trans_9 | I'd love to kill you with a kiss. I'd like to strike you down with bliss (Open to all Doctors)

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I'd love to kill you with a kiss. I'd like to strike you down with bliss (Open to all Doctors)

River had been told to wait, to be sneaky and sly, to follow the carefully laid out plan that the Master had come up with. He wanted her to turn the Doctors against each other and then strike in the midst of all that lovely chaos. Unfortunately, the Master hadn't taken into account just how impulsive River Song could be. Sure she was psychotic and wholely the weapon that Madame Kovarian and the Silence had programmed, shaped, and raised her to be, but she was also impulsive. She wanted to finish off the Doctor now, not five months from now.

That's why she'd devised a plan of her own. By sending out a message on the psychic paper.

Meet me at the tower, I want to tell you everything.

xoxox

Short. Simple. Impossible for the Doctor to resist. Of course, he might wonder why she wanted to meet up at the very place she had been kidnapped and held against her will by the Master.

Now she waits for him to show up. Silly Doctor, so trusting of River Song. He really shouldn't trust her. Hadn't she told him as much? There was a gun in her hand and two bullets with his name on them. One shot to kill. Another shot to prevent him from reaching his next regeneration.

What on earth had she seen in him in the first place?

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Something wasn’t right about this. Maybe it had to do with the fact that River was voluntarily saying she wanted to give him their shared life story, which amounted to Everything and Then Some, and she’d been clear about how he wasn’t in the know – apparently from himself, if you believed her. This Future-Him, who could be him or another face and body centuries down the line. The Doctor flipped the psychic paper closed after taking in the message in River’s handwriting, tucking it into his pocket. So much for River’s idea of fun! He knew there was probably more to this. This wasn’t the River he knew. Cryptic messages – oh yeah, River Song all over it. But to tell him everything? Now that wasn’t his River. It was too easy.

River didn’t do easy.

It wasn’t in that woman’s nature.

The Doctor went anyway. Could be a trap, could be anything. He eventually found himself at the base of the tower, craning his head to take in its height. Compared to the rest of Stacy, the tower was actually dwarfed, and looked deceptively small in comparison. He pushed open the doors and headed toward where he’d found her last time, his hand on his sonic screwdriver.

Maybe something seemed a little fishy to him, but River, who wasn't in her right mind, thought she was acting the part just fine! She thought he'd never know what hit him!

Shew as waiting for him when he arrived, later then expected as usual. The gun holstered at her hip, but then again it wasn't unusual for River Song to be armed. She came towards him and suddenly he'd have an armful of very bouncy, soft feminine curves as she slid her arms around his neck. Being overly affectionate because she couldn't quite gauge how her normal self should behave.

"I knew you'd come."

This time he wasn't prepared for her. This time, he couldn't tidy up before her arrival. Still, there was something about her that was a bit off. She was too eager, too affectionate, too careless of their physical boundaries. Impulsive, even.

More than a little fishy? Try very fishy!

Suddenly he had an armful of River Song, the Doctor positively bristling with surprise from his feet to the top of his hair. His hands fluttered uselessly around her shoulders, her arms, distracted by how downright soft River was pressed up against him. Before he knew it, he had River’s arms looped around his neck, just like he’d seen humans do to each other when they were being…affectionate. Maybe more than affectionate. He twisted his hips slightly to the side as River’s holster dug into him, frowning as he finally found a place to put his hands – on River’s waist, which was actually a mistake in retrospect because she was soft there too.

“I should hope so. You only phoned me, River.” The Doctor reached up to try to disentangle one of River’s arms. She was like a squishy womanly venus flytrap. “Right, so. You and the truth.”

Her hair was practically in his face. His eyes flicked about the room, looking for any sign someone else was in the room with River or there was some sort of signal, something that she was trying to tell him without words. Something at all to explain the behavior. And the arms. Her arms seemed to be everywhere and he was finding it…difficult to find a way out of them, which was odd given how good – and yes, he was bragging – he was at squirming and worming and everything in between.

River seemed to have a way of putting the Doctor off his guard - and maybe all his squirming was oddly amusing to her. Amusing wasn't what she should be feeling just now, so she shrugs off that sensation and keeps to her plan. Ignoring how very right this felt. It was done, it was nothing. All that existed was her mission, what she'd been trained and groomed to do since birth. The whole reason for her birth.

"Oh alright then, I see you want to get right down to business." She laughs, her smile positively all white teeth and mirth. She unwinds one arm from his neck in favor of brushing her hand against the side of his face. A tender gesture to distract him as her other hand carefully reaches between them to unholster her gun.

