A/N: Well here we are at the season finale, dun…dun…dun. Hope you guys enjoy it and I want to thank you all once again for the reviews. You guys keep telling me if you like it, and I'll keep writing. Deal? :)
Chapter 10 – Into The Void
Previously:
Inside the small laboratory, Rose stood beside Mickey watching apprehensively as the sphere opened and began to emit a radiant light. As Rajesh moved to stand behind them in awe, four shadowy figures began to immerge from the inside. Large, pepper pot shaped objects with elongated…"Eyestalks," she breathed, and all at once she knew what they were now facing.
"LOCATION, EARTH. LIFE FORMS DETECTED. EXTERMINATE!"
"Oh, my God." Rose put one hand to her mouth as the other went to her stomach as she felt another jolt. Mickey seeing her distress, pushed her behind him as they watched four Daleks emerge from the sphere and lower themselves onto the ground in front of them.
"That's not Cybermen." Mickey discerned as the horrific electronic sounding voices filled the air.
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
Daleks. It had to be Daleks. As if the Cybermen weren't already enough of a problem. Truth be told, out of all of the alien threats Rose and The Doctor had faced over their time together, nothing scared her more than the Daleks. She had faced them before, both times during The Doctor's 9th regeneration. The first was in Utah in the year 2012, in an underground bunker owned by one Mr. Henry Van Statten. He had been keeping a Dalek prisoner as part of his own unique collection. When she saw how it had been tortured, she actually felt sorry for the creature and in her attempts to console it, her touch allowed the Dalek to absorb some of her DNA. Daleks by nature were cold, unfeeling and devoid of all emotion; having completely purged themselves of them in the belief that they made you weak, so the newfound feelings it gained from her touch seemingly drove it mad until it begged for death. It was after that experience that The Doctor first told her about the Time War, revealing that the Daleks were ultimately his mortal enemies.
The second time they crossed paths was on satellite five. It was then when she got to see their true nature first hand. The Dalek emperor had managed to survive the Time War and created a new army, hell bent on conquering every planet within their reach; beginning with Earth. She remembered the fear in The Doctor's eyes although he tried to remain stoic for her benefit, even sending her away in an attempt to protect her. But as scared as she was, she knew she couldn't leave him there to die alone. Although until recently her memories of that day had been jumbled, Rose now knew it was she who had destroyed the entire fleet while in the form of Bad Wolf. 'Yeah, well it seems you missed a few.' she mentally chastised herself. Knowing now that she would once again need to put that fear aside and focus on what needed to be done, she quickly took the initiative, stepping out in front of Mickey.
"Daleks!" she shouted, abruptly halting their advancement. "You're called Daleks. I know your name. Think about it, how can I know that? A human who knows about the Daleks and the Time War. If you want to know how then keep us alive. That's all M' askin'. Me and my friends." She gestured to the two men standing behind her.
"Yeah," Mickey nodded following her lead. "Daleks. Time War. Me too."
"Yeah, and me." Rajesh added.
"YOU WILL BE NECESSARY." The head Dalek turned to the three behind it. "REPORT. WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE GENESIS ARK?"
"STATUS, HIBERNATION."
"COMMENCE AWAKENING. THE GENESIS ARK MUST BE PROTECTED ABOVE ALL ELSE." The head Dalek responded.
Mickey moved to stand next to Rose again. "The Daleks?" he questioned in a low voice. I thought you said they were all dead."
"Never mind that." she said absently. "We need to figure out what the hell that Genesis Ark is?"
-oOo-
"I need to get down there now." The Doctor said as he stared at the monitor. "I need to get to Rose."
"Doctor what is it?" Jackie asked as she watched him with growing concern. "What's down there with her?"
He looked up and caught her worried expression. "Jackie, I will do whatever it takes to get her back." he replied sincerely as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Do you understand me? Whatever it takes."
Jackie nodded, noting the fear and worry that were mirrored in the alien's eyes. As The Cyberleader approached, they both stepped back but instead of stopping it walked straight past them and into Yvonne's office.
"You will talk to your central world authority and order global surrender." it commanded.
Yvonne laughed. "Oh, do some research. We haven't got a central world authority."
"You have now. I will speak on all global wavelengths. This broadcast is for human kind."
Activating the com device on its chest plate, The Cyberleader walked towards her window and began to broadcast a message through the units stationed on the ground; worldwide.
"Cybermen now occupy every land mass on this planet, but you need not fear. Cybermen will remove fear. Cybermen will remove sex and class and color and creed. You will become identical. You will become like us."
The Doctor moved over to the window as well, followed by Jackie and Yvonne as they watched the events unfold below them. There was chaos in the streets. Soldiers and civilians alike being gunned down and London was burning.
"I ordered surrender." The Cyberleader stated.
"They're not taking instructions. Don't you understand?" The Doctor yelled. "You're on every street, you're in their homes, you've got their children! Of course they're going to fight."
The Cyberleader turned towards the Doctor once more. "The world will surrender and become like us. This is the new age of the Cybermen."
-oOo-
"What do you suppose they want?" Rajesh asked as he eyed their captors.
"Death, destruction, complete domination of the world." Rose answered bitterly. "They're completely devoid of emotions and their only goal is to rid the universe of any species that's not like them."
"WHICH OF YOU IS LEAST IMPORTANT?" The head Dalek demanded suddenly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rose spat.
"WHICH OF YOU IS LEAST IMPORTANT?"
"No," she shook her head. "We don't work like that. None of us."
"DESIGNATE THE LEAST IMPORTANT!"
Rajesh calmly stood up. "This is my responsibility."
"Don't." she said grabbing hold of his arm. "You're givin' them exactly what they want."
"I uh, I represent the Torchwood Institute." he said as he removed his arm from her grasp and stood before the head Dalek. "Anything you need, you come through me. Leave these two alone."
"YOU WILL KNEEL."
"What for?" he asked timidly, looking back at Rose who gave him a pleading look and shook her head no.
"KNEEL."
Rajesh turned back and slowly lowered himself onto the floor in a kneeling position, awaiting the Daleks questions.
"THE DALEKS NEED INFORMATION ABOUT CURRENT EARTH HISTORY."
"Yeah, well I can give you a certain amount of intelligence but nothing that will compromise Homeland security." he replied.
"SPEECH IS NOT NECESSARY. WE WILL EXTRACT BRAINWAVES."
Rajesh watched as all four Daleks began to advance on him wielding what looked like large plungers on an extended metal pole and he immediately began to panic. "Don't! I…I'll tell you everything you need." As the plunger-like devices enveloped his head from all sides, he screamed out in agony.
Rose's natural instinct to help made her immediately step forward, but Mickey grabbed her around the waist and held her back. "You can't help him now Rose." he whispered in her ear.
The last of Rajesh's screams echoed throughout the room and as they watched his mummified corpse drop to the floor, Rose turned in Mickey's arms and buried her head into his shoulder.
"HIS MIND SPOKE OF A SECOND SPECIES INVADING EARTH INFECTED BY THE SUPERSTITION OF GHOSTS."
"You didn't need to kill him!" Rose shouted as she turned to face them once more.
"NEITHER DID WE NEED HIM ALIVE." The head Dalek stated before turning to one of its subordinates. "DALEK THAY, INVESTIGATE OUTSIDE."
"I OBEY." it responded before turning away and rolling out of the room.
"ESTABLISH VISUAL CONTACT. LOWER COMMUNICATIONS BARRIER."
A large screen appeared midair; right where the sphere had been and they were now able to see everything that Dalek Thay saw as it made its way down the corridor.
-oOo-
The Doctor watched the Cybermen warily as he continued contemplating ways to get out of the room undetected and make his way to the lower levels to Rose, but he knew he couldn't just leave Jackie on her own. It was his fault she was in the middle of all this since he chose to bring her with him, yet making it to the TARDIS at this point was a risk and he was running out of options. His attention was quickly drawn back to the present when he heard the Cyberleader calling out to its troops.
"Scans detect unknown technology active within Sphere chamber."
"Cybermen will investigate."
"Units ten six five and ten six six will investigate Sphere chamber." The Cyberleader ordered.
"We obey."
The Cyberleader moved to access Yvonne's laptop, stabilizing a visual link through the units that had been sent to investigate the sphere chamber. As they made their way down the corridor, the image that appeared on the screen justified The Doctor's fears and made his blood run cold. Yvonne and Jackie watched him with matching worried expressions as the color drained from his face and he stumbled backwards into one of the desks.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELVES." The Dalek on the screen stated.
"You will identify first." The Cyber Units contended, keeping their position.
"STATE YOUR IDENTITY."
"You will identify first."
"IDENTIFY!"
