Nightmare in Silver: Webley's Wonders
"It's Clara," Angel called, pressing the phone to her shoulder as the Doctor led Professor Brian Cox out of the TARDIS after having imparted some wise words about a little girl in the audience at his speech tonight, "She says she's run into a bit of a…problem."
"What is it?" he asked, serious, making his way over to the console, "Is she ok?"
Angel smiled, reaching out to touch the Doctor's cheek for his concern, "She's just fine, but…it appears the children have worked out that she's a time traveler. They've threatened to tell their father AND," she added putting a finger to his lips to keep him from saying she should let them as the man wouldn't believe them, "Show him proof of it as well. Picture of her in different eras and such."
"Well what do they want?" the Doctor pulled her hand from his mouth, pressing a kiss to the tip of her finger and holding her hand.
"They want a trip in the TARDIS."
"Angie and Artie are coming!?" Ayla gasped, hopping off the side-chair and running over to take her father's hands, "Are they daddy? Can they? Please!"
"Oh that is not fair," the Doctor tapped her on the nose, "Clara never should have taught you that puppy dog look, how can I say no to that?"
"I believe that's the point of it," Angel laughed, before picking up the phone once more, "Clara? Hello, the Doctor says that's just fine. Yes, whenever you…oh," she blinked, "Alright," she laughed, "We'll be right there then."
"What?" the Doctor watched her put the phone down and hang up.
"They want to go right now," she smiled.
"Patience is a virtue," he countered.
"Which you lack quite a bit of my love," Angel reminded him, before reaching up to straighten his beloved bowtie, "Come on," she laughed taking his hand and pulling him to the console, the two of them piloting the box away as Ayla ran after them, watching them as she followed.
~8~
On a dusty, gray landscape drifting in what appeared to be the black of space, the TARDIS slowly faded into existence, the Doctor stepped out, sticking his head out first to see an American Flag hanging there, Earth in the blackness behind and grinned, "I did it!" he cheered, exceedingly happy that he'd managed to get this trip done in the first go.
They had actually been debating taking Ayla to an amusement park or two, just a little…family outing. But with Clara and Angie and Artie there, well, it was more the merrier and, of course, to the Doctor that meant that the more children there were, the bigger the park had to be. So he had decided to take them to the largest amusement park in the Universe! Which had excited the children to no end, even Angie had looked rather pleased for a moment or two, before trying to pass it off as disinterest.
Angel seemed very fond of the girl despite her less than warm reaction and reception of everyone. He was of the impression it was because Angie was an Angie too, and he'd remarked that they should take care that Angie never crossed paths with good old captain Jack, the confusion that would ensue would be immeasurable they were sure. Ayla seemed to have become fast friends with Artie, who she'd gotten to know when she'd given the two children a tour of the TARDIS. Artie was especially a fan of the library, and had been rather amazed to see there was a garden INSIDE the spaceship, a garden that had a lovely little stone chess table set up like in the parks. It had been something they'd added to the garden when they'd learned that Ayla quite loved playing chess. And the small garden was just lovely to play in.
"Well, here we are!" the Doctor cheered as he threw his arms out and spun around, Angel and Ayla stepping out after him, followed by a more cautious Clara, Angie and Artie, looking around at the moon-like landscape, "Hedgewick's World, the biggest and best amusement park there will ever be and we've got a golden ticket!" and then he actually pulled one out of his pocket, "Ah, there we are," he grinned, handing to Ayla to hold, "A golden ticket for my golden girl eh?" Ayla smiled at that praise, as he jumped onto a rock and looked around, "Eh, eh? Fun!"
"Fun?" Clara lifted an eyebrow as she eyed their surroundings, that…wasn't quite the word she'd use. It looked rather dark and depressing and…not like an amusement park.
"Your stupid box can't even get us to the right place," Angie scoffed, "This is, like, a moon base or something."
