A/N: I know it's been so long since I've posted anything new. Like, what, a few months? I have been crazy busy with both work and family stuff, and could barely find time to write. Now, I've finally managed to write a new chapter.
I will warn you: this chapter is INSANELY long, but it is well worth the read, I promise you. Especially since it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. I hope you enjoy :)
I have also started posting on Wattpad under the same profile, so go check me out there as well if you're interested :)
*** This chapter has been rewritten ***
Chapter 39: Like a Fly Caught in a Web
I am almost at a complete loss for words after what has just happened. "I think she left…" I manage to stammer, my hearts filled to the brim with dread.
"Where?" Jenny asks, still as utterly bewildered as I am.
I shake my head again. "I don't know. It sounded like she dragged someone out with her, though. Maybe… Maybe Dad." I am at a total loss as to how in the hell Mom could've escaped the TARDIS library, especially from outside. I know for a fact that she didn't have her gun nor Vortex Manipulator on her, since I saw Dad take those away from her as we were leaving, but I can't think of anything else as to how she escaped. It just seemed impossible.
I also can't believe she would attack my father and grandmother like that. Then again, she wasn't exactly herself; rather, the Silence were responsible for the attack—again. Will the torture ever end?
"You think they may be coming here?" Jenny wonders aloud.
I nod with a shrug. "I think it makes sense. She is being controlled by the Silence, after all, so maybe they somehow managed to take control again, even after Dad forced her to sleep. Dad said they couldn't control her in that state, but maybe the Silence found a way. I mean, there are other ways to connect to the Internet without use of Wi-Fi."
"I'm afraid I don't understand what 'the Internet' and 'Wi-Fi' are," Jenny says, raising a quizzical eyebrow at me, "but I do understand what you are saying. You're saying your mother somehow escaped the TARDIS while under the Silence's control and dragged your father out with her?"
"And she may be bringing him here," I add with another nod, "and they already know we're here. Now it's only a matter of time before they know who we really are; in which case, I'm not sure how much longer we can keep up our 'sisters' act. That 'Commander' dude seemed to see right through our disguise, so I wouldn't be surprised if he reports us shortly, or if he already has reported us. In any case, our disguise isn't enough. Everyone will see right through it and know who we are."
"Maybe not everyone. So far, no one has sounded any alarms since we arrived, so perhaps we still have a chance to succeed in our mission unrecognized."
"That's only because they want us to believe that, but that doesn't change the fact that they know we're here." I sigh. "I hate to say this, but I don't see us getting out of this alive." We've been so close to getting captured several times already, and it's only a matter of time until they really see us for who we are, and then it's 'to the grave for Nova Susan Song and Jenny Flint.'
"Don't say that, Nova," Jenny shakes her head. "Of course we will. Let's try to rendezvous with Madame Vastra and Strax. We can figure out what to do after that."
"How do we reach them?" I ask. "I don't think they know what's just happened with Mom and Dad. There has to be a way to warn them." Who's to say she took my grandparents as well? Or worse…
"We'll let them know once we find them," Jenny assures me. "Come on. There may be a way to get to the Main Control Deck from here. We just need to follow the signs."
"We need to hurry," I say, my anxiety increasing. "I don't know how Mom managed to get out of the library, but she may be coming back here with Dad in the same way. She could be here any minute. We need to stop her from turning Dad in. Or worse…" No! I can't even begin to think about it.
"I'm sorry, Nova, but we can't do anything about that right now," Jenny says sadly. "Your parents could appear literally anywhere, and this base is enormous. The least we can do is regroup with Madame Vastra and Strax. We can decide what to do from there."
"How do we get to the Control Deck from here?" I ask with a frown. "For all we know, Mom may have taken my grandparents as well." Somehow, I don't see us getting around easily without a navigator to tell us where to go, since that was originally Dad's job; and with my grandparents unaccounted for, it would be even more difficult, since there isn't anyone else that can take over, not even the TARDIS herself.
My thoughts are suddenly interrupted when I hear a male voice say in a 'what're you talking about?' tone, "Um…no, she hasn't. We're still here."
"Huh?" I say, somewhat startled by the unexpected voice through the earpiece. "Who's that—the guy who just spoke?" Then again, on the plus side, I am thankful that there was an answer, proving that at least someone is still alive within the TARDIS.
"Uh, sorry," the man speaks up again. "Didn't mean to scare you. I'm Rory. Your…uh…"
"Grandfather," I hear my Scottish grandmother say in a weak-sounding, yet obvious, tone in the background. Thank God, she's still alive too.
"Uh…yeah," the man calling himself 'Rory' responds, still sounding unsure for reasons unknown to me. "Your grandfather. You must be Nova, our granddaughter. Hello."
"Hi," I say a little awkwardly, unsure as to why he would think I didn't already know who he was; not that I know much about him, regretfully, aside from the things Dad told me about him, which was very little.
"Who're you talking to?" Jenny frowns at me in puzzlement. "Is it the Doctor? Is he alright?"
I shake my head at her. "No, it's my grandparents. They're still in the TARDIS, thank God. But Dad…" The fact that Dad—nor Mom—is no longer with them greatly concerns me.
"She took him!" Amy speaks up. "Mels took him—your mother! I saw her drag him out the door when I came to. Rory and I tried stopping her, but she disappeared with him. I don't know where they went."
"She attacked me as well," Rory says. "She just suddenly sat up and immediately knocked me out. When I came to and found Amy, I saw that the Doctor was gone and figured that River took him out with her. We were too slow to stop her. They were already gone by the time we rushed outside."
