Waiting in the den of the Smith house, Hamon gazed at the clock on the mantle of the brick fireplace, quietly looking at it while the hands slowly moved.
Silence in the den, he didn't turn on the radio, there was never anything on it that he cared listening, nothing like the music that once was produced on Gallifrey, that've felled on the wayside decades ago.
Patiently, he waited, until the clock struck midnight, and he turned his head when he sees movement in the open doorway into the den.
"Does he know?" Hamon asks as a figure walked through the den, joining Hamon's side as he pushed himself up from the plush chair.
Shaking his head, Al informed him that Theodore didn't know where he went, all he knew's that Al went into sleep mode, that's it.
As Theodore and his ferrets sleep like the dead, none of them knew of his absence.
Slowly, Hamon nodded as he sighed, while Al stood in front of him, with a look on his face, as they discussed something that Al's having trouble with and Hamon agreed to talk to him the moment Theodore and his ferrets fell asleep, allowing them privacy for a few hours.
"Tell me," Hamon commanded Al into telling him what happened recently and Al gave him a breakdown on how the Cybermen locked him down and how they were petrified of a sound, saying odd things that made no sense for a Cyberman to say, that would've caused others into deleting it from existence as they marked it defective.
Hearing this, Hamon frowns, as he settled in his plump chair, his hands clasped together.
Al gestures as he asked Hamon's input on how the Cybermen could've known how to disable him, given that the only way they knew about it's if they gotten their hand on the forbidden manuals and what were they guarding that required that knowledge.
"When the Council ordered our deaths, there were only two left that hadn't been scrapped, yet, me and another that went missing after me, tell me in honest, was it that?" Al asks Hamon if it's possible that the second machine that Layne talked about reappeared somewhere, under the Cybermen's protection, causing a stir in Hamon.
Tapping his finger tips together as he sat, Hamon tells Al that he knows who might've given the Cybermen the sensitive information and of the other machine.
"Him," Hamon summed as bitterness showed in his tone of voice, leading Al into becoming confused, before Hamon tells him that it's nothing for him to worry about.
Gesturing towards him, Al begged Hamon to tell him and Theodore what he knew, because they don't know what they're doing, and he can't lie to Theodore anymore.
Lowering his cigarette, Al tells Hamon, "He's smarter then you give credit for, general, you can't keep lying to him. What's it say about me, hm, the Doctor's gotta trust his TARDIS, and if he can't trust me to tell the truth, then all hope's lost."
Trying to convince Hamon into changing his mind, Al pointed out that by keeping his silence, when Theodore finally figures out what Hamon's been doing, he'll never trust Al (or Hamon) again, something that's dangerous to the whole ruse.
The Doctor's expected to suffer the occasional betrayals and deaths of their companions, but during this, there's only one thing constant in their lives, the TARDIS.
Without that trust, who knows what'll happen to the Doctor, if he can't even depend on the only constant thing in his adventures left.
"It isn't right and you know it," Al boldly challenged Hamon's insistence that Theodore doesn't know anything about what's going on, but the old Time Lord wasn't swayed by Al, telling him that this was something that started before he was born.
In a rare instance, Al flung his cigarette away, it disappeared into the ether as he turned his head, irritated with the old Time Lord, leaning on what he knows.
"Oddie got hurt, she saw him, she told the kid about his eyes, you think he won't connect the dots if he sees him on a corner watching him?" Al lambasted Hamon for his secretiveness, bringing up that when the bridge collapsed under Odette and Ben, Odette saw the peculiar man with glowing eyes underneath the bridge, looking at her.
The fact that she told Theodore about the man, even if he didn't initially put stock in it at first, give enough time, he'll find out that the peculiar man isn't mere imagination.
He showed up for Odette, he'll show up for Theodore, eventually.
When Theodore finds out that Hamon withheld this information from Theodore, it won't end well.
Hamon, of all people, know how Theodore feels about lying, and lying to him about something like this's only going to make matters worse.
"Why did he come to her, anyway?" Al wanted answers why the peculiar man watched Odette fall from the bridge, seemingly watching the events unfold.
Finally, Hamon spoke up, saying that the man came to him after it happened that night.
He claimed that he didn't have any part in the bridge collapse, but has his doubts on why it happened, though true to his nature, he wouldn't tell Hamon.
"You're saying it might've been sabotage?" Al blinked as he looked at Hamon who lowered his hands and stood up from the plump chair.
Exhaling sharply as he paced around the den, Hamon responded that he doesn't know, he studied the accident report, in it, no one mentioned of anything foul except the bridge wasn't properly taken care of following reports of administrators kicking the can down the road.
