Shareen and the Time of Angels
The Time of Angels
Doctor Who is copyright to the BBC. I own nothing except my OC Shareen Whitland.
This story is the second in the Designated Driver series, featuring my OC Shareen Whitland. I'd recommend reading the first two stories in this series, Shareen vs the Universe and Through Thick & Thin, first to get an introduction to Shareen. As a refresher, I picture Shareen as looking like Victoria Moroles.
Shareen Whitland stood outsider her house, watching the TARDIS materialise before her. The door opened and the 11th Doctor poked his head out. "Ah, Whitland." he greeted his former companion.
"Dickie-Bow." Shareen nodded. "You actually turned up on time for once." It was now Easter and she'd booked a week off from work, so she'd decided to give the Doctor a call and have a one-off trip in the TARDIS.
"Hey, I'm always on time." the Doctor pouted. "I'm a Time Lord; time is my speciality."
"You wish." Shareen snorted, knowing only too well how much the Doctor's time keeping left to be desired. "Anyway, how's things?"
"Ah, the same old, ya know." the Doctor replied nonchalantly. "How about you?"
"Well, passed my driving test." Shareen answered proudly, showing the Doctor her new driving licence. "Just need to save up for a car, then no more buses or tube for me. Anyway, let's get going." And she and the Doctor ventured into the TARDIS, where Amy Pond was waiting.
"Ah, now, Amy, you remember Shareen, don't you?" the Doctor said to his current companion.
"Yeah." Amy answered. "No black ops uniform this time?" she asked Shareen, who was dressed casually today in a pale blue denim jacket, a white tank top, black skinny jeans and black ankle boots.
"No police woman costume this time?" Shareen asked back, noticing that Amy was dressed casually in a scarlet hoodie, a black mini-skirt, grey tights and navy blue converse high-tops. "Anyway, good to see ya again, Amy. Nice to see that Dickie-Bow took my advice and went back for ya."
"Two years later." Amy grunted.
"Oh, did he now?" Shareen raised a brow, turning to the Doctor.
"I took a wrong turning on the way back from dropping you off." the Doctor said.
"Real smooth, Dickie-Bow, real smooth." Shareen remarked dryly.
"Tell me about it." Amy concurred.
"Yeah, alright, alright, let's just let bygones be bygones, shall we?" the Doctor squirmed. "Anyway, where should we go today, ladies?" he asked, moving to the console.
"Can we go to a planet?" Amy asked. "I still haven't been to an alien planet yet.
"Alright, planet it is." the Doctor decided. "Any suggestions?" he asked Shareen.
"Anywhere that's not New Earth, Midnight or that sh*thole the Master was hidin' on." Shareen told him pointedly. "I don't wanna end up shot, covered in crap, broken-boned or all three. I had enough of all that when I was travellin' with you full-time."
"Ooh, tough choice then." the Doctor snorted. "Tell ya what, how about a museum?"
~8~
15 minutes later, the Doctor was striding through a museum modelled on a medieval church while a very bored Amy and an indifferent Shareen trailing behind. The Doctor was a like kid in a sweet shop as he pointed to exhibits and gave his opinion on them. "Wrong!" he fired off. "Wrong! Bit right, mostly wrong. I love museums!"
"Yeah, great." Amy spoke up, having had enough of this. "Can we go to a planet now? Big space ship, Churchill's bunker...? You promised me a planet next."
"Amy, this isn't any old asteroid." the Doctor argued. "It's the Delerium Archive; final resting place of the Headless Monks and the biggest museum ever."
"You've got a time machine, what d'ye need a museum for?" Amy asked irritably.
"Hey, look on the bright side." Shareen ventured. "If the Peacock Doctor were here, he'd be giving us boring 100mph lectures on every single thing here. God, that man loved the sound of his own voice!" she snorted. "Used to drive me round the bend."
"Wrong!" the Doctor said, pointing to another artefact. "Very wrong! Ooh, one of mine!" he grinned, recognising one artefact from a previous adventure several regenerations ago. "Also one of mine."
"Oh, I see. It's how you keep score." Amy commented.
"What a show-off!" Shareen snorted. It seemed that this new incarnation of the Doctor was just as vain as his predecessor.
The Doctor wasn't paying any attention to the two women now; his eye had been caught by a glass case containing a rusty old metal cube with rune-like carvings ingraved into it. "Interesting." he murmured.
"Oh, great, an old box." Amy huffed.
"It's from one of the old starliners." the Doctor told her. "A Home Box."
"And what's that when it's at home?" Shareen asked, not particularly interested.
"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes." the Doctor explained. "Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home with all the data."
"So?" Amy asked huffily.
"The writing," the Doctor told her, pointing to the etchings in the Home Box, "the graffiti- Old High Galifreyan, the lost language of the Time Lords."
"So if that's Time Lord language, what's all that spirograph stuff you've got scribbled all over the TARDIS?" Shareen asked.
"That's Circular Galifreyan." the Doctor replied. "This is Old High Galifreyan. There were days," he sighed in reminiscence, "there were many days, those words could burn stars and rise up empires, and topple Gods."
"Now don't start all that Time Lords are gods bullsh*t, Dickie-Bow." Shareen rolled her eyes. "Remember what they tried to do at Christmas?"
"Well, I'm hardly likely to forget with you reminding me so nicely." the Doctor said flatly.
Amy cleared her throat, drawing the other two time travellers back to the original topic. "What does it say?" she asked the Doctor, pointing to the Home Box.
"Hello, sweetie." the Doctor answered, looking somewhat unhappy.
Shareen's eyes widened as she recognised those words. "Hey, that's..." she began, but was interrupted by the Doctor taking out a long, copper toy-like object with a green light at the end; his new sonic screwdriver. "What're you doing now, Dickie-Bow?" she asked him, knowing that it was likely not going to be good.
