Whispers
The Doctor was pretty sure that thinking about Adelaide at the moment, while he was running from Cybers, was not the best idea, but there was the threat of death and they were trying to save Amy and he could only think about what Amy had said.
About the fact Amy had said that Adelaide was going to die. That she was going to invite everyone to witness her death.
He wasn't going to let that happen. He'd decided that the moment he'd heard, even if he hadn't actually told Adelaide about what he'd decided, or even what he'd heard. But he didn't care because she wasn't going to die.
He wasn't going to let her.
Which was why he'd left her in the TARDIS at the moment. He knew that this couldn't be the death, that this wouldn't be the moment, but he also didn't want to see her in danger. Honestly, he never had, even when they'd just been practical strangers, but now that he knew that she was going to die…and die, not regenerate, because Amy would have said.
He was surprised that Adelaide had agreed to be the one who stayed in the TARDIS, but it appeared that she had some sort of logical reason for doing so that she just hadn't bothered to share with him.
Now, he ran back into the TARDIS, thankful to see Adelaide still there even if she didn't look at him. That time, he had to stop himself from thinking what he instantly thought.
Because he'd just thought she looked beautiful and he couldn't bear to think of that right now.
"He's about to do his speech," Adelaide called to him, watching Rory as he made his way through the Cybership. "Let's see if he took your advice."
The Doctor hurried to stand next to her, watching as she put her hand on the lever. "Are you ready?" She looked at him and he was shocked with how little emotion there was. Was this what she was like during the war, when she was making that final choice? Was this what he'd looked like then?
"I have a message and a question," Rory said, though neither Time Lord looked to the monitor, simply staring at each other, because he'd thought she was beautiful and now he didn't know. "A message from the Doctor and Adelaide, and a question from me. Where. Is. My. Wife? Oh," he scoffed, "don't give me those blank looks. The Twelfth Cyber Legion monitors this entire quadrant. You hear everything. So you tell me what I need to know. You tell me now, and I'll be on my way."
"What is the Doctor and Adelaide's message?"
Adelaide didn't look at the monitor as she pulled the lever, making the ships outside the one Rory was in explode.
"Would you like me to repeat the question?" Rory asked the Cybermen, and Adelaide finally looked away.
|C-S|
One fat and one thin man walked across the hanger of the base just as a ship arrived. "A whole CyberLegion though," the fat one said, eyes wide. "They just blew them all up to make a point!"
"We're being paid to fight them, not praise them," the thin one reminded him. "Praising costs way more."
The two stepped into a lift, passing a few Headless Monks on the way. "Level Minus 23. Transept." A few seconds later, they stepped out at Level 23. "Digger says he once chased the Atraxi off a planet, then called them back for a scolding! And that she once broke about ten of Shadow Proclamation laws, but still got away scot free because she told someone off for insulting the Shadow Architect!"
The thin one sighed. "Fight them, not praise them."
They walked past a young woman sewing, smiling to herself.
"Reminder," an announcement said. "This base is on Yellow Alert. This base is on Yellow Alert." The pair continued, after a slight pause to do their actual job of the day, until they were standing in a corridor and looking at a machine. "Reminder. Do not interact with Headless Monks without divine permission. Do not interact with Headless Monks without divine permission."
The thin one leaned to watch as Headless Monks walked past. "You're not supposed to stare at them," the fat one reminded them. "And if they think you're trying to see under their hoods, they'll kill you on the spot."
"But why are they called the Headless Monks? They can't really be headless?"
"They believe the domain of faith is the heart and the domain of doubt in the head," the young woman they'd passed earlier said. "They follow their hearts, that's all."
The thin one looked at her. "You're Lorna Bucket, aren't you?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
"Hello," the thin one waved. "I'm the Thin One. This is my husband. He's the Fat One."
Lorna frowned. "Don't you have names?"
The Fat One shrugged. "We're the thin, fat, gay, married, Anglican marines. Why would we need names as well?" he spotted some Monks standing behind Lorna. "Oh! Looks like I'm off. Time for my conversion tutorial. See you in a bit." He walked off with the Monks. "Do you lot have Lent? Because I'm not good at giving things up."
The Thin One turned to Lorna as she shook her head. "Lorna Bucket. You've had an Encounter, haven't you? You've met them."
