A/N: Alex's outfits for this chapter can be viewed on my Tumblr, under the name 'darksideofparis'.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
Three Months Later – July 1969
Amy sprinted through the desert, desperately trying to stay ahead of the black SUVs chasing her. Above her, the sun beat down relentlessly and the air was hot and dry, the only weather the Valley of the Gods seemed to experience.
It was official. She hated Utah.
Amy forced herself to keep moving, even though her lungs were burning, and she was sweating more than a greased pig. Her clothes were plastered to her body and her hair was completely damp from sweat. In addition to these things, several black tally marks decorated her arms, neck, and face. A pen hung from a lanyard around her neck, the writing utensil bouncing against her stomach every other second as she ran.
Amy continued to run through the desert, but suddenly came to a halt as she reached a small ledge that led down into a bunch of cacti and desert grass. She stumbled, raising her arms to keep her balance. Behind her, she heard the SUVs come to a halt. Hesitantly, she turned around. Several FBI agents were standing in front of her, guns aimed. At the front of them was a very familiar face.
"Canton!" she gasped out, her throat raw from inhaling desert dust.
"Miss Pond," Canton coolly greeted. He turned and motioned to one of the other agents. The agent stepped forward and laid a long black bag on the ground.
Amy eyed it apprehensively. "Is that . . . a body bag?"
"Yes, it is," Canton smirked.
"It's empty."
"How about that."
Amy glared at him. "Do you know why you're doing this, eh? Can you even remember the warehouse?"
Because she could.
A split second after Amy fired the gun, Alex jumped up and snatched it away from her. Amy screamed in horror when she finally caught sight of the person inside the astronaut suit. It was a little girl, probably about six or seven years old. She didn't seem to be hurt, but the glass on her visor was cracked from the bullet.
"Oh, thank God you have terrible aim," Alex sighed in relief as she quickly unloaded the gun, pocketing the bullets.
The Doctor seemed to agree with her, for he let out a matching sigh before dashing over to pull a newly conscious Canton to his feet. "Canton!" he cried, dragging the man in the opposite direction. "Amy! Alex!"
Alex pocketed the gun and grabbed a stunned Amy's hand. Amy couldn't believe she'd just shot a child. Granted, the child was going to kill the Doctor in the future, but still, a child. Amy allowed her friend to pull her along as they all raced through the warehouse back to the TARDIS.
"River, come on!" they heard Rory shout just ahead.
"Run!" the Doctor yelled at them, as if they weren't doing that already.
"What the hell's going on?!" Canton demanded. He yanked his arm out of the Doctor's grasp and planted himself a few steps away from them.
The Doctor and Alex eyed the space behind Canton. "Look behind you!" the Doctor urged, pointing in the direction indicated.
"There's nothing behind me!"
"Yes, there is!" Alex protested. "Look!"
"Look," the Doctor begged. His hand reached out and grabbed Alex's, pulling her close to him. "Canton, look, I tell you!"
Though the ex-FBI agent still looked doubtful, he obliged and turned around. His eyes widened and he gaped at the creature before him. It was the alien Alex had seen in the tunnels, the one Amy now remembered as the one she saw in the bathroom at the White House. Electricity was crackling around the creature, reminding three of the people in that room of the Lylon's back in Bristol. Amy dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone, taking another picture of it so she wouldn't forget it again.
The creature stepped towards them, electricity still snapping all around it. "Canton. . ." it said, an indentation forming in the spot where its mouth should have been. The creature's arms reached out towards them. . .
But Canton didn't say anything. Instead, he pulled out his gun and fired.
BANG!
Amy fell to the ground.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
Though you would never hear anyone confirm it, Area 51 was, in fact, a space the U.S. government used to keep aliens and study them. The Doctor knew this. He had tried to warn a couple creatures away from the Nevada area because of this exact spot.
He never thought he'd actually end up in here himself.
The room he was in was essentially a large hanger, more like something that would be used to store helicopters and secret pieces of military aircraft instead of the last Time Lord in all of existence. Armed guards were stationed all around the perimeter, staying back from the open section in the middle. The Doctor sat on a platform in this space, in the center of a large yellow circle. In the three months since the warehouse, his hair had grown longer, and he'd even grown a mustache and beard. He sat there, shackled to a chair and in a straitjacket, watching Canton approach.
Above, a speaker called out, "All visitors to remain behind the yellow line. All visitors to remain behind the yellow line."
"We found Amy Pond," Canton told him as he approached the edge of the circle. He pulled some photos out of an envelope and held one of them up. It was of Amy's arm, several black tally marks decorating it. "She had strange markings on her arm. Do you know what they are?" He tossed the photos into the circle.
The Doctor stared down at them. "Why don't you ask her?"
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
It was nighttime in New York City. Stars glittered overhead, shining down on River Song as she made her way through a partially constructed office in one of the city's skyscrapers. She was dressed to the nines in a floor-length green dress and heels, her hair piled up on top of her head. Black tally marks adorned her arms like red dots on a child sick with chicken pox.
River glanced around nervously. Plastic tarps were hanging from the ceiling, blocking various areas off so that construction wouldn't affect them. In the night wind, they swung and fluttered back and forth like ghosts. It was a horribly creepy effect, made none the easier considering who else was in the room.
Nearby, a pipe clattered, and River gasped. She whirled around, only to gasp again when she saw two more of the aliens in front of her. She took a pen off a lanyard hanging around her neck and, without looking away, made two tally marks on her arm. "I see you!" she shouted at them. "I see you!"
"Dr. Song!" Canton's voice called out. River spun around, trying to locate him. "Dr. Song!" She turned back around. The aliens were gone. She looked down at her arm. There were two fresh-looking tally marks. She'd had another encounter.
"Go, go, go!" Canton shouted. A second later, a bunch of footsteps began pounding across the floor as several agents started searching for her. River hastened over to the window. She grimaced as her heels clacked across the floor, easily revealing her location.
"Don't move!" Canton ordered, coming into view as River stood by the open window. Several agents came up beside him, their guns drawn. "It's over!"
"They're here, Canton," River proclaimed. "They're everywhere."
"I know. America's being invaded."
She shook her head. "You were invaded a long time ago," she corrected. "America is occupied."
"You're coming with us, Dr. Song," Canton said, not bothering to pursue the argument. "There's no way out this time."
River once again shook her head, this time smirking a little. "There's always a way out." Then, before anyone could stop her, she threw out her arms and fell backwards out the window. Canton rushed forward and peered down. River was falling, a calm expression on her face, as though this was something she did every day.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
Back at Area 51, the Doctor watched as two scientists began constructing a wall along the platform. The bricks they were using were black and looked extremely thick. It appeared like they could keep just about anything out.
Footsteps sounded out in front of him, but the Doctor didn't remove his gaze from the bricks. "We found Dr. Song," Canton reported.
"These bricks," the Doctor said instead. He watched as one brick was placed next to another. The crack between the two bricks melded together, as if they weren't two separate bricks at all. "What are they made of?" When Canton didn't answer, he decided to go back to River. "Where is she?"
"She ran," Canton said bluntly. "Off the fiftieth floor."
Sounded like something River would do. The Doctor acknowledged this information with a nod before switching back to the bricks. "I'd say zero balance dwarf star alloy. The densest material in the universe. Nothing gets through that. You're building me the perfect prison." He turned to Canton, his eyes gleaming, and smiled a little. "And it still won't be enough!"
