The Ice Warriors and Mrs. Pond: Part 2
The Ice Warriors and Mrs. Pond
By: Memory Dragon
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, nor do I make any claim to.
Characters: Amy Pond, Third Doctor, Brigadier, Sergeant Benton, Ice Warriors.
Warnings: Amy's wrath at being captured yet again. Nothing else too major this time though, unless you count awkward cliffhangers.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Amy is so through being captured. It's the Doctor's turn this time, and the Brigadier is going to have to keep up if he's going to help her clear their names!
Notes: Good Lord, Tuesday is an awkward day to update. What was I thinking, updating on Tuesdays? Wednesdays are much more acceptable, or sometime over the weekend. Sigh. Nevertheless, here you are, the next chapter. And it's Tuesday. We'll see if I can keep this up.
Thanks: Many thanks to narwhale_callin for betaing and putting up with my whining over how long it took to write. <3
For the other fics in Amy-verse, click the Amy-verse tag.
Chapter 1
~
"The strangers have broken in and stolen the relic!" Ixkyr said predictably.
"We just got here!" Amy said in exasperation. She hated being captured. "And someone has been with us the whole time. When were we supposed to steal it?"
"Mrs. Pond." The Brigadier's voice held a warning, and Amy had to resist rolling her eyes.
"Amy does have a point, you know. We could hardly have stolen anything during the time we've been here." The Doctor glanced at Ixkyr as he spoke, but the gun remained pointed at them.
"I am sorry, Honorable One, but Ixkyr is right to doubt. I must request that you come quietly while we search for the relic," Nyrytzl said, sounding genuinely regretful. Not that the apology helped Amy's temper much.
The Doctor looked thoughtful, rubbing his chin absently in a way that gave Amy hope. That was the expression he wore when he was about to do something clever... or get themselves all in hot water. It was a fifty/fifty chance, really.
"Well, Doctor?" the Brigadier asked, his hand covering his gun expectantly. Even with only two Ice Warriors, starting a fight in the middle of an overcrowded base was a bad idea. What could they do with just the Brigadier's gun and the Doctor's space kung-fu?
The Doctor gave a small gesture to the Brigadier to stand down, then turned to Nyrytzl and said, "My dear fellow, I'm afraid I can't trust that your investigation would be entirely unbiased."
Both of the Ice Warriors stiffened at this, though Amy couldn't tell if it was in fear or anger. "Are you implying that one of us would lie to accuse you, Doctor?" Anger then. Right. She hoped the Doctor knew what he was doing, because right now it was looking like he was leaning towards the bad fifty percent.
The small smile she saw on the Doctor's face didn't help her worrying any either. "I wouldn't dream of it. I was only suggesting that you might not be entirely motivated to find the truth when an obvious scapegoat presents itself."
"You question the honor of-"
The Brigadier cut in with a raised eyebrow before Ixkyr could get trigger-happy. "It's not a question of honor, Commander Nyrytzl, Sub-Commander Ixkyr. I'm sure you're both most honorable. But if we are innocent, it implies that there is indeed a traitor amongst your ranks and they would work against us."
"If there is indeed a traitor among us, they will be punished greatly," Nyrytzl promised.
"And more so for you if we find that you are lying," Ixkyr added, still not lowering his gun.
"Do we have to keep the whole guns and testosterone thing up?" Amy asked, a little frustrated with the whole proceedings.
"Quite," the Doctor said with a touch of amusement. "I'm assuming that a tribune from the Federation wouldn't be here for at least a week or two, and we don't have that much time if the unveiling is tomorrow."
Ixkyr and Nyrytzl traded a silent communiqué. Or at least, Amy thought they were. It was hard to tell anything, with those helmets, but the silence between the two aliens was full of undecipherable meaning. "What you say is true, Doctor. This is a very delicate matter. If we were to announce an investigation and that the relic was missing... The base would be thrown into a panic," Nyrytzl said finally. "I take it you have an alternative in mind?"
"Let Amy conduct her own investigation," the Doctor said, confident again now that his gambit was paying off. "You can keep me and my TARDIS under guard, and if she leaves then I'll assume full responsibility for the theft."
Which meant she wasn't going to be locked up again! Score! Before she could cheer, the Brigadier was frowning with an expression that didn't bode well for that plan. "Doctor, if there is someone else about who stole the artifact, Mrs. Pond would be a prime target. I can't allow her to investigate on her own."
"I am right here, you know," she said, placing her hands on her hips. If he was going to go on about how she was female and therefore unable to do it on her own, she was going to sock him, military rank or no. "You don't have to talk around me. And I can take care of myself."
The Brigadier turned to her, not scornfully, but with a firm expression on his face. "I am well aware of that, Mrs. Pond. I was the one who ordered your training sessions. But on a military base, the majority of our suspects would be highly trained and there happen to be a lot more of them than there are of us. You need some sort of protection if you're going to mount an investigation."
Well, that took the feminist righteousness right out of her, though she still didn't like it, especially not when the lecture was making her feel like some sort of unruly child. She didn't want to be the one locked up this time, which is what would happen if everyone was convinced she would be a target. "I don't need-"
"Which is exactly why you should be guarding her, Brigadier," the Doctor interrupted. At this, the Brigadier raised his eyebrows in some question Amy couldn't decipher any more than she could the Ice Warriors' conversation. Even the Brigadier couldn't do much against a whole army, after all.
The Doctor nodded to him, then turned back to Commander Nyrytzl. "Would that be an acceptable arrangement?"
"It is acceptable, honorable one," Nyrytzl said with a bow of his head. Ixkyr hissed in fury, but lowered his gun finally. "I would impress upon Mrs. Pond and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart that this mustn't get out to the rest of our people. They are counting on the relic to save them. If they were to find out that it was missing..."
