RUNNING, ALWAYS RUNNING.

[Rose Tyler]

TELL THE DEVIL I SAID, HEY, WHEN YOU
GET BACK TO WHERE YOU'RE FROM MAD WOMEN,
BAD WOMEN, THAT'S JUST WHAT YOU ARE

Traveling. Right across the stars, different planets, different times. They could go to 23rd century Kylos and then jump right into 28th century Kylos. For a moment Rose had forgotten how brilliant this was, to wake up in one planet today and another one tomorrow. During that year, before meeting the Doctor, she had given up hope about traveling like this again. Maybe they were more advanced than her world, but it would never be the same again. But here she was, in the TARDIS. Their very own TARDIS, free at last. Just out there, saving people, stopping invasions an ruthless leaders. After she’d lost it, now that she had it back she loved even more. It was true what some said about loosing something and really appreciating it after it was gone, she was really appreciating this chance.

Running, running, always running. Nothing but death could stop them now. She’d been angry at the Doctor at first, blaming him for leaving them behind once more. Just leaving them after all the fighting, all the trouble she had to go through to get back to him. But she wasn’t angry anymore, she was thankful. The Doctor had given her the only chance to have a companions that could really understand the Time Lord part of him. She had thought about Donna, but her Doctor had explained a few days after what would happen to Donna with the Time Lord mind. She felt sorry for Donna. At first she hadn’t felt sorry for him, he had chosen to leave them behind. But after a while, when forgiveness came she did feel sorry. She hoped he’d found a new companion, someone to make it better.

But she couldn’t cry for him forever, life like he had said had to move on. So she hoped him the best and moved on. They did what held thought her, they helped people, they ran and they traveled. There were bad times, but there had always been bad times. But by the end of the day, knowing the faces of those they’d helped made it worth it. She sometimes dropped back on earth, visited her Mom, Pete and her little brother. They even sometimes gave Torchwood or Unit a hand or stopped an attack on Earth. But they didn’t stay for long, they’d been stuck on Earth for long enough while the TARDIS grew. The thought about it made her shiver, yes they never stayed long. After the visit or the day was saved they left again, for the stars.

Today was another busy day, they had accidentally landed in the middle of a battlefield. Sontarans against Rutans, the Doctor had said. The tone he’d used worried Rose, he only used that tone for dangerous things like Daleks and Cybermen. So things were serious, after more sneaking around and research they learned that the Sontarans were working on something to do with Time Travel. Rose wasn’t sure why but she didn’t really like that. What the Doctor had said about the Sontarans and the other aliens assured Rose that she hoped this things didn’t get their hands on something like Time Travel. She was completely sure that they weren’t going to use it to make the world a better place, that’s why they had to stop them. Yes, the planned was well armed. Plus there was an armed battle fleet of Rutans surrounding the planet.

But it was just another day for them. It wouldn’t be easy, but they’ve encountered worse thing, during her early travels with the other Doctor. She trusted the Doctor, he always thought of something, Rose knew that he wouldn’t allow them to win. Rose just hoped he would hurry, her legs were starting to hurt from crouching down, looking at the group of Sontarans walking away. What ever they were discussing was important, even if Rose hadn’t been able to make out most of it. The TARDIS translated, but the loud noise of machinery made it difficult to clearly hear anything, she hoped the Doctor had been luckier from his position. Hopefully.

WORD COUNT: 700
TAGGED: SECOND DOCTOR/HANDY
OUTFIT: SAME BUT GREEN TOP
LYRICS: BRONO MARS - GRENADE
CREDIT: CODING/GRAPHICS - ME.
NOTES: There goes my muse.

[two]

[/center]

Outfit: The usual.
Words: 1571 sans code
Notes: Super long, sorry. Got a little carried away.

______________________

It wasn’t often that the Doctor traveled alone.

He’d never liked it. Ever since he’d made off with his beloved TARDIS the Doctor had always made sure he was in the company of others. True, he’d been less than willing to take on humans at first, but as time progressed he had come to accept the company. He’d even come to enjoy it, truth be told. They were such marvelous people, far sturdier and more intelligent than the Gallifreyan label implied. True, over the years they’d gotten him into patches of trouble, but just as often they’d help get him out of trouble. More than that, really, if he paused to think about it. With the people the Doctor had picked up over the years, he’d always had quite the handy little team. They could take on anything in the universe, if they felt like they could.

