The Time of Angels
The Doctor was striding through a medieval themed museum, pointing at random displays as Evy laughed and walked beside him, dressed in a tan coat and pants with a black shirt and black knee high boots. Amy was following along, a bit annoyed. She'd been hoping for a planet, not a museum trip.
"Wrong!" he pointed to a random object, "Wrong!"
"That one's right," Evy commented, looking at something in a display, "No, sorry, I take it back, wrong as well."
The Doctor laughed, "I love museums!"
"Yeah, great," Amy rolled her eyes, "Can we go to a planet now? Big spaceship, Churchill's bunker...you promised me a planet next."
"Amy, this isn't just some old, stuffy asteroid," Evy smiled and turned to link arms with the ginger, "It's the Delerium Archive."
"The final resting place of the Headless Monks, the biggest museum ever," the Doctor added, running around like a child in a sweet shop.
"You've got a time machine," Amy remarked, "What do you need museums for?"
"Wrong!" he shouted at another display, "Very wrong!" he ran over to a small display in the middle of the room, seeing what looked like miniatures, "Ooh, one of mine. And there's one of yours Evy," he smiled up at her before looking closely at the figures.
"Oh, I see. It's how you keep score."
Evy laughed, "It's exactly how he keeps score," she looked around the room, her smile fading as she caught sight of something in the next display case, "Doctor…" she said, slowly walking over to it.
He looked up, seeing her staring at an antique box in a display. He walked over, his eyes widening when he saw the symbols covering the box.
"Oh great, an old box," Amy sighed, looking down at it as well.
"It's the Home Box from an old star liner," Evy commented, eyeing it closely through the glass.
"What's a Home Box?"
"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes," the Doctor explained, "Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home, with all the flight data."
"So?" Amy shook her head, not seeing what was so great about this one.
"The writing, those symbols," Evy breathed, looking down fondly at them, "Are Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of our people."
"Lost?"
"Like Latin or Greek for humans," she explained quickly.
"There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple gods," the Doctor said seriously.
"What does it say?" Amy asked, excited.
Evy smirked, nudging the Doctor, "Hello, sweetie," she laughed but then saw the look on his face, "Oh no…don't!"
But it was too late.
He whipped out his sonic and flashed the lock on the glass, lifting the top layer and pulling the box out as alarms began to blare. He dropped the glass back down and turned to run, pulling Evy along with him as they raced through the museum and back to the TARDIS, managing to get in it just before the guards reached them. Evy went to the console, flipping a lever to get them into the Vortex while the Doctor went to hook up the box.
"Why are we doing this?" Amy asked as Evy came around to stand beside the Doctor.
"'Cos someone on a spaceship 12,000 years ago is trying to attract our attention," the Doctor replied, fixing the last wire, "Let's see if we can get the security playback working."
A grainy black and white image began to play. The Doctor and Evy watched as a slightly younger River Song appeared on the monitor. She pulled down her sunglasses and winked at them before the image shifted to River with her back to them, standing at an airlock door.
"The party's over, Dr. Song…" a man said, the top of his head just barely appearing at the bottom of the screen, "...yet still you're on board."
River turned around, "Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination."
"Wait till she runs," Alistair ordered two men who appeared beside him, "Don't make it look like an execution."
Unperturbed River just looked down at her watch, "Triple-seven, five, slash, three, four, nine by ten. Zero, twelve, slash, acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor."
Evy smiled and ran over to a keyboard, typing something in.
"What was that, what did she say?" Amy looked at the Doctor, confused.
"Coordinates," he replied, going over to Evy, "Why are you putting them in?"
Evy just laughed, looking up at him, "Oh stop," she tapped his cheek.
"But it's River…" he mock whined. He wasn't too comfortable around River, being their future and all, it went against his instincts to mess with the time stream that much. And he'd learned his lesson on Mars about what could happen.
"And the last time River appeared it meant an exciting, terrifying, and dangerous adventure, which I know you love," she turned to him, looking up at his hesitant face. She stepped closer to him, draping her arms around his neck, just playing with the hair at the nape, "Please?"
He looked down at her, looking up at him with just the smallest pout, before sighing, "Fine."
She smiled widely, turning back to the controls, "I knew that would work."
"What would work?" he frowned, confused.
She glanced over at him, "I know how to distract you just enough to get away with certain things."
"That's not true," he countered, leaning against the console as she put in the rest of the coordinates, "I'm always attentive. I'm undistractable."
"Undistractable? Really?"
"Yes."
"Well…" Evy began, before stepping up to him and pulling him down by his lapels, kissing him deeply. Moments later, she pulled away, smiling, satisfied at the dazed look on his face. She turned and got back to the coordinates, putting in the last one as River spoke on the monitor once more.
"Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to!" River shouted before there was an explosion, blasting the door off the ship.
Evy pulled a lever, the TARDIS materialized in space a moment after the explosion on the Home Box occurred, only a small distance away from the ship itself. She looked over at the Doctor, still looking dazed, and nudged him, "Can you get the door love?"
The Doctor seemed to snap out of his thoughts, looking between Evy to the box to the door before running over to the door. He paused a moment to look back at Evy as she leaned against the railing, her arms crossed, smirking at him, "Oh you're good…" he smiled at her, pulling the door open just as River fell through it, landing half on top of him.
"Doctor?" Amy called, seeing him topple over.
"River?" the Doctor asked, helping the woman in the black dress to her feet.
River spun around and watched the ship fly away, "Follow that ship!" she called, running up to the console where Evy was already putting in the instructions to slave the TARDIS to the ship. A moment later their old box took off after it, River, Evy, and the Doctor working the controls as Amy held onto the railing, watching them.
River pulled off her red, high heeled shoes and hung them from the monitor, "They've gone into warp drive, we're losing them! Stay close!"
"We're trying!" Evy called.
"Use the stabilizers."
"There aren't any stabilizers!" the Doctor shouted back.
"The blue switches!" River nodded to the blue buttons near the Doctor.
"The blue ones don't do anything, they're just...blue," he replied.
Evy rolled her eyes, they were stabilizers, he just never used them.
"Yes, they're blue," River made her way over to them, "They're the blue stabilizers!" she pushed them down and the ship suddenly became still and quiet, "See?"
