The Empty Child
(Jared's POV)
Game room...
"Traveling through time and space, it's nice." Pyrrha said, as I'm wrapping up a birthday present for Ruby Rose. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, something special, for a special girl." I said, when I'm looking down at the present. "Ooo, she might like this."
"Who?" Weiss asked, walking up to me. "What an absolute waste of time! Buying that and then wrapping it up for later."
"You're best friends with her."
"Not even close. We're just friends, me and her."
"Who?" Ruby asked and I tossed the present to Yang. "What is that?"
"Nothing sis!" Yang said, while she tossed the present to Nora. "Time for a little hot potato."
"You're playing hot potato." Blake said, crossing her arms and she got the present. "I can't believe you got her this."
"I had to!" I said, laughing. "She'll love this in two days."
"Which is October...oh.��� Weiss said, frowning. "Her birthday."
"Is Ruby's birthday the only one you know?" Blake asked.
"Yeah…" I said, rubbing the back of my head.
Tardis…
The Tardis is in pursuit of a small spacecraft.
"What's the emergency?" Rose asked.
"It's mauve." The Doctor said.
"What's mauve?" Nora asked, drinking a cup of coffee.
"It's purple." I said, leaning against the TARDIS console.
"The universally recognised colour for danger." The Doctor said, nodding his head with approval.
"So, what happened to red?" Ren asked. "Red alerts. That's a thing."
"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." The Doctor said.
"And that's safe, is it?" Rose asked.
"Totally." The Doctor said, and an explosion happened. "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?"
"No idea."
"Then why are we chasing it?"
"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the centre of London."
Alleyway...
The Tardis materialises in a back alley between two terraces. The sort of crowded housing that no longer exists.
"Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?" The Doctor asked.
"Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?" Rose asked.
"I think we're just out of milk!" Nora said, excitedly. "I used it up for my cups of coffee. Ren used it for his pancakes. And Ruby used it for her cookies."
"Unfortunately. Milk, something necessary for cooking…" Ren said, frowning.
"I do like milk though. Since it's used for almost anything dairy." I said, smiling.
"Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow." The Doctor said, while something is watching us from above. "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." Rose said.
"It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?"
"Yeah. How much is a little?"
"A bit."
"Is that exactly a bit?"
"Ish."
"That word makes thing so much better." Ren said, crossing his arms. "Even if its dangerous."
"I like it!" Nora said, happily. "I wonder what's the Doctor's plan."
"Nora does have a point though. Do you have a plan? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?" Rose asked, looking at the Doctor.
"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask." The Doctor said, showing Rose his psychic paper ID for the occasion.
"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids."
"It's psychic paper. It tells you…."
"Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember."
We walked to a door marked Deliveries Only.
"Sorry." The Doctor said, sadly.
"Not very Spock, is it, just asking." Rose said.
"Now who's Spock?" Nora asked, looking over at me.
"Oh, some character from Star Trek. I'm not really a Trekkie. I consider myself more like a Jedi knight." I said, with the Monado on my back, in its sword holder. "I know what I like, Nora."
"Yeah, you need to get your priorities straight." Ren said, looking around.
"Door, music, people. What do you think?" The Doctor asked.
"I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?" Rose asked.
The Doctor opens the door with the sonic screwdriver, and looks at Rose's Union Flag top, "Are you sure about that t-shirt?"
"Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin." Rose said, happily. "What do you lot think?"
"I love it!" Nora said, looking at Nora's t-shirt. "It would have been nice if it had a heart on it. But that's just me."
"It totally is just you…" Ren said, doing a face palm.
"Mummy? Mummy?" A child asked nearby.
"Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute." The Doctor said, entering the building and I pulled Nora inside.
"Mummy?" A child asked.
Rose and Ren see a little boy in a gasmask up on a nearby roof.
"Doctor? Doctor? There's a kid up there!" Rose said, worried sick.
"I'm not sure that this is a good idea." Ren said, looking back at Rose.
(Open POV)
Nightclub…
The Doctor, Jared, and Nora follow a waiter through a bead curtain to where a saxophonist and jazz band is accompanying a woman in 1940s clothes.
"For nobody else gave me the thrill. When I have uphold silence still, it had to be you, wonderful you…" A singer said, singing a song.
Alley…
"Are you all right up there?" Rose asked, looking up at the child.
"Yeah, I don't think he is." Ren said, looking at Rose.
"Mummy?" A child asked, while Rose runs up a metal fire escape staircase.
