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[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Characters: The Proper and exceptionally grumpy Doctor rude_not_ginger and his Improper and immensely patient Companion handysparehand
Location: The TARDIS, Earth
Time: After this but before this.
Warnings: PART TWO. More adventure!
Notes: Seriously backdated. The Doctor = brown and Handy = blue

He looked at the door, horrified.

"They must've gotten through. They think, they think he killed you," he said turning to face the girl again.

"Killed me?"

"You - I saw you. I would've sworn on my life you had."

"I don't know what happened. One second I was out there on the salesfloor, the next I was here."

He nodded, eyes still on the door. How could he have not noticed or heard that happen. And how angry were they that

they did that much damage.

"Shock maybe, maybe some sort of shock, I don't know. But we need to find the others. They think my brother, they

think He killed you. They need to see you're alive."

The girl nodded, then made her way to her feet.

"Don't think I caught your name," he said, giving her a hand as she seemed to be none too sure on her feet for a moment.

It was to be expected, he thought. She'd been out for a good deal of time.

"Megan, and thanks," she said, steadying herself.

"Right, well, don't think we have much time to chat Megan, considering angry mob and all that."

"They're not so bad," she offered.

"I'm sure," he said. The lights flickered again, and he instinctively grabbed her hand. She squeezed his tightly, he

could feel some fear there. He couldn't blame her.

"What do you think you're doing?" the girl from the mob half-shouted at him.

"Building a weapon. I'm giving whatever's in here a chance to explain themselves, then get off of this world, or else

I'm going to destroy it." The Doctor had taken apart just around half of the electronics department, the sporting

department, and a few household items, and the sort-of gun he had welded together (welding torch $179.99) was large

enough and just heavy enough to keep everyone in the shop at bay.

Hopefully it would be large enough to frighten whatever attacked them out, as well. The Doctor turned and aimed for the

stand-up dartboard on the opposite end of the shop. He fired, and a blue-white light of energy (from four microwaves)

hit the target dead in the center.

"How do we know you're not going to kill us, too?" the shop owner demanded, though his voice was shaking.

"Might do," the Doctor replied, coldly. "He wouldn't have been back there if you hadn't tied him up."

The lights flickered. The Doctor steadied himself and nodded to the parents by the bedding department, who all

immediately flicked on the lamps surrounding them and their children. The lamps were attached to generators. That

should hold them off a while. The lights flickered again.

He pointed the gun forward and primed it for activation.

He could hear voices somewhere, whispers. He couldn't make out what they were saying.

He looked over at Megan.

"I hear it too," she nodded, holding on a little tighter.

Something moved in the shadows as the lights flicked. He saw what was definitely a tentacle, and that rustling, there

was that sound again.

Megan clung for a moment, before looking around the room.

"What is it?"

"I don't know. That's why we have to find the Doctor. Come on."

They moved through girl's clothing, walking by a few mirrors. He nearly didn't notice at first, but stopped, moving

back to one of the mirrors, pulling Megan with him.

"What is it?" she asked.

He just stared into the mirror and she looked in it with him, a small gasp. Instead of their own reflections, there was

a view of the store, fully lit, with the Doctor and all the people who ahd been in there with them. There were also

quite a few of those tentacled creatures moving about almost completely unnoticed by anyone in the room.

Any second now.

The Doctor turned on his own light, a very lovely stand-up light with a mini-spotlight that he kept on his back.

"Whoever you are," he called out. "It's over, whatever you've got planned. You've frightened everyone here and killed

two people. But that's all right. I'm giving you one more chance. One more chance to leave. Leave however you came

and don't come back."

No response.

To the Doctor's disgust, he found he was actually more satisfied that the creature refused his ultimatum. He wanted to

know just how much damage this weapon could do.

"What are they - how?"

"I don't know. We have to find a way to get through, though, come on."

He grabbed her hand, pulling her along. Every reflective surface they passed offering another glimpse back to that

world.

Something came swinging down at them and he pulled Megan down instinctively.

