Zoe and the 11 Doctors - The Image of an Angel

Chapter 8

"Oh. That's bad. Very bad."

"Indeed." said the seventh Doctor.

"My, I'm glad I didn't bring Sarah; she'd be frightened out of her wits." And unfamiliar voice came from the crowd. Zoe spotted another man standing by the first Doctor, looking grave, as if he had been told everything, which he probably had. Under his velvet-like coat, he wore a white shirt with flamboyant frills down the collar and at the ends of the sleeves. His hair was a grey-white colour, and his skin was almost as wrinkled as the first Doctor's.

"Let me guess. Your third incarnation?" Zoe whispered in the eighth Doctor's ear.

"How did you know?" They kept their voices to a whisper as the other Doctors talked among themselves.

"Well, firstly, from one to ten, the only one of you that hadn't turned up was number three. And also, your fourth incarnation is looking a bit dismal over there. He was telling me earlier how he had 'parted ways' with Sarah Jane Smith, who I believe that Doctor was just referring to."

"Very good. You're quite sharp, aren't you?"

"I try my best. I think I'll call him Ruffles, because of his shirt."

"Interesting choice."

The group then once more joined together to talk. The ninth Doctor began.

"Ok. So, we have two Angels upstairs, being kept an eye on. The other one is no where to be seen. We know they're criminals of their race, and that they killed their pilot. We still don't know why they sent that image to Zoe's phone, and we don't know how to find out why. What we gonna do?"

"Can we communicate with them?" asked the seventh Doctor.

"No." said the tenth Doctor.

"Actually, you might be wrong." Everyone turned round to the fourth Doctor, who pointed at the first. He was working on some kind of tiny machine with a little antenna poking out of it. To the side of it was a little chip, that looked like it needed to be inserted into something.

"I haven't just been sitting in the corner doing nothing, you know." muttered the first Doctor. "I've developed a device, assuming that the Angels have no other form off communication, that will allow certain thoughts to reach the chip, which can be placed somewhere on one of the Angels, and the signals will come back to this." He waved the larger device around. "All I'll need to do then is translate it, which will be simple enough."

"Worth a shot, I suppose." said the ninth Doctor, shrugging casually. They all headed upstairs, where the eighth and tenth Doctor took over duty of watching the Angels. The first Doctor, with help from the fourth, very carefully placed the chip between two of one of the Angel's outstretched fingers. Then, very carefully, the first Doctor pressed the on button. The third Doctor had been chosen to speak, but had to wait, for the first Doctor picked up readings immediately.

"Who are you all?" he translated.

"We are one in the same. I am a Time Lord. Zoe is human, but that doesn't make her any less important."

"Why are you here, Time Lords?"

"To stop you. For you must be stopped. We know what you are, and we will stop you. I have fought many evils, and I have won. Don't think this time will be any different."

"But it will. You don't know our secret."

"Secret, what secret? A mere white lie, I imagine. A decoy."

"And that will be your downfall, Doctor. When you don't understand, you assume it's fake. It's entertaining to see you struggle."

"I am not struggling. I am learning. I've already learnt enough from you to put this to a halt."

"Like?"

"It's a secret. I can't tell you. I'll give you one chance. One chance to run, or I'll stop you."

"Now that is a decoy. I know what you'd be doing now if you wanted to stop us. If I could move, I'd be grinning."

The Doctor didn't respond, knowing he'd been found out. But then he thought of something.

"You have a radio transmitter downstairs, don't you?"

"And?"

"You seem casual about it, as if it's not important."

"That's because it's not."

"So if my friend here," he nodded at the ninth Doctor. "were to go and damage it, you wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all."

"That's good, because he's been begging for a while now, haven't you?" He gave a glance to the ninth Doctor who nodded quickly.

"Oh yeah, love to smash things up." The third Doctor handed the ninth the first rod of metal he could reach, and the ninth Doctor headed towards the staircase. The was a temporary silence as everyone waited for the Angels to do something. It was only when they began to hear smashing noises that the connected Angel went, "Stop! We'll compromise, if you stop him."

"Already stopped." The ninth Doctor had run back up the stairs at the word stop. The other Doctors looked around triumphantly, but then the Angel spoke.

"You lied. All systems are fully functioning! He wasn't smashing up the transmitter. Well, it doesn't make a difference - we're still going to stop you doing anything."

"And how's that?"

"Watch us." The signal suddenly went blank, as if the Angel had cut off. Then the lights began to flicker, like they were draining the electrical energy. They began to advance, and at each flicker of the light, they got closer and closer. All of them headed towards the staircase, walking backwards as far as they could go, before they turned around and ran. They were in the transmitter room, when they turned around, and the two angels were in the doorway. The lights kept flickering, and they got closer and closer. They got past the corner of the transmitter, and ...

It stopped. The lights went back on.

And one of the Angels had disappeared.

The remaining one was smirking so much like the one in the image. It frightened Zoe so much that she screamed. Her head went dizzy, she felt sick, and was wobbling on her feet. She was about to collapse when the tenth Doctor caught her in his arms. "Whoa! I've got you. Zoe, Zoe. Stay with us. Stay with us, ok?" He grasped Zoe tightly, whilst her breathing became more heavy than before, and the tears streamed down her cheeks. The other Doctors formed a tight circle around her, having  a 360 degrees view. But only one Angel remained, and that one Angel stayed there, waiting. All of them just wished for their lives that the lights would no longer flicker. It was hours before anything happened, but when it did, it was not good news.

The lights flickered once more.