Three figures stood on the beach and watched as the distant island slipped into the waves and submerged into the cold waters of the ocean. It was late evening; twilight really. That time after the sun has set but it's rays still peak over the horizon to let everyone know it hasn't really fallen into the sea and been extinguished.
"Well there goes Atlantis," David Mason exclaimed, stuffing his hands into his denim jeans pockets. "I can't say I'll miss it though."
"Me too." Claire Mason, David's twin sister, agreed. Her long purple dress caught the evening breeze as it picked up from offshore. "Those fish men gave me the creeps."
"Sea Devils." The Doctor told her nomenclaturly challenged companion as she pulled her blue velvet jacket back on over her orange blouse and stretched the legs of her floral patterned grey trouser clad legs. With a flick of her head she pulled a few stray blonde hairs free from being trapped by the collar. "I hope that this time really is the end of Atlantis."
"What do you mean Doctor?" David scratched his head.
"This is actually the fourth time it's been destroyed as far as I know. Lets get back to the TARDIS hmmm?" She turned to leave, producing a key from the jacket pocket.
"You've destroyed Atlantis four times?" Claire exclaimed loudly, her voice carrying into the cool evening's sea breeze aimed at the Doctor's back.
The Doctor stopped in her tracks, turned round and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. "Hey this is only my third time. I had nothing to do with Azal destroying it at all, probably." She took her hands out of the pockets and brandished the key once more. "Come on, lets go somewhere warm. I'm thinking southern France; I'm thinking San Tropez. Last one into her bikini buys the Mars bars." The Doctor set off jogging towards the nearby police box shaped time machine.
"That's you brother dearest." Claire teased cheerfully as she rushed ahead of her sibling.
David thought for a split second. "Oh no sis, I'm not a her. Looks like the chocolate's on you." He watched as realisation struck his sister and he patted her shoulder. "Don't worry though, we still like you."


"Initiate the Virus Lieutenant."
"Virus initiated Leader."


Inside the TARDIS console room the Doctor input the relevant space/time co-ordinates for their destination. "Right, that should do it. Just enough time to get changed I think then we can get some serious relaxing."
David studied the pinkish-grey TARDIS wall for a second. Something was not quite right with it. Usually it seemed to be more plastic but this looked more like painted wood. He rapped it softly, it sounded like wood. "Hey Doctor this wall's not real."
"Mmmm? Oh you're imagining things David. The TARDIS is composed of materials so sophisticated and alien that even I have trouble remembering the names." She pressed some buttons on the console to check the TARDIS systems; all that happened was that lights flickered on and off. "This is strange."
"CUT!" The director's face was a shade of red normally reserved for dying suns. "Why the hell are you ad-libbing? This time I want you to say the right lines ok? Why do I get lumbered with all these problems? Next time I'm going to demand a costume drama." Sven Svengaliburg vented his spleen at everyone he could see.
All three TARDIS occupants stared dumbstruck at the television crew that were hidden behind the cameraman.
"Oh my, this is strange." Claire looked for something to hold on to as her vision started to swim and she lost her balance.
"Claire's fallen over Doctor." David noted; his brain was too busy being shocked to apply the necessary level of surprise.
"What's going on?" The Doctor muttered before trying more buttons. There was a sharp pain in her left index finger. "I've broken a nail. I've never broken a nail before. Look David it's really broken." She showed the broken nail to her companion.
"I said CUT!!!" Svengaliburg stormed away, throwing objects at anyone in striking range. "I've had enough, I'm going to get a gun and I'm going to shoot myself with it!"
"Wow, talk about stressed out." The Doctor helped David to pick his sister up off of the ground. "We need to explore. Find out exactly what is going on and then find a false finger nail to hide the terrible damage to the real one." They left the set and went to explore their new surroundings, the Doctor wondering if she should give more priority to her broken nail.


"Plan proceeding as expected Leader."
"Excellent Lieutenant."


