CHAPTER 43

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A WELCOME SURPRISE

The planet Telos, the home of the Cybermen, still bore the scars of a visit centuries ago from the Time Lady known as Cliodna who had come to get her revenge on them for the death of her husband at their hands. There were massive craters all over the planet's surface that could be seen even from space, and there were several buildings that still lay in ruins everywhere. Cliodna had caused so much damage that the Cybermen were still rebuilding centuries later and likely would continue to rebuild for centuries to come.

After her second visit there today however, there might not be anything left to rebuild at all.

"Leader, I am detecting the energy signature of a TARDIS nearby. It is rapidly approaching the planet's surface and should be here at any moment now. I believe that it is the TARDIS of the Time Lady Cliodna Brightshore who is also known as Amy Pond," A Cyberman said to the Cyber Leader.

"Strengthen the planetary shields to maximum and activate all of our defensive weaponry. We must prepare to defend Telos with everything that we have," The Cyber Leader ordered.

"Why would Amy Pond come here now? We haven't dealt with her in a long time," A Cyberman asked.

"Is this question borne out of a sense of curiosity?" The Cyber Leader asked.

"No, Leader. It is only a question and nothing more. It is not logical for her to return now," The Cybermen said.

"Logic rarely has anything to do with the actions of these lesser beings. That is especially true in the case of Amelia Pond. She is completely guided by her emotions and frequently blinded by them to the point of distraction. She is a perfect example of why having emotions makes all others in this universe inferior to us," The Cyber Leader said.

"Really? Well, if I'm so inferior, then how did I slip in here right past you then, huh?" The unmistakable voice of Amy Pond said as she appeared out of thin air beside the Cyber Leader carrying a huge gun in her hands.

"You landed before your TARDIS did somehow and then completely cloaked yourself from our defenses. Impressive," The Cyber Leader said with no trace of emotion in his voice whatsoever.

"Thank you. I'm glad that you think so," Amy said just before she blew the Cyber Leader apart with a single blast of her gun.

Then she began rapidly firing on every Cyberman in the room at incredible speed. She moved so quickly that she destroyed all of them but one in less than a minute. They never even had a chance to lay a hand on her.

Then Amy turned to the remaining Cyberman, the one who had questioned her appearance there earlier, and said, "To answer your question, I came here because I felt like hitting something, and Telos has always been my favorite punching bag."

"It was an emotional response to the sudden loss of the Doctor and Rose Tyler then?" The Cyberman asked.

Amy looked at him in surprise and hesitated for a moment despite the alarms going off nearby and the rapidly approaching sounds of thousands of heavy metal feet quickly making their way towards her. She knew that they would be there at any moment now, but she just had to know what the Cybermen knew about them.

Maybe they would have some information that could help bring them back home.

"What do you know about what happened? Tell me," Amy demanded.

"We were watching the final battle between Rose Tyler and Nightshade with great interest since we knew that it could potentially jeopardize our entire mission of universal assimilation. The news of the two Time Lords being exiled to another universe, the departure of the Time Lady known as Missy back to her own world, and the destruction of Nightshade was a most acceptable outcome. Four of the greatest threats to our plans were removed all at once," The Cyberman said.

"It wasn't acceptable to me!" Amy shouted.

"That much is obvious from your current reckless display of emotion," The Cyberman said.

"That's enough with the witty little putdowns. Tell me where the Doctor and Rose are. I know that you've been looking for them in order to finish them off. That's your standard method of dealing with any potential threats," Amy said.

"Affirmative. We have attempted to locate them in order to ensure that they will never return, but we have been unsuccessful at finding them at the moment," The Cyberman said.

Amy nodded as she said, "Then I'm just wasting my time talking to you, aren't I?"

"It would appear so," The Cyberman said.

Amy suddenly blew the remaining Cyberman apart with a single blast as she said to herself, "It was a boring conversation anyway."

Then she quickly set the base's computer to self-destruct. She then ran out of it past a small army of surprised Cybermen who didn't even have time to fire a single shot at her before she was well out of their range.

Moments later the entire base exploded taking every Cyberman around it with it. Amy briefly looked back at the fiery blast and smiled with satisfaction before she started to move forward once more.

