Closing in Chapter 2, a doctor who fanfic

'Thought you could just disappear, Doctor Song?' It was a man's voice, but not one that she recognised. It was deep, strong and mocking as if all this man wanted to do was hurt her until he grew bored. River couldn't find the words to respond with something witty before she was being dragged to her feet and pushed back against the wall.

The guard kept one hand around her neck as he used the other to pin her free arm back. He was young, maybe twenty five year old, but his eyes were darkened and void of youthful innocence. She could see that he thought his uniform gave him power enough to do as he pleased, and the smirk on his face did not suggest that it pleased him to let her go. There was another guard standing behind them, who as of yet had not spoken though showed no signs of moving to stop his colleague. The coward, River thought coldly, the follower.

'Get off me,' she warned, trying to maintain eye contact with the guard to show that she would never be afraid of him.

'Took a little trip did we? Where did we go this time, hmm? To him?' River felt her cheeks flush and cursed herself for it. These were not men to show weakness in front of.

'Well maybe next time you'll think twice about it, if we give you a little lesson.'

She didn't like where this was going. He was too strong to fight, even given her considerable strength, and he had pushed his body so close to hers that she could hardly move. His eyes glistened black like the devil's, with no soul hidden behind them.

He forced his mouth onto hers, his tongue pushing into her mouth so that she was almost choking. River tried to move her arms but one was trapped beneath his body and the other was being held so tightly she wondered if her wrist might break from the pressure. The sensation was sickening, so much so that she felt stomach acid rise and burn her throat. He released his hand from her throat, brute force alone preventing her from moving away, and thrust it up her top until he found what he was looking for.

River couldn't breathe, her mind becoming clouded as he refused to give her even the slightest freedom of movement. The realisation of what was about to happen dawned on her and for a moment she wasn't River Song, defender of the universe and wife to the great Time Lord; no, she was Melody, the frightened little girl who couldn't bear the thought of this terrible human being touching her.

His hand began to lower from beneath her top, trying to wrestle beneath the waistband of her trousers, but that was enough. With all of the strength she could gather River pushed him away and although it wasn't enough for him to release his grip he was forced to tear his mouth away from hers. This gave her the time to react, spitting in his face before head-butting him; that was enough to get him off.

He reeled back, wiping the spit from his eye but River was too exhausted to move and where would she go if she could? The room was smaller than her cell at Stormcage, and the door was locked and bolted. There was nowhere to run. Her head was pounding from where they had collided giving her little stability on her feet, and she had no time to prepare before her attacker recovered.

He came at her like a man possessed, grabbing her by the hair and throwing her across the room with all of his strength. River hit the wall hard, her head taking the brunt of the blow, and slid down onto the floor seeing stars flash before her eyes.

'That's enough Baines,' she heard the previously silent guard said, 'you've had a go they only wanted her intimidated not…not this.'

'Are you questioning me?' Baines snarled. 'I can do whatever I like, because she's nothing. She isn't worth the air she uses to breathe and someone needs to remind her of that. Have you forgotten what she did, who she is?'

River couldn't see what was going on, but the other guard had fallen silent and she heard the footsteps of the one he called Baines moving towards her. She tried not to flinch as he dragged her up by her jacket. The door opened.

'Baines, Jackson,' a third voice said in greeting.

'Commander,' they replied in unison.

'Baines put her down they need to take her in for questioning.'

'Yes Sir.'

Without a care, Baines let go and River dropped to the floor. Her head was swimming, her stomach turning over and it was all she could do not to vomit. She opened her eyes, blinking several times before her surroundings came into focus and put a hand to her throbbing head. The warm, scarlet blood coated her fingertips as it oozed from the wound.

'Up,' Baines grunted. It was difficult to find her balance, but River did as she was told and tried to look as strong as she could despite her bloody forehead. She hadn't been able to fight him off this time, but she was damned if she was going to show them just how close they had gotten to really hurting her.

The third man without a name walked slowly over to her. He was wearing one of the church's uniforms, a high ranking commander by the sound of it though she had never had the displeasure of dealing with him. River guessed that he had been the head of the taskforce, before most of his men had been murdered. He took her arm roughly and tore the vortex manipulator off, throwing it to the ground and crushing it with the heel of his boot. River didn't react, but she had loved that little thing. It had almost always taken her where she needed to go, and they were incredibly hard to come by. Now she was stuck on the slow path.

'Won't be needing that for any more little jaunts, will we?'

'How long was I gone?' River asked nonchalantly.

'Two minutes,' he replied, 'but that's not why you're still here.'

'Then why?'

A smirk passed across his elderly face, each line crinkling as his eyes lit up.

'You'll see. With me.'

He walked unusually fast and River had to jog at times to keep up with him, ignoring her increasing levels of dizziness. They went through more corridors than she could count, up and down stairs until she was sure that they were just leading her around the ship to see if she would drop; like hell she would. River was shaken, she couldn't deny it, but she had never admitted defeat before and this wasn't the day to start.

Finally, they reached a door and she was led through to an interrogation style room with one glass wall and a table at the room's centre with one chair on either side. She took a seat without invitation, after flashing her middle finger to anyone on the other side of the two-way mirror. River removed her jacket, hanging it off the back of the chair and waited for someone to say something. Nobody did.

'You are excused,' the commander told Baines and Jackson, who left if begrudgingly. River was glad that they were gone, but she was fully aware that it was not going to be the last time she encountered them.

'So,' River said, turning to the only man left in the room, 'Commander.' Commander what?'

'Just Commander,' he replied stiffly, without even glancing in her direction.

'Bob? Bill? No…you're more of a Richard,' she continued, a smiled playing across her lips. She had to show him that they wouldn't change her ways just because they tried to rough her up and the fuming expression on the Commander's face told her she had done just that.

'Fine, have it your way,' shrugged River, 'but I have to say it's all a bit mysterious. Like this whole situation really – one minute you're working with the clerics and the next-'

'With the clerics? You murdered Father Octavian and all of his men are dead. How is that working with the clerics?'

'I…I didn't kill Father Octavian, he was murdered by the threat we were there to dispose of,' River answered firmly. 'I did what was asked of me.'

'It wasn't asked of you to lead those men to slaughter,' spat the Commander, 'and there is no trace of this threat you speak of back at the Byzantium, none at all. So why should we believe a word you say?'

Before River was given a chance to defend herself, the door opened and a thin young woman came in.

'At ease,' she told the Commander gently, 'you are no longer needed here.' He left at once, proving to River that this woman had power despite her meagre form. She was tall but very slight with dark mahogany skin. Her body had little shape to it beneath the bland grey suit which lay flat against her body. The look in her eyes gave her away, piercing light blue and yet still dark without a hint of softness. Not someone to be messed with.

She sat across from River, placing a thin folder on the table between them.

'Doctor River Song?'

'That's what they call me.'

'You appear to be bleeding,' she pointed out without a hint of emotion in her voice.

'I think I'll survive,' answered River coolly.

'Very well. I am Charlotte Manton, one of the new members of the board at Stormcage,' she explained. 'With a new governing body at the facility, some changes needed to be made – starting with you, Doctor Song.'

'Me?' River asked, trying to appear unfazed by the situation. 'What did I ever do? Well…apart from the obvious.'

'Doctor Song you have the thickest file on record,' Charlotte informed her.

'And?'

'And following your actions at Alfava Metraxis as well as your numerous escape attempts we are re-evaluating your status.'

River could sense that something was wrong. This wasn't a hearing; she wasn't being questioned she was being told.

'What does that mean, exactly?'

'It means, Miss Song, that you aren't going to get away with this any longer.'