Death in Heaven: Pollination
"Oh my god," Tailor breathed, staring in horror at the Cybermen turning to march out of the building, nearly stumbling back into the room with the one Cyber approaching from behind. She held out a hand to signal MK9 not to fire his laser, he was outnumbered and it would only trigger the Cybers to attack them in return.
"What do we do?" Clara muttered, more to herself the Tailor. They couldn't run into the hall, not with so many enemies out there, but they couldn't let themselves be trapped in that room with one either.
Tailor's mind raced, but for a whole different reason. Clara would, naturally, look for an escape, if one couldn't be found, they needed to know how to stay safe from being upgraded. She thought back to all the stories her father had told her about the Cybers, their strengths, their weaknesses, and how he always made himself seem too valuable to upgrade…
"Stop!" Tailor spun on her heel, an idea hitting her, as she faced the approaching Cyber, "You can't kill us!"
"Incorrect," the Cyber stated.
"We are targets of strategic value," she tried again, "Alive, we're tactical advantages."
"Right!" Clara nodded, catching on, "Dead, we're your biggest mistakes," the only thing she couldn't come up with was WHY.
"Do you even know who we are?" Tailor crossed her arms, trying not to let on how terrified she was.
A light shot out from the center of the Cyber, scanning Clara "You are Clara Oswald," it stated, "You are human. You are unimportant."
"Incorrect," Tailor spoke, and it turned to scan her.
"You are not human," it assessed, "You are the Tailor. Daughter of the Doctor and the Angel. A Time Lady."
"Correct," she agreed, more than a bit startled it had known all that, "I'm not, and…and neither is she!" she added, pointing to Clara.
"What?" Clara hissed at her.
"Play along," she whispered back. She had been planning to bring up that Clara was the Doctor's companion, and therefore if she was killed it would only bring about his fury…but she didn't think it would mean much to a Cyber, not when the man's daughter was right there. In terms of tactical advantages, SHE would be of much higher value than Clara, and she could NOT let them hurt her aunt. The only way to make this work was to make Clara seem as important, or more, than her. She didn't care if she became the lesser advantage, in the worst case she could regenerate. Clara couldn't.
"I'm…not human," Clara agreed, doing what Tailor asked, "That's just…what everyone's supposed to think."
"You are Clara Oswald," it repeated.
"Clara Oswald is a disguise," Tailor argued, "There is NO Clara Oswald."
"Identify."
Tailor took a breath, "She's the Doctor."
Clara's eyes widened at that.
~8~
The Doctor and Angel could only stand there, in the middle of the pedestrian area before the cathedral, staring at the Cybermen coming to a halt, all the metal men just standing stationary while the humans gathered close, taking pictures and making videos about it all.
"Look at them!" Missy gushed, "My boys!"
"Cybermen, in broad daylight?" the Doctor muttered, "You think people won't notice?"
Missy laughed, moving over to one of the Cybers and taking her hat off to toss at its feet, upside down, "Photos with the big metal men!" she called out, "One pound!" she laughed as more and more people began to snap photos, "Oh, honey!" she beamed at her work, spinning on her heel to face the Doctor and Angel, holding up a device from her pocket to show them broadcasts of how there were Cybermen all over the world, "New York. Paris. Rome. Marrakesh. Brisbane. Glasgow. Everywhere. Anywhere. Me and my boys. We're going viral."
The Doctor tensed as Missy moved towards them, trying to position herself in between him and Angel, her device turning to take a photo, wanting a selfie with them, but he would not allow it, forcing Missy to stand at his other side instead.
"Would you like me to take a picture?" a voice called out, and they looked over to see Osgood approaching, a bowtie around her neck, "Sorry, selfies are never as good, are they? And you're having a lovely moment," without waiting for an answer, she reached out to grab Missy's device, "Hang on!"
Angel began to smile, sensing something else about to happen, something that had the Doctor smirking as he felt it too.
"No, just..." Missy tried to grab it back.
But the Doctor reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her, "Nice bowtie," he commented to Osgood.
"Bow ties are cool," Osgood shrugged, making a show of holding up the device, "Big smiles, and...now!" she shouted out.
With that single word the pedestrians whipped out devices and weapons, revealing themselves to be UNIT soldiers and agents, surrounding the Cybermen.
