They watched the maelstrom of fire and ash that was left... the smoldering embers being the only sign that anything had been there at all.
"Begin the Cyber-Conversions. All organic life on this station." The Cyber-Leader's voice droned over the PA just before the feed was cut, leaving the Doctor, Nyssa, and Commander Katoss staring at a static-y screen right before the monitor powered down. They had all seen it, the TARDIS erupting in flames before being disintegrated entirely, leaving naught but a smoking pile of ashes.
"Did they just... did they destroy a TARDIS?" Katoss asked. "Is that even possible?!"
"I don't..." Nyssa started to answer, then turned to face the Doctor again. "Doctor?" He was still standing with his back to them, eyes locked on that screen. "Doctor, I- are you-" She stopped again as the man began to turn. To the surprise of both Nyssa and Katoss, he bore a unique feature that he hadn't only moments before.
"Alright, glad that worked, then. Things to do!" The Doctor said, quickly moving back to the controls for the Restoration Lattice. Nyssa and Katoss were quick to follow.
"What?!" Katoss asked.
"Oh, c'mon! You think I'd leave my TARDIS without a defense mechanism?" The Doctor scoffed. "No, I needed those bucketheads to think they had a leg up on me. Anyway, that's hardly our problem right now."
"Wait, defense mechanism?" Nyssa asked.
"Nine hundred plus years of space-time travel with no insurance." The Doctor said. "Of course I have a trick or two up my sleeve." He pulled out part of the paneling, pulling his sonic from his pocket once more as he began to scan the device.
"So, what's the plan?" Nyssa asked.
"I'm gonna give the Cybermen exactly what they want." The Doctor said as he continued his work, mind moving at a speed that neither the human nor the Trakenite could process.
"What?!" Katoss exclaimed.
"Commander, do-" Nyssa started to protest.
"Step away from the controls, Doctor." The Doctor looked up at Katoss, the two men's eyes meeting. While he stopped in his work, the Doctor did not otherwise move. Minutes passed in tense silence.
"Commander-"
"Absolutely not!" Katoss cut her off. "This man is a known criminal, and now he's trying to aid and abet the Cybermen."
"What a shock! A stupid ape." The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"You-"
"I said I was going to get the Cybermen exactly what they want." The Doctor said. "I never said it was going to be on their terms." He pulled a wire from the paneling and went about welding it to another with his sonic. "Really, stupid ape, pointing a gun at me while I'm tryin' to save the day. Ridiculous!" Katoss looked at the man awkwardly for a moment before holstering his sidearm. "That's better. Now!" The Doctor closed the paneling and opening another. "Just a few more things to tweak... I think."
"The Doctor will be convinced to deliver the Restoration Lattice to us?"
"He shall, but we must be cautious. He has a history of deceit." The Cyber-Leader said. "We know from the listening devices hidden on that floor that the Doctor's TARDIS remains intact despite our efforts. Prepare Stratagem 702 for when the Doctor reconstitutes it."
"Yes, Leader. We are encountering minimal resistance on the upper decks to conversions."
"Eliminate the resistance. They will join us, or they will die."
"The Doctor's trap remains active on Level -2."
"We cannot disable the power without risking the stability of the Restoration Lattice. Begin modifications to the Transmat and prepare a party to claim the device from the Doctor."
"And what of the Doctor and his companions?"
"They will be... destroyed."
"Alright, I think it's time to get this show on the road." The Doctor said at last, having spent several minutes fiddling with the machinery, closing up the remaining panels.
"You do know what you're doing, right?" Katoss asked.
"Not if I can help it, no." The Doctor said, pocketing his sonic once more. "Know just enough to be dangerous, that's me."
"Nyssa, are you-"
"I believe in him." Nyssa said. "If anyone can do it, it's the Doctor."
"We're definitely about to see that." The Doctor said. "Now, we need to get-" A loud humming noise began near the center of the room. "Oh... I hoped they hadn't worked that out yet."
"Worked out what?" Katoss asked, readying his sidearm.
"That's the transmat." Nyssa said. "The Cybermen must have modified it." The humming got louder as a bright light came up from the far end of the room.
"And that's our cue to leave. C'mon!" The Doctor said, heading over for the lift and starting to work to disable the electrical trap he'd placed on the door. Behind them, Nyssa and Katoss could see the forms of an attack squad of Cybermen materializing.
"Doctor, they're coming!" Nyssa protested.
