over the past year, he deserved a moment to himself. A moment where he could control everything.
"Every day, I looked." He said, eventually breaking it with a scratchy voice like he was ready both to shout and cry. "On every street corner, wherever I went. Looking for a blue box. For a whole year."
"It's only been a few days for me." Rose offered her apologies in a strange way, and EJ found it curious. "I dunno, it's hard to tell inside this thing, but I swear, it's just a few days since I left you."
With large doe eyes, Mickey mumbled, pathetically. "Not enough time to miss me, then."
"I did miss you." The blonde girl insisted.
At that, he seemed to perk up, and was much more himself. "I missed you." At this, of course, EJ was internally vomiting and cringing.
"So, um, in twelve months... have you been seeing anyone else?"
"Nope."
"Okay..."
He shoved his hands in his pockets, awkwardly. "Mainly cos everyone thinks I murdered you."
"Right."
"Anyone got any popcorn, or chocolate, or something?" EJ butted in from on top of the beams, swinging his legs still, like a toddler getting a treat. "Cos I've got some chewing gum, but that's not as effective, and I don't really like it. Kinda gross, you know."
"Why d'you want that?" Asked the blonde, curiously.
Smirking, he replied. "Cos this is better than the Monday matinee of Corrie."
"Just shut up, right?" She taunted him, and although he said nothing else, it wasn't because she told him not to.
"So now that you've come back..." Mickey was hoping, just a little bit. "Are you gonna stay?"
He leant in to kiss her, and Rose was apprehensive on all accounts. She didn't move, but she didn't push him away either.
"Haha! Got it!" The Doctor's exclamation made it easy for Rose to push Mickey away. His electrical sparks caught all of their attention, whether he meant to or not. "Patched in the radar, looped it back 12 hours so it followed the flight of the spaceship. Here we go, hold on." His hand hit the screen as he ran towards it. "Come on!"
The moving screen started to play a video at his command, and EJ jumped down so that he could see it. A black screen, for the most part, with luminescent green as its defining colour.
"That's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see?" The Doctor pointed it out to them, his finger pushed against the glass. "Except! Hold on... see? The spaceship did a slingshot round the Earth before it landed."
Rose blew air into her cheeks. "What's that mean?"
"It comes from Earth." EJ contributed, hitting his hands off of his skateboard, tapping out a tune he was making up as he went along. "Right, Doctor? The pig was from Earth."
"Went up and came back down again." He agreed. "Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived, they've been here a while." It was a dangerous thought. "Question is, what've they been doing?"
"Does the Prime Minister have anything to do with this?" EJ asked, at the risk of sounding impertinent.
"Why?"
"He's missing." Shrugged the blonde boy. "Time of national crisis, and the Prime Minister hasn't been seen for days."
Slightly awed by the twenty-year-old, the Doctor sighed. "You're good."
Between them, they watched as many news clips as they could manage. They had to come up with something, and with very little to go on, this was the best that they could do. Human news channels, with all of the bias and propaganda you could ever want.
"How many channels you got?" Asked Mickey.
"All the basic packages." The Doctor said, still flicking through for something to catch his eye.
"You get sports channels?"
"Yes, I get the football." He groaned, unimpressed.
"Nice." EJ nodded, fully intending to use them if he was given the chance. "Who'd you support?"
"West Ham." Said Mickey with some embarrassment, having been knocked out of the Premier League the previous season. "You?"
Feeling rather proud of himself, EJ grinned. "Newcastle."
"Hold on." Stopped the leather jacket wearing man, pausing their conversation. "I know that lot."
"...but likely that the Governments bringing the alien-specialists, those people who've devoted their lives to studying outer space."
"UNIT." Said the Doctor, knowingly. "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people."
"How'd you know 'em?" Rose queried. It seemed that she didn't like being left in the dark.
"Cos he's worked for them." Mickey butted in. "Oh yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for 12 months, Doctor, I read up on you. You look deep enough on the internet or in history- there's his name. Followed by a list of the dead."
"Man, you're badass." EJ was in awe of the man before him, or the alien, at this point he wasn't sure of the correct terminology.
"That's nice, good boy, Ricky!"
"If you know 'em, why not go and help?" The girl asked, again.
"They wouldn't recognise me." There was some despondence in his voice, but nothing he couldn't mask. "I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the worlds on a knife edge." He started to fiddle with the controls, knowing exactly what he could do to change things. "There's aliens out there, and fake aliens. I wanna keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover."
Ping.
"And it's better to keep the Tardis out of sight." He added, as if she were the most important thing. "Ricky, you've got a car, you can do some driving."
"Where to?" He asked.
"The roads are clearing." Said the Doctor, enthusiastically. "Let's see that ship!"
EJ grinned, almost giggling. "Brill."