"Liberating it." the Doctor answered, and used his sonic screwdriver to unlock the display case containing the Home Box. Immediately, alarms started blaring. Undeterred, the Doctor scooped up the Home Box and tucked it under his arm. "Run!" he ordered the two women, and they had no choice but to leg it back to the TARDIS.
Once they were inside, the Doctor plugged the Home Box into one of the auxiliary consoles and began messing with it. "Why're we doing this?" Amy asked him.
"Cos someone on a spaceship twelve thousand years ago is trying to attract my attention." the Doctor replied as he worked.
"And I think I know who." Shareen remarked.
"Let's see if we can get the security playback working." the Doctor muttered as he moved over to one of the monitors on the main console.
Amy and Shareen looked at the other monitor to see a grainy black & white image of River Song waltzing through a spaceship corridor. River paused in front of the camera, winked at it, then went on her way. Next, the playback showed River standing in front of an airlock. "The party's over, Doctor Song," a man's voice said off-screen, "yet still you're on board."
"Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault." River said casually. "Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell ya something; this This ship won't reach its destination."
"Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution" Alistair ordered someone, no doubt armed guards.
River seemed completely unfazed by the threat and casually checked her watch. "Triple-seven, five/three, four, nine by ten. Zero, twelve/acorn." she said to the camera. "Oh, and I could do with an air corridor."
Amy noticed that the Doctor was now busy operating the controls. "What was that, what did she say?" she asked him.
"Co-ordinates." the Doctor answered, and pulled a lever to materialise the TARDIS at the co-ordinates River had specified.
"Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to." River casually told Alistair and blew a kiss at him, before the airlock behind her blew open and she was sucked out of the ship by the resulting decompression.
The Doctor let out a whoop, then ran to the TARDIS doors. He pulled them open to see River floating towards them through the air corridor they'd created. He reached a hand out to pull River in and they both fell on the floor in a heap. "Doctor?" Amy raised a brow at the sight.
"Hell of an entrance." Shareen remarked.
River jumped to her feet to see the ship she'd just escaped from fly away. "Follow that ship!" she ordered.
~8~
The TARDIS was soon in pursuit of the starliner River had escaped from, which according to the Home Box was called the Byzantium; a name the Doctor remembered River mentioning in The Library. The TARDIS lurched and shuddered as the Doctor and River worked the controls, while Amy and Shareen both stood back watching. "They've gone into warp drive." River reported, checking one of the monitors.. "We're losing them. Stay close."
"I'm trying!" the Doctor huffed.
"Use the stabilisers." River advised.
"There aren't any stabilisers!" the Doctor whined.
"The blue switches!" River told him, pointing to some blue switches close to where she was standing.
"Oh, the blue ones don't do anything," the Doctor shot back, "they're just... blue."
"Yes, they're blue." River snorted. "They're the blue stabilisers." She hit the blue switches in question and the TARDIS stopped shaking. "See?"
"Have those switches always been there?" Shareen asked, then rounded on the Doctor. "All those times I've nearly gone arse over head, and all ya had to do was switch those stabilisers on!" she grumbled.
"Well, well, it's not as fun with the stabilisers is it?" the Doctoro shrugged. "They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers." And he moved away from the console in a huff.
"Doctor, how can she fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked him.
"You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!" the Doctor retorted, sitting down on one of the seats to sulk.
"Ok," River announced, "I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to it's destination and..." She pulled a lever and the TARDIS materialisation noise sounded. "Parked us alongside." River finished proudly.
"Nice landing, River." Shareen praised. "Maybe you should give Dickie-Bow over there lessons." she smirked.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and got to his feet. "Come along, Pond, let's have a look." he said to Amy, moving to the doors.
"No, wait. Environment checks." River called to him.
"Oh, yes, sorry! Quite right, environment checks." the Doctor said and poked his head out the door. "Well, it's nice out."
River shook her head at him and looked at her monitor. "We're somewhere in the Garn Belt." she read out. "There's an atmosphere. Early suggestions indicate..."
"We're on Alfava Metraxis." the Doctor cut in. "The seventh planet of the Dundra system, oxygen rich-atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11-hour day, and..." He poked his head out the door again. "Chances of rain later."
"No one likes a smartarse, Dickie-Bow." Shareen snorted.
"How can you fly the TARDIS?" she asked River.
"Oh, I had lessons from the very best." River replied.
"Well, yeah..." the Doctor said smugly while Shareen rolled her eyes.
"It's a shame you were busy that day." River told him, causing both Amy and Shareen to snigger at the Doctor's bubble being burst. "Right then, why did they land here?" River wandered as she headed for the doors.
"They didn't land." the Doctor told her.
"Sorry?"
"You should've checked the Home Box. It crashed." the Doctor told River as she stepped outside. Once she was gone, the Doctor slammed the door shut and moved back to the console.
"Explain!" Amy demanded as she marched after him. "Who is she and how did she do that museum thing?"
"It's a long story and I don't know most of it." the Doctor waved her off, setting the controls ready for departure. "Off we go!"
"What d'ya think you're doing?" Shareen asked him.
"Leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we wanna go."
"Are you basically running away?" Amy raised a brow.
"Yep."
"Why?"
"Cos' she's the future. My future."
"Can ye run away from that?" Amy questioned.
"I can run away from anything I like." the Doctor said arrogantly. "Time is not the boss of me."
He pulled a lever ready to de-materialise, but Shareen promptly slapped it back down, stopping them. "You're not goin' anywhere, Dickie-Bow." she told him sharply. "River gave her life to save your arrogant arse in The Library, so you owe it to her to stay here an' help her."
The Doctor winced at the reminder of the adventure with the Vashta Nerada. Despite this new incarnation's flippant man-child persona, he still wore the burden of being responsible for many deaths, River's among them.
"Hang on, is that a planet out there?" Amy asked suddenly.
"Yes, of course it's a planet." the Doctor said flatly.
"You promised me a planet. Five minutes?" Amy pleaded, giving him puppy dog eyes.
"Ok, five minutes." the Doctor conceded.
"Yes!" Amy cheered, skipping to the doors.
