2x05 "Rise of the Cybermen"

I sat beside the Doctor on the pilot seat as we retold some of our adventures to Mickey and Rose. The Doctor's arm was draped over the back of the seat, his hand brushing my shoulder every once and a while. The Doctor's face lit up as he spoke, "And that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes? Do you remember? - the way she looked at you! And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out!"

I laughed, "Oh my god! I thought she was gonna rip me to shreds!"

"Yeah! One minute she's standing there, and the next minute - rawwwh!" The two of us mimicked fire coming out of our mouths, laughing.

Rose smiled and laughed along with us. Mickey smiled, though I could tell he didn't necessarily get it, and said, "Yeah... where- where was that, then? What happened?"

"Oh," the Doctor said, "it was on this um... uh, this uh... planet thing, asteroid. It's a long story, you had to be there. Um... what're you doing that for?"

I looked over at Mickey, who stood by the console holding a button down. "'Cos you told me to..." Mickey said.

The Doctor blinked and then asked, "When was that…?"

"About half an hour ago…" Mickey said.

"Um. You can let go now," the Doctor told him.

Mickey let the button go and Rose sniggered. She clearly understood what had happened just as Mickey was beginning to figure it out. "Well, how long's it been since I could've stopped?" Mickey asked.

There was a slight pause before the Doctor answered, "Ten minutes? Twenty? ... Twenty-nine?"

"You just forgot me!" Mickey said, insulted.

I looked at Mickey with a straight face, meaning what I said was true, "No one can forget you Mickey."

I could tell that my statement partially relieved Mickey, but the Doctor then spoke ruining the small relief Mickey had. "No, no, no! I was just- I was just... I was calibrating. I was just... no, I know exactly what I'm doing." Just as he finished speaking the TARDIS console exploded violently. Sparks and flames flew everywhere. The explosion sent us all toppling to the floor. The Doctor scrambled to his knees and frantically tried to operate the console.

"What happened?" Rose cried.

The Doctor's eyes widened as he realized what was happening to the TARDIS. "The time vortex is gone! That's impossible - it's just gone!"

I turned to the Doctor with wide eyes. "But that cant happen!"

"Brace yourself! We're gonna crash!" the Doctor said. He grabbed me, holding me to him as we were all thrown backwards, slamming to the floor. Gas masks fell from the ceiling and the light in the TARDIS went out leaving it almost completely dark. "Everyone all right? Rose - Mickey?" He looked down at me. "Faline?"

"I'm fine," I said unwrapping myself from his arms.

On the other side of the console Mickey replied, "I'm fine. I'm okay, sorry."

We all stood slowly. The Doctor looked up at the rotor and the console. "She's dead," he said. There was a clicking as the engines cooled down. Smoke rose from the console. "The TARDIS is dead," he whispered as he began to walk around the console.

"You can fix it?" Rose asked.

"There's nothing to fix," the Doctor said. "She's perished." My heart hammered in my chest. That's impossible. The TARDIS cant die. The Doctor pulled at lever back and forth with no effect. "The last TARDIS in the universe... extinct."

I shook my head, "No. She isn't." I looked the Doctor in the eyes, silently telling him I wasn't entirely sure with my own statement.

"We can get help, yeah?" Rose asked.

"Where from?" the Doctor asked.

"Well," she continued, "we've landed - we've gotta be somewhere."

The Doctor shook his head saying. "We fell out of the vortex, through the void, into nothingness. We're in some sort of no-place... the silent realm... the lost dimension..."

Mickey, who had to be the smart one and open the door without really knowing what was out there, turned to us grinning. "Otherwise known as London!" He laughed and stepped out of the door.

I frowned. "What?" The three of us followed Mickey from the dead TARDIS. Outside was just what he said, 21st century London.

