London, October 17th, 1910
"Well don't just stand there!" Amy and Alex shouted. "Use it!" Both women rolled their eyes at the Doctor as he popped the hat back onto his head and retrieved the sonic screwdriver from amongst the pile of scraps on the table.
"Ah, well. Yes. That's the problem. You see, it's not quite as simple as all that."
"What do you mean?!" Angelchrist yelled over the noise of the hissing creatures at the window, swinging the mace to send another of them spinning back out into the street. "You said you were just making a few improvements. Can't you use it to repel the Squall?"
The Doctor looked sheepish. "Well, those improvements I mentioned . . . it's more that, no, it'll have quite the opposite effect."
Alex gaped at him, her pupils so dilated they nearly blocked out the shocked copper irises. "You mean that gizmo of yours is going to attract the Squall now?!"
"Doctor. . ." Amy said lowly, sounding like she very much wanted to slap him. Alex wouldn't blame her if she did. Honestly, she'd probably help.
"Yes," the Doctor confirmed. "You see, the Squall want the TARDIS. And the only person on this planet who knows how to pilot the TARDIS is me. Ergo. . ."
"They want you," Amy stated.
"And me," Alex sighed. "I suppose they think I know how to fly her, too."
"Oh, Ally, it's much better than that," the Doctor revealed. "To the hive, our minds are the tastiest morsels in the universe right now. So tasty, in fact, that every single one of those drones out there is trying to get at them. They've had a taste, you see, back in the alleyway yesterday, and they've seen what's on offer. None of your typical human minds, thank you very much." He paused for a moment, seeing Amy glowering at him. "As pleasant as those human minds might be," he added quickly. "No, the hive has seen inside the minds of a Time Lord and of someone descended from the Time Lords, and it wants to get at the secrets locked within."
"Or, in my case, the secrets they think are locked in there," Alex clarified, more for her own benefit than any of the others.
The Doctor's mouth twisted into a grimace. He had no problem with the hive desiring him. If it kept his friends from being targets, than so be it. But they were also attracted to Alex. His Ally who, for all her intelligence, really didn't possess any of the sophisticated, advanced knowledge Time Lords were fed right from the cradle. He planned on rectifying that, had already started plotting out their Gallifreyan lessons, but if his plan didn't work, those lessons would never happen. The Squall would invade Alex's brain, and even though they wouldn't find anything of interest, they would still drain her mind and soul, leaving her to die a slow and agonizing death.
The Doctor's jaw clenched, but before he could dwell on this maudlin thought anymore, Rory's voice broke through.
"This is all fascinating stuff, Doctor, but what does it actually mean?" Rory demanded, still working to barricade the door by piling up more and more of Angelchrist's archaeological treasures.
With a quick shake of his head, the Doctor returned to the situation at hand. "The hat will boost my mind's psychic signal. Amplify it to epic proportions. It'll be like a beacon to all of the Squall in the city. They won't be able to resist. They'll come flocking. When I turn this little beauty on. . . Well, if you think there's a lot of them here now, just you wait."
"And that helps us how?" Amy wondered, perplexed.
Alex, however, immediately understood. "It means he can lead them wherever he wants." The shock faded from her eyes, replaced by sheer wonder and admiration for her boyfriend's plan. Beaming, she rushed over and hugged him. It took a bit of maneuvering on account of the shield still strapped to her arm, but neither of them paid it more than a moment's notice. "Oh, that's brilliant!" she enthused, leaning back to grin up at him. "You can lead them all back to the rift!"
"Every one of them," the Doctor confirmed, his eyes twinkling. "The signal from the hat will call to them, far and wide."
"Like the piped piper of Hamlyn," Angelchrist said, "leading the rats to their doom." He had to admit, he was impressed with the Doctor's audacity.
"Well," the Doctor said, a little disapprovingly, "more like sending them back to where they belong."
"But how are you going to do that?" Amy asked. "You said it was too dangerous to close the rift with the TARDIS."
