A/N: Hi all sorry for the long wait on this one, I've been distracted by so many things recently. I know many of you are looking forward to seeing how the relationship and dynamic with Kari and Missy progresses, you will get to see more soon, I promise. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Kari and the Doctor stood there in complete horror. Even though she knew that was going to happen, she hadn't been fully prepared for it. It really didn't help that the man who had caused her so much pain in a past life was there before her, in a new body and causing just as much pain and suffering as before. Missy, the Master. Just the thought of all the things he did to her made her skin crawl. Before there was a reason, for all of the things that he did, but this was just pure madness, pure evil. And Kari wasn't going to accept that. She had to remember that it wasn't the same person, that Missy was not the same as the man who had shot her. This person was far worse.
There was such a proud look on Missy's face as she observed all of the metal men that were standing around. "Look at them! My boys." She cried, a smile on her face as she opened her arms towards them.
Just like Kari, the Doctor was absolutely horrified at what was going on. "Cybermen in broad daylight? You think people won't notice?" Of course, people did notice, but not in the way that the Doctor was expecting. Instead of running scared, they took their phones out of their pockets and started filming and taking pictures. The Doctor had said it before, the end comes, as it was always going to, down a video phone.
Missy unpinned her hat, carefully placing it at the metal feet of one of the Cybermen. "Photos with the big metal men, one pound." People chucked a few coins into the hat and plenty of people started taking their pictures with the Cybermen. But Missy had seen the look on both Kari and the Doctor's face. "Oh, honey!" She said, before pulling her device out and scrolling through some of the photos on it and showing them to the pair. "New York. Paris. Rome. Marrakesh. Brisbane. Glasgow. Everywhere. Anywhere. Me and my boys. We're going viral."
That was when Kari noticed a woman walking towards them, seemingly on a mission. The way she was walking just screamed that she knew what she was doing. "Would you like me to take a picture?" The woman asked, smiling away. "Sorry, selfies are never as good, are they? And you're having a lovely moment. Hang on!" She snatched the device from Missy's hand without any hesitation at all. A bit of relief quickly washed over Kari, knowing that things would get a little better soon.
"No, just…" Missy started, trying to protest, but her arm was quickly grabbed by the Doctor, stopping her.
Kari took that as her chance. "Nice bow time." She said, giving the woman a smile and a nod. She knew exactly who she was, and what was going to happen next.
The woman smiled back at her knowingly. "Bow ties are cool. Big smiles, and… now!" The moment she said that, all of the people around them pulled out guns, and plenty of soldiers in black uniforms suddenly came out of their hiding places.
It didn't take long for Kari, the Doctor and Missy to be surrounded, as well as all the Cybermen that were on the street with them. "Afternoon." A tall blonde haired woman called, walking towards them. "You've picked a lovely day for it. My, don't you look shiny." She said, before looking towards the Doctor. "Haircut?" She asked him.
The Doctor was a little bit stunned to say the least. "Bit of a trim."
"Might want to do your roots." She told him, before pointing towards Missy. "The woman." Instantly two soldiers grabbed a hold of the woman, freeing the Doctor up so that he could hold onto Kari again. "Married?"
"Engaged." Kari replied, not knowing if the question had been aimed at her or the Doctor. "Every time we try, someone tries to take over this stupid bloody planet. Or destroy it." She grumbled.
The woman let out a small chuckle. "Kate Stewart. Divorcee, mother of two, keen gardener, outstanding bridge player. Also Chief Scientific Officer, Unified Intelligence Taskforce, who currently have you surrounded."
"Human weaponry is not effective against Cyber technology." One of the mental men replied.
It would appear that the woman had come prepared. "Sorry, you left this behind on one of your previous attempts." She told them, before dropping the head of a rather battered and certainly dead Cyberman. "So 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. They both are." The Doctor and Kari were standing next to her now, facing the Cybermen, while Missy was held back by the soldiers still.
"Am I?" The Doctor seemed rather shocked at that.
But not as shocked as Kari. "Wait what?" That was a complete surprise to her. She had never even considered that she would be working or had worked for UNIT before. That was the Doctor's thing. All she could really do was let out a sigh.
