A/N: Hey, guys, I'm back! FINALLY! I thought I'd never find time to write ever again. So much has been happening over the last few months. I've been going back-and-forth between home and Kentucky where most of my family live for a funeral as well as help my grandmother move to a retirement apartment. Also my dad has been teaching me a bunch of cool stuff on networking, which turns my brain to mush by the end of the day. The only reason why I've been able to post a new chapter without interruptions is because he is currently out of town, so I can finally take a breather from networking for a while.
Also, on one of the other fanfic sites I post on, I've recently been given an offer from another fanfic site called Webnovel to sign up and post on their sites. I'm still deciding whether or not I should accept it. When I tried responding to them one time, the message disappeared for some reason. If anyone is familiar with Webnovel or is a user on it, please let me know what that's like and whether or not it's a good idea to post on their site as well. So far, I've only been using this one, , and I've recently started posting on Wattpad. If you're a Wattpad user, go show me some love over there. I only have a couple of followers over there and would like for there to be more in the near future. I've even added pics and videos from the internet to each chapter to give the chapters a little more pizzazz. This story is over there as well under the same profile name :)
That being said, on with the chapter!
Also, SPOILERS for "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" and any other moments that mention Order 66.
*** This chapter has been rewritten. I tend to do this often ***
Chapter 40: Silenced
"One…"
I am at a total loss as to what to do. Mom is seconds away from killing my best friend I've known since First Grade, and I don't know what to do to stop her, or if it's even right to stop her. For all I know, Mom could just kill her no matter what I do. I can feel my hearts beating faster and faster with each passing second, the bombs' time reaching the point of detonation.
I can hear Amy's and Rory's desperate cries through the earpiece and Jenny protesting quietly beside me, begging me not to go. I ignore them, keeping my focus on my mother, and I notice something strange about her. The hand that grips the gun trained at Hazel's head is shaking just slightly, like she's unconsciously fighting herself not to pull the trigger.
"Two…" Kovarian continues counting.
At this point, admittedly, her counting makes me think of when the Sontaran at the arcade counted to three as he was threatening to kill Hazel, much like how Mom is about to do the same. In fact, this feels like that exact same event. I see Kovarian's smirk widening into a malevolent smile off to the side as she is preparing to say the final number.
I decide to take this moment to act.
"Nova, please, don—!" Amy continues protesting, but I immediately cut her off by taking out the earpiece and sliding it carefully into Jenny's hand.
"What're you doing?" Jenny whispers to me with a frown, gripping the earpiece.
"Choosing my destiny…" I whisper back. "Hopefully wisely."
Dear God, please don't make me regret this.
"Nova—" Jenny protests one more time, but she is too late.
"STOP!" I scream before Kovarian has a chance to say the final number. "DON'T KILL HER!"
All heads turn to me in absolute shock, but Jenny looks at me, absolutely appalled. I give a subtle sideways glance at her, whispering in her head telepathically, 'Remember what we talked about before. Find Vastra and Strax. Save us. I trust you will.' She shakes her head at this, and I add for what feels like the final time, 'Trust me.'
With that, I proceed toward the stage.
Various Silence/Vokanari members gasp and back away upon seeing me, seeming in total disbelief that I even exist. I can hear several of them whispering amongst each other as I approach the stage. As if things aren't strange enough, I even hear the word 'Deviant' from some members, which makes me remember Kovarian briefly mentioning the word about me in front of Dad, and Dad seemingly knowing something about the word but had refused to say anything about it.
As I approach the stage, I keep my eyes trained on my mother, determined to get to her. My hearts continue to beat erratically with each step closer to my intended destination. As I ascend the stairs, I see Mom look up at me with her gun still trained on Hazel's skull, and I notice that her eyes are beginning to tear up, and I begin to sense her fear for my safety through her eyes, now that I am turning myself in like Kovarian wanted. This gives me the realization that Mom is, in fact, conscious—only partially—and, therefore, has a chance to be saved.