"It is. But there's another time ship in 1910. A damaged, experimental time ship that might just have enough of a kick left in it to seal the rift."
Alex, her arms still wrapped around the Doctor's waist, tilted her head at him. "Let me see if I have this right," she said slowly. "You're going to create an implosion, correct? You're going to lead all of the Squall across London to the rift, and basically cause the time ship to blow up, sending them back to their own dimension on the other side of the rift." She paused, looking at him expectantly. "Am I right?"
The Doctor responded by pressing a long kiss to her forehead. Not quite scooping her up and snogging the breath out of her, as was his first impulse, but it would have to do for now. "Boom!" he cheered, grinning insanely and making an explosive gesture with his fingers.
"I love Plan B!" Amy cheered, laughing out loud. "Yay for Plan B!"
Alex, however, wasn't quite ready to celebrate. There was no doubt that the Doctor's plan was brilliant, but it didn't account for a few things.
First, the Doctor and explosions (or implosions, in this case) wasn't an ideal combination. Whether it was in trying to fix kitchen microwaves or the whole Pandorica mess, it just never seemed to end well, at least in Alex's experience.
Second, the Doctor hadn't said just how he was going to get the time ship to implode. She wasn't an expert on time ships, but Alex highly doubted that Professor Gradius' ship included a self-destruct button and handy countdown clock. Which meant that the only way to potentially destroy the time ship was to do so while inside it. . .
She was yanked out of that horrifying thought by Rory eagerly asking, "So, what now? Back in the TARDIS, short hop across town?"
The Doctor shook his head.
"No?" Rory frowned. "No. Of course not. Things are never that simple."
"The TARDIS is compromised," the Doctor explained sadly. "The hive is almost fully manifested. I can't risk taking her anywhere now. There are so many Squall in the vicinity that the hive mind might be able to assert an influence, altering her course, or worse." He walked over to his ship and pulled the doors shut. "Besides, we can't risk her being inadvertently sucked into the temporal implosion. We have to keep her clear of the dimensional rift."
He glanced at Angelchrist, and then turned back to face the TARDIS once more. "Then again. . ." he mused, trailing off in thought. He pushed open the doors and slipped inside. Alex and Angelchrist could hear his footfalls echoing as he ran to the central console, followed by the sounds of frenetic button pushing and the cranking of levers. Then, a few seconds later, he emerged with a smile on his face, pulling the doors shut behind him with a flourish. "Right, where were we?" he asked, a little out of breath.
Alex was about to ask what he was up to, but Arven cut her off. "Professor, help me with this," he requested, and Angelchrist looked round to see the AI dragging a tall mahogany dresser across the window. "We can make a temporary barricade. It won't last long but it might give us some time." He appeared to be ignoring the talons that were flashing through the shattered window, rending great clumps of flesh out of his back.
Angelchrist and Rory fell in, helping to slide the heavy piece of furniture into place. They pushed it up against the window with a final, momentous heave, blotting out the light and casting everything in inky shadows.
"If we can't use the TARDIS, Doctor, how are we going to get to the time ship?" Amy asked.
The Doctor rubbed a hand over his chin. "Oh, plenty of options yet."
"Forgive me, Doctor," Angelchrist cut in, "but I can't see how any of us are getting out of this house. At least not alive. There're simply too many of the ruddy things."
"Good point, professor," the Doctor complimented, wagging his finger. "Very good point. The odds are certainly stacked against us." He paused, as if considering. "But that's not stopped me before. And anyway, there's one thing we have going for us that the Squall don't. One little thing that could make all the difference."
"What?"
"Your car," said the Doctor, beaming. "Wonderful machine. True vintage. Perfect for a jaunt across town."
The dresser by the window shifted suddenly with an enormous bang, as the Squall began to hurl themselves at the barricade. "It won't hold for very long," Arven reiterated. "They'll be through any minute."
"Tell me if I'm being stupid, Doctor, but to use the car, don't we first have to get to it?" Rory asked.
"Yes," the Doctor nodded.
"And isn't it parked on the other side of the street?"
