CHAPTER 54
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AN ANCIENT EVIL RETURNS
"How did she get free? That's not possible. Those force fields are powered by energies from other realities where the laws of physics are completely different. Nothing she did should have been able to help her breach one of them," One of the Brethren said in a stunned voice as I pointed a gun at them.
"What does it matter now, Charon? She's out isn't she? We can find out how after we kill her," Another of the Brethren said as he pointed his staser at me.
"I'm afraid you'll never know then because that's definitely not going to happen. Tell me do you have any final words that you'd like to say before I turn you into tiny little dust particles? I'd go for telling me exactly what you're up to if I were you. You could also try begging for mercy, but that probably won't work out so well. Who knows though? I've gotten so mellow lately that you might just get lucky. I doubt it but it could still happen. Possibly," I said with an evil smile.
"You might as well give up now. You won't make it off of this world alive no matter how good that you are, Professor Song. There are far too many of us for even you to kill," The member of the Brethren pointing the staser at me said.
"Ooh, a challenge. I can never resist one of those. The more impossible it's supposed to be the better really. Now I simply have to try it," I said with a huge smile on my face.
"Look at her. She's completely mad, Styx. She actually would do it. Put the gun down before she starts with us first," The one named Charon said.
"Who's to say that she won't shoot us even if he does put the gun down? I'd rather take our chances on him shooting her first if it comes to that," A third member of the Brethren said in a nervous voice.
"Oh, trust me, dear. You really wouldn't. I always win when it comes to anything involving marksmanship. I'm very, very good at that sort of thing," I reassured him with a sinister smile.
"Well, it seems that we're at a stalemate then, Brothers. So how shall we handle this, hmm?" Styx asked with a sinister gleam in his eye that I definitely didn't like.
I knew then that he was definitely up to something. I immediately prepared myself for anything as I quickly ran through a mental checklist of possible ways that he could take me by surprise in my mind and instantly came up with contingency plans to counteract them.
Suddenly I was struck from behind by an invisible assailant as a woman's voice said, "Really, Nyx, Charon. Do I have to do everything myself? One little half a Time Lady and you can't even come up with one good way to handle her by yourselves?"
Unfortunately not even I can foresee everything. I'm not Rose after all.
"Little?!" I said in anger as I struggled to retain consciousness even while I instinctively did a back flip out of the way of my attacker's next strike as she finally showed herself to me at last.
I could now see that she was a tall woman in her late twenties or early thirties with long black hair the color of darkness and eyes that were impossibly ancient even for a Time Lord. I could already see that this was no ordinary enemy. Evil seemed to ooze from her every pore now as she looked at me like a cat eyeing a mouse.
She smiled as she said, "Oh, I see now. Sorry, boys. I definitely misjudged you this time. This one's no ordinary opponent. She's still struggling long after anyone else would have already gone down after all. She must be something special indeed with that kind of willpower. Hello, Professor Song. My name is Amaya Nox and I am the acting leader of the Brethren in Lord Erebus' absence. I'll be bringing you your death today. I do hope that it will be to your liking. You really should have taken Styx up on his offer to work with him. It would have been far less painful for you that way. I do have to admit that it would have been a lot less fun for me however than this way is going to be. Yes, this way is definitely much better as far as I'm concerned."
"Well, what do you know? I finally found someone who's just as completely and utterly mad as I am. I knew if I waited long enough that I'd have to come across a person like you eventually, Amaya. It's really too bad that I won't have much time to really get to know you. I have a feeling in another time and place that we might have actually . . . really, really hated one another. It's too bad really. A good enemy is so hard to come by these days," I said with a mad smile as I now aimed my gun directly between her eyes before she could attack me again.
Amaya studied my gun with an intense, scrutinizing gaze as she said in an intrigued voice, "An interesting gun. It has a segment of the Key to Time from this universe as its power source, doesn't it? No wonder she could escape your little trap, Styx. The Key is always in tune with all energy frequencies even those not of its own reality. This one is far too dangerous to ever underestimate again. We must kill her immediately."
"That's much easier said than done I'm afraid. Much better than you have tried after all and I'm still here aren't I? What does that tell you?" I asked with a brave smile even while I was secretly struggling not to pass out.
"That they obviously weren't better than me at all. No one is actually. I've been killing anyone who dared to get in my way since long before most species had even crawled out of the primordial slime and I'll be doing it long after they've returned to it. You really don't know who I am, do you? Maybe it's time that I taught you," Amaya said as she suddenly disappeared once more.
