Doctor Who: The Time Child

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Amy ran as fast as she could through the dry Utah desert, along the dirt track as two cars chased her down, one black and one a browny-red. A pen on a lanyard bounced painfully on her chest as she tried to escape, skidding to a halt as she reached a cliff edge. She spun around panting as four men got out of the two cars. Two aimed guns at her while the other two approached her victoriously, one carrying a black bag.

"Canton." She stated, half-begging him to stop what he was doing.

"Miss Pond." Canton Delaware the Third replied before motioning to his other agent, who spread the bag on the ground.

"Is that a body bag?" She asked, still panting.

"Yes, it is."

"It's empty." She pointed out.

"How about that?" He replied mockingly.

"Do you even know why you're doing this, eh? Can you even remember? The warehouse?" She pleaded, but he just pointed his gun at her and fired. She fell to the ground, revealing tally marks up and down her arms.

~0~0~0~

Canton approached the Doctor in a large warehouse in Area 51, a beige file in hand and flanked by two other agents. Signs all around read 'Do Not Approach the Prisoner' but he paid them no mind. The Doctor sat chained to a chair in a straight jacket on an elevated black platform with a circle painted around the area he was in. He had obviously been there a while judging by beard he was sporting and the fact his hair had grown longer. People in white lab-coats were placing large black blocks around him, as if building a wall.

"All visitors to remain behind the yellow line. All visitors to remain behind the yellow line." A voice continuously rang out.

"We found Amy Pond." He told the Doctor who regarded him silently, "She had strange markings on her arm." He held up a black and white photo of Amy's arm, "Do you know what they are?" He threw the photo and the file across the yellow line so the Doctor could see it without having to approach him. The Doctor shook his head slightly.

"Why don't you ask her?" He replied calmly. Canton replied with a smug smirk and the Doctor looked back at the photo, realising what had happened.

"Where's Danni?" Canton didn't reply, instead motioned to his men and they all left.

~0~0~0~

The sounds of New York filtered upwards into the unfinished office as River scanned the construction site. Just like Amy she had tally marks running up and down her arms, although unlike Amy she was wearing a green evening dress and nothing quite as practical as the redhead. She gasped slightly at the scans results and headed into another part of the room, looking side to side constantly searching for more of the creatures. She jumped as a pipe fell somewhere behind her and she spun around to see a Silent lifting up one of the many plastic coverings and stepping towards her as another one joined it.

"I see you!" She called more confidently than she felt, removing the pen from the lanyard around her neck and marking two more on her ever-growing tally, "I see you!"

"Doctor Song." Canton's voice called from somewhere else in the building and she spun around again, this time only afraid that she had been found, the memory of the aliens wiped from her mind, "Doctor Song?" She looked back around and stared slightly, wondering why she had stopped there in the first place before running away from the approaching agents.

"Go, go, go!" He called, catching a glimpse of her and the agents follow the sounds of her high-heels clicking on the stone floor until the find her by the open side of the building, trying to find a way out.

"Don't move! It's over!" Canton told her, every man pointing a gun at her.

"They're here, Canton. They're everywhere." River exclaimed, showing off the markings on her arms.

"I know. America's being invaded." He scoffed.

"You were invaded a long time ago." River corrected, "America is occupied."

"You're coming with us, Dr Song. There's no way out this time." He told her. She smiled at him, the same smile she always had when she thought about the Doctor.

"There's always a way out." Canton frowned in confusion as she stretched her arms out. He dashed forward when he realised what she was about to do, but was a second too late and River Song plunged out of the building backwards.

~0~0~0~

The two scientists in lab-coats continued to construct the black wall around the Doctor as he watched with some interest, having turned his chair so he could see more closely.

"We found Dr Song." Canton told him, stood on the opposite side of the platform with the Doctor facing away.

"These bricks, what are they made of? Where is she?" The Doctor asked as he examined the blocks.

"She ran. Off the 50th floor." The Doctor paused as he thought of his friend falling to her death.

"I'd say zero balanced dwarf star alloy. The densest material in the universe. Nothing gets through that." He replied instead as one block fused itself to another, making a continuous line, "You're building me the perfect prison." He turned and faced Canton, a look of fury on his face, "And it still won't be enough." He bit out, " .Danni?"

~0~0~0~

Rory burst through the door leading to a road crossing the top of the Glen Canyon Dam. He ran one way, his long limbs flailing, to be blocked off by a row of agents. He then turned to run the other just to run into the same problem. He held his hands up briefly, showing off all the marks on his arms and face. He dashed over to the edge of the dam, looking down to the bottom and contemplated jumping but decided to give himself up, turning to face Canton with his hands up in surrender.