"But that's all." the Doctor called after her. "Cos I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!"
"Huh, we'll see about that, Dickie-Bow." Shareen muttered as she and the Doctor stepped out after Amy.
They found themselves on a beach similar to Bad Wolf Bay on Pete's World, except this beach had an ancient temple carved into the cliffs overlooking it. The Byzantium was imbedded in the roof of the temple and flaming bits of debris from the ship was scattered all over the beach. River was looking at the devastation with a heavy heart. "What caused it to crash?" she wandered. "Not me?"
"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it." the Doctor told her. "According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase shift. No survivors."
"How many people were on that ship?" Shareen asked, certain she wouldn't like the answer.
"1,014." River replied grimly. "At least it was quick. A phase shift would have to be sabotage. I did warn them."
"About what?" the Doctor frowned.
"Well, at least the building was empty." River continued, ignoring his question. "Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries." She pulled out an electronic device and started messing with it.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Amy asked, stepping forward to join the trio.
Seeing that the Doctor wasn't going to do so, Shareen took it upon herself to make the introductions, "Amy Pond, this is Professor River Song, archaeologist."
"Ah, I'm going to be a professor some day, am I?" River grinned. "How exciting! Spoilers!" She turned back to her gadget.
"She's still just a doctor at the moment." the Doctor whispered to Shareen.
"Well, I didn't know, did I?" Shareen huffed. "I'm not Mystic Meg!"
"Who is she, Doctor?" Amy probed. ""She just left you a note in a museum!"
River turned back to them. "Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum: The Home Box of a category four starliner and, sooner or later, him." she told Amy. "It's how he keeps score."
"Yeah, we know." Shareen said.
"It's hilarious, isn't it?" River smirked, and the three women shared a laugh.
The Doctor at this point decided he'd had enough of all the giggling girl's talk going on. "I'm nobody's taxi service." he told River irritably. "I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship."
"And you are so wrong." River retorted sweetly. "There's one survivor." She became serious, "There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die."
That pipped the Doctor's interest.
"Now he's listening." River smirked to Amy and Shareen, then held her gadget up to her ear as a communicator. "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal." She turned back to the Doctor. "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."
The Doctor begrudgingly complied and River dropped a small curtsey. "Ooh, Doctor, you soniced her!" Amy tittered.
"We have a minute. Shall we?" River called to the Doctor, opening a battered TARDIS blue book, "Where were we? Have we done the Bone Meadows?"
"What's the book?" Amy questioned.
"Stay away from it." the Doctor warned her.
"What is it, though?" Amy asked.
"Her diary."
"Our diary." River corrected.
"Her past, my... future." the Doctor begrudgingly told Amy.
"Time travel; it's pretty weird how it goes sometimes." Shareen shrugged. "Those two keep meeting up in the wrong order. Gives me headaches when I try to think about it."
Just then, there was a whooshing sound and four men in desert camouflage uniforms armed with blaster rifles teleported onto the beach. The eldest, clearly the commanding officer, approached River. "You promised me an army, Dr Song." he said irritably, eyeing the three time travellers with a disbelieving look. They certainly didn't look like soldiers to him; the Doctor in his tweed jacket, Shareen in her denim jacket and jeans, and Amy in her bright red hoodie and mini-skirt.
"No, I promised you the equivalent of an army." River retorted. "This is the Doctor." she introduced as the Doctor gave a light-hearted salute.
"And now you've gone an' given him a big head again, River." Shareen remarked.
The commanding officer shook the Doctor's hand. "Father Octavian, sir." he introduced. "Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Dr Song was helping us with a covert investigation." He glanced up at the crashed ship towering over them, not exactly covert. "Has Dr Song explained what we're dealing with?"
River turned to the Time Lord. "Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?" she asked.
Both the Doctor and Shareen tensed at those two words. "So much for a safe trip." Shareen muttered to herself. The last time she'd encountered the lonely assassins wasn't exactly an experience she was keen to repeat.
~8~
By night-fall the clerics had set up camp. Taking prominence was a module where River had gone to get changed, while several tents and work benches were scattered about, where Octavian's men were busy preparing their equipment. Octavian walked though the camp with the Doctor, explaining the situation with him while Amy and Shareen trailed behind. "The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship." Octavian said. "Our mission is to get inside and neutralise it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this..." he led them to a table where some equipment was lying about and showed the Doctor a computer pad. "behind the cliff face, there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple." He showed the Doctor a diagram of the tunnels. "We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up."
"Oh, good." the Doctor grunted sarcastically.
"Good, sir?" Octavian questioned, not noticing the sarcasm.
"Catacombs, probably dark ones." the Doctor grumbled, not liking the idea of going through them at all. "Dark catacombs, great(!)"
"Technically, I think it's called a 'maze of the dead'." Octavian continued.
"Cosmic." Shareen muttered, a sinking feeling growing in the pit of her stomach.
"Father Octavian?" a cleric called from somewhere nearby
"Excuse me, sir." Octavian said to the Doctor and walked away.
The Doctor began examining the equipment lying on the table. "You're letting people call you 'sir.' You never do that." Amy spoke up, sitting on a bench and looking as if she hadn't a care in the world, "So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?"
"Very bad, Amy." Shareen told her, shivering at the memories of the incident at Wester Drumlins.
"Now that's interesting, you're both still here." the Doctor said irritably. "Which part of 'wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe' was so confusing?"
"Someone's gotta be there to pull you out when you're too stupid to live, Dickie-Bow." Shareen answered back.
"Shareen..." the Doctor began to argue.
"Ooh, are you all Mr Grumpy Face today?" Amy joked.
"A Weeping Angel, Amy, is one of the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life forms evolution has ever produced, and one is trapped inside that wreckage," the Doctor said seriously, nodding over his shoulder at the crashed ship on the hillside, "and I'm supposed to climb in after it with a screwdriver and a torch, and assuming I survive the radiation, and the whole ship doesn't blow up in my face, do something incredibly clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day, that's what I'm up to. Any questions?"