Kate noticed the shock from both of them. "Well, technically."
"How much?" The Doctor asked, really not knowing what else he could say.
Kari couldn't help but roll her eyes now. She was starting to feel a little calmer, not much, but a little. "Doctor, not the time." She told him, while Kate asked the Cyberman if they had any questions.
Instead of replying, they all made a fist and held it to their chest, activating the blue light part of their body as they put their feet together. It looked as if they were in a sort of weird salute pose, until smoke started billowing out from their feet. Everyone rushed back and away from them as some kind of thrusters started up and the Cybermen all began zooming up, high into the air above them.
Kari looked behind her and back at Missy and saw the pleased look on her face. "You are really enjoying this aren't you?" She spat, feeling her anger rising again. "What happened to you? Really? What made you this… awful?" Kari just didn't get it. She knew that before it was all because of her, for her. She helped, she made things better. But now, she had no idea.
But Missy didn't reply, as the roof of Saint Paul's began to open, section by section, opening downwards like the petals of a flower in bloom. "Oh, my God! Is it supposed to do that? Is that new?" Osgood, the woman who had pretended to take the photo, who was wearing a cool bow tie, said.
Kari quickly looked away from Missy. "Yeah, a sun roof on Saint Paul's? I'd definitely say that was new." She said, knowing that it was not good at all.
"There's going to be mass panic. Everyone in London can see that." Kate said, as more Cybermen appeared, all of them flying out from the now open top of Saint Paul's.
The Doctor was getting a little frustrated now. "Everyone in London just clapped and went 'whee'. Hush, I'm trying to count."
"Eighty seven, I think." Osgood said, thinking she was being helpful "OCD."
Kari knew she was wrong, she knew the actual number. "Ninety one." She said, the same time as Missy.
There was a smirk on Missy's face. "Queen of evil." All Kari could do was carry on glaring at the woman. There was so much that she wanted to say to her, so much anger and frustration that she wanted to get out. But now wasn't the time for that and she knew as much.
Kate looked at Kari, standing there next to the Doctor. "How could Saint Paul's be full of ninety one Cybermen and nobody noticed?"
This time it was the Doctor who spoke up. He had already worked out how, he just hadn't worked out why. "Dimensional engineering. One space folded inside another. Bigger on the inside. Easy if you're a Time Lord."
"Ninety one Cybermen, ninety one areas of significant population density in the British Isles." Kari told them, looking up and seeing one almost straight above them. "This is no coincidence." She added, knowing that some people may have been thinking that it was.
It was finally then that the Doctor realised, and something clicked in that head of his. He grabbed Missy's device and looked at it, walking over to the woman as he did so. "That's one Cyberman for every city and major town. It's happening everywhere, all over the world, right now."
"Sweet planet, this. I think I might keep it." Missy said, clearly enjoying all the panic around her.
Once again, Kari could feel herself getting angry. "You, shut it. You've done enough damage and I swear if you do not shut up then I will shut you up myself. Got it?" Yes, she was definitely getting angry again.
It still didn't make sense to Kate, they still hadn't looked at the bigger picture. "One Cyberman per city. What could they hope to accomplish?"
Kari had drawn her eyes back to the sky as she watched the Cyberman that was up there. She knew what was coming. "Doctor…" She said, tugging at his hand and pointing to the sky. The next thing they saw an explosion and the Cyberman blew to pieces, leaving the sky filled with a dark cloud.
"Has it exploded?" Kate asked, unsure as to what was going on now. The moment they managed to work one thing out, something else happened to throw them off again.
Missy couldn't help but explain what was going on. She was just so proud of herself and her boys. "More than that. Cybermen don't just blow themselves up for no good reason, dear. They're not human."
"If it's not exploding, what's it doing?" The Doctor asked, becoming increasingly worried. Nothing was making sense.
"Pollinating. Falling like rain into the cracks of the Earth." Missy told them all, such a smile on her face, it was making Kari feel sick. "The dead are coming home, Doctor." The soldiers were no longer restraining her, and that just made Kari even more nervous. "All shiny and new. In twenty four hours the human race as you know it will cease to exist."
