Untold Knowledge (Doctor Who x Genius Fem! Oc) [Book 1]

Chapter 20: Rise of the Cybermen

"If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them."
-- James O'Barr

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cybermen by the dozen smashed their way through a series of French windows as well as entered through any way they could. It took no time at all for everyone to be surrounded. Just then did the President's phone ring. "Mister Lumic." he said with outrage coating his words.

"Mister President. I suppose a remark about 'crashing the party' would be appropriate at this point." Lumic said with clear mocking in his tone.

"I forbade this." the man with superior authority growled in anger.

Lumic still didn't back down. "These are my children, sir. Would you deny my family?"

"What are they? Robots?" Rose whispered as she eyed the metal men warily.

The Doctor shook his head as he subtly stood in front of them. "Worse than that." he mumbled, feeling sympathetic for those that had been basically killed.

"Who are these people?" the President demanded as he, too, understood.

Lumic, however, practically rolled his eyes. "That doesn't matter." was his only response.

But Rose still didn't see the whole, gruesome picture of what was happening around them. "They're people?" She then pictured the metal form she was seeing as just armor; like a man going to war.

"They were." Echo mumbled as she kept herself ready for any kind of combat by having her hand on her hidden blaster. "That is until they had all their humanity ripped away." she practically growled as hatred for Lumic smothered her heavily. "That is a living brain forced into a cybernetic body. Their hearts became metal; their emotions being removed at the same time." 

Hearing such cruelty pulled Rose into unwanted clarity. "Why no emotions?" she shakily asked. The idea of being in such a state horrified her all the more.

"Because it hurts." their favorite Time Lord answered sorrowfully.

Thankfully, no one noticed their virtually silent conversation. "I demand to know. These people, who are they?" the President ordered, refusing to lose control over the situation even slightly; especially when dealing with such an abominable injustice.

Lumic immediately and eagerly explained his truth. "They were homeless and wretched and useless. Until I saved them, elevated them, and gave them life eternal." he said as though it were gospel. "Now I leave you in their capable hands. Goodnight, sir." The call then ended, leaving them all in a terrifying silence for just a brief moment.

"We have been upgraded." one of the cybermen stated with an emotionless, robotic voice.

The Doctor then took his chance while he could. "Into what?"

"The next level of mankind. We are Human point two." it declared matter-of-factly. "Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us." When Rose heard said statement, her fear intensified.

"I'm sorry." the President began. "I am so sorry for what's been done to you. But listen to me, now. This experiment ends tonight." he finalized, not recognizing just how much danger they were all in.

"Upgrading is compulsory." the cyberman stated without delay. They had their purpose and nothing was going to get in their way. Or so they thought.

"And if I refuse?" he questioned in turn, still horribly oblivious to the fact that they no longer had choices, nor options, or opportunities to choose from.

"Don't." the Doctor quickly warned, already knowing what would happen as a result.

But, sadly, the President didn't listen as ignorance sealed his fate. "What if I refuse?"

"Then you are not compatible." it answered.

The President stepped closer to it, almost as though he was trying to square up on them. "What happens then?"

"You will be deleted." Before anyone could do anything to stop them, the cyberman put its hand on the man's neck, electrocuting him to death in the same moment.

Showing great haste, the Doctor then grabbed both Rose and Echo's hands and ran where ever they could. The guests were all screaming in terror as the over powering force of metal men continued to grab those they could and electrocuted most at the same time. Without thinking, the brunette woman yelled for Xander to follow them; to which he obeyed. Before they were able to get into another room in search of an escape route, Echo screamed deafeningly in overwhelming turmoil and familiar heartbreak. For when he was almost at her side, a cyberman grabbed him and fatally shocked him simultaneously. As his deceased body dropped to the floor in seconds, the Doctor had to literally drag her away and into the direction of supposed safety. She did not make his efforts easy as she screamed and wailed for her brother to get up. To not be dead. Again. "Xander! No! Xander! Let me go! Get up, Xander! Come back! Nooo!" Rose couldn't help but tear up as she witnessed the strongest person she'd ever known breakdown so intensely.

Hearing her devastation tore at the Doctor's insides in unspeakable and completely inarticulate ways. He struggled, but ultimately took her away as she aggressively tried to get free. "There's nothing we can do." he said, refusing to lose her in any way, shape or form. "He's not your brother! Come on!" he then said as he desperately and successfully got both of his girls out of the mansion. Unexpectedly, Pete also followed them out and ran with them across the lawn.

"There's a way out through the side gates." Pete informed as his mind raced at a million miles an hour. Mainly concerning his absent wife.

As more cybermen stopped them while they attempted escape, two armed figures came running towards them in front of the floodlights. Echo immediately had her blaster at the ready in case they did indeed need to defend themselves. Or, more accurately, if she simply wanted to take her inner torment out on something. "Get behind me!" Mickey yelled at them with an unfamiliar blond sir at his side. When they open fired at the cybermen blocking their path, they found that the bullets would just ricochet off their metal selves without even leaving the smallest scratch.

When the cybermen stopped, Rose quickly pulled Mickey into a hug of relief. "I thought I'd never see you again." she said with mild happiness.

Unexpectedly, he pulled away from her with obvious displeasure. "Yeah. No offence, sweetheart, but who the hell are you?" Upon receiving such a response, intense confusion enveloped her completely.

"Rose!" they then suddenly heard from behind them. "That's not me." the true Mickey said as he ran up to them.

"And this is the reason why I avoid mirror-verses over all else." Echo grumbled.

The Doctor was thinking the same, though slightly altered. "Oh, as if things weren't bad enough. Now there's two Mickeys."

"It's Rickey." the doppleganger corrected as they saw that they were completely surrounded.

"Put the guns down. Bullets won't stop them" the serious Time Lord ordered, not wanting to see any more avoidable deaths. The blond sir then started shooting anyway without thinking. "No! Stop shooting." he repeated firmly, then looked back to the enclosing troops with his hands up. "We surrender! There's no need to damage us. We're good stock. We volunteer for the upgrade program. Take us to be processed." he tried to turn the tables back in their favor.

But the cybermen thought otherwise. "You are rogue elements."

This made the Doctor's eyes widen with worry. "But we surrender."

"You will be deleted."

"But we surrender! Listen to me! We surrender!" he quickly said, only thinking of the unnoticed and distracted Echo.

"You are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cybermen, but you will perish under maximum deletion." They all then held their deadly arms with guns built in towards the group. "Delete! Delete! Delete!"