El sat in front of the Doctor as he took the reins of the horse. Tracing the coordinates on the map, the Doctor had quickly found the place they were looking for.

Stonehenge.

The group ran into Stonehenge on a mission, El looking around curiously at the ancient stone monument. She'd seen big buildings before, sure, but something so old, so far into the past… it was quite unlike anything else.

"It's old…" El placed a hand on one of the stones, as River fiddled with her scanner, Sarah Jane with her scanner watch, while the Doctor soniced the area.

"It's been here for thousands of years at this point." River explained, tapping a series of commands into the device. "The first great construction project by humankind… that is, if it's actually human in origin." She frowned as the device beeped. "Doctor, I'm picking up fry particles all over this site."

"Same here," Sarah Jane confirmed. "Somebody's fired an energy weapon here."

The Doctor frowned, standing on top of one of the overturned stones. "If the Pandorica is here, it contains the mightiest warrior in history. Now, half the galaxy would want a piece of that… maybe even fight over it."

The Time Lord frowned, jumping down, before he placed an ear on another stone lying on its side. "…we need to get down there."

El turned to the Doctor. "Down where?"

"I'll show you." The Time Lord replied. "El, if you'd please."

The girl nodded and held out her hand. Focusing her mind, she began to move the stone. It was heavy, heavy or even heavier than a car, but still well within her capabilities, as it slid out of the way.

The stone settled, revealing a concealed set of steps leading down into the earth.

The Doctor peered in. "The underhenge…" He took first lead, as River shone a torch inside, the four gingerly moving down into the chamber.

Unbeknownst to them, however, they had missed something very, very important up top.

A metal head, like a futuristic helmet, lying on the ground.

Hydraulics hissed as it suddenly shifted.

"Systems… rebooting…" The Cyberman's head spoke aloud. "Life-forms detected. Self-repair protocols… initiated."


Coming to the bottom level, the Doctor soniced a wall sconce, the flame igniting and illuminating the place just slightly as he took it in his hand.

With River's help, they pushed open the door, and looking inside, awed.

A large metal cube, ten feet long on each side, stood in the center of the room, circular patterns etched into the side.

"The Pandorica…" The Doctor breathed.

"Definitely not just a fairytale…" Sarah Jane muttered.

The Doctor looked at El excitedly, smiling, as he walked further into the chamber.

The Time Lord's foot suddenly clattered against something, and he looked down. An ancient, rusted Cyber-Arm. Time War Mondasian, just like the ones they'd encountered in the GSO base.

The Doctor looked back to the other three with trepidation, as he began to move towards the box, slower now. Why would a Cyberman arm be down there? Unless, it was an errant bit of debris left over from the battle. Come to think of it, the Pandorica did look Cyberman in origin.

Time War-era Cybermen were able to convert many, many species, so why lock up whatever it was inside, instead of converting it? It must've been ludicrously dangerous, even for what the Doctor normally dealt with.

The Doctor placed a hand on the metal cube, running it up and down. "There was a goblin, or a trickster… or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all of creation. No one could stop it, no one could hold it, no one could reason with it… it would just fall out of the sky and tear down your whole world."

"Oh, I know how it goes." El recognized. "The Good Wizard tricked it."

River huffed. "I hate good wizards in fairytales. They always turn out to be him." She passed the torch off to Sarah Jane before running her own scan of the place.

"Hm… I didn't notice it before, but it's like Pandora's Box." El commented.

Sarah Jane turned her head. "Sorry?"

"Pandora's Box… they only let me read a few stories in the lab." El explained.

The Doctor huffed across the way. "They probably only let you read that one because it was a warning against being curious. Keep you nice and complacent."

El crossed her arms. "I liked it."

"Wait," The Doctor's head shot up, as he looked over to her. "Two things in the lab. One a book about Romans because Brenner liked it, Pandora's Box to keep you from being curious about the outside… Both topics showing up here? Never ignore a coincidence… unless you're busy, then always ignore a coincidence." He amended, turning back to the Pandorica.

"So," Sarah Jane began, "Can you get inside it?"

