Spider-Man twirled elegantly through the air, his long tongue trailing behind him. He had bonded fully with the alien symbiote now and taken Eddie Brock's place as its host. He had initially refused it, worried what it would to his mind and the strain it would put on his private life. But those worries had been forgotten the day he had been confronted by a Cyberman born from his wife Mary-Jane Parker. He had stared in shock at the woman he loved, now imprisoned within a metal body and incapable of feeling emotion.
Peter Parker landed softly on the roof of a small convenience store and slumped to the ground. How long had it been since he slept? Or ate? The battle had been waging for months now, America had all but fallen to the overwhelming might of the Cybermen. Nuclear strikes were reprogrammed by the Cybermen before the missiles had even left their silos, chemical weapons were completely ineffective and ground assaults did nothing but provide the Cybermen with more soldiers for their ever-expanding army.
The survivors in New York had been kept safe. Dr Strange had opened portals throughout the city connected with his Sanctum Sanctorum and teleported them to his impenetrable, sorcerous fortress.
The large mouth peeled back and revealed the man within; tired, hungry, sweating and with a thin beard growing on his chin. Peter leaned against a wall and slowly drooped to the ground, his head sunk into his chest and tears streaming from his eyes.
I'm sorry MJ... Aunt May... I failed you all.
A hand gently shook his shoulder and he looked up into the face of the man he had seconds ago left in the alleyway.
"What the- How'd you get up here?"
The man pointed his thumb over his shoulder where Peter saw the blue telephone box sitting behind him as though it was always supposed to be there.
"Spaceship. I'm The Doctor, is there anything I can do to help?"
Peter eyed the man suspiciously. "Doctor? Doctor who?"
The man shrugged and hoisted him up. "Its just 'The Doctor', thanks. And you are?"
"Peter. Peter Parker. Formerly known as the Amazing Spider-Man."
The man, or the Doctor, squinted at him. "Spider-Man? What's that then?"
Peter shrugged and laughed softly. For the first time in a long time, he had met someone who had no idea who he was. "Superhero extraordinaire."
"Oh... I'm sure that makes more sense to you." The Doctor turned and walked back to his box, calling back "Well, are you coming Peter? Or Man-Spider, or whoever you are."
Peter
looked around in confusion and something within him compelled him to
follow this strange man. His spider sense detected no danger around
him so he ran after him and into what he had assumed to be a small
box.
His
eyes widened as he looked around at the large interior. He ran out
and circled the box, then walked inside again.
"Whoa! How is this possible?"
The Doctor looked up from a console, a small pair of glasses over his nose. "Hm? Oh nothing extraordinary. Its just a standard Gallifreyan chameleon circuit running through a telepathic perception filter. Its broken though."
Peter looked from left to right and said simply, "Oh." He pointed upwards and shot a web to the high ceiling, flipped and hung upside down.
"But how is it bigger on the inside? I mean it sounds like the 'chameleon circuit' hides it, but how does it solve the problem of area and mass?"
The Doctor spun on his heel and marched towards Spider-Man, his eyebrows furrowed. He stood in front of him and peered at him over the tops of his glasses. He then smiled and turned back to the console.
"Your quite smart aren't you Spidey? I... I had this friend who never even questioned the science behind it."
The Doctor's eyes seemed to cloud and he stared hard at the console, perhaps seeing something else in its place.
"She would just march through the door without ever wondering how. She was so... carefree, so happy."
Peter remained silent for a moment, unconsciously aware that this was a tender subject for the Doctor. "What was her name?"
The Doctor sniffed and shrugged. "Its not important. What's important is sorting out this little 'war' you mentioned. Get off the ceiling and come help!"
Following the Doctor's instructions, Spider-Man held levers and pushed buttons as the ship whined and groaned. He remained still on the floor, with thanks to his adhesive feet, while the Doctor was thrown from wall to wall. Then it stopped and the Doctor slowly stood up rubbing his head. He asked how Peter had managed to stay still and when told he had merely replied, "That's handy. Now that, that is very handy."