"Remember when I said I was fighting a war before I even knew what war was? Well Doctor...."

She takes a step back and draws her gun on him. All that mirth and fake tenderness gone. Replaced with that familiar, dangerous gleam in her eyes.

"Today I'm about to win that war."

It was him. River was made into a weapon to destroy him.

The longer he touches River, the longer he has to think that something’s gone past fishy to downright wrong about the woman: even her hair feels wrong! It’s a fine distinction, River’s hair. His eyes flicker to the side when River caresses his cheek in a way that sends an electric jolt up the small of his back, the Doctor taking in her smile with a frown of his own. He feels her hand shift and – Ah. Suddenly he has a gun in his face. Again. More than again, because at his age he’s had more guns pointed

The Doctor doesn’t have to ask if it’s loaded: it’s River, of course it’s loaded, and she’s not the sort to bluff without some sort of insurance, which actually defeats the whole point of a bluff when you think about it and maybe he needs to correct her definition of bluffing if she doesn’t shoot him on the spot. Just a thought. The Doctor doesn’t raise his hands to surrender, but instead stays right where he is, tossing his head.

“Right, that war. You mentioned that. Soldiery things. You weren’t very keen on telling me about that war before,” the Doctor says. “So what happened?”

What changed and made even River’s hair feel wrong? The gun thing’s new too. Not River carrying a gun – the woman might’ve even been born with one, literally (he wouldn’t be surprised) – but funnily enough she hasn’t made it a habit to point them at him, so there’s that. Apparently. If she was waiting all this time to shoot him, she had incredible patience for a human! Could’ve killed him a lifetime ago, come to think of it.

Something definitely wasn't right, his senses weren't entirely wrong. River had wielded a gun many times, she'd had his back and even defended him several times now. It didn't make sense for her to suddenly turn on him like this, no matter how dangerous and mysterious she may seem. They'd shared a body and she'd bore no ill intent towards him then. Something had definitely changed.

River's resolve never wavers, just like her cat-got-the-cream grin never falters. She holds the gun as steady as she's ever held it, not a single shake or tremble in her fingers or aim. She meant to kill him. It was as plain as that murderous gleam in her eyes.

"Let's just say that I've been confused for a very long time now, but my head is finally clear." She takes a step back, but keeps that steady aim as she begins to circle him slowly, like a shark would to it's prey. "I'm only doing what I was born to do. What I should have done a long time ago, what I would have done if you hadn't been so damned distracting." Love was a distraction now, hm?

Both the gun and River look like they mean business and by that, the Doctor thinks he might take his chances with the gun if he had a say here.

"I've been told I'm very good at that, so it's something like an art form." The Doctor would show her his very, incredibly real credentials if he wasn't sure that he'd get himself shot before he could reach his jacket's pockets. She knows better than to let him get a hand on his sonic. "I take it they didn't have that in whatever briefings you must have had, then. So! Do I get dead man's rights? Dying wishes? Not that I'm dying just yet, but yes. Still want one."

He doesn't know what caused River to make that 180. Her head clear? He can think of a few people on Stacy who could jump in psychically with the Master up at the top just for motive alone. It explains the place, too. After all, he'd left him handcuffed to the chair without his shirt, so maybe this is the man's idea of just desserts. The Doctor's mind races. River Song. All those chances to kill him. The Storm Cage, the crime that Father Octavian made sure he knew about (at least in part), the crime that was swirling around and becoming less of a question mark and more of a niggling feeling.

"A long time ago" is relative...especially to time travelers. The niggle starts to solidify into a hunch, the Doctor still giving River the Soldier one of those maddening smiles of his as things start to click here and there.

River knows he's good at distractions, it's what saved his neck nine times out of ten. It's his specialty and for a very long time he had even managed to distract her. Starting with Berlin all the way up to her time here on Stacy. But now her head was clear and she had business to finish. His death.

After all, she'd all but told him not to trust he. He'd gone and done it anyway, hadn't her? Dropped his guard around her completely these long months onboard Stacy. "Oh alright, I suppose I can give you just one dying wish, but don't try anything funny. I know all your tricks." She narrows her eyes at him, moving around to her position infront of him, gun still trained on his right heart. She knew how to take out a Time Lord, know that fatal time period between regenerations that would end him once and for all.

"Stop smiling that that." She frowns, unsure of his intentions when he's got that crazy grin on his face. Is he up to something?

Oh, he’ll keep right on smiling like that, thanks.

