Amy Pond, The Girl Who Waited

by TimeLordPrime

This story is set in my War of the Guardians universe and takes place concurrently with It's Better With Two. This is the continuing story of my Time Lady version of Amy Pond that follows her travels through time and space with her husband Rory, her son Anthony, her Time Lady sister Selene, and her newly adopted daughter Julia. River Song will guest star from time to time.

53. Rebirth of the Cybermen Part 2

CHAPTER 53

I do not own Doctor Who or Batman and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!

REBIRTH OF THE CYBERMEN PART 2

"Amelia Pond, according to their own internal communications network it appears that the rogue Cybermen have already reached Metebelis III ahead of us. The very fact that they're not even attempting to keep us from spying on them indicates that they must have a substantial lead as well. It's possible that by the time that we finally arrive there that they may already have one of that world's mind amplifying crystals in their possession. I recommend that we attempt to come up with some way to shield ourselves against the crystal's effects while we still can or we may find ourselves becoming the other Cybermen's mindless servants the moment that we come across them. What are your commands?" The Cyber Leader reported.

As he eagerly waited for my response, I couldn't help but sigh. I had finally gotten my new army of Cybermen to start calling me Amelia instead of the Cyber Queen, but they still insisted on asking for my orders before they made any sort of decision whatsoever. It was getting to be more than a bit annoying by this point.

I definitely didn't sign up for this when I restored their emotions to them recently. I was already starting to fear that I was going to have an entire fleet of Cybermen following me around for the rest of my lives and that was the best case scenario.

My split second decision to help the Cybermen instead of destroy them when I had the chance was just turning out worse and worse all of the time.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. In fact you should have already been looking into that on your own instead of wasting time asking me about it. You know I'm not really your leader, right? You can actually make decisions on your own now. You don't have to ask me, the Cyberiad, or anyone else what to do anymore. You're free. I mean that was the kind of the point of returning your emotions to you," I said with a reassuring smile.

The Cyber Leader nodded and then hesitated for a moment before he said, "It's . . . It's just that we've been taking orders from others for so long that we've forgotten what it was actually like to think for ourselves. It's very hard to suddenly make our own decisions when every single part of our lives has been planned out for us for years and in the case of some of us for centuries. Until we are able to do so once again, I'm afraid that we'll have to continue to follow your commands for the immediate future. I'm sorry if that has become a problem for you, but we really have no other choice."

That was when Almyra began to smile evilly as she said in a mischievous tone, "So are you saying that no matter what Amy asks you to do that you'll just do it? No questions asked?"

"Myra, we really don't have time for this right now," I said as I rolled my eyes at her.

"Just hear me out though, Ames. We could have a lot of fun with this. I mean you could ask them to stand on their heads, recite nursery rhymes, or even start twerking. The possibilities are endless and just imagine the views we'd get if we made a video of it for the entire universe to see. It would be hilarious," Almyra said with a chuckle.

We had definitely come a long way in just the short time that I had known her. She was already treating me like I was her best friend now. The only problem with that was that unlike her I wasn't a teenager anymore and didn't consider this to be even remotely funny.

Part of me wondered when exactly I had become such a stick in the mud. I mean I used to be fun once didn't I?

Looking back on it though maybe I hadn't truly had any real fun in a very long time. Being accused of being either a liar or completely mad by practically everyone around me while I was growing up just because I refused to admit that the Doctor wasn't real may have had something to do with that.

It definitely didn't do any wonders for my temper. That's for sure.

The Cyber Leader's body language showed that he looked completely horrified by Almyra's silly little joke, and the other Cybermen around me were all staring at me intently in quiet anticipation until I quickly shook my head at her. I could almost feel a palpable sense of relief in the room as soon as I did so.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to save the universe from becoming completely dominated by Cybermen right now, Myra. I don't have time for this kind of nonsense. You know you really have a lot of growing up to do, young lady," I said in an annoyed voice.

My eyes widened then as I said in a horrified voice, "Okay. When did I become my mother?"

"Actually you've been like that for as long as I've known you," River said with a wicked smile.

"That was different. You were always getting into trouble and someone had to look out for you. I had to try to steer you in the right direction or you would have wound up in . . ." I protested.

I glared at her when she smiled evilly and interrupted me by saying, "Jail? That didn't work out so well then did it?"

"So did she ever know how to have fun or did she always have that massive stick up her bum?" Almyra asked River as she did her best to suppress an evil smile of her own.

"I'll answer that since I've known her longer than anyone else here. Yes. Yes, she has," Selene said with a chuckle.

"Don't listen to her, Myra. I had plenty of fun when I was younger. Tell them, Rory. I did a lot of wild and crazy things when we were growing up didn't I?" I demanded.

Rory hesitated for a moment as though trying to think of something even as my hands began to unconsciously ball up into fists. As soon as he locked eyes with me, he immediately shuddered because he knew from the look on my face that it would definitely be a good idea to say something positive right about now.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity Rory began to smile in relief as he said, "Well, we used to dance the Macarena together, remember?"

I immediately smiled at him and kissed him in appreciation as I said in triumph, "That's right. We did. See? I did the forbidden dance. I used to be wild and crazy too once upon a time. I still am really. There's definitely a time and a place for that kind of thing though."

"Actually the Lambada's the forbidden dance, Amy," Rory whispered in my ear.

"She doesn't know that. She's not even from Earth," I hissed back in a low voice.

"Oh, man. You are definitely a mum alright if your idea of doing something wild is dancing the Macarena. The fact that you have no idea what is or isn't the actual forbidden dance only clinches it," Almyra said with a frown.

"I guess she does know about it. Who knew?" Rory said with a look of appreciation.

"That's right. I'm not the complete yokel that you all seem to think that I am. I've actually had to do a lot of studying about other cultures throughout the universe just like everyone else has on Tivoli. In fact they make us study other worlds in school so that we can use that knowledge to come up with good reasons to persuade invading armies to stay or to find new ways to get other races to invade us in the first place," Almyra said in a smug voice.

Then her smugness faded as she added, "It was by learning about other worlds that I realized just how truly messed up that my own people are."

Unfortunately I was still too angry about her petty little comments about my so-called lack of fun to realize that something was bothering her. I didn't really know her that well just yet so I wasn't able to catch the change in tone in her voice or realize what it meant. That led me to be much harsher with her than I probably should have been in that moment.

"What would you know about being wild anyway, Myra? You're from Tivoli. Your people's idea of wild is going five minutes without being ruled over by someone," I shot back with a smirk.

As soon as I saw the pain on Almyra's face, I instantly regretted my words and said in an apologetic tone, "Hey, I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

Rory instantly looked at me in surprise as soon as I did so. Usually I never apologized to anyone after all.

I had a connection to this girl that I couldn't explain though that automatically made me feel extremely protective of her for some reason. Maybe it was because I saw so much of myself in her.

Almyra nodded as she said, "It's true though so why not say it? My people don't ever do anything but mindlessly fawn all over one invader after another. That's why we have no real culture whatsoever. Everything we are centers around getting people to occupy us and tell us what to do. We're really no different from the Cybermen in that way I suppose. Maybe . . . Maybe that was why I thought it might be fun to tell someone else what to do for once. It's stupid though I know. I'm never going to be anything but someone else's lap dog just like the rest of my people. So I guess I might as well get used to it, huh? You're right, Amy. I need to grow up and face the fact that I'm never going to be anyone important. Ever."

"I never said that! Myra, I really am sorry. I never meant to suggest that you'd never do anything with your life. And for the record, everyone's important. An old friend of mine taught me that a long time ago," I said with a smile as I put my arm around her and pulled her close to me.

Almyra looked up at me with a dead, emotionless expression on her face as she said in a lifeless voice, "We both know that those are just words, Amy. As soon as you're done saving the Cybermen, you're going to dump me right back at home. Then I'll never see you again. I'll spend the rest of my life being on the Official Occupying Force Greeting Committee that welcomes all new invaders to Tivoli just like my father and his father were before him. It's what the eldest child in my family has always done so why stop now? I'll always look back at this time with you as the one bright moment in an otherwise meaningless existence and wonder what I could have been if I had only been born someplace else. In some ways, it really would have been better if I had never even met you at all. At least then I would have never known what real freedom was like."

"Myra, I . . ." I said in a sympathetic tone as I saw her struggling to hold back tears.

That was when Sirona put her arms around her and said in a soft voice, "It really doesn't have to be that way though."

