Bill, sometimes, never knew whether or not to believe the Doctor. After everything she had seen and been through it was still very hard to take anything he said seriously. So, when he'd called up talking about aliens and a computer simulation, she'd had the strong desire to just dismiss it as him spinning more stories.

Penny, though, was an addition she hadn't expected. Penny was a very, very pretty young woman Bill had wanted to ask out for a while, but she hadn't been quite sure on how that conversation would go. The Doctor mentioning her as part of his strange dream had pushed her to get the courage, and it had also proved to be an excellent story to tell during their first date.

It had, at the very least, led to the pair being back at Bill's flat, cups of tea in hand and the lights just low enough to set a very intimate scene that Bill hoped would relax the other, nervous, woman. "So, this computer-simulation-dream thing. Which, to be clear, I don't believe a word of," Penny was saying. Bill nodded her head.

"Fair enough."

"You said I was in it?"

Bill shot her a smile. "Yeah."

"How did it go? The dream version."

Bill didn't quite know how to break the fact that it had ended with the Pope bursting out of her bedroom, but lucky Penny was taking it a lot better than she did in the simulation. "The Pope?"

"In person," she confirmed with a laugh of her own.

"The Pope, in your flat. Here?" She shook her head, wrapping her hands around her drink. "Your tutor has strange dreams."

Penny had meant it as a commentary on the wild story that Bill had just told her, but Bill instead took it as an actual thought to consider. "I bet he does, you know."

"Maybe he's just trying to keep you on the straight and narrow," Penny offered, showing her own insecurity at going on a date. Bill really liked her, so she wanted to make sure she felt as comfortable as possible.

"Maybe, yeah. How do you feel on the subject?"

Before Penny could answer, or in fact make her mind up on the subject at all, Bill's front door burst open. Instead of the Pope, however, armed soldiers rushed in, surrounding the pair at the little round table. Penny cried out in surprise, falling to her knees with her hands in the air as Bill jumped up and put her back against the wall. A man in a blue beret with a logo she sort of recognised stepped in, looking a lot calmer than either of the woman felt.

"Please remain still and calm," he said, in a way that made neither of them feel calm. "Sit down." Both women were very keen on following the instructions and quickly climbed back into their chairs. "Keep your hands in sight on the table. Miss Potts?"

She nodded. "Yeah?"

"Who's this?"

It was strange how, even though she was being threatened by armed guards, the question made her really angry. Even though they'd burst into her flat and they'd pointed guns at them, apparently, they needed to know about her love life as well?!

"This is my friend Penny. Who the hell are you?" she demanded. He didn't answer, turning instead to shout at the door.

"Room secure, your Excellency."

For the briefest of moments Bill really thought that the Pope was about to walk through, and part of her wondered if she owed the Doctor an apology. However, an older gentleman with greying hair and a suit walked in and up to the table."

"This is Miss Potts, sir," the man in the beret explained. Bill gave a little wave before quickly putting her hand back down where she'd been instructed to. "Miss Potts, this is the Secretary-General of the UN."

"I have flown here today to speak to the President," he explained as the two women came to terms with what he was saying. "I'm told you might be able to help."

"I don't know the President. How would I know the President?" Bill quickly replied in her defence. "I mean, I wouldn't even have voted for him. He's…" Very aware of the men with guns, she tried to think of the best way to put her distance. "Orange."

"I mean the President," he corrected, as if it made anything any clearer. "Mrs Fielding."

"Mrs Fielding?" Bill repeated, completely confused for a moment. "Wait, do you mean Danni?" He nodded. "She wasn't kidding about that? She's actually the President?"

"When Earth is in crisis, yes," he replied.

And as Penny leant over and asked if she could leave, Bill realised that the Doctor hadn't been too far off the mark, and that her date was destined to never end as she wanted.

~0~0~0~

The Doctor had told Danni about the simulation. He'd considered keeping it to himself, but considering that something very big, and very bad, was coming he had felt it was the best course of action. At first she had been very quiet, which he'd expected, and he'd spent a while explaining that it wasn't Missy, that was evil monks who were set on world domination. That had settled her nerves somewhat. Then, they had settled back and waited for the fallout.