“I don’t think you know all my tricks. Boring thing, telling you my life story!” The Doctor likes to think that Future Him at least has that much in common with his past, even if he still had no idea if Future Him is Future Him or another Doctor with a different face. Maybe he finally had the sense to get ginger down by then. “Right, so, yes. Dying wishes. Might need a moment, haven’t really put much thought into writing up some good dying wishes, you see!”

The Doctor laces his fingers together in front of him, wringing them like a professor who's forgotten where he put his schedule this time as he pretends to give it some serious thought. The thing is he needs to get to cover or at least get out of River’s line of fire. Woman’s an excellent shot, impressive Ohm kill record. Then he can worry about getting through to her, to the River Song he knew and not this River the Soldier he was talking to.

"I know a decent lot of them." River didn't know every single bit of his past, but she knew a great deal about his future, apparently. Also, she knew when he was instigating a stalling tactic and right now? He was definitely trying to stall her. Still, some small part of him humored him. "You face death on a daily basis, you never stopped to pile up a dying wish or two?"

She arches a brow at him and waves her gun slightly, motioning for him to get on with it. "Stop your stalling. You've got one minute to come up with your dying wish. I'm not going to give you time to come up with a brilliant plan of escape. You know how good my aim is. Question is, do you want to be shot in the back or the heart?"

“Well, I’m sure they’re out of date now,” the Doctor sniffs, as if it’s all painfully obvious. “It’s been a few centuries. I think. Sure it’s been a few.”

Unfortunately River knows him well enough to know a Doctor stall when she sees one, the Doctor having to say that of all the ways he thought he’d die, death by archaeologist hadn’t quite been at the top of his list now that he thought about it. Either way, if he makes a go at his sonic now or waits that minute, he’s going to get shot, so there’s that. Basically that. His eyes travel about the room, picking out anything that could be useful; loose floorboard two feet over, squeaks, River’s finger on the trigger guard, no ginger (so no Amy sneaking around getting into trouble – he could’ve used a Scot’s idea of sneaking right now), one of the bulbs in the lamp over River’s head flickering on and off.

All things he could use if he could just nudge them with his sonic. Not much use when River’s aim is good enough to make hoping she misses an exercise in futility. (One of the Doctor’s favorites, but usually it doesn’t involve one minute to live!).

The Doctor licks his lips, his eyes returning to River. They don’t blink, fixing on her as if he’s taking her in.

“Okay. So. You and assassin-y things. All that stuff about the…hair and the lips. Was that you?” The Doctor has to ask. “It’s so I can say what my dying wish is,” he adds. “I like to have my details sorted.”

River can tell he's stalling. He's probably looking for ways to distract her so he can make a quick get away. Well, yelling 'look over there' isn't going to work, that's for sure. She's got a mission to complete, one that she's put on hold for far too long. The Doctor and his silly suave nature, sweeping her off her fate even after she'd sealed his fate in Berlin. Then he'd found a way out of his death sentence on the shores of lake Silencio. Now, they had finally come full circle. When or if she ever went back to Storm Cage, she'd finally be serving time for a crime she actually committed.

"I was born to kill you, if that's what you mean. It's something I've been trained and conditioned for. I'm the one weapon you're never meant to see coming." Something the Master had easily tapped into. That killer instinct she had, that gleam in her eyes when she'd been killing off the Ohm. River Song had a long and dark past, it seem. "I told you I know how to kill a Time Lord, you should have listened to your instincts on that one."

She pauses, clearly growing frustrated, "Your time is up, Doctor."

The Doctor feels like he’s been given a good kick upside the back of the head. The clues were there but just enough details had been missing to not quite make the connection past her killing a man (possibly him) to her being raised to do it, which was asking the questions of who, where, how, and why and okay, so there was loads more but according to River, he was already going over that time limit. Right, yeah. The death thing. Not too much of a fan himself! It’s dull being a dead man, can’t even ask all those questions burning inside! So this war was against…him? By who? The Doctor briefly considered the Master, but he hadn’t seemed to recognize River when they first met and ultimately he wanted the honor of killing him himself.

So who? Who would go through all the trouble of raising an innocent child into this?

He blinks as River tells him he’s out of time. Never thought he’d hear those words.

“Oh, really? Thought I had a few seconds left at least. (Punctual woman). Okay, so, dying wishes, dying wishes.” The Doctor puts some serious thought, looking off into the distance, and when his eyes meet hers, she might even see a glimpse of that man she should be killing in her real future. “A kiss...and a promise that I won’t be alone when I die.”

