A/N: Welcome back to a brand new chapter, and welcome to all new readers as well!

This chapter is a little shorter than my normal chapters, but the chapter after this one will be back to the normal length. This one is a bit more casual, and for those who are curious about the mysterious cloaked boy, you're in luck, because you will learn a bit more about him in this chapter (sadly not his name; though you will learn what it is later in the trilogy, sometime in Part 2).

Let's get to it then! Enjoy :)

Chapter 42: Help From a 'Friend'

A shot is fired, followed by the sounds of more shots being fired in the background. In fact, gunshots are heard everywhere, in every single direction, as well as agonizing screams from the soldiers being shot in the process.

Something strange happens in that very moment. Something I never expected my mother—especially while under mind control of the Silence—to do:

She throws me to the ground hard. It's not just a normal throw, like how you'd throw a baseball to a catcher. She threw me exactly like how someone would throw someone else out of the way of oncoming danger—in this case, out of the literal line of fire.

I instinctively open my eyes upon impact with the stage floor, and I look up just in time to see an even stranger thing from my mother. Instead of aiming at my father, she moves her aim directly toward Madame Kovarian and shoots at her, and once the shot is fired, she immediately disintegrates into a pile of fleshy goop onto the floor where she stood. Mom does the same with Master Kang, only he falls down dead normally, his body remaining intact, save for the blood that spews from the shot to his head.

"Fudgeknuckle!" I exclaim in shock and disbelief.

I glance over at the rest of the audience. It is absolute mayhem! Soldiers run this way and that, some running for cover and others shooting back at new arrivals that are dressed in clothing completely unlike the soldiers' military uniforms; also, the new arrivals have scaly green skin, much like Madame Vastra. In fact, the new arrivals appear to be of the same species as Madame Vastra—Homo-Reptilia. The Homo-Reptilia shoot back at the Silence with as big of a thirst to kill as the Silence have for them, seemingly evening out the odds for the rest of us.

I can hear Strax shouting in triumph in the background, hinting that he had instigated the battle before us with the help from Vastra and Jenny. This must be the 'army' that Dad mentioned that he originally thought we wouldn't need for the mission, but the Paternoster Gang must've taken it upon themselves to call them in anyway, which seemed to greatly help with the mission, after all.

Way to go, PG! I smile, impressed. I knew you'd come through for us! Thank God the army showed up when it did, or Dad would be dead right now.

"Nova!" I hear Dad's voice among the chaos as more lizard-people come up to the stage and surround my friends and family, defending them as they flee from the scene.

"Dad!" I cry upon hearing his voice as I attempt to get back up on my feet. "Dad!"

I attempt to go and find him when I suddenly feel someone's tight grip on my arm.

"Come with me," a deep, yet young-sounding, voice whispers in my ear.

"It's you!" I say in shock once I turn around and immediately recognize the cloaked boy from earlier standing there with his face still covered by that face mask.

"Yeah, and I'm trying to save you…again," he says as he begins pulling me offstage in the opposite direction as my friends and loved ones. "Come on, I know a temporary place where you can hide. Trust me."

"But my family…" I say, pulling away from him and glancing back toward the direction of where they fled. "They're that way! I have to get to them! Dad…"

"You can reunite with them later," the boy assures me. "Right now, you need to come with me before you get killed. Before we're all killed! Come on!" He pulls me along as we dodge attacks from both sides—Silence versus Silurians.

Once we rush into one of the side hallways, he picks up a gun from one of the fallen bodies and hands it to me. "Take this! Use it to cover me as well as blend in!"

I scoff in my head. Yeah, and have my allies kill me instead of the enemy? Not a chance, bro!

I then pause, thinking better. Being given a gun to shoot back at the chaos, this gives me the perfect opportunity to get back at the Silence for everything they've done to me and my family. I've been wanting to execute every single Silence member for a while anyway, and this feels like a good start to reach that goal. This moment immediately takes me back in time to the moment at the arcade where I briefly played that zombie-shooting game that I had a particular knack for; in fact, I'm pretty sure I beat the player with the highest score on it at the time I played.

I immediately change my mind about earlier. Come on, Nova; it's just like that zombie-shooting game at the arcade that you were so good at. Do exactly like you did in the game, only this time pretend like the Silence are the zombies instead of the lizard-people. Easy-Peasy!

