Chapter Text
Chapter 1 - Back to Action
Rose released a sigh of relief at the first glimpse she caught of the Tyler mansion.
A sigh she wanted to take back at the sight of the two women standing next to the front entrance. She could only assume that the pink convertible parked nearby belonged to them. The last time Pete tried to buy her a car had resulted in World War III in the mansion and a screaming match between the two of them to rival the one after she’d returned from being “missing” with the Doctor.
Despite almost two years of calling home, she still felt odd at times feeling a connection to the place. There’d been moments during her crossings when she questioned if she’d ever see it again.
The Doctor leaned over Rose to see what had drawn her attention. He opened his mouth to speak but Jackie’s acceleration threw him back against the seat. The vehicle had barely stopped when Jackie crossed the driveway towards the unknown women.
The Tyler matriarch had had a half a minute verbal headstart when Rose reached her side. In her experience, people showing up out of the blue to her doorstep rarely worked out in Rose’s favour.
“Sorry to drop in on you guys like this,” said the petite brunette, American accent all too clear. “But we need your help.”
Rose didn’t expect the Australian accent from the taller blonde woman that stopped the Doctor’s automatic forward step. “Rose Tyler, what we need to tell you beggars belief. But I assure it’s all true.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Rose watched the momentary blush that coloured the Doctor’s face all the way up to the tips of his ears. When he’d had the more prominent ears, they’d been her go-to tell of when he’d felt embarrassed.
Rose squeezed his elbow before stepping in front of the group. “If I’m going to help you, I need to know who you are first.”
“I’m Kimberly.” The brunette waved, then gestured to her companion. “And this is Kat.”
Kat clasped her hands in front of her.” Before we explain why we sought you out, there’s something extraordinary we must tell you. If not for my own experience, what I’m about to say would sound like nonsense.”
Rose waved off the rest of Kat’s speech, as she already knew what they were building up to. “Aliens are real and on Earth. Some are good, some not so much. I already know.”
“Huh.” Kim crossed her arms. “And I thought that’d be the hard part.”
***
“I know I was a hard sell at first, but I changed my mind pretty fast. I had to.” Kim placed the sugar container back on the tray. “But a small army of animated clay monsters trying to tear you limb from limb make a convincing argument.”
Rose snorted. “Tell me about it. I’m at my job and an alien sentience takes over the mannequins and they try to kill me.” She couldn’t help looking over at the metacrisis seated next to her on the sofa. He walked like the Doctor, couldn’t keep his gob shut like him too. As demonstrated on the trip home from Norway in the zeppelin where he’d come close to another slap from Jackie. But he’d been quiet since touching down in London.
She wasn’t used to him taking a backseat role. But then again, she hadn’t seen him for over two years and she knew this universe better than he did.
Kat set down her teacup on the table. “The reason we’ve sought you out is an extraterrestrial entity we’d been trying to trackdown that crashed in this area about a year ago. It would’ve looked like a falling star.”
“I might know something about that.” Rose paused. “But I want to know your story first. Clay monsters aside, there’s got to be more to it than that.”
“Evil space witch,” Kim said. “Mystical powers. Ginormous robot fighting monsters. Lather, rinse repeat. Plus the occasional random brainwashing.”
“As well as gaining and losing powers, with the odd time/space travel,” Kat added as she reached to refill her cup.
“And where exactly do your mystical powers come from?” asked the Doctor, breaking his silence at last.
Kim and Kat shared a look, Kat yielding the floor to Kim to answer.
“The way it was explained to us when we got our powers was that they came from something called the Morphing Grid.”
“Hang on.” He pulled out his specs, looking closely at the visitors. His nostrils flared as he took a big whiff in their direction. “Of course!” He slapped his leg. “That’s what I couldn’t identify. It’s not artron energy coming off of you. You’re one of Zordon’s!”
Pete and Jackie had abstained from joining them in the tea room, needing to put Tony down for his nap. This left Rose and the Doctor alone with their guests to speak in private.
His exclamation was met with suspicious and incredulous looks.
“You knew Zordon?” Disbelief coloured Kat’s tone as she crossed her arms.
The Doctor nodded. “Zordon was a good...well not man because he wasn’t one because he wasn’t from Earth. Zordon was a good friend, a good leader. Of all my friends that I lost during the Time War, he was the only one that got it.” His sip of tea lasted longer than previous ones as he had difficulty swallowing.
Rose placed her hand over his clenched fist. The recent trip down memory lane courtesy of Davros made the Time War entirely too close for comfort for her. She couldn’t imagine what it felt like for him.
Kim and Kat blurted different questions. This time Kim ceded the floor. “Got what, exactly?”
Pouring himself another cup, he stalled to form his answer. He waved around him. “Earth.” He snorted. “I’ve saved this planet more times than I can count. Sometimes I don’t even know why I bother. But this is a planet of potential, of possibilities. Zordon thought the same thing. It’s why he adapted the powers to work with humans. Sometimes you just need to save yourselves.”
Before Kim could repeat her question, a six-note tune came from Kim’s odd looking watch.