Travelling with the Raggedy Man
The Time of Angels
Thanks to lindsayejcampbell12, for-the-giggles-why-not and AmaliaL for following/favourting this story
Amy and Chelsea were in the TARDIS wardrobe getting dressed for the day. Chelsea had sorted herself pretty quickly, opting for a purple tank top, a white scarf and the leather jacket, jeans and trainers she'd worn the day before, while Amy was currently haggling over two hoodies. "What d'ye think, Chels?" she asked her cousin, holding up the two hoodies. One was teal while the other was red. "Which one?"
"The red one." Chelsea replied, tying her hair back into a ponytail.
"Ok, red it is." Amy said and slipped the red hoodie on. "Right, let's go." She moved to leave the wardrobe but Chelsea stopped her.
"Amy, have you told the Doctor about the wedding yet?" Chelsea asked
"Haven't had the time." Amy waved her off
"Well, make the time then." Chelsea persisted, "It's been two days now. Ya can't keep putting it off."
"Oh, c'mon, Chels." Amy huffed, "This is a time machine. We can travel as long we want and still be back in time for the wedding."
"Yeah, presuming we don't get killed." Chelsea said seriously, "Amy, you've seen how dangerous it is. Two days and we've nearly been eaten by a Star Whale and almost gotten blown up by a robot bomb."
"But we weren't." Amy said nonchalantly, "We're still here, ain't we?"
"Alright, fine. If you won't tell the Doctor then I will." Chelsea said simply
"Alight, I'll tell him later." Amy huffed in annoyance, "God, you're such a spoilsport, Chels."
"And you're a tart." Chelsea retorted, "Come on, then. Let's go and see how the Doctor will nearly get us killed today."
~8~
As it turned out, the Doctor had decided to play it safe today and took the women to a museum modelled on a medieval church. The Doctor was like a kid in a sweet shop, striding through the museum pointing to various exhibits and giving his opinion on each of them, while a bored Amy and a quiet Chelsea followed. "Wrong!" the Doctor fired off, "Wrong! Bit wrong, mostly wrong. I love museums!"
"Yeah, great." Amy spoke up, having had enough of this, "Can we go to a planet now? Big spaceship, Churchill's bunker...? You promised us a planet next."
"Amy, this isn't just any old asteroid." the Doctor told her, "It's the Delerium Archive, final resting place of the Headless Monks, the biggest museum ever."
"You've got a time machine." Amy pointed out, "What d'ye need museums for?"
The Doctor didn't pay any attention. "Wrong!" he pointed to more artefacts, "Very wrong! Ooh, one of mine. Also one of mine."
"I think I've got it, Ames." Chelsea spoke up, "He likes to keep score of all the trouble he's caused."
The Doctor wasn't paying attention to either of them as he was busy peering into a glass case containing a rusty old metal cube with symbols carved into it. "Interesting." he murmured
"Oh, great, an old box!" Amy huffed
"It's from one of the old starliners." the Doctor said, "A Home Box."
"And what's a Home Box?" Chelsea asked, "Is it like a future version of a plane's black box?"
"Correctamundo!" the Doctor replied, "The difference is it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home with all the flight data."
"So?" Amy asked huffily
"The writing, the graffiti." the Doctor told her, pointing to the etchings on top of the Home Box, "It's Old High Galifreyean. The lost language of the Time Lords. There were days." he sighed in reminiscence, "There were many days, those words could burn stars, raise up empires and topple gods."
"What does it say?" Amy asked, her interest now picked.
The Doctor's nostalgic smile faded. "Hello, sweetie." he said flatly
Amy raised a brow at this, but before she or Chelsea could pursue the matter, the Doctor promptly whipped out his sonic screwdriver and flashed it at the lock on the display case. The lock came undone and alarms started blaring. "What're you doing?!" Chelsea stared in disbelief
"Liberating it." the Doctor replied, opening the case and scooping up the Home Box, "Come on!" And he ran off back towards the TARDIS, his confused companions having no choice but to follow him.
Once they back inside the TARDIS, the Doctor plugged the Home Box into one of the auxiliary consoles and started messing with it. "Why're we doing this?" Amy asked him
"Cos' someone on a spaceship twelve thousand years ago is trying to attract my attention." the Doctor replied as he operated several controls, "Let's see if we can get the payback working." He moved over to one of the monitors on the main console.
Amy and Chelsea looked at the other monitor to see a grainy black & white image of a curly-haired woman in a black evening gown waltzing through a spaceship corridor. The woman paused in front of the camera, winked at it, then continued on her way. Then the playback showed a shot of the woman standing in front of an airlock. "The party's over, Dr Song." a man's voice said off-camera, "Yet you're still on board."
"Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault." the woman replied casually, "Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach it's destination."
"Wait till she runs." Alistair ordered someone, no doubt armed guards, "Don't make it look like an execution."
The woman seemed completely unfazed by the threat and checked her watch. "Triple-seven, five/three, four, nine by ten. Zero, twelve/acorn." she said to the camera, "Oh, and I could do with an air corridor."
Chelsea then noticed the Doctor busy operating controls. "What was all that she just said?" she asked him
"Co-ordinates." he replied, pulling a lever to materialise the TARDIS at the co-ordinates the woman had specified.
Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang onto." the woman told Alistair casually, before the airlock behind her blew open and she was sucked out of the ship.
The Doctor rushed over to the doors and pulled them open to see the woman floating towards them through the air corridor he'd created. She knocked into him like a bowling ball hitting a pin and they fell to the floor in a heap. "Doctor?" Amy raised a brow at the sight
"River." the Doctor said to the woman, who promptly jumped to her feet to watch the ship she'd just escaped from fly away.
"Follow that ship!" she ordered.