"Yes. Quiet now. Thinking." The Doctor paced back and forth around the room, looking frankly ridiculous in his tweed jacket, bowtie, and top hat.
The only person not wondering how they were going to escape Angelchrist's house without getting killed was Alex. She stood silently, doing her best to keep her face impassive. She had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen next. It made sense, considering how this whole thing started.
Sure enough, not even a second later, her thoughts proved true.
"I'll do it," Arven announced with sudden urgency, and the Doctor stopped pacing and looked up, a concerned expression on his face. "I'll create a distraction," Arven continued. "If I make a run for it, they might give chase. At least for a moment. It could buy you enough time to get to the car."
The Doctor looked thoughtful. "No, Arven. I can't allow you to do that. They'd tear you apart."
Arven met the Doctor's gaze. "The long way home, Doctor," he said. "I don't belong here. At least allow me to help with this."
"No," Rory protested, stepping forward as if to block Arven's path to the door. "Doctor?"
The Doctor sighed.
"Doctor!" Amy shrieked. "He can't!"
Only now did Alex let out a soft sigh. She'd known it was coming. As Arven had said, he didn't belong here in 1910 and, without his mistress, was at complete loose ends. Alex had no idea how AI rights worked in the 28th century, but she suspected applying for a new servant job wasn't an option for Arven. More than likely, he would simply be decommissioned, like switching off a computer, with those performing the action never considering that Arven might have thoughts or feelings like them.
So, really, what choice did Arven have? What choice did any of them have?
It was heartless, but Alex knew it was the only way. It had already been set in stone, from the moment the Doctor reactivated Arven on the embankment.
"What choice do we have?" the Doctor asked, unknowingly echoing Alex's thoughts. "The professor's right. Unless we can get to that car, there's no way out of this house. There are too many lives at stake." He reached inside his jacket pocket and extracted his sonic screwdriver. He approached Arven, running the glowing tip of the sonic over the AI's chest plate.
"What are you doing?" Arven asked.
"Oh, just a couple of minor adjustments. Nothing to worry about. They'll make it easier for the TARDIS to home in on you later."
"Your past, my future," Arven remarked with a crooked grin. Angelchrist thought it was the first time he'd seen the artificial man smile.
"Something like that," the Doctor said gravely. He reached up and patted the AI on the shoulder.
Angelchrist studied Arven's pale figure as he turned to Rory and Amy. "Thank you," he said. "For everything."
Rory stepped forward and took the machine's hand in his own. "Until later," he said softly.
Amy leapt up and wrapped her arms around Arven's neck, clutching him to her. "See you in a thousand years," she murmured.
Once Amy released him, Arven turned and nodded to Alex.
Alex nodded back, a small, sad smile crossing her lips. She and Arven may not have interacted with each other much, but that didn't mean she wasn't sorry to see him go, especially knowing what would ultimately happen to him.
Finally, the AI turned to Angelchrist. "It's been a pleasure, professor."
"Likewise, Arven," he replied.
With some dignity, Arven approached the door and began pulling aside the barricade, attempting to lift the sarcophagus with one arm. Angelchrist looked on, stirred by the machine's bravery as Rory went to Arven's aid, helping him to lift the coffin away. At that point, the AI seemed more human to Angelchrist than any number of scoundrels he'd had to contend with over the years. More human, even, than the enigmatic Doctor.
The Squall crowding the doorway took advantage of the sudden break in the defenses and began to force their way in, their claws scrabbling to find purchase on Arven's artificial flesh. He barely seemed to notice as he forced his way into their midst, thrashing out at them, slapping them away as he fought his way towards the door. A moment later, he was gone, lost amidst a forest of thrashing gray limbs.
As they'd hoped and anticipated, the Squall in the hallway rushed after him, creating a momentary lull in their siege.
"Now!" the Doctor cried. "Make it count."
Together, the five of them charged out through the ruins of the laboratory door, Rory still clutching the Neanderthal's club, Angelchrist still clinging on to his mace, and Alex still wielding her sword and shield.
