Sage felt her insides being stomped upon as the Cybermen stepped further and further into this dimension. "Wrong, wrong, wrong, this is wrong," she whimpered.
The Doctor tugged her further into his arms, hushing and soothing her. "What is it, love? What's wrong?"
"They're not supposed to be here. I stopped them, they're not supposed to exist. I don't understand. I don't understand."
"We'll fix this," the Doctor promised.
Jackie marched to the pair of them. "What's down there? She was in that room with the sphere. What's happened to Rose?"
Abruptly, he changed his tone, "I don't know."
Jackie began to cry, and Sage went to her, hugging her tightly. "I'll find her," the Doctor continued, "I brought you here, I'll get you both out. You and your daughter. Jackie, look at me. Look at me."
Jackie looked up at him, in Sage's arms and eyes red from tears. As sincerely as the Doctor could, "I promise you. I give you my word."
Sage felt the pain worsen but bit back the need to groan. Something about the Doctor's words gave her an odd sense of foreboding, and she couldn't help the worry building up inside her.
Rose's heart was pounding, and she wanted to throw up. She thought Sage and she had gotten rid of all the Daleks on the Game Station. But the sight of them in front of her made her want to faint. She only had one option: stall. "Daleks!"
She could feel the relief surrounding her when they fell silent, taken aback. "You're called Daleks." The Daleks didn't respond, simply observing her. Rose walked toward them with trembling steps. "I know your name. Think about it: how can I know that? A human... who knows about the Daleks. And the Time War. If you wanna know how, then keep us alive. That's all I'm asking. Me and my friends."
"Yeah, Daleks," Mickey said, wide-eyed and nodding his head. "Time War. Me too."
The Dalek's eye-piece swiveled around to look at Mickey.
"Yeah. And me," Rajesh said quickly.
"You will be necessary." The Dalek turned to another one. "Report: what is the status of the Genesis Ark?"
"Status. Hibernation."
"Commence. Awakening."
"The Genesis Ark must be protected above all else." The Dalek turned to the Genesis Ark, which emerged from the sphere. It clamped its suction arm to the side of the Ark.
Mickey, still pointing his gun at the Daleks, hissed to Rose, "The Daleks, you said they were all dead."
"Never mind that," she hissed back, "what the hell's a Genesis Ark?"
A Dalek wheeled up toward them, and the three spun out of their conspiratorial circle with three smiles that wouldn't even fool a toddler. The tyrant whirled the deathstick attached to its arm, "Which one of you is least important?"
Rose took a step back, face scrunched up in offense and shock. "Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Which of you is least important?" It repeated, wheeling closer.
She shook her head forcefully, heart rabbiting in her chest. "N-no, we don't work- we don't work like that. None of us." Her heart felt like it could burst out of her chest. There wasn't much she could do against a Dalek weapon, and she hated that. That feeling of helplessness.
"Designate the least important!" The Dalek swung its gun threateningly, and Rose flinched, taking a larger step back. She straightened her back, opening her mouth, ready to fire something back at them before Rajesh stepped up.
"This is my responsibility."
Rose tried to pull him back, "No, don't!"
He only ignored him, staring at the Dalek dejectedly. He shook it off, standing straight and proud. "I-er- I represent the Torchwood Institute. Anything you need, you... come through me. Leave these two alone."
Rajesh was shaking as he said that, and Rose watched with despair as the Dalek spun his weapon. "You will kneel."
"What for?" Rajesh asked, curious and taken aback.
"Kneel." The Dalek emphasised louder, wheeling forward, and Rajesh knelt.
Rose's heart pounded in her chest, eyes flicking back and forth between the two. This wasn't going well. But there wasn't anything she could do but comply right now. She was surrounded in an unknown environment. Rose could only hope that the Doctor and Sage got her call and knew the exact problem they were dealing with.
All the Daleks directed their eye-stalks at Rajesh, and Rose wanted to run to him and cover him from the impending doom. Because she knew, she knew that he was going to die here, and there was nothing she could do. The Daleks would kill him once they got what they needed.
"What're we going to do?" Mickey asked under his breath.
Rose kept her eyes forward, talking out the side of her mouth. "Nothing for now. They're only keeping us alive because of the Doctor, whether they know it or not. So we can only stall."
"Yeah well," Rajesh hesitates, looking at all of the Daleks, "I can give you a certain amount of intelligence but nothing that will compromise HomeLand security…."
"Speech is not necessary. We will extract brainwaves." The Dalek said with finality, and the three Daleks advanced upon Rajesh and positioned their suction arms around his head.
Rajesh was trembling, shaking like a leaf as he knelt there completely cornered and taken over. Rose's heart went out to him as he pleaded his case. "Don't... I... I'll tell you everything you need. No. No!" He shouted out in agony before the Daleks crushed his skull.
Mickey jumped toward him, ready to try and save him, but Rose held him back, heart heavy and head angry, knowing it was already too late.
The Daleks let Rajesh's blackened corpse fall to the ground.
"His mind spoke of a second species invading Earth infected by the superstition of ghosts."
And Rose felt her anger grow. That feeling of injustice and righteousness overwhelming her. "You didn't need to kill him!"
"Neither did we need him alive."
Another Dalek was all business, ordering, "Dalek Thay, investigate outside."
Rose's eyes widened. Names? They had names? What kind of Daleks were these?
"I obey."
A Cyberman approached Yvonne, who was sitting at her desk. "You will talk to your central world authority and order global surrender."
Yvonne stared up at the Cyberman defiantly, "Oh, do some research. We haven't got a central world authority."
"You have now," the Cyberman said, "I will speak on all global wavelengths. This broadcast is for human kind. Cybermen now occupy every land mass on this planet. But you need not fear. Cybermen will remove fear."
"Cybermen will remove sex and class and colour and creed. You will become identical. You will become like us."
Sage watched as there was chaos on a bridge, people running, screaming, the military shooting at the Cybermen with no effect whatsoever. The Cybermen aimed their own weapons, blowing up a truck, killing the soldiers. Finally one soldier manages to hit a Cyberman and it goes up in flames.
"I ordered surrender," the Cyberman said, as if in disbelief, and Sage would've smiled at that if the situation was a bit different. Emotions from a robot. Who knew?
And Sage burned with the idiocy of these invaders, heart breaking with the news. Because, of course, the humans were going to fight back. Of course they would, that was what made them human. And they were dying in the process.
"They're not taking instructions. Don't you understand? You're on every street, you're in their homes. You've got their children." The Doctor stalked toward the robot angrily, and Sage couldn't deny how hot that was; the Doctor's protective anger, even better that it was for her and her home. "Of course they're gonna fight."
There was a pause before, "Scans detect unknown technology active within the sphere chamber."
"Cybermen will investigate." The Cyberman pushed two terrified members of staff roughly before him. "Units 10-65 and 10-66 will investigate the sphere chamber."
"We obey."
Sage's heart pounded in her chest, the fear and terror building up within her. Rose was there. Rose was there. And Sage could only hope that Rose was still alive, that she was clever enough to get away from the Daleks, that she could stall to keep herself alive.
"Units open visual link."
Her eyes flickered to the image on Yvonne's laptop, and her heart stopped, seeing the Dalek again. She shook her head, eyes clamped shut as she tried to shake away the mirage. She opened her eyes.
Still there.
This wasn't a mirage.
She had hoped against all hopes that the Dalek she heard from Rose was fake, a voice recording, something that wasn't what she feared. And she hated that she was wrong. Her hands clenched into fists, and she swallowed, jaw locking.