"What do you mean?" Almyra asked as I began to wonder where Sirona was headed with this.

"Maybe we could come to Tivoli every once in a while and take you along on trips with us. That way you could still have some fun and you'd get a chance to see what life in the rest of the universe is really like that you'd never have just reading about it in books. Besides I always wanted to know what having a little sister is like anyway because I didn't get to know Melody until she was already grown. We'll probably never have the kind of relationship that Mum and Selene have because of that unfortunately. This is kind of like my second chance at something like that I suppose," Sirona said with a warm welcoming smile.

I could see Sirona and River exchange a brief look with one another then that seemed to speak volumes. Despite all of the time they had lost with one another, I had no doubts whatsoever that they had become every bit as close as Selene and I are.

Sirona's smile became more than a bit wicked and conspiratorial then as she said, "Plus I really love just how quickly you can get under Mum's skin. It's almost like you're a member of the family already."

I couldn't help but give her a look of approval even as I pointed to Selene and joked, "I can already tell you right now after several lifetimes of having to put up with her that having a little sister is definitely not all it's cracked up to be."

"Ha ha. It's not like you've been any great joy to be around either you know," Selene said with a frown as she stuck her tongue out at me playfully.

To my immense joy, Almyra actually started to laugh and said to Sirona, "I'd love to. I hope you really mean that about loving how much I annoy your mother though because I'm definitely not known for being quiet and respectful back home. I tend to get into trouble . . . at times."

"At times?" Sirona asked with a barely concealed smirk.

"Okay. Quite a bit actually. I'm really not a bad person though. Honest," Almyra said with a nervous laugh.

"I like her already. She'll definitely fit right in around here," River said with a grin.

"Let's not get her hopes up too quickly, Melody. We'll have to ask her parents about all of this first. If they haven't already sent the Judoon after me for kidnapping their daughter that is," I said with a wince.

"Don't worry, Ames. I'll explain everything to them once we go back. It'll be just fine. Just let me do all of the talking. I'll have them eating out of my hand in no time. I know exactly how to handle them from a lifetime of experience at getting myself out of trouble," Almyra said with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

I was so glad to see that cocky grin on her face once more as I said with a pleased smile, "Yeah, I just bet you do."

Then she became completely serious as she looked at me and Sirona and said, "And no matter what they say, I'd just like to thank both of you for offering to let me travel with you. Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me."

"I really think I do actually," I said with a knowing smile as I thought back to a little girl waiting outside for her raggedy man to come back so many years ago.

My thoughts were immediately interrupted then as the Cyber Leader said, "Amelia, we've just come into orbit around Metebelis III and are starting to send scout ships down to the surface to search for the others. I don't believe the rogue units have a crystal just yet, but you should be prepared for anything."

I still couldn't get used to how emotional that the Cybermen were now. This one actually seemed to be concerned for me. I could hear it in his voice amazingly enough.

They had already started to grow attached to me it seemed. Or maybe they were just grateful that I had freed them. Either way it was definitely a jarring experience.

"What about finding a way to shield yourselves from the crystal's effects? Have you made any progress at that yet?" I asked.

"But they've only been working on it for a few minutes at the most. They couldn't possibly have come up with something that quickly could they?" Almyra asked.

"The Cybermen are basically one of the universe's largest and most efficient hive minds, Myra. When they put their heads together, there's basically no problem that they can't eventually solve given enough time. That intelligence of theirs is a big part of what makes them so dangerous," I explained as I allowed a little bit of my admiration for them to shine through for a moment.

That's right. I said admiration. Even though we've been bitter enemies for centuries, I have always had a healthy sense of respect for what they can do. I never would have survived against them for as long as I have if I hadn't.

That's why I knew that If I could only help my group to defeat the others then they could do a lot of good throughout the universe. If I didn't do something to help stop them, the rogues could also just as easily completely tear it apart.

"If they're really that intelligent though, then why couldn't they defeat you when you invaded Telos? They taught us all about that in school too by the way because you're the Great Occupier and it's required by law that every child on Tivoli has to learn your life story. It was amazing how you basically handed them their shiny metal butts. That was so cool," Almyra said with a proud smile.

Then she looked at the Cybermen with an apologetic smile and quickly added, "No offense."

I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. I had to admit that it was kind of nice to have someone around who actually appreciated just how great that I really am for once.

Do you think that's why the Doctor keeps Shorty around?

"You obviously don't know Amy very well yet or you'd never have to ask that question. She's less of a person and more of a force of nature at times," Selene said to Almyra with a chuckle as I gave her the evil eye.

"That's for sure," I heard Rory say in a low voice beside me.

I quickly turned my evil eye on Rory next as he said in a nervous voice, "Not that that's a bad thing of course."

"No, of course not," I said with a smile as I decided to let him off the hook and kissed him.

I really think I'm starting to mellow out a bit these days. I'm nowhere near as angry as I used to be. In fact compared to who I once was I'm downright pleasant now.

What? Why are all of you looking at me like that?

"So did you come up with anything yet or what?" I asked the Cyber Leader again as I quickly changed the subject.

"We established a new Cyberiad between us that excluded the others right after the rift between us started. Using this new version of the Cyberiad, we've created a temporary psychic dampening field that should protect us from the crystals' effects just long enough for us to defeat the others. It will only last for a limited time however so we will have to move quickly in order to carry out our plan to defeat them," The Cyber Leader answered.

"And what plan is that exactly?" I asked suspiciously since this was the first I had heard of it.

The Cyber Leader hesitated for a moment then before finally saying, "We are going to hack into their personal Cyberiad and reset their emotional inhibitors. Then they will immediately become as subservient to you as we are and will obey you without question."

Anger instantly filled me at his words as I said in a very unhappy voice, "So basically enslave them then? Is that your great and wonderful plan? They don't agree with us so let's make them agree, yeah? Whatever happened to not being able to make any decisions on your own? You certainly thought of that one quickly enough."

"Do you have a better alternative? If so, we will gladly carry it out," The Cyber Leader asked in what I could tell was an earnest tone.

Reluctantly I shook my head as I said, "Unfortunately I don't but that still doesn't mean that I have to like this. Maybe I can come up with something in the meantime. I can think pretty quickly on my feet too when I have to just like your lot."

"Yes, I remember. I was on Telos when you nearly tore it apart in your anger over the loss of your husband. Almyra may look back on that event fondly but I'm afraid that it's a sentiment that I definitely do not share with her," The Cyber Leader said with an unconscious shudder throughout his body.

I began to shudder with him then as I remembered just how far down into darkness that I had actually been back then. That had definitely been the lowest point in my life where I had truly thought that everything was over for me after I had lost my entire family. Luckily for me I would later be proven to be so very, very wrong about that, but that had been something that I never would have guessed back then. Almyra may have thought that whole time in my life was somehow fun after reading some propaganda piece on it back in school that had been created to make me look good, but it was anything but an enjoyable experience for any of us on Telos back then.

It was more like a living nightmare.

"That's all in the past now. Let's make sure that it stays there by stopping the others before it's too late. I'm ready to join the search for them whenever the rest of you are," I said with a reassuring smile.

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd actually be willing to forgive the Cybermen and let my anger towards them go. I guess you really do see everything sooner or later if you live long enough.

The Cyber Leader suddenly stiffened then as he said, "It seems that won't be a problem, Amelia."

"What? Why?" I asked in alarm.

The sound of multiple explosions suddenly going off nearby immediately told me the answer to that question even before the Cyber Leader said, "Because it appears that they have already found us."

"It seems that we're having our usual kind of luck so far," Rory said with a groan.

"Yes, I know. Fun isn't it?" River said with a maniacal glee in her eyes.

"She definitely gets that from you you know," Selene said to me with a chuckle.

"This is so not the time, Selene," I said in an irritated tone as I started to hear the sound of heavy metal footsteps growing ever closer to us.

I immediately turned to the Cyber Leader and pointed to Almyra as I ordered, "Get her out of here and put her in the most secure area on the ship. If it looks like things are about to go bad for us, I want you to make sure that she gets back home safe and sound no matter what. That's going to be your top priority above everything else. Understand?"

The Cyber Leader nodded as he said, "Yes, Cy – I mean Amelia."

Of course Almyra immediately started to protest as she said in a whiny voice, "Hey! Wait a minute! You can't do this to me. I finally get to do something exciting for the first time in my life, and you want me to stay shut up somewhere out of the action so that I'll be safe? Uh uh. That is not going to happen."

