Guardian Who (Revelation: Part 2)

Revelation: Part 2

“Doctor.”

“Present!” the Doctor said, flinging his hands into his pants pockets, staring down his metal addresser with a twitch of a smile on his lips. “Quite the welcome party you’ve got, I’m flattered.”

“Your efforts are useless, Doctor. The future cannot be prevented this time,” continued the CyberLeader, unfazed by the Doctor’s banter. “We have predicted every possible route you could take. You will not hinder us this time. You have walked right into our trap.” It seemed like he didn’t even realize Jack was there. Or, if he did, he chose not to acknowledge him.

“Oh, a trap, eh?” He leaned on the broken weapon, crossing one ankle over the other. “Well, you didn’t predict everything, my thickly metal-headed friend. Take a gander at her. Bit quiet, don’t you think?”

CyberLeader shifted his dark pits used as eyes from the tall, slender man to the lifeless hunk of metal. Jack could practically see the internal computer scan going on, desperately searching for any excuse to call the good Doctor wrong.

Needless to say, none were found.

“This is…impossible.” It was at this point that he seemed to take notice of Jack.

“Never call something impossible, only highly improbable.”

“You should listen to your own advice then, Doctor,” fired back CyberLeader, a tint of vengeance in his cold, unfeeling voice. “You have no doubt noticed by now. You must think we cannot recreate this weapon, but you are wrong.”

“I am? How so?” the Doctor stood up straight again, his brow furrowed, all traces of playfulness gone in his mannerisms.

“We have resources.”

“Really? What sort of resources? Where? May as well tell me now, because you know I’ll find out. Tell me!” The growing internal fire was apparent in his speech.

But the Doctor would never get those answers from CyberLeader. Instead, the metal man just raised his hand, the sound of a thousand buzzing bees filling the room as each Cyberman charged up their attacks. They began their signature chant.

“Delete. Delete. Delete.”

The Doctor took out the sonic screwdriver, its musical hum sounding in defiance to the impending doom.

“Goodbye, Doctor,” bid CyberLeader as he reached out to the Doctor’s head.

But, before a single metal finger could get within a dangerous distance, a blast of electric blue, spindly frost shot past the Doctor and at CyberLeader, encasing him in a thick coffin of sparkling ice.

The Doctor braved a look behind him at Jack, the chant of the Cybermen growing even louder. The Winter Spirit was in an offensive stance, his staff raised and glowing slightly still from the recent attack.

He had been so indulged in his dealings with the CyberLeader that he had almost forgotten about Jack. Maybe they actually stood a fighting chance.

The remaining Cybermen closed in on them.

“I think it’s about time we got out of here, yeah?” the Doctor said to the spirit, who nodded in agreement. “Now, they’ll learn to be immune to your attacks. What we have to do is—”

“I’ll freeze, you sonic the heck out of them.” And Jack charged into the crowd of Cybermen.

The Doctor stood shocked for a couple of seconds, a feeling he didn’t have the pleasure of truly knowing too often. “Well, yeah. That works.” He snapped out of it, running to join his counterpart.

Jack was fast. Extremely fast. He was like a wild snowflake on the winds of a blizzard, shifting from one place to the next in just a split second, freezing Cyberman after Cyberman with his parkour-like fighting style, alternating between using his hands, feet, and staff to trap each metal man. The Doctor almost had difficulty keeping up with him, sending deadly sonic waves through each icy encasement that killed the brain inside each Cyberman and made the ice crack and crumble to the floor.

They hadn’t even given him a chance to negotiate, to buy their way out of destruction with information.

Just as they seemed to be making progress, more Cybermen appeared, each one more an more immune to Jack’s ice attacks, staying trapped for shorter periods of time, forcing the team to work much faster.

“Doctor!” called out Jack, beginning to feel signs of fatigue.

“The right! Clear out that way!”

More fights and fallen Cybermen later, the two finally cleared a path, breaking free at long last. Together they ran for their lives, Jack sealing the door behind them and encasing it in compact ice. It wouldn’t hold the oncoming Cybermen in, but it would buy them time. They ran as quickly as they could, the Doctor slightly ahead to lead them back to the hidden TARDIS, taking down any Cybermen that they encountered on the way.

The TARDIS seemed to appear from nowhere as they got to the maintenance closet. Jack felt relieved to see the little blue box, the light at its top like a beacon to safety.

Just before they went inside, the ship gave a great shake. The two turned around. Through the large nearby window, they saw a smaller, star-shaped ship disembark. It had six points, but that’s all that they could see from their vantage point. It then faced the mothership, as if staring down Jack and the Doctor.

And then, it opened fire.

It left just as flames sprouted from all over the ship, flashing red lights activating as a red alert came into action. The Doctor could feel the ship losing control already. It and all of its inhabitants were done for.

Something told the Doctor that that ship was what CyberLeader meant when he mentioned “resources.”

Turning back to the TARDIS, the two flew inside, the Doctor immediately starting up the engines just as the door closed behind Jack. Whirs and groans later, Jack knew that they were once again flying through space and time, the TARDIS taking them away from the danger that they had so narrowly escaped.

He sighed in relief, mostly at the fact that they had successfully saved the people of the Earth from a horrible fate.

As the TARDIS began to sail smoothly, Jack joined the Doctor up at the controls. He had the silver box that he had taken from the Cybermen’s machine placed on the console, a couple of wires hooked up to it. The Doctor was staring intently at a nearby television screen, which showed a wide variety of symbols and characters, as well as a depiction of the box.

Oddly enough, Jack could understand a few of them. A dimension here. Possible word of a purpose there.

He shook his head. Was he going crazy? These were characters he had never seen before, not even from ancient Earthen cultures. How could he possibly recognize them?

The Doctor’s concentrated frown grew graver. He looked up from the screen and at Jack.

“Did it tell you anything?” Jack inquired, trying to get his mind off of the symbols.

“A bit,” came the wary reply. “But we’re going to have to make a pit stop. There’s one person who I feel can tell me more, possibly confirm a few of my suspicions.”

But before Jack could ask just who that was, the Doctor turned a few gears, lurching the TARDIS forward and forcing Jack to grab onto the handlebar that surrounded the main console. Moments later, he felt the ship land, accompanied by its unique sounds.

The Doctor took up the box, and together they stepped outside of the TARDIS.

Deep, sonorous voices speaking in a garbled language. Toys flying around everywhere. A high-topped ceiling and large, roaring fireplace. Drapery and artisan details of warm reds, oranges, yellows and greens of all sorts of crisp polygramic shapes. Jingle bells. The soft smell of freshly baked cookies.

Jack knew this place.

They were at the North Pole.