The Doctor was deep into work when the Sapling popped into the console. Even then, the Doctor didn't notice him straightaway. There was something on the monitor that he was focused on so when the Sapling finally called his name, he actually jumped in surprise.

"Sapling! Don't do that!"

"Sorry," the child apologized but soon caught sight of what was on the screen. "Is Mother having a baby?"

"What - no!" the Doctor's eyes widened and he quickly moved to turn off the screen but the Sapling extended his branch hand to block the keyboard. "Young man, remove that hand right now!"

The Sapling did no such thing except come closer to the monitor himself. The screen was divided into two parts: one showing a pregnancy test that flipped between 'positive' and 'negative' constantly, and the other showing a record of his mother, Avalon. "Is Mother the one having the baby?" he asked again.

"No, and I would appreciate if you didn't ask Avalon that question," the Doctor sighed. He tried to pulling the Sapling's hand off the keyboard but it was no use. As of late, the Sapling had gained some new strength.

"But then who's the pregnancy test for?"

"You didn't get that from my mind?"

The Sapling shook his head. "No. Your memories are compromised mostly of your travels, your companions and then Mother."

The Doctor's face fell flat but even then there was a clear blush on his face. "They are not," he argued as casually as possible.

"...she has her own category."

The Doctor's head snapped in the Sapling's direction. "No she doesn't." The Sapling cocked his head to the side, staring at the Doctor until he had to give up and look away.

"Okay, so many things about Mother don't make sense," the Sapling went on, having already made up his mind in regards to his parents' relationship. "Could it be the reason why Mother doesn't make sense is because of the crack in Amy's house?"

With another sigh, the Doctor shrugged. "I don't know. It's a possibility but I can't get anything conclusive until I actually scan Avalon."

"So then why don't you?"

"Because I can't exactly ask to scan her without raising suspicions."

"Then why don't you use your sonic when she's not looking?"

"Because she'll kill me when she catches me, because she'll definitely catch me some way. And..." the Doctor shook his head, "I don't feel right about invading her privacy like that. Everyone should get the chance to decide whether or not they want to learn about themselves." And Avalon had made it clear that she had no interest in learning about her true background."

"So why are you worrying about her suddenly?" the Sapling finally removed his hand from the keyboard, letting the Doctor finally turn off the monitor in case anyone else popped in unannounced. He'd only been pulling up Avalon's known profile from her New Earth medical records.

It was just the ordinary things he already knew, no mentions of her brain though. He always wondered what it was that made Avalon's mind so different from everyone else's. How could Avalon remember things that no one else could, including Amy? Avalon knew that she was missing pieces of her life after the cracks had taken Lena and Rory, but Amy didn't remember such things. There was something in Avalon's brain that was wired differently to give her those unique abilities, but what?

It scared him that it was for that reason - that one wire - that somebody was coming for Avalon. The letter that Avalon received warning her to stay with him because people were coming for her always hung over the Doctor's head. Why would anyone want to come for Avalon in such a threatening way? The wire. He was sure of it. The part of her brain that was wired differently was the part that somebody had to want.

Well, over his dead body would he let that happen. Nobody would touch Avalon as long as he was around.

"Father?" the Sapling called gently to the Doctor, even touching his arm when there was no response. "It's because of that pregnancy test, yes? If it's not Mother's test, then it must be Amy's and if it's Amy's then that means something is malfunctioning...or you think that somebody has gotten to Amy, and that somebody is coming for Mother next."

The Doctor stared at his tree child for a long while with a sense of pride that'd the Sapling had figured out his recent thoughts. At the same time, it was a bit alleviating to be able to finally talk to someone about it. For months now, the Doctor had kept the scan on Amy going and going. He'd kept the secret that somebody had breeched the TARDIS and possibly gotten to Amy. It would take a toll on anybody, but the Doctor didn't have the luxury of being 'anybody'. He had to focus on the important part: keeping everyone safe. But now there was the Sapling, sharing a good portion of his mind. He understood exactly what was going on and would keep it all a secret with him.

"Sapling, how's about you and I take a trip in a bit? We'll just drop off the others somewhere else first."

The Sapling nodded. "Of course. Is it to help Mother and Amy?"

"Always," the Doctor smiled.

~ 0 ~

Avalon slipped on her white, jean jacket over her purple blouse and grabbed her journal off her desk, stuffing it into her bag, then left her room. She'd written quite a lot today and felt like it was time to give her head some rest. She entered the console room in time to hear Rory making a fabulous comeback to an insult from Amy.

"You're — red."

Avalon covered her laugh behind a hand. However, she dropped it when she realized the Sapling was staring oddly at her by the console. "Sapling?"

"No, you definitely don't have a baby in there," he suddenly said and it was then that Avalon realized he'd been staring at her stomach.

"What!?" she shrieked and wrapped her arms around her stomach.

The Doctor's eyes widened in horror. He scrambled around the console to yank the Sapling back. "I thought we agreed on this!"

The Sapling nodded innocently. "Yes, but I just wanted to know if it was a surprise or not. Mother might have been having a baby and I would be a big brother!"

"What did he just say?" Avalon had made her way to the console, eyes now harboring a growing anger. "Did he just think I was having a baby!?" she spun the Sapling around. "Why would you think that? Have I finally overeaten? Is that it? Or who is spreading such a nasty rumor? I will shoot them!"

It was the Doctor's turn to pull her away. "Hey, I would appreciate it if you didn't speak about shooting people around the child."

"I just want to know where that rumor came from," Avalon folded her arms, her eyebrows furrowing together. "I don't quite care for it."

"Maybe it's the all the cake you've had recently," Amy called from her playing spot with Rory, even throwing Avalon a smirk.

"Oh shut up!" Avalon let her arms drop. "You ate just as much cake as I did. Marie Antoinette sure knows how to party."

"Let's just forget about all that," the Doctor suggested, rather urgently. "Who wants fish 'n' chips?"

"Please," Avalon scoffed. "After what the Sapling just told me, I am switching my diet up a bit."

"Ava, you're fine," Rory called after missing yet another dart.

"Alright, alright, forget fish 'n' chips for you then," the Doctor suddenly said, turning Avalon to the controls. "Here's an idea, how's about you surprise your old friend, Zelda, with a visit? Say New York in the 20s? That sounds great, doesn't it?"

Avalon turned her head at him, naturally suspicious about his insistence on getting her out, along with Amy and Rory. "What are you up to, fairy-tale man?"

"Me? Nothing," the Doctor shook his head. "Just ideas of mine! I have a lot of them! Big head and all."

"No, she's right," Amy stopped the dart game. "You're up to something. What is it?"

"Nothing," the Doctor raised his hands in defense. "I just...have things to do."

"What things?" asked Rory, sounding almost amused by the fact.

"Things...involving other...things."