"Move, move, move!" a few voices called out, "Stand by. Surround target. Hold back!"
"Hello Kate," Angel smiled at the woman as Kate Stewart walked towards them through the crowd, two more soldiers on either side of her.
"Afternoon," she greeted, "You've picked a lovely day for it. My, don't you look shiny!" she glanced at the Doctor, eyeing him, "Haircut?" she teased, already aware of his latest regeneration.
"Bit of a trim," he shrugged, trying not to bounce in excitement, feeling Angel's own rising, it was almost time for an even more happy reveal.
"Might want to do your roots," she glanced at something just over Missy's shoulder, "I want that woman contained."
"It would be my genuine pleasure," an American voice said and Missy was jerked back, off to the side, trapped in the iron grasp of a man in a WWII jacket.
"Jack!" Angel beamed at the man as he smiled widely back at her.
"Angie," he winked, "Doc."
"Captain," the Doctor greeted with a chuckle, "Odd place to find Torchwood, middle of a UNIT investigation."
He shrugged, "We've been working together a little more lately. Heard a story about how you nearly died for real, thought we better step up our game."
"You've made a wise choice, Kate," Angel told the woman. She'd always been of the mind that so much could be accomplished if both Torchwood and UNIT worked together and shared resources and information.
"Kate Stewart," Kate introduced herself to the nearest Cyberman, "Divorcee, mother of two, keen gardener, outstanding bridge player. Also, chief scientific officer, Unified Intelligence Taskforce, who currently have you surrounded with the assistance of Torchwood Three."
"Human weaponry is not effective against Cyber technology," the Cyberman stated.
Jack snorted, "This isn't your first time trying to take over Earth. Torchwood had quite a few things to share with UNIT."
Kate pulled a Cyber head from behind her back and tossed it onto the ground at its feet, "Sorry, you left this behind on one of your previous attempts. Thank you for the loan, Captain. So," she continued, "Now that I have your attention, welcome to the only planet in the universe where we get to say this. He's on the payroll," she nodded at the Doctor.
"Am I?" he chuckled.
"Well, technically."
"How much?"
"I'm fairly certain anything you make would be docked to clean up some of your…larger messes," Angel pointed out.
"It is," Kate nodded, before eyeing the Cyberman, "Any questions?"
The Cybermen, all of them, saluted suddenly, pressing their hands to a pale blue light in the middle of their chests, before activating rockets in their feet.
"No!" Angel shouted, a fear striking her, a deep rooted knowledge that they could NOT let them escape. She threw her hands up, creating a golden wall just above the Cybers in the area, the other soldiers opening fire to stop them.
…but while she was maintaining the wall, the dome of St. Paul's opened and more Cybermen flew out of it, straight into the sky.
"No!" the Doctor gaped, the golden wall flickering away as the Cybers on the ground were deactivated by UNIT's weapons. But it was too late to stop the ones in the air.
"There's going to be mass panic!" Kate breathed, "Everyone in London can see that."
"What the hell are they doing?" Jack frowned at the sight, it wasn't like any record they had of Cybers. They marched in, they attacked, they converted or upgraded or deleted. They didn't just flee into the air.
"How many are there?" the Doctor asked, squinting.
"87, I think," Osgood spoke, "OCD."
"91," Angel countered, giving the girl a small smile, "Psychic."
Missy pouted, having been about to answer herself before Angel beat her to it. And wasn't that getting old, Angel knowing things she shouldn't, Angel saving people she shouldn't, always ruining her fun and making her feel guilty about parts of it!
"How could St. Paul's be full of 91 Cybermen and nobody noticed?" Kate breathed.
"Dimensional engineering," Angel said, "One space folded inside another," she looked over to see the others staring at her, she wasn't usually the scientific one, the Doctor was, but this was something she was good at, "Bigger on the inside," she reminded them, just how a TARDIS was.
"Easy if you're a Time Lord," the Doctor added, turning a look on Missy.
"Thought so," Jack huffed, shooting Kate a look, "You owe me 10 quid."
"Where are they going?" Kate frowned, ignoring him, focused on the sky.
"Mostly deploying south," Osgood reported, "A smaller number east."
"Yep, but one straight up," the Doctor remarked.