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
Rory burst out of a door onto a road going atop the Glen Canyon Dam, going faster than a bat out of hell. The poor man was very disheveled. Loads and loads of tally marks were all over his body, indicating a lot of encounters he couldn't remember, and his clothes were dirty and sweaty. He'd been running a lot lately, more than he ever had on adventures with the Doctor.
He made to run one way, only to see a bunch of men in black blocking his path. Turning around, he saw the same thing. He scrambled over to one side of the dam and glanced down, only to quickly dismiss the thought of jumping when he saw the exact distance he would have to go. It was a long way down and the landing would most certainly not be pleasant. Sighing, Rory turned around and held up his hands in surrender to Canton.
He frowned though when he saw Canton just looking at him, as if this whole thing wasn't a bloody manhunt. "What are you waiting for?" he questioned.
"I'm waiting for you to run," Canton replied as Rory slowly lowered his arms. "It'll look better if I shot you while you were running. Then again," he shrugged, picking up his gun, "looks aren't everything." Rory closed his eyes, waiting for the shot.
BANG!
Rory toppled to the ground.
Canton nodded in approval. "Three down, one to go."
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
Alex walked through the crowded streets of New Orleans, her eyes wandering from one side of the street to the other. She was currently in the French Quarter. All around her, people of black and white ethnicities were calling things out, from sales prices (Bag o'beans! Only a dollah!) to greetings (Ricky! How's your wife?) to some rather vulgar profanities (You come down here and face me, you two-timing Yankee bitch!). She turned to view the person shouting this. It was a young man in mechanic's overalls, currently standing on the sidewalk and looking up at a second story window above a book shop. A young woman with short, curly brown hair was leaning out the window, dressed in only a thin black negligee and a red satin robe. A cigarette dangled from her fingertips, smoke drifting past her bored expression.
Alex smiled to herself. Ah, regular human problems. Those two didn't know how lucky they were.
Alex continued on, weaving her way through the crowd while constantly looking all around her. She wasn't drawing any attention, thankfully. She had decided the best way to try and see how many suit-wearing aliens there were in the U.S. was to blend in with the population. So she had.
She was currently dressed in a red and black mod dress which stopped at mid-thigh, black go-go boots, and dangly gold earrings. Her hair was stiff from too much hairspray and had been teased up high, with a bright red headband holding everything together.
The whole ensemble made Alex a little self-conscious. She knew her body looked great, so that wasn't the problem. She had just never been one to dress provocatively, like her high-school rival Hillary Westcott did, even in the middle of December. She didn't really like causing guys to whistle at her ass as she walked past and shout, 'Hey baby, looking for a date?' which had happened, oh, four times today already.
Suddenly, a loud whistle pierced the air. Alex turned to see a bunch of greaser-looking guys loitering around a soda shop, leaning against their motorcycles, trying to act cool and totally succeeding at it. The guy who whistled at her appeared to be the leader of the gang for he was standing in the exact center of the group, leaning against the biggest bike there. He was dressed in faded, ripped jeans, motorcycle boots, and an unzipped leather jacket, exposing his bare chest and the eagle tattoo on his left bicep. His shaggy black hair hung around his equally black eyes, which glittered when he saw Alex looking at him.
He whistled again. "Hey, baby!" he called over to her as Alex stood on the sidewalk, arms crossed and lips pursed in a tight, annoyed line. "How about you and I take a little spin on my bike here?" He patted the seat of his bike invitingly while his leather-clad groupies looked on in admiration, all probably hoping that one day they would be such a legend too.
Alex rolled her eyes and reached up to fiddle with the charm of her sonic necklace, safely tucked under the collar of her dress. "Piss off!" she shouted at him before twirling on her heel and marching off as fast as her go-go boots would allow her. Make that five times today, she thought as she swerved through the throng of pedestrians.
Honestly, she didn't have time to deal with all these dumb boys and their catcalls! She had a planet to save! Well, technically there was no planet-saving going on just yet. It was more like information gathering. But after this, she had a planet to save!
It had been three months since the incident at the warehouse. Shortly after they had all legged it back to the TARDIS and were safely in the vortex, the Doctor had decreed that they needed to learn more about these mysterious creatures they had encountered and why they were in America. Alex had liked that plan, but she didn't really like the idea of them all splitting up.
Still, even that part had its benefits. They were able to cover more ground that way and it was a good thing too. These creatures, whatever they were, were everywhere. It amazed Alex that she hadn't seen any of them in Kentucky when she was growing up.
She started out in Savannah since she knew the city. It had been nice being able to explore River Street again, even if it wasn't as commercially developed here as it was in her time. While there, staying in a small bed-and-breakfast that was reported to be haunted, she had counted a grand total of 377 aliens. She had been in Savannah for three weeks until a few men in black turned up and started asking around about her. In the middle of the night, Alex had gotten the hell out of Dodge.
From there it was on to Atlanta, where she stayed two and half weeks, this one with 405 aliens. After that, she caught a train up to Charleston, South Carolina. She counted 187 aliens during her five day stay there. After a government agent turned up at her hotel, Alex snuck out through her bedroom window and hitch-hiked up to Columbia, staying there two days while she waited for a train from out west to arrive. Once the train arrived, she managed to sweet-talk the young conductor into letting her on there for free, even managing to get free food and a room. It was a really good thing she had her mother's good genetics and a nice dose of southern charm. She'd be utterly lost without it.
The train arrived in San Antonio, Texas where she stayed for only three days until the ridiculous heat started getting to her. Down there, there were 250 aliens. A venture into Houston turned up 116 more. From there, Alex befriended a young girl who was part of a contortionist act in a traveling circus that was headed for Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Karen agreed to smuggle her into her car and let her off in Baton Rouge. For two days, as they traveled to the city, Alex and Karen traded stories and laughed. Alex was careful not to reveal any of her time traveling adventures but did tell Karen about growing up in Kentucky (albeit with a few period details changed) and about Amy and Rory. Karen was seventeen years old and had been with the circus since she was fifteen. She told Alex very calmly that she ran away from her Oklahoma home after her mother died and her stepfather started using a belt to get his point across, meeting up with the circus people in St. Louis and traveling with them ever since. Though she liked her contortionist act, Karen secretly hoped to become a secretary in a big city office somewhere.
"Don't you think it would be glamorous?" she'd said as she wistfully stared out the window at the passing farmland.
Like Mad Men, Alex had thought, but didn't say. Instead, she had nodded and said, "Oh, of course. Very posh."
Karen had also revealed that she was in love with the ringmaster's nephew, Brady. Alex had been fully informed of Brady's numerous features, from his shiny grain-colored hair to his deep blue eyes, to his 6'2 frame and strong muscles, and his deep Southern drawl, a trait Karen swore made women everywhere they went swoon. The only problem was that she didn't have the guts to make a move on him.
"You really should," Alex had said, feeling like she was coaching Amy and Rory in the early stages of their relationship all over again. "Why should you wait for him to make the first move? You're a young woman. Feminism is starting up. Nothing's holding you back except for yourself."
"You make it sound so easy," Karen sighed. She tucked a piece of her strawberry blonde hair behind her ear. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Alex had shifted at that question. "Well . . . no. I'd like for him to be, but no."
