Entering the old television station, the Jabberwockies checked every corner for anything out of the ordinary.
Everything looked virtually untouched since everything happened, but for the Jabberwockies, there's always lingering danger.
Every room they went into, they made sure to block off the windows and whatever else to keep the wildlife at bay while they investigated the building for any signs of either alien species that Paul warned them about.
There's doubt in their eyes about some unseen threat, but Paul remained insistent that there's a reason they needed to check the station.
True to their nature, they had gone through rooms scavenging for what they could find and bring back with them to their encampments.
While there wasn't much in the way of food, the station left behind quite a bit of supplies that could be retrofitted elsewhere for their benefit.
Even something innocuous or mundane had some uses for them and they weren't able to afford to look over anything.
Ranging from printer ink to staples to paper, from the electronics that they can take with them, there was something useful to be had.
Mindful of their steps, the Jabberwockies grabbed every pen or pencil that still worked, while moving around rooms.
Paul and Taylor weren't allowed to move ahead without Lordon so they stayed close to the Jabberwockies while they went through the former offices of the station gathering what they could find.
Quiet as a mouse, the group worked to strip the offices of everything they needed, but thus far there were no signs of either Daleks or Cybermen, some began questioning Paul, regarding him as unfit, even insane.
Frankly, Paul wondered if he was insane as well, there were virtually no signs of either species being in the old television station, there was nothing suggesting that they'd ever stepped a foot on the planet.
He was about to admit he was wrong, he jumped the gun, take the disapproving looks from the Jabberwockies as Lordon chewed him out for wasting their time and resources, when he noticed something amiss.
"Grace?" Paul silently called out to her in his mind, but she didn't respond.
She wasn't in any of the offices with the other Jabberwockies and it wasn't like her to not tell him where she was going.
He calls out to her, but she didn't respond, and as he tried reaching out to her, he felt a jolt run up his spine when one of the Jabberwockies let out a haggard scream.
And a monotonous voice.
Running into the office with fear in his eyes, Mack tried not to scream as he warned the others that he saw something down the hall.
Pulling him behind, Paul could hear the monotonous voice coming closer.
Wielding their weapons, the Jabberwockies prepared to fight whatever was coming towards them as Paul attempts to warn Taylor, but it was though something was keeping him from speaking to her.
Thudding noises came closer and a menacing steel body was in the opened doorway with glow blue orbs where eyes would be and when it spoke, blue illuminated the cutout where the mouth would've been.
"Halt!" the monotonous Cyberman called out to them, causing Paul to tilt his head in confusion as the Jabberwockies struggled to come up with a way to defeat the Cyberman without alerting the wildlife.
Clearing his throat, Paul spoke out to the Cyberman, demanding to know why it was here, and it informed him that this was a holding, no one should have come here.
"You are trespassing!" The Cyberman accuses them all of trespassing in the Cyberman's holding.
Trembling at the sight, the Jabberwockies didn't know what to do and looked towards Lordon for guidance, and he made a call that they had no choice but rely on Paul, else they risked more unwanted attention.
Shaking his head, Paul asserts, "It was you who trespassed! This was their home and your actions have caused considerable damages!"
Dully the Cyberman informed him that it was for the greater good, creating interest in Paul as he wanted to know more why the Cybermen came to the planet all those years ago.
"This is our holding. You are not authroised to be here!" the Cyberman accuses them.
Turning his head, Lordon demanded Paul explain this, but Paul didn't know what to say.
"Why come here of all places, a planet that's already inhabited?" Paul questions the Cyberman as he attempted to buy them time while learning more what was happening.
The Cyberman responded in its monotonous voice, "We needed a location for our holding."
Not very descriptive, this one.
"Were you planning on turning them into more of you?" Paul accused the Cyberman.
Unusually, the Cyberman responded that it and the others didn't have any need for the natives, they were only concerned with their holding.
"For what?" Paul heard one of the frightened Jabberwockies demanded to know what was special about the holding that led the Cybermen to the planet and enshrouded it in eternal darkness.
There was pragmatic in the Cyberman's electric tone as it responds with, "Invalid."
Seems that the Cyberman has a block on it preventing them from knowing what the holding was other than it was important to the Cybermen that they kept it hidden for years.
Chewing on his bottom lip, Paul bargained with the Cyberman.
"They made a mistake. An honest mistake. It was because of me they came here. Let them go," Paul gestures as he wanted the Cyberman to let Lordon and the Jabberwockies leave the old television station.
The Cyberman dully asks, "What will they do?"
Since they're aware that there's Cybermen in the old television station, they'll surely come back, but Paul stresses that the Jabberwockies were only trying to survive in the mess caused by the Cyberman.
If it let them go, they won't come back, they would be more than afraid of the Cybermen, they don't have the means to defend themselves against the steel terrors.
"If there's anyone who should leave: it would be you," Paul points at the Cyberman as he said that it was because of the Cybermen that the Jabberwockies were in this situation.
The Cyberman, having lost every bit of its humanity, dully responds, "Our holding demands it."
The holding the Cyberman insisted required the darkness, causing Paul to question why the Cybermen chose to come to this planet in the first place.
"Invalid," it only said.
Of course!
Demanding the Jabberwockies be released, Paul could tell that the Cyberman communicated silently to its brethren.
It hadn't identified him as the Doctor, yet guess this was a cabal that he and Taylor managed to avoid.
Paul hated having to do this, but he didn't have much choice, and it was the only way to know what was going on as he interrupted the silent communication with the Cyberman's brethren to inform it that it was looking at the Doctor.
If the Cyberman and its cabal allowed it, he would willingly go with the Cyberman in exchange for the Jabberwockies.
"They have no means to defend themselves, you are in no danger. With me, however, your brethren can tell you the stories of our battles," Paul gestures as he was forced to tell the Cyberman that he was the Doctor and he was much more dangerous than a rag-tag group trying to survive.
Underlying threat that he will be worse if the Cybermen attempted harm against the Jabberwockies and the natives, Paul could see the Cyberman silently communicating with its brethren.
"The Doctor?" the Cyberman echoed.
Nodding, his chestnut hair stiffly moving, Paul boasts, "Feared and hated, yes."
For good reasons!
"And don't think about using them, either," he was quick to remind the Cyberman of the consequences if it tried using the Jabberwockies and the others as hostages against him.
Something the Cyberman should know well enough.
"They must not invalidate the holding," the Cyberman sums what it's expected of the Jabberwockies.
Nodding, Paul waved his arms as he watched the Jabberwockies flee the office with fear in their eyes.
Lordon hesitated leaving him, but Paul ushered him to lead his team back to their home.
Bowing his head, Lordon fled with his team.
Alone with the Cyberman, Paul asks, "What are you holding that frightens you?"