~8~
The TARDIS was soon in pursuit of the starliner, which according to the Home Box was called the Byzantium, a name the Doctor remembered River mentioning in The Library. The TARDIS lurched and shuddered, the Doctor and River working the controls while Amy and Chelsea stood back and watched. "They've gone into warp drive." River reported, checking one of the monitors, "We're loosing 'em, stay close!"
"I'm trying!" the Doctor huffed
"Use the stabilisers." River advised
"There aren't any stabilisers!" the Doctor whined
"The blue switches!" River told him, pointing to some blue switches close to where she was standing.
"The blue ones don't do anything." the Doctor shot back, "They're just... blue!"
"Yes, they're blue." River snorted, "They're the blue stabilisers." She hit the blue switches in question and the TARDIS stopped shaking. "See?"
"Yeah, well, it's boring now, isn't it?" the Doctor huffed, "They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers." He moved away from the console in a huff.
"Doctor, how can she fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked him
"You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!" the Doctor retorted, sitting down on one of the seats to sulk.
"Ok." River announced, "I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isomentry, charted the ship to it's destination and..." She pulled a lever and the TARDIS materialisation noise sounded. "Parked us alongside." River finished proudly.
"No one likes a show off." the Doctor grunted and jumped to his feet. "Come along, girls. Let's have a look." he said to his companions as he moved to the doors.
"No, wait. Environment checks." River called to him
"Oh, yes, sorry. Quite right, environment checks." the Doctor said and poked his head out the door. "Well, it's nice out."
River just shook her head fondly at him and turned to her monitor. "We're somewhere in the Garn belt." she read out, "There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest..."
"We're on Alfava Metraxis." the Doctor cut in, "The seventh planet of the Dundra system, oxygen rich-atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11-hour day, and..." He poked his head out the door again. "Chances of rain later."
"He thinks he's so hot when he does that." River smirked to Amy and Chelsea
"Um, how come you know how to fly the TARDIS?" Chelsea asked, somewhat puzzled by this rather enigmatic woman.
"Oh, I had lessons from the very best." River replied
"Well, yeah..." the Doctor said smugly
"It's a shame you were busy that day." River told him, causing both Amy and Chelsea to snigger at the Doctor's ego being pricked. River then became serious. "Right then, why did they land here?" she wandered as she headed for the doors.
"They didn't land." the Doctor told her
"Sorry?"
"You should've checked the Home Box. It crashed." the Doctor told River as she stepped outside. Once she was gone, the Doctor slammed the door shut and moved back to the console.
"Doctor, who is that woman and how does she know you?" Chelsea asked him
"It's a long story and I don't know most of it." the Doctor waved her off, setting the controls for departure, "Off we go!"
"What're you doing?" Amy asked him
"Leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we wanna go."
"Are you basically running away?" Amy raised a brow
"That makes two of ya." Chelsea muttered to herself, causing Amy to send her a death glare.
"Yep." the Doctor said, having not heard Chelsea's remark.
"Why?" Amy persisted
"Cos' she's the future. My future."
"Can ye run away from that?" Amy questioned
"I can run away from anything I like." the Doctor said arrogantly, "Time is not the boss of me."
"That's not what you said yesterday." Chelsea reminded, "Remember? That bit about fixed points?"
"Well, apart from fixed points, then." the Doctor grunted
"Hang on, is that a planet out there?" Amy asked
"Yes, of course it's a planet." the Doctor said flatly
"You promised us a planet. Five minutes?" Amy pleaded, giving him puppy dog eyes.
"Ok, five minutes." the Doctor conceded
"Yes!" Amy cheered, skipping to the doors.
"But that's all." the Doctor called after her, "Cos' I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!" He and Chelsea followed Amy out to find that they'd landed on a beach with an ancient temple carved into the cliffs overlooking it. The Byzantium was imbedded in the roof of the temple and flaming bits of debris from the ship was scattered all over the beach.
River was looking at the devastation with a heavy heart. "What caused it to crash?" she wandered, "Not me?"
"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it." the Doctor told her, "According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase shift. No survivors."
"How many people?" Chelsea asked, horrified at the devastation.
"There were 1,014 people on board that ship." River sighed, "At least it was quick. A phase shift would have to be sabotage. I did warn them."
"About what?" the Doctor frowned
"Well, at least the building was empty." River continued, ignoring his question, "Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries." She pulled out an electronic device and started messing with it.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Amy said to the Doctor
"Amy Pond, Chelsea Willows, this is Professor River Song." the Doctor introduced
"Ah, I'm going to be a professor some day, am I?" River grinned, causing the Doctor to wince at his slip, "How exciting! Spoilers!" She turned back to her gadget.
"Yeah, but who is she?" Amy probed, "And how did she do that? She just left you a note in a museum!"
River turned back to them. "Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum: The Home Box of a category four starliner and, sooner or later, him. It's how he keeps score."
"Yeah, we worked that out ourselves." Chelsea said
"It's hilarious, isn't it?" River smirked, and all three women shared a laugh.
The Doctor had had enough of all the giggling girl talk going on. "I'm nobody's taxi service." he told River irritably, "I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship."
"And you are so wrong." River retorted sweetly, "There's one survivor." She became serious. "There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die." That pipped the Doctor's interest. "Now he's listening." River smirked to Amy and Chelsea, then spoke into her device; "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal." She turned back to the Doctor, holding her gadget into the air. "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."
The Doctor begrudgingly complied and River dropped a small curtsey. "Ooh, Doctor, you soniced her!" Amy tittered
"We have a minute. Shall we?" River called to the Doctor, opening a battered TARDIS blue book, "Where were we? Have we done the Bone Meadows?"
"What's that book?" Chelsea asked the Doctor
"Stay away from it." the Doctor warned her
"What is it, though?" Amy asked
"Her diary."
"Our diary." River corrected
"Her past, my... future." the Doctor begrudgingly told his companions, "Time travel. We keep meeting up in the wrong order."