That, of course, had completely captured Karen's attention and she spent the next two hours prying information about the Doctor out of Alex. Alex had been careful with the details, saying that the Doctor's name was John and that he worked as a doctor at Cambridge, a nice little homage to a cover story she and the Doctor had concocted for various occasions. Karen had practically swooned at her description of the Doctor and, like Alex, had encouraged her to do something about her crush.
"If you love him, just tell him! What's the worst that could happen?"
That he doesn't love me? That he'll throw me off the TARDIS? That'll he'll say he's in love with River? That he dies in the future? What she had finally settled for was, "It's not really that easy."
"Sounds easy to me," Karen had insisted. "You should take your own advice. Nothing's holding you back except yourself."
And she was right. Alex was holding herself back. But it was for good reason. There were too many risks with the Doctor, ones that Karen would never be able to understand. But Alex knew them. That was all that mattered.
Still, it had been good to have a little girl talk, a welcome break from her alien hunting. But upon arriving in Baton Rouge, Alex had to bid Karen good-bye, wishing her luck with Brady before setting off into the city. The hot summer weather nearly made her have heat-stroke, but Alex persevered, getting a temporary job as a waitress in a diner so she could stay in the upstairs apartment while counting out the various aliens. Baton Rouge wielded up 215. After a week, she'd vacated the place and hitch-hiked to a city she had always wanted to go to and deemed the circumstances appropriate enough for visiting: New Orleans.
So far, New Orleans hadn't disappointed. The beautiful French-inspired architecture was positively breathtaking, the scent of Creole cooking hung in the air, making Alex permanently hungry, and the atmosphere was alive and electric, the citizens seeming permanently happy and in a party-loving mood. Alex was a little surprised that they didn't have Mardi Gras full time here.
And New Orleans didn't disappoint in the alien department either. In her four-day tenure here, she had counted a grand total of 465 aliens.
Make that 466, Alex thought as she came up on an alleyway between two different bars. Standing in the shadows of the alleyway was another creature, dressed in a suit like all the others. It stared at her, not making any moves as she studied it.
She had learned something very quickly in her alien-hunting expedition. It was that after encountering these creatures, no one else remembered them. People just seemed to completely forget about them once they turned away.
Except for herself. Alex remembered them. She knew this wasn't really surprising, considering her advanced mind. After all, she'd been able to see the Krafayis at Vincent Van Gogh's house, even though it was invisible to the Doctor and Amy. But still, it was a little strange. Then again, Alex guessed that she was still getting used to the weird workings of her mind.
"What are you?" she murmured, peering at the creature while being careful not to get too close. She didn't know what these guys could do with electricity, but she was willing to bet that it wasn't something good. "Why are you here?" The creature didn't answer. Alex had asked this question before to other ones, and they all did the same thing.
"Hey!" a voice yelled out behind her. Alex stepped away from the alien and turned around to see what unlucky sap was getting yelled at now, only to see the motorcycle boy from a few minutes ago storming up the sidewalk towards her.
Alex groaned. Oh, brother. This was the last thing she needed.
Motorcycle Boy continued stalking towards her, but Alex wasn't about to deal with him. She quickly turned around and started parading away . . . only to be jerked back as a hand wrapped around her wrist, tugging her into the alleyway.
"Let go of me!" she shouted. She tried to pull her hand away, but Motorcycle Boy's grip was tight. It wasn't like when the Doctor invariably grabbed her wrist to lead her away from something. His grip was firm, but gentle. Tight, but not too tight. Motorcycle Boy's grip let her know that she was going to have bruises a little later.
"Stop screaming," the punk commanded, reaching out and snatching hold of Alex's other wrist. He laughed a little right in her face. His breath wreaked of cigarettes and dipping tobacco.
As Alex wildly struggled, Motorcycle Boy leaned in closer to her. "Come on, baby, don't struggle," he crooned. "One little ride on my bike. Whaddya say?"
Alex's response was to glare at him and spit in his face.
Motorcycle Boy's face grew dark and his grip on Alex grew tighter. "Bitch!" he yelled, pulling her closer to him as she continued to thrash around. "No one says no to Bobby Dean. . ." Suddenly, Bobby's voice trailed off. Alex looked up to see that he was looking past her. His face turned to one of horror and Alex immediately knew what he was looking at.
"What the hell is that?!" he cried, releasing one of her wrists to point at the alien standing behind them. The creature stood there, just watching them, as if they were some kind of science experiment with interesting results.
"An alien," Alex said matter-of-factly. Using the distraction to her advantage, she yanked her other wrist out of Bobby's hand and put one well-placed shin to a spot she knew would hurt. Bobby howled in pain and immediately ran out of the alleyway and up the street. Alex poked her head out and watched him. A moment later, Bobby stopped mid-run and turned to look back the way he'd came. Alex ducked back into the alley and waited a moment before peering out again. Bobby was walking, legs bow-shaped, up the street to his peers, who were in near hysterics at his appearance.
Alex sighed in relief. She leaned against the brick wall and turned to look at the alien still standing there. "What do you know?" The alien turned its head to her. "You're useful for something after all. I mean, besides being a model for The Scream." The alien, if it felt anything about the last few minutes, said nothing.
Figuring she didn't have much to lose, Alex decided to remain in the alley and continue talking to the creature. Who knew? She might learn something. "I'm Alex. Who are you? Do you have a name?" No reply. "Oh, come on. I know you can talk. I saw one of you talk in Florida!" Still nothing. This species of alien wasn't exactly chatty.
Alex pursed her lips and cocked her head, trying to figure out what to do next. "Where are you from?" Again, nothing. "Okay, maybe it's best you don't answer that. It's not like I'd know anyways. Why are you here? Why are there so many of you here? Do you just like America or something?"
But the creature only stared at her, refusing to talk or do anything of interest. Alex sighed. Well, she had tried and hadn't gotten anything useful. "Okay then," she shrugged, peeling off the wall and turning to head back out onto the street. "Nice talking to you! Might want to reconsider those suits. It's hot here."
She started to walk out of the alley and back out into the sunshine when a voice rang out behind her. "Alex. . ." Alex stiffened and slowly turned around. The creature was looking at her, an indentation in its mouth-spot visible. It stared directly at her, making Alex shift a little. After dealing with these things for three months now, she was no longer scared of them, but the way this one was looking at her now was enough to make her feel just the teeniest bit afraid.
"You are Alex Locke," it said slowly.
Alex stiffened when it said her last name. She hadn't told it that, so how did it know? "Yes?"
"You are the Doctor's Ally. You were supposed to be the one."
"Don't call me that," Alex snapped. "And what do you mean?"
"You were supposed to be the one."
"Yeah, getting that, but what does that mean? The one what?"
"You were meant to be the one at Lake Silencio, not the other one."
God, this was confusing. She was supposed to be 'the one' at Lake Silencio? What did that mean? That she was supposed to be killed instead of the Doctor? Or something else, something the creature wouldn't divulge? "Okay," Alex said slowly, inching towards the safe, bright sunlight, where nothing bad would surely happen to her. "Lovely chat. Definitely more than I was expecting. So, I'll just be going now. . ." She whirled around and began making a beeline for the street . . . only to run into a black suit. Her head shot up. Was the creature was trying to trap her?
Nope. It wasn't the alien. It was none other than ex-FBI agent Canton Everett Delaware III.
