A/n: Description of panic attack, marked with *
"Over the last week there's been a spate of attacks on intelligence officers worldwide, of every nationality. None of these attacks have been ordered by rival intelligence agencies." C says, leading you all down a corridor.
"That's what you're telling yourselves." Missy mumbles.
"No, we all have a very good working knowledge of what our enemies are up to. No agency possesses the technology to carry out these attacks. None of us understand how it was done, or even what has been done. But every agency has suffered the same fate." He responds.
He opens a wooden door into a medical area. You see a woman hooked up to a few machines showing her heart rate.
"She was found unconscious on the floor of an aero plane washroom on a flight to Tokyo. She'd made pre-arranged contact with an informant." C says, a distant look on his face.
"Is she in a coma?" Yaz asks.
"Apparently it's a little more horrific than that." He hands the Doctor a tablet. "Now, I'm told this is your expertise, dealing with the impossible."
"You're right. That is impossible. Her DNA's been rewritten. Every strand corrupted and reshaped. She's no longer human, just a shell with a human appearance." She says, furrowing her brow.
"Will she be okay?" Izzy asks quietly.
"There's nothing left of her to live. It's like she's been erased. This is beyond any human activity." She whispers.
"Ah, I was rather worried you were going to say that. Doctor, the security of this entire planet is at stake. Can we rely upon you?" He asks, concerned. She nods. You follow him to what appears to be his main office.
You're getting quite nervous now. Security agents are getting attacked, and turned into aliens. Your entire species is at risk. You look down and see blood starting to pool out from clenching your fists.
"It'll be alright dear." You look to your right and see Missy walking next to you. She takes your hands and unfolds them, frowning when she sees the scars from other times.
"How do you know?" You whisper.
"Because when we find these aliens I'll be turning them into a lovely soup." She says, dropping your hands.
You're about to respond when you walk into what you're presuming to be C's office.
"Anesthetic darts, laser shoe gun, infrared ID duplicator, calendar hacker, lock-breakers, rocket launcher cuff links, retinal ID decoder and tongue immobiliser chewing gum. How much more do you want?" He asks handing a few briefcases to Graham and Ryan. You assume they must've been talking on the way over here.
"Yeah, it's great. Keep 'em coming C." Ryan says, grinning.
"Yeah, bring on the bling." Graham adds, looking at what you're pretty sure is a laser shoe.
"They are not toys!" C exclaims.
"Yeah, they're not toys Graham." Ryan says, you can tell he's not being totally serious.
"No, they're not Ryan. And if you say otherwise I'll shoot you with my laser shoe." Graham grins, holding the shoe up to Ryan.
C walks towards Yaz and the Doctor, holding up a file.
"All of the assassinated agents were investigating leads related to this man." He hands them the file. Yaz takes it, the Doctor reading it quite quickly over her shoulder.
"Daniel Barton. Born in Bromsgrove. Now lives in San Francisco. Oh, he's the founder of VOR."
"The search engine?" Izzy asks, walking over to her.
"Web apps, social, global mapping, advertising, scientific and medical research, robotics, data polling, human analytics..." Yaz lists.
"Right now, VOR is more powerful than most nations. Danial Barton is the man who built it up from the ground." C adds.
"We're gonna need your best man on this. What do you call him? Horizon-Watcher?" The Doctor asks, her bubbly attitude back.
"O." C corrects.
"Exactly."
"Ah, well, he, er... he left... I sacked him." C stutters. You see the Doctors face go from bubbly to annoyance.
"The only person with an open mind about all this and you let him go?" She exclaims.
"MI6 has never countenanced the possibility of extraterrestrial life!" He defends.
"Well, you should talk to your mates at GCHQ." She says, curling her lips into a straight line and folding her arms across her chest.
"The country has other organizations that deal with all that. UNIT. Even Torchwood." He says.
"They're all gone. Oh C. You took your eye off the horizon just as things were coming over it." She shakes her head. "Don't worry. I'll call him."
"You can't. He's off-grid. We can't find him anywhere. Believe me, we've tried." He frowns.
That's odd, you think. You glance over to Missy to see her frozen, and a little pale.
"You okay?" You whisper.
"I'll be alright dear." She gives you a small smile.
"Shh. I'm WhatsApping." She says, pulling a phone out of her coat. "Hi. It's me. I'm at MI6 with C. Crisis. Big crisis. Serious crisis. Big, serious crisis." You can't help cringing. "And C says you were right and he's sorry for being an idiot." She says, an annoyed tone still in her voice.
"I did not use those words!" He exclaims.
