The Doctor waited half a second more, just to make sure the Cybermen would not stand down, then pointed the power cell at the Cybermen. It only hit the one right in front of us, but the power arched to all the others, who bent backwards then turned to dust.
"What the hell was that?" Rickey demanded.
"Or how about, instead run!" the Doctor shouted, grabbing Rose's hand and taking off. I reached behind me, snagged Erika's hand, and took off after them. Pure panic raced through me. Erika, I kept thinking. Erika, protect Erika.
We only barely made it to the gravel driveway before Mrs. Moore peeled in front of us and honked.
"Everybody, in!" she yelled through the window. Everyone ran in but the Tylers, who both ran toward the house. The Doctor went after them, but I was too focused on getting Erika into the van to go with him. Not that he needed me. The Doctor could handle a few wandering Tylers without me.
"Come on! Get a move on!" Mrs. Moore shouted again. The Doctor finally managed to get Rose in the van, yanking the door shut behind him. "Finished chatting? Never seen a slower getaway in my life!"
"We're usually faster than this!" I apologized. Erika pulled her hand from mine and gave me a worried look.
"Is this also normal for you?" she asked. I nodded. "Where the hell do you live?" I huffed a laugh.
"You'd never believe me," I said. She gave me a 'try me' look, but Rickey turned around before she could say anything.
"What was that thing?" he demanded, pointing at the Doctor. The Doctor held up the battery.
"Little bit of technology from my home," he dismissed.
"It's stopped glowing," Mickey noticed. "Has it run out?"
"It's on a revitalising loop. It'll charge back up in about four hours," the Doctor explained, putting the light back in his pocket.
"Right. So, we don't have a weapon anymore," Rickey summed up.
"Yeah, we've got weapons," Jake spit. "Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him." He pointed at Pete with a glare. Rose slide forward in her seat to block him.
"Leave him alone. What's he done wrong?" she asked.
"Oh, you know, just laid a trap that's wiped out the Government and left Lumic in charge," Jake said.
"If I was part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?" Pete said.
"Maybe your plan went wrong," Rickey said. "Still gives us the right to execute you, though."
"Talk about executions, you'll make me your enemy," the Doctor said.
"Trust me," I added. "You really don't want to do that." Rickey glared, but no version of -Ickey Smith was one to turn down good advice. But this version was also not one to back down.
"All the same," he continued. "We have evidence that says Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since twenty point five."
We all turned to Pete. Rose looked betrayed. "Is that true?" she asked. Pete didn't answer, looking to the door in shame. And that's what told me he could be trusted. The shame.
"Tell them, Mrs. M," Rickey said.
"We've got a government mole who feeds us information," she explained, never taking her eyes off the road. "Lumic's private files, his South American operations, the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week."
"Broadcast from Gemini?" Pete sounded both annoyed and offended.
"And how do you know that?" Rickey asked.
"I'm Gemini," Pete nearly spat. "That's me."
"Yeah, well you would say that," Rickey dismissed.
"Encrypted wavelength six five seven using binary nine," Pete rattled off with the ease of someone who knew up and down what he was talking about. The Preachers exchanged uneasy looks. I sat on my hands to keep from reaching to Erika. "That's the only reason I was working for Lumic. To get information." Pete sighed. "I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services. What do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They've even got the van." The Doctor looked around with an expression that read, 'they do have the van!' He looked to be the only one having fun.
"No, no, no. But the Preachers know what they're doing," Mickey said, although he didn't sound very sure. "Ricky said he's London's Most Wanted."
"Yeah, that's not exactly…" Rickey trailed off.
"Not exactly what?" Mickey asked.
"I'm London's Most Wanted for parking tickets," Rickey mumbled. The Doctor and I lit up, both failing to contain our amusement at that. Erika giggled again, quiet enough I'm the only one that heard.
"Great," Pete groaned.
