xᴠɪɪɪ. ꜱᴛᴏʟᴇɴ ꜰᴀᴄᴇꜱ
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In the derelict building, with broken windows.
"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know.", Bishop demands of the Doctor.
"Well, for starters, I know you can't wrap your hand around your elbow and make your fingers meet.", He jokes.
"Don't get clever with me. You were there today at Florizel Street, and now breaking into this establishment. Now you're connected with this. Make no mistake."
"Well, the thing is, Detective Inspector Bishop-", The Doctor starts.
"How do you know my name?"
"It's written inside your collar. Bless your mum. But I can't help thinking, Detective Inspector, you're not exactly doing much detective inspecting, are you?", He continues.
"I'm doing everything in my power.", Bishop insists.
"All you're doing is grabbing those faceless people and hiding them as fast as you can. 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 Doctor corrects him.
"The nation has an image to maintain."
"But doesn't it drive you mad, doing nothing? Don't you want to get out there and investigate?", The Doctor asks him.
"Of course I do. But, with all the crowds expected, we haven't got the man power. Even if we did, this is beyond anything we've ever seen. I just don't know anymore. Twenty years on the force, I don't even know where to start. We haven't the faintest clue what's going on.", Bishop scoffs.
"Well, that could change."
"How?"
"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know."
Another person is delivered to the holding area. They are followed by a woman being escorted inside. She is in tears and her hair is an absolute wreck. Her wailing is distractingly loud and catches the Doctor's attention.
"Jules?", He asks, recognizing her outfit.
She turns to see him.
"Doctor.", She starts sobbing once more and he runs over and holds her close.
"What's wrong?"
She tries to breath through her sobs that are still plaguing her.
"She- the- he- R- I- I- I..", She can't get any coherent words out. He furrows his brows trying to understand but Bishop comes over and continues on with their conversation as the Doctor holds Juliet close into his chest. He lays the side of his head on the top of her's as he looks at Bishop.
"We started finding them about a month ago. Persons left sans visage. Heads just blank.", He explains to the Doctor.
"Is there any sort of pattern?"
"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-", The Doctor finishes his sentence for him.
"Florizel Street."
"Found another one, sir."
"Oh, er, good man, Crabtree. Here we are, Doctor. Take a good look. See what you can deduce.", The pink shoes and skirt tell him even before Crabtree takes the blanket off.
"Rose.", The Doctor mutters before looking to Juliet who starts sobbing once more. Her knees buckle as the sobs rake through her body.
"You know her?", Bishop asks, uncomfortable with Juliet's emotional response.
"Know her? She-", Crabtree cuts him off to explain.
"They found her in the street, apparently, over by (incoherent) Square, abandoned. Well, besides the lost looking girl. Her.", He points to the, sobbing, Juliet.
"That's unusual. That's the first one 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.", Bishop mutters.
"They did what?", The Doctor asks.
"I'm sorry?"
"They left them where?"
"Just in the street.", Bishop tells him.
"In the street. They left them in the street. They took her face and just chucked her out and left her in the street. And Juliet, they left her to wander around hopeless when her girlfriend has just been defaced! And as a result, that makes things simple. Very, very simple. Do you know why?", The Doctor's tone is now angry.
"No.", Bishop swallows thickly, extremely uncomfortable around the Doctor and Juliet also, now knowing more about her.. affairs as he would call it.
"Because now, Detective Inspector Bishop, there is no power on this Earth that can stop me. Come on!"
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"The big day dawns."
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Guests are arriving.
"You've had your fun with your little Doctor and his Jewel, but now you're left with me, Rita. So you'll behave yourself and smile.", Eddie hisses at his wife.
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"Here we go, everyone. Here we go. Grub's up, grub's up. Tuck in, everyone. Tuck in. Take a sandwich. Oh, here we go, here we go, it's started. Look, look. Take your places. Sit down, sit down. That's it. There we are.", Eddie takes his comfy chair while the guests take the other seats and the floor.
"The East front of the palace on which all eyes are-", The television is on in the background.
"Rita, love. Just look at that telly box then. Ee, innit marvellous. The picture's so clear.", Betty says to Rita.
"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!", Eddie laughs boisterously.
"Where's your old mum, then? She can't go missing it."
