"So, we're facing a global-level disaster event. You're estimating that millions of aliens are planning on attacking the planet as forfeit for that temporal anomaly opening, with them only being stopped right now by a force field that is about to collapse. And you want us to fight by your side in the small hope that we can somehow win this war?" When Hayley put it in those terms, the situation certainly seemed bleak for them all. They'd been discussing things for over half an hour, Clara doing most of the explaining to tell them what they knew about the gathering forces, the others occasionally adding their own thoughts. There had been a lot of back and forth, the Zygons reticent to get involved even when it would likely affect them too. Hayley had been the most open to a joint effort out of the three, John being the most vocal opposition. James was yet to speak, simply staring at them all. They presumed he was there more for brute force rather than eloquent debate.

"We obviously don't want a war," Clara responded. "The most positive outcome, other than them suddenly deciding to leave without doing any damage, would be us stalling them before too many civilians die."

"The question is though what we'd be stalling them for. It'd only be a matter of time before they overrun our forces. What would we be holding out hope for?"

"There's a man. A friend. More than a friend. The Doctor." The change in their facial expressions told Clara that they had heard of him, which didn't really surprise her. "He has saved the Earth countless times before. I know he's still out there. I can feel it. We'd just have to defend ourselves until he manages to find a way to stop them." John let out a bitter laugh.

"You expect us to let our people die because you believe in one man to save the day? You must know how absurd you sound."

"Why don't you reserve judgement until you meet that man?" Wilf strongly defended. The hint of anger in his voice surprised their alien counterparts. Hayley put her hands up to stop an argument from breaking out since it would just distract them when they didn't have the time for such luxuries. She looked into Clara's eyes and could tell how she truly believed in what she was saying. But that wouldn't be enough.

"Even if the Doctor is as...amazing as you say, it is still unlikely that he'd succeed. Meaning any efforts on our part would result in very little significant progress."

"Surely it's better than just waiting for the world around us to burn," Clara reasoned. "If we fight, we might be able to save people who otherwise would perish. Isn't that a good enough motive?"

"It's alright having your moral high ground when you have no other option," John countered. They were all growing to despise him. "You can't leave this planet because you don't have the technology. Whereas we have ships that can carry us away before the chaos ensues."

"Where would you go? Do you think there's another planet out there that would accept you as refugees?" Clara asked pointedly. "I've seen a lot of the universe, probably more than you, and, although there are many civilisations out there that are accepting of other cultures and races, there are plenty more that despise the very concept."

"At least being on a ship would give us more hope than remaining on this doomed piece of rock."

"Even though it's likely you wouldn't get very far?" Perkins chimed in. "That armada won't be in the mood to let an escaping fleet get away from them, I reckon."

"This is your home," Graham said quietly. He looked at Hayley. "You said yourself how hard you've worked to grow into our community. Surely you've grown to appreciate what it has to offer. Can't that mean there's some part of you that wants to save it because…" He hesitated, trying to think of how to properly word his argument.

"You've already had to see one planet burn that was yours," Yaz continued, building upon Graham's motive. She glanced at Perkins, remembering what he said about their original home planet. "What happened to it?" The three Zygons all had sombre looks on their faces as they thought back to it.

"Zygos was one of the first casualties of the Great Time War. It burned, forcing us to flee and never look back," Hayley answered quietly. Clara nodded at Yaz, seeing that they were finally on the brink of making some progress.

"Did you experience it? What did it feel like?" Yaz pushed on. Kate was growing concerned that they were bringing up too many negative memories but allowed the young woman to keep questioning them, seeing the defiant look in her eye.

"It was centuries ago," John said. "We're children of different planets. But the elders...they often spoke of the flames, of the devastation. They described it as if Hell had risen from its rightful place to swarm the planet."

"Because the Doctor said that this could all lead to another Time War, maybe even greater than the last time. Just think of the devastation that would happen this time. Even if you got away, it's grasp would inevitably catch up to you just like it did the last time."

