Well, the Tenth Doctor discovered in the previous chapter that an image of an Angel can become an Angel, and proposed they all take the bus to the cemetery to check things out... what could possibly go wrong?

Disclaimer: I have never been to Oystermouth, to Swansea, or anywhere in Wales! I have studied satellite images of the cemetery and the area surrounding, and done some Google Streetview "walks" around the neighborhood, etc. But I'm still gonna get stuff wrong. Just sayin' :-)

I've also studied the bus schedule! I live an exciting life.

Anyway, I hope you find this chapter tense and exciting, and worthy of the Weeping Angels! Enjoy!

CHAPTER 4

By the time they stepped off the bus on Bramley Drive, it was dusk. It had been a forty-minute (give or take) bus ride from the Potter's Wheel Pub in Swansea proper, outside of which the TARDIS was currently parked, locked, and attracting no attention. The Doctor had not wanted to risk bringing the vessel into the vicinity of the Angels, and his Companions had thought this wise.

The three time-travellers had just a minute's walk, at that point, to the old entrance to Oystermouth Cemetery – the entrance the Torchwood team had used earlier today. It allowed them to see downhill, and gave them a good vantage point from which to observe the creepy stonework, which camouflaged some of the most dangerous creatures in the universe.

As they came through a patch of trees, they could see a uniformed officer. He was young and slight, standing in front of the entrance talking on his mobile phone. His demeanour and boisterous laughter did not lead one to believe that he was conducting any sort of police business. He was fidgeting a bit as he conversed, and switching his weight from one hip to the other. Sometimes he had his back to the cemetery, other times to the side.

"Glad to see they took our warnings seriously," Jack muttered.

"Way I see it, he'd lucky to be alive," the Doctor responded.

"At least they've got police tape," Martha commented, about the white and blue strip stretched over the iron archway.

"Hang on, Mal, I've got to deal with these people," the officer said in the local accent, and he covered up the mouthpiece of his phone and stashed it behind his back. "What can I help you folks with? As you can see, the cemetery is closed until further notice."

"Haven't you got orders to keep your eyes on the cemetery?" Jack asked him, before the Doctor could take charge. "As in, actually look at it? Pay attention?"

"Oi, John Wayne, keep your shirt on!" the man said, laughing. He looked at the Doctor and asked, "Who is this Yank?"

"I'm Torchwood," Jack said, shifting his body to get back in front of the irreverent officer, about three inches shorter than he. "And I believe you've received a directive to keep your attention focused on your job, as relayed by Sergeant Andy Davidson."

"Sergeant Who?"

"Where are your colleagues?"

"Back at the precinct. I'm the only one here," the officer said. Then he lowered his voice. "Now, can we make this quick? I'm trying to have it off with this girl Mallory and…"

"Oh, for God's sake," Jack growled, and reached around the man, taking the phone out of his hand. Into the receiver, he said, "He'll call you back, if he survives the night, okay?" and shut it. He handed the device to the Doctor, who put it in his breast pocket.

"That's my personal property! What d'you think you're doing?" the officer whined, incredulously.

The Doctor advanced on the man just a bit. "I think we're trying to stop people disappearing from this cemetery, and I think you're meant to be helping us, but I think you're not following orders you've been given! And you can bristle all you like, but if you don't do what we tell you, you could be the next person to vanish from these premises, is that what you want?" He took a deep breath, and resumed, only more loudly, with total exasperation. "And I took your phone because while you're doing what we tell you, I want your mind on the task at-hand, and not in your trousers!"

"Wow, it's weird to hear you say that to someone who isn't me," Jack said, sounding genuinely surprised.

"Now why aren't there more of you?" the Doctor asked the officer.

"Why aren't there more officers standing about, looking at statues? Gee, mate, can't imagine. Bloody Torchwood. Nutters. I don't know why anyone listens to you lot." The officer sounded quite thick, and as though he hadn't heard a word anyone had said.

"This isn't a joke, and as it happens, I'm not Torchwood," the Doctor insisted. "What's your name?"

"Who's askin'?"

The Doctor groaned with the tedium and pulled the psychic paper and showed it to him. He had no idea what it would say. "Good enough?"

The man's eyes went wide. "I'm so sorry, Agent Smith," he said. "If I'd known you was MI6, I wouldn't have been so cheeky."

"Yeah, well, I'll keep it between us, if you will," the Doctor said.

