This is a reminder that in some serials, especially, for First and Second Doctor ones I'm going to be using some elements of the target books. Just thought you might want to know.
Also, there's going to be a bit of blood in this chapter. Let me know if you think this needs to be tagged.
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It turned out that a neuristor was a tiny bit of circuity about the size of Marion's thumbnail and about as thick as the blade of an Exacto knife. Once she cracked the radio open they were pretty easy to find once you knew what you were looking for. Whoever had put this thing together clearly had never heard of a soldering gun, so it was relatively simple to pry the little piece up and out with the flat head of a screwdriver. The hardest part was making sure that she didn't mess one of the connectors up by accident.
She cracked open the other radio as well and retrieved the neuristor from it. She quickly walked over to the desk where Zoe was carefully putting wires and metal into place and tapped the desk to get her attention.
"I found these two," Marion said quickly. She placed them on the desk. "These are the right pieces, aren't they? The neurotransmitters"
Zoe examined them for a second, and then she nodded.
"Yes. These are neuristors," she put some emphasis on the word "neuristor" and fitted them into place. It was rather simple. Just a thin piece of metal with the necessary circuitry fitted with it. It was basically a half-metal sticker. It reminded Marion of those little sticky metal cards they put in books in bookstores to keep people from shoplifting only a bit bigger and with more wires.
"Right," Marion said with a nod, "neuristor," She turned to Professor Watkins, "Sir, do you know of any other International Electromatic stuff that you've got lying around that you'd be okay with me breaking down to look for more neuristors?"
Before he could answer, the light on the communication radio started to blink and it made that faint humming noise that it always made when someone had activated it on their end but hadn't spoken yet.
The Doctor picked up the radio and the Brigadier began to speak from the other end.
"How is the progress on the depolarisers?"
"Brigadier, they must all be fitted at once. The invasion could come at any moment,"
"Will do. Out,"
The light stopped blinking as the connection ended.
The Doctor quickly shot up from the chair and turned to Zoe.
"Now then, now many have you made, Zoe?"
"Four,"
"Only four?"
"We found two neuristors in Watkin's supply, and Marion found two more in the portable radios, but that's all,"
"What?" the Doctor all but shouted, "There must be some more amongst all this gubbins. Come on, let's have a look," he started frantically looking around the room, "We must protect everyone here at least. Now search, everybody. Come along,"
"Professor," Marion asked, looking around. "What's in here that's built by IE,"
"Just a radio. And a couple of appliances,"
"Where are they!" Marion said quickly, "I-I found neuristors in them,"
"My radio is right there," he pointed to the radio on the lab desk. "And there are some appliances in the kitchen, but those belong to the Travers,"
"I'll just open the radio for now," Marion said, already moving towards it, "I'm sure they'll understand if I have to break apart some appliances though!"
Marion did find a neuristor in the large radio. And between the ones she found and the several neuristors that everyone else was able to scavenge from half-finished prototypes that Watkins had started on, realized they were going nowhere, stopped, and then never got around to breaking down into their spare parts, they had enough that Marion never had to touch a single appliance.
Which was good because while Marion was pretty sure that she could safely break apart say, a mixer, she was pretty sure that trying to do so with say, a microwave might result in something going horribly wrong.
She didn't know how microwaves worked but knew that they involved high levels of radiation and that was simply something that Marion was not willing to screw with. The last thing she needed was for her last words before blacking out and dipping into the "clock zone" for a bit and then waking up to see the room she was in full of rubble to be any variation of "whoops,".
Marion was well aware that she was being a bit dramatic.
Marion also managed to salvage some wires and some metal that Zoe used for some of the later depolarisers.
Altogether, they managed to find enough material for Zoe, the Doctor, and Watkins to make several dozen depolarisers. They set aside seven of the ones that were almost finished, and then called the Brigadier to let him know that the depolarisers were ready and that he should come to get the little circuits for his men. And then the people who knew what they were doing finished up the circuits for the seven of them.
"How much time have we got Marion?" the Doctor asked Marion as soon as the Brigadier had left.
Marion tugged lightly at her hair. "Not much. I don't know for certain. Like, 15-25 minutes maybe? There's enough time for if one of you wanted to change clothes real quick for whatever reason, but I'm afraid that we really don't have as much time as what would be ideal."
'Sorry I can't be more help,'
Marion knew that the writers of Doctor Who likely had no idea that there was even the possibility of someone ending up in the situation that she was currently in, but it would've been nice if someone involved had, perhaps, considered for a moment that perhaps someone would need to know timestamps.
