A/N: There is a tiny portion of the flashback that is almost M level violent/graphic, just a warning.
A Good Man Goes to War
The Professor stood near Amy, glaring at the woman with the eye patch as she stood with guards by the door of the white nursery on their asteroid base. She glanced at Amy as she leaned over a small white table, caressing the baby girl that lay on it, her daughter Melody.
"I wish I could tell you that you'll be loved," Amy whispered to the baby, "That you'll be safe and cared for and protected. But this isn't a time for lies," she gently picked up her child, "What you are going to be, Melody...is very, very brave."
"Two minutes," Patchy remarked. The Professor's glare darkened.
"But not as brave as they'll have to be," the Professor muttered as she backed up to stand beside Amy.
Amy smiled at her and nodded, looking down at her baby once more, "Because there's someone coming. I don't know where he is, or what he's doing, but trust me. He's on his way. There's a man who's never going to let us down," Amy continued, glancing out the window to look at the large army gathering in the hanger outside, the Professor at her side, watching the guards, "And not even an army can get in the way."
"Amy…" the Professor warned. She turned around to see Patchy walking towards her with her arms out, two soldiers close behind.
"Leave her, just you leave her," Amy shook her head, stepping back, "Please leave her! Leave her!"
One of the guards stepped past Patchy, moving to subdue Amy but the Professor was quicker. She grabbed his arm, breaking it in one swift go, managing to lay another firm punch across the face of the second soldier as well before she fell to the ground in a crippling pain, grabbing the metal collar around her neck as massive amounts of electricity coursed through her, enough to incapacitate an elephant but only weakening to a Time Lord, especially one with her training.
She looked up as she fell to her knees to see Patchy pressing a device on her wrist, activating the collar. She didn't cry out in pain, having suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Krillitanes. But she grit her teeth, trying to push past the pain but Patchy simply increased the voltage till she couldn't even feel her limbs before cancelling out the device. She fell onto her hands with a pant, glaring up at the woman as she smirked down at her. But at least she'd incapacitated two guards, she always managed to stop a few…
And it was never enough.
Amy wept as another guard pulled the baby away from her and moved to place it in an advanced white bassinette. She rushed over, leaning over Melody. The Professor, now on her knees, restrained, with her hands behind her back, two guards on either side of her, was shaking from the electricity. Amy felt horrible, the woman only ever attacked the guards to protect her and Melody…
Melody cooed up at her and she took a breath, "He's the last of his kind. He looks young, but he's lived for hundreds and hundreds of years. And wherever they take you, Melody, however scared you are, I promise you, you will never be alone," she leaned forward and kissed her daughter on the forehead, "Because this man is your father. He has a name, but the people of our world know him better...as the Last Centurion."
~8~
"I have a message and a question," Rory stated as he stood before a group of Cybermen, having infiltrated their ship, "A message and a question from the Doctor and me. Where. Are. Our. Wives?" there was no response, "Oh, don't give me those blank looks. The 12th Cyber Legion monitors this entire quadrant," he walked into the room, acting far more confident than he felt, as he headed towards a large window, standing before it, a fleet of Cyberships visible behind him, "You hear everything. So you tell me what I need to know, you tell me now, and I'll be on my way."
"What is the message?" the Cyberleader demanded, having only heard the question.
The ships outside the window exploded though Rory remained unfazed.
"Would you like me to repeat the question?" a voice said behind the Cybermen. They turned around to see the Doctor standing behind them, leaning against a wall, his arms crossed, a dangerous look in his eyes.
The TARDIS had managed to track the Professor to this quadrant before some sort of cloaking device was used to block the trackers. The Cyber Legion was their best bet, with their systems and communications picking up every sort of transmission. She was still able to receive the odd psychic message from the Professor, some plans and layouts she'd learned about the base, but not the name of it.
"The Demons Run asteroid base," the Cyberleader answered, unwilling to risk the Doctor's wrath on them as he had their ships.
The Doctor nodded and turned, snapping his fingers as the doors to the TARDIS opened beside him, "Rory," he called, entering. Rory strode past the Cybermen after him, stepping in and closing the door behind him. The Doctor was already at the console, piloting them away.
Rory frowned seeing an odd glint in the Doctor's eye and walked over to him as the man brought around the monitor to where the few remaining Cyberships were. He reached out and pulled a lever, blowing up the last ships. Rory's eyes widened in horror, "Doctor!" he looked at the man, startled, "They told us where to find them!"
The Doctor just gave him a hard look, "They didn't tell us the first time you asked."
And that was all he said as he moved quickly around the console, getting them into the Vortex.
Rory quickly made his way around and grabbed his arm, "Doctor stop!" he pulled the man back a bit, "I want to get them back too, just as much as you do, but we can't just go blowing up things, especially not after they helped up...sort of..."
The Doctor's eyes narrowed as he pulled his arm away, advancing on Rory dangerously, forcing the man back, "I burned my planet because it took the Professor away from me," he told Rory, "Whoever took her should count themselves as lucky, VERY lucky, that I don't burn every planet, moon, star, base, in my way to getting her back," he turned and focused on the controls once more, now that they had the location, they needed their allies, "Nothing will stop me from finding her, alive and well. And I will find her alive and well...or they won't be able to run fast enough, far enough. I will hunt every single one of them down," he pulled a lever and walked around to the other end of the console, leaving a very startled and slightly scared Rory...
~8~
Rory stood outside River's empty cell in Stormcage. The Doctor had picked up a Silurian woman named Vastra, whom he and the Professor had helped once, and her maid Jenny from London in 1888 as well as a Sontaran, Strax, who owed the Professor an honor debt, from the middle of the battle of Zaruthstra in 4037. They were set to collect a large blue alien named Dorium, who seemed to be indebted to the Doctor and had connections with the Headless Monks, just after he collected River which was why he was there.
He looked over as the alarms went off to see River in a light blue Victorian dress and muffler swaying down the hallway and over to a phone on the wall that was ringing. She laughed, answering it, "Oh, turn it off. I'm breaking in, not out. This is River Song, back in her cell...oh, and I'll take breakfast at the usual time. Thank you!" she hung up and glided down the floor towards him, stopping when she spotted him, "Oh, are you boys dressing up as Romans now? I thought nobody read my memos."
He stepped forward, "Dr. Song? It's Rory. Sorry, have we met yet? Time streams, I'm not quite sure where we are..."
