Well, things didn't go exactly according to plan, however, Mr. Watson's finding himself enjoying shooting the phaser at the myriads of Daleks that came out of the woodwork to exterminate him and his daughter, while they fled through the ship, the screeching bastards not far behind.
Unfortunately, it should've been expected, but these Daleks weren't green to the shenanigans wrought by the Doctor, and have taken active measures against Lila and her father, so much they had to divert an easy path back to the TARDIS because of the traps laid out by the Daleks trying to kill them at every corner.
They were merely playing dumb, hiding out of sight, until the Dalek Supreme gave its orders, and they all came flooding into the command center, that it was a miracle Lila and her father survived the onslaught when they did.
The trick Al tried pulling worked, for the most part, until the finite number of times it was blasted that it finally exploded into a toxic gas.
It protected Lila and her father like he said it would, but the toxic gas was an afterthought, as Daleks have special breathing apparatuses that keep themselves save against airborne diseases and other unsavory things that are in the environments they take over.
Except for Pandora.
Trust to the namesake, it was that when the Daleks tried conquering it, believing its mineral enriched ripe for the harvesting, until the final Dalek was suffocated when the gunk from the cesspools encapsulated it.
Unable to escape, the air becoming increasingly stale as the gunk from the cesspool hardened, becoming heavy, weighing down the Dalek chassis, until rendering it inoperable, without proper maintenance, or a quick death, it's akin to submarines stuck in the darkest depths of the seas.
Watching, helplessly, as the blackened view became the only thing they ever saw, until their end.
Now, if it ever happened again, Daleks have various ways of escaping their predicament, of course that didn't mean there weren't the handful of Daleks that simply exploded into smithereens when they either commenced self-detonation out of spite or in a failed attempt escaping.
The two of them just needed to make sure the Daleks wouldn't be popping up anytime soon, which was proving to be rather difficult, and a bit more difficult than the last one.
"You know, pumpkin, that time we dealt with bed bugs in Sacramento's not the worst thing I dealt with," Mr. Watson compared to them dealing with Daleks, both invasive, blood thirsty, personified animalistic natures in their hunt for victims, but at least with Daleks, Mr. Watson can see them, before subsequently murdering them with the phaser.
The kick wasn't too bad, but he sees why Mr. Smith might've had problems using it, still, it's effective in taking down countless Daleks that sprung up in their attempts exterminating both him and his daughter.
Which, he counted the bastards, and there's more than forty-five Daleks!
Again, as his daughter reminded him, either Daleks were terrible counters, or lied to the Cybermen (and them) about how many Daleks were brought into this war game of theirs.
Presumably, the initial forty-five was meant to bluff the Cybermen (and them), known for their strength in numbers, whist while also true for Daleks, they're fueled by pure hate, that one Dalek's enough to cause considerable damages.
Forty-five angry Daleks's enough to cause half the world to disintegrate.
Now, that they're aware there's collusion between the Cybermen and Daleks, it's probable that the Daleks lied about their numbers to the Cybermen, riding the coattails of their infamy.
The Cybermen, having figured it out, reacted in a calculated matter, buying them time while they worked to annihilate the Daleks.
Still, all this just to get the chance of killing the Doctor, talk about complicated maneuvering, it's almost impressive that the Daleks and the Cybermen worked together in this collusion for their own benefits, just for the chance of annihilating their counterpart and the Doctor!
Again, don't ask Lila, never said the two alien species made any sense in their illogical choices.
Even if the Cybermen insisted it's 'quite' logical!
One of life's greatest questions, that.
Fleeing for their lives, Lila and her father attempted to evade the Daleks as they hounded them while they looked for ways back to the TARDIS.
A difficult prospect, the Daleks began swarming the area, circling the TARDIS like metallic vultures, even if Mr. Watson's capable of handling the phaser, he won't be able to destroy all the Daleks in succession before he's downed by their phaser fire.