"Myra, you're going with the Cyber Leader and you're going to do exactly what he tells you to do. Got it?" I said in a stern voice.

"I thought we already went over this. You said that I could travel with you. Now you're backing out of your promise as soon as things look dangerous? You're worse than my parents," Almyra complained even as the Cyber Leader placed his hands on her shoulders and started to gently lead her out of the room.

"Traveling is one thing. Suicide missions are another. You're not even grown yet, Myra. There's no way that I'm going to let you stay in the middle of a firefight between two factions of Cybermen. This conversation is over. Now go with the Cyber Leader and do what he says," I said in a resolute tone.

"I don't need you to watch out for me! I can take care of myself!" Almyra shouted in anger as the Cyber Leader slowly dragged her out of the room.

I completely ignored her rapidly fading screams as I said to Sirona with my face in my hands, "She reminds me so much of you at that age."

"I know. Maybe that's why I like her so much. I can be a good influence on her though, Mother. I can tell her what not to do based on a lifetime of hard experience making just about every mistake in the book. Not that she's likely to listen too much judging from what we've seen of her so far. Still it couldn't hurt to try could it?" Sirona said with a snicker.

Now I saw why Sirona had spoken up for her. She had seen a kindred spirit in the Tivolian girl as well just like I had but for different reasons. She wanted to help her and keep her from going down the same road that she had at that age. I couldn't help but feel extremely proud of her at that moment.

"You're both blowing things way out of proportion. She's not so bad. Just think of it this way. It could be far worse. She could be just like I was at that age," River said with a wicked grin.

I couldn't help but smile at that as I said, "Yeah, I suppose if I could survive growing up with you as my best friend, then traveling with Myra is going to be a piece of cake."

"There you go. Always look on the bright side I say," River said with a smirk that I knew was concealing a genuine smile.

"The funny thing was no matter what crazy thing you did I never really felt like I was in any real danger around you. It always seemed like you were in complete control of every situation at all times," Rory admitted to River.

"Yes, I do like to give that impression don't I? It makes living your life in the middle of constant chaos much more manageable if you pretend to actually know what you're doing. I learned that from the Doctor," River joked.

"Somehow I don't think you were ever pretending, Melody. You always knew exactly what was happening around you at all times and had already come up with about fifty contingency plans to handle any possible problem that might come your way. You were always at least two steps ahead of everyone else," I said with a knowing smile.

That was when I saw a brief smile on her face that quickly disappeared as soon as she realized that I had seen it. It was that same smile that she had always had whenever she knew something that no one else did . . . which was pretty much every waking moment.

"Just like you are now. Okay. What do I not know about what's going on here, Melody?" I demanded.

If I hadn't been sure that she was keeping something from me before, I definitely was by that point. She had that same mischievous smile plastered all over her face at that moment that she had always had whenever she was doing something that she knew that I wouldn't approve of back when she was Mels.

"We've already been over this several times before, and you know that I can't tell you what I know about the future. You would think becoming a Time Lady again would have helped you to understand that far better now," River said with a completely unconcerned smile even as she pulled out her gun and aimed it in the direction of the now rapidly approaching rogue Cybermen.

We could already feel the entire deck shake under their combined weight every time they took another step forward. Based on that alone I could already tell that we were in for an epic battle when they finally reached us within the next few minutes. There could be literally thousands of Cybermen headed our way even as we spoke, and that was why I had to know everything that was going on right away whether River felt it was something that I needed to know or not.

"Yeah, well I was always a bit rubbish about sticking to that whole non-interference philosophy that the other Time Lords believed in. That's probably why all of my friends turned out to be renegades later on. We all believed in there being exceptions to that rule whenever the greater good was involved, and as far as I can see this is one of those times, Melody. Tell me what you know before it's too late," I pleaded.

"You'll find out soon enough now, Mother. Telling you now really wouldn't make any difference either one way or another to the final outcome of this fight anyway. Believe me," River assured me.

I nodded and decided to reluctantly trust that she knew what was best as I said to her in a worried voice, "I hope not. I have to keep Myra safe, Melody. She has no clue just how much danger that she's really in right now. She thinks this is all one great big game, and that's why she shouldn't even be here in the first place. If anything happens to her, it's all on my head and mine alone."

Amazingly enough River continued to smile without a moment's hesitation despite my concerns. Exactly what was she keeping from me anyway?

All of my worries for Almyra were immediately swept aside then, and I started to worry more about myself instead as a massive flood of Cybermen suddenly entered the room. As soon as they did so, my group of Cybermen immediately rushed forward to fight with them as they quickly formed a protective barrier around me and my family.

Within seconds the entire area had been plunged into absolute chaos.

Suddenly there were screams of pain and cries of anger coming from everywhere, and I soon realized that I had become trapped inside of a series of constant explosions and weapon discharges that had made it basically impossible for me to see or hear anything around me. I immediately started to experience flashbacks to my invasion of Telos, and I knew that if I didn't come up with a way to stop the rogue Cybermen soon that none of us might survive through the next few minutes.

As it turned out, I still hadn't known the half of the danger that I was in at that moment.

I soon found out though as my brain started to feel as if it was being completely turned inside out in the very next moment. I could already feel the natural mental barriers inside of my mind beginning to collapse on me within seconds of this mystery attack as I held my hands to my head in absolute agony. Through the corner of my eye, I could see that the rest of my family was going through the exact same thing as I was, and I could already see some of them starting to look like they were going to pass out at any moment.

Oddly enough though the Cybermen seemed to be completely unaffected by whatever was happening to the rest of us.

"What . . . is . . . going on?" I cried out to the Cyber Leader through gritted teeth as I struggled to maintain consciousness.

"The rogue Cyber units have discovered our attempts to hack into their Cyberiad and are now attempting to shut down all of our minds at once with one of the Metebelis crystals before we are successful. We have been able to at least temporarily protect ourselves from its effects with our psychic dampening field, but you however are not so fortunate I'm afraid," The Cyber Leader informed me.

"Lucky . . . us," I said in a voice filled with pain.

"Mother, look!" River shouted as she suddenly pointed to a Cyberman in the back of the room who had one of the blue crystals sticking out of his chest.

Like I said, she always knew what was going on even when the rest of us didn't have a clue.

The Cyberman with the crystal hadn't stood out to us before despite the blue glow in his eyes because he had been trying to hide himself within the crowd and to stay as far away from the main area of fighting as possible. That wasn't about to happen now though. Now that we had finally seen him at last I wasn't about to let him walk away from this in one piece.

I had just found my way to end all of this quickly and efficiently once and for all and I was taking it.

"Everyone aim for Blue Boy!" I ordered while River shot at him several times with her blaster.

She had already started to open fire on him without even having to be asked I had noticed with a grin of approval.

As several Cybermen joined River in opening fire on the blue eyed Cyberman, I saw him suddenly separate himself from the main group and run away. Seeing him running for his life like that made me actually began to hope that maybe just maybe that we were about to start to turn the tide in this fight with the rogue Cybermen at last, and they were going to finally start losing for a change.

I really should have known better. When were things ever that simple?

My stomach started to instantly twist into knots in the very next moment as the blue eyed Cyberman quickly turned around as soon as he had placed enough distance between himself and the other rogues. As he stood there and openly defied River and my group of Cybermen his entire body started to become covered in a blue aura, and I finally realized far too late that I had completely misinterpreted his actions.

He wasn't running away at all. He was separating himself from his fellow Cybermen so that they wouldn't be hit by his attacks.

"Melody, get out of there!" I screamed as soon as I saw this.

It was already far too late though.

I was helpless to do anything but watch now as the Blue Cyberman began to fire a massive burst of psychic energy from his eyes at River and the Cybermen on my side. It felt like a hit to the gut as I watched them all scream in unison and begin to slowly fall over one by one like dominoes before his massive assault.

"Melody!" I screamed as I saw River fall too and had no idea if she was even still alive or not.

Rory silently grabbed my hand in that moment and squeezed it tightly in a reassuring manner. I could see him trying very hard to remain calm as his eyes told me not to give up hope. River had been through far worse than this in the past I told myself so the odds were automatically in her favor, right?

Right?

"She's dead, Amelia Pond, or at least she soon will be anyway. No mind could withstand such a concentrated burst of psychic energy for long without being completely burned out not even a Time Lady's," The Blue Cybermen said with a malicious chuckle.

Okay, I'm going to go on the record here and say that Cybermen are definitely far worse with emotions than without them. Much worse.