There were so many little details the Doctor didn't know about her just yet. He must be burning up inside, desperate to know the whole truth behind what had changed and shaped River Song into the woman she was today, but his time had quite literally run out. She wouldn't allow him the chance to do something incredibly clever and manage to escape.

His request clearly takes her by surprise. She blinks. Once. Twice. A third time. Then her eyes narrow down to suspicious, dangerous slits. It's just that he's never asked for a kiss from her before, not during their entire time here on Stacy.

It was that look in his eyes that convinced her his request was genuine. "Alright. I can grant you that much." She closes the distance between them easily, keeping her gun trained on his right heart. She came close enough for a kiss, the barrel of her gun pressing to his chest. "Pucker up, sweetie."

The Doctor frowned at the message on the psychic paper. It wasn't the first that he'd received unexpectedly from the mysterious River Song. (He recognised the handwriting. And who else would sign it with a kiss?) It was, however, the first time she'd offered to be open about who she really was. And that just didn't make sense.

She liked her secrets. She liked teasing him with them. She liked challenging him with them. Even if he ignored her obvious understanding of the laws of time and the importance of cause and effect - and, given that their universe seemed to have ended, he probably could think about ignoring that sort of thing - he couldn't ignore that.

So what was going on? A trap? A game? A bit of both?

Naturally, he couldn't resist finding out. He couldn't pass up an invitation like that.

Once he got over the momentary irritation that came from finding out he wasn't the only one she'd invited, he wasn't surprised to find that he wasn't first version of the Doctor to have arrived. He was surprised by what he walked in on, though.

"Oh, I knew it was going to be a trap. It's always a trap."

He really didn't like guns. Especially when they were pointing at himself.

Tell them everything, huh? No. Not River Song. He'd known her for ten minutes at best and even he could see how likely that was. Someone like her, who loved to play cat and mouse?

He'd shoved the paper back into his pocket and taken off, watching carefully for signs of what might be going on. Nothing appears until he sees River---her wild hair is impossible to miss. So is that gun. Pointed at his older self. As much as this Doctor liked to complain about how bowties had a distinct lack of 'coolness', this was too far.

No one killed him, not like that. "You do know you're going about this entirely the wrong way?" the Doctor asked helpfully.

Having a gun pressed up against one of your hearts wasn’t exactly comforting, like, say, a good scarf on a cold afternoon or someone you trust holding your hand. Even after all these years, he’s still wary around the things, his jaw tensing before he stepped forward.

The Doctor bent his head slightly so he could kiss River, hoping that she wasn’t going to pre-emptively shoot him. His lips brushed against hers as other hand slid to his pocket and his sonic, careful to keep it discreet as he kissed his future murderer. It’s one of those odd things, kissing River Song, and it’s like before – he’s not quite sure what to make of it himself! If he wasn’t fussed about the possible death in his very extremely immediate future – as in within the next couple of seconds – he’d probably want to take a moment to think about how downright interesting it was kissing Doctor Song. Probably was a good kisser, not that he made it a habit to judge humans and how they rate on the scale kissing against all the other aliens out there.

His fingers found his sonic, curling around it as he got ready to make his move and –

Suddenly he had a voice cutting in. At first there’s that nanosecond irrational thought that it’s him, except for the part where it’s outloud and to the side and he hasn’t yet developed the ability to teleport on his own, so –

His eyes open as he pulls back from River and there’s his other self. Make that selves. Two of him now! The Doctor half expects a third to come popping out and he hopes that if River is serious about her job that she planned ahead, because she’s suddenly outnumbered.

“Of course it’s a trap!” the Doctor says. Great minds times three! Somehow he doesn’t think River’s training prepared her for multiple Doctors. “You know how they are on training. Rubbish on shooting guns and killing people, loads of time wasted on all the important stuff.”

River, on the other hand, has had plenty of practice at kissing. She leans in and their lips brush for a second or two before they're interrupted by a voice. River's head turns at about the same time Eleven does. A look of complete surprise on her face, followed in rapid succession by a look of frustration as she pulls her body away from Eleven - noting he now has his sonic screwdriver out, sneaky bastard - and turns that gun towards Ten.

"I wrote the message on the psychic paper, but it was sent to all of you?" She clearly wasn't expecting two - no three Doctors to come running into her trap. River Song, as brilliant as she truly was, was completely capable of making mistakes. She'd clearly only meant for the message to reach Eleven.

Now she has three Doctors to deal with and only one gun.

"Honestly, you're the most difficult man to kill."

