AN: Happy Birthday Terra! Okay, really I'm a day late, but I got it really close this time!
==CON==
The TARDIS made a hard jerk to the side.
I was barely managed to grab hold to the console before we veered again. The Doctor was furiously trying to keep us balanced, while also on course behind the Chula ambulance.
I had been excited the past week, since I looked inside Pops' homebox. It felt like I could actually smile without it being forced. I had been scared for decades that Pops had just let me go, that he didn't search the globe (or even the island) for me. To see prove that he did, that my father had looked before crashing in Russia, lifted my spirits.
Now there was just the issues of where he was now, and what to tell Darcy.
"What's the emergency?" Rose asked, keeping a tight hold of the console.
"It's mauve." The Doctor stated. He continued flipping switches, trying to keep us behind the ambulance.
Rose turned to me. "Mauve?"
"The universally recognized color for danger." I supplied. The TARDIS jerked to the side again. "He gave a whole speech about it last week."
Her face scrunched up in confusion. "What happened to red?" She asked our friend
The Doctor "That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."
I gave him a deadpan stare. "And that's safe, right?"
"Totally."
*BANG*
"Could you repeat that?!" I hissed.
The Doctor grimaced. "Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there. No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."
"What exactly is this thing?" I asked tiredly.
"No idea." Was his reply.
Rose and I were on the same page. "Then why are we chasing it?" She snapped.
"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the centre of London." He supplied.
That shut Rose and I up.
==CON==
The Doctor landed the TARDIS, albeit still as bumpy as he flew it. Rose stumbled out first, me just behind.
"Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?" The Doctor asked as he stepped off the TARDIS.
"On average five days." I answered dutifully.
"Or is that just when we're out of milk?" Rose joked.
The Doctor snorted. "Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow."
"My head's still spinning from the landing." I admitted, pressing my palm against my forehead. "The Time Sense hasn't kicked in yet.
"Does that sometimes. The TARDIS was tracking that thing, whatever it was. Might've messed with your head a bit. It'll work in a few minutes." Magoo explained, scanning the alleyway for the ambulance. "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."
"A month? We were right behind it." She turned to me with a 'did he really do this to us again?' face.
"It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out." The Doctor excused. "Do you want to drive?"
"You should teach Terra to drive her." Rose spoke instead. I bristled at going off script, especially for something about me. "She'd probably fly it blindfolded and not crash."
"Your hope makes feel better." I gave Magoo a flat look. "Magoo teaching me to drive? I fear for the safety of everyone." Rose snickered.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I could teach you to drive her, if you wanted." He offered.
It was a kind offer, but I snorted. "No way! Last week, you promised to take us to this cafe you loved, quote unquote, before blew it up. Carolina, when did he land us?"
"As the cafe blew up." She answered, giving a cheeky smile.
"Thank ya kindly." I smiled widely at the Doctor. "Give me the instruction manual, and I bet I could work it out."
The Doctor shook his head. "Can't. It's in Gallifreyan."
I sighed. Another fun fact we learned was that, in addition to my memories being blocked, I couldn't understand Gallifreyan. The Doctor had assured that a few Time Lord styled lessons would have me back on track with it, but it apparently took a lot of setup. He kept forgetting to do it, and by the time he remembered we were running for our lives.
"Earlier, you said we we're little bit out." I supplied. "How much is a little?"
"A bit."
"Is that exactly a bit?"
"Ish."
"I feel so informed." I deadpanned.
Rose snickered. "What's the plan, then? Are either of ya going to do a scan for alien tech or something?"
"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask." Our friend took out the little leather pouch, for the psychic paper.
"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids." Rose read off.
"It's psychic paper." The Time Lord reported "It tells you-"
"Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember." She sighed, handing it back.
The Doctor winced. "Sorry." He apologized, taking the psychic paper back into his pocket.
"Not very Spock, is it, just asking." Rose asked.
"Door, music, people." He looked to me. "What do you think?"
"I think it's a loud party." I supplied dutifully.
"I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once." Rose asked. "Would it kill you?"
"I think it will, yeah." I joked.
Rose looked at me. "And you? Can't you use an over your 179 years of space...time travel to track it?"
"Don't know if I can." I admitted, leaning in close to whisper. "Not in the mood to deal with his pouting."
"Well, yeah. He's like a little kid." Rose stated.
"Not like, his is a little kid."
The Doctor looked over at us, jaw dropped. "When the two of you want to stop chatting and help, be my guest."