Like, if this was Ace Attorney and every new scene was accompanied by the time and the date, things would be so much easier.
'Who am I kidding,' Marion thought. 'It's not like I'd remember a timestamp anyway,'
"If anyone has anything that they need to do. Like, anything at all. Like, grab a snack, a change of clothes, something? Now would be the time to do so, because you aren't going to get a chance to do so later I'm afraid,"
Zoe ran off to change her clothes and Jamie ran to the kitchen and grabbed himself something.
Marion sat with her legs crossed on one of the chairs trying to listen for when Jimmy and Isobel would be beside the window talking. That was basically the only hint she had.
Marion stretched and put her head on the table. Someone moved to get in the way of the light and she suddenly got that odd feeling one gets when someone is staring at you and has been so for a while.
She turned her head to see who it was. "Oh, hey there Doc," Marion said. The man jumped as if he hadn't expected her to turn. "Need something?"
"Ah, no. I just…," he paused, "How old are you right now?"
"Weird question," Marion replied, "But I'm twenty-three,"
The Doctor made an odd expression.
"Let me guess," Marion said sarcastically, "I'm like suuuper young," she emphasized the word super, "A child. An infant. A literal baby. An actual fetus. Barely more than a zygote,"
She pushed her head off the table and placed her chin in her palm to face him properly.
"Well, I, I wouldn't say all that,"
Marion sighed and put her hands on the table. "It's just that every time I come across you, you keep bringing up that I'm 'young' because apparently you've met and are going to meet versions of me that are a whole lot older than I am now. It's honestly a little bit...But saying that the way I did was a bit uncalled for. Sorry. Why'd you need to know my age,"
"Do you know how long you've been traveling with me?
"From my end?" Marion scrunched her nose, "It's kind of hard to tell, with, you know, all the..." she moved her hand around trying to find a way to describe the constant fluctuation of her timeline "but I'd say like a week?"
An expression flashed on the Doctor's face. One that Marion had begun to recognize as the "I thought you were the friend that I've known for years but I'm now realizing that you've barely shared any of these experiences that I'm remembering you being there for, but you act enough like the person that I've known for a few years that I don't know whether I should treat you like I know you are not and I don't know how to feel from that" expression
"And how long will you be traveling with me?" the Doctor asked instead of voicing that.
"Like, how far in your future,"
The Doctor nodded.
"Ahh...I don't know. You're like, 453 or so right?" The Doctor nodded and Marion continued, "When I first met you, you were...I think 904?" She paused.
It was kinda hard to tell the Doctor's age after a certain point. Mostly because both Seven and Nine claimed to be in their early 900's and between Eight and War, that simply wasn't possible.
"And I don't really know how old the oldest version of you I met was, but sh-" Marion cut herself off before she could say "she" and just kind of hoped that the Doctor would assume that the "shh" sound was her doing one of those verbal buffer things that she did a lot and that got some of the less cool teachers annoyed at her. "I don't know how old you were. At least 2,200 but I've got no idea. But based on something you told me when you were like, 750-something I'm constantly around. Sorry dude," she finger gunned at him "I don't know where you met me the first time, but you're going to be stuck with me for at least the next couple millennia,"
"Oh, dear. I don't know how I will manage," the Doctor's words didn't match his light-hearted smile.
"Oh, you'll find a way I'm certain. Now," she clapped her hands and grabbed one of the completed depolarizers. "Time to put these bad boys on so nothing bad happens yeah,"
"You know, I am quite surprised that you gave me a straight answer as to how far in my future you've been,"
"Hn?" Marion asked. She had been examining one of the patches and the Doctor's comment made her look up. "What why?"
"Well, I've asked you before and you've refused to answer. Always said something about how it wasn't time yet. I'm surprised that you're telling me now,"
"Technically, this is the first time you've asked me. And now I know that I told you now. So, of course, I'm not going to answer you when you're younger. Positive that's like, against Time Law or something. Wouldn't want the Time Cops to come after me or something,"
"Time Cops?" the Doctor sounded amused.
"Yeah," Marion said, "You know, Time Cops. Mess around too much and-,"
Marion then remembered who she was talking to.
Or more specifically, which version of said person she was talking to.
Suddenly, a joke about getting arrested by the Time Cops for meddling with Time didn't like a bit worth doing.
"Oh hey, Zoe!" Marion said as the girl walked back into the lab wearing a sparkly purple jumpsuit from earlier and hoping that the Doctor wouldn't notice the way she'd suddenly changed the subject.