Didn't damper Mr. Watson's spirit, despite the odds stacked against him, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he's hoisting the phaser like a machine gun, blasting every Dalek that sticks its eye stock towards him.
Difficult trying to avoid the returning fire, but Mr. Watson dealt with worse odds, and his daughter helped him, finding them cover, and keeping the Daleks unable to focus on him, trying to kill both him and his daughter at the same time, failing as they're too scattered.
"Al! A little help would be nice!" Lila begged Al in her head, hoping that the AI would come through for them, but as increasingly apparent what situation they're in, he couldn't do anything.
The Daleks have him surrounded and he can't set off the bomb, obviously, doing anything's a risk of them seizing the opportunity to disable him, or worse!
"Come on, man, you gotta have something!" Lila balked that Al didn't have a workaround for this situation, but he admitted that his hands are at risk being blown off his nonexistent body or chained to a screeching demon for the rest of his days.
Fortunately, the benefits of having a telepathic aloof giant came through, with Theodore reaching out to them both, frantic, asking if they're okay, which they admit that things aren't going well on their end, as expected.
"I have an idea!" Theodore insisted that he had an idea on how to scare the bejeezus out of both the Cybermen and Daleks, if they work the angle right, it should send them packing… to their demises.
Curious, Lila inquired what he had in mind, and Theodore then reminded her of one of their myriad of questions they've never gotten an answer for since they've encountered it.
The strange, indeterminable ticking noise that seemingly frightened the Daleks and Cybermen, to the point of nearly wetting their steel chassis.
Never knew what it was, never found out anything other than what they already know, and since it's been on the back burner, but that's their ticket into getting this sordid war game cancelled without a contestant winning and dropping nuclear bombs on everyone in retaliation.
"I dunno kid, I don't think I can replicate whatever they're hearing," Al showed doubt in his capabilities replicating the ticking sound, fearing it wouldn't be like what the Cybermen and Daleks heard, resulting in them catching on to their tricks.
However, Theodore prodded the AI until he inevitably changed his mind, saying that he'll try his hand replicating the sound, but stated that he'll isn't responsible if it doesn't work.
He'll get to work just as soon as Lila and her father reached the TARDIS, which isn't working out too well, already the relentless Daleks hounded them at every opportunity, that they've been turned around at different times.
Don't worry, o' Al's got it in the bag, despite the Daleks swarming around him like mechanical cockroaches, he's got tricks for his tricks.
It's unconventional, but don't worry, Al's done it numerous times over the years with different people, and only one person of the hundreds had their arm broken!
… It wasn't that bad, either!
Just… needed some time to heal, but Al's odds are much better than what others had on their end, so that's that.
What did Al plan on doing?
While running, the Watsons struggled as the encroaching Daleks effortlessly caught up to them, plasma bolts firing through the air, hitting everything in their wake while the Daleks attempted shooting the fleeing Watsons.
Despite the situation, Mr. Watson didn't lose his grip on the phaser, firing back his share of bolts at the Daleks, sending several to their deaths, but they're instantly replaced by more, as he fled with his daughter.
Don't know what happened, one moment he's running, then he felt his body falling through an opened part of the floor, senses going crazy in his body as he's trying to rapidly recover, when his eyes finally caught up to him, Mr. Watson sees his feet pushing against the wall of the TARDIS, and his back on the cold grated flooring.
His chestnut eyes darted towards his daughter, adjacent to him, recovering from them falling through the open TARDIS that popped up under their feet.
Appearing before them, Al stood proudly as he proclaimed, "I still got it!"
Struggling, the Watsons pushed themselves off the grated floor, Mr. Watson rebalancing the phaser that barely reacted to slamming against the cold walls.
Brushing herself off, Lila goes, "A little heads-up would be nice, Al!"
Shrugging his yellow polka-dotted frilly shoulders, Al retorted, "I got you out, didn't I?"
Groaning, Mr. Watson blinked several times as he bluntly responded with, "My already creaking ankles thanks you!"