Just then, there was a whooshing sound and four men in desert camouflage uniforms armed with blaster rifles teleported onto the beach. The eldest, clearly the commanding officer, approached River. "You promised me an army, Dr Song." he said irritably, eyeing the three time travellers with a disbelieving look. They certainly didn't look like soldiers to him; the Doctor in his tweed jacket, Chelsea in her leather jacket and jeans, and Amy in her bright red hoodie and mini-skirt.
"No, I promised you the equivalent of an army." River retorted, "This is the Doctor." she introduced as the Doctor gave a light-hearted salute.
The commanding officer shook the Doctor's hand. "Father Octavian, sir." he introduced, "Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Dr Song was helping us with a covert investigation." He glanced up at the crashed ship towering over them, not exactly covert. "Has Dr Song explained what we're dealing with?"
River turned to the Time Lord. "Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?" she asked.
The Doctor tensed at those two words. The last time he'd encountered the lonely assassins he and Martha Jones had ended up stranded in 1969, not exactly a fun experience.
~8~
By night-fall the clerics had set up camp. Taking prominence was a module where River had gone to get changed, while several tents and work benches were scattered about, where Octavian's men were busy preparing their equipment. Octavian walked though the camp with the Doctor, explaining the situation with him while Amy and Chelsea trailed behind. "The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship." Octavian said, "Our mission is to get inside and neutralise it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this..." He led them to a table where some equipment was lying about and showed the Doctor a computer pad. "Behind the cliff face, there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple." He showed the Doctor a diagram of the tunnels. "We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up."
"Oh, good." the Doctor grunted sarcastically
"Good, sir?" Octavian questioned, not noticing the sarcasm.
"Catacombs, probably dark ones." the Doctor grumbled, not liking the idea of going through them at all, "Dark catacombs, great(!)"
"Technically, I think it's called a 'maze of the dead'." Octavian continued
"You can stop anytime you like." the Doctor groaned, his sense of dread growing.
"Father Octavian?" a cleric called from somewhere nearby
"Excuse me, sir." Octavian said to the Doctor and walked away.
The Doctor began sonicing the equipment lying on the table. "You're letting people call you 'sir.' You never do that." Amy spoke up, sitting on a bench and looking as if she hadn't a care in the world, "So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?"
"Now that's interesting, you're both still here." the Doctor said irritably, "Which part of 'wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe' was so confusing?"
"I wanted to, but Amy didn't." Chelsea muttered.
"Ooh, are you all Mr Grumpy Face today?" Amy joked to the Doctor
"A Weeping Angel, ladies, is one of the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life forms evolution has ever produced, and one is trapped inside that wreckage." the Doctor said seriously, nodding over his shoulder at the crashed ship on the hillside, "And I'm supposed to climb in after it with a screwdriver and a torch, and assuming I survive the radiation, and the whole ship doesn't blow up in my face, do something incredibly clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day, that's what I'm up to. Any questions?"
"Alright, we get the picture." Chelsea muttered, but it seemed that Amy didn't.
"Is River Song your wife?" Amy asked the Doctor, causing him to slump against the bench in irritation. As much as he liked Amy as a friend, her reckless and flippant attitude was annoying him right now. She was acting similar to how Rose had acted during her second year of travelling with him, and Rose had ended up paying the price for that behaviour. The Doctor didn't want history to repeat itself. "Cos' she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that." Amy continued to prod, "She's kinda like, ye know, 'heel boy!' She's Mrs Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she gonna be your wife one day?"
"Yes. You're right. I am definitely Mr Grumpy Face today." the Doctor huffed
Just then, River appeared in the doorway of the module, having swapped her dress for combat fatigues similar to the clerics'. "Doctor?" she called, "Doctor?"
"Oops, her indoors!" Amy teased
"Father Octavian?" River called, before going back inside the module.
The Doctor, Amy and Chelsea made their way towards the module. "Why're they calling him 'father'?" Chelsea asked the Doctor as they saw Octavian go in ahead of them.
"He's their Bishop, they're his clerics." the Doctor said simply, "It's the 51st century, the church has moved on."
~8~
The Doctor, Octavian and the women were soon all gathered inside the module watching a grainy black & white recording of a Weeping Angel standing in the corner of a room at a slight angle to the camera with it's hands over it's eyes. River stood by the screen with a remote in her hands. "What d'you think?" she asked the Doctor, "It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I put it on a loop."
"Yeah, it's an Angel." the Doctor confirmed, "Hands covering it's face."
"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian asked
"Once, on Earth, a long time ago." the Doctor replied, "But those were scavengers, barely surviving."
"It's just a statue." Amy remarked, not understanding why everyone was making a fuss over a harmless stone statue.
"It's a statue when you see it." River told her
"Where did it come from?" the Doctor asked. He didn't really know all that much about the Weeping Angels, what he'd seen during his encounter with them at Wester Drumlins and from the limited information that the Academy on Galifrey had taught him about them during his childhood.
"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century." River replied, "It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all the time."
"Who'd want a creepy-looking thing like that?" Chelsea questioned. She couldn't explain it, but something about the statue on screen gave her the creeps and she had a gut feeling that it shouldn't be taken lightly.
"People with more money than sense." River replied
"You know there's a difference between dormant and patient." the Doctor said ominously
"What's that mean, it's only a statue when you see it?" Amy questioned
"The Weeping Angels can only if they're unseen, so legend has it." River told her
"No, it's not legend, it's a quantum lock." the Doctor explained, "In the sight of any living creature, the Angels literally cease to exist. They become stone, the ultimate defence mechanism."
"What, being a stone?" Amy asked
"Being a stone... until you turn your back." the Doctor said darkly.
~8~
Having finished with the video, the Doctor, River and Octavian left the module. "The hyperdrive would've split on impact." the Doctor theorised, "The whole ship will be flooded with radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms, deadly to almost any living thing."