I snort at this last thought. It's kind of ironic that the lizard-people, who I would normally think to be the 'zombies,' are actually the good guys in this scenario, and the 'good guys' that I would normally save in the game are actually the bad guys that I have to eliminate.

"No problem!" I smirk at the boy in agreement, readying my gun. I'm pretty sure he means for me to protect him by shooting at the lizard-people instead of his own people—here's assuming he's still technically a part of the Silence—but I still plan to shoot the Silence, no matter what side the boy is truly on.

We navigate through the hallways, stepping over various mine fields of fallen bodies, both soldier and Silurian alike, including strange-looking creatures dressed in pinstriped suits that have freakishly grotesque features—particularly features such as eyeless sockets, extremely bulbous heads, and disproportionately long fingers on each hand. Creatures that I can't help but think I'd seen before but had somehow forgotten when I had. Anytime I would see these strange creatures, as well as anyone wearing that ugly-ass uniform, I would shoot them on sight, hitting them right between the eyes every time, just like in the arcade game.

"In here!" the boy says as he immediately pulls me into a dark room as the hallway becomes crowded with Silence, Silurians, and those…wait, wasn't there something else as well? I can't remember. He shuts the door shortly after we enter and stands in front of it, preventing anyone from getting in.

"Who are you?" I feel the need to ask the boy, feeling suspicious of him, now that he's seemingly locked me inside a creepy room alone, completely separating us from the rest of the universe. At least I have a gun, in case he tries anything.

He sighs. "Now's not really the time for that. I'm trying to help you get back to your family. Your safety is much more important right now."

I nod. "I get that, but why are you helping me? You're one of them!" Seriously, why would a Silence member be helping me? Why would they help anyone?

He sighs again. "I am, but…" He then groans. "Seriously, this isn't the time!"

"Who knows how long we'll be in this room for," I point out with a shrug. "May as well spend it by telling me who you are and why you brought me in here. Also, in case you haven't noticed, I have a gun and am not afraid to use it if I need to." If he brought me in here to do exactly like the creeps in the movies do to their female victims, he's not going to get very far, especially with my gun in the mix. Maybe you shouldn't have given me that gun, huh? I think with a snort.

He says, this time with a growl, "We came in here to hide and to save you! How is that not obvious?"

I scoff at this. "Um, no! I have a gun; you don't! So if there's anyone that needs protecting, it's you! Not that I have any means or interest in protecting you whatsoever!" I then say, feeling highly annoyed, "Also, no! What's obvious to me is your infatuation with me! Which shouldn't make any sense, since we're enemies! You know exactly who I am—in fact, you knew from the very beginning—and yet you still want to 'save me,' as you say, even now. Why? Why didn't you say anything before, when you recognized my sonic screwdriver? Why help me and my family now? Why should I even trust you? Who are you?" I am very familiar with that feeling you get when people insist on keeping secrets from you, and I hoped that I would never have to feel that again, but it seems like I will never stop feeling it, which really infuriates me.

The boy pauses and sighs, seeming reluctant to explain. He briefly pulls away from the door, and I instinctively step back and raise my gun, but instead of attacking me he reaches into his cloak pocket and takes out a familiar item—my sonic screwdriver. How the freak did he get it? "I am a friend," he says as he casually hands it back to me. "Or, I hope to be a friend after this is all over."

"How did you get this?" I ask as I cautiously take it from him and immediately slip it back in my pocket, this time making sure it is more tightly secure so as not to lose it or have it stolen again.

"Nicked it off of that soldier who stole it from you before," the boy shrugs. "Also, I am the one that told your 'lizard' and 'Sontaran' friends where to go when they came here. I also helped that woman you came here with to reunite with them. I've been helping you and your friends from the very beginning."

I frown. "Why? Why help us? Why help me?"

He sighs again, this time scratching his head; rather the hood covering his head. "This is going to sound weird, but… When I first saw you… When I saved you the first time… I felt this…'spark' between us. It felt almost familiar, like we'd met before."

I frown again, this time feeling slightly disturbed. "We've never met before. Also, when you helped my 'lizard' and 'Sontaran' friends before, you hadn't met me then either."

The boy nods. "I know, but I somehow knew they were your friends and that you were coming here with them. I don't know how I knew that. I just did. It makes less sense, now that I think about it."

