"We have a slight issue," Perkins said as he walked into the UNIT control room, Kate looking up as he entered. Her job at the moment was simply watching the battle take place between the Cybermen and the Judoon as they prepared to join the battle. She wasn't the sort of leader to stand by and watch as her planet was torn to shreds by alien foes. She was thankful for the extraterrestrial force, which was about to make itself known on a large scale internationally, and for the fact that the base was no longer under direct threat after the Doctor's intervention. But they had soldiers waiting, cowering, inside the Tower when they should be doing their jobs. She'd waited as long as possible before dragging them into this but they needed to by themselves more time until they were able to take out the Cybermen remotely. With Perkins one of the people working on the way to do this, she wasn't too pleased to see him wearing such an anxious look. She let out a sigh as she placed some papers down on the desk, knowing this would need her undivided attention.

"What's this about? Don't tell me that we have an issue with the emotion enhancer," she said wearily.

"Well...it's working from what we can tell. We've been able to connect it to the Cyber heads and it's operating in the way the Doctor said it would."

"I can sense a 'but' coming…"

"But...they've been inactive for so long that it's going to take longer to patch them up to their shared neural network."

"How much longer?"

"I can't be precise but at least a day and that's if we work non stop." She placed her head in her hands as she received the bad news. This was the last thing they needed. Their chances of stopping the Cybermen rested on this going smoothly. With cities across Britain being turned into war zones, a day could be the difference between saving the country and having a nation to repair afterwards.

"This is the only way we can win this! I've already been stretching my men enough to have sufficient numbers to deal with each invasion. A full scale battle here, if it isn't classed as one already, would bring about no winners for either side. Is there anything we can do to speed up the process?" Perkins looked nervously at her. He doubted that she was going to be on board with the idea they'd had.

"If we managed to hook it up to something active in the current network, it's possible that it could take minutes."

"We don't have anything active though."

"Which is why Mickey suggested that we try and get onto a Cybership…" Kate's eyes widened and she began to rub her temples, sure that she was having the largest migraine in history.

"No. That's out of the equation. There's no way that you'd be able to get to one, let alone sneak inside long enough to gain access to their computers." Mickey entered the room dressed for the mission though, a black ensemble that even included a woolly hat, as he loaded his large gun. Martha was right behind him in a similar, body-hugging version of the outfit. "Were you even going to wait for my permission."

"Respectfully," Martha said, "you're not our boss anymore and we need to do this."

"This is still a UNIT mission and you will follow orders when I deem it necessary," Kate countered strongly.

"There won't be a UNIT for long if we don't try and do this," Mickey argued, already moving to leave. "The Cybermens' forces have already been depleted by the Judoon. They'll be too focused on them, using all of their numbers to deal with that problem, so they won't notice us. It's unlikely that any will be left guarding their ships."

"It's still a very distinct possibility. What will you do if you come across some of them?"

"Isn't it obvious? Shoot our way out of trouble. We've got experience of doing this."

"You'll get yourselves killed."

"Better than the rest of the population," Martha reasoned. Kate realised in that moment that there was going to be no way of talking them out of this. She tended to hate the fact that the people the Doctor chose were always so incredibly stubborn. "Look. We can get inside one of the ships and then Perkins and Sarah Jane will be able to tell us what to do through our earpieces."

"Let's just hope that the Cybermen don't manipulate that sort of technology again. I've seen that happen and it's not pretty." They looked at Mickey to tell him that now wasn't the time to be making such remarks.

"I'm not going to be able to convince you not to do this, am I?" Kate sighed.

"Nope."

"If they're going, I'd like to as well," Wilf said as he entered the room, having heard the end of the conversation, enough to tell what was going on.

"And I'd be able to help," Nardole added, following the older man. He sounded much more confident than he normally did, presumably showing the hardened criminal side to his character. It was a far cry from the usually nervous bald man.

"I'm sorry but this is a big enough risk as it is. I'm not needlessly sending you into a battle when we have trained soldiers paid to do exactly that."

