Underneath That Burnt Old Sky (Closed to 10,11,Lord Rassilon and Romana II)

The Doctor listened to Rassilon's roar of a reply, trying not only to convert the people of the audience but also The Doctor in a way. This was a distraction for Romana to do her work but in a way, this was also an opportunity for the two sworn enemies to finally have a go at one another. The Doctor straightened up, his eyes focusing and narrowing down on Rassilon, "And you're so great then?" he rhetorically asked the Lord President before turning to the audience, "The one who pushed away a key element to the creation of this civilization...The Other!" he proclaimed.

"And where is he now? Locked away in a dungeon! Like an animal! Out of their eyes, out of sight" The Doctor spat, "Oh! And speaking of healthy! Whose idea was it for all Time Lords and Gallifrey to destroy the time vortex? Evaporate us from existence so we could what? Become entities of consciousness alone? I don't know about you but i think i rather stay with my feet planted firmly on the ground and...well...breathing". Turning to Rassilon, The Doctor arched an eyebrow and made a facial reply of Rassilons smirk with one of his own. "Lets face it Lord President...without me you would not be living right now!" The Doctor proclaimed, "Lost count of my age or not...one thing i haven't done...is lost count of how many times i've had to save this planet because of your hidebound views Rassilon! And unlike you, i didn't need all your technologies...all i needed was a kettle and some string".

Looking one final time back to the audience, The Doctor called them to attention, "Hear me now!" he exclaimed, "Look at me when i say! As savior of this entire planet and civilization! I am telling you, Romana is not a traitor! If anything.." he paused as he glanced back over to Rassilon, "Our Lord President with all his masterful idea's is to blame for what has come! Not her!".

As she expected, there was no one on the stairs, and Romana made it to the window without incident. It was a small, narrow window, which would require her to shift quite a bit while scanning. But nobody would see her up there unless they were looking.

She began the scan, smiling. She was not too prideful to admit she enjoyed the Doctor defending her to Rassilon. Even if it was just a distraction. They had butted heads so often during the War, it was nice to have someone else take her side over his. Most people would be too afraid to challenge him, but not the Doctor.

((I'll just have her react in small ways throughout the rest of this argument. Tell me when you two are almost done so I can have her finish the scan and run to the TARDIS.))

Rassilon adopted a thunderous expression at The Doctor's scornful words, he stole the tiniest of glances towards the huge mass of Time-Lords, still muttering to each other half-heartedly while their full attention rested squarely on the apparent argument between the ancient Lord President and the thin and wiry Doctor currently taking place on the raised platform. The presidential guards hung back slightly, obeying Rassilon's orders but still prepared to tackle The Doctor to the ground. "Oh please, I have already acknowledged the folly of The Final Sanction and apologised in kind.....but you Doctor? As I recall it was your mission to prevent the original creation of The Daleks, and yet you suffered from a crisis of faith." He replied in a quiet, restrained voice, to the gathered audience in the room it would appear Rassilon was fighting to control himself.

"Because of your actions, or rather lack thereof you painted a target on Gallifrey and it's peoples; your failure to complete that mission was one of the causes of The Last Great Time-War. Billions of Time-Lords dead, Gallifrey scarred and mutilated, entire species wiped from existence or changed beyond recognition....The Nightmare Child, The Horde of Travesties.....all of it...because you couldn't do the right thing and destroy The Daleks before they had a chance to destroy us!"

"And your failure was letting it carry on for so long!" The Doctor quickly spat a reply, turning towards the Lord President, "With all your power and self proclaimed god like status, your telling me that you could do nothing?! You sat with your high council members, you spoke for the longest time about what? Nothing! You sat there while millions died for your name...billions under your protection Rassilon! And who stopped it?!".

The Doctor stopped just as silence echoed throughout the Grand Hall, "I could have stopped the creation of the Daleks before..a long time ago. Yes, i know that. But what i did that day...honored my name!" he continued again before turning back to the audience, "I am The Doctor! I have taken responsibility for my wrongs..and although i cannot make all of them right...i am telling you now. As your Doctor..what is making this society sick. And the answer is not just Rassilon...or Romana...or me to be completely honest. No! Instead! I propose a join presidency! Between Rassilon and....Romana". The Doctor paused as he turned back to face Rassilon, "And for once..let the people decide".