I snort at this. "Yeah, I'll say. You're talking absolute rubbish. All the more reason not to trust you. You still haven't answered my question as to why I should trust you. That so-called 'spark' you felt between us doesn't prove anything."

"But I know you felt it too," he says, deepening his gaze at me, with eyes as dark as night. "I saw it in your eyes."

I pause, suddenly remembering. The moment our eyes locked when he kneeled down to check on me after my encounter with that pigheaded Silence member, I had also felt a sort of 'spark,' like what happens when you get an electric shock when touching something metallic. I even remember my emotions going haywire, like I wanted to connect even deeper with this boy, even go into his mind like I do with Dad and discover his deepest, darkest secrets. My grandfather described the feeling as 'love at first sight,' but I'm honestly not sure what it was. Whatever it was, it was unlike anything I've ever felt before. Thinking more about it now, it embarrasses me to my core.

Feeling uncomfortable to admit that he's telling the truth—and also feeling like I don't want to believe him, even when I know he might be right—I attempt to deny everything he said when the door suddenly gets blasted open by a female Silurian who walks in with an otherworldly-looking gun and a frightful-looking mask over her face. Once the lizard-woman sees us, she immediately raises her gun, prepared to shoot, thinking us to be true Silence members (at least, the boy is, but I'm not).

"No! Wait!" I say, tossing my gun aside and putting my hands up in surrender. "Don't shoot!" Before the Homo-Reptilian has a chance to, a brilliant idea comes to mind, and I immediately execute the idea by making one of my hands glow gold with Regeneration Energy as a way of proving my identity. If she's with the army that Dad's friends hired, she should recognize me as a Time Lord—just like Dad—and not shoot me, right?

Upon noticing my glowing hand, the lizard-woman cocks her head to the side in seeming puzzlement, yet she seems to recognize what's going on all the same. At the corner of my eye, I see the cloaked boy stare in shock and curiosity at my glowing hand, but I ignore him.

"It's okay," I say calmly to the Silurian, continuing to make my hand glow. "I'm on your side. I'm with Commander Strax and Da—the Doctor. You can trust me."

After a few more seconds, she nods her head in affirmation and then turns to the cloaked boy in suspicion, who is shaking beside me, scared that I might let him die even after all the times he's saved me. However, I admit anyway with a shrug, "He's with me;" though I refuse to admit whether or not he can be trusted, since I'm still indecisive as to believe it or not. The lizard-woman slowly lowers her gun and eventually walks out of the room, leaving us alone in the room once more.

"Wow," the boy sighs in relief as he lowers his hands, and I lower mine as I make my hand stop glowing. "That was…something."

"Yeah, well don't thank me yet," I shrug carelessly as I pick my gun back up. "We still need to get out of here in one piece. You're lucky I didn't rat you out just now. Believe me, I was tempted to."

"I believe you," he admits seemingly regretfully. "Why didn't you?" he asks, evidently puzzled.

I shrug again. "You didn't rat me out before. I guess I just felt like…repaying the favor." Looking back, I'm really not sure why I did it. I eventually just shrug it off as simply being kind, knowing that that's what Dad would say if he was here.

"Either way, you saved my life," the boy says, smiling sincerely at me. "That 'light' trick you did with your hand was pretty cool too."

Not wanting to share my life story with him whatsoever, I sigh, rolling my eyes, "Hey, I told you not to thank me. Like any of it matters anymore. Nothing's more important to me than finding my family. Help me if you want, or don't help me, I don't care; but I'm getting back to my family even if it kills me."

"I have an idea on where they might be hiding," he says, clearly anxious to continue helping me, even when I no longer have any interest in it. "I can take you there."

I sigh again, now feeling out of options. "Like I said, I don't care as long as I get back to them and they're safe. That's literally all I care about at this point." Plus, the sooner we get this done, the sooner I can get rid of you, I think but do not say. He may be cute, but I still don't trust him as far as I could throw him. I then add in a serious tone, "And not a word about the so-called 'light trick' to anyone. Capeesh?"

"Capeesh," the boy nods as he opens the door again and peeks outside at yet more fallen bodies littering the floor. "Should be safe for now," he says. "Let's go."

I reluctantly follow him without saying a word, gun held tightly in hand.

A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!

Next chapter coming out later this week :)