Chapter Four: Another Time, another place.
Snapping his head around, eyes wide as he sprinted back to the consol. "Oh no, no, no, no!" he yelled. The Doctor danced around the center like a madman, stabbing at buttons quickly as Rose watched the head melt. If she didn't know better, it was almost glaring at her, a glint of victory in those depthless eyes.
"Hurry!" she yelled, running up to the center, moving on instinct to help somehow. "Help him!"
"I'm trying!" the Doctor snapped back at her. He ignored the human girl as he quickly flicked a row of blue glass switched. Glancing up, he groaned out followed by a growl of frustration. The head was losing its integrity as it continued to melt. Rose was standing there, watching helplessly, both arms dangling at her sides as the head became nothing but a sticky, gooey mess. The eyes were the last to disappear. They seem to stare up at Rose, as she stared back, sorrow written plainly on her face. It gave a final glare before the eyes both popped and dissolved, as it they were never there.
"He's gone," Rose murmured softly.
"Not quite," the Doctor chimed in, circling still as his eyes burned a bright blue. The way he moved, the near effortless grace of his movement reminded her yet again of a mad musician, commanding the orchestra only he can hear. He jagged and pushed this button, and that button, his long fingers dancing over any button really. Stepping back, she knew better than to touch anything lest she earn his wraith. He didn't know or trust her yet. So no touching the TARDIS. The Doctor dashed passed her again, messing with each side of the six sided console, Rose felt a nudge from Sexy. Waiting until the Doctor wasn't looking at her, she reached out with her good hand and flipped a switch he had by passed in his dance.
The Doctor's head snapped up and he glanced at the extremely wide eyed and innocent looking human, blue eyes narrowing, "Did you just touch something?"
"Nope," Rose smiled angelically at him.
Making a 'hmph' sound in his throat, the Doctor returned his attention to the console. She took the time to just watch him. After another overly energetic hop to another panel, she noticed he kept glancing over her direction. He was enjoying himself and waiting for her. For what? She couldn't help but wonder. It hit her then, and she had to stop the laugher from pulling from her, even as the TARDIS was giggling in her mind. He was waiting for her to ask him what he was doing. Well, she already knew and she refused to sound even thicker than she already had in the last twenty-four linear hours.
The Doctor blinked at her a few times before he cleared his throat to gain her attention. "I'm trying to track the signal," he explained with a sly hidden smile. "There might still be a trace. From the head, to whoever's controlling it."
"Right," Rose nodded, swallowing against the lump in throat. "Did he feel it?"
"What?"
"The head, did he feel it? Melting? Did that hurt him?" The very thought hurting her heart, even as she knew what the Consciousness was capable of, despite the fact that one of its Auton had broken her wrist simply by squeezing it and threatened innocent lives. She did not like the thought, ever of something suffering as it died.
"I didn't think of that," the Doctor admitted in a little voice. "I don't know."
Rose nodded before letting her gaze wonder around the dome of the massive control room. It seemed different and yet the same at the same time to her. "So who are you then? What sort of alien are you anyway?"
He glanced at her, more glared before going back to his work on the keyboard that was MacGuyver'd to the console, his gaze on the screen. "Doesn't really matter."
"It does to me. You have a name. You should also have a species, a race, right?"
"I said," he ground out in a low rumble, "it doesn't matter, Rose Tyler."
Narrowing her gaze as he began to ignore her, she shifted her weight. Idly she wondered if maybe she had time to head to the med bay for some pain killers. No, no, she dismissed that. He would get suspicious. Instead she moved to one of the coral struts and ran her hand up and down the warm organics. The TARDIS purred happily response. How happy she was to have her Wolf back with her and her Thief. Leaning her forehead against the strut, she tried to figure out why she was even asking all these questions. A poke in her mind made her chuckle under the hum of the room. It was the equivalent of someone poking you in the side.
"So, the TARDIS," Rose tried again, attempting to sound like the nineteen year old who just learned everything she knew was wrong, "is this where you live? I mean, it is your home?"
"No," he answered, concentrating on wiring a bicycle pump and trimphone together. "Not really. I'd rather go outside. I just bunk down in here, now and again."
Nodding a little to herself, she leaned back against the strut she had been petting. "What, so d'you take it with you?" Again she could feel the TARDIS' amusement. She knew what Rose was up to. "Does it have wheels or something?"
