If you want to help me financially, you can do it on
https://ko-fi.com/neverluckysmile
Canton ran up the the hallway at the top of the building following Amy's voice as she cried out, terrified. He had already called River to bring the Doctor and help, but continued on his own. He stopped outside a metal door, taking an educated guess that this was where the pair were at.
"Help me! Please, I can't, I can't see! Somebody help me!" Amy sobbed as he tried to break into the room, unable to even move the door slightly.
"Amy!" He shouted as his pounded on the door, "Danni, can you hear me? I'm going to try to blow the lock. I need you to stand back." He ordered them, moving back himself and aiming his gun at the lock. The Doctor, Rory and River ran up the stairs, the Doctor waving his screwdriver.
"OK, gun down, I've got it!" He used the sonic on the lock, quickly unlocking it, "Amy, Danni, we're here. Are you OK?"
"I can't see! Danni, where are you?" Amy sobbed as they entered the room, not seeing the little girl down the hall hiding. It becomes obvious very quickly that they were not there, even though they could still hear Amy crying. The Doctor stared in shock, where had she gone?
"Where is she, Doctor?" Rory asked as the Doctor scanned the spacesuit with his screwdriver. River opened the visor.
"It's empty."
"It's dark, it's so dark." Amy told them and they all began looking around, each slowly spotting the nano recorder on the floor, "I don't know where I am. Please, can anybody hear me? Danni, are you there?" Rory bent down and picked it up, watching it flash heartbroken.
"They took this out of her? How did they do that, Doctor?" The Doctor didn't reply, trying to spot the one out of Danni as well. They were together, he had just been speaking to her. Whatever had taken Amy had his Danni-Girl. He walked over to the chest of drawers, ignoring the pictures on top and pushing it out of the way, just in the unlikely case that Danni was hiding behind it. Her nano-recorder wasn't here, they hadn't removed it so he couldn't hear her like they could Amy. He knelt down by the small bed and checked under it as well.
"Why can I still hear her?" Rory asked him, trying to get a response.
"Is it a recording?" River tried. The Doctor stopped his search with an angry sigh and scanned the recorder with his screwdriver, his face dropping as he read the results.
"It defaults to live. This is current. Wherever she is right now, this is what she's saying." He told them sadly. Rory held the recorder up to his mouth, grasping at it tightly.
"Amy, can you hear me? We're coming for you. Wherever you are, we're coming, I swear." He promised his wife. The Doctor stood back up, Danni wasn't there she would have come out by now. She knew she was safe with him.
"She can't hear you." The Doctor explained, "I'm so sorry. It's one way." Rory looked at him, determined.
"She can always hear me, Doctor. Always, wherever she is. She always knows that I am coming for her, do you understand me? Always."
"Doctor, are you out there? Can you hear me? Doctor? Oh, God. Please, please, Doctor, just get me out of this." She begged.
"He's coming. I'll bring him, I swear." Rory swore, jumping as screams began coming through the recorder, screams that weren't Amy's.
"Danni? Danni! Oh god, someone please help." Amy sobbed, confirming to the Doctor it was Danni. He turned and kicked over the cot, so angry that he wasn't there to help her. He should never have let her out of his sight. She should have stayed with him.
"Hello, is someone in there?" Canton held up his flash light and cocked his gun at the doorway as Renfrew appeared, "Who? I think someone has been shot. I think we should help. We... I can't... I can't remember." The Doctor rushed over and grabbed the man by his arm.
"Take us. Now." He snarled, but the man just blinked at him. Canton rolled his eyes, more than annoyed at the man who's mind had obviously been fried.
"To your office." He clarified and Renfrew nodded.
"Yes. Yes, of course." He led them down the stairs and into his office, where one of the Silents was on the floor heavily wounded. As soon as they entered it began backing away into the corner, trying to get away from them. The Doctor slowly knelt by it, hand out it show he wasn't going to hurt it.
"OK. Who and what are you?" He asked.
"Silence, Doctor." It told him, holding it's wound, "We are the Silence. And silence will fall." He stared at it as his mind flashed back to all the times he had heard anything about the Silence. Prisoner Zero, the Saturnyns, even Rory. Then his face hardened and he leant in close.