"Deadly to an Angel?" Octavian asked hopefully
"Dinner to an Angel." the Doctor told him, "The longer we leave it, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple?" he asked River, "Are they still around?"
"The Aplans." River replied, checking her pad, "The indigenous life form. They died out 400 years ago."
"200 years later, the planet was terraformed." Octavian took over, "Currently there are six billion Human colonists."
"Whoo, you lot, you're everywhere!" the Doctor commented, "You're like rabbits! I'll never get done saving you."
"Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the population..." Octavian began
"Oh, there is." the Doctor said, growing serious again, "Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load!"
Octavian processed this information. "Verger, how're we doing with those explosives?" he asked one of his men, going over to check while River went over to a bench to set something up. "Dr Song, with me." Octavian called.
"Two minutes." River waved him off then turned to the Doctor. "Sweetie, I need you." she called.
"Sweetie?" the Doctor muttered, then went off in the direction River had gone, completely oblivious to his two companions who were both left standing in the module's doorway with nothing to do.
"Anybody need us?" Amy called to thin air, "Nobody?"
"Obviously not." Chelsea commented, "Ya know, that Dr Song reminds me of Mels a bit."
"What d'ye mean?" Amy asked
"Well, the way she acts. You said yourself she's all 'heel boy'. Well, Mels is like that and that whole thing she did with the box in the museum... that's exactly the sorta thing Mels would do."
"Ooh, didn't think about that." Amy remarked, "Hey, d'ye think she's a descendant of Mels?"
"Could be." Chelsea shrugged, "Better hope they never meet, eh?"
Both women shared a small laugh at that and they went inside the module. Suddenly, they noticed something on the screen: the Angel's hands were no longer covering it's face, they were now down by it's side.
~8~
Meanwhile, River was showing the Doctor a book. "I found this." she told him, "Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madman, it's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages."
The Doctor speed read through the book. "Not bad, bit slow in the middle, didn't you hate his girlfriend?" he joked, then suddenly became serious. "No, hang on, wait, wait!" He then sniffed the pages.
Just then, Chelsea came out of the module and joined them. "Excuse me, Dr Song? Are there any more clips of the Angel?" she asked
"No, just the four seconds." River answered, not really paying attention as she was too focussed on the Doctor's antics.
"Right." a puzzled Chelsea said slowly, then noticed the Doctor and the book. "What's that?"
"A book on the Angels." the Doctor told her, having finished sniffing it, "But it's wrong! What's wrong with this book? It's wrong." he muttered as he read through the book more slowly to try and work out what was amiss about it.
~8~
Inside the module, Amy was looking at the screen. The Angel had moved again and was now facing the camera. Amy bent down and looked at the time code, which was looping between 11:24 and 11:28, yet the Angel was changing position every time she took her eyes off it. As she was so engrossed in the conundrum, she didn't notice the door closing behind her and locking, all on it's own accord.
~8~
"It's so strange when you go all baby face." River commented as she observed the Doctor puzzling over the apparently wrong book, "How early is this for you?"
"Very early." the Doctor replied. This was his fifth run-in with River.
"So you don't know who I am yet?" River probed, "Both of you?" she asked Chelsea
"I'm sorry, Dr Song, but I've never seen you before in my life." Chelsea replied
"How do you know who I am?" the Doctor questioned, "I don't always look the same."
"I've got pictures of all your faces." River told him, "You never show up in the right order though. I need the spotter's guide."
That was when it clicked for the Doctor what was wrong with the book. "Pictures!" he exclaimed, "Why aren't there any pictures?"
~8~
Inside the module, Amy picked up the remote and tried to turn the video off, but it just kept turning itself back on. She put the remote down and studied the screen again. "You're just a recording." she muttered, "You can't move." She tried to yank the plug out, but it was wedged solid. She looked back up to the screen to see that the Angel had moved again, it's face was now right up to the camera. "Doctor!" she yelped, backing away to the door. She tried to turn the wheel, but it wouldn't budge then she tried the keypad, but that did no good either. She looked back to the screen and saw that the Angel was now pulling a snarling expression, as if it was getting ready to attack. "Chelsea!" she tried.
~8~
Outside, the Doctor was flicking through the book. "This whole book, it's a warning about the Weeping Angels. So why no pictures?" he wandered, "Why not show us what to look for?"
"There was a bit about images." River frowned
"Yes! Hang on." the Doctor said as he flipped through to the relevant page. "'That which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel.'" he read out.
"What does that mean?" River wandered, "'An image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel'?"
"Sounds like something on a church mural." Chelsea muttered.
~8~
Inside the module, Amy was getting first-hand experience of what the riddle meant, for the Angel was no longer on the screen, it was projecting itself out of it and becoming solid in the centre of the room. "DOCTOR! IT'S IN THE ROOM!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.
~8~
"Amy! both the Doctor and Chelsea cried as they bolted back to the module at warp speed.
"Are you alright?" the Doctor called as they reached the sealed door, "What's happening?"
"Doctor! Doctor, it's coming out of the television!" Amy called back, "The Angel is here!"
"Alright, hang on, Ames, I'm coming." Chelsea said, trying to turn the wheel, "Grrr, come on, ya stupid thing!" she growled as the wheel refused to budge.
"Don't take ya eyes off it." the Doctor warned Amy, flashing his sonic on the keypad, "It can't move if you're looking." His sonicing proved fruitless. "What's wrong with it?" he muttered, checking his sonic's holographic display, "It's deadlocked!"
"There is no deadlock." River pointed out, trying to hack the keypad.
"Don't blink, Amy!" the Doctor called, racing over to a junction box on the side of the module and messing about with the wiring, "Don't even blink!"
"Chels!" a terrified Amy called
"It's alright, Ames, I'm right here." Chelsea called back, "We'll get ya out, I promise."
"What're you doing?" River asked the Doctor
"Cutting the power." he replied, yanking out some wires, "It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off." He soniced the junction box. "It's no good, it's deadlocked the whole system." he groaned.