"Angie that's very rude," Angel told her, patting the corner of the box, "It's alright Sissy, she didn't mean it."
"Yes I did."
"Angie," Clara chastised her, shaking her head as Angie rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry about her," Clara whispered to them, but they just waved her off, though Ayla watched the girl stalk off with a sad smile.
"It's not the moon," the Doctor added as he jumped off the rock, Clara moving to sit on a different one.
"Actually, I think it does look like the moon," Artie countered, "Only dirtier."
"It's not the moon though," Ayla agreed, "If daddy says it's not the moon, it's really not the moon," she leaned in to whisper to them, "Aliens remember?"
"I believe it's called the Spacey Zoomer ride?" Angel looked at the Doctor as he nodded, winding his arm around her waist, "Right then," she turned suddenly, "Hello sir," she called.
Angie and Artie frowned and exchanged a look, not sure who she was talking to or why she kept looking over at the side of the rocks…when a door opened in one and a man peered out at them, startling them as they'd been looking at it so intently that they hadn't jumped when the man appeared.
"Oh, ah," the man apologized, "'Scuse I. I don't suppose you happen to be my lift off planet? Dave's Discount Interstellar Removals?"
"'Fraid not," Clara shook her head, oddly enough not at all perturbed by the man's sudden appearance. She had actually found that…since the Doctor had called her his sister, she sort of felt…more confident in him. Granted this was the first adventure since then that he'd been with her so she couldn't really say how it would go…especially as it was the DOCTOR. It was like she felt more sure that things would be ok, that she was even more protected because she was a 'sister' in their little family now.
"They were meant to be here six months ago," the man sighed, "That's Dave for you, see, unreliable."
"Stay where you are!" they heard a woman shout from behind a door in the back of the room. They all looked over, the Doctor pulling Ayla back to stand behind him and Angel just incase the people coming were not nice…
'It'll be alright my love,' he heard Angel reassure him in his mind, but he didn't relax as much as he probably should have, he just…he didn't want to risk anything. If there was one thing to be said about the nightmares, it was that he could understand now just how much of a treasure his girls were, how lucky he was to have both of them, and how much he would fight to keep them with him.
As far as he was concerned, nothing and no one would ever hurt them again.
"Oops," the man winced before ducking back into the door, shutting the rock as a group of soldiers swarmed into the room, their guns held rather…clumsily in their hands.
"Throw down your weapons and identify yourselves!" a woman with yellow hair and dark red lipstick ordered, clearly the one in charge of this particular platoon.
Clara stood and moved in front of the children, Angel keeping Ayla close as the Doctor stepped forward, showing them the golden ticket, "No. No weapons! Golden ticket! Spacey Zoomer?" he started bouncing in place, "Free ice cream?"
"Who are you?" the woman demanded, eyeing them suspiciously, "This planet is closed, by Imperial order."
"How's this?" the Doctor grinned, whipping out the psychic paper and holding it up to the woman to read.
Her eyes widened as she saw it, "Oh," she bowed her head, "Welcome, Proconsul. I wish they'd told us you and the Haruspex were coming," she shook her head looking up at the Doctor and Angel, "Any news of the Emperor?"
"Oh, the…Emperor..." the Doctor turned to Angel, his expression begging for help.
"The sun has not risen on that foretelling," Angel shrugged, trying to impersonate what she could remember of Lucius Petrus Dextrus and Evelina.
"We pray for his return," the woman remarked, "If there is anything you need, my platoon is at your service."
The Doctor nodded his thanks at them, "Right! Righty-oh. Well, carry on, Captain," he saluted her as she returned one of her own, bowing her head to Angel in respect.
"Haruspex?" Clara murmured as she led the kids to stand by Angel.
"Soothsayer," she supplied, "Prophetess…"
"Psychic," the Doctor winked, making his way over to her as well.
"Thief," she countered, "Proconsul my love?"
