Within moments, Torchwood became overrun with Cybermen emerging from different corners of the complex, the thudding noises deafening footfall from people fleeing from the sight of the Cybermen walking through the halls.
Caught unprepared, soldiers scrambled to evacuate the unarmed workers within Torchwood while combating against the encroaching Cybermen that held Torchwood in a chokehold, to no avail, as their weapons couldn't penetrate the metal chassis.
In an effort of preventing the Cybermen from escaping outside, once the last unarmed worker fled safely with the aid of the soldiers, with help from people on his team, Ianto forced Torchwood into a lockdown, no one in or out.
Director Harriet's nowhere to be found, but Ianto suspected that with the Cybermen out in the forefront, D-Day's commencing, her uses have been expended, thus the Prime has taken its place in the operations that follow.
A group of this size's at risk easily getting captured, that it was decided it best for them to split up, making it harder for the Cybermen to catch them.
David, Pete, and Theodore were set to deal with the Cybermen and the Daleks, the sight of three Doctors ought to give them a jolt like no other.
Ianto and Mr. Watson's leading Lila and Catherine back to Theodore and David's respected TARDIS to commence the next set of plans.
Since Ianto and Mr. Watson knew the layout better, there wasn't doubt they couldn't get the women back without the Cybermen catching them.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Theodore asks Pete if he hadn't gotten second thoughts about doing this, but Pete affirmed that he wanted to do this, not for old glory, but for his daughter, too.
To sum, "I didn't spend some thirty years running just to run away, now!"
With the men set, they braved entering the command centre, where they're instantly held up by Cybermen pointing their hand canons at them, at the centre's the Prime.
At its feet, they see the deceased Director Harriet, the Cybermen frying her dead brain to make it impossible for anyone to know it was them, her blank eyes staring at the men who stood together with determination on their eyes.
The large Cybermen narrowed its eyeless sockets on the three men and immediately identified them, "Doc-tor?"
Holding up three fingers, David cheerfully added, "Three of a kind!"
Corralled by the Cybermen, the three men were led closer to the Prime, where they got a good look of Director Harriet's body, as her brain matter leaked from her ear, slowly pooling underneath her head.
"You're awfully more civilized than I remembered," Pete called out the unusual change in behaviour in the Cybermen, before the Prime informed him that they're commencing protocols to war with the Daleks, and if the Doctors wanted to keep Earth where it is, they're better off helping them.
Tilting his head, his wild hair bobbing, Theodore goes, "Me? Helping you?"
Yes, because that's never gone wrong, before!
The Prime insisted, "You owe us."
Recoiling at this, Theodore blinked as he echoed, "Owe you?"
That's never been the case…
If the Cyberman could nod, it would, as it tells Theodore that the Cybermen were owed a favour from the Doctor for help in the past, and it was now that they wanted to reign in on the favour.
Hearing this, Pete looked between Theodore and David with questionable looks, before the men told him that they don't know what the Prime's talking about, they don't recall asking the Cybermen for help.
Pete then asked the Prime, "You'll have to forgive me, my mind's everywhere these days, what did you help me with?"
Like a charm, the Prime informed him that the Doctor came to them, practically begging for their help, risking his life, no less, and that the Cybermen agreed to aid him, with the promise that when the time came, they'll come to collect a favour from him.
Explaining why the Cybermen didn't react when the trio came to Torchwood until, now, to them, the Doctor's repaying for their help.
´Effortlessly, Pete took the context and utilized it, by asking the Prime a question regarding the favour, "You must forgive me, adventuring does a lot to a person. What did I ask your help for?"
His brow raised, Pete sees the Prime struggling, before admitting, "We cannot say. You asserted that we shall not utter it, ever again."
A twist, the Prime won't tell Pete, proclaiming that the Doctor's insistence made them delete all references from their data banks once everything cleared.
"But you remembered the favour!" David brought up that the Prime must remember something, else why they knew that the Doctor had to repay them, and the Prime said that they didn't delete the reference points.
Whatever that means.
Crossing his arms, Theodore shifted in his spot as he then said, "I didn't quite say I'd help invade Earth, did I?"
Seeing the Prime stiffly move to look at him, he heard the Prime reply, "Negative. You are meant to aid us."
David gestured as he emphasized, "Against the Daleks?"
The Prime affirmed that the Doctor promised that he'd help against the Daleks and in their quest, the Cybermen came to Earth, where they detected Daleks.
Eyes on David from Theodore and Pete, David insisted, "You have been here long enough to know the difference between the real Daleks and the fake ones, right?"