"Sorry. Er, mum can't make it down.", Rita lies.
"Oh, bless her. Maybe we could pop up and see her later.", Betty suggests.
"Maybe you could. It's a good idea. What do you think, dad? Maybe Aunty Betty can go and see Gran later?"
"Oh, he loves his Gran, this one. Proper little mummy's boy all round.", Eddie says.
"Oh, you know what they say about them. Eddie, you want to beat that out of him."
"That's exactly what I'm going to do.", Eddie says, glaring at his son.
The doorbell rings.
"I'll get it.", Tommy insists.
"-will first appear in about ten minutes time riding in the Gold Coach of State."
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The Doctor and Juliet are standing there. The Doctor looks very upset, but Juliet is an absolute mess. Her hair is everywhere, her eyes are red and she is sniffling loudly.
"Is she alright?", Tommy asks, pointing to the grieving woman.
"No.", The Doctor answers simply before continuing.
"Tommy, talk to me. I need to know exactly what happened inside your house.", The Doctor says.
"What the blazes do you think you're doing?", Eddie angrily asks them both.
"I want to help, dad.", Tommy tells his father.
"Mister Connolly-", Juliet starts.
"Shut your face, you, whoever you are. We can handle this ourselves. 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 asks.
"What do you mean? Did what?"
"You ratted on Gran. How else would the police know where to look, unless some coward told them-", Eddie harshly cuts off his son with all his screaming.
"How dare you! 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? 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.", Tommy back talks his father.
"Eddie is that true?", Rita asks, hearing everything that was just said.
"I did it for us, Rita. She was filthy. A filthy, disgusting thing!", Eddie spits.
"She's my mother. All the others you informed on, all the people in our street, our friends."
"I had to. I, I did the right thing."
"The right thing for us or for you, Eddie? You go, Tommy. Go with the Doctor and Juliet and do some good. Get away from this house, it's poison. We had a ruddy monster under this roof, all right, but it weren't my mother!", Rita slams the door shut on Eddie.
"Rita!"
"Tommy?", The Doctor and Juliet look to the boy.
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"What was all that, then?", Betty asks.
"That was, that was the sound of something ending. And about time too. Everyone all right? Smashing. Nothing's going to spoil our big day, is it?", Rita sighs happily.
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Trestle tables are being laid for the street party.
"Tommy, tell me about that night. The night she changed.", Juliet says
"She was just watching the telly.", Timmy shrugs.
"Rose said it. She guessed it straight away. Of course she did.", Juliet sniffles, proud of her girl.
"All these aerials in one little street. How come?", The Doctor smiles at her before asking Tommy.
"Bloke up the road, Mister Magpie, he's selling them cheap.", Tommy tells him.
"Is he, now?", Bishop mutters.
"Come on!", The Doctor calls.
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The Doctor breaks in.
"Here, you can't do that-, Bishop tries to stop him.
"Shop! If you're here, come out and talk to me! Magpie!", The Doctor exclaims loudly.
"Maybe he's out.", Timmy offers up an explanation.
"Looks like it.", The Doctor searches the drawers of the counter and finds the portable television.
"Oh, hello. This isn't right. This is very much not right. Tastes like iron. Bakelite. Put together with human hands, yes, but the design itself. Oh, beautiful work. That is so simple."
"That's incredible. It's like a television, but portable. A portable television.", Bishop says in amazement as the Doctor raises his sonic screwdriver.
"It's not the only power source in this room.", Juliet mutters. The television screens each light up with a different face mouthing help me.
"Gran?", Tommy asks looking at one with his grandmother.
Rose is mouthing Doctor and Jules.
"We're on our way.", He says as Juliet nods with tears in her eyes.
The Bishop watches the interaction with a smile.
"Maybe it isn't so horrible after all?", He thinks to himself.
"Their in love and that's all that really matters."
Magpie comes in from the back.
"What do you think you're doing?", He asks them.
"I want my friend restored, and I think that's beyond a little backstreet electrician, so tell me, who's really in charge here?", The Doctor glares at the man.
"Yoo-hoo! I think that must be me. Ooh, this one's smart as paint.", The Wire says happily.
"Is she talking to us?", Bishop asks.