"Rose!" Ren said, running after the blonde. "Wait!"
Nightclub…
"It had to be you." The singer said.
The Doctor takes the woman's place at the microphone, "Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick. Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?"
Silence, then laughter.
"He doesn't know what he said sounded ridiculous." Jared said, laughing a lot.
"Yeah!" Nora said, laughing too. "It does...sound crazy…aloud!"
Roof…
Rose and Ren gets to a flat roof. The child is still above them.
"Mummy?" A child asked.
"Okay, hang on. Don't move!" Rose said.
Suddenly a rope dangles down in front of Rose and Ren. They take hold of it and pulls. It seems secure.
"We're using this rope to get to the child." Ren said, looking up at Rose.
"Stop looking." Rose said, embarrassed.
Nightclub…
"Sorry, have I said something funny? It's just, there's this thing that we need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago." The Doctor said, while an air raid siren sounds. Everyone starts to leave. "Would've landed quite near here. With a very loud…"
"Quickly as you can, down to the shelter." A man said.
The Doctor spots the poster on the wall: Hitler will send no warning!
"Bang." The Doctor said, looking back at Nora and Jared.
"You had to bring us to the London Blitz." Jared said, angrily. "Winston Churchill is somewhere in this city. You could have brought us to meet him."
"Maybe next time." The Doctor said, sadly.
Roof…
Rose and Ren are using the rope to help their climb up to the child.
"Mummy. Balloon!" The child said.
The barrage balloon drifts, pulling Rose and Ren away from the wall and the child, and dangling them over the alleyway.
"Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!" Rose said, while searchlights comb the sky. Explosions and fires start in various parts of London. A squadron of German planes head for them. "Okay, maybe not this t-shirt."
"Rose, are the Japanese allies or enemies with the British around this time?" Ren asked, looking up at Rose.
"Enemies. The Japanese did things around this time that are inhumane."
"Oh…"
Alley…
"Rose?" The Doctor asked, when a cat meows.
"Ren?" Nora asked, looking around. "Where'd they go?!"
"Ren followed Rose…" Jared said, frowning. "They wanted off."
"Ren usually keeps Nora in check, he's protecting Rose today, instead of the electrifying ginger." The Doctor said, looking at Jared and Nora. "You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing. Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it's the only thing left to surprise me." The Tardis police telephone rings. He opens the small door. "How can you be ringing? What's that about, ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"
He gets out his sonic screwdriver. A young woman has walked up the alley.
"Don't answer it. It's not for you." Nancy said.
"And how do you know that?" The Doctor asked.
"'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. It's not connected, it's not…" The Doctor said, while Nancy has gone, so he answers the phone. "Hello? Hello? This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?"
"Mummy? Mummy?" The child asked.
"Who is this? Who's speaking?" The Doctor asked.
"Are you my mummy?"
"Who is this?"
"Mummy?"
"How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything."
"Mummy?"
The dialling tone. The Doctor knocks on the Tardis door.
"Rose? Ren? Rose, Ren, are you in there?" The Doctor asked, when he hears a noise and runs out of the alley with Nora and Jared.
Street…
"The planes are coming. Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now move it!" Mrs Lloyd said.
The Doctor, Nora, and Jared climb onto a dustbin and looks over the wall into a back garden, where a well-fed middle-aged woman is shepherding a young boy into an air raid shelter.
"Come on, hurry up, get in there. Come on. Arthur! Arthur, Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the siren?" Mrs Lloyd asked.
Her equally well-fed husband comes out of the house.
"Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans. Don't you eat?" Lloyd asked.
"I can hear the planes!" Mrs Lloyd said.
"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."
With the family safely in the shelter, the Doctor, Nora, and Jared watch Nancy enter the garden and go into the house. Once in the kitchen, she starts taking tinned goods from a cupboard.
"Yeah, I can't believe that Halloween is so close yet so far." Jared said, happily. "And that's Ruby's birthday."
"You're so into her!" Nora said, and Jared nodded his head. "And a chocolate chip cookie oven."
"I also go her a fondue machine. To dip strawberries into the chocolate."
"How about you get me a coffee maker? And some pancake mix?"
"Nah, I'm good."
Mid air...
Meanwhile, dangling over the Thames near St Paul's, Rose and Ren has an excellent view of a typical night raid during the Blitz.
"So, how do you plan on getting out of this mess?" Ren asked. "That you started."
"That I started? You followed me!" Rose said, angrily, looking down at Ren. "You could have stayed and help out the Doctor and Nora."