Hearing both sides of the story from my grandparents sends shivers through my body. Despite it all, I shake my head, mentally telling myself to handle the situation calmly. "That's okay," I say. "As long as you guys are okay, maybe you can help us get to the Main Control Deck to meet up with Vastra and Strax. We need to tell them what happened." I then pause, suddenly thinking better. "Actually, you might be able to give them the message from there. Dad was able to do that through the TARDIS. Tell them about Mom and Dad, and then give us directions to meet them." If Dad is no longer here to take charge of the situation, I think, then I will. I figure this is something he has plans to teach me eventually, so why not start now?
"Right!" Rory says before pausing for a few seconds, then saying, "Uh…how do we do that?"
Oh, that's right, I think to myself, Rory wasn't taught how to communicate with everyone else through the TARDIS, since he was originally tasked to watch over Mom.
"I can take it from here," Amy speaks up, her voice sounding confident. "Don't you worry, Nova, we got this. Come give me a hand, Stupid Face."
"What?" I frown, feeling slightly offended about Amy calling her husband that ridiculous name. From my brief memory of his appearance, Rory's face did not look stupid at all; in fact, he, admittedly, looked quite handsome for his age. In fact, both of my grandparents seemed significantly younger than I previously expected, much younger than even my mother.
"Sorry, not you, Nova," Amy chuckles in response. "Talking to your grandfather; that's my silly name for him. We'll get back to you shortly."
"Don't get killed!" Rory exclaims through the earpiece at Jenny and me.
I can't help but snort at this seemingly unnecessary statement. "Um, yeah, roger that, thanks." Wow, did he really need to say that?
"So, what did they say?" Jenny asks curiously and anxiously, clearly noticing that I have momentarily stopped talking to my grandparents.
"They said they'll get back to us in a little bit," I explain. "Meanwhile, I guess we just hang around here. 'Don't get killed,' Rory said." I snort again. "Like he really needed to say that." I mean, I understand why he felt the need to say it, but it still seemed a little gratuitous all the same. Overall, though, I think it is sweet of him to feel concerned for our safety.
"Sorry," Rory says, evidently overhearing our brief conversation. "It's just that I'm a nurse. It's my job to look out for everyone, especially you."
"That's right," I say, suddenly remembering. "Dad told me you were a nurse. He also said you were a plastic Roman Centurion for two-thousand years?" That part in particular I find to be very hard to believe. Who ever heard of a living human turning into a hunk of living plastic, and a Roman one at that?
"Yeah…" Rory says in a slightly embarrassed tone. "About that, it's a long story."
"Two-thousand years long, apparently," I snort. "But plastic, though?"
"Yeah…" he says again before explaining. "Long story short, during one of my adventures with your father and grandmother, I died and was sucked into this weird 'light' thing; and then somehow I woke up as a 2nd Century Roman Centurion, head full of '2nd Century Roman Centurion' stuff. Apparently, I was also what the Doctor called 'a Nestene duplicate,' which he said were aliens made of plastic."
"Like those shop-window dummies that came to life all over London in 2005 and killed all those people?" I remember. "Those weren't actual shop-window dummies but rather 'Nestene duplicates?'"
"Yes," Rory confirms. "And I, apparently, was one of them for almost two-thousand years, protecting your grandmother while she was inside a prison under Stonehenge called the Pandorica."
I nod. "Yeah, Dad told me that story. I thought it was very fascinating, especially the part where Dad had to reboot the whole universe. I'd love to hear more about it from your perspective. Being a real-life Roman Centurion must've been absolutely amazing." For a brief moment, I remember seeing the video of 'the Lone Centurion' in one of my History classes at school—how the Roman protected the Pandorica for almost two-thousand years straight, never leaving its side once—and I find it absolutely mind-boggling that said 'Lone Centurion' was my actual grandfather, and I didn't even know it at the time.
"It was…a bit," Rory says in a tone like he would rather forget it ever happened than remember it, which greatly confuses me. Who wouldn't want to live as a Roman Centurion?
"Alright, I'll let them know. Thanks," I hear Amy say to who I assume to be Madame Vastra before speaking up a little louder to me through the earpiece. "Okay, so there's good news and bad news. The good news is that you guys' friends are safe for now. The bad news is that they were forced to flee from the Control Deck and are now in a temporary hiding spot nearby. Another bad thing: now that the Silence have your parents, they've upped their security to great extent—hence why your friends had to leave the Control Room—so it's gonna be a lot harder to get around the base now. They're probably gonna have people checking other people's IDs and whatnot."
Of course they are, I think in my head, not feeling surprised in the slightest about that. So typical of them. "Any info on what they're gonna do with my parents, or where they're being taken?" I ask anxiously out loud.
"Vastra didn't say," Amy says apologetically. "Only that they had to escape the Control Room and have agreed to meet with you."
"So how do we get there to meet them?" I ask, my anxiety increasing.
"There should be a little bus/trolley thing that'll take you to them," Amy explains. "I'll give you directions there now."
"Okay," I nod. "Let's go."
"I shouldn't have to tell you this, but I'm gonna say it anyway," my grandmother says in a nervous tone. "Be careful, and try to keep your head down as much as you can. Since they know you're there, they'll most likely be out looking for you."
