Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it nor do I make any money from it.

A/N Welcome to the very first chapter of 'Desperado'. It is a Post-Doomsday reunion fic and features our very favourite Defender of the Earth. The fic focuses on her life in Pete's world and she WILL EVENTUALLY find the Doctor. Until then, enjoy her adventures.

Happy Reading!

Chapter 1

"Am I ever going to see you again?"

"You can't."

"What're you going to do?"

"Oh, I've got the TARDIS. Same old life, last of the Time Lords.

"On your own?"

Nod.

"I...I love you."

"Quite right, too. And I suppose, if it's one last chance to say it, Rose Tyler, I..."

5 years later...

The red numbers on the digital clock changed from 5:59 to 6 and irritating beeping filled the room. A hand emerged from the deep red duvet and slapped the button sharply, effectively cutting the noise off. The woman sat up in bed, her blonde hair obscuring half her face.

She didn't waste long getting out of bed and heading towards her bathroom. It was Sunday and her day off. Also, it was one of the rare ones since she had been woken up by her alarm and not a call from Torchwood.

Of course as was natural for her on her day off, she had a gym session. She cursed under her breath in a language she had never actually learnt and hurried out of the bathroom, dressed in her workout clothes.

The sun was slowly rising over the city of London and golden light filtered into her flat but she didn't stop to admire it. Instead, she raced out of her flat and went to the carpark where her Torchwood issue dark SUV was parked.

Even this early in the morning and on the weekend of all things, there was still traffic on the roads and she drummed her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as she waited for the long line of cars to get a move on. Finally, after nearly 45 minutes of being stuck on the road, she pulled into the carpark of Kylie's gym.

Kylie Johnson was a 5 foot tall blonde terror who was nothing short of a dictator when training her clients. She taught a combination of gymnastics, kick-boxing and even a little ballet. Anyone's first impression of her would be a sweet, petite girl but the reality was that the girl was strong and agile who could bring hulking men to their knees with a few well-placed manoeuvres.

"You're late, boss," said the dark-skinned woman waiting in the gym's carpark. Adeola Oshodi, or Addy as she was better known, was on her team at Torchwood. Addy was a tech specialist and only a year younger than her.

"Sorry, sorry," she apologised. "Traffic was awful."

"Let's hope the Sergeant sees it that way," Addy joked. Sergeant was what Kylie was called behind her back.

"Tyler! Oshodi! You're late!" the barking voice sounded as soon as they had stepped foot inside.

"Sorry, S...Kylie," said Rose. "It was my fault."

"Oshodi, warm up and then cardio. Tyler, with me," Kylie barked.

"Aye, aye Sergeant," Addy murmured under her breath. "Good luck, boss."

Rose knew she was likely to need it since the Sergeant looked like she was in a bad mood. "So, what are we doing today?" she asked, trying to sound positive.

"The laser cage," Kylie said, giving her a sweet smile.

Rose repressed the urge to groan as she followed Kylie. The laser cage was exactly as it sounded. It was a tiny passageway that had lasers zigzagging through it. The objective was simple: jump through the lasers without getting hit. If you got hit, a loud alarm would go off. But as Kylie often reminded Rose, in real life the alien laser will likely vaporise the body part that came in contact with it. Wasn't that a cheery thought, Rose thought gloomily as she stretched her limbs getting her body ready to make complicated jumps through the "cage".

"That's enough stretching, Tyler," said Kylie. "I'll go easy on your first go. Only five lasers."

Five lasers meaning five jumps. Kylie switched on the lasers and Rose took careful note of the gaps between them and raised her arms above her head.

Cartwheel...Handspring...Roundoff...Somersault...LOUD ALARM

Rose winced quietly as the lasers disappeared. "Sorry," she said, standing up.

"What went wrong?" Kylie asked in a calm voice that indicated that she knew exactly what it had been.

"Somersault," Rose said through gritted teeth. "It should have been a back Handspring again. There wasn't enough space."

"Well you're not completely incompetent, I'll give you that," said Kylie sweetly. "Again!"

Rose bit the inside of her cheeks to stop herself from snapping back. It was Kylie's way of pushing them and Rose had to reluctantly admit that it worked. She nodded and took up position.

Cartwheel...Handspring...Roundoff...Back Handspring...Somersault...Landing!