"You can make a choice here that could go a long way in preventing that from ever happening. We're not saying that it will be easy, far from it. But, by working with us, you won't have to see a world die again," Clara summarised. Hayley brought her partners into a small huddle, discussing what decision they would make. As the seconds ticked by, the nervous feeling in the room only grew. Eventually, they parted and Hayley looked at them, focusing on Clara, who she felt was in charge.

"You've spoken of the races we might face. Daleks. Cybermen. Metal monsters. Our weapons are biological in nature. I fear that they will have little impact on such creatures."

"That's where planning comes in," Kate added. "There are plenty of aliens currently waiting above the atmosphere that would be vulnerable to your technology. We'd be able to send you to areas where they are, meaning your efforts would be more effective."

"And even your presence by our side will go a long way in helping us," Clara said with an encouraging smile. "Not just by increasing our numbers but, if they see that they're facing an intergalactic defence, then they might reconsider risking this conflict. At the moment, they expect to be facing only us humans."

"They should be warier of that fact," Hayley responded with a smirk. "I've seen here today how strong and mighty humans can be. You are a credit to your race." They couldn't help the blushes on their cheeks at her compliment. She looked once more at the other Zygons who slightly nodded their heads. "Let this be the day in which the planet is saved because of our cooperation." Clara couldn't believe it. They'd done it. The Zygons were going to fight with them. She thought about how proud the Doctor would be of her success...of their success, she reminded herself. Maybe they could still have hope after all.

Jenny was confused at how intensely the Doctor was staring at her, beginning to grow slightly uncomfortable under his inscrutable gaze. If she'd known any better, she would have said that he'd seen some sort of ghost. Jack and the Architect were also looking at him, not understanding why he had reacted to her presence in such a way. His face was particularly pale as numerous thoughts crashed about in his head. He glanced at the Architect with a piercing stare.

"Let her out," he commanded authoritatively. She was taken aback by his tone, not usually used to taking orders, especially from people who weren't a part of the Proclamation.

"Why should I do that?" she asked with narrowed eyes, angered by how he simply expected her to listen to him. It had been too long since someone questioned his intentions.

"She hasn't done anything wrong. Use of a vortex manipulator, regardless of where it occurred, is usually noted as a pretty minor offence." He scoffed as he looked at the object in question. With a quick move of his arm and a zap of the sonic, sparks flew from the device, making the lights flashing on it die out with a whimper. "And look - it's broken now. No harm done. We can all go about our business as planned."

"Hey!" Jenny exclaimed. "That was mine! I might have needed that." The look he gave her told her to be quiet. "I'm guessing you're not a regular lawyer," she grumbled to herself although they all still heard her complaint.

"So, I'm left wondering why you imprisoned her in the first place when the Shadow Proclamation should have much more serious cases to be dealing with. The universe is a rather large place...too large to focus such efforts on something like this." The Architect was beginning to wilt under his ire. "It almost makes me think that you knew where she was from," he finished.

"We were going to let her go with a verbal warning and a deactivation of the device," she explained in a small voice.

"But your scanners picked up on something interesting."

"Exactly. When we saw the readings of her biological makeup...we couldn't exactly let her go knowing how much of a target she could have been."

"And imprisoning her was the better choice?" he asked in a dangerous tone.

"What would you have done? She would have asked questions. It was easier to do it like this."

"Oh, it's always the easiest option with you lot, isn't it? You could have contacted me in some form or another." The Architect fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"You know how difficult a task that is. Even if we could have found some way to do so, would you be honest in saying that you would have answered our calls? You eventually came anyway out of your own volition. She has hardly been here long."

"But why would they have wanted to contact you?" Jenny asked curiously, her body as close to the cell's barriers as possible. She was staring at this strange man intently, trying to figure out why he seemed so familiar when she knew she had never seen him before.

"Yeah, Doctor...I'm a little confused too," Jack admitted. The use of his name made Jenny's eyes go wide in recognition before a huge, albeit shocked, grin formed on her face. The Doctor glanced at her once more, an almost nervous expression on his face, before he pointed the sonic screwdriver at the controls for the jail. Within a few seconds, the force field flickered out of existence, making the Architect gasp.

