Irving stood and straightened his shirtsleeves as he watched his study transform around him. Furniture and sculptures and wood panelling all rolled back, flipping away into a gleaming white room, walls lined by a pattern of interlocking circular roundels.
Finally, a pillar emerged from the floor in the centre of the new room, revealing itself to be the hexagonal console, clean and pristine. Braxiatel ran his fingers over it gently, feeling the warm hum of life in the circuitry. He didn't like what he was about to do to her. But needs must.
"Tracking Bernice's artron energy signature with a possible piece of the Seal right nearby. There's going to be a lot of interference, dear. At best we'll be able to land in the right spot, and we certainly can't step backwards for more time."
The ship thrummed softly in response. He shook his head.
"I know, I know. I don't like it either, especially considering last time there was something like this," he reassured it, soothing hands on the console as if calming a dear friend. "But it is urgent. Just let me."
It whined again, and finally seemed to get comfortable- well, as comfortable as a sentient ship could.
Irving idly punched on some of the programming keys, clicking away with them as he stared right at the console monitor. "Let's start with her time ring, shall we? My own signature should be leftover in the repair work..." he muttered to himself. But Brax only shook his head again in response. "No, no. If they have any of the Seal in addition to Cybermen, they'd know to confiscate it."
The ship seemed to sigh.
He ran a hand down his face. "Alright, alright. No dilly-dallying. We can start there."
Irving tapped one final key, and the TARDIS took flight. Quiet but audible screeches of the engines were complimented by the rising and falling off the time rotor.
He continued to check the monitor, being sure it could maintain its lock onto the signal, tapping his foot impatiently in the meantime. The flight was already shaky despite his best efforts, but with the instability, he expected no less.
Brax really thought about it. There were many variables to factor in. How much did the Draconian government know? How much of the Draconian government knew? Was this cooperation or coercion? What did they want with the Seal of Time? Were they looking for Benny in particular, or any unfortunate time traveller with the equipment and knowledge to scour the universe for it? Was the treaty intentionally under threat, or was the timing just coincidence? This situation all felt uncannily familiar. He didn't like it. Not one bit.
The unanswered questions burned at him, forming a certain unease. Braxiatel didn't tend to follow gut sensations, but this one was the sinking feeling of being led into a trap.
Irving turned on his heel and went somewhere in storage he knew he'd find it. An antique pistol. He loaded it with gold-tipped bullets, putting it and a spare cartridge in his breast pocket. He didn't care to get his hands dirty, but just in case. Hopefully he was still in practice.
A loud clang reverberated through the body of the ship as the cloister bell tolled, the room shaking around him. Brax ran back into the console room and restabilized what he could, forcing them to land with a heavy thump. He easily kept balance despite the rough landing, and opened the scanner and viewscreen for a glimpse of the scene outside.
A dim closet. No signs of Bernice. His face fell, but that spark of hope of being led straight to her was still glowing faintly. There was the artron signature he'd been tracking, just outside.
Turning to one wall, as a precaution, he pulled the panel away from a roundel, exposing the machinery inside. The ship clearly protested.
He answered her grimly, "In case I don't come back. I'm sorry, dear."
There was a circular hole within the wall, about 3 inches in diameter, with a small amount of a smooth, metal cylinder protruding out. He grabbed hold of the part and pulled it from its socket. The TARDIS whined, almost in pain, as he removed the Time Vector Generator. Without it, the interior and exterior would soon disconnect, not reconnecting again until it was replaced.
He dropped the second object into his far too-small breast pocket that no one other than him should be able to sort through, and without an immediate threat outside, but one imminent inside, he flicked the door switch and stepped out.
His time sense picked up the object almost immediately, a familiar warmth in the emptiness, a tiny fragment of how he felt when she was around. Opening one cabinet, he reached a hand inside, grasping at it. Braxiatel's hand emerged with Bernice's old wedding ring, the texture an inscription of Gallifreyan symbols he could read with his eyes closed and only the delicate touch of his fingers.
Jason Kane.
His jealousy didn't matter now. The only thing was to find her. Brax's fist clenched around the object and he slipped it into his pocket along with the pistol and the TVG. The most obvious thing to follow next would likely be the audible shouting outside. And laser fire. Great. He loved walking through battlefields. Irving shuddered, but slowly exited the closet, creeping forward for a peek. It was only an empty hallway.
