NSWRPF Archive Doctor Who - The Steel Empire

OOC: Post forthcoming. I'm off to a swing/jazz performance. Sorry!

 

IC: Jay Bryce
Bunker de la Bryce


What do they want there?" He sprang off the sofa, looking around at the others as they got comfy or curious. "Right, Torchwood people, Time Agent, and person who owns a bunker; I want ideas on the table as to how we stop the Cybermen." He glanced around, his face adopting a perturbed look, "Shame we haven't actually got a table..."

"Yes, sorry 'bout tha'. After the computers and what not, just didn' have the cash to spring for a table...." He said, mimicing the Doctors perturbed look. "Any way, now, I'm no expert or nothing, but I'd say someothing that sent an electrical pulse through the buggers would work marvels....o'course, I haven't got them. Super soakers full of holy water, I've got a lever action that's stock is coated in Mistletoe oil and fires silver bullets. I've got a wooden cross bow that's actually shaped like a cross, and's been blessed by a preist...'n' fires wooden stakes. You name it, I've got it...'cept something that shoots electricity....well..."

He paused a moment, thinking to himself...

"I may have a few tazers. You know, the ones those barbaric American cops use on criminals. They could be of use...but I don't know much about robots. Hasn't ever really been a threat..."

Tag: All

 

IC: The Doctor, Jay's Bunker sans table.
Location: Earth Prime

"I may have a few tazers. You know, the ones those barbaric American cops use on criminals. They could be of use...but I don't know much about robots. Hasn't ever really been a threat..."

The Time Lord listened to Jay as he dejectedly ran through his arsenal. Most of it was pretty useless, but at a pinch, perhaps something could be done with the taser.

"The tasers? Go get those, please. We'll see if they can be used. The super-soakers too."

He looked up. "Jack? Rose? Isabella, is it? Any more ideas?"

The Doctor waited patiently, exhibiting an expectant air that he knew the two time travellers could not resist all they could not to let him down.

Tag: Jack, Rose, Torchwood

---

[b]IC: Lauren (Torchwood Juniors)[/b], main E.T. Weapons Vault, Torchwood One, Canary Wharf.
[color=red]Location: Earth Prime[/color]

There was a rumble from the side of the room looking out over the Thames, and Lauren immediately surmised that something must be attacking the building below, but she couldn't see from inside, and the EMP Rifle had no effect on the window, either by opening fire, or smacking the butt into the double-glasing.

A rack of less esoteric sidearms held unloaded AK-47s with their characteristic brown and black stocks, and "banana clip" ammunition packs slotted into the shelf underneath.

She had covered these in weapons training, and found them to be "[i]well wicked[/i]" which had made her supervisor smirk. As she slapped a clip in and chambered the first found, she wistfully wondered how he was doing.

A diagonal burst took the window out and an unexpectedly cold wind cast glass fragments across the floor and whipped at her hair and skirt. She braved it to approach the frame, knock away glass shards from the lower frame and leaned over to see what the hell was going on.

Several floors below, two red double-decker buses were badly parked on the other side of the street, and a group of the Cybermen appeared to have breached the skin of Torchwood Tower. Even at this distance, she could hear the clatter of automatic weapons fire from inside the building, and she could [i]see[/i] the energy fire from the Cybermen's arm lasers shooting back inside.

First she emptied the AK-47 on the engine blocks and where she hoped the fuel tanks were on the buses, a fireball ripping through one, whilst the other just smoked a bit. Now if the Cybermen wanted to go anywhere in numbers, they were limited to, as her granddad used to say, Shanks's Pony, meaning, they would have to walk.
She sniggered at the thought of them queueing up to take the Docklands Light Railway(DLR).

Then, as some of them stomped dumbly around to observe the burning transports, she leaned over the window sill with her EMP Rifle pointed down and opened fire.

Though the cyborgs presented a hard-to-hit profile from directly above, she hit three in the head or shoulders, the silvery brain-carriers simply groaning aloud and falling onto their faces. With return fire due any second, Lauren didn't waste any time congratulating herself on her 'hat-trick', but continued to unleash more electro-magnetic fury on the invaders.

