A/N: Welcome to a brand-new chapter. This one has more "edge of your seat" moments than some of my previous chapters, but it's a good one, nonetheless. I hope you think so too.

Also, a friendly reminder that I have started writing a prequel story called "Arising: A Nova Sue Prequel." If you haven't already, go check that out and subscribe. To those who have read it and/or are already following it, please disregard this message as well.

As Always, thank you all who subscribed, commented, and left kudos. Please, don't hesitate to do these things, as it keeps me motivated to post more.

Chapter 38: Into the Belly of the Beast

"I can't see a thing," I say once we reach the bottom of the shaft. Even with my enhanced Time Lord 'night vision,' I'm still struggling to see ten feet in front of me, especially without a flashlight.

Jenny must've read my mind, because she says, "Luckily, I brought a torch," as she takes out a small flashlight (which they call 'torches' in the UK) from her pocket. "Borrowed it off the Doctor," she explains after she turns it on, illuminating the dark hallway.

This makes me chuckle. "I'm surprised you know what that is. That's another thing that hasn't yet been invented in your time." It's funny to see someone from the Victorian Era using something from the 21st Century. Then again, I did the exact same thing with my mobile phone in Victorian London on our previous adventure.

"You'd be surprised as to the number of things Madame Vastra, Strax, and I own in our house that are not of Victorian origin," she shrugs. "Most of the weaponry and technology we use are from between the 21st and 51st Centuries."

"I imagine Dad has had some hand in it as well," I reply. As much as he involves himself in history (involuntarily or otherwise), this wouldn't surprise me one bit.

"He's the one who introduced us to those technologies," Jenny nods in confirmation. "Of course, we never use them outside the house, unless we absolutely need to."

"Of course not," I agree, "since you're technically using things that shouldn't yet exist. Still, it must be fun to use them anyway, even if it's only used in your own home." I imagine it would feel a bit weird but fun all the same.

"You'd be correct," Jenny chuckles. She then sighs, pointing down the seemingly endless tunnel with her flashlight, "Right. Your father says the closest entrance to the base is about three miles that way. We should reach a small grate that leads into a secluded part of the base. This is also where we'll meet once everyone is rescued."

"Great," I nod understandingly. "Do you think we'll catch up with Vastra and Strax when we get there?"

Jenny shakes her head. "I don't think so. The Doctor sent them away twenty minutes before he sent me out. They need a head start to get to the main control room of the base in order to help us get around more easily. Madame Vastra and I were given a similar task when we were sent to Demons Run to rescue your mother and grandmother."

I nod again. "Oh, yeah, that makes sense." I imagine their previous task at Demons Run was to go to the main control room of the base to disable the security systems, alert Dad if anyone was about to run into trouble, etc. I imagine it wouldn't be any different here.

"Shortly, they should get the information we'll need as to the precise location of your family," Jenny continues, "so we can go straight there and rescue them. We shouldn't stay here longer than is necessary."

"Right," I agree. "In all honesty, I'm starting to think it was a major mistake to come here. I should've listened to Dad." At this point I'm getting the impression that I've just signed my own death certificate. God, how could I have been so stupid?

"I understand, Nova," she says, laying a comforting hand on my shoulder. "You're not in this alone. You're with me, so I've got your back." She then pauses for a moment before smiling and replying, "Oh, thanks, Doctor."

"What did he say?" I ask curiously, knowing he is watching us through Jenny's eyes; though a small part of me is nervous to find out, especially after our earlier argument.

"He said that since finding you, he's tasked me to keep you safe," she says with that smile still on her face, "and he's confident that I'll do just that."

"Hmm…" I nod, still a bit unsure. That small part of me thinks that his 'confidence' in Jenny is not actually as high as he makes it out to be. Rule One: The Doctor lies… Though I'm not sure if he actually is lying or not.

As we continue walking through the dark tunnel, I can't help but worry for my family's safety and whether or not we'll be too late to save them.

"What if we're too late?" I decide to admit my fear several minutes later.