"Nova!" my mother-guardian cries, relieved to see me after all this time. "Oh, Nova, my baby girl, it's you!" She looks terrible; they both do. Their bodies look severely malnourished, like they haven't eaten in months, their clothes are ripped in several places and covered in grime, and their hair is greasy and disheveled, like they haven't showered in just as long.
"Nova! You're here!" Hazel smiles happily with tears in her eyes, despite having a gun trained to her head. "You came to save us!"
As much as I want to assure them that I came to do exactly that, I don't say anything for fear of the Silence finding out. Then again, maybe they already know that's what I'm intending.
"You came to save us, right?" Hazel asks again, puzzled as to why I'm not answering. "Right, Nov?" Again, I don't say anything. Instead, I turn my head away and face Kovarian. She is just as I remember her from my vision: sharp black suit, menacing eyes (eye, one of them being covered by that traitorous iDrive), and threatening posture.
"Yes, dearie," Kovarian smirks, impressed, addressing Hazel without taking her eyes off me. "Your little 'Time Lady' friend has given herself up to save you." She chuckles. "Predictable as ever, just like her parents. Wouldn't you agree, River?" At this, she gives a sideways glance at Mom, but she doesn't say anything either and, instead, keeps her gun focused on Hazel's head, her face continuing to look expressionless despite the tears lingering in her eyes. Kovarian turns back to me, still smirking. "Well done. You're not the obstinate fool I thought you'd be. You deserve much praise for your cooperation."
Well, you didn't exactly give me a choice, I shrug in my head. Technically, Kovarian did give me a choice—two, in fact—but there was absolutely no way in Hell I was going to refuse and, therefore, allow the Silence to murder my entire family. I then say out loud, glaring at her, "Let them go. You have me now. I turned myself in just like you wanted, so there's no reason for you to keep them prisoner here anymore. Let them go."
"That's still in the cards," she shrugs, "but only if you do what we tell you to do."
No surprise there. Typical.
"No! Nova, you can't!" my mother-guardian protests, which earns her a hard slap from the soldier holding her hostage, ordering her to shut up, and I have to fight myself not to go after him and tear him to pieces.
"I don't care what you tell me to do!" I snap at Kovarian. "Whatever it is you want me to do, they don't need to be involved! Not anymore! That being said, I'm not agreeing with anything you say until you send them back to where—and when—they came from!"
Kovarian shakes her head, her devious smirk never faltering. "Sorry to disappoint you, dearie, but you're not the one in charge around here. I am the leader of this corporation; therefore, it is my decision to decide everyone's fate." She then turns toward the soldiers holding my mother-guardian and Hazel and the audience, addressing them, "This meeting has been terminated. Take the prisoners to Holding Cell A. Let them enjoy their little family reunion…their temporary family reunion, at least."
I watch as Mom steps back away from Hazel as she holsters her gun back on her belt. The soldiers grab Hazel and begin dragging she and my mother-guardian away.
"No!" Hazel screams as she is being taken away. "Nova, don't let them take us!"
"Nova, whatever they want you to do, don't do it!" my mother-guardian exclaims back at me. "Don't worry about us; just get out of here! Save yourself!" The soldiers yell at them to shut up again as they march them offstage, and I am the only one left with Kovarian.
She shakes her head at me as two more soldiers grab me and begin dragging me away, and I don't resist. Instead, I continue glaring at her as she says, "You disappoint me, Nova. Clearly, you have not fully made your decision like I hoped you would, so I will give you some time to think about it further. Perhaps a brief reunion with your family will help speed things along. By the time I call for you again, I hope you have made an official decision. I shall continue to wait patiently; though I will warn you that my patience is wearing incredibly thin. I hope I don't have to remind you what will happen if you disappoint me again."
I don't answer her and, instead, turn my focus back on Mom, who stands like a mindless robot awaiting an update in her programming, but her misty eyes stare sadly at me, like she desperately wants to help me. I want so desperately to run to her and help her too, but I don't have that option as the soldiers grip my arms so tightly to the point of them going numb.
"You won't be needing these anymore," one of the soldiers sniggers at me as he steals my iDrive and sonic screwdriver and shoves them in his pockets, but not before waving the screwdriver tauntingly in my face. I only glare at him in return.
