Chapter Eleven

A/N:

Louise stopped still in her tracks, her eyes wide open in terror. It was true that she had wished for the Cybermen to appear, so that they could have a clear view of what they were dealing with, but now she wished even more that they had never come face to face. She had been a lot more adamant in her bravery before she had seen them at all.

"Halt!" the furthest forward of the Cybermen commanded, its metallic voice sending a shiver up the young girl's spine, a chilling feeling that she assumed was shared by her companions, as she could not see any way they would not also be fearful of them, even the Doctor. "Identify yourselves!"

As she had expected he would, the mad Time Lord immediately stepped forwards, as if to represent the group that stood behind him. Despite all the fear that he must surely have been experiencing, he still had a cheek filled smile lighting up his face, much the annoyance of the youngest child. 'Even in the most dangerous situations, he still can't help but show off that he isn't scared.' she sighed in her mind.

"We are friends." he answered simply, raising two hands, palm forward into the air, and encouraging his companions to do the same, which they begrudgingly did, not really liking the fact that they were taking orders from a man that the majority of them barely knew. "We do not wish you any harm."

"That is irrelevant. All humans are enemies of the Cybermen." the robot responded, its unemotional response terrible, almost painful, to hear, particularly as Louise knew it was directed at them, and meant that their escape plan had ultimately failed, and that there was now no way out. However, as the Cyberman who seemed to lead the others stepped forward to seize the Doctor, a glimmer of hope seemed to emerge from their ever darkening depths of fear.

"Wait! I'm not human!" the man exclaimed, holding out his hands to stop the figure. "Scan me! I'm Time Lord, not human."

For a moment, the live machines seemed to pause, as if considering what the man had told them of, if he could really be called a man by their standards, after the truth he had told them just a few seconds ago. But then their gun arms rose, pointing towards his head and Louise closed her eyes, unable to watch any longer.

To her relief, the gunshot did not come, and so she opened her eyes once again, to see that the Cyberman was, in fact, merely scanning the Doctor, as he had requested, to see whether or not he was speaking the truth about his Time Lord status.

"Status: Full Time Lord." it announced to all the others, which seemed to nod in acknowledgement to the fact, shocking Louise a little as she witnessed what seemed to be an almost emotive response. However, her shock turned almost immediately to fear as their arms raised once again. "The humans shall be converted, the Time Lord can go free. He would not be converted."

The metal men had only taken a single, echoing step forward before they were stopped by the madman they had just freed, who stood directly in front of the blonde with his arms outstretched.

"Not her!" he exclaimed, indicating the girl behind him, who did not have the slightest clue as to what he was talking about, but went along with it anyway, because he usually had a good idea, no matter how long it took him to reach it, or how mad it seemed to his friends. "You can't take her either! She isn't a pure human, she would reject the process, now let her go as well."

Quickly, the metallic being performed another examination with his gun arm, one that seemed to last minutes, even hours longer than the one that the Doctor had experienced, when in fact, it was only a few moments more time, the purpose of it being so something she would discover with only another few.

"Status: 75% human, 25% Time Lord." the Cyberman stated once again, though the girl felt that, had they not been denied access to the emotions that other beings were permitted, its tone would be a little confused, if not totally so. "Not suitable for conversion."

"See?" the man pleaded. "She can go free as well as me. She isn't completely human."

"Affirmative." the Cyberman answered. "The Time Lords can go free. The humans shall be upgraded."

"No!" Louise exclaimed, making an attempt to stop forward, but the Doctor stopped her before she could get herself into any trouble, by holding an arm out in front of her, watching the remainder of the group be led away with a certain sadness in his eyes that he did not allow to reach his expression.

When the group turned a corner and were out of sight, though the thumping sound of the Cybermen's feet against the concrete of the pavement was still audible, the young blonde flew around, her eyes blazing with rage as she glared at the Time Lord stood beside her.

"How could you let them go?!" she cried, her voice near to the screaming point as she pushed the man halfheartedly, not even causing him to stumble. "How you let those monsters take them away and make them into Cybermen?! How could you?!"

"Louise!" he yelled, stopping the child in the midst of her passionate exclamations. His voice decreased dramatically in volume as he continued. "Do you really believe that I am going to let any of them become Cybermen? Sarah Jane, Luke, Rani, Clyde, anyone?"

Louise did not truly answer, only gave a shake of her head so slight that it was scarcely able to be seen, though the Doctor acknowledged it all the same.

"Listen, Sparky…" he began, extracting a small laugh from the girl's throat. "We are going to save them, but right now, we have a higher priority."

"What?" she asked, not daring to wish for the answer she so wanted to receive. This was one of the reasons she was so shocked when he spoke it.

"We are going to Torchwood."

A/N: I will try and update soon, I promise, because I'm in the summer holidays now. Please review!