Nightmare in Silver- Part 2

I walked up to Porridge who was talking to the Captain on the castle battlements. The Captain held some type of device. "Porridge," I said when I next to them, "Does she know who you are?"

"What do you mean?" Porridge asked.

I rolled my eyes, "Come on. Did you tell her that you are the Emperor? I do have very good eyes, although I cannot take full credit. Angie figured out something was wrong before I did. I just put it together.

"I knew it was you." The Captain said, recognition in her eyes, "I was in the Imperial Guard on Caspertine. Mostly just parades, but I had the honour to guard the old Emperor during the ice picnic."

Porridge gave a small smile, "When the snow bears came and danced for us. That was a day."

"Snow bears?" I asked.

"You don't know them?" Both The Captain and Porridge asked.

I winced, "We're actually not from around here."

"We're a punishment platoon." The Captain started after a few moments of silence, "We can't beat a Cyberman. The Imperium has to know what's happening." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Clara walking toward us.

"Like you said, the communicators are out. The only way you can report this now is to activate the bomb."

"Yes." The Captain said.

Porridge gave the Captain a stern look, "And I forbid you to do that."

"I don't get it. Why would you blow up a whole planet and everybody on it just to get rid of one Cyberman?" Clara asked, finally reaching us.

"We tried other ways, but they only work sometimes, so now we take drastic action. And it works." Porridge said.

"If you find a Cyberman and you can't destroy it immediately, you implode the planet. I was sent here because I didn't follow orders. I can make up for that."

"Put it down. I forbid you." Clara said sternly.

"Yeah. What she said. "

The Captain glared at Porridge,"You ran away. I will do what I was brought up to do. Live for the Empire, fight for the Empire, die for the Empire." The Captain shoves past us. "This is Captain Alice Ferrin, Imperial ID one nine delta one three B. Activate-" The Captain is shot by a Cyberman on the other side of the moat and dies instantly.

"Cyberman! Get down!" Porridge yelled and we all crouched down, hiding. Another military personnel

"The Doctor said to get somewhere easily defensible, but if we just stay in the castle it'll pick us off one by one. We have to take it out." Clara said as we walked fast down the hallway and into a small antechamber stone wall style room.

"Is that an order, ma'am?" Ha-Ha asked, holding the gun that disintegrated Cybermen.

"Yes." Clara said firmly and turned around to the group and nodded.

"Good."

Clara looked at Brains, "You know what to do."

"Pulse to the back of the head. Fry the brain circuit interface." Brains quickly replied, adjusting his glasses.

"It's going to be hard to get in close enough." Clara said.

I stood next to Clara, sandbags circled us stood piled on top of each other about as high as my waist. We were waiting for our plan to fall into place, "We shouldn't have come her with the kids." I said.

Clara turned to me, "Don't you think I don't know that?"

"Well, you didn't in the beginning. Clara, you know that almost every adventure with The Doctor ends up something like this. You never, ever, bring kids into it."

"Oh, you're infuriating!" Clara said, "We're in a life or death situation, why can't we just get along?"

I briefly closed my eyes, "You should know the answer to that, Clara."

We looked down the street as we heard a sound of mettle. The cyberman has killed two of the soldiers, "I've heard about the Cybermen since I was in my cradle. I'm not afraid of you." Ha-Ha yells.

"Now!" Clara yells and Ha-Ha dives out of the way as the Cyberman moves forward and Clara dematerialized it with a long blast from the Anti-Cyber gun

"Hold it right there." Ha Ha says, now up against the sandbags as the recently killed personel stood back up, a blue light flashing behind their left ears.

Clara pointed her gun at them, "What's happening to them? One more step and I fire."

"Don't fire that. A pulse will deactivate them," Ha-Ha says, Two other soldiers do that. "And anyway, it's a waste of charge. We may need it again."

"You don't think that was the only one, then?" Clara asked.

"There definitely is more than one." I said.

Outside the castle, we met up with The Doctor, who was holding a square board in front of him and had cybernetic looking wires on the left side of his face. Angie, Artie and Webley are behind him, stock still with no emotions and blue flashing behind their left ears.

"Argh! Don't shoot, don't shoot, I'm nice." The Doctor said, holding the square board he was carying higher up, in front of his hearts, "Please, don't shoot. Hey, Clara, you haven't let them blow up the planet. Good job."

All the military personnel still alive point their guns at them.

"Did you get the kids? Are they alright? What's going on?" Clara asked, swinging the heavy gun up so it's pointed at The Doctor.

