"How did you get into this, then?" the Doctor asked Mrs Moore as they moved slowly through the cooling tunnels. "Rattling along with the Preachers?"
"Oh, I used to be ordinary," she said, shrugging. "Worked at Cybus Industries, nine to five. 'Til one day, I find something I'm not supposed to. A file on the mainframe. All I did was read it. Then suddenly, I've got men with guns knocking in the middle of the night. Life on the run. Then I found the Preachers. They needed a techy, so I... I just sat down and taught myself everything."
"What about MR Moore?" he asked.
"Well, he's not called 'Moore'," she said. "I got that from a book, 'Mrs Moore'. It's safer not to use real names. But he thinks I'm dead. It was the only way to keep him safe. Him and the kids. What about you? Got any family, or...?"
"I've got Rose," he said without thinking.
"Oh, are you two married?" she asked.
"Um...no," he said. "She's my..." Everything, he thought. He wearily pushed aside the negative thoughts that instantly popped up about losing her one day. He was getting tired of listening to them. They didn't change what she was now. "She's home," he said finally. "Go on then," he continued after a moment. "What's your real name?"
"Angela Price," she said. He nodded with a smile. "Don't tell a soul."
"Not a word."
oOoOo
"You will wait," a Cyberman said, stopping Rose at a junction before moving on.
"Are you okay?" Pete asked quietly behind her.
"No," she said honestly, panic clawing at her. She was finding it difficult to breathe, but she forced herself to remain as calm as possible.
They watched as people filed forward impassively to the upgrade chambers. Blades swooped down on them, followed by pieces of Cyber suits.
"Any sign of Jackie?" he asked.
A Cyberman turned to them as he spoke. They both froze. The Cyberman watched them for a moment before stomping over.
"You are Peter Tyler," it said. "Confirm: you are Peter Tyler," it repeated when he didn't say anything.
"Confirmed," he said uncertainly.
"I recognize you," it said. "I went first. My name was Jacqueline Tyler."
"WHAT?" Pete yelled, and Rose closed her eyes briefly.
"They are unprogrammed," it said. "Restrain."
"You're lying," Pete yelled desperately. "You're not her! You're not my Jackie!"
"No. I am Cyber-form," it said as several others joined it, ready to restrain them. "Once I was Jacqueline Tyler. Her brain is inside this body."
"Jacks, I came to save you," he said, his voice breaking. Rose put a hand on his shoulder.
"This man worked with Cybus Industries to create our species," the Cyberman said. "He will be rewarded by force. Take them to Cyber Control."
It stomped away as Rose and Pete were grabbed from behind by other Cybermen.
"I'm sorry, Pete," Rose said quietly. "I'm so sorry."
"Maybe there's a chance, I dunno," he said, denial setting in. "Maybe we can reverse it."
"There's nothing we can do," Rose said.
"But if...if she remembers..."
"She's not her anymore, Pete," Rose said, harshly than she meant to. She was now gasping for air. "Look at 'em. They're all the same. She's not there anymore."
oOoOo
"I've been captured, but don't worry," the Doctor said as he sauntered into the control room, untying his bowtie. "Rose and Pete are still out there, they can rescue me—oh well, never mind." The he noticed that Rose was pale and shaking again, and seemed to be struggling to breathe. He grabbed her upper arms and leaned down to look in her eyes. "Rose? Rose! Are you alright?" She nodded weakly, and he could see her fighting to calm down. He pulled her tightly into his arms. "Just breathe...you're alright. What happened?" he asked Pete in a hard voice.
"They got Jackie," Pete said, his voice hollow. "We were too late. Lumic killed her."
The Doctor closed his eyes briefly, feeling borrowed pain. He rubbed Rose's back, and felt her take a few deeper, albeit shuddering, breaths, and the trembling eased a little.
"Your mother is still safe and sound," he assured her quietly so Pete couldn't hear. "We'll go see her when this is over, I promise." She nodded against his chest, and took another deep breath before stepping back out of his embrace, looking a little more in control. He watched her for another moment, hand still on her arm, but she gave him a little nod and he turned to focus on the situation at hand again.
"So where is he?" he asked loudly. "The famous Mr Lumic? Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?"
"He has been upgraded," a Cyberman informed them.
"So he's just like you?" the Doctor asked.
"He is superior," it said. "The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller."
They all turned to see a door slide open and a large Cybersuit in an elaborate chair rolled through. The Doctor found himself disliking the man even more, not realizing until that moment it was possible. The invalid would create a metal throne to rule over an army of steel. Humans.
"This is The Age of Steel and I am its Creator," said the Cyber Controller.