"No, that pretty much sums it all up." Shareen answered. "Better get started on thinkin' of a way to stop the stone bugger, though."
"Is River Song your wife?" Amy asked the Doctor, causing him to slump against the bench in irritation. "Cos' she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that." Amy continued to prod. "She's kinda like, ye know, 'heel boy!' She's Mrs Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she gonna be your wife one day?"
"Yes. You're right. I am definitely Mr Grumpy Face today." the Doctor huffed
Just then, River appeared in the doorway of the module, having swapped her dress for combat fatigues similar to the clerics'. "Doctor?" she called. "Doctor?"
"Your wife's callin' Dickie-Bow." Shareen ribbed, needing a bit of levity to take her mind off the difficult task that likely lay ahead.
"Father Octavian?" River called, before going back inside the module.
The Doctor, Amy and Shareen made their way towards the module. "Why do they call him 'Father'?" Amy questioned as they saw Octavian go in ahead of them.
"He's their Bishop, they're his clerics." the Doctor said simply. "It's the 51st century, the church has moved on."
"Huh, certainly brings a new meaning to holy war." Shareen remarked to herself.
~8~
The Doctor, Octavian and the women were soon all gathered inside the module watching a grainy black & white recording of a Weeping Angel standing in the corner of a room at a slight angle to the camera with it's hands over it's eyes. River stood by the screen with a remote in her hands. "What d'you think?" she asked the Doctor. "It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I put it on a loop."
"Yeah, it's an Angel." the Doctor confirmed. "Hands covering it's face."
"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian asked.
"Once, on Earth, a long time ago." the Doctor replied. "But those were scavengers, barely surviving."
"It's just a statue." Amy remarked, not understanding why everyone was making a fuss over a harmless stone statue.
"Only while ya lookin' at it." Shareen told her darkly.
"Have you encountered the Angels before as well, Miss Whitland?" Octavain asked her.
"Yeah, once, with him." Shareen replied, nodding to the Doctor. "And he was useless; he got himself and our friend Martha stuck in 1969 and muggins here had to fetch outside help to rescue them. God, that was a horrible experience." she shivered. "We had four of those buggers to deal with."
"Well, at least it's only the one this time." the Doctor said. "Where did it come from?" he asked River. He didn't really know all that much about the Weeping Angels, what he'd seen during his encounter with them at Wester Drumlins and from the limited information that the Academy on Galifrey had taught him about them during his childhood.
"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century." River replied. "It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all the time."
"There's a difference between dormant and patient." the Doctor said ominously.
"What's that mean, it's only a statue when you're looking at it?" Amy questioned.
"The Weeping Angels can only if they're unseen, so legend has it." River told her.
"No, it's not legend, it's a quantum lock." the Doctor explained. "In the sight of any living creature, the Angels literally cease to exist. They become stone, the ultimate defence mechanism."
"What, being a stone?" Amy asked.
"Being a stone... until you turn your back." the Doctor said darkly, then he led the others out of the module. "The hyperdrive would've split on impact." he theorised. "The whole ship will be flooded with radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms, deadly to almost any living thing."
"Deadly to an Angel?" Octavian asked hopefully.
"Dinner to an Angel." the Doctor told him. "The longer we leave it, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple?" he asked River. "Are they still around?"
"The Aplans." River replied, checking her pad. "The indigenous life form. They died out 400 years ago."
"200 years later, the planet was terraformed." Octavian took over. "Currently there are six billion Human colonists."
"Whoo, you lot, you're everywhere!" the Doctor commented. "You're like rabbits! I'll never get done saving you."
"Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the population..." Octavian began.
"Oh, there is." the Doctor said, growing serious again. "Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load!"
Octavian processed this information. "Verger, how're we doing with those explosives?" he asked one of his men, going over to check while River went over to a bench to set something up. "Dr Song, with me." Octavian called.
"Two minutes." River waved him off then turned to the Doctor. "Sweetie, I need you." she called.
"Sweetie?" the Doctor muttered, then went off in the direction River had gone, completely oblivious to his two companions who were both left standing in the module's doorway with nothing to do.
"Anybody need us?" Amy called to thin air. "Nobody?"
"Obviously not." Shareen remarked. "Well, I'm gonna go after 'em and see what they're up to. You coming?"
"No, I'll wait in here. It's freezing out there." Amy replied, regretting wearing a skirt today.
"Ok, see ya in a bit." Shareen said and went off in the direction River and the Doctor had gone, while Amy went back inside the module. Sbe suddenly something on the screen: the Angel's hands were no longer covering it's face; they were now down by it's side.
~8~
Shareen found River showing the Doctor a book. "I found this." she told him. "Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madman, it's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages."
The Doctor speed read through the book. "Not bad, bit slow in the middle, didn't you hate his girlfriend?" he joked, then suddenly became serious. "No, hang on, wait, wait!" He began sniffing the pages.
"Huh, he gets weirder every time he changes his face." Shareen muttered to herself as she watched this.
Just then, Amy poked her head out of the module. "Dr Song? Did ye have more than one clip of the Angel." she questioned.
"No, just the four seconds." River answered, not really paying attention as she was too focussed on the Doctor's antics.
A puzzled Amy went back inside just as the Doctor finished sniffing the book. "This book is wrong." he declared. "What's wrong with this book? It's wrong."
"Oh, let me look." Shareen rolled her eyes, taking the book from him and thumbing through it slowly.
~8~
Inside the module, Amy was looking at the screen. The Angel had moved again and was now facing the camera. Amy bent down and looked at the time code, which was looping between 11:24 and 11:28, yet the Angel was changing position every time she took her eyes off it. As she was so engrossed in the conundrum, she didn't notice the door closing behind her and locking, all on it's own accord.
~8~
River observed the Doctor as he puzzled over the apparently wrong book. "It's so strange when you go all baby-faced." she commented. "How early is it for you two?"
"Very early." the Doctor replied.