Wobbling, the Watsons went towards the console, and as they did, they noticed the absence of the bomb, causing Mr. Watson to question what Al done.
With a grin, Al explained that he set the bomb somewhere on the Dalek ship, figured that with them intent on killing the Watsons, he wouldn't have a problem.
Pointing at him with annoyance in his voice, Mr. Watson states, "You keep doing that, you'll have a problem!"
Al would've said something, but he didn't have the chance, he instead urged Mr. Watson and Lila to help him.
Lila quickly grabbed one of the levers, while her dad took another, ready for their next step. This time, they weren't going to take any chances, they were going to get this over with.
Grabbing the levers as best he could, Al told Mr. Watson that there's only one way for them to survive this battle now, by activating the Vortex Manipulator, and Mr. Watson agreed.
On Al's count, they timed it, when he reached zero, the Watsons pulled the levers, and hit the buttons.
By the time they finished, there's a lull, silence, and as the Watsons quizzically looked around, they started hearing a ticking noise.
It's subtle, like a grandfather clock, and Al hooked the sound into the internals of Torchwood, with Ianto's help, broadcasting to everyone.
Mr. Watson's understandably skeptical about the whole thing, especially how his daughter carried on a telepathic conversation, but this wasn't the time, he wanted the Cybermen and Daleks gone from Earth.
Materializing in the Torchwood command center, the TARDIS door opened on its own, allowing the Watsons to exit, seeing the Cybermen training their weapons on the group.
Theodore's eyes immediately locked with Lila's as she hurried to his side, Mr. Watson carrying the phaser as he kept the Cybermen away from them.
Reaching his side, Lila exhaled as she felt his arms wrapping around her waist, pulling her into a hug, almost turned blue as he squeezed her tightly, ecstatic that Lila's alive, unharmed, sore, but unharmed.
Wedging himself in between the group, Mr. Watson held the phaser as he watched the Cybermen start reacting after picking up on the ticking sound that Al created with Torchwood broadcasting it.
There's fright in their monotonous robotic voice as they uttered in unison.
"It… is… here!"
The stunned reaction in the stiff movements of the Cybermen added to the fright they felt hearing the ticking noise as Al worked to replicate it to the best of his advantage, audible enough that even the group heard.
Seeing the reactions, David uttered, "Of all the things I had to do to escape with my life, why didn't I think about using grandfather clocks?!"
Never in a million years would he have thought about a simple sound to scare both Daleks and Cybermen, had he known sooner, adventures would've been easier!
Cue Catherine to point out that David's known to forget things, had he known sooner, he would simply forget it until his memory's jogged or he has an eureka moment.
Swatting his hand as he's embarrassed, David insisted that he'd remember this, he'd ingrain it into his membrane just to use it against these lot.
As he lowered his hands, David caught sight of Pete, pale as a ghost, as he heard the ticking coming from the speakers around Torchwood, his caramel eyes filled with dread, and when he reached out to check on him, David sees Pete sharply turning his head towards David.
Blinking his caramel eyes, Pete shook his head, snapping out of his daze before turning his attention to David as he worryingly asked him what was wrong, but Pete wouldn't tell him.
Al increasingly made the ticking louder, enough to drive the Cybermen in a frenzy, worsened when the Dalek Supreme interfaced once again, this time, its electronic voice filled with dread as it shrilled, "Wh-at ha-ve you do-ne?!"
The Prime insisted as it moved towards the screen as it insisted, "We did nothing!"
Seeing both the Prime and the Dalek Supreme terrified of a ticking noise would've sounded audacious outside a comic book, but here they were, petrified, enough that the Dalek Supreme pleaded with the Prime to do something.
Its arm stiffly moved to the emblem pressed into the chassis, the Prime called out to the other Cybermen, declaring this attempt at betraying both Daleks and the Doctor a lost cost.
