Second Chances (A Doctor Who Fanfiction)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

*Doctor's POV*

It would be a complicated process, shutting down the Cybermen. I'd have to override all security protocols on the mainframe before I could even think about accessing the controls necessary to shut everything down. Also, the Cybermen would realize right away when their computer was being hacked. I would only have so much time, as usual, really.

The Cybermen kept one of the most secure mainframes in the universe. They had to, if someone could hack into it they would have control over the minds of one of the most powerful warrior races in existence.

It was all about pressing the right buttons and knowing the right codes. I got the security down easily enough, the hard part was preventing the Cybermen from being alerted. The harder, actually impossible, part was shutting everything down. As soon as I tried, the security went back up. It was impossible to shut everything off and keep the firewalls down at the same time. And once those were back up I lost control of everything.

I had run out of options. Fight-not possible, shut the ship down-apparently also not possible, flee... no. Not without Quinn. That wasn't going to happen. But I couldn't get to her through all the Cybermen.

I turned around to check that the Cybermen were still deactivated. They hadn't moved. This was always the part where I came up with a last-second plan. The plan that ultimately saved the day. For once, there was nothing to be done. Every instinct was telling me that this was the end. This isn't how I planned on dying. Actually I didn't really have it planned, that wasn't something most people would think about often.

It wasn't a terribly special ending; helpless, trapped on some Cybermen ship, just one of the million attempts to take control of the Earth and the humans upon it. I had hoped maybe for something a little more spectacular. Some huge battle to shape reality or something. I guess the universe decided it didn't owe me anything, not even that.

The grim silence was broken by the sound of footsteps outside. This wasn't the rhythmic, metallic stomping of a Cyberman, it was the patter of a person running. Through the door burst an excited Quinn. She had to hold onto the wall to stop running. She looked at the dormant Cybermen on the floor and then at me and smiled.

"Sonic screwdriver, quickly!" she held out her hand expectantly. "Now, Doctor!" she pleaded. The sudden turn of events was difficult to process. Quinn was here, in this room, and I was almost certain she was real. She looked quickly out the doorway down either side of the hall. "Doctor!"

           I clumsily got the sonic screwdriver out of my jacket pocket and tossed it across the room to Quinn. She pointed it at the door panel with a familiar buzzing sound. The doors hissed shut and a few sparks shot from the panel. "That should hold them for awhile." she said.