"Yes well," he flipped open the psychic paper, "Never really know what I'm going to get sometimes."
Angel smiled, patting his cheek, "I still can't see the psychic paper my love."
"What about you sweetheart?" he looked at Ayla, holding the paper up to her.
"It's blank," she pouted.
"No it's not," Angie pointed, "It says right there, Proconsul Doctorus, and Har…Harun…"
"Haruspex," Artie corrected, "Haruspex Angela."
"And speaking of seeing things," Angel murmured, walking over to the line of rocks and knocking on them, "Hello? They've gone."
They looked over as the door in the rocks opened once more and the man peeked out again, letting out a breath of relief as he saw the tail end of the army walking off, "Uniforms give me the heebie-jeebies," he shivered, "Come on," he opened the door wider, "They can't stop me being here, but they don't like it."
Clara stepped forward with the children, heading in after the man as the Doctor and Angel fell behind, watching Ayla go ahead of them as they glanced at each other.
'Any more feelings on this one?' the Doctor asked her silently as they slowly made their way after their daughter. When they'd been trying to determine a place to go, Angel had been hesitant to agree to this one but she wasn't sure why.
It was like she didn't feel there was a real danger there, at least not one that they wouldn't be able to handle, but…it was also…odd. It was like the planet was asleep, that had been the only way she'd been able to describe it. The planet was…TOO quiet. Which he had to admit was a bit funny as their adventures tended to be a bit TOO loud.
But he'd promised her, the first sign of danger, they'd head off. He was NOT about to make that mistake again in ignoring a present danger and trying to stay there. Every time he did…bad things happened.
'Not just yet,' she sighed, feeling…fuzzy, like she had when she'd been in the Mortarium, there were so many Weeping Angel statues that she hadn't been able to sense just one of them.
He nodded and took her hand, kissing the back of it, 'Everything WILL be fine,' he promised her, 'I'll make sure of it.'
She smiled and leaned over, kissing his cheek as they caught up with the man, standing before a rather large doorway, the children and Clara staring out in wonder and sadness at the sight beyond, a rather large amusement park that seemed to span the whole surface of the planet…now in ruins.
"Ha, ha!" the Doctor tried to be chipper, "You see? I told you it was amazing. Well, it used to be."
"It closed down," the man sighed, feeling for the children, "Wish I'd known that before I landed here. But let me show you my collection. Come along, follow me, this way. This way in, come on. Welcome to my show..."
"Can we mummy?" Ayla turned to Angel, excited for the prospect of a collection, she loved collections, well…not alien collections…but she did like other things. Humans were always so interesting in what they could collect.
Angel smiled and ran a hand down her daughter's hair, "Of course."
Ayla beamed and hugged her quickly before taking the Doctor's hand, "Come along dad!" pulling him off with a surprised shout from him, she was really eager.
Angel laughed as she watched her go, Artie jogging to catch up to them as Angie just rolled her eyes, the three girls following the others off.
~8~
The funny man led them back into the heart of the complex, to a room that was quite dark, giving off a slightly eerie feeling that had Ayla clutching the Doctor's hand, still not very fond of the darkness. He smiled and squeezed her hand reassuringly as he walked with her and Artie down the steps and into the room as the man stopped and spun to face them, the lights coming on as the other three reached the top of the stairs to reveal what was truly in the room.
It was filled to the brim with wax replicas of different alien species and other important historical figures. There were two rather large, rather worn, yet very comfortable looking sofas in the middle of the room. Angel smiled, seeing the figures of the different aliens were only wax and…not stuffed, like Van Statten's had been. Slitheen might have been one of the least pleasant enemy to deal with but she didn't want to imagine what had happened that had led to one of their arms being cut off and stuffed just for the man to put it on display the way he had.
"Webley's World of Wonders!" the man spun around, his arms out, "Miracles, marvels and more await you. I am impresario Webley," he bowed with a flourish.
