Hello once again audience! Starting right back where we left off. Mr. Boots and the Ponds chat it up over tea and the Doctor has a tiff with the Shadow Architect. I felt like this chapter was really long when I was writing it, but then I put the document up and it wasn't that long. :/ Sorry about that, peoples. The next chapter is nearly finished being written and should be up in a couple of days, but until then, please enjoy this update! :D
Amy and Rory just stared at him, both stunned into silence.
Mr. Boots stared back, looking a little confused. After a moment, the confusion melted away, and he then tilted his head, grinning. "Well, I don't believe it. Amy and Rory Pond."
Amy blinked. "What?"
"The Ponds," Mr. Boots repeated, turning to the cabinet and proceeding to make two more cups of tea. "Companions to the Doctor."
"You know who we are," Amy said accusingly.
Mr. Boots looked at her and laughed. "Oh yeah, that's you alright. How do you two take your tea?"
"What are you doing here?" Amy asked, her fists clenching and her face tightening in anger and wariness.
Mr. Boot's brow furrowed in confusion. "Depends... what are you doing here?"
Rory leaned in close to whisper into Amy's ear. "Is he messing with us?"
"We're here to see the Shadow Architect," Amy said, trying to sound confident and intimidating.
Mr. Boots picked up the two cups and walked towards them, holding them out for them to take. When they took a step back, he stopped and extended his arms further so that they could grab them from a distance. "She's busy at the moment. You may have to wait a while yet," he said, going back for his own tea and taking a sip. "You're more than welcome to make yourselves comfortable until then."
Amy and Rory, tea in their hands, watched him cross the room, set his cup down on the desk, then walk over to the wall beside the desk, opening a panel where he pulled out two chairs just as nice as the chair at the desk, which he unfolded and placed opposite the desk. He gestured for them to sit, then took a seat at the desk himself, taking up his tea once more.
Rory glanced at Amy uncertainly, but both took the seats.
Amy didn't touch her tea, nor did she even look at it. She just sat, staring at Mr. Boots as he calmly drank his tea and lifted his legs up onto the desk, folding one foot over the other, giving Amy a good look at his spurs, which appeared to be custom made, along with the rest of his black, leather boots.
Mr. Boots followed her gaze. "A gift," he said.
"Who gives spurred boots as a gift?" Rory asked.
Mr. Boots chuckled. "My father, actually. "He was into the old western movies from Earth," he replied, then stared at the two for a moment in contemplation. "I suppose you two are here for the Doctor, then?"
"You're not?" Amy pried.
Mr. Boots looked at her and she saw that he was genuinely confused by the question. "No. I'm here to see the Shadow Architect as well. I've got some business I need to discuss with her."
"Business?" Rory asked.
"I'm collecting on a bounty," he replied with a smug grin, then took another sip of his tea, revealing the vortex manipulator on his wrist.
"What kind of bounty?"
"The kind that gets you money."
"So..." Rory began, licking his lips nervously and sitting rather stiffly in his seat, "You work for the space police?"
Mr. Boots laughed. "Yes, I work for the "space police"," he answered, laughing more at Rory's term for the Shadow Proclamation.
"But you're a killer. A hit-man," Rory blundered.
"Rory!" Amy snapped, trying to get him to be quiet.
"Is that so?" he asked, removing his feet from the desk and leaning forward to stare at them, lacing his fingers in front of him, "I suppose then we've met before? Or will meet."
Amy could hardly believe what she'd just heard. He hadn't met them before? What was going on? Now that she knew, she wondered how she hadn't seen it. He was wearing his vortex manipulator pompously, like he was proud of it and wasn't in the least worried about concealing it, and he looked younger. Not a lot younger, but younger still.
"We have," Rory said, getting over the whole idea more quickly than Amy. "We're from your future, actually."
Mr. Boots nodded. "I expected as much. You seem to know me quite intimately."
"Actually, I think we've only known you for a day. Maybe two. Time gets a little..."
"Confusing," Mr. Boots replied with a supportive smile. He then waved his vortex manipulator. "You're telling me. I didn't think I'd run into you two for a long time yet."
"You knew you were going to meet us?"
Mr. Boots grinned. "Yes. It's been my intention for a while now. Although, I will say I thought I'd meet the Doctor himself first. Ah, well. I suppose the order doesn't really matter. Besides, by the look of it, I'll get to meet him shortly."
Amy's expression hardened into a hateful glare. "If you hurt him-"
Mr. Boots raised his hands in mock surrender. "Relax, Mrs. Pond," he said reassuringly, "You lot are ahead of my time. Wouldn't want to cause a paradox, now would I? I've been treading on shaky enough grounds in that area as it is."
"What do you-" Amy began, but was interrupted when the door opened and the three of them looked over to see who it was.
Looking like they were having a very heated discussion, in walked the Shadow Architect and the Doctor.
The Doctor had been trying desperately to explain the situation to the Shadow Architect, but she was mad at him. She'd put up an invisible wall, drowning out everything he had to say to her.
She had been kind enough to remove the handcuffs, but still had two Judoon officers escort him as he followed her down winding, long hallways, trying tirelessly to get her attention.
"Will you stop being so stubborn and listen to me?" the Doctor said in exasperation. He didn't have time for her to be petty. She needed to understand what he was trying to tell her before it was too late to go back.
"Why would I listen to you, Doctor?" the Shadow Architect asked. "Surely whatever is so important, you can handle yourself."
"Listen to me, I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, I really am, but I did what I thought was right. I won't apologize for that. If I hadn't have left, there's no telling what would have happened. But right now you need to let go of this grudge and listen to what I'm saying."
"Doctor, the Shadow Proclamation has rules and protocols that we follow precisely. I will not make any exceptions."
"You have no idea the kind of damage that could come of putting him down on paper," the Doctor said, his desperation and anger growing, "Even you knowing is a danger to him."
"And what exactly is so special about that man?" the Shadow Architect asked, stopping in her tracks and whirling around to stare the Doctor in the face, her eyes impossibly redder. "Why is it so important that there be no record of him?"
The Doctor sighed. "He's got a Time Lord mind in a human body. To my enemies, he's very valuable. If any of them know about him, I can't take him home, or they'll tear the universes apart trying to get to him. Do you understand that?"
The Shadow Architect stared at him, as though she was disinclined to believe him. She started walking again, holding her head high and not looking his direction. "Doctor, I cannot, in good conscious, let an unknown being wander universes at will, without knowing what he is capable of."
"He is my responsibility," the Doctor said, his voice tightening in frustration and warning. "What happens to him and what he does is my business. Not yours." He put all the command and authority he could muster into those words and they seemed to shake her resolve a bit. She opened the door into her office, leading the two of them inside, unaware of the three people sitting and staring at them from their seats at the Shadow Architect's desk.
"Doctor, I assure you, any information we gather on him will be perfectly safe here," she said.
"Shadow Architect, I have lived a very long time and there is one thing I've learned that is certain; nowhere is safe. Not here. Not in your home. Not even in your own bed. There is a way to get information from this place and I can guarantee you someone will eventually find it, and when they do, James will not be safe. You and the rest of the universe will not be safe. Nowhere will be safe. Now I will tell you this once and only once," he said, pointing a finger at her, his eyes almost ablaze with warning, "If you do this, it will be on your head."
The Shadow Architect needs to learn not to mess with the Doctor. He knows what he's talking about. X) I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And thank you so much for the faves, alerts and reviews :) More reviews are always appreciated and an awesome boost to get me writing faster! :D