"That answer is unacceptable and illogical. You will modify."
"DALEKS DO NOT TAKE ORDERS."
"You have identified as Daleks."
"OUTLINE RESEMBLES THE INFERIOR SPECIES KNOWN AS CYBERMEN."
Jackie timidly placed her hand on The Doctor's shoulder. "Those things are the Daleks?" she asked quietly. The Doctor nodded without looking back at her. "Rose told me about them. She said they terrified her. Do you think they've… Doctor, is she dead?"
The Doctor finally met her eyes, fire blazing in his own. "Phone!" he hissed holding out his hand.
"What?" she looked at him confusedly.
"Give me your phone!" he just about shouted at her.
As she handed it over, he quickly scrolled through her phone book and dialed Rose's number. Holding it up to his ear, he counted his heartbeats as he waited for her to answer and after a few agonizing seconds the call connected. He could hear another Dalek speaking in the background but there was no response from Rose.
"Rose?" he whispered. "Rose can you hear me?" He looked down at Jackie. "She's answered but she's not saying anything. Rose, if you can hear me, I'm coming to get you."
"WE MUST PROTECT THE GENESIS ARK."
The Doctor kept the phone to his ear but looked back at the screen momentarily distracted. "The Genesis Ark?" he repeated quizzically.
"Our species are similar, though your design is inelegant."
"DALEKS HAVE NO CONCEPT OF ELEGANCE."
"This is obvious. But consider our technologies are compatible. Cybermen plus Daleks. Together, we could upgrade the Universe."
"YOU PROPOSE AN ALLIANCE?"
"This is correct."
"REQUEST DENIED."
The Cybermen quickly armed themselves. "Hostile elements will be deleted." They responded as they opened fire.
The Dalek easily absorbed the shots before shouting out "EXTERMINATE!" and killing them both.
"Open visual link." The Cyberleader once again commanded. "Daleks, be warned. You have declared war upon the Cybermen."
"THIS IS NOT WAR. THIS IS PEST CONTROL."
"We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?"
"FOUR."
"You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?"
"WE WOULD DESTROY THE CYBERMEN WITH ONE DALEK. YOU ARE SUPERIOR IN ONLY ONE RESPECT."
"What is that?"
"YOU ARE BETTER AT DYING. RAISE COMMUNICATIONS BARRIER!"
The laptop screen switched to static before shutting off and the phone in The Doctor's hand beeped softly, signaling the call's end. "Damn it!" he cursed, looking back at Jackie. "I lost the signal."
-oOo-
"WAIT!" One of the Daleks cried out as the screen faded to static. "REWIND IMAGE BY NINE RELLS. IDENTIFY GRID SEVEN GAMMA FRAME." The video was rewound a few frames and then paused before focusing in on an image of The Doctor standing in the background behind the Cyberleader. "THIS MALE REGISTERS AS ENEMY."
The head Dalek turned towards Rose. "THE FEMALE'S HEARTBEAT HAS INCREASED."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Mickey joked. "The worst part was that they denied it for almost two years."
Rose elbowed him in the stomach and gave him a warning look.
"IDENTIFY HIM."
"All right then." she crossed her arms. "If you really want to know, that's The Doctor." she replied nodding to the image on the screen.
At the sound of his name, all four Daleks immediately backed away from her.
'They claim to have no emotions yet they can still feel fear.' she thought in amusement. "Five million Cybermen…easy. One Doctor?" She took a step forward to look the head Dalek directly in its eye stalk. "Now you're scared." she taunted as it backed away once more.
-oOo-
The Daleks attack had definitely put a kink in the Cybermen's plans for world domination as they now seemed to be re-strategizing their next moves. The Doctor mused on how two races of aliens who wanted nothing to do with emotions; purging themselves of any type of feelings whatsoever, could have such overblown egos.
"Quarantine the Sphere chamber. Start emergency upgrading. Begin with these personnel." The Cyberleader ordered turning towards the small group of humans in the room.
Jackie's eyes widened as the Cyber Units stepped forward to take them into custody. She glanced over at Yvonne whose face was a mask of terror and who was looking to The Doctor for help even though he could provide none. So many things were running through his mind at that moment, but nothing that would be of any help in getting them out of the current situation.
"No, you can't do this!" Yvonne cried out, struggling to escape their grasp as they dragged her from the room. "We surrendered! We surrendered!"
"This one." The Cyberleader pointed towards The Doctor. "His increased adrenaline suggests that he has vital Dalek information."
The Doctor was immediately released and they grabbed Jackie instead. "Stop!" she screamed. "I don't want to go!"
"I demand you leave that woman alone!" The Doctor shouted as the Cybermen restrained him. "I won't help you if you hurt her. Jackie," he said beseechingly. "Don't fight. I'll think of something."
"Save Rose!" she pleaded, eyes wide with fear as they met his. "Jus' promise me you'll save Rose."
"I Promise!" he yelled as they pulled her out of the room. "I promise." he said again, shoving his hands into his pockets and hanging his head.
-oOo-
The Doctor sat staring out the window overlooking Canary Wharf cursing inwardly and feeling so utterly helpless. Rose was being held captive by the Daleks and in order to get to her he would have to bypass multiple units of Cybermen stationed in the hallways. Meanwhile Jackie was quite possibly being cybernized at that very moment. He shuddered at the thought and ran a hand over his face. He had failed Rose again; failed her and Jackie both. He had brought them here. Even though he knew something bad was coming. Even after the continuous nightmares he had been having for weeks in regards to the vision he saw and yet he brought them to this place anyway. Now here he sat; powerless, wishing he had just left them both in the TARDIS. That he had told Yvonne and the rest of her crew that he dropped Rose at her mother's before he got there. It wasn't like she would have been able to get into the TARDIS and see for herself. But no, he chose to do what he always did. He jumped in feet first, hoping everything would work itself out and doomed them all. The sound of heavy footsteps pulled him out of his self-deprecating thoughts.
"You are proof."
He sighed and turned away from the window to look at the Cyberleader. "Of what?"
"That emotions destroy you."
"Yeah, I am." Looking out into the lever room, The Doctor noticed a slight rippling to the air and shadowy figures began to take form. "Mind you, I quite like hope. Hope's a good emotion. And here it comes."
The shadow figures suddenly solidified into a group of soldiers with weapons trained on the Cybermen that had remained in the room. As they opened fire, The Doctor jumped up from the window ledge and ducked behind a chair just as The Cyberleader's head exploded and its torso crumpled to the ground. Standing up slowly, he brushed off his suit and stepped over the smoking pile of metal as he made his way out of the office to greet the newcomers.
The man who had the honor of divesting the Cyberleader's head from its body stepped forward and removed his mask before running a hand through his short, spiky blonde hair. "Doctor?" he grinned. "Good to see you again."
The Doctor stared at the young man for a moment in disbelief. "Jake?"
"The Cybermen came through from one world to another and so did we." Turning to the other members of his team, Jake began shouting out instructions. "Defend this room. You kill one Cyberleader and they just download into another. Now move!"
As the soldiers spread throughout the room, Jake looked over to see The Time Lord studying him closely.
"You can't just…just...just hop from one world to another." The Doctor said incredulously. "You can't."
"We just did. With these." Jake tossed him a large yellow disc on a chain.
The Doctor turned it over in his hands studying it closely. "But that's impossible. You can't have this sort of technology."
The blonde snorted. "We've got our own version of Torchwood. They developed it. Do you want to come and see?" He reached down and pulled another disc from under his shirt.
"No!" The Doctor shouted when he realized what Jake was doing but then suddenly they were transported to an exact replica of the same lab, only this one looked like it had been through an earthquake and the lighting was extremely dim and practically muted as opposed to the stark, white, luminosity of the one they had just left.
"Parallel Earth, parallel Torchwood." Jake explained as The Doctor took in his surroundings. "Except we found out what the Institute was doing and the People's Republic took control."
"I've got to get back." The Doctor began raising his voice. "Rose is in danger, and her mother."
"That'd be Jackie." A voice stated from the doorway. "My wife in a parallel universe." The two men turned to see Pete Tyler step into the room. "And as for you, Doctor, at least this time I know who you are."
The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Right, yes, fine, hooray!" he replied. "But I've got to get back, right now."
"No, you're not in charge here." Pete replied sternly. "This is our world, not yours. And you're going to listen for once."
-oOo-
Rose stroked her stomach absentmindedly. The Daleks, having concluded the Cybermen were no real threat, decided to focus all their energies on the Genesis Ark. They had each taken a side, extending and attaching their sucker arms onto the metal structure and had remained silent and unmoving in their positions for the last ten minutes.
"Why are we being kept alive?" Mickey asked quietly.