"Through here!" Angelchrist called, leading them on toward the kitchen. "There's another way out." He could hear the Squall chittering and hissing frantically as they set upon the AI in the street outside. He cringed at the thought of what they would do to him. But he would do as the Doctor suggested. He would make Arven's sacrifice count.
Above them, he could hear the Squall still banging around on the upper floor, piling in through the shattered windows, trying to cut off their escape routes, trying to hem them in. Well, his old house had a few tricks up its sleeve that the alien interlopers might not be expecting.
Angelchrist skidded to a halt before a white wooden door. "Down there!" he said, flinging it open and indicating the stone stairwell.
"The cellar?" Rory said, confused. "I thought we were trying to get out of here?"
Angelchrist nodded, panting for breath. "Yes. There's an access point at the side of the house. It leads right down to the cellar. We can shimmy our way up and out."
"Good plan!" Alex complimented. She was already rushing down the stairs, sword aimed at the darkness before her.
"Excellent!" the Doctor offered over his shoulder as he thundered down the steps after Alex. The Ponds followed suit, and Angelchrist brought up the rear, pulling the door shut behind him.
It was dark and dank down in the cellar and smelled of damp earth and mold. The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out and held it aloft, shining it like a torch, lighting their way.
Angelchrist pushed his way to the front, leading them through a maze of wooden crates and boxes, more accumulated junk from his old life. He'd hardly stepped down here for years and could barely remember the contents of most of the neatly stacked parcels. He supposed in a very real sense he'd moved on from that life of adventure, growing old and careworn, despite continuing to poke his nose in the business of the police, despite surrounding himself with the relics upstairs in the lab.
He was now himself nothing but a relic, an old soldier, a half-remembered footnote in the stories of the great men. The Doctor and Miss Locke had changed all of that though. The Doctor had waltzed into his life like a bumbling, ungainly teenager, Miss Locke on his heels like the determined young woman she was. Both had swept Angelchrist into their insane adventure, instilling him with renewed vigor and life.
They had reminded Angelchrist what it was like to be alive. He was damned if he was going to let a few wretched parasites spoil that for him.
"Over here," he guided now, pointing up to a small access hatch in the ceiling.
Amy frowned. "How are we going to get up there?"
"Pull some of these boxes a bit closer," Rory said, grabbing a handful of crates and stacking them quickly against the wall. Together, the five of them began piling more and more of the boxes on top of each other, forming a makeshift platform from which they could reach the trapdoor above.
The Doctor was first to leap up onto it, craning his neck so that his ear was close to the wooden hatch. "Sounds like they're still busy," he reported. He gripped the sonic screwdriver between his teeth and reached up with both hands, giving the trapdoor a sharp shove. It creaked and gave way, sprinkling him with a shower of dust and grit.
"Pah!" he spluttered, rubbing his face in the crook of his elbow and pulling a dismayed grimace. He tapped the fragments from the brim of his top hat – his best top hat, Angelchrist reminded himself – and slid the trapdoor slowly to one side. Daylight slanted in through the small opening.
Without further ado, the Doctor jumped up, grasped the sides of the hole and pulled himself through, snaking his hips through the slight opening. Angelchrist watched, waiting anxiously to see what would happen. He could hear the Squall from outside, still hissing and wrenching away bits of his beloved home.
There was no sign of the Doctor. Angelchrist saw Amy and Rory exchange a worried glance. Alex bit her lip, her grip on the sword tightening until her fingers were white. Then the Doctor's face appeared in the opening, his expression reminiscent of an excited schoolboy, and the sense of relief in the cellar was almost palpable.
"Coast's clear," he declared. "Well, sort of." He beckoned to Alex. "Come on, Ally."
Alex clambered up the boxes. It was a bit difficult with her sword and shield, but she managed. Once she reached the top, she handed both items off to the Doctor. After placing them to the side, he reached down, grasped her forearms, and hauled her up. His momentum was so great, he ended up pulling Alex to his chest.