"They already are looking for us," I say with a nod, "but thanks for the reminder." I decide not to mention the fact that we were almost recognized several times since we've been here, though they may have already seen evidence of that on the TARDIS screen. I relay all the information to Jenny, and we begin setting off through the base's Atrium to find her other friends, dodging various Silence members' sideways glances as we walk.
After several minutes of walking, I can't help but begin to worry for my father. The Silence have been after him for decades—maybe even centuries at this point—and now that they have him, they can get away with anything they want. Who's to say they've already killed Hazel and my guardians? Perhaps they forced Mom to do it; in which case, all of this was for nothing. All of this was just a trap to bring us here, just so they can drive the Time Lords into extinction for good, starting with my father.
"Don't worry, Nova," Jenny speaks up, evidently sensing my thoughts. "I'm sure your father is fine."
"How did you know I was thinking about him?" I frown at her in confusion. "Are you a telepath too?"
She gives a slight chuckle at this and shakes her head. "No. I'm just very intuitive. It wouldn't make sense for you not to worry about him, considering what happened, but you shouldn't have to be worried."
"I know," I sigh shamefully, "but I can't help it. I lost him once, and I almost lost him again when I came to rescue you on the Shadow Demons' ship."
"I know," Jenny nods understandingly. "But he's survived Death before, you understand. Once from being erased and then being remembered back into existence; the second time from a deadly poison; and the third time from being shot at a scenic lake in the middle of the desert."
"And then a fourth time when he was bludgeoned to death by a group of maniacal space-pirates," I add. "Sure, he survived all four incidents, but none of them he survived on his own. He only survived from being erased from existence because my grandmother remembered him back into reality. He only survived the lake simply because he asked the operators of a time-travelling robot to disguise as him and be shot in his place. And he only survived the two times when he was poisoned and when he was beaten to death by the pirates because he was resurrected by people who still had the ability to regenerate. That being said, he didn't survive any of those moments on his own; he only survived them because he had help. If he ends up dying again, but none of us can save him this time…" I figure, by now, the Silence know not only new ways to outright kill a Time Lord but also ways to prevent anyone from saving one from permanent death. If it weren't for Dad coming up with the idea to talk the time-travelling robot into morphing as him and taking his place at the lake when he did, he would've totally screwed himself and wouldn't be alive today.
"Of course he's not gonna die," Jenny assures me. "We'll make sure of it. We'll save your guardians and your parents—all four of us. You have my word."
"Six!" Rory speaks up through the earpiece. "Amy and I will help as well. We'd never abandon our family."
My grandfather's words sprout a smile on my face. "I'm definitely gonna hold you guys to that promise. I'll never forgive myself if even just one of them d—Oh my god, what the hell is that?!" I am suddenly creeped out by the very tall, slender man—creature, or whatever it is—with a large bulbous head standing to the side, dressed in a black pinstriped suit. "Geez, that thing is creepy." Not only does it have long spindly fingers on each hand, but also it has no eyes. I mean, it does have eyes, but they are so deeply sunken into its eye sockets that he (it) may as well not have any eyes at all. Its entire appearance, for some reason, makes me immediately think of the screaming man in Edvard Munch's The Scream.
"Oh!" Jenny says, flinching on the spot as we walk past. "Yes, they do seem quite ugly, don't they?"
"What are those things?"
"I believe your father called them 'Silents.' They appear to be servants of the Silence organization."
"Yeah, I gathered that," I say with a raised eyebrow. "And I'm guessing the organization is named after them?"
Jenny nods. "I imagine so. He said they are confessional priests from the Church of the Papal Mainframe. They were genetically engineered by the Church to allow people to confess their sins without remembering doing so, hence why you forget they were ever there the instant you look away."
"Except when we wear the iDrive, right?" I say, remembering my conversation with Mom and Dad when they first told me about the Silence. "Mom said you retain memory of them as long as you wear the iDrive."
"Yes, that's right," Jenny nods again, glancing back at the so-called 'Silent.' "I've often wondered what they looked like."
"I've personally never wanted to find out," I admit honestly. From my parents' stories of their experiences with the creatures—of course, they wouldn't remember much about them, if at all, because of their apparent 'memory wipe' ability—they always described them as evil and manipulative; therefore I imagined them to be hideously deformed in appearance. Looking at the creature now, I realize that my expectations were confirmed.
I look away from the creature for exactly ten seconds, hoping to forget its hideousness and everything else, but unfortunately nothing changes with my memories. "Nope, I still remember them," I say disappointedly after another five seconds.
"Remember what?" I hear both of my grandparents say in unison in the background.
"Slender McCreepster back there," I confirm before turning back briefly to face the Silent again and nodding towards it. "Him."
"Oh my god, what is that thing?" Amy gasps in shock as if seeing it for the first time (which, technically, she hasn't).
"Blimey, that thing is ugly!" Rory exclaims in equal horror.
I frown, unsure as to how they can just forget while Jenny and I still remember even after we've looked away. "Um, we just told you what it was. Jenny called it a 'Silent.' Apparently, they—" I then pause, suddenly realizing. "Oh! You guys aren't wearing the iDrive, are you? So you can't remember them when we look away, but we can." Duh! I am such a dingus!
"Remember what?" they both ask again in the exact same way as the first time they said it.
"Exactly," I sigh, having proven my point.
"Seriously, what're we talking about?" Rory asks, anxiously wanting to understand, but at this point there is no need to explain, because they'll just forget again the nanosecond I look away.
I sigh again. "Never mind, just forget it." I then immediately groan, suddenly realizing that I've made the worst pun in the history of the universe. "And no, that pun was definitely not intended."
