"River!" the Eleventh Doctor walked up to her. She slapped him across the face.
"Haven't I been hit enough today?"
"Where have you been? I'm sitting in my cell, wondering if you were going to come for a visit and all of a sudden the TARDIS shows up right in front of my bed. Naturally, I let myself in only to find the place completely empty; she won't go to her last known coordinates nor could I get there with my Vortex manipulator!" she yelled at him before hauling him back to his feet.
"And another- watch out!" she stares straight behind her. The Eleventh Doctor turned to see a solitary angel statue less than a foot away from his previous self.
"Don't blink, Doctor, keep looking at it but not at the eyes and back away," the Eleventh went to his younger self's side and the three backed into the TARDIS.
"River, start the engines, Doctor, Brigadier, keep that angel in your sight until the last possible moment and don'tblink!" ordered the Eleventh.
"Would you mind explaining, Doctor?" said the Brigadier. The doors closed the exact second the TARDIS dematerialized. The Eleventh let out a deep sigh and leaned against the TARDIS console.
"I still want an explanation too," added River.
"Pick a number between one and eleven," ordered the Doctor, exasperated.
"Eleven," guessed River.
"Three," guessed the Brigadier.
"Oh come on, the number was seven! Fine, Brigadier, the Weeping Angels are a race of cold blooded killers that are just as old as the Time Lords. They send people back through Time in order to feed off the energy released by forcing them through the time stream. They move incredibly fast unless they feel that someone is looking at them and then they become quantum locked and quite indestructible. They really like my TARDIS because it freely moves through time; the energy could keep them sustained forever," the Eleventh Doctor took a deep breath and then turned to River. He walked straight up to her and whispered in her ear about what happened to him.
"Where is my TARDIS now?" he whispered.
"Safe. I know the coordinates," she whispered back.
"We can't get there using this TARDIS; it's the same TARDIS. It's bad enough that I'm in the same room as my past self," the Eleventh looked back at the other Doctor and the Brigadier.
"So this is you when you were young!" River went over and shook the other Doctor's hand.
"Wow, you're so young!" she exclaimed.
"I happen to be almost 750!"
"But she knows me and I'm old," the Eleventh Doctor put in.
"To my eyes, it's the other way around," the Brigadier interrupted. Both Doctors turned and looked at him.
"What I want to know," the Third Doctor raised his voice, pointedly ignoring the Brigadier "how do you know how to fly the TARDIS?"
"Spoilers," was all River said.
"That hasn't stopped him…" objected the Third.
"I'm trying to keep all the fore knowledge to a minimum but it doesn't help that someone went gallivanting around my head without permission," the Eleventh Doctor told River, pointedly glaring at the Third.
"Your personality seems to be a bit odd, I can't say I'm looking forward to that," he retorted.
"Oh really? Well the only decent thing about being you is the bow tie and maybe, maybe the car!" shouted the Eleventh.
"Really; and I suppose being the man who destroys Gallifrey is supposed to be all sunshine and daisies!"
The Eleventh Doctor stopped before he could make a retort. For a moment he stood frozen in shock…and then he decked his Third self in the face. The white haired Time Lord hit the floor.
"You think I'm proud of what I've done? Do you think I get some sort of sick sense of pleasure for what happened? After the war was over, I ran, I didn't explore I just ran. I ran from the memories; I ran from myself! If you think for one second that it is easy for me to stand here in front of you— the good Doctor, the proper Doctor, the Doctor who will one day contemplate averting the Daleks' creation entirely—you're wrong. If I didn't have the universe on my shoulders, I'd be on my knees begging for you to understand why. I can see the disgust in your eyes, Doctor; I see the fear, I see the self loathing already forming inside you. You see me and think that one day you will be me and that just tears you up inside doesn't it? I-" the Eleventh would've continued but he felt River take his hand.
He involuntarily relaxed, this was Amy's daughter after all, and Amy was his best friend. The thought of Amy, Rory and River calmed the Doctor down but he couldn't undo the scowl in his forehead.
"Just stop, love," she mouthed to him. He nodded.
She smiled. "Good. Now apologize both of you," she ordered, looking at the Third Doctor.
