In the years before and in between, Kathy meets Anne Lister (3 April 1791 – 22 September 1840), who was an English diarist, famous for revelations for which she was dubbed "the first modern lesbian". Kathy had to meet her and less needed to have an affair with her but things happen. She can't wait for when the woman's diary is discovered to see if she's in it.
—
"…and stay out!"
Kathy comes crashing down on the snow covered pavement face first with a huff. She pulls herself up and spins herself around so she can stare at her attacker. The looming stony face of Reverend Aubrey Fairchild stares back at her.
"I'm trying to help!" She cries. "If you could just pull that misogynistic stick that's been lodged so far up your—"
The Reverend's face turns stonier. "How dare you!"
"How dare I?" Kathy pulls herself up to her feet. "I'm trying to save your life!"
"A woman has no business here!" He slams the door in her face. That went well.
Reverend Aubrey Fairchild, a man Kathy was trying to save but not for the man himself, but for the children and others that'll be killed, is a man who worked for several children's charities in the 19th century. Soon he'll be killed by the Cybermen to gather all the workhouse managers at his funeral where they could be quickly dispatched by the Cybermen. His body will be found with burns to the forehead, most likely a result of a Cyberman's electro attack.
The Cybermen are here in 1851 Victorian London from the void they'd been sent to in Doomsday and got through because of the events in Journey's End and Stolen Earth, which had weakened the barriers allowing the Cybermen to escape the void and return. It's funny how she does all this backwards considering she hasn't experienced any of those adventures nor met half the people who appeared, or will appear, in them.
Kathy knows the importance of this adventure. Ten meeting what he thinks is his future self though it turns out to be a red herring. It sets in motion his final story arc, which foreshadows his death and cultivates in the End of Time adventure, which she's already witnessed.
It's not long till Christmas Eve when the Tenth Doctor will appear. Kathy has already seen Jackson Lake running around thinking he's the Doctor for almost a couple of weeks with Rosita (Spanish for Little Rose). She come in contact with them a few times. This has given her a time frame and she realised that it won't be long now till the Reverend is killed. She had planned to try and change things, maybe, to stop Miss Hartigan from becoming the CyberKing. Hadn't exactly worked out for her.
Kathy hasn't mingled with Jackson Lake too much, not wanting to confuse the man and make things messier than they already are. She just needs to bide her time.
—
Before Kathy knows it, Reverend Aubrey Fairchild is found dead and his funeral arrives. Kathy knows it's no time like the present to slip into the man's house, which she had done a scope of last time she was there before being caught and thrown out, and where she'll bump into the Doctor and Jackson.
She arrives at the house to see a well attended cortege, with quite a solemn crowd following the four black horses pulling the hearse and leaving the Reverend's home. Jackson Lake and Rosita are watching the procession as it passes them. Having sensed him nearby, Kathy glances around and spots Ten watching from a short distance.
"Snooping are we?" Kathy remarks as she appears behind him.
The Doctor turns to her and grins at the sight of her but then pouts when he realises what she just said. "No! Investigating!"
Kathy huffs a laugh and rolls her eyes. "Oh yes, big difference. I'm sorry for not realising earlier." She glances at Jackson and Rosita who seem to be bickering. "So, you've met our friends have you?"
"Yes, the next me and companion it seems though…" the Doctor frowns in thought, "with a few oddities."
"Well, that's to be expected when it comes to you." Kathy comments cheekily.
The Doctor ignores the dig or doesn't notice it and turns to Kathy curiously. "So, you've met him? Is he me?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"Meaning?"
"Spoilers."
They turn back to the duo watching the funeral procession to see Rosita leave in a huff and Jackson walk towards the Reverend's house. Kathy doesn't blame her, as she recalls Jackson making a few sexist comments.
"Well, come on," Kathy says, pulling out her sonic. "It's not some investigating without some sonicking and entering." Yes, she just stole that line from Eleven. Oh well.
The Doctor grins back at her and they hurry over to the house and let themselves in through the front door. They hear Jackson fiddling with the back door. The Doctor strolls over and simply opens it, showing a surprised Jackson.
"Hello." The Doctor greets him.
Jackson splutters for a moment before gathering himself, "How did you get in?"
The Doctor shrugs. "Oh, front door. I'm good at doors." He takes notice of the screwdriver in Jackson's hand. "Er, do you mind my asking, is that your sonic screwdriver?"
"Yes. I'd be lost without it." He holds it up to show it's an ordinary screwdriver.
"But that's a screwdriver. How's it sonic?"
"Well, er, it makes a noise." He taps it against the door frame. Kathy winces with second-hand embarrassment. "That's sonic, isn't it?" Jackson turns to Kathy. "Ms Davis, how are you here?"