As she raced to yet another base filled with Cybermen, Rory watched her from the TARDIS' monitors where it was parked nearby. He was deeply worried about her. Not so much that she would be hurt by the Cybermen but because of the inner fury over her friends' loss that had driven her to come here in the first place.

He knew that this couldn't be healthy for her to have this much rage. Amy had always been an angry person but this was a million times worse than he had ever seen her before and that truly frightened him because he was starting to wonder if she would ever come back from it.

He knew that when she had become this angry before that she had escaped into the life of Amy Pond in order to get over it. How would she snap herself out of it this time? Or would she?

"She'll get over it sooner or later, Rory. You'll see. It's not like Rose and the Doctor are dead. She'd already be blowing up the whole planet by now if that were the case," Selene said in a reassuring tone.

"I don't like seeing her like this. It's scary," Julia admitted as she clung to Selene's arm with a worried look on her face.

"Hey, don't worry, okay? She loves you and the rest of her family and that will snap her out of this sooner or later I promise," Karen said with a reassuring smile.

Rory noticed that Karen had briefly looked at him as well as Julia when she had said that. She knew exactly what he was thinking after all.

Every version of Amy always knew somehow just like he always knew what she was thinking.

"Really? Then why didn't your love for me snap you out of it before when you thought that Oisin was dead?" Selene couldn't help but ask Karen.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Selene. I should have come back but it just hurt too much. I just couldn't face it anymore, and I honestly thought that you were better off not being around someone as broken as I was," Karen admitted.

"Maybe you should have asked me about that first!" Selene snapped.

"Selene," Julia said in an upset voice.

Selene's anger faded and she gently patted Julia's head as she said to both her and Karen, "I'm sorry. I just don't want a repeat of last time."

"There won't be. I promise," Karen reassured her.

"I still can't believe what I'm seeing. All of this destruction because of me," Oisin said in a state of awe as he looked out over the devastated surface of Telos.

"That's how much you mean to me. It's not something that I'm proud of but all of that anger had to come out somehow," Karen admitted.

"You couldn't try some anger management classes?" Sirona said in she looked at Telos in disbelief.

"That never worked for me," Karen said.

"Yeah, I remember and neither did therapy," Rory said.

"And yet you're not out there helping her are you, Karen?" Brian noted.

Karen smiled as she said, "No, I'm not. Make no mistake though, Brian. I'm angry too. I'm just as angry as she is because I love Rose and the Doctor too, but I knew that I had to be here to reassure all of you that she will return to normal eventually. I guess you could say that right now she's blowing them up for the both of us."

"You're sure that she's coming back?" Melody asked in a frightened voice.

Karen picked her up and held her as she said, "I know she is, Mels. She wouldn't miss being with you for the world."

"She's missing being with me right now though," Melody pointed out.

Karen looked at her with shame as she said, "I'm sorry, Melody. I'm so sorry."

"You should be. Both of you should. She needs to get her anger under control and stop letting it rule her life," Sirona said in a furious voice.

"I know that and she does too, Sirona. That's easier said than done though after all of the terrible things that have happened to both of us," Karen said defensively.

"You're setting a fine example for Melody alright. No wonder she grows up like she does," Sirona said.

Karen glared at her and Sirona immediately looked ashamed of herself as she said, "I'm sorry, Mum."

"What did she mean by that? Do I grow up to be a bad person?" Melody asked Karen in a worried voice.

"No! I just meant that you have a tendency to lose your temper like Mum does. You get angry very easily. The future you is getting much better about that though," Sirona said immediately.

"That's right, Mels. You're not a bad person. You never were," Karen reassured her as she smiled at Sirona for what she had said.

Melody smiled back with relief and nodded as Rory whispered to his father, "My Amy should be here to say that to her instead of wasting her time with this."

"You know how she is, Rory. She's not going to stop until she exhausts her anger and that could take a long time. Then again if someone were to talk to her about it she might work through her anger and leave here a lot sooner," Brian said in a suggestive tone.

"So I'm supposed to go outside and face an angry Amy holding a gun so that I can try to talk her out of it?" Rory asked in a slightly frightened voice.

"I noticed that you didn't mention the planet full of Cybermen," Sirona said.