'Thank God!'
"Well, since we're all here, we should probably get these things on the back of our necks right?"
She took one of the depolarizers, pushed up her hair away from her neck, and pressed it in place.
"Did I put it on right?" Marion asked, "I mean, there's not any hair caught under the thing right?"
Zoe looked at the back of her neck. "No, no, I think you've got it on alright!"
"Great," Marion said with a nod, "I'll be right back. I'm going to go pass these around to everyone else cheers!"
With that, she left the lab without another word.
Changing the subject and then quickly leaving the room at the first opportunity. The ideal way to leave a room when you've almost said something that you shouldn't have and want to make sure the conversation is normal in the least awkward possible.
Obviously.
Marion walked down the stairs from the laboratory and found Jamie in the kitchen eating an apple and leaning against the counter. "Marion, have you eaten anything today?" He asked between bites.
Marion caught him glancing at her wrist. Marion's sweater and trenchcoat were covering up the band but Marion was pretty sure that if it could speak, it'd say "Bitch. eat"
"Well, I had breakfast. Why do you ask,"
"Here you are,"
He threw Marion another apple from the dish he's got it from. Marion quickly set the depolarisers on the counter next to her so that her hands were free and just barely managed to catch the apple before it fell to the ground.
"Thanks, Jamie," Marion said, taking a large bite out of the fruit. "Here's the depolariser patch thing," she held it out to him and he took it. He didn't need to be told what to do with it, it simply placed it on his neck and pressed down until it was flush to it.
"Good, good," Marion said. She took another bite of her apple and went to find Isobel and Watkins.
As she walked, she rolled up her sleeves, purposely not looking at the number for sleep, and tapping the food reset button.
An apple counted as eating something. Right?
She found Isobel and Immy in front of the window talking to each other near the front door to the house.
"Do you think Marion and the Doctor could be wrong this time? I mean about the invasion," Jimmy asked.
"Well, they've been right up to now," Isobel responded.
"Speaking of that," Marion said, she held out the two depolariser patches, "you really ought to put this on. The Invasion could happen at any moment.
"It's still hard to believe that something like this could be happening," Jimmy said after carefully putting the patch on the back of his neck.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Why it's just incredible, isn't it? Looking at all that peace out there, it's so difficult to imagine," Nonetheless, she also applied the patch.
Marion had to agree. It was cloudy but in a nice way. The kind of weather where the sun is bright enough for things to not be gloomy, but not so bright that it'd be hard to read on your phone. And it looked peaceful.
Marion finished her apple.
But, Marion was from the American east coast. She'd seen plenty of calm, peaceful looking cloudy days and she'd seen those same days quickly turn into windy, rainy, dark, and loud nights.
Everything got quiet and peaceful before a hurricane because every creature with sense that knew something bad was about to happen and scampered off to wherever it needed to be to get out of the rain.
And speaking of the silence before something bad happening eventually ending, there was suddenly, this piercing noise. It sounded a bit like a plane taking off in the distance while air rushing through a tube. It was loud and grating, and Marion put her hands to her ears but that did nothing to lower the sound. It was like the noise was skipping her ears and going directly into her brain.
"What was that noise?" Isobel said in confusion and wincing slightly.
"The Invasion is-," Marion suddenly felt like she'd been sitting in the back seat of a car with poor circulation for several hours on her phone instead of looking outside. She had to stop talking for a second, feeling like she was seconds from throwing up. She took a deep breath. "The Invasion is happening. That's what that noise is. They're activating the," another wave of nausea, "circuits. Christ!" She turned her back to them and quickly pushed up her hair away from her neck. "Is that patch on alright?"
Isobel looked her over. "Yes. Yes, it's stuck there secure,"
"God if that's what it feels when you're protected, I'd hate to know what it's like to not be wearing a depolariser. I feel like someone's trying to shove a golf ball into my eye socket with my eye sti-,"
"Doctor!"
There was a loud noise from upstairs. A loud THUD.
It had come from the laboratory.
"Oh Professor, get a depolarizer, quickly!" and that came from Zoe.
Marion ran into the laboratory as fast as she could, taking the stairs two steps at a time.
"I heard a thud. What's going-,"
The thud had come from the Doctor apparently.
"What happened?" Marion asked quickly.
