MANHATTAN, JUNE 01, 1996

He stood outside of the warehouse on First and Avenue A, waiting for the right moment to strike. About ten minutes to showtime. Just when the actual sale would be made. Then he'd burst in with the new high tech toys and clip everyone in sight. Grab the cash and the merch and get the hell out of Dodge.

It was gonna be a nice score, even better because he was ripping off swag he'd sold a couple of days ago. He came up with the concept while selling the stuff to the local crew boss. Bastard only gave him a small piece of what it was really worth. Knowing the guy would try to make money off the gear, he tailed the crew boss and got the dirt on the meet. He didn't know who the buyer was; didn't care either.

He saw the buyer enter the warehouse, along with three thugs. That made ten in the warehouse by his count. No big deal with his new toys. There could be fifty or a hundred mooks in there, and he'd still win.

He pulled out a small case and flipped a lid. A small screen gave him a view of the warehouse from the ceiling. He'd planted a camera in the warehouse earlier. Ten men gathered around a table, almost all packing heat. He saw the buyer take a briefcase from one of his thugs and lay it on the table. The buyer opened the case, packed with hundred dollar bills. He closed the lid on the viewer and stuffed it into his pocket. Time to head in.

He thought briefly of kicking in the door and making a grand entrance, but decided that creeping in ninja-style was the smart play. He walked over to a side door and jimmied it open with a credit card.

The warehouse was filled with boxes of swag, making it easier to approach the deal without being spotted. He pulled out his two toys from shoulder holsters. One was the size and shape of a .9mm, but much lighter and a wider, cone-shaped opening. The other was a six inch black rod with a ball on the end and a single black button in the middle. He shoved the rod into the front of his pants for easy access and readied himself for some killing.

The money was counted using one of those electronic counters. The seller signalled to one of his thugs. Two more punks came in, each carrying an anvil case. Time to get busy.

He stepped out from behind a pile of boxes and fired the .9mm high-tech toy. A wide red ray discharged from the gun, hitting three of the seller's thugs. Each thug aged rapidly, until they collapsed on the floor, reduced to dusty skeletons in tattered clothes. The other thugs took cover and drew weapons. He fired the gun a second time. Four more thugs aged to death in seconds. The rest of the mooks took off for the front entrance. He smiled. This is too easy. He pulled out the rod and fired it at the fleeing criminals. A burst of yellow energy flew from the rod and hit the floor in front of the door of the warehouse. A shimmering hole formed on the floor. He watched with glee as the rest of the thugs were sucked into the shimmering hole. He pushed the button on the rod a second time, and the hole disappeared.

He allowed himself a smile and a laugh before heading to the cases.

***

Romana heard an alarm signal from the round control panel of her TARDIS. Out of habit, she pressed a few switches and checked the alarm source.

EXTERNAL TEMPORAL DISTURBANCES EMANATING FROM SOL 3 IN MUTTER'S SPIRAL.

The Time Lady moved to a different section of the console and pressed a few more buttons.

LOCATION: MANHATTAN EARTH DATE 6/1/96 LOCAL TIME 11:33 PM.

Romana pursed her lips and whistled. Out of habit, she tucked a few strands of her chestnut hair behind her right ear while she thought. She had planned to start her re-education in London, but knew she'd be remiss if she didn't investigate the source of the disturbance. The Doctor had told her more than once that he felt he couldn't go on without doing his duty, so to speak.

She reset the co-ordinates for Manhattan, a place her mentor had mentioned before, but never got around to showing her.

A few moments later, Romana's TARDIS materialised at the site of the disturbance. She checked the scanner for signs of activity. The TARDIS had materialised in a warehouse filled with crates. There was a long table in an open space, surrounded by chairs. An open briefcase sat on one end of the table.

Then she spotted the skeletons. It sent a shiver up her spine.

Romana turned off the scanner, then walked over to another section of the console and pressed a few buttons. A small gadget, the size and shape of a palm-sized computer extended out from the control panel. Romana took the device and exited her ship.