"You didn't have permission to do that!" she exclaimed in annoyance. "That is a federal offence."

"Lock me up then," he said dismissively but she made no move to do as he suggested. Jenny took a step out from her prison, heading towards the older man. She held out a hand, reaching for his face but stopping herself before she touched it.

"Is it really you?" she asked softly, a few tears prickling her eyes. He took her hand in his, tears in his eyes too, and placed a tender kiss on it, silently confirming her suspicions. She began to scrutinise his face even further. "You've changed a lot since I last saw you. It has been far too long."

"Doctor, you haven't explained. Who is she?" Jack queried again with little patience.

"This is Jenny. My daughter." Whatever Jack had been expecting to hear, it had definitely not been that. His eyes went wide and he had to take a step back to steady himself, before a smile began to show on his lips.

"You old dog!" he shouted, smacking the wall in triumph. "Who would have thought you had it in you? Is this to do with that Clara you mentioned before?" The Doctor rolled his eyes regardless of the small blush appearing on his cheeks.

"Clara?" Jenny asked innocently, enjoying how the Doctor was beginning to squirm under her observant eye. "Now, that's a new development. I can't wait for you to tell me all about her." He tried to ignore their insinuations.

"It wasn't like that. When I was in the body you last saw me in, we accidentally found ourselves in the middle of a war. The humans there were cloning soldiers. They took a sample of my blood and...created her." He still couldn't believe she was there in front of him. "But you died. The final victim of that conflict."

"I was just that bit more Time Lord than your negative thoughts allowed for," she answered cockily. "A semblance of regeneration. Not enough to change my appearance but plenty to keep me going." That's when he allowed himself to smile properly, forgetting all of their present worries, just allowing himself, just this once, to enjoy the miracles of the universe.

"All this time and we never bumped into each other. But you picked a decent time to show up."

"I hate to interrupt this happy family reunion," the Architect said, ruining the moment. "But you still have a war to face, Doctor." Jenny looked at him in suspicion.

"What does she mean, dad?" The way she addressed him made his hearts skip a beat. It had been a very long time since anyone had called him that. Then he thought about how Clara would react to this revelation. She'd either be annoyed at him not telling her about this part of his history or eager to tease him about his lack of parenting skills. He was becoming distracted, as he often did when his mind turned to the Impossible Girl.

"Do you remember when I spoke about Earth?"

"You seemed rather fond of it from what I can remember."

"Exactly. But it's now in danger."

"And wherever danger is, you have to be there on the front line. I haven't forgotten that bit, don't worry."

"I wouldn't expect you to come with me. There's no need to risk yourself." Before the Doctor could continue down that path, she put a finger on his lips to silence him.

"Since I came into being, I've had one mission. To keep on running to civilisations that need help. There's no way I'm missing out on doing that with you." Despite the danger he was now putting her in, he just had to smile at her defiance.

"Excellent!" he said, getting ready for action as he turned around in a circle. "Architect," he said as he pointed at her, "I'm still not happy about what you did but I'm going to let you off. Just this once. Because I'm surprisingly happy. Now, I expect that the Judoon are already boarding their ships to get ready for take off?"

"As we speak," she replied in a relieved manner, thankful that she wasn't having to face the ire of the Time Lord. He turned his attention to his companion.

"Sorry, Jack, but your ship isn't going anywhere now. Even if I hadn't bartered it away, it would hardly make it to Earth. So, I have to ask…" He turned back to the Architect. "Any room for us onboard?"

River spun around in a circle incredulously, hardly wanting to believe what her scanner was reading. They had enough to worry about as it was. She moved around the large council chamber with her device, bringing up readings for the place in every corner. Her team and the Silurians already there looked at her in confusion, trying to figure out what she was trying to accomplish. She turned back to them, marching up to Nasreen and Tony, moving her scanner from their heads to their toes. It returned the same readings as the rest of the room, the piece of technology struggling to comprehend what had been put in front of it. River stared at them.

"They're telling the truth," she finally let herself admit in a shocked whisper.