He glanced into every unlocked room down the narrow stretch, seeing what was undeniably inactive cyber technology in the various other closets that the hall contained. However, the door at the very end was already slightly ajar, a sound of whimpering escaping it, a distinct figure casting a shadow from the light inside.
The second that Braxiatel caught sight of her, he was somehow sprinting faster than he could think, bolting down the corridor at speeds he never knew he could run, flinging himself into the room where she waited. And as soon as he reached her side, he pulled Bernice into a tight, loving embrace.
"Benny..."
She didn't hug back, just frozen there, in his arms, eyes wide and staring off into the distance. The gun she still had at her side slowly slipped from her hand and tears welled up in her eyes, streaming down her face. She didn't speak, she didn't move at all. Benny didn't even seem to quite know where she was, not if it was safe, or dangerous, just that she couldn't leave it.
Irving realized quickly that something was wrong. Bernice should be reacting to this somehow. But she wasn't, and that instantly flipped a switch in his behaviour, from simply worry to something far deeper. He pulled away from the hug, still holding her tightly by the shoulders, when he saw it.
And when he did, he lost composure and she wasn't the only one crying, a tear escaping the corner of his eye. Every surgical wound, every cybernetic, every horrible mutilation to her form. It was all his fault. He couldn't find the words.
"Oh, Benny-"
Her expression was grim.
"I know, Brax. I know."
She seemed to get a stronger grip on her humanity, but the partly-functional implants grafted into her vocal cords didn't show it, only giving her voice a mechanical hum and slight monotone.
He was here. Too late, but he was here. But there also lied the problem. Complicated feelings bubbled up to the surface and she pulled away from him, picking up her gun from the floor and gazing at him sternly, "Brax, this is a trap. For you."
Mind back to the problem at hand and seeing what stood before him, his hearts turned to ice, his eyes sharp and terrifying. He hated himself for walking straight into it, but did he have any other choice?
She pointed towards the other end of the room, in the vague direction that the shouting and shooting was coming from. "The Doctor's through the door over there, down a bit. Your actual brother, not my alternate one. And Jason, obviously. They're luckier than me. I'm in here because since we couldn't find an exit anywhere, this seemed safer, and I... They said I needed a break," she muttered, looking exhausted and slightly bitter.
Great. The Doctor was here. Causing trouble and getting himself in mortal danger again? Typical. He rolled his eyes at the mention of her two companions, but didn't say anything, only asking Bernice a question. "Could you tell me more of what happened?"
Benny nodded, telling him everything she could, and he listened carefully, "I was about to. So, ambassador Kothar. He's a traitor, wants to take over the empire. Collaborating with Cybermen to do it. And they want the Collection, your ship, and our knowledge of the Seal. That's why they... did this," she looked over herself with fear and disgust at what they'd made her. "The Doctor I guess was a bonus... while they had him captured, anyway," she added offhandedly.
"Is there anything I can do?"
She shrugged far too nonchalantly for someone in this situation. "Dunno. As long as you didn't use the Mim to start a war. He wants that for the political instability and to get rid of them."
There was a pause.
"Well- erm..."
His eyes wandered away awkwardly, and Bernice put a hand to her face in exasperation.
"You already did, didn't you?"
He held up a defensive hand, "Not quite. They've got ships coming to the Collection to form a protective barrier. And they're only aware of Cybermen so far. But... they can't be in Draconian space for long, otherwise there will be a conflict."
She swore under her breath, fist clenching to stave off the pain and keep herself conscious. "Cruk. We're in trouble. And I don't think I'll be able to help you much longer."
"What do you mean?" Irving looked down with continued concern at the state of her. There was a lot wrong, but he needed to know what.
She groaned, grasping at her head at being reminded of the pain. The closer he looked, the more ragged she appeared. "Cyber nanite conditioning. I'm fighting it, but fuck, it hurts like hell and I'm getting tired. Losing control of my emotions. Too strong, too weak, sudden switches. It's making me dangerous. I'll be gone soon, I think."
