Describing what Kev and Anya saw with the angels, only confused Theodore, and Lila, as they shared looks with each other. Hearing how they're covered in dirt, apparently digging somewhere in the train yard.
Hearing all the stones and minerals they found, baffled the two equally, mostly because of the descriptions given of Kev and Anya's haul. Finding that amount in one spot, seemed almost impossible, especially some of the sizes they described.
While true there's always a possibility of stumbling upon a mineral ore hidden in a backyard, the fashion in which these were found, gave the two pauses, as they're all loose. Not attached to clumps of rock or other, simply loose, with some dirt attached.
Indeed, there have been instances of people finding lose stones and minerals, not in this quality.
Baffling, indeed, both Theodore and Lila went through the knowledge they procured reading genealogy books in the library.
Without the backpacks, they're unable to study them closely, because it intrigued Theodore.
He asked if anyone found similar and Kev responded he didn't hear anyone finding anything like their hauls before.
"Angels digging to China, that's a new one," Lila raised a brow at this while Theodore processed the information given about why the angles might've come to the train yard.
It baffled him that they're digging, considering they generally try to remain prim, hoping to catch prey off-guard, and it made him curious as to what's buried in that spot that they wanted.
A source of energy, presumably, but considering what they heard, didn't seem possible. Seemed impossible more than anything and Theodore turned to the only thing capable of deciphering the mystery.
Helming the controls, Theodore went by memory as he worked to switch on the search and scan, configuring it so the TARDIS' able to weed out what's in the train yard the angels wanted.
A push of the button, he looked up as the lights wavered, the TARDIS having trouble scanning because of its age, and he sighed before telling the three to stay put, as he prepared to reroute power.
Getting on his knees and prying open the underside of the console, Theodore worked to rewire and redirect power to where its needed.
Between his job, playing the part, feeding his ferrets, Theodore's hard at work trying to fix the TARDIS, as it struggles at time.
If not for Gallifrey having issues with him being part human and the fact they planned to scrap the TARDIS, Theodore would've taken it to there for them to look at it, as they'd have tools he didn't have to fix it.
Jumping up as he dusted off his knees, Theodore tried it again, and this time, they're getting results. Not in a timely matter, but results nonetheless, and they're showing no energy sources in the train yard. He even checked the area where Kev said there's the hole, nothing, and it further confused him as he looked at the scans.
Angels don't dig without reason, but without an energy source at the end of their dig, it didn't make any sense as to why they're digging.
Curiouser and curiouser, this adventure.
"If there's nothing there, why are they digging?" Lila questioned why the angels wasted effort digging a hole if there's nothing for them to supple their energy needs.
Frowning, Theodore replied he wished he knew, but he summed that the angels started digging not long ago, sensed Kev and Anya coming to the train yard, and hunted them.
Now, he's sure they're circling the train yard, searching for them, and would've gone back to digging until they sense them again.
"What now?" Kev asked Theodore what he planned against the angels.
Coupled with problems resulting the TARDIS' age, it's difficult to say, and without access to proper tools, Theodore didn't have a clue what he's going to do, but he didn't plan on getting caught by an angel today.
"Maybe if we find out what they're digging for, that should point us in the right direction," Anya suggested they try and find the root of why the angels dug.
It needed to be important enough or else they wouldn't bother, something Theodore agreed with, but nothing turned up on the scans indicating there's anything.
"Unless you're not looking for the right things," Lila crossed her jacketed arms as she gave her idea.
Maybe the scans weren't broad enough, too narrow, if they revised the parameters, maybe they'll find something, and Theodore nodded as he agreed.
He attempted to rescan with changed parameters, hoping to encompass anything he missed in the last scan, but the old girl's not like what she used to be, and the lights wavered considerably.
"Well, there goes my idea," Lila winced while watching Theodore frustrated at the state of the TARDIS.
Could always try Hamon and see what he says after this, but it's looking likelier that sooner or later Theodore's going to have to brave a trip to Gallifrey. Even as much as he rewired everything to work for the moment, it's not enough.
Lila expects that she has to put years of naval training under her dad to good use to keep from lashing out against the snooty types that looked down on Theodore.
Knock… knock… knock!
There's a loud knocking coming from the door, causing everyone to freeze in place. Something about the knocking, it sounded panicked, not something either expected, and they knew it wasn't someone else who ran into the angles.