However, with the man, Hamon couldn't be sure, but there's always a reason for it.
"And the sound?" Al gestured as he wanted more answers from the terse Time Lord who didn't give him much of anything other than what he already knew.
Pacing around the den, looking at old family photos of Medi, Sarah, and their children, Hamon recalled hearing something about a ticking noise being heard, but he never heard it, he thought it was paranoia, never gave it much stock.
Stepping forward, Al gestures as he stated that the Cybermen they encountered believed there was a ticking noise, drove them paranoid, something unheard of, that even Medi would've found intriguing.
"They said something about, the silence looming when the ticking stopped, too," Al recalled what he heard from his travels, something about silence looming once the ticking stopped, before he remembered the other part of it. "When the silence looms, death will follow."
Reaching in the far reaches of his databases, Al came up with references, archaic in nature, but he managed to translate them.
He didn't get a chance to answer before Hamon translated it to the old tongue that once was.
"When the battle comes to a head, so will death. It was our rallying call," the weary Time Lord slumped in his plump chair in a sigh as Al looked down at him in awe.
Even after the Time War, Hamon still remembers the old ways.
As he gestures, Al says that once Theodore figures it out, the pieces will fall into place.
"The kid spent his vacations with you, he knows the language," Al reminded Hamon that a combination of Medi and spending vacations with Hamon, Theodore knows the language, but Hamon revealed that he doesn't know the older variant that they once used during the Time War.
Like everything else, once the Council no longer saw it fit, they got rid of it, hence, few except those around Hamon's ages knew.
"What about a certain lavender eyed man?" Al crossed his arm as he looked Hamon directly in the eye, unswayed by anything the old Time Lord would've told him trying to wave it away, and Hamon conceded that there's no tricking Al.
"His father was in my garrison, I'm sure he taught him in the old ways," Hamon wearily said as he settled in his plump chair, a look on his face as Al uncrossed his arms, his brow raised.
Hesitantly, Al leaned forward as he asked Hamon, "I… I thought Medi took care of it, right, that's what he did, didn't he?"
Blank areas in his memory index, Al's unable to recollect what happened, but he swore Medi took care of it, which Hamon said that Medi did, but something unforeseen happened.
Pulling on his turquoise bomber jacket, Al tells Hamon, "If… if it's true… general… you have to do something… he'll have a bullseye on Theodore's back before you even get up!"
Compelled to follow his promises, Al won't allow such a thing happening on his watch, and he won't let Hamon order him around, keeping Theodore in the dark.
Standing up again, a look of ire in his eyes, Hamon warns Al that he can't tell Theodore anything.
Exhaling sharply, Hamon swears that he's taking care of it, causing Al to snort, pointing at him, as he said, "You're acting like a general, sir, you can't possibly think doing this's going to keep any of them safe. You follow the old ways, but not him, not anymore. I don't even think he did since he got out of diapers, honestly."
Hamon remained firm that he didn't want Theodore knowing anything and that he'll take care of it, but Al showed his doubts.
"And remember, machine, I know the schematics, quite well," Hamon laid a thinly veiled threat, his eyes on Al as he tilted his head in confusion.
His mouth gap for a moment, Al gestured, but seeing the look in Hamon's enough to take the wind out of his sail, forcing him to resign, that he can't tell Theodore anything.
"You're playing a dangerous game, general. I should hope you know what you're doing," Al wearily looked down at Hamon as Hamon stared up at him. "I may be old, too, but I've got my tricks. The moment it gets hot, I'm icing it."
In his own way, Al stated that he'll begrudgingly continue to follow Hamon's orders, however if there's a possibility, Al's breaking his silence whether the old Time Lord liked it or not.
He made a promise to Medi, protecting his kids if he ever showed up in their lives, again, and protect everyone in-between.
Protecting the Doctor, any means necessary.
Keeping trash in the past where it belongs.
No amount of threatening won't change that, even if Hamon had the master key.
Hamon sat quietly for a few minutes before he finally answered, saying that he knows how spiteful and spirited Al is, but he hoped that his plans keep the intrepid machine from telling all just, yet.
"Do you believe he has a chance?" Hamon asks Al what he thinks.
Hearing the question, Al did a spit take before answering, "I've seen him in action. I watched him take over like he was always in control."
Shaking his head, Hamon responds in a hush tone, "I've seen what he's capable of doing. What he had done to Sarah. My nephew has no chance against the likes of him, I mean no offense, but he cannot hope to win against someone of that nature. You of all machines know this."
THE END