"Yeah, well, it's just boring now, isn't it?" the Doctor said, annoyed, "They're...boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers."
"Doctor, how come she can fly the TARDIS?" Amy looked over at him.
"You call that flying the TARDIS?" he demanded, falling back onto the jump seat with a sulk, "Ha!"
Evy smiled and walked over to sit on his lap, looking over at Amy, "I tend to fly the TARDIS a bit smoother than him, but I never use the stabilizers…it puts him in a mood."
"A mood?" the Doctor looked at her.
"Yes, a pouty mood."
"A pouty mood?"
"But a very cute, pouty mood," she pecked him on the cheek. He just shook his head at her and put his arm around her waist, squeezing her close.
River couldn't help but smile, watching them for a moment, before getting back to business, "Ok. I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and parked us right alongside."
"Parked us?" the Doctor frowned, "We haven't landed."
"Of course we've landed. I just landed her."
The Doctor stood up, forcing Evy up as well, as he walked over to the console, "But it didn't make the noise."
"What noise?"
"You know, the..." he then proceeded to make a gasping, raspy imitation of the TARDIS's wheezing noise.
"It's not supposed to make that noise."
"You leave the brakes on," Evy had to agree.
"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise," he argued, turning to Evy, "I love that noise."
"That's why I don't remind you the brakes are on."
He grinned widely, pulling her down the steps towards the doors, calling, "Come along, Pond, let's have a look!"
"No, wait!" River shouted, "Environment checks."
"Oh, yes, sorry!" he rolled his eyes, "Quite right. Environment checks," he stuck his head out the doors before pulling back in, "Nice out."
"We're somewhere in the Garn Belt," River continued, ignoring him, "There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest..."
"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System," the Doctor cut in quickly, "Oxygen-rich atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11-hour day, and..." he stuck his head out the doors once more, "Chances of rain later."
River rolled her eyes and turned to Amy, "He thinks he's so hot when he does that," she glanced over at Evy and the Doctor walking back to the console, "Only Evy agrees with him."
"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked her.
"Oh, I had lessons from the very best."
"Well, yeah," the Doctor began, smugly.
"Yes, thank you Evy," River smirked over at the other woman, before laughing at the Doctor's putout expression.
"Oh, I'm sure you helped," Evy gave him a quick peck.
"Of course he did," River nodded, "He, by example, taught me what NOT to do," Evy laughed, "Right then," she picked up her shoes and headed for the door, "Why did they land here?"
"They didn't land," the Doctor called after her.
"Sorry?"
"You should've checked the Home Box, it crashed," he said, walking over to the doors with River, Evy following as well.
River stepped outside and the Doctor shut the doors behind her, rushing back to the console.
"Explain!" Amy demanded, turning to the Doctor, "Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?"
"It's a long story and we don't know most of it," the Doctor replied, working the controls, "Off we go!"
"What are you doing?"
"Leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go."
"Are you basically running away?"
"Yep."
"Why?" Amy crossed her arms.
"'Cos she's the future. Our future."
"Can you run away from that?"
"I can run away from anything I like."
"Except me," Evy called. They looked over to see her still standing by the doors, "And I'd rather like to see what she was following."
The Doctor looked ready to argue but then Amy spoke, seeing her opportunity, "Hang on, is that a planet out there?"
"Yes…" he answered slowly, "Of course it's a planet."
"You promised me a planet. Five minutes?"
The Doctor looked between Amy and Evy, knowing there was no way he would possibly win, "Ok," he sighed, "Five minutes!"
"Yes!" Amy clapped, running for the doors.
The Doctor stalked after her, "But that's all, 'cos I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!"
"Oh, but I will," Evy smiled, giving him a quick peck of thanks before taking his hand and pulling him out along with her.
They were on a beach, looking at where the ship had crashed into a very large, very old, stone structure. There were a few places burning and some debris scattered around the ground as they stood there.
"What caused it to crash?" River asked, "Not me."
"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it," the Doctor said.
"The Home Box has it recorded as the warp engines having a phase-shift," Evy recalled, "There were no survivors."
"A phase-shift would have to be sabotage," River sighed, "I did warn them."
"About what?" the Doctor asked.
"Well, at least the building was empty. Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries," she pulled out a device from her purse and began keying something into it.
The Doctor and Evy turned to walk back to Amy, only to see she had been walking towards them, "Aren't you going to introduce us?" she asked them.
"Amy Pond, Professor River Song," the Doctor introduced quickly.
"Ah, I'm going to be a Professor some day, am I?" she turned to face them, her eyes wide, surprised. The Doctor winced at the slip of information, Evy just squeezed his hand, "How exciting!" she laughed, "Spoilers!" and then turned her attention back to her device.
"Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that?" Amy whispered to them as the Doctor stalked past, pulling Evy along with him, "She just left you a note in a museum!"
The Doctor just walked off a bit, looking around.
"Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum," River told Amy, "The Home Box of category four star liner and, sooner or later, them. It's how the Doctor keeps score."
"I know," Amy laughed.
"It's hilarious, isn't it?"
"I'm nobody's taxi service!" the Doctor strode up to them with a sarcastic laugh before turning to River, "I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship."
River just smiled, "And you are so wrong…Evy will be there and, therefore, so will you," she looked back at the ship, "And there's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die," she looked back to see the Doctor looking curious, "Now he's listening!" she turned to Amy, "Learned that from Evy as well," she laughed, picking up her device and speaking into it, "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal," she walked off a little ways away and held up her device, but it was too weak, she turned around, "Doctor, can one of you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."
The Doctor reluctantly took out his sonic and flashed it in her direction, she dropped into a small curtsey and continued signaling whoever it was she was contacting.
"Ooh, Doctor!" Amy laughed, "You soniced her!"
"We have a minute!" River called, motioning them over, "Shall we?" she pulled out her old TARDIS-shaped diary and flipped through a few pages, "Where were we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?"
"What's the book?"
"Stay away from it," the Doctor warned her.
"What is it though?"
"Her diary," Evy answered.
"Our diary," River corrected.
"Containing her past, but our future."
"Time travel," the Doctor muttered, "We keep meeting in the wrong order."