The Doctor loved waiting for the fallout. It normally involved neither of them leaving the TARDIS for quite some time as he cancelled a few of his lectures and she stopped going out to see her friends. And, as normally happened, they would get bored and they would have to find a way to spend their time.

That was how Danni had ended up sitting on the top of the console, the Doctor in front of her, as they snogged like a couple of teenagers. There was banging on the door, but they just ignored it. They knew it wasn't important yet. The TARDIS would tell them if it was important, she was good like that.

The knocking persisted, though, and Danni broke away to glare at the door. "Go away!" she shouted at whoever was outside. "Or I'll set Nardole on you!"

"Oo, that is a terrible fate indeed," the Doctor murmured, amused. He kissed her again before nuzzling against her.

"You've been in there for hours!" Bill called from the outside.

"It's our home!" Danni retorted before turning so she could meet her husband's gaze. "I thought she was getting better."

"She is, normally," he promised. "Tutoring will pick back up next week!" he called out to his student. "Now go home or I'll dock your grade."

"Oh, can you do that?" Danni asked, intrigued. "You should do that."

"I've been trying to talk to the pair of you!" Bill continued anyway. "Have you double-locked this thing?"

"Yes!" Danni snapped back. "So we're not interrupted!"

"The UN called. They want you in Turmezistan immediately!"

"I know! They called me too!" she shouted. The Doctor stopped what he was doing, frowning. That was news to him.

"When was that?" he asked.

"About four hours ago," she offered. "I didn't think it was worth answering when we were in the middle of something very important."

"Oh?" He moved a little closer, nuzzling her again. "And what were we in the middle of?"

"The bedroom, I believe," she murmured. He chuckled against her.

"Perhaps we should move back there," he suggested, which was something she very much agreed with. However, there was another round of banging on the door and she growled against his lips.

"Theta," she said in warning and he sighed in his own exasperation.

"We're going to have to deal with the UN soon," he told her and she nodded.

"Soon," she agreed and he headed to the door, slipping his sunglasses on so not only would he not fall over, but so he would be able to know where Bill was when he told her off for bothering him out of hours.

Instead, he was greeted by not just Bill, but Nardole and a man that his glasses were telling him was a soldier. He looked around the room, scanning the area and realised that they were on a plane and not in their office. "Oh."

"They wouldn't take no for an answer," Nardole offered.

The Doctor turned around, looking towards the console where his wife was waiting. Oh, how he hated them being so good at their jobs. "Danielle," he called over. "We're here."

"We're where?" she asked, stepping out into plane after him. Her immediate groan echoed his sentiments exactly. "Really?" she exclaimed, turning to Nardole. "You're supposed to be protecting me!"

"What else was I supposed to do?" he asked. "They had a crane!"

"I don't know," she snapped before pointing at him. "I'm telling my mum about this!"

"Ma'am!" he exclaimed. "Is that really necessary?!"

"Do you think she'll appreciate the fact that you let her daughter get kidnapped?" she countered. "No, I don't think so!"

The Doctor wasn't particularly bothered by their bickering, and was on Danni's side. The only way that River was going to appreciate anyone taking her daughter was if she was the one doing the kidnapping. However their argument did bring up an excellent point. "How did you get it out of our office? The windows aren't big enough."

"They are now," the Commander replied. Danni looked away from Nardole, who looked genuinely scared at River finding out, and turned to him.

"You put a hole in our office?" she asked and he nodded. "Could you not have just waited until I had answered?"

The man in the suit, who had up until that moment been watching them, stepped forward. "Madam President," he greeted. She recognised him as the Secretary-General of the UN. "I'm very pleased to see you."

"I'm not," she retorted before looking around. "Look at this! What is it with people in power and this fake wood? I specifically asked for my plane to not look like an office in a bank!"

"Ma'am, this isn't your plane," the Commander explained.

"Oh. That's fine, then," she replied, a little less angry but still with a bit of a pout. She really didn't like the plane, and she really didn't appreciate being interrupted with her husband.

"Madam President," the Secretary-General tried again." I think we have something of interest." He held out a small tablet to her and she frowned as she took it off him. On it was an aerial photo of a pyramid.