Brax put a tender hand to her cheek. She was just so cold. He was terrified now. Not all Cybermen used internal conversion. That was difficult to stop. But regardless, Braxiatel was determined to right everything- and had an idea.
"I may be able to help. I know this is a tender subject, but if you would let me in your mind I may be able to share that burden with you and grant some of my mental faculties to keep your emotions," he hesitated, not taking the next part lightly. It was a dangerous game and if she thought too hard about his life, inevitably secrets and nightmares he intended never to tell a living soul about would spill out. "...But we'd need to go farther than we've ever done before. Full contact. Complete mental fusion into a single mind, until you're rid of them. It is highly difficult, but I do know how."
She wasn't sure now, not only letting something else into her thoughts, but temporarily becoming something else, it was another continued violation to her personhood. Nor did she want more detailed of a look into his head than she'd already gotten. But if it was her only chance, she'd take it. And she did trust him enough not to look at what she didn't want him to, at least. As soon as this was over though, she wanted to be cut off from anything at all being in her brain.
"Do it then."
Irving nodded.
He placed his fingers to her temples and closed his eyes, concentrating hard. Braxiatel was immediately hit by the virus ravaging her mind and her inner struggle, but didn't flinch at the torturous clawing and ripping. He knew that sensation all too well, it hardly phased him anymore.
Benny, meanwhile, felt a warm presence approaching inside her thoughts, walking among the sharp knives trying to slice through her now paper-thin barriers. Reluctantly, she let it past her walls.
She saw not his usual form, but a glowing soul, an essence of Braxiatel, seeming to float there, waiting. Instinctively knowing what to do, Benny took a breath and her own essence emerged from deep in her chest, spinning into a dance with the other. And when the two consciousnesses finally met, they began to become one.
'This is weird. There's seeing stuff and there's fusing minds.' she thought, not realizing she wasn't speaking out loud to him until there was no strain on her throat or metallic twang to her voice, it was just slightly muffled and dreamlike.
He felt confusion mix with understanding, responding to the comment in smooth psychic tones, 'I know, it is a bit strange. I've never done this with a human before.'
'Never?'
'Never.'
Even questions were answered in unison with when they were asked. It was totally unlike anything else. But a stray thought of Irving's reached the yet-unmelded part of Bernice.
'You had no idea this would even work!'
'Nanites consuming one of our brains or a skilled telepath with a minor risk of sending that body into a coma. No use in fighting now, we're almost completely each other.'
She felt his own fight inside, but also easily strong enough to best it. He felt her slow loss of mental function but now-superior physical strength. They could see through each other's eyes, feel each other's pain, sorrow, and rage. But together, the burden was indeed lessened and Bernice's senses grew more clear, her personality mixed with his, but also no longer numbed by the flood of metal parasites.
They stood still there for several seconds while they processed everything, adjusting to the overwhelmingly powerful sensations of having two sets of eyes getting different pictures, the disjointedness of standing and walking with four legs. Their eyes both widened in realization when they remembered exactly what was missing.
'Shit- the Doctor! Jason!'
They both bolted out from the room into the hall, seeming to even move in the same way- hands clasped together to get a semblance of rigidity. Two figures were waiting outside, one hunched over by the wall and one standing guard, green light flashing from their weapon every few seconds.
"Theta!" they both called, only to be met with two confused stares. Mutually clearing their throats, they corrected themselves. "Doctor, I mean. ...And Jason."
The expressions of the two men were no less puzzled.
Finally, Jason spoke.
"What the hell?"
"What have you two been doing?" the Doctor lisped as well, though somewhat distracted and impeded by the wires he was holding in place with his teeth.
The combined being tried to explain, "Well, to fight the nanites, I connected to me... no. Irving connected himself to Benny. And I'm- we're... a telepathic composite, with their bodies."
The Doctor did a double take, "Who are you and what have you done with Brax? Letting someone inside your head even in the direst emergency? That's new."
He had reasons for that, and they didn't feel like bringing that up, so they both threw the Time Lord a rude gesture, "Oh, sod off, Theta. I just told you what I crukking am."
Jason cringed. "I am never getting used to that. Body-swapping, possession, all that weird stuff is bad enough. But this? Freaky."
