Notes:
Were you just thinking to yourself that these stories could do with less plot and more Angel and the Doctor sitting in a bar chatting?
You're welcome.
Notes on the Timeline: In the Whoniverse, this is set after the Doctor dropped Amy and Rory off at their new house and is putting some distance between himself and them. Sometimes when the Doctor travels alone, he visits Queen Nefertiti, and other times, he visits a surly vampire.
In the Angelverse…this is 200 years post-NFA. See the Newbies note for more on that.
If you've read War Stories, this is 23 years later (and if you want to fill in some of that gap, go read the Interaction series).
Same-same, but different fyi: This story occurs simultaneously with Confidants and Rubies from the Interaction series. They do not need to be read in tandem or in any order or at all for either to make sense – all of the relevant info is given at the appropriate times. Honestly, they're two completely different stories; there's just some emotional things going on that tie them together (aside from, you know, happening in the same time frame).
For Newbies to Either/Both Series: As noted, this is part of the Blood and Time series and a crossover with Constant Comment Tea's Interaction series. You don't have to be as insane as we are to read this story.
Context:
1. Angel and the Doctor are friends-ish. Angel has met 9, 10, and 11.
2. The year is 2229. Angel is living in Galway, Ireland, where he brought Connor to spend his last days. (Connor is, sadly, no longer with us, but Angel stuck around.)
3. The possible accidental murder of the Doctor that Angel wonders about happened in A Short Trip Outside the Universe (Blood and Time series).
4. Judith Cole is a long-time friend of Angel's. When Judith's son, William, was 9, Angel rescued and accidentally befriended him, and then even more accidentally became a mentor/father figure for him after William's parents divorced. William is now a married adult living somewhere outside of town. (Reference: The Art of Human Interaction, Interaction series.)
5. Angel and Judith's friendship very recently (and surprisingly to both of them-and to CCT, honestly) became sexual, but not romantic. Context is given in this story, but the actual details are in Confidants and Rubies (which, as said above, spans the same time frame as this story). (Sorry, we know: 25 years of crossover backstory and a simultaneous fic. The series notes do warn you that we like things complicated.)
Chapter 1: The Demon Parking Authority
"You know, I've never understood space travel," Angel said, leaning back against the booth as he swirled his drink pensively in one hand.
He was grasping. Despite the nonchalance of the smooth, circular wrist movements and the casual airiness of his tone, Judith Cole knew he was grasping. How? She was grasping, too.
"Me neither," she said. "Mechanically, anyway. I understand some of the physics; I understand why we pursue it… Wait, did you mean why we pursue it?" Angel never seemed to exhibit the same insatiable exploratory curiosity as humans and she suddenly realized that she didn't understand what he was getting at - aside from getting away from the obvious.
"Yeah." Seeming to settle into the idea that this conversation could actually go somewhere, Angel relaxed his arms against the table. "I mean... When I was growing up, Dublin was nearly two days away. I didn't go to the New World until the early 20th century and it was incredible that we could make it there in a week. Now...kids are taking school trips to the moon, and Mars is an exotic travel destination."
Judith nodded, also settling into the conversation. There, that wasn't so hard, now, was it?
It was their first time meeting at the Dragon's Crown since a few weeks ago when Angel had gone home with Judith and spent the night. Since then, there hadn't really been opportunity to re-establish the norm where they meet up as friends and don't go home as lovers. "Just one night" had become three, and tonight was a test for the hypothetical Number Four.
It might help if they talked about it; and they would - eventually. Judith usually liked to talk things out, but Angel didn't; and the flavor of uncertain excitement he brought to each encounter was reminding Judith why she used to not like to talk things like this out, either. While it was new, it also felt safe, and that was why she was helping him search for a different topic.
A lock of hair that had recently turned particularly silvery slid out of the clip at the back of Judith's head and over one eye, and she tucked it behind her ear instead. "It's incredible to me, too. And I even went on one of those school trips."
"How did you like it? The moon?"
Judith smiled at the memory. "It was magical. The way we could practically fly around the surface like birds, the way the moondust seemed to glow with sunlight, the idea that we were so far from Earth, anything could happen. I was 9." She paused. "And in a sense, it was frustrating to be there, as well. It's the closest I had ever come to touching the stars, and they were still so far away."
Judith looked at Angel and brought herself back to Earth. She took a sip of her gin and tonic. "And you? Have you ever been?"
Angel nodded slowly, and Judith knew him well enough by now to tell that there was much more to that nod than a simple "yes." She waited while he tapped his glass thoughtfully with his fingertips.
Finally, Angel nodded again, this time like he'd made a decision. "There were these...fish," he said. "Really, they were grad students, but they looked like fish, and they- No wait, before that I was- Well, moving quantum statues don't really have anything to do with the moon, you know, but if you want context..."
Judith's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Angel wasn't known for his eloquence, but since they were talking about the moon, he had lost her at "fish."
Angel stopped and gave a short sigh of frustration. Clearing his throat, he started over: "There was this...man who..." Angel stopped again, trailing off, but this time it didn't look so much like he'd lost track of the story he was failing spectacularly to tell and more like something had caught his eye.
Judith waited and when he didn't seem to be coming back to their conversation, she turned around in the booth, pushing herself up and around to see the entrance of the pub.
There was a man standing near the entrance in conversation with a demon. This wasn't particularly odd. It was just after midnight and this pub did cater to demons during the later hours.
But it struck Judith that it wasn't the demon that looked out of place - even though at about a meter tall it was rather short for a demon - but the man. His tweed jacket and suspenders were downright old-fashioned and clashed with his practical-looking boots, and all of that did not seem to match the somewhat childish flop to his hair. Most of all, nothing about what he was wearing seemed to have anything at all with his posture, which shouted stoney control.
The man stopped speaking and the demon started nodding frantically. It pointed and for a moment Judith thought it was pointing at her before she realized that it must be pointing at Angel instead.
The man took several purposeful strides in their direction before he actually noticed them. He paused, looking for the briefest second completely shocked. And then it was gone. He spun around and returned to the demon, kneeling in front of it like one does with children.
"Thank you," he said, and Judith could only just make out his words from across the room. The next words she caught were something about a suggestion and a ship leaving Earth.
"But-" the demon started.
Something too quiet to be heard and then, "...half an hour."
"But the engines-"
The man in the tweed suit raised his voice pointedly and Judith could hear him fully now.
"I think you'll find that someone has rerouted all of the power from the laser cannon to the engine. You shouldn't have a problem taking off."
The demon sputtered, anger rising in his voice. "The lasers...those are the only defenses. We need those to-"
"I suggest," the man said, sounding like he wasn't suggesting anything as much as ordering it, "that you try being as polite as possible to anyone you run into if your defenses are not fully operational." He straightened and turned in Angel and Judith's direction and then added over his shoulder to the retreating demon, "Half an hour! I'll check."
He turned frontward again and stopped when he reached their table. "Hello, Angel." It was the kind of Hello you give to a long-time associate with whom you have grave news to discuss.
