Jack stalked forwards, trying to avoid being spotted by Cybermen. Beside him, Mindy Hannah and Uter crept in the shadows, guns out — although they wouldn't help much.
"You'd think a Cyberman fighting platoon would have better guns," Jack muttered at them, as he darted into an alleyway to avoid a cluster.
They followed.
"We didn't need guns," Uter said. "We had something better."
Jack gritted his teeth.
Hated hearing them talk about Seo like she was an object.
"I know you're angry, but… think about it!" Mindy Hannah told him. Looking around herself, edgy. "There's nothing that can defeat these Cybermen. They just keep coming and coming, and everything that we throw bounces off them. We finally find a Weapon that can kill them. And you say we shouldn't use it?!"
"You doomed the universe," Jack growled. "You doomed the human race!"
"We… we… didn't know about that!" Mindy Hannah insisted. "How could we? Hell Goddesses? Magic Monks?! You think we could have guessed anything like that?"
"She warned you!" Jack said.
"Yes, and we all thought she was just spouting one of those cult legends from the Korjensky Star System, in the Milky Way," Uter said. He shook his head. "I still don't know how much I believe. I mean," with a sideways glance at Jack, "goddesses? Souls? Are you sure this 'Doctor' of yours is right in the head?"
Jack opened his mouth to retort.
But before he could, Mindy broke in, with a scream.
Her gun dropping to the ground.
Jack and Uter swung around. Saw the tails of two Cybermites, flicking one last time, before crawling into Mindy's ears.
Uter aimed his gun at Mindy.
"Whoa, whoa!" Jack said, grabbing Uter's gun-arm. "What the—?"
"I know what this means," said Uter. "The Cyberplanner's dead, and he's looking for a new host. It'd be better for everyone if we just killed her, now, before—"
But Uter dropped his gun, with a shriek.
As a swarm of Cybermites soon encompassed him, as well.
Jack jumped back, shaking out his hand and shaking a few Cybermites off him. Could only stare at the two of them, both collapsed onto the ground and writhing in agony.
Trying to think of anything he could do besides just run.
Funny thing was… while the Cybermites had leapt right for Mindy and Uter… they didn't seem remotely interested in Jack. Just crawled over him, like he wasn't there.
To get to Mindy and Uter.
Jack thanked his lucky stars for that one.
"Nothing left for it," Jack told himself, turning on his heel. "Gotta split. Find Seo, before—"
A groan and a "What the hell?" from Mindy Hannah, behind him, stopped Jack in his tracks.
Jack glanced back.
Watching as, for no apparent reason… the Cybermites climbed back out of Mindy and Uter. Scuttled across the ground. And disappearing into the nearby buildings, without a trace.
Leaving Mindy and Uter panting and shaken.
But… incredibly… unharmed.
"We're… we're alive!" Uter gasped, not sure he believed it. "What… what was…?"
"They must have… started some kind of automatic process in our minds!" Mindy said, putting her hands to her head. "So we don't notice, as the Cyberplanner takes us over!"
"But I don't feel anything alien inside my head!" Uter insisted. He stared at where the Cybermites had vanished. "The Cybermites… didn't do anything. They were inside our heads, and I didn't feel them do anything at all!"
Mindy turned back to Uter. Wide eyes. "It could be a trick. Lull us into a false sense of security, and then…!"
"They don't need tricks!" Uter shouted, jumping to his feet. He gritted his teeth. "The best weapon we had against them is now on their side. What's to stop them Cyberconverting the whole human race?"
"I…" Mindy winced. Hand against her head, a glimpse of pain running through her. But dismissed it, as she got up, too. "I don't…"
The charging of energy weapons around them made them finally notice their surroundings.
At which point they realized they'd all three been surrounded by Cybermen.
"You will be cyber-converted," the Cybermen said. "You will become like…"
Then the Cybermen stopped.
As, in the sky, the sun seemed to ripple.
The Cybermen all paused. "Upgrade in progress."
"Get away!" Jack screamed at Mindy and Uter, shoving them out of the circle of Cybermen. He raced ahead, gun drawn and ready, military greatcoat flapping in the wind. "Move it!"
Around them, across the whole city and maybe even the whole world, the Cybermen had paused. In the middle of a massive upgrade.
A long ways away…
"Majesty," said a soldier, approaching the Emperor. He knelt down before the imperial throne. "The Cybermen in the Tiberion Spiral Galaxy are… acting… strangely."
The Emperor frowned. Got up from his throne. "Show me."
Seconds later, the Emperor was on the command deck, eyes scanning over readings and monitors and displays from every front of the war.
