Searching for the Doctor [attn: Rose] cont

"Yeah... Least I know I'll be in range when she does." She paused for a moment, adding helpfully. "Superphone."

Rose was quick to rise after her. "Sounds like a good idea to me, think we could walk faster pushing the bus."

"Superphone?" Donna asked, raising her eyebrows as she made her way down the bus's aisle.

"think we could walk faster pushing the bus."

Donna laughed. "I doubt if you're wrong." She disembarked the bus and waited for Rose to follow before starting down the street a little ways. She could see the HC Clemmens building looming in the sky. "Well, hello again..." she muttered bitterly under her breath as she looked up at it.

"Yeah..." Rose thought how to explain it as she followed Donna off the bus. "The Doctor did something to it, ages back, first trip actually. I was...reacting a bit badly." She admitted. "But it gets reception everywhere and when."

She glanced up at the building. "Is that it then?" There was some curiosity in her voice, but she tried to keep from pushing it, looking over at Donna.

A phone that got reception anywhere and when sounded like about the coolest thing Donna had ever heard. It also sounded very much like something the Doctor would do - tinker with a mobile until it had such abilities.

"Is that it then?"

Donna frowned up at the building and nodded. "This is it...happened down in the basement," she said.

Suddenly memories flashed into her head. The killer Santas and Christmas bulbs...Lance falling into the center of the Earth; the Doctor standing in the rain of the sprinklers staring at nothing as flames licked the air. Like he hadn't cared if he lived or died.

"Doctor! You can stop, now..."

Donna closed her eyes and shook her head, clearing her throat and pushing the memories away. "Come on, then," she said a little more brusquely than she'd meant to.

Rose opened her mouth to say something, but closed it a few seconds later, nodding instead. She realized the place had to hold some memories for Donna. She'd had her own share of attacks of them.

"Yeah. ...alright?" Rose asked her anyway as she followed a step behind. Better to check now then have something happen once they were in. If she wasn't, there was always the call to wait for...

"Yeah. ...alright?"

Donna snapped out of it and looked over at Rose. "Yeah," she replied casually.

She forced a small smile. No need to worry Rose over the past.

"Come on. Sooner we get inside, sooner we'll find out if this is something we could do," she went on. After a short pause, Donna started walking toward the building. "Right, I'd be surprised if this place wasn't locked...know how to pick one?" she asked. Donna hadn't ever picked a lot, but she thought she might be able to give it a try if Rose didn't already know.

Rose shook her head. "No, least I don't think so. Never really had to." Whenever they'd needed to get in somewhere, the Doctor'd had his sonic screwdriver, and outside of that she'd never really needed to break in places.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and there'll be a window broken out or something, and we can get through there." In retrospect though, that'd mean someone'd broken a window, possibly to get in, and might've taken what it was they were after. "We'll just have to see."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and there'll be a window broken out or something, and we can get through there."

Donna paused, hand poised above the door's handle. "That's a point..." she said slowly and looked over her shoulder at Rose. "Look, I don't want you think that I'm, y'know, a criminal, but..." she paused again to consider her words. "Maybe it'd be better for us to go around back and break a window ourselves. I haven't got any gloves...soon as I try this handle, locked or not, my fingerprints are gonna be there and I'm ninety percent sure that I'll end up in trouble for trespassing."

She wet her lips as she paused again, thinking. "We could break a window and climb through without touching anything...either way we're going to be trespassing, but that way, there's no proof to come back at me - and I say me rather than us since you're, you know...not...from here," she finished awkwardly. "What do you think?"

Rose thought that over for a few moments. "How about we try the doors on the way around, and I'll do all the handling?" She suggested finally. "They're hardly going to be able to track me down, and there isn't anything to connect us, yeah? Then if there is one unlocked we don't have to break the window. Which'd draw some attention if there was anyone nearby to hear it." She pointed out.

"If there's no luck though... Then we'll go for breaking the window. Cos you've got a point about the fingerprints."

"They're hardly going to be able to track me down, and there isn't anything to connect us, yeah? Then if there is one unlocked we don't have to break the window. Which'd draw some attention if there was anyone nearby to hear it."

Donna nodded. That was a good point. They would draw attention if anyone heard a window breaking, especially around this building.

"Right, yeah," Donna replied. "Give that a go, then. Last thing we need is someone overhearing and calling the police on us, anyway," she sighed, giving Rose a small smile.

"That'd definitely be trouble." Rose told her in agreement. On both of their cases. She moved forward, taking hold of the door's handle and trying it, to find it locked. Some pulling proved to demonstrate that the door seemed sturdy.

"No luck." She proclaimed, glancing back at Donna for a moment before squinting at the crack at the edge of the door, trying, unsuccessfully, to see if there was just the one lock. Afterwards she took a step back.

"There's an employee access door 'round back," Donna said. She paused. "There was anyway..." she amended. "Come on," she said quietly, looking furtively over her shoulder to make sure they weren't being watched.

"As odd as this is going to sound, I'm almost more hopeful that there's still something inside if the doors are all locked. I mean there isn't exactly caution tape anymore, so I doubt it's locked for police investigation. I 'magine they finished that ages ago..." She started around the building slowly to make sure Rose was still with her.

"Doors don't really vanish, so it should still be there." Rose pointed out, following after Donna after her own brief scan of the surroundings.

"Doesn't sound odd at all." Her tone was reassuring, she'd just had the same thought a couple minutes ago. She kept her pace up as getting seperated at night near an abandoned building wasn't exactly her idea of a night. "Hopefully if they did finish, they didn't clean everything out."

"Hopefully if they did finish, they didn't clean everything out."

