As the Doctor walked, he couldn't help but notice they were heading towards the central control room. So, even if he was upset that they had killed Mrs. Moore, he didn't fight them as that was exactly where he wanted to go. He just hoped that he got a chance to take out the Cybermen before they had a chance to kill him. Going through a final door, he couldn't help but notice that Jack and Pete were already in the room waiting for his arrival. He wanted to rush over and hug Jack, thankful that they were back together, only he didn't. Hugging Jack would show the Cybermen that he cared for the immortal and even if Jack would return to him, he really didn't want to watch him die again.
"I've been captured, but don't worry, Jack and Pete are still out there. They can rescue me. Oh well, never mind," he announced indifferently. Jack looked at him with a small smile and he couldn't help but smile back. He walked over to where they were leaning against the back of the computer.
"You okay?" Jack wondered keeping his voice low.
"I lost Mrs. Moore," The Doctor answered softly. Jack didn't try to comfort his lover even though he knew that the Doctor would be upset over the loss. They could mourn for her later. Right now they had to stop the advancement of the Cybermen before they destroyed not only the earth but the entire universe.
"We were too late. They got Jackie and Lumic killed her before we could save her," Pete spoke up. The Doctor silently added Jackie to the list of people he couldn't save. Trying not to show how upset the news made him, he stepped forward.
"Then where is he, the famous Mister Lumic? Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?" The Doctor asked sarcastically trying to antagonize the Cybermen. It didn't matter that they didn't have emotions, he was still going to push them as he tried to get a reaction.
"He has been upgraded," one of the Cybermen answered.
"So he's just like you? Well that's a disappointment. I was hoping to talk to him rationally," The Doctor complained.
"He is superior. The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller," The Cyberman explained. The Doctor rolled his eyes. He had heard it all before over the years. Every time they showed up they had a new ruler who was supposedly better than the last. The Doctor thought all of them as a mindless hive, though. A dangerous hive, but a mindless one none the less and now that Lumic was part of it he wouldn't get a straight answer out of the man. All reasoning that Lumic once had was lost because he was stupid enough to upgrade himself.
"Well then where is he?" The Doctor asked impatiently. A side door opened and the Doctor turned to look at it. He kept his face blank as a Cyberman was wheeled out in an upgraded steel wheelchair. "Is that him?"
"This is The Age of Steel and I am its Creator," The cyberman answered.
"Really, you don't look like much," The Doctor antagonized him trying to by time. His hope now relied on Mickey and Jake to stop the Cybermen. He was positive that they would be to the zeppelin but he had to give them a few extra minutes in case Rose was slowing them down. As if on cue, he heard people start screaming from all around them. He smiled as the control the cybermen had over the people was broke and they were able to think for themselves again rather than be lead into the conversion machines like mindless cattle.
"That's my friends at work," He told Lumic happily .
"Good boys!" Pete called out.
"Mister Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will," Jack agreed.
"I have factories waiting on seven continents. If the ear pods have failed, then the Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world," Lumic argued them. "I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace and unity and uniformity."
"Blah, blah, blah," The Doctor interrupted causing Lumic to pause. "And imagination? What about that? The one thing that lead you here, imagination, you're killing it dead," The Doctor exclaimed as he reminded him. It was hard to tell if Lumic was listening as he stared forward.
"What is your name?" Lumic questioned him.
"I'm the Doctor," The Doctor answered.
"A redundant title. Doctors need not exist," Lumic told him proudly. Well as proudly as a cyberman could.
"That's right, Cybermen never sicken inside their metal cases. They can live forever but what kind of life is it?" Jack questioned Lumic.
"Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room," The Doctor bragged. Jack smiled at him and he smiled back before continuing. "But everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant. That is so human. But once you get rid of sickness and mortality, then what's there to strive for, eh?"
"Nothing. There is nothing to strive for once you are a Cyberman," Jack answered for Lumic.
"He's right. The Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop. You'll stay like this forever. A metal Earth with metal men and metal thoughts, lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive. People. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people," The Doctor explained.
"You are proud of your emotions?" Lumic questioned him. The Doctor nodded. Over the years he had felt everything from happiness to rage. He had known grief as well as joy. He thought he had lost all the emotions that made life worth living when his planet was destroyed but Jack had opened his heart again and made him feel love. Without the immortal, he felt that he would be lost in his grief again but he would rather feel that grief than be trapped in the emotionless metal shell of a Cyberman.
"I could set you free," Lumic told him, almost as if he was reading his thoughts. "Would you not want that? A life without pain?"
"You might as well kill me," the Doctor responded.
"Then I take that option," Lumic told him.
"It's not yours to take," The Doctor exclaimed as he wondered why he was trying to reason with Lumic. "You're a Cyber Controller. You don't control me or anything with blood in its heart. Well, hearts."
