Chapter 12: Bait and Switch

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Mickey had wandered through the streets, surprised by the differences from this world to his own. The soldiers and curfew had been one thing, but that moment when a few people in the street around him had stopped suddenly was something else. Mickey had stepped closer to investigate, wishing suddenly that he hadn't been so blasé about tromping off on his own, despite Cathryn and Bec's encouragement. He had been about to message the girls when a man who smelled like he'd been in the same clothes without a wash for weeks pulled him back.

"Don't disturb the Plugged In's," he hissed. "You don't want to set off the Shrill do you?"

"The shrill?" Mickey repeated, unable to hide his confusion.

The bum rolled his eyes with a huff and forcibly grabbed Mickey's arm, dragging him away from the people frozen in place. "You touch them while they're downloading and it sets off the alarm, the Shrill. You do that and half the army fall on this place. They don't care who's guilty. You'll take us all down, but don't think the other fella's would let you live long enough to be arrested if you do," he warned viciously. It was obvious to Mickey that the man wasn't warning him for his sake, but for his own.

"Okay. Alright. No touching. Got it," Mickey acquiesced quickly, and the ragged man vanished back into the shadows between buildings.

Just as he was getting over being shaken by the threatening exchange, all the frozen people around him suddenly released a unified bubble of laughter which made him squeal and jump back still further from them, then they continued on their way as though nothing had happened.

The inter-dimensional traveller looked around perplexed. How could the world be so similar but so different? People walking around with flashing plugs in their ears that made them freeze in the street. Downloading? Is that what the bum had said? Like some sort of computer that goes straight into their brains? Mickey shuddered at the thought, glad he had grown up in his own universe and not this one.

For a moment he dearly looked forward to getting home again, until he remembered what Bec and Cathryn had said about his old Gran. If she was here, it would be worth staying. All the more if he could help out the girls once they escaped the Doctor.

His jaw set. No. He wouldn't go back. All he had to go back for was Rose, and it was very clear that she wasn't there for him to go back to anymore. And he certainly wouldn't keep travelling with the Doctor if he had a better alternative, not after what he'd seen the man do. He hoped the girl's plan to escape succeeded, for their sakes.

Soon he was walking the familiar path to his childhood home, well, a version of it anyway, when the young man was suddenly struck by a thought. Rose had said there was no version of her in this universe. Did he exist? Or would his Gran treat him like a stranger? Or worse! Did he have a double? In which case, he could never really stay with his Gran, not like he wanted to.

His mind flew back to what Cathryn and Bec had said, telling him he had to meet his counterpart. Is that what they meant? Another version of him? The him that the Gran in this universe would have raised?

He hesitated, suddenly doubting whether visiting his Gran was a good idea. What would happen if the other him was there with her? What would she think when she heard him?

But how could he not at least see her? Even if it was just the once? Just to know that she was alive and well, to tell her how much she meant to him like he never had the chance to before she was gone.

He took a slow deep breath and approached the door. Still worrying about her reaction if he was already there. She always sent me to answer the door, he remembered. I hear her telling me to answer, I bolt before I do, he decided, nodding slightly to himself as he reached for the knocker.

"Who's that there?" a sharp voice called out.

Gran! Mickey froze, unable to respond as the door opened before him. Despite what the girls had told him, despite all he'd been thinking, he realised that he never truly believed she was alive, that he could see her again.

He remembered coming home that day, seeing the ambulance in the street, the paramedics loading the covered stretcher into the back of the van. He'd watched with interest as they slammed the doors closed... until he'd seen the police officers walking out of the front door of his own home, approaching the paramedics.

His Gran had died. He'd watched them drive away with her as he stood across the road beside his pushbike. They'd never even noticed him, no one had, not until one of the gossiping neighbours had offered to let him sit on their couch while they made him tea, no doubt so she could relate his grief to the rest of the street afterwards. He'd fled. He'd gone to Rose. The one person he had left who knew him for who he was, who he didn't have to pretend for. He didn't pretend that he didn't miss his Mum. He didn't pretend that he wasn't angry at his Dad. And he didn't pretend that he wasn't devastated by the loss of his Gran.

But here she stood before him, alive and formidable as she ever was.

"Hi," he said finally, at a complete loss for words.

The elderly woman stepped forward, the proud expression fading into something more vulnerable at the sound of his voice. "Is that you?" she asked, as though she hadn't seen him for as long as he'd been without her.

"It's me. I came home," he told her. His first homecoming since that day. He'd been back, of course, when he'd had to clear out his stuff when he moved into his flat, but it hadn't been home anymore. Her presence had filled the whole house, no matter which room she was in, but the house had been empty. He'd packed, left, and never looked back.

"Mickey?" she called, the hopeful grief in her voice tearing at his heart. She sounded so lonely.

"It's me Gran."

She reached forward blindly and pulled him into a tight embrace, one he never thought he'd feel again. "I came home," he repeated, his words muffled by her shoulder.

After a moment she pulled back again, and Mickey searched for something to say, wanting to tell her how glad he was to see her, how much she meant to him, how sorry he was for everything he'd done to make her so upset, and everything he hadn't done... but instead he found himself fending off the angry slaps that she levelled in his direction.

"You stupid boy," she admonished over his protests. "Where have you been? It's been days and days! I keep hearing all these stories. People disappearing off the streets. There's nothing official on the download but there're all these rumours, and, and whispers. I thought that God had disappeared you!"

But Mickey's attention had been stolen from her words to the frayed carpet step inside her home. "That carpet on the stairs, I told you to get it fixed. You're going to fall and break your neck," he warned her, his grief and guilt colouring his words.

"Well, you get it fixed for me," she delegated firmly.

"I should have done way back," he admitted. If he'd only fixed it the first time... "I guess I'm just kind of useless."

"Now, I never said that," his Gran corrected reassuringly.

"I am, though," he admitted, his voice thick. "And I'm sorry, Gran. I'm so sorry."

"Don't talk like that," she said consolingly, obviously taken aback by her grandson's turn around. "Do you know what you need? A nice sit down and a cup of tea. You got time?"

Mickey offered her a gentle smile, even though she couldn't see it. "For you, I've got all the time in the world."

"Oh, you say that, but it's all talk," the matriarch corrected. "It's those new friends of yours. I don't trust them."

"What friends are they?" the traveller asked, suddenly remembering that there was another him running around this London somewhere. A flare of anger burned in his chest for a moment that the other Mickey had simply abandoned his Gran, left her so broken and lonely, and after all she'd done for him. He hadn't even bothered to fix that step before he left. Did he not know what would happen? An old blind woman with a frayed carpet stair? Was the other him so different that he just didn't care?

But then his judgment turned inward. His double wasn't that different, because he'd never fixed the stair either, only he'd had to live with the consequences that his duplicate had been able to avoid. Well, not anymore. If his double had been missing so long, then he could fix the stair without fear of being found out as an imposter. He could fix the cupboard door in the kitchen that never closed, that the broom always fell out of. He could fix the taps in the bathroom that always dripped. He could be the grandson he always should have been.

"Don't pretend you don't know," she continued, unaware of the young man's wayward thoughts. "You've been seen with them. Missus Chan told me. Driving about all helter skelter in that van."

"What van's that, then?" he asked, hopelessly trying to pick up the threads of the conversation, even though it was regarding his double's actions, not his own.

"You know full well! Don't play games with me," she told him in a tone that warned that she was not to be trifled with. "Get inside." Her invitation was an order, but not one that Mickey could accept, as, at that very moment, he was grabbed and manhandled away from the door.

"I've been looking for you everywhere!" the man barked as he rushed Mickey into the van that he hadn't noticed until the tyres had screeched to a halt right outside his Gran's home. Mickey was too much in shock to resist, still shaken as he was at seeing his Gran again to be able to respond quickly enough to being abducted. The door was slammed shut, and the van sped off, but not before Mickey heard his old Gran fearfully calling his name.

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The explanation was a haphazard one. Mickey was berated, on top of various things, for making contact with his family, which Jake, one of the lead techs, told him in no certain terms that he should know. Then he was pronounced as 'number one'.

"Number one in what?" he asked Jake.

"The number one," the young man repeated as though the answer should be obvious. "Top of the list. London's top ten most wanted."

"Right…." Mickey nodded as if understanding, but then his thoughts hiccuped to a pause as the words began to sink in, his chest constricting. "Could you just say that again?"

What had he gotten himself into?

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Mickey felt like he was getting deeper and deeper into trouble with seemingly no way to get out, but his inadvertent gig was up when they ran into his counterpart, as Bec had tried to explain. Still the situation was disorienting, as the other Mickey circled him suspiciously.

"Satisfied?" he finally asked his stalking double, having answered all their questions as credibly as possible, meaning he left out the whole coming from another universe part.

The other Mickey was bemused. "This is impossible. He's even wearing the same tattoo."

"You both have the same fathers?" Jake suggested remembering the stranger's answers to Mickey's earlier question. "Brothers?"

"I was under the impression, I was the only child."

"Well, be fair, Mickey. What else could it be?" Jake folded his arms across his chest.