"They can't work a computer like I can. I'm a bit of a whizz, actually."

"And I've got enough experience of warfare to not be dead weight like you expect me to be," Wilf pointed out.

"I didn't mean that...that wasn't the point I was trying to make." He stepped closer to the struggling woman.

"Listen. I came here to be helpful. To do something that would give us a better chance of winning. I haven't done much so far so this could be it. I know what you're thinking - I'm not exactly as nimble as I used to be but you don't need to worry. All that matters is that I still have a steady hand." Kate looked at them, feeling a strange sense of pride as she saw the steely determination in their eyes. This was what defined the human race. This was why the Doctor was obsessed with this planet. She could see it now.

"I'm still going to provide you with back-up. To give you enough cover to try and get to the closest ship." She eyed Malcolm, who was sitting by a computer watching all of this play out. "Locate the nearest one for them."

"On it, ma'am," he replied. All it took was a few taps on the keyboard, taking advantage of a satellite passing over them so that he could get a bird's eye view of London. On the screen, he zoomed in what they could tell was a small carrier. Even at full capacity, it probably wouldn't have held many Cybermen. It looked like it's main job was to carry them to and from the main vessel that was still hovering above them. It was the perfect target. Kate stood by as they left, Wilf picking up the small gun he had been given and Nardole being handed the one Perkins had. She was now second-guessing herself but it was too late. For a moment, she debated whether to join them but knew it was a better use of her time to make sure everything back at UNIT ran as it should.

On the surface, they were surprised at how quiet it actually was. The scene that met their eyes was a disturbing one. In the street, amongst the fires and wreckage, were unmoving bodies. They couldn't realistically count how many there were but they were all scattered across the normally busy London scenery. Some were the remains of Cybermen, the parts that hadn't turned to dust under Judoon fire. Their opponents were just as heavily hit, their hulking forms lying on the ground. As the soldiers who were joining them moved out, they cautiously stepped out, looking out for any activity. They'd known that any battle taking place wouldn't be near to them but they also knew that they were walking right towards where one would likely be.

They heard the constant barrage of laser fire, as well as the mingling shouts of both alien races, before they could see it. Along an abandoned road, one of the high streets that had made the capital famous, were Cybermen on one end firing at Judoon on the other. They hid behind an overturned car, looking through the windows to get a clear look. They just weren't looking in the right direction as a lone soldier quietly marched towards them.

xxxxxxxxxx

Why did it have to be the Daleks? They always seemed to be involved when he was in the most trouble. If he hadn't known that they didn't feel any emotions other than hate, the Doctor would have guessed that they got a great deal of joy from tormenting him. He glared at them as they moved about, the others by his side as they watched from afar. They'd found some poor souls who hadn't hidden well enough, rounding them up. What were they planning to do with their captives? It was undoubtedly going to be something bad but he needed specifics before he started charging in to deal with them. Possibly. Sometimes he did it without knowing anything about the situation, improvising as he went along. Some of his best plans had come from thinking on the spot, now he thought about it. But this was such a large scale issue that it was going to be impossible even for him to talk his way out of it. He couldn't deal with the entirety of the Dalek invasion force because it was possibly the largest that he had seen. The only way they would be able to deal with this would be to start off small. There were about twenty Daleks in front of them, with as many humans cowering on their knees with their hands behind their heads. Whatever decision they came to, they needed to make it fast.

The Doctor looked back at his group. Possy? Gang? It probably wasn't the time to be thinking about how to label them. They were all looking at him as if he was the one who was meant to find a way to sort this mess out. Then he remembered that that was basically his job description. He eyed the three other Time Lords, who were staring angrily at the foes they'd struggled the most against in an effort to remove them from existence. Whenever they saw one, it was if they were being transported back to the war, especially for the General, who had been at the very heart of proceedings. If he looked back with fondness on one aspect of his life, it was the decision he had made that led to that conflict coming to an end. He didn't want to live through it again, being forced to make decisions that no man should be forced into. Cassandra was too young to fully understand the horrors that had unfolded during those dark times but had grown up knowing one fact from the stories she had listened to - if you saw even a single Dalek, you had to try your hardest to kill it.