"Yes," she nodded, looking at him almost sadly, "Yes, we've met. Hello, Rory."
"What's wrong?"
"It's my birthday," she laughed nervously, "The Doctor and Professor took me ice skating on the River Thames in 1814, the last of the great frost fairs. They even got Stevie Wonder to sing for me under London Bridge."
"Stevie Wonder sang in 1814?"
"Yes, he did. But you must never tell him," she put her finger on her lips.
"I've actually just come from the Doctor…"
"Yes, but at a different point in time."
"Unless there's two of them."
"Now, that's a whole different birthday," River laughed, turning to her cell as she pulled out her diary, "The Professor was none too pleased I'll have you know…"
"They need you!" he cut in.
"Demons Run," she closed the book.
"How...how did you know?"
"I'm from their future. I always know," she eyed his centurion getup, "Why on Earth are you wearing that?"
"The Doctor's idea."
"Of course. His rules of engagement. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."
"Look ridiculous."
"Have you considered heels?" she turned away from him.
"They've taken Amy. And our baby. And the Professor as well," he walked towards her, "The Doctor's getting some people together, we're going after them, but he needs you too."
"I can't," she turned to him, sadly, "Not yet, anyway."
"I'm sorry?"
"This is the Battle of Demons Run. The Doctor and Professor's darkest hour. They'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further. And...I can't be with them till the very end."
"Why not?"
"Because this is it," she stepped into her cell, "This is the day they find out who I am."
The Doctor hit a button on the monitor, turning it off, having been watching Rory and River. He frowned, confused, why would her identity being discovered mean she couldn't help them?
~8~
The Professor and Amy stood in the nursery, Melody having been taken away, watching as the army stood 'at ease' before Colonel Manton, the dark skinned right hand man of Madame Kovarian, or Patchy as the Professor liked to mock. He was standing on a stage with three Headless Monks behind him, Kovarian to the side as he rallied his troops, "He is not the devil. He is not a god. He is not a goblin, or a phantom, or a trickster. The Doctor is a living, breathing man, and as I look around this room I know one thing...we're sure as hell going to fix that!" the soldiers cheered just as the door behind them opened.
The Professor turned quickly, watching as a young female soldier stopped at the steps, startled that she'd been noticed, before cautiously continuing on. The Professor eyed her closely, frowning in thought as she placed the woman before her. She was much older than the last time she'd seen the girl in the Gamma Forests, Lorna Bucket, if she recalled correctly.
"Sorry," Lorna called as Amy barely spared her a glance, "I shouldn't be here, I'm meant to be at the thing. I brought you something," she took out a small swatch of green cloth with gold stitching and looked at Amy, "Your child's name, in the language of my people," Amy turned to glance at it, "It's a Prayer Leaf and we believe, if you keep this with you, your child will always come home to you."
"Can I borrow your gun?" the Professor asked her.
"Why?"
"They've taken mine."
"Talking like he's famous," Amy muttered as she turned back to the window, "The Doctor isn't famous..."
"He meets a lot of people," Lorna shrugged, "Some of them...remember," she smiled and glanced at the Professor, "Remember the both of you. You're sort of like...I dunno. Dark legends."
"Dark?" Amy scoffed, wanting to defend her friends, "Have you met them?"
"Yeah."
"You were just a little girl then," the Professor agreed.
"So was I," Amy remarked, turning to Lorna.
"You've been with them a long time then?" she asked Amy, seeing how comfortable and close the two women were.
"No," the Professor told her.
"They came back for me," Amy smiled at the woman beside her.
"You must be very special," Lorna said softly.
"Hey," Amy turned to her, "You can wait a long time for the Doctor and Professor here," she squeezed the Professor's hand, "But they're worth it. Ok?"
"The thing you need to know," the Professor told her calmly, "Is that the Doctor's coming. There's no question about it. Just make sure you're on the right side when he gets here. Not for our sake but for yours."
Amy held out her hand and Lorna gave her the Prayer Leaf, "Thank you."
And with that, she turned back to the window, the Professor watching till Lorna left the room before turning as well.
"On this day, in this place, the Doctor will fall," Manton continued to the cheers, "The man who talks, the man who reasons, the man who lies, will meet the perfect answer. Some of you have wondered why have we have allied ourselves with the Headless Monks…" the Professor squinted, spotting Lorna sneaking back into her position, "Perhaps you should have wondered why we call them 'Headless.' It's time you knew what these guys have sacrificed for faith. As you all know, it is a Level One Heresy, punishable by death, to lower the hood of a Headless Monk. But, by the divine grant of the Papal Mainframe herself, on this one and only occasion, I can show you the truth. Because these guys never can be..." he turned to the first Monk and lowered its hood to reveal them to truly be headless, a knotted, twisted, bit of flesh where the neck should have been, "Persuaded! They NEVER can be..." he did the same to the second Monk, "Afraid," and approached the third, ready to do the same, "And they can never, ever be..."
The third Monk threw back his own hood to reveal the Doctor, "Surprised?" Amy grinned widely and pressed herself against the window as the Professor smirked to herself, watching as the soldiers looked on, stunned, "Hello everyone! Guess who!" he walked to the front of the stage, "Please point a gun at me if it helps you relax."
"Idiot," the Professor murmured fondly, though watching cautiously as all the soldiers seemed to do just that, the Monks readying their energized swords.
"You're only human," the Doctor smirked.
Manton stepped forward, aiming his gun at the Doctor, "Doctor, you will come with me, right now!"
The Doctor turned, catching sight of the two girls in the window, before returning his attention to Manton as he smiled mockingly "3 minutes, 40 seconds. Professor Pond! Get your coats!" he put his hood back on just as the lights went out.
When they came back on, the Doctor was gone.
"I'm not a phantom," the Doctor said, his voice echoing over the speakers.
"Doctor?" Manton called.
"I'm not a trickster."
"Doctor?"
"I'm a monk."
"Doctor, show yourself!"
"It's him!" a soldier aimed his gun at a Monk, "He's here!" the rest quickly followed suit.
"Well, what do you know?" the Professor mumbled, "Instigating mass hysteria, I'll make a soldier out of him yet," Amy laughed and linked their arms, watching.
"It's him!" a soldier shouted, shooting at one of the Monks, creating tension between the two sides.