They both scowled, River sighed. "Apologize now or I'll shoot you both," she clarified.
The Third stepped up to face the Doctor, still massaging his jaw. "What you've said about me is true: I am scared. I might not see eye to eye with the Time Lords, but I've never once thought that I would be the one who destroys them. However, you obviously have a friend who can calm you down. That seems to be very important for you. After seeing the effect that River, was it? That River has on you…I feel more at ease than I was," the Third Doctor took a deep breath "and I'm sorry for what I said. You didn't need to hear any of that especially not from me."
The Eleventh Doctor nodded gravely and a weak smile formed. "I knew you'd go first, not because I remembered you doing it but because you're a better man than I am…a far better man. There are tons of reasons why I'd want to be you. I liked being you, not the exile bit mind you, but everything else: Peladon, the Dinosaurs…whoops; that's not you yet. Alright, I'm not supposed to talk about why I'd want to be you again but the feeling is there. I'm sorry; being me isn't exactly a picnic in the Eye of Orion but it has its good moments." The Doctor glanced at River and the Third nodded.
"Okay, so Kovarian is messing about with my time stream and threatening the whole universe, how do we stop her?" the Eleventh looked at River and the Doctor.
"We have to find her first, and since she has already tried to track you down, it should be as simple as waiting for her," River surmised.
"Hmm…" thought the Eleventh Doctor looking at the TARDIS panel.
"If Kovarian has invaded UNIT HQ we can't go back without running into the Silence," River reminded him.
"I know; unfortunately, we know that she's there. It's the easiest way to get to her," the Eleventh Doctor replied.
"The Silence?" asked the Third
"Spoilers," interrupted the Eleventh before River could clarify.
"If it's important, we need to know, yes?" replied the Third looking indignant.
River looked back at her Doctor, confused.
The Eleventh Doctor landed the TARDIS and opened the doors.
"Where are we now?" asked the Brigadier, quite overwhelmed.
"UNIT HQ," the Eleventh Doctor caught River's eye and they left, the Doctor taking her hand.
"Where to?" she whispered.
"Anywhere," he replied and she hit a button on her Vortex Manipulator. The Doctor heard his past self shout and something grabbed his shoulder just as the device activated.
They ended up on a planet with three moons and a huge forest. River spun, pulling out the gun. The Eleventh caught her just in time before she shot his younger self.
"You had to. You always had to," he shouted at the white haired man.
"You need my help."
"I don't want you involved, you know too much as it is!" the Eleventh smoothed his hair back roughly and paced.
"River, where are we?" he demanded.
"Don't know, but I can send him back to where we were," she replied.
"You can't handle this alone," objected Third.
"I've been alone for so long. I'm used to it. Besides that, I'm not right now, am I?" Eleventh whispered to his past self in the way he did when he was really, really angry.
"Hello, Doctor," said a sinister, familiar voice.
"No…no way," the Doctor turned and saw the Master, the old one from his past self's time who could never beat him.
"Master!" the Third Doctor glared only to be stunned.
"River, ru-" the Eleventh Doctor yelled at her before getting shot as well.
It was really dark when the Third Doctor woke up and he was groggy. He was tied up and behind him he could hear his older self struggling with the ropes.
"You awake yet?" the Eleventh asked.
"Yes," the Third reached behind him and felt the ropes. "Even Houdini would have trouble with these."
"Trouble, yes, but he would get there eventually." The Eleventh laughed as one of his hands came free.
"How long have you been awake?" wondered the Third as Eleventh freed himself.
"About three hours," replied his older self, freeing the Third.
"And you didn't think to wake me up?"
"I tried…you have no survival instincts. You wake up when it's convenient, I wake up because I might die if I don't," the Eleventh searched the room they were locked in.
"If only I had my- OW!" the Eleventh Doctor exclaimed clutching his left eye.
"What happened?" demanded the Third.
"Screw driver! If only I had my screwdriver. Well here it is; it must have fallen through the Vortex into my time stream like I did," the Eleventh held up the green and gold device and pointed it at the lock. The lock promptly exploded.
"Right, now we have to find River," Eleventh left the room and Third followed, running with him. This Doctor was obviously used to running.