Avalon raised an eyebrow and glanced back at the others, Amy understanding there was something the Doctor was hiding from them, "Well, we'll stay with you. We'll do the other things," Amy said.

"Yeah," Avalon agreed. "Hey, maybe we can visit Zelda all together instead. Of course we'll have to drop off the tree child at home considering the prohibition and whatnot."

"But the not the fact he's a tree?" Rory made a face behind her but was promptly whacked by Amy.

"No, he's probably right," the Sapling agreed. He easily accepted the fact that not everybody was like him and would therefore be a little reluctant about him. It was fine. He didn't really mind.

"Listen, Fairy tale man," Avalon raised a finger in the air to get the Doctor's attention, "Whatever you're up to, I personally, would like to be a part of it. Actually, I really don't care. It's just the fact you're trying to hide something from us that makes me want to care."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Amy had to agree.

The klaxon blared just as the TARDIS buckled unexpectedly. All arguments ceased in that moment. Rory took hold of the rail while Amy clung to the console and Avalon nearly fell forwards if the Sapling hadn't extended one of its branch arms to catch her.

"Thanks!" Avalon laughed despite the continuous jolts.

"Solar Tsunami. Came directly from your sun. A tidal wave of radiation," the Doctor realized as he tried working the controls, "Big, big, big!"

"You don't say!" Avalon shouted in the midst of it, yelping when she lost her journal with the shakes, "No! Sapling, get that!"

"Ohh, Doctor, my tummy's going funny," Rory put a hand over his stomach with a face.

"Well, the gyros are dissipated. Target-tracking is out!" the Doctor tried a lever nearby to no avail, "Assume the position!"

"Sapling! My journal!" Avalon continued and since the Sapling wouldn't move, she did. She wrestled out of his grip and stumbled to reach the journal that kept moving away.

Amy sat in one of the chairs with her hands over her head, Rory knelt on the floor and covered his head as well...and Avalon...well...

"Ava! Forget about the stupid journal!" the Doctor scolded her and tried getting to her. He managed to snag her arm and at least to hold her until the TARDIS stopped.

"Textbook landing," Avalon observed with blinking eyes, "I don't like it..." she gently pushed the Doctor off her so she could move to get her journal off the floor, "And it's not stupid," she shot him a playful glare.

"That's not what I meant," the Doctor tried to mend his earlier, in-the-moment, words, "I just meant that a journal, as close and precious it might be to you, is not nearly as important as you."

"Still," Avalon found nothing more to say and so stuck with stubborness and turned away.

The Doctor knew she'd lost and moved on with the others. He headed for the doors and stepped out to see a small island, specifically the one he'd been planning to visit...on his own, or with the Sapling anyways. Still, as the others started coming out, he had to improvise and make it an accident, "Behold! A cockerel. Love a cockerel. And, underneath, a monastery, 13th-century."

"Oh, we've gone all medieval," Avalon remarked with a bit of a smile, "What lays ahead, eh?" she asked excitedly.

"Mm, sorry Ava, doesn't sound like it," Rory looked around trying to find the source of a certain noise he was hearing.

"Why not?" Avalon turned to him, a bit disappointed. They'd yet to visit the Medieval period and she was frankly considering bugging the Doctor until he took them.

"Maybe we can start with the fact there's a tree child with us?" Amy pointed a thumb at the Sapling who chuckled and waved a hand.

"I can hear Dusty Springfield," Rory pointed up and stayed quiet to let the others hear the song 'You Don't have to Say You Love Me'."

"Aw," Avalon frowned and crossed her arms.

The Doctor led the group towards a stairway but stopped at the sight of an expose pipe on the ground, "These fissures are new. The solar Tsunami sent out a huge wave of gamma particles. This was caused by a magnetic quake that occurred just before the wave hit."

"Well, the monastery's standing," Amy gestured to the building.

The Doctor took out a snow globe from his jacket's pocket and shook it, staring at it for a moment, "Yeah, for now..." he mumbled and looked back at the others, surprised to see Avalon staring at him, "What?"

"...you just...you just carry a random snow globe?" she tilted her head.

"Uh, yes?"

She shook her head, "You will never cease to surprise me," she concluded and moved over to where Rory stood overlooking something.

The Doctor put away the globe with a smirk at her words, "Well..."

Amy raised an eyebrow, "Try to be a little less obvious," she advised with a smirk of her own.

The Doctor made a face but didn't give a response. Perhaps...she was a bit right. He'd been really working on it but he didn't seem to be getting any better at it. In fact, his feelings seemed to be heightened ever since the Fantasy Fest. The fact he wasn't able to kiss Avalon made things worse for him. Now every time he saw her, that's all he wanted to do. He'd think he would have more self control but no...he totally did not.

"Rory, don't touch that!" the very Avalon herself cut through the Doctor's thoughts with her frantic shout. He turned around to see Rory nearing the pipe they'd come across.

"I was only looking," Rory defended himself weakly, "How do you know it's dangerous?"

"Um, maybe it's from the fact there's a sign reading 'Danger corrosive'," Avalon crossed her arms and nodded over to the sign above the pipe, "Just a supposition."

The Doctor smiled of amusement and headed over to them, taking out the sonic and using it on the pipe, "Supply pipe," he concluded, "Ceramic inner lining. Something corrosive. They're pumping something nasty off this island, to the mainland."

"And that would be?" Avalon looked at him.

"No idea...let's go satisfy your rabid curiosity," he tapped her nose and went to climb the wooden stairs. There he went again!

Avalon made a face as she turned to the stairs, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's not just my curiosity we're satisfying!" she called as she went after him.

"I want to go see too!" the Sapling chased after them, completing the trio much to Amy's amusement. She laughed and pulled a much less happy Rory with her.

They walked into an open part of the building where it seemed to be inhabitable. Still, the only the thing they heard was Dusty Springfield over a speaker.

"So, where are these Dusty Springfield-loving monks, then?" Amy had to ask after five minutes of nothing but walls and music.

The Doctor was using the sonic to scan as they went by and thus was too focused to hear Amy's question, "I think we're here. This is it," he mumbled.

"Doctor, what are you talking about? We've never been here before," Rory pointed out but was also ignored as the alien climbed another set of steps.

"We came here by accident!" Avalon called and managed to break through the concentration of his, "...right?"

"Accident?" the Doctor repeated while he turned to them, "Yes, I know. Accident."

"Why do I get the feeling you're not being truthful?"

"The TARDIS was the one who took us here," the Sapling chimed in for the sake of his father's well being. It seemed to alleviate some of the suspicions for now.

Thankfully, an alarm started blaring and gave way for more distractions. "Intruder alert. Intruder alert."

The Doctor urgently hurried back to the trio. "There are people coming. Well, almost."

"Almost coming?" Amy frowned.