"What pun?" Amy asks, clearly as equally puzzled as her husband.
"Nothing, let's just continue," I say, shaking my head. "That looks like a bus stop right there," I nod toward a small area with a sign that shows the image of a trolley of some kind and several soldiers standing next to it.
"It is," Amy confirms. "When the bus comes, get on and I'll tell you when to get off."
"Okay," I nod before passing on the info to Jenny.
As we approach the area, I begin thinking about the fact that Madame Vastra and Strax seemingly had help in getting to the Control Deck when we first arrived, and I can't help but wonder who it was that helped them. It wouldn't make sense for the helper to be a Silence member, and even if it was, why would they help them? Surely the helper would know that by helping Vastra and Strax, they would also be helping my father, the one enemy that they want to eliminate.
I decide to ask Jenny. "I just remembered something. Earlier, you said that Dad said that Vastra and Strax told him that they had help in getting to the Main Control Deck."
"That's right, I did," she nods.
"Did he say who helped them?"
She shrugs. "He said it was 'some kid.' He didn't say who the kid was; only that this kid helped them."
"Was this kid one of these people?"
"Couldn't have been. It wouldn't make any sense."
That's what I thought, I think, knowing that she confirmed my suspicions. If that was the case, maybe the helper wasn't a member of the Silence.
"Maybe this kid was like us," I suggest in a murmur. "Maybe he or she is in disguise like us."
"Perhaps…" Jenny says, seemingly agreeing with me, though she sounds doubtful. She then says as we arrive at the bus stop, "We're almost there. Let's try to keep up our 'sisters' act. Just in case…"
"Right," I agree, fighting myself not to have another panic attack like earlier. I can feel my palms sweating and my hearts going into overdrive again, but I force myself to take a deep breath and remind myself to keep being brave.
A few minutes later, as we're standing next to each other in silence (the concept, not the creature, needless to say; and yes, I can still remember everything about the creature from earlier), I notice one soldier giving me a sideways glance and sniggering to another soldier.
"A lit'le young to be one of us, ain't ya?" the soldier calls out in my direction, but I pay him no mind, turning my head away from him and toward Jenny, even stepping closer to her to feel more protected. Realizing that I'm ignoring him (of course, as I'm not at all interested in associating myself with idiots, especially ones that want me and my family dead), he speaks up again, "Oi, kid, I'm talkin' to ya! I said a lit'le young to be one of us, ain't ya?"
I figure if I simply continue to ignore him, he'll continue to harass me, so I decide to respond with a careless, "Who's asking?" hoping it'll give him the message to leave me alone.
Unfortunately it doesn't work; in fact, it seems to annoy him more. "Your elder, that's who's askin'!" he snaps at me. "Very rude to be talkin' to your elder like that. Someone needs to go back to school to learn manners! I ask you again: a lit'le young to be one of us, ain't ya?"
Okay, now he's starting to really annoy me; actually, he's beginning to straight up piss me off. "It's not really your business," I snap back at him, "so why don't you just get lost?" Before I break your jaw, I add in my head, as I'm seriously tempted to do just that, not caring whether it would be smart or not to do so.
Apparently he ends up getting super pissed off with my response, because he says, "It is my business because I'm your elder! I should punish you for your lack of benevolence!"
Then he does the unexpected. He immediately slaps me hard across the cheek, sending me to the floor, the impact to the floor knocking my iDrive off of my eye and earpiece out of my ear. At least, I think my earpiece fell out, as I immediately begin hearing a loud ringing in the background and feeling a sharp sting on the side of my right eye and bottom lip, followed by my vision going fuzzy.
"Nov—Natty!" Jenny cries, almost saying the wrong name; though her cry sounds muffled to me because of the incessant ringing in my ears.
"That'll teach you a few manners, you lit'le rat!" the bastard that attacked me says in a tone like he should deserve a medal for his actions, his voice also sounding muffled to me.
"That's my sister!" Jenny screams in anger. "How dare you touch my sister, you loathsome gargoyle!"
"Or you'll what, sweet cheeks?" the soldier sniggers at her. "You gonna fight me? I'd like to see you try! Let's dance, pretty lady! I'll lead!" I hear him take an aggressive step toward Jenny. At the same time, my vision returns to normal, and I manage to find the earpiece on the floor. Once I do, I glance over to see another figure, dressed in a long black cloak, step in.
"Or we can dance instead!" the newcomer says, stepping between Jenny and the other soldier. As I watch this, I cover my right eye with my hand so as not to be recognized even with a giant bruise forming across my cheek. With my other hand, I replace the earpiece back in my ear.
Once it's back in, I immediately hear Amy's frantic cries. "Nova! Is that you? Are you alright? We lost you for a minute there! What happened?" I don't answer and instead focus on the quarrel between Jenny, the soldier that attacked me, and the new arrival, all the while feeling around the floor for my lost iDrive, but I can't find it.
The cloaked figure—a young boy, by the looks of him, though the only thing I can see of him under the hood are his eyes—glares at the soldier, saying in a threatening tone, "Leave these ladies alone and pick on someone your own age! Better yet, save this fight for the Time Lord! That's why we're all here, is it not? So how about it, huh?" I can't help but snort at this statement, knowing that the soldier had literally fought a Time Lord just now, just not 'the' Time Lord that is my father, whom the boy is referring to.
After a minute, the soldier scowls at the boy before turning between Jenny and me. "You watch yourselves, kittens," he says, glaring spitefully at us. "Next time, you won't be so lucky. I will definitely save my fight for the Time Lord. All of them, starting with his girl. Just you watch!"