"His depolariser fell off," Zoe quickly explained. "That awful noise started and then he seemed dizzy, and then he fell. Something was wrong with the adhesive,"
The Doctor was lying on the floor in such a way that it was clear that he had collapsed and not simply decided to sit down and take a power nap. Marion might've thought he was just sleeping or something if not for the fact that his breathing sounded like he had been running late for an important meeting on the 8th floor of an office building and the elevator was under repair. His eyes were shut tight but they didn't seem to be moving behind his eyelids.
Marion heard the sound of footsteps behind her as Isobel ran into the room as well and Marion quickly got to the floor. She helped Zoe and Isobel push the Doctor on his side so Zoe could reach his neck. She pressed the patch there firmly. The Doctor let out one more difficult sounding breath and then his breathing gradually evened out. It still sounded heavier than what would be ideal, but it was definitely better. His eyes remained closed, however.
Marion put a hand on the Doctor's chest.
His hearts were beating normally and there wasn't that humming noise in his chest she had heard from Four when he'd all but collapsed on her in the Sandminer.
'The bypass didn't need to kick in. Good, at least he's breathing alright. Now, if he could just wake up,'
She pulled her hand away and lightly shook his shoulder.
"Doctor," she lightly shook him again, "Doctor,"
Zoe fully rolled the Doctor onto his back and he still wasn't moving.
"Is he all right?" Isobel asked, concerned.
"His brain works differently than ours Isobel, It wouldn't surprise me if the second he got hit by the Cyberber radar or whatever it's called his brain just said 'no thanks I'm going take a nap wake me up when his nonsense is over' and he just kind of," She gestured to the unconscious Time Lord.
Zoe continued to try to rouse the Doctor and he remained out cold.
"Oh, whatever is that noise?" Isobel yelled.
"It's the Cybermen," Marion replied. "It sounds like the noise is dying down though,"
"Doctor!" Jamie's voice yelled through the hall as the young man moved back to the laboratory and she heard him charging up the stairs.
"Doctor? Hey!" He finally saw the Doctor lying unconscious on the floor and moved to check on him.
"What is it? What's happened?" Isobel asked Captain Turner frantically as he entered the room.
The man seemed shaken. Which made a lot of sense given his report.
"It's the Cybermen. We've just seen hundreds coming out of the sewers,"
"Good thing we've got these depolarisers. Otherwise, things might've gone south in a hurry," Marion commented. She turned to the Doctor and shook him lightly, "Wake up Doc. Come on,"
Zoe took two fingers and put them to the Doctor's neck. Confusion filled her face and she checked again. Then she put her fingers to his wrist. After a moment she took her hand away.
"Something's wrong!"
"What? What's wrong?"
"His breathing's gone back to normal, but he's far too cold. And his heart, it's beating so fast. Something's wrong Marion!"
Marion quickly brought two fingers to the man's neck and placed them where she assumed a pulse point would be. Zoe did have a point about him feeling cool to the touch. She might've agreed with Zoe that he had to be sick only he didn't feel clammy like how a human might feel if their skin was that cold. His pulse was twice as fast as a normal human, but, if you looked at it another way, it was exactly the speed you'd expect of a person with twice as many hearts as a normal human.
"He's fine," Marion said, sighing in relief. after considering that she might've been silent for too long. "I mean, he's unconscious, but once he wakes up, he'll be fine,"
"But Marion," Zoe said confused. "He's,"
"His body is a little different than yours or mine dear," Marion said, "Actually a lot different. Trust me. If his pulse was 'normal' and he didn't feel a little bit cool to the touch that's when I'd freak out, but right now, he's fine. His brain probably just went into defense mode. He's got the depolariser on now so he'll be awake at any moment,"
"C'mon now Doctor," Jamie leaned over the Doctor and shook him lightly. "Doctor, wake up!"
The Doctor groaned and finally opened his eyes.
'Of course, it was Jamie who woke him up,' Marion thought amused.
Jamie and Isobel helped the Doctor to move to a sitting position as his breathing slowly went back to normal.
"Oh, are you all right, Doctor?"
"Oh...Oh my," The Doctor groaned as if Isobel hadn't said anything. The man sounded disoriented and judging from the way he was wincing and putting his fingers to his temples he clearly had a killer headache. Whether that headache was from the psychic attack or from him hitting his head on the floor when he fell was hard to say.
"Doctor!," Jamie said, shaking the other man's arm to get his attention, "The invasion, it's begun,"
"Yes, Jamie, I rather gathered that," the Doctor was clearly a little bit out of it. So Marion's best guess was that he had bumped his head on the way down. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking for the patch. "Is everyone else all right?"
