Stella looked around the large TARDIS wardrobe trying to find a new outfit, and considers an Alice in wonderland style dress then shook her head throwing it over her back onto an ever growing stack of clothes which include everything from country girl to punk rocker outfits, space pirate, Victorian, and a number from the Dilurian system that she was sure the Doctor would like very much, but not something he could wear in public outside of said system.
Finally, after a few more interesting outfits, she decided on a crème colored scooped neck crème colored elbow length bell sleeved empire wasted dress that reached her knees embroidered along the edge of the skirt and the bodice, a long dark brown crochet thigh length vest , brown tights, thick crème colored socks, and ankle high dark brown scrunch boots. She put her hair into a low messy bun, a braided leather head band around the crown of her head, and clipped three pink flowers on the side of her bun. The last thing she grabbed before leaving was a pair of round rose colored wire framed sunglasses which she slipped into her vest pocket.
Stella smiled nervously as she walked out of the wardrobe and down the hall to the console room where she saw the Doctor wondering around the console pressing random buttons or flicking an odd lever. She walked up while he was on the other side of the time rotor her hands worrying her vest. He came around his eyes instantly shooting to her taking in her new outfit.
"What do you think?" Stella asked shifting from foot to foot making him smile as he walked over taking her hands in his.
"Beautiful." He replied kissing her forehead. "Should I start referring to you as a Flower Child now or Gypsy Girl?"
"Very funny sandshoes." Stella scoffed rolling her eyes, not completely sure why that popped into her head. She had the feeling she had heard it around the time they had dropped Donna of for Wilf's birthday then she and the Doctor went to…
"They're not sandshoes." The Doctor grumbled, breaking her train of thought.
"Right, so where are we?" Stella asked, her previous thoughts completely forgotten.
"I thought for your first trip we might take it easy." The Doctor replied as he pulled her to the doors and opening them. "A market in Victorian London."
The Tardis had materialized under a nice mediaeval archway, in the falling snow. The Doctor stepped out with Stella's hand in his and smiled as they walked into a busy Victorian market where sellers were calling out their wares. The policeman on the beat acknowledged the Doctor and Stella with a nod, though he did give Stella a double take at her choice of clothing.
"Good afternoon."
"Hot chestnuts. Chestnuts."
"Oh, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. Oh, tidings…"
"You there, boy. What day is this?" The Doctor did his Ebenezer Scrooge impression making Stella giggle, she didn't even think he noticed that he had done it.
"Christmas Eve, sir." The boy answered giving him a strange look.
"What year?" The Doctor asked.
"You thick or something?" The boy scoffed.
"Just a tad." Stella replied playfully.
"Oi." The Doctor pouted, but smiled as Stella snuggled up against him, wrapping his arm around her in return, he was happy to see that she was enjoying herself. "Just answer the question."
"Year of our Lord 1851, sir." The boy replied.
"Right. Nice year. Bit dull." The Doctor commented with a bit of a frown.
"Doctor! Doctor!" A woman called out.
"Who, me?" the Doctor looked toward the call.
"So much for dull." Stella said as they ran toward the where they had heard the woman until they reached an alleyway.
"Doctor!" They found a charming dark-skinned young woman with wild curly black hair and dark eyes as the source of the call.
"Don't worry, don't worry. Stand back. What have we got here?" The Doctor looked to the large double doors in the wall which moved and something snarled behind it. "Ooo. Okay, I've got it. Whatever's behind that door, I think you should get out of here."
"Doctor!" The woman called out again.
"No, no. I'm standing right here. Hello." The Doctor said to her.
"Don't be stupid. Who are you?" The woman demanded with an annoyed glare.
"He's the Doctor." Stella replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Doctor who?" She asked, still looking around.
"Just the Doctor." The Doctor replied.
"Well, there can't be two of you." She snapped just as another man ran up. He wore a suit normal for the time period; a gold jacket, red vest, gold scarf ascot tucked into the vest, black dress pants, and dress shoes. He had soft brown hair parted to the side, a pale complexion, and blue eyes. "Where the hell have you been?"
"Right then. Don't worry. Stand back. What have we got here then?" The man said as he looked to the doors which were starting to give way at the same time holding out his arm making the others step back.
"Hold on, hold on. Who are you?" The Doctor asked in confusion, the man standing up straight as he turned to them.
"I'm the Doctor. Simply, the Doctor. The one, the only and the best." He replied with a wink. "Rosita, give me the sonic screwdriver."
"The what?" That got the Doctor's attention.
"Now quickly, get back to the Tardis." The other man said to Rosita.
"Back to the what?" The Doctor said, shock racing though him.
"If you could stand back, sir. This is a job for a Time Lord." The man said gesturing for them to step back while he face the large wooden double doors.
"Job for a what lord?" The Doctor yelped as the doors burst open and a black furry shaggy animal with bronze Cyberman-style head came through.
"Oh, that's different." Stella commented.
"Oh, that's new." The man said as he and the Doctor both pointed their screwdrivers at it.
"Allons-y." They said together, the men exchanging looks before focusing back on the creature in front of them.
"Ok, this is weird." Stella said looking between the Doctor, the man, and the beast.
"I've been hunting this beast for a good fortnight. Now step back, sir, ma'am." The man said taking the lead as the beast leapt and landed way up the opposite wall clinging with its metal hands and feet.
"Some sort of primitive conversion, like they took the brain of a cat or a dog." The Doctor observed.
"Well, talking's all very well. Rosita?" The man looked to Rosita.
"I'm ready." Rosita handed over a large coil of rope.
"Now, watch and learn." The rope was a lasso, and the man claiming to be the Doctor got it around the beast in one try. "Excellent. Now then, let's pull this timorous beastie down to earth."
The beast then proceeded to climb higher, pulling the man up with it.
"Or not." Stella commented dryly.
"I might be in a little bit of trouble." The man called out as he was dragged higher.
"Nothing changes. I've got you." The Doctor grabbed on, but the beast was strong enough to pull the pair of them off the ground before the girls could stop it.
"You idiots!" Rosita yelled after them.
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Stella shook her head then took notice of an axe nearby. "I'm just going to borrow this." Stella grabbed it easily holding it up as she looked to Rosita. "Would you happen to know a way into that building?"
"This way." Rosita nodded and led her off around the building, both of them running as fast as they could.
"Perhaps if you could pull?" The man asked the Doctor, yelling slightly.
"I am pulling." The Doctor snapped as he dangled from the rope below the man. "In this position, I couldn't not pull, could I?"
"Then I suggest you let go, sir." The man said as the beast leapt through a window into the top floor of the warehouse.
"I'm not letting you out of my sight, Doctor. Don't you recognize me?" The Doctor asked looking up at him as the man looked down in confusion.
"No, should I? Have we met? This is hardly the right time for me to go through my social calendar. Argh!" The man shouted before the beast pulled them in through the window of the large abandoned building.
"Whoa!" They Doctor yelped as they were drug across the dusty floor, on their bottoms, toward the opposite window. "It's going to jump!"
"We're goanna fall!" The man yelled as the beast leapt through the window.
Stella followed by Rosita burst into the warehouse running over to them, Stella with an axe raised which she brought down hard cutting the rope before the men could he pulled out of the window. The sore men got up then they started laughing as they hugged. Stella and Rosita exchanged exasperated looks, Stella more amused and Rosita's annoyed, before they all exited the building the way the girls had come in.
"Well, I'm glad you think it's so funny. You're mad. Both of you." Rosita snapped at them as they went down the outside stairs of the building. "You could've got killed."