"Don't you have...I don't know...some Time Lord weapon with you so we actually stand a chance?" the Doctor asked them. Ko Sharmus put up his empty hands to signify what their answer was going to be.

"We had to flee the capital!" he said, trying to defend their lack of ammunition. "We didn't exactly have time to look around and try and take something."

"All we have is my personal sidearm. No stun setting although I doubt we need to make a fuss about that," the General added.

"Well, fat lot of good you lot are!" Cassandra scoffed at the outburst. He was just as rude as she'd been told. "So, we have two guns. Two guns to take out a small expedition force of Daleks." River waved her blaster as he gestured to her.

"I still fancy my chances," she remarked with a grin and a wink.

"Oh, I bet you do."

"Please. Let's cut out the flirting before it begins," Amy interrupted. "I can only deal with one monstrosity at a time." The Doctor sulked for a second before Brian brought their attention onto him.

"I have a gun too," he calmly pointed out, holding it so that it was facing the sky. They were taken aback by that. The Time Lords had thought he was pretty unassuming when they first met him but they'd obviously taken him at face value. These humans seemed to have a hidden steeliness within them.

"What? Dad!" Rory exclaimed. "Where on Earth did you get that from?"

"Isn't it obvious? I've been working at UNIT. They wouldn't want anyone there not being able to defend themselves."

"Do you even know how to fire that thing?"

"I'm presuming you just pull the trigger. Like any normal gun."

"You haven't used a gun before though!"

"You don't know what I got up to on my travels. Much more relaxed about the whole thing over in Egypt." Rory and Amy were looking at him with their mouths agape, trying to process this hidden side to the older man.

"Go Rory's Dad!" the Doctor said with a smile, punching him softly on the shoulder, Brian wincing from the contact. They heard a low beeping coming from somewhere near, only for River to produce her small scanner from her bag. She frowned at the device, pressing a couple of buttons to make the noise stop. "Why's it doing that?"

"Give me a minute," she responded shortly, trying to connect to the frequency it had picked up on. "It's the Daleks. They're sending a message across the country. It looks like it's coming from those ones over there."

"What are they saying?" the General asked, trying to get a closer look before she brought up as a hologram hovering in the air. The picture showed one of the Daleks looking directly at a camera. When it spoke, it's high pitched voice was even more grating than usual as it filtered through.

"This is a message for the human race! We have taken your country. There is no escape. Surrender now, show yourselves to the nearest squadron, and your deaths will be painless. If you do not follow these terms, then we will be forced to find you and make killing you as excruciating as possible." The image panned out, showing the line of people all at the mercy of these creatures in front of the burnt remains of a bus. "If you do not believe us, then we will show you what we are capable of!"

"They're going to kill them all! We need to do something now!" Amy shouted, looking away from the projection. That's when they noticed that the Doctor was already running over to the Daleks at a fast pace, completely unarmed.

"He's just as mad as the stories said," Cassandra muttered.

"You don't know the half of it." They began hurrying in the same direction, regardless of the apparent danger.

"Oy!" the Doctor yelled just behind the aliens. At once, they all turned around to see who dared speak to them. "I've had enough of you popping up on this planet. Surely you should have got the message by now. You're never going to take it."

"You are the Doctor! You will be exterminated!" one of them bellowed, pointing its gun at him. The others skidded to a halt as they joined him in the line of fire.

"As original as ever. Don't you think others have tried that before now? I wonder what happened to them."

"You risk your life for these pathetic humans?"

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything else."

"You will die with them then."

"Get on with it then." The Dalek's head exploded in a ball of fire under the intense pressure of a red laser, screaming out in agony. As the others tried to figure out what had happened to their comrade, they soon found themselves surrounded by a Silurian warrior force, training their weapons on them.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!" they began to shout, taking out some of the Homo Reptilia, but they were outnumbered and, after a few moments of crossfire, the Doctor making sure everyone took cover, all that was left were the steaming husks of their casings. It was a rather rancid smell. The Doctor, clapping happily, got out from his hiding place to greet their saviours. The rest of his group were waiting for an explanation, the prisoners waiting for the exact same.

