Author's notes: You will most likely recognize some of the information in this chapter from various sources, however with an alternate timeline in place it is entirely plausible that information can arrive at its intended destination through completely different avenues than it had before.
I will be honest, the angels absolutely terrify me so these next few chapters are going to take a bit longer than usual to write because I want to make sure that I have the right cadence for each sequence of events.
I hope you enjoy my take on these strangely terrifying creatures!
The car sped down the highway around the bay, heading towards the long line of warehouses that dotted this end of the city, Jack's hands tightening unconsciously around the steering wheel at the question that seemed to suddenly hang in the air. He risked looking back at the Doctor, unnerved by the cold dead look that was on the Doctor's face.
"A little bit here and there, Doctor. There was a book that had been a few centuries old by the time I was born that was written on them." Jack expertly maneuvered his way through the traffic, the blue lights causing drivers to give the speeding SUV a wide berth. "It was required reading material though when I joined the Time Agency as there was always a chance that we would encounter them in our travels." He frowned, his memories of that time in his life were so often a blur especially after what had happened to him in the interim. Simple things like what his father looked like and the happy memories he had of playing on the beach of the Boeshane Peninsula were so often blurred if not just completely missing. "The book had been written by a madman though, it was barely coherent. Kind of frustrating when that is your source material on the most malevolent lifeform evolution has ever produced."
Gwen shuddered when she heard those words, unable to still the raw, screaming bite of fear that was suddenly pounding through her. Just what was it that they were dealing with here? More importantly, how the hell were they going to stop it? Her left hand was holding tight to the handle above her head so she wouldn't go flying with each swerving move the SUV made, but she was still trying to figure out just what it was they were dealing with. "I'm sorry Doctor, what is a Weeping Angel?"
The Doctor looked to Gwen, mentally running through everything he knew about the species and none of it was very good. "The nicest psychopaths in the universe?" He winced when Donna slapped at his arm, her eyes spitting sparks when he muttered. "Seriously, Donna, they could be considered that."
"Doctor, you're not helping things here right now. What are we dealing with?"
The Doctor leaned back in his seat, running his hands through his hair while his mind was frantically trying to figure out a way to keep everyone safe when dealing with these powerful aliens. "They're a species that feeds on time, which partly explains why they are here and harnessing the rift energy. I ran into them once on earth already in this incarnation, they had stolen the Tardis and stranded Martha and I in 1969."
He fell silent for a moment as he remembered that time, how he had met a police officer who had been transported back from what was his present day and together they had devised a way to deliver a message to a woman named Sally Sparrow who had been left behind in the future all so she could deliver the Tardis to him. It had not been one of his more pleasant escapades on earth, mostly because they had had nothing to do but wait and hope that someone in the future would be able to put together all the clues and do what needed doing without dying first.
Jack chimed up as he turned the SUV onto the side road that led towards the wharves and warehouses, darting in amongst slower traffic that was clogging the streets even this early in the morning. "I remember in the book Doctor, it mentioned that if the angels were well and truly fed they liked to kill for sport. They could use their temporal powers to transport their victims back in time and then they would feed off the residual energy of the life that their victims would have led. However, if they were at full strength they preferred to kill. It was said that they liked to play with their food."
Donna made a face at that comment, her mind suddenly flashing back to the jars of dust in the hub and the dimly remembered agony that the weevils had all felt in their dying moments. "But why are they killing different species in different ways? Why not just snap everything's neck? Or turn everything into dust? It doesn't make sense."
The Doctor shrugged in response to that, his eyes distant as he thought on the strange occurrences as well. "As Jack said, they like to play with their food. Perhaps it's for variety, or amusement. Maybe with humans they like the more visceral feel of the physical kill, where the weevils which are a simpler form of life it's just easier to drain them to dust for a quick meal."
Gwen was agog listening to the Doctor and Jack calmly discuss a race of killers that had no compunction of killing for sport and were capable of manipulating time energy to suit their own needs and the Doctor had run into them before. She was suddenly very worried of what they were walking into, and if they would be able to walk away from it in the end.
Fumbling her cell phone out of her pocket, she flipped the cover open and pulled up Rhys' number. Fighting the burn of tears behind her eyes, she typed out a quick note. Heading out on a mission here, I just wanted you to know that I love you. She couldn't say more than that, not without having him blow up her phone and possibly being so daft as to show up just because he felt like he was now a part of torchwood after his greater involvement in the last few months.
Gwen caught Jack looking at her from the corner of his eye, the muscle along his jaw ticking where his teeth were clenched. He hated feeling so absolutely helpless, but in the end he knew that they had the best chances of anyone to stop the angels because they had the Doctor with them.
The Doctor was muttering to himself, running his hands through his hair repeatedly while trying to remember everything he knew about the angels. "All right, so just what does a weeping angel look like?"
Jack shook his head. "There are no pictures, Doctor. Not ever and the time agency and every other police agency in the future looked for them. All we knew was vague descriptions that sometimes helped, but more often than not lulled people into a false sense of security."
