Cass huffed, hands reaching down to her pocket, grabbing ahold of the power cell her tether had placed there earlier, before raising it, aiming it defiantly at the robots. The group all watched in awe as a shot of golden light was expelled from it, bouncing off of each of the Cybers metallic shells, incapacitating them as it went.
When they'd all be deactivated, she turned to the humans and shrugged, "What? I'm all for pacifism on a good day, but honestly I've got a raging migraine, and their yelling wasn't helping the situation."
"Why the hell didn't you do that sooner?!" Rickey yelled, approaching her menacingly.
She could feel the Doctor tensing next to her, ready to defend her in the face of any danger, and she simply rolled her eyes fondly at him. As Ricky' hand shot up to grab the cell, she tugged him towards her, using his momentary surprise against him to flip him over her shoulder, smirking at the grunt he released when his back met the ground.
Looking down at him smugly, she put the cell back in her pocket before lending him a hand, and helping him up, "No need for violence. It's just a power cell. It basically scattered their signals, freezing them long enough for us to get the fuck out of dodge."
A warm hand wrapped around her own, and she grinned when she felt a shiver of arousal slither from the Doctor into her, as his casual voice said, "Exactly, so just RUN!"
They all bolted, right as Mrs. Moore pulled up in the van, opening the doors to usher them in, "Everybody in!"
Pete turned around, ready to run back into his mansion, but the Doc stopped him, grabbing onto his arm, "I've gotta go back, my wife's in there."
Cass shook her head, eyes empty as they gazed on the building behind them, "She's dead. And if she isn't already, she's as good as. I'm sorry, but Cybermen don't tend to leave living, flesh witnesses behind."
"If you wanna help, then don't let her die for nothing. You've gotta come with us right now." The Doctor finished, sighing in mild relief when the man nodded, and hurried into the van.
Behind them, they could hear Mrs. Moore yelling, "Come on, get a move on!"
"Rose," the Doc said, noticing the blonde's forlorn gaze on the mansion, "She is not your mother."
"I know," she nodded quietly, remaining in place.
Cass bit her lip, before roughly grabbing her 'little sister's hand and forcefully tugging her into the van, "Feel free to be angry at me later, at least you'll be alive enough to do so."
As she closed the door of the van, Mrs. Moore huffed in frustration, "Finished chatting? Never seen a slower getaway in my life!"
They drove, the tethered couple settling in beside one another, hands still clenched tightly.
The Doctor looked at his Cassie, eyebrows pinched in worry when he noted the slightly pained expression on her face. Cupping her cheek softly, he whispered, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing," she breathed back, shaking her head and throwing him a convincing grin, "just a migraine. It'll pass."
He hummed, drawing her into his arms tightly, "Fine. Tell me the truth once we're back on the TARDIS then."
The redhead huffed, a small smile on her face, before leaning closer to his ear and whispering, "Sure, and then maybe you can explain why i seem to turn you on the more violent and slightly dangerous i get."
She felt more than saw his face warming with a blush, and giggling lightly, she pressed a small kiss to his cheek, "See? Now we both have questions to answer once we're back home. Keeps things equal."
—————
Midway through the drive, Ricky leaned back from where he was in the front, and pointed at Cass' pockets curiously, "What was that thing?"
The young woman didn't reply, simply turned to the Doc and nodded softly, before leaning her head back on his shoulder, eyes closing in tiredness.
The alien sighed, worry for her rushing through him, before replying, "Little bit of technology from my home."
"It stoped glowing, right before Cass put it in her pocket again," Mickey informed him, "Has it run out?"
"No, it's on a revitalizing loop, remember Mick?" Cass' soft voice intoned, and the boy looked at her in concern, which mounted when he noticed a small stream of red dripping from her nose.
"It'll charge back up in four hours," the Doc finished, eyes on Ricky still, not noticing his bleeding tether.
Mickey stealthily pointed to his own nose, and Cass nearly groaned, understanding what he'd meant. Slowly, she reached up with her unoccupied hand, and wiped her sleeve over her top lip, thanking every deity above that it was a tiny stream of blood, and not a continuous hemorrhage.
Not exactly the perfect time to have a faucet of blood open from her nose.
Up in the front seat, Ricky rolled his eyes, "Right, so we don't have a weapon anymore."
"Yeah we've got weapons," Jake snarled, "Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him." He glared moved pointedly to Pete.
