A/N: I am SO sorry it has taken so long to get this story updated :( I can't believe it's been almost 6 years :'(

I won't go into all the details, all the things that happened in the last 6 years that kept me trying to update and get back online and then falling off again :/ Life is basically what it boils down to though. A lot of things happening and changing beyond the, you know, obvious thing that's happened the last year :/ Each time I felt like I got to a good place to get back and posting, something else would come up and just knock me down again :/

But early last year I got to a point where things seemed to be stabilizing and getting into something of a routine and I felt like I could really try to come back again. I've learned my lesson from other attempts, started very, very slow by posting only 2x a week and focusing on the stories I had left unfinished during that time, putting all other stories on pause, like this one. Then moved into trying to catch up/complete some series in the last few months of 2020. My Lord of the Rings series is now complete, as is Sherlock and Leena (for now), and I introduced a new DW OC The Detective/Sigma for anyone interested.

Since things kept relatively smooth and on schedule last year, I tried to slowly bump up my posting to 3x a week this year. AND I'm trying to get the side stories (Spin-offs, Sequels, and AUs) back up and running.

But, again, it will be VERY slow going to start.

So what I will be doing with the side stories is I am going to post A chapter for 2 stories in a month. There are/will be 12 side stories, so 2 stories will have a new chapter each month and I'll rotate through them, and now it's the UNIT Files! :D

I posted on tumblr the order of what stories I'll be updating each month. I'll be aiming to post a chapter around the 15th and 30th of a month. I'll also be trying to space them out where we're not getting stories from just 1 series in a month and maybe try to space out the AUs a little more too.

I know it may seem very slow, because it would mean this story will only be updated 1 more time this year after this chapter, but after being on pause near 6 years, something is better than nothing, right? And if I can keep up the 2 updates a month, I may bump it up to 3 a month once I get through the 12 side stories ;)

For now, we're on the UNIT Files and I'll be adding another chapter of Flashover at the end of this month but check out my tumblr's Upcoming Stories page for more of a schedule for the other ones ;)

Onto the chapter!

~8~

Nestene Duplicates

It started with an explosion.

Partly.

If she was being honest, it started earlier than that. The Brigadier, as he'd told her to call him, had set her up with a small office at one of their UNIT facilities, provided her with a small lab of sorts, scanners, computer, tools to use. She'd explained to him, when he'd asked for what her skill set was, to help better place her, she'd mentioned building weapons but told him, in no uncertain terms, she was not now nor would she ever again build a weapon, least of all for humans. He'd, surprisingly, respected her decision and merely said they could use her in an engineering capacity, checking the specs and blueprints for things they were developing on their own. She'd mentioned she had always had an affinity with tech, despite her own fascination with the Lammasteen people and how they managed to create the most amazing devices using the lowest tech available to them.

Before she'd been recruited on Gallifrey to build, she'd had a brief stint working for their reconnaissance division, operating scanners and running simulations, keeping an eye out for any approaching Dalek attacks.

The Brigadier had seemed very pleased to hear that, telling her their own division was very minimal but they were trying to get it upgraded, if they could scan a wider area for non-human tech, it would make it easier to find aliens and either help them find a place on Earth or take them in to a cell if they were hostile.

She'd agreed to run the unit for a number of reasons. First, if she could scan for the alien tech or presence, she could identify them, and determine whether they were truly hostile or just those who wouldn't cooperate with humans, she could handle them being a Time Lady. The more aliens she could identify the more she could help. She could also identify the tech used, determine whether it was too advanced for humans or safe for them to investigate, which was also a bonus. But the largest reason…if she was in charge of the scanning, she'd know when the Doctor appeared and could avoid him or getting UNIT involved.

If she could find threats to the earth first and handle them, he'd have no reason to be there.

If there was one person in this universe she never wanted to see again, it was the Doctor.

She had been running a scan of London, having picked up an odd energy on the, quite frankly, laughable tech that UNIT had provided her. She may have made a few upgrades here and there, coded to her DNA so that the humans could not utilize it. She had picked up something, and was running a more thorough scan of it before she brought it up to her 'commanding officer's' attention, knowing humans to be rash and brash and ready to run into danger even without the facts. She didn't want anyone to be harmed or die, not on her watch, not after what happened to her planet, and especially not after all the stories she'd hear on Gallifrey about the Doctor's companions and how he went through them. She had to be sure and knowledgeable about the enemy generating the energy before she brought it to Colonel Mace, giving them a way to combat the alien or points to negotiate on.

