Author's note: the first part of this won't seem at all different from the episode "Time of Angels." It isn't. I thought the episode started off great. Part of this was to prove to myself how salvageable the TV episode actually was, while keeping the Weeping Angels following the same rules as they did in "Blink." Enjoy!


A man spins dazedly in a green field on a sunny day. Birds chirp in the clear blue sky. There is a lipstick smear on his mouth. He is approached by two armed guards and an older man in evening clothes. "It's a beautiful day," the young man says. The man in evening clothes wipes the lipstick off with a handkerchief, revealing the dazed guard is actually standing in the metallic corridor of a spaceship. He states grimly, "Hallucinogenic lipstick. She's here."

Elsewhere in the ship, a woman in a low-cut black evening dress and red high heels blasts through a steel door with a firearm; behind it, is a room with a black box suspended in the center. She changes the gun's settings, and uses it as a torch, burning a message onto the box's face.

Twelve thousand years if the future, the Doctor and Amy Pond explore the Delirium Archive, the final resting place of the Headless Monks. Amy is bored. The Doctor had promised to take her to a planet next, and the museum is on an asteroid. She wonders why they are at a museum while the Doctor announces that most of the displays are "wrong" until coming to one that he says is "one of mine". Amy deduces that this is how he keeps score.

Something in the next display catches the Doctor's attention. It is an antique box with symbols burned into the top. "It's from one of the old starliners," the Doctor tells Amy. "A Home Box."
"What's a Home Box?"
"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home, with all the flight data."
"So?"
"The writing, the graffiti - Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords. There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple Gods."
Amy leans in, "What does it say?"
The Doctor says glumly, "Hello, Sweetie."

Moments later, alarm bells are screaming and guards are chasing the time travelers. Amy follows the Doctor as he runs to the TARDIS with the home box tucked under his arm.

**[==+}**

Once they are safe inside the TARDIS, the Doctor connects the home box to the console, and explains that someone is trying to get his attention. Getting a visual, he sees the woman in the red heels smiling and winking at the camera. He recognizes her as River Song.
Changing the footage, River is now cornered in front of an airlock by the man in evening clothes and two guards."The party's over, Doctor Song, yet still you're on board," says the man in evening clothes.

River turns to face him. "Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination."

Allistair tells the guards, "Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution."

River Song looks at her watch and then rattles off "7775/349x10,012/acorn" — temporal coordinates.

In the TARDIS, Amy and the Doctor share a look. Over the monitor, they hear, "Oh, and I could do with an air corridor."

The Doctor sets the TARDIS controls for River's location. Meanwhile, River tells the men they'd better find something to hold on to. They grab for handholds as alarms sound, and the airlock blows open. A calm River floats out into space just as the TARDIS materializes. The Doctor opens the TARDIS doors and holds out a hand to her. She flies inside, knocking the Doctor to the floor. Surprised to see her again, the Doctor greets her. But the Byzantium's getting away; "Follow that ship!" she commands.

**[==+}**

As the TARDIS chases after the ship, River suggests using the stabilizers. "There aren't any stabilizers!" the Doctor insists.
"The blue switches!" says River.
"The blue ones don't do anything, they're just...blue."
"Yes, they're blue. They're the blue stabilizers!" She presses a blue button, and the TARDIS stops shaking. "See?"
"Yeah, well, it's just boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers."

The Doctor sits down to sulk as River takes over the piloting. Amy asks him who River is and how she can fly the TARDIS, prompting the Doctor sneer at River's style of piloting. River announces that she's plotted all possible landing locations, and, with a soft thud, that she's parked the TARDIS next to the Byzantium. However, the Doctor protests to the TARDIS having landed; the dematerialization noise didn't sound, so he's skeptical. " You know, the... whhrreeeee…. Whhrrreeee," he attempts to makes the TARDIS wheezing sound.

"It's not supposed to make that noise," River tells him. "You leave the brakes on."

"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise. Come along, Pond, let's have a look."

The Doctor, grumbling, opens the door despite River's warnings that they must do environmental checks. The Doctor announces, "We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System. Oxygen-rich atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11-hour day, and..." he puts his head out the door again for show, "…chances of rain later."

River sneers, "He thinks he's so hot when he does that."

"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asks.

"Oh, I had lessons from the very best." The Doctor looks smug until River adds, "It's a shame you were busy that day." She picks up the red heels she had hung on a bit of TARDIS equipment. "Right then, why did they land here?" she muses as she heads for door.

"They didn't land," the Doctor says.

"Sorry?"

"You should've checked the Home Box – the Byzantium crashed."

River Song exits the TARDIS.

"Explain!" demands Amy. "Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?"

The Doctor, intently focused on the control panel, answers, "It's a long story and I don't know most of it. Off we go!"

Amy accuses the Doctor of running away. The Doctor explains that River Song is his future.

"Can you run away from that?" Amy ponders.

"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me."

"Hang on, is that a planet out there? You promised me a planet. Five minutes?"

The Doctor gives in. "OK, five minutes! But that's all, cos I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!"

They exit the TARDIS to see the smoldering wreckage of the Byzantium atop a stony plateau.

On Amy's request, the Doctor introduces her to Professor River Song. "Ahhh, I'm going to be a Professor some day, am I? How exciting!" She chuckles as the Doctor winces at this slip of the tongue. "Spoilers!" she tuts, then turns her attention back to typing on a handheld device.
The Doctor is annoyed he just gave away foreknowledge. River is speaking into the device. "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal." She holds device high in the air, then calls over her shoulder, "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."

