He Wants
The Doctor had been surprisingly okay with learning that the children Clara nannied had figured out she'd been traveling in time, especially when they wanted to go on an adventure. Apparently, he'd been looking for some excuse to come to Hedgewick's World, and having two children around gave him the perfect leverage to convince Adelaide to let them come to the amusement park.
He leaped out of the TARDIS, spinning in a small circle, with Adelaide a few steps behind. Honestly, it didn't look like she'd expected; if anything, it looked like they'd just landed on Earth's moon, save for the breathable air and the wrong gravity. The children and Clara poked their heads out of the TARDIS, all three looking a mixture of confused and intrigued.
"Well, here we are!" the Doctor announced, pointing at the American flag in front of them. "Hedgewick's World!" He spun again. "The biggest and best amusement park there will ever be, and we've got a golden ticket!" He leaped onto a rock. "Eh? Eh? Fun!"
Clara lifted her eyebrows. "Fun?"
Angie crossed her arms. "Your stupid box can't even get us to the right place. This is like a moon base or something."
"It's not the moon," Adelaide told her. "And manners, Angie, please."
The Doctor pointed at her. "If you don't remember your manners, Adelaide won't like you, and you want Adelaide to like you."
"Actually," Artie cut in, "I think it does look like the moon, only dirtier."
"It's not the moon. My guess is that it was once a Spacey Zoomer ride." The Doctor jumped back down, wrapping an arm around Adelaide as she spoke.
"Psst!" someone called, and they all turned to find a man in a hat looking through a doorway cut into a rock. "Excuse me. I don't suppose you happen to be my lift off planet? Dave's Discount Interstellar Removals?"
Clara shook her head. "Afraid not."
"They were meant to be here six months ago. Well, that's Dave for you, see? Unreliable."
"Stay where you are!" a woman ordered, making them turn again.
"Oops," the man ducked away again as a group of soldiers entered the area. The Time Lords and Clara stepped in front of the children, blocking them.
"Throw down your weapons and identify yourselves
The Doctor held up the golden ticket he'd gotten. "No. No weapons! Golden ticket! Spacey Zoomer?" he jumped in place. "Free ice cream?"
"Who are you? This planet is closed, by Imperial order."
He pulled out his psychic paper. "How's this?"
"Oh. Welcome, Proconsul. I wish they'd told us you were coming. Any news of the Emperor?"
"Oh, the Emperor…" the Doctor nodded. "No, no, none that you'd, er…"
The captain nodded. "We pray for his return. If there is anything you need, my platoon is at your service."
The Doctor pointed at her. "Right. Righty-o. Well, carry on, Captain," he saluted the woman and she turned back to the soldiers.
"Platoon, let's move out! On the double. Two, three, four! Two, three four! Two, three, four!"
One the troops had left, the man reappeared. "Have they gone?"
"Yes."
The man grinned. "Uniforms give me the heebie-jeebies. Come on. They can't stop me being here, but they don't like it." He gestured for them to follow, stepping back into the small tunnel into the rock. A bit down the corridor, they could see the rest of the amusement park.
Adelaide and the Doctor had gotten their dates incredibly wrong. No one had been here for some time.
"Ha, ha!" the Doctor still cheered, satisfied that he'd proven they hadn't landed on the moon. "You see? I told you it was amazing. Well, it used to be."
The man nodded. "It closed down. Wish I'd known that before I landed here. But let me show you my collection. Come alone, follow me, this way." He started walking again. "This way in, come on." He brought them down a few steps into a room full of waxworks. There were some chandeliers, but it was dark enough that the Doctor took Adelaide's hand. "Welcome to my show. Webley's World of Wonders!" the man threw his arms out. "Miracles, marvels, and more await you. I am Impresario Webley. You see before you waxwork representations of the famous and the infamous. Anybody here play chess?" Both the Doctor and Adelaide put their hands up, though the Doctor was far more enthusiastic about it. Webley, instead, pointed at Artie. "Perhaps you, young man?"
Artie straightened, looking excited. "Actually, I'm in my school chess club."
"Ah, follow me." Webley guided them into another room where he'd set up a chessboard, an empty chair, and something rather large covered in cloth. "Now, let me demonstrate to you all the wonder of the age, the miracle of modernity. We defeated them all a thousand years ago, but now he's back, to destroy you. Behold, the enemy!" he whipped the cloth off to reveal a tarnished Cyberman.
The Doctor grabbed Artie and Angie, pulling them down. "Cyberman! Get down!"
But Adelaide didn't move. "It's no danger," she told the Doctor.
Webley pointed at her. "Precisely, beautiful lady. We all know there are no more living Cybermen. What you are seeing is a miracle. The six hundred and ninety-ninth wonder of the universe, as displayed before the Imperial court, and only here to destroy you at chess." As Webley spoke, the Doctor moved forward, sonicing the Cyberman to ensure it truly meant them no harm. "Careful now. An empty shell, and yet it moves. How?"
