The Pandorica Opens: The Pandorica
"Scan detects no temporal activity," one of the Daleks called to the others.
Angel let out a breath of relief at that, nearly slumping with it actually, that meant the Daleks hadn't detected the TARDIS, they didn't know they were there...thank God.
"Soft grid scan commencing," another Dalek reported.
"Reverse thrust for compensatory stabilization."
"Daleks, Doctor," River looked at him.
"Launch preliminary armaments protocol."
"Yes, ok," he nodded, starting to pace, feeling his hearts starting to race at the sound of the Daleks. He closed his eyes, unable to help but think of the last time they'd encountered the aliens, the danger he'd led Angel into, how they'd used a little Jammie Dodger to keep the Daleks at bay, how he'd held her close and enjoyed it...
He stopped a moment, shaking his head, now was not the time for such thoughts...and he didn't enjoy it, it was just...nice...but still not the time! So he began to pace again, "Ok, ok, ok. Dalek fleet. Minimum, 12,000 battleships, armed to the teeth. But we've got surprise on our side! They'll never expect three people to attack 12,000 Dalek battleships, 'cos we'd be killed...instantly. So it would be a fairly short surprise. Forget surprise."
"Doctor, Cyber-Ships," River added.
"No, Dalek ships, listen to them, those are Dalek ships."
"Yes. Dalek ships AND Cyber-Ships."
Angel closed her eyes at that, knowing that was likely only the beginning.
"Well, we need to start a fight, turn them on each other. It's the Daleks...they're SO cross..."
"Sontaran. Four battle fleets."
"Sontarans! Talk about cross, who stole all their handbags?" he chuckled nervously, seeing the list growing.
Angel started shaking her head, already knowing who was out there and started trembling. Amy looked at her, alarmed, and quickly put an arm around her. She was scared herself at the sheer number of enemies River was describing, and she didn't even recognize half of them.
"Terileptil," River called, "Slitheen. Chelonian. Nestene. Drahvin. Sycorax. Haemo-goth..." the Doctor started backing up in shock, "Zygon. Atraxi. Draconian. They're all here. For the Pandorica."
He hit the Pandorica and looked back at it, "What are you?"
Angel opened her eyes and looked at the Pandorica, her face pale, swallowing hard, the pit in her stomach twisting even more. She knew how this would end, and it would not end well, not at all.
As though hearing her thoughts, the ground started to shake and the Doctor ran up the stairs and outside, the three women following him, to see the sky lit up with a number of different ships flying above them, "What do we do?" Amy stared at the ships in slight fright and awe.
"Doctor, listen to me!" River turned to him, "Everything that ever hated you is coming here, tonight. You can't win this. You can't even fight it. Not even Angel would be able to turn them away!"
Angel looked over at River, mildly shocked that River had actually said something almost...nice...about her...
"She was useless when the Sontarans attacked, completely failed to stop them poisoning the Earth, remember?"
Angel closed her eyes and shook her head, should have expected that.
But the Doctor though just stared at River a moment as though he hadn't just heard her dig against Angel, a small confused frown on his face, when had Angel negotiated with the Sontarans?
~oOo~
"The woman of peace, just what we need on the brink of war," he reached out and touched her cheek, "Go on, I know you can do it."
She frowned, "But...I've never negotiated anything before, and...you don't usually tend to let me talk to the aliens trying to kill us..."
"Well," he had to wince a bit at that, he'd noticed he did tend to pull her back from facing their enemies often, not so much now with Donna there, an extra pair of eyes to help him, but still, as he said to Mace, he didn't like people with guns pointed at her, "We're safe for now, on Earth, in UNIT, while they're on their ship. I think it's safe enough for you to talk to them now."
She shifted, "What if I muck things up?" she asked in a small voice.
"You won't."
"But what if I do?"
He smiled, "You won't."
"But what if I DO?"
He laughed, "I can see that family resemblance shining through now," he told her, making her smile at the reference to Donna, "Ah, there it is, little bit of a smile," he tapped her chin with his hand, making her smile more, "Love that grin," he winked at her, "You just smile at them and I think they'll cave."
She laughed, "That's only YOU," she reminded him.
"Fair point," he nodded, "But you really will do fine, I believe in you."
~oOo~
The Doctor blinked quickly, shaking his head, what...what was that? When had that happened? He...he wasn't quite sure what it was, it was like a blur really...but...he saw Angel, standing before the monitors of UNIT, about to speak to the Sontarans...and HE was there too...why had he done that? Not that he thought Angel wouldn't have been a help in the situation but...no, the better question was...why hadn't he remembered that? How had RIVER known about that moment and HE hadn't? Granted, he'd admitted that parts of his past, when he looked back on them, were...fuzzy...but this? It was like a glimpse of an entirely foreign memory...
Had it even happened? Or was he just imagining it because River had said it? What if the event River was talking about hadn't even happened? Yes, the Sontarans HAD poisoned the Earth once before, but who was to say they wouldn't try again?