The Doctor frowns at that, getting suspicious because even if the Doctor had lost all their memories, there's still that telepathic connection Jackson should've sensed with Kathy due to her own Time Lord dana if he's the Doctor.
Kathy shrugs. "John Smith is a friend of mine. We thought we'd help."
"Well, I don't know if it's wise…" Jackson murmurs before shaking his head in dismissal, "but since we're acting like common burglars, I suggest we get out of plain view."
—
"This investigation of yours, what's it about?" The Doctor asks as Jackson leafs through a pile of papers in a drawer. Kathy lingers around the room, trying to recall the draw that contains the infostamps. She glances at the door where the Cyberman appears cautiously.
"It started with a murder." Jackson replies.
The Doctor nods, leaning against the desk that contains the draw Jackson is searching through. "Oh, good." He speaks. Kathy and Jackson pause and give him a look to which the Doctor realises his mistake. "I mean bad, but whose?"
"Mr Jackson Lake, a teacher of mathematics from Sussex. He came to London three weeks ago and died a terrible death." Jackson frantically searches through the papers.
Kathy pulls out her scanner from River to help with the search for the infostamps.
"Cybermen?"
"It's hard to say. His body was never found. But then it started. More secret murders, then abductions. Children, stolen away in silence." His voice breaks at the mention of children. Kathy gazes at him sadly. Poor man, he doesn't know what he's lost.
"So, whose house is this?"
"The latest murder." Kathy tells, putting away the scanner, the Doctor. "The Reverend Aubrey Fairchild, found with burns to his forehead, like some advanced form of electrocution. Tried to warn the idiot." Ah, there's the drawer, just have to wait for the right moment.
The Doctor nods, taking in her words while Jackson looks at her curiously. Probably is confused about how she knows so much.
"But who was he? Was he important?" The Doctor asks as he leans against a table, crossing his arms.
Jackson turns his gaze from Kathy to the Doctor. "You ask a lot of questions."
The Doctor shrugs. "I'm your companion."
"The Reverend was the pillar of the community, a member of many parish boards. A keen advocate of children's charities."
"Children again." The Doctor notes. "But why would the Cybermen want him dead? And what's his connection to the first death, this Jackson Lake?"
Jackson stares at both the Doctor and Kathy in surprise. "It's funny. Ms Davis seems to know a lot more than she should and I seem to be telling you, Mister Smith, everything, as though you engendered some sort of trust. You seem familiar, Mister Smith. I know your face. But how?"
"I wonder. I can't help noticing you're wearing a fob watch."
"Is that important?" Jackson asks the Doctor with wide eyes.
"Legend has it that the memories of a Time Lord can be contained within a watch. Do you mind?" Jackson hands him the watch. "It's said that if it's opened…" He opens it and the works fall out. "Oh. Maybe not." Embarrassing.
Jackson seems to break out of the daze he's been in when the Doctor was talking. "It was more for decoration."
"Yeah. Anyway, alien infiltration." The Doctor says, quickly moving on from the embarrassing moment.
"Yes. Just look for anything different. Possibly meta—"
Kathy opens the writing desk. "Well, look at that. Different and metal, you were right." She takes out two cylinders. The other two dart over to have a look.
The Doctor takes one from her hands to have a closer look. "They are infostamps. I mean, at a guess. If I were you, I'd say they worked something like this." He presses one end and images are projected from the other. "See? Compressed information. Tons of it." He puts on his glasses because of course he does. Kathy snorts quietly as she thinks of how excited Ten and Eleven were over each other's glasses.
"That is the history of London, 1066 to the present day." The Doctor realises as he watches the images. "This is like a disc, a Cyberdisc. But why would the Cybermen need something so simple?"
Kathy watches as Jackson stares at the other infostamp, which he'd taken from her. His face shows that it means something to him, his forgotten memories pushing through. He slumps into a chair, rubbing his head and tears in his eyes.
"They've got to be wireless. Unless, they're in the wrong century. They haven't got much power. They need plain old basic infostamps to update themselves. Are you all right?" The Doctor finally takes notice of Jackson's state.
"I'm fine." Jackson gasps.
"No, what is it? What's wrong?" Kathy questions, crouching in front of him. She gives a printed look to the Doctor, who nods in realisation, and joins her.
"I've seen one of these before. I was holding this device the night I lost my mind. The night I regenerated. The Cybermen, they made me change. My mind, my face, my whole self." He almost breaks into a sob before he looks at them both with a searching look. "And you were there. Who are you both?" His voice is stronger and more demanding.
"Friends. I swear." The Doctor promises.
"Then I beg you, John, Ms Davis. Help me." Jackson sobs.
"Call me Kathy," Kathy smiles kindly, pitying the man, "and those are two words we could never refuse."
