"Kathryn, don't blink. Whatever you do, do NOT blink."

Kathryn froze. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Can you make it back to TARDIS?"

"Yes."

"Do it. Now. Don't blink, but get back here now."

Kathryn usually questioned until the Doctor gave his reasons behind his orders, but his voice told her to just act this time. Not blinking, Kathryn made her way back to the TARDIS as swiftly as possible, jumping every time she bumped something.

She got back to find the door locked. "Doctor?"

The door opened from the inside and Kathryn was pulled inside the TARDIS. The Doctor slammed the door shut and dead bolted it.

"Doctor?" Kathryn asked again. "What is going on?"

He crouched to meet her at eye level, grabbing her shoulders. "How many were there? Think!"

"I don't know, a hundred? Probably more." She backed up, shaking him off. "Doctor, what are they? Why are you so scared?"

"The Weeping Angels."

"And they are?"

The Doctor jumped back down underneath the floor, working rapidly at something. "Creatures that feed off of potential energy. They're the fastest things anywhere; blink and you're gone."

"They're stone."

"That's the hellish brilliance of it," the Doctor told her. She could hear the sonic working overtime. "When you look at them, they're just stone, and you can't kill stone. That's why they cover their eyes; they can't even look at each other. I almost pity them because of it. But the second, the very moment you blink, you're gone."

"As in dead?"

"No, as in gone; they send you back in time, let you live to death, then feed on they days you could have—should have—had. The only psychopaths to kill you nicely. Very old creatures, around since…oh, beginning of the universe." The Doctor looked up at Kathryn. "Why are you still here?"

"Gee, love you too."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "No, I don't mean like that. I'm guessing it was dark at first…and if they were all around you someone should have moved. So what are you still doing here?"

"I haven't the slightest. Maybe I'm just that amazing. Or they were recovering from the shock of their squished friends."

"What?"

"We landed on a few of them." She crouched down to try and see what the Doctor was up to. "I thought the manipulator was broken."

"It is. I'm trying to get main power online, start up the view screen and the compasses. I need to know where we landed and get a look outside myself."

Kathryn backed up as the Doctor pulled himself up out of the floor. "Can't you just open the door?"

"I can't risk letting them in here," the Doctor said. "They've tried before. I and a friend of mine, Martha Jones, were sent backwards from 2007 to 1969. There was some wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff in between, but we got back."

"How'd you manage to get rid of them?"

"Quantum lock; it's why they freeze when you look at them. I managed to trick them into staring at each other."

"Reflections of stone."

"Something like that." He started throwing levers and pushing buttons, using his sonic constantly as Kathryn looked on. "Anyway, the Weeping Angels were after the TARDIS; she's full of potential energy, but if they had access to a feast like that they'd turn off the sun. And there were only four of them at the time."

"Pleasant."

"Not really." There was a loud hum. The emergency lights dimmed and the main lights came on.

"And we've got power!" the Doctor shouted happily. Kathryn smiled to herself. He was like a crazy uncle that, no matter what happened, could never quite stay miserable.

The Doctor pulled down the view screen using a roller mouse Kathryn had always found annoying to pull up their current location.

"Twenty-seven point nine dash five six, that's…"

"The Seventh Sector of the Rynax system."

The Doctor gave Kathryn a look. "How do you know that?"

"You gave me a quiz on it last week. Don't ask me about the exact where or the when; I haven't learned that part yet."

"Right. Anyway…" the Doctor went through a few more numbers. "Oh good!"

"What is it?"

"We're on Boron, probably the mining colony. I like mining colonies; friendly people, good food, and most importantly a lot of tools and materials that we can use."

"Then there's just one problem left," Kathryn announced. The Doctor looked at her askance, obviously put out that she'd ruined his moment.

"And that would be?"

"Getting past the pleasant psychopaths."

The Doctor's whole body paused. Kathryn recognized the pose; it meant that he was thinking very hard, and would likely start moving on fast forward in a moment. It was as though he was resting up for the energy burst. Kathryn sometimes wondered if even his hearts dared to beat while he was thinking that hard.

"I've got it;" he said suddenly. "Come with me."

The Doctor led Kathryn through the halls, twisting and turning until he finally got to a large room. Kathryn's eyes widened, mostly out of surprise.

"You have a room solely for…junk?"

"Useful tools," the Doctor emphasized, turning her words on her. Kathryn raised her eyebrows.

"The stuff I use is useful; this is junk."

