A/N: new chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 26: The Cyberman

"How are they here?!" Olivia shouted over the stomping behind them as they ran back down the hall.

"I don't know!" he shouted back as they stopped and he used the Sonic to unlock the door they shoved themselves against.

"How could you not know?!" she retorted as the marching came closer. "You're the bloody Doctor!"

"Oi! Don't go Welsh on me!" he snapped, opening the door and dragging her into the dark room before slamming it shut behind them, pinning her against it. He placed his ear on the door to hear what was happening on the other side, his face next to Olivia's ear as she panted heavily. He frowned at her in the dark before whispering, "Stop breathing so loudly. I'm trying to hear."

She pursed her lips angrily in the darkness before lifting a hand and flicking his head where she estimated his temple was. Her estimation was perfect.

"Ow!" he groaned softly. "Bloody hell—!"

He was cut off when the marching stopped on the other side of the door and he pressed his ear against it again. Olivia said nothing and held her breath as he listened carefully. Something caught his ear and she felt his arms throw themselves around her waist.

"Get down!" he shouted, dragging her away from the door and they both fell to the floor just as the door shattered into pieces from a blaster shot. They both shot to their feet and the Doctor shoved her deeper into the room, shouting, "Run!"

"I'm not leaving you!" she snapped, grabbing his hand before she stumbled away from him and pulling herself back to him as the Cyberman marched into the room, stopping just inside the door.

"Olivia, don't argue with me," he growled, shoving her behind him. "Get out!"

"Don't be an idiot!" she snapped, making him frown at her just as she sailed around him, something silver in her hand which she pointed at the Cyberman, rushing toward it.

"Olivia! No!" the Doctor shouted, but when he took a step toward her, he froze, seeing the Cyberman seize as she pressed the thing in her hand to its chest plate. He watched with wide eyes as she shoved the Cyberman to the floor before turning to him with a smirk, lifting the thing in her hand. "What the bloody hell is that?!"

"Stun gun," she shrugged, making him frown at her before looking to the Cyberman, then back to her. "What?"

"Where were you…keeping that?" he wondered, making her smirk again.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she smirked, slyly before hurrying toward him and taking his hand to pull him toward the door. "Come on. Who knows how long the thing will stay unconscious…if it's not dead. Didn't these things get sucked into the Void?"

"Some of them fell through time," he replied as they climbed over the Cyberman and he pulled her down the hall the way it came. "I went to Victorian England once and they were there."

"That must've been bizarre," she smirked before she realized where they were headed. "Oh, we're running toward the Cybermen now?!"

"We have to find their base," he explained, not stopping and still holding her hand as he led her down the hall. "We'll need to stop them from the inside out, so to speak."

He stopped them halfway down the hall and turned to her, making her frown up at him in wonder as he met her gaze and she questioned, "What?"

"I need you to go back to the lobby and get all those people out of the building," he instructed, making her frown deepen slightly but she turned her attention to their hands when he handed her the sonic screwdriver. "Take this, and lock the door behind you when you get everyone out, understood?"

"Uh, first of all, you need the Sonic, so keep it," Olivia began, shoving it back into his hand. "Second of all, what makes you think I'm leaving you to head into the lion's den of Cybermen!"

"Lion's den of Cybermen, I like that," he grinned, deftly before shaking his head to bring himself back to reality. "Liv, don't argue with me on this, please."

"After everything you've told me, you think I'm gonna let you out of my sight?!" she snapped.

"Now is not the time for this, Olivia," he ground out, meeting her gaze and shoving the screwdriver into her hand again. "Take that and do as I tell you!"

They held each other's gazes for a moment before she gripped his tie and planted her lips to his, pulling away before either one was tempted to deepen the kiss.

"For luck," she smiled, making him smile as he remembered her doing and saying the exact same thing when they'd first met. "At least take this."

She pushed the stun gun into his hand as she held onto the sonic screwdriver.

"Go to the TARDIS after you get everyone out," he instructed. "I'll meet you there."

"You'd better," she shot back. "We'll both be pissed if you're lying."

"I know," he scoffed before pressing a kiss to her cheek and turning to march down the hall as she turned to head back to the lobby.

She hurried in to find Dana being bombarded by even more people than before and Olivia placed her fingers in her mouth to give a loud whistle, making the crowd turn toward her with wide eyes.