The whispering came back, and he pulled her up to her feet. He looked around, his gaze locked on the reflection of the

other world.

"There is something, something staring us in the face. I just don't know what it is."

The rustling noise was back. Louder this time. The Doctor trained the gun on where the noise was

coming from. Housing Supplies. The tiny array of mirrors reflected the Doctor and his gun. He looked repulsive,

standing there with a weapon, all that hate and anger in his eyes. He vaguely remembered there was a time when he could

just grieve, and he didn't need to hate, too.

"Last chance!" he called towards the mirrors. The rustling grew louder, but it was somewhere else.

Whatever they were, they were everywhere.

The lights flickered, and went out.

He saw the Doctor in the miror, a gun and something in His eyes almost terrifying. An illusion of

some sort. The lights in the mirror behind the Doctor all seemed to go out, and the lights in the store where they were

all seemed to turn on brightly. The mirror was nothing but pitch black, like the world outside the shop had been. He

held onto Megan's hand, then moved to the mirror, putting a hand against it. As he did, his hand seemed to pass

through.

He hesitated, looking at her, then started moving through the mirror. It couldn't be any worse than being stuck on this

side watching that side. He could feel Megan moving through with him.

And then there was darkness, horrible, absolutely nothing darkness. He wasn't sure how long it lasted, it felt like an

eternity. Finally though it seemed to pass, like a mist. In it's place was the sound of his heartbeat in his ears, and

air. It felt like forever since he properly breathed.

He sat up then, gasping for breath, his eyes bouncing around the room. A few seconds later he could hear Megan nearby

doing just the same.

The Doctor thought he heard something move in the mirror, but he couldn't see anything. Nothing

through the pitch-darkness. Should he fire a warning shot? Something to show them he was serious? What would he fire

at?

"Show yourselves!" he called out.

One of the mothers screamed, and the Doctor watched as a tentacle slipped back into the shelves. He turned and took

aim.

Fire. his mind told him. Fire! His finger hesitated on the trigger and the creature slipped away.

The lights came back on, and there was no sign of it at all.

"Why didn't you fire?" the shop owner demanded. The Doctor ignored him and rushed over to the bookshelf. He put a hand

to the wood. Nothing. Not even a trail of slime.

He pushed himself to his feet, patting himself down for a moment. His head still pounded, but he

shook it off.

"Come on," he said, helping Megan to her feet.

They moved through the store, trying to to find the others.

"Where did it look like they were?"

"Bedding."

"Right, bedding."

He let her direct him to the appropriate section. He had an idea on how to get out of all this. Now they just needed

to find the others.

Why didn't you fire?

Just around the corner were the group. He breathed a sigh of relief, pulling Megan along with him, so they could all

reunite.

"Shut up, please," the Doctor snapped. There were no marks against the wall, and the Doctor

struggled to give himself more room to look. Stupid thing was stuck. Stuck! And why had everyone gone quiet? Weren't

they going to help him?

"Wouldn't mind a little help here," he called over. "For once," he added in a low mutter.

He put the gun next to himself and gave it a push. Another, and another, and the bookshelf moved, revealing...nothing.

Just a wall.

"Well, that didn't find us anything," he said, pressing his hand to the concrete. "There must be another way."

[tag!]

This was awkward, to say the very least. The entire room froze, as if seeing a ghost, except for the

Doctor who seemed oblivious to it all. Although, he supposed it was like seeing a ghost, what with how Megan for all

intents and purposes seemed very much dead to all of them.

Someone needed to break the silence, but still it felt like they were all standing on a minefield, and the wrong word

would make the whole thing explode.

Finally someone moved, the store owner grabbing that gun he had seen the Doctor wielding earlier.

"What are you two?" he demanded, pointing the weapon at them now.

"What?" he asked, baffled, moving a step backwards and standing in front of Megan and pushing her back as well.

The rest of the room seemed to watch this all anxiously, unsure perhaps if they wanted to stop the store owner or

encourage him.

"We all saw you both, so how can you be here now?"

