The Idiot's Lantern
Rita walked into her room in the TARDIS, it looked exactly like her room did in her apartment, something she was very much happy about, the light cream almost white walls were ones that she knew very well her computer that she didn't use often pushed up against the wall on her desk at the end of her bed with her now walk in wardrobe (thank you TARDIS) on the opposite side of the wall next to her door.
She dived onto her bed not even thinking of changing, she had a long night running around with the Doctor, Rose, Pete and everyone else and needed her sleep so she closed her eyes and drifted off as the Doctor set the TARDIS in the Vortex.
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Four
Four knocks
A faint males voice whispered. Rita could swear she heard this voice before, it sounded familiar but she had never heard those two words in her life, she swore she hadn't how could she?
Four knocks, Stone
She jolted awake sweat beating down her forehead. What was that? She thought her eyes darting around the room, she breathed out deeply knowing that she was safe in her room in the TARDIS. Feeling somewhat refreshed Rita finally removed the clothes from yesterday and changed into what she had worn when meeting Queen Victoria, A plaid shirt with grey jeans. She groaned when realising that she didn't have her shoes. The TARDIS hummed and she opened her wardrobe after changing to see another brand new pair of maroon vans almost identical to her last pair. "Thank you" She grinned picking up the shoes. She put them on and tied the laces before leaving her room and heading towards the console room.
It was silent and Rita guessed that Rose was probably still sleeping and the Doctor was most likely in the library since Rita realised that he was almost always there when the two companions were resting, that or he went for an adventure alone. She walked over to the jump seat and sat down crossing her legs like she always did, resting her head in her left hand leaning on her elbow she started to try and think back to the 'dream' that awoke her.
After 30 minutes or so Rita sighed not able to remember the two words that she heard. The Doctor? No why would she hear that? It was like her mind was blanking it out elsewhere as if her thoughts were drifting somewhere else. The Doctor walked into the console room quietly. Rita didn't notice and stared at the blue glow the TARDIS was giving off.
"Rita?" She jumped at her name turning her head in the direction of the voice only to find the Doctor staring at her looking very concerned.
"Sorry I didn't see you walk in" She breathed out.
"You look startled," He told her leaning against the console.
"You snuck up on me"
"No, I didn't you use didn't see me walk in" He protested. "Why are you up?" He asked. "You headed to your room to sleep only five hours ago, you need eight hours sleep"
"I'm not tired," She told him. "I feel completely fine"
"Your eyes say otherwise" He frowned then sat down beside her. "What's wrong?"
She sighed a little not looking at him. "I had a dream" she muttered. "But I can't remember it"
"Not at all?" He asked watching her face for any clues.
"Nothing" She shrugged. "When I try and think about it, it's like my mind diverts it, like I don't want myself to think about it, could this have anything to do with being in a parallel world?" She asked turning to him. He shook his head.
"No that shouldn't happen, anything else?"
"No" She shook her head, "That's it, not much to go on, sorry"
"Give it time and we'll figure it out, tell me anything else that happens or if you remember anything."
"Will do" She nodded. "What were you doing?" She then asked.
"Oh a bit of reading, gets boring with you lot sleeping all the time, how do you get so tired?"
"With you, it's all the running" She laughed. "But the running is good so it's worth it"
"Right so having pain in your legs is worth it?" He raised a brow chuckling.
"If it means I survive and not become a Cyberman or somethings next meal then yes it is" She laughed.
The Doctor shook his head and stood up. "Go get some more rest, Rita, seriously even if you just lie there it's better than getting tired later."
"Okay fine" She rolled her eyes. "If it makes you happy" She muttered getting up. "See you Doctor" she walked back into her room and sighed jumping onto her bed and just lying there for a few more hours trying to think about her 'dream'
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"I thought we'd be going for the Vegas era, you know the white flares and the, grr, chest hair." Rose laughed a little placing her hands on her pink 50's style skirt. Rita shook her head walking out of the TARDIS following the blonde wearing leather trousers a white t-shirt and a leather jacket.
