The four Daleks advanced threateningly. "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
Rose's mind was spinning. What would the Doctor do if he were here? He would...run that gob of his. "Daleks!" she shouted. "You're called Daleks. I know your name." She took off her lab coat. "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 I'm asking. Me and my friends."
"Yeah, Daleks. Time War. Me too," Mickey added.
"Yeah. And me," Rajesh lied. He had no idea what was going on.
"YOU WILL BE NECESSARY." The eyestalk of the black Dalek, obviously the Controller, swiveled to his cohorts. "REPORT. WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE GENESIS ARK?"
"STATUS, HIBERNATION," a bronze Dalek barked in reply.
The Dalek Controller spoke again. "COMMENCE AWAKENING. THE GENESIS ARK MUST BE PROTECTED ABOVE ALL ELSE."
The other Daleks circled around the device and extended their plungers onto the four half-spheres on the casing of the ark.
"The Daleks. You said they were all dead," Mickey whispered.
"Never mind that," Rose replied. "What the hell's a Genesis Ark?"
"What's down there?" Jackie asked, on the verge of tears. She made every effort to stay calm. "She was in that room with the sphere. What's happened to Rose?"
"I don't know," the Doctor answered, a hint of exasperation. He leaned against a nearby wall.
Jackie looked away and scoffed, and it turned into a sob.
He moved forward to comfort her, his voice low, but filled with determination. "I'll find her. I brought you here, I'll get you both out, you and your daughter. Jackie, look at me."
She wouldn't.
"Look at me," he insisted.
Jackie met his eyes.
"I promise you. I give you my word."
She trusted him, albeit reluctantly. The Doctor had never let them down before, not if he could help it. She knew Rose was his top priority. He would protect her at all costs.
The Cyber Leader stepped into Yvonne's office. "You will talk to your central world authority and order global surrender."
Yvonne replied with no hint of fear. "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 humankind."
She shivered.
The Cyber Leader turned to face a Cyberman behind him, who used his optic receptors to transmit the message globally. "Cybermen now occupy every landmass 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 heard explosions outside in reply. He walked to the window to peer down below. Smoke rose from various points around the city. Earth wasn't going to be conquered without a fight. It was futile, but it gave him some hope. It reminded him how much he loved humans after seeing the worst of them in Torchwood that morning.
"I ordered surrender," the Cyber Leader growled, as much as one could with no emotions.
The Doctor spoke with rising intensity until his voice was a shout. "They're not taking instructions. Don't you understand? You're on every street, you're in their homes, you've got their children! Of course they're going to fight!"
The Dalek Controller approached Rose and Mickey. "WHICH OF YOU IS LEAST IMPORTANT?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rose asked.
"WHICH OF YOU IS LEAST IMPORTANT?" it demanded again.
Rose shook her head. "No, we don't work like that. None of us."
"DESIGNATE THE LEAST IMPORTANT."
Rajesh stepped forward. "This is my responsibility."
"No, you don't," Rose objected. She knew what was going to happen. They would kill him.
Rajesh stood in front of the Dalek. "I, er, I represent the Torchwood Institute. Anything you need, you come through me. Leave these two alone."
"YOU WILL KNEEL."
"What for?"
"KNEEL."
He looked around at the other Daleks surrounding him and realized he didn't have a choice.
"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—"
"SPEECH IS NOT NECESSARY. WE WILL EXTRACT BRAINWAVES."
Rose's gut twisted as the three bronze Daleks extended their plungers towards the man.
"Don't. I—I'll tell you everything you need. No!" he protested. Then he screamed in torment.
Rose hid her face in Mickey's shoulder.
"Scans detect unknown technology active within Sphere chamber," the Cyber Leader said.
"Cybermen will investigate," one of the Cybermen responded.
"Units 10-6-5 and 10-6-6 will investigate Sphere chamber," the Cyber Leader ordered.
"We obey." The units grabbed a few scientists and headed for the lab.
Rajesh's withered body dropped to the floor.
Rose's gut turned again. She'd seen so much around the universe, grown accustomed to many things, but never death.
"HIS MIND SPOKE OF A SECOND SPECIES INVADING EARTH INFECTED BY THE SUPERSTITION OF GHOSTS."
"You didn't need to kill him!" Rose shouted.
"NEITHER DID WE NEED HIM ALIVE."
Rose started at the body.
"DALEK THAY, INVESTIGATE OUTSIDE."
"I OBEY." Thay wheeled towards the door.
"Units open visual link," the Cyber Leader directed.
A live feed played on Yvonne's laptop.
"Visual contact established," the Leader noted.
In the Sphere Lab, the Dalek Controller ordered the same. "ESTABLISH VISUAL CONTACT. LOWER COMMUNICATIONS BARRIER."