"What are you doing? Explain. Tell me now." The Doctor asked her, before one of the soldiers held some kind of gun towards her neck and fired it.
A dart had been embedded in Missy's skin. "Oh! That was nice. Must do it again." She said, before collapsing backwards.
"No. No, no, no, no, I need to talk to her! I need her awake." The Doctor said, before he too had a dart fired at him. He gripped Kari's hand as tight as he could, removing the dart with the other. "Argh! No. No, no. Stupid. Stupid! No, no. Argh!" He managed to say, falling to the ground.
Kari looked over at the soldier who had done it, her eyes now burning. "Don't you even think of sedating me!" She growled at him. "You really, really do not want to see me when I'm angry. The Doctor is the only one who can calm me when I'm angry, and you just knocked him out!" Osgood backed away from her a little, while Kate raised a hand, signalling for the soldiers to stand down. "You're idiots. All of you. Do you not understand what she has done? The dead are coming home! And where are the dead? The graveyards. You need to guard the graveyards." The cloud in the sky was getting darker and spreading.
"Kari, I understand that you are angry and upset, but you need to calm down." Kate said, taking a step towards her. "I'm not going to sedate you, no one is." She assured her, trying to get her to calm down and get her on side. "The Doctor will be fine, you know he will. But right now, you need to call your brother."
Kari just looked at her with wide eyes. "What?" She wasn't sure she had heard right, did she just tell her to call Jack?
"Your brother, you need to call him." Kate said, before turning on her heel and heading over towards the armoured vehicles that were waiting for them. The soldiers picked up the limp bodies of the Doctor and Missy, while Kari slowly followed behind, pulling her phone out of her pocket and scrolling through it.
Kari held the phone to her ear as she waited for her big brother to answer it. It only took two rings before the call was answered. "Hey Princess, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Jack said, seeming rather cheerful.
"Uh, I'm not sure. I was just told to call you. I don't know why." She replied, getting into the car that was waiting for her.
"Talk to me, tell me what's going on" He knew that he was going to need to find out a few details to work out where she was and what was going on. Sometimes he knew more about what was going on than she did, just like when he directed her to Bricker Lane when the Weeping Angels were on the loose.
"Well, I'm in 2014 with a Scottish, grey haired Doctor." Kari told him, wondering just how much she should tell him.
On the other end of the line she heard Jack shush someone, she didn't even know what time he was in. "And who was it who told you to call me?" He asked her.
Kari wondered if she should tell him. But then she knew that it was safe to tell him anything. "Kate Stewart, the Brigadier's daughter." She told him quietly, suddenly realising she was in a car with people that she didn't know.
"Okay, I've got you. Now listen to me, Princess, everything is going to be fine." Jack told her, clearly knowing everything that was going on. It seemed that Kari did tell him more about certain things. "I know you are scared of her, but trust me, you will be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, okay? She isn't going to hurt you, I promise."
Kari was slightly confused as to who he was talking about. "Who are you…" Then it dawned on her, she knew who he was talking about now. "Missy. How did you…"
Jack let out a sigh at his end. "Because you tell me, Princess. After what happened with him… it almost completely destroyed you. You came to me then and you'll come to me again. Just trust me here, everything will be fine. The Doctor will protect you, he always does."
"Are you… are you sure?" Her voice wavered a little, she remembered what had happened last time, and how close she had been to that complete breakdown. Kari remembered shutting the Doctor and everyone else out. The only person she would speak to, could speak to, was Jack.
"Hey, this is me, Princess. You have to trust me. Okay?" Kari knew that he was right, she did need to trust him. He had been there for her so many times already, and would be there for her so many times in the future.
"Okay, I trust you." Kari finally replied, really wishing that she was anywhere but there still. "Am I going to see you soon?" It had been a while for her, and she missed him so much.
She heard Jack chuckle at the other end. "Oh, you'll see me soon enough, I promise. Now, stay calm, and remember, I love you, okay, Princess?"
Kari let out a sigh of her own. "Okay, love you too, Jack. You keep out of trouble, okay?"
All he could do was laugh a little more at her comment before the call ended. Kari's mind was still racing though. This was a whole new level of her being scared and worried, even though she knew exactly what was going to happen. She had never imagined that when she met Missy that she would have all of those different feelings, that she would be that angry. She really wasn't enjoying this adventure.