It had only just come back with an official report, or at least enough that she could work out exactly what species it was…when an alarm on her digital map of London began to go off, a red light blinking just where her scans had indicated the energy was.

"You are kidding me," she muttered under her breath, her hand clenching a pencil in one hand hard enough to snap it as she rubbed her head with the other hand, before sliding a pair of glasses she'd been provided with down from the top of her hair to her nose to be sure.

But the readings were confirming it, an explosion.

She closed her eyes a moment, very tense, because there were only 2 reasons she could think of for why something would happen at that exact location. The first, Torchwood had gotten involved. Oh UNIT and the other alien investigative institute had something of a rivalry to them, but Torchwood often came across as the more explosive branch, dealing more in weaponry than UNIT did, heading in a direction of science if the whispers she heard were anything to go by.

If it wasn't Torchwood…

Then it was the Doctor.

Only one way to find out, she determined, opening her eyes and tapping in a number of codes into the computer, hacking into the security footage and traffic cameras, trying to get a glimpse of anything happening at the site.

And there, right at what remained of the backdoor of Henrik's Department Store, was a man in a leather jacket, with large ears and a whopper of a nose, stepping out, coughing and bating at his clothing, as though to get the ash and dust off of it. He looked back at the flaming remains of the building, before grinning madly and moving down the alley at a brisk pace, whistling…until he reached a blue police telephone box and stepped in.

Her jaw clenched as she watched the box begin to fade in and out of existence before it disappeared.

"You absolute idiot," she muttered to herself, sliding her glasses onto her head so she could rub her face with both her hands.

Did he honestly think that was it? That the Nestene, for that was a match to the energy signal she'd gotten, would be done in by that? Clearly he'd missed the fact that the energy signal was STILL GENERATING, which meant the lump of living plastic was still alive. All he'd done was make it angry by blowing up part of it.

She let out a groan as she put her hands onto her desk and pushed herself up. Well, that was another thing to add to the list of reasons why she was going to kill him if she ever met him again.

She took a breath, gathering her clipboard with her notes on it and headed for the door. She had been hoping to avoid this, that the energy would just turn out to be a lost alien or one there for a pitstop, a benign species, but even if the Doctor hadn't gotten involved, the Nestene were dangerous to humans and had to be dealt with. Their history had made it quite clear there was no room for negotiations when it came to their species.

"Colonel Mace," she called as she reached a conference room of the base where Mace was standing with another officer, going over something to do with training new recruits, "A word."

"Ah, yes," he smiled, though it was tense, a more forced politeness than a genuine desire to hear her out.

They had not gotten off on the right foot, still were not there. She had only just begun working with UNIT, with this division of it, and been given, according to what she often overheard him saying, far too many liberties. He was of the impression that she should have begun at the bottom rungs and worked her way up to her position and authority and clearance instead of being given the final say on what alien artifacts and tech they were 'allowed' to keep and utilize. While she could agree with the sentiment that one should work their way up and not just be handed things…she felt experience and knowledge also had to play a factor in such an award of position.

There was not much UNIT had to teach her that she did not already know. She spoke more languages than any human, she knew more alien species than even their most experienced 'experts,' she knew tech far more advanced than anything they could ever imagine. She had fought in a literal planet-wide war, she had built weapons of mass destruction with her bare hands, and she had witnessed more devastation than any soldier on their planet ever had.

She knew she looked about 40 or so to the humans, but she was centuries older than them.

At least the man was respectful enough to keep his complaints to where he thought she couldn't hear him griping.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, serious now.

And he would be, for her to come to him when he knew she preferred the solitude of her lab and fiddling with the tech they brought her to 'test' her knowledge…it meant she'd found something worrisome.

"We've a problem," she stated, equally as serious and professional, "My programs have picked up an explosion at an off-branch of the Nestene Consciousness."

"Nestene…"

"Yes, I'm aware humans have had the occasional run in with them over your history, it's in the files," she waved him off, moving her clipboard to look at her 'notes.' She didn't need them, but she found the humans responded better when things were on paper than when she recited them from memory, they seemed to take it as her 'showing off' when she did that, "They utilize thought control, taking possession and maneuvering anything plastic in the area."

"Yes, I know what the Nestene are," Mace nodded, "Should I bother to ask if they've become any less hostile?"

She gave him a look, "No. They still wish to overthrow the human race and destroy all of you, as far as I'm aware," she handed him her notes, "My readings picked up an offshoot of the Consciousness at Henrik's Department Store and…"

"I will mobilize a team to investigate," Mace nodded, assuming that was what she had brought it to his attention for.