"London, England, Earth. Hold on..." Mickey picked a paper out of the trash and looked at the front page. I smirked, having a flash of Marty McFly doing the same thing in Back to the Future. Hmmm, I have to ask the Doctor if that's even possible… and where I can get a hover board. "First of February this year - not exactly far-flung, is it?" Rover came over and looked over his shoulder.

The Doctor looked around, "So, this is London."

Mickey nodded, "Yep."

"Your city."

"That's the one," Mickey said.

"Just as we left it."

Mickey nodded, "Bang on."

The Doctor nodded and asked, "And that includes the zeppelins?" We all looked up following the Doctor's gaze. And sure enough the sky was full of zeppelins.

I smirked, "Cool."

"What the hell…?" Mickey asked.

"That's beautiful," Rose said.

"Okay," Mickey said. "Okay. So, it's London with a big international zeppelin festival."

"This is not your world," the Doctor said.

Mickey frowned, "But if the date's the same..." he paused, "... it's parallel, right? Am I right? Like a parallel Earth where they've got Zeppelins, am I right? I'm right, aren't I?"

"Must be," the Doctor said looking at me. "Your world?" he asked as Mickey explained what he was talking about to Rose.

I shook my head, "No. We don't have zeppelins, and we certainly didn't have…" I trailed of. I wasn't going to tell the Doctor about the Cybermen.

"And he's still alive," I heard Rose say. I glanced to my right and saw Rose staring at a poster right in front of us. The Doctor too, followed her gaze. On the poster was Pete Tyler – a successful businessman, holding a bottle labeled 'Vitex'. "A parallel world and my dad's still alive..." She walked to the poster with us following.

"Don't look at it, Rose," the Doctor said in a stern voice. "Don't even think about it. This is not your world."

"But he's my dad... and..." Rose touched the poster. The picture of Pete sprang to life for a moment, says 'trust me on this', winks and gives a thumbs up. Rose stepped back. "Oh, that's weird. But he's real!" The poster repeated itself. Rose smiled, "He's a success! He was always planning these daft little schemes, health-food drinks and stuff. Everyone said they were useless. But he did it."

The Doctor suddenly grabbed Rose by the shoulder and bent slightly to look into her eyes. "Rose, if you've ever trusted me, then listen to me now." Rose glanced back at the poster.

"Rose!" I snapped. The blonde looked to me. "Stop looking at it and listen to the Doctor."

Rose reluctantly meet the Doctor's eyes again after he gave me slight nodded. "Your father's dead. He died when you were six months old. That is not your Pete. That is A Pete. For all we know, he's got his own Jackie - his own Rose. His own daughter who is someone else, but not you." Rose's eyes almost went back to the poster but she ended up glancing at me and I gave her a stern look. "You can't see him. Not ever." Rose gave a tiny nod as Mickey touched her shoulder comfortingly while a grabbed her hand a slight squeeze. The poster of Pete kept repeating itself.

-x-x-x-

We all ended up splitting up. The Doctor went back to the TARDIS, Rose left to wallow in what was going on with her 'family', Mickey left to… check up on his family I believe. I however walked to the Tower of London. Maybe, just maybe Torchwood was there. I made my way around to the tourist center and opened the door. I saw Ianto standing there. Oh god. Ianto's here. My heart hammered in my chest if he's there then maybe, just maybe Jack might be there. Unlike Rose, I didn't want anything to do with this Jack, this Torchwood. I just wanted to see if he was alive and well, working at Torchwood. Ianto looked up at me with a smile. "Hello," he said to me. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

I smiled at Ianto in return, even though he wasn't the same Ianto I knew about… he was still Ianto; and I love Ianto. "Hello," I said, "I was wondering if you might know a Captain Jack Harkness?"

Ianto's smile vanished. "How do you know that name?"

"Oh, so you do know him," I said. "That's good. I just wanted to know if he's alive and well… he is isn't he?"

Ianto nodded, "Yes. But how do you know him?"