He shook his head again, no, no, that...that had to be what River meant, it was something in the future. His mind was just playing tricks on him with that little...whatever it was...because that hadn't happened. He distinctly remembered talking to the Sontarans in UNIT, teasing them and mocking them and nearly starting an intergalactic war...yes, THAT sounded more like his last self.
"Doctor," River spoke, cutting into his thoughts and pulling his attention back to her, not seeing Angel stare at him with wide eyes, having seen both the memory in his mind and his fierce denial of it, "This once, just this one time, please, you have to run."
"Run where?" he countered.
"Fight how?"
"The greatest military machine in the history of the Universe!" the Doctor pulled out his binoculars and looked out in the distance.
"What is?" Amy looked at him, "The Daleks?"
"No, no, no. The Romans!"
~8~
River rode back to the encampment as fast as she could, walking back into her tent, wanting to slip back into her Cleopatra outfit for when she gathered the Romans...only to be blocked by two guards as their commander paced within, noticing her, "So, I return to my command after one week and discover we've been playing host to Cleopatra. Who's in Egypt. And dead!"
"Yes," she smiled, not at all worried about the man discovering her ruse, "Funny how things work out."
The ground shook as a ship flew overhead, "The sky is falling, and you make jokes. Who are you?"
"When you fight Barbarians, what must they think of you?" River wondered, eyeing the man.
"Oh, riddles now?"
"Where do they think you come from?"
He drew his sword, "A place more deadly and more powerful and more impatient than their tiny minds can imagine."
River simply rolled her eyes at his arrogance and pulled out her disintegrator gun, firing it at a cupboard, stunning the commander and the guards as it fell to ashes, "Where do I come from? Your world has visitors. You're all Barbarians now."
"What is that?" the commander eyed her gun, "Tell me, what?"
"A fool would say the work of the gods. But you've been a soldier too long to believe there are gods watching over us. There is, however, a man…" her jaw tensed, "And a woman. And tonight they're going to need your help."
"Sir?" a soldier called from the back entrance, having stopped at River's words, "A woman, sir?"
"One moment," the commander walked over to the soldier, whispering quietly to the man cloaked in shadow before looking back at River, "Well, it seems you have a volunteer."
~8~
Amy lit a few more torches as the Doctor stood, looking intently at the Pandorica, Angel above to keep a lookout for River or their enemies. The Time Lady had insisted they go down below, citing that she would be able to sense the enemy coming and bring up the Vortex to protect herself and give her time to get back to them when the Doctor hesitated in agreeing to leave her above. Angel had seemed...quiet, to her, more quiet than she had been since coming back from Torchwood. She'd been quiet before, yeah, but after seeing her 'brother' Jack she'd gotten better, talked more, but now she was just...quiet again. To Amy though it just appeared like she needed a few moments alone to collect herself, so she'd literally dragged the Doctor back to the underhenge, knowing that, as soon as he saw the Pandorica again, he'd be focused on that too.
"So what's this got to do with the TARDIS?" she questioned.
"Nothing, as far as I know."
"What about Angel? Has she sensed anything?"
The Doctor hesitated, glancing back at the stairs that would lead up to Angel, it was...odd, he had to admit, that Angel hadn't seemed to sense anything like this when it involved the TARDIS, given how connected she was to it. But, psychics couldn't see everything, "No."
"But Vincent's painting...the TARDIS was exploding, is that going to happen?"
"One problem at a time Amy!" he nearly snapped, pulling his gaze back from the stairs and to the sonic as it beeped, "There's force field technology inside this box. If I can enhance the signal, I could extend it all over Stonehenge. Could buy us half an hour."
"What good is half an hour?"
"There are fruit flies live on Hoppledom 6 that live for 20 minutes...and they don't even Mate for life," he blinked, wondering exactly why he'd brought up some odd Mating ritual at such a time, "There was going to be a point to that," he murmured, before shaking his head, "I'll get back to you."
Amy looked down and pulled the ring box from her pocket, "So...are you proposing to River?"
"I'm sorry?" he nearly shouted, spinning around with a hand on the center of his chest, wondering exactly WHY it HURT so much to hear her ask that question. His hearts felt like they had literally twisted inside his ribcage at the thought of that.
"I found this in your pocket," she held up the ring box, waving it around with a small smirk.
"No," he swallowed, feeling like it was a little hard to breathe at the moment, "No."
Amy eyed him a moment, he'd gone ten shades paler, "Then are you prosing to Angel?"
"No!" he shouted, his eyes wide, though Amy frowned, seeing that now...instead of paling, he was blushing, "No, Angel's just a friend and that…" he nodded at the ring box, feeling his hearts restart...though they were beating quite a bit faster than before, "That's, uh...a memory. Another friend of mine, someone...someone Angel lost really."
Amy looked at the box and back at him, "Her companion?"