Rassilon had not been expecting this, he silently cursed himself and The Doctor. 'I should have known he would do something like this, old fool...you've grown complacent!' he said to himself as his expression changed to one of pure surprise and indignation, however this time; it was authentic. "A joint presidency.....? You propose..a joint presidency between Romana and myself." He repeated in light, dumbstruck tone. Rassilon considered simply going back on the established plan and having The Doctor arrested for high treason and insubordination, but realised after The Doctor's clever wording any outcome other than "Letting the people decide" could lead to rebellion, perhaps ending in his own people once again forcing him to enjoy a stint in The Death Zone.

Rassilon closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and turned to face the audience again. "Very well, Councillors and Time-Lords of Gallifrey....as your first and current Lord President. I hereby defer this decision to you, what say you? Should the title and privileges of Lord Presidency be divided amongst two individuals....rather than one?" He asked, his voice raised slightly, to be heard over the uncertain muttering coming from the mass congregation of Council Members. Even as he said it, it felt strange and wrong to him, making a mental note to repay The Doctor for this skulduggery.

Pinching the bridge of his nose in equal parts frustration and a particularly irritating headache Rassilon seemed to have developed during this "argument" he glanced up and down the ancient, ornate; and still somewhat damaged and cracked hall. He noticed a tiny blue light seemingly based from a small room overlooking the assembly hall sweeping slowly up and down the crowd. 'Romana, the scan is initiated.' he thought to himself as he waited for a response, a sign...anything from the assembly of Time-Lords, now having launched into full-on conversations about this unexpected new suggestion from The Doctor.

Romana shook her head. While their argument was doing its job in creating the needed distraction, did the Doctor really think Rassilon would be cooperative enough for a joint presidency with her? There wasn't a chance. She continued the scan.

The Doctor smirked, crossing his arms proudly as he gazed over the conversing time lords, "Told you i could distract them" he whispered to Rassilon, leaning slightly over to him as he spoke, "It would take a lot more than just a simple fight to distract them. Oh no. These people..these Time Lords need something really big to get their attention. Just figured a joint presidency idea and plot would do the trick...besides, not like their going to go through with it anyways".

Giving Rassilon a reassuring wink, The Doctor glanced slightly over his shoulder back to the door then around the edges of the hall, looking for Romana and hoping she was doing the scan. In his mind, The Doctor began to calculate how long it would take her to scan the room, run back to the TARDIS, have it analyzed then run back to the hall. "two minutes.." The Doctor suddenly mumbled, sniffing as he looked back to the audience in front of him across the hall, "Shouldn't take her more than two minutes...so just try and make it believable for just a little while longer...hopefully we can make up an escape plan as it goes along. Need some way to get out of this..".

Rassilon looked over his shoulder as The Doctor quietly mumbled and calculated the time it would take for Romana to finish the scan, get to his TARDIS then come back out. He looked forward again at the mass of Time-Lord's, still muttering away to each other. Letting out a small sigh, Rassilon drew himself up to his full height and spoke with the occupants of the vast hall. "Well? Has a decision been made yet?" he asked. The entire hall fell silent again, the Time-Lords who had gossiped and gawked so accusingly at him moments ago at the implications of blackmail now sat in silence, even from this distance away; Rassilon knew that beads of sweat were rolling down quiet a few foreheads. "Cowards....so different from the old years..." he muttered to himself as the strained silence continued.

"Judging from the almost universal lack of input, at a guess I would say there is reluctance among this gathering to modify Gallifrey's democratic system?" he asked rhetorically, trying to prevent a smirk appearing on his face at the gathered Time-Lord's apparent reluctance to speak up against him. Hearing a hissing sound Rassilon turned to the jagged Crack firmly embedded in one of the door's to the hall, and yet not at the same time. Addressing his "audience" once more, still staring at the blindingly white crack he addressed his "audience" again. "Speak now or forever hold your tongues."

From where she was standing, Romana could see the Time Lords whispering among themselves. At the back of the room, her supporters were looking around frantic, confused by her sudden disappearance.