"Identify yourselves," the chilling voice said.
"You will identify first," the Cyberman challenged back.
"State your identity," the Dalek said again.
"You will identify first," the Cyberman repeated.
"Identify!"
"You are illogical, you will modify."
"Daleks will not take orders!" The Dalek said haughtily.
"You have identified yourselves as Daleks," and if the Cyberman could sound smug with that monotonous voice, he would.
Jackie, low as she could, "Rose said about the Daleks. She was terrified of them. What have they done to her, Doctor? Is she dead?"
The Doctor grit his teeth, "Shut. Up. Jackie."
"What…?"
He was about to explode, and Sage knew it. She put her hand on his chest, gently pushing him back. She turned back to Jackie with a fake, calming smile stretched across her lips.
"Keep calm, Jackie," Sage said soothingly. "We'll get Rose back."
The Doctor took a few deep breaths and held out his hand. Sage slipped him her fan, and he flipped it open, calling Rose with a few clicks.
There were a few tense beats of silence as the three waited and waited and waited….
Finally, the Doctor relaxed his shoulders minutely. "She's answered, she's alive."
Sage offered him a tremulous smile, squeezing his wrist in relief. The Doctor furrowed his brows in confusion, however.
"Why haven't they killed her?"
"Well, don't complain," Jackie hissed, and Sage internally agreed.
"She stalled them. Probably offered a bit of information," Sage reasoned. "She's surrounded by Artron energy as well. With a simple scan, the Daleks probably determined her importance for later."
The Doctor nodded thoughtfully, "They must need her for something later. Artron energy… you think that's it?"
"From what I know of the Daleks, probably."
And the Doctor looked grim.
"We must protect the Genesis Ark."
He looked up, alarmed, dropping from Sage's grip. "The Genesis Ark?" The Doctor put on his 3D specs again, looking toward the laptop.
"Our species are similar, though your design is inelegant."
"Daleks have no concept of elegance."
"This is obvious," the Cyberman said, snide and factual. "But consider, our technologies are compatible. Cybermen plus Daleks, together, we could upgrade the Universe."
"You propose an alliance?"
"This is correct."
A beat.
"Request denied."
"Hostile elements will be deleted."
The shots were heard against theDalek, but the rays simply bounced off its armour.
"Exterminate!" The sound of the Cybermen hitting the floor as the gunshots echoed chilled Sage's blood.
"Open visual link." The Cyberman addressed the Daleks in the sphere chamber through the projection screen. "Daleks, be warned: you have declared war upon the Cybermen."
"This is not war." The Dalek said, ominous. "This is pest control."
"We have five million Cybermen," the Cybermen said, disbelieving. "How many are you?"
"Four."
"You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?!" the Cybermen scoffed.
"We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek," the Dalek said factually. "You are superior in only one respect."
"What is that?" The Cyberman sounded so amused, and Sage only wanted to punch him in the face.
"You are better at dying. Raise the communications barrier!"
Sage's sonic fizzled out, and she frowned. The Doctor snapped the fan shut with an odd look. "Lost her."
"How? My sonic…."
"They must've elevated their tech since the last time we saw them," the Doctor said with a frown, tapping the closed fan with the palm of his hand.
Sage opened her mouth before she seized. The Doctor caught her before she fell, eyes blown wide with concern. "What was that?"
"Something- Something-" Sage panted. "Something tore me open."
A Dalek wheeled back in surprise, "Wait!"
The other Daleks whirled to look at it, "Rewind image by nine rells."
"Identify grid seven gamma frames." The image blurred as it zoomed in before clearing up, and the sight of a familiar brown coat made Rose's heart speed up in joy.
"This male registers as an enemy… the female next to him... Enemy target number one."
Rose's eyes widened at that. That was new. She knew that the Doctor had a past with the Daleks, knew that they fought in the Time War against each other. But she didn't know that Sage was an enemy target, let alone to be number one. There was only that one time on the platform that they met.
Rose desperately searched through her memories, but nothing from that encounter gave her the impression of Sage meeting the Daleks before. How could Sage have become an enemy without ever meeting these Daleks?
A Dalek turned on her, and she took a step back in fear, "The female's heartbeat has increased."
Rose let her face fall into a blasé smile, schooling her expression to neutral. "Yeah, tell me about it."
"Identify him."
"Alright, if you really wanna know… that's the Doctor."
The Daleks rolled back sharply, eyestalks spinning around wildly. Rose smiled, toothy and sharp. "Five million Cybermen? Easy. One Doctor? Now you're scared."
Jackie could only watch on in confused terror. Sage and the Doctor were conspiring in harsh whispers and hisses.
This wasn't what she signed up for. In fact, she didn't sign up for this. She was only okay with Rose going with this madman because she could separate home and work. Jackie didn't want to be involved with this. She wanted to go home. She wanted to go home and watch Westend, curled up on her sofa and throwing popcorn at the idiots on screen.
This was too much for Jackie. Unlike her daughter, she loved her life. Were there times she wished that Pete was back with her? Yes. But who wouldn't want the love of their life back from the dead?
Rose was somewhere with aliens, and that terrified her. And there wasn't anything Jackie could do to save her. Her heart had stopped about seven times throughout this whole ordeal, and she couldn't believe that Rose liked this. Doing this. Not knowing whether or not Rose would survive through the end. Jackie just couldn't see the appeal.
She never wanted to be kept hostage by aliens. Watching Sage and the Doctor hiss a plan, she made a decision. If they got out of this alive, the Doctor would get much more and much harder than a slap this time.
"Quarantine the Sphere Chamber," the Cyberman said abruptly. "Start emergency upgrading. Begin with these personnel."
A lackey grabbed Yvonne who struggled and shouted as they dragged her away. "No, you can't do this! We surrendered! We surrendered!"
A robot latched onto Jackie's arm with a bruising grip, and she held back a scream. If they- if they did whatever with the Doctor, then he wouldn't be able to save Rose. And she couldn't bear that happening.
The Cyberman holding the Doctor paused, "This one's increased adrenaline suggests he has vital Dalek information."
"This one as well," the Cyberman holding Sage shoved her forward.
Jackie's heart stopped and came back to life within seconds as hope overtook her. Then fear spread as Jackie screamed back at the Doctor as she was dragged away "You promised me! You gave me your word!"
Jackie kept eye contact with the Doctor as she was dragged away, the words "I'll think of something!" giving her some kind of fleeting hope.
The doors closed on the Doctor and Sage who were staring at her in fear. Her arm ached as she was hauled down the corridor. Other personnel were being dragged down, and Jackie saw a curtained area before her.
Terror seized her heart as an ear piercing scream echoed throughout the hallway. Then drills and Jackie's eyes widened as sparks flew. Literally.
"Wha-what happens in there?" She asked Yvonne, "What's upgrading mean? What do they do?"
Yvonne was pale, face looking a bit green as she tried to say the next few words. "I think... I think they remove the brain... sorry, um... I think they remove the brain and they put it in a suit of armour. That's what these things are. They're us."
"Next."
A Cyberman dragged Yvonne away toward the curtain. Jackie couldn't find it in herself to feel pity. "This is your fault! You and your Torchwood. You've killed us all!"
"I did my duty for Queen and Country!" Yvonne cried tearfully. She wrenched her arm away from the Cyberman's grip and faced the area where the humans were being upgraded, steeling herself to walk in.