"But he doesn't just look like me. He is exactly the same." The militant Mickey bent down as he scrutinised his twin, trying to find any differences between them. It just didn't seem right to him. If this imposter had been sent in to spy on them or to try to replace him to infiltrate the group, then Lumic had backed the wrong horse. This 'Mickey' was no fighter. Even if he hadn't been available to expose the doppelganger, his group would have worked it out soon enough. The man, though he looked the part and knew his history, seemed to have no idea who they were. Why would he have been sent to infiltrate them with surpassing history and yet no relevant information? He couldn't have been a spy. "There's something else going on here, Jake," he concluded aloud.

Mickey had frowned and glanced at his tattoo when his double mentioned it, remembering his decision to get it after his dad had left. The Ying and Yang symbol was the first part of the tattoo he'd had inked. He'd chosen it not as a reminder of all he's suffered, of his loss and rejection, but as a reminder that he could be better than all that, that even with all the bad he had suffered, he could still be good, that those bad things helped him to be good. Everything in his life that had pulled him down had only served to build him up into the man he was, and he would be a better man for it. Ying and Yang. He even had the date of his epiphany written boldly above the design to make sure he would never forget, to remind himself to be a better man than his father had been, to not let the bad things in life weigh down the good.

His tattoo had taken on a new significance for him after his Gran had died. He'd realised that he hadn't been as good as he'd vowed to be, he had only focused on what was good for him. Then that year that Rose had been missing… he'd wondered if this was his Karma for not being better, for not taking the few hours to put his Gran's needs before his own. Looking at it again, he silently reaffirmed his promise, and he would start by helping Bec and Cathryn in any way that he could, by putting their needs, their need to escape, foremost in his priorities.

And he couldn't help them by being the tin dog, by letting things happen around him. He would be better.

"So who are you lot?" he asked, taking initiative despite still being tied to a chair.

Mickey straightened, circling in the chair his double occupied. "We, we are the Preachers. As in Gospel Truth. You see?" He gestured his ears in demonstration. "No ear plugs. While the rest of the world downloads from Cybus Industries, we, we have got freedom. You're talking to London's Most Wanted," he announced, pausing for effect. "But target Number One is Lumic, and we are going to bring him down."

"From your kitchen?" Mickey queried, bewildered as to whether this ragtag group were the force of reckoning they made themselves out to be. Was this really what the girls had in mind?

Jake only smirked at him. The caustic grin said it all to clear. Once again, he was considered the fool.

"Have you got a problem with that?" the other Mickey demanded, leaning in threateningly.

"No, it's a good kitchen," the young man offered, certainly not wishing to upset his captors.

The laptop let out a pronounced ding. "It's an upload from Gemini," Mrs. Moore alerted them all quickly as Mickey looked on in confusion.

"Who is Gemini?" No one answered him and he grimaced. Of course not. Once an idiot, always the idiot.

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

"And we are right behind him." The other Mickey's voice was authoritative. He was used to giving commands and having them be followed. "Pack up, we're leaving."

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Cybermen fanned out through the streets like a military parade, gathering a harvest to be upgraded. There numbers were still low, but they seemed to be strategically focusing their efforts on those who could be acquired unobtrusively, whether those who joined the parade at the Cybermen's invitation, oblivious to the danger as they sought to learn what the stunt was promoting, or those at the fringes who could be acquired by force without raising the suspicions of the general populace. Bec and Cathryn evidently fell into this second group.

Running through the alley had its own set of dangers. Bec led the way through scarcely lit corridors while Cathryn, bring up the rear, struggled to see the path up ahead. She was briefly caught by a sharp, sting of pain, feeling a piece of broken glass, likely from the broken window parallel to them, cut directly into her lower calf. Tears welled in her eyes as blood welled from the wound, soaking through her leggings and dripping down her foot onto the ground. Her cry and hiss of pain caused Bec to stop momentarily, double back a step to grip her arm.

"You okay?" Bec asked, glancing behind them, knowing that time, of any increment, was not on their side.

"Ye…yes," Cathryn managed, but Bec came close to inspect the injury just the same.

"Can I see?" she asked quickly as she glanced around the empty alley, praying it would remain so.

The cut was jagged and deep, but not too deep. Blood was seeping from the wound, but not running or spurting as though an artery or major blood vessel had been cut. "It'll need stitches, sorry, but it will be okay for now. We'll wrap it up. I'm sorry, but we can't stop long," Bec said, taking stock of her own and Cathryn's clothing as she considered what she could use as some sort of temporary bandage.

Cathryn spotted a discarded towel lying on the ground. It was hardly clean but who was she to be picky? Seizing the towel, she made a makeshift bandage to tie tightly around her leg, while Bec went back to surveilling the alleyway. Bec had been right, it was still deep and she would eventually require stitches or…. She thought of the sonic. Yes. The correct setting would treat small wounds. She certainly hoped this would qualify. "It's fine. I'll be fine," she reassured her friend as she tested the injury by straightening her leg. She winced slightly, but ignored the pain. It was far less than what she would experience if they were caught. "We have to get going. They're gaining on us."

"But where?" Bec asked. "I'm all turned around and I've never been here before." She sighed in consternation. She and her husband had talked about visiting England for their honeymoon but finances dictated that they consider alternate destinations or else delay moving out of the family granny flat for another few years, therefore she had never visited the City she always yearned to visit. Through the years, other events inevitably delayed their plans. Bec had become pregnant with Hope and then she received word about her daughter's impending condition, and then they had two small boys to consider. Their initial plan to visit the United Kingdom slowly being redesignated as a one day holiday.

"The underground," Cathryn announced finally. "It's a labyrinth and there's tunnels not even open to the public. Take a few minutes hide in there. Come out the other end. Try to find a car."

"And if…." Bec breathed. "If they catch us. The Cybermen…."

"Then, God help us all," Cathryn told her. "Don't think about it. We stay together. We don't split up. Then we wait."

Wait for what, it was hard to say. They dashed into the Lancaster station while they located the sealed door with a warning informing the public it was only available for maintenance. The sonic proved helpful in bypassing this barrier, but, Cathryn had to admit, it was eerie to see the underground look like the grim outline of a horror movie. As soon as they resealed the gate, leading to the dark, unused tracks below, they heard the stomping metal feet acting in unison. They were searching for subjects to acquire for upgrading. They were looking for them.

Cathryn glanced down at her phone. 'No signal'. Both she and Bec waited with baited breath to see whether these horrifying creatures would stop to check the door or if they were fortunate, simply to pass them by. Please, please, please…. she silently begged. She felt choked by her very fear, almost to the point of losing rationality. The gentle comfort she'd previously felt as she and Bec had supported each other through this ordeal had fled her the further they'd fled from the mansion, as they'd delved deeper into the danger of Cyberman territory. The loss of that feeling of safety left in its place an emptiness, a hollow helplessness that sought to overwhelm her. Turning to see Bec, who had paled considerably and appeared just as helpless and terrified as she felt, she took both her hands in her own, murmuring a quiet prayer, offering her own gentle comfort. 'Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name…."

And within her mind, she felt Bec repeating the very words Cathryn had spoken as they huddled down quietly in the dark.

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The rescue from the Preachers was indeed very well timed despite the two Mickeys' wariness of one another. They had followed the trail of breadcrumbs, which led directly to Pete Tyler and his Estate. This time, Mickey felt as though he now had the upper hand acting as a rescuer, which gave him some bit of satisfaction, although the Doctor was never one to give a thank you.

The frantic expression on the Doctor's face after he discharged the power cell to reduce the Cybermen to various hunks of metal and debris did not depart for a moment, even as he directed the group into the getaway van, including convincing Pete to flee without his wife. Mickey gave a brief inward smile at the plan that was so far working perfectly. Now it rested on him to maintain the act, disguising his communication with Cathryn and Bec. He'll never expect it, will he? he thought darkly. Not from some idiot who can't be trusted. The irony of the situation was, he could be trusted. Certainly to those he considered friends. He would fight tooth and nail to keep them at his side.

But the Doctor after all he had seen was clearly not a friend. A man who had stolen them for selfish reasons and dictated his own brand of authority. No parent would treat their children that way. He rolled his shoulders back, examining the three they had salvaged from Pete Tyler's mansion while putting on a verifiable look of confusion.

"Wait, where are Bec and Cathryn?" Mickey asked looking around anxiously. He'd gotten their message that they'd successfully left the estate, but he had to keep up the ruse that he was ignorant of their whereabouts.

"I don't know," the Doctor admitted, everything about his demeanour betraying his stress. "If they stepped outside they may have been taken by an advance guard, rather than slaughtered like the rest." He closed his eyes, breathing slowly and deeply as his whole self paused, as he focused his every thought on the Bond, pouring his very focus and energy into it. At one singular moment he thought he felt a burst of their panic straining through the newly developed Bond. That evident moment of fear and then….nothing. He couldn't sense them. They had been taken to far too quickly, and their telepathy was still too underdeveloped, so the range of the Bond was so much more restricted than it would one day be.

