Disclaimer: I own nothing

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay between chapters - the internet hasn't been working recently, and it's still a bit dodgy.

Chapter Thirteen

Rose and Lily sat down opposite Rajesh. Lily folded her arms, looking at Rajesh cooly, determined not to lose her cool, though she was furious at being locked up, and furious at what Torchwood were doing. Though she was also confused by the precense of Ianto and Mickey.

She looked over at them, and this time Ianto caught her eye. Lily thought of the first and only other time she'd met him - he and parallel Jack had both been so understanding about her own Jack, and she never thought she'd see them again.

Ianto gave her what she knew was supposed to be a comforting smile, though if she was going to see Jack again - even if it was a different Jack - little was going to calm her down.

" What're you going to now then? " Lily asked after a moment, composing herself and looking at Rajesh.

He was already busy setting up the webcam on a laptop.

When he was done, he looked from the two women, to the laptop, which was showing what was going on in the rift chamber. Jackie and the Doctor were sat down, with the woman in the suit stood behind them.

" Yvonne? " Rajesh called, causing the Doctor, Jackie and the woman - Yvonne, apparently - to turn their attention to the laptop," Yvonne, I think you should see this. Two visitors. This one's the Doctor's daughter. And this one's his companion, apparently. "

" Daughter? " Yvonne asked, with a grin, as Lily and Rose peered through the webcam, " and you said she wasn't with you, Doctor. These are with you then? "

" Of course not," said the Doctor.

Yvonne nodded, " Good. So we can have them shot, can't we? "

" No! " the Doctor replied quickly, " no, don't. It was a worth a try though. That's my daughter, Lily, and that's .. that's Rose Tyler. "

Yvonne frowned, " If that's Rose Tyler, then who's she? "

Lily supressed a smirk as the Doctor looked distastefully at Jackie, who glared at him, " She's ... she's .. "

" I'm her mother," Jackie said.

Yvonne smirked, " You travel with her mother. "

" He kidnapped me," Jackie insisted.

" Please," the Doctor said, shaking his head, " when Torchwood come to write my complete history, don't mention that I travel with her mother. "

" Charming," Jackie muttered.

Suddenly, Lily watched as Yvonne turned away and started shouting something about the Ghost Shift. Jackie and the Doctor followed, leaving those in the sphere chamber to wonder what was going on up there.

Rajesh shook his head when he saw the reading on the laptop, and put a hand to his earset, " Yvone? I thought you said the next Ghost Shift was cancelled? What's going on? Yvonne? "

There was no answer, and the sphere hanging in the air suddenly shook, catching everyone's attentions. Without hesitation, all five of them rushed over to it and stood staring at it.

The sphere didn't stop shuddering - it shook more, and started vibrating, whilst Rajesh frantically looked at the reading.

" What's it doing? " Lily asked, " you must know how this thing works? "

Rajesh shook his head, " I don't know but the reading are off the scale. " He put a hand to his ear again, " Yvonne! We need help - the sphere is active, and the doors have sealed themselves shut! "

There was no answer, and Lily stuck out her arms, standing in front of everyone as the sphere shuddered, " Don't get too close - you don't know what it might do. "

" What makes you in charge? " demanded Rajesh, shaking his head at her.

Lily shrugged in an offhand way, " Because I said so. "

As Rajesh hurried to check the computers again, Mickey looked at the girls, " It'll be alright, you know," he told them, " we beat them before and we can beat them again. That's why we're here. The fight goes on. "

" How can you even be here? " Lily asked, " parallel words - you shouldn't be able to cross the void. And the fight against what? "

" The Cybermen," Ianto said, as Lily turned to look at him, all thoughts focused on what was going on. Think like Dad, that was what she told herself.

Ianto continued, " We've been keeping watch for them, ever since you lot left, and the Doctor warned us that the Cybermen might be back. We formed our own version of Torchwood - "

" Who's "we"? " asked Lily quickly.

Iaanto shrugged a little, " Not many of us. Me and Mickey, Jake, Pete and ... " he paused a little, awkwardly.

" And Jack," Lily nodded, swallowing with some difficulty before clearing her throat and asking, " anyway, the Cybermen? "

Ianto nodded and carried on swiftly, as if there was nothing unusual about the situation - the fact that she had been in such a deep love with Jack, and he was married to a parellel - alive - version of Jack. " They came to our world again, and we fought them again. Had them beat. But then they escaped. Just vanished. They found a way through to this world, and then so did we. "

Rose frowned, in disbelief, " But the Doctor said this was impossible. "

" It should be," Lily said, " this could cause so many problems - you can't just jump from one world to the next! " she added, raising her voice, trying to make everyone understand the problmes. As she heard herself talk, she knew she was getting more and more like her dad.