When he said the word 'girl,' I knew right away he was referring to me. Bro, you already did, I can't help saying in my head in response.
He then leaves the area with his cronies, and they go about their business as the bus arrives at the 'terminal.'
"Natty!" Jenny yells, running to me. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I nod as she drops down beside me and places concerned hands on my shoulders. "But I lost my iDrive."
"I have it here," the cloaked figure—who, for a moment, I forgot even existed—says as he kneels down in front of me and holds out my iDrive to me.
As I reach out to take it from him, I suddenly pause when I notice his dark eyes—the rest of his face being covered by a mask that's the same color as the cloak—and I find myself being absolutely mesmerized by them. They seem to pierce right through me and into my very soul, setting both of my hearts aflutter. Through his eyes, I can tell that he seems to be looking at me in the exact same way.
Whoa… Is this what 'love at first sight' feels like?
"Here," the boy—rather, young man, as he appears to be in his early-to-mid-twenties; basically not much older than me, at least in human years—says in a slightly awkward tone, bringing my mind back into reality as he lifts the iDrive higher to my face.
"Thanks," I say as I take the iDrive from him with equal awkwardness. I then stand up with Jenny's help, and we begin walking toward the bus when the cloaked figure stops me.
"Wait!" he says. "This fell out of your pocket."
I have to fight myself not to curse out loud as I see him staring at my sonic screwdriver that I guess had fallen out of my pocket when I fell. He stares at it with seeming recognition. Uh-oh. This can't be good. I immediately snatch the screwdriver from him, without thanking him this time, and replace it back in my pocket as I turn away from him and rush onto the bus with Jenny close behind.
The bus immediately begins moving the moment we sit down toward the back; thankfully it's not a full bus. Replacing my iDrive back over my now-bruised eye, I watch as the bus pulls away from the boy that defended us from the idiotic soldier that attacked me. I watch as the boy stares back at me with a sad look in his eyes—eyes that seem to yearn to lock with mine again.
Oh, stop it, Nova, I chastise myself, shaking my head. Can't you see you're falling in love with someone who may or may not want you dead? Wake the hell up!
"Your lip is bleeding a bit," Jenny says with concern. "Also, your face is all red."
"Yeah, I was hit pretty hard," I say, feeling embarrassed, as I wipe my lip and see a little bit of blood that stains the sleeve of my 'borrowed' uniform. The slightest bit of contact makes me wince in pain. "Thank God Dad didn't see that," I murmur under my breath. If my father had seen that, he probably would've torn that guy to pieces; or, if he wouldn't, then Mom certainly would, if she'd seen it.
"That too," Jenny nods and then corrects me. "I actually meant that you're blushing. That boy must've been good-looking under that cloak."
"Yeah," I say, feeling my cheeks blush even more now that she's mentioned it. "He must've." If only I'd seen his face properly.
"That kid had very unusual eyes," Amy admits. "You seemed very mesmerized by them."
"'Love at first sight,' eh?" Rory says in a teasing tone.
Ugh, are we really going to continue talking about this? Please don't.
"Shut up, Stupid Face," Amy says to Rory. "You wouldn't know whether it was 'love at first sight' or not. And anyway, it's not your business to know whether or not Nova felt like that." She then pauses and murmurs to herself, "Though, I'm wondering if that was the same kid that helped the Doctor's friends earlier."
"How can you be sure?" Rory asks doubtfully.
"I don't, it's just a theory. In any case, I can't imagine there being many kids being a part of the Silence. Obviously there were some members that were surprised that Nova was one at her age. Or rather, seemed to be one, even though she actually isn't."
"Maybe they were 'recruited' at Nova's age—or younger—and have been in league with the Silence ever since," Rory suggests. "I mean, that happened to River. Almost happened to River."
"True," Amy agrees. "That was so horrible. All the things she's been through…"
"And all the things she's going through right now…" Rory adds.
"All the more reason to stop them," I point out to them. The Silence have tormented Mom her whole life, and I'm determined to make sure they never do it again.
"You got that right, Nova," Amy says with what I imagine to be a smile. "Your grandfather and I will help you to accomplish that goal in any way that we can."
I nod. "Good, because I'm going to need all the help I can get. Not just to save Mom, but Dad and everyone else."
"I wish we could be there with you," Rory says in a regretful tone.
I shake my head. "No, you guys need to stay in the TARDIS. Mom and Dad would want that for you. And besides, you can help me just fine there. You guys can see everything I'm seeing, so in a way you guys are already with me, but as like a fly on a wall—rather, as a voice inside my ear."
"That's true too," Amy chuckles.
"How long do we have to stay on this bus for?" I ask, steering back on topic.
"I'll let you know when to get off," Amy assures me. "For now, just make yourselves comfortable. You still have a little ways to go." I nod before relaying everything to Jenny once more.
"Who do you suppose that young boy was?" Jenny asks me after a short time. "He didn't seem like an ordinary young boy, especially as a member of the Silence."
"Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing," I admit with a nod. "Even if he was truly a Silence member, especially if he knew who we really were, he wouldn't have helped us; instead, he would've ratted us out and turned us in. So why didn't he? Why did he help us?" Also, if he was truly the one who helped Vastra and Strax earlier, why did he help them as well?
"I'm not sure," Jenny says, frowning in suspicion. "Perhaps we should ask him the next time we run into him."
