Wow, chapter 10! how exciting :) Sorry I didnt upload yesterday, this chapter gave me quite the headache. I am still not 100% happy with it, but oh well.
To clarify one thing from last chapter: someone reviewed and asked why the Source's hair wasnt blonde. Well, that girl is a bottle blonde, so i figure after seventy years in prison, the peroxide has grown out so now she is back to her natural color.
Anyway, hope you like it. Thanks to all who review/favorite/follow!
Disclaimer: I dont own Doctor Who
Rory had run out of the Commander's office with a speed that he didn't know he had. He sprinted into the control room, pushing people aside who got in his way. Amy was in trouble, no one else mattered.
The workers were surprised, but no one stopped him as he approached the Source's cage. He shouted at a few workers and made a scene until someone punched in the door code for him. Rory didn't even blink at the eerie darkness of the cage, he just ran in; all he thought about was saving Amy.
Taking a moment for his eyes to adjust, Rory half expected to see his wife lying unconscious in front of a terrifying creature. He knew the Source was supposed to look human, but the irrational part of his mind expected something much more fearsome.
Therefore, he was surprised to see his obviously conscious wife kneeling next to a very weak, half-conscious figure.
"Amy!" Rory cried happily.
She turned toward him, looking surprised to see him. "Good, you're here. Come over here and help me, she needs medical help." Amy didn't seem to realize how frantic Rory had been.
Rory frowned and jogged over to the two women. After taking a few moments to assess the woman's condition he said, "Amy, we need to get her to the TARDIS, and quickly."
"Then help me get all this stuff off of her, she has about a billion things attached to her body."
A couple of minutes went by as Amy and Rory worked on the chains and wires. "Has she spoken to you at all?" Rory asked.
"A little bit," Amy replied, "When I touched her arm she woke up, I thought she was going to kill me."
Rory looked at the Source with a skeptical expression, not sure if he believed her capable of that. "What did she say?
"Just, 'save them.' I think she was talking about the other patients."
"And you are sure that this is the Source?"
"You should have seen her eyes Rory, they were glowing with energy, she has to be the Source." Amy tugged on the chains. "We have to get her out of here before the Doctor comes, he can't see her like this."
"But the Doctor could help," Rory argued.
"No, he will get angrier than he already is, and then who knows what he will do."
"Not sure if that's possible," Rory muttered.
The Source stirred, eyes opening slightly. Rory glanced down to see if they were glowing, but was only met with a tired hazel expression.
"Er, hi," Amy said, "I don't know if you heard me before, but I'm Amy. This is my husband Rory. We are here to help you."
"Y-you must s-save them…p-please," Rory was surprised to detect a London accent in the woman's voice.
"Do you mean the other patients? Cause that is the plan." Amy tried to sound confident, "We are going to get you all out of here. But first things first, how do we unhook you from all these machines?"
The woman patiently watched the couple work, eyes still somewhat unfocused.
"What's your name?" Amy asked kindly.
"I h-have many n-names," the Source replied, "it d-depends on who you a-ask."
"Well, who do you consider yourself to be?"
The woman gave her a weak smile. "R-Rose, I am Rose Tyler."
"Nice to meet you Rose, and don't you worry, we'll get you out of here in no time."
"I am not worried, just tired," and Rose looked it.
"Amy," Rory said quietly to his wife, still a little shaken from worrying about her. "I thought I was going to lose you. The Commander said that everyone who gets near the Sour… I mean Rose, falls into some kind of endless sleep."
"Th-that is my defense," Rose explained, tendrils of gold flickering in her eyes, "but I knew A-Amy wasn't a threat to me, so she wasn't affected. When I am free and stronger, I will w-wake up all those who sleep."
"Hang on," Amy said, "Arent you supposed to be in a coma yourself?"
"Yeah," Rory added, "The Commander said that they had you in an induced coma, one that prevented you from harming them. How did you wake up?"
"Amy," Rose explained, looking over at the redhead, "I have the Time Vortex running through my veins. The people here were able to sedate me, but the touch of a time traveler, one who has been in the vortex, could wake me up."
"Glad I could help," Amy grinned, then looked conflicted for a moment before continuing. "I have to ask, a woman we meet in the prison, Marci, she said you knew our friend. I was wondering, how do you know the Doctor?"
Rose's eye became more focused all of a sudden and widened, "he cannot know it is me! He will be so angry, he mustn't know!" Her breathing became rapid and ecstatic, and Amy was worried she would hyperventilate.
"Okay okay, calm down. I haven't told him, but he will find out eventually."
"Why all the secrecy?" Rory asked, "If the Doctor knew, he would be able to free you faster."
Rose sighed, and weakly tried to sit up straighter. "I want him safe, even from himself. His anger can't get the best of him, if it does, he will hate himself even more than he already does. You know how he is. Besides, if it was simply a matter of freeing myself, I would be free by now, but the cost is too terrible."
"What do you mean?" asked Amy.
"I am very weak, but even now, even in my coma, freeing myself would have been incredibly easy."
"Then why haven't you?"
"Because," Rose looked sad, "I could free myself but not the other prisoners. I have tried to shield them the best that I can, it has made me even weaker. It is not only freeing that they need, they need to be restored, brought back to how they were before the torture. In my present condition, I could not do that."
Amy looked thoughtful, "Okay, but if you freed yourself, you could leave, grow stronger, then come back and restore everyone."
"Yeah, but I haven't told you the cost of my freedom."
"And what would that be?" Rory asked.
"The power it would take to free myself would cause a massive surge in energy." Rose's voice was gaining strength. "With all of the harvesting and experiments the people here have been doing, that surge would effectively wipe out everyone within twenty miles of the prison."
"Oh," Amy said, understanding, "So you have endured years of torture because freeing yourself would cost others their lives? Wow."
"I knew there was another way, there is always another way. I called out to the TARDIS, hoping she would hear me. We have a unique connection," Rose smiled fondly. "I knew bringing the Doctor here would be a huge risk, but if he had the right companions, someone to rein his anger in, that he would be my only chance of saving myself and everyone here."
"Well I promise you, the Doctor will not go all Time Lord Crazy on us, I won't let him." Amy sounded determined.
Rose's smile widened, "I can see why he picked you."
Amy and Rory had pulled all of the wires off of Rose by then, but they were struggling with the chains. "If you are so powerful, couldn't you pull these chains off?"
Rose shook her head, "I can't risk it. I have pretty much no idea how to control my power, I might be able to focus it now that the TARDIS is near, she helps me control the vortex, but I am afraid of the cost. Every good thought I have while wielding the power gets turned upside down."
At Amy and Rory's inquisitive looks, she continued. "The first time I used this power I had only wanted to save the Doctor. Instead, I destroyed an entire race and condemned a friend to everlasting life. The second time I wasn't quite aware of what I was doing. I was trapped in another universe, and I wanted to get back here. I was walking home one day and suddenly felt a massive surge of power within me, calling me, and I found myself on this planet. When I decided to help these people end their war, I ended up wiping their enemy's memories. They lost all thoughts of war, but they also lost a part of themselves. So you can see why I am hesitant. Every good intention comes with a cost."
Rose seemed to have talked longer than she should have. As she finished her tale, her eyes were brimming with tears and she began coughing up phlegm and blood.
Suddenly, outside the cage, they heard angry shouting, which was impressive as the cage was almost completely soundproof. Then came a sound that sent chills down Amy and Rory's backs.
Through the door they heard the deadly tone of the Doctor, "Open this door."
Guess who is going to be spitting fire next chapter :) The Doctor's reaction is going to be quite a challenge to write. Trying to write everyone in character is amazingly difficult.