"So, the threat here is foreign? Like, a national security issue?"

"Very possibly."

"What's Torchwood doing here, then?"

"Could be the Taliban, could be the IRA, could be aliens," the Doctor said. "We just don't know."

"What about you, miss?" the officer asked Martha.

"I'm his partner," she said, pointing at the Doctor. "So answer his question. What's your name?"

"Oh, er, Diggs. PC Eric Diggs."

"Nice to meet you, PC Diggs. Are we clear now, on the whole following orders thing?" asked the Doctor.

"Yes, sir," said PC Diggs.

"I'm going to need someone to lean on your department for more manpower out here," the Doctor said. "Captain?"

"On it," said Jack, texting Gwen.

"And you already know not to let anyone, save us, enter the grounds," the Doctor said to Diggs. "But I also need you to keep people from taking photos or video of the cemetery. And probably also from sketching or painting the cemetery as well. Make sure your colleagues know that."

"All right," said Diggs. "May I ask why?"

"It'll all become clear soon," the Doctor said. "But you're on-board now? No more chit-chatting with your girlfriend on the phone, and mouthing off to people you're supposed to be cooperating with?"

"No, sir," Diggs responded, with a hard swallow.

Martha always found it amusing when humans were cowed by the Doctor. She stifled a chuckle.

"Right, then," said the Doctor. "Time to do what we came here to do."

They turned their attention to the cemetery, and PC Diggs let out a big, surprised yelp, in the form of "Whoa! Shit!"

An Angel had come up the hill toward them while they were arguing. It clearly had not been there before. It was still in its "weeping" stance, though obviously that meant nothing in the grand scheme of danger.

"Get it now?" the Doctor asked him.

"No, not at all," Diggs responded breathlessly. Then he seemed to say to the Angel, "You startled me. Where'd you come from?"

"This is what we were talking about when we said keep your eyes on the stonework, PC," the Doctor told him. "If you take your eyes off that thing, it can kill you."

"What? Are you mad?"

"Yes, a bit. Sometimes. But not about this. I'm dead serious about this." Then, keeping his eyes trained on the Angel, the Doctor asked, "Jack you've got your phone, yeah? On universal roaming?"

"Yep," answered the Captain. "You guys can go."

"All right, then," the Doctor said. "Here we go. Back away slowly."

He and Martha both began to back away from the Angel and Jack. Diggs didn't move.

"Oh for God's sake," Martha muttered before stepping forward and grabbing Diggs by the back of his vest, and pulling.

He stumbled a bit, then looked back at her asked. "Can someone please explain to me what the hell we're doing?"

"I did," the Doctor said. "If no one's looking at it, it could touch you and kill you. In the present anyway, and you'll have to live out your life in the past."

He turned and looked at them with his hands on his hips. "Okay, look, mate, if you really are MI6, then I'll follow orders, but if you're gonna keep…"

"Shut up," Martha interrupted. "Either you do what he tells you, or you die. It's not hard."

Diggs sighed. "Fine, whatever."

The three of them backed into the arboreal patch far enough that they were close to losing sight of the Angel

"We're about to lose sight of it, Jack, are you ready?" the Doctor called out.

"I'm ready," answered the Captain.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack Harkness could see the Doctor, Martha, and their new (slightly daft) friend PC Diggs, disappear behind a thicker row of trees. They were still only about ten metres away, but alone with a Weeping Angel, knowing what he knew, his allies might as well be on a different planet. He kept his hand in his pocket, wrapped round his mobile phone, his unblinking eyes on the statue just a few metres inside the gates of the cemetery.

He ducked under the police tape through the archway, walked steadily up to the Angel and examined it. It was about as tall as he, and when he reached out to touch it, was definitely cold, and felt like stone and nothing else.

"Well, you're amazing, I have to admit that much," he said to it. "Now what are you gonna do with the likes of me?"

He got behind the angel, and backed away downhill a bit. He thought perhaps as long as he was going to do this, he might as well try and lure it away from the edge of the property, maybe save some folks lurking about the borders… or at least buy them time.

He put fifty metres between himself and the angel, said, "Here goes nothing," and closed his eyes.

Nothing seemed to happen after about four seconds, so he opened them.

The Angel had got noticeably closer.

"Hm. Legend has it, you're supposed to be lightning quick. How about now?"

