Chapter 12: When Ice met Metal
"Don't leave the Tardis no matter what happens," The Doctor gripped Elsa's shoulders tightly, forcing her to look at him, "Promise me," Elsa looked everywhere but at him shaking her head from side to side, willing the tears not to surface, "Arendelle will need their Queen when this is over, you've got to keep yourself safe, for them" She still refused to look at him, but the fact that she no longer shook her head was good enough for him, "Don't let her out of your sight," he told Kristoff as he pointed at the now fully recovered Princess Anna, "You would hate roller coasters," he told her with a grin.
The Doctor stepped out into the snow; the North Mountain had always been tipped off with a thick layer of the stuff. In his state the Doctor didn't feel even the slightest bit cold, "Okay," he told himself as he withdrew his sonic screwdriver, "Let's see what you've got for me this time" His enhanced hearing could just about make out the sound of the Cybermen's muffled march. The Doctor closed his eyes, it sounded like at least fifty foot soldiers coming to get him, "Such a small welcome party," he murmured to himself, "How rude" He silently debated over whether or not to remove his gloves. If the need arose then he'd have to use the magic flowing through him; but until things got that bad, he opted to keep it hidden.
Inside the Tardis the small group gathered around the monitor, a line of Cybermen appeared marching in sync up to face the Doctor.
"He can't take on all of them," Kristoff folded his arms firmly, "We need to go out there"
"He told us to stay here," Anna placed a calming arm on his hand, "The Doctor knows what he's doing"
Elsa leaned in to look more closely at the grainy image, one of the marching soldiers did not appear to be a Cyberman. In fact, the figure had a white suit on, tall boots, it even had hair, "Oh my god that looks like Hans. We've got to get out there. Now"
The Doctor clocked Hans striding towards him at the same moment, he held his sonic upright, watching the green light shine as the device buzzed softly. The doors of the Tardis deadlocked themselves shut, "No!" Elsa cried pulling the blue doors as hard she could, "Doctor no!" The Doctor could hear the banging on the doors behind him; he chose to ignore it and shifted his feet in mild impatience waiting for them to be close enough.
Hans' face was partially converted, slithers of metal with flashing blue pulses were covering the left side of his face. His grinned maniacally he approached the Time Lord with his platoon of Cybermen.
"The Cyber-Planner I presume," the Doctor lowered his screwdriver to his side.
"Doctor, how rude of you to have us pursue you up a mountain," Hans tilted his head to one side eying the Tardis behind the Time Lord, "Car trouble?"
"I'll reverse your time travel lock. It's no more than an inconvenience," the Doctor smiled showing off his teeth to the irritated Cyber-Planner. In the hint of a second he noticed a personality change occur, Hans' eyes looked momentarily distressed before the planner regained control, "Bit crowded in there?"
"Do not bore us with your chatter Doctor," Hans opened his hand towards the Time Lord, "Surrender your Time Machine" The Cybermen all aimed their arm guns at the Doctor.
The Doctor held his screwdriver up, he opened it to its full extension, "Shoot me and you'll never get inside. The Tardis is deadlocked, only I can deactivate it"
"Deadlocks are no threat to the combined processing power of the Cyberiad"
The Doctor sighed and lowered his screwdriver, "I thought you might say that"
Elsa pressed her cheek against the blue wood, she gripped the stainless steel handle, "Please," she pleaded, "Please let me help him"
Kristoff tapped Anna's arm and pointed to the Queen apparently talking to herself.
"She's crazy," Olaf whispered. Anna crept closer to her distressed sister.
"Elsa? You okay?" she rested a hand on her sister's shoulder. The Queen closed her eyes and tapped her head repeatedly against the door a few times.
"No," she replied, her voice threatening to break into a flood of sobs. A tear escaped down her cheek.
"There's nothing you can do," Anna told her, "There's no point torturing yourself. Or, you know, talking to yourself"
"I'm not talking to myself," Elsa put her palm against the door, "She needs to see reason, I can't allow the Doctor to die. She's got to let me out to save him"
Anna, a little shocked at the seemingly rapid deterioration in Elsa's mental state, backed away and returned to Kristoff's side, "What now?" she asked as Elsa continued her murmurings at the door.