"So 91 isn't a coincidence?"
"Of course it isn't," he huffed, reaching out to take Missy's device from her, fiddling with it.
"91 is important?" Jack asked.
"91 areas of significant population density in the British Isles," Osgood replied.
"That's one Cyberman for every city and major town," the Doctor frowned, looking down at the device, at a map he'd brought up.
"Not just here," Angel shook her head, her eyes on the sky, "They're everywhere, all over the world."
"Sweet planet, this," Missy smirked, "I think I might keep it."
"You, shut up," Jack tightened his grip on Missy's arm.
"One Cyberman per city," Kate repeated, "Even if it's one per major city all over the world…what could they hope to accomplish?"
"That," Angel pointed to the sky a moment before something exploded in the clouds just above the cathedral's dome.
"Has it exploded?"
"No," Angel spoke, "It hasn't."
"It's done more than that," Missy giggled, "Cybermen don't just blow themselves up for no good reason, dear, they're not human."
"If it isn't exploding, what's it doing?" the Doctor asked, but his attention was on Angel, not Missy, which made the Time Lady pout.
Angel stared at the sky a long while, blinking a bit when she saw something fall from it, like rain, but looking around told her no one else saw it. The world was too still and quiet for her to notice at first, but now she saw the edges of a vision happening. She watched as the rain fell to the ground, soaking into the soil. She looked down at the ground intently, and a hand shot out of it…a metal hand, clawing its way towards the surface. She looked up, turning to the Doctor to answer, able to see him through the ghostly images, only to see something past his shoulder…Clara, and Tailor, standing there…a Cyberman with his face mask lowered before them, Clara was crying…
Before it all faded.
She swallowed hard, shaking her head, not noticing Missy eyeing her intently, just as Jack and the Doctor were, though Jack seemed a little more confused and concerned than the others.
"Pollinating," Angel finally said, the whispers she kept hearing all those adventures ago coming to her, guard the graveyards.
"Falling like rain into the cracks of the Earth," Missy added.
~8~
Deep within the 3W halls, there was nothing but empty tanks to be seen…
~8~
But in the Nethersphere, Danny stood at the rail of the balcony, the young boy he'd harmed beside him, the two of them looking out at the city beyond, watching as the lights began to slowly go out.
"Well!" Seb called, stepping out of his office to join them, beaming, "This IS a bit exciting!"
"What's happening?" Danny asked.
"Well, to cut a long story short, it looks like we might all be going home."
"Home?" he blinked, confused, "From the afterlife?"
"Well, when I said 'afterlife,' I was being a tiny bit poetic. And Nethersphere is just a cool name we came up with during a spit-ball."
"What is this place?" Danny frowned at him, getting even more confused by everything going on, was this the afterlife or not?
"Well, you have to think of it as a data cloud. You know, for storing data. In this case, it's the storage of recently deceased minds."
"We're in a cloud?"
"A sort of cloud, yeah."
"And what's happening to it?"
"What happens to any cloud when it starts to rain?"
"Are you telling me we're going back?" he repeated, his mind racing with what it could mean, "What, back to our bodies?" if they were really going back to them, he just needed to make it to a phone so he could call Clara and tell her he was back! She had mentioned something during her tangent after the Blitzer that her phone got 'universal roaming' and could call from anywhere in space and time and would receive calls to her phone no matter what.
"And the extra good news is..." Seb beamed, "There's been a bit of an upgrade!"
~8~
Missy let out a loud laugh, "The dead are coming home. All shiny and new. In 24 hours the human race as you know it will cease to exist," her laughter began to fade when the Doctor just looked at her, grim, but not at all confused or startled, "What?" she asked, "Not going to ask what's going on? Tell me to explain it all?" she snorted, "This isn't that sort of movie, Doctor, where I tell you all my secrets thinking you're defeated and you escape to stop it."
"I don't need you to tell me," the Doctor told her, "I know what you're planning."
"How?"
"I've seen it," Angel spoke, crossing her arms to hug herself as all the pieces began to fall into place, all the scattered whispers and glimpses she'd been getting for so long, it had been building up to this, "For a while now, but clearer just now," she looked at Missy with that same pleading in her eyes the Time Lady remembered during her time as Prime Minister, just before she spared Japan, "You have to know it won't work."