"But evidently we did not." The man smiled at her as they gathered around a fire left burning outside in the gathering snow for warmth. "Oh, I should introduce Rosita. My faithful companion. Always telling me off."
"Well, they do, don't they?" The Doctor said smiling to Stella who was leaning against the axe, using it like a cane with the head of the axe braced against the ground.
"You wouldn't happen to be talking about me would you?" Stella shot him a look as her finger tapped against the handle of the axe making the Doctor's eye brows shoot up as he sucked in his lips.
"Rosita." The Doctor quickly turned to Rosita. "Good name. Hello, Rosita." The Doctor smiled then put his arm around Stella. "And may I introduce my lovely girl Stella Quinn."
"Nice to meet you Miss Quinn." The man smiled as Rosita nodded her hello, Stella's face dropping slightly at the lack of recognition in the man's eyes. If this was the next Doctor shouldn't he know her? Her Doctor must have sensed her thoughts and tightened his arm around her reassuringly.
"Huh. Now I'll have to go and dismantle the traps." Rosita grumbled. "All that for nothing. And we've only got twenty minutes till the funeral, don't forget. Then back to the Tardis, right?"
"Funeral?" The Doctor asked in interest.
"Oh, long story. Not my own, not yet. Oh, I'm not as young as I was." The man commented with a jaunty smile.
"Well, not as young as you were when you were me." The Doctor commented, his eyebrows raised.
"When I was who?" The man asked, looking over to the Doctor.
"You really don't recognize me or Stella?" The Doctor asked, his face falling like Stella's had. His lack of recognition of the two of them was very troubling.
"Not at all." The man shook his head.
"But you're the Doctor. The next Doctor." The Doctor said.
"Or one of the next but ones." Stella commented, looking the man over.
"A future Doctor anyway." The Doctor agreed and the man made to speak, but the Doctor stopped him. "No, no, don't tell me how it happened. Although, I hope I don't just trip over a brick. That'd be embarrassing." The Doctor commented with a wince. "Then again, painless. Worse ways to go."
"Depends on the brick." Stella pointed out.
"You're both gabbling. Now might I ask, who are you, exactly?" The man asked looking between them.
"No, I'm, er, I'm just…." The Doctor stumbled over his words.
"Smith." Stella answered for him. "John Smith. But we've heard all about you, Doctor."
"Bit of a legend, if I say so myself." The Doctor said smugly, Stella rolling her eyes at him.
"Modesty forbids me to agree with you, sir." The man said with a self-satisfied grin.
"That'd be a first." Stella mumbled under her breath.
"I'm not that bad." The Doctor grumbled back.
"But yes. Yes, I am." The man went on not hearing Stella and the Doctor's short conversation. Stella gave the Doctor a pointed look as he rubbed his ear slightly, pointedly not making eye contact
"A legend with certain memories missing. Am I right?" The Doctor asked knowing there was no way he wouldn't recognize himself or Stella, something was wrong.
"How do you know that?" The man asked with narrowed eyes.
"You've forgotten him…you've forgotten me." Stella said, with a bit of hurt in her voice. The Doctor tightened his hold around her waist, feeling a twinge of guilt for what would happen and fear because Stella was not there. He couldn't help, but to fear what had happened to her to separate them from one another.
"Great swathes of my life have been stolen away. When I turn my mind to the past, there's nothing." The man said despondently.
"Going how far back?" The Doctor asked.
"Since the Cybermen. Masters of that hellish wall-scuttler and old enemies of mine, now at work in London town. You won't believe this, Mister Smith, but they are creatures from another world." The man told them.
"Really. Wow." The Doctor commented with fake enthusiasm.
"It's said they fell onto London, out of the sky in a blaze of light. And they found me. Something was taken. And something was lost." The man said really catching the Doctor's attention. Maybe this was what happened to Stella, why she wasn't with him. "What was I like, in the past?"
"I don't think I should say. Sorry. Got to be careful with memory loss. One wrong word…" The Doctor trailed off.
"It's strange, though. I talk of Cybermen from the stars and you don't blink, Mister Smith, nor you Miss Quinn." The man said looking between them.
"Ah, don't blink. Remember that? Whatever you do, don't blink? The blinking and the statues? Sally and the angels? No?" The Doctor questioned with a grin, but the man showed no recognition.
"You're a very odd man." The man said, eyeing them both.
"Hmm, you still are." Stella said with a smile that turned serious as she went on. "Something's wrong here…"
"Oh, the funeral! The funeral's at two o'clock." The man said suddenly interrupting Stella. "It's been a pleasure, Mister Smith, Miss Quinn. Don't breathe a word of it."
"Oh, but can't we come with you?" The Doctor asked before the man could run off.
"It's far dangerous. Rest assured, I shall keep this city safe." The man started to run off, the stopped giving them a small salute with a grin. "Oh, and, merry Christmas, Mister Smith, Miss Quinn."
"Merry Christmas, Doctor." The Doctor replied as he and Stella smiled after the man as he ran off.
"We're going to follow him/you, right?" Stella looked to the Doctor.
"Yep." The Doctor replied taking her hand in his and following the man and Rosita at a short distance.
-0-
The man and Rosita walked up to a well-attended cortege, with quite a solemn crowd following four black horses pulling the hearse. They were all men of varying ages, but good finances judging by the state of their dress. The Doctor and Stella ducked behind a wall looking over to the man and Rosita who were hiding behind another wall watching the procession pass by.
"The late Reverend Fairchild, leaving his place of residence for the last time, God rest his soul. Now, with the house empty, I shall effect an entrance at the rear while you go back to the Tardis." The man said to Rosita. "This is hardly work for a woman."
"Oh, don't mind me and that lady Stella saving your life. That's work for a woman, isn't it?" Rosita snapped with a sharp look.
"The Doctor's companion does what The Doctor says. Off you go." The man replied and Stella scoffed in amusement making the Doctor pout.
"They listen to me…sometimes." The Doctor grumbled.
"No, no they don't." Stella shook her head with an amused smile.
Once Rosita was on her way the man off around the house to a back door which he started to try and open. The Doctor watched Rosita leave, Stella tugging on the Doctor's sleeve as she watched the man walk around to the back of house. They themselves made their way to the front of the house where they easily broke in through the front door making their way to the back pulling the door open sharply much to the man's surprise.
"Hello." The Doctor and Stella grinned.
"How did you get in?" The man asked standing up straight from where he had been bending over trying to break in.
"Oh, front door. I'm good at doors." The Doctor grinned then took notice of what the man was holding. "Er, do you mind my asking, is that your sonic screwdriver?"
"Yes. I'd be lost without it." He held up an ordinary screwdriver.
"But that's a screwdriver. How's it sonic?" Stella asked in confusion.
"Well, er, it makes a noise." He tapped it on the frame of the door. "That's sonic, isn't it?" He replied stepping into the room. "Now, since we're acting like common burglars, I suggest we get out of plain view."
"This investigation of yours, what's it about?" The Doctor asked as he and Stella followed the man up the stairs of the house and into a well-lit study of some kind. The man went straight for a desk and began searching through it.
"It started with a murder." The man answered as he dug through the desk drawer.
"Oh, good." The Doctor said, and then grimaced when Stella elbowed him in the side. "I mean bad, but whose?"
"Mr. Jackson Lake, a teacher of mathematics from Sussex. He came to London three weeks ago and died a terrible death." The man replied, rifling through papers as he glanced up at them.
"Cybermen?" Stella asked as she crossed her arms.
"It's hard to say. His body was never found. But then it started. More secret murders, then abductions. Children, stolen away in silence." The man informed them moving onto another drawer.
"So whose house is this?" The Doctor asked as he leaned against the desk watching the man.