I stood slanted, putting my hands in my hoodie. "I've performed a lot of manhunts over the decades." I said, just to antagonize. The Doctor rolled his eyes, grinning.
"You had manhunts?" Rose asked, grinning.
"In law enforcement, we sometimes have to chase down suspects." I shrugged. "Especially in the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. They always ran, you know?"
"FBI? You must've been good." Rose teased, eyeing the Doctor. "No wonder she's the attack dog."
"Bark bark." I grinned cheekily.
"What's that Behavior Analysis Unit thingy do, again?" Rose asked.
"Make profiles for criminals, based on evidence left behind at crime scenes. It included the geometrical landscape, mentality of the unsub (unknown subject), and the victim type. My team and I'd use the profile to search for them, which usually ended up in a hostage negotiation." I reported. It felt nice to talk about my other jobs with people who didn't think I was too young for it. "My team and I were the best at it. I was young, twenty-three, so a lot of the training stuck."
"Sounds dangerous." My friend commented in a worried voice.
"Oh it was. First year, I had almost three guns held to my head. One time I nearly blew up!" I reported fondly. "Good times, good times."
Rose snorted at me, shaking her head. She'd been less tense since we saw her dad, since she saw what mine did.
The Doctor came over. "Twenty-three? That's young even for a Time Tot."
He made it too easy. "900 and still can't drive? That's old even for a Time Lord." Rose laughed. She held up her hand for a high-five. "Thank ya. I'm really proud of that one." I high-fived her.
The Doctor managed to pop open a nearby door. "Are you sure about that t-shirt?"
"I'll take Subject Changes, for 600 Alex." I deadpanned.
Rose laughed before answering the Doctor. "Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin." She teased.
"Mummy? Mummy?"
Story time.
I binged all the New Who episodes, it took around three days. The episodes aired on BBC, so I watched them on TV for fun. One afternoon, I was watching the Empty Child with one of my brothers. The two of us were having fun, until we heard the Mummy call...from behind us.
There was some screaming on my part. Turning to see what made the noise, neither and I spotted our four year old standing there with a shit eating grin.
Now that he knows, my baby brother just shouts 'Are you my mummy?' at the worst times to get a reaction out of me. It works, every time. Including this one.
"Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute." Our friend offered, not looking back before walking in.
I followed him. 'Carolina, have fun with Jack! I'm staying AWAY from Jamie for now. It's giving me chills, which I only want from my freezer hoodie!'
I fell behind a bit, taking calming breaths so I wouldn't look so freaked out by Jamie. The song floated into the hallway, so that was nice.
"Alouette, gentille alouette. Alouette, je te plumerai." I hummed, resting my head against the stone wall. With another breath, the female singer's song was cut off.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo?"
To my luck, this was a bar. Magoo was already on stage, so I walked over to stand by the Hitler Will Send No Warning sign.
"Be very quick." The Doctor assured. He smiled widely to the crowd. "Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?"
They all laughed. I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Sorry, have I said something funny?" They laughed harder. He looked around at them confused. "It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago."
That was when the air raid sirens went off. The small crowd gathered up their belongings, making their exits.
The Doctor looked over to me. "Would've landed quite near here. With a very loud-" His eyes widened.
I turned behind me, pretending to notice the sign for the first time.
"Bang." The Doctor let the sentence fade off.
'The laughter is making sense now.' I thought.
==CON==
Once the room cleared, the Doctor and I went back to the alleyway. He was worried for his companion, running into the alleyway.
"Rose?" He called out.
I followed behind, pausing just a few steps behind. "She's gone, Magoo." I stated, in an annoyed voice. It wasn't exactly fun to find out you were in the middle of an air raid.
His shoulders slumped, and his paced slowed. He lifted up the nearby cat, having noticed it when he stopped.
"You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing." The Doctor spoke to the cat. Maybe to me, but he was still letting the cat. "Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it's the only thing left to surprise me."
"None taken." I commented dryly.
"You're a Time Lady, you know better." The Doctor responded without looking back.
I beamed. It didn't last long, because that was when the TARDIS phone rang. "It rings?" I found myself asking.
The Doctor marched over, opening the small panel on her door. "How can you be ringing? What's that about, ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"
"Pick it up, maybe? It could be Carolina." I supplied.
He pulled out the sonic, but seemed to be taking my suggestion into account. "No. The TARDIS phone is inside. This one is just part of her disguise."
"Don't answer it." A female voice warned from further down the alley. "It's not for you."