"She told you about him?" the Doctor straightened.
Amy nodded, "We DO talk Doctor, we ARE girls, different species, but still girls."
But he just pouted, blinking a bit at that, Angel hadn't really said two words to him about Rory other than that she had trouble sleeping since then, and implying she was hopeful he'd return somehow. But...she'd been quiet about the topic of Rory. It...hurt...a lot...to know she'd talked to AMY about the loss of her companion and not to HIM. He could empathize, he could help...so why hadn't she come to HIM?
He'd have to ask her, when this was all over, but for now he gently reached out to take the box but Amy turned away with it, "Do you mind?"
"It's weird," she looked at it closely, "I feel...I don't know. Something…"
He eyed her a long while before speaking again, "People fall out of the world sometimes, but they always leave traces. Little things we can't quite account for. Faces in photographs, luggage, half eaten meals...rings...nothing is ever forgotten, not completely..." he hesitated a moment, feeling something...wrong...about what he'd just said, before shaking his head, it was probably just his lingering concerns about the cracks in time and their effects, "And if something can be remembered, it can come back."
Amy quickly closed the box again and gave it back to him, "He was nice, you know, Angel's companion, from what she told me. He was a great man."
The Doctor just slipped the ring back in his pocket, nodding, still feeling stung that Angel had spoken to Amy before him, and headed back to the Pandorica to work on it, but stopped and looked at Amy, "Remember that night you flew away with me?"
"Of course I do."
"And you asked me why I was taking you and I told you there wasn't a reason. I was lying."
"What, so you did have a reason?"
He nodded, "Two actually. Angel and your house."
"Angel?"
"She had a feeling about you Amy. You were important."
Amy blinked, surprised at that, but smiled at the thought, "And my house?"
"It was too big, too many empty rooms. Does it ever bother you, Amy, that your life doesn't make any sense?"
At that moment, a laser fired at them from the now activated Cyberman arm.
~8~
Angel winced, rubbing her temples as she sat on one of the rocks of Stonehenge as the Doctor disappeared down the steps to the underhenge with Amy. That was one thing she didn't like about being pregnant, she seemed to get more headaches than normal. And, given how her visions could often cause headaches to start and having spent two years dying and plagued by headaches, that was the last thing she wanted to deal with again. But it would be worth it, it had to be.
She looked up when she realized the pounding noise in her head was also sounding outside her mind and turned to see a small group of Roman soldiers riding their horses towards the circle of rocks. She slowly stood up, her breath catching in her throat as she felt like something big...something GOOD...was about to happen...
And so she gasped when one of the men at the head of the group hopped off his horse and pulled his helmet off...
"Rory?" she breathed, staring at him in wide-eyed shock.
"Angel," he smiled, greeting her.
Angel just shook her head, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing, and slowly stepped towards him, Rory meeting her halfway. She swallowed hard, still staring at him, before she lifted her hand to poke his nose, "Is it really you?" she whispered.
He laughed, taking her hand instead, nodding, "It's really me."
Angel blinked a few times and he could see the tears in her eyes before she beamed and launched herself at him, hugging him tightly. He quickly wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up with a cheer and spinning her around in a tight hug, absolutely beaming when he heard her laugh at the sudden move.
...and then he seemed to remember who he was holding and quickly set her back down, his own eyes wide and he took a small step back, "Oh my God, are you ok?" he looked down at her, putting his other hand lightly on her tiny bump, breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn't harmed the baby with his rather large hug.
"I missed you so much," Angel said quietly, leaning in to hug him once more, just as tight but without the spin.
He smiled, returning the hug, "I missed you too," he told her, resting his temple to her hair, "God I thought I was going mad with all those dreams about you and Amy and the Doctor..."
Angel let out a small chuckle, "I think the Doctor thought I was going mad when he walked in on me talking to your sunflower in the garden."
He blinked, giving her an odd look, "My sunflower?"
She nodded, shrugging with a hint of an embarrassed blush on her face, "I...I planted sunflowers for you, to remind me of you," she told him, "You...you were bright and brilliant and you made me smile, sunflowers seem to do that to me too now."
Rory started to smile at that, so touched that he meant so much to her that she'd honored his memory and planted a flower for him. Sure, loads of people left flowers at a grave and what not, but he wasn't dead, well...he HAD been, but it took more effort to keep a flower alive than to just cut it and leave it by a rock. And to hear that Angel talked to it at times, well...he still talked to his grandparents' picture that he kept framed in his room whenever he did something remarkable, like when he'd proposed to Amy, just to keep them in the loop. It meant the world to him to know that Angel still kept him in mind even as he'd been elsewhere.
"I'm glad I could cheer you up then, even as a flower," he started to chuckle...only for it to die down, seeing the tears in her eyes had grown sad, "Angel...what's wrong?" his eyes searched hers, "Has something else happened?"