"Of course." The Doctor replied. "Breaking into a prison from the outside is easy with the right kit, but I'd rather like to know what I'll find first."

River's scanner beeped, and the woman's eyebrows shot up. "You don't have long to wait. It's already opening. There are layers and layers of security protocols… all deactivating one-by-one. Like…" She pressed an ear to the box. "It's being unlocked from the inside."

The Doctor swallowed. "How long?"

"A few hours, at most." River answered.

"What kind of security are we talking?" The Doctor asked.

"Everything." River looked at the scanner, growing disconcerted. "Deadlocks, time-stops, matter lines…"

"What could need all that…?" The Doctor wondered, pressing an ear.

"What could get past all that?" River posed the better question.

"Think of the fear that went into making this box." The Doctor looked at it fearfully. "What could inspire that level of fear?"

Something clattered behind them, and Sarah Jane and El turned around. Seeing nothing, they turned back.

"Hello, you… have we met?" The Doctor wondered.

"Why would it start to open now?" Sarah Jane asked.

"No idea." The Doctor answered.

"And how would Vincent know about it?" El asked.

"I told you, time sense." River replied.

"And the stones," The Doctor looked over to them, "They're not just stones, they're great big transmitters, broadcasting a warning to time and space. Everyone, everywhere. No wonder Vincent heard it. Even non-sensitives would be able to detect it."

Sarah Jane sharply inhaled. "Doctor, did you say everyone?"

"But what's in there?" The Doctor ignored. "Why this level of security?"

River inhaled as well, understanding Sarah Jane's train of thought. "Doctor, everyone?"

"Anything that powerful," The Time Lord paced back and forth, "I'd know. Why don't I know?"

"Dad… you said everyone." El recognized as well. "Who else is coming?"

The Doctor froze, blood going cold as he turned around. "Oh…"

El sighed. "'Oh' what?"

"Okay," River hurried over to one of the stones, "If these are transmitters, we should be able to fold back the signal."

"Doing it!" The Doctor said, as River pressed the scanner to one of the stones. "Okay, should be feeding back to you now! River, what's out there?"

River froze, jaw dropping as the scanner output its data. "Around this planet… there are no less than ten-thousand starships."

El raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean no less? Doesn't it show you?"

"I don't know!" River replied. "There are too many readings!"

"What kind of ships?" The Doctor questioned.

River pressed a button to listen in on the transmissions.

"MAINTAINING ORBIT." A Dalek proclaimed.

"I OBEY!" A second Dalek replied. "SHIELD COVER COMPROMISED ON ION SECTORS."

"Daleks." Sarah Jane gulped. "Those are Daleks…"

"SCANS DETECT NO TEMPORAL ACTIVITY."

"SOFT GRID SCAN COMMENCING."

"REVERSE THRUST FOR COMPENSATORY STABILIZATION."

The Doctor's eyes darted about as the voices of his greatest enemies once again filled his ears. "Yes, okay, okay, Dalek fleet. Minimum twelve-thousand battleships armed to the teeth. Ah, but we've got surprise on our side!" He turned around, pointing. "They'll never expect four people to attack twelve-thousand Dalek battleships, because we'll be slaughtered instantly, so it would be a fairly short surprise! Forget surprise."

"Doctor!" River gasped. "Cyberships!"

"No, Dalek ships, listen to them!" The Doctor retorted. "Those are Dalek ships!"

"Yes, Dalek ships and Cyberships!" River replied.

"Well, we need to start a fight, turn them on each other, that's easy!"

Sarah Jane's scanner watch beeped, and she looked down on it fearfully. "Sontarans! Four battle fleets!"

"Sontarans?" The Doctor looked around. "Talk about cross, who stole all their handbags?"

"Terileptil. Slitheen. Chelonian. Nestene. Drahvin. Sycorax. Haemo-goth. Zygons, Atraxi, Draconian…" River listed off. "They're here… they're all here!"

The Doctor turned to the box in fear. "What are you? What could you possibly be?"

The ground began to shake as something rocketed overhead.

Instantly, the Doctor spun, running back up the stairs to the surface.

