Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and never will. But I do own Artemis and any other characters I come up if any.
Author's Note: *peeks out of her hole slowly* Hi guys, hehe, long time no see! At least for this story! It's been forever since I've updated this story, but this chapter has been hiding away in my documents and finally decided to open it up and finish up the first part of this episode once and for all and hopefully, the next chapters don't take as long. Honestly though, you never know with me LOL. Anyway, enjoy the first part of Age of Steel! And please leave reviews too, if you haven't abandoned reading this story. lol.
Was Staring Man that stupid? Did he really think surrendering to the Cybermen would be that easy? These were the questions Artemis wondered with a shake of her head as the Cybermen continued to chant.
"Delete. Delete. Delete."
It wouldn't be that much longer until they did exactly what they were chanting. Artemis was right as the Cybermen started to lift their arms and her eyes closed tightly, waiting for the impact but it never came. Her eyes flew open and they widened at the sight of the Cybermen being disintegrated before her very eyes. Who…
"What the hell was that?" Rickey demanded and Artemis' wide eyes turned to who he was talking to. It was Staring Man. But he paid no attention to Rickey as he stared at the place where the Cybermen had been with wide smile.
"We'll have that instead!" he exclaimed, then with urgency, he yelled to everyone, "Run!"
Everyone took off running and a van speed onto the scene, going way pass the speed limit. Whoever was inside the van hooked the horn multiple times as a woman's voice yelled out,
"Get inside!"
Before she could even think about doing that, Artemis quickly turned to her father, seeing him trying to run back to the house. She was about to run after him to bring him back. She had already lost her mother, she wasn't about to lose her father too.
But the Staring Man got to it first, grabbing his shoulders and trying to restrain him. Pete fought in his grip.
"I've gotta go back, my wife is in there!" he yelled.
The Staring Man opened his mouth to speak, but Artemis interrupted him, stepping forward. "Dad, I hate to say it, but anyone who was inside the house is dead." She shook her head sadly. "And that's including mum…"
"You're daughter's right."
Artemis looked at Staring Man to find him staring at her in that unsettling way. Because of this, she didn't see the maid flinch at him calling her, 'your daughter'.
"If you want to help…" Staring Man continued seriously, "Then don't let her die for nothing. You've gotta come with us now, and so do you, Artemis."
After a moment, Pete sighed and nodded in understanding. Staring Man let go of him and Artemis went over to him, grabbing his hand.
"Come on." She told him and they took off running towards the van together.
Once they made, Artemis quickly got in the back first, followed by Pete. They sat down beside each other. Pete was panting because of the running while Artemis was grinning. It was such a rush to run like that. Though it was a pain to run in this long dress. Just in case there was more running involved, Artemis reached down and ripped her dress in half. Now her dress looked more like a mini dress than a ball gown. After that was done, Artemis looked at her father, who had a questioning look on his face.
"Just in case there's more running." She explained, grinning.
Just then, Staring Man and the maid jumped into the back of the van as they closed the doors behind them. The maid sat on the other side of Pete while Staring Man sat across from Artemis. His eyes immediately locked on her legs, staring at them without even bothering with trying to hide it.
Artemis knew she had nice legs but that didn't mean that she liked them being stared at. At least, it was her legs and not her breasts he was looking at. Now, that was something she would smack him for.
"Finished chatting?!" The woman driving exclaimed to the Staring Man and the maid. "Never seen a faster get away in my life!"
They drove off into the night.
It was a little while later and everything was calming down. It was silent for a while in the van until Rickey spoke up, glaring at the thing in Staring Man's hand through the grilling in the front of the van.
"What was that?"
"Little bit of technology from my home." Staring Man answered.
"And where is that exactly?" Artemis questioned. He had to be from an alien planet or something, because why else would he know about Cybermen if he wasn't?
"Far away." He didn't meet her eyes when he responded to her question and Artemis frowned.
"It's stopped glowing," Mickey said. "Has it run out?"
Staring Man shook his head. "It's on a revitalizing loop." He said as he put it in his pocket. "It'll charge back up in about four hours."
"Right." Ricky rolled his eyes as he said this in a non-caring tone. "So, we don't have any weapons anymore."
"Yeah, we got weapons." Jake disagreed. "Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him." He was staring at Pete and instantly Artemis was protective. What did he mean by that?
Artemis gave the blonde boy a withering glare, one that he noticed and at least, he had the decency to flinch. She opened her mouth to snap at him, but the maid interrupted, startling her especially because her voice rose in a rather shrill tone, like she was taking offence to what Rickey said, just like she was. Now Artemis' glare was turned to the maid. What was this girl's problem? She had nothing to do with this.
"Leave him alone!" The maid exclaimed. "What's he done wrong?"
"Oh, you know – just laid a trap that's wiped out the government. And left Lumic in charge."
At this, Artemis snorted, earning their attention. "That's bullshit."
"Art." Pete said her nickname that she only let him call her in a warning tone, but she ignored it. She didn't have a filter at all and would say anything that she was thinking.
"No, it is." Artemis said before glaring at Jake and Rickey. "It's complete and utter bullshit that my father had anything to do with what happened in there. And even if he did, then why in the hell would he leave his wife in there? My mother?"
"Maybe his plan went wrong." Rickey returned Artemis' glare. "Still gives us the right to execute him, though."
Artemis' glare hardened even more and her brown eyes darkened. "Over my dead body!" she growled. The angry tone in her voice made everyone in the van shiver.