"Send us your location. Kisses. It's quite French that, isn't it? Kisses?" She says, a little more perkily, turning to Yaz, who shrugs. The phone bings. "Ah! See?" She shows you the phone, spinning in a circle.
"It's a fish!" Graham throws his arms up.
"I know!" She grins back.
"Can we please focus? Daniel Barton isn't just a powerful businessman. He was also one of our agents when he first went to work in the US. Then he withdrew cooperation. It's possible he became a double agent, or even a triple." C says, pacing in front of his desk.
"Who for?" Yaz asks, crossing her arms.
"Well..." C grabs his neck as the window behind him shatters. "Oh."
"Down!" The Doctor shouts, grabbing Yaz's hand and pushing her under the desk.
*
You stand there frozen in fear. You aren't processing anything. You feel yourself thrown into the ground. You hear shouting, but it seems so far away. You feel something warm pressed against you, but you still feel so cold. You feel your physical self moving, but you mentally stay stuck. All the voices around you are so far away, and someone is shaking you. You can't feel it.
*
Until you feel something on your cheek. You raise your hand to swat it off, when it grabs your hand. It feels real. You blink a few times, and see Missy's face inches from yours, holding your hand right next to her head.
"Everything's okay love, breath." She whispers. You shakily nod your head.
"I'm okay." You shakily say.
She stares at you for a second before pulling away, letting go of your hand. You feel your face warm up... wait... blushing? No...
"Doc, why do you keep looking at that picture of a fish?" Graham asks.
"Steganography. There's another image hidden within the pixels of that photo. It's basic spy craft in your time. Easy way to smuggle out information because there's no pattern to look for. No two stegs are the same." She explains while looking at the phone.
"So one's hidden inside the other?" Ryan asks.
"Doctor..." Izzy whispers.
"Exactly. Luckily, I can read pixels. I took a correspondence class." She grins.
"Doctor!" Izzy speaks a little louder.
"Ooh, the outback. Gone full hermit."
"Doctor somethings trying to get in!" Yaz exclaims.
"Absolutely not!" Missy exclaims, gracefully flying around the TARDIS counsel while the Doctor scans the door.
"I didn't know things could get into the TARDIS like that." Yaz says, looking to the Doctor who is looking at her sonic with a confused look.
"Neither did I." She whispers.
"You got rid of it?" You ask with a shaky voice. You look over and see Izzy sitting next to you, at a comfortable distance.
"And what was it?" Graham asks.
"At a guess, the same thing that attacked all those spies. And possibly us." She shrugs, looking back at her sonic. "What? No readings? The sonic can usually read everything!" She sighs in frustration. "All right, park that. Live attacks. They're after us, but we need intel. Split resources. Graham, Missy, y/n, we're off to Australia to see my old mate from MI6. I say old mate. I've met him once, but he seemed very nice. We text, though. Does that count?" She rambles, looking at Graham, who looks a bit confused. And he's definitely not alone.
"If you say so." He shrugs. You see the Doctor about to say something else.
"Doctor! Focus, please!" Missy interrupts, turning around to you, closing her eyes and pinching the top of her nose. You can tell something is up.
"Right, Yaz, Ryan, Izzy, how do you feel about undercover work?" She asks. You look to Izzy, quite nervous about splitting up.
"I'll be fine." She whispers. You nod, still a bit nervous.
"Definitely!" Yaz exclaims. You see Ryan a bit uncomfortable with the idea.
"Daniel Barton, he's our best lead. Well, our only lead." She shrugs. "We'll get you a cover story. Hack his diary, get in there, check him out. Infiltrate VOR. Have a nose around their systems." She grins. You can tell she's having a little to much fun for the circumstances.
You glance over at Missy, who has turned around so her back is to you, facing the Doctor who is talking to everyone else, well, Izzy is still sitting next to you. But you can tell something is up based on the way she has her hands on her hips and head slightly tilted up... wait... since when have you paid attention to these things?
"So... spies?" Izzy asks.
"What, with absolutely no training?" Ryan protests.
"We have the gadgets." Yaz adds.
"But no idea!" He adds.
"I think you'll be great. I have total confidence, you know? Just er... be careful, though." Graham says, trying to be reassuring. You can tell he isn't sure though. "It's safe for them, though, right?" He asks the Doctor.
"Yeah, eighty percent sure. Seventy five. Fourth percent absolute minimum." She says, handing them a gadget. "Take this. Bio-scanner disguised as a digital recorder. I want to know everything about Daniel Barton. And stay in touch. Remember rule one of espionage?" She says with a dead-serious tone. "Trust no one."