"You have no means of stopping me. I have an army. A species of my own," Lumic informed him causing the Doctor to roll his eyes again. He wasn't sure why the Cybermen kept telling him things he already knew. Based on his previous dealings with the Cybermen, they would not have attempted to overtake London until they had a small army to support them. If they succeeded then the army of London would move taking over city after city until they claimed the Earth. Then they would move to the next planet.
"You just don't get it, do you? An army's nothing. Because those ordinary people, they're the key. The most ordinary person could change the world," The Doctor told him. As he did he looked over at a camera in the corner. He noticed when the red light came on showing that they were being watched. He wasn't sure by who, he had to have faith that it was Mickey. "Some ordinary man or woman, someone who is currently with an idiot."
"Be nice," Jack hissed. The Doctor raised his eyebrows as he continued.
"All it takes is for that man to find, the right number or perhaps a code instead. Say, for example, the code behind the emotional inhibitor. The code right in front of him," The Doctor communicated to Mickey confusing Lumic. Anyone now days knows how to use a computer to find something encrypted in the Lumic Family Database, under." He had been on a roll only he had let Jack distract him while in the van and he couldn't remember what the base number was that Mickey needed to be using.
"Binary nine," Pete spoke up as the Doctor tried to remember.
"Right, binary nine, a cancellation code," The Doctor went on.
"Your words are irrelevant," Lumic told him.
"Yeah, talk too much, that's my problem," The Doctor agreed. "I really should carry a phone with me, but Jack keeps it for me."
"You will be deleted," Lumic announced growing tired of the Doctor's games.
"But I'm almost finished," The Doctor whined as Jack's phone beeped indicating that he had a message. He pulled his phone out of his pocket seeing that it was a series of numbers from Mickey. He threw the phone towards the Doctor and the Doctor caught it. Luckily for him, all Cyber technology was developed to be interchangeable and he was able to fit the phone into the docking station. With a quick scan of his sonic, he transmitted the code into the cyber system causing the Cybermen to cry out in pain.
"I'm sorry," The Doctor told the Cyberman nearby. He had given them back their souls and they couldn't handle it. They stumbled around grabbing their heads as they realized who they were. The pain he caused them by having them wake up would kill them but it would save billions and billions of other lives. Running towards Jack he took his hand running out of the room. He made sure that Pete was right behind them as he allowed Jack to lead them in the right direction. Cybermen were exploding all around them, destroying the building and allowing the people inside to escape. Too many had died today but they had saved countless others by stopping the metal men. Making it outside the door they found that they were trapped by more cybermen exploding and blocking their path.
"The roof," Pete announced pointing towards the Zeppelin. The three of them raced towards it. As they did the balloon raised preparing to take off. The side hatch was open and the stairs were down.
"Hurry," Mickey yelled. They rushed over to the Zeppelin climbing on board.
"You're safe," Rose cried out rushing towards them.
"Rose, the button you need to press it or we are going to fall out of the vortex again," Mickey panicked. Rose yelped running back to press a red button on the controls. The Doctor smiled, not commenting as he pulled the door closed. With everyone safely onboard, Jake flew the Zeppelin away from the exploding site. The Doctor gave him directions to the TARDIS and they landed as close to her as possible. The Doctor practically ran as he hurried off ahead of everybody just thankful to be back home. Taking the power cell out of his pocket, he attached it to the TARDIS. While the cell wasn't fully charged it would give them enough power to return to their own universe.
"I'm sorry Pete, but we only have about five minutes of Power. Jack, Mickey we have to go," The Doctor told the small group as he stuck his head out of the TARDIS. He groaned as Rose came bouncing on but he didn't have time to fight her. He would find somewhere else to leave once they were back in the correct universe.
"Thank you. For everything," Pete told him.
"Bye zombie dad," Rose called out from within the TARDIS. Pete didn't comment as he turned around to leave.
"Now then, Jake, we've got to run. But one more thing. Mrs. Moore. Her real name was Angela Price. She's got a husband out there, and children. Find them. Tell them how she died saving the world," The Doctor told Jake. He opened the door further to let Jack and Mickey on. While Jack stepped aboard Mickey hung back with Jake.
"The thing is, I'm staying," Mickey told the Doctor. This world needed him. Here he had his gran and he could help Jake stop the Cybermen on other continents from following in the steps of London. The Doctor shook Mickey's hand wishing him well. Jack, on the other hand, stepped off the TARDIS giving Mickey a hug. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone handing it to the young man.
"It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories. And good luck, Mickey," Jack told him. Mickey took it putting it in his own pocket. With one last look at the young man, the two of them stepped onto the TARDIS closing the door tightly behind them. The Doctor quickly sent the TARDIS back to the correct universe, making sure the walls closed tightly behind them. He steered the TARDIS to Cardiff, landing on the rift that flowed through there. She needed to refuel and he needed to rest. Taking Jack's hand together they started to his room.