Lorna smiled. "I was just a kid."
"But what're they like? Adelaide and the Doctor."
"He said 'run'."
"Just run?"
She nodded. "He said it a lot. And when he claimed I was too slow, she scolded him for being rude to a child."
"And this was in the Gamma Forests, yeah? Because you're a Gamma girl, aren't you? What are you doing here? The Forests are heaven-neutral."
"Yeah, and thirty seconds of Adelaide and the Doctor is the only thing that ever happened there."
The Thin One nodded, sliding the panel closed with a hiss. "So, what do you think? If they're really coming here, where are they?"
"He's the Doctor, she's Adelaide. They could be anywhere in time and space."
|C-S|
"Sorry about barging in like this," Adelaide called as Vastra stepped into the TARDIS with a human by her side, the human carrying quite a few large bags. "I couldn't convince him otherwise."
"How else would you have done it?"
Adelaide shrugged. "Knocked?"
Vastra shook her head at the pair of them. "A pleasure to see you again, old friends."
The human waved. "Hello, I'm Jenny. Pleased to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you, Jenny," Adelaide said before the Doctor could. "I trust Vastra has explained the TARDIS to you?" Jenny nodded. "Then off to Strax."
The Doctor gave a small cheer at that news.
|C-S|
River swayed as she walked towards the ringing phone in the Stormcage while alarms blared around her, but she didn't seem overly bothered by the alarms. "Oh, turn it off." She picked up the phone. "I'm breaking in, not out. This is River Song, back in her cell. Oh, and I'll take breakfast at the usual time. Thank you." She hung up the phone and continued, only to stop when she saw the silhouette of someone dressed as a Roman. "Oh, are you boys dressing up as Romans now? I thought nobody read my memos."
Rory stepped into the light. "Dr. Song. It's Rory. Sorry, have we met yet?" he shook his head. "Time streams. I'm not quite sure where we are…"
River took a deep breath. "Yes. Yes, we've met. Hello, Rory."
He frowned at her. "What's wrong?"
"It's my birthday." She gestured at the dress. "The Doctor and Adelaide took me ice skating on the River Thames in 1814, the last of the great Frost Fairs. He got Stevie Wonder to sing for me under London Bridge."
"Stevie Wonder sang in 1814?"
River grinned. "Yes, he did. But you must never tell him."
"I've come from the Doctor and Adelaide too."
"Yes, but at a different point in time."
"Unless there's two of them."
River laughed. "Now, that's a whole different birthday." She walked towards her cell, pulling out her diary as she went.
"They need you."
She shut the diary, looking up. "Demon's Run."
Rory frowned. "How…how did you know?"
"I'm from their future. I always know. Why on Earth are you wearing that?"
"The Doctor's idea."
"Adelaide let him?"
"She found it funny."
"Of course. His rules of engagement. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."
"Looks ridiculous."
River smirked. "Have you considered heels?"
"They've taken Amy. And our baby." Rory took a deep breath. "The Doctor and Adelaide are getting some people together. We're going after her, but they need you too."
"I can't." River shook her head. "Not yet, anyway."
"I'm sorry?"
"This is the Battle of Demons Run. The Doctor's darkest hour…and Adelaide's too. They'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further, and I can't be with them till the very end."
"Why not?"
"Because this is it." River stepped into her cell. "This is the day they find out who I am."
|C-S|
A woman with an eye patch sat across from a large blue skinned man, Dorium Maldovar. "What have you heard?" she asked him.
"That you pricked the side of two mighty beasts, Madame Kovarian, and entirely failed to run." Dorium glanced at the various weapons pointed at him. "I admire your courage. I should like to admire it from afar." He pushed the weapons away.
"We've been waiting a month. They've done nothing."
"Do you really think so?" Dorium counted his money as he spoke. "There are people all over this galaxy that owe those two a debt, and she's been collecting them for quite a while. By now, a few of them will have found a blue box waiting for them on their doorstep, poor devils."
"You think they're raising an army?" the man with Kovarian asked.
"You think they aren't? If they're finally collecting on their debts - especially her - God help you, and god help their debtors."
"Why?"
