The Doctor strode out of his Tardis and right into the middle of the cave-like room, almost bumping into the main console he'd managed to park right beside.
"Oh!" The Doctor commented as he looked around casually while adjusting the old box TV set he carried in his arms. "Interesting. Very Aickman Road."
Rory meanwhile had followed the Doctor out of the Tardis and he stood rather uneasily by the smoking console. River joined him, pulling out her gun as she did, while the Doctor peered at the machine itself, still speaking quite blithely.
"I've seen one of these before. Abandoned. I wonder how that happened? Oh, well I suppose I'm about to find out."
The Doctor turned back to his companions briefly. "Rory, River; keep one Silent in eyeshot at all times."
The Doctor turned back to the room and he blinked as though just realizing all the Silence were there.
"Oh, hello. Sorry, you were in the middle of something. Doesn't look like it went according to plan, does it?"
He gestured at the smoking machine, which had obviously broken down just seconds (or maybe even the exact second) before he had landed. The Silent near the unconscious Terry let out its signature creaky growl. River raised her gun just slightly in warning, although her eyes moved briefly to the Doctor. The fact that he wasn't addressing Terry's current state was a big warning sign to her but River honestly wasn't sure what the Doctor was going to do. And that scared her. This was the man who had risked the entire universe for the woman he loved.
But at the moment, the Doctor appeared to not notice Terry as, with deceptive calm, he strode further into the room while still carrying the old TV set as he continued talking.
"Just had to say, though, have you seen what's on the telly?"
The Silent replied by starting to move in the Doctor's direction, but he waved them off warningly.
"Ah! Now, stay where you are. Because look at me," he looked at the Silent with dark, dangerous eyes. "I'm confident."
The Silence paused, staring wordlessly at the Doctor as he went on in an increasingly darker tone.
"You want to watch that, me, when I'm confident. Especially," his green eyes turned absolutely deadly, "after you tried to harm the woman I love. Although."
And his mood suddenly switched back, although Rory and River noticed the tension in the Doctor's shoulders didn't quite go away this time.
"Really, it would be River here who will be the one shooting. She is the one with her own gun after all and, unlike me, she really doesn't mind shooting people."
"Thank you, sweetie." River said sarcastically.
The Doctor ignored her as he announced, "Why, she'll definitely kill at least the first three of you."
"First seven, easily." River interrupted, cocking her gun for emphasis. "Possibly even eight, considering what they did to my angel."
"My angel." The Doctor corrected absently before he gestured toward the Silence. "But you get the picture. So maybe you want to draw lots or have a quiz."
By this point, Rory had moved to try and free Amy. He noticed Terry looked unusually pale and his concern for the Time Lady grew, especially with how noticeably on edge the Doctor really was beneath his blase attitude.
"Or," the Doctor was saying now. "You could also listen a minute. Because all I really want to do is accept your total surrender and then I'll let you go in peace. Yes, you've been interfering in human history for thousands of years. Yes, people have suffered and died. And yes, you took my angel."
The Doctor's voice turned dangerous for a second before he forced it to be lighter again.
"But as my angel would say, what's the point in two hearts, if you can't be a bit forgiving, now and then?"
It was clearly a rhetorical question. But even then, the Doctor was unimpressed by the lack of reaction he got as the Silence simply stared back at him.
"Oooh, the Silence. You guys take that seriously, don't you?" The Doctor shrugged. "Okay, you got me. I'm lying. I'm not really going to let you go that easily. Nice thought, but it's not Christmas."
The Doctor switched on the box television as he spoke.
"First, you tell me about the girl. Who is she? Why is she important? What's she for?"
The Doctor peered at the Silence, but again, they didn't answer. Their attention remained focused on the Doctor, who glanced at his watch before he addressed the Silence again.
"Guys, sorry, but you're way out of time. Now, come on."
The Doctor snapped his fingers as he walked closer to the television.