He
removed the cylindrical device from his coat and placed it in his
pocket before flinging his coat to a hook. He flung the door open and was
instantly thrown backwards by the force of a large explosion. He
got up off the floor and ran out followed closely by Spider-Man who
swung out of the wide open doors.
They
arrived to see a large green man throw something over his shoulder.
It landed heavily on the floor and its impact caused another man
dressed in red, white and blue to duck behind a similarly coloured
shield with a star in its front.
"Geez Hulk watch out! That could still blow."
The Hulk snorted and dropped to the ground. He sat calmly down as he picked up a hot dog cart and munched at it. He roared in happiness as Spider-Man rounded the corner, followed closely by the Doctor.
"Spidey-Man back!"
Hulk ran toward him and offered him a large handful of crushed hot dogs. As hungry as he was, Peter declined and led the Doctor to Captain America.
"Hey Cap, this is the Doctor... that's all I know about him. Oh yeah! He's got a spaceship."
"And he has two hearts," someone called from behind. A man dressed in a red jumpsuit with a red mask on his face and two small horns on his head dropped to the ground. "I hear them clearly. Its quite a very unusual sound."
The Doctor looked from Cap to this new interloper, then to four other people who wore blue jumpsuits with a four on the chest. One of these seemed to be made of orange rock, and another was on fire.
"Is this some sort of costume convention? Cause I don't have one. Oh, but I've got a sonic screwdriver."
One of the four in blue stepped towards the Doctor. He was a tall man with brown hair, patches of grey on the sides of his head.
"A sonic screwdriver? May I see it?"
Before the Doctor could reply the man in red motioned for silence. Cap ran to his side and whispered, "What is it Matt?"
"They're coming back Steve. There's a hell of a lot of them. I have to get back to the Kitchen. There are survivors that need protecting."
Steve nodded and wished his friend good luck as Matt leapt onto a lamppost, swung around it and flipped up to a rooftop. The Doctor ran forward to Steve's side, his screwdriver in hand. "Who is it? Whose coming?"
Steve turned tired eyes to him then looked away. "Excuse me Doctor but you should leave. We can handle them."
"Listen to me, I can help. Trust me. Who is it your at war wi-"
He stopped mid-sentence and listened. A sound had begun to echo through the empty streets, a sound that slowly got louder and approached with unfaltering rhythm; a sound that he recognised but couldn't place.
"What is that? What's going on? WHO ARE YOU FIGHTING?!"
Before
anyone could answer him, there was a blinding flash of light in the
middle of them and thirteen figures materialised before him. He
stared in awe at them, sure his eyes were playing tricks on him.
They
stood as still as statues as they looked at the gathered heroes, and
each of their black eyes stopped on the Doctor's face. Below the
circular eyes was a thin mouth, and below that a large metal torso,
stamped onto which was a large 'C' within a circle.
"Impossible. That's just... impossible!"
High overhead within the heart of Cyber Control, CyberLeader3 stood motionless as it monitored communications from across the American landmass. Instantly it was moving. Alarms wailed throughout the aerial base and red lights illuminated the formerly dark corridors. CyberLeader3 looked upwards as a warning materialised into the air above him.
Threat
Category 10: Humanoid anomaly known as 'The
Doctor'.
Responsible for Destruction of Primary Upgrading
facility - Februrary 2007.
Responsible
for Deletion of the Lumic-Unit Controller.
Subject
is to be deleted or captured. Priority one.
The Cybermen in the room instantly stomped slowly to face a dark figure seated on a mass of writhing wires. Two round lights were situated below another, which revealed a pink brain floating in a transparent liquid.The lights looked upwards into the warning before lowering and pointing at the CyberLeader. The Leader stomped towards the figure as a hiss of coolant steam jetted out from the figures neck. A voice echoed throughout the room from speakers built into the walls of the Helicarrier.
"He must not be allowed to interfere with the Upgrade. Delete him."
CyberLeader3 looked into the lights and replied in its flat, dull voice, "Yes Controller."