Well, almost everything. Call it irony, but the one thing the Doctor wished he could have outrun was the one thing that finally caught up to him- the Time Lords. They’d caught him “interfering” with the course of events (though if you were to ask him, he was dispensing justice and saving people, as was right and proper!) and did what he knew they always did- they stripped him of everything and crashed a big sentence of exile and a forced change on his head.

Well, not quite yet. Even though they had all but wiped the memories of him from his two companions Zoe and Jamie and deposited them safely in their home locations, they weren’t quite done with him yet. Oh no, to be exiled with a forced regeneration and memory blocks wasn’t punishment enough, it seemed. No, they were going to keep him around for just a short while longer… on a short leash so that he could do their dirty work. It was the perfect situation, really. They had a man with a sentence hanging over his head, ready to use it if he showed even the slightest bit of resistance. It would allow them to interfere while still appearing to the rest of the galaxy as if they clung to their tenants of non-interference. And if he were caught, well… the Doctor was a rogue, was he not?

If he weren’t the little puppet dancing to their hypocritical strings, the Doctor would have to admire the Time Lords’ underhanded methods in a way. It really was quite clever.

As the puppet on the string, however, he had little choice but to grumble to the otherwise empty TARDIS as he fluttered around the controls. Had he the option he would have broken free, but the Time Lords were wise to his way and had installed a remote control on the TARDIS. He wasn’t in control, not completely. It counted for a smoother ride at the very least, but that was of no comfort to the little dark-haired man. He was too busy fuming over his predicament and his assignment.

Assignment! Like some mere…something! Some tied down something! Pah!

He wasn’t happy when the Time Lords had explained to him in detail as to where he was going (that took al the mystery out of it), and he was less happy when he had heard what exactly he was going up against. Sontarans. Sontarans experimenting with time travel technology. Now there was a disturbing thought. Give a militaristic race like the Sontarans a chance to hop, jump, and skip all across time and space, and… Oh, he didn’t like to think of that.

Thankfully he didn’t have the time to dwell on it any further, as the TARDIS gave a rough shudder to indicate that it had landed at its destination. After a cursory habitual glance at the outside atmospheric gauges to ensure that the environment was perfectly safe (which they were, naturally), the Doctor did something he almost never did—he gave pause. For several long moments he stood rooted in his place at the TARDIS’ controls, staring reproachfully at the narrow doors that led to the outside world. He could end it now, really. One wayward jump, and he could accept his sentence. No Sontarans. No meddlesome Time Lords. No puppet on a string. No more adventures… well, that wasn’t entirely true. The Doctor was a magnet for adventure. He’d always had been. Even in exile, he was sure to find himself in some sticky situation or another.

But it wouldn’t be as himself. And without his TARDIS… it would be the limiting factor that would drive him mad. He’d never done well with restraints, as this situation was already beginning to prove.

Well. At the very least, he’d like to keep himself as he was for just a little while longer. He’d best be off, then.

Slowly, reluctantly, he made his way to the door, gently pushing one open just wide enough to peer through. Well, at least he’d landed someplace safe enough for the moment. At least, safe enough from this angle. Cautiously, he pushed the door open further, creeping out of it just enough to fully assess the room. Ah good. The TARDIS had materialized in what appeared to be a storage unit of sorts. Deciding that the place was safe enough for the moment, he slipped out into the small metal room, only giving the sparse objects scattered about the most cursory of glances. Nothing important here, that much was easy enough to say.

Approaching the featureless door that led to what he supposed was the outside, the Doctor noted with no small amount of relief that the door was an old-fashioned one, not the much more popular automatically opening types. This made for a better chance at scouting the area out before jumping headfirst into matters. One could never be too careful with the Sontarans. He’d not had much in the way of personal experience with them but he’d read and seen and heard enough to know just what he was getting into.

Like his cautious exit from the TARDIS, him leaving the storage unit was approached in a similar manner. He was in a compound of sorts. To say it was a military compound was completely obvious, but it was far too cleaned up to be an industrial plant. Industry-based locations were all smoke and flame and nasty air that could leave a man coughing for weeks. Had they landed him right in the research compound, then? That sounded a bit too easy.