"Oh, I'm sorry, then who is it for?" I remarked sarcastically.
Nancy just stared at the phone, clutching to her bag tightly. "It's not important. Just leave it."
"And how do you know that?" The Doctor asked.
Nancy huffed. "'Cos I do. And I'm telling you, don't answer it."
"Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing? It's not even a real phone." He turned his back to her. I rolled my eyes, looking away so Nancy could vanish. "It's not connected, it's not-"
I nodded my head, lips a thin line. 'Yeah. She's not coming back.'
Magoo just shook his head. 'Humans. I'll never understand them.' He answered the phone. "Hello? Hello?" Grout on a stupid grin. "This is the Doctor speaking, and my friend, Terra. How may I help you?" The Doctor's face became serious. "Who is this? Who's speaking?"
I gulped, my hands slipping into my pockets. Not a boy alive who wouldn't tear the universe apart to save his mummy.
"Who is this?" The Doctor pressed. "How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything."
He hung up a second later. I shivered. Magoo's serious face wasn't helping my nerves.
I knocked on the TARDIS door. "Carolina, get your Union Jack wearing self out here! We've got a mystery and it definitely involved other aliens!"
Nothing.
Just a crashing noise off in the distance.
The Doctor and I immediately went after it.
The crashing noise turned out to be the Lloyd family packing away into their shelter.
I lifted myself up on a trash can to see over the bricks. Magoo was right beside me.
"Come on, hurry up, get in there. Come on." The plump mother shoved her son inside the bunker. She turned back to the house. "Arthur! Arthur, Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the siren?"
Her just as a plump husband waddled out. "Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans." He looked up to the sky. "Don't you eat?"
"I can hear the planes!"
"Don't you eat?"
"Oh, keep your voice down, will you? It's an air raid! Get in. Look, there's a war on."
"I know there's a war on. Don't push me."
I snorted. 'Magoo. Look. Domestics.'
The Doctor grinned.
==CON==
The Doctor managed to sneak us in after Nancy. She should really be locking these doors with deadlocks.
"One slice each!" The woman ordered. "And I want to see everybody chewing."
I held back a snort, reminded of the dozens of Thanksgiving and Christmas meals I've heard that sentence. While the kids made their plates, and Nancy made her's, there was no one noticing Doctor and I take seats at the other end.
"Thank you, miss."
"Thanks, miss."
"Thank you miss."
"Thanks, miss!" My friend cheered when he took the plate. He took off two slices, passing it to me.
The children gasped, throwing their silverware back on their plates. They leapt out if their chairs, nearly stumbling over each other trying to get out.
"Thank ya kindly, miss!" I added, taking a slice before moving it towards the girl on my left. She had vanished though, so I just put it down over her plate. "Was it something I said?" I asked sarcastically.
Nancy was the only one calm. "It's alright. Everybody stay where you are!"
The Doctor was beaming. "Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?"
"I do!" I spoke, handing him the little shaker. I added some pepper to my plate, and a bit of the greens. What? I didn't want Nancy taking my plate!
"Back in your seats. They shouldn't be here either." Nancy advised the children, getting back to her own food. Mm, the turkey was good.
"So, you lot, what's the story?" The Doctor asked while putting more food on his plate.
"What do you mean?" The boy, Ernie, mumbled.
"You're homeless, right?" The Doctor asked. I would've been helping, but I had been advised by too many motherly types not to talk with my mouth full. "Living rough?"
"Why do you want to know that? Are you a copper?" Another boy asked.
The Doctor snickered. I snorted, nearly choking on the turkey bites in my mouth. "Of course I'm not a copper. What's a copper going to do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?" The Doctor asked.
The kids laughed, digging into their meals.
"What he's saying is you kids are supposed to be in the country right now." I stated. I cut off a piece of turkey. "So what's the story there?"
"I was evacuated. Sent me to a farm." Alf muttered.
"So why'd you come back?"
Alf looked down at his food. "There was a man there."
I stuffed down the image of beating a random man with a baseball bat. Side Note: Calling Darcy later. She's got a new case.
"Yeah, same with Ernie." Jim explained. "Two homes ago."
"Shut up. It's better on the streets anyway." Ernie stated. "It's better food."
"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us." Jim complimented.
"So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?" The Doctor piped in. I went back to eating.
"What is?" She questioned.
"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo!" The Doctor grinned. "Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you."
"Something wrong with that?" She snapped.