Just then four columns of swirling dust appeared on the beach, four soldiers appearing within them, dressed in desert camouflage uniforms. One of the solders, an older man, approached River, "You promised me an army, Dr. Song."
"No," she corrected, "I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor and Evy."
The Doctor gave a little lighthearted salute.
"Father Octavian, sir," Octavian reached out and shook his hand, Evy's as well, "Ma'am. Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Dr. Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Dr. Song explained what we're dealing with?"
"Doctor, Evy, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?" River asked.
The Doctor tensed, his hand immediately taking Evy's as he thought back to their last encounter with an Angel. He'd been so stupid then…he'd been willing to let his Link get killed by a Weeping Angel…granted, he hadn't known she was his Link at the time, or even a Time Lady, but now, thinking on it, it filled him with dread and guilt.
Evy squeezed his hand reassuringly, sensing his thoughts, 'I'm still here,' she reminded him. They'd survived then. They'd be fine now.
~8~
Night had fallen rather quickly and a camp had been made as soon as the transport ship arrived. Octavian was striding across the grounds with the Doctor, Evy, and Amy following as he explained the situation, "The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship. Our mission is to get inside and neutralize it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this…" he held up a device similar to River's with a map on it, "Behind the cliff face, there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up."
"Oh, good," the Doctor breathed, his thumb absently running over Evy's knuckles in an effort to calm himself more than her.
"Good, sir?"
"Catacombs, probably dark ones. Dark catacombs, great!"
"Technically, I think it's called a 'Maze of the Dead.'"
"You should really stop talking," Evy cut in, feeling the Doctor tensing more. Well, she never thought she'd say that to anyone besides the Doctor.
"Father Octavian?" a cleric called.
"Excuse me, sir, ma'am," Octavian said before he went to join the man.
The Doctor waved him off before heading over to a table with some equipment, sonicing it.
"You're letting people call you 'sir' and 'ma'am,'" Amy remarked, "You never do that…" she pushed herself up on the table to sit on it, "So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?"
"Now that's interesting..." the Doctor looked up at her, "You're still here. Which part of 'Wait in the TARDIS till we tell you it's safe' was so confusing?"
Evy smiled a bit, "Pouty face has become frowny face," she tilted her head, "Taking leaf out of your fifth incarnation's book are we?"
Before he could answer, River stuck her head out of a small transport unit, "Evy! I could use your help setting up some computers."
Evy nodded, giving the Doctor a peck before heading off, but not before telling him silently that he should tell Amy what she was about to face if she wasn't going to go to the TARDIS.
He gave her a small smile and a nod, watching as she disappeared into the unit before turning back to Amy, "A Weeping Angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced, and one is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in with it and my Link and a screwdriver and a torch and, assuming Evy and I survive the radiation and the whole ship doesn't blow up in our faces, do something clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day, that's what I'm up to. Any questions?"
"Is River Song your wife?" Amy asked, "'Cos she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone but Evy talk to you like that but so does she. She's kinda like, you know, 'Heel, boy!' She's Mrs. Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she gonna be your wife one day?"
The Doctor looked at her seriously, "No, Evy is my Link."
Amy just rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes, Evy's your Link but is River your wife?"
She held her breath as she waited for his answer. It was horrible of her, she knew, but she was hoping River was his wife. She could see how close Evy and the Doctor were, how much they seemed to love each other, but…if River was his wife…then it had to mean he wouldn't always be with Evy…and if he could get over Evy…maybe, just maybe, there was a chance he could be with her.
The Doctor's jaw tensed at her question. It wasn't Amy's fault, they hadn't exactly explained to her what a Link was, what Linking was, but still…just the thought that he could ever…
He shook his head, "Yes," he began nodding to himself, "Evy's right, I'm definitely frowny face today."
"Doctor?" Evy called from the transport, "There's something you need to see!"
He turned and headed to the transport as Amy hopped off the table to follow, River came out calling for Father Octavian as well.
"Why do they call them Father?" Amy asked.
"He's their Bishop, they're his clerics," the Doctor explained, "It's the 51st century, the Church has moved on."
He walked into the unit to see black and white footage of the Weeping Angel on a monitor, facing away from them, hands covering its eyes, as River held a remote. Evy was sitting at a small keypad before four other monitors with different readings and monitoring systems on it. Her sonic on the table before her.
"What do you think?" River asked as Father Octavian walked in, "It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on loop."
They watched as the four seconds played over, a small blip of static in the middle of the loop.
"Yeah, it's an Angel," the Doctor sighed as he stood before the screen, "Hands covering its face."
"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian asked.
"A long time ago on Earth," Evy told them, "Four of them, but they were at their end, barely surviving."
The Doctor spun around and turned to Evy, "I'm actually rather missing that dress you wore now."
Evy blushed, "That thing was far too short to be decent!"
He just grinned, "But it gave me a lovely view of your legs."
"Doctor!" she shouted, throwing her sonic at him. He caught it with a laugh and tossed it back to her.
Octavian cleared his throat, not too sure what on Earth they were talking about.
"Right, back to business," the Doctor nodded.
"It's just a statue," Amy said, looking at the screen.
"It's a statue when you see it," River explained.
"Where did it come from?" the Doctor asked, looking at River.
"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all that time."
"Dormant and patient are two very different things," Evy remarked, looking at the screen.
"What's that mean, it's a statue when you see it?" Amy shook her head, not following.
"The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen," River told her, "So legend has it."
"No, it's not legend, it's a quantum lock," the Doctor cut in.
"The Angels literally cease to exist when they are in the sight of any other living creature," Evy explained, "They become stone. It's the ultimate defense mechanism."
"What, being a stone?" Amy asked.
"Being a stone...until you turn your back," the Doctor finished. He took a breath and headed out of the unit, the others following as he looked at the ship, "What do you think?" he looked at Evy.
"The hyper drive probably split on impact," she said, eyeing the ship, "It'll be flooded with radiation by now, everything from cracked electrons to gravity storms. What should be deadly to almost any living thing."
"Deadly to an Angel?" Octavian asked hopefully.
"Dinner to an Angel," the Doctor corrected, "The longer we leave it, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? Are they still around?"
