As promised, here's the second update! I'm impressed- despite my disappearance, I got the three reviews rather quickly. Thanks for keeping up hope, and for the forgiveness! You guys are great- now here ya go.
He stopped what he was doing and looked her right in the eyes. "I love you."
"I- I- I… I love you too," she mumbled, eyes moist, unable to look away. He stared at her for another second, then hit one last switch. The TARDIS rumbled to life noisily, perhaps a bit louder than usual in protest to what the Doctor was doing. Then it stopped- they'd landed. The virus's face blanked, and it stared at the floor for a second, before looking up at the bowtied Time Lord and smiling.
"Perfect. Year 2008, planet Earth, London. No tricks… we're surprised at you, Doctor," it said. It released River and pushed her toward the Doctor, who caught her. She kept the gun aimed at River. "We'll go now. We will leave this body, and you can pick it up in exactly one month at this same location. And no tricks- there are a million of us in this body, all of us aiming this gun. We won't miss."
"Wait! What… what happens if you get eradicated before you spread? What if this takeover isn't successful? What will happen to Amy?" Rory asked. The virus turned slowly to stare at him, keeping the gun aimed at River.
"Then this body- Amy, you call her- will die." It hesitated, looking thoughtful. "You seem well versed in pathology."
"I'm a nurse. You should know that," Rory replied. "Or… you don't have access to Amy's memories?"
"No, we do not have access to Amy's memories. A few of them, yes, and some things we gleaned from Captain Jack Harkness and from the Doctor. But not much."
"You don't know how to survive that Earth out there. You'll give yourself away too quick, and be destroyed, and I'm not letting you kill Amy!" Rory shouted, renewing his struggling against Ood-Sigma.
A crafty smile touched its lips for a moment. "Then tutor us. How do we take Earth, in your professional opinion?" the virus asked in a low purr.
"Rory. Too much," the Doctor said sharply.
"And giving it a ride to Earth isn't too much?" Rory said, exasperated. "I'll tutor it. I'm going to lose my whole species, so I'll be damned if, given the opportunity to save my wife, I'd pass it up. You saved your woman. Don't tell me not to save mine."
"Yes, Doctor. Let him save Amy," the virus said sweetly, doing a shockingly accurate pout. For a moment it looked exactly like Amy, normal and healthy and in control. And pouting.
"We don't even know if Amy is still in there," River pointed out.
"She is. We can feel her- she's sort of boxed in a corner. We can sense her emotions seeping out, but she can't do anything."
"It could be lying. It already lied once," River suggested.
"But it's not," Rory said.
"No, I don't think it is," the Doctor mused quietly. River glanced at him in confusion, then blinked, expression turning to realization.
"Oh. Oh! Ask it, then," she said. The Doctor turned to the virus and walked right up to it, almost nose-to-nose. The virus stared back challengingly as the Doctor looked it up and down.
"You can fly this yourself. You've already displayed incredible control over the TARDIS, so flying her would be easy. So. Why did you wait for me to get here?" he said, saying question slowly.
"Do you think we would risk ourselves? This is an incredibly complex machine-life-form," it said, the last three words so quickly that it was practically one word. "Furthermore, we suspected more trickery from you. We don't want to do anything you can predict."
"Oh, sure, that might be part of the reason," the Doctor said, spinning around and swaggering around the console, delighting in his discovery. "But the main reason is that you aren't just a virus. You're Amy, as well. Angry, Scottish, stubborn ginger-girl inside your head. Or, rather, you're inside her head. She isn't going down silently. So bits of her are clinging in there, some of the more powerful Amy bits. Like her pride and viciousness. Which means you- or her, I suppose- didn't wait for me because you were worried. You wanted to make me deliver you earth, make me submit before your will. That's Amy. She wants to win, and she wants to completely win, grind her enemies into the dust. Brilliant, she is."
"It doesn't matter. We will still have earth. The fact that traces of this body's previous occupant still reside does not change that," it said, a bit of pomp in its voice.
"No… No, I suppose it doesn't," he whispered, shoulders slumping.
"We still win. Now- Rory Williams. Come, sit by our side. River Song, sit on our other side so we can keep you hostage properly. Ood-Sigma, keep an eye on the Doctor," it said, sitting on the steps that led into the labyrinth halls of the TARDIS. The two sat gingerly beside it, as if it was a bomb about to explode. It smiled at Rory, unnerving him. "Begin."
"Right. Um… so, um, you'll have to… start in the countryside. Where the hospitals- do you know what those are?" he asked.
"They are centers of healing, where wounds are repaired, bacteria is destroyed, and my kind is vaccinated against. We know facts of Amelia's mind, just not her memories," it said dryly. "Continue."
"Yeah, so the countryside is a good place to start because there are fewer hospitals and the doctors aren't as experienced, usually. The afflicted- your victim- will be brought to the hospital when his body starts to mess up and symptoms appear. You'd have to be very careful at this point, and find the right new victims carefully. Some doctors will be extremely cautious, and will protect themselves against you. You have to look for the sloppy ones-,"
"Like Sloppy Joe." Both the virus and Rory stared at each other for a moment. "Sloppy Joe? The doctor you complained about, Dr. Joseph, who never wore masks and was always rubbing his eyes, and you said he was going to catch something terrible and start an epidemic."
"Yes… like Sloppy Joe. How did you know that?"
"We don't have her memories- yet. They're slowly revealing themselves to us. Not quickly enough for us to safely venture out to earth, if the trend continues. But they are returning. Keep going."
"Okay, so select a sloppy one, and from there, you can infect the medical centers. This is extremely vital- you'll have to control them like you're controlling Amy now, keep them from freaking out and developing a vaccine or cure. Also, you can pretend to be a vaccine, and spread yourselves even better. People trust doctors- if you, as a doctor, stick a needle in them and insert fluid they don't understand, they won't question you. By the way… how do you spread?"
"Not through the air, unless we are born aloft with a cough or a sneeze, in mucous. There is a human disease named streptococcal pharyngitis that spreads much the same way. You might commonly know it as strep throat. We spread more easily than a sexually transmitted disease, but not as easily as the common cold. Your idea almost guarantees a successful infection, spreading through a needle. Thank you, Rory."
"You're, uh, welcome."
"You are being more helpful than necessary. We are curious. We would like to ask you a personal question," it said unexpectedly. Rory nodded uncertainly.
If he thought that was unexpected, what came next rattled his brain.
"Are you attracted to us?"
"… what?"
This is where it gets a bit strange. I've rewritten this part about ten times. Oh well- if all goes well, ('well' defined as 'getting three reviews') then another chapter will be up tomorrow night. I've got it mostly finished- just the very end of the closing scene to finish.