"I agree that boy was a bit strange," Rory speaks up. "I'd recommend staying away from him, Nova, just in case."
I nod slowly, feeling uncertain. "Yeah. Maybe I should."
Even despite my grandparents and Jenny seemingly not trusting him, I can't help but think about the boy that defended me from that bastard of a Silence member. Admittedly—though I'd never in a million years say this out loud—I thought the boy was a bit cute, and a small part of me actually hopes to run into him again in the near future just to see his gorgeous eyes again.
Suddenly thinking better, I shake my head again, thinking of these seemingly affectionate feelings toward this boy—who is a complete stranger to me and one who may or may not be in league with the Silence—as typical teenage pubescent mood swings. Nothing more.
At that very moment, a loud voice rings out through the bus's speakers, as well as through the rest of the base, "Attention all personnel. An emergency meeting has just been scheduled. Please proceed to the north side of the Atrium immediately. All personnel are required to attend. No excuses are to be permitted. I repeat: all personnel are required to attend. Failure to do so will result in severe punishment. The meeting will commence in twenty minutes."
At this, I look at Jenny nervously, and through her eyes, I can tell we're both thinking the same thing: this 'mandatory meeting' is for us. We begin feeling the bus slow down, make a hard U-turn, and drive back down the way we came.
"It's turning back," Jenny points this out, her nervousness increasing in her voice. "It's taking us back to where we first got on."
At this point, I begin feeling my 'Time Lord Spidey Senses' tingling and that familiar feeling of something bad that is about to happen—specifically something that will happen if we don't attend this meeting.
"I know what you're thinking, Nova," Amy says, seemingly reading my thoughts. "I've seen that look on your father numerous times, and it never means anything good. Tell me you're not gonna do what you're thinking of doing." That's when I realize that she sees my face through the reflection in the bus window.
"We have to," I confess nervously. "Everyone is required to go. That's why the bus is going back. We don't have a choice."
"Nova, we can't go," Jenny says. "Your parents, your guardians—we can save them while the meeting is taking place."
"I don't think that's an option for us anymore," I say, shaking my head. "Besides, if we refuse to go, we'll look suspicious; then they'll really be on to us."
"Not to mention that not going will result in 'severe punishment,'" Rory adds. "Personally, I don't want to find out what that means."
"I'm with Rory," Amy agrees. "I don't want to see anything bad happen to you, and I know something bad will happen to you if you go to that meeting. Please, don't go."
"We don't have a choice," I say again. "Even if something bad does happen, I need to know what happens. It could have something to do with Mom and Dad." Perhaps we could learn of the Silence's endgame if we go; then we can use it to defeat them once and for all.
"Yes, but it could also be a trap," Rory points out. "Have you ever thought that maybe this whole thing was designed as a trap to get to you? To lure you in like a worm on a fishhook? That's exactly what they made your guardians into."
More like a fly caught in a web, I think, feeling more like that than anything else. In this case, my family and I are the flies and Madame Kovarian is the spider ready to feast on us.
"Yeah, including the Doctor and Mels!" Amy adds to Rory's statement. "I bet that's what this whole meeting is about. They're gonna use your parents and former guardians as bait to lure you in—rather, lure you out of hiding, since they know you're there."
"You think I haven't worked that out already?" I say incredulously out of anger. "That's exactly what they're doing; I've known that from the very beginning, from the moment they were kidnapped in the first place!" I sigh, thinking of my family and what Kovarian said: 'Sooner or later, you'll have to face me. If you want any chance of saving your precious family, even your mother, you'll turn yourself in. I'll make sure you do.' "They've been trying to catch me for years. For my whole life. Perhaps it's time they finally caught me properly." I pause again, this time thinking of my evil self's words: 'You'll have to stop running eventually! Everybody does! You can't run forever!' "Perhaps it's time to stop running."
"Nova…" Jenny attempts to protest.
"Nova, don't do this," Amy protests at the same time as Jenny. "They'll kill you!"
"They won't kill me," I say. "They want me alive, remember?"
"Yes, to kill the Doctor in River's place!" Rory says in a 'seriously, how can you not know that?' manner.
"No, I can save him instead. I can save both of them. I can save everyone. This is my chance to prove myself. I have to take it! If I don't, they'll all die anyway. I'm not gonna let that happen. Please, you have to let me do this!"
"I'm staying with you," Jenny insists. "You're not doing this by yourself. If you go, we all go."
Her words suddenly make me think of Hazel and remember agreeing with her whenever she'd say that. However, I also remember the time when I refused to let Hazel accompany me when we were escaping the Silence the first time in Modern Day London and how that ended up being a big mistake, which ultimately led to where we are now. I seriously don't want to make the same mistake with Jenny.
After another minute of indecision, I sigh. "Okay. We'll go to the meeting together. But if worse comes to worse, I'm continuing on my own, and you're gonna reconnect with Madame Vastra and Strax like we originally planned. I'm not gonna put anyone else in danger." I then pause, thinking better. "Actually, maybe I should go alone."
"Nova—" Jenny and Amy both say in unison while Rory exclaims, "What?!"
"Just hear me out!" I say before turning to Jenny. "Once I turn myself in, the Silence will have their full attention on me. While the Silence are focused on me, you, Vastra and Strax can sneak through the shadows to save my parents and guardians. Then once everyone is saved, you guys can come back for me later."
No surprise, everyone is against this idea. Everyone begins talking at once.
"Nova, we can't let you do that!" Jenny.
"You don't know what the Silence are capable of!" Rory.