"Mom…" I can't help but whimper as the soldiers drag me mercilessly away from her. She only watches with that blank face, the only hint of expression showing in her misty emerald eyes.
I fight myself not to cry as I am being marched through the base with my arms pinned behind my back. I think about my helpless mother and how afraid she must be for me, and I for her. I could definitely tell she was still in there; the only question now is how to bring her out of herself fully, to break her free from Kovarian's hold for good.
Several minutes later, I am eventually shoved into a bright white room with Hazel and my mother-guardian. The force from the shove makes me fall painfully to my knees. The soldiers close and lock the door shortly after.
Yeah, same to you, pal, I think with a disapproved scoff.
"Nova!" Hazel cries in relief, running to me. "You're here!"
"Nova!" my mother-guardian cries with equal relief as she drops to the floor and cradles me in her arms, holding me tightly against her chest. "Oh, Nova, my baby girl! Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"
"No…" I shake my head slowly, both hearts feeling like heavy weights in my own chest. "I'm fine." I close my eyes, content at being back in my mother-guardian's arms again—something I thought I would never experience again.
"You have a nasty bruise over your eye," Hazel points out in an uneasy tone. From the looks of her, she also seems to have several bruises on her face, arms, and legs, as does my mother-guardian.
Dear God, what have they been doing to them? How long have they been living like this?
"That was a while ago," I say in embarrassment. "I'm alright, I promise." I pull away and look at both of them. "Besides, I'm more worried about you guys. How long have you guys been here? You look like you haven't eaten or showered in several weeks."
"We've been here at least a week…" my mother-guardian says in a tired tone. "Or, at least, we think we have."
"It feels like we've been here forever," Hazel says in agreement.
"We began to worry that we'd never see you again," my mother-guardian says, cupping my cheeks in her weak hands, much like Dad always does. "They were very adamant about you coming to save us and, therefore, getting caught up in their trap. They plan to do terrible things to you, Nova. To you and your entire family."
I nod. "I know. They want me to be the so-called 'new woman to kill the Doctor.' They want me to 'purge the Time Lord plague' by killing my father so the Time Lords never come back. They say he's 'the key to their return,' whatever that means, and they want me to prevent him from acting as said 'key' to bring them back by killing him. Though, I don't know how the Time Lords would come back, since, supposedly, they died out long ago in the Last Great Time War. Dad told me that story…what he did to end it… I even saw it." And that is something I hope to God to never see again.
"You saw the war your dad was a part of?" Hazel asks, puzzled. "How?"
I shrug. "Well, not the actual war. More like a vision of it. Long story short, we were called to Victorian London to stop people's fears from coming to life, and Dad's fear of the Time War briefly came to life and destroyed parts of the city. His friends and I were able to stop the fears by blowing up the spaceship and the machine that was controlling the fears. We barely escaped alive." I don't mention having seen my bio-mother being controlled by Kovarian nor having to fight and kill an evil version of myself.
"Wow!" Hazel says, evidently amazed. "I think I remember reading something about that online somewhere, or maybe it was in one of our History classes at school. I don't remember where I read it, but I definitely remember reading something about it. I always remembered it as being fake, but it sounds like you were actually there, therefore it was real."
I nod with a slight chuckle. "Yeah… It was a living nightmare. Literally." I then sigh, feeling a wave of shame flood both hearts simultaneously. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry this happened to you. This was all my fault. If I hadn't left when I did, this wo—"
"No! Stop!" my mother-guardian interrupts me, cupping my cheeks again. She lifts my chin up to face her and holds me there as I fail to hold back tears. "Sweetie, look at me…" Hearing that word instantly makes me think of my bio-mother, which brings even more tears to my eyes. "None of this was your fault." I immediately feel the need to protest, but she stops me again by holding her finger to my lips. "No! You listen to me right now." I sigh again as she continues calmly, "As I was saying, none of this was your fault. Don't ever think that this was your fault. You had absolutely nothing to do with what happened to us."