"West, we need to go west," he announced, determining that as the last direction he'd sensed his children before their presence faded.

"No," Mrs Moore said firmly from behind the wheel. "You're with us, you go our way."

"But if the Cybermen have them-" He broke off, too sickened to continue the thought out loud, but his mind filled in the blanks for him in excruciatingly painful detail of what his girls would suffer.

"Hang on, you wouldn't let me go back for my wife, but you'll risk all of us for your friends," Pete demanded in disgust. Hot fury and guilt warred within him. He shouldn't have left, he shouldn't have left her behind. He'd listened to this man, this hypocrite, who told him to leave his wife for dead so he could save his own friends. Why did he ever leave Jackie? Why did he listen? Was it because this stranger gave him an excuse to flee when he was too afraid to save her?

"She might still be alive," Rose offered the man who wasn't her father hopefully.

"That's even worse," Pete lamented, as his mind turned to the horrors he may have abandoned Jackie to, thinking of the reports he'd managed to steal into.

"Anyone in that house is dead," the Doctor reiterated, both as a comfort and a resolute reminder. "But they got out before the bloodbath, before everyone was declared incompatible. They still have a chance-"

"You said it yourself, if those machines have them they're dead," Pete argued, fuming that this man would dismiss his wife for his own friends. Was she no more important than anyone else?

"They're only children, my children!" the Doctor yelled.

"You told me to leave Jackie behind, my wife. If they were still in the house would you have gone back for them?" Pete demanded.

The Doctor pause moment sucking in a breath through his teeth. He knew where Pete's argument was going, but it didn't make a difference. Of course he would have gone back for them. What father wouldn't?

"Hang on, I thought they were your grandchildren, great grandchildren even," Mickey accused before the Doctor could get another word in. Even he could see the Doctor's hypocrisy, especially given the 'children' in question were older than he.

"They are children of the house of Lungbarrow and, as Head of House, that makes them my children, regardless of generational separation," he explained at high speed.

"Well if those cyberthings have them you'll need something better than running after them, guns blazing, given how well that went," Mrs Moore added, ever the voice of reason in their small collective.

"Yeah, what was that thing that took them down?" the other Mickey demanded. Considering what they were facing, he didn't want this stranger holding out on them if he had a weapon that could help them that could help the stop Lumic and his machines.

"A little bit of home," the Doctor admitted distractedly. His thoughts were still on his girls, but their driver was correct. He needed a plan, and to form a plan he needed information. "How about you? How did you just 'happen' to be here?" he suddenly demanded of the vigilante group.

"We've got someone on the inside," the duplicate Mickey explained. "Someone who's told us who the traitors are, who sold us all out to Lumic." He hoisted his gun towards Pete as he spoke. "Might not work on those robot men, but flesh and blood…" He never thought it would come to this, but after everything he had seen, all the lives that had been lost, could he risk that Pete Tyler would betray them, the only resistance against Cybus Industries, to his master?

"Put that down now," the Doctor commanded calmly. He found it hard to reconcile the alternate Mickey with the one from his own universe. They looked the same, spoke in the same manner, but this Mickey was slightly harder, as though he had been exposed to far more hardships and suffering and had reached the point where he had to fight back. Is this what their own Mickey was capable of? Would he also be willing to fight with whatever he had for what he believed in? An admirable trait, if so, but, so their own Mickey didn't follow the same path as this alternate version, so he would never consider killing as the best option, he would have to guide the young man as he travelled with them, teach him a better way than his duplicate had learned. Is this the potential his girls had seen? Was this why they had always spoken against his disregard for the boy? Had he truly missed seeing Mickey's potential?

Mickey in turn was a little off guard. Bec and Cathryn seemed invariably surprised in their text message when he confirmed he had met his counterpart. My counterpart. Mickey thought. There's something you don't hear every day. Not while changing brake pads or rotating tires. He shook his head briefly, glancing surreptitiously at his phone. Thankfully, the Doctor advanced the SIM card so if the wireless network was down, it could still function as a sole mobile hotspot and transmitter. Their one surprise was his counterpart's name was also his and not 'Ricky'. Parallel World. Mickey shrugged. Why wouldn't it be Mickey? Although, he had to admit, that might simplify matters when either one of them was addressed. Maybe it's as simple as that. He thought. Sorta rubbish like name changes for a telly show means less work. Apparently, there was some debate as to call them Mickey one and Mickey two but which one would be considered first?

Probably him. Mickey groused, looking at his counterpart. The Doctor even appeared to respect his double more than he ever did him. Right. Cause I'm always the idiot no matter what. That whole year Rose was gone. Hacking into Scotland Yard, MI-5 to find her. Oh, that was bloody awful. Three times he'd been called in and interrogated. He knew it was more than just because they dated or snogged, he was profiled. His race came into question, which made the experience worse. Forced to spend the money he had been saving for a car on an attorney instead. He huffed quietly before glancing at the Doctor, barely concealing his disdain. Good riddance to this tosser.

"We have in on good authority that Mister Pete Tyler has been working for Lumic since twenty point five," other Mickey sneered, his aim not wavering. He's just as guilty as Lumic, he told himself, trying to strengthen his resolve. All those lives lost. Even wouldn't even wish this on his worse enemy.

"Is that true?" Rose asked the man softly, the disbelief evident in her voice.

"Tell 'em, Mrs M," the young apparent leader of the group ordered.

The Doctor turned towards the informative driver, listening closely to all that was said. "We've got a government mole who feeds us information. Lumic's private files, his South American operations, the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week."

"Broadcast from Gemini?" Pete interrupted.

"And how do you know that?" other Mickey demanded, jerking the gun threateningly.

"I'm Gemini. That's me," the multi-millionaire stated.

"Yeah, well you would say that," the young man with the aggressive gun scoffed uncertainty.

"Encrypted wavelength six five seven using binary nine. That's the only reason I was working for Lumic. To get information. I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services. What do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They've even got the van."

Binary nine. Mickey noted to himself. It could prove helpful should they come into direct access with the server. But….

"Wait," he said. "No, no, no." He paused in some momentary confusion. "The Preachers- you all know what you're doing. Retrace the IP address to the source. Hadn't you thought of-"

"Course I thought of it," the other Mickey defended. "They keep changing the port number and their firewall settings." He grimaced. "Circuit-level gateway, proxy server and packet filter, on the software and hardware level. That's why we needed a mole."

"Because every time you tried to bypass the server using an SSH port with an NAT router, they were able to tunnel in back to your IP address through the remote host." Mickey nodded. They could latch onto their IP no matter how many remote servers they tried to bounce it through. "So all that got you on the nine most wanted list?"

"Nine most wanted hackers," the other Mickey clarified. "I was fighting the system." He paused. "Directly."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows as slow comprehension began to dawn on him. Had he always assumed Mickey was an idiot based on that very first impression? He remembered how upset Rose was when she thought the young man was dead. He had been dismissive but he hadn't known Mickey and when the boy was holding tightly to Rose, overwhelmed in panic from the hours he spent trapped by the Nestene Consciousness, he liked him even less. But now….

He swallowed thinking of his girls, remembering how ardently they spoke on Mickey's behalf. My girls….his thoughts drifted, thinking of the Cybermen and cringed. What if they were already taken? What if they….

No. He couldn't go there. Not yet. Perhaps their acute visionary nature saw the attack coming minutes before it occurred. They could simply be hiding or…ooohh, he could imagine how terrified they were but he simply wasn't in range through the bond to offer them any comfort.

He struggled to turn his attention back to the situation at hand and forced a grin at this dimension's Mickey. "Good policy. I do much the same." He looked at the rest of the passengers realizing the human custom of introductions had yet to be performed. He might as well give it a start. "I'm the Doctor by the way." He paused with significance. "In case anyone's interested."

Rose could only look at Pete thinking how similar this version of her father was to the one she lost back at home. But he's not my father. The Doctor had said it so many times but still, the repeated mantra didn't seem to work. "And I'm Rose." Her voice was soft, looking at Pete while she breathed in deeply. Lost him once. Tears pricked her eyes remembering how she held her father as he died in her arms. And now he's here and I can't….she struggled to smile but couldn't quite manage it. She wished Cathryn and Bec were here because she knew they would understand the dilemma. Especially Cathryn who gave her a proper lecture about taking your parents for granted. She knew the Doctor was far more worried than he had already admitted. Rose was anxious about Bec and Cathryn too.

"Even better." Pete said with a touch of irony. "That's the name of my dog." He looked at Rose feeling the same underlying connection to the blonde he had experienced when they spoke outside during the party. "Still, at least the modeling agency is on my side." It was a feeble sort of joke given the dire circumstances.

"I was always on your side." Rose said simply. "I knew you weren't a spy."

"Why's that, then?" Pete asked in curiosity.

Rose was silent for a moment, glancing at the Doctor who was simply observing the pair. "I just did."

"They took my wife." Pete said. "And we just left her there because your children…" He looked at the Doctor grimly. "You think your family is more important than mine?"

