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"It most certainly shall!" Penfold replied coyly, removing his helmet. To the stunned amazement of his comrades, the head that was revealed was not that of the Time Lord they had known. Instead of the plain and somewhat pathetic face they remembered, what stood before them now was an extremely suave and handsome man. "After you, my lovely yet indomitable rose!"

Suddenly a loud bellow filled the tunnel. "Impostor! What have you done with Stolon?!" There in front of them stood Stirg the Sontaran, pointing a disruptor pistol at the recently-regenerated Penfold.

"So you followed me!"

"Bah. The others foolishly thought your strange behavior was a result of this 'helium gas', but I did not." Stirg pointed a threatening finger at the Time Lord. "Tell me where Stolon is!"

"Surely we can talk this out like reasonable people," Penfold replied with as much charm as he could muster. Without warning, Stirg fired his pistol, intentionally missing the Time Lord's head by mere inches. "Wah! I'm a lover, not a fighter!" Penfold exclaimed, running behind Jiggy for protection.

Meanwhile...

The remaining Sontarans, manipulated by Lars's plan, walked straight into a patrol unit consisting of five Cybermen. "Intruders," one of the Cybermen stated calmly, pointing in their direction. "Kill them."

Caught flat-footed, the two Sontarans standing in front were instantly cut down. "Quickly!" the Sontaran battle chief shouted, rapping his hand with his cane for emphasis, "Use the weapons our renegade Time Lord ally has provided us!"

The Sontaran warriors immediately counterattacked, firing devices that sprayed golden dust at the Cybermen. Three of the metal men fell in agony as their respiratory units became clogged. Just then a loud rumbling sound reverberated through the tunnel, knocking both Sontarans and Cybermen to their feet. At that moment, elsewhere in the tunnel system, Lars had just crashed her newly-acquired sphere ship!

In the confusion, the two remaining Cybermen were able to escape.

"We must inform the Cyber Leader at once."

((Ooh a conspiracy!))

*Lars stared at the younger Timelord, still wearing the Sontaran battle armor.
"Who the hell are you?"
Penfold and Jiggy explained. Lars just shook her head.
"Short and weedy not good enough for you? You're lucky. Some of us have got to make do with what we've got..." she checked her weapon, "Time to pick off the survivors then..."

They headed off towards the Cyberman-Sontaran battle.*

(You realize he just tried to use you as a human-shield right? Jiggy was just being ironic with the flirty remarks.) xd

((Can I ask: do you have a plan for what this conspiracy actually is or should we just invent one?))

((Um... I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to give Penfold his memories to keep for a little while longer... I just think it's better than explaining everything to someone again. Is it alright if he loses his memories a little later?))

*Whilst they wait for Penfold to awaken, Lars has managed to put a little distance between herself and the others. Ahead, she can hear the sounds of the initial battle dying off - and she is surprised when it is followed by Sontaran voices. She edges closer, until she can make out their words...

"Stage one is complete Sergeant. Ready stage two..."

"Two sir? I thought we'd cut them off. They have nowhere to go..."

"Those were not our orders. We must take back the female Timelord and deliver her to the infiltrator. With his help, our battle against the Rutans will finally be won! As it was meant to be..."

"Anything interesting?" Lars jerks round at the sound of a voice by her ear. Penfold is stood beside her, looking serious for the first time since they found him. She shakes her head.

"They're going in for the kill..."

"Is that all?"

Firestorm sidles up, looking hungry for battle again.
"Let me finish them!"

"I think it's better if we don't," Penfold grins, "Let them get their hands dirty! They'll clear us a nice path into the Cyberman base."

The dragonman looks disappointed.
"I thought they already had!"

"They haven't found that woman yet," says Lars, glancing at Penfold, "I believe you may have mentioned her... a lost Timelady perhaps? Exactly how important is she?"

"She's a friend of someone important on Gallifrey," he replies, trying to shrug her question off, "Though there's quite a nice reward for her return. I don't mind sharing..."

They don't have time to discuss it further. The Sontarans are advancing and the sounds of battle begin again. They follow at a distance, watching and waiting as three waves of Cybermen are taken apart by the Sontaran's Glitter Guns. Lars is amazed at their efficiency - they are pure death for the hapless Cybermen, who had seemed so invincible only a few hours before...

The advance reaches the final room. It is a laboratory, the crude surroundings of the cave system suddenly decorated with high-tech wires and screens, lights, buttons, levers and a whole host of different consoles. This is where the pipes along the walls had been leading to. The whole room throbs with power. In the corner, still unconscious in one of the electric cages, is the Timelady.

"Give up your prisoner and your base!" commands the Sontaran battle-chief, his weapon raised. The two remaining Cybermen stare back, emotionless. One reaches for it's gun. They are both taken down in a cloud of gun fire. Oozing foam, they collapse.

Before the Sontarans can savour their victory however, Lars and the others launch their attack. One Sontaran is taken down in a whirl of Dragon claws and throwing knives but as Lars raises her gun to take down the next Penfold leaps forward into the room.
"Wait!"

He locks eyes with the Sontaran battle-chief. A look of recognition spreads across the scarred alien face.
"You..."

He doesn't manage anything more as Penfold raises some sort of electrical device in his hand. He presses a button. Bolts of electricity burst from the Glitter Guns in the Sontaran's hands, sending the troupe to their knees screaming in fury. In a few seconds it is all over.

"What was that about?" Lars snaps, gun tensed, almost moving towards Penfold's head.

He tries to look calm.
"I just rigged it up when I was in their camp, it was nothing major..."

Lars spins as another figure enters the room, holding two guns, one in each hand. One of them is Penfold's Tissue Compressor. She instinctively raises her gun but someone else is faster. She feels the cold end of a Cyberman blaster pressed to her head.
"Traitor..." she growls.

Penfold shrugs.
"Only a little..."

"Good day!"

Lars stares at the strange figure, their new enemy. He seems at first to be a Sontaran - but his face is changing. Slowly, what was once Stolon is disfigured and morphed into something... almost human...

She doesn't like to watch so instead she lowers her eyes and listens as the man lets out a burst of almost maniacal laughter.
"I thank you, strangers, for your help. I must admit you saved us so much trouble, bringing down that ship when you did. It simplified our little plan down here... though I must say, you weren't very subtle."

There is a snarl as Firestorm leaps forward. Without a blink the stranger presses a button on his suit and it emits a strange, whining noise. Firestorm falls mid-leap, roaring furiously. The noise is causing her some sort of pain - a frequency, perhaps, that only she could hear. Lars is shocked to see the Dragonman fall quickly unconscious.

"I would advise the rest of you not to try anything else," says the disfigured man as black hair begins to sprout from his still rather bulbous head, "Or my associate will be forced to shoot your friend here through the head. Now, one moment..."
He clicks his fingers. Another Sontaran appears behind him, even more badly disfigured than himself. It is Skirg, looking rather worse for wear after his crushing. His eyes are blank and he does not appear to be breathing.
"Take the Timelady and this lizard-beast into the Time Machine," commands the stranger, pointing towards a large, metallic door at the end of the room.
"The rest of you will follow, my assistant and his captive first. Do not try anything."

Silently, they do as they are told.*

Jiggy lips curled into a nasty snarl as she walked with the renegade Time Lord. The whole time she was desperately trying to speed up her healing process... with mixed results. A quick search through the Time Lord conditioning Skagra had given her (when you're designed to be a killer of timelords, to know thy enemy is divine) revealed the idenity of their captor. She looked up from her feet and grimaced.

"The Master, I presume..." she spoke his name like it was a swear word.