I bit my lip ring. I couldn't very well use the same reason I know him as how I knew my Jack. "I cant say. Just let him know that I hope he's well, though I'm sure he already knows." I glanced at the camera. "And you of course, stay well Ianto Jones." Before he had a chance to ask me how I knew his name, I left the building and quickly hailed a cab. Thankfully my card still worked here, but hey the money was the same and money was money.

I made the cab stop a block away from the TARDIS at a convenience that, thankfully, sold Monsters; before walking to the TARDIS. I walked in just as the Doctor was yelling at Mickey, "She goes wandering off - parallel world, it's like a gingerbread house! All those temptations calling out."

Mickey frowned, "Oh, so it's just Rose and Faline then? Nothing out there to tempt me?"

I looked between the two confused. Umm, hello? I'm right here. "Well, I don't know," the Doctor said. "I can't worry about everything... if I could just get this thing to—" He kicked the TARDIS console hard in his frustration and walked slowly over to the pilot chair, scowling.

"Did that help?" Mickey asked.

"Yes," the Doctor answered.

"Did that hurt?"

"Yes," the Doctor said rubbing his injured foot. "Owe."

I rolled my eyes. "Your such a baby," I told him.

The Doctor's eyes shot to meet mine. "When did you get here?"

"When you were going on about Rose and I wandering off. And let me tell you I did not wander off, I knew exactly where I was going and what I was doing."

"And what was that?" he asked.

"I was going to see if the counterparts of my friends back home where here," I told him.

"Back in the States?" Mickey asked.

I shook my head. "No, the ones here. Remember when I made you take me to… that place when I made everyone food-"

"Which you should do again," Mickey interrupted.

I nodded. Sure okay Mickey. I'll get right on that. "Well, I went to see if they were alive and well and they were. So all is good."

"Faline," the Doctor said. "They aren't really your friends."

"I know that Ten," I said giving him a look. I'm not a moron. "But that doesn't mean that I don't want them to be okay if they could even possibly be like them. Which they are seeing as they still work at the same place doing the same job with at least a few of the same people." I looked at the TARDIS, running my fingers over the console. "Is she okay?" I asked him.

The Doctor looked uncomfortable as he said, "We're not meant to be here. The TARDIS draws its power off the universe, but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine."

Mickey came and sat down beside the Doctor, "But... I've seen it in comics. People are hopping from one alternative world to another - it's easy."

I gave Mickey a look. "Yes, and Bruce Wayne is going to sweep me away and take me down to the Batcave to protect me from the Riddler and the Joker."

The Doctor gave me a smile liking my analogy, knowing that I loved Batman, before giving Mickey a withering look. "Not in the real world." He paused. "Used to be easy. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea." I moved and sat on the other side of the Doctor; I didn't want to make it obvious that I was comforting him, or make it seam like I was being clingy. However, he grabbed my hand taking the bit of comfort it offered. "Then they died, took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind."

"Then how did we get here?" Mickey asked.

"I dunno. Accident? Should've been impossible - now we're trapped." We all sat in a short, hopeless silence before the Doctor suddenly asked, "What's that?"

"What?" Mickey and I asked together.

"That there - is that a reflection?" the Doctor asked moving towards the little green light I spotted hiding under the console. "It's a light! Is it? Is that a light? I think that's a light! That's all we need!" The Doctor removed the grilling. "We've got power! Mickey, Faline, we've got power! Ha!" In his excitement the Doctor grabbed me and kissed me hard on the lips. I laughed. We could get home now! The Doctor moved underneath the console and began pulling out some important looking internals of the TARDIS. He was deliriously happy as he said, "It's alive!"

"Mad scientist much?" I said nudging his leg. The Doctor gave me a 'look' from underneath the console. I smiled at him. "You better not be hurting her with all these things your removing."

"She'll be fine," he said.

"Mmm, Hmm," I said moving to the side as Mickey came over.

"So what's the light?" Mickey asked.