Dorium turned to the man. "Colonel Manton, all those stories you've heard about them, they're not stories, they're true. Really. You're not telling me you don't know what's coming?"
Manton shook his head. "We're wasting our time here."
Kovarian stood. "Agreed."
"The asteroid where you've made your base," Dorium said, making them pause. "Do you know why they call it Demon's Run?"
"How do you know the location of our base?"
He sighed. "You're with the Headless Monks. They're old customers of mine."
"It's just some old saying."
"A very old saying. The oldest. 'Demons run when a good man goes to war'."
|C-S|
Manton stood before the soldiers, three Headless Monks behind them, with Kovarian by his side. "He is not the devil. She is not a god. They are not goblins, or phantoms, or tricksters. The Doctor and Adelaide are living, breathing men and women, and as I look around this room I know one thing…we're sure as hell going to fix that."
|C-S|
Amy stood above the speech in the white nursery she'd been confined in since she'd lost her daughter. Lorna entered the room, cautious. "Sorry," she called, making Amy look at her. "I shouldn't be here. I'm meant to be at the thing. I brought you something. Your child's name in the language of my people." She held out a small green cloth. "It's a prayer leaf and we believe, if you keep this with you, your child will always come home to you."
"Can I borrow your gun?"
"Why?"
"Because I've got a feeling you're going to keep talking." Amy turned back to look at the window. "They're talking like they're famous. The Doctor and Adelaide aren't famous."
Lorna shrugged. "They meet a lot of people. Some of them…remember. They're sort of like a…I don't know, a dark legend."
Amy scoffed. "Dark? Have you met them?"
Lorna nodded. "Yeah. But I was just a little girl."
"So was I."
"You've been with them a long time, then."
"No. They came back for me."
"You must be very special."
Amy shrugged. "Hey. You can wait a long time for the Doctor and Adelaide, but they're worth it, okay?" she turned to Lorna. "The thing is, they're coming. No question about it. Just you make sure you're on the right side when they get here. Not for my sake, for yours." She took the leaf when Lorna held it out. "Thank you."
|C-S|
"On this day, in this place, the Doctor and Adelaide will fall," Manton continued. "The man who talks, the woman who reasons, the man who lies, the woman who hides, will meet the perfect answer. Some of you have wondered why we have allied ourselves with the Headless Monks. Perhaps you should have wondered why we call them headless. It's time you knew what these guys have sacrificed for faith. As you all know, it is a Level One Heresy, punishable by death, to lower the hood of a Headless Monk. But by the divine grant of the Papal Mainframe herself, on this one and only occasion, I can show you the truth. Because these guys can never be persuaded." He lowered the first Monk's hood, revealing a stump instead of a head and neck. "They can never be afraid." He lowered the second. "And they can never, ever be…"
But the third monk threw back their hood themselves, revealing the Doctor, grinning. "Surprised! Hello, everyone! Guess who!" he walked to the front of the stage. "Please, point a gun at me if it helps you relax." Every single soldier did just that. "You're only human."
Manton stepped forward, aiming his own gun at the Doctor's head. "Doctor, you will come with me right now."
"Three minutes, forty seconds. Amelia Pond! Get your coat!" he pulled his hood back down as the lights went out.
When they came back, he was gone.
"We are not phantoms," the Doctor said, his voice over the speaker now.
"Doctor?"
"We are not tricks."
"Doctor?"
"We're monks."
"Doctor, show yourself!"
"It's him!" a soldier aimed his gun at one of the Monks. "He's here!" the other soldiers began to do the same, making the Monks charge their swords. "It's him!" he shot at one of the Monks."
"Weapons down! Do not fire!" one of the Monks fired a bolt of energy at the first soldier who'd fired. "No!" the Monks and soldiers began to fight. "Doctor! Doctor! Do not fire. Nobody discharge their weapon in this room. Nobody! Do not fire! Stop, wait! Listen to me! I'm discharging my weapon pack." Manton pulled the pack from his gun. "Monks, I do this in good faith. I am now unarmed." He placed it on the floor. "All of you, discharge your weapon packs. The Doctor is trying to make fools of us. We are soldiers of God. We are not fools! We are not fools!"
The soldiers took up his chant, removing their packs, and it continued until every single one of them had placed their packs on the floor. "We are not fools!"