"But it's not a conversation for a dead man's house." The Doctor adds as he stands. "It'll make more sense if we go back to the TARDIS. Your TARDIS. Hold on." He starts running around the room. "I just need to do a little final check. Won't take a tick. There's one more thing I cannot figure." He starts opening doors. "If this room's got infostamps, then maybe, just maybe, it's got something that needs infostamping." He opens a door. There is a Cyberman behind it. "Okay." He closes it again. "I think we should run."
The Cyberman smashes the door down. The Doctor runs towards them yelling, "Run, Doctor! Now, Doctor!"
"Delete."
The two of them pull Jackson up and they run through a door, sonicking it shut. They run through the corridor only to be confronted with another Cyberman, who declares, "The Doctor will be deleted."
They run back down to see the original Cyberman had now broken through the door. "Delete."
"Stairs! Can't lead them outside!" The Doctor yells. Kathy and Jackson begin to go up them. They pause on the landing. Well, Jackson does and Kathy lets him as she knows what he does next.
The Doctor grabs something only to discover it is an umbrella when he opens it. The Cybermen are getting closer. He takes a sword from the wall instead.
"Delete."
"I'm a dab hand with a cutlass. You don't want to come near me when I've got one of these. This is your last warning." He threatens. They don't listen and walk closer. "No? Ok, this is really your last warning! Okay, I give up." He runs up the stairs, backwards, still trying to talk to the Cybermen.
"Delete."
"Listen to him properly!" Kathy yells, panicked at how much closer they're getting, the Doctor clashing with them with his sword. "You're doing stuck in 1851 and we can help! I mean it. We're the only people in the world who can help you! Listen to us!" The Doctor continues fighting them with his sword as the three of them go backwards up the stairs.
"Delete." The Cyberman lowed its arm for the final blow but the Doctor meets it with his sword.
"I'm the Doctor. You need me. Check your memory banks. My name's the Doctor. Leave this man alone. The Doctor is me!" The Doctor gets a foot onto the leading Cyberman's chest and pushes them back downstairs.
"Delete."
The Cybermen march back up the stairs and engage with the Doctor again.
"The Doctor, remember? I'm the Doctor! You need me alive. You need the Doctor, and that's me!"
Kathy and Jackson are on the landing. Kathy turns to Jackson, lifting the infostamp in his face. "You need to do something, you know what to do!"
The Cybermen knock the Doctor down. "Delete."
Jackson looks at her with wide eyes.
"Do it!"
Jackson activates the infostamp and aims the beam at the Cybermen. They fall to their knees, screaming in pain, and then their heads explode.
The Doctor laughs in amazement. "Infostamp with a Cyclo-Steinham core. You ripped open the core and broke the safety. Zap! Only the Doctor would think of that."
Jackson slumps against one of the door frames, analysing the infostamp. "I did that last time." He murmurs.
Kathy strokes his arm comfortingly. "It's okay. We're here to help remember?"
He stares at her in what Kathy can only describe as wonder.
"Let me just check something first." The Doctor pulls out his stethoscope.
Jackson turns to him. "You told them you were the Doctor. Why did you do that?"
The Doctor places the stethoscope on his chest. "Oh, I was just protecting you." Kathy knows he'll only be hearing one heart.
"You're trying to take away the only thing I've got, like they did. They stole something, something so precious, but I can't remember." Jackson sobs. "What happened to me? What did they do?"
"We'll find out. Us three together."
—
They reach an alleyway to find Rosita waiting.
"Doctor!" She runs over to them. "I thought you were dead!" Rosita hugs Jackson.
"Now then, Rosita. A little decorum." Jackson tells her, pulling back.
"You've been gone for so long." Rosita admonishes. "He's always doing this, leaving me behind. Going frantic."
"What about the TARDIS?"
"Oh, she's ready. Come on." Rosita grabs Jackson's hand, pulling him along.
"I'm looking forward to this." The Doctor murmurs as he and Kathy.
"Just don't be rude." Kathy reminds him.
"When am I ever rude?!" The Doctor exclaims in defence.
Kathy simply gives him a withering look.
The stables contain no horses and instead, the stalls have been converted into Jackson's living space.
"You were right though, Rosita. The Reverend Fairchild's death was the work of the Cybermen." Jackson says to the companion.
"So, you live here?" The Doctor questions.
"A temporary base, until we rout the enemy. The TARDIS is magnificent, but it's hardly a home." Jackson explains as he uses a bowl of water to wash his hands.
Kathy keeps her lips sealed so to stop herself from unnecessarily revealing anything quite yet.
The Doctor furrows his eyebrows. "And where's the TARDIS now?"
"In the yard."
"Er, what's all this luggage?"
