Doctor Who’s Nightmares - The Walk of the Cybermen 3/7
Title: Doctor Who’s Nightmares - The Walk of the Cybermen 3/7
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, The Doctor (10), OFC, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Benton
Parings: Jack/Ianto (very mild Ianto/OFC)
Disclaimer: Neither Torchwood or Doctor Who are mine
Summary: The Doctor is called in when unknown aliens start killing at Newcastle Airport
Spoilers: After the events of ‘Children of Earth’, but not obviously referenced (sequel to fix-it fic)
Rating: PG-13
A/N: This is a sequel to Doctor Who and the Cathedral of Light, and will make much more sense if it’s read.
Prologue here
By the time Louise Ruth came to her senses the explosions of electricity had stopped. Realising that she was sitting on Ianto, she quietly rolled off him and checked his breathing. A slight bump on the head explained why he was unconscious, but apart from that he was still in good shape.
Perhaps too good a shape, she mused as she dabbed at his forehead with her handkerchief. She was just about to move the large steel bin that had protected her and Ianto when she heard footsteps heading in her direction.
Curling her fingers into a fist she waited. Whatever came round the corner was going to get it straight to the jaw, a Sugar Ray Leonard special. Making her body as small a target as possible she dropped down into a low crouch, her arms tight against her body. As the shadowed figure approached she braced herself for the up and coming onslaught. They wouldn’t take her easily. The bin she was hiding behind was nudged slightly to the right as the assailant turned to meet her.
Without a seconds thought she came out of the crouch. Her blow of controlled energy was short and powerful. She let loose with a right cross that slammed into the jaw of the man standing before her. Pain shot up her wrist as it buckled on impact. The knuckles went numb as her elbow gave way sending her forward into the attacker before her. Colliding with her assailant she staggered forward into the light given off by a single street lamp overhead. The figure in front of her was not like anything she had seen before.
Thrusting her good hand inside her shoulder bag, she quickly removed the X3 Taser and fired. The twin darts shot from the end of the gun slamming home into the attacker’s midriff. Activating the gun, a full 180,000-volt of electrical energy exploded into her assailant. The effect of the blast far outweighed her expectations. The figure in front of her was surrounded in a faint blue light. It began to vibrate and stagger backward. Small, localised explosions erupted from its joints as it fell to its knees. Hitting a recall button the darts detached from the figure returning back to the gun ready to be fired a second time.
‘Bloody hell!’ Louise Ruth exclaimed as smoke erupted from the electrified figure, which then fell forward unceremoniously onto its face. ‘Now that’s what I’m talking about.’
Turning her back on the still smoking figure, she felt the blood rush back into her right hand and winced. ‘I bet good old Sugar Ray never had to deal with Shadow Warriors.’
The Doctor raised his head from inside the bin Louise Ruth and Ianto had been hiding behind and stared in wonder at his companion.
‘The Brigadier and all his men couldn’t have put him down with all their specialist training and heavy metal machine guns but you… you throw a punch at it.’ Leaping over the bin, the doctor landed next to Louise Ruth and gave her a hug. ‘Apart from solvent, a Taser is probably the only thing that could have immobilised it.’
A loud gasp came from the other side of the bin and Jack emerged still unsteady on his feet and hiding a burn hole in his shirt. Jack stared down at the figure lying at their feet and gasped in horror.
‘It looks like a Cyberman… but not one I’ve ever seen before.’ The Doctor knelt by the silver suited figure and examined its chest plate. ‘It’s not made of steel,’ Jack added, not sure what to think.
‘The reason you haven’t seen one of these before Mr Harkness is because they should be extinct.’ Checking the wiring in the chest plate, the Doctor shook his head. ‘This chap isn’t one of those Canary Warf Cybermen created by John Lumic from a parallel Earth. No… this silver nightmare originally came from Earth’s twin planet Mondas.
‘Mondas… never heard of it.’ Louise Ruth said, still engrossed in the Cyberman she had killed. ‘I didn’t think Earth had a twin planet… wouldn’t someone know?’
Removing the sonic screwdriver the Doctor let the blue light buzz across the silver form beneath him. ‘During Earth’s prehistoric times Mondas was knocked out of solar orbit and left to drift in space. From there they sent out spacecrafts to colonise other planets such as Telos, keeping vast reserves of Cybermen in cryogenic sleep.’
‘And you think he’s one of those Telos Cybermen?’ Louise Ruth asked.
The Doctor shook his head and continued his narration. ‘They were just like you once upon a time. They started to implant more and more artificial parts into their bodies as a means of self-preservation. Devoid of emotion they became coldly logical and calculating. They’ve undergone so much augmentation they have few remaining organic parts.’
Louise Ruth looked on in amazement. ‘Why has it got those handlebars on the side of its head?’ She knelt next to the Doctor and winced as she noticed the dent in the side of the Cyberman’s jaw.
‘They’re for hearing and…’ The Doctor removed the chest plate and gazed into the workings of the Cyberman. ‘I suppose I can tell where they came from by examining their level of augmentation. When I first bumped into them they were mostly human with only a few external prosthesis, human hands and facial structure. Then over the years they upgrade as the situation demands.’ The Doctor smiled in triumph, ‘got it. The last time I saw Cybermen in this particular configuration they were trying to blow up the planet Voga.’ Louise looked at the Doctor quizzically.
‘Why were they trying to blow up a planet?’ The Doctor smiled,
‘Because it was made of gold and that is one of their weaknesses. Gold dust coats their breathing apparatus and chokes them to death.’ Louise Ruth’s eyes opened wide.
‘Cool… they must be expensive to kill’ Jack now looked interested.
‘Voga… you wouldn’t happen to know where this particular planet is, would you Doc? I mean… they may know something useful about the Cybermen.’