"You'd be surprised," he grumbled, still working.
Sighing a little, she looked down one of the three hallways that led further into the ship. Tapping the fingers of her good hand against the strut, she looked up at the rotor, 'Now what?'
Keep trying.
"So," Rose tried yet again and only got a glare out of the Doctor. Throwing her hands in the air, she sighed, "why are you such hard work?" It was more for herself, but she did say it out loud.
"I had a bad day."
"No worse than mine!" she retorted with a glare.
When he looked at her this time, his eyes were a like two blue flames. "No, I had a very bad day." Putting the thing he was frankensteining together, he stalked around the console towards her, prowling. "I had the worst day of all." His tone dropped to a growl. For the first time she could remember, Rose was afraid of the Doctor.
"I lost everything. I lost everyone. I lost myself," he snarled at her, as she backed against the strut. "In a single moment, gone." He snapped his fingers in her face. "And I have survived since then, very nicely, without a little human standing at my side going yap-yap-yap, so if you don't mind, shut up!"
Rose's fear was gone now, replaced by fury and outrage. "You wanted me to ask questions!"
"I did not!" he snapped back.
"You did!" She pressed back against him, eyes flashing as she challenged him in return. "You love it!"
The two stood nose to nose, chests heaving as neither would back down. It was like whoever stepped back first, lost. The Doctor was livid. This little girl, this stupid little ape was challenging him. She knew nothing about him and yet she talked like she knew everything. How dare she even think that her day could possibly be worse than his! Even in his rage, something kept him from reaching out and just smacking the little ape. He was so easy to anger this time around, so easy for his temper to flare. He could hear through the drumming of his blood in his ears the TARDIS whispering to him, pleading for him to calm down. As the red haze started to clear from his vision, the Doctor saw how close she was. Her eyes flashing gold and brown back at him, as fierce as any warrior he knew, as brilliant as any Time Lady. For a second, need flashed through him. Clenching his fists at his side, he shoved them into his pockets to keep himself from reaching for her. To stop the need and instinct to push her against that strut behind her and show her all his darkness, rage and despair, as he pounded into her. That image flashed through his mind for a second in stunning detail. Taking a deep breath, he felt an ache start to build in his jeans. Her scent… it was, more than he could explain. And it made his cock twitch. That was not a good sign.
Rose, for her part, stared defiantly back into his eyes, trying to not tremble at the Oncoming Storm in her face. He had never gone full Storm on her before. To see the sheer darkness in him like this, was both thrilling and terrifying. Her own rage beat around her head, trying to figure out how the hell he had the right to treat her like that. Who did he think he was to talk to her like that? To minimize her so completely, dismissive of her own pain! She was not some silly little girl to be talked down to. She was the Defender of Earth! The Valiant Child! She had to fight down the growl that threatened to rip from her as she glared right back at him. As her rage started to ease back with the help of the TARDIS, Rose became all too aware of how close he was to her. Her neck was craned back so she could keep her eyes locked on his. They were barely an inch apart, her chest tightening, nipples turning to hard buds under her hoodie. She nearly groaned at her physical reaction to him. This was neither the time, nor the place, she thought. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, she never tore her eyes from him even as she mentally took a step back from him, stepping down. This was not the time for them to be fighting like this.
He blinked a few times as he noticed the change in her eyes. She was backing down. It was almost a submissive movement that made his instincts and darkness within growled in want and approval. Opening his mouth to apologize for yelling, scaring her, the TARDIS interrupted with the sound of an alarm. It scared the pair apart, Rose backing up into the strut, grunting in pain as her bad wrist connected briefly with it. The Doctor jolted back and spun on his heels, racing to see what caused the alarm to trigger. Hitting the keys on the keyboard, his eyes scanned what was displayed. A large, daft smile spread over his face, as if the last few moments hadn't just happened.
"Gotcha!" He crowed as he slammed down a row of levers.
The reaction to the command was immediate. The whole room lurched. The sphere shaped room suddenly shifted to a 45 degree angle, throwing Rose against the console with a cry. She tried to get a grip on it before it shifted again, but wasn't fast enough as the room swung back the way it came. Rose bit back a scream of pain as she slammed into the strut now as the desk of the console became vertical. Twisting, Rose wrapped her arm and legs around the strut, clinging for her life. 'The rides were never quite this bad,' she screamed mentally at the TARDIS.