They wandered up and down identical seeming corridors but finally they found a dressing room with a gold star on it and made it their temporary base. The Doctor brought Claire around using the old water on the face trick.
"Doctor, it's only supposed to be a cup of water, I think she's drowned." David felt that 'drowned rat' was a suitable description of his sibling as she lapsed back into unconsciousness.
There was a knock at the door and the Doctor went to open it while answering David. "Oh don't fret, she's durable." She was knocked out of the way by a young woman who rushed past her and started cradling Claire in her arms and crying.
"Oh Alice, my love, are you alright? I saw you faint."
Looking at the newcomer David was confused. She was wearing a blue and lavender dress and seemed to be more than politely interested in his twin. "Err who are you?" He eventually asked.
"I'm Alice's partner, we've been together almost a year now." She smiled at David and showed him a simple silver ring. "We have identical ones, to show how much we mean to each other." She lifted Claire's hand up to show the identical looking ring on Claire's finger.
"She never mentioned she was seeing anyone. In fact she never even told us you were on board the ship." The Doctor wondered exactly what was going on here. That ring wasn't there before she opened the door.
"We met at a party, she looked divine in a gorgeous miniskirt. I'm Madeline Rayne by the way."
The Doctor led David away into a corner, out of earshot of the young woman claiming to be a friend of Claire's. "I think that somehow we've been pulled into some sort of alternate reality, maybe a parallel universe. It's even possibly that this is the land of fiction, however it doesn't have quite the right feel for that. We need to look around and search out some clues."
"Doctor, what about our new friend over there? Are we going to let her look after my sister? That ring, it wasn't there when we were helping fat ass in here."
"I think we can trust her for now. We need somewhere safe until Claire can recover. At least Madeline is eager to help. Such kindness is rare in the Universe, believe me, I've seen just about all of it including remarks about ones sister just now."
"Ok, ok I'll quit the insults until zombie features, I mean my dearest darling sister, is awake." David wasn't happy about this situation but there was nothing else he could think of. "Ok, we'll crash at her place and in the morning we can find out what's going on.


"Activate the Virus."
"Virus activated Leader."


Sunlight shone down on her eyelids turning a blissful dreamy darkness into harsh red awakeness. Claire woke up with a start. "Wow that was a weird dream." Then she realised she wasn't alone, there was a hand stretched over her stomach. A woman's hand. Claire entered into Panicom stage three.
"Good morning lover. Wow did I ever mention how gorgeous you look first thing?" Madeline started to rub Claire's stomach.
Claire realised she was totally naked and tried to cover her chest up with the duvet. "Err hi. Do I know you?" Panicom stage two.
Madeline smacked Claire's stomach gently before pulling the duvet off the bed. "Stop playing games silly. You knew my name well enough the other night. In fact I think the neighbours heard you screaming it out several times. Don't you remember 'oh Maddy, oh yes, oh god yes?' I certainly do."
This was too much for Claire to handle. This is a dream she decided, a nightmare. I'm still asleep in the TARDIS having this bad dream. "We made love?" This was it Panicom one, relax Claire, she told herself, hysteria is about to begin.
"Yeah, dummy. That's what lovers do. You had a funny turn last night and I tucked you into bed."
Claire was too grossed out to think straight but in a weird mental state she managed to work things out. "You took advantage of me?"
Maddy nibbled at her lovers perfectly formed earlobe. "No silly, but I'm ready now tigress." She started to make animal noises.
This was it, hysteria. "I'm a lesbian?" Claire tried to wake herself up but part of her mind insisted that this was all true. "We're lovers?"
Maddy sat up straight and looked in Claire's eyes, losing herself in their beauty. "Absolutely, we even told your parents remember?"
"I can't remember. I think my mind's playing up." Claire started looking for her clothes; she had to think about all of this. She found some clothes but they weren't hers.
Maddy lowered her gaze by a foot to look at Claire's nude form. "Let me refresh your memory, " she suggested before holding Claire in her arms and kissing her.
"Oh." Maybe this wasn't so bad after all, Claire thought, then she remembered her name was Alice and she returned the kiss. They gently fell backwards onto the bed and giggled.


"Who are you?" David asked; he was inside a vast expanse of darkness. He could feel the presence of someone, or something, else. His arms and legs felt funny, heavier and there was an empty feeling inside his stomach.
"You belong to us."
Hearing his suspicions confirmed in a droning monotone David responded with insolence. "I don't belong to anyone." He couldn't see anyone, then he realised the voice he was talking to come from his own mouth.
"You will become like us."
"No." David shouted at the empty black void.
"You are already like us."
"No, no...I don't." David fought coldness inside his mind but it was too strong and he was washed away. "We will survive." It finished the necessary modifications to the host body because logic dictated that was the correct path towards survival.