He smirked at her, not bothering to lower his shades even though he was currently facing a dark alleyway. "Hello, Alex."
Alex took a step back, then immediately spun around and started sprinting to the other end of the alley. That plan was thwarted, however, when a bunch of agents stepped out of the shadows, their guns out and aimed at her.
Alex backed up and raised her hands. She glanced over at the section of alley the creature had been in. There was nothing there. The creature had gotten the hell out of there. Smart guy. She turned back around and smiled faux-sweetly at Canton. "Hello, Canton. Fancy running into you here. Long time, no see."
"You've made it rather difficult, the seeing part," Canton commented dryly.
"I aim to please!" Alex chirped. "So, you've really come all this way just to get me? What did I do? I'm just trying to protect my country, doing my American duty. Meanwhile, I was accosted not ten minutes ago by some motorcycle punk up the street. Why don't you take care of him instead?"
"I'll be more than happy to do so," Canton agreed, "right after I get through with you." He snapped his fingers. An agent stepped forward and lowered a body bag to the ground.
Alex eyed it nervously. Body bags. Oh, joy. "Well, I always hoped I'd go out with a bang," she joked, her voice only slightly shaking. "Though I should warn you, there are dozens of people on that street. I don't think you can keep them from hearing a gunshot."
Canton chuckled and raised his gun. "Oh, I have my ways," he assured her as he took aim. A second later, BANG!
Alex Locke fell to the ground.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
In Area 51, the Doctor's prison was now complete. The square structure wasn't very big or tall, probably about nine feet high and seven feet wide. Not that the size really mattered anyway. No matter how big or small it was, it was still a prison.
Inside his little cell, the Doctor watched as Canton came in, three agents following him. Each agent was dragging a body bag. They laid the bags out before the Doctor, as though offering food to a god. Canton stood in the cut-out doorway watching them, looking rather pleased with himself.
The Doctor's eyes stayed on the smallest body bag for a moment, the one for the shortest of his companions. "Is there a reason you're doing this?" he demanded.
"I want to know where you stand."
"In a cell."
"In the perfect cell," Canton corrected. He nodded to the three agents, who turned and left. "Nothing can penetrate these walls. Not a sound, not a radio wave, not the tiniest particle of anything." He turned and placed his fingers into a specially made keypad on the wall next to the cut-out door. A square lit up around his fingers and a moment later, the cell-door swung in, the space between the bricks immediately filling in so that in just a few seconds, it looked like there wasn't a door at all. "In here, you're literally cut off from the rest of the universe." He turned around and smiled at the Doctor. "So I guess they can't hear us, right?"
"Good work, Canton. Door sealed?"
"You bet."
The Doctor jumped to his feet and shook off his straitjacket and chains. They had been loose the whole time. In front of him, all three body bags sat up, gasping for breath and, in one bag's case, kicking and thrashing as the person inside hurried to get out.
The Doctor immediately dove down next to the flailing middle body bag. Unzipping it, he revealed the slightly tousled hair of Alex Locke.
"Oh, God," Alex groaned as she gasped for breath. She had played a corpse for a play before, but that was nothing compared to what she had to do this time around! She looked around the dark little cell before turning her head and finding herself face-to-face with the Doctor. She blinked, taking in his mustache, beard, and long hair. "Now I know these things are deadly," she declared. "Hello, Jesus of Nazareth."
The Doctor frowned at her. "You can talk, Joan Holloway," he shot back. He then grinned. "Miss me, Ally?"
"Always, Doc," Alex giggled. She lifted her arms up and he immediately helped her to her feet. Once she was standing, Alex kicked the body bag away from her.
"Are you okay?" the Doctor checked. He hadn't liked the idea of Alex being stuck in a body bag for so long, but no other option had presented itself.
"I'm fine," Alex assured him. "But let's not do a repeat of this, deal?"
"Deal."
Meanwhile, Canton hurried over to Rory and unzipped his bag before darting over to release Amy's. "Finally!" the redhead gasped, sending a little glare over at the Doctor. While she knew he would go to Alex first, he could have at least reached over and tugged her zipper down.
"These things could really do with air holes!" Rory exclaimed.
"Never had a complaint before," Canton chuckled.
Amy kicked her bag off and got to her feet, heading over to Alex as Rory got up. "Isn't it gonna look odd that you're staying in here with us?" she asked.
"Odd, but not alarming. They know there's no way out of this place."
The Doctor stretched out his arms and wound them round in circles, trying to get his circulation going again after sitting in a chair for three months. He looked over at Alex and took in her mod dress. It hovered several inches above her knees, exposing her long, slender legs. Not to mention, but it rather suited her petite form, the dress hugging her in all the right places.
Rassilon, she was beautiful. And he had missed her. Every single day was spent thinking of her, wondering where she was and what she was doing.
Once the feeling had returned to his arms, he turned to address the others. "Exactly!" he enthused as he stretched his braces out. "Whatever they might think we're doing in here, they know we're not going anywhere." On that, he slumped to the side, seemingly about to fall to the floor, only to thump against something solid. He grinned at Alex when he saw her eyes light up in recognition. Not moving his gaze from her, he snapped his fingers, opening the invisible TARDIS's doors. "Shall we?"
Amy, Alex, and Rory immediately ran into the time machine, the Doctor and Canton bringing up the rear. "What about Dr. Song?" Canton asked as they hurried up onto the glass platform. "She dove off a rooftop!"
"Don't worry," the Doctor said, waving off his concern as he began running around the console. "She does that. Amy, Rory, open all the doors to the swimming pool!" The Ponds immediately rushed off to do just that while Alex leaned against the railing, just watching the Doctor in his element.
She was so glad she was back with him. She had missed him so much during the last three months. Every night before she fell asleep, she would think about him, hoping and praying that he was doing alright at Area 51. Absence makes the heart grow fonder alright, she thought.
She could only wonder if the feeling was mutual.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
A little while later, everyone re-grouped in the console room. Amy and Rory wanted to wash all of their tally marks off, River wanted to wash the chlorine scent off of her, and the Doctor was desperate for some new clothes after being stuck for three months in a straitjacket. Alex had stayed in the console room with Canton, not bothering to change just yet. Soon the group was back, all refreshed except for the Doctor. He had clean clothes, but he hadn't shaved the mustache and beard. Alex could only hope and pray that he didn't decide to keep it. She'd never been big on facial hair.
"So, we know they're everywhere," the Doctor summarized. He rushed around the console, passing River, in the process of drying her mega-curly hair with a towel. "Not just a landing party, an occupying force, and they have been here a very, very long time. But nobody knows that, because no one can remember them."
"So what are they up to?" Canton wondered.
"No idea," the Doctor admitted as he pulled a lever down. A second later, the TARDIS landed with a thump. "But the good news is, we've got a secret weapon."
He darted over to Alex and grabbed her hand. Alex let out a little squeal as she was rushed down the stairs and out the door, the others hastening to follow them. They all filed outside onto a large grassy field. In front of them was a huge Saturn V rocket on a launch-pad, ready for takeoff.
The companions and Canton all stared at it, trying to figure out what, exactly, the Doctor's secret weapon was. Not even Alex could figure it out. Finally, River took it upon herself to ask. "Apollo 11's your secret weapon?"