"The Aplans," River answered, looking down at her device, "The indigenous life form. They died out 400 years ago."
"200 years later, the planet was terra-formed," Octavian added, "Currently there are six billion human colonists."
"You lot, you're everywhere!" the Doctor laughed, "Like rabbits! We'll never get done saving you."
"Well, then we'll always have something to do," Evy smiled.
"If there is a clear and present danger to the local population..." Octavian began.
"Oh, there is," the Doctor said seriously, "Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load!"
"Verger, how we doing with those explosives?" Octavian turned to his men, "Dr. Song, with me."
"Two minutes," River told him before walking back to the equipment table, "Sweetie, I need you!"
The Doctor walked over at Evy, "Sweetie?"
"I think she means you," she replied, amused at how irritated he seemed by the nickname. She could imagine River calling him that just to get on his nerves.
He sighed and shook his head, taking her hand and walking over to River.
"Anybody need me?" Amy asked, "Nobody?"
"We'll be right back Amy," Evy smiled, "Two minutes."
Amy nodded and turned to go wait in the transport unit.
The Time Lords walked over to River who held a book out to the Doctor, "I found this. Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madman, it's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages…"
The Doctor flipped through the pages quickly, "Not bad…" he handed it over to Evy who flipped through it as well, "Bit slow in the middle."
"I really hate his girlfriend," she joked, handing the book back.
He laughed a moment before thinking of something, "No, hang on, wait, wait!" he sniffed the book.
"Dr. Song?" Amy called from the transport, "Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?"
"No, just the four seconds," River called back.
Evy frowned as Amy looked confused and stepped back into the unit, "I'm going to check the readings, see if I can't hack into what's left of the security feed from the ship, get a visual."
"Brilliant," the Doctor smiled at her as she headed back to the unit as well. Evy laughed as she heard the Doctor shouting, "This book is wrong! What's wrong with this book, it's wrong."
She stepped into the unit to see Amy leaning forward to look at the time code on the screen, but what made her stop short was the fact that the Angel had moved and was now facing forward with its hands down. Her eyes widened as words from the book came back to her, 'That which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel.'
She needed to shut off that screen.
"Amy?" Evy called.
Amy jumped back, the remote in her hands, "Evy!" she gasped, "Oh, thank God, the Angel, it keeps moving."
~8~
River was watching the Doctor closely as he examined the book, "Oh, it's so strange when you and Evy go all baby-faced. How early is this for you?" she looked down at her diary.
"Very early," he muttered.
"So you don't know who I am yet?" she smirked.
"How do you know who we are? We don't always look the same."
"I've got pictures of all your faces. Sketches actually, of you and Evy. You never show up in the right order though. I need the spotter's guide."
"Pictures?" he looked up suddenly, "Why aren't there pictures?"
~8~
"We've got to shut it off," Evy told her calmly.
"I've tried," Amy told her, pressing the button on the remote a few times, but the TV kept turning back on. She put the remote down and they both looked at the screen, "But it's just a recording. It shouldn't be able to move."
Evy frowned, seeing the power cord, "Let's try this..." she knelt forward and pulled at it, but it was stuck.
"Evy!" Amy gasped. Evy looked up to see the Angel now had its face nearly pressed to the camera and jumped back.
Getting up, she grabbed Amy's arm and pulled her to the door, "We need to get out now."
Amy tried to get the door open while Evy made sure to keep her eye on the Angel, "It won't budge!"
Evy stepped forward, flashing her sonic, "Deadlocked…" she muttered.
There was only one problem…transport units didn't have deadlocks. They looked back at the screen to see the Angel's face in a predatory expression, mouth wide with fangs.
"Doctor!" Amy shouted.
~8~
"This whole book, it's a warning about the Weeping Angels," the Doctor said, "So why no pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?"
"There was a bit about images," River reminded him.
"Yes!" he exclaimed, flipping through the book, "Hang on...'That which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel.'"
~8~
"Doctor!" Amy tried again.
Evy ran toward the screen, kneeling down beside it to try and sonic it off.
~8~
"What does that mean?" River asked, "'An image of a Angel becomes itself an Angel.'"
~8~
"Amy," Evy replied slowly, "Stay calm…"
Amy looked over to see an image of the Angel had become a hazy projection standing in the middle of the room.
"It's in the room…" Amy breathed, stunned.
"Just keep your eye on it and it won't move."
~8~
'Doctor!' Evy yelled, 'The Angel!'
"Evy!" the Doctor shouted suddenly, turning and running to the transport, "Amy!"
~8~
"Doctor!" Amy called, hearing him.
"Are you alright?" he shouted, banging on the door, "What's happening?"
"An image of an Angel is an Angel," Evy yelled.
"It's coming out of the television!" Amy told him.
"It's more like a projection in the middle of the room," Evy explained, frantically trying to sonic the wires running into the screen.
"Don't take your eyes off it!" the Doctor shouted, "It can't move if you're looking."
"I know!" Amy yelled, "Evy told me. I've got my eye on it."
"What's wrong?" he sounded frustrated, the sound of his sonic just barely penetrating the sides of the unit.
"I already tried that," Evy called, "It's deadlocked."
"There is no deadlock," River said.
"I know."
The Doctor swallowed hard, "Don't blink, Amy! Don't even blink!"
Evy threw her sonic down, frustrated, looking around. She saw a cutting device and grabbed it, trying to cut the power feed into the TV.
~8~
"What are you doing?" River asked the Doctor as he frantically tried to sonic a small box on the side of the unit.
"Cutting the power," he said, having the same idea as Evy, "It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off. It's no good, it's deadlocked the whole system."
"There's no deadlock!"
"There is now!" he snapped, before turning back to the door, he needed to get in there, he had to! Evy was trapped in there with a Weeping Angel, she needed him, "Evy! Can you turn it off from in there?"
~8~
"I'm trying," she shouted, snapping through the cable, but the screen stayed on, "It's feeding off the screen, overpowering it. I can't cut off the power!"
"Don't take your eyes off the Angel!"
"I'm not!" Amy called back as Evy looked down at the ground, thinking…
"Each time it moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink."
"I'm not blinking! Have you ever tried not blinking?" she fumbled for the remote, trying to switch it off again, but it blinked back on, "It just keeps switching back on!"