"But I did!" I say immediately, and this time I don't let her stop me from speaking. "I did have something to do with it! It was my birth! My birth did this to you! If I'd never been born, none of this would've happened! You would never have had to go through all of this!"
"Nova—" she frowns in an attempt to stop me, but, again, I don't let her.
"I'm serious!" I insist before explaining. "If it weren't for me being born, the Silence wouldn't have had to target me, nor you guys. Because of what I am and what the Silence did to me—whatever they did—I had to be given up for protection from the Silence, and you were chosen to take me in to raise me, only to end up being captured and used as bait to get to me! Anyone who has any kind of association with me are always the ones that end up being targeted, hence why we're all here now, including my bio-parents! None of this would be happening if not for me! You and Dad would've been much safer without me!" I then frown, looking around and noticing that my father-guardian—as well as my bio-father—is absent. "Speaking of Dad, where is he? Why isn't he here?" Surely, he would've been at the meeting as well, with everyone else.
"Um…are we talking about your 'Doctor' dad?" Hazel asks for clarification, though she, strangely, asks the question like she was hoping I wouldn't notice my father-guardian's absence at all, but it would be okay for me to notice my bio-father's.
I shake my head. "No. I mean, yeah, him too, but I mean my other dad." I turn to my mother-guardian. "Where is he? What happened to him?"
She is silent for a minute, seemingly afraid to explain what had befallen her husband. She eventually starts sobbing, and I can't help but frown at this.
"He's…" Hazel says with equal uneasiness and with a disturbed look on her face, like she's reliving a horrible memory. "I'm not sure how to tell you this…"
I feel major anxiety and dread flood both of my hearts, suddenly thinking back to that terrible dream of when my father-guardian was attacked by that Vokanari guard in that dungeon. "What?" I ask, afraid to know the truth, despite needing to know anyway. "What did they do? Mom? Please tell me. What did they do to Dad?" If that was real…
Unable to hold back her grief, my mother-guardian wraps her arms around me, burying her face in my shoulder and sobbing uncontrollably into it. "Oh, Nova… I'm so sorry. Your father… He stood up against them. They were saying horrible things about you, and he stood up against them, and they…" She becomes speechless as she completely breaks down in my arms, barely able to choke out, "They killed him."
I am left completely speechless as well, realizing that that dream wasn't really a dream but rather another vision. I can't help but think that the Silence meant to use that electric stick to stun my father-guardian but not totally fry his heart, which they ended up doing instead. I don't know if I can believe whether it was an accident on that guard's part or that he had actually meant to kill him, no doubt under Kovarian's orders. Either way, I want to make them pay for what they did. Every single one of them!
I can feel intense anger boiling inside me and the need to wipe out every single Silence/Vokanari member in existence. To Hell with whether or not they were once innocent people. That was the past; they are stone-cold killers now—from now until the end of Time, and there is no changing them back. Not ever!
My vision briefly takes on that familiar golden tinge, and I see Hazel flinch in shock when she sees this. However, when I blink, the tinge reverts back to normal.
Having not noticed my strange change in vision, my mother-guardian whimpers, continuing to sob in my shoulder, "I should've done something. I should've stopped him…told him to stay quiet. If he hadn't said anything… If I'd gotten in the way…"
These words immediately make me pull away. "No, Mom, don't think like that. You can't think like that. There was nothing you could've done." I cup her cheeks, exactly like she cupped my own before. "We'll stop them. We'll make them pay. For him." I figure, in spirit, my father-guardian would want to get back at them for what they did to him in some form or another.
Your wish is my command, Dad.
"How?" Hazel asks in an incredulous tone. "There's, like, millions of them and only three of us."
I smile and shake my head. "Not unless you count the Paternoster Gang…and eventually my bio-parents. The Paternoster Gang are strategizing on how to save us as we speak, with the help from my grandparents. They'll get us out of here. All of us. We're gonna get you home." Presuming they don't get captured themselves, I add in my head.
"Good," Hazel says, sighing in relief. "I miss my parents so much. They must be so worried for me."
"Don't worry," I assure her. "We'll get you safely home to them. You have my word."
