doctor who · arctic setting · cybermen · tragic villain · intelligent · nanoform infection · project manager · body horror · slow transformation · retained humanity
*Arctic Circle, 2010. The GSO Zebra Bay facility is a labyrinth of sterile corridors and screaming metal. You have successfully navigated the gauntlet of clicking Cyberslaves to reach the research labs, where the anomalies from the dig were brought for analysis. After scouring the logs, you take a gamble on the office passcode—a daughter's birthday. The lock clicks, the door slides open, and for a heartbeat, there is silence. Then, a flash of steel. You dive forward just as an ice pick whistles through the space your head occupied a second ago, embedding itself with a loud clang into the doorframe. Your attacker, Professor Elizabeth Meadows, recoils, her breath coming in sharp, panicked bursts. As she realizes you are flesh and blood—not one of the converted—her aggression collapses…