"Or take anything away, for that matter," Donna muttered more to herself than to Rose. "Here," she said, stopping.

The door was hidden in a sense that it blended in perfectly with the building and only people that knew where it was would give it a passing glance. "See that little square, there?" she asked, pointing to a small, brick-shaped area only distinguishable by its very slight difference in color. "There's a keypad if you open that. Code's 468390, or at least it was. Could've been changed since."

"Yeah..." Rose muttered in agreement. She looked at where Donna was pointing for a moment, blinking to be sure she saw it completely. Moving forward she managed to get the discolored area opened, revealing the keypad. Squinting at it she decided it looked like it still had power.

"4..6..8..3..9..0." She repeated the numbers as she pressed them. Once they were entered Rose took a step backwards, and waited to see what, if anything, would happen.

Donna started to count down in her head. 5...4...3...

"It'll take a tick," she said quietly.

2...1...

The door made a clicking sound. "Blimey," Donna breathed, letting out a huff of laughter. "Bloody thing still works! Go back up to the keyboard and type in 01100. It'll save us the trouble of prying the door open. It's unlocked but the handle broke off a few weeks after I started workin' 'ere. That code will set the hydrolics into motion or whatever and the door'll open itself like at the grocery," she instructed.

Rose grinned as the door clicked open. One more step down. "Right-" She followed Donna's instructions, going back to the keypad and tapping in the second code.

"Must still have some power, wonder if it's just the pad, or if the whole building still has it?" Rose thought out loud as she waited for the door. A thought hit her. "We should've brought a torch probably."

"We should've brought a torch probably."

Donna sighed as the door opened. "Bollocks, didn't think of that. I've got this little key light on my keychain, but I don't know how much good it'll do us..." she said. "Guess we'll find out, yeah? When we get inside, there's a long hallway and I assume we're going to have to take the stairs. Elevator's probably wrecked even if there is power. We head to the bottom floor and see what's left after the Doctor's destruction, I s'pose. Ready?"

She looked over at Rose. Donna had to wonder just how comfortable Rose was with breaking and entering. Sure, they'd met inside Torchwood One, which was clearly off-limits, but Rose had just sort of shown up there, rather than breaking in the way Donna had.

"It'll be better than nothing anyway." They'd just have to watch their step. If there was something that they really needed to see, they'd have that. "More stairs. I'm sensing a pattern." Her tone was light, but once she nodded it became more serious. "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's see what's left for us."

Rose smiled at her, confident. She was far from uncomfortable when it came to the topic. Especially when it came to bigger buildings. Personal residences she'd have an issue with.

Donna switched on the small flashlight attached to her keyring and it illuminated the pitch black hallway dully with blue light. Donna was suddenly reminded of the sonic screwdriver and her heart clenched. They could either be so close...or still so far.

"More stairs. I'm sensing a pattern."

She grinned at Rose. "I think the universe thinks we need exercise, yeah?" she joked as she stepped inside. She looked back over her shoulder at Rose.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's see what's left for us."

Rose smiled at her, confident.

Donna instantly felt relieved. "Brilliant. Y'know, in another life, Rose..." she mused, smiling a little wanly. She thought if maybe they'd met under different circumstances or if Rose was from Donna's world, still, maybe they'd be friends. She genuinely liked Rose. She'd already been considering Rose her partner in crime, but now, well...she quite literally was.

"Big on exercise then, the universe." She joked lightly. "Let's just hope it's got a point for it all." The color of the light didn't pass her notice. Part of her urged it to be a sign, even if that was a bit silly.

"What about another life?" The question almost asked itself as Rose made her own way inside the building, glancing around to get an idea of it. She didn't see anything majorly wrong with the current life. Nothing that couldn't be fixed.

"What about another life?"

Donna smiled a little. "Just...maybe we'd be friends, is all," she said casually as she walked further down the hallway. "Watch your step," she advised as she nearly tripped over a piece of fallen debris. Donna pointed at it to warn Rose before slipping her hand back up into her sleeve a little ways and using it to cover her hand before pushing the door to the stairwell open.

"I wish this stupid thing had white light," Donna sighed and even as she said it, she wasn't sure she meant it. The blue light felt safe and familiar, even if it was practically useless for lighting their way. It reminded her of the Doctor and gave her a tiny ray of hope. She looked over her shoulder at Rose and frowned; Rose was no longer anything more than a shadow following behind her carefully.

"Thanks.." Rose frowned slightly as she stepped over the debris. She wondered what exactly was stopping them from being friends in that life, but didn't ask. Maybe it'd been something obvious she'd missed, or she'd meant in a more conventional way.

"I don't know..." She mused, taking hold of the stairwell door herself, reaching around Donna. "I like the blue. Besides, with one that size...wouldn't make much of a difference, would it?" Especially, she figured, once they were in the stairwell.

"I like the blue. Besides, with one that size...wouldn't make much of a difference, would it?"

Donna paused and nodded, smiling slightly. "I suppose you're right," she replied thoughtfully.

Something occurred to Donna just then. "Rose, do you have control over when you come and go? I mean..." she paused and looked back at Rose in the darkness. "You're not going to randomly disappear on me and leave me in this creepy place all by myself, right?" she asked, laughing uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I've got control. As far as I know there's no automatic timer. Shouldn't be one. I'm not going anywhere. There's even a code I've got to put in so I can't just bump accidentally." Rose assured her. The idea of not having control over it was...rather awful. She didn't want to think about the idea of finding him just to be pulled back to the other universe.

"If I disapear...it'll have nothing to do with that." Rose paused for a moment. "Didn't mean to make that sound so...morbid. I'm not going to disapear though, anymore than you are."