"Really? Why don't we just test that little theory of yours out and see if you're right then?" I said in a furious voice as I started to run towards him as fast as I could.

"Amy, wait!" Rory shouted in a worried voice.

I was long past caring about my own safety though by this point. River was in danger and I needed to help her. That was all that mattered.

Now that he'd hurt my daughter no force in the universe was going to stop me from ripping his stupid metal head right off of his shoulders.

The Blue Cyberman focused the full power of his attack directly on me now as the distance between us began to rapidly shrink. The closer that I got to him though the more it hurt. My mind felt like it was being completely torn to pieces, and pain such as even I had never known before made me cry out in an odd combination of both anger and anguish.

Even as my vision began to turn black though I wasn't anywhere close to giving up just yet. I would never give myself the luxury of doing that. Not until I knew that River was safe.

I could easily handle much more than this no matter how excruciating it was. I was no stranger to pain after all. In fact you might say that after everything that I had gone through in my life that the two of us were old friends.

"Interesting. So your sister's words about you earlier were quite true it seems. You really are a force of nature when pushed far enough. You might very well have won here today just based on that remarkable strength of will of yours alone . . . if I hadn't intervened of course," A new voice said from somewhere behind me.

"Who?" I said in confusion as I suddenly stopped and turned my head when I sensed a presence behind me.

I barely had time to register the presence of a beautiful woman with long dark hair and a sinister smile standing there before she gestured towards me and closed her hand into a fist. Up until that point I only thought that I had known pain before. Now I felt as if my brain was oozing out of my ears as I screamed in absolute agony from whatever she was doing to me.

"Sorry, Amy. Or is it Amelia? Cliodna? Whatever. It doesn't matter. I'm afraid that I can't let you turn the Cybermen into a bunch of namby pamby do gooders like Oswin's Daleks are these days. It's bad enough that I lost my favorite species thanks to her wonderful influence. I'm not about to lose another one quite so easily. This ends here and so do you I'm afraid. Say good bye, Amy. It's long past time that I finally claimed you anyway. We were already supposed to have met in Manhattan a long time ago," The woman said with a rapidly growing smile filled with glee that was starting to cover her entire face.

"Leave her alone!" Rory shouted in anger as he rushed to help me.

"Why, Rory Williams! Hello, my dear old friend. Long time no see. You haven't died in several years now have you? It's such a shame too because I used to see you all of the time back in the day. Exactly how many times did you die while traveling with the Doctor anyway? Even I've lost track. I'd say you're long overdue for another trip to my realm wouldn't you? Why don't we make it a permanent one this time? I'll even bring your wife and daughter along too so that you won't feel so lonely," The dark haired woman said with a malevolent chuckle.

"I – I know you. Don't I?" Rory said in a confused voice.

He could feel that she was doing something to his mind too by this point but it wasn't as much painful as it was disorienting. He was beginning to feel his mind cloud over and become muddled, and the feeling only got worse the closer that he got to her.

Not that that stopped him of course as he continued to move faster and faster towards her in order to help me.

The mysterious woman pretended to be deeply offended now as she said, "You don't know how much that hurts me, dear, especially after everything that we've been through together. The name is Death by the way. You'd think that you would have remembered me as often as we used to meet. I'd like to think that I'm not quite as forgettable as that but I suppose not. You really know how to hurt a girl's feelings don't you?"

"Are you trying to say that you're the Grim Reaper? That's not possible. There's no such thing. You're that Eternal that Rose told us about who goes around pretending to be Death aren't you?" Rory said as he continued to move towards her despite what she was doing to him as he saw my eyes already starting to roll back in my head from the ferocity of her attack.

"And he would know if anybody would. He's kind of an expert on the whole thing," Selene said with a grim smile as she suddenly appeared behind Death and fired a staser straight into her back.

"Ah, the sister. I was wondering when you'd finally gather the courage to act. You tend to hang back and let Amy handle all of your problems for you don't you? No wonder you were so lost without her all of those centuries," Death said with a smug smile as she completely shrugged Selene's attack off as if it had never even happened.

"That's not possible. Even an Eternal should have been affected by that setting," Selene said in a stunned voice as she looked down at her staser in disbelief.

Death shrugged as she said, "Perhaps but then I'm far more than a mere ordinary Eternal. I always have been. Why else do you think your ancestors used to worship me as a goddess? And they will once again some day very soon now after my ultimate plans for this universe have been finally carried out at last. It's too bad that none of you will be around to see that glorious day. I really think that you might have liked living in paradise."

Then Selene began to scream as Death started to violently assault her brain as well in that moment. I was just barely holding it together by this point and while I wasn't completely willing to call it quits just yet and was fighting Death's attack on me all of the way even I could see the writing on the wall.

Unless something changed very soon we were all finished.

"She's killing them and I have no idea what to do to stop her. Is there anything that you can do?" Sirona said in a panicked voice to the Cyber Leader as she watched all of this unfold before her.

"I'm afraid not. The Eternal is too powerful even for us to overcome and we're already about to fall to the attack of the Cyberman carrying the crystal as it is," The Cyber Leader said as he pointed to the Blue Cyberman.

Sirona's hearts stopped at that moment as she saw the Blue Cyberman attacking our Cybermen with a ray from his eyes. The second they were bathed in the crystal's power the affected Cybermen instantly turned around and began fighting on the other side. He was slowly bringing each and every one of our Cybermen to his side as she watched. She now realized with a growing sense of horror that soon all of the Cybermen would be working for a single cause once more.

And there seemed to be nothing that anyone could do about it.

"No, it can't end this way. I won't let it," Sirona said in a determined voice.

"You mean we won't let it don't you? Come on. We've got to help your mother!" Almyra said as she seemingly appeared out of nowhere and raced right towards the Blue Cyberman without a moment's hesitation.

"Almyra! What are you doing? Are you insane? Come back here!" Sirona shouted in a worried voice as she started to race after her in a desperate attempt to keep her from getting herself killed.

"Melody was wrong. She's even crazier than she is," Sirona said in disbelief as she did her best to reach the reckless Tivolian before it was too late.

Unfortunately she was already far too late. She could already see that somehow as impossible as it was to believe that Almyra had actually managed to make it through the crisscross of deadly blasts between the two armies of Cybermen and had reached the Blue Cyberman's side. Sirona now could only watch helplessly as Almyra, while seemingly unnoticed by the Blue Cyberman whose attention was solely focused on converting our Cybermen to his cause, started to reach for the crystal in his chest.

She was actually going to rip it out with her bare hands . . . while it was still being used against the other Cybermen!

"No! Don't touch it! The energy flowing through that crystal will kill you instantly!" Sirona warned as she saw the girl hesitate for a moment.

It was obvious that Almyra was completely terrified and yet despite that she had a stubborn determined look on her face that Sirona knew from years of staring into the mirror meant trouble.

She could see that Almyra was completely ignoring her despite her best efforts to reach her so she forced herself to run even faster now and throw all caution to the wind despite the massive amount of firepower being currently thrown about all around her. She had to catch up to her before it was too late. It was all up to her now. She was the only one left who could even try to save her.

She couldn't help but wonder in the middle of that terrifying moment if this anguish was anything like what I had gone through worrying about her over the years whenever she did something reckless. If that was so, then she was more than ready to give me a long delayed apology she resolved to herself.

If we all survived that is.

For the record, it wasn't even close but I would never tell her that. Well, not unless I needed to use it to guilt trip her of course.

Then just before Sirona could get close enough to grab her Almyra took a deep breath and firmly grabbed onto the crystal with both hands at once. Sirona began to cry as Almyra screamed out in agonizing pain and was covered in a dark blue aura from head to toe for a brief moment before she hit the floor hard with a sickening thud.

"No, no, no," Sirona said in an anguished voice as she finally reached Almyra's side at last and saw that she wasn't breathing.

Then as if things weren't already bad enough she suddenly heard me screaming louder than ever and turned around to look at me just in time to see that I was finally falling to the ground in a lifeless heap as well.

"This can't be happening. Please. Someone help me," Sirona said in a voice filled with despair.

Her only answer was from Death who briefly stared at her for a moment as if noticing her for the very first time and then started to laugh.

"Hey! How about doing everyone a favor and shut up? My head already hurts enough as it is," I suddenly said from where I was lying on the floor.

Sirona's spirits immediately started to soar in the very next moment then as I suddenly jumped back to my feet and punched a completely surprised Death right in the jaw. To my immense joy, I instantly sent her crashing down to the floor with a single punch.

