Walking out of the darkness, the silhouettes revealed themselves as stylized machines, which they took inspiration from the Egyptian god, Anubis.
Onyx cold steel bodies, sculpted carefully with handheld torches, joints and anything adjoined were given accurate decorations to hide the separated pieces of the machine bodies.
Their golden claws sharp, capable of producing controlled electricity, an energy field that they used lethally to anyone who gotten too close to their master.
Glowing eyes pierced the darkness as they surveyed for Paul, their orders to incapacitate, capture, and return with the Doctor, alive enough for their master to speak with him, if anyone tries intervening, then they are to be dealt with, swiftly, for they work for the Doctor, thus cannot be trusted.
Anything the Doctor says, they are to regard as hieratic, he speaks only lies, and only their master may choose to say otherwise.
Silent except their heavy footsteps, leaving clawed footprints in the dirt, the machines began tracking Paul around the bazar, careful not to miss any crevices, watchful of surprises.
They are given the parameters that the Doctor's prone to using tricks, anything to get out of their grasp, as he done before, and they adjusted their methods in capturing the Doctor as they went.
Prepared for any attempts he'll use to take them by surprise, disable, or destroy them, the two machines cautiously kept their scanners on high alert.
In their infrared scanners, they see the residues of the sapphire-eyed machine grabbing the Doctor, wafting in the negatives as they filtered out the hidden debris from the patrons of the bazar.
Illuminated in the background, the machines followed the long wavy white residues as they tracked the Doctor's movement.
Capable of seeing the timeframe, they're effortlessly able to find and follow recent trails.
Walking past the closed windows and doors, their shadows cast over them, patrons terrified of looking out.
The silent bazar grew dark as nightfall came over the area, no patrons dared stepping out of their hidings, acutely aware the dogs were out, that they were on a hunt at the whim of their master.
There was contemplation regarding their master, the idea of simply doing away with her, to stop her dogs from acting on her whim, but there was violent pushback due to the fears that should the dogs' master perish, they have no one commanding them.
And dogs without a master, are much more dangerous than those with.
So, there were thoughts on killing them all at once, with them all dead, things should return to normal, the thinking went, and someone attempted this, but the feat didn't go well, the dogs figured out the plan, obliterated the scheming alien without hesitation.
Still a black spot stained in the brickwork if someone managed to look close enough.
Even the dangerous aliens that lived on Putnam couldn't or wouldn't risk their lives trying to rid the planet of what they perceived as a nuisance.
All they have done so far that worked for them, stay out of the dogs and their masters' ways, though merchants have been known to successfully solicit purchases from the woman.
Nothing more than meager food purchases, hardly anything to think about, but there was something about her that they all shared.
Her dark eyes strike them the most.
Empty, stoic, like a living corpse.
Spoke odd, too, muttering mostly, barely coherent, but it was enough to elicit sales of food here and there, that much they knew.
Why this woman clung to the planet, that hadn't seen regular human visitors in ages, nobody knew, or cared knowing, and it's only a matter of when one of the aliens gotten fed up enough to finally end her and her dogs.
"All right, Doctor, this should be the last of it," a voice echoed in the console room as Malcom sat around with Paul, while they worked on altering Malcom's handheld tracker into becoming a way of them disabling the dogs, allowing them to speak with Lydia without issue.
Paul worked on a way to apprehend Lydia, he suspected that there's a strong possibility of her reacting negatively to the ordeal, that she needed his intervention.
Taylor prepared the sedatives, so Lydia becomes subdued, less prone to lashing out, then they'll take her to an acclaimed hospital where she'll be treated.
As for the machines, well, Malcom thinks he can rewire them to be less of a threat, but after this, they won't be able to return to Putnam ever again.
Once the new residents' sense that the machines weren't active and weren't guarding Lydia, they'll attempt to seek vengeance against her for the trouble she caused them in her state of mind.
Though Malcom didn't like hearing it, he was forced to reel in the chance that Putnam may never return to the former glory it was known for, but Paul encouraged him into finding beauty elsewhere with Lydia.
She'll need his help more than anyone.
Whether she recovers, that remains undetermined, but Paul kept neutral, his opinions subdue.
Better to temper his expectations than risk disappointment.
"Something's been bothering me, Mr. Malcom, how do you suppose Lydia survived the incursion?" Paul broached as he stuck a wire into a socket.
Cybermen being meticulous with their incursions, they should've found and "deleted" Lydia, but somehow, they didn't, unusual.
Though, it's unusual all-around, why the Cybermen went through the lengths they did…
Reaching far back into his memories, Malcom pondered Paul's question before saying that one of his and Lydia's friends had been planning on sending concepts out to a corporation working on bringing ancient history to life for everyone to explore, uncensored, unbiased, it'd be though they were there without traveling through time.
"They were stored in fortified boxes," Malcom's eyes widened as it hit him.
He found those boxes, but they were opened, everything gone, he figured the Cybermen had already ensured the concepts were destroyed in whatever horrible reason they had attacking Grissom Academy.
Having the thought sit inside him, Malcom grimaced as it hit him with force, that in her desperate attempts surviving, Lydia locked herself in one of the boxes.
She must've taken the concepts and retrofitted them to serve her needs to protect herself against future Cybermen attacks.