"They might need me." she said, remaining focused on what the Daleks were doing.
"For what?"
She sighed. "I don't know yet."
Mickey began digging through his pockets to see if he had anything on him that could help them out of their current situation.
"What's that?" Rose asked as he held up a flat yellow disc.
"This here is a nifty little teleporting device our Torchwood came up with." he explained, brandishing the item as he grinned. "I could transport out of here, but it only carries one and I'm not leavin' you."
Rose smiled softly. "After everythin' that I've put you through, you still want to stand by my side?"
"Look," he said taking her hands in his. "Maybe things didn't work out the way I always planned for us, but I've moved past it. I knew the moment you met him that I had lost you." he smiled sadly. "It was love at first sight."
"Mickey, M' so-"
He held his hand up, abruptly silencing her. "I know you think I left because of you. You've probably been blamin' yourself as well, but that's not why I stayed there. I needed to find myself, to make my own way. Travelin' with you and The Doctor, it opened my eyes. It made me understand why you love this life like you do and I wanted a piece of that for myself. These last couple of years in the parallel world, workin' for Torchwood, I've had time to grow up and I'm really proud of the work I've been doin'. Standin' up, doin' what's right, defendin' the Earth." he grinned.
"M' so proud of you Mick." Rose said softly. "You really have grown up so much."
"So have you." He looked down and rubbed her tummy gently. "And you're happy?" he questioned, looking into her eyes.
"Yeah." She gave him a watery smile and he pulled her into a hug.
"Then that's all that I care about." he said gently. "Now, let's see if we can't find a way out of here."
Pulling back, she nodded and wiped her eyes. "And find out what's in that thing." she said glancing over at the Ark.
"Well, what I don't understand is what the Daleks need with me. I'm nothin' to them."
"You could be. Whatever's inside that Ark is wakin' up and I've seen this happen before. First time I saw a Dalek, it was broken. It was dyin'. But I touched it. The moment I did that, I brought it back to life." She shuddered at the memory, still feeling responsible for all the deaths that occurred because she set it free. "As the Doctor said, when you travel in time in the TARDIS, you soak up all this background radiation. S' harmless. S' jus' there. But in the Time War, the Daleks evolved so they could use it as a power supply."
"I love it when you talk technical."
"Shut up." She playfully punched him in the arm. "If the Daleks have got somethin' inside that thing, and it needs wakin' up..."
"They need you." Mickey finished for her.
"Well, you've travelled in time too." she pointed out. "Either one of us would do I suppose."
"But why would they build somethin' they can't open themselves?"
"THE TECHNOLOGY IS STOLEN. THE ARK IS NOT OF DALEK DESIGN." The head Dalek replied in response to Mickey's question, startling them both.
"Then who built it?" Rose asked.
"THE TIME LORDS. THIS IS ALL THAT SURVIVES OF THEIR HOME WORLD."
"And what's that then?" she pressed. "What's inside?"
"THE FUTURE."
-oOo-
The Doctor was beyond frustrated. He needed to get back to Rose as soon as possible, but Pete remained unaffected and had demanded an audience with him before he would allow him to cross back over. So here he stood, arms crossed; back against the god forsaken white wall that his nightmares had led him to despise, trying to listen to what the Director had to say in attempts to hurry the conversation along.
"When you left this world, you warned us there'd be more Cybermen." Pete told him. "So we sealed them inside the factories."
"Except people argued." Jake added. "Said they were living. We should help them."
"And the debate went on." Pete continued. "But all that time, the Cybermen made plans. Infiltrated this version of Torchwood, mapped themselves onto your world and then vanished."
The Doctor furrowed his brows. "When was this?"
"Three years ago."
Pushing off the wall, he jammed his hands in his pockets and began to walk the room with Pete falling into step beside him. "It's taken them three years to cross the void, but we can pop to and fro in a second. Must be the sheer mass of five million Cybermen crossing all at once."
"Yeah," Pete laughed. "Mickey said you'd rattle off that sort of stuff."
"Oh, where is Mickey boy?" The Doctor asked as he looked around.
"He went ahead first. Any chance to go and find Miss Rose Tyler."
"She's your daughter." The Doctor said turning his head to look at the Director. "You do know that? Did Mickey explain?"
"She's not mine. She's the child of a dead man." Pete said, brushing off the subject. "Look at it," he gestured out the window they had stopped in front of. "A world of peace. They're calling this The Golden Age."
The Doctor watched the zeppelins as they floated lazily through the sky. "Who's the President now?"
"A woman called Harriet Jones."
"Oof," The Time Lord muttered. "I'd keep an eye on her."
"But it's a lie." Pete sighed as he stared down over Canary Wharf. "Temperatures have risen by two degrees in the past six months. The ice caps are melting. They're saying all this is going to be flooded. That's not just global warming, is it?"
"No."
"It's the breach." Pete nodded in understanding.
The reality of the situation was that the walls between the two universes were starting to break down. The Doctor knew he couldn't really blame Pete for that since it wasn't his Torchwood that had been messing around with things they shouldn't have been and just like him, Pete's only desire was to find out how to fix the problem and save their respective worlds. But from The Doctor's standpoint, everything just seemed to be spiraling out of control, unravelling faster and faster and he was starting to feel suffocated by it. He needed to lash out, he needed to rage and at that moment he responded in the same manner he always did when things felt out of his control. With anger.
"I've been trying to tell you. Travel between parallel worlds is impossible. Then the Daleks break down the walls with a Sphere." he said, throwing his hands up to emphasize his point.
"Daleks?" Pete interjected in confusion.
The Doctor ignored the man's inquiry as he continued his rant. "Then the Cybermen traveled across, then you lot. Those discs," He walked over to Jake and lifted up the big yellow button around his neck. "Every time you jump from one reality to another, you rip a hole in the universe." he scolded. "This planet is starting to boil. Keep going and both worlds will fall into the Void."
"But you can stop it?" Pete asked. "The famous Doctor. You can seal the breach?"
"Leaving five million Cybermen stranded on my Earth." The Doctor said flatly.
"That's your problem." The Torchwood Director replied. "I'm protecting this world and this world only."
"Pete Tyler." The Doctor chuckled as he lost himself in the memory of when he took Rose back to see her real father before he passed. "I knew you when you were dead. Now here you are, fighting the fight alone." he paused for a moment before looking the man in the eyes. "There is a chance, back on my world; Jackie Tyler might still be alive."
"My wife died." Pete said firmly.
"Her husband died." The Doctor countered. "Good match."
"There's more important things at stake. Doctor, help us."
"What, close the breach? Stop the Cybermen? Defeat the Daleks?" he paused. "Do you believe I can do that?"
Pete looked at him for half a second and then smiled. "Yes." he replied sincerely.
"Maybe that's all I need." The Doctor grinned back at him. "Off we go, then!"
Jake handed The Doctor back the disc he had used to teleport over while Pete pulled another from his pocket. Once they all confirmed they were ready Jake pressed the button, sending them back to the lever room in the original universe.
"First things first, I need to make a phone call." The Doctor said, pocketing his disc. "Don't mind me." He waved to the two guards standing near Yvonne's office as he rushed by them.
Jake shook his head and laughed. "You two," he called out to get the men's attention. "Guard the door." The men nodded, readying their weapons as they headed towards the door.
Closing his eyes for a second, The Doctor let out a deep breath and hoped that for once the universe would be kind. The call had barely made it through the first ring when she answered.
"Oh thank God S' you. I need help"
"Jackie, you're alive?" he said half in relief and half in surprise.
"Oi! Don't sound so disappointed."
"I'm not…I wasn't…" he sighed. "Just listen and tell me where you are."
"I don't know. Staircase."
The Doctor rubbed his temple. "Yeah, which one? Is there any sort of sign? Anything to identify it?"
"Yes, a fire extinguisher."
"Yeah, that helps." he replied, thankful she couldn't see him rolling his eyes.
"Oh, wait a minute. It says N3."
"North corner, staircase three." he confirmed. "Just keep low, we'll get there as soon as we can." Hanging up the phone, he turned back to Pete. "Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler."
"She's not my wife." Pete protested.
"I was at the wedding." The Doctor said with a smirk. "You got her name wrong." Bounding out the door of the office he pulled the large gun from Jake's hands and began examining it. "Now then Jakey boy, if I can open up the bonding chamber on this thing, it'll work on polycarbite."
"What's polycarbite?" Jake asked.
"Skin of a Dalek." The Doctor replied in a bitter tone. He quickly made a few adjustments to the gun with his sonic before tossing it back to Jake. "That should do it."
"Doctor, my team isn't even familiar with these…Daleks." Pete said. "We came here to deal with the Cybermen problem and that's what we're going to do."
