I'm starting to get the feeling that Writer's Block likes me a bit too much. Anyway, here you go, part two! One more part after this one.

And of course, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas – or whichever event you celebrate – and an equally brilliant New Year! Here's to 2012, eh?

The Seventh Obelisk – Part Two

"You really shouldn't be here, you know," Three said for the umpteenth time as the Doctors, Alex and the Brigadier made their way back through the train. Both Doctors had sensed that Osiris had returned to the Express. "It might be better if you left in your TARDIS now."

"No chance," Eleven replied. "Would you leave?"

"Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart," he introduced himself, shaking Alex's hand rather formally and interrupting Alex's eavesdropping on the Doctors' conversation.

"Alex Morgan," Alex replied, feeling somewhat trivial compared to the Brigadier's grand introduction. "Is he always like this?" Alex asked, gesturing to Three as the two Doctors continued to bicker and banter.

"When he meets his other selves, yes,"

"How many of him have you met?"

"Including your one? Let's see... four. We had some nasty business with Omega."

"Omega?"

"Yes... apparently he was key in the invention of time travel. All seems like nonsense to me."

"Well it would. You're UNIT," Alex said cheekily.

"Excuse me?"

"I've got a friend at UNIT. Commander Hilton."

"Never heard of him."

"Her," Alex corrected. "And you wouldn't have. She hasn't been born yet," he grinned as the Brigadier frowned in confusion.

The group arrived at a carriage towards the back of the train. Eleven slid the door open. They were back in the storage carriage where the TARDIS had landed. Alex noticed Three look at it warmly, almost longingly.

"Ah. Doctors. You've found each other," said a voice, making Alex jump. He turned to see that Osiris had returned.

"So you set this little charade up, did you?" Three asked seriously. His face then split into a grin and he greeted Osiris like the old friends they were. "How do you do, old chap?"

"Doctor, you know this... man?" the Brigadier asked, eyeing Osiris' green complexion with apprehension.

"Of course. Lethbridge-Stewart, this is the Osiris. He's an Egyptian god too."

"Well he can't be a real god, surely,"

Eleven cleared his throat warningly. "That will do, Alistair," he muttered. "Now then. Osiris. Hathor is still on the train, we've seen her. Well, we haven't, but Alex and my esteemed self here have."

"Excellent," Osiris said cheerfully, clapping his green hands together. "And what action did you take?"

"A... action?" Eleven asked, faltering.

"Yes. To recapture her?"

"Well, um, we, er," Eleven stammered, searching wildly for an acceptable response.

"I drove her away," Alex spoke up bravely (or stupidly), saving the Doctor.

"You did what?" Osiris cried. Stupidly.

"She looked like she was going to attack a couple!" Alex replied defensively, bracing himself. "She's a goddess, it's not like I had much chance of fighting her!"

"How did you drive her away?" Osiris asked urgently. No-one spoke. "How?" he repeated.

"I... I provoked someone in the carriage. Made him angry. She feeds off love, so I thought some anger might drive her away."

"No!" Osiris cried, burying his face into his hands. "Foolish boy! She doesn't feed off love, she feeds off powerful emotion. Any powerful emotion! She assimilates it for herself. Now she's going to be even more aggressive than ever."

Alex's mouth dropped open, the gravity of what he'd done hitting him hard.

"Yes, well, we can worry about that later," Three said, giving Alex a swift, friendly grin. "I have a question though. What does Hathor do with all these emotions she feeds on?"

"Well, if the emotion is strong enough, she drains them dry. Your angry man," he said, nodding towards Alex, "may now be the friendliest human being ever to walk this planet. Never able to be angry again."

A shrill screeching arose from nearby. It was a woman's scream. The Brigadier drew his revolver and ran to the door, following the noise.

"Be careful, Doctors," Osiris called as the rest of the group followed him. "Think before you act!"

They didn't have far to run before discovering the source of the scream. Slumped against the war of the next carriage was the body of a man, his head lolling forward onto his chest. Blood was trickling down from his temple. The Brigadier knelt down beside him and felt for a pulse.

"No, he's dead," he announced. "Poor chap."

Alex joined the Brigadier at the man's side. "But that was definitely a woman's scream,"

"Yeah, I think it probably was," Eleven muttered. He was looking through the open door of a nearby compartment. Sitting on the bed, gazing out of the door at the body was a woman. She was curled up into a ball with tears streaming down her cheeks. On the bed next to her was a silver water jug, with red stains on the side of it...

T H E S E V E N T H O B E L I S K

"Yes, okay. Thank you, Benton. Over and out." The Brigadier put his radio back into his pocket. "The police are on their way," he told the group. The Doctors had taken charge and decided to hold the woman in her room until the police could board the train. Eleven had locked it with the Sonic.

"Thank you, Lethbridge-Stewart," Three replied. "But first, I should like to ask her a few questions."

"Now Doctor, don't you think that's a matter for the police?"

"My dear Brigadier. Do you really think the police are going to ask her questions about Hathor? Or do anything to help us find her? No, we must ask her our own questions before handing her over to the police."

"Of course, it's not really her fault," Eleven reminded them. "I'm not convinced we should hand her over to anyone."