"Right," she nodded, rolling her shoulders and tossing the Sonic in the air to let it twirl before she caught it again, now in Doctor Mode. "Now, you lot, follow me."

"Why?" someone questioned as Dana only ran around the desk to shove past the crowd and head toward Olivia. "Who put you in charge?!"

"The Doctor," she smirked. "And unless you wanna die a horrible death you'll all follow me out of this building and get as far away from here as possible because as far as you're all concerned…I'm the closest thing to God at the moment. Now move!"

Dana was already halfway to the door before the rest of them ran toward it. She gave a grin before running after the last of the crowd, meeting Dana as she ushered everyone out. She hurried toward the other woman and made sure everyone got through before pushing Dana out and following her. She shut the door behind her and used the Sonic to lock the door as Dana came up next to her with a frown.

"What are you doing?" she asked as Olivia still worked.

"I'm locking the door," Olivia replied, still not looking at her. "Like the Doctor told me to. This'll slow those things down."

"What are they?" Dana breathed, wringing her hands as she looked around and Olivia stood, catching her attention.

"Things your worst nightmares couldn't conjure up," she replied, Dana's frown turning into a wide-eyed stare.

"And you just left him in there with those things?!" she breathed.

"Not by choice," Olivia assured her. "He told me to get everyone out of the building and wait for him in…his ship. Now don't worry about me and go!"

Dana stared at her in shock before turning to run from the building with the rest of the crowd as Olivia watched them before turning back to the building, biting her lower lip in thought. She heard a crash from inside making her flinch in terror when she heard the shout that followed, then gasped when a window broke and the Doctor was suddenly launched out of it, catching the sill and dangling over the ground from a high floor.

"He would be thrown out a window!" she growled but screamed when he began falling. "Doctor!"

She ran a few steps before stopping dead and frowning when he was suddenly on the ground, safe and sound, standing on his feet as he dusted himself off. She stared at him with wide eyes as he looked up at the window he'd just fallen from, casually.

"Well, that was just rude," he blurted. "And I know rude, because I'm rude."

He looked ahead to see Olivia still staring at him, now giving a frown and he grinned at her before running toward her to grab her hand and drag her to the other side of the building.

"Doctor! What the hell was that?!" she snapped as he continued running.

"Perception filter!" he replied. "Makes the building seem taller than it is. It was meant to keep attention away from the basement."

"The basement?" Olivia frowned in wonder, knowing exactly what a perception filter was. "What's in the basement?"

"That is the question, Miss Olivia Felton!" he replied, dragging her around one more corner until he stopped in front of a trap door leading to the basement. He held a hand out to Olivia, neither one taking their gaze from the door as he simply said, "Sonic."

She slapped the screwdriver into his hand without missing a beat and he knelt down to unlock the double doors that slid open, disappearing into the ground and he stood to tuck the screwdriver into his jacket pocket.

"Molto bene," he nodded before turning to place his hands on Olivia's shoulders, looking her in the eye. "Back to the TARDIS with you now. I'll see you in a moment."

"I don't think so," she chuckled, making him frown in wonder. "Not this time. I'm not a patient woman. I'm going with you whether you like it or not."

Realizing he wasn't going to win this argument he nodded and took her hand in his, gripping it tightly before lifting it between them, meeting her gaze again.

"Don't let go of my hand, whatever happens," he ordered and she nodded before he turned to the dark entrance and they began their descent down the stairs leading into it.

Olivia clutched his hand tighter and tighter the farther they headed down the stairs until they reached the bottom. She felt his hand pull her closer to him before it left hers to wrap around her shoulders, stopping them before the Sonic sounded and its blue light shone. The light above them flickered on and she gasped when she looked around the room, lifting her hands to pull the Doctor closer as he looked down as well.

"It's alright, Liv," he assured her, seeing the floor littered with Cybermen lying unmoving. "They're all dead."

"How do you know?" she breathed, not taking her eyes away from the scene. He stepped away from her and when she felt his arm leave her shoulders she reached out to grab his hand as he knelt down next to one of them. "Theta—!"

"It's alright, really," he assured her, using the Sonic with one hand and letting her hold the other in both of her hands for comfort. "They really are dead. A Cyberman did this."