Angel looked a little more than stunned. "Does that phrase, 'Speak of the Devil,' actually work?"
Judith let out surprised, "Oh." This was the man Angel had just brought up? Not prone to hyperbole, Judith was now inclined to think that the phrase Speak of the Devil was a legitimate magic spell and she should be very careful when using it in the future.
The man in tweed seemed to consider the question. "I'm not sure how far it applies away from the actual Devil," he finally said. "But even that was more thought basis. Perhaps they should change it to 'think of the Devil.' It doesn't have the same ring to it though."
"I bet it would if that were the original phrase," Judith interjected. "Humans place more importance on habit than we often realize."
"Don't they just?" the man said with a smile that seemed like it was made just for Judith. It was both warm and disarming. "I'm the Doctor," he said, holding out his hand.
"Judith Cole," Judith replied, and took his hand. She did not ask "Doctor of what?" or "Doctor Who?" She'd been friends with Angel long enough to know that some men had just the one name, which happened to be a noun, and which concealed their original birth name for a reason.
He shook her hand once and then kissed the air on either side of her face with a sort of formality. Like he'd been told to do it by his mother. "Pleased to meet you," he said, looking her in the eye and seemingly giving that whole moment just to her.
And then he seemed to forget about her completely. "Angel," he said, dropping Judith's hand. "You must know that you have thrown me off. I had a speech ready. I did. I am quite angry and I was about to tell the Person In Charge that they had better shape up or else and then that poor fellow from Trippe goes and tells me that you happen to be in charge." He marched two steps over to another table and snatched a chair and then marched the two steps back, swinging the chair around and flopping into it. He crossed his arms and looked...sulky.
Judith stared at Angel. She had not been prepared for this turn of events. Angel seemed equally thrown, but not as equally surprised.
The Doctor tapped his foot.
Angel glanced around uncertainly and then said, "I'm sorry?"
"That's a start," the Doctor said. "But I would prefer the return of my TARDIS and explanation for why, when I started asking who the person is that would know where the TARDIS is and who had allowed it to be moved at all, everyone eventually said that it was you." He sat back again, giving Angel the expression every parent gave their child right before they said that they weren't angry, just disappointed.
"Er..." Angel shifted uncomfortably, exactly like said child might. "I have no idea where your TARDIS is, Doctor. Where did you leave it? If it was near here, I'm not actually the one to ask; that'd be Joan, the Empath Demon."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow.
"What's a TARDIS?" Judith asked. It was such an intriguing word. It sounded more like a place than a thing; a place that was both ridiculous and profound at the same time.
The Doctor stopped staring at Angel to look at Judith. "It looks like an old police call box," he said, watching her, waiting to see if that had any meaning. It held a little meaning: Judith could extrapolate that it was probably related to a phone booth, but such things were only found in the occasional museum now. How could the Doctor possibly have one and then misplace it?
The Doctor continued, "It's a blue box. Taller than me. Says 'Police Call Box' on it. I happen to be very fond of it."
"I see," Judith replied slowly. "I'm afraid I haven't seen any of those around recently. What does it do?"
The Doctor smiled wistfully at the ceiling. "Everything."
"Goodness," Judith said. "That's quite a police box."
The Doctor looked back at her. "Well, it's not a police box. It just looks like one. See?"
"An undercover police box? How clever."
He laughed. "Isn't it? And she really is the most lovely shade of blue. I love that color. I would show it to you, of course, except that it happens to have been nicked off of the street like some car with a parking ticket." He shot a look at Angel that clearly said that he had not forgotten about him and that he was still in trouble.
"I'm not in charge of the parking," Angel replied, deadpan. Judith stifled a snicker.
"My parking is perfect," the Doctor said, sounding huffy about the whole issue. "And it's not a car anyway."
Judith decided to step in and be the mediator. It was often part of her job as a Pillar Therapist, after all, and she slipped easily into the role. "Doctor," she said calmly. "Can you give us any other information?" She said 'us,' though she really meant Angel. He was the one with the connections, but she thought inserting herself into the effort might help. "Where you left it, if you noticed any clues at the scene, that sort of thing?"
"Smelled a bit like sulfur," the Doctor said. "And I hear that the power has been going out for the last couple of nights. Sounds like a clue to me!" He smiled mischievously. "I wonder if they're actually trying to break into the TARDIS. It's probably adorable. If you help me find it Angel, we could sit and watch for a bit."
Angel looked briefly like that might be a tempting idea.
"Unless they try to break the lock with a temporal fold manipulator. That might be...bad."
Judith frowned. "How bad?"
"Well, depending on how much power they used of course, they could get stuck in a time loop until we find them. Or even worse, they could decide to not use enough power and only trap a bit of themselves in the loop, which would, of course, take that bit off."
Judith leaned forward, intrigued. "Time loop?" she asked.
Angel shifted suddenly. "Uh, Doctor..." he said quietly. The Doctor ignored him.
"Exactly. It's very dangerous to send only a part of yourself back in time. Particularly for...actually particularly for most things. The part just goes missing and then you have to deal with the consequences of, say, your hand going on holiday." He gave her a solemn look. "It's not pretty."
Judith's heart skipped a beat at the phrase, "back in time," and she had to remind herself to breathe. Could she have heard that wrong?
"Oh no..." Angel said across from her, letting his head fall into his hand.
"Exactly," the Doctor told Angel. "Which is why we should get her back as soon as possible."
"That's really not what I meant," he muttered.
Judith leaned forward even further. "Did you say…'back in time'?"
The Doctor turned back to Judith. "Or forward," he told her. "The direction doesn't matter. The result is the same."
Judith made an odd choking noise in the back of her throat and needed to take several moments to properly digest this and what it meant for her life, which had completely and utterly changed as of that moment.
The Doctor seemed perfectly happy to chatter on while she composed herself. "Unless, of course, your genetic code is temporally solid. Then you just get time sickness. The thing is that your body, and actually the bodies of most things, are not temporally solid at all. It's like you took some dominoes and...actually, no, it's not like dominoes. Forget the dominoes."
Judith turned to Angel suddenly. "Angel, it's been 23 years and not once have you mentioned that you know someone with a time machine. I promise you, the most important question for you to answer right now is, Why?"
Angel leaned away as far as he could and took a very long sip of his scotch.
"It's like," the Doctor decided, "we're different kinds of stone. What do you know about rocks? Actually, forget those too."
"Well, you know," Angel mumbled, shifting again. "I didn't want to get your hopes up or anything… I mean I haven't seen the Doctor in 200 years...aside from that one time about 20 years ago - or 23, you said? - but it was his past-past self, so that doesn't really… I mean, I didn't know if he was still around and..." Angel took another long sip of his drink, looking more guilty than he probably should have.
"I see," Judith said cooly.
The Doctor stopped talking to look at Angel. "200 years? Is that how long it's been for you?" He looked around the room. "What year is this anyway?"
"2229," Angel replied.
"That's a great year!" the Doctor announced. He leaned over to Judith and added in low tones. "This New Year, I suggest making the trip to New York. The fireworks are wonderful. Not so wonderful as 2150, but they had something to celebrate that year, didn't they?"