"A pyramid? That's why you've brought us here?" she asked. She handed it back. "It's very pretty, rather old. Rather fun to break into. Is that what you're wanting? I am rather good at it."

"No, Ma'am," Nardole interrupted before she could get herself in any more trouble. "It wasn't there yesterday. That's why they're concerned."

"But it's old," she replied, turning to her husband. "This might actually be interesting."

"Or deeply worrying," he replied lowly. He hadn't been able to see the image himself, with his glasses only showing that there was a tablet to begin with. It was a limitation that he had been working on for a little while now. The more they could allow him to see, the better, after all.

"Or that," she agreed. "Let's go with that."

~0~0~0~

The Pyramid was rather impressive as it towered over a small village in Turmezistan. It looked the part, as it seemed to be covered in dust which came from being stood in a sandy location for thousands of years.

Danni couldn't help but stare at it, a thoughtful frown on her face. It was a strange shape for anything to just appear in. Why a pyramid? Was it that fact that they were seen as great symbols of old power? Or was it more random than that?

"Tell me what you see," the Doctor commanded as they stood outside a barrier the UN had put in place. It was there to keep all of the people who had flocked to see it away from the new building, but it was a little but flimsy and probably couldn't keep what was inside away from them should they have decided to fight.

"A five-thousand-year-old pyramid," Bill replied.

"What do you know?"

"It wasn't there yesterday."

"Therefore?"

"It's not really a pyramid," she replied. "It's something disguised as a pyramid, that just appeared out of thin air, and that's all way beyond human technology, so it's got to be alien." She nodded to herself. "It's an alien space ship."

The Doctor nodded. "There you go."

"But what's it doing?" Brabbit, another solider, asked.

"Well, think about it," Danni said. "There are three massive armies right here. Three giant powers that could blow this thing sky high if they felt like it, and they haven't even come outside to say hello. Which means that they either don't think you'll attack, or know that it won't matter if you do." She looked to him. "Basically, they know they have the power, and they're not afraid of you."

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the red and white barrier. It lifted and, despite the guards on the other side, the two Time Lords stepped across the line. He lowered it again.

"Madam President?" the Secretary-General started.

"What are you doing?" Brabbit asked.

"Giving them something to be afraid of," she explained as the pair headed towards the pyramid. The Doctor glanced back at Nardole, using his sunglasses to activate the microphone on the other man's coat. He needed to know what was happening but he couldn't ask Danni to explain it. She'd ask questions that he really couldn't answer at that moment.

"This is rather exciting, isn't it?" Danni asked her husband. "Feels like a good old-fashioned invasion. Like when we were younger."

"Now who's playing the old card?" he countered and she laughed.

"It felt like a good card to play," she said.

"It is," he agreed. "Hold my hand."

She did just that, threading her fingers through his. "Are you frightened?" she asked.

"Usually," he replied. "Do you think this is real?"

"As real as I think everything is. Do you think the Vault's safe?"

"As safe as it ever is," he replied. "I'm sure that we'll be able to get back to it should anything happen."

"And do you think something is going to happen?"

Given the video from the simulation didn't hint at anything good at all, he was sure something was going to happen. And it really didn't take long to. In front of them the bricks slid out of the way to reveal a doorway into the pyramid. In it stood a creature in red robes, who looked like they had been mummified.

"So, that's a Monk," Danni muttered.

"Something's coming out, sir," Nardole added in his ear. "Going by the description you gave me from the simulation, sir, I think that's one of the Monk creatures."

"Hello?" the Doctor stated.

"We know you," the Monk replied. Their mouth didn't move in the same way it should have had they been actually talking, and the voice sounded wispy and old.

"Then you'll know that there is a line in the sand, and I'm the man on the other side of it. You want to keep me that way," he warned, although his hand tightened on Danni's.

"We will take this planet and its people."

"You won't win," Danni spoke up. "You are much too old to not know that it'd be unwise for you to fight us."

"We will be invited," it replied with an unnerving certainty. "We will take this world. We will rule its people. But only when we're asked." It began backing back into the pyramid. "We will talk again."

"When?" the Doctor asked.

"At the end of the Earth."