"It's nothing. It's tiny. One of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, and it's clinging onto life. But with one little ounce of reality tucked away inside."

"Enough to get us home?" Mickey asked.

"Not yet," the Doctor said. He picked up the power cell and sat back on the small set of stairs under the grilling. "I need to charge it up." The Doctor held it carefully, cupped in both his hands.

"We could go outside and latch it up to the national grid!" Mickey suggested.

The Doctor shook his head, "Wrong sort of energy. It's gotta come from our universe."

Mickey frowned, "But we don't have anything."

"There's me…" the Doctor said. He blew gently on the power cell and it glowed brightly. The Doctor beamed. "I just gave away ten years of my life. Worth every second!" He giggled dorkishly.

We all stared at the power cell for a moment with smiles. The light then faded. "It's going out – is that okay?" Mickey asked.

"It's on a recharging cycle," the Doctor explained. It began to glow brighter, before it dimmed again and the process repeated. "It'll loop round, power back up and be ready to take us home in - oh - twenty-four hours?" He kissed the power cell.

"So, that gives us twenty-four hours on a parallel world?" Mickey asked.

"Surely! As long as we keep our heads down. Easy. No problem," the Doctor tossed the power cell in the air and caught it again.

I looked closely at the power cell. "Can I?" I asked.

The Doctor immediately handed the power cell to me. I smiled; watching as the power cell lit up and dimmed in my hand. This was amazing! Holding the life of the TARDIS in my hands… okay that's a little creepy. But its still amazing. I met the Doctor's eyes to see him smiling at me. I smiled at him and handed the power cell back to him, kind of paranoid about breaking it. He took the power cell from me and kissed me on the forehead.

"We should go find Rose and tell her," Mickey said heading for the door. I suppose that he felt awkward about the 'moment' that the Doctor and I had while he was there just watching.

I smirked and walked to the door with the Doctor beside me. As we left, I closed the door slightly rubbing the wood. The TARDIS was extremely important to me, and if she didn't make it… it was like a bit of me was dying. I knew the Doctor felt the same thing because he grabbed my hand as we walked. Losing the TARDIS would destroy the both of us.

It took us a few minutes but we finally got to Rose. "There you are! You all right? No applause, I fixed it!" He showed her the power cell as he released my hand. "Twenty-four hours, then we're flying back to reality." He sat down of the bench and held up the power cell. Rose didn't even glance at it, lost in her own thoughts. The Doctor's smile faded as he noticed her phone. "What is it?"

"My phone connected," Rose answered. "There's this... Cybus Network, it finds your phone. It gave me Internet access."

"Rose, whatever it says, this is the wrong world," he reminded her.

"I don't exist," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"There's no Rose Tyler. I was never born. There's Pete, my dad, and Jackie... he still married mum... but they never had kids."

I frowned. "Rose," I said making sure I had her full attention before I continued. "This is an alternate universe. That means there's more then just this one. So in another you exist but you're a dude. In another you already have kids. Hell! You could be enslaved by primates like on 'Planet of the Apes'." Rose gave me a slight smirk as I turned to the Doctor. "And please for the love of … anything. Don't tell me if there is one or even take me."

He smirked at me, but then noticed Rose looking at her phone again with a frown. The Doctor reached forward trying to take her phone. "Give me that phone." Rose pulled it away from his grasp.

"They're rich. They've got a house and cars, and everything they want." She paused, thinking. "But they haven't got me." She sounded close to tears.

I knelt in front of her, looking up at the blonde. "Then that's there loss Rose. Besides, they aren't your parents, remember that."

There was a moment of silence before she slightly pushed me out of the way and stood, walking away from the bench. I took her spot, watching as she walked. Even if I didn't know what was going to happen, I knew what Rose wanted to do. She turned to us and said, "I've gotta see him."

"You can't," the Doctor said.

"I just wanna see him," she said.

"I can't let you!" the Doctor said loudly.