"Weapons down!" Manton ordered, "Do not fire!" one of the Monks, though, retaliated, shooting a bolt of energy at the soldier, "NOOO!" and then all hell broke loose between the two factions, "Doctor! Doctor!" Manton ran forward to the edge of the stage, "Nobody discharge their weapon in this room. Nobody! Do not fire! Stop, wait! Listen to me!" he held up his gun, "I'm disarming my weapon pack," the soldiers looked over to see him do just that, "Monks, I do this in good faith! I am now unarmed," he placed it on the floor, "All of you, discharge your weapon packs. The Doctor is trying to make fools of us...we are soldiers of God, we are not fools! We are not fools!"
"We are not fools!" a few soldiers agreed, starting to remove their packs.
"We are not fools!"
"We are not fools!" they chanted, more and more removing their packs.
The Professor couldn't help but snort when teleports kicked in and suddenly the now unarmed army was surrounded by Silurian soldiers and Judoon, "Oh, of course they're not fools!" she and Amy laughed as the Doctor succeeded in making them just that, fools.
"This base is now under our command!" Strax appeared beside Manton, aiming his gun at him.
"I have a fleet out there!" Manton threatened, "If Demons Run goes down, there's an automatic distress call."
"You think we don't know about that?" the Doctor's voice came over the speakers again and the army looked up to see him standing on a raised platform just under the window to the nursery, "You have my Bonded here, my wife," he turned and blew a kiss up to her before spinning to face the army once more, "And she's been keeping tabs on you," he looked around at the hanger, "A base this size ought to take round about…oh…three weeks?" he ventured, "For her to map out in its entirety. I've got the blue prints to your whole base and you didn't even know. So…what's say we knock out your communications array," he held up a comm. to his mouth, "You've got incoming!"
"Danny Boy to the Doctor," a spitfire pilot came over the comm., "Danny Boy to the Doctor."
"Give 'em hell, Danny Boy!" he put his arms out and pretended to be a plane, firing at the base. The ship rocked as the planes really fired, Amy smiling and looking up, laughing.
"Target destroyed!" came the report, making the Doctor laugh as well.
Manton hung his head, "Don't slump, it's bad for your spine!" Strax reprimanded.
The Doctor grinned a bit, before he looked down at the army, on its knees, defenseless and eyed them a moment longer. He felt anger rise in him, these were the people who had taken his wife, his Bonded...these were the people who had joined an army to destroy them both...he shouldn't have just knocked out their communications and taken possession of the base, he should have gotten Amy and the Professor out and destroyed them all...
'Anger is always the shortest distance to a mistake,' he heard the Professor whisper in his mind.
He took a breath, shaking his head, to destroy them would mean killing them in cold blood...he wouldn't be the Doctor if he did that. He sighed, "You're only human," he whispered, reminding himself of that.
~8~
Strax was escorting Manton at gunpoint to one of the control rooms where Vastra and Jenny had cut the lights, the two women and Dorium standing to the side as the Doctor sat at the control panel.
"All airlocks sealed, resistance neutralized!" Strax reported.
"Sorry, Colonel Manton, I lied," the Doctor remarked, smirking darkly at the man, "3 minutes, 42 seconds. Though, the Professor could probably do it in 3 and 30."
"Colonel Manton, you will give the order for your men to withdraw," Strax ordered.
"No. Colonel Manton...I want you to tell your men to run away," he said, a slight tremble in his voice that was most certainly not fear or sorrow. He may have forgiven the army, spared their lives, but to be faced with one of the two people in charge of the base, responsible for taking the Professor from him...he could feel his blood starting to boil as his fury mounted.
"You what?" Manton looked at him, stunned.
"Those words. Run away. I want you to be famous for those exact words. I want people to call you Colonel Run-Away. I want children laughing outside your door, 'cos they've found the house of Colonel Run-Away," he stood and pointed a finger at him, glaring as he advanced dangerously on the man, "And, when people come to you and ask if trying to get to me through my wife, through the people I love!" he spat, the anger in his eyes actually making the man step back, "Is in any way a good idea...I want you to tell them your name," he took a breath, shaking as he looked at Manton, "Oh, look! I'm angry. That's new," he swallowed hard, trying to control his anger, letting out a slightly insane laugh, "I'm really not sure what's going to happen now."
"The anger of a good man is not a problem," Kovarian remarked as she was led in by two Silurians, "Good men have too many rules."
The Doctor scoffed and turned to her, "Good men don't need rules Patchy," he walked over to her, "Today is not the day to find out why I have so many. And certainly not the time to find out why the Professor's got even more."
Kovarian glared at him a moment, "Give the order," the Doctor stepped back, surprised, "Give the order Colonel Run-Away."
He smirked and turned, heading out of the room, he had a very important girl to find.
~8~
The Professor spun around as the door behind them knocked, Amy looked around quickly for a weapon as the Professor laughed, thinking back to something Martha had said in 1913 about scarecrows not knocking.
"Who's that, who's there?" Amy demanded, grabbing an industrial thermometer, "You watch it, 'cos I'm armed and really dangerous and...cross!"
"Yeah," Rory remarked through the door, "Like I don't know that."
"Rory?" Amy blinked, stunned, as the Professor moved to pluck the thermometer from her, setting it back down, "Rory, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me..." the sonic whirred, "Hang on a minute."
"Next setting Rory," the Professor called.
"Ah, thanks!"
"They took her," Amy called to him, "Rory, they took our baby away."
The door opened to reveal Rory standing there with Melody in his arms, "Now, Mrs. Williams...that is never, ever going to happen."
The Professor stepped back as Rory headed down towards Amy, leaving the young couple some space.
"Oh, my God. Oh, my God," Amy quickly checked her daughter as soon as she was near enough, "Where's she been, what have they done to her..."
"She's fine," Rory reassured her, both of them looking down at the baby, "Amy, she's fine, I checked. She's beautiful," he teared up, "Oh, God, I was going to be cool. I wanted to be cool, look at me."
"You're ok. Crying Roman with a baby, definitely cool. Come here you!" she pulled him into a kiss.
"Ugh, kissing and crying, I'll be back in a bit," the Doctor called from the door.
"Oi!" the Professor shouted as he made to turn, "You! Get in here. Now. And help me with this," she pointed at the metal collar.
He laughed, not really planning to leave, and headed over to her. Rory tossed him the sonic and he flashed it across her collar, disengaging it, before pulling something out of his pocket, "And…look what I found…" he tossed her her blaster.