"Mr. Walker," Megan said, looking at him, frightened and pleading as the man pointed the gun at them.

He looked around the room, waiting for someone to step in, but he was still confused about one thing.

"What do you mean both?"

The Doctor saw the gun move and he immediately spun around. "Stop it, you can't---"

He froze, staring at the two people standing on the other end of the room. Well, less at Megan and more at his

companion. The one he was quite sure had died. Standing there and alive. His gut reaction was that it must be a clone

or some sort of an impostor, but he'd learned that listening to those reactions generally got people hurt.

He walked in front of the store owner, fairly oblivious of the gun, and straight to the two new arrivals.

The shop owner snarled. "Get out of my way! Or else I'll---"

"Go on and shoot me then," the Doctor called back, keeping his eyes on his companion. "How?" he asked.

He looked around the room in confusion.

"How what?"

He had an idea, somewhere in the back of his mind, but it was the sort of thought he didn't really like thinking, so he

pushed it away.

"What's going on?" he said, his eyes traveling past the Doctor and to the gun. "And what are you doing building that

for," he asked finally looking at the Doctor again. Looking at that gun, he could see it wasn't the warning shot

variety. It was the no second chances sort.

Maybe they had come back to the wrong place, maybe this wasn't where they belonged, really, because the Doctor, He

wouldn't build something like that, would He? Not without a very good reason at least, and right now his mind didn't

want to process what sort of good reason there could be.

The Doctor couldn't keep the look of shock off his face, no matter how he tried. That sort of

obliviousness? Oh, that was very Donna, and thus, was very like his companion. He grinned widely and, without giving

his human self a chance to protest, gave him a hug.

Sometimes, mid-danger hugging was very important. This was one of those moments.

There was a squeal, and to his side the Doctor could see the girl from the mob run over to Megan and hug her tightly as

well.

Before he knew what was happening there were arms around him and he was being hugged. He stood still

for a moment, shocked by it before batting the Doctor's arms away.

"Oi! Hands! What's gotten into you."

First rule of hugging yourself, never do it in public ever. He thought he had gone over that a million times

with the Doctor. Of course, perhaps there was a good reason for that rule being broken, but again, it wasn't anything

he really wanted to think about, so he pushed the notion aside.

Even though he was batted away, the Doctor was still grinning stupidly at his human self.

"Stop all that!" shouted the shop owner, waving the gun again. "I saw them! They were dead!"

"Noticed that, did you?" the Doctor said, turning to the armed owner. "And now what? They're back for a

reason."

"What's that, then?"

"No idea," the Doctor said. "But whatever it was, they didn't die, don't you see? If you fire that now, they

will.

"Dead!?"

He was not dead, ever, and he looked at the owner, then the room at large, and finally the Doctor, appalled.

"Tell them I wasn't dead," he said to the Doctor.

"Me either," Megan said, her friends arms still wrapped around her.

That sort of brought that amount of denial to a quick end.

He looked around and then finally back at the Doctor, giving him a shove to the shoulder, though nothing that would

really hurt.

"So you think I die, and what do you do, build a great big gun?"

He gave the Doctor a hard look for another moment, until his expression softened. He quickly looked away, moving

towards the doors.

"We have to go outside, I think," he finally said, addressing the room at large. The owner was still pointing the gun

at him.

"It was a reasonable thought at the time," the Doctor said, rubbing his arm as if it actually hurt.

He looked back to the dark outside, then back to his companion. "No," he said. "No, we don't even know what happened

to you! Where were you?" [tag]

"I don't know," he said, shaking his head, "but can't you just trust me? Whatever it was, it was

just like this, but not. I don't think this is real."

The shop owner moved a step closer. "Not real? Should we see if that's right?"

He aimed the gun dead at him, just looking like he was dying to pull the trigger. There was that natural human

hesitance still there at least, that was something.

"No, not like," he let out a breath, frustrated.