Jackie watched as Yvonne took a tentative step, muttering, "I did my duty. I did my duty. Oh, God. I did my duty."
She walked in.
And Jackie winced at the sound of her screams and the sparks flying from behind the curtain. Pity formed within her heart at the heart wrenching screams coming from that once proud woman, but still only felt as if it was deserved.
Jackie watched as more and more people were upgraded and screams were the only thing she could hear anymore.
The Doctor looked out the window, Sage's hand on his ankle, resting and taking comfort from her and vice versa.
"You are proof. Both of you."
"Of what?"
"That emotions destroy you."
Sage's grip on his ankle tightened, her teeth grinding painfully. He rested a hand on her shoulder, steadying her and keeping her from launching herself at the Cyberman.
The Doctor gazed at Sage with a look who was glaring at the Cyberman and her eyes flickered to the side. He quirked a little smile, "Yeah, I am." He glanced to the side, following Sage's gaze. "Mind you, I quite like hope. Hope's a good emotion. And here it comes."
The Cyberman followed his gaze. A group of people dressed in black suits, wearing helmets and carrying guns appear out of thin air. One of them shouted to the others and they shot at a row of Cybermen, immediately destroying them.
The Doctor and Sage rolled out of the way and crouched in a corner of Yvonne's office as the last Cyberman had his head blown off. The Doctor helped Sage to her feet, both of them brushing off the dirt.
The man responsible spoke to the Doctor in a familiar voice. "Doctor, good to see you again." He took off his helmet, and a shock of blond hair greeted the two of them.
"Jake?!"
"Wait, wait," Sage broke between, "Weren't you in that- that other world?"
Jake gave Sage a weird smile, "The Cybermen came through from one world to another, and so did we."
"Huh," Sage's eyes grew distant, and the Doctor was only concerned. Because if he was here, who knew what they did to get here. And Sage's seizures and pains….
Something was very, very wrong.
"Defend this room. Chrissie, monitor communications."
The Doctor put on his 3D glasses, using them to look at the group. And his eyes widened in concern. "Kill one Cyber Leader and they just download into another. Move!"
The group hurried from the room to do as they were told, leaving the Doctor and Sage alone with Jake.
"You can't just... just... just hop from one world to another," the Doctor sputtered. "You can't."
Jake gave him a flat look, "We just did. With these." He chucked the Doctor a large yellow button on a chain.
"But that's impossible," the Doctor insisted as Jake looped a necklace around Sage. "You can't have this sort of technology."
"We've got our own version of Torchwood," and Sage's eyes widened at that. They knew about this place. They must've been here ages, even before the Doctor caught wind of anything. "They developed it. Do you wanna come and see?"
Sage's eyes widened at the implication, and she tried to take off the chain, "No!" But too late, Jake had pressed the button and they all disappeared.
They reappeared in the same room, except considerably darker and looked as though there has been a recent struggle. There were wires and equipment strewn all over the floor. "Parallel Earth, parallel Torchwood. Except we found out what the institute was doing and the people's republic took control."
Sage groaned, pallor paling by the second. The Doctor caught her as she nearly collapsed, panting and face scrunching in pain.
"What's wrong with her?" Jake asked, overly concerned.
"We've gotta get back," the Doctor said urgently. "We can't be here. Sage can't be here. Rose is in danger. And her mother."
"That'd be Jackie," Pete walked in, followed by two soldiers. The Doctor looked up in surprise. "My wife in a parallel universe. And as for you, Doctor, at least this time I know who you are. Your wife too."
The Doctor straightened, arm around Sage's waist as she leaned heavily on him, head on his chest. "Right, yes, fine, hooray. But we've gotta get back. Right now."
"No, you're not in charge here." Pete looked at him with serene calmness, eyes barely sweeping over Sage in pain. "This is our world, not yours. And you're gonna listen for once."
The Doctor opened his mouth to protest, but Sage put a hand on his shoulder, cutting whatever he had to say off. He clamped his mouth shut, and looked at Pete darkly, falling silent as he tightened his grip on Sage. He walked over to a wall and pressed up against the white expanse of it in the parallel Torchwood, squinting as if trying to hear something.
Pete stood behind him. "When you left this world, you warned us there'd be more Cybermen. So we sealed them inside the factories."
"Except people argued," Jake piped up. "Said they were living. We should help them."
"And the debate went on," Pete continued. "But all that time, the Cybermen made plans. Infiltrated this version of Torchwood, mapped themselves onto your world, and then vanished."
"When was this?"
"Three years ago." They strolled back down the room, the Doctor's grip on Sage hadn't wavered and she grit her teeth in pain as she wobbled forward with the group.
"It's taken them three years to cross the void," the Doctor mulled over, "but we can pop to and fro in a second. Must be the sheer mass of five million Cybermen crossing all at once."
"Yeah, Mickey said you'd rattle off that sort of stuff."
"Oh, where is Mickey-boy?" And Sage hid a smile at that poorly disguised concern in his voice. She panted, untangling from a reluctant Doctor and moving forward toward the window, looking intently outside. The world was bleak, quiet, sad. She shivered, wrong, wrong, wrong.
"He went ahead first," Pete explained. "Any chance to go and find Miss Rose Tyler."
"She's your daughter. You do know that? Did Mickey explain?"
"She's not mine," Pete said harshly, practically spitting it out. Sage flinched at that, and if she had the energy, she would chew him out for throwing that chance away. "She's the child of a dead man." At the window, they looked down at the scene below. "Look at it. A world of peace. They're calling this 'The Golden Age'."
"Who's the President now?"
"A woman called Harriet Jones."
The Doctor took a deep breath, "I'd keep an eye on her."
"But it's a lie," Pete spat, face twisted in hatred. "Temperatures have risen by two degrees in the past six months. The ice caps are melting. They're saying all this is gonna be flooded. That's not just global warming, is it?"
"No," the Doctor said slowly.
"It's the breach."
"I've been trying to tell you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. Then the Daleks break down the walls with the sphere…."
"Daleks?"
But the Doctor didn't seem to hear him. "Then the Cybermen travelled across, then you lot, those disks. Every time you jump from one reality to another, you rip a hole in the universe. This planet is starting to boil. Keep going and both worlds will fall into the Void."
Sage shuddered, and various images suddenly flashed through her mind. Horrors of destroyed towns, fires and storms, death and chaos. Daleks rampaging. Cybermen pillaging. She screwed her eyes shut, slapping the images away from her mind.
A hand on her shoulder made her open her eyes and look up into brown eyes. But not the ones she was used to. Jake stared down at her with open concern, "You alright?"
She shook her head again, unsuccessfully reassuring him and herself. "Yeah, yeah, just a bad headache. I'm not supposed to be here."
"Why's that?"
And she froze. Sage looked at Jake's earnest brown eyes, and her instincts warred within her. Should she tell this virtual stranger what she and the Doctor had been avoiding for a whole year?
He must've seen her hesitation, and was quick to reassure her. "You don't have to."
She shook her head, "No, no. If I don't, then I never will." And she didn't want to think about the implications of that.
"I don't belong here."
"Because…?"
Sage's eyes grew distant, looking far off to the side. Her breath was coming out in a short staccato as she tried to keep breathing. "My doppleganger, what was her name?"
"What?" Jake looked taken aback at the sudden change in topic. "Er- Isabelle, but I called her Iz."
"Really?" Sage's voice was faint, breath caught in her throat from the pain and as she remembered seeing her baby sister's face all grown up. And Sage had taken that away from her. "That's… cute."
