CHAPTER 40
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THE SIEGE OF THE HOUSE OF BRIGHTSHORE
The Angels' treachery and attempted takeover of the House of Brightshore were now almost complete. A special meeting had been called for all of the ruling members of the grand old House to attend in order to decide its future and everyone (but Amy it seemed) had been invited to vote. The Angels could barely conceal their smiles as their victory was finally within half an hour of being complete at last as soon as the results were in.
"And so it all comes down to one last vote before we can make this new deal official. Do we sign over control of the finances of our House to Sil, a proven and respected business leader throughout the universe who will more than double if not triple our resources, or do we allow things to continue as they are and let Cliodna run things into the ground?" Lord Anjo, the leader of the disguised Time Lord Angels, said.
"I still have several reservations about this Sil. I've heard many disturbing rumors about his business practices especially those concerning the Galatron Mining Corporation. I also highly doubt that Cliodna was letting things go quite that badly as she ran this House very well before. I think that there may be some 'misinterpreted' evidence at fault here. I call for a temporary halt on the vote until we can find out more about these things," One of the Time Lords, who was sympathetic to Amy's parents, said.
"We've already looked into all of those claims about Sil I can assure you, and we've discovered that it's all blatantly untrue. It's all slander and lies from his jealous business competitors and nothing more. As for the numbers under Cliodna lately, that is very true. You can check our records if you doubt us. Now if you'll all kindly submit a vote then we can finally safeguard this House's future forever," Lord Anjo said.
"Wait! Don't listen to them. They're trying to trick you. I don't know how but they're actually Weeping Angels not Time Lords. They want to bankrupt you so that they can destroy the Time Lord economy," A red-headed woman shouted as she came running into the meeting chamber.
"Lady Cliodna, why have you changed your appearance? Is this some attempt to make you appear older and wiser so that we won't vote against you for your incompetence?" One of the Time Lords said in confusion.
"Who? No, I'm Amy. Amy Pond. I'm from Earth. I know that this is going to be hard to believe but it's all true. I have no idea how I got here, but I suddenly found myself on Gallifrey just in time to listen to these disguised Angels plotting to ruin you. You can put me under a mind probe or whatever if you want to but just listen to me," The older Amy Pond pleaded.
"Perhaps we should have her psychiatrically evaluated. She seems to have developed some sort of identity crisis," Lord Anjo said as the others snickered.
The older Amy's face quickly became filled with anger causing the Time Lords nearest to her to quickly back away from her as she said, "Don't even think about it! Try it and lose a finger. I became very, very good at biting psychiatrists."
One of the Time Lords said, "It appears that she really has become mentally unstable. Seize her!"
The older Amy immediately prepared to fight as several Time Lords immediately surrounded her. Luckily for her though the rapidly approaching sounds of a materializing TARDIS caused all of them to suddenly stop in their tracks.
"Who would dare to land a TARDIS here during a meeting?" One of the Time Lords shouted.
"Who do you think? Who else would be that brash and disrespectful?" Another Time Lord answered as he looked at the older Amy.
Everyone else now looked at the older Amy as well who said with a smile, "Raggedy Man."
She still felt a sense of wonder at the thought of seeing him again despite still hating him for lying to her and leaving her to die. She knew why he had done it and that it had no doubt torn him apart but that didn't make the pain or the sense of betrayal go away. She still wasn't sure whether she would hug him or try to kill him when she saw him again.
As it turned out, she never had to make that decision.
"Not quite," A very familiar voice to the older Amy said as the TARDIS finished materializing and its doors opened.
"What in the - ?!" The older Amy said in shock as she saw . . . herself.
"Funny, that's just what I was thinking," Amy said with a grin.
"Amy, she's . . ." Rory said as he stared at the older Amy in disbelief.
"Yeah, I know. The me from Apalapucia. The one who was trapped there for 36 years," Amy said finishing his sentence.
"Okay, what is going on here? How am I still here with you at the same time? I thought that that was impossible and that the paradox of it would blow up the universe or something. That is why I had to stay behind isn't it? Or did the Doctor lie to me . . . again? In fact, the last thing that I remember was being put to sleep as the robots of Two Streams prepared to kill me then I suddenly found myself here," The older Amy said with a puzzled look on her face.
"Apalapucia? She has Chen-7?!" One of the Time Lords said as the others looked at her in horror.