"You don't mean…that one we ran into?!" she guessed, staring wide eyes at him as he stood, tucking the Sonic away. "Then that means…it's just the one, right?"

"Seems like," he nodded, looking around the room. "But we're not safe in this room. He'll probably come back here. Come on."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward the stairs. They were nearly all the way up the steps when Olivia suddenly screamed and her hand fell away from his, making him whirl around in time to see her being pulled back down the stairs.

"Doctor!"

"Olivia!"

He reached for her as she clawed at the stairs, but the door slammed shut, the light above blowing out and leaving Olivia in darkness. She heard the Doctor start to pound on the door but the hands on her ankles pulled her away from it as she tried to kick them away. She heard the Doctor call to her one more time before her head bounced off one of the stairs, rendering her unconscious.

Meanwhile...

"No! Olivia!"

The Doctor pounded on the door hard before pulling the Sonic out again to aim it at the door, but it remained closed instead of opening like before. Deadlocked.

"Bloody hell!" he growled, shoving the Sonic away and kicking at the door in rage before stepping back to think. "How did it get in there without us seeing it?"

He instantly knew the answer and shot around the building to the front entrance to run inside. He vaulted over the lobby desk to look at the computer again, looking for the blueprints of the building.

"Ha! Yes! Molto bene!" he grinned before pulling himself over the desk again to head out of the building, shoving his hand into his pocket as he ran down the street to find the TARDIS. "Hang on, Liv. I'm coming."

Back in the Basement...

Olivia groaned, her head splitting as soon as she opened her eyes, but she frowned when she realized she was still in darkness. She soon realized she was lying on her back, her wrists and ankles weighed down and something holding her head in place.

"Oh, this is bad," she grumbled, starting to pull on her restraints. "Either I'm blind or I'm in a restraint chair in a dark room. Either situation is bad."

She froze when she caught the sound of metallic stomping and swallowed, looking to her left with wide eyes as a light flickered on above her. Her heart thumped in her chest as the Cyberman came closer and stared down at her as the chair shifted so that she was no longer lying straight back but in a reclined position.

"Look, if you're planning to assimilate me, I should warn you…I'm gonna scream," she tried, shifting in the chair. "I mean, of course I'm gonna scream. It freakin' hurts!"

"You are strong," the Cyberman replied in its robotic monotone. "You will be assimilated and you will feel no pain or fear. You will be upgraded."

"Uh, yeah…no thanks," she shot back, continuing her struggling. "I don't really consider that an upgrade."

She froze when a whirring sound caught her ear and she looked up at the light to see the shadow of machinery coming down from the ceiling.

"Oh, that's sharp," she breathed, instantly starting to struggle in her restraints again. "That's very, very, very sharp! Doctor! Get me outta here!"

Her heart thumped in her ears as she pulled against her restraints, her eyes wide in terror as she watched the sharp object spin above her.

"Doctor!"

The blades came closer and closer until she shoved her head against the restraint to move it to the left to avoid the blades.

"Doctor!"

A familiar humming sounded as the blades began slowing, one of them coming an inch from touching Olivia's cheek and she frowned in wonder before looking to the Cyberman. She gasped as her eyes shot wide when a hand came up, holding her stun gun and shoved it against the head of the Cyberman. The thing seized and knelt down as the Doctor kept the stun gun on it until it fell to the floor next to the chair Olivia was still strapped to.

She watched him aim the screwdriver at the ceiling so that the machinery rose back up into the ceiling then he pointed the Sonic at the chair. Her restraints were loosed and he tucked the Sonic away just in time for Olivia to launch toward him, throwing her arms around him as he caught her.

"I've got you, Liv," he murmured, setting the stun gun down on the chair she'd been lying in to wrap both his arms around her and pull her close. "It's alright, darling. It's over. I used the Sonic to adjust the setting on the stun gun. The Cyberman's dead."

Olivia remained silent as she clung to him and he pulled her closer to set her on her feet in front of him, shifting to rest his chin on her shoulder.

"Let's go, Liv," he whispered. "We can finish our dance in the TARDIS if you like. Or we could go somewhere else…or do something else. Anything you want."

"I'm sorry," she shuddered, gently pushing away from him to meet his gaze. "After everything I've seen and been through – with you and Torchwood – you'd think one little Cyberman would be nothing."