"No, no," the Doctor scoffed, shaking his head. "It's not Apollo 11. That would be silly. It's Neil Armstrong's foot." He beamed, looking utterly pleased with himself and his clever mind, before darting back into the TARDIS.
Amy looked over at Alex, knowing that if there was anyone here who could figure out what the Doctor was up to, it was her. "Any ideas?"
"Not a clue," Alex admitted. "But I'm sure it's something brilliant . . . and something he'll probably end up getting thrown in jail for."
"Have a little faith, Ally!" the Doctor shouted out the partially open TARDIS door.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
"Ow!" Canton hollered a few minutes later as the Doctor injected something into the palm of his hand.
The group was back in the TARDIS, still outside the Kennedy Space Center. The Doctor had excused himself for a few minutes to go and shave, much to Alex's relief, and had come back with a strange looking gun-type thing. Based on what just happened with Canton, it was some kind of injector gun.
Alex shrank back up the steps, really not wanting to get injected with that thing. She hated getting shots. Not to mention that, while she trusted the Doctor with her life, she'd much rather know what was in the injector gun before getting shot with it.
Luckily for her, the Doctor didn't notice her backing out of sight. Instead, he chuckled a little at Canton's exclamation. "So, three months!" he called, injector gun still in hand. "What have we found out?"
"Well, they are everywhere," Rory reported, not noticing the Doctor coming over and picking up his hand. "Every state in America – ah!"
"Not just America," the Doctor corrected, calmly walking away as Rory inspected his hand. "The entire world."
"There's a greater concentration here, though," River pointed out from her place by the console scanner. She was looking at something, though Alex couldn't see it from her angle.
As she said this, the Doctor went over to Amy, who was distracted by listening to River, and swiftly injected her hand. "Ow!" Amy yelped. Alex's gaze darted over to her. She had worried about Amy during the last three months. She eyed her friend's stomach. Amy didn't look pregnant, which was rather strange since by Alex's calculations, she was supposed to be about six months along.
"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked her, Alex knowing he was asking about her pregnancy instead of her hand.
Amy nodded. "All better."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. Behind him, Alex tilted her head in confusion. "Better?" he repeated.
"Turns out I was wrong," Amy murmured, her words just barely audible to Alex. "I'm not pregnant."
Alex frowned sadly. She had been really happy that Amy was pregnant, even if the circumstances weren't exactly ideal. She knew Rory really wanted kids, having never had any brothers or sisters growing up, and she suspected Amy felt the same way, even if the redhead had never said anything.
She was jerked out of her thoughts when Rory's voice rang out. "What's up?" he asked Amy. Alex glanced down at him. Based on his expression, he didn't know what they were talking about.
"Nothing!" Amy quickly chirped, doing her best to act innocent. A moment later, she switched to a scoffing matter, saying, "Really, nothing. Seriously."
Did Amy tell Rory she thought she was pregnant? Alex wondered. She doubted she had during the last three months, as the companions had been ordered not to contact each-other so that it would take longer for Canton and his team to track them down, but Amy would have had the opportunity when they all got back to the TARDIS and she and Rory went to wash off the tally marks. And that just brought up another question. Why did Amy tell the Doctor and Alex that she thought she was pregnant first, and not her husband?
A small twinge echoed at the back of her mind. Alex sighed. And there was another problem. The mysterious twinge. Her mind only ever did that when it was trying to bypass perception filters and the like, something the TARDIS was greatly lacking. There was no reason for it to be happening. But it was. Over the last three months, the twinge she'd felt in the Oval Office and the TARDIS had been steadily increasing. Curiously enough, it occurred whenever she was thinking about Amy and her potential pregnancy. She'd tried pursuing it, using the mental exercises the Doctor had taught her, but to no avail.
Alex shook her head. Too many mysteries. She resolved to ask Amy what her intentions had been once this whole alien occupation of America thing was sorted out. The same with the Doctor in regards to her mind twinges.
"So you've seen them, but you don't remember them?" Canton asked the group.
I do, Alex thought.
"You've seen them, too," River reminded him. "That night at the warehouse, remember? While you were pretending to hunt us down, we saw hundreds of those things."
"Thousands," Alex corrected her. "I saw 2,016 of those things."
River nodded at her. "See? And even with so many, we still don't know what they look like."
"It's like they edit themselves out of your memory as soon as you look away," Rory explained. "The exact second you're not looking at them, you can't remember anything."
"Sometimes you feel a bit sick, though," Amy added, "but not always."
Alex looked over at River. That explains why she looked so ill down in the tunnels.
"So that's why you marked your skin," Canton realized.
Amy nodded. "Only way we'd know if we'd had an encounter."
Not in Alex's case. She kept track by writing down each city in a small notebook she'd gotten in Savannah and kept a running count in there. Whenever she had to leave, she counted up all the marks. It had astounded and terrified her when she got over a thousand on only her fourth trip.
She reached into her dress pocket and pulled out the small stenographer's notebook. She absently flipped through it, looking through the numerous tally marks she'd made. They went over ten pages.
Now, Canton eyed her. When he and Alex met up in New Orleans, he'd noticed that she didn't have any of Amy and Rory's tally marks on her. "What about you?" he asked, causing the others to look in his direction at Alex. "You didn't have any tally marks on you."
"I kept track using this," Alex said, holding up the notebook. She didn't really want to tell them she could see and remember the aliens just yet. She was quite interested in hearing what the others had discovered.
The group nodded in acceptance. Alex was probably trying to keep attention away from her. Amy and Rory could understand this. People in the towns they'd visited probably thought they were mad, covered head-to-toe with black Sharpie marks. It was a miracle someone hadn't tried to put them in an insane asylum.
"How long have they been here?" Canton asked now.
"That's what we've spent the last three months trying to figure out," Amy said.
"Not easy," Rory admitted, "if you can't remember anything you discover."
"How long do you think?" Canton persisted.
"A very long time," the Doctor and Alex replied.
River sighed and shook her head. "So bloody annoying," she muttered, not that anyone paid her much attention.
The Doctor and Alex turned to grin at each-other. "Care to elaborate, Doc?" Alex requested as she leaned to one side against the railing.
The Doctor winked at her. "Of course, Ally. As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye, or creaking in your house, or breathing under your bed, or voices through a wall." He stepped over to Canton while River moved around the console in an obvious effort to be closer to him. Alex had half a mind to go down there and drag her away, but she had a feeling of what was going to happen next, and she wanted to enjoy it.
"They've been running your lives for a very long time now," the Doctor continued, looking around at each and every one of them. "So keep this straight in your head. We are not fighting an alien invasion; we're leading a revolution. And today, the battle begins."
Canton frowned in confusion. "How?"
The Doctor smiled. "Like this. . ." he said, before whirling around and injecting River's hand.
"Ow!" River yelped, shooting the Doctor a dirty look. She shook her hand out in an effort to relieve and lessen the pain from the injector.
The Doctor merely laughed at her and held up a tiny object in his other hand. Alex squinted at it. It was oval shaped, red, and about the size of a pea. "Nanorecorder," he explained. "Fuses with the cartilage in your hand." He loaded the nanorecorder into the gun and injected it into the palm of his right hand. "Ow," he grimaced, shaking his hand out a bit. "And it tunes itself directly to the speech centers in your brain. It'll pick up your voice, no matter what. Telepathic connection. So, the moment you see one of the creatures. . ." he lifted his hand and pressed his palm, ". . .you activate it, and describe aloud exactly what you're seeing."