"Yes," "Yes," "Yes," "Yes," "Yes," "We're fine,"
"Oh, what about the Brigadier, and the rest of the men?"
"I'll check," Jimmy raced off to the radio.
"Doctor, are you alright to stand up?"
"C'mon Doc,"
Jamie and Marion moved to either side of the Doctor and each put one of his arms over their shoulders. They stood up carrying the Doctor with them. He still seemed fairly dizzy.
Marion could relate.
Once the Doctor was steady on his feet, they all walked to the radio to listen in on Turner's call.
"Captain Turner calling UNIT Control. Captain Turner calling UNIT Control," There was silence, "Are you receiving me? Over. Are you receiving me? Over,"
Finally, there was a response from the other end.
" UNIT control receiving you. Over,"
"Sergeant, is the Brigadier there?"
"Hold on a moment, sir,"
There was silence for a moment as Walters went to retrieve the Brigadier.
"Here, Jimmy. Are you all right?"
Turner smiled in relief.
"Yes, sir,"
"Well, chaos here. Only half the crew recovered so far,"
The Doctor reached out for the radio and Tuner handed it to him. The man didn't seem as likely to fall over as he had before, but he still sounded out of breath. He loosened the collar of his shirt and spoke.
"Brigadier, what about the rest of the UNIT men?"
"Well, hard to say. Reports still coming in. Look, I'll send transport for you. You'll be safer here with us,"
'I wonder how everyone at St. Lukes is doing,' Marion suddenly thought. 'I hope the Doctor made it back to Bristol,'
"Oh, thank you,"
"Jimmy?"
"Jamie?" the Doctor said looking at the man. Turner leaned over and took the radio receiver from him.
"Yes, sir, I heard,"
"Right. Now stay put. As far as I can gather, the streets are packed with Cybermen. Sergeant Walters will try to get through with a jeep,"
"Right, sir. Over and out," Turner hung up the radio and sighed, "Well, sounds like total success for Vaughn and the Cybermen,"
"Yes," the Doctor said seriously, "We appear to be sitting right in the middle of the hornet's nest,"
"That maybe be so, but don't forget we've all got out beekeeper suits on,"
Marion finished her second apple as they waited for Walters to arrive to pick them up.
"Are you feeling alright Doctor?" Marion asked, tossing the core into the trash.
"Oh there's no need to worry about me Marion," the Doctor replied, "I'm fit as a fiddle. The-my people are a bit hardier than the average human,"
"Oh, I know that. But are you sure your head is alright Doctor? We could hear you hit the ground from the window. It sounded painful. The floor down here isn't exactly soft,"
"Ah well, I have been told I've a bit of a hard-head,"
From his place near the door, Jamie groaned.
"That was awful," Marion groaned along with him.
"I am sorry," the Doctor with utter insincerity.
"No, you aren't," Marion said, poking him in the side.
The Doctor laughed. Marion went to say something and then she stopped. She thought she heard something outside.
Marion must've gotten an odd look on her face because the Doctor said:
"Is there something wrong Marion?"
"N-no," Marion replied, "I think I heard something,"
She held up a finger and everyone got quiet. She heard another noise. This one was coming from downstairs. It was the sound of the door opening and then quickly shutting.
"I think that's Sergeant Walters," Marion said.
"Everybody ready?!" Turner called up the stairs.
"YES!" They all called downstairs before hurrying out of the lab. Watkins went to grab the radio, but Marion shook her head.
"I've got it,"
Marion said picking it up off that table and holding it in her arms.
She adjusted the radio in her arms and quickly followed the rest of the group towards the stairs. It was certainly bulky, but it wasn't heavy it weighed about as much as a textbook.
Walters got an odd look on his face and then glanced towards the door.
"Listen!" he said.
And they listened. The rumble of the engine and then an odd sound like metal against metal.
'Someone needs to check their brakes,' Marion thought.
Turner moved a curtain aside and looked out the window. Whatever he saw, he didn't like it.
"We've had the jeep. We'd better get out of here, out of the back way as quickly as possible."
"Right!"
"Come on, move, everybody. Quickly!" Everyone from the lab hurried down the stairs and around the back. First Zoe, the Isobel, then the Doctor, then Watkins, then Jamie, and then Marion. "Out of the back door. Hurry it up. Come on Professor. Jamie, all right? Good. Marion, you go too,"
"Okay," Marion said with a nod. "We have to move quickly,"
Turner pushed at Marion's shoulder and held up a pistol to cover for her. Marion stepped forward a bit.