"Nearly there!" The Doctor said, getting the last of the trappings off. "There, c'mon!" He said, pressing the button to open the doors. After some fractions of a second, nothing happened. No light, no sound of the mechanics moving. "They've shut off the power to the lift!"
"Hit the deck!" Katoss yelled out as the first of the Cybermen fully materialized, only to be gunned down by the Commander's quick firing. The laser blasts claimed three, sending them collapsing to the ground in a heap of smoke and sparks, but more were transmatting in behind them. Katoss soon had to reload as the Doctor was frenziedly pulling at the wires within the paneling, trying to trigger something.
"There should be an emergency override." Nyssa said, hurriedly picking up one of the Cyber-guns to aid in Katoss' defense of their position. She took shots at the first of the second wave to approach and Katoss soon joined them.
"I've got it!" The Doctor said, flipping through settings on his sonic with one while hurriedly typing numbers into a keypad with the other. "Boolean transfer block... combination probability... and... a little bit of jiggery pokery... and..." The lift once more hummed with power, the lights illuminating its descent from the higher levels. As Nyssa and Katoss took out the Cybermen as they approached, the lift descended to their level. When the doors finally opened, the Doctor moved in... and ducked under the swiping arm of another Cyberman who had traveled down to meet them. This put it in perfect position for Nyssa to blast it with the gun, once more sending it down to the floor as it screamed its death throes. The second in the lift moved over his fallen comrade only to be suddenly tackled to the ground by something moving very quickly, namely Katoss.
"Oi, you-" The Doctor started.
"You two, go! Now!" Katoss yelled at them as he brought his pistol right into the faceplate of the Cyberman and emptied another shot into it. "NOW!"
"We can't ju-" Nyssa started to protest, but the Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her onboard. In that instant, just before the doors closed, the Doctor and the Commander exchanged a look. A moment of mutual understanding. And, like that, the Doctor and Nyssa were lifting up through the levels.
"Atrium 14. Atrium 14." The Doctor repeated.
"Doctor, he-"
"I know, Nyssa, I know." The Doctor said. "And the last thing I did was call him a stupid ape. But he was right, we have to help the rest. If the Cybermen are already converting the station, then we're running out of time. We have to finish this. Now." The mirth was gone, she noticed. He was somber, more focused, somewhere in that gap between the broken man who had been in that hospital room and the manic wildman who had just messed about with makeshift technologies.
"The Cybermen have the Lattice, though." Nyssa said. "With it, they-"
"They have it, but I'd like to see them try and use it." The Doctor said.
Jarac had awoken to the sound of utter mayhem. He had awoken just in time to see Nyssa and that Doctor of hers escaping into the lift while Katoss took on several Cybermen. Cybermen who were now, as Katoss' body was being tossed to the floor (after he'd taken out quite a few of their squad), turning their attention toward him. Nyssa's former assistant cowered from the automatons as they gazed down upon him with their gray, flat, expressionless circles made to resemble the facsimile of eyes.
"Human. You have failed in your tasks."
"I did everything you asked!" Jarac protested. "The Brotherhood and I... we, we, w-w-we spent so much time-"
"Time that was used inefficiently and to no effect. The Leader has sentenced you."
"Please! Let me help you! I can still be helpful!"
"There is no further need. The Restoration Lattice is ours. The Doctor and his companion will soon be in our grasp, and Lister Station will belong to the Cybermen."
"B-But... but I'm not ready to be converted!" Jarac protested.
"Who said you were going to undergo conversion?" The Cyberman who had been addressing him spoke, raising his gun. "We have orders to destroy you."
"NO!" Jarac cried out, soon followed by howls of pain as the laser blast struck him square in the chest. Falling out flat on his back, Jarac thought back on his failure. 'I just wish... I wish it could have been different. I...' "I'm... sorry, my love..." The last words fell from his lips, nearly inaudible, and he knew no more.
"Depose of him, and take possession of the Lattice. I will contact the Cyber Leader at once."
"You said the TARDIS had a defense mechanism?" Nyssa asked as the two made their way stealthily through the halls. This area, it seemed, had already been swept through by the Cybermen. It was something that did not sit well with her at all, hoping that the patients and staff had evacuated to higher levels.
"Sort of, yeah." The Doctor said. "The Hostile Action Dispersal System. Lets the Cybermen think they've blown it up, when really all they've done is break down the outer dimensions."
"Right, you said it before. The TARDIS only looks like a police box from Earth."
