The Deadly Arcade

“NO! T-THAT”S NOT FAIR!” Eight screamed, slumping to the floor. “Y-YOU CHEATED!”

“No, we merely played by your rules.” The Doctor replied, authoritatively.

“BUTTON!” His mother exclaimed as she ran towards him while The Doctor and Eight watched.

“MOM!” he shouted. “You’re okay!”

“What did that thing do?” Eight demanded, looking back at The Doctor.

“Oh, didn’t I mention?” he replied. “Daleks are geniuses they can cycle through thousands of potential combinations in seconds, making hacking into your system child’s play.”

“And what it that thing the others crawled out of?”

“It’s a called a ‘Genesis Ark’, we Time Lords devised it to be used as a prison ship during The Last Great Time War-the Daleks named it-not us, by the way. As you’ve probably noticed it also utilizes that same transdimensional technology as my TARDIS, effectively making it bigger on the inside than the outside.” The Doctor explained.

“In fact, it can and has carried at least a thousand Daleks.”

“Then why…?” Eight began.

“Did I program the Dalek to release just three?” The Doctor finished. “Simple, I may have been playing by your rules but I still have a sense of sportsmanship-there are four of us, so I’ve decided that it would be fair to limit it to one Daleks per player; Light, Button, his mother, and myself.”

“What are you going to do?” Eight asked timidly, looking at all four Daleks remaining on the field, still completely intact.

“Well, you’ve kidnapped a grown mare and created a hostage situation in an attempt to get into a relationship with a mare whom you are obviously obsessed with to a dangerously unhealthy degree.” The Doctor replied.

“Besides, it’s you’re game and you have no creatures left on your side of the field-you know what happens next.”

Eight squeezed his eyes shut as he whimpered while Button, his mother, and Light all looked to The Doctor, uncertain if he would actually go through with the deadliest aspect required to secure victory in this game.

The Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver and pointed it at the Daleks before it whirred to life as the blue node at the tip lit up, causing them to dematerialize.

Despite himself, Eight’s curiosity compelled him to open his eyes.

In the Dalek’s place stood a tall stone statue with feathered wings, the bizarre statue had its clawed hands cupped over its eyes as if it were weeping.

“Is that it?” he laughed as relief washed over him. “You’re giving me a lawn ornament?”

“Quite the contrary,” The Doctor replied confidently. “This is actually a living creature known as a ‘Weeping Angel’.”

Eight gave him a curious look.

“As I’ve said earlier; I am not an unsporting man.” The Doctor continued. “And even when playing by your rules, I still find the concept of four Daleks against one man extremely unfair-the name ‘Weeping Angel’ is actually a misnomer as they aren’t weeping at all.”

“Then why is it covering its eyes?” Button’s mother asked timidly as she held her son close to her protectively.

“They’re Quantum-locked.” He explained casually. “The precise moment that they are observed by another living being they freeze up into stone as a defensive mechanism, however that also means that they can’t bear to look at each other, either earning them the nickname ‘The Lonely Assassins.’”

“Doctor…what does that thing do?” Light asked darting between him and the statue uneasily.

“They feed off of potential energy, killing their victims ‘mercifully’ by dropping them off somewhere in the past to live out the rest of their lives while the energy of the time and experiences they would have had is effectively fed off of or ‘absorbed’ by the angel.” He replied.

“W-what am I supposed to do?” Eight whimpered fearfully as he continued to stare at the stone creature which had appeared to have moved a considerable few feet closer since in the brief second he had glance at The Doctor.

Its clawed fingers were reaching towards him with a frozen snarl upon its lips, revealing its sharp fangs.

“When confronted by a Weeping Angel, there are only two things that you can do.”

Eight’s ears perked up at this.

“First, don’t ever let it touch you.” The Doctor replied in a deadly serious tone.

“A-and the second?” Eight pressed desperately.

“Don’t turn your head, don’t look away, and above all; don’t blink-not even for a second-blink and you’re dead.”

Eight gulped before letting out yet another cowardly whimper as his ears flattened against his skull and his heart sped up, his eyes were already bloodshot as they watered and burned.

In his peripheral vision he could make out The Doctor and his companions making their way back to the TARDIS.

“NO! WAIT!” he called out reaching towards them in a panic. “PLEASE! YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS! YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!”

It was at that moment he realized that as he was begging he had averted his gaze, something that he became painfully aware of as he felt something cold and hard grip his neck in a split-second before the arcade around him disappeared.

He then felt very cold and clammy as he could feel energy leaving his life, this thing was draining him like some kind of leech and he immediately regretted the extreme realism he had programmed into the game.

Anyone else would have questioned the creature’s ability in this particular format, but he designed the game specifically to tailor to creatures unique abilities to offer him the experience of seeing these creatures end life firsthand.

The irony was not lost on him as the last thing he experienced was the sensation that he was falling.