At their behaviour, the Doctor nodded, "Well, both of them are definitely in there. Never could do that trick. Show off way to help her, though I can't say I'm not impressed."
"Thank you, Doctor. It was simple, really," they boasted dishonestly. "We definitely helped me. I helped us. Oh, for the goddess' sake..."
The drawbacks to this were certainly growing more evident.
"Alright, Benny. Could you get shooting again?" Jason asked.
"Yes," the pair answered.
"I said Benny. Just Benny."
"Too bad."
"...Then one of you?"
"I'll try," they said, their movements now slightly out of sync.
"Great," he muttered.
"You try being in two bodies at once! Eight limbs, extra senses- it's a bloody lot of mental exertion to make them perform different tasks, you know, ex-husband."
The strangely mixed way of speaking was only matched by the way their voices harmonized. And Braxiatel calling him ex-husband. The thought made Jason shudder. It was more than a little unsettling. Not moreso than the components grafted into Benny's body, but still incredibly uncanny.
Giving in to that distraction got Jason shot again, this time in the shoulder of his other arm. He groaned and lost hold of his weapon, letting it clatter to the floor. They bent over and Braxiatel's hand gripped it tightly. The pistol wouldn't pierce a Draconian's hide- until it was only Cybermen, they'd have to use this.
Benny and Brax called over to the Doctor as they themselves began to shoot. "Any progress on the systems?"
He shook his head. "Not much luck. We need to go to the conversion machine. Or at least the breaker room to shut off the power."
"Great. We've been here in a corner for ten crukking minutes and nothing- oww..." Jason groaned, shot again. He couldn't take many more, and fled from being out in the open. Were they deliberately not defending him?
"Escape isn't looking easy right now either, is it?"
"How do you think I got here so quickly and accurately? A teleporter? We've got a TARDIS."
The Doctor's eyes lit up. "That's brilliant!"
They shrugged, just barely, "And I found Benny's time ring. But also Brax's TARDIS might y'know... have possibly shown up on detectors and be guarded now. But they can't use it without the TVG, I took it out. In the event Irving couldn't return, he planned to give her the ring so she could escape." They did not plan to elaborate 'without Jason.'
"Why not use the ring now then?" Jason asked, still grasping his burnt arm.
The Doctor shook his head, "Unfortunately, the answer to that's quite clear, isn't it?"
They didn't look back, focus falling to their aim once more, "Yeah, that plan's buggered. It would break the bond violently and possibly kill Bernice, or at least leave her significantly more vulnerable to the nanites than before. I'd rather not bloody do that."
That was one more idea dashed.
Having adjusted to the strange perspective of two sights, those shared skills with a weapon came through. Despite their outward appearances, their powerful synchronized stances and perfect shot after shot made it clear that they had both been soldiers once upon a time. That in itself was almost disturbing to watch, their faces lined with determination, now pushing forward despite being outnumbered as if it were nothing.
"Come on, Doctor. ...And Jason. As much as I'd like to leave you here."
The Doctor brushed himself off before getting up, and Jason just rolled his eyes at the comment, stumbling forward to follow. The group formed into a tight bunch, Braxiatel and Bernice each on one side to watch out and protect each flank. There were fewer coming now, but now they had to watch not to trip over the numerous bodies of unconscious Draconians and now-dead Cybermen as they moved through the warehouse.
Which they were slowly realizing, were not in fact actually dead.
Bernice and Irving both froze, rooted in place when something tightly grasped her ankle. It was still difficult to do more than one thing with the different bodies at a time, especially if it meant they got farther apart, so the hold affected his too. They looked down to see a Cyberman, slowly pushing itself up, gripping Benny's leg like a vice.
Unfortunately, this positioning meant both the Doctor and Jason were unflatteringly sandwiched between the others. Not much could be done here.
As more started getting back up, the pair concentrated enough to shoot them back down- but only briefly.
After stamping the hand away, the bound pair ordered...
"Run."
Nobody protested. The group picked up speed, and Jason struggled to point in the direction of the main conversion room.
"That way!"
They followed his lead without a word.
However, the Bernice-Braxiatel being couldn't help but be distracted, falling into its thoughts. Their combined knowledge meant pieces were finally lining up and falling into place- however the spikes of adrenaline had been keeping them from actually having the time and clarity to put everything together.