Donna was listening to all of this with frightened fascination, her gaze constantly distracted by the pulsing and throbbing of the thick cables of temporal energy that were ripping across the sky towards the warehouses. Whatever they were, they were powerful and they were only growing stronger. She knew that the Doctor was still connected to her thoughts though he was uncharacteristically still and quiet within her mind. Meticulously cataloguing everything she felt, filing it away just in case he needed it later.
She turned to him, asking compulsively. "Why do I feel like the canary in the cage, Doctor?"
He sighed softly, turning those ancient and suddenly sad eyes to her. He had completely shut himself off, he had closed down any emotions and had once more assumed the mantle of the Oncoming Storm. He was steeling himself to do whatever needed doing in order to save the earth from total destruction. "You are our beacon, Donna. You can feel the time energy before it even registers on the instruments, but you are by NO means the canary. The canary was the sacrifice so others could live." His eyes darkened into endless pools of rage, the power she had sensed from him before rising so swiftly it nearly overwhelmed her. "If anything were to happen to you again, there is no force in this universe capable of stopping me. Nor would I want to be stopped, not this side of the abyss."
Donna heard those words, her heart stuttering for just a moment before she took his hand in hers and whispered. "Don't fall down into that dark place, Doctor. Not again and certainly not because of me." A ghost of a smile flitted across her lips. "Remember what I said before? If the choice is us or the earth, just remember. Never mind us."
Jack's head snapped around at the Doctor's words, his eyes widening at the look of absolute unbridled fury on the Doctor's normally calm face before it faded once more behind his formidable barriers. If there had been any doubt in his mind as to the nature of the relationship now between the two of them, it was completely shattered by the implacable promise in those words.
Donna's words though had an instantaneous calming effect on the Time Lord and Jack could almost feel the angry power drain from the man. Her words once more the compass by which he would be guided, doing what needed to doing even though it may cost him so very much.
Gwen shuddered next to Jack, worried suddenly just what manner of being they had unwittingly aligned themselves with. She felt the power in him, felt the barely restrained fury and purpose that drove him and knew that if anyone could save them all it was him. However, there was that very real sense of alien purpose of which none of them could ever understand that still had her on edge. She was trusting him only because Jack trusted him, and she would form her own opinions in the field where she was most comfortable.
"Jack, I've been monitoring your comms and have been also trying to tap into the CCTV feeds from inside the two warehouses. They have been down for several days but I think I may have found a back door. I will let you know when I have contact so that I can better monitor everyone's progress and maybe scout ahead."
Jack relaxed a little bit when he realized that they may have eyes in the sky, something that might alert them a bit more to what they were truly facing.
"Thanks, Ianto. Let me know when you can establish the connection. We are almost to the warehouses."
The eastern sky was just starting to lighten with the approach of dawn, the roads beginning to get more congested as the early morning commuters were beginning their day. He shook his head at the people going blithely on their way, not knowing what terror was preparing to descend on them.
"All right, so the weeping angels have the perfect defense mechanism. It's called quantum locking." The Doctor finally broke the pregnant silence, acting as if his previous outburst had never happened. "They literally cease to exist when anyone is viewing them. Fully fed angels will appear as a statue, much like the angel statues you humans love to adorn your churches with."
Gwen turned to look at him incredulously. "We're scared of a bunch of statues, Doctor?"
He held up a finger to her, shaking his head before she even finished. "They are only statues when you view them, the minute you look away, they move. And they are incredibly fast. Lightning fast actually. That is why bullets do not work against them, you can't harm stone. They are also incredibly strong, nothing can contain them for long not if they truly want out. Nothing can kill them, but they can be poisoned." He paused at that last, head cocking as he thought of something else. "Or trapped. Its how I was able to stop them from gaining the Tardis the last time I encountered them, by tricking them into looking into each other's eyes so that they were forever locked."
He fell silent for a moment, making sure that everyone in the SUV was listening to his every word. "The rules really are very simple. Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead."
Donna fell back against the seats of the SUV, her hands over her eyes at the Doctor's words as for the first time in all her travels with him, she felt absolute terror coursing through her veins. How could they fight creatures that used time as a weapon, killed for sport and ceased to exist when you viewed them?
She took several calming breaths, keenly aware of the Doctor watching her every movement most likely waiting for the chance to send her back to safety. She smiled at him with all the courage she could muster, as always if she was by his side she knew she could do anything.
"Also, do NOT look into their eyes. The gaze is the door to the soul and they can enter your thoughts and your mind through your gaze."
Gwen was breathing slow and evenly, trying to still the rising panic within her when Jack made the final turn onto the quay that led to the warehouses that had been the focus of activity. She had jumped into intense situations before without looking and had managed to think her way out. She had never before been given such a valuable insight into what she was facing, but now she almost felt as if she preferred the other way.
At least then in the midst of the crisis she didn't have time to be afraid. No, that always came later in the tears and nightmares that had become a constant in her life.