"So you know what I'm doing," Missy smirked, unperturbed, better at ignoring the puppy eyes this time.
It was quite easy to do, she realized, when one was cross with another. Ages ago it had just been the Doctor she'd hated and wanted to hurt. Hurting Angel, her suffering, was an added bonus because it caused an entirely different sort of hurt to the Doctor. Now though? After nothing but the woman cutting down her army before it could form? Constantly stealing the best, most devastating losses to the Doctor? Forcing him to see the faces of those he couldn't save come back as slaves? Now she was quite peeved with the man's Mate as well...hence the beauty of her plan, surround the girl who hated death with nothing but the dead.
"But do you know WHY?" she continued to taunt.
Jack rolled his eyes, not caring for the why, seeing it as being another way to torment the Time Lords, and so he dug into his pocket and pulled out a needle, injecting it into her neck.
"Oh!" she gasped, "That was nice, must do it again."
The Time Lords watched as Missy collapsed into Jack's arms, knocked out by the substance.
Kate observed the Doctor a long while, watching his reaction...or lack thereof, before nodding to herself that such an extreme measure would not be needed for him, this time at least. Captain Jack had been adamant that he would not help if they dared try to do that to Angel or the Doctor, but he had ultimately agreed, in certain cases, the Doctor might require such a course of action, knowing how protective the Doctor could be of his own species, how he could became enraged or unreasonable. Not Angel though, she was always the calmest of the two.
Luckily that wouldn't happen.
"The first protocol is implemented," Kate called into a comm., "We're good to go," she looked at the group, Jack handing Missy off to two other soldiers to detain, and back to the Time Lords, "We need to move."
"First," Angel cut in, moving to throw her arms around Jack, hugging him tightly. The man beaming and spinning her around. They had spoken to all of the family on a few occasions since escaping Christmas, but this was the first time interacting with one of them besides Sarah Jane and Skye. They were planning a big Christmas (the holiday, not the planet) visit, getting all the family in one place and surprising them…not that it was much of a surprise any longer, they tried to be there every Christmas even if they missed the other family holiday gatherings.
"I missed this, Ang," Jack murmured, setting her back down, "We really need to set some sort of limit for how long I go without one of your hugs."
Angel laughed, the Doctor coming over to shake Jack's hand, though Jack pulled the man into a hug too.
"I'm…I'm not…I'm not a hugger, Jack," the Doctor huffed, his hands up behind Jack's back.
"Don't really care, Doc," Jack told him, pulling back, "Now where's my beautiful niece?"
"Safe," Angel spoke before the Doctor could panic, "She's…she won't be hurt, neither will Clara," it was really the ONLY thing keeping her from panicking right now too, keeping the Doctor from storming back into 3W for them, the fact that she had seen it and felt it, the two of them together, safe, protecting each other, not about to come to any harm at all.
And, really, the Doctor would never ever trust the Master around his child, too much could go wrong.
Clara and Tailor could handle any Cyber that might remain in the building, MK9 had extensive laser power and dead accuracy. He would protect them. They did not want either of them anywhere near Missy though.
"She's with Clara," the Doctor agreed, and Jack grew serious, understanding what they hadn't said.
"Missy," Jack began, cautious, "She uh…does she hear drums?" he asked.
Angel smiled, "You are a brilliant man, Jack."
He grinned, "Thought as much."
"Speaking of," the Doctor glanced up at the sky and turned to Kate and Osgood, "Kate," he snapped his fingers and saying the words he knew Angel was dreading, "Get your people to guard the graveyards."
~8~
A small crowd had gathered just outside a cemetery later that day, standing by the gates and looking in at the odd sight beyond.
"That's weird," a teenage boy called, pointing up at the sky, "Look at that!" there was a dark thundercloud above the cemetery, rain falling from it…but just over the site, "How come it's only raining INSIDE the graveyard?"
~8~
Somewhere else in the city, a stream of rain drained out from under a cemetery gate, running along the gutter of a nearby road and down into the sewer drain. It filled the pipes, so much so that in another area, the water began to rise up through a grate in the pavement, down to the door of a funeral home…
Within the building's prep room, a mortician was watching the TV, a broadcast playing with a report about the Cybermen.