Sorry.
The room spun violently, from left to right, like the inside of a gyroscope. The Doctor's eyes were glued to the screen as the TARDIS located and locked in the coordinates. He chanced a look over at Rose and his smile faded. She was pale, sweating and holding to the strut like it was a lifeline. Her broken wrist tucked against her chest as she curled on herself, trying to protect it. As the room tilted to the right again, he let go and let the momentum carry him towards the human girl. The sounds of the engines kicking to life, whirring and wheezing filled the space around them. The shaking did not get any better. As he reached Rose, he wrapped himself around her, their earlier argument completely forgotten.
"It's okay," he whispered in her ear, holding her with one arm tightly. His other arm was holding the railing, anchoring them in the rocking. "I got you."
A few more seconds of this, a sound from the console made the two look before his eyes widened. "No!" The Doctor debated a second, thinking to let go and see if hitting the console would help but opted against it. If he moved, she would get more hurt.
"What happened?" Rose called out, looking up at him.
On a groan he answered her as the room stopped tilting and came to a halt. The grinding sound echoing away into the soft hum that was always present. "Lost it."
Uncurling himself from around her, the Doctor stepped away quickly, his heavy boots thudding against the metal grating as he hurried to the monitor again. "I lost the signal," he pouted a little. "But we must be close," he perked up, excited and raced down the ramp, out the wooden doors.
"Doctor!" Rose shouted after him and dashed behind him, hurtling herself outside and right onto the Embankment.
She blinked a few times, looking around. It never really got old, the shock of the movement and walking out into a new place every time. Letting her gaze take in the new location, she noted the black water of the Thames at night. The light of the London Eye on the other side. And sitting there, almost smug in her awesomeness, was the blue box, simple and beautiful all at once. Stepping away from the doors, Rose let her gaze sweep the area. Old habits and all that. Turning back, she noted the Doctor was watching her again, with that little smile, just waiting for the chance to impress the silly ape with how impressive he is. Turning her nose up at him a bit, she hummed a little, looking back at the box.
"It disappears, but doesn't fly," she started. "There is no way it flies cos we'd see it. It must disappear there and reappear here, like a warp?"
The Doctor's jaw drops before he recovered swiftly. "Oh," he looked so disappointed. "That's exactly right."
"What happened back there?" Rose asked, narrowing her eyes at the leather wrapped alien in front of her. "At the pizza place? Is there still a killer headless thing on the loose or did it melt when the head did?"
"It would have melted after the signal was cut," he muttered, distracted as he looked around.
Watching him, she thought about Mickey and what would have happened to get the copy. She thought about the people in the pizzeria. The whole day started to weigh in on her now, the sheer impossibility of it all. Fear for John and Jake. Her team back in the other universe. Her heart started to hammer in her chest, her wrist answering that throbbing bring tears of frustration and pain to her eyes.
"Oh what are you blubbering on about now?" the Doctor snapped.
"Mickey!" She yelled at him, fat tears running over her cheeks. "The thing was made off Mickey! He could be dead too!" She tried to get a breath in, "But you… you don't even care, do you? No, don't answer that, I know you don't. You were right. You are an alien."
That made his spine stiffen, steel running down it as he turned to her, refusing to back down again. "Listen, if I did forget or not care about some kid called Mickey-"
"He's not a kid!" Rose interrupted, hissing.
"If I did," he continued, grinding his teeth, "it's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering about on top of this planet, all right?"
"All right!"
"Yes, it is!" He snarled and turned away from her, crossing his arms. The pair of them like sulking kids.
The Doctor sighed, she was exhausting to deal with. One minute he wanted to wrap her up in his arms, the next he wanted to throttle her. Sinking down to sit on a stone bench, he messed around with his screwdriver, adjusting the settings as he thought over the last few minutes, an hour actually he realized, with the gold and pink human girl. She kept challenging him in way he didn't want. She demanded he feel things he refused to feel, and just when he thought he was going to murder her, she goes all submissive on him. Gah, humans.
Rose watched him as he slumped onto the bench. She was cold, and in a lot of pain. Holding her wrist, she looked down to check the damage and hissed when she touched it. Her normally slim wrist was red and swollen. Sighing as she knew it would be a bit before she could tend to it, the only thing she could do was make sure it didn't get worse between now and then. Looking over at the Doctor again, another tear slipped down her cheek. He suddenly snapped his head up and looked at her, those beautiful eyes startling her.