From her seat, rose glared as well, "Leave him alone!" She defended her father, "what's he done wrong?"
"Oh, you know, just laid a trap that's wiped out the Government. And left Lumic in charge."
"If I was part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?" The man rebutted, eyes widened.
"Maybe your plan went wrong," RIcky argued, before shrugging nonchalantly, "Still gives us the right to execute you though,"
"I thought we'd just spoken about senseless violence, Rick?" Cass drawled, tilting her head to stare at him, "And besides, it wouldn't do you well to kill off your only informant."
When they all looked at her strangely, she groaned, mumbling, "I can't be the only smart one in the van right now, for fuck's sake." Before looking at Pete intently, "He's Gemini. THE Gemini that's been feeding you info all along."
Before Ricky could argue, however, she raised her hand, silencing him, and snipping, "Don't argue, I'm about to have him prove it and you're already pissing me off as is."
She looked back at Rose's father, and nodded, "Tell them. Tell them exactly what wavelength and encryption Gemini used, and do it quick because I'm this close to erupting."
"Um...encrypted wavelength six-five-seven using binary nine," the man mumbled in confusion, continuing when the redhead's green eyes stayed on him, "I, uh...I...The only reason I started working for Lumic was to get information. And i thought i was broadcasting it to the Security Services, instead, turns out i was getting Scooby-Doo and his gang! They've even got the van!"
As the group all began arguing amongst themselves, the Doctor had kept his eyes on his tether, very worried now.
Cassie was typically snippy, and had a rather low temperament, especially when she was having a migraine attack, but this had gone even beyond that. She'd never revealed this much at once, never even thought of risking the timeline this way by interfering and speeding events along, and now, it seemed her nose had started bleeding...
Wait, her nose was bleeding, and rather profusely too!
Drawing her quickly into his lap, he fetched a handkerchief from one of his endless pockets and held it to her nose, watching with mounting concern as it quickly began tinting crimson, before tilting her head down, ordering softly, "Just keep it down until the bleeding stows."
"I dno," she replied, voice nasal under the pressure.
"When did it start bleeding?"
"A couble ob midutes ago,"
He would have believed her, truly, if he hadn't felt the slight flash of guilt race through her. Shaking his head, he simply asked, "Did it stop?"
Cass slowly removed the kerchief, not even bothering to ask where he'd gotten it, too relieved to find that her nose had indeed, stopped bleeding. Crumpling it up, she placed it in her pocket, before rising again, and staring guiltily at her tether, will to continue lying crumbling under his soft, concerned gaze.
"It's the third time today. Started earlier when i forcefully pushed through the barrier keeping from accessing my precognitive knowledge. Now every time i call a memory up, it happens again."
His eyes had grown steadily as she'd spoken, but before he could berate her, she explained quickly, "I knew something bad was going to happen, Doc. And I'm not you, you know...I can't just go waltzing into danger armed with nothing but a sonic and a smile. I need information. And i had to keep Mickey safe, and I was worried about you and Rose, and I didn't want you to walk into danger with no warning. And my foreknowledge is literally one of the only few useful things i bring to the table...I just.." she bit her lip, eyes dropping to her hands, which now held his own, "I felt helpless, and useless."
He nodded slowly, before pressing his lips to her forehead, murmuring, "You're not useless, foreknowledge or not. But i suppose, this is even more reason to run those tests on you once we're back in the TARDIS. And you can't even argue with me."
"No, i suppose i can't." She agreed softly, before asking, "You're not mad?"
"I'm not mad...well, maybe just a little, but it's nothing that a kiss won't fix."
Her lips tugged up, the smirk he adored seeing appearing on them as she chuckled, "How about this? Let's get out of here, and I'll kiss every bit of you you want. Deal?"
He pretended to think about it seriously, though they both knew, by the waves of emotions flowing from him, that he could never deny her anything. Especially a deal as...salacious, as this one, "Deal."
They turned their attention back to the group as Ricky said defensively, "They were deliberate! I was fighting the system! Park anywhere, that's me."
"Good policy," the alien nodded, "I do much the same. I'm the Doctor, by the way, if anyone's interested..."
"And I'm Rose," the blonde added, waving her hand, "Hello!"
Pete sighed, remarking, "Even better, that the name of my dog! Still, at least I've got the catering staff on my side."
"I knew you weren't a traitor." She whispered, Cass adding casually, "Me too, for the record."