A screen appeared above the Sphere platform.
In the office, a Dalek appeared in the sights of the Cybermen. The Doctor's blood ran cold. The Daleks built the Sphere. The Cybermen followed. A war would most certainly break out between the two races. Earth would be caught in the crosshairs.
Rose had been in the lab with the Daleks. Daleks showed no mercy.
The Valiant Child who will die in battle so very soon. The words of the Beast haunted him.
The premonition of the coming storm washed over him for a second time.
Is this where he was to lose her? Caught between two of his greatest enemies?
He shivered.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELVES," Thay ordered.
"You will identify first," the Cybermen returned.
"STATE YOUR IDENTITY."
"You will identify first."
"IDENTIFY!"
Mickey chuckled as they continued sparring. "It's like Stephen Hawking meets the speaking clock."
The Cybermen continued. "That answer is irrelevant and illogical. You will modify."
"DALEKS DO NOT TAKE ORDERS."
"You have identified as Daleks."
The Dalek Controller spoke in the lab. "OUTLINE RESEMBLES THE INFERIOR SPECIES KNOWN AS THE CYBERMEN."
Jackie leaned in to the Doctor. "Rose said about the Daleks. She was terrified of them. What have they done to her, Doctor? Is she dead?"
"Phone," he spat.
"What?" she asked.
"Phone!" he spat louder.
He scrolled through her call list and selected Rose's mobile. It rang.
The Cybermen and the Daleks continued squabbling, but he paid them no attention. He was transfixed on the sound of the line ringing. During the third ring, he heard the voice of a Dalek not in the video feed, and knew that Rose had accepted the call.
"She's answered. She's alive. Why haven't they killed her?" The Doctor thought through a million possibilities.
"Well, don't complain!" Jackie chided.
"They must need her for something." Or she made a way for them to believe she did. Rose was brilliant like that. And still alive. His Rose was still alive. More than that, she was alive and feeding him information. Oh, his brilliant, brilliant Rose.
She was not lost to him, not yet, and not ever, not if he could help it.
The Daleks in the Sphere Lab mentioned something about protecting the Genesis Ark.
"Genesis Ark?" The Doctor had never heard of it. He turned his attention to the conversation between the Daleks and Cybermen, hoping for more information. He slid on his 3D glasses. The Daleks were covered in Void particles just like the Cybermen.
Yvonne mentioned that the levers controlled the breach. If he could get a look at the computers, maybe he could somehow use them to permanently close the Void and repair the walls of reality. If he could work the calculations just right, he could use the Void to pull in the Daleks and Cybermen as it sealed itself off.
The Cybermen and the Daleks continued their standoff.
"Our species are similar, though your design is inelegant," the Cybermen stated.
"DALEKS HAVE NO CONCEPT OF ELEGANCE."
"This is obvious. But consider, our technologies are compatible. Cybermen plus Daleks. Together, we could upgrade the Universe."
The Doctor knew that wasn't going to happen.
"YOU PROPOSE AN ALLIANCE?"
"This is correct."
"REQUEST DENIED."
The Doctor swallowed thickly. This would begin the war. He needed to get to Rose as soon as possible.
The Cybermen raised their weapons. "Hostile elements will be deleted." They shot at the Dalek.
"EXTERMINATE!" Thay fired on the two Cybermen, and they both collapsed.
"Open visual link," the Cyber Leader commanded, and transmitted the message to the Sphere Lab. "Daleks, be warned. You have declared war upon the Cybermen."
The Dalek Controller responded. "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!" it ordered.
One of the Daleks spotted the Doctor behind the Cyber Leader, who paced and spoke to somebody off screen. "WAIT!"
"REWIND IMAGE BY NINE RELLS. IDENTIFY GRID SEVEN GAMMA FLAME. THIS MALE REGISTERS AS ENEMY."
Rose smiled at the sight of the Doctor.
"THE FEMALE'S HEARTBEAT HAS INCREASED."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Mickey snickered.
The Dalek Controller wheeled over to her. "IDENTIFY HIM."
"All right, then." Rose figured it was worth a shot. "If you really want to know, that's the Doctor."
The Daleks backed away.
Rose had leverage now. "Five million Cybermen, easy. One Doctor? Now you're scared."
In the Lever Room, the Cyber Leader knew its forces needed more troops. "Quarantine the Sphere chamber. Start emergency upgrading. Begin with these personnel."
The Cybermen stalked around the room and grabbed every person.
"No, you can't do this! We surrendered! We surrendered!" Yvonne screamed.
A Cyberman grabbed Jackie.
The Doctor reached for her, but she was just beyond his grasp. Two Cybermen grabbed him by the arms and pulled him away.