"If I know the Master—which I do—he'll be planning something using a large bomb, a timer and a black cape with sequins on velvet. I miss him," Eleventh laughed and turned a corner.
"You miss…the Master…" repeated the Third, fighting the urge to check the Eleventh's temperature.
"Spoilers."
"Of course."
River woke up to see a madman adjusting something on a very large bomb—and it wasn't her madman. She could tell it was a bomb; the large black box had a very disco looking red timer on it.
"Seriously?" she asked.
"Ah, you're awake," the man smiled at her. River gave him a disinterested look that seemed to unnerve him.
"I suppose, being a stupid ape, you have no idea who I am," he smiled evilly.
"Let's see," River began "Large, unimaginative, crude bomb with disarm-able timer, black cloak, melodramatic, Machiavellian sense of superiority, Time Lord origin…you could only be the Master." River smiled.
"Have we met?" wondered the Master.
"No…I'm a bit after your time," River straightened up and started cleaning her finger nails; even if she wasn't tied up, she didn't get up because the Master was holding what looked to be a Tissue Compression Eliminator. Typical. River had read about the Master while researching the Doctor and was not amused. She was obviously a better psychopath.
"Who are you?" demanded the Master.
"No one special," she replied still bored.
The Master leveled his tool at her "I demand to know; no human could possibly know me and I know you're not traveling with the Doctor."
"Oh, but I am," smiled River, leaning forward "He just doesn't know that yet."
"And I'm supposed to believe you," sneered the Master.
"Quite honestly? I couldn't care less. I know how your story ends, Master. It ends in your victory."
"My victory? Here?" asked the Master.
"Of course not, you're young and stupid and this method of trying to get to the Doctor is just childish," laughed River, standing up and stretching. The Master was intrigued now and allowed it. "No, your victory comes with one action the Doctor can't prevent and it'll devastate him completely."
"And what would that be?" he demanded.
River smiled and leaned in again. "Spoilers," she said and then drop kicked him into a wall. He didn't get back up.
"Let's see now," River hummed as she brought up the security feeds for the Master's compound and found the Doctors. She unlocked all the doors for them.
The Doctor was about to unlock the next bulkhead when it opened on its own.
"That's amazing!" exclaimed the Third.
"That's River," replied the Eleventh. They ran down the hallway, following the path River created for them.
When they got to the control room, River was humming to herself while ripping circuitry out of a very cheesy looking bomb.
"Could I borrow your screwdriver?" she raised a hand, not looking at them.
The Eleventh handed his over and looked in the corner. The Master was hand cuffed in a corner with tape over his mouth. He looked decidedly angry.
"Handcuffs?" asked the white haired Doctor. The Eleventh just shrugged.
"He's so annoying, how is it you ever had trouble with him?" River closed the panel and stood up.
"That bomb is-!"
"A very outdated Raxacoricofallopatorian egg timer," interrupted River over the Third Doctor's cry of alarm.
The Eleventh Doctor wasn't listening; he went and removed the tape on the Master's face.
"Now how did you know we would end up in that forest?" he asked.
"Who are you? The Doctor sure has picked up a few violent friends," the Master looked past the Eleventh and looked at the Third "She's delightfully mad, I thought you didn't like mad?" he called.
River shook her head to keep the Third from replying.
"Yes, we're all mad, especially you, Master," continued the Eleventh "I know what's in your head now tell me what I want to know."
"You…know…?" the Master retreated further into the corner.
"Of course I know, but now is not the time. I know that there are Silence in this room. I can't remember, but River's almost out of ammunition so I ask you: where is Kovarian?" he asked.
River looked at the gun she didn't remember picking up. There were ten tally marks on her hand.
"I've got one shot left," she looked around the room and saw them: dead Silence, ten dead Silence.
"What are the Silence?" asked the Third.
"Race of beings that can't be remembered by any living mind once you look away; I was hoping to not have to tell you that, then again, you aren't supposed to be here at all," the Eleventh pulled the Master to his feet and dragged him over to River and the Third Doctor.
"Get us out of here," ordered the Eleventh. Everyone took hold of River and she hit the button.