Judith leaned in toward the Doctor, a youthful sparkle in her eye. "Show me."
The Doctor grinned like the boy that made off with every single cookie in the jar and did not get caught. "Twice if you'd like." He leaned back and sighed. "Once we find the TARDIS, of course."
Judith turned to Angel, standing up. "Angel, let's go. It shouldn't be too hard for you to find some creatures that smell like sulphur."
Angel looked up at her with a slightly bewildered expression. He glanced at the Doctor, then back at Judith, and sighed in defeat. He stood, also, finishing the last of his glass, and followed Judith, who was already halfway to the door with her coat on and tying her scarf around her neck.
In a previous life, before hospital counseling and raising a child, Judith had been working on a Master's degree in history and would have given just about anything for a chance to take a trip in a time machine. Though she'd been to the past before, the trip was hardly a positive experience: searching desperately for her lost son and then having to let him go again before they could return home. She'd hardly even noticed that they were in the 1950's, much less appreciated it.
But that part of her that loved the stories of history (and loved even more that they were real) still lived, and it reignited every time Angel started talking nostalgically about "back in his day," or when he lent her one of his very old books. Now, she felt as if the flames were dancing in her feet, urging her on like some beacon toward the Doctor's promised trip. They were going to find that wonderful blue police box that did "everything."
"I like her," the Doctor said as he fell into step next to Angel. He nodded at Judith as she exited the pub. "Does she have any idea where she's going?"
"Seriously doubt it," Angel replied as they followed her. He was not actually all that concerned with where they were going; since the Doctor had shown up, half of Angel's focus was on figuring out if he'd survived Angel drinking from his neck and leaving him bleeding on the TARDIS floor two hundred years ago.
There had been a good reason for it. Well... A reasonable reason. If Angel hadn't consumed the Doctor's blood and absorbed the Doctor's genetic time-stability, Angel would have been killed. What Angel hadn't been prepared for was just how potent the Doctor's blood was (which, Angel thought later, he maybe should have realized - a thousand-ish-year-old being with more lives to come? Of course that much life would be addicting after several years on pig's blood). He'd drunk more than he'd needed, and certainly more than the Doctor could safely give; and in Angel's delirious rush to find help, the TARDIS had locked Angel out and then left, and Angel never found out if it was the Doctor or the ship's eerie sentience that initiated the take-off sequence.
The next time Angel had seen the Doctor was centuries later (now a little more than twenty years ago), and that was a much earlier version of the Doctor. At the time, Angel's conundrum had been whether or not he should warn the Doctor about the incident. But now, this Doctor looked like the one Angel had drunk from, and Angel wondered how one might clandestinely ask if it was before or after one devoured one's friend, since his neck and any telltale scarring was conveniently hidden under his collar and bow-tie.
Time travel gave Angel such a headache and he wondered how Judith could be so enamoured with the idea.
"Oh," the Doctor said pleasantly. "I really like her then."
Alarm bells began ringing for Angel. "You can't have her, if you're looking for another Companion."
The Doctor stopped briefly and then jogged a few steps to catch up with Angel, running into the door as it swung behind him. "What? That's just...I didn't mean...wait, are you?" He gave Angel a pointed look as they followed Judith's path, taking Angel's elbow and slowing him down just a tad to let Judith take herself a little further out of earshot. "You aren't engaged are you?" he whispered, his breath coming in clouds in the cold winter air. "Because there was this one time..."
"No," Angel cut him off quickly. "Definitely not engaged." As of two weeks ago, definitely not more than friends. How many times could you have sex with 'just a friend' before it became 'more than'? Angel was finding that he was going to have to know pretty soon, especially if the answer was 'more than three but we haven't talked about it yet.'
"Oh, good," the Doctor sighed in relief. "And it looks like she's too old for her mother to show up and slap me. Why does everyone's mother always slap me?" He looked at Angel again. "You're not going to slap me are you?" He took several steps away from Angel.
Angel looked sideways at the Doctor. "When did you last see me?" he asked.
The Doctor's hands stilled, his causal energy pulling back into him like a tide. He coughed, rocked on his heels, and muttered, "Connor."
Angel didn't have to ask more than that. The Doctor had met baby Connor once, but if that was what he meant, he would have said it with a lot more yelling and hugging and reminding Angel that they were going to take Connor to Disneyland. Instead, the Doctor meant the Moment he'd given Angel after Connor had been taken; a suspension in time to grieve and think before moving forward.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor added quickly, like it hadn't been two hundred years.
Angel nodded. "Thanks. And...thank you. I can't remember if I ever did thank you for that, after threatening to kill you and all. But it helped; the Moment did."
Something of a smile crept across the Doctor's face. "I'm glad, then," he said. "I'm always happy to help."
Angel returned it weakly. So this version of the Doctor was from before Angel drank potentially all the Doctor's blood from his neck to save his own life.
Great.
That just made things kind of awkward.
Angel sucked in some cold winter air. "Maybe we should catch up with Judith and steer her in the right direction. Not that midnight walks aren't great and all…"
The Doctor's smile widened. "Perfect!" he cried. His feet swung into action, propelling him down the street after Judith. "Between you and me, that was turning into something of an endless moment, too."
It had been, but Angel couldn't agree before the Doctor was off and Angel had to jog to catch up to him.
"She's very excitable, isn't she?" the Doctor said when Angel caught up to him. "Not that I'm not excitable. Excitable could be my middle name. It's not. But it could be."
Angel raised an eyebrow in the Doctor's direction. Normally Judith wasn't this excitable at all, except when Angel had found new Very Old things to show her. "You have no idea what you've done, do you?"
"I try my best not to," The Doctor admitted solemnly.
"Doctor. Judith is a historian. Practically by birth."
The Doctor made a face. "A historian?" He sounded doubtful. "That's almost as bad as an archeologist. Then again..."
"And you're not the least bit concerned that by finding the TARDIS, all of her lifetime dreams are about to come true? She might actually try to steal it, you know. I mean, Judith is one of the most moral people I've ever met, and she actually could try it."
The Doctor scoffed. "Angel, how could she possibly steal the TARDIS? It's not like she'd know how to work it. There isn't even an instruction manual. And it could all be very easily fixed with a quick trip or two don't you think?"
Angel looked at him dubiously. After a moment, he said, "You stole it..."
The Doctor scuffed one of his feet on the street as they walked. "Yeah," he admitted. "She was just so beautiful, you know?" The Doctor glanced at Angel until he realized that he didn't share the Doctor's infatuation. His countenance fell. "And there is a big difference between me stealing a TARDIS and Judith Cole from 2229 trying to steal a TARDIS."
"Let's hope you're right..." Angel replied as they caught up to Judith, who was waiting at a street corner.
"Well?" she asked Angel breathlessly.
"We were following you," the Doctor told her, like this was a reasonable course of action.
Judith hesitated only the slightest moment. "Well, Angel should still be tracking the culprits," she said like it was obvious.