He did the same thing again. After another four-or-so seconds, the same result. The Angel was closer, but it had not zapped him.

He did it a few more times, and the statue kept approaching, but Jack remained firmly planted in the twenty-first century, as the sun set to his left.

Now, the Angel was only about six feet away, and Jack was determined not to back off from it. His heart was beating fast (though he wasn't sure why), and his hand gripped his phone hard.

One more time, he shut his eyes.

This time, when he opened them, the Angel had one hand down in front of its chest, the other was reaching out to him.

He tried shutting his eyes again. This time, no change. And again. No change. The Angel was stuck. It was six feet away, reaching out to him, and seemingly trapped in that stance.

Jack looked about to see if there was someone nearby that might be looking at it, and even called out, but really didn't feel that anyone was there.

He laughed a bit, and backed his way up the hill to the gate once more, keeping his eyes trained on the Angel as much as possible until he reached the trees. Notably, the Angel turned again while he blinked, but didn't get any closer.

Martha, the Doctor, and PC Diggs waited with bated breath in the trees. Jack became visible beyond the trees, and already he was talking, "Hey you guys, I'm still here. It got closer and closer and closer and eventually reached out to me, but didn't touch me."

"Did you try closing your eyes after it reached out?" the Doctor asked, as Jack continued to walk toward them.

"Yeah, like seven times," Jack said. "It got stuck! I don't think they can get me!"

"That is extremely valuable information," the Doctor said, robotically.

It was then that Jack reached them and realised the three of them were staring at something.

He turned, and saw another Angel approaching from the right.

"There's another one?" he asked, getting between his friends and the Angel. He stared at it, and put out his arms sideways, instinctively to protect them.

"This is fucking mental," Diggs said, though he did not sound nearly frightened enough.

"No one's arguing with you," Martha said.

"Oh, here comes my friend," Jack said, seeing the Angel coming at them from the direction of the gate, from where he'd just come.

The Doctor chanced a glance round. "Martha, Jack, Eric, I found another," he said, his voice hard, serious, and terrified. He now pressed his back against Martha's and reached back to touch her leg. "You okay?"

"No," she said. "You?"

"Not really. Have you got your phone?"

"I do," she answered.

They locked hands, thinking at the same time that they got zapped together last time when they held hands, maybe if it happened again they wouldn't have to be separated and risk one of them being lost in time.

"Guys, there's a fourth one," Jack said. "Jesus, it's coming from the north. How is that even possible?"

Now each of them had their eyes on one Angel, and they all had their backs to one another.

"Eric, if I can work out how to rig your mobile phone to call us from anywhere in time without getting touched, I will. But for now, use the radio on your epaulet to call for backup. Right now," the Doctor said.

"All right, enough of this," Eric Diggs said, with a voice that said he was dropping his guard. "What are these things?"

He began to approach one of the Angels. "Don't do that, Eric, for God's sake!" Martha begged. "Step away! Keep your eyes on it, and step away."

"What's he doing?" the Doctor asked, unable to take his eyes away from the statue in front of him.

"He's walking up to it," Martha said.

"Eric! Stop it!" the Doctor yelled. "You said you'd follow orders - do it! Your life depends upon it!"

"What are you? A guy in a suit, or what?" He now reached out to touch the stone.

And then the other three heard a sound that was part bang, and part whoosh.

"Eric?" Jack called out. "You okay?"

"He's not okay, Jack," the Doctor said darkly.

"He must've blinked," Martha said, voice breaking.

"Great," Jack said bitterly. "Three against four."

"How do we get out of this?" she asked. "Peripheral vision will only do so much."

"You two can use me as a shield," Jack said.

"No, we can't," the Doctor insisted. "We do this together."

"Yes, together," Jack agreed. "Which means using our strengths. They can't touch me."

"Jack…"

"Now listen," Jack interrupted, not giving the Doctor a chance to protest again. "When we were driving out of here the other day, I saw a park. A playground. My plan is to get us there. It's a centralised-ish location, surrounded by human dwellings. I know it's dark now, but I'm thinking the Angels won't risk coming there."

"You're probably right," the Doctor said.

"Okay, we need to get back out onto Bramley Drive. That's the way Eric was facing. I'm going to back away from my Angel and come between you…"

And he did that. Martha and the Doctor reluctantly unjoined their hands for a moment while Jack walked between them. In doing so, he could keep his eyes on three Angels, if he was vigilant and used his peripheral vision. He got out of the circle of Angels and kept going for a few metres, then stopped.