"They're nothing compared to an armed and furious Amy," Selene said.

"I know I'd rather face the Cybermen any day," Julia admitted with a shiver.

"I'm not that bad," Karen said immediately earning herself a disbelieving look from everyone on the TARDIS.

"Well, I'm not," Karen protested.

Rory sighed as he said, "That's it. I have to go out there. I don't want to stay here for who knows how long."

"Good luck, Rory. Try to stay out of range of her gun. You don't want to lose one of your lives so quickly," Selene advised.

"I'm not that bad!" Karen shouted in an annoyed voice.

"Of course you're not, dear," Oisin said as he slowly backed away from her.

"Just stop it, all of you! You're all overreacting!" Karen shouted as she became more furious by the moment.

"Yeah, I definitely should leave now. I'd rather take my chances outside," Rory said as he took his sword with him and opened the TARDIS doors.

"Be careful," Selene called out after him.

As soon as he was outside, Rory switched on the perception filter that Amy had made for both of them to wear that was specially designed to keep them completely hidden from even the most sophisticated technology of the Cybermen until they switched it off. It was how Amy had gotten inside their base without them even noticing her earlier.

Rory then slowly made his way across the planet as he followed the trail of destruction that Amy had left behind. He knew from the sound of explosions up ahead that he wasn't that far from her at that moment.

Within minutes he was soon proven right as he came upon a scene of absolute chaos as Amy tore through army after army of Cybermen with the specially designed gun that she had created that instantly blew them apart with one shot. She was using all of her knowledge of them against them now in order to completely overwhelm and annihilate them.

"Amy, we have to talk," Rory said as she finished taking care of all of the Cybermen in the area for the moment.

Amy looked at him in surprise as she said, "Are you crazy? It's too dangerous for you to be out here even with that perception filter on. They still might hit you by accident even if they can't see you."

"Amy, you have to stop this. You're upsetting everyone especially Melody. She wanted to spend some time with you and you're here doing this."

Amy became angry as she said, "Don't you dare bring that up to me right now! You don't understand. I have to do this. I – I just can't contain it any longer. I tried. I really did but I can't."

"You need to try harder then. This is just a waste," Rory said.

"Don't you think I know that?! I want to be with her. I don't want to do this but it's the only way I know of blowing off steam right now," Amy said.

"I think you do want to do it. I think you'd much rather be doing this than spending time with us. I think you're just being selfish right now and that you just don't care how we feel because all that matters is how you feel," Rory said.

Amy glared at him as she said, "That's not true! You know that's not true!"

"Then prove it then. Come back to the TARDIS. We don't need to be here," Rory said.

"You don't understand. I – It's not fair, Rory! It's not fair! I couldn't protect them. I couldn't save them. I can't save anyone. I can't even save my own daughter! I just keep failing her over and over again!" Amy screamed.

Rory was almost glad despite the pain that Amy was in because the real truth was finally coming out now at last. This wasn't about the Doctor and Rose. Not really. It was about Melody. She was furious because she had to give Melody back. She was taking out her anger on the Cybermen because she knew that she was going to have to lose her again someday, and it was tearing her apart.

"I don't want to let her go either, Amy," Rory said.

"I'm going to lose her, Rory, just like I lost them. It's almost like the universe is rubbing it in my face just how powerless I am as it just keeps taking people away from me over and over again. It's like it's saying 'Look at her! Look at the big joke! The great and powerful Amy Pond, who fancies herself a superhero, and she can't even save the people who matter the most to her.'" Amy said in tears.

Rory immediately put his arms around her despite the fact that she was holding a gun and said, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"You're hurting too, Rory. Don't tell me that you aren't because I know better. I don't know why you're not out here joining me to be honest," Amy said with a small smile.

"Well, one of us has to be the sensible logical one," Rory said.

"I'm sorry for doing this to you, Rory. I didn't mean to hurt you or anyone else. I just . . . I just can't take it anymore. I want something good to happen for once. I'm tired of having things taken away. I want something given back to me. Just once," Amy said.

"They'll come back, Amy. I'm sure of it. He's the Doctor and she's Rose Tyler. It's what they do. They're just as stubborn as you are," Rory said with a smile.