Angie scoffed. "Magic?"
"That might well be, young lady, but a single penny wins you five Imperial shillings if you can beat this empty shell at chess."
Artie frowned. "I haven't got a penny," he rummaged through his pocket, "but I've got a sandwich."
Webley considered it before plucking it from his hand. "Alright, take a seat." He set the board for the boy. "It is free of all devices," he opened a panel to reveal the empty inside, "and yet it has never been beaten. Would you like to make the first move, young man?"
Artie moved his pawn, with the Cyberman moving one of his own. The boy moved to make another, but the Doctor shook his head. "Oh no, Artie. No, don't do that, it…" Artie did it anyways, already checkmated. "That's a fool's mate."
Webley took a bite of the sandwich. "If you can tell me how it works, I'll give you a silver penny."
"I think you do it with mirrors?" Angie offered.
"Reasonable option, but this is nowhere near as advanced." Adelaide stepped up to the Cyberman, crouched down, and opened a panel to reveal the small man inside, clearly controlling it. "Hello," Adelaide said, nodding and raising her eyebrows.
The man grinned, shaking his head ever so slightly. "Hello."
"Would you like help?" she held out a hand, helping him out of the chair he'd been sitting in.
"They call me Porridge," he said, stretching. "Oh, it's good to be out of that box."
"For you, Miss," Webley took a penny from behind Angie's ear, "an Imperial penny." He brought them back into the main room, the Doctor and Adelaide pausing for a second before joining. "I have not one but three Cybermen in my collection." Webley pulled cloth off more Cybermen.
Angie looked to the side, where there was a waxwork of a regal looking man. "Is that the King?"
"Emperor," Porridge corrected quickly, making Angie frown and Adelaide look over. "Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, etc, etc, the forty-first. Defender of Humanity, Imperator of known space."
"He looks a bit full of himself," Clara called.
"Don't say things like that about the Imperial family. You can end up on the run for the rest of your life."
Artie frowned. "They don't sound very nice."
"Go on," Porridge looked at Webley. "If the kids want to ride the Spacey Zoomer, then I can operate the gravity console." He gestured for everyone to follow him, though that time it was Angie who lagged for a few seconds, comparing her penny and the statue, before she was called on after the rest of them.
|C-S|
Clara watched as Angie and Artie enjoyed the Spacey Zoomer, taking a few pictures on her phone. The Doctor continued investigating while Adelaide went to speak, very quickly, with Porridge. She just stepped into where he was controlling everything for the privacy. "Don't worry. I understand wanting to run and hide for a bit to escape responsibility, Emperor."
He frowned at her, immediately defensive. "How do you know who I am?"
"I've met the previous Emperor. You too, though you were likely too young to remember. Adelaide." She smiled. "But your secret is safe with me."
"You won't even tell…your partner?" Adelaide tensed slightly at that, something Porridge noticed. "Sorry, I just assumed."
"Not even him." Adelaide nodded and stepped back just as the Doctor walked back up, having paused investigating, and Porridge stopped the ride.
"I think that was the most fun I've had in my whole life!" Artie laughed, running up to Clara.
"It was…okay," Angie said, though no one really believed her.
"Clara, I think outer space is actually very interesting."
Clara nodded. "Right." She started to bring them back towards the TARDIS. "Wonderful day out, Doctor, Adelaide, but time to get the kids home."
The Doctor moved to block them. "Yeah, er, no, not actually ready to leave."
"Why not?"
"I don't know. Reasons." He looked to Adelaide, hoping for her assistance.
"What reasons?"
"Funny insect collection," Adelaide offered. "He's just decided to start one and we spotted some earlier. Hasn't shut up since."
The Doctor stuck out a tongue at her for that.
|C-S|
The kids ended up being deposited on the sofas that Webley had, starting to get tired, especially after their round on the ride. "How long do we have to stay here?" Angie groaned.
"Not long," the Doctor told her. "Have a nap. We'll wake you when we're ready to leave."
Porridge brought them another cushion. "Comfy?"
Clara adjusted the blankets. "Sleep well."
"Good night."
The Doctor turned off the light as he left the room, holding Adelaide's hand, with Clara and Porridge following, though the Time Lord leaned back into the room a second later. "Don't wander off! Now, I'm not just saying 'don't wander off', I mean it. Otherwise you'll wander off and the next thing you know, somebody's going to have to start rescuing somebody."
Angie frowned. "From what?"
He winced. "Nothing. Nobody needs rescuing from anything. Don't wander off. Sweet dreams." He left the room, catching up to where Clara, Porridge, and Adelaide were walking. Adelaide did hang back in order to help the Doctor investigate, both of them using their sonics to scan for any more signs of the little insects.