"My blaster!" she gushed, her eyes lighting up as she looked it over, "Oh, I thought I'd never see you again! I missed you so much!"
"Yeah, well…" he started to smile, only to realize she was talking to her blaster and pouted.
She laughed, "I missed you too," and pulled him into a kiss as well.
Rory and Amy laughed, shaking their head at the duo. The Professor pulled away with a grin. "And that's not all," the Doctor added, pulling out a small bouquet of flowers from his inner coat pocket, "Ta da!"
"Doctor," the Professor laughed, taking them from him and smelling them.
"You know…the TARDIS was right."
"About what?"
"You do make the loveliest bouquet."
She looked down and saw that all the flowers in the bouquet were the ones the TARDIS associated with her, "Thank you," she whispered, kissing him again. She moved to pull away but he reached out and cupped her cheek, holding her to him a few moments longer.
Rory smiled as he watched them. He could see it, even now, the Doctor's entire demeanor shifting from the hardened, driven man who had raged his way across the Universe, to the kind, gentle, caring man who always looked out for everyone on their adventures.
"Oi!" Amy shouted at him, whacking him on the arm not holding Melody, making the aliens break apart to look over, "I give you a daughter and you can't give me flowers?"
The Professor laughed as Rory sputtered, Amy just kissing him in jest, before linking her arm with the Doctor and leading him over to the couple.
"My daughter," Rory sighed, "What do you think?"
"Hello," the Doctor waved at the child, "Hello, baby."
"Melody," the Professor whispered to him.
"Melody! Hello, Melody Pond!"
"Melody Williams," Rory corrected.
"...is a geography teacher," Amy declared, "Melody Pond is a superhero!"
The Doctor paused a moment, listening to Melody gurgling, "Well, yes, I suppose she does smell nice. Never really sniffed her, maybe I should give it a go. Amelia Pond, c'mere!" he turned and hugged her as the Professor moved to give Rory a one armed hug as well, careful of Melody.
"Doctor!" Amy laughed, hugging him back.
"I'm sorry we were so long," he sniffed her.
"It's ok, we knew you were coming. Both of you," she glanced at the Professor with a smile, "Our boys!"
Melody squealed.
"It's ok, she's still all yours," the Doctor turned back to the baby, "And really you should call her 'Mummy,' not 'Big Milk Thing.'"
"Ok, what are you doing?"
"I speak Baby."
"No, you don't!"
"I speak everything..." the Doctor said smugly, "Don't I, Melody Pond?"
Melody just gurgled.
"No it's not," the Professor tweaked the Doctor's bow tie, "It's cool."
Amy and Rory looked at her in shock as the Doctor's eyes widened.
She rolled her eyes at them, "Yes I know, you've FINALLY broken me down about it...either that or I missed you more than I thought..."
He grinned and gave her a quick peck, "Let's go with both."
"Doctor!" Vastra called, entering the room, "Take a look. They're leaving," he and the Professor walked over to the window, looking out as the soldiers were marched off, "Demons Run is ours without a drop of blood spilled. My friends, you have never risen higher!"
Rory looked up sharply at those words, thinking back to what River had said.
~8~
Amy stepped out of the TARDIS with Melody in her arms as the baby cried.
Rory looked over from where he was standing beside the Professor, who was looking around the base, tense, like she couldn't shake the feeling that something was lurking about.
"Hey what's wrong?" Rory asked as Amy walked over to them.
"She doesn't like the TARDIS noise," Amy replied, "I asked him to turn something off, but it was all…"
"Let me guess," the Professor looked at her, "'I don't want to punch a hole in the space-time continuum.'"
"Yeah."
"Professor," Strax saluted as he and Jenny walked over, she returned it as well, before he went on to give his report, "The Judoon have escorted the clerics out of the quadrant, Spitfires have returned to their own time, and Captain Avery and his men..."
"Is she alright?" Jenny cut in, looking worriedly at Melody.
"Yes, she's just crying," Amy remarked.
"The TARDIS woke her up," the Professor told her, "She just wants to take a nap."
"Give her to me, human fool," Strax reached out for Melody, "She needs changing."
"I just changed her," Amy shook her head.
"She wants to sleep," the Professor corrected her.
Amy shook her head, "I think she might need a feed."
"A feed, of course," Strax stepped forward, "I'll take care of everything."
"I really don't think you will, actually," Rory eyed the alien.
"She's just tired," the Professor tried again, the humans seeming to forget that she too could understand Baby.
"I have gene-spliced myself for all nursing duties," Strax continued, offended, "I can produce magnificent quantities of lactic fluid."
"She's not hungry, she's tired!" the Doctor called as he stepped out of the TARDIS with an old, wooden, purple cot, "Sorry, Melody, they're just not listening."
The Professor shook her head and looked at him, "I understand what you mean about having a face people don't listen to," she joked.
"What's this?" Amy looked at the cot as the Doctor set it down on a box near them.
"Very pretty, according to your daughter," the Professor laughed.
"It's a...it's a cot…" Rory observed.
"No flies on the Roman," the Doctor rolled his eyes, "Give her here. Hey!"
Amy gently handed her daughter over to him, "There we go."
"But where would you get a cot?" Rory shook his head as the Doctor laid Melody down in it.
"It's old. Really old. Doctor...do you and the Professor have any children?"
"No," the Professor answered for him.
"Have you ever had children?"
The Doctor tensed, looking at Melody, "No, it's real, it's my hair."
"Who slept in here?"
"Doctor!" Vastra called over the comms., "Professor! We need you in the main control room."
The Doctor nodded, "Be right there!" before turning to Amy and Rory, "Things to do...we've still got to work out what this base is for. We can't leave till we know," he turned and took the Professor's hand, heading off.
"But this is where we were?" Amy called after them, making them stop, "The whole time we thought we were on the TARDIS, we were really here."
The Professor moved back to her and hugged her tightly, they hadn't exactly gotten to talk much about this during their stay, being constantly watched by Kovarian and her guards, "We were on the TARDIS too...our hearts, our minds, our souls."
"But physically, yes," the Doctor added, "You were still in this place."
"And when I saw that face looking through the hatch..." Amy pulled back a bit to look at both of them, "Patchy looking at me..."
"Reality bleeding through," the Professor nodded.