"I don't have time to argue about this. Rose is in danger. Rescuing her is the first priority and then we'll deal with the Cybermen."
"And I told you Doctor, I'm in charge of this mission not you."
The Doctor's eyes darkened menacingly as he spoke through gritted teeth. "You don't want to acknowledge Rose fine, but this is my universe and here she is the only thing that matters to me. Come with me or don't, but I'm going after Rose."
-oOo-
Rose watched as the Daleks began to disconnect themselves from the Ark. They had been stationary for so long, she had joked to Mickey that maybe they had gone into hibernation. The two friends had spent most of that time trying to figure a way out of the room, but had yet to come up with a solid plan. She had no idea how many Cybermen could be waiting on the opposite side of the door, although after all that trash talk it was more likely they were staying away until they could figure out a strategy. Still, they had nothing in the room that would even remotely have an effect on the Daleks and other than temporarily blinding them; she still had no way of getting through the door without the access codes. Now as the Daleks had finished what she decided must have been some sort of charging cycle, they began to advance on her once more.
"FINAL STAGE OF AWAKENING. YOUR HANDPRINT WILL OPEN THE ARK."
"Well tough, 'cause M' not doin' it." she snapped, crossing her arms.
"OBEY OR THE MALE WILL DIE." The head Dalek turned its gun toward Mickey.
"Rose, don't." Mickey said quietly.
Rose dropped her arms in defeat. "M' not gonna let them hurt you." she told him.
"PLACE YOUR HAND UPON THE CASKET."
"All right!" she shouted. As she stepped towards the Ark she paused. The time spent with The Doctor had given a boost to her confidence and she was going to use it. She was going to bring out her inner Doctor. "You're goin' to kill us anyway, so what the hell." Her demeanor quickly shifted to calm, cool and collected. "If you um, escaped the Time War, don't you want to know what happened?" she asked sweetly.
"PLACE YOUR HAND…"
"What happened to the Emperor?" Rose clarified in a sing-song voice.
"THE EMPEROR SURVIVED?"
"Till he met me." She stared directly into the eye stalk of the head Dalek once more. "'Cause if these are goin' to be my last words, then you're goin' to listen." she said angrily. "I met the Emperor, and I took the Time Vortex and I poured it into his head and turned him into dust. Do you get that? The God of all Daleks, and I destroyed him. Ha!" she laughed.
"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"
"Oh now, hold on, wait a minute."
Rose and Mickey turned to see the Doctor standing in the doorway wearing his 3-D glasses and a huge grin.
"ALERT, ALERT. YOU ARE THE DOCTOR."
"SENSORS REPORT HE IS UNARMED. HOWEVER HIS HEART RATES HAVE INCREASED WHEN WITHIN PROXIMITY OF THE FEMALE."
"Yeah, she tends to have that effect on me." he replied, eyeing Rose up and down and making her blush fiercely in the process.
"THOSE EMOTIONS MAKE YOU POWERLESS."
"Nah, not me." he disagreed as he turned to Rose. "How are you?"
At that moment she wanted nothing more than to grab him and snog him senseless, but instead she settled for "M' good, you?"
"Oh, the usual." He sidled up next to her and leaned in, speaking out the side of his mouth. "Thought I told you to stay put."
"Right," she lowered her voice to match his. "Like M' jus' gonna sit back while you and mum get arrested and do nothin'." She looked past him towards the doorway. "Where is mum?"
"Oh, she's exploring the stairwells, she's fine." he brushed off the question. "And anyways, I had everything perfectly under control. Would it be so hard for you to just listen to me once and a while?"
"Oh, so now M' jus' supposed to play the obedient little sidekick and do as M' told while you're off in danger somewhere?"
"Those were Torchwood's words. I don't consider you a sidekick and for the last time I…" He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, let's not do this now."
"Fine." she said irritably crossing her arms and looking away.
"Fine." he repeated.
After a few seconds she tilted her head slightly back towards him. "We are so havin' an angry shag later."
"Quite right." he replied huskily.
"Um, you guys are aware that I'm still in the room, right?" Mickey asked as he looked back and forth between the pair.
"Mickey," The Doctor chirped. "Mickity-Mick, Mickey. Nice to see you!"
"And you, boss." Mickey responded with a fist bump.
"SOCIAL INTERACTION WILL CEASE!" The head Dalek demanded as it rolled towards The Doctor. "HOW DID YOU SURVIVE THE TIME WAR?"
"By fighting. On the front line." The Doctor shot back. "I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that." he frowned, but it quickly shifted back into something of a taunting smile. "But you lot ran away!" he said with a sweeping look at each Dalek.
"WE HAD TO SURVIVE."
"The last four Daleks in existence. So what's so special about you?"
"Doctor, they've got names." Rose informed him. "I mean, Daleks don't have names, do they?"
"I AM DALEK THAY." One of them stated abruptly, before the rest followed in turn.
"DALEK SEK."
"DALEK JAST."
"DALEK CAAN."
"So that's it!" The Doctor announced in recognition. "At last, The Cult of Skaro. I thought you were just a legend."
"Who are they?" Rose asked.
"A secret order above and beyond the Emperor himself." he explained. "Their job was to imagine, think as the enemy thinks. Even dared to have names. All to find new ways of killing."
"But that thing," Mickey pointed to the large metallic structure in the center of the room. "They said it was yours. I mean, Time Lords. They built it. What does it do?"
"I dunno." he shook his head. "Never seen it before."
"But S' Time Lord." Rose pointed out.
"Both sides had secrets." He moved closer to Dalek Sek. "What is it?" he demanded. "What have you done?"
"TIME LORD SCIENCE WILL RESTORE DALEK SUPREMACY."
"What does that mean?" he shook his head angrily. "What sort of Time Lord Science? What do you mean?"
Rose slipped her hand into his and gave it a light squeeze. "They said one touch from a time traveler will wake it up."
"Technology using the one thing a Dalek can't do. Touch." He looked at Rose and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. Turning back to Dalek Sek, he leaned down and stared directly into its eye stalk. "Sealed inside your casing. Not feeling anything ever, from birth to death, locked inside a cold metal cage. Completely alone. That explains your voice. No wonder you scream." he spat.
"THE DOCTOR WILL OPEN THE ARK!"
A laugh quickly bubbled up from his throat at the preposterous notion that he would comply with anything they said. "The Doctor will not." he replied once his amusement subsided.
"YOU HAVE NO WAY OF RESISTING."
"Weell, you got me there. Although," he reached into his pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "There is always this." he said holding it up.
"A SONIC PROBE?"
"That's screwdriver." he corrected.
"IT IS HARMLESS."
"Oh, yes." he said tossing it back and forth between his hands. "Harmless is just the word. That's why I like it. Doesn't kill, doesn't wound, doesn't maim. But I'll tell you what it does do." he held it up once more. "It is very good at opening doors."
With a quick press of the button, the familiar buzzing sound filled the air followed by a loud explosion as the side door to the lab was blown in. Before the smoke had even cleared, Jake burst through the opening followed by a group of Cybermen yelling "Delete! Delete! Delete! Delete!" as they began firing upon the Daleks.
"ALERT. CASING IMPAIRED. CASING IMPAIRED."
The Doctor pulled Rose to the ground, shielding her body with his. "Get Rose out!" he shouted at Pete who had just come through the door.
"Dad?" Rose whispered in surprise as Pete appeared at her side.
Pete opened his mouth to say something but then quickly closed it again, pulling her up from the floor as The Doctor moved to check on one of the fallen soldiers.
"FIRE POWER INSUFFICIENT! FIRE POWER INSUFFICIENT!"
After making sure that Rose was out of the line of fire and passing the injured soldier off to some of his teammates, The Doctor made a run for the door; ducking the exchange of laser beams. When he reached Pete and Rose, she pulled him into a hug.
"How did you get the Cybermen to agree to help with the Daleks" she asked in astonishment.
"Oh, I'm very good." he wagged his eyebrows and pulled her in for a kiss.
A laser beam struck the doorway next to where they were standing, breaking them apart. He quickly pulled her further back into the hallway as he grabbed his sonic screwdriver and set to work on figuring out how to seal the door. "I'm going to try to seal them in." The Doctor called out to Pete. "Get your men out of there."
Pete turned back towards the door. "Jake, tell the team to fall back! Mickey, you too!" he hollered over the blasts.
Jake fired off a few more shots as he and his team backed towards the doorway but Mickey was still caught in the crosshairs of the heated battle.
"Mickey, come on!" Rose shouted watching him narrowly miss one of the Dalek's kill shots as he dove for his gun.
