With the knowledge of the dogs searching for Cybermen, Paul thanked Krill for telling them this, though the alien made it clear that it wasn't for free, and Malcom paid him for the help he provided.
"Dogs with red and blue eyes?" Taylor wondered as she stood beside Paul and Malcom near an empty part of the bazar trying to collect their thoughts and there, Malcom had a thought as he looked between Paul and Taylor.
Looking at him, Paul asked what was on his mind, there Malcom told him: Lydia had a pair of dogs, though they weren't the dogs either Paul or Taylor were familiar with, Blue and Hobbs, denoted by their collars, blue and red, respectfully.
"But that can't be, I dug through the ashes, I didn't see… see anyone alive!" Malcom looked at Paul.
Cogs turning in his head, Paul questioned, "Would it be possible that Lydia survived the attack and escaped before you returned?"
His blue eyes widening, Malcom mustered that he looked everywhere, asked everyone, nobody said anything about survivors from the school, believe him, he spent long hours scouring.
An idea struck Paul, but it wouldn't be something that Malcom would like hearing, that Lydia survived the attack, but didn't.
The stress, the horrors she witnessed, well, no doubt dramatically changed the woman to the point that even if Malcom showed up in front of her, she wouldn't see him as other than a ghost.
"All this time…" Malcom felt air trapped in his lungs as he couldn't believe there's a chance that his beloved survived after all, though Paul brought him back to reality by asking if it's possible that she's the cause for the signatures.
Staring at him, Malcom insisted that it couldn't be possible, explaining that Lydia's field was botany.
"Maybe so, but that sort of attack changes a person," Paul reminded Malcom.
Malcom nodded but still, his heart sank into his stomach at the thought of Lydia surviving the Cybermen, permanently scarred, and potentially incapable of recongising him.
"Mr. Malcom, we have to consider all and any options available to us, now is it possible she could have created weapons?" Paul asks Malcom the possibility of Lydia, in an unbridled state of fear, created weapons to defend herself against the Cybermen, potentially with parts from them.
Mulling the question over, Malcom says that as part of their schoolwork, they dabble in all matters of science before settling on a subject matter of their own choosing.
"She… dabbled with robotics, but nothing egregious!" Malcom looked at Paul while he pondered what happened to Lydia.
It caused Taylor to ask, "What if she captured the two Cybermen?"
Even if it's just dabbling, maybe Lydia knew enough from her studies in robotics to manage overriding whatever coding the Cybermen adhered and run her own.
That'd be a reason why they're still broadcasting their signatures, maybe Lydia didn't or couldn't override the lock.
"Even then, Krill specifically said dogs…" Malcom tells her as they're walking through a different part of the bazar where there's fresh air wafting through the tents and stalls, blowing away the harsh smells from the different sources dotting the bazar.
Certain Blue and Hobbs perished in the attack, Malcom's as much confused as Paul and Taylor, but with the prevalent theory that Lydia resurrected them in some fashion using the Cybermen she captured, well, it's a nightmare for Malcom.
"We'll find her, Mr. Malcom," Paul comforted him, affirming his and Taylor's desires finding Lydia.
Now, that they know what they're looking for, it's only a matter of tuning Paul's Sonic Screwdriver and Malcom's handheld tracker.
Once that's done, Paul took the time to assess the risks of finding Lydia, the chances she may have them attacked by her dogs, worse, though it wasn't something Malcom wanted to hear, Paul insisted that he think of all and any possibilities.
Even if it's possibilities Malcom doesn't want to dare think, even for a mere second.
His breath rattling as he exhaled sharply, Malcom asserts that he's willing to take any chance necessary, anything to ensure that he sees Lydia, again, and ensure she receives the best care.
Though Paul remained pedantic, warning against Malcom getting his hopes up, else he risked crumbling if things don't turn out the way he wanted.
"Doctor, look," Taylor sees that the trackers have become alight with something setting them off, two bright dots on Malcom's handheld tracker, two blue flashes on Paul's Sonic Screwdriver.