"No, she's fine. She was on the planet by mistake not because she was sick," Amy explained.
"Yes, thanks to the stupid blundering of one of your own," The older Amy said.
"Still mad at the Doctor I see," Amy said with a sigh.
"Wouldn't you be if it was you who he lied to and got erased?" The older Amy said in anger.
"Yeah, I would but I'd also still love him just like you do because I'd know why he did it and just how much it would have eaten him up even if he never showed it," Amy said.
"I can't hide anything from you, can I?" The older Amy said as she began to tear up.
"Don't even try," Amy said with a smile as she put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.
"She must be destroyed. She is an anomaly. She's not supposed to be here. She's not even supposed to exist. Her very existence is a paradox," One of the Time Lords said.
Several guards now pulled out their stasers and approached the older Amy only to find Rory suddenly blocking their path with a furious look on his face as he said, "None of you are coming anywhere near her! I won't just stand by and let her die again! I can't."
The older Amy smiled as Amy said, "Back away from him."
"She must be executed. She's a threat to Time itself," A Time Lord protested.
Anger twisted Amy's features now as she shouted, "I don't care what Anjo says I am still the head of the House of Brightshore despite all of the attempts to throw me out, and I am ordering you to back away from my husband! Now!"
The older Amy looked at her with bewilderment. What was she playing at and did she actually expect it to work?
"She is out of order. We've already decided that she's no longer in charge. Restrain her," One of the Time Lords ordered the guards.
The Angels all smiled as they looked at one another with secret smiles. This was working even better than they had planned it. The Time Lords were destroying themselves better than they ever could have.
"I am in charge though and I'm ordering all of you to stop. Right now," The voice of Jenny Tyler called out as she marched into the House in full Presidential regalia.
The Weeping Angels now all became filled with fear at the sight of their most hated enemy as they slowly began to move towards the exits. Did she know what they were up to there?
"Lady President, we are attempting to have a crucial vote, and it has been interrupted by our former leader who has brought a deadly anomaly of herself here endangering us all!" One of the Time Lords said in a frantic voice.
"I didn't do anything. I had nothing to do with her whatsoever. I came here to stop all of you from being incredibly idiotic and making the worst mistake that you've made since you put Rassilon back in charge again at the end of the Time War. All of this is just a trick by the Weeping Angels. They've disguised themselves as Time Lords just like the human me told you," Amy said.
"Human me?" The older Amy said in extreme confusion.
"She'll explain later," Karen said.
"Who are you?" The older Amy said.
"I'm the Ganger of you and her that Kovarian made. Don't worry. I'm on your side," Karen said.
As the older Amy started to open her mouth, Karen said, "Before you ask, I look different because I regenerated and yes, we are actually a Time Lord who became human just like you're already begun to suspect. Mind blowing isn't it? We're just like the Raggedy Man and always have been."
"That can't be right. Time Lords are all mad, right? I'm not crazy at all despite what the psychiatrists said," The older Amy said.
"That's always been a bit debatable hasn't it?" Karen said with a grin.
"This is an obvious ploy to make us think that she has nothing to do with you, Lady Cliodna, and it won't work. This is all a trick to derail the vote and save your job, and that's not going to happen. It's over now. You may as well accept it. If you persist in this, then you and all of your party will be arrested immediately. Now move aside and give us the anomaly. Then you will leave and we will continue the vote uninterrupted from now on," One of the Time Lords said in a furious voice.
"No, you don't. The President is here now, and she's on my side. That means that you lose. There will be no vote today, and no one is bothering the other me. No, what we're going to do is find the hidden Angels and imprison them instead," Amy insisted.
"She's making a mockery of these proceedings with all of this Angel talk. There are no hidden Angels!" A Time Lord shouted in indignation.
"What's the matter? Are you all afraid to admit just how monumentally and completely fooled that you all were? Or how incredibly unbelievably idiotic that you all were to almost hand the control of this House's purse strings over to someone who you didn't even know just because a handful of disguised Angels told you to do it?" River Song said as she suddenly appeared in the middle of the room wearing her Vortex Manipulator.
"Don't believe anything that she says. She's nothing but a liar," Lord Anjo said even as he warily looked at Jenny who was now eyeing him with suspicion.