Gwen jumped when she felt Jack's hand cover hers, his grip tightening briefly before he pulled away. At least she wasn't alone this time and she had been given a truly rare glimpse into what they were all facing so she could try to make some plans for exit strategies.
She knew that Jack trusted this Doctor with his life, that this was the man for which Jack had abandoned his team. He had never told her what had happened during those months that he was away, but he had come back a changed man and had been more accessible to them all for the first time ever.
He had also not hidden his immortality like he had before, though he had still tried to shy away from too much talk about his past. It had taken a former Time Agent dropping in unexpectedly to get Jack to open up a bit, at least enough for her to find out that he was from the future, the extreme distant future and that he hadn't even been born on earth.
It shouldn't have surprised Gwen that he had some future knowledge about the threat that they were all facing, but still somehow it did because he truly did look just like any one of them. The only other person in the car who had her completely on edge was the Doctor, the right Doctor as Jack had once called him.
She still didn't understand how the Doctor had the power to grant immortality, or even why he would've granted it to Jack when all it seemed to do was bring about such pain. That action though colored her thoughts of the Doctor, made her wonder how any of them could ever hope to understand such an alien being and if they all seemed like insignificant insects to him with his extremely long life and knowledge that seemed to be bred into his very nature.
"Doctor, how old are these creatures? It sounds like you've run into them a few times but like they are themselves ancient."
The Doctor sighed at her question, his gaze turning thoughtful while he remembered all the legends and stories that he had heard of the angels even before he had stolen the Tardis to escape from Gallifrey. The Time Lords had been terrified of the creatures and so had ruthlessly destroyed any place that had even a hint of angel activity. The creatures though were adept at hiding, biding their time and waiting for when the time was right to emerge once more. Their ability to manipulate time fields helped them escape more than one planned slaughter, so they could wait for a more opportune time.
"They truly are evolutions most deadly, most malevolent creature and they are nearly as old as the universe as far as anyone can tell. Their numbers have waxed and waned over the years depending on where and when their main focus was, but they had the patience of the ages." He smiled a mirthless smile at that, their patience was truly one of their greatest weapons. "They have wiped out whole planets before when you get enough of them in a group, they have the ability to turn any statue on a planet into one of them or at least animate the statues and imbue them with their powers for a short period of time. If the people are unaware enough, they too can be turned into hosts for a short amount of time so the angels can spread to the next planet."
Gwen jerked and spun in her seat at those words, her terrified gaze flying to his face. "You mean they can possess people?"
The Doctor shrugged at that and nodded. "So has been told through the ages, though that ability has not manifested for at least ten thousand years that we were able to tell. They were already fading into legend by the time I was born, though there were always whispers that inexplicable plagues or deaths on various planets were because of statues come to life."
Donna's mind was running through everything he had told them, of all his encounters both he and his people had had with these creatures and that all of it seemed to paint a very grim picture of what they were facing here. "You said that you and Martha had encountered them here on earth before Doctor, have they been here many times before?"
He looked to her, for once the look on his face completely unreadable as he responded. "I honestly don't know, Donna. It is so hard sometimes to separate myth from fact, especially when I can't be there to actually experience the myth in its infancy. I will say though that they seemed to like humans when last we were here, it seemed like they felt the humans were a wonderful food source and were intrigued at this planet and its people in their infancy. Though they were more focused on getting into the Tardis and using it for its near unlimited temporal energy at the time. They would have become the scourge of the universe if that had happened and truly none would have been able to stop them then."
"Is the Tardis safe here Doctor? What happens if they try that again?"
The Doctor shook his head in response to her worried question, feeling a surge of warmth at how she once again was worried about something other than herself when they were all faced with such danger. "They would never be able to get into the Tardis even if they did get their hands on her, and besides I have since programmed a safety into her should she ever find herself in such a situation and I for some reason can't get back to her. I would rather she be ripped apart then be used for such an evil to destroy the universe."
Donna gasped at the finality she felt in his words, though it had nearly killed him to think about that eventuality she suddenly realized that it was the Tardis herself that had urged him to help her better protect herself in case she was every forcibly separated from him. She could barely even imagine how he felt about such an eventuality, especially now that they were preparing to face the very threat that he had planned for.
The three of them fell silent for a little while, swaying with the fitful motion of the SUV as it arrived at its destination. Jack was frowning when the SUV came to a stop by the line of police cars, worrying at his lower lip before he blurted. "Doctor, I just remembered one thing in particular that always bugged us at the time agency. It was a line in the book, it said 'That which holds the image of an angel, becomes itself an angel.'" Jack brought the SUV to a stop and turned to look back at the Doctor. "We could never make sense of that bit, can you?"
The Doctor was frowning, his lips repeating the phrase over and over again. "I don't know Jack. It could just be superstition, but would also explain why no one ever in thousands of years has managed to capture an image of the damn things."
He didn't like a puzzle, and this felt like a very large puzzle piece that suddenly changed the entire picture. He looked to Donna, Jack and Gwen and took a deep breath, forcing a false sense of cheeriness into his voice though he knew no one was fooled. "All right then everyone. Shall we go meet the Angels?"