Alex gasped as she fell against him, her palms landing directly over his hearts. This close, she could feel them pounding an anxious beat, almost sounding as though they were about to jump right out of his chest. His worry, she knew, was only partly due to the Squall.
"I'll be okay," she whispered, smiling up at his fretful eyes.
The Doctor didn't respond, at least not verbally. Instead, he gave her arms a quick squeeze before, with more than a bit of reluctance, pulling away and turning back to the cellar doorway.
"Up you go, Pond," he called down as Alex gathered up her sword and shield.
Amy scrambled up onto the pile of boxes and extended her arms toward the Doctor. As with Alex, he reached down and clasped her around the forearms. Unlike with Alex, he heaved her up with a slight groan of exertion. Alex had no doubt that if the situation hadn't been so dire, Amy would have smacked him for the implied insult. As it was, she simply stepped to the side, peering down anxiously at her husband.
"Now you, Rory."
Finally, with one last, mournful glance back at his home, Angelchrist climbed onto the shaky stack of boxes and allowed the Doctor and Rory to heave him up into the dazzling sunshine outside.
The sight out there was horrific, worse than he could have ever imagined. His house was crawling with the creatures. They covered every conceivable part of its surface, relentlessly dismantling it brick by brick, tile by tile. There were thousands of them. He could see them forcing their way in through the windows, prying away the wooden frames and sending them tumbling to the ground below. They had smashed a hole in the roof and a torrent of them were pouring in through the gaping wound, flowing through into his home, like liquid being poured into a glass.
Outside, in the street, was Arven, now reduced to little more than a gleaming metal skeleton, still thrashing about, still fending them off as more and more of the creatures leapt upon him, attempting to pull his remaining arm from its socket.
"Quickly!" Alex urged. She used her sword to point across the street to where Angelchrist's vehicle was parked. She and the Doctor darted over to it, the Doctor vaulting himself up and over the door into the driver's seat while Alex climbed into the back.
For a moment, Rory looked on as if he was about to start forward, to run to Arven's aid, but Amy grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the waiting vehicle. They clambered up into the rear seats, settling themselves next to Alex, and Angelchrist, distraught and still clutching his mace, ran around the front and hurriedly gave the crank handle a sharp twist.
The engine sputtered but didn't start.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding!" Amy groaned.
One of the nearby Squall, squatting on a railing, cocked its head and turned slowly to look at them. Its beady red eyes flashed in recognition, and it leapt from its perch, spreading its membranous wings and gliding toward them.
"Don't look now," Angelchrist warned, "but it knows we're here."
As one, the heads of all the Squall on the side of the building turned to regard them.
"Go!" Alex yelled.
The Squall that had been squatting on the railing crashed down onto the bonnet of the car, crumpling one of the headlights, its talons puncturing the thin metal hood. Angelchrist stood, swinging his mace at the monster as it tried to scramble up and over the windscreen to get at the Doctor. It ducked nearly out of the way of his blow, cracking the windscreen with its claws.
"Come on, professor!" the Doctor shouted.
Desperately, Angelchrist cranked the handle again. This time the engine took, roaring to life with a mechanical rattle.
"There's more of them coming!" Rory called from the back seat.
The Doctor slammed his foot on the accelerator and the car shot forward, sending the Squall tumbling over the side, bouncing off the runner board. Angelchrist dived out of the way, and Rory leaned over, catching him by the arms as he fell and hauling him up into the passenger seat as they roared off down the street.
The creatures were harrying them from all sides now, and the Doctor weaved the car around erratically on the road. Whether he was trying to avoid them or simply throw them off, Angelchrist couldn't be sure. Either way, it didn't appear to be working.
He glanced back at his house as they barreled along the road, to see Arven, finally subdued, being carried away into the sky by two bickering Squall. They were tearing indiscriminately at his remaining limbs in an attempt to rend him apart, allowing him to dangle by one leg as they swept low over the rooftops. Angelchrist felt anger welling up inside of him.
Above, a thickening cloud of Squall had begun to form in the sky behind them. "There are scores of them, Doctor. More. They're giving chase."
