Watch Us Run |1| The Ascension | A Doctor Who/MCU Fanfiction

Prologue

Alex Tyler was not unique. At seventeen, the most unique thing about her was her passion for mechanical engineering and that was probably the only thing she was really interested in these days. Since she'd dropped out of school, her life had consisted wholly of work, home, food, and sleep. Of course, she still enjoyed spending time with her mum and sister, but they were about the only things keeping her in the world. Engineering had become a crutch for her, something to concentrate on when the men from the offices whistled at her on her way home, when the boys on the estate tried to get a little too hands-on, and whenever anyone asked her why she'd dropped out. 

In years to come, Alex would cite today as the day everything changed, but for now, it was just like any other. She'd just clocked off from work, and was on her way to the department store to meet her sister Rose. Ever since she'd dropped out, they'd made a point of walking home together, to keep each other safe. 

Nobody wanted to see a repeat of the past. 

***

Rose Tyler didn't hate her job. No, she despised it. It wasn't that the work was particularly hard—as a store assistant, she spent most of her time stocking the shelves and folding clothes. It was the customers really, the ones who would demand to use out-of-date coupons, or act like she'd personally insulted them when she told them the item they were looking for was out of stock. And being on her feet all day wasn't the best either. She'd lost count how many times she'd asked management to let them sit at the checkouts, but there'd been no response. And yet they complained when she put in the minimum effort for her minimum wage. It was ridiculous. 

So when the shop had finally closed down for the day, she was relieved, to say the least. After going out to the back to grab her bag, she met her sister at the main exit, where she was chatting to the security guard. When Alex saw Rose, she grinned. "I'll see you later, yeah?" she said. 

"Later, AJ," the guard returned. 

Alex skipped over to her sister, waving a plastic money bag at her. "Look what I've got!" 

Rose groaned. "Seriously?" 

"Oh, it's only five minutes," Alex told her. "I'll come with you." They headed for the lift. 

"How was work?" Rose asked. 

Alex shrugged. "Alright. Steve invited me to go and watch the game with them at the pub tonight."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "That's great! Are you going?" 

"Nah." Alex bit her lip. "He's not Jimmy, but... there's going to be so many blokes there, and they'll all be shouting at the telly... I just don't think I'm ready for that kind of environment yet." She caught Rose's concerned look and smiled. "Hey, it's getting better, you know? It's a process." 

She was saved having to say any more by the lift clunking into place in the basement. The two girls walked out into the dingy corridor, looking around. 

"Wilson?" Rose called, piercing the eerie silence. "Wilson, I've got the lottery money! Wilson, are you there?" She shared a look with Alex, who shrugged. "Look, we can't hang around cause they're closing the shop!" 

Something clattered to the floor in a room down the corridor, making them both jump. They headed towards the noise. 

"Wilson?" Rose called again, rolling her eyes. "Hello? It's Rose. Hello? Wilson?" Something clattered again, and they opened the door, revealing a room full of mannequins. 

"This isn't at all creepy." Alex raised her eyebrows at the figures as they walked further into the room.

Rose snorted. "Wilson? Wilson, are you there?" 

Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind them; they both ran back to it, but it was impossible to move. "You're kidding me," Alex cursed. Together, they headed back into the room, hoping to find an alternative exit. 

"Is that someone mucking about?" Rose asked. "Who is it?" 

They jumped again as a noise echoed around the room. The room was totally still—there was no sign anything living had entered it for days. 

Until the first mannequin's head began to swivel. Alex stared with wide eyes as the dummy turned to stare at them. "Rose," she whispered, grabbing her sister's arm. 

Rose swallowed hard, seeing other dummies had moved too. "Yeah, you got us. Very funny," she said, though her voice was starting to tremble. More dummies started to move towards them and she whimpered. "Right, we've got the joke. Whose idea was this? Is it Derek's? Derek, is this you?" 

Alex flinched as she felt the hard brickwork against her shoulders—they'd backed themselves into a wall and the dummies were still advancing. "I don't think it's a joke," she whispered, both of their gazes fixed on the mannequins. 

"You're right," a Northern voice said suddenly, a hand grabbing hers. "Run!" 

~~~

If you're rereading this and you're noticing it's a bit different, you're not going mad. It's been about six years since I first published this story, so I'm kind of going back through it and editing it because my writing has improved so much in these years and also because I do sometimes cringe at the shit little 13-year-old me thought was cool. Anyway, hope you enjoy, and while I know that a lot of this isn't the best at the moment, I hope you continue through it to read some of the later books in the series that I swear aren't as bad as this one (I think). Thanks for reading :)