~8~
"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked River, seeing her aiming a small blowtorch at the door.
"I'm trying to cut through," she replied, "It's not even warm."
"There is no way in, it's not physically possible," he sounded almost hopeless, desperate to get in. He had to! He could feel his hearts racing, a sweat breaking out on his forehead, his hands shaking almost so badly that he could barely hold the book about the Angels, trying to find something to help them. He felt like ice water was running through his veins, God...he was terrified...he was out here, Evy was in there...and there was nothing he could do...
~8~
"What's it gonna do to me?" Amy asked, hearing them, actually starting to get scared now that even the Doctor didn't know how to help.
"Just keep looking at it," he shouted.
Evy shut her eyes, focusing on the situation, using her inspiration, searching for another way out.
"Don't stop looking!" the Doctor added.
"Just tell me!" Amy called, "Just tell me. Tell me!"
"Amy, not the eyes. Look anywhere but don't look at the eyes."
"Why?"
"What is it?" River asked.
"'The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors,'" the Doctor read, "'Beware what may enter there.'"
Evy's eyes snapped open, "Amy hit the pause button when I tell you…ok?"
Amy nodded, "Ok."
Evy looked at the screen, watching the numbers, "One, two, three…now!"
Amy hit pause, stopping the image right on the static of the frames repeating.
The projection in the room froze before flickering off, the screen powering down as well. The door burst open as the Doctor ran in. He half flew over to Evy's side, checking to make sure she was ok, pulling her into his arms when he saw that she was just as River looked Amy over. He breathed a sigh of relief, resting his forehead against Evy's, his eyes shut.
"I'm fine," Evy told him, pulling away as he helped her up, she smiled over at Amy, "We're fine."
"It's gone," Amy gasped, relieved.
"The break in the recording when the frames repeated wasn't technically the image of an Angel. Freeze it there and no Angel."
"You are brilliant!" the Doctor hugged her tightly once more.
"That was amazing!" River smiled.
Evy pulled away, walking over to Amy and giving her a reassuring hug as well, knowing the Doctor wouldn't.
"So it was here?" River asked, "That was the Angel?"
"That was a projection of the Angel," the Doctor replied, "It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant."
There was an explosion outside and the Doctor and Evy ran to the door to look out.
"It's gone positive!" a cleric called.
"Doctor!" Octavian shouted, "Evy! We're through!"
The Doctor nodded and looked back at River and Amy, "Ok. Now it starts."
He took Evy's hand and pulled her out of the unit.
~8~
The Doctor climbed down a rope ladder into the Maze of the Dead, joining Octavian and the others at the bottom, Evy following after him. A cleric stepped up, reaching out a hand to help her down when the Doctor stepped in the way, "No, no," he shook a finger at the man, "No touching my Link."
The cleric backed off as the Doctor put his hands on Evy's waist to help her himself. She hopped off the last rung and turned in his arms to face him, "This one's a bit possessive isn't he?"
"Oh like you're not?" he retorted lightly, smiling.
Evy laughed and they walked over to Amy and River and the other clerics.
"Does anyone have a gravity globe?" Evy asked, looking at the men.
"Grav globe," Octavian ordered. One of the clerics took out a sphere from his pack and handed it to Octavian.
"Where are we?" Amy looked around at the darkness, "What is this?"
"It's an Aplan mortarium," River replied, "Sometimes called a 'Maze of the Dead.'"
"And what's that?"
"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." the Doctor began, taking the globe from Octavian and kicking it up into the air where it stopped and lit up the cave, "The perfect hiding place."
They looked around at all the statues standing there on various levels and alcoves, hundreds, thousands of them.
"I guess this makes it a bit trickier," Octavian remarked.
"Only a bit though," Evy laughed.
"A stone angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for."
"A needle in a haystack," River commented.
"A needle that looks like hay," the Doctor corrected, "A hay-like needle. Of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues…" he looked over at Evy, who just shook her head, and then at River, "No, yours was fine."
"Right," Octavian nodded, taking charge, turning to his clerics, "Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection. One question, how do we fight it?"
"We face it and hope for the best," Evy sighed as she and the Doctor headed off, Amy following.
Neither of them noticed Octavian grab River's arm.
"They don't know yet, do they?" he asked her quietly, "Who and what you are."
"It's too early in their time stream," she replied.
"Well, make sure they don't work it out, or they're not gonna help us."
"I won't let you down. Believe you me, I have no intention of going back to prison."
River pulled her arm out of his grip and walked off after the Doctor and Evy. She caught up with them, the Doctor turning his light in every which direction while Evy kept hers before her, Amy following behind them.
"You alright?" she came up to Amy, seeing her staring at her hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Amy smiled, "So, what's a Maze of the Dead?"
"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls."
"That was pretty bad," Evy called back to them.
River laughed before taking Amy's arm, "Right give me your arm…" and pulled out a syringe, "This won't hurt a bit."
"Ow!" Amy gasped as it really did hurt.
"There, you see. I lied. It's a viro-stabilizer. Stabilizes your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship."
Amy glanced up at Evy and the Doctor. The Doctor was trying to get a reading off of one of the clerics' devices while Evy stood next to him, her light out, watching his back, "So what're they like?" she asked River, "In the future, I mean. 'Cos you know them in the future, don't you?"
"The Doctor and Evy?" River glanced at her, "Well, the Doctor's the Doctor. And Evy's…Evy."
"Oh, well that's very helpful," Amy rolled her eyes, "Mind if I write that down?"
"Yes, we are," River called out suddenly to them.
"Sorry, what?" the Doctor asked, still trying to get a reading as Evy watched, amused.
"Talking about the two of you."
"We weren't listening. Busy."
Evy snorted. He was so listening.
"The other way up," River told him.
He turned the device over and nodded, "Yeah."
"You're so his wife," Amy said, sure of it.
"Oh, Amy, Amy, Amy!" River shook her head, "This is the Doctor we're talking about. Do you really think it could be anything that simple?"
"Yep."
"Well, yes I suppose it could be," River said in thought, "But it's certainly not me. Evy's his Link."
Amy sighed, "Yeah, they say that all the time, but they never said what it is."