"Why's that, then?" The man glanced between them curiously, eyes focusing slightly on the redhead who seemed to know more than she should.
"I just did." Rose replied, and the Doctor simply tugged Cassie deeper into his chest, bragging, "And she's psychic."
"I'm not psychic!" The redhead immediately complained, making those who were used to this argument smile lightly, "Psychics aren't real! At worse, I'm a precognitive, and even that's fucking pushing it."
"Psychic," the Doc mouthed at him jokingly, adding, "Just don't call her that to her face, or she'll lecture you for an hour. Trust me, i've been there."
"And you've liked it, too."
Pete shook his head, shoulders dropping in sadness, "They took my wife."
"She might still be alive," Rose tried to reassure him.
"That's even worse. 'Cos that's what Lumic does. He takes the living... and he turns them into those machines. "
"Cybermen," Cass informed them, "They're called Cybermen, and you're right. For your sake, I hope Jackie died, instead of having to endure their aftermath."
"And I'd take those off, if i were you," the Time Lord finished, nodding towards the man's earpods.
Pete dutifully removed them, before placing them in the alien's hand, who quickly ran his sonic over them, "You never know... Lumic could be listening. But he's overreached himself. He's still just a businessman. He's assassinated the President. All we need to do is get to the City and inform the authorities. Because I promise you, this ends tonight."
—————
"What the hell..."
The befuddled sounding words were uttered by Jake, as the group all stood on the street, watching as all the people who'd once gone on with their lives began marching in single, uniform lines, in one exact direction.
"What's going on?" Rose questioned.
Cass sighed, tilting her head towards the closest woman to them, "The earpods."
"Lumic's taking control," the Doc added.
The blonde's eyebrow furrowed, and she quickly began reaching for the woman, asking, "Can't we just....i dunno, take them off?"
"No!" Cass yelled, flinching when she remembered exactly why the earpods couldn't be removed, her hand reaching up to wipe at her nose automatically, "It's a fail safe. They're wired directly into people's brains. Take them out now, without disabling the mainframe system first, and you'll just kill them. And these people are just that, humans."
A wave of concern flashed through her, and she turned to smile at the Doctor gently, "I'm okay. Can't always control when i remember things, so it just took me by surprise, is all."
He nodded, worry still in his eyes as he tugged her into his chest, before looking at Rose, "Human Race, for such an intelligent lot, you aren't half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it. Easy life."
A gentle elbow nudged into his side, and his Cassie chuckled, "Watch it, Time Lord. I'm still human."
But instead of laughing, as she'd expected him to do, he simply frowned, murmuring, "I''m not quite so certain about that, anymore."
Before she could ask him to clarify though, because what else could she be, if not human, an aardvark? Jake called them over, motioning to what he and Ricky had been silently observing form behind some bushes, "Hey! Come and see."
Joining them, they watched as a group of Cybermen walked alongside the humans, all heading in the same direction.
"Where are they all going?" Rose questioned again, bemused by what she was seeing.
"I don't know," the Doctor shook his head, "Lumic must have a base of operations."
Pete nodded, "Battersea. That's where he was building his prototypes."
"Why's he doing it?"
"He's dying. This all started out as a way of life by keeping the brain alive. At any cost."
"The thing is," the blonde hummed curiously, "I've seen Cybermen before, haven't I? That head, those handle shapes in Van Statten's museum."
"Well obviously, we've got them on our universe too," Cass shrugged nonchalantly, "These ones though, they're homegrown."
"The others, they started on an ordinary world just like this, then swarmed across the galaxy." her tether finished.
Pete looked between them curiously, "What the hell are you two on about?"
"Never mind that," Ricky interjected, "Come on, we need to leave the City." Turning around, he began throwing orders, noticing the Cybermen coming up quickly behind them, "Okay, split up, Mrs Moore, you look after that bloke." He nodded towards Pete, "Jake, distract them, go right, I'll go left, we'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move."
Mickey turned to both his girlfriend and his pilot, opening his mouth to speak, only for the latter to nod knowingly, "I know. It's okay. But if you have a scratch on you when you're back, i will murder you far more effectively than any machine could."
"Yes ma'am," he murmured, chest warming at the trust she had for him, deciding then and there Cassandra Oracle was maybe the one person in both universes he never wanted to disappoint.