"Let's see how you like it for a change. Let me know if you need a pillow while you're down there," I said with a triumphant smirk.

"It's not possible. I was so close to killing you. How are you doing this?" Death said in absolute confusion from where she lay on the floor.

"Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is I just went from being at the actual Death's door to feeling better than I have since I was a teenager. I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth and ask why either. All that matters to me is that I pound you into the ground first," I said in a voice that was once more filled with a sense of new-found confidence.

"Someone is interfering. They have to be. I had won. I won!" Death protested in a voice filled with frustration.

Amazingly enough she actually seemed to be too weak to even lift her head off the floor for some reason and I had no idea why. There's no way that I had hit her that hard. She was an Eternal after all.

"You know if there's one thing I hate more than anything it's a sore loser. Why don't you lose with a little bit of dignity?" I said as I quickly moved forward to knock her out cold once and for all while I still could.

Then my attention was suddenly distracted as I heard Almyra shout, "Amy, help me!"

I involuntarily cried out in a mixture of amazement and concern as I turned to see Almyra glowing with energy and hovering five feet above the floor. She looked absolutely terrified as an obviously out of control energy wave slowly issued forth from her hands and began to cover the entire area around her.

Both groups of Cybermen instantly stopped fighting as soon as they saw this, and an unspoken truce was immediately declared between them. They started to slowly back away from Almyra then as a tangible sense of fear emanated from them. They were every bit as frightened as Almyra herself was of her new abilities.

"Amy, I can't control it and I don't know what it's going to do. Tell me how to shut it off before I hurt you," Almyra said in a mournful tone.

"It's her. I don't know how but she's doing all of this. She gave you your strength back even as she took mine away. What is she?" Death said in a genuinely frightened voice.

I could instantly tell that this comment had only made Almyra even more scared about what was happening to her as she said in a voice that cracked with emotion, "I'm a person. That's who I am. Don't talk about me like I'm some sort of thing."

"Mother, I think I know what must have happened. She grabbed the Cyberman's crystal and tried to pull it out of his chest. It must have done something to her," Sirona explained with a guilty look on her face.

I immediately groaned and said, "Why am I not surprised by that in the slightest? It's not your fault, Sirona. She's too hard headed to listen to anyone once she gets an idea in her head. I can already tell that about her and I barely know her."

"Excuse me but I was trying to help you. I knew there was a risk that I might die when I touched the crystal, but it was one that I was willing to take because there was no one else who could stop them. I – I thought even if it did start killing me that maybe I could stay alive just long enough to rip it free. I don't know what happened next but instead of dying like I expected to after it knocked me out I suddenly woke up and felt like I could do anything. I could finally make a real difference in the universe at last and that felt so good. Then when I heard Sirona screaming and saw what was happening to you I decided to help by draining Death's power away from her and using it to heal you. I don't know how I knew how to do that. I just did. It just came to me instinctively somehow. It had all seemed so simple at first. After that though was when everything started to go wrong. I thought I could control this new power of mine but I can't. Ever since I started to use it, I can't turn it off!" Almyra said in a horrified voice.

"Remind you of anyone? She's not just headstrong. She's also completely reckless when it comes to protecting the people that she cares about. Maybe that's why you like her so much," Selene teased me.

I rolled my eyes and basically ignored her just as I usually did whenever she made snide little remarks like that as I thought out loud and said, "The crystal shouldn't have done this to her though. At the most it should have just amplified her own natural mental abilities and intelligence not given her some new kind of power."

"What about the giant spiders on Metebelis III though? The Doctor once told me that those very same crystals mutated them," River said as she suddenly sat up and rubbed the back of her head.

"Are you okay?" I asked with concern as a wave of relief flooded through me and I actually started to properly breathe once again.

"I'm fine," River reassured me with a smile.

"Yes, the Doctor told me about that too but I highly doubt that the crystals mutated those spiders that much in just a few minutes. That can't be it unless . . ." I said before stopping as I slapped myself in the head.

"Of course. That has to be it," I said with a smile.

"It'll be a head injury if you keep that up. You've definitely been around the Doctor way too much," Rory said with a frown.

I winced as I said, "I know. I swear it's like he just gets in your head and scrambles your brain sometimes. I'll have to watch out for that or I'll wind up just as mad as he is."

"Too late," Selene said with an evil smile which earned her an instant glare from me.

"I'm glad you think this is so funny. I could be about to kill all of you and I can't stop myself," Almyra said in disbelief as a wave of energy continued to slowly pour out of her hands and head in our direction.

"Don't worry, sweetie. I'll find a way to fix it somehow. I think I know what happened and if I'm right I know exactly who to call to help you control yourself," I said confidently.

"Calling your precious Bad Wolf won't help you. Rat Girl over here doesn't have Vortex powers. No, she's something completely different. She's something new," Death said as she unsuccessfully struggled to get up off the floor.

"'Something new'? What are you talking about? What does that even mean?" Almyra asked in a voice filled with terror.

Death let loose a nervous laugh as she said in a condescending voice, "If I knew that, child, do you honestly think that I'd be this worried about you right now? In a way I almost wish that you were a Vortex user. I'd at least have a good idea of how to handle you then. Instead you're a completely unknown element that I hadn't planned for in any way. Having an unforeseen x-factor just randomly popping up out of nowhere is never a good thing in my experience, and that kind of unpredictability always makes me uneasy. It potentially makes you a very real threat to everything that I have planned . . . and that will never do."

"Look out!" I warned even as she began glowing with power and suddenly stood up with a determined look on her face.

"You should have killed me when you still had the chance, Amy. Instead you allowed your concern for your new little friend here to distract you and give me a chance to regain my full strength once again. That's definitely not a mistake that I plan to make however. The Tivolian needs to be taken care of right now while she still has no idea how to use her new abilities to protect herself yet. It's a pity that you happened to be standing in the way at the time but such is life isn't it?" Death said in a callous tone as she looked at me with a sinister smile.

"Yeah, I bet you're just all broken up inside about it too. Luckily for me though you're not doing anything to anyone because you weren't the only one who was biding her time until it was the right moment to strike," I said with a wicked little grin of my own.

"Oh, did you think of a plan, Amelia? I hope it was an especially clever one because it's about to be your last," Death threatened as her hands began to glow with energy.

"That's funny. I was just about to say the same thing to you," I said as I raised my arm and aimed my sonic watch at the area right in front of her.

I quickly activated the watch before she could stop me and then slowly began to step away from her as she looked back at me in confusion.

"That's it? That's your grand plan? I'm actually embarrassed for you that this is to be your final act because it's an exceptionally pathetic one. Nothing happened," Death said in an amused tone.

"Apparently you've never learned about the importance of waiting, Reaper Woman. Sometimes you have to wait for a long time for things to finally fall into place in life like they should be. Thankfully in this case though it didn't take twelve years. It just took a few minutes for my watch to store up enough energy and another minute for that energy to rip a proper hole in the space-time continuum once I released it," I said with a smug smile as a crack suddenly appeared right in front of the arrogant Eternal and began quickly growing larger and larger by the moment.

"What? No!" Death said in stunned amazement as the quickly expanding crack in time and space suddenly swallowed her whole before she had even had a chance to escape from it.

"Uh, I hate to point out a possible error in your plan, Amy, but the crack is still growing even though she's gone. Please tell me that you have a way to stop it before it swallows us up too," Rory said in a wary tone.

I smiled at him reassuringly as I said with no concern whatsoever, "Turns out you need to learn how to wait too. Just give it another minute."

Then just as soon as I said this the crack immediately closed and vanished as if it had never even been there.

I smiled at Rory in triumph as I said, "I've been trying to learn how to create a temporary crack just like the one in my wall for a while now and I finally perfected it recently. I've wanted to put something like that as a setting on my watch for a long time just in case we ever came up against someone so powerful that I couldn't handle them in any other way since that seems to happen to us quite a bit."

"If she's been erased, then why do I still remember her?" Rory asked in an uncertain voice.

"She hasn't been erased. Eternals exist outside of Time so a little crack like that's not going to do much but annoy them. She was just sent somewhere else instead. Hopefully it's somewhere very far away from here," I explained.

"So we're safe from her now?" Almyra asked in a hopeful voice even as I silently noticed with a sense of relief that the energy wave surrounding her hadn't expanded any further lately.

Maybe it wasn't too late and I still had a chance to help her after all now that our annoying surprise visitor was finally out of the picture.