They hadn't been looking long when suddenly the Doctor called out, "Clara, did you tell Angie she could go to the barracks?"
She sighed. "You know I didn't. She hasn't…"
The Doctor pointed. "She's just gone in there."
Clara groaned. "Come on."
|C-S|
They found Angie walking and talking with the captain, the woman leading Angie around the barracks. "So, tell me about the little bloke."
Angie shrugged. "Well, you must have seen him."
"Angie!" Clara shouted, rushing over. "Angie!"
"She always has to turn up and spoil everything! I wasn't doing anything! Why can't you just leave me alone?"
They were interrupted by a loud crash and the doors being broken apart, revealing a Cyberman. "Cyberman!"
Clara grabbed Angie, pulling her behind the group. "Angie!"
The soldiers scrambled for their weapons, some ducking behind tables. "Attack formation!" the captain ordered, but no one seemed ready to listen. One man even tried to attack the Cyberman with no weapon in hand. "No! Attack formation, quickly!"
They started to shoot at the Cyberman, actually making it pause. "Upgrade in progress."
"Angie!" Clara tried to grab the human, but in a blink the Cyberman had grabbed Angie and carried her away, the girl screaming. "Angie!"
The Doctor grabbed Clara before she could chase after the Cyberman. "Clara! Clara!"
The captain gasped, shaking her head. "That was a Cyberman. But they're extinct…"
"Listen to me," the Doctor told Clara, squeezing her shoulders, "we will get her back." He stepped back when the human nodded. "Captain, a word please." The woman hurried over. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I take it your platoon doesn't do much fighting?"
The captain scoffed. "What do you expect?"
Clara frowned. "What?"
"We're a punishment platoon. It's why they sent us out here, so we can't get into trouble."
The Doctor nodded. "Right, right, well, okay. As Imperial Consul," he took the badge from the captain, "I'm putting Clara in charge." He pinned it to Clara's jacket. "Clara, stay alive until we get back, and don't let anyone blow up this planet."
Clara's eyes widened. "Is that something they're likely to do?"
"Go somewhere defensible," Adelaide added, the Doctor stepping back to her side.
"Where are you going?"
"We're getting Angie, finding Artie, and looking for funny insects." The Doctor took Adelaide's hand. "Stay alive." He pointed at the soldiers. "And you lot, no blowing up this planet!" With a final nod from both Time Lords, they hurried off.
|C-S|
The Time Lords were careful as they stepped back into Webley's room, honestly not that surprised that Artie was gone. "Artie?" the Doctor called, hopeful, but the boy didn't respond.
Adelaide bent down to the level of the small insect – Cybermat, now that she could see it better – that she spotted. "Those children are under our protection. We're going to find them."
The Doctor stepped up behind her. "Little metal machine, you are beautiful." He soniced it, turning it dormant before Adelaide picked it up so they could both study it. "Not even a Cybermat anymore, eh? Cybermites." They hurried to the chess room, as the Doctor's sonic found a signal leading them. "Now, there's a local transmat link open to your home. If I can just find the frequency…" He flicked a switch on his sonic, teleporting them to a technologically advanced lab. The Doctor looked honestly surprised. "Hey, that really shouldn't have worked."
"Doctor, Adelaide," Artie said, his voice toneless in a way that, somehow, reminded the Doctor of someone. "Help us." The siblings were standing against a wall, empty expressions, with a small device on their temple.
The Doctor rushed forward. "Angie? Artie?" he soniced them, but they didn't respond.
"Webley," Adelaide said, making him look up. The man, partially converted into a Cyberman, entered the room.
"We needed children, but the children had stopped coming. You brought us children. Hail to you, the Doctor and Adelaide, saviors of the Cybermen!" The Doctor stepped back, standing beside Adelaide, as Webley faced them across the table. "As the battle raged between humanity and the Cyberiad, the Cyberplanners built a Valkyrie, to save critically damaged units and bring them here, and one by one, repair them."
Adelaide nodded. "People vanished from the amusement park. They were spare parts."
"We've upgraded ourselves. The next model will be undefeatable."
"Nothing's undefeatable," the Doctor said.
"We needed children to build a new Cyberplanner. A child's brain, with its infinite potential, is perfect for our needs. But we no longer need the children. The Cybermites have been scanning your brains. They're quite remarkable."
"Also completely useless to you," the Doctor said. "Cybermen use human parts. We're not human. You can't convert non-humans."
Welbey smirked. "Well, that was true a long time ago. But we've upgraded ourselves. Current Cyberunits use almost any living components." He threw a handful of Cybermites at the Time Lords.
Specifically, he threw them at Adelaide.