Turning back to Rose, he quickly said, "I'm going with him," before kissing her happily and running off, calling Ricky's name as he went.
"Come on, let's go," Mrs. Moore called to them, beginning to lead them away. As they ran off, Cybers quick to follow after them, she pointed to a side alley, yelling, "There!" Before disappearing through it.
Rose, Pete, the Doctor and Cass following behind her silently.
—————
The sound of the stomping, metallic feet of the Cybermen reached the little group from where they'd hidden in an alley, behind a stack of bins.
Rose had grabbed tightly onto Pete's hand in fear, while the Doc had simply tugged his tether into his chest, the connection still slightly raw from their earlier separation, still needing to feel her skin against his for as long as he could.
When he felt her moving, however, he glanced down, only to notice she'd taken out her own, ruby-tipped sonic, and began waving it around spastically, teeth biting into her tongue adorably as she focused.
She always did that, he realized. When she was tinkering with a machine, or trying to configure an algorithm that required thought, she'd always bite her tongue, or poke it out into her cheek, or a variety of other little quirky expressions he couldn't help but find absolutely fascinating.
"Aha," she breathed triumphantly, before pressing the button, causing a small red light to flair, and better than all, the Cybers to begin walking away, their signals scattered to kingdom come.
The two quickly stood up, Cass stashing her sonic back into her pocket, as the Doc hissed, "Go!" Before following behind in a run, hand still tightly wrapped around his fiery miracle's.
—————
They'd been waiting at Bridge Street for a couple of minutes when Jake's voice rang out, the boy running towards them, "I ran past the river. You should've seen it, the whole City's on the watch. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames."
From the other side, Mickey hurried towards them as well, alone.
Jake grinned when he noticed the boy, "Here he is!" Before coming to a stop and frowning, "Which one are you?"
The other boy simply shook his head sadly, eyes filed with guilt, "I'm sorry. The Cybermen. He couldn't..."
"Are you Ricky? ARE YOU RICKY?"
"No, that's Mick," Cass said, not needing to ask for confirmation to know. Hell, she didn't even need her foreknowledge, since she knew she'd recognize her best friend anywhere and at any time.
"Yeah," he nodded softly, catching Rose as she threw herself at him. Jake grew quiet, and he slowly faced him, shoulders slumped, "He tried. He was running... There was too many of them...."
"Shut it," Jake's pained voice cut him off.
"There was nothing i could do."
"I said, just shut it." He yelled, enraged, "Don't even talk about him. You're nothing, you are."
"Bullshit." The word was harsh and concise, as though daring anyone to argue with it. And when Jake turned to find a pair of emerald green eyes glaring at him, shining with fury, he found that he really didn't want to.
"You're not nothing," Cass continued sternly, eyes moving to her companion, "You are the least nothing I've ever had the honor of meeting. You, Mickey Smith, are the epitome of incredible and amazing, and to continue insinuating the opposite is frankly, insulting to both of our intelligence." Her voice softened, as did the look in her eyes, and she finished, "You're my best friend. The first person who's ever accepted me, with no changes. And i should know how incredible you are, after all, i know the future."
She was pulled back against the Doc's side, his hand running softly through her hair as he said calmly, "We can mourn him when London is safe. But now, we move on."
As they all complied, beginning to walk, he looked down at her, smiling proudly, "I think that may be one of the things i love most about you. I've yet to meet anyone as fiercely protective of those they love as you."
Cass shook her head, before looking up at him, green eyes glinting in the dark, "Heaven help anyone who tries to hurt you then. I may just wind up killing them."
He didn't laugh, because he knew she wasn't joking. After all, he felt the exact same way.
Heaven indeed, would need to help whomever tried to ever harm his tether. And even then, that may not be enough to stop him.
—————
"The whole of London's been sealed off, and the entire population's been taken inside that place. To be 'converted'." The Doctor informed them, as they stood at the edge of the river Thames, the Battersea factory just across the waters.
"We've gotta get in there and shut it down," Rose stated.
Mickey shook his head, "And how do we do that?"
The Time Lord shrugged, "Oh, I'll think of something."
"You're just making this up as you go along!"
Cass chuckled, "Mick. It's a thing. Don't mock the thing he'll eventually come up with once faced with a non-escapable mortal danger of some kind."
"Exactly." The Doc nodded, before winking at her flirtatiously, "And you have to admit, i do it, brilliantly."