Sure,Mickey thought caustically. As pets. Things to be injected with, experimented on, chipped…just like adopting a cat. But he kept quiet. The girls had stressed how important it was that he play along. Appear concerned for their absence and not give himself away. And he wouldn't. He refused to fail. Not this time.

The Doctor looked at Pete wearily. He understood the man's grief but there were too many Cybermen in the house. If they hadn't left the home when they did, their lives would add to the body count.

Rose slipped her hand in with the Doctor's, giving it a squeeze. "They could all still be alive." She offered. "We don't know for sure." She could see just how concerned he was, they all could, but only she could see how much more fear he was keeping hidden out of sight. He genuinely cared for the two missing women, and she wished they could see that. It was true that he'd made mistakes along the way, lots of them, some that she intended to confront him about at the right moment, but she knew his heart was in the right place. She'd had her own moments with him where his way of thinking was so different from what she'd known. Sometimes it was better, a better way of living your life, but other times it just so… alien… such as, when they'd met so long ago, when he kept forgetting Mickey, misinterpreting her tears of fear and grief. 'Culture shock' he'd called it. She'd thought he had gotten better, but perhaps it was just with her, perhaps he genuinely couldn't understand why they were so upset. When they all got back to the TARDIS, she decided silently, she was going to lock them all up in the kitchen together and they'd talk it out. She'd keep the tea coming until they worked it out… or ran out of milk, whichever came first.

"Yes and I told you that's even worse," Pete declared echoing the dread the Doctor was experiencing. "'Cos that's what Lumic does. He takes the living and turns them into those machines."

"Cybermen," the Doctor corrected emptily, his hearts clenching tightly within his chest. "They're called Cybermen." He swallowed. "And I would take those earpods off if I were you," he warned Pete who hesitated.

"Thought listening in, getting information, might be able to find my wife…" He stared at the Time Lord. "Or your children." He shrugged. "You have a better plan?"

"I suppose," the Doctor returned. "Best not to discuss it if Lumic might be listening in, wouldn't you say?"

That caused Pete to freeze remembering the security Lumic had instilled to look for Mickey and his group of cyber terrorists as they were called. How it could now be so simple to track down his algorithm on the wireless network and then….

He removed the earpods, grimacing at the notion. "Lumic is desperate," Pete managed. "He's dying and he's desperate."

"And he's overreached himself." The Doctor clenched his jaw. "He's still just a businessman. He's killing people. All we need to do is get into the City and inform the authorities." He inhaled through his nose. Once they shut Lumic down, the damage could be relatively contained. He could determine what happened to his family. So he did hope. He couldn't allow himself to think of what might occur to the contrary. He cleared his throat. "Because I promise you…" his mind on his granddaughters mixed with the devastation caused by the Cybermen. A rapid succession of possible horrors that he struggled to dismiss to the back of his mind. No, they're out there. They have to be.

"This will all end tonight," the ancient alien declared with utter vehemence.

xxxxxxxxxx

They were able to notify Scotland Yard and MI-5 but by the time the public service announcement was declared warning everyone to remove their earpods and stay in their homes, it was too late. The lucky ones were able to take theirs out directly in time but an alarm sounded, the earpods flashed while people froze, turning to head in one steady direction.

"What the hell?" Jake asked in quandary. As one of the Preachers, he knew to expect many things but people turning into zombies? Did he really anticipate that?

"What's going on?" Rose turned to the Doctor, aghast at the majority of the unblinking individuals. What's happening?

"It's the ear-pods," the Doctor explained grimly. "Lumic is already taking control."

"But…." Rose paused, seeing the lines of people walking in a steady course much like lambs to the slaughter. "Can't we just take them off…" Her hands reached up to relieve on made of the ear-pods.

"No. Cause a kind of brainstorm. Maybe an aneurism. We need to shut down the signal." He shook his head. "Human race, for such an intelligent lot, you aren't half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take over and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it. Easy life."

"Oh?" Mickey couldn't contain himself. "How well that worked for you? Bec and Cathryn. Did they like submitting?" He took a deep breath. "And look now. You lost them. Could be dead for all you know."

The Doctor's demeanor darkened as he looked at Mickey as he took shuddering breaths. But he tried to still himself. To calm. Mickey was only human after all. The girls were his friends and humans, weeell, humans often needed someone to blame when things went inevitably wrong. Still, he couldn't help but admit that Mickey in part had a point.

"I'm doing everything that I can…." His voice trailed as he heard Rose's voice calling out to him.

"Doctor!" Peering out from the alley they had taken refuge in, she examined the multitude. "Oi! Doctor. Over here." She gestured wildly. "That isn't…." She was shaking her head. "That isn't Bec is it?"

He was by her side in a flash, looking at the masses of people trying to focus in on where Rose was pointing. It can't be….they got away. It can't be them so….

But he felt himself freeze finally catching sight of of the familiar slim, blonde girl with flashing earpods in her ears. He nearly wanted to shout his granddaughter's name too but with those earpods in, she wouldn't be able to hear him. Why couldn't he sense her through the Bond? He tried to still himself, putting aside any lingering agitation in order to center his mental focus but….he furrowed his eyebrows. Nothing. The Bond was still in its infancy but with this proximity, he should be able to utilise it.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Rose started. "You can help her, yeah?"

He hissed briefly, narrowing his eyes at the earpods held snug into every person's ears and reflected on his last words. A brainstorm or aneurism. He shook his head. "The telepathic Bond originates in the pineal gland," he explained. "It's twice the size than that of a human but the earpods, weeell, it has to be jamming the signal. Their minds are still developing and they don't have the barriers in place to block or filter an unknown transmission." He clenched his jaw. Why hadn't he insisted on any mental exercises earlier? Yes, he wanted to give his girls time. Their animosity and fear of him were evident indicators of how to gauge this relationship but if he insisted on the necessity of some training, they might not all be in this predicament.

But then how either one had picked up a pair of the earpods to use remained questionable. Were they simply curious? Probably a reflection of his nature. An inherited trait. But now…he took a deep breath and the lingering, familiar smell that hovered in the air was what gave him absolute certainty. Cathryn's smell. If they both had seen Bec and Cathryn's smell persisted in the area, she must be in the same proximity, likely heading towards the same location.

Rose simply nodded before it sank in that she didn't understand what he was talking about at all. She'd heard him and Cathryn mention this 'Bond' before, but he still hadn't explained it fully. She'd assumed that it was simply an unusual way to speak of their relationship, of being members of a family, just as she might admit that she had a bond with her mother or that they bonded over a cuppa. The Doctor, however, was speaking about the brain and telepathy.

She knew Bec and Cathryn were resentful towards the Doctor, unwilling to see how he was trying to help them, and if they gave him a chance she was certain he would find some way to help them, to reach their families again, but now she couldn't help but suspect that there was more going on than he'd admitted to her. Before she could follow up, though, the Doctor was asking questions of his own, but she determinedly filed her questions away, along with the others she was beginning to pile up, to ask once they'd finished saving the world. She could feel that a row was coming….

"Where are they all heading?" The Time Lord spoke quickly, focused on saving his family and oblivious to Rose's disquiet. "What's the base of operations?"

"Battersea," Pete admitted. "It's a factory. That's where he's building the prototypes. Why…?"

"We have to get inside." The Doctor's voice was filled with determination. If his granddaughters were inside then nothing would stop him from finding them. "My children are in there and…"

"Children." Pete repeated. "Just how old are you?" The man in front of him looked to be in his thirties. Contrasted with the girls he claimed to have parented who didn't look much younger…. He had overheard Mickey's words to the Doctor, nonetheless disturbed by the implications.

"Oh." The Doctor gave a tiny smirk. "Well over fifty," he answered truthfully. "And that's all I'll say about that." His smile slipped though when he thought about how young his girls were.

" 'Well over fifty,' " Pete repeated in disbelief, glancing at Mickey who grimaced.

Was it really Bec who was heading inside the factory? But the two knew what was going to happen. They wouldn't think to use those earpods, would they? No. Mickey tried to tell himself, concentrating on the task instead even though the feeling of dread still lingered.

"One of those faces," he said to Pete, his voice coming out flat. "Older than he looks." It was about as much as he could manage to keep up with his pretense.

Pete only looked at the Time Lord with all due circumspect. "Now it's alright to risk our lives to save your 'children'-" He paused feeling the grief still fresh. "-but my wife, my Jackie, was taken well before." His throat tightened. Through all their arguments, he still loved her, cared for her, remembered the day they had gotten married those years ago….

The Doctor only looked on in quiet contemplation feeling the brevity of human life. How short it was but in those moments, how far the capacity of humans and what they were able to achieve. A quick look to Rose and then back at Pete before nodding. "Right, then. We both go inside. We work to save them all. Fair enough?"

"Go inside?" the other Mickey challenged. "Through the front door? They'll make you on the spot."

"There's no other choice." Pete agreed. "Go in through the front door. That's where they all been taken for upgrading. With London sealed off and the population being taken inside that place. Find our people and work our way to the control center. I should still have access…."