"Look, we were in this place, just like this. But there were these mirrors, and we got back here because once they were

all smoggy, like the smog outside, we passed through, back to all of you. You couldn't see what we saw, but we could

see you. And those things, we could see them milling about, even when you lot couldn't. So what if it's like, stages.

The deeper we are the more of it we see, so we're seeing those creatures out there, and nothing else, but maybe they're

not out there at all, just something toying with our minds. Maybe we step out there and this all goes away?"

"Quasipsychotronic perception," the Doctor said, which was a very fancy (and some might say quite

poncy) way of saying exactly what his human self theorized.

"But he was dead!" the shop owner barked. "I saw it!"

"Maybe we just saw a different layer. Something grabbed him, pulled him into that layer. We just saw residual

feedback. Or, the body while the mental facilities are in a different place," the Doctor said. "Makes sense."

He looked away from his human self for a moment, glancing out of the shop at the darkness.

"If you're wrong," he warned his human self. [tag!]

He looked at the shop owner still pointing the gun.

"If I'm wrong, well I don't think we'll fair much better in here, judging from well..."

He pulled the broomstick out of where it was keeping the door shut. It was stuck good and proper, it was a struggle,

but he finally got it, stumbling back a step or two. He almost tossed it aside, but decided to hold onto it in the end.

Better safe than sorry if he was wrong about what was - or wasn't - out there.

"I'll shoot you!" the shop owner shouted.

"You could," the Doctor replied with a nod. "Except you're holding the gun backwards." With that, he breezed past his

human self and darted into the darkness outside.

After all, he could regenerate, and the Doctor wasn't about to lose his companion again.

The Doctor was out the door before he could stop Him.

He was about to follow out after the Doctor, except an electric blast hit the door right where the Doctor was once

standing. He turned around, gaping at the shop owner.

"You were trying to kill Him."

"He shouldn't have opened the door."

"But -"

He stopped staring at the owner.

"You were against going out from the very beginning. All of this, it could've been avoided from moment one..."

He stopped himself. What if he was wrong, what if he was feeding into the same sort of paranoia that had nearly gotten

him - Him - killed on that bus trip. He needed to stop. He stepped backwards and went to try to open the door, but it

was jammed from the electric blast.

It could open, it would open. It would just take some effort. He wasn't staying stuck in this place.

Nothing. There was nothing on this side. It was a bright, sunny day. People walked past the shop,

staring at him, all askew and exhausted, with disdain. He could feel the TARDIS, buzzing her relief at finding him

again, and again buzzing in curiosity as to where his companion was.

Where was he?

The Doctor heard the blast and spun around. Oh, but everything looked very different on this side. The shelves

were empty, the hallways bare. There were four people in that shop, not forty-five. His human self, Megan, and a mum

with her son. The shop owner wasn't there, but the tentacles were. One of them held the gun he built.

What were they doing?

The Doctor banged on the glass. "It's an illusion!" he shouted.

He pulled on the door still, nothing.

"Someone help - "

His words were cut off by another shot, at the door. Missing him, but the door warped further, making it close to

impossible now to open.

He turned on the owner, still holding the gun.

"You don't want us getting out!"

"I don't want what's out there getting in. It's not safe!"

He looked around the room, and then spotted a door to the side, across the room.

"Fine," he said, raising his hands up. "You're right."

He made his way over so he was standing next to Megan now, her friend had moved away, standing behind the owner now.

"There's a door over there," he said to her, his voice low as he was tilting his head away from the rest of the room,

specifically the owner. "I think we can get over there, get out."

"But the others," she said, talking in much the same way.

"We need to get over there, get it open. If we can keep it open, then, well then hopefully everyone will be able to get

out."

She looked at him, finally nodding. He grabbed onto her hand, taking a couple small steps backwards, before breaking

into a full run, pulling Megan along with him.

Shots rang out over their heads, and they ducked as they ran, finally making it to the door. He pushed it open.

"You go, I'll try to get your friends out."

"--but"

He gave her a look and then she finally nodded.

"You're sure this will work."

"Yeah," he nodded, although he wasn't sure how true that was. She hesitated for a moment, then finally moved out into

the darkness.