"Yeah, they were deliberate," Rickey insisted. "I was fighting the system. Park anywhere, that's me."
"Good policy. I do much the same," the Doctor said. "I'm the Doctor, by the way, if anyone's interested."
"We weren't," I deadpanned. The Doctor looked somewhere between genuinely hurt and over exaggerated scandal. "What? There was a life threatening situation and I haven't been cheeky about it yet." The Doctor narrowed his eyes.
"I think that counts as 56," Rose said.
"Betrayal!" I gasped, turning to her. "Cheeky should not count!"
"And I'm Rose," she said to the group, purposefully ignoring my glare.
"Even better," Pete sighed. "That's the name of my dog. Still, at least I've got the catering staff on my side." Pete's joke fell flat. No one even smiled.
"I knew you weren't a traitor," Rose said after a moment.
"Why is that, then?" Pete asked. Rose opened her mouth to say something, and the Doctor gave her a look. She swallowed her comment, looking guilty.
"I just did," Rose said, very convincingly.
"Rose is good with people," I offered. "Mickey's our tech guy, I'm comic relief, and the Doctor takes care of everything the rest of us forget."
"Oi," the Doctor protested, on principle.
"Doc, I'll have you know the support is the most important part of any party-oh my god you're a bard," I realized. I had to stop and consider that for a minute. Everyone gave me weird looks, except Erika, who looked like she was trying to figure me out.
"They took my wife," Pete said after a beat of silence.
"She might still be alive," Rose offered gently. Pete shook his head.
"That's even worse," he said. "Because that's what Lumic does. He takes the living and he turns them into those machines."
"Cybermen," the Doctor said grimly. It was his turn for everyone's attention. "They're called Cybermen. And I'd take those ear pods off, if I were you." Pete snatched them out, like he'd forgotten he was wearing them. "You never know. Lumic could be listening." The Doctor zapped the ear pods with the sonic, and pocketed them. "But he's overreached himself. He's still just a businessman. He's assassinated the President." The Doctor turned to the Preachers. "All we need to do is get to the city and inform the authorities. Because I promise you, this ends tonight."
...
We arrived in London to all the people walking around like zombies.
"What the hell?" Mrs. Moore said, jumping out of the car. We all piled out after her.
"What's going on?" Rose asked.
"It's the ear-pods. Lumic's taken control," the Doctor explained.
"Can't we just, I don't know, take them off?" Rose asked, reaching for the nearest person's ears.
"Don't!" the Doctor cried, grabbing her arms. "Cause a brainstorm. Human race." The Doctor shook his head. "For such an intelligent lot, you aren't half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it. Easy life."
"Hey, Come and see." Jake beckoned us over to an alleyway. Through it we could see more people, streaming out of their housed and lining up. A squad of Cybermen escorted them.
"Where are they all going?" Rose asked.
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted. "Lumic must have a base of operations."
"Battersea," Pete said. We all looked to him. "That's where he was building his prototypes."
"Why's he doing it?" Rose asked.
"He's dying," Pete explained. "This all started out as a way of prolonging life, of keeping the brain alive at any cost."
"The thing is, I've seen Cybermen before, haven't I?" Rose realized. "The head. Those handle shapes in Van Statten's museum."
"Van who's what?" Erika asked. I shrugged, for appearance sake.
"Oh, there are Cybermen in our universe. They started on an ordinary world just like this, then swarmed across the galaxy," the Doctor explained. "This lot are a parallel version, and they're starting from scratch right here on Earth."
"What the hell are you two on about?" Pete echoed Erika.
"Never mind that," Rickey dismissed. "Come on, we need to get out of the city." He looked around. "Okay, split up," Rickey continued. "Mrs. Moore, you look after that lot. Jake, distract them. Go right, I'll go left. We'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move."
I tore off after Rickey, not waiting for Mickey to follow, although I knew he would. Cybermen were fast approaching. We had no time to waste, and every part of me knew Erika would be safest with the Doctor's party.