"There's no deadlock." River said
"There is now!" the Doctor snapped
"Help me!" Amy cried
"Amy, can't ya turn the screen off in there?" Chelsea tried
"I already tried that!"
"Try again but don't take your eyes off the Angel." the Doctor urged.
~8~
"I'm not!" Amy retorted, moving to grab the remote while keeping her gaze on the Angel.
"Each time it moves, it'll move faster." the Doctor warned, "Don't even blink."
"I'm not blinking!" Amy retorted, blinking one eye at a time, "Have ye ever tried not blinking?" She aimed the remote at the screen and turned it off, only for it to turn itself back on again. "It just keeps switching back on!"
~8~
"Yeah, it's the Angel." the Doctor said grimly, trying the wiring again.
"But it's just a recording." Amy blustered
"No, anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel." the Doctor told her
"Smash the screen, Amy." Chelsea urged, "That'll stop it!"
"What with?!" Amy shot back
The Doctor then noticed River using a small blowtorch on the door. "What're you doing?"
"I'm trying to cut through." River replied, "It's not even warm."
"There is no way in, it's not physically possible." the Doctor said gloomily
"There's gotta be something!" Chelsea said, "Can't we, I dunno, blow the door open or something like that?"
"No, that door's made of hydra combination. Not even a Dalek could get through that!" the Doctor told her
"Doctor, what's it gonna do to me?" Amy asked fearfully
"Just keep looking at it." the Doctor told her, "Don't stop looking!" Then he ran back to fetch the book to see if there was anything in there that he'd missed that could help them.
"Just tell me!" Amy snapped, "Tell me! Tell me!"
The Doctor returned with the book having found out something else that was alarming. "Amy, not the eyes!" he hollered, "Look anywhere, but not the eyes!"
~8~
"Why?" Amy asked, doing exactly what the Doctor had just told her not to do and looking the Angel right in the eyes.
~8~
"Why can't she look at the eyes?" Chelsea questioned
The Doctor read out what he'd just found out; "The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are doors. Beware what may enter there."
"What the hell does that mean?!" Chelsea snapped, getting fed up at all the cryptic nonsense.
"Doctor, what did ye say?" Amy called
"Don't look at the eyes!" the Doctor reminded
"No, about images. What did ye say about images?"
"Whatever holds the image of an Angel is an Angel." River called to her.
~8~
"Ok... hold this." Amy muttered, aiming the remote at the screen again, "One, two, three, four..." Judging her moment, she hit the pause button when there was static on screen. The Angel froze then turned off.
The door sprang open and the Doctor, Chelsea and River rushed in. The Doctor unplugged the screen while Chelsea immediately launched herself at her cousin. "Amy, are ya ok?" she fussed, "I'm so sorry I left you. What happened?"
"I froze it." Amy panted, "There was a sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip. It wasn't the image of an Angel any more. That was good, yeah? That was pretty good."
"That was amazing!" River praised
Chelsea just hugged her cousin tighter. "Oh, Amy, I'm so sorry I left you." she sighed
"It's alright, Chels." Amy laughed, "I'm still here, ain't I?"
The Doctor meanwhile was scanning the plug with his sonic to work out what had just happened. "So was it here?" River asked him, "That was the Angel?"
"That was a projection of the Angel." the Doctor replied, checking his scan results, "It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant."
Just then, an explosion sounded from outside. "Doctor, we're through!" Octavian's voice called.
"Ok, now it starts. " the Doctor said ominously, and he and River left the module.
"Coming, Ames?" Chelsea asked her cousin, who was rubbing her left eye.
"Yeah, coming." Amy replied, "There's just... something in my eye."
"Let me look." Chelsea said, and Amy moved her hand away to let her cousin inspect her eye. "Nope, can't see anything there." Chelsea said.
"Must've gotten it out, then." Amy shrugged, and so the two women went off after the others.
~8~
The group had soon descended down some rope ladders into the labyrinth of dark tunnels behind the cliff face. "Do we have a gravity globe?" the Doctor asked Octavian
"Grave globe." Octavian ordered one of his men, who handed the Doctor a white globe.
"Where are we?" Amy asked, flashing the torch she'd been given around the dark space, "What is this?"
"It's an Aplan mortarium, sometimes called a maze of the dead." River told her
"Charming." Chelsea muttered, getting a rather unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"And what's a maze of the dead?" Amy questioned
The Doctor answered this time; "Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." He kicked the gravity globe into the air and it lit up the cavern, revealing it to be chock-a-block with crumbling stone statues. "The perfect hiding place." the Doctor finished.
"I guess it makes it a bit trickier." Octavian swallowed. There was a chance that the Angel had escaped from the wreckage, and with all these statues around, it would be a hell of a job to locate it if it had.
"A bit, yeah." the Doctor agreed
"A stone Angel on the loose among stone statues, a bit harder than I'd prayed for."
"A needle in a haystack." River said grimly, flashing her torch over the statues.
"A needle that looks like hay." the Doctor agreed, then as usual, he got carried away, "A hay-like needle. Of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues. No, yours was fine."
"Right." Octavian said slowly, eying the Doctor wearily, then turned to his men. "Check every single statue in this chamber." he ordered them, "You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection." He turned back to the Doctor. "One question: how do we fight it?"
"We find it, and hope." the Doctor said grimly, then he, Amy and Chelsea went ahead.
River went to follow them but Octavian stopped her. "He doesn't know yet, does he?" he questioned, "Who and what you are."
"It's too early in his time stream." River confirmed
"Well, make sure he doesn't work it out, or he's not gonna help us."
"I won't let you down." River assured him, "Believe you me, I have no intention of going back to prison.
"Sir?" one of the clerics called, "Side chamber, one visible exit."
"Check it." Octavian ordered him, "Angelo, go with him." The two clerics in question went off down the side chamber while River and Octavian went after the three time travellers.