The problem with the majority of the Time Lords is that they always had someone telling them what was right, and telling them what to do. And maybe Romana might have become one of them, had it not been for the Doctor. So when it came to actual decision making, most Time Lords didn't know what to do.

Finally a woman spoke up "How would a political disagreement be settled?"

The Doctor was stunned at the sudden outcry of the woman from the stands, his eyes widening slightly as his mind wrapped around what was going on in front of him. I made up a fake argument to give Romana time, the Time Lords took it seriously and now....at least half are actually considering it...blimey..has it always been this easy to get a point across? Just fly in on one of Rassilon's speeches and share your ideas? The Doctor thought to himself as he glanced over to Rassilon then back to the woman.

"Has there ever actually been a political disagreement?" He finally asked Rassilon, "I mean there's always been at least one or two that disagreed with you but you'd flop them out as the weeping angels of old when you finally executed your plan. But never on this scale. It looks like the high council is split down the middle..".

Rassilon turned his head slightly to speak to The Doctor. "....No....the Lord President's decisions have always been undisputed....until now..." he hissed as a few other members of the crowd stood up with the woman and looked to Rassilon and The Doctor.

Massaging the bridge of his nose Rassilon considered his possible courses of action. After almost losing himself in thought for several moments he spoke at last in a restrained tone. "A political disagreement is settled by some cultures through a....vote....all individuals involved in the decision making process vote on which course of action to take...the highest amount of "votes" wins, at this point the "winning" course of action shall be taken."

Rassilon saw expressions of uncertainty appear on most of the crowd's faces, they only knew what the Lord President told them in regards to politics; Gallifrey's entire political system being almost entirely created by Rassilon during his original tenure as Lord President. Voting would seem like an entirely foreign and nonsensical concept to a society that had been force-fed the Lord President's version of events and politics since that society's beginning.

To say that Romana was shocked would have been an understatement. They were honestly considering this! She somehow doubted if Rassilon would ever really go along with it, should they choose to implement a duel leadership. His ego would never have allowed it.

A tiny, almost imperceptible beep came from the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. The scan was complete. She put it back in her sleeve and ran down the steps.

All the Time Lords were currently fixed on the Doctor and Rassilon, so it was easy for Romana to slip around them and to the TARDIS. She stood at the door, waiting for the two arguers to see her and know the scan was complete.

The Doctor kept his hands rested in his pockets, rocking unconsciously from one side to the other before glancing over his shoulder and spotting Romana. Grinning, The Doctor nudged Rassilon slightly to get his attention and direct it either to him or Romana, "Think the Lord President can offer some more distraction time?" he rhetorically asked Rassilon. "Three minutes" The Doctor continued, turning to face Romana but staying by the side of Rassilon, "I can get it down in three minutes or less. Once i am done i can pilot the TARDIS to pick you up...there's no telling where the person who opened that tomb or what they are planning. So keep your eyes out".

As The Doctor walked back to Romana, a pair of eyes squinted down to the towering form of Rassilon, who now stood alone on the extended walkway. Slowly the hands on his watch turned, nearing the tenth minute. Nearing his minute, his rise. Looking up, the man grinned menacingly, his teeth flashing white and a sense of truly evil happiness and joy. He knew what he was doing, what he was going to do, but would The Doctor, Romana and Rassilon find out in time? That was the question.

Rassilon replied to The Doctor's casual amusement with an annoyed growl, mentally cursing himself over and over again for agreeing to work with The Doctor and that accursed woman. He snapped himself out of it and surveyed the crowd once more, still muttering and whispering to each other like some grotesque red and gold herd of sheep. "Has this Council made a decision yet?" he asked impatiently to the crowd at large. Silence fell for another few seconds, then a voice, this one unfamiliar and rough sounding spoke from the crowd. "Dearest Lord President....it is the belief of the majority of Councilmen and women here...that joint presidency is the only worthwhile option to consider." it said, an air of uncertainty emanating from it; as if carefully prepared and measured for the desired effect.

