The Doctor helped Rose off the rope ladder after she climbed down. She looked around the large underground cavern. There were dark shadows everywhere. Lots of places for the Angel to hide where they couldn't see it. Brilliant. The Doctor shined his torch around and then up.
"Do we have a gravity globe?" he asked.
"Grav. globe?" Octavian called.
One of the Clerics dug through a pack and then handed a globe to the Doctor.
"Where are we?" Amy asked, a bit frightened.
"Yeah, what is this place?" Rose asked, glancing at River.
"It's an Aplan Moratorium, sometimes called a Maze of the Dead," River said, shining her torch around.
"What's that?" she asked.
"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone," the Doctor said and then kicked the globe like a football. It flew up into the air where it illuminated a vast array of statues. "The perfect hiding place."
Statues, everywhere and they were supposed to find a stone Angel among all of those. It seemed impossible.
"Well, I guess this makes it a bit trickier," Octavian said, looking around.
"A bit, yeah," the Doctor replied, sarcastically.
"So, we're supposed to find a stone Angel in the middle of all those?" Rose asked, catching his eye. He gave her a smile, but a worried sort of smile.
"A lot harder than I'd prayed for," Octavian said.
"A needle in a haystack," River said, glancing up at all the statues.
"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of…uh…statues," he said, making Rose laugh. He glanced at her and then River. "No, yours was fine."
"Right. Check every single statue in this chamber," Octavian ordered. "You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection. One question. How do we fight it?"
"We find it, and hope," the Doctor said, walking toward the Maze.
Rose followed with Amy, but when she started up the terraces the girl paused, rubbing her eye and then seemed to startle, examining her hand as if she thought there was something wrong with it. Rose glanced at her.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
The girl looked at her, a bit of worry in her eyes and then it was gone. She gave Rose a smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Amy said.
River joined them.
"She all right?" the woman asked, glancing at Amy in concern.
"Yeah, I think so." Rose glanced around. "So, Maze of the Dead, yeah?"
"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls."
So, a graveyard, basically. Graveyard, deadly creature, lots of hiding places…brilliant.
"Dead people?" Amy asked.
"Okay that was fairly bad," River said, digging through her pack and pulling out a syringe. "Right, Amy, give me your arm. This won't hurt a bit."
River took the girl's arm and injected her with whatever was in the syringe.
"Ow!" Amy yelled, pulling back her arm.
"There, you see. I lied," River said. "It's a viro-stabilizer. Stabilizes your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship."
"My turn, yeah?" Rose asked holding her arm out as Amy wondered over to where the Doctor was standing, examining a statue. She tried not to think about the way Amy jumped and yelled, better that than radiation poisoning.
"Oh, yeah, I suppose we should." River said, almost as if she hadn't thought of it. She pulled out another syringe and injected Rose. There was a sharp pain, but she ignored it and then River put the empty syringe back into her pack alongside the other. Rose watched her for a moment.
"You know me, both of us," she said, glancing at the Doctor.
River gave her a smile.
"Spoilers."
"Yeah, I know, but I mean, we're friends, yeah? In the future. You and me."
"Oh, you're good. I'm not saying you're right, but you are very good, but then you've always been good at that sort of thing."
"What about him," Rose asked, glancing at the Doctor, who was trying very hard to seem like he wasn't watching them. "Who are you to him?"
She thought they were friends, but then River called him sweetie and she didn't really like that idea, though he seemed to like it less, which was a bit funny.
"Yes, we are," River said, shining her torch at the Doctor.
"Sorry…what?" he asked.
"Talking about you."
"I wasn't listening. I'm busy."
"Ah. The other way up."
The Doctor turned his handheld around and then glanced at them.
"Yeah," he replied.
"He gets like that when we're together," River said. "As if we didn't have anything else to talk about." She glanced at Rose. "Friends. The Doctor and I are friend, but not like you and me."
Gunfire erupted, coming from the main chamber. The Angel? She hoped so, if it was taken care of they could get out of there and she'd feel much better once they were all back in the TARDIS. The Doctor turned around and raced back. Rose followed with the others trailing. He stopped as they entered the chamber and examined a statue. There were bullet holes in the statue's face.
"Sorry, sorry. I thought. I thought it looked at me," a young Cleric said, nervously.
"We know what the Angel looks like. Is that an Angel?" Octavian asked.
"No, sir."
"No, sir, it is not. According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of décor."
Maybe facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil was what made the Cleric nervous. The Doctor glanced over at the young Cleric.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Bob, sir," the Cleric replied.
He gave the Cleric a smile.
"Ah, that's a great name. I love Bob."
"It's a Sacred Name. We all have Sacred Names. They're given to us in the service of the Church," Octavian replied.
The Doctor crossed the room, eyeing first Octavian and then Bob.
"Sacred Bob. More like Scared Bob now, eh?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," Bob relied, a bit embarrassed.
"Ah, good," he said, giving Bob's shoulder a light slap. He caught the Cleric's gaze and held it. "Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron." He glanced at Octavian and Rose couldn't help grinning. "Carry on."
He walked back across the chamber catching her grin. He gave her a smile.
"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes. You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach," Octavian said, eyeing Bob before he walked away.
-0-
The Doctor led the way through the catacombs, shining his torch around. This was bad, really not good. The worst place they could be with a Weeping Angel on the loose. And there was something…something off, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Couldn't figure out what it was.
"Isn't there a chance this lot's just going to collapse? There's a whole ship up there," Amy asked, as she trailed him with River behind Rose.
He was trying to keep Rose close to him for two reasons. One, she'd be safer from the Angels that way and two, he didn't like her chatting with River. Not that he was worried she might gain some damaging future knowledge, though that was a possibility, he didn't like the way she acted around the woman and the ideas River put into her head.
She hadn't tried to fly the TARDIS until River showed up and then there was that whole business about Rose having a sonic. Why would she even need one? He had one and that should do. River was unnecessarily complicating things and he didn't like that one bit.
"Incredible builders, the Aplans," River said.
"Had dinner with their Chief Architect once," he replied, training his torch up to see the statues above them as they drew close to the entrance of another chamber.. "Two heads are better than one."
"What, you mean you helped him?" Amy asked.
He gazed around the chamber at the statues. That something off was still nagging him and he hadn't figured out what it was yet. It was right in front of him though. He could feel it.
"No, I mean he had two heads." He paused, still looking around. "That book, the very end, what did it say?"
"Hang on," Rose said.
He heard her shift.
"Read it to me," he said.
"What if we had ideas that could think for themselves?" She read. "What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels."
Ideas that could think for themselves. Dreams that no longer needed them. There was something, but he still couldn't figure it out and he knew it was right there. He started forward again, leading them toward the crashed ship.
"Are we there yet? It's a hell of a climb," Amy whined.
"The Maze is on six levels, representing the ascent of the soul. Only two levels to go," River explained.
"Lovely species, the Aplans," he said, turning around while he walked to glance from Rose to Amy. "We should visit them some time."
"I thought they were all dead?" Amy asked.
"So is Virginia Woolf. I'm on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. Well, that's having two head, of course. You're never short of a snog with an extra head," he teased.
"Doctor," Rose called and he could hear a bit of fear in her voice.
He spun around, shining his torch on her. No, no Angel, but she was standing perfectly still, as if there was something dangerous in the room and she was afraid of drawing its attention.
"What is it?" he asked.
River and Amy stopped at the bit of fear that crept into his voice.
"The Aplans have two heads?" she asked.
Wait. What? He already said that.
"Yes, why?"
"The Aplans have two heads," she repeated glancing from him to the statue.
He looked at the statue. Just a statue like the others. Why was she…Oh. Oh! Why didn't he see it? He should've seen it. Perception filter or maybe he was just getting thick.
"Oh," he said in a low voice, shining his torch on the statue.
"What's wrong?" River asked, glancing between them.
"What is it?" Amy inquired, fear creeping into her voice.
"Nobody move. Nobody move. Everyone stay exactly where they are," he said, motioning for everyone to stop. He glanced at Octavian. "Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in terrible danger."
"What danger?" Octavian asked, looking around as if he might see the danger, which he could, they all could the entire time, but they hadn't seen it. The Doctor hadn't seen it.
"The Aplans," Rose said.
"The Aplans?" Octavian asked, turning to her.
"They've got two heads," she explained.
"Yes, I get that. So?"
"So why don't the statues?" The Doctor said. "Everyone," he shined his torch around, looking for a clear area, "over there. Just move. Don't ask questions, don't speak." He waited until Rose passed him and then he backed up toward the area, keeping his torch and eyes focused on the statues. "Okay, I want you all to switch off your torches."
"Sir?" Octavian asked, unsure.
Yes, it was dangerous, but he had to check, had to be sure, had to know how many of the statues weren't statues. How many of them were, in fact, Angels.
"Just do it," he ordered. He others turned their torches off. "Okay. I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."
"Are you sure about this?" River asked.
Of course he wasn't sure, but it was the only way he'd know and he had to know.
"No," he replied.
He switched his torch off and then back on, quickly. The statues turned…all of them. Everyone turned their torches back on, but he wasn't paying attention to that. All the statues in his line of sight weren't statues, they were Angels. No! No, no, no! He dashed back down the passage.
"Oh, my God. They've moved," Amy said, behind him.
He stopped in the passage, shining his torch around. All of them. All the statues in the passage had turned, some of them reaching out. Rose came up behind him.
"They're Angels," he said. "All of them."
"All of them?" she asked, he could hear the fear in her voice. She was trying to hide it, but it was there.
"Clerics, keep watching them," he ordered.
He took Rose's hand, knowing she wouldn't stay behind and then crept by the closest ones and dashed further down the passage, pulling her along with him. He stopped on the short bridge they'd crossed and shined his torch off the side. Fear crept through his hearts.
"Every statue in this Maze," he said. "Every single one is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."
"What're we going to do?" she asked.
He glanced at her, but instead of answering he took her hand and dashed back to the others. Run, that's all they could do. He needed to get them the hell out of there. Rose. Amy. All of them. Only, their way back was blocked. The only thing they could do was keep going forward. Make it to the ship and cut off the Angels' food supply, but the Angels knew they were there, probably knew what he was planning.
This was bad, bad as it gets. Stuck in dark catacombs, not with one Angel, but an entire army. An army of Angels that were coming after them. He couldn't lose Amy or Rose. He already lost the woman he loved once, he couldn't survive a second time. It would kill him. She was his other half and if the Angels got her, if they took her from him, it would rip his soul apart and then…and then he really would be lost.
They reached the others and he released her hand to shine his torch around the passage. They had to get moving, had to get out of there.
"But there was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear," River was saying as she shined her torch around.
"Could they have been here already?" Amy asked, a bit fearfully.
"The Aplans. What happened?" the Doctor asked, glancing at River. "How did they die out?"
"Nobody knows," she said.
"We know," Rose replied, giving him a knowing glance.
Yes, they did know. The Aplans had all become victims of the Angels.
"They don't look like Angels," Octavian said.
"And they're not fast," Amy pointed out. "You said they were fast. They should have had us by now."
He crept closer to one of the statues, examining it.
"Look at them," he said, shining his torch on it. "They're dying, losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving."
"Losing their image," Amy said.
"And their image is their power."
"But they're not starving now, yeah?" Rose said. Wait. What? He turned to her. "You said all that radiation coming off the ship. It's food to them."
Oh. He stood up. That's why the ship crashed there. That's why the Angel woke up.
"Sorry?" Amy asked, glancing from him to Rose and back. "What do you mean?"
"Don't you see?" He asked, turning around. "All that radiation spilling out the drive burn. The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army, and it's waking up."
"We need to get out of here fast," River said.
"Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please," Octavian said into the communicator on his shoulder. No one answered. He pulled it off his shoulder. "Any of you, come in."
"It's Bob, sir. Sorry, sir," Bob said through the communicator.
The Doctor crept closer to Octavian. Three of them. Three of the soldiers were back in the main chamber. Trapped with the Angels.
"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active."
"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir," He reached out and snatched the communicator out of Octavian's hand. "The statues killed them, sir."
"Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor," he said into the communicator.
"I'm talking to-" Octavian began.
"Where are you now?" he interrupted, cutting Octavian off as he held out a finger. He needed to find out where he was, if he was all right.
"I'm talking to my-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," he shook his finger at Octavian, "shut up."
"I'm on my way up to you, sir. I'm homing in on your signal," Bob said.
Ah, good. He got away. Just him, but at least he managed to get away from the Angels.
"Ah well done, Bob. Scared keeps you fast. Told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob. What did the Angels do to them?"
"Snapped their necks, sir."
Wait. What? That didn't make any sense.
"See, that's odd. That's not how the Angels kill you. They displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something."
Octavian grabbed the communicator out of his hand.
"Bob," Octavian said, "did you check their data packs for vital signs?" The other men were dead. Gone. Octavian was wasting time they didn't have. "We may be able to initiate a rescue plan."
The Doctor grabbed the communicator and wrenched it from the man's grasp.
"Oh, don't be an idiot," he said, eyeing Octavian. "The Angels don't leave you alive." He picked up the communicator and pressed the button. There were more important things, like the something that didn't make sense. "Bob, keep running. But tell me, how did you escape?"
"I didn't escape, sir. The Angel killed me, too," Bob said.
Hang on. What? Killed him? How could he be dead? He was talking to them. He couldn't be dead. He glanced at Octavian at the same time the man glanced at him and he knew Octavian was trying to work out the same thing.
"What do you mean, the Angel killed you?" he asked.
"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected, but it was pretty quick, so that was something."
Snapped his neck…what?
"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?"
"You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."
It wasn't Bob, they weren't talking to Bob because he was dead. They were talking to the Angel.
"So when you say you're on your way up to us…"
"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes. No way out."
He spun around in anger, keeping hold of the communicator even though he wanted to throw it. The entire time he'd been talking to the Angel as it made its way up to them. All that time!
"Then we get out through the wreckage. Go!" Octavian ordered.
"Go, go, go. All of you run," the Doctor insisted.
"Doctor," Rose said, touching his arm.
She was worried, he could see that, but there wasn't time.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm coming. Just go," he said shoving her forward, but she stopped and turned to him. She didn't want to leave him, but she couldn't stay. "Just take Amy and go. Get her out of here!" he yelled when she didn't move. He could see that she was torn between staying with him and keeping Amy safe, but he knew she'd make the right choice, she always did. "I'll be right behind you." She took Amy's hand and ran off down the passage. He turned to Octavian. "Yeah. Called you an idiot. Sorry, but there's no way we could have rescued your men."
"I know that, sir. And when you've flown away in your little blue box I'll explain that to their families," Octavian replied and then walked away.
"Angel Bob. Which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?" he asked.
"Yes, sir. And the other Angels are still restoring," Angel Bob relied.
"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you," he said and then turned and dashed down the passage after the others.
He wasn't sure how far the others had gotten. He raced down the passage passing Amy and Rose. Were they waiting for him?
"Don't' wait for me. Go, run," he called as he passed them.
"Amy says she can't move," Rose said.
He stopped, turning around. What? He hurried over to Amy. Her hand was on the rail of the small bridge. He examined her.
"No, really, I can't," the girl insisted.
He caught her gaze. There was something going on with her.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Look at it. Look at my hand." He gazed down at her hand. "It's stone."
Stone…what? It wasn't stone, but she thought it was. Oh. Bad, really not good.
"Amy, it's not stone. I can see it, yeah," Rose tried.
She didn't understand what happened. What the girl had done. He shined his torch in her eyes, first in one and then the other.
"You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?" he asked.
"What?" Rose gasped in fear, resting her hand on the girl's shoulder.
"I couldn't stop myself. I tried," Amy said.
"Listen to me." He caught her gaze. "It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone."
"It is. Look at it," she insisted.
"It's in your mind. I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go."
"I can't, okay? I've tried and I can't." His torch began to flicker. The Angels were getting close and they were growing stronger by the second. "It's stone."
He glanced at Rose. She had to go. He needed her safe and being with them at that moment was anything, but safe.
"Rose, you need to go. Run! I'll take care of this," he said.
"I'm not going anywhere," she insisted, folding her arms across her chest and giving him that look, the obstinate one, the one that told him she was staying.
"Rose!" he yelled, glaring at her.
There was danger, serious danger, deadly danger, and it was advancing on them and there she was not listening to him.
"I'm not leaving you! I'm not leaving either one of you!" she yelled.
He growled in frustration and then turned his attention back to Amy. The only way he'd get Rose out of harm's way was if he got them all out.
"Amy, you need to move your hand. You need to let go," he insisted.
"I can't do it," she protested.
He caught the girl's gaze, holding it.
"The Angel is going to come and it's going to turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it, so do it. Concentrate. Move your hand."
"I can't."
"Then we're all going to die."
"You two are not going to die."
He glanced down the passage. They were there. The Angels.
"Rose," he said, motioning behind Amy. She looked, catching sight of them. "Watch them. Don't blink."
"They'll kill the lights," he said, focusing his attention on Amy.
His torch flickered.
"You've got to go," Amy insisted. "Both of you. You know you have. River knows about you, about both of you, and all that stuff that's got to happen and all that stuff with River and Rose." He glanced at the Angels. They hadn't moved. "You know you two can't die here."
"Time can be re-written," he said, glancing at her. "It doesn't work like that."
His torch went out and back on. The Angels were closer.
"Keep your eyes on it," he said to Rose. "Don't blink and don't look in their eyes."
Amy turned around and realized how close the Angels were.
"Run!" she yelled.
He had to get her to move her hand. Had to get her to see that she could.
"You see, I'm not going, she's not going. We're not leaving you here," he said.
"I don't need both of you to die for me. Do I look that clingy?"
"You can move your hand."
"It's stone."
"It's not stone," he insisted.
"You've got to go. Both of you. Those people up there will die without you. If you two stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them."
She wanted to sacrifice herself to save everyone. He glanced at Rose and he would've shared a smile with her if she wasn't watching the Angels, but he could see that she was thinking the same thing he was. He had to get her to move and there was only one way he could do that, make her understand that her hand wasn't stone.
"Amy Pond," he said, leaning his head against her hair, "you are magnificent," he leaned back, "and I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I understand. You've got to leave me."
She was trying to be brave, but he heard the warble of fear in her voice.
"Oh, no, We're not leaving you, never. I'm sorry about this."
He bent down and bit her hand.
"Ow!" she yelled, pulling her hand up and rubbing it.
"See?" he exclaimed with a smile, "Not stone. Now run."
It worked! She moved, they could run, and hopefully, if they were very lucky, get away. He took Rose's hand and backed up shining his torch at the Angels.
"You bit me."
Amy took a couple steps, still looking at her hand.
"Yeah, and you're alive."
Rose reached out and pulled Amy behind her.
"Look, I've got a mark," Amy said, showing Rose. He heard Rose laugh. "Look at my hand."
"Yes, and you're alive. Did I mention?" he asked.
"Blimey, his teeth. Has he got space teeth?"
"Yeah. Alive. All I'm saying. Now, go."
Rose turned with Amy and dashed down the passage. He followed.
-0-
He raced into the chamber behind Amy and Rose. The others were gathered there. The Bishop, the Clerics, and River. He glanced around and then up at the ship. The torches flickered, as well as the gravity globe. The Angels were close.
"The statues are advancing along all corridors. And, sir, my torch keeps flickering," one of the Clerics said.
"They all do," Octavian replied.
"So does the gravity globe," River said, shining her torch up at the globe that floated above them.
"Yeah, it's the Angels," the Doctor explained. "They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves."
"Which means we won't be able to see them," Octavian said.
The lights would go out and they'd have no way to protect themselves. They had to get out of there before that happened. Only, he wasn't sure how to do that yet. Not with Angels coming at them from all sides.
"Which means we can't stay here," he said.
"Two more incoming," a Cleric called.
"Doctor, what do we do?" Rose asked.
He glanced at her. She was shining her torch around too and he could tell she was trying to find a way out, same as him. Even in the middle of all this, an army of deadly Angels advancing on them, he couldn't help smiling, couldn't help feeling so glad that he had her back.
"The statues are advancing on all sides," Octavian said.
"There's no way up, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when you two have a really good idea," River said.
There had to be a way out. Something he was missing. Some way to get them all safely out of harm's way.
"There's always a way out," he said.
"If we could get to the ship, maybe we could seal ourselves inside," Rose suggested, shining her torch up.
Yes, yes, get to the ship, but how? The ship was above them, too far away to reach.
"We don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium," Octavian said.
Well, that let that out, not that they had time for that anyway. The lights would go out long before they reached the ship that way. But what if they didn't need climbing equipment? What if they could reach the ship immediately, or nearly immediately. The lights went out and then back on.
"There's always a way out," he repeated, shining his torch up at the ship.
"Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?" Angel Bob said through the communicator.
The Doctor pulled it out of his inside pocket.
"Hello, Angels. What's your problem?" he asked.
"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir."
He already knew that.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."
"Which is?"
"I died in fear."
What?
"I'm sorry?"
"You told me my fear would keep me alive, but I died afraid, in pain, and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down."
Regret, despair, and anger raged through him. If he'd seen earlier, seen that they weren't statues. He could've saved the three Clerics, but he hadn't.
"What are they doing?" Amy whispered behind him.
"They're trying to make him angry," River said.
"I'm sorry, sir. The Angels were very keen for you to know that."
"Doctor," Rose said, laying her hand on his arm. "It's not your fault. You didn't know. None of us knew."
But it was. It was always his fault. He wouldn't let anyone else die. He would get them out, get them all out.
"Well then," he growled into the communicator, "the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier."
"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."
He spun around, gazing up at the ship. There was a way. There was a way to get them out. It was dangerous and it might backfire, but it was a way. A chance.
"Yeah. I'm trapped. And you know what? Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake."
"What mistake, sir?"
He caught Amy's gaze, stepping toward her.
"Trust me?" he asked.
"Yeah," Amy said, giving him a smile.
He looked at River.
"Trust me?"
"Always," River replied.
He glanced at the Bishop.
"You lot, trust me?"
"Sir, two more incoming," a Cleric called.
Octavian nodded.
"We have faith, sir."
Then he turned to her. The woman who insisted on coming with him. The only person who would never willingly leave his side because when she said forever she meant it. The woman he loved. He took her chin, tilting her head up to meet his gaze.
"Trust me?" he asked.
She gave him the smile that belonged only to him as she reached up and brushed his cheek.
"Do it," she said, with the same trust she'd had all those years ago when the Slitheen were planning on destroying the Earth and the only way to stop them was to launch a missile at the building they were trapped in.
He returned her smile, then turned to Octavian, snapping his fingers and pointing at the man's holster.
"Give me your gun." He took it, cocked it, then glanced at Rose. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous."
"Nothing new there then," she teased, giving him a smile.
He grinned, and then looked at Octavian.
"When I do, jump," he said, demonstrating.
"Jump where?" the Bishop asked.
"No, just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."
"What signal?"
"You won't miss it," he said and then raised the gun, aiming at the gravity globe above them.
"Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake we made," Angel Bob said.
"Oh, big mistake. Huge," he said, without taking his eyes from the globe. "Didn't anyone ever tell you there's one thing you never put in a trap? If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."
"And what would that be, sir?"
"Me."
He shot the globe. It exploded and then he jumped.
Standard Disclaimer.
Thank you to all my brilliant readers!
If you have time reviews are always welcome. :)