Further up the passage, the Doctor was shining his torch in every direction. Chelsea took a moment to look up at the many levels that rose above them, all lined with statues. Then she noticed Amy rubbing her eye vigorously before suddenly stopping and looking at her hand. "You ok, Ames?" Chelsea asked
"Yeah, I'm fine." Amy waved her off. "So, what's a maze of the dead?" she asked River, who had just joined them.
"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people people buried in the walls." River replied, then realised what she'd just said. "Ok, that was fairly bad. Right, give me your arm." Amy held up her right arm and River reached into her kitbag and produced a syringe. "This won't hurt a bit." River reassured Amy, before rolling up her hoodie sleeve and injecting her with the syringe.
"Ow!" Amy hissed
"There, you see. I lied." River said nonchalantly, "It's a viro-stabiliser. Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're gonna need when we get to that ship." She removed the syringe and produced a fresh one from her kitbag. "Your turn, Chelsea."
"Right, let's get it over with." Chelsea said, rolling up her jacket sleeve. River then injected her with the syringe, causing her to wince slightly.
Amy glanced at the Doctor, who was busy examining the statues carefully. "So, what're they like?" she asked River, "In the future, I mean. Cos' you know him in the future, don't you?"
"The Doctor?" River shrugged as she removed Chelsea's syringe, "Well, the Doctor's the Doctor."
"Oh, well, that's very helpful." Amy snorted, "Mind if I write that down?"
River turned to look at the Doctor. "Yes, we are." she called to him.
"Sorry, what?" the Doctor called back, taking readings with River's pad.
"Talking about you."
"I wasn't listening, I'm busy." the Doctor answered back
"Ah, the other way up." River smirked
"Yeah." the Doctor said slowly as he flipped the pad the right way up.
"Who exactly are you to him?" Chelsea asked River, "Amy thinks you're his wife. Are ya?"
"Oh, girls! This is the Doctor we're talking about." River said nonchalantly, putting an arm on each of the two younger women's shoulders, "Do you really think it could be anything that simple?"
"Yep." Amy smirked
"You're both good." River conceded, "I'm not saying you're right... but you are very good."
Suddenly, gunfire rang out from nearby. The Doctor, Octavian and the women hurried back to the entrance chamber to find that a nervous-looking young cleric had fired at one of the statues. "Sorry, sorry." he said timidly, "I thought... I thought it looked at me."
"We know what the Angel looks like." Octavian said sternly, "Is that the Angel?"
"No, sir."
"No, sir, it is not!" Octavian scolded, "According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil. So it would be good, it would very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of décor."
"Oi, leave the poor man alone." Chelsea told Octavian, then turned to the young cleric. "What's ya name?" she asked him
"Bob, ma'am." he replied
"Ah, that's a great name." the Doctor smiled, "I like Bob."
"It's a sacred name." Octavian explained, "We all have sacred names, they're given to us in the service of the Church."
"Sacred Bob." the Doctor remarked, "More like Scared Bob now, eh?"
"Yes, sir." Bob admitted
"Ah, good." the Doctor reassured him, "Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron." He turned to Octavian. "Carry on."
"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes." Octavian announced, then turned to Bob. "You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach."
"I don't think splitting up's a good idea." Chelsea said to Octavian, "Bad things tend to happen who're separated from others."
"This isn't a horror movie, Miss Willows." Octavian rolled his eyes and walked away, the Doctor and the women following him.
~8~
The remainder of the group were soon making their way through the winding passages that made up the maze of the dead. "Isn't there a chance this lot's gonna collapse?" Amy pointed out, "There's a whole ship up there."
"Incredible builders, the Aplans." River remarked
"Had dinner with their chief architect once." the Doctor said, "Two heads are better than one."
"You mean you helped him?" Amy questioned
"No, I mean he had two heads." the Doctor told her. "That book, the very end, what did it say?" he asked River
"Hang on." River pulled out the book from her kitbag and rifled through it to the last page.
"Read it to me."
River found the last page and read it out; "'What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels.'"
On that ominous note, the group continued their trek through the maze.
~8~
"Are we there yet?" Amy moaned as they reached the fourth level, "It's a hell of a climb."
"The maze is on six levels, representing the ascent of the soul." River explained, "Only two levels to go."
"Lovely species, the Aplans." the Doctor remarked, trying to take his mind off the increasingly uneasy feeling he was getting the longer they stayed in the maze, "We should visit them some time."
"I thought they were all dead." Amy frowned
"So's Virginia Woolf. I'm on her bowling team." the Doctor replied nonchalantly, "Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. That's having two heads. You're never short of a snog with an extra head."
"Doctor, there's something." River frowned, looking at the statues uneasily, "I don't know what it is..."
"Yeah, something wrong." the Doctor replied, "Don't know what it is either, working on it."
"Glad it's not just me." Chelsea muttered, her sense of unease growing by the second.
"Of course, then they started having laws against self-marrying." the Doctor continued, deciding that having a good ramble would help kick his brain cells into gear, "And what was that about? But that's the church for you." He suddenly remembered the presence of religious people. "Er, no offence, Bishop."
"Quite a lot taken, if that's alright, Doctor." Octavian grunted as they entered a narrow passageway lined with statues, "Lowest point of the wreckage is only about 50 feet up from here. That way."
"Church had a point, if you think about it." Amy remarked, "The divorces must've been messy."
The Doctor suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked at a statue, it clicking for him what was wrong. "Oh." he breathed.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked
River realised what was wrong too. "Oh." she breathed, going as white as a sheet.
"Exactly." the Doctor nodded
"How could we not notice that?"
"Low level perception filter, or maybe we're thick."
Chelsea noticed that the Doctor and River had been looking at the statues when they'd had their moments of realisation so she looked at one and the penny dropped for her too. "Oh, no." she breathed quietly.
