castrovalva9 - Doctor Who fic: Time Lag (PG)

Subject:	Doctor Who fic: Time Lag (PG)
Time:	05:06 pm
Current Mood:	anxious

Title: Time Lag
Author:

castrovalva9
Characters: Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough
Rating: PG
Prompt: Something that mixes up concepts from very different eras (mad example off the top of my head: the Five era TARDIS crew encounter Faction Paradox).
Recipient:

ionlylurkhere
Word count: about 2,400
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters depicted within.
Author's notes: Apologies for the extreme lateness of this posting. :(
According to comm guidelines (

classicdw_fic), using historical Torchwood in this story is acceptable. No current TW characters appear. Note that the Torchwood branch depicted here is the one based in London, not the one in Cardiff.
Set after Enlightenment.
Beta read by KaraMT.
Summary: In 1979 London, the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough accidentally crash a Torchwood party.

The fact that Tegan clutched Turlough's arm for support was a sign of just how rocky their latest trip through the vortex was. On most days, Tegan tried to avoid even the slightest brush of contact with her newest travelling companion. Indeed, if she had her way, she wouldn't be breathing the same air as him. But he was there, so was she, and his presence did prove useful in saving her from a nasty fall. Still, when the TARDIS finally jolted to a stop, she jerked her hand away and she muttered, "This place had better be worth the trouble."

"Where are we?" asked Turlough, who was looking a little green himself.

"London, 1979," the Doctor proclaimed after a study of the console. "Isn't that wonderful?" he added, conveniently ignoring the fact that he had assured Tegan he was aiming for 3030 Brisbane.

"Oh, yeah," Tegan agreed. "My dream destination." The Doctor didn't bat an eye at her tone, and Tegan sighed. Sometimes she thought he didn't even listen to the promises he made her."Well, what part of London is it?" she prodded.

They all turned to stare at the scanner. The display was black.

"So, is it broken, or did we land in a place that's totally without light?" Turlough wondered.

"Let's find out." The Doctor hit the door switch and strode outside to check their surroundings.

Tegan followed so closely that she nearly bumped into him when he stopped after just a few steps. It was indeed dark. But although Tegan could see virtually nothing, she could hear music and laughter. It sounded like a lot of nearby people were having a very good time indeed. In short, the setup was already far more promising than most of those she had encountered whilst travelling with the Doctor. Circling him, she felt along the wall until her hand hit a doorknob.

She turned the knob and peered through the resulting crack, to see a large adjoining room where a party was clearly in full swing. Colourful decorations festooned the place; she saw cake and ice cream, balloons and streamers.

"I'm going in," she promptly informed the Doctor, who had moved to stand beside her.

He placed a restraining hand on her arm. "A little caution, please, Tegan. I have a bad feeling about this place."

She shrugged away, almost elbowing Turlough in the process. "Let me get this straight: We land in the middle of a party where everyone is having a good time and you want to run away, yet every time we end up in a dark pit or a deserted quarry or a creepy cave, you're determined to stay? What is wrong with that picture? Well, you can do what you want, but I'm not leaving so soon. This place looks like fun."

The Doctor turned to Turlough. "Do you have an opinion?"

Turlough shrugged. "On sheer principle, I probably should disagree with everything Tegan says. But as long as I don't have to go back to public school, I don't care what we do here."

"Fine," the Doctor relented. "We'll stay for one hour. That's all."

That reluctant concession was good enough for Tegan, who exited the room she now realised was an unused office. With a put-upon sigh, the Doctor shepherded Turlough after her.

Tegan glanced around. The several dozen people in the large room continued to dance and chat, apparently oblivious to the newcomers in their midst. She still wasn't sure precisely where they were, but noticed a huge banner that stretched the length of the room above everyone's heads. In large red letters, it screamed:

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Torchwood, the best secret alien-fighting organisation in the world!

"Hey, Doc." Tegan nudged him and nodded towards the lettering. "Looks like they're the good guys. I guess your bad feeling was wrong."

"No, I still have it. And remember, to them, Turlough and I are aliens," he grumbled, narrowly surveying the revellers. "Besides, if they battle aliens and have been around for a century, why is this the first time I'm hearing about them?"

Tegan again eyed the partygoers, in a new light now that she had identified a potential threat to her friends. Well, a potential threat to one friend, plus Turlough. At first glance they looked pretty normal to her. Then she noticed that each person sported a ridiculous little gold badge with a smiley face and the phrase "We are Torchwood" stamped across it. Everyone, that was, except for a nearby group of teenage girls wearing heavy makeup. They were conspicuously badgeless.