Just then Ianto staggered out from behind the wheeled industrial bin, one hand on his forehead. Looking down at the Cyberman he froze as he remembered Canary Warf. He remembered Torchwood One and the years he’d spent working there, the friends he’d made the people he’d fallen in love with…but most of all he remembered Lisa Hallett. Tears ran freely down his face as a look of utter horror started in his eyes then took hold of his entire body. Moving Jack to one side he ran up to the prostrate Cyberman and began kicking it. The Doctor and Louise Ruth just managed to leap out of the way as Ianto’s barrage of blows thundered into the silver covering.
‘You bastard… bastard… bastard!’ Few had seen Ianto angry, let alone lose his temper. Jack’s arms wrapped tightly around Ianto’s shoulders, pinning them to his sides and drawing him away from the Cyberman. Fighting first against the hold, then relinquishing to it, Ianto turned and hugged Jack as tears soaked the shoulder of his air force greatcoat. Jack looked over Ianto’s shoulder at Louise Ruth and explained.
‘Ianto was one of twenty-seven survivors of Canary Wharf from a total of eight hundred and twenty three people.’ Still holding onto Jack Ianto spoke.
‘I was so scared… the things I saw… people being converted… the screams… the blood… and Lisa…’ Ianto broke off, the words catching in the expanding lump in his throat.
‘Lisa was his girlfriend. He pulled her out of a conversion unit before she was fully turned into one of them.’ Ianto pulled away still not meeting Jack’s gaze.
‘She was covered in blood… I was crying…screaming… screaming for help but no one came. And Lisa… all the while Lisa was trying to strangle me. The woman I loved… planned to spend the rest of my life with… was trying to kill me.’ What Ianto hadn’t said was that Lisa had been too far-gone to save and her life had to end. Jack held Ianto tightly in his arms and Ianto squeezed back slightly before moving away. He knew that Jack had had to kill her but that hadn’t stopped him hating Jack at the time.
‘So how do you like Hendon Jack?’ Louise Ruth asked, rapidly changing the subject whilst rubbing her hand, trying to attract some kind of feeling back into it. Anything would have done that wasn’t associated with pain.
‘It’s not exactly the Boeshane Peninsula, but it does have excitement, I’ll give it that.’ Dusting off the sleeves of his blue suit the Doctor returned the sonic screwdriver to his jacket pocket.
‘If it’s all the same with you lot, I think we should get out of here.’ Jack nodded then pointed down at the partially dismantled Cyberman.
‘What about silver boy here… I mean we just can’t leave him here can we?’ Louise Ruth walked between Jack and Ianto and, taking both of them by the hand, winced slightly as Ianto gave her right hand a gentle squeeze.
‘I say, leave it here, after all this is Hendon, it’ll be stripped to the bone in a matter of minutes. The next time you see it, if you’re lucky, will be at a Seaham Harbour car boot sale and the seller will swear he’s had it in his family for years.’
Shrugging, the four turned their back on the Cyberman and headed away from the ‘Blue House’ pub, keeping the brick wall on their left they walked parallel to the housing estate.
‘Doc… while you’re figuring out the hows and whys of this, I say we meet up with Sergeant Benton. That’ll give us transport and more fire power if it’s needed.’ No one spoke as they followed Jack out of the blackness, and no one seemed to realise that Louise Ruth and Ianto were still holding hands.
***
Regimental Sergeant Major Benton came to in a sea of pain. His body hurt just about everywhere. Opening his eyes he tried to get his bearings but only bright light and pain filled his vision. He almost cried out as four Shadow Warriors walked towards his position, their energy weapons held at the ready. Pain filled him with such intensity that his body decided enough was enough and unconsciousness took hold of his sanity and lead it away.
When he came to for the second time he was surprised that he was still alive. The pain had diminished enough for him to focus as he opened his eyes without passing out again. Carefully he tried to move but nothing seemed to respond. Moving his eyes he could see his arms lying in front of him but despite all his efforts they wouldn’t respond to his commands.
As he looked, he noticed a small red light flashing on his Sontaran bracelet. He knew what that meant; the clocking device had been activated in the crash. Then it hit him… The four Shadow Warriors that had walked towards him just before he had blacked out couldn’t have seen him. That was probably the only reason he was still alive.
Despite all his best efforts he realised that he still couldn’t move. The beginnings of claustrophobic-induced panic began to set in as he forced himself to calm down.
He remembered when he had been a child and had woken up on a number of occasions unable to move. Back then it had been a mental thing which he had forced himself out of. Slowly he would begin to move his fingers, then his arm and finally the rest of his body would obey his instructions, usually accompanied by a sigh of relief.
Mirroring his childhood success he slowly began to move his head and, despite the pain, was successful enough to see the smouldering wreckage of the SUV. An arm, still holding an MP5, lay on the ground separated from the rest of its body. No stripes showed on the sleeve so Benton came to the conclusion that it had once belonged to the UNIT soldier called Steve.
He was just wondering what had happened to the sergeant when a noise to his left startled him. Turning slightly he breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed the Doctor and his companions emerging from the darkness. Opening his mouth to shout, blood ran down his throat almost choking him. Desperately he tried to move his right hand but again it wouldn’t respond. Just my luck, he thought, I’m going to die right in front of help and no one’s going to see me.
Jack’s army boot hit the ground next to his head as he walked passed, just inches away. It wasn’t until the Doctor passed him that panic really began to set in. With all his strength he tried to shout but nothing came out. His vision began to blur and he realised he was crying. Someone help me! he screamed in his mind but no words left his blood soaked mouth.
Concentrating, he tried to move his left leg and was stunned when his toes freely wiggled in his boot. If he could feel them and move them then he wasn’t paralysed, or was he? He’d been in the army too long not to forget phantom limbs still giving feeling. He could be crippled from the waist down and still feel as if his legs were moving.