Rose's face was flushed as she safely reached the other end. She looked to Kylie who gave a nod.

"Now with seven!" she ordered.

Rose sighed and stretched again before taking up stance. It was going to be a long session.

However thirty minutes into working with seven lasers which were in motion, Rose's phone went off. Rose was sweating profusely as she reached the other end and with a nod from Kylie, picked up her phone.

"Tyler!" she answered.

"Commander, hate to do this on your day off but we got a situation." It was the voice of her second in command, Johnny Chester.

"Fill me in," Rose said as she dabbed off her perspiration with a towel.

"We have unidentified aliens holed up in a warehouse near the Thames. The usual traces have turned up empty. We can't ID them," said Johnny. "Sending you a picture."

Rose removed her phone from her ear to see the image sent to her. She saw the aliens' picture and grimaced. "Johnny," she said, putting her phone back to her ear again. "Use infrared to find the exact number of aliens in the warehouse. They are known hostiles. Llriks is what they're called."

"How hostile, boss?" Johnny asked in a worried voice.

"Hostile enough that you wait for me to get there," Rose ordered, beckoning imperiously to Addy as she walked out of the gym. "We need shotguns filled with BR-4 rounds."

"Is that fatal for the Llirks?" Johnny asked.

"Llriks," Rose corrected. "No, it knocks them out. Send out a message to the Shadow Proclamation too. The Judoon would love to get their hoofs on this one."

"Yes, boss," Johnny nodded. "I'll put Jake on the phone with Addy. He'll give you the location."

"Fine," Rose said and hung up. She turned to Kylie, one hand on her car's door. "I'll reschedule, Ky," she said, apologetically. "Duty calls."

"Go ahead," Kylie nodded.

"Addy, Jake's gonna call with directions," Rose said, getting into the driver's seat as Addy climbed into the passenger's side.

As if on cue, Addy's phone rang. "Hey, Jake," she greeted. "So, where are we meant to be going?"

Rose started up the car and pulled out of the gym's carpark.

Addy listened to Jake carefully. "He says it's near the abandoned zeppelin service station near the Thames," she whispered to Rose. "Jake, we're ten minutes away," she told him.

Rose pressed her foot down on the accelerator, manoeuvring through the traffic as the siren on the car blared loudly.

"Make that five," said Addy, reaching for her seatbelt.

"Update," Rose said as she jumped out of her car and immediately accepted a Kevlar vest from Johnny.

"We used the infrared as you instructed," said Johnny as he handed her the earpiece after she had strapped on the vest. "There are at least 7 of the hostiles inside."

"We have Jake. Any idea where Lydia is?" Rose asked as she fitted the earpiece.

"She's prepped," said Johnny. "The rounds are on their way but the guns are this way."

"Alright, listen up," Rose said as she beckoned her team. "Addy, you are staying here and guiding us. The infrared will have picked up their signatures. You are our eyes." Addy nodded quickly. "Jake, you and Lydia are taking the west end. There shouldn't be more than four on that side. Johnny and I will take the east end. We'll regroup in the middle. Hopefully, we avoid any surprises," said Rose. "We are using the shotguns," she added, picking one up. "Aim for the chest. One round is enough to knock them out. But we are being careful and putting another round in. Once we've cleared the warehouse, we use the holding cells to keep them until the Judoon get here. Any questions?"

"Have the Shadow been notified?" Lydia asked.

"Yes, I made the call at once. Captain Mibo is on his way," said Johnny. "They seemed pleased when I mentioned the Llriks."

"Oh, and where's Alex?" asked Rose, not seeing their team medic around.

"He's giving a seminar in Dublin today," said Lydia.

"Fine," Rose nodded. "Have one of the other medics on standby. I'm not anticipating any trouble but Llriks are vicious. Their talons are sharp so don't let one of them get close," she warned.

A black van drew up to them and a middle aged man with greying hair, stepped out of the back. "Commander, I have the rounds you requested," he said eagerly. "Extraordinary request, the BR-4. It is hardly ever used."

"I'll explain later, Malcolm," said Rose with an amused smile. "You didn't have to make the trip you know. One of your techs could have handled it."

"Oh no, I had to come," Malcolm said as his assistant quickly distributed the shot gun rounds between Rose's team. "If you recover any artefacts here, I want to catalogue them personally."