"You will help us get my Danni back." he snarled, "and if she is hurt, I will destroy you all."
~0~0~0~
Canton placed his fingers back into the holes in the wall of the cell, and the front door opened to a group of soldiers aiming their guns at him. He casually strolled out, hand in his pocket as if he hadn't been trapped in there for what seemed like a lifetime.
"Hello again." He said to the men.
"Sir, you've been in there for days. What the hell have you been doing?" One of the soldiers asked, gun still pointed at the man who didn't seemed remotely phased by it.
"Doesn't matter. I need Dr Shepherd here right now." He commanded.
"Sir, I need to talk to Colonel Jefferson right now!" The soldier retorted.
"No, you really don't." He motioned to the door of the cell and Nixon stepped out. All the men lower their guns and stand to attention, completely bewildered over how the President had gotten into the box without ever entering it.
"Hi, fellas. I'm President Nixon. I want to tell you, on behalf of the American people, how much we appreciate all of your hard work."
~0~0~0~
Meanwhile, in the warehouse at the corner of Hamilton Avenue, Jefferson Street and Adams Street, River and the Doctor examined the spacesuit the little girl had escaped from as a black-and-white television played the news coverage of the pre-lauch events for Apollo 11.
"It's an exo-skeleton. Basically, life support. There's about 20 different kinds of alien tech in here." River explained as she scanned what appeared to be an umbilical cord.
"Who was she? Why put her in here?" The Doctor mused out loud, frowning. Danni always loved to see him 'being all smart' and he was acutely aware she wasn't there commenting on it.
"Put this on, you don't even need to eat. The suit processes sunlight directly. It's got built in weaponry and a communications system that can hack into anything."
"Including the telephone network?"
"Easily." River confirmed.
"Why phone the President?" He asked as he stepped away, fanning himself absent-mindedly with the TARDIS blue invitation.
"It defaults to the highest authority it can find. The little girl gets frightened, the most powerful man on Earth gets a phone call. The night terrors with a hotline to the White House." She looked up from the suit and caught the Doctor licking the envelope; anything to take his mind of Danni. He was trying his hardest not to storm to wherever they were keeping her and snatch her back, whatever the consequences but then he couldn't guarantee that she would be safe. And he needed to get her safe so that nothing could ever hurt her again. "You won't learn anything from that envelope, you know?" The Doctor pointed it at her.
"Purchased on Earth, perfectly ordinary stationery, TARDIS blue. Summoned by a stranger who won't even show his face. That's a first for me. How about you?" She paused, trying the think of the best way to answer him as he approached her.
"Our lives are back to front. Your future's my past, your firsts are my lasts." She settled on.
"Not really what I asked."
"Ask something else then." She snapped. Seeing he had touched a nerve he turned back to the suit.
"What are the Silence doing? Raising a child?"
"Keeping her safe. Even giving her independence. How is this going to help save them?" River replied harshly, turning back to the suit. She'd seen him rise an army to save Amy, why wasn't he doing the same for Danni? Instead they were here, looking over a spacesuit she knew wouldn't help them figure anything out.
"The only way to save Danni and Amy is to work out what the Silence are doing." He declared as he started pacing, becoming even more agitated at River's attitude. She'd been snappy with him since they'd left the orphanage and it was the last thing he needed. He had to focus on Danni and Amy, not River's mood swings.
"I know." River replied with a reluctant sigh to calm herself down.
"Every single thing we learn about them brings us a step closer."
"Yeah, Doctor, I get it, I know."
"Of course, it's possible she's not just any little girl." The Doctor pointed out.
"Well, I'd say she's human, going by the life support software..." River told him, trailing off at the end.
"But?" The Doctor asked leadingly.
"She climbed out of this suit. Like she forced her way out. She must be incredibly strong."
"Incredibly strong and running away. I like her."
"She had help though." River told him with a faint smile, "The rest of the suit was forced open, you can see how she's bent and broke things but the zipper is fine, like it was pulled opened. And as Amy shot at her, I'd say Danni did it." The Doctor smiled. Helping out the scared little girl, that was his Danni-Girl, "We should be trying to find her. Maybe wherever she is, they are."