Angel let out a little laugh at that, Rory had only been returned not even 5 minutes and he could already tell something was bothering her, when Amy and the Doctor had been around her for weeks and hadn't said anything to her.
And that was why her companion was the most remarkable man ever.
Well, him and Mickey.
She laughed at that too, Mickey the Magnificent and Remarkable Rory! The best companions she could have ever had.
"Angel?" Rory called again, starting to frown now when she didn't answer. She was doing that thing again, that smile you made when you didn't want someone else to worry. Well, she was his Pilot, she was also (as they'd claimed in Venice) his sister, it was his job as both her companion and 'brother' to worry about her.
"So much Rory, I don't even know where to start," she admitted. There was too much to go through. How he'd been erased from time, her adventures with Torchwood, Amy's own amnesia, the Doctor's amnesia, her fears about the baby, especially now with every single one of the Doctor's enemies in the sky just waiting to attack them all, and...River Song.
"The beginning's usually a good place," Rory nudged her gently.
"True," she agreed, before taking a breath...
Only to hear Amy and the Doctor shouting from the underhenge and the sound of lasers going off. She really was starting to develop the WORST timing wasn't she? But then again...the baby was the Doctor's, and he had the absolute worst in the Universe.
Oh she feared for the baby if it inherited the Doctor's sense of time.
"You men, with me!" Rory shouted to a few of his men as he dashed down the stairs to the underhenge, putting on his helmet and pulling out his sword as he went...
~8~
Amy screamed as she and the Doctor both hid on the opposite side of the Pandorica, "Ok, what was that?"
"Need a proper look," the Doctor tried to glance around the corner but a shot fired past him, making him duck back, "Got to draw its fire, give it a target."
"How?"
"You know how sometimes I have really brilliant ideas?"
"Yes..."
"Sorry!" he ran around the side, standing in the open with his arms out, "Look at me, I'm a target!" the laser fired again but the Doctor ducked behind a pillar.
"What is that?"
"Cyber-arm. Arm of a Cyberman."
"And what's a Cyberman?"
"Oh, sort of part man, part robot. The organic part must have died off years ago, now the robot part is looking for fresh meat."
"What, us?"
"It's just like being an organ donor, except you're alive...and sort of screaming. I need to get round behind it, could you draw its fire?"
"Like you did?" Amy gaped at him.
"You'll be fine if you're quick, it's only got one arm. Literally," he gave her two thumbs up.
Amy nervously returned the gesture before running, screaming, around the side of the box. The Cyber-arm fired at her but the Doctor leapt forward and grabbed it, using the sonic on it to disable it, "Doctor?" Amy panted.
"Scrambled its circuits, but stay where you are," he pointed the sonic at her warningly, "It could be bluffing."
"Bluffing? It's an arm!"
"I said stay where you are!" he stood and Amy angrily stepped back and crossed her arm...only to look down a moment later to see a wire wrapping around her legs.
"Doctor?!" she fell as she was yanked backwards.
"Amy!" he moved to help her...only for the arm to release a burst of energy causing him to collapse, unconscious.
"Doctor!"
The Cyberman's head was crawling on the ground towards her, pulling itself forward by the wires binding her wrists. As she fought it she lifted it and stared at it when the seam down the center of its face opened and a skull fell out. She screamed as the head started snapping at her, trying to get to her. She banged it against one of the stone pillars and stood up as it scuttled away.
"Doctor!" she turned to check on him when a small dart shot into her neck.
"You will be assimilated," the head stated.
"Yeah?" she glared at it, pulling the dart out, "You and whose body?"
Just then there was the sound of heavy footsteps.
Amy looked away from the head to see a metal body approaching, missing its head and left arm. It picked up the head and set it on its body before continuing after Amy. She grabbed a torch from the wall and swung it at the metal man but the drug from the dart was starting to take effect. She stumbled, her vision blurring, till she fell through a set of double doors, into what was a small storage area, and shut them behind her.
"Doctor!" she shouted as the Cyberman pounded on the door to get to her...and suddenly there was silence. She pressed her ear to the door, "Doctor?"
And a moment later a sword was thrust through the door before her, the door itself swinging open to reveal the Cyberman pinned to it, sparking, a Roman soldier standing there.
She could barely make out the Doctor on the ground, someone in blue kneeling by him through the haze that was her vision. She blinked blearily up at the soldier, unable to see him through the drug and the shadows he was standing in, "Who…who are you?"
The soldier removed his helmet and Rory smiled at her, "Hello, Amy," only for her to promptly faint, him quickly catching her, "Whoa, whoa!"
"Alright there Rory?" Angel called from where she was checking on the Doctor.
Rory nodded and carried Amy over to a small stone table, setting her down, not at all angry at Angel for not sensing the attack coming, he understood that she couldn't see everything and that she was clearly very upset and distracted by something. He knew having a lot on his mind often distracted him, to even Amy at times, he could only imagine how badly Angel had to be distracted in order for her to miss the attack on both the Doctor and Amy, it just made him all the more concerned. He smiled though as he looked at Amy, caressing her hair just as another soldier entered, "Sir, the man's coming round."