"Gotcha," Rose nodded. She looked at her team. "Are we ready?"

"Yes boss," rang clearly.

"See you in hell," she grinned.

Rose and Johnny carefully tiptoed over to the east entrance of the warehouse. Rose met Johnny's eyes and nodded as he flung the door open. With practised ease, Rose and Johnny entered the warehouse. It was empty and had the lingering smell of oil and grease.

"Boss," Addy's voice came through the earpiece. "You and Johnny have two hostiles coming right at you."

"Left," Rose nodded at Johnny and they stepped ahead carefully.

A loud roar echoed around them as two vicious looking aliens jumped out of the darkness. Rose took aim and fired a round straight into the chest cavity of the Llrik. It let out a howl and collapsed. At her left, Johnny had stunned the Llrik coming towards him.

"Second round," Rose ordered and the two of them fired an extra round at the respective aliens to make sure they would stay down.

Once sure that they weren't moving, Johnny pulled out a grey shell from his pocket and dropped it on the ground. Instantly, the two unconscious aliens were surrounded by a blue energy holding cell. Rose gave a nod and started walking further into the warehouse.

It seemed entirely too quiet for her liking and she could feel the hairs at the back of her neck rising. Sure enough, when they rounded a corner a Llrik jumped out right behind Johnny. "Down, Johnny!" Rose yelled and Johnny dropped to the ground and Rose fired two shots rapidly at the Llrik who went down with a growl.

"You okay?" she asked Johnny.

"Yeah, thanks," said Johnny as he stood up. "Keep moving?"

Rose nodded and the two of them kept moving. "Addy, update?" Rose whispered.

"Jake and Lydia got three down. There's a single heat signature and you are all heading towards it," said Addy.

"Copy that," said Rose as she opened up a door and stepped inside.

"What the...?" gasped Johnny.

"Malcolm's gonna have a field day," whistled Rose as she looked at the wide range of alien artefacts littering the makeshift lab.

A loud roar interrupted their awe at the alien laboratory. Rose turned in the direction of the noise which was followed by two shots from Jake and Lydia. Jake dropped a holding cell around the alien and shouted 'Clear!'

"Good work, you lot," said Rose, lowering the shot gun. "I'll get Malcolm to bring in the recovery team. Jake, Lydia, get all the Llriks in one location," she ordered and then checked her watch. "Captain Mibo will be here soon. Johnny, you and I will meet them."

"Earth language, English," said Mibo. "Verify."

"Earth language English verified," answered Rose. "Welcome to Earth, Captain Mibo."

"Thank you, Earth Commander Rose Tyler," said Mibo. "Where are the Llriks?"

"Jake," said Rose and Jake handed her the controls of the big holding cell where they had put all the Llriks. "The holding cell control," said Rose as she gave it to Mibo.

Mibo took the control and examined it sharply. "The matter is at order," he declared. "The Shadow Proclamation thanks you for your cooperation."

"Thank you," said Rose as Mibo ordered his men to load the Llriks into the Judoon carrier. The Llriks would be taken to the Shadow and then stand trial for their crimes in the galaxy.

One by one the Judoon retreated into their ship with the Llriks. Mibo saluted Rose and left last. The doors closed after him and the ship lifted into the air like a hovercraft. Once it was nearly 1000 feet in the air, it took off into the atmosphere.

"Well that's that," said Rose. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was nearly 3. She was starving and in dire need of a shower.

"The recovery team's here," said Johnny, noticing how tired she seemed. "Malcolm will keep an eye on them."

"Hey, isn't the President's Ball today?" asked Addy, suddenly.

Rose gasped and clapped a hand to her forehead. "Crap," she said. "I forgot. I have to go." She turned to the rest of her team. "Go home, you lot. The reports can wait until tomorrow."

A/N So, how was it? A little bit of insight into a regular day of the Defender of the Earth.

The characters are not exactly OCs. Adeola Oshodi was Martha's cousin who appeared in 'Army of Ghosts', Johnny Chester is the son of Ian and Barbara Chesterton (his existence in canon is shaky but I like it) and the other connections will be revealed soon.

The next chapter will be up as soon as I finish writing it. Let me know how this one was.

~ Phoenix