"You have impeccable timing," he said to the one he could tell was the leader.

"How did they even know to come here?" River queried, marvelling at how he was either amazingly brilliant or just incredibly lucky.

"We were summoned," the Silurian answered, removing its mask to reveal a female face.

"By me," the Doctor carried on. "The other me said that we'd be getting support. He left a small device in Brian's jacket so that I could call them when necessary." He patted said man on the shoulder. "I am quite spectacular at forward thinking. Or is it actually backward thinking? It's complicated. Thank you, though! You saved us a great deal of trouble but I reckon the rest of the Daleks won't be too happy with us. Speaking of…" He moved over to the recording device they'd been using to transmit their message, pointing his sonic at it. "I bet this works both ways. Should we say hello?" He waved as the Supreme Dalek suddenly appeared before them on the projection. "Ah, there we go."

"Doctor!"

"Can I detect a hint of fear in your voice? And I know why. Because you've already had to deal with one version of me. And now you've got me standing in front of you! Your worst nightmare."

"Explain!"

"Okay, then. Here's what's going to happen. You're going to withdraw all of your units from across this country and wherever else they are. Pack them up into your silly little ships and meet me here. Because you understand how I have bested you at every turn, never needing to carry a weapon. How petrified must you be right now to think that you're going to have to face more than one of me. That's more than enough to get you running. I'll be waiting." Without waiting for a response, he put an end to the connection, looking back to see everyone else staring at him with wide eyes.

"Did you just tell them to bring their entire army here?!" River shouted, really tempted to shoot him.

"Of course. It's much easier to deal with them in one place," he explained calmly, which infuriated her even more.

"You have a habit of bringing aliens back unnecessarily," Amy told him.

"I know. Isn't it just great?" Maybe she would be the one to shoot him or beat him up with her own bare hands. "We need to get these civilians to safety somewhere. Any shelter nearby. Once that's done, I think our friends will arrive."

xxxxxxxxxx

The Sontarans were getting dangerously close, almost ready to start moving out. Their goal had to be to stop this from happening although the Doctor was struggling to picture a way of their relatively small group being able to do much damage to a war-ready battalion. And he'd always thought of himself as such an optimistic person. Maybe the years full of loss were finally catching up to him, making him more hesitant to risk peoples' lives in the search for a quick end to bad situations. Looking at the people supporting him now, some who hardly knew him and had been thrust into this disturbing side of the universe with hardly any preparation, he couldn't help but feel sad at how they were being involved in this. How many had fallen? How many people, how many dark memories was he running from? Would he ever stop? Probably not. Because there would always be someone new who would leave a lasting imprint on his hearts before they undoubtedly left him forever. The life of a Time Lord.

Graham broke him out of his sad musings by urgently pulling on his jacket. He arched an eyebrow at the interaction, pleased by how unperturbed this man seemed to be with everything that was going on. He seemed to just take everything on the chin even if he didn't understand what was happening all the time. He pointed over to where a small group of Sontarans were congregated, one of their number dragging a struggling woman towards them. She was shouting out and hurling insults at her captors but they couldn't exactly hear what was being said. They were sure that it was some form of English but then remembered that the Tardis' translation circuits must have been working away as usual.

"Where did she come from?" Graham asked. "This place seemed deserted when we checked."

"It was," the Doctor muttered. "But that's a mystery we can solve once we've stopped them. I'm not watching someone needlessly die."

The commander looked down at the woman as she was pushed to the floor. She didn't look anything special. Just like any other human female. Probably just tried coming out of hiding at the wrong time. What a pity. A pity indeed. He smirked at her as she looked up at him. He relished these moments of abject power.

"What do we have here?" he asked with a sneer. "I think it must be the creature that will be our first victim! What an honour." He always liked messing with his victims when the chance arose. Normally, in a battle scenario, you had to shoot first, meaning there was little opportunity for teasing. "What is your name?" The woman shrugged off the grasps of the soldiers who had found her, finding the strength to stand up in the face of such apparent evil.

