Chapter Text
“Hang on!” Yaz says, trailing behind the Doctor as she whizzes down the halls of the TARDIS. “You can't just go and sit on a spaceship as it explodes, you’ll die!”
As requested, Graham had used the dimensional folder to rescue them from the Cybership, ferrying them one by one until everyone was back on Atraxia. They’d gone straight to the TARDIS from there where Xane began work on his virus.
The Doctor and - well the Doctor had intended to go look for the regeneration inhibitor but before they could, their wife ordered they both go and shower until they didn't smell like ‘something had crawled into their clothes and died’.
River had recruited the Doctor’s companions to help search instead, but Yaz must have snuck away at some point because the Doctor had found her waiting outside the bathroom when she’d emerged.
The Doctor rubs her wet hair dry with a towel as she walks, her friend struggling to keep up. “It's the only way, Yaz. I need to make sure they'll really be gone.”
“But why you? You’ll die!”
“Because it's my fault!” She stops abruptly and faces Yaz. “I don't know how, but this all has something to do with the destruction I saw on Gallifrey. And instead of trying to figure it out, I just ran. If I had just stayed -”
There's pity in Yaz’s face and she can't bear to look at it.
“You didn't know,” her friend says. “And even if you did that doesn't mean you could've stopped it.”
“Doesn't it?” she shakes her head. “Regardless, I'm not planning on dying just yet. It'll be close but if we time it right, River and the other me can pilot the ship to the moment before it explodes. I'll just pop into the TARDIS and then I'll be fine. Easy.”
Yaz still looks unconvinced so the Doctor smiles reassuringly. “It'll be fine, Yaz. We’ve done loads more dangerous things than this, haven’t we?”
“With that regeneration disabling thingy, you'll be even more vulnerable. How many times have you died, Doctor? You can't just go and change your face if this fails.”
The Doctor looks away. She’d been hoping Yaz wouldn't catch onto that bit. Her fault for always taking the clever people.
“I'll be fine,” she says again, her voice firm.
Yaz doesn't get a chance to argue further as they walk into the console room. Everyone else is there now, the other Doctor fiddling with what she presumes is the regeneration inhibiting bomb and Xane on a video call, talking in hushed tones. She can just make out Antel’s face on the screen, tears streaming down her cheeks as Xane attempts to comfort her.
Ryan and Graham are lounging around, but they look up as she and Yaz approach, their faces full of concern. She shoots them a reassuring smile. but Yaz must communicate something because they seem to just become more concerned.
The Doctor decides to avoid that for now and talk to her wife instead.
River smiles approvingly at her as she comes closer. “You're looking - and smelling - better.”
“Well when your wife says you need a shower, it’s usually best to listen.” She feels a little thrill at being able to say those words again. Her ship, her wife and her friends all in one place. If she could just ignore her other self and the Time Lord-esque Cybermen, everything would be perfect.
“Hm, trying to get on my good side I see.”
“Is it working?”
“Jury’s still out. After all, you did run off with a strange man on our wedding night.”
The Doctor makes a face. The idea of running off with her younger self was…disturbing to say the least. “I'm sorry, were you lonely?”
River sniffs. “Of course not, I had my first wife to keep me company. Now her, oh well she's a delight.”
The Doctor frowns. “First wife?”
“Yaz?” River nods to where her friend is sitting and whispering furiously to Graham and Ryan. Likely attempting to rally them up to try and stop her from enacting her plan. “Have you already forgotten that you dragged that poor unsuspecting girl into that hare-brained wedding too?”
“Ah, right.” The Doctor rubs the back of her neck, feeling another pang of guilt. She really did not deserve a Yasmin Khan in her life. “Why is she the first?”
“I like her better. She’s less infuriating,” River says pointedly.
The Doctor winces. There was no getting away from people unhappy with her and this plan. “River -”
“She also doesn't bring home strays,” River interrupts, clearly uninterested in discussing the matter further. “What in God's name is that thing?”
The Doctor follows her gaze to the defective cybermat she'd found on the ship. She perks up. She had almost forgotten he’d followed them from the ship - clinging onto her leg as Graham transported them back. “That's Bartholomew, he's amazing, he's my new pet!”
The cybermat chirps and runs over the Doctor’s feet in what was likely intended as an affectionate response but really just turned out to be rather painful.
River looks at it and then says immediately, “No, absolutely not.”
“But-”
“Sweetie, if you try to bring him into the house then you will not be allowed in the house.”
“Fine,” she pouts, scratching the cybermat’s head. Bartholomew would just have to live in the TARDIS. It's not as if he really needed food or water. Perhaps he may get lonely when she was at River’s but she could just drop by and take him on walks. She wondered if he and K-9 would get along. She should stop by Sarah Jane's and introduce them.
When she looks back up, River is watching her - her eyebrows furrowed as if she's trying to work out a puzzle.
“What?” the Doctor asks.
“Earlier. When you and the Doctor -” River begins but before she can finish her question, the man in question speaks.
“Got it!” the other Doctor exclaims, leaping up to his feet. Everyone’s attention turns to him as he grins wildly.
“The regeneration bomb?” asks River.
“Correct. I can't test it out obviously but I'm certain it should work. It’s my invention after all.”
The Doctor bristles. “ His invention? That arrogant -”
She feels a hand on her arm and she looks over to see her wife biting her lip, suppressing laughter. “Oh let him have it, his ego is awfully fragile.”