"Yeah, this is the second time we've met for me." Shareen added, looking through the book. It was mostly full of cryptic riddles which didn't particularly help in any way.
"So neither of you know who I am yet?" River probed.
"Hey, last time we met, you apparently didn't know who I was." Shareen countered.
"How do you know who I am, River?" the Doctor questioned. "I don't always look the same."
"I've got pictures of all your faces." River told him. "You never show up in the right order, though. I need the spotter's guide."
That was when it clicked for the Doctor; what was wrong with the book. "Pictures!" he exclaimed. "Why aren't there any pictures?"
~8~
Amy picked up the remote for the video and tried to turn it off, but it just kept turning itself back on. She put the remote down and studied the screen again. "You're just a recording." she muttered. "You can't move."
She tried to yank the plug out, but it was wedged solid. She looked back up to the screen to see that the Angel had moved again, it's face was now right up to the camera. "Doctor!" she yelped, backing away to the door. She tried to turn the wheel, but it wouldn't budge then she tried the keypad, but that did no good either. She looked back to the screen and saw that the Angel was now pulling a snarling expression, as if it was getting ready to attack.
"Shareen!" she tried.
~8~
"This whole book, it's a warning about the Weeping Angels." the Doctor said as he flickered through the book. "So why no pictures? Why not show us what to look for?"
"There was a bit about images." River frowned
"Yes! Hang on." the Doctor said as he flipped through to the relevant page. "'That which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel.'" he read out.
"What does that mean?" River wandered. "'An image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel'?"
"This guy loved talkin' in riddles, didn't he?" Shareen remarked. "Pity he couldn't just use plain, simple English."
~8~
Amy meanwhile was getting first-hand experience of what the riddle meant, for the Angel was no longer on the screen; it was projecting itself out of it and becoming solid in the centre of the room. "DOCTOR! IT'S IN THE ROOM!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.
~8~
"Amy!" the Doctor and Shareen hollered as they ran back to the module at warp speed.
"Are you alright?" the Doctor called as they reached the sealed door. "What's happening?"
"Doctor! Doctor, it's coming out of the television!" Amy called back. "The Angel is here!"
"Don't take ya eyes off it." the Doctor warned Amy, flashing his sonic screwdriver on the keypad, "It can't move if you're looking." His sonicing proved fruitless. "What's wrong with it?" he muttered, checking his screwdriver's holographic display. "It's deadlocked!"
"Oh, get out the way!" Shareen said, pushing past him with her sonic pen in hand. She flashed it at the keypad and the door abruptly unlocked. Shareen then rushed inside the module and aimed her pen at the screen. "Ok, Robbie Williams, make an image outta this!" she snarled, and swiched the pen on, shutting off the screen and taking the Angel with it. Shareen then yanked the plug out for good measure and turned to check on Amy. "You alright, Amy?" she asked.
"Yeah." Amy replied. "What's that?" She nodded to Shareen's pen.
"Sonic pen." Shareen replied. "A little souvenir from Adipose Industries. See, Dickie-Bow, good thing I kept this." she told the Doctor as he and River joined them.
"Pity you left it at home at Christmas." the Doctor retorted as he scanned the plug to work out what had just happened.
"So was it here?" River asked him. "That was the Angel?"
"That was a projection of the Angel." the Doctor replied. "It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant."
Just then, an explosion sounded from outside. "Doctor, we're through!" Octavian's voice called.
"Ok, now it starts. " the Doctor said ominously, and he and River left the module.
"What would've happened to me if that Angel would've got me?" Amy asked Shareen as they followed.
"Well, you wouldn't be here now, that's for sure." Shareen replied. "Those Angels live off 'potential' energy, whatever that is. If they touch you, they send ya back in time to live out the rest of ya life there while they gobble up all the energy from the life you would've had in the present."
"Huh, good thing ye saved me, than." Amy shivered, thankful for Shareen's timely intervention.
"We're not out of the woods yet." Shareen replied grimly. "We've still gotta find the bugger first and find a way to stop it."
~8~
The Doctor climbed down a rope ladder into the labyrinth of dark tunnels behind the cliff face and joined Octavian at the bottom. They turned their torches on and looked around as the women and the Clerics joined them. "Do we have a gravity globe?" the Doctor asked Octavian.
"Grave globe." Octavian ordered one of his men, who took out a white globe from his backpack and handed it to the Doctor.
"Where are we?" Amy asked, shining her torch around the chamber. "What is this?"
"It's an Aplan mortarium, sometimes called a maze of the dead." River told her.
"Huh, sounds wonderful." Shareen muttered, getting a rather unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"And what's a 'maze of the dead'?" Amy questioned.
The Doctor answered this time, "Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." He kicked the gravity globe into the air and it lit up the cavern, revealing it to be chock-a-block with crumbling stone statues. "The perfect hiding place." the Doctor finished.
"I guess it makes it a bit trickier." Octavian swallowed. There was a chance that the Angel had escaped from the wreckage, and with all these statues around, it would be a hell of a job to locate it if it had.
"You don't say." Shareen muttered.
"A stone Angel on the loose among stone statues, a bit harder than I'd prayed for."
"A needle in a haystack." River said grimly, flashing her torch over the statues.
"A needle that looks like hay." the Doctor agreed, then as usual, he got carried away. "A hay-like needle. Of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues."
"Alright, we get the picture." Shareen told him irritably. She was nervous enough as it was, without the Doctor's pointless ramblings making it worse.
"Right." the Doctor mumbled. "Yours was fine." he said to River.
"Right." Octavian said slowly, eying the Doctor warily, then turned to his men. "Check every single statue in this chamber." he ordered them. "You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection." He turned back to the Doctor. "One question: how do we fight it?"
"We find it, and hope." the Doctor said grimly, then he, Shareen and Amy went ahead.
River went to follow them but Octavian stopped her. "He doesn't know yet, does he?" he asked her. "Who and what you are."
"It's too early in his time stream." River confirmed.
