Chapter 6

"Uhh..." Amy groaned as she came back into consciousness. The last thing she remembered was the Doctor's anguished face before the blackness engulfed both herself and Amanda. He had actually seemed scared, and when the Doctor was scared, it meant she should be absolutely shitting herself right now. She tried to move and realised she was strapped down to something – on opening her eyes she realised she was also blindfolded.

Ok, she was definitely shitting herself right now.

"Amy?" She heard Amanda call out from near her. "Amy? Are you there? Amy?"

"I'm here!" She called back.

"Answer me the first time, why don'tcha! Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I guess – apart from the fact I'm tied to a board and blindfolded." A chilling thought occurred to her. "Oh my God...they're going to kill us!"

"No shit Sherlock! Why d'you think they've tied us up for?"

At that moment there was a hiss and the blindfold was ripped from Amy's face. Blinking tears from her eyes – the blindfold had been tied so tight her eyeballs felt permanently squashed – she squinted through the darkness –

And suddenly realised the darkness was moving. She gagged as she realised it was made out of hundreds – thousands, maybe – of Nightmare Children, forming a sort of bubble around herself and Amanda.

Looking at Amanda, she realised that she was thinking the same thing as her: What happened when the 'bubble' collapsed?

xXx

"So what do we do now?" Hoffman stared at the Doctor's back. "Doctor?"

"I don't know," The Doctor sighed, turning to look at Hoffman. "It's hopeless, we don't know where they are, what's happening to them, even what the Nightmare Children want with them."

"So, what, we just leave them?"

The Doctor smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. "No, no I don't want to do that. But...there doesn't seem to be any other option. For now, at least."

Hoffman glared at him. "So you're giving up."

"No, I – "

"Doctor, you and I both know that it's not an option to not have an option. You say that we don't have any options – even at least trying to find them – you're telling me that you're giving up."

"I'm not 'giving up'," The Doctor returned tiredly, and it suddenly seemed to Hoffman that he looked a lot older than before. "It's just I don't see how we can keep going. Before I've known what to expect from these kind of things and known at least a little bit about how to stop them, but these things – " He shrugged helplessly. "As far as I can see it, we can't proceed without knowledge."

Hoffman sighed and walked over to him. "Yeah, I kinda guessed you'd come out with something like that. Doesn't mean we can't do a goddamn thing though, does it?"

"Yeah." The Doctor looked at Hoffman. "You've got brain cells, right?"

"Hopefully. There isn't going to be thinking involved, is there?" The two men grinned.

"Oh, let me guess, Amy's been taken by some big bad nightmare child right?" Rory asked sarcastically as they both walked back into the main room of the warehouse. "No, wait; don't give me an answer..."

"Shut up Rory, we need a plan." The Doctor said briskly, starting to pace. "Right, first big question: where would a load of emotional parasites be most likely to hang around in?"

"Here?" Jill looked up from Amanda's abandoned trap design.

"Yes, that's pretty likely, close to the source they need..."

"Excuse me," John and Lawrence were helping out with the trap. "The 'source' has a name."

"Yes, I know that, but somehow my theory doesn't seem correct anymore...there's something bigger going on here..." The Doctor suddenly stopped short. "Oh, YES! Lawrence, give me that metal pole!" He did and the Doctor then whacked himself round the head with it. "Stupid, STUPID Doctor..."

"You said we needed brain cells." Hoffman reminded him dryly.

"Yes, clearly I need MORE of them!" The Doctor was getting excited. "Ok, the void can only be opened by a particularly strong blast of energy of some kind, but this can't be external energy but internal energy!"

"Wha – "

"Jenny, what do the Nightmare Children feed on?"

"Emotions, but – " Jenny's eyes widened. "Oh my God...but that's not possible, right?"

"Theoretically speaking, no it isn't. But these are the Nightmare Children, they've had millennia of experience: if they can manipulate the negative energy they feed off to a high enough degree and focus it on one point of the void, then..." He made a ripping gesture with his hands with the appropriate sound effects.

"So that's what they're using Amy and Amanda for," Lawrence realised. "They've been testing – putting some of them in traps to give them some trauma to play with – people for ages, but none of them have been strong enough to live through the effects. So to cover it up they put them in or back in traps and try to replicate the injuries to cover up their tracks."

"So what are we waiting for?" Hoffman snatched up his coat. "Let's go!"

"Wait, Hoffman," The Doctor looked sad. "It's not that simple."

"Oh great, what now?"

"It's not them they want...it's us."

Hoffman looked confused. "Ok, what?"

"Hoffman, you've lost everything."

"...So what?"

"So have I." The Doctor took a deep breath before continuing. "I've had to watch friends, family and even my own race die, be lost, burn. You've been manipulated and seen your only family be destroyed too."

Hoffman's face was blank. "And your point is?"

"Mark, we're absolutely perfect for them. The reason why they didn't take us straight away was because they wanted a little bit more playtime before they got down to business. So, they took Amy and Amanda knowing that we'd care too much about them to let them get hurt and come after them."

"Ah well," Jill shrugged. "Looks like we can't do anything."

"We are not," Hoffman rounded on her. "Giving up!"

"I agree with Hoffman," The Doctor looked round the room. "These odds haven't stopped me before, and they aren't going to stop me now."

"What's your plan?" John asked him.

"Go and rescue them, making up clever solutions to various problems on the way, and somehow put a stop to their plan as well."

"So you have no definite plan."

"Basically. But all the best plans are made along the way...look at Jack Sparrow!" The Doctor looked round the room. "Who's with me?"

"You even need to ask? Hell yeah, they've got my wife!" Rory walked over to him. "'Sides, if she gets killed, her mum will KILL me..."

"Same answer as Rory, different reasons." Hoffman pulled on his coat and stood next to the Doctor.

The Doctor lowered his voice. "Amanda...?"

"Always." He nodded.

"Might as well," Lawrence shrugged. "I need a change of scene."

"That's the spirit!" The Doctor looked at John and Jill. "You two interested?"

"Oh, fine..." John sighed.

"Jill?"

Jill looked sulky. "Why should I? That bitch is none of my business, she can go to hell for all I – " She noticed everyone – especially Hoffman – was giving her filthy looks. "Ok, ok, FINE, whatever..."

"Excellent..." The Doctor grinned suddenly. "ALONS-Y!"

Ok, so that's the 10th Doctor's word, but who cares?

For a special friend of mine – and I mean special as in 'special child' (you know who you are...KATHERINE oops...) – Rory will be singing Plan B in next chapter...