Romana made her way to the table, checking the area for signs of life. She saw the briefcase contained money, before moving to the skeletons. Carefully, she examined the skeletons without touching them, waving the device over the remains. The readings on the display confirmed her fears.

"Unstable time field," she said to herself. Romana remembered the horrible death of Professor Kerensky in Paris. Alarmed by what she found, Romana searched the warehouse, hoping to find the source of the anomaly.

***

The cases were in the trunk of the beemer. All he needed to do was go back for the money. A little bonus for himself. Then it was time to hit the highway. He got out of his car, dreams of wild times in Atlantic City bouncing around his head.

He pulled out his picks to open the door, but stopped after hearing quiet footsteps. This wasn't good. Someone else was about to get dusted. He pulled out his viewer, but saw nothing but his money and the remains of the mooks he took out. Shoving the viewer back in his pocket, he picked the lock quietly, planning to surprise the fool who signed their death sentence by being in his warehouse where his Atlantic City money was.

He worked his way around the stacked crates. It pissed him off that he didn't get everyone the first time around. He always believed in doing the job once. Clean up work was just a pain in the ass. More time wasted. He pulled out his high tech pistol, ready to go to war.

***

Romana moved to the doors when the display on her device showed a different time anomaly. She pressed a button. The display showed that a wormhole had been opened in the floor. Puzzled, she headed back to her TARDIS to confirm her readings.

***

He stepped out from behind the crates and saw a woman walking towards him. This was unexpected. She had a nice body: firm and curvy, topped with long brown hair. He decided not to kill her, at least not now. He was thinking about a bonus of a different kind.

She hadn't notice him yet; her eyes were glued to a palm pilot. Time to make himself known.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" he yelled. The woman stopped. She looked up, annoyed and amused, as if she'd been interrupted.

"Looking for something that shouldn't be here," she said. The foreign accent threw him off for a second. He got angrier. He pointed his gun at the woman. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't whack you."

"Whack me? What does that mean?" If she was scared, she wasn't showing it.

Who didn't know what getting whacked meant, he thought. He thought about backslapping her, but decided not to.

"Forget it. Just don't move, and shut up," he growled.

The woman just smiled.

He walked over to the woman and snatched the palm pilot out of her hand. He looked at the display, which was filled with strings of numbers and weird symbols that looked like Japanese characters. It also looked like one of the items from tonight's job. He shoved the palm pilot into his pocket.

"Where did you get this?" he demanded.

"From my home." The voice was smooth as silk.

"Bafongool," he muttered to himself. Seeing no other option, and feeling a need to end this, he aimed his high tech gun at the woman's head.

"It's mine now."

***

Romana saw the gun and felt her hearts beat rapidly upon recognition. She knew it was the source of the unstable time field: a cellular accelerator, straight from Gallifrey.

She kept her eyes on the weapon. The man holding it was young, well-dressed and had a sinister look on his face.

"May I ask where you got your weapon?" Romana asked, maintaining her calm. If all else fails, stall your adversary, she thought.

"No," the man said. "Time to say goodbye."

"Before you do anything rash, like kill me, listen to what I have to say," Romana said, still staring at the barrel of the accelerator. "I think I can be of service to you."

The man lowered the gun slightly. "How?"

"I can make you a weapon more powerful than that," Romana said, confidently.

"Bullshit. This is alien stuff here," he replied, pointing the gun towards the ceiling.

"So am I."

***

He felt a regret about not killing the woman on sight, but let it go. There was something weird about her. Maybe she really was from Mars or somewhere else in space. He thought about the alien palm pilot he took off of her. Gotta be something to it, he thought. He pointed to one of the chairs at the table.

"Have a seat."

The alien woman walked over and took a seat, tucking her legs under her butt.

***

Romana felt better when the man holstered the accelerator. She watched him take a chair and spin it around, so he could sit on it backwards. She saw a wand tucked into his pants, a wormhole generator. This is getting worse, she thought.

