Like the episodes, I'm writing stuff from our beloved heroes' POV and some context is missing from the scenes you don't see but are still in source material. Like what the cybermen are doing, and what the 'Military Intelligence' people are up to.
Ianto pulled himself up, shucking his green hoodie and hanging it on the coat rack.
"Is she going to be alright, Doctor?" The Time Lord raced around the console, tweaking settings and giving the occasional thump with the mallet, rattling away as he went.
"Oh, yeah, she's back home, safe and sound, where she belongs, although no hope of finding anymore chocolate, but happier than she'd be cooped up in here." Ianto smiled.
"I meant the TARDIS, actually, last time you flew her like this she wasn't too happy."
"Yes! Good point! But, last time there was the added factor of an imbalance of huon particles. Also, we picked up a bit of Rift energy, not a full refuel but just a bit of a top-off to keep her happy. So right now the old girl's in a decent mood, so we're headed back to your sector of spacetime and should be able to land without any hassle. She'll still need a bit of time to regroup, so we can muck about a bit closer to home for a few hours until she's sorted. Annnnndd... I'm picking up some funny readings from there, hold on..." He pulled on his brainy specs and examined a set of dials. Ianto circled the console once, with a spring in his step, before slinging himself neatly into the console seat. Martha leaned on the panel, watching the Doctor inquisitively.
"What sort of readings?"
'All sorts of stuff. Energy spikes, transmit signatures, Radio 5 Live. Maybe someone's using a teleportation device.'
"Teleportation? Cool."
"Except when it feels like getting your innards squeezed out through your ears," Ianto said cheerfully.
"Oh, pleasant."
"Could also be a digital radio, or maybe cellular dissemination." Martha shook her head.
"And, you've lost me there."
'Matter transmission – the instant movement of objects from place to place. Well, I say objects – could be people. Even buildings."
"Like the Royal Hope hospital?"
"Exactly! And, tell you what, we can stop off there. Car park'll make a nice flat open space for the TARDIS to recuperate, you can stop in for a visit, and I can go poking about for whatever's causing this."
"Alright, brilliant. So what's so important about this that you're going to go poking about?"
"For starters, it's impossible," the Doctor said sternly. "The technology hasn't been invented in your time."
"Maybe someone's invented it," Martha suggested. "Some mad scientist. Again."
"Unlikely." The Doctor frowned. 'I think someone's using alien technology. Possibly an alien. They sort of go together, I find."
Ianto sat up. "Not necessarily." The Doctor looked over his shoulder to catch Ianto's significant glance, pursed his lips and nodded.
"Good point."
"What? What's that supposed to mean?" The Doctor hesitated, but flashed a bright grin, doffing the brainy specs and sticking them in his pockets.
"Whatever this is, we'll find out!" The TARDIS wheezed into place and gave a couple of insistent beeps. "Here we are! An unkidnapped Royal Hope Hospital."
"Brilliant. Come on, Ianto, I'll introduce you to my mates." Ianto hesitated. Before he could answer, the Doctor shook his head.
"No, you won't, on two counts. One, he was a patient there, they might remember him and ask awkward questions, and B, he's coming with me because he's grounded for reckless behavior with that little stunt and I'm not letting him out of my sight." Ianto rolled his eyes but didn't argue. He just got his excuse to not socialize. Dinosaurs were one thing, but he was less than enthused about suddenly dropping back into normality and making idle 21st century chitchat.
"Grounded, very nice," Martha giggled. The Doctor winked.
"Ah-thank you! Off you go, then, enjoy your reunion. We'll meet you back here in a couple of hours."
They meandered through the hubbub of downtown London near the hospital, onto a side street lined with bookshops and cafes. They had stopped at one point to subtly 'sonic up' a cash machine before Ianto broached the topic. "So, teleportation. Any theories?"
"Seventeen, and twelve wild conjectures."
"Any of them likely?"
"About three, and one of them's a wild conjecture. Aha! Perfect!" The Doctor pushed through the glass door of a run-down internet cafe. The alert system on the door gave a pleasant ding! as they headed in.
"Are you actually doing research for a case?" Ianto asked, mock aghast.
The Doctor grinned. "I know, inconceivable!"
"I do not think that word means what you think it means," Ianto replied without missing a beat. The Doctor gave a delighted bark of laughter and scampered up to the counter to purchase computer time and coffees. Ianto leaned against a table as the Doctor gabbled about nothing in particular to the man behind the counter, before hesitating and turning back. Ianto withdrew the wallet from his pocket and waggled it at him. The Doctor scowled.
When Ianto brought the coffees over from the counter, he found the Time Lord staring vaguely at the keyboard of his computer terminal. He accepted one of the cups of coffee, took a massive gulp, and grimaced.
"You've spoiled me, it's not half as good as yours." Ianto smirked. He leaned up against the dividing wall on the end of the row and took a sip of his own as the Doctor began typing rapidly, pulling up news channels. He tried reading over his shoulder, but the Doctor seemed to absorb the contents almost instantaneously, and he gave up when it started making his eyes hurt. He grumbled to himself about 'bloody super-Time-Lord senses.' At the next computer, a dark haired young woman with a briefcase, a law student who appeared to be researching her thesis, grinned curiously at them.
"You boys working on a project or something?"