Rose stared hard at the monstrosity. She couldn't fall apart...not now, not yet. She concentrated on her righteous anger that this...thing had come up with a plan to destroy the planet, a plan that would eventually bleed over into the near destruction of another universe, in his own selfish desire for immortality. That helped. The anger slowly took place of panic, and while she'd have to deal with both eventually, at least the anger kept her upright and breathing. She even smiled a little when she heard the screaming start as the ear-pods were disabled and the people in the factory realized what was happening.
"That's my friends at work," the Doctor said triumpantly. "Good boys! Mr Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will," he said, and winked with a click of his tongue.
"I have factories waiting on seven continents," Lumic said. "If the ear-pods have failed, then Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world. I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace - and unity - and uniformity."
"And imagination?" the Doctor asked. "What about that? The one thing that lead you here. Imagination - you're killing it, dead!"
"What is your name?" Lumic demanded.
"I'm the Doctor."
"A redundant title. Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken."
"Yeah, but that's it! That's exactly the point!" the Doctor yelled. "Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man... I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room. 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? 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."
"You are proud of your emotions?"
"Oh, yes."
"Then tell me, Doctor - have you known grief - and rage - and pain?"
"Yes. Yes, I have."
"And they hurt?"
"Oh yes."
"I could set you free," Lumic said. "Would you not want that? A life without pain?"
"You might as well kill me," the Doctor said in a hard voice.
"Then I take that option."
"It's not yours to take," the Doctor said. "You're a CYBER controller. You don't control me or anything with blood in its heart."
"You have no means of stopping me," Lumic said. "I have an army. A species of my own."
"You just don't get it, do you?" the Doctor asked, exasperated, as he scrubbed a hand down his face. "An army's NOTHING. 'Cause those ordinary people - they're the key. The most ordinary person could change the world," he said, glancing at the camera. Rose felt a shot of pride in both the Doctor and Mickey as she watched the beginnings of a plan between the two hatch before her eyes. "Some ordinary man or woman... some idiot...All it takes is for him to find, say, the right numbers... say, the right codes... say, for for example, the code behind the emotional inhibitor. The code right in front of him. 'Cos even an idiot knows how to use computers these days. Knows how to get past firewalls and passwords... knows how to find something encrypted in the Lumic Family Database, under... what was it, Pete? Binary what?"
"Binary 9," Pete said loudly, cottoning on.
"An IDIOT could find that code. The cancellation code. And he'd keep on typing. Keep on fighting. Anything to save his friends," he said with a meaningful look at the camera.
"Your words are irrelevant," Lumic said.
"Talk too much, that's my problem," the Doctor said with a grin. "Lucky I got you that cheap tariff, Rose. For all our long chats. On your PHONE." He shot another meaningful look at the camera while miming a phone.
"You will be deleted," Lumic said threateningly.
"Yes, delete, control, hash, all those lovely buttons," the Doctor said dismissively. "Then of course, my particular favorite - SEND. And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place," he added as Rose's phone beeped. "By making every bit of technology compatible with everything else..."
Rose opened the message and tossed the phone at the Doctor. "It's for you."
He caught it deftly. "Like this," he said, slamming the phone into a slot. The effect was immediate. The code flashed on every screen, and the Cybermen around them began twitching and shuddering and clutching at their heads.
"What have you done?" Lumic asked furiously.
"I gave them back their souls," he said, grabbing the phone and tossing it to Rose. "They can see what you've done, Lumic! And it's killing them."
He grabbed Rose's hand and ran from the room, Pete close behind.
"Delete! Delete! Delete!" she heard Lumic crying from inside the room as they raced away.
They ran through the factory as bits of it exploded around them. They found an emergency exit, but it was blocked by a huddle of twitching Cybermen. The Doctor made a frustrated noise.
"There's no way out!" he yelled, looking around frantically.
Rose grabbed the phone when it went off. "Rose, can you hear me?" Mickey's voice came over the speaker. "Head for the roof!"
"It's Mickey," she told the other two men. "He says head for the roof."
They all scrambled for the stairs, trying to avoid the flames, sparks, and falling debris. They made it onto the roof to see the zeppelin hovering above.
"Catch me complaining about you playing Playstation again," Rose said with a grin as she hung up and ran for it. A ladder descended from the zeppelin as they reached it.
"You've got to be kidding," Pete said as they ran for it.
"Rose, get up," the Doctor said, supporting her as she climbed onto the ladder.
Once all three were clinging to the ladder, Mickey took off. The Doctor grinned at her, but Rose looked down, holding tightly to the ladder. The whole thing sank as Lumic's Cyberform latched onto the ladder and tried to climb up. The Doctor dropped his sonic down to Pete, shouting instructions.
"Jackie Tyler," Pete yelled, holding the sonic to the rope. "This is for her!"
