Next chapter's on the 6th of September.
"No, dearie. His name is Doctor Who and he's embarrassed by it but so stuck in his ways that he hasn't chosen a new one yet."
By the way that Bill winces and attempts to subtly pocket her earpiece Florence presumes that the Doctor has some words to say about that.
"But look at these screens." The Mistress coos loudly, smirking a little and rolling her eyes as she stalks forwards towards a chair.
Florence finds herself looking at them, not noticing whatever the Mistress is trying to distract the Doctor with.
"What is it?" She asks, more than happy to play the audience.
The Time Lady smiles at her, lounging in the seat in a way which would most-likely be uncomfortable if she cared about it.
"Well- I'm glad you asked!" She gasps then traces imaginary lines through the air from the center of each screen.
"All of these screens have been angled to one viewpoint despite the fact they each have desks of their own." The Time Lady explains.
A small piece of foreboding goes through Florence.
"So all except one crew member who has access to this area is dead?" She wrinkles her nose and feels the slightest bit irreverent. It's been a long time since death was a common occurrence in her life but having children and having to stay on one slow path does something to establish care about mortality as a general idea.
The Mistress shrugs, nose wrinkling too.
"Maybe. They've all been moved for sure. Must be a big ship to have all these screens." She guesses. The Time Lady sighs as she swings her legs back to the front of the chair to sit somewhat properly.
There's an electronic whir and all of the cameras in the room turn to them. A brief silence follows.
"Uh oh. Someone else has noticed us." Nardole says, not seeming concerned at all.
"How do you know the Doctor's real name?" Bill asks, innocently, also not seeming to notice the danger and urgency which Florence feels through her spine.
The human turns to a door on the right of the room, feeling confused both personally and second-hand. The Mistress sighs again.
"I grew up with him. He chose Doctor Who as his first name, thinking it was all mysterious. He dropped the Who at some point but it's still on the records of the dust-bowl of a planet we once called home as Doctor Who and he hasn't got it changed anywhere else. I think he's just scared of paperwork." The Mistress rambles, glad for an excuse to tease the Doctor. Florence can tell by the ticklish feeling coming from the Time Lady and the righteousness in her tone.
The door hisses open and a bald person steps through, some kind of gun in their hand.
Nardole makes a humming sound.
"Oh- you're blue! Nice. I should go back to blue- I think it suited me very well." He disregards both the person and the weapon after a brief glance.
The person seems mildly offended but the overriding emotions are confusion and fear.
"Stay where you are!" He orders, gun moving between them and settling on Florence who's the closest. She raises her eyebrows and then her hands.
The Mistress sighs again.
"Oh- dearie me! I thought that you were all handsome and now you've got all cross and you're pointing a gun at my pet! Is this the emotion that you humans call spanking?" She asks. Florence sees her look to her and then Bill out of the corner of her eye, keeping focus on the weapon.
"How many of you are humans?" The person shouts, alarm ringing through them loudly. The gun switches between them again and Florence is still trying to decide whether it's worth disarming them when they don't really seem to be that threatening.
"What's happened to this ship and how long have you been here alone?" The Mistress asks, ignoring their question, "You're looking very ill." She comments, fishing for information.
"Two days." They answer quickly, gun trained on the Time Lady, "Are you human?" They ask, gaze intent on her.
The Mistress scoffs.
"Oh, don't be a bitch!"
They seem eased by the reaction, a small fraction of the tension they held slipping from their shoulders.
"How did you get on board? Is that your capsule?" They ask, gesturing with the barrel of the gun to the tardis.
Florence coughs, trying to hide her laugh at the cat-like glee which runs through the Mistress.
"Yes! All mine!" The Time Lady declares smugly, teeth glinting as she tugs out her earpiece and puts it in her pocket.
The person nods, most of their questions accounted for or forgotten as they move to an unoccupied desk and check one of the panels there. They frown, a new fear rising within them. Florence closes down her mind, already nauseous by the constant changes.
"Here! Look! Three lifts- they're coming!" They say, voice hushed somewhat as if it could make them stop coming.
Florence peers over their shoulder, sees the lifts rising fast.
"What's in this ship?" Nardole asks, curious even as his gaze remains on the screen in front of him.
"Super-fast inertia lifts." The Mistress answers at the same time as the other person, smirking at their strange expression.
"Well yeah," The cyborg snorts, as if it was obvious, "What's inside them though? What's coming up here?" He clarifies.
The person's face twists for a few seconds.
"Things! I don't know where they came from! One of you must be human- they only come up here if they detect human life signs." They emphasise, distress growing on their face again.
"What for?" Bill asks.
Florence can see the beginning of apprehension on her face.
"They take them away." They say.
The words seem final despite the lack of explanation.
There's a pause.
"So. Those are the lift doors, yeah?" That's where they come out?" Nardole asks, breaking the quiet.
"Which of you is human?" The person asks again.
Florence looks at Missy, judging, but doesn't get a chance to say anything.
"It's me- I'm human- and her. We're the only ones." Bill says, panicking and pointing to Florence who sighs.
"Bill- you never let unknown people know what they're dealing with- it's adventure rule number five." Florence sighs, backing away slightly from the gun now moving between her and Bill.
"It's- it's number fifteen actually." The Time Lady interjects as the tardis doors open.
"Are you human too?" The person asks, weapon now roving between the two humans and the Doctor, as the Doctor puts up his hands.
"No but please stop this. Stop this right now." The Time Lord pleads.
The person stops pointing at the Doctor.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! You're the reason they're coming though- they won't come if you're-" They start rambling, gun settling on Florence, the closest. She clasps her hands together.
"Put it down! Put it down now!" The Doctor shouts, anger snapping outside of Florence's shields.
She looks at Missy over the person's shoulder and they both roll their eyes.
The Mistress' companion brings her fists down on top of the person's hands, forcing the gun down and kicks their wrists sharply so they drop the gun. It clatters against the floor in Bill's direction.
Florence turns with their shock, putting her back to them, grabbing their arms, and, with a lot more effort than it took than it had when she was travelling with the Mistress and doing this sort of thing all the time, forces them over the top of her, and drops to her knees on their chest as heavily as she can without causing real damage. They groan.
The Mistress cheers, laughing, and Florence looks at her, laughing too.
"It's been a long time since I've done that!" She says, unable to help the grin on her face despite how fast she's breathing as she looks over her shoulder at the Time Lady.
Everyone else is silent.
"I- how did you just do that?" Bill asks, awe and admiration in her voice.
Florence grins exhilarated, turning to the younger woman.
"Training and not wanting to get shot today." She laughs.
"Are they alright?" Nardole asks as if about someone's distant relative who's had a few too many hospital trips lately.
"Yeah- just winded." Florence says, adjusting her hat slightly and making sure to pin the person's arms with her shins, "They'll be fine."
One of the lifts pings its arrival.
The next two follow quickly.
Light floods into the room and odd shaped silhouettes block it when Florence turns to look.
The heart rate of the person beneath her increases by a lot.
"What are they?" Florence asks at the same time as Nardole.
"No no no. This was a very bad idea." The Mistress mumbles, backing away towards her companion as the Doctor grabs for Bill and drags her behind him.
Nardole's question goes ignored.
"You aren't taking them." The Doctor growls.
"They're cybermen. You know- the ones which cannibalise people." The Mistress whispers, crouching beside Florence with a hand around her shoulders as if reassuring herself that she's here and at least okay and safe and alive for the moment.
"Ah." The companion says, lips shutting firmly as she remembers some of their less fun trips.