Seeing the Cybermen afraid, Ianto stepped close to Theodore, leaning over to him as he inquired, "Why this sound of all things?"
Truthfully, Theodore couldn't tell him, but they're startled as the Cybermen started moving, not towards them, but towards the doorway.
Pete called after the Prime, the Prime moved its whole body to turn around to face him, as it said, "The silence looms!"
Startled, Pete stepped backwards as he watched the Cybermen in a single file, goose stepped out of the doorway, into the hallway, intent on abandoning this ploy, and escaping with their lives.
Not so, says Al!
They're not getting away that easily, he's got it where they'll end up on the Dalek ship, all million of them, and when the last one gets through the artificial portal he used, Al's gonna hit this shiny red switch on the console.
To Earth, it'll be nothing but a blimp on NASA's radar, and nobody outside them will know what happened.
"What about the Dalek scout?" Theodore had to ask him about that and Al informed him that because of the ticking noise, it's become paranoid to the point it's willing to set off the organic bomb implanted into its fleshy skin, just to escape the ticking sound.
Don't worry, Al made sure that it didn't do it until it went through the portal, making it doubly impossible for the Daleks and Cybermen surviving the explosion.
Like that, the ship exploded into nothing more than microscopic ashes, it exploded near Saturn, so they shouldn't have to worry about pieces landing on Earth.
Once it's confirmed that there's no more Cybermen or Daleks on Earth, Ianto worked to retrieve his team from their hiding spots, there they tallied the fatalities.
Several soldiers died in combat against the Cybermen, there's several destroyed Cybermen left behind when their living brethren left in a hurry fleeing from the ticking noise that Al finally stopped.
Director Harriet's body was transported from the command centre, where it's discovered that the Cybermen's handiwork ingrained itself into her brain, that by removing the earpiece from her ear, resulted in curious medical examiners pulling out pieces of her damaged brain.
She was dead the moment she mistook the earpiece as her own, but they know now what's possible with the Cybermen, that in the future, they'll have new tactics to thwart the attempts, as it's brought up that if these sets of Daleks and Cybermen knew where Earth's located, that it's possible there's more that potentially could come.
That's something curious, indeed, how they knew how to find Earth, not just any Earth, but this one!
Considering Director Harriet's death, Torchwood had to decide on her replacement, and the result gave Ianto the title, as he's more seasoned than the rest of the team, though he dreaded the thought of becoming the new Director of Torchwood.
Gwen made light of his new position, she reasoned that he'll be able to afford new suits, to his annoyance.
The elephants in the room needed to be acknowledged, the first being Torchwood's stances on aliens mingling among humans.
While there's concerns, Theodore reasoned that the aliens on Earth wanted to live peaceful lives, and if they've been influenced by his fath— him, then they've earned their place on Earth.
UNIT didn't have the same thoughts, though they acknowledge how much the Doctor did for them when it counted, despite everything that happened between the two, the Doctor's always there to save them.
Ianto's first decision he made when he was sworn in's disallowing Torchwood from interfering with the aliens' lives on Earth, unless there's probable evidence of danger, and that they don't have to answer UNIT should the day come, and UNIT orders them to eradicate or abduct the aliens.
The next elephant in the room's Theodore and Mr. Watson, they spoke privately while the others dealt with the aftermath of an invasion of a small scale, with workers trying to seal up every possible vector for Cybermen, while watching for anything they might've left behind.
Unable to part with the phaser, having grown to like it, Mr. Watson holstered it on his back with the provided strap as he discussed the elephant in the room with Theodore.
Resigned look in his chestnut eyes, Mr. Watson began with, "You love my daughter?"
In earnest, Theodore replied, "With my two hearts!"
Hearing this, it made Mr. Watson hesitant as he echoed, "Two hearts?"
A weak smile and a shrug, Theodore admitted that it was something that he gotten from his late father.
Seeing the confusion on his face, Theodore didn't lie, telling him that he'll pass on that to his children and his children will pass it on to theirs.