"My bad, but you looked like you needed some help."
Officer's mess…
An officer in a great coat stands on a balcony using a pair of very non-WW2 binoculars. He spots Rose and Ren in their predicament, "Get those lights out, please. Everyone down to the shelter."
"Jack? Are you going down to the shelter? Only I've got to go off on some silly guard duty. Ah, barrage balloon, eh? Must've come loose. Happens now and then. Don't you RAF boys use them for target practice?" Algy asked, while Jack zooms in on Rose's derriere and speaks with an American accent.
"Excellent bottom." Jack said, smiling.
"I say, old man, there's a time and a place. Look, you should really be off."
"Sorry, old man. I've got to go meet a girl. But you've got an excellent bottom too."
The Lloyd's dining room…
Nancy finishes filling her little sack with provisions and heads for the front door. In the hallway she stops and looks into another room and smiles, then goes outside into the street, where she whistles twice then goes back inside. A pair of urchins run in to see the feast she's discovered, "Many kids out there?"
"Yes, miss." Jim said, as he and his friend dive for the food.
"Ah! Still carving. Sit and wait. We've got the whole air raid." Nancy said, happily.
"Look at that. Bet it's off the black market."
"That's enough."
Mid-air…
High over Westminster, Rose finally loses her grip on the thick rope.
"Rose!" Ren said, watching Rose fall and scream, he lets go of the rope, catching the blonde, and the two are caught in a beam. "Caught you!"
"Okay, okay, I've got the both of you." Jack said.
"Who's got us? Who's got us, and you know, how?" Rose asked.
"I'm just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field."
"Descent pattern?" Rose and Ren asked at the same time.
"Oh, and could you switch off your cell phones? No, seriously, they interfere with my instrument." Jack said.
"You know, no one ever believes that." Rose said, turning off her phone.
"It's just for people to pay attention to the flight rules." Ren said, turning off his Scroll. "People could keep their phones on if they wanted to."
"Thank you. That's much better." Jack said, excitedly.
"Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is. We're hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest and Ren's wearing a kimono, but hey, my mobile phone and Ren's Scroll are off." Rose said.
"Be with you in a moment." Jack said.
Jack's spaceship…
"The mobile communication devices indicate non-contemporaneous life forms." The computer said.
"They're not from around here, no. Ready for you?" Jack asked.
Mid-air...
"Hold tight!" Jack said.
"To what?" Rose asked.
"Fair point."
Jack's spaceship...
Rose hurtles down the light field into Jack's arms while Ren just falls down onto the floor.
"I've got you. You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble your head just a little." Jack said.
"Hello." Rose said, looking at Jack.
"Hello."
"Hello. Sorry, that was hello twice there. Dull, but you know, thorough."
"Flirting." Ren said, sadly. "In the middle of a war zone."
"Are you all right?" Jack asked, concerned about Rose.
"Fine." Rose said, while Jack puts her down. "Why, are you expecting me to faint or something?"
"You look a little dizzy."
"What about you? You're not even in focus." Rose said, as she faints into Jack's arms.
"It looks like he is out for the count too." Jack said, and he puts Rose and Ren on nearby beds.
The Lloyd's dining room...
Something watches two more small boys run down the street to join the feast.
"It's got to be black market. You couldn't get all this on coupons." Ernie said.
"Ernie, how many times? We are guests in this house. We will not make comments of that kind. Washing up." Nancy said, while the children laugh.
"Oh, Nancy."
"Haven't seen you at one of these before." Nancy said, looking at a boy.
"He told me about it." The boy said.
"Sleeping rough?"
"Yes, miss."
"All right, then. One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly." Nancy said, as a plate of slices of meat is handed round.
"Thank you, miss." Jim said.
"Thanks, miss." Ernie said.
"Thank you miss." The boy said.
"Thanks, miss!" The Doctor said, happily.
"Thanks, miss!" Nora said, eating the slice of meat. "It's not Ren's pancakes or a cup of coffee! But it'll do!"
"I need to let Ren know to not let you get my coffee maker." Jared said, and the children panic. "Or my pumpkin spice latte and peppermint hot chocolate."
"It's all right. Everybody stay where you are!" Nancy said, looking around the room.
"Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?" The Doctor asked.
"Back in your seats. They shouldn't be here either."
"So, you lot, what's the story?"
"What do you mean?" Ernie asked.
"You're homeless, right? Living rough?" The Doctor asked.