Through watering eyes he saw Ianto carefully pick up the severed limb and place it away from the smouldering wreckage. Hadn’t they noticed that his body wasn’t there, or did they think that it had been consumed by the fire?
A sound like one he hadn’t heard before hit him like an express train. It was then that he realised he had been deaf since he had first regained consciousness. His left knee began to hurt badly and with a feeling of joy he realised that he could move it slightly. Whether it was a phantom movement or not he didn’t know, but movement was there.
Tilting his head backward he saw with horror that the group was leaving. Jack had already disappeared into the darkness, closely followed by Ianto. The Doctor and Louise Ruth were just disappearing from the side of his peripheral vision as sheer desperation and panic forced him to double his efforts. They were going and would never know that he’d lay dying only feet from them. He started to shake, tears running down his cheeks and a wet patch increasing in size between his legs; he was more frightened now than he’d ever been in his life.
***
The Doctor scanned the area shaking his head in dismay. Death was so wasteful even if the person was unknown to you, but when it was someone you were close to and had been for more years than he could remember, it hurt deep down.
‘It doesn’t seem right somehow, leaving this here.’ Ianto said as he picked up the severed limb and moved it away from the wreckage. Placing it on a bench he covered it in newspaper from an adjacent bin. While Jack checked the perimeter the Doctor and Louise Ruth looked into the smouldering mass that had once been a UNIT SUV. The two burnt out corpses lay in the rear of what was left of the vehicle, one with a limb missing. Checking the front seat the Doctor couldn’t see any remains of Benton.
Looking around Louise Ruth looked worried. ‘Perhaps he survived and they’ve taken him.’
The Doctor continued his search of the area but couldn’t see any tracks or signs of a struggle. He knew Benton from old and came to the immediate conclusion that if he had been taken he would have put up one hell of a struggle.
‘He’s here somewhere I can feel it,’ Louise Ruth said, annoyance more than anything showing clearly on her face. As the Doctor began to walk away it hit her. ‘Jack… the bracelets the Sontarans gave John, they’re thought activated aren’t they?’ Jack nodded, not sure where she was going with this but not too keen to stay near the wreckage in case the Shadow Warriors returned.
‘Picture the scene, the Shadow Warriors are firing at you, perhaps they’ve disabled the SUV. You can’t return fire because you’re concentrating on driving. Explosions are erupting all around you, what is the first thing you think about?’ Jack smiled knowing where Louise Ruth’s logical thought patterns were taking her.
‘You want to be as invisible as possible.’ Louise Ruth nodded as the Doctor and Ianto joined her.
‘Exactly… now if he’s here and he’s unconscious, we need to find him.’ Following a line from the front of the burnt out SUV, the four checked every section of exposed concrete for an invisible Sergeant Benton.
***
Listening to Louise Ruth, her words hit Benton like a sledge hammer. Thought controlled, he’d forgotten. It was something he could use to help them find him. Concentrating, he mentally told the bracelet to make him visible again. In that instant his right arm and leg appeared in front of him still attached to his body, it seemed. A shout rang out so close he almost screamed in fright. Coughing and choking he felt a great weight lift from his body and mind as hands took hold of him and pulled him forward.
As he turned onto his back he noticed Jack and Ianto holding parts of a brick wall which had been pinning him to the ground. Free of the encumbrance, Benton felt the pins and needles of feeling rush to his limbs closely followed by pain. He didn’t care… he was alive and, it seemed, intact.
Now able to move his jaw he realised that he had been biting his tongue all the time. As they sat him on the bench next to Steve’s severed arm, Benton leaned forward and spat out the blood that had collected in his mouth. He felt as if one of the Doctor’s aliens had crawled in his mouth, shit itself then violently passed away. Shaking slightly he realised how panicked he’d been. He’d fought Cybermen, stone gargoyles; he’d fought dinosaurs, giant robots and androids and had never been as scared as he had been under the brick wall. Perhaps the Brig’ had been right… perhaps he was too old.
Giving Benton the once over with the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor gave him a clean bill of health. ‘You’re as healthy as someone a third of your age, but mentally I think you’re a little shaken.’
Benton nodded in agreement; still unable to talk as his tongue had swollen from the bite he’d given it. Jack passed him a small silver flask which he took with a smile. Taking a pull of whisky he winced with the pain but drank deeply. Nodding his thanks he handed the flask back to Jack who pocketed it and joined the Doctor.
One part of him was still exhilarated by the action and near death experience while the other, older part, wished he’d stayed a second hand car salesman. The pain and discomfort was everywhere. He was covered in dried blood and bruises and his camouflage jacket and trousers were both torn. He was a mess and he knew it. To be any use to this group he knew that he’d have to pull himself together.
‘Problems Doc? Something new?’ Jack asked noticing the Doctor’s distant stare.
Breaking his train of thought, the Doctor turned to Jack, a worried look on his face. ‘No Jack…something old…something very old. We appear to be surrounded by a heat barrier cutting the estate off from the outside world.’ Jack looked around him in surprise,
‘What… you mean we can’t get into the estate?’ The Doctor shook his head.
‘No… we’re already inside the estate. The heat barrier is stopping us from getting out.’ Holding the sonic screwdriver in the air the Doctor waited until Ianto, Benton and Louise Ruth joined them.
‘What do you mean by heat barrier Doctor? Is it the same as the one we tried to get through before, when we were attacked by those gargoyle things?’ The doctor nodded.
‘Brilliant Sergeant Benton, exactly the same…so be careful you don’t go wandering into it.’ To prove his point the Doctor picked up a stone and threw it towards the railway line. As it arched over the stone wall it hit an invisible barrier and exploded into fragments. A yellow shimmer extended outward showing that they barrier domed terrifyingly over their heads.
‘That time the Master used it to keep us out.’ Benton nodded, remembering the friends he’d lost battling Azal and his daemons. He also remembered that the Doctor had rigged up a device to break through the heat barrier. Activating his wrist communicator Benton tried to contact the Brigadier but was dismayed when he received no replay.