"Come 'ere," his tone was soft as he held out one of his hands. There wasn't a thought to her actions, Rose just moved as it was natural for her. She went to his side. He nudged her to sit next to him on the bench as he turned the sonic on her wrist. Sniffling a little, she shuddered against the aching pain there as he scanned her. He looked up at her through his brow, head bowed to avoid facing her, he muttered "Broken."
"I could have told you that," she chuckled weakly.
A little growl rumbled in his chest as a hand slipped into the pockets of his leather jacket and pulled out a little brace. That surprised her. Blinking a few times at him, she watched as he ran the sonic against her skin a few more times, the swelling visibly going down and the pain numbing. He put the screwdriver between his teeth, holding it as he slipped the brace around her wrist, checking the tightness and support before he released her hand. She smiled, murmuring her thanks. He just grunted at her and went back to messing with the sonic.
"If you're an alien," she asked lightly, "how come you sound like you're from the North?"
"Lots of planets have a North," he spared her a glance before returning to the settings on the sonic.
Nodding a few times, she tapped her trainers against the ground, looking at the TARDIS and grinned. "If you're not a policeman, then what's this thing meant to be? Why does it look like that?"
"It's a disguise," he muttered, missing her smile.
"Disguised as what? It's not a very good one if I don't know what the disguise is," Rose smirked, knowing she was pushing buttons again. The man was so protective of Sexy.
"All right, calm down," he shook his head, looking at her. "You never lose an argument, do you?"
"Nope!" She grinned that tongue in teeth grin at him, popping her 'p'.
Laughing a little, starting to relax around her again, he explained. "If you must know, they used to have police boxes on every street corner, back in the '30s and '40s. She took a liking to their look and made herself look like one, like a chameleon. Park her on a street corner, and no one notices."
"D'you think? It's a big blue box," Rose pointed out.
"Yeah, and d'you know what the human race does, when it sees something big and strange in the middle of the street? You walk right past it," he grinned fully down at her, lightly bumping her forehead with his own, letting it rest there.
Once again silence past between them, the chug and honk of the boats out on the Thames the only real noise. "You heal fast," she murmured softly.
"I do what?"
She pointed to his cheek, trailing her nail lightly over the skin. "Here, you cut yourself. On the table in my mum's flat. For which, I should point out, she is never going to forgive you." Rose smiled at him, leaning in a little closer, to look at the healed skin there. "Nothing is there. It was deep too. I remember thinking that it looked nasty. But no scar. Is that an alien thing?"
"No," he breathed in her scent. "I cut myself weeks ago."
Her lips twitched a moment, wondering if he was just trying to provoke her. "The head mentioned there was a war," she tested the waters.
He closed his eyes, grunting a yes.
"A war with who? Your people and the plastic ones?"
"No," the Doctor sighed and leaned back, craning his head to look at the sky. She followed his gaze. The sky was covered with a greenish haze from the city, but both knew that the stars shined beyond it. "There was an almighty war. Out there. Far away. Between my people and another kind," closing his eyes again, he drew in a shaky breath. "It was a different species, the worst of all. Long time ago."
Her heart broke listening to his soft, deep tone. "But you won."
A bitter smirk found its way to his face, "Did I?"
"When you said you had a very bad day, was that it?" She had to ask. He never talked about this before with her for at least a year. It wasn't until after Jack came to them that he had opened up to her.
He didn't answer her, only open his eyes back up and bring his head forward. With a sigh, he ran a large hand over his cropped hair roughly.
"And, the plastic people?"
"They were victims of the war. The battle swept across their planet, they weren't even part of it," he let out a bitter laugh, full of self-hatred. "This wasn't a fight like laser guns and spaceships. This was a filthy stinking war hat changed reality itself. Corrupting everything it touched. Ripping life inside out and making it obscene. The Nestene Consciousness didn't stand a chance."
"The head said that too," Rose watched him, shocked that he was talking to her like this, "is that its name?"
"Yup."
"That's quite a name," she giggled making the Doctor smile.