The Doctor paced up and down in the kitchen. Every possible scenario she thought of just didn't fit the facts. She looked down at the sleeping figure of David as he snored gently, sprawled out on the table. "It doesn't make sense." She noticed a small red light flickering on David's scalp. She turned him over and screamed as she saw his face fall away to reveal the blank visage of a Cyberman.
"We will survive." The Cyberman cast off the remains of its previous human existence as if it were hatching from an egg. "We are the Cybermen. Resistance is useless. Your life, as you have known it, is over. From this moment on you belong to us. You will be converted to become like us."
The Doctor gasped for breath. "Not bloody likely." She looked around the kitchen for something to defend herself with. After a few frantic seconds she found a stick of celery and she held it up defensively.
"You are already becoming like us. Soon you will ascend your weaknesses and join us." The Cyberman pointed at the frightened Time Lady. "You know our ways."
"No, I bloody won't become like you. I'll fight you and I'll defeat you as I have so many times. I am the Doctor!" She waved the celery like it was Excalibur but it was effortlessly crushed in the Cybermans two giant fingers.
The Cyberman continued to advance. "You will become like us, your body is being prepared even now."
"What do you mean?" The Doctor shouted at the emotionless killer that had once been her friend. "How am I being prepared?" She looked for another stick of celery but all she found was a cucumber. This was exactly like that time she went to visit Dastari in an earlier incarnation except then she was fighting an Androgum, this time it was a Cyberman. "Stay back or I'll use this on you, I'm an expert in every martial art I'll have you know. Stay back, I'm not afraid to use this."
"You have been infected by the CyberVirus. It will remake you into our servant." The Cyberman grasped the Doctor's wrists and lifted her off the ground. "Resistance is useless."
"My immune system is a lot more aggressive than just about any virus and you're wrong, resistance is not useless." The Doctor reached into her pockets and threw out two handfuls of silver pieces at the feet of the Cyberman. "Ooops, I thought it was gold. Oh wait a minute gold doesn't work on this version of you does it? Where's a rod of Uranium two three five when you really need it?"


Alice dressed finally and smiled at the partially dressed Madeline. "So we're red hot lovers then?" She asked Maddy while adjusting the waistband of her skirt until it felt right and hugged her waist perfectly.
Madeline adjusted the seam of her tights while wondering why on Earth Americans and Australians called them panty hose. "You better believe it, you taught me a few things I can tell you."
Alice tried to think hard about her life but all she could remember was triple x rated. "Bits of my memory are returning, I remember your face, among other things."
"Hey that's good isn't it?" Madeline held Alice's hands and kissed her cheek. We'd better find your friends and tell them you're better."
"The Doctor and David are here?" Alice wondered why she called them by their character's names. Must be part of the malady she decided. Her train of thought was disrupted when a burly metal giant threw the Doctor through the wall and she landed on top of Madeline. "What the hell is that?"
The irate Time Lady-turned-stuntwoman stood up and waited for her assailant to enter the room. "A Cyberman, it killed your brother Claire." The Doctor ducked as it swung its fists as her. "I forgot how relentless the Cybermen are, I think it's something to do with lack of imagination." She ducked again to avoid the Cybermans next attack.
Alice stared as the silver giant attacked her fellow actress. "My name's not Claire, it's Alice." Alice helped the two women to their feet.
"It's affecting you too Claire." The Doctor held Claire's hands. "You have to remember Claire: the TARDIS; David; Atlantis. Surely you remember how we met, the Yeti and the Valeyard?"
"My name is Alice Poole, I'm an actress and you've obviously gone insane. You're an actress too, we do a show together remember? Nice cucumber by the way." Alice admired its long green form, for some reason it reminded her of a one eyed alien ambassador. She dismissed this memory and the cucumber was a cucumber once more.
"Huh?" The Doctor looked wide-eyed at the cucumber for a second before throwing it at the Cyberman. "I'm the Doctor, you are Claire and this is one of my deadliest enemies."
The force of the crazy woman's rebuttal made Alice take a pace backwards. "Yes, you've obviously got the same thing I had. Your name is Jane Doe and you play the Doctor in a cheesy sci-fi show."
"My life isn't a television programme and that Cyberman is killing your girlfriend!" The Doctor pointed at Madeline who was being strangled by the Cyberman formally known as David Mason. "It's real Claire, wake up and smell the WD 40."
"Madeline, no." Alice pounded the metal figure with her fists to no avail. It was like hitting a post box or a dustbin. Frustrated she kicked it, only to hurt her toes badly.
The Cyberman threw the corpse to the floor and spotted a new target. This one was also a time traveller, like it had been; it was needed for the Plan. It tried to access her systems but there was no trace of the CyberVirus in her system, a biological anomaly had rendered her immune. It prepared to use a stronger version of the CyberVirus to assist her conversion into the CyberRace. The stronger batch would be successful but it would cause her immense physical damage.
Using a heavy steel frying pan the Doctor smashed the Cybermans arm away from her companion. "Not again, I'm not losing another dear friend to you." The heavy metal object struck again and again on the Cybermans body as the Doctor vented her fury upon the thing that had destroyed David. If her hearts had been cannon balls she would have shot them from her chest at the creature. She had read that somewhere, or was it a film? "No more, do you hear me? No more. I hate you all, I hate you." The angry Time Lady rained down blow after blow on the Cyberman until the body of the frying pan was snapped away from its handle.
Alice looked at the psycho woman and memories flashed inside her head like lightening. Her name wasn't Alice: it was Claire. Claire Mason pulled the Doctor away from the dead robot guy. "It's over Doctor, it's not moving anymore." She knew who she was now and she also had a brother. "Doctor, where's David at?" She looked around but couldn't see him.
The Doctor put her hands on Claire's shoulders. "I have some bad news Claire, that thing it..." The Doctor's words were cut off as a dozen Cybermen forced their way through the brick walls towards the two time travellers. "This way, run." The Doctor dragged Claire behind her as she ran towards the front door.