"Why do you want to know that? Are you coppers?" Jim asked.
"Of course we're not coppers. What's a copper going to do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?"
"Well, we're in 1941. The London Blitz is still going on. You guys shouldn't even be here, in the city. All of you kids should have evacuated. Gone to the countryside by now, away from the city." Jared said, drinking a cup of pumpkin spice latte.
"None of us can't stand seeing other people get hurt." Nora said, frowning. "So, how did you get here?"
"I was evacuated. Sent me to a farm." Alf said.
"Why did you come back here? If you were already safe and sound." Nora said, looking at Alf.
"There was a man there…" Alf said.
"Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago." Jim said.
"Shut up. It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food." Ernie said.
"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us."
"So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?" The Doctor asked, looking at Nancy.
"What is?" Nancy asked.
"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! 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?"
"Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical."
"Why'd you lot follow me? What do you want?"
"I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask."
"I did you a favour. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you." Nancy said.
"Great, thanks. And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack and an Asian wearing a Japanese kimono. I mean specific ones. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving. Anybody seen people like that?" The Doctor asked, when Nancy takes his plate away. "What have I done wrong?"
"You took two slices. No blondes, no flags, no Asians, no kimonos. Anything else before you and your friends leave?"
"Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking. 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. Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this." The Doctor said, holding up a rough sketch of the craft the Tardis was following.
"Now that I look at it up close." Nora said, looking at a tube. "It looks similar to where we store our weapons in. Except it's more circular than a coffin."
A knock on the door makes everyone jump.
"Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?" The child asked, as the Doctor, Jared, and Nora look out of the window. It's the boy in the gas mask. "Mummy?"
"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked.
"Them." Ernie said, looking at the Doctor, Jared, and Nora.
"No, they came round the back. Who came in the front?"
"Me." Alf said, sadly.
"Did you close the door?"
"Er…"
"Did you close the door?"
"Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" The child asked.
The Lloyd's hallway…
Nancy runs into the hallway and bolts the front door.
"What's this, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know." The Doctor said.
"It really isn't." Nora said, nodding her head. "And Ren helped me, after everything I've been through with him."
"I suppose you'd know." Nancy said, looking between the Doctor and Nora.
"We do actually, yes." The Doctor said.
"It's not exactly a child."
"Mummy?" The child asked.
The Lloyd's dining room…
"Right, everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!" Nancy said, when the children grab their coats and flee. Nancy speaks to the sole remaining little girl, who can't be more than four. "Come on, baby, we've got to go, all right? It's just like a game. Just like chasing. Take your coat, go on. Go!"
The Lloyd's hallway…
"Mummy? Mummy? Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy." The child said, as a little hand comes through the letter box.
"Are you okay?" Jared asked, holding Nora's hand.
"Please let me in."
Nancy throws something that breaks, and the hand withdraws, "You mustn't let him touch you!"
"What happens if he touches us?" The Doctor asked.
"He'll make you like him." Nancy said.
"And what's he like?"
"I've got to go."
"Nancy, what's he like?"
"He's empty."
"Empty? Does that mean he has no personality? No personality at all? Lifeless?" Nora asked, and the telephone rings.
"Yeah, you're right. It's him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw." Nancy said, while the Doctor picks up the phone.
"Are you my mummy?" The child asked.
Nancy puts the phone back on the hook. The radio starts up in the dining room.
The Lloyd's dining room…
"Mummy? Please let me in, mummy." The child said, and Jared walked to the dining room.
"Yeah, I don't like this." Jared said, while a clockwork monkey starts up.
"Mummy, mummy, mummy." The monkey said.
"You stay if you want to." Nancy said, while Jared followed her back to the hallway.
The Lloyd's hallway…
Nancy leaves by the back door. The boy puts his hand through the letterbox again. There is a scar on the back of it.
"Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in." The child said.
"Your mummy isn't here." The Doctor said.
"Are you my mummy?"
"No mummies here. Nobody here but us chickens. Well, these chickens."
"Aww, I want to break their legs." Nora said, crossing her arms. "But I can't!"
"I'm scared." The child said.
"So, why are these kids scared of you?" Jared asked, standing next to Nora. "Hello? Anyone home?"
"Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs." The child said.
"Okay. I'm opening the door now." The Doctor said, as the boy pulls back his hand and the Time Lord unbolts the front door.
When he opens it, the boy has gone and the street is deserted.
"He's gone! Where'd he go?" Nora asked, looking back at Jared.