"NOW she's interested," Clara smiled as she saw Angie step past them and into the room, heading down the steps with her brother and Ayla as the children looked around in wonder, the two women moving to join the Doctor at the base of the steps, "Thanks," she whispered to them.
It really meant a lot to her that the Time Lords were doing this for her, it wasn't even that it was the threat of the children telling Mr. Maitland about her. There were PLENTY of ways around that. One could claim photoshopping for the photos, or even pretend it was a school project, something for a magazine trying to do period pieces. She was sure the Time Lords probably also had some sort of virus or something that could get into computers and erase the entire thing. And, on that note, she could have easily hacked into one of the websites and removed the photo herself.
Mr. Maitland would have never known. But…she could have done all that, the Doctor and Angel could have too…but there they were, CHOOSING to take the kids out for a day of fun.
"It's no problem at all Clara," Angel put her arm around her shoulder to half-hug her, "Anything for family," she winked.
Clara beamed at that, SO pleased that they were really taking to that whole, 'she was the Doctor's sister' thing. She had actually thought, for a moment or two, that they were just joking, but no…Ayla called her her Aunt and they really seemed to be sticking to it. It was just…wonderful.
"You see before you waxwork representations of the famous..." Webley grinned, "And the infamous!" he added, his voice going deep for effect, "Anybody here play chess?"
"I do!" Ayla grinned, lifting her hand instantly, as did the Doctor, and Artie too.
"There can only be one," Webley laughed.
"Ladies first," Artie gestured Ayla on, polite as ever.
"That boy is remarkable Clara," Angel whispered to her.
"I know," Clara smiled, SO proud of the young gentleman Artie was, as she ran a fond hand through his hair, ruffling it a moment.
"Well then, follow me," Webley grinned, leading them to the back part of the room, through a door and into a small side room.
Angel slowed as she entered, looking around hesitantly with a frown, the Doctor spotting it instantly, and not because he was watching her or anything, no…not at all, she just…happened to look rather love in that lighting (like she was in ALL lighting in his opinion). He made his way over to her, taking her hand, 'What is it?'
She looked over at him, 'There are bugs in here,' she whispered.
He let out a small chuckle at that, 'Bugs?'
'Funny insects,' she corrected, 'And…not NORMAL insects. And…there's someone else IN here too.'
THAT made him sober a bit and look around, half expecting it to be some sort of trap the Silence had whipped together. He carefully looked at the ceiling, around the room, his sonic out, but…there as nothing. He looked at Angel again but she nodded to a thing that was covered in cloth, sitting on the opposite end of a chessboard.
"Now, let me demonstrate to you all the wonder of the age, the miracle of modernity," Webley continued, trying his level best to impress, "We defeated them all, a thousand years ago. But now he's back, to destroy you. Behold! The enemy!" he pulled the cloth off the object with a flourish…
Only for the Doctor to shout out, "Cyberman!" and pull them all to the ground, "Get down!"
"It's not alive my love," Angel told him, even though it lifted its head, "Just a shell, the robotic component."
The Doctor paused at that bit of information before he lifted his head, watching it carefully but keeping Ayla still in his arms, ready to protect her at the slightest hint of an attack.
Webley though, just laughed at their reaction, seeming for all the world as though it were something that always happened yet it was also something he never grew tired of, "No need to panic, my young friends. We all know there are no more living Cybermen. What you are seeing is a miracle, the 699th wonder of the universe. As displayed before the Imperial court, and only here to destroy you, at chess! Careful now. An empty shell. And yet it moves. How?"
The Doctor slowly circled the table, eyeing the robot before glancing at Angel. She caught his eye and her gaze travelled down, his own looking at the chair the Cyberman was sitting on before he smiled, working it out.
"Magic?" Angie asked, sarcasm heavy in her words.
But Webley just pointed at her as though she'd been completely serious in her guess, "That might well be, young lady. A single penny wins you five Imperial shillings if you can beat this empty shell at chess."