"What's wrong, sir?" Octavian asked the Doctor
"Nobody move." the Doctor ordered, "Everyone stay exactly where they are. Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in danger.
"What danger?" Octavian narrowed his eyes
"The Aplans." River told him grimly, keeping her gaze fixed on one of the statues.
"The Aplans?"
"They've got two heads."
"Yes, I get that. So?"
"So why don't the statues?" the Doctor asked rhetorically, prompting everyone to look at the statues and they saw that sure enough, they had only one head. "Everyone over there." the Doctor ordered, pointing to a spot that was clear of statues, "Just move, don't ask questions, don't speak." Everyone filed back into the clear area and huddled together. "Ok, I want you all to switch off your torches."
"Sir?" Octavian questioned
"Just do it! the Doctor snapped. So all the Humans turned their torches off, leaving just the Doctor's. "Ok." he said, "I'm gonna turn off this one too, just for a moment."
"Doctor, if ya don't mind me saying so, I really hope you're wrong." Chelsea said uneasily
"Me too." the Doctor swallowed. He switched his torch off for a split second and when he turned it back on, everyone saw that the statues had moved. They now appeared to be lunging at the group.
"Oh, my God!" Amy gasped, "They've moved!"
The Doctor looked back down the passageway they'd came from and saw that the statues in those passages had moved too. "They're Angels." he said grimly, "All of them!"
"But they can't be!" River blustered. She was so sure that there was only one Angel that they were dealing with. Now it seemed that she had accidentally led everyone into a hornet's nest.
"Clerics, keep watching them." the Doctor ordered, then he backtracked and saw that the Angels had moved forward. "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."
"There was only one Angel on the ship." River said apologetically, "Just the one, I swear."
"Could these ones have been here already?" Chelsea suggested
"The Aplans, how did they die out?" the Doctor asked
"Nobody knows." River replied
"We know." the Doctor said gravely.
"They don't look like Angels." Octavian observed, shining his torch on the statues. Their faces were distorted and featureless.
"And they're not fast." Amy added, "You said they were fast. They should've had us by now."
"Look at them, they're dying, loosing their form." the Doctor replied, "They must've been down here for centuries, starving."
"Loosing their image." Amy nodded.
"And their image is their power." the Doctor confirmed, then he had another horrifying realisation. "Power." he blinked, "Power!"
"Doctor?" Amy questioned
"Don't you see?" the Doctor hollered, "All that radiation spilling out, the drive burn. The crash wasn't an accident. It was a rescue mission, for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army and it's waking up."
"Oh, this just keeps getting worse and worse." Chelsea muttered. When the Doctor had suggested going to the Delerium Archive, she'd been all for it, thinking that maybe they would have a day off from nearly being killed, but alas it seemed the universe was determined not to cut them some slack.
"We need to get out of here fast." River determined
Octavian pulled out his communicator, realising that he'd rather stupidly left three good men in the middle of these assassins. "Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please. Any of you, come in!"
"It's Bob, sir." Bob's voice came over the comm, "Sorry sir."
"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you?" Octavian asked, "The statues are active. I repeat, the statues are active!"
"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir."
The Doctor snatched the comm from Octavian. "Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?"
"I'm talking to my.." Octavian said irritably, but the Doctor just waved him off, no time for pleasantries in this emergency.
"I'm on my way to you, sir." Bob answered, "I'm homing on your signal."
"Well done, Bob. Scared keeps ya fast, told you, didn't I?" the Doctor said, "Your friends, Bob, what did the Angel do to them?"
"Snapped their necks, sir."
"That's odd." the Doctor frowned, "That's not how the Angels kill you. They displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something."
Octavian took the comm back. "Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan..."
"Oh, don't be an idiot." the Doctor rolled his eyes, snatching the comm back, "The Angels don't leave you alive." He turned to the comm. "Bob, keep running. But tell us... how did you escape?"
"I didn't escape, sir." Bob replied, "The Angel killed me too."
"What d'you mean, the Angel killed you too?" the Doctor questioned.
"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick, so that was something."
"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?"
"You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."
Chelsea nearly felt sick. "It killed him and stole his voice?!" she squirmed to herself
"So when you say you're on your way up to us..." the Doctor began into the communicator
"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes."
The Doctor hung and turned to the others. "No way out." he said grimly
"Then we get out through the wreckage." Octavian decided, "Go!"
"Go, go, go!" the Doctor urged the Humans, "All of you run!"
"Doctor?" Amy called, seeing that the Doctor was making no effort to move himself.
"Yes, I'm coming, just go, go, go!" the Doctor waved her off and Chelsea and River ushered her away with the other clerics. The Doctor and Octavian remained. "Called you an idiot, sorry." the Doctor said, "But there's no way we could've rescued your men."
"I know that, sir." Octavian said bitterly, "And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families." And he stalked away.
The Doctor hung his head for a moment, cursing himself for failing to notice the perception filters sooner, then he got back onto the communicator. "Angel Bob, which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?"
"Yes, sir. The other Angels are still restoring."
"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage." the Doctor realised, "Thank you." He hung up and legged it down the passageway the others had gone done.
~8~
On the way, the Doctor found Amy standing still and clutching a railing like her life depended on it while Chelsea stood nearby. "Don't wait for me." the Doctor told them, "Go, run!"
"We're not waiting." Chelsea told him, "She just stopped."
"I can't move." Amy told them, "No, really I can't."
"Why not?" the Doctor questioned
"Look at it. Look at my hand." Amy said, gesturing to the hand that was clutching the railing, "It's stone!"
The Doctor and Chelsea looked at Amy's hand. It was perfectly fine. "What're ya talking about?" Chelsea frowned, "Ya hand's fine!"
The Doctor realised what had happened. "You looked into the eyes of the Angel, didn't you?" he said, shining his torch in Amy's eyes.