The knocking, forceful and panicked, echoed throughout the console room as the four stayed silent, hearing it.
Immediately, on Theodore's mind, he realized the source.
Strange hearing an angel panic knocking on the TARDIS door, but Theodore knew they're crafty bunches that learnt to use their stone-like exterior to their advantage.
Oh yes, they don't normally look like that.
What they looked like, well, you don't want to know that answer, trust Theodore's word on it.
He can see them as they normally looked since his nature and trust him, you don't want to know what they look like without that stoney exterior.
If they can contort their faces to look like a snake with a gaping mouth, that should be telling.
Frozen in place, the four listened to the panicked knocking, before it switched to fists pounding against the door.
Eyes on Theodore, Lila telepathed with him.
"A trap?" Lila asks.
Theodore's icy blue eyes moved towards the locked door and he replied with, "I don't know."
His father never encountered them before in his years, they only recently made their appearances known, and only newer Doctors encountered them.
He only knew so much from what he skimmed from the huge book, that no one ever said anything about the angels doing anything other than trying to trap them.
"The door can hold it off, right?" Lila looked at the door with her chestnut eyes squarely on it, hearing the panicked thudding against the door as an angel's desperately trying to get inside.
Not for a good reason, to be sure.
"I hope," Theodore thoughtfully said as he eyed the door.
Takes more than fists to dent it and it took on more damages before, hopefully, he assessed, they're fine.
Getting out of this situation, however's a different story, and he turned around to face the console, trying to get them away from the angel as humanly possible.
He can't get it to move, the cells' too old and lost charge over the centuries of traveling. Can't go and charge them because he doesn't want to risk the angel breaking in. However, they're stuck without the cells charged.
Work's never over for the poor Doctor, indeed!
Cogs turning in his head, Theodore panicked internally as he's trying to come up with a plan, amid the loud thudding echoing throughout the console room.
"Think, think, think, what would da do?" Theodore murmured as his icy blue eyes darted back and forth.
If his father were here and dealing with angels, what would he done?
Chewing on his inner lip, Theodore remembered the golden rule, and told everyone to hold onto the railings, he's going to try something.
Grabbing the railings and holding them tightly, the three watched as Theodore got on his knees and rewired the TARDIS once again, this time differently, and when he got off his knees his hands grabbed two levers.
"Ready?" Theodore called out to them.
Nodding, the three replied they are, and he nodded before pulling the levers down.
Quickly, Theodore gripped the railings on the console as the TARDIS sprang alive once again, weaker than before, rattling intensely as it attempted to operate.
Around them, they see the walls turning translucent, and they see the angel pounding on the door.
It looked different.
Worse, even.
Anya shrieked at the sight and Theodore's eyes widened as he looked at the angel.
While he and angels aren't friends, even he couldn't deny it made him pity the angel.
To describe the sight, the one smooth grey skin became brittle and cracked, even worse's the angel's missing an arm!
Fell off from the look of things and there's fear on the angel's face.
Fear.
One emotion the angels never show.
It's not surprising since they're aware of their capabilities.
Yet, here it is, afraid.
Of what?
It looked like it wasn't trying to break into the TARDIS, it's trying to get help.
Help.
From the Doctor.
Words Theodore never thought possible.
Agonized expression, the face contorted to look as if the angel's silently screaming, and he's unable to gauge more as the TARDIS abruptly became energized again and sent them away from the area intact.
They held the railings as the TARDIS returned to its normal state until Theodore gave them the okay and they unlatched from the railings.
"What happened to that angel?" Kev asked as he blinked.
It looked normal when it attacked him and Anya.
Well, normal the operative word…
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore replied he doesn't know, but he can tell that the TARDIS brought them somewhere in the train yard.
Don't know why that is, but he felt compelled to investigate.
Pulling on his stitched scarf, Theodore put on a brave face as he went to the corporeal door and opened it while the three stayed behind, watching from afar.
Carefully, Theodore poked his head out to survey the area, only to find they've reappeared near the hole the angels attempted to dig.
He sees three angels circling the hole and almost rushed back inside before they see him, but as he studied them carefully, Theodore found that…
"Dead?" Theodore's astonished as he fully stepped out of the TARDIS, compelled to go towards the angels.
Poking her head out, Lila sees Theodore going towards them and she cautioned him, but heard they're dead.
