"Look at them! My boys!" Missy laughs, gesturing to the Cybermen now standing stationary around the square.
Peyton is sure that she hasn't blinked in far too long, her breathing fast and erratic, fighting for dominance against the steady drum beat in her head. This woman, dressed like a murderous Mary Poppins was her father... or rather her mother. Back from the dead. It's not possible.
"Cybermen, in broad daylight?" The Doctor scoffs, watching Missy's movements and making sure he is always between her and Peyton who's wrist he still holds tight. "You think people won't notice?"
Missy tuts, reaching up to unclip her wicker hat from her hair and tosses it on the ground. "Photos with the big metal men, one pound!"
Peyton finally tears her eyes away from the mad woman and looks around at the tourists and Londoners alike taking selfies and posing with the genocidal robots.
"Oh, dears," Missy pouts, looking at the two helpless Time Lords. "Doctor, she doesn't need you to hold her hand, she's a big girl. Now, both of you come here."
When neither of them budge, it's Missy who twirls toward them, pulling out the device she used to vapourise Dr Chang and shows them its screen, swiping though images of Cybermen. "New York. Paris. Rome. Marrakech. Brisbane. Glasgow. Everywhere. Anywhere. Me and my boys. We're going viral."
She lifts the device up and the screen changes to reflect their horrified faces back at them, with Missy posing cheekily.
"Would you like me to take a picture?"
Peyton looks always from the screen and sees Petronella Osgood smiling infront of her. She stifles her sigh of relief and feels the Doctor's grip around her wrist finally fall away.
"Sorry, selfies are never as good, are they?" She continues innocently, catching Missy off guard. "And you three are having a lovely moment. Hang on!"
She snatches the device from Missy and the Doctor grabs her arm just as she reaches to take it back.
"No, just-"
"Nice bow tie," the Doctor says, interrupting Missy.
"Bow ties are cool," Osgood smiles. "Okay. Big smiles, and... now!"
With a great clamour, soldiers in black tactical gear pour from shop fronts and alleyways all around. Even some of the passerbys draw guns from their handbags and prams. Thank God, Peyton must have sent the right message after all.
Missy startles but the Doctor keeps a firm grip on her bicep.
"Afternoon," Kate walks suavely toward them, hands behind her back, holding something large and silver. "You've picked a lovely day for it. My, don't you look shiny." She nods to the Doctor. "Haircut?"
"Bit of a trim," he mutters.
"Might want to do your roots," Kate shrugs before looking back over her shoulder to one of the soldiers. "The woman."
"Yes, ma'am."
Missy scoffs and two men grab her and slap a pair of handcuffs to her wrists.
"Kate Stewart. Divorcee, mother of two, keen gardener, outstanding bridge player," she introduces herself to the nearest Cyberman, "Also, chief scientific officer, Unified Intelligence Taskforce who currently have you surrounded."
"Human weaponry is not effective against Cyber technology," the robot states.
"Sorry, you left this behind on one of your previous attempts," she shrugs, throwing an old half destroyed Cyber head onto the stone road. "So now that I have your attention, welcome to the only planet in the universe where we get to say this. They're on the payroll."
YOU ARE READING
The Time Lord's Apprentice
Fanfiction"But, you're impossible!" "Yeah, and the world is ending, I don't think now is the time." Peyton is an orphan, taken from her mother as an infant by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. She is raised separately from other children because she is spec...
