Tasha was happy. One, because she'd finally caught the Doctor, and two, she had finally dealt with River Song once and for all. That wretch of a person had been standing in her way of the Doctor for many years. "What did that human reject have that I don't?" Lem grumbled to herself, "The only thing that made her even remotely special was the time lord DNA in her genome, and that did her a fat lot of use when she gave him her regenerations. A waste of a vital ability, I would never give up anything for that man...But he'll give up everything for me, when I get my hands on him." Tasha decided that she would go and taunt Melody, she headed toward her cell. The lights flickered slightly, "Stupid place...no wonder Melody got out so much, the place is like a graveyard!" Tasha thought.
"Hold it right there Professor Song!" a guard shouted from the distance. Tasha broke into a run, "But how could she..." Madam Kovarian and the Master met her from an adjoining corridor. All three ran but stopped dead at the sight in front of them.
"Now back in your cell! It's all fine mother superious, the prisoner is secure..." the guard fell to the ground, unconscious, and River was nowhere to be seen. Kovarian hit the panic button, and the trio awaited guards to appear, but after a couple of minutes, none arrived. "Where are they?!" Kovarian shouted, the Master straightened his shirt collar and motioned the two women to follow. They walked in silence, occasionally coming across a guard who was similarly unconscious like the first, except River must have just knocked them out. Tasha spied a screen, it flickered then the countdown clock suddenly vanished and was replaced with a message. Tasha growled and pushed the others on, every screen turned to the same message. The Master suddenly halted them and pointed to a group of unconscious smoking guards, "She's armed now, and must have found her belongings. Come on, I have a better way to find her." The three stood closer, then Tasha used her beacon and all three beamed up onto the Silence's control ship.
"On the count of three, one, two, three!" the Doctor shouted, waving each person out the door. Clara had picked up Charlotte and the Doctor's younger self commented "Hey, you look like sisters", to which Clara hit him and Charlotte giggled. The elder ran out the doors last, and surveyed the scene. Around the group were about 50 or so men and a few women, all unconscious, completely flat out on the floor of Storm cage. The group were in disbelief, "Did Daleks find her?" Rose asked, looking round quickly, "No, the guards are alive." The Doctor answered. "Cybermen?" Martha questioned. "Nope, they're not assimilated." Raggedy man replied. Amy suddenly laughed, the group turned to her, "Doctor I think I know..." the two men followed Amy's gaze and both smiled. Clara held Charlotte close, "Doctor, what could have possibly done all this, knocked out so many trained soldiers?" Clara noticed both Doctors twisting their wedding ring. "Good shooter, whoever they were, precise and efficient..." Jack said, Mickey and Martha hummed in agreement. The two Doctors coughed and the group turned to them. Younger Doctor thumbed at the massive screen behind him.
"NICE TRY! Xx" It read, in big white letters.
"I don't understand, what villain would write kisses on a message?" Clara looked back questioningly at the Doctor. "Oh Oswald," raggedy man sighed, "No villain did this! This was the work of someone much more powerful..."
"Who Doctor?!" Clara shouted, angry at the apparent fun he was having toying with her.
"My wife..." The silver haired Doctor answered smugly. Jack marched up to the two Doctors,
"You can't be serious, she couldn't do all this!"
The Younger Doctor poked him backward, "You said yourself, she was the only prisoner to ever break out of Storm cage." Jack brushed off the Doctor's hand, "She only broke out with your help!" The young man shook his head, "Only some times, most of her escapes were prompted because she needed to find me, not because she needed me, but because I needed her." Jack pouted then replied, "Why did you break her out anyway?" the Doctor straightened his bow tie, puffed out his chest and turned to his older counterpart, who hooked his fingers under his lapels. The older man answered, "To take her on dates of course!" Jack's jaw fell open, and the younger Doctor pushed his mouth shut, "Or to have adventures." he added cheerfully. The elder patted his younger self, "Or both." he added.
The group decided it would be easier to find where River had gone if they split up. The groups agreed to meet back in 20 minutes, the Doctors both looked at each warily, and hung back in quiet conversation, "Someone's watching us." the younger nodded in agreement, "Let's not startle them, if they want to attack us, they would wait till we're separated..." he replied. He then skipped off, organising the group into teams. The Doctor took hold of Clara's arm and took Charlotte off his current companion. "Me, myself," he pointed at his predecessor who was busy splitting people up and hushing their complaints at not being able to choose. "And my new daughter are sticking together, Clara you're with us too." Clara nodded. The younger Doctor was about to split up Amy and Rory when he was punched squarely on the jaw by the last centurion and fell flat on his back. The group looked accusingly at Rory, but the younger Doctor stood up and placed himself in between the group and his attacker, "It's alright guys, I was in the wrong. Never, ever try to split these two up. They're like homing pigeons, set them apart and they always find each other...You two can come with us," he waved to the older Doctor, "You are family after all!" Amy slapped her husband's arm and pinched the young Doctors chin, "Are you o.k. Raggedy man? You seem sad..." the young Doctor span out of Amy's touch and leaped back over to his older self. I'm fine Amelia Pond, Don't worry yourself, I'm always fine!"