"Evidence. The property of Jackson Lake, the first man to be murdered." Jackson explains. "Oh, but my new friends are fighters, Rosita, much like myself. Mister Smith faced the Cybermen with a cutlass. I'm not ashamed to say, he was braver than I. He was quite brilliant."
The Doctor scans the luggage with his sonic and this catches Jackson's attention.
"Shush! What's that noise?"
"Oh, it's just me, whistling." The Doctor mimics the sonic with his whistling causing Kathy to let out a snort. The Doctor mouths shush to Rosita when they see she's staring at them as he puts the sonic screwdriver back in his pocket and takes a suitcase off the pile with Kathy's help.
"That's another man's property." Rosita reminds them.
"Well, technically a dead man's." Kathy comments. Plus, the Doctor needs to realise what's going on with Jackson.
The Doctor opens the suitcase. "How did you two meet, then?"
"He saved my life. Late one night, by the Osterman's Wharf, this creature came out of the shadows. A man made of metal. I thought I was going to die. And then, there he was. The Doctor." Rosita tells them, looking over to Jackson in worry. "Can you help him, sir, madam? He has such terrible dreams. Wakes at night in such a state of terror."
"Come now, Rosita. With all the things a Time Lord has seen, everything he's lost, he may surely have bad dreams." Jackson says. Kathy glances solemnly over to the Doctor.
Kathy has experienced loss all too well, it's what happens when you live a long life. Twelve was right when he said immortality isn't living forever, it's everybody else dying.
The Doctor snaps out of his daze and riffles through the suitcase. "Yeah. Oh, now." He pulls out an infostamp. "Look. Jackson Lake had an infostamp."
"But how? Is that significant?" Jackson questions.
"Do you know what? I think we should have a look at your TARDIS." Kathy remarks, she wasn't about to call him Doctor, that would just be weird. "Can we see it?"
"Mister Smith, Ms Davis, it would be my honour."
—
"There she is. My transport through time and space. The TARDIS." Jackson announces.
They are faced with an elaborately patterned, but mostly blue, Montgolfier.
The Doctor gapes in shock and disappointment. If he still thought Jackson was him even after all the evidence to the contrary, this definitely seals it.
"You've got a balloon." He murmurs.
"TARDIS. S. It stands for Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style. Do you see?"
"Yeah, clever with the words." Kathy compliments though she has a wide and amused smile on her face. "Though, how would it work in English?"
Bill was right, how would TARDIS work in any other language?
The Doctor splutters in shock before becoming mildly impressed and wanders over to have a better look. "Well, I like it. Good TARDIS. Brilliant. Nice one. And is it inflated by gas, yeah?"
"We're adjacent to the Mutton Street Gasworks. I pay them a modest fee. Good work, Jed." Jackson slaps a strapping young man on the shoulder and hands him a big five pound note.
"Glad to be of service, sir."
"You've got quite a bit of money." The Doctor notes. (Get it?)
"Oh, you get nothing for nothing." Jackson dismisses. "How's that ripped panel, Jed?"
"All repaired. Should work a treat." Jed reports. "You never know, maybe tonight's the night, Doctor. Imagine it, seeing Christmas from above."
"Not just yet, I think. One day, I will ascend. One day soon."
Jed takes his leave.
"You've never actually been up?" Kathy asks as if she doesn't know.
"He dreams of leaving, but never does." Rosita replies.
"I can depart in the TARDIS once London is safe. And finally, when I'm up there." Jackson declares. "Think of it, John, Kathy. The time and the space."
"The perfect escape. Do you ever wonder what you're escaping from?" The Doctor questions.
Just like how the Doctor is always escaping, Jackson has his own forgotten troubles.
"With every moment."
"Then do you want me to tell you? Because I think I've worked it out now. How you became The Doctor. What do you think? Do you want to know?" The Doctor asks sombrely.
—
"The story begins with the Cybermen." The Doctor begins. They're back in the stables with Kathy sitting by the Doctor and Rosita and Jackson sitting opposite. "A long time away, and not so far from here, the Cybermen were fought, and they were beaten. And they were sent into a howling wilderness called The Void, locked inside forever more. But then a greater battle rose up, so great that everything inside the Void perished. But, as the walls of the world weakened, the last of the Cybermen must have fallen through the dimensions, back in time, to land here. And they found you."
Canary Wharf and the reality bomb. Two battles Kathy has not experienced and will likely be if her track record is anything to go by. Two very dark days she's not looking forward to.
"I fought them, I know that. But what happened?" Jackson questions.
"At the same time, another man came to London. Mister Jackson Lake. Plenty of luggage, money in his pocket. Maybe coming to town for the winter season, I don't know. But he found the Cybermen too. And just like you, exactly like you, he took hold of an infostamp."
"But he's dead. Jackson Lake is dead. The Cybermen murdered him." Jackson argues.
