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

Chapter Eleven: The Empty Child

"What's the emergency?" Alex demanded, stumbling into the console room as the ship rocked from side to side. She was not impressed at having been woken by the tumultuous flight. In fact, she was still strapping her toolbelt around her waist.

"It's mauve, apparently," Rose told her, shrugging.

Alex blinked. "Mauve?"

The Doctor glanced across at her, grinning. "The universally recognised colour for danger."

"What happened to red?" she wondered, grabbing onto the railings as they tipped and twisted again.

"Oh, that's just humans," he told her. "By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings! All those red alerts, all that dancing." He showed her the monitor as she made it to his side. "It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "And that's safe, is it?"

"Totally," the Doctor assured her. Something exploded on the console, making Alex lean into him to avoid the sparks. "Okay, reasonably," he amended, putting an arm around her to steady her. "Should have said reasonably there." He glanced back to the monitor and made a face. "No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."

Alex shook her head, doing her level best to not blush at his hand on her waist. "So what exactly is this thing?"

"No idea," he admitted.

Rose stared. "Well, why are we chasing it, then?"

He grinned. "It's mauve, it's dangerous, and it's about thirty seconds from the centre of London." The TARDIS landed with a jolt.

***

They walked out into a back alley between buildings. It was nighttime, so the unlit street was lined with shadows.

"Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?" the Doctor remarked, locking the doors behind them.

"Five days?" Rose guessed. "Or is that just when we're out of milk?"

He wrinkled his nose. "Of all the species in all the universe, it has to come out of a cow." He got back to the point as they turned onto a street. "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."

"A month?" Alex echoed. "I thought we were right behind it."

"Well, it was jumping time tracks all over the place," he told her. "We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?"

She grinned. "Can I?" He rolled his eyes.

"How much is a little?" Rose teased.

He shrugged. "A bit."

"And is that exactly a bit?"

"Ish."

Alex shook her head at them, laughing. "What's the plan then?"

"Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?" Rose asked, excited.

The Doctor sighed. "Girls, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask." He showed them his fake ID.

"Dr John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids," Rose read, raising her eyebrows.

"It's psychic paper," he said. "It tells you—"

"Whatever you want it to tell us," Alex finished. "We remember."

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly. "You sure about that shirt?"