Trick of Hand

"Patience. Follow my fingers. Watch and tell me your first mistake." Aidan James Wilder, now known as A.J. Atlas, called out as he toyed with the stack of cards in his hands. The woman blinked, any curiosity circling through that head of hers leaking out into the glistening, astonishingly young blue eyes. She twirled a thin piece of hair around her middle finger, lost in a trance as she stared at the cards. "I don't see mine." She pouted, her voice shrill as she gave into the illusion. Was there a trick? Yes. Was it noticeable? Probably not. A.J. smiled, "because you're doing exactly what I told you not to do at the beginning of my trick. You're looking too closely. Now come in close, because the more you think you see, the easier it'll be to fool you." He lowered his voice by a good, balanced amount. The pressure was on; he felt numerous eyes locked onto his back, piercing through the leather jacket and grey t-shirt. They wouldn't get the trick, they were watching too closely. Focused on the smooth movements of his hands as his fingers worked around the cards, folding the decks into each other slowly but surely. They wouldn't capture the idea because they were too stuck on the deceiving. Fine, those people will not enjoy themselves. As long as they didn't look too hard and too sharp, it was fine. A.J. kept his back to them, refusing to wheel his head around to check their stares. He had their money in his pockets, that's all that mattered. They came to see a trick, whether they ruin it for themselves wasn't up to him. "I really, really don't see it." The girl whispered, leaning forward until her nose was touching A.J.'s. "You're looking too hard." He replied softly, an edge to his voice he was brutally caving into. She smiled mischievously, shaking her head lightly as A.J. pulled away. He turned to glance around, his black converse high tops slapping against the concrete sidewalk. They were outside of a famous casino on the streets of Las Vegas, Nevada. His show was about to start, though it was small and his last for the weekend, he was genuinely excited. He always was.

"Ladies and gentlemen, look wide and far. Don't squint your eyes, it doesn't make you see better. But pay attention. Catch the corners of your vision and see ." A.J. clapped his hands together, watching as the crowd of twenty-seven veered their eyes away from the young magician and to their environment. A small gasp was all he heard. "I found it! I found it!" A.J. smiled, waving a hand in the direction the voice carried over from, a direct motion for whomever it was to join him in the center of the circle. Once the stranger did, the card was ecstatically tossed into the air. A.J. caught it as the wind began to drag it. He looked at it, frowned and shook his head. "That isn't it. No, no. Five of Spades." He showed the card to the woman, who bit her lip from the seemingly failure, just as A.J. flipped it over. "That better?" On the other side was another card, or what it seemed to be. Eight of Hearts. The woman gasped, laughing excitedly as she wrapped her arms around A.J.. "That was incredible!"

A loud noise broke through the chatter. It was a gun, but it sounded off. A body fell to the ground as A.J. lifted his eyes to the creator of the danger. "Did a potato just shoot someone?" He whispered, peeling his body away from the woman's as he stepped forward, just as another fire went off, knocking the cards from his hands. A.J. fell forward, gasping as he took in the new whereabouts of the crowd around him. Scattered, running for their lives as those 'potato things' ran after them. On a mission. Just like the one hovering above him, staring down with body armor, but no head gear. It showed it's face. A giant baked potato...

A.J. gulped, his eyes trained on the warped image as his hands moved across the ground towards his cards.

A loud 'bang' could be heard, and the armored potato fell on the ground. A tall woman was revealed behind it, her black curly hair caught in a messy ponytail. Her mismatched eyes gazed from the fallen...thing...to the young magician, and she smiled brightly. The strange girl held a baseball bat in her hands, that she let go with one hand, resting it on her shoulder "Well that was close" she murmured, looking around. The others ran away, and behind her there could be seen some fallen creatures. Her right jacket sleeve looked burned, as if the baked potatoes hit her, but there was no wound.

Blimey, Anna hoped, just for once, to land somewhere calm and peaceful...like a beach! Or a library! Instead she appeared in a dark alley, three Sontarans around her....or was it Sonterans? Anyway....she was lucky to have a baseball bat with her, or she would've been dead.

Her gaze returned to the fallen man, and she smiled brightly, offering him a hand to help him from his fallen state. "Hello A.J long time no see" she tilted her head to the right, looking at him curiously, but then frowned at his expression. He didn't know her...well not yet...