"But no body was ever found, remember?" Kathy reminds him. "And you kept all his suitcases, but you could never bring yourself to open them. The answer is in your watch. Can we see?"
Jackson hands the watch to Kathy. She tilts it in the Doctor's direction so he can see that the case is plain except for two initials.
"J L. The watch is Jackson Lake's." The Doctor observes.
"Jackson Lake is you, sir?" Rosita realises.
"But I'm the Doctor." Jackson persists.
"You became the Doctor because the infostamp you picked up was a book about one particular man." The Doctor projects the infostamp onto the wall. The first Doctor appears before going through every Doctor since then except for the War Doctor. "The Cybermen's database. Stolen from the Daleks inside the Void, I'd say, but it's everything you could want to know about the Doctor." The images get to number ten.
"That's you." Jackson murmurs in shock.
"Time Lord, TARDIS, enemy of the Cybermen. The one and the only." The Doctor replies. Jackson, overwhelmed, covers his face with his hands. "You see, the infostamp must have backfired. Streamed all that information about me right inside your head."
"I am nothing but a lie." Jackson murmurs sombrely.
Kathy instantly shakes her head and leans forward to grasp his hand so he would look directly at her. "No, Jackson. Can't you see? The infostamp gave you information on the Doctor, but what it didn't do is give you anything else. The bravery you had as you saved Rosita, defended London then your brilliance in inventing your very own TARDIS, that was all you."
Jackson looks at her with wide eyes. "And what else? Tell me what else."
"There's still something missing, isn't there?" The Doctor prompts.
Jackson grits his teeth, shaking off Kathy's hand and demands, "I demand you tell me, sir. Tell me what they took."
"Sorry. Really, I am so sorry," the Doctor apologises, "but that's an awful lot of luggage for one man. Because an infostamp is plain technology. It's not enough to make a man lose his mind. What you suffered is called a fugue. A fugue state, where the mind just runs away because it can't bear to look back. You wanted to become someone else, because Jackson Lake had lost so much."
Something similar later happens to Oswin Oswald when she was converted into a Dalek — she dreamed up an alternate reality in which she was still human because the reality of the Dalek conversion was too horrible to comprehend.
A church bell tolls the hours.
"Midnight. Christmas Day." Rosita tells them.
"I remember. Oh, my God. Caroline. They killed my wife. They killed her." Jackson realises and begins to sob. Kathy watches sorrowfully and moves to comfort him along with Rosita.
The infostamp beeps. The button on the end is lit up.
The Doctor moves over to a trunk and finds a whole lot more. "Oh, you found a whole cache of infostamps."
"But what is it? What's that noise?" Rosita questions.
"Activation. A call to arms. The Cybermen are moving! Come on Kathy!" The Doctor runs outside.
"I'm sorry." Kathy apologises before bolting after him. She catches up with him in the street. "Doctor!" She points to where she can see marching shadows against a wall.
—
It is children, not Cybermen, marching past as Kathy and the Doctor watch along with other members of the public.
Rosita joins them. "What is it? What's happening?" An older, more richly dressed man appears at the back. "That's Mister Cole. He's Master of the Hazel Street Workhouse. Maybe he's taking them to prayers."
"Oh, nothing as holy as that." The Doctor catches up with Cole with Kathy and Rosita following.
Kathy grabs his arm before he can do anything. "No Doctor, don't. The Cybermen are controlling him and they're being guarded, we can't risk the children."
A Cybershade growls nearby.
"But where are they going?" Rosita questions.
Jed joins them then. "They all need a good whipping, if you ask me. There's tons of them. I've just seen another lot coming down from the Ingleby Workhouse down Broadback Lane." He comments.
"Where's that?" The Doctor asks.
"This way." Rosita says. They run off.
—
They watch the children being walked past.
"There's dozens of them." Rosita observes.
"But what for?" The Doctor wonders. "Kathy?"
Kathy thinks for a moment before replying, "They're using them for a job."
"Are they safe?"
"For now, until they no longer become of use."
All the children stop outside a large pair of double doors. Suddenly it is opened by a Cyberman. The children gasp in fright.
Mr Scoones speaks, "You will continue. You will enter the Court of the CyberKing." Cybershades stop the children from scattering. "March. That is an order. March!"
The children fearfully do as they're told as two Cybermen watch either side.
"That's the door to the sluice. All the sewage runs through there, straight into the Thames." Rosita explains.
"Yeah, that's too well guarded. We'll have to find another way in." The Doctor murmurs as the Cybermen walk out of sight.
Kathy's eyes widen when she remembers what happens just as the Doctor and Rosita leap up. "Wait, Doctor—"
It's too late and they are spotted by two more Cybermen on guard.
