Author's Note: just a quick thanks to those who reviewed my last chapter, they were the first i've ever received so i was extremely grateful. this chapter is less of a 'boom-pow-whatonearthisgoingon?' chapter, it's sort of linking what has just happened to what is going to happen. i've done my research too, ensuring the characters and quotes from actual episodes are accurate but if you see anything wrong, please tell me :) enjoy!

Too Many Questions

After a few minutes of trying to take everything in – and failing – the Doctor finally allowed his two rescuers, Zak and Kura, to take him back to their base; there were plenty of questions spinning about in his head but he figured that currently, safety was a top priority and even he could understand that standing around in a deserted tunnel discussing what was going on when presumably more Cybermen were heading their way was not a wise thing to be doing.

He walked as he normally did, hands buried deeply into the pockets of his trench coat, his eyes darting everywhere curiously, absorbing in as much detail as possible of his surroundings; however, they often found themselves resting on the gigantic Cyberman that was marching alongside him, it never looked at him, or at least, it never appeared to be looking at him, but the Doctor could never tell. Its deep black eyes never blinked, its monstrous face never displayed emotion… Cybermen were the enemy, what made this one so different?

A Cyberman waging war on organic beings was one thing; they were practically a mutated species of human that had stagnated from the moment of its birth, void of all emotion they were simply an unnatural entity; but a Cyberman that wanted to protect its organic brethren was even more unnatural. 'Zak' appeared to be quite empty in the feelings department, just like every other walking tin can, but there was something more to him that gave him the aura of humanity.

And that, in the Doctor's eyes, was wrong.

The girl named Kura was leading the small group, she never turned around but was clearly wary of her surroundings, becoming tense at any sound made, though most of the time the Doctor had heard nothing; in her hands she now held a retractable bow staff that had been attached to her back when the Time Lord had first collided with the pair, it was made from different types of metal and had obviously been hastily repaired on several occasions. On one end there was an amber stone, lighting their way and illuminating her tired, strained features.

She appeared to be quite the survivor, geared for any kind of battle, the Doctor frowned just thinking about it; it wasn't that he disapproved, after all he owed his life to the girl, it was just... she didn't look very old, no older than twenty surely, and yet simply from her behaviour, he knew that she was no stranger to warfare. He sighed, thinking of the many innocent people forced to fight to survive in the Universe, all of them still children and all of them suffering; at least this time, in this case, it hadn't been his doing.

His hearts sank as he remembered the words Donna had spoken to him the time they'd faced the Sontaran, when he'd discovered to what extent he had changed the life of Martha Jones.

"Is that what you did to her? Turned her into a soldier?"

The Doctor shivered.

The tunnel stretched on for miles and the trio never stopped until finally, they came to a large silver airlock that barred their way; Kura leant forward and placed her palm onto a silver plate on the wall where an indentation of a hand had been made, there was a whirring of machinery and then a small click as the computer registered her hand print, the door opened partially like a great set of teeth. The Doctor had expected it to open further, but the rusting that was visible on the mechanism apparently made that quite impossible; cautiously, they clambered into the room before the great metal doors slammed shut again, the Time Lord almost trapping his coat in the process.

Kura smirked, hiding it behind her hand when the stranger scowled at her; he was a bizarre man, with a strange little spaceship... still, it was nice to see a new face, and one so handsome too. With such great hair!

But even as these thoughts formed in her mind she regretted them as she saw Zak's head turn quickly to face her, almost as though he'd just heard what she'd been thinking; the Cyberman raised his hand towards the alien man, fist clenched and he moved towards him in a threatening manner.

Not again, Kura wished she could keep a lid on her thoughts.

"Zak, don't do that! Stop it!"

The Cyberman ignored her, the Doctor had flattened himself against the airlock, eyeing the fist cautiously; strangely enough, it almost seemed as though he'd expected this behaviour, he wasn't nervous at all. Did he know that one single touch and Zak could fry the guy with 10,000 volts?

"Zak!" Kura's voice was stern, "Treat our guests politely! What must he think?"

Zak's mouth flashed blue as he spoke to the Doctor; "State your name." It was a command the Time Lord didn't feel like disobeying.

"The Doctor."

"Invalid... State your name."

Oh he hadn't seen that one coming... "The Doctor!"

"Illogical," barked the Cyberman, did it sound agitated? "A Doctor is a title for a profession, not a name."

"Ah, but I'm The Doctor, not A Doctor..."

"Oh stop it, both of you!" Kura's brow furrowed in frustration, "we'll be here all lunar cycle if you carry on like this. It's obvious that he's not an enemy, Zak, he's made of flesh..." Much to the Doctor's distaste, Kura leant forwards and rapped her fist against his forehead. "See? Bone and flesh and brain matter..."

"Damaged brain matter," mumbled the Time Lord bitterly, but Kura and Zak ignored the remark; the Cyberman was looking intently into the girl's eyes... at least it looked like he was. His fist was still inches away from the Doctor who felt like he needed to say something, anything, to survive a little longer; "look, trust me, I know it sounds like an odd name, but that's who I am."

His expression was so genuine that Kura felt as though she'd melt on the spot, something that was unlikely to happen to Zak, the Cyberman wasn't exactly a fluffy character; then again, she couldn't complain, Zak was being objective... sort of. He was ensuring the survival of her people and her father would never forgive her if she endangered the lives of the few remaining members of her team just for the sake of a pair of brown eyes and a fabulous haircut; she looked up at the Cyberman and placed a hand tenderly on his outstretched arm, it was cool under her warm skin but the pair took comfort from the contact made.

"Just scan him, Zak," she whispered.