"And its outer dimensions don't have any effect on the inner... most of the time, anyway." The Doctor said. "Either way, I'll just have to reset the system and she'll be right as rain again." The two made their way into Atrium 14 and looked around, seeing no one - Cyberman or otherwise. There was, however, a large pile of ash as had been seen on the monitor below.
"So... how does it work?" Nyssa asked.
"Like this." The Doctor said, lifting his sonic and activating it. A whirring came from it and Nyssa watched as the dust rose up into a spiral shape before it began to merge together. Soon enough, the form of that tall, blue box had fully materialized and not a speck of dust remained. "There she is!" The Doctor grinned, patting the side of the box. "Good as new, aren't you, old girl?"
"The Doctor has reformed the TARDIS!" The voice of a Cyberman echoed from an archway nearby.
"Oh, they never miss a trick, do they?" The Doctor asked glumly. "C'mon, quick!" The Doctor pulled out his key and opened the door, letting Nyssa enter first. A Cyberman took a shot that grazed the door, which was closed right after.
"Halt! Halt!"
Within, Nyssa stared in wonder. The console room was now very different from the place that she, Tegan, and Adric had been in so very often with the Doctor as they had traveled around space and time. Rather than the clinical white and the controls looking immaculately clean (for how little they actually worked, but that was another story), this placed looked more... alive... for lack of a better term. The metal of the flooring and the support pillars was in sharp contrast to the cold steel that made up the Cybermen. She could hear that familiar humming, that ever so slight vibration under her feet again.
"Hmm... Corral. Interesting choice." The Doctor commented as he walked past her to enter the place proper, doing a quick once over of the new control set up. "Little bit hodgepodge, but we'll see it through, won't we?" The Doctor patted the controls as he examined, clearly looking over what did what in the new set up.
"It's... a little dirty." Nyssa commented finally.
"Oi!" The Doctor protested. "The TARDIS has been through a lot since you last saw her. Let her settle into the new look before you judge it." Now that he had familiarized himself, the Doctor was going about manipulating the controls. "Just got a few things to get in order and we can finally finish this up."
"What are you planning, exactly?" Nyssa asked.
"I told you, I'm going to give the Cyberman exactly what they want." The Doctor said, pulling a level that sent the time rotor in the center of the console rising and falling as that familiar roar of the engines could be heard. "I'm going to give them a choice. And they best choose right..."
"The TARDIS has dematerialized!"
"The Doctor is initiating hostile action. All Cybermen are to be on alert." The Cyber-Leader ordered.
"Perhaps he has retreated?"
"No. The Doctor will not leave organic life to our custody. He will return." The Leader shut this speculation down immediately. "What is our progress on converting the station?"
"Our squads are being stopped at Level 7."
"Explain."
"Unknown. An entity on that level seems to be possessing the power to disable us."
"It matters little. Prepare the Restoration Lattice for use."
"For Paradigm 67?"
"Correct."
"Hello, hello, hello! Cybermen!" The voice of the Doctor crackled over the PA. "This is the Doctor! Are you receiving me?"
"Reveal yourself, Doctor!" The Cyber-Leader responded. "We have taken possession of the Restoration Lattice!"
"Oh, I know! I know! You lot have quite the bit of heavy tech on your hands, y'know. And that's coming from me!" The Doctor's voice responded. "But I don't think it's going to help you all that much."
"You will elaborate." The Cyber-Leader ordered.
"Oh, absolutely not, thanks." The Doctor replied. "Tell you what, though. How about you fire that up and see what happens when you take it for a spin?"
"We have monitored your activities when you were modifying the device." The Cyber-Leader said. "We have already undone them."
"You did what?" Atrium 14's screen flickered into view, showing the Doctor in what was presumably his TARDIS. "How'd you manage that?"
"We will succeed, Doctor. The power of the Restoration Lattice will advance the Cyberman cause. With the Daleks and the Time Lords destroyed, the Cybermen will become the dominant power across all of time and space!"
"With a souped up night light like that? I'd like to see you try." The Doctor replied, voice full of derision.
"Enough! Your conversation is irrelevant. Raise the communications barrier and summon the fleet!"
"They are arriving, Leader." The sensors of Lister Station were going haywire as they picked up several Cyber ships appearing within range.
"Upload the information from the Lattice into the Cyberiad now."
"Uploading info-Leader, something is wrong."
"Explain."
"You didn't check the software patches!" The Doctor was grinning ear to ear.
"Our ships are being destroyed!"
"Impossible!"