Amy smiled back at him as she said, "Nah. Nobody's that stubborn. You know every time I think that you can't get any more wonderful you always prove me wrong. Never stop surprising me, Mr. Pond."

Then she kissed him even as the Cybermen started getting closer and closer by the moment. Neither one of them seemed to notice the danger that they were in as they continued to kiss without stopping.

"Eradicate them!" Yet another Cyber Leader said as he led his forces towards the two of them.

Just as they got within range of the two of them, Amy pointed her gun at them and began to quickly blow them all away with it without even stopping her kiss with Rory for a single moment! The small army of Cybermen was soon completely destroyed within a matter of minutes.

Fifteen minutes and several waves of blown up Cybermen later, Amy finally pulled away from the kiss as she said, "Come on, Rory. Let's go home."

Rory smiled and began to follow her as she started to walk away. It was then that he noticed a young woman lying amid the debris of the nearest Cyber base.

"Amy, look!" Rory shouted as he pointed toward the woman.

Amy immediately became alarmed as she said, "No, this can't be right. I didn't detect anything but Cybermen here. I would never have endangered anyone else no matter how angry I was if I had known that they had unprocessed victims here."

"Do they usually keep unprocessed people around?" Rory asked as he started to walk towards the woman.

"No, not usually. They're always at least halfway converted. She doesn't show any signs of being converted at all though," Amy said as she started walking towards the fallen woman as well.

Rory reached her first and began to check the woman's pulse. He frowned as he realized that there wasn't one. He continued to check for life signs of any kind despite that though because he knew that Amy would be devastated if she were dead.

Amy was already starting to get upset as she said, "I checked. I know I did. There was nothing but Cybermen here."

"I can't find any signs of life. She's gone," Rory said reluctantly after a few moments.

"No. No, that can't be true!" Amy said in tears.

"You didn't know," Rory said.

"It's my fault. I killed her!" Amy said with a sob.

"The Cybermen were basically going to kill her anyway," Rory said.

"I could have saved her. I should have saved her," Amy said.

Then her jaw dropped as she suddenly said, "I know her."

"What?" Rory asked in surprise.

"I know her, Rory. No wonder I didn't pick up her life signs. She isn't human. That's why I didn't detect her, and that's why you can't find a pulse or a heartbeat," Amy said with a relieved smile.

"What is she then? She looks human," Rory said.

"That's just what her outer shell looks like. Her Chameleon Circuit is still working I see," Amy said.

"Wait a minute. She's a TARDIS! They can make themselves look human?" Rory said in amazement.

Amy nodded as she said, "Yep, at least the newer models can anyway. In fact, she's more than just a TARDIS. She's my TARDIS. My old one I mean from back when I was still at the Academy. I haven't seen her in centuries."

"What is she doing here though?" Rory asked.

"I don't know because the last that I heard she had died," Amy said looking at her with a mystified expression.

"R - Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, Clio," The woman lying before them said in a weak voice as she began to move.

"Oh, Charlotte! I'm so glad that you're alright," Amy said as she helped her to her feet.

"I wouldn't say that. I'm far from being alright," Charlotte said with a wince.

"Charlotte? She was called Charlotte?" Rory asked in surprise.

"Hey, I didn't name her. She's the one who picked that name out when she started becoming independent and began thinking for herself. Charlotte, how did you get here? I thought you were dead. I was told that you were by Marissa and Koschei," Amy said.

"Marissa?" Charlotte asked.

"That's what Ushas is calling herself these days. Oh, I'm Amy now by the way," Amy said.

"Amy? That's a human name. You always did like humans way too much. You're still speaking in that Scottish accent too just like you did back then," Charlotte said with a grin.

"You spoke Scottish back then too?" Rory asked in amusement.

"I've wanted to be Scottish for a long time, Mr. Pond. Do you want to make something out of it?" Amy asked.

"No, no, no!" Rory quickly said.

Amy smiled as she said to Charlotte, "So you never did answer my question. How did you get here?"

Charlotte looked at her with a blank expression as she said, "I don't know. I don't remember anything. I don't even know where here is."

Suddenly more blasts of energy were fired at them as several more armies of Cybermen started rapidly approaching them. Amy and Rory both took Charlotte's hands and started to run with her even as Charlotte looked at the metal men with surprise.

