Author's Note: 'Ello everyone! The new chapter (would it be considered chapter one or chapter two?) is up-and-running! This is what I consider to be the start of the process of me updating everything, so please bear with me!
Hopefully, you all will enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, even though one of my friends was literally lingering over my shoulder for the the most of it, so that was pretty stressful... Either way, enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, events, etc. relating to Doctor Who, with the rights truly belonging to the BBC.
Our universe, present day
Department of Physics & Astronomy- Queen Mary University of London
"Bloody hell!" I screech as I walk out of my dark laboratory into the midday light of outside. I cover my eyes, temporarily walking blinded.
My best friend/flatmate, Jacqueline Rainey, bursts out into a fit of giggles. I can tell that she can barely breathe from laughing so hard, because her chuckles come out as a wheezing sound.
After my eyes have mostly adjusted, while still squinting slightly, I glare at my friend and lecture, "Oy! That's not funny!"
Taking a moment to catch her breath and pull her red-highlighted brown hair out of her mouth, Jacquie responds, "I'm sorry." She takes a minute to reconsider. "Actually no, I'm not. I told you that you need to come out of that cave more often!"
I roll my eyes. "I told you, Jacquie," I begin. "I am on the verge of an incredible discovery!"
She raises an eyebrow. "A terrific discovery in astronomy? What is it, Anna? You've found that Pluto's actually been a planet all along?"
"No," I snap. Gently, I say, "I have located a star system light years away that contains planets similar to our own. Not only do I believe that these planets are capable of sustaining life, but I also think that the said life could possibly have characteristics that reflect that of us humans."
She scoffs and, as she starts to walk away, she states, "You and your theories about aliens. I still can't believe that you took up astronomy just to 'study' them. You've been obsessed with them ever since those 'invasions' that happened years ago."
I run after her. "Hey, hey, hey. I told you that it's real! It all happened! The Cybermen, the Daleks, the Master- all of it!"
Jacquie rolls her eyes. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about with this 'Master,' and these 'Cybermen' and 'Daleks' are probably just hoaxes. Terribly realistic hoaxes."
I'm extremely frustrated, and I screech, "Why don't you believe me?! I saw them with my own two eyes!"
Jacquie turns and looks at me, sadness in her chocolate-brown eyes. She seems like she wants to admit something, but she changes her mind. Pushing her green wire glasses up her thin nose, she says, "Well, you must have been hallucinating, 'cause I didn't see anything."
In a huff, I exclaim, "Forget it then! There's no such thing as aliens!"
It was at this point that we then heard a massive explosion ring from down the lane.
I gasp and then take off in the direction of the disturbance.
I hear Jacquie screech behind me, "What the hell are you doing?!"
I pay no attention to her question and keep dashing to the scene, my auburn hair whipping in front of my sky blue eyes. After what seems like hours of running in slow motion, I reach a small burning office building- the origin of the explosion. I begin panicking, wondering, hoping that there are survivors amongst this chaos. While beginning to wonder what I'm going to do, I hear heavy footsteps approach. Swinging my head around to face the noise, I see Jacquie slowing down to a stop next to me. Breathless, she chastises, "You should not have run off like that."
I smirk. "Fine, mum. I won't ever worry about explosions ever again." Focusing on the fire now even more so than my mate, I think aloud, "You know what? I have this sudden urge to run in there." And then I'm off.
Jacquie exclaims from behind me, "You what?! ANNA!"
Crashing through the charred front door, I enter what used to be, apparently, the front hall that would lead up to the secretary's desk. With flames covering the space around me, I move fast as I shout, "Hello? Is anybody in here?"
Sensing something above me, I leap out of way, just as part of the roof is about to collapse on top of me. Shaking out the fear that dwells inside of me, I take my thin gray sweater off and ball it up, pressing it against my nose and mouth. I venture on, searching as best as I can in every room that I can safely access. Within five minutes, I've looked through as many spaces as I could have, and I'm pushing my way through the back door of the building to the fresh air outside. Coughing, I try to take in big gulps of the cool October air and steady my breathing. I take a seat on the pavement and put my head between my knees, hoping that that would help a little bit. It's at this time that I see in my peripheral vision that Jacquie is running over to me once more.
Bracing myself for a lecture, I slowly, cautiously stand up.
She strides up to me and puts her hands on my shoulders while screaming, "What the hell were you thinking?!"
Pushing my sooty hair out of my face, with a half-hearted chuckle, I reply, "I wasn't."
Jacquie sighs. "Of course you weren't." She takes a look around. "C'mon, the firefighters and police should be here any second. We should go wait for them before you get another sudden urge to try to be the hero again."
As we start walking towards the front of the building, she asks, "Did you find anyone in there?"
I shake my head. "No, I couldn't find anyone. Which is weird, you know, since it's the middle of a work day. Where is everyone?"
This is the moment that we both hear the rhythmic pounding noise, almost sounding like metallic footsteps. We whip around to the surprise of our lives.
"Cybermen!" I scream, terror filling every inch of my voice.
Jacquie turns to look at me. She shrieks, "You mean they're real?!"
I shout back, "I told you and you didn't believe me!"
Coming face-to-face with the metal men was something that neither one of us wanted to deal with, so we both turn back around and make a mad rush towards the front of the building. Or, at least, we try. Our escape this way is also blocked by a moving wall of these robots from space.
Jacquie makes the mistake of running into one of them, and is immediately captured. To my advantage, I'm sad to say, I'm slower than my friend, so I avoid getting nabbed by instead jumping into the doorway of another adjacent building.
I watch on in horror as the Cyberman tells its prisoner after it seemingly scans her, "You are compatible. You will be upgraded."
Grabbing a nearby metal pipe, I run out from my hiding place while screaming, "No!"
I am able to hit one of the creatures hard on its head before it too grabs me and seems to scan me as well.
After I hear a small, menacing beep originate from within the spaceman, it says, "Alien creature detected. You are not compatible. You will be deleted."
I can see Jacquie struggling against her captor as I, with confusion emitting from my voice, ask, "What?"
The Cyberman throws me to the ground before aiming what seems to be a blaster at me. I give one last look to my friend before I feel an intense stinging sensation and the world goes dark.
A/N: And, scene. Well, that got a little suspenseful at the end! I tried to give it a good cliffhanger, but let me know if you think that there was anything that I could have done better/differently.
To those wondering where the hell the Doctor is in all of this: patience. Everything will be revealed in the upcoming chapters when they are written and posted. For the time being (aka this chapter), I just wanted to strictly keep it to introducing some of my supporting characters.
Cheers! :)