"I don't know…" Jared said, sadly. "This adventure creeps me out a bit."
"Is it because of the gas mask zombies?"
"Yeah."
Jack's spaceship…
"Better now?" Jack asked.
"You got lights in here?" Rose asked.
Jack turns on the lights. It's a small, cramped, spaceship with bundles of wires hanging from the ceiling, "Hello."
"Hello."
"Hello." Jack said.
"Yeah, I don't want flirting companions." Ren said, standing up from where he was sleeping on.
"Ren does have a point. Let's not start that again." Rose said, looking at Jack.
"Okay." Jack said.
"So, who're you supposed to be, then?"
"Captain Jack Harkness, One Three Three Squadron, Royal Air Force. American volunteer." Jack said, handing Rose his ID card.
"Liar. This is psychic paper. It tells us whatever you want it to tell us." Rose said, looking at the psychic paper.
"It does." Ren said, looking at Jack. "It also lets us into places."
"How do you know?" Jack asked.
"Two things. One, we have a friend who uses this all the time." Rose said.
"Ah."
"And two, you just handed me a piece of paper telling me you're single and you work out."
"Tricky thing, psychic paper."
"Yeah. Can't let your mind wander when you're handing it over." Rose said, handing the psychic paper to Jack.
"Oh, you sort of have a boyfriend called Mickey Smith but you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy free."
"What?"
"Actually, the word you use is available."
"No way." Rose said, looking down embarrassed.
"And another one, very."
"How about we get along without using the psychic paper as a means of flirting?" Ren asked, looking between Rose and Jack. "I already have to deal with the crazy stunts Nora does for her to have me all for herself."
"That would be better, wouldn't it?" Jack asked, looking at Ren.
"Yeah, it would." Ren said, nodding his head.
"Nice spaceship." Rose said, looking around the spaceship.
"Gets me around." Jack said, smiling.
"Very Spock."
"Who?"
"Guessing you're not a local boy, then."
"A cell phone, a liquid crystal watch, and fabrics that won't be around for at least another two decades. Guessing you're not a local girl." Jack said, scanning Rose with his vortex manipulator.
"Guessing right."
"A Scroll, dual pistols, and fabrics that won't be around for decades. I'm guessing you're not a local bloke. So, who are you?" Jack asked, scanning Ren with his vortex manipulator.
"Lie Ren. I'm a member of Team JNPR. I'm looking for my friend. Nora Valkyrie."
"We can find her later. Both of you burned your hands on the rope?" Jack asked, while a bomb whistles past.
"Yeah. We did. We're parked in midair! Can't anyone down there see us?" Rose asked.
"No. Rose, can I have a look at your hands for a moment?"
"Why?"
"Please? You can stop acting now. I know exactly who you two are. I can spot Time Agents a mile away."
"Time Agents?" Rose and Ren asked at the same time.
"I've been expecting one of you guys to show up. But not two. Though not, I must say, by barrage balloon. Do either of you often travel that way?"
"Sometimes I get swept off my feet. By balloons. What are you doing?" Rose asked, and Jack wraps his scarf around her wrists.
"Try to keep still." Jack said, while he presses a button. A glowing bundle zooms into Rose's burnt palms. "Nanogenes. Sub-atomic robots. The air in here is full of them. They just repaired three layers of your skin."
The glow dissipates and he unties her wrists.
"Don't worry about me." Ren said, as his aura kicked in and he is manually healed by them. "I'm fine."
"So, I don't need to use the nanogenes on you then." Jack said, looking at Ren. "Whatcha think Rose? That they healed your skin like that."
"Well, tell them thanks." Rose said, smirking.
"Shall we get down to business?"
"Business?"
"Shall we have a drink on the balcony? Ren, bring up the glasses." Jack said, opening a hatch to the top of his spaceship.
On Jack's spaceship...
The fires of London are burning below, and searchlights pass through where the spaceship is.
"I know I'm standing on something." Rose said, using a remote control and the ship appears. "Okay, you have an invisible spaceship."
"Yeah." Jack said.
"Tethered up to Big Ben for some reason."
"First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you'll remember." Jack said, opening the bottle of champagne and fills the glasses Ren brought with him.
"I'm relieved that Nora isn't here. She would have pressed a lot of buttons. And blow up this ship." Ren said, happily.
"So, Nora. That girl you know. What's she like?"
"Oh, you will see. She has a shocking personality."
Nancy's hide-out...
