The trio reappeared on the rooftop of the museum, making Amy and Rory start violently. The moment their feet were on solid ground, River was quick to let go of the Doctor and get as far away from Daemon as possible. Besides, she was pleased to see her mother. Not that the redhead knew she was River's mother just yet.
"Amy!" River greeted in a pleased tone before her eyes landed on Rory. "And the plastic Centurion?"
She glanced questioningly back at the Doctor, who answered without taking his eyes off Daemon.
"It's okay, he's on our side."
"Really?" River asked and the Doctor nodded once briskly.
"Yeah."
River turned back to Rory curiously while the Doctor raised his brows at Daemon, who simply folded her arms across her chest defiantly.
"So, what's going on?" Amy demanded as she looked from River to the Doctor to Daemon and back.
"The Tardis is exploding, the universe is in flux, and time is collapsing." River answered. Amy frowned.
"So, what do we do?" The redhead asked, but Rory interrupted with a question of his own.
"Er… what are they doing?" Rory pointed between Daemon and the Doctor. "And what's wrong with Terry's eyes?"
"Oh, don't worry about it. They're just arguing." River answered in a dismissive tone that was betrayed by the uneasy glance she shot at the two Time Lords who remained locked in a staredown.
"Okay..." Rory said slowly. "But what's wrong with Terry's eyes?"
River bit her lip, when suddenly Daemon snapped aloud at the Doctor, "No, what's ridiculous is you wearing a fez and pretending you think you're cool with your absurd clothes and careless attitude!"
"There's nothing wrong with a fez. Fezes are cool, as are bowties." The Doctor countered before his gaze darkened. "Now, I'm asking for the last time. Give her back to me."
Daemon sneered. "Sorry, Doctor, but you don't scare me. And I think you'll actually want me around for this part."
With that, she abruptly snatched the fez off the Doctor's head ("Oh!" the Doctor cried) and she threw it off the roof. Right as a Dalek rose above the parapet.
"Extermin-" The Dalek was cut off as the fez bounced off it.
It blasted the offensive felt hat while the Doctor yelled at the others, "Run! Run!"
As everyone started running, the Doctor demanded of Daemon, "You couldn't have warned us earlier?"
"Like you did when you blew up Gallifrey?" Daemon shot back.
The Doctor's expression went cold, but River yelled at them, "What are you two doing? Move!"
The Doctor and Daemon turned to see the Dalek spinning to aim at them. The Doctor hastily grabbed a satellite dish, and used it as a shield against the Dalek's shots as he and Daemon quickly ran across the roof. The Doctor barely managed to block all blasts until he and Daemon made it to the doors leading to the stairwell. River and the others ducked further inside as the two Time Lords dove inside and the Doctor slammed the door behind them shut.
The group's heavy breathing was the only sound for a moment as the Doctor leaned against the door slightly. River meanwhile had her gun pointed at the roof hatch warily and Rory and Amy stood behind her anxiously.
"Doctor, come on." River ordered as she started to slowly usher the Ponds down the stairs.
"Shush." The Doctor hushed her as he pressed his ear against the hatch, listening intently. "It's moving away, finding another way in."
"Which it will do in the next five minutes." Daemon intoned. The Doctor checked his watch and nodded before he hurried ahead down the stairs.
"You're right. It also needs to restore its power before it can attack again. Which means we've got four and a half minutes before it's at lethal capacity."
"How do you know that?" Rory asked, bewildered.
"Because that's when it's due to kill me." The Doctor answered bluntly.
Amy's jaw dropped while River asked incredulously, "Kill you? What do you mean, kill you?"
"Oh, shut up. Never mind." The Doctor groaned as he made to leave. But River wasn't about to let things drop.
"It can't kill you." She protested, glancing back at the Time Lady who was still standing near the top of the stairs. "For one, Daemon would never allow-"
"Quite right." The Doctor cut in briskly. "Now, come on, we have less than four minutes now."
"But-" River started to protest when Daemon swept past her as she strode down the stairs after the Doctor.
Her leisurely pace and cold expression made River pause while the Doctor hurried down into the museum. Eyeing the Time Lady warily, River followed as Daemon trailed behind the Doctor while Amy and Rory hurried to catch up as they made their way deeper into the museum.