"Yes, I know, but how? Anyway, I have the strangest feeling she's going to find us."
"This is Houston, do you read? Over." The man on the television asked over his radio, catching the Doctor's attention. He walked slowly over to it as pieces of the puzzle began to come together in his mind.
"Why does it look like a NASA space suit?" Rory asked as he looked over the suit.
"Because that's what the Silence do. Think about it." He turned back to face them, "They don't make anything themselves. They don't have to. They get other life forms to do it for them."
"So they're parasites then?" River asked.
"Super parasites. Standing in the shadows of human history since the very beginning. We know they can influence human behaviour any way they want. If they've been doing that on a global scale for thousands of years..." He trailed off as he approached Rory.
"Then what?"
"Then why did the human race suddenly decide to go to the moon?" All three of them turned to watched the television, Apollo 11 in it's final launch phase.
"Because the Silence needed a space suit." The Doctor grinned to himself, finally working it out.
"..one, zero, all engines on. Lift off. We have a lift off. 32 minutes past the hour, lift off on Apollo 11."
~0~0~0~
The Doctor grasped River's hand-held device tightly in his hands, waiting for Canton to send him the video file. As soon as it came he opened it and watched the alien and smiled darkly. One more step towards getting Danni and Amy back. No one, no one would ever get away with even touching Danni, let alone taking her and hurting her. He frowned angrily as her screams echoed in his mind, he would make each of them pay.
"You should kill us all on sight." Amy's sobs were still coming over the nano-recorder and the Doctor watched Rory walk off to the side of the room and sit down in some crates.
"This suit, it seems to be repairing itself. How is it doing that?" River muttered before looking up, "Doctor, a unit like this, would it ever be able to move without an occupant?" She asked, distracting him. She could see him becoming emotional, and even though she wanted nothing more than to save the two women she needed him calm and collected. He leant over the suit examining it himself.
"Why?"
"Well, the little girl said the space man was coming to eat her. Maybe that's exactly what happened."
"I love you." Amy stated, catching both Rory's and the Doctor's attention, "I know you think it's him. I know you think it ought to be him. But it's not, it's you. And when I see you again, I'm going tell you properly, just to see your stupid face." She half-laughed, half-sobbed, "My life was so boring before you just dropped out of the sky." Rory's head fell to his chest, misunderstanding his wife and feeling heartbroken, "So just get your stupid face where I can see it. OK? OK?" The Doctor sat next to him, patting his arm reassuringly.
"She'll be safe for now. No point in dead hostages." Rory rolled his eyes at the Doctor's attempt to be reassuring.
"Amy? Amy, can you hear me?" Danni called out of the recorder and the Doctor snatched it off Rory, holding it up to his face.
"Danni?" Both him and Amy asked at the same time.
"I'm here, hun. You okay?" Even though he knew she was talking to Amy, he smiled sadly. It was if she had heard him too.
"I can't see, it's so dark. What's going on?" Amy sobbed.
"I can't tell you that. I can't see either." Danni replied.
"Why did you scream?" Amy asked, "All I can hear is you screaming."
"I... I'm not sure." Danni hesitated, "Amy, they're coming. I promise." She continued, changing the topic.
"I'm scared." Amy admitted.
"Me too, but that's half the fun, isn't it?" She laughed hollowly, "I promise you, Amy, they're coming for you. They will save you." She swore to her friend.
"What about you?"
"Your guess is as good as mine at the minute." Danni told her, "But they're coming for you, and they do save you. As if Rory would ever not come for you." Amy continued sobbing but the conversation died off. After a moment the Doctor handed the recorder back, sighing and leaning his head against a crate. Hearing her talking like that, like he wasn't going to save her... He couldn't understand why she would ever think that.
"Can't you save her?" Rory asked
"I can track that signal back. Take us right to them." The Doctor told him.
"Then why haven't you?" Rory demanded.