"This one," one of them said. "His increased adrenaline suggests that he has vital Dalek information."
The Doctor fought with all his might to escape their grasp and rescue Jackie, but all his protesting was to no avail.
The Cybermen escorted the prisoners to the makeshift conversion chamber away from the Lever Room. Jackie and Yvonne watched as they shoved a man inside. They saw sparks fly and heard the man screaming in agony.
"What happens in there? What's upgrading mean? What do they do?" Jackie asked.
Yvonne fought to keep her lunch down. "I think they remove the brain." She swallowed thickly. "Sorry, erm, I think they remove the brain and they put it in a suit of armour. That's what these things are. They're us."
"Next." A Cyberman grabbed Yvonne.
Jackie yelled at her. "This is your fault. You and your Torchwood. You've killed us all!"
"I did my duty for Queen and Country," she said, for comfort, perhaps. She wrenched her arm from the Cyberman's grasp. "I did my duty. I did my duty." Her gut twisted at the thought of the immense pain she would feel. "Oh, God. I did my duty."
Jackie saw sparks and heard Yvonne scream.
The Cyberman holding Jackie's arm dragged her down the corridor amidst screams from those being converted. "No! No!" Jackie struggled the whole way.
The Cyberman dropped her arm and left Jackie standing there. It turned to another Cyberman.
"Cyber Leader One has been terminated."
"Explain. Download shared files."
Jackie stepped away to see if they were paying attention. They said nothing to her.
"I will be upgraded to Cyber Leader."
She found the door to a stairwell and ran down the steps.
The Dalek returned from the corridor where it had faced the Cybermen. "CYBER THREAT IRRELEVANT. CONCENTRATE ON THE GENESIS ARK." The Daleks circled around the Genesis Ark and extended their plungers towards the ark casing.
"Why are we being kept alive?" Mickey whispered.
"They might need me." Rose had a suspicion.
"What is it?" he asked.
Rose thought in silence for a moment.
Mickey pulled his dimension hopper out of his pocket. "I could transport out of here, but it only carries one and I'm not leaving you."
Rose was taken aback by his devotion. She certainly didn't deserve it. "You'd follow me anywhere. What did I do to you all those years ago?"
He smirked. "Guess I'm just stupid."
She grabbed his hand and said, with all seriousness, "You're the bravest man I've ever met."
"What about the Doctor?"
She jokingly thought for a moment, and he smiled. "Oh, all right. Bravest human."
"Well, I can't think what the Daleks need with me. I'm nothing to them."
Rose looked over Mickey's shoulder at the Genesis Ark. "You could be. Whatever's inside that Ark is waking up, and I've seen this happen before." She thought about her first meeting with the Dalek in van Statten's bunker. "The first time I saw a Dalek, it was broken. It was dying. But I touched it. The moment I did that, I brought it back to life. As the Doctor said, when you travel in time in the Tardis, you soak up all this background radiation. It's harmless. It's just there. But in the Time War, the Daleks evolved so they could use it as a power supply."
Mickey smiled. "I love it when you talk technical."
"Shut up," she teased. "If the Daleks have got something inside that thing, and it needs waking up."
"They need you," Mickey said.
"You've traveled in time. Either one of us would do."
"But why would they build something they can't open themselves?"
Rose shook her head, but the Dalek Controller responded. "THE TECHNOLOGY IS STOLEN. THE ARK IS NOT OF DALEK DESIGN."
"Then who built it?" she asked.
"THE TIME LORDS. THIS IS ALL THAT SURVIVES OF THEIR HOME WORLD."
"What's inside?"
"THE FUTURE."
The Cyber Leader approached the Doctor, who sat helplessly in the window frame of Yvonne's office. "You are proof."
"Of what?" he asked.
"That emotions destroy you."
"Yeah, I am." His skin tingled as he felt some sort of energy fill the room. This was different from the Cybermen or the Daleks. "Mind you, I quite like hope. Hope's a good emotion. And here it comes."
A group of black-clad soldiers materialized. They shot the Cybermen in the lever space.
The Doctor hid in the corner to shield himself from the blaster about to fire in his direction.
The soldier fired on the Cyber Leader, and he kneeled. His head exploded.
The Doctor rose and approached the group. He heard a familiar voice.
"Doctor? Good to see you again." He removed his mask.
The Doctor recognized him. "Jake?"
"The Cybermen came through from one world to another, and so did we," Jake Simmonds answered.
He was grateful for the help, but didn't they understand they were causing more damage?
Once Jake confirmed that the room was secure, he directed the others. "Defend this room. Chrissie, monitor communications. Kill one Cyber Leader and they just download into another. Move!" They followed his orders.
The Doctor slipped on his 3D glasses and glared at them. "You can't just, just, just hop from one world to another. You can't."