She's shocked as she watched Theodore study the still angels.
One's partly broken apart.
One's just the lower-half of the body.
One's completely obliterated.
"What… did this?" Anya poked her head out as Lila stepped out of the TARDIS to see the damages up close.
Kev followed Anya out as they looked at the angels, dead, and when they asked if they angels just come back if exposed to energy, Theodore told them that it's science fiction.
Once an angel's at this state, no amount of energy exposure's bringing it back.
It's dead.
Fortunately, once they die, they don't revert to what they originally look like.
Surveying the remains, Theodore tried to understand what happened to the angels, it's baffling to him, and he's unable to comprehend what happened.
They simply… for the lack of better word… fell apart.
This never happened in the book, the few Doctors who encountered the angels, they never had anything like this happen to them before.
Black hole, collapsing dead zone, reversing the polarity of the TARDIS to steal the energy from the angels, but no Doctor mentioned finding angels in this state.
Truly bizarre.
If Theodore had to guess, it's almost like the angels lost the energy sustaining them in such a short time, it didn't make sense.
They should've had enough to last just from absorbing the rift they passed through.
Furrowing his brow, Theodore remarked that it's possible the angels became desperate after realizing their mistakes.
Using manipulation caused them to expend their already declining energy in a bid to trap Kev and Anya, but when that failed, it bit them on their arse because they expended too much of their energy.
Realizing that they couldn't even get their hands on the TARDIS, considering the shape it's in, they must've felt like dolts.
As to why they dug a hole in the first place, they started digging in the spot, hoping that there's something for them to drain.
Looking down at his feet, seeing the minerals sticking out of the loose dirt, Theodore chewed on his inner lip as he pondered.
The angels had a reason for digging here, they truly believed there's something down there, but the TARDIS didn't find anything of note indicating anything. Granted, it's unable to rescan after he altered the parameters, due to its age showing.
Truly bizarre, this.
"What now?" Kev asked Theodore.
Exhaling, Theodore told him and Anya that they can leave now, the angels are dead, and whatever they manipulated's reverted to its natural state. Return home, don't tell a soul what happened, and talk to their parents about how they feel about the feud.
"Wh-how did you know that?" Anya's shocked that Theodore knew about their families' feud without them saying it.
Theodore told her it's his job.
"What if they don't agree?" Kev brought up the chance that their respected parents forbid the two from being together.
Pondering this, Theodore replied that they're adults, they can go anywhere they please, and with the two backpacks filled with minerals and stones, they have a fund for leaving if their respected parents can't see past their noses.
"I'm not sure it's worth that much, is it?" Anya questioned if the backpacks contained enough to make a train trip.
Looking down at his feet, Theodore lightly tossed the loose dirt aside and size a rather large gemstone. He picked it up and gave it to Anya.
"It's enough to get you to London and a nice flat. Have enough sense and the rest of the money will last you until you decide where you want to go from there," Theodore told the two as they marveled the large gemstone that's heavy in Anya's hands.
The pair returned to the treehouse and collected their backpacks, before leaving the train yard with the large gemstone in their possession.
"What're the odds?" Lila asked Theodore's opinion on what the outcome for the two would've been.
Theodore replied that he thinks the families can't coexist peacefully and the two can't get them to see pass their noses, so they leave the village, and go their own way.
Lila remarked, "Bummer, hoped they would've swallowed their tongues for their kids."
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore told her that it's the nature of feuds.
"So, what now?" Lila asked what they're doing after this, seeing as there's no way for them to find the source of the angels' desire.
Sighing, Theodore replied that he doesn't know.
"With her age, I don't know what they're looking for," Theodore mournfully said as he looked over at the TARDIS.
Lila points out that the angel seemingly begged for help, that's unusual for their like, and Theodore shrugged as he pointed out their luck with enemies needing help.
"Yeah, that's true," Lila nodded as she looked down at her feet to see a large light colored sapphire stone, covered in dirt, before picking it up and handing it over to Theodore, remarking it looked like his eyes.
He thanked her for the gift and the two headed back into the TARDIS, not before Lila helped herself to grabbing a few stones and minerals, but only because she needed to grow her nest egg. Also, Theodore mentioned a good chunk of them gave the TARDIS some juice, so she's planning ahead.
The TARDIS disappeared from the area, the angels disintegrating into nothing, leaving only impressions in the dirt where they stood.
THE END