The Age of Steel, Part One

In a desperate act for survival, the Doctor pointed the little, green, glowing power cell at the oncoming Cyberman, effectively disintegrating it. The five others stood there, gaping at him

"What the hell was that?" Ricky demanded, looking from the remains of the Cyberman to the Doctor.

"Run!" The Doctor had spotted a van on the road and made a break for it. He had grabbed Clara's hand and took her with him. She stumbled a little, but kept up with him easily enough. The other's followed. The woman in the van honked.

"Everybody, in!" She barked, opening the door for them. Ellie halted.

"I've got to go back. My friends are in there!" She turned to go back.

"Mum!" Clara and Other Clara cried in unison. The Doctor grabbed her elbow.

"Anyone inside that house is dead. If you want to help, then don't let them die for nothing. You've got to come with us right now." Ellie looked torn, but climbed into the van. She slid the door shut behind her.

"Come on! Get a move on!" The woman driving the car yelled. "Finished chatting? Never seen a slower getaway in my life!" She stepped on the gas pedal, and they sped off.

"I'm Mrs. Moore, by the way." She introduced herself. Everyone introduced themselves, as well.

"What was that thing?" Ricky asked again after they had been on the road a bit. The Doctor displayed the power cell.

"Little bit of technology from my home." He replied, looking lovingly at the little bulb. Mickey pointed at it.

"It's stopped glowing. Has it run out?" He asked. Clara was afraid it had- she didn't want to get stuck here. She had her dad back home, and Artie and Angie to return to. One day.

"It's on a revitalizing loop. It'll charge back up in about four hours." The Doctor answered, tucking the cell back into his inside pocket. He patted it gently.

"Right," Ricky said dryly. "So, we don't have a weapon anymore." The other guy in the van, Jake, shook his head.

"Yeah, we've got weapons. Too bad they're useless." He sounded spiteful, and for good reason. How were they going to protect themselves or stop the Cybermen without a weapon?

"I'm sure we can figure something out." Mickey stated, turning to Ricky. "Ricky can get something, can't you? You're London's Most Wanted." Ricky looked sheepish at Mickey's statement.

"Yeah, that's not exactly-"

"Not exactly what?" Mickey interrupted warily.

Ricky hesitated a moment, licking his lips. "I'm London's Most Wanted for parking tickets," he admitted. Everyone groaned.

"Great," Clara muttered. The Doctor squeezed her hand, silently telling her that they would figure something out.

"They were deliberate." Ricky went on hastily, as if trying to prove himself. "I was fighting the system. Park anywhere, that's me." He tried to look tough, but failed. The Doctor tilted his head.

"Good policy. I do much the same." He glanced at the others. "And I'd take those ear pods off, if I were you. You never know. Lumic could be listening." He took everyone's ear pods and zapped them with his sonic screwdriver, rendering them useless.

"But he's overreached himself," The Doctor went on. "He's still just a businessman. He's assassinated the President. All we need to do is get to the city and inform the authorities. Because I promise you, this ends tonight." He sounded severe and serious.

Mrs. Moore stomped on the brakes, causing everyone to fall over.

"What the hell?" Jake said, leaning over the front seat.

"What's going on?" Clara copied Jake, watching the citizens of London walk slowly throughout the city. They were like zombies. People walked in the street, shuffling along slowly.

"It's the ear-pods. Lumic's taken control." The Doctor stated, looking grimly at the people. Everyone climbed out of the car. Clara ran up to a random man.

"Can't we just- I don't know- take them off?" She asked, reaching for the ear pod.

"Don't!" The Doctor grabbed her wrist. "Could cause a brainstorm. Human race- for such an intelligent lot, you aren't half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it. Easy life." Clara it her lip, unhappy as she watched people shuffle by, ear pods glowing.

"Hey, come and see," Jake said, waving everyone around a corner. They all peeked and saw more people and a group of Cybermen marching along.

"Where are they all going?" Other Clara whispered, clutching her mother's arm.

"I don't know. Lumic must have a base of operations." The Doctor deduced.

"Battersea." Ellie stated at once. "That's where he was building his prototypes." They all looked at her.

"How do you know that?" Mrs. Moore asked slowly. Ellie looked guilty.

"I was going undercover, working on an article for the newspaper about it." Elli explained hurriedly, disliking they untrusting looks everyone was giving her.

"And you never told anyone what he was doing?" Other Clara sounded disgusted with her mum. Ellie looked even guiltier.

"I-" Clara cut her off.

"We can deal with that later," she said firmly. "Right now, we need to know: what's he doing with it?" She looked at Ellie expectantly. Ellie took a deep, steadying breath.

"He's dying. This all started out as a way of prolonging life, of keeping the brain alive at any cost."

"We need to get out of the city." Ricky spoke up suddenly. "Like, now. We need to split up. Mrs Moore, you look after that bloke." He pointed at the Doctor. "Jake, distract them. Go right, I'll go left. We'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move." Mrs. Moore and Jake followed his orders and once.

"I'm going with him." He told Clara and the Doctor. He hugged Clara quickly and ran off after Ricky.

"Come on," Mrs. Moore started leading them down a side street. "Let's get moving."

lalala

"I ran past the river. You should have seen it. The whole city's on the march. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames." Jake had caught up with them. He was winded and panting. Mickey ran up to the, alone. Jake looked worried.

"Which one are you?" He demanded as soon as Mickey stopped running.

"I'm sorry. The Cybermen. He couldn't-" Jake grabbed Mickey's shoulders, shaking him.

"Are you Ricky?" He asked desperately. "Are you Ricky?" Clara stepped forward, placing her hand on Mickey's arm.

"Mickey, that's you, isn't it?" She asked softly. Mickey nodded and Clara hugged him tightly.

"He tried." Mickey tried to explain everything to Jake, who looked like someone had punched him in the stomach. "He was running. There was too many of them."

"Shut it." Jake shook his head, closing his eyes tight.

"There was nothing I could do." Mickey said weakly, hoping Jake would understand.

"I said just shut it!" Jake yelled fiercely. "Don't even talk about him. You're nothing, you are. Nothing!" Jake got up in Mickey's face and the Doctor stepped in between them.

"We can mourn him when London is safe. But now, we move on." He led them away. Clara held the Doctor's hand and Mickey's, too. She felt like Mickey needed someone's hand to hold, and since Rose wasn't there, it needed to be her.

This whole day had turned into a nightmare.

A/N: Here's another chapter! Wow, that's already two chapters this week, isn't it? I'm on a roll! Don't expect this pace to keep up- I just have had a lot of free time lately. That won't keep happening, though. So, enjoy it while it lasts!

Thank you for the reviews, guys! Please keep them coming- they really help me continue to update this story. If you haven't noticed, the more reviews I get on a chapter leads to a quicker update. Please review!

Is this (and the last) chapter making sense? I kind of feel like it doesn't make much sense, since I'm only writing the parts of the episode that Clara is in. Is it confusing to you, or can you follow easily enough?

Thanks so much for reading. Until next time!