‘Doctor, I’ve tried to contact the Brig’ but there’s no reply. I mean he can’t be out, he wears the thing on his wrist like me.’ Looking up at the shield the Doctor nodded.
‘It’s the shield… the signal wont pass through that. I’m afraid we’re all alone on this one Sergeant Benton.’
As if on cue a cat cried out and a dog began to bark. More glass shattered and the dog was again silent. Looking over her shoulder Louise Ruth scanned the area for movement. Three figures walked slowly up the street from the direction they had come.
‘Err… Doctor…’ Still gazing at the heat barrier the Doctor noticed the air shimmer around him blurring his vision slightly as he tried to look out across the railway track.
‘Did you say everyone had been evacuated to the sports centre?’ The Doctors gaze was away from Louise Ruth, looking passed the unlit skip parallel to the train lines.
‘Yes, they’re all safely out of here. The barrier cuts us off from the sports centre so they can’t get in…’ Turning he faced Louise Ruth, his gaze following hers. ‘Why?’
Turning towards the on coming figures, Benton recognised them immediately. ‘Doctor… it’s those Sea Devils.’ Benton just managed to get his words out when they opened fire. The skip they were hiding behind exploded in a shower of brick and mud.
‘When I say run… run.’ The Doctor shouted as Benton activated his bracelet gun. Two more explosions struck the skip forcing it to tip on its side. The group just managed to step backward as the contents of the skip spilled out onto the road.
Benton fired his wrist gun at the oncoming Sea Devils and was pleased when one of the sea creatures staggered and fell. ‘Wish I’d had these when they first tried to kill us.’ Benton said as another explosion struck the skip.
‘Run!’ The Doctor shouted as he headed off down the road with Jack taking up the rear as he sent three shots from his Webley into the advancing duo. Both shots struck home but had no effect. They hadn’t even slowed them down, Jack mused. He also noticed that the Doctor had cut right down a side street then realised why when four silver suited Cybermen advanced on them blocking the road as they came.
Following Louise Ruth’s advancing form he turned right again out of the line of sight of his pursuers. This time they were hiding behind a house sporting the Union Jack, along with a second flag of St George with the word Sunderland across the red centre strip.
‘Very patriotic,’ Ianto said. ‘No Welsh flags I see.’ Steeling a quick look around the corner the Doctor smiled.
‘The Sea devils have engaged the Cybermen. They’re battling it out amongst themselves.’ Jack joined the Doctor a look of wonderment on his face.
‘Where are these guys coming from Doc?’ The Doctor pulled back from the corner shaking his head. ‘Trouble just seems to follow you around.’
‘Not really,’ he replied. ‘It pretty much knows where I am most of the time.’
Benton leaned forward catching his breath. The crash and brick wall had seemed to take more out of him than he’d first thought. Then it struck him. Physically he was as strong as he’d been forty years ago, but mentally he was almost at the end of his endurance. Just then a red light began to flash on his bracelet, one he’d never seen before. Looking across at Benton the Doctor took hold of his wrist and played the sonic screwdriver over it.
‘You’re almost out of power sergeant Benton.’ Benton looked at his wrist then back at the Doctor, a look of horror on his face. Realising the implications the Doctor give him an encouraging smile. ‘Not to worry Sergeant… it’ll recharge when the sun comes up… solar powered you see.’ Benton breathed a sigh of relief.
‘For a minute there Doctor, I thought…’ he left the rest unsaid. The Doctor leaned forward looking closely at the bracelet.
‘This is an intricate piece of machinery. Every time you fire it, it drains power from the battery cells. Lying with the clocking device turned on drained it to the extent you have very little left. But not to worry, you won’t grow old. It won’t let you drain that much power. The other functions will just stop working. Now, if you lived on a planet with no day time… no ultraviolet light… then you should worry. My advice is… keep away from the north and south poles and stick to the equator regions.’ Benton nodded; his neck and tongue still sore from the falling brick wall.
Just then the red light on his bracelet stopped flashing. The Doctor continued to smile. ‘See… nothing to worry about. It can charge, it seems, from the ambient light but try not to use it too much until day light.
‘I think what we need, is to get out of the firing line for a while and figure out a course of action,’ Ianto added, trying to appear more confidant than he felt.
‘I agree Ianto my fine friend… but this place is sown up tighter than a Sontaran’s arse.’ Louise Ruth smiled, a devilish grin flashing across her face. She was starting to feel more and more like she could really do with a drink.
‘That pub back there, the Blue House… it looks sturdy enough and has good clear ground… “Killing ground” I think John would call it. We can see them coming.’ The Doctor looked at Louise Ruth, disappointment showing clearly.
‘If you touch one drink… just one.’ Louise smiled, an impish grin still prominent on her face.
‘We can cut through these houses and be back at the Blue House in minutes. The problem is if anything sees us they’ll know where we are,’ Ianto added, not too sure of the plan but willing to go along with it.
‘What we need Doc, is a diversion. Something to draw them away from the group.’ Without another word Jack ducked down the alleyway and ran towards the mêlée that was taking place back on the main road.
‘You cannot go into the darkness without it going into you,’ Louise Ruth said as Jack disappeared from view.
‘Let’s hope he hasn’t gone in too many times and can’t find his way out,’ the Doctor added. Ianto made a move to follow Jack but Benton stopped him.
‘He knows what he’s doing. He’ll be all right. Stealth is the name of the game and he’s the expert. If you live as long as he has you’ll learn a thing or two about combat.’
As they turned to walk away they all froze at the sound of Jack’s voice as it echoed out over the empty houses.
‘Here I am! Over here you silver assed bastards! Here, come and get me ready or not!’ The sound of exploding energy weapons masked his voice as the group moved out.