The TARDIS materialized near where the loud bang of a gun was she was behide a casino, "Sontarans..." The Doctor ran outside and then ran to the front of the Casino she got out her Sonic Screwdriver and looked around, "As I thought Sontarans..." She put away her Sonic Screwdriver and watched the potatoes run by her, " OI!Sontaran!" She watched as 3 stoped in front of her, "Yes Boy." One said, The Doctor looked at it, "Strax?" She thought he was good with humans and stuck in another time the past... With Jenny and the lizard woman who she forgot the name of, "What are you doing?!" she shouted at them, " Who are you?" She frowned, "Timelord 1000 something seriously!" the stared at her, " I'm The Doctor...." One blurted out, " The Doctor isn't a girl..." She looked at it, " Well he is now." She crossed her arms, " Now Sontarans! Whats your business here?" She looked at the fallen person, " Of course you did..." She frowned and shoved her hands in her pockets. " Do you always have to do this..." She put her hands on her face, "Nevermind don't answer that!" She looked at everyone panicing, " You have every one in panic and what are you going to do?!?!" She crossed her arms.

It figured, the second she stepped through the casino doors, of course something would go wrong. The one time she decided to actually go somewhere fun for once, and a Sonatran appears to shoot up the place. Her eyes wandered over to the woman taking charge of the situation only to straighten up from the wall she leaned against at the words she uttered. "Doctor? No way, the Doctor wasn't... Oh lord..." She muttered under her breath, eyeing the woman closer, studying the stance she stood in and let out a gust of air. "Right then, female Doctor, that's new." Weaving her way through the crowd, she paused long enough to cast Anna a bright smile, one of her hands reaching over to rest on the woman's shoulder. "Good to see your here too, looks like we have a bit of a problem going on around here..." Her attention shifted to the man she had been watching seconds before the gunshot and flashed him another smile. "Right, brilliant work you do. Now if you don't mind, I have to go talk to an old friend of mine..." Trailing off softly, she turned back around and sidled up next to the female Doctor, one of her shoulder's bumping up against the woman's in a friendly gesture. "Long time no see, Doctor... Well I can't say man now can I? What's this lot's problem anyway?" Sonya added quickly, nodding at the Sonatrans as they made a hasty retreat.

The Doctor watched the Sonatrans walk away then uncrossed her arms then look at Sonya," Yeah... And I don't know I just got here..." She looked around, "I still don't get why they do this..." She looked at the person who got shot 1st and was mainly dead, "I don't know why any of them do this..." She got out her Sonic Screwdriver and scanned the area, " Where's the ship" She frowned and looked at the sky, "The last I checked they had a space ship...Why isn't my Screwdriver locating it..." She sighed, " When did you get here?" She looked at Sonya and poked her shoulder, "This is Las Vegas, Nevda or at least I hope...And why are the Sonatran's attacking here that's what I want to know this is a gambling city why here? No wonder The TARDIS brought me here..." She looked around, " That's one way to make a pyrimind into a building..." She put away her Sonic Screwdriver and put her hands in her pockets.

"My best guess would be that they didn't land in a ship, at least not here." Sonya suggested, her shoulders lifting up slightly in a shrug. "And I just got here moments ago, was enjoying watching that young man over there show off his card handling skills to the public. Next thing I know its another London Disaster. Like with the Atmos Devices..." She trailed off suddenly, a frown crossing her features like it had been doing more often in the past month. Yet again, she mentioned something happening, and had no idea how she knew it. "Anyway, I'm not sure why here, but I'm sure they had a good reason for shooting the one person. They might have known something they were up to, or maybe it was a warning to the public, like the executions they used to hold in France with the guillotine." She glanced over her shoulder at the magician and Anna, trying to think of something, anything that might be a good reason for why the Potato men had decided to walk into a large crowd of people and shoot just one man. "Any ideas of your own, or am I treading water by myself here?"

A.J. glanced at the woman's hand offer, though didn't do a thing by it. He went back to shuffling his hands across the concrete, stumbling to get the card deck back in order. "I've never seen you before in my life." He mumbled, finally managing to get the cards back together. Lifting his head, he took in the area. Aliens running about... Guns... His show... And that cop. He frowned, remembering the hours before his card trick on the street. Finally caught up with him. "I need a bigger distraction." He whispered, glanced at Anna and smiled. Getting to his feet, he flipped the cards over and slid out a Two of Diamonds. He placed it between his index finger and middle finger, positioning it upward and directly into the way of the police officer. "It's funny how they still try to keep laws in order during this." He said nonchalantly, pulled his arm back, and tossed the card towards his target. In a matter of seconds, the card grazed the officer's cheek, leaving a large cut in its wake. Praising himself could wait. Stuffing the rest of the deck into his jeans pocket, he turned back to Anna. "So, any idea what's happening?"