"Daleks will be deleted. Delete. Delete."
"ADAPT TO WEAPONRY. FIRE POWER RESTORED! CYBERMEN PRIMARY TARGET."
Mickey fired off a shot at one of the Daleks, temporarily disabling its weapon systems but as he backed away he failed to see the Cyberman that had just taken a significant hit causing it to malfunction and flail about wildly. As Mickey turned, it swung at him, knocking him headfirst into the Genesis Ark. He put out his hand in order to break his fall and as it came into contact with the Ark there was a low hissing sound. Pulling back quickly, he watched as the image of the handprint he left slowly faded away. The sound of voices calling his name sent him back into action and wincing at the slight stinging sensation in his hand; he grabbed his gun and sprinted from the room just as the door started closing.
The Doctor aimed his sonic at the lock mechanism; shorting out the circuit. "Jake, take your team and check the stairwell. The rest of you are with me."
Jake gave a quick nod, motioning to the rest of his team and headed down the opposite end of the hallway.
"I just fell." Mickey said, cradling his hand. "I didn't mean it!"
"Mickey, without us they'd have opened it by force. To do that, they'd have blown up the sun." The Doctor put his hands on either side of the young man's face and pulled him forward to kiss the top of his head. "You've done us a favor. Now, run!" Grabbing Rose's hand, they quickly made their way down the corridor only to stop again upon hearing a frightened woman's voice pleading for her life.
"That's mum." Rose gasped.
Rounding the corner they saw Jackie holding up her hands in defense as two Cybermen advanced on her.
"You will be upgraded."
"No, but you can't. Please." Jackie whimpered putting her hands over her eyes.
Without another thought Pete took Mickey's gun from him and fired upon the Cybermen, incinerating them both. As the smoke cleared, Jackie slowly opened her eyes and stared at her savior in disbelief.
"Pete?"
"Hello Jacks." he replied with a timid smile.
Her face fell as she stared at him. "I said there were ghosts, but that's not fair. Why him?"
Pete's brows furrowed in confusion. "I'm not a ghost".
"But you're dead." Jackie argued. "You died twenty years ago, Pete."
"It's Pete from a different universe." The Doctor explained as he stepped forward. "There are parallel worlds, Jackie. Every single decision we make creates a parallel existence, a different dimension where…"
"Oh, you can shut up." she replied brusquely and The Doctor's mouth snapped shut as Rose gently tugged him back to stand next to her. Jackie turned her attention back to her parallel husband. "Oh, you look old."
Pete had to smile again at her bluntness, realizing just how much he missed it. "You don't."
"How can you be standin' there?"
He shrugged. "I just got lucky. Lived my life. You were left on your own. You didn't marry again, or…?" he trailed off, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer.
"There was never anyone else."
The Doctor snorted as he and Mickey shared a look and Rose elbowed him lightly, placing her finger to her lips in a shushing motion.
"Twenty years, though." Jackie continued. "Look at me. I never left that flat. Did nothin' with myself."
"You brought her up." Pete said, motioning towards her daughter. "Rose Tyler. That's not bad."
Mickey gave Rose a soft smile and The Doctor pulled her into his arms, placing a kiss against her temple. He wasn't her real father, but to Rose it really didn't matter. Even though she didn't know this version of Pete very well, to her he was still her dad and she loved him. As she watched her parents from the warm embrace of The Doctor's arms, she wrung her hands nervously. Her mother had been alone for so long and had never loved anyone like she had loved her father. Maybe this was the universe's way of giving them both a second chance and she hoped they would take it.
"Yeah." Jackie agreed giving her daughter a loving smile.
"In my world, it worked. All those daft little plans of mine, they worked. Made me rich."
Jackie shook her head. "I don't care about that." She paused for a moment, curiosity getting the better of her. "How rich?"
"Very."
"I don't care about that." she stated again before her inquisitive side took hold once more. "How very?"
Pete laughed for a moment but then his face turned serious again. "Thing is though Jacks, you're not my wife. I'm sorry, but you're not." He watched her as she silently nodded in agreement, her face falling slightly. "I mean, we both…You know, it's just sort of…" He shook his head in defeat, knowing that he was kidding himself with the words coming out of his mouth and he could care less what world she was from because she would always be his Jackie. "Oh, come here." he said throwing the gun to the floor.
Jackie finally let her tears flow freely as they ran towards one another and within seconds he had swept her up into his arms.
Rose barely got to see much of the reunion between her parents because the moment her mother and father embraced she found herself being pulled into a very passionate kiss by The Doctor. She quickly reciprocated, finally pulling back only when she needed air.
"What was that for?" she asked; slightly dazed.
He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and looked into her eyes. "Because I…"
An explosion from one of the lower floors shook the building violently. Rose clutched onto The Doctor tightly in an attempt to stay upright as they heard shouting coming from behind them.
"They've breached the warehouse." Jake panted as he and his team rounded the corner. "There's too many and I don't think we have enough firepower to stop them."
"I have an idea." The Doctor said, stepping forward. "But I'm going to need something from the warehouse.
Jake blew out a breath and nodded. "Okay, we'll cover you as best we can, but it's complete chaos down there."
As quietly as possible, the group followed Jake's team down to the lower levels, bypassing the elevator in favor of the more inconspicuous stairwell.
"You lot wait here." The Doctor told them in a hushed tone. "I'll just be a minute."
He slowly opened the door leading to the warehouse and poked his head through. The room was a complete war zone. The remaining Torchwood soldiers were attempting to stave off the bulk of the Cybermen while the Daleks laid siege to everything in their path with the cries of "EXTERMINATE!" filling the air.
Dodging the laser fire that seemed to be coming from all directions, he quickly made his way over to the crate he had been perusing earlier and pulled out two magnaclamps.
Rose opened the warehouse door as soon as she saw him running back. "Come on," she said, waving her arm frantically.
As he ran past her the warehouse began to shudder. Slipping on his 3-D glasses he poked his head back through the door, Rose following suit just slightly above him.
"OVERRIDE ROOF MECHANISM." Dalek Sek commanded. "ELEVATE."
They watched as the roof began to slide open and Dalek Sek began to levitate upwards, bringing the Genesis Ark along with it.
"What're they doing?" Rose asked. "Why do they need to get outside?"
"Time Lord science." The Doctor muttered to himself. "What Time Lord science? What is it?"
"If we're going to find out what it's doing, we need to go back up to the lever room." Pete said.
"No!" The Doctor snapped. "We're going back to the TARDIS." He grabbed Rose's hand and started pulling her towards the stairwell. "Now."
"Hold on Doctor." Pete called. Looking down at Jackie's hand in his own, he turned to Jake. "Protocol 17."
Jake nodded in affirmation before reaching out and shaking his boss's hand. He then turned to Mickey who also gave a small nod. The blonde man's expression became slightly sullen as the two men embraced. They clapped each other on the back before pulling away and with a final fist bump he motioned to his team and headed out the door.
"What was that about?" Rose asked when Mickey caught up to them.
Mickey smiled and shook his head. "Just tyin' up some last minute details."
-oOo-
They located the TARDIS in a storage room on the second floor and once Pete had gotten over the initial bigger on the inside shock, The Doctor got down to business.
"I can close the breach."
"How?" Pete asked.
"Oh, I've got all the equipment I need in this building. Courtesy of Torchwood. Slam it down and close off both universes."
"But what about the Daleks and the Cybermen?" Rose asked.
"They're part of the problem and that makes them part of the solution." he grinned. "Now, isn't anyone going to ask about my glasses?" he said pointing to the 3-D frames adorning his face.
"What is it with the glasses?" Rose gave in, playing along.
"We've got two separate worlds but in between the two separate worlds, we've got the Void. That's where the Daleks were hiding. And the Cybermen travelled through the Void to get here. And you lot, one world to another, via the Void." he paused and chuckled to himself. "Oh, I like that. Via the Void." Taking off the 3-D glasses, he handed them to Rose. "Look." he said as she slipped them on. "I've been through it. Do you see?"
As she adjusted the frames on her face she could see a large group of particles surrounding the Doctor. He slowly began to sway back and forth and she watched as the particles followed his movement. "What is it?" she asked reaching towards the curious molecules, but not coming into contact with anything.
"Void stuff."
"Like um, background radiation." she guessed.
"That's it." He leaned forward and kissed her nose before spinning her around to face the rest of the group. "Look at the others." She could see the same particles floating around everyone else as well, except her mother. "And the only one who hasn't been through the Void," he added as if reading her thoughts. "Your mother. First time she's looked normal all in her life.
"Oi." Jackie replied defensively.
"But the Daleks lived inside the Void." The Doctor continued. "They're bristling with it. Cybermen, all of them. I just open the Void and reverse. The Void stuff gets sucked back inside."