‘Of course there are two schools of thought on this…’ Benton added without mirth.
The Blue House 4/7
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, The Doctor (10), OFC, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Benton
Parings: Jack/Ianto (very mild Ianto/OFC)
Disclaimer: Neither Torchwood or Doctor Who are mine
Summary: The Doctor is called in when unknown aliens start killing at Newcastle Airport
Spoilers: After the events of ‘Children of Earth’, but not obviously referenced (sequel to fix-it fic)
Rating: PG-13
A/N: This is a sequel to Doctor Who and the Cathedral of Light, and will make much more sense if it’s read.
Prologue here
By the time Louise Ruth came to her senses the explosions of electricity had stopped. Realising that she was sitting on Ianto, she quietly rolled off him and checked his breathing. A slight bump on the head explained why he was unconscious, but apart from that he was still in good shape.
Perhaps too good a shape, she mused as she dabbed at his forehead with her handkerchief. She was just about to move the large steel bin that had protected her and Ianto when she heard footsteps heading in her direction.
Curling her fingers into a fist she waited. Whatever came round the corner was going to get it straight to the jaw, a Sugar Ray Leonard special. Making her body as small a target as possible she dropped down into a low crouch, her arms tight against her body. As the shadowed figure approached she braced herself for the up and coming onslaught. They wouldn’t take her easily. The bin she was hiding behind was nudged slightly to the right as the assailant turned to meet her.
Without a seconds thought she came out of the crouch. Her blow of controlled energy was short and powerful. She let loose with a right cross that slammed into the jaw of the man standing before her. Pain shot up her wrist as it buckled on impact. The knuckles went numb as her elbow gave way sending her forward into the attacker before her. Colliding with her assailant she staggered forward into the light given off by a single street lamp overhead. The figure in front of her was not like anything she had seen before.
Thrusting her good hand inside her shoulder bag, she quickly removed the X3 Taser and fired. The twin darts shot from the end of the gun slamming home into the attacker’s midriff. Activating the gun, a full 180,000-volt of electrical energy exploded into her assailant. The effect of the blast far outweighed her expectations. The figure in front of her was surrounded in a faint blue light. It began to vibrate and stagger backward. Small, localised explosions erupted from its joints as it fell to its knees. Hitting a recall button the darts detached from the figure returning back to the gun ready to be fired a second time.
‘Bloody hell!’ Louise Ruth exclaimed as smoke erupted from the electrified figure, which then fell forward unceremoniously onto its face. ‘Now that’s what I’m talking about.’
Turning her back on the still smoking figure, she felt the blood rush back into her right hand and winced. ‘I bet good old Sugar Ray never had to deal with Shadow Warriors.’
The Doctor raised his head from inside the bin Louise Ruth and Ianto had been hiding behind and stared in wonder at his companion.
‘The Brigadier and all his men couldn’t have put him down with all their specialist training and heavy metal machine guns but you… you throw a punch at it.’ Leaping over the bin, the doctor landed next to Louise Ruth and gave her a hug. ‘Apart from solvent, a Taser is probably the only thing that could have immobilised it.’
A loud gasp came from the other side of the bin and Jack emerged still unsteady on his feet and hiding a burn hole in his shirt. Jack stared down at the figure lying at their feet and gasped in horror.
‘It looks like a Cyberman… but not one I’ve ever seen before.’ The Doctor knelt by the silver suited figure and examined its chest plate. ‘It’s not made of steel,’ Jack added, not sure what to think.
‘The reason you haven’t seen one of these before Mr Harkness is because they should be extinct.’ Checking the wiring in the chest plate, the Doctor shook his head. ‘This chap isn’t one of those Canary Warf Cybermen created by John Lumic from a parallel Earth. No… this silver nightmare originally came from Earth’s twin planet Mondas.
‘Mondas… never heard of it.’ Louise Ruth said, still engrossed in the Cyberman she had killed. ‘I didn’t think Earth had a twin planet… wouldn’t someone know?’
Removing the sonic screwdriver the Doctor let the blue light buzz across the silver form beneath him. ‘During Earth’s prehistoric times Mondas was knocked out of solar orbit and left to drift in space. From there they sent out spacecrafts to colonise other planets such as Telos, keeping vast reserves of Cybermen in cryogenic sleep.’
‘And you think he’s one of those Telos Cybermen?’ Louise Ruth asked.
The Doctor shook his head and continued his narration. ‘They were just like you once upon a time. They started to implant more and more artificial parts into their bodies as a means of self-preservation. Devoid of emotion they became coldly logical and calculating. They’ve undergone so much augmentation they have few remaining organic parts.’
Louise Ruth looked on in amazement. ‘Why has it got those handlebars on the side of its head?’ She knelt next to the Doctor and winced as she noticed the dent in the side of the Cyberman’s jaw.
‘They’re for hearing and…’ The Doctor removed the chest plate and gazed into the workings of the Cyberman. ‘I suppose I can tell where they came from by examining their level of augmentation. When I first bumped into them they were mostly human with only a few external prosthesis, human hands and facial structure. Then over the years they upgrade as the situation demands.’ The Doctor smiled in triumph, ‘got it. The last time I saw Cybermen in this particular configuration they were trying to blow up the planet Voga.’ Louise looked at the Doctor quizzically.
‘Why were they trying to blow up a planet?’ The Doctor smiled,
‘Because it was made of gold and that is one of their weaknesses. Gold dust coats their breathing apparatus and chokes them to death.’ Louise Ruth’s eyes opened wide.
‘Cool… they must be expensive to kill’ Jack now looked interested.
‘Voga… you wouldn’t happen to know where this particular planet is, would you Doc? I mean… they may know something useful about the Cybermen.’