Before I could even begin to react to this she quickly reappeared behind me and grabbed me in a seemingly unbreakable headlock as she said, "I am the wife of Rassilon and the mother of Erebus, little Time Lady, and I've been separated from my son for far too long now. That will end very soon now and no one, especially an irritating little insect like you, will be able to stand in my way. I will free him from his prison even if I have to rip the entire Web of Time itself down in order to do it."
That was when she began to apply intense pressure to my neck and I heard the vertebrae in it instantly beginning to pop even as darkness did its very best to claim me in that moment due to the overwhelming pain. I knew that I couldn't let that happen though. There was no way that I was going to let this become the last chapter of my story.
I definitely wasn't letting Prime off that easy.
That's when I gathered all of my willpower together for one last shot and fired my gun in the place where I hoped that it would do the most good. I then briefly smiled in triumph just as I began to pass out from the incredible agony that I was now experiencing.
"You!" Amaya said in surprise as she followed my gaze and unconsciously loosened her grip on me in response to who she saw there.
"Hello, Lady Amaya. I bet you never thought that you'd have to see me again, did you? It's long past time that you faced one of those people whose lives that your husband destroyed though, isn't it? Right now I'm going to act on behalf of all of them," Melinoe said with a determined look on her face as she quickly switched to her Weeping Angel form.
That's right. I had just used my last shot to free Melinoe. I may not be able to stand her but even I knew that the enemy of your enemy is often the best ally to have by your side in a fight especially one as intense as this one.
"D – Donnie, w – what sort of a time do you call this?" I said in a dazed state with a smile on my face as Amaya quickly tossed me aside in order to devote her full attention to her old enemy.
Melinoe was now battling with all four members of the Brethren at once as I silently cheered her on. Every moment that she kept them distracted was another moment that I had to silently regain my strength after all.
"Melody, hang on. Just hang on," Donnie said in a frantic voice as he desperately continued to try to use his sonic screwdriver to break free from his force field to no avail.
Megan meanwhile definitely had some kind of plan in mind as she said, "I really hope that this still works. It's been a long time since I last tried it and I really don't fancy ending up as a bunch of spare parts. Desperate times call for desperate measures though, and I'm far beyond desperate right now."
"Megan, what are you going to do? Megan!" Stephen shouted in alarm.
Megan smiled at him reassuringly then even as she said, "Here goes then. I think it's long past time for an emergency temporal shift!"
She instantly disappeared out of her force field then and reappeared right next to me with a nauseous look on her face as she said, "And now I remember why I stopped doing that. Using stolen Dalek technology like that really plays havoc with my circuitry."
"Megan, are you okay?" Stephen asked in concern.
"I'll be fine in a few minutes once everything gets reset back to its normal parameters. Until then though . . ." Megan said as she immediately picked up my gun and rapidly fired it at all of the force fields surrounding the others so that she could instantly free them all.
"You're pretty good with that, dear. Why don't you ever use one?" I asked in a stronger voice as my head finally started to clear once more.
"I don't believe in them. They're too easy, too quick, and far too tempting to use on a regular basis. I guess maybe that's one of the reasons that I always got along with the Doctor so well," Megan admitted.
"And here I thought you were finally going to start becoming more interesting at last," I joked as she handed the gun back to me.
"Are you okay, Melody? I heard bones starting to crack," Donald said as he instantly reached my side.
"I'm fine. I've been through far worse thanks to Madame Kovarian and her 'persuasion' techniques believe me," I reassured him.
"Unfortunately I do believe you. I'm so sorry, Melody," Donald said as he put his arms around me.
"Oh, don't start that bit, Donnie. I'm fine or at least I will be anyway once I help our temporary ally take down the rest of the Brethren," I said as I already started to prepare myself to return to the fight on Melinoe's side at any moment now.
"I wouldn't have taken their offer, Melody. I never even thought about it. Not even for a second," Donald said as he continued to look at me with concern.
I smiled at him as I said, "I know. It still made me furious though that they would even try to tempt you that way."
"There was never any temptation. I promise. You're the one that I love, Melody. It's you that I want to spend the rest of my lives with now. You and no one else," Donald said in an earnest tone.
I smiled and briefly gave him a passionate kiss before saying, "Good answer."
"What I'd like to know is why they'd even offer him something like that? Did they actually believe that he'd take it? And could they actually do it?" Astrid asked in concern.