Rassilon considered himself to be someone not easily panicked, he could recall only two...or three...maybe four times before in all his long lives when he had been panicked, really, legitimately panicked. This was rapidly becoming one such occasion, in the same day The Hand Of Omega had been stolen, (seemingly by Omega himself) The Doctor had appeared on Gallifrey, Romana had briefly become a fugitive and Rassilon himself now faced loss of his presidency...or at least full presidency by a crowd of dimwitted Councilmembers who had met the plans for The Final Sanction with a blank acceptance and now muttered and whispered to each other like schoolchildren. Rassilon had an idea, it was risky, and foolish and sickeningly Doctor-ish idea for one such as he to have...but it was an idea nonetheless...and in this situation it was the only thing he could think of that would not result in him being completely removed from office.

"I realise that perhaps a decision of this magnitude would be unfamiliar and daunting, such a great decision has not been made for thousands of years.....I will not attempt to discourage anyone here to make a decision; one way...or the other." he said with a small sigh. "Having said that, if such a decision is outside of this Council's abilities....then I will ask a question, one that; when answered should make your choice much easier."


"What do you feel is right?"

"I hope you know what you've done," Romana whispered to the Doctor as he approached and entered his TARDIS. She closed the door behind him and handed him his screwdriver. "Your distraction is going to revolutionize the Gallifreyan political system. If Rassilon can be trusted to keep his word, that is."

***

Out in the chamber, the whispering Time Lords suddenly fell silent. What felt right? What felt right?

... What did feel right? They weren't sure. And on this, they were divided. Of course Rassilon should be the president, he was their founder! Who else could lead them best? But then, the Final Sanctum... Maybe even the best Time Lords needed a check.

Some Time Lords shouted that they wanted a joint presidency, others shouted no. A few voices, barely heard over the din said it should be left to a vote.

The Doctor took his sonic screwdriver and smirked, flipping his sonic screwdriver in his hand before replying to Romana, "That's what i do right?" he rhetorically asked her, "Go in to save something then end up revolutionizing it". Dashing over to the TARDIS console, The Doctor placed the sonic screwdriver into the open slot and yanked over the scanner. "Now we wait" The Doctor mumbled, looking over to Romana with a sigh as he leaned back; the scanner slowly processed the data from the scan, whirling through the faces of the high council with every second.

Meanwhile....

The figure slowly stood up, his eyes still locked on Rassilon once more before turning away and making his way to the stairs leading out of the room. Blanketed by the swarm of Time Lords and Ladies who fought for their voices to be heard by the Lord President. Once in the center of the stairs, the man flipped out a remote control and hit the button at the top, glanced behind him then walked down the rest of the staircase. Stepping past the last of the steps, the man entered the hall outside of the council room just as the two guards both perked up at the same time. Their eyes wide as they turned in sync and looked out to Rassilon, then made their way out to him. A device blinking red shined in both of the guards ears as they approached Rassilon, "Lord President" one of them said, "You will come with us" the other finished.

Rassilon tried not to grimace at the sight of the Council, his Council deciding the fate of Gallifrey's quote-on-quote "Political Hierarchy" by themselves. Technically the Lord President wasn't supposed to do anything major without the unanimous approval of The High-Council, though Rassilon had conveniently allowed this particular rule to fall by the wayside; effectively giving him complete control over any and all political decisions and major changes regarding Gallifrey's formerly thriving society. Of course Rassilon himself had never perceived what he was doing and what he had done to be anything but a wise and cunning ruler (ergo, himself) to be asserting control over a society of Time-Travellers with access to potentially devastating metaphysical and temporal manipulation devices and weaponry. The Final Sanction had been in service of these ideals, to preserve Gallifrey and those who knew how to responsibly use the technology it had cultivated, unsurprisingly very few (see: no one) shared his views; and he was fully aware that his small Inner Circle had only gone along with him for fear of death.