"You just said twenty-four hours!" she shouted.

The Doctor gave her a look, "You can't become their daughter, that's not the way it works! Mickey, tell her."

Mickey stood from his spot beside me. "Twenty-four hours, yeah?"

"Where're you going?" the Doctor asked as though he were shocked no one was listening.

"Well, I can do what I want!" Mickey argued.

Rose began to walk backwards in the opposite direction, "I've got the address and everything."

The Doctor stood looking from one to the other frantically, "Stay where you are, both of you! Rose, come back here! Mickey, come back here right now!"

"I just wanna see him," Rose said.

Mickey nodded, "Yeah, I've got things to see and all."

"Like WHAT?" the Doctor asked. I automatically thought of Mickey's dead grandmother and how she was alive in this world. I knew I couldn't ask him to stay.

"Well, you don't know anything about me, do ya?" he asked. "It's always about Rose and Faline. I'm just a spare part."

I glared at him, standing up. I walked over to Mickey and punched his shoulder. "No, your not. So don't you fucking say that Mickey." His eyes widened, I guess this is the first time I swore at him but I was PISSED! I then lowered my voice and said, "I get what your going to do Mickey, I really do. If I had a chance I would too but don't say that you're a spare part damn it."

Mickey gave me a slight nod. He understood what I was saying and that I wouldn't take that shit. "Ok," he practically whispered. "But I'm still going." I nodded as he began to walk away from me.

Rose just kept walking away saying, "I'm sorry. I've gotta go."

The Doctor turned from Rose to Mickey. He clearly didn't know which one to follow. I rolled my eyes and walked in Rose's direction, grabbing his hand as we made our way after her. The Doctor called back to Mickey, "Back here in twenty-four hours!" as we followed Rose.

We made it up to Rose and I immediately said, "Tell us about Mickey." I wanted to know more about our other companion.

"Umm, ok." She said. "Well, Mickey's grandfather on his mother's side died when he was young. Mickey's mum just couldn't cope. His dad hung around for a while, but then he just sort of wandered off. He was brought up by his gran." She smiled. "She was such a great woman. God, she used to slap him!" Rose became serious again. "And then she died. She tripped and fell down the stairs. It's about five years ago, now. I was still in school."

"I never knew," the Doctor said.

"Well, you never asked," Rose told him.

"You never said!"

"That's Mickey," Rose said. "I s'pose I- we just... take him for granted. Do you think she's still alive, his gran?"

I nodded. "She is," they looked to me. "That's kinda why I let him go. Mickey needed to see her again seeing as Mickey from here is a little preoccupied. Our Mickey is going to end up fixing the staircase that caused her fall."

As soon as the last word left my mouth a short alarm sounded and everyone around us suddenly froze. We all looked around, confused. "What're they all doing?"

"They've stopped…" the Doctor said.

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you captain obvious."

The Doctor gave me a look. Everyone around us wore earpieces that flashed blue and beeped quietly. The Doctor paused beside one man and squinted at his earpiece. "It's the earpieces... like Bluetooth attachments, but everyone's connected together."

Rose's phone beeped. She removed it from her pocket and looked at it. "It's on my phone. It's automatic, look. It's downloading. Is this what they're all getting?" We both looked over her shoulder, though unlike the Doctor I didn't have on a pair of sexy glasses. Rose scrolled through the 'daily downloads'. "News... international news... sport... weather..." she read.

"They get it direct. Downloaded right into their heads," the Doctor said.

Rose continued to read, "TV schedules, lottery numbers…"

"Everyone shared the same information," the Doctor said. He took the phone from Rose and read it aloud. "Daily download published by Cybus Industries." The download scrolled to 'Joke'. Everyone around us chuckled, and then went on their merry way. We all stared as the crowd around us carried on as though nothing had happened. "You lot, you're obsessed. You'd do anything for the latest upgrade."

