Ruffling (audio story)

 was the second story of the audio anthology Charlotte Pollard: Series Two. It was written by Nicholas Briggs and featured India Fisher as Charlotte Pollard, James Joyce as Robert Buchan and Dan Starkey as Bertram.

Publisher's summary
Hiding in a bank, on the run, trapped underground.

Plot
Confronted by two Identical Men, the Rogue Viyran warns Charley and Robert not to touch them as to do so would kill them. Charley tells Robert to get back.

Naomi parks her car on Villiers Street and receives a voicemail from Madeline telling her off for going off the grid. Rab notices a black van at Embankment and Naomi gives chase.

The Minister is on the phone with the unhappy Prime Minister and suggests that the Identical Men be covered up by letting everybody believe that Embankment is closed due to a terrorist attack. Woking gets CCTV of the outside of Department 001 and sees Charley and Robert carrying the Rogue Viyran out.

Charley and Robert struggle to carry the Rogue Viyran away from the building and are told by him that, although he made the Identical Men disappear by "ruffling" on them, he does not believe that the Identical Men can be killed. They spot the CCTV cameras and try to hurry away to avoid being recaptured by the authorities, alarmed further when the door they attempt to get through is locked. The Rogue Viyran begins "ruffling" the door.

Naomi and Rab have lost the van. Rab detects a computer on a secure network and hacks into it, discovering that they have somehow got inside a secure cordon and that the authorities plan to claim that a bomb has been detonated at Embankment. Police appear and demand that the two raise their hands and exit the car.

Charley and Robert are nearby, having hidden themselves inside a building thanks to the Rogue Viyran, and can hear Naomi and Rab's arrest. Realising that the Rogue Viyran does not have a name, Charley decides to call him "Bertram" and they notice that something is happening to his face.

With Department 001 compromised, the Minister takes the distrustful Woking to a Second World War troop transit centre in the Underground.

On Breakfast News, Lysette Allegro speaks to Donald Predko, who informs the public that fifteen patients who were abandoned by their nurses at Garfield Hospital Trust whilst awaiting serious medical procedures had all died.

Charley and Robert hide in a broom cupboard with Bertram, who seems to be transforming into a human. They put him in overalls in order to cover up his modesty.

The Minister tells Woking that Department 001 has been fumigated and no sign of the Identical Men has been found. She receives a phone call alerting her that a man and a woman have been located in the cordon area and tells Woking that his mystery couple have been found, assuming that they are Charley and Robert. In fact, it is Rab and Naomi, the latter of whom is recognised from Night News by the Minister.

Bertram awakes, no longer looking like a "sticky, white corpse" but having eyes that are stuck shut. He accepts "Bertram" as his name, saying that he never had one.

The Minister and Woking question Naomi and Rab about how they recognise the name "Charlotte Pollard", information that they are loath to give up.

Bertram tells Charley and Robert that he believes that they are in a bank and that the Prolixity had brought them to 21st century London due to the presence of a virus, the Prolixity having latched onto Bertram's Viyran purpose when he enveloped Charley and Robert's pod. His reason for thinking this is that he felt something very much like a virus when he used his powers on the Identical Men. A woman enters the cupboard looking for a mop and Charley pretends that they have reason to be in the bank.

to be completed

Cast

 * Charlotte Pollard - India Fisher
 * Robert Buchan - James Joyce
 * Rogue Viyran - Dan Starkey
 * Naomi Davies - Deirdre Mullins
 * Woking - Kieran Hodgson
 * Rab - Ashley Kumar
 * Minister - Rachel Atkins
 * Prime Minister - Pippa Haywood
 * The Identical Men - Colin McFarlane
 * Madeline - Karen Henson
 * Captain Warwick - Gary Turner
 * Sergeant Hunter - Ben Crowe
 * Donald Predko - Glen McCready
 * Lysette Allegro - Helen Goldwyn

Continuity
to be added