"Indeed," agreed the Doctor, rocking back on his heels and looking at Angel again.
Somewhat miffed at being used as a bloodhound, Angel glanced around obligingly. "Where did you park it?" he asked the Doctor. Didn't he ask that already? How was he supposed to be expected to help if his questions were ignored?
"Um," the Doctor spun around once and then spun in the other direction. "Over here!" He bounded off down the street to the left.
Two blocks later, the Doctor stopped under a very large, very prominent, "NO PARKING" sign.
"Okay," Angel said, staring up at it. "I know I said I'm not in charge of parking, but really?"
"I already checked the impound," the Doctor admitted, looking at least a little ashamed. But only a little. "Signs are a bit hard to read in the Vortex, you know, and...well, once she's all parked..."
Angel gave a slight roll of his eyes and looked around.
"Does the supernatural world have its own impound?" Judith asked Angel.
"I thought underground societies were to get away from parking tickets," said the Doctor happily.
"That's not their sole purpose," Angel said dryly.
The Doctor nodded. "Of course, but if they get much worse I go and talk to the manager." He gave Angel a look.
"I'm not the manager," Angel argued. "But over there," he jerked his head, "smells kinda sulphur-y."
"Wonderful," the Doctor clapped his hands and walked in the direction Angel had indicated. He looked up as they walked. "I think the real question," he said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and aiming in long sweeping lines along the sidewalk, "is where do they tap into a power source big enough to even try to break into a TARDIS? Or, at least a power line that would make a very stupid person think that they could break into a TARDIS."
As the Doctor was talking, Judith stepped over to Angel and touched his arm. "Thank you, by the way," she said, her eyes shining with a genuine gratitude.
Angel gave her a small smile in response. He had long ago found that Judith Cole was one of those people who was worth making happy. She never demanded happiness from anyone, so when she got it she always treated it like she'd just been given a beautiful gift. This time, a little more so, since she was probably feeling like a child at Christmas.
And then his entire right side erupted in pain and Angel suddenly found himself on the ground.
Angel cried out (and Judith did also, in shock), and rolled away from the impact of whatever hit him, throwing the thing off him and into the wall behind them. It hit with a thud and Angel took the brief moment he had before it recovered to stand up and look at it.
The creature was a short, spiney, dirty-looking thug of a demon. So that was why it hurt so much: the spines hadn't been sharp enough to impale Angel, but they had broken the skin in several places on his arm and side. Angel crouched in a fighting stance and the creature attacked again. Ready this time, the fight was short, but vigorous. Angel was advancing and about to give the demon the very last blow when the Doctor suddenly stepped away from that wall.
"That's enough," he said, placing himself between Angel's fist and the creature. If it weren't for Angel's reflexes, the Doctor would have gotten himself slugged in the gut. Not that that would have been a particularly new thing for either of them...
"Why?" Angel asked in a low voice.
"No one is dying today." It was odd how his voice had changed from the light tones he had been using moments ago to the sound of authority itself. "No one," he told Angel again, like he wanted to be sure that Angel couldn't say he hadn't heard.
Angel stared at the Doctor a long moment. "This isn't your city, Doctor," Angel said quietly. "And this is what I'm in charge of."
Actually, it wasn't entirely Angel's city. He had claimed a territory that started to the east of them on the other side of Lough Atalia, but in this circumstance with this creature, Galway was definitely more "Angel's," and the Doctor was not in charge of how Angel conducted his affairs there. He was attacked; he had rights. Like the right to kill his attacker. It seemed stunningly obvious to him.
The Doctor stepped a bit closer to Angel. "This is my planet," he said, calm but tense. "And this is an alien, which makes it what I'm in charge of."
Angel stared coldly at the Doctor long enough for everyone to know that he wasn't pleased and that it was not a good thing when Angel was not pleased. They had been here before. On the moon, with the fish grad students. The Doctor (with a different face) defending the lives of both allies and hostiles and Angel defending his home and his own. Neither of them had really won that argument, in the end. But arguing it now would incite more violence than even Angel thought was necessary. He'd already likely killed the Doctor once - doing it again would be tragically excessive.
"No second chances," Angel told the Doctor steely, and took a conciliatory step back.
The Doctor's glare, his look of authority, faded. His head tilted briefly, doglike and young. "Do you really believe that?"
Angel was surprised; if the Doctor was going to challenge him on that he'd expected flat-out rejection. Angel glanced over at Judith, who had cautiously approached from behind Angel now that the fighting seemed to have stopped. She was watching for his answer with the same curious expectation she always did when she asked him similar questions over drinks at the Dragon's Crown. And Angel hesitated like he always did.
Judith had the most steadfast moral code of anyone Angel knew, but part of her appeal as a friend was that she didn't hold Angel to the same code. Like Angel, she believed her sense of morality made her safe for others to be around, to invest in, and she understood how one code could not possibly fit all circumstances. Still, Angel didn't like the look he got when a particular clause of their respective moral codes deeply clashed, and he had a feeling this was one of those times.
Angel turned back to the Doctor. "In some cases," he answered honestly. "In this one, yeah." No second chances. "It's important to me."
The Doctor's forehead wrinkled up as he considered Angel's answer. "Well," he started, but then he stood straighter and pulled his shoulders back. "Where do you think you're going?" he demanded, using what Angel was starting to think of as his Dad-Voice.
The injured demon (er...alien) cringed and stopped trying to creep away. The Doctor twisted away from Angel and placed his hands on his hips, looking down at the creature. He made a series of clicking noises with his tongue and whistled between his teeth.
The demon looked confused. Still hurting and fully aware that it had been caught, it sat on the pavement and rubbed a clawed hand on its injured shoulder. It clicked sullenly back.
"Why would it attack us?" Judith wondered out loud, mostly toward Angel while the Doctor continued to click and whistle. "Such a small creature singly attacking a group of three? Seems rather stupid to me."
The Doctor turned briefly away from his conversation with the demon to smile at Judith. "Good point," he said. "Although they are a bit better at fighting than you think. That initial attack was supposed to take Angel out, which would have left us to deal with, and I don't know about you, but I'm not that good at fighting. Fortunately, Angel is probably immune to most poisons. You are, aren't you?" He looked at Angel worryingly.
"Most of them," Angel replied tersely, though he began to examine his gently-bleeding injuries anyway, just in case.
"Good." The Doctor turned back to the alien and trilled at it, occasionally adding a click of his tongue and on one occasion a sweeping wave of his hand that nearly hit Judith.
It clicked back at the Doctor briefly and tried to push its way up from the ground.
The Doctor looked over his shoulder at Angel and then shifted a bit so he was out of view. The alien clicked again. He gave the alien a longsuffering look and then turned to Angel. "Could you step back a bit? You're scaring him."
Angel gave the Doctor an exasperated glare. He stepped back about two inches and crossed his arms defiantly.
The Doctor shrugged helplessly at the alien. His expression shifted to seriousness and he seemed to ask it something in earnest. The alien replied. This went on for a while: the Doctor clicking and trilling and occasionally humming questions and the alien responding. Towards the end, it looked like the Doctor was not gesturing as a part of the language but miming the shape of the TARDIS. The alien shook its head.