"Your brother was the one who gave us some of the information." Kate suddenly called from the seat next to Kari. "Well, he gave us the information that you gave him."
Kari pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh. "Great, yet another thing to add to my 'to do' list. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger." She moaned, knowing that part of the reason UNIT showed up was because she got Jack to set them on the right path for it. That was how they managed to get there so quickly, to be so prepared for what was going on. "I take it they haven't found Clara yet?" Kari hadn't forgotten about her, she had just been so distracted with everything else that was going in.
Kate looked at her. "No, but there is a team still on site. No one can get into the building." The woman told her, seeing that she was worried.
Kari just closed her eyes and rested her head back. "Yeah, not going to work. She's a good one, that Miss Oswald." She said, chuckling a little. "Staying alive by tricking the Cybermen. Oh, the woman is brilliant." Kari knew that she was trying to make the Cybermen believe that she was the Doctor, and she was so convincing at it as well.
"Then you know that she is safe?" Kate asked, wondering how much more Kari really knew. She would have asked her, but she knew that with the mood that Kari was currently in, and the fact that her team had sedated the Doctor, she felt that she wouldn't be very cooperative.
"Hm, depends on what your definition of safe is." Kari replied, letting out a sigh. She was just so tired, so exhausted.
By the time Kari finally opened her eyes again it was dark outside. She had fallen asleep, which she was cursing herself for doing. She was in a terrible situation and she decided to have a little nap? That was not the greatest of ideas. "We will be arriving soon." A voice said, almost making her jump. She looked over and saw Kate still sitting next to her. "Are you okay?"
No, Kari was not okay. She had fallen asleep, and in her sleep she had replayed over all the things that the Master had done to her, all the hurt and pain he had caused her. Now she was worried that she was going to break again. "Yeah, I'm fine. Dozed off, I'm such an idiot." She answered, still trying to shake the fuzz from her head and start thinking straight again.
After that there was silence until they arrived at an airplane hanger. Kari got out of the car and watched as they carefully maneuvered the TARDIS, which was hanging by a claw in the air. Then Kari saw them wheel out the Doctor, who was handcuffed as well as stuck to a trolly. She walked over to him as one of the soldiers quickly injected him.
He woke up with a start, but Kari was there in his eye straight quickly. "Doctor, don't panic, okay?" She said to him, as he tried to get up. "You're fine, they didn't touch you." It made a change for her to be reassuring him and letting him know that he was safe.
That was when he realised that he couldn't get up. "Kari, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" He was actually more concerned about her than himself, which was really nothing unusual.
She nodded at him. "No, I'm fine. May have gone a little psycho on them, warned them not to even think of sedating me." Kari told him.
The Doctor seemed satisfied with her eyes, and he had quickly glanced over her the moment he woke up to check for any visible injuries. "Kate? What's with the handcuffs?" He then called, noticing the woman a short distance away talking with Osgood.
"I'm sorry. In the event of an alien incursion on this scale, protocols are in place." Kate informed him as she walked towards him. "Your cooperation is to be ensured and your unreliability assumed. You have a history."
There was anger and disbelief in the Doctor's eyes. "You don't have a future without us. Do you think your father would've done this?" He asked, as one of the soldiers finally uncuffed him.
"We both know he absolutely would." Kate retorted, watching as the first thing he did was grab Kari and hug her tightly. The moment they pulled apart, Missy was wheeled by them, handcuffed and strapped into one of the stand up trollies like the Doctor was stuck to. Luckily, she was still out for the count. "Who is she?"
"Long story." The Doctor told her, taking Kari's hand and giving her a reassuring squeeze. "Where's Clara?"
Kari let out a sigh. "They haven't been able to gain access to the building." She told the Doctor. "But she's clever, you know she is." She knew that she needed to reassure him, that she needed to let him know that Clara was not dead. "We taught Ms Oswald well, she can manage the situation at her end."
He looked at Kari and nodded, before turning to face Kate as they marched up the steps and into the aircraft. "I want her found and brought here. We need her with us."