"Oh, no, Liv," he murmured, lifting a hand to brush her hair from her face. "It shouldn't make you fearless. It's like, when you're younger and you go to the beach, yes? You're afraid of the ocean, but it's a healthy fear. A respect. The things you see while traveling with me shouldn't make you fearless. That's when things go wrong."

He looked over her face and frowned when he noticed something running down the side of her face.

"What is it?" she frowned as well.

"You're bleeding," he murmured, moving her hair from her face to try to get a better look at the trail, but found the trail started higher in her hair. "Did that Cyberman hurt you?"

"I hit my head on the stair when it grabbed me," she recalled, lifting a hand to try to feel at the wound but he gently pulled her hand back down.

"Don't touch it," he warned, gently. "Let's get you back to the TARDIS. It might be a splinter."

"I thought you weren't that kind of doctor," she smirked as he took her hand and pulled her away from the chair at the center of the room.

"Well…I may not be, but it doesn't mean I can't take care of an injury," he replied, leading her through the dark.

"Where're we going?" she frowned in wonder before he stopped them.

"I had the TARDIS on silent," he explained before the light from inside the ship illuminated them as he opened the door. "Inside. Let's get that head looked at."

He pulled her into the TARDIS, shutting the door behind him and pulling her passed the console to head into the infirmary.

"Theta, it's really not that bad," she smiled as he stopped her in front of the long silver table. She giggled when he gripped her waist and lifted her with ease to sit her on its surface before stepping to her left to lift her hair to get a better look at her injury.

"You're bleeding and you say it's not that bad," he retorted, not looking away from his task. "Ah! There it is. A splinter. Ooh, and it's a big one. Don't move."

She frowned when he pulled out the sonic screwdriver and aimed it at her head.

"Look, I know the Sonic can do a lot, but removing a splinter? Can't you just use tweezers?"

"Then it would hurt you when I pulled it. Don't worry. The sonic vibrations sort of numbs the skin so that the splinter just falls out. Then I'll stop the bleeding with some ointment I've got."

"Where will we go after this?" Olivia wondered as he lowered the Sonic and pulled at something in her hair, making her frown in wonder.

"There we are!" he grinned, holding the splinter in front of her and her eyes widened when she saw just how big it was before he pulled it away and replied, "Wherever you want."

"I'll think about it," she smiled, watching him head to the counter in front of her and he lifted a small tin from its surface to open it and dab the tip of his middle finger in it as he stepped back toward her.

"Now, hold still," he murmured, setting the tin down to lift her hair again and dab the ointment on his finger onto her cut. "It'll feel sort of…tingly. But it won't burn. It'll be easy to wash out later."

Olivia watched him as he replaced the lid on the tin and quickly set it back on the counter before rushing toward the sink to her left, lifting the cloth sitting on its edge and soaking it. He hurried back to her and began wiping the small trail of blood from her face as she smiled warmly at him, something he didn't seem to notice as he worked. He finally met her gaze, making a double take as he wiped away the last of the blood and frowned at her in wonder.

"What?" he questioned, lowering the cloth and she only shook her head, still smiling. "You're givin' me that smile. The cat that ate the canary smile. Why?"

"Because, you're being attentive," she admitted, lifting her arms to set them on his shoulders. "And I like it."

"That so?" he smirked, tossing the cloth onto the table and stepping between her knees, his hands sitting on either side of her hips. "How much?"

"Very much," she murmured as he leaned his face closer to hers. "You can be so romantic without knowing it, you know that?"

"Maybe I know I'm being romantic, but I play dumb to make you think I don't know what I'm doin'," he retorted, his lips an inch away from hers.

"I didn't say you don't know what you're doing," she shot back, twirling a lock of his hair. "I said you're romantic without knowing it. Two different things."

"I think that's enough talking now," he smirked, brushing his lips over her cheek to whisper into her ear, "What do you think, darling?"

"I couldn't agree more," she breathed before he pulled back and their lips met in a passionate kiss. His hands slid under her thighs and wrapped her legs around his waist as her arms tightened around his neck and he lifted her with ease to carry her toward a set of stairs in the corner leading to the bedrooms, never breaking the kiss.

A/N: yeah, i don't know if the Sonic can really do that. made it up. reviews?