"No need," she cut in, "It's been destroyed."

Mace faltered at that, eyeing her, "You had nothing to do with that…"

It sounded like a question even though he wasn't asking.

She gave him a flat look, apparently they'd been told of her experience with weapons creation in the past and assumed she'd done it, gone off base without notification or permission, alone, and done something, "No," she confirmed, "It was the Doctor, as per usual."

Mace actually seemed to sag a bit in relief,, "The Doctor is on the case then?" he wondered and she nodded, "Well then, we shall only assist in the event that he requires it."

"You're…kidding me, yes?" she cut in, unamused, "The DOCTOR just blew up a building in the middle of London and your response is not to settle matters with the Nestene Consciousness and prevent him blowing up more of London but to…to wait and see what happens?"

"There's a standing order not to interfere with the Doctor while he is handling an alien incursion," Mace said simply.

"And who put that in place?" she crossed her arms.

"The Brigadier himself."

"Well, then I'll be having words with him," she muttered, "You cannot sit around and do nothing while the Nestene are out there."

"The Doctor is handling it."

"The Doctor is a moron!" she snapped, an inch away from childishly stomping her foot.

Mace eyed her a long while, and it was clear to her, the suspicion on his face.

The Brigadier had gotten word around UNIT of her existence and involvement with their facility, had mentioned she was of the Doctor's species and knew him. But he had not said how, nor had she volunteered that information. She suspected she would be forced to deal with similar hesitation through the other higher-ups of UNIT. The Brigadier seemed to determine she was trustworthy, but others would wonder, she knew, just HOW she knew the Doctor and what her feelings on the subject were. If she was friend or foe, if she hated him or wanted to attack him, turn them on him.

She would have to keep things as processional as she possibly could, to ensure she was taken seriously even if the subject of the Doctor came up.

She took a breath, "The Doctor has not exactly proven himself capable of not destroying meaningful planets and his involvement has not helped the situation," she explained more sedately, "The Nestene have come for your planet, the smoke and oil, the toxins and dioxins in the air, make it a perfect location for them. The Time War…" she swallowed hard but forced herself to go on, "It destroyed their food source and they've searched and found one here. They are NOT going to give it up easily. The Doctor managed to destroy an offshoot of the Consciousness…but NOT the Consciousness itself. Which means…"

Mace was silent.

She clenched her jaw a moment, "Which means the Consciousness not only knows there is someone on the planet actively trying to attack it…but that they know enough about it to attack. They will be on the offense now that it knows it has been discovered. It will not give up easily."

Mace frowned, "Are you suggesting an attack is imminent?"

"I am suggesting that one may already be happening," she replied, "And if it is not, come nightfall, believe me, it will. The Nestene will lash out to protect the Consciousness. It will begin attacking Civilians in any way it can."

"How so?"

"Plastic," she repeated, wondering just how familiar Mace actually was with the Nestene if he had to ask that, or if he might just be concerned it had evolved since the last time Earth encountered it, "Every artificial object will come to life, shop window dummies, phones, wires, cables, you can imagine the damage."

Mace nodded, the dummies themselves, walking automatons which could physically attack other humans, but he hadn't even thought of the wires and cables, which would cause mass strangulations or electrocutions…this could become very bad very fast.

"We have one advantage," she continued, "In order to do this, the Nestene will need to broadcast their thought control through the nearest transmitter, and to do so on a scale wide enough to protect itself, the transmitter would need to be massive, metal, round, and in the middle of London, and there's only one that fits the bill."

Mace gave her a look.

She rolled her eyes, honestly wondering what was so awe-inspiring in the humans that the Doctor kept going back to them if they couldn't even work this out, "The London Eye? Ringing any bells?" she couldn't help the way her tone had grown hard near the end.

"It'll transmit its control from there…" Mace nodded.

"Which means that the Consciousness is near there, likely right under the south bank of the Thames," she continued, "If we had anti-plastic this would be an easy target."

"We don't," Mace winced.

"I can make some, but not in time to deal with the Nestene."

"Then our only hope is the Doctor."

"No," she said firmly, "There ARE ways to deal with the Consciousness but, as you insist on leaving it to the Doctor, you must instead turn your attention to protecting your people," she straightened her shoulders, "Mobilize your soldiers and agents onto the streets nearest the Eye. It'll transmit from there first, that's where the signal will be strongest. It will spread out but that will be the hardest hit area."

Mace nodded, "A sound plan," he agreed, before turning to go.