"Why in the world would you think that?" Jenny frowns at me.

I shrug. "I don't know. It's just… I'm worried there'll be no one left to save. You know…because they…" I can't help but think back to my dream of my father-guardian when the Silence/Vokanari attacked him with that electric stick, and they may have already killed everyone else and lied about it just to give me a false sense of hope, which sounds exactly like something they would do.

"Of course they haven't," Jenny shakes her head.

"But what if they did?" I say, my nervousness increasing. "A few days ago I had somehow projected my mind into my father-guardian's, and I saw them attack him, and I felt his pain when they did. Our minds disconnected before I could find out whether he'd survived, though, so I don't know if he's still alive or not. For some reason, now that I'm here, I feel like he didn't." That dream felt so real that I felt like it wasn't a dream. If they actually killed him…

"I'm sure he's alright," she assures me. "They all are. You'll see once we find them."

Her statement makes me think of my family's condition and how frail and malnourished they must look, depending on how long they've been imprisoned here, but it must've been at least a week. Still, a week is much too long of a time to not have been fed.

We reach the literal light at the end of the tunnel an hour later. Jenny points it out, whispering, "There's the grate. We must be quiet now. We don't want to alert anyone in case there are people patrolling."

Reaching the grate first, I peek through the slits and see several Silence members sprawled out on the floor, all not moving. Upon seeing this, I say hesitantly, "Um…it doesn't look good out there. Looks like a massacre just happened. Everyone's knocked out… Or dead…"

"Is anybody moving?" Jenny asks. "Can you hear anyone coming?"

"It's hard to see," I say, squinting through the slits in the grate again, "but I can't hear anything, no."

Jenny nods. "Alright, see if you can open the grate. Carefully and quietly."

I begin doing just that, slowly pushing the grate from its position on the wall. However, I end up pushing it a little too hard, and it comes crashing noisily onto the floor. "Sorry," I murmur as I quickly climb out of the hole with Jenny following close behind. We look nervously at the fallen bodies around us, several with nasty burn marks (presumably from Strax's gun), and some with strange green rashes on the sides of their necks, that which its origins are unknown to me.

"Madame Vastra and Strax were definitely here recently," Jenny says, gesturing to the carnage around us. "You can tell by the burn marks and green veins."

"What caused the green veins?" I ask curiously. "It looks like poison." I see a few nearby Silence members convulsing slightly, like they've been tased. Like they are slowly dying.

"It is poison," Jenny confirms. "Kills a human within just a handful of hours. Or it causes genetic mutation to their bodies, depending on how they react to the venom. Madame Vastra clearly used her stinger on them when they passed through here."

"That's horrible," I say, feeling immensely disgusted. "Why would she do this? They didn't deserve it."

"Of course they deserved it, Nova!" Jenny frowns in disbelief. "They're our enemies! Tell me you haven't forgotten that!"

"I haven't forgotten that!" I snap back. "They may be our enemies now, but they didn't used to be, before they joined these sickos! They used to be people—good people! Sure, they may not remember being good people, but they were at one point, only because the Silence dragged them, kicking and screaming, out their front doors and stripped them of their true identities—their true lives. These people didn't used to be killers like they are now. Of course, they're not programmed to think like that anymore, but that's not their fault. Therefore, they don't deserve to die. Not like this!"

Even long before Vastra and Strax attacked them, these people must've had a life of their own before the Silence forced themselves into their lives and mercilessly took their original lives away from them. They certainly didn't deserve that, but they also didn't deserve to be poisoned and genetically mutated on top of that.

Jenny sighs, seemingly contemplating what I just said. "Now that you mention it…" she says after a minute, "you may be right." This genuinely shocks me, making me frown, but I listen as she continues, "Perhaps they were good people before they were forced into this repulsive new life. They certainly didn't deserve this fate. You are absolutely right, Nova. I'm sorry."

"I want to save these people," I say, my hearts beating faster out of anxiety. "I want to reverse everything the Silence have done and prevent it from ever happening again. We have to stop them."