"Er, a bit of a good news, bad news, good news again thing going on. So, good news, I've kidnapped the Cyberplanner and right now I'm sort of in control of this Cyberman."

"Bad news?" I asked and stepped forward cautiously but not enough to be in front of the soldiers.

"Bad news, the Cyberplanner's in my head. And, different bad news, the kids are, well, it's complicated."

Clara raises an eyebrow, "Complicated how?"

"Complicated as in walking coma." He hides behind the board he is holding.

Clara glared at him and went over to Angie and Artie, checking them over, "Please tell me you can wake them up."

"Hope so."

"Other good news?" Clara asked.

"Well, in other good news, there are a few more repaired and reactivated Cybermen on the way, and the Cyberplanner's installing a patch for the gold thing. No, wait, that isn't good news, is it. Er, so, good news, I have a very good chance of winning my chess match." The Doctor said.

I froze and tensed, "What?"

"I'll explain later. In a bit of a hurry." The Doctor said walking part way up the drawbridge, "Get me to a table, and somebody tie me up! Need hands free for chess. And immobilise me, quickly."

Clara and I tied up The Doctor in the throne room and helped watched as The Doctor set up his chess game. "Right, that's good. I won't be able to move, but hands free. Good." The Doctor said.

"You're playing chess with yourself?" Clara asked.

I rolled my eyes, "It's not with himself, it's with the Cyberplanner."

"And winning." The Doctor then tears off the gold ticket from the implants, and acquires a northern accent.

"Actually, he has no better than a twenty five percent chance of winning at this stage in the game. Some very dodgy moves at the beginning. Hello, flesh girl. Fantastic. I'm the Cyberplanner."

"Doctor?" I asked hesitantly.

The Doctor smirked, "Afraid not. I'm working the mouth now. Allons-y. Oh, you should see the state of these neurons. He's had some cowboys in here. Ten complete re-jigs."

"You aren't the Doctor." Clara said, stepping back.

"No, but I know who you are. You're the impossible girl. Oh, he's very interested in you."

Clara folds her arms, "Why am I impossible?"

"He hasn't told you? The sly devil. Oh, dear me. Listen, soon we'll wake. We'll strip you down for spare parts, then build a spaceship and move on."

My eyes widened. "There's more Cybermen."

The Doctor smiled evilly, "They're waking from their tomb right now. You can either die or live on as one of us." The Doctor said. I noticed that The Doctor is writing with his right hand on a notepad which says: Hit me.

"The Doctor will stop you." I spat.

The Cyberplanner-Doctor smirked, "He can't even access the lips." I smacked The Doctor hard across his face. "Argh! Ow! Oh, that hurt. No, stop. Enough, Bit of pain, neural surge. Just what I needed. Thank you."

"Why am I the impossible girl?" Clara asked.

"It's just a thing in my head. I'll explain later."

"Chess game. Stakes?"

"If he wins, I give up my mind and he gets access to all my memories, along with knowledge of time travel. But, if I win, he'll break his promises to get out of my head and then kill us all anyway."

"That's not good." I said.

"No."

"Please tell me you can fix whatever happened to the children." Clara pleaded.

"Children. Yeah. They're fine. I mean, right now their brains are just in standby mode."

Clara glared at him, "That is not fine!"

"Listen, right now they have a much better chance of getting out of this situation alive than you do." The Doctor said in a low tone.

"Which one of you said that?" Clara asked.

The Doctor smiled, "Me. Cyberplanner. Mister Clever. Now, if you don't mind, I have a chess game to finish, and you have to die, pointlessly and very far from home. Toodle-oo." The Doctor said, pushing Clara back with his pointer finger.

Clara and I glanced at each other then left The Doctor to his chess match and climbed up on the castle drawbridge. "Apparently there are more Cybermen on the way." Clara said.

"There's at least a dozen more shots left in the gun before it needs to recharge." Brains responded.

"We might have more than a dozen Cybermen to worry about. What's that cable?" Clara asked, pointing to the silver cable lying on the ground.

Porridge looked at Clara, "Power line for the park."

"What would happen if we unhooked the end, dropped it into the moat and turned it on?" I asked, thinking fast.

Ha-Ha smiled, "Fry anything alive that entered the water."

"Can Cybermen fly?" Clara asked.

Brains shook his head, "No, ma'am."

"First good news of the day. Do it." Clara ordered.

Porridge spoons a soup into a cup for Clara and hands it to her, "There, get that in you. Warm you up." Porridge then started pouring soup into another cup for me.