"How can you walk in those heels?" She asked looking down at Rose's pink high heels.
"You still got those vans on" Rose shook her head.
"If the Doctor can wear a suit and sandshoes I can wear this"
"Excuse me?" He popped his head out the TARDIS door, Rita almost laughed at his ridiculous hair style and bit her lip to stop her. "They are not sandshoes"
"Sure they're not" she muttered.
He rolled his eyes then looked at Rose. "You are kidding, aren't you? You want to see Elvis, you go for the late fifties. The time before burgers. When they called him the Pelvis and he still had a waist. What's more, you see him in style." The Doctor went back into the TARDIS and an engine roared. Rita rolled her eyes and the Doctor drove out the TARDIS on a blue scooter. Rita then walked in after he drove out.
"You going my way, doll?" He asked Rose in an accent.
"Is there any other way to go, daddy-o? Straight from the fridge, man."
The Doctor beamed. "Hey, you speak the lingo."
"Oh well, me, mum, Cliff Richard movies every Bank Holiday Monday." She shrugged getting in the pillion and putting a pink crash helmet on her head.
"Ah, Cliff. I knew your mother would be a Cliff fan." He then looked back at the TARDIS. "Rita?" He shouted.
"I'm coming I'm coming calm down" she shouted.
Another engine then roared and Rita drove out of the TARDIS on a black scooter.
"You think I was going to walk?" She laughed. The two laughed as well and drove down the road.
"Where we off to?" Rose shouted over the engines.
"Ed Sullivan TV Studios. Elvis did Hound Dog on one of the shows. There were loads of complaints. Bit of luck, we'll just catch it."
"And that'll be TV studios in, what, New York?" Rose asked.
"That's the one."
"Shame he can't ever land the TARDIS in the correct places" Rita snorted as a classic red London bus drove past.
"Ha! Digging that New York vibe." Rose laughed as the Doctor stopped and Rita stopped behind.
"Well, this could still be New York. I mean, this looks very New York to me. Sort of Londony New York, mind." He shrugged.
"You just don't want to admit that you can't fly the TARDIS right." Rita chuckled.
"Well, I didn't pass the test to fly her" Rita laughed at his words.
Rose looked up at the houses and noticed all the flags hung up. "What are all the flags for?"
"Let's go find out" Rita jumped off the scooter and walked down the road. The Doctor and Rose nodded in agreement jumping off theirs as well to catch up.
A man was handing an old TV to someone out of a van. "There you go, sir, all wired up for the great occasion."
The Doctor, Rita and Rose walked up. "The great occasion? What do you mean?" He asked.
"Where've you been living, out in the Colonies? Coronation, of course." He answered.
"What Coronation's that then?" Rita rolled her eyes.
"What do you mean? The Coronation." He repeated.
"It's the Queen's. Queen Elizabeth." Rose answered for the Doctor.
"Oh! Is this 1953?" The Doctor grinned placing his hands in his pockets.
"Last time I looked. Time for a lovely bit of pomp and circumstance, what we do best."
Rose frowned looking up at the houses. "Look at all the TV aerials. Looks like everyone's got one. That's weird. My nan said tellies were so rare they all had to pile into one house."
"Your nan was right" Rita replied.
The man shook his head. "Not around here, love. Magpie's Marvellous Tellies, only five quid a pop." The Doctor ignored Rose's obsession grinning to himself.
"Oh, but this is a brilliant year. Classic! Technicolour, Everest climbed, everything off the ration. The nation throwing off the shadows of war and looking forward to a happier, brighter future." He said the last part in a posh British accent causing Rita and Rose to laugh at him. There faces then fell at someone's cry for help. They turned and ran in the direction stopping as two men in black suits placed someone in the back of a car, a blanket covering his face.
The woman held a hand to her mouth sobbing a little. "Leave him alone! He's my husband! Please." She cried out.