"Hi, I'm Tegan," she shouted to them above the swelling music.

"Amanda," the closest girl called back.

"Aren't you a little young to have a job here?"

"Oh, I don't work for this Torchwood place. We were just in Boots and we overheard some fellows talking about a party tonight, so we decided to follow them and crash it. I guess it's okay. I mean, the sign said 'staff only' but no one's enforcing it. We all just walked right in."

"Oh." Tegan glanced at the Doctor, hoping he hadn't heard.

"This is an awfully loud party for a secret organisation to be throwing," Turlough dubiously observed. "And why hasn't anyone noticed us and realised we're definitely not their co-workers and therefore shouldn't even be here in the first place?"

The Doctor shifted impatiently. "What was your point in coming here, Tegan? You're not doing much. Perhaps you and Turlough should dance."

"No!" Tegan and Turlough chorused, in a rare moment of harmony.

"No, I'll just..." Tegan continued, but before she could finish her sentence, the music faded away. Following the lead of everyone else, Tegan, Turlough, and the Doctor turned to the front of the room, where a slender, middle-aged woman stood.

When she seemed satisfied that she commanded their attention, she smiled broadly and trumpeted, "Good news, team. I've just received word that last month was a banner month for Torchwood. We were directly responsible for only 57 civilian deaths, which was a record and constituted a 43% reduction from the same period last year. Let's aim for just 50 civilian deaths next month, all right?"

A mighty cheer rocked the room. The music boomed to life again, and celebratory dancing ensued.

Slightly stunned, Tegan turned away. That woman was joking, she assured herself. She had to be. Because if not... the alternative didn't bear thinking about.

Next to her, the Doctor suddenly cried, "I knew something was wrong!"

Tegan followed his gaze, to see that his attention was focused upon two giggling young Asian women who were holding hands and heading towards a dark corner. "What's wrong?" she asked the Doctor, thoroughly puzzled.

"You'll see," he darkly assured her before he took several quick strides and blocked the women's path. He fixed his gaze upon the small blue object in the shorter woman's free hand. "That is not a toy, young lady!" He grabbed it from her palm, then turned to her companion. "And neither is--" He stopped abruptly and stared at the long, curved object she held. "Actually, that one is a toy. Pardon me."

Mission evidently accomplished, the Doctor returned to Turlough and Tegan. Both looked at the confiscated item, which was roughly the size of a banknote. "So, what is it?" Tegan said.

"A Maut Bomb," Turlough answered before the Doctor could. "If dropped with sufficient force, it could easily destroy an area the size of, say, Cardiff."

The Doctor nodded. "Exactly. It's alien technology that shouldn't even exist on Earth at this time."

"Oh." Tegan rather wished she hadn't raised the question. "Well, that doesn't have to mean anything really bad, does it?"

The Doctor began to study the other occupants of the room. "It could mean something very bad indeed. I'll know soon."

With an impatient shrug, Tegan started to work her way towards the near snack table. "While you're doing whatever you have in mind, I'm getting something to eat." She mumbled an apology as she almost collided with a stout man who wandered into her path, his eyes fixed on an oblong metal object he held.

"Tegan!" the Doctor shouted from behind her. "He's holding a Wractus Disseminator! Upside down!" He lunged towards the man.

The crowd worked against him. Before the Doctor could cover the distance, the man's fumbling fingers found the square button on the bottom of the device. He frowned in evident puzzlement and then pressed the button.

Instantly, a piercing wail filled the room, so strident it drowned out the music. A multi-coloured streak of light flew out of the end of the device and soared in great circles about the room, seeming to double in size every second. From a single metre, it expanded to at least four as Tegan watched in horror.

"Someone stop it!" Amanda screamed.

Two Torchwood employees yanked out guns and wildly fired. A bullet whistled past Tegan's ear; all around her, people ducked and dived for cover.

Through the din, Tegan thought she heard the Doctor yelling something about liquids. She received confirmation when she saw him grab a glass of wine from a nearby table and hurl the contents at the circling creature. It squealed and slowed its movements, making it easy for Tegan to aid the Doctor. After a few direct hits with various liquids, the odd being simply dissolved into thin air.

"What the hell was that thing?" Tegan panted.

The Doctor ignored her. "You!" He whirled on the young employee who had liberated the creature. "Where did you find that Wractus Disseminator?"