And then Marion heard the sound of glass shattering and a loud bang noise before she knew it, fell to one knee.
"Shhhit," Marion hissed. She had almost dropped the radio as she fell. They needed that to contact the Brigadier and she'd almost dropped it to the ground and she had almost broken it. Like an idiot.
She attempted to stand back up but her body made it very clear that anything involving her left leg wasn't going to happen.
That's the kind of thing that happens when one get's shot in the back of the leg right behind the knee.
One of the IE men had broken the glass on the door with the business end of a rifle and then fired through it and it had gotten her. She'd rolled up her pants a bit to make the hole from the bullet not as obvious so she luckily didn't have another hole in her pants. Just a temporary one in her leg.
'This is why you don't have majority glass doors unless you have a more solid door too. Oh, I hope Travers has some kind of homeowner's insurance,' she thought. ' And then she thought:
'OW FUCK WHY DID I DO THAT,' when she made the mistake of trying to stand back up.
Apparently, there was a clear difference between getting shot in the back of the leg normally and being shot in the back of an important joint and that difference was how easy it was to walk afterward.
Getting shot in the back of the leg hurt like getting a huge glob of fresh hot glue on you. Getting shot in the back of the KNEE, however. That was something different. At least when it was just the back of her calf, she could still kind of hobble even though hurt like a bitch.
She tucked the radio under her arm and tried to balance on her right leg to get high enough to lean against the wall.
The Captain fired two shots back through the window at the door before his gun jammed.
He looked at his gun in disappointment before turning to Marion.
"Can you walk?"
Marion stepped forward and the radio nearly fell out of her arms again. She managed to grab one of the bars from the stairs before her leg buckled again.
Her leg was hurting slightly less, but it was hurting slightly less in the way that Cayenne pepper was less spicy than a Haberero. Slightly less, but it still burned.
"The bullet hit me in the back of the knee and I think it fu-messed up the joint. It's healing but it's taking a bit for some reason. A knee is different from a calf...apparently,"
"Right," Turner said with a nod,
"Sorry," Marion said.
"Worry not," he said walking towards her quickly, "Jamie. Get the radio out of here."
"Right!" Jamie said. He took the bulky radio from Marion.
"Leave Marion to me," Turner said. He threw Marion's arm over his shoulder and basically dragged her to the back room.
It hurt like a lot, but at least she was moving. Jamie ran to join then and that's when IE chose to fire again. Three gunshots rang out and Jamie staggered to the backroom.
There was a bit of blood on the man's leg but he seemed otherwise fine. Probably hadn't been the first time he'd been shot at. That didn't stop Marion or the Doctor from being concerned.
Turner sat Marion down on a chair and nearly stood up when she heard the gunshots and then nearly fell over. Turner sat her back down.
"Jamie!" the Doctor shouted.
"Jamie. Are you okay?" Marion asked.
"I'm fine Marion," he sounded amused. "You got shot too,"
"Jamie McCrimmon you know VERY well that's not the same. You-," Marion stopped talking. It wasn't his fault.
If anything it was her fault for not remembering.
She didn't remember anyone getting shot in this episode of the Invasion. Had she remembered, she would've put something in front of the door just in case.
Either this had happened originally and she'd forgotten about it, or this hadn't happened.
Marion wasn't a fan of either scenario.
Right by the back door, Travers set up the radio to contact the Brigadier and let him know something had gone screwy. Walters with his working gun stood guard while Jimmy made contact.
Marion leaned back against her chair and lifted and moved her leg so that she could see the back of it where the bullet was. She took a sharp intake of breath at the sharp pain she got from moving it. The pain shrunk to Tabasco levels.
In response to her moving her leg, blood came out of the wound and around the bullet. It didn't drip down her leg. It welled to the surface for a bit before sinking back up into her leg.
It kind of reminded her of those images of Astronauts crying in space and it was kind of gross.
If she was still she could see it rising slowly as her body pushed the bullet out. It was nauseating to look at but in that way where you can't look away. It was sticking out a bit. And she wondered if the bullet was slowing down the healing process because her body was also having to push out something foreign. She was so distracted she didn't notice Professor Watkins approaching her.
"Miss…," Watkins said looking at her leg.
"Marion," she said without looking up.
"Marion, your leg,"
"Don't worry about it,"
"But you've been shot," he said in a hushed tone.
"So was Jamie," Marion replied, focused more on her leg than the person she was speaking to. "If I were you, I'd be more worried about him than me,"
Marion decided to test out her hypothesis. What was the worst thing that could happen? The bullet was half sticking out of her leg at this point and so she pinched it and pulled it the rest of the way.