"Wrong with it?" The Doctor repeated, shocked. "It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical."
"Why'd you follow me?" Nancy asked tiredly. "What do you want?"
"A phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call." I supplied. "We're curious, and right now I think you've got all the answers."
"I did you two a favor." She insisted haughtily. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you."
"Great, thanks. And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack." The Doctor requested. "I mean a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving."
"Can't call it a craving if it doesn't stop." I teased.
He gave me a look. The kids laughed at us.
Nancy stood up from her seat. "Anybody seen a girl like that?"
She took away his plate.
The Doctor looked up at her in confusion. "What have I done wrong?"
"You took two slices." Nancy stated before taking mine.
"And me?"
"You'll be leaving with him." Nancy insisted. "No blondes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?"
"Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking."
"You just had to give him an out, didn't you?" I asked, my hands picking up the napkin so I could draw the ambulance.
"Something we've been looking for. Would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb. Not the usual kind, anyway. Wouldn't have exploded." The Doctor reported.
I slipped him the drawing, one that looked less messy than his.
"Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this." He held up the napkin. 'Thanks.'
'No trouble.'
Nancy stared at the napkin intently, almost angrily. This thing did technically kill her son.
"Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?" Jamie called out.
My hearts were going a bit fast, so I tried to shake the fear of this saying. You'd think hearing your brother say it for two months would take the edge off.
The Doctor pulled back the curtain, revealing Jamie.
"Mummy?" He repeated.
Nancy's head shot in Jamie's direction. "Who was the last one in?"
Ernie pointed at us. "Them."
"No, they came round the back. Who came in the front?" She asked.
"Me." Alf admitted.
Nancy looked at him. "Did you close the door?" Alf winced. "Did you close the door?" Nancy pressed.
Nancy jumped into action. She ran to the door. I could hear the locks clicking into place. I glanced to the Doctor, wondering what he thought of the situation. He nodded his head towards her, so I followed after him.
Jamie was standing at the door, with Nancy just a few feet away
"What's this, then?" Nancy jumped in surprise. "It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know." The Doctor voiced.
"I suppose you'd know." Nancy chided.
"Yeah we do." I barked
"It's not exactly a child." Nancy argued.
"Mummy?" Jamie repeated. "Mummy? Mummy?"
"Right, everybody out." Nancy commanded when she marched back into the dining room. "Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!"
The kids listened that time. They left the dining room faster than I could blink. Nancy comforted a small girl as they made their way out.
Jamie was still calling for mummy, so I walked to the door. The Doctor stood by me, staring at Jamie's silhouette.
"Please let me in, mummy." Jamie repeated. His little hand inched though the letterbox. "Please let me in, mummy."
"Are you alright?" I found myself asking.
"Please let me in."
My hand had inched just a little too close. The object Nancy threw nearly hit my own hand. I turned to her in shock.
"What on Earth was that?" I made sure not to swear in front of kids. "Who were you trying to hit, the boy or me?"
"You mustn't let him touch you!" Nancy warned.
"What happens if he touches us?" The Doctor countered.
Nancy looked at us with regretful eyes. "He'll make you like him."
"And what's he like?" I asked.
"I've got to go." Nancy tried.
"Nancy, what's he like?" I repeated, an edge in my voice.
The young woman turned to me. "He's empty." She replied with finality.
The phone at the Doctor's side rang.
"It's him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw." Nancy added.
The Doctor didn't care. He lifted up the phone, only to again hear Jamie asking for his mummy.
Nancy ripped the phone from his hands.
"Mummy? Please let me in, mummy." Jamie pleaded.
I moved to the door, fighting an urge to open it and throw him at Nancy.
"Mummy, mummy, mummy." The monkey began to clap.
"You lot stay if you want to." The young woman decided, storming off after the other kids.
A scarred hand reached in through the letterbox. "Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in." Jamie pleaded in a flat voice.
"She's not here." I answered.
There was a pause. "Are you my mummy?"
"No kids from me, last I checked." I stated. "Just us chickens."
"Well, these chickens." The Doctor joked. I didn't snort, focused on the boy's hand.
"I'm scared."
"Why are those other children frightened of you?" The Doctor asked softly.
"Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs." Jamie stated.
"I'm opening the door now." I stated, my hands unlocking the various bolts and locks.
I pulled the door open only to find Jamie was long gone
==CON==
The young Nancy was unpacking her bag when we found her. I smiled mischievously as she slowly realized we were here.