[b]Tag: Cybermen, Torchwood, British Army[/b]

 

IC: 11-38

As 11-38 stared out at the approaching army, the transports it had comandeered suddenly burst into flame. Waves of intense heat, enough to quickly melt the flesh of more obsolete beings, merely flowed past the Cybermen.
Suddenly 11-38 detected a rapidly increasing level of EM energy approaching from above. Instantly the metal head, antenna and all, snapped back into the room as three of his comrades were struck by arcs of blue lightning.
The remaining three turned to 11-38 and the mouth of the closest unit lit blue as it spoke.
"Telemetry suggests EM blast originated between 5 and 7 floors above."

11-38 sent a brief summary to the CyberLeader and faced his comrades. "Our objective is to secure this floor until CyberLeader1 arrives."
Instantly, 11-38 connected to the CybusNet and ordered all of the Cybermats in the building to "Locate and delete."

As one, all of the steel clad animals turned away from the secretaries crying in each other's arms, and the pencil pushers huddled in corners, and turned their sensors towards the rest of the Tower. Slowly and methodically they roamed the corridors, entered offices and ransacked laboratories.
Sooner or later, every member of Torchwood would be dead, or even worse... still alive.

TAG: Anyone

 

IC: Cyberleader1

It had been theoretical. When the Cybermen had discovered the molecule for the Chemical, it had never been adequately tested. But the Cybermen took a chance and used some of theri scant resources to manufacture several liters worth of the stuff.
Now, a special chemical shell was loaded into the light gun. The shell was filled with the Chemical.
"Assault Positions." The Cyberleader ordered. Two Assault columns formed up diagonal to the blast door.
"Fire."
The light gun spat, the bang was tremendous and the pressure assaulted the room, the shell burst against the blast door.
As the smoke cleared, there was a tiny hole in the steel. Fanning out form it were dozens of cracks making vaguely square-like shards. ALmost like a broken windscreen.
THe theory of the Chemical was now an undeniable fact. The Chemical had shattered the Ionic bonds in the steel.
The Assault Columns marched forward, pushing the weakened door. the steel shards gave way and collapsed.
"Delete all Hostile elements."
The two attack columns marched into the room. The Commandos fired, but it was never in doubt. In two minutes all the Commandos were dead or incapacitated.
Cyberleader marched in.
The Vault contained Dozens of Alien artifacts. Ships, fragments of ships, dozens of crates. But Cyberleader was interested in only one Artefact. He located it: A spherical structure, the size of a small room. It was silver, with a diamond pattern across the ball. A door was open in the "side" of the spehere, with a four-diamond pattern on the inside of the door.
"Secure Asset beta. Technical Team one to work." A group of cybermen marched over to the diamond-patterend ball and began to set up comnplex electronic equipment.
"Squads Gamma and Tango will accompany me to rendezvous wiht 11-38. We must secure asset Alpha with all speed."

Tag: 11-38, All

Note: *Spoilers for American Fans* The sphere is NOT the Void ship.

 

OOC: Sorry to keep you waiting - again. This afternoon, I swear. Quarter to eight in the AM for me right now, and I've got to run.

 

Rose Tyler
Bryce Bunker

Rose listened as Bryce outlined the weapons he had in his rather single-purpouse armoury. For someone who claimed to be concerned with alien attack Jay was woefully under-equipped to deal with robots, a well-known mainstay of alien technology. But no matter.

"The tasers? Go get those, please. We'll see if they can be used. The super-soakers too."

The Doctor looked up expectantly in their direction.

"Jack? Rose? Isabella, is it? Any more ideas?"

Rose nodded. "All the Torchwood agents have electromagnetic guns against this very eventuality- I think Wesley here has a rifle too."

Wesley, one of the so far silent Torchwood agents, nodded and held up his gun.

Rose looked back at the Doctor. "That any help?"

[TAG Doctor, Bryce, etc]

 

IC: The Doctor

He nodded as Rose and her cohorts showed off their weapons.

"Yes, yes. Still too small though. Your EMP weapons have shown their effectiveness against individual Cybermen, but we need something that will deliver a payload to the entire city."

He looked to the ex-Time Agent.

"Jack? What have you got for us?"

Tag: Jack, Rose and the Red Hand Gang, Jay

 

Jack

Jack looked up.

"Well, you know how you've got that great media centre on the TARDIS? Something I saw there, or on Earth, I can't remember, stuck with me."

He sat down, taking out a notepad and grabbing a pen.