Night had fallen, as an armada of starships, each one different in construction and species of origin hovered around Stonehenge.

"Dad," El looked to the Time Lord, "What do we do?"

"Doctor, listen to me." River began. "Everything that as ever hated you is coming here, tonight. You can't win this. You can't even fight it. Doctor, this once, please, just this once, you have to run!"

"Run where!?" The Doctor retorted.

"Fight how!?" River demanded in response.

The Doctor walked to the edge of Stonehenge, looking through a pair of binoculars. "Greatest military machine in the history of the universe…"

"What? The Daleks?" El asked.

"No…" The Doctor let the binoculars drop. "The Romans. River," He turned to her, "Get back to that camp and get every last Roman you can."

"What are you going to do?" River demanded in response.

"Oh, you know me." The Doctor replied. "Go poking my nose where it doesn't belong."


"So, what does this have to do with the TARDIS?" El inquired.

"Nothing," The Doctor grunted, smacking the side of the Pandorica. "As far as I know."

The girl frowned. "But in Vincent's painting, she was exploding. Is that really going to happen?"

"One problem at a time." The Doctor replied. "There's force field technology inside this box. If I can boost the signal, I can extend it to cover all of Stonehenge. Could buy us half an hour."

Sarah Jane crossed her arms. "What good is that?"

"Oh, Sarah, I'm disappointed!" The Doctor replied. "I figured you of all people would know there's a lot you can do in half an hour."

Something hit one of the walls, exploding, the three reflexively going behind the Pandorica to hide.

Sarah Jane looked down at her watch. "That Cyberman arm's active."

"Okay, um…" The Doctor glanced. "You know how sometimes I have really brilliant ideas?"

"Yes." El answered.

The Time Lord flinched. "Sorry."

The Doctor jumped out from behind the Pandorica. "LOOK AT ME I'M A TARGET!"

"You bloody idiot!" Sarah Jane roared as the Cyber-Arm fired, the Doctor jumping behind one of the stones.

"Don't worry! Organic part died years ago probably so it's just looking for fresh meat!" The Doctor replied.

"How is that good!?" El demanded.

"It means it needs us alive! Stun blasts only!" The Doctor answered, "Um, let's see… El, do you mind throwing that Cyber-Arm over here, please?"

"Why!?"

"Because I need to deactivate it and it's made of metal tougher than most alloys on the planet!" The Doctor replied.

The girl shook her head, but complied, focusing on the source of the fire.

The Cyber-Arm flew through the air, firing at the ground, as it landed in the Time Lord's hand.

"Ah, there we go…" The Doctor soniced the arm, the construct spasming before it went limp. "Alright, I think I've got it, but stay back just in case. It could be bluffing."

"Bluffing?" Sarah Jane asked in response. "Can it do that?"

"It's a very clever arm." The Doctor replied. "Now, do as I say, and stay back."

Sarah Jane put her hands up as she stepped back, leaning on one of the stones.

A rubber cable wrapped around her leg, and she looked down. "Doctor!"

The Cyber-Arm took aim, and fired a shot at El, the girl falling to the ground unconscious, but otherwise unharmed.

"EL!" The Doctor screamed, before the arm electrified, and he fell unconscious as well.

The cable pieced Sarah Jane in the leg, and she fell to the ground, as more cables, all of them running back to a Cyberman head unit, coming out of the neck, sparked and whipped around wildly.

Two more cables wrapped around Sarah Jane's arms, as the head scurried across the ground.

Sarah Jane forced herself to stand, to a vantage point where she could effectively keep the head at bay.

Something began to sizzle as a line began to split down the faceplate of the head.

The faceplate split open, revealing a long rotten skull inside.

"Ah!" Sarah Jane held the head away, as the skull tumbled out.

The two halves of the faceplate began to snap, like pincers, as it tried to get at Sarah Jane's head.

The woman turned and slammed the metal cranium into the wall, the wires' grip weakening before the head dropped to the ground.

"Doctor? El?" She called, keeping the head in sight in case it tried to go anywhere.