"Oh," the Doctor said, reaching up and triggering something beneath the brim of his hat, "that's just the beginning, professor."
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
Rory couldn't believe the sheer speed that the Doctor was managing to wring from the ancient, open-topped vehicle. Appearances, it seemed, could be deceptive. It looked more like a black, motorized carriage than a car – which, he supposed, it was – but whatever the Doctor was doing, it was charging along at a fair tick.
He supposed the vehicle itself was probably relatively new, even though the technology was now considerably outmoded. At least, it would be a hundred years from now. He wondered if the Doctor had used his sonic screwdriver to tinker with it earlier, making a few casual adjustments to improve its performance. It wouldn't have surprised him; the thing was charging along nearly as fast as his Citroen.
Rory himself was currently kneeling on the back seat beside Amy and Alex, clutching the wooden Neanderthal's club he'd taken from the professor's laboratory and warily eyeing the skies. On Amy's other side, Alex had her sword aimed upwards, her lips tightly pursed as she studied the relentless swarm of Squall.
Behind them, the vast cloud of Squall was like an oil slick across the sky. They were everywhere, thousands of them, streaming toward the vehicle – and more specifically, the Doctor and Alex – on their fleshy wings. Even the sunlight itself had taken on a hazy, grainy quality, as if the sky had suddenly become overcast with dark, pregnant rainclouds. It reminded Alex of a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. She'd seen it when she was only nine years old, and it had haunted her for weeks afterward.
She had no doubt this real-life counterpart would do the same.
An abrupt swerve that nearly sent all of the back seat occupants sprawling yanked Alex out of her bleak thoughts. She turned away from the pursuing Squall just long enough to shoot a piercing glare at the back of her boyfriend's head.
The Doctor, it seemed, was barely in control of the vehicle. It slewed crazily from side to side, sliding around corners, tipping up on two wheels as he tried to maneuver it around the winding streets. The engine was protesting loudly at this mistreatment, and Alex feared that at some point soon it was going to give up on them. She prayed they would make it to the time ship before that happened.
Maddeningly, the Doctor himself seemed to be enjoying the whole experience, a broad grin on his face, one hand clutching the top hat to his head to ensure that it wasn't swept away in a sudden gust.
"Hold her steady!" Rory called to him as an errant Squall lurched out at them from its perch atop a lamppost, baring its fangs and hissing as it swept low, like it was aiming to snatch Rory from his seat.
He scrambled to his feet, balancing precariously on the seat and swinging the Neanderthal's club for all that he was worth. It connected with a resounding thud, striking the creature in the chest and causing it to buckle over, dropping to the ground and spinning away as the car shot off into the distance.
Rory dropped back to his knees, his heart pounding.
"Oooh, caveman. Who'd have thought it?" Amy said, pouting provocatively. "Rory Williams going all primal and protective on me."
Rory felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment. He thought about trying for a witty response, but his brain failed to provide him with anything suitably roguish.
Seconds later, he was grabbing her by the head, shoving her down into the seat to avoid the sweeping talons of another Squall.
Alex moved to stab the creature but the Doctor, realizing they were in trouble, spun the wheel and sent the vehicle careening down a narrow alleyway. Rory and Alex had to lean in to avoid bashing their heads on the wall as the side of the car scraped loudly against the brickwork, sparks flying.
"Sorry, professor!" the Doctor shouted in apology, cringing as they juddered along the cobbled road. A flurry of Squall shot through the narrow passageway in pursuit, chittering and screeching angrily.
They burst out of the alleyway a moment later, right into the path of oncoming traffic. The car bucked and swerved, and there was a scream from somewhere to Alex's right. She looked around to see a young woman with a pram, diving out of the way of the onrushing car.
"Whhhooooaaaaa!" the Doctor yelled, steering hard to the right and bouncing them up over the curb and onto the pavement. Pedestrians scattered every which way with a flurry of curses and protestations.