The coast seemed clear enough for the moment, which allowed the Doctor to slip from the unit (making sure to glance at the marker indicating just what unit his TARDIS was at as he did so). Ducking behind a conveniently-place stack of metal sheeting, he was allowed a better look. Yes, definitely a research-based compound, though certainly not a quiet one. The humming, whirring, clanking, screeching symphony of hundreds of operative machinery sources filled the air to an almost intolerable level. Research and Development compound, most certainly. No better place than to play with Time.

Now, to find a way in…

As he scanned the area for likely clues and points of entry from his little hiding spot, something caught his eye. Something… yellow? And green?

Squinting, the Doctor was able to make the figure out more clearly. A girl? Human, too! Or at least, Near-Human. Close enough. In this time in reality, the Doctor wasn’t so certain on humans and interstellar travel. Captured by the Sontarans, maybe? They’d done it before.

Still, she was potential help for solving this business. Briefly, the Doctor had to duck fully behind his barrels as a gaggle of Sontarans passed, muttering amongst themselves. Curious behavior, if he thought about it. Usually they were all marching about in their neat little lines. Commanding officers, maybe? Possibly.

Ah, he was losing himself. He figured the best course of action would be to circle around to that girl. Maybe she would know more on the details to fill him in. As soon as the gaggle of Sontarans had passed, he made a short little dash across the open ground to huddle against the wall of another small storage unit. Good thing the Sontarans never put much stock in peripheral vision. He was quite easy to spot otherwise. From there it was around to a discarded troop vehicle of sorts. There. Now he was much closer, and had reasonable protection from the Sontarans’ line of sight unless they decided to put the vehicle into use.

Now to get the girl’s attention. He was sure they had a reasonable line of sight of one another for now, should he choose to peek around the vehicle’s sides. She’d probably even seen him in his little dashes for fresh cover. Most humanoids had better sense of peripheral vision. If he could, he’d have hissed or something to get her attention. But the cacophony of machinery wouldn’t have permitted anything less than a shout to get through.

Thankfully, he had his faded little handkerchief! The dark-haired Doctor couldn’t help but smile inwardly as he pulled the ratty old cloth from the front pocket of his coat. Another cursory glance around the side indicated that the coast was still clear enough for the time being. Then, with a prim little flourish, he leaned out around the edge, waving the battered old handkerchief to try and catch the girl’s attention. Would she notice…?

[/sub]
[/ul]

[handy]

PANIC WHEN YOU FEEL THE HEAT BETWEEN YOUR EYES
holding onto anything that you can find

"ATTA GIRL!" Handy crowed, running around the central console of the TARDIS, alternately whacking the panels with a rubber mallet and patting them fondly. The TARDIS gave a happy sort of shudder and went on hurtling through the vortex, seemingly as thrilled to be traveling as he was. A brand new TARDIS, and brand new adventure, a brand new Doctor. Things were different, surely, not nearly as easy as things were before (and that's saying something). Handy felt more fragile now, like he was constantly walking on eggshells, because if this body got hurt... Well, this was his only shot, wasn't it? And this body had already aged so. Yes, things were different.

But that's why it was fun!

Handy gave another exuberant shout, throwing a cheerful fist in the air and skipping a step to the left to flick a switch or two. The smile on his face was infectious, evidently, for Rose didn't seem nearly as sullen as he'd seen her for the last few months while the TARDIS finished growing. She got right back into the swing of things, he'd noticed, like she'd never missed a step. That's why he'd loved her then. That's why he loved her now. She was fearless.

He beamed at her for a moment, smiling at her smile, laughing when she giggled. The TARDIS shuddered again and Handy returned his attention to the controls, one hand manipulating what looked like a calculator, the other tuning a needle to the right frequency. The interior glowed happily, sensing their elation. It had only been a year or so, waiting for the TARDIS to grow, and back then it had felt like an eternity passed. But now, aboard the ship again, no time could phase them. They all the time in the world. They had all the time in every world!

It was on this tidal wave of bubbly energy that they rode, in a sort of numbness that didn't let the danger or warning penetrate his brain. Not like he would have really listened to the warning bells even if they were sounding, considering he lived for adventure and discovery and all that exciting stuff. He couldn't help but grin a bit at the though again, when the TARDIS suddenly landed. Quite suddenly. Knock-you-off-your-feet suddenly.

