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Chapter 1
It all happened when the Doctor was in the middle of a story.
The Doctor was running quickly down the narrow sidewalk along the side of red brick building after red brick building. As he ran, he bumped into and almost knocked over the few lone people that also happened to be on the sidewalk. Luckily, Amy Pond and Rory Williams were in tow, trying to keep up with their friendly alien guide, and to everyone who the Doctor almost knocked off their feet, they were able to say a quick "Sorry!" and sprint onward, panting.
They didn't try to stop the Doctor. Amy knew that he was in an excited mood now, in the middle of telling them a story, and there was absolutely no stopping him when he was off like this. So she followed the Doctor. Rory knew there was no disagreeing with Amy, so he followed as well.
"Almost there!" yelled the Doctor back to the Ponds, his voice brimming with excitement and his tweed coat flying behind him.
"Aaaaaaaaannnnnd…" the Doctors' voice grew louder and louder.
The narrow sidewalk ended finally and melted into a large paved park space in the center of the town. A large fountain stood in the middle of the circular space, several tiers on it which the water dripped down from the top where it shot out. There were scattered benches encircling the fountain, all empty.
"…Here It is!" the Doctor threw up his arms in excitement and stopped running as he entered the deserted park, smiling gleefully.
"Here… what is… exactly?" asked Rory, who had finally caught up, panting, with Amy. They both stared around confusedly at the paved park that the Doctor was making such a big deal over.
"I TOLD you," the Doctor began to explain. He turned around to face his companions, a tiny bit frustrated that they didn't remember the story he'd told them up to this point. "This is where the Rhino followed me- well, it wasn't a rhino, in fact it was nothing like a rhino, but just imagine a rhino- and it stopped and got ready to kill me with that big spiky twisty thing on its head. But luckily, by that time, I'd gotten the jar of jam, over here-"
The Doctor began to run about the park, pointing to places on the ground and waving his arms around, occasionally making strange growling, hissing noises. He continued talking to himself and yelling the rest of the story over to where the Ponds stood.
"Wait," Amy muttered to Rory, arms crossed, "I thought he told us to imagine an elephant?"
Rory shrugged. "He told me to think of a Hippopotamus."
"ARE YOU LISTENING OVER THERE?" the Doctor shouted in the middle of making exaggerated *BOOM* noises and huge upward arm motions, making sure that his companions were paying attention. "'Cause this is where it gets really dicey!"
"Hanging onto every word!" Amy yelled back across the park, giving a thumb up.
As the Doctor, reassured, continued screaming about the thing-that-was-sort-of-like-a-rhino-but-not-quite and jam, Rory muttered, "My God, look at him go. Doesn't he ever get tired?"
The ginger smirked at her husband. "Never. Don't even know if he sleeps. He's just a great big BALL of…energy!'
"Timey energy," Rory corrected jokingly.
"Wibbley wobbly, timey wimey energy, to be exact," smiled Amy. They both smiled knowingly at each other for a second. Then, they both burst out laughing at the phrase constantly used by the Doctor, so much that it had become a household term inside of the TARDIS.
But abruptly, Amy's laughter faded. The Doctor's voice had stopped ringing and echoing around the buildings which encircled the paved park. He was standing stock still, his back turned to the Ponds, his head looking towards the ground, staring at something on the pavement to the left of the fountain. He didn't respond to Amy's shout.
"Doctor, what's up?" yelled Rory. They both began to jog across the pavement, Amy in the lead, only a few feet ahead of Rory.
At the sound of their feet, The Doctor seemed to snap out of it. His head jerked around. His face had gone pale. At seeing his friends rushing towards him, his eyes went wide.
"No! Stop, stop!" he screamed with an outstretched hand.
The Ponds immediately obeyed, Rory freezing in his tracks, but Amy stumbling a few more feet ahead. As she did, she noticed what the Doctor had been staring at. There was a wide, white circle of chalk drawn on the pavement, which the Doctor, and now, Amy, was standing in. The Doctor lowered his hand, his face contorted for a moment in frustration.
"Amy, Amy, Amy," the Doctor said through gritted teeth, walking over to her from the other side of the circle, "I told you to stop!"
"I did stop, right when you said to!" Amy said defensively, leaning slightly away from the frustrated Doctor.
"No, you took an extra two steps from where you were!" He countered, reprimanding Amy.
"Well, Doctor, what's wrong?" asked Rory from a few feet outside of the circle. "What's up with the circle?" He started to move forward towards his wife.
"Rory, No!" yelled the Doctor. Rory jumped at the shout, stopping no more than several inches from chalk circle.
"What's wrong?" Asked Rory, in mid-step, hands slightly up in a questioning motion.
"Rory, do not step inside the circle, not a toe over that line!" The Doctor said forcefully, pointing a finger at Rory across the circular line. He then turned away and surveyed the rest of the circle, obviously thinking critically, running his hand through his hair.
"But Doctor, what's wrong with the circle?" Amy asked, slightly panicky, her eyes following the Doctor as he paced. "It's just chalk, drawn by some kids, yeah?" But Amy didn't really believe that theory, even before the Doctor answered.
The Doctor was still walking about the inside of the circle, all of his excitement and ecstasy from a few seconds ago gone. "No," he muttered, head swiveling to look at Amy, worry etching the lines on his face, "It's a trap. And I've just let you follow me into it." His eyes bore into Amy's, heavy with guilt.
The Ponds stared at the Doctor from either sides of the circle, still not understanding the Doctor at all.
