At nightfall, the Tardis team, along with Mickey, broke into the school to continue their investigation. "Oh, it's weird seeing school at night. It just feels wrong" Rose said. "When I was a kid, I used to think all the teachers slept in school"
"Me too" Tate nodded. "And then when you saw them outside of school, it felt really awkward"
"All right, team" The Doctor cringed. "Oh, I hate people who say team. Er, gang. Er, comrades" The Doctor said and then he started giving direction. "Anyway, Rose and Tate, go to the kitchen. Get a sample of that oil. Mickey, the new staff are all Maths teachers. Go and check out the Maths department. Supernova and I are going to look in Finch's office. Be back here in ten minutes" The Doctor and Nova made their way to Finch's office, leaving Rose, Tate, and Mickey.
"You going to be alright?" Rose asked Mickey.
"Me? Please. Infiltration and investigation? I'm an expert at this" Mickey walked away but then he came back. "Where's the Maths department?"
"I know the way" Tate said. He turned to Rose. "Will you be alright in the kitchen by yourself?" Rose nodded in response. Tate then turned to Mickey. "I'll go with you down to the Maths department"
"Er, alright" Mickey shrugged. "Sounds good" He and Tate started walking down to the Maths department. "I'm Mickey Smith, by the way" He said once he realized that he hadn't properly met the man with him yet.
"Nice to meet you, Mickey" Tate shook Mickey's hand. "Tate Peltzer"
______
Sarah Jane Smith had also decided to drop in for a night business. She had heard noises and followed them into a storeroom. Instead, she wound up finding the Tardis. She backed out of the storeroom, and into the corridor where The Doctor and Nova were. She turned to look at them.
"Hello Sarah Jane" The Doctor said.
"It's you. Oh, Doctor Oh, my God, it's you, isn't it. You've regenerated" Sarah Jane said.
"Yeah. Half a dozen times since we last met"
"You look incredible"
"So do you"
"I got old" Sarah Jane looked to Nova. "And you Nova, you're not human, are you?"
Nova smiled at the woman. "No, I'm not. I'm like The Doctor" The Doctor smiled down at Nova as he reached over to grab her hand. "I'm also a Time Lord. Well, Time Lady"
"What are you two doing here?" Sarah Jane asked them.
"Well, UFO sighting, school gets record results. We couldn't resist" The Doctor explained. "What about you?"
"Same" Sarah Jane answered with a smile. Then her expression changed. "I thought you'd died. I waited for you and you didn't come back, and I thought you must have died"
"I lived. Everyone else died"
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone died, Sarah"
"I can't believe it's you" There was a scream. "Okay, now I can!"
Rose ran up to them. "Did you hear that?" She looked at Sarah Jane. "Who's she?"
"Rose, Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane, Rose" The Doctor introduced them.
"Hi. Nice to meet you" Sarah Jane smiled, shaking Rose's hand. Rose didn't looked to pleased about Sarah Jane. "You can tell you're getting older" Sarah Jane said to The Doctor. "Your assistants are getting younger"
"I'm not his assistant!"
"No? Get you, tiger"
"Rose, where is Tate?" Nova wondered. "I thought he was with you"
"He went with Mickey to the Maths department" Rose replied.
______
They followed the scream to classroom where Mickey and Tate were. There were vacuum packed rats thrown all around the floor. "Sorry! Sorry, it was only me" Mickey apologized. "You told me to investigate, so I started looking through some of these cupboards and all of these fell on me"
"Oh, my God, they're rats" Rose spoke, looking down at the floor. "Dozens of rats. Vacuum packed rats"
"And you decided to scream" The Doctor asked Mickey.
"It took me by surprise!" Mickey defended himself.
"Like a little girl?"
"It was dark! I was covered in rats!"
"Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt" The Doctor stopped when Nova smacked him on the chest. "Ow!" He groaned. He rubbed the spot where she hit him. "What was that for?"
"Stop teasing him!" Nova scolded. She then turned to Mickey with a smile. She held out her hand. "Don't believe we've officially met. I'm The Nightingale. You can call me Nova"
"Are you also, you know, whatever he is?" Mickey motioned towards The Doctor. Nova nodded in response. Mickey then let out an annoyed sigh. "Great, there's two of you now"
"Hello, can we focus?" Rose motioned towards all the rats. "Does anyone notice anything strange about this? Rats in school?"
"Yeah" Tate agreed with a nod. "It is rather odd"
"Well, obviously they use them in Biology lessons" Sarah Jane contradicted Rose. "They dissect them. Or maybe you haven't reached that bit yet. How old are you?"
"Excuse me, no one dissects rats in school anymore. They haven't done that for years. Where are you from, the dark ages?"
"Anyway," The Doctor spoke up, breaking the tension between Rose and Sarah Jane. "Moving on. Everything started when Mister Finch arrived. We should go and check his office"
They all moved into the corridor and began heading for Finch's office. Tate caught up to Sarah Jane. "Hello" he greeted, gaining her attention. "We haven't met yet. I'm Tate Peltzer"
"Sarah Jane Smith" she smiled. At least this companion was being polite to her. "Are you another one of The Doctor's assistants?"
"I'm actually Nova's assistant" Unlike Rose, Tate accepted the term with a smile. "We just happen to travel with Rose and The Doctor"
"So Nova also travels?"