"The latest murder. The Reverend Aubrey Fairchild, found with burns to his forehead, like some advanced form of electrocution." The man said moving onto a stack of books on a small shelf.
"But who was he?" Stella asked looking to the Doctor.
"Was he important?" The Doctor asked looking back to Stella.
"You both ask a lot of questions." The man commented, looking up from the book he had been flipping through.
"Well, we're your companions." The Doctor said as way of answer.
"The Reverend was the pillar of the community, a member of many parish boards. A keen advocate of children's charities." The man relented with a small smile.
"Children again." The Doctor said thoughtfully.
"But why would the Cybermen want him dead?" Stella asked.
"And what's his connection to the first death, this Jackson Lake?" The Doctor asked.
"It's funny. I seem to be telling you both everything, as though you engendered some sort of trust." The man said looking them over. "You seem familiar, Mister Smith. I know your face. But how?"
"I wonder. I can't help noticing you're wearing a fob watch." The Doctor pointed the chain hanging out of the man's vest pocket.
"Is that important?" The man asked, glancing down at it.
"Legend has it that the memories of a Time Lord can be contained within a watch." Stella cocked her head to the side.
"Do you mind?" The Doctor asked holding out his hand and the man handed him the watch. "It's said that if it's opened…" He opened it and the works fell out. "Oh. Maybe not."
"It was more for decoration." The man said taking the watch back.
"Yeah." Stella nodded with a small laugh. "Anyway, alien infiltration."
"Yes. Just look for anything different." The man said as they started to search through the office together. "Possibly metal. Anything that doesn't seem to belong. Perhaps a mechanical device that could fit no earthly engine." The Doctor surreptitiously scanned with his sonic screwdriver. "It could even seem to be organic, but unlike any organism of the natural world. Shush! What's that noise?"
"Oh, it's just me, whistling, helps me think." Stella replied, whistling the sound the screwdriver made as proof while the Doctor went over to the writing desk.
"I wonder what's in here, though." The Doctor opened one of the drawers taking out two metal cylinders. "Ah. Different and metal, you were right." The Doctor handed one off to Stella. "They are infostamps. I mean, at a guess. If I were you, I'd say they worked something like this." The Doctor pressed one end of the metal cylinder and images were projected from the other onto a gold framed mirror. The Doctor slipped on his glasses as he looked up at what was being shown to them. "See? Compressed information. Tons of it. That is the history of London, 1066 to the present day."
"This is like a disc, a Cyberdisc." Stella explained, then looked confused as the man stared down at the other infostamp sitting down heavily in a nearby chair. "But why would the Cybermen need something so simple? They've got to be wireless."
"Unless, they're in the wrong century. They haven't got much power. They need plain old basic infostamps to update themselves." The Doctor told her then noticed the parlor of the man's face and his troubled countenance. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine." The man replied, his voice strained like he was about to cry.
"No, what is it? What's wrong?" Stella asked him as she kneeled down in front of the man gently placing her hand over his.
"I've seen one of these before. I was holding this device the night I lost my mind." He said looking up from the cylinder to Stella as the Doctor stood next to them. "The night I regenerated. The Cybermen, they made me change." Tears began to gather in his eyes as he gripped Stella's hand in his, shaking hard. "My mind, my face, my whole self and you were there." He looked up to the Doctor. "Who are you?"
"A friend. I swear." The Doctor replied placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Then I beg you, John, Stella. Help me." He looked between them desperately.
"Ah. Two words we've never refused." The Doctor commented.
"We'll help you, no worries." Stella gave his hand a reassuring squeeze making smile a bit, thought it was a sad one there was a small spark of hope.
"But it's not a conversation for a dead man's house." The Doctor added on as he moved away from the man back toward the center of the room. "It'll make more sense if we go back to the Tardis. Your Tardis. Hold on. I just need to do a little final check. Won't take a tick." The Doctor moved through the room opening a door, but finding nothing. "There's one more thing I cannot figure. If this room's got infostamps, then maybe, just maybe, it's got something that needs infostamping." He opened another door revealing a Cyberman behind it causing him to quickly close the door. "Okay.
"I think we should run." The Doctor said right before the Cyberman smashed the door down. "Run, Doctor! Now, Doctor!"
Stella grabbed onto the man pulling him out of the room with the Doctor following, all of them running as the Cyberman gave chase.
"Delete." The Cyberman called out. The Doctor slammed the door closed behind them then locked it with his sonic catching up with Stella who was still ushering the man along down the hall.
"The Doctor will be deleted." Another said coming around the corner in front of them forcing them back only for yet another one to break through a door forcing another direction change.
"Delete." It called out.
"Stairs! Can't lead them outside!" The Doctor grabbed something only to discover it is an umbrella. Stella rolled her eyes taking a sword from the wall and standing in front of the Doctor with a dark look.
"Get back!" Stella snapped.
"Delete." They advanced.
"You better listen to her, she's a dab hand with a cutlass. You don't want to come near us when she's got one of these." The Doctor called out as they faced off against the cybermen with Stella's sword held at the ready. "This is your last warning." They still advanced trapping them on the stairs. "No? Okay, this is really your last warning!"
"Doctor, they're not listening." Stella pointed out.
"Okay, we give up." The Doctor said pulling Stella up the stairs.
"Delete."
"Listen to me properly. Whatever you're doing stuck in 1851, I can help!" The Doctor tried as the Cyberman tried to hit him only for Stella to deflect the attacks with her cutlass. "I mean it. I'm the only person in the world who can help you! Listen to me!"
"Delete." The Cyberman brought down his arm and Stella blocked holding his arm back with the blade.
"I'm the Doctor. You need me. Check your memory banks. My name's the Doctor. Leave this man alone. The Doctor is me!" The Doctor called out as the man scrambled up the stairs, wide eyed at the Doctor's words.
"They're not listening, we need to go now!" Stella pushed the cybermens arm to the side giving her the chance to kick the Cyberman back causing a domino effect with the other cybermen. The Doctor grabbed Stella pulling her back away from the recovering Cybermen up the stairs after the man.
"Delete."
"The Doctor, remember? I'm the Doctor! You need me alive. You need the Doctor, and that's me!" The Doctor still tried to get them to back off while Stella was blocking their attacks with the sword still as man was on the landing, studying the second infostamp.
One of the Cybermen grabbed Stella's sword as she held it horizontally to block its attack, both of them locked in the struggle to gain control of the sword. The Cybermen pushed back with all of its strength sending Stella back causing her to stumble into the Doctor knocking them both down to the ground.
"Delete."
The man activated the infostamp taking off the end and aimed the beam at the Cybermen who fell to their knees then their heads exploded as the Doctor and Stella watched in amazement. The Doctor stood up quickly pulling Stella up with him, checking her over for any wounds.
"Are you ok?" The Doctor asked her in concern.
"I'm fine love." She pressed a kiss to his cheek before the Doctor looked to the man with a wild grin.
"Infostamp with a Cyclo-Steinham core. You ripped open the core and broke the safety. Zap!" The Doctor said in excitement.
"Only the Doctor would think of that." Stella said.
"I did that last time." The man said looking dazed.
"Come here. You'll be okay." The Doctor said gently as he took out his stethoscope, placing it against the man's chest. "Let me just check."
"You told them you were the Doctor. Why did you do that?" The man asked, breathing hard and sweating as if he had a fever.
"Oh, I was just protecting you." The Doctor replied easily.
"You're trying to take away the only thing I've got, like they did." The man accused.
"Of course not." Stella shook her head placing a hand on his arm. "We were distracting them to give you time to save the day." But the man wasn't listening, his face twisted in emotional pain. "Are you ok?"