"I'm sorry, gentlemen and lady, I'm afraid you've brought this on yourselves. May I introduce you to my new friend."
"Jolly nice to meet you.", Her tone is cheery although, her eyes narrow at the sight of Juliet who is glaring at her.
"Oh my God, it's her, that woman off the telly."
"No, it's just using her image.", Juliet speaks up.
"What? What are you?", Tommy asks.
"I'm the Wire, and I will gobble you up, pretty boy. 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 transforms.
"Good Lord. Colour television!", Bishop exclaims.
"So your own people tried to stop you?", The Doctor asks.
"They executed me. But I escaped in this form and fled across the stars.", The Wire tells him.
"And now you're trapped in the television.", Juliet works out.
"Not for much longer."
"Doctor, Juliet, is this what got my Gran?", Tommy asks.
"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.", Juliet had another random burst of knowledge.
"And you let her do it, Magpie.", Bishop says accusingly looking at the man.
"I had to. She allowed me my face. She's promised to release me at the time of manifestation.", Magpie cries.
"What does that mean?"
"The appointed time. My crowning glory.", The Wire cheerfully says.
"Doctor, the coronation!"
"For the first time in history, millions gathered around a television set. But you're not strong enough yet, are you? You can't do it all from here. That's why you need this. You need something more powerful! This will turn a big transmitter into a big receiver.", The Doctor works out what her plan is.
"What a clever thing you are! 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.", Energy lances out at them.
"Doctor!", They cry.
"Hungry! Hungry! The Wire is hungry! Ah, this one is tasty. Oh, I'll have lashings of him! Delicious!", The Doctor starts to finger the sonic screwdriver.
"Ah! Armed. He's armed and clever. Withdraw! Withdraw!"
The four of them all collapse.
"The box, Magpie! The box!", Bishop's face is blank. Magpie grabs the portable.
"Hold tight.", The Wire zaps herself into the portable television.
"Conduct me to my victory, Magpie.", He orders him.
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"Hungry! Hungry! Feed me!"
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"Oh, she's so lovely."
"Beautiful. Makes you forget all your troubles. Everyone alright for pop?", Rita asks.
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The Doctor wakes along with Juliet and they see the blank policeman.
"Tommy, wake up. Tommy, come on!"
"What happened?"
"Where's Magpie?", Juliet asks, noticing the man's absence.
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"We don't even know where to start looking. It's too late.", Tommy sighs.
"It's never too late, as a wise person once said. Kylie, I think. The Wire's got big plans. It'll need. Yes, yes, yes, it's got to harvest half the population. Millions and millions of people and where are we?"
"Muswell Hill.", Tommy answers.
"Muswell Hill. Muswell Hill! Which means Alexandra Palace, biggest TV transmitter in North London. Oh, that's why it chose this place. Tommy?"
"What are you going to do?", Tommy asks the Doctor and Juliet.
"We're going shopping.", She grins at him and the Doctor.
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Tommy finds a big valve.
"Is this what you want?"
"Perfect! Right, I need one more thing.", He gives Tommy the collection of parts and runs outside.
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"Got it. Let's go."
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As Princess Elizabeth arrives at the Abbey, Magpie makes his way up the transmitter mast. The Doctor is building a contraption while he, Juliet and Tommy run through the streets.
"I cant do this! Please, please don't make me!", Magpie cries.
"The time is at hand. Feed me! Feed me!", The Wire insists.
"There!", Rommy points.
"Come on!"
"Wait, wait, wait! Where do you think-", The Doctor shows him the psychic paper.
"Oh! I'm very sorry, sir, ma'am. Shouldn't you both be at the Coronation?", He asks, looking at the Doctor and Juliet.
"They're saving us a seat."
"Who did he think you two were?"
"King of Belgium, apparently. And his wife. Oh, that's unfortunate.", He mutters looking at Juliet's annoyed face.
The Princess enters the Abbey.
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"Keep this switched on. Don't let anyone stop you, Tommy. Everything depends on it. You understand?", The Doctor takes a coil of copper wire.
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The Doctor and Juliet run to the transmitter as the Princess proceeds down the aisle.
"You'll get yourself killed up there! Your Majesties!", He calls after them.
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Magpie reaches the top of the mast and attaches the portable television.