"So their Flesh avatars were with us ever since Washington?" Rory tried to follow, "All that time? But that means they were projecting a control signal right into the TARDIS. Wherever we were in time and space…"
"Yeah, they're very clever," the Doctor nodded.
"Who are?" Amy asked.
"Whoever wants our baby," Rory remarked.
"But why do they want her?"
"Exactly!" the Doctor pointed.
"Is there anything you're not telling us? You knew both knew Amy wasn't real, that the Professor wasn't real, but you never said."
"I couldn't be sure they weren't listening," the Professor sighed.
"But you always hold out on us," Amy pleaded, "Please, not this time. Doctor, Professor, it's our baby. Tell us something. One little thing."
"It's ours," the Doctor said.
"What is?" Rory frowned.
"The cot," the Professor added, "It's our cot."
"Well, technically, it's my cot," the Doctor corrected, "I made it."
"You made it?" Rory shook his head, "Then how is it both of yours?"
The Professor sighed, "He made it as a woodshop craft during our time in the Academy."
He nodded, "Etched our names on the sides for the day when we would have a child of our own."
"I think it was more of a gag gift. Sort of like when you have a childhood friend you claim you'll marry one day sort of thing."
"Except this time it really happened," the Doctor dropped a kiss on her head.
Rory and Amy smiled at that and turned to the cot, looking at the mobile hanging over it with small metallic celestial bodies dangling from it.
"Oh, my God," Amy laughed, "The baby's first stars."
"Come on," the Doctor tugged the Professor off.
"I think I should stay here," she told him, "Something about this…it doesn't sit right with me. I can't help but think this was all too easy and one thing we learned during training was to NEVER ignore our instincts."
He nodded, "I'll be back as soon as I figure out what's going on."
She nodded, giving him a quick kiss and sending him off, he only made it a few steps before he dashed back to her and gave her a longer kiss, grinning widely before rushing off again, leavnig her breathless and grinning. She reached up, lightly putting her fingers to her lips a moment, before turning back to Amy and Rory as they doted on their daughter.
A few moments later Strax's voice was heard, "Drop your weapons!" they looked over to see him marching Lorna in, "State your rank and intent! I found it listening at the door!"
~8~
The Doctor entered the main control room to see Dorium sitting at the controls, "You've hacked into their software then?"
"I believe I sold it to them," he remarked.
"So what have we learned?"
"That anger is always the shortest distance to a mistake," Vastra recited.
"I'm sorry?"
"The words of an old friend who once found me in the London Underground, attempting to avenge my sisters on perfectly innocent tunnel diggers."
"Well...you were very cross at the time…and I'm sure the Professor aiming her blaster at you didn't help…"
"You were quite cross today as well, old friend. Point taken, I hope," he nodded in acceptance, "Now, I have a question. A simple one. Is Melody human?"
"Sorry, what? Of course she is!" he laughed uncomfortably, "Completely human, what are you talking about?"
"They've been scanning her since she was born and I think they found what they were looking for," Dorium pulled up a screen.
The Doctor walked over, frowning at the image of the DNA strand of Melody's, "Human DNA."
"Look closer," Vastra told him, "Human plus. Specifically...human plus Time Lord."
~8~
"I heard her talking...this is a trap," Lorna told them, "Why would I lie to you?"
Rory stepped forward, "Well, you might want to take a look at your uniform."
"The only reason I joined the clerics was to meet the Doctor and Professor again."
Jenny frowned, "You wanted to meet them, so you joined an army to fight them?"
"Well, how else do you meet a great warrior and a deadly weapon?"
"He's not a warrior," Amy shook her head.
"And she's not a weapon," Rory added.
The Professor looked down at that, memories of the war playing through her mind.
"Then why are they called the Doctor and Professor?"
"Sorry what?" Amy asked.
The lights went out and Lorna turned to the Professor, sensing she would be the one willing to listen, "It's starting. Please listen to me."
~8~
"But she's human," the Doctor continued, "She's Amy and Rory's daughter."
"You told me about your people," Vastra remarked, "They became what they did through prolonged exposure to the Time Vortex. The Untempered Schism..."
"Over billions of years, it didn't just happen."
"So how close is she? Could she even regenerate?"
"No, no! I don't think so."
"You don't sound so sure."
"Because I don't understand how this happened! And the Professor isn't exactly here with us to go over the information!"
"Which leads me to ask...when did it happen?"
"When?"
"I am trying to be delicate...I know how easily you blush, the Professor's proved it numerous times. When did this baby...begin?"
"Oh, you mean..."
"Quite."
"Well, how would I know? That's all humany, private stuff, it just sort of...goes on. They don't put up a balloon, or anything," he turned and paced down the hall.
"But could the child have begun on the TARDIS, in flight, in the Vortex?"
"No, no, impossible!" he headed back, "It's all running about, sexy fish vampires, and blowing up stuff. And Rory wasn't even there at the beginning. Then he was dead, then he didn't exist, then he was plastic. Then the Professor and I had to reboot the whole Universe...long story. So technically the first time they were on the TARDIS, together, in this version of reality, was on their..."
"On their what?"
He gulped, "On their wedding night."
~8~
"Confirmed," Strax looked at his scanner, "No life forms registering on this base, except us and the Silurians."
"The Headless Monks aren't alive..." the Professor shook her head, "They wouldn't register as life forms."
~8~
"Doesn't make sense!" the Doctor continued, "You can't just cook yourself a Time Lord."
"Of course not, but you gave them one hell of a start and they've been working very hard ever since," Vastra told him.
"And yet they gave in so easily," Dorium muttered, "Does this not that bother anyone else?"
"Amy!" the Doctor's eyes widened, "She worried the baby would have a time head. She said that..."
"Only you would ignore the instincts of a mother!" Vastra chastised him.
"Or the instincts of a coward," Dorium added, "This is too easy. There's something wrong."
"Why even do it?" the Doctor continued to ignore him, "Even if you could get your hands on a brand new Time Lord, what for?"
"A weapon?" Vastra shrugged.
"Why would a Time Lord be a weapon?"
"Well..." she sighed, knowing he wouldn't like what she was about to say, "They've seen the Professor."
"The Professor?" the Doctor sat down, stunned. As much as he didn't want to think on that, he knew a good majority of the Universe still thought of his Bonded as the living weapon of the Time Lords, despite all she'd done to try and make up for that horrible time.
"Mr. Maldovar, you're right," Vastra turned to him, "This was too easy. We should get back to the others."