They ran all the way back to the television studio and they had to break inside through a window into a storeroom to avoid the security guards. Finally the Doctor could explain everything to Claire about the Cybermen and the CyberVirus, which had claimed David's life. She comforted Claire as the younger woman broke down and sobbed her heart out. "I had to destroy it Claire, it wasn't your brother anymore. They turned him into one of them, it wasn't David I destroyed it was the thing that took him away from us."
"Why didn't it take me instead of him?" Claire finally spoke, her voice rough with the pain.
"I think it tried to convert you Claire but your diabetes caused this CyberVirus to mutate and somehow it brought out a part of yourself you've been repressing all these years. All of this," the Doctor gestured at the whole of the strange world they were in, "is a trap. Some sort of artificial reality matrix created by the Cybermen to trap new victims and replenish their number."
"So what are we going to do Doctor?" Claire wondered what she had in mind.
The Doctor stood up swiftly. "I'm going to abolish the draft Claire, this place is going to be turned into so much scrap metal that people will mistake it for modern art."
Claire's eyes started to tear up again. "Lets just go away Doctor, leave this place as quickly as possible."
"Of course Claire, once we've finished off this place. I can see it so clearly now, we have to destroy them, destroy them all. It's the only way, don't you see?"
Shivering Claire watched as her arms started to form goosebumps. The Doctor was doing this to her, she was making her afraid. "You're scaring me Doctor, stop it please."
"It's the only way I can be sure David didn't die in vain, by stopping them from doing the same to someone else. You can understand that can't you?" The Time Lady looked deep into her friend's eyes for understanding. "I can't risk letting them hurt you as well."
"You need to think calmly Doctor. If you kill them all you'll hate yourself, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but soon and for the rest of your life. If you destroy like he does then you're no better than he is?"
"Who? The Master? He's nothing like me."
Claire remembered the grey and black dressed evil incarnation of the Doctor. He had tried to make her his companion but fortunately the Doctor had saved her from being used as a pawn in his evil schemes. "Not the Master, Doctor. The Valeyard. You'll be no better than he is, just another criminal on the run."
The Doctor slapped Claire as hard as she could. "How dare you? I'm nothing like the Valeyard. The Cybermen are evil, pure evil. They killed him and I can never forgive them for killing Adric."
Claire touched her burning cheek. "You don't need to forgive the Cybermen Doctor, you need to forgive yourself. You couldn't have known what they were up to. You couldn't have saved him. Who's Adric by the way?"
The Doctor realised she had made a Freudian slip. "I called David ... Adric? The Cybermen must be stopped." This was getting too personal; she had to end it once and for all.
"Yes they should, but not here, not now. In the future perhaps when you're ready. Right now we have to escape this trap before they find up." Claire stood up and held out her hand. "I need you Doctor, please help."
The Doctor lifted her head and reached out her hand. "I'm scared Claire, I don't know if it's worth it anymore. I don't know if I can go on with this foolish wandering anymore."
"We'll talk about this later, right now we have escape plans to make." She led the older woman towards the stage where they arrived. "The key is here somewhere." She looked around the set for a clue.
"This is odd." The Doctor held up a red question marked umbrella. "I lost this years ago." Pressing the small catch she unfurled it and a beam of white light poured out of the black fabric onto her. "This is very odd."
"This is odd." The Doctor held up a red question marked umbrella. "I lost this years ago." Pressing the small catch she unfurled it and a beam of white light poured out of the black fabric onto her. "This is very odd."
"Doctor, you did it." Claire looked at the fourth wall where the cameras had been. Once again it was the familiar pinkish-grey wall with the odd circles imprinted in it. "I'd better go and sort his things out." Claire headed towards the internal door that led towards David's room.
Having programmed the flight controls the Doctor caught up with Claire. "I thought I'd help tidy things up. You were right, what you said. About me being like the Valeyard, I'm sorry for hitting you. I'm so sorry."
"Does it, does it get easier? Will the pain go away? I feel like I should hate them forever but all I feel is numb inside."
"Claire, I'd like to tell you that the pain will stop, that you'll move on and put this terrible day behind you but all I can say is that I hope you manage to try to forgive me. I should have realised sooner."
"We'll work this out together Doctor, you and I. One day, perhaps we'll be able to move on, one day."
"What do we do until then?" The Doctor smiled sadly.
Claire returned her friends smile. "We eat as much chocolate as our hips can handle, then we destroy those bastards once and for all. To hell with them, to hell with the laws of time and to hell with anyone who tries to stop us."
"I thought you said we should think rationally about this. I've got so much blood on my hands already. I don't want to even think about you in that position. Forgiveness is a hard thing Claire."
"Look Doctor, forgiveness is one thing and revenge is another thing. I want to make them pay dearly for David's life."
"No you don't Claire. It's not revenge you need, it's justice." Fishing into her jacket pocket the Doctor produced a small gold disc with a single red button on its polished surface. "Press this button and you will destroy their base. I planted a number of mines inside that Matrix of theirs. I pretended it was pieces of silver that I'd mistaken for gold. Press this button and you will destroy some of them. Press this button and you will cause them some moderate damage." The Doctor's voice got angrier and shriller as she went on. "Press this button and you will destroy them in cold blood. Press this button and you may as well be one of them."
"I, I want to. I really want to. They deserve it."
"Press the button then."
Claire willed her hand to push the button, she wanted to but in her heart she knew it would do more harm than good. "I can't." She knew then that she could never kill in cold blood.
"Press it!" The Doctor screamed at Claire.
"No!" Claire screamed back. "I won't kill, I'm not a killer. I'm not a killer." She covered her face and started to cry again.
"I know Claire, I know. I just needed to make you realise how much goodness is inside you." She put her arm around her shoulder and slowly walked her to her room. "So much goodness, I hope it's enough for both of us." Carefully the Doctor pressed the button and slipped the device inside her jacket pocket. "You were right about the chocolate though, I suggest we binge until we're at least the size of airships." The Doctor hugged her grieving friend once more while wondering if she had sacrificed part of her soul.
Things had not gone to plan, that meddling interloper, the Doctor, still lived. Would that woman just not die Dynami wondered. Should he tell the Valeyard he debated finally he headed towards the quarters of the innocent seeming Lord Rotcod, in reality the Valeyard, to arrange a meeting later that day. Why on Gallifrey he insisted on these ludicrous meetings was beyond his comprehension and what he mean by espionage movies anyway?