The Doctor had, at first, been tracking her with the screwdriver. I offered my valuable experience chasing people while I was FBI. It had been easy to follow her, coupled with the knowledge she'd end up on the train tracks.
"How'd you follow me here?" Nancy demanded.
"I'm good at following, me." The Doctor excused. "Got the nose for it."
Nancy stared at the two of us in confusion. "People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to."
"My nose has special powers." The Doctor joked, knowing that it was actually me that brought us here.
"Yeah? That's why it's." Nancy cut herself off.
I laughed, unable to stop it.
"What?" My friend asked, innocently.
Nancy shook her head, biting her lip to keep from laughing. "Nothing."
The Doctor didn't buy it. "What?" He turned to glance at me. "I'm used to her laughing at this point."
"Nothing." Nancy insisted. "Do your ears have special powers too?"
"What are you trying to say?" My friend asked.
"What, can't hear her?" Was my laughter filled response.
Nancy laughed too. She nodded politely at the Doctor. "Goodnight, Mister, Miss." She turned to walk away with her half unpacked bag.
"Nancy, there's something chasing you and the other kids." The Doctor's voice boomed.
Just like that, my laughter vanished. My gaze stayed on Nancy, my body language telling her I would catch her if she ran. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"The boy that isn't a boy." I listed. "He's been following you for a month right?"
Nancy turned to us.
"The thing we're looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what we're talking about, don't you?" The Doctor asked.
Nancy steeled herself. "There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb." Pain filled her eyes. She was hiding it well, but I knew what it looked like when you were hiding loss that strong. "Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station."
"Take us there." The Doctor stated simply.
Nancy scoffed. "There's soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire." She shook her head. "You'll never get through."
"Try us." I challenged with a straight face.
"You sure either of you want to know what's going on in there?" The young woman questioned.
The Doctor nodded. "We really want to know."
"Then there's someone you need to talk to first." Nancy countered.
"And who might that be?"
"The Doctor."
'...'
'...'
==CON==
'You have a pair of binoculars in that bag?'
'You pull a pair out of your pocket. Me having a pair in my bag is the problem?'
My friend and I were standing with Nancy on a metal stairway near a bomb site. Cold air was seeping into my freezer hoodie, which made it much colder. The Doctor was using fancy space binoculars, while I was using a pair that I fixed up to have heat seeking and night vision settings.
"The bomb's under that tarpaulin." Nancy explained into our ears. "They put the fence up over night. See that building? The hospital."
Hard to miss it, with it being the perfect backdrop to this scare fest. Plus it was where I was going to meet Jack, hard to be in a bad mood about that.
"What about it?" The Doctor asked.
"That's where the doctor is." Nancy state. "You should talk to him."
"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there." The Doctor motioned to the bomb site.
Nancy was insistent. "Talk to the doctor first."
"You've made that point, multiple times, on the walk here." I deadpanned. I spotted the keep out sign, so I went looking for the gate. "Is there a reason we need to see a doctor first?"
"Because then maybe you won't want to get inside." Nancy stated.
I heard her boots echoing on the metal stairs.
"Where're you going?" The Doctor commented.
"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed." Nancy remarked. "Should be safe enough now."
"Who did you lose?" I stated.
"What?" Nancy asked me.
"I saw the way you looked after those boys. I've seen it before. You lost someone, you even blame yourself for it, so you watch these boys to refill the hole." My eyes looked to her in understanding. "So I'm really sorry, but who did you lose?"
Nancy stared at me for a long moment. She glanced to the Doctor, who was pocketing his binoculars.
"My little brother. Jamie." She whimpered. I nodded in understanding. "One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just. He just didn't like being on his own."
"What happened?" I elbowed him. He looked at me in confusion.
"In the middle of an air raid?" Nancy questioned. "What do you think happened?"
The Doctor lowered his gaze. I stuffed the binoculars back into my bag. My eyes went back to Albion, thinking about all the people changed by just one touch.
There was a long heavy silence. I thought about my brothers, or at least all the boys I've called brother. Some were orphans that stumbled into my house, looking for a place to crash for the night and ended up staying for months. Hero had been one of them, as well as the other male experiments. Pops was our dad, so why shouldn't I call Hero my brother?
The Doctor snorted suddenly. It brought me out my thoughts of Hero, before they turned darker. "Amazing."
"What is?" Nancy asked.
"1941." Magoo replied.
I snorted too, smiling. It was an interesting year.
"Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here." The Doctor spoke. He was looking up at the air raid in progress. "A mouse in front of a lion."