"Oh, thank you, Porridge." Clara says.

I took the cup Porridge handed me with a nod and a quiet "Thank you."

"Oi, Clara! Amelia!" I heard The Doctor yell.

"We'll see what he wants. Call me if there's any change." Clara said and we walked off.

"Hey! Clara, there you are. Now, quick rundown. What's our weapons strength?" The Doctor asked.

"One big gun, five of those hand-pulser units and a shiny black bomb that implodes the planet." Clara said quickly.

"Clara!" I said, "Don't tell him what we have. Didn't you forget the Cyberplanner is in his head?" I asked her with a frown. Clara had the decency to look down at her feet.

"Yeah. Yeah, that big one. Now, tell me, does it happen possibly to have a remote triggery thing?" Clara takes it from her jacket pocket.

"Clara! Don't you dare!" I shouted at her.

"Brilliant. Pass it here." The Doctor said.

"No."

"Why not?"

"In case you're not you right now. Or even if you are, just in case." Clara said.

"Oh, don't worry. The Cyberplanner's hibernating between moves right now. Shush."

"Clara, don't trust him." I pleaded.

"Prove you're you. Tell me something only the Doctor knows." Clara said, leaning on the table.

"Clara, I suppose I'm the only one who knows how I feel about you right now. How funny you are. So funny. And pretty. And the truth is, I'm starting to like you in a way that is more than just-" The Doctor is cut of by Clara slapping him, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Yes! It's me. That really hurt. How did you know that was him?"

Clara raised her eyebrow, "Because even if that was true, which it is obviously not, I know you well enough to know that you would rather die than say it. Finish your stupid game." CyberDoctor grabs Clara's arm, "Doctor, let go."

"I can't. He's got control of the left arm. Argh, argh, no! No!" The Doctor said. I ran forward as the Cyberplanner took control of The Doctor's hand and grabbed the remote trigger. I grabbed the remote and tugged but The Doctor managed to destroy it.

"Doctor?" I asked.

"He got what he wanted. He destroyed the trigger. My move."

"What do you mean, he got what he wanted?" Clara asked.

The Doctor smirked, "He means, good news, boys and girls. They're here!" He roared.

Clara and I looked at each other and sprinted out of the room to the castle entrance. "One gun, five hand-pulsers and a planet smashing bomb that doesn't work any more." I said.

Brains looked from Clara to me, "Why not?"

Clara shrugged, "Broken trigger unit."

"But you signed for that."

We were now up on the castle battlements, overlooking the pulled up drawbridge. The first Cyberman steps into the moat and gets electrocuted.

"Brilliant." Clara said, smiling.

Then it recovers, "Upgrade in progress."

"Damn. Who's our best shot?" Clara asked.

Ha-Ha responds, "Probably it's me."

"Shoot any of them who make it across. The rest of you, take defensive positions. Porridge?" Clara asked, looking towards him.

"Yes?"

"Keep yourself safe."

The first Cyberman comes through the castle gate, and gets atomised. Then more come through the gate. Ha-Ha keeps on firing. Then the guns makes a clicking sound and Ha-Ha looks up in panic. "I've got no charge left."

Clara picks up a heavy mettle mace. I looked around at all the Cybermen that were pouring through the front gate. "Shit." I muttered, seeing no way out.

Clara swings her mace at a Cyberman who grabs it and yanks it from her as Clara stumbles back in shock. "Please stand by. You will be upgraded. Welcome to the Cyberiad. You will be upgraded. Welcome to the Cyberiad. You will be upgraded." The Cyberman said as we were backed up against a wall. One of the cybermen had one of his hands on my throat. Suddenly the Cybermen slow down and stop.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I moved the cyberman back and together Clara and I ran to The Doctor with Brains and Ha-Ha.

The Doctor sits up with no implants on. "Just taking advantage of the local resources. Ah, hello. Can someone untie me, please?"

Clara crossed her arms. "Do you think I'm pretty?"

The Doctor snorted, "No. You're too short and bossy, and your nose is all funny."

"Good enough. What happened to the Cyberplanner?" Clara asked as she untied him.

"Out of my head and redistributed across three million Cybermen right now, and about to wake them all up, kill us and start constructing a spaceship. We need to destroy this planet before they can get off it."

The Doctor went to the bomb as Porridge stood up, "Okay, it has a fallback voice activation."

"The Captain, but she's dead." Ha-Ha said.

"I think you should ask Porridge." Angie said.

Clara looked at Angie, "Why?"