"Amy?!" the Doctor woke with a gasp, stumbling to his feet, "Where's Amy?" Angel pulled him towards the room and he ran in.
"She's fine, Doctor, just unconscious," Rory told him.
The Doctor moved to her side, "Ok," and checked her with the sonic to be safe, "Yes, she's sedated, that's all. Half an hour, she'll be fine," he looked at Rory, "Ok, Romans, good, I was just wishing for Romans, good old River," he shot a smile at Angel, turning back to Rory before he could see her not return it, "How many?"
"50 men up top," Rory remarked, frowning when he saw Angel look down at the mention of that woman, River, and he knew something about the woman must be bothering her, he'd have to ask her about it, "Volunteers. What about that thing?" he pointed at the Cyberman.
"50? Not exactly a legion."
"Your friend was very persuasive, but it's a tough sell."
"Yes, I know that, Rory, I'm not exactly one to miss the obvious."
"No," Angel agreed, somewhat mockingly, which made Rory look over at her in concern.
"But we need everything we can get," the Doctor turned and pulled two large guns from a chest, not seeing Angel shifting uncomfortably at the sight of the weapons, "Ok, Cyber-weapons. This is basically a sentry box. So, headless wonder here was a sentry. Probably got himself duffed up by the locals. Never underestimate a Celt."
"Doctor..." Rory tried to speak.
"Hush, Rory. Why leave a Cyberman on guard? Unless it's a Cyber-thing in the box. But why would they lock up one of their own? Ok, no, not a Cyber-thing, but what, what? No, I'm missing something obvious, Rory!"
"Yes, you are," Angel agreed, though it was more than just Rory she was talking about.
He turned to stand face-to-face with the 'reborn' man, "Something big, something right slap in front of me, I can feel it!"
"Yeah, I think you probably are," Rory agreed.
"I'll get it in a minute."
He turned and left, leaving Rory to look at Angel, "And sometimes never," she added quietly.
Rory frowned, about to question her, when there was a crash as the Doctor dropped the guns and slowly reentered the room. He walked up to Rory and stared at him, poking him in the chest, making him sway, "Hello again."
"Hello."
"How've you been?"
"Good. Yeah, good. I mean, Roman."
"Rory the Roman," Angel remarked with a laugh, earning a smile from Rory, she'd called Rory that once before, she really liked that nickname now.
"Rory, I'm not trying to be rude, but you died," the Doctor continued.
"Yeah, I know, I was there," he nodded.
"You died and then you were erased from time. You didn't just die, you were never born at all, you never existed."
"Erased? What does that mean?"
"How can you be here?"
"I don't know. It's kind of...fuzzy."
"Fuzzy?"
"Well, I died and turned into a Roman. It's very distracting!" he turned to Amy and lightly stroked her cheek, "Did she miss me?"
The Doctor didn't know what to say but Angel did, "Yes, very much."
The ground started to shake once more as a whooshing noise sounded. The Doctor and Rory ran out to see the Pandorica's symbols were now glowing green. Angel walked out behind them, watching as the Doctor flashed the sonic on it, the soldiers watching with her.
"What is it? What's happening?"
"The final phase," the Doctor murmured, setting a hand on the turning gears, "It's opening."
~8~
The Romans stood, looking up at the sky, as Rory stepped out from the underhenge to join them, watching the ships fly about.
~8~
River watched from a distance, on horseback, holding up a comm., "You're surrounded. Have you got a plan?"
~8~
"Yes!" the Doctor called as he lay on the ground by the box, using his sonic, "Now hurry up and get the TARDIS here. I need equipment!" he got to his feet, quickly flashing the box, needing to work out what was going on.
"Doctor…" Angel called softly, "I think I should go with River."
"I don't need your help," River cut in.
Angel ignored her and looked at the Doctor, frowning a moment as she saw him staring at her in shock, "If there's a chance that the TARDIS might explode, I should be there. I can help her, maybe even prevent it."
"I know how to work the TARDIS. I can handle the ship just fine."
"Have you ever managed to calm her mid-tantrum before?" Angel asked, near snapping at the woman, not even bothering to bring up how the TARDIS continually sparked at her the last time she'd tried to pilot the old box, because this River hadn't reached that point so far. For all she knew, THIS River might not get sparked at, but that didn't put her at ease at all. And all this arguing was just wasting time, time they didn't have.
River was silent a moment, "No."
"There you go," Angel nodded, looking at the Doctor, "I'll go help her," she turned to head off...when she felt someone grab her wrist lightly, stopping her. She turned to see it was the Doctor, he'd jolted forward and grabbed her arm, "What is it?"
"I..." he blinked, shaking his head, "I don't know, I just..." he looked at his hand, as though it had had a mind of its own, as though he hadn't consciously been aware of the fact that he'd grabbed her till just then, "I..."