"The Cybermen have all just… stopped," the soldiers informed their emperor. "Some massive upgrade in progress."
In response, the human ground-troops were trying to take advantage. Kill off as many of the metal bastards as they could.
Some looked like they couldn't believe this was their lucky day.
But the Emperor knew better.
This wasn't luck.
It was a sign of something a lot worse.
"What kind of upgrade?" the Emperor demanded. "What are they…?"
Then the Cybermen twitched. Jerked back to life, all at once, across everywhere and everything. But their movements — once fast — were now faster than ever before, as Cybermen shot across the screens too fast for the human eye to process.
The Cybermen were all saying something, in voices too low to pick up.
"What are they saying?" the Emperor demanded. "Amplify it!"
The soldiers on the command deck scurried to work.
Boosting up the volume and focusing the words until the Emperor could it clearly. Through the cacophony of screams and gunshots and terrified civilians. That metallic voice of the Cybermen, coming through the speakers.
A jumble of new messages.
New words, unlike any ever uttered by a Cyberman, before.
And a new viciousness, to accompany them.
"What?!" said the Emperor. "What the hell is going on?!"
One Cybervoice echoed through the speakers, clearer than all the others. The voice of the Cyberplanner — wherever he was hiding out.
"Glorious," the Cyberplanner said. "Glorious."
"Ouch!" Mindy cried, clutching her head, again.
Uter had started doing it, too. Wincing, and trying to ignore the pain.
"If you're gonna turn into Cybermen, get it over with," Jack snapped. Tearing forwards, ahead of them. He really hoped this upgrade wasn't something to do with Seo. If Glory had already managed to use the Cyberplanner to kill Seo for good…
Jack couldn't think about that.
Couldn't think he'd failed one more person, after everything that had happened on Earth.
"Come on, we don't have all day!" Jack shouted at Uter and Mindy. "Those metal guys behind us could spring to life at any moment, and…!"
The Cybermen, all around them, jerked back to awareness.
"Love," they said, in unison.
Turning on Jack, Uter, and Mindy, advancing forwards slowly, gun arms raised.
"…love?" Jack muttered, looking them over.
"But this… this isn't like them!" Mindy panted, through the pain in her head. "Cybermen don't talk about love. And… and… they're usually faster than this! Why…?"
A group of Cybermen appeared, as if from nowhere, blocking their path, up ahead. Jack darted away, tugging the others alongside him, switching directions and instead running to the left.
Shots were fired, just missing Uter, who rolled out of the way, sprang back to his feet, and fired three shots behind himself. Continuing to race after Jack.
"Love… her…" the Cyberman demanded.
"Love her?" Jack repeated. He stole a glance back at the Cybermen. "What's gotten into them?"
He was answered by more shots from the slow-advancing Cybermen.
Each blasting through a wall, nearby, the impact beam just barely missing Uter and Hannah.
"They're not shooting at him!" Uter said, pointing at Jack. They stumbled as they ran into another group of Cybermen, right in front of them, and changed direction. This time running to the left. "What's…?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Mindy spat. She gritted her teeth, pain flooding her features for just a moment, before it was gone. "The upgrade to the Cybermen. It's not from the Cyberplanner! It's coming from her! This is her revenge!"
Jack felt something cold run through him.
No.
Couldn't be.
But it made sense.
If Glory had succeeded… if Seo was dead for good… what else would a hell goddess program her army to say?
Love… her…
"You can't be serious!" Uter said.
"Think about it, Uter," Mindy snapped. Just barely ducking out of the way of another blast. "She's bested every Cyberman she's ever come across. You think the Cyberplanner would even be a challenge?"
They could see Cybermen, waiting to cut them off, up ahead.
And switched directions.
"She's playing with us," said Mindy. "Herding to wherever she's hiding out, now. And trust me, Uter, whatever that girl's got planned for us — it'll be a hell of a lot worse than being turned into a Cyberman. We hurt her, and she's not about to let us forget—"
Jack looked up at the sky.
No longer that interested in what these two had to say.
He squinted. No, that definitely wasn't his imagination. Something was happening to the sun. Like the whole thing was writhing and rippling in a completely unnatural way.
"Death is here," the Cybermen around them chanted, in unison. "Death for all. Glorious death."
The sun rippled and writhed, again.
And Jack shuddered.
They'd come too late to save Seo.
That bright, bubbly kid, sweet and kind and thoughtful but stubborn and determined and brave… all burned away. Leaving behind nothing but a hell goddess.
Who now had a Cyber-army at her disposal.
"And the Cybermen seemed unstoppable, before," Jack muttered. He shook his head. "Just how the hell are we supposed to defeat them, now?"