"Shit!" she hissed.
The bullet leaving hurt about a fourth as much as it had come in, which still hurt a lot, but it did basically slide out.
She expected she'd get blood on her fingers but the blood that was on the bullet seemed to pull away from the bullet and back into the now far more swiftly healing wound. It was like the bullet was a yolk, her blood was the white, and there was an invisible egg separator between the two. After the blood had left the bullet, the wound on her leg shrunk and shrunk until it was no more,
'Gross,' Marion made a mental note of that. If something is in the body that shouldn't be, remove it. Don't wait for her healing factor to push it out.
She turned to the professor and stood up leaning on one foot, and then the other.
"See, I'm just dandy now. Shame I didn't try that when I first got shot. Might've saved us all some time,"
Marion didn't know how she had expected him to react to her doing what she did. Perhaps with a bit of disgust at how she just tugged a bullet out of her leg or at the odd way her blood seemed to move; but it wasn't fear.
"Y-you're you're just like-,"
"Right," Captain Turner said, not seeing the look in Watkins' eyes nor the confusion on Marion's face. "The Brigadier is sending a pilot to the sector five to pick us up and we need to get there,"
"How far is sector five?" Zoe asked.
"Not too far," he assured, "it's only a few streets over. We should be able to get there quickly. How's your leg, Marion?"
"Fixed," she replied, discreetly putting the bullet into her pocket. "Just needed to get the bullet out and the wound healed the rest of the way real quick,"
"And how are you, Jamie,"
"I dunno why you're making such a big deal about it," Jamie complained. "It's just a wee graze. That's all,"
Marion had to respect the man for that. He had gotten shot too, maybe not as seriously as she had, but he'd gotten shot without whatever wacky healing factor Marion seemed to be blessed with and he'd just walked it off like a champ.
"Yes," Turner said slowly. Then he continued "Well if we're all fit to walk then we should leave now before they get the idea to circle around,"
"Right," the Doctor said, "Let's go,"
They went from the house to a helicopter that had landed in what Marion guessed had to be a small park and then were taken back to the airstrip from which they climbed back into the plane, entered tha main control room, and were greeted by the Brigadier, and then told to sit down so that the plane could take off.
For an older plane, the ride wasn't very bumpy and they were soon coasting through the skies.
"Zoe," the Doctor said, leaning over to the girl, "Take Jamie to the infirmary. I know he said he was only grazed but you can't be too certain,"
"It's not a big plane, so you can't miss it, but just in case, it's just down the hall,"
"Right," she shook Jamie (who had fallen asleep)
"W'a," he said groggily.
"Come on Jamie," she pulled him to his feet. "This way, this way"
"Sergent," the Brigadier suddenly called. UNIT control was hard at work trying to see if they could get any signal through to anyone. "Any luck from anyone?"
The man shook his head. "New York's off the air, sir. Moscow's dead and Peking. In fact, nothing. No radio communication at all,"
The Brigadier sighed. "Right, Sergeant. Keep trying all frequencies,"
"Yes, sir,"
"It seems to be a total blanket all over the world,". The Brigadier sat down at the long table with the rest of us and crossed his arms.
"Look," Turner said, holding out his hands, "couldn't we make hundreds of these neuristor things, sir, and distribute them,"
"I mean..." Marion trailed off, "If this plane was heading directly to a warehouse with the entire workforce of UNIT inside standing there motionless and waiting for us to slap neuristors on them. Then maybe. But unless that's where the pilot is taking us, I don't think we'll have time to fit one on everyone even if we all worked together to make enough,"
"I agree. The Cybermen will attack in force now," the Doctor looked upwards as if he could see their ship and not just the roof of the plane, "There must be thousands of them in outer space,"
The Brigadier slammed a hand on the table in frustration.
"Is there nothing we can do?!"
"Never lose hope. There's always SOMETHING. Even if it's difficult. There's always something,"
"Such as," the Brigadier replied, looking at Marion.
"If we can stop the Cyber-control signals..." the Doctor mused.
"Yes, but if your theory's right, they'll be coming from somewhere near the moon. That means we're going to need a missile of some sort,"
"Yes, I'm afraid it does," the Doctor conceded.