"I'm going with you." Rose insisted. This was Jackie Tyler they were talking about as well as Cathryn and Bec. She wasn't about to let Pete just go on his own.

"Why do they matter to you?" Pete asked but the Doctor was already shaking his head. His girls were being shuttled inside. He couldn't lose Rose too.

"No," he decided. "Jake, the Mickey's and Mrs. Moore will need you to shut down the signal on the Zeppelin." Weell, in all likelihood, they wouldn't but Rose would be far safer there than she would be with him. His voice became firm and resolute.

"Need me? Just to stare at computers, yeah?" She shook her head. "No. I'm comin'. You can't talk me out of this," Rose argued.

"Maybe not," the Doctor agreed. "But you go with Mickey or you sleep for the next hour inside the van." He closed his eyes as her mouth opened in shock and protest, a little surprised himself at the warning, concluding that dealing with Bec and Cathryn's rebellion was impacting his reactions more that he had suspected. Perhaps his threat was an idle one but he was serious about keeping her safe. He simply couldn't lose another companion. "Rose, please. Not now. If we find them, you know me. I'll do everything I can to save them but each second we stand here arguing…" His voice trailed off meaningfully.

Rose looked at him unflinchingly. "You're not going to back down."

"No," he said softly. "But I have every intent in keeping my word."

Several moments of silence ticked by as Rose released a sigh. "Fine. The two of you…" Rose's voice trailed as she watched Mrs. Moore handing them two dismantled earpods to blend into the crowds at the factory. "For now." She muttered to herself, rubbing her arms. The two Mickey's and Mrs. Moore, another tech were all speaking the same language. About code decryption and accessing the interface to shut down the Cybus system. She knew she would be useless to add anything productive to that enterprise. Still, she followed the three as they started to head to the Zeppelin that boasted the main control signal, while keeping a discreet eye on the Doctor and Pete Tyler as they branched off to the front entrance of the factor. Lagging just enough behind, she managed to duck behind a cover of trees before slowly approaching the spot where the Doctor and Pete were making their final preparations to infiltrate. Keeping her footfalls quiet, she ducked into shadows, until she was directly next to the alley.

Suddenly a hand seized her upper arm as she was pulled towards the two who looked at her with intense frustration.

"Could hear you coming from yards away," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "Rose, what are you doing here? I told you…"

"I don't care what you told me." Rose spoke firmly. "I'm going with Pete Tyler and that's that." She stared at the Time Lord. "Try and stop me, put me to sleep, then we'll have a row Doctor that would put any that my mum and I had to shame."

It was a direct challenge and the Doctor sighed. There was no turning back now. He glanced at Pete. "The earpods I told you to remove. Could I see them?" He would have to work quickly to fashion the earpods that Pete Tyler had used into functional fakes that would fool the Cybermen, but he knew the task would take precious minutes that he hadn't wanted to waste. It would seem all three would be going into the front door and they couldn't afford a single mistake.

xxxxxxxxxx

The 'no wandering off' rule never seemed to apply to Rose for in those minutes as the two groups diverged, Rose had stealthily managed to almost immediately disappear from the four nearly as though she were smoke. The other Mickey was muttering while Mrs. Moore betrayed a grim chuckle.

"Oh, make no mistake. Girl like that. She wasn't staying in one place." The woman smiled. "Reminds me a bit of myself at that age or…." Mrs. Moore considered her current circumstance. Living under an alias. Mrs. Moore, which was the title character of the book Mrs. Moore and her Passage to India. Oh, how she loved that character. Seemingly mild on the surface but filled with grit and determination inside. That character made her position well known when she saw how the British were treating Indians in their customary prejudice. The character had been appalled at their mistreatment in the early twentieth century but chose to address it in a way that displayed universal love to both sides. 'God is love.' The title character said. In using that strategy she became her own minor celebrity.

On that same token, Mrs. Moore formerly Angela Price wanted to capture this trait, appalled at what Lumic was attempting to accomplish but attempting to undermine it by using her computer skills to regain their free will and their ability to love. Truly, she thought she acted in parallel to the character she admired even if it came to such a sacrifice that she hadn't seen her family for several months. Such was the price of regaining their own freedom and autonomy.

"Well, she's a lot like me." Mrs. Moore finally concluded, feeling the rush of adrenaline along with a healthy dose of fear. She wasn't stupid. She knew the risks of this enterprise but if it meant her family's safety….

She raised her eyebrows as they hurried along, making careful inroads to the Zeppelin while the Mickey who was a duplicate of their little band's leader that just arrived her pulled out his cellphone and was dialing series of phone numbers.

"Made friends already?" Mrs. Moore asked. "Impressive but Lumic has control of the network. You'll never reach them." Her lips puckered into a frown. "Is it both your Gran?" She knew her Mickey kept a distance in order to protect her from trouble but that didn't mean he worried any less about her.

"No," Mickey shook his head. "Just a couple people I spoke with before the shrill. Was a bit worried and my phone doesn't use the network." It was as much as he could explain. If Mrs. Moore repeated that Mickey had checked in on Bec and Cathryn, then where would he be?

The three others looked at him oddly but the other Mickey just brushed off the statement. "As long as we keep moving." His voice was filled with authority. They were nearing the Zeppelin and then they would have to climb. His duplicate had better keep his call quick.

The phone rang a few times and then Mickey closed his eyes in relief, hearing Cathryn's voice. Altogether a bit out of breath but her voice just the same.

"It's you," Mickey said. "Bloody hell, thank God, it's you. I thought…." He swallowed. "Have to keep this short. You both okay, right? Out of trouble?"

"Barely," Cathryn muttered. "Near miss. Took a car. Heading far north. Are you…" A pause. "You sound…..I don't know. Like you've seen a ghost."

"Maybe I have. Your friend's twin more like. For a moment, I thought…." He cringed. "Had me worried."

He heard their voices and Cathryn muttering to Bec something about her counterpart before she returned to the phone. "Mickey, I'm sorry. It's not her. Not any of us. You need to-"

"Stick to the plan." Mickey finished.

"Enough of your jabbering away," the other Mickey insisted. "We have to go."

"Yeah, I guess….yeah."

"Mickey, remember…you can do this," Cathryn said. "The code. Use the code."

"The inhibitor code," Mickey heard Bec's voice adding distantly

"Me?" Mickey's voice was filled with doubt. "The idiot?"

"You're not an…" Cathryn's voice was low in frustration. "The wavelength for the code. Use the binary nine to-"

The phone was ripped out of his hand and his call disconnected. His counterpart looked at him in exasperation as Mickey stared at him in anger.

"What did you do that for?"

Shoving him back the phone, his counterpart clenched his jaw. "Because we are running out of time. After we cut the signal, you can hook up with them at the nearest pub. But now…."

Briefly Mickey rolled his eyes but didn't correct the other Mickey's mistake. Jake also had his arms folded around his chest, looking at him with impatience. They were right. All four of them had work to do and for now, he knew the girls were alright. On their own in uncharted territory, but, nonetheless, out of the Doctor's clutches. He still had his own tasks to complete.

The group successfully made their way up the ladder to the roof just beneath the zeppelin where the impressive aeronautical device was parked just above the warehouse. Jake glanced at the Mickey he knew before giving a cavalier smirk. "Two guards. We can take them. You think?"

But it was the Mickey who was the inter-dimensional traveler who approached Jake and the other Mickey, summoning up the courage for words he felt definitely needed saying. "You going to kill them?" he asked, almost hesitant.

"Does it matter?" Jake challenged. "Can't unplug them. Doctor said it would kill 'em anyway. Any other bright ideas?"

"Yes," the young man's voice was firm. "Don't kill them."

"And who put you in charge?" the other Mickey demanded spitefully.

"No one. But if you kill them, can't see much of a difference between you and the Cybermen."

"Boy's got a point," Mrs. Moore offered from the back. She wasn't a fighter like the younger men she ran with, so she invariably left any physically arduous tasks for them while she manned the getaway van and provided offsite support and intelligence. However, she found herself just as perturbed by the notion of killing as this other, more idealistic, Mickey.

The two men paused in a moment of consternation until they finally relented. "I suppose we could use these," Jake volunteered reluctantly, holding out two innocuous black bottles in demonstration.

"I wouldn't," Mrs. Moore warned Mickey, when he went to sniff the offered bottle.

Mickey swallowed back his resentment at Jake's condescending smirk. "Smelling salts?" he asked, turning to the older woman who was the only one who seemed to treat him with some respect, just like Bec and Cathryn.

"Ethoxyethane," Mrs. Moore corrected. "One of the first tricks I learned when I started life on the run. It'll knock them out, but we'll only have a few minutes."

They hung back while the two mercenaries crept forward, eyeing the guards who were simply wearing earpods but standing stock still, guarding the entrance to the Zeppelin. What mattered to Mickey was that they weren't converted. They still had a chance and he wanted to give them one.

Jake slowly counted down to signify their attack. "Three….two…..one….go!" Swiftly they ran up behind the guards and held the tiny bottles under their noses, immediately incapacitating them. left unconscious within seconds.