"They stole something, something so precious, but I can't remember." The man looked to Stella intently as he took hold of her upper arms, but he wasn't seeing her. "What happened to me? What did they do?"
"We'll find out." Stella assured him as she placed her hands over his, rubbing them soothingly. "You, 'John', and me together."
The man looked at her for a moment longer before nodding releasing his hold on her with a slightly embarrassed look.
"My apologies for taking hold of you so." The man apologized quickly.
"It's fine." Stella assured him. "Now, we should get back to the Tardis don't you think?"
"Right, this way." The man nodded distractedly as he led them back through the house and out the door.
-0-
They made their way through the streets where night had fallen with the man leading them until they came to the alley way where a very relieved companion was waiting. Rosita ran down the torch lit street with a relieved look, hugging the man tight, happy that he was alive and well.
"Doctor! I thought you were dead!" Rosita breathed out as the man patted her on the back.
"Now then, Rosita. A little decorum." The man said as they separated.
"You've been gone for so long." Rosita said, embarrassed by her actions. She looked to Stella and the Doctor as she continued to speak. "He's always doing this, leaving me behind. Going frantic."
"Some things will never change." Stella said with a sigh while the Doctor shot her a pouting look.
"Not that bad." He mumbled making Stella smile as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Are to." Stella winked at him.
"What about the Tardis?" The man asked.
"Oh, she's ready. Come on." Rosita led them onwards, looping her arm through the man's arm pulling him along.
"I'm looking forward to this." The Doctor grinned taking hold of Stella's hand with an excited smile as they followed, walking into some horse stalls that been converted into the man's living space.
"You were right though, Rosita. The Reverend Fairchild's death was the work of the Cybermen." The man said walking over to where a basin was set up in one of the stalls.
"So, you live here?" The Doctor asked, leaning against the frame of the stall.
"A temporary base, until we rout the enemy. The Tardis is magnificent, but it's hardly a home." The man said, wiping his face with a wet rag.
"And where's the Tardis now?" Stella asked.
"In the yard." The man replied walking out of the stall and over to a pile of clothes that he started to rifle through.
"Er, what's all this luggage?" The Doctor asked looking around at the copious amounts of trunks and suit cases.
"Evidence. The property of Jackson Lake, the first man to be murdered." The man told them. "Oh, but my new friends are fighters, Rosita, much like myself. They faced the Cybermen, Stella with only a cutlass. I'm not ashamed to say, they were braver than I." His eyes seemed to gain a faraway look. "They were quite brilliant." The Doctor was scanning the luggage with his sonic as the man spoke, causing him to look to Stella with a furrowed gaze. "Are you whistling again?"
"Yeah, sorry, I'll stop if it's bothering you." Stella said as the Doctor mouthed shush to Rosita who had seen him with his sonic screwdriver.
"It's not bother, just an odd whistle, quite unique." The man replied as the Doctor slipped his sonic back in his pocket and took a suitcase off the pile while the man was distracted by Stella.
"It's a hobby." Stella shrugged as they both took a seat. "I like anything that can become music."
"You sing?" He asked.
"And play some instruments." Stella nodded, watching as he seemed to drift off while starring at the fire.
"That's another man's property." Rosita admonished the Doctor.
"Well, a dead man's." The Doctor opened the suitcase, then glanced to the man out of the corner of his eye before looking to Rosita. "How did you two meet, then?"
"He saved my life. Late one night, by the Osterman's Wharf, this creature came out of the shadows. A man made of metal. I thought I was going to die." Rosita told the Doctor then turned her smile on the man who was listening to Stella as she spoke, only interjecting here and there. "And then, there he was. The Doctor." She turned back to the Doctor, her face a mask of worry. "Can you help him? He has such terrible dreams. Wakes at night in such a state of terror."
"Come now, Rosita. With all the things a Time Lord has seen, everything he's lost, he may surely have bad dreams." The man said as he and Stella walked over to them catching on to their conversation, Stella standing next to the Doctor.
Stella slipped her hand comfortingly into the Doctor's, loving how he laced their fingers together and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. They both had their share of nightmares, so much that they found themselves spending long nights in the library together, just reading as they sat before a warm fire, cuddled up together. When they had no choice but to give into sleeps call they had found comfort wrapped up in each other's arms. The Doctor smiled down at Stella giving her hand a squeeze before he released her so he could dig through the trunk he had uncovered.
"Yeah." The Doctor nodded before he pulled out a metal cylinder from the case. "Oh, now. Look. Jackson Lake had an infostamp."
"But how? Is that significant?" The man asked.
"Doctor, the answer to all this is in your Tardis. Can we see it?" Stella asked with a smile.
"Miss Quinn, it would be my honor." The man grinned leading them out of the stables and into the courtyard where an elaborately patterned, but mostly blue, Montgolfier sat. "There she is. My transport through time and space. The Tardis."
"You've got a balloon." The Doctor said in shock, wide eyed as his eyebrows shot up.
"Tardis. S. It stands for Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style. Do you see?" The man smiled proudly looking between them.
"Well, we do now." Stella said looking up at the balloon appraisingly as the Doctor tugged on his ear. "I like it, it's very pretty."
"Good Tardis. Brilliant. Nice one." The Doctor nodded along, still wide eyed. "And is it inflated by gas, yeah?"
"We're adjacent to the Mutton Street Gasworks. I pay them a modest fee. Good work, Jed." The man slapped a strapping young man on the shoulder and handed him a big five pound note.
"Glad to be of service, sir." Jed replied.
"You've got quite a bit of money." The Doctor took note.
"Oh, you get nothing for nothing. How's that ripped panel, Jed?" The man asked Jed.
"All repaired. Should work a treat. You never know, maybe tonight's the night, Doctor. Imagine it, seeing Christmas from above." Jed said wistfully as they all starred up at the balloon.
"Not just yet, I think. One day, I will ascend. One day soon." The man said with a spark in his eye at the thought as Jed nodded leaving them.
"You've never actually been up?" Stella asked.
"He dreams of leaving, but never does." Rosita shook her head.
"I can depart in the Tardis once London is safe and finally, when I'm up there. Think of it, John, Stella, the time and the space." The man said, his excitement evident at the prospect evident, but a lingering shadow in his eyes causing him to look sad.
"The perfect escape." The Doctor nodded as he eyed the man, Stella slipping her hand into his.
"Do you ever wonder what you're escaping from?" Stella asked as she rocked on her heels.
"With every moment." The man replied meeting her gaze.
"Then do you want me to tell you? Because I think I've worked it out now. How you became The Doctor. What do you think? Do you want to know?" The Doctor said. The man looked to him wide eyed before nodding hesitantly and they walked back into the stables everyone taking a seat before the Doctor started his story.
"The story begins with the Cybermen. A long time away, and not so far from here, the Cybermen were fought, and they were beaten. And they were sent into a howling wilderness called The Void, locked inside forever more." The Doctor informed them. "But then a greater battle rose up, so great that everything inside the Void perished. But, as the walls of the world weakened, the last of the Cybermen must have fallen through the dimensions, back in time, to land here. And they found you."
"I fought them, I know that. But what happened?" The man asked.
"At the same time, another man came to London. Mister Jackson Lake. Plenty of luggage, money in his pocket. Maybe coming to town for the winter season, I don't know. But he found the Cybermen too. And just like you, exactly like you, he took hold of an infostamp." The Doctor told them.
"But he's dead. Jackson Lake is dead. The Cybermen murdered him." The man said.
"You said no body was ever found. And you kept all his suitcases, but you could never bring yourself to open them." Stella pointed out gently.