Nancy goes to a shack in some railway sidings and hides the food she took from the Lloyd's kitchen. She stands up to see the Doctor, Nora, and Jared smiling, "How'd you follow me here?"
"We're good at following, us. I got the nose for it. While Jared loves sightseeing." The Doctor said, looking at Nancy.
"I do love seeing architecture, and the history involved with it." Jared said, happily. "Nora, I'm not gonna bring you to Italy or to Australia."
"Why not?" Nora asked, disappointed.
"They're some of the coffee capitals in the world. And I like following people I like. To protect them sometimes."
"People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to." Nancy said, looking at the Doctor, Jared, and Nora.
"My nose has special powers. And Jared likes to keep Nora in check when Ren isn't around.
"Yeah? That's why it's…"
"What?"
"Nothing."
"What?"
"Nothing. Do your ears have special powers too?" Nancy asked, looking at the Doctor.
"What are you trying to say?" The Doctor asked.
"Goodnight, lady and gentlemen." Nancy said, walking away from the Doctor, Nora, and Jared.
"Nancy, there's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right? 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?"
"There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station."
"You can to take us there! We can help!" Nora said, excitedly. "Come on! It'll be fun."
"There's soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire. You'll never get through."
"Well, try us." Jared said, crossing his arms, as he looked at Nora. "We've taken down things you wouldn't believe."
"Are you three sure you want to know what's going on in there?" Nancy asked.
"We really want to know." The Doctor said.
"Then there's someone you need to talk to first."
"And who might that be?"
"The Doctor."
On Jack's spaceship…
"Rose, it's getting late." Ren said, taking out his Scroll to look at the time. "The Doctor, Nora, and Jared must be looking for us."
"Yeah." Rose said, nodding her head, before looking back at Jack. "We should really be getting back."
"We're discussing business." Jack said.
"This isn't business. This is champagne."
"I try never to discuss business with a clear head. Are you two travelling alone? Are you two authorised to negotiate with me?" Jack asked, looking between Ren and Rose.
"What would we be negotiating?"
"I have something for the Time Agency. Something they'd like to buy. Are you in power to make payment?"
"Rose, I think we should talk to our companions." Ren said, looking down at his scroll to see that Nora's aura is at full health. "Like right now."
"Companions?" Jack asked.
"We should really be getting back to them." Rose said, looking at Jack.
"Them?"
"Do you have the time?" Rose asked, and Jack uses his remote. The clock face lights up and Big Ben strikes nine thirty. "Okay, that was flash. That was on the flash side."
"So when you say your companions, just how disappointed should I be?" Jack asked, looking between Ren and Rose.
"Well, I am part of a team. Team JNPR. Nora and I are part of that team." Ren said, walking around. "I don't see the point of drinking."
"You're no fun. So Team JNPR. That's a team of four. What are the rest of your team like?"
"I don't know. It's hard to describe Jaune and Pyrrha. Jaune, he's a good plan maker. And Pyrrha is nice, caring."
"Okay, we're standing in midair." Rose said, looking at her surroundings.
"Mmm-hmm." Jack said, going back to flirting with Rose.
"On a spaceship, during a German air raid. Do you really think now's a good time to be coming on to me?"
"Perhaps not."
"It was just a suggestion."
"Do you like Glenn Miller?" Jack asked, pressing a button on his vortex manipulator for Moonlight Serenade to play. The ex-Time Agent takes Rose in his arms and they dance. "It's 1941, the height of the London Blitz, the height of the German bombing campaign, and something else has fallen on London. A fully equipped Chula warship. The last one in existence, armed to the teeth. And I know where it is, because I parked it. If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is going to fall on it and destroy it forever. That's your deadline. That's the deal. Now, shall we discuss payment?"
"Do you know what I think?"
"What?"
"I think you were talking just then."
"Two hours, the bomb falls. There'll be nothing left but dust and a crater."
"Promises, promises."
"Are you listening to any of this?" Jack asked, looking at Rose.
"From what I've gathered." Ren said, walking towards Jack and Rose. "You used to be a Time Agent. And you're a freelancer, maybe a con-man."
"Well, that's a little harsh. I like to think of myself as a criminal." Jack said.
"I bet you do." Rose said, going back to flirting with Jack.
"So, these companions of yours, do they handle the business?" Jack asked, looking between Rose and Ren.
"Well, we delegate a lot of that, yeah."
"Well, maybe we should go find them."
"And how're you going to do that?"
