It seemed only Ash could hear the sounds of the now invisible Cyber-carrier moving through the Boundary, though he still took care to continue speaking the entire time. Namely, it was him asking the humans how they had ended up in this situation in the first place, which was an answer he was partly curious about.

The twins had known they would be there, they just weren't entirely certain about how or why. Thankfully, these companions were mollified by even a slight mental push by Ash, not even requiring the removal of his glasses, so it was quite easy to make them tell him everything despite what his father had done.

He did hate that the first time Charity would step foot on Gallifrey she was sharing her body with the Cyberium, but sacrifices must be made.

'Everything is precisely as expected,' she reported, though her words came to him half-shielded by a metallic buzz. 'Scanners have picked up countless bodies in suitable states.'

'Who would have guessed that our father was so sentimental?'

'How are the humans?'

'They've made friends.'

"Oh, you should introduce me," Ash said, turning to the rest of the humans that the companions had acquired. "I hate to not know names."

"Ethan, Yedlarmi, Ravio, and Ko Sharmus," Yaz introduced, pointing to each in turn.

"An utter pleasure, I can assure you." He gave them a small bow.

'Dramatic, much?' Charity said. Ash knew that the slight humor in her voice across their bond was her attempt to keep him calm. She knew he was panicking about her and the Cyberium, knew that he was hating himself for even agreeing to put her through this type of suffering.

After all, even if the twins were fighting, they would never abandon each other. They would never let the other hurt. They would never leave the other alone.

'It's what we do best.'

He straightened. "Now, you must show me where the Doctor went through."

The humans led the way outside. The oldest, Ko Sharmus, paused, frowning in the direction that the Cyber-carrier used to be. "Where has it gone?"

"Must have left," Ash said, shrugging, continuing to walk towards the Boundary.

"They wouldn't just leave."

"Didn't you say that Charity was in the Cyber-carrier?" Yaz asked.

Ash stilled and slowly turned to face the rest of them. Because, of course, he'd told them the truth before.

He'd been worried about Charity so he'd told them the truth.

"Did I?" Ash's voice went still as he looked between the gathered humans. They had all tensed, all untrusting.

His glasses were still entirely on. Having trained himself not to let any of his abilities expand beyond the shielding, he was still capable of slight pushes, but that wouldn't be enough against strong emotions like this. To do anything substantial, anything necessary, he would have to remove his glasses.

Slowly, led by Ryan, those holding weapons raised them at Ash. Even the humans whom he'd just met followed the companions' lead.

Ash had the distinct impression that if he even moved beyond breathing, if he dared to attempt and move his glasses, they would not hesitate to shoot.

His father had, after all, attempted to kill them. He and Charity had vanished without a trace despite their promises to the companions. Now he had reappeared and accidentally told them the truth about where Charity was. Now, the Cyber-carrier was missing.

And, though this regeneration of the Doctor was particularly secretive, she had let it slip that their people could regenerate. He couldn't even count on whatever remained of their moral compasses to stop them from shooting him.

He did hate that the Doctor tended to pick clever companions. For the sheer fact of noticing and not trusting him, these three were quickly getting close to Martha Jones level in his esteem.

'Problem with the humans,' he called to Charity.

'You're a big boy.' The words came tinged metallic. 'You can handle it.'

Again, he cursed the Cyberium. A Charity in full control of her own mind and body would have at least asked him what was wrong.

"Now, I'm sure that we can discuss this amicably," Ash said, smiling. "A simple misunderstanding."

The weapons didn't shift.

-IX...-

Walking through the memories in the Matrix, they didn't get as far as watching the reborn found child be given to the Singer's parents. Instead, the Matrix faded back to grey as they watched the found child walk away with the founders of Gallifrey, their regenerations instilled in the rest of the Gallifreyan population.

"The rest, as they say, is history," the Master finished. He'd been explaining the entire time, guiding the Doctor through the memories. The Singer wondered how many times he'd gone through these memories on his own after the destruction of Gallifrey. She still remembered everything in vivid detail from the first time, but it was still a foreign story that felt horribly fresh to see it again.

The Master spoke like he'd known this for centuries. Like it had been embedded in him.

The Doctor turned to face the pair of them. "What happened to the child?" The Master laughed at her then, unable to stop himself. "What? What's so funny? What happened to the child?"

Before either the Singer or the Master could answer, they heard an alert. It was a distant thing, clearly happening in the world outside the Matrix. The Master cocked his head like he was listening, though the Singer couldn't hear whatever it was.

"What happened to the child?" the Doctor asked again, like she was worried they weren't going to tell her.

But the Master turned to the Singer with wide eyes. "There's a Cyber-carrier on Gallifrey," he said. That shut the Doctor up. "And they sent a message. Hello mum and dad."

"The twins." The Singer frowned. "With a Cyber-carrier? On Gallifrey?"

The Master said nothing more, but there was enough honest concern in his eyes that the Singer knew this was serious. He'd raised the twins. He knew more than she did what they were capable of. What they might be wanting to do with a Cyber-carrier.

What they might be able to do with this burned planet.

"We need to go."

Slowly, the Master nodded.

"Wait..." the Doctor started, lunging towards them, but in a blink, the Master and Singer left the Matrix.

They both sat up from where they'd fallen. Up on the plinth, the Doctor was unconscious.

"Did you leave her in there alone?"