She shook her head with a smile, and both Rose and Mickey shrugged in agreement, before murmuring under her breath, "Still with that ego."
He leaned close, his lips casually stroking the shell of her ear in that way he knew drove her crazy, "You love it."
Cass swallowed heavily, "I do."
"I've found something," Mrs. Moore called as she brought up a 3D model of the factory for them to see, "That's a schematic of the old factory. Look, cooling tunnels... underneath the plant... big enough to walk through."
The Doc pointed to a specific part of the map, "we go under there and up into the control center?"
"Mhmm,"
"There's another way in," Pete said, all eyes turning to him curiously, "Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in...."
Jake leaped off the branch he'd been on, shaking his head as he approached, "We can't just go strolling up,"
"Or we could, with these...." Mrs. Moore interjected casually, pulling out two pairs of earpods from hr bag, handing the Doctor one, "Fake earpods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd."
"That's my job." Pete announced determinedly, grabbing the other pair.
Cass tilted her head at him, before warning, "You'd have to show no emotions. Be as cold as they are. Any deviation from that, the most minute sign of emotional capacity and you'll be done for. Can you do that, Pete? Knowing you may stumble on some rather...emotional things in there?"
His eyes had hardened at her, and he nodded.
The redhead sighed, before looking at the blonde and whispering, "Go on. You'll ask for the extra pair with or without our permission, and they're you family. Whether we like it or not." She took the extra pair in the Doc's hand, before throwing it at her 'sister', warning slightly, "But you better come back unharmed or i swear on all that is unholy Rosie..."
"I know," the girl whispered gratefully, "I'll come back in one, complete piece. Promise."
The Time Lord quickly snatched one of the pods, adding, "Tell you what... we can take the ear-pods at the same time. Give people their minds back. So they don't walk into that place like sheep. Jakey-boy?"
They began heading a little ways away, Cass signaling for her companion to follow with a tilt of her head, before gesturing towards the zeppelins lining the sky, "Command centre's up there. Actually," she quickly reached into the Doc's pocket, pulling out his sonic and aiming it at the sky, moving to one zeppelin in particular, "It's this one. See the big thing on it? That's the transmitter."
"It's a good thing Lumic likes to show off," her tether finished, stealing his sonic back with a pout and mouthing, "You've got your own."
Cass rolled her eyes with an adoring grin, before looking at the two boys before her, and raising a challenging brow, "Think you two boys can take it on? Or shall we relegate you to baby-sitter positions?"
Jake glared at Mickey spitefully, "I don't need you, idiot."
"I am not an idiot!" If Cass, the smartest person he knew didn't think he was an idiot then surely he couldn't be. After all, she wasn't one to mince words, no matter how beloved the person was to her. "Got that?"
And speaking of his pilot, her hand grabbed onto his shoulder encouragingly, as she glared at Jake, "He's helping and that's that. Anymore arguing and behaving like a petulant toddler, and i will force you to accompany Rose and Pete. See if you'd rather deal with that awkward mess head on than do this, with help that is willing and offered."
He considered her for a moment, before swallowing heavily and murmuring, "Yes, ma'am." Turning to the Doc, he nodded, "Consider it done."
The alien gave him a pat on the shoulder, having to hold back a growl when his tether wrapped her arms tightly around Mickey, before pulling her back to him, ignoring her knowing snickers as they headed back to Mrs. Moore.
"Mrs. Moore, would you care to accompany the lovely Cassie and I in to the cooling tunnels?"
The woman smirked, bowing her head lightly, "How could i refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?"
He smirked back, before turning to the group, "We attack on three sides, above, between - below. We get to the control centre, we stop the conversion machines."
They all nodded, hurrying to get to their assigned jobs, when Cass called out to her best friend, face set in the saddest look, "Mick! My earlier threat still stands!"
"You got it Cass! I'll come back to you in one piece, promise!"
He looked at Rose, before grinning, "Rose, I'll see you later,"
"Yeah, you better!" She shouted, before leaving quickly behind her 'dad'.
The Doc turned to him, "If we survive this, we'll see you back at the TARDIS."
"That's a promise!" The boy laughed, before leaving, running after Jake.
As she watched him go, Cass couldn't help but sniffle sadly, simply mouthing, "spoilers" at her tether when he'd glanced down at her, worried.
She'd be seeing her best friend at the TARDIS later, yes, but she wouldn't be seeing him in it.