Jack amused the group with stories from his travels, the five having chosen a simple little restaurant on a jetty to get a bit to eat. Mei wasn't so much focused on the man's tale but the cheesecake in front of her, it had been a while since she had had any, and it was safe to say she missed it.
The Doctor sat next to her, a hand on her thigh as he laughed at Jack while Rose sat beside the american, falling into him every time she dissolved into giggles. Mickey sat at the head of the table, and though he was amused by the story, there was always a lingering glare in his eyes.
"I swear, six feet tall and with big tusks!" Jack insisted, Mei shaking her head slightly at him.
The Doctor grinned however, exclaiming, "You're lying through your teeth!"
"I'd have gone bonkers! That's the word - bonkers!" Rose laughed.
Jack continued like they hadn't spoken, "I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean tusks! And it's woken, and it's not happy."
"How could you not know it was there?" the Doctor asked, shifting slightly in his seat to put his arm around Mei's shoulder instead.
"And we're standing there, fifteen of us, naked-"
Mei choked on her last bite of cake, thumping her chest as she asked in a weak voice, "Naked?!"
Jack just grinned at her, "And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me. And then it roars, and we are running. Oh my God, we are running! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say-"
"I knew we should've turned left!" Mickey finally spoke, grinning smugly as Rose giggled loudly.
Jack pouted however, "That's my line!"
"I don't believe you. I don't believe a word you say ever. That is so brilliant. Did you ever get your clothes back?" The blonde asked.
Mei missed the american's answer, distracted by the loss of the Doctor's warmth. She followed him with her eyes as he crossed the restaurant to an elderly man reading the paper. With a few quick words, he took the paper and returned to them, staring at the front page in horror.
"Doctor?" the brunette asked, rising to her feet, "What's wrong?"
The other three turned to give him their attention as well, Rose's eyes widening as the Doctor turned the paper to face them. Mei gulped, recognising the blonde in the photo.
"And I was having such a nice day," he complained.
Jack placed a hand on Rose's shoulder, seeing her expression. "Who is that?"
"Slitheen," Mei told him, narrowing her eyes, "They tried to start World War Three. I thought we stopped them."
"She must have gotten out somehow," Rose grumbled, "Why does that always happen?"
Without much thought, the group headed straight for City Hall, Mickey trailing after them unsure of what was going on. As they entered the foyer, Jack took the lead and looked down at his wrist device.
"According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit. Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty seven fifty six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face to face. That'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two. Rose and Mei, you both take Exit Three. Mickey Smith, you take Exit Four. Have you got that?"
Mei and Rose shared a grin as the Doctor cleared his throat, glaring at Jack, "Excuse me. Who's in charge?"
Knowing he was only joking, the American straightened to attention with a barely concealed smirk, "Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir."
"Right, here's the plan," the Doctor paused, winking at Mei, "Like he said. Nice plan. Anything else?"
"Present arms?" Jack asked, pulling out his mobile, the other four following suit.
Once sure they had each other on speed dial, they split up to head in their ordered directions. Rose and Mei hurried along, keeping an eye on each other while also looking out for Margaret.
The Doctor's voice came through Rose's phone only minutes later, "Slitheen heading north."
"On our way!" the sisters chimed, bursting into a run.
"Over and out!" they heard Jack respond, and Mei rolled her eyes as Mickey responded with a panicked, "Oh my god!"
The girls reached the car park in time to see Margaret turn on her heel, having also spotted them. Mei could see the Doctor and Jack cornering her from the other side, but a large gap was left in their so-called net.
Mickey's exit, she realised with a huff, trying to catch up to the woman. She and Rose all but slammed into the Doctor and Jack at the end of an alley, watching the woman hurry the opposite way from them.
"Who's on Exit Four?" Jack demanded, looking after Margaret in annoyance.
"Mickey, of course," Mei sneered, earning a dig in the ribs from her sister, though the blonde was smiling slightly.
Mickey stumbled up to them, out of breath, "Here i am."
"Mickey the idiot," The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Well, she's not exactly going to outrun us, is she?" Rose asked, ignoring Mickey's frown as he realised she didn't tell the Doctor to lay off.
Mei just grinned, and watched as Margaret disappeared, "Oh look, she can teleport. Pity the Doctor's good with teleports."
The Doctor beamed in response, holding up his sonic. Margaret reappeared, running towards them. She looked upon the group in shock, before turning and running the other way. She vanished, but once again reappeared, this time closer to the group. She tried once again to run and teleport, but the Doctor brought her back and she stumbled to a stop in front of them, struggling to breathe.
"I could do this all day," he told her, still grinning.
"This is persecution," Margaret gasped, glaring at him, "Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?"
"You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet," he said calmly, "I might have let that go, but you tried to kill Mei too, that i DON'T forgive."
Mei flushed pink at that, Rose and Jack grinning like Cheshire cats. She elbowed the two of them, trying to get them to knock it off and hurried after the Doctor as he half-dragged Margaret back into the building.
"So, you're a Slitheen," he spoke up, heading toward a model of a power plant, leaving Margaret by Jack.
Mei and Rose stood to the side, watching him prowl around the room, and Mickey skulked up to the blonde's side, frowning when she shifted away from him.