"We just did. With these." Jake tossed a dimension hopper to the Doctor.
He stared at the yellow disk in his hands. "But that's impossible. You can't have this sort of technology.
"We've got our own version of Torchwood. They developed it. Do you want to come and see?" He activated his own hopper.
"No!" The Doctor reached out to stop him, but they dematerialized before he could do anything.
They rematerialized in the same room. Well, almost the same room. Thick cables were strewn about the dark room and over the computers.
"Parallel Earth, parallel Torchwood," Jake explained. "Except we found out what the Institute was doing and the People's Republic took control."
That didn't matter to the Doctor. "I've got to get back. Rose is in danger, and her mother."
"That'll be Jackie, my wife in a parallel universe."
The Doctor scratched the back of his neck in amazement as Pete Tyler, Head of Torchwood, strode into the room.
"And as for you, Doctor, at least this time I know who you are."
"Right, yes, fine, hooray! But I've gotta get back. Right now."
"No, you're not in charge here. This is our world, not yours. And you're gonna listen for once."
Universes apart, but he's not so different from Rose. Genetics really are a marvel.
And then time seem to slow around him as the synapses in his mind all fired at once. This parallel world was the final piece to the puzzle.
He could close the breach from the proper side, and the Cybermen and Daleks would be pulled right back into the Void from whence they came as the breach sealed itself.
The TARDIS would be fine, having a variety of methods to shield herself from the Void.
But Rose did not. Rose would be pulled into the Void.
He shuddered at the thought.
He had to get her over here. It was the only way to guarantee her safety.
And how to get Rose to come over here?
Jackie.
If Jackie went with Pete, Rose would go with Jackie. Rose couldn't bear the thought of being separated from her mother. That's what she'd told him. And the Doctor didn't want that for Rose anyway.
So, retrospectively, because time is irrelevant, he reasoned, she gave me permission to do this.
It made sense on the surface, but he knew Rose wouldn't accept that excuse.
But all that mattered to him in that moment was keeping her safe from the approaching storm.
He rested his cheek on the wall of parallel Torchwood's Lever Room, peering with one eye over the vast expanse, fingers splayed across the surface. If he reached hard enough, he could feel his connection to the TARDIS. Blimey, the walls between dimensions were in poor shape, weren't they? If he didn't close off the breach soon, the two universes would collapse into one another.
Pete and Jake caught the Doctor up on the history of the Cybermen after he and Rose had left the parallel world the first time. Apparently, the time difference accelerated a bit. Three years since the Cybermen left that world. How many more since the Doctor and Rose left? In the proper universe, it had only been a few months.
Pete mentioned Mickey and how he'd gone ahead to find Rose.
The Doctor wanted to gauge his receptiveness towards gaining a daughter. Had that changed since their first visit? "She's your daughter. Did Mickey explain?"
"She's not mine. She's the child of a dead man." Pete was reluctant, but would come around once he got to know Rose. Rose could worm her way into anybody's heart.
Pete rambled on for a bit longer about the problems in his world due to the breach, and the Doctor scolded them about using the dimension disks. Pete tried to pawn off the Cybermen on the proper universe. The Doctor wouldn't have it.
"That's your problem," Pete said. "I'm protecting this world and this world only."
Tough man, tough sell, Pete Tyler.
But he was the key to solving the Doctor's dilemma. How to sell him the solution? Hit the heart.
The Doctor chuckled. "Pete Tyler. I knew you when you were dead. Now here you are, fighting the fight. Alone." He approached the man. "There is a chance, back on my world, Jackie Tyler might still be alive."
"My wife died."
"Her husband died. Good match."
"There's more important things at stake." He played hardball, but the Doctor had him. Any resistance against the Tyler women was futile, he knew. He needed to get them together.
"Doctor, help us," he pleaded.
Oh, was he going to help, more than Pete even knew.
"What? Close the breach, stop the Cybermen, defeat the Daleks? Do you believe I can do that?"
Pete finally smiled. "Yes."
"Maybe that's all I need." He grinned. "Off we go then!"
A quick trip through the Void, and they were back in the correct Torchwood. The rest of the day was somewhat of a blur to him. Every step forward meant he was closer to the time he'd have to say goodbye to Rose forever. He had to keep reminding himself that a living Rose was the only option at the end of all this, and sending her to the parallel world was the best way to ensure that happened.
First order of business: find Jackie. He stuffed the disk in his pocket for later. Rose would need it. He ran to phone Jackie in Yvonne's office. Bless her, practical mother-in-law, she answered her mobile. She was in the North staircase.
Next: find the Cybermen. "Surrender" and lead them to the Daleks. Might as well let some fall as collateral damage in this whole process. They would serve as a distraction so he and his friends could escape.