"I saw that Ocean's Eleven movie, the one with Brad Pitt? Sexy, I know, but anyways, they used something called a 'pinch' - it sends out a massive EMP, knocking out nearly everything in a huge radius."

He looked up at them, drawing a crude diagram.

"Might work."

Tag: All

 

IC: The Doctor, Jay's Bunker sans table.
Location: Earth Prime

The Doctor picked up Jack's drawing to study it. After a moment, he turned it upside down.

"So, does this already exist, or will we have to build one?" He looked up and frowned at Rose. "What am I remembering from my previous incarnation? When you and me first met? The Nestene Consciousness was using one of your tourist landmarks to transmit across the capital. Big thing, circular, visible from the Thames. Come on, Rose, help me out here. Jay, ring any bells?"

Tag: Jack, Rose, Jay

---

[b]IC: Lauren (Torchwood Juniors)[/b], main E.T. Weapons Vault, Torchwood One, Canary Wharf.
[color=red]Location: Earth Prime[/color]

Blazing away with her EMP Rifle, Lauren felled several more Cybermen on the road below. She was a little surprised that they hadn't returned fire yet, but when she heard the crazed yapping from more of those metal dogs from the vault door, she realised why!

Turning from the window and dropping to one knee to avoid getting shot in the back and get a better angle, she could see scores of cybermats attempting to get their shiny noses under the not-quite-sealed door, blocked as it was by the first pinned canine.

Lauren fired her rifle several times at the metal dogs, sparks, smoke and a cessation of their high-pitched yapping her reward.

[i]Rriiinnnggg[/i]

Frowning, Lauren pulled out her Torchwood-issue camera-phone, matt black with a Powerpuff Girls decal across it to add a bit of brighten it up a bit. She didn't know which of the animated heroines it was; the orange one with the red bows in her hair.

The teen glanced at the Caller identification screen. [b]Consuela[/b]? That was a surprise! The dark-haired Spanish girl, a couple years her senior, had befriended her in training.
She was with UNIT's (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) office in Madrid, Spain.

"Aight!" She greeted, holding the flip-phone up to her ear.

"[i][color=#229922]Hola! Que tal?[/color][/i]"

"[i]Bien bien[/i], umm." Lauren hesitated, realising she was fine telling the girl she was feeling fine, but explaining that Torchwood Tower was playing host to an alien foothold situation, and to notify Britain's military forces was more than her GSCE Spanish could manage. "We are being invaded by Cybermen-"

"[i][color=#229922]Perdon? No entiendo.[/color][/i]"

[i]You didn't understand any of that, did you?[/i] Lauren thought to herself, [i]Well, colour me surprised.[/i]
She recalled an art teacher saying a picture was worth a thousand words. [i]I wonder.[/i]

Gripped by her new idea, the schoolgirl trotted back to the window to see if a photo of Cybermen and two burning buses would be enough to convey that all was not well in the State of Torchwood.

[b]Tag: no-one, perhaps the British Army when word filters along that Torchwood Tower could use a hand.[/b]

 

Rose Tyler
Primary School, more like

Rose resisted the urge to raise her hand.

"Umm, the London Eye maybe?" she volunteered.

Belatdely she remembered her Torchwood Juniors understudy, Lauren. The girl would be trapped in Torchwood... oh well. Rose had never really liked the little chav anyway. Some survival training would be good for her.

[TAG Doctor]

 

The Doctor
Primary School, more like

The Time Loard was reminded of his grand-daughter, Susan, when he spotted Rose' hand start to rise before she stopped herself and just answered aloud.

"Umm, the London Eye maybe?" she volunteered.

"London Eye? Okay then." He looked around at the others. "Right, that is where we go to deliver this thing. Jack, what do we need to create this 'pinch' device?"

Tag: Others

 

IC: Cyberleader1

Cyberleader clanged up the stairs and met up with 11-38 and his detachment. Cyberleader banged his fist upon his chest and replayed the unexpected assault from 5-7 floors up on the Torchwood Tower. He reviewed it from several angles at once, and then played some data from visual links from teh Cybermats. The Rogue element was cornered in an office, but she was well armed, and Cyberleader could not spare any units to keep her in place.
"This unit is incompatible. She is to be deleted."
He sent out a signal. Across the city, thousands of avian Cybermats turned as one from circling the British Army units and headed towards Torchwood. They vectored in on the shattered window on floor 6, and extended their razor wings into an attack posture.
Cyberleader turned to 11-38.
"We will proceed. We must secure asset1. You will all accompany me."
He turned and clanged up the stairwell.