"Whoa! That's cheating, sneaking up." The Doctor complains. "Do you have your legs on silent?"
Mercy Hartigan appears in her striking scarlet dress. "So, what do we have here?"
"Listen. Just walk towards me slowly. Don't let them touch you." The Doctor encourages.
Miss Hartigan is unfazed. "Oh, but they wouldn't hurt me, my fine boys. They are my knights in shining armour, quite literally."
If it wasn't for the situation, Kathy would find that last remark quite funny.
"Even if they've converted you, that's not a Cyber speech pattern. You've still got free will. I'm telling you, step away." The Doctor pleads.
"Doctor, she's not converted but she's still part of the Cyber-connection." Kathy psychically tells the Doctor.
"How do we free her?" He asks as Miss Hartigan boasts of how she's not been converted but has been given liberation.
"After we save the children, we need the infostamps."
"Who are ya?" Rosita asks.
"You can be quiet. I doubt he paid you to talk." Miss Hartigan remarks patronisingly.
Kathy huffs in impertinence at the remark. "How dare you speak to Rosita like that!"
"Or you." Miss Hartigan says to her. Kathy narrows her eyes at her and the Doctor gently puts his hand on her arm as if to stop her in case she launches forward and strangled Miss Hartigan like she wants to.
Miss Hartigan turns to the Doctor wondering, "More importantly, who are you, sir, with such intimate knowledge of my companions."
"I'm the Doctor." He declares.
"Incorrect. You do not correspond to our image of the Doctor." One Cyberman argues, sort of.
"Yeah, but that's because your database got corrupted. Oh, look, look, look. Check this." The Doctor pulls the infostamp out. "The Doctor's infostamp." He throws it to the other Cyberman. "Plug it in. Go on. Download."
"The core has been damaged. This infostamp would damage Cyberunits." The Cyberman decodes.
"Well, it's always good to try." Kathy shrugs.
After a moment, the same Cyberman declares, "Core repaired. Download." The Cyberman plugs the infostamp into its chest. "You are the Doctor." It suddenly turns to Kathy. "And you are the Prophet."
The what?
"Hello." Along with a little wave from the Doctor.
"You will be deleted."
"No, no. Oh, but let me die happy. Tell me, what do you need those children for?" The Doctor quickly questions.
"What are children ever needed for? They're a workforce." Miss Hartigan replies. Oh, what a typical period-centric opinion.
"But for what?"
"Very soon now, the whole Empire will see. And they will bow down in worship."
"And of course, it's all been timed for Christmas Day. The day of birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Kathy remarks indignantly. "Isn't that correct, Miss Hartigan?"
"Why yes. The perfect day for a birth, with a new message for the people. Only this time, it won't be the words of a man." Miss Hartigan frowns suspiciously at her. "How do you know so much?"
Kathy shrugs. "I get around, keep well informed. Why don't you explain to these two what is being born."
"I think not." Miss Hartigan replies. "But I will say that it also a good day for death. Namely, yours and your companions. Thank you, Doctor. I'm glad to have been part of your very last conversation." She turns to the Cybermen. "Now, delete them."
"Delete." Kathy, Rosita and the Doctor quickly back up as the Cybermen stomp forward. Kathy looks frantically around for the man of the hour then the Cybermen's heads light up with electrocution and they collapse. Jackson Lake stands behind Miss Hartigan wearing a bandolier of infostamps.
"At your service, Doctor, Ms Davis."
"Shades! Shades!" Miss Hartigan cries, calling for her cat-like creatures.
"Run! Come on!" The Doctor cries, pulling Kathy and Rosita's arms.
"Shades!"
Rosita pauses. "One last thing." She hits Hartigan in the face, and she falls.
"Oh!" The Doctor explains, running back to them. "Can I say, I completely disapprove."
"No, he doesn't." Kathy remarks. "Come on!"
The Doctor, Kathy, Rosita and Jackson run off. The Cybershades run to their mistress.
They run into an alleyway and stop to discuss what to do next.
"That stronghold down by the river. We need to find a way in." The Doctor says.
"I'm ahead of you. My wife and I were moving to London so I could take up a post at the university. And while my memory is still not intact, this was in the luggage." Jackson hands the Doctor some documents. "The deeds. Fifteen Latimer Street. And if I discovered the Cybermen there, in the cellar, then…"
"That might be our way in. Brilliant."
"There's still more." Jackson tells them. "I remember the cellar and my wife, but I swear there was something else in that room. If we can find that, perhaps that's the key to defeating these invaders. So, onwards!"
He rushes off and the others begin to follow.
"Maybe you should go back—" The Doctor begins to say to Rosita but she cuts him off.
"Don't even try."
Kathy giggles. "Even you know better, Doctor."