As a four, they stepped out of the Tardis, ready to find a car and travel to the UNIT base (where the Doctor had presumed the ship was being held). However, they got nowhere near that plan at all. There were helicopters, waiting for them, whirring like noisemakers with bright spotlights fully directed upon where they walked. And there were sirens, too. Blaring like nothing EJ had ever heard before.
They were all in trouble. He could tell, and he didn't like it.
"DO NOT MOVE!"
Within seconds, the entire vicinity was filled with police cars, and military vehicles overrunning everything. The sheer amount of them was frightening, and EJ felt nervous at the prospect of being arrested again.
As they were approached by a few soldiers, Mickey ran, as fast as he could, in the other direction. The Thompson boy would have too, but it wasn't in his nature to hide from that which scared him. Instead, he stood tall, awaiting whatever punishment was given to him.
"Rose!" The blonde woman from before, the one that EJ had supposed to be Rose's mother, called out, distraught. She tried to interfere but was held back.
"RAISE YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!"
As they did, and their hands were taken, and pushed behind their backs, EJ groaned. "I probably should have called my friends."
Rose mocked him. "Probably."
When they came close to the Doctor, however, he stood his ground. He knew what he wanted, and he would get it. "Take me to your leader."
Whatever authority he held above everyone else was exuded in every way. The next thing that they knew, Rose, EJ and the Doctor were being bundled into the back of a black car, very much a 'Men In Black' sort of situation. It made the them feel quite important, even if they were technically still arrested.
"This is a bit posh!" Rose was slightly taken aback. "If I'd known it would be like this, being arrested, I would've done it years ago."
"Trust me," EJ informed, frankly. "This is not what being arrested is like."
Like a child, his grin wide, and his hands rubbing together, the Doctor replied. "We're not being arrested, we're being escorted."
"Where to?"
"Where d'you think?" He thought it was much more obvious than it was. "Downing Street."
"Bloody hell." EJ froze in his seat as the Doctor laughed.
Rose scoffed. "You're kidding?"
"I'm not!"
"10 Downing Street?" She pushed.
"That's the one!"
"Oh my God." Cried out the blonde girl.
EJ couldn't help but groan. "They're gonna wanna kill me!"
"I'm going to 10 Downing Street?" It still hadn't hit Rose yet, and that was concerning. "How come?"
"I hate to say it, but Mickey was right. Over the years, I've visited this planet, a lot of times, and I've been... noticed."
She was finally starting to understand. "Now they need you."
EJ nudged him. "Get you, popular."
"Like it said on the news, they're gathering experts on alien knowledge. Who's the biggest expert of the lot?"
"Patrick Moore." Rose deadpanned.
He mocked offence, probably for their benefit. "Apart from him."
"Oh, don't you just love it!"
"Ah! I'm telling you!" The Doctor declared. "Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table. Who's the Prime Minister now?"
"How should I know?" She sounded maybe a little bit pissed off, but mainly like she was joking. "I missed a year."
"A bloke called Reynolds, I think."
"You think?" Rose criticised.
EJ just shrugged, and he dismissed her tone. It wasn't the friendly thing that he was expecting. "Don't like politics."
When they arrived at Downing Street, the car came to a halt, and nerves filled the Thompson boy, which was unusual for him. It had occurred to him on the way over, that he did not look like the sort of person who was supposed to be there. He was the definition of a skater boy, there or thereabouts. He was a tattoo artist. And he was holding a skateboard, right then and there.
There reporters would find out who they were so quickly it was frightening. Then, everyone would see him, and EJ wasn't sure if he was ready for that.
Questions were being flung at them from every direction, and although they knew it was best not to answer, it was hard. What if they thought the worst of him because of his family's history? That wasn't fair.
The Doctor and Rose waved straight out as they stepped onto the pavement and towards the house. EJ wasn't far behind, awkwardly doing the same.
"Oh my God." Rose fawned, trying her best not to walk alone. She had placed herself carefully beside EJ, as they followed the Doctor into the Prime Minister's home.
Even after travelling with the Doctor, things like that never became any less severe. Experiences, all of them brand new, all of them were different and unlike anything else. EJ was inside of 10 Downing Street, holding a skateboard. Not many people could say that.
They stood by the door, rather awkwardly, waiting for instruction. It felt like any wrong move would get them locked away for life.
Buzz... buzz... buzz.
EJ felt his phone drumming away in his pocket, and he scrambled to put it on silent. People were starting to look, and he didn't like it.
Elliott, 22:14
did I just see you on tv?
Soren, 22:14
u r an idiot
Ty, 22:14
how do you manage to do this stuff
Angel, 22:15
e?
you better be careful
you're an idiot sometimes
He couldn't reply, not yet. Maybe if he was given a moment, just so they knew he was alright. He didn't want to let them think anything had happened. EJ wasn't cruel like that.