Jenny sighs again, this time sadly. "I don't disagree with you, Nova, but we can't do anything for these people now. Regretfully, everything the Silence have done to these people is irreversible. There is no giving them back their memories of who they used to be." She then says, gently squeezing my shoulder, "But we can save Professor Song, and your former guardians and childhood friend. We won't give up on them."

I nod. "Good, because I don't plan to. I'm going to put this right, even if it kills me."

Jenny looks like she is about to say something in agreement when she suddenly pauses, and in that moment I hear rushing footsteps approaching from somewhere down the hallway. "Someone's coming!" she exclaims. "Quick, hide!" She immediately pushes me behind a wall on the opposite side of the hallway just as a large group of soldiers arrives at the scene.

"This is where it happened, sir," one of the soldiers says to a large man who seems to be the leader of the group. "Unfortunately, we failed to subdue the Silurian and Sontaran."

"Where are the Silurian and Sontaran now?" the leader asks.

"I don't know, sir," the soldier who brought them here shrugs. "They must still be somewhere in the base. Though there is no evidence that suggests where they have gone. Though I do have a theory."

"Explain," the leader commands, his eyebrows furrowing, making me think they're on to us.

Unfortunately, my theory is confirmed when the soldier says, "I believe they came here with him, sir. At least, he sent them here under his orders. I remembered the Silurian and Sontaran from the Fall of Demons Run many cycles ago. They must be here for the prisoners, and perhaps the child accompanied them. One of my other men claimed to have spotted her outside the base, attempting to penetrate its walls."

Jenny and I exchange nervous glances in response to these words. Fudgeknuckle. Clearly they do know we're here.

The leader is silent for a minute before he speaks again. "If the child is here, alert the others and gather a search party at once. I must stay here and deal with this. You three, stay with me. And you, report to Madame Kovarian about the Silurian and Sontaran. The rest of you have new orders. Find the Silurian and Sontaran if you can, but, most importantly, find the child, and report to Madame Kovarian once she is found. Do not kill the child under any circumstances; Kovarian wants her alive. Shoot to stun, not to kill. Dismissed!"

At these words, everyone begins scattering, and a wash of relief floods through me, knowing everyone is leaving the area…

That is, until Jenny speaks up, whispering in my ear, "Follow my lead."

"What?" I frown incredulously. Does she actually want us to be captured and killed?

Jenny shushes me, gently pushing me out from around the corner and into the solders' line of sight. "Trust me. Follow them. Keep your head down."

I nervously do as she says as she leads me around the group, gripping my hand tightly. We manage to reach the opposite end of the hallway where the other Silence members have gone when my single worst nightmare happens in that very moment.

"Oi! You! Stop right there! Don't move! Yes, I'm talking to you, kid!"

At this point, I have no choice but to stop. Fudgeknuckle, I curse in my head, squeezing my eyes shut. I'm dead! I am so, completely, totally dead!

"Turn around and face me!" the leader exclaims to me again. "That is an order!"

I open my eyes again to see Jenny shaking her head at me, but I have no choice. 'I'm sorry,' I whisper to her telepathically, 'I have to.' That said, I reluctantly turn around to face the leader, slowly glancing up at him but enough to still partially cover my face. At this point I feel like I should say something along the lines of 'Yes, sir, you wanted to see me?' but I ultimately decide not to and just anxiously await my fate in silence, my palms sweating and my hearts beating rapidly like ticking bombs.

The leader looks me up and down suspiciously, making me feel immensely uncomfortable. "You bear a striking resemblance to the child," he says with a raised eyebrow, "and if I didn't know better, I'd say you are that child. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't put you through for a DNA scan right this very second." He then takes a strange device (the aforementioned 'scanner,' perhaps) out of his pocket and holds it up to my face to prove his point.

I can't help but panic at this point. Yup, this is it. This is the end. R.I.P. to the girl who died a complete and utter idiot. This is how History will remember me.