"Almost people," he murmured and headed off with Amy behind him.

"I think we should probably go," Rory began to say as Avalon and the Sapling moved for the stairs.

"I think that boat's sailed, Rory," she looked back, "Now c'mon!"

"I'm telling you, when something runs towards you, it's never for a nice reason!"

"Duh, that's why I ran away from the police," Avalon laughed as she came back for him, "But this is different, much more fun!" she pulled him and the Sapling up the stairs to catch up with the Doctor and Amy.

~ 0 ~

The group burst into a circular room with large windows and human-shaped harnesses set up on each alcove, all currently filled with unconscious people in orange jumpsuits.

"What are all these harnesses for?" Amy gasped at the sight, slightly freaked out by it.

"I'm gonna go with the almost people," Avalon shrugged, 'Whatever that means," she shot the Doctor an expectant look, waiting for him to explain.

The Sapling curiously looked at one harness and then the next. "This reminds me of one of Mother's favorite books. Frankenstein?"

"Oh, yeah!" Avalon snapped her fingers at him. "You're so right!"

"What are they, prisoners?" Rory stepped towards the harnesses, "Or are they meditating, or what?"

"Well, at the moment, they fall into the "or what" category," the Doctor answered but he seemed more distracted now. He was trying to scan as much as he could with his eyes before they were-

"Halt and remain calm."

The Doctor inwardly groaned. He couldn't have had more time? Just a few more seconds? He could do a lot with a few seconds. "Well, we've halted. How are we all doing on the "calm" front?"

Suddenly, three of the factory workers, two men and a woman entered the room, the two men with weapons aimed at the group.

"Don't...Move!" one of them, Jimmy, warned as he stepped up.

The second man, Buzzer, gently pushed the woman with them behind, "Stay back, Jen. We don't know who they are."

Jennifer didn't see any visible harm and so pushed her way through the two men, "So let's ask them. Who the hell are you? And what is that?" her eyes lingered on the Sapling behind Avalon.

"That's my son so watch it," the ginger didn't hesitate to snap. The Sapling gazed up at her with a beaming smile. It wasn't that long ago that his Mother was hesitant to accept him. Now she was defending him (even when he was sure he could hurt them far worse than they could hurt him).

"I'm the Doctor and this is, Avalon, Amy and Rory," the Doctor also stepped forwards, a bit more in front of Avalon and the Sapling. "And you heard her, that's our son, Sapling. Best watch it. But really, it's all very nice, isn't it?"

"More like deranged," Amy breathed as she realized the same three workers were the same ones up on the harnesses, "What the hell is going on?" she looked between the two groups, "I'm gonna go ahead and say these are not identical twins!"

Behind the travelers came another man and woman, the woman looking displeased with the interruption the travelers were causing, "This is an Alpha-grade industrial facility. Unless you work for the military or for Morpeth Jetson, you are in big trouble."

The Doctor spun around with the psychic paper in hand, "Actually, you're in big trouble."

The woman, Cleaves, took a look at the paper in front of her and raised her eyebrows, "Meteorological department, since when?"

"Since you were hit by a solar wave."

"Which we survived."

"Just, by the look of it. And there's a bigger one on the way."

"Which we'll also survive. Dicken, scan for bugs," Cleaves gestured for the man beside her to go up to the travelers.

Dicken held up a scanner to them as he moved forwards, "Backs against the wall. Now."

Shifty, the group moved back up to the wall to be scanned, "You're not a monastery," Avalon spat at them, "This is no where near one. You're more like an army!"

"You're an army?" Rory blinked at the workers.

"No, love, we're contractors and you're trespassers," Cleaves laid the truth to them bluntly.

"It's okay, boss," Dicken finished scanning and moved back with the other workers.

"All right, weatherman, your I.D. checks out," Cleaves gave the Doctor back the psychic paper, "If there's another solar storm, what are you going to do about it, hand out sunblock?"

"Ha ha ha ha," the Doctor mocked a laugh, "I need to see your critical systems."

"Which one?"

The Doctor's smile vanished into thin air as he stepped closer to the woman, "You know which one."

~ 0 ~

Cleaves led the group into the Flesh room, unbeknownst to the group (save the Doctor) what the room's purpose was actually for. At the end of the room was a raised platform which had a vat over it, the vat holding a bright colored, gooey white liquid.

"And there you are," the Doctor mumbled as he went up to the vat and peered down. The Sapling hurried after him, knowing well this is what the Doctor wanted to see from the beginning.

"Meet the government's worst-kept secret — the flesh," Cleaves gestured for the remaining humans to come closer, "It's fully programmable matter. In fact, it's even learning to replicate itself at the cellular level."

"Isn't that bad?" Avalon suddenly asked, garnering the looks of everyone, even the Doctor, "Sorry," she made a face.

Cleaves didn't look very pleased of her question and in fact thought the ginger had made some clueless question, "Okay. Once a reading's been taken, we can manipulate its molecular structure into anything, replicate a living organism, down to the hairs on its chinny-chin-chin. Even clothes, and everything's identical — eyes, voice."

Avalon caught the condescending tone and frowned, "I'm not stupid," she snapped, "I just meant that if you said it's learning to replicate itself it could perhaps go a bit haywire on you and get a mind of its own."

"Don't make comments about a subject you don't know of," Cleaves shook her head.

"Mother's smart," snapped the Sapling, his wooden face scrunching up in anger on behalf of his mother.

"And she could be right," the Doctor came into the conversation as he turned to Cleaves. "Just like you said, you can replicate anything, and that would include the mind and the soul."

"Don't be fooled, Doctor," Cleaves almost laughed at the absurdity. "It acts like life, but it still needs to be controlled by us from those harnesses you saw."

"Wait, whoa-oa-oa, hold it. So... You're flesh now?" Rory's mind thought back to the harnesses they saw earlier.

"I'm lying in a harness back in that chamber. We all are, except Jennifer, here," Cleaves gestured to the smaller woman by her, "Don't be scared. This thing? Just like operating a forklift truck."

"You said it could grow. Only living things grow," the Doctor pointed out.

"Moss grows. It's no more than that. This acid is so dangerous, we were losing a worker every week. So now, we mine the acid, using these doppelgangers, or "gangers." If these bodies get burnt or fall in the acid..."

"Well that can't be good for the flesh people," Rory made a horrified face.

"Well, the nerve endings automatically cut off, like airbags being discharged, except we wake up and get a new ganger," Jennifer tried to explain but Rory didn't seem to like it much.

"You get used to it," Jimmy shrugged.

"Jennifer, I want you in your ganger," Cleaves ordered, "Get back to the harness."

Buzzer looked over to where the Doctor was using the sonic on the Flesh, "Hang on. What's he up to? What are you up to, pal?"