The Doctor stepped out of the SUV and into controlled chaos. There were six Cardiff PD patrol cars blocking access to the end of the wharf, with what looked like a mini command center set up against the side of one of the buildings.
The whole scene was lit with the lurid blue glow of police lights and a hum of activity seemed to throb in the air as officers ran between patrol cars and radioed back and forth amongst each other. Jack and Gwen took the lead when they approached the police line as they would be recognized by the local law enforcement, while the Doctor and Donna brought up the rear.
The Doctor's eyes were roaming over the scene before him, already cataloguing numbers and discarding them as he knew that if this whole force were to go in with him then most of them would probably never make it out alive. He had to keep the numbers to a minimum so that they could move fast and react quickly to any change in situation, as usual the best laid plans would be discarded the instant they encountered the first angel.
He ducked under the line of police tape, pausing to hold it up for Donna while he turned to have a look behind him as well taking note of the various security cameras mounted on the perimeter of the building. It was helpful at least knowing that their actions were being monitored back at Torchwood and if they happened to miss anything, Ianto Jones might be another set of eyes to help them should they need it.
Jack's last words about the angels were still bothering him, running in an endless loop through his head while his brilliant mind tried to put sense to the ramblings of a madman who wouldn't be born for another twenty five hundred years.
Gwen led the way straight to a tall, blonde officer who had the harried look of a man who had just received bad news, his walkie was held to his mouth as he was barking orders out in rapid fire succession.
He shook his head at Gwen before returning his attention to the walkie while he waited for a response. There was nothing but silence.
With a frustrated growl, he clipped the walkie back to his belt before turning to the Torchwood team. "All right Torchwood, just what are we dealing with here? I ordered my men to pull back and so far two are unaccounted for."
The Doctor stepped forward at that, voice the absolute voice of command that brooked no argument. "Where were those two men? I thought you said that none had entered the structures."
The officer's eyebrows arched at the man's tone, his shaggy hair and long trench coat making him look almost like Jack Harkness' lost brother. He shook his head, wondering if this was the expert that Torchwood had called in. "I'm sorry but are you the Doctor?"
The Doctor nodded with barely concealed impatience. "Yes, I am. You would be PC Davidson?"
"Andy, Sir. And you are the… expert?"
"Yes, I am. Now please answer my question, did your men enter the warehouse and if so where?"
Andy shook his head at that. "No, Doctor, they were only scouting along the perimeter to make note of exits before returning to us. They were not to enter the buildings in case the suspect or suspects were still inside. However, if they heard something they might have tried to investigate."
The Doctor growled at that, shaking his head at the brash nature of humans that always landed them in situations that were way over their heads. "What IS it with you humans? Always leaping without looking."
Andy blinked at the Doctor's comments, mouth opening and closing for a moment in shock before he managed to splutter. "Us humans, Doctor? Are you…? Are you an ALIEN?"
The Doctor just rolled his eyes at that, not even bothering to look at Donna when he heard her soft snort of amusement because once again his mouth had run away with him. "Yes, I am. Jack, please catch him up later I don't have time for it right now. Needless to say, I have encountered these creatures before and know what I'm talking about."
Gwen leaned close to Andy. "He's helped earth many times in the past, Andy. We can trust him."
Andy was still dumbfounded to be standing so close to an alien, his mind was spinning and he was having a hard time focusing. "I knew that you always said that there were aliens in Cardiff, Gwen, and we did see those creatures a while back… but I just. I don't know, I thought they were all some sort of hallucination or maybe community insanity."
The Doctor laughed softly, relaxing for just a moment as he had forgotten sometimes how people in this century reacted to meeting an alien. It wasn't commonplace yet for them, and many of them still believed that the strange things that had been happening to earth in the last few years were still a strange series of government hoaxes or bad attempts at mind control. He decided to take pity on the poor chap. "Andy, I have been protecting your planet for nearly a thousand years now. I have saved her and her peoples more times than I can rightly count, and for some reason I always come back for more. Trust me, I'm a friend and right now I'm all that stands between your people and total destruction."
Donna just shook her head when she saw the look on Andy's face change from disbelief to downright awe, obviously completely overwhelmed by the Doctor's words. Good going, Spaceman. If that was meant to calm him down, it was not one of your better speeches.
The Doctor glanced at her, his face the picture of confused innocence. What did I say this time? I merely told him the truth.
She chuckled softly at that. Yeah, that's the problem Doctor. Humans are not usually used to meeting beings that are a thousand years old.
He flushed at that reminder, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck in that gesture she always found so endearing. He had gotten so comfortable being around people who knew just who and what he was that he had let his guard down and spoken as he would have to one of them, now he had an officer to deal with that was clearly reeling with shock just when he needed him the most focused. Oh, oops. He blew out a frustrated breath at that. Blimey, I like to complicate things.
You have no idea. She responded to him with a soft laugh.