Just then Ianto staggered out from behind the wheeled industrial bin, one hand on his forehead. Looking down at the Cyberman he froze as he remembered Canary Warf. He remembered Torchwood One and the years he’d spent working there, the friends he’d made the people he’d fallen in love with…but most of all he remembered Lisa Hallett. Tears ran freely down his face as a look of utter horror started in his eyes then took hold of his entire body. Moving Jack to one side he ran up to the prostrate Cyberman and began kicking it. The Doctor and Louise Ruth just managed to leap out of the way as Ianto’s barrage of blows thundered into the silver covering.
‘You bastard… bastard… bastard!’ Few had seen Ianto angry, let alone lose his temper. Jack’s arms wrapped tightly around Ianto’s shoulders, pinning them to his sides and drawing him away from the Cyberman. Fighting first against the hold, then relinquishing to it, Ianto turned and hugged Jack as tears soaked the shoulder of his air force greatcoat. Jack looked over Ianto’s shoulder at Louise Ruth and explained.
‘Ianto was one of twenty-seven survivors of Canary Wharf from a total of eight hundred and twenty three people.’ Still holding onto Jack Ianto spoke.
‘I was so scared… the things I saw… people being converted… the screams… the blood… and Lisa…’ Ianto broke off, the words catching in the expanding lump in his throat.
‘Lisa was his girlfriend. He pulled her out of a conversion unit before she was fully turned into one of them.’ Ianto pulled away still not meeting Jack’s gaze.
‘She was covered in blood… I was crying…screaming… screaming for help but no one came. And Lisa… all the while Lisa was trying to strangle me. The woman I loved… planned to spend the rest of my life with… was trying to kill me.’ What Ianto hadn’t said was that Lisa had been too far-gone to save and her life had to end. Jack held Ianto tightly in his arms and Ianto squeezed back slightly before moving away. He knew that Jack had had to kill her but that hadn’t stopped him hating Jack at the time.
‘So how do you like Hendon Jack?’ Louise Ruth asked, rapidly changing the subject whilst rubbing her hand, trying to attract some kind of feeling back into it. Anything would have done that wasn’t associated with pain.
‘It’s not exactly the Boeshane Peninsula, but it does have excitement, I’ll give it that.’ Dusting off the sleeves of his blue suit the Doctor returned the sonic screwdriver to his jacket pocket.
‘If it’s all the same with you lot, I think we should get out of here.’ Jack nodded then pointed down at the partially dismantled Cyberman.
‘What about silver boy here… I mean we just can’t leave him here can we?’ Louise Ruth walked between Jack and Ianto and, taking both of them by the hand, winced slightly as Ianto gave her right hand a gentle squeeze.
‘I say, leave it here, after all this is Hendon, it’ll be stripped to the bone in a matter of minutes. The next time you see it, if you’re lucky, will be at a Seaham Harbour car boot sale and the seller will swear he’s had it in his family for years.’
Shrugging, the four turned their back on the Cyberman and headed away from the ‘Blue House’ pub, keeping the brick wall on their left they walked parallel to the housing estate.
‘Doc… while you’re figuring out the hows and whys of this, I say we meet up with Sergeant Benton. That’ll give us transport and more fire power if it’s needed.’ No one spoke as they followed Jack out of the blackness, and no one seemed to realise that Louise Ruth and Ianto were still holding hands.
***
Regimental Sergeant Major Benton came to in a sea of pain. His body hurt just about everywhere. Opening his eyes he tried to get his bearings but only bright light and pain filled his vision. He almost cried out as four Shadow Warriors walked towards his position, their energy weapons held at the ready. Pain filled him with such intensity that his body decided enough was enough and unconsciousness took hold of his sanity and lead it away.
When he came to for the second time he was surprised that he was still alive. The pain had diminished enough for him to focus as he opened his eyes without passing out again. Carefully he tried to move but nothing seemed to respond. Moving his eyes he could see his arms lying in front of him but despite all his efforts they wouldn’t respond to his commands.
As he looked, he noticed a small red light flashing on his Sontaran bracelet. He knew what that meant; the clocking device had been activated in the crash. Then it hit him… The four Shadow Warriors that had walked towards him just before he had blacked out couldn’t have seen him. That was probably the only reason he was still alive.
Despite all his best efforts he realised that he still couldn’t move. The beginnings of claustrophobic-induced panic began to set in as he forced himself to calm down.
He remembered when he had been a child and had woken up on a number of occasions unable to move. Back then it had been a mental thing which he had forced himself out of. Slowly he would begin to move his fingers, then his arm and finally the rest of his body would obey his instructions, usually accompanied by a sigh of relief.
Mirroring his childhood success he slowly began to move his head and, despite the pain, was successful enough to see the smouldering wreckage of the SUV. An arm, still holding an MP5, lay on the ground separated from the rest of its body. No stripes showed on the sleeve so Benton came to the conclusion that it had once belonged to the UNIT soldier called Steve.
He was just wondering what had happened to the sergeant when a noise to his left startled him. Turning slightly he breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed the Doctor and his companions emerging from the darkness. Opening his mouth to shout, blood ran down his throat almost choking him. Desperately he tried to move his right hand but again it wouldn’t respond. Just my luck, he thought, I’m going to die right in front of help and no one’s going to see me.
Jack’s army boot hit the ground next to his head as he walked passed, just inches away. It wasn’t until the Doctor passed him that panic really began to set in. With all his strength he tried to shout but nothing came out. His vision began to blur and he realised he was crying. Someone help me! he screamed in his mind but no words left his blood soaked mouth.
Concentrating, he tried to move his left leg and was stunned when his toes freely wiggled in his boot. If he could feel them and move them then he wasn’t paralysed, or was he? He’d been in the army too long not to forget phantom limbs still giving feeling. He could be crippled from the waist down and still feel as if his legs were moving.
Through watering eyes he saw Ianto carefully pick up the severed limb and place it away from the smouldering wreckage. Hadn’t they noticed that his body wasn’t there, or did they think that it had been consumed by the fire?