"The Professor?" the Doctor breathed as they left.
"I see you accessed our files," Kovarian said. He stood up quickly and spun around to see her on the screen behind him, "Do you understand yet? Oh, don't worry, I'm a long way away. But I like to keep tabs on you. The child then...what do you think?"
"What is she?"
"Hope. Hope in this endless, bitter war."
"What war? Against who?"
"Against you, Doctor. You and your Bonded."
~8~
"We need to go, now," the Professor turned to Amy, putting a hand behind her back to lead her to the TARDIS with Melody when a glowing light appeared around it.
"What's that?" Amy asked as Vastra and Dorium joined them.
Vastra moved to approach it when the Professor held up a hand, signaling for her to keep back. She herself cautiously approached, placing a hand on it, pulling back sharply as the energy stung her, "Force field," well at least she could scan things again.
"Can you break through it?" Rory asked, now on alert.
She shook her head, "No…not without a sonic device," she huffed, "Knew I should have had the TARDIS make me one…"
A loud click echoed around them.
"And those are the doors...locking," Lorna remarked.
"Apparently we're not leaving," Vastra tensed.
And then…they heard chanting.
"Is that the Monks?" Rory frowned.
"Oh, dear God...that's the attack prayer!" Dorium gasped.
"Everyone, get ready," the Professor ordered, "Rory find a safe place for Amy."
"Quick," Rory turned to Amy, leading her and Melody away, "Come with me"
"Commander Strax!" Vastra called to the Sontaran.
"I'm trying to seal off this area of the lighting grid," he shouted back and the lights went on around them.
"This is where we'll make our stand."
"Clear lines of sight on all approaches," the Professor commanded as the Monks approached, their swords out and charged.
"Centurion, you're needed!" Vastra called as she and the Professor eyed the Monks at the back of the room.
Lorna ran to a nearby crate and dug through it, "There should be some plasma pistols somewhere. They left everything."
"Then find them, boy!" Strax ordered.
"She's definitely a girl," Vastra remarked to Jenny.
"Oh, stop it!" Jenny rolled her eyes.
Dorium started to walk towards the Monks as they stopped just outside the lights, "We don't have to fight. I'm friends to the Monks, they know me."
"Yeah, and they know you just sold them out to the Doctor," Rory reminded him.
"Oh, they'll understand. It's only me, only silly old me," he held his arms out wide, "You understand, don't you?"
"Mr. Maldovar, get back here!" Vastra shouted.
"Arm yourself, fool!" Strax called.
"Dorium!" both Rory and the Professor shouted.
But it was too late.
There was a slicing noise and something hit the floor.
"Mr. Maldovar?" Vastra asked cautiously.
"Dorium?" Rory tried.
Lorna returned, handing out the plasma pistols. They watched as the Monks walked closer, a headless Dorium walking ahead of them. The Professor's jaw tensed and she aimed a single blast of the plasma pistol, striking Dorium in the heart, he collapsed.
It was a mercy.
"The child!" Vastra shouted, "At all costs, protect the child!"
Rory drew his sword in one hand, a pistol in the other as the Professor stood at his side with her blaster and a plasma pistol, everyone readying themselves for battle.
"Keep in mind everyone," the Professor called, "Plasma pistols only pack ten rounds so aim careful," she checked her blaster, "And of course," she shook her head, "The battery would be low with no one to mind it," even if she had thought to use her blaster as a sonic disrupter before now it wouldn't have had enough power to cancel out the force field around the TARDIS.
Rory glanced at her, "What does that mean?"
She closed her blaster and looked up, "Means I'd best make every shot count doesn't it?" she aimed and fired, nine shots, taking out nine Monks before running forward, "I'll try to draw them away!" she shouted, taking a leap, managing to step on one of the Monk's shoulders and jump behind them, firing what was left of her blaster from behind, drawing a few back.
~8~
The Doctor slammed is hands down in anger, glaring at Kovarian as he shouted, "A child is not a weapon!"
She smirked, "And I suppose your Bonded is not a weapon either?" he tensed as Kovarian laughed, "She has proved to be the most exquisite example of a living weapon we have ever seen. Give us time and the child can be the same. Give us time and she will be."
"Except you've already lost her and I swear I will never let you anywhere near her again."
"Oh, Doctor. Fooling you once was a joy...but fooling you twice, the same way, it's a privilege."
The Doctor's eyes widened, realizing, "Amy...Amy!" he turned and ran out of the room.
~8~
The group fought valiantly as the Monks attacked, the Professor firing until her battery ran dry.
~8~
The Doctor ran through the halls, trying to get back to the hanger in time…
~8~
The Professor brought down her blaster onto one of the Monk's arms, managing to twist the sword out of its hand and slash it back.
~8~
'Kata!' the Doctor shouted desperately in his mind, 'Kata!'
~8~
'Theta?' she called, trying to keep both focused on the battle and hearing the Doctor.
'Amy!' he shouted back at her, 'It's not Melody!'
'What do you mean?' she asked, swinging the sword down at a Monk only to hear Lorna scream in pain behind her. She whirled around to see her struck by a bolt of energy as Strax himself was stabbed from behind.
~8~
'Melody's a Flesh avatar!' he called, racing down a corridor.
~8~
The Professor's eyes widened as she whirled around to the area where Amy had been hidden when…
"Rory!" Amy screamed, heartbroken, "RORY!"
And she knew…it was too late.
She watched as Rory ran off before closing her eyes in sorrow for her friends. The sounds of battle reached her, making her tense…
Her eyes snapped open and she turned, savagely slashing as many Monks as possible…
"Jenny get back!" Rory heard Vastra shout, "Leave this to her!"
He pulled Amy to her feet, helping her back to the group when he froze in shock and they saw exactly why the Professor had been deemed a weapon by her own people.
Amy though, was pulled into a memory…
~/~\~
She stood in the nursery, holding Melody close to her as she looked out the window where Madame Kovarian was standing on top of a platform rigged up around the center of the hanger. The Professor was stationed between two soldiers, on her knees, chained up on a small platform that was hovering before Kovarian. The woman smirked and shouted out, "Bring them in," they watched from above as a small family, a woman and her husband and a little boy, were pushed into the ring.
The Professor tensed as she watched them.
Amy frowned as another noise filtered up to her, a strange sort of growling, but it wasn't animals.