"You're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family get killed but you teleport out just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station. But what for?"
"A philanthropic gesture. I've learnt the error of my ways," the woman replied, far to kindly to be truthful.
"Right," Mei rolled her eyes, "A nuclear plant on top of the rift. Nothing suspicious there."
Margaret simply tilted her head, "What rift would that be?"
"A rift in space and time," Jack explained, walking toward the model to get a look, "If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would go-" He imitated an explosion with his hands, making the Tyler girls laugh.
"This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity," The Doctor then said with a frown.
"What?" Rose asked, "But these things have people checking that sort of stuff, how did no one-" She paused slightly, seeing Margaret's gleeful expression, "-right, you got rid of them. Anyone who noticed something was wrong and you got shot of them, how did no one notice that?"
Grinning at Rose, the Doctor nodded, "Well done." She straightened, giving her sister a blinding grin and Mei returned it.
Huffing, Mickey asked, "But why would she do that? A great big explosion, she'd only end up killing herself."
"She's got a name, you know," Margaret shot back.
"She's not even a she, she's a thing."
"Mickey shut up," Mei rolled her eyes, "Don't even go there, you're as much of a thing as she is."
"Oh, but she's clever," the Doctor interrupted before it could turn into a fight.
He swept his arms across the model, knocking pieces flying and pulled out the centre piece. Jack, Rose and Mei all moved forward to get a look when he turned it over, revealing a circuit-board of electronics on the underside.
"Fantastic!"
Jack, almost bouncing on his toes, reached for the board, "Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?"
"Couldn't have put it better myself," he agreed, handing it over.
Rose appeared at Jack's side to get a better look, Mei resting her head on the Doctor's shoulder, not immediately noticing his attention on the banners.
"Oo, genius! You didn't build this," The American stated, studying it.
"I have my hobbies. A little tinkering."
"No, no, no. I mean, you really didn't build this. Way beyond you," he refused to believe her.
Margaret snarled at the insult, Rose just leaned in a little to see what Jack was doing. He pointed out a couple of things, explaining them to her and she nodded, trying to take it all in.
Mickey scowled at just how easily he had been forgotten, and stated, "I bet she stole it."
Margaret turned her glare on him, "It fell into my hands."
"I know this," Rose realised, "We talked about this, it's an - it's a transport thing isn't it?" When Jack nodded, she beamed, "Yup, transport, like a - a surfboard!"
"Hi-five!" Jack cheered, slapping his hand against Rose's, "You're right, Pan Dimensional Surfboard. You see, if the reactor blows, the rift opens. Phenomenal cosmic disaster. But this thing shrouds you in a force field. You have this energy bubble, so you're safe. Then you feed it coordinates, stand on top, and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system."
Mei grinned at her sister's proud expression, turning to the Doctor only to feel the smile fall from her face at his own expression. She glanced from him, to the welsh banner that the Tardis wasn't translating.
"Doctor?" she placed a hand on his arm, catching his attention, "What's wrong?"
"Why do you assume something's wrong?" he challenged her, grinning slightly.
She shot him an unimpressed look, "Because the TARDIS isn't translating those words for me, and she ALWAYS translates. Which means it's something either you or she doesn't want us to know."
His expression dropped, confirming her suspicions, and he called over his shoulder, "How'd you think of the name?"
Margaret started, not having expected the question, then replied, "What, Blaidd Drwg? It's Welsh."
He rolled his eyes "I know, but how did you think of it?"
Mei eyed the blonde woman, who seemed just as confused as the rest of them, "I chose it at random, that's all. I don't know. It just sounded good. Does it matter?"
"Blaidd Drwg," he repeated, causing a shiver to run down Mei's spine.
"Doctor?" Rose spoke up, "What does it mean?"
He took a breath, facing Mei as he responded, "Bad Wolf."
She stepped back almost instantly, her eyes searching for Rose, who looked just as worried. The brunette then looked back to the Doctor, trying to squash her feelings.
"We've heard that before. Bad Wolf," she told him, "On Platform One, the spray paint on the TARDIS, Van Statten's museum, Satellite Five, we've heard that lots of times."
"Everywhere we go. Two words following us. Bad Wolf," he agreed, staring down at Mei, his eyes telling her he felt just as she did.
"How can they be following us?" Rose asked, curling into Jack as he put an arm around her shoulder.
The Doctor paused, seeing Mei's minuscule shake of her head, then grinned, "Nah, just a coincidence. Like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Never mind. Things to do. Margaret, we're going to take you home."
Mei squeezed his hand in thanks, glad the fear was quickly gone from her sister's face.
"Hold on, isn't that the easy option, like letting her go?" Jack asked.
Rose however, grinned and exclaimed, "I don't believe it! We actually get to go to Raxa. Wait a minute! Raxacor- No, don't help me!" the Doctor, Jack and Mei all closed their mouths immediately, "Raxacorico - Raxacoricofallapatorius! That's it! I did it!"
"Yes!" Mei cheered, bouncing over to hug her sister, Jack and the Doctor doing the same.
The happy mood was almost immediately squashed by Margaret, who explained, "They have the death penalty. The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty with no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed. What do you make of that, Doctor? Take me home and you take me to my death."
He simply shrugged, "Not my problem."