"Doctor?" Avalon frowned as he struggled to move his arm away the vat. The Sapling immediately moved to help the Doctor. He grabbed his father's arm and helped yank it away, but it still took some effort from both of them combined.

"Sorry, did the liquid just have a fight with the Sapling?" Amy whisper-hissed at Rory who, with wide eyes, nodded silently. "How strong must it be for that to happen?"

The Doctor looked at his hand, truly startled for a second there. "Strange. It was like, for a moment there, it was scanning me."

Avalon looked at Cleaves with a smirk, "Like it had a mind of its own..."

Cleaves rolled her eyes and moved up to the vat where the Doctor was reaching for the liquid with his bare hand, nearly touching it, again, "Doctor," Cleaves sighed in irritation. The man seemed not to understand the rules.

"Ahh!" once again, the Doctor had no control and so his hand shook with the struggle of taking it away.

"Get back, Doctor. Leave it alone!"

"Ahh! Ah! Ah! Gah!" he tore his hand from the vat with a heavy breath, "I understand!"

"Doctor, are you all right?" Avalon asked, though doubted it just by looking at him.

"Incredible. You have no idea. No idea. I mean, I felt it in my mind. I reached out to it and it, to me."

"Don't fiddle with the money, Doctor," Cleaves scolded as she looked down at the Flesh in case there was something else that was going wrong.

"You should listen to Avalon," the Doctor looked stunned as he kept staring at the Flesh, "It's alive, so alive. You're piling your lives, your personalities, directly into it," when lightning crashed outside he took out the globe again and shook it...just as the ground itself shook, "It's the solar storm. The first waves come in pairs — pre-shock and full shock — it's close."

"Buzz, have we got anything from the mainland yet?" Cleaves looked over to the man, not very concerned like the Doctor was.

"No, the comms are still too jammed with radiation."

"Okay, then we'll keep pumping acid until the mainland says stop," Cleaves resolved and moved over to the tub as it started filling with Flesh that was soon to be a ganger Jennifer, "Now, why don't you stand back and let us impress you."

"What? You're going to keep doing that?" Avalon blinked, "You're not gonna listen?"

Cleaves shrugged and looked down at the tub along with everyone else as a face began forming in the Flesh. It didn't take long before a new Jennifer sprung upright from the tub, the Flesh all gone.

"Well, I can see why you keep it in a church," the Doctor watched Buzzer help Jennifer out of the tub, "The miracle of life."

"No need to get poncey," Buzzer scoffed, "It's just gunge."

"Guys, we need to get to work," Cleaves reminded and eyed them all until they started moving.

"Okay, everybody. Let's crack on," Jimmy helped Jennifer out of the tub.

"Did I mention the solar storm?" the Doctor wondered if he just still had that face that no one listened to, "You need to get out of here."

"Well, where do you want us to go?" Jimmy challenged, "We're on a tiny island."

"Well, I can get you all off it."

"Don't be ridiculous," Cleaves cut in, irritated the Doctor was trying to sway her workers from their job, "We've got a job to do."

"It's coming," the Doctor warned just as an alarm rang off.

"That's the alarm," Jennifer looked up.

"How do you get power?" the Doctor asked.

"We're solar and we use a solar router. The weather vane," Cleaves pointed up.

"Big problem."

"Boss, maybe if the storm comes back, we should get underground," Jimmy started falter with the alarm, "The factory's seen better days. The acid pipes might not withstand another hit."

"We have 200 tons of acid to pump out. We fall behind, we stay another rotation. Anyone want that?" Cleaves looked around, waiting to see if an answer ever came up, knowing it really wouldn't.

"Please," the Doctor grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the side, "You are making a massive mistake here. You're right at the crossroads of it. Don't turn the wrong way. If you don't — if you don't — prepare for this storm, you are all in terrible danger, understand?"

"My factory, my rules," Cleaves shrugged casually and went off.

"I need to check the progress of the storm," he gave up with the woman for the moment and turned to the rest of the workers, "Monitoring station," he saw Jennifer hesitating to answer and snapped his fingers again, "Monitoring station!"

"She's not a dog," Avalon scolded him and looked at poor Jennifer who looked terrified beyond her wits, "Would you please just tell him the bloody answer?"

"Um, three lefts...a right...and a left," Jennifer decided to answer, "Third door on your left."

"There, you see? I'm such a people person," Avalon shot her friends a smirk as she headed for the exit.

"Oh," Amy scoffed, "This coming from the teenager who punched a girl simply because she refused to give you an application," she went after the other ginger.

"That was all Katie's fault, she was being a bi-"

"Ava," Rory cut her off with a scolding tone and even look, despite Avalon not daring to look back at him, "Language. Your tree son?"

Avalon's eyes flickered to the Sapling. "It's not like he hasn't seen my mind already." The Sapling giggled in confirmation.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor brought the group into the control room and went to have a look. As he did, though, the ground shook and even worse than before.

"Can we leave?" Avalon had to ask as she stumbled against the wall, "It's not our fault people are being stupid. I'd rather not die from an earthquake! And I'd rather the Sapling not go down with us too!"

"The wave's disturbing the earth's magnetic field. There is going to be the mother and father of all power surges," the Doctor observed, giving Avalon a look for her words and silently told her, her answer, "You see this weather vane, the cock-a-doodle-doo? It's a solar router, feeding the whole factory with solar power. When that wave hits, kaboom," he headed for the doorway, "I've got to get to that cockerel before all hell breaks loose," he paused with a laugh and looked back, "I never thought I'd have to say that again. Ah. Amy, breathe."

"Yeah! I mean, thanks, I'll try," Amy looked at the others with a face of confusion. But the Doctor was always saying irrelevant things like that, so it was discarded.

"We're not just gonna let him go out there on his own, are we?" Avalon poked her head out the doorway, "I mean, he can get hurt, or worse, die! We have to-"

She'd stepped out by one foot and Rory had clung a hand to her arm, stopping her altogether, "You are not going after him," he declared earnestly, his facial expressions telling her exactly what he'd just said.

"I can go," the Sapling said but then Amy grabbed onto his arm.

"Rory," Avalon misunderstood his reasons as she tried shaking him off, "Let go, Rory!"

"Ava, you're not going anywhere!" Rory managed to pull her inside the room.

"Amy?" Avalon glanced at the second ginger for some help.

"Nope, that's too dangerous," Amy gave a stern look at the Sapling, the child soon nodding his head in agreement. "We'll just get in the way."

Avalon groaned. "I swear, sometimes you act like my parents and not my friends!"

"It's not like that, Ava, I promise," Rory sighed. "I just think sometimes you forget that...well, we're all a bit weaker than the Doctor. We're down here." Avalon shook her head. "Avalon, I'm sorry but I'm scared that you're forgetting that to keep up with the Doctor. That's how some people have gotten hurt around him."

