Sorry for this short chapter; it was my birthday, and I'm too tired from all the food to write
engineer pics
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Tempest watched her carefully. "She hasn't learned restraint yet."
"That surprises you?"
"No."
"She appears to have plenty."
"Not that kind." Tempest pointed toward the screen as the Engineer began examining the Cyberman's damaged casing.
"She's still deciding what she is allowed to become."
The Master was quiet for a moment, which was unusual enough that Tempest looked at him while resting one hand against the console.
He studied the Engineer with a very different expression now, appearing less amused and more calculating. "You think she hasn't chosen?"
"No, if she did, then she would have been able to just swipe her hand to bring Mark Death to them."
"Good."
Tempest's voice became colder as she turned fully toward him. "Don't I thought you learned your lesson? They would put you in a multi-lifetime of hell for messing with her past, plus I would bet everything a future engineer would come from nowhere and stop you like the Doctor, Fate, and the universe would keep the best for serving as its ultimate defenders alive. Omega's sake! "
AN: Time Lord equivalent of "for God's sake" is usually centered around their mythological founders,
The Master looked up at her. "I didn't say anything."
Tempest stared hard into his eyes. "You started thinking loudly."
"My dear Tempest, if you object to my thoughts, we are going to have an exhausting partnership."
"We already have an exhausting partnership."
"True." The Master turned back toward the console and began rerouting the Cyber feed.
The Cyber feed jumped again as a damaged unit tried reconnecting to the network, causing him to frown before saying, "Oh, that's useful."
Tempest leaned closer over his shoulder. "What?"
"One survived with its secondary processor intact." He enlarged the feed.
The image came from low against the floor. The Cyberman itself had been destroyed from the neck down, but the head had landed at an angle that gave its optical sensor a partial view of the chamber.
Its vision flickered between normal and red, and nobody had noticed the surviving processor, including UNIT and the Engineer.
The Master smiled while opening the diagnostic channel. "There we are."
Tempest looked at the feed.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
"That answer usually means you're doing something."
"I'm allowing the machine to do what machines do."
The Cyberman's damaged processor ran its own instructions, and text appeared across the feed.
The Master leaned forward and rested his chin against one hand. "Oh, this should be interesting."
Tempest looked at him. "You said the Cybermen were rebuilding themselves."
"They were."
"You didn't mention that they were looking for the Engineer." The Master gave her an innocent expression while continuing to monitor the scan.
"It slipped my mind." The lights around Tempest flickered again, and the orange plant's glow surged in response.
The Master raised both hands. "I was going to tell you."
"When?"
"Eventually."
"You are terrible at partnerships."
"I prefer the word independent."
The Cyberman continued scanning, and its damaged vision zoomed toward the Engineer's forearm, bringing the Omni-Tool into focus.
—-- back to engineer—-
Down in the tunnels, the Engineer suddenly stopped arguing.
A strange feeling moved across the back of her neck, causing her to look around without finding anything unusual.
Commander Shaw noticed and lowered her weapon slightly. "What?"
The Engineer frowned."No idea."
Her eyes drifted toward the dead Cyberman head.
For half a second, she could have sworn she felt somebody looking at her, although it was not the Cyberman but someone else who felt distant and familiar in a way that made absolutely no sense.
The Engineer rubbed the back of her neck.
"Okay, that's creepy."
The System opened a notification.
Unknown Temporal Attention Detected.
Source: Unresolved.
Engineer looked toward the dark tunnel again while tightening her grip on the Cyberman head. "This feels complicated."
Very far away, Tempest smiled at the monitor.
The orange plant glowed softly beside her, its Time Lord-like pulse matching the faint rhythm of her own temporal energy.
The Master noticed and turned toward her.
"Oh, don't tell me she felt that." Tempest said nothing, which was enough.
The Master groaned and dropped his head back against the chair. "This partnership is going to be intolerable."
Tempest turned toward the control room exit, still smiling to herself. "You're free to leave."
"This is my base."
"Then suffer." The Master watched her go.
After several seconds, he looked back toward the frozen image of the Engineer. Young violet clockwork eyes stared unknowingly toward the Cyberman camera.