The whole ladder lurched again as Lumic fell into an an explosion below.
oOoOo
The Doctor ran straight for the TARDIS when they were on solid ground again, while Rose loitered a bit with Pete. The next time she'd see him, it would be in the heat of battle. She wanted to savor a calm moment while she could.
"So, what happens inside that thing, then?" he asked, nodding at the TARDIS.
"Oh...everything," she said, smiling at it as she felt the familiar buzz come back strong as power was restored. She gave Pete a sidelong look. "You wanna see?"
"No, I don't think so," Pete said, shaking his head. "But you two...you know, all that stuff about different worlds... who are you?"
She studied him for a moment. She could tell him this much at least. "It's like you said...imagine there are different worlds. Parallel worlds. Worlds with another Pete Tyler... Jackie Tyler's still alive...and their daughter..."
Pete stared at her, and Rose saw the realization dawn in his eyes. "I've gotta go—"
"It's alright," she said quickly. "You've got things to do. Great things. All those Lumic factories out there...someone's gotta take up the fight. Just...don't forget us, alright?"
Pete continued to stare for a moment, then nodded.
"Rose?" she heard the Doctor call, and she turned as he jogged up to them. "I've only got five minutes of power," he said. "We've gotta go."
"Remember what I said," Rose said to Pete, taking his hand and squeezing it briefly.
"Thank you," Pete said to both of them. "For everything."
He took one last look at Rose, who could feel the tears burning her eyes, before turning on his heel and walking away. Rose put a hand over her mouth to smother the sob that threatened to escape, and the Doctor put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Here it is!" Mickey said happily as he approached them. Rose swallowed and turned with the Doctor, who kept his arm around her for a moment. "I found it. Not a crease."
"My suit!" the Doctor said happily, releasing Rose to take it from Mickey. "Good man! Now then, Jake - we've gotta run. But one more thing: Mrs Moore. Her real name is Angela Price. She's got a husband out there, and children. Find them. Tell them how she died saving the world."
"Yeah, course I will," Jake said with a small smile.
"Off we go, then!" the Doctor said.
"Uh... thing is, I'm staying," Mickey said.
The Doctor froze and stared at him. "You're doing what?"
Rose stared as well, unable to think of anything to say. Part of her wanted to beg him, plead with him to return to the TARDIS, while another part of her knew that this, somehow, was where he belonged.
"It sort of balances out," Mickey said. "'Cause this world lost its Rickey. But there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there."
"Mickey..." Rose moaned softly.
"Rose, my gran's here," he said. "She's still alive. My old gran - remember her?"
"Yeah," she said, wiping at the tears that were now falling freely.
"She NEEDS me," he said.
"What if I need you?" she blurted out.
He smiled a little at her. "You don't. You haven't for a long time. You and him...you just need each other."
"We...we can't come back for you," Rose said miserably.
"Mickey, you need to understand, travel between parallel worlds is impossible," the Doctor confirmed. "We only got here by accident. We- we fell through a crack in time. When we leave... I've got to close it. We can't ever return."
Mickey looked at him, then glanced at Rose before drawing himself up. "Doctor," he said, holding out his hand and shaking the Doctor's firmly.
"Take Rose's phone," the Doctor said. "It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories. And good luck. Mickey the Idiot." the Doctor slapped his cheek lightly and smiled. He glanced at Rose, touching her arm briefly before walking back to the TARDIS.
"Thanks," Mickey said as she handed him her phone. "We've had a laugh though, haven't we?" He paused and studied her as she nodded. "It's like you said, back when we first met him. You said, one day, we'd do amazing things together...you, and me, and the Doctor. I reckon this is just part of that. Dunno how you knew...but now...I'm glad you're always right." He smiled and she laughed tearfully before throwing her arms around his neck. He squeezed her back tightly. "Go on," he said after a moment. "You'll miss your flight."
She nodded, and took another long look at him, leaning up to kiss his cheek before running for the TARDIS. As soon as the door closed behind her, the Doctor flipped a switch and the engines started. She grabbed onto the railing as they made the rough reentry into their universe. Once they were stabilized in the Vortex, she stayed still another moment, stamping down the pain that she couldn't explain to anyone, feeling a sort of cold numbness take over. Probably wasn't healthy, but it would do for now. She turned and slowly made her way up the ramp toward the Doctor, who was watching her carefully, his hands buried in his pockets.
"Rose…you alright?" he asked softly.
"I'm always alright," she said, and he arched his eyebrow gave her a small, sad smile. He opened his mouth to say something, but then shook his head and instead offered again to take her to see Jackie after he'd changed his clothes. He might know the code, but he wasn't going to be the one to fight it. All she had to do was keep herself together. Somehow.