"I told you the answer was in the fob watch." The Doctor said and held out his hand as he leaned forward. "Can I see?" The man handed the watch to the Doctor who turned it over revealing a plain case engraved with initials. "J L. The watch is Jackson Lake's."
"Jackson Lake is you, sir?" Rosita looked to Lake in shock.
"But I'm the Doctor." Lake argued feebly.
"You became the Doctor because the infostamp you picked up was a book about one particular man." The Doctor put down the watch and tossed up a infostmap, catching it in his hand before activating it, projecting its contents onto the wall, showing all of the past Doctors, all leading up to him. "The Cybermen's database. Stolen from the Daleks inside the Void, I'd say, but it's everything you could want to know about the Doctor."
"That's you." Lake looked from the picture of the latest Doctor, to the real one sitting before him.
"Time Lord, Tardis, enemy of the Cybermen. The one and the only." The Doctor said with a click of his tongue as Lake leaned forward rubbing his face with his hands. "You see, the infostamp must have backfired. Streamed all that information about me right inside your head."
"I am nothing but a lie." Lake said despondently.
"No, no, no, no, no." Stella said quickly shaking her head. "Infostamps are just facts and figures. All that bravery. Saving Rosita, defending London town, hmm?" Stella smiled reassuringly at him. "And the invention. Building a Tardis. That's all you."
"And what else?" Lake asked, his whole being tense to the point of shaking, watching as the Doctor and Stella exchanged concerned looks. "Tell me what else."
"There's still something missing, isn't there?" The Doctor asked.
"I demand you tell me, sir. Tell me what they took." Lake demanded, becoming desperate.
"Sorry. Really, I am so sorry, but that's an awful lot of luggage for one man." The Doctor said. "Because an infostamp is plain technology. It's not enough to make a man lose his mind. What you suffered is called a fugue. A fugue state, where the mind just runs away because it can't bear to look back. You wanted to become someone else, because Jackson Lake had lost so much."
"Midnight." Rosita said as they church bells tolled. "Christmas Day."
"I remember." Lake breathed out. "Oh, my God." The memories flashed through his mind's eye. "Caroline. They killed my wife. They killed her."
Lake started to break down in tears as Rosita did her best to comfort him, Stella and the Doctor watching with sad sympathetic eyes, hearts broken at what this man was going through. Suddenly the infostamp beeped, the button on the end lighting up. The Doctor reached down taking up another to find it in the same state. Standing up he used them like homing beacons that led him to a trunk with a bandolier of stamps that had been tucked away inside.
"Oh, you found a whole cache of infostamps." The Doctor said as he and Stella looked them over.
"But what is it? What's that noise?" Rosita asked them.
"Activation. A call to arms. The Cybermen are moving!" Stella said a she and the Doctor ran outside.
"The Doctor and Stella need help. I learnt that much about him and I'm sure Stella is the same. There should be someone at their side. Now go. Go." Lake urged Rosita who hesitantly ran out of the stalls after the time travelers.
-0-
The Doctor and Stella ran after marching shadows they had spotted only to find much to their shock that it was children casting them, not Cybermen, marching past them with fearful looks, onlookers gathering around curiously. Walking with them was an older man of distinction based on his clothing and with strange devices like head phones sticking out of his ears. Neither Stella nor the Doctor looked away from the sight as Rosita ran up to them, her own shock apparent.
"What is it? What's happening?" Rosita asked then spotted the man. "That's Mister Cole. He's Master of the Hazel Street Workhouse. Maybe he's taking them to prayers."
"Oh, nothing as holy as that." The Doctor said catching up with Cole, Stella close behind as well as Rosita. "Can you hear me? Hello? No?" He made no acknowledgement of any kind. "Mister Cole, you seem to have something in your ear. Now, this might hurt a bit, but if I can just…"
"Doctor, stop." Stella said taking hold of his hand which was going for his sonic. She looked to a Cybershade growling nearby, hidden in the shadows. "They're on guard and we can't risk a fight, not with the children.
"But where are they going?" Rosita asked.
"They all need a good whipping, if you ask me." Jed said raising his chin a bit.
"Well no one asked you." Stella snapped shapely causing Jed to look admonished. "They're obviously not out here by their own accord."
"Have you seen anything else like this Jed?" The Doctor asked, taking hold of Stella's hand in his. Children were Stella's greatest weakness, she would do anything to protect them and heaven help anyone hurting a child in her presence.
"There's tons of them. I've just seen another lot coming down from the Ingleby Workhouse down Broadback Lane." Jed answered.
"Where's that?" The Doctor asked.
"This way." Rosita led them on through the streets coming across more children being walked past with another older man walking with them, the same devices in his ears. "There's dozens of them."
"But what for?" Stella questioned as they followed the children who stopped outside a large pair of double doors that were suddenly opened by a Cyberman causing the children to flinch back in fright.
"You will continue. You will enter the Court of the CyberKing. March. That is an order. March!" Scoones ordered the terrified children who reluctantly did as they were told, the Cybershades stopping them from scattering.
"What is that place?" Stella looked to Rosita.
"That's the door to the sluice. All the sewage runs through there, straight into the Thames." Rosita told her.
"Yeah, that's too well guarded. We'll have to find another way in." The Doctor said leading them from their hiding place as soon as the doors were closed again.
"I think we just did." Stella said when they were spotted by two more Cybermen that had come up behind them.
"Whoa! That's cheating, sneaking up. Do you have your legs on silent?" The Doctor questioned, making sure Rosita was behind them.
"So, what do we have here?" Hartigan, a woman with black hair pulled back into a braided bun, cold blue eyes, wearing a bright red full dress, a red parasol, and black leather gloves, asked as she walked up to them with a smug look.
"Listen. Just walk towards me slowly. Don't let them touch you." The Doctor told her, gesturing for her to come forward.
"Oh, but they wouldn't hurt me, my fine boys. They are my knights in shining armor, quite literally." Hartigan smiled, using her parasol like a cane.
"Even if they've converted you, that's not a Cyber speech pattern. You've still got free will. I'm telling you, step away." The Doctor warned her.
"There's been no conversion, sir. No one's ever been able to change my mind. The Cybermen offered me the one thing I wanted. Liberation." Hartigan said with a bright sigh.
"Who are you?" Rosita demanded.
"You can be quiet. I doubt he paid you to talk." Hartigan snapped at Rosita, Stella's eyes narrowed and she started forward, but the Doctor took hold of her hand, keeping her back. "More importantly, who are you, sir, ma'am, with such intimate knowledge of my companions."
"I'm the Doctor and this is Stella." The Doctor introduced them.
"Incorrect. You do not correspond to our image of the Doctor." The cyberman responded.
"Yeah, but that's because your database got corrupted." Stella told him.
"Oh, look, look, look. Check this. The Doctor's infostamp." The Doctor threw it to a Cyberman who flipped open the end examining it. "Plug it in. Go on. Download."
"The core has been damaged. This infostamp would damage Cyberunits." The cyberman said.
"Well it was worth a shot." Stella grumbled.
"Core repaired. Download." The Cyberman plugged the infostamp into its chest. "You are the Doctor."
"Hello." The Doctor smiled with a wave.
"You will be deleted." The cyberman said.
"No, no. Oh, but let me die happy." The Doctor held up his hands and looked to Hartigan. "Tell me, what do you need those children for?"
"What are children ever needed for? They're a workforce." Hartigan replied.
"But for what?" Stella snapped, Hartigan was really ticking her off.
"Very soon now, the whole Empire will see." Hartigan said haughtily. "And they will bow down in worship."
"And it's all been timed for Christmas Day. Was that your idea, Miss?" The Doctor trailed off.