—---
The lights went out.
Something enormous moved beneath the floor.
The concrete buckled under the chamber, throwing the UNIT soldiers off balance. The containment frame toppled sideways, and the dormant Cyberman crashed against the relay housing.
The Engineer grabbed the commander's arm as the floor split open between them and the descending passage.
"Move!"
Move now. Ask questions after the floor stops trying to kill us.
The commander pulled two technicians toward the doorway while the soldiers fired into the darkness below. Their muzzle flashes revealed only fragments of something vast moving beneath the broken floor.
A metal surface scraped against the underside of the chamber. The sound was slow and deliberate. Engineer looked down as a red light opened beneath the cracked concrete. Engineer's face tightened.
The commander fired again. The red light below vanished.
For one breath, the chamber was silent. Engineer held her breath, keeping the Omni-Tool aimed at the hole.
It definitely waiting. I know which option I believe.
Then the floor exploded upward.
Engineer threw herself sideways as a massive armored limb punched through the concrete. The impact sent debris across the room and knocked the commander into a support column.
The technicians shouted and scrambled for cover. Engineer landed hard on her shoulder, rolled, and came up on one knee. She raised the Omni-Tool toward the hole.
Pain later. Scan now.
A huge metallic shape began forcing itself through the broken floor. Its armor was darker than Cyber-alloy, layered with cables and jagged plates. Red lights burned across its body, and its movements were too smooth for something that large.
The commander pushed himself upright and aimed at it. "What is that?"
Engineer backed away as the creature's head emerged from the darkness."I don't know." And I hate not knowing.
The machine turned toward her. Its voice rolled through the chamber.
"ENGINEER."
Engineer's System projected a warning across her vision.
[Target Recognition: Confirmed.]
[Entity Classification: Unknown.]
[Race: Unknown cybernetic organism.]
[Level: 31.]
[Health: 48,600 / 48,600.]
[Threat Level: Extreme.]
[Threat Potential: Catastrophic.]
[Estimated Age: 312 years; chronology unstable.]
[Strength: 310]
[Vitality: 420]
[Dexterity: 96]
[Intelligence: 188]
[Wisdom: 74]
[Charisma: 12]
[Luck: 41]
[Total Attributes: 1,141]
[Overall Threat Rating: 515%]
[Known Abilities: Cybernetic assimilation, temporal-network integration, structural breach.]
Engineer swallowed 300+ stats plus Cybermen weapons/armor and got an overheat prototype
Then she raised the device with both hands.
"Okay."
If it wants me, it can learn why that is a terrible idea.
The creature pulled itself higher, crushing the broken relay beneath one massive hand. Engineer's eyes narrowed. "Let's see what you can do."
And let's hope I can make it regret showing up.
Engineer barely finished the sentence before the machine moved.
For something large enough to punch through reinforced concrete, it was much faster than she expected. One armored hand slammed into the floor where she had been standing a second earlier, crushing broken machinery beneath it and sending another wave of dust through the chamber. Engineer threw herself sideways, rolled across one shoulder, and came up behind the remains of the relay with her Omni-Tool already scanning.
Okay. Fast giant murder machine. Wonderful combination.
Orange-gold data rushed across her vision faster than she could comfortably read it.
[Combat Analysis Updated.]
[Unknown Cybernetic Organism.]
[Armor Density: Extreme.]
[External Energy Field: Active.]
[Network Architecture: Distributed.]
[Primary Core: Not Detected.]
[Power Components: Multiple.]
[Weakness Analysis: Incomplete.]
Engineer stared at the last line. "Seriously?"
The creature tore its hand free from the floor and turned toward her. Red lights shifted beneath the armor around its head, tracking her movements with uncomfortable precision.
[Additional analysis requires further combat data.]
A burst of UNIT gunfire struck the creature from the side.
Commander Shaw had recovered and was already directing the soldiers into positions around the chamber. Marcus and Imogen moved behind different sections of damaged machinery while Okafor planted himself near the doorway with the heaviest weapon UNIT had brought underground.
The bullets sparked against the creature's armor.
It barely noticed.
"Stop wasting ammunition! We need something more powerful," Engineer shouted.