"Yeah, for the moment anyway. Now let's see what I can do about fixing . . ." I started to say before I was suddenly thrown to the ground and rendered temporarily senseless by a surprise attack by the rogue Cybermen.

It's embarrassing to admit it because it seems like something that the Doctor would do, but I had been so eager to help Almyra that I had actually forgotten that they were still there. He's definitely rubbing off on me alright.

Maybe it's time for the original cranky Amy to make a bit of a comeback. It could be that I've gotten a little too mellow now and lost some of my edge.

"Melody, you have to take us out of here!" Rory shouted as he picked me up in his arms while the two groups of Cybermen suddenly restarted their fight with one another all over again.

It seemed that their mutual fear of Almyra had only kept them from fighting for so long. Once it seemed as if she had gained at least some level of control over her powers and the threat posed by her had passed, that unspoken truce between the Cybermen was gone just as suddenly as it had come.

That was about to turn out to be a huge mistake for all of them.

"That's probably a good idea right now considering what all of this fighting is doing to Myra," I said in a worried voice as I regained consciousness just in time to see her starting to freak out as the battle tore everything around her apart.

It was her first time in combat and she was finally starting to see that war was in no way fun and games. It was something that I had hoped that she would never have to find out for herself.

Now I really had become like the Doctor I thought as I lamented her loss of innocence in that moment.

"No! Get away from me! Just leave me alone!" A completely terrified Almyra screamed as the Cybermen's attacks came closer and closer to her by the moment.

Several of them almost hit her while she continued to float helplessly up in the air and couldn't move out of their way. Rory now noticed that the glow around her was starting to slowly expand outwards once again the more frightened that she became.

"You've got to stop! You're making her worse!" Rory warned the Cybermen in a frustrated voice as he watched Almyra rapidly losing control.

"Somehow I don't think they're listening to you, Dad," River said with a shrug as she started to enter coordinates into her Vortex Manipulator.

"Then I say that they both deserve whatever they're about to get. Let's just get out of here before it's too late," Selene said in a frantic tone.

"What if something happens to Almyra though and we could have stopped it?" Sirona asked in an upset voice.

"She's right. I'm not about to just leave her here. She's just a kid, Selene. She never asked for any of this. I'm the one who brought her into a world where she didn't belong, and it's my responsibility to get her back out of it again in one piece. That's exactly what I'm going to do too," I protested.

"Do you know how to get them to stop fighting because I certainly don't? For the record, I hope she'll be okay. We definitely won't be though if we stay here for much longer. Then we won't be able to help her or anyone else," Selene said in a pragmatic tone.

"She's right. There's nothing that we can do to change any of this," River said as everyone but me began to link hands while preparing to leave the ship with her Manipulator.

"No, I can't accept that. I won't just leave her here like this," I said in an obstinate voice.

"Amy, I don't want to leave her either but I don't think that we have much choice now. Look," Rory said as he pointed towards the Cybermen.

Almyra's energy wave had finally reached them at last. By that point it became impossible for them to ignore its approach any longer as their armored shells started to liquify and dissolve almost as soon as it reached them.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Almyra said in tears as she was forced to listen to the now completely helpless Cybermen scream while their bodies were completely ripped apart by her runaway powers.

The rest of us were just as sickened by what was happening as she was as we were forced to stand by and watch while every Cybermen in the immediate area was completely torn apart molecule by molecule right in front of us. All of us but one that is.

"Mother was right. You already know what's about to happen here don't you?" Sirona realized as she studied River's face closely and realized that she wasn't in the least bit surprised by any of this.

River gave her a look of renewed respect for a moment and then smiled as she said, "Apparently we're a lot closer than you thought we were if you can read me that easily."

"Melody, tell me if Almyra's going to be alright. Please," Sirona pleaded.

River sighed as she said, "I'm sorry, Sirona. I really am. I'd like to tell you everything but I just can't do that. You're just going to have to trust that everything will work out as it should."

I was so frustrated by this point that I almost demanded that she answer Sirona anyway because I was starting to wonder if all of this had been for nothing now. Had I just tried to help the Cybermen only to wind up becoming a part of their destruction anyway?

What kind of sick joke was that for the universe to play on all of us?

Sirona didn't try to argue with River though but slowly nodded in agreement instead as she said with a sad smile, "I'll try but when you've been through as much as I have in your life you can't help but want to nudge things along a little just to make sure of that for yourself."

"I know exactly what you mean," River admitted with a sympathetic grin.

"Normally I'd be the last person who would want to interrupt some quality bonding time between sisters but Almyra's energy wave is getting closer and closer to us by the minute. Don't you have those coordinates punched in and ready to go yet, Melody?" Selene demanded.

River hesitated for a moment as if waiting for something and then finally said, "Yes, of course. I suppose it is time isn't it?"

I knew then that she had been stalling for some reason. What I didn't know was why.

That was when time suddenly stopped and everything around us (including Almyra's energy wave thankfully) froze in its tracks as an unearthly silence settled all over the ship. I couldn't help but think at that moment that at least I didn't have to listen to the Cybermen scream any more.

As I looked around me, I soon realized that it wasn't just what was left of the Cybermen that had been frozen either.

"Am I the only one who can still move? Rory? Melody? Anybody?" I said as I waved my hand in front of their faces but they didn't even so much as blink.

It seemed that I was the only one around who could still move although I wouldn't have put it past River to have been faking.

"Amy, what's happening? Did I do this?" Almyra said in a tone that made it sound as if she were very close to completely panicking by this point.

She was still hovering above the ground and completely unable to move even now. It said a lot about her that she had held it together for this long honestly.

"No, I don't think so. This seems to be someone else's handiwork because it's too precise. Everyone's frozen but us. Don't worry about it, Myra. Hopefully this means that someone is trying to help us," I said in a soothing voice as I started to walk around the now frozen energy wave so that I could comfort her.

Luckily for me it hadn't completely covered the entire room just yet.

I was actually hoping that Rose had done this but something in my gut told me that it wasn't her. I don't know how I knew that exactly. I just did somehow.

"No! Don't come near me. You saw what I did to the Cybermen," Almyra said in a voice filled with guilt and self recrimination.

"That wasn't your fault. You were just reacting instinctively and trying to protect yourself from them. You won't hurt me because you know that you can trust me," I reassured her.

"I hope you're right," Almyra said in an uncertain voice as I drew nearer to her.

"I'm always right. Well, most of the time anyway," I said with a warm smile as I finally reached her at last.

I hesitated for a moment and then I slowly began to gently stroke the top of her head as I said in a soft voice, "Don't worry, kid. It's going to be okay."

"How can you say that? I can't even move and now everyone else but you is stuck too. What if I've done this to the entire universe and you're trapped with me like this for all eternity?" Almyra said in an upset voice.

"That would definitely suck alright but things could have been much worse I suppose. At least Reaper Lady's not here. I made sure of that," I said in an upbeat tone.

"She's far from finished, Amy. She'll be back all too soon to finish what she's started," A woman's voice that I didn't recognize suddenly said from behind me.

I immediately spun around to face her and saw that she was just as beautiful as Death had been but in a completely different way. Her beauty seemed to come more from within than it did from the outside although she was definitely beautiful physically too.

She was very tall and had long red hair just like me so she definitely had that going for her (sadly she didn't sound Scottish though) but what I noticed first and foremost about her was her eyes. They were quite possibly the kindest set of eyes that I had ever seen. They were deep blue and filled with what seemed to be almost infinite compassion and mercy. She seemed to radiate a palpable sense of calm about her that even seemed to make the super freaked out Almyra relax as we watched her slowly walk towards us.

"Greetings, Amy, Almyra. It's a great pleasure to finally meet both of you in person at last. I'm sorry for upsetting you by freezing time as I have, Almyra, but I wished to speak to the two of you in private. I assure you that I mean no harm to either of you, and in fact I may hopefully be of great service to you instead."

I couldn't help but love the way that she spoke. You definitely didn't hear language like that anymore.

"Well, you've certainly got our completely undivided attention now so we might as well introduce ourselves to each other. You seem to already know who we are so we can just skip that part if it's all the same to you," I said as I decided to trust her for the time being.