"I should've been there, Doctor," Malcom shook his head as he tells Paul that he should've declined the offer and stayed with Lydia at Grissom Academy for another six months until another offer came through, he would've been with her when the Cybermen came, maybe things would be different.
Shaking his head, his chestnut curls wavering, Paul informed Malcom the chances of himself perishing in the attack, causing even more anguish in Lydia.
Though it isn't an answer that Malcom wanted, Paul couldn't lie to him.
Perhaps this was fated and had Malcom stayed, he would've died.
Or.
Had he stayed, Lydia would've died, instead.
The universe fickle with its oddness, it's hard knowing what plans it had in mind, if at all.
Checking their work, both Malcom and Paul confirmed the handheld tracker has been completely reworked to suit their needs, with Paul's aptitude with Cybermen tech, it'll easily disable the signatures on the machines, and with Paul's Sonic Screwdriver, he can ensure the machines couldn't correct themselves when Malcom hits the button to disable the both of them.
The sedatives Taylor had been easily distributed throughout Lydia's body with a simple prick, with her subdued, it should be easy.
Of course, Paul knew better believing it'll be easy, the life of the Doctor taught him this.
"I pray that this works," Malcom exhaled sharply as he hoped this plan worked and that Lydia will be freed from her demons.
Patting his shoulder, Paul insisted, "As those before me said, Mr. Malcom, happy thoughts."
Prepared to locate Lydia and disable the machines, the trio readied to leave, but something became apparent, the lights above the TARDIS started flickering, dimming, before turning off completely.
"What on earth?" Malcom glances up at the sight, confusion on his wary face.
He's jolted by the TARDIS suddenly moving on its own, forces on opposite sights pushing on it, seemingly trying to move the old machine.
Falling to the ground, the trio struggled to keep their grasps around the holes in the grated flooring while the TARDIS violently shook.
Outside, there's two forces violently shaking the TARDIS, in an attempt to either give the trio a concussion, or find a way inside, hard to say.
It'd appear they didn't have to go far looking for the machines, they found the TARDIS, though fortunately it'd appear Lydia didn't discover anything that would've allowed them to disable the TARDIS or gain access inside.
Paul always wanted things done promptly, but this wasn't what he was thinking, though with the violent shakes, it's a miracle his thoughts haven't rattled out of his head.
Struggling to keep his grip on the grated floor as the machines violently shook the TARDIS, Paul called out to it, hoping that it could do something to stop the machines from forcibly rattling it.
The lights turned back on, bright as before, the violently shaking stopped finally, the monitors above the console turning on by themselves as the TARDIS reported having stunned the machines, but only temporary.
It It'd appear that the parts of the Cybermen that Lydia reused for the concepts she'd taken from the boxes had traces of coding that was meant to disable the TARDIS from attacking them should they ever come across the Doctor during their missions.
Far different from prior attempts, it caught the TARDIS off-guard, that it was left temporary disabled by the coding while it worked to overcome it.
Leaving the trio helpless in those few moments.
Helpless, the trio scrambled to stand as they heard scrapping along the outside exterior of the TARDIS as something reached out to the door handle before beginning to forcibly turn it, attempting to open the door inward.
Wielding his handheld tracker, Malcom calculated their options before warning Paul and Taylor to stay back as he rushed forward towards the door, prepared to surprise the attacking machines.
A risk to be sure, but in his state, Malcom wanted nothing more than this nightmare over with as he counted down in his head while preparing his handheld tracker, his finger hovering over the big red button while the LCD screen gave the indication of when it was time to press it.
The scrapping noises continued as the machine struggled to open the door, the TARDIS begun fighting back against it, trying to compensate by diverting power to the locks in the door, but it can only do so much while the machines are using Cybermen codes.
Counting down in his head, Malcom sees the machine successfully surpassing the TARDIS's attempt blocking it, breaching the door, it slowly opened inward, but the moment Malcom hit that red shiny button, it was sent backwards with mechanical roars.
Rushing past him, Paul and Taylor worked to close the door once again, this time the TARDIS capable of shutting them out, having managed to overcome the Cybermen coding.
With the machines shut out completely, they were safe from the outside, and with Malcom's handheld tracker, one half of the machine pair became neutralized, leaving the other half still at large.
It left them with a question, where to go from here, as the TARDIS warns that due to Lydia's coding, it can't turn the machines on their heads, still, and worse it's dealing with malware from the Cybermen coding.
It became activated when the TARDIS attempted to thwart the remnants.
Always something!
Their options limited, Paul struggled coming up with ideas, as his angel eyes stared at the sole door into the TARDIS.
"I'm going out there," Malcom decreed that he'll leave the safety of the TARDIS and stop this once and for all.
Stunned, Taylor insisted that Malcom stay inside with them, worried that he risked getting killed by the one half of the machines that wasn't affected by the handheld tracker's modifications.
Aware if the risks, Malcom insisted that he needed to do something, so he might as well try one last thing getting through to Lydia.
He just wanted them to take her to receive adequate treatment if the worse happens.
"We will do so, Mr. Malcom," Paul couldn't give Malcom his word that the wary man come out of this alive, but the least he can do was get treatment for Lydia.
Pulling on his makeshift scarf, Malcom braved stepping out of the TARDIS, it did try to keep him safely inside, but Malcom's stubbornness prevented it from keeping him.