"There would be widespread panic, yes. And I don't imagine that would end well for any of us," the Doctor said.
"How are we supposed to find out who did it if we can't ask people about it?" Amy asked, wondering what the hell the Doctor had gotten them into this time.
"I'm sure you'll figure something out," the Doctor replied with a grin that she wanted to smack him for.
Rolling her eyes, she spun back around to face Nyrytzl. "How much can we do in this investigation?" she asked, wondering if perhaps being captured was the better option after all.
"You will have full access to all non-essential areas of the base, Mrs. Pond," Nyrytzl replied. "And I will make it clear that everyone is to answer your questions honestly and give you any help you require. Please do not mention that the relic is missing, however."
Right. Wonderful. And what happened if the relic was hidden in a non-essential area where they couldn't search? The Doctor had to have a better plan then this. "What does the relic look like anyway?" she asked.
Nyrytzl and Ixkyr traded glances. "I'm afraid you'll have to ask the Honorable Doctor that question. None of our people have seen the relic since it was sealed away."
Now that really was just ducky. Because of course the Doctor wouldn't know what it looks like; he hadn't even given it to them yet! What she wouldn't give for River to show up and start being all Doctor's wife-ish and clever. She'd probably know about Martians or Ice Warriors, or whatever they're called and what it looked like, being an archeologist and all. "We'll just get on that then," she said, throwing her hands up in frustration.
She turned to glare at the Doctor, only to find both him and the Brigadier having a quiet conversation off to the side. She had to move closer to hear what they were saying. And when she did, Amy's eyes narrowed and she put her hands on her hips. "What's this about 'Emergency Program One'?"
"Nothing you need worry about, Amy," the Doctor said with his most charming smile. Because that was believable. She looked to the Brigadier who raised an eyebrow at her and shrugged as the Doctor searched his pockets. "I have a something that will help your investigation though. Just let me find it..." the Doctor said.
Now that's was more like it. Gizmo time! "Is it a tracker or something we can use to find it?" she asked hopefully.
"Ah, here it is," the Doctor said, pulling out the object.
"You have got to be kidding me."
* * *
Amy twirled the magnifying glass the Doctor had given her in her fingers, thinking very nasty thoughts about what she was going to do to him for that 'plucky side-kick who helps solve mysteries' comment. Now she knew her Doctor had been lying about meeting Agatha Christie. Even he couldn't be dumb enough to use that line on two red heads.
"Find anything, Mrs. Pond?" the Brigadier asked as he peered at the mess of wires on the lock. He prodded a wire with the same blank expression he used when the Doctor was explaining his latest alien gadget or modification to Bessie, the one that meant he had no idea what any of it was, even with the Doctor's explanation.
"Nope," she said, wanting to throw the magnifying glass at the wall. "There's no finger prints or robo-hand prints or anything. The Doctor's the only one who would be able to make heads or tails of this mess, but he's locked up and expecting us to do something!"
And Rory wasn't here. Everything, the alien planets, the cold, having to find this stupid relic, none of it compared to that betrayal. She should be enjoying seeing the galaxy, but he wasn't here. Rory was supposed to be here, to say something self-depreciating about his knowledge of electronics, complaining about how she had accidentally wiped the DVR the last time she had tried to plug something in. God, she could hear his voice, but He. Wasn't. Here.
The Brigadier regarded her silently, and Amy didn't bother wiping the corners of her suspiciously damp eyes. She wanted to go home, and she didn't care what he thought of that. "So what you're saying is that you can't help the Doctor?" he asked, his face impassive. "If you feel like we are just wasting our time, you are more than welcome to return to the TARDIS or the Doctor's cell."
That did it. That condescending tone she'd been getting from half the population since she'd been lost in this time, that chauvinistic attitude that she needed to be protected that, that idea that just because she was a woman and couldn't handle an investigation…! Rory would have been backing away from her slowly in that moment. "Of course I can do this! I'm his best friend and I've been through a lot more dangerous things than this! I don't need to be protected in the TARDIS!"
"I never implied you did," the Brigadier said, one eyebrow raised at the perfect angle to make Amy feel foolish about her outburst. He was... he was hiding a smile, damn it. He'd done that deliberately to rile her up. "Fine," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I still think it was that Ixkyr guy, what with all his glaring. He's probably just trying to be suspicious of us to throw the blame. No one else thinks it could have been the Doctor!"
"Unfortunately, Mrs. Pond, that speculation is useless to us until we find proof, and Sub-Commander Ixkyr disappeared before we could follow him." The Brigadier looked back over the wires suspiciously, and Amy felt a little guilty. He was just as frustrated as she was. She shouldn't have taken out her abandonment issues on him. "Why don't we see if there were any security cameras?" he suggested, once it was clear there was nothing more they could do here.
They spent the next few hours going over the security footage (and finding nothing), combing what they could of the very large base (and finding more nothing!), looking for any suspicious goings on (even more nothing!), and asking anyone they could about details of the relic (which was somethings, but not useful somethings). There was depressingly little about the relic. The soldiers' impressions ranged from an object that would make the planet bigger to one that would magically solve all their problems. They had no more idea what this relic was than Amy and the Brigadier did.
At least there were some sort of sweet yellow pastries in the cafeteria, which partially mollified Amy. It was a bit like a soft chocolate biscuit, with some sort of raw sugar sprinkled on top. One of the better alien sweets she had tasted, though not comparable to the chocolates that the Master had left her. Too bad eating them wasn't helping the investigation any.
"Excuse me," she said to one of the warriors after she had eaten three of the biscuits. "You wouldn't happen to have a library in this base, would you?"