"How's that possible though?" Martha asked, sharing a concerned look with her husband. The professor shrugged her shoulders as she put her scanner away.

"Beats me," she replied. "I bet it has something to do with that rift but there's no way of knowing for sure. It's an unprecedented event, which means we have nothing to compare this to."

"Will you please inform us of what you're talking about?" Eldane asked, beginning to grow worried for his people for multiple reasons.

"We're from the year 2015 as I said before. But you, this place...you're out of sync by a couple of decades at least."

"That can't just...happen though, can it?" Nasreen spoke up.

"Time is damaged. With the rift now open, time energy could be leaking out of it. The damage that could cause is incalculable."

"Ma'am," Nardole whimpered. "This might just be the start. What if it grows in scale, impacting the planet completely?"

"Then Earth is in even more trouble than we thought. Fighting this battle is one thing but to do it whilst the time lines converge...you can imagine how tricky that will be." She eyed Eldane who had a sad look on his face as he realised the hope for progress with the humans was being met with another barrier. "It just makes this meeting even more crucial. If we can deal with the invasion, and that's a big if, then we can focus on our other challenge."

"We wouldn't normally have such a crucial negotiation without the people here to see," Eldane pointed out, gesturing to the empty stands around them. "The hibernation process is a difficult system to bring to a premature end, meaning the majority of our population are still asleep."

"We don't exactly have enough time to wait for them all to wake up," Mickey responded.

"To go against protocol could lead to outcry though."

"I understand the necessity of tradition and rules to keep things stable," River said in an attempt to be diplomatic. "But that can only happen in times when we don't have a global threat bearing down on us." Eldane nodded his head, gesturing to the table in an invitation for them to take a seat. They took a few moments to do so, everyone getting settled and prepared for the discussion.

"Where would you like to begin?" Eldane began.

"You said that the majority of your society is still in hibernation," Martha said, the first to respond. "How long would it take for everyone to be brought out of that?"

"It depends. Emergency protocols could shorten its duration to maybe half a day. We'd also have to include time for them to recover from the daze that invariably ensues afterwards." Martha sighed.

"An attack could be imminent," she muttered.

"You can't rush science," the leader retorted.

"Wait a minute," Mickey interrupted. "The majority of people? Meaning there's already Silurians awake?"

"The bulk of our army is always the first to be woken, along with our chief scientists and leaders," Azrad answered.

"Then we don't have to worry about rushing hibernation if you already have a force at hand."

"You're speaking as though you've already taken our support for granted," Eldane reminded them. They didn't like the sound of that.

"You're contemplating not helping us?" Brian asked in disbelief.

"Our race has known peace for millennia. To throw them into combat within minutes of their awakening would be an insult to them." Tony and Nasreen were now looking at him with matching perplexed expressions.

"Surely an insult is better than death," Nasreen responded testily even though she was sat on his side of the table.

"There's no certainty that we would perish anyway," Azrad added. "They probably don't know that we even exist and thrive down here. Is there any point in sacrificing our people when they would rest quietly otherwise?"

"But this is your planet," River countered. "In a sense, even more so than the humans'. Would you sit back and allow it to be destroyed?"

"It is hardly ours anymore," the army general said. "We have to cower beneath the planet's crust knowing that your race has completely transformed the surface. Even in our time, the human race was not ready for our return."

"I agree with Commander Azrad," Eldane continued. "We tried to negotiate some form of treaty the first time your kind found themselves down here and, despite our hopes, it never prevailed. What would we get from helping you in this deadly war?"

"You can't be serious," Tony muttered in distaste. "You helped me survive. Your technology is more advanced than we could imagine. Think how beneficial that would be in stopping millions of people from dying, which they say will inevitably happen if they are left on their own."

"By helping, you would have a better chance of actually having a surface to return to," River argued. "Then we can focus on negotiating a deal that sees your people begin to live again under the light of the sun."