Angel glanced over a moment, feeling like she'd seen something slither past in the corner of her eye on one of the wax figures, but there was nothing there. She looked back when the Doctor came to lean on the table beside her.
Ayla pouted, "I don't have a penny."
Webley tried to be strong when he saw her adorable pout, before sighing, "Tell you what, this one's on the house."
"Really!?" Ayla looked at him with such wide eyed joy that he had to laugh.
"Take a seat," he gestured at the table, Artie quickly pulling out the chair for Ayla, being polite, "Now…" he moved to the side and opened up the panel beneath the table, showing them Ayla and the Cyberman's feet, showing them there was no one under there to trick them, "It is free of all devices, and yet it has never been beaten. Would you like to make the first move, young miss?"
Ayla smiled and moved her pawn, tilting her head as she watched the Cyberman jerk forward and make another move. She let out a small giggle and moved one more piece that made the Doctor beam proudly to see…as it tricked the Cyberman into making one particular move that…
"Checkmate," Ayla smiled, looking up at Webley as the man stared at the board in shock, "I win!"
"Yes…" he said slowly, a bit startled at that, no one that had faced the metal machine had been able to beat it yet, "If you can tell me how it works, I'll give you a silver penny," he offered.
"I think..." Angie began, "You do it with mirrors?"
"That's a very good guess Angie," Angel smiled at her, "Very clever."
"And on any other situation most likely right," the Doctor added before he moved behind the Cyberman as it just sat there, "Low tech. It's a puppet, monofilament strings, which means the brains are in..." he knelt down and popped open a panel in the side of the chair, a small man crammed inside with a remote in his hands.
"Hello!" Ayla greeted as she dashed over to see what her father was staring at.
"Hello," the man nodded, "I'm the brains."
"Hello," the Doctor repeated what his daughter had said.
"Give us a hand?" the man laughed holding one out for the Doctor to help tug him out, Ayla kneeling to do the same, "They call me Porridge. Ah, it's good to be out of that box."
"For you, Miss..." Webley reached out behind Ayla's ear and 'magically' pulled out a small penny, "An Imperial penny," he held it out to her.
Ayla just scrunched her nose and shook her head, "I don't like money," she told him.
"Oh," he blinked, that was another first.
"I'll take it," Angie held out her hand as Webley shrugged and handed it over.
Angel smiled as she looked at her daughter, leaning against the wall as the Doctor scooped the girl up in his arms, she was JUST like her father, never carried a hint of money on her, not even a penny. Her small smile faded though when she stiffened, looking over to the side to see a few small…insects…crawling up the wall across from her...
...a door crashed off its hinges as a Cyberman stood in the doorway...
'...we've upgraded ourselves. The next model will be undefeatable...'
...an army of Cybermen gathered together, marching across the park...
She shook her head, frowning, those little mites looked FAR too much the color of a Cyberman.
~8~
The Doctor and Angel walked cautiously behind Webley as he led them all back into the main room of his wonderful room, only for the man to pull a cloth off of two other statues, more Cybermen, "I have not one but THREE Cybermen in my collection!" he cheered, grinning as though that were an accomplishment.
But one look at the Doctor and Angel's serious faces told Clara that it was nothing of the sort. The Doctor looked serious as he took to scanning the metal men with his sonic, while Angel stayed back, frowning at them with a look that seemed to be a hint of resentment mixed with mostly sorrow, as she held Ayla's hand, keeping the girl away from the statues.
"Is that the king?" Angie pointed to another statue, a tall wax work figure of a man with dark hair dressed in regal clothing.
"Emperor," Porridge corrected, making Ayla look over at the tone of it. It was like someone who was responding to a personal insult, defensive. She squinted, eyeing Porridge and then the statue before smiling, wondering how long it would take the others to realize what she had, "Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, etc, etc, the 41st, defender of humanity, imperator of known space."