"Why?" Mr. Watson's face contorts as he couldn't understand the reasoning for someone to have two hearts, leading Theodore to tell him what Herman said long ago, "Environmental."
A quizzical look on Mr. Watson's face, Theodore wasn't sure how to gauge his emotions, he would easily glimpse into the man's head, but he wanted to do this right, and to prove himself to the skeptical Mr. Watson.
Slowly shifting in his spot, Mr. Watson asks, "And, uh, the thing you do?"
Shrugging, Theodore tells him how his father started the whole thing and it snowballed from there, everyone who was ever the Doctor either stumbled into it by chance or thrusted into the life by outside forces, not much in-between.
Tilting his head, Mr. Watson gestures as he asks, "Why would anyone do such a stupid thing like that?"
Understandably, it did sound stupid when saying it out loud, but Theodore tells him the point his father made when he created the title's helping others who couldn't help themselves, for whatever reasons.
Sometimes the powers that be couldn't do it justice, that only the Doctor's capable of righting the wrongs committed, either by force, or encouraging people to come to the natural conclusion.
"So, you go around in that hokey thing, doing your thing, and it's out of the kindness of your… two hearts?" Mr. Watson summed.
Nodding, his wild hair bobbing, Theodore asserts that there's more to this than that, but it's close enough, he doesn't get enjoyment having to make tough calls, that doesn't stop him from trying his hardest.
"I'm guessing this isn't a job you can just retire when you hit the 6-0, right?" Mr. Watson summed and Theodore affirmed that he couldn't walk away being the Doctor, it's one of those things, though he intended to see his tenure through, in honour of his late father.
Processing everything that they discussed, Mr. Watson goes quiet, when Lila reappeared, informing them that the last of the Cybermen bodies have been rounded up, properly disabled with help by Al and his counterpart, and that Torchwood's wisely calculating how to use their captured quarry, wanting to ensure this never happened, again.
"I'm still not understanding, how does a ticking sound scare two machines?" Mr. Watson questioned how they managed to pull off a gambit by scaring two murderous species to their deaths by playing the sound of ticking and Theodore admitted to Mr. Watson how they didn't know, either, only that it was their ticket.
Sighing, Mr. Watson scratched the side of his face as he then said, "Well, they sampled that noise, so if these hunk of junks come back, they'll turn tail and run."
Seeing the effectiveness of the sound, Torchwood's co-opting it for their defenses, in the event there's another invasion by either species, and that said, they're hoping this's a one-time fluke.
Seeing his daughter with Theodore, Mr. Watson sighs, as he asks her, "He treat you right?"
Nodding, her chestnut hair fluttering, Lila responded, "Like a queen!"
Gauging hers, Al's, and Theodore's answers, Mr. Watson stood quietly, popping the sides of his cheek with his tongue, before finally saying, "And does Daph and the boys know?"
Shaking their heads, the pair tells Mr. Watson that they didn't tell them about Theodore's unusual characteristics, or the fact they adventure in a disguised time machine, essentially.
"It's going to make Christmas dinner a bit more interesting, to be honest," Mr. Watson gave his thoughts on the whole thing, wouldn't even know how to explain to Daphne how he ended up with a bruised shoulder, due to the kickback of the phaser.
Admittedly, telling the family that Lila's dating a part-alien man and they adventure while not present on Earth's going to come off as some sort of weird joke, but Lila affirmed that they'll come up with a way to explain it.
"Ah, dad, about us?" Lila broached the topic with her father, as she interlocked her arm with Theodore's, bringing him close to her as she stared at her father.
His mind a flutter, Mr. Watson then gave his answer, "If he treats you right, pumpkin, honest to god, then I don't have any room to talk."
In his own way, her father gave his blessing, changing his mind on forbidding their relationship, but not before giving Theodore a low-key threat.
