While the Doctor tried to figure out what was up with the Fake Doctor, I wandered towards the nearby town street. to see if there were clues about there. The Doctor glanced my way as I left but he didn't say anything to try and stop me leaving. I assumed he figured what I was going to do.
The street of London was busy, as if the whole fight against the monster hadn't happened. I looked up and down the street, getting some weird looks from the civilians who stared at my clothes. I imagined I looked completely odd to them, wearing modern clothes. I had changed out of my pajamas the second I found my old room in the TARDIS. In that room, a small pile of clothes was waiting, as if the TARDIS knew I was coming back.
Snow fell fast on the street, quickly covering my head and shoulders. I started walking down one end of the street, with no real direction of where I was supposed to be going. It seemed weird that before I would've been charmed and blown away by the sights of Victorian London, but now I knew there was a job to do, and I had to figure out what was happening.
"Excuse me," I said to the first friendly face I saw, a woman who looked to be in her early twenties who had been sweeping away the freshly fallen snow from a shop's front door. She looked up at me with wide blue eyes and raised her eyebrows slightly, silently asking what I wanted. "I was wondering if you knew who the funeral tonight is for?"
The woman nodded, a lock of blond hair falling from her pulled up hair. "He was a clergyman. I never knew him, ma'am. He never really walked these streets, barely ever indeed." Her accent was so thick it took me a moment to completely understand what she was saying.
"Okay, thank you," I said. "What's your name?"
"Emilia, ma'am," She relied with a slight nod, that lock of blond hair swinging again across her freckled face. "This here's my husband's shop." Emilia looked up at the shop's sign and I followed her gaze, seeing that it was a butcher's shop. I nodded.
"Hey, Emilia," I started, stuffing my hands into my jacket pockets. "Any idea of someone who might have known the clergyman better? I'd like to know how he died."
Emilia frowned hard. "Why in the heavens would you want to know that?" She asked. But when I didn't answer, her face turned beet red. "There's a man who lives by the docks. He used to stay at the chapel a lot. Might he know." She paused, still blushing and I gathered that she had a crush on this dock man. I glanced back into the shop where her husband was most likely preparing meat and said nothing.
Emilia continued. "He might not even be able to help you, ma'am. He likes the rum, he does."
"Still worth a try," I replied, giving her a smile. "Thank you, Emilia."
The woman smiled and nodded deeply, that lock of hair swinging again. I nodded back at her and turned away, leaving the butcher's shop and the kind woman with freckles behind. I was starting to ask directions to the docks when I spotted the Doctor and Fake Doctor rushing towards me.
"What'd you get into?" I asked, my voice going up an octave. The Doctor and Fake Doctor were sweaty and tired-looking. It looked like they had just been in a fight.
The Doctor shook his head at me and heaved a sigh. "We've got a lot to go over, Anne. Come inside."
I followed him and the others inside, where he sat down next to me and across from the Fake Doctor and Rosita.
"The story starts with the Cybermen," The Doctor started. "And they fought, and they were beaten into a wilderness called the Void. Locked inside forevermore. But then a greater battle rose up, so great that everyone involved perished." And that's how the Doctor explained that a single Cyberman must've fallen through and landed here, creating more Cybermen to create another army. I listened as the Fake Doctor said that he remembered fighting them but nothing else.
"Someone else fought the Cybermen." The Doctor said, nodding towards the piles of luggage in the room. "A man named Jackson Lake. No body was ever found, you have his suitcases yet you can't open them. May I see your watch?" The Fake Doctor handed it over and the Doctor flipped it over to reveal a set of initials. "J.L. Jackson Lake."
"Jackson Lake is you, sir!" Rosita exclaimed.
"But I'm the Doctor," The Fake Doctor said quietly, as if trying to convince himself.
"You became the Doctor when you picked up that info-stamp." The Doctor explained. "It was a book of one particular man." The Doctor flipped a switch on an info-stamp from his coat and lights began to swirl. I looked to the wall to see a sort of light show, showing faces of the Doctor's past lives, faces that, thanks to my Sight abilities, I had dreamed about. I had seen some of their adventures in my dreams, and now their faces were flashing on the wall in front of us.
"The info-stamp must've backfired." The Doctor explained gently to Jackson Lake, who was holding his head in his hands. "All that information about me went into you, making you believe that you were me."
Jackson Lake started shaking. "I am nothing but a lie." He said, sounding defeated.
"No you're not." I insisted. "You've been defending London. If that's not bravery, I don't know what is."
"Exactly," The Doctor said with a appreciative nod at me.
"There's more!" Jackson Lake shouted suddenly, causing Rosita beside him to flinch. "I demand you tell me what else there is!"
The Doctor stared at him with sadness in his big brown eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." My blood turned to ice. Whenever the Doctor said he was sorry...
I didn't have time to finish that thought when the Doctor turned to the large pile of luggage. "That's too big a pile for just one man." He paused as Jackson Lake stared hard at the luggage. "The info-stamp just backfired on you. Your mind is gone right now, because it can't stand to look back. You wanted to become someone else because Jackson Lake had lost so much."
Somewhere far away, a bell started to chime. "Midnight," Rosita whispered. "Christmas day."
"I remember," Jackson Lake said softly, looking lost. "Oh my God...Caroline...they killed my wife. They killed her!" He broke down weeping, Rosita hurrying to hold her friend.
There was a small beeping coming from behind me and the Doctor reached around me to grab it. I frowned at the small device, wishing it would give the man some time to process and grieve. But the Doctor had to figure out what was happening, so he got up towards the luggage. I watched as he opened the luggage and pulled out a large belt of info-stamps.
"What's that noise though?" I asked. "Doctor?"
"A call to arms," The Doctor said just loud enough for me to hear. "The Cybermen are moving!" With that said, he darted out of the room and house, leaving me no choice but to hurry after him as fast as I could.