"Doctor I need to go help River," she reminded him.
"Yes, yes I know," he nodded, staring at his hand as though willing it to let her go...but it wasn't working, "I...um..." he swallowed, and slowly let go of her arm, "Sorry."
"Are you alright Doctor?" she asked, eyeing him.
He just...looked at her though.
No, he wasn't. The TARDIS might explode and Angel was willingly walking into it. But, then again, if anyone could stop the box exploding it was Angel.
He wasn't because...he might need Angel's help with the ships in the sky...but then again, she'd be far away from them and in less danger.
He wasn't...because something wasn't right. About all of this. He didn't need to be Angel to know that, he could just sniff it out. And if something was wrong then something was dangerous and he needed Angel with him, because he didn't want her to get hurt, he couldn't bear the thought of her being hurt. She had to be with him so he could protect her. But then again he DID know that if the danger came to them, he'd worry about her and he might be distracted...
No, no it was better for Angel to go stop the TARDIS. She'd stop it and all this would be avoided. She was quite good at stopping potential futures from happening, he'd seen it in the past, her saving people who were meant to be killed, changing little events...this was rather a major one, but the TARDIS was just HER area of expertise, and he trusted her, she'd work out a way to keep the box safe.
"Fine," he murmured, nodding to himself.
Angel eyed him a moment, wondering if he even realized he was lying, before she shook her head, she didn't have the time, "Right," she swallowed, "See you later."
He nodded, waving her off, before picking up the comm., "River wait for Angel and then I want the two of you to get to work on the TARDIS."
~8~
River rolled her eyes but made no move to leave.
~8~
"What are you?" the Doctor whispered to the box, "They're all here, all of them, all for you. What could you possibly be?"
~8~
As the ships flew overhead, the Doctor's voice suddenly called out into the dark, "Sorry, sorry, dropped it."
Rory looked around, trying to find him.
"Hello, Stonehenge! Who takes the Pandorica, takes the Universe. But bad news, everyone..." the Doctor jumped on a flat stone, "'Cos guess who?! Ha!" he held up the comm. using it as a microphone, "Listen, you lot, you're all whizzing about, it's really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute? Because I. AM. TALKING!"
And then...the ships actually stilled.
He smirked, "The question of the hour is, who's got the Pandorica? Answer...I do. Next question, who's coming to take it from me?" he held out his arms, waiting for an answer, "Come on! Look at me, no plan, no backup, no weapons worth a damn. Oh, and something else, I don't have, anything...to...lose! So if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship, with all your silly little guns, and you've got any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight, just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you. And then, AND THEN...do the smart thing," he grinned, "Let somebody else try first."
He held out his arms, daring them to try, and all the ships took off.
Rory exhaled as the Doctor tossed him the comm. and jumped down, "That'll keep 'em squabbling for half an hour!" he grinned at Rory, "Romans!"
~8~
River entered the TARDIS at a stride, her face set in an expression of mild annoyance as Angel quickly followed after her, shutting the doors behind her. River had just reached the console, about to set the coordinates to take the TARDIS to the Doctor, when the controls sparked under her hand, making her snap it back.
"I tried to warn you the TARDIS is a bit temperamental," Angel told her as she rushed to the console and put the coordinates in herself.
She HAD tried to warn River as soon as the woman had tried to unlock the TARDIS...with her own key to it...and the doors refused to open for her. She'd quickly worked out that the TARDIS was still upset with River for some reason even now. She'd tried to tell River to be careful with the controls because the TARDIS was on the verge of a tantrum, not a complete lie, but River had just acted like she hadn't heard her.
"Could you pull that lever there?" she nodded to one, patting the console, silently asking the box to let River help, that they really couldn't risk any more time lost, "It's the red..."
River rolled her eyes, "I know which lever to pull," River huffed, grabbing the red-tipped lever...only for the TARDIS to dematerialize with a terrible jolt that nearly sent them both to the ground, "What's the matter with you?!" she shouted at the machine.
"What did you do?" Angel gasped, looking at River, thinking of no other reason the box would react in such a way to dematerialization.
"Nothing!" River snapped at her, "I'm not the Doctor you know!"
~8~
"They're still out there," Rory commented as he and the Doctor stood before the Pandorica, him shifting from foot to foot, a bit wary, "What do we do now?"
Angel had informed him of where she was going as she'd headed out from the underhenge and asked if he might help the Doctor. He'd agreed, of course. But...helping the Doctor face down all his enemies at once wasn't what was making him shifty, it had been the hug Angel had given him before she'd left, the tightest he'd ever had from her, tighter even than the hug hello before…it was almost as though she were saying goodbye…it made him nervous and worried…and, someone had to worry about her and look after her especially when the Doctor didn't seem to notice, too focused on the odd green box to notice much of anything really.
"If I can stop whatever's in this box getting out, then they'll go home," the Doctor replied, glancing back at Rory.