Elsewhere in Torchwood:

The technicians were afraid. Deeply so, but they knew their duty. Their computer simulations indicated there was a 77% chance that the Cybermen were heading for their workstation since they had not stopped at the Vault. They were now proceeding upstairs, clearing rooms. Their job was to smash and delete all pertinent files on their computers, deny an attacker access to such sesitive hardware and material. They were proceeding with just that, about to take fireaxes to Hard Drives and were about to upload a computer worm that woudl completely blank anything else, when a technician stumbled in.
He was bloodied and almost collapsed, and several of the office staff ran over.
But then he pulled a pistol from under his coat and shot three technicians dead. The others screamed and cowered, ceasing their activities. His lips moved strangely, as though unused to employing them.
"no-one moovvve." he slurred.
He turned slightly to cover the office workers in the corner, and the technicians saw, horribly, what had happened.
There had been reports of cybernetic creatures resembling a large metal silverfish that was scuttering about The corridors. This confirmed it.
The Silverfish was attached to the technician, whose ID tag read as "Jason". It was dug into his back, fiber-optic and artificially grown Neural networks had inserted into Jason's Spinal Column. Blood ran in rivulets over the Cybermat and soaked into the labcoat. The cybermat slithered and shifted from time to time, finding better position, or burrowing further in to pull the strings of its flesh mannikin.
A tiny blue LED on the Cybermat began to blink as it pecked out a message to its master.

>>>FROM: CYBERMAT6875. TO CYBERLEADER1: ASSET1 SECURED. REQUEST IMMEDIATE REINFORCEMENT<<<


IC: General Sir Colin Redgrave

He didn't like this one bit.
He wanted to rush into Canary Wharf and destroy the intruders, but he knew that haste had been his first mistake at Trafalgar Square. So, he was sending in Reconnaissance teams first.
It was irritating. Every one of his movements were observed. London had more cameras per square mile than any other city on Earth. Further, there were thousands of upgraded birds that perpetually flew over his position, transmitting every bit of Data to Cyber Control.
Cyberleader could observe him, but he could get no concrete intelligence regarding what the Cybermen were doing.
It was frustrating.
So, he resolved to gather intelligence first, and then attack. After all, he'd heard the rumours of what had been done at Canary Wharf. Lord only knew what kind of weapons the Cybermen would have waiting for his lads. Better to wait and get at least some data before attacking.
He hoped.

TAG: All

 

IC: Torchwood Three (Glasgow)

?Sir? There has been a hostile breach at one of the asset vaults at Torchwood One.?

?Initiate Self Destruct on all the vaults. Five seconds on the breached one, twenty on the unbreached ones. And give an evac? code to the entire building. That will give the personnel time to get out. If they can. I will advice London and UNIT that I am sterilising Torchwood Tower.?

?Yes sir.?

---

[b]IC: Torchwood One (Canary Wharf, London)[/b]

The automated building wide alert was activated, echoing throughout the many storied tower.

[b][color=blue]Alert. Building self-destruct initiated. You have ten minutes to reach minimum safe distance[/color][/b]

[b]Main Assets Vault ? containing ?Asset Beta? - BREACHED[/b]

The large decimal numerals of the digital clock high on the wall emitted a high pitched beep to attract attention, and switched from whatever the time was to a more direct number

[hl=black][b][color=red]00:05
00:04
00:03
[/color][/b][/hl]


[hr]

[b]Secondary Assets Vault ? SECURE[/b]

The large decimal numerals of the digital clock high on the wall emitted a high pitched beep to attract attention, and switched from whatever the time was to a more direct number

[hl=black][b][color=red]00:20
00:19
00:18
[/color][/b][/hl]


[hr]

[b]IC: Lauren, (Torchwood Juniors) [/b], Weapons Vault, Torchwood One.
Shivering at the breezy window, the schoolgirl could hardly miss every bird in the sky crowing anonymously and wheeling down towards her.

?Oh, [i]huevo[/i].? She swore fervently in Spanish under her breath, or at least, she thought she had. Turns out there is just one letter difference between ?egg? and the ?S-word?.