Eventually, the Doctor reached across the alien and pulled something out of its pocket (it had pockets?). The alien shrieked and made a grab for it, but the Doctor stood up, bringing the device out of reach. He casually flipped it over and stepped back as the alien made another grab for him. The Doctor hummed a bit; maybe at the creature or maybe to himself.
The alien seemed to change tactics and started whimpering. "Oh, come now," the Doctor chided. "It's not that bad." He pressed several buttons on the device and dropped it back onto the alien. He crouched down again and said something to it and then pointed to the wall under the "NO PARKING" sign. The alien nodded miserably.
The Doctor nodded and stood. "Come on," he said to Judith and Angel. He was already walking back towards the main street.
Angel followed reluctantly.
"But what about the creature?" Judith asked from ahead of Angel. It now seemed to be trying to prop itself against the wall using only one arm. "What did you do?"
The Doctor paused at the main intersection. He looked over at Judith and said, "I called his parents." The light changed and the Doctor crossed the street.
"Oh!" Judith glanced back at the creature. "Yes, that makes sense now," she agreed.
"Excuse me?" said Angel, still on the this-thing-tried-to-kill-me line of thought, which ran directly parallel with demons-don't-have-parents (except in the strictly biological sense. And not even all species had those).
"His parents," the Doctor repeated. "Kid's got rotten luck and terrible friends, but it's hard to pick good friends where you're young."
Angel glared back at the de- alien, but the longer he looked at it, the more it did look like a miserable teenager. It slumped under the sign the Doctor had indicated with a sullen expression, seemingly determined to ignore both the Doctor and Angel in hopes that this part of its night would quickly disappear. And then it pulled that device out of its pocket and prodded at the buttons.
Angel could swear the Doctor warped reality around him when he showed up places. It wasn't right. And, fearing he was turning into a teenager himself Angel thought, it wasn't fair.
"I know I didn't pick good friends when I was a teenager," Angel sighed, facing forward again.
"Nor me," Judith agreed.
"There you go," said the Doctor clapping his hands together. "Anyway, he was a little helpful. Angel, have you ever heard of a group called the Westlanders?"
There was a new player in town, and he was recruiting.
Auditions were tonight, and Grop was determined to pass. He hadn't met this new guy yet, but word on the street was that Iral was the real deal. Word on the street...was that Iral had Seth Aisner worried.
If Grop could get in with a boss on that league, everything would be right. He'd have status at work. Grina might finally notice him. His parents would welcome him home for Halloween again. He could afford a new place - maybe one not in the vampire's territory. There was a reason his sewer flat was so cheap.
It was a simple audition, too: just find the Time Lord and bring him back to Iral. Iral had the blue timeship. The Time Lord was supposed to...honestly, Grop hadn't been paying attention to what the Time Lord was for, if he'd ever been told. The Time Lord was wanted. And Grop had the best sense of smell east of Lough Atalia.
Grop had picked up the Time Lord's distinctive scent north of the Dragon's Crown and followed it in a winding, chaotic route past the spiny Qlen, who was weeping under a No Parking sign (and who looked rather beaten up, Grop noted with concern - not for the Qlen but for himself. Was the Time Lord capable of that? They hadn't been warned about the violence of Time Lords…). Grop leapt lizard-like from building wall to building wall across dark alleys and slithered along shadowed crevices, gaining on the sharp gunpowder scent of the Time Lord.
Then he heard voices. Unusual, this time of night and in the dead of winter. Grop quickened his pace.
He peered around the corner of a building cautiously out on the sidewalk and he hissed in excitement - there it was, the Time Lord! - but he just as quickly deflated. The vampire was with him. It was just Grop's luck, too. Why did it have to be his landlord protecting the prize?
There was a human female with them, too, but after a quick taste of the air, Grop paid her no mind. She was only a human, though Grop thought he might have seen her at the Dragon's Crown a few times. An odd human, then. He slipped back into the alleys.
Grop couldn't win a fight against Angelus - though his tail club could deliver quite the powerful blow - and it would be social and safe housing suicide to try. He would have to lure them to Iral. But how?
Grop paused at the exit of the next alley over, sideways on the wall, waiting for the group to pass.
Waiting…
A cold hand flattened Grop's neck against the wall and Grop choked, sputtering and flailing. "Back in my day," Angelus' voice growled as he peeled Grop off the wall by the neck and slowly turned him to look in his yellow eyes, "we didn't have no damn scavenger hunt to recruit minions." Grop gulped, his long tail just barely flicking the ground. "We had proper fights to the death."
"Hellooooo!" said the Time Lord, his face appearing next to Angelus's with a good-natured and welcoming smile. "How has your evening been?"
"Angel, I don't think it can breathe," the woman's voice said from behind both of them. Angelus released his hold a fraction.
Grop choked again, the words catching in his manacled throat. "Ira- Ira- l-."
"Angel," both the woman and the Time Lord said again, and Angelus loosened his hold a bit more.
"Iral," Grop managed to sputter out this time. He paused for air.
"If you keep holding him by the neck, he'll take all night to answer," the Time Lord pointed out. Including actually pointing a finger at the hand around Grop's neck.
Angelus slowly set Grop down, his vampire visage retreating, though looking no less menacing for it. Grop took several deep breaths of air while he eyed the three towering people above him. This was why he preferred walking on walls.
"Where's the TARDIS?" Angelus demanded.
"With Iral," Grop answered quickly, his voice still raspy. "Down at the Renmore Pier."
"The one with the carnival?" Angelus asked, sounding concerned. "Or the actual docks?"
"With the carnival," Grop replied. Some years ago, Angelus had lost control of the docks and couldn't be seen near them. This was well known.
"And what exactly are you trying to do with it?" the Time Lord asked.
Grop shrugged. "Open it. Said they needed the Time Lord." Angelus and the Time Lord looked down at him, waiting for more. More that he certainly didn't know. He'd wanted a job that involved sniffing people out, not masterminding box-opening plans. "What's in it?" he asked, curious in spite of himself.
"Never. You. Mind. That." The Time Lord sniffed. "Come on, Angel. The Pier!"
"Wait!" Grop cried before he could stop himself. All three looked down at him curiously and Grop couldn't help but feel like a flock of birds had just eyed him as a potential meal. "Let me come with you." He said this to the Time Lord, who seemed reasonable in a way Angelus was not. "I can get you close." I can still get the credit.
The Time Lord looked questioningly over at Angelus, who looked down at Grop. Grop tried not to shrink away.
"How many are down there?" Angelus asked.
"Iral, Flill, and half a dozen guards. Plus all the other recruits tailing your scent."
Angelus looked back at the Time Lord and gave a minute nod that meant, "If we must it's okay with me," but that Grop was going to take as, "We desperately need him and I'll protect him personally until we get there." It just made him feel more relaxed, even if it was a lie.
The Doctor considered him for another long moment. "One of the leaders doesn't happen to be a scary lady with an eyepatch, do they?"
