Lullaby of the Cybermen (Sarah Jane and 4)

The Doctor sat full and satisfied, having gorged himself on a diner meal of scrambled eggs on toast. He was on his third cup of coffee, watching the familiar face in front of him happily eat her scones with jam. It had been a long time since he'd seen her happy little face, and an even longer time since she'd seen his.

His wrinkles ran deep in his face, expressing years of concern and wear. He had experienced heartbreak, hardship, and tribulations. He faced trials of time. But one wouldn't peg him as such.

The sun was starting to peek over the crests of the trees in the distance when the Doctor pulled out a pocket watch and observed the time. "Well Sarah, I would say that's enough play time for us. Should we start off once more?"

He started pulling out things from his pocket, in effort to find money. He pulled out handfuls of jelly babies, wiring, a yo-yo, spare buttons, and small coins not native to Earth. With a small Ah!, he reached into his coat and pulled out his wallet. He left an enormous tip for the waitress, gathered up his coat and scarf and started towards the door.

It was so easy now.  As if they had never been apart.  She'd been shocked for the first little while, in fact you could have knocked her over with a feather when he showed up at her door.  Now, though, she felt at home and was veritably sloshing with tea, jam and scones.   She couldn't get the shameless smile off her face as she studied his.  His mobile, expressive, aristocratic face.  He would have looked quite the nobleman, she thought, if he ever decided to try to tame his hair.

"Play time is ending? Why?" A little burst of laughter. "Because we're going back to the TARDIS?  Sounds like a vacation to me!  It sounds better than my commute, that is for certain."

He'd caught her right after work in  the deep blue, fine, thin woolen skirt suit with the white piping and pumps. She was glad he hadn't caught her in her wellies, since he was actually taking her out for a meal in public.

She'd gone at her breakfast like a methodical sandpiper and was grinning back at him.  She watched him fuss for money. That was a new thing . .who had taught him about money?  When he'd managed to refill his pockets and gather his scarf, she was standing ready to go, arms crossed until he headed out, and she almost skipped her way beside him. "I really do want to see those singing flowers. You said you would a long time ago."

He turned back and gave a little grin in her direction. "The singing flowers of Algernon are definitely on the list, Sarah. I can promise you that."

He had parked the TARDIS right outside the building, causing such an ado when it first appeared. The waitress, who definitely seemed like she the voice of someone who had smoked for at least 70 years and an attitude to make a slitheen slither, stormed out of the diner after the Doctor and Sarah when they first emerged, claiming that they couldn't park the TARDIS in that particular spot. It blocked the view she said.

The Doctor brushed her off, claiming that it had been there the whole time. After she huffed and puffed off, the Doctor looked down at Sarah and gave her one of those slowly emerging smiles, revealing each sparkling tooth one by one. The smile broke into a laugh, and they walked in.

But as they entered the TARDIS once more, the waitress was nowhere to be found. He reveled in the fact he saw her in the diner, walking over to the table, saw the enormous tip, and collapsed backwards. He pushed forward into the craft, kicked the materialization switch, and leapt off into the vortex once more.

He watched as Sarah came into the console room, taking deep breaths, and dawdling over to the console to peer at what the Doctor was doing. He began to type furiously into the console. "Lets see here...singing flowers of Algernon, you say?" He flipped a few knobs, twisted a few switches, and within a few moments, the TARDIS came to a halt.

Once upon a time, a very long time ago it now seemed, he'd first told her about Algernon.  She had never forgotten about it.   Generally, she liked to visit places with cultures of great change, or epic orators . .that sort of thing. But the idea of singing flowers had stuck in her head.  She wanted to go just because it sounded exquisitely lovely.  The first time he meant to take her, he'd told her to wear the military pants she'd picked up on Skaro, thick enough to protect her from the crystalline petals, sharp as razors.  Hours ago when she'd been welcomed back aboard, she'd been too busy seeping in the joy of it to even bother with the Wardrobe.  Now, she made a bee-line for it.  Right to that back closet where she'd left it a few short years ago.  In she jumped to that fine fitting Jr. uniform she'd so enjoyed.  When the TARDIS landed, she came running in to the control room with the laces of her combat boots dragging and tops flapping a bit.