"Yeah, she hated it though," Jake chuckled at the memory. "Always yelled at me. Told me to call her Isabelle."
She smiled before she sobered. No more stalling. "I can't be here because my body won't let me be here."
"You seem fine to me."
"For now," Sage pointed out. "Last time I was here, I fainted right away. Seems that I built some sort of tolerance against it since then or something. But I can feel it all over me, the- the wrongness surrounding me. It's like wearing shoes too tight for my feet. Physically I'm fine, but over time, it starts to hurt."
Jake frowned, the concerned look in his eyes highlighting that. "So we should get you out of here."
"Absolutely."
The Doctor's voice brought their attention back to the other pair, a confident smile playing on his lips. "What about you, love? You think I can do it?"
She had no idea what they were talking about before, but she knew that smile. "I think we can do it," she retorted, pushing back the pain. She held out her hand.
"And that's all I need." He grinned maniacally, snatching Sage's hand. "Off we go, then!"
A flash of a button, a tiny withheld scream, and they were back in the regular world.
And Sage could finally breathe again.
"First of all," the Doctor said, jumping around, "I need to make a phone call. You don't mind?"
Jake pointed at two soldiers, barking, "You two, guard the door."
The Doctor hurriedly dialed Jackie's number on the phone in Yvonne's office.
"Help me! Oh, my God, help me."
Sage's heart calmed at hearing Jackie's voice. "Jackie, you're alive! Listen…" He had to shush her as she screeched hysterically down the phone at him, and Sage winced at the volume.
"They tried to download me but I ran away!"
"Listen," the Doctor hurried to get in before Jackie cut him off again, "tell me, where are you?"
"I don't know!" Jackie said, out of breath. "Staircase."
The Doctor sighed, "Yeah, which one? Is there any... any sort of sign? Anything to identify it?"
A pause, "Yes! A fire extinguisher!"
He rolled his eyes, muttering, "Yeah, that helps…"
"Oh, wait a minute, it says 'N3'!"
He straightened, "North corner, staircase 3. Just keep low, we're trying our best." He ended the call.
"No, don't leave me!"
"I've gotta go, I'm sorry." He put the phone down and turned to Pete. "Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler."
"She's not my wife," Pete was quick to correct, and Sage really, really wanted to punch him. Couldn't he see that he was getting this second chance at love and life? Who cared if it was the same woman or not? That chance of love was short and varied, and he was planning to throw it away. Sage hated opportunity wasters.
"I was at the wedding." He stared at Pete accusingly, "You got her name wrong." Pete ducked his head and the Doctor moved on. He went to Jake and took his gun off him. "Now then, Jake-y boy, if I can open up the bonding chamber on this thing, it could work on polycarbide."
"What's polycarbide?"
Sage piped up, words hard and angry. "Skin of a Dalek."
"Yeah, that," the Doctor intervened before Sage's anger could burn even more. He had caught snatches of it before, and he really didn't want her to explode. "Can you get me a white piece of paper, love?"
Dutifully, she took out a piece of A4 from a printer, handing it to him. "What are you gonna-"
He taped it to a stick, grinned at her silly and went out into the hallway, Sage following close behind. He stuck it out the corner, waving it as hard as he could, and the Doctor followed out a few seconds later. "Sorry."
The Cybermen down the corridor spun around to look at him. "No white flag. Only had a sheet of A4." The Doctor shrugged, "Same difference."
A Cyberman pointed his arm-gun, poised to shoot the Doctor and Sage behind him, "Do you surrender?"
The Doctor, marching forward to meet the Cyberman, raised his hands up, flag still in hand. "We surrender. Unto you."
He glanced down at Sage, grabbed her hand, and grinned.
Whilst the Daleks were crowded around the Genesis Ark, Mickey brandished his own yellow button to Rose, hushed, "I could transport out of here, but it only carries one and I'm not leaving you."
"You'd follow me anywhere," Rose said with a sad, fond shake of her head. "What did I do to you all those years ago?"
"Guess I'm just stupid," Mickey said with a self-degrading smile.
Rose grabbed his hand, squeezing it tight. "You're the bravest man I've ever met."
"What about the Doctor?"
"Oh, all right. Bravest human."
"What about Sage?"
Rose smacked his shoulder, "Shut up, and take the compliment."
Mickey grinned, before his eyes fell worriedly back on the conspiring Daleks. "Well, I can't think of what the Daleks need with me. I'm nothing to them."
She followed his gaze, "You could be…" Inching forward, she tried to catch a better understanding of that machine, "whatever's inside that Ark is waking up and I've seen this happen before. The first time I saw a Dalek, it was broken. It was dying. But I touched it."
And here she paused, closing her eyes. The memory of the Dalek in pain overwhelmed her, and she clutched her chest for a moment, the pain washing over her before she steadied herself. "The moment I did that... I brought it back to life. As the Doctor said... when you travel in time in the TARDIS, you soak up all this... um... background radiation. It's harmless, it's just there. But in the Time War, the Daleks evolved so they could use it as a power supply."
Mickey held a soft, silly grin as he gazed at her, and Rose flushed under the attention. "I love it when you talk technical."
"Shut up," she said, half-heartedly slapping his chest. "If the Daleks have got something inside that thing that needs waking up…"
"They need you," he finished.
"You've travelled in time too," Rose pointed out, "either one of us would do."
He tilted his head in concession, a finger on his lips as he thought out loud, "But why would they build something they can't open themselves?"
A Dalek whirled upon them, and Rose was pretty sure that was Sek, but she couldn't be sure. Why and how did they have names? "The technology is stolen. The Ark is not of Dalek design."
"Then who built it?"
The Daleks looked between each other before the same one answered, "The Time Lords. This is all that survives of their Home World."
"What's inside?"
"The future."
Rose stared at the Ark and the surrounding Daleks with fearful apprehension. Her heart pounded in terror, thoughts racing through her head of what could be in there. For the Daleks to sound so reverent, so hopeful… whatever was in there must be terrible.
The Daleks backed away from the Genesis Ark, and Rose watched with trembling hands as she backed into Mickey. The Daleks' eyestalks swirled around, "Final stage of awakening."
Dalek Sek wheeled forward, and Rose stumbled back, tripping over Mickey standing behind her. "Your handprint will open the Ark."
Rose straightened up, crossing her arms and giving a defiant look. "Well tough, 'cuz I'm not doing it."
"Obey or the male will die."
Heart pounding, she immediately moved toward the Ark. "I can't let them," she murmured to a distressed Mickey, there wasn't much she could do right now. They were going to keep insisting, and if she kept refusing she would only get Mickey killed.
"Rose, don't," Mickey pleaded.
"Place your hand upon the casket.
She exploded, "All right!" Throwing her hands up, Rose turned to Ark. "You're gonna kill us anyway, so what the hell?" She bit her bottom lip, eyes flicking between the four Daleks and the Ark. Playing for time, she turned back to the Dalek, and went to stand right in front of it. "If you um... escaped the Time War... don't you want to know what happened?"
"Place your hand—"
Rose barreled on, "What happened to the Emperor?"
"The Emperor survived," the Dalek said with as much indignance as it could.
"'Til he met my sister and me... 'cuz if these are gonna be my last words, then you're gonna listen. I met the Emperor. And I took the Time Vortex and I helped put it into his head and turned him into dust. Do you get that? The God of all Daleks... and we destroyed him." She gave the Dalek a gloating smile, and laughed.
Furiously, the Dalek whirled around in anger. "You will be exterminated!"