The Professor's eyes widened as she assessed the noise, "Don't you dare!" she turned to Kovarian.
The woman just smirked, "Release them!" she ordered.
Doors opened around the bottom of the platform and…
"Amy look away!" the Professor shouted.
But Amy didn't, she didn't know what was happening…until she caught sight of the things let into the makeshift arena.
They were people, savage people, dressed in tatters and bits of what looked like flesh stitched together. Growling, with sharp teeth, piercings…and then…they tore into the family. Amy gasped, tears in her eyes as she watched the animals literally tear the child apart before her eyes, beating the man and raping the woman before attempting to eat them. She felt sick and turned away but she could still hear the cries of the woman as she died and the horrible sound of feasting.
When it fell silent she peeked out again to see the Professor glaring at Kovarian as she stepped onto the hovering platform. The two soldiers walked off to stand on her platform.
Kovarian eyed the Professor a moment before nodding, "Yes, I'm certain they'll enjoy you as well," before stepping back and pressing a button on her command pad. Amy gasped as the Professor's bindings were released save the collar on her neck and the platform began to lower.
"Professor!" she shouted, banging on the glass.
The Professor looked up as the animalistic beings began to get agitated and excited at her descent, "Don't watch Amy," she said, "Please."
Amy shook her head, banging on the window, trying to break through to help her. But then…
She learned the Professor didn't need it.
The woman leapt over the side of the platform, landing squarely on one of the creatures, taking him out. She quickly grabbed the thing's makeshift weapon, a sort of lead pipe with the end welded into a curve, and quickly moved to defend herself. Amy held her breath as she watched, praying the Professor would make it out alive.
And she did.
Beaten, bruised by the onslaught, but ultimately alive, having managed to either kill or knock out the things that had attacked the family. She expected Kovarian to be displeased by this but the woman was smiling, as though she'd won, as though everything had happened exactly as she wanted it to. Amy was confused, watching helplessly as two soldiers ran in and dragged the Professor out once more, other rushing to make sure the creatures were dead and finishing them off if they weren't.
The doors opened behind her and the Professor was thrown into the room. She put Melody in the bassinette and ran to her friend's side, helping her up. She shakily sat her down and rushed around the room, trying to find first-aid supplies.
"It's alright Amy," the Professor called.
"No it's not, you're hurt!"
"Not the first time…"
Amy winced at that. This wasn't the first time Kovarian had brought in something for the Professor to fight, that was true. She'd been faced with battle robots, firing lasers and other weapons at her. She'd been thrown into a sparing ring with some of the top soldiers at the base, shocked if she tried to go for a kill shot, she was only allowed to hurt them. She'd even been surrounded by animals at one point, actual vicious animals. But she'd survived.
"I'm so sorry," she breathed, walking over to the Professor's side, "This is all my fault."
"No, it isn't," the Professor reassured her, hugging her close so she could drop her voice, speaking as quietly as she could, "They want to test the limits of a Time Lord. What's more, they want to learn from what I can do."
"You mean…from the war?"
The Professor could only nod, at first she'd thought that she had simply been taken with Amy because she had been there at the same time, but once she'd been awoken and Kovarian began testing her, her limits, her endurance and reactions, she knew that the woman had also been hoping to capture her as well. She knew what was going on, the recording devices were hardly subtle when it came time to test her again. They wanted to learn, they wanted to make her the template for some sort of training program. She didn't know for who though, not yet.
She pulled away to sit back down as Amy started to cry, thinking about what the Professor and Doctor had both been through, "What were those things?" she asked, moving to sit beside the Professor as the woman put her arm around her shoulders, those things were by far the worst the Professor had dealt with.
The Professor sighed, "Reavers."
Nothing else needed to be said.
Amy understood exactly what they were just from seeing them, monsters.
~/~\~
As they watched, Amy realized the Professor had been holding back on those attacks, nothing she had shown Kovarian could compare to the massacre before them.
They watched as she practically danced through the Monks, swinging and slashing at them, one motion blending into the next fluidly. She leaned back, swinging her sword out in a circle, cutting through six Monks at once, she knelt on the ground, stabbing one behind her as she picked up two blades and it began again. She expertly shifted her fighting style to factor in the Monks being headless, aiming attacks at their limbs and chests. They watched as she cut down one after the other, turning to throw her second sword right into the chest of a Monk 20 feet away before turning and slashing another down. She cut one in half through the stomach, another from the groin to his head, she took on two at a time, expertly defending herself between them before twisting one's arm over her shoulder and turning, using it as a shield to block a deadly attack from the other before throwing it down and stabbing the Monk as well. She turned suddenly and stabbed a Monk that had been trying to sneak up on her through the gut, having heard him before turning and cutting the last Monk's arm off, kicking him firmly in the chest, knocking him down before twisting her blade to stab him in the heart.
She took a few breaths, standing stiffly as she looked at the bodies around her before turning to them, "Secure the perimeter!" she half barked at them.
Vastra and Jenny ran off to do just that while the Professor walked slowly over to Amy, covered in stains of blood, none of them her own, in fact, there wasn't really even a scratch on her. Rory tensed beside Amy, for the first time seeing the darkness in the Professor, for the first time actually afraid of her.
"Amy," she said, her voice softening.
Amy just fell into the girl's arms, clutching her as she sobbed, she didn't even mind that the Professor had just slaughtered all the Monks, that she was covered in the blood of their enemies, they deserved it and worse.
Rory looked around the room, his breath escaping him as he saw…
Not a single Monk was left standing.
~8~
The Doctor soniced the door, "Amy, she's not real! Melody…she's a Flesh avatar!" he pounded on another door till it opened, "Amy!" he ran in, stopping short to see the floor littered with the bodies of Headless Monks and Dorium, the fighting over.
"Yeah, we know," Rory said softly as he knelt by a dying Strax. The Doctor looked over to see Amy sitting on a crate, the Professor hugging her tightly as she wept.
"It's strange," Strax remarked, "I have often dreamed of dying in combat. I'm not enjoying it as much as I'd hoped."
"Come on, Strax, don't give up."
"It's alright, I've had a good life. I'm nearly 12."
"Listen to me. You'll be back on your feet in no time. You're a warrior!"
"Rory...I'm a nurse," he breathed before he succumbed to his wounds.
The Doctor walked over to the Professor who could only shake her head sadly at him, Amy was hurting, badly.