With a rumble the pyramid closed back up again, hiding the creature back inside. It wasn't looking great for their chances of winning, but then again the Doctor had noticed that it never really did. He frowned as his sonic sunglasses flashed and the time changed on them at the same time Danni's phone vibrated in her pocket.

"23:57," she commented, reading off the screen. "Oh, that's not good, is it?"

"No, it's not," he replied. "Three minutes to midnight." The Doomsday Clock. The time the world was going to end was now being broadcast on every phone and digital clock.

"They're taunting us. Telling us how close the end of the world is," Danni commented as they headed back to Nardole and Bill. "That's a very clever way of getting everyone to panic."

"I think it's a warning," the Doctor told both his wife and the people on the other side of his comms. "Somewhere, somehow, the end has begun." He paused and turned to where is glasses were telling him his wife was stood. "So, Madam President, what do we do?" he asked her.

She didn't reply straight away. "Showing everyone how long they have left isn't just a warning, it's a brag. They know something is going to happen and are letting us know exactly that. What we need to do is stop it before it's too late."

"And how do we do that?" he replied, knowing that she most likely had the same idea that he had.

"Well, humans tend to be the most danger to themselves. So, I guess, we have to save them from that."

He grinned from ear to ear. "Exactly," he praised, just because he knew she liked it when he did. "Let's stop a war."

~0~0~0~

Danni looked out over the small office that had been hastily put up just outside the pyramid's bound. There was a table in the middle of the room ready for any meetings that needed to be held to discuss what was happening, with monitors on the walls to show what was happening outside. There was a server room at the back with a computer in the corner, where Bill sat, swinging side to side on a chair as they waited for the Doctor to come back with their guests.

"Ma'am, this is very risky," Nardole spoke up as he turned from watching the cameras to look at her. "Will it even work?"

"I don't know, do I?" she retorted. "It's not happened yet." She pulled a face as she looked around. "This place is almost as bad as the plane. Was there some sort of deal on crappy décor somewhere and the UN just bought the lot?"

"What is it with you and the walls?" Bill asked from the other side of the room.

"Have you seen them?" she countered. "I mean, I'm not asking for grand designs or anything, but why is it red? What advantage does it have being red? It's a wall, it doesn't need to be so obnoxious."

The Doctor appeared in the doorway from the outside, peeking his head in as if he wasn't quite sure he was in the right place. "Danielle," he started before stepping in. Immediately he could feel her discomfort and he looked around, wondering if he was missing something. His glasses gave him all the readings he expected, though, so it ruled it down to one of two things. "The walls?" he guessed.

"What's wrong with just some plain walls?" she asked him. "Why is a room dressed up?"

He shot her a smile. "You can paint them when this is all over," he offered, which she took as a serious suggestion. A group of people followed him into the room and he waved at them. "Danielle, this is Ilya," he motioned to the Russian official, "and Xiaolian," he motioned to the Chinese officer who was also looking around suspiciously. "And you know the Secretary-General. Everyone, this is Danielle, my wife, the President of the World."

She gave the all a very lazy salute, using two fingers from her forehead. "Hi," she replied. "Please, sit, we don't have time for small talk."

It was strange being in charge of the room, and even stranger being in charge of the talking. That had always been the Doctor's department, but she was the President of the World now and so she had to take the reins. "You are in charge of some of the largest and most volatile armies on the planet right now, that's why they're here. Those creatures in that pyramid know more about you than even you do. They've been studying this planet for its entire history; they have taken it over countless times in countless simulations. And they have chosen this exact moment and place to try and take over."

"Because a war's about to break out?" Bill asked.

"Because they think they'll win," she replied. "Because, for some reason, they think that they can beat the human race at this moment."

"Then we'll demonstrate strength," Xiaolian spoke up. "We will attack the pyramid."

"Force is never the answer," Nardole stated before shooting Danni a look. "Isn't that right, Danielle?"

She knew that look well. He had been sent by her mother to watch over her and help her keep on the right path. He was shooting her that look because he was making sure that she agreed with what he was saying. "No, I think it's the right answer," she told him, much to his surprise. "Do I think it'll work? Not really, but it's worth a try. Perhaps they didn't see that coming and will back off if you show them that you're willing to fight back."