Amy spoke first. "But Doctor, it's just chalk, what do you mean trapped-"
"It's not chalk!" The Doctor explained, still pacing the circle. "It's an element found on the planet Zephon used by their military for cells and traps. When electricity is run through it, it creates a sort of impenetrable shield that rises from it. Things can get inside of the shield, but not out. After about six minutes, it solidifies both… ways…" The Doctor trailed off, thinking. He brought the inside of his wrist up to his face, looking at his watch. "That means we have about two minutes."
"Wait, but Doctor," Rory said, "in the last six minutes? So whoever put the circle here must have done it-"
"…Had to have done it just before we got here." Amy said quietly, finishing her husband's sentence. "But who? Doctor, why are we trapped in here?"
Rory noticed her tone. Before the Doctor could answer, he said soothingly, "Amy, it's alright, I'll get you out of there. Doctor, can't I…can't…" Rory thought hard. "If it's not solid from this side yet, can't reach in a pull you out or something?"
The Doctor turned to Rory. "No," he forcefully said through gritted teeth. "Once a part of you is inside, it can't be pulled out again. Weren't you listening? On this side, we-"
"But Doctor, can't-" Amy began, stepping to the edge where Rory was and raising her hand above where the line ran across the pavement.
"Amy! No-" But the Doctor's yells were too late.
A loud BZZZT rang across the park, and Amy was thrown back, skidding on her back about 5 yards farther into the circle. She landed in a heap, head banging on the ground, eyes closed. A small trickle of blood ran from her lip.
"AMY!" Yelled both Rory and the Doctor. Rory made to go to her aid, but the Doctor, guessing what Rory would do, swiftly holding up his hands. "Stay where you are, do not cross that line!" He said firmly, before hurrying to Amy's side and kneeling down. The Doctor bent his head to her chest, listening for a heartbeat. He looked over her face quickly, lifting up her eyelids one at a time.
The Doctor sighed. "She's fine," He yelled over to Rory, leaning back on his heels. "She's just out cold from the shock wave. The only injury is her cut lip." His face was paler, but with the smallest smile of contentment at the fact that no real harm had been done. He'd forgotten to tell his friends about how the shield became electrified. But he decided to beat himself up about that later.
The Doctor looked up at Rory. He could see that it was taking all of Rory's restraint to stay behind his boundary, unable to tend to his unconscious wife. Rory's eyes had no tears, the Doctor he wasn't one to cry easily. Instead, there was an anger there, a burning hate of whom ever had done this to Amy.
"Doctor," he said, still staring down at Amy's limp form with a hardened expression. "Who did this? What can I do- How can I help?"
"Just be quiet for a moment Rory, thanks," said the time lord, and then took a deep breath.
"Hello!?" He yelled to the whole park, turning in a small circle as if trying to see something pop out. His voice bounced off the tall surrounding buildings in an echo. After a second he continued, "Oh, come on, I know you're there! Why lay a clever trap if you're not gonna stay around and watch someone fall into it, eh?!" Again, there was no response to his words. "And here's the kicker, you caught me! Look at that! Clever old me, caught, no way out! So what now? What…now?!" The Doctor's eyes roamed around the park as he spun, trying to catch a glimpse of movement. He turned his back on Rory.
THWACK.
The Doctor spun around. Rory was falling, a surprised look upon his face, to the pavement outside of the circle. He crumpled, unconscious.
"Rory!" The Doctor yelled in surprise as he watched his friend fall hard to the ground, instinctively moving, but not crossing the white line.
Above Rory's body stood a young man, who had certainly not been there moments before. He was no more than twenty years old, wearing black jeans and a tight-fitting grey jacket. There was gun-shaped object in his hand, which the Doctor instantly recognized as a stun gun, and which he had obviously just clubbed Rory over the head with. The Doctor stared at the man standing over Rory.. The young man smirked through his dense black curls which fell over parts of his face.
"Well," he said in a slick voice, "that was easy."
"Who are you?" The Doctor asked quite calmly. "What do you want?"
The man's gaze darted up to the Doctor's eyes. "Well, I thought that would be a bit obvious by now." He grinned. "We want you."
The dark-haired man put his hand up to his ear and the Doctor saw an earpiece hooked there. He spoke into it. "Company is down, full assault move in."
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor saw movement. He whipped his gaze away from the young man.
Around the edge of the white circle a total of 11 men had suddenly appeared, not counting the one standing over Rory. They all wore the same clothes as the young man. Each one had a similar stun gun, all pointing directly to the center of the circle where the Doctor stood.
Surprised, the Doctor raised his arms slightly, licking his dry lips and trying to think despite the pounding of his hearts. He turned back to the man who stood over Rory.
"Um…" The Doctor began, giving a weak laugh. "Can't… can't we talk about this?"
The dark-haired man raised his gun to aim straight at the Doctor's head. "Sorry," he said, flashing a grin once more, "It's just orders."
His finger pulled the trigger. The six minutes weren't up. The shot passed through the shield. The Doctor collapsed next to Amy.
The Doctor was barely conscious. He felt them trying to lift him, eventually resorting to dragging him across the pavement. Amy was being taken as well. As they continued across the hard cement, they passed Rory, still out cold. He seemed not to be coming along. With what seemed to be all of his remaining strength, he reached out a hand a touched Rory's forehead.
Inside Rory's mind, the Doctor left 3 images, 5 words.
River. Captain Jack. Torchwood. Cardiff.
The Doctor's hand fell away, his energy spent, and welcomed the darkness.