"So what?" Avalon snapped. "I'd rather get hurt than never do anything at all." And perhaps she was running to 'keep up', but she liked the feeling of being right next to the Doctor, even if it didn't mean the same for him.

~ 0 ~

When the final blow came, it knocked everyone out in the building. Even the poor Sapling had gone down next to his mother. None of them really knew how long they were out.

Groaning, Rory turned his head for Amy, "Oh. For want of a better word — oww!"

"You're telling me!" came Avalon's voice on his other side, following by some rather harsh jabs at his side, "Get off my hand!" she cried in terrible pain, making the brunette shoot right up, "You broke my hand!" Avalon whimpered as she also sat up, hearing the snickering from Amy, "Shut up, Pond," she spat.

"Oh, Mother, are you alright?" the Sapling scooted to Avalon's side while Rory examined her hand. "Does it hurt a lot?"

"Sorry, Ava," Rory apologized. "It's just sprained, nothing to worry about. We'll get it wrapped in something, hopefully ice."

With that, the group ran back for the harness room since they remembered the gangers refused to stop working. Therefore, the real humans must have still be in the harnesses. Sure enough, when they entered the room, they found them helping each other off the harnesses.

"I feel like I've been toasted," Buzzer groaned as he stretched his arms out.

"What the hell happened?" Jimmy eyed the incoming travelers with suspicion.

"The Tsunami happened," Avalon rolled her eyes, "And you're hurt, join the club," she held her bad hand to her chest to keep herself from getting hurt.

"Well, it feels like the national grid's running through my bones, but, apart from that..."

"I hope the meter's not bust. I still want to get paid," Buzzer muttered.

"Why-y-y?" they suddenly heard the voice of Jennifer who was at the corner of the room with her hands on her head.

"Jennifer!" Rory turned to her, "Jennifer? Hi," he quickly rushed over.

"It hurt so much," she whimpered.

Rory took her into a hug, "Hey, hey, it's okay, it's over."

"I couldn't get out of my harness."

"Shh-shh-shh."

"I thought I was going to die," Jennifer whimpered, almost snuggling closer to Rory, something that didn't go unnoticed by Amy.

"Welcome to my world," Rory gave a small chuckle, glancing back at his wife to see her giving him a look.

Avalon looked between them with a hint of a smirk on her lips. It wasn't often where Amy grew jealous over Rory, the man hardly ever turned to see another woman. He, unlike her, was not at all flirty. It was a rare sight to see indeed!

"Father, look!" the Sapling's call pulled Avalon out of her thoughts to see that the Doctor had returned from wherever the hell he'd gone to, along with Cleaves. "You said the harnesses had the real people...so where are the gangers?"

"Don't worry, when the link shuts down, the gangers return to pure flesh," Cleaves looked around the room for any damage, "Now, the storm's left us with acid leaks all over, so we need to contact the mainland. They can have a rescue shuttle out here in no time."

As soon as she'd spoken, the same record as before started playing over the speakers, prompting everyone to shift and look around. No one seemed more confused than Jimmy, though, as that was his record playing, "That's my record. Who's playing my record?"

"Your gangers. They've gone walkabout..." the Doctor looked around, stunned at the fact and yet awed by it.

"No, it's impossible. They're not active..." Cleaves shook her head, "Cars don't fly themselves, cranes don't lift themselves, and gangers don't..."

"I told you that Flesh could get a mind of its own," Avalon reminded, "What if the storm's given exactly what they needed?"

Cleaves refused to believe it, but as the record continued to play...she became more shifty.

~ 0 ~

The group entered the dinning hall where they'd traced back the record and sure enough it was playing on a the turntable.

"No way," Buzzer was the first to speak.

"I don't — I don't believe this," Cleaves continued to say.

"Look, there's no point in denying what's so clearly true," Avalon sighed as she walked up to the table. She reached with her good hand to stop the record player, "The gangers are alive, but how though?"

"It would seem the storm has animated them," the Doctor gave the explanation as he moved to the table as well but sat down on the chair across her.

"What? Like Frankenstein's monster?" she raised an eyebrow, already loving the idea. "Sapling my dear, I think I know what movie we're watching tonight..."

The Sapling beamed. Each night they watched a new movie, all of them being the ones that his mother loved. Because if she loved them, then he would too! And sometimes it wasn't just him and his mother, sometimes aunt Amy and uncle Rory were there too. It was always more fun like that, but the Sapling loved it most when it was just him, his mother and his father together. They would all fit in one couch and they would watch the movie. His father would make some remark, eventually, that would make his mother remark back until they started bickering over it. Even though he was a child, the Sapling was fully aware that his parents really liked each other. They could almost be like aunt Amy and uncle Rory and be married! That would be so cool.

"They've ransacked everything," Cleaves' was exasperated to find the room almost empty of their possessions.

"Not ransacked, searched," the Doctor clarified.

"But through our stuff?"

"Their stuff."

"Searching for what?" Jimmy asked.

"Confirmation. They need to know their memories are real," the Doctor sighed. This is where things would get very complicated.

"Oh, so they've got flaming memories now," Buzzer scoffed, not too keen of the idea someone running around with his memories.

"They feel compelled to connect to their lives, yeah," the Doctor shrugged, wondering why it wasn't obvious.

"Their stolen lives," Cleaves snapped.

"No, bequeathed," the Doctor pointed at her, "You gave them this. You poured in your personalities, emotions, traits, memories, secrets — everything. You gave them your lives. Human lives are amazing. Are you surprised they walked off with them?"

"Isle of Sheppey," Buzzer suddenly shared, "Ganger got an electric shock, toddled off, killed his operator, right there in his harness. I've seen the photos. This bloke's ear was —"

"Even if this has actually happened, they can't remain stable without us plumbed into them," Jimmy eyed his co-worker with horror, "Can they, boss?"

"I guess we'll find out," Cleaves resolved in the end to simply wait.

Rory was startled by the small the small gasp Jennifer gave, "Are you okay? Do you need some water?" he turned to her.

"I feel funny. I need the washroom," she hurried out the room.

"I'll come with you," Rory started going after her when Avalon gave him a call.

"Oi, Rory, what about my hand?" she gestured to her hand she'd managed to keep out of her way.

"What's wrong with it?" the Doctor asked in concern, and mildly surprise he'd missed that entirely.

"Just sprained it when Rory fell on it," Avalon muttered, casting a playful glare at her best friend.

"I said I was sorry," Rory started coming back for her.

"It's alright, I got it," the Doctor stood up from his spot and moved around the table, "Go after Jennifer, make sure she's alright," he told Rory.

"It's just sprained, you guys, I don't need to be like baby cared for," Avalon looked between the two, "I just wanted someone to help me find something to wrap it in."

