Chapter 14: Trapped in Enemy Territory
I don't own Doctor Who or Torchwood whatsoever, BBC does, and I'm just a fan with an idea.
RECAP:
"No." The Doctor admitted as he turned off his torch for a split second and the statues in front of us are now facing us. The Doctor ran ahead.
"Oh, my God! They've moved." Amy said
"No shit Sherlock." I said to Amy as I ran after the Doctor. Everyone following behind the Doctor as he looked at all of the statues lining our way to the ship.
"They're Angels. All of them!" The Doctor reported
"But they can't be." River said
"But they can." I replied
"Clerics, keep watching them." The Doctor ordered as he backtracked and saw the Angels have moved forward. "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."
Avery's POV
I followed after the Doctor, never fully taking my eyes off of the Angels as we passed by them. I didn't trust anyone but the Doctor and I to be vigilant about the Angels, even though I knew that River could be trusted to be vigilant, although after finding out that she was a felon and the fact there was something off about her, I just didn't trust her. "There was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear." River swore to the Doctor.
"Could they have been here already?" Amy questioned
"The Aplans, how did they die out?" The Doctor asked River, I looked over to her. It was a good question considering how the statues didn't have two heads.
"Nobody knows." River replied
"We know." The Doctor corrected. I knew the answer was obvious. The Angels had killed the Aplans, but the question was how long ago did it happen?
"They don't look like Angels." Father Octavian said.
"And they're not fast. You said they were fast. They should have had us by now." Amy added
"They're dying. Losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving." The Doctor replied. And that was my answer to my unasked question
"Losing their image." I replied
"And their image is their power. Power. Power!" The Doctor added before coming to a realisation as he observed one of the statues.
"Doctor?" Amy and I asked
"Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out, the drive burn. The crash wasn't an accident - it was a rescue mission, for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army and it's waking up." Doctor answered. My eyes widened coming to the same realisation. I knew it was strange, I knew something wasn't right and here was my answer.
"We need to get out of here fast." River said.
"Agreed." I agreed.
"Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please. Any of you, come in!" Father Octavian ordered into the radio.
"It's Bob, sir. Sorry, sir." Bob answered over the radio. I walked closer, there was something wrong, I knew it. I made my way over to another cleric and borrowed their radio. I knew the Doctor would end up using Octavian's radio. I made my way back quickly.
"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active!" Father Octavian spoke into the radio.
"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir." Bob replied over the radio. And just as I knew it, the Doctor moved over and took the radio from Father Octavian.
"Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?" The Doctor asked into the radio. I knew the answer.
"I'm talking to my..." Father Octavian tried to argue.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up!" The Doctor said to Father Octavian.
"I'm on my way up to you, sir, I'm homing on your signal." Bob answered over the radio. I scooted in between the Doctor and Father Octavian, and grabbed the Doctor's free hand. I wanted to tell him, I really did. But he would find out soon anyways and I didn't want to be shushed up like Father Octavian.
"Well done, Bob. Scared keeps you fast, told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob, what did the Angel do to them?" The Doctor praised into the radio.
"Snapped their necks, sir." Bob answered over the radio. Another red flag, not a normal way that an Angel kills, though these were not the normal Angels of my day.
"That's odd. That's not how the Angels kill you, they displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something." The Doctor noted
"Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan." Father Octavian said into the radio that he stole back from the Doctor, who just took it back and said to Father Octavian "Don't be an idiot! The Angels don't leave you alive!" But said to Bob realising something that I was going to point out to him in the next minute if he hadn't of made it himself. "Bob, keep running, but tell me, how did you escape?"
"I didn't escape, sir. The Angel killed me, too" Bob replied over radio. The Doctor and Father Octavian looked at each other wondering what he meant. I rolled my eyes and took my own radio speaking into it "Bob, Avery here, what do you mean the Angel killed you too?"
"Snapped my neck, ma'am. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick, so that was something." Bob replied back over the radio.
"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?" The Doctor asked into his radio cautiously.
"You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion." Bob replied over the radio.
"So when you say you're on your way up to us..." I said into my radio
"It's the Angel that's coming, ma'am, yes." Bob's voice replied over the radio.
"No way out." The Doctor said. I looked around, working at Torchwood and my small adventures with the Doctor so far, I learned there was always a way out, you just had to look for it. I looked up at the wreckage and smiled.
"Then we get out through the wreckage. Go!" Father Octavian ordered.
"Go, go, go. All of you run!" The Doctor said, letting go of my hand and pushing me forward, as if to go on without him. I gave him a confused look.
"Doctor?" Amy said.
"Yes, I'm coming, just go, go, go!" The Doctor replied, giving me a look as Amy and River moved ahead with the clerics, leaving only the Doctor, Father Octavian and I to remain. "Avery. Go. I'll be right behind." He reassured me. I followed after the others with no argument, trusting him. I don't need to seem needy after all, like I'm not a big girl who needs her raggedy man to hold her hand through the maze of the dead. I just didn't want to lose him again. I listened in, through my radio as the Doctor talked to Bob. "Angel Bob, which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?"
"Yes, sir. The other Angels are still restoring." Angel Bob replied
"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you." The Doctor said before coming after us. Father Octavian had already passed me and moved on. I ran into Amy who wasn't moving. I stopped beside her and gave her a questioning look. The Doctor ran passed us and said "Don't wait for me, go, run."
"I can't!" Amy replied, I gave her an odd look, she looked fine, though the Doctor came back to help her. "No, really I can't." He gave her the same questioning look as I did when I found her.