She laughed as she said, "I've always loved how you like to get straight to the point, Amelia Pond. It's long past time that we were formally introduced anyway even though I feel as though I already know you. I am the Eternal that your people once knew as Pain. Not that that's my real name of course anymore than Death is my sister's despite what she claims. Unlike her, however, I detest the name and role that your people gave to me in their mythology and never claimed to be an actual goddess. Nor do I revel in the misfortune of others despite what the name Pain might suggest. I suppose I was given that name because I have always showed compassion to everyone that was enduring great hardship, but it was still far from flattering to me. I only wished to help ensure that the early Gallifreyans actually managed to lived through their often violent past in order to reach their true potential as Time Lords one day. Nothing more or less. In a way I'm still carrying out that original mission I suppose. I'm still helping people even now just as you do. It's one reason why I've always liked you so much in fact. You continue to show great compassion to others despite what you've suffered through and perhaps even because of it. I believe that we are much alike in that respect."

I was actually beginning to like her now and smiled as I said, "What's your actual name then? I mean I certainly don't want to call you Pain if you hate that name. I wouldn't be too fond of it myself come to think of it."

The woman laughed yet again as she said, "Now that I've actually met you at last I'm reminded more and more of why you have always been my favorite Ephemeral, Amelia Pond. Hmm. What to call myself? It's a tough decision but I suppose if I must use a name I would prefer to be called Viola. It's what Will always called me after all."

My eyes widened at that as I said, "Wait a minute. Will. Viola. That sounds familiar. Don't tell me."

Viola laughed as she said, "That's right. I was speaking of William Shakespeare. I first grew to know him after the loss of his son and did my best to inspire him to move on with his life since I knew that he had a great future ahead of him. I suppose you might say that I was his muse in a way. He eventually became a very good friend of mine and even based a character in one of his plays on me. I was deeply flattered of course."

I looked at her with amusement now as I said, "Yes, we've met. He's quite a character alright. Did he relentlessly hit on you too?"

"Yes, at first until he finally realized that I was never going to be interested in him as anything more than a friend. At that point he began to treat me more like a sister instead and we became extremely close," Viola said with a fond smile.

"Is that what you do then? You help people to work through their pain?" I asked curiously.

"When I can. I especially like to help encourage those who will do important things one day," Viola said as she now turned her attention to Almyra and gave her a warm smile.

Almyra blinked at her in incomprehension as she said, "Are you trying to say that I'm going to be an important person one day? I find that a bit hard to believe personally especially after what I've just been through today. I mean . . . I'd love it if it were true but . . ."

Viola finished her sentence for her as she said, ". . . Life has taught you that you're nothing special? Is that what you were about to say? Oh, you're so very wrong about that, my dear friend. Have you ever thought that maybe you were different than the others on your world for a reason? Perhaps the reason that you have always felt as if you didn't belong there is because you always had a far greater role to play in the universe."

Almyra began to look uncomfortable now as she said in an uncertain voice, "No, you must have the wrong girl. I couldn't even handle going on this one adventure with Ames without completely losing it. I hate to say it but I don't think this kind of life is cut out for me after all. It sounds great on paper but it's definitely very different when it's all happening to you live and in person."

"Yes, it can be very hard at times I know but also very rewarding. Ask Amelia. She knows. Perhaps you will listen to her since you seem to value her advice so much. I'm glad that the two of you have gotten along so well by the way since you will need her aid and protection until you have learned to use your new gifts properly," Viola said as she gave me a look filled with meaning.

So was this why I had been so drawn to Almyra from the moment I had met her? Maybe it was even why I kept returning to Tivoli over and over again come to think of it. It could be that I was supposed to meet her all along and something or maybe someone (Viola maybe?) was trying to bring us together. Could it be that I was supposed to protect her until she was ready to do whatever it was that she was supposed to do?

I wasn't sure if I was being manipulated by Viola in some way or not but I chose to follow my instincts and believe that helping Almyra couldn't be anything but a good thing because I knew that she was a sweet kid at heart.

"New gifts? Oh, no you don't! I don't want any part of these so-called 'gifts' of yours. You can just take them back right now so that I won't be even more of an outcast on Tivoli than I already am now," Almyra pleaded.

Viola shook her head as she said, "I can't. They aren't mine to take away because I wasn't the one to give them to you. The universe has chosen you to receive these abilities, Almyra, not I. Unfortunately they were activated far too early when you selflessly sacrificed yourself in order to save Amelia. The universe had to give them to you when it did in order to save your life after all because it couldn't allow you to die. You're far too essential to its continued survival especially considering what my sister and her new allies have in mind for it. They must not be allowed to destroy you or this entire reality will be doomed to become an everlasting nightmare. That is why Amelia must protect you until you are ready to stand against those forces that would condemn the universe to eternal darkness."

I whistled as I said, "You definitely don't sugarcoat things do you? I got the idea that Reaper Woman was up to something bad though long before you showed up so I definitely believe you. I'll do whatever I can to keep her from winding up in charge of reality believe me."

"Ames, I can't believe that you're actually falling for this. Look at me. Thanks to these wonderful gifts I've just received I can't even move much less stop some great evil from destroying the universe. If the universe is looking to me to save it, then we're all doomed," Almyra protested.

"As I said, you were activated too early and your full power was given to you all at once in order to protect you from my sister who would have shortly discovered you after your return to life. That is why you can't use your abilities as you should just yet. Thankfully I can do something about that albeit only temporarily so that you can grow into your powers organically as you were meant to do. Hopefully you will also be able to fool my sister into thinking that they were only granted to you for a short time as a result of touching the crystal and were therefore an aberration. If she believes this as I hope that she will, then she will leave you alone from now on as she will consider you beneath her notice. She must never know the truth about your abilities or she will never rest until you have been destroyed. After all you are one of the few people who will be able to stand against her when she and her masters carry out the final stage of their grand plan to subjugate it to their will," Viola said with a serious look on her face.

"Are you sure that you're not talking about Amy instead of me? Standing against universe destroying threats is definitely more her thing than it is mine," Almyra said with a frown.

"I believe I know my Champion when I see them, Almyra Jinn," Viola said with a mysterious smile.

"Whoa! So you mean I'm your Champion? Is that who I'm going to be?" Almyra said with more than a bit of pride.

"Those are your words not mine," Viola said while continuing that whole enigmatic act of hers.

I couldn't help but notice that she had never actually said that she was her Champion, but Myra was all too ready to assume that she was talking about her. Viola wasn't exactly trying to shake her of that idea either for whatever reason.

I couldn't help but look at Viola suspiciously now even though deep down I still trusted her. I trusted River too after all but that didn't mean that she always told me everything that I needed to know. In some ways Viola reminded me a lot of her since she also seemed to be someone who held her cards close to her chest.

I just hoped that I was doing the right thing by believing that Viola's intentions were good ones.

I let my doubts about Viola go for the moment as she placed her hands on Almyra's shoulders, and the Tivolian girl began to glow even brighter than she already was for a brief moment. Then the glow around her finally faded away completely, and Almyra cried out in surprise as she immediately started to fall to the ground.

Luckily for her though I was already there to catch her long before she would have had a very painful landing.

"I think I definitely saved you from a bruised coccyx at least if not something even more serious, Myra," I said with a grin as I gently sat her back on the ground.

Almyra grimaced as she gingerly rubbed her bum while saying, "Don't be too sure about that. You're hardly made out of goose feathers, Amy. By the way, would you please stop calling me Myra already? I hate the name Almyra enough as it is without you making an even worse nickname out of it. If Viola can decide what she's going to call herself, then it's only fair that I should be able to too since I'm going to be her Champion. I think I'd like to be called something cool instead like Clara. I could be Clara Jinn."

I looked at her in disbelief now as I said, "Clara?"

"Yeah, after my favorite companion of the Doctor's," Almyra said with an evil smile.

"Oh, really? Well I didn't see Clara saving you from breaking your tailbone just now did she?" I said with a smirk because I knew that she was just winding me up.

I mean did she honestly expect me to believe that she liked Shorty better than me? I don't think so.

Before Clara's fans hunt me down to the end of the universe I just want to clarify right here and now that I love her like a sister. So don't get me wrong when I tease her like I do. I'm not trying to be mean. I do it out of love.

That being said though it's obvious who's the best companion of them all.

Cough Rose Cough

Need something for that cough of yours, Prime? A fist down the throat maybe?

No, I'm good. Thanks.

Pay no attention to him. He just can't resist taking his life in his hands by making a cheeky remark to me at times because he knows that I'm fond of him. Just because I'm a little more mellow these days it doesn't meant that I'm a pushover though.

I love Rose too by the way just to make that clear to everyone.