"Is there any point in answering your question?" she asked bitingly. If they'd known anything about Russians, they would have figured out instantly that she was not a native of that country. "You're going to kill me anyway."

"Oh, she has a hidden spirit within her! You've chosen well, men. Very well."

"What are you going to do to me? I don't know why you haven't just shot me already." The commander chuckled but there was no humour in his laugh. Just derision.

"The Sontarans do not kill defenceless opponents as they cower before them. There is no respect earned from such an absence of battle. We much prefer it when they run. We strive for a challenge."

"So you want me to run?"

"It would make this whole ordeal for you much easier if you did so."

"But you've overplayed your hand. You basically just said that, if I stay where I am, you won't do anything to me. Only a fool would run now." He stepped menacingly towards her, his smirk now replaced with an angry scowl.

"Just because we prefer things, it does not mean that we are irrational enough to complain when things don't go our own way."

"Then my final act shall be ensuring you don't get what you truly want. I may as well make my death count for something." The commander took a moment to appraise her, surprised at how she was acting. They were never this confident.

"You are a peculiar specimen. Most of your kind would be frightened senseless by our mere presence."

"That's where you're wrong. My kind has an abundance of experience of interacting with your species." Before he could ask what she meant, they were left stunned as the supposedly meek woman in front of them shifted before their very eyes, transforming into a bulbous red creature with a loud snarl. The Zygon raised its arm at the Commander, electricity pouring out of it to render him nothing more than skin and hair in a scorched blue suit. It turned in a quick circle, firing at the other few Sontarans around it to carry out the same process before it ran for cover. The army was now in disarray only to find itself quickly surrounded by more of the large red monsters.

They watched this play out with equally surprised expressions. Yaz nudged Graham in realisation, knowing what must have happened.

"That must be the Zygons we met before!" she exclaimed with glee. "Well, the rest of them anyway. I couldn't get a close look at her but it might have been Hayley!" He looked back at the scene playing out, the Sontarans slowly regaining the upper hand. They were much more of a warrior race than the Zygons, who were usually more peaceful, so their tactics and weaponry were much superior.

"We need to be helping them." He looked back at the others, who were priming their weapons. The Doctor looked hesitant, having wanted to avoid this type of outcome. It was too late now to back out of it. Graham, impatient to get involved and assist their allies, moved out from where they had found cover. They tried shouting for him to come back but he didn't listen. Remembering what Kate had told him, he began to stomp on the ground strongly with his heel. Purple lasers began to shoot out uncontrollably from his shoes, mainly hitting random parts of buildings but also connecting with Sontaran soldiers. They picked up on this extra threat, some of them choosing to focus their fire on him instead. He had to dive for cover, Yaz making sure he was okay as he landed. Barring a few cuts from the fall and dust all over his face, he seemed perfectly fine, which showed from the bright smile on his face. "Did you see me out there? Oh, that was brilliant. These shoes are fantastic! Never doubt the old soft shoe shuffle!" She just chuckled at his absurdity.

"You did very well. I'm proud of you, even if you did give me a massive scare. Don't do something like that again!"

"Yeah, sorry about that, Yaz," he said sincerely. With Graham's attempts at getting involved, Strax had been given enough encouragement to do the same. With a mighty shout and his blaster ready for action, he charged into battle and began firing at his enemies. He had truly missed the thrill of a fight. And when that first opponent fell to the ground, something primal was awoken within him and he knew he was back where he should be. Vastra and Jenny just shared a sigh before following him with their blades out. Jack, Jenny and Mackenzie were about to do the same, all three ready to do their bit, when everyone was interrupted by something in the sky. A loud boom resonated around them and, as they looked up, they saw a part of one of the Sontaran ships explode in a dazzling fire, its side looking to have been caved in. And now the Sontarans knew that they were in more trouble than they had initially realised.