"Has to be more guards on board," one of the Mickeys said once the group stood together again.

"Then we'll be ready for them." Jake's voice was firm and stoic as they made their way into the zeppelin.

xxxxxxxxxx

They incapacitated another guard before quickly finding the massive cockpit. There they found another cyberthing, but the new Mickey quickly recognised and showed the others that it was no danger to them.

"It's dead. I don't think it was ever alive," he explained, knocking on the headpiece. "You see no brain. It's empty. Just a robot suit on display." The others stepped closer to verify his conclusion, then they turned to the task at hand.

"Alright, here's what," the militant Mickey began with practiced leadership. "Jake, you and I sweep the ship, make sure it's clear, then we toss any guards out before they wake and become a problem. Mrs. Moore, you get to work on the transmitter. We'll set our own guard at the entrance and one of us will come back to help."

"What about me?" Mickey asked sharply, angered at being forgotten again.

"You seemed to know what you were talking about," Mrs. Moore put in before the other Mickey could speak up. "Fancy helping me hack Lumic?"

The band's leader considered the proposal for a moment then nodded his agreement. He still felt disturbed by and wary of this double, but Mrs. Moore was right, this other Mickey knew as much about hacking as he did, perhaps more, he grudgingly admitted, reflecting on their conversation as they'd approached Lumic's base. There was some secret to this copy and his friends that he intended to get to the bottom of, yet some instinct assured him that they wanted to stop Lumic and his army of Cybers as much as the rest of them. Besides, the zeppelin would be easier to hold with two. "You think you've got what it takes?" he challenged the other Mickey, knowing how he would respond himself.

"Better than you do," the dimensional traveller challenged back, causing the other man to smirk appreciatively.

"Welcome to the Preachers," the group's leader said, offering an honorary membership. He looked over at Jake, pointing to the door with a jerk of his head. As they left, he didn't remind Mrs. Moore to keep an eye on the copy, she was more savvy than the rest of them.

The two hackers made their way to the controls, and Mrs. Moore began typing, searching for a weakness that would allow access into the system. "This is going to take a while," she commented, her eyes fixed on the screen. A moment later, she stepped back, pulling her bag around in front of her and rifling through it. "You want to take point?" she offered, nodding towards the computer station as she pulled out her own mini laptop.

Mickey stepped forward and took over, while Mrs. Moore found a port where she could plug her computer in. "Couldn't get in before, but if I get direct access to the network…"

"You're right," Mickey murmured back in response to her first statement. "I can get into the less secure systems from here, internet, surveillance, power distribution, even transactions and accounts, but everything else…. It will take a take a while to decrypt and recode the transmitter settings, even just an off switch," he concluded with frustration. "Got anything there that'll help?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder and recognising the program code of a trojan.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist," the older woman admonished, adjusting the coding of a premade virus to make it compatible with the system in the hopes that it might allow them quicker entry.

Mickey, however, froze momentarily at one of the camera feeds from the factory that flashed upon his screen. It was gone as fast as he saw it, but he quickly pulled it back up, and a weight fell heavily, landing in the pit of his stomach. Rose and the Doctor were lined up waiting their turn to be converted, her dad - her dad's duplicate right behind them. To Mickey, it looked as though they'd been caught and included with the masses, because he couldn't see how else the Doctor would have allowed them, allowed Rose, to get so close to the front of the line.

Instantly, he left the task of disrupting the transmitter to Mrs. Moore. He couldn't assist until she deployed her virus, and finding a way to help the others became his immediate priority. He swallowed, staring at the feed as he ran through everything he had at his fingertips, before he suddenly got to work, typing frantically.

"Look out!" Mrs. Moore yelled from behind him, and he turned, jumping out of the way just in time as the previously dormant suit lashed out at him.

The commotion brought Jake back into the room, who arrived just in time to witness Mickey goading the Cyberman into punching the transmitter controls, bringing the system crashing down. "Nice," he declared appreciatively, nodding as he watched the acrid smoke billowing out of the suit, but Mickey ran back to the placed he'd occupied before the attack.

"It'll stop people walking in, but it won't stop them forcing conversions," Mrs. Moore said, looking over Mickey's shoulder.

"We've done our bit. Only the army could take 'em out now," Jake put in.

"We've got to shut the factory down," Mickey corrected without looking back. "I've got power distributions, but it's manually operated. Powers's external, though, and we've got internet. You got anything on that computer to access EDF?"

"Access what?" Jake asked perplexed.

"The electricity board." Back when hacking had just been a bit of fun, back before Hendricks, Mickey himself had hacked the electricity giant. He hadn't done any damage, simply wanting to prove to himself that he could, but at his fingertips had literally been power over the city. If they could black out power to the region…

It only took moments for Mrs. Moore to find an old virus from among the many she had acquired and created over the years. "It's a bit out of date, but you seem fast enough on the fly," she acknowledged, loading the program.

A shout of alarm had Jake sprinting from the room again. Mickey hesitated, but went back to work upgrading the virus to sneak through the new security specifications he'd been able to discover.

"We're in," Mrs. Moore confirmed, just as another two cries reached them, one of pain and the other of horror. The two hackers exchanged a glance. "You go," Mrs. Moore directed, knowing she would be no help in a fight. "I'll finish here. Take this," she added, tossing him a coil of copper wires with a few extra electronics soldered on. "Pull the tab, toss it at a Cyberman. It might work," she added, her tone making it equally clear that it might not.

Mickey made it out to see Jake uselessly firing upon an approaching Cyberman, while the other Mickey lay in a heap nearby. He looked down at the device he'd been given, finding a plastic tab at one end of the battery, just like those tabs for electronic toys. He yanked it out, throwing it at the living armour, which, to his surprise, collapsed instantly. Neither he nor Jake moved a muscle as they waited to see if the machine stood again.

"That one of Mrs. Moore's EM bombs?" Jake asked when there had been no change from the suit.

"I don't know," Mickey admitted. "She just gave it to me."

Jake instantly sprinted to the fallen Mickey taking him by the shoulder and pulling him onto his back. Mickey joined him after a moment at the sound of his own voice, surprised to realise that his counterpart was still alive, remembering how the other people he'd seen the Cybermen touch had simply collapsed after being electrocuted. When he saw the blood on the ground beneath the other man, though, he realised that it wasn't the Cyberman that had hurt him, not directly, it had been a bullet that had ricocheted off the Cyberman's armour.

"You did good," the injured Mickey said blankly, addressing Mickey now, having already spoken a few words to Jake.

"So did you." The young man swallowed. "We could have made quite the team. Maybe if…"

"Forget it. Too late. It's on you now. Pick up where I left off. Just tell…" He was drifting.

"Tell what?" Mickey asked.

"Tell gran I'll fix her stair next week. You won't forget will you?" He paused. "You'll look after her?"

"Just like if she were my own. Better in fact," Mickey promised. "Mickey," he tried. "Thank you for…"

The man gave a shallow gasp. "See you in…." The words were meaningless and quiet, and the young man slipped away before those attempted words had even faded from the air. Mickey closed the other Mickey's eyes.

"See you later, my friend," Mickey said. "See you when…." But his voice closed. He was staring at his own body. This was what it would be like when he died. A corpse like this one. He only wondered at the time whether he would be brave like this Mickey or the coward he was fully capable to retreating into.

"The power's out in the factory," Mrs. Moore advised, her voice soft and thick. "They'll have it back in minutes." They had bought Rose, Pete and the Doctor time. Would it even be enough?

xxxxxxxxxx

"Chamber four is open for human upgrading." The voice echoing up out of the factory was coldly mechanical. Rose's heart hammered in her chest, schooling her features as she knew how critical it was to keep her face perfectly still.

"Best not in a hurry for that one, yeah?" Her voice was so quiet that only the Doctor could hear her.

He was worried. His children with the Bond that had become a comforting part of his existence even over such a short time, but he no longer felt their presence. Am I too late? Raising his chin, he swallowed but took Rose's hand from behind him. His already tattered hearts seemed to agonize with each double beat that sounded. But he felt Rose take his hand, offering him a squeeze.

"If they're here, we'll find them. Just like my mu-" She cleared her throat. "Just like Jackie." She clarified for Pete Tyler who was in listening range.

The man glanced at the blonde with curiosity. The implacable draw was there. He felt it. He just wasn't sure as to why. Certainly, this girl knew something he wasn't privy too. But whatever it was, she was insistent on helping him and that…well, that was good enough for him.

His thoughts fell to the Doctor when he demanded they abandon his estate leaving Jackie for lost so easily. He hadn't quite forgiven him for that decision. Cavalier and condescending. Then he had the gall to say they should cease any plan but those put forward to find his family.

His family,Pete thought. But not mine. Where does he get off…

"Chamber eleven open for human upgrading," the mechanical voice announced again.

"Just put them on." Pete beckoned to the earpods as they stood just barely out of sight. "Remember, don't show any emotion. No signs. Nothing, okay?"