She swivels her gun between all three of them as she backs up, wanting an equal distance between all three of them in case one or all tried to rush at her or run.

"Why can't you just die?"

Edited 2012-03-04 22:03 (UTC)

“Oh, come on, River,” said the Doctor with a half smile, “You’ve met us. You know we never give up.”

It didn’t matter who or what they were facing. They were … well, they were important. All of them. The universe needed them and they had so many things left to see and to do that death wasn’t an option.

She couldn’t decide who to point the gun at. She couldn’t decide who to focus on. That was going to be her downfall.

“Where are you going to run? The ship isn’t that big.”

He had a lot of questions about who she really was but, right now, that would have to wait. He could already guess part of the story.

That, River, is a big Question. The Doctor himself can't even say why he - they - are still alive. Just happens to turn out that way, despite everything they've done, how old they've grown. His eyes shift over to meet Ten's eyes.

"Excellent question, you!" He snaps his fingers at his younger self. Of course it's a good question, it's coming from him, and he likes to think he always -- well, fine, mostly always (close enough to always) -- asks good questions. "Right! So back to the whole nasty killing people thing. River, you really should put that gun down."

His voice sounds friendly, as if it's a suggestion. He even offers her a smile. There's a hint of warning to it, his sonic in his hand and pointed at River, even as the woman trains the gun from him to Ten and back, as if she can't tell if she wants to kill him or risk a paradox and kill the younger version since he's decided to show up to this little party.

River's eyes darken, like there's a storm brewing in that pretty little perfect hair covered head of hers. Her gaze still darting back and forth between the two of them. Oh, she's aware of the paradox she'll cause if she kills the young Doctor. Her senses practically sting with the wrongness of that move every time she points her gun that way. Still, she'd try it in her current condition.

"Away from you lot." She answers Ten's question, but her eyes are on Eleven as he points his sonic screwdriver at her. She knew it was more then capable of disarming her. "And if I don't? Are you so sure I can't get one shot out before you disarm me? Do you really want to take that chance? You've seen how fast I am with a gun." Faster than those old western movie cowboys, but she was bluffing. Stalling for more time as she eases towards the exit of the room. Closer to Ten now.

"You can disarm me, but you won't hurt me. That's your weakness, Doctor."

Edited 2012-03-15 11:52 (UTC)

"You won't get far. Even if we don't stop you, the crew will. Letting us help you would be better than ending up in the brig."

Despite the gun in River's hand, the Doctor took a step to the side. He didn't move much and he didn't move very far, but it was enough to block River's escape route. Of course, she was clever. She could find an alternative if she really wanted to find an alternative. They were all trying to buy time for their own purposes.

"Is it? I don't know. I've got a bit of a sweet tooth. I drink a bit too much tea. I never miss a new Disney film. Sometimes I forget to wear socks."

As right as Ten is, the Doctor sees a flaw with this plan and that's that he somehow neglected to tell River that no, no Doctors were getting shot today, thank you very much. He shoots his younger self a look and a small frown, letting them do what they do best - excessive amounts of talking.

"Right. What he's saying. And loads more."

"Oh, I'd hate to repeat myself by getting locked up. So sorry, but I have other plans, my dears." Ten was steadily closing in on her, blocking the exit. River had to calculate a second escape plan. Two Doctors. Two sonic screwdrivers, but this was something she'd been trained to do since birth. She knew to keep them talking, let them think they had the upper hand until the very last second.

"Two Doctors. My, the things I could do with the two of you." Her grin is practically sinful. "Still, I'm over that phase of my life. Moved on to bigger and better things." The Master. Even if he was a controlling biggot.

"Now, you have two choices - because I know you're both stalling. It's what you do best. Even if you captured me, I'd eventually escape. I'm clever like that. You both should know that much, if you know me at all."

She's easing towards Ten, almost close enough to touch him, until she veers around him and further towards the exit, still keeping a wary lookout. Either of them could make a rush at her.

"If the Stormcage can't hold me, what makes you think either of you can? Or Stacy for that matter." No, Ten. She's not minding her spoilers.

Stormcage? He'd never visited - he didn't want to visit - but the Doctor knew all about the infamous prison. In the fifty first century, most people knew all about it. That was an interesting spoiler, but he couldn't ask for details. Not from River and certainly not from his future self.

"Because you've never had to deal with three of us at once before."

Well, probably. Or was that another spoiler that he wasn't supposed to know?

"We're going to give you one last chance."

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I'd love to kill you with a kiss. I'd like to strike you down with bliss (Open to all Doctors)

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