Rassilon looked out over the crowd of Time-Lords, still contemplating the consequences of The Doctor's actions, he heard two voices from behind him, both equally monotone and unwavering. "Lord President" "You will come with us" they said, one after the other, sounding almost rehearsed. "Was that a request, or an order?" he asked of the two voices, turning to see two of his own presidential guard standing before him, their faces blank and unreadable. He also noticed a curious red light blinking intermittently in each of their ears, his curiosity piqued he asked another question without waiting for an answer to his first. "Who is your master?....if there's anything of you left of you in those of heads of yours to answer that question then do so, then contemplate who I am and what I've done before you try and drag me away in chains, or simply render me unconscious....and then contemplate my current allies...and what they've done...and then contemplate what they'll do if you try and simply take me....and then contemplate if it is, as The Doctor's precious humans say "Worth it"

(skip me, I got nothin)

The figures eyes narrowed as he kept a keen eye on the entrance of the council room, waiting impatiently for his mind controlled guards to drag the Lord President out. When they didn't come out when he expected them to, he aggravatingly strode over to the entrance. The guards glanced at one another, their minds fighting off the control of the implants inserted into their skulls. Shaking their heads, they slowly began to recover their senses of individuality and what exactly they were doing. Looking up at the Lord President with their own eyes, they immediately began to panic, "Lord President?" one mumbled, "Are you in trouble sir?...wha...what am i doing here?" the other stuttered. But before they could receive the answers to their questions, a line of electricity exploded from their implants and ran through their brains and bolted down their bodies. The guards screamed for a moment as they were submerged in pain before their bodies fell lifelessly to the floor beneath them, "Dying" a voice echoed from the behind the fallen guards.

Standing over the dead bodies, the young man glanced down at them before spitting on them then grimly peering up at the Lord President, "Our Lord President" he hissed, "So powerful...and yet so weak and vulnerable at the same time. I wonder what your precious Doctor and Romana would do when they found out what was really going on...and how small the Time War is compared to this. I would kill you right now...but i need you reluctantly. You will open the Hand of Omega and fulfill our destiny". Extending out his wrist, the young man exposed the device, a flash engulfing him and the Lord President before they disappeared. Leaving the great hall and entering a cave like room, the two forms surrounded by glaring Cybermen, all moving aside to reveal the Cyber Leader hovering over the Hand of Omega, "The Lord President of Gallifrey will activate the device..he will activate the age of Cybermen".

Meanwhile....

The Doctor watched as the scan finalized its search and locked onto one figure in a picture taken of the council room. Zooming it, it locked on a young man, scans of him revealing Cyber implants in his ears and just above his left eyebrow. The Doctor's eyes widened, "The Cybermen got in..." he hissed, "We were so focused on the Daleks we didn't think about the Cybermen. They must have stuck him in when we turned a blind eye...Rassilon....".

Rassilon looked freely around the cavernous, earthy-looking room he now stood in. He would have inspected the rough and uneven walls had he not noticed the legion of silent, blank-faced Cybermen that now stood all around him, he noticed these particular Cybermen were of a new variety, round faced and their exoskeletons were more ornate, with the expected Mondasian identification logo replaced by a glowing blue device embedded in the exact centre of their chests; perhaps a core, perhaps simple decoration. He looked to his side and saw the mysterious young man who had strode so confidently, so arrogantly up to him in the great hall only moments before. The young man said nothing, simply staring ahead at something Rassilon could not yet see. Then, as if on cue the large crowd of Cybermen parted to reveal the thing that was attracting the unidentified man's attention.

A lone Cyberman, Rassilon guessed either a Cyber-Leader or Cyber-Controller; though it was impossible for him to tell as it looked so different from the Cybermen he had become accustomed to. It's chestpiece glowed a fiery orange and it's head had small black lines running down it.

"The Lord President of Gallifrey will activate the device..he will activate the age of Cybermen." it said, in a voice made booming and distorted by it's artificial voice box and intimidating by it's black, expressionless eyes. Rassilon, despite being surrounded by a cadre of clearly hostile Cybermen and The Hand Of Omega, did not seem intimidated by the Cyber Leader's statement. "Cybermen, is this it? I expect a coup by Omega himself to destroy me and all of Gallifrey...and instead I get an army of disembodied human brains rotting in glorified suits of armour." he said scathingly. Rassilon glanced over at The Hand Of Omega, floating underneath the buoyant Cyber-Leader.

"You have nerve, infecting my people, my guards with your filthy; antiquated technologies. Speaking of your technologies...I had noticed you are all...different from the last Cybermen I encountered, there is something wrong about you...something new...I suppose you could call it the "perks" of evolving to be attuned to time and space. You all have traces of somewhere else about you...another universe perhaps, parallel? But wait....there's....oh...of course." he continued, speculating about and insulting the Cybermen in an attempt to stall them while he formulate a plan.