"Easy. I'll do a scan for alien tech."
"Finally, a professional." Rose said, happily.
"You're happy that things finally went your way." Ren said, crossing his arms. "I know that Nora's safe."
(Jared's POV)
Limehouse Green...
The Doctor uses super-binoculars to scan the area.
"The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up over night. See that building? The hospital." Nancy said.
"What about it?" The Doctor asked.
"That's where the doctor is. You should talk to him."
"For now, we're more interested in getting in there."
"Talk to the doctor first."
"Why?" I asked, looking at Nancy. "We're already here. We don't need to talk to the medical doctor."
"Because then maybe you won't want to get inside." Nancy said, walking away from us.
"So, where're you going?" Nora asked, as I grabbed her hand. "Is it fun? Safe? Where?"
"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now." Nancy said.
"Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?" The Doctor asked, looking at Nancy.
"What?"
"The way you look after all those kids. It's because you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it."
"My little brother. Jamie. 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." Nancy said, sadly.
"What happened?" I asked, squeezing Nora's hand.
"In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?"
"Amazing." The Doctor said, smiling.
"What is?" Nancy asked, not getting it at all.
"1941. 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. A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then do what you've got to do. Save the world." The Doctor said, while something watches Nancy walk away.
"Nora, follow her. Protect Nancy. We'll meet up with you later." I said, as I let go of Nora's hand, and the redhead walks away from me.
"Right." Nora said, nodding her head, and I walk with the Doctor towards the hospital.
Albion Hospital ward...
The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to open the padlock on the ornate metal gates to the hospital grounds. Inside the long, dark wards, every bed has a very still patient in it, and they are all wearing gasmasks. An elderly, grumpy doctor appears, leaning on a walking stick.
"You'll find them everywhere. In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them." Constantine said.
"Yes, we saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?" The Doctor asked.
"They're not. Who are you?"
"I'm, er. Are you the doctor?"
"Doctor Constantine. And you are?"
"We're just passing by. We want to help." I said, happily. "Nancy sent us, by the way."
"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb."
"Yes, we have." I said, looking at Constantine. "Well, he has. I just want him to figure things out. Spoiling it would ruin the fun for him."
"Okay, then. What do you know about it?" Constantine asked, looking at the Doctor.
"Nothing. Why were we asking. What do you know?" The Doctor asked.
"Only what it's done."
"These people, they were all caught up in the blast?"
"None of them were caught in the blast, Spaceman." I said, walking around the room. "This is the adventure I didn't want so close to Ruby's birthday."
Doctor Constantine chuckles then coughs. He sits in a chair by the desk where the ward sister would usually be.
"You're very sick." The Doctor said, looking at Constantine.
"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?" Constantine asked.
"I have my moments."
"Have you examined any of them yet?"
"No."
"Don't touch the flesh."
"Which one?"
"Any one." Constantine said, when the Doctor points his sonic screwdriver at the nearest patient. "Conclusions?"
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. 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." The Doctor said, reading the scans from the sonic screwdriver.
"Examine another one."
"This isn't possible."
"Examine another."
"This isn't possible."
"No."
"They've all got the same injuries."
"Yes."
"Exactly the same."
"Yes."
"Identical, all of them, right down to the scar on the back of the hand." The Doctor said, as Doctor Constantine also has that scar. "How did this happen? How did it start?"
"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim."
"Dead?"
"At first. 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? What would you say was the cause of death?" Constantine asked.
"I'll give you a couple of hints, dumbo." I said, walking towards the Doctor to grab his hand. "It wasn't the head trauma, asphyxiation, the collapse of the chest cavity. It's something else."
"All right. What was the cause of death?" The Doctor asked, looking between me and Constantine.
"There wasn't one. They're not dead." Constantine said, hitting a waste basket with his stick and the noise makes the patients sit up in their beds. "It's all right. They're harmless. They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don't die."
"And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?" The Doctor asked, while the patients lie down again.
"I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?"
"Just you? You're the only one here?"
"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor."
"Yeah. I know the feeling."
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb."
"Probably too late." The Doctor said, sadly.
"No. There are isolated cases. Isolated cases breaking out all over London. Stay back, stay back. Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight oh two. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And the two of you must find Nancy again."
"Nancy?"
"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she might Mummy. Are you my mummy?" Constantine asked.
Starting with the mouth, Doctor Contantine's face turns into a gasmask.
"Hello?" Ren asked.
"Hello?" Rose asked.
"Hello?" Jack asked.