"Sorry!" the Doctor called at the top of his lungs as he bounced the vehicle back down onto the road. People continued to scatter, screaming in sheer horror, and for the slightest of moments Rory was left wondering why the Doctor's driving – as terrible as it was – had spooked them quite so dramatically. Until the dark shadow of the Squall spread once more overhead, that was, and he looked up at the awe-inspiring sight above.
"Take the wheel!" he heard the Doctor shout to Angelchrist, and he turned to see the professor grappling with a Squall that had managed to drop down onto the bonnet and reach over, wrapping one hand around the Doctor's throat.
Seeing this, Alex let out a horrified shriek and readied her sword.
The Doctor, however, wasn't standing for any nonsense and pulled the creature over the windscreen and into the car, where it squirmed and fought, causing Angelchrist all manner of difficulties as he leaned over and tried desperately to operate the controls of the vehicle.
After a split second of thinking, Alex flung her sword at a startled Amy. Good as she seemed to be with the sword, it was just too risky to try and stab the creature in a moving vehicle, especially with it fighting so voraciously. She could very easily stab the Doctor or Angelchrist instead of the Squall.
Fortunately, there was another, slightly safer weapon immediately at hand.
Alex reached over, grabbed the professor's mace – which he'd abandoned on his seat while he grappled with the steering wheel – and struck the Squall squarely and efficiently on the head. A second later it stopped writhing, out cold, and the Doctor lifted it and tossed it over the side of the car. It landed heavily on a fruit stand by the side of the road, scattering crates full of oranges and lemons across the pavement. Alex watched them roll across the cobbles like colorful marbles.
Checking his hat was still in place, the Doctor blew her a kiss, then dropped back into his seat and reclaimed the controls from Angelchrist.
The sky now was full of creatures, forming a vast, intricate canopy across the city, and Rory could almost have believed they were actually trapped inside a huge, fleshy dome. All he could see across the rooftops were legions of Squall, stretching into the distance as far as the eye could see.
"I can't believe there're so many of them," he breathed to no one in particular. He leaned forward, calling to the Doctor. "Do you know what you're doing, Doctor?"
"I hope so, Rory!" came the disconcerting reply.
"I've got to stop doing that," Rory said, cursing himself.
"What?" Amy asked.
"Asking him questions when I really don't want to know the answers."
Amy laughed, her eyes sparkling. He realized then that Amy, too, was enjoying herself. Despite the threat, despite whatever terrible things might happen to them – that had happened to them – and however scared she was, Amy was relishing every single moment.
"I love you, Amy Pond," he said, but her reply was lost to the wind.
Rory hefted his club, returned to his position on the back seat, and continued to survey the sky.
By this point, Alex had reclaimed her own weapons. Both her sword and her eyes were trained on the sky, her free hand absently fiddling with her sonic necklace.
"We're nearly there," Amy announced a moment later, raising her voice over the noise of the engine. "I recognize this street. This is close to where we first arrived."
"I'm not going to have time to stop and open the gate," the Doctor warned, twisting in his seat and shouting to make sure he could be heard over the noise. "The moment we slow down the Squall will be all over us, and I need to get inside that time ship." He paused for a moment as he swung the car haphazardly around a horse and cart, startling the animal and causing it to whinny and bolt. "I want you to brace yourselves," he continued, "and when we finally come to rest, I want you out of the car and taking cover. You got that?"
Rory glanced at Amy and they both nodded their assurances at the Doctor.
"Alex?"
Alex swallowed thickly. She hated not knowing what, exactly, the Doctor intended on doing. But she trusted him, more than anyone else in her life. So, she nodded and said, "Yes, Doc."
"You too, professor."
"Very well," Angelchrist agreed. "I'm ready."
Glancing back at the road, the Doctor peered over the top of the shattered windscreen and then forced the vehicle into a hard right turn, keeping his foot flat on the accelerator and causing the back end to skid out wildly into the street. One front wheel bounced over a curb, jolting them painfully in their seats, and then they were charging along another narrow alleyway, the sides of the car rebounding from the walls.