He exhaled sharply in relief when the Prime tells him that they're acutely aware of the prop Daleks, but tensed up when the Prime then told him how they believed the Daleks used the fakes to their advantage, to hide among the populace.
"As well as your counterparts, no doubt," Theodore pointed out that the Cybermen would've known about the fakes in their likeness while searching for the Daleks and the Prime told him as much, but said they were inferior to them, that they couldn't use them.
Their conversation was cut short, as the Cybermen proclaimed a transmission's coming in, with the Prime stiffly turning its body towards the large screen at the back of the command centre, where it switched to the sight of the Dalek Supreme, the eye stock shining brightly as it communicated with the Prime.
"You da-re chall-enge the Da-leks?" Dalek Supreme schreechingly let out as the Prime confirmed the Cybermen's intentions of going to war with the Daleks.
The Dalek Supreme screeched a question, "How ma-ny Cyber-men do you ha-ve?"
Even though Cybermen upgraded away their emotions, the Prime still radiated with some as it said with what could be a confident, "A million."
If Daleks could do similar, no doubt the Dalek Supremes' dismissive echo counted, "A mill-ion?"
Confident, the Prime declared it only has a million Cybermen and then asked the Dalek Supreme how many it brought.
The answer didn't help the three men as they heard the Dalek Supreme state, "For-ty-fi-ve!"
Somehow, the Prime wasn't deterred by the count, but then asked how the Dalek Supremes' meager forty-five Daleks will fare against a million Cybermen.
Seeing the Prime and the Dalek Supreme having their back and forth, the three men looked at each other as they attempted to process what they're witnessing.
"A million of those buggers, why haven't we heard sooner?" Pete whispered between the men as they leaned closer to him, to avoid being overheard by the Prime as it continued having a conversation with the Dalek Supreme.
Shrugging his brown pinstripe shoulders, David responded, "Well, they managed to hide from ours and the Torchwood scanners, that must've helped them bump up the numbers."
No knowledge if the Cybermen came as they are or used people on Earth to bolster their numbers, but Pete believed that the Cybermen wouldn't want to risk being found sooner if they took a million people for their own uses.
Pointing at Pete, Theodore gestured as he asks, "Is it possible they used our satellites to masquerade themselves?"
Thinking it over, Pete nodded as he answered that with the countless satellites in the starry skies and the debris in space, the Daleks could've easily used them to hide their presence, as well as the Cybermen, before they descended upon Earth as debris entering the stratosphere.
"Forty-five Daleks won't do much against a million Cybermen," David noted that they're outclassed, but Pete held a different opinion, as he said that despite his disdain for the buggers, the Daleks are fueled by their hate and not much else.
The three men then pondered their plan of dealing with both the Daleks and the Cybermen, though it's bad taste going back on their collected word to help the Cybermen, none of them trusted the Prime not to go back on its word.
"A million Cybermen are more than capable enough to start converting the entire country!" Pete sucked air through his teeth as he pondered their options with David and Theodore nodding.
David then added, "Forty-five Daleks are enough to destroy the entire country!"
Their options limited, the three men brainstormed, before Theodore informed them that the Cybermen wouldn't ask the Doctor for a favour for a reason.
"You think it's possible the Daleks have a chance of beating them?" David raised his bushy brow as Theodore asserts that it's the only thing that made sense to him, pointing out that the Cybermen wouldn't work with their like otherwise.
As he nodded, Pete agreed with Theodore, saying, "It seemed confident with forty-five Daleks."
Even though they're faced with a million Cybermen, the Daleks weren't deterred despite them outmatched, and Pete suspects that there's more to this than meets the eye.
Sighing, David murmurs, "When doesn't it?"
Their private conversation was stopped when they overheard the Dalek Supreme screeching, it's incensed at the appearance of not just one Doctor, but three.
The Prime are using them as an advantage against the Daleks and already, they knew what's coming, next.
"Al! Trouble!" Theodore called out to the AI as he reached out telepathically, and heard Al stirring as he affirmed what he's seeing on his scanners, the Prime wasn't lying, there's a million Cybermen hidden in Torchwood, ready to war with the Daleks.
When warned that the Daleks seemed overtly confident despite only having forty-five soldiers, Al added, "About that…"
The captured Dalek broke free of its imprisonment and no longer disabled, somehow, it overcame the blocks and disabling protocols used by the Torchwood scientists, now it's roaming free in Torchwood, already doing damage to the Cybermen.
"Kid, I think… I think it wanted to be captured!" Al concluded that the Daleks weren't idiots this time around, they had a plan.
TO BE CONTINUED…
"D-Day"