Seeing this, spurred the trio to hurry after the dots on the handheld tracker.
Going through the different bazaars and how different the planet became after the attacks, drove home how quickly everything changed after the dust settled.
At one point, there used to be a giant fountain, sculpted by the students at Grissom Academy, gifted to the surrounding areas that once was, turned an ugly colour, with the statues covered in grim and spray-painted symbols.
This area was a bright spot for students seeking reprieve from school, now turned a hotbed for scum and villainy, the different characters that wouldn't have stayed a second had the area not been drastically altered.
The restaurant that once was Lydia and Malcom's favourite reduced to a drugs den, there's bums lingering outside the doors, waiting for their turn getting their fixes, all in different stages of their addiction, and not something to describe lightly, even if it were possible.
Several aliens with long faces, their bodies decaying from the popular drugs that chanced rotting them from the inside due to the manufacturing process involving different chemicals but promised a potent high that was worth the risk.
There was one with exposed bones jutting out from around its legs, from the injection sites becoming infected, and the skin eroding from the drugs.
Another continuously poked its purple skin to alleviate the white pus buildup underneath, oozing out at every prick of the sharp needle.
One had no teeth to speak of, having them rotted out of its head or outright removed due to rotting from the alien injecting itself through the gum line for a quicker high.
The depravity of the drugs being doled out in the once quant area, Malcom wanted nothing more than to find Lydia, and fly, fly away from here, for good.
"We're almost coming up to them," Malcom says as he shows Paul and Taylor his handheld scanner as they stopped underneath the drying clothes hung above.
Looking at the dots, Paul suggested that they split up, that way Malcom's alone when he encounters Lydia, again.
He and Taylor will be in the background, attempting to disable the signatures, ensuring that either Daleks or Cybermen don't find them on their scanners.
Agreeing to the plan, Malcom splint off from Paul and Taylor, following the dots on the handheld scanner as he avoided bumping into the denizens, avoiding eye contact with merchants, whatever else, as he yearned to see Lydia again.
In his mind, he remembered that day.
He was leaving, Lydia told him to be careful, of course he promised her, he would, but he also said the same to her, and she promised him.
"I'll come back for you, my butterfly. Soon, we'll fly, fly away," Malcom teasingly ruffled her hair, greedily stealing kisses from her, feeling her warmth one last time before he left.
He wanted to surprise her with the wedding ring when he gotten back, when the others gone to bed, no one to bother them, no one to spoil their time, but that never came.
There are imaginative spots where he finally proposed to her, the joyous squeaks as she wrapped her arms around him, how they planned their future together.
Maybe they would've moved on from the school, going elsewhere in their new life together.
A family, imagine that!
He would be a proud father but felt conflicted when he thought about how he wanted his children to excel in life.
Grissom Academy wasn't a school for everyone, he only gone because his family fought tooth and nail for it, but there always something missing from it, he could never explain.
Had his children asked, he'd used his connections to ensure their places in the academy.
But that never happened.
It all came back to him.
It didn't stop Malcom.
Even if it took them years, he would do everything in his power ensuring that Lydia got the help she desperately needed.
As he went around the corner as the handheld tracker continued pinging, his blue eyes fell to the back of a walking woman's head, wearing a bizarre, stitched robe, he instantly recognised the colours and patterns.
It's their uniform, stitched and remade into a robe.
The back of the woman's head tight brunette curls, seeing how they're curled, it wasn't long ago when she cut her long hair…
No one there besides her, no Cybermen, and the sight of Lydia made Malcom want to run towards her.
The wavering auras that moved stopped him from trying, instantly he felt two hidden presences that made his blood run cold.
Though…
They weren't Cybermen…
He saw glimpses of two pairs of eyes coming from the wavering auras, a pair of illuminating sapphire eyes and a pair of ruby eyes.
"Oh, oh my butterfly, what have you done?" It caused Malcom to say as he sees the eyes disappear, seemingly following the woman ahead of them.