All I can think to say is, "Uh… I…"

That is, until Saint Jenny steps in. "Ah, she's with me!" she says, stepping forward. She then lowers her voice and says in a chastising tone, "Natty, I told you to stay close!"

Natty? I frown. Who the heck is Natty?

That's when I realize. It's a name Jenny literally made up for me, since the name on my uniform starts with the letter 'N.' Obviously she can't use the name 'Nova,' so she came up with a completely different name for me. As Jenny approaches me and wraps her arm around me, I immediately go along with the act, pretending to look embarrassed.

However, the leader doesn't seem convinced. "You two are acquaintances?" he asks, his eyebrow raising a little higher.

"We are much more than that, sir," Jenny says, continuing her 'story.' "We are sisters." I quickly nod at this, acting like that is one-hundred percent true, even though it isn't.

"You have different names on your uniforms," a nearby solder points out, seeming as equally suspicious as his commander.

"Uh…our parents split when we were kids," Jenny explains. "Natty was sent to live with our mother, and I was sent to live with our father. We only just got back together when we joined you lot. And yes, everyone thinks she looks like his daughter—" At this, I notice that Jenny had enunciated the word 'his'—obviously referring to Dad—in disgust (rather, mock-disgust). "—but she really isn't. She is one-hundred percent human." Again, she enunciates the word like that is the species I've always been since birth (again, not actually true).

Luckily, Jenny's story seems to check out, because the commander rolls his eyes in seeming boredom and says, "I don't care for your sob story! Just get her out of my face and get back to work!"

At this, Jenny immediately nods, saying as she hastily drags me away, "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. Come along, Natty."

Once we are a safe distance away from the group, I release a huge sigh of relief, finally being able to breathe again (apparently I didn't know I'd been holding my breath that entire time), my hearts racing with absolute fear. Since the commander stopped me, I'm worried that he may have actually recognized me and may report me as a result.

"Blimey," Jenny sighs with equal relief. "That could've ended very poorly. You were very nearly caught just then."

I know," I sigh again, this time in frustration. "I knew it was a mistake to come here. I wish I could turn back."

"We can't turn back now," she says in a regretful tone. "They'll have the area closed off. We may have to find another way out."

"I'm not leaving until we save everyone," I say, a small part of me worrying that she means we leave now, completely aborting the mission.

"Of course," she says, agreeing with me. "I meant we find another way out after we've saved everyone."

"Where do we go from here?" I ask, anxious to continue.

"I don't know yet," Jenny shrugs. "The Doctor is trying to figure that out right now. He says he still hasn't heard back from Madame Vastra and Strax. We can't move forward until we hear back from them."

I sigh once more, this time in annoyance. "So we just sit back and twiddle our thumbs until we know more?"

Jenny shrugs again. "Well, I wouldn't say that. But…basically. We can at least wander and get our bearings of the base. That may help us a bit. We shouldn't stay in one place too long, or we'll get spotted like earlier."

"It sounds like we don't have any other choice," I shrug in response. I then pause, thinking better. "Then again, maybe we'll get lucky and find some sort of sign that tells us where they are. From my vision, they were being held in some sort of dungeon. We could start there."

"Good idea," she praises me. "Luckily, there does appear to be signs everywhere. Perhaps there's one that leads to the dungeons. Come on." We then begin walking, but Jenny stops again, seemingly hearing Dad's instructions. She then perks up, saying, "Oh! Great news! Your father says he's just heard from Madame Vastra. He says they've successfully found the Main Control Deck…strangely with help. She just sent him an updated map of the base. He says we need to go down this hallway, shoot a right, then another right, then a left, then keep going for about half a mile, and we should reach the Atrium, which is the center of life in the base, where they hold important meetings and such. Then it's gonna be a challenge from there."

"Well, it was a challenge just getting this far," I sigh with yet another shrug. "What could be worse?"

"Careful with those words, Nova," she chuckles in response to my words. "They could backfire on you."