"Then give the order. As soon as you're on board Boat One your word is law. Quite literally." Kate informed him, stopping when he stopped. There was something that he had noticed.
He had seen the TARDIS. "You got the Tardis out, though?" He was pleased that they retrieved the TARDIS, but confused as to why they had that and not Clara, especially since she said nobody was able to get into the building.
Straight away, Kate understood what he was asking. "Yes, and Saint Paul's locked down."
They were soon inside of the aircraft, Kari feeling very anxious now. She hated planes, or anything that was in the air that wasn't the TARDIS. "Where are we going? Cloudbase?" The Doctor asked, sensing how nervous Kari was feeling.
"You mean the Valiant?" The moment Kate said that, Kari froze and fear flooded her eyes.
The Doctor noticed it in an instant. "Kari, it's okay. She is not going to hurt you, I swear." He told her, gazing into her eyes. There was just so much terror on his face, it was breaking his hearts to see it. "I'm sorry." The Doctor wrapped his arms around her tightly, knowing that this was all so difficult for her.
"We need your location concealed, not advertised. From now on you're a moving target." Kate soon said, trying to get things back on track. Obviously she knew the whole reason behind Kari and the Valiant, there were files on her and that as well.
The Doctor looked Kari straight in the eyes, silently asking her if she was going to be okay. She nodded at him before he lightly kissed the top of her head and looked around the room they were now in. The first thing that he noticed was a portrait of Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart on the wall. "Ah, I see you're bringing Daddy along, too. That's very sweet." He said, his hand still attached to Kari's.
A man approached him and saluted. "Sir."
"Oh, don't do that. You look like you're self-concussing, which would explain all of military history, now I think about it." He said, hating the way he was being treated.
But the man just ignored his comment. "Colonel Ahmed, sir. Privileged to meet you." He said, wearing what was pretty obviously a military uniform.
"Love your outfit, Colonel Ahmed. Are you in the Scouts? Are you a Man Scout? I didn't know they had those." The Doctor really didn't have the patience to be dealing with these people, so he walked away, making Kari take a seat, and making a nice cup of tea for her.
Kate picked up the phone and made the internal announcement. "The President is on board."
It took a moment for the Doctor to register what she had said, and he placed a cup of tea down in front of Kari at the table. "Hang on a second. The President? We don't want Americans bobbing around the place. They'll only start praying."
"Not the President of America, sir." Colonel Ahmed informed him, watching as he sat down next to Kari with a tea of his own. "The President of Earth."
The Doctor was sitting at the head of the table, dumping cube after cube of sugar into his tea. Kari could only roll her eyes at him, knowing how much of a sweet tooth he always seemed to have. "There isn't one."
Kari chuckled. "There is now." She said, at exactly the same time as Colonel Ahmed.
The man looked a little freaked out, but Kate smiled a little. "The incursion protocols have been agreed internationally. 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? Vote for an idiot."The Doctor replied, about to drink the tea that had spilled over from the saucer.
Kari watched the Doctor with great pleasure, knowing what was going to be said next. "If you say so, Mister President." Kate said to him, causing him to stop and gaze at her and for Kari to start giggling. "So long as you're on this plane, 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. Any questions?"
"This is your captain speaking. Please prepare for take-off."
The Doctor was trying to process it all, but it wasn't being helped by the giggle he could hear. He swiftly got out of the chair and went over to Kari, placing a hand under her chin and getting her to look at him. "Kari, focus." He said, before lightly kissing her on the lips.
Immediately, she stopped and started to settle down, a red tint on her cheeks. "Sorry…" She muttered, feeling pretty embarrassed. The Doctor, however, was pretty pleased with himself. Even now he could still make her blush, and that made him rather happy.
After regrouping, and drinking their tea, they headed towards the back of the plan, where Missy was restrained, Osgood was working, and the TARDIS was sitting. Kari heard the familiar hum in her head as she passed it, and just instantly ran her hand across the wood. It was reassuring to know that she was there.
One of the soldiers injected Missy with something and the Doctor stood there, waiting. "Why are you still alive?" He asked, the moment she woke and opened her eyes. He had so many questions, and he was determined to find out the answers.