Zak nodded, retracted his arm and opened the logo on his chest once again; the thin blue streak of light ran up and down the startled Doctor who felt incredibly vulnerable and out of the loop – it was something he didn't feel very often, and he didn't like it. Scan him for what?

Kura seemed to sense what the Doctor was thinking and she turned to explain, "Zak can be very protective, and regardless of whether I believe you or not, I'm not really a match against this hunk of metal." She casually tapped Zak's shoulder, "he won't let you go any further into this base until he's scanned to check if what you say is genuine. I uploaded all the data I possibly could into his memory banks on species throughout the universe, he'll compare your physical structure with those he knows and produce his estimation of whether you intend to harm us or not..."

He must have looked hurt because Kura blushed, "sorry," she said. "It's incredibly rude, I know, but I've never been able to install manners into his system..."

Still, it wasn't just that that bothered the Doctor, the chances of Kura knowing anything about his species were very slim, they may have been the stuff of legends once, but now they were lost, the Universe had continued without them; what would happen when Zak came up with no answer? He didn't consider himself to be much of a match against the metal entity either...

The Cyberman finished the scanning process, the cavity in his chest sealed itself up and he stood motionless, as though trying to process what he'd just discovered; Kura was looking up at him, he turned to face her again and the pair locked their gaze. It was as though they were communicating...

... that just wasn't possible.

Was it?

The Doctor didn't know what to believe anymore.

There was a sharp intake of breath, "You're that Doctor!?!"

Kura was staring at him, wide-eyed, open mouthed. The Time Lord must have spaced out; he couldn't remember the Cyberman ever telling the girl the results of his findings, or hadn't it needed to? His brow furrowed and he let out a short, exasperated sigh; "I've already told you, it's The Doctor; not That Doctor!"

"But you're... you're a Time Lord! You're the last Time Lord! You're That Doctor, you're The Doctor!"

Now it was the Doctor's turn to stare wide-eyed, she knew about him? How was that possible?

"You're the stuff of legends, Doctor! You were considered a god amongst men! You walked on the surface of the Earth throughout its history." She paused, tying to find an example, something to back up the claim. "Lucius Caecilius Iucundus!" she stated triumphantly, "... the man whose family you saved from the fires of Pompeii, ... and Madame de Pompadour, you were the man who fell through the mirror... and Shakespeare, of course... Love Labour's Won – the play he never wrote!"

Kura could have gone on for a lot longer it seemed, the more she spoke about his adventures the more excited she became; but she must have seen the fear and confusion written on the Doctor's face because she cut herself short and blushed furiously. Zak had crossed his arms – a hilarious thing for a Cyberman to do, noted the Time Lord – but whether it was out of frustration or amazement, it was too hard to tell; besides, the Doctor had more important matters to discuss.

"How do you know about me!?"

The girl's cheeks reddened further, "... I – I just do. I'm into the history of the Earth, and mythology, I researched a lot, old text books from the planet, data files, TORCHWOOD records. Of course, most people would overlook you, you're just mentioned in passing in most history books, but I was intrigued. I realised that you weren't just involved in one period of history, you were everywhere, there were sightings and images and records about you during so many historical moments that it just wasn't possible to be a coincidence; so I did a lot of digging - research is something I am particularly good at – and I discovered the TORCHWOOD files, they practically told me everything about you."

"Then return the favour."

The girl blinked, surprised by the Doctor's sudden change in mood, from shock to bitterness; "what do you mean?"

"You discovered what you wanted to, I'm a Time Lord, not a threat, not an enemy; now you will tell me what I want to know, I want to know what you are, if you are an enemy..."

The Cyberman stiffened, ready to protect Kura from the increasingly hostile Doctor.

"Why would we be your enemy?"

"Like you said, I've been everywhere. I don't suppose you came across the files about a certain event... the Battle of Canary Wharf, perhaps?" As he spoke, the Time Lord's eyes rested on the silver being in front of him, the resentment quite apparent in his chocolate eyes.

Kura's cheeks whitened instantly, the blood drained from her face as she registered why the Doctor had been particularly uncomfortable around the Cyberman, why he had not been surprised when Zak had threatened him and why it had been a surprise when he had come to his aid. To the Doctor, Cybermen had been... and perhaps still would be, the enemy.

"Oh..."

"Yes, it is 'oh'. Now I want answers Kura Desporena Atropos and it's time that I was rewarded with some."

Zak was clearly struggling to hold back from physically attacking the Doctor, he wasn't exactly fuming but the fixed expression on his face was suddenly much more intimidating than it had been; still, the Doctor didn't care, he figured that their sudden discovery of who he was, was holding the tin can back. Kura placed a hand on Zak's shoulder firmly, her face a mixture of shame and determination; the two looked at each other again, and after a moment the Cyberman nodded, he turned and marched to the other side of the circular room where a second airlock was positioned, it was the only thing in the entire chamber apart from the three life forms. Zak punched in a code on the keypad and it shot open revealing a secondary tunnel, one well lit and maintained. Kura offered her hand to the Doctor timidly.

"Where are you taking me now? I'm going to get sick of tunnels."

"I'm taking you to my father, you're right, it is only fair that you know who we are but I am not the right person to tell you..."

"Will he tell me everything?"

"Perhaps. What do you want to know?"

"What planet we're on, why the Cybermen are here, what race you are, why Zak here is apparently on your side..." there was a pause, that cheeky grin of the Doctor's appeared to his face, revealing his white teeth, "... and how you two can communicate without even speaking to one another."

Kura returned his smile with one of her own, "I guess we really do have a lot of explaining to do. Well then, are you coming?" She was still offering her hand to him and this time the Doctor took it without hesitation. Her grin widened even further and she winked, her vibrant blue eyes flashing, "Allons-y," she added before the pair raced into the tunnel, Zak following behind.