Author's Note: Thanks very much to the following people who reviewed the last chapter - Darkflame5, CJaMes12, Theta'sWorstNightmare, gallifrey calls now and MountainLord-92. Very good to know at least some folks liked the chapter. Just for you guys, here is another one. Only the epilogue to go after this!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I love you, Annie, Sam thought despairingly, wishing more than anything that he'd had the chance to say it to her one more time.

And then he blinked.

A tiny, physical action that should have been over in an instant, but instead seemed to take forever. It was the most terrifying thing he had ever done in his life, knowing that he was about to feel the cold stone fingers at his throat, brutally tearing his head from his body.

However, to his surprise, he felt nothing. His eyes sprang open again, raking the fire-lit room. The Angel was now halfway between them and the door, frozen in the graceful leap of a predator, its wings spread wide and its talons reaching, its face twisted into a horrifying grimace of evil hunger.

At first, Sam thought his blink must have been fast enough to save them after all. But then he realised that it wasn't his gaze that had halted the creature's lethal charge. A tall, familiar shadow stood in the doorway, arrogantly surveying the room, like a king looking out over his realm.

Amy's hand tightened on his arm. "Sam? SAM!" she said urgently. "I still can't see! What's happening?"

"It's Gene!" Sam said in overwhelming, dizzying relief. "He's back."

"Miss me, kids?" Gene said, stepping into the light. He had a lit cigarette dangling casually from the corner of his mouth and, over one shoulder, he was carrying an enormous sledgehammer. Sam recognised it as the twenty pound enforcer they had confiscated two weeks ago from a blagger intent on gaining illegal entry to a jewellery store in King Street. It still had the evidence tag dangling from it.

And in that moment of dawning realisation, Sam became aware that he had seriously underestimated his boss yet again. Why hadn't he seen it? Why hadn't he understood? Gene might not have a handful of degrees in psychology, but he was street smart in a way most other coppers could only dream about. Not only had he completely ignored the Angel's attempt at psychological warfare, he had also seen right through the malicious taunts to the hidden truth the creature had so desperately tried to make them too scared to understand. While we're watching, this thing's an ordinary statue, like any other, right?

The Doctor was right – the quantum-locking was the perfect defence mechanism, a weapon of stealth, enabling the Angels to prey upon other species undetected. But it only worked until the prey figured out exactly what was going on. From that moment, the game changed and it became just as much of a weakness as a strength. Because although the humans were terrifyingly vulnerable while they were not looking at the Angels, the truth was that the Angels were equally helpless when they were.

"Oh, YES!" Sam exclaimed triumphantly.

Seeing the understanding sweep across his DI's face, Gene gave him a quick, hard wink and stepped around to confront the frozen Angel.

"What?" Amy cried, digging her long fingernails painfully into Sam's arm. "What's he doing?"

"He's got a sledgehammer!"

Gene planted his feet firmly on the ground and began to heft the enormous hammer in his black-gloved hands, unhurriedly getting used to the balance of it, and making absolutely sure the Angel could see what was coming. "That's right, and I'm about to use it to teach this overgrown lawn ornament a little lesson in manners!"

The Angel didn't move – couldn't move, while it was pinned under their eyes – but Sam could have sworn that the marble features now held fear instead of malice. Pulling Amy with him, he backed as far away from the Angel as he could, putting a safe distance between them and what he knew was about to happen.

"Word to the wise, pal," Hunt added in a harsh voice, looking directly into the thing's face. "When the Gene Genie tells you to run, that's exactly what you should do, 'cos there ain't no second chances."

With that, he pulled back his arms and swung the hammer with all his might. The twenty-pound head drove powerfully into the Angel's right wing, smashing it into a hundred jagged pieces. At the same time, an appalling high-pitched shrieking sound tore through the air. Unable to look away, Sam put his hands over his ears, wincing at the almost physical pain caused by the hideous noise. Beside him, he could feel Amy doing the same thing. Hearing the unnatural sound of the Angel laughing in a dead man's voice had been bad enough – hearing it scream was indescribable.

But Gene didn't even flinch. Instead, he pulled the sledgehammer back over his shoulder, preparing for another swing. "Go on then, you stone bastard, scream!" he hissed. "Scream like Phyllis did before she died!"