"Not if you use it right." With a grand sweep he cleared off a table. Kathryn jumped backwards as all sorts of random objects fell to the thickly carpeted floor. There was a slight thump as the Doctor lifted an enormous mirror in a rather ornate frame onto the oaken table.

"Go find me two helmets. Or stiff hats. And wire; I'll need that. Some vests, preferably construction. Oh, and a soldering gun. No, a welder would be better. Hot glue might work if you can't find either of those." He twirled the sonic in his hand, using it to loosen the mirror frame.

Kathryn decided to humor him. Besides, it's not like she had any idea what to do about the issue.

Kathryn was back in about half an hour with a blazing green hardhat, a ski helmet with a sticker that said "Vote Wickerson," two bright orange vests, a roll of fence wire, a hot glue gun with only three sticks, and what looked like one of the first welders that had ever been created.

"Got your stuff," she proclaimed, dumping it unceremoniously on the table in front of him. "And duct tape," she said, waving the roll before sticking it into her bag. "Always good to have some around."

The Doctor looked up from drawing invisible lines on the mirror's surface with the sonic. He cast a critical eye over the collection, then gave a nod of affirmation.

"Well done. Pick a helmet and start giving it a wire lattice on the outside. Use the hot glue to attach it. And I want a wire frame stretching to either side of the head."

Kathryn obeyed, looking curiously at the mirror. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Watching our backs."

Flipping the sonic around in his hand, the Doctor took careful aim at the mirror. Using the butt end of the screwdriver, he gave the mirror four sharp taps, one in each corner. With a final firm rap in the center of the mirror, the whole thing broke into dozens of perfectly uniform squares that were two inches by two inches, two squares that were 8" x 8" , and two rectangles the size of binder paper.

"What on Earth...?"

"Defense Kathryn," the Doctor said, grinning. "Best way to do it."

An hour later, Kathryn and the Doctor studied the outfits.

"Not precisely flattering."

"Not here to look good Kathryn," the Doctor reminded her. "We're here to go raiding."

"Can't you say shopping?"

"With the amount of Weeping Angels you saw, I doubt anyone is still around."

Kathryn sobered. "What if these don't work?"

The Doctor picked up the larger of the two vests, sliding it on. One of the rectangular mirrors was fixed to the back of it. "Then we're going to be in a fix."

Kathryn put on her own vest, thinking. "What if I went first, and alone?" she proposed. "I'm sure they're over the sudden shock by now; they'll be looking for food, I'm sure. I'll step out and then turn around and close my eyes for a few moments. I'll signal you when we've found out if it works. If they eat me, I'll survive whenever it is they send me until you can figure out a way past the Rockies for the parts, and then to fetch me."

"How am I supposed to know where you are?"

Kathryn smiled smugly. "You aren't the only one handy with a sonic."

"Since when have you had a sonic?"

"I borrow yours."

"What?"

Kathryn ignored the Doctor's tone and reached into her bag until her whole arm had disappeared. She searched for a bit and produced a thing that looked like a hexagonal spider. "I made a TARDIS communicator."

"A what?"

"That's what I call it at least," Kathryn explained. "It sends a digital signal through space, and time too. It took me a week for the blueprints, three more to scour the TARDIS for the parts, and then three days to build it."

"And you know it works because…"

Kathryn bit her lower lip, grinning. "I listened in on the first phone call for Earth. It was so tempting to say something, but I didn't. I might have sneezed though."

"So that was you then?"

Kathryn lifted her eyebrows in momentary surprise, then they dropped. "You would have been there. So, shall we give my plan a try?"

Reluctantly, the Doctor nodded. "It's really all we have. But first, put your TARDIS key in with that DNA transporter you can't let go of; if the Weeping Angels try to take it, I'll know you'll fight to get it back."

Kathryn did as ordered, then straightened. "Into the tiger's cage."

Kathryn slid outside the door holding a bright chemical lantern. It acted as a three hundred sixty degree floodlight, showing each of the Weeping Angels clearly. Some of the foremost were looking at her. Despite the stone features and empty eyes, she fancied she could feel them studying her. The air still felt strange, yet even more so. There was an electricity to it that had increased. Kathryn felt elated somehow, like this place was wonderful.

She shook her head, deciding it was one of the tricks the Weeping Angels used.

"Counting down now," she said, setting the lantern on the ground. "Trois, deux, un."

With the final number hanging in the air, Kathryn turned to face the TARDIS and shut her eyes.

*Constructive criticism welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*