Then: rescue Rose. She needed to see Pete and Jackie reunite. It would make it easier for her, the hope of having her family reunited.
He directed the others to set charges on the other doors that lead into the Sphere Lab. He waited outside the open door where Rose was being held. He could hear her taunt the Daleks.
She was so strong. She didn't need him . She would be fine without him. Here she was, in the face of the most terrible, ghastly, deadly race in the universe. Anybody else would have cowered in fear. She scoffed in its eyestalk.
Gods, that was so sexy…but he couldn't think about that.
He fought down a wave of dread.
Put on a show for her, the Doctor thought. Don't let her see. Don't let her know.
"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" a Dalek barked.
That was his cue. He swaggered in to meet the Daleks.
"Oh, now, hold on, wait a minute!" He strode through the doors, 3D glasses on.
"ALERT. ALERT. YOU ARE THE DOCTOR," the Dalek Controller shouted.
"SENSORS REPORT HE IS UNARMED," another said.
"That's me. Always."
"THEN YOU ARE POWERLESS!"
"Not me. Never," he replied, and then regarded Rose with a warm smile. "How are you?"
"Oh, same old, you know." She grinned, relieved to finally see him.
"Good. And Mickity Mick Mickey. Nice to see you!" He fistbumped his old friend.
"And you, boss." Mickey smiled. There was a first.
"SOCIAL INTERACTION WILL CEASE."
The Dalek Controller addressed the Doctor. "HOW DID YOU SURVIVE THE TIME WAR?"
"By fighting. On the front line. I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that." His face was serious, a twinge of guilt pricking his hearts. "But you lot ran away!" he shouted with more levity.
"WE HAD TO SURVIVE."
"The last four Daleks in existence. So what's so special about you?"
Rose cut in. "Doctor, they've got names. I mean, Daleks don't have names, do they? One of them said they—"
"I AM DALEK THAY."
"DALEK SEK." He was the Controller.
"DALEK JAST."
"DALEK CAAN."
"So that's it! At last. The Cult of Skaro. I thought you were just a legend."
"Who are they?" Rose asked.
He stalked around one of the Daleks, whose eyestalk swiveled around to follow him. "A secret order above and beyond the Emperor himself. 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 said, referring to the Genesis Ark, "they said it was yours. I mean, Time Lords. They built it. What does it do?"
The Doctor shook his head. "I don't know. Never seen it before.
"But it's Time Lord," Rose pointed out.
"Both sides had secrets." He looked at Dalek Sek. "What is it? What have you done?"
"TIME LORD SCIENCE WILL RESTORE DALEK SUPREMACY."
"What does that mean? What sort of 'Time Lord science'? What do you mean?" he demanded.
"They said one touch from a time traveller will wake it up," Rose explained.
"Technology using the one thing a Dalek can't do. Touch." He leaned towards Dalek Sek's eyestalk, effectively getting in his face. "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 growled.
"THE DOCTOR WILL OPEN THE ARK!" Sek demanded.
He scoffed. "The Doctor will not."
"YOU HAVE NO WAY OF RESISTING."
"Well, you got me there," he feigned concession and reached inside his pocket. "Although there is always this." He pulled out his sonic.
"A SONIC PROBE?"
"That's screwdriver."
"IT IS HARMLESS."
"Oh, yes. 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. It is very good at opening doors."
He blew up the chargers attached to the doors.
The Cybermen, Pete, and Jake rushed in. The room erupted in crossfire between the Cybermen and the Daleks. Pete moved to pick up Rose off the floor and they all made it out of the room.
The Doctor didn't even care that Mickey touched the Ark, whatever it was. He would fix whatever hell emerged from it when he closed the breach.
The plan was working, to his delight and his dismay. Each successful step meant moving on to the next.
Now, to find Jackie in the stairwell. Figures, these jeopardy friendly Tyler women, there she was, about to be killed by the Cybermen. Pete fired the shot that killed them. How romantic was that?
Jackie was stunned. "Pete!"
"Hello Jacks," he said, a bit overwhelmed at seeing her face again.
"I said there were ghosts, but that's not fair. Why him?"
"I'm not a ghost."
"But you're dead. You died twenty years ago, Pete."
The Doctor stepped forward. "It's Pete from a different universe. There are parallel worlds, Jackie. Every single decision we make creates a parallel existence, a different dimension where—"
"Oh, you can shut up."
The Doctor nodded and stepped back.
Rose smiled.
"Oh," she whispered. "You look old."
"You don't."
"How can you be standing there?"
"Just got lucky." Pete's voice was on the verge of breaking, seeing the image of his dead wife. "Lived my life. You were left on your own. You didn't marry again, or…"
Jackie said with absolute conviction, "There was never anyone else."