"There iss one on the wesst sside of the building, fiery one," the warrior said, bowing politely. Amy was more than a little grateful that their status of honored guests hadn't been officially revoked, but fiery one? Really? They needed to work on their epithets.
"Thanks," she said with a bright smile as the warrior bowed again and went off to do whatever it was they had interrupted.
"A library?" the Brigadier asked.
"We're not doing any good here. Maybe we can find something about the relic or the Doctor's last visit that will give us a clue," she explained. Because she was really running out of ideas by this point, since they still hadn't found Ixkyr. Everyone they asked didn't know where the Sub-Commander was, which made him even more suspicious in her book.
The Brigadier merely nodded though, so apparently the idea was sound enough. Using the electronic tablet the Ice Warriors had given them, Amy brought up the map of the base to lead them to the library. It took a good fifteen minutes of pushing through lots of reptiles in bulky armor and twice asking for directions before they found it.
Amy was surprised to find it completely deserted, what with the overcrowding and all. The silence was almost unnerving after being constantly jostled by people. "Not much of a library," she said, taking in the small room. There were a few bookshelves and a table with a couple cushy benches by a window, but that was it. Even the small table wasn't impressive, hidden away so it wasn't seen at first glance. None of the books even had titles on the spines, and they were all sleek and thin. With all the art around, she had expected something bigger.
"Maybe it's just a records room?" she asked as she stepped closer to one of the shelves. She reached out for a book and bit back a small noise of surprise.
"Are you alright, Mrs. Pond?" the Brigadier asked, abandoning his own shelf to come to her assistance.
Amy nodded, showing him the 'book.' "It's like an e-reader."
"An e-what?"
Oh, right. The Internet hasn't even been invented yet. "They're like this tablet they gave us. You can download books to it and read it without carrying around a lot of books."
"And everyone uses them in the future?" the Brigadier asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Not everyone. Some people still like real books," she answered, thinking of the Doctor's harsh words against them. "Rory always-"
Her hand tightened around the tablet as she cut herself off. Rory had always liked real books too, because he couldn't break the screen by dropping it if it were paper. If he were here, she would tease him about being careful and...
"Why don't you show me how to work these infernal contraptions?" the Brigadier suggested. The kindness in his voice made her look up at him, and he patted her gently on the shoulder.
She was being silly. Rory had waited millennia for her, and she'd only been waiting five months. Except shouldn't the Doctor know where she was, given that she was with his past regeneration? So why hadn't they come yet? Shaking those thoughts away, Amy turned the tablet over until she found an on switch. She was half afraid that all the text would be in some alien language, and it was for a few moments. Then it started to fade into English, which was weird. Probably something the TARDIS did, or maybe the tablet was smart like that? She wasn't going to complain, as it made their lives easier.
"You press this button to turn it on and it switches to English if you wait a few moments," she explained, settling in to attempt to teach the Brigadier to use the tablet. It took twice as long to explain it to him than she expected, and she had to explain things to him at least twice before the Brigadier understood. No wonder the Doctor was always half annoyed around him. Though Amy herself found the Brigadier's fluster with technology rather charming, and it took her a moment to realize why. One half of her memories said that she did the same thing often enough with her dad. The tiny little dad she hadn't even had until her wedding day, and it was still a little disconcerting to think about the dual memories.
Still, soon they were both reading through the databanks with relative ease, sitting by the window as comfortably as possible without a back to the benches. Amy put her back to the wall and propped her feet on the bench, while the Brigadier continued to sit straight. His loss. The Brigadier managed to produce a pen and a pad of paper for notes, but she used the tablet's equivalent of a word processor. The bell chimed a few times as Ice Warriors came in and out, but no one really noticed them in their corner.
She at least got to read about what the Doctor did 500 years ago.
"Apparently this place used to be a sanctuary for female Ice Warriors," Amy said as she scanned the document. She tried to think if she'd seen any women on the base, or if she had, could she tell them apart? That was a little disturbing. She wondered if she and the Brigadier would look just as indistinguishable to them as they were to her. Maybe the Brigadier would know. "Are there any women on the base or do both sexes look the same? Everyone we've met has had these deep voices."
The Brigadier looked up from his reader. "Perhaps the Ice Warriors only allow men in the military?"
"It doesn't sound like they're chauvinistic pigs from these texts. It sounds like they respect women highly." And yeah, now that she thought about it, she'd been over-reacting a bit lately with the whole feminist thing. Women's Lib was all well and good so long as she didn't use it as an excuse to lash out at people who generally would agree with her. Amy sighed and rubbed her temples, refusing to feel guilty for things they probably deserved.
Shrugging, the Brigadier scrolled through the next mention of the Doctor. "I'm hardly an expert on these aliens, Mrs. Pond. But it doesn't seem like a feminine sanctuary any longer."
She rolled her eyes, going back to her own texts. She should have known better. "It says here that the sanctuary was moved after the relic was received. But the Doctor's friend got to see it all, when the Doctor was locked up for having a y-chromosome." And why couldn't they ever visit a land like that, so that the Doctor would be the one captured while she lived like a queen? So not fair. And did the Time Lords even have those kinds of chromosomes? She didn't think their biology was that wildly different, but she also wouldn't put it past him. "Then the Sontarans attacked and defiling men were everywhere. Huh. I suppose I don't blame them for moving it then."
"What does it say about the relic?" the Brigadier asked.
"Just that it was a gift from the Doctor to appease the head priestess's wrath. There's that same bit about it saving their world in a time of need and rejuvenating itself, but nothing more." Amy tapped the screen impatiently, hating having to sort through all the references to "Doctor" and "relic." It was worse than a search engine, these readers, coming up with so much useless information. A regular library would have been easier to sort through. "Any luck on your end?"