Another crash reverberated through the room and the Angel's left wing crumbled into pieces, collapsing in a small cloud of white dust. Next to go were the raised arms, frozen while reaching so cruelly for Sam's throat, now shattered into impotent slivers of white marble under Gene's determined assault. And all the while, the screaming noise intensified in both pitch and volume.

Panting slightly from the exertion of swinging the heavy implement, the DCI's cold, grey-green eyes zeroed in remorselessly on the Angel's leering face and his gaze seemed to harden even further, etched with contempt. "Say goodnight, Gracie!" he gritted out.

Again he pulled his arms back and again the hammer flew, striking the Angel's head dead centre with lethal force, exploding it into unrecognisable fragments. The screaming noise stopped abruptly. After that, everything seemed to fall into slow motion for Sam. All he could see was the relentless rise and fall of the hammer, tiny explosions of white stone dust puffing across the room as his boss meticulously smashed the nightmarish creature into smithereens.

At last, when he could raise the hammer no more, Gene stopped, lowering the head of the implement wearily to the floor and leaning on the handle, breathing heavily as he looked around at the devastation he had wrought. Pulverised shards of white marble littered the floor everywhere, all that was left of the self-styled Angel Bob.

Sudden, stunned silence fell across the room like a blanket. Sam heard Amy gasp beside him. Realising that there was nothing left that he needed to stare at, he turned his head woodenly towards her, like a puppet on a string. Her head was bowed, her hands covering her eyes.

"He's done it," she whispered in wonder, slowly pulling her hands away and blinking owlishly in the firelight. "The sand...it's stopped flowing. Oh my god, Sam, your boss just single-handedly killed a Weeping Angel!"

Sam turned back to Gene, trying to find something to say. But the shock of the abrupt ending to their ordeal seemed to have frozen his vocal chords, because although his mouth worked, no sound came out.

Gene's gaze met his and the DCI nodded curtly, before taking a deep drag on his cigarette and expertly blowing a smoke ring in the air. "See, Tyler?" he said smugly. "Sometimes the old-fashioned way is the best after all."

Amy gave an incredulous gurgle of laughter and threw her arms around Sam. "We're alive!" she shouted.

Gradually the realisation that it was all over began to sink into Sam's brain. He wasn't going to die here in this dingy little room. He would see Annie again, he would be able to tell her he loved her. Suddenly life seemed almost unbearably sweet.

"We're alive!" he echoed, picking Amy up and spinning her wildly around in a dance of victory. "WE'RE ALIVE!"

Then, putting her down, he walked over to Gene and extended his hand. "That was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen," he said sincerely. "You just saved all our lives. I can't thank you enough, Guv."

Gene hesitated for a moment and then put his hand in his DI's and shook it. "Don't mention it," he said gruffly. "And I mean that, Dorothy, don't mention it...I'm the ranking officer, it's my job to look after my team. There's no need to get all girly and gushy on me."

Sam grinned jubilantly. Coming from Gene Hunt, the acknowledgement had been almost affectionate.

"Oh, and Tyler...?"

The question was edged with almost imperceptible uncertainty, bordering on real anxiety. Looking into Gene's craggy face, Sam felt something like compassion stirring inside him. After everything that had happened today, the DCI had to be questioning everything he had ever believed in. Gene had always been so narrow-minded, so set in his ways. The discovery that aliens actually existed would have to be the shock of a lifetime, proving to him once and for all that there were things in the Universe beyond his limited understanding. Perhaps now, once things settled down a bit, Sam might finally be able to explain his own origins in the future to Gene without him calling the little men in the white coats. Suddenly, he felt closer to his boss than he ever had before.

"Yeah, Guv?" he replied, waiting for the deep and meaningful question that would set their new understanding in motion.

"D'you think if I hurry, I might still make it to the pub before closing time?"

Another Author's Note: OK, so all that time ago when I first started this story, I was inspired by something I saw on a forum, where somebody mentioned that they thought the Angels weren't at all scary, because all you would need to sort one out was a sledgehammer. Once I read that I couldn't help thinking how awesome the Gene Genie would be in that situation, and so this fic was born. Hopefully, no-one is disappointed with the plot resolution :)