Grop shook his head.
"Come on, then," the Doctor said, shrugging his shoulders. "The more the merrier."
Grop breathed a deep sigh of relief and scampered ahead, leading the way.
The Renmore Piers were a family favorite summer evening destination for Galway's residents. It boasted a giant, colorfully-lit ferris wheel that also had some impressive pyrotechnic effects for holidays and celebrations. There were arcades and concessions and the best seafood restaurant in town, and, of course, small docks for the recreational boater. Day rentals and season rentals were available, and it was just a short walk to a small beach.
Judith and her ex-husband Sam had often taken William here when he was growing up, and she'd continued taking him a few summers after the divorce, but by then he was starting to go with friends more often than with her. She knew the place well and had many fond memories of it.
Which was why she was more than a little uncomfortable with breaking in, even though the electronic security system that had locked the gate was so far behind them she couldn't even see it anymore. None of the others seemed phased, though (it was the Doctor who had actually done the breaking - only he didn't call it breaking when he was using a screwdriver to do it), so Judith didn't say anything. Instead, she focused on the importance of getting the Doctor's ship back, even though there was little she could actually do to help.
It being mid-January, the docks were closed and empty for the season, the buildings locked and dark and tucked into winter security systems. They crept quietly along the road that lined the bay, the docks to their right and storage lockers to their left. The ferris wheel loomed up ahead like a sleeping sea monster. All was not quiet.
They had nearly reached the ticket office, its bright red paint peeling and dingy, when Judith began to see movement and hear voices. Grop leapt from the street to the near side wall of the ticket office and led them back, away from the docks. They paused at the far side of the ticket office for a moment while Grop clung to the peeling red wall and peered toward the main promenade down the alleyway made by the office and the seafood restaurant on the other side. After a second, he jerked his flat reptilian head down the alley and disappeared into the darkness.
They followed one-by one, the alley so narrow that Angel had to twist his broad shoulders slightly sideways to fit. The Doctor went first, then Angel, and Judith brought up the rear.
This meant that she had no view of the main promenade, but she gathered from Angel and the Doctor's hushed whispers that the TARDIS was out there, and guarded by more demons (or aliens?) than Grop had led them to believe.
Angel's head twisted up toward Grop, who was on the wall high above their heads to stay out of the way. Grop shrank contritely, so Judith guessed that Angel had looked up to glare at him.
The Doctor was still looking around the corner and after a long moment let out a pleased, "Ooh," and then pulled his head back. "Angel!" he said in a loud whisper. "They aren't trying to break in."
"Then what are they trying to do?" Angel whispered back.
"I have no idea!" the Doctor beamed. "They have something interesting hooked up to the side of the TARDIS, though. I'd love to get a look at it." He rubbed his palms together in delight.
"I can get you close," Grop repeated quietly. "I'm supposed to turn you in. I can get you right up to the door."
"And in return you get the credit and an in with Iral?" Angel guessed.
"Well...yes. Naturally."
Angel nodded like that was completely fair. He leaned forward a few inches toward the Doctor. "I can come in behind you while they're distracted. Take out several on this side before they even notice."
The Doctor clicked his tongue. "Nicely," he said. "Nicely as possible."
Angel twisted his neck back to look at Judith, now. The light was too dim for her to see his face, but she could hear the smirk in the way he repeated the words "nicely as possible" to her.
"I don't know why you think I'm on your side about violence," she told him.
"Oh yeah…" Angel said disappointedly. "I don't know why, either."
The Doctor twisted in the tight space and grinned at Judith. "I love it when people are on my side about violence," he said, beaming at her. "Today is definitely turning around." He turned his smile up at Grop and jerked his chin in a lead the way motion, following after Grop as he leapt out over his head onto the main promenade.
Judith moved forward to the edge of the building to see, squeezing in sideways next to Angel. Her back was to his chest and he rested a hand on Judith's shoulder, perhaps to reassure her. Perhaps for some other reason. How would she know? With the new and unspoken-of turn in their relationship, Judith felt deeply aware of their close positioning and his touch; so much so that it was almost a distraction from the demon horde barely a dozen meters from them. Whatever his intention, Judith did find Angel's hand reassuring.
"I got him!" Grop cried out as he led the Doctor through the crowd of creatures, each a different form of grotesque. Some species Judith recognized from the Dragon's Crown - a Kong-Gai, for instance - but most were frighteningly unknown. They parted for Grop and the Doctor until a giant (Judith had to blink to make sure she was seeing it correctly) silvery fish, beach-ball-round and with long, trailing fins, swam out from between two vampires and paused, floating in the air in front of the Doctor.
"I found the Time Lord and brought him!" Grop reported to the fish that was apparently named Iral.
"Hello," the Doctor said, leaning toward the floating fish, "this is a real treat. Tell me, you're floating using-"
Silence. A voice sounded in Judith's head as clear as if it had been said into her ear. She shivered.
Angel's hand on Judith's shoulder gripped her reassuringly and then he let go, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "I'm going to see if I can get closer to the bigger goons."
Judith suppressed a chuckle. Goons. She loved it when Angel used old-fashioned words like that.
He asked, "Will you be okay here?"
It took Judith a second to realize what Angel leaving meant.
It meant he was leaving. Her, all alone. In a dark alley not too far from a - was it actually horde? Gathering? Murder? - of demons (or aliens) and a floating, psychic fish, who were all about to be attacked by Angel and thrown into chaos. Judith swallowed nervously.
"Just...keep an eye out," Angel advised. "There could be more coming. Don't come out of the alley unless you have to. If things get out of control, the safest place is inside the TARDIS."
Judith nodded. "Sure," she agreed, her mouth a bit dry. "If you think it's alright…"
"I know a bunch of these guys," Angel assured her. "Most of them will scatter when the going gets a little hard. They won't want to stop and bother a human on their way out."
Judith did feel a bit comforted at that, so she nodded again, shoulders relaxing. Angel placed a hand on one of her shoulders again and squeezed it with a firm yet gentle grip. Then he slipped past her and disappeared the way they'd come.
When he had gone, Judith peered cautiously out of the alley again to see what was going on.
Several of the creatures had shifted and now Judith could actually see the TARDIS; or a good bit of it, anyway. The ship practically glowed that rich blue, though it was probably the light from the lantern and streaming through the door windows, fading and brightening like gentle breath. It seemed small for a machine that purportedly did everything, and odd that an alien would choose such an obscure artifact to house their technology. Maybe that was the point? On the door she could also make out a silver box just above the keyhole with a screen and several buttons. A large power line ran out of the bottom of the box and snaked across the ground and disappeared between two game booths.
So you're the pilot for this...ahh, it's a ship, the voice continued in her head. The fish continued to float eerily in front of the Doctor, its round glassy eyes staring blankly at everything and nothing.
The Doctor leaned back again, rocking onto his heels and casually tucking his hands into his pockets. "Why'd you steal a Police Box without knowing there was something else inside it?" he said.
Power cannot be hidden. This device tries to hide and by doing so reveals the power it contains.