"I'm afraid all I can find are these blasted medical files." He sounded as frustrated as she felt. "This would be much easier if we could conduct an actual investigation instead of tiptoeing around the subject."
That was an understatement, but if she started now, she'd end up going into a full rant on the subject, so Amy stayed quiet. They kept searching, since searching the grounds would take weeks or months that they didn't have. After fifty minutes more of finding absolutely nothing though, they were both ready to call it quits. She was just about to throw her reader down in frustration when the door chime went off. "-ssure the sstrangerss ssusspect nothing?" a voice said.
The Brigadier immediately pushed her behind one of the few bookshelves, grabbing their readers as he followed. Amy, in the meantime, was desperately searching through her purse as quietly as possible. This was the first break they had, and she couldn't waste it.
"Why should they?" a familiar voice said. "I've done nothing but believe them, just like the rest of the superstitious idiots. I've even assisted them in their little 'investigation.' If anything, they suspect that paranoid fool Ixkyr."
Amy froze for a moment in shock, then looked up at the Brigadier. Nyrytzl? The Brigadier frowned, but if he was surprised he didn't show it. Amy couldn't help but feel just a little jealous at how well he did that.
Then she remembered why she was searching through her purse.
"They won't find the artifact. I have hidden it on the outsside," the new voice said just as Amy's fingers closed around the object of her frantic search. She smiled at the Brigadier's raised eyebrow as she pulled it out triumphantly: her mobile.
The Brigadier's eyebrow turned from curious to impressed (really, how did his super-powered eyebrows convey that? It was awesome) as she mouthed the word 'recorder.' That got his approval as she pulled up the video recorder and pressed start.
"Has Alxtass looked at the relic yet?" Nyrytzl asked as Amy very carefully pushed the lens on her mobile around the corner of the shelves as unobtrusively as possible. There! She could see both of the Ice Warriors on the screen now, both Nyrytzl and the new one, who had the armor of the regular soldiers.
"He ssayss it iss sstill broken," the second Ice Warrior replied.
"Then the Doctor lied about its regenerative properties all those years ago," Nyrytzl hissed, fury in his voice. "It is useless to me broken! Can he fix it?"
"He doessn't know, but he iss trying. Sstill, as long as we have the artifact, we can sstill have the promotion."
"Yes, Kytxr, this is a fact. We can say it was damaged in the fight." Amy felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end at Nyrytzl's pensive words. She had a bad feeling about this...
"The fight, Commander?"
"It will be quite tragic," Nyrytal said, though his voice held more amusement than sorrow. "The aliens turned out to be impostor spies who were after the relic after all, and we were unable to take them alive. It will be a great battle, with many honors to be awarded, especially if you can make Ixkyr's death appear to be the fault of the strangers. Is that clear, Kytxr?"
"Very clear, Commander," Kytxr said with a bow, sounding extremely pleased. Amy felt her fists curl in anger, but she bit her tongue and stayed quiet. Just because she wanted to scream at them for being cowards and sleazebags, didn't mean it was a good idea. Kytxr continued talking, so Amy refocused on that. "Iss there anything elsse you wissh to disscuss, Ssir?"
"That should be all. Go ahead and sound the alarm to capture the prisoners, but don't kill them yet. Make sure the bonds on the warrior are loose enough for him to break free. That should show those superstitious fools that aliens aren't to be trusted. If we prove the aliens were trying to invade us, we might not need the relic after all. Retribution has a nice ring to it, don't you agree?"
"Yess, Commander." There was a short pause - Amy saw from her mobile that the bulkier Ice Warrior was bowing again, then the door chimed as it slid open.
"Yes, this is a most fortuitous opportunity," Nyrytzl said to the empty library as he followed his underling out.
Amy cut the recording, pressing the button harder than she needed to. That jerk! "He was acting all nice to us while planning to kill us the whole time!"
"Indeed," the Brigadier said, lowering his gun. She hadn't even realized he had drawn it. "And it doesn't appear we have much time either."
"Yeah," Amy replied, holding up her mobile and pressing play. The earlier conversation started back up, showing the room as Amy had fumbled for a good spot to place the camera before focusing on Nyrytzl and Kytxr. "Do you think this would convince Ixkyr? It sounds like he's in just as much danger as we are."
"If we could find him," the Brigadier said dryly. Amy felt her spirits fall. They hadn't been able to find him in all this time, so how were they supposed to find them in the time it would take for Kytxr to put out the alarm? "I think we should take this to the Doctor. He might be able to find a way to broadcast it."
Amy nodded, then looked down at the map. "You realize that the Doctor's cell is on the other side of the base, right?"
The Brigadier's mouth was set grimly as he put the two readers away. "Then we'd best start moving before the alarm starts."
Which inevitably meant running. Some things with the Doctor never changed, but at least this bit she could enjoy.
Tucking her mobile safely away in her pocket, Amy followed the Brigadier out, taking off as fast as they could. Unfortunately, running was a lot more difficult given how crowded the base was. "Excuse me, sorry. Coming through," Amy repeated in what felt like an infinite loop. It couldn't have been this crowded on the way to the library!
It was so crowded Amy didn't even notice the claw-like hand settling on her arm until it pulled her to a stop.
~TBC~
Memory: So, this ending is slightly less awkward, at least. Slightly. Oh, my wasted cliff hangers. I could have made you spectacular, but was far too desperate to be done with this fic to rewrite. Ah, well.
And since the Brig didn't get to shoot anything in this chapter, have a quote of him mourning how often shooting things doesn't work.
"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."