River smiled softly, "The Link, in one form, can be like their soul mate, for lack of a better term," she eyed the two of them as they leaned over the device, checking the readings, "It's like, the one person in the Universe who understands them. When they meet, they are instantly connected via a mental bond as well as an emotional bond. They can tell what the other is thinking, feeling, everything. They are so deeply connected that there are no secrets when it comes to Links. Forever and always, they are united, mind, heart and soul."
"Sounds beautiful," Amy murmured quietly, though a small frown was evident on her face as she looked at the Doctor and Evy. Could she really fool herself into thinking she had a chance?
"It is," River sighed, seeing the two of them together, it always made her happy. They were so close, so connected, so happy, so in love...
She glanced at Amy, knowing her explanation of the Link had upset the young ginger. She knew it wasn't exactly what a Link was, though her description of it really did seem to fit the Doctor and Evy, she truly couldn't imagine anyone else but them for each other, they just...fit...so well. She knew that there could be any number of versions of the Link, friendship, sibling-like love, rivalry, or nothing at all, but...Amy didn't need to know about that. She knew the Doctor and Evy's future, and their past, she knew Amy, she knew about what the girl felt. This was just her way of trying to make the girl realize that what the Time Lords had couldn't be broken, and to get her to realize what had always been right in front of her, someone who had always been right in front of her.
"Oi!" Evy called over, pulling River from her thoughts, "River, come look at these readings."
She and Amy headed over, the Doctor holding out the device for them to see when they suddenly heard gunfire. The Doctor and Evy took off, running back down to the main chamber, only to see that a young cleric had fired his weapon at one of the statues.
"Sorry," the cleric apologized, "Sorry, I thought...I thought it looked at me."
"We know what the Angel looks like," Octavian stepped up to him, "Is that the Angel?"
"No, sir."
"No, sir, it is not! According to the Doctor and Evy, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil. So it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of decor."
"Who are you then?" Evy called over to them, not too fond of Octavian cutting the poor boy down.
"Bob, ma'am," he answered.
"Ah, that's a great name," the Doctor smiled, "I love Bob."
"It's a Sacred Name," Octavian added, "We all have Sacred Names, they're given to us in the service of the Church."
"Sacred Bob," Evy smiled as well as she and the Doctor walked over to them.
"More like Scared Bob now, eh?" the Doctor asked calmly.
"Yes, sir," Bob admitted, looking down.
"Ah, good," he patted him on the shoulder, "Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron. Carry on."
"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes," Octavian called to his clerics before turning to Bob, "You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach."
The Doctor and Evy turned and walked back to River and Amy, Evy carrying on to look at the device in River's hand and examine the data with her a little farther away, where there was more light from the gravity globe.
Amy eyed the Doctor closely, "Are you scared?"
"Am I a moron?" he retorted.
"Sometimes an idiot," Evy called, looking up, "But never a moron."
Amy nodded, looking at the Doctor, "So you're scared."
The Doctor looked over at Evy and River, quietly discussing the results, before turning to Amy, "There's a Weeping Angel after us and my Link is here…I'm terrified."
He felt someone wrap their arm through his and looked over to see Evy standing beside him, "We've faced them before," she reminded him, "You weren't scared then."
"We weren't completely Linked then," he also reminded her, "I didn't even know you were a Time Lady!"
Amy frowned, "How could you not know she was an alien too?"
"I wore a necklace when I first traveled with him," Evy nodded over at the Doctor, "A different one than this," she gestured to the small medallion of the Seal of Rassilon that she wore, "It kept the fact I was like him hidden from him. He thought I was a human."
"Why would you want to hide that?"
"I was Linked to him, he wasn't Linked to me," Evy sighed, "He also had just lost one of his companions to an alternate reality, I didn't want to complicate matters by adding Linking to it on top of the fact he wasn't the last of the Time Lords like he thought he was…it was just a big, old mess."
Amy nodded slowly, though she was only slightly following along with that logic, "And you're Linked now?"
"Yup," the Doctor popped his P, "Bit of a saving the world thing, bit of a near regeneration for her, destroyed that stupid necklace, let me Link to her, finally!"
"Ready to move out?" Octavian called, walking over to them, cutting off anymore talk of Linking and what had happened.
They nodded and headed off after the Bishop down a passage and over to some stairs, climbing up and up.
"Isn't there a chance this lot's just gonna collapse?" Amy asked them, looking at the caverns around them, "There's a whole ship up there."
"Incredible builders, the Aplans," River commented.
"Had dinner with their chief architect once," the Doctor added, looking at Evy, "You remember that?" she nodded, "Two heads are better than one."
"You mean you helped him?" Amy looked over at them.
"No, he means he had two heads," Evy explained.
"That book, the very end, what did it say?" the Doctor asked, glancing over at River.
"Hang on," River shuffled through her pack, pulling it out.
"Read it to us."
"'What if we had ideas that could think for themselves?'" River read, "'What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels.'"
"Huh," the Doctor muttered as they kept walking. They managed to climb four levels so far.
"Are we there yet?" Amy asked, "It's a hell of a climb."
"The maze is on six levels representing the ascent of the soul," River told her, "Only two levels to go."
"Lovely species, the Aplans," the Doctor commented
"We should really visit them again," Evy agreed.
"I thought they were all dead?" Amy frowned.
"So's Virginia Woolf," the Doctor replied, nodding to Evy, "We're on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. That's having two heads. You're never short of a snog with an extra head…"
Evy slowed and blinked. She looked around, something telling her something was very off.
"Doctor, there's something," River began, "I don't know what it is..."
"You feel like something's wrong?" Evy asked as River nodded, "Me too."
"Don't know what it is yet either," the Doctor agreed, "Working on it. Then they started having laws against self-marrying and what was that about? But that's the church for you. Er, no offence, Bishop."
"Quite a lot taken, if that's alright, Doctor," Octavian continued to lead them. They walked through a narrow passage lined with statues, pausing as Octavian checked the map, "Lowest point in the wreckage is only about 50 feet up from here. That way."
"Church had a point, if you think about it," Amy remarked, "The divorces must have been messy."