Now just forty four more to get out, that was nothing.

The Doctor threw his leg into another kick, but the door was solidly stuck.

"Can I help you, sir?" a voice came next to him. The Doctor turned. Brilliant. A police constable. Exactly what he

did not need. Or---maybe he did.

"Sorry, bit of an emergency, here, do you have a car?" he asked.

"I beg your pardon?" the PC blustered.

"Car. Thing that drives. Four wheels, headlights, engine? Most police have those big bars across the front for

ramming things in, yeah?"

"Bumper guards."

"Right, yes, those." The Doctor gave the PC his most charming smile. "I need to ask you a very important

favor."

He looked around as the crowd approached.

"Please, just trust me," he pleaded. No one seemed to be swayed though, save one mother with a son.

He fixed his gaze on her. One at a time, maybe that's how he'd have to work.

"Please, I promise you," he said to her.

"I - I can't. If it was just me," she stopped, holding her son a little tighter. "I can't risk it if you're wrong."

He swallowed, desperate for someone to listen. He couldn't just leave all these people here.

Before he knew what was happening, someone pushed him down from behind. The young man from earlier. He threw a punch

at his face, trying to get him off. When he looked at his hand, instad of red blood, there was a strange bluish liquid.

The young man's face seemed to warp slightly.

"Oh god, what is he?" the mother said in a half-sob, shielding her son's face in her shoulder. No one else in the room

seemed shocked by it one way or another.

While he was down, two men had managed to block the door.

"No, you can't - " he stopped however as the whole crowd, save for him, the mother and the son seemed to lose their

forms, until all that was there was about half a dozen tentacled creatures.

He scrambled to his feet, rushing back to where the mother was. Her son was crying now too, and she tried to soothe

him, although it was hard to imagine that would work, since she was clearly terrified as well.

The Doctor was, if nothing else, very persuasive at times.

He let out a loud honk of the police car before pressing his foot to the floor and slamming it through the front

door. It didn't give like he had anticipated and instead crashed awkwardly, like he'd been bending something out of

place that suddenly snapped and broke. Bending reality? Maybe.

"You destroyed the store front!" the PC in the passenger seat said, looking horrified.

"Well spotted," the Doctor replied with a snort as he pulled open the door and climbed over the rubble and glass. Where

was everyone? Where was the shop owner? And the people? Even the four inside weren't there anymore.

Where was his human self?

"Hello?" he called.

A very familiar voice broke through.

"Hello!" he called back. He went to grab for the mother and pull her and the child along to the source of the Doctor's

voice, except one of the creatures pushed them back.

Two of the creatures were circling around now, the mother sobbed quietly behind him, the child, much less quietly.

"It'll be all right, I promise."

He reached out his arm behind him, trying to find some object to knock them away.

His hand found a frying pan. Not the most ideal weapon, but it would do the trick. He swung it, connecting with the

heads of the one of the creatures. He broke out, lunging for the one with the gun. A shot fired into the air, hitting

the ceiling, causing a few pieces of plaster to fall. The creature lost hold of the gun, but he could feel it's

tentacles wrapping around him, his energy feeling like it was draining. He needed to - he needed to get the gun. It

took almost all his effort, but finally he reached it, firing on the creature. The tentacles released him, and the

creature shrunk back.

There was a loud shriek, as the other creatures shrunk back a little too. He got to his feet, moving towards the

mother.

"Go," he said pushing the mother forward towards the source of the Doctors voice.

He kept his gun aimed at the creatures, staying where he was until he was sure the other two made it to the Doctor.

Unfortunately the creatures seemed to pull themselves together, save for the one he shot, and the one he had hit with

the pan, who was still dazed on the ground. Fortunately the mother seemed out of sight. Unfortunately again, there

were still four creatures left, and all of their focus was on him.

"What the hell is going on here?" the PC demanded as a woman and her child came running towards

them.

"Monsters!" the child cried.

"Monsters?" the PC asked.