Shaking his hand, as Mr. Watson affirmed his blessing, he pulled Theodore close to him as he said in a serious tone, the southern coming out, "Imma tell you this once, son. I hear anything and I do mean anything. I don't care where you go in that little blue box of yours. I assure you, you ain't getting far. Just remember that, hm?"
Squeezing Theodore's hand as he emphasized his threat, complete with a wink at the end, Mr. Watson releases his grip on Theodore's hand, pulling away as he exhaled sharply, with the knowledge that his daughter's dating one of the Doctors, which confused him, but the way Theodore and Lila talked about the concept, he's assured that despite him still learning, the pair have it down to science.
"By the way, pumpkin, would you spending all your summers watching that show be a reason why Dean Stockwell's hanging around?" Mr. Watson pointed backwards as he asked his daughter if her binging the show in her youth resulted in the AI taking the form of acclaimed actor, Dean Stockwell, as he was in the show he played on, and Lila weakly shrugged as she admitted, "I didn't get the choice in the matter."
As he nods, Mr. Watson sighs, this old dog has some new things to learn, still, and his daughter comforted him, leading him to promise her, no more lying to him.
After everything he experienced since he was fished for Torchwood and today, Mr. Watson thinks he can vaguely understand anything the pair can dole out to him.
"Promise, daddy," Lila smiled, before Mr. Watson gets called away by someone, leaving her and Theodore alone as they talked amongst themselves.
Rubbing her eyes, Lila says, "Not much of a war, was it?"
Shrugging, Theodore responded, "Better than a full-out war, I suppose."
Turning her head, Lila asked him, "Why go all this way not to spread every one of them into the far reaches of the world?"
Considering Torchwood captured a Dalek scout and all that.
Rubbing her back with his hand, Theodore tells her, "I don't know, my dear Watson, all I know's none of us gotten hurt in this little incursion of theirs."
And that he doesn't have to deal with the side eye from Mr. Watson, anymore.
"You realize you're not getting it back, right?" Lila points out to Theodore that he lost his chance retrieving his father's phaser from Mr. Watson.
Despite the heavy bruising on his shoulder, Mr. Watson came to like the phaser, enough to take it as his own.
"I'll consider it an olive branch," Theodore tells her, deciding that he'll consider the phaser as a form of olive branch to Mr. Watson, that once the man took it, it meant that there's no more one-sided animosity.
And.
It wasn't like Mr. Watson can take it out of Torchwood to begin with, alien and all that, so he couldn't bring it home with him when he leaves for the night.
A giggle from Lila, they departed back to their TARDIS, along the way, they gave their farewells to David, Pete, and Catherine.
Once they left, it was David, Pete, and Catherine, but Catherine decided to leave for their TARDIS, leaving David and Pete by themselves.
"You done well, given the circumstances," Pete tells David as the men stood idly, watching the cleanup effort.
A slight shrug, David mustered, "Sometimes the best way of handling things isn't only running."
Pete nods, his blond hair stiffly wavering, before David asked him, "Why did you turn pale like that?"
Confused, he asked what David meant, and David asked about his reactions to hearing the ticking noise that Al and his counterpart helped produce and echoed throughout the complex.
"I know you, Mr. Pratchett, you never turned pale for anything!" David brought up how calm and collected Pete suddenly shifted to looking like he saw a ghost, only for the man to assure David that there wasn't anything wrong.
With prodding, Pete encouraged David's return to his TARDIS, despite the offer of dropping him off at his home, Pete declined, preferring to leave the way he came.
David bid him farewell, promising to visit when he can, and after he left, Pete mingled alone in the corner.
His caramel eyes darting, he vaguely heard an echoey sound, obstructed by the chattering of people in Torchwood.
Tick… tick… tick… tick… tock…
As subtle as it came, it disappeared, leaving only the backdrop of the remaining soldiers and scientists working together to reconstruct the damaged portions done by the Dalek fighting the Cybermen.
In Pete's eyes, only fear.
THE END