"We are being told that these metal men are known as Cybermen," an anchor was saying, "But unlike the accounts we have on file, they now have the ability to fly. Similar reports are coming in from all over the world. Flying Cybermen are here on a global scale. Ministers are telling us..."
The mortician stepped down from his stool to get to work, frowning when he noticed the floor covered by water.
"…to remain calm. These Cybermen don't seem to be attacking us, at least not in any conventional fashion. Eyewitnesses have reported seeing them flying in the sky..."
He looked up at the ceiling for any sort of leak, but there was nothing. So focused was he, that he didn't see water traveling UP the side of his refrigeration drawers, seeping into them. He jumped when there was a banging from within them moments later.
"Hello?" he called, eyeing the drawer even as he backed up, "Hello?"
The banging continued, and he heard a rustling behind him. He turned slowly to see a body that had been lying on a table, covered in a sheet, sit up. The cloth fell off it, revealing a Cyberman as he'd seen on the telly. He jerked away and ran out of the room, not about to wait and see if there were more in the refrigeration drawers.
The Cyberman stepped off the table and turned, catching sight of itself in the mirror and reaching out towards it…before touching his face. It turned quickly, moving to the table where a clipboard was resting at the end, picking it up and staring at the name 'Danny Pink.'
~8~
The Doctor and Angel stood in a hanger, watching as the TARDIS was loaded into an awaiting plane, feeling too on edge to remark on it.
"Right!" a man called out, directing his fellow soldiers, "Be careful with it. Be careful. Take your time."
"She'll be alright," Angel spoke, though it wasn't about the TARDIS but their daughter, "I felt Clara," she told him, "I would know if our daughter was in danger," she believed that with everything she had. She may not be able to see everything, but she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, she would see and feel her daughter if something happened. This wasn't like Kovarian, she wasn't that girl just coming into her power then. She had had centuries, millennia learning to use them, honing them in since then. She knew she would feel it, see it coming if Tailor was in true danger, "And…all I feel is that she is and will be protected. That nothing will happen to her."
"It's not as reassuring as being there, is it though?" he murmured, reaching out to take her hand, knowing she felt it too despite her assurances. Being away from their daughter was killing both of them.
"She's been an exceptional Doctor," Angel reminded him, "Have faith, my love, that she will be an even better Tailor."
He nodded, lifting her hand to kiss the back of it.
"Aww, some things never change," Jack's voice teased and they looked back to see him walking over with Kate.
"And some things do," Kate remarked, eyeing the Doctor, "There was a time we'd have had to bring you here knocked out and in handcuffs," she told him, "In the event of an alien incursion on this scale, protocols are in place. Your cooperation is to be ensured and your unreliability assumed. You have a history."
"Gotta admit, I was a little disappointed it didn't happen," Jack spoke, "Guess that'll have to do," he nodded past them to where Missy was being wheeled off, strapped to a board, knocked out.
"Is she really the Master?" Kate asked, having gotten as much from Jack's earlier question about drums. It was well documented in UNIT the Master's afflictions.
"The Mistress now," Angel murmured.
"I know you said you can change gender," Jack eyed the new Time Lady, "Never thought I'd actually see it," he paused to consider it a moment, "Would you be Angelo then?" he looked at Angel, "If you regenerated into a guy? Joan Smith?" he eyed the Doctor too.
The Doctor just rolled his eyes and headed for the plane.
"I suppose we'll have to wait and see," Angel teased, following him, squeezing his hand tighter.
Every time someone brought up regeneration, his mind went to Tailor, how she'd already regenerated once at so young an age. He never ever wanted to find out if she'd one day be a man instead of his little girl, not because he 'wouldn't love her' if she did, he would love her no matter what she was, but…the only way to reach that point would be if she died. And he could never stomach that.
'She will be fine,' Angel promised him in his mind, 'I feel it in everything I am. Our daughter will be safe. As will Clara.'
Something in her just told her they would be protected.
Jack reached out as Kate opened her mouth to speak, about to say something and he had a fairly good idea what it was. He shook his head, putting a finger to his lips with a smirk. Kate rolled her eyes but nodded, the two following the Time Lords into the plane in silence. The main cabin was very spacious, with a long conference table down the center, monitors hanging from the ceiling. Osgood was already there, preparing the programs and powering things up.