She opened her mouth to call after him before she just huffed.

Eventually he would realize he should probably ask her what to equip the agents with and what human tech worked against the Nestene-controlled soldiers.

~8~

"I am not a field agent," the Time Lady stated in warning as she walked down the streets with a handful of other agents, four of them with guns, two with scanners, while she walked between them, a bag over her shoulder.

She rather hated the limited tech of Earth, the bag was, sadly, not bigger on the inside so she'd had to pick and choose what to bring with her. Mace had NOT come to her to inquire what weapons to use, and she was not naïve enough to assume anything about that. She would not assume that it was because he'd looked back into Earth's history to see what had been used in the past and what had failed. He could have, but she wouldn't assume it and be caught unprepared or unawares.

Being what she was, being an alien, and so new to the planet, and openly negative when mention of the Doctor came up, it wasn't a surprise to her that she'd not been given any sort of weapon. She was meant to do a walk about with the 'team' for any information they hadn't already collected about the Nestene now that they had better tech to use. She was to gather data, keep an eye out, help the team, but not join them should a firefight break out.

It was fine with her.

After making weapons for so long, the last thing she ever wanted to do was create another high tech gun or bomb and hand it to the humans to go have fun with.

But it also didn't mean she was unprepared.

The Nestene was basically like a goo of melted plastic that could control other like-substances. They were simple in that sense. So she chose a simple defense, if she needed it.

"We know," one of the men to her right snorted.

"What, did you fail your exam?" anther woman on the other side laughed, gesturing to the rifle in her hands.

"I'd rather never have to touch a weapon again," she said in her defense, "Once you've built over innumerable bombs and assembled hundreds of thousands of guns, you lose your stomach for holding them."

The humans fell silent, often forgetting she wasn't actually human like them she looked so much like one, but a Time Lady in her own right, and had come from a monstrous war.

"See anything?" another man on her left called back, but more to the ones with scanners than her.

"Not as yet…" one called back.

"Hold on," the colleague on the opposite side of the street called, "I AM picking up something strange from…"

He was yanked back by the first one with the scanner, who had lunged forward when she looked up, to see him focused on his scanner…and not seeing the shop dummy in the window of the store he'd paused in front of ready to jump out through the window at him.

The four other soldiers quickly opened fire at the automaton.

The Time Lady didn't flinch, though she was of the belief that it was only due to having seen the dummy coming and knowing that they'd fire at it that kept her so still. She watched, only half amused when the bullets did nothing against the creature, just riddling it with holes as it kept walking, swinging at them, trying to swipe at them.

Alright, clearly Mace had some sort of idea about dealing with plastic, she gave him that. The soldiers, from their clothing to their devices and weapons, had not a trace of anything plastic to them, so they could not be controlled by the Consciousness, but that meant little when it came to actually taking down the Dummies.

She waited, standing off to the side, to see what the UNIT agents would do, if they would work it out or if they'd just keep being backed up while firing and wasting bullets…

It was the second.

She closed her eyes a moment, and shook her head, before she strode over, "Hold your fire!" she commanded at a snap, "And fall back!"

The soldiers seemed to realize something was happening, the gravity in her voice, for they didn't even question her order, just did as they were commanded, stepping back quickly, ceasing their fire even if they didn't lower their weapons.

"They are made of plastic," she reminded them, before pulling a can out of her bag and a lighter from her pocket, clicking both on and creating a spray of fire when the hairspray caught the flame, directing it at the dummy…melting parts of it.

It had nerves, or it would feel like it did, it would feel pain as it was 'conscious' and being attacked.

She watched as it stumbled back, gripping at its face as it sagged in a goo of plastic.

"Fire," she said, glancing back at the stunned soldiers, sounding half like she was giving them a lecture at the same time, "Melts plastic. Find some."

"Where…" one of the final agents looked around at the quiet street, one that appeared to have closed early, and could see no place they could get fire from.

It was made all the worse when the wires above them on the electrical poles began to wiggle violently, twisting like they wanted to rip apart, and there was shattering glass from down the street as more and more plastic objects, from other dummies to trash cans, to cars even, began to activate and try to head for them.

"What do we do?" the man with the scanner cried out, clearly more of a scientist than a field agent.

"Oh move over," she huffed, shaking her head at them.

She moved over to the fire hydrant just behind them, pulling out a large wrench from her bag, and fixing it to the side, unscrewing the plug and spraying water down the street, striking a few of the plastic objects that had gotten nearer to them.