"Ooh," the Doctor said, pulling a hand out of his pocket and pointing at the box that was attached to the TARDIS, "you're sensing the psychic field. You must be very sensitive to these things. And judging by the equipment you have there you're...what? Trying to access that psychic field." The Doctor let out a disappointed sigh. "Don't be dull and say that you're trying to 'mind control the city.'"
With this, I could have the world! With a flick of its tail, Iral swam back toward the device. Not just a few people at a time, but the whole world bent to my will.
The Doctor groaned. "You could do that. But wouldn't that make the world a tiny bit dull?" He started to step closer to Iral, but two large, green, spike-covered demons grabbed his arms above the elbow. He looked back at one of them, jerking at his arm uselessly before he turned back to the fish. "I mean, I'd hate living on a planet where everyone thought exactly like me. Charming as that sounds."
Judith thought she had to agree, but then, she'd never been particularly interested in amassing power, either. If power was the draw, diversity would be a threat.
You'll find it charming soon enough, the voice replied, and Judith shivered. She really didn't like the sensation of anything being able to just...place words in her head. If that was going to be happening, she'd rather it did through books.
Two large demons prodded the Doctor closer to the TARDIS and Iral. He let out a noise of complaint, but shuffled closer like he was dealing with a rude usher instead of two spine-covered demons. "What I'm a bit curious about," he said, "is why you're looking for me. You have the psychic field, that device is clearly intended to amplify the field...you have your own abilities. I'm not exactly useful am I?"
I'll decide your usefulness, Iral said. The maliciousness came across clearly through Judith's head. Along with the usefulness of your friends.
A clawed hand wrapped itself around Judith's arm and she sucked in a gasp of surprise. Before she had time to even struggle, she was pushed out into the open area of the promanade, right toward the murder (she thought murder fit better than horde) of demons.
What was she supposed to do? Struggle? Call for help? Go quietly? They were heading toward the Doctor - maybe she should go quietly until they got closer to him? Would he even notice, being preoccupied with the giant silvery fish? Could the fish hear all these questions in her head, as he claimed to know the Doctor's thoughts?
Probably, but everyone was suddenly distracted as Angel was brought in from the other side, much less quietly. He was struggling in the grip of two giant grey demons with putty-smooth skin, one of which was limping with a knife still plunged deep in its meaty thigh. Angel's arm was red with blood, but based on how he was trying to punch his captors with it, it seemed the blood wasn't his.
Kill them.
"You might regret that," the Doctor said quickly, for the first time with a hint of urgency in his voice.
Wait!
Judith felt the tip of a knife at her back, sharp and present in a way that consumed most of her thoughts. She felt sweat gathering at her brow, despite the cold winter air.
Iral floated in front of the Doctor. You're hiding something...
"Lots of things," the Doctor said, "up to and including how if you kill my friends, you're never going to get what you want."
The fish flicked its tail and the Doctor winced like he'd been struck. "Okay, that's a bit rude," he complained.
I'll sift your mind like a riverbed.
The two demons holding Angel lumbered toward Judith and her captor, half-dragging Angel between them. Angel shot an oddly confident grin at Judith as they got nearer. "We're getting out of this," he assured her before the demon to his right kneed him in the gut. He coughed and spat. Judith heard a hint of a growl.
The Doctor let out a yell, grimacing as Iral- Well, Judith wasn't sure what sifting a mind entailed, but it didn't sound or look pleasant. Her heart pounded with fear.
There's nothing wrong with my amplifier! the fish objected suddenly.
The Doctor gasped out a laugh. "No, nothing wrong, but it's not working is it? That's because the TARDIS is protected. It's not compatible with you even if you drain a whole power grid. And it's not like you didn't try."
We've found a way around that. Bring him.
"I'm flattered," the Doctor said as the demons around him pulled him closer to the TARDIS, "I mean, yes, you could theoretically use me as a power converter but it'll probably burn out my brain and there's a problem with your amplifier. If I could maybe just..."
They shoved him against the blue wood. He patted the wood reassuringly. "I really think this would go a lot better for everyone if we just all went home," he said. "Come on, put a stop to this. Open a nice little bed and breakfast-"
Demons stuck little nodes on the Doctor's temples.
Turn it on, the fish ordered.
Suddenly, Angel kicked against the ground, throwing his weight into the demon with a limp, knocking him over. Angel jerked his arm free from the other demon, bent and pulled out the knife protruding from the demon's leg and then leapt toward Judith and the demon gripping her arm, which turned to protect itself. Its claws tightened and twisted painfully around her arm, but then Angel did something just beyond her sight and she heard a sickening pop as she assumed some joint snapped. The hand and the knife that had been poking at her back fell away. Judith turned and saw the demon on the ground, cradling its broken-looking wrist.
The grey, putty-skinned mass of Angel's stabbed guard made its way to its feet while the other, uninjured one took a single, lumbering step toward her. Or them, Judith thought with some relief as Angel stepped up next to her holding his knife at the ready. "Stay close to me," he said in a low growl, as he and the two large demons sized each other up. "Remember what I said about the TARDIS."
Judith nodded, and was about to reply when the air suddenly left her lungs. The atmosphere hummed with energy and she could feel several strands of her hair stand on end. Everyone's eyes turned toward the TARDIS, the Doctor, and the floating fish.
She expected to see the Doctor writhing in pain, but instead he stood with a hand in his pocket and a deep frown on his lips.
Iral thrashed his tail. Why isn't it working? Hook it up correctly!
"I told you there was a problem with your amplifier," the Doctor said, he pointed at the box connected to the TARDIS. "It works in both directions." The Doctor's eyes flicked over the crowd, finding Angel.
"Fuck," Angel said, looking like he realized something.
"Touch Judith's head for me," the Doctor said.
Stop him! The fish ordered.
Demons surged forward and Angel grabbed Judith out of the way, his hand pulling her head protectively in toward his chest.
And then her world dissolved into pain.
Afterwards, when she would try to describe the experience, she would liken it to the time she had thought that she had lost William. It had the same sharp ache of loss, the shape of guilt, and yet a dull knowing in the back of her head that it just wasn't true, which allowed her to make it through the experience.
The street blurred in front of her eyes and for a moment she could have sworn that there were figures standing in front of her dressed in red and telling her...something. She couldn't make out the words, but her emotional response was the same numb comprehension as when the police told her that the coroner had found the E.I. poison in Evie's system, but mixed with a sharp realization that something was very very wrong and she knew exactly how to fix it, though she desperately wished she didn't.
Judith was going to do something terrible. She had already done something terrible and she wasn't sure if she could let Angel...no, that wasn't right. Judith blinked and she could see again, but blurred from her own tears. Angel was holding her and whispering into her ear so softly she could barely hear it. She focused on his voice and could feel the alien emotions draining out of her, and as they did she realized that they truly not her own.
"You're okay," Angel was saying. "It's okay. I will kill him. I promise. You're okay..."
She heard another voice talking and then felt more than heard Angel's growled response. "She's not going near that thing. What did you do to her?"