"Where are we going?" the Doctor asked, desperate for anything that would distract him even partly from fretting over Tailor. He believed and trusted Angel implicitly, so the extra worry he was feeling was not helping him focus on the problem of the Cybers, and right now the best way to keep his daughter safe was to get rid of them, "Cloudbase?"
"You mean the Valiant?" Kate frowned.
"God, I hope not," Jack grimaced, plopping down into one of the chairs on the left side of the table, near the head of it, "I've seen enough of that ship to last MY lifetime."
"And ours," Angel agreed.
"Cloudbase was Thunderbirds," Osgood spoke up, explaining the reference to Kate who looked mildly confused.
"Too conspicuous," Kate shook her head, "We need your location concealed, not advertised. From now on you're moving targets," she moved over to Osgood, looking at a monitor hanging on the bulkhead, just beside it was a portrait of the Brigadier.
"Ah, I see you're bringing Daddy along, too," the Doctor muttered, "That's very sweet."
A moment later an Indian man in military uniform entered the room, instantly saluting as soon as he saw the Time Lords standing there, "Ma'am!" he called, "Sir!"
"Oh, don't salute," Jack mimicked at the same time the Doctor waved the man off with a, "Oh, don't do that."
Jack chuckled, "Told ya, some things never change."
"You look like you're self-concussing," the Doctor continued, "Which would explain all of military history, now I think about it."
Jack snorted, "Though THAT is new. I thought you couldn't get ruder, Doc."
"Regeneration," he huffed, "It's a lottery."
"Tailor, Clara, and I are working on it," Angel told Jack quietly.
"Colonel Ahmed," the man introduced himself, "Privileged to meet you!"
"Angel," Angel introduced, "And the Doctor. Very nice to meet you as well."
"Love your outfit, Colonel Ahmed," the Doctor grumbled, "Are you in the Scouts? Are you a Man Scout? I didn't know they had those."
Ahmed didn't seem to know how to respond to that, turning to Osgood instead, "It was Captain Scarlet."
"Sorry?" Osgood blinked.
"Not Thunderbirds."
"Oh, God, so it was!"
"My confidence is growing every minute," the Doctor muttered, moving to the side to fix Angel and himself a cup of tea from the small bar.
Jack rolled his eyes playfully when the Doctor handed the cup to Angel as he helped her into the seat at the head of the table, and sipped the other himself, "That's ok, Doc, I didn't want a cup."
"Make it yourself," he didn't miss a beat.
"The President is onboard," Kate spoke, and they looked over to see her talking into a phone.
"The President?" the Doctor groaned, "We don't want Americans bobbing around the place," he moved to sit at Angel's right, "They'll only start praying."
Jack snorted, "Not the President of America," he told them, "Apparently, it's the President of Earth."
Angel frowned, "But there isn't a president of Earth…at least not for quite a few years."
Jack smirked, "There is now," he gave her a look.
"What's that look for?" the Doctor frowned at it.
"The incursion protocols have been agreed internationally," Kate spoke up, "In the event of full-scale invasion, an Earth president is inducted immediately, with complete authority over every nation state. There was only one practical candidate."
"That's your answer for everything, isn't it?" the Doctor scoffed, "Vote for an idiot."
"Doc," Jack seemed amused now, truly enjoying how this version of the Doctor was a bit more grouchy and far more oblivious than the other hims he'd met, "If you had to pick anyone in the Universe to handle a looming war, who would it be?"
"Angel," he said instantly, his mind going right to the woman of peace…and then his eyes widened, getting it, "Hold on…"
Angel blinked, catching the thought in his mind, and pointed to herself, "I'M the President of Earth?"
"Didn't see that coming?" Jack teased, Angel could only shake her head, stunned.
"The Woman of Peace," the Doctor smiled at her, "No one better."
"With the Man of War at your side to help the less than savory areas," Jack nodded, "Mr. Vice President."
Kate nodded, "So long as you're on this plane, Angel, you're the Commander-in-Chief of every army on Earth. Every world leader is currently awaiting your instructions. You are the Chief Executive Officer of the human race. Your word is law, quite literally. Any questions?"
"Um…" Angel could only blink again, "Are you sure?"