"Pullin' them all in!" Rose chimed in excitedly.
"Pulling them all in!" he replied, pulling her flush against him to emphasize his point.
Mickey, who was sitting over on the jumpseat watching the monitor, looked up in confusion. "Sorry, what's the Void?"
"The dead space. Some people call it Hell."
"So you're sending the Daleks and Cybermen to Hell?" he looked over at Pete. "Man, I told you he was good."
"But S' like you said. We've all got Void stuff. Me too, 'cause we went to that parallel world." Rose looked down at the particles surrounding her hand once more before finally removing the 3-D glasses. "We're all contaminated. We'll get pulled in."
He took the glasses from her and pulled her into his arms. "That's why you're all staying here." he replied firmly. "The TARDIS is protected."
"And then you close it, for good?" Pete inquired.
The Doctor looked back at him. "The breach itself is soaked in Void stuff. In the end it'll close itself. And that's it. Kaput."
"You're gonna go up there and open the void?" Rose asked quietly, bringing his attention back to her.
"But you'll get pulled in." Mickey added.
The Doctor held Rose's gaze for a moment longer before letting her go and walking over to the items sitting by the door. "That's why I got these." He held up a pair of magnaclamps. "I'll just have to hold on tight. I've been doing it all my life." he chuckled, giving Rose a wink.
"So M' jus' supposed to stay here in the TARDIS while you go up there on your own?" Rose murmured.
"Yeah." he said simply.
Rose snorted softly. "Yeah, that's not goin' to happen."
"Rose, I'm not going to argue with you on this. You are staying here with your family and that's final."
"No!" she shouted. "We are in this together and M' not leavin' you to do this on your own!"
"Rose, sweetheart." Jackie said softly. "The Doctor's right. In your condition, you shouldn't be out in the middle of all this."
"Mum, M' fine and he is constantly puttin' himself in danger for all of us. He can't do this all alone. What if somethin' goes wrong? What if you get sucked in too 'cause there's no one there to back you up, then what?"
"You can't go." The Doctor said firmly as he grasped her shoulders; his face inches from hers.
"Why not? Give me one good reason why I can't..."
"Because I'll lose you!" he screamed and Rose flinched at his outburst. He took a couple of deep breaths in order to calm himself and looked her in the eyes. "She showed me." he said, gesturing to her stomach. "Our daughter showed me a vision on the space station. If you go into that room, I will lose you."
Rose was taken aback at the revelation as well as the pain in his voice. The only other time she had heard him sound so broken was when he talked about the Time War. They stared at one another for the longest moment, no one else in the room daring to make a sound and although the tension thickly remained in the air, the awkwardness was cut short by the TARDIS shuddering lightly.
"What was that?" Pete asked.
"I dunno." The Doctor replied. "She seems to be uneasy about something."
The sound of knocking had them all turning their heads towards the door in surprise.
"Candygram for Mongo." called a muffled voice from outside.
Mickey took a look at the monitor and grinned broadly before hopping up from the jumpseat. "I got this." he said as he headed down the ramp towards the door. Opening it slightly, he poked his head out while the rest of the group listened to the exchange.
"Who the hell are you?" Mickey asked in an annoyed tone.
"What do you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?" A man's voice replied.
"Name's Mickey Smith and whatever you're sellin', we're not buyin'."
"Just my luck. The sky is full of Daleks, we fight our way through a couple hundred Cybermen just to reach the TARDIS, and who do we find? Mickey Mouse."
"You can talk, Captain Cheesecake."
The door swung open and in stepped Captain Jack Harkness decked out in combat gear. Behind him were two men and two women also dressed in the same gear and carrying weapons. Jack and Mickey quickly burst into laughter and pulled one another into a hug.
"That's Beefcake Mister." Jack replied, voice laced with innuendo.
"And that's enough huggin'." Mickey responded pulling out of his embrace.
Mickey had just stepped back when The Doctor lunged at The Captain, shoving him into the wall.
"Doctor!" Rose screamed.
"Did you know about this?!" he shouted through gritted teeth, pulling Jack towards him and then slamming him against the wall again. "Did you?!"
The members of Jack's team began to advance on The Doctor in attempts to lend aid to their leader but Jack held his hand out to them and shook his head.
Returning his gaze to The Doctor, he spoke calmly. "I didn't know Doc, I swear. When we found out what was happening my team and I came straight here looking for you." he paused and looked deep into The Doctor's eyes in attempts to prove his sincerity. "You know how much I love you and Rosie. I would never do anything to hurt the two of you."
The Doctor's anger slowly began to dissipate as he looked at his friend. He knew in his hearts the man wasn't responsible but at the moment he was so angry with anyone and anything having to do with this universe's Torchwood that he couldn't see straight. "I know." he replied shakily as he loosened his grip on Jack's shirt. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just…" he trailed off when he felt a pair of hands over his own and looked down to see Rose staring up at him. Releasing his grip on Jack, he fell into her arms and buried his face into her neck. "I'm sorry," he whimpered. "I just don't want to lose you."
"You won't." she soothed him, rubbing circles on his back. "I promised you forever, yeah? M' not goin' anywhere."
"Then you have to stay here." he said, pulling back to look her in the eyes. "Please Rose, the TARDIS can protect you, but you have to stay here."
"But you can't go up there all on your own." she protested.
"He won't have to." Mickey spoke up as he walked towards the pair. "I'll go with him." he smiled. "Gotta defend my home now don't I?"
"Your home?" Rose asked, slightly hopeful. "Does that mean you're stayin'?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "I had a good time in that parallel world, but my Gran passed away. Nice and peaceful. There's nothin' left for me there now."
"Oh, Mickey." Rose said, letting go of The Doctor to pull her friend into a hug. "M' so sorry about your Gran and I know you've built a life there, but M' so happy you're stayin' here. I missed you so much."
"I missed you too babe." he said pulling back from the hug.
The Doctor gave him a warm smile and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. "It's good to have you back." he said sincerely.
Pete cleared his throat. "Doctor, I'm staying too." He turned to his parallel wife, taking her hands in his. "That is if you'll have me Jacks."
"You'd really leave your glamorous life behind for me?" she asked. "All that fame and fortune."
"Well, yeah."
Jackie smiled, eyes brimming with tears and then buried her head into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.
"How will that work though?" Mickey asked. "You know, with him bein' dead in this universe and all?"
"We'll figure out something." The Doctor assured them.
"I think I may be able to help with that." Jack interjected. "But after we deal with the War of the Worlds out there." He turned to the four people standing behind him. "Guys, I'd like you to meet my team." He pointed to the woman closest to him. "This is Gwen Cooper."
"Hello." she waved.
Rose took in the woman's long dark hair and big brown eyes, focusing on her facial symmetry which gave off a sense of familiarity. "Have we met before?" she asked the woman.
Gwen shook her head. "I don't think so."
The Doctor stared at her curiously as well. "Gwen, do you happen to come from an old Cardiff family?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "All the way back to the eighteen hundred's actually."
"Ah, thought so." The Doctor replied as he and Rose exchanged a knowing grin in remembrance of the young woman they met during their encounter with the Gelth. "Spatial genetic multiplicity."
Gwen looked confused but Jack just shook his head at her and continued on in his introductions. "This is our brains of the operation," he said placing a hand on the other young woman from his team's shoulder. "Miss Toshiko Sato. Aka Tosh."
"Nice to meet you all." she said.
"That there is Doctor Owen Harper." Jack pointed to the tall lanky guy on his right who looked almost slightly bored to be there. Owen gave a slight nod, but didn't speak.
"And finally," Jack said. "This is Ianto Jones, my right hand man, and sometimes my left and maybe even…"
"I think they got it Jack." Gwen interrupted, rolling her eyes.
"It's good to finally meet you." Ianto said. "Jack talks about you guys all the time."
Rose watched the way Jack and Ianto interacted and smiled to herself. So Jack had a new boy toy. Oh, she was sooo going to need to sit him down for some 'girl talk.'
"Alright, now that we all know each other, tell us the plan Doc."
"The long and short of it," Mickey interjected, pointing to The Doctor. "He's going to open the Void and send all those things out there to hell. You in?"
Jack grinned. "Just tell us where you want us."
"I need you on the street." The Doctor said. "We can't clear the entire building but when the Daleks and Cybermen find out what we're up to, I can guarantee they'll divert most of their troops here."
"On it." Jack nodded, motioning for his team to head out. As he reached the door, he paused and looked back over his shoulder. "Good luck Doc." he saluted.