"Because then what? I find them, and then what do I do? This isn't an alien invasion. They live here. This is their empire. This is kicking the Romans out of Rome." He breathed out, overwhelmed by the scale of the task ahead.
"Rome fell." Rory pointed out.
"I know. I was there."
"So was I." The Doctor nodded then shifted on the spot.
"Personal question." Rory looked at him incredulously.
"Seriously? You?" The Doctor nodded and Rory rolled his eyes at him timing. His wife was in trouble and he was asking questions?!
"Do you ever remember it? 2,000 years, waiting for Amy? The Last Centurion?" He asked. Rory paused for a moment.
"No." He stated.
"Are you lying?" The Doctor shot back at him quickly and Rory let out a humourless laugh.
"Course I'm lying."
"Course you are. Not the sort of thing anyone forgets."
"But I don't remember it all the time. It's like there's… a door in my head. I can keep it shut." Rory explained. Amy's sobs started coming even louder over the recorder and the Doctor stood up,listening.
"Please come and get me. Come and get me."
~0~0~0~
A bright white light was shone on Amy, waking her up. She groaned at being forcefully awaken then began to take in her surrounding, becoming increasingly upset.
"Where am I? Where is this?" She asked out loud as she struggled against bonds keeping her strapped to an upright table. There are three aliens stood around the centre console and she gasps as she remembered them. One turned to face her.
"You are Amelia Pond." It told her breathlessly.
"You're ugly, has anyone mentioned that to you?" Amy shot back angrily.
"I did." Danni replied and Amy turned her head looking for her friend. She was strapped into a similar table as Amy, except she had a primitive-looking metal helmet on, prodding needles into each temple. It was connected to the middle console by a huge cable and was humming loudly, "But apparently what I say has no meaning." She continued, "You okay sweetheart?"
"Where are we?" Amy asked her.
"Haven't the foggiest, sorry." The helmet began glowing blue and she screamed loudly before falling unconscious as it continued shooting energy into her head.
"Stop it!" Amy shouted, "Let her go!"
"We do you honour." The Silent told her, ignoring her pleas as it approached her "You will bring the Silence. But your part will soon be over." Amy glared at him.
"Whatever that means, you've made a big mistake bringing me here, because wait till you see what's coming for you now." She warned him.
"You have been here many days." She shook her head.
"No. I just got here. You just put me in here." She protested.
"Your memory is weak. You have been here many days."
"No. No, I can't have been." She whispered, confused and hurt. She can't have been here many days, because he would have come for her by now.
"You will sleep now. Sleep." The creature leant over her, beginning to hypnotise her to sleep.
"No! No! Get off me!" She fought against her restraints as she tried to get away from it.
"Sleep."
"No! No!" The creature paused as the sounds of the TARDIS filled the room and Amy smiled widely. Here they were. The creatures turned from their positions to stare at the machine as the door opened and the Doctor appeared.
"Oh! Interesting. Very Aickman Road, seen one of these before." River exited the TARDIS, blaster already out and ready and Rory brought out an old television. "Abandoned, wonder how that happened." He shrugged and turned to his two friends, "Oh, well! I suppose I'm about to find out. Rory, River, keep one Silent in eye shot at all times." He turned back to the creatures and waved, "Oh, hello, sorry. You're in the middle of something. Just had to say though, have you seen what's on the telly? Hello, Amy, you all right? Want to watch some television?" He nudged Rory across the room to place the television on the console in front of Amy. The creatures moved but he glared at them, "Ah, now, stay where you are. Because look at me, I'm confident. You want to watch that, me, when I'm confident." He warned them darkly, "Oh, and this is my friend, River. Nice hair, clever, has own gun, and unlike me, she really doesn't mind shooting people. I shouldn't like that." He winked at her, "Kind of do." He ran over to Danni, unable to continue until he removed her from the machine.
"What is it?" River asked worriedly, wanting to help him save Danni but knowing she needed to keep an eye on the creatures in front of them. The Doctor shot a quick glance at the console, following the cables up to her head.
"Memory altering." He decided, "They must be trying to remove her memory." Deeming it safe, he undid the helmet and took it off. Her eyes shot open and she took in a deep breath, coughing as it burnt her lungs. She blinked painfully at him as her vision was blinded by the bright light shining down at her.