Not believing her, I roll my eyes. "Seriously, though, what's the challenge?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," she replies. "We should get a move on all the same. We have a long trek ahead of us. He says the base is a little over forty miles long, from one end of the base to the other."

"Oh, geez!" I exclaim out of shock. "And how far do we have to go?"

Please say it's under a mile… Please say it's under a mile… Please say it's under a mile…

"About ten miles," Jenny says what I didn't obviously want to hear.

"Good grief!" I groan.

"Luckily for us, your father says there are transports that can take us places much faster," she says, which lifts my spirits up a bit, "luckily without need of identification. There's no time to lose."

With that, we begin our long journey through the base.

As we walk, I keep getting the sense like we're being watched, as well as keep hearing noises that sound almost like someone slurping from an empty Styrofoam cup. However, most times I look behind, I see no one in sight; though, at one point, I could swear I saw a tall figure with a large head slip behind the corner of a wall not far behind us. Eventually I ignore it, thinking of it as just my nerves playing tricks on me; we are in a place, completely surrounded by enemies, after all.

"Here we are," Jenny says as we arrive at the end of the hallway that opens into a large open space with Silence members bustling this way and that on foot and riding on the occasional jeep that passes by—the place where I imagine is where Jenny called 'the center of life' in the entire base. "The belly of the beast."

Oh, I really wish you hadn't said that, I think, suddenly feeling sick to my stomach. In fact, I feel so sick that I feel like literally puking all over the floor. In that moment, my hearts begin pounding uncontrollably again, the corners of my vision become fuzzy, and I begin to hear a loud ringing in my ears. I immediately lean against the wall to steady myself, feeling like I'm going to pass out.

Jenny must notice this right away because she rushes up to me in two seconds flat. "You alright?" she asks, placing a concerned hand on my shoulder.

"No…" I say, feeling like I can barely breathe at this point. "I'm… I'm terrified." I then begin backing down the hallway we'd just come from, my fear skyrocketing. "I can't do this. I'm not… I can't…" It is becoming a struggle to say any words, now feeling my hearts beating so fast that they feel like they are slamming into my ribs in an attempt to break them. I wrap my arms around my chest in pain, feeling woozy as I begin sweating and hyperventilating. "I can't breathe…"

"Come here," Jenny says as she pulls me further back into the hallway, out of sight from the rest of the base. She then takes out the earpiece and urges for me to take it. "Put this back in your ear."

"No, I don't want to talk to him," I shake my head, still feeling angered and embarrassed after our earlier argument.

"He's insisting," she urges me again. "He senses what you're feeling right now and wants to help you. Please listen to him."

I sigh, rolling my eyes, as I reluctantly take the earpiece and stick it back in my ear.

I hear Dad's voice the moment it's in. "Nova? Can you hear me?"

This time, hearing his voice is soothing to my ears. "Dad!" I exclaim, in tears at this point and feeling like I want to rush into his arms and hug him until I no longer have the strength. "You were right… I can't do this. I can't go any further. I'm not strong enough. I'll… I'll die if I go any further." I can't help but imagine being digested inside a literal beast's stomach, completely unable to escape.

"No! Don't say that!" Dad says in an insistent tone. "Of course you're not going to die! You will be absolutely fine! You just need to calm down!"

I am about to respond when I hear the Scottish woman's voice exclaim in an appalled tone, "Doctor! Don't tell her that!"

"Why not?" he replies. "She's clearly having a panic attack! She needs to calm down! She's just gonna have more problems if she doesn't! If the Silence see her in this state—"

"Doctor, shut up!" the woman snaps at him. "In fact, just shut up entirely! Let me talk to her."

"What could you possibly know what to say?" he retaliates. "You don't know her as well as I do! In fact, you don't know her at all! She's never met you!"

"DOCTOR!"

That must've been the last straw for the Scot. Immediately following her outburst, there is a loud 'clap' sound, but it's not the sound of a normal clap, like an applause. Rather, this 'clap' is a hand to a cheek—a slap. This realization sends shudders up my spine and a wave of tears to flood my eyes.

