Doctor Who_ Winner Takes All - Jacqueline Rayner [38]
‘Plus, it’s another stupid idea,’ commented the Doctor, not unkindly.
‘And look after yourself,’ said Rose. ‘Oh, and could you make sure Mrs Burton gets her shopping basket on wheels back.’
‘Yeah, course,’ said Mickey, sounding a bit worried. ‘But you’re coming back, ain’t ya?’
‘Course we are,’ said Rose. But the thing was, when you went off into time and space in the TARDIS, you were never entirely sure.
Mickey hobbled across to the front door to see them off. ‘I’d stick a wedge under it or something till you can get it fixed,’ said the Doctor. ‘Don’t forget that the Quevvils know where you live.’
‘You said you smashed their teleport system!’ said Rose.
‘They might fix it!’ replied the Doctor.
‘Thanks for the cheerful thought,’ said Mickey. ‘I’ll sleep so soundly tonight now.’
Rose heard the door shut behind them as they started down the stairs. ‘We’re gonna be able to stop this, aren’t we?’ she asked the Doctor.
‘It’ll be a cinch,’ he replied.
‘No more humans getting their heads bitten off by aliens?’
‘And no more aliens getting shot by humans,’ said the Doctor. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll stop it, no problem.’
* * *
A figure had slipped into the shadows of a doorway as the Doctor and Rose left Mickey’s flat. Now it left its hiding place and peered round the corner to watch them as they went down the stairs: the tall, arrogant bloke and the mouthy tart. He’d wipe the smiles off their faces. They weren’t going to get in his way again.
‘You ain’t gonna stop this,’ grunted Darren Pye, spitting after the retreating figures. ‘I’m the one who’s gonna stop you.’
* * *
TWELVE
‘I love you, Robert.’ The beautiful girl with the long blonde hair who looked a bit like Suzie Price was gazing at him in adoration. ‘I’ve been watching you, couldn’t keep my eyes off you. I watched how you dealt with those terrible aliens. The way you grabbed that iron bar and used it like a sword, the way you fenced with that alien and drove him off… You must be a master swordsman!’
Robert smiled modestly, indicating that he’d never tried before, it had just come naturally.
And it came just as naturally to put his arms around her; the most natural thing in the world to lean down as she leaned up and they put their lips together and kissed, their first kiss, his first kiss, the softest, most beautiful kiss in the world…
But she was sitting over the other side of the room and had barely looked in his direction, and when she had she hadn’t noticed him, and she’d probably heard his mum call him ‘Bobbles’…
And then the leader of the aliens, the one that Robert had defeated in battle, had taken off his mask and underneath he had the head of a porcupine
– had taken off his mask, and said, in his cold, deep voice, ‘I am your father, Robert.’
And Robert knew that it had ever been their destiny to meet in this way, and that he must destroy his – mother – father as the ultimate triumph of good over evil.
And then he might get another kiss.
* * *
Mickey looked around the lounge, and finally picked up a TV mag. ‘Won’t be needing this any more,’ he murmured, casting a rueful eye over at the gap where only that morning the television had stood. Then he slowly made his way back to the front door, and, crouching down with a lot of yelps of pain – although probably not as many as if anyone had been present to potentially offer sympathy – wedged the magazine between the frame and the door. It probably wouldn’t stand much, but would prevent anyone bursting in on him. He glanced up at the wall, where a large red sign instructed people to STOP. Shame aliens didn’t pay any attention to that.
He had taken two shuffling steps back from the door when he heard a noise on the other side. The aliens? Mickey hurriedly looked round for a weapon. But no, a second’s concentration and he realised it was footsteps. Human footsteps. The Doctor and Rose, having forgotten something? No, it was only one person. The burglar, returning for more?
Mickey kept still and silent. Inside he was laughing and pointing at himself for the paranoia, but exposure to the