"You won't stand a chance against them! They're too powerful!" Amy.
"You're too inexperienced! You'll be killed for sure!" Jenny again.
"Yeah, and who's to say you won't regenerate if you do get killed? Just like your father at the lake…" Rory again, responding to Jenny.
"If your father was here, he'd agree with all of us! So would Mels!" Amy, responding to Rory.
Jenny eventually ends the argument, saying, "I'll turn myself in! You don't have to. You can help save your family. It's you they're after, not me."
"No, Jenny, you can't!" I say, refusing to let her go. "If you turn yourself in in my place, they'll either kill you or turn you into one of them. It has to be me."
My last words suddenly make me think of my mother, when she said those exact same words to my father and I before she set out to find the Silence, only to end up being pulled into their web and brainwashed onto their side once more. Not that that would happen to me.
"Nova, no!" Amy says, seemingly having read my mind again (or read my expression on my face through the reflection in the window again). "They'll make you just like your mother! She's their puppet now; is that really what you want to become?"
"No!" I insist, now feeling overwhelmed with emotion. "I can stop that from happening! I can save her! I'll… I'll figure something out!" I am so overwhelmed that I feel like I am starting to lose my confidence in myself.
"You don't sound very sure of yourself," Rory points this out. "All the more reason why you shouldn't do this."
"As your father has said many times, you're too inexperienced!" Jenny says again. "Let me do this instead!"
I groan not just in annoyance but also at the fact that the bus appears to be coming to a stop, having returned to the 'bus station' where we first got on. "There's no more time for this!" I tell everyone else. "They're forcing us off!"
Shortly after the bus comes to a complete stop, another Silence member who seems to be of a higher rank than the rest steps inside the bus. He then bellows while ushering everyone off, "You lot, off the bus! Kovarian's orders! Line up with the others! MOVE!"
"Blimey, that bloke is strict," Rory comments while Jenny and I get off the bus quickly. "How do these guys cope?"
"Who cares," Amy growls contemptuously. "The only thing these guys care about is killing our daughter and son-in-law."
Once she finishes speaking, I hear another announcer say through the loudspeakers, "Attention! Mandatory meeting will commence in ten minutes!"
"Stay close to me, Nova," Jenny says as she grips my hand tightly in her own as we gather with the rest of the soldiers that are standing in front of a large stage along the north wall. "I don't want to lose you in this crowd."
I don't say anything, knowing that Jenny's words don't matter, as I have a feeling like I will be required to turn myself in at the end of this meeting. For now, I continue following the soldiers with Jenny close behind me, everyone walking in a single-file line while lining up in groups of about a hundred people (ten rows of ten people in each), and each group is positioned in a row of four groups. Once it becomes our turn to line up, we get positioned in the fifth and sixth spots of the first row in the second group of four groups of a hundred.
"Blimey," Rory says after a few minutes of watching me glance around at the other soldiers surrounding us, "there are so many people. Just looking at them all makes me want to throw up." His words make me think that he doesn't do well in large crowds. This gives me the vibe that my grandfather is a 'stay at home and watch Netflix' type of guy than one who goes out to the local pub with friends, which is surprisingly something we have in common.
"Yeah, and every single one of them want the Doctor dead," Amy says, her voice still filled with contempt. "Some of them may not even know why they want the Doctor dead. Not that it matters, because it's no longer in their programming to think like that."
As my grandmother is speaking, I hear the announcer again on the loudspeaker. "Attention! Mandatory meeting will commence in five minutes!"
"It's not their fault," I murmur back to her. "They had their minds wiped and replaced with these twisted new ones. I bet most of these guys wanted absolutely nothing to do with the Silence before they were forced to join them. I mean, look at Mom." She never even knew my father while she was being trained to kill him; in other words, she was trained to assassinate a complete stranger—someone she never knew, at the time, was actually the good guy. If only the Silence—at least the members that were forced to join them—knew that they are literally going through the exact same thing as my mother.
I suddenly feel a slight nudge from Jenny as she whispers in my ear, "Speaking of your mother… Look up there." She points up at the familiar curly-haired woman standing next to a seemingly strict woman who I can only guess to be the wicked witch herself, Madame Kovarian, and I immediately feel both hearts drop in terror. The curly-haired woman is none other than my own mother. She stares straight ahead, her face looking deadpan.
"Oh my god…" I gasp in absolute shock at seeing my mother like this—a mindless drone. A walking corpse. "Mom."
"Mels…" Amy whimpers at seeing her daughter there. "Oh, Mels, what have they done to you?"
I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder as Jenny pulls me back. "Nov—Natty, you can't go up there. You'll be spotted."
"But that's Mom," I say, feeling desperate to go to her and shake her out of her trance. "I can't stand here and watch her stand next to that bitch. I have to stop her." I then begin to get the feeling like the scene is shown like an execution rather than the equivalent of a TED Talk or other type of general presentation.
"You can't!" Jenny says. "There are too many people. You won't get a chance in making it up to that stage. They'll overpower you in a heartbeat." She then says after I give a reluctant sigh of agreement, "Stay here for now. We'll figure out how to save her later."
My worry begins to increase by the millions once I notice that there is somebody missing from the scene. "I don't see Dad. He should be up there with her. Where is he? What did they do to him?" I swear, if they hurt him…I think in my head once my eyes fall on Kovarian once again.
"I don't know," Jenny says, also looking around worriedly. "I don't see Vastra or Strax either. Oh, I do hope they're alright."