"What's going on?" Jenny asks, noticing my disturbed reaction, but all I can do in response is shake my head. I am absolutely speechless at what I had just heard.

"I can't believe you right now!" the woman says in disgust toward my father. "Sit your ass down and think about what you just said! DO IT!" She then continues calmly to me after a few seconds, "Hey, Nova. If you heard all of that just now, I am so sorry. This was not the way I wanted to properly meet you. I had hoped we'd meet on better terms, but your idiot of a father isn't making things any easier…for any of us, and especially for you, which isn't like him at all. Trust me, I know. I've travelled with him for a very long time."

"You're Amy, right?" I ask timidly. My grandmother.

"Yes," she confirms. "Amelia Pond. Or Amelia Williams now, since I married your grandfather, Rory Williams. Anyway, that's a story for another time." She then continues with another sigh, "I can't imagine all the things you're going through right now. Your father told me everything. I completely understand. You're a remarkably brave young woman."

"Or remarkably stupid," I hear Dad murmur disapprovingly in the background.

Amy immediately snaps at him again. "Doctor! What did I just say?"

However, I can't help agreeing with my father. I shake my head, saying, "No, he's right. I'm not brave. Not anymore. I really am stupid. The truth is, I came here hoping to prove myself to Dad—show that I could be brave like him. But I'm not. Turns out coming here is just going to get me killed, no matter how many regenerations I have. He says I'm too inexperienced, and I should've listened. But instead I was reckless and stupid, and now the Silence know we're here. I don't blame him if he hates me now. I totally hate myself for getting us into this. What I did was unforgivable, and I totally get that, and I know that nothing I say will change anything."

"Nova, that's not true," my grandmother replies. "That's not true at all. You are the bravest girl in the whole wide universe—at least, that's what your dad tells me, and I believe him. Personally, there would've been absolutely no way I would've had the courage to go against my father's wishes to do what's right, and the fact that you did just that is truly awe-inspiring. I am exceptionally proud of you, Nova, and I think your grandfather would be too."

These words honestly make me feel better, though Dad still thinks otherwise. "Amy, you've got it completely wrong! She's put herself—and everyone else—in terrible danger! Like she said, just being there is going to get herself killed! She should never have gone there in the first place!"

But Amy refuses to back down, and honestly I do too. "Nova, don't listen to him," she says. "Listen to me instead; listen to your grandmother. If you think you're doing the right thing to go against everyone else's better judgement, that is your decision, and I will respect your decisions, because you are a grown woman, and because you are my granddaughter. I completely trust that you know what you're doing, just like I always trusted your father when I travelled with him, and I will root for you every step of the way."

I smile at her words, no longer feeling scared anymore. "Thanks, Amy. I feel better now."

Go get 'em, girl!" Amy cheers. "You got this! Show those 'Silence' scumbags who's boss!"

"I will!" I chuckle back.

"What was that about?" Jenny asks, puzzled, as I hear a slight argument ensue between my father and grandmother, which I immediately tune out.

"Amy helped give me back the courage I lost," I smile at her. "Now I'm ready for anything."

"Good," Jenny nods. "We must continue. How to we proceed from here?"

"I don't know," I shrug before asking, "Amy, what do we do now?"

I expect to hear my grandmother's voice, but instead I hear my father's, which now sounds calmer but still slightly irked. "Go to the left side of the Atrium and walk until you see what looks like a small bus stop. Wait for the 'bus,' and after you get on, I'll tell you where to go from there. But be careful. You can't be afraid anymore."

"I won't," I tell him. "I've got my mojo back." No thanks to you, I think in my head. I then continue out loud, "I've got this," before turning to Jenny, "Let's go."

TO BE CONTINUED!

Another friendly reminder to go check out my new story "Arising: A Nova Sue Prequel" if you haven't already, and also check back every few days, as I have a habit of rewriting things.

Again, thank you all who subscribed, commented, and left kudos. Please, don't hesitate to do these things, as it keeps me motivated to post more :)