Handy propped himself up on his elbows, looking up at the controls from where he fell. "That's not supposed to happen," he said quickly, picking himself up off the ground and circling the control unit in one fluid movement. "We're out in the middle of nowhere, nearest planet's miles away!" His brow furrowed and he checked the controls, looking between the calculator on the left panel and the screen on the right. "So how's..." he continued, talking mostly to himself, when he looked up, grinning. "Shall we go see what it is, then?"

He didn't wait for Rose to answer before making a quick dash for the doors. Precaution? What precaution? Handy threw open the left door and stepped outside...

Right into a battlefield.

Well, a battlefield of sorts. Upon first glance, it was more a R & D center, what with its array of clunking, buzzing machines and general air of... uh, science. Handy frowned and raised his brows in his familiar way and leaned out the TARDIS doors a little further, one hand gripping the jamb for balance. "What d'you think, Ros-!"

Handy cut off suddenly, launching himself back into the TARDIS and shutting the door immediately behind him. He stood there facing the door and gripping the handle, and it was some moments before he turned around and faced Rose.

"Sontarans," he said simply, finally releasing the handle and removing his hands to his hips instead. He walked slowly towards Rose, his head tilted, his eyes calculating. "And Rutans. And a battle. And a planet that shouldn't be here." Everything about the situation spelled trouble... Sontarans were born in battle, born for battle, and that was never any good. A warring Sontaran was nothing new, but it was nothing to overlook either, especially here, on a planet hidden from even the TARDIS's detection. Well, hidden from this TARDIS's detection. Maybe it was just faulty.

Handy continued to frown, but in a much less intrigued-by-the-surroundings manner, and more like this-may-very-well-turn-out-wrong. "Tell you what, though," he said, slowly lowering his eyes to meet hers. He grinned: "S'gonna be fun."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door, probably a bit happier than he strictly ought to be. With hardly a glance behind him, he pulled Rose behind a machine, ducking his head around the corner to get a better look. Letting go of her hand, he crawled a bit further along, straining to hear what a group of passing Sontarans were muttering about.

Was it wrong to be so excited over something so clearly not good?

c o u n t 949
t a g g e d rose & two
c r e d i t alex day (living on the underground)
o u t f i t here

[Rose Tyler]

TELL THE DEVIL I SAID, HEY, WHEN YOU
GET BACK TO WHERE YOU'RE FROM MAD WOMEN,
BAD WOMEN, THAT'S JUST WHAT YOU ARE

Rose tried to move around a bit, her current position wasn’t the most comfortable one. The pressure her body was having on her unmoving legs didn’t help at all. But she couldn’t risk moving around too much, it could bring attention to herself. Catch the eye of one of the Sontarans. Looking at the Sontarans Rose could see that they were far from friendly. She’d been around UNIT and Torchwood long enough to recognize the military pattern in their way of speaking. They appeared to be in some type of research facility, but this Sontarans were soldiers. They all looked completely alike, there were a few differences. Mainly injuries in the faces(mainly cuts), there was also some variations in color and what Rose guessed was age. But if you removed that, Rose was sure that they would look exactly alike.

She tried to think back at all the aliens she’d learned about while working on Torchwood, she also remembered the Doctor(the Time Lord one), mentioning the name Sontaran once. She was sure she had read or heard something about clones, that would at least explain why they looked so alike. Rose pushed herself a bit farther up, most of the Sontarans had moved out of the room by then. The meeting was over, Rose guessed they were going back to work on whatever they had been working before. She was glad to be able to move once more once they were all fully out, but it also worried her that they more they worked on it, the sooner it would be ready. Rose bit down on her lip, she wanted to know more about the Sontarans and their plans.

But few Sontarans or not moving around would definitely cause her to be seen. She pushed herself down once more. She was now in a kneeling position, but some weight had been added to her hand. That at least eased the pressure, already some of the pain from staying unmoving like that was gone. As she did this Rose saw something move. She stopped, tensing up. At first she thought it had been a Sontaran of sorts. But she doubted would wave peaces of cloth, taking a closer look she was sure whatever was waving it was human. Or at least humanoid. She turned around looking for the Doctor, but in her current locations she wasn’t able to see him. She looked back at the other person, thinking about what to do. She could try and go back for the Doctor(whispering to him would be useless with the noise).