In the room every phone began to ring, and the Doctor's sunglasses flashed as the time changed yet again. "It's two minutes to, now," Nardole said for all of them.

"The Doomsday Clock is moving," the Doctor commented lowly.

"If you're going to attack, you should now," Danni told them. "Don't give them a change to work it out."

As if someone was listening, the room was illuminated from outside. Everyone but the Doctor squinted and Danni rushed to his side to look out of the window.

"Oh my god, what is that?" Bill asked as they stared at the glowing beam of light that was coming from the pyramid.

"I'd say that is probably the Monks working out what we're planning," Danni commented. She looked up at her husband. "What do we do?"

He didn't have an answer.

~0~0~0~

The attacks were scheduled on the pyramid, and it turned out that the Monks had already seen it coming. Fighting an enemy that could see the future was difficult, fighting an enemy that had seen every eventuality was impossible. As they all stood in front of the pyramid and watched the Monks land a stolen fighter jet like they were parking a car didn't fill Danni with much confidence that they were ever going to win.

"So, demonstrating strength isn't going to work," the Doctor commented. He had agreed with Danni's suggestion, because he didn't have any ideas either. His own fear was getting in the way of his ability to think and even though he was desperately trying to come up with a plan, all he could think about was his own weakness. He hadn't been blind for long enough to completely work around it, and with it being a secret he knew he had to figure out how to exist in the world without one of his senses, and fast. He just wasn't sure he had the time.

"We are ready to talk."

The Monk's voice came from the Pyramid, echoing over the desert landscape and he realised he was just going to have wing it. With Danielle in charge he could hang back and think, and hopefully everything would be okay.

They were led into the Pyramid by the soldiers they had picked up along the way. It was pretty impressive to look at, even if the threat inside was dangerous and terrifying. The Doctor paused and felt the walls, seeing if he could gauge anything from another of his senses, something that he might not have seen had he been able to look around.

"I mean, this is a trap, right?" Bill asked as she took out her phone and put the flashlight on. Pyramids, it turned out, were as dark on the inside as she had always thought they would be.

"Oh, most definitely," Danni replied.

"And we're just walking into it."

"I mean, what else are we supposed to do?" she countered.

"Every trap you walk into is a chance to learn about your enemies," the Doctor explained as they continued on. "Impossible to set a trap without making a self-portrait of your own weaknesses."

"Great. Unless it kills us," Bill pointed out.

"Everything can kill you if you try hard enough," Danni pointed out. "At least you know it's coming."

That didn't reassure Bill, but they headed to the end of one of the many corridors that the Pyramid seemed to have. There they found a Monk waiting for them. She'd seen them from afar, but being up close showed just how decayed they looked, and it made them even more terrifying.

"The human race is about to end," it said in its breathy voice. "The chain of events is already in motion. Life on Earth will cease by humanity's own hand. Observe."

It turned and the wall opened up, much like the outside of the Pyramid. Inside were more Monks surrounding what looked like fibreoptic cables. They reached from the ceiling to the floor and the Monks were in a circle around it, plucking and caressing the individual cables.

"Ah. The simulation machine looks a bit different from the outside," the Doctor commented

"We are modelling the future. Each thread is a chain of days, leading to your end. We can detect when a catastrophe is about to occur."

"And?"

"Stop it from occurring."

"You don't look much like guardian angels," Brabbit spoke up.

"We have chosen this form to look like you."

"You look like corpses."

"You are corpses to us. Your world is ending. You can do nothing, but we can save you."

"Save us, then," Danni challenged. She didn't like their words, they all sounded like threats rather than observations. She didn't like the way they were showing off their technology and she certainly didn't like the way they didn't seem in any way urgent in their explanation. It meant that everything was on course to how they wanted the story to end.

"To save you we must be asked."

"Then what?" the Doctor asked.

"We will protect you."

"How long for?"

"Forever."

"Ah, that's it then, isn't it?" Danni stated. "You will protect us, but only from your captivity. You don't want to save us; you just want our obedience."

"Asking them for help has conditions," the Doctor explained to the confused humans. "Invite them in, and it will be the last free action you take."

"If you do not ask for help, then see the days to come." It motioned to the dangling threads in the middle of the room and some of the Monks surrounding it held them out to the group. "These are the threads that lead to one year in your future. Take them as proof."