-The Brigadier, Robot, Doctor Who.
By: Memory Dragon
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, nor do I make any claim to.
Characters: Amy Pond, Third Doctor, Brigadier, Sergeant Benton, Ice Warriors.
Warnings: Amy's wrath at being captured yet again. Nothing else too major this time though, unless you count awkward cliffhangers.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Amy is so through being captured. It's the Doctor's turn this time, and the Brigadier is going to have to keep up if he's going to help her clear their names!
Notes: Good Lord, Tuesday is an awkward day to update. What was I thinking, updating on Tuesdays? Wednesdays are much more acceptable, or sometime over the weekend. Sigh. Nevertheless, here you are, the next chapter. And it's Tuesday. We'll see if I can keep this up.
Thanks: Many thanks to narwhale_callin for betaing and putting up with my whining over how long it took to write. <3
For the other fics in Amy-verse, click the Amy-verse tag.
Chapter 1
~
"The strangers have broken in and stolen the relic!" Ixkyr said predictably.
"We just got here!" Amy said in exasperation. She hated being captured. "And someone has been with us the whole time. When were we supposed to steal it?"
"Mrs. Pond." The Brigadier's voice held a warning, and Amy had to resist rolling her eyes.
"Amy does have a point, you know. We could hardly have stolen anything during the time we've been here." The Doctor glanced at Ixkyr as he spoke, but the gun remained pointed at them.
"I am sorry, Honorable One, but Ixkyr is right to doubt. I must request that you come quietly while we search for the relic," Nyrytzl said, sounding genuinely regretful. Not that the apology helped Amy's temper much.
The Doctor looked thoughtful, rubbing his chin absently in a way that gave Amy hope. That was the expression he wore when he was about to do something clever... or get themselves all in hot water. It was a fifty/fifty chance, really.
"Well, Doctor?" the Brigadier asked, his hand covering his gun expectantly. Even with only two Ice Warriors, starting a fight in the middle of an overcrowded base was a bad idea. What could they do with just the Brigadier's gun and the Doctor's space kung-fu?
The Doctor gave a small gesture to the Brigadier to stand down, then turned to Nyrytzl and said, "My dear fellow, I'm afraid I can't trust that your investigation would be entirely unbiased."
Both of the Ice Warriors stiffened at this, though Amy couldn't tell if it was in fear or anger. "Are you implying that one of us would lie to accuse you, Doctor?" Anger then. Right. She hoped the Doctor knew what he was doing, because right now it was looking like he was leaning towards the bad fifty percent.
The small smile she saw on the Doctor's face didn't help her worrying any either. "I wouldn't dream of it. I was only suggesting that you might not be entirely motivated to find the truth when an obvious scapegoat presents itself."
"You question the honor of-"
The Brigadier cut in with a raised eyebrow before Ixkyr could get trigger-happy. "It's not a question of honor, Commander Nyrytzl, Sub-Commander Ixkyr. I'm sure you're both most honorable. But if we are innocent, it implies that there is indeed a traitor amongst your ranks and they would work against us."
"If there is indeed a traitor among us, they will be punished greatly," Nyrytzl promised.
"And more so for you if we find that you are lying," Ixkyr added, still not lowering his gun.
"Do we have to keep the whole guns and testosterone thing up?" Amy asked, a little frustrated with the whole proceedings.
"Quite," the Doctor said with a touch of amusement. "I'm assuming that a tribune from the Federation wouldn't be here for at least a week or two, and we don't have that much time if the unveiling is tomorrow."
Ixkyr and Nyrytzl traded a silent communiqué. Or at least, Amy thought they were. It was hard to tell anything, with those helmets, but the silence between the two aliens was full of undecipherable meaning. "What you say is true, Doctor. This is a very delicate matter. If we were to announce an investigation and that the relic was missing... The base would be thrown into a panic," Nyrytzl said finally. "I take it you have an alternative in mind?"
"Let Amy conduct her own investigation," the Doctor said, confident again now that his gambit was paying off. "You can keep me and my TARDIS under guard, and if she leaves then I'll assume full responsibility for the theft."
Which meant she wasn't going to be locked up again! Score! Before she could cheer, the Brigadier was frowning with an expression that didn't bode well for that plan. "Doctor, if there is someone else about who stole the artifact, Mrs. Pond would be a prime target. I can't allow her to investigate on her own."
"I am right here, you know," she said, placing her hands on her hips. If he was going to go on about how she was female and therefore unable to do it on her own, she was going to sock him, military rank or no. "You don't have to talk around me. And I can take care of myself."
The Brigadier turned to her, not scornfully, but with a firm expression on his face. "I am well aware of that, Mrs. Pond. I was the one who ordered your training sessions. But on a military base, the majority of our suspects would be highly trained and there happen to be a lot more of them than there are of us. You need some sort of protection if you're going to mount an investigation."
Well, that took the feminist righteousness right out of her, though she still didn't like it, especially not when the lecture was making her feel like some sort of unruly child. She didn't want to be the one locked up this time, which is what would happen if everyone was convinced she would be a target. "I don't need-"
"Which is exactly why you should be guarding her, Brigadier," the Doctor interrupted. At this, the Brigadier raised his eyebrows in some question Amy couldn't decipher any more than she could the Ice Warriors' conversation. Even the Brigadier couldn't do much against a whole army, after all.
The Doctor nodded to him, then turned back to Commander Nyrytzl. "Would that be an acceptable arrangement?"
"It is acceptable, honorable one," Nyrytzl said with a bow of his head. Ixkyr hissed in fury, but lowered his gun finally. "I would impress upon Mrs. Pond and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart that this mustn't get out to the rest of our people. They are counting on the relic to save them. If they were to find out that it was missing..."