"What good is that gonna do!?" the head of the team shouted above the sound of the spray.

"Just get away from the water!" she snapped, waiting till they'd gotten far enough away before she looked up at the wires, "Oi!" she shouted up at it, "Your planet's dead," she taunted, "Your food's gone. And you know it was the Time Lords to blame, yeah? Well, I'm a Time Lady, I dare you to take it out on ME!"

The humans nearly let out a cry of alarm when the electrical wire above her twisted violently, snapping itself in half and flying at her, but she jumped to the side, causing it to fly right into the spray of water. Instead, they ended up wincing as the charge was carried down the street by the water, striking all the objects heading towards them, taking them out.

If they weren't fully plastic, they had metal in them, and seemed to short out, smoking, and those that were plastic…that wire must have been VERY angry because the charge was so powerful it melted parts of the others.

They were so fixated on that that they all nearly jumped when the sound of an explosion going off a good distance away sounded and, nearly instantly, what little plastic was left still moving slumped down, deactivated.

The Time Lady let out a breath, well, the planet was still standing so a human must have gotten involved in the Doctor's grand plan to stop the Nestene. Mace had seemed very certain that the Doctor would go after the main Consciousness, and it appeared he had. Still, it meant the threat was over for now, so she turned back to the shell-shocked team, "Alright there?"

It was a testament to how conditioned she was from the war that this hadn't even phased her while the team looked startled and like they didn't know what to do next.

"Um…yeah?" one of the women looked at the others, "Yeah, I think we're ok."

"Thanks to you!" the man with the scanner beamed, "That was epic! You completely MacGyvered that shit!"

"I…what?" the Time Lady shook her head, lost.

"MacGyver," he repeated, "He makes awesome things out of junk."

"Right," she nodded slowly, before turning to the team leader when he came up beside her to observe the status of the street to report to UNIT, "Maybe have him in for an evaluation after."

A/N: I know Mac might seem a bit less hostile and professional here, I like to think of it as she grew into that position over time. She's sort of got a 'naïve' hope for the humans, that they're remarkable and innovative and can handle things without it needing to be spelled out to them…and as she goes on she'll find that they make a lot of flubs along the way that slowly grates her nerves till she reaches a point where she doesn't care to be polite or kind but more hard and iron-fisted in order to get her point across. And, the more she sees how the Doctor gets involved with the Earth, the more she gets angrier and angrier at him and how he keeps trying so hard to save the humans and fight for them and protect their planet, but he couldn't be bothered to do the same for their own (as far as she knows).

So, question time :)

Debating a few things and always interested to see what people thing ;) I was debating going in order for this story in terms of episodes that take place on modern Earth. So the next one would be the Slitheen and so on, or jumbling it up sort of like how I do with flashbacks in my OUAT story. But I sort of like the idea of seeing Mac progress into who she is come Series 4. So the question I'm still going back and forth on is...should I add in a few original chapters in between the 'episode' chapters? :)

I have a few in mind, they may not involve alien attacks or invasions, but it would explore Mac and how she comes to know Martha, meeting Kate Stewart, meeting Harriet Jones, etc, her life on Earth, her time at UNIT between alien things, and, of course, some original alien attacks that we don't see in the show (sort of like they happened but Mac and UNIT took care of it while the Doctor was away) thing :)

Just wanted your thoughts if you'd prefer me to stick more to the episodes or to add in some non-alien/slice of life chapters too of Mac adapting to earth :)

Some notes on reviews...

Mac knows the Doctor survived as, in this story, she recognized a weapons request for a Time Lock casing, and the scale of it could only be something world-destroying. She recognized his handwriting trying to forge a request and knew he'd gone after something dangerous, and, being in the weapons specialty, she knew, for a time lock, it had to be activated off-world (in this story-universe) so she knows he survived because he couldn't have been on Gallifrey when it happened ;) As for the Brigadier, there's a reason he trusts Mac (or at least enough to give her a trial run while keeping a very close, subtle eye on her) ;) Just because she's hostile with the Doctor doesn't mean the same on his side, and the Brigadier seemed to be one of his best mates or someone he came to respect and trust very much. In this story-universe, he's spoken about some specific Time Lords to the Brig, not by name, but enough that the Brig has a suspicion about who Mac is of the handful the Doctor mentioned to him. We'll have a chapter where she does bring up to him how quick he was to trust her and he'll allude to those conversations, which she confirms as being the person the Doctor was talking about at a certain time ;)

Yup! Added it today, I'm sorry it was so late! :(