.He waited till the group disbanded in their respective directions, then turned to his older self, "I'm worried about her." The Doctor had let Charlotte and Clara join Amy and Rory ahead of them and answered his younger self without turning, "Me two...There's no clue to where she's gone, that's not like River at all." The Doctors both let Amy and Rory lead their group into the entrance to Storm cage. Turning into a dark alley, they walked up a winding flight of stairs. The Doctor picked up his daughter and tucked her head into his neck, she was tired after the terrifying events she'd witnessed. He Doctor stroked her hair and already felt the bond between the child and himself, she was easily as brave as himself, maybe braver than River. The group rounded the corner at the top of the stairs and looked out onto the full grounds of Storm cage from a balcony. Rain battered the buildings, and search lights swung in the wind, unmanned due to the men being called to fight River. "A whole prison, just for one person..." Clara said in amazement, Amy turned to Clara, she was huddled against Rory's side. "River isn't just a person, she's our daughter, and she was trained as a child by the very people who detained her here. Trained to kill the greatest and most powerful man in the universe..." Clara turned to the Doctors, the elder shrugged at her confused expression, "Do you really think any old cell in any normal prison could hold her?" he answered. Clara shook her head. Rory spoke next, his tone flat and low, "Where is she Doctor?" The Doctors joined the rest of the group at the railing. "We don't know." the younger Doctor said, holding Amy's hand. "But we will find her." The elder put his hand on Rory's shoulder. Lightning struck, sending shivers down the group's backs.
"How did River cope here?" Clara asked, baffled.
"She had us." the Doctors answered in reply.
Jack had lead his team off in the direction of the offices in Storm cage, Martha was checking unconscious soldiers and Mickey pulling her on, muttering about how they weren't on their side.
Jack held up his hand and the squabbling couple were silenced, the sign on the door in front of them was like cold wind cutting through them.
"Mr Saxon" the harsh, black writing read.
The trio all took their guns out of their holsters and Jack pushed the door open slowly. Inside they found a desk and a control panel attached to the grey, wet walls. "Anything?" Jack said, while he searched the room for any signs of the infamous time lord. "Any files or objects belonging to the Master or the Silence have been removed." Mickey replied. Martha was about to touch the control panel when Jack grabbed her hand roughly and pulled her away. "Where would you put a time Vortex if you were a mad, psychotic time lord?" he snapped. Martha looked back at the panel and nodded, backing away as she did so. The group continued to look but found nothing. "The Master must have taken it all." Mickey deduced from the organised stripping of the room. "Someone ensured, everything was taken away carefully. There's no ripped papers, no overturned furniture, no mess. This was cleaned out meticulously." he explained. Jack agreed but was worried, "What's his plan?" he thought.
Vastra thought it best to explore the surrounding grounds of the containment facility, Strax marched on ahead, babbling about the terrible defences the prison had. Jenny hung close to Vastra's side, her sword's hilt firmly held in her hand. The group rounded the next turret and noticed a moving figure in the distance, they were crawling, slug like, on the floor. Vastra ran forward and pinned her sword into the back of the man's neck. "It's one of the guards ma'am," Jenny said, "He's conscious!" The guard lifted his head straight into the eyes of a stern looking Strax. "State your position girl, if you wish to survive!" the guard quivered at Strax's tone and turned to face Vastra.
"Sergeant Stanton, trainee lookout..." The guard said shivering.
"What happened here?" Vastra hissed, she pointed her sword into Stanton's neck. Stanton coughed and sat up, but froze when Jenny poked her sword into his back.