"There would be widespread panic, yes. And I don't imagine that would end well for any of us," the Doctor said.
"How are we supposed to find out who did it if we can't ask people about it?" Amy asked, wondering what the hell the Doctor had gotten them into this time.
"I'm sure you'll figure something out," the Doctor replied with a grin that she wanted to smack him for.
Rolling her eyes, she spun back around to face Nyrytzl. "How much can we do in this investigation?" she asked, wondering if perhaps being captured was the better option after all.
"You will have full access to all non-essential areas of the base, Mrs. Pond," Nyrytzl replied. "And I will make it clear that everyone is to answer your questions honestly and give you any help you require. Please do not mention that the relic is missing, however."
Right. Wonderful. And what happened if the relic was hidden in a non-essential area where they couldn't search? The Doctor had to have a better plan then this. "What does the relic look like anyway?" she asked.
Nyrytzl and Ixkyr traded glances. "I'm afraid you'll have to ask the Honorable Doctor that question. None of our people have seen the relic since it was sealed away."
Now that really was just ducky. Because of course the Doctor wouldn't know what it looks like; he hadn't even given it to them yet! What she wouldn't give for River to show up and start being all Doctor's wife-ish and clever. She'd probably know about Martians or Ice Warriors, or whatever they're called and what it looked like, being an archeologist and all. "We'll just get on that then," she said, throwing her hands up in frustration.
She turned to glare at the Doctor, only to find both him and the Brigadier having a quiet conversation off to the side. She had to move closer to hear what they were saying. And when she did, Amy's eyes narrowed and she put her hands on her hips. "What's this about 'Emergency Program One'?"
"Nothing you need worry about, Amy," the Doctor said with his most charming smile. Because that was believable. She looked to the Brigadier who raised an eyebrow at her and shrugged as the Doctor searched his pockets. "I have a something that will help your investigation though. Just let me find it..." the Doctor said.
Now that's was more like it. Gizmo time! "Is it a tracker or something we can use to find it?" she asked hopefully.
"Ah, here it is," the Doctor said, pulling out the object.
"You have got to be kidding me."
* * *
Amy twirled the magnifying glass the Doctor had given her in her fingers, thinking very nasty thoughts about what she was going to do to him for that 'plucky side-kick who helps solve mysteries' comment. Now she knew her Doctor had been lying about meeting Agatha Christie. Even he couldn't be dumb enough to use that line on two red heads.
"Find anything, Mrs. Pond?" the Brigadier asked as he peered at the mess of wires on the lock. He prodded a wire with the same blank expression he used when the Doctor was explaining his latest alien gadget or modification to Bessie, the one that meant he had no idea what any of it was, even with the Doctor's explanation.
"Nope," she said, wanting to throw the magnifying glass at the wall. "There's no finger prints or robo-hand prints or anything. The Doctor's the only one who would be able to make heads or tails of this mess, but he's locked up and expecting us to do something!"
And Rory wasn't here. Everything, the alien planets, the cold, having to find this stupid relic, none of it compared to that betrayal. She should be enjoying seeing the galaxy, but he wasn't here. Rory was supposed to be here, to say something self-depreciating about his knowledge of electronics, complaining about how she had accidentally wiped the DVR the last time she had tried to plug something in. God, she could hear his voice, but He. Wasn't. Here.
The Brigadier regarded her silently, and Amy didn't bother wiping the corners of her suspiciously damp eyes. She wanted to go home, and she didn't care what he thought of that. "So what you're saying is that you can't help the Doctor?" he asked, his face impassive. "If you feel like we are just wasting our time, you are more than welcome to return to the TARDIS or the Doctor's cell."
That did it. That condescending tone she'd been getting from half the population since she'd been lost in this time, that chauvinistic attitude that she needed to be protected that, that idea that just because she was a woman and couldn't handle an investigation…! Rory would have been backing away from her slowly in that moment. "Of course I can do this! I'm his best friend and I've been through a lot more dangerous things than this! I don't need to be protected in the TARDIS!"
"I never implied you did," the Brigadier said, one eyebrow raised at the perfect angle to make Amy feel foolish about her outburst. He was... he was hiding a smile, damn it. He'd done that deliberately to rile her up. "Fine," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I still think it was that Ixkyr guy, what with all his glaring. He's probably just trying to be suspicious of us to throw the blame. No one else thinks it could have been the Doctor!"
"Unfortunately, Mrs. Pond, that speculation is useless to us until we find proof, and Sub-Commander Ixkyr disappeared before we could follow him." The Brigadier looked back over the wires suspiciously, and Amy felt a little guilty. He was just as frustrated as she was. She shouldn't have taken out her abandonment issues on him. "Why don't we see if there were any security cameras?" he suggested, once it was clear there was nothing more they could do here.
They spent the next few hours going over the security footage (and finding nothing), combing what they could of the very large base (and finding more nothing!), looking for any suspicious goings on (even more nothing!), and asking anyone they could about details of the relic (which was somethings, but not useful somethings). There was depressingly little about the relic. The soldiers' impressions ranged from an object that would make the planet bigger to one that would magically solve all their problems. They had no more idea what this relic was than Amy and the Brigadier did.
At least there were some sort of sweet yellow pastries in the cafeteria, which partially mollified Amy. It was a bit like a soft chocolate biscuit, with some sort of raw sugar sprinkled on top. One of the better alien sweets she had tasted, though not comparable to the chocolates that the Master had left her. Too bad eating them wasn't helping the investigation any.
"Excuse me," she said to one of the warriors after she had eaten three of the biscuits. "You wouldn't happen to have a library in this base, would you?"
