For this chapter, I'd like to thank flowerangel502 for giving some ideas of what to do. I honestly wasn't sure which one I'd choose but... I hope I made the right choice and you like what I did. There's not a lot in this chapter but I promise it will be picked up in the next Episode.

Enjoy,

Nick

"And that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes," the Doctor laughed, causing me to roll my eyes. Rose and he had been droning on about previous adventures for what felt like hours already "Do you remember? The way she looked at you… And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out."

Rose burst into laughter, nodding her head "I thought I was going to get frazzled."

"Yeah. One minute she's standing there and the next minute, roar," the Time Lord mimicked.

Mickey looked from the man to Rose and then to me "Yeah… Where was that, then? What happened?"

"Trust me, Mickey," I spoke up for the first time, thoroughly annoyed at the two others for baiting Mickey "You don't want to know. In fact, I don't want to know. Can you just shut up and be done with it?"

"Someone is pissy today," Rose muttered, looking at me with narrowed eyes. She leaned closer to the Doctor, trying to prove a point or something. The blonde had been doing that ever since I told her I wouldn't turn her. Not that it mattered to me. It was surprising how often I was telling people that the Doctor was only a friend. Sure, he was an amazing man and everything but I liked him as a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. If Rose thought she could make me jealous… That was not the way to go.

The Doctor looked at Mickey, seeing him pressing a button "Er, what're you doing that for?"

"Because you told me to," the boy pointed out, getting pissed off. Both guys had been more or less getting along these past few adventures but I had a feeling that was about to change. Sometimes the Doctor was too thick to be real…

"When was that?" the Time Lord frowned in confusion.

Mickey raised an eyebrow "About half an hour ago."

"Er," the Doctor winced "You can let go now."

"Guys, calm down," I cut in "Mickey, you know that he's an idiot. Just ignore it."

The Doctor huffed, crossing his arms "I'm not an idiot. I was… er… I was calibrating. I know exactly what I'm doing." As if the universe had heard him, the time rotor blew up as soon as he had finished his sentence.

"What's happened?" Rose coughed.

The Doctor was running around the console, staring at the readings in shock "The Time Vortex is gone. That's impossible. It's just gone. Brace yourself! We're going to crash." The Tardis came to a sudden stop, throwing all of us around. I groaned when I hit my head on one of the corals with a strength that would have probably broken my neck had I been human "Everyone alright? Tyra? Rose? Mickey?"

"I'm fine," Mickey replied instantly "I'm okay. Sorry. Yeah."

"Tyra?"

I let out another groan, massaging my neck for a moment "I'm okay."

"She's dead," the Doctor breathed, looking at the console sadly "The Tardis is dead."

Rose moved towards him, placing a hand on his arm "Can't you fix it?"

"There's nothing to fix," he shook his head "She's perished. The last Tardis in the universe. Extinct."

"We can get help, yeah?" the blonde asked.

The Doctor shot her a deadpan look "Where from?"

I carefully climbed to my feet, watching Mickey walk towards the door in curiosity "What are you doing?" I questioned quietly.

"Well, we've landed," Rose pointed out with a shrug "We've got to be somewhere."

"We fell out of the Vortex… through the void… into nothingness. We're in some sort of no place," the Doctor explained, his voice thick "The silent realm. The lost dimension."

Mickey opened the door. I don't think I would have let him if I hadn't seen the light through the door… "Otherwise known as London," the boy called back "London, England, Earth… Hold on." He picked up a discarded newspaper "First of February this year. Not exactly far-flung, is it?"

"So this is London?" the Doctor asked, having noticed something that I only saw several moments later. I blinked at the sheer amount of Zeppelins in the sky. That definitely wasn't normal.

"Yep," Mickey nodded.

I rolled my eyes "Mickey…"

"Your city," the Doctor continued, gesturing for me to be silent.

"That's the one," the boy agreed.

The Time Lord glanced up at the sky for a moment "Just as we left it."

"Bang on."

