The Associate. The damn Associate.

The Tsar was not happy. The arrogance of the Doctor, walking straight up to them, a giant smirk on his face was enough to turn him apoplectic, but it what that meant that really made him angry – he clearly knew there was another power behind this all, someone else. And he knew that person was going to want to bring him in alive. The damn Associate, making him bring into the Palace one of the smartest and most dangerous men in this or any universe, all because of his perverse curiosity. And there was nothing the Tsar could have done to change his mind, and well, he had no choice about it. He was furious and he intended to make every use of the opportunity that was presented. Then he would kill that meddling fool.

The Doctor was brought up to his study very quickly, flanked by Cybermen and that infernal smirk far from wiped from his face.

"Have you made him turn out his pockets!" snapped the Tsar at the Cybermen.

"Negative," one replied coldly.

"Why not!" he yelled. "You stupid metal blunderheads." He turned to the Doctor. "Turn them out!"

The Doctor's smirk was as present as ever. "If you insist..." he said. "This might take a while."

Various paraphernalia ended up on his table but the Tsar took interest in two of the most prominent.

"An EMP charge and a sonic device. You really are bold, aren't you?"

The Doctor shrugged. "An insurance policy. Which is no longer necessary, given I'm here talking to you."
"I wouldn't be so sure," seethed the Tsar. Everything else on the table was useless junk.

"Go," he snapped at the Cybermen. "Wait outside."

"We obey," said the Cybermen coldly and marched out of the room, the door slamming behind them.

"So who is he?" asked the Doctor. "Or she. Mustn't assume anything."

"He," said the Tsar. "Is my Associate. And his identity is not something you need to know."

"I rather think it is," said the Doctor. "But I won't press the issue. I'm sure I'll find out myself eventually. What I will say though," he said, as he began to walk around the room to survey it – not that there was much to survey, it was barren aside from the table and the banks of computers - "is that he was the one who gave the Cybermen the primitive time travel technology they currently have, yes?"

"Yes."

"Well," continued the Doctor. "That admittedly was the easy bit to work out. How did he get you on board?"

The Tsar looked at him forlornly and then turned to look out of the window, into the still black night. "He arrived in January 1917. I remember the day as if it was yesterday. And do you know what he showed me Doctor?"

"If I knew I wouldn't be asking," he replied pointedly.

"He showed me... the future," the Tsar said.

"Ohhhhh..." said the Doctor. "I see. He showed you what was about to happen. Revolution. And of course, eventually, your death. And then he made you an offer you couldn't refuse – mastery over the entire world, in return..."

"In return," interrupted the Tsar, turning back to the Doctor. "For my body."

"Partially-converted into a Cyberman. Nasty. At least he let you keep your mind. Most don't get that particular luxury," said the Doctor darkly.

"I care not for the plights of the underclasses."

"No, I suspected you probably wouldn't. And with the power of a Cyber-army behind you, you easily wiped out the Germans, then your allies, then everyone else. How long did it take you to take over? A year? Six months?"

The Tsar did not reply immediately. "I think," he seethed. "I am in a better position to ask questions than you are."

"If you want," said the Doctor. "I thought you knew all you wanted though."

"Perhaps," said the Tsar. "But then it is not a theory I would want to test if I were you," nodding towards the door and implicitly the Cybermen outside.

"Alright," said the Doctor. "Fire away, Nicky"

(-)

"What are we looking for again?" asked Anastasia, as she and Nikolai crept through the vast basements of the Winter Palace.

"You heard the Doctor," replied Nikolai, his gaze not shifting from straight in front of him. "Anything that might be helpful."

"Right..." she said.

"Besides," said Nikolai. "I'm looking for Kazokonov."

"Your boss?" she asked. "You sound pretty damn loyal to him."

"If you met him, you'd know why."

She could think of no response to that, and instead kept following him through the basement areas. When they came out of the sewer, they saw a hole in the wall that wasn't there before. Nikolai supposed a Cyberman deactivated by that EMP charge the Doctor used might have knocked it in, and Anastasia was in no position to disagree. They followed it and soon found themselves lost, wandering through the vast basement complex, looking for something Nikolai had not found here before on one of his visits. They had no had any luck so far, no wooden blue box nor any computer conveniently displaying everything they needed to know. Anastasia had been looking into every room they had found, but most were empty, or simply used for storage. She was beginning to worry that they would be found by the Cybermen before they found anything of use, and she could tell Nikolai was feeling the same way. It was not long, however, before they struck gold.