xxxxxxxxxx

The Doctor rushed around the console, his leg kicking up into the air as he leant over to flick a switch. With a low thrum, the Tardis came to life as it prepared itself for the short journey. He needed to be accurate with this, definitely more so than he usually was. He really didn't want to materialise in the way of the laser fire just as it began. Even the Tardis shields would have struggled to cope under such a heavy assault. He looked at the monitor as he spun another gizmo. Clara swore that most of the objects on the console didn't actually do anything. She reckoned that he just kept them there to make flying seem more theatrical. She wasn't complaining as she watched him run about with a smile. He truly was in his element. The complete mad man. But who was madder? Him or the woman who fell in love with him? She knew which way he would argue.

"Why are you so...energetic?" she asked, walking casually up to the console even as the time machine rolled about wildly. Her balance really had come a long way since she had started travelling. She was considering taking up gymnastics as another hobby even if her other one occupied a lot of her time.

"The Tardis doesn't like doing just short trips really. She thinks that they're beneath her," he answered breathlessly.

"I'm not going to comment on someone's oversized ego…"

"She's doing her best not to make the same comment towards you." She scoffed and looked around at the ship with a pout. She wasn't allowed to come up with another catty response when the Doctor gestured to her to press a small green button. Despite not knowing what it did or whether he was just trying to stop the two from bickering, she held her finger on it as she scrutinised him.

"Why are we even doing a short trip?"

"It's basically a hop to one side. Get away from the Ice Warrior ship and then see if they're going through with their side of the bargain."

"Do you have reason to believe that they won't? They seemed pretty stuck up about honour and all that jazz?"

"All that jazz? Have you heard yourself speak?" This time her scowl was directed firmly at him. "I think that they'll do the right thing and protect their planet. They're not concerned about Earth but that doesn't matter. It's just better to be on the safe side and observe what they're doing. It'd be pretty annoying to find out that they've told our plans to the rest of the Alliance from a second hand source."

"Since when are you so cautious?"

"When something very important to me is on the line. I'm not taking any chances with this, Clara," he said as he looked at her seriously. He quickly moved over to the doors, pulling them wide open to look out into the darkness of space. Clara walked up to him, getting to see the same scene as he was. The mass congregation of spaceships in front of them appeared to be fairly settled, barring the smaller vessels that were whizzing about, interweaving in between the larger crafts. He pointed to where the Ice Warrior ship was just as it banked slowly, moving away from its original position with an almighty groan. She was surprised to see the Doctor crossing his fingers, begging that their idea would work. They turned their attention to the trio of large Sontaran ships that didn't seem to be paying any attention to the peculiar activity of their comrades. The squat, circular ship soon found itself directly in front of their longer, sharper counterparts.

"Aren't we a bit too...close to where this is going to happen? Like, what happens if some space debris comes tumbling towards us?" she asked worriedly. He gave her a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Don't be daft. The Tardis can cope with a little bit of scrap metal. And most weapons." She didn't like how he said 'most'. Knowing him, he'd probably worded it like that just to annoy her. "And don't refer to it as 'space debris'. It's actually highly offensive. Just call it debris. What is it with you and labelling everything as the property of space?"

"Oh, stop your whining...spaceman." The angry glare he was giving her wasn't on his face for long as an ugly green laser shot out from the Martian ship, connecting with one of its three targets. Initially, the force fields looked to be coping, a blue light appearing where the blast was connecting with it. But, under the intense and continuous pressure, it ultimately caved in, the side of the ship being badly damaged as a result. A bellow of fire and smoke emerged from the new scar. "Well, I think that tells you that they listened to us."

"You're the one who finalised the deal. Clara Oswald...space diplomat extraordinaire."

"Ha!" she shouted with glee, her finger pointing at his face with a little waggle. "You said space diplomat! See. It does make sense. Giving in to me so much. You must be going soft in your old age. Or…" She looked closer at him. "You're being sarcastic and making fun of me."

"No flies on you today," he quipped before moving back to the console before she could hit him. "Let's just hope that the Sontarans take the bait and we're not too late." He was praying that that was the case.