"Doctor…" Evy began, her eyes on the same statue she'd been looking at when they'd first stopped, finally seeing it.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked, seeing the girl tense and the Doctor look at her in concern.
"The Aplans had two heads…" Evy aimed her light to show the statue, "The statues only have one."
"Oh my God," River gasped, her eyes wide as she flashed her light at the statues around them, "How could we not notice that?"
"Low level Perception Filter," the Doctor suggested, stepping back from a statue, "Or maybe we're thick."
"Perception Filter," Evy shook her head, she had ample experience with those, "We would have noticed but we were moving too fast, not staying fixed on one statue long enough to notice…"
"What's wrong?" Octavian asked.
"Nobody move," the Doctor ordered, tugging Evy behind him, "Everyone stay exactly where they are. Bishop, we are truly sorry. We've made a mistake and we are all in danger."
"What danger?"
"Everyone, go over there," Evy nodded to a spot in the corner of the pathway where there were no statues, "Just move, don't ask questions, don't even speak."
Everyone moved over there, the Doctor backing up to join them with Evy, his light on the statue Evy had seen, "Ok…" he nodded, "I want you all to switch off your torches."
"Sir?" Octavian frowned.
"Do it," Evy told them.
They all turned off their lights until only the Doctor's remained. He swallowed, "I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."
"Are you sure about this?" River asked him.
He tightened his grip on Evy's hand, "No."
He switched off the light for a split second and then back on. The status in front of them had all turned to face them.
Evy ran ahead, pulling the Doctor with her.
"Oh, my God!" Amy gasped as they ran off after the Doctor and Evy, "They've moved."
They stopped to see all the statues lining their way to the ship now facing them.
"They're Angels," Evy breathed, "All of them are Angels!"
"But they can't be," River shook her head.
"Clerics, keep watching them," the Doctor ordered as he and Evy backtracked to see the Angels behind them had moved forward, "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."
"There was only one Angel on the ship," River said, "Just the one, I swear."
"Could they have been here already?" Amy asked.
"The Aplans, what happened to them?" Evy asked River.
"No one knows," River answered.
"We know," the Doctor said, leading them back to the clerics.
"They don't look like Angels," Octavian remarked.
"And they're not fast," Amy added, "You said they were fast. They should have had us by now."
"They're dying," Evy flashed her light on one statue's deformed face, "They've lost their form and are trying to regain it. They had to have been down here for ages, just...starving. "
"Losing their image."
"And their image is their power," the Doctor nodded before his eye widened with realization, "Power. Power!"
"Doctor?"
"Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out, the drive burn. The crash wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission, for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army and it's waking up."
"We need to get out of here fast," River said.
"Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please," Octavian called over a comm., "Any of you, come in!"
"It's Bob, sir," Bob answered, "Sorry, sir."
"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active!"
"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir."
'How did he survive then?' Evy wondered.
The Doctor stepped forward, taking the comm., "Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?"
"I'm talking to my..." Octavian began.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up!"
"I'm on my way up to you, sir, I'm homing on your signal," Bob said.
"Well done, Bob," he grinned, "Scared keeps you fast, told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob, what did the Angel do to them?"
"Snapped their necks, sir."
"Angels don't kill like that," Evy stated, "Unless…"
The Doctor nodded, "They displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something."
"Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs?" Octavian asked, taking the comm. back, "We may be able to initiate a rescue plan..."
The Doctor snatched it back again, "Don't be an idiot! The Angels don't leave you alive!"
"That's just it," Evy said slowly, "They don't leave you alive…so how is he?"
"Bob, keep running, but tell us…how did you escape?"
"I didn't escape, sir," Bob replied, "The Angel killed me, too."
"What do you mean the Angel killed you too?"
"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick, so that was something."
"If you're dead, how can we be talking to you?"
"You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and reanimated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."
"So when you say you're on your way up to us..."
"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes."
The Doctor turned off the comm. and looked over to Evy, "No way out."
"Then we get out through the wreckage," Octavian shouted, "Go!"
"Go, go, go. All of you run!"
"Doctor?" Amy asked, seeing them hesitate, "Evy?"
"Yes, we're coming, just go, go, go!"
Amy and River ran off with the clerics, leaving only the Doctor, Evy, and Octavian behind.
"Called you an idiot," the Doctor said to him, "Sorry, but there's no way we could have rescued your men."
"I know that, sir," Octavian replied, "And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families."
Evy glared as Octavian stormed off, "Remind me to kick him before we leave," she told the Doctor.
The Doctor sighed and picked up the comm., "Angel Bob, which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?"
"Yes, sir," Bob replied, "The other Angels are still restoring."
"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you!" he grabbed Evy's hand and they ran through the passage, only to see Amy standing there, "Don't wait for us, go, run."
"I can't!" Amy called. They turned and looked back at her, "No, really I can't."
"Why not?" Evy asked.
"Look at it," Amy nodded at her hand, "Look at my hand. It's stone!"
They looked down and saw that her hand looked just fine, a normal human hand.
'Something's going on,' Evy remarked.
'Go ahead, help the other's get through, I'll help Amy,' he told her.
She looked between the two for a moment before nodding and rushing off, the Doctor walking back to Amy. He quickly flashed his torch in her eyes, examining her, "You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?"
"I couldn't stop myself," she admitted, "I tried."
"Listen. It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone."
"It is. Look at it!"
"It's in your mind. I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go."
"I can't, ok? I've tried and I can't. It's stone."
The torch began to flicker, "The Angel is gonna come and it's gonna turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it. So do it, concentrate, move your hand!"
"I can't!"
"Then we're both going to die."
"You're not going to die."
"They'll kill the lights," his torch flickered again, there were Angels in the entrance.
"You've got to go, you know you have to. You've got all that stuff with River and that's all got to happen. And Evy…you can't leave her. You know you can't die here!"
"Time can be rewritten, it doesn't work like that," he said as the lights flickered again, Amy turned to look at the Angels over her shoulder, "Keep your eyes on it. Don't blink."
"Run!"
"You see, I'm not going, I'm not leaving you here."
"But Evy…"
"Evy wouldn't leave you either. She's telling me, right now, not to dare leave you."
"I don't need you to die for me, Doctor, do I look that clingy?"
"You can move your hand."