Lord Rotcod, who was really the Doctor but preferred to call himself the Valeyard to, looked down at the body of Cardinal Dynami as it lay on the floor of his quarters. Talk about killing the messenger. "Fool." He spat with venom. "Idiot." He raised an eyebrow when Dynami started to regenerate. The venom was supposed to prevent this, that bumbling imbecile must have been taking all manner of antidotes. His respect for the Cardinal grew; maybe this persona would be more effective. He took small comfort in the death of the Doctors companion. On reflex he rubbed the knee the boy had shot. The death of an enemy was little compensation and certainly not enough to show mercy on the inept fool who lay at his feet. "Get up fool." He kicked his follower's head; maybe it would knock some sense into him.
"My head, think of one thing, concentrate on only one thing." Dynami felt like he had been through a paper shredder twice.
"Oh get up, it's not that bad." The Valeyard dragged the now smaller man to his feet.
"You killed me." Dynami clutched his stomach on reflex.
"Yes, don't fail me again. Is this your first regeneration?"
Dynami nodded. "How could you tell?" The Valeyard was in his final incarnation and regeneration must have seemed only a minor inconvenience to him. Dynami pulled out a mirror; he used to be so vain. Casually he pushed his long blonde fringe about and moved his facial muscles about to see how they looked. All in all it wasn't bad, he'd just have to look at a stranger in every mirror until he got used to his new appearance.
"The first time is always the worst." He watched as the younger Time Lord examined his new features. "You worry as you approach it. You spend hours wondering if Rassilon's Inheritance is going to work. You build it all up into a huge event and it usually turns out to be rather lacklustre. You spend more time worrying that the new you will have the same number of arms and eyes than you do setting your affairs in order. If there's one thing we can learn from the younger races it's to stop worrying and get things done." The Valeyard paused for breath, and reflected on the circumstances of his last regeneration. Who would have expected her? "Now follow me, we have work to do." He led his newly regenerated follower to their base in the Capitol's lower levels. "Coups don't happen by themselves you know, hurry up there's so much to organise."