The Doctor chuckled and reached out to take her hand, squeezing it.
"This is your captain speaking," a voice came over the speakers, "Please prepare for take-off."
~8~
Tailor, Clara, and MK9 managed to make it out of the office, into the hall, preferring the wider space and the two exits, even though it meant there were two extra Cybers now joining the first, having caught sight of them earlier.
"You are not the Doctor," the Cyber from the office spoke as it stood before them.
"She can prove it," Tailor told them, "She can tell you things only the Doctor would know."
Clara nodded, "Yes!" she agreed, "I was born on the planet Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm a Time Lord, but my Prydonian privileges were revoked when I stole a time capsule and ran away. Currently piloting a Type 40 TARDIS. Married before, deceased, currently Mated to the Angel. Of all my children and grandchildren, all but one, are missing and, I assume, dead. The only one remaining is the Tailor," she gestured to the Time Lady beside her, "I have a non-Gallifreyan daughter, created via genetic transfer. How much more do you need? I'm the Doctor!"
"This information is not proof," the middle Cyber spoke, "We require proof."
"How about my name?"
Tailor shot Clara a wide-eyed look for that, trying to subtly shake her head that she was taking it a little bit far with that.
"Explain."
"Well, my name isn't 'Doctor,' is it?" Clara continued, not seeing her, "I don't even really have a doctorate. Well, Glasgow University, but then I accidentally graduated in the wrong century, so technically..."
"This information cannot be confirmed," the third Cyber cut in, "You are Clara Oswald."
Tailor glanced behind her, hearing a stomping noise, to see a fourth Cyber coming up behind them. She frowned at it, tilting her head as she observed it, just…getting a different sense off that one than the others.
"I'm the Doctor!" Clara continued to insist.
"Your deception is intended to prolong your life," the first Cyber spoke.
"Your presence has not been ordered," the second added.
"Correct," the third agreed, "You are Clara Oswald."
"Aunt Clara…" Tailor spoke, reaching out to grab Clara's arm, dropping the ruse, "It's ok…they're not going to harm us."
"Tailor, they are Cybermen!" Clara hissed at her, "They convert or they delete, there's no in between…"
But Tailor nodded, her eyes still on the fourth Cyber as it came closer, a paper clenched in its hands, "There actually might be," she murmured.
The fourth Cyber suddenly lifted its arm and fired at the three before it, destroying them in seconds.
"What?" Clara jumped back, putting herself in front of Tailor to protect her from the rogue Cyber.
"Mistress!" MK9 squeaked, "Scanners indicate a lack of Cyber Control."
The Cyber turned to them, "Correct," it stated, and reached out suddenly, gripping their shoulders as a teleport activated...
~8~
Angel tilted her head as she and the Doctor stood in the cargo hold of the plane, waiting. She had sensed Missy about to wake and she and the Doctor had gone down to be there for it. They had thought they would speak to her with a little bit of privacy, thinking perhaps Missy might let more things slip if it was just them. Two things got in the way of that. The first was that the Cargo Hold had doubled as Osgood's lab, and therefore the girl was down there, working on tinkering with Missy's device. With Osgood came two other UNIT soldiers set up to guard the TARDIS, which was there too. And the second was Jack absolutely refused to allow either of them, even if they were together, to be alone with Missy and so he was standing watch at the entrance to the hold, at the top of a few stairs, his revolver in hand, ready to trigger a regeneration if needed.
"Why are you still alive?" the Doctor asked the moment Missy blinked awake.
"You should know," Missy sighed, "You saved me!"
The Doctor frowned, shaking his head, "We saved Gallifrey."
"Yes, Gallifrey too, I suppose. There's always collateral damage with you and me," her gaze flickered to Angel, "Remember that time your poor little Mate got caught in the crossfire? That was wonderful, should do it again sometime..."
"Gallifrey's lost in another dimension," Angel said instead, not allowing the Doctor to rise to Missy's bait.
"Yes, and no."
Angel shook her head, "I would have sensed it if…"
"Would you?" Missy taunted with a sneering laugh, "Have you gotten to the point of seeing everything now?"
Angel was silent.
"You couldn't even see through my ruse," Missy smirked.
"It's lost," the Doctor insisted.