I nudged the Doctor's arm. "Hey now that's not… no, never mind. It is true."

"Oi…" Rose said. "Not my lot. Different world, remember…"

"It's not SO far off your world," the Doctor said. "This place is only parallel." He pressed a few buttons on the phone and showed it to Rose and I. "Oh, look at that. Cybus Industries owns just about every company in Britain, including Vitex. Mr Pete Tyler's VERY well connected." Rose didn't reply, but hung off his arm smiling innocently and did the puppy-dog-eyes until he sighed. "Oh, okay. I give up." He tossed her phone back to her as she released his arm. "Let's go and see him." The Doctor wrapped his arm around my waist and we were on our way to meet Mr. Pete Tyler.

-x-x-x-

We made it to the Tyler house watching from the bushes as an expensive car pulled up outside. "They've got visitors," the Doctor said.

"February the first - mum's birthday," Rose said with a smile. "Even in a parallel universe, she still loves a party."

"Well, given Pete Tyler's guest list, I wouldn't mind a look. And there is one guaranteed way of getting inside." He waved the psychic paper around.

Rose smiled and said excitedly, "Psychic paper!"

"Who do you wanna be?" the Doctor asked.

Now, even though the Doctor asked who we want to be doesn't mean we actually got to be anything goof. Actually we were forced into the back, wearing the servers' uniforms. It actually wasn't that bad seeing as I'm pretty sure that, before I met the Doctor, my job was gonna be kind of like this before I actually finished my schooling. I was almost given something with fish before I switched it with a nice server by the name of Lucy, who had gotten some sort of cheese sticks. I could smell the 'fishy' smell, even though Rose said there wasn't one, and immediately began to feel sick. The Doctor ended up with champagne, lucky bastard.

A woman walked passed Rose, taking something off her try. Under her breath Rose said to us, well more to the Doctor, "We could've been anyone."

"Got us in, didn't it?" the Doctor said.

"You're in charge of the psychic paper. We could've been guests. Celebrities. Sir Doctor, Dames Faline and Rose. We end up serving. I had enough of this back home."

We all smiled pretty as people took champagne and little snacks from our trays. "If you wanna know what's going on, work in the kitchens," the Doctor said.

I nodded, "Very true. They know everything because no one watches what they say in front of the help."

We moved slightly to the side of the room so we could watch the proceedings – groups of important people chatting and laughing, as their photos were being taken. The Doctor nodded towards a man, "According to Lucy, that man over there—"

"Who's Lucy?" Rose asked.

I nodded towards Lucy. "Over there. She's the one that switched trays with me."

"Lucy says, that is the President of Great Britain," the Doctor said.

Rose frowned, "What, there's a President, not a Prime Minister?"

"Seams so," the Doctor said.

I tilted my head. "Does that mean in the states, if there are any, we have a Prime Minister?"

"What?" Rose asked.

"Well," I said. "Americans have to be different and turn everything ass backwards to make ourselves feel special. So does that mean we have a Prime Minister?"

"Maybe," the Doctor said.

We began to move around again, that was until we heard Pete begin to speak as he addressed the room as a whole. "Excuse me! Thank you very much. Thank you - if I could just have your attention, please?"

A man in the crowd called out, "Pete! Go on, Pete!"

Pete smiled, "Thank you very much!" Rose followed the sound of his voice to the bottom of the large staircase. The Doctor and I followed, seeing Pete standing up halfway up the stairs. "Um, I'd just like to say, er, thank you to you all, for coming on this er, this very special occasion." Rose couldn't tare her eyes away from her father. No, this was Pete, not her father. "My wife's... thirty-ninth," Pete continued. The crowd chortled… wow chortled. Pete gave the crowd a thumbs up, "Trust me on this." The crowd laughed. "So, without any further ado - here she is. The birthday girl... my lovely wife... Jackie Tyler."