Nothing happened.

"What are you waiting for?" He panted out.

"I'm waiting for you to run." Rory lowered his arms, "It'll look better if I shot you while you were running." Canton stepped forward and raised his gun, "Then again, looks aren't everything." Rory closed his eyes and a gunshot rang throughout the canyon as Rory fell to the ground.

~0~0~0~

"What are the markings?" Canton asked the Doctor, who was sat almost patiently as he became even more trapped in the prison, the walls climbing ever higher as they built it around him.

"Don't you know?" The Doctor asked in reply. Canton chucked a picture of Rory in front of him, showing the mass of tally marks Rory had acquired in 3 months. The Doctor studied the picture in silence, his eyes counting the groups of five he could see on his friends body.

"Why don't you enlighten us all?" The Doctor looked up at the agents before his gaze hardened.

"Where is Danni?"

~0~0~0~

Danni pushed her way through the large crowd of families and small children, not a single tally mark on her. Three months and she hadn't come across a single Silent. In Florida, where NASA was, she hadn't seen a single one and she had been actively looking for them. The beach had been full of holiday makers from across the country and she had hoped that the large amount of children would have caused them to ease their chase, but it hadn't. The crowd screamed as Canton and his men chased her with guns held at the ready, only stopping when her footing slipped and she fell onto her hands and knees in the sand. Canton's shadow fell across her and she stood up, panting and brushing the sand off her. She had hoped for a little more time, she had wanted to find something.

"Just tell me, did he ask about me?" She asked Canton, who held his gun steadily at her.

"Who?" He replied and she glared at him.

"You know who! Did he ever ask?" She pleaded and he took of his off his sunglasses so he could see her clearly.

"Only after you were dead." She sighed and closed her eyes, waiting for what happened next. A gunshot ran out and she fell to the floor.

~0~0~0~

The prison around the Doctor was almost complete, just a small corner was left exposed as the scientists finished it off. Canton stood in the small doorway, another file in hand.

"Last one Doctor." He chucked a picture of Danni down in front of the man, "Not a single mark on her." The Doctor studied the picture intently, his fists clenching in the depths of the straight jacket.

"Why would that be odd?" The Doctor snapped.

"She asked about you." The Doctor's head shot up.

"What did she say?" He demanded.

"She wanted to know if you ever asked about her." The Doctor held his gaze, waiting for the answer, "I told her she never crossed your mind."

~0~0~0~

Canton walked into the hanger as three soldiers followed, each dragging a body bag. The Doctor's prison now complete and completely sealed except for the doorway where the bodies were dragged through and laid inside the yellow circle.

"Is there a reason you're doing this?" The Doctor asked, trying to identify which body was which. Trying to work out which was Danni.

"I want you to know where you stand." Canton replied.

"In a cell."

"In the perfect cell." He corrected as the soldiers left, " Nothing can penetrate these walls. Not a sound, not a radio wave." He turned and inserted his fingers and thumb into five holes in the wall and the door began to slide closed, "Not the tiniest particle of anything. In here, you are literally cut off from the rest of the universe." The door sealed itself closed with no seam left, "So I guess they can't hear us, right?"

"Good work, Canton. Door sealed?"

"You bet." He confirmed and the Doctor stood easily, shaking off the straight jacket and the three body-bags shot up. The Doctor helped the one next to him, revealing Rory as he panted from lack of air. The Doctor kissed the top of his head; an action that no longer surprised Rory.

"You OK?" He asked as Amy unzipped herself, taking deep gulps of air.

"Finally." She breathed.

"These things could really do with air holes!" Rory complained and Canton smirked.

"Never had a complaint before." The Doctor began stretching, stiff from being confined to a chair for three months.

"Help! I can't get out!" He jolted and rushed over to Danni, who was struggling to undo her bag. He unzipped it and pushed it down as she also gasped for air, "Seriously, just one air hole. No one would have noticed!" She complained as the Doctor began examining her closely, holding her in place and stopping her getting out of the bag. She batted him away, "I'm fine, let me out." He did as he was asked and helped her out before pulling her in for a hug, which she returned tightly, before pulling her in for a breathtaking kiss. She replied just as hungrily, standing on her tiptoes as his hand pressed firmly into the small of her back.

"You need a shave." She told him when he let her go, pulling her back up against his chest.

"I asked. Every day." He whispered into her hair. She looked up at him confused.

"What?" He smiled as he played with a strand of her hair.

"You asked if I asked about you. Every day. Because you were supposed to be brought back first." He glared over at Canton, who shrugged.