"Well, make sure he doesn't work it out, or he's not gonna help us."
"I won't let you down." River assured him. "Believe you me, I have no intention of going back to prison.
"Sir?" one of the clerics called. "Side chamber, one visible exit."
"Check it." Octavian ordered him. "Angelo, go with him."
And so the two clerics in question went off down the side chamber while River and Octavian went after the three time travellers.
Further up the passage, the Doctor was shining his torch in every direction. Amy and Shareen looked up at the many levels that rose above them, all lined with statues. Shareen couldn't help but feel as if the statues were watching them, even though they were just stone. "You alright?" River asked, coming up beside her.
"Yeah, just this place is givin' me the creeps." Shareen answered.
"What is a maze of the dead, anyway?" Amy asked.
"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people people buried in the walls." River replied, then realised what she'd just said. "Ok, that was fairly bad. Right, give me your arm."
Amy held up her right arm and River reached into her kitbag and produced a syringe. "This won't hurt a bit." she reassured Amy, then rolled up her hoodie sleeve and injected her with the syringe.
"Ow!" Amy hissed.
"There, you see. I lied." River said nonchalantly. "It's a viro-stabiliser. Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're gonna need when we get to that ship." She removed the syringe and produced another one from her kitbag. "Your turn now, Shareen."
"Right, let's get it over with." Shareen acknowledged, rolling up her jacket sleeve. River then injected her with the syringe, causing her to grimace slightly, but she took it in her stride. "Ya know, the Doctor could've done with one of these at Christmas." she remarked.
At the mention of the Time Lord in question, Amy glanced to the Doctor, who was busy examining the statues carefully. "So, what's he like?" she asked the future, I mean. Cos' you know him in the future, don't you?"
"The Doctor?" River shrugged as she removed Shareen's syringe. "Well, the Doctor's the Doctor."
"Oh, yeah, that really explains everything." Shareen said dryly. "Last time we met, you didn't seem to know who I was. I'm gonna guess you were just pretendin'."
"Must've been." River answered, then turned to look at the Doctor. "Yes, we are." she called to him.
"Sorry, what?" the Doctor called back, taking readings with River's pad.
"Talking about you."
"I wasn't listening, I'm busy." the Doctor answered back.
"Ah, the other way up." River smirked.
"Yeah." the Doctor said slowly as he flipped the pad the right way up.
"You're so his wife!" Amy snorted.
"Oh, Amy, Amy, Amy! This is the Doctor we're talking about." River smirked. "Do you really think it could be anything that simple?"
"Good point." Shareen conceded. "Nothing's ever simple with him!"
"You're good." River told Amy. "I'm not saying you're right... but you are very good."
~8~
Meanwhile, Angelo and Christian were searching the side chamber they'd been ordered to examine. "Can you believe this? We hunting statues." Christian grumbled.
"Better than chasing lava snakes." Angelo replied, remembering a previous assignment.
"Actually, lava snakes weren't that bad." Christian retorted and went on ahead through the cave out of Angelo's sight. Christian moved slowly ahead when the torch attached to his rifle began to flicker. Then he heard the sound of grating stone. "Who's there?" he called, spooked. "Is someone there? Angelo?" He looked around for his colleague. "Angelo?" He looked back to find himself face-to-face with a Weeping Angel and his torch went out.
Further down the chamber, Angelo heard Christian calling out. "Christian, is that you?" he called back.
"Angelo, come and see this." Christian's voice said over Angelo's communicator.
"What is it?" Angelo asked.
"Just come and see it."
"It's not a school trip." Angelo rolled his eyes. "Just tell me."
"No, really, come and see." Christian's voice persisted.
With an annoyed huff, Angelo went in the direction Christian had gone and abruptly found himself face-to-face with the Angel.
~8~
The Doctor and his companions were examining the statues when blaster fire suddenly rang out from nearby. The Doctor, Octavian and the women hurried back to the entrance chamber to find that a nervous-looking young cleric had fired at one of the statues. "Sorry, sorry." he said timidly. "I thought... I thought it looked at me."
"We know what the Angel looks like." Octavian said sternly. "Is that the Angel?"
"No, sir."
"No, sir, it is not!" Octavian scolded. "According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil. So it would be good, it would very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of décor."
"Oi, leave him alone!" Shareen glared at Octavian. "Not everyone can be emotionless grunts like you!"
"What's your name?" the Doctor asked the young man.
"Bob, sir." he replied.
"Ah, that's a great name." the Doctor smiled. "I like Bob."
"It's a sacred name." Octavian explained. "We all have sacred names, they're given to us in the service of the Church."
"Sacred Bob." the Doctor remarked. "More like Scared Bob now, eh?"
"Yes, sir." Bob admitted sheepishly.
"Ah, good. Scared keeps you fast." the Doctor reassured him.
"And I'll tell you all this; anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron." He turned to Octavian. "Carry on."
"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes." Octavian announced, then turned to Bob. "You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach." he ordered.
"Oi, Captain Mainwaring, I don't think that's such a good idea." Shareen told Octavian. "One thing I've learned from travellin' with the Doctor is that bad things tend to happen to people when they're separated from others."
"This isn't a horror movie, Miss Whitland." Octavian rolled his eyes and walked away.
"Pompous grunt." Shareen muttered as she and the others followed him.
~8~
The remainder of the group were soon making their way through the winding passages that made up the maze of the dead. "Isn't there a chance this lot's gonna collapse?" Amy pointed out. "There's a whole ship up there."
"Incredible builders, the Aplans." River remarked.
"Had dinner with their chief architect once." the Doctor said. "Two heads are better than one."
"You mean you helped him?" Amy questioned.
"No, I mean they had two heads." the Doctor told her. "That book, the very end, what did it say?" he asked River.
"Hang on." River pulled out the book from her kitbag and rifled through it to the last page.
"Read it to me."
River found the last page and read it out, "'What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels.'"
"Like that's not ominous at all." Shareen muttered as they continued their trek through the maze."