"You promised me singing flowers right after we-" She plunked herself down and started working deftly on the laces, shooting questioning looks at him from under a rim of dark lashes. "You promised me after that scuffle with that big robot. We've tried, but we never actually made it, you know, time and again.  All that and you nearly gave our waitress enough of a tip to by a ticket there herself." She tied off the other knot, then grinned up at him quite cheeky. "I would have picked your pockets if I'd known it could be so easy to get to Algernon instead of being dragged across half the universe."  However harsh her words, she knew she had a big goofy smile of joy on her face.  It was so good to be looking at his face.  

She had to tease him.  If she used her real words, she'd only tell him her true feelings. She had not touched more than his hand with hers since he'd appeared because she knew she could not bare it.   If they could laugh in the face of Morbius, surely they could face the inevitable ache she felt at his return.  She did not know how he felt.  Other than joy.  He wasn't letting her in past that yet.

So caught up was she with her tumult of emotion (joy of which was no small part), it never occurred to her to wonder what that little lump was in the inside pocket of the jacket she'd just put on.

Something that had been surreptitiously slipped there way on Volga. The warmth of Sarah Jane's body heat began to bring it out of it's dormancy.

The Doctor greeted Sarah in his usual fashion: he didn't. He was staring intently at the vector scanning screen, which produced a series of beeps, creeps, and sweeps. His eyes were racing across the screen as fast as he could intake the millions of readouts the TARDIS was giving him at the moment. His eyes flashed up at Sarah with the mention of the Robot....

"Oh yes, I had nearly forgotten about him, you know. The--uh, giant--Brigadeir Lethbridge and the imbecile." He seemed incredibly preoccupied with what was racing across the screen to even notice what was coming out of Sarah's mouth at the moment.

The peculiar way the Doctor was leaning over the console beckoned vaguely of a predatory raptor leaning over it's prey. Shadows were cast over his nose, causing a ring of darkness to engulf his eyes. The only thing visible under his moppy hair was the faint glimmer of light that came from his eyes reflecting the screen. His lips pursed, biting down on one side in an effort to make out what he was seeing.

On the vector screen, there flashed a bright red message in circular Gallifreyan. It always chose Gallifreyan when the Doctor was at the helm. It was always easier for him to read Gallifreyan in time of danger and mishap. The message caused the console to go dim and beep incisively, putting an emergency stop to the machine, causing it to land in an emergency, predestined place and time. A brief thought of I really need to update the HADS soon.... flashed across his mind.

Without looking up, he spoke. "Where did you come from, you vile fiend?" He yanked a knob on the console terribly hard, causing the whole machine to rock and plummet with an uncomfortable rumble. He looked up with a fiery burn in his eyes.

The Doctor was clearly in a mood.  Time Lordieish.  She knew it was the price to pay for hanging out with an Alien.

"Harry.  His name is Harry." She said, unable to keep the grin off her face. "And he was always very good to you.  Well, to me anyway." Sarah Jane said, as if that were the only part that mattered.  When even that crass remark didn't get him to look up from the console over which he hovered and frowned she started to get worried. 
Things seemed to progress rapidly from there.  The frightening thing about the TARDIS going out of whack was not so much that they'd wind up dead like some crashed car . . .but she never knew how hard the trouble would be.  Sometimes it was like surfing. Sometimes, it was like being turned inside out.  This one started out the latter and wound up the former.  

The Doctor went mad, then threw the TARDIS into a tail spin that wound her up on her back, legs akimbo, on the floor.  She pressed up on her elbows to look at him in alarm.  He was looking at her with such condemnation, she realized in horror that he had been making that infuriated challenge at her. She was aghast and agape.

"It's me  . . . Sarah!!" she nearly shouted at him.  She did feel quite inside-out that terrible moment, for he was looking at her like he didn't even know her.

The Doctor loomed over Sarah, who was laying on the floor. The dim glow of the console was the only thing that lit the room, causing a horrific shade of darkness to be cast upon his whole body. Sarah screamed at him, claiming it was her, but he leaned close to her. He could almost snarl like a rabid dog at her. His hand slowly started up from his side, coming towards Sarah's throat.