He pressed the palm of his hand again. "And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing," his voice rang out. "Because the moment you break contact, you're going to forget it happened. The light will flash if you've left yourself a message. You keep checking your hand if you've had an encounter. That's the first you'll know about it."
"Why didn't you tell me this before we started?" Canton demanded.
The Doctor walked back to the console. "I did. But even information about these creatures erases itself over time. I couldn't refresh it because I couldn't talk to you."
It was then that he pressed a button on the console. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw an image appear over by the doorway. She whirled around to see one of the aliens standing there.
Her movement attracted the attention of the others. Turning around, Canton's eyes widened, and he immediately pressed the palm of his hand. "My God!" he sputtered in shock. "How did it get in here?!"
"Keep eye contact with the creature," the Doctor directed him, "and when I say, turn back, and when you do, straighten my bowtie." After a momentary pause he said, "Now turn around."
Canton did so, the worry and horror instantly disappearing from his face. Alex watched, curious, as Canton reached up and straightened the Doctor's bowtie, just as he had been instructed. But how could he have remembered that? Even looking at an image of the creature didn't seem to help the others remember them. Unless. . .
Post-hypnotic suggestion? Alex considered this. That makes sense. It isn't completely out of the ballpark. It certainly explains why no one remembers looking at them. They tell you to forget, so you do. Except her. The Doctor had said that her mind repelled things that tried to trick it, like perception filters and invisibility. Apparently, it worked against these aliens too. That's good. At least one of us can see and remember the creatures.
She was jerked out of her thoughts when she heard Canton say, "What? What are you staring at?"
"Look at your hand," River instructed.
Canton obeyed. A red light was flashing out of the center of his palm. "Why is it doing that?"
"What does it mean if the light's flashing?" the Doctor prodded. "What did I just tell you?"
"I haven't—"
"Play it!" Alex called down.
Canton hesitantly eyed her for a moment before reaching down and pressing his palm. A beep sounded, followed by voices. "My God, how did it get in here?!"
"Keep eye contact with the creature and, when I say, turn back, and when you do, straighten my bowtie. Now turn around."
"What? What are you staring at?"
"Look at your hand."
The conversation ended and Canton and the others turned to look back at the alien. "It's a hologram," the Doctor explained. "Extrapolated from the photo on Amy's phone. Take a good, long look." The group all stared at it for a moment until the Doctor reached over and pressed a button on the console. The hologram flickered and faded.
"You just saw an image of one of the creatures we're fighting." The Doctor snapped his fingers. "Describe it to me."
Canton shook his head. "I can't."
The Doctor frowned. "No. Neither can I."
Alex sighed. Now seemed as good a time as any to reveal more of what her mind was capable of. "Their heads are bulb-shaped," she called down. All eyes immediately shot to her, wide and unblinking as she spoke. "They have sunken-in eyes and no mouth, though a small indentation appears when they speak, so I guess they communicate mostly by telepathy. They all wear suits, which kinda look like their actual skin, in my opinion. Their hands are large with only four fingers and sharp nails. Basically, think of the screaming figure in The Scream."
Dead silence. And then. . . "She remembers!" Canton shouted, pointing at her. "How?"
The Doctor sighed. He had a feeling this was going to happen. "Alex's mind is different from other humans," he explained as Alex walked down the steps towards him. Once she was by his side, he reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tugging her into his side. "It repels things that try to trick it."
"Like the perception filter in your house," Alex nodded at Amy. "And the Krafayis."
"And the cracks in time had no effect on you either," the Doctor added. "Basically, anything that tries to trick her or influence her memory in some way fails. And, in this case, it appears these creatures can do that with us, but not her."
"Their post-hypnotic suggestion doesn't work on me either," Alex said, "otherwise I'd be doing any number of things without realizing it."
The Doctor looked down at her. "Oh, worked that out already, now did you?" he murmured, gazing at her in a proud, affectionate way. "Have I told you that you're brilliant?"
"Not lately, but feel free to praise," Alex giggled.
He smiled and tapped her on the nose. "You're brilliant."
Alex giggled again. She had truly missed this, their constant back-and-forth and praising and the way he made her giggle, something she hadn't done with any other guy before him. The Doctor brought out a lot of things in her that she'd never done before. With him, she was bubbly, flirtier, much more relaxed, and not as uptight and rigid as she usually was. It had happened the second she met him, like a switch being turned on inside her. It was part of why she left. It had freaked her out that he made her so different, so unlike herself.
Now though, standing here with him, flirting with him as he complimented her, she wondered why she ran away from this. It felt so nice, so great, so . . . normal. Like it was meant to be.
A coughing sounded from behind them. The two turned to see River standing there, her arms crossed. A slightly put-out expression was on her face. Alex narrowed her light green eyes at her. "Hate to ruin the moment," River said, sounding almost like she meant it, "but post-hypnotic suggestion?"
Alex nodded. Even though River hadn't interrupted their moment for comprehension-related reasons, she was right to have done so. They had to focus on this alien occupation. There would be time for flirting later.
She focused back on Canton. "You straightened the Doctor's bowtie because he planted the idea in your head while you were looking at the alien."
"So they could do that to people," Amy summarized.
Alex nodded grimly as the Doctor separated from her to go over to the scanner. "Exactly. You could be doing stuff and not really know why you're doing it."
Amy shuddered a little. "Ruling the world with post-hypnotic suggestion. . ." She shook her head at the infinite possibilities. These aliens could be telling them to do just about anything and they would have no idea the ideas weren't theirs. Anything could happen!
"Precisely why we've got to stop them," Alex said at Amy's look of realization.
"Now then," the Doctor cut in. "A little girl in a spacesuit." He tapped some buttons on the console and swung the scanner around over to him. "They got the suit from NASA, but where did they get the girl?"
Canton shrugged. "It could be anywhere."
"Except they'd probably stay close to that warehouse, because why bother doing anything else? And they'd take her from somewhere that would cause the least amount of attention." He flicked a few more buttons and looked at the scanner expectantly. A map of Florida came up, zooming into the state until three red blinking dots were on the screen. "But you'll have to find her. I'm off to NASA."
"Find her?" Canton repeated in shock. "Where do we look?"
Alex immediately figured this out. "Children's homes," she said together with the Doctor.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
A thunderstorm pounded overhead as a black Sedan drove down a small dirt road. Canton sat in the front seat in his typical suit while Amy sat next to him in the passenger seat, dressed in a professional-looking black pant suit and sensible heels. In the backseat, Alex was dressed in a white blouse, a black pencil skirt that came down to her knees, a black blazer, black kitten heels, black tights, and simple gold stud earrings. Her TARDIS necklace was around her neck, the charm safely tucked under the collar of her shirt. As usual, her parents' wedding bands rested on her third index finger.
She shivered and gazed out the window at the storm. It seemed to be letting up a little, but not by much. Alex didn't like thunderstorms and this kind of atmosphere wasn't exactly reassuring, considering where they were headed.
Still, she couldn't really complain. She had to twist the Doctor's arm in order to get him to agree to let her go with Canton and Amy.