"And that includes the Zeppelins?" the Doctor asked, pointing up.

Mickey's head snapped up and he gaped in surprise "What the hell?"

A massive airship passed overboard "That's beautiful," Rose whispered.

"Okay," Mickey blinked "So it's London with a big international Zeppelin festival."

The Doctor took a deep breath, looking at us "This is not your world."

"Not our world… How?" I asked, my eyes narrowed.

"The date's the same," Mickey murmured, throwing his arm around my shoulders "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?"

The Doctor shrugged "Must be."

"So, a parallel world…?" Rose frowned in confusion.

Mickey rolled his eyes "It's as if you've never seen any Sci-Fi movies ever. Geez… Like an alternative to our world where everything's the same but a little bit different, like, I don't know, traffic lights are blue, Tony Blair never got elected."

"Wait, you're talking about the multiverse theory?" I asked, the pieces clicking together.

It was then that Rose shouldered past me "And he's still alive," she murmured, staring at an advert that was right behind me. It was for Vitex Lite starring… Pete Tyler. That could only end in disaster. Honestly, I wasn't even sure whether I wanted to know if my siblings and I were alive in this world. I – It would only hurt to find out that they died a thousand years ago or whatever happened to them "A parallel world and my dad's still alive."

"Don't look at it, Rose," the Time Lord warned "Don't even think about it. This is not your world."

"But he's my dad and…" She touched the advert, triggering a short film.

"Trust me on this," the Pete on the screen said.

Rose shook her head "Well, that's weird. But he's real."

"Trust me on this."

"He's a success," the blonde smiled sadly "He was always planning these daft little schemes. Health food, drinks and stuff. Everyone said they were useless. But he did it."

I winced at the words and muttered under my breath "I distinctively remember you saying the same thing before you ripped a hole into Time and Space to save your father."

"Rose," the Doctor started, his tone serious "If you've ever trusted me then listen to me now. Stop looking at it. 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. You can't see him. Not ever."

"Trust me on this. Trust me on this. Trust me on this. Trust me on this." I rubbed at my head, glaring at the stupid advert. It wasn't helping the matter at all. I looked at Rose, seeing her still mesmerized with the image of her father. Why did I have the feeling that this will end the exact same way the trip to see her father in the past ended? Don't get me wrong… I really liked Pete back then. He was a pretty nice guy but that didn't mean that I liked being eaten by a Reaper.

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair "I'm going back to the Tardis, see if there's anything I can do. Mickey, keep an eye on Rose."

I looked from Mickey to the Doctor's retreating back "Do you mind if I?"

"Go ahead," the boy smiled "I think he's gonna need a friend. I'll just watch Miss Gloomy here."

I jogged to catch up with the Doctor, looking up at him from the corner of my eye "Are you going to be alright?"

"What are you talking about? I'm always alright," he protested weakly.

"Right," I snorted "Don't mess with me, Doc. I can see that you're not alright."

The Time Lord sighed, tugging at his hair in frustration "It's just… The Tardis is dead. What am I supposed to do now?"

"Don't give up just yet," I shrugged "Who knows… Maybe there's a way?"

He slumped down on the jump seat, burying his face in his hands "I don't think that there's any hope this time around, Ty."

"Well, excuse me," I huffed playfully, nudging his side "Who is the one who told me that there's always hope? Even in the most hopeless of situations."

"This is different though," he murmured.

I raised an eyebrow "How so?"

"It just is."

The Tardis door opened and Mickey stormed in, a pissed off look on his face. I stood up and pressed a hand to his shoulder "What happened?"

"Rose is bloody mental, that's what happened," he snapped before taking a couple of deep breaths "Sorry. She just pissed me off."

I hummed "That seems to be something she can do pretty damn good."

"I told you to keep an eye on her," the Doctor spoke up with a sigh.

Mickey shook his head "She's alright. When I left she was ranting about you not letting her see her father."

"She goes wandering off," the Time Lord grumbled "Parallel world… It's like a gingerbread house. All those temptations calling out."

