Heaven's Light ✿ The Doctor [2]

6- The Girl in the Fireplace (pt. 2)

The Doctor woke up with his head pounding and the sound of ticking echoing through the air. He found that he, Rose, and Mickey were strapped to slanted tables, opposite of the Tardis, surrounded by androids. "What is this?" Rose breathes as she wakes up, "What's going on? Doctor?"

The Doctor is about to respond when Mickey interrupts him, "Rose?" He asks before ranting anxiously, "They're going to chop us up, just like the crew. They're going to chop us up and stick us all over their stupid spaceship. And where's the Doctor? Where's the precious Doctor—?"

"I'm right here, Mickey, stop your whining." The Doctor snaps, causing Mickey to look at him wide-eyed.

"You too?" Mickey asks.

"Yep."

"You are compatible." A droid tells Rose and the Doctor.

"Well, you might want to think about that." Rose begins, threatening the droid, "You really, really, might, because me, the Doctor, and Mickey, we didn't come here alone. Oh no. And trust me, you wouldn't want to mess with our designated driver." The Doctor opens his mouth to protest about how he was the driver but the android extends its blade, with a little cogged wheel spinning at the end, shutting him up as Rose continues, "Ever heard of the Daleks? Remember them? They had a name for our friend. They had myths about her, and a name. They called her the—"

Rose is cut off by the sounds of bangs and her sister's drunken sing, "I could've danced all night, I could've danced all night..."

"They called her the—" Rose stutters, but all of the racket was making it hard for her to think, "They called her the— the—"

"And still have begged for more." Avery sings, spinning as she enters the room with a goblet in hand and her jumper inside out, her hair in a messy braid as she sings at the top of her lungs, "I could've spread my wings and done a thou— Have you met the French? My God, they know how to party." Avery has a bright smile on her face as she stumbles drunkenly.

"Oh, look at what the cat dragged in. The Big Bad Wolf." Rose tells her sister snidely.

"Oh, you sound just like our mother." Avery replies in a similar tone.

"What've you been doing? Where've you been?" The Doctor questions her, "You said, a minute."

"Well, among other things, I think just invented the conga a few centuries early." Avery admits.

"Avery..." The Doctor scolds.

"Yeah, yeah, don't mess with the timelines." She waves her hand dismissively before breaking out into drunken giggles, a genuine snort making its way into her laugh before her attention is caught by one of the droids. She laughs as she approaches, slurring her words as she speaks, "Brilliant. It's you! You're my favorite, you are. You are the best!" She giggles as she raises her goblet to the droid, "Do you know why? Because you're so thick. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickity Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania. And so's your dad."

Rose sends the Doctor a look, as if to say, 'She's the one you fell in love with.'

His look in return screams, 'Well, she's your sister.'

Rose rolls her eyes as Avery continues, "Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for?" Avery laughs drunkenly as she explains, "Her milometer. They want to know how old she is. Know why? Because this ship is thirty seven years old, and they think that when Reinette is thirty seven, when she's 'complete,' then her brain will be compatible." She begins to get into the faces of the androids as she laps around the room, "So, that's what you're missing, isn't it? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason, God knows what, only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do."