"I can see all four of them," Jack said. "Now I won't blink. You two run as fast as you can and get behind me. On three."

The Doctor counted, "One, two…"

Martha said, "Three," at the same time as they dashed past two Weeping Angels and joined their friend.

"Now, as soon as they're out of sight, turn and run like hell," Jack said. "When to get to the end of Bramley Drive, take a right."

The three of them backed away slowly, slowly…

"Okay, now!"

Jack shouted, and they followed his instructions.

Truth be told, when they got out into the neighbourhood, they were probably safe, but they wanted to get far away before they stopped.

After another minute they reached the end of a street called The Orchard, and Jack shouted to turn right again.

And now, on Highmead Avenue, they saw neigbours milling about in the street, and they stopped running. A few folks looked at them with suspicion, so they tried to act natural, and walked.

People were coming out of their houses, meeting up, and when they reached the playground park Jack had mentioned, they could see that locals had set up tables, and strung Christmas lights over the play equipment, and were having a block party of sorts.

"Thank God," Martha breathed.

A woman came up behind them. "Hello," she said. "I've never seen you three around here before. Are you new to the neighbourhood?"

"Oh, erm…" the Doctor began.

"No, sorry," Martha took over. "We were just visiting the cemetery and got a bit turned-around. We got here on the bus from Swansea proper, and lost the way to where to catch it back."

"Oh, let me help you get to your stop," said the woman.

The three of them chose seats in the very back of the bus, so they could not be heard by the smattering of other passengers.

"Okay, we still have to deal with the lack of police presence at the cemetery, and I suppose someone should call in PC Diggs' disappearance," the Doctor sighed.

"I'll get Gwen on it," Jack said, examining his mobile phone. "Soon as I have a signal."

"Speaking of which, you two, from now on, never set your mobile phone down. Ever. It needs to be on you at all times. Either in your pocket or in your hand," the Doctor instructed. He took PC Diggs' phone from his pocket and looked at it. "I should've just done it right then - rigged it to contact us in case he got... damn it."

"Live and learn, Doctor," Martha said, patting his leg. "Now you have one you can use to contact us, just in case it's you who gets zapped. Eric's sacrifice was not in vain."

The Doctor didn't answer, but gave an expression that seemed to say, "May as well," and he opened up the phone, sonicked it, rigging it for universal roaming. Then he called Martha's phone, followed by Jack's, and said, "Now you both have the number."

"You got a signal?" Jack asked.

"That's the beauty of calling other phones with universal roaming," the Doctor shrugged.

They rode in silence for a few minutes, then Jack asked, "Doctor, what did you think would happen back there? To me, I mean?"

"Well, I foresaw two possibilities," he said. "One, you'd be zapped back in time and the Angel would be able to gorge itself on the enormous potential energy of an immortal man. In that case, we'd have a rogue angel on our hands. But, that didn't happen when I got zapped, and my potential energy is greater than that of most humans, so I thought the second possibility was far more likely."

"And that was?"

"Exactly what ended up happening," the Doctor answered. "The Angel wouldn't get to you because you cannot die in the present."

"Wait," Martha said. "You were willing to risk creating a rogue Weeping Angel?"

"I had a plan B, Martha," he assured her.

"You did? What was it?"

"It doesn't matter now," he said. "We don't have a rogue Angel, so…"

"What could possibly tame a rogue Angel? What was your plan, Doctor?"

"I will tell you later, okay? Not now."

Jack said to her, "That means it was something semi-suicidal or otherwise incredibly reckless."

"Yeah, I got that," she retorted, irritated at them both.

"Martha, Jack, it doesn't matter!" the Doctor insisted. "It's a solution that is unneeded, isn't it? So let's talk about something else."

"Okay, how about… signal," Jack said, trying his phone again. "Okay, here we go, got a signal now. Oh… oh, dear."

"What?" Martha asked.

"I'm looking at the internet newsfeed that comes up when I open up my phone, and… look." He turned it to face them.

"Social Media Blowing Up Over 'Haunted' Cemetery in Swansea," Martha read aloud.

The report was accompanied by a photo of a Weeping Angel with one hand reaching forward.

Well, thoughts? Feelings? Please leave a review and let me know!

Thank you so much for reading!