Rose looked over her hiding place once more, the remaining Sontarans had their backs to her. Plus some equipment of sorts hid her from view. Not perfectly but at least Rose hope it would be safe enough. The other human hadn’t screamed or called the Sontarans, Rose guessed that he at least wasn’t working for them. She could be wrong about it, but still if she could get more information about the experiment the try would be worth it. She was grateful that all those times of sneaking around with the Doctor were of great use today as she moved toward the other person. He(because Rose was sure it was a man now), definitely looked humanoid. She finally say close enough to him to be able to whisper and be heard.

“Are you a prisoner?” It was the first thing that came to mind. But she had been prisoner of aliens before and it wasn’t very rare. She wanted to sound sure about what was happening. She hadn’t been able to fully understand what the Sontarans had been talking about, traveling with the Doctor had opened doors for Rose. But her knowledge was still limited by her human mind. Even when the TARDIS was growing Rose couldn’t fully comprehend the process of it. If there was one thing she had learned was that Time Travel was complicated. It was best just to nod and smile at the Doctor when he began to talk too much. Sometimes she asked questions, knowledge could be of use. But even then Rose was sure that the Doctor wasn’t very good at explaining things(I‘ll explain later wasn‘t a very good answer).

She smiled at the man. “My name’s Rose Tyler by the way. You are?” Now that the Sontarans were gone Rose stood up fully. She could see a group in the distance but Rose doubted they could see them with all the equipment on the way. As long as none of them came their way, they should be safe. “Don’t worry I’m sure the Doctor will think of something?” Rose turned around now, this would be a good time to call him. No Sontarans around to hear anything. She took a few steps forward before calling him. “Doctor.” Rose wrapped her arms around herself, it was freezing in the rooms. The Sontarans were armed and she guessed could stand the temperatures. But Rose was very human and cold.

"Are you alone?" She turned back to the dark haired man. She got a chance to look at his clothing better now. It was stange, he even wore a bow tie. Rose guessed it was a very human looking outfit, but no all aliens dressed strange.

WORD COUNT: 900
TAGGED: SECOND DOCTOR/HANDY
OUTFIT: SAME BUT GREEN TOP
LYRICS: BRONO MARS - GRENADE
CREDIT: CODING/GRAPHICS - ME.
NOTES: There goes my muse.

[two]

[/center]

Outfit: The usual.
Words: 1157 sans code
Notes: ---

______________________

Ah! So he had been spotted! Tucking the faded cloth carelessly back in his front coat pocket, the Doctor than used his free hand to wave the girl over as she scuttled towards his hiding spot. “Here, over here!” The hissed words of encouragement, barely over a whisper, were almost certainly lost in the din of their surroundings, but the Doctor didn’t particularly care. Call it habit, as he’d offered the same quiet encouragement to his own gaggle of companions more than once in the past. “Careful now, quickly!”

The girl seemed to be quite competent at the whole arrangement of running and hiding, though. Past experience, perhaps? Still, the Doctor’s lined face couldn’t help but split into a warm smile as the girl drew in to join him. The hand that had been waving her over fell protectively upon her shoulder once she was in reach, and he shuffled back enough so that they were both hidden by the little patch of motorized cover. Plenty of space! “There we are,” he pleasantly mumbled. “Keep your head down, my dear.”

She didn’t seem to be in any immediate need of his advice, but still. Nice to refresh things now and again. Not to mention that the routine was quite habitual for the Doctor. His erstwhile companions had routinely needed reminders and instructions. At this stage it was almost reflexive.

“Are you a prisoner?”

The abruptness of the question caught the Doctor off-guard. Blue eyes widened momentarily. “Prisoner?” Oh dear. Were the Sontarans keeping prisoners? How unlikely for them… but given the abnormal pattern involving this facility… Yes, he supposed prisoners could be a likely encounter. One more thing to keep an eye out for, then. How unlike the Time Lords to mention something like prisoners or hostages.

“No, no,” he countered almost immediately after the initial surprise. He shook his head for added emphasis. “I’m only…”

A pause. What? A secret agent from the Time Lords, here to stop the Sontarans and their sinister machinations that threatened to destroy all of time and space? While that was true, the Doctor was still annoyed enough with the Time Lords that he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of trumpeting their intentions with every person he came across. It certainly wasn’t in his nature, unless, of course, it gave him a useable edge in matters. A traveler, simply passing through? That was his usual little half-truth, but here it sounded less plausible than it usually did. He’d denied being a prisoner, so that was unusable (not like he’d use it anyways. Save that for the real prisoners to tell).