"What's going on?" The Doctor shouted.
A boy ran out of a house. "Oi, what are you doing?"
One of the men replied. "Police business. Now, get out of the way, sir."
"Who did they take? Do you know him?" Rose looked at the boy.
Rita grumbled running to her scooter ready to pursue on the car.
"Must be Mister Gallagher." The boy replied. "It's happening all over the place. They're turning into monsters." A man shouted at the boy from the front door of his house his face anger yet fear. "Tommy! Not one word! Get inside now!" He ordered.
The boy apologised and headed back inside. The Doctor noticed Rita's scooter speeding away. "Rita!" He shouted. "All aboard!" He jumped on the other scooter and followed the brunette chasing the car.
The car was gaining a distance between it and Rita, it turned a corner and she grumbled in response. It disappeared and she couldn't remember where it went from the 'episode' why couldn't she remember? The Doctor and Rose caught up and stopped beside her.
"Lost them. How'd they get away from us?"
"Well we are on scooters and they are in a car, you were too busy talking as well" Rita answered his question. The Doctor rolled his eyes at her snarky response.
"Surprised they didn't turn back and arrest you for reckless driving. Have you actually passed your test?" Rose asked.
"Men in black? Vanishing police cars? This is Churchill's England, not Stalin's Russia."
"Oo men in black now that is a good movie" Rita laughed a little the Doctor and Rose looked at her each raising a brow. "Sorry bad time" she muttered the Doctor shook his head smiling at her most random comment.
"Monsters, that boy said. Maybe we should go and ask the neighbours." Rose suggested.
"That's what I like about you. The domestic approach." The Doctor grinned.
"Thank you. Hold on, was that an insult?" She asked.
"I thought you hated Domestics" Rita raised a brow. The Doctor took off before he could answer Rose gasped at the sudden jolt and Rita laughed loudly at her face. "Off we go" she commented speeding off catching up with them.
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"And this is where things get confusing" Rita muttered as the Doctor pressed the doorbell.
"Complicated?" He rose a brow looking at her.
"His wife is called Rita, my name is Rita, little confusing don't you think?" She asked him.
"Ah right, well we can fix that Miss Stone?" He grinned.
"Now that's better" Rita grinned back and Rose chuckled a little then stopped her face becoming serious when she heard the door click to unlock and open.
"Hi!" The three of them said very cheerfully smiling away.
The man frowned. "Who are you, then?" He asked.
The Doctor looked at the man then what he could see of the inside of the house. "Let's see, then. Judging by the look of you, family man, nice house, decent wage, fought in the war, therefore I represent Queen and country." He looked at the brunette who nodded at his observations. The Doctor then pulled out the psychic paper out of the inside of his suit jacket showing it to the man.
"Just doing a little check of Her forthcoming Majesty's subjects before the great day. Don't mind if I come in?" He asked barging in the house anyways. Rita bit her lip to hold in the shocked look on the man's face. "Nah, I didn't think you did. Thank you." The Doctor walked past. Rita followed with Rose behind her.
The Doctor looked around nodding in approval. "Not bad. Very nice. Very well kept. I'd like to congratulate you, Mrs?"
"Connolly." The woman answered.
"Now then, Rita. I can handle this. This gentleman's a proper representative. Don't mind the wife, she rattles on a bit." The Doctor's Rita frowned at the man's comment. The Doctor looked over at her slightly nodding in agreement thinking that the man was being quite rude to his wife of all people.
"Well, maybe she should rattle on a bit more. I'm not convinced you're doing your patriotic duty. Nice flags. Why are they not flying?" He asked the Mister Connolly.
"There we are Rita, I told you, Get them up. Queen and country."
"I'm sorry." Mrs Connolly looked down in disappointment with herself.
"Get it done. Do it now." He ordered she flinched at the slight anger in his voice.
"Hold on a minute." The Doctor interrupted raising a hand.