?Consuela? I gotta go.? She said to the phone, not taking her eyes off the approaching menace from the air. She had already sent the picture of the Cybermen and burning buses to her friend, who was doubtless passing it to her superiors.

[b][color=blue]Alert. Building self-destruct initiated. You have ten minutes to reach minimum safe distance[/color][/b]

?I [i]really[/i] have to go.?

The large decimal numerals of the digital clock high on the wall emitted a high pitched beep to attract attention, and switched from whatever the time was to a more direct number

[hl=black][b][color=red]00:20
00:19
00:18
[/color][/b][/hl]

It certainly drew [b]Lauren[/b]?s attention, and she had seen enough clocks counting backwards on television to know what that meant.

?And how is that ten minutes!? She screamed, looking frantically around for something to get her out of the place.
Jetpack? But the birds!

[hl=black][b][color=red]00:17
00:16
00:15
[/color][/b][/hl]

She felt the muffled blast through the floor as the building shook, different to anything used by the invaders or defenders so far.

[i]Jet Pack it is then.[/i]

Running with speed and determination a rugby player would be proud off, she arrived at the rack, slipping one slender arm into a strap to pull it off the rack, and shrugged into it as she jogged to the window, grimaced, and dropped over the sill, tumbled to about Floor Four, and activated the thing.
Sudden acceleration blasted her through the blue-tinted glass of the office building opposite where the fabric-covered partition separating the desk she skidded over acting like a Catcher?s Mitt to halt her progress.
Covered in glass, her cheek resting on someone?s Rollodex business planner, Lauren lost consciousness.

Behind and above her, the Cyber-avians, aimed at the window and not the girl, reached it as several pounds of plastic explosive went off in their faces, the associated debris hitting them at subsonic speeds.

[b]Tag: Cyber-threat[/b]

 

IC: 11-38

As the Cybermen stomped their way towards CYBERMAT6875 and the vital asset1.

Suddenly alarms began blaring throughout Torchwood Tower. Lights dimmed and digital timers appeared on the wall, and began counting down towards zero.

Alert. Building self-destruct initiated. You have ten minutes to reach minimum safe distance[/i]

11-38 stoppd in its tracks and looked at the timer nearest to it.
"The rogue elements are attempting to destroy the assets."
11-38 clanged its fist against the large 'C' pressed onto its chest.
"Overriding self destruct protocols and locking out all Torchwood personnel. The human's have not yet realised that resistance is useless."


TAG: all

 

OOC: No attempt to substantiate how pressing a letter on one's chest stops the self-destruct?
Yeah, that's gonna work.



IC: Torchwood One (Canary Wharf, London)

The countdown and automated building wide alert continued, more or less happily, echoing throughout the many storied tower.

Alert. Building self-destruct initiated. You have NINE minutes to reach minimum safe distance.

Tag: all

 

OOC: I give you a quote from Doctor Who "...by making every piece of technology compatible with everything else."
The Cybermen are Cybus manufacture and are able to operate any piece of technology. Remember when they invaded our Earth? And CyberLeader1 remotely activated the Ghost Shift? And the Cybermen who went to investigate the Daleks activated the laptop in Yvonne's office?


IC: 11-38

Alert. Building self-destruct initiated. You have NINE minutes to reach minimum safe distance.

Programs began running in 11-38's mind. The Cyberman felt itself connect to the buildings database and began searching for the security override codes. Within seconds it had found the neccessary programming and immediately shut it down.
A soft feminine voice resounded throughout the building.

Self destruct sequence cancelled, courtesy of Cybus Industries. Have a nice day.

11-38 lowered it's steel hand to its side and rejoined the marching ranks of the Cybermen. Within its head, 11-38 was analysing the behavioural patterns of the Torchwood personnel. It was obvious they were ready to go to any lengths to resist the Cybermen. Psychiatric profiling suggested that they would be willing to delete themselves, before allowing the Cybermen to succeed.
That type of self-destructive behaviour was potentially volatile, and would result in the loss of potential compatible units.

"Cybermat 6875, reinforcements incoming. Run aggressive sub-routines: authorisation 38/tyr-theta. Delete any potential threats. Asset1 is priority alpha."