"You're both....Cybermen from another universe, merged with the mondasians..or what was left of them from mine. You became one and the same, perhaps you realised your technologies were compatible and could benefit from the merge, regardless...you are children of two worlds, two universes. All the more reason for me to despise you...in any case..enough about your sketchy origins. Let us discuss what I presume to be an alliance with an old friend of mine and your acquisition of my property." he said, with a nod towards the stationary hand.

"Cybermen!?" Romana gasped, taking a look at the scan. It was there, clear as day: cybernetic implants. "I recognize him! We were on a mission together. He got separated from the group but... I never thought..."

She shook her head and headed to the view screen. Outside, the Council Room was in chaos. The Time Lords were scattering, frightened, screaming. Why wasn't the Lord President able to control them? She zoomed in to the platform, which should have held the President.

"Doctor!" Her voice showed genuine panic. "The President's gone!"

The Doctor's eyes grew wide as he rushed over to the scanner and yanked it over to him to read before he came to the same conclusion Romana had. "They took him...but for what?" The Doctor groaned, his mind trying to formulate reasons for taking Rassilon and where they could have possibly taken him. "Ok, ok let's think. Come on Romana, let's put our minds together for a second" The Doctor urged, trying to regain some sort of control in this frantic moment, "Alright..so we know there's a shadow Cyberman...a convert taken from a mission with you. So they implant him into the grand council over time...get him to gain the trust of the Time Lords. Once he does, he springs the trap and takes Rassilon..but why?".

Rubbing the back of his head, The Doctor began to pace, "Yes.." he whispered, his mind beginning to light up with ideas, "No...yes! No....oh but yes!" he suddenly proclaimed as he spun back to Romana. "The hand of Omega! It was taken from its tomb! Must have been a different Cyberman..going off of the directions of the shadow agent they had...so they must be close enough to snag the hand and get away with it before anyone could notice. And that's why they take Rassilon..because he's the only one that could activate it...but why would Cybermen need the hand of Omega?".

Meanwhile....

The Cyberman stomped around the hand to stand in front of Rassilon, "The Cybermen are scattered, torn throughout the universe. But the hand will reunite us...it will reunite us under the nose of the most powerful civilization in time and space." it roared, "The Time Lords will be converted to Cybermen..Gallifrey will be converted to the first...Cyber-planet. The age of the Cybermen will begin and rise from the ashes of your people...and you will activate our reign".

The controlled Time Lord stepped out from behind Rassilon, grabbing his left arm forcefully and shoved him forward, "Allow me Cyber-leader" he hissed, peering down to the Lord President, "You have a choice...activate the hand..or i will insert Cybernetic converters into your blood stream, they will attack your mind and slowly begin to convert you...oh wait....i've already done it".

Rassilon gritted his teeth as the converted Time-Lord explained he had inserted Cyber-Converters into his blood stream. Whatever happened now, the conversion process couldn't be stopped, Rassilon would become enslaved to these creatures will...he came to a possible solution but pushed it to the back of his thoughts, too risky.

"I would sooner kill myself than allow you parasites to have The Hand....I die...and The Hand dies with me, it is true that you could attempt to gain control of my mind but how long would that take?  The likes of Romanadvoratrelundar and The Doctor have worked  against you before and I will certainly not simply give up my mental faculties so easily....you forget, I was alive for centuries before your first Cyber-Unit was constructed, I saw The Mondasians go from naked simpletons banging rocks together to a mighty civilisation...to you...the Cyber-Men." he said, every word spat like venom from his mouth. Rassilon felt his knees weaken as the microscopic Cyber-Converters attacked various sections of his brain, his vision began to blur. Shaking his head he temporarily staved off the mental attacks and made to stand up again.

Rassilon suddenly felt a blinding surge of pain as the Converters worked ever harder to destroy his mind, he roared in agony, aggressively swiping his gauntleted hand to no effect. The Gauntlet did as Rassilon commanded mentally, the pain and attempted mental manipulation of the Cyber-Conversion process making it almost impossible for Rassilon to properly marshal his thoughts cohesively. He looked back up at the Cyber-Leader, it watched him with a cold gaze; the converted Time Lord standing behind him wearing an arrogant smirk.