His warm grasp brushed up against her neck, but ended up as a finger closing her mouth. He quietly mouthed shhh! as he made burning, piercing eye contact with her. His bright blue eyes now raged like a tsunami in full force. He looked down at the jacket she was wearing. He pointed at her pocket, which had an unusual bulge at the moment...

The next moment flew like a strange vision. The Doctor pulled Sarah to her feet, nearly pushing her over on her front. He ripped the jacket off of her and pushed her far away from it. He ran to the console and yanked a lever that almost was on the underside of the console. Within moments, the jacket was surrounded by a pale blue light, and nearly levitating in the air. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, and came over to hug Sarah. His entire mood had changed, and the apologetic embrace of the Doctor, he had hoped, seemed to smooth the situation over a bit.

"That was terribly close, Sarah. I'm sorry about that." He let go of her, and pulled her to the vector screen. "This should explain things."

The message was flashing in a crimson Gallifreyan still. The Doctor tweaked a knob on the side, and immediately the message was translated into English. "Danger: Cyberbeing on board. HADS system activated. Immediate action required."

He descended over her like a raptor, dangerous and weightless, even as she scrabbled belly up and backwards on her boot heels and palms, her mouth open in shock and offense. She fetched up against the near wall.

"Doctor . .no! What!?"

She should be up and running, but could not.  For how many beings, across time and galaxies, had this been the last vision of many a thinking creature?  She had seen this animal that he sometimes became before, but never had it been directed toward her.  He was not cross, he was become simply a hunter.  And she the hunted.  Far too familiar with his strength, and never having imagined it could be aimed toward her detriment, all the starch poured out of her knees in a way not even Daleks could inspire in her.  

Then again, Daleks feared the Doctor as well.  

Would he reach out and simply snap her neck? It was his style.

"No . .please!" She shrieked. "Doctor!! Plea-"  He stilled her with a gesture so evocative and tender that that her thoughts were thrown into immediate confusion, the dark delicate wings of her brow knitting with her frown.  She could not have been more riveted as he pointed to her.  There was something there.  It wasn't her he was after, it was-

All thought shattered as he snatched her up, and spun her about so fast she was already half falling. Like a magician intent on not disturbing the dinner setting, he yanked off her coat in time with the motion of her stumble , barely tugging at her shoulders and leaving her unharmed.  Catching herself she bumped, crouched, shoulder and knee against the wall.  She thrust herself to her feet and plastered herself against the warm support of the TARDIS.  It was quite the surprise to see he was simply bag-and-tagging her jacket.  

Or whatever that had been in the pocket.

And now he was coming to his senses. Or so she hoped. She'd been wrong twice in a row just now.  As he came closer, she pushed away from the wall, brow still furrowed and with enough of a pout on her that she wouldn't like it if she could have see it.  Her hands were stubborn fists on her hips.

She swatted him twice as he came very near, because though now it was clear the Doctor was again her Doctor, she was mad that he'd scared her so.

"Sometimes you're just awful you . . .-" Swats. She knew how to punch if she had to.  But she was too mad to be articulate about it and it was the fastest way to get her point across.  And it must have worked because he drew her into a hug anyway.  And she stopped yelling at him.  She held on hard 'round his coat and pressed her cheek against his lapel.  She made no sound, but after a few seconds, she shamelessly wiped her tears off on his coat.  

"You like near to scare me to death."
His apology rumbled against her ear, and she blew out a breath of relief as profound as his had been when he'd secured her coat.  They let go of each other and went hand in hand to the console.

"Close doesn't cut it, Doctor, you were about 3 seconds away from a fat lip.  If you don't like what I'm wearing, you can just tell me."  She knew that wasn't really it, but had he needed to nearly give her a heart attack?   He let the TARDIS read out tell the tale.  She half understood.

"Doctor, I last wore that jacket on Volga! Remember? I hardly put a cybermat in my pocket as a keepsake though! What is that? Where are we?  Why did you say all that about a fiend? You don't think I brought it on purpose do you?"