"He looks a bit full of himself," Clara eyed the statue.
"Don't say things like that about the Imperial family, you can end up on the run for the rest of your life."
"That's not very nice," Ayla frowned at that, "That's the worst way to make friends too."
"Go on," Porridge called to Webley, "If the kids want to ride the Spacey Zoomer, then I can operate the gravity console."
"Thank you Porridge," Clara smiled at him, putting an arm around Artie and leading him out, Angel and the Doctor exchanging a look before following with Ayla between them.
"Angie?" Angel glanced back, seeing the girl just looking between her coin and the statue before her before she turned and headed after them with what had to be the longest long-suffering sigh in the world.
~8~
The Doctor, Angel, and Clara stood to the side, watching as the kids bounced up and down in the air, as though in zero gravity on the moon, laughing and smiling and just…warming the hearts of the adults watching them. Angel smiled as she rested her head on the Doctor's shoulder, him standing with his arm around her waist, just…beaming to see their daughter so happy. She really was just the easiest little girl to please. It was always the simple things that she appreciated the most.
"Smile!" Clara called, holding up her camera phone to snap a picture, "Say, 'Spacey Zoomer!'"
"We're flying!" was all she really got from Artie as Angie tried to make it seem like it was average once she saw Clara trying to take a picture and Ayla was giggling too much to say anything.
"Having a good time?" the Doctor smiled at them. Porridge slowly turned off the anti-graves, the three children drifting back down to the floor equally as slowly.
"I think that was the most fun I've had in my whole life!" Artie beamed at Clara.
"It was...ok," Angie shrugged, making the Doctor make a face at that.
'She's lying my love,' Angel commented in his head, which made grin as he whipped out the sonic and started to scan the area.
"Clara?" Artie turned to her, "I think outer space is actually very interesting."
"Right," she laughed, turning to lead him and Angie to the TARDIS, "Wonderful day out, but it's time to get the kids home."
"Actually Clara," Angel looked at her, "We may need to stay a short while longer."
"Why?" Clara turned to them.
"I dunno," the Doctor shrugged, distracted as he looked at the readings on the sonic, or the lack of readings in that particular area, "Reasons."
"What reasons?"
"Insects," he glanced at Angel, sharing a meaningful look with her, "Funny insects. I should add them to my funny insect collection."
Ayla blinked up at him, "We have a funny insect collection!?"
The Doctor winced at that, "Not just yet, but…we're in the process of making one, aren't we?" he smiled at her, "Starting right now," he added, stepping back into the main part of the complex again.
~8~
The children were lying down on the sofas in Webley's room later that day, Angie and Artie tucked up on one, the larger of the two, and Ayla on the other. There were blankets and pillows everywhere, making a nice little bed for the three of them, Clara and Angel tucking them in while Porridge brought them in a glass of water each.
"How long do we have to stay here?" Angie grumbled, not even thanking for the water but putting it aside.
"Not long," the Doctor assured them, dropping a kiss to Ayla's fore head as he stood, "Have a nap. I'll wake you when we're ready to leave," he moved over to the doors, testing them a moment, to see if they'd open, which they did.
"Sweet dreams," Angel added, kissing Ayla's hair too, before she moved to leave, flicking off the lights as Porridge followed them.
"Comfy?" the man called back to them before he disappeared completely.
"Sleep well," Clara whispered, heading out.
"Good night," Porridge called as they both left the room. Artie reached out and took a sip of his water, placing the glass down on the small glass table beside him as Ayla snuggled up under her covers.
"Don't wander off!" the Doctor shouted, jumping back into the room with the sonic held under his chin and startling the poor children, well, the humans, Ayla just smiled as she snuggled more into her pillow, as though she knew her father was going to do this, "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…"
"From what?" Angie frowned, now suspicious.
"Nothing," a voice said as Angel stepped back into the room, linking her arm with the Doctor's to tug him out, "There's nothing to worry about."