"I think I can take a good guess at what's going on now. Obviously the Brethren have just made the huge mistake of going to war with the Doctor for some reason probably over Rose. That's why they wanted my knowledge of the Doctor from the Library so much. They obviously hoped that they could use Donnie and Matt against him since they both know exactly how he thinks. I think they actually hoped that they could use promising a life with Rose to them to bring one or both of them to their side. And yes, I do think that they could actually do it. The Time Lords of Rassilon's time seemed to be capable of almost anything. They were far more audacious than the ones nowadays seem to be. They don't seem to have one bit of backbone among the lot of them," I said with a smirk.
Donald and Matt both cleared their throats loudly then as I said, "Present company excluded of course."
"I really didn't like that remark Amaya made about tearing down the Web of Time. I've heard stories about her from the old legends. If anyone could or would try to do something like that, she would definitely be the one. All of the legends show her as being incredibly bloodthirsty. Some of them say that she was possibly even worse than Rassilon. If she's the one behind the Brethren, then things just became a whole lot worse," Donald said in a worried tone.
"She can't possibly be the same Amaya though, can she? That was over a billion years ago. Not even Time Lords live that long, do they?" Astrid asked.
"Well, I definitely know of one who did but she was a special case," Donald said obviously thinking of Rose's mother, Lily.
"And Time Lords can always be resurrected as long as the High Council still has their biodata on file. I don't see even the Council doing something that incredibly stupid though as to bring someone like that back again," Matt added.
"Well, I certainly do. Have you met the Council, Matt?" I said with a chuckle.
"There's another possibility that's even worse. What if she was given the same immortality treatment that Rassilon gave himself and Lily? Amaya was his wife after all. I'd hardly think that he'd want to go through eternity without her. I know I wouldn't if I was him," Donald said as he gave me a meaningful glance.
"Why, Donald, you old softy," I said with a grin.
"Why haven't the Brethren freed her son a long time ago though if she wants him back so badly?" Megan asked.
"Because there is no way out of the Void once you're in there. Not unless you have a specially prepared Void ship which Erebus definitely didn't when Rassilon threw him in there. They could search forever and still not find him. The Void is infinite in size after all and no one can navigate through it since the rules of reality there are nothing like they are here," Donald explained.
"Obviously someone just found a way to finally get him out anyway and the Doctor's in it up to his neck trying to stop them from doing whatever that is. Same old, same old," I said with a grin.
"Melody, I, uh, think that I just remembered something else about the Library's records on this day that you really need to know. You're not going to like it though," Tallulah said in a nervous voice.
"Well, that's alright then, Tallulah, because I haven't liked anything about this day so far. So you might as well tell me about it whatever it is," I urged.
"I remember now that they found a way to switch this Erebus' brain with Miss Tyler's. That's what they want to do in order to free him. They want to give him her body," Tallulah said.
"No wonder they're so desperate to find something or someone to stop the Doctor then. If I know him, he's probably going all Time Lord Victorious on them right now. He does that to someone when they even so much as look at her funny," I quipped.
"That's not the part that you're not going to like though. I still haven't gotten to that yet," Tallulah said in a hesitant tone.
I nodded as I said, "I thought as much. As much as I don't get along with Rose sometimes, even I don't want to see her replaced by this Erebus. So what is it that you're not telling me?"
"I believe she's referring to me, Professor Song. Did you truly thing that you could come here to a planet filled with Brethren and only one Weeping Angel would be able to handle us all? You will help us or this will be the last time that you'll ever see your daughter," A man that I instantly knew from the tattoo on his arm must be The Corsair said as he now finally showed himself at last while holding Dorothy in his arms.
He must have somehow gained access to a master TARDIS key from the Chancellery Guard on Gallifrey I realized in horror. I now truly wished that I had never come to this place.
"Corsair, don't do this. She's just a helpless child. She hasn't done anything to you," Donald pleaded.
"I have no choice in the matter I'm afraid. The Brethren have corrupted my biodata, my very temporal DNA itself. I must do whatever they say now without question," The Corsair said.
"I'm so sorry, Melody. I didn't remember until it was already too late. I learned so much in the Library that it's hard to retain it all in a normal sized brain," Tallulah said in a voice filled with sorrow.
I gave her a quick reassuring smile to show her that I didn't blame her even as I said to the Corsair in a cold voice, "If you do anything to her, you won't live long enough to regret it. I can promise you that."
"That's entirely up to you, Professor. Cooperate with us in destroying the Doctor or I will kill her. I'll truly have no other choice," The Corsair said in a reluctant voice.
Next: What will River do now? Will she have no choice but to serve the Brethren after all? What will happen in the battle between Melinoe and Amaya? Could Melinoe possibly help save Dorothy and the rest of our heroes (if she's so inclined) or do the Brethren truly hold all of the cards now?