The Doctor shook his head but returned the gesture. "You too Captain." Turning back to the rest of the group, he tried to look upbeat and positive. "The rest of you lot stay put. Mickey and I will handle the messy bits and should be home in time for tea." he grinned. "There's plenty of things to do around here. I'm sure Rose would be happy to give you a tour, won't you Rose?" He looked over to find her quietly sobbing in the jumpseat. "Oh, Rose." he said softly as he made his way over to her.
"M' sorry," she shook her head. "Damn pregnancy hormones have me cryin' at the drop of a hat now."
He chuckled softly as he wiped away her tears and pulled her to her feet. "You don't have to apologize for that."
"I know." she sniffed. "S' jus'…M' scared to lose you too ya know."
"You won't."
"Doctor, I…"
"Shh," He pressed his fingers against her lips. "I will come back to you." he promised, wrapping his arms around her and capturing her lips with his own. He poured all of his emotions into the kiss and she felt it all the way down to her toes. When they broke apart he reached up, stroking the apple of her cheek with his thumb. "I'll see you later."
Rose managed a smile as she choked back a sob. "Not if I see you first."
Returning her smile, The Doctor gave her one last kiss and then turned back to Mickey. "You ready?"
Mickey propped his gun up against his shoulder and grinned. "Lock and load."
-oOo-
When the two men reached the lever room, the atmosphere seemed unnaturally calm compared to the chaos going on just outside the building. The Doctor immediately went over to one of the computers to start the 'ghost shift' sequence while Mickey headed into Yvonne's office to get the security codes from her laptop. As he powered it up, he chanced a look out the window.
"Doctor, I think you should see this." Mickey called over his shoulder.
When The Doctor entered the office, he walked over to the window where Mickey was standing. Upon looking out, he could see the Genesis Arc spinning in midair as it continually ejected Daleks into the sky.
"Well, I guess we know what it does now." Mickey observed.
"Time Lord Science." The Doctor murmured. "It's bigger on the inside."
"So the Time Lords put those Daleks in there?" Mickey asked. "What for?"
"It's a prison ship."
"So how many do you think are in there?"
He hesitated, knowing how bleak it would make the situation sound. "Millions."
The Daleks spread out across the sky in a strategic pattern as they continued their attack on London, shooting anything within their sites whether it be Cyberman or human, and the Cybermen retaliated in kind.
"That's it." The Doctor said through gritted teeth. "This ends now." As he headed back out into the lever room, the computer voiced a status update.
"SYSTEMS REBOOTED. OPEN ACCESS."
He looked over at Mickey. "How are those computer skills of yours? Still as sharp as ever?"
"You know it." The young man boasted, opening the laptop.
"Good. Once you've got those security codes accessed set all the coordinates to six."
Mickey did as he was told and then quickly bypassed the security systems to pull up the surveillance footage of the building. "We've got Cybermen on the way up."
"How many floors down?" The Doctor asked as he continued imputing his own calculations.
"Just one."
"LEVERS OPERATIONAL." The computer stated.
"We're good to go." Mickey called out.
"Brilliant." The Doctor chirped, handing Mickey one of the magnaclamps. "Put it against the wall and press the red button to activate it. Once the Void opens, just hold on tight. Shouldn't be too bad for us but the Daleks and the Cybermen are steeped in Void stuff. You ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be Boss." Mickey replied as they exchanged a fist bump.
The Doctor grinned. "Let's do it!"
As they positioned the levers into place it became apparent by the gathering group of Daleks at the windows that their plan had been figured out. Both men quickly latched their magnaclamps in place, wrapping their arms around the handles tightly as the 'ghost shift' program activated.
"ONLINE." The computer stated as the white wall at the end of the room began to glow like the sun, pulsating and creating a wind tunnel effect. There was a sound of glass shattering and they watched as multiple Daleks were pulled through the air from outside the building and swept into the void.
"EMERGENCY!" They cried as they flew past.
"The breach is open!" The Doctor called out over the rushing winds. "Into the Void! Ha!"
Through the window a steady stream of Daleks and Cybermen were sent hurtling into the dead space. The two men were grinning at one another like loons until one of the passing Daleks spun wildly as it tried to escape and knocked into the lever on Mickey's side; dislodging it from its position.
"OFFLINE." The computer stated as the winds began to die down.
A wave of terror passed through The Doctor as the events unfolded. This was exactly what he had seen, only this time it was Mickey instead of Rose and there would be no one there to catch him when he fell.
"We've got to get the lever back into position." Mickey yelled across to him.
"Mickey, don't." The Doctor called back. "We'll figure out something, but don't let go of the magnaclamp."
Seeing the concern on The Doctor's face, he grinned. On one hand he was pleased to see The Doctor cared a bit more about his well-being this time around, while on the other he was surprised that the alien didn't think he'd be better prepared for setbacks. He had worked for Torchwood for over three years now and he knew how to always have a backup plan.
The Doctor stared at him incredulously. He was grinning. Mickey was grinning. The situation was dire, he could easily be sucked into hell with no means of escape and the idiot was grinning. He had really hoped that affectionate little pet name he had given to the young man back in his leather wearing days was in the past, but at the moment he was really considering reviving it.
"Don't worry Boss." Mickey called back to him. Reaching down to his belt, he pulled out a utility rope and held it up. "I came prepared."
The Doctor's mouth dropped open and then slowly morphed into a smile. "Brilliant!" he called back. "Absolutely brilliant!"
Mickey quickly attached the utility rope to the magnaclamp using a double figure-8 fisherman's knot technique and slowly repelled himself backwards until he could reach the lever. Grabbing hold, he planted his feet as firmly as possible to maintain the leverage he needed and began to push it back into position.
"ONLINE AND LOCKED." The computer signaled once the lever was in place.
The wind started to pick up again and Mickey was quickly lifted off his feet. He clung to the rope tightly as his body hovered in midair and glanced over at The Doctor shooting him another grin. "It's a bird…It's a plane…It's Superman!" he called out, tilting his body slightly to make it look like he was flying sideways. "Doo, doo, doo, doo, doooo, dooo, dooo, dooo!" The young man laughed.
The Doctor managed an eye roll, but then burst out laughing along with him.
As the last of the Cybermen and Daleks had passed into the void, the wind began to die down and the bright light of the breach crumpled inward like a piece of paper before blinking out of existence.
"SYSTEMS CLOSED." The computer announced.
While Mickey disconnected the utility rope from his belt The Doctor walked towards the white wall and placed a hand against it, breathing a sigh of relief.
"S' not working." Mickey spoke from behind him.
Turning around he saw the younger man holding one of the yellow discs in his hand. As he approached him, Mickey looked up and met his eyes. "You did it. You closed the breach."
"We did it." The Doctor amended.
After a few seconds, they broke out into laughter and shared a quick hug.
"Hey, where's my celebratory hug?" The two men turned to see a very dirty and completely disheveled Jack standing in the doorway. "I died twice out there you know." The Captain said, gesturing behind him with his thumb.
Mickey looked over at The Doctor with a raised brow and then made his way over to Jack. "I'll give you a hug; just watch those wandering hands of yours." he said warningly.
Jack laughed as they shared a manly embrace and The Doctor quickly attempted to sneak past them and out into the hall.
"Where do you think you're going?" Jack asked before he could get to the door.
"Hey, I told you if you want that kind of affection you have to buy me a drink first." The Doctor replied.
"I bought you a drink."
"When?"
"When you, me and Rose went to that bar a few weeks ago."
"That doesn't count." The Doctor said as he walked out into the hall.
"Of course it does." Jack argued. "Why wouldn't it?"
"Because I gave you a hug that night."
"That was a reunion hug." The Captain protested.
"Was not."
"Was too."
Mickey shook his head and chuckled as the sound of the two men bickering carried on down the hall. Taking one last look around the room, he breathed a sigh and relief and then turned to follow them out the door.
-oOo-
When they walked back into the TARDIS, Rose immediately launched herself into The Doctor's arms. "I was so worried." she murmured into his chest.
"Everything's okay." he whispered into her hair, trying to convince himself just as much as her.
"So it's done?" Pete asked. "The breach is closed?"
"Kaput." The Doctor replied. "Big thanks to Mr. Mickey over there."
Mickey grinned as he began to fill Jack, Pete, and Jackie in on what happened in the lever room.
Reaching down, Rose entwined her fingers with The Doctor's and pulled him towards the corridor. Once they were discretely hidden within some of the shadows, she pressed him back into the wall, grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled his face down to crush her lips passionately against his. He quickly wound his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against him as her hands ran through his hair; tugging lightly. When she broke the kiss, The Doctor's hair was in complete disarray, his eyes were glazed over and he seemed to have forgotten where he was for a moment.