The moment they all held a strand, their heads were filled with images of a future where streets were desolate, and fire and the weather laid waste to the land. The perfect imagery of a planet devoid of all life. All of the humans darted back, but Danni and the Doctor held on until the images faded.

"What was that?" Xiaolian asked, horrified.

"Planet Earth with not a single living thing. Dead as the moon," the Doctor explained.

"You seem pretty damn calm about it," Brabbit commented, obviously quite suspicious as the two finally let go.

"Because it's not real," Danni replied. "It's just a possibility, not a fact. Why be horrified by something that isn't certain to pass? Seems like a waste of energy."

"Why do you need to be asked?" the Doctor asked the Monk, pressing for more information so they could think of a plan to get rid of them. The information the Simulation Doctor had sent to him didn't paint a pretty picture of the future should the Monks win their prize. It was up to them to stop it from happening.

"Power must consent."

"Power must consent. What does that mean?"

"Those who hold power on this world must consent to our dominion," the Monk explained.

"Why?"

"Because people who are in fear rebel," Danni told him. "They fight, and they never really truly give up. People who are afraid will always rise up. People who are in love, on the other hand, obey." She looked up the Monk, eyes narrowed. It made her blood boil to think that anyone was trying to take over a planet under the guise of being loving, but the fear it brought out of her was familiar and old. She hated being reminded of it day after day, and she knew the angle the Monks were playing very well.

"One minute to midnight," Nardole spoke up as the clocks changed yet again. She pointed over at him.

"Even that is a ploy. It builds up tension, is makes there seem like there is no hope, but it's just you hiding the solution behind a ticking clock that you control. There is always hope. There is always a way out. You don't have power here because this planet will never truly submit."

"Without our help, your planet is doomed."

"With you it surely is. If you want love then you'd save us before it happened. Letting is happen proves you are no better than every other alien who has tried to place a claim on someone that is not yours!"

The Doctor and Nardole picked up on her slip of the tongue, knowing exactly where her mind was pointing. The humans, on the other hand, fell straight for the trap that the Monks were laying out of them.

The Secretary-General stepped forward. "If consent is what you need, I consent now."

"It's not real!" Danni exclaimed, exasperated and a little desperate. "Computers can't do true random, so they can never truly predict the future. Somehow, in some way, they programmed it to show you a future that would make you give consent. You can't let that happen!"

"What I saw was real. I felt it," the Secretary-General insisted before turning to the Monks. "If you can help us, I consent."

"Please, listen to us!" the Doctor begged as a light shone down on the other man.

"Do you have power?" the Monk asked him and he nodded.

"I have power."

"Does power consent?"

And despite the pleading of the Doctor behind him, the Secretary-General gave his consent. A beam of light shone down on him from some unknown space in the ceiling above.

"If your consent is impure, it will kill you," the Monk warned and the Doctor frowned.

"Impure? What does that mean, impure?" he demanded, but he got no answer. The Monk walked closer, hand outstretched, until it was touching the chest of the Secretary-General.

"You act out of fear," it declared and it sounded like a death sentence. "Fear is not consent."

In a flash, the man disintegrated into dust. One short burst had killed him and had confirmed the intentions of the Monks perfectly.

The Doctor hopped up onto the platform the simulation machine was on. "Planet Earth does not consent to your help, your presence, or your conquest," he declared in a firm voice. He held out his arms wide. "Thank you for playing the big pyramid game. Bye, bye. See you again next week, hopefully not."

He stepped back down and headed towards the door, walking past Danni in the process who was smiling in delight. She loved when he became all confident, even if she was sure he wasn't quite feeling it inside. He had taken a stand and she was very happy that it was the one she would have taken too.

"Without our help, Planet Earth is doomed," the Monk repeated and he paused and turned back around. He headed back up to the Monk, standing face to face with it.

"Yes? Well, it's been doomed before. Guess what happened?" he asked before pointing at himself. "Me!" He turned back the way he came, grabbing Danielle on his way past. He had a grin of his own on his face because he had realised something when everyone else was talking. They were being distracted by the farce of it all.

Which mean that something else was happening. And that he could stop.