"I can look at it," the Doctor repeated for her, his words softer than the first time, "Trust me."

Avalon avoided his gaze by turning for Rory, "Go, poor Jennifer looked very scared." A reluctant Rory went ahead and left with Jennifer.

"So, what happened?" the Doctor sat Avalon down on a bigger table's bench-like seats, everyone else beginning to disband in the room while they waited for Rory and Jennifer to come back.

"Uncle Rory fell on it!" the Sapling happily explained as he came up beside them. "When the entire building shook like woooo!" he imitated the shaking with his entire body, making the parents laugh. The Sapling wiggled his way to his aunt Amy, still laughing to himself.

"Man is clumsy awake and asleep," Avalon rolled her eyes afterwards.

The Doctor chuckled, "Let's not insult someone who's not here to defend himself, yeah?"

"What could his defense possibly be?"

The Doctor just gave her a look and finally took her hand for an inspection. He was careful when his fingers applied pressure to her palm as she tended to wince or try to jerk it away from him, "Sorry," he said for the last one.

"It's okay, I forgive you...just like I hope you'll forgive me for when I slap you because that hurts!" she smacked his arm frantically, "Stop that!"

"First of all, ow," he shot her a small glare, "And second of all, yeah it's sprained. Nothing to worry about, though. Easy fix."

Avalon realized what he meant by those last words when she saw the recognizable golden glow, "N-no!" she snatched her hand and hissed at the sharp pain she felt.

"Ava," the Doctor frowned, surprised at her reaction, "It's fine, it'll-"

"I didn't understand what happened the first time but now I know, that energy of yours is limited, and I will never allow you to waste it on me," Avalon firmly declared as she held her hand close to her again. "You do remember that I can heal myself, right?"

"Yes, but that is only for internal illnesses. That's literally why you never get the cold!" the Doctor exclaimed. The fact Avalon carried an entire curing system inside of her was still so fascinating. Descending from the people he had cured on New Earth gave her immunity to almost every type of disease known to man. She hardly had to use it anyone else, but even then the Doctor knew for a fact that she couldn't heal broken bones. That was still something that needed to heal the old fashion way.

But that's what he was there for now. He'd keep her safe and healthy all the time if he could.

"It's not a waste, now let me help," the Doctor reached for her and had to quite literally yank her forwards.

"Fairy-tale man, no," Avalon's softened as her hand was taken again.

"It wouldn't even take an ounce of energy, trust me," the Doctor assured. He kissed her forehead and enveloped her hand in between his, easily fixing her injury. He pressed his fingers to her palm and studied her for any wincing, "There we go, all better yeah?"

She nodded silently as she took her hand back, disappointed of what he'd done, "It was a waste," she mumbled.

"Ava," he reached to place a hand over her cheek, "Nothing about you is ever a waste," he smiled, "Ever," Avalon had to smile back and just hoped her blush wasn't too clear on her face.

~ 0 ~

After finding out that Cleaves was a ganger, things had turned for the worst...especially when they realized that Rory was with Jennifer who was also another ganger. It seemed like the gangers were rather aggressive due to their inability to shift from flesh to full formed humans along with their fear. They had to go find Rory in case ganger Jennifer was also in the same state as Cleaves had been in.

The Doctor, Avalon, Amy, the Sapling and Jimmy entered the washroom to find a giant hole in one of the stalls that also correlated with a crash hole in the sink mirror.

"Rory!" Amy called as she pushed open the other stall doors.

"Doctor, you said the gangers wouldn't be violent," Avalon recalled as she studied the cracked glass in the sink mirror.

"But I did say they were scared, and angry," he pointed out.

"And early technology, is what you said," Jimmy pointed, "You seem to know something about the flesh."

At that, both ginger companions turned to the Doctor, "Do you? Doctor?" they simultaneously asked him.

The Sapling sensed that once again people were close to figuring out the 'not so accidental trip', so he sought out to help his father. "Father knows everything. That's why people get annoyed." Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do much this time.

"You're no weatherman. Why are you really here?" Jimmy added, even more suspicious than before.

"I have to talk to them. I can fix this," the Doctor assured and went off.

"That was so a way to change the topic," Avalon scoffed and went after him.

They went back through the tunnels but since the pipes were screwed up from the storm, they were bursting deadly steam and even letting loose acid on the ground.

The Doctor stopped the group from walking, "It is too dangerous out here with acid leaks!"

"We have to find Rory," Amy insisted, not about to let some acid get in the way.

"Yes, I'm going back to the TARDIS. Wait for me in the dining hall," he told both gingers, "I want us to keep together, okay? No more wandering off."

"And what about Rory?" Avalon crossed her arms, definitely already thinking of another direction they could take to find Rory while he left.

"Well, it would be safer to look for Rory and Jennifer with the TARDIS."

Jimmy had pulled out flares from a bax on the wall across, "Here we go. Distress flares."

"Exit?" the Doctor called.

"Keep going straight, can't miss it. But you're never going to get your vehicle in here."

"I'm a great parker," the Doctor remarked, quickly covering Avalon's mouth because he knew a comment like that would spark so many ideas from her, "Sapling, look after them and get back to the dinning hall - Ow!"

"C'mon Amy, Sapling, back to the dining hall," Avalon calmly went to the others' side, acting as if her teeth never sunk into any alien skin.

The Doctor grumbled under his breath as he went off. Amy shook her head at Avalon, "You're so mean," she remarked as they went off in a different direction.

"Tell him to quit covering my mouth," Avalon shrugged.

"Mother, you sure love to bite," the Sapling chuckled.

"We really need those acid suits. I've sent Buzzer and Dicken to get them," Jimmy called to the trio, still standing in his spot.

"Fine and dandy. We're just going to find my husband, so...cheers," Amy waved goodbye and walked away with Avalon and the Sapling.

~ 0 ~

After searching for some time more, the two ginger women and the Sapling came across a large wooden door at the end of the tunnel they'd been walking through.

"Rory? Rory," Avalon called whilst Amy opened the door.

As soon as Amy peered inside, she saw the eye-patch woman looking in on her through a panel. Without a word, she closed the panel and disappeared. Amy gasped and shut the door, making poor Avalon stumble back in the process.

"OW," Avalon hit her back for that one, "What the hell?"

"Amy! Ava!" Rory found the women from behind. "Sapling!"

"You're okay!" Amy said as soon as they'd turned around, "What happened?"

As she and the others went towards him, they discovered ganger Jennifer behind him. It made the trio stop and suddenly Avalon was in front of the Sapling again.

"She needs protecting," Rory declared as he put a hand on Jennifer's shoulder.

From another direction came Dicken and Buzzer, "Jen?"

"No, it's a ganger," Amy clarified, "Rory, listen —"

"No, you listen — nobody touches her!" Rory nearly shouted as he pointed at every last person against him.

