I am really sorry that I disappeared. So much was going on in my life that it got me stuck and I just needed to get away from fanfiction. I'm sorry if I never replied to any of you. I'm going to try to not let this happen anymore, because it's annoying and I'm sure you guys didn't like me leaving you hanging like that.

Anyway, apology over, here is the next chapter and the next one should be up soon. I hope you all can forgive me for my absence.

There was a moment where no one moved, frozen, before everyone was up, knocking their chairs backwards as they stood to run.

As the others fled the room, Holtus followed after them after he'd grabbed as many small boxes as he could carry.

Nigh smiled, then put his hand on Dickson's outstretched wrist. Then they disappeared.

The Doctor stared at where they had been with a frown. "You know I really hate travel by Vortex Manipulator. It's extremely unpleasant."

"It really is," James said in agreement.

"Oh, it's not that bad," River put in.

"Can we please focus on the invasion that's apparently happening?" Rory asked anxiously.

"It's not an invasion," the Doctor corrected. "It's more like a police raid."

"Are we going to get arrested?" Amy asked.

"Not if they don't catch us," the Doctor said, then added confidently, "We'll be fine as long as we get back to the TARDIS unnoticed."

"And how do you think we're going to do that?" River asked. "It's going to be chaos up there."

"Just think ninja and we'll be fine," he replied with a grin, then led the way back up the stairs they had come down not minutes ago.

River had been right. It was chaos. Judoon were swarming all over the place, making arrests and shooting anyone that showed signs of resistence. The vendors, merchants and all around unpleasant inhabitants of Vahptilliorbus were fleeing in every direction, screaming in panic and alarm.

The Doctor peeked out of the door of the now-empty building, looking around for a possible route back to the TARDIS, which was just too far away to run to. All around him was the sound of gunfire, screaming and shouting as the Judoon closed the town in on all sides, stopping anyone from trying to escape.

The Doctor gauged the distance between them and the TARDIS, then slowly stepped out of the building, careful not to draw attention to himself. He then gestured for the others to follow.

One by one they each stepped out of the building and started sliding across the walls of buildings and creeping behind vendors in order to get through the jumble of Judoon officers and fleeing criminals undetected.

It wasn't an easy journey and they had to stop several times to hide behind dumpsters, buildings, or really whatever they could find when the chaos would shift towards them.

They were three-fourths of the way there when they were spotted. They heard a shout and saw several armed Judoon running towards them.

The Doctor quick grabbed River's hand, as she was the closest to him, and began running, yelling behind him at the others to do the same. River took out her gun with her free hand, ready to fight back, but James shoved her hand down before she could pull the trigger.

"Don't," he warned as they ran. He, too, grabbed hold of Amy's hand and Amy took Rory's until all of them were holding each other's hands, keeping together as they ran from the ever growing group of Judoon officers.

One of the Judoon fired.

And hit.

Rory fell and tumbled to the ground.

Both Amy and James came to abrupt halts and whirled around, running back to him.

"Rory!" Amy cried in alarm, throwing herself onto the ground beside him and grabbing his head. His eyes were closed and he was limp.

James knelt down beside him and grabbed his wrist, looked up at Amy. "It's alright. He's just stunned. They're not shooting to kill," James assured her, then looked up as the Judoon grew closer. He frowned, looked at Amy and the unconscious Rory and frowned.

His mind whirled as he tried to decide what to do. He couldn't carry him. None of them would get to the TARDIS with the Judoon so close on their heels. There was nowhere to hide. He had only one thing to do.

Standing, James starting running away from Amy and Rory, waving his hands wildly. "Hey! Yoo-hoo! Over here you fat hippos!" he shouted as loudly and obnoxiously as he could, ensuring that he grabbed their attention.

He did. Not all of them, though and that simply wasn't good enough, so he added, "I'm armed!"

That got their attention. The two that had been about to ignore him turned to him now, weapons raised.

He also got the attention of the Doctor and River, who had been oblivious to the fact that they had fallen behind.

The Doctor stopped just in front of the TARDIS and stared at James. "What the bloody hell is he doing?" he said, then saw Amy dragging a limp Rory backwards towards them.

"Doctor..." River said breathlessly, eyes fixated on Rory.

"He's just stunned," Amy huffed as she got closer. River quickly came to her aid, both of them getting one of Rory's arms over their shoulders.

"River, get them into the TARDIS. I'm going to get James," the Doctor said, then set off to do just that.

"Doctor, no, don't!" River said, but there was nothing she could do to stop him. She was busy with Rory and he was already running towards the Judoon.

James realized a little too late that shouting he was armed was a horrible idea. Judoon weren't exactly the most reasonable of beings, nor did they particularly care whether or not they could actually see James holding a weapon. He had said he had one, and that was enough for them to open fire.

Which they did and James barley ducked behind a building in time.