The Time Lord grumbles.
—
A Cyberman stands guard at the bottom of the cellar steps at 15 Latimer Street. "Delete."
Jackson zaps it with an infostamp. The Doctor and Kathy run over to a high-tech device in the middle of the room.
"It must've been guarding this. A Dimension Vault. Stolen from the Daleks again. That's how the Cybermen travelled through time." The Doctor explains.
Kathy turns to Jackson and gently asks, "Jackson, is this what you remember? Is it what you can't remember?"
"No. I just can't see. It's like it's hidden." The man looks near tears so Kathy rubs his arm in comfort.
"Not enough power." The Doctor leaps up. "Come on! Avanti!"
They all run into the sewers that are just off the cellar. Great.
Thankfully it's remarkably dry and rat-free as they sneak along to the Cybermen base. They eventually come across an opening that allows them to view the child labourers from an opening high in the wall. Kathy is horrified to see children struggling to do their tasks, toiling away. Something that is sadly a reality even in the early 21st century.
"Upon my soul." Jackson murmurs in shock.
"What is it?" Rosita asks.
"It's an engine." The Doctor observes. "They're generating electricity, but what for?"
"We can set them free." Jackson reaches for the infostamps.
"No, wait!" Kathy hisses. "We can't go barging in, there's too many of them."
"She's right, come on." The Doctor agrees.
They run to another part of the building to find a control panel.
"Power at ninety percent. But if we stop the engine, the power dies down, the Cybermen'll come running." The Doctor explains but suddenly the panel fluctuates. "Ooo. Hold on. Power fluctuation. That's not meant to happen."
"It's going wrong." Jackson concludes.
"No, it's weird. The software's rewriting itself. It's changing." The Doctor corrects.
"That'll be Miss Hartigan. The Cybermen have underestimated her." Kathy says. She can see Rosita and Jackson look at her in confusion but the Doctor is unbothered.
"What did they do to her?" The Doctor asks.
"They made her CyberKing, converted her but her mind is too strong. She's taken over."
At that moment, the control panel goes bang.
"Whoa! What the hell's happening? It's out of control!" The Doctor exclaims.
"It's accelerating. Ninety six percent, ninety seven." Jackson observes.
"When it reaches a hundred, what about the children?" Rosita wonders.
"They're disposable. Come on!" The Doctor cries.
—
They run into the engine house as a klaxon sounds. The children look around in alarm.
"Delete. Delete." A Cyberman declares.
The Doctor and Kathy run in as Jackson zaps the Cyberman, and then Rosita takes over.
"Right. Now, all of you, out! Do you hear me? That's an order! Every single one of you, run!" The Time Lord cries.
The children quickly do as he says. Kathy, Jackson and Rosita join in by urging the children to run for it. Kathy looks up to see Jackson's lost son standing on a platform high up on the machine as the Doctor calls for Rosita to take the children out.
"Doctor!" Kathy yells, he turns from where he'd been chasing some more of the urchins out and looks to where she's pointing.
"That's my son. My son. Doctor, Kathy, my son!" Jackson cries.
"What?"
"We need to get him down!" Kathy yells. "Frederick! We're coming!"
"Come on!" The Doctor yells. The boy stands frozen on the platform, terrified to move.
"No, he's too scared. Stay there! Don't move! I'm coming." Jackson calls. He makes a move towards him but an explosion knocks him down. The Doctor helps him up. "I can't get up there. Fred!"
"They've finished with the motor. It's going to blow up." The Doctor warns them. More fires start around them.
"What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" Jackson cries tearfully.
"I'll do it." Kathy declares. She draws the cutlass the Doctor got from the Reverend's house. She grabs hold of a rope and cuts it free from its tether. Kathy goes up into the air and lands on the platform by Frederick.
"Hello!" She greets him with a smile as the boy stares at her with wide eyes. "Now, you need to hold onto me very tightly and not let go. Okay?"
Frederick nods and clings onto Kathy's back as she uses the rope to swing across the vault, then brings the boy down to his father. Jackson gathers him into his arms and holds his son tightly.
The Doctor beams at her. "Merry Christmas. Mother of three, you've really got the spirit."
This causes Kathy to pause. "Mother of three?"
The Doctor becomes wide eyed and panicked. "Uh, must've misspoken. Mother of two is what I meant, Yep, definitely. Anyway… alonsy!"
She has Carlyle and then her lost daughter, Peyton. He might've meant Ashildr but he doesn't know about her yet. Who else?
She's thrown out of her thoughts as more sparks fly and flames erupt, the room is imploding in itself. Kathy quickly follows them through the sewer and into the cellar in Jackson's house.
The Doctor takes a long thin piece from the Dimension vault as they all flee the cellar and onto the street.