Thankfully, the girl simply smiled and spared him any need for an answer. “My name’s Rose Tyler by the way. You are?” As she slid out from under his hand to fully stand, the Doctor paused for a moment before cautiously doing the same. Even though the coast was presently clear, he still couldn’t help but glance about nervously for any returning Sontaran patrols. He wasn’t about to let either of them be caught off-guard!

“Well,” he offered timidly, his attentions focused more on the impending threat of Sontaran return as opposed to pleasantries. This really wasn’t the proper place for such things. He’d much prefer someplace a little more secure. Find out why she was here. The human girl didn’t seem to be in league with the Sontarans, at the least. Here to rescue prisoners? Seemed likely, the way she jumped on the topic. One rarely jumped into specifics unless of that matter unless they were already aware of the situation. “I’m...”

Again the girl, this Rose, spared him a need to immediately answer. “Don’t worry I’m sure the Doctor will think of something?”

Doctor. Not doctor, the D was enunciated on a little too firmly to be a mere title. Doctor. That certainly caught the Doctor’s attention. “Doctor?” he repeated, his voice just a little too fast and surprised to display confused ignorance.

What in the blazes was he doing here? Good heavens, did the Time Lords think the matter so dire that they had decided to send him in multiple to deal with the situation? It wasn’t like he hadn’t been involved in that kind of a tangle multiple times already. It had better be a matter of grave concern, and not a jab at his competence! Otherwise they were going to get quite an earful when he got back!

Though to think upon it, if they were to look so far down on his competency, why send him and not some other Time Lord they viewed more favorably as accompaniment?

No matter. He was here, and not alone. Good, good. At least the Doctor knew he could certainly place some level of trust Miss Rose here. He, at least, had confidence in his ability to pick and choose travel companions.

Please don’t let it be the dandy, though. He had a preference for blondes, if he recalled. True, he and his successor had managed to get along a little after a time, but…

Right. On to matters. He was here in one form or another, further down the time line. That was… possibly good. He had at least one companion. Well, the future him had at least one. That was good. Yes. This Rose seemed pleasant enough, even if she was a bit hasty to jump from topic to topic. Still! The fault was his, stalling on answers in a place where he knew better than to hesitate.

As the Doctor’s mind processed and speculated on this new dish of information that Rose had handled him, she seemed to draw out and away from him and into herself. He hardly noticed her calling for the Doctor, and when she whirled around on him to shoot the latest of her questions at him, the Doctor was visibly startled.

"Are you alone?”

The Doctor sighed, his expression and his form wilting visibly. “Yes. Yes, I’m afraid I am…”

Salt, meet wound.

The fact that his own little band of companions had been torn away still stung the Doctor, and Rose’s question… well, it hurt. Honestly, it did. He was going to be sore with his reminders of not having someone tagging along with him for a while.

The mood was not one to last, however. Like he had reminded himself before: this was no place for lingering. Straightening, the Doctor tried to put on a pleasant face for the girl. It was most certainly strained, but he imagined he got the basic look across. “No matter! Let’s go meet this doctor of yours and find someplace safe to make proper introductions.”

Being that he didn’t know where his other self was (because at this point he was quite thoroughly convinced that it was him), the small Doctor pleasantly swept the air with a hand. “If you would be so kind as to lead the way, Miss Rose..?”

[/sub]
[/ul]

[handy]

PANIC WHEN YOU FEEL THE HEAT BETWEEN YOUR EYES
holding onto anything that you can find

Sniiiiiiff!

"Hmph," Handy frowned, looking around the room from his vantage point crouched behind a rather imposing-looking machine. The air was practically odorless, the ceilings were high and uncovered, leaving rafters, wires and pipes exposed, the floors were too clean for being made of cement slag, and the high pitched buzzing of the machines, coupled with the stingingly chilly air all pointed to one thing:

Well, it probably pointed to lots of things, actually. Many, many, many things that all sort of swirled in and out of his conscious mind as his dark eyes flitted about. He wasn't about to draw any sort of conclusions based on such little exposure to a shouldn't-be-here planet, though from the cleanliness of the concrete he assumed the floor was new. He shrugged happily at his deduction and continued to take in his surroundings.

