As it was taught to him since he started going to Grissom Academy as a young boy, the first steps are always the hardest, but once he took them, they come naturally.
Every step he took outside the safety of the TARDIS, it felt like lead tied to his feet, but yet Malcom pushed himself to continue walking ahead, in the corner of his eyes, he sees one of the machines, subdued by his handheld tracker.
The other, gone, but not far, he still felt its presence, and though it could've easily attacked him, it didn't, it was waiting for an order.
Searching, Malcom called out for Lydia, begging her to answer him, he heard movement, and when he turned his head, he sees her.
Her dark eyes devoid of life, her skin pale, almost sickly, draped in a robe made with remnants of their uniforms, her hair wild and matted, she appeared before him with an alarming look of disillusion in her dark eyes.
She barely registered Malcom's presence and when he attempted to reach out to her, the other machine appeared in front of her, intent on keeping them apart.
"What are you doing?" Malcom called out, but Lydia's eyes were still distant, though when she finally spoke, the words that came out, were far from an answer.
"The Doctor, I need to find him," she managed to murmur, "the TARDIS, it's nearby, the Doctor will be there…" her eyes closed, her breathing slow and labored, the machine seemed to wait for her commands she reopened her dark eyes.
With each second that passed, her condition worsened, she was fading, and Malcom wanted nothing more than run towards her, to grab her hands and keep her from slipping away from him, but the machine stopped him with another warning, in a form of a mechanical grow, that told him what would happen if he touched her.
And yet, even with all this danger, he couldn't bring himself to give up on her. She looked so helpless right now, it hurt to see it, and he felt a familiar wave of determination rise within him and he knew he had to do something.
When he looked back at her, he saw a tear rolling down her cheek and he wanted nothing more than wipe it away, to kiss her lips as the tears kept streaming down.
"It's me, my little butterfly, don't you see?" Malcom tried reaching out to her, watching as the cloaked machine disable its cloak, revealing the Anubis-inspired chassis, the metallic ears moving like dog ears, tuned to the sounds of the planet.
"Please, just let me take you somewhere safe," Malcom reached out a hand, hoping somehow, he could touch her where he stood, desperately he wanted to make sure she could hear him, he needed to reassure her that everything was alright, that he'd help her, and that she would be okay...but Lydia just ignored him.
"Have to… have to find the Doctor…" Lydia muttered as her vacant eyes hardly moved, she continued muttering how she needed to find the Doctor and punish him for bringing the Cybermen down on their heads, blaming him for what happened.
Only when her vacant eyes finally noticed one of her machines been disabled by Malcom's handheld tracker, she began muttering, "Again… it's… happening… again!"
In her mind, she saw the machines as Blue and Hobbs, when she saw one disabled, she thought it dead, just like her pets.
The still functioning machine took upon itself defending her from Malcom, its protocol dictating that it needed to protect Lydia at any cost, doubly when one half of the machine pair is subjected to destruction or other.
"Lydia, you have to listen to me, I am here! I'm not dead! Please!" Malcom tried resonating some part of her memory, but his efforts continued failing, Lydia's been traumatized by the incident for so long, that he began doubting himself that there was anything left of his butterfly in her.
Muttering to herself, Lydia turned her attention to the TARDIS, her vacant eyes shimmered with a rare emotion, anger, her muttering became filled with anger as she knew the sight, the Doctor was here, and it was confirmed when she saw the door opening, a man stepping out.
But…
It can't be…
That can't be the Doctor…
He looked much more different back, then.
The more Lydia stared at him, the more she couldn't process that this was the Doctor who failed them.
No, this cannot be the one and the same!
"Where…" she became insistent. "Where… is the Doctor?"
He would not leave the TARDIS behind, no, this was a trick, a ploy, he's somewhere, Lydia knows it!
"I am the Doctor!" She hears the man claim, but she refused, this could not be him!
He challenged her to scan him, and she done so, to her surprise, he had two hearts, just like the Doctor…
But…
This can't be the same one…
It just…
This doesn't make sense.
"Doctor, why are you here?" She heard the shape ask him, the tone of voice, it believed him as the Doctor as well.
The shape and the Doctor communicate with each other, the shape confused, but the Doctor warning it that it couldn't communicate with her…
"But I have… Lydia!" She hears the shape calling her, but she refused to believe it knew her.
A spirit.
A demon.
Tormenting her all this time for her failure.
She should've fought harder, but she didn't want to risk being expelled for disorderly conduct, tried as she might, Lydia tried warning them, something was wrong.
From the moment the other students mentioned seeing the same man she and Malcom saw all those years ago, seemingly unchanged, appearing and disappearing, it should've been taken as a warning.
No one wanted to, they thought it was purely stress from the tests happening that week, these were difficult tests, as she and Malcom knew well from their time as former students, turned employees of Grissom Academy.