Air hissed from the head's mouthpiece before Sarah Jane felt a sting in her neck. "Ah!" Her hand shot up, pulling out a metal dart.

"You will be upgraded." The head stated.

"Yeah?" Sarah Jane clutched her forehead, feeling a bit woozy. "You and what body?"

Hydraulic stomping cracked the dirt floor, as a towering body turned the corner. The body of a Cyberman, headless, missing one arm.

The discarded arm scurried over, pulling itself along by its fingers, before grabbing onto one of the bars on the head. A cord shot out from the empty arm socket on the main body, connecting to the main arm, pulling it up.

The arm twisted up as the cords coming from the bottom of the head wriggled around, before connecting to points on the neck. The head was pulled into place, the Cyberman twisting it around experimentally.

"Repair protocol at ninety percent completion." The Cyberman announced, rust on its outer surface slowly vanishing. "Organic component required. You will be upgraded." Its arms shot out as it began to slowly stomp forward.

Sarah Jane stumbled back, off-balance, as the anesthetic worked through her system quickly.

She grabbed a flaming torch off the wall, and swung it around, not hitting anything due to her vision going.

The Cyberman suddenly stopped. "Power systems failure. Unknown cause. You will be…" The Cyberman slumped over, falling to the ground, as its torso sparked.

In its back was an enormous hole, what could only be the Cyberman's power source floating in the air. The small, sphere-shaped power source was suddenly crushed like a can of soda and dropped.

El wiped her nose, shaking her disorientation away.

"Good…" Sarah Jane shot El a thumbs-up. "Good going…" She complimented before falling.

El caught her, gently letting her down.

"Oh, eugh…" The Doctor groaned, eyes opening. "What happened? Am I dead? …If this is what it's like to be dead then being dead is rubbish!"

"Dad." El waved him over, "Look." She gestured to Sarah Jane.

The Doctor quickly got to his feet, running over, scanning the woman over. As he did, he dimly registered Roman soldiers arriving above. "Okay, she's fine just sedated."

The same soldier from before came down to their level, walking across. "Sir."

"Ah, good, Romans." The Doctor patted him on the soldier. "Love a Roman. Good old River. What's your name?"

"Claudio, sir."

"Good, like that. Claudio. How many?" He questioned, looking around the underhenge for anything that they could use.

"Half century, sir." The soldier answered.

"Ooh…" The Doctor grimaced. "Only forty? Not exactly a legion, is it?"

"Your woman deceived us all." Claudio retorted. "The only reason you have any help at all is because these are extraordinary circumstances."

"Yes, yes, I realize that." The Doctor grumbled, "Ah!" His eyebrows shot up as he spotted some very big guns. "Cyberweapons! This is a sentry box, so that fella," He pointed over to the Cyberman, "Was the sentry. Guarding the Pandorica. But why leave a Cyberman to guard it unless it was a Cyber-thing in the box? Okay, no, not Cyber-thing… I'm missing something, something obvious here…"

The underhenge shuddered as spacecraft flew overhead.

The Doctor looked up as the geometric patterns in the circles on the Pandorica's sides began to glow green, moving like tumblers turning.

"Dad…" El looked over to the Doctor. "What's happening?"

"The final phase…" The Doctor answered. "It's opening. Claudio, this is about to be the single most chaotic fight you've ever taken part in. Get up top," He instructed. "Tell your men to be ready! Go!"

"Yes, sir!" The soldier nodded, running off to do as the Doctor ordered.

The scanner in the Doctor's pocket beeped, the Time Lord fishing it out quickly.

"You're surrounded." River's voice filtered out. "Have you got a plan?"

"Yes!" The Doctor shot back, sonicing the Pandorica, trying to scan it. "Now hurry up and get the TARDIS here, I need equipment!" The Time Lord got to his feet, almost stepping on the Vortex Manipulator River had left behind, looking at the box scrutinizingly. "What are you? They're all here, all of them, for you… what could you possibly be?" The ground shook again. "El, stay here!" The Doctor ordered, "I'll only be a second!"

The girl watched as the Doctor ran up, and she sighed, shaking her head as she sat down.