"She was hard to find."

~0~0~0~

"We're going to have to split up. As soon as we land they're going to take us into custody but we need to find out how long these creatures have been here, and how many there are." The Doctor explained as he rushed around the TARDIS console, "I'm dropping you three off in three different locations."

"How can we do that if we don't know what we're running from?" River asked, "I can't remember anything except that we're running."

"I don't know," He admitted, "but I suspect you'll remember whenever you come back into contact with them."

"And then forget when we turn away." He reached under the console and rummaged around until he pulled out three pens on strings, handing one to Amy, Rory and River.

"You won't remember what you've seen, but you need to keep a count of how many you do see. Before you look away you have to tally them off. I'm going to go back with Canton who will lock me up. That should keep them satisfied until you are inevitably captured and we can finally get to the bottom of this."

"You're planning on us getting captured?" Rory asked, unimpressed.

"I'm counting on it."

"What about me?" Danni asked and he spun around to face her.

"You're staying here, in the TARDIS. Keep an eye on her." She frowned.

"No, I'm not just sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting for you lot to come back. I'm going too." He shook his head.

"No, you're not. I'm not letting you anywhere near whatever they are. Until I know, you're staying right here."

"Oh, but it's all right for them to go running is it?" She protested and he nodded.

"Yes!" He exclaimed, "I'm not letting you go and that's final!"Amy turned to Rory as Danni's mouth dropped open.

"This should be good." She murmured to her husband.

"You listen to me, Spaceman." Danni started in a hiss, "You don't 'let' me do anything. This is my life, those are my friends and if I want to go with them you can't stop me!" He grabbed her arms and pulled her up to him so they were face to face.

"I'm not losing you to them. You're staying right here!" She took a deep breath to calm herself down, knowing he was just scared because it was rare something was this out of his control.

"Look," She started, "I understand your concern, I do. But I'll be fine. To be so well hidden, they're obviously not going to just suddenly start killing people. And you know I'm much more use to you out there than in here." He frowned, indicating he knew she was right, "And, I dunno, Canton will capture me first or something and bring me back, won't you?" She turned to Canton, who shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" She smiled gratefully at him and pulled the Doctors hands off her.

"Everything will be okay, I know it will be. Two months, three tops is all it'll be, and we'll be able to fight them together." She took both of his hands in her, "And do you really think that anything we could ever come across could keep me away from you?" He smiled slightly at this, pulling her in for a kiss. He looked over her head at Canton.

"I want her brought back first." He demanded and Canton held up his hands.

"Don't bring me into your lover's quarrel." He replied.

~0~0~0~

"Isn't it going to look odd that you're staying in here with us?" Amy asked, bringing them back to the situation at hand.

"Odd, but not alarming. They know there's no way out of this place." Canton explained.

"Exactly. Whatever they might think we're doing in here," The Doctor added, still slightly breathless and he walked over to the TARDIS, hooking his braces and pulling them out exaggeratedly, "they know we're not going anywhere." He let them go and fell to his side, landing on the TARDIS who shimmered at the contact. Amy and Danni both laughed as he snapped his fingers and the doors opened revealing the console room to the group.

"Shall we?" Amy ran over and followed Rory into the TARDIS, Canton following her and the Doctor and Danni entering together.

"What about Dr Song?" Canton asked as the Doctor shut the doors, "She dove off a rooftop!"

"Don't worry. She does that." He pulled Danni over to the console, "Amy, Rory, open all the doors to the swimming pool." The pair ran off into the TARDIS as the Doctor flicked some switches, setting the machine into motion.

~0~0~0~

The Doctor, now wearing his jacket but still unshaven, was typing and switching and pushing things on the console as River entered the console room, drying her hair with a towel she had found and in a new outfit.

"So, we know they're everywhere. Not just a landing party, an occupying force. And they've been here a very, very long time. But nobody knows that, cause no one can remember them."

"So what are they up to?" Canton asked as he watched the man work.

"No idea. But the good news is..." With one more switch flicked the room shuddered and they landed, "We've got a secret weapon." Without elaborating he grabbed Danni's hand, unwilling to let her go, and dragged her outside onto some wetlands where a huge NASA rocket stood proudly. Voices from intercoms and radios floated on the wind towards them and they could just barely make out what was being said.

"Apollo 11's your secret weapon?" River asked in disbelief.

"No, no, it's not Apollo 11," He replied with a glance over his shoulder. He pulled Danni up against his side and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, squeezing her tightly, "That would be silly. It's Neil Armstrong's foot."