The Doctor leapt over the rubble towards where they had come from. Where was he? The Doctor grabbed a baseball bat

from the clearance bin near the door and stalked his way down the aisle.

But, apart from his human self---fortunately all right---there was nothing else in the shop. No tentacle creatures,

nothing. So what was he pointing that gun at? No! No, it was an illusion. Like before. The Doctor couldn't see

them, but they were there.

"Where are they?" the Doctor asked.

He looked at the Doctor, relieved. His relief was short lived though.

"What do you mean where are they?"

The creatures seemed to circle around the Doctor.

"Stop it, right now!" he demanded pointing the gun. As they circled though their forms started to change. More and

more and more until instead of just the one Doctor there were five. No six, no seven as the two who were incapicated

seemed to change shape as well, even the one he killed. He stared at what looked very much like the Doctor's dead body.

Despite the fact that he knew it was an illusion, the sight was still upsetting.

When he looked back up, he'd lost track of which Doctor was the real Doctor.

He looked back and forth, trying to find some detail to give the real one away, taking a step or two backwards as he

pointed the gun back and forth between the five.

The Doctor tried to follow the direction of his human self's aim, but before long he realized it

would rest on him a little too long, too.

Maybe he couldn't see him? Illusions being what they were.

"Right, just---try to gesture! Give me something to work with!"

He then heard his words echoed perfectly next to him. And again. And again.

What was going on? [tag!]

He looked back and forth between them all. All echoing, all that same voice, same face, same stance

over and over and over again.

"I can't tell who is who," he finally offered.

The gun was useless now, wasn't it? He couldn't fire on any of them now, and he was rather sure they knew it.

He took one last glance between them all, looking for some tell-tale sign.

Nothing.

He sighed, then dropped the gun to his side. He never did like guns much anyway. He would rather they all stop looking

like the Doctor, especially the one dead in the corner.

"But there's only me," he said. His voice was echoed. Same vocal intonations, everything. He

could see more of him. Right, well, that was easily stoppable.

"Leave," he said. "The door is open. Wide open, right back there. Smashed a police car through it, you can just

go---"

The voices again, but this time they were talking over him. Drowning him out.

The Doctor took a few steps back and, instead of talking, made a gesture for his human self to follow him.

He couldn't make out what he/they were saying, they were all saying something different. He was

hoping they might've reverted back to form once he dropped the gun. They hadn't.

One of them moved back then, gesturing for him to follow. He could feel a weight lift from his chest, that had to be --

But after a few seconds another followed suit in another direction, and another in a third and a fourth and so on.

He looked between them all, and finally settled on the first one. It had to be the first, if they were mimicking, then

the first had to be the right choice. He looked between the others for another moment before following where the first

one was gesturing.

Right, he was following. That was good! That was very good. The Doctor kept his bat firmly in his

hand, ready for something, anything to attack. Their adversary hadn't been so still for quite a while.

"Doctor!" came a voice from behind him. Oh, the PC. The Doctor had forgotten about him, completely. "You have a few

things to explain, here!"

Suddenly, the constable jerked up, hands to his own throat, a look of horror on his face.

"What's he doing?" he asked, shocked for a moment, before finally moving towards the PC.

He tried to pry the hands away, but the grip was tight, too tight for a human he thought. It was as if the man was

possessed.

"Stop it!" the Doctor shouted to the creature in the shop. It was too powerful, the Doctor couldn't

get his hands free. He nodded, then put his hands to the PC's temple.

"Haven't done this in a while, I'm so sorry---" he took a breath, concentrated, and forced the constable to go

unconscious. The large man dropped like a stone, but his hands also went limp at his sides. Still breathing? Yes.

Good!

The Doctor took one of the constable's arms. "Grab the other! Quickly, we need to get him out of here!"

He watched the Doctor, frowning as the constable fell forward.

He grabbed the other arm, helping to pull the constable up.

"Right, which-" he stopped short as he saw the car half in, half out of the shop.

"You drove a car into the shop?" he asked, a little wide eyed and astonished.