"Why not?" The Doctor asked
"Look at it. Look at my hand. It's stone!" Amy replied panicked, her hand was gripping the rail and looked completely fine to me. The Doctor started examining Amy, flashing a torch in her eyes. I sighed, she looked into the eyes of an Angel as I knew she would and the effects were starting to take hold.
"You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?" The Doctor questioned
"I couldn't stop myself. I tried." Amy confirmed. I knew my twin.
"Listen. It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone." He reassured
"It is. Look at it!" She argued.
"It's in your mind. I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go." He tried again.
"I can't, OK? I've tried and I can't. It's stone." She argued again, just as the torchlight began to flicker. It was getting close.
"The Angel is gonna come and it's gonna turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it. So do it, concentrate, move your hand!" The Doctor said
"I can't" Amy argued
"Then we're going to die." I said with the Doctor.
"You're not going to die." Amy argued, ignoring the fact both her and I were in the equations, and unlike the Doctor, we were far from invincible and were very easy to kill.
"They'll kill the lights." The Doctor replied. And just as he said that, the light flickered and I could feel the Angels moving closer.
"You've got to go, you know you have. You've got all that stuff with River and that's all got to happen. You know you can't die here!" Amy said. She was practically throwing it in my face once again, being oblivious to the fact that her own sister liked the Doctor. I just want to slap her sometimes, but that's not who I am.
"Time can be re-written, it doesn't work like that." The Doctor replied, not confirming. The light flickered again, Amy and I turned to look at the Angels. I didn't blink.
"Keep your eyes on it. Don't blink." The Doctor ordered
"Run!" Amy said to the both of us.
"You see, I'm not going, I'm not leaving you here." The Doctor replied
"Neither am I." I added, even though the Doctor gave me a pointed look and a small shove. As if I would run and leave both of them behind. It was all or none at all for me at that moment.
"I don't need you to die for me, Doctor, do I look that clingy? Avery, you may be my twin but I don't need you to die for me either." Amy said
"You can move your hand." The Doctor said
"It's stone." Amy argued
"It's not stone!" The Doctor argued back.
"Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them." Amy tried to argue. I got an idea and whispered it to the Doctor.
"Amy Pond, you are magnificent. And I'm sorry." The Doctor said
"It's OK. I understand. You've got to leave me." Amy replied
"Oh, no, I'm not leaving you, never. I'm sorry about this." The Doctor said moving slightly to allow me access to her hand, and I bit it. She screamed and moved her hand. "See, not stone. Now run!" I said, pulling both of them after me by their hand running after the others away from the Angels.
"You bit me!" Amy said to me
"Yep and you're alive." I replied
"I've got a mark! Look at my hand!" She complained pushing her other hand in front of my face.
"Yeah, and you're alive, did I mention?" I replied
"Blimey, your teeth!" Amy said
"You're forgetting who exactly bit those psychiatrists. But alive, all I'm saying otherwise." I spoke quietly to her. We made it to the Byzantium ship crash site. "Clerics, we're down to four men. Expect incoming." Father Octavian said
"Yeah, it's the Angels. They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves." The Doctor replied.
"Which means we won't be able to see them." Father Octavian said
"Which means we can't stay here." The Doctor replied
"There are more incoming!" Father Octavian reported
"Any suggestions?" River asked
"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium." Father Octavian said
"There's no way up, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when you have a really good idea." River said to the Doctor.
"There's always a way out." I replied for the Doctor, echoing. The lights flickered off again and came back on. Angels were closer and blocking the passage. No way out now, and we had to make a decision fast. "There's always a way out." I said to the Doctor who repeated it.
"Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?" Angel Bob's voice coming in over the radio said.
"Hello, Angels. What's your problem?" The Doctor replied into the radio.
"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir." Angel Bob reported over the radio.
"Why are you telling me this?" The Doctor asked into the radio.
"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end." Angel Bob replied over the radio.
"Which is?" The Doctor pressed, into the radio.
"I died in fear." Angel Bob answered over the radio.
"I'm sorry?" The Doctor said into the radio.
"You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down." Angel Bob replied over the radio.
I overheard Amy and River whispering in the background just as I was about to argue with Angel Bob.
"What are they doing?" Amy whispered to River
"They're trying to make him angry." River whispered back to Amy.
"I'm sorry, sir. The Angels were very keen for you to know that." Angel Bob apologized over the radio.
"Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier." The Doctor swore into the radio. I silently swore my own, he wasn't the only one who told Bob that fear would keep him alive, I had too and now he was dead.
"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die." Angel Bob pointed out over the radio.
"Yeah, I'm trapped. Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake!" The Doctor said into the radio.
"What mistake, sir?" Angel Bob asked over the radio.
The Doctor looked over to me and asked "Trust me?"
I smirked "What kind of question is that? Of course."
He nodded to me before turning to Amy "Trust me?"
"Yeah." Amy replied
"Trust me?" The Doctor asked River
"Always." River replied, I rolled my eyes.
"You lot – trust me?" The Doctor said to Father Octavian.
"Sir, two more incoming!" A cleric watching the passage reported.
"We have faith, sir." Father Octavian replied.
"Then give me your gun." He gave the Doctor his gun. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do…" He jumped in place "Jump." The Doctor told us all
"Jump where?" Father Octavian asked.
"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal." The Doctor answered
"What signal?" Father Octavian asked again.
"You won't miss it." The Doctor answered as he aimed the gun at the roof.
"Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake?" Angel Bob asked over the radio.
"Oh, big mistake. Huge. There's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap." The Doctor answered into the radio.
"And what would that be, sir?" Angel Bob asked over the radio.
"Me!" The Doctor answered, before firing at the gravity globe which exploded.
And I jumped as high as I could.
To Be Continued in: Flesh and Stone