"A bit of history for you. Aren't you proud? Because you helped."
The Doctor pulled out the antennae on the television, increasing the signal and improving the clarity on the screen as the television fizzled to life and the news anchor's voice floated over the group.
"And we're getting a picture on the TV."
"Now, do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly?" The Doctor asked as he turned back to the Silence.
"Half a billion. And that's nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars." He gesticulated with his hands to emphasize his point.
"You just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years, and every single one of them at some point in their lives, will look back at this man," the Doctor pointed to the television screen where they could see Neil Armstrong just about to disembark.
"Taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it."
The Doctor turned away from the screen as Neil Armstrong made his way down the ladder and towards the moon.
"Oh. But don't forget this bit." The Doctor added before he dialed into his mobile.
The Doctor waited for the other party to answer while the Silence watched him in confusion.
"Ready?" The Doctor asked when Canton answered his phone on the second ring.
The Doctor smirked as he received an affirmation from the agent. Sitting back, he waited for Canton to attach the videophone the Doctor had given him to a super-satellite phone (also courtesy of the Doctor). From there, the signal would beam up to the device the Doctor had linked into Apollo 11 while Terry and Amy had been scoping out Greystark Hall. And that would in turn broadcast…
Everyone watched the television as Neil Armstrong stepped off Apollo 11 and onto the moon.
"That's one small step for a man-"
The newsreader's voice was suddenly cut out and the screen went fuzzy. It buzzed, as though it had lost focus, before an ominous voice rasped out.
"You should kill us all on sight."
The Doctor watched impassively as the screen cleared up to show a Silent, clear as day. On the recording, the Silent hissed menacingly into the camera, "You should kill us all on sight."
The footage – which Canton had recorded from the Silent he and the Doctor had managed to take prisoner from Greystark Hall - repeated itself over and over again on the screen. Just as the Doctor knew it would be doing on all the screens in every human's home around the world. Embedding the message thoroughly into the human subconscious.
"You've given the order for your own execution," the Doctor explained in a low voice as he stood his ground before the Silence who stared at him with growing outrage.
"And the whole planet just heard you."
"You should kill us all on sight." The message repeated again, before the TV screen switched back to Neil Armstrong standing on the moon.
"One giant leap for mankind."
"And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence." The Doctor declared. "You just raised an army against yourself! And now, for a thousand generations, you're going to be ordering them to destroy you every day."
He advanced on the Silent who had first spoken to him.
"How fast can you run?" The Doctor asked darkly. "Because today's the day the human race throw you off their planet. They won't even know they're doing it."
The Silent's hands curled and twitched as finally, the Silent's anger boiled to the top.
The Doctor however was looking behind the Silent now and he added, "I think, quite possibly, the word you're looking for right now is 'Oops'."
Electricity began to crackle all around the room, but still the Doctor stood his ground.
"And also: 'you should always be careful what you wish for'. Run!"
With that the Doctor grabbed Rory and Amy and he dashed toward the Tardis.
"What?!" River cried before she realised what the Doctor had seen. She also dashed for cover, just as the Silence felt the presence behind them.
They turned, still cracking with electricity, but it was too late.
Daemon's eyes glowed with golden light and she stated in an unimpressed voice, "If you were going to try to steal my energy, you should have built a bigger spacesuit."
The Silence snarled, but they knew they were cornered. Daemon's eyes glowed brighter. And then true silence fell.
Terry opened her eyes sleepily to find the Doctor carrying her toward her bedroom.
"Sh. Go back to sleep, angel." The Doctor whispered when he noticed her stir.
"I was kidnapped." Terry murmured.
"You were." The Doctor nodded.
"The Silence were trying to take something from me."
"They were."
"I don't remember anything else."
"We can talk later. Right now, you're in no fit state." The Doctor replied. Terry's eyes started to slide shut but she cracked them open again with great effort.
"Where's River?"
"Showing off, as usual. Thinks she can fly my Tardis better than I can." The Doctor grumbled.