"Quite a creature. You keep calling them people, but it's more like a single, vast, physical, thought hive-aggregation. Huge, restless, ambitious. It's eyed up the Earth before in the past once or twice," turning his head, the Doctor watched her as he continues. "Then the war rolled across and devastated it. In a single second, it ripped the Consciousness apart, devolved it, rebuilt it into a travesty of its old self. Then the battle boiled away into the stars and left the Nestene to starve." Suddenly, he offered her a lovely smile that made her heart flutter. "I haven't talked like this in a long time."
Rose blushed and toyed with one of her hooped earrings, "Well, I've never heard anything like this before."
They shared a laugh, looking back at the sky. It was true. She never knew this about the Nestene. It made her pity it more.
"So it's starving, and it comes here? Why for?" Rose asked, frowning as she fought to remember the reason why it came back in the first place. "What does it even eat? Definitely not humans."
"That would be daft," he scoffed.
"Yes, because that, out of everything that's been said or seen, just today, is daft," she elbowed him in the side, making her grin at her again.
"It feeds off toxins," the Doctor explained. "Here, it can feast. Loves it, toxic waste, lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins, perfect. Just what it needs now that all its food stock was destroyed in the war, the protein planets rotted."
"You said it was a hive mind like creature," Rose pointed out, "does that mean it controls the plastic or is the plastic?"
The Doctor beamed at how clever she was. "Yes, it is the plastic. That was the damage left by the war. The Nestene at one time was like you and I, flesh and blood, once upon a time. It had an affinity for plastics, could resonate organic polymers. Nice party trick, that," a sigh passed from the Doctor as he scrubbed a hand over his face up across the top of his head. "But then came the war. And rewrote his DNA, like some cosmic cruel joke. The Nestene Consciousness because living plastic, an actual living creature made of plastic. It's not surprising it founds its way here. So much junk, plastic in the food, in the air, wildlife, lining the ocean floors even. The Nestene looks at you lot and thinks it's found paradise."
"Alright," she breathed, absently rubbing her shoulder with her good hand. "I get it."
"He's a very nice man," the Doctor offered like it was a consolation. "Spent a week up a tree with him."
"I bet he jumped first," Rose quipped, making the Doctor grin at her again. Without thinking, he shrugged out of his leather jacket and draped it around her shoulders when he noticed her shivering.
"He did, yeah."
"I get all that, but what I am trying to get is what is your place in all this," she leaned against his shoulder lightly. "Is it like your job to come and save the day or something?"
"No," he laughed a little. "Believe it or not, I just want a quiet life, to just travel."
Rose let out a hum as she processed all she had just learned. Things she didn't know before. What was it John always told her about foreknowledge?
"Well, that's all well and good," she suddenly stated, standing up and looking down at him. His jacket swallowing her and making her look so much smaller. "So, how do we stop it? You do have a plan, right?"
Standing up himself, ignoring the stirrings he was feeling again, seeing her wrapped up in his scent. It made her smell and look to all the world like she was his. Something inside him, buried deep, growled in pleasure at that idea. Shaking that off, he reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a glass vial full of some blue liquid. The grin he gave her was all too proud, and yet so silly.
"Anti-plastic." He announced like it was the simplest thing in the universe.
"Mhm," Rose was trying to not laugh again, "and what exactly is 'anti-plastic'?"
"It's a polymer-blading reconvertant heuverstatic animotrope." She narrowed her eyes as that silly grin turned into a daft one. Oh she would slap him one of these days, she just knew it.
"Right," nodding her head again and tightening her lips. "Anti-plastic. Wait. Wouldn't that kill the Nestene?"
"It could, but it is the last thing I want to do," agreed the Doctor. He pocketed the vial back into the leather jacket and stepped away from her towards the stone wall separating the walk from the river. "But first things first, we need to find it. The Nestene is very clever, hiding the signal. It keeps slipping away. I mean, how can you hide something so big in a city this small?"
The Doctor huffed and glared out over the water as Rose followed him over. "Hide what?"
"The transmitter. Somewhere around here, there's a transmitter. The Nestene can control every piece of plastic with the power of its mind," lectured the Doctor, making Rose arch a brow. "But that kind of power needs boosting. It had nests, like the one at your work, all over the city. I dealt with them all but they were just relay points. The control was coming from a central transmitter."
"Then tell me what it looks like," Rose nodded at him, determined. "I can help."