As he talked, I felt a bit more hope in my chest. Nine's speeches about humanity sounded more like a myth, like about these ancient tales that had you spellbound.
"You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me." The Doctor marveled. "Off you go then do what you've got to do. Save the world."
So we parted ways with Nancy, at least for now.
Story dammit. I'm thinking about The Parting of Ways!
==CON==
With my guidance, we made it to the gate for the hospital. He soniced the lock open, a minor inconvenience at this point. The Albion Hospital was dark, there was a coldness in the air. It wasn't a coldness like everyone was dead. It was more that everyone was asleep.
I braced myself. None of this was Jack's fault. He hadn't known the nanogenes were in there. You see but you do not observe. The ex-Time Agent was just doing what he felt he had to do to get his memories back. He learned his lesson in the end. That was all I needed to know what kind of man he was.
My friend walked into our fifth dark corridor of the night. The moonlight coming in made it easy to see all of the patients in their beds. I walked to the right of the room, noticing all the patients were tucked into bed. The Doctor was once more surprised to find all of them with gas masks.
'I'm telling you, there is something wrong with Nancy's story.' I explained. 'Jamie's following her. She was near the the TARDIS when the phone rang. She was in that house, he followed her there.'
The Doctor mentally shrugged. 'She said they were siblings. I'm not going to lie and say I'm completely convinced.'
'Orphans, my guess. Mothers wouldn't let their children wander around in the London Blitz unless they were dead.' I added. 'So Jamie knows his mother is dead.' The Doctor gave me a curious look. 'Then why is he looking for her like she's alive?'
My friend was now looking at me in understanding. Though I was hiding how I came across the information, I wasn't hiding my original theories from when I first watched the episode. It was was a good cover-up. It annoyed Darcy when I talked out loud.
A light suddenly switched on behind us. Snapping my head towards it, my feet moving into fighter stance before I saw Doctor Constantine. The doctor was leaning on his cane, skin pale as his hair. He limped towards us, watching us with wary eyes.
"You'll find them everywhere." He stated in a gravely voice. "In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them."
"Yes, we saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?" The Doctor questioned.
"They're not. Who are you, and who is your friend?" Constantine went on.
"I'm, er." My friend fumbled. "Are you the doctor?"
"Doctor Constantine." He corrected. "And you two are?"
"Nancy sent us." I explained, in my professional voice.
The doctor paused, intrigued. He must have thought we were with the military, or at least Magoo here. "Nancy?" Constantine noted. He limped with his cane towards the desk in the middle of the room. "That means the two of you must've been asking about the bomb."
"Yes." The Doctor answered curtly.
Constantine paused before talking again. "What do you know about it?"
"Nothing. Why we were asking." The Doctor replied. "What do you know?"
Constantine turned back to face us. "Only what it's done." He explained tiredly. He looked around at the bodies filling the room.
The Doctor scanned the beds again. I let my hands fall to my sides. "How many were caught in the blast?" I asked, dryly.
Constantine sighed. "None of them were." His sigh turned into sickly coughs. The Doctor and I stepped closer, as Constantine collapsed into his chair.
"Sorry to say this sunshine, you're sick." I stated, concerned.
"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time." The man joked. I gave him a smirk in response. He looked to Magoo behind me. "Are you a doctor?"
I snorted, quietly. My friend threw me a look and a grin. "I have my moments." He supplied.
"Have you examined any of them yet?" The war doctor questioned.
"No." My friend admitted.
'Moment gone.' I teased.
"Don't touch the flesh." Constantine warned.
"Which one?" The Doctor asked.
Constantine gave a small knowing smile. "Anyone."
The Doctor walked over to the closest patient. I crossed my arms over my chest, watching curiously. He scanned the patient.
"Conclusions?" The doctor asked dryly.
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side." The Doctor listed. "Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns."
"Examine another one."
The Doctor did so without question.
Barely a moment passed before he was looking at Constantine with shock.
"This isn't possible." He argued.
"Examine another." Constantine instructed.
I looked curiously between the Doctor and the doctor. The Time scanned another patient. "This isn't possible."
"No."
"Care to share?" I asked, looking to the other patients.
The Doctor stared at me with wide eyes. "They've all got the same injuries." He scanned another patient.
"Yes."
"Exactly the same?" I asked as he scanned another.
"Exactly the same!"
"Yes."
"Identical, all of them, right down to the scar on the back of the hand." The Doctor noted.