"Right."
"Rory, I'm sorry, you're going to have to be very brave now," he said, seeing Amy approach.
"Oh my head," Amy moaned as she walked past Rory and over to the Doctor, rubbing her head.
"Ah," he opened his mouth.
"Ah," she mimicked.
He gave her a cursory examination, "Just your basic knockout drops. Get some fresh air, you'll be fine."
"Is it safe up there?" she yawned, still a bit drowsy.
"Not remotely, but it's fresh."
"Fine," she sighed and turned, nearly bumping into Rory, "Oh, you're the guy, yeah? The one who did the...swordy thing?"
"Yeah," Rory said, his expectant smile falling from his face.
"Well, thanks for the swording. Nice swording," she patted him on the shoulder and continued on.
"No problem," he breathed, before shaking his head, "My men are up there. They'll look after you."
"Good. Love a Roman!" she waved over her shoulder and made her way up the stairs.
"She doesn't remember me," Rory realized before turning to the Doctor, "How can she not remember me?"
"Because you never existed," he said sadly.
Rory just shook his head, but HE and Angel remembered him...
~8~
The TARDIS jolted, no matter what Angel tried to do to get the box to Stonehenge.
"What are you doing?!" River shouted above the grinding noise, just holding onto the console as the box sparked and shook even more violently when SHE tried to touch a control, "What's wrong?"
"Come on girl," Angel reached out and stroked the rotor, giving up on the controls for now, "It's alright. You're fighting the controls and the coordinates. Why? Where do you want to take us instead?"
The TARDIS calmed only slightly from her words, seeing that her one pilot was allowing her to change the course, to bring them where she needed them to go to discover what she knew...
A/N: ...O.O...uh oh...Angel's in the TARDIS with River? Will she be able to stop the explosion? She IS really good at handling TARDISes and now, thanks to Vincent, she's prepared for it ;) I think, she'd have a way out even if she couldn't stop it... hmmm... }:) Perhaps...perhaps it's NOT the TARDIS exploding that will cause the cracks...perhaps it might be something to do with the Pandorica and who is trapped inside it fighting to get out ;) I suppose we'll find out tomorrow }:)
But did you like the little Doctor-panic moment where he just grabbed Angel to keep her from going :) And Rory! Rory's back! Yay! I hope you all liked the little reunion moment between them :) I could NOT wait to get Rory back! Like he said, someone has to worry about Angel :) ...imagine his reaction when he learns the TARDIS might explode and Angel's gone to try and stop it ;)
And wow! You guys have made it to the next 100! You know what that means :) Sneak peek time! ^-^
~8~
The Doctor flicked the toggle a few more times with the same result before sonicing the controls and then the old man, looking at the readings before declaring, "These controls are isomorphic!"
"No…" Angel replied sarcastically, "Why didn't I sense that and tell you…oh that's right, I did tell you that!"
"You're in a very snarky mood," he commented.
"The skies of this entire world are mine," the old man cut in, "My family tamed them, and now I own them."
"Tamed the sky? What does that mean?"
"It means I'm Kazran Sardick. How can you possibly not know who I am?"
"We're very easily bored," Angel remarked, crossing her arms.
"Yup snarky," the Doctor nodded before spinning around to Kazran...
~8~
Lol, seems like the Doctor's noticing a little something about Angel here ;) BUT! I know you all might be thinking, 'Oh thank God! She's still pregnant because she's irritable!' All I have to say is...this seems to be a very different Angel, doesn't it? Am I hinting at something more to this scene? Or am I not? Well, I'm not saying a thing about it except that we'll have to wait and see }:)
Some notes on reviews...