"Yes," the Doctor pointed at her, "Nothing. Nobody needs rescuing from anything. Don't wander off. Sweet dreams," he winked at them and left, the Maitlands settling back down onto their sofas, but neither of them seemed able to fall asleep now.
~8~
Webley sighed as he entered the chess room, eyeing the Cyberman as he rolled his eyes and moved to place the chess pieces into their proper orders, "So then, total takings for the day…nothing, because some hunk of junk lost," he banged a fist on the top of the Cyberman's head, before shaking his head and moving to reach for the pieces on the Cyberman's side…
Only for the Cyberman to grab his wrist.
"That's a bit odd…" he murmured, trying to remain calm, "That's not funny, give me my hands back!" he struggled more and more, gasping when he saw small, worm-like insects slither out of the Cyberman's head and crawl down its body…right onto HIS skin, starting to cover him as he screamed…
"Upgrade in progress!" the Cybermen stated, deaf to the agonized yells around him.
~8~
Angie wandered around the main room, holding her mobile phone out this way and that, trying to get reception but there was nothing, "I HATE the future. It's stupid."
"That's mean," Ayla sat up, unable to sleep with the amount of noise and grumbling that Angie was making.
"Oh yeah?" Angie scoffed, wiggling her phone at Ayla, "There's not even phone service," she set the phone down on a small table beside the sofa, "I'm out of here."
"Daddy said not to wander off!" Ayla told her, pointing warningly at her as she moved to look at the woman over the back of the sofa, moving onto her knees.
"He said that, and then he wandered off," Angie countered, not even noticing the small worm-like bugs that had started to swarm her phone.
"I don't think Clara would like that…" Artie frowned, having tried to fall asleep and failed at it as well.
"She's not our mum!" Angie snapped at her.
"She doesn't have to be to love you," Ayla told Angie quietly.
Angie rolled her eyes and turned to head out, "Don't leave me here!" Artie cried.
"It's alright Artie," Ayla reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm still here. I won't wander off and leave," though her gaze kept getting pulled to where Angie had disappeared, unable to help but feel like she and Artie were being watched.
~8~
The Doctor zigged this way and that through a rather large terminal set up in the middle of the factory, a magnifying glass in one hand, the sonic on the other, as he investigated everything he could get in his line of sight. Angel and Clara were walking on either side of Porridge as they talked about the situation.
"Was this really the biggest amusement park in the universe?" Clara had to ask. For being the biggest…she couldn't imagine what could have happened to it that they just…stopped coming.
"Yeah," Porridge sighed, "Hedgewick bought the planet cheap. It'd been trashed in the Cyber-Wars."
"Who were we fighting?"
"Cybermen," Angel said quietly, staring out at the dark night's sky as they walked nearer to the doors that opened to the outside, "Metal men, human brains trapped in suits of armor. The 'technologically upgraded warriors.'"
"We couldn't win," Porridge agreed, "Sometimes we fought to a draw, but then they'd upgrade themselves, fix their weaknesses and destroy us. It's hard to fight an enemy that uses your armies as spare parts."
"You beat them, though," Clara frowned, "Beat them or you wouldn't be here. How?"
"Look up there," Porridge pointed to a rather empty area of space that looked like a sort of eye with a big black spot in the middle of it, "That corner of the sky. What do you see?"
"Nothing," Angel murmured, already knowing what that meant.
"It's just black," Clara nodded, "No stars, no nothing."
"Used to be the Tiberion Spiral Galaxy," Porridge explained, "A million star systems. A hundred million worlds. A billion trillion people. It's not there anymore. No more Tiberion galaxy. No more Cybermen. It was effective."
"It's horrible," Clara breathed.
"It's…terrible," Angel nodded slowly, "But…it's even worse for the one who has to push the button and do it," she glanced over at the Doctor, "For the sake of the Universe."