"Get ready!" the Doctor shouted. "Here it comes. . ."
"Oh no," Rory said in dismay. "He's not. . ."
"He is," Alex breathed, her face paling. In hindsight, she should have realized this would happen when the Doctor warned them about not having time to open the gate, but still.
"He's going to drive us straight through," Amy marveled.
Alex dropped her sword and covered her head with the shield. Rory covered his and Amy's heads as well, and all three braced themselves as the Doctor turned the wheel sharply, sending them careening toward the back gate of the terraced house where the time ship had originally deposited the Ponds in London.
"We're going to die!" Rory screamed. "We're all going to die!"
"Doctor, I'm gonna kill you!" Alex shouted.
But the Doctor ignored them. "Geronimooooooo!"
There was an enormous crunch as the wooden gate exploded in a shower of splinters and the car burst through, tumbling down the stone steps in a riot of tortured metal. Seconds later it slewed to a stop, a hair's breadth from the wall, half on its side, the front passenger wheel buried amongst a patch of begonias.
The Doctor was up and out of his seat in a matter of moments, charging toward the abandoned time ship and diving in through the open hatch.
"Come on!" Rory called, grabbing Amy and Alex by the arm and dragging them free of the wrecked vehicle. He looked at them questioningly and they nodded, both looking a little dazed.
"Are you hurt, professor?" he called to Angelchrist as he dropped over the side of the wreck.
"No," Angelchrist replied. "No, I'm all right." He levered himself out of the crumpled nose of his car.
Overhead, the swarm was already descending, spinning out of the sky in a great funnel, a torrent of deadly Squall. It was like being trapped in a perpetual twilight, like being outside at the moment of a solar eclipse, a sudden darkness descending upon the world.
"DOCTOR!" The voice of the Squall boomed like a detonating thunderclap high above the city as a thousand or more of the drones spoke in unison. "WE HUNGER."
"Get behind the car, now!" Rory shouted, diving over into the flowerbed and crouching down behind the vehicle. One of the rear wheels was still spinning slowly and he could smell oil seeping out of the cracked engine housing.
Amy, Alex, and Angelchrist hunkered down beside him, watching in horror as the Squall rained down upon the time ship. They forced their way in through the open hatchway, filling the sky with a blizzard of talons and wings. The noise was horrendous, a cacophony of screeching and wailing, and the four covered their ears, trying to blot it out.
"Oh, Doctor. . ." Amy murmured.
Alex bit her bottom lip until she tasted blood. Please, please, please, she prayed, please let him defeat the Squall and be okay.
Rory glanced over at the girls, their gazes narrowed in on the time ship and the frantic Squall. He didn't know what to do, what to say to them, so instead he simply watched, waiting for something to happen, waiting for the Doctor to do his work.
"Oh, no!" Angelchrist cried a second later, as the limp form of the Doctor appeared in the hatchway, clutched in the claws of one of the Squall. He was hanging slackly, like one of Amy's old Raggedy Doctor dolls. The top hat had fallen from his head, and his jacket had been shredded on his back.
"Doctor!" Amy and Alex exclaimed, climbing to their feet. "Doctor!"
They started forward, but Rory caught them both around the waist. He dragged them back behind the relative safety of the ruined car. Amy drummed her fists against him in frustrated rage. Alex thrashed around, kicking her legs and biting back the urge to use some of Spencer's self-defense techniques. Rory meant well, she knew that. But she couldn't – wouldn't – stay back and let her Doctor be harmed or potentially killed.
She'd seen that already. She wasn't sure she'd survive such a thing a second time.
But before she could bite the bullet and do something that would actually cause a bit of pain for Rory, Angelchrist sprang to his feet. "Get back!" he called to the Squall, charging forward and swinging the mace in a series of wide arcs, sending Squall reeling with every blow. He leapt forward, grabbing for the Doctor, just as the Squall encircled him, blocking them both entirely from view.
There was a sound like rending metal, like the universe itself was screaming in abject pain.
Everything went white.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~