A sound like one he hadn’t heard before hit him like an express train. It was then that he realised he had been deaf since he had first regained consciousness. His left knee began to hurt badly and with a feeling of joy he realised that he could move it slightly. Whether it was a phantom movement or not he didn’t know, but movement was there.
Tilting his head backward he saw with horror that the group was leaving. Jack had already disappeared into the darkness, closely followed by Ianto. The Doctor and Louise Ruth were just disappearing from the side of his peripheral vision as sheer desperation and panic forced him to double his efforts. They were going and would never know that he’d lay dying only feet from them. He started to shake, tears running down his cheeks and a wet patch increasing in size between his legs; he was more frightened now than he’d ever been in his life.
***
The Doctor scanned the area shaking his head in dismay. Death was so wasteful even if the person was unknown to you, but when it was someone you were close to and had been for more years than he could remember, it hurt deep down.
‘It doesn’t seem right somehow, leaving this here.’ Ianto said as he picked up the severed limb and moved it away from the wreckage. Placing it on a bench he covered it in newspaper from an adjacent bin. While Jack checked the perimeter the Doctor and Louise Ruth looked into the smouldering mass that had once been a UNIT SUV. The two burnt out corpses lay in the rear of what was left of the vehicle, one with a limb missing. Checking the front seat the Doctor couldn’t see any remains of Benton.
Looking around Louise Ruth looked worried. ‘Perhaps he survived and they’ve taken him.’
The Doctor continued his search of the area but couldn’t see any tracks or signs of a struggle. He knew Benton from old and came to the immediate conclusion that if he had been taken he would have put up one hell of a struggle.
‘He’s here somewhere I can feel it,’ Louise Ruth said, annoyance more than anything showing clearly on her face. As the Doctor began to walk away it hit her. ‘Jack… the bracelets the Sontarans gave John, they’re thought activated aren’t they?’ Jack nodded, not sure where she was going with this but not too keen to stay near the wreckage in case the Shadow Warriors returned.
‘Picture the scene, the Shadow Warriors are firing at you, perhaps they’ve disabled the SUV. You can’t return fire because you’re concentrating on driving. Explosions are erupting all around you, what is the first thing you think about?’ Jack smiled knowing where Louise Ruth’s logical thought patterns were taking her.
‘You want to be as invisible as possible.’ Louise Ruth nodded as the Doctor and Ianto joined her.
‘Exactly… now if he’s here and he’s unconscious, we need to find him.’ Following a line from the front of the burnt out SUV, the four checked every section of exposed concrete for an invisible Sergeant Benton.
***
Listening to Louise Ruth, her words hit Benton like a sledge hammer. Thought controlled, he’d forgotten. It was something he could use to help them find him. Concentrating, he mentally told the bracelet to make him visible again. In that instant his right arm and leg appeared in front of him still attached to his body, it seemed. A shout rang out so close he almost screamed in fright. Coughing and choking he felt a great weight lift from his body and mind as hands took hold of him and pulled him forward.
As he turned onto his back he noticed Jack and Ianto holding parts of a brick wall which had been pinning him to the ground. Free of the encumbrance, Benton felt the pins and needles of feeling rush to his limbs closely followed by pain. He didn’t care… he was alive and, it seemed, intact.
Now able to move his jaw he realised that he had been biting his tongue all the time. As they sat him on the bench next to Steve’s severed arm, Benton leaned forward and spat out the blood that had collected in his mouth. He felt as if one of the Doctor’s aliens had crawled in his mouth, shit itself then violently passed away. Shaking slightly he realised how panicked he’d been. He’d fought Cybermen, stone gargoyles; he’d fought dinosaurs, giant robots and androids and had never been as scared as he had been under the brick wall. Perhaps the Brig’ had been right… perhaps he was too old.
Giving Benton the once over with the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor gave him a clean bill of health. ‘You’re as healthy as someone a third of your age, but mentally I think you’re a little shaken.’
Benton nodded in agreement; still unable to talk as his tongue had swollen from the bite he’d given it. Jack passed him a small silver flask which he took with a smile. Taking a pull of whisky he winced with the pain but drank deeply. Nodding his thanks he handed the flask back to Jack who pocketed it and joined the Doctor.
One part of him was still exhilarated by the action and near death experience while the other, older part, wished he’d stayed a second hand car salesman. The pain and discomfort was everywhere. He was covered in dried blood and bruises and his camouflage jacket and trousers were both torn. He was a mess and he knew it. To be any use to this group he knew that he’d have to pull himself together.
‘Problems Doc? Something new?’ Jack asked noticing the Doctor’s distant stare.
Breaking his train of thought, the Doctor turned to Jack, a worried look on his face. ‘No Jack…something old…something very old. We appear to be surrounded by a heat barrier cutting the estate off from the outside world.’ Jack looked around him in surprise,
‘What… you mean we can’t get into the estate?’ The Doctor shook his head.
‘No… we’re already inside the estate. The heat barrier is stopping us from getting out.’ Holding the sonic screwdriver in the air the Doctor waited until Ianto, Benton and Louise Ruth joined them.
‘What do you mean by heat barrier Doctor? Is it the same as the one we tried to get through before, when we were attacked by those gargoyle things?’ The doctor nodded.
‘Brilliant Sergeant Benton, exactly the same…so be careful you don’t go wandering into it.’ To prove his point the Doctor picked up a stone and threw it towards the railway line. As it arched over the stone wall it hit an invisible barrier and exploded into fragments. A yellow shimmer extended outward showing that they barrier domed terrifyingly over their heads.
‘That time the Master used it to keep us out.’ Benton nodded, remembering the friends he’d lost battling Azal and his daemons. He also remembered that the Doctor had rigged up a device to break through the heat barrier. Activating his wrist communicator Benton tried to contact the Brigadier but was dismayed when he received no replay.