"Don't worry," Rose assured. "We can do it." She had to. Even if this Jackie Tyler wasn't directly her mother, she looked and acted in such a similar way. She wouldn't sit back and watch her die. Not now. The talk Cathryn had with her came back in spades. Regret filled her mind. Jackie had also talked to her after the investigation of the school had taken place. Oh, she remembered. Her mum had been near tears, telling her that if she continued to travel, every time, the girl that came back, would be less and less her Rose.

Was she right? Rose asked herself.

"We could all die here," Pete said flatly. "Why are you doing this?"

"To help my friends." Rose kept it simple. "My mum and dad, they would have done the same and…"She glanced down at her shoes. "I think of you as a friend."

They ventured out of their temporary hiding place and joined the lines of people heading up to the various pods for upgrading. Rose glanced around desperately, not seeing a sign of Jackie Tyler, Bec or Cathryn so far. Please don't let us be too late.

"Chamber eight open for human upgrading. Chamber one open for human upgrading. Chamber nine open for human upgrading." The line was moving swiftly and still there was no sign of Jackie or her friends.

"Doctor?" she whispered.

"I can't sense them. Perhaps too much interference through the Cyberweb interface. Along with the network."

Rose nodded slowly as they made a steady progression. It would only be minutes before it was their turn. A Cyberman approached them, speaking to Pete to confirm his identity, but Rose missed the truncated conversation as her attention fell elsewhere. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar figure with blond hair moving towards one of the conversion pods, preparing to enter it as soon as the current occupant vacated it. "Doctor, Bec," she muttered to him urgently, but he gave her no sign that he'd heard her. She should have realised he was simply maintaining his empty demeanour while furiously determining how to save the girl Rose had indicated, but Rose's fear for her friend gave way to panic. "Doctor, Bec!" she repeated with a shout.

All pretense forgotten, Rose suddenly broke free of the line, racing toward her friend being visibly controlled. "Bec!" she cried out. "Bec stop! Don't go in there! You have to…"

She was seized by two Cybermen just before reaching Bec's side and she struggled frantically against their grasp. "You are unprogrammed. You must be restrained," they said lifelessly. "Your upgrade will now be prioritised."

"No!" Rose cried out. "You can't…"

The Doctor was already moving forwards to assist his companion, but he was immediately intercepted as a result of both Rose breaking their cover and Pete's horrified reaction to the Cyberman claiming to be his wife.

"Your earpods are unauthentic," Rose was told. "An injection of nanoprobes will ensure compliance and begin the upgrade process."

It was only a second before a sharp needle found it's way into a major vein in her neck. She tried to pull away, but the machines held her too firmly, and, for a moment, she couldn't help but parallel this forced administration with Cathryn begging and fighting against her own injection. Rose knew the Doctor was only trying to help, she trusted him and hoped the girls would learn to trust him too, but now her perspective on the matter tilted sharply, as she struggled against her own assailant.

"You are afraid," one Cybermen said. "We offer perfection. We will remove all fear and then you will serve, perfected."

For a long moment nothing seemed to happen, and Rose continued to fight back and shout out, but then her muscles seemed to stiffen and resist her every movement. Her very thoughts became sluggish and clouded, while her body seized and stilled entirely. She silently screamed at the thick fog pressing in around her, even as her body slowly straightened and stood erect.

No! Rose tried to protest as she was led towards a conversion chamber, being made to stand directly behind Bec. Doctor!

But at the moment, the Doctor and Pete were restrained faced down by the Cyberman equivalent of Jackie. "You will proceed to follow when her conversion is complete."

No! Rose failed to scream again. Directly in front of her, she could only watch as Bec mechanically entered the now unoccupied chamber. Just before the door slid closed, sealing the pod closed, a multitude of voices screamed in terror and defiance as they were freed from the control of their earbuds. Inside the chamber, Bec hesitated, then spun on the spot, attempting to flee the chamber, but she screamed in fear, her eyes locking with Rose's for that singular instant before the doors slammed, trapping her inside.

Screams resounded from the occupied conversion chambers while multitudes began to flee. People were pushing past each other and the robotic men who had enslaved them, seeking to escape the nightmare they'd found themselves in. Only Rose stood impassively, outwardly calm as she awaited her conversion as she screamed behind the suffocating fog.

Before her, she could hear Bec banging on the door, shouting and begging for help, help that she couldn't offer. The banging stopped and Bec screamed again, pain now evident in her voice and Rose was sure she was standing witness to the horrendous nightmare of Bec facing conversion, when, without warning, the entire factory was plunged into darkness.

"Abort," every Cyber unit said in unison. "Regain factory power but all upgrades must abort."

Rose was shocked at this sudden change in their environment. What had happened? She was sure the Doctor hadn't done anything, she could still see him restrained in the corner of her eyes. Mickey? she thought. Again, he'd been underestimated, but she knew it was him. He had somehow interrupted the power, maybe by redirecting it all to some secondary system, like the laundry or something in the same way they do in movies, buying them a few precious moments.

But what would they use them for? Was there enough time to accomplish anything useful? And what could she do, still frozen in place by that injection she'd been given?

In the meantime, Cybermen who had once directed the multitudes to be upgraded now closed in on the Doctor and Pete who were still being restrained. The two men were forced back to their feet even as Pete continued to shout his defiance at the Cyberman who had confirmed his identity.

"You're not her. You're not my Jackie." It was the worst things that Pete could fathom happening to his wife.

"No, I am a cyber-form. I was once Jacqueline Tyler," the empty voice intoned.

Frozen in her place, Rose heard it too. Mum! She silently choked on the word.

The Doctor rapidly took stock of the situation, every possibility running through his mind. He'd seen what had happened to Rose, could see how rigidly she stood. The cyber armour didn't simply plug into the human brain like a cable into a computer. The nanoprobes she'd been injected with would disburse through the physical structure of the brain, binding themselves to her neural pathways like vines around the branches of a tree, their own signal drowning out the natural electrical impulses between each synapse. The earpods had simply released an overpowering electrical signal through the ear canal and into the brain, transmitting simple instructions and enforcing compliance. That was why the Cybermen had to so actively direct people through the factory. Those people who had escaped, thanks to Mickey and the Preachers shutting down the transmitter, would merely require time for their hearing to heal after having had all that energy poured directly through their ear drum. Rose, however… Her very brain was being overtaken. He needed to halt the process before the nanoprobes began causing damage, began rearranging the very structure of her mind, before they cybercised her… He just had to hope damage hadn't been incurred already.

"Jacqueline Tyler's brain is inside this body," the machine before them was saying, as the Doctor carefully reached his fingers into his pocket for the tiny power cell that held his hope to return him, his companions and his granddaughters to their home. He'd already burnt of so much power earlier in the night, and this time a streamed discharge wouldn't suffice. Instead, he needed to release the energy in a singular burst, powerful enough to fry the nanoprobes infecting Rose. Except, he had no equipment and no time to moderate the burst. Saving Rose could burn the tiny cell out, effectively killing his ship and trapping them forever in a world where they didn't belong.

The Doctor didn't hesitate.

At the discharge, which acted the same as an EM pulse, the Cybermen collapsed around them, and Rose along with them as control of her body returned to her. The Doctor ran to her, helping her to sit up, but her focus was entirely on the machine that had claimed to be her mother. She shakily pulled herself away from him, stumbling forward through the fallen metal bodies to the one that held her gaze.

The Doctor instantly turned his attention to the sealed door behind him, where his granddaughter had disappeared from his view only minutes earlier. The door had been electronically bolted in place, and not even his sonic could shift it until power was restored. "Bec!" he called through the metal division, trying to be heard both through the barrier between them and through the deafness that would likely now be afflicting her. "Bec, can you hear me?"

"Yes," a small, pained voice whimpered back, barely loud enough to carry through the barrier. The Doctor both sighed with relief even as he panicked slightly. The Bond still hadn't re-established itself, and he even couldn't feel an echo from her as he reached out. Was this merely a temporary telepathic deafness that resulted from the signal that had been channelled into her mind, similar to the deafness her ears were suffering? Or had her conversion already irreversibly begun? He hoped, whatever she had suffered, that he would be able to reverse it, that it wasn't too late.

"Bec, I'm sorry, I'm very sorry, but I need you to tell me: are you hurt? Has the machine changed anything?" he asked urgently, needing to know how dire her situation was, whether he could still save her...

"It's got me. The clamps are tight," he heard her whimper. "It cut me, but I don't think it's deep."

"Are you bleeding? How much blood is there?" the Time Lord demanded sharply.

"It's only welling at the wound a little. It's not flowing. But it really stings. Can you get me out?" came the hopeful little voice.

"I can't get you out until the power's back. Do you trust me, Bec?" he asked. At the thought of power, the Doctor quickly assessed the massive machine she was trapped in. He needed power to get through the door, but there was every chance that once the factory came back online her conversion would simply resume, or terminate….

"Yes?" the small voice answered again.

"I'm going to come back. I'm going to get you out. I'm not going to leave you here," he vowed to her loudly as he moved around the chamber until he reached the surge box. It was a quick task to disconnect most of the couplings, deliberately damaging them in such a way that it couldn't be quickly restored by the Cybermen.