"And," Brian said, following on from River's point. "If the public saw you fighting with us, then they'd be more open to that proposition in the future." River nodded her head, almost surprised at how the civilian had pointed out a crucial point. Nardole was about to add his own thoughts into the mix when he felt some small granules of rock drift down onto his head. With a look of confusion and worry, he turned his head up to the ceiling where he could see a stream of dust steadily falling.

"Professor," he murmured, nudging River and pointing to where he was looking. "I don't want to alarm you but that doesn't look too good." Her eyes widened and she looked at Eldane.

"Does that normally happen?" she asked.

"No," he admitted, his scaly eyebrows furrowed. "But the settlement is far too sturdy to crumble completely."

"I'm not concerned about it collapsing. I'm worried about what's causing it." Mackenzie stood up.

"We need to get out of here and see what's happening," he said.

"But we're in the middle of a negotiation," Martha pointed out.

"We can pick that up later. But, as Professor Song said, that looks fairly ominous." Eldane nodded his head, signalling that he was allowing them to leave. With apologetic smiles, they left the chamber and began to rush through the corridors, following the same path as they'd used to get there. It was an impatient wait for their journey to the surface to be completed but, as they saw what was happening, some of them wished that they'd stayed underground.

"Oh, dear God," Brian exclaimed. His terror was felt by them all. The force field in the sky was flickering above them, cracks of energy spurting out of it as it slowly died. With an almighty groan, it disappeared from view completely. The planet was no longer protected. And they were stuck in Wales with no protection, the Silurians not yet willing to support them.

"They said that we had at least a day before this happened!" Mickey shouted in despair.

"That was a hopeful prediction," River answered. "No point in complaining about what we were told. It's happening now, that's all that matters."

"We need to get back to London now!" Mackenzie shouted, pointing at their helicopter which was nearby. "Those Silurians aren't ready to help. There's no point in us waiting for that to happen with the aliens about to greet us." They began to run to the vehicle, hoping that it wasn't too late for them.

"Planetary shield deteriorating!" a Dalek scientist shouted as it moved away from its computer system. Its silver dome made it distinguishable from the others, giving it a sense of authority over the standard mercenaries they sent out into conflicts. The Supreme Dalek looked down at its comrade, processing this news. If it could have smiled, it would have done.

"Then the time is now!" it responded, its deep voice resonating across the large red and black room. "Prepare the invasion force! The Doctor has failed to keep his promise but we shall stick to ours! The Earth shall burn as forfeit for his failure. He is renowned for his love of the humans. Their end shall break the last remaining spirit he has." The other Daleks began to move around quickly, sending out the messages to the surrounding smaller ships that were carrying the bulk of their army.

"Incoming communication from Cyber ship!" a standard gold version exclaimed.

"Patch it through!" The metal face of a Cyberman soon appeared on a screen that floated in the air. The Daleks despised these creatures, knowing they were completely inferior to them. But it was necessary to work with them for the time being until the threat of the Time Lords was brought to a final end. Then they'd be able to exterminate the entire race like they truly wanted to. The Cyberman had black handles and face plate instead of the usual silver, indicating its superiority amongst its ranks.

"Supreme Dalek," it greeted in its monotone voice.

"Are your ships prepared for the initial attack?" it asked, forgetting about any forced pleasantries. It was a very tenuous alliance they had and the Daleks were not willing to speak to them as if they were equal.

"Our smallest carriers are the closest vessels to the Earth's atmosphere," the Cyberman explained. "Meaning they will be the first to arrive. They shall lead the attack!" The Daleks didn't particularly like the sound of allowing them such a symbol of glory but they didn't have much of a choice.

"Do you understand your mission? Do you remember what your primary target is?" It was always sensible to make sure with these abominations. They weren't as obedient as their own numbers.

"Our ships are destined for the country of England!"

"The Doctor's favourite area of the planet. Can we...trust that you will succeed in its complete extermination?" By phrasing it like that, it would make the Cybermen think that they were being trusted with an important task, making it less likely that they would turn against them. However, it was a rather small location with limited importance, leaving the Daleks with much larger territories to destroy.

"The country shall be deleted!" it promised before the screen turned black and disappeared from view. Even the Doctor would not be able to stop them this time.