‘Doctor, I’ve tried to contact the Brig’ but there’s no reply. I mean he can’t be out, he wears the thing on his wrist like me.’ Looking up at the shield the Doctor nodded.
‘It’s the shield… the signal wont pass through that. I’m afraid we’re all alone on this one Sergeant Benton.’
As if on cue a cat cried out and a dog began to bark. More glass shattered and the dog was again silent. Looking over her shoulder Louise Ruth scanned the area for movement. Three figures walked slowly up the street from the direction they had come.
‘Err… Doctor…’ Still gazing at the heat barrier the Doctor noticed the air shimmer around him blurring his vision slightly as he tried to look out across the railway track.
‘Did you say everyone had been evacuated to the sports centre?’ The Doctors gaze was away from Louise Ruth, looking passed the unlit skip parallel to the train lines.
‘Yes, they’re all safely out of here. The barrier cuts us off from the sports centre so they can’t get in…’ Turning he faced Louise Ruth, his gaze following hers. ‘Why?’
Turning towards the on coming figures, Benton recognised them immediately. ‘Doctor… it’s those Sea Devils.’ Benton just managed to get his words out when they opened fire. The skip they were hiding behind exploded in a shower of brick and mud.
‘When I say run… run.’ The Doctor shouted as Benton activated his bracelet gun. Two more explosions struck the skip forcing it to tip on its side. The group just managed to step backward as the contents of the skip spilled out onto the road.
Benton fired his wrist gun at the oncoming Sea Devils and was pleased when one of the sea creatures staggered and fell. ‘Wish I’d had these when they first tried to kill us.’ Benton said as another explosion struck the skip.
‘Run!’ The Doctor shouted as he headed off down the road with Jack taking up the rear as he sent three shots from his Webley into the advancing duo. Both shots struck home but had no effect. They hadn’t even slowed them down, Jack mused. He also noticed that the Doctor had cut right down a side street then realised why when four silver suited Cybermen advanced on them blocking the road as they came.
Following Louise Ruth’s advancing form he turned right again out of the line of sight of his pursuers. This time they were hiding behind a house sporting the Union Jack, along with a second flag of St George with the word Sunderland across the red centre strip.
‘Very patriotic,’ Ianto said. ‘No Welsh flags I see.’ Steeling a quick look around the corner the Doctor smiled.
‘The Sea devils have engaged the Cybermen. They’re battling it out amongst themselves.’ Jack joined the Doctor a look of wonderment on his face.
‘Where are these guys coming from Doc?’ The Doctor pulled back from the corner shaking his head. ‘Trouble just seems to follow you around.’
‘Not really,’ he replied. ‘It pretty much knows where I am most of the time.’
Benton leaned forward catching his breath. The crash and brick wall had seemed to take more out of him than he’d first thought. Then it struck him. Physically he was as strong as he’d been forty years ago, but mentally he was almost at the end of his endurance. Just then a red light began to flash on his bracelet, one he’d never seen before. Looking across at Benton the Doctor took hold of his wrist and played the sonic screwdriver over it.
‘You’re almost out of power sergeant Benton.’ Benton looked at his wrist then back at the Doctor, a look of horror on his face. Realising the implications the Doctor give him an encouraging smile. ‘Not to worry Sergeant… it’ll recharge when the sun comes up… solar powered you see.’ Benton breathed a sigh of relief.
‘For a minute there Doctor, I thought…’ he left the rest unsaid. The Doctor leaned forward looking closely at the bracelet.
‘This is an intricate piece of machinery. Every time you fire it, it drains power from the battery cells. Lying with the clocking device turned on drained it to the extent you have very little left. But not to worry, you won’t grow old. It won’t let you drain that much power. The other functions will just stop working. Now, if you lived on a planet with no day time… no ultraviolet light… then you should worry. My advice is… keep away from the north and south poles and stick to the equator regions.’ Benton nodded; his neck and tongue still sore from the falling brick wall.
Just then the red light on his bracelet stopped flashing. The Doctor continued to smile. ‘See… nothing to worry about. It can charge, it seems, from the ambient light but try not to use it too much until day light.
‘I think what we need, is to get out of the firing line for a while and figure out a course of action,’ Ianto added, trying to appear more confidant than he felt.
‘I agree Ianto my fine friend… but this place is sown up tighter than a Sontaran’s arse.’ Louise Ruth smiled, a devilish grin flashing across her face. She was starting to feel more and more like she could really do with a drink.
‘That pub back there, the Blue House… it looks sturdy enough and has good clear ground… “Killing ground” I think John would call it. We can see them coming.’ The Doctor looked at Louise Ruth, disappointment showing clearly.
‘If you touch one drink… just one.’ Louise smiled, an impish grin still prominent on her face.
‘We can cut through these houses and be back at the Blue House in minutes. The problem is if anything sees us they’ll know where we are,’ Ianto added, not too sure of the plan but willing to go along with it.
‘What we need Doc, is a diversion. Something to draw them away from the group.’ Without another word Jack ducked down the alleyway and ran towards the mêlée that was taking place back on the main road.
‘You cannot go into the darkness without it going into you,’ Louise Ruth said as Jack disappeared from view.
‘Let’s hope he hasn’t gone in too many times and can’t find his way out,’ the Doctor added. Ianto made a move to follow Jack but Benton stopped him.
‘He knows what he’s doing. He’ll be all right. Stealth is the name of the game and he’s the expert. If you live as long as he has you’ll learn a thing or two about combat.’
As they turned to walk away they all froze at the sound of Jack’s voice as it echoed out over the empty houses.
‘Here I am! Over here you silver assed bastards! Here, come and get me ready or not!’ The sound of exploding energy weapons masked his voice as the group moved out.
‘Of course there are two schools of thought on this…’ Benton added without mirth.
The Blue House 4/7