"Don't go," he heard his granddaughter's voice beg, and he sped back to the door, leaning close to it as he gave her what comfort he could.

"I need to get the power back so I can get you out. I will come back for you. You have my word," he promised again.

"Doctor!" Rose cried out, kneeling next to Jackie's prone form while she looked back at him. "Please, you have to do somethin'. You can, yeah? Find her body, put her back."

The Doctor only looked pained as he stepped away from the chamber that held his granddaughter and moved closer to crouched by her side. Rose had to watch her mother being turned into this. It was a fate he never wished for her to endure. "I'm sorry, Rose. I'm so sorry, but it's not her anymore." He knelt beside Jackie, resisting the impulse to immediately run repower the station. As imperative as that task was, he couldn't dismiss the opportunity he had before him, and Bec's answers reassured him that he had time enough for this. "Although, there's something else I might be able to try." He removed his sonic, bending down, aiming at the Cyberman logo printed on it's chest.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked, torn between horrified and hopeful.

"Know your enemy," he explained, not looking up from the task he'd given himself.

"She wasn't our enemy," Rose said bleakly, wrapping her arms around her head.

"That's my wife you're talking about!" Pete snarled at the same time, instinctively defending the woman he still loved as he as his heart refused to accept the evidence of the lifeless metal form before him.

The Doctor placed a hand on Rose's arm while looking over at Pete, speaking to both of them in the same measured tone. "Jackie Tyler wasn't our enemy but the Cybermen are. This isn't Jackie Tyler anymore."

He gave them a long moment for his words to sink in, but he knew that time was pressing, for all of them, so he soon turned back to the metal suit before him. He dug his fingers into the panel, using his sonic to unlock the connections inside, then he held the metallic organ aloft, inspecting it before setting it aside. "Heart of steel, but look." He reaching into the armour then lifted his hand to show the sinewy strings of white goop that was threaded through the machine.

"Is that… What is that?" Rose asked, unable to say the words herself and feeling sickened at the impending answer.

"It's living tissue," Pete answered with a hollow voice. Jacks! Not Jacks! his thoughts roared in disgusted and terrified fury, unwilling to accept that his wife could have been… Bile surged at the back of his throat. It wasn't her. It couldn't be. It was a lie. A trick. Not my Jacks!

The Doctor held his tongue as he continued his inspection, out of respect for the others' grief and disgust. Even he felt somber at the death of the woman so much like the Jackie Tyler he knew. He pushed those concerns aside, however, when he suddenly recognised the function of the device he'd been inspecting.

"An emotional inhibitor," he explained to the others. "Stops them from feeling anything."

"Stops them feeling?" Rose repeated questioningly with a small shake of her head.

"It's still got a human brain," the Doctor clarified. "Imagine its reaction if it could see itself. Realise itself inside this thing. It would go insane."

"But that's my… That's Jackie," Rose said, her voice hollow and flat and yet filled with the deepest disgust and grief. "They take away her feeling, then they take away her being... her."

"They have to, or they'll see for themselves what they've been turned into," the Time Lord explained gently, a wave of his own incredible despair overcoming him, freezing his hearts to the core. Would this be how he found his girls too?

"Why am I cold?" the Cyberman that was Jackie Tyler started to speak.

"Oh my God," Pete gasped. "But it was dead." He shook his head. "It's not dead."

"We broke the inhibitor," the Doctor said quietly looking at his dear Rose while tears flooded down her face. He reached out and covered her hand with his own, closing it on her fist and silently offering what comfort he could.

"Pete, I'm so cold..." the Cyberman said in its inflectionless voice.

"Do you remember your name still?" the Time Lord asked gently.

"Don't be daft. Of course I remember my name," the robotic voice answered. It might have been funny if it wasn't the exact opposite.

"Jacks," Pete whispered agast, horror and despair waring in his tone as he could no longer deny the truth. "I'm here, Jacks. I'm right here," he offered soothingly. He glanced uselessly at his hands. What could he do? He couldn't hold her hand, could he? Her soft hands were gone, cut off and discarded in favour of metal. He looked back up at the dark empty eyes in the helmet, feeling like that dead stare was fixed unerringly on him. "I want to help. Tell me what I can do to help," he begged, his voice so thick it was like a heavy weight in the air, upon his chest...

"It hurts, Pete," Jackie said rhythmically, her computerised voice hiding the pain her words held. "It's so cold."

Rose's vision blurred, obscured by tears. It was too late to save her. Much too late. She knew that far too well. She knew that she'd never met this woman before today, and yet here was her own mum, dying right in front of her, just as her own dad had done. "It's alright. The Doctor is here. He's going to help you."

The Time Lord looked up at his companion at the sound of her wet and broken words. His hearts lurched at her pain, as he watched her unsuccessfully try to wipe her cheeks dry. How he wished he could protect her from this heartache, but her grief just made him dread the fate of his own precious children, Bec trapped in an upgrading chamber behind him and Cathryn still unaccounted for. He cried out to them through the Bond, needing their mental touch to reassure him of their wellbeing, needing to know that Cathryn was alive and safe, but he felt not even the faintest echo in return. His mind was as empty and alone as it had been since Gallifrey had fallen.

"I'm so tired. So cold and so tired."

The blonde could only swallow as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. "Doctor…." she pleaded, pulling the ancient man out of his own despair.

"Sorry," the Doctor said with untold loss and compassion in his tone, lifting the sonic to the internal workings of the suit, preparing to shut it down once and for all. "You sleep now, Jackie. Just go to sleep." The shrill sound of the tiny screwdriver reverberated through the air around them as the lights within the armour switched off, heralding the demise of the woman trapped within.

The three were left simply to stare at the remains of Jackie's body as Rose suddenly gave into tears. "She wanted to die. It hurt so much she wanted to die." She didn't think she would ever put that horrific notion out of her mind.

In that moment, the Doctor put his arm around her. "I'm so sorry, Rose. But….she wasn't your mother. Our Jackie Tyler is still where you left here. All safe and sound."

"How could that matter?" Rose asked blankly. "She wanted to die."

The three only barely staggered up when multitude of Cyberman suddenly marched in around them.

"Take them to Cyber Control," one of the Cybermen ordered. This time there was no blackout to act as a reprieve and the small power cell appeared dead in the Doctor's hand. They were forced out of the factory and finally into the main control room of Battersea, forced to wait to face the host of this particular chaos, Lumic himself.

All the while, the Doctor's mind never ceased racing with plans and possibilities. He was simultaneously considering how power might be restored to the factory, or what he might have to do to to ensure such; how much harm had come to Bec and whether he could undo the damage; the fate of his other child, Cathryn; how to use the weakness of the emotional inhibitors against the Cybermen, and; how he, Rose and her father's duplicate could escape their current predicament. He was sure he could utilise that small band of hackers, but, not only would contacting them without raising suspicion be difficult, with the power down and the system offline, the benefit they could provide him with was limited.

As the Doctor ran through his plans, that little team were also arguing the situation in the zeppelin above them.

"With the power down, there's no more we can do," Jake was arguing. "We're useless. We're worse than useless. We're sitting ducks, now that we've lost those cameras." There was no mention of how they'd only had access to the factory's surveillance thanks to Mickey in the first place.

"Rose and the Doctor are still in there," Mickey argued back. "We're not going anywhere until they come out again."

"Who put you in charge?" Jake raged, angered that this punk thought he could take over simply because he had the same face as their Mickey… "For all you know they're already dead."

"But, they're not," the outsider countered. "You don't know the Doctor. This is what he does. He'll get Rose, get them all out."

"Whatever their status, this is the best place to be," Mrs. Moore put in, once more the calm voice of reason. "They couldn't have traced us before the power went out, and we already know this is a prime position to get into the system when the computers are back online. Besides, if we're compromised, we have a getaway vehicle, of sorts."

Jake reluctantly agreed, returning to his post by the door, struggling to keep his composure and restrain his anger so soon after the death of his closest friend.

"Thank you," Mickey acknowledged at the woman's support.

"Let's just hope your Doctor is as good as you say he is," she told him seriously. "If he isn't, it's not just London that's going down, it will be the world."

Mickey silently nodded, wondering how much further this could spread if her fears came about. He'd caught a glimpse of how wide and wonderful the universe was since the Doctor had come into their lives a little over a year before. And if this universe was anything like their own…

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Authors' note:

Here we are, we are: the next installment in the Pete's world debacle (soon to be upgraded to catastrophe). :-)

As ever, thank you for your kind words and encouragement. We really do appreciate the support you all give us. Some of you may have noticed that I've tried to be better with responding to reviews (sorry there *blushes*). If there's anything I've missed previously that you wanted an answer to, please don't hesitate to PM me directly.

A special thanks to our friends, LovelyAmberLight, Fan Fictional Authoress and Almaydnis Rayne, who have been with us every step of the way. Thank you guys. It means a lot to us. :-)

Until next time, keep out of trouble, y'all! And don't step into any strange blue boxes...

azaadin & emptyvoices