The group of passing Sontarans was getting further away, and quickly Handy weighed his options. He hadn't been able to make out what it was they were muttering about, though he distinctly heard one shout "Rutans!" irritably, though he was also pretty sure most of the galaxy heard it. If Sontarans were upset over Rutans and battling or researching on an impossible planet, things were very wrong, and Handy was quite keen to figure out the circumstances.

And maybe get in over his head. That always made for a good time.

He remained braced against the wall for the fleeting moments it took to mull that over, his back stiff against the freezing machine. So what now? Follow them? Their backs were to them at this point, leaving their vulnerable spot wide open and practically begging a whap or two. He ought to give them a chance, though... Though they wouldn't give him one, really. Oh, morality, sometimes you were such a pain.

The Doctor let them carry on without making a move one way or the other. Maybe it would be better to have a bit of a plan, or at least some semblance of one. He had to be more careful, after all, he wouldn't be able to regenerate if things went wrong. That would leave Rose on her own to navigate the TARDIS, something he hadn't any doubts she could do at this point... But he still wasn't warming to the idea of recklessly charging in, mucking things up and getting killed only to leave Rose on her own.

Plus, this Human Time Lord was a selfish little thing and he wanted to spend as much time with Rose as he possibly could.

The group of Sontarans were soon out of sight and hearing, rounding a corner and leaving only the whine of incredible machines in their wake. Still, decisions, decisions... Handy stuck his tongue behind his front teeth and looked up, coming to some sort of personal conclusion. He frowned and nodded, scooting back across the floor until he was on the same side of the machine as where he left Rose, his face bent toward the ground as much as to keep his big hair out of sight as to watch where he was going.

"Ro-! Oh," Handy interrupted himself, coming face-to-knee-cap with Rose Tyler. He looked up at her and sort of squinted. "What're you do- get down will you?" He pleaded, tugging at the pocket of her trousers. But when she repeated herself, "Doctor," Handy had enough sense to actually listen. She didn't say anymore and thus he assumed whatever she wasn't saying was pretty important, so, making what was probably a bad judgment call, he stood to meet her gaze.

Only suddenly they weren't alone. "Hang on," Handy said as he stepped around Rose to get a better look at her frie- oh, what in every hell...

"Now just waaait a second, here!" Handy furrowed his brows, eyes wide as he took in an awfully familiar form. "You're... C'mon, you're..." Handy turned his back on both of them rather suddenly, hands immediately flying to his hair, gripping it hard as he thought and making it stick straight up. His voice was fast and low: "I've crossed my own time line, that's me about, oooh, eight regenerations ago? But this universe has got an alternate version of me, no, can't have, I'm not technically the Doctor anymore, so it doesn't really count. This could be dangerous though, huge, ginormous, and it can't be a time crash, not in this TARDIS..." He stole a glance then at the TARDIS Rose and he traveled in only moments ago, then spun back around to look over the top of the man's head, searching for something. "You, me, that is, well, us... Or something. *Sniff* Anyway, how'd you get here?" The pitch of Handy's voice went up with the question, his mouth turning down in interested confusion.

That was him, alright. The Doctor, after the first time he'd regenerated. Funny sort of a man he'd been back then, though he supposed it wasn't really him after all. Handy looked at the man, a bit bewildered at first though with each turn in time came another adventure he supposed, though he wasn't sure if he should embrace it, figure it out or just get back in the TARDIS and leave for another planet. Did this count as crossing his own time line? Clever as he was, Handy was never sure what to think about himself in terms of his past. Hands on his hips, Handy looked down at the man (himself?) and couldn't help but crack a smile.

Oh, what a day. Warring races, invisible planets, new TARDISes and past, alternate regenerations. Handy took a step closer to Rose and grinned.

c o u n t 943
t a g g e d rose & two
c r e d i t alex day (living on the underground)
o u t f i t here

[Rose Tyler]

TELL THE DEVIL I SAID, HEY, WHEN YOU
GET BACK TO WHERE YOU'RE FROM MAD WOMEN,
BAD WOMEN, THAT'S JUST WHAT YOU ARE

She looked at the shorter man, he looked a bit familiar. Not in actual looks, she was sure she’d never met someone that looked like him before in her life. She hadn’t even met anyone that would dress like that and she had met aliens and had visited different time periods. But there was still that small hint of familiarity. It was a thought that she needed to place away now, there were more important matters at hand. For once finding the Doctor and what the Sontarans were up to. There was no sign of returning Sontarans just yet, which was good. They could probably investigate better, look at the machines and see if the Doctor found anything from them.

