A Partner in crime

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Rose crouched down beside her sister, rubbing her back gently as the Doctor and Jack looked around. Neither man could really understand what had just happened, but Rose knew. She had been on the receiving end of that voice, that look, and she wasn't the only one. Anyone who got that attitude behaved in seconds, she just took a leap of faith that the patients - acting like children - would as well.

"Are you alright?" the blonde asked, leaning her head on Mei's shoulder.

The brunette made a noise of agreement, before pulling herself and her sister to their feet. Rose ducked her head to catch Mei's eyes, confirming the answer, before she wandered off to get a closer look at the patients. 

Jack kicked his feet up on the desk as he took a seat, fiddling with his wrist contraption and the Doctor wandered around looking lost in thought. Mei wasn't entirely sure what he was thinking, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know going by the scowl.

"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose asked, breaking the silence.

"They're not," Jack responded, looking over at her, "Those masks are flesh and bone."

"Maybe whatever was in the ship, mistook the gas mask for the actual face," Mei said drifting of in a daze that reminded the Doctor and Rose of being back in Downing Street, "Think's it knows what we look like now so it needs to fix the rest of us. But what could do that?"

The Doctor placed a hand on her lower back, making her jump. She blinked up at him, having realised what had happened and smiled to reassure him that she was alright. He gave her a small nod, before looking at Jack, "How was your con supposed to work?"

Blinking suspiciously between the two, Jack explained, "Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."

"Perfect?" Rose huffed, waving her arms around, "Does this look perfect to you?"

Shrugging her off, Jack continued, "The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day-OUCH!"

He hadn't seen the look Mei gave him, but if he had, he'd also have noticed the way she flicked her hand in his direction. The chair he had been leaning back on two legs fell under him, causing him to clatter to the ground painfully.

Rose snorted, covering her mouth with her hand so she wouldn't full on laugh and Mei quickly looked way, acting innocent. The Doctor gave her an impressed grin, surprised at the handle she seemed to have on her abilities, before turning back to Jack who was pulling himself from the floor.

"Would you take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did."

"It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty," he insisted.

"You keep saying that but clearly, you missed something," Mei told him, rolling her eyes.

"Come on," the Doctor said gently, taking her hand, "Rose!"

"Are we getting out of here?" the blonde asked as she hurried after the pair.

"We're going upstairs," he replied, leading them toward the door, with Jack scrambling to keep up.

"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it!"

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