—
They emerge to find the steampunk Cyberman towering over Old London town. They quickly split up, the Doctor and Kathy running off to the stables while Jackson runs for safety with his son.
The Doctor and Kathy the bandolier of infostamps, hold onto the Dimension vault and recruit Jed with the promise of money to get Jackson's TARDIS up in the air.
The Doctor climbs into the air balloon's basket, handing Jed the item from the Dimension vault, and Kathy follows.
"Kathy this might not—" The Doctor begins to say.
"Oi! I'm going with you whether you like it or not." Kathy declares.
"You're flaming bonkers, the both of you." Jed says.
"It's been said before. Now give me." Jed hands over the item from the Dimension vault. The Doctor fiddles with it and cries out in frustration, "Not enough power. Come on! Jed, let her loose."
"Ever flown one of these before?" Jed asks as he unties the rope.
"Nope, never." The Doctor replies.
Kathy rolls her eyes. "Oh, I have. Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne taught me."
"No need to gloat." The Doctor grumbles. Kathy shrugs.
"Can I have my money now?"
"Oh, get on with it." Kathy huffs.
Jed unties the last rope holding the balloon down, and up she floats.
"Good luck to you, sir, madam!" Jed lets out a gleeful laugh.
—
Kathy and the Doctor soon reach the back of the CyberKing's head in the balloon TARDIS.
"Attention. Proximity alert." A Cyberman declares.
"How is that even possible? Oh, this I would see. Turn!" Miss Hartigan orders in a robotic voice.
The Doctor readies his infostamps as the CyberKing swings around so that they are all level, facing each other.
"Excellent. The Doctor. Yet another man come to assert himself against me in the night." Miss Harriman remarks scathingly.
"Miss Hartigan? I'm offering you a choice. You might have the most remarkable mind this world has ever seen. Strong enough to control the Cybermen themselves." The Doctor offers.
"I don't need you to sanction me."
"No, but such a mind deserves to live. The Cybermen came to this world using a Dimension vault. I can use that device to find you a home, with no people to convert, but a new world where you can live out your mechanical life in peace." The Doctor pleads for her to accept.
"I have the world below," Miss Hartigan dismisses, "and it is abundant with so many minds ready to become extensions of me. Why would I leave this place?"
"Because if you don't, we'll have to stop you." Kathy warns. She knows the outcome but she can at least try.
"What do you make of me, madam? An idiot?" Miss Hartigan snaps.
"No. The question is, what do you make of us?" The Doctor corrects.
"Destroy them."
"You make me into this." The Doctor fires his array of infostamps into Miss Hartigan.
"Then I have made you a failure. Your weapons are useless, sir." Miss Hartigan mocks. Though it can now be seen that her eyes have returned to normal as well as her voice.
"We weren't trying to kill you." Kathy replies. "Simply breaking the Cyber-connection. I bet your mind is freer than it has ever been, open to see what you've done."
Kathy can see Miss Hartigan come to this realisation. The Cybermen are staring at her.
"I'm sorry, Miss Hartigan, but look at what you've become." The Doctor apologises.
She screams and realises she is secured to the throne. Her emotions becoming stronger, taking over.
"I'm so sorry."
She continues to scream. Electricity dances around the Cybermen and they all explode. She also vanishes. The CyberKing begins to sway as explosions go off inside. Kathy hears the screams from below as people realise it's going to fall. The Dimension vault item finally beeps.
"Ooo, now you're ready." The Doctor remarks. He aims it at the CyberKing. Swirls of energy surround it and it vanishes. Now it'll be in the Time Vortex to be disintegrated safely.
Up in the sky, the Doctor and Kathy hear cheers and applause from the crowd below and wave back, ringing the basket's bell.
An event none of them will remember. Eleven stated that no one remembers the event of the CyberKing because of a corruption in time involving time being unwritten during the mystery of the cracks.
—
Kathy and the Doctor find themselves having Christmas dinner at the Traveller's Halt with Fredrick, Jackson and Rosita. They toast to those they have lost and celebrate their success.
Kathy walks with the Doctor back to the TARDIS.
"Won't you join me?" The Doctor asks as they approach the archway where the TARDIS sits.
"You know I can't stay with you forever, Doctor. I've got responsibilities here." Kathy remarks, she leans against the TARDIS and strokes her door softly. She hears a warm hum in return.
"What kind?" The Doctor asks. "I keep hearing of this woman Carlyle is married to but you never explain who she is or what she is."
Kathy smirks. "Spoilers, Doctor."
The Doctor groans, "Oh, of course."
Kathy straightens. "You keep secrets yourself, Doctor. Don't think I didn't notice your slip earlier."
"Ah, it's like you say Kathy." The Doctor remarks with a grin.
"Spoilers?"
"Exactly."