River smiled looking almost proud of herself as she said, "True but I'm not lying about this and you know it. Some of you must have already suspected that something was wrong yourselves, but you let the Angels shout you down and intimidate you into keeping quiet instead of doing something about it. No one's intimidating me though."
With those words, River pulled out her gun and pointed it at the assembled Time Lords. Many of them gasped in fear or surprise while the rest of them suddenly became deathly quiet.
"Melody, put the gun away," Amy said with a disapproving look.
"Well, it certainly shut them up didn't it?" River said with a grin.
That was when Sirona came out of the TARDIS holding a DNA scanner as she said, "Since everyone thinks that we're lying, why don't we just use this to prove that we're all Time Lords once and for all. This machine doesn't lie after all."
"I think that's a great idea. Guard, take the scanner and test everyone here. If you find a disguised Angel, arrest them right away," Jenny said.
"Ma'am," One of the Guards said as he saluted her before taking the scanner from Sirona.
Jenny winced as Amy said, "What's the matter? Still not used to that sort of thing yet?"
"No, and I don't think that I ever will be," Jenny admitted.
"Oh, and in case any of you wanted to hear proof that Sil is definitely NOT the guy to hand over the finances of the House to then just talk to me. I know that lying piece of filth very well. He's been a part of a lot of shady deals, and I can tell you everything that you need to know about them," Sirona said.
"Not to mention the fact that he tried to kill her once," Selene added.
"What kind of person is this Sil exactly, Lord Anjo?" One of the Time Lords asked suspiciously.
"It's just more lies. That's all that this is. It's just a scheme by Cliodna to regain her job by slandering both my and Sil's good characters," Lord Anjo said in a nervous tone.
"You two are already a slander on your character," Amy said with a smile.
"I resent that accusation," Lord Anjo said as he eyed the guard with the scanner nervously.
"What's the matter, Anjo. Worried about something?" Amy taunted.
"I don't see why I have to be questioned this way or why I need to be scanned by that thing. I'm highly offended by all of this," Lord Anjo said.
"I just bet you are. If you really are what you say that you are though, then you have nothing to worry about do you?" Amy said as her smile began to grow wider and wider the closer that the guard with the scanner came to reaching Anjo and the other Angels around him.
Then as the guard finally reached Lord Anjo, the Angels realized that there was no escape. That was when they all looked at one another and nodded in agreement as they instantly came to the same decision at once.
They switched to their Weeping Angel forms simultaneously as they prepared to fight for their lives.
Several Time Lords screamed in terror as they all instantly cleared away from the Angels and gave them a wide berth. The sound of the Angels laughing instantly rang out everywhere reverberating throughout the room while the Time Lords ran for their lives from them.
"It's not going to work. I have at least one of my family keeping an eye on each one of you so none of you are going anywhere. You're not getting away with this anymore, Anjo or whoever you really are. You've had a nice ride up until now, but there was never, ever any way that I was going to let you just waltz in here and destroy my home like that. This time there is no escape for any of you Angels with your stupid faces," Amy said as she started to move closer and closer to them.
"So Stupid Face is an insult? You always told me that it was a term of affection," Rory said in a hurt voice.
Amy smiled as she said, "With you, it is a term of affection. For everyone else, it's an insult."
"Yeah, well that makes sense," Rory said frowning.
"In what universe?" Selene asked.
"Shut up, Stupid Face, and before you ask that's definitely not meant affectionately for you," Amy said.
"Right. I don't believe that for a second. The cat's out of the bag now. You love me. You've already told me that," Selene said with a wicked grin.
"Oh, just shut up. I'm trying to give a really cool speech here and you're ruining it," Amy said in an irritated tone.
"That's my job, Sis," Selene said with a malicious smile.
"And she always does it oh so well too," Julia said.
You seem to have forgotten who you're dealing with here, Amy Pond. We are never trapped for long especially when it's so easy to make it dark. Anjo said telepathically.
Then the lights began to flicker and dim in the room as Amy said, "Watch out, everyone. They're trying the same trick that they did back on Earth. They're trying to turn the lights out."
"They're not going to get the chance to this time," River said as she began to open fire on the Angels.
River began rapidly blowing the Angels to pieces even as the lights finally went out. Even River couldn't kill all of them in that short of an amount of time though, and the remaining Angels immediately went on the attack with no one now being able to see them in order to stop them.
Julia cried out in fear as she felt an Angel grab her shoulders. Then her screams were immediately stifled as the Angel wrapped his hands around her throat next.