"I couldn't stop myself. I tried." Amy defended her mistake
"Listen, it's messing with your head." the Doctor told her, "Your hand is not made of stone."
"It is! Look at it!"
"You're imagining it, Amy." Chelsea tried, "Ya hand's the same as ours. Just let go."
"I can't, Chels, ok?!" Amy insisted, "I've tried and I can't. It's stone."
Their torches then began to flicker. "The Angel is gonna come and it's gonna turn these light off, and there's nothing I can do to stop it." the Doctor said, "So do it, concentrate, move your hand!"
"I can't!"
"Then we're all going to die." the Doctor said simply
"You're not gonna die!" Amy shot back
"They'll kill the lights." the Doctor reminded as the torches flickered again and the deformed Angels came into view.
"You've got to go, you know you have." Amy told the Doctor, "You've got all that stuff with River and that's all gotta happen. You know you can't die here!"
"Time can be re-written, it doesn't work like that." the Doctor said simply as the lights flickered again, allowing the Angels to creep closer. "Keep ya eyes on them." the Doctor warned the women, "Don't blink."
"Run!" Amy hissed
"I can't leave you, Ames!" Chelsea protested
"I don't need you to die for me, Chels." Amy retorted, "Do I look that clingy?"
"Well, move ya hand, then!"
"It's stone!"
"No, it ain't!"
The Doctor then decided there was only one thing for it. "Amy Pond, you are magnificent, and I'm sorry." he said
"It's ok, I understand." a resigned Amy said, "You've got to leave me."
The Doctor just grinned manically. "Oh, no, I'm not leaving you, never." he told Amy, "I'm sorry about this!" And he promptly sank his teeth into Amy's hand, causing her to scream and let go of the railing. "See, not stone." the Doctor told her, "Now run!"
"You bit me!" Amy moaned
"Yep, and you're alive."
"I've got a mark! Look at my hand!"
"Yeah, and you're alive, did I mention?"
"Blimey, your teeth! Have ye got space teeth?!"
"Alive, did I mention."
"Oh, for God's sake. Can we talk about this when we're not being chased by killer statues?!" Chelsea cut in, grabbing both their arms and dragging them away.
~8~
The trio hurried through the tunnels until they caught up with the others in a cavern where they could see the nose of the Byzantium poking through the roof. "Clerics, we're down to four men." Octavian warned his remaining men, "Expect incoming."
"Yeah, it's the Angels." the Doctor said as they joined them, "They're coming and they're draining the power for themselves."
"Which means we won't be able to see them." Octavian realised. He knew enough about the Weeping Angels to know that there was no chance of surviving them in the dark.
"Which means we can't stay here." the Doctor said simply
"Any suggestions?" River asked
"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium." Octavian said pessimistically
"There's no way up, no way back, no way out." River told the Doctor, "No pressure, but this is usually when you have a really good idea."
"There's always a way out." the Doctor muttered, racking his brains to think of a solution to their current predicament while the lights flickered around them, allowing the Angels to box them in.
"Doctor?" Angel Bob's voice called over the communicator, "Can I speak to the Doctor, please?"
"Hello, Angels. What's ya problem?" the Doctor said into the comm
"Your power will not last much longer and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir."
"Why're you telling me this?"
"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."
"Which is?"
"I died in fear."
"I'm sorry?"
"You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down."
"What're they doing?" Amy asked River quietly
"They're trying to make him angry." River replied
"Yeah, we've seen him when he's angry and it's not a good thing to see." Chelsea muttered, remembering the Doctor's outburst on Starship UK.
"I'm sorry, sir." Angel Bob continued, "The Angels were very keen for you to know that."
"Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not gonna let that pass." the Doctor replied, "I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever's left of you, they will be sorrier."
"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."
The Doctor had an idea. It was risky but it was their only chance. "Yeah, we're trapped." he said, "Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake!"
"What mistake, sir?"
The Doctor didn't reply, he just turned to Amy. "Trust me?" he asked
"Yeah." Amy replied
The Doctor turned to Chelsea. "Trust me?" he asked cautiously
"At the moment." Chelsea muttered. Although she was still on the fence with the Doctor, she knew that he was their only hope at the moment.
The Doctor was a little hurt that she still didn't trust him fully but he accepted it for now and turned to River. "Trust me?"
"Always." River grinned
Then the Doctor turned to the clerics. "You lot, trust me?"
"Sir, two more incoming!" a cleric warned their bishop
"We have faith, sir." Octavian told the Doctor
"Then give me your gun." the Doctor instructed and Octavian handed him his blaster pistol. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous." the Doctor informed everyone, "When I do, jump." He jumped on the spot to illustrate his point.
"Jump where?" Chelsea asked
"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Willows. On my signal."
"What signal?" Octavian asked
"You won't miss it." the Doctor said, aiming his blaster at the gravity globe above them.
"Sorry, can I ask again?" Angel Bob's voice said over the communicator, "You mentioned a mistake?"
"Oh, big mistake." the Doctor answered, "Huge. There's one thing you never put in a trap. If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever, put in a trap."
"And what would that be, sir?"
"Me." the Doctor spat and promptly fired the blaster at the gravity globe, plunging the cavern into darkness.
To be continued...
Author's notes: And so Chelsea and Amy meet River Song. I've had a few days off from work so I've been able to get this chapter done. That bit at the beginning is something that I was thinking about, Chelsea being Amy's cousin would try and make sure that Amy doesn't try to get out of her wedding. Bit of trivia, the teal hoodie that Amy haggles over is a reference to Karen Gillian's screentest photos, where she wore an outfit similar to the one she wore in this two-parter but with a teal hoodie instead of red. Also note that Chelsea is wearing a scarf here. That might just come in handy next time. Also note that Chelsea comments on River being similar to Mels. Unlike Moffat, I'm giving Mels some setup instead of just dropping her in out of the blue. So, hope you like the new chapter and I hope to see ya next time!