The Doctor obliges, and Amy teases him. As they wait, River Song pulls out her diary, and asks the Doctor where she's landed in his timeline. Amy is intrigued, but the Doctor orders her to keep away from it. Before River can read off any past adventures, four men in combat uniform teleport in and approach them. Their leader, Father Octavian, is rather cross.

"You promised me an army, Doctor Song."

"No. I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor."

The Doctor gives lighthearted salute. The man in combat uniform shakes the Doctor's hand as he introduces himself, "Father Octavian, sir. Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"

River asked, "Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"

***[==+}***

By nightfall, the Doctor is fed up with Amy's persistent questions about his relationship with River and with her disobedience of his order to wait in the TARDIS. River, now wearing combat fatigues, calls them to a drop-ship to show them footage of the Weeping Angel they're chasing. It is a black-and-white film, a four-second clip on a loop.

"It's just a statue," says Amy.
"It's a statue when you see it," River corrects her.
"Where did it come from?" the Doctor asks.

"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all that time."

"There's a difference between dormant and patient," the Doctor murmurs.

"What's that mean, it's a statue when you see it?" Amy wants to know.

"The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen. So legend has it."

The Doctor corrects River, "No, it's not legend, it's a quantum lock. In the sight of any living creature, the Angels literally become stone. They sit, absorbing energy. The ultimate defense mechanism."

Amy is incredulous, "What, being a stone?"

"Being a stone...until you turn your back."

The Doctor leads Octavian and River out of the drop ship, but Amy stays behind, looking at the video of the angel.

The Doctor explains that the crashed ship is probably filled with radiation and sparking electrical equipment, deadly to almost any living thing. "Deadly to an Angel?" the Bishop asks.

"Dinner to an Angel," the Doctor says. "The longer we leave it, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? Are they still around?"

River answers, "The Aplans. The indigenous life-form. They died out 400 years ago."

"Two hundred years later, the planet was terraformed. Currently there are six billion human colonists," Octavian tells them.

"You lot, you're everywhere! Like rabbits! I'll never get done saving you."

River offers the Doctor a book about the Angels; he reads the whole book in seconds. He is perplexed; something is missing, but he doesn't know what.

While the others make plans, Amy is left with nothing to do. Looking back at the tape, she realizes the Weeping Angel has changed its position slightly. When she asks River if she has more than one clip of the Angel, River says no; it's just the one. When Amy looks back, the Angel has moved again; it now faces the camera with its arms spread out. The door behind her shuts without her noticing. Amy tries to turn off the television, but it quickly switches back on. She then tries and fails to unplug it. When she looks back up, though, the Angel's face has filled the screen. She tries to leave, but the door won't budge. She looks back again to find the Angel is now baring its fangs at her.

Outside, River wonders how early the Doctor is in his time stream. When he replies it is fairly early, she is amused because he doesn't know who she is yet. The Doctor wonders how she knows who he is as he doesn't always look the same. River says that she has all his faces in her diary, but he doesn't show up in order; River thinks she needs a spotter's guide. The Doctor then realizes what the book of angels is missing: pictures. Why would there be no visual on what to look out for? River says there was a mention about images in the book. The Doctor returns to the sentence and reads it aloud: "Whatever takes the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel." He ponders its meaning.

Back in the dropship, Amy looks away again. This time, when she looks back, the Angel has projected itself into the drop-ship as a hologram. Amy shouts for the Doctor. He runs to the door and tries to opening it with the sonic screwdriver, but fails. As River Song and the Doctor desperately try to rescue Amy from the locked room, the image of the Weeping Angel inches closer.

"Doctor! What's it gonna do to me?" Amy asks.
The Doctor shouts back, "Just keep looking at it. Don't stop looking!"
"Just tell me."

The Doctor runs to find the madman's book of notes. Not hearing a reply, Amy repeats, "Just tell me. Tell me!"

The Doctor answers, "The Angels live off of potential energy. They send you back in time to a boring place, forcing you to live the least influential life possible."

Suddenly, Amy gets an idea. "What did you say?"

"They make you live to death. Don't let it touch you!" the Doctor shouts through the door.

"No, earlier. What did you say about images?"

River Song answers, "Whatever holds the image of an angel is an angel."

Amy holds the remote towards the TV screen. "OK... Hold this. One, two, three, four... " She hits the pause button when the image shows static. The image of the Angel freezes in a hazy static shape. A moment later, the image disappears and the screen turns off. The door opens and the Doctor and River come in.

Amy speaks breathlessly, "I froze it! There was a sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip. It wasn't the image of an angel any more. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good."

River Song exclaimed, "That was amazing!"

"River, hug Amy," the Doctor instructs.

"Why?" she asks.

"Cos I'm busy."

"I'm fine," Amy insists.

River Song gives Amy a hug. "You're brilliant!"

"Thanks. Yeah. I kind of creams it, didn't I?" she says, directing most of her words to the Doctor's turned back. "So it was here?" says River. "That was the Angel?"

The Doctor explains that it was a projection of the Angel they're after; it was scoping out its foes. An explosion sounds outside, and Octavian enters to tell them the Clerics have blasted into the structure. "Now, it starts," says the Doctor to his companions. He wishes he had left when he had the chance.