Andy was slowly recovering from the shock he had just received, shaking his head a few times as if that would make things begin to make sense once more. He had started the day so simply, showing up for his usual rounds with nothing more exciting than a couple of drunks sobering up from the night before. He found that he was actually wishing again for the boredom that he had felt before Gwen Cooper had joined Torchwood. It had been so much easier when he knew who and what he was fighting. Now it was all jumbled up and he sometimes didn't know which way was up.
The strange events of a few months ago had left everyone on edge as the city was still in the process of rebuilding from the staggering attacks that had come with no warning or provocation. People were scrambling for answers that made sense in a world gone completely mad, and some were wondering if the strange events that had been happening all over the world in the last few years were not in fact all related. It was indeed a strange time for humanity, so much change coming at them so fast that was it any wonder the vast majority of the population chose to hide in ignorance and fear than face the fact that they truly were not alone in the universe.
Andy watched the Torchwood team talking to this strange Doctor, discussing just what they might find in the cordoned off buildings and what to expect when they did encounter whatever it was that they were looking for. He saw the redhead shaking her head from time to time, leaning close to the Doctor to discuss things she was seeing while they all seemed to hang on her every word with rapt attention. Who was she then? Was she an alien as well? What was it that she was seeing that had everyone so on edge and why were they all deferring to her when she spoke, rare though it was?
Andy didn't like not having all the facts before entering a dangerous situation, especially when the lives of his people were on the line, but that was an unfortunate reality when one was a police officer. Situations were fluid and dynamic and everything that one thought they knew was challenged on a daily basis.
At least here they had a so called expert who at least seemed to know something of what was facing them, at least enough of an expert to hopefully help Andy save as many of his men as possible. Because though he hated to admit it, he had the feeling that they were all hopelessly outmatched here and had been damn lucky that Torchwood had been monitoring the CCTV when they had been about to swoop in with guns drawn.
He never would tell Gwen that though, she would never let him live it down.
"All right, Andy. There is no way I am allowing you to bring all your men into those warehouses, the situation is just too dangerous and volatile. I need you to maintain the perimeter here and make sure no one else gets into or out of those buildings."
Andy instantly bristled at the Doctor's words, rising to his full height which nearly put him eye to eye with the alien. "I'm coming with you, Doctor. Someone's got to watch your backs."
The Doctor was already shaking his head, not wanting to have any more blood on his hands though he could already tell that there would be no dissuading the young officer in front of him. "All right, but if you do, you do this my way and you obey everything I say to the absolute letter. You don't and I will run you back up here so fast you won't know what hit you. Am I clear?"
Andy could only nod at those words as he felt the absolute certainty that the Doctor would have no compunction of making sure none of them could join him if he did not agree. "Crystal clear, Doctor. Now tell me, what are we dealing with here?"
Over the course of the next few minutes Andy felt his safe comfortable world completely shatter around him as he listened to the description of the potential creatures that were within these buildings.
They were dealing with living statues? Things that couldn't be harmed by bullets but were able to be nearly on top of you in the blink of an eye, ready to strike the killing blow before you even realized it? He drew several deep even breaths, trying to still the sudden surge of adrenaline that had begun pounding through him as the Doctor continued.
Andy looked once more from the Doctor to the redhead behind him, then to Jack and Gwen who all stood with resolute purpose ready to go into an incredibly dangerous situation and possibly not come out and he knew that he had to join them and make sure that he did his part to protect the city and people that he called home. It was why he had become a police officer in the first place, though he had never expected that he would be called to protect it from a threat such as this. "All right then, Doctor. I will bring one more man with me just to round out our group, I understand that we hold our fire until ordered otherwise and we maintain open comms at all times."
He nodded to one of his men who tossed a walkie to the Doctor and the redhead. She smiled softly at him and reached out her hand in greeting. "I'm Donna. Donna Noble. I travel with the Doctor."
He took her hand in a firm grasp while his mind was still grappling with the fact that he was dealing with an alien and preparing to go into an old warehouse to potentially confront other even more deadly aliens, he could only reply. "I'm Andy Davidson Ma'am. Pleased to meet you."
Donna smiled at his response, recognizing all too well the signs of shock in the officer but that he was enough of a professional that he was putting that all to the side and mentally preparing himself for the task ahead.
"Doctor!"
The Doctor looked up at Jack's call, hurrying over to his side when he noticed the man frantically motioning to him. "Ianto has established his link with the CCTV in the warehouses and has the feed on his monitors. He said that the second and third warehouses have a sublevel that seems to have more dust over it then it should. It may be a hotspot of activity. The lights are dim though so he is trying to hotwire the electrical systems as well to get us some more light too."
"Good man, Ianto! Let us know if you see anything!"
"Also, he brought the Tardis down into the hub through the hatch in the ceiling, he thought that it might be safer to have it away from public eyes."
The Doctor laughed softly but still nodded. "The perception filter would've kept her just fine, but it makes me feel better knowing that she's safe in the hub. Thanks for thinking of that, Ianto."