That same feeling she felt when she encountered that strange man all those years ago came back with a vengeance, the sense of dread, only she never saw him again, only hearing about his reappearance secondhand.
She tried telling Malcom this, but he claimed never having the same feelings as her, she tried asking the other students, they didn't, either.
It never made sense to her why she was the only one feeling this sense of impending doom.
Why?
Was he warning her, subtly, what was going to happen?
Or.
Was he gloating, in his own way, that there was nothing she could have done to prevent this from ever happening, that nobody would've believed her, even if she finally broke down telling all what welled within her?
Her eyes rapidly blinking, she's pulled back from her foggy thoughts when she saw that…
Both Blue and Hobbs…
No…
"Murderer!" She finally shouted at Paul, her dark eyes piercing his angel eyes. "You left us to die!"
She didn't see Paul, anymore.
She saw the Doctor.
The one who failed them.
Now, he took them both away from her, as if she didn't already lose them, before!
"How... how dare you!" She bitterly cried as she looked on to her Blue and Hobbs, motionlessly standing, their illuminating eyes no more.
"How dare you?" Her body was shaking as she pointed angrily in Paul's direction. "We trusted you, we…" she was at a loss, her rage dissipated quickly as she found herself looking at the shape that looked like her lover, Malcom.
He reached out to her, once again, she refused his hand.
"I'm here now," Paul asserted that he's here in front of Lydia, gesturing as he tells her that he'll accept his punishment for not doing more for the school, but he needed answers.
"They just… came…" Lydia finally had clarity as she stared off into the distance, recalling that horrible day.
She had been working in her garden, tending to the fruits of her labour, when she noticed the glass house suddenly darkening, confusing her as it was supposed to be clear weather that day.
Screams and cries as the Cybermen began descending on the school from all angles, everyone panicking as they tried desperately fleeing, but the Cybermen cut them off from leaving.
They cut the communications line, turned off the power, plunged the entire building into darkness, and the screams…
So many screams from the students, incapable of running from the Cybermen much less defend themselves against the metal fiends.
Mercilessly, the Cybermen went after everyone, a pair tried attacking Lydia, but her beloved Blue and Hobbs attempted to defend her from them to no avail.
They were no match for the metal fiends after her, bent on killing her, not turning her like they were taught.
These Cybermen weren't here to collect them for their armies, they were here exterminating them, like Daleks, but in the fashion, they were killing the students and the teachers, it was as though they were afraid of someone escaping.
"That man?" Paul asks Lydia.
A stiff shrug, Lydia answers, "Had to been, why else?"
She was then asked, "And the Aerographene Cube?"
Harkening back to that horrible day, Lydia overheard the Cybermen speaking about destroying the Aerographene Cube, ensuring that "it" didn't escape them, again.
Lydia couldn't figure it out, on account she was fleeing for her life through the darkened school.
"It?" Paul's baffled as he stares at Lydia, she didn't know anything more than that, all she knew whatever the Cybermen came for, they were intent on ensuring it didn't leave the school in one piece, but in their efforts, they took everyone she knew.
Stepping forward, Malcom asserted, "Not everyone! Lydia, can't you see? It's me!"
Pointing at himself, Malcom insisted that Lydia come closer to him, touch him, it'll prove him right, that Lydia didn't lose everyone in the school.
Her clarity waning, Lydia shook her head, muttering to herself, but Malcom sharply took a deep breath as he forced himself to walk towards her, forcibly grabbing her hands, her cold hands.
Holding her, Malcom pleaded with her to recognise him, to see that he's there with her, that he isn't a ghost.
Struggling in his grasp, Lydia's dark eyes darted as she refused to believe the shape holding her was Malcom, but he refused to leave her side, and started singing the school anthem to her.
It's a corny science-inspired anthem, they had to learn it the first year they're at Grissom Academy, but it hardly came up unless there's a competition.
Hearing the anthem and the corny lyrics, something stirred behind Lydia's dark eyes, she slowly stopped struggling in Malcom's grasp as she listened to him singing.
Slowly, she began singing alongside him those same corny lyrics she made fun of when she first joined the school all those years ago, that the tunnel vision finally went away, and the shape no more.
"Mal-com?" Lydia dazedly looked up at him.
A warm smile on his bearded face, Malcom affirmed that, it is him.
Their reunion was short-lived, as a gun went off, echoing, Lydia falling like a sack of bricks as Malcom shouted for her, Paul running to their sides as Taylor left the safety of the TARDIS when she heard the gunshot.
Confusion and panic overtook Malcom as he sees Lydia bleeding before him, his uncoordinated hands struggling to move as he worked with Paul to put pressure on the gunshot.
"Finally, the dog's been put to sleep!" They heard trilling as they turned their heads, seeing Krill nearby with a firearm in its three-fingered hands.
Anger swelled in Malcom as he demanded to know why Krill shot Lydia, and Krill plainly told him that if he didn't, someone else would, and they wouldn't miss a major artery.