Albion Hospital corridor...
"Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you two on the way over." Jack said, looking at the Doctor and I.
"He knows. We had to tell him about us being Time Agents." Rose said, looking down embarrassed.
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock." Jack said, walking forward to the ward.
"Mister Spock?" The Doctor asked, shocked.
"What was I supposed to say? You don't have a name. Don't you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?" Rose asked, looking at the Doctor.
"Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been with Ren? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll."
"Who's strolling? We went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid."
"What?!" The Doctor exclaimed.
"I don't really know alien tech that well." Ren said, crossing his arms. "So, what's a Chula warship?"
"Chula?"
"And where's Nora?" Ren asked, looking around. "I thought she was with you."
"Oh, she was." I said, rubbing the back of my head. "I sent her off to protect Nancy."
"Why did you do that?"
(Open POV)
The Lloyds dining room…
Nancy returns with Nora for the remains of the meal. The radio switches on.
"Please, mummy. Please let me in. I'm scared of the bombs, mummy. Please, mummy." The child said, and the front door slams. "Mummy. Mummy."
"Under here!" Nora said, as she is hiding under the table and Nancy went under there too. "We'll be fine under here."
"Yeah." Nancy said, and the child walks along the hallway. "You should have stayed with your friends."
"And miss all of the action? Which is here?!"
Albion Hospital ward...
Jack is using his vortex manipulator to examine the patients, "This just isn't possible. How did this happen?"
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" The Doctor asked.
"What?" Jack asked.
"He said it was a warship. He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer." Rose said, recalling what happened.
"What kind of warship?" The Doctor asked.
"Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this." Jack said.
"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?"
"Doctor, it's a medical ship." Jared said, walking towards the Time Lord and the future immortal. "An ambulance."
"An ambulance…" Ren said, sadly. "Transforming all of these people…"
"I don't know how he knows, but he is right. Look." Jack said, producing a hologram of it on his vortex manipulator. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. 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. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait…"
"Bait?" Rose asked, shocked.
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk."
"You said it was a war ship."
"They have ambulances in wars. It was a con. I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you." Jack said, looking between the Doctor, Rose, Ren, and Jared.
"We're just a couple of freelancers." Ren said, thinking about Nora. "Not Time Agents. Whatever that is."
"Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour. I mean, Flag Girl and a Japanese man that's a part of a team. A team that involves a juniper bush and Flag girl were bad enough, but U-Boat Captain and a Walking Advertisement? Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."
"What is happening here, Doctor?" Rose asked.
"Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot." The Doctor said.
"I think that idiot is Jack." Ren said, crossing his arms.
"It is Jack." Jared said, nodding his head.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked, not getting it at all.
"I don't know. Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?" The Doctor asked.
The Lloyds dining room...
"Mummy? Where's my mummy? Mummy?" The child asked, when an apple falls onto the floor. The child bends to pick it up. Nancy and Nora tried to run for the door but the child points and it slams shut. "Are you my mummy?"
"Awww...yeah!" Nora said, taking out her Magnhild and turning it to its hammer form. "Time to teach this kid a lesson!"
"Don't!" Nancy said, lookin back at Nora.
Albion Hospital ward...
The patients suddenly sit up.
"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy? Mummy?" The patients asked.
"What's happening?" Ren asked.
"I don't know." The Doctor said.
The patients and Doctor Constantine all stand up.
The Lloyds dining room...
"Mummy?" The child asked.
"It's me. Nancy!" Nancy said, looking at the child.
Albion Hospital ward...
"Mummy." The patients said.
"Rose, Ren, don't let them touch you." Jared said, as he took out the Monado and aimed it at the patients.
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked, while Ren took out StormFlower.
"You're looking at it." The Doctor said.
"I really should have kept a close watch on Nora…" Ren said, looking at Jared.
"I'm sorry." Jared said, frowning.
The Lloyd's dining room...
"Are you my mummy?" The child asked, looking between Nancy and Nora.
"I'm not." Nora said, sadly. "Sorry."
"It's Nancy, your sister." Nancy said.
Albion Hospital ward...
The patients close in on the Doctor, Rose, Jack, Jared, and Ren, "Help me, mummy."
The Lloyd's dining room...
"You're dead, Jamie. You're dead!" Nancy said, looking at the child.
"How can he be dead? He's standing right here!" Nora said, looking at the child.
"Mummy. Mummy." The child said.
Albion Hospital ward...
"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy." The patients said.