"Oh about bloody time." She told him and he kissed her quickly, "Thanks for flying the TARDIS River." The Doctor pouted and she giggled, just because she was in danger didn't mean she couldn't tease him.
"You're welcome, sweetie." River called over, blaster pointing at all three. The Doctor undid Danni's straps, holding her upright as she stood off the table. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"I know you're team players and everything, but she'll definitely kill at least the first three of you." The Doctor told them as he helped Danni over to her. The pair stood back to back in front of her, protecting her from the Silents.
"The first seven, easily." She told him and he looked around, impressed.
"Seven, really?" She nodded.
"Oh, eight for you, honey."
"Stop it."
"Make me!"
"Yeah, well, maybe I will." Danni smacked his arm.
"Is this really important, flirting? I feel like we should be higher on the list right now." She complained, knowingly stealing Amy's line. It had always been a good line, and what was the point in knowing the episodes if she couldn't use it? He smiled guiltily.
"It's harmless, I promise." He told her quietly before turning back to the creatures, "As I was saying, my naughty friend here is going kill the first three of you to attack, plus him behind. So maybe you want to draw lots, or have a quiz." He began to pace around the centre console as Rory struggled to free Amy.
"What's he got?" She whispered.
"Something, I hope." Rory replied, not entirely sure what the Doctor's plan was.
"Or maybe you could just listen a minute, because all I really want to do is accept your total surrender, and then I'll let you go in peace. You've been interfering in human history for thousands of years. People have suffered and died. But what's the point in two hearts, if you can't be a bit forgiving now and then." He approached the one he decided was the leader and stared into his face, "Ooh! The Silence. You guys take that seriously, don't you? OK, you got me, I'm lying. I'm not really going to let you go that easily. Nice thought, but it's not Christmas and you hurt Danni. No one gets away with that. First," He walked up to the television and turned it on before walking back to the leader, "you tell me about the girl. Who is she? Why is she important? What's she for? Guys, sorry. But you're way out of time." He spun around, a triumphant smirk on his lips.
"Now, come on, a bit of history for you. Aren't you proud, because you helped?" He pulled out the antenna on top of the television, smacking it to bring the picture up, "Do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion, and that's nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars, you just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years. And every single one of them, at some point in their lives, will look back at this man, taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it." Danni rolled her eyes at his monologuing, although she did always love hearing him being all clever. He took out his phone, "Oh. But they'll forget this bit. Ready?" He asked Canton, who was on the other end. The all continued to watch the television and suddenly the wounded Silent appeared.
"You should kill us all on sight." It hissed, before returning to the moon landing.
"You've given the order for your own execution, and the whole planet just heard you."
"One giant leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong declared.
"And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence!" The Doctor cheered, "You just raised an army against yourself. And now, for a thousand generations, you're going to be ordering them to destroy you every day." The leader advanced on him, "How fast can you run? Because today's the day the human race throw you off their planet. That is what you get for thinking you could ever touch a hair on Danielle's head. As generations of your species progress, pass that down. No one hurts my Danni-Girl." Danni blinked at him in surprise, not expecting to see him so angry.
"Doctor?" She called gently and he turned to her, the anger immediately dropping from his face. Her eyes widened at his change in demeanour, feeling terrified at the way he changed so quickly because of her, "Might want to finish up." She warned him shakily as energy began building around the group, the leader of the Silents became increasingly angry.
"They won't even know they're doing it. I think, quite possibly the word you're looking for right now is, 'Oops!' Run!" The Doctor finished and no one moved, "Guys, I mean us! Run!" He grabbed Danni's hand and pulled her with him, "Glad your back." He told her over the sound of River's blaster as she shot at the creatures.
"Glad to be back." She replied as he pushed her behind him, using his screwdriver to keep them back.
"I can't get her out!" Rory shouted over.
"Go, just go!" Amy told him.
"We are not leaving without you!" He swore.
"Will you just get your stupid face out of here?!" She shouted and he stopped, looking up at her as he realised what her words before had meant. Amy stared at him, just confused as to why he was just standing there.