"There iss one on the wesst sside of the building, fiery one," the warrior said, bowing politely. Amy was more than a little grateful that their status of honored guests hadn't been officially revoked, but fiery one? Really? They needed to work on their epithets.
"Thanks," she said with a bright smile as the warrior bowed again and went off to do whatever it was they had interrupted.
"A library?" the Brigadier asked.
"We're not doing any good here. Maybe we can find something about the relic or the Doctor's last visit that will give us a clue," she explained. Because she was really running out of ideas by this point, since they still hadn't found Ixkyr. Everyone they asked didn't know where the Sub-Commander was, which made him even more suspicious in her book.
The Brigadier merely nodded though, so apparently the idea was sound enough. Using the electronic tablet the Ice Warriors had given them, Amy brought up the map of the base to lead them to the library. It took a good fifteen minutes of pushing through lots of reptiles in bulky armor and twice asking for directions before they found it.
Amy was surprised to find it completely deserted, what with the overcrowding and all. The silence was almost unnerving after being constantly jostled by people. "Not much of a library," she said, taking in the small room. There were a few bookshelves and a table with a couple cushy benches by a window, but that was it. Even the small table wasn't impressive, hidden away so it wasn't seen at first glance. None of the books even had titles on the spines, and they were all sleek and thin. With all the art around, she had expected something bigger.
"Maybe it's just a records room?" she asked as she stepped closer to one of the shelves. She reached out for a book and bit back a small noise of surprise.
"Are you alright, Mrs. Pond?" the Brigadier asked, abandoning his own shelf to come to her assistance.
Amy nodded, showing him the 'book.' "It's like an e-reader."
"An e-what?"
Oh, right. The Internet hasn't even been invented yet. "They're like this tablet they gave us. You can download books to it and read it without carrying around a lot of books."
"And everyone uses them in the future?" the Brigadier asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Not everyone. Some people still like real books," she answered, thinking of the Doctor's harsh words against them. "Rory always-"
Her hand tightened around the tablet as she cut herself off. Rory had always liked real books too, because he couldn't break the screen by dropping it if it were paper. If he were here, she would tease him about being careful and...
"Why don't you show me how to work these infernal contraptions?" the Brigadier suggested. The kindness in his voice made her look up at him, and he patted her gently on the shoulder.
She was being silly. Rory had waited millennia for her, and she'd only been waiting five months. Except shouldn't the Doctor know where she was, given that she was with his past regeneration? So why hadn't they come yet? Shaking those thoughts away, Amy turned the tablet over until she found an on switch. She was half afraid that all the text would be in some alien language, and it was for a few moments. Then it started to fade into English, which was weird. Probably something the TARDIS did, or maybe the tablet was smart like that? She wasn't going to complain, as it made their lives easier.
"You press this button to turn it on and it switches to English if you wait a few moments," she explained, settling in to attempt to teach the Brigadier to use the tablet. It took twice as long to explain it to him than she expected, and she had to explain things to him at least twice before the Brigadier understood. No wonder the Doctor was always half annoyed around him. Though Amy herself found the Brigadier's fluster with technology rather charming, and it took her a moment to realize why. One half of her memories said that she did the same thing often enough with her dad. The tiny little dad she hadn't even had until her wedding day, and it was still a little disconcerting to think about the dual memories.
Still, soon they were both reading through the databanks with relative ease, sitting by the window as comfortably as possible without a back to the benches. Amy put her back to the wall and propped her feet on the bench, while the Brigadier continued to sit straight. His loss. The Brigadier managed to produce a pen and a pad of paper for notes, but she used the tablet's equivalent of a word processor. The bell chimed a few times as Ice Warriors came in and out, but no one really noticed them in their corner.
She at least got to read about what the Doctor did 500 years ago.
"Apparently this place used to be a sanctuary for female Ice Warriors," Amy said as she scanned the document. She tried to think if she'd seen any women on the base, or if she had, could she tell them apart? That was a little disturbing. She wondered if she and the Brigadier would look just as indistinguishable to them as they were to her. Maybe the Brigadier would know. "Are there any women on the base or do both sexes look the same? Everyone we've met has had these deep voices."
The Brigadier looked up from his reader. "Perhaps the Ice Warriors only allow men in the military?"
"It doesn't sound like they're chauvinistic pigs from these texts. It sounds like they respect women highly." And yeah, now that she thought about it, she'd been over-reacting a bit lately with the whole feminist thing. Women's Lib was all well and good so long as she didn't use it as an excuse to lash out at people who generally would agree with her. Amy sighed and rubbed her temples, refusing to feel guilty for things they probably deserved.
Shrugging, the Brigadier scrolled through the next mention of the Doctor. "I'm hardly an expert on these aliens, Mrs. Pond. But it doesn't seem like a feminine sanctuary any longer."
She rolled her eyes, going back to her own texts. She should have known better. "It says here that the sanctuary was moved after the relic was received. But the Doctor's friend got to see it all, when the Doctor was locked up for having a y-chromosome." And why couldn't they ever visit a land like that, so that the Doctor would be the one captured while she lived like a queen? So not fair. And did the Time Lords even have those kinds of chromosomes? She didn't think their biology was that wildly different, but she also wouldn't put it past him. "Then the Sontarans attacked and defiling men were everywhere. Huh. I suppose I don't blame them for moving it then."
"What does it say about the relic?" the Brigadier asked.
"Just that it was a gift from the Doctor to appease the head priestess's wrath. There's that same bit about it saving their world in a time of need and rejuvenating itself, but nothing more." Amy tapped the screen impatiently, hating having to sort through all the references to "Doctor" and "relic." It was worse than a search engine, these readers, coming up with so much useless information. A regular library would have been easier to sort through. "Any luck on your end?"