"You know she can." Terry yawned. She struggled to open her eyes one last time.
"Oh, that reminds me." Terry said tiredly. "Theta, there's something I have to tell you. It's important."
He snorted.
"You're severely drained but you have something important to tell me?" He sighed. "Why do I have a feeling it's related to River?"
"You have to go pick up Second me in 1995." Terry answered, too exhausted to indulge the Doctor. "April 23rd, 1995 at 4:10pm to be exact. You'll find me in an alley in New York, between 75th Avenue and 173rd Street. But you have to wait - and this is important - until after you have an encounter with Sexy."
The Doctor stared at her.
"An encounter… with Sexy?" He asked in a tone that questioned her current sanity. Terry nodded.
"Trust me, you'll understand when it happens." She answered and the Doctor just shrugged.
"Okay."
"75th and 173rd." Terry repeated and the Doctor nodded.
"Okay."
"April 23rd."
"I can remember, angel." The Doctor reached her bedroom and he pressed his forehead against Terry's. "Now, get the rest you need."
Terry couldn't fight it any longer so it was with no arguments that she drifted back into a pleasant dream about giant cupcakes and jelly swimming pools.
After putting Terry to bed and saying goodbye to Nixon and Canton, the Doctor made his final stop.
He watched as River stepped back into her cell in Stormcage before he suddenly offered, "You could come with us. I'm sure Terry would love that."
"I escape often enough, thank you." River chuckled. "And I have a promise to live up to."
Her tone became thoughtful as she looked back to the Tardis where Terry was sleeping and recovering her strength. The Doctor raised a brow questioningly at River's melancholy, but the blonde just shook her head.
"You'll understand soon enough." She told him.
The Doctor pouted slightly, but finally he nodded.
"Okay." He conceded. "Up to you."
The Doctor saluted River lightly before he turned away. "See you next time. Call me."
"You bet I will." River tossed back.
The Doctor chuckled as he walked off, closing the Tardis door behind him without so much as a backward glance. A shadow passed over River's face as she watched the Tardis disappear. She knew what was coming for the Doctor. Demon's Run was only a few stops away for him, judging by the glances Terry had given Amy throughout their adventure together.
As for Terry…
"I'm sorry, angel." River murmured softly, knowing where the Time Lady was headed next. "I'm so sorry."
Terry had just woken up from what was a very much needed nap and ruffled her hair when she was surrounded by the familiar gold light. She groaned as she was taken away; but when she landed, Terry raised a brow.
She was in the middle of a street, in the dark with only a few dim lights lighting up the area and throwing the rest of the surroundings into shadows. And she had no idea where she was.
'Now where am I?' Terry wondered as she began wandering down the street, trying to place anything familiar.
All she could tell at the moment was that she was in a city. And the more she walked, the more Terry found herself growing bewildered. She had no idea where she was although it looked like it might be Earth, and she had no hope of knowing when it was. Nothing was giving her any clues.
What's more, everything seemed… normal. No panicking, just regular quiet and the occasional dog barking in the distance. Terry frowned, feeling oddly unsettled. Usually when she landed outside of the Tardis and without the Doctor anywhere in sight (and sometimes even if he was nearby), something was usually wrong. Like the sun being a living creature sucking in a spaceship, or the world about to be transformed into Adipose, or-
Terry's thoughts cut off abruptly as she turned the corner of the street and found herself standing across the street from a very familiar scene.
"Melody Malone?" A big man was asking two smaller figures who were almost completely covered in the shadows of the trees. Almost, but not quite.
River and Rory turned at the sound that escaped Terry's lips when she saw them standing together in Central Park… with Rory holding his hands, still clutching two takeaway coffees, up high while a man pointed his gun right at Rory's chest.
"Angel?" River asked in surprise.
Never had the nickname sent a chill down Terry's spine as it did in that moment as she realised exactly where and when she was.