"Oh, I wish I could put a bullet through her cold, black heart," Amy growls as I watch Kovarian step forward toward the front of the stage. "Simply electrocuting her with her own iDrive wasn't enough."
"For real," I murmur in agreement, remembering my father briefly telling me that story. Oh, how I would love to see it happen again, this time with me present.
"Greetings, esteemed members of the Church and Order of Silence," Kovarian announces to the crowd. All members (except Jenny and me, of course) give a victory cheer in unison. Mom doesn't cheer either, mostly because of her brainwashing. Kovarian continues once the cheer is over, "Over the past several eons, we have achieved a great many things. As you can see around you, our numbers have risen exponentially. We are now up to approximately six million recruits, half of which have been with us since our Order's very beginning. We have even advanced in our weapons and technology since then, thanks to many of you. But there is no greater achievement than what I am about to tell you."
She gestures to Mom, saying, "As you can see, 'the Woman who Killed the Doctor,' Melody Pond, has returned to us. Except she didn't kill the Doctor properly the first time. As most of you well know, we put in place a fixed point in Time at Lake Silencio in the American state of Utah where an impossible astronaut would rise from its waters and strike the last Time Lord of Gallifrey, known as the Doctor, dead…or so we thought. It was later brought to our attention that the Doctor had found a way to cheat his what should have been permanent death by convincing a group of imbeciles to help him survive by morphing their time-travelling robot into his exact appearance and taking his place at the lake. Therefore the automated astronaut, the young 'Child of the TARDIS' herself, did not kill the Doctor like she was destined to. In fact, she admitted to me recently that she had refused to kill him. The naïve child had developed affections for the one person she was originally trained to eliminate, and she even went so far as to marry him and have a child of her own with him…which brings me to the main reason why I have summoned you all here."
At this, Jenny and I exchange nervous glances, again both of us knowing exactly what Kovarian will talk about next: me.
"Eighteen years ago, Nova Susan Song, the child of the Doctor and Melody Pond—now 'River Song'—was born. The young Human/Time Lord hybrid was to be our new salvation against the looming threat that the Time Lords have posed since the very dawn of Time; I'm sure most of you are familiar with the prophecy of 'the First Question.' Little Nova was to be trained, just like her dear 'Mummy Dearest,' to kill the Doctor—her own father—in her place, but the Doctor and his friends stole her away and hid her from us. Unbeknownst to them, we were still able to train her in her 'Aikido lessons' in her primitive home-town on the planet Earth; however, we couldn't take her back, since we learned of her strong psychic connection with her father, hence how she was taken away the first time. Now, you will be surprised to know that the young 'Time Lord in training' is here in this very room." At this, all members glance around at each other as if looking for me. In response, I look further down at the floor in an attempt to better hide my face, all the while Jenny's grip on my hand tightens.
"Oh, yes, indeed," Kovarian smirks, continuing her speech. "The child is hidden among you as I speak on this very stage. No need to look for her at this very moment. I know the perfect way to draw her out."
At this, she snaps her fingers, and five seconds later two soldiers walk out from the side of the stage, dragging a familiar woman and young girl about my age out with them.
My hearts immediately drop in terror again upon seeing my best friend and mother-guardian there, both looking severely malnourished. "Haze… Mom… No…"
But where is my father-guardian? I frown, noticing his strange absence as well as my biological father's.
"'River?'" Kovarian gestures to my biological mother.
Upon hearing her name like a command, Mom slowly nods toward Kovarian in affirmation and then proceeds to walk toward Hazel and my mother-guardian without blinking an eye, her face seemingly having changed just slightly into a look that a cat would give to a mouse before feasting on it. Seeing my bio-mother like this increases my hearts-rate up to a pace that is the equivalent of a ticking bomb—rather, the equivalent of two at once.
As Mom inches closer to them, my mother-guardian and Hazel both begin begging for their lives.
"Please, don't do this to us!" my mother-guardian says with tears in her eyes. "Just let us go!"
"I just want to go home!" Hazel sobs uncontrollably. "Please, let me go home!"
"Make the girl kneel!" Kovarian says to Mom as she stops in front of Hazel and grabs her by the shirt.
"No! No, please!" Hazel screams as Mom drags her by the collar of her shirt toward Center Stage and shoves her down on her knees. "I don't want to die! I just want to be with my parents! Please, don't kill me! Please!"
"Silence, worm!" Kovarian snaps at her—a pun that was definitely not intended. She nods to Mom once more, and Mom takes this as a sign to take out her gun and aim it at the back of Hazel's head, the barrel end digging right into her scalp.
Oh my god…I gasp in horror. She's going to force my mother to kill Hazel!
Seeing this, my mother-guardian screams in equal horror. "Don't! She's just a child! She's done nothing to you demons! Neither of us have done anything to you! Just let us go!"
Kovarian smirks. "I would…but that's no longer my decision. That is for your little princess to decide. Let's ask her, shall we?" She then turns back to address the audience—rather, to address me. "Nova, dearie! I know you can see this. You know what is going to happen. I warned you that you would have to make a choice sooner or later, or face the consequences. I hope, by now, you have made your decision. Will you choose to turn yourself in and spare this girl's life…or stay hidden and watch her be the first of everyone you love to die? I will give you a count of three. Choose wisely."
She begins counting immediately after.
A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!
After reading this chapter, keep the mysterious cloaked boy in mind, as he will be an important character later in the story, as well as in Parts/Books 2 and 3 and the prequel story.
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