Turning so his back was to the river, he leaned against the stone wall and crossed his arms over his chest. Something was lost without the leather jacket, which made Rose's lips twitch with suppressed laugh. But not the TARDIS. The cheeky old girl was letting out squeals of laughter in Rose's mind.
"Huge, circular. Likely metal," he described. "Like a dish or a wheel. Radial. Close to where we are standing."
"Doctor," Rose said, nodding to the sky behind him.
Turning, he frowned and took in the view. City, river, sky. Looking back at Rose, he asked "What?"
Clearing her throat, she nodded again, keeping her eyes on what she noticed. Puzzled, he turned and looked again. Still the city, some trees, the black river, the sky. "What?"
"Blimey," she rolled her eyes. "You idiot." This time she pointed.
Turning again, the Doctor scanned the area. Still the river, the city, sky, and…
The London Eye.
A big, circular metal radial thing dominating the sky line. The London Eye, the world's biggest Ferris wheel. All lit up in its glory, overlooking the Thames. A soft "oh" slipped from the Doctor as he turned and grinned at Rose brightly.
"Fantastic."
Taking her good hand, he pulled her with him as the two laughed, running together. Hand in hand over the bridge towards the South Bank.
Rose and the Doctor came to a stop as they got closer to the crowds of the South Bank. People were everywhere, Rose thought in terror, tightening her grip on the Doctor's hand. He squeezed back as he too looked around the area. There were couples on dates, families on Saturday night outings, people coming from dinner or heading to the clubs. A tremble moved through Rose as she watched them all. She wanted to scream at them, tell them to go home, to run, to get away from here. But she also knew that no one would listen to her. Taking a breath, she reached her braced hand into the pocket of the leather jacket she was still sporting. A tugging on her good hand signaled her that the Doctor was ready to move on. He seemed as tense as her as they moved through the press of people.
"What are we looking for?" Rose asked, looking up at his profile.
Blue eyes darted from left to right as he searched. He turned towards her slightly, slipping his free hand into a pocket and withdrew his sonic screwdriver. "We look for the absence of a signal."
Nodding, she stepped closer to him as they moved along. "If something were as big as the Nestene, where could you possibly hide?"
"Tunnels, sewers," he responded, slipping the sonic into his palm, hiding it was sight. "But that is the least of our problems right now." He turned to her and lowers his forehead against hers once more. They looked for all the world like a happy couple on a date. Keeping his voice low, he explained what he meant before she could ask. "Autons. Watch out for the Autons. The Nestene knows we are coming. "
"Wouldn't this be easier if you just used the TARDIS to scan for it?" Rose kept her voice low, stepping closer to him.
"A word of caution, Rose Tyler," he grinned dangerously, eyes glittering down into her whiskey ones, his voice once again a caress of her name. "When you're searching for a hostile alien life form, don't deliver the universe's greatest technology into its tentacles."
"It has tentacles," Rose grinned that tongue in teeth grin at him, causing his gazes to flicker to her lips for a second. "Should I be worried?"
The Doctor shook his head, laughing at how at ease she was with all this alien stuff. "Keep an eye out for me."
A man walked by the pair and turned to watch them with a very silly, happy grin, walking backwards. He was handsome as sin, with laughing blue eyes and soft looking brown hair. The rest of him was hidden by a great coat, similar to one issued in World War II to the RAF. The man's expression was that of pure joy, like he wanted to do a fist pump into the air, as he turned away from them. Neither Rose nor the Doctor noticed him as he disappeared into the crowds.
As the two turned and begin their walk again, Rose kept quiet as her eyes moved over the crowd. Police officers, kids, teens on dates. Frowning now, she tried to remember what she knew of the Autons and the Nestene so she could identify them before it was too late. A voice whispered into her ear, eliciting a shiver to run over her spine, "They won't blink." Rose elbowed the Doctor again, making him grunt out dramatically. He really needed to stop that or she would not be held responsible for her actions. Damn sexy alien Time Lords.
After a few minutes, as they drew closer to the London Eye, Rose stopped. A chill ran up her spine, goose bumps running along her arms. Where was it? She thought frantic. She knew that physical reaction. Turning her head from side to side, she froze. Feeling her tense up and stop moving beside him, the Doctor stopped as well. He turned to her, arching a brow as he silently asked her what was wrong this time. She was staring at something. Following the line of her gaze, he spotted it.