"An alarm was raised to tell us Professor Song escaped, so we all went on high alert. Song was the highest ranked war criminal in history, she used to have a section of Storm cage, just to house her, and that still wasn't enough. The entire facility was altered to contain her when the silence took it over." Vastra and Jenny shared a nervous look. "The women was an engineered weapon ma'am, she was engineered to kill 'im." Jenny said what Vastra was thinking. "If no trap could hold that time lord, then no trap would hold his psychopath." Vastra added. The guard nodded and continued his story. "We were all prepared for her to take out at least a few of us but the entire base..." Strax was about to shout at the guard again but Vastra took an icy approach "What did she do?" she asked coldly. The guard shuddered and looked up at the trio above him. "She ran into the centre of the courtyard and we were told to fire at her. I was scared so I hid behind the wall and looked out through the peep hole, here see." He indicated to a small rectangular hole in the concrete wall. "The bullets had hit her and she hunched over in pain. Guards ran over but that's when she...she..." the guard shook his head in disbelief, "A light! It burst out from her, like branches of a tree, it hit all the guards coming toward her and kept going. It struck all the guards who shot at her and then it came toward me. The light touched my chest, it made me feel sleepy but then it pulled back, like it sensed I hadn't hurt Professor Song. The light died down and I fell unconscious for about," he looked at his watch, "Ten minutes. I woke to find you running at me. I didn't want to hurt Song, she seemed like a good person, she just wanted to take care of her daughter, but she went missing... I hope Song is alright, she knew I came here to find him, the Doctor. There are quite a few clerics who want to help the Doctor, or just meet him, the mighty warrior!" The trio lowered their weapons, Jenny helped Stanton to his feet, "Get on your way Stanton!" Vastra ordered, "Quickly, you need to keep up appearances with the order, they'll get suspicious if you don't return." Jenny added gently. Stanton nodded quickly and ran away shouting his thanks to the group. Vastra looked on then turned to face the other two, "Song is still around, she must be using her excess regeneration energy, that makes a timelord extremely dangerous, but also weak, she must still be on the base. We must be wary, she would take us out two if she thinks we pose her a threat." the other agreed and all continued walking, weapons slightly drawn.
John had decided that he, Donna and Rose should look around River's cell to find any clues for where she could have gone to. When they reached it, they found it completely bare bar the cot and an empty set of desk drawers. "She must have collected everything when she left..." Rose touched the cot slightly then sat down, "Everything's changed, especially the Doctor, I don't really recognise him any more." she sighed. Donna joined Rose on the bed, "I know what you mean, he seems so much older, and he seems even more lonely than when I first met him." John looked at himself in the mirror, trying to picture first the younger, bow-tie wearing self, then the elder, sharp-suited man, who was the current incarnation, shaking the thought of his own vanity he turned and looked out onto the corridor that River must have looked upon for her entire stint at the containment facility. "It's so horrid here, no wonder the Doctor helped her escape, she must have felt trapped." John sighed, "I hate being trapped." Donna suddenly stood up and ran out of the cell, and over to a large computer console, "Look, that must a life sign detector, John, Rose, look..." the couple joined Donna and gasped, "A single life sign is running into the TARDIS. We have to warn the others!" Rose screeched at her husband. John noticed a speaker system and quickly found an intercom port. "Someone has got into the TARDIS! We have to get back there now!" He said over the speakers. John's voice echoed over the base intercom as the groups all reassembled.
The Doctor walked up his ship gingerly and tapped the door, which swung open. "Well it wasn't forced, the old girl let the intruder in." his younger self joined him "Our little spy from before..." he posed to the Doctor. The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Let's see what they want..." he replied. Both men opened the doors fully and walked boldly up to the console. The group followed cautiously behind. "Ha ha, I knew it!" the younger Doctor clapped his hands together and spun in a circle nearly knocking Clara off her feet. "No you didn't, I was the one who thought it first!" the Doctor berated his younger self, who pouted and jumped up onto the seat, "Well I said they wouldn't contact us here. It's far too risky." the Doctor chuckled, "Well I have to agree with you there." he smiled. Amy and Rory, who were currently holding Charlotte's hands ran up to the Doctors and he held up what appeared to be a biscuit tin. " How does that explain anything?!" Amy accused the two men. Charlotte let go of her adopted grandparent's hands and ran to her new fathers. "Mummy was here!" The younger picked her up and the elder bopped her on her nose, "Yes, now you see, that is clever, this girl is smarter than the rest of you."
The group looked confused, then Jenny piped up, "You said River was the only other person to know where the biscuit tin was hidden, she sent you a message!" the Doctor nodded, "Clever, my wife, isn't she!" the group looked around, "Where is she?" Rose asked the Doctors, the men turned to each other, "We don't know, but she took her Vortex manipulator." Jack scowled, "Well actually it's my vortex manipulator." The younger Doctor laughed heartily "Trust me Jack, it's hers now, you really don't want to try taking things from her, she'd as possessive as me." Jack huffed, and kicked the floor lightly. The Doctor smiled and continued, "She'll send us a message when she needs us." The Doctor smiled and flipped the controls. "We always go to her when she calls." the younger beamed. Amy slunk passed the men who were both dancing their merry jig around the console. "Heel boy!" she said, both Doctors gulped, the younger reset his bow-tie and the elder brushed his lapels. The group all laughed at the Doctors both looking extremely flustered. "We need to know what the silence know about her." The Doctor said clearing his throat and silencing the last few giggles with an icy glare. The younger nodded "They might know where she is." he replied.
And with that the doors closed and the TARDIS dissolved away. She crept out from the darkness of the concrete pillars in Stormcage and strapped the manipulator to her wrist, wiping jammy dodger crumbs from her mouth. "O.k. Sweetie, this is where it gets interesting!" she thought. Thunder and lightning clapped, but not from the raging weather, as River left Storm cage for the last time.