"Oh, dear," I breathed when Mickey's eyes darkened.

The boy stood up straight, glaring at the Time Lord "Oh, so it's just Rose, then? Nothing out there to tempt me? Or Tyra?"

"Mickey," I spoke up soothingly "It's fine. Calm down…"

The Doctor cut me off "Well, I don't know," he snapped "I can't worry about everything. If I could just get this thing to…" He kicked the console with as much strength as he could.

"Did that help?" Mickey questioned, tilting his head in amusement.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded.

Mickey's grin grew "Did that hurt?"

"Yes," the Time Lord nodded again, rubbing his foot "Ow." He sank down on the seat again "Look, I'm sorry that I'm being crabby but this whole thing is messing with me. We're not meant to be here. The Tardis draws its power from the universe but this is the wrong one. It's like diesel in a petrol engine."

"But I've seen it in comics," Mickey pointed out "People go hopping from one alternate world to another. It's easy."

The Doctor shook his head "Not in the real world. It used to be easy. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything. You could hop between realities and be home in time for tea." His voice turned sad and I couldn't resist drawing him into a hug, my chin resting on top of his hair "Then they died and 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?"

The Doctor shrugged, leaning into me a little bit "I don't know. Accident? Should've been impossible. Now we're trapped." He sat up straighter "What's that?"

I turned my head and grinned "Is that what I think it is?"

"What?" Mickey frowned.

"That, there," the Time Lord pointed "Is that a reflection? It's a light. Is it?"

I crouched down on the grating and looked down "That is a light," I agreed.

"That's all we need," the Doctor laughed in relief "We've got power. We've got power. Ha!" He gently pulled me to the side, taking out part of the grating to get down below the main part of the console "It's alive."

Mickey leaned forward curiously "What is it?"

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

I coughed "Well, not so insignificant now, is it?"

"Is that enough to get us home?" Mickey questioned.

The Time Lord hummed "Not yet. I need to charge it up."

"We could go outside and lash it up to the National Grid," the boy pointed out.

"Wrong sort of energy," the Doctor sighed "It's got to come from our universe."

I tilted my head "Is there anything we have from our universe?"

"There's me." The Doctor cradled the green light in his hands, blowing on it. The light brightened "I just gave away ten years of my life. Worth every second," he shook his head.

Mickey looked at the power cell and started worrying when it went out "It's going out. Is that okay?"

"It's on a recharging cycle," the Time Lord explained "It'll loop round, power back up and be ready to take us home in… Oh… Twenty-four hours?"

"So that gives us twenty-four hours on a parallel world?" Mickey questioned, glancing at the door eagerly.

The Doctor's face lit up "Shore leave. As long as we keep our heads down. Easy. No problem."

"No problem?" I clarified "Have you met you? I don't even want to know what kind of trouble we're going to get into in the next twenty-four hours."

"I'm not that bad," the Time Lord huffed, walking out of the Tardis doors. We started looking around for Rose, hoping that she hadn't done anything stupid. Then again, it was Rose… "There you are," the Doctor called when he saw the blonde sitting on a bench by the embankment "You alright? No applause. I fixed it. Twenty-four hours, then we're flying to reality. What is it?"

Rose was staring at the phone in her hands "My phone connected. There's this Cybus Network. It finds your phone… It gave me Internet access."

I pulled out my phone, blinking at the Network provider "I've got it too."

"Rose, whatever it says, this is the wrong world," the Doctor tried.

"I don't exist," the blonde burst out, looking up at us.

The Time Lord frowned in confusion "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."

"Give me that phone," the Doctor demanded, holding out his hand. His mood had darkened as soon as Rose started talking about her family in this universe.

Rose looked at his hand "They're rich. They've got a house and cars and everything they want. But they haven't got me… I've got to see him."

I shifted hesitatingly, not sure whether I really wanted to get involved "Rose, I don't think that's a good idea. Remember what happened last…"

"You're just jealous," the blonde burst out, startling all of us "You're jealous that I have a real family and yours hates you."