The Doctor chased after him, sprinting past the fast-approaching Judoon. He reached him shortly, panting, out of breath and they both took cover in the alleyway between two shops, taking a moment to catch their breaths.

"What..." pant, "...do you think..." pant, "you're doing?" the Doctor asked.

"It was the... only thing... I could think to do, alright?" James said, then took a peek out from behind the building. "We need to move, now, I think."

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Come on, then. We need to get back to the TARDIS."

James and The Doctor decided to circle around to the back side of the TARDIS, hoping to avoid their pursuers.

They didn't get very far.

In fact, they didn't even make it out of the alleyway before Judoon were surrounding the two buildings, blocking both exits.

James and the Doctor stopped, looking at each other, and did the only thing they could think to do.

"We surrender!" the Doctor exclaimed, holding his hands up and gesturing for James to do the same.

The Judoon officers wasted no time in closing the short distance and slapping handcuffs onto each of their wrists behind their backs. They were then jostled out of the alley, back into the street, and towards a small shuttle filled with several other handcuffed unfortunates, all of whom were hanging their heads in defeat. Among them was Holtus, who looked even more displeased than the others.

James and the Doctor exchanged nervous glances as they were unceremoniously seated on either side of Holtus.

James looked around and frowned in dismay. Well isn't this wizard. This isn't one of my best days.

The Doctor looked over at him and gave him an encouraging smile. It'll be fine. As long as we cooperate, I'm sure we'll be out of this in no time.

James nodded. Right. We just need to sort it out with the Shadow Architect. Shouldn't be that difficult.

They both looked at each other and frowned. This was going to be difficult.

Holtus, who had otherwise been ignoring the two, now looked up at the two of them, arching a brow at them as they telepathically communicated.

The Doctor returned the look and smiled. "Hello again."

Holtus frowned deeply.

"What a coincidence we should all get captured and put on the same shuttle. Whatever happened to your box, Holtus?"

His frowned, incredibly, deepened even further. "They confiscated it as evidence."

"Oh, that's a shame," James said. "What was in it, anyway?"

He scowled at him. "My money."

"Oh, shame that," James said, turning his attention now to the other passengers, hoping that perhaps the Judoon had caught one of Mr. Boots' men. They hadn't.

As the last passenger was brought on board, the shuttle doors closed and it blasted off to the Shadow Proclamation Headquarters.

River was waiting, continuously looking out the TARDIS doors for any sign that the Doctor and James were close by.

Amy and Rory stood at the stairs, looking at her anxiously.

"Now?" Amy asked impatiently. "Do you see them now?"

"I told you I'd tell you if I did, Amy," River said gently. She kept staring out, feeling the pit of her stomach sinking further and further and her chest tightening. She could see Judoon marching through the streets, occasionally getting into gun fights with unruly criminals. Through the whole "invasion", she had only seen one Judoon shot, and the criminal that had fired the gun was quickly and mercilessly shot down. The raid had been quite successful and efficient, as if they knew exactly where to go and where everyone was.

In fact, the raid was too perfect. Vahptilliorbus was a criminal hub, carefully watched and protected by its own in order to perserve its freedom of the Shadow Proclamation. It had several very high-tech and expensive (stolen, obviously) equipment that kept it veiled from any prying eyes and you couldn't just land there unless you were the Doctor. You had to have a certain landing license that in essence let everyone know you were a no-good scumbag and you were quite welcome there.

The Shadow Proclamation were completely blind to Vahptilliorbus up to today, so for them to know exactly where to go and how to proceed led her to only one conclusion.

"Someone told on us," River muttered.

"What?" Amy asked.

River shut the door and ran up to the console. "Someone told on us," she repeated. "Don't you find it strange that the Judoon only showed up when we did?"

"What are you saying?" Rory asked.

"Mr. Boots' men weren't waiting for us just to taunt us. They were there to confirm that we would show up. Think about it. The raid started right after they saw us. This was a trap," she said, then started up the TARDIS.

"Wait, what about the Doctor and James?" Amy protested as the TARDIS engine began to pump up and down, whirring and thumping rhythmically.

"The raid's over. They caught them," she said, throwing a switch. "We need to get to the Shadow Proclamation."

"But why would Mr. Boots send the space police after us?" Rory asked. "I mean, once the Doctor explains everything, they'll just let him go, won't they?"

"I don't know," River admitted. "But this has Mr. Boots written all over it and we need to stay a step ahead."

Rory glanced at Amy, and then looked at River nervously. "So... what does that mean?"

"It means we need to get the Doctor and James out of the Shadow Proclamation. The longer they're there, the longer Mr. Boots has to do whatever it is that he's planning."

Rory blinked uncomprehendingly at her. "We're going to break them out of space police jail?"

River smiled playfully. "Life on the TARDIS is so boring sometimes."

Bit of a short chapter, I know, but with how long I've been away, I figured I should post as soon as possible. Hope you enjoyed and I'll try not to let such long periods go by again.