"No, it's not," Missy countered, "It's just in another dimension."
Angel eyed her, "You know where it is."
Missy beamed, giggling, "I do," she teased, "You know the best part about knowing?" she leaned in as much as her restraints would allow, about to whisper to them.
"Not telling us," Angel cut in, not particularly in the mood to allow Missy to try and infuriate the Doctor more than she already was.
Missy pouted, "Ruin my fun. Typical. You've been doing it for a very long time and I am not pleased."
"Madame President," Ahmed's voice came over the speakers, "We're ready for you up here."
The Doctor glanced at Missy, "Remember all those years, when all you wanted to do was to rule the world?" he asked, "My Mate is," he told her, "We're coming!" he called back.
Angel gave Missy another look, long enough that Missy smirked at her, before the Doctor tugged her away to head back up, the two passing Osgood as she worked, "Find anything?" she asked the girl gently, so as not to startle her.
"Oh, er," Osgood pushed her glasses up, turning to them, "It's her little device thingy. I thought there might be useful information on it," she glanced back at Missy, "She's really the Master, isn't she?"
"Did EVERYONE know who she was before me?" the Doctor huffed.
Osgood smothered a laugh, "Well, we do have files on all our ex-prime ministers. She wasn't even the worst."
"What else?" Angel asked, sensing she wanted to ask something but wasn't sure how to.
Osgood smiled a little, loving how she got to see Angel's abilities in action, "There's something nobody's talking about."
"Which is?" the Doctor frowned.
"The clouds caused by the exploding Cybermen, they haven't dispersed, they're still there. In fact, they've expanded and are covering almost all the land masses. We're all looking at the graveyards. Maybe we should be looking up. What do you think?"
The Doctor eyed her a moment before looking at Angel.
Angel chuckled lightly, 'She's going to change the world one day,' she told him in his mind, not having seen it but feeling it.
He looked back to the girl, "All of time and space," he said instead, pushing away from the makeshift desk.
"For you and Petronella," Angel added with a tiny wink and a finger to her lips as they began to walk off.
"Sorry?" Osgood called, startled both at the offer...and that Angel had been able to tell she wasn't actually the original Osgood, but her Zygon clone...AND was still offering the opportunity to BOTH of them.
"Just something for your bucket list," he told her, starting to climb the stairs.
"Inhaler!" Angel called back when the girl began to wheeze in excitement, hearing Osgood quickly use her medication to breathe.
They paused at the top of the stairs, meeting Jack who was frowning deeply, "What?" the Doctor asked.
"She's been watching," Jack warned them, nodding down at Missy who was looking at Osgood thoughtfully and then up at them, "Too closely."
The Doctor sighed, rubbing his head, "Well see what's going on up there and then deal with her after."
Jack nodded, gesturing for them to head on, sending a nod to the two guards stationed with Osgood, waiting till they nodded in return before he too followed them.
Missy waited till they had all gone before she began to fiddle with her handcuffs.
A/N: Little bit of a slow chapter, I know, things will pick up a bit more in the next one. A lot of revelations are coming, a lot of very sad ones :(
But I hope you liked Jack! :D I debated having the rest of the team there, but given the plane and the conference room size and everything, I thought it would be a bit too much to have the team join the Time Lords, with the threat on the ground, I thought they'd probably take the Earth while Jack took the sky.
The Doctor's definitely caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to Tailor in this episode :( On the one hand, Cybermen. On the other, the Master. Of the two, one of them has caused his Mate to suffer twice and die once, I think he'd keep his daughter farther away from that threat than the robots that aren't doing anything yet and who she has a robotic dog with a laser to help keep her safe :( In his mind, stopping Missy and her plans is the best way to keep his daughter safe :(
Some notes on reviews...
Lol, I could see Missy saying that :)
The Doctor is definitely very on edge about that yes, the Master being there has never been good for Angel :( We'll have to wait and see what might happen due to the Master being around this time ;) I can say...one of the two, at the very least, will walk away from this attack... }:)
That sounds like an awesome dream! :D I think Tailor would love a little sister too one day, you have to have one of each for the full experience ;) And no worries about your English! If it's easier, please feel free to write in your native language and I will try my best to respond, though I'll have to use google translate so hopefully it won't be too odd a translation for you :)