How did Cybermen or Draconians even come across a piece of the Seal to lure them if they themselves clearly didn't have the technology to track it? Along with the number of strange coincidences here, seemingly growing more suspicious by the second. There was something even greater here. To think that this planet might just be one tiny part of the whole. A scheme, spanning god knew how much of space, specifically aimed at a select few.
They needed to get the piece of the Seal, and get the hell out of here. Fast. Then destroy everything here.
They continued to run, hundreds of feet through the warehouse section. It was hard for everyone to keep up, the fatigue and exhaustion we're both setting in.
But they kept going anyway. The stream of Cybermen grew, and it became harder and harder to shoot them down.
Just as it seemed like they wouldn't be able to make it, they saw it. A huge machine, conveyor belt feeding people in, followed by the familiar screams of terror and agony.
But something stopped them in their tracks.
Right behind them, cold hands grasped onto their backs, grabbing, reaching out to pull them away. They were too strong, the group unable to struggle free this time.
Benny and Brax were quick to lose their guns.
One Cyberman stepped around the captives to face them. Black paint marked the handles on its head to display its rank. None other than the resident Cyber Leader himself. If Cybermen could experience emotion, this one would've been more than a little miffed at being forced to leave its main post.
"Your insolence has been nothing but a brief disruption. It was all in vain. You will not escape."
The Doctor sucked in air through his teeth, "Yes, yes, the monologue. If you're going to kill us, why haven't you done it already? I know you like trying to kill me, but you held me hostage for two days."
Of course, it had an answer.
"You are necessary, Doctor. As are Bernice Summerfield and Irving Braxiatel," it paused, looking over to Jason, "He is not. His condition and lack of usefulness deems that he shall be eliminated."
A look of panic and fear shot through the pair. They begged.
"No, no, no! Not Jason. Not this time- I'll- I'll do whatever you want."
"You will finish your conversion, Bernice Summerfield. Irving Braxiatel will incite the war," it ordered.
They struggled- against the bonds and against the more harshly distinct parts of themself.
"Fine- no! Goddess..."
It was like this choice was forcing an error. The two sides seemed to separate briefly as Bernice vehemently denied Braxiatel's stance of her being the most important person here or that the war should happen over one man she hardly even loved anymore. But that one man- they breathed deeply, becoming at one again.
"You will follow orders. You will surrender. You will be like us," it stated.
The composite being couldn't help but look into the face of the metal monster. All that they saw were a pair of soulless, empty black eye sockets. Then the light hit it just right, and they caught faces reflected in it. The Doctor, Brax, Wulf, Benny, Jason, all flashed before their eyes. Their nightmares were coming to life. That did it.
Determination overtook them.
"I won't. I'll never be like you. And you know why?"
Braxiatel's arm seemed to gain the strength to fight what held it just long enough to reach inside his pocket, and-
Bang.
As the bullet hit, the Cyber Leader collapsed to the ground, a golden venom biting into its chest and quickly leeching away its life.
That gave them some time. The subordinates were distracted and no longer receiving updated orders, leaving them still as statues until something new could come through. And considering what they tried to make Bernice into, technically she might be able to outrank them.
Letting the nanites connect in Benny's brain ever-so-briefly, her voice, amplified by the chip in her voice box, whined the orders, "Stand down. Do not move."
And somehow, they did.
Again, they ran.
The Doctor reached the machine first, pulling at various levers, first to stop the conveyor and disable the hypnotic signal, then getting to work on the settings so it could be shut down safely and destroyed.
The humans in line seemed to start shaking off the conditioning, slowly. They blinked and looked around in their confusion, lost and scared, running away when they heard the screaming in the chamber and saw the creatures that had once been their own people.
They ran back down the frozen sidewalks back into the light of day, falling over and trampling each other.
Finally, the Doctor patched a particularly volatile part of the machine straight to its power supply, then proceeded to overload it with maximum charge. It would take them a while for the unlikely alliance to rebuild that, and they certainly wouldn't have the chance to be given a while for anything.
The saboteurs fled.
This factory would soon be no more.
But the pain it caused might never fully heal.