"Seemed the most reasonable way of opening the door at the time," the Doctor said. "Now, come on!"

He struggled with the constable, finally pulling him through some of the rubble. Then, something seemed to twist around

the Doctor's ankle. It felt like a snake---or a tentacle. It tugged backwards and he lost his footing instantly,

dropping the constable and falling hard onto his stomach before he was dragged backwards.

"Course it did."

The constable was heavier than he looked, and suddenly he was twice as heavy.

"Oh what are you-" but he couldn't admonish the Doctor because the Doctor was being dragged away. He dropped the

constable none too delicately.

"Sorry," he said in the direction of the constable's unconscious form. As he entered the building again, he couldn't

see the Doctor or the creature anywhere.

He stopped, looking around, then grabbed the Doctor's discarded bat.

"Doctor!" he shouted, hoping he would at least be able to hear where they'd gotten off to.

The Doctor did not scream, because that would be far too girly. Instead, he shouted in a manly

fashion with all of the terror that a man being dragged by a tentacle could muster. He grabbed onto the side of a shelf

and the shelf, clearly not bolted down as was proper regulations, moved with him.

"Aaaaaahhh!" The tentacle appeared to be pulling him towards the housewares, towards the line of half-broken mirrors

with no deviation. Was it going to try to pull him through the wall?

"You sound like a girl!" he shouted as he followed the sound of the Doctor's screaming.

They were heading towards housewares. Towards those mirrors.

He looked around again, then spotted a tower of pots and pans nearby. He could see it, like dominoes. Knock over one,

and it would knock over the next, all of it topping over on top of those mirrors where they were headed.

He pushed over the table with the pots and pans, and watched the ensuing crash, hoping that would be enough to at least

stop the creatures.

"Yes, that's very helpful!" the Doctor shouted back, irritably. He couldn't help it if his voice

went squeaky when he was distressed. He gripped onto a lamp which at first appeared bolted into the wall, but it turned

out was only gently hooked there.

That was when he heard the crashes. Breaking glass---no, no, breaking mirror. Something had knocked over the

mirrors and they were tumbling to the floor like well-placed dominoes.

Smash

Smash

Smash---

There was, suddenly, another scream. Something loud that rang within the Doctor's ears and, without warning, his leg

was released, tiny hook-and-sucker marks wrapped along his skin. The Doctor struggled to his feet and limped back

towards his human self.

"What did you do?" [tag!]

"I don't know," he admitted, taking a step backwards, and tugging the Doctor back with him as well.

Some sort of vortex thing appeared over where the mirrors had crashed.

He watched, half horrified, half intrigued as the creature who had been holding the Doctor was pulled into the vortex.

Another moment later the rest of those creatures swept by following after. It reminded him of when he - He? - and Rose

had sent those Daleks and Cybermen into the void.

The Doctor shook his head, thinking he should apologize to the screaming creatures. But, no, no.

Not after all of this. He took a few steps towards the broken mirrors, the ones that now shimmered faintly green before

fading out to ordinary glass. He traced his fingers along the strange symbols on the frame.

"Interesting. Late Algonquivo. Wonder what it's doing here." But, really, it didn't matter, did it?

He stood and turned to leave, pausing to put a hand to his human self's shoulder.

"Come on, let's get out of here," he said, solemnly. He led the way out of the shop.

He tensed at the hand on his shoulder, not sure what to make of the gesture or what they just saw.

He lingered where he was for a moment, not following after the Doctor right away. He looked around at the broken shop,

then finally turned away following after the Doctor.

"You know," he said catching up with Him, "all this, still doesn't mean you get out of having to shop."

The Doctor chuckled a little, nodding. "Course not. Still need to get a machine with lots of

buttons on it," he said, leading the way past the confused constable who was blabbering about what he saw to a very

young-looking Yvonne Hartman. Ah, Torchwood.

The Doctor nodded to indicate her, then turned the corner to go the opposite way.

"And you're right, you know," he said to his human self. "Sometimes. Like today. Everybody lives."