From the doorway, a familiar voice made Rose's heart calm and her grin in realization and glee. "Oh now, hold on, wait a minute."
The Doctor strolled in with Sage on his arm, calm as can be. A coy smile playing on his lips.
"Alert, alert, you are the Enemy."
"Exterminate!"
Rose watched in horror as the Doctor pushed Sage down, protecting him with her body as they both slammed to the ground, rolling to hide behind a desk. The Daleks kept shooting, but their energy was spent, and the lasers were only strong enough to badly damage the desk rather than destroy it.
"Enough!" Dalek Caan barked at his other comrades. "Sensors report they are unarmed."
The Doctor peeked his head above the shattered desk, eyes wary as he saw the congregated Daleks. "That's me. Always. But what was that?" He helped Sage up with a hand, pulling her closer into his embrace. It was almost comical how Sage peered behind the Doctor, eyes wary and hard.
"You are allied with the Enemy. All orders are to kill." A Dalek rolled toward them, and the Doctor pushed forward, shielding Sage. Rose tilted her head, biting her bottom lip. What did the Daleks mean by that? They never said anything during the Game Station. What had happened since then?
"And you are powerless. We let you live."
"Not me. Never. Somehow I'm always alive, with or without your help." He took his specs off with a flourish, smiling at Rose. "And how are you?"
Rose shrugged, grinning at him, "Oh, same old, you know."
"Good!" He beamed before he turned to Mickey with a smirk. Sage grinned at the scene, hurrying over to the pair before the confused Daleks tried to kill her again. "And Mickity-McMickey! Nice to see ya!"
They bumped fists, and Mickey smiled. "And you, boss."
"Social interaction will cease!"
"How did you survive the Time War?"
The Doctor's face shadowed anger, "By fighting. On the front line."
Sage closed her eyes, remembering that first night she had found the Doctor. The memories that the TARDIS pushed into her burnt into her mind as the Doctor continued on, "I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that. But you lot! You ran away!"
"We had to survive."
"The last four Daleks in existence," the Doctor mused, hand stroking his chin. "So what's so special about you?"
"Doctor, they've got names," Rose said to him. "And Daleks don't have names, do they? One of them said they…"
One Dalek took initiative, "I am Dalek Thay."
And the rest followed.
"Dalek Sek."
"Dalek Jast."
"Dalek Caan."
The Doctor grinned, all teeth, full of delight, "So that's it! At last... the Cult of Skaro. I thought you were just a legend."
Sage startled, head tilted in confusion. She squinted at the four Daleks, something about the name and group making her remember…? wonder? about something.
"Who are they?" Rose asked, as oblivious to Sage's confused turmoil as everyone else.
The Doctor let go of Sage's hand, strolling around the Daleks, seemingly without a care in the world. "A secret order. Above and beyond the Emperor himself. Their job was to imagine. Think as the enemy thinks. Even dared to have names." He screwed his face up distastefully. "All to find new ways of killing."
Mickey shook his head, gesturing his arm toward the Ark, "But that thing," and Sage looked at the machine for the first time, staggering as she barely heard Mickey's next words, "they said it was yours. Time Lords, I mean. They built it. What does it do?"
The Doctor glanced at it, eyes flicking to Sage's pale and terrified form with worry, "I don't know. Never seen it before."
"But…" Rose furrowed her brows in confusion, "it's Time Lord."
The Doctor had his hands in his pockets as he looked forward, "Both sides had secrets." To the Daleks, he asked, "What is it? What have you done?"
Dalek Sek sounded superior as he wheeled forward, "Time Lord science will restore Dalek supremacy."
"What does that mean? What sort of Time Lord science? What do you mean?"
Sage stared at the machine as she tried to figure it out. Time Lord science. There could be a multitude of things the Daleks meant by that. But… whenever she thought of Time Lords she always remembered… Bigger on the inside. Her eyes widened with a horror of understanding dawning on her.
"They said one touch from a time traveller will wake it up," Rose said.
The Doctor clicked his tongue in understanding, "Technology using the one thing a Dalek can't do…. Touch. Sealed inside your casing. Not feeling anything... ever... from birth to death, locked inside a cold metal cage." He stopped, staring at the four Daleks intently, whispering, "Completely alone," before his voice returned to normal. "And that explains your voice. No wonder you scream."
"The Doctor will open the Ark!"
The Doctor laughed contemptuously. "The Doctor will not."
"Then the Enemy will," Dalek Sek ordered with a point of the arm-gun.
Sage's eyes widened, "Absolutely not!"
"You have no way of resisting."
"Well…" the Doctor tilted his head in concession, "you got us there. Although... there is always this." He took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket.
"A sonic probe?" The Daleks looked on in disbelief.
"That's 'screwdriver,'" the Doctor corrected.
Dalek Sek gave him a scornful look. "It is harmless."
"Oh yes," the Doctor nodded seriously. "Harmless is just the word. That's why I like it. Doesn't kill, doesn't wound, doesn't maim. But I'll tell you what it does do, it is very good at opening doors." He activated the screwdriver, and immediately, the doors exploded inward. Jake, his men, and the Cybermen leapt into action, firing their guns at the Daleks.
"Delete! Delete! Delete! Delete!"
Dalek Caan screeched, "Alert! Casing impact, casing impact!"
The Doctor, Sage and Rose flung themselves to the ground, avoiding the guns. Sage had been pulled into the Doctor's embrace, and Sage had pulled Rose into hers. The odd and bulky hug was immediately released as the Doctor pushed the two to their feet, ushering them toward the doors.
"The two of you, get out!"
They rushed toward the door, and Rose stumbled. Pete swooped in out of nowhere and Rose's eyes widened at the sight of him, but he only helped her steady and make it toward the door to Sage.
Mickey picked up a gun and started firing everywhere, making it rain even more chaos.
"Daleks will be deleted. Delete! Delete!" The Doctor reached Sage, Rose and Pete where they stand in the doorway, just out of harm's way.
Rose yelled at Mickey, still in the midst of the havoc. "Mickey, come on!"
"Adapt to weaponry!"
"Fire power restored!" The Dalek fired once at a Cyberman, immediately destroying it.
Jake managed to reach the door, but Mickey lost his footing and accidentally placed his hand upon the Genesis Ark, leaving a red hot mark there. Shaking it off, he dashed for the door.
"Cybermen primary target."
Mickey winced in pain as he looked at his hand. The rest of Jake's men managed to slip through the door before it closed, sealing both the Daleks and the Cybermen inside.
"Jake, check the stairwell," the Doctor ordered, calling over his shoulder and striding forward. "The rest of you, come on!"
Mickey, Rose, Sage and the Doctor ran down a corridor, and Mickey stopped them with a panicked expression. Sage put a hand on his shoulder, silently giving him strength.
"I just fell," Mickey said with a touch of hysteria, and Sage squeezed his shoulder "I didn't mean it!"
The Doctor shook his head with a devilish smirk, "Mickey, without us, they'd have opened it by force. To do that, they'd have blown up the sun. You've done us a favour!" He kissed the top of Mickey's head. "Now, run!"
Turning down another corridor, a Cyberman's voice was distinct. "You will be upgraded."
A familiar voice whimpered, and Pete went for his gun, storming forward. "No, but you can't! Please…"
The Cybermen fell to the ground, dead, Pete aiming a gun behind them. Through the smoke clouding him, uncomprehending, she stared then Jackie's eyes widened as she realised. "Pete!"