Clara followed her gaze, knowing where her mind had gone, they'd told her about the War, about what the Doctor had been forced to do for the sake of all creation. He'd had to push that button and send the planet away, he'd had to do what whoever had pushed the button for the Tiberion Galaxy had done.
"And that's why I feel like a monster sometimes. Instead of mourning a billion trillion dead people, I just feel sorry for the poor blighter who had to press the button and blow it all up."
"Clara?" the Doctor called as they looked over at him, seeing him squinting out into the darkness through the shell of some piece of equipment he was inspecting, "Did you tell Angie she could go to the barracks?"
"You KNOW I didn't," Clara frowned, before realizing why he was asking that, "She hasn't..."
"I bet she has," Angel nodded.
"She's just gone in there," the Doctor agreed.
Clara sighed, "Come on…" and led them off.
~8~
In the barracks, the Captain of the platoon was walking through with another woman as she placed a piece of equipment that seemed to have been ripped apart down on a bench, "I can't fix this," the woman shook her head.
"It can't be broken," the captain rolled her eyes, "It's a solid state sub-ether ansible class communicator. Just run the diagnostics."
"There's nothing left to diagnose. It's not broken. It's empty. All the components have gone."
"Well, you must have replacement parts," she turned to head away.
"Not enough to build a new one," the woman muttered.
"Captain," a young man in glasses made his way over to the Captain as she rolled her eyes and huffed, "The weather-controller is malfunctioning again. There's storms, heat waves, snow."
Just as the Captain opened her mouth to retort, the young woman she'd been speaking to place a hand on her shoulder and pointed at the door…where Angie was standing, looking around.
"Hello," Angie strode in, "I'm bored!"
"Where's your big sister?" the Captain eyed her.
"Clara?" Angie let out something between a scoff and a grimace, "She's not my sister. She's stupid. She's talking to Porridge."
"She talks to her porridge?" the Captain raised an eyebrow at that.
Angie rolled her eyes, "Porridge. That little bloke."
The Captain's smile tensed as she looked at Angie, stepping closer to put her arm around her, "We need to have a chat," she told the girl, leading her away.
~8~
"Are you ok Artie?" Ayla whispered as she and Artie laid on their sofas in the main room of Webley's display, both of them trying to ignore the creepy statues and the dark.
"I'm fine," he said, but his voice went squeaky.
"You're lying," Ayla remarked, "Daddy's voice does that too when he lies. You don't have to lie to me if you're scared."
"I'm not scared," he insisted, "I just think I ought to turn the lights back on."
"Please do," Ayla agreed, "I don't…I don't like the dark."
Artie nodded and got up, walking over to the switch, looking around nervously at the different displays. He ran the last few feet and turned the light on, smiling widely at the light that flood the room…until he heard Ayla scream.
He spun around to see one of the metal men had been right by the sofa and grabbed her, another was right behind him! He yelled out, trying to call for help when the Cyberman covered his mouth and picked him up, pulling him and Ayla off…
A/N: Oh dear Lord...they took AYLA?! O.O I have a feeling that the Cybermen better run...and not just from the Doctor }:)
Just wanted to give a bit of warning, for TLC's 50th, there's a small possibility it might not be up till about 3:30 today (EST), or about 9 hours after posting this chapter. My work was closed yesterday due to snow, so my boss may keep me in a meeting around the time I would usually post. 3:30 is when I leave on Wednesdays so, at the latest, that will be when I post ;) Not saying it won't be posted at 1 (the same time as yesterday ish) but just warning there's a chance it may take an extra hour or 2 :)
Some notes on reviews...
I'm glad you like Ayla so much :) I thought it would be a nice twist to see a Time Lord growing up and since we had LJ, I wanted to do a girl this time :) I'm very excited for TLC's 50th too, I can't believe it'll be over today in just a few hours! O.O Lol :)
I think that's a great song, I agree, I could see it fitting with the Professor (or even as a montage of others ;))