The Doctor fought the urge to look at Rose. His plan was working. As it should. With that line, Jackie sealed the deal. And he knew there would never be anyone else for him.
"20 years, though. Look at me, I never left that flat. Did nothing with myself."
"Brought her up. Rose Tyler. That's not bad."
Jackie nodded. Nobody had told her that before. "Yeah," was all she could whisper.
He looked at Rose. He was so proud of her and who she'd become. And she would have a father again, but not in this world. He could at least give her that.
Rose's face shone with hope. Her hope was for Jackie to be happy, but there was also a hint of hope that maybe she would have a father again. Maybe he would stay and they would all be together, at least when she and the Doctor visited. Had he planned this, the Doctor? She would have to thank him—profusely, and not necessarily with words—later.
"In my world, it worked. All those daft little plans of mine, it worked. Made me rich."
"I don't care about that." Jackie paused. "How rich?"
"Very."
"I don't care about that." She paused again. "How very?"
Rose rolled her eyes. The Doctor smiled. Perfect match.
"Thing is though, Jacks, you—you're not my wife. I'm sorry but your not."
Jackie's face fell.
"I mean—we both—"
She nodded, on the precipice of tears.
"You know it's just sort of—" Pete tried to reason with himself. He really did. But with her, standing there in front of him, his resolved crumbled. "Aw, come here." Pete dropped the gun and he and Jackie ran to one another. She launched herself into his arms and he caught her.
The Doctor sighed with relief and dread. It worked, which only meant he was that much closer to having to say goodbye to Rose.
Next step, the two Magnaclamps from the warehouse. He'd attach them both to the wall and would be able to flip both the levers on. Then he would latch onto either one and hold on for dear life as the Daleks and the Cybermen flew past him into the Void.
The Ark, which the Daleks had been escorting through the warehouse, took to the sky. They all raced to the top floor to see what new havoc the Daleks would wreak on the world.
"Time Lord science," the Daleks had called it. Bigger on the inside. Millions of Daleks stuffed inside a prison ship, sent through the Void. Oh, this was not good. Damn the Time Lords.
The Daleks and the Cybermen would destroy the world, and so would the cracking walls of the dimensions if he didn't close it soon.
He had to get the Tylers out of there. Now.
Pete moved first. Just as well, because he found himself frozen in dread at the window over what he was about to do to Rose.
"I'm sorry, but you've had it," Pete declared. "This world's going to crash and burn. There's nothing we can do. We're going home." He grabbed a dimension hopper for Jackie. "Jacks, take this. You're coming with us."
"But they're destroying the city," she protested.
"Oh, I'd forgotten you could argue. It's not just London. It's the whole world." He placed the hopper around her neck and cupped her face. "But there's another world, just waiting for you, Jacks, and it's safe. As long as the Doctor closes the breach." He looked in the office. "Doctor?"
The Doctor took a deep breath. He prepared himself to put on a big show for Rose. He wanted to make her smile. That's how he wanted to remember her. He slipped on the glasses and turned around with a big, stupid grin. "Oh, I'm ready." He ran out of the office towards the computers. "I've got the equipment right here, thank you, Torchwood. Slam it down and close off both universes." He set about working on the software.
REBOOT SYSTEMS, called out the computer.
"But we can't just leave," said Rose. "What about the Daleks? And the Cybermen?"
He continued to play the manic fool. "They're part of the problem and that makes them part of the solution. Oh, yes!"
Rose smiled.
"Well? Isn't anyone going to ask? What is it with the glasses?" He pointed at his accessory.
Rose indulged him. "What is it with the glasses?"
"I can see! That's what!" he shouted. "'Cause 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 traveled through the Void to get here. And you lot," he motioned at the others, "one world to another, via the Void. Oh, I like that. 'Via the Void.' Look." He removed the glasses and put them on Rose.
She grabbed them and grinned.
"I've been through it. Do you see?" He weaved his head back and forth in front of Rose.
REBOOT IN THREE MINUTES.
His hearts raced. Three minutes with her. That's all he had left.
"What is it?" she asked, moving her hand through the particles that surrounded him.
"Void stuff."
"Like, erm, background radiation!" she smiled.
"That's it. Look at the others." He spun her around and pointed towards Jackie. "And the only one who hasn't been through the Void, your mother." He sniffed. "First time she's looked normal in her life."
Rose giggled.
"Oi," Jackie protested, but she could see something wasn't right. He was too manic, even by his standards.
He turned and ran towards the white wall. Like he hoped, Rose followed him. He wanted to run with her one more time. "But the Daleks lived inside the Void. They're bristling with it. Cybermen, all of them, I just open the Void. And reverse. The Void stuff gets sucked back inside."