"I'm afraid all I can find are these blasted medical files." He sounded as frustrated as she felt. "This would be much easier if we could conduct an actual investigation instead of tiptoeing around the subject."
That was an understatement, but if she started now, she'd end up going into a full rant on the subject, so Amy stayed quiet. They kept searching, since searching the grounds would take weeks or months that they didn't have. After fifty minutes more of finding absolutely nothing though, they were both ready to call it quits. She was just about to throw her reader down in frustration when the door chime went off. "-ssure the sstrangerss ssusspect nothing?" a voice said.
The Brigadier immediately pushed her behind one of the few bookshelves, grabbing their readers as he followed. Amy, in the meantime, was desperately searching through her purse as quietly as possible. This was the first break they had, and she couldn't waste it.
"Why should they?" a familiar voice said. "I've done nothing but believe them, just like the rest of the superstitious idiots. I've even assisted them in their little 'investigation.' If anything, they suspect that paranoid fool Ixkyr."
Amy froze for a moment in shock, then looked up at the Brigadier. Nyrytzl? The Brigadier frowned, but if he was surprised he didn't show it. Amy couldn't help but feel just a little jealous at how well he did that.
Then she remembered why she was searching through her purse.
"They won't find the artifact. I have hidden it on the outsside," the new voice said just as Amy's fingers closed around the object of her frantic search. She smiled at the Brigadier's raised eyebrow as she pulled it out triumphantly: her mobile.
The Brigadier's eyebrow turned from curious to impressed (really, how did his super-powered eyebrows convey that? It was awesome) as she mouthed the word 'recorder.' That got his approval as she pulled up the video recorder and pressed start.
"Has Alxtass looked at the relic yet?" Nyrytzl asked as Amy very carefully pushed the lens on her mobile around the corner of the shelves as unobtrusively as possible. There! She could see both of the Ice Warriors on the screen now, both Nyrytzl and the new one, who had the armor of the regular soldiers.
"He ssayss it iss sstill broken," the second Ice Warrior replied.
"Then the Doctor lied about its regenerative properties all those years ago," Nyrytzl hissed, fury in his voice. "It is useless to me broken! Can he fix it?"
"He doessn't know, but he iss trying. Sstill, as long as we have the artifact, we can sstill have the promotion."
"Yes, Kytxr, this is a fact. We can say it was damaged in the fight." Amy felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end at Nyrytzl's pensive words. She had a bad feeling about this...
"The fight, Commander?"
"It will be quite tragic," Nyrytal said, though his voice held more amusement than sorrow. "The aliens turned out to be impostor spies who were after the relic after all, and we were unable to take them alive. It will be a great battle, with many honors to be awarded, especially if you can make Ixkyr's death appear to be the fault of the strangers. Is that clear, Kytxr?"
"Very clear, Commander," Kytxr said with a bow, sounding extremely pleased. Amy felt her fists curl in anger, but she bit her tongue and stayed quiet. Just because she wanted to scream at them for being cowards and sleazebags, didn't mean it was a good idea. Kytxr continued talking, so Amy refocused on that. "Iss there anything elsse you wissh to disscuss, Ssir?"
"That should be all. Go ahead and sound the alarm to capture the prisoners, but don't kill them yet. Make sure the bonds on the warrior are loose enough for him to break free. That should show those superstitious fools that aliens aren't to be trusted. If we prove the aliens were trying to invade us, we might not need the relic after all. Retribution has a nice ring to it, don't you agree?"
"Yess, Commander." There was a short pause - Amy saw from her mobile that the bulkier Ice Warrior was bowing again, then the door chimed as it slid open.
"Yes, this is a most fortuitous opportunity," Nyrytzl said to the empty library as he followed his underling out.
Amy cut the recording, pressing the button harder than she needed to. That jerk! "He was acting all nice to us while planning to kill us the whole time!"
"Indeed," the Brigadier said, lowering his gun. She hadn't even realized he had drawn it. "And it doesn't appear we have much time either."
"Yeah," Amy replied, holding up her mobile and pressing play. The earlier conversation started back up, showing the room as Amy had fumbled for a good spot to place the camera before focusing on Nyrytzl and Kytxr. "Do you think this would convince Ixkyr? It sounds like he's in just as much danger as we are."
"If we could find him," the Brigadier said dryly. Amy felt her spirits fall. They hadn't been able to find him in all this time, so how were they supposed to find them in the time it would take for Kytxr to put out the alarm? "I think we should take this to the Doctor. He might be able to find a way to broadcast it."
Amy nodded, then looked down at the map. "You realize that the Doctor's cell is on the other side of the base, right?"
The Brigadier's mouth was set grimly as he put the two readers away. "Then we'd best start moving before the alarm starts."
Which inevitably meant running. Some things with the Doctor never changed, but at least this bit she could enjoy.
Tucking her mobile safely away in her pocket, Amy followed the Brigadier out, taking off as fast as they could. Unfortunately, running was a lot more difficult given how crowded the base was. "Excuse me, sorry. Coming through," Amy repeated in what felt like an infinite loop. It couldn't have been this crowded on the way to the library!
It was so crowded Amy didn't even notice the claw-like hand settling on her arm until it pulled her to a stop.
~TBC~
Memory: So, this ending is slightly less awkward, at least. Slightly. Oh, my wasted cliff hangers. I could have made you spectacular, but was far too desperate to be done with this fic to rewrite. Ah, well.
And since the Brig didn't get to shoot anything in this chapter, have a quote of him mourning how often shooting things doesn't work.
"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."
-The Brigadier, Robot, Doctor Who.