And.
"Her and her dogs are bad for business," he said pragmatically with a chirp.
Sure, Krill wanted them to deal with Lydia and her machine pests, but there's still a great deal of people on Putnam that wanted nothing more than kill them all, so of course, Krill had to do something to help quell the denizens' appetite.
Besides, he couldn't turn down a payment for his service doing such thing.
"Payment?" Paul called out to Krill.
A shrug as he hoisted his firearm over his shoulder, Krill mentioned that someone paid him heavily to ensure that Lydia's dealt with, well he couldn't say no to the payment, after all, it's enough to recoup the losses provoked by Lydia and her dogs' causing problems with him and the rest of the denizens on Putnam.
"Who?" Paul demanded to know who contracted Krill to do such thing, but the alien coyly reminded him that there's more pressing matters, pointing to the unconscious Lydia.
Unable to leave her side for a second to give Krill a well-deserved beating, Malcom's forced to remain with her as Paul and Taylor worked with him to lift her from the ground, blood seeping through her robe.
Having no choice, the trio carried the bleeding Lydia back to the TARDIS, and it immediately disappeared from the spot, as it took them to the hospital Malcom mentioned, where the doctors and nurses took over the moment, they brought Lydia through those doors.
True to his words, Krill didn't shoot Lydia somewhere that'd prove lethal, his shot missed her vital organs and her arteries, so there's that.
Surgery took time, Malcom paced around the waiting room with a trembling look in his blue eyes.
While they were waiting for the news of the surgery, Paul and Taylor retrieved Blue and Hobbs, having disabled and removed the Cybermen components from them, they brought them to the hospital much to the excitement of the staff.
Lydia needed familiar faces to heal, and her metallic dogs are no exception.
Calming down, Malcom asked if Paul tracked down Krill, but frowned as Paul informed him that he couldn't find the alien.
"Bugger probably took his hoard and gone off somewhere," Malcom cursed Krill.
A frown, Paul says that while it's unfortunate, Malcom got his wish, after all.
Lydia's getting the treatment she desperately needed and snapped out of her state, finally.
"Did you find out who paid him?" Malcom asked about the person who paid Krill the job.
Shaking his head, Paul says that he didn't.
None of the locals were too fond of someone asking too many questions, so his search came up empty.
Though given what Lydia done in her state, it's Malcom's guess as any.
Their conversation ended when one of the surgeons stepped through the push-doors and informed them that Lydia's in recovery if they wanted a chance to speak with her for a while before visitation period ended.
Thanking him, Malcom led them to the recovery ward where Lydia laid on the bed, an IV bag attached to her as the machines monitored her health.
A warm smile, Malcom sat beside her as he reached out to caress her face.
Woozily, Lydia barely registers his touch, until she turned her head towards him, asking if this's another nightmare.
"No, my little butterfly, you're awake, now," Malcom informed her that she wasn't having another nightmare, she is awake in a hospital being treated for her wound.
They continue talking to each other until Lydia noticed Paul and a look of remorse appears on her face as she apologises for what she done, but he forgave her, stating it wasn't her fault.
"Did they find it?" Lydia asks Paul.
Blinking, Paul inquired what she meant, and before Lydia could tell him, a nurse came in to inform them that they needed to leave, visitation hours were over for the day, and Lydia needed her rest.
Not to mention, there's concerns about the machines left in the waiting room, so Malcom agreed to take them with him when he left.
Upon leaving the recovery ward, Malcom thanked Paul and Taylor profusely for their help, though he wished they resolved the mysteries that continued perplexing him.
Paul assures him that in time, he'll get the answers he sought, for now, he needed to be there for Lydia, every step of the way.
A handshake between Paul and Taylor, Malcom saw them off, where they disappeared into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS disappears thereafter.
… Elsewhere…
"It's done," Krill stepped through the entrance of his shop as he trilled aloud to someone in the corner. "The dogs are gone, too."
He heard back a posh, "Did she speak of anything?"
Krill shrugs as he disinterestedly tells the figure in the corner that he didn't care to listen to a crazed woman, but the figure stated sharply that the terms were precise.
"Who'd believe the words of a madwoman?" Krill chirped.
He sees the figure standing up and coming towards him.
His hand outstretched, Krill awaited his payment for his service, but the figure informed him that he failed.
And failure isn't an option.
Krill grew angry as he demanded his payment and the figure stopped short of him, the near-supernatural cold air around them growing bitter by the minute.
"She cannot remember," the posh voice stated.
Krill's shrills lasted only a minute, as another figure came behind him, hoisting him up from the back, his body sliding down sharp cylindrical steel until it dropped in a heavy thud when the steel retracted, returning into the shape of a human finger.
"She cannot remember," the posh voice stated to the figure in front of it. "Do away with her. Ensure no one remembers."
A stiff nod from the figure in front of it.
The posh voice then says, "Consequatur improviso para."
THE END