A moment later the same thing happened to Sirona as she too was captured and then quickly silenced by an Angel. Amy's hearts began racing in terror as two of her daughters at once were now being threatened, and she couldn't even see them in order to save them!
Let us leave without any further attacks or your daughters die. Anjo threatened telepathically.
"He knew exactly how to get to us," Rory said in anger.
"Of course he does. He's been hitting all of my weak spots ever since he first came after me. He knows exactly how much my family means to me, and he's been using that against me again and again this whole time in order to get to me. First he takes over my House and throws my Mum out of it, then he turns the entire House against me and almost destroys it, and now he's attacking my kids. Well, I've had enough of it! He's not pulling my strings and making me dance to his tune anymore," Amy said in a defiant voice.
Aren't I? What do you call what I'm doing now then, Cliodna? You have no choice but to let me go or I'll kill your daughters. There's nothing that you can do but to continue to go along with me if you want them to live. Anjo said telepathically in a self-assured tone.
Amy's voice quivered with fear as she said, "Wrong. I'm not letting you go. Not this time."
What? Anjo asked in complete astonishment.
"Amy, what are you doing?" Rory asked just as shocked as the Angels.
"I'm not letting them do this to me anymore. This time you're not going to have a hold over me to use in order to bargain for your freedom. Not this time," Amy said in a very nervous voice.
"Amy!" Rory shouted in alarm.
Do you think that I'm bluffing? Is that it? Well, let me just show you then by killing one of your daughters! Kill the Time Lady! Anjo ordered telepathically.
"No!" Rory screamed as he rushed forward in the dark trying desperately to get to Sirona in time even though he had no idea where she was.
Then they all heard the sickening crack of something being snapped in two as Anjo and the rest of the Angels laughed.
Sirona is now dead. Such a pity. I really think that she would have made you proud someday. Now will you let us go or do we have to kill the child too in order to prove that we mean what we say? Anjo said telepathically.
"Sirona," Rory said in a defeated tone.
Then he cried out with some kind of unidentifiable emotion that Amy couldn't determine the identity of at all. Was it anguish, pain, fear, or anger?
"No, I'm still not giving into you, Anjo," Amy said.
What? Anjo replied in utter disbelief.
"We've got them, Amy," Selene suddenly called out.
"Yes, and now I've got the ringleader himself," River said in triumph.
Suddenly Anjo felt himself being grabbed from behind, and he cried out in surprise as Amy smiled. River's gun began to go off once more as Angels screamed out in pain in its wake, and Amy smiled some more as she knew that River was back on the job again at last now that the kids were safe.
"Do you get it now, Anjo? I was never worried because of that very family that you kept using against me. One of them is the universe's most dangerous woman, and the other one is its most annoying one but one who's not so bad herself in a fight. I counted on them to save Sirona and Julia and I was right. They did exactly that right under your nose. As for what you said about Sirona, she's already made me proud and she always will. Haven't you, Sirona?" Amy said with laughter.
"Well, I certainly do my best anyway," Sirona said.
"That's all I can ask for," Amy said.
The lights came back on now and Amy sighed with relief as she could see that both Sirona and Julia were safe now. All of the Angels including Anjo were now huge piles of dust on the floor as River stood by with a smoking gun and a smug look on her face. Rory meanwhile was looking at her in anger and she sighed.
"I'm sorry. I should have told you but there wasn't time. I just had a few seconds to tell River and Selene what to do telepathically, and then I just had to hope that they had enough time to do it in. I kept saying no in order to throw the Angels off balance so that they wouldn't know what I was up to until it was too late. It was the only way to stop them because they were going to kill the kids anyway as soon as they could escape with them," Amy said.
"You still should have told me somehow. I was being torn apart worrying about them," Rory said.
"So was I," Amy said as she began to cry.
Rory immediately knew then that Amy hadn't been as sure as she had sounded about her plan. He immediately went to comfort her as he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tender kiss.
"It was the only way to make sure that they would live. They wouldn't have let them go. I know they wouldn't have. They didn't let Father Octavian go once they grabbed him," Amy said.
"I believe you, Amy. You don't have to explain it to me," Rory said.
"I was trying to explain it to myself," Amy said in an emotional voice.