The cellars they wondered through were always dark, always made of brick, with high ceilings and with random metal boxes, no doubt containing some Cyber-equipment to be used for horrible purposes. Things were so quiet down there they could have heard a pin drop, and their attempts to muffle their footsteps in case any Cybermen were listening were not overly successful – nonetheless, they had not been discovered yet. Perhaps they were all interested in the Doctor's arrivla above. Anastasia hoped he was all right.

Nikolai suddenly stopped. "Anastasia," he hissed. "Look." He pointed at a room just up ahead. Anastasia looked and saw a green, pulsating light reflected on the side of the doorway.

"Well, come on," she said. "You're not going to learn anything sitting here."

He nodded and moved up to the doorway. As soon as he looked into the room, his face fell into utter shock.

"Come here," was all he could saw softly, and Anastasia joined him. Suddenly she realised why he was shocked.

The large room was filled with circular glass tanks, all positioned on top of a metal box where it was evident the machinery powering the tanks was located. Inside the tanks was a green liquid of some kind, Anastasia had no idea what it was – but more frighteningly, there were people in there.

Anastasia looked closer and became even more horrified – these people were conscious. Their eyes were open, and although they couldn't move, their faces betrayed what they were feeling - their eyes all looked like they were pleading with her. But that wasn't all – their bodies were covered in metal patches and cybernetic implants. As if she even needed to be told what was happening here – dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of people were being converted into Cybermen.

The pair of young Russians stood in horrified silence looking at the people their ruler had allowed into this living hell.
"What..." she spluttered. "What do we do?"

Nikolai looked at the people solemnly before removing his weapon from its holster. "Only one thing we can do."

(-)

"Tell me about the Time Lords, Doctor," said the Tsar resolutely.

The Doctor stared at him for a moment before folding his arms. "Alright," he said. "They're a powerful species who reside on the planet Gallifrey. They are the primary temporal power in the universe. They're also a bunch of stuck-up idiots, most of whom are unable to see more than five feet in front of them and they constantly remind me why I left."

"I see," said the Tsar. "You see, in this universe, there are no Time Lords. Not any more."

"I guessed that," said the Doctor. "Otherwise why would you need someone from my uni-"

The Tsar interrupted him. "Could someone with the power of time travel invade Gallifrey and destroy the Time Lords."

"Yes," said the Doctor darkly. "It has even happened a few times. They usually survive through some means or another though."

"Thank you Doctor," smiled the Tsar. "You have confirmed a few suspicions of mine and saved me a few scouting missions." He began muttering to himself. "Hardly worth keeping you alive..."

"Oh, I agree," said the Doctor, having heard him. "Your Associate clearly wants more out of me than that. And I'm sure once you show him this conversation, which I am well aware you are recording, he might know what he needs to know."

"Perhaps," seethed the Tsar.

"Your Associate has been able to provide the Cybermen with primitive time travel devices," said the Doctor. "But you need the TARDIS because he can't do anything more than that, correct? You need to reverse engineer it to create time travel devices you can actually use for conquering the universe. Or universes."
The Tsar's silence confirmed it. The Doctor realised he was beginning to tire of this conversation. Something he planned to use to his advantage.

"Interesting. So you sent a message through to the Time Lords in my universe, and as the only reliable Time Lord not on Gallifrey, well, I was the obvious choice."
"Don't flatter yourself," said the Tsar. "Any Time Lord would have done."

"Yes, but you got me, so work with it," the Doctor smiled back. "So that leaves only one mystery, What about Anastasia? What's so important about her that you need her biodata"

"You've rather taken to her, haven't you Doctor?" It was not the Tsar's turn to smile mockingly.

"I suppose. She's relatively impressive. And of course, the Time Lords told me that I needed to look after her and find out what she was important, so it would be nice if I could do that for them. And also, you ruined her life. She is intelligent, kind and capable and she's trapped in this hell of a life. I'd quite like to make sure she gets better than that."

"I would disagree but it is irrelevant. I am bored of answering questions and I am certainly in no mood to answer that one. That girl has been nothing but an irritance, and her traitor brother no more than that either. Soon she'll be just as dead as you and I won't have to worry about her anymore."

The Doctor sighed. "If you insist. I will tell you one thing though, Nicky."

"And what is that, Doctor?" The Tsar's patience with him had run out.

"You probably should have kept a closer eye on me," he said, holding up his hands to reveal his sonic screwdriver in one and the EMP charge in the other. He had picked them up from the table.

"CYBERMEN! IN HERE NOW!" the Tsar screamed.

The Doctor allowed himself one last smirk and put his sonic screwdriver up to the charge. "Let's see how much oomph this has, shall we?" He pressed the button on his screwdriver and there was a blinding white flash. on his screwdriver and there was a blinding white flash./p