We ran until the -Ickeys had to pause for breath.
"Which way? I don't know where we are," Mickey said. I started diggin in my hoodie pocket.
"Did they see us?" Rickey asked.
"Do they know where we are-
"I think they saw us-"
"I bet they've got satellites-"
"I bet they can see in the dark-"
"They know where we are," the -Ickeys finished together.
"I don't get it." Rickey glared. "What is it with you? You are exactly like me."
"I don't know, I reckon you're braver," Mickey said.
"Aw, don't sell yourself short Mick. Only one of you has killed a Slitheen," I offered.
"A what?" Rickey asked. I just smirked. Rickey rolled his eyes. He'd never looked more like Mickey. "Well, your friends aren't bad. I'll give you that."
"Oh, that's the Doctor and Rose and her," Mickey gestured to me. "I just tag along behind."
"He can't run as fast," I agreed to myself.
"Well, then, you're not that bad," Rickey decided.
"Do you think?" Mickey smiled. I lined up behind Rickey, pulling what I'd nicked from Jack's room out of my pocket.
"Yeah, I suppose," Rickey sniffed. Cyberemen approached from behind. The -Ickeys shared a look.
"Split up!" they shouted, tearing in opposite directions. I hesitated a moment, then ran after Mickey. His path was shorter, if I remembered correctly. I'd have more time on his side.
Mickey and I managed to give our Cybermen the slip by ducking through a pile of garbage and quickly around the next corner. As soon as we had the space to run upright again, we hit a chain link fence.
Rickey was on the other side, and the Cybermen were closing fast.
"Come on!" Mickey shouted.
"Get back!" I corrected. I raised Jack's sonic gun, and Rickey immediately backed up.
Jack had shown me how to use it once, 'just in case', he said. I'd been a deadshot. He was so proud. We'd agreed to never tell the Doctor he still had it.
I set the gun to squareness, and shot out a part of the fence. Rickey looked at me like I was completely insane, but he jumped through without a word. Before I could put the fence back, a Cyberman reached through. I flicked the gun back to blast and shot. The Cyberman seized, making the closest sound it could to a scream, and collapsed. The hole was too small for anything else to get through, so the remaining Cybermen had to pull the dead one out. As soon as it was clear, I switched the gun back to squareness and sealed the hole.
"What the hell?" the -Ickey's said, very eloquently.
"You had that on you the whole time?" Rickey demanded. "Why didn't you use it?"
"Or 'thanks for saving my life', as people usually say," I said. I pocketed the gun, pushing it far enough into the transdementional space that it wouldn't show. "You can't tell the Doctor I have this." Then I turned and ran back the direction we'd come.
"Why not?" Mickey asked, following me.
"Easy answer? He doesn't like guns."
"What's the hard answer?" Mickey asked.
"Oh, very much related to what I told you earlier." I could just see the others gathered ahead of us, so that was all I said. I had no idea how good the Doctor's hearing was.
"There they are!" Jake shouted as soon as we were under a light. Rose ran forward to meet us and hugged Mickey. I paused, since I knew Rose would want to hug me too, but Erika ran forward, and pulled me off to the side.
I shot the Doctor a panicked look, but all he did was mirror it.
"How do I know you?" Erika demanded. Every muscle in my body tensed.
"You don't," I said, although it pained me to say. Erika shook her head.
"No, no," she insisted. "I was worried about you. I'd only meet you today. I've only known you for a few hours, and I was terrified you were going to die."
Instead of answering, I closed my eyes and wondered why the universe was sometimes so cruel. For something so logically indifferent, it sure did like watching me suffer.
"We can talk when London is safe," the Doctor said to my left. I hadn't noticed him walk up. "But now, we have to move."
"I think the fuck not!" Erika said. I smiled, because that what you do when someone you love is being themselves. "You were all dodgy about it earlier too. How do I know her?"