"Don't ever talk about my family," I told her lowly. At the moment, I was trying really hard not to snap that insignificant girl's neck "You have no fucking idea what you're talking about. I don't give a damn about what you do or don't do but you're going to get someone killed one of these days."

"Enough," the Doctor hissed "Stop acting like children. Both of you. You can't go to see them, Rose."

She crossed her arms firmly "I just want to see him." I rolled my eyes, stepping back to lean against the railing. Honestly, why do I care again? The girl has been nothing but trouble for me… I should just kill her and be done with it "You said twenty-four hours."

"You can't become their daughter," the Doctor pointed out, slowly losing his temper "That's not the way it works. Mickey, tell her."

The boy looked from Rose to me "Twenty-four hours, yeah?" He held out his hand to me and went to turn around.

"Where are you going?"

Mickey shrugged "Well, I can do what I want and so can Tyra."

"I've got the address and everything," Rose spoke up, ignoring Mickey completely as she walked in the opposite direction of where the boy was leading me.

"Stay where you are," the Doctor called out "All of you. Rose, come back here… Mickey, Tyra, come back here right now."

Rose stopped, turning back with red eyes "I just want to see him."

"Yeah," Mickey grumbled under his breath "And we've got things to see."

"Like what?" the Time Lord challenged. I closed my eyes, aware that despite the two of them getting along, the Doctor still wasn't too interested in the young man next to me. Mickey told me about himself in one of our phone calls, about his family and I told him about what I remembered from the wedding he was at as a small child.

Mickey tightened his hand around mine "Well, you don't know anything about me, do you? You're so self-absorbed… I'm just a spare part."

"Mickey…" I spoke up.

"No," he shook his head "The Doctor might be a good man but that doesn't mean that I won't say anything against him."

I squeezed his hand "I was going to say that you did well. Hell, you deserve standing up for yourself and I know that he sometimes forgets that others exist as well but… That's just who he is. Think about it, Mickey. If you live for hundreds of years. How would you turn out?" Actually, I didn't really like how he seemed to be focussed on Rose as much as he was at the moment. The blonde was always running off, not thinking about how it might affect others.

"You aren't like him," he pointed out.

"Oh, trust me. I am so much worse," I smiled sadly "This is the calmest I have been in years. Before I met the Doctor I wouldn't have thought twice about killing someone. I didn't care for anyone, not even myself…" In the time we had been talking, Rose had started walking away, leaving the Doctor to stare after her "Go after her," I called out to him.

"Ty…"

I shook my head "You know that someone needs to keep an eye on her. Mickey and I can take care of ourselves."

The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment "Back here in twenty-four hours."

"Yeah," Mickey muttered, watching the Time Lord run off after Rose "If I haven't found something better."

"What about me?" I asked quietly, trying to tear my gaze away from the retreating figure. I might have told him to follow Rose but that didn't mean that I liked it. The blonde was really getting on my nerves. She constantly messed up and while I got that she wanted to see her father last year, this time was just… annoying. I was slightly scared to see what would happen this time while she ran after the man who wasn't actually her father.

Mickey shook his head "At least he is interested in you and your life."

"Mickey…"

"No. It's fine," he murmured "It's nothing I'm not used to."

I wrapped my arms around the boy's waist "Ignore him." I leaned my head against his shoulder "No matter how human he looks, he isn't and I feel like that shows in moments like these."

"Why are you always protecting him?" Mickey asked.

I shrugged "Maybe because sometimes I wish that someone would have done it for me. I don't know… He really isn't that bad. He's just… oblivious most of the time."

We walked past a vacant lot and up to an army roadblock "Are we alright to get past?" Mickey questioned, my arm still around his waist.

"Yeah," the soldier shrugged "No bother. Curfew doesn't start till ten."

Mickey blinked "There's a curfew?" I winced at the oblivious tone of his voice. Sure, I didn't know about that either but that didn't mean that I would tell someone this openly that I had no idea what was going on.