Angie smirked, "Well, he is the Emperor. I bet he knows the activation codes. Oh, come on. It's obvious. He looks exactly like he does on the coin, and on the waxwork, except they made him a bit taller, but look, am I the only one paying attention to anything around here?"

"You are full of surprises. Porridge?" Clara asked.

Porridge sighed, "She's right."

"So you can save us?" Clara asked.

"We all die in the end. Does it matter how?"

Ha-Ha looked at Porridge, "What do we do?"

"I don't want to be Emperor. If I activate that bomb, it's all over."

"And if you don't, three million Cybermen will spread across the galaxy." The Doctor said, "Isn't that worth dying for?"

"Doctor-"

"Three million Cybermen!" The Doctor said again.

"The bomb, the throne, it's all connected. I just have to say this is Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, called Longstaff the forty first, the Defender of Humanity, Imperator of known space. Activate the Desolator. And it's done." The bomb is now armed, "It'll blow in about eighty seconds. Easily long enough for the Imperial Flagship to locate me from my identification, warp jump into orbit, and transmat us to the State Room."

Suddenly we were in a ornate room with a golden small throne with pyramid looking steps up to it and a gigantic screen that showed the planet we were on. "Oh yeah. Nice ship. Bit big. Not blue enough. Listen, there is a large blue box at coordinates six ultra nineteen P. I need it transmitted up here right away." The Doctor said.

"Right. Did you get that?" The officer nods and works her console. "And that's that. Seventy six, seventy seven, seventy eight, seventy nine-" The planet blows, rocking the Imperial spaceship, "Farewell, Cyberiad. You know, it was good to get away. Good to be a person and not to be lonely, or Emperor of a thousand galaxies with everyone waiting for me to tell them what to do."

"Can't you run away again?" Artie asked, looking at Porridge.

Porridge sighed, "They'll be keeping a close eye on me this time. That's what happens when you're Emperor. Loneliest job in the universe."

"You don't have to be lonely." Clara says.

"I don't." Porridge gets down to one knee, "Amelia, will you marry me?"

I had to blink my eyes a couple of times to be able to be sure that I heard him right, "What?" I asked in a small voice.

"He said-" Artie started.

Angie rolled her eyes, "She heard what he said."

"You're smart and you're beautiful, and I've never met anyone like you before. And being Emperor won't be as hard if you're by my side. And you'd rule a thousand galaxies."

"This sounds like an actual marriage proposal." The Doctor started, "Tricky. Now, if you want my advice-"

"Doctor, not one word. This is between me and the Emperor. Porridge, I don't want to rule a thousand galaxies. Besides, I'm a Time Lady and have an apprenticeship to complete." I said, refusing to look at The Doctor.

"Yeah. Silly of me." Porridge said sadly.

I smiled sadly, "I am really sorry."

"But that's stupid." Angie started, "You could be Queen of the universe. How can you say no to that? When someone asks you if you want to be Queen of the universe, you say yes. You watch. One day, I'll be Queen of the universe."

"Of course, I could have you all executed, which is what a proper Emperor would do." Porridge said and I stiffened.

"You're not actually going to do that, though, are you? Oh, you're. Hey?" The Doctor asked.

"Go on, get out of here, all of you, before I change my mind."

"Thank you for having me. It was very interesting." Artie said, shaking The Doctor's hand.

"My pleasure. Thank you for coming. Now, I've got something for you. It's not from me, it's from the Tardis." The Doctor said, circling the Tardis counsel and held up a new phone, "Ah. New phone."

Angie smiled, "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Sorry I said this box was stupid." Angie said.

"Bye."

"Bye Doctor, Lia. Thanks, Clara." Angie said.

Artie hugged me and said "Thanks." then ran after her sister, "Thanks, Clara's boyfriend." Then he left.

Clara turned and looked at The Doctor, "Thank you, Doctor."

"For what?"

"Kid's day out. Getting us off the planet alive. Whatever you were doing with the Cybermen. Good night. See you next Wednesday." Clara said I nodded towards Clara and she nodded back. Well, that was an improvement I started walking to the corridor that I knew held my room.

"Well, a Wednesday, definitely. Next Wednesday, last Wednesday-" Clara leaves, closing the door behind her. "One of the Wednesdays. Impossible girl. A mystery wrapped in an enigma squeezed into a skirt that's just a little bit too tight. Oh yeah. What are you?" I heard The Doctor say before I walked out of hearing range.

I walked into the console room the next morning to see The Doctor already at work, "Doctor." I said.

"Hmm." The Doctor replied without even turning around.

"I would like to go home."