Halfway Out Of The Dark || The Doctor

The Age of Steel

The Cyberman raised their fists, ready to strike, when the leader was suddenly hit by a beam of golden light which bounded off it and onto the others, completely disintegrating them. Everyone turned to see the Artist standing there, the TARDIS power cell in her outstretched hand. "Well, don't just stand there, RUN!" she yelled.

"What the hell was that?!" Ricky questioned.

"Never mind that." the Doctor told him, "You heard the lady, run!" He took the Artist's hand and led the way as Mrs Moore drove onto the scene in the Preachers' van, tooting her horn.

"Everybody in!" she hollered and everyone began to scramble into the van except Pete, who tried to run into the house, but the Doctor grabbed him and restrained him.

"I've gotta go back." Pete cried, "My wife's in there!"

"Anyone inside that house is dead." the Doctor told him grimly, "If you wanna help, then don't let her die for nothing. You've gotta come with us. Right now."

Pete understood and hurried back to the van. "Come on, get a move on!" Mrs Moore urged.

Rose was still staring at the house. The Artist went over to her. "Rose, she's not your mother." she told the blonde with quiet urgency.

"I know." Rose replied, and the Artist led her to the van.

"Finished chatting?!" Mrs Moore called as the Doctor, the Artist and Rose climbed in the back. "Never seen a slower getaway in my life!" she grumbled as they sped off.

As soon as they were out of harm's way, the Time Lords pulled themselves into a relieved embrace. "Are you alright?" the Doctor asked the Artist. His hearts had been racing ever since he'd found out that there were Cybermen in this world, but he felt a lot better now that the Artist was safe and sound.

"I should be asking you that." the Artist replied, "Nice tux, by the way. You okay?"

"Yeah." he nodded.

"Everyone else alright?" the Artist asked the humans, who all mumbled various 'Fines' and 'Okays'.

"What was that thing?" Ricky asked, looking at the power cell in the Artist's hand.

"Little bit of tech from home." she replied, handing it to the Doctor.

"It's stopped glowing. Has it run out?" Mickey asked.

"It's on a revitalising loop." the Doctor answered, putting the cell in his pocket, "It'll charge up in about four hours."

"Right, so we don't have a weapon anyone." Ricky grunted.

"Yeah, we've got weapons." Jake countered, "Might not work on those metal things, but they're good enough for the likes of him." He glared at Pete.

"Leave him alone!" Rose defended shrilly, "What's he done wrong?"

"Oh, ya know, just laid a trap that's wiped out the Government and left Lumic in charge." Jake retorted.

"If I was part of all that, d'ya think I'd leave my wife inside?!" Pete countered.

"Maybe ya plan went wrong." Ricky argued, "Still gives us the right to execute you, though."

"Talk about executions, you'll make me ya enemy." the Doctor snapped, "And take some really good advice, ya don't wanna do that."

"All the same... we have evidence that says that Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since 20.5."

Rose stared at Pete, taken aback. "Is that true?" she asked quietly as Pete looked uncomfortable.

"Tell 'em, Mrs M." Ricky said to Mrs Moore.

"We've got a Government mole, feeds us information." she explained, "Lumic's private files, his South American operations... the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week.