"Rory, isn't that the woman responsible for the hole in the washroom stall?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, "And the crash of the sink mirror?"

"Ava, she needs to be protected," Rory reiterated.

Avalon raised an eyebrow and glanced at Amy, seeing she wasn't very happy. Avalon herself wasn't very keen on keeping a ganger around but she trusted Rory, and if he believed Jennifer to be worth it, then...so be it. "Fine, but keep her away from the Sapling until we know for sure she's on our side."

After returning to the dinning hall, Buzzer, Jimmy and Dicken were quick to put ganger Jennifer down on a chair to interrogate her. Rory refused to leave her side and so Amy stood across from him, leaving a rather shifty Avalon to stand to the side of them all. She didn't want to take any sides until she got all the information of humans and gangers. Plus, Rory seemed irritated in a way she'd never seen him before and frankly didn't want to make it worse.

"Where's Jen? What have you done with her?" Buzzer was questioning the ganger rather harshly.

"I haven't seen her. I swear," Jennifer raised her hands in defeat, "But, look, I'm her. I'm just like her. I'm real."

"You're a copy," Jimmy snapped, "You're just pretending to be like her."

"Well, I don't think she can pretend to be a whole other person," the Sapling inched closer to Jennifer despite Avalon's reservations towards the woman. "Right?" Jennifer seemed weary of the child.

"Rory, c'mon, we don't really know anything about them yet-" Amy tried to say but Rory was still ready to argue with anyone who wanted to get rid of Jennifer.

"I know that she's afraid and she needs our help," Rory resolved and looked over to Avalon, "C'mon, Ava, you can't be against her, can you?"

"Jimmy, Buzzer, come on, you guys. We've worked together for two years," Jennifer tried to remind the two men.

"I work with Jennifer Lucas, not you," Buzzer declared.

"Let's not argue here," Avalon cut in between all of them, "This whole thing is an outright mess and honestly I'm horridly confused but-," she wagged a finger at the factory workers, "-I don't want to hear a single word out of any of you until-"

"Until the Doctor gets here," the alien interrupted her as he came into the room with the other gangers, "Hello."

"And where the hell have you been?" Avalon spun around, clearly irritated.

"What? No hello?" the Doctor tried to humor but the look on the ginger's look told him to move onto the point.

"All right, Doctor, you've brought us together — now what?" ganger Cleaves wondered.

"Before we do anything, I have one very important question — has anybody got a pair of shoes I could borrow?" the Doctor looked around while everyone realized he wasn't wearing his shoes anymore, "Size 10. Although I should warn you — I have very wide feet."

And so, after the Doctor was given a pair of factory brown boots, everyone got to business. The humans and their respective gangers stood in a file across from each other all with the exception of ganger Jennifer who stood by Rory. The Doctor sat on the edge of the dinning table with Avalon and Amy.

"The flesh was never merely moss. These are not copies," the Doctor made sure to leave clarified for the humans to understand, "The storm has hardwired them. They are becoming people."

Jimmy seemed to refuse such a statement, "With souls?"

"Rubbish," Dickens declared before sneezing, "Ah-choo!"

"Bless you," ganger Dickens said and noticed the look ganger Cleaves was giving him for that, "What?"

"We were all jelly, once. Little jelly eggs, sitting in goop," the Doctor tried to humor again.

"Okay, shut up," Avalon told him, making a gave due to his words.

"Is that how I came to be?" the Sapling, of course, had to ask in that moment.

Avalon shook her head and gave the Doctor a sharp look. "You want to take that one? Cos I'm not having that talk."

The Doctor looked away almost immediately, his face rather flushed. "Alright, poor choice of words. I just meant that we are not talking about an accident that needs to be mopped up-" but he winced. "Okay, I need to get better at this. We are talking about sacred life. Do you understand? Now, the TARDIS is trapped in an acid pool. Once I can reach her, I can get you all off this island, humans and gangers, eh, how does that sound?"

"Can we get home for Adam's birthday?" Jimmy asked hopefully.

"What about me?" his ganger cut in, garnering everyone's attention, "He's my son, too."

"You? You really think that?"

"I feel it," ganger Jimmy nodded his head.

"Oh, so you were there when he was born, were you?"

"Yeah. I drank about 8 pints of tea and they told me I had a wee boy and I just burst out laughing. No idea why. I miss home. As much as you."

"Look, I'm not going to lie to you. It's a right odd mess, this," the Doctor cut in, "But, as you might say up north, "oh, well, I'll just go to t' foot of the stairs." Ha ha ha. Eh, bye-bye, gone."

"Seriously, stop it," Avalon shot him a look, "Humor is not your thing."

For once, the Doctor had no remark of defense against that one and so moved on, "Right. The first step is we get everyone together, then get everyone safe, then get everyone out of here."

"But we're still missing Jennifer and Cleaves," Amy reminded.

"I'll go and look for them," Jimmy headed for the doors.

"I'll give you a hand, if you like," ganger Jimmy offered as he went after him, "Cover more ground."

Jimmy seemed to like the idea and agreed, "Yeah. Okay. Thanks."

"This circus has gone on long enough!" Cleaves voice made everyone look back, the original Cleaves stood with a device aimed at them that cackled with electricity.

Everyone seemed to be in shock except for ganger Cleaves, "Oh, great. You see, that is just so typically me."

At that, Cleaves aimed the device on her ganger, "Doctor, tell it to shut up."

"Why can I see this going horribly bad?" Avalon whispered to Amy after yanking the Sapling away from the scene.

"Please, no. No! No!" the Doctor stood off the table in a hurry.

"Circuit probe. Fires about, oh, 40,000 volts. It would kill any one of us, so I guess she'll work on gangers, just the same," Cleaves explained with certainty.

"It's interesting you refer to them as "it," but you call a glorified cattle prod a "she," the Doctor stopped to remark which did prove a very good point.

"When the real people are safely off this island, then I'll happily talk philosophy over a pint with you, Doctor."

"What are you going to do to them?" Amy dreaded to ask as the electricity cackled even louder.

"Sorry, they're monsters, mistakes. They have to be destroyed."

"Who died and made you the Queen?" Avalon asked in utter disgust. She herself wasn't very convinced with the gangers but at least they weren't the ones trying to kill someone at the moment.

"Give me the probe, Cleaves," The Doctor ordered seriously, his hand out for said device.

"We always have to take charge, don't we, Miranda? Even when we don't really know what the hell is going on," ganger Cleaves crossed her arms, still not the least surprised of what her original was trying to do.

Out of the nowhere, ganger Buzzer charged for Cleaves in an attempt to take the weapon but Cleaves was quicker and shot him three times. As the anger fell to the floor, the Doctor ran over to check him.

"He's dead," he declared a couple seconds later.

