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The Doctor stood motionless, leaning against the banister of the bottomless pit that was the mausoleum. Cybermen marched on behind him, determined only to exit the building and kill on sight. The Nethersphere hung ominously in the air in the middle of the room, occasionally flashing bursts of red light, its Gallifreyan markings shining like holograms. The Doctor buried his head in his hands as he considered the implications of the situation. He couldn't shut down or stop the Cybermen himself, but was there anyone who could help him? He looked at his seemingly cursed wrist device. Recalling Missy's words about the Cybermen being told to delete humanity in one hour, the Doctor estimated that only ten to fifteen minutes had passed since, so he still had time. But time for what?
And then there was a ring. A continuous ringing sound. A sweet, sweet sound in this time. Of course. He'd only given his number to less than a handful of people in the universe - a number that he'd be able to count on one hand. And that person... if they were calling him now, that could only mean one thing. With renewed hope, the Doctor dashed through the throngs of Cybermen, spewing Gallifreyan curses as they slowed his progress. Eventually though, he reached the all-too-familiar flight of stairs that he and Clara had seen when they'd first arrived. Dashing down the stairs, he almost fell over his own feet, but regained his balance at the bottom. His favourite blue box was still where he'd left it, albeit now surrounded by empty cyber-containers. No Cybermen were around either. Upon reaching the Tardis, he grabbed the small side door and reached inside the compartment for the ringing phone. Putting it to his ear, he heard Clara's pleading voice. Well, better than nothing.
"Doctor...!" Clara sobbed as Danny paced the balcony, hands on his head in frustration. The Doctor hushed Clara, trying to make best use of the little time they had. "Danny's... We're all going to turn into Cybermen!" Clara sobbed, her legs giving way as she collapsed, dropping the iPad, which slid under the coffee table.
"Hush, hush - I know. We're going to make the best use of that. you're not going to go to waste." The Doctor grimaced, as he considered what he'd just said. Furrowing his eyebrow and running his unoccupied hand over the temple on the opposite side of the ear he was using for the phone call, he continued. "Look, I don't mean it to sound this way, but we need to use your imminent Cyberman...ness... to do something about this situation, humanity's about to-"
"That's how you've always been, Doctor! Ever since your regeneration, you've always only thought of saving those who aren't already dead! You never spare a thought for the dead or dying!" Clara sobbed back, which only served to increase Danny's anxiety. "We're just condemned to you, aren't we?!"
"No, no, wait-" The Doctor groaned, punching the side of the Tardis. Why did humans always have to be so difficult? The Cybermen were currently only occupying the city as far as he knew, but their population could exponentially grow if the dead outnumbered the living. And they were doing a good job of that. The world was essentially at stake, and he and Clara only had forty-five minutes at best to solve the problem. "Listen to me. The Nethersphere is just holding your consciousness. I cannot get you back if you cannot get out of the Nethersphere, as you don't even have a body anymore. I don't know about Danny - maybe he'll be given a new body as well. But the point is, you need to become a Cyberman so that I can save you!"
Clara audibly sobbed, causing Danny to stomp over to Clara and grab the phone off her.
"Listen to me right now! I don't know what you've done to Clara to make her like this, but she's lied to you!" Danny shouted into the microphone. The Doctor raised an eyebrow and paused for a moment of confusion as Danny continued. "She's lied to both of us! She told me she wasn't travelling with you anymore, but she probably told you that I wasn't seeing her either! Considering your dislike of PE teachers - of which by the way, I am a Maths teacher - I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case!" And with that, Danny tossed the phone back to Clara, who barely caught it. He then reached under the coffee table to grab the iPad, and turned it back on. As soon as Clara saw the "DELETE" button flash back into life, she reached over to Danny, pleading him not to press the button. But it was no use. With tears running down his eyes, Danny spoke his last words to her in the Nethersphere. "Clara, I don't want to feel like this. Betrayed." And pressed the button.
Danny's body lit up briefly with a shade of green, then as the light dissipated, so did his body. The iPad clattered uselessly to the floor, beckoning a grief-stricken Clara to also press it. At that thought, the Doctor's voice resonated once more.
"Clara, is that true?" He simply asked. Unable to mutter much more than a simple "Yes.", Clara then turned off the phone as she reached for the DELETE button.
The Doctor, expressionless, hesitated before replacing the Tardis' phone back in its rightful place and closing its compartment. He backed away wordlessly from the Tardis, heading upstairs once more. So Clara had been lying to him all this time. Just how strong was her loves for Danny and time travel that she felt she had to lie to the both of them to continue with how she was? Now Clara and Danny were almost certainly Cybermen, but which ones? His eyes scanned the crowds as he approached the main hallways again, trying to find them. Then another of The Doctor's nightmares emerged. The sound of a helicopter's rotating blades resonated throughout the mausoleum. Immediately, The Doctor ran toward the exit, the sight of a burning city greeting him. The sky was tinted a faint smoky red, and clouds hung low and thick as smoke rose from half-destroyed buildings. However, above this burning city hung a helicopter, flying low. A figure hung outside of the helicopter, a megaphone on hand. At least, The Doctor concluded that it was a megaphone considering that he could hear what they were saying despite their distance.
"Doctor, we are UNIT! I am out of the range of the Cybermen's lasers and electric palms!" The speaker began. "We are sending an armada to help you take on these Cybermen!" Then the figure disappeared into the helicopter, unable to hear the Doctor shouting at them to get away. The Cybermen's attention turned toward the helicopter, and one by one, they began to hover ever-higher. It wasn't something the Doctor had predicted at all - their ability to fly was a new one. Mini jetpacks attached to their steel boots allowed them to jettison themselves toward the helicopter, and consequently, possibly the rest of the world. Realizing the danger they were in, the helicopter's driver banked the vehicle away, barely evading a Cyberman's arm-fired laser. But the second shot was lethal. It wasn't even a shot at all. From below the helicopter, a Cyberman had activated his jet boots to maximum speed and outstretched its arm, punching through the entire helicopter, chassis and all. As the Cyberman emerged from the other side and hovered in mid-air a few meters away with a salute, the helicopter lost control, spinning wildly before crashing into the square in front of St Paul's in a fiery inferno.
With The Doctor watching the blaze, shoulders slumped in defeat, Missy chose this cue to appear via a teleport in a holographic beam of light beside him. Putting away her red device, she giggled, adjusted her laced hat and pointed with her black umbrella at the horizon whereupon a series of black shapes were dominating the red-tinted and cloudy sky.
"Those, my Doctor, are ships of UNIT's fleet. Bombs on board. Ready to send this place to Kingdom Come. But of course, they'll just be sending us to Heaven. You know that, don't you?" She said, pursing her lips. "I know what death feels like, but rather... I hadn't expected your time to be so limited. Ten minutes now at best I think, hmm? They might destroy my wonderful little Nethersphere in the process, but that's a loss I can deal with. I'll just get another one from Gallifrey." She winked. "Is there any chance of using your little Cyberman army to get you out of this mess?"
As The Doctor stared at Missy - The Master - he noticed two Cybermen out of the corner of his eye approaching them, walking clumsily up the stairs. Missy turned her attention to them, so The Doctor did the same. The two Cybermen stopped just paces ahead of The Master and the Doctor, saluting.
"Did you give them an order?" Missy asked. "I must not have heard it."
The Doctor's mouth dried. "No..."