The statues.
The living statues that lined the Embankment's South side.
The Doctor moved in front of Rose slowly and slipped his leather jacket from her shoulders. Her golden gaze never left the statue of a comedy tramp that was standing before them, offering a daffodil down. He was spray painted all silver, even his hat. The eyes were black, inhuman as they stared unblinking. Slipping his arms into his jacket, the Doctor reached for Rose's hand again. Her heart rate rose a fraction before leveling out under his fingertip against her wrist.
"Doctor," Rose started, turning her face slightly to him but her eyes never leaving what was either the best mime in all of the South Blank, or wasn't a mime at all.
Suddenly, the tramp moved.
It's silver face turn towards her, staring at her, unblinking.
"Oh my God," she breathed, thinking of the little boy who just walked up to it.
However, the Doctor could not have looked happier. "Well done!" He whooped, delighted.
"Yeah, all right," Rose said, grabbing at the Doctor's hand again. "Come on." And she hurried on. It was watching them. It would follow them. She hoped the pair of them could lead the murderous statue away from the crowds. The Doctor seemed to agree with her, but was still grinning that daft smile. Oh he was having fun now. Walked forward towards the Eye a scuffle and shouting behind them, halted their progress. From what it seemed, a little boy was crying with a red mark on his cheek, an older man possibly the child's father was being waltzed around by a drunk guy. There was shouting and Rose could see that tension was running up. Not a big surprise given the fact that the night before Hendrik's blew up. While all the chaos was waiting to explode, the tramp kept walking forward, its unblinking eyes staring at Rose.
"Let's go," the Doctor murmured, pulling Rose along. "The Autons don't want attention on themselves. They are still hiding." He drew Rose closer to him, the way it was staring at the human girl unnerved him. "We just need to keep ahead of- Uh-oh."
There, up ahead of them was another living statue. This one was of a ballerina, completely white except her red lips and black eyes. She might have been lovely if it was not for the spider like eyelashes, and the eyes were a little offsetting. She was in a perfect arabesque when her head snapped suddenly to lock gazes with the Doctor and Rose. They hurried past the ballerina, but she was already pirouetting and stepping down from her stand. The tramp still was following as well a bit behind her as the ballerina started forward. She began to stalk her prey.
Speeding up, the two of them tried to draw their followers further down the embankment, away from the crowds of people behind them. The shouts and noise behind them seem to be increasing in volume as the crowd became jittery and brittle. It remind Rose of a powder keg that had broken open and left a trail behind it, the flame snaking it's way swiftly towards the source.
"What do you do?" Rose muttered, clinging to his arm as they picked up the pace, nearly running now as they passed the London Eye.
"No idea," he answered honestly. "Keep going."
Now they were running. Breathing a little heavily, the two came to a halt when they saw a third statue. This one was of a knight. It was already stepping off its block and raising its sword, it looked sharp as steel and twice as light in the armored warrior's hands. Swallowing, Rose tried to take in what was happening. This was not how it happened before. Her heart leapt into her throat as a group of little kids ran around the knight, laughing and playing tag. So close to the sword. Looking back, the ballerina and the tramp were still steadily approaching them, the ballerina in fourth position and the tramp offering the little flower up. Both their eyes were still locked on Rose. The Doctor focused on the knight approaching so he missed the way Rose's eyes flashed a bright gold in warning at the two Autons. It slowed them a moment.
"This way," said the Doctor as he headed for the Embankment wall. There was a gap that led to a stone staircase. It went down to the black river below. Together, they ran for it, casting a final look back to the tramp, ballerina, and knight who had met up and were now marching towards them.
Keeping her hand in his grip, the Doctor led Rose down the wet stairs to the silence of the river below, into darkness. He kept looking around them for some means of escape. But there were no boats or jetty, no tunnels, no escape. Only mud and black water. Running his hand over his scalp, he thought fast. Behind them, the trio had reached the top of the stairs, starting their march down towards them. Pressing herself closer to the Doctor, she tried to not growl at the Autons. She did not take kindly to being backed into a corner like this.
She nearly jumped out of her skin and into the water of the river when the Doctor gave a crow of triumph. "What did I say?" He was grinning like a madman again- God this man loved trouble- and held up his sonic. "The absence of a signal, I said. And there is absolutely no signal coming from that!"