"How can that Dalek even exist?" The Doctor was murmuring as he hurried down yet another corridor. "It was erased from time and then it came back. How?"
Rory chimed in as he walked behind the Time Lord, "You said the light from the Pandorica-"
"It's not a light, it's a restoration field." The Doctor corrected before he shook his head. "But never mind, call it a light. That light brought Amy back, restored her, but how could it bring back a Dalek when the Daleks have never existed?"
The Doctor stopped walking and he turned to stare at Amy pensively. Daemon however was wiping her nails in a bored manner that made River shoot her a nasty glare.
"Would it kill you to not be condescending if you're not going to tell us what you know?" River demanded. Daemon lifted her gaze.
"That's your MO, isn't it?"
River made a face and Amy finally turned to Daemon.
"You're not Terry, are you?" She guessed, speaking what had been on her and Rory's minds since they saw the Time Lady. Daemon clapped slowly.
"Give the girl a prize." She said sarcastically. Amy's eyes narrowed angrily but the Doctor interjected.
"Moving on-"
"No, hang on, you're saying that's not Terry and you want us to just move on?" Rory asked incredulously.
"Yes, exactly, see? Rory the Centurion gets it." The Doctor then went on as though he couldn't see Rory's incredulity. "So. How? How is any of this possible?"
He paced as he began to think aloud.
"When the Tardis blew up, it caused a total event collapse. A time explosion. And that explosion blasted every atom in every moment of the universe. Except-"
He stopped pacing and turned back to face them as the same realization hit them all.
"Except inside the Pandorica." Amy finished slowly. The Doctor nodded.
"The perfect prison." He murmured. "And inside it, perfectly preserved, a few billion atoms of the universe as it was. In theory, you could extrapolate the whole universe from a single one of them, like, like cloning a body from a single cell. And we've got the bumper family pack."
"No, no. Too fast. I'm not getting it." Rory interrupted.
The Doctor glanced at him and Daemon interrupted, "The Pandorica contains a memory of the universe as it was before the Tardis exploded.
"And the light transmits the memory," the Doctor finished for her. "And that's how we're going to do it."
"Do what?" Amy asked, still confused. The Doctor turned to her.
"Relight the fire. Reboot the universe. And, most importantly, save Terry."
Amy and Rory stared while Daemon scowled and River frowned. The Doctor didn't let that deter his excitement.
"Come on!" He called as he turned and strode off down the hallway.
"You know, he said to me that my girlfriend wasn't more important than the universe." Rory said suddenly. "To be fair, it was a test to make sure I was really me again but…"
River just shrugged.
"So he's a hypocrite. What else is new?" She pointed out as she hurried after the Doctor.
Rory paused and then nodded as he realized River was right. Amy however turned to him curiously.
"What did you say to him?" At Rory's confused expression, she clarified, "When he said I wasn't more important than the universe. What did you say?"
"Oh." Rory shifted awkwardly. "I, uh… Well… I… That is…"
"He said you were to him."
The couple turned to look at Daemon in surprise. The Time Lady was watching them with an odd expression on her face. It wasn't quite fond nor was it exactly soft. But it was the kindest expression to grace Daemon's face and Amy frowned at her.
"Why are you looking at us like that?" She asked warily. Daemon shook her head.
"No reason." She started off but Rory persisted as he and Amy followed behind her.
"No, you were looking at us like you, I don't know, you knew us-"
"I do know you." Daemon interrupted, suddenly irritated again. "Terry Storm can't see what I do because it's a one way street. I see what she does, I feel what she does, because she is me."
"And you're her." Rory pointed out and Daemon sighed.
"How to explain something as complicated as the time vortex?" She shook her head. "No, she is me but I'm not her."
"What does that mean?" Rory wondered again, but they had caught up to the Doctor and River by now… who were arguing.
"Doctor, you're being completely ridiculous."
"And you're starting to sound like Daemon." The Doctor countered and River threw her hands in the air.
"Be serious!"
"Really sounded like Daemon now."
River shot the Doctor a dark glower but she continued valiantly, "The Pandorica partially restored one Dalek. If it can't even reboot a single life form properly, how's it reboot the whole of reality?"