I turned to Constantine. He was trying to hide the scar on his hand.
"How did this happen?" My friend interrogated before I could ask about the scar. "How did it start?"
"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim." Constantine began.
"Dead?" The Doctor reasoned.
"At first." The doctor added. "His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that?
'Jamie is Patient Zero. He has to be.' I thought.
'Would explain why Nancy seems to know so much.' The Doctor agreed.
'Doctor. Constantine has the scar.'
He looked to the other doctor in surprise, then morouse understanding.
"What would you say was the cause of death?"
The Doctor shrugged. There had been a lot to choose from. "The head trauma."
"No."
"Asphyxiation."
"No."
"The collapse of the chest cavity-"
"Nothing." I supplied, my eyes scanning the patients. 'If Jamie is still wandering around alive, then why shouldn't they?' "They're not dead."
In response, Constantine whacked a trash can. The loud bang was enough to jerk the patients awake. The Doctor backed away in a panic, while I balled my fists in case of a fight. It was instinct, okay?
"It's all right. They're harmless. They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind." Constantine assured. "They just don't die." He finished.
"Then what? They just locked them all up in here?" I snapped as the patients lied back down. "Just tucked them in bed and turned off the light? Like they didn't matter?"
"I try and make them comfortable." Constantine replied. "What else is there?"
"Just you?" Magoo inquired. "You're the only one here?"
Constantine gave the Doctor an even look. "Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither." His eyes watered in either pain of the nanogenes or pain of losing family. Probably the latter. "But I'm still a doctor."
The Doctor gulped. "Yeah. I know the feeling."
I sent him a reassuring mental wave, walking closer to his side. He sent back one of thanks. "Just a repair girl over here." I commented, staring at the patients idly. "Universal repair girl."
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb." Constantine remarked.
"Probably too late." The Doctor stated.
"No. There are isolated cases." He coughed. The Doctor and I stiffened. "Isolated cases breaking out all over London."
Constantine coughed again.
I moved towards him. "You have the-"
"Stay back, stay back." The war doctor wheezed. His face was turning red, holding back the gas mask. I watched in sadness as he struggled to speak. "Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight-oh-two. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."
"Nancy?" The Doctor asked.
"What's she got to do with this?" I added.
"It was her brother." Constantine wheezed.
"Her brother?" I tilted my head. "No, no. That still doesn't make any sense."
"She knows more than she's saying." The war doctor coughed and gagged. "She won't tell me, but she might..." He grabbed at his neck, choking. "Mummy."
I took a step back.
Constantine was struggling to get the words out. "Are you my mummy?"
In a grotesque scene, Constantine's face was slowly replaced with a gas mask. I couldn't look away from it, no matter how much it made me feel sick.
The man hunched over in his seat, head drooping on his shoulder. It was sad to watch in reality, even if he would be cured.
I turned to walk away, my elbow hitting the Doctor's. He tore his eyes from the prone man, following me out the door.
==CON==
"Hello?" The disembodied voice of Jack Harkness echoed in the hallway.
"Hello?" Rose's echoed behind him.
"Hello?"
I turned a corner to see him with Rose. The hard to miss World War 2 coat, black hair, strong jaw, and light blue eyes of Captain Jack Harkness.
"Good evening." Jack greeted, shaking the Doctor's hand. "Hope we're not interrupting." Though, when the conman caught sight of me, it was like the Doctor became less important. "Captain Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you two on the way over."
The Doctor glanced at me in confusion. I shook my head, subtly.
"He knows." Rose reported, getting our attention. "I had to tell him about us being Time Agents." She hinted.
I gave her a quick head bob, eyeing Jack. All I could see was the giant head I had joked with at Platform One, the one I called Buttface.
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock." Jack smirked at me. The two of us started walking towards the hospital wing. Jack threw in his trademark smirk. "Which makes you Terra Johnson, the attack dog."
"No." I spoke flatly, giving him a look that said I did not appreciate the flirting. Though, I was moving, so I guess that made me his type. Still, not interested in my sister's future date.
Jack grinned at me. He looked me up and down. "What are you-"
"No." I repeated in the flat voice.
He chuckled. Guess I was a challenge now.
Jack walked over to a patient. I decided to play a fun game. "What do you think killed them?"
Jack shrugged. "Could've be anything." He brought out the sonic gun. I bit my lip to keep in a laugh. "Asphyxiation from the mask, the hit on the side of the head-"
"Check the next one." I insisted, hands slipping into my pockets.