Anna smiled brightly at Sonya, then turned her attention to A.J "Well of course you don't know me yet, we haven't meet yet" Anna shrugged, and watched the trick with wide curious eyes "You're really good...though you still can't do the disappearing-thingy right?" She looked back at him curiously and bouncing a bit in her step

"Welll the creatures are aliens and are called Sontarans...or Sontarens?...Sonya and Doctor clearly know let's go to them!" She exclaimed with a bright smile, taking his hand and dragging him without waiting for a response, the other hand still holding the baseball bat. She quickly made her way to the two girls "Hello Doctor!" She smiled brightly "A.J these are Sonya and the Doctor"

"Well they could be here for like revenge on one person..." SThe Doctor took her hands out of her pockets, "The Potatoes do things there potatoes they have no brains..." She laughed abit and looked at Anna and the magician, "Hello..." She smiled a nit waving, "Who are you?" She asked them and looked around, "They could be here because there idots but that's just rude to say even though its true...Sonatran's are idots..." She put her hands back in her pockets and looked around, "Well I don't really believe Magicians really do thoses tricks..." She looked at the man and then looked at the potatoes running around, "Anyways this is getting boring standing here we'll get more done in The TARDIS..." She looked around," Plus I forgot something there.." She put her hands in her pockets, "I'm pretty sure..." She clapped her hands, "I don't like staying in one spot..." She frowned and corssed her arms.

"Atlas!" A man, suited with a large amount of hair loss, stood in the doorway of the casino. He was waving a beefy, paled hand in the air. A.J. bowed his head, running a hand over his face as he thought. Once his head raised again, he was staring at the Doctor. "You don't need to believe magicians do a thing. We don't expect you to believe, we expect you to try and see how we're deceiving you. And after you think you've got it, the trick is over." He said sternly, no attempt at kindling a friendship audible in his tone. What he wanted to do was keep his gig at that casino, whether or not there was a hectic crisis continuing on the streets. He clapped his hands together, smiled softly, then spun on his heels. Praying no one in that small, strange group would follow him, he proceeded into the casino. What he wasn't expecting was spotting his boss, standing beside the door of his office, with an electrified gun to his puffy head. A.J.'s hands shot up, his lips parted in surprise, and his posture straightening in alarm. There was no way he was getting to the cards in his pockets, and there was no way he was about to run off.

Theta knew that his day just couldn't have gone normal for once.

In all honesty, his day had started off normal. Getting out of bed, having breakfast, deciding on a place to go, and steering the TARDIS out of the Vortex and into space. But at his destination, Earth, he'd found a big giant Sontaran Ship in orbit. After an encounter on the ship, a few failed attempts at discouraging the potato heads from taking over Earth, and running for his life back to the TARDIS, Theta found himself running through the streets of Las Vegas, searching for Sontarans like a game of 'Where's Waldo' with higher stakes.

It didn't really take long after the shot for the young Timelord to find where most of them were. A small group was gathered, consisting of two girls he didn't know, some knocked out Sontarans on the ground, and...wait, was that Sonya?

"Sonya! Hey!" Theta ran up, bracing his arms on his knees and taking in deep breaths of air. That had been way too much running. "Fancy seeing you again. Who are your friends?"

Sonya smiled brightly and flung an arm around Theta's shoulders, steering him towards the people she was with at the moment. "This is... The Doctor... A later version, a woman now. This is Anna, don't worry, I think shes some sort of ghost, don't go into detail about that. And this is... I don't know." She said cheerfully, waving a hand at each person in turn as she introduced them to Theta. "Listen, Thet, you have any idea what the Sonatrans might be doing around here..?" She added in an undertone, glancing around the area quickly to see if any more of the potato men had decided to make a return. "They broke into the crowd and shot one guy then took off like bats out of hell." Her eyes returned to his face, a concentrated expression crossing hers as she did. "I haven't dealt with them before, but I've read some things. Apparently this doesn't fit the normal things they do. They wage war, not go on revenge missions."

Theta shrugged unsurely, mind still caught up on that his alternate self was a girl now.

"No idea, I just thought it was the usual when I ran into them; convert Earth into a clone planet, win glory for the Sontaran Empire, yada yada yada. But they only sent six down, so I don't really know. Scouts maybe? I wouldn't take them as the revenge type, unless these ones are some sort of potato head rebels"