TAG: All

 

OOC: Since this story is set after the events you refer to, it is reasonable to assume there will be contingencies in place that cannot be stopped by Torchwood One protocols or systems.
Ghost Shift - Cyber invasion already had access to four Torchwood One employees via their ear implants, so would know the protocols for that process.
Laptop - Yes, turning on a laptop will require the same clearance as destroying Canary Wharf.
Don't forget to do a result for the destruction of the vault your team was in, since that has already gone up.
This is rapidly having more in common with a game of chess than a Doctor Who story; everything we do, you counter in the next post.


IC: Torchwood One (Canary Wharf, London)

The countdown and automated building wide alert continued, more or less happily, echoing throughout the many storied tower.

Alert. Building self-destruct initiated. You have EIGHT minutes to reach minimum safe distance.

Tag: all

 

IC: General Sir Colin Redgrave

(2 minutes ago)

?Reports are coming it. It looks like the Cybermen have at least one light artillery piece. They?ve retreated further into Torchwood and??
Suddenly there was a massive explosion. Everyone hit the deck. As they got to their feet and senses, the soldiers saw the cloud of the explosion billowing out from?
Midair?
In the middle of the air, some 200 feet up, the remnants of an explosion drifted.
?What was that?? Redgrave said with some concern.

IC: Cybermen (The Vault, 2 minutes ago)

The warning klaxon sounded.
Subroutines initiated. Emergency testing of Asset Beta authorized. Initiate test.
Asset Beta powering.
Scan?s indicated active Plastic Explosive in Vault. Time to detonation: 6 seconds? 5
Initiate Asset Beta Test. Target: Plastic Explosives.
Asset Beta Collating.
4? 3?
Test Ready. Target Locked.
2?
Initiate.
1?

IC: Cyberleader1 (2 minutes ago to present)

Cyberleader1 was alerted to the threat. His troops had dealt with it accordingly. He accessed their Visual links and replayed the incident. Distantly, he heard the crump of the explosion. Some windows rattled.
?Area scan, Vault.?
The vault was there, as was Asset Beta and his troops. Large sections of the floor and walls were missing.
?Leader.? The Technical team command unit spoke in Cyberleader?s head. ?Emergency test of Asset Beta successful. Explosives displaced to outside Torchwood tower. This area secure.?
?Repeat process. Target all explosive compounds throughout Torchwood.?
There was no response.
?Sitrep.? The Cyberleader demanded.
?Asset Beta requires cooling period of 20 minutes before initiating again.?
The Cybermen in Torchwood did not have 20 minutes.
?Reset asset beta for use in 20 minutes time.?
Cyberleader clanged his fist upon his chest and issued orders to his Cybermat units.
?Locate and disarm all explosives. Exception: Unit 6875. ETA relief force in 2 minutes.?
Throughout the Building. Cybermats began ?sniffing? out explosives. Cyberleader knew they would not be able to disarm enough in time to save destruction of major parts of the building, but they might be able to maintain it?s structural integrity.

IC: Cyberleader1 (present)
The Cybermen marched into the office of Asset1. They formed ranks and The Cyberleader marched between them. This show of force was meant to intimidate the Humans. And it worked.
Cyberleader?s scans informed him that the humans recognized him. Their fear increased. This was ideal. It would make extraction of data far easier. They were already afraid of death in the exploding tower.
?Technical team beta to work.? Cyberleader ordered.
Cybermen marched forward, and from under their wrists data cables snaked out with a life of their own. They slithered into Data ports and began downloading data.
Cyberleader marched over to the woman in charge.
?You will deactivate the self-destruct.?
?I? cannot. I don?t have the authorization or the codes?? She began.
Cyberleader scanned her and knew she was lying.
?You are lying. You will deactivate the self-destruct and you and this group will not be upgraded.?
??No.?
?At once.?
?No.? She said it a little more strongly this time.
?The humans have locked us out self-destruct override with a fractile encryption code. We are unlikely to break it before the countdown ends.?
The woman glanced over at a man in the crowd of technicians. Cyberleader1 was expert at reading human emotions. From the glance, he deduced that this man was important to this woman, probably they were sexually pair bonded.
?Bring him.?
Two Cybermen seized the man and hauled him over.
?No! Jason?? The woman in charge blurted.
?Much of the human body is not required for upgrade. Initiate the override or we will break a redundant part of his bone structure.?
?Don?t tell them anything!? Jason said.
She hesitated, then fearfully: ?no.?
?Break him.?
?Wait!?
The Cybermen didn?t. The Cyberman on the left deftly twisted Jason?s forearm. A Wet crack snapped through the room. Jason SHRIEKED. He would have sunk to his k