In the background, Rose's hands went to her mouth, and Sage gave her a side hug, feeling glad for Jackie.
Pete gave her a little smile, hesitant. "Hello, Jacks."
Jackie shook her head, looking slightly teary-eyed as she complained, "I said there were ghosts, but that's not fair. Why him?"
"I'm not a ghost."
"But… you're dead. You died twenty years ago, Pete," Jackie said, trying to explain.
The Doctor stepped forward tentatively in an attempt to explain, "It's Pete from a different Universe. There are parallel worlds, Jackie. Every single decision we make creates a parallel existence, a different dimension where-"
"Oh, you can shut up."
And for once, the Doctor did, stepping back into the background and grabbing Sage's hand. Jackie looked at him again with new eyes. "Oh... you look old."
"You don't," Pete smiled.
"How can you be standing there?" Jackie said with a little shake of her head in disbelief.
"Just got lucky…" he shrugged, "lived my life. You were left on your own. You didn't marry again, or...?"
"There was never anyone else," Jackie admitted quietly. "Twenty years, though. Look at me, I never left that flat. Did nothing with myself."
Pete shook his head, nodding over to Rose, "Brought her up. Rose Tyler. That's not bad."
Sage smiled at that. That was basically an admission of love from that man. She looked up at the Doctor with a beaming grin, and he looked down with a similar expression, squeezing her hand.
"Yeah."
"In my world…" Pete said slowly, "it worked. All those daft little plans of mine. They worked. Made me rich."
"I don't care about that," Jackie said immediately before she paused. "How rich?"
"Very."
"I don't care about that," Jackie repeated. "….How very?"
Pete laughed. Rose rolled her eyes and the Doctor smiled fondly.
"Thing is though, Jacks, you're... you're not my wife. I'm sorry, but you're not. I mean, we both…" Jackie nodded slowly, face crestfallen. He looked at her, fighting to give in to the look. "You know, it's just sort of…" before he gave in and started toward her. "Oh, come here." They ran to meet each other, Jackie starting to cry. He swept her off the ground in a huge hug.
While that was happening, Sage tugged on the Doctor's hand, getting his and Rose's attention. "I need to go get the magnaclamps. This is probably why Claire gave them to me."
He tightened his grip, "We go together."
"Fine, whatever," she said. "But we need to go now. It's in the TARDIS, and there was that other lone magnaclamp, remember?, and from what I remember, they're all in a battle zone."
The Doctor winced but nodded his head, letting Sage direct him. The others followed quickly, and the Doctor made it his mission to run through the fight, absolutely refusing to let Sage or Rose go through.
They could only stare in anticipation as the Doctor ran through, risking his neck again. He rolled through the chaos, Daleks and Cybermen ignoring him in favour of blasting at each other. With their hearts in their mouths, the two watched as the Doctor jumped for cover, the TARDIS doors opening for him and in a flash he was in and out, hand swiping for the other box as well, running back to the Sage and Rose.
"Come on, come on," Rose muttered, and Sage echoed that sentiment, biting her lip in worry and playing with her locket chain.
In seconds, the Doctor made it back to the pair, taking their hands and dragging them away. "Alright, let's go!"
The three peeked their heads around a corridor, eyes wide as they saw Daleks ordering and running around.
"Override roof mechanism." The roof began to open slowly. "El-ev-ate."
"What're they doing? Why'd they need to get outside?!"
"Time Lord science…" the Doctor said in bafflement. "What Time Lord science? What is it?"
"Bigger on the inside," Sage said, eyes fixated on the scene before them, and the two looked at her.
"What?"
"It's bigger on the inside. The Genesis Ark," Sage nodded at the machine. "They're going outside because whatever's inside won't fit this building."
"You're joking," Rose said.
Sage shook her head. "The TARDIS is Time Lord science, remember? They always loved their inter-dimensional machines. The real question is: what would the Cult of Skaro want with whatever the Time Lords made?"
The Doctor paused, thinking that over before he gasped, "You don't mean-"
Sage only nodded sagely. "Daleks. They've got an army of Daleks in that thing. And we're going to stop them. C'mon! Into the lift!"
The Doctor and the others finally stepped out of the lift on the top floor and rushed to the window, the Doctor dumping the magnaclamps down on Yvonne's desk as he went. As the Genesis Ark spins, Daleks shoot out of it, more and more of them, and the Doctor stared in horror. "Goddammit, Sage was right. Sage was right. Bigger on the inside."
"Did Time Lords put those Daleks in there? What for?" Mickey asked in confusion.
The Doctor looked on darkly. "It's a prison ship."
"How many Daleks?" Rose asked with trepidation.
"Millions."
"I'm sorry," Pete said with a shake of his head, "but you've had it. This world's gonna crash and burn. There's nothing we can do. We're going home. Jacks, take this." He tossed her one of the yellow buttons who fumbled but caught it.
"But they're destroying the city!" Jackie argued.
With an affectionate smile, he walked over and said, "I'd forgotten you could argue." He looped the button around her neck himself. "It's not just London, it's the whole world." He took her face in his hands, making her look at him. "But there's another world, just waiting for you, Jacks. And it's safe. As long as the Doctor closes the breach. Doctor?"
The Doctor turned from the window with his 3D specs on and a big grin. "Oh, I'm ready. I've got the equipment right here. Thank you, Torchwood!" He dashed to a computer. "Slam it down and close off both universes."
"Reboot systems."
"But we can't just leave," Rose protested. "What about the Daleks? And the Cybermen...?"
"They're part of the problem. And that makes them part of the solution. Oh yes! Well?!" The Doctor looked at them all, grinning maniacally, "Isn't anyone gonna ask? What is it with the glasses?"
Sage rolled her eyes, and Rose grinned, "What is it with the glasses?"
"I can see! That's what! 'Cos we've got two separate worlds, but in-between the two separate worlds, we've got the Void. That's where the Daleks were hiding. And the Cybermen travelled through the Void to get here! And you lot, one world to another, via the Void! Oh, I like that. Via the Void! Look!" He pressed the glasses onto Rose's face. "I've been through it. Do you see?"
"Reboot in three minutes."
"Void stuff," the Doctor said, pointing at Rose.
"Like um... background radiation!"
"That's it," he snapped his fingers. "Look at the others." Rose turned to look at Sage, Jake, Mickey, Jackie and Pete. Jackie was the only one not surrounded by the Void Stuff. He pointed, "The only one who hasn't been through the Void, your mother. First time she looked normal in her life."
Rose giggled and Sage cracked a smile.
"Oi!" Jackie cried, offended.
The Doctor dashed into the clear white area, Rose and Sage following. "The Daleks lived inside the Void. They're bristling with it. Cybermen, all of them. I just open the Void, end of verse. The Void stuff gets sucked back inside."
Enthusiastically, Rose clapped her hands. "Pulling them all in."
"Pulling them all in!" the Doctor echoed just as cheerfully.
"Sorry…" Mickey interrupted the pair, "what's... what's the Void?"
"The dead space."
"Hell." Both the Doctor and Sage said at the same time, and the Doctor gave her a surprised look, but she refused to look at him.
Mickey, looping the button around his neck, grinned, "So... you're sending the Daleks and Cybermen to Hell." To Jake, "Man, I told you he was good."
"But it's like you said…" Rose said, looking around the group, "we've all got Void stuff. Me too, 'cos we went to that parallel world." She flexed her fingers, examining the particles floating around them. She pulled the glasses off. "We're all contaminated. We'll get pulled in."