"Please let me out. I can't let him die. I can't," Elsa could no longer hold back her body shaking sobs as she slid down the door to floor.
"For every Cyberman, and for all the enemies of the Doctor. We shall claim your vessel as your body lies cold. We shall take the time lord's technology and take what's ours in this disgrace of a universe. We shall take every reality, every moment, past, present, future. Hail to the new beginning, the greatest rise of the Cybermen"
The Doctor eyed every single gun aimed right at him, he actually found himself trembling. Was it cold? Was it fear? His hands shook so badly that he dropped his screwdriver to the floor and fell to his knees in the snow, his hands raised over his head, "I'll happily give my life for my friends, for my companions. I'll die over and over in the name of the Queen, for the people of Arendelle, in the name of the Doctor. But you will never gain access to my ship when I'm dead. The Tardis will never surrender, never give up, she will never do your bidding"
"Kill him! Kill him!" Hans' yelled hysterically. The Doctor threw his hands up to shield his face as the Cybermen attacked. A frosty explosion erupted before the Doctor cutting him off from the blasts from the Cybermen. He opened his eyes, patting himself down, unable to believe that he'd survived. He felt a sharp pinch on his arm.
"Ouch!" He complained rubbing his arm.
"You're definitely alive"
"Elsa," he beamed hugging her tightly.
"You silly man," she scalded, "I swear I could just freeze you into an ice cube I'm so angry with you" And to the Doctor's complete surprise she gripped the back of his head, pulling his hair tightly and forcing him into a sharp, quick kiss.
"How. How did you get out of the Tardis?"
"It seems that neither of us wanted to see you die Doctor. Not in the name of Arendelle nor in the name of the Doctor. Or any other name for that matter" He absentmindedly took her hands in his, "You have to take these off," she slid his gloves off his hands, "It's all we have left"
"You're right. You're right," he watched as she threw them to the ground, "Elsa"
"Yes Doctor?"
Without a moment of hesitation he kissed her again, "Okay," he looked a little surprised at himself, "That happened..." The Queen stared at him in shock despite her own display of affection. The ice wall she'd created was beginning to crack finally thanks to the continuous blasts from the Cybermen. The Doctor created a swirling snow storm in his palm, "I hope this works"
"Just let it go"
The Doctor stood up tall and unleashed the oncoming snow storm. The endless flood of snowflakes obscured the vision of the majority of the Cybermen though they continued to fire anyway. Elsa trapped half of the robots in an enormous ice globe while the Doctor matched her efforts with the remaining half, the thick ice would keep them busy while he dealt with Hans. The Doctor raced through the storm to the half upgraded former Prince. Through the swirls of snowflakes Elsa caught sight of a shiny glimmering object reflecting from the ice Tardis' doors. With one hand maintaining the prison she'd created she moved for a better look. It was the tiara she'd been given at her coronation. She clearly remembered throwing it away, the Doctor must have swept it up by accident when he'd re-shaped the ice into his own design. Her mind took her instantly back into the Tardis, the Doctor had told her something, something small and insignificant, what was it? Elsa screwed her face in frustration as she tried to recall the Doctor's remark.
"... They don't handle gold too well though..."
Her eyes watched the Doctor raging towards Hans, firing ice shards as he went. The army for now were occupied trying to break through the layers of ice she was constantly laying down. It was a quick decision, but Elsa took her attention off the ice prison and ran to the golden tiara, she pulled and pulled but it was stuck fast. It was going to take a few moments to thaw the ice, it was a long shot, but they were getting desperate. They wouldn't be able to keep the Cybermen contained forever.
Hans continued to dodge the attacks from the Doctor, "How is this possible!?" He puzzled as he skidded out of the way of yet another sharp projectile. Almost upon the former Prince laying on his back in the snow, the Doctor slowed his pace and began to form another piercingly sharp ice shard.
"You tell me," he uttered darkly.