"Course there is," the soldier frowned in confusion "Where you been living? Up there with the toffs?" He jerked his head up to the Zeppelins.

"I wish," Mickey laughed before pulling me past the roadblock "See you."

I glanced over my shoulder and then back to Mickey "Where are we going anyway?"

"My gran," he murmured "I want to see if my gran is here."

"She raised you, didn't she?" I asked. He told me about it before but I wasn't sure whether I remembered it right.

Mickey hummed and rattled the knocker of a house. I smiled lightly when a voice called from inside "Who's that there?" The door opened, revealing an old Indian woman with a white stick and a pair of ear pods "Who is it? I know you're there. Shame on you, tricking an old lady. I've got nothing worth stealing and don't think I'm going to disappear. You're not going to take me."

I couldn't quite hold back the laugh and nudged Mickey "Oh, I know where you got your attitude from now."

"Hi," the boy smiled sheepishly, ignoring what I said.

Mickey's parallel gran tilted her head "Is that you?"

"It's me," Mickey replied quietly "I came home."

"Rickey?"

I muffled my snort in Mickey's shoulder. Figures that his name in this universe would be the same name the Doctor teased him with all the time "It's Mickey," my friend corrected automatically.

"I know my own grandson's name," the old woman huffed "It's Rickey. Now, come here." They hugged for a long moment.

"Okay," Mickey shrugged "I'm Rickey. Of course, I am. Rickey, that's me." His parallel gran slapped him "Ow."

The old woman glared in the direction Mickey was standing in "You stupid boy. Where have you been? And who is the girl with you?"

"Ow," Mickey protested "Stop hitting me."

"It's been days and days," the woman murmured, the fight leaving her slowly "I keep hearing all these stories. People disappearing off the streets. There's nothing official on the download but there're all these rumours and – and whispers. I thought that God had disappeared you."

Mickey swallowed, blinking back the tears and wrapped his arms around me, taking all the comfort that I could give him. Not that I minded. That's what friends were for anyway "That carpet on the stairs, I told you to get it fixed. You're going to fall and break your neck." I squeezed his hand comfortingly, remembering the story he told me. He was still blaming himself for what happened even though it really wasn't his fault. He couldn't have known.

"Well, you get it fixed for me," the old woman pointed out.

Mickey sighed "I should have done way back. I guess I'm kind of useless."

"Now, I never said that," his parallel grandmother denied.

I rolled my eyes "Yeah. You try and tell him. I've tried for months now…"

"Who are you then?" the woman asked "Are you Rickey's girlfriend?"

I looking up at Mickey with a smirk, causing him to pale "Don't you dare. Ty… No."

"We're friends," I told the woman "I – I had a bit of a hard time recently and Mi – Rickey has been helping me through some things."

"How about a nice sit-down and a cup of tea?" the woman offered "We could catch up. Do you have time?"

Mickey looked at me and I shrugged in agreement. We had twenty-four hours after all. Correction… Twenty-three hours and around twenty minutes "For you, I've got all the time in the world."

The old woman snorted "Oh, you say that but it's all talk. It's those new friends of yours. I don't trust them."

"What friends are they?" the boy inquired.

"Don't pretend you don't know," Mickey's parallel gran chided "You've been seeing them. Missus Chan told me. Driving about all helter-skelter in that van? Is your new friend part of your little group as well?"

I raised my eyebrow "What van?" Just as the words left my mouth, I whirled around, seeing a van do a handbrake turn towards us.

"Get inside," the older woman hurried, trying to get a hold of Mickey.

"I've been looking for you everywhere," a blonde man hissed, pushing Mickey into the van. He looked at me before grasping my arm, pushing me in as well. I could have easily resisted but I would rather be with Mickey than having to look for him "Ricky, you were the one who told us you don't contact your family because it puts them in danger."

Mickey looked at the man blankly for a moment before he nodded "Yeah. Ricky said that. Course I did, just testing."