"You don't," I repeated. I opened my eyes again and looked at her. She looked so incensed, like she couldn't believe I'd pulled the same lie twice. "You can't. I don't exist."
"Now what in the holy hell is that supposed to mean?" Erika shouted.
"I can hear them!" someone from the other group shouted.
"We have to move," the Doctor repeated, walking away without waiting. The 'I'm just gonna leave you behind then' method of making people follow you. My mom's favorite one.
I moved to follow the Doctor, but Erika grabbed my hand and wouldn't let go. "I'm gonna remember," she insisted. Then she let go and ran after the others. I felt a tear slide down my cheek.
"You won't."
...
We walked in relative silence all the way to the waste grounds of the Battersea 'Power Station', preferring not to talk until we were well away from the Cybermen. We walked until we were at the top of a hill, and could see the Cyberman factory across a field.
"The whole of London's been sealed off," the Doctor explained as if we had not all heard the screaming Newscaster. "And the entire population's been taken inside that place." He nodded at Battersea. "To be converted."
"We've got to get in there and shut it down," Rose said.
"The sooner, the better," I agreed.
Mickey looked between the three of us. "How do we do that?" he asked like he was 90% sure we already had a plan. I pointedly didn't look at him.
The Doctor took a deep breath. "Oh, I'll think of something." Mickey looked scandalized.
"You're just making this up as you go along!" he cried.
"Yep." The Doctor popped the 'p'. "But I do it brilliantly." Rose smiled a smug little smile, and Mickey nodded in a 'fair enough' kind of way.
Everyone broke into groups to strategize, and that was when Erika decided she'd had enough of waiting. She grabbed my arm again, yanking me far out of the range of human hearing. I pulled her further still, until I was pretty sure we were out of the range of Time Lord hearing as well.
"You said your name was Katelyn Laurin," she said without prompting. I laughed bitterly.
"Yeah, I did, didn't I?"
Erika was not swayed. "I've never met a Katelyn Laurin."
"No, you haven't," I agreed.
"But you've meet me."
"Yes," I whispered. I was incapable of lying to her. I always had been, ever since we were children.
"Explain," Erika demanded. I glanced back at the others, but they were all engrossed in Mrs. Moore's laptop.
I sighed. "The Doctor's gonna kill me," I mumbled. "Erika, remember that joke I made earlier about the -Ickeys?" Erika thought for a moment, then raised her eyebrows.
"You're shitting me," she said.
"I can't believe you believe me," I said back. "If this were the other way around I would have checked you for a fever."
"I don't-" Erika scrunched her face in such a familiar expression that it took almost all my willpower not to reach out and smooth the lines away. "The rational part of me thinks you're barking, but somehow I-" Erika stood up straighter, suddenly thinking I might be a threat instead of a friend. "Convince me."
"Your mother's name is Jennifer and your father's name is Lucas. He-" I stopped. Telling her I knew her father had died of pancreatic cancer felt too cruel. "You were born on August 23rd. You're an only child, but you always wanted a twin. You're left handed, like me, and we always used to complain about that."
"Fuck spiral notebooks," Erika agreed, voice quiet.
"You're favorite colors are pink, blue, and yellow. It's probably killing you to have to dress in all black to work with the Preachers. You sleep with way too many pillows and-"
"You love me," Erika interrupted. I forgot how to breathe. Erika's eyes softened somehow. "Did I?"
"We were engaged," I whispered, simply because I couldn't speak any louder. God, having her here didn't hurt until now. Now, when my heart was forced to stop pretending it was really my Erika in front of me.
"Did I die?" Why was her voice so gentle? Why did she care that much about me? I dropped my head, unable to look at her any longer.
"I did, I think." I could hear Erika's sceptical expression.
"I can't help but notice you're alive."
"Don't have an answer for you there, dear. We're still trying to figure that out ourselves."