"So they took her anyway," Amy whimpered, "All this was for nothing."
"I am so...sorry," the Doctor reached forward to put a hand on her shoulder but she flinched away.
"Amy...it's not his fault," Jenny told her softly.
Amy cried, "I know, I know."
"It's my fault," the Professor shook her head.
"Professor…" Rory began shaking his head as well.
"It is," she looked up at him, "I should have scanned her, I would have known she was Flesh, but I didn't think…" she swallowed hard and Rory nodded. She got up and he took her place beside Amy.
"Doctor, Professor, there's someone who wants to speak to you," Vastra called as they walked over to where Lorna was sitting against a wall, her hands pressed to a wound in her stomach, "Her name is Lorna, she came to warn us."
The Doctor pulled out his sonic, moving to scan Lorna but the Professor shook her head, putting her hand on Lorna's, scanning her, as the girl gently woke up.
'It's too late,' she whispered to him, 'She has seconds.'
"Hey," the Doctor swallowed hard as he forced himself to smile, "Hello."
"Doctor!" Lorna brightened up.
"You helped our friends, thank you."
"I met you once. In the Gamma Forests. You don't remember me."
He blinked, searching his mind for the memory, when one was pushed in front of his eyes. He turned to the Professor, smiling thankfully at her, before turning back to Lorna, remembering her now, "Hey, of course I remember," he reached out and took her hand, "I remember everyone. Hey, we ran, you and me and the Professor! Didn't we run, Lorna?"
"Yeah…" she breathed, nodding, till her eyes fluttered shut.
"She was very brave," Vastra commented.
"They're always brave," the Professor sighed.
"So, what now?" she asked as the Professor helped the Doctor to his feet, "They'd almost certainly have taken her to Earth, raise her in the correct environment."
"Yes, they did," he nodded, thinking of the little girl in the astronaut suit, "And it's already too late," he turned and walked off, the Professor's hand still in his own.
The Professor blinked and tugged him back to face her, "Are you…giving up? You? You never do that."
"Don't you sometimes wish I did?" he sighed.
"I didn't give up during training," she reminded him, letting him feel the vague remnants of hope she'd had that if she pushed through she could see him again, "So don't you dare give up in this."
He smiled at her softly when there was a flash of light and a clap of energy and River appeared, smiling at them, "Well, then, soldier, sergeant, how goes the day?"
"Where the hell have you been?" the Doctor glared at her, "Every time you've asked, we have been there. Where the hell were you today?"
"I couldn't have prevented this."
"You could've tried!"
The Professor eyed River a moment. The few times she'd been allowed to hold the real Melody had confirmed what she'd already been suspicious of.
"And so, my loves, could you," she glanced at Amy and Rory, "I know you're not alright. But hold tight, Amy, because you're going to be."
"You think we wanted this?" he gestured wildly, "We didn't do this. This...this wasn't us!"
"This was exactly you," she scoffed, "All this, all of it. You two make them so afraid. When you began, all those years ago Doctor, sailing off to see the Universe, even before then when you were planning out your adventures together, did you ever think you'd become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name just like the Professor? Doctor, the word for 'healer' and 'wise man' throughout the Universe, we get that word from you, you know. Just as we get Professor from her, 'advisor,' 'teacher.' But if you two carry on the way you are, what might those words come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word 'Doctor' means 'mighty warrior,' 'Professor' means 'deadly weapon.' How far you've come…and now they've taken a child...the child of your best friends...and they're going to turn her into a weapon, just to bring you both down. And all this, my loves...in fear of you."
"Who are you?"
"Oh, look, your cot!" River said lightly, "Haven't seen that in a very long while," she backed up to it.
"No, no, you tell us," the Doctor advanced on her with the Professor, "Tell us...who you are!"
The Professor smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention, "She is telling us," she turned and put a hand on the side of the cot, looking down pointedly at the Prayer Leaf lying inside it.
"Can't you read?" River rolled her eyes at him.
He blinked, looking down at the Gamma Forest's substitution for 'pond,' and looked at River, startled, "Hello."
"Hello," River laughed, the Professor shaking her head at him.
"But...but that means..."
"I'm afraid it does."
The Professor glanced at Amy and Rory and back, "I see it now."
"Oh yes."
The Doctor looked back at Amy and Rory, seeing it too. The flirty disposition, the shade of hair…it all made sense. He quickly straightened his tie and looked at River, "How do I look?"
River turned to the Professor and they both said, "Amazing."
He grinned, "I'd better be."
"Yes, you'd better be," River agreed.
The Professor spun around, "Vastra and Jenny, till the next time."
"Rory and Amy, we'll find your daughter and on our lives, she will be safe," the Doctor added.
"River," the Professor smirked as they headed for the TARDIS, "Get them all home."
"Professor?" Rory frowned, "Doctor?"
"No!" Amy shouted, "Where are you going? No!"
The Doctor pulled out the sonic and disabled the force field, the two of them rushing into it and shutting the door behind them, quickly disappearing, their only regret being that they wouldn't be there to see Amy and Rory's faces when River told them she was their daughter Melody.
A/N: Did anyone get chills when the Doctor's darkness started to rear its head a bit? I did. I love picturing him as this child-like, energetic, forgiving optimist...but when someone tries anything with the Professor, that whole persona is gone and the Oncoming Storm comes out, living up to his name in the fullest. -Shivers- It's like how the Professor can be so excited and ready for adventure, having a merry old time, but threaten the Doctor and out comes the soldier.
I added in the little part where the Professor remembers Lorna because I'm not sure if they mention or address whether the Doctor truly did forget about Lorna (when he asked who she was) or if he just hadn't met her yet in his timeline. I got the impression that he had forgotten and that made me feel so bad for her that I figured, the Professor has a slightly better memory than the Doctor (having helped him memorize the names of the stars) so she would be the one to remember and help him remember too.
Next chapter will have a move the 9th Professor enjoyed doing, a little explanation as to why River looks the way she does now, as well as a small scene inspired by the movie The Young Victoria :)
Anyone catch the Firefly/Serenity reference?
And just a note on a question, yes I'm planning to write some original chapters in the form of a spin-off series for scenes that took place off screen or were just referenced, like Space Florida and the Magmazard, all sorts of stories from before the war and after. If you guys have any requests, let me know :) And don't forget to vote for an AU 9th Doctor/Professor series if you haven't already.