The blond leaned forward "I saw them. I taped them. They went round Blackfriar's gathering up the homeless like the child catcher. They must've took four dozen."

I turned my head to look at the woman in the driver's seat "The vans were hired out to a company called International Electromatics. But I did a protocol search. Turns out that's a dummy company established by guess who?"

"Who?" I frowned.

The two looked at me for a moment "Cybus Industries."

"Well, now we've got evidence," the blond man pointed out.

"Bad news is, they've arrested Thin Jimmy. So that just leaves you."

Mickey threw me a helpless look but I just shrugged in confusion. I had no idea what was going on "Leaves me what?"

"The Number One," the man pointed out "Top of the list. London's Most Wanted."

"Okay, cool." He froze, gaping "Say that again?"

I snorted at his expression, ignoring the looks I was shot by the other three in the car "God, what the hell have you been doing?"

"You didn't tell her?" the blond asked, causing Mickey to shake his head "Damn. Okay, this is getting somewhat complicated." The van stopped and we all filtered out "There's a light on. There's someone inside the base. Mrs Moore, we've got visitors." Both the man and the woman pulled out guns "One, two, three, go."

A familiar figure is inside the room and I blinked, turning to look at Mickey before looking back to the figure "Now, that's just creepy."

"What the hell are you doing?" Ricky demanded, looking at his friends.

The blond man frowned "What're you doing there?"

Ricky snorted "What am I doing here? What am I doing there?" The guns turned to us and I subtly shifted to stand in front of Mickey, shielding him in case they decided to shoot first, ask questions later "Who are you?"

"Why should we tell you?" I asked, making sure to keep Mickey behind me "You were the ones who practically kidnapped us."

"Well, he looks like Ricky," the blond man pointed out.

I raised an eyebrow "That doesn't mean anything. You still kidnapped us."

"Ty…" Mickey murmured "It's fine."

When the three made to take a step forward, I crouched down a little "Touch me, I dare you. You won't live for another day."

"Tyra," Mickey repeated "Just let them check us out. It's not worth the hassle."

I stiffened, looking from my friend to the others and back before rolling my eyes "Fine. Do not piss me off," I warned them with a glare.

Within ten minutes the Mickey was stripped and tied to a chair. I had been ready to protest but for some reason, Mickey didn't care much about that. When they tried to touch me, I wrapped my arm around the blond – Jake's throat, making sure that my grip was firm but not too tight. I was done with the Scooby Doo Gang and it showed. Before I could do anything else, I stiffened, falling to the ground in a gaze "Tie her up. She won't be a problem now," the woman murmured, holding some kind of stun gun or something.

"Ty," Mickey called out "Leave her alone."

In the end, they decided it was better to just get this over with as fast as they could. Jake was scanning Mickey quickly while I was blinking away the black dots in my vision. "He's clean. No bugs."

"But this is state of the scale," Ricky murmured, walking around his double "He's flesh and blood. How did that happen?"

Mrs Moore shrugged "Well, it could be that Cybus Industries have perfected the science of human cloning… or your father had a bike."

"And your name is Mickey, not Ricky."

Mickey nodded "Mickey. Dad was Jackson Smith. Used to work at the key cutters in Clifton's Parade. Went to Spain, never came back."

Ricky scowled "But that's my dad. So we're brothers?"

"Be fair," Jake chuckled, sitting down to watch me nervously "What else could it be?"

"I don't know," Ricky exclaimed, throwing his hands up "But he doesn't just look like me, he is exactly the same. There's something else going on here, Jake."

Mickey looked up at his other self "So, who are you lot?"

"We?" Ricky smirked "We are the Preachers. As in Gospel Truth. You see? No earplugs. While the rest of the world downloads from Cybus Industries, we, we have got freedom. You're talking to London's Most Wanted but target Number One is Lumic and we are going to bring him down."

Mickey looked around in disbelief "From your kitchen?"

"Have you got a problem with that?" Ricky glared.

"No," Mickey replied quickly "It's a good kitchen."

