Katie felt her throat constrict. Shame, guilt, and self-loathing washed over her, wiping out all other thoughts. All she had to do was hold onto him, and try not to blink. It wasn't that hard! She should have held on!
Katie glanced up. The empty gray eyes of the Lead Angel stared back at her. Anger flared up in her chest. She could have held on, that was true. She bore a good portion of the blame for the loss of Aiden; that was an unavoidable fact. But the Angels…! Her mouth curled into a cruel smile as she narrowed her eyes. Though she could not see it, her green eyes had begun to swirl with silver color.
"You're good," she snarled, addressing the Lead Angel. "You are very, very good. But you also made a very, very bad move. That boy has sisters to care for, and I'll be damned if I let you live after helping me to let go of him. I don't know how you kill stone, but I will destroy every—single—one of you, even if I have to melt you down individually."
Katie's hand flashed out, the heel of her palm hitting the Lead Angels chest. It was a move made in anger, a futile act meant to punctuate her statement. To her great astonishment, the stone cracked. A faint trickle of silver came leaking out. Katie's laugh was short and hard.
"What do you know? Stone does bleed!"
Shoving statues aside, Katie made a mad dash for the drilling laser. It looked enough like a tank, and the city didn't need the power. It wouldn't be hard to either run over or melt them.
But they were moving targets. They could make a mad dash for it, for the surface even. There had to be dozens of ways to get back to the Central Tunnel. They could be back on the surface in a minute, and whoever was out there could be removed just like that.
So how to stop them?
How do you kill rock?
You don't, Katie realized. You just have to make it so small that it can't go anywhere. And the best way to crunch up rock, and keep it that way was to use explosives. Explosives that could be used for mining.
Katie closed her eyes again, this time to keep the Angels frozen where they were. The silver mist had no hold on her now; her anger blotted it all out. Pelting along at top speed, she was soon back at the storage compartment. The lock was easy to force, and the mounds of top grade C-4 and dynamite were a welcome sight, as was the hand held drill. Katie had to spare a smile when she saw the large U.S. on the side of the boxes.
"We always did make the best explosives. Time to put good ol' American quality to the test."
Katie unceremoniously emptied everything out of her bag and started stuffing in explosives. Her stuff was all replaceable anyway; this chance wasn't. What percentage of the Weeping Angel race was held in the tunnels, Katie had no way of knowing. She only knew that it had to be a goodly amount. A dinner this size doesn't just go unnoticed.
Katie was fast. The Angels were faster. Blink and you were lunch. But as long as they knew they were being watched, they couldn't move.
Eyes closed, all three hearts racing, large lungs sucking air in and out, and constantly drawing in energy from everywhere around her, Katie finally made real use of the extra-terrestrial qualities she had. Eyes still closed to keep the Assassins frozen, Katie zipped from one to the next, a pattern quickly establishing itself. Drill hole, stick of dynamite, seal with C-4, place wire, run to the next. Repeat.
Eventually, Katie stopped. She stood next to the laser drill, panting but pleased. It had taken almost all the space in her bag to hold enough explosives to wire all the Angels up, but she had done it. The wireless detonator in her hand would set the whole thing off with the touch of a button. But first she had to drill through the cave in.
"There's a laser solder under the sink in the kitchen," the Doctor called to Katrina from under TARDIS's console room floor. He had made a dozen such requests in the past half hour. Katrina had quietly done each one, doing her best to help with the repair. She had transported everything from glass dust (sneeze and the minute shard would become a permanent part of your lung) to molten metals (spill it on yourself and melt the appendage). Jaya had been blessedly quiet, spending the time just sitting and watching the door, rocking back and forth with a fretful expression.
Katrina retrieved the solder and brought it to the Doctor, who took it with a nod of thanks. He had no goggles, in fact no protective gear of any kind. His face, eyebrows, and hair all looked singed, but he didn't seem to notice.
"I'm starting to get worried," Katrina confessed. "They should have been able to make it here by now."
"They'll be alright."
"You keep saying that, but you really don't have any way of knowing," Katrina protested. "There's hundreds, maybe even a thousand of those things, and we don't know where they are. Aiden and Katie could be right in the middle of them!"
"If they are," the Doctor said, not looking away from his work, "then I'd be more afraid for the Angels. Katie has enough arrogance that she's probably looking for a way to kill stone."
The Doctor attached one last wire to the giptheorium container and pulled himself out. "There! Now, I just flip this switch here and—"
Kkzzzzztch kraw kow!
TARDIS shuddered furiously. Katrina immediately dashed for Jaya as the Doctor started moving around the console, throwing levers and pulling out stops before realizing it was an outside force. Pulling down the view screen, all he could see was a dust cloud.
Then something began moving through it in starts and stops. A large something, or many small ones. A lone figure came out from them, walking with determined strides.
With a rush of relief, the Doctor recognized Katie's walk. She looked angrier than he had ever seen, and was wearing his coat for some reason, but she was alive. His heart dipped when he realized that Aiden wasn't with her.
Katie walked directly to the front of TARDIS, pausing to pick up a large, flat rock. The Doctor realized what she was going to do, though the why was anyone's guess.
The Doctor dashed for the door, but too late. He heard Katie shove the rock into the handle, effectively locking him in.
"Kathryn!" he yelled, yanking futilely on the door.
"These creatures…they'll never stop, right? If they get to the surface, they'll take everyone? No reasoning with them, no getting people back?"
Puzzled by the question, the Doctor answered honestly. "Weeping Angels are some of the most dangerous beings in the universe. Once someone gets sent back, they change the history they touch, become part of it. No returns."
Katie didn't answer. Katrina called to the Doctor from the view screen. "She's running! No, wait, she's back. Oh my…Doctor, she's putting explosives in the Angels!"
The Doctor joined Katrina. Jaya was hiding her face in Katrina's neck, obviously crying. The Doctor knew without asking that Katrina had already noticed her brother's absence. They watched silently as the horde of Angels came forward, moving in starts and stops, trying vainly to reach Katie, or the surface. Perhaps both.
In less than a moment, hundreds of Angels were filling the tunnels. Katie walked to TARDIS, one hand on the rock, the other holding a small remote. The Doctor felt sick, knowing what would come next. He ran for the door again, shouting.
"Kathryn, you can't do this! It won't bring him back! Stop this now!"
There was no answer. A second later, the door was flung open, shoving the Doctor back in the process. Katie slammed the door shut behind her, fists clenched. TARDIS rocked a second time from the force of explosions ripping apart the Angels.
After what felt like years, but was really minutes, the shaking stopped. The Doctor could only stare at Katie from his spot on the floor. Her back shook with silent sobs.
*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*