~8~
"Hey, Angelo, Christian, where are you?" Bob asked into his communicator, getting concerned by his colleagues' silence.
~8~
"Are we there yet?" Amy moaned as the group reached the fourth level. "It's a hell of a climb."
"The maze is on six levels, representing the ascent of the soul." River explained. "Only two levels to go."
"Lovely species, the Aplans." the Doctor remarked, trying to take his mind off the increasingly uneasy feeling he was getting the longer they stayed in the maze. "We should visit them some time."
"I thought they were all dead." Amy frowned.
"So's Agatha Christie and I've met her." Shareen countered.
"Very relaxed, sort of cheerful." the Doctor continued to reminisce about the Aplans. "That's having two heads. You're never short of a snog with an extra head."
"Doctor, there's something." River frowned, looking at the statues uneasily. "I don't know what it is..."
"Yeah, you an' me both." Shareen agreed.
"Yeah, something's wrong." the Doctor concurred. "Don't know what it is either, working on it." He then decided that having a good ramble might help kick his brain cells into gear. "Of course, then they started having laws against self-marrying and what was that about? But that's the church for you." He suddenly remembered the presence of religious people. "Er, no offence, Bishop."
"Quite a lot taken, if that's alright, Doctor." Octavian grunted as they entered a narrow passageway lined with statues. "Lowest point of the wreckage is only about 50 feet up from here. That way."
"Church had a point, if you think about it." Amy remarked. "The divorces must've been messy."
A sudden thought then struck Shareen. "Hey, Dickie-Bow, were those two-headed guys the only people on this planet?" she asked the Doctor quietly.
"The Aplans? Yeah." the Doctor confirmed.
"So how come these statues have only got one head?" Shareen asked uneasily.
The Doctor suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked at a statue. "Oh." he breathed.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked.
River realised what was wrong too. "Oh." she breathed, going as white as a sheet.
"Exactly." the Doctor nodded.
"How could we not notice that?"
"Low level perception filter, or maybe we're thick."
"I noticed." Shareen muttered.
"What's wrong, sir?" Octavian asked the Doctor.
"Nobody move." the Doctor ordered. "Everyone stay exactly where they are. Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in danger.
"What danger?" Octavian narrowed his eyes.
"The Aplans." River told him grimly, keeping her gaze fixed on one of the statues.
"The Aplans?"
"They've got two heads."
"Yes, I get that. So?"
"So why don't the statues?" the Doctor asked rhetorically, prompting everyone to look at the statues and they saw that sure enough, they had only one head.
"Everyone over there." the Doctor ordered, pointing to a spot that was clear of statues. "Just move, don't ask questions, don't speak."
Everyone filed back into the clear area and huddled together.
"Ok, I want all of you to turn off your torches."
"Sir?" Octavian questioned.
"Just do it! the Doctor snapped.
So all the Humans turned their torches off, leaving just the Doctor's torch. "Ok." he said. "I'm gonna turn off this one too."
"I hope you know what ya doin', Dickie-Bow." Shareen said uneasily.
"Me too." the Doctor swallowed. He turned his torch off for a split second, and when he turned it back on, everyone saw that the statues had changed position; they now appeared to be lunging at the group.
"Oh, my God!" Amy gasped. "They've moved!"
"I was afraid this would happen." Shareen paled.
The Doctor looked back down the passageway they'd came from and saw that the statues in those passages had moved too. "They're Angels." he said grimly. "All of them!"
"But they can't be!" River blustered. She was so sure that there was only one Angel that they were dealing with. Now it seemed that she had accidentally led everyone into a hornet's nest.
"Clerics, keep watching them." the Doctor ordered, then he backtracked and saw that the Angels had moved forward. "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us." he said grimly.
~8~
Bob ventured through the lower chamber, looking for Angelo and Christian.
"Bob, come and see this." Angelo's voice said over his communicator.
"Angelo?" Bob asked.
"Come and see what we're found."
"Are you with Christian?" Bob asked. "The Bishop said you'd be five minutes."
"I'm here, Bob. Come and see this."
"Where are you?"
"Through the arch, Bob. Honestly, you've got to come and see this."
"What have you found?"
"Come and see."
"No. What is it?"
"Come and see." Angelo's voice insisted.
Bob walked forward through the archway, straight into the path of an Angel.
~8~
"There was only one Angel on the ship." River said apologetically. "Just the one, I swear."
"Could they have been here already?" Amy suggested.
"The Aplans, how did they die out?" the Doctor asked River.
"Nobody knows." she replied.
"I think we do now." Shareen swallowed.
"They don't look like Angels." Octavian observed, shining his torch on the statues. Their faces were distorted and featureless.
"And they're not fast, either." Shareen added. "Angels are s'posed to be fast. They should've nabbed us by now. Not that I'm complainin'."
"Look at them, they're dying, losing their form." the Doctor replied. "They must've been down here for centuries, starving."
"Losing their image." Amy nodded.
"And their image is their power." the Doctor finished, then he had another horrifying realisation. "Power." he blinked. "Power!"
"Doctor?" Amy questioned.
"Don't you see?" the Doctor hollered. "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."
"Oh, cosmic." Shareen paled. This day seemed to be just getting worse and worse.
"We need to get out of here fast." River determined.
Octavian pulled out his communicator, realising that he'd rather stupidly left three good men in the middle of these assassins. "Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please. Any of you, come in!"
"It's Bob, sir." Bob's voice came over the comm. "Sorry sir."
"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you?" Octavian asked. "The statues are active. I repeat, the statues are active!"
"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir."
The Doctor snatched the comm from Octavian. "Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?"
"I'm talking to my.." Octavian said irritably, but the Doctor just waved him off; no time for pleasantries in this emergency.
"I'm on my way to you, sir." Bob answered. "I'm homing on your signal."
"Well done, Bob. Scared keeps ya fast, eh? Told you didn't I?" the Doctor said. "Your friends, Bob, what did the Angel do to them?"