I snorted "It's not. What are you? The freaking Scooby Gang?" I tested the ropes around my hands and scoffed lightly "Do you really think these will hold me?" Without hesitation, I ripped the rope, getting up.

"How did you…?" Jake blinked "Those were…"

"Better luck next time," I snorted, really done with their shit. I just wanted to go back to the Tardis and forget this ever happened before I look up my family. There were so many possibilities of what could happen and I was a bit curious. Not enough to endanger anyone but curious nevertheless.

Mrs Moore ignored what was going on and checked the computer "It's an upload from Gemini."

"Who's Gemini?" Mickey questioned.

"Then vans are back," Mrs Moore murmured "They're moving out of Battersea. Looks like Gemini was right. Lumic's finally making a move."

"And we're right behind them," Ricky pointed out "Pack up, we're leaving."

Mickey dragged me along to their van. A lorry drove by their poor excuse of a base and they started following it. Mrs Moore was driving while the other two checked their weapons over quickly. They didn't seem too qualified to use them…

Once they arrived at the location, Ricky and Jake jumped out and I followed. If the Doctor was anywhere close and I could smell him – it was faint but his scent was around – then something bad was bound to happen "I don't know what they're doing," Ricky murmured into his walkie-talkie "But this seems to be the target. Big house, fair bit of money. Now we have got to find a way to get in."

Mrs Moore's voice whispered back "I've identified the address. It belongs to Peter Tyler, the Vitex millionaire."

"Pete Tyler?" Mickey gasped.

I grabbed the device out of Mickey's hand "I'm pretty sure the Doc is still in there, so whatever happens… I'm going in if he doesn't come out with Rose."

"He's listed as one of Lumic's henchmen. A traitor to the state," the woman explained.

Mickey made a wounded noise "But… We've got to get in there. Tyra…"

Ricky groaned "Now, shut it, duplicate. That's what I just said." A ramp was dropped down from the back of the truck "What are they doing?" I flinched when heavy feet marched down the ramp and onto the gravel "What the hell are they?"

"Cybermen," I swallowed "They look like Cybermen. Way more advanced than I have ever seen but… It seems to be them."

Rickey turned to me, for the first time losing the glare "What are they?"

I shook my head "I don't know much. Only what my friend explained… The metal is some kind of battle armour for them. I think he said that they were human?"

"Human?" Jake breathed, his eyes glued to where the Cybermen were matching in.

I tilted my head, trying to hear what was going on inside but I was too far away "Stay here. I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" Ricky hissed, holding onto my arm "You can't go in there."

"Are you worried for little old me?" I teased with a small smirk "Don't be. Ask Mickey, he'll explain some things." I crept forward and blurred through a side door without being seen by the metal men.

As soon as I was inside, I heard Rose's voice from somewhere to my left "What are they? Robots?"

"Worse than that," the Doctor muttered.

"Cybermen, right?" I asked, coming to a halt next to him.

He whirled around and looked at me with wide eyes "What are you doing here? Where's Mickey? Are you insane?"

"Do you really think I'd let Mickey come in here?" I frowned "I can defend myself… He can't."

"Who were these people?" an important looking man demanded.

I leaned over to the Doctor "Who's that guy?"

"The President, apparently."

"Not Prime Minister?" I blinked.

The Time Lord shook his head but before he could explain, Rose let out a gasp "They're people?"

"They were," the Doctor mumbled "Until they had their humanity taken away. That's a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body with a heart of steel… All emotions removed."

"That sounds kind of gross when you say it like that," I snorted, watching the people around us when a scent reached my nose. It smelled familiar – very familiar. My eyes trailed over the panicking crowd before they reached a small group of people "Doctor… Are they?"

The Time Lord wrapped his arm around my shoulders "They seem to be, yes."