It was looking less and less likely that she was going to see hear singing flowers today.  She grabbed his sleeve and pulled in it until he looked at her.

"Doctor. .what do you mean 'close'?"

The Doctor let out a small chuckle. "Oh Sarah, you ought to have known that I wouldn't hurt you intentionally. As for our little friend..." He flipped a switch on the console, allowing the leather jacket to sublimate in the beam of light, leaving only behind the cyber unit. But as the jacket dissolved, the cyber units began to reveal themselves in the beam.

An entire unit of cyber-censors covering the warmest and essential parts of the jacket appeared, conveniently attached to the cybermat unit. The unit seemed to be half-booted up in the beam, with lights flashing and beeping, obviously scanning for something...

The Doctor came over to the beam and leaned in close, getting a closer look at the unit at hand. "My dearest Sarah, isn't a beautiful piece of machinery? Obviously planted, waiting for more than likely me to put it on. The ironic thing in this being that this particular thing has been in this jacket for quite a long time. And there it laid undetected from the TARDIS. But far too advanced for it to have just been some fuddy-duddy tin man to create. No, this is thousands of years of research I presume."

When the Doctor leaned his head in to the cyber-mat, the device suddenly snapped it's vicious teeth and jaw at him, however remaining stationary in the beam. The Doctor jumped briefly, then began to laugh. "Now what in the world are you doing on this ship? Waiting for me I presume? What is your purpose?"

The Cybermat deactivated itself immediately. A small red light began to blink atop the device. The Doctor ran over to the console and smacked a series of buttons on the farthest panel from the beam. The Cybermat and unit were surrounded by a blindly blue light, and dissolved in the beam. The Doctor then began to type in information into the console. A small frown flashed across his face.

"My dear, I don't think we're going to be seeing the singing flowers anytime soon. The creature was dissolved and the information of it's origin were relaying to the TARDIS matrix. IT appears we've landed on a planet that, for lack of a better term, I hate with every iota of my being. I suggest finding some wintery clothes to wear, Sarah, because we've just landed on the planet of the cybermen. Welcome to Mondas."

He wouldn't hurt her, he said.  She knew what he meant, but she also knew what he didn't know.  That sometimes, he did hurt her.  At flashpoint.

Though, she'd never been afraid he would hurt her with his hands before, with all his odd, Gallifreyian strength.  It seemed silly of her to claim it of him, but when he'd come at her with anger and revulsion in his eyes, it had felt like nothing would save her.  It seemed quite so of that lovely little jacket, which was now as useful as floor sweepings.  So bothered by it was she, that it took her a moment to realize not everything had been destroyed in the beam.  There was more left than some odd stone in her pocket . . . wildly advanced looking metal blinking bits of this and that remained like a sparse and shimmering skeleton of some sort of components.

"Doctor!" she said in breathy shock. "What is that? Is it still dangerous?"

It didn't help much when he explained.

"My Jacket would look terrible on you." She said, not able to keep the humored edge from her voice as she could see him helplessly caught if he ever tried to squeeze into it. The bad part was, she could imagine it clamped around her own form all to clearly.  "Terrible on me as well with all those lumps." and whatever it would have done with her.  

"What is it for? What would  it have done to you? To me!?"  

It had something to do now. She'd thought the Doctor had 'killed' it, but it lunged inside it's containing beam.  She flinched behind him, avoiding all sparks and teeth potentially headed her way. She'd seen a Cybermat up much closer than this before.  She could still remember it's fangs plunging into her neck.  She didn't come back out until he laughed.  She soon realized it wasn't the funny sort of laughing.  It was the other kind. He sounded as angry as she was becoming. Someone had tried to hurt her friend, and caused him to nearly give her a heart attack.  Someone had snuck something onto the TARDIS. She pushed this line of thought away as she realized it was she who had brought the jacket on board.  She hoped he forgot about that part.  

Trivia as such flew from her mind as the Doctor turned quite dour.  No singing flowers today indeed.  His voice thrummed like an angry cello, making her shrink back just a little.  "Wha-? Doctor? If we're here to return my coat for one in your size . . . I'll swear I lost the receipt."

Her voice dropped into hushed worry. "What are we doing here?"