"For her to have committed the murder would have required some form of that state of mind, regardless of the circumstances," Three shot back. "I'm not entirely happy about it either, but it's for the best."

"In you go then, Doctor," the Brigadier said, sliding open the door and stepping aside to allow Three in. "I'll go and speak to the driver, fill him in on the situation. I'll need to radio Benton too, tell him to hold off with the police,"

"Oh, can I do that?" Eleven asked like a child on Christmas, following the Brigadier towards the front of the train. "It'll be good to speak to him again."

Three and Alex exchanged amused looks and entered the compartment. The woman was still sitting in a ball on the bed, though she had stopped crying now.

"Now then, my dear," Three said cheerfully, sitting on the foot of the girl's bed. "I'm the Doctor. This is Alex. What's your name?"

"Are you the police?" she whimpered.

"No. But they are on their way. However, you help us, and we may be able to help you. So what's your name?"

"V-Vicky. Victoria Howard."

Alex leaned on the small table next to the bed. "Why'd you do it, Vicky?"

Vicky's eyes welled up again. "I don't know," she sniffed. "I just got so angry. I kept questioning why I'd ever married him; I felt like I hated him with all my heart."

"But you don't anymore?"

"No, I do. But I don't know why! I hate him, but I don't want to!"

"Tell me, Victoria. How long have you been aboard the train?"

"A few days. We got married last week. This was our..." She tailed off and began to shake with sobs again. "Our h-honeymoon."

"Vicky..." Alex began, wondering how to broach the subject. "Might seem an odd question, but... haven't spoken to anyone strange at all, have you? Maybe... blue hair. Yellow skin?"

She shook her head, still teary-eyed.

"She won't have seen her," Three suddenly realised. "Remember those people in the dining carriage?" he asked. "Nobody could see her but us."

"Why though?"

"We knew what we were looking for. There must be a weak perception filter surrounding her."

"What are you two talking about?" Vicky asked, confused.

"Nothing to worry about," Three smiled. "Thank you for your help. We'll get out of your way now."

"Wait!" she cried. "Will you help me? I didn't mean to kill him, I didn't!"

"I'll see what I can do," Three promised as he slid the door closed. He locked it with his own Sonic Screwdriver.

"Well that achieved nothing," Alex summarised. "How can we question her – or anyone – if no-one else can see Hathor?"

"We know all we need. Hathor stole Mrs Howard's love for her husband. That much is obvious. Why else would she hate him, but not want to?"

"Well then, Doctor? How did you get on?" the Brigadier asked as he and Eleven returned. The Brig was tucking his radio back into his pocket.

"This is most certainly Hathor's doing," Three concluded. "Did you speak to the driver?"

"Yes. He's a bit shocked, but I convinced him that the girl is secure, and he's agreed to continue on to our destination."

"And Benton and co. are in helicopters above, following is," Eleven added gleefully. "Ready to jump in when needed."

"We'll need to find her first though," Alex pointed out.

"She's in there, isn't she?" the Brigadier asked, nodding towards the locked door.

"Not her, Hathor. We need Hathor to prove to the authorities that this isn't Vicky's fault."

The Doctors and the Brigadier shared a look, which didn't go un-noticed by Alex.

Yes, well. We should split up and look for her," Three announced. "We'll cover more ground that way."

"Agreed," agreed Eleven. "My esteemed other self and I will go this way," he said, pointing towards the front of the train, "and Alex and Alistair, you go that way," he finished, pointing to the back of it.

"Whoa, whoa," Alex interrupted. "Shouldn't one of us be with one of you?"

"Yes, I barely know what I'm dealing with," the Brigadier reasoned.

"Think about it," Eleven told them. "Hathor feeds off love, familiarity-"

"- Not just love,"

"No. But she does feed off it. You two barely know each other; there won't be any love between you two for her to feed off," he grinned.

"But you two know each other intimately," Alex pointed out.

Eleven smiled sadly. "Exactly." He led the way out of the carriage, with Three hurrying along in his wake.

"Well I suppose we'd better get to work," the Brigadier announced when they had gone. "Come along then."

T H E S E V E N T H O B E L I S K

"No, no! This was in 1968!" the Brigadier insisted.

"Really? Well, they invaded in 2006 as well then,"

"Why would I know about an invasion in 2006?" Lethbridge-Stewart laughed.

"Ever heard of the TARDIS? It does this wonderful thing called time travel, y'see," Alex grinned cheekily, earning him a soft punch on the arm from the Brig.

"The things that man puts this planet through, eh?"

"The things he saves this planet from, surely,"

The Brigadier shrugged. "That too," he smiled.

Their conversation was cut short by the violent sliding-open of a nearby door and the appearance of a fiery-faced women with equally fiery hair.

"Where's Rory?" Amy asked Alex furiously when she caught sight of him.

Alex frowned. "Not with you?" he asked nervously.

"No. Because if he was, I'd be knocking his block off," she replied angrily, shouting the last two words.

This worried Alex. He'd never seen Amy so livid with Rory before. "What's he done, Amy?" Alex asked, approaching her slowly and putting his hands on either of her shoulders.