"Feed me!", The Wire demands.
He plugs her in and red energy fills the little screen then streams out from the top of the mast to all the nearby aerials. It starts to suck off the happy faces of the viewers in the Connelly household.
"Oh. Feast. Feasting The Wire is feasting."
The Doctor and Juliet reach the top of the transmitter mast.
"It's too late! It's too late for all of us!"
"I shall consume you, Doctor, Jewel!", The Wire says to them.
"I won't let you do this, Magpie!"
"Help me, Doctor, Juliet. It burns. It took my face, my soul.", Magpie weeps.
"You cannot stop the Wire. Soon I shall become manifest."
"No more of this. You promised me peace!"
"And peace you shall have.", Magpie is zapped into atoms.
"Been burning the candle at both ends? You've overextended yourself, Missis. You shouldn't have had a crack at poor old Magpie there.", Juliet manages to get hold of the portable television without being electrocuted.
"Rubber soles, swear by them!", The Doctor grins at her for her smart thinking. She picked up a pair of her converse during their quick tardis stop.
He plugs in his cable, and valves blow down in the control room.
"Oh dear. Has our little plan gone horribly wrong, Doctor, Jewel?", Tommy gets a replacement valve from the store.
"Or coat of Chivalry of Cloth of Gold, lined with crimson satin."
Tommy plugs the contraption back in.
"Are you willing to do the same?"
The red energy retreats back to the mast, and into the portable television.
"No!", The Wire cries.
The people still have their faces.
"It's close down, I'm afraid, and no epilogue.", The Wire screams, then the screen goes blank. In the holding area, everyone has been restored to normal.
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The National Anthem is playing.
"What have I missed?", The Doctor asks.
"Doctor, Juliet! What happened?", Tommy asks.
"Sorted. Electrical creature, TV technology, clever alien life form. That's me by the way. I turned the receiver back into a transmitter and I trapped the Wire in here.", His contraption turns out to be a VCR.
"You just invented the home video thirty years early. Betamax.", Juliet shakes her head at him.
"Oh, look. God save the Queen, eh?", The Doctor says as Queen Elizabeth the Second waves at the crowd from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
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"Oh, it's my grandson, Oh, son!", Gran and Tommy embrace. The Doctor hugs Rose, before she is pulled into a suffocating embrace from Juliet.
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Rita is holding a suitcase.
"This was never your house. It's in my mother's name. And on her behalf I'm telling you, out.", Rita puts down the suitcase. Eddie picks it up and leaves.
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The street party is in full swing.
"We could go down the Mall, join in with the crowds.", Rose suggests as Juliet is holding onto her arm with both of her own. Her head is on the blonde's shoulder.
"Nah, that's just pomp and circumstance. This is history right here.", The Doctor grins.
"The domestic approach.", Rose comments.
"Exactly.", He nods.
"Will it, that thing, is it trapped for good on video?", Rose asks.
"Hope so. Just to be on the safe side though, I'll use my unrivalled knowledge of transtemporal extirpation methods to neutralise the residual electronic pattern."
"You what?"
"He's going to tape over it.", Juliet explains.
"Just leave it to me. I'm always doing that.", Rose laughs.
"Tell you what, Tommy, you can have the scooter. Little present. Best, er, keep it in the garage for a few years though, eh?"
Eddie leaves the house in his overcoat.
"Good riddance.", Tommy scoffs.
Rita and her mother hug as Eddie walks off.
"Is that it, then, Tommy? New monarch, new age, new world. No room for a man like Eddie Connelly.", The Doctor asks.
"That's right. He deserves it.", Tommy says.
"Tommy, go after him.", Rose tells him.
"What for?"
"He's your dad."
"He's an idiot."
"Of course he is. Like I said, he's your dad. But you're clever. Clever enough to save the world, so don't stop there. Go on.", Tommy doesn't look convinced so Juliet speaks up.
"I know he's awful. And that might not change, but he's your dad. No matter how horrible or mean he is, he can't change that. I'm not saying you have to go after him, but you might regret it if you lose him now. There is still time to repair this, but only if you choose too."
Tommy grins at her before he runs over to his father and carries his suitcase for him. The Doctor hands Rose a glass of orange and they drink a toast with Juliet's already raised glass.
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