They latched onto her face, forcing herself to fall to her knees in pain, shaking. The Doctor rushed to her, but he didn't get far before Adelaide stiffened. "Adelaide…" he asked quietly, terrified.
Terribly terrified, almost more terrified than anything he'd ever felt before.
And he couldn't help but remember the first moment Adelaide had first opened that pocket watch because that's what she looked like now. Stiff, hardened, readjusting to a body.
"Incorporated," Adelaide said, rotating her wrists as she considered them. "Yes. Unfamiliar pulmonary set-up. Nervous system hyper-conductive. Remarkable brain processing speed."
Adelaide twitched. "Get out," she insisted, focusing.
|C-S|
To an untrained eye, it looked like Adelaide was staring at a mirror in her mental landscape. Behind both of them was a chalkboard filled with a cloud of numbers and facts, though on one side, the side of the Cyberplanner, they took the form of equations. On the other, Adelaide's side, they were strings of chemicals and diagrams.
Different enough, but the two were remarkably similar.
Adelaide stood before the Cyberplanner, nothing physical separating them from each other. "Stop rummaging in my mind. It isn't polite."
The Cyberplanner smirked. "Just you try and stop me. Ooo, who's Clara?" she turned to the small display, almost looking like the display screen of Adelaide's old TARDIS, as an image of Clara appeared. "Why are you thinking about her so much? And so many conflicting thoughts about this Doctor?" his current face appeared. "Oh, he's a naughty thing, isn't he? And who's Caroline?" the woman's face appeared for a second before the screen flickered off.
"Enough," she snapped.
"Fascinating. A complete mental block. Highly effective."
|C-S|
The Doctor watched Adelaide as she stood, switching between the personalities. He could tell the difference; it was visible if you'd spent enough time with her. If you knew her like he did.
The Cyberplanner tightened ever so slightly, restraining herself, like Adelaide the first moment she'd opened her fob watch. It would last for a second, but he saw it.
"Relax, relax," the Cyberplanner said, flexing her hands. "If you just relax, you will find this a perfectly pleasant experience. You are being upgraded and incorporated into the Cyberiad as a Cyberplanner."
"No!" Adelaide clenched her fists.
|C-S|
Adelaide considered the Cyberplanner's mental landscape. "You're getting signals from every Cyberman everywhere. How many of you are there?"
|C-S|
Another snap, and it was the Cyberplanner again. Adelaide hadn't moved from where she'd been standing, facing the Doctor. "Oh, this is brilliant. I'm so clever already, and now I'm a million times more clever. And what a brain! Not a human brain, not even slightly human. I mean, I'm going to have to completely rework the neural interface, but the basic thought processing is easily adaptable. This is going to be the most efficient Cyberplanner!"
"Don't you dare hurt her," the Doctor tried, but the Cyberplanner didn't listen.
She made a face. "Not a great name, that, is it? I could call myself…Miss Clever!" She tilted her head. "So much raw data, so many species and races and…Time Lords…" her eyes widened. "There's information on the Time Lords in here. Oh, this is just dreamy!"
|C-S|
"I am allowing you access to my memories on Time Lord regeneration." To their side, Adelaide's five other faces flashed across the screen, particularly the moments of regeneration.
"Fantastic!" the Cyberplanner cheered, grinning.
"I am able to regenerate right now. The regeneration energy would burn out any bits of Cybertechnology in my brain. And I am perfectly willing to do it." Her last regeneration flashed up. "I'm willing to die if it comes to it."
|C-S|
The Doctor felt his hearts stop. Adelaide was willing to die…he'd known she'd wanted to in her last regeneration, after everything she'd been through, but she'd never said…no, she was just taunting the Cyberplanner, she didn't mean it, she couldn't mean it.
The fact she wasn't doing it right now had to mean that she didn't mean it.
The Cyberplanner sighed. "Stalemate, then. One of us needs to control this head. We're too well-balanced."
|C-S|
"We each control 39.881 percent of this brain. .238 of the brain is still in the balance. Whoever gets this gets the whole thing."
Adelaide nodded. She was well aware of the danger she was in at the moment, the danger the Doctor was in. "Chess?"
The Cyberplanner nodded. "The rules of chess are in my memory banks. You're proposing we play chess to end the stalemate?"
"Nobody can access that portion of the brain without winning the game." Adelaide held out her hand.
After a moment, the Cyberplanner shook.
|C-S|
"You can't win," the Cyberplanner scoffed.
"We have equal odds."
"You understand, when I do win, the Cyberiad gets your brains and memories. All of it."
Adelaide nodded. "Yes, I am well aware of the threat. This is not ideal, but it is the only option. When I win, you leave my mind, you let the children go, and nobody here dies." For a second, Adelaide met the Doctor's eyes, knowing that was what he wanted. "Nobody dies."
A/N: Hello Miss Clever :)