Ianto pressed his lips into a thin smile. "He's researching extraterrestrial conspiracy theories. It's all a load of rubbish but he hasn't got a bloody clue about writing an essay -"
"Oi!" The Doctor paused in his typing for a split second, remarked 'Actually, brilliant!' while still staring at the screen, and kept on.
"And you?"
"Helping him cite his sources, and waiting patiently for when we start running for our lives from aliens," he said blandly. She giggled a bit.
"Careful what you wish for," the Doctor muttered.
Having checked and double-checked the dates, Martha realized that it was only a day after the adventure at Lazarus Laboratories, and a day before Election day. She had been absent from the hospital for two days. Many of the Royal Hope wards were still empty. A majority of patients had been transferred to other facilities to allow for clean-up and repairs, and people were too reluctant to patronize the place.
Her flat was within walking distance from the hospital, and her mother's house was a short cab ride away, be she couldn't go and visit because their phone conversation hadn't happened yet. Thankfully, Oliver Morgenstern spotted her she could acknowledge that those warped tenses made sense, and she greeted him with a broad grin and a warm hug. He filled her in on what she had missed since the Judoon Incident as they slowly meandered through the empty halls.
"I'm not really sure if I'm back for the long run," she admitted. "It's been a busy couple of days, and Mum's been worried about everything, but I at least wanted to come and see how things were holding up."
"I was worried you weren't going to be back at all," he said ruefully. "Half our group's trying to get transfers, I think it's only me, Julia, Neal and Eric left. A lot of the main staff are refusing to set foot back in the building, and with Mr. Stoker gone, this place is having a hard time getting organized. We've got Chambers in charge now, and he's trying to make the best of things." Martha nodded sympathetically.
"Did we lose any patients?"
"A few," Oliver said quietly. "Some from asphyxiation, or shock, or when their life support was cut off. One of them panicked and tried to attack the... rhino-things. He was shot right in front of me." Martha grimaced and squeezed his shoulder gently. "It could have been worse. It could have been everybody. But nobody's talking about it at all," he went on. "The people who've stayed are trying to pretend it never happened. Same with the papers, they've chalked it up to drugs and hallucinations again. Even people who were here when everything happened seem to believe that."
"It's that weirdness censor thing, isn't it?" Martha supplied. "Strange stuff happens, nobody wants to believe it, so they shut their eyes and stick their fingers in their ears and tell themselves that everything's normal."
"Sunnydale Syndrome," Oliver smiled. "I've taught you well. And I've started paying attention, been reading up on things. Forums, conspiracy networks... it's all a bit mad, and there's plenty of nutters, but if you know what to look for, there's a bit more than meets the eye. Especially when separate events have common factors connecting them. There's this... figure that keeps cropping up."
"What kind of..." she mimicked his face. "...figure?" He teetered on the edge of sharing, but stopped himself.
"I'll get back to that, listen, there's something else happening. It's a bit fishy at the moment, but I thought you ought to know -"
"That's quite enough socializing, Morgenstern," a commanding voice called from the end of the ward.
"Chambers, he's starting his rounds, gotta run. But listen, it's cybermen."
"What?"
"There's no proof, seeing as the eyewitnesses keep getting locked up, I think whoever knows is trying to keep the public from panicking -"
"Morgenstern!"
"Just keep your eyes open, okay?" Martha nodded as he clapped her gently on the shoulder and hurried off. She headed out, through the lobby and straight for the TARDIS, wondering how fast it would take the Doctor and Ianto to work it out.
The law student jumped as the skinny geek at the next computer groaned and let his head fall forward into his hands, running his fingers through his hair and rubbing his face. She wondered vaguely where his friend had scarpered off to earlier.
"You alright, mate?"
"Fine! Yeah, fine," he said quickly. He tossed back the cold dregs of his cappuccino and stood up abruptly, signing off.
"Found all you wanted, then?" the girl asked cautiously.
'Oh yes. Rather more than I wanted, actually.' The Doctor gave her another smile, a rather sad one this time, and scanned the seats for a bored Welshman. "Argh! And lost something, too. Every time, I say don't wander off..." The girl watched with a bemused expression as he swished out the door in his magnificent coat, growling to himself.
As it was, Ianto had stayed close at hand, and was already striding purposefully back to the coffee shop as the Doctor emerged with a face like thunder. He half expected a lecture for wandering off but received only a curt "Hospital, Martha, TARDIS, now." Ianto fell into step with him, pulling a new mobile phone from his pocket and holding it out. The Doctor drew his screwdriver automatically.
"Where'd you get that?" Ianto jerked his head at the electronics shop on the corner as the Doctor buzzed the phone, still walking.
"They thought it was a bit fishy that I was paying in cash, not to mention neglecting to sign up with a network," he began. "I also remember who Mr. Saxon is now, but in any case they told me why security was higher. Between that and this," he flapped a folded newspaper, "I found out about the raids on MegaTech and Chadwick Green." The Doctor glanced at him once before sliding his eyes away back to the distance. Ianto took his expression as confirmation. "And I take it you did too."
"You know that wild conjecture I mentioned earlier?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, it's not that one. This one was number twelve. The most impossible of them all."
He took one look at the Doctor and shook his head in resignation. "It's bad, isn't it?"
"Yep." The Doctor pressed his lips into a thin line.
"How bad?"
"Cybermen. Cybermen bad."
Morgenstern doesn't actually figure in Made of Steel, but I liked him in Smith and Jones. I think he's got potential as a supporting character/Tin Dog, so he might pop up once in a while from here on out.