"Why?"
"It's gonna change your life."
Jack took the bait. Keeping eye contact with me, he went to scan the next body. I just watched with an amused expression. The stunned look on his face was priceless. "What?"
"I know."
"This just isn't possible. How did this happen?" Jack asked me.
"I know."
The Doctor marched in, arms crossed. "What kind of Chula ship landed here?"
"What?" Jack asked the Doctor.
"Did things happen that I'm not privy too?" I asked, looking between Rose and Jack.
Rose looked at Jack with narrowed eyes. She was in a matching pose to the Doctor. These two, I don't even know what to do with them anymore. "I was hanging from a barrage balloon, when he caught me in his ship. The thing we were chasing was his. He said it was a warship." The Doctor whirled to face Rose. "He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer."
"Ah." I turned to Jack. "What kind of warship?"
The ex-Time Agent stared at me in confusion. He went over to another patient. "Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this."
"'This' started at the bombsite." The Time Lord fumed. "It's got everything to do with it." The Doctor pressed. "What kind of warship?"
"An ambulance!" Jack yelled. He sighed. "Look."
He typed on his vortex manipulator. My hands went into my hoodie pockets, once again enjoying the chill of the freezer hoodie. Jack showed us the hologram of the ambulance.
"That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk." Jack explained in a tight voice. "I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you." Jack paused his speech to be a complete fangirl, and I do mean fangirl. "Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait-"
"Bait?" The companion asked in a hurt voice.
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk." Jack explained.
"You said it was a war ship." Rose spoke in a hurt voice.
"They have ambulances in wars." I pointed out. She threw a glare at me. "What? They do!"
Jack walked around us, towards the door. I followed him, wanting to be a friend right now. He would need one when he slept with my sister. "It was a con. I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man."
Jack Harkness is a good man. No one deserves to have their memories taken away. It was a horrible thing to have days missing. To not even know the crime you had committed to earn such a heartless punishment. The random thoughts of 'is that what I did?' or to do something horrible and think 'whatever I did, was it worse than this?' No one deserved that endless torment.
"I thought you were Time Agents." He turned to me, angry now. "You're not, are you."
"We're more freelancers." I chimed.
Jack scoffed. "Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local color." He joked, laughing humorlessly. "I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain and Rosie the Riveter?"
Not gonna lie, that made me laugh. Jack's description of me was just about spot on. He'd been in World War 2 time too long to be making references like that. Of course Magoo wasn't helping, with his 'the fuck did you just say about my leather?' face. Then, Magoo's nickname for me: the Sailor.
The Time Lord gave me a look. 'You're not helping.'
'Good observation.' I laughed. 'Anything else, oh wise U-Boat Captain?'
He glared at Jack. 'Chula ambulance's are stocked with nanobots known as nanogenes. They're more than capable of changing all of these people. Rose's new boyfriend is responsible.' The Doctor thought, furious.
I winced. 'Okay. Terrific point. Side note: this guy was honestly shocked when he scanned all the bodies. They were news to him too. So let's cut him some slack okay?'
"Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship." Jack assured.
"What is happening here?" Rose asked the Doctor and I.
"Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot." The Time Lord stated.
'Dude, cut him slack.' I snapped. 'He didn't know.'
'Doesn't mean it's not his fault.' The Doctor argued.
"What does he mean?" Rose asked me.
I threw him a silencing glare. "There's a virus turning humans into that." I gestured to the patients.
"But why?" The Doctor asked. "What's the point?"
The four of us separated, walking to various patients. I kept a bit of distance from the patients, jump scares hadn't been my friend as of late. They made me laugh.
Rose yelped when the patients sat up in bed. I flinched back, hiding my laugh.
"Mummy." They chorused. "Mummy."
"What's happening?" Rose asked.
"I don't know." The Doctor admitted.
The patients stood up from their beds, all their gas masked faces staring at us. "Mummy."
The four of us moved to the corner, Magoo at the front. I stood in front of Jack, not wanting to risk my friend.
"Don't let them touch you!" I ordered.
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose whimpered.
"You're looking at it." The Doctor warned.
"Help me, mummy?"
They crowded around the four of us, all the victims of this horrible plague. We kept searching for a way out, we were utterly surrounded. Jack was aiming his sonic gun about, trying to intimidate them. It didn't work.
"Doc, what the heck do we do?" I asked him as one of the gas mask wearing patients nearly touched me. "What do we do?!"
"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy."