AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just really want to apologise for the ginormous wait for this chapter, I am genuinely so so sorry! I really hope this chapter is worth it... Anyway, I also really wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you for all your amazing reviews which really make me so happy, you guys make me happy when I'm sad and stressed and it keeps me going and now I have passed the 100 mark I am over the moon! Really, just thank you so much! :) And also all your suggestions for baby names are brilliant and if you have any more please keep them coming! So, please enjoy this chapter and R&R! :)
DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this fanfic and I do not own Doctor Who. Doctor Who belongs to the BBC and this is purely for fun and non-profitable purposes!
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: The beast you've made me
(18 Weeks [5 months] Pregnant)
"I'd take your hands off me if you know what's good for you" River snarled as she and the Doctor were shoved onto the cold stone floor and the door of the alien-metal cage slammed behind them.
They were enclosed in a medium sized cage with metal bars, in the middle of a huge and fairly deserted room, with a tall ceiling and alien technology all around them. As River cautiously surveyed the room, she noticed that there was only one exit, which was guarded by two armed soldiers in Demon's Run uniform. River knew they weren't at the Asteroid, Demon's Run, where she was kidnapped as a baby before the Doctor rescued her, but in a different base on some sort of ship they had crashed into when they were in the TARDIS. There were another six soldiers that were spread out around the room, all armed and all dressed in the same uniform, and a silhouette of a woman was vaguely present as she lurked in the shadows, tapping away at a computer.
"Oi! Watch it! She's pregnant you know!" The Doctor bellowed as he and River lay on the floor and he put his hand tentatively on her arm to reassure her.
"Oh, we know" The woman smirked as she stepped out of the shadows and into full view.
When River heard that familiar voice, she shuddered and felt chills down her spine. She knew the woman before she even saw her, and River felt herself crawl closer to the Doctor as the woman appeared in front of them.
It was Madame Kovarian.
"Kovarian?" River whispered in confusion, before drawing breath and clasping her hand over her mouth. The Doctor put his arms around his wife and glared at the woman standing on the other side of the bars.
Kovarian smirked evilly at him before she turned her back and moved towards a huge screen with a massive board of keys, leavers and buttons in front of it. She wore black leathers, but this time, no eye patch, as the silence had been defeated long ago, and she had her hair piled up into a loose bun just like before. She was exactly the same. She continued to tap furiously at the keyboard before a three dimensional scan of River and her unborn baby flashed up. Kovarian began circling the hologram and pointing at it as she discussed it with one of the soldiers and her eyes scanned over the seemingly endless string of data that the scan produced. River watched on nervously as she draped her arm over her stomach, protecting her baby.
"What do you want?" River cried, the fear of what was to become of her strangled in her throat.
"Oh, Melody, Melody, Melody...haven't you figured that one out yet?" She laughed wickedly in response, approaching the cage.
"Shut up! I'm not Melody anymore! I'm not her! I'm River Song" River screamed, rising to her feet as a few angry tears escaped her eyes.
The Doctor rose to his feet and quickly advanced to River, resting his hand on her shoulder to indicate that she should step back and calm down. She nodded to him, and breathing deeply, she stepped back, letting him talk.
"How the hell did you manage to hijack my TARDIS?" The Doctor asked angrily.
"Oh that was the easy part..." Kovarian dismissed.
"But...but...how? No one can pilot the TARDIS like that! You can't just gain control of it like that!" He stammered, failing to understand how she had managed to bring them here.
"No, you're right. But I have my ways, and if you think I'm going to tell you, think again"
"What do you want Kovarian? Don't you ever just give up? YOU'VE LOST! IT'S OVER! Don't you understand that!" The Doctor yelled at Kovarian, as he gripped the bars of the cage tightly.
"Oh, Doctor" She chuckled. "You're the one who doesn't understand! I had a plan to destroy you. I was going to raise little Melody into the perfect psychopath so she could rid the universe of you once and for all" She began to walk away. "Oh, but you had to go and meddle, didn't you? Doctor, those plans still stand. I am going to destroy you, and now Melody too"
"But I don't understand...what has my child got to do with your plans to avenge the Doctor and I?" River asked, wrapping her arms instinctively over her belly once again.
"Well...as we couldn't have you, Melody, we'll have your child instead! You never really escaped us, no matter how many times you thought you did. And we will take your child from you on the day that it's born, we will raise them and manipulate them into the perfect assassin, we will train them to kill, and eventually, they won't even know who you are, you'll just be a victim they've been ordered to execute" Kovarian replied, moving closer to the cage again.
"Oh, don't you just hate how villains always tell you their whole plan!" The Doctor sighed, pacing round the cage.
"You cannot have my child! Do you hear? I won't let you!" River screeched, tugging at the bars of the prison.
"You haven't a choice my dear" The woman smiled. "Your baby is ours, Melody"
"For the last time..." River began, through gritted teeth as her hands clenched around the metal bars. "I am not Melody, I am River Song, and you have no control over me! Do you understand me? And I swear, I will fight you to the death to keep my child. So if that's what you want...bring it on!"
Madame Kovarian simply laughed at her and wandered back to the hologram and scan of the baby.
"100% Timelord" Kovarian beamed, impressed with what she had discovered. "Well, well, well, that's much better than what we had with you, Melody. This is exactly what we need. The child will be much more powerful and so much stronger"
"Ok, you want our baby, we get it!" The Doctor snapped. "But haven't you noticed the flaw in your plan? The baby isn't even born yet!"
"Oh, yes, that. Well, we did intend to capture you after the birth, but as you're here, it would be a waste not to imprison you" She smirked.
"What do you intend to do? Keep us here until the birth?" The Doctor scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief.
"If that's what it takes" River looked horrified at this.
"That's sick" The Doctor bellowed "You, Kovarian are just something else"
"Thank you" She chuckled, moving away.
"What have you done with our children?" The Doctor boomed, ramming his side into the cage bars in a vague attempt to batter the cage to smithereens.
"Your children are safe Doctor, and they will remain safe, as long as you both agree to hand over your child as soon as it's born" She replied, turning back to him.
"Why on Earth would we agree to that?" The Doctor yelled.
"Because if you don't...you're children will remain in our custody and you will never see Jenny and Lily again"
And with that, Kovarian and the soldiers left the room. The huge door slammed shut and bolted behind them and two armed guards remained on the other side of the door if they should attempt to escape. The Doctor stumbled backwards with Kovarian's words ringing in his ears. Tears were streaming down River's cheeks and rolling, without stopping, from her eyes and she simply just blinked them away. The Doctor swiftly wrapped his arms around his wife to comfort her best he could. But she had been reunited with the woman who had tormented her and her parents, the woman who had hurt her and emotionally scarred her as a baby, the woman who now held them both in the most compromising position they'd ever faced. The Doctor rested his hand on River's head and pulled her close, pressing a gentle kiss amidst her curls as she cried into his chest.
"What do we do?" She whispered, lifting her head so she looked him directly in the eyes.
"I...I don't know" He replied, stroking her cheek with his thumb.
"You must know! What do we do? Doctor, what do we do!" She began to pound her clenched fists against his chest as she wailed and screamed at him. He pulled her close and hushed her gently.
"I don't know, River. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Either way we lose our children and I...I don't know what to do"
"I can't let that happen! I can't lose any of them! Not Lily, not Jenny, not this baby. No one! Do you hear me? No one! I'm not letting Kovarian take them from me!" She snarled through gritted teeth as the thought of Madame Kovarian made her blood boil.
"Ok...ok" He took a deep, shaky breath. "We need to get out of here first" He stuck his hand in his pocket quickly and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Good job I've got this then, isn't it" He smiled faintly as he advanced quickly to the lock and unlocked it. River smiled at him through her tears and then raced to the door, hot on his heels as they escaped the cage.
The Doctor and River searched desperately for their children, slipping past guards silently, sonicing the doors open swiftly, breaking security locks and cracking codes as they scoured the spaceship. River followed her husband and mirrored his movements. They worked together as one, a perfect team, just like the old days. River managed to knock out every solider that crossed their path, despite the slight disadvantage of her pregnancy. She acquired one of the soldier's guns along the way, and the Doctor knew, by just occasionally glancing at her, that she was a woman on a mission and had no qualms about using that gun that her hand was clenched tightly around. He could see the determination glistening in her eyes as they raced from corridor to corridor, room to room. They didn't say a word to each other as they moved swiftly along the glass corridors of the spaceship in a treacherous chase to find their children, only communicating with silent looks and determined nods.
Eventually they arrived at a bridge, made from and enclosed by the same glass as the many other tunnels. Neither of them looked down, both were fixated on opening the final door at the end of the bridge. The Doctor fumbled with the settings on his sonic as River waiting impatiently behind him. The Doctor groaned loudly and pressed his forehead against the door in defeat.
"It's no good, it's a deadlock seal! And I think there are traces of wood in the frame work"
"Oh that bloody sonic and bloody wood!" River groaned, kicking the door.
Suddenly they heard footsteps echoing down the corridor and just as the Doctor and River turned round, Kovarian appeared at the other end of the bridge with two soldiers positioned behind her. They approached quickly and the Doctor and River were immediately cornered at the end of the bridge. The Doctor saw his wife's hand suddenly clench around the gun handle and the skin of her knuckles flush white and she was grinding her teeth viciously.
"I see you escaped. I knew you would, that was part of the plan" Kovarian leered.
"If you knew I had my sonic, why didn't you take it off me?" The Doctor frowned.
"Because, Doctor, the thrill is in the chase" She laughed.
"This is all just a game to you isn't it?"
"Yes" Kovarian whispered eerily, before cackling evilly "And you've played so well"
"Now it's time for you to lose" River cut in.
"Melody" Kovarian and River's eyes locked onto each other's and they glared at each other intensely. "Before you decide who wins and who loses, so one thing for me" Kovarian leaned in to River and whispered in her ear "Look down"
Kovarian moved away, but her eyes were still locked in a trance with River's glare, their hatred for each other oozing from every pore. Eventually River broke the gaze and looked through the glass, down onto the level below them. Her hearts practically stopped beating at the horrific sight before her.
Lily and Jenny were desperately trying to escape their torture and were struggling against the handcuffs and shackles they were bound with and trying to escape from the tight, restricting ropes tied around their bodies. Tears rolled down River's cheeks at the heartbreaking sight before her and she almost collapsed in a heap on the floor when she heard Lily's piercing shrieks for help as she called out desperately for her parents. River couldn't bring herself to watch anymore, so she turned slowly back to Kovarian and the Doctor.
"There you go Melody. That's what will become of your children if you don't give up your baby" Kovarian smiled.
"This is blackmail" River whispered, wiping away her tears roughly.
"Yes, it is. All you have to do is agree, and their torment ends. It's time to make a choice Melody"
Please leave a comment if you have the time, it would mean a lot!
[NEXT CHAPTER UP SOON]
EXTRA AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know Kovarian died in TWORS, but you have to remember that this fic is pretty much AU and because all that stuff didn't happen in this fic, it also means Kovarian isn't dead! So...here she is, popping up in this chapter! There is a second part to this which will be up very very soon! Thank you for reading!