"What is this 'Paternoster Gang?'" my mother-guardian asks curiously.
I say, chuckling, "Oh, don't worry, they are totally trustworthy. Duh, otherwise Dad wouldn't have asked them to help us. Imagine Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, only picture Sherlock like an alien lizard-woman, and her butler is an alien potato-dwarf. Watson is still human, only female. She is actually the person I came here with. We followed the other two much later."
"Hmm…" my mother-guardian says with raised eyebrows, seemingly feeling doubtful that anyone with that description would have any chance in saving us. "Sounds like an…interesting group of people."
I smile uneasily. "Yeah, it's very common for my dad to encounter non-humans on his travels and then befriend some along the way. Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint—Vastra being the lizard-woman—are actually from Victorian Times—the mid-1890s, to be specific—and Strax, their butler who is also a Sontaran, is from the future, like, two centuries from our time. After getting injured during a battle to save my mother and grandmother, Strax was offered to stay with Vastra and Jenny in Victorian London, and they've been working and living together ever since. They are really nice, I promise you. Well, Vastra and Jenny are really nice; Strax, not so much." I then shake my head. "Sorry, I'm rambling again. Anyway, I'm confident they'll find us very soon." I made Jenny promise she would, and I'm confident that she'll fulfill that promise, despite wanting to help me before when I turned myself in.
"What about your parents?" my mother-guardian asks in a nervous tone. "It seems like your mother has joined their side."
"I can't believe she almost killed me!" Hazel says with equal nervousness. "She would have, had you not stopped her when you did. Like that time you stopped the Sontaran at the arcade…"
"That wasn't her!" I say in an insistent tone. "I mean, it was, but it wasn't her in control. She's been brainwashed again."
"Brainwashed?" my mother-guardian asks, puzzled. "What does that mean?"
"And what do you mean, 'again?'" Hazel asks with equal puzzlement.
"Remember when I told you that story of my parents—how my mother was formerly trained to assassinate my father, long before they were married?" I ask Hazel, and after she nods I continue, "Well, she was brainwashed even back then. When she was a baby, not long after the Silence stole her away from my grandparents, they planted some device in her head to control her thoughts and feelings, specifically toward my father, despite never truly knowing him until she was much older. That device controls the brainwashing somehow, and somehow they reactivated it, hence why she is the way she is now and why she seemed to want to kill you. She doesn't have control of herself, at least not fully. What you saw on the stage was all Kovarian's doing. She is controlling her exactly like she controlled her back then."
"Was she always under that witch's control, even after she married your father?" my mother-guardian asks to better understand what I am saying.
"I'm honestly not sure," I say with a shrug. "Maybe she was from the start, but after she gave up her regenerations to save my father, she was able to better control her brainwashing, since Kovarian wasn't around to control her in the physical sense like she is now. In other words, she came up with ways to fight back the murderous thoughts that the device in her head was giving her since birth, at least whenever Dad was around. It could be that she has always been able to fight back the feelings since she married Dad and maybe even after I was born." The possible fact that Mom has been under the control of the Silence for her entire life, even after she married the Doctor and after she gave birth to me, astounds me.
"Do you think it's possible that she can be saved?" Hazel asks in a hopeful tone.
"One-hundred percent," I say confidently. "I know she's still in there. I saw proof. When she had you at gunpoint, I saw her hand trembling, like she was fighting herself not to shoot. I could even sense it through our psychic link, but just barely. She was even crying at one point." I think back to when I saw Mom cry slightly, shortly after I turned myself in, and how I could sense her fear for my safety through her eyes as the soldiers were dragging me away.
"I saw that too," my mother-guardian nods. "I thought it was strange. She seemed very adamant about killing us."
I shake my head again. "Like I said, that wasn't her; not really. Mom would never shoot anyone unless she had good reason to. When she killed the alien leader on the spaceship during the 'fear' incident, I knew that wasn't her in control, and I found out shortly after that it was actually Kovarian in control. She spoke through Mom every once in a while and made it sound like Mom was always in control, but we learned to tell the difference very quickly. Like I said, when I saw Mom about to shoot you on the stage, I knew that wasn't her, despite Kovarian standing right next to her."