Sage frowned, rubbing her arms. The Doctor's face gave her chills, and she stepped away from the splash zone.
"That's why you've gotta go," he said seriously, staring right in front of Rose.
"Reboot in two minutes."
Rose stared at him, uncomprehending.
"Back to Pete's world." He pointed at Pete. "Hey, we should call it that: Pete's World." He turned back to Rose. "I'm opening the Void, but only on this side. You'll be safe on that side. Rose continues to stare at him.
"And then you close it. For good?" Pete asked.
"The breach itself is soaked in Void Stuff, in the end it'll close itself. And that's it. Kaput."
Rose's eyes widened in realisation, and Sage shivered at the shock and hurt in her eyes. She averted her gaze when Rose looked at her.
"But you two stay on this side...?" Rose said quietly.
"But you'll get pulled in," Mickey protested.
He pulled out the magnaclamps. Rose stayed put, looking like she'd been slapped around the face. "That's why... we've got these. Me and Sage'll just have to hold on tight, I've been doing it all my life."
"I'm supposed to go," Rose said slowly.
"Yeah."
"To another world, and then it gets sealed off," she continued, anger rising.
"Yeah." He went to another of the computers.
"Forever." She laughed at the absurdity of the idea. "That's not gonna happen."
A crash from outside shook the building.
"We haven't got time to argue," Pete said briskly, "the plans work, we go in. You too. All of us."
"No," Rose shouted, "I'm not leaving them!"
"I'm not going without her."
"Oh my God," Pete groaned. "We're going."
"I've had twenty years without you," Jackie hissed, "so button it. I'm not leaving her."
"You've got to," Rose said, turning to face her.
Jackie's voice rose, "Well, that's tough!"
"Mum…"
"Reboot in one minute."
Rose's voice trembled with suppressed tears as she spoke softly, "I've had a life with you for nineteen years. But then I met the Doctor and Sage and... all the things I've seen them do for me. For you. For all of us. For the whole... stupid planet and every planet out there. He does it alone, mum. Sage isn't enough. He needs a family."
Behind her, the Doctor watched her with terrible sadness in his eyes as he silently took a button on a chain out of his pocket. "But not anymore." She backed away from Jackie, toward the Doctor. "'Cuz he's got me too."
The Doctor looped the chain around Rose's neck.
Rose turned around, face confused, "What're you…?" Pete quickly pressed the button. They all disappeared, leaving the Doctor and Sage alone and gazing at the place Rose was with a heavy heart.
"Why'd you do that?" Sage asked, though her tone suggested she knew. She just wanted him to admit the truth.
"You know why," he said briskly.
"You took her choice away," Sage insisted. "That wasn't right."
"It's not like you did anything to stop me," the Doctor retorted.
Sage stopped, staring at him. She huffed, "You're right, I didn't. And that's on me. But Doctor- she wanted to stay with us. And I know you didn't want to risk me dying," there the Doctor flinched, "if I went and stayed over there. But you took away her choice. That's not right. You can't just do that."
"I can and I did," he said shortly. "If it means Rose surviving, then I will do anything. You've gotta understand that."
And dammit it all, she did. Because she would do the same thing for her baby sister. "Yes, but-"
"Don't talk to me about morality," the Doctor snapped at her, cutting her response off with a sharp glare, and she clamped her mouth shut, jaw working in anger. "Not when we could die at any moment."
He turned away, and Rose had reappeared sometime during their argument, smiling at Sage in thanks and then pointed at a button. "I think this is the on switch."
The Doctor started.
His face flashed in anger, and he grabbed Rose roughly by the shoulders, stooping slightly so he could look straight into her eyes, trying to drum sense into her, "Once the breach collapses, that's it. You will never be able to see her again. Your own mother!"
Calmly, she stared back at him. "I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never gonna leave you. Neither of you. And you can't take that away from me. You won't."
The Doctor stared at her for a moment, stunned. Then he released his grip.
Rose looked at him steadily, "So what can I do to help?"
"Systems rebooted. Open access."
Rose stubbornly held the Doctor's gaze. Sage touched his shoulder before he finally gave in. Pointing to a computer, he said abruptly, "Those co-ordinates over there, set them all at six."
Rose did as she was told.
She leant over the computer, taking her button from around her neck and glancing at the Doctor nervously. Tense silence among the three of them, Sage stared awkwardly at the Doctor's tense shoulders, wanting to go over and do something but her gut only told her he would snap again if she tried.
"We've got Cybermen on the way up."
"How many floors down?" Sage asked,
"Just one."
The screen showed the Cybermen marching up the stairwell. The Doctor tapped in a command on the laptop.
"Levers operational."
The Doctor and Sage grinned.
"That's more like it!" Rose cheered.
He dumped one of the magnaclamps on her, the other he gave to Sage. In the next moment, they all attached them to the wall next to the levers on opposite sides of the room.
"Press the red button."
Speaking very fast, the Doctor ordered Sage and Rose, "When it starts, just hold on tight. Shouldn't be too bad for us but the Daleks and the Cybermen are steeped in Void Stuff. Are you ready?"
The three nodded and shifted into their positions beside the levers.
Rose, staring out of the window, said, "So are they."
The Daleks appeared at the window.
"Let's do it!" The Doctor and Rose pushed the levers upward and all three then hurriedly took hold of the magnaclamps, Sage and Rose on one side, the Doctor on the other, Sage closest to the lever.
"Online."
The area was filled with the white light.
There was the sound of a strong wind.
The Daleks were sucked through the window, smashing through the glass as they were pulled into the white light and back to the Void.
Sage, Rose and the Doctor held on to the clamps tightly, struggling to hold on. Shouting over the wind, the Doctor grinned, "The breach is open! Into the Void! Ha!"
Rose and Sage smiled across at the Doctor as they were billowed by the wind. Suddenly, there was a small explosion of sparks and the lever on Sage's and Rose's side moved back into the off position.
The smiles faded from their faces.
"Offline."
"Turn it on!"
The suction started to ease. Sage reached for the lever whilst trying to maintain her grip on the clamp, but it was just slightly too far away. She strained to reach it, eventually falling onto it. The Doctor and Rose watched, full of dread. Sage whimpered as she struggled with the lever.
Sage yelled over the noise. "I've gotta get it upright!" Sage pushed the lever upwards, groaning with the effort. Finally, she managed to push the lever upright.
The Doctor and Rose watched with their hearts in their mouth.
"Online and locked."
The suction increased once more. But now, Sage had nothing to hold on to but the lever.
Rose grit her teeth, making a decision. She let go of the clamp, clambering toward Sage. Clumsily, she laid her hand on top of Sage's struggling grasp. With all the strength she could muster, she gripped Sage's wrist, pulling her back onto the clamp, switching spots, back atop the table.
Rose panted, grip loosening from all the strength she used.
The Doctor shouted in desperation, "Rose, hold on!" But the Void pulled at her, making it near impossible for her to keep her grip on the lever. She winced and cried out in pain with the effort.
Sage screamed, "Hold on, Rosie!"
Rose groaned, gritting her teeth, strength spent from saving Sage.
The Doctor and Sage stared at her in absolute terror, horribly powerless, reaching out to her in vain.
Rose looked at her two best friends, eyes wild with fear for her. She smiled at them, one last look of contentment and satisfaction at having saved Sage. Her grip was coming loose and she-
Let
Go.
The pull was magnetic toward the Void, and Sage watched in horror as she couldn't do anything when Rose had, and Rose had saved her when Sage couldn't.