Mister Connolly looked to his wife who stopped. "Like the gentleman says."
"Hold on a minute. You've got hands, Mister Connolly. Two big hands. So why is that your wife's job?"
"Well, it's housework, innit?" He answered.
"And that's a woman's job?" The Doctor asked. The brunette standing next to him crossed her arms disappointed in Mister Connolly.
"Of course it is." He answers. The Doctor looked over at the brunette who looked very pissed off with Mister Connolly's words. "Miss Stone?"
"Thought you would never ask" She grinned at him then turned to the man. "Mister Connolly, what gender is the Queen?" She asked. He looked at her confused obviously knowing that she knew the answer.
"She's a female."
"And are you actually suggesting that the Queen does the housework?" The Doctor added, the brunette rolled her eyes at him, he flashed a grin at her while Mister Connolly wasn't looking.
"No. Not at all."
"Then get busy." The Doctor told him.
Mr Connolly nodded frantically. "Right. Yes, sir. You'll be proud of us, sir. We'll have Union Jacks left, right and centre."
"Excuse me, Mister Connolly." He stopped rushing around. "Hang on a minute. Union Jacks?"
"Yes, that's right, isn't it?" He asked. She shook her head at him.
"That's the Union Flag. It's the Union Jack only when it's flown at sea."
"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry, I do apologise." He looked at the three who were overpowering him in his own house and he wasn't doing a thing about it.
"Well, don't get it wrong again, there's a good man. Now get to it!" Rose ordered.
"Right then! Nice and comfy, at Her Majesty's leisure. Union Flag?" He asked. The three sat down on the sofa.
"Mum went out with a sailor," Rose told them.
"Oh ho ho ho. I bet she did. Anyway, I'm the Doctor and this is Miss Stone and Rose, and you are?" The Doctor asked the boy.
"Tommy."
"Well, sit yourself down, Tommy. Have a look at this. I love telly, don't you?"
"Yeah, I think it's brilliant." Tommy nodded at him.
"Good man!" He smiled. The Doctor turned to Mister Connolly. "Keep working, Mister C!" He turned to his wife who looked in much distress. "Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?"
"Did you say you were a doctor?" She asked.
"Yes, I am." He reassured her.
"Can you help her? Oh please, can you help her, Doctor?" She begged him. Her husband stopped and turned a frown on his face.
"Now then, Rita. I don't think the gentleman needs to know"
"No, the gentleman does." The Doctor told him.
"Tell us what's wrong, and we can help," Rose told the woman who then burst into tears, Rose moved to comfort her crying into her hands. "I'm sorry. It's all right. Come here. It's okay." She told her rubbing the woman's back.
Mister Connolly stood up from what he was doing. "Hold on a minute. Queen and country's one thing, but this is my house! What the?" He looked at his hand and threw the bunting down on the ground.
"What the hell am I doing?" He turned to the Doctor pointing right in his face. "Now you listen here, Doctor. You may have fancy qualifications, but what goes on under my roof is my business."
"A lot of people are being bundled into-" The Doctor was interrupted by Mister Connolly shouting, something you shouldn't do to the Doctor, never interrupt with shouting.
"I am talking!" he bellowed in the Doctors face.
The Doctor's eyes became dark and deadly, something you didn't want facing you no matter what. "And I'm not listening!" He mimicked Mister Connolly. "Now you, Mister Connolly, you are staring into a deep, dark pit of trouble if you don't let me help. So I'm ordering you, sir! Tell me what's going on!" He ordered. The two stared at each other, eyes narrowed and glaring into the opposites skull. Then the thumping broke the deadly stares and silence. They all looked up at the ceiling. Mister Connolly spoke much calmer.
"She won't stop. She never stops."
"We started hearing stories, all round the place. People who've changed. Families keeping it secret because they were scared. Then the police started finding out. We don't know how no one does. They just turn up, come to the door and take them, any time of the day or night." Tommy explained his eyes showing fear, not for his father's reactions but his own words, desperately hoping that what he was saying would never happen to the woman upstairs.