"Where did I find what?" the man responded blankly.

"You don't even know the name of the item you were just handling?"

"You mean that metal thing? I borrowed it from the lab," he blustered. "It's not like I'm the only one. I bet half the people in this room have borrowed from there. No harm done this time anyway, right?"

After taking a deep breath, the Doctor spoke in a tone of exaggerated patience. "Through sheer carelessness, you released a vicious alien that had no scruples and would have gladly slaughtered everyone in the room, including you. Luckily, I was here. Certainly no one else had any idea of what to do, except of course to run or to recklessly fire their weapons. Speaking of which, are there any injuries?"

Tegan quickly ascertained that aside from one bullet graze and various bumps and bruises, no one had been harmed during the unfortunate incident.

"Turlough," the Doctor ordered, "go back to the TARDIS and fetch a sack. A very large sack. Tegan, help me find more contraband. Look for anything that seems out of time or place."

At this statement, there was much muttering and grumbling. Quite a few employees, it seemed, had raided the Torchwood lab.

"Figures," Tegan muttered as she began her work. "We can't even land in a normal party. No, it has to be a party full of incompetent buffoons."

Together, she, the Doctor, and Turlough worked to confiscate a number of dangerous items. After lugging the second sackful back to the TARDIS and locking it inside, Tegan went back to find the Doctor. To her dismay, he was not yet ready to leave. Instead he appeared to be intent on delivering an individual lecture to each person in the room. Heaving a sigh, Tegan looked around for any way of salvaging something positive from this experience.

She didn't see much on offer, and out of sheer boredom decided to read the text of a large plaque on the east wall bearing the label "The History of Torchwood". The first line was far more disturbing than she could ever have guessed, however.

"Oh, no." Tegan quit reading and desperately cast around for the Doctor. There was Turlough, wearing his patented "bored" expression as he leaned against a wall. And there was the Doctor, wagging a forefinger in the face of a hapless Torchwood employee as, finally, a group of uniformed guards moved towards him with purpose.

Tegan bulled forward, scattering a group of dancers in the process. She reached the Doctor, got a good grip on his arm, and fairly dragged him towards the TARDIS. Mere security guards were no match for a determined Tegan; they quickly outstripped their pursuers.

"Turlough! Get your arse over here!" Tegan yelled as she and the Doctor flew past him.

The ring of command in her voice compelled him. All three of them beat the guards to the abandoned office and slipped inside the TARDIS.

"Tegan!" The Doctor shook free of her hand and stared at her. "I wasn't ready to leave yet. I needed to make speeches about firearm safety, employee conduct and ethics, and hiring standards."

"What did you think you were going to accomplish?" she retorted. "Lecture them into becoming competent? Believe me, it's for the best that we go somewhere else right away."

"But-but, they raided the lab!" He sounded as if he could hardly believe his own ears. "They were toying with dangerous pieces of alien technology. Pressing mauve buttons. The sheer incompetence is astounding! This never would have happened at UNIT. The party responsible for the establishment of this organisation ought to be pilloried."

Tegan broke in before he could continue his rant, which promised to be a long one. "I can tell you missed the history lesson, so I'll fill you in and then maybe you'll feel differently about that pillory thing. This is a direct quote: 'Torchwood: founded in 1879 by Queen Victoria as a response to the actions of the infamous enemy of the Crown known only as the Doctor.' So it's all your fault."

Silence reigned for a moment. The Doctor's face fell. Tegan winced (this was one moment when she regretted the sharpness of her temper). Even Turlough managed to contort his face into an expression that might possibly qualify as sympathetic.

"Oh, dear," the Doctor finally murmured. "I do hope it isn't this incarnation of me that ends up inspiring the queen."

Tegan figured the Doctor had good reason to worry, considering that some of his signature moves included contributing to Adric's death, leaving Nyssa on a space station full of lepers, habitually failing to return Tegan herself to Heathrow, and picking up a homicidal new companion whose motives remained cloudy. Nevertheless, he looked so woebegone that she loyally lied, "I'm sure the founding of Torchwood isn't down to this you. You just must have a really inept future incarnation who's going to be behind it all."

The Doctor smiled weakly. "Something to look forward to, I suppose."

Tegan immediately vowed that if the TARDIS ever did materialise in Victorian England whilst she remained on board, she would do everything in her power to get the Doctor to leave without ever setting foot outdoors. Better safe than sorry!

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January 17th, 2008

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