"That would need an orbital launch vehicle," Turner pointed out. "We simply haven't got anything of that size,"
"No," the Brigadier agreed, "only the Americans and the Russians have-," he suddenly stopped talking. He'd remembered something, "Wait a minute,"
He got up from his seat and retrieved a metal key from his pocket. He used it to unlock a black metal safe that Marion hadn't noticed until just then and retrieved a black binder about 3 or so inches thick.
He turned back to them, flipping through the binder looking for something.
"I seem to remember reading…" he flipped another page, "Ah, yes, yes, here we are. The Russians were planning a countdown at the time we were attacked,"
"For the moon, sir?" Turner asked.
"Yes, a manned orbital survey," he tapped something in the binder for emphasis, "That means they'll have a launching vehicle almost ready to go!"
"You mean we could put a warhead on it, in place of the astronaut capsule?"
"It's a possibility,"
"It's worth a shot,"
"How long would all this take?" the Doctor asked.
"Well, we could get a small party there in about two hours. Of course, we'll have to revive the rocket personnel from Cyber-control. After that, well, that'd be up to the Russians,"
"So like, three to five hours then?" Marion asked.
"Just about. How long do you think we have?"
"Oh, I'm surprised they're not here already,"
The Brigadier quickly handed the binder off to Turner.
"Jimmy, here's the gen on the Russian rocket base. You deal with that,"
" All right, sir,"
"And get your skates on,"
"Yes, sir,"
Jimmy quickly left the room.
"Now, Doctor, we must deal with this invasion you say is coming," the Brigadier said turning to the Doctor.
"Yes, at least we know where they'll land. They'll home in on Vaughn's radio signal,"
'Oh, the joys of futuristic and yet dated technology,'
"Would we be able to pick them off with anti-missile missiles?"
The Doctor perked up.
"Yes, that's a good idea. We might have a try,"
"Right. There's a base near Henlow Downs," he walked away, "Just a minute. Sergeant Walters?"
Zoe returned from the infirmary and the Doctor guided her towards a chair.
"Oh, Zoe, sit down. It's a bit bumpy. Now, how's Jamie's leg?"
"Oh, it's just a slight flesh wound. But he's furious because the Army doctor won't let him walk on it,"
"I'm sorry about that," Marion put her head down.
"Don't apologize," the Doctor replied. He said it like he'd said it multiple times before and turned back to Zoe
"How's the Professor?"
"He's with Isobel getting checked out as well. They want to make sure he didn't get hurt by Vaughn's men while he was captive. They're still there too. Is there anything I can do Doctor,"
"Well, I suggest that you go with the Brigadier. Much as I detest computers, I think that remarkable brain of yours will come in very handy,"
Marion wondered, not for the first time, how absolutely choice it would've been if K-9 had been with Four instead of Two.
"Right. What are you two going to do?" Zoe asked.
"I think it's about time I had a serious talk with our Mister Vaughn," the Doctor replied.
"What, go back? But he'd kill you as soon as look at you,"
"Correction," Marion said snapping her finger, "He'd TRY to kill us,"
"And besides, we need time if we're going to stop this attack, and I think I can get us that time,"
"And I think I can make sure that he's able to get us that time,"
"No," the Brigadier said sharply, "this is madness, I can't afford to let you take that risk,"
"I can't afford to let you take that risk," Marion repeated in a mocking tone.
"You can't afford not to, Brigadier. If you're going to attack the Cybermen with missiles, they're going to retaliate, and we want to know how and with what."
'And besides,' Marion thought up, 'What's he going to do? Shoot me?'
"But how can you find that out?" Zoe asked standing up.
Marion stood up as well. "We'll wear a wire. You know, the radio? You'll hear anything and everything he says to us,"
"But you'll never get near the place. The whole area will be crawling with Cybermen," the Brigadier said, making one last attempt to talk them out of it.
"Oh, there's one particular place where there'll be no Cybermen,"
"Where?"
"The sewers," "The sewers,"
(Next Chapter: I Thought You Were Smarter Than This)
Marion: You know, instead of finding the Russians, we could try to steal the nuclear football and launch a nuke ourselves.
The Brigadier: What the actual fuck are you talking about?
Yeah, the conversation between Marion and the Doctor took up a bit. I'm going to try and edit this now. So uh, if you see any typos that I or Grammarly didn't catch, let me know so I can fix them. Cheers!
Side note, for some reason, I really like the idea of Marion and the Brigadier's dynamic being Marion saying some weird cryptic nonsense that's either her trying to be philosophic, referencing something from the future, or just saying a random string of words she's trying to get to mean something and the Brigadier just being like "Great. I have no idea what the fuck you are talking about. Please make sense,"