"What if we give it a moment of infinite power? What if we can transmit the light from the Pandorica to every particle of space and time simultaneously?" The Doctor countered.
"Well, that would be lovely, Sweetie." River said impatiently. "But we can't, because it's completely impossible."
"Ah no, you see, it's not. It's almost completely impossible." The Doctor answered. "One spark is all we need."
"For what?" River demanded, and the Doctor grinned.
"Big Bang Two." He answered before he realized the others had caught up to them. He met Daemon's eyes.
"Now, listen-"
He broke off suddenly as he was shot in the back. Amy screamed as the Doctor collapsed, revealing a Dalek right behind him.
"Exterminate!" The Dalek called as it rolled down the hall toward them. "Exterminate!"
"Get back!" Rory shouted as he ushered Amy around a corner. "River, get back now!"
River and Daemon got out of the way as Rory aimed and he fired at the Dalek.
"Extermin-"
Rory hit his mark and the Dalek powered down once more. Rory kept his gun pointed firmly at the Dalek just in case while River quickly crouched down beside the Doctor.
"Doctor?" She called urgently, tapping his face. Amy hurried to bend down beside him as well while Daemon stood over them with an expressionless face.
"What do you need?" River asked. "Doctor?"
"Doctor?" Amy asked in a small voice. The Doctor smiled at her… and then he disappeared as he activated his vortex manipulator.
"Where did he go?" River demanded, getting up from her knees to look around wildly. "Damn him, he could be anywhere."
"He went downstairs, twelve minutes ago." Amy whispered and River turned to her in surprise.
"Show me." She urged.
"River." Amy faltered. "He died..."
"No, that's not possible." River shook her head. "If he was dead, Daemon wouldn't be here."
"What?" Rory frowned, but the Dalek suddenly spoke again from behind them.
"Systems restoring."
They all turned to the Dalek quickly. Well, all of them except Rory and Daemon, who had already been watching the Dalek with dark, baleful eyes.
"You will be exterminated."
"We've got to move." Rory urged his friends, his gun still pointed at the Dalek. "That thing's coming back to life."
River glanced at Daemon, noted her increasingly darker expression, and grabbed Amy and Rory.
"Right, let's go."
"What about-?" Rory started but River was already dragging him and Amy away.
"Daemon's got it." River said shortly, glancing back at the Time Lady. Daemon didn't even turn to watch them go as she kept her eyes on the Dalek which locked its target on her.
"You will be exterminated!" The Dalek declared. Daemon's lip curled back.
"Never." Daemon hissed, her expression filled with such hate that the Dalek admired it. "Do you know who I am yet?"
The Dalek was silent for a moment as it pulled up its records.
"The Demon." It said, and if Daleks could feel emotions, Daemon would have said there was a hint of fear in its voice.
"That's right - I'm Daemon." Daemon replied in a dark voice. "Do you still think you can 'exterminate' me?"
The Dalek was silent for a long moment, before-
"Mercy."
"Say that again." Daemon snarled, gold eyes flaring with anger.
"Mercy!" The Dalek repeated.
"Again!"
"Mercy!" The Dalek cried, and Daemon's face twisted with anger.
"Did your kind have mercy when they killed mine?" Daemon demanded, her voice growing louder and seeming to echo across the large museum walls. "When Time Lord children screamed and my people were murdered in cold blood amidst the flames of our burning home, did you have mercy?!"
"... Mercy..." The Dalek croaked out, and Daemon smiled without any warmth.
"Very well." She said coldly, her eyes glowing bright. "Mercy."
Reception
Amy and Rory stopped dead at the top of the stairs, staring down in confusion at Rory's jacket lying on the stairs. The only sign that what they had seen twelve minutes earlier had been real. Except, it was impossible.
"How could he have moved?" Rory asked, bewildered. "He was dead."
"Who told you that?" River queried and Amy said shakily, "He did."
"Rule number one."
The trio all turned in surprise as Daemon arrived behind them, her face smooth and cold. It was an eerie expression especially on Terry's face.
"The Doctor lies." Daemon continued as she walked right past the trio and continued on down the stairs. River was watching Daemon with narrowed eyes, but Amy looked around warily.
"Where's the Dalek?" The redhead asked.
"It died." Daemon answered bluntly.