"So, do you have a name?" Romana asked, still unsure what to do.

"McManus will do."

"I'm Romana," she smiled. "First things first. I need my time field indicator back."

"Time field indicator?"

"The device you confiscated from me."

McManus reached into his pocket and tossed the time field indicator on the table. Romana reached for it slowly. McManus pulled out his accelerator.

"Don't be stupid. Stupidity will get you killed."

"I have no intention of being stupid, Mister McManus," Romana replied.

"As long as we understand each other," McManus said. "So, start talking. Don't try to bullshit me either."

"Bullshit?"

"Yeah, lie to me."

"I have no intention of lying to you," Romana said, "How would you like to be able to send someone into reverse with your weapon there?"

"Reverse?"

"Yes," Romana replied, "regress someone back to birth?"

"Now why would I want to do something like that?"

"It's a bit more humane than ageing someone to death," Romana replied.

"Why wouldn't I want to just kill them?"

Romana smiled, "It's just one option. I could probably do much more with the accelerator."

"Interesting," McManus said, examining his gun. His eyes lit up with possibilities.

Romana switched the time field indicator with her TARDIS remote while her captor stared at the accelerator rapturously.

"Yes, very interesting," Romana replied while pressing a button on the remote. A wheezing sound filled the air, and a packing crate materialised around McManus.

Romana stood up. "Let's see," she said, staring at the multitude of buttons on her remote. "There it is." Laughing, Romana pressed the button she wanted.

***

Romana entered her TARDIS. She calmly walked over to McManus, who was pinned to the wall of the control room.

"It's a limbo atrophier, Mister McManus. Don't bother trying to move, it'll only make things worse."

McManus tried to open his mouth, but found it impossible.

"By the way," Romana said, removing the accelerator and the wormhole generator from her prisoner. "These do not belong to you." She placed them on the console for the time being.

"I will turn off the atrophier, Mister McManus, and then we're going to have a chat."

Romana pressed a button on the console. McManus fell off the wall and crashed to the floor.

"Now, I need to know where you got the weapons from," Romana asked. "It's very important you tell me where you got them. This whole planet could be in danger."

Disoriented by his surroundings and the effects of the atrophier, McManus picked himself off the floor and stumbled towards Romana, ready to cause bodily harm.

"Fine. Have it your way." Romana activated the atrophier and McManus slammed against the wall of the control room. She didn't like what she was about to do to her prisoner, but saw no other option due to his violent nature. Romana moved to the telepathic circuits on the control panel and set about accessing McManus' thoughts.

***

He was greeted by a headache worse than any hangover he ever had. Opening his eyes, he saw he was back in the warehouse; the weird white room was gone. He stood up. Every muscle in his body ached. He could feel the bruises forming over his body. He got his bearings and staggered over to the table.

The briefcase was gone. He checked his holsters. The high tech toys were missing too. Panicking, he lurched toward the doors; his legs felt like they were full of cement. He nearly fell on his face when the light of day blinded him. He cussed himself out for not killing the woman on sight. He leaned against the doors of the warehouse. He needed rest, but had one more thing to check. He ran in uneven, sloppy steps towards the beemer, hoping to at least still have the booty in the trunk. He hoped that there might be some new high tech toys for him to have some fun with.

But when he saw the trunk of the beemer open, McManus let out a scream of frustration.

***

Romana checked the contents of the two cases inside a secure room in her TARDIS. Inside were various devices from Gallifrey: Time field indicators, a second worm hole generator, a time rotor, a stasis field generator and other miscellaneous pieces of Time Lord technology. One thing that puzzled her was that the devices were obsolete by Time Lord standards. Most had been replaced by more accurate technology decades ago.

And then there was the matter of the accelerator, a device that had been banned probably before the Doctor had gone to the academy. There were some kept in the Arsenal of Ancient weaponry, but only members of the High Council had access to them.

Romana shuddered at the possibilities, all of them bad.