"Doctor, the activity is definitely increasing and getting more powerful. There are more lines of force than there were even a short while ago and they are all converging on these warehouses." Donna shuddered, squinting her eyes to follow the lines which seemed to melt into the warehouse, the feeling of raw energy behind those walls was enough to send her senses reeling. "Whatever it is, Doctor, it's getting bigger but it feels like it's still slightly out of control." She gasped softly when something seemed to click into place at those words. "It's almost like they want it to be out of control, Doctor. But won't that…?"
"Rip the planet apart?" The Doctor finished grimly. "Yeah it will, which doesn't make sense with how angels have acted in the past. They need food and they need a farm for that food, why would they want to rip this planet apart unless they were to use to energy for something else?"
"Doctor?" Ianto's voice echoed from the walkie in his pocket, the young man having already patched into Cardiff PD communications so that he could keep in touch with everyone in their group.
The Doctor palmed the talk button while raising the walkie to his mouth. "Go ahead, Ianto."
"The rift is surging now, Sir. The activity is not subsiding completely before the next spike hits."
There were shouts of alarm as the police officers scrambled behind parked cars with weapons drawn, the cocking of guns was nearly deafening as the Doctor spun around to find out what had just happened to cause such a stir.
Donna's shuddering gasp in his mind was all the confirmation he needed before he even turned to look towards the water. Coming down the wharf in perfect formation was a platoon of soldiers in what looked like World War 1 uniforms, rifles cocked over their shoulders while their legs moved in perfect lockstep.
They were marching from straight over the water onto the wharf, the ghostly voice of their commander echoing through the still morning air.
The Doctor fumbled his glasses out of his pocket, gaze moving from each perfectly formed specter to the next before shaking his head sadly. "I was wondering when they were going to show up."
Jack spun about to look at the Doctor, unable to hide the confusion from his voice. "Were you expecting them, Doctor?"
"With all the spikes in rift activity, I'm surprised we didn't see them sooner." The Doctor responded before he walked over to Andy and gently placed his finger on the barrel of Andy's weapon, looking resolutely into the constable's eyes while he pushed the gun towards the ground. "You can't harm these figures, Andy. They've already done their bid for king and country and now are just poor souls caught up in the temporal fields. Let them march in peace."
Andy's hands were shaking nearly uncontrollably at the sight of the ghosts, though he had heard about the strange activity around the wharves he wasn't sure that he had completely believed the tales. More likely fanciful tales by people who had had too much drink or maybe done a touch too many drugs, but to be faced with the reality he found he was trembling in fear like a child. His eyes clung to the Doctor who stood calmly in the face of madness, his sad eyes only asking that Andy let the dead have their peace. What manner of being was this Doctor, who was so filled with sorrow and compassion when faced with the thought that even the dead were never truly safe? The anguish in the Doctor's gaze as his eyes remained locked with Andy's was almost more than he could bear, he felt that he was watching planets burn and stars fade into nothingness in the depths of that ancient and haunted gaze. He nodded numbly, clearing his throat of the sudden lump of tears that threatened to choke him.
"Weapons down! Let them pass!" Andy called out to his people, watching as each of them were reacting differently to seeing the dead walking amongst them once more.
The Doctor watched the procession with a sorrow filled gaze, they all looked so young and so full of idealism. None of them looked old enough to shave regularly yet they were forever caught in the act of preparing to march off to a war that would end all wars.
He was reminded with a jolt of the Time War, how he had fought and how he had killed in the name of his people's very survival. How he hated the endless killing for some nameless ideal that would soon crumble to dust despite their best efforts, empires would always rise and fall throughout history and all the killing in all the universe would never change that fact.
He jumped when he felt Donna's hand grab his, her gaze riveted to the figures who were nearing the line of police cars. They were not breaking stride, continuing blithely on as though they didn't even see the men and vehicles in front of them. Tears were streaming down her cheeks while she gazed at the ghosts of the young men, her lips moving around soundless words before she finally seemed to find her voice. "Doctor, they're completely wreathed in temporal energy, it's spinning like a maelstrom around them and it looks like it's hurting them." Her voice broke on the last, causing everyone who was nearby to look at her in shock.
The Doctor gaped at her words, taking her hand in his while his gaze forced hers to up to meet his. "Show me, Donna."
She swallowed convulsively before nodding, uncertain how she knew the specters were in pain but somehow that knowledge had just surged through her like so many of her strange understandings that would flash out of nothing. Some sense that had been awakened during the metacrisis once more asserting its power within her.
His fingers gently brushed against her face, eyes sliding closed as he let his mind completely sink into hers again to better connect with what she was seeing. His head flew back at the explosion of information in his mind, temporarily overwhelmed with everything that was going on around them on the wharf and how her visual perception of it all allowed her to truly see what was happening.
His own sense of time was so well developed that it was second nature to him, and sometimes he found he took for granted all the information that would flood into his mind whenever he was thrust into a situation like the one they were now facing. His mind would catalogue everything and discard what was superfluous, before he would then be able to focus on the pertinent details and sort through them with lightning speed born of a lifetime of experience.