"It's not possible"
"You know, I was integrated as a Cyber-Planner once," the Doctor stood over the defenceless Prince, "You have the resources to figure it out"
"We won't be fooled into using up our processing power again," Hans spit at the ground, "We have no interest in your dirty DNA"
"This magic is the only thing that stops regeneration"
"So you, can't regenerate?"
"Uh-oh," The Doctor realised his error, the globe surrounding the Cybermen burst open unleashing their deadly blasts. His eyes quickly searched for Elsa.
"Doctor!" She yelled launching the golden tiara at him. He'd barely had it in his hand for a second when he saw a rogue blast hit the Queen, she was thrown against the ice Tardis, her limp body fell into the deep snow.
The Doctor found himself blinded by rage, he gripped the golden item. The tiara dug into his hand it almost caused him to bleed, in his anger his vision became distorted and shaky. He leapt on top of the Cyber-Planner ignoring a blast that shot a hole through his billowing jacket. With one hand he pinned Hans down by the throat with the other he repeatedly stabbed through the mechanical left eye socket with the golden tiara and with every irate syllable yelled.
"How... Dare... You... Take... Her... From... Me!"
With the lead component of the Cyberiad damaged beyond repair, Cybermites scuttled out of the open eye socket and down Hans sleeves. They riddled themselves under the Doctor's clothing. He writhed as he became once again upgraded and incorporated into the cyber-consciousness, the cyberiad. He rolled off of Hans' body, fell onto his back in the snow and laughed maniacally.
"I'm home Doctor! You've redecorated, I don't like it! Ohh look! A system failure! How sad that we aren't at full capacity! You'll definitely be interested in what we have to share with you. We can offer you a fix for your broken circuitry"
In the meeting place of their minds the Doctor stood face to face with Mr Clever, his own contribution to the Cyberiad, "And still we fight over the space in here," he smiled as if greeting an old friend. Clever's eyes gleamed dangerously, the flashing technology fused to his face added to his sinister appearance, "You mentioned a fix?" The Doctor continued as casually as he could manage, "Oh and I'm sorry, about the, you know," he made a stabbing action with his hand.
"Hahaha," Clever cackled, "On the contrary, you freed me Doctor. For now I have this.." He spun around with his arms wide open, "Endless resource! The fast processing mind of a Time Lord. How I've missed this!"
"Hm," the Doctor mused, "It'll all mean nothing when my body dies, enjoy it while it lasts"
"An easy fix," Clever announced, a screen appeared next to him. It was a security feed from on board the lead Cybership. It was a vial of glowing light, on a higher resolution one may even be able to see the particles swirling within the small vessel.
"Is that..?"
"Yes. One free regeneration for our best Cyber-planner. Me!"
"The both of us," the Doctor corrected, "It might take you out if I regenerate though. You'll be burnt to a crisp"
"We have a patch for that now," Clever waved his hand dismissing the Doctor's comment.
"Where did you get the vial?"
"Oh Doctor, from your resting place, of course"
The Doctor glared at Clever, "Show it to me" The Cyber-planner laughed loudly. He moved to hold onto the Doctor's shoulder amidst his crazy cackles.
"I'll need complete motor control for that to happen," he whispered close to the Time Lord's ear.
"Done," the Doctor relinquished control of his movements to Clever.
The Doctor rose from his back in the snow, the Cybermen ceased fire, "Home time boys!" he yelled. In an instant both he and the platoon were beamed into the mother ship of the fleet, leaving the area devoid of anything but a steady falling of snowflakes.
On board the Tardis everything was deathly silent. Kristoff stared at the lifeless body of the Queen in complete horror.
"He just left her," he uttered. Anna shook her head repeatedly from side to side, the tears knew no limits as they flooded down her face.
"Elsa!" she screamed. She flew to the doors, they held fast and firmly shut as she hammered on them, kicked them, threw herself at them, "Elsa!" Kristoff wrapped his arms around her to calm her, in her complete and utter shock and sorrow she managed to land a few blows on him, if unintentionally. Finally he calmed her enough to sit with her on the floor of the Tardis, simply holding her as she wept for the Queen, her sister; her best friend.