The Master tapped the side of his head. "My consciousness can deal with her. I can be in two places at once." He winced. The Singer suspected that the Doctor's lunge had just reached him.

"Why did the twins come here with a Cyber-carrier?"

He pulled a device from his jacket pocket, flicking a few things until an image of Charity appeared in the air, projected from the device. She didn't look much older than the last time the Singer had seen her, and the Singer had hope it hadn't been long. "Hello mum and dad," the projection of Charity said, staring slightly to the side of the pair of them, though the Singer knew this was a recorded message. She would have expected Charity to have known exactly where they were, that type of small future seeing her ideal, but it was as though her ability was slightly shifted. And then there was the fact her skin looked silvered. Her movements were noticeably jerkier than normal. And her voice was metallic. Something was terribly wrong. "Thank you for the presents." The image stilled, leaving a frozen Charity hovering there.

The Singer turned to the Master, something cold running down her spine. "What presents?"

He was still looking up at their daughter, horror dawning in his face. "I didn't destroy anything."

She took a step closer. "Master..."

Slowly, he lowered his gaze to her. "I saved some of the bodies."

The Singer felt sick. "You did what?"

"Some of them didn't deserve the dignity of a burning. So I left them to rot." He glanced back at Charity's image. "They were always intrigued by the way I turned all of humanity's dead into Cybermen."

"Can you contact her again through that?" the Singer gestured at the device. "Send a message back?"

"Just to the ship, not her specifically." At her nod, the Master pressed a button and held the device out towards her, gesturing for her to speak.

"Charity, tell me what you're planning on doing."

For a few seconds, they had no sign that Charity had received their message. The Singer was left to wonder where Ash was – she suspected with Charity, but without having seen him herself she had no way to know.

Then, the Master's device alerted again. This time, there was no projection, only the text.

Can't spoil the surprise.

They heard the approach of the Cybermen and, within the steps, the steady clicks of heels. The Master and the Singer both turned to the entrance to the Matrix.

Out of the darkness, there emerged two Cybermen. They looked mostly typical, sleek and silver, save for the thick veins of red at the joints of the suits. The red, also at all of the normally blue lights, glowed. They stopped at the top of the stairs. In the space they left, Charity stepped into place. Behind her waited a Cyberman with quite a bit of its flesh still exposed.

"Like them?" Charity asked, coming just that bit more into the light. If the Singer had thought she looked silver before, it was much worse now. Undeniable. She'd even dressed for the part, perfectly matching her Cybermen. "I made them special. Time Lord corpses paired with Cyber-tech. Forever regenerating...after a few tweaks." She poked the arm of one of the Cybermen next to her.

"Why do you need a Cyber-army?" the Master asked her.

Charity raised her eyebrows at him. "You, of all people, shouldn't need to ask me that. It was you who ensured that we understood exactly what Gallifrey would do to children like Ash and me. What they should have done to you." She poked the Cyberman again.

"Where is Ash?" the Singer asked.

"Busy with the humans." Another poke. "Wanted to ensure that they got back to the Doctor as needed. Though..." her gaze lowered, landing on the still unconscious Doctor, "that may be trickier than I'd initially expected." She focused on her Cybermen again. "With this army, we will be able to stop anyone from taking children away again." She smiled, and the Singer recognized the worst of the Master in it. "I think I'd like to conquer the universe. It'd be nice to own it. Finalize all the threads."

The Master started to walk towards Charity. "I know that you don't want that."

"I've changed quite a bit since I last saw you, dadaidh."

He raised his eyebrows. "Funny, because if I wasn't mistaken, it's barely been a few years for you."

"A few years can change quite a bit about someone."

"So can Cyber-tech." The Master gestured at her body. "Interesting silver."

"You have the Cyberium to thank for that." Charity looked down at herself, flexing her hands. "I quite like it."

The Singer matched the Master's movements. Now, both of them stood at the base of the stairs, looking up at Charity and her Cybermen. "Why don't we bring Ash here and we can all discuss this together? As a family."

Charity frowned. "You don't like them?"

"I love them. But I want to understand your plans better." The Singer's body felt like it was buzzing, staring at her possessed daughter. Her daughter, so old and yet still so horribly small, had made an army for herself to defend the children of the universe. But while the Singer had not minded her children knowing how to use weapons, had perhaps even adored that fact, she didn't want her children to have an army.

Even good people shouldn't need an army. But bad ones needed them even less.

And the Singer had no idea which of those two Charity and Ash fell into at this moment.

Charity pouted. "I'm going back to the Cyber-carrier. You may come, or you may not. I could not care less. The new era of Cybermen will rise with me as their commander, the one and only host of the great Cyberium." She waved, turned, and left them. Her new Cybermen followed immediately.

"Charity!" the Singer called after her, but she didn't listen.

For a few seconds, the still half-exposed Cyberman stared down at the Singer and the Master, but it still started to follow Charity.

"That's not our daughter," the Master said, his voice harsh and quiet.

"We need to stop her."

The Master nodded. Both of their gazes were still trained where Charity had stood.

The Singer could, honestly, not care less about the children of the rest of the universe. She supposed it was good that Charity wanted to protect them, but they were not the Singer's concern. Charity was in danger.

The Singer would get her daughter back.

A/N: Uh oh on many fronts. Companions getting suspicious, Doctor learning the truth of her past, Charity revealing her fancy new Cybermen.

Notes on reviews:

EchoMoment: I was very happy they got to come back too ;)