"Pulling them all in!" Rose shouted. She was enthralled with this. She lived for this.
"Pulling them all in!" he repeated.
"Sorry," Mickey cut in, "but what's the Void?"
"The dead space. Some people call it hell." He'd answered that question so many times today. In any other circumstance, he'd have given a rude response at having to repeat himself so much.
"So, you're sending the Daleks and the Cybermen to hell?" Mickey slipped on his hopper. He laughed and turned look at Jake. "Man, I told you he was good."
Rose stopped grinning. "But it's like you said, we've all got void stuff. Me, too, 'coz we went to that parallel world." She looked down at her hand. "We're all contaminated. We'll get pulled in."
He knew she would make the connection, counted on it, wanted her to understand the plan for herself. He walked to her, head bowed, as she ran her hand through the Void particles.
He summoned any amount of courage he had left to meet her eyes. "That's why you've got to go."
REBOOT IN TWO MINUTES, the computer chimed.
Rose blinked in disbelief.
"Back to Pete's World," he continued. "Hey, we should call it that! Pete's World."
Pete smiled a little. The Doctor was clever, how he'd broken all of this to Rose.
"I'm opening the Void, but only on this side. You'll be safe on that side."
"And then you close it, for good?" Pete asked.
"The breach itself is soaked in Void stuff, in the end it'll close itself. And that's it. Caput," he emphasized the T in an effort to keep the mood light.
"But you stay on this side?" Rose asked.
"But you'll get pulled in?" Mickey asked.
He stared at Rose, re-memorizing what it felt like to be lost in her eyes. It would be the last time for him.
"That's why," he bounded over to the Magnaclamp, "I got these. I'll just have to hold tight, been doing all my life." He looked around at all his companions except Rose.
"I'm supposed to go."
"Yeah." He refused to look at her.
"To another world and then it gets sealed off."
"Forever."
Don't, Rose. Don't say forever. He couldn't stand to hear that word from her, what had been her promise to him. He distracted himself with setting the controls on the computer.
"That's not going to happen." Of course, she would fight.
The building shook from the commotion of the warring Daleks and Cybermen.
Pete sprung to action. "We haven't got time to argue. The plan works. We're going."
"No, I'm not leaving him!" Rose shouted.
"I'm not going without her," Jackie protested.
"Oh, my god, we're going!" Pete shot back. Any other man would have scampered away from Jackie's fierce glare. Pete wasn't fazed.
Pete deserved her, the Doctor thought, the one man in the entire multiverse who wasn't afraid of her.
"I've had 20 years without you, so button it. I'm not leaving her!" Jackie protested.
"You've got to," Rose insisted.
"Well, that's tough!"
Gods, those Tyler women were stubborn.
"Mum," Rose pleaded.
REBOOT IN ONE MINUTE.
"I've had a life with you for 19 years."
The Doctor stopped typing and stood behind her. She didn't understand that this was the only way to keep her safe. She didn't understand that he was willing to let her go so he could have the assurance that she was safe.
Rose continued, taking small steps towards the Doctor behind her. "But then I met the Doctor, and all the things I've seen him do for me, for you, for all of us, for the whole stupid planet, and every planet out there and he does it alone, Mum."
Pete reached for the dimension disk in his pocket and met the Doctor's eyes.
The Doctor pulled his disk out of his pocket at the same time.
They knew what had to be done.
Rose continued. "But not anymore. 'Cos now he's got me."
The Doctor slipped the disk over Rose's neck and prayed Pete would press his quickly. He couldn't bear to hear Rose argue with him. He couldn't bear for her to see him so broken.
All at once, Rose and the others disappeared.
He would be alone, if it meant Rose was safe. And now she was.
He moved to finish setting the coordinates at the computer. It was nearly time to close the breach.
Rose looked at her surroundings. He'd done it again, sent her away. "Oh, no, you don't. He's not doing that to me again."
She pressed the switch on her hopper and disappeared.
Pete snapped the disk from Jackie's neck, knowing that she would try to follow.
"But I've got to go back!" Jackie protested.
"The Doctor said, every time we use one of these, it damages the whole world. Now that's it!" he shouted.
"She's your daughter!"
"She's your daughter, not mine. That's an order."
Mickey stepped forward to challenge Pete, but Pete snatched the disk from him before he could do anything else.
"Mickey, tell him!" Jackie cried. "Mickey!"
Pete heard his wife's anguish. He tried to hug her.
"Get away from me!" Jackie shouted and pushed him away. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
"I think this is the on switch."
The Doctor snapped his head from the computer to see Rose standing in front of him. He grasped her arms. "Once the breach collapses, that's it. You'll never be able to see her again. Your own mother!" he shouted.