"You saved me." Missy said, glancing at Kari, who was paying no attention to them at all. She still had her hand on the TARDIS and her eyes were now closed.
"I saved Gallifrey." The Doctor told her, correcting her. It had never been in his plan to save her, it was all to save Gallifrey, his home.
Missy pulled her eyes away from Kari and looked at the Doctor. "Yes, Gallifrey too, I suppose. There's always collateral damage with you and me. It's our Paris."
Yet the Doctor was still confused. How could she be there? "Gallifrey's lost in another dimension." The planet was lost, but she wasn't. It didn't make sense to him.
"Yes and no." Missy replied, giving a quick glance to where Kari was. She was still standing there with her eyes closed, hand still touching the TARDIS. It made her want to frown, but she knew that she couldn't, she couldn't show anything on her face, give anything away.
There was a little bit of hope in the Doctor's hearts at hearing that. "Meaning?" He asked her, trying not to get his hopes up but still wanting there to be something for him to hope for.
Missy was actually enjoying seeing the Doctor look so confused, with that hint of hope in his eyes. "Yes, it's in another dimension. No, it's not lost."
"You know where it is?" There was shock and disbelief in his voice as he spoke to her. How? How was it possible?
There was a smug smile trying to work its way onto Missy's face. She was thoroughly enjoying her conversation with the Doctor, torturing him. "Yep! You know the best part about knowing? Not telling you."
"Mister President, sir, we're ready for you up here." Colonel Ahmed called over the tannoy system.
Now it was the Doctor's turn to be smug. "Remember all those years when all you wanted to do was to rule the world? On my way." Called, going over to Kari and lightly touching her arm. She ended up blinking a few times before looking at him. Kari realised that she had zoned out and slowly removed her hand from the side of the magical ship. "Piece of cake."
"Are we good?" Kari asked, knowing that she had missed a whole conversation with the Doctor and Missy. She had been too busy herself, connecting with the TARDIS, trying to make some plans of her own.
There was still some concern on the Doctor's face as he looked at her. "All good. Everything okay?" All Kari could do was nod at him, before they started heading out and back towards the main area of the plane, where everyone was waiting for the President of Earth, the Doctor.
Kari stopped when they were close to Osgood, noticing that she was fiddling with the device that Missy once had. "Oh, er, it's her little device thingy. I thought there might be useful information on it. Who is she?"
"You would never believe us if we told you." Kari said, a sad smile on her face. There was something she had to do, and she was going to make sure that it happened.
"Cos I thought she might be the Master, regenerated into female form? Your childhood friend, responsible for a number of previous incursions." Osgood said, taking the Doctor by surprise. He had never expected her to say something like that, and it made him wonder if she knew more, if they all knew more than he did.
Kari, however, smiled at the woman in the bow tie just a little more. "Well okay then, you would believe us." She said, always knowing that she was a bit quicker than everyone else to catch on.
There was now a smile on Osgood's face as well. "We do have files on all our ex-prime ministers. She wasn't even the worst. Kari, Doctor, there's something nobody's talking about."
The moment she said that, the smile on Kari's face faltered a little. "The clouds. They haven't dispersed." She knew all too well what that meant.
Osgood nodded at her in agreement. "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?"
"Oh, she is good." The Doctor said to Kari, wondering if she was thinking the same thing. The look that she gave him just said it all. "All of time and space?" He asked Osgood.
The woman, however, was confused. "Sorry?"
"Just something for your bucket list." Kari said to her, before leaning closer to her so that no one else could hear her. "Do not trust her. Whatever you do, do not trust a word she says." Kari was trying to help her, to give her a warning. "And keep away from her." Out of the corner of her eye Kari glanced at Missy, who was staring right back at her, a huge grin on her face. "You have to trust me, Osgood, because I am not about to lose anyone else."
A/N: I do hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, I had a lot of fun writing this episode and it gave me a chance to explore a more of Kari's relationship with the Master and build on it. In the next chapter I promise you will see more Kari and Missy.
Thank you to all that have followed and favourited, I'm glad you are enjoying my story. Also a massive thank you to all who have left a review, including the ones which contain criticism. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I respect yours as well.
Well, until the next time!
Pippa.