 

IC: 11-38

The Cyberman handed the First Aid kit to Sandy and stood Jason up before moving away. Sandy began dabbing at spots of blood on his face, tears running down her face. Jasin cried too. Openly and without the usual shame he would have displayed crying in front of his peers.
As Sandy applied various treatments (both human and alien) to her wounded lover, she muttered and mumbled her gratitude to the CyberLeader.

11-38, who had been analysing the faces of the room's occupants and comparing them with a list of employees with the highest level of clearance, walked towards her. Behind him and slightly to each side, two units marched in perfect lockstep.
As 11-38 stopped, the accompanying guardians walked around to Sandy and clenched her fragile arms in grips like clamps. There was a wet crack as her left ulna broke under the strain. Jason collapsed, unable to support himself, but was stopped as 11-38 grabbed himroughly by the neck with his left hand.
"This unit potentially has information pertaining to the execution of Phase 3. Units 76-54 and 76-55 will supervise his immediate Upgrade."

Sandy began wailing and kicking at her captors, succeeding in only damaging the skeletal infrastructure of her right foot 11-38 noted.
"You gave me your word! You swore to spare him! You promised!"

Jason was dragged away, his mind reeling from the pain in his body. 11-38 turned to Sandy and ran a facial analysis. Optical sensors picked up various parts of her face, bone structure, dental structure, eye colour among others, and began placing them against its list of employees.
The databanks indicated that although she was a high ranking employee, she was not given any kind of exceptional clearance.

Sandy still cryed. She mumbled how she had been betrayed, how the Cybermen had broken their promise.
11-38 walked towards her, stopping inches away. With an unspoken command, the units restraining her released their grip.
"Why? Why did you do that?"
The cold steel face, reflecting the cold emotionless brain within, looked at her.
"Promises to obsolete beings are not valid."
Sandy was understandably confused, and began to question but was cut off.
"You and your associates will man these computer terminals. You will work towards reducing cooldown period of asset beta by 70%."
"What's the point? We won't trust you know. And you can't force us to do anything."
11-38 knew she made a logical argument. The humans now knew that the Cybermen could not be trusted and so would not cooperate. Extremely logical (11-38 almost approved of her words) - but not true.
"Do you recall the anguish you felt at watching your sexual partner in pain? Databases suggest there are two married couples, two cohabiting couples and four illegitimate relationships involving the people in this room."
Several Cybermen approached the huddled staf in the corner.
"Coercion will begin now."

TAG: All.

OOC: Yes more illegitimate couples than legit. Have you been watching Torchwood? Oh and sorry for all the paragraphs. I think its kind of easier on the eye than a block of text.

 

OOC: Okay, that was better. I accept the beaming the explosives outside, and the cybermats sniffing out the explosives, but the self-destruct has been initiated by Torchwood Glasgow, independent of the compromised Torchwood One employees.

IC: Torchwood One (Canary Wharf, London)

The countdown and automated building wide alert continued, more or less happily, echoing throughout the many storied tower.

Alert. Building self-destruct initiated. You have SEVEN minutes to reach minimum safe distance.

Tag: all

 

OOC: I'd like to apologize for two things, first, the fact that I haven't replied to any PM's, and second, the fact that I haven't been posting regularly. Darth Real-Life has me beat. Sadly, I won't be able to get a nice GM post up until tomorrow - I'm out of town for a performance today, until ten o'clock.

 

IC: 11-38

Alert. Building self-destruct initiated. You have SEVEN minutes to reach minimum safe distance

11-38 stiffened. Sandy had failed to halt the countdown.
"You have outlived your usefullness. Delete."
A metal hand tightly gripped her throat and choked the life out of her. The method of execution was chosen to frighten the remaining staff.
"We must disengage the self destruct sequence. Cancel upgrade on Unit Jason. Torchwood files indicate that this unit is one of the President's liaisons in Torchwood. His national clearance will be sufficient to access the countdown." 11-38 connected to Cybermat6875 and ordered it to detach from its host (who dropped limply to the floor).