"Show me."
They walked up the stairs heading to what they guessed to be the woman's room in the house. "Gran? It's Tommy. It's all right, Gran. I've brought help." Tommy said softly walking into the room. He turned the light on and the room lit up causing the room to glow with light.
The Doctor looked at the old woman. She had no face at all where her eyes, nose and mouth was once before was now nothing, empty like it was never there. "Her face is completely gone." He slowly walked up to the woman and used the sonic screwdriver to scan her empty face. "Scarcely an electrical impulse left. Almost complete neural shutdown. She's ticking over. It's like her brain has been wiped clean."
"What're we going to do, Doctor? We can't even feed her." Tommy asked. There was a loud crash at the front door, they all turned.
"We've got company," Rose told them.
"It's them. They've come for her!" Mrs Connolly cried out.
"Quickly. What was she doing before this happened? Where was she? Tell me. Quickly, think!"
"I can't think! She doesn't leave the house! She was just-" he was interrupted before finishing with the men in black suits bursting in the room.
"Hold on a minute." The Doctor stepped forward raising his hands to talk. "There are three important, brilliant, and complicated reasons why you should listen to me. One-" the man standing in front of the Doctor punched in the face causing him to fall back down to the floor. Rita clenched her jaw and practically dived for the man only to get punched to the floor beside the Doctor.
"Doctor! Rita!" Rose kneeled in between them both shouting the Time Lord and brunettes name.
"Oh, that didn't go how I planned" the brunette groaned her hand reaching for her head now pounding uncontrollably.
"Leave her alone! No!" Mrs Connolly shouted.
Rose started to hit the Doctors face lightly trying to get him to wake up. "Doctor!" She shouted. Rita groaned sitting up a little frantically blinking regaining her own head back in her control then noticed what was going on. She jumped up running down the stairs.
The Doctor then suddenly sat up clicking his neck. "Ah, hell of a right hook. Have to watch out for that." He jumped up springing down the stairs after the brunette. Rita gritted her teeth noticing the spark known as 'the wire' on the TV she didn't want to but she needed to go with the Doctor, Rita couldn't save Rose it was an event that had to happen, but she didn't want the blonde to go alone. The Doctor would surely hate her for it but she needed to go with him, knowing from past experiences that the Doctor in this universe and not the TV show didn't have the answers to some of the things in the show. As much as he didn't want to admit it himself sometimes he really, really needed the brunette by his side, for one of her secrets or just a smile he needed her as well as the blonde companion with him. This was something Rita had to decide and of course, she decided him.
"Rose, we're going to lose them again!" He shouted jumping on the scooter, Rita jumped on the back throwing the keys to her own scooter on the seat for Rose.
"What about Rose?" The Doctor slightly turned his head towards Rita.
"She can take mine come on!" She shouted not meaning to sound so rude. The Doctor nodded and started the engine following the car. Rita felt a pang of guilt in her stomach for leaving the blonde who would go through so much pain. She had to go with the Doctor though, something might happen that he cannot solve and only she would know what to do Rita repeatedly told herself the Doctor fixated on the road and car in front which he was gaining speed on.
"Oh, very good. Very good." The Doctor grinned applauding the clever work of whoever was behind this idea. He turned to Rita as if to say that they would go and explore. Without saying a word she got off the scooter and followed the Doctor, they reached a door and the Doctor opened it with the sonic screwdriver. The Doctor and Rita walk through the small door and saw the two men from before locking a padlock then leave. The Doctor walked over with Rita following and unlocks the padlock walking inside. They walk into a large caged area full of people with blank faces. They walk in and the Doctor shined a light.
As if they were attracted to the light the people slowly move closer forcing the Doctor and Rita to back upright against a metal wall. A bright light then flashes dispersing the people. "Stay where you are." A man warned them.
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