Then she felt more arms wrap around her from behind and turned her head to see Julia hugging her. Sirona meanwhile gave her a sympathetic look while she put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know what she was worrying about. I had everything handled from the minute she told me her plan," River said more to herself than anyone else because she didn't want to admit that Amy's tears were bothering her.
"We both did. I was never going to let anything happen to Sirona or Jules again on my watch. Once was enough," Selene said.
"What I don't get is why didn't you do anything, Jenny? You didn't lift one finger to help that entire time. Are your powers gone or something?" Karen asked in an annoyed voice.
"I never had any powers. Well not any that I could have actually used anyway," Jenny said with an apologetic look on her face.
"What?" Karen asked in confusion.
Jenny now suddenly became Idunn as she said, "With Marissa's help, I've learned how to purposely fool with people's perceptions of me enough to look and sound like other people to them. Amy was the only one who knew that. She wanted me to stay in the TARDIS until I was needed and then sneak out and impersonate her in case she still couldn't win the argument against Anjo."
"I wondered why you never came out. I thought maybe you just didn't want to be around the other Time Lords because of what happened to you," Karen said.
"Oh, that makes so much more sense now! No wonder Melody was part Time Lord," The older Amy suddenly said with a chuckle making everyone look at her.
"Sorry. It's just that I just now figured that out," The older Amy said apologetically.
River looked at the older Amy with surprise as she said, "What's she doing here?"
"I have no idea. I thought if anyone would that you would know though. You always seem to know everything else," Amy said.
River frowned as she said, "Someone's making changes to the timeline . . . again. Rose! This time she and I are going to have a little talk about endangering all of time and space just because she didn't want the other you to die. She can't let those oh too kind hearts of hers always get in the way of her brain all of the time."
"You can't be sure that it was Rose, Melody," Amy said.
"Of course it is. Who else do you know that can just change time around on a whim like that? Rose must have heard the story about the other you and decided to save her somehow. That sounds just like Little Miss Bleeding Hearts," River said.
"No, something tells me that Rose wouldn't do that. She knows better," Amy said.
"We'll soon find out," River said as she suddenly left with her Vortex Manipulator.
"Well, I'm sure that will turn out well. I still don't think that Rose is behind her being here though," Amy said.
"Who is then and why?" Rory asked.
"I don't know but I'm going to find out. I just hope that I like what I find, but I have a really bad feeling that I won't," Amy said with a sigh.
"It never ends does it, Mum. There's always someone after us isn't there?" Julia asked.
"It seems so, yeah. I'm sorry," Amy said.
"For what? Endangering me? I think you're right. They would have killed us if you had let them walk out with us," Julia said.
"It's not just that. I'm sorry for always endangering you. If I hadn't adopted you, then you'd be with someone safe right now instead of being grabbed by Angels," Amy said.
"I don't want to be with anyone else. I want to be with you. I don't care about the monsters. I just care about you," Julia said as she hugged her again.
Amy smiled as she returned her hug and kissed her forehead.
The older Amy watched them with more than a bit of resentment as she saw the other Amy having the life and the child that she should have always had. She couldn't help but wonder herself why she was here and who she had to thank or (more likely if her current mood was anything to go by) punch for that.
Watching her at that very moment on a datapad somewhere Missy smiled to herself. It was a lot of work and energy keeping that Paradox Machine going in order to keep the older Amy there, but if things worked out like she planned them then it would be more than worth it.
Missy said to herself in a cheerful tone, "Soon you'll get a chance to get that very life that you always wanted, Amelia Pond, along with a chance to gain revenge on the Doctor for leaving you alone for so long. I wonder what you'll say to that. Hmm. I wonder what type of tea you'll like too. You must have everything just right when you're trying to talk someone into betraying their friends after all. If you make a major mistake like having the wrong kind of tea that can just completely ruin the whole deal from the start. I must restock all of the brands. Seb! Check the tea! If you don't restock every bit of it, I'll disintegrate you again!"
Next: Amy and Rory get the surprise of their lives as Oswin drops by with some very happy and yet still very sad news all at the same time as she brings little Melody Pond by to see them. Don't know what's going on because you don't read Oswin's story? That's alright. You'll find out more next time. Plus there will be more on the Apalalucia Amy and Missy's plans for her. Oh, and Rose and River get into it about the older Amy's sudden appearance. I'm sure that nothing much will happen there what with River being all angry about the whole thing, right?