"Art." Pete placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder.
She calmed down somewhat as one of her hands went up to play with her butterfly necklace as she took a calming breath.
"No one's going to execute anyone." Staring Man spoke with a hard look on his face. "Not today. Not ever. Unless you want to make me your enemy. And take some really good advice – you don't wanna do that."
Still playing with her necklace, Artemis flashed Staring Man a grateful look as the subject was changed. He didn't have any reaction, still staring at her unrelentingly. He seemed to want to say something to her but he said nothing, making Artemis annoyed and wanting to scream at him to just spit it out already if he had something to say! Tired of the way he was staring at her without explaining why.
"All the same…" Rickey sniffed. "We have evidence that Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since 20.5."
The maid stared at Pete, taken back. "Is that true?"
Artemis scoffed at her, finding that ridiculous. "Of course it's not true, right dad?" Her eyes shifted over to her father, who looked uncomfortable and wouldn't meet her in the eyes. That said it all.
And Artemis just couldn't believe it and she shook her head in disbelief.
"Tell 'em, Mrs. M."
Mrs. M kept her eyes on the road at all time as she responded, "We've got a government mole who feeds us information. Lumic's private files, his South American operations…the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week."
"Broadcast from Gemini?"
Rickey narrowed his eyes at Pete. "And how do you know that?"
"I'm Gemini. That's ME."
Rickey rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well you would say that."
Pete looked exasperated. "Encrypted wavelength six-five-seven using binary nine."
Rickey and Jake glanced at one another in surprise.
This made Artemis sigh to herself in relief. Of course, her father wasn't a traitor. How could she doubt him? Even if it was just for a second?
"That's the only reason I was working for Lumic." Pete continued, rolling his eyes. "To get information. I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services, and what do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang! They even got the van!"
"No, no, no! But the Preachers know what they're doing!" Mickey protested, confused. "Ricky said he's London's Most Wanted!"
Ricky cleared his throat, clearly looking embarrassed. "Yeah, that's not exactly…"
"Not exactly what?"
"I'm London's Most Wanted for…parking tickets…" Ricky said sheepishly.
Staring Man smiled in amusement while the maid raised her eyebrows and Artemis snorted, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Wow…"
"They were deliberate!" Ricky defended himself, flashing Artemis a glare. "I was fighting the system! Park anywhere, that's me."
Staring Man's smile widened. "Good policy," he told him. "I do very much the same…I'm the Doctor, by the way, if anyone's interested…"
That name made Artemis freeze.
The Doctor.
Now that was a name she wouldn't forget.
Artemis heard stories about him, good and bad ones. But those didn't matter. All she could think about was the fact that she wasn't the last. There was someone just like her, right in this van. Right in front of her.
It made her tear up as she reached up to play with her butterfly necklace, feeling the need to take it off, but now wasn't the time. Artemis pushed back her emotions for the moment and started paying attention.
"And I'm Rose." The maid, or Rose as she was now called, waved with a small smile. "Hello!"
Pete shook his head a little in disbelief. "Even better." He said sarcastically. "That's the name of our dog. Still, at least, I've got the catering staff on my side."
Rose looked over at him, not looking offended by his sarcasm. "I knew you weren't a traitor…" she said quietly.
His eyes narrowed at her. "Why's that, then?"
She bit her lip, glancing at the Doctor, who was watching her. Not like the way he had been looking at Artemis, but it looked like a warning look. Finally, Rose spoke, shrugging a little.
"I just did."
That didn't make sense, to Artemis. How could you just know something like that about someone? Someone who you didn't even know? Artemis frowned at Rose, feeling even more suspicious about her.
As if the blonde felt her staring at her, Rose looked at her, but then quickly looked away, not liking her gaze.
"They took my wife…" Pete said quietly.
The sentence made Artemis remember her mother and the sadness hit her all at once and she teared up. Something her father noticed and Pete wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her to his side as Artemis buried her face into his shoulder, not wanting them to see her crying. Artemis considered herself a strong person and wasn't much of a crier, unless it was about someone she cared about. Like her mother.
"She might be still alive." Rose tried to reassure him.
Pete shook his head, his arm tightening around Artemis' shoulders. "That's even worse," he said quietly. "'Cos that's what Lumic does. He takes the living…and he turns him into one of those machines…"
"Cybermen…" Artemis mumbled into her father's shoulder before lifting her head up to find all of them looking at her.
"Yeah…" The Doctor stared at her intensely again and Artemis just ignored him. "They're called Cybermen…"
She rested her head back on his shoulder, closing her eyes. She was tired, emotionally drained, and all she wanted was sleep. But she couldn't. Not yet.
Not with the possibility of Jackie being alive, even if it was highly unlikely.
Artemis sighed as she lifted her head back up again.
"And I'd take those ear-pods off, if I were you." The Doctor said, not suggesting it. Pete took them off and handed them over. "You never…Lumic could be listening." Artemis watched closely as he pulled out something she immediately recognized. The Doctor's sonic screwdriver, a tool, she had heard, he was never seen without. He used it to deactivate the ear-pods. "But he's overreached himself. He's still just a businessman. He's assassinated the President. All we need to do is get to the City and inform the authorities. Because I promise you – this ends tonight."
He sounded so confident that Artemis believed him, and if what she heard about him was true, then this was definitely going to end…tonight.
TBC...
In...
Age of Steel, Part 2