Everything was still so new to Donna, she was seeing every little shift in the massive temporal field that was all around them and her mind was constantly teetering on the edge of overload. Sensations were flickering across already raw nerve endings, some in reaction to the sensations that bled from him through their bond and others uniquely her own. He sighed softly when he realized her skin had been crawling in mimicry of his own unique perception of time and that he was going to have to try to block more of that from her so as not to completely overwhelm her in the future. She was so entrenched in his thoughts that she unwittingly took on his own feelings and perceptions without even realizing that she was doing so, the information just filtering into her own mind and getting lost in the jumble of information that was screaming through her already overloaded senses.
He found he was so unused to the intensity of a bond such as the one that they shared, it had been far too many centuries since he had had to be conscious of how much he lost himself in another being. He suddenly recalled how it could be overwhelming even for a fully-fledged Time Lord with a lifetime of experience, was it any wonder that Donna was floundering when she had only had a few short hours to prepare herself for something that would have frightened almost any being witless?
He couldn't stop the gentle stroking against her mind, the soothing balm of his essence helping her still the chaos in a caress that helped yank her out of the maelstrom of sensation.
Her wide open eyes were locked on his face, her floundering mind clinging to his while slowly she dragged herself back above water. She knew that she had been a lifeline to him more times than either of them could count, and now it was his turn to gently guide her mind into safe territory where she could begin to deal with the information overload in her own unique way.
They were oblivious to everyone around them, not even aware of the gazes of Jack, Gwen and Andy who were staring at the both of them with trepidation though Jack couldn't hide the soft smile at the tenderness he saw in the Doctor's touch. It made Jack happy to see the Doctor finally truly connected with another being, one who obviously was a match for him in more ways than either of them had thought possible. It was about damn time actually.
Nothing had prepared Andy for the very real reminder of the fact that they were indeed dealing with an alien being, the connection that the Doctor and Donna seemed to share once more making him wonder just who and what this Donna Noble was as well. She was obviously more than human if her strange sight was any indication, but other than that she sounded just as human as the rest of him. How did you go about asking someone if they were an alien? Was it something you even did? Andy just shook his head with a grunt, trying to calm his racing thoughts in order to better focus on the pair before him.
The Doctor focused on the ghosts that were now marching right through the line of police cars and officers their forms just melting through the obstacles while never breaking their stride. He saw the swirling winds of temporal force coalescing around each being and strained to focus more closely on them through eyes that were not his own. The black lines seemed to be licking at the edges of each specter, biting off little bits of their essence before swirling back into the maelstrom. With each flicker of contact against the ghosts, their essence seemed to quiver in response before strengthening once again. The lines were attacking on a thousand fronts, biting and devouring the essence of the ghosts in little pinpricks of raw energy.
He grimly pulled out of her mind, his fingers smoothing the tears from her cheeks before whispering softly to her. "That was brilliant, thank you, Donna. You provided just the missing piece I needed."
Donna blinked up at him, the chaos in her mind had been quieted when she had felt the order in his thoughts and had used that as a guide to help silence some of the maddening stream of information. "It's awful, Doctor. It looks like they're being ripped to shreds without even realizing it."
The Doctor could only nod in response. "In a way they are, Donna."
Donna winced at his quiet response, her heart aching when she thought that even the dead were not safe from these monsters. She knew that this would be another long and painful road that she would have to travel in order to better learn how to control this ability, but that at least for the time being she would hopefully be able to keep her head above the flood to be the support that the Doctor needed.
Once more, her amazing mind was quickly adapting to changes on the fly and she was cataloguing and sorting through the deluge of information with even more efficiency now that she had felt the structure of the Doctor's thoughts in regards to his own perception of time. It had been the key that she needed to unlock her own true potential.
Jack stepped up to the Doctor, shaken by the look of utter fury that now filled the Doctor's gaze. "What is it, Doctor? What did you see?" Andy and Gwen stepped up to them as well, both a little intimidated and awestruck by the raw sense of power that was pouring off the Doctor.
"I was wondering why the angels were letting the ghosts manifest when it was an unnecessary waste of temporal energy and not at all like their usual tactics." He pulled his sonic out of his coat pocket, adjusting a few settings and pointing them at the line of soldiers while they marched blindly by. The tip flaring to life with its characteristic whine, while he carefully swept the device back and forth over the specters, pausing every now and then to frown at the readings before continuing with his scan.
"It just didn't make sense that they would be so sloppy to let things like that bleed through and also possibly alert others to their presence. Now though, I understand why. It looks like the angels are actually using the energy of the ghosts as a sort of food bank, allowing them to manifest when they need to feed." He finished grimly, the readings on the sonic telling him that these beings were actually more physically present in this world then he had first thought they were. Wherever they had been yanked from, they had just landed straight in the bowels of hell.
He shook his head, his gaze watching the last of the soldiers clear the police cars when just as suddenly as they had appeared, they vanished. The Doctor hoped that they had gone back to whatever fitful resting place they had been plucked from, and had not vanished because they had been completely devoured. The thought turned his stomach and stoked the fires of his rage once more. Time was fracturing in ever greater intensity around them, the walls of this reality failing beneath the onslaught and he knew that he was finally out of time.