At first, the Doctor had wanted her to come with him to NASA while Amy and Canton went to investigate orphanages. Apparently, he was going to be doing something to the Apollo 11 module and wanted her there as a look-out. Alex had seriously doubted her being there would keep him from getting caught and told him so before asking what River and Rory would be doing. The Doctor had said they were going to be with President Nixon. He didn't give an explicit reason why, but Alex figured he wanted someone on standby in case he did get caught and captured.
She continued to argue with him, pointing out that she wouldn't be much help at NASA and that it would probably be better if she went with Canton and Amy. As the only one of them who could see the aliens they were after, wouldn't it be better to be there and warn them when one was coming? The Doctor had predictably argued this, pointing out that one of those creatures could hurt her.
Now, Alex sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Their arguing had escalated, as it always did whenever they really disagreed on something. It got so bad, in fact, that Amy and Rory had made some flimsy excuse about showing Canton and River the new handtowels in one of the TARDIS bathrooms, rushing the two off as she and the Doctor continued shouting about who was right and who was wrong.
Eventually, Alex had brought up another point. Wouldn't it be best if she kept an eye on Amy? The Doctor had frozen at that, pondering her words. Seeing that she was getting to him, Alex continued, saying that Amy's thinking she was pregnant and then dropping it rather quickly was too weird. The Doctor had been forced to agree with this and after a few pleads and eye-batting, she had gotten permission to go.
Now though, she was starting to re-think her pleading. Amy seemed perfectly fine and all the orphanages they had checked so far had wielded up nothing. Alex gazed out the window as the car turned into a driveway. She studied the black wrought-iron sign above them. GRAYSTARK HALL ORPHANAGE. This was their third orphanage. Hopefully, three times the charm would be true for them here.
Canton pulled up in front of a large, dilapidated structure that looked like an eviction notice waiting to happen. Weeds had grown up through the concrete driveway, shingles and roof tiles were missing in several spots, and moss had practically overtaken the whole front of the building. It reminded Alex of the place in horror films where the killer lies in wait for the heroic protagonist and his dumb blonde girlfriend.
The radio station they'd been listening to, a station which seemed partial to Beatles hits, went into a news broadcast. "In just a few days, mankind will set foot on the moon for the first time. Today, the President reaffirmed America's commitment. . ."
Canton turned the dial down and swiveled around in his seat so he could look at Amy and Alex. "Ready. Check?
Amy lifted up the palm of her hand. No light flashing. "Check."
Canton looked at his own, seeing the same thing. "Check."
Amy turned to face Alex. "What about you? See anything?"
Alex peered out the window. She examined the grounds and then the orphanage windows, the ones that were lit anyway. There weren't any suit-clad aliens in either location. She checked the dark windows as a flash of lightning lit them from above. Still nothing. "Nothing so far," she reported.
Canton nodded. He was really glad that she could see and remember these aliens. He peered out through the windshield at the rain, which didn't seem about to relent any. "Guess we'll have to leg it," he sighed. He gripped his door handle. "Ready?"
Amy nodded and gripped hers. "Let's go."
Alex sighed and reached down to pick up the red umbrella the TARDIS had provided her with before she left. The TARDIS had been pretty insistent on giving her the umbrella. Alex had tried to leave it behind in the wardrobe a few times, only for it to appear in her path in the hallway. After the fourth time of doing this, she'd given in. She hadn't understood the time machine's motivation in giving it to her until the thunderstorm started shortly after investigating the first orphanage. Alex made a mental note to thank the TARDIS when she got back. The time machine knew she was afraid of water, that she had been ever since she nearly drowned in the boating accident that killed her parents when she was five years old, and had taken a step in making sure that she would be better suited to face the rain.
Alex opened her door, kicking it the rest of the way open. She opened her umbrella and hesitantly stepped out onto the wet concrete. "Come on," she called as she hurriedly walked forward. She would have offered them shelter from the rain, but the umbrella was only big enough for one person. Evidently the TARDIS had meant for only her to use it.
Amy, Canton, and Alex hurried up to the doorway, thankfully covered by a small portico. Canton knocked on the door. A moment later, it swung open to reveal an older man in his early forties with short black hair and a mustache. Alex eyed him. He was dressed in a tattered brown jacket and pants and clutching a rag in one hand. He stared at them, his expression a mixture of bewilderedness and vacantness. "Hello?"
Canton held up his federal ID. "FBI. You must be Dr. Renfrew. Can we come in?"
Renfrew, who didn't look like he wanted to let them in, glanced back behind him for a second. "The children are asleep," he stuttered.
"We'll be very quiet," Amy promised.
"Is there a problem?"
"It's about a missing child," Alex answered in her best no-nonsense federal voice. She took a pointed step forward. "Can we come in?"
"What are you. . .?" Renfrew started before his voice abruptly trailed off. Alex watched as he blinked and nodded, seemingly thinking better of his question. Or he'd just gotten a suggestion to let them in. "Yes, come in, please."
Alex stepped into the foyer and turned to shake the rain off her umbrella out onto the portico. Once she was done, she stepped back, allowing Renfrew to close the door. Though he nodded to a hat-stand just beside the door, Alex held on to the umbrella. You never knew. It might come in handy, whether they ran into a really big leak or if they had to fight off a couple of these mind-wiping aliens. Or even Renfrew himself, who seemed like he had met one too many of these creatures.
Alex examined the room. The inside of the orphanage was just as dilapidated and run down as the outside. The carpet was dingy and dirty, in desperate need of a vacuuming. It was damp everywhere, not calming her fear of water down any. Paint chipped from the walls, though this didn't really matter considering the graffiti.
Painted on the wall above the staircase were large messages in blood-red paint. The paint had dripped as whoever did them painted, unintentionally causing the words to look even more sinister than they already did. GET OUT was one message. LEAVE NOW was another.
"Please excuse the writing," Renfrew said, seeing Alex, Canton, and Amy eyeing it as he led them up the stairs. He fiddled with the rag in his hand. "It keeps happening. I try to clean it up."
"It's the kids, yeah?" Amy guessed. "They do that?"
Renfrew feebly patted the wall with his rag, though Alex doubted he was going to have much luck removing the paint with that. "Yes, the children," he nodded absently, looking as if he were trying to convince himself of this. "It must be, yes."
Alex bit her lip when she saw the words 'Get Out' written on Renfrew's wrist in black marker. She didn't believe him for a second. It was pretty obvious that there hadn't been children living in Graystark Hall for a long time. One child? That she could believe. Either the little girl from the warehouse had written these messages to herself or Renfrew, or Renfrew had written them to warn himself. Either way, it didn't look like they had worked. Renfrew had clearly gone off the deep end from all the mind-wipes.
"Anyway," Renfrew went on, "my office is this way."
"We nearly didn't come to this place," Canton informed him as they followed the man up the stairs.
Alex nodded. "Yes, we understood Graystark Hall was closed in 1967."
"That's the plan, yes," Renfrew commented.
Amy blinked. "The plan?"
"Not long now."
Canton eyed the man. "It's 1969," he said gently.
"No, no," Renfrew protested, shaking his head. "We close in '67. That's the plan, yes."
"You misunderstood me, sir. It's 1969 now."
Renfrew whirled around. His eyes were wide and unblinking, and he looked like he was on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown. "Why are you saying that?" he demanded, his voice going an octave higher as his panic increased. "Of course it isn't!"
"July," Canton insisted.