She turned towards the strangely dressed man, noting the look of surprise at the idea of him being a prisoner. He also didn’t give the image of an ally of such warlike creatures like the Sontarans. It was too early to fully trust him, but for now he was the only other humanoid and possible ally she had met. “Well I’m not a prisoner either, kind of dropped here by mistake. But you can‘t keep him away from a mystery.“ It was one of the reasons why she liked the Doctor so much. Their lives could be threatened, but they would enjoy the ride all the way through.

She swirled around quickly, when the man had repeated the Doctor’s name he had sounded surprised. Could the funny dressed man know the Doctor? Well that would certainly answer the question that had hunter her mind since the moment she had been trapped on this universe. This universe could really have a parallel version of her Doctor, maybe one traveling the stars right now. They could easily even cross path with him. Of course in this universe Peter and Jackie had no child, so if there was a Doctor he wouldn’t know her. But she wanted her Doctor to meet another Time Lord, they had been traveling alone for a while now. Maybe meeting the Doctor would do him good, their goodbye to their other Doctor to Rose had been slightly sour.

She turned her attention back to him when he spoke once more and felt a rush of sadness. Even before her reunion with the Doctor and later the Meta-Crisis she‘d never been alone. There had been her mom, Mickey and even Pete. She’d been sad, heartbroken but never alone. She felt guilty for probably bringing an unpleasant subject for the man by his expression. Her time for Torchwood had taught her how to read people, but that wasn’t even obvious, the man’s expression was clear to anyone that looked. He quickly regained himself, something that reminded her a lot of the Doctor. It was like him to girl through emotions in the blink of an eye.

Something caused her to turn around, finally her eyes dropped on her Doctor, her face brightening up instantly. Finally, it had taken him long enough. Rose was ready to stop whatever the Sontarans were doing or at least find out what they were doing. Hopefully the Doctor brought more information. She almost giggled when he came across her, still lowered on the ground. But she had promised herself to be the mature one in their traveling. Giggling out loud when they were near danger would be the opposite of maturity. Rose had been ready to tell the Doctor about the other human(?), when her face turned bright red.

She hadn’t given the man a chance to even answer her questions, she was turning into the Doctor. Always talking on and hardly ever paying attention to what others told him. The Doctor stood up then, walking past her. Maybe he’ll have better manners than she did about asking his name. She turned around, someone had to make sure that no Sontarans came walking and catching them from behind. The Sontarans hardly looked like the type to let their prisoners live for long, the last thing she wanted was to end in that position. The Doctor began to talk once more, but it was hard to make words out. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes and turn towards the man.

“Don’t worry he does that a lot, talks to himself for a few minutes and then not bother to explain anything. I just nod and smile now or when needed smack him in the back to bring him out.” Other times she allowed him to go on, she was sure that it helped him think. After he was done he usually had some brilliant plan to get them out whatever mess they were in. He began to talk again, this time faster, it was almost impossible to make sense of what he was saying. She crossed her arms over her chest, slightly annoyed. The Sontarans could return any moment now and he was just babbling on to himself. This was hardly the time for that. “Doctor, what on Earth are you going about. We have to find out what the Sontarans want, please stop talking to yourself and start explaining what are you going on about.” Hopefully her current irritated state showed in her voice.

Now that she was finally with the Doctor she had taken a better look at the place and it was given her the creeps. It seemed wrong in some form, if she’d wanted to stop the Sontarans before. She wanted to do it even faster now. Be out of the white and machine filled room and back to the TARDIS. She was a machine, but the TARDUS felt more organic. This place didn’t feel like that at all. Like it was there, but it shouldn’t.

WORD COUNT: 974
TAGGED: SECOND DOCTOR/HANDY
OUTFIT: SAME BUT GREEN TOP
LYRICS: BRONO MARS - GRENADE
CREDIT: CODING/GRAPHICS - ME.
NOTES: There goes my muse.