"It's just a memory, Angel, I promise. She'll be fine. You protected her from the worst of it. All she got was a few stray emotions...maybe an image or two. What you should be worried about is how all of them are going to feel when they wake up."
Judith blinked the blurriness out of her eyes and looked around. She was sitting on the cold ground propped up in Angel's arms, and, aside from Angel and the Doctor, was the only one conscious after the...whatever had just happened. Something black and hairy several feet away stirred and groaned. Judith sat up the rest of the way and then Angel helped her stand up. She felt slightly dizzy, but managed to stand on her own.
"Hello there," the Doctor greeted her. "Feeling alright?" he winced. "Maybe that wasn't the right phrasing..."
Judith was not entirely sure how to respond. She could not honestly say she felt "alright," but she was sure she felt much better than the creatures scattered around them. Also, she seemed to be unhurt. Just a bit...shaken. Did that count as "alright"? The Doctor nervously rubbed his fingers together as he watched her with anticipation, and it didn't help her make up her mind on the matter at all.
"Perhaps we'll take her in the TARDIS and just make sure," the Doctor said. He snapped his fingers and Judith could hear the creak of a door somewhere to her right.
Judith turned and the flimsy-looking wooden blue door of the TARDIS opened in slow motion before her eyes. Angel was saying something in protest, but all other sounds around Judith became suddenly muffled as she stared at that open door, mesmerized by its enticing beauty.
It was like the wardrobe opening to Narnia; the looking glass into Wonderland; the barrier to Platform 9 ¾; and eerily, the Gingerbread House. The TARDIS was dark inside, and the wild imagination innate to all children woke up inside her. Instead of black emptiness, she saw entire worlds of possibilities. Judith stepped away from Angel and the Doctor. Between herself and the TARDIS was a sea of twitching, stirring monsters, like choppy ocean waves before a storm.
She could make it.
She stepped over the thick, grey leg that still oozed blood from Angel's knife wound and around another demon with spider-like legs. A tentacle inched toward her, but she was soon out of reach. The open door loomed closer.
And then she noticed the guard - the one with the spikey back that had been holding the Doctor - also pulling its way across the ground toward the door. It was closer; it would make it there first. Judith glanced behind her: Angel and the Doctor were still arguing.
"-not going in there," Angel said firmly.
Clearly, they would be no help at all. Judith turned back to the spikey guard and watched it grasp toward the open TARDIS, and a sudden sense of fierce protectiveness that she was sure could not be all her own overcame her. How long did the side-effects of the Doctor's memories last? She looked at the ground around her, picked up a club-like stick from one of the unconscious creatures, and hurled it with all her might at the guard.
She missed.
But she did make a tremendous clatter that woke up several of the other creatures around her and interrupted whatever speech the Doctor had been making moments before.
"Judith!" both the Doctor and Angel shouted behind her, but it was far too late for that. Judith was already springing across the pavement, dodging between the twitching limbs of the creatures. Hadn't Angel told her to hide in the TARDIS if things got bad? All of those monsters waking up surely qualified.
The guard had made it to its hands and knees. Judith stooped to pick up a fallen helmet, took aim, and threw again. This time, it hit right on target, and though it only served to distract the guard, it was enough. She slipped inside the TARDIS and did the next logical thing she could think of: she closed the door and locked it.
Judith took a moment to breathe several calming breaths. It was eerily quiet and dark in there. She'd expected to be able to hear what was happening through the thin exterior, but the silence was so complete she wondered if she were somehow already in space.
Judith slowly turned around. Her jaw dropped open. Judith had the sudden urge to go back outside into the stirring fray just to make sure she'd seen the outside correctly because inside, it was huge. Judith stepped forward.
It was not nearly as dark as it had first seemed. Softly glowing lights were scattered across various surfaces, including a few of the walls, but most were concentrated around a column on an elevated platform in the center of the room. Judith made her way toward it cautiously.
The lights seemed to grow brighter as she approached the center column, highlighting the greens displayed throughout the room. When she placed her foot on the first step, the whole place hummed to life. Literally. A humming noise came from the direction of the column and Judith could see more glass moving inside of it like lungs rhythmically pumping air in...and out. And in again...and back out.
Judith watched the glass slide up and down as she approached what she guessed must be a control panel. The buttons and levers and dials and wheels and screens and blinking lights seemed to be installed haphazardly onto the sloped desk. All of them practically begged to be touched.
This was the point where Judith almost came back to her senses. Somewhere in the back of her mind, her practical self told her to ask what everything did before she started pushing buttons. That reminded her that she had left the Doctor (who was the only person she knew would know) and Angel outside with several dozen very groggy, but upset monsters.
A screen to Judith's right flickered and she jumped slightly. It was a very old-looking screen, judging by the thickness and picture quality, but as she moved closer she could see exactly what it was trying to show her: the chaos going on outside.
Something screamed and Judith herself let out a cry of shock at the sudden noise. She clapped a hand over her mouth and stared at the screen. Most of the monsters had woken up and Angel and the Doctor were practically lost in the mob. Shouts and yells echoed through the room, along with thuds of fist on flesh, and an odd electronic squealing noise that she was sure could not be helping at all.
The TARDIS doors shuddered with a sudden collision and she jumped again. She needed to do something.
"Doctor!" Angel cried. Judith jumped again and moved closer to the screen, squinting. She could see Angel in a small clearing of unconscious bodies around him. In one movement, he ripped one of the spikes off of the guard's back and hurled it into a huge creature which, when it fell, revealed a very surprised and only somewhat relieved Doctor.
Judith felt a bit nauseous and she looked away at the controls. The rim around a blue sphere half-buried in the console glowed and she took that as a sign. She gently reached out a hand, touched the sphere, and spun it. It spun much faster than it should have. A lever to her left then glowed green and she pulled it. There was a ding to her right and she turned. Her historian's heart skipped a beat and she made her way reverently over to the golden typewriter. She did the only logical thing she could think of, given the circumstances and the way the night was going. She typed,
Help Angel and the Doctor.
The whole room shook. A metallic grating noise drowned out the sounds of the battle going on outside and when Judith hurried back to the screen to see what was happening, she found it blank except for a series of broken circular symbols.
The room lurched, sending Judith stumbling into a railing. She grabbed hold of the metal and hung on for dear life.
This was why she typically didn't do things without reading the directions first. What had gotten into her lately?
Judith managed to keep her footing until the final lurch, which threw her back against the console and into the spinning sphere. She barely had enough time to wonder if that was a bad thing when everything stopped. The silence resumed. The floor felt as solid as earth. She looked around. Nothing moved, except for the illegible symbols shifting across the screen.
It took an extra moment for Judith to realize what she needed to do.
"Angel," she whispered, and hurried down the stairs and to the TARDIS door.
She reached for the lock, but just before her fingers touched it, the lock turned itself. Or, she realized, someone on the other side turned it. She took a quick step away from the door, unsure what was going to come through it.
The door swung inward, revealing the Doctor. "Well," he said, "Angel did try to warn me that you'd steal my TARDIS."