She was resolute. "I made my choice a long time ago and I'm never going to leave you."
She loved him. She was willing to give up her family for him.
He shouldn't have tried to force her to go. He was furious with her, but he understood, and he knew there was no arguing with Rose Tyler, and he would have to deal with her later.
Oh, gods, her eyes were darting between his eyes and his lips. Later, he told himself. He'd deal with that later, after all this was done.
"So what can I do to help?" she asked.
SYSTEMS REBOOTED. OPEN ACCESS.
And now he didn't have a choice to send her back. The disk wouldn't recharge in enough time. The computer was ready. He needed to stop the Daleks and the Cybermen.
And he was furious with her. She was in danger. He had no choice but to risk her safety now.
"Those coordinates over there, set them all to six. And hurry up!" he barked for good measure, just to let her know how angry he was.
Rose tried to hide a smile. He'd get over it later, when she was snogging the life out of him and more. She would not let him get away with trying to send her away yet again.
The computer signaled that Cybermen were close.
"We've got Cybermen on the way up."
He looked over her shoulder. "How many floors down?"
"Just one."
He ran back to his computer and finished working on the settings.
LEVERS OPERATIONAL.
Music to his ears. He grinned. He rushed to grab the Magnaclamps. This would work. They would make it through this. As long as they had the Magnaclamps, they would survive this and come out on the other side. And he would never let Rose go again. In fact, he was going to handcuff her to his bed and keep her there for the rest of his lives.
"That's more like it. Bit of a smile. The old team."
"Hope and Glory. Mutt and Jeff. Shiver and Shake."
"Which one's Shiver?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm Shake." He handed the Magnaclamp to her.
They both lifted the Magnaclamps to the wall. "Press the red button," he instructed her. "When it starts, just hold on tight. Shouldn't be too bad for us. Are you ready?"
Rose started out the office window. The Daleks were approaching. "So are they."
"Let's do it!" the Doctor shouted, and they both shifted their levers into the on position. They ran for their Magnaclamp and held on.
The vacuum from the Void pulled them, but the Magnaclamps held firm.
"The breach is open! Into the Void! Ha!" he shouted as the Daleks flew by them.
Soon, they saw many more Daleks and Cybermen flying by. One of them happened to strike the lever on Rose's side. It started to lower to the off position.
OFFLINE.
"Hold on!" he shouted. He would figure this out.
In hindsight, he would forever feel guilty for not thinking sooner. Something as simple as using the sonic to reactivate the lever would have sufficed. Anything besides what he let happen.
He was mortified, paralyzed as Rose reached out, hoping to catch it before it moved too far from her grasp.
She had to let go of the Magnaclamp to reach it. "Gotta get it upright!" she shouted. She struggled to push the lever back up against the force of the pulling Void.
ONLINE AND LOCKED.
"Rose, hold on!" he shouted.
He watched her fingers slipped.
"Hold on!" he shouted again and reached for her, even though he knew it would do no good.
Her fingers finally failed and she fell towards the Void.
"ROSE!" He screamed in horror. "NO!" Unbidden tears clouded his vision as he screamed until his throat was raw.
Pete appeared. He caught Rose.
She looked back at the Doctor.
Pete activated a second disk and the pair disappeared.
The wall rippled and he saw the opening to the Void collapse on itself.
His chest heaved and he stared in disbelief.
Pete saved her. Pete saved her. Pete saved her, he repeated to himself.
She was safe.
Eventually he convinced his racing hearts of that fact.
She was safe, but now she was gone.
She was gone. Forever.
He walked to the stark white wall and pressed himself against it, resting his cheek on the cold surface. He laid his palm on the wall, hoping to feel the other side. Nothing.
Rose slammed her palms on the wall, hoping to break through to the other side. "Take me back! Take me back!" she sobbed. "Take me back!"
Pete removed his dimension hopper. "It's stopped working. He did it. He closed the breach."
Jackie looked at him with growing tears. She knew her daughter was safe, yes, but she was also without her Doctor.
"No!" Rose sobbed. When she calmed after a moment, she rested her cheek on the cold surface. She laid her palms on the wall, hoping to feel the other side. Nothing.
The Doctor mindlessly trudged away from the wall. He had to shut down, or he'd be overcome by grief. He made the long walk through the silent corridors of Canary Wharf back to the TARDIS. He opened the doors and stepped in. He leaned his head back to rest on the wood for a long time, trying to shove down any feelings of sorrow.
Sorrow meant he was giving up. Accepting that Rose was gone.
No. He refused to succumb to sorrow. Rose deserved better.
He blinked back the tears he felt threatening to consume him, and he walked straight to the console to begin working, and he wouldn't rest until he found a way back to her.