"Hartigan. Yes." She replied with a grin. "The perfect day for a birth, with a new message for the people. Only this time, it won't be the words of a man."
"The birth of what?" Stella demanded.
"A birth, and a death. Namely the both of yours. Thank you, Doctor, Stella. I'm glad to have been part of your very last conversation." Haritgan said then looked to the cybermen. "Now, delete them."
"Delete." The Cybermen stomped forward, the Doctor standing before Stella and Rosita as they advanced, but then their heads lit up with blue light before they collapsed to the ground in heaps.
"At your service, Doctor, Stella." Jackson Lake walked forward wearing a bandolier of infostamps.
"Shades! Shades!" Hartigan called out.
"Run! Come on!" The Doctor urged them to get away, running past Hartigan.
"Shades!" Hartigan kept screaming.
"One last thing." Stella turned on Hartigan punching her straight across the face causing her to fall back onto the ground, blood trickling from her lip.
"Can I say, I completely disapprove." The Doctor admonished her lightly, though there was a glint of amusement in his eyes.
"And you call me a hippy." Stella shot him a playful smile as she grabbed the Doctor and Rosita pulling them along with Lake. "Come on."
"Get off me. I said, get off." Hartigan snapped as the Cybershades ran to her. She stood to her feet glaring after the retreating figures of her enemies and wiping the blood from her lips after taking off her gloves, starring down at the red smeared across her fingertips. "Tell your masters we're not waiting till dawn. The CyberKing will rise tonight!"
-0-
They ran down the street through the alleys until they ducked into a small nook, glancing around to make sure they weren't followed.
"That stronghold down by the river." The Doctor said peeking around the corner. "We need to find a way in."
"I'm ahead of you. My wife and I were moving to London so I could take up a post at the university." Lake told them as he took out some folded papers handing them to the Doctor. "And while my memory is still not intact, this was in the luggage. The deeds. Fifteen Latimer Street. And if I discovered the Cybermen there, in the cellar, then…"
"That might be our way in." Stella cheered. "Brilliant."
"There's still more. I remember the cellar and my wife, but I swear there was something else in that room." Lake said trying to piece it together. "If we can find that, perhaps that's the key to defeating these invaders. So, onwards!"
"Maybe you should go back…" The Doctor said to Rosita who glared back at him.
"Don't even try." Rosita replied sharply over her shoulder as they kept on running.
-0-
Hartigan walked through the factory, the Cyberplanner walking next to her as she explained what she wanted to happen now that the Doctor and Stella was about.
"You have wisdom. If the Doctor is planning to intervene, then the Ascension will commence immediately." The cyberleader said to Hartigan.
"Excellent. And as for you, Mister Cole, Mister Scoones, Mister Fetch and Mister Milligan, your work is done." Hartigan moved a lever and their earpieces electrocuted the men sending them screaming to the ground and their deaths. Hartigan then turned to where the children were slaving away, calling their attention to herself. "Children! Pay attention. Now let the new Industrial Revolution begin. I want to see you work!"
The children turned capstans and stoked the boilers in the engine house, doing everything that they were told while under the threat of the Cybrmen that guarded them like slave drivers.
"Energy levels sixty percent and rising. Soon the CyberKing will awake." The cyberleader said.
"Then show me." Hartigan replied as she looped her arm through the Cyberplanners and he led her through the factory.
-0-
Lake led them through a series of tunnels with pipes and very low ceiling forcing them to walk hunched over. Coming to the end first Lake found a Cyberman standing guard at the bottom of the cellar steps on 15 Latimer Street.
"Delete." The cyberman advanced, but Lake zapped it with an infostamp causing it to fall to the ground dead. The Doctor and Stella ran over to a high tech device in the middle of the room followed by Rosita, Lake following at a slower pace.
"It must've been guarding this." Stella said as she and the Doctor kneeled down looking the device over.
"A Dimension Vault. Stolen from the Daleks again." The Doctor said, activating the device. "That's how the Cybermen travelled through time."
"Jackson, is this it? The thing you couldn't remember?" Stella asked him.
"I don't think so. I just can't see. It's like it's hidden." Lake said, looking around the cellar, his face still confused.
"Not enough power." The Doctor groused before shooting to his feet followed by Stella. "Come on! Avanti!"
"Proprio dietro di te." (Right behind you) Stella took his hand as they ran down the cellar through more tunnels causing the Doctor to grin.
"What do the Cybermen want?" Rosita asked as they made their way through the tunnels.
"They want us. That's what Cybermen are." The Doctor explained. "Human beings with their brains put into metal shells. They want every living thing to be like them."
-0-
Hartigan walked across a drawbridge that lead to an electric chair with two Cybermen standing either side. The Cyberplanner was at her side and they were followed by six more cybermen in military formation.
"Oh, that is magnificent. That is royalty, indeed. And that's quite a throne. Oh, you will look resplendent." Hartigan smiled brightly to the cyberleader.
"The chair you designate as throne is not intended for me. My function is to serve the CyberKing, not to become the CyberKing." The cyberleader corrected her.
"Then who sits there?" Hartigan asked. The CyberLeader looked at her and it sunk in, her face becoming horrified. "No! Now, just. I think if you remember correctly you said I was to be heralded."
"All hail the CyberKing." The cyberleader said.
"All hail the CyberKing." The others picked up the cheer.
"But you promised me. You said I would never be converted." Hartigan snapped, angrily and fearfully.
"That was designated a lie." Cyberleader replied as she was taken forcefully and strapped into the chair against her will.
"You can't do this to me!" Hartigan struggled in the chair.
"Incorrect. It is done." Cyberleader said.
"But I would have served you anyway!" Hartigan tried desperately.
"Your mind is riven with anger and abuse and revenge. These have no place in a Cybermind." Cyberleader told her. "Activate. Emotions have tormented you all of your life. Now you will be set free. This is your liberation."
"Oh, for the love of God, have you no pity?" Hartigan cried out.
"Correct." Cyberleader replied as an open faced brass helmet descended, settling on her head, and Miss Hartigan was converted. "A CyberKing is born."
"All hail the CyberKing." They chanted as Hartigan opened her eyes which were completely black.
"Behold such information." Hartigan spoke in awe.
-0-
They finally managed to make it through the tunnels and found themselves in the large main factory where all of the work was being done. The Doctor, Stella, Lake, and Rosita looked down on the child laborers from a sewer opening high in the wall as they worked hard, harder than a child should ever have to.
"Upon my soul." Lake breathed out as they took it all in.
"What is it?" Rosita asked looking over the massive machine that was stories high
"It's an engine. They're generating electricity, but what for?" Stella questioned, her fists clenched.
"We can set them free." Lake reached for a stamp.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." The Doctor stopped him, before racing off down the hall with the others following, Lake hesitating a moment as he looked over the children before joining them at a cyber screen. "Power at ninety percent. But if we stop the engine, the power dies down, the Cybermen'll come running." The Doctor said then suddenly the screen went fuzzy and the writing changed colors. "Ooo. Hold on. Power fluctuation."
"That's not meant to happen." Stella said as she looked the screen over.
"It's going wrong." Lake said to them.
"No, it's weird. The software's rewriting itself. It's changing." The Doctor said exchanging astounded looks with Stella.
-0-
"I can see the stars, the worlds beyond, the Vortex of Time itself, and the whole of infinity." Hartigan said in wonder, her black eyes wide in awe. "Oh, but this is glorious!"
"That is incorrect. Glorious is an emotional response." Cyberleader said stepping forward.
"Exactly. There is so much joy in this machine." Hartigan said with a smile.