So anyway as I was saying Almyra was joking around when Viola groaned and said, "Your powers are completely gone now, Almyra, at least for the moment anyway. Until they return and you have mastered them, I suggest that you continue with your original plan of traveling with Amy. She will help keep you safe until the time comes when you are needed, and the full truth about you will finally be revealed to everyone at last."

"Yeah, about that. Her parents might think that I kidnapped her. That could be a problem," I admitted.

Viola nodded as she said with a mischievous smile, "I actually have already taken that into account, Amy. I . . . took the liberty of appearing to them disguised as you and convinced them that their daughter was going to be your new partner."

"My what?" I said as my eyes bulged out.

I mean I could see Myra as my companion, sure. A partner though? That's definitely a bit of a stretch.

"What's wrong with that? We could be just like The Master and Lucy Saxon, The Doctor and Clara, or even better Batman and Robin," Almyra said with a pleased smile.

I had to admit that I smiled at the idea of myself as Batman (I pictured myself in Batgirl's outfit instead though while wearing a mini skirt. I definitely had to remind myself to tell Rory about that later.) even as Viola continued to speak as she said, "Almyra's parents seemed quite pleased about the idea of their daughter working together with the Great Occupier. That's what finally won them over. That and I had to promise that I'd bring her home at least once a week and have her call home daily so that her mother wouldn't worry about her too much."

"Mum always treats me like I'm a baby," Almyra said with a frown even though I could tell that she secretly loved it.

"You're hardly an adult either though, Myra. You still have a lot of growing up to do. I guess as long as I have to protect you anyway though that I'll just have to go along with that deal that you made for me, Viola," I said.

Then I turned to the Eternal and said in a firm tone, "Don't even think about doing anything else like that behind my back anymore though. Understand?"

Viola swiftly nodded with more than a bit of a guilty look on her face as she said, "I am sorry if I overstepped my bounds, Amelia, but I was only trying to help. Plus I hated to see her parents worry so. Her father was just about to quit his job in order to go search for Almyra."

Almyra looked at her in absolute shock now as she said, "Really? He loves that job though. Sometimes I think he loves it even more than me."

"Now you know that that's far from being true don't you? He was willing to even give up all of the honor and privilege of his position in order to make sure that you were alright. I think your mother was actually entertaining thoughts of fighting Amy all by herself for you if she had to," Viola said with a stern look.

Almyra looked more than a bit impressed by this as I held up my hands in surrender and said, "Okay, you definitely did me a favor by getting me out of that mess then, Vi. If I had people's mothers slapping me around, then everyone would be comparing me to the Doctor for sure."

"Somehow I thought that you might feel that way," Viola said with a smirk.

"So was that all that you wanted to tell us? Is time going to go back to its normal course now?" I asked impatiently.

Viola looked like she was still holding something back though so I sighed and said, "Alright what else is there?"

Viola hesitated and then said, "I feel that I must warn you that you will be receiving a most unexpected surprise almost as soon as things return to normal."

"Your sister?" I asked with a grim look.

"No. You will soon see what I mean in a just a few moments, Amy. I just wanted to explain to you that this was a situation of Almyra's making and not my own. Don't blame her too harshly however. She was just trying to protect herself the best way that she knew how," Viola said in such a sympathetic voice that I actually felt my hearts stop in response.

"What have you done, Myra?" I said in a furious voice.

"I have no idea what she's talking about. Honest," Almyra said as she slowly backed away from me.

"Good luck," Viola said in an earnest tone as she started to vanish.

"Oh, thanks a lot. Some help you are. Just clear off and leave me to clean everything up all by myself," I said in an annoyed voice.

"Correction. By ourselves. We're partners now, remember?" Almyra said with a barely concealed smile.

"Zip it, Myra, before I forget how much I like you," I warned.

That was when I noticed that time had finally started once again. Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing that I noticed.

The Cybermen were all gone and in their place were now thousands of completely naked people!

"At least when Rose did this trick she put clothes on them," I said as my mouth automatically dropped open.

"Oh, please. You know you're secretly loving every moment of this," Selene said with a wicked smile as she caught me struggling not to stare too hard at certain ex-Cybermen.

"I know I certainly am," River said with no trace of shame whatsoever.

"I'll second that," Sirona said with an equal lack of humility.

"Shut it. All of you," I hissed between my teeth as I hoped that Rory wouldn't become too jealous if my eyes happened to linger a little too long here or there.

I don't think I needed to worry too much about that though. He was too busy looking completely mortified at the moment instead.

Almyra automatically hid her eyes in embarrassment as she said, "I'm actually glad it turned out this way except for the whole buck naked thing of course. I was so afraid that I had just killed them all."

Despite how embarrassing this entire situation was for all of us I couldn't help but smile as I said, "No, I'd never believe that of you, Myra. You're no killer. Of course your default response would be to turn them back to normal instead of to kill them. I wouldn't expect anything less of you."

Then as if things weren't already weird enough each and every one of the former Cybermen (and women) were suddenly wearing clothes that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the blink of an eye. What was even more disturbing was that I could see that the former Cybermen were just as shocked by that as the rest of us were.

"What just happened?" Rory asked echoing everyone's thoughts at that moment as he finally regained his power of speech now that the nakedness was finally gone at last.

I quickly scanned the nearest ex-Cybermen to me with my sonic watch and looked at the readings in stunned silence for a moment before I said in a hollow voice, "Myra, what did you do?"

"What are you talking about? I thought it was already pretty obvious. I made them all normal again," Almyra said in a confused voice.

I vehemently shook my head as I said, "No, they're far from normal. They may look like they did originally, but on the inside they're still just as much Cybermen as ever. Instead of being made out of flesh and blood their bodies are made completely out of nanotech. You just gave them the ultimate upgrade."

I couldn't help but wonder if Myra may not have unintentionally made the Cybermen even more dangerous than ever now. After all they could now completely blend in and pretend to be ordinary inhabitants of whatever world that they were originally from. This could potentially wind up being even worse than the Zygon invasion of Earth if the rogue Cybermen were still just as determined as ever to take over the universe now.

And I had no clue which Cybermen were loyal to me and which ones weren't. I'm not even sure if they knew who was who themselves anymore from the way that they were all looking at one another in absolute bewilderment.

"Okay, guys. We have to have a serious talk here," I said to the newly reborn Cybermen.

Even as I started trying to work my way out of this huge mess that my new 'partner' had just landed me in, Death had secretly returned from wherever I had sent her. She watched us all invisibly now while I struggled to get a handle on the situation even as she studied Almyra closely for a moment.

Then she quietly nodded to herself and smiled in relief. The girl no longer had any power of any sort anymore. Her abilities must have been a temporary gift of the crystal's and had been completely exhausted by the effort of suddenly changing each and every Cyberman aboard that ship.

Satisfied that the danger posed by Almyra was now completely gone she immediately returned to her original plan without a second glance back at the seemingly innocent Tivolian girl.

It turns out she wasn't the only Eternal there who was silently watching over us either.

"Do you think that she really believes that Almyra is completely powerless once again?" Lady Time, the Eternal who just happened to look exactly like Clara, asked.

"It appears that way. It's still hard to believe though. Our ultimate plan to defeat her was almost completely ruined by a sheer accident that revealed Almyra's powers prematurely. That was a very near thing, Sister," Viola said with a shudder.

"I know. If she had discovered the full truth about Almyra, then she may have ultimately been able to figure out our entire plan to defeat her. We have to keep that information hidden from her at all costs. It may be the only thing that will turn the tide when this universe's heroes take their final stand against her and her new allies in the middle of its darkest hour," Time agreed.

"That and the final sacrifice of what one of them values the most," Viola said sadly.

Needless to say if I had known the whole story about what was going on behind the scenes at that moment, I would have thought that these new Cybermen were the least of my problems.

Next: They may be the least of Amy's problems but they're definitely a huge one in anyone's book since the outcome of all of this could mean the potential genocide of every race in the universe from within. Will the rogues still want to go to war with the other Cybermen now? Better yet will any of them even be able to figure out who is on whose team in order to do that in the first place? An even better question is did Almyra's power affect only the Cybermen on Amy's command ship, all of the Cybermen fighting in the immediate area, or all Cybermen everywhere in the universe? Just how far does Myra's power really extend anyway? Will Amy ever be able to untangle herself from this mess in time to figure out what Lady Time and Viola are really up to? I have to admit that last one is looking really doubtful at the moment.