"I don't know," she said irately, shrugging them off.

"Then why do you want to knock his block off?"

She faltered. "I don't know," she repeated. "I just feel... angry with him. I don't know why."

"Here's what I want you to do, Amy. I want you to start heading towards the front of the train. Just keep going. If you see Rory, fight your urges, and come back to us. If you don't, you should come to the Doctor. Tell him what you've told me, and stay with him. Okay?"

Amy nodded, slightly confused. She could see Alex was serious. She turned to leave, but stopped. "Who's this?" she asked, gesturing to the Brigadier.

"Friend of the Doctor's."

"Alex!" the Brigadier cried, jumping and charging towards the end of the carriage and the open door. Standing in the doorway was the figure of a woman. Even as they watched, she began to transform into a ball of light.

"Amy, go!" Alex called as he followed the Brigadier. With Hathor around, he had to put as much distance between himself and Amy as possible. They knew each other too well.

The Brigadier threw the door open when he reached it and he and Alex piled into the next carriage. Again, the door at the far end was sliding closed and again, the pair of them sprinted to the end of passed through the door. Through three more carriages, they eventually came to what seemed to be another storage one. It seemed huge. There were tens of wooden crates scattered around, almost forming a sort of maze. The Brigadier slowly un-holstered his pistol. He pointed at Alex, then towards one path through the crates. He then pointed to himself and towards the other path. He finished by forming a pair of scissors with his index and middle fingers. Finally, he nodded to question Alex's understanding. Alex slowly nodded back in reply. He had followed until the bizarre scissor motion.

Regardless, Alex began his hunt along his assigned path. As he snuck along by edge of the carriage, a great pulse of light erupted from the far end. It was his only clue, so Alex rushed towards it. Probably foolishly, he thought as he ran.

He hurtled around the corner and crashed into someone. He fell to the ground and looked up at his obstacle. It was a woman. A woman with blue hair and yellow skin. A woman with unusual facial make-up and an unusual orange dress.

"Hathor," Alex whispered, staring at her in shock.

"Hello Alex," she whispered ethereally.

"Brigadier!" Alex called urgently, glancing over Hathor's shoulder. He was nowhere to be seen.

"He won't hear you," Hathor told him. "I've temporarily blocked his mental capacities. If, by some miracle, he does manage to find this spot, he'll walk right past without seeing or hearing us."

"Alistair," Alex tried again, raising his voice.

"It's no use, Alex," Hathor assured him, smiling eerily. When Alex didn't reply, she went on. "So. You've met Victoria? She was a lovely girl-"

"'Was' being the primary word?" Alex spoke up as Hathor began to pace.

"I am sorry about that. I didn't mean for that to happen... but they were such a loving couple... I was drawn to them."

"You can't just steal people's emotions, Hathor!" Alex cried. "It doesn't work like that."

"I can. Besides, I don't always steal them. Occasionally, they get thrust upon me. Like the gentlemen in the dining carriage. That was entirely your doing."

"Alex?" asked a voice, whispering. Alex looked over Hathor's shoulder to see the Brigadier, crouching, with his pistol in his hand. "Can you hear me?" he asked. He made his way past Alex and away again.

"You see?" Hathor asked. "As a mutual friend of ours once stated, military intelligence is a contradiction in terms."

"What d'you need me for?" Alex asked, disregarding this last insult.

"You? I don't need you for anything. I need the Doctor. And I have a feeling you're going to stop me from doing that."

A low buzzing sound floated over from the other side of the carriage.

"Right on cue," Hathor smiled. Before Alex could protest, she swooped down on him. He braced himself, preparing for the worst. He felt a soft, yet strong hand grasp him by the neck and force him to look upwards. He kept his eyes screwed shut. He could feel Hathor's fragrant breath on his face...

And then felt her fragrant lips on his. Hathor... was kissing him. Okay, Alex thought, maybe she's poisoning me. But if she was, why would she keep it going this long? He found it impossible to pull away from her. Maybe the poison had a paralysing effect. Or maybe she was luring him into a false sense of security? Or maybe...

"Alex!" a majestic voice cried in shock.

Alex felt Hathor's mouth smile. She finally pulled away from him and dissolved into her small ball of light. She floated away and out of sight.

Alex bent over with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. When he felt able, he looked up to see Osiris glaring at him with disappointment in his eyes.

"What were you doing?" he shouted angrily.

"She attacked me!" Alex protested, feeling his slightly numb mouth.

"Didn't seem to be a very aggressive attack," Osiris mocked, harshly.

"I don't know what to tell you," Alex said. "One moment she was going on about needing me out of the way, the next she's landed a big one on me,"

"I told you, Alex, Hathor cannot be allowed to feel the effects of love of any kind."

"I know!" Alex insisted. "I didn't do anything, I swear."

Osiris looked down at the ground and sighed. "I'm sorry. Whether that is true or not. Whether I believe you or not, it's irrelevant. I cannot take the risk that she has fallen for you." He raised his green staff. It had a shining orb on the end of it with a green hue. The hue was getting brighter. He lowered the staff and pointed the end of it directly at Alex's chest. "I am sorry," he repeated.