"Joy is not acceptable." Cyberleader said.
"Don't you see? My mind is stronger than you ever thought. It dominates, sir. It dominates you." Hartigan said with a laugh.
"Alert. You are operating beyond the standard parameters." Cyberleader said as he and the other cybermen flexed their hands, raising their arms slightly.
"I am new. The might of your technology combined with my own imagination. Yes!" Hartigan cheered, her eyes alight with determination. "There will be a new race of Cybermen. My Cybermen. Logic and strength combined with fury and passion."
"Diagnosis, system failure. You will be removed from the processor." The Cyberleader stepped forward, but a beam of pulsing blue light came from the top of Hartigan's helmet, vaporizing the cyberleader into nothing.
-0-
The control panel exploded before them causing them all to flinch back as the sparks flew and smoke gathered around the screen for a moment.
"Whoa! What the hell's happening? It's out of control." The Doctor called out, trying to get the screen to show them what was happening.
"It's accelerating. Ninety six percent, ninety seven." Lake said, reading off the figures.
"When it reaches a hundred, what about the children?" Rosita asked fearfully.
"They're disposable." Stella said bitterly.
"Come on!" The Doctor urged them on down the halls.
-0-
"I am CyberKing. My mind inside the Cybermen. And you will obey me!" Hartigan over flowed with power, forcing her will into the minds of the cyberment turning them into her own army.
"All hail the CyberKing!" The cybermen chanted, saluting with their arms across their chests.
"Come, my soldiers. Come to me." Hartigan ordered the Cybermen who marched forward followed by the cybershades. "CyberKing rising."
The drawbridge fell away and the stage containing the throne and the Cybermen began to rise.
-0-
"Power levels now at one hundred percent." A cyberman announced from the factory. "Delete the workforce."
"Delete." A klaxon sounds and the children looked around in alarm as the cybermen advanced. "Delete. Delete."
The Doctor and Stella ran in as Lake zapped the Cyberman destroying them before they could hurt the children, then Stella took over.
"Right. Now, all of you, out! Do you hear me? That's an order!" Stella called out, all of the children doing as she said. "Every single one of you, run!"
"All of you, come on, as fast as you can. Come on!" Lake yelled over the noise as well.
"There's a hot pie for everyone, if you leg it!" Stella urged them on.
"You're…you're not…making the pie, are you?" The Doctor glanced at her getting a glare in return.
"I am not that bad." Stella grumbled as they urged the kids on.
"Love, you burnt your cereal once." The Doctor said getting a few more down some stairs
"I…it…shut up." Stella snapped with a pout.
"Go!" Lake ordered more of the adolescent workforce.
"Rosita, get them out of sluice gate. Once you're out, keep running. Far as you can!" The Doctor said to Rosita who nodded taking lead before the kids. "Come on, come on, come on."
"Turn right at the corner! Fast as you can. And don't stop! Keep running! Keep running!" Rosita urged the kids onward out of the factory doors. "Come on! Come on! Keep running! Keep running!"
"Go! Quick, quick." Stella got the last of the kids out running after Rosita who led them out into the streets.
"It's some sort of starter motor, but starting what?" The Doctor questioned looking at another screen as Lake watched the last of the kids leaving, and then Lake saw a little boy stranded on a platform high up on the machine, his face going pale.
"That's my son. My son. Doctor, Stella, my son!" Lake pointed to the boy as Stella ran up to him.
"What?" The Doctor ran over to him whipping off his glasses.
"They took my son. No wonder my mind escaped. Those damned Cybermen, they took my child! But he's alive, Doctor, Stella." Lake said then he called out to the child as the child starred down at them with tear filled eyes. "Frederick!"
"Come on!" The Doctor called up to the boy, but he stood where he was frozen in fear.
"No, he's too scared. Stay there! Don't move! I'm coming." Lake ran forward to the stairs, but an explosion knocked him down, the Doctor and Stella running to his side.
"I can't get up there. Fred!" Lake scrambled to his feet calling out to his son.
"They've finished with the motor. It's going to blow up." The Doctor said.
"What are we going to do, Doctor? What are we going to do?" Lake became desperate.
Stella drew the cutlass she got from the Reverend's house and ran forward before either man could react, a sharp wild glint in her eye.
"Come on, Jackson. If you know the Doctor then you know me." Stella grabbed hold of a rope and cut it free from its tether causing her to shoot up into the air, only letting go so that she landed on the platform by Frederick. "Oh, that's it." Stella turned to Fred. "Hello kiddo. Now, hold on tight. Don't let go."
Frederick clung on to the Stella's back as she used the rope to swing across the vault landing safely on another platform just as the one they had been on was engulfed in flames. Adjusting Fred so that she no had her arms wrapped around him she quickly made her way down through the smoke bringing the boy down to his father.
"Merry Christmas." Stella grinned handing Fred over to Lake who held him close. The Doctor ran up to Stella picking her up and spinning her around.
"You were brilliant love." He smiled kissing her quickly on her lips before they all started running out of the factory. "But next time let me do the death defying acts."
"And take away all my fun?" Stella fake pouted, the Doctor rolling his eyes as he pulled her along, all of them making their way through the building following Lake with Fred still in his arms back to the secret passage, everything exploding around them making for a hazardous journey.
"Head for the street." The Doctor ordered as Stella worked the Dimension vault.
"Come on, Doctor, Stella. Hurry up!" Lake urged him as the Doctor caught the long thin piece from the Dimension vault that Stella had ejected.
"Gotcha!" The Doctor cheered before he and Stella ran after the Lake's.
"Behold, I am risen. Witness me, mankind, as CyberKing of all." Hartigan called out as Stella raced onto the street followed by the Lake's.
"Doctor, you need to see this." Stella called out as the Doctor ran out.
"It's a CyberKing." The Doctor said in shock as the steampunk Cyberman towered over old London town, the screams of the citizens of London filling the air.
"And a CyberKing is what?" Lake asked
"It's a ship. Dreadnought class. Front line of an invasion." The Doctor explained. "And inside the chest, a Cyberfactory, ready to convert millions."
"And I will walk. I will stride across this tiny little world." Hartigan continued her speech as the giant feet of the cyberking crushed buildings and people in its path. It strode up St Martin Le Grand and Aldersgate, barely missing Saint Paul's Cathedral. "My people. Why do they not rejoice?"
"Just head south." The Doctor told Lake. "Take him south. Go to the parkland."
"But where are you going?!" Lake asked looking between the travelers.
"To stop that thing." Stella answered.
"But I should be with you." Lake argued.
"Jackson, you've got your son. You've got a reason to live." The Doctor told him.
"And you haven't?" Lake looked from the Doctor to Stella.
"This is our reason to live, to save others." Stella replied and Lake nodded.
"God save you, both." Lake said before they parted as the CyberKing kept walking. The Doctor and Stella ran through the streets back to the stables where they searched through the luggage of Jackson Lake pulling out more infostamps.
"What the hell is that thing, sir?" Jed who had been hiding in the stables asked them frantically.
"Oh, good man. Jed, wasn't it? Jed, we need your help!" The Doctor said, glancing over to him.
"I'm not going out there." Jed shook his head fearfully.
"I'll give you five pound notes." Stella said holding up said notes.
"Er." Jed eyed the note and hesitantly caved. "All right. What do you want me to do?"
"The Tardis is going to fly." The Doctor said as he and Stella adjusted their bandoliers of infostamps before they all raved outside to the Tardis.
"People of the world, now hear me. Your governments will surrender. And if not, then behold my power." Hartigan announced. The CyberKing turned its arms into megacannons, and started shooting indiscriminately.