"Guess again, Leader!" The Doctor's reply came. "You took in the information, and I left you lot a nasty little surprise in there. Love from Gallifrey, boys!" The Cyber-Leader accessed the Cyberiad and was witness to the problem. Within the neural network, strands of data were being very quickly rewritten by an outside force. Several attempts were being made to isolate it, but this virus was replicating at a faster rate than it could be quarantined. The fleet was being overloaded with it, causing catastrophic systems failures and, eventually, the self-destruct to be trigger on each ship.
"Cease the upload!"
"Leader! We are at 86% perce-"
"You will obey! Cease the upload!" The Cyber-Leader shouted. "Even without the full plans, Doctor, we still possess the device. We will use it to sweep this star system and bring all life in it under our control."
"What?" The Doctor's face suddenly faltered, a look the Cyber-Leader recognized as a shift from bravado to concern and then fear. A most excellent change.
"Prepare the Lattice for dispersal. Set the range to cover the system."
"Leader. This will destroy Lister Station."
"Correct." The Cyber-Leader said, turning to the screen once more. "Now, Doctor... we shall leave your station to be destroyed."
"Oh, that I'm afraid you can't do." The Doctor said.
"Leader, our vessel is not responding."
"Explain!"
"That'd be us!" The one known as Nyssa announced cheerfully from offscreen.
"A little bit of patchwork and we have ourselves your Cyber-ship under our control." The Doctor said. "Divorced from your silly little hivemind. You're stuck on that station, Leader... and there's nothing you can do now."
"We will convert the rest of the population."
"Leader, please listen to me." The Doctor said. "Let me make an appeal to you."
"Your appeals are irrelevant."
"This one is not, Leader." The Doctor cut him off. "You have the Lattice and it's about to blow. This is going to be the end of the Cybermen, right here and now, if you don't listen to me."
"...explain."
"Right, so look here. If you agree to cease hostilities, I can find you and the rest of your Cybermen a world to live on. One far away from all other forms of life." The Doctor said.
"No." The Cyber-Leader replied. "Your appeal is denied. The Cybermen will be superior!"
"Not in this life." The Doctor said, pulling a lever, the noise heard from the transmission. "Goodbye, Leader." The feed cut, leaving the remaining Cybermen there with the rapidly humming Restoration Lattice hovering above them.
"Leader..."
"It is done." The Cyber-Leader said. From that orb made of interlocking plates that glowed with an overpowering light came wave after wave of energy. It swept across the room, and the Cybermen caught in it were blown apart. The Cyber-Leader, closest to it, was the first to be annihilated, the last view coming to the visual receptors before going off-line were of that big, blue box materializing within the Atrium once more.
"HOLD ON!" And hold on Nyssa did, holding on for dear life as the TARDIS rumbled under their feet. The doors had been opened up by the Doctor, who was hurriedly moving about to manipulate the TARDIS. The most staggering feature, however, was the light that was coming out of a particular part of a console close to the door, one that the Doctor had opened up. The waves of energy coming from within Atrium 14 were being pulled into it, the orange light fading into the bright column of white light.
"Almost... there..." The Doctor said against the strain as he reached over, finally reaching for and pulling another lever. The doors of the TARDIS closed and the bright white light began to disappear, the TARDIS console becoming a whole piece once again. The engines returned to a normal, rhythmic humming and Nyssa finally let go of a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She let go of the column she had been holding onto, her feet coming to rest fully on the grated floor once more.
"It's over?" Nyssa asked.
"Yep." The Doctor said. "The Restoration Lattice went off, anything with Cyber DNA went kaput, and the Heart of the TARDIS sucked up the remainder. Fantastic ending!"
"Wait, what about the other people?" Nyssa asked.
"Like I said, just went for Cyber DNA. Put a little bit of work into the coding. Soon as I set it off, little Cyber clean-up." The Doctor said. "Quick, clean, and easy. The rest of the patients and staff will be alright."
"What about the Lattice?" The Doctor was about to answer, but then shook his head, walking over to the TARDIS doors and opening them. Nyssa looked out just in time to see the orb that had once held the power of the Lattice falling apart, the plates clattering to the metal floor.
"Recycling." The Doctor replied with a grin.
"So... it's done, then." Nyssa said, relieved. "It's done."
"Of course it is!" The Doctor said. "Get to know me, Nyssa, I'm amazing."
"Fantastic, you mean?" Nyssa asked, earning her a cheeky grin from the Time Lord.
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