"We call it "decommissioned," Cleaves corrected and aimed the probe around in the air, terrifying ganger Jennifer.

"You stopped his heart. He had a heart! Aorta, valves — a real, human heart!" the Doctor angrily stood up, "And you stopped it."

"Jen?" Rory asked as the woman's eyes started changing into hard, cold eyes.

"What happened to Buzz will happen to us all, if we trust you," even her voice changed from meekness as she looked at the Doctor.

"Wait, wait. Just wait," the Doctor tried to stop her as she backed away from the group.

"No!" Rory angrily charged at Cleaves with more success as he pushed to the ground, able to take the probe from her. However, with that, the gangers quickly made an escape along with Jennifer, leaving the humans and travelers alone.

"You idiot!" Cleaves pushed Rory away and tried to stand.

"Wait!" the Doctor called to the other gangers but it was no use, they were already gone. Furiously, he turned around to Cleaves, "Look at what you've done, Cleaves."

But Cleaves seemed unaffected by the actions she'd taken, "If it's war, then it's war. You don't get it, Doctor. How can you? It's us and them now," she turned to her co-workers, "Us...and them," she eyed them sharply.

"Us and them," Dickens agreed and looked to the others for their answers.

"Us and them."

"Great, we're at war now," Avalon dropped her arms to her side with a loud groan, "And it's all your fault," she pointed at Cleaves angrily and turned away from the group.

"They were monsters," Cleaves tried to argue back but she'd never met a temperamental Avalon before.

"No, they weren't," she spun around, "Everything was all fine until you arrived. Now because you thought you knew best, all of our lives are in danger. You didn't know what was best! You didn't! You couldn't have!"

Rory was going to go calm her, seeing how worked up she was, but the Doctor beat him to it. There was something extra in Avalon's attitude and the Doctor knew it, especially when he heard her low mutters.

"I hate it when people are like that," she was saying as she fiddled with the button of her jacket.

"Mother," the Sapling inched closer to her side but she shook her head. He didn't need to be able to read her mind to know that she was no longer talking about the gangers. Something else was making her upset.

"Know it all's, think they know what's best..." Avalon mumbled to herself, but it wasn't as quiet she thought she was.

The Doctor's hearts broke watching her get more and more lost in her thoughts about her birth mother (and possibly father). Despite her efforts, she couldn't push away all her feelings about that case. "Avalon..." the Doctor cautiously neared her, but just feeling the graze of his fingers made her pull away.

"I'm sorry," Avalon took in a deep breath and plastered on the smile that would get things moving. "Selfish of me, really."

"No, it's really not," the Doctor leveled her look and tried encouraging her with his own smile for her. "I think, when this is all over, we should finally just talk about that."

"No," Avalon shook her head, fervently as if convincing herself she was right. "Besides, what's the point? No matter what I do or say..." she finally met his gaze but when she did, there was something meaningful in her eyes, something that didn't exactly pertain to their conversation topic, "...nothing ever works out for me. Even when I...have it right in front of me," she sourly smiled, "It just doesn't work out."

The Doctor swallowed hard as if he knew exactly what she meant. His bravery ended in that one moment. "Ava-"

But Avalon had already switched gears, and the way her facial expressions changed...it almost did look like a switch was moved. No longer did her eyes bear sadness or bitterness. She turned to the others who were anxiously waiting to hear about their next moves.

"Mother's not okay," the Sapling told the Doctor in a hushed tone. "What can we do?"

"More of what I can do, I'm afraid," the Doctor said with a sigh.

The Sapling looked up at him, naturally curious about what he meant. "Why haven't you done it?"

"Because my dear Sapling...that would mean I fell into temptation, and that can be a grave mistake that Avalon might pay for," the Doctor said with all the regret in the world. He watched Avalon make her way through the crowd, demanding for someone to come up with possible solutions. He smiled a bit - she always looked good commanding rooms.

~ 0 ~

It wasn't very difficult getting to the chapel (the only room where they had a chance at surviving the gangers' retaliation). The only thing that did make a trouble was the fact that Rory was hesitating in actually stepping into the chapel for safety. The factory co-workers had already gone inside the chapel but the travelers were debating.

"Rory," Avalon frowned as she studied her best friend in confusion. She couldn't understand why Rory was picking this moment to be so indecisive. One would think he wanted to survive!

Rory winced when he heard Jennifer's scream and turned in the opposite direction. Jennifer looked terrified, he couldn't just leave her. But at the same time, Amy was growing frantic about things.

"Rory, c'mon!"

"Jen's out there. She's out there and she's on her own," he started heading down the tunnel.

"Well, if she's got any sense, then she's hiding," the Doctor called, "Rory!"

"Uncle Rory, you have to come this way for safety!" the Sapling waved his branch arms over his head, but Rory didn't look back.

"Rory come back," Avalon tried going after him but the Doctor pulled her back with him.

"You stay safe," Rory pointed at her then looked to Amy, "Keep safe," he said just as the gangers arrived through the other end of the tunnel. He glanced back then ran through a side corridor.

"There they are!" Cleaves called from the doorway.

"We have to get Rory back!" Avalon exclaimed but the Doctor grabbed her hand along with Amy's and brought them into the chapels. The Sapling was already ahead of them.

"What are you doing!?" Amy demanded as the workers slammed the door shut, the Doctor even using the sonic to add extra protection.

"Ava, Amy, they are not after him, they're after us," the Doctor tried to make them see that, hoping they'd calm down.

"Why? Why?" they heard a different voice from a dark corner in the room.

"Oh, there's someone here!" the Sapling turned in the direction of the noise, but it seemed too dark to identify him.

"Get back," the Doctor quickly turned around and yanked the Sapling away to take his place. "And you, show yourself!"

"Doctor!" Avalon called, looking between him and the door that was now being barricaded, "What about Rory!?"

"We have to go back!" Amy demanded but the Doctor practically waved them off, something that earned himself identical glares. Spooky, really.

"They're not after him," he repeated, "Show yourself!" he called to the other entity as he cautiously approached the corner, "Right now!"

"Doctor! We are trapped in here and Rory is out there, with them. Hello!" Amy shouted again. "We can't get to the TARDIS and we can't even leave the island."

"Correct, Pond. It's frightening, unexpected, frankly, a total, utter, splattering mess on the carpet, but I'm certain, 100% certain, that we can work this out," a different, yet completely familiar voice, answered her back and managed to freeze everyone in the room, including the Doctor himself, "Trust me. I'm the Doctor." A ganger of the Doctor, in the state of development, emerged from the dark to greet the group.


Author's Note:

Okay I am so excited to finally be getting to these episodes! Get ready because the angst is coming!

P. S: I have created a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's also a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "noble-crescent" and the tag I created for any posts having to do with my work is # noblecrescentedit.