"Ladies and Gentlemen can we convene? Quick as we can please." One of the organisers called out for each of the alien professionals. "It's this way on the right. Can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times." They watched as one was passed directly to the Doctor, who attached it to his leather jacket. "Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, you're companions don't have clearance."
The Doctor looked slightly concerned as he beamed. "I don't go anywhere without them." EJ raised an eyebrow: he barely knew the man.
"You're the Code Nine. Not them. Now, I'm sorry, er, Doctor, it's the Doctor, isn't it? They'll have to stay outside."
Rather powerfully, he commanded. "They're staying with me."
"Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there." The man said, clearly he had an ego, and it was bruised. "I can't let them in unless-"
"That's alright." Rose smiled. "You go."
EJ agreed, nonchalantly. "Yeah, I don't give a shit."
A woman in pink ran up to them, composed and proper. "Excuse me, are you the Doctor?"
"Not now!" Said the man, forcefully. "We're busy, can't you go home?"
"I just need a word in private."
"You haven't got clearance!" The man kept pushing it upon the Doctor as he tried to figure out ways to bring his friends into the conference. "Leave it! I'll leave you with security."
"It's alright. I'll look after them." The woman in pink informed, giving them no choice. "Let me be of some use. Walk with me." She linked their arms together, placing herself between the two blondes. "Just keep walking... that's right." Something wasn't right. "Don't look around."
"Jesus, lady." EJ muttered.
Reaching into her pocket, she flashed them a card. "Harriet Jones MP, Flydale North."
"EJ." He said about himself before gesturing to the girl. "This is Rose."
"This friend of yours..." She gulped, obviously frightened. "He's an expert, is that right?"
"I don't know." EJ shrugged, pathetically. "I met him like an hour and a half ago."
The woman, Harriet, seemed as if she were struggling quite deeply, which was unnerving. "He knows... He, he knows about aliens?"
"Why'd you wanna know?" Rose protected her friend. However, before there was an answer, the woman burst into tears. The blonde girl hugged Harriet, allowing EJ step back from the situation. Hugging wasn't exactly his thing.
After composing herself, Harriet decided that the only way she could describe what was going on, was by taking them to the scene of the crime. The Cabinet Office. It was all very proper, and for one of the first times in his life, the Thompson boy was genuinely scared of being caught.
"They turn the body into a suit, a disguise, for the thing inside!" As she explained, she sobbed, dryly. There were no tears; perhaps she was all cried out.
Rose consoled, once again. "It's alright."
"Is it?" EJ grimaced, concerned. "Yeeesh."
"I believe you." The girl offered.
"Oh, I believe you too." Said the boy. "Why not?"
"It's- it's alien." She tried to explain. It would have been nice for the Thompson boy to have a crash-course like this one: the Doctor had just thrown him in at the deep end with pig-aliens. "But they must have some serious technology behind this. If we could find it, we could use it."
Following no one else's advice but their own, Rose and EJ skulked around the room in hope of finding something. When the former opened a cabinet, she barely had a chance to recognise what was happening before a body was at her feet. Stiff, cold, and grey.
"Oh my God, is that..."
"Reynolds." EJ nodded.
"Harriet! For Gods sake! This is beyond a joke, you cannot just wander-" The rather annoying secretary from before marched in, exuding power. Then, he stopped. "Oh my God. That's the Prime Minister."
"We didn't do it, by the way." EJ put his hands up, swiftly. "I'll put it in writing."
"Oh." A rather podgy woman walked past the door, and had a look in seeing the commotion. There was a sly look on his face. "Has someone been naughty?" Behind her, she closed the door.
"But that's not possible." The secretary said. "He left this afternoon. I mean, the Prime Minister left Downing Street, he was driven away."
"And who told you that?" The woman looked at him, maniacally. "Hmm? Me."
A sausage-fingered hand rose up to his forehead, and lifted her hair to reveal a zip. She pulled it, and skin started to shed like a snakes. Slowly, a true form was revealed.
Green. Not a nice green, like grass, but luminescent like toxic waste. Big, black bug eyes, and arms, long, and clawed. There was nothing like it naturally on Earth.
EJ could do nothing but stand in wait as the woman, now alien-beast, shoved the secretary by the throat against the wall and strangled him until he was dead. She saw herself as victorious, as powerful, and as undefeated.
He was dropped to the floor.
Motionless.
Lifeless.
Dead.
Shit.
Holy fucking shit.
✯ ★ ✯
Disclaimer!!!
I do not own Doctor Who, it's characters and original storylines. The only things I do own are my own characters, my addition to the series and my own storylines. Any similarities to real life are purely coincidental.