"Rose!"
Pete appeared the moment before she reached the breach and she fell into his arms. Rose only had time to glance over her shoulder at the Doctor and Sage before she and Pete vanished. The Doctor stared at the place where they disappeared, breathing very heavily.
The breach closed itself.
The wind died down, leaving the place silent.
Sage let go and ran to the wall, banging her fists against it, tears silently streaming down her face. She sank down to her knees, chest heaving with silent, choked sobs.
The Doctor walked slowly up to the wall on his side. He laid one palm flat against it, and then rested his head there, empty. The Doctor turned from the wall, expressionless, helping Sage up.
They walked away.
"I wanna say goodbye," Sage said in the emptiness of the TARDIS.
"Sage-"
"Please, I want to say goodbye," her voice cracked on that last word, and the Doctor's composure broke. He sighed, nodding, pressing a kiss on her forehead.
"I'll see what I can do," he said softly, looking at the console. He let out a long breath, flicking on and off buttons and levers. He spun a crank, maneuvering the TARDIS. He pulled out some tech that he hadn't used in ages, and with a glance back to Sage who was looking at him with barely concealed hope, his lips twitched into a sad smile and went to work.
It didn't take long. The Daleks and Cybermen took a doozy on the universe, but that made it easier on him, the rips from all those jumps left enough of a gap. The energy from that Genesis Ark would give his machine a head start. He'd need a little bit more energy… The TARDIS beeped and his eyes flickered to the monitor, a supernova going on outside.
Seemed the TARDIS felt a bit of pity and sadness for what happened too. He harnessed the energy easily enough, steering the TARDIS closer. "Sage, come here."
"Did you need something?" And the naked hope in her voice made his hearts shatter. He had to bolster on, for Sage.
"Put your hand on here," gently as he could, he guided her hand where he wanted it, "close your eyes and think of Rose. Say her name if you want. Just push everything that you remember about Rose, and want to talk to her."
Sage nodded determinedly, screwing her eyes shut and pushing. The Doctor felt himself falter at the intensity of the emotions he felt from her, and his hearts ached at the thought because Sage lost another sister, and he did nothing to save her.
She gasped, and the Doctor sealed up the rest of those thoughts. He looked, and Rose's appearance flickered into existence and Sage sucked in a breath, tears welling up in her eyes. Rose quirked up a tiny, tiny, sad smile. "Where are you?"
Sage didn't seem able to put her thoughts into words, and the Doctor took initiative, "Inside the TARDIS. There's one tiny little gap in the universe left, just about to close. And it takes a lot of power to send this projection, we're in orbit around a supernova." The Doctor took Sage's hand and squeezed, "We're burning up a sun just to say goodbye."
Rose shook her head with a rueful smile, "You two look like a ghost."
"Hold on…" He took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the console and strengthened their projection.
Rose walked closer to them and raised a hand to touch their face. "Can I tou...?"
Regretfully, the Doctor with a sad shake of his head said, "We're still just an image. No touch."
She dropped her hand, voice trembling, "Can't you two come through properly?"
"The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse."
"So?" Both Sage and Rose said at the same time, only half-joking, and they smiled at each other.
The Doctor smiled, "Where are we? Where did the gap come out?"
"We're in Norway."
"Norway," the Doctor nodded as if he meant for them to be there. "Right."
"About fifty miles out of Bergen. It's called 'Darlig Ulv Stranden'."
They both startled, eyes wide, mishearing her, "Dalek?"
"Darl-IG," Rose emphasized the last syllable. "It's Norwegian for 'bad'. This translates as 'Bad Wolf Bay'."
"Protecting us 'til the end, huh, Rose Tyler," Sage cracked a smile, and they laughed at the irony, but sobered almost immediately.
"I'm so sorry-" Sage started, but Rose shook her head.
"Don't, Sage, remember? Don't take away my choices. If I had another chance, I'd do it again."
Sage smiled a watery smile, "Oh, Rose Tyler. I told you that you'd do wonderful things. Now look at you. Saved this earth and that one. You are simply fantastic, braveheart."
"There's still a Torchwood on this planet, it's open for business." She teared up a bit. "I think I know a thing or two about aliens."
"Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth," the Doctor smiled, and Sage grinned, eyes wet.
"I love you so, so, much, Rosie," Sage said.
Rose faltered. "I love you too," she whispered. Shaking off the tears, she gave Sage an apologetic smile, "Is it okay if I talk with the Doctor alone for a moment."
Sage nodded her head furiously. "Of course, of course, I'll go… I'll just go wash my face. Bye Rosie, I love you."
Rose gave her a smile, and Sage wandered off, before Rose sobered. "How long have we got?"
"About two minutes…"
"Take care of Sage for me."
"What?"
"Take care of Sage," she repeated. "This-" Rose gestured around her, "is just like her losing her baby sister all over again. She's going to be broken up about this, completely torn to pieces, even if she doesn't show it. Like you. Take care of each other, please."
"I- I will," the Doctor nodded, "Why'd you do it?"
"I wanted to," Rose said simply. "Don't take away people's choices, Doctor. You two are going to be in a rough few years."
"What?"
"Remember Bad Wolf? I remember a bit more than I let on."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" the Doctor asked.
"It was just a small glimpse, not even a glimpse really. Just a bad feeling surrounding me." She shook her head. "But I do know that this was a fixed point. And even if it wasn't, I'd do it all over again. The universe needs a Doctor. And that's you. And you need Sage."
He paused, taking in all this information. "You're dead," he said finally, "officially, back home. So many people died that day and you've gone missing. You're on a list of the dead. But here you are." He smiled ruefully. "Living a life day after day. The one adventure I can never have."
"What're you gonna do?"
"Oh, I've got the TARDIS. And Sage," the Doctor quirked a smile at that, indirectly answering her silent question. "Same old life. Last of the Time Lords."
"Just the two of you? Alone?" The Doctor nodded silently, still watching her with compassion. Rose surveyed him, hopelessly heartbroken, tears falling thick and fast.
"I lo…" She choked with tears before she finished her sentence. She took a moment to regain her composure, "I love you. You're the best big brother I've never had."
"Quite right too," the Doctor gazed at her, "And I suppose... if it's one last chance to say it…" He paused for a moment, eyes locked with hers. "Rose Tyler… I-"
She faded away.
The Doctor stood alone in the TARDIS, eyes filled with tears which slowly spill down his cheeks, his mouth already open to form the words he never got to say. He swallowed hard, closing his eyes with two heavy hearts.
He rubbed his hands over his eyes, scrubbing the tears away. He took a deep breath and then turned his attention to the TARDIS console, pushing the buttons and levers as he walked slowly around it without any of his former enthusiasm.
A flash made him suddenly look up, eyes wide with shock. Standing by the door, with her back to him, was a bride. The Doctor was aghast, "What?"
The bride turned around to see him standing there. She yelped with surprise.
"What?!"
The bride scrunched her nose at the Doctor disdainfully, "Who are you?"
The Doctor looked around, dumbfounded, "But…"
"Doctor, did something happen with Rose because the TARDIS-!" Sage started, pausing at the scene in front of her. "What the fuck?"
"Where am I?"
"What?!"
"What the hell is this place?" the bride yelled.
"What?!"
Hello, hello, hello!
So um, that season 12 finale, huh...
Anyway, thank you all so much for reading. All mistakes are mine. If you liked it or disliked it, please, please leave a comment down below. And I will see you in the next chapter!
Goodbye, bye, bye!