The sound of teleports echoed throughout the base, and immediately the soldiers were surrounded by an army of Silurians and Judoon, with Strax appearing right next to Manton. "This base is now under our command."
"I have a fleet out there! If Demons Run goes down, there's an automatic distress call."
"Not if we knock out your communications array," the Doctor said over the speaker again. "And you've got incoming!"
"Danny Boy to the Doctor! Danny Boy to the Doctor!"
"Give 'em hell, Danny Boy!"
A few moments later, they heard the result of, "target destroyed!"
"Don't slump," Strax told Manton. "It's bad for your spine."
|C-S|
Adelaide didn't like this.
She didn't like any part of this.
Because this…this was the Time War all over again.
This was what the Time Lords had wanted her to do, what she'd refused to do, what she'd turned herself human to avoid doing.
Collecting on debts. Using innocents to fight their war for them.
But that's what they were doing.
And she hated it.
When the Time Lords had asked her for this, when they'd ordered her to do this, Adelaide had been willing to sacrifice her entire planet in order to refuse them. She'd run away with the Master in a broken down TARDIS and hid as a human, knowing that she was abandoning her people, knowing she was leaving them to death.
Because the thought of going to people she'd helped, even if she'd done so accidently, and asking them to fight a war they were never a part of was something she couldn't do.
But that was exactly what they were doing.
Adelaide felt like her hearts were going to break, like every single ounce of her being was fighting what was happening. Because she knew this wasn't right. She knew she didn't want to do this.
She'd refused to save her entire people and here she was, doing what she hated to save a single human.
Of course, she'd rather hated her people by that point. She'd never really liked them, but then they'd shot her down and forced her to stay on the surface of the planet. It hadn't been that hard, in the moment, to leave them all to die.
And this was a human she'd come to like.
Adelaide didn't quite know how the Doctor had been able to convince her to do this. He'd gone off without discussing it with her and only stopped when she forced him to by shouting at him. Then, somehow, he'd convinced her that this was the right thing to do.
But Adelaide hated it.
That was reassuring. After all her confusion over how much of her was human and how much was truly Time Lady, it was wonderful to know that she still thought the same about this concept.
Now, she stood with crossed arms leaning against the control panel, keeping her face as emotionless as she could. Even if the Doctor had convinced her to do this, that didn't mean she liked it. That didn't mean she didn't question everything she'd ever thought about the Doctor.
She was almost thankful that they'd already separated themselves from what Idris had told them because it made it far easier for her to remain impartial as she thought about him.
Or so she liked to tell herself.
Strax escorted Manton into the room by gunpoint. "All airlocks sealed," Strax reported. "Resistance neutralized."
The Doctor, who was sitting at the control panel, shrugged. "Sorry, Colonel Manton. I lied. Three minutes, forty-two seconds."
"Colonel Manton, you will give the order for your men to withdraw."
The Doctor stood. "No. Colonel Manton, I want you to tell your men to run away."
Manton frowned. "You what?"
"Those words. Run away. I want you to be famous for those exact words. I want people to call you Colonel Run Away. I want children laughing outside your door, because they've found the house of Colonel Run Away. And, when people come to you, and ask if trying to get to us through the people we love is in any way a good idea, I want you to tell them your name."
"Doctor," Adelaide said, quite sharply.
It made him take a deep breath. "Oh, look, I'm angry. That's new. I'm really not sure what's going to happen now."
"The anger of a good man is not a problem," Kovarian said as she entered, escorted by guards. "Good men have too many rules."
The Doctor turned to Kovarian. "Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many."
Kovarian glared. "Give the order." The Doctor's eyes widened. "Give the order, Colonel Run Away."
A/N: Sometimes, my unconscious is my best friend. I had honestly forgotten about this episode when I was planning what had happened to Adelaide during the war, and when I got here...it fit so perfectly into my plan that I felt like a genius.
I wonder what sort of legacy Adelaide's left behind. And how she'll feel on the matter...
Notes on reviews:
StoryGirlWrites: Don't worry, I did honestly feel the same about the episode. It's an awkward episode in general to write out, and I probably didn't try my hardest to make it smooth. When I have time I might go back and rewrite it :)