"Snapped their necks, sir."
"That's odd." the Doctor frowned. "That's not how the Angels kill you. They displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something."
Octavian took the comm back. "Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan..."
"Oh, don't be an idiot." the Doctor rolled his eyes, snatching the comm back. "The Angels don't leave you alive." He turned to the comm. "Bob, keep running. But tell us... how did you escape?"
"I didn't escape, sir." Bob replied. "The Angel killed me too."
"What d'you mean, the Angel killed you too?" the Doctor questioned.
"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick, so that was something."
"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?"
"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."
Shareen felt her blood boil in anger. "It killed him and stole his voice?!" she glared.
"So when you say you're on your way up to us..." the Doctor began.
"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes."
The Doctor hung up and turned to the others. "No way out." he said grimly.
"Then we get out through the wreckage." Octavian decided. "Go!"
"Go, go, go!" the Doctor urged the Humans. "All of you run!"
"Doctor!" Amy called, seeing that the Doctor was making no effort to move himself.
"Yes, I'm coming, just go, go, go!" the Doctor waved her off, and River and Shareen ushered her away with the other clerics. The Doctor then turned to Octavian. "Called you an idiot, sorry." he said. "But there's no way we could've rescued your men."
"I know that, sir." Octavian said bitterly. "And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families." And he stalked away.
The Doctor hung his head for a moment, cursing himself for failing to notice the perception filters sooner, then he got back on his communicator. "Angel Bob, which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?"
"Yes, sir. The other Angels are still restoring."
"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage." the Doctor realised. "Thank you." He hung up and legged it down the passageway the others had gone down.
~8~
River, Amy, Shareen and the Clerics arrived at an open chamber where they saw the nose of the Byzantium poking through the roof. "Well, there it is; the Byzantium." Octavian said.
"It's got to be 30 feet." River said. "How're we going to get up there?"
"With a long rope?" Shareen muttered flatly. She turned to the Clerics. "Let me get this straight; you came in here and didn't think to bring any climbin' equipment with ya? What kinda soliders are you?!"
"The Doctor will think of something." Amy said confidently.
"Then he'd better hurry up." Shareen huffed. She knew only too well that the Doctor liked to cut it fine.
"Check all these exits." Octavian ordered his remaining men. "I want them all secure."
Octavian's men went off to check the passageways and they returned a few moments later. "The statues are advancing along all corridors." the second-in-command reported to Octavian. "And, sir, my torch keeps flickering."
"They all do." Octavian noticed.
"So does the gravity globe." River added.
"Clerics, we're down to four men." Octavian warned as the Doctor arrived. "Expect incoming."
"Yeah, it's the Angels." the Doctor said. "They're coming and they're draining the power for themselves."
"Which means we won't be able to see them." Octavian realised. He knew enough about the Weeping Angels to know that there was no chance of surviving them in the dark.
"Which means we can't stay here." the Doctor said simply.
"Any suggestions?" River asked.
"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium." Octavian said pessimistically.
"No pressure, Dickie-Bow, but this is usually when ya pull a miracle outta ya arse." Shareen said to the Doctor.
"There's always a way out." the Doctor muttered, racking his brains to think of a solution to their current predicament while the lights flickered around them, allowing the Angels to box them in.
"Doctor?" Angel Bob's voice called over the communicator. "Can I speak to the Doctor, please?"
"Hello, Angels. What's ya problem?" the Doctor said into the comm.
"Your power will not last much longer and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir."
"Why're you telling me this?"
"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."
"Which is?"
"I died in fear."
"I'm sorry?"
"You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down."
"What're they doing?" Amy asked River quietly.
"They're trying to make him angry." River replied.
"Yeah, I've seen him when he's angry and it's not pretty." Shareen remarked.
"I'm sorry, sir." Angel Bob continued, "The Angels were very keen for you to know that."
"Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not gonna let that pass." the Doctor replied, "I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever's left of you, they will be sorrier."
"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."
The Doctor had an idea. It was risky but it was their only chance. "Yeah, we're trapped." he said. "Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake!"
"What mistake, sir?"
The Doctor didn't reply; he just turned to Amy. "Trust me?" he asked.
"Yeah." Amy replied.
The Doctor turned to Shareen. "Trust me, Whitland?"
"Sure, why not?" Shareen shrugged, knowing that he was their only hope at the moment.
The Doctor then turned to River. "Trust me?"
"Always." River grinned.
Then the Doctor turned to the clerics. "You lot, trust me?"
"Sir, two more incoming!" a cleric warned their Bishop.
"We have faith, sir." Octavian told the Doctor.
"Then give me your gun." the Doctor instructed and Octavian handed him his blaster pistol. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous." the Doctor informed everyone. "When I do, jump." He jumped on the spot to illustrate his point.
"Jump where?" Shareen asked him.
"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Shareen. On my signal."
"What signal?" Octavian asked.
"You won't miss it." the Doctor said, aiming his blaster at the gravity globe above them.
"Sorry, can I ask again?" Angel Bob's voice said over the communicator. "You mentioned a mistake?"
"Oh, big mistake." the Doctor answered. "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."
"And what would that be, sir?"
"Me." the Doctor spat and promptly fired the blaster at the gravity globe, which exploded, plunging the cavern into darkness.
To be continued...
Author's notes: And after a break, Shareen is back for another outing. Not being the biggest fan of the Moffat-era, I've decided to have Shareen be part-time from now on; she'll have the occasional adventure with the Doctor, covering Moffat-era episodes I find watchable. I chose this two-parter to start with as it gave me a chance to have a shot at addressing certain things which bug me about it. Note that there's no Angel in the eyes thing this time. I don't like that plot element as it contradicts Blink, so the presence of Shareen and her sonic pen means that Amy is spared from that ordeal this time round. Shareen's dynamic with the 11th Doctor is pretty fun. Shareen's just as spiky as ever, but the Doctor is able to cross wits with her now. So, hope you like this chapter and hope to see ya next time for part 2.