"Yep. You should see Nova's Tardis. She travels in an old Volkswagen van"
Rose caught up to the two of them. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who exactly are you?" she asked Sarah Jane.
"Sarah Jane Smith. I used to travel with the Doctor" Sarah Jane said, glancing in his direction.
"Oh. Well, he's never mentioned you"
"Oh, I must've done. Sarah Jane" The Doctor said. "Mention her all the time"
"Hold on" Rose pretended to think about it. "Sorry. Never"
"What, not even once?" Sarah Jane asked, obviously flabbergasted. "He didn't mention me even once?" The two girls walked on ahead, Tate following close behind them with a roll of his eyes. He was already rather fond of Sarah Jane. He couldn't understand why Rose wasn't.
The Doctor, Nova, and Mickey all came to a stop. Mickey placed a hand on The Doctor's shoulder. "Ho, ho, mate. The missus and the ex" He remarked. "Welcome to every man's worst nightmare"
"Mickey, I like you" Nova started, smirking up at him. "But you couldn't be more wrong. Rose isn't the missus in this situation" She winked at The Doctor, and walked away.
The Doctor smirked at her. Mickey pat The Doctor's shoulder. "Oh, I like her"
"Hey!" The Doctor looked at him and growled possessively. "Don't get any ideas"
______
They reached Finch's office. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver on the lock. "Maybe those rats were food" The Doctor suggested.
"Food for what?" Rose asked.
The Doctor opened the door. He looked up at the ceiling when he noticed something peculiar. "Rose, you know you used to think all the teachers slept in the school? Well, they do" There were giant bats hanging from the ceiling.
"No way!" Mickey shrieked, running off. The others followed after him more sedately.
______
They all ran out to the school yard. "I am not going back in there!" Mickey announced. "No way!"
"Those were teachers!" Rose gasped.
"When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four dinner ladies and a nurse" The Doctor said.
"That all adds up to thirteen" Nova concluded. "Thirteen big bat people. Come on" Everyone turned to go back inside the school. Well, everyone except for Mickey.
"Come on? You've got to be kidding!" he said.
"I need the Tardis. I've got to analyse that oil from the kitchen" The Doctor explained.
"I might be able to help you there" Sarah Jane spoke. "I've got something to show you"
______
They all went to Sarah Jane's car. She opened up the trunk. There was a green blanket covering something. The Doctor removed the blanket and spoke in excitement. "K9!" He referred to the metal dog. "Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Tate Peltzer, and Supernova, allow me to introduce K9. Well, K9 Mark Three to be precise"
"Oh, he's brilliant!" Nova commented.
"I would have loved a dog like this when I was younger" Tate mused.
Rose and Mickey didn't seem so impressed with K9. "Why does he look so disco?" Rose asked.
"Oi! Listen, in the year five thousand, this was cutting edge" The Doctor said. "What's happened to him?"
"Oh, one day, he just," Sarah Jane clicked her tongue. "Nothing"
"Well, didn't you try and get him repaired?"
"Well, it's not like getting parts for a Mini Metro, Beside, the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone"
"Ooh, what's the nasty lady done to you, eh?" The Doctor began petting K9, and Nova joined him.
"You may be a little rusted with wires sticking out, but you're the most impressive dog I've ever met!" Nova cooed, scratching K9's ears.
"Hey, what about Einstein?" Tate asked, referring to his golden retriever.
Nova looked at him and shrugged. "Einstein comes to a close second to K9. No offense, but Einstein still tries bringing long sticks in through the doggy door"
"Look, no offence," Rose said slightly annoyed. "But could you two just stop petting for a minute? Never mind the tin dog. We're busy"
______
They all went to a coffee shop. Rose, Tate, and Mickey sat together at the counter while The Doctor, Nova, and Sarah Jane worked on K9. Rose was watching the three of them.
"You see, what's impressive is that it's been nearly an hour since we met her and I still haven't said I told you so" Mickey snided.
"I'm not listening to this" Rose said.
"Although, I have prepared a little I was right dance that I can show you later"
"Two quid, love" The woman behind the counter said. Rose paid her, and the woman gave her a portion of chips. The three of them found a table.
"All this time you've been giving it, he's different, when the truth is, he's just like any other bloke"
"You don't know what you're talking about" Rose said. "Besides, it's not like I'm in love with The Doctor, because I'm not"
"Maybe not, because if you were, you'd have no chance with him and Nova being so attached at the hip" Mickey commented.
Rose ate her chips and looked at Tate. "Doesn't it bother you that Nova might have travelled with others before you?"
"Well, she hasn't" Tate answered. "I've asked her before, and she said I'm the first one she's ever travelled with"
"Oh, lucky you" Rose scoffed at him. "You have the honor of being a first"
Tate rolled his eyes and continued. "Even if she had travelled with others before me, I wouldn't let it bother me"
Maybe Tate is right. Rose thought to herself. She then looked to Mickey with the intent of commenting on his earlier remark about The Doctor and Nova. "Of course, they're attached at the hip. They're both the last two Time Lords. They deserve to be with each other"
"And Nova being easy on the eyes isn't that bad" Mickey remarked. As Nova had done to The Doctor earlier, she gave Mickey a smack on the chest.
"Don't get any ideas" Rose said. Her eyes drifted to the two Time Lords. Nova was saying something, and The Doctor was staring at her with what Rose inferred was love in his eyes. She smiled at the sight of them. "Nova belongs to The Doctor. She's his Supernova"