"But how is it possible? They're alive? Like… Human?" I mumbled, staring at my family with a hint of longing. They were all there… Nik, Elijah, Rebekah and even Henrik… I ripped my eyes away from the scene and bit my lip harshly. There was another blonde who seemed to be practically glued to Finn's side. I would have thought that she was his wife if not for the fact that the woman was almost the exact image of my mother. Who was she?

Rose rolled her eyes at my behaviour "Why no emotions?"

The Doctor's arm tightened around me and he sighed "Because it hurts."

"I demand to know, Lumic," the President burst out "These people… Who were they?"

"They were homeless," Lumic replied "And wretched and useless until I saved them and elevated them and gave them life eternal. And now I leave you in their capable hands. Goodnight, sir. Goodnight, Mister President."

One of the Cybermen straightened up "We have been upgraded."

"Into what?" the Doctor asked.

"The next level of mankind," it said "We are Human point two. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us."

The President looked at them with sorrow in his eyes "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what's been done to you but listen to me. This experiment ends tonight."

"Upgrading is compulsory," the Cyberman sounded out.

"And if I refuse?"

The Doctor shot forward, trying to get the President to step down "Don't."

"What if I refuse?" the man asked, staring at the Cybermen challengingly.

"I'm telling you, don't," the Time Lord hissed.

The President raised an eyebrow "What happens if I refuse?"

"Then you are not compatible," the Cyberman replied.

The President snorted "What happens then?"

"You will be deleted." The metal man but its hand on the President's neck, electrocuting him. The Time Lord grabbed Rose and dragged me along with the grip he still had on me. All around me the guests were screaming and I could hear the parallel Mikaelsons in the crowd as well. I closed my eyes and took a shuddering breath. They weren't my family. They weren't my family… They had what I didn't… They weren't…

"There's nothing we can do," the Doctor shook his head as soon as we were outside.

Rose tried to get back inside but the Time Lord wrapped his arm around her, letting go of me in the process. I barely realized what was going on since I was still staring at the house "My mum's in there," the blonde protested.

"She's not your mother," the Doctor grumbled "Come on."

A row of Cybermen stopped us from running across the lawn. We turned back to run around the side of the house as Pete Tyler came out through the window in front of us "Quick, quick," Rose hurried.

"Pete, is there a way out?" the Doctor asked the man.

The parallel Pete nodded "The side gates. Who are you? How do you know so much?"

"You wouldn't believe it in a million years," the Time Lord shot back with a grim smile.

More Cybermen cut us off and suddenly two armed figures came running across the lawn in front of the floodlights "Who's that?" Rose frowned.

"Get behind me," Ricky demanded, opening fire on the Cybermen.

I put my hand on the gun and pulled it down "Don't, Ricky. Bullets don't work. The only thing you're achieving is to get us into deeper shit."

"Oh, my God, look at you," Rose breathed, hugging Ricky "I thought I'd never see you again."

I coughed in amusement "Rose, that's not Mickey."

"Rose," Mickey called out, running up from behind "That's not me… That's like the other one."

The Doctor groaned "Oh as if things weren't bad enough, there's two Mickeys."

"Trust me," I whispered into his ear "Compared to Ricky, I think you're actually going to like Mickey way better. This one is an idiot."

"But there's more of them," Mickey pointed out, looking at the Cybermen.

Rose looked around in fear "We're surrounded."

"Put the guns down," the Doctor commanded "Bullets won't stop them." When Jake went to shoot some more, I plucked the gun out of his hands and threw it down. The Doctor held his hands up "We surrender. Hands up. There's no need to damage us. We're good stock. We volunteer for the upgrade program. Take us to be processed.

One of the Cybermen in front of us started talking "You are rogue elements."

"But we surrender," the Doctor called, a hint of panic entering his voice.

"You are incompatible."

The Time Lord stared at the Cyberman "But this is a surrender."

"You will be deleted," it droned.

"But we're surrendering. Listen to me, we surrender."

"You are inferior," the Cyberman spoke up "Men will be reborn as Cyberman but you will perish under maximum deletion." The metal men around us held out their arms, stomping towards our group "Delete. Delete. Delete."