Renfrew looked like he was about to argue again, but suddenly he blinked and straightened up. Alex didn't turn around, already knowing what had happened. One of those creatures was behind them, giving Renfrew the order to drop it and just take them upstairs already. Now, Renfrew glanced up and motioned over his shoulder. "My office is this way," he stammered. "This way." He veered off onto a smaller staircase, but Canton and the girls hung back.
"We'll check upstairs," Amy volunteered, gesturing to her and Alex.
"Be careful," Canton cautioned. Though he hadn't known them long, he already knew that the Doctor was very protective of the girls, particularly Alex. Canton had no doubt that if anything happened to Alex, the Doctor would go on a warpath to try and avenge her.
The girls nodded their agreement before continuing up the stairs while Canton followed Renfrew. The second floor was just as rotten as the ground floor with dirty, damp carpet, a dark hallway, and more warnings written on the walls. The girls walked right next to each-other, not wanting to separate from one another for even a second. They approached a partially open door. Amy looked at Alex and raised an eyebrow. Alex nodded and Amy reached out to push the door open.
They found themselves in what used to be a dormitory, evidenced by the several metal bedframes lined on either side of the room. LEAVE ME ALONE was written on one wall in the same drippy, blood-red paint used to write the warnings downstairs.
Alex stared at it. "I think we need to call a doctor," she quipped, hoping that would make Amy laugh a little in their tense situation.
Amy snorted. She was so glad Alex was her best friend. The girl always tried to distract her and cheer her up whenever they were faced with a scary situation. "Worse pun ever," she deadpanned as she pulled her walkie-talkie out and pressed the talk button.
A moment later, the Doctor's voice rang out. "Amy? Ally?"
"Hey, Doc," Alex greeted. "We've found the place the little girl was taken from. Graystark Hall Orphanage."
"How do you know?"
"It's pretty obvious," she told him, glancing around the room.
"Those things have been here," Amy reported. "But the whole place is deserted. There's just one guy here and I think he's lost it."
"Yeah," Alex agreed sadly, thinking about Renfrew and what his mind must be like now. "The poor guy's completely off his rocker."
"Repeated memory wipes fry your head eventually," the Doctor sighed. "You girls find out what you can, but don't hang around." He then let out what sounded like a grunt. Amy and Alex looked at each-other and frowned.
"How's Apollo 11 working out?" Alex asked.
There was a pause and then what sounded like approaching footsteps. "Gotta go, got company," the Doctor said quickly. A second later, he disconnected.
Alex sighed and shook her head. "I told him he was going to get caught," she groaned.
"At least River and Rory are there to bail him out," Amy reminded her, pocketing the walkie-talkie.
Alex hummed and shrugged in reply before heading off across the room to look out the window. She was hoping to see a couple of the creatures out there. While she hadn't seen any yet, she knew there were some here. She heard Amy walking towards her and then the sound of the door slamming shut.
The girls jumped and spun around to see the closed door. "Did you do that?" Alex asked, knowing that it wasn't likely, but checking anyways.
"Of course not!" Amy protested as she began marching back to the door to open it.
Alex pursed her lips and began to roll her eyes at this ridiculous horror-movie cliché . . . until she caught sight of what was on the ceiling. She stared, incredulous and horrified, at the horde of black-suit clad creatures hanging upside down from the ceiling like a flock of bats. Yep, definitely having nightmares about this, Alex thought as she stood frozen in place, just gawking at the ceiling.
She took this opportunity of being frozen in terror to study the aliens. Luckily for them, they didn't appear to be awake. How is sleeping upside down comfortable? the snippy part of her mind wondered before the practical part told that side to shut up so they could get out of here. Alex somehow forced her legs to move her one step away from the horde. "Amy?" she whispered.
Amy stopped mid-stride and turned back to look at her friend. "Yeah?" she hissed back, not bothering to question why Alex was whispering. It had to be for some good reason, and she wasn't about to waste time questioning it.
"Do you trust me?" Alex asked.
Amy blinked in surprise. Of course she did! How could Alex think that? She trusted her just as much as she trusted the Doctor. "Of course I do," she replied.
"Alright, so if I tell you to do something, you'll do it?"
"Yes," Amy said slowly. Where was this going?
"Okay. Amy, listen to me and obey me for once. Do not look up."
Amy frowned at her. "Why?" she questioned, her voice going slightly higher in worry.
Alex inched sideways across the room to her friend, eyes remaining on the ceiling. "Amelia, listen to me," she ordered. "No matter how tempted you are, do not look up at the ceiling. You really don't want to. Okay?"
Though Amy was now incredibly curious, she fought the powerful urge to look up and instead nodded. "Okay," she whispered back.
Alex nodded approvingly and grabbed Amy's arm, steering her over to the door. She kept her eyes on the ceiling, making sure that the creatures didn't awake and try to come after them.
"This is just like the Weeping Angels in the oxygen factory," Amy said. "Me, not being able to see anything, and you steering me in a certain direction."
Alex smiled a little, even though that memory was hardly pleasant. They'd had Weeping Angels stuck in their minds and they both could have died if just one thing had been slightly different. Alex was about to remind Amy that at least they weren't dealing with Weeping Angels this time when a CLANG sounded right next to them. The girls jerked back, and Alex looked down to see a bucket lying on its side on the floor. Amy had evidently kicked it as Alex moved her forwards.
"And, like with the Weeping Angels, you tripped over something," Alex hissed. Her eyes shot back to the alien horde. She saw one creature stirring.
Immediately, she maneuvered around Amy and buzzed her sonic necklace over the lock. To her relief, the door opened. She quickly grabbed Amy's hand, jerking her out into the hallway, before turning back around and closing and sonicing the door lock.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
A/N: Lot of mysteries in this chapter! What did the Silent mean? What do these mind twinges have to do with Amy? All will be revealed . . . eventually. :}
Notes on reviews. . .
SopherGopherroxursox - Glad you liked the chapter! Yep, Alex can remember! Her mind is pretty interesting. :) Aw, I agree, Alex and Rory are cute together. We'll see a few more moments between them in this story. :)
NicoleR85 - So happy you liked the chapter! Oh, yeah, I can't wait to reveal the twist too. Alex's mind is pretty interesting and we'll be delving into why that is in the story. :)
Jojo - Thank you! I'm glad you liked the chapters! Lol, yeah, River really should know better. :)
whitedwarf - I love him too! Especially in the opening scenes of this episode. You think he might be bad but then there's the twist and you love him even more. :) So glad you liked the chapter! In regards to the flirting with River, my take on it in this story is that it's just instinctual on the Doctor's part. He's a very flirty person, especially in the modern series of the show. The Doctor's views and behaviors towards River will change after the kiss but his views and behaviors towards her will change very dramatically as the story goes on. I'm eager for people to read it as it goes in a different direction than in the show. :) I can't wait to get into the reactions too. I don't want to spoil anything, but you might be surprised on how at least one person regards the kiss. :) And as you can see in this chapter, the Doctor and Alex missed each-other, a lot. :D
skashley7 - Aw, I hope you enjoyed Living and are enjoying this story now! Happy New Year to you too! :)
ehluvr3 - Haha, yeah, I completely relate. I'm always so busy with the final full month of the semester (only one more to go, thank God!). I'm glad my posting this was a pleasant surprise for you! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)
Thank you to everyone that reviewed, followed and/or favorited this story! Please review and see you tomorrow!