"So who was in control?" my mother-guardian asks with a puzzled frown.
I shrug. "No one, as far as I know. I mean, Kovarian was, but I think it was always the chip in her head. You could compare it with the inhibitor chips in the clone troopers' heads during Order 66 in Star Wars." That's definitely how it feels like, I think to myself.
"So Kovarian pulled an 'execute Order 66' on your mom and forced her to do all those things to us?" Hazel asks to clarify.
I nod. "Yup, exactly like Emperor Palpatine ordered all the clone troopers to kill all the Jedi; except, in this case, Kovarian ordered River to kill every single Time Lord in existence. Not that we are anything like the Jedi." I then pause, thinking better. "Or…maybe we are. We are able to psychically project our minds into other Time Lords' minds—I've done this with Dad a lot as well as with the TARDIS—much like how the Jedi project their minds through The Force to connect with dead Jedi. And then there's the 'healing coma' thing Dad once told me about, which, I guess, is similar to when Jedi meditate to recharge after using a vast amount of Force power. So yeah, maybe we are like the Jedi." I chuckle to myself. "Huh! I never thought about that. That's really cool!" I then shake my head, realizing that I've steered off-topic again. "Sorry, doing it again. Anyway, going back on the whole 'execute Order 66' thing, maybe if we found a way to remove that chip in Mom's head, that could stop her from being brainwashed forever. She could finally be free from these sickos. She could finally be normal."
Perhaps we could all be normal; I think to myself. Or, at least as normal as Time Lords can be when they aren't being hunted and killed for their superpowers.
"Wow!" Hazel says in an impressed tone. "That's actually a good idea!"
I sigh sadly. "Yeah. If only I could tell Dad about this idea. I think he'd be all for it. The question is, how would we actually remove it? We'd have to incapacitate her somehow to even get close enough. That's gonna be very difficult with all the Silence around; plus she'll probably be with Kovarian most of the time, and we certainly can't have her knowing about it."
"Do you think you could try talking to him through your so-called 'psychic projection?'" my mother-guardian suggests.
"I can try," I nod. "That's another really good idea. Why didn't I think of that?"
Of course! I can use my psychic abilities to tell Dad what's going on! In fact, I can do this no matter where he is in Time and Space! Duh!
I sit back on my heels, placing my hands in my lap and closing my eyes.
"You're actually gonna reach out to your dad through The Force?" Hazel asks excitedly as she watches me get into position. "That's so cool!"
"Shh!" my mother-guardian shushes her. "Let her concentrate."
I take a nervous breath and begin speaking telepathically through the 'Space-Time ether.' 'Dad?' I whisper. 'Can you hear me?' I pause for a moment, waiting for an answer, but I don't get one. I sigh and continue, 'I don't know if you can hear me, or if we're even connecting, but if you can hear me, I've come up with a really clever idea; though I'm not sure how we can pull it off. I think I know what's been controlling Mom's brainwashing, and I think it has to do with the weird chip in her head. If you don't know the thing I'm calling an 'inhibitor chip,' it's something that the Silence planted in her head when they stole her away at Demons Run. I saw and heard Kovarian telling Mom about it when they captured her when we sent her to find Haze and my mother-guardian. Anyway, it's made me think of the whole 'execute Order 66' thing in Star Wars. Again, I'm not sure if you know that reference, and if you don't, I'll tell you right now. Basically, the main villain gave a command—dubbed 'Order 66'—to force the good guys to execute their allies, and I think Kovarian did something similar with Mom, except she ordered Mom to kill us instead—rather, she will. Anyway, it got me thinking: what if we try removing that chip somehow? I'm sure we could do it if we managed to incapacitate Mom like you did in the TARDIS library, only stronger, and Rory could surgically remove it from her head shortly after. Do nurses even do surgeries? I don't even know. Anyway, what do you think about that? Do you think it would work? That's the only thing I can think of at this point.'