"Right, into the TARDIS, quickly!" River shouted and the Doctor pulled Danni over to the pair, using the screwdriver to free Amy. Danni grinned.
"Ah, the Roman finally gets it. TARDIS, anyone?" Rory held his wife up and walked her over to the TARDIS and the Doctor and River continued to hold them back, the Doctor refusing to let Danni go anywhere without him.
"Don't let them build to full power!" He warned River.
"I know. There's a reason why I'm shooting, honey! What are you doing?" She asked in returned.
"Helping." He told her.
"You've got a screwdriver. Go build a cabinet!" Danni laughed loudly and the Doctor looked between them, outraged. Danni quickly kissed his lips.
"I love your screwdriver, sweetie." She told him and he grinned then turned to River.
"That's really rude!" He scolded her.
"Shut up and drive!" River just shouted in reply. The Doctor pulled Danni into the TARDIS as River spun on the spot, killing all the creatures before ending in a crouch. She stood up slowly and saw Rory staring at her in slight amazement. She twirled her gun and placed it in her holster.
"My old fella didn't see that, did he? He gets ever so cross." She asked him. She walked over to the TARDIS with a smirk on her face.
"So, what kind of doctor are you?" Rory asked her.
"Archaeology." She told him then pulled out her gun and shot behind her, killing the last alien standing, "Love a tomb." They entered the TARDIS to see the Doctor stood by the console, half controlling the TARDIS and half hugging Danni tightly. She rolled her eyes and moved over, working the controls for him.
"You can let me fly it!" The Doctor complained.
"Or we could go where we're supposed to." She replied. Danni laughed and opened her mouth to add something, but her arm began burning painfully and she grasped her Manipulator.
"Oh this piece of..." She cried before disappearing in a flash of light.
~0~0~0~
So, a lot of you might be a bit sad that she didn't see the Doctor/River kiss. Don't worry, I have a very dismissive Nine planned for the next episode, so you'll get some mean Doctor next XD
Speaking of the next episode, firstly I'd like to thank you all for your kind words, you've all been lovely and supportive so big virtual hugs to everyone. What I'm going to do is leave it a week, catch up on the next episode and post it when it's completely finished. I would hate to post up the first chapter or two and not have an ending to put up, but in a week I should be able to finish it and at least start the next one if not finish it too. So, unless I get a huge spurt of the writing muse today/tomorrow there shall be no updates next week. But I promise, Tuesday 23rd shall have a chapter up and because I'm off work that week as well I shall have plenty of time to get further ahead and have loads to post for the foreseeable future.
As consolation, here's a sneak peak and I'll see you later *waves*
"Yes, quite right. Have some rent." The Doctor handed him the small brown bag. Craig opened the bag and stares between the mass of notes and the Doctor in disbelief.
"That's probably quite a lot, isn't it? Looks like a lot. Is it a lot? I can never tell." Danni grabbed the side of the bag with her finger, peeking inside.
"Yes that is, I told you to let me get it." She told him. The Doctor stepped past him and into the house. Danni shot him an apologetic smile followed. The Doctor's gaze was automatically drawn to the staircase in the hallway as the lights flickered above it.
"Don't spend it all on sweets. Unless you like sweets. I like sweets. Ooh!" He turned and held onto the man's shoulders, giving him an air kiss on each cheek, "That's how we greet each other nowadays, isn't it? I'm the Doctor." He looked up the stairs, "Well, they call me the Doctor," He looked back at the man with a frown, "I don't know why." Then back up the stairs, "I call me the Doctor too." The back at the man with a frown, "Still don't know why." He turned to Danni and smiled, placing an arm around her shoulder, "She's Danni, my Danni-Girl. Not yours though, you can call her Danni. No one's allowed to call her Danni-Girl but me."
"And Jack." She pointed out, grinning as he frowned angrily.
"No, he's not allowed. He just does, and no matter how much I tell him otherwise he thinks he can just call you my name."
"He called me it first." She turned to Craig and smiled.
"Danielle Fielding." She elaborated.