Lol, I can say, eventually Rory will have a firm talking to with River about Angel yup ;) But I won't say when :)
I was debating Angel riding with the Doctor, but I feel like she'd not want to be that close to him lest he feel the bump :) I can say that the Impossible Astronaut will follow the episode sequence so we'll see the Lake/picnic scene yup :) I'm glad you're doing ok with the storms, they're terrible at times :( I've thought about an OC with a fob watch but the character just didn't click with me the way Time Ladies (non-turned human ones lol) do :) I sort of feel the same with Whovian OCs too, I think they're great, but I don't think I could write them, just because I feel like I would either end up making it like 'they know what's coming but can't say or they mess up the show' or 'they slowly forget what they know of the show' or 'they try to change things and mess up the show' at least in my mind. I've seen a few Whovian OCs and I think they're great, but I don't think I'd be able to write one :) Lol, I think River's got the not appearing in the right order thing down :) I'm not sure I'd do that just because it annoys me in the show at times how she pops up and knows things and such :) The Mating still works, yup, if he dies she dies and vice versa, unless one of them is wearing the Dampening Bracelet :)
Lol, not at all, I feel that way too at times, like there are episodes I REALLY want to get to, but have SO many in between them :) Unfortunately, with work and editing to make the chapters longer, I can really only (barely) manage 1 chapter a day at the moment, and with school starting up in a couple weeks I'll be pushing it to do that (Mondays are going to kill me come September lol). Lol, I don't mean I think he's a Mary Sue, nope, I love him to pieces :) I meant that it was suggested once to use the 'universal Mary Sue test' for OCs or something, and, when I had started writing I'd already heard of the test and wanted to (for fun) run the Doctor through it just to see how he'd rate compared to the Professor...he was a 50+ Mary Sue by the end of that test, so I sort of ignore the test as a 'good way' to figure out if a character is a Mary Sue after that :) Because the Doctor is awesome and if HE's a 'Mary Sue/Gary Stu' then there's no help/hope for the rest of us to not make one in a way lol :) I can say there's many many twists still to come about the survival of the baby and whether or not the Doctor would notice. It's incredible how well some women can hide an entire pregnancy and how some women don't really show all that much to the point where they 'don't know they were pregnant,' we'll just have to see how Angel's pregnancy goes and how long it might go for :) I can say that all the companions will have something to do with the Big Bang ;)
Thanks! I'm glad you like the story so far :) They help me get through the breaks too :) I hope to have a career in writing one day, that would be the most amazing dream of mine to come true. Lol, my dreams actually rate 1. Professional writer, 2. Medieval Literature Professor. 3. 1000 reviews on a fanfiction :) I've sent a few letters out to literary agents, now I'm just waiting to see how it goes :) But thanks! :)
There are 12 chapters left of this story (after this chapter) :) I'm putting the 'Death is the Only Answer' mini-sode in, along with 5 chapters of A Christmas Carol, and 2 chapters of the SJA Death of the Doctor episode in this story :) For Series 6 and 7 I will be doing most of the prequels, but only the ones that feature or reference the Doctor (and Angel). So...we won't have the Gunslinger prequel, but we'll have the Asylum of the Daleks prequel and things like that :) But I'll be doing mini-sodes too like Good Night/Bad Night, First Night/Last Night and some others :)
River will be a bit snippy yeah, mostly because she'll be alone with Angel, though there will be one whole chapter where she's not saying anything harsh to her! :) But even if it's not River, I think the events of these two episodes will be stressful for Angel definitely :) Good thing she's got her nurse back! ^-^
It's a little weird that it's angst and not romance and might be getting more reviews, but it's also pretty cool :) I think it's because everyone loves a little drama and can relate to heartbreak :)
I definitely saw River being slightly manipulative in the show, with all her little suggestive comments and things, here I definitely highlighted it. I figure, she's claimed herself to be a psychopath, they are probably the MOST manipulative people on the planet ;)
Oh Rory will be a BIG part in the chapters with River there yup :) Even here he could tell there was something about River that upset Angel and made him a bit defensive, imagine his reaction finding out who River is ;) That's cool about the song, you never know, a future incarnation might be able to sing one day :) Lol, Among the Forgotten: The Musical, I'd go see it :)
Lol, I'm glad I can make you happy and scared at the same time :) Oh they'll be very, very dark for Angel, probably one of the toughest times she'll have in this series, maybe even more so than discovering what's wrong with the Doctor ;)
You never know, Rose might be a rose in the garden like Rory's a sunflower, Rose was lost after all :)
I won't say if he'll remember before the bump really shows, because we won't know if the bump will even be there for that long }:)
I think they'd have a drinking contest and River would just sit to the side and then sneak in and win whatever ridiculous competition they get into...while filming it :) And probably take away their guns for safe keeping :) If River wasn't there...they'd probably drunkenly try to shoot each other or shoot something and almost end up shooting each other :)
I think the Professor would give me a hug for giving her a baby(babies) and ask if they'll be ok. Evy would probably shake my hand and thank me for giving her son a Link and ask if she'll be a grandmother any time soon (and I picture J in the background going MUM! And blushing lol). Angel would maybe be tearful and ask why I did this to her and to please tell her that something good was coming :( And I wouldn't be able to say :( I'd be completely stunned if I got to meet them and then probably squeal and hug them all (much like I imagine I'd do if I ever met a reader of my stories in real life lol). I think 11 would ask me first and foremost if I like his bowtie and then grin when I said yes, because bowties are cool :) I'd ask if they were happy with the way their stories have gone/are going, despite everything I put them through, that they're happy. But for Angel, I think she'd say yes too, because I'd hope she'd trust that I have a reason for doing everything I am to her and that she might get a happy ending in the long run :)
I'm honestly not sure. I have to semi-rethink 12th Angel because of who the 12th Doctor is. I think it'll definitely need to wait till I see what 12 is like before I can really say what she'll be like :) Oh the explosion, well...Angel's there and she's very VERY good with TARDISes, and given Vincent's help in seeing that particular future, well...Angel's also very good at changing it. We'll have to see if the explosion will even still happen or if there some other thing that causes the cracks...like the Pandorica itself }:)