It slithered across the floor and attached itself to Jason as he was dragged back into the room.
"Cybermat6875: initiate direct uplink >>>>>> 11-38
Commence upload of biological data... ... ... ... ...
Upload completed."
11-38 approached the nearest terminal and placed its fist against its chest. Combining the data it had gathered from Jason with the programs which facilitated the Cybermen's ability to override computer systems, 11-38 was able to Upgrade it's software to be compatible with several of Torchwood's more restricted files. However, it was still unable to halt the countdown.
Maybe it would not be neccessary...

11-38 connected to the Torchwood system. Immediately, it began seeking a way to end the timer. After seconds of analysing the database, 11-38 had found a way.
The detonation could not be stopped remotely. Only the director of one of the Torchwood facilities was able to halt it. However, the countdown program was less well protected.
For three seconds, every Cyber unit in Torchwood stopped motionless. 11-38 used their collective brains to program a computer virus. The virus, once uploaded, would reprogram the application controlling the timer, forcing the timer to reset when it hits three minutes.

Secondly, 11-38 deleted the command line which allowed the timer to reach zero. If the timer did operate regardless of the virus, it would be unable to get to zero and should cause the timer to freeze.

Thirdly, 11-38 accessed the seperate database controlling the Cybermats.
"SitRep."
The answering transmission came instantly. CYBERMATS OPERATING ON ALL FLOORS. EXPLOSIVES REMOVED FROM KEY INFRASTRUCTURE. 60% OF TOTAL TASK COMPLETED.
11-38 turned to the CyberLeader. "Key Infrastructure of building secured. Should the virus fail, detonation will not result in the destruction of the tower. We may proceed."

TAG: All

OOC: Can we get past the whole debate of the Cybermen's ability to access computer systems and whatnot. This is Doctor Who. He used a pair of 3D glasses to defeat the Daleks and the Cybermen. GET ON WITH THE STORY!

 

IC: Torchwood One (Canary Wharf, London)

The countdown and automated building wide alert continued for a few more minutes, more or less happily, echoing throughout the many storied tower.

Alert. Building self-destruct initiated. You have THREE minutes to... oh buggerit.

Tag: all

 

IC: Cyberleader

Everything was going to plan. It was going so well that Cyberleader even was planning to accelerate the schedule. The humans were weak creatures governed by emotion. They were no match for the fearless logical might of the Cybermen. The strong would defeat the weak It was the oldest law of nature.
And the Cybermen were the strongest of all.
Cyberleader recognized the fallacy. As a life form, the Cybermen were not Natural, at least not biologically so. But nonetheless, The Cybermen WERE the next leap forward for humanity. They exemplified life-forms taking control fo tehri destiny. Molding themselves rather than allowing themselves to be molded by environment and circumstance.
The only random factor was the Doctor. He had lost contact with the Doctor and his cadre of saboteurs. He had not shown up et, but Cyberleader was certain that the Doctor would still attempt to disrupt his plans. To that end, he ran a computer simulation that factored in the Doctor.
After the beginning of Phase 3, the Doctor would have a 23% chance of stopping the Cyber-plan.
Cyberleader determined that this risk was well within acceptable parameters.
Meanwhile, his X unit would continue to hunt the Doctor. The rogue element would be terminated, reducing his threat level to zero.
He stepped past the cowering, crying humans as they worked their stations. He observed their behavior making notes on their emotional state. They kept giving him sidelong glances, expecting the Cyberleader to order their deletion or upgrading at any given moment.
As for their task, the humans were doing as well as humans can be expected. They were re-directing the excess heat from Asset Beta to a number of Heat Sinks around the building. The cooldown period was rapidly falling.
Finally, after a few minutes the heat was dissipating at an acceptable level.
"Take them for upgrading." The Cyberleader said dispassionately.
He ignored their wails of protest and gnashing of teeth and turned to his deputy.
"You will accompany me and my personal guard to the Vault. Preparations for Phase 3 begin now."
Cyberleader marched away, past the strugglign, despairing humans. One of the technicians spat at the Cyberleader as he was led away to a set of Phymech arms. The spittle landed on the cyberleader's carapace, but he paid it no more mind than the teflon tipped bullets which had ricocheted harmelssly off earlier.
The defiance did not matter. In the end, he too would serve the Cyber Cause.

TAG: 11-38, all