The Doctor and Stella ran out into the courtyard followed by Jed, the Doctor throwing Jed the device as he and Stella climbed into the air balloon's basket.
"You're flaming bonkers, the both of you." Jed exclaimed.
"It's been said before. Now give me." The Doctor held out his hands and Jed handed over the item from the Dimension vault, the he shook it. "Not enough power."
"Come on! Jed, let her loose." Stella called out.
"Ever flown one of these before?" Jed asked as he started to un-tether the balloon.
"Nope, never." The Doctor shook his head.
"Can I have my money now?" Jed asked moving onto the next tether.
"Oh, get on with it." The Doctor ordered.
"Don't worry Jed, I had lessons from Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes." Stella assured him.
"Who?" Jed asked.
"They were the first to fly a hot air balloon untethered." Stella replied as she dug into her pocket "November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, what a sight." Stella pulled out a twenty pound note. "All I've got it a twenty, keep the change."
"Thank you miss." Jed smiled brightly taking the note before he untied the last rope holding the balloon down, and up she floated. "Good luck to you, both!"
"Ok, so what now? How do we fly this thing?" The Doctor looked to Stella.
"Start dropping sand bags and anything else we don't need, make her lighter to go higher." Stella replied as they set about doing just that.
"Attention. Proximity alert." One of the cybermen alerted Hartigan.
"How is that even possible? Oh, this I would see. Turn!" Hartigan ordered. The Doctor readied his infostamps wrapping them around his arm as the CyberKing swung around so that they were eye level, facing off the cyberking. "Excellent. The Doctor. Yet another man come to assert himself against me in the night and his naïve Stella, still trusting of the male species."
"Only certain members." Stella replied easily.
"Miss Hartigan? I'm offering you a choice. You might have the most remarkable mind this world has ever seen. Strong enough to control the Cybermen themselves." The Doctor called out.
"I don't need you to sanction me." Hartigan snapped.
"No, but such a mind deserves to live." The Doctor said.
"The Cybermen came to this world using a Dimension vault. We can use that device to find you a home, with no people to convert, but a new world where you can live out your mechanical life in peace." Stella called out, the time travelers trying to get her to see reason.
"I have the world below, and it is abundant with so many minds ready to become extensions of me. Why would I leave this place?" Hartigan questioned with a smug smile.
"Because if you don't, we'll have to stop you." The Doctor replied seriously.
"What do you make of me, sir? An idiot?" Hartigan scoffed.
"No. The question is, what do you make of us?" Stella questioned with a dark look.
"Destroy them." Hartigan ordered.
"You make us into this." The Doctor said as he fired his array of infostamps into Miss Hartigan, the light almost blinding then it stopped leaving Hartigan seemingly unharmed.
"Then I have made you a failure. Your weapons are useless, sir." Hartiga laughed when nothing happened, or so she thought.
"He wasn't trying to kill you. All he did was break the Cyber-connection, leaving your mind open." Stella corrected her with a sorrowful look.
"Open, I think, for the first time in far too many years. So you can see. Just look at yourself. Look at what you've done." The Doctor said and Hartigan's eyes which had returned to normal widened in horror as the Cybermen stared at her. "I'm sorry, Miss Hartigan, but look at what you've become." She screamed and realized she was secured to the throne causing her panic to grow into hysterics. "I'm so sorry.
She continued to scream electricity dancing around the Cybermen causing them all to explode as well as Hatigan then the CyberKing began to sway, threatening London town below. The Dimension vault thing started beeping and Stella quickly picked it up.
"Ooo, now you're ready." Stella said aiming it at the CyberKing then firing swirls of energy which surround it causing it to vanish before it could fall on the town. "Off to the Time Vortex, there to be harmlessly disintegrated." Stella placed the vault back down, then cocked her head to the side. "Do you hear that?"
"They're cheering." The Doctor commented as they looked down over the city which was cheering and applauding for them. They waved back, the Doctor ringing the basket's bell. "We better get back down."
"Oh let's stay up here just a little longer, it's so beautiful." Stella said looking out over the starry sky with the moon on the rise. The Doctor smiled wrapping his arms around Stella holding her close, resting his head on top of hers as they started out over the cityscape.
-0-
They finally had to land and found Lake waiting for them along with his son, Rosita, and Jed. Together with Lake they started to walk through the city, people scrambling to put out fires and marveling at what had occurred to them.
"The city will recover, as London always does." Lake commented as they went along. "Though the events of today will be history, spoken of for centuries to come."
"Yeah. Funny that." The Doctor said as wrapped his arm around Stella, who reached up holding his hand that was draped over her shoulder.
"And a new history begins for me. I find myself a widower, but with my son and with a good friend." Lake looked to Rosita who stood with Frederick holding his hand, Jed next to them.
"Now, take care of that one." Stella told him. "She's marvelous."
"Frederick will need a nursemaid and I can think of none better." Lake smiled at them then turned back to the travelers. "But you're welcome to join us. We thought we might all dine together at the Traveler's Halt. A Christmas feast in celebration, and in memory of those we have lost. You won't stay?"
"Like I said, you know him and if you know him you know me." Stella shook her head.
"No I don't think anyone knows about either of you more than one another." Lake said as they went on, the Doctor smiling pressing a kiss to Stella's forehead.
"Oh! And this is it. Oh!" Lake said upon seeing the Tardis, rushing up to it. "Oh, if I might, Doctor, Stella. One last adventure?"
"Oh, be our guest." The Doctor opened the door for him and with an excited smile he walked into the most amazing ship ever made.
"Oh. Oh my word. Oh. Oh, goodness me." Lake walked up to and around the console. "Well. But this is, but this is nonsense."
"Well, that's one word for it." The Doctor said.
"I think it's the perfect word." Stella mused with a soft smile.
"Complete and utter, wonderful nonsense. How very, very silly." Lake reached out for the console, but stopped short shaking his head. "Oh, no. I can't bear it. Oh, it's causing my head to ache." Lake turned running out of the Tardis. "No. No, no, no, no, no, no…" The Doctor and Stella followed him out, amused. "Oh! Oh, gracious. That's quite enough. I take it this is goodbye."
"Onwards and upwards." The Doctor nodded.
"Tell me one thing. All those facts and figures I saw of the Doctor's life, all those bright and shining companions." Lake looked between them. "You have Stella, I understand, but no companions, not anymore?"
"No." The Doctor said as Stella leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Might I ask why not?" Lake asked.
"They leave, because they should…Or they find someone else….And some of them…some of them forget me. I suppose in the end, they break my hearts." The Doctor replied, smiling softly down at Stella when she tightened her arm around his waist, silently telling him she'd always be there, never forget him, and most importantly never break his hearts.
"That offer of Christmas dinner. It's no longer a request, it's a demand." Lake said sternly, with a hint of a playful look in his eyes. "In memory of those we've lost."
"Oh, go on then." The Doctor caved.
"Really?" Lake said in surprise.
"Just this once." The Doctor nodded.
"Lake, you brilliant man, you've actually gone and changed his mind." Stella said in mock surprise. "Astounding."
"She's right, not many people can do that except for Stella." The Doctor shrugged then grinned. "Jackson, if anyone had to be the Doctor, I'm glad it was you."
"The feast awaits. Come with me. Walk this way." Lake led them away from the Tardis.
"I certainly will. Maybe even we can get a few songs out of Stella." The Doctor commented looking to Stella who grinned up at him.
"I'd love to." Stella nodded.
"I look forward to it." Lake grinned.
"Merry Christmas to you, Jackson." The Doctor said as the snow drifted down around them.
"Merry Christmas indeed my friends." Lake replied, the three of them making their way through London together.