"M' still mad at you ya know?" Rose whispered, looking up at him through her lashes.
The Doctor nodded; adam's apple bobbing visibly. Normally he didn't like it when Rose was angry with him but if it meant she was going to keep kissing him like that, he was all right with it. In fact, at that moment he was tempted to just kick everyone out of the TARDIS for a couple of hours, take her into their bedroom and…"
"Jus' consider that a sneak preview for later, yeah?" Rose said, dragging a finger down his chest before turning away and heading back down the hall to rejoin the group.
He took a few moments to collect himself before following after her. When he entered the console room she was already deep in conversation. He leaned up against one of the coral struts as he watched her talking animatedly with Jack, Mickey and her parents. If it were at all possible, she seemed even more radiant than normal. He took in every detail. The way her eyes lit up when she laughed, the way she smiled. She looked as though she didn't have a care in the world and part of him wanted to freeze this moment in time forever. He could have lost her today, but in another rare instance the universe had been kind and presented him with an opportunity to change the events. He smiled knowing that although the timelines that now lay before him still showed a multitude of possibilities he felt more at peace about their future, no matter how long it might be.
Jack looked up and caught his eye for a moment before excusing himself. Walking across the room he stood next to The Doctor, mirroring his stance. "Penny for your thoughts."
The Doctor shook his head softly. "I was just thinking." he said as he watched Rose hug her parents. "All these different worlds…finally one of them got it right."
Jack smiled. "Speaking of, I had some ideas as to how to get them sorted. If you don't mind a quick trip to Cardiff, that is."
"Oh, I think we can manage that." he said with a grin before bounding across the room to the console. "Next stop, Cardiff." he announced entering the coordinates. "Allons-y!"
-oOo-
The TARDIS materialized itself inside the hub where Jack's team was waiting to greet them. As they all got reacquainted, Jack asked Gwen to provide Mickey Rose and her parents with a short tutorial of the place while he and The Doctor took care of some important business. Rose gave The Doctor a quizzical look but he just shook his head and told her that it wouldn't take long and they would be back in a few minutes. He gave her a quick kiss before turning and heading back inside the TARDIS with Jack on his heels.
True to his word, less than ten minutes later the TARDIS was back. Jack was the first one out the door, followed closely by The Doctor who had his hands stuffed in his pockets and wore a sheepish grin on his face.
"Welcome back to the land of the living Pete Tyler." Jack said as he tossed the man a large manila envelope.
"What's this?" Pete asked, looking at the package curiously.
"That my friend is your new driver's license, birth certificate, passport, credit cards and everything you could possibly need to get on with your life."
The Doctor grinned brightly while Rose and Jackie looked at one another in disbelief.
"I don't understand?" Pete furrowed his brows. "How did you…?"
"I've got a lot of friends in high places." Jack replied. "And when you've lived as long as some of us have," he gave The Doctor a wink. "You make a lot of friends. Oh, by the way, your cover story is that some of those crazy inventions of yours caught Torchwood's attention and that because of the work you were doing for us, we faked your death in order to protect your family."
Pete shook his head in awe. "I don't know how to thank you."
"Well, I can always use some more help rebuilding Torchwood One. From what I understand you were extremely good at your job Director, and once we get that place back in order I would love to have someone running it that I can trust." Jack looked over at Mickey. "That goes for you as well Mickey Mouse. So what do you say?" he looked between the two men. "Want to join my team and help save the world?"
Pete glanced over at Mickey and they both nodded with smiles on their faces.
"It would be an honor." Pete said extending his hand.
Jack reached out and shook it with an equally pleased grin on his own face. "I'd say it's settled then. Oh, wait. Almost forgot. Doc?"
The Doctor pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to Pete. Catching it, he held the item up for both him and Jackie to see. He looked at the small gold key in confusion for a moment, and then back at The Doctor.
"It's the key to your new house." The Doctor said softly.
Pete was once again at a loss for words as Jackie burst into tears. The only words he could make out from her as she made her way across the room and pulled him into a bone crushing hug while sobbing were "wonderful" and "alien", followed by "how greatful" she was. Once Jackie had managed to calm down, she extracted herself from The Doctor and returned to Pete's side.
"Payments won't be a problem on the salary I can provide." Jack assured them. "I know it won't be anywhere near what you were used to…"
"It was never about the money." Pete interjected as he looked down into Jackie's eyes. "I'm just happy to get this second chance. Thank you both." he said sincerely.
Jack nodded, clapping the man on his shoulder.
"What about Mickey?" Rose asked.
"Jack's giving me a room here till I find a place of my own." Mickey piped up.
"Yeah, what can I say?" Jack said, putting his arm around the younger man's shoulder. "I have a weakness for strays." Mickey rolled his eyes and laughed.
Jack turned and gave both Rose and The Doctor a hug. "You two better visit, and often." he threatened, pointing between the two of them with a grin before heading over to the rest of his team.
"Take care of yourself babe." Mickey said pulling Rose into a hug. Turning to The Doctor he held up a fist. "Always good to see you, Boss."
"And you." The Doctor smiled, bumping the man's fist with his own.
Mickey gave a quick hug to Jackie and shook Pete's hand before begging off to join Jack.
"Would you like to see your new home?" The Doctor asked, turning to Pete and Jackie.
The couple looked at one another with timid smiles and nodded. "Oh, but I'll need to clear out the flat first." Jackie told him.
The Doctor shook his head. "Already taken care of."
Jackie stared at him in complete wonderment and then walked up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you." she said, trying to keep from breaking out into tears again. Turning back to Pete, she slipped her hand into his and they headed into the TARDIS.
The Doctor smiled as he felt a set of warm fingers entangle with his own. "You jus' never cease to amaze me." Rose said softly.
"Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" he asked almost sounding disappointed.
She bit her lower lip in attempts to stifle a laugh as she studied his expression. "You know," she said wrapping her arms around his neck. "Make up sex is actually better than an angry shag."
"Really?" his face brightened.
This time she couldn't hold back her laughter. "Why don't we get my parents home first and I'll show you."
"I'm gonna hold you to that, Rose Tyler." he whispered as he took her hand and led her back to the TARDIS.
-oOo-
Pete and Jackie had been dropped off at their new home, with the promise to come back and visit after some much needed rest for both couples, so it was just The Doctor and Rose alone in the TARDIS once again. As soon as they were floating safely in the vortex, Rose spoke up.
"Why didn't you tell me about the vision?" she asked quietly.
The Doctor sighed and yanked on his ear. "I guess I was hoping it could be wrong."
"You'd been havin' nightmares for weeks." she pointed out.
"Rose,"
"No. Now we agreed that when we started this relationship there'd be no more secrets." She stepped closer, placing her hands on his chest. "You should have told me."
"Would you have left me?" he asked.
"What? Why would you even think that?"
"I don't know," he replied in frustration. "To keep it from happening. To protect our daughter."
"I promised you forever. That means M' never gonna leave you. Whatever comes our way we'll face it together, yeah? Together or not at all."
He stared back at her, his face showing a wide range of emotions from anger to sadness to disbelief. She could be so unbelievably stubborn, so damn aggravating, exasperating, argumentative, kind, loving and unbelievably loyal. "I'm so glad I met you." he said.
Rose blinked at him for a moment and then smiled. "Me too."
Leaning down, he captured her lips in a soft kiss.
"Oh," she exclaimed pulling back.
"What? What is it?"
"The baby kicked." she paused, glancing down at her stomach. "I felt her. I felt her kick."
She took The Doctor's hand, placing it against her stomach and covered it with her own. After a few seconds he felt it too and grinned.
"But I thought you said this kind a thing wouldn't happen till at least three months in."
The Doctor shrugged. "I told you, I'm still not certain on some of the specifics and it's only a couple of weeks sooner than I thought." He leaned down and pressed the side of his face against her stomach. "Besides, she's brilliant like her mom."
"Oof." She felt a slightly harder kick from the baby in response to his words. "And a troublemaker like her dad." she grinned, tongue in teeth.
"What the bloody hell is this?!"
Startled by the unknown voice The Doctor stood up quickly; pulling Rose into a protective embrace as they stared dumbfounded at the mysterious redhead that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the room in a wedding dress.
"What?" The Doctor replied in disbelief.
"Who are you?!" The woman shouted, looking between the pair.
"But…" he looked at Rose, who shook her head, just as confused as he was.
"Where am I?" The redhead asked.
"What?" The surprise appearance of the mysterious bride seemed to have a rather strange effect on The Doctor's normally non-stop gob by reducing it to a single word.
"What the hell is this place?" she asked again.
"What?"
Rose sighed and began rubbing her temple, anticipating the oncoming migraine. 'Here we go again'.