"Cyber what?" Willow asked, following after the man who said his name was just the Doctor. Why was she following him anyways? He was probably crazy and planning on chopping her up with a hacksaw. For some reason though she felt drawn to him, despite the fact that she felt like he was probably dangerous, like a moth is drawn to a flame. "Cyber what?" she asked again, growing impatient.

The Doctor was still walking briskly in front of her, waving around something that looked like a light up pen that made a sound like a cloud of gnats or mosquitoes in the summer. She picked up her pace, knowing that each step brought her closer to a possible lunatic. "Excuse me Doctor." He continued to ignore her, which just pushed Willow over the edge. "Aw hell no." she muttered, pushing up her sleeves and reaching out to the Doctor. "You are not ignoring me mister. No way am I allowing that."

She grabbed the collar of his jacket and stopped moving, jerking the Doctor to a stop, obviously startling him. He whipped around to face her, eyes wide and the little wisps of eyebrows that he had were raised so high that they were practically in his hairline. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but Willow silenced him by putting a finger to his lips.

"Shh, I'm gonna talk and you are gonna listen mister. You are not going to ignore me." She could tell that he was not used to being talked to in such a manner so she took advantage of his silence. "When I take my finger off your lips you are going to answer three questions for me. Nod if you understand." He nodded.

"Ok, one, who are you really? The Doctor isn't a name. Two, what the hell are cybermen? And three, what is it about these cybermen that has you running around like a chicken with its head cut off?" She looked at him straight in the eye as she finished. "Now I'm gonna take my hand away and you better give me a straight answer. I don't take kindly to people lying to me."

Slowly, she took her finger away, watching him closely. Even with her finger gone he was quiet, like he wasn't quite sure what to say. "Well, go on, spit it out." She urged.

Finally, the Doctor opened his mouth again and Willow leaned forward in anticipation of the answers that were soon to come.

DW

It couldn't be. How could they be here? How had they just popped up in history like that without him noticing? Had he really been that distracted? Granted he had been very busy recently and the cybermen hadn't exactly been wreaking havoc while they were here. Still he needed to figure this out.

He changed the settings on the sonic and began walking briskly towards the rest of the exhibit, scanning as he went. He was so absorbed in what he was doing and had completely forgotten that the girl named Willow Landry was even there. It wasn't until he was jerked to a stop by a firm grip on the collar of his jacket that he even remembered she was there.

He turned around quickly, shocked and about to say something clever when she silenced him with a finger over his lips. Who was this girl? She was fiery and she had a determined glint in her eyes as she laid down what she needed to know. There was an air about her that reminded him vaguely of a mix of Donna Noble and Amelia Pond. She knew what she wanted and she was going to get it by whatever means necessary.

"Well I am the Doctor. That really is my name; it's what people call me. I even have a name badge somewhere that says 'The Doctor' on it," he began. "Next, cybermen are a race of cybernetically augmented humanoids that are completely void of emotion. Their one purpose is to 'upgrade' everyone who isn't like them and dispose of the ones who oppose the upgrade."

Willow looked confused for a moment. "I know what humanoid means, but cybernetically augmented, what is that exactly?"

The Doctor scratched his head, thinking of a simpler way to explain and then it came to him. "Cyborgs! You know what a cyborg is right?"

"Of course I know what a cyborg is. I don't live under a rock. They are part human, part machine."

"Exactly. They have human brains that control the mechanical bodies."

"Ok, well what I don't understand now is why you are stressin' so much about these things. I mean they've been dead for almost 300 years. What are they going to do?" Willow looked around as if, despite her calm attitude, she was worried something was going to sneak up behind her.

"Unless the cybermen have been taken care of in the proper way, they will always be a threat. All it takes is a few functional individuals and they could convert the whole world." He shook his head, remembering the times that had almost happened. "I need to see where they are to find out what is going on around here. The flickering lights could mean that they have been slowly stealing power and storing it until they have enough to begin the invasion. I've seen that happen before."

He watched Willow as her eyes widened. "Invasion?" she questioned. "You mean these things are going to wake up and take over? How can that happen? I mean, it's all good fun to pretend that aliens are real and believe that there is something else out there, but that's just crazy talk to say aliens are real for real!" She ran her hands through her hair, looking distressed. The Doctor was about to say something else when her head popped up again. "You said you have seen this happen before. How has this happened before without the whole world knowing about it?"

"People believe what they want to believe when it comes to the unexplainable." The Doctor said softly. "No one really heard about the last time that this happened because I stopped it before the cybermen could do any serious damage. The people who knew about the cybermen either won't talk about it or they are dead, I couldn't save them all."

Willow's features seemed to soften a little when she heard the last part of what he said. She laid a hand on his arm and looked up at him. "I'm sure you did everything you could to save them."

"But I don't always save everyone. That is the point. You really should go. Get as far away from here as you can. It isn't safe around these creatures and it isn't safe to be around me." The Doctor said this forcefully, willing her to go and get herself to safety.

DW

Willow couldn't believe what she was hearing. The Doctor was telling her that there was a possibility of an invasion? The only kind of invasion she had ever experienced was three summers ago when the attic at the farm house was invaded by a family of raccoons. This was something completely different though. An alien invasion, she felt like she had been stuck in the middle of one of those poorly funded Syfy movies her mother loved to watch at home.

The man in front of her claimed to have dealt with this kind of invasion before though. He seemed so sad when he talked about it, claiming that he hadn't been able to save anyone. The sad look in his eyes made her want to hug him and tell him that everything was ok, but she settled for placing a hand on his arm gently and telling him that he had surely done his best, trying her hardest to put as much comfort into that one simple gesture as she could.

Her mind was racing as she heard him tell her to go and get away from this place. That it wasn't safe for her to be there. She wrapped her arms around herself, unable to decide between fight or flight. She had always been a fighter, but this was a whole lot bigger than hitting some bullies on the playground at school when she was little; or standing up to the bitchy popular girl at school who thought everyone was beneath her. These were aliens, people could die. She could die. Was she really going to let the Doctor go up against these aliens alone though? Could she really turn away from this?

Cybermen are just like bullies, just on an intergalactic scale I guess. I can handle that. She knew that her father would want her to stick up for those who couldn't stick up for themselves and after realizing that the decision was made. She was going to help the Doctor, despite the fact that she was so nervous she thought she might pass out. She set her jaw, looked him in the eyes and told him, "No, I'm not going to go. If people are going to be in danger then I want to help. Maybe if you have help then you can save everyone. Asking you to take care of all of this all on your own isn't fair. I'm going to help you whether you like it or not."

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I just want to go ahead and let everyone who is following the story that it may be a little while before the next update because I have some tests this week and a bunch of sorority stuff coming up. I will update as soon as I can. Thank you so much for reading and reviews are always welcome, I really want to know what you guys think of the story!