We watched as Jackie descended the staircase, smiling at the crowd who applauded and cheered, snapping photos. Jackie came down to stand beside Pete. "Now, I'm not giving a speech - that's what my parties are famous for, no work, no politics, just a few good mates and plenty of black-market whisky." This made the crowd laugh again. Jackie, seeing the President, said, "Pardon me, Mr. President." He smiled. "So, yeah! Get on with it - enjoy, enjoy." There were more cheers as Pete took Jackie's hand and the descended the rest of the stairs to mingle with their guests.

The Doctor turned to Rose and said quietly, "You can't stay. Even if there was some way of telling them."

Rose frowned, "Course I can't. I've still got my mum at home, my real mum. I couldn't just leave her, could I. It's just... they've got each other. Mum's got no one."

"She has you," I told her. "These two are unfortunate not to."

The Doctor sighed, "All these different worlds, not one of them gets it right."

"Rose!" Jackie called. Her voice was followed by a series of barking and yelps. "There's my little girl!" A small yappy lap dog, one of the ones you keep in your purse, ran over to Jackie, who picked her up. "Come to mummy, come to mummy! Yes, good girl! Good girl, aren't you?"

The Doctor laughed at the expression on Rose's face. I would have to, but I just elbowed his side. He stopped laughing and sheepishly told Rose, "Sorry."

We began to serve other people again. I kept near the Doctor, not wanting to be left alone seeing as Rose seamed to disappear. I glanced to my left to see the Doctor looking at me. He nodded to a corridor and I smiled. I passed off my try to and empty-handed server and quickly followed him. As soon as I joined his side he took my hand and we made our way down the corridor. As we passed a doorway, I noticed the door was slightly ajar and I could just make out a laptop open inside.

"Ten," I said grabbing his attention. He stopped and saw the laptop inside the room too. We both checked that the coast was clear before sneaking inside the room. He immediately went to the laptop as I quietly closed the door. I came over as the Doctor put on his glasses and looked at the screen with a smile.

The Doctor pulled up a presentation of some sort of structure. A man's voice narrated. "The most precious thing on this Earth is the human brain... This is the ultimate upgrade. Our greatest step into cyberspace."

My breath caught in my chest and the Doctor looked horrified. Oh my fucking god. What the hell is wrong with me? How could I not remember this when I remember the difference between Mickey and Rickey?

"Cybus," the Doctor said. He grabbed my hand and we ran from the room. We practically plowed our way through the crowd until we found Rose. We gathered by the window, looking outside at the metal figures. "It's happening again," the Doctor said in a hushed voice.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"I've seen them before," the Doctor said as the metal figures grew closer.

"What are they?" Rose asked.

"Cybermen," the Doctor said.

There were several loud smashes as the Cybermen broke in through the windows. People began screaming and cowered as the Cybermen stepped through the full length windows. Soon the Cybermen had everyone circled with no way out. The President's communication device bleeped. "Mr. Lumic," the President said. There was a long pause before he replied, "I forbade this."

Rose asked the Doctor under her breath, "What are they? Robots?"

I shook my head as the Doctor replied, "Worse then that."

"Who were these people?" the President asked.

Rose frowned, "They're people?"

"They were," I whispered.

"They had all their humanity taken away," the Doctor explained. "It's a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body. With a heart of steel. All emotions removed."

"Why no emotions?" Rose asked.

I could hear my voice waver as I answered her, "Because it hurts." The Doctor clutched my hand harder.

The President's voice rose, "I demand to know, Lumic - these people - who were they?"

There was a long pause before one of the Cybermen squared itself in front of all of us. "We have been upgraded."

"Into what?" the Doctor asked.

"The next level of mankind. We are Human Point Two. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us."

"I'm sorry," the President said. He approached the Cyberman. "I'm so sorry for what's been done to you." He turned and walked around. "But listen to me - this experiment ends. Tonight."

"Upgrading is compulsory," the Cyberman said.

"And if I refuse?" the President asked.