"It's stone!"
"It's not stone!"
"Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them."
"Evy's up there with them. She can keep them safe."
"Doctor…please…"
'Oh just bite her hand or something!' Evy shouted to him, 'Pain receptors will shock her out of it.'
'Brilliant,' he replied.
He sighed, "Amy Pond, you are magnificent. And I'm sorry."
"It's ok," she swallowed, "I understand. You've got to leave me."
"Oh, no, I'm not leaving you, never," he laughed, "I'm sorry about this…" he bit her hand. She screamed and jumped away from him, "See, not stone. Now run!"
"You bit me!" Amy gasped.
"Yep and you're alive," he pulled her back to the back pathway, eyes on the Angels.
"I've got a mark!" she looked at her hand, "Look at my hand!"
"Yeah, and you're alive, did I mention?" he pulled her behind him.
"Blimey, your teeth! Have you got space teeth?"
"Alive," he pushed her, "All I'm saying."
And they fled the passage, running till they entered the crash site to see the clerics, Octavian, River, and Evy waiting, looking up at the ship visible through the light of a gravity globe.
"Clerics, we're down to four men," Octavian was saying, "Expect incoming."
"Yeah, it's the Angels," the Doctor ran in, "They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves. "
"Which means we won't be able to see them."
"Which means we can't stay here."
"There are more incoming!"
"Any suggestions?" River looked around.
"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium," Octavian said, he and his clerics eyeing the doors.
"There's no way up, no way back, no way out," River turned to the Time Lords, "No pressure, but this is usually when you two come up with a really good idea. "
"There's always a way out," the Doctor remarked. The lights flickered off again, the Angels closer. He snapped his fingers and turned to Evy, taking her hands in his own, "There's always a way out…can you find it?"
She nodded, looking around the room carefully before closing her eyes and concentrating on the problem at hand…
"What's she doing?" Amy frowned, watching her.
River leaned over, speaking quietly, "Evy's one of the inspired…" Amy gave her a questioning look, "On their planet, there's an initiation where the children can go either one of three ways. They go mad, they run away…" she glanced at the Doctor, "Or they become inspired. It means she sees things we don't, where we see two paths, she might see a third. She catches things we might miss. If she really focuses on something, she can find a solution…she's trying to find one now, fing another path, a way that gets us all out…hopefully alive."
Amy nodded, praying at Evy could get them out of this mess.
"Doctor?" the comm. crackled with Bob on the other end, "Can I speak to the Doctor, please?"
"Hello, Angels," he answered, his eyes on Evy, "What's your problem?"
"Your power will not last much longer and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."
"Which is…"
"I died in fear."
"I'm sorry?"
"You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died afraid, in pain, and alone. You made me trust you and, when it mattered, you let me down."
"What are they doing?" Amy whispered to River as the Doctor tensed even more.
"They're trying to make him angry," River replied.
Evy's eyes snapped open and she looked up to double check her plan, before turning to the Doctor.
'Smash the gravity globe,' she said, staring into his eyes, not wanting the Angel to hear, 'It'll pull us straight up if we jump when it happens, right to the ship, leaving the Angels here.'
"I'm sorry, sir," Bob kept on, "The Angels were very keen for you to know that."
"Well then, the Angels have made their third mistake because I'm not going to let that pass," the Doctor turned to the radio, "I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier."
"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."
"Yeah, I'm trapped. Speaking of traps, this trap has got two great big mistakes in it. Two great big, whopping mistakes!"
"What mistakes, sir?"
The Doctor turned to Amy, "Trust me?"
"Yeah," she nodded.
Then to River, "Trust me?"
"Always," she replied quickly.
He looked at the clerics and Octavian, "You lot, trust me?"
"Sir, two more incoming!" a cleric shouted.
"We have faith, sir," Octavian replied.
He turned to Evy who spoke before he could, "I'll be very insulted if you have to ask me if I trust you."
He just smiled at her and turned back to Octavian, "Give me your gun," Octavian handed it over and the Doctor turned to them, "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do..." he jumped in place, "Jump."
"Jump where?" Octavian asked.
"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."
"What signal?"
"You won't miss it," he said, aiming the gun at the roof.
"Sorry, can I ask again?" Bob cut in, "You mentioned two mistakes?"
"Oh, big mistakes," the Doctor held up the comm., "Huge. The first, is you've put my Link in danger and I won't have that, I won't let that go lightly. The second…there's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."
"And what would that be, sir?"
"Me!"
And then he fired at the gravity globe causing it to explode.
To be continued…
A/N: Oh I am fidgeting just thinking about the next chapter. I mean, if you thought it was bad that Evy got trapped with Amy in the transport unit with the Angel...well...I cannot wait. It is, by far, in my top three, probably my favorite of Series 5 (topping Amy's Choice and Cold Blood). I just...oh man, I don't want to give away too much and it's killing me. So I'm just gonna stop, zip it, and wait till tomorrow.
But as for some notes on reviews. I agree, I don't think the 'wedding' was real. For one, River herself said to Amy something about the timeline being an aborted one or something, almost like it wasn't real, to try and make her feel better about Kovarian (which I'm wondering if it means Kovarian will be back) so I sort of feel that even she doesn't think it was real and that the whole 'marriage' is going to be like a little inside joke thing. Also...the way/reason it happened wasn't right. I didn't feel like the Doctor truly loved her and that he was just doing it so she could let him go, not the best reasons. I mean just before it happened he told her she embarassed him. I...and this may stem from my first thoughts on River...but I always got the feeling that she might have been manipulating him. Like everytime she met him she dropped these little clues and suggestions that they were 'together' or 'intimate' in the future which put the thought in the Doctor's head to begin with, if she truly were concerned about the future she wouldn't have given anything away and just acted like any other companion in which case, if anything did happen between them, it would be all on the Doctor wanting it to and not because he thinks it has to due to River's little spoilers.
And no, the Doctor and Evy won't be getting married (like the Doctor and Professor in the Academic Series), but there is a little twist about that idea which we'll find out about in The Pandorica Opens.
Next chapter...will Evy find a way to stop the Angel in Amy's mind? Why is the Doctor snapping at people? How will Evy react to the Amy-Doctor kiss?