" We can," Mickey said, " we've got all sorts of technology. "

" No," Lily said, " every time you cross the void to get to the parallel universe, you rip a hole in the fabric of the universe. The Cybermen - if they really are here - are breaking down the breach. If it continues, both worlds are going to fall into the void. This is trouble. "

Her words were followed by a pause, during which everyone looked back at the sphere, where a loud crash emitted from inside it.

" What in there? " Rose asked.

Mickey shrugged, looking at Ianto - his collegue - and back at Rose, " We don't know. Cyber leader, Cyber King, Emperor of the Cybermen ... whatever it is ... it's dead meat. "

As Mickey and Rose then told each other how great it was to be reunited, and shared a big hug, Lily looked at Ianto with a frown, " Cybermen have never really had leaders ... they're all supposed to be equal. I don't think that's what's in there. "

" Then what? " Ianto asked.

" I don't know," Lily said. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

" Aren't you going to ask about him? " Ianto said quietly, as he looked at Lily carefully, almost sympathetically.

Lily looked at him, knowing exactly what he meant, " I didn't want to ask you. He's not mine. Not this one, anyway. He's yours, and you're ... you're happy together. "

Ianto looked even more sympathetic, which made Lily feel awful - she didn't want anyone's sympathy. Sympathy was too hard to handle. Ianto smiled at her slightly, " It's not your fault," he said, " how you feel. And yes, by the way. Jack's here, somewhere. "

" Great," Lily muttered. It was all she needed - to deal with seeing the parallel version of her lost love, as well as Cybermen apparently showing up, and then whatever was in this sphere.

The sphere shook, and the noise coming from it was now overpowering. Boooming, and crashing, the sphere shuddered and vibrated vigorously, as Rajesh called for help through his earpiece, but got no response.

As the five people in the room looked up at it, a thought struck Lily.

" How many Cybermen escaped you? " she asked, looking from Ianto, to Mickey.

Mickey sucked in a breath sharply, " Loads. Couple of million. "

" Hmmm," Lily said, biting her lip as she thought about it, before shouting over the noise of the sphere, " millions of Cybermen! Hiding on this Earth, and we can't see them! And at the same time, I come here and find ghosts everywhere! " She paused, and shook her head, realising, " but they're not ghosts. "

" Then what? " Rose asked.

" Don't you get it? " Lily asked loudly, " they're all Cybermen! All of the ghosts are Cybermen! There's millions of Cybermen right across the world! "

She stopped, realising that the sphere had stopped making noise. Her mind was filled with the awful thoughts about the Cybermen. All the chaos they could cause, everything that could happen. But then everyone's attention was captured by the sphere.

Slowly, cracks started to appear on the perfect surface, and though the cracks came a bright golden light. The light filled the room as the sphere opened more and more.

" It's Cybermen in there! " Mickey shouted, " It's got to be! " He ran for the desk and pulled two large weapons from there, tossing one to Ianto, who caught it deftly. They both pointed them at the sphere.

" Samuel! " Rajesh snapped," Isaac, what are you doing? "

" Oh, for heaven's sake," scoffed Lily, rolling her eyes," haven't you been paying attention to anything. These two aren't some security men. "

" Too right we're not," Mickey nodded, cocking his weapon, and pulling it up, " we're here to defend the Earth. "

" I'm telling you, it's not Cybermen," Lily said," at least, not on their own. That's a void ship, and the Cybermen don't have the technology to create that. "

More light came from the sphere, and the top of it came completely off. Lily held her breath and watched curiously as something started to emerge from it. Lily took a step closer, narrowing her eyes and she realised what it was. Or what she thought it was, at least. Dread filled the pit of her stomach as she realised what it was, however much she didn't want to believe it.

" That's not Cybermen," Mickey said, thrown off, as a familiar enemy rose up.

Three others followed, and then there were four of them, gliding from the sphere effortlessly.

" Oh my God," Rose muttered.

" Location: Earth," bleated a Dalek," life forms detected. Exterminate! "

" Something tells me we're in trouble," Ianto said, amining his gun at them.

" Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! " chorused the four Daleks.

Until now, Lily had been stunned into silence. Daleks. Bloody Daleks. She'd never been a fan of them, of course - thety had always been the enemy, and for a long time, had been one of the things she feared above all else. Now however, she wasn't filled with fear. It was hatred. The Daleks had taken away the one man who meant anything to her, the only man she'd loved, and would ever love. The Daleks had destroyed him, and a little bit of her with that. And she hated them.

She clenched her fists and stood a few angry steps forwards, " You evil Goddamn pieces of tin! "