"Welcome to Telos, Charlotte. Don't worry. We won't be staying long," Amy said as the three of them continued to run.

"I don't understand. How did I get here? What's going on?" Charlotte said in absolute confusion and bewilderment.

"I'll find out, Charlotte. Don't worry about it," Amy reassured her.

As soon as they reached Amy's current TARDIS, they quickly ran inside. Amy then raced to the console and they dematerialized within moments. Everyone onboard sighed in relief as soon as they were gone, and it wasn't just because they had left a dangerous situation either.

It was because they could already tell that Amy was back to normal once again. Rory had done it.

Then their sense of newfound jubilation was immediately interrupted as Selene said, "Charlotte? What the?!"

"Selene!" Charlotte said with joy as she hugged her.

"Who's she?" Julia asked in confusion.

"She's my family's old TARDIS. She's supposed to be dead though," Selene said as she numbly hugged Charlotte back with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"You're a TARDIS? An actual talking TARDIS?" Julia asked with a huge smile of excitement on her face.

"That's me. Nice to meet you," Charlotte said as she shook her hand.

"I'm Julia, Amy's daughter and Selene's sister. It's nice to meet you too," Julia said with a huge grin.

"You're Amy's daughter and yet you're also Selene's sister? How did that come about?" Charlotte asked in confusion.

"It's a long story. Do you want to hear it?" Julia asked eagerly.

"Later, sweetie. Right now I have to take her to the medical bay and see if I can help her or not. She's not feeling all that well," Amy said.

"That's for sure," Charlotte said with a groan.

Then she looked at Karen and said, "Wait a minute. There are two of you?"

"That's another long story. It's good to see you again, Charlotte," Karen said with a grin.

"Two Cliodnas? How did the universe survive?" Charlotte joked.

Selene laughed as she said, "It's definitely you alright. I've missed you so much, Charlotte."

"How did she get here?" Oisin asked in a wary tone.

"She doesn't remember. We'll just have to do our best to find out later. Right now I need to have Rory examine her," Amy said.

Oisin moved closer to her as he whispered, "Don't trust her just yet. The Cybermen could be using her against you somehow."

"I know. Believe me I know," Amy whispered back with a sad look on her face.

"Is everything alright?" Charlotte asked in a worried voice.

"Yeah, everything's just fine. Don't worry about it," Amy said.

"I don't think I'm working for the Cybermen, Amy. At least I hope not anyway," Charlotte said.

Amy nodded as she said, "I hope not either because I really need for you to be exactly what you're supposed to be right now."

"Why? What's wrong?" Charlotte asked with a concerned look that made Amy smile.

"I'll tell you later," Amy said as she started to lead her out of the Console Room and towards the medical bay.

"Well, you wanted something to be given back, and it looks like you just got your wish," Rory said.

"I sure hope so," Amy said hopefully.

"Mother, can I come along too?" Melody asked hopefully.

Amy smiled as she said, "Of course you can. Charlotte, this is my daughter, Melody."

"Nice to meet you, Melody," Charlotte said with a warm smile.

Amy then looked at Melody apologetically as she said, "Melody, I'm sorry. I – I was working through some things for a while there. I won't do that anymore though. I promise that I won't waste any more time with you. Do you forgive me?"

Melody smiled as she said, "Of course I will if you'll promise to forgive me for anything that I might do to make you mad in the future."

"That's a tall order but yeah, I promise," Amy said with a grin.

"I'll hold you to that," Melody said.

"I'm counting on it," Amy said as she hugged Melody tightly and kissed her cheek.

Next: Readers of my story, Tales of Gallifrey, will already recognize Charlotte from there and now it's time that I brought her into the current Guardian Who universe too even as I tell her backstory. Next time Amy and Rory check over Charlotte in the medical bay as they try to piece together just how she got on Telos, and it's as much for signs that she's an agent of the Cybermen as it is for her health. What is wrong with Charlotte and can she be returned to normal? Will she ever remember anything about what happened to her? What exactly did Amy think happened to her anyway? Plus Charlotte is reunited with her best friend Cassiopeia for the first time in a very long time.