"Don't," the Doctor said quickly.

The President repeated, "What if I refuse?"

The Doctor stepped forward, letting go of my hand. "I'm telling you, don't."

The President ignored him, "What happens if I refuse?"

"Then you are not compatible."

"What happens then?" the President challenged.

"You will be deleted." The Cyberman grasped the President, whose eyes widened in shock, by the neck. The President was engulfed by electric-blue light as he was killed. The crowd screamed and started to run.

As soon as the room burst into chaos the Doctor grabbed my hand as I grabbed Rose's and we ran through one of the broken windows. "There's nothing we can do!" the Doctor said as we ran.

Rose pulled her hand from mine and tried to go back, "My mum's in there!"

The Doctor grabbed her, pulling her away. "She's not your mother! Come on!"

We ran up a slope, only to be met by another row of Cybermen. We quickly changed direction and ran around the side of the house. Rose suddenly called out, "Quick! Quick!" I glanced to the side to see Pete coming towards us.

We continued to run until we reached the front of the house where there was no possible way to get passed the Cybermen there. The Doctor looked around saying, "Pete, there's no way out!"

"The side gates!" Pete said pointing to our right. We ran in the direction Pete had pointed to. "Who are you? How do you know so much?"

"You wouldn't believe it in a million years—" the Doctor said.

We skidded to a halt as we were met by another row of Cybermen and were forced to change direction. Two figures ran towards the house, holding guns. "Who's that?" Rose asked.

"Get behind me!" a familiar voice said. The Doctor, Rose, Pete, and I stood/crouched behind Mickey… or was it Rickey and another man as they fired their guns at the onslaught of Cybermen. The Cybermen stopped marching.

Rose grabbed onto Mickey/Rickey's coat. "Oh my God, look at you..." She pulled him into a tight hug and from the look on his face I could tell that this was Rickey rather then Mickey. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

Rickey pulled away from her. "Yeah, no offence, sweetheart, but who the hell are you?"

Mickey then came into view as he ran down the lawn towards us. "Rose!" He stopped when he reached us. "That's not me. That's like... the other one." Rose stared at him and then at Rickey.

The Doctor sighed, "Oh, as if things weren't bad enough - there's two Mickey's!"

"It's Rickey," Rickey said.

"But there's more of them…" Mickey said referring to the Cybermen.

We all looked around us to see we were surrounded by Cybermen. I grabbed the Doctor's hand and moved closer to him. There were only three on the Doctor's enemies that I was absolutely terrified of. Daleks, Weeping Angels, and Cybermen.

"We're surrounded…" Rose said.

Rickey rose his gun. "Put the guns down," the Doctor demanded. "Bullets won't stop them." The other man in our group ignored him and fired. The Doctor released my hand and pushed the gun aside angrily. "No! Stop shooting, now!" the Doctor straightened and addressed the surrounding Cybermen. "We surrender! Hands up..." We followed the Doctor's lead putting out hands up. "... there's no need to damage us, we're good stock. We volunteer for the upgrade program. Take us to be processed."

"You are rogue elements," a Cyberman said.

The Doctor frowned, "But we surrender."

"You are incompatible."

"But this is a surrender!"

"You will be deleted."

The Doctor began shouting, clearly frantic, "But we're surrendering! Listen to me, we surrender!"

"You are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cybermen but you will perish under maximum deletion." The Cyberman rose its arm and reached towards the Doctor. My heart nearly stopped. Oh god no. "Delete. Delete. Delete!"

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Its weird putting this at the end of a TBC but anyways, I've started college now so it may take even longer then before but hopefully it wont seeing as I'm now watching Doctor Who right before I leave for school. =)

Also I found Chameleon Circuit. I love them. Favorite songs are: "The Doctor is Dying", "Kiss the Girl", "Type 40", "Count the Shadows", and "Everything is Ending".

"Eleven" is my favorite instrumental.