Jack and Gwen both gasped at those words, their gazes unwittingly drawn to the spot where the soldiers had vanished. "Were they just destroyed, Doctor? You're saying that even the dead are not safe?"
The Doctor could only nod in response, his eyes scanning the wharf for any further activity before he turned to cast one final glance over the assembled police officers.
They slowly came back to themselves, shaking themselves and looking to each other before they all started talking at once. Once again, humanity rising up in all its amazing resilience to try to understand all that the universe was throwing at them. The Doctor couldn't help the rush of pride he felt when he saw them talking more in commiseration about the rest of the dead being disturbed then the fear they all had felt at seeing them walking amongst the living. Humanity's amazing capacity for compassion once more reminding him just why he fought his never ending war on their behalf.
The burden suddenly seemed to shift just a little bit at that thought, the gentle brush in his mind as Donna reached out to him and reminded him that she was there to help him face the struggles ahead. She was there as she always had been to help him shoulder some of the terrible burden that sometimes threatened to crush him. He turned towards her, his lips curved in a faint smile while his fingers fluttered briefly across her cheek, before he turned to look back across the bay towards the hub.
The fact that the energy out of the rift was now surging in spikes that were not subsiding meant that the angels knew someone was here who could potentially stop them. Whatever they were doing, they obviously were worried that they were out of time but how did they get here in the first place? And why take two weeks to do whatever it was they were doing? The rift and Torchwood were all obviously tied into whatever it was, but for the life of him he couldn't figure it out and it was starting to worry him.
A bright ray of sunlight broke over the wharf as the first edge of the sun peeked over the horizon, illuminating everyone in a fiery golden glow before softening towards the duller colors of early morning. He took a deep breath, feeling that the moment he had been waiting for was finally upon them. Daylight really was the best time to deal with these creatures, it gave them fewer places to hide and made it impossible for them to steal power from electrical lights so that they could move faster unseen.
"Remember, don't blink. Don't take your eyes off of them if you do see one and call immediately to let everyone else know and come to you. Try not to get separated, these creatures thrive on fear and on the hunt and will quickly corral you to where they can kill you at their whim." The Doctor paused, letting his words sink in to each and every person before him. He knew the mettle of Jack and Donna intimately, Gwen was still an unknown though if she was anything like her ancestor then she would be absolutely brilliant in the line of fire. It was the two Cardiff Police officers that he was uncertain of and who he was primarily speaking to.
The second officer had joined Andy, his demeanor spoke of long years on the streets and a grim acceptance of humanity at its darkest and most debauched. It looked like Andy had chosen his second well.
The Doctor stuck his hand out to the officer, he always wanted to know who was traveling with him and he felt that the affability would help to build trust more quickly in a situation when trust might be the only thing that saved their lives. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. What's your name?"
The older officer stuck his hand out, the grip firm and calloused from years of gripping a service weapon. "PC Daniel Morgan, Sir. It's an honor to meet you."
The Doctor winced out of habit at the honorific, shaking his head firmly in denial. "No Sirs please, I can't stand the title. Just the Doctor. Or plain old Doctor."
Jack couldn't help the laugh at the Doctor's frustrated comment, feeling a little bit of the tension that had been coiling within him dissipate with that simple motion. He could've told the Doctor that his protestations were useless with this lot, but figured it would be a waste of breath. The Doctor would always do as he did and it was up to the rest of them to run to catch up.
Daniel to his credit nodded at the Doctor's request, stating simply. "I will do my best, Sir. Er, Doctor."
The Doctor clapped him on the back with a hearty chuckle. "That's a good man, Daniel!"
Now that everyone was ready, he was oddly hesitant to head into the warehouses though he knew he was fast running out of time if the frantic whispering of Donna's thoughts in his mind were any indication. His skin was continuously crawling with the feel of the temporal energy seething around the wharves, the surges pulsing against him in sickening time to some purpose that he had yet to discover. He was walking into a dangerous situation with only a screwdriver and would have to do something incredibly clever to most likely save the entire earth and he hadn't yet worked out quite what that clever something was though he had a bit of an idea. Harebrained scheme though it might be.
He had left the Tardis working furiously on the calculations to repair the damage to the rift, happy that at least she had plenty of readings from when they had had to rapidly repair it before when the Slitheen had tried to rip it open in its desperate bid to escape the planet. He just needed to figure out what the angels wanted with it and deal with it first before he would be able to repair the damage that was fast becoming uncontrollable.
Each and every person in his little group had their attention solely focused on him, the weight of their gaze once more making him feel all the pressure of responsibility that had been his constant companion for so many centuries. He looked into each and every one their faces in return, taking their measure and nodding softly in a promise that he would do everything he could to bring them all back out alive.
"All right then, Allonsy!"
With that final word, the sextet left the safety of the police barricade and walked three abreast towards the doors of the warehouse and into the depths of the terrifying unknown.