The Doctor's head began to buzz with explanations for Sarah that he knew she would be able to understand. "This wasn't easy business, dealing with cybercreatures. They are vile and greedy, demanding that all kind that hasn't been converted to their horrible ways be upgraded immediately. "

He hissed through the word upgraded. It didn't take a blind mole rat to see that the Doctor had dealt with these creatures before. Many times in fact. But had he been successful? Anyone who knew the Doctor knew he wouldn't willingly give up in a battle against the dark forces of the galaxy, but had he lost? Those were the secrets the Doctor kept behind his brilliant, glimmering sapphires of his eyes.

The Doctor walked over to the coat rack, slowly putting on the brown velvet coat that hung there, and walked back to the console. A look of deep thought resounded through his face. Something was bothering the Doctor in a terrible fashion, but even he wouldn't admit the problem here was bigger than it really was.

With a glazed look on his face, he flipped the door switch, causing the large storm doors to open up. He turned to Sarah, barely out of his cloudiness. "The coat is the least of our problems at the moment, my dear. If that...cybermat got past TARDIS detection for all these years, waiting for me, then we've definitely got bigger fish to fry. For nearly 700 years i've traveled the Galaxy, fighting the daleks and Davros, facing down ice warriors and the Master, and even defeating the terrible Cybermen. But they've got a one-up on me right now.

That creature, if it had done it's job successfully, would have pierced your flesh, burrowing deep into your spine, turning you into a mindless slave aboard the TARDIS. But i'm afraid, Sarah, even I wouldn't have been able to save you. But Sarah, I ask you to remain calm, because any sudden movements might be your last."

The Doctor's attention looked down to Sarah's arm, where a silvery little spider had began to slowly crawl up.

The Doctor was angry.  Near as angry as he'd been when he came at her.  No, it was more than that now, for it became clear that he'd managed to keep some control of his feral nature from her.  Now he could avert his face and aim his ire into forcing something out of the TARDIS.  Information? Escape? She did not know, but knew he would make her give in.  He was growling his words now, and when he descended into an angry hiss and a jerk of his tousled curls, she found herself taking a slow step back from him.

She did not know if he saw her subtle retreat or not, but the heat of him suddenly dissipated, and he flicked open the doors.  

He was riveting.  He would have sounded lovely reading the back of a soup can label.  For all the fantastical information he was decanting, he sounded as sonorous as he was reading a soup label as well.  It was almost hypnotic.  She was drinking in every word, knowing soon that they'd no doubt have to chase down this threat.  

"Slave!?"

This terrible threat.  She could see his dread on his face right now.  She was frozen in place waiting for his next words, and good thing.  

He told her not to move.  All she did was make a soft, ragged gasp as all her other muscles seemed to seize up.  The Doctor was quite compelling.  She saw his eyes dart down and she followed his gaze with her own.  When she saw it, another ragged breath came from her, and her thick sooty arch of dark lashes flashed again and again as she looked back and fourth from the exquisitely delicate, deadly silver construct creeping it's way up her.

it took all her concentration not to shake. To be absolutely still.  All that moved was her focus as she in turn begged him with her eyes, and glanced down to measure how far the wicked little creature was getting to the top of her shirt. Surely her shirt was no protection from it's potentially plunging fangs (of which now she was getting quite a good look at), but she knew she did not want it on her skin.

Her words came breathy.

"A bit of tea or something to read to help while the time then, please?"

"I think a manual on quantum knitting might be more beneficial to our case at the moment, Sarah. But don't...move....."

The silvery spider had reached Sarah's elbow, taking slow and even strides, as if it were talking a small rodent or large bug. The thing was near the size of a tarantula, but the Doctor knew it would take a lot more than a tarantella to get Sarah cured if this thing bit her. It's spindelly legs inched closer and closer to Sarah's face, assuming that it still had not been spotted yet.

The Doctor ran over to the console and activated the beam once more, which shone brightly next to Sarah. He then returned to Sarah, pulling a small handkerchief out of his pocket and slowly easing towards the spider. Without warning, the spider bit into Sarah's arm, which was nearly protected by the sleeves of her shirt. The creature began to bite and gnarl at her skin, not getting any more than a few droplets of blood out of her.