Amy looked startled, but Daemon didn't even look over as she strode with purpose across the reception and down toward the anomaly exhibition room. River caught up swiftly and matched her pace easily, walking beside the dark-haired Time Lady.
"What did you do to it?" River asked in a low voice.
"You don't want to know."
"I do." River insisted and Daemon shrugged.
"If you insist: I tore its miserable head from its miserable body, and fried the thing that hides inside that armour."
River fell back into silence, and behind them they heard Amy and Rory hurrying to catch up.
"The Doctor would never condone that." River commented after a moment in a low voice. "He-"
"He would have done it himself, once." Daemon answered remorselessly.
River glanced at the Time Lady.
"It's ironic that it's exactly because you know that, that you can't stand him." The blonde commented after another moment. "Ironic and hypocritical."
She punctuated the last word pointedly. But Daemon disagreed.
"There is no hypocrisy." Daemon replied quietly. "I do not blame him in any way for having been a warrior in that dark war; in fact, I can admire that part of him. But I blame him for ending the war with the death of all our people. And it is for that that I will never forgive him."
At that, River was silenced. It was also at that point that Amy and Rory caught up to the pair and the four walked together into the Anomaly Exhibition. The Pandorica sat ajar, left in the exact same state since Amy had exited it earlier that evening. Except for one thing.
"Doctor!" Amy cried as she ran over to the Time Lord lying slumped in the seat inside the Pandorica. The same seat Amy had sat in for two thousand years, although she couldn't feel it.
Amy gently touched the unconscious Doctor while Rory asked in a confused voice, "Why did he tell us he was dead?"
"We were a diversion." Amy whispered in realization as she stared up at the Doctor. "As long as the Dalek was chasing us, he could work down here."
She tried to shake the Doctor but he didn't move. River meanwhile looked around the Pandorica with a puzzled expression.
"What were you doing?" She wondered aloud before they all looked around as suddenly the light from the Tardis outside grew brighter, throwing the whole room into a red hue. Daemon's gold eyes danced oddly in the scarlet light and River squinted at the emotionless face of the Time Lady staring down at the Doctor while Rory spoke up anxiously.
"What's happening?"
"Reality's collapsing." River explained. "It's speeding up. Look at this room."
Amy and Rory looked around the exhibition room to find things were slowly disappearing from their display cases.
"Where'd everything go?" Amy asked shakily, starting to grow afraid.
"History's being erased. Time's running out." River explained, moving Amy out of the way. Amy retreated to Rory's side, both afraid as the exhibit around them continued to shrink. River meanwhile had bent down beside the Doctor.
"Doctor, what were you doing?" She called, trying to wake the Time Lord up. "Tell us. Doctor!"
"Doctor." Daemon called.
At her familiar voice, the Doctor's eyes fluttered open. He saw River and he murmured in a whisper so faint it was little more than a breath,
"Big Bang Two."
His eyes closed again as his weakened body succumbed to his need for rest. River's eyes widened while Rory asked slowly, "The Big Bang. That's the beginning of the universe, right?"
"What, and Big Bang Two is the bang that brings us back?" Amy wondered. "Is that what you mean?"
"Oh." River closed her eyes.
"What?" Amy demanded anxiously, coming closer again.
River turned to them sorrowfully, but her eyes moved to Daemon.
"The Tardis is still burning. It's exploding at every point in history. If you threw the Pandorica into the explosion, right into the heart of the fire…"
She paused and Amy asked desperately, "Then what?"
"Then let there be light."
Both Amy and Rory turned to stare at Daemon as the Time Lady spoke in a grim tone.
"The light from the Pandorica would explode everywhere at once."
"That would work?" Amy interjected hopefully. "That would bring everything back?"
"A restoration field powered by an exploding Tardis, happening at every moment in history." Daemon confirmed.
But River was far from pleased. She pointed to the Doctor's wrist; to the vortex manipulator he still wore.
"He's wired the vortex manipulator to the rest of the box." She pointed out sharply. Daemon just stared back at her impassively and Amy looked between them uneasily.
"Why? What does that mean?" Amy demanded.
"It means he intends to take it with him." River glared at Daemon. "He's going to fly the Pandorica into the heart of the explosion. And he's going to kill Daemon alongside the Tardis."