"I...will not yield...." he choked, struggling to hold on to his conscious mind. Several moments passed as Rassilon finally dipped his head, the Cyber-Converters finally gaining full influence.

It opened it's "eyes" unused to flesh-based ocular perception it blinked a few times, it moved the eyes upwards to visually perceive it's Cyber-Leader, the Hand of Omega loomed behind the Cyber-Leader. It did not speak, for it had not yet learned how, the Cyber-Conversion process had been damaged by the former occupant of this body, necessary knowledge had not been uploaded and a small portion of the "mind" had been psychically blocked to the Cyber Consciousness that now controlled the body. The Cyber Consciousness surmised the Lord President had not simply wasted time trying to resist the inevitable conversion, it had blocked a portion of the mind, made it a safe-haven for the Lord President's own consciousness, the Cyber Consciousness however had decided to deal with it at a less significant time. "This unit will activate the Gallifreyan artefact." it said in Rassilon's voice,  without emotion or inflection. The Consciousness slowly stepped forward, the Cyber-Leader stepping aside to let it past.


Rassilon awoke in what appeared to be one of Gallifrey's forests, he looked around, surveying the surrounding area. The tree's leaves gleamed a brilliant silver, reflecting the rich crimson of the grass that seemed to stretch on for miles. A familiar voice rang out across the landscape "This unit will activate the Gallifreyan artefact." and Rassilon recognised it as his own, his memories of his Conversion came flooding back and he felt rage rise up like bile in his throat. "Parasites!" he roared, his voice carrying around the deserted forest. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. The darkness of his closed eyelids being replaced by the vision of the dark cavern his real body was in and seeing through his real eyes, the Hand of Omega right in front of him.
He cursed himself, feeling weak and thoroughly defeated he fell to his knees, trying to formulate something, anything to stop the Cyber-Consciousness controlling his body from activating the Hand of Omega.

Romana shoved her guilt at delivering the Shadow Cybermen into the Time Lord's midst, and focused on the problem.

"Rassilon used the Hand to cause the Supernovas that provide our energy. But the Hand can use all solar energy. It can create... well anything with that energy!" Romana paced, thinking. Suddenly both her feet and her hearts stopped in horror. "Including force Gallifrey back through the crack and into the universe."

She shook her head violently. "No but why? Even if by some miracle our forced reentry didn't cause the total collapse of the universe, what possible reason could they have for Time Lords being present again? Unless... Unless we won't be Time Lords by then. But converting every Gallifreyan would take thousands of years! And why take Rassilon? They don't think he'll convince the Time Lords to cooperate, do they?"

Romana frowned, looking at the images of the frantic Time Lords, and it came to her. "Rassilon's final sanction. They're going to use Rassilon's final sanction, except instead of killing us all, they're going to mass-convert."

The Doctor's eyes widened, "The council hall" he mumbled, "They're going to use the hall as a great big converter. Lure the time lords group by group until the entire planet is converted. Oh Romana you're brilliant!" he exclaimed, kissing Romana on the forehead. As he pulled back and turned his attention to his scanner, an idea suddenly sprung into The Doctor's busy mind, "But what if we use it against them?!" he suddenly proclaimed, turning back to Romana, "They want to use the council room as a great big converter right? The hand acting as the power source. But! If we somehow rewired The Hand, to instead of powering the converter, to drain it instead! The Time Lord data banks have marked the codes to the emotional inhibitor..well...my TARDIS does anyway. If we can place in those codes into The Hand and distribute that code once the Cybermen suspect nothing is happening then we can catch them off guard".

The Cave....

"Good" The Cyber-planner hissed, looking over to The Cyber-Leader and the other Cybermen around the room, "We need to move our units. Set up the trap and draw them in..once the time lord artifact is activated, the conversion process can commence". The Cyber-Leader nodded and stomped off with the other Cybermen, leaving two in the room with the Cyber-planner to make sure that the freshly converted Lord President would make the device work.

The trap was beginning to set, the time lords would surely pull into it if they thought it was their Lord President commanding it. And with the cyber unit planted in Rassilon's mind seemingly controlling Rassilon completely, The Cyber-Planner began to think his plan was just about fail proof.