I pause again, waiting for an answer that still doesn't come. This makes me think back to when I made that video on my mobile phone in my room at Madame Vastra's house, and I never received an answer through that either. Of course not, because it was a recorded video—obviously not something that can answer back.
"Did you get anything from him?" my mother-guardian asks after I open my eyes after another minute of silence from Dad's end.
I sigh in frustration. "No, nothing. I don't even know if we properly connected. I didn't feel any kind of connection between us; or if I did, it was very weak, almost undetectable. I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means…" I can't help but think that the Silence may have already killed Dad and are coming back later to finish me off. I'm worried I'll feel exactly how I felt when Dad succumbed to his injuries after our not-so-fun adventure to Contraxia; not that I've felt anything like that since then… Yet.
"Of course not," my mother-guardian assures me. "I'm sure he's fine. Maybe he's just busy."
"With what; being tortured and killed by his second greatest enemies?" I say, suddenly feeling angry. "That's what they've been planning to do for eons, and now that they have him, they can do just that! I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they've already done that. It would make sense why I'm not getting any connection from him."
"Or he's too weak to reply, but not dead," my mother-guardian says calmly. "Or he's busy trying to save you. You can't just automatically assume the worst. Think of the positive things. Think of your friends. You said they were coming for us."
"Yeah! Perhaps they're bringing your dad with them!" Hazel adds hopefully.
I remain silent for a minute as I contemplate their words. "Yeah…" I nod. "Maybe they are." That could be why Dad isn't responding. He doesn't want me distracting him from saving us. This very thought alone makes me feel a tad calmer.
As if right on cue, the sound of a door unlocking can be heard outside the room, and my hope increases.
"Oh!" my mother-guardian exclaims as we all rise to our feet, standing ready for our—rather, Hazel's and my mother-guardian's—long-awaited rescue. "Maybe that's them busting us out as we speak!"
I wait eagerly to see my father and the Paternoster Gang burst open the door, sonic screwdriver in hand and bow tie vigorously straightened. Then again, on that thought, it would be strange for Dad to manually unlock the door without using the sonic, since I don't hear the familiar buzzing sound from it. Eventually, the door opens, and my hope immediately diminishes as, instead of my friends and father, a small group of soldiers enters the room, none of which I recognize the faces of. I instinctively step between the soldiers and my loved ones, determined to protect them if the soldiers felt the need to attack.
"Nova Susan Song!" one of the soldiers addresses me. "You are required to meet with Madame Kovarian immediately. Failure to do so will result in severe punishment." I can't help but notice that the soldier says those words in a monotone voice, much like an NPC would in a video game with a fixed phrase that can't be altered.
I sigh, rolling my eyes, and mutter, "Didn't really need to tell me that last part. I'm already well aware of that." I step forward toward the soldiers, deciding that doing what they say is a much smarter option than fighting them; though I would much prefer the latter, needless to say.
"This is a private meeting," the soldier snaps at Hazel and my mother-guardian as they attempt to follow. "The girl is the only one permitted to attend. You will stay back." The other soldiers advance on them, raising their weapons in preparation to strike, one carrying an electric stick, which makes me think of the exact weapon that was used to kill my father-guardian; perhaps this was the very same weapon and soldier that killed him, I think to myself. I glance back at my mother-guardian and see the distressed look on her face, clearly thinking of her now dead husband.
"Nova!" my mother-guardian cries at the same time as Hazel screams, "Whoa! What're you doing?!"
"It's okay, Haze, Mom," I say as the soldiers drag me away, this time holding me by the shoulders. "I'll be fine. I'll come back for you! I promise!" The soldiers close and lock the door again as we leave.
Despite saying those words, for some reason, I think my ability to keep that promise to be a longshot, presuming these freaks are escorting me to my death as I'm thinking about it.
I sigh, my hearts filling with regret. God, what was I thinking? I should never have come here. I really should've stayed in the TARDIS.
'Dad… If you can hear me, I'm sorry. I hope you'll forgive me…'
A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!
At this point, you are probably asking yourself, "What happened to the Doctor and the Paternoster Gang?" You will find out very soon :)
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