The Doctor instantly grabbed onto the thing, trying his best to yank and pull it off of her arm, struggling a bit, but with no success. Finally, the creature was pulled off her arm, and was held idly in the Doctor's hands. He threw the creature, handkerchief and all, into the beam, where it levitated stationary.

He immediately ran over to Sarah, pulling off his silken necktie and wrapping it around the wound. The seriousness that was once on the Doctor's face had somehow managed to be replaced with a cheeky smile, and a small bout of laughter. He must've looked insane.

"Sarah Jane, you clever girl. Always getting yourself into these predicaments. That thing that I just pulled off of you only wanted one thing from you: blood. Analyzing your blood, seeing if you're fit for conversion, I wouldn't doubt. Too small to be a full-on conversion device, but then again, technology is frighteningly efficient. But now that that thing has relayed information to central control, we have to go now. We have to see what the cyberpeople are up to. And if need be, we have to stop them."

The wee metal beastie that was coming up her arm was a baby in compared with the spiders they'd dealt with on Metebelis Three. This one would have fit neatly into a cricket ball.  She wished it was inside a cricket ball now.  Unfortunately it was free, and now it was feeling its way boldly upward.

The Doctor's mention of Quantum Knitting pulled soft, nervous laughter from her.  He steadied her worries. She had faith.  Goodness knows the Doctor had plucked all manner of Alien pestilence off of her over the years; dumped things out of her shoes, brushed them off her coat, and even untangled them from her hair during their exotic explorations of the Universe.

Still, she wished he wasn't loping off away from her.  She forgave him only when the beam he'd thrown her coat in was suddenly pouring through the air beside her like a sunbeam.  He returned as smooth as water.  Mostly, he moseyed or moped, but sometimes he flowed like water.

Or fire.

Now his focus and aching concern were clear on his face, and quite reassuring.  His mouth was hard as he drew a cloth from his pocket and reached carefully for her.

Just as the spider's front feet first reached from her bicep to her deltoid a shiver went through her.  Her fingers twitched, her hair shifted, and next she knew it was folding flat and tight to her arm, a sudden slicing pain under the spot.  The Doctor's bare hand immediately clapped a-top it, fingers digging to scrape it loose. Her inevitable shriek of protest went up in pitch as the thing burrowed tighter and the tug felt as though to tear.

He pulled anyway with a singular determination, and she slapped at his hand.  If the grip of his other hand hadn't been one of such measured care, she might have been afraid of him again.  It was two or three seconds of pain for them both before the thing came loose.

She had called him a foul name, and was sorry for it even as she clamped a hand over her stinging skin.  He flung handkerchief tangled spider in the  into the light beam where it glittered and hung.  He ran back to the console, threw some switch that drew the spider along the beam back to it's center.  

She forgave him everything as he ran back to her.
Ran.
And it didn't even hurt that much.

Mostly, it had frightened her, sharp sting or not.   When she pulled her hand away, one could see the eight grooves from it's legs through the tear in her sleeve.   Those piton like legs had slid in like shallow splinters, and been torn loose leaving raw pink lines with beads of blood spilling out.  More impressive were the two matched fang marks, tiny deep and purple.  One of the punctures had a deep scratch across it. That was actually bleeding.  She hissed to see it.  It was going to smart for a while.

She let loose a little sigh when he used the tie she liked best to wrap around.  Well, silk would, ironically work best.  She watched his face as he worked her, taking comfort there.

"Couldn't have been wearing the orange tie could you?" She pouted.  He twined it 'round neatly.

"Did that thing shoot something into my arm? Is that what it did?"  Frankly, the whole bad business with the Cybermat was a bit fuzzy for her now, but Harry had been quite clear that it had poisoned her. "What'll we do?"

He explained, but it did not reassure her very much.

"Central Control?! Well, that doesn't sound any good at all!  I don't like this Doctor, they must have some awful plan for you, if I knew anything about the Cybermen." and indeed she did. "I'm going to go give them a piece of my mind."

Cybermen were creepy in a desperate level.