The Doctor huffs, unsure if she should feel insulted by that or not. She decides ‘not’. She was, after all, older and wiser than him, wasn't she? She would prove that by letting him take the credit for what was clearly her idea.
“I've finished as well,” says Xane, clearing his throat. “The virus that is, to disable the dimensional folders.”
“Well then,” says Graham, getting to his feet. “What are we waiting for? Looks like we’ve got a spaceship to explode.”
—
River pilots the TARDIS back to the Cyberman ship, pushing the younger Doctor out of the way anytime he tries to assist.
The Doctor also itches to go and help, it was her ship after all, but she reluctantly suppresses the urge.
“Alright, I’ve just parked us on the ship,” River says, flipping one last lever to re-engage the brakes.
Yaz, Graham and Ryan exchange confused looks.
“We can't have,” says Yaz, tentatively.
River looks amused, “I can assure you, we have.”
“But it didn't make that noise,” says Graham.
“Or throw us halfway across the room,” adds Ryan.
“Halfway across -” River shoots the bowtied Doctor an incredulous look. “A thousand years of flying this ship and you still never use the stabilizers!”
“What, why are you yelling at me?” yelps the Doctor. “This is my future self’s fault, I can't control what he does.”
“Sweetie, you can. That's the definition of a future self. And are you telling me that if you met these people today you wouldn't fly the same way?”
“Well -” begins the Doctor looking caught.
“Hang on,” interrupts Graham. “Are you telling me that all this time, we didn't need to be thrown around this room like candy in a piñata? And the Doc knew it?”
River looks pointedly at the bowtied Doctor.
Squirming, he says, “Well, yes sure if you like to be boring.”
The Doctor pretends not to notice the three very irritated glares being directed straight towards her.
“So what's the plan then, Doctor?” she asks, changing the subject.
—
The Doctor walks purposefully in the direction of the control deck, the drive with the virus in one hand and her sonic in the other. This would end now - their plan was in place, everyone had their roles and they’d thought through every eventuality.
“Hang on!” River’s voice calls from behind her.
Well maybe not every eventuality.
The Doctor whirls around to see her wife jogging in her direction while loading a blaster gun. “River, we said -”
“I know what we said,” River interrupts. “And I disagree. The control deck will be crawling with Cybermen, not to mention the path to get there. You’ll need all the help you can get to install the virus. Unless you planned to take them all on with that USB stick, that is.”
The Doctor purses her lips. She hated to admit it but River was right. While she could usually talk her way out of most situations, they were pressed for time and there certainly could be no sneaking around in here.
“Fine, but as soon as the drive is in place, you leave.”
River scoffs. “Of course, I’m not suicidal. Just make sure you install it before we get blown to smithereens, please.”
“I’m serious, River.”
River pats her on the arm. “As am I sweetie. Honestly I wouldn't bother but I would really like to shoot some Cybermen. I've got blaster-burn on my favorite dress because of that lot!”
“I thought that red plunge-y dress was your favorite?”
“No, that's your favorite. Naughty girl,” she smirks, as they continue walking.
“It’s got good defensive capabilities,” the Doctor says earnestly. “It's bulletproof, River! I've never seen a fabric that thin repel bullets.”
River sighs. “I should just wear that one on all our dates, shouldn't I? Is it me or do they always seem to end in shooting?”
“Not all, there was dinner with your parents that one time,” the Doctor points out.
“Oh please, that was a disaster in a completely different way. Also that was with my parents , it hardly counts as a date.”
“And this does? I don't know if you've noticed but we have a bit of an entourage here.”
“Excuse you, this is our wedding night. It's far more important than any silly date,” River says, feigning offense.
They walk for a few more minutes, their footsteps echoing in the corridor. They were headed towards the elevator - she knew from reading the schematics that getting to the control deck would require them to take it. Although the upper deck would've been a closer landing point for the TARDIS, the lower deck had given them their best chance at keeping the time machine safe and hidden, a backup they’ll need before the evening was through.
The Doctor glances around at the wide barren corridor they were in, “River, you came because you expected I’d run into Cybermen didn't you?”
“Yes,” replies River, slowly.
“So, where are they?”
The air shifts as they both tense. They’d hidden the TARDIS somewhere discreet but they’d travelled a good bit away from there and they were on a cybership. It should be crawling with the cybernetic creatures for them to try and avoid. But instead the corridors were empty, as if a path had been cleared for them.
As if this was a -
“Trap?” River says, reading her mind.
“Only one way to find out,” the Doctor says and then taking a deep breath, she presses the button for the lift.
The elevator opens to the control deck, the room barren save the computer terminals.
They approach cautiously, River's gun raised as she scans the room.
“Clear,” she says, sounding just as perplexed as the Doctor feels.
“They must've known we were coming but abandoning the ship? That's not like Cybermen at all,” the Doctor says, examining one of the terminals. It didn't provide much information - the Cybermen usually interfaced with their ships by wiring directly into them which she was not capable of - at least not without a much bigger headache.
“Jane, come take a look at this,” says River from where she stood, crouched over something.
The Doctor approaches and finds her wife hovering over the prone form of a Cyberman. Dead. Or at least playing dead that is.
That doesn't seem to be River’s main focus though. She’s holding a piece of paper frowning as she scans it. When the Doctor can make out the words, her blood runs cold.
Can’t hide forever, Doctor ~ O
Then the Cyberman suddenly lights up and before either she or River can react, it's grabbing them and the world seems to compress as they're transported away.