"Katelyn! Erika!" the Doctor shouted from the top of the hill. Erika glared in his direction.
"We should go. That's his 'I have an idea' tone." On instinct that I wished I could bury, I offered Erika my hand. Before I could drop it, she slid her fingers through mine. I shoved down how right that felt, and pulled my mental shields all the tighter. We walked up the hill together. The Doctor and Rose both noticed our hands, but neither said anything.
"That's a schematic of the old factory," Mrs. Moore explained as soon as we were close. She typed something and the view of the schematics on her laptop changed. "Look. Cooling tunnels underneath the plant. Big enough to walk through."
"We go under there and up into the control centre?" the Doctor suggested, pointing. Mrs. Moore hummed her approval of that plan.
"There's another way in," Pete said. "Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in."
"We can't just go strolling up!" Jake protested. Erika held my hand a little tighter.
"Or we could," Mrs. Moore said, digging in her bag and producing two sets of earpods. "With these. Fake earpods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd."
"Then that's my job," Pete said, nodding.
"You'd have to show no emotion," the Doctor warned. "None at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away."
"How many of those you got?" Rose interrupted.
"Just two sets," Moore said.
"Okay," Rose said, grabbing a pair. "If that's the best way of finding Jackie, then I'm coming with you." Rose stood up.
"Why does she matter to you?" Pete asked.
"We haven't got time," Rose dismissed quickly. "Doctor, I'm going with him, and that's that." For a second, the Doctor looked heartbroken and terrified, then he shuttered it.
"No stopping you, is there?" he asked.
"Nope."
"Tell you what. We can take the ear pods at the same time," the Doctor said. Both -Ickeys nodded. "Give people their minds back so they don't walk into that place like sheep."
"Good idea," I said. "Jake, -Ickeys-" Both opened their mouths to protest the nickname. I ran over to a higher part of the hill before they could say anything, dragging Erika with me. "The signal's continuous, which means it's still transmitting. I'll bet it's from there." I pointed to the blinking red lights in the Zeppelin parked over Battersea. "On the zeppelin, see it? Apparently, Lumic likes showing off. Think you could take it out?"
"Definitely," Rickey said.
"Consider it done," Jake agreed.
"Erika?" I tried. Her eyes hardened.
"Not a chance."
"Didn't think so. Doctor!" I shouted down the hill. "We're with you."
"Mrs Moore, would you care to accompany me, Katelyn, and Erika into the cooling tunnels?" the Doctor asked.
"How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?" Moore said as an answer.
"We attack on three sides," the Doctor said to the group. "Above, between, below. We get to the control center, we stop the conversion machines." The first group, Mickey, Rickey, and Jake, started walking off.
"Mickey," the Doctor called before they'd gotten too far. Mickey turned around. "Good luck." Mickey nodded nervously.
"Yeah, you too," Mickey said. "Rose, I'll see you later."
"Yeah, you'd better," Rose said, not as firmly as I think she wanted.
"If we survive this, I'll see you back at the TARDIS," the Doctor said. Mickey gave me a look, and I just smiled. He nodded.
"That's a promise." Then he was gone. I was the only one who didn't miss him turn around one last time and watch the Doctor and Rose share a hug that was a little more than friendly.
...
We opened the cellar-like door to the cooling tunnels and were immediately blasted with a burst of cold air. I took a deep breath.
"It's freezing," Mrs. Moore said, the first one down the ladder.
"Katelyn's natural habitat," the Doctor said flatly, jumping down after her.
"I keep my bedroom cold so I can sleep with more blankets," I said for maybe the 15th time. "It's dark. Any sign of a light switch?"
"Can't see a thing," Mrs. Moore answered. She dug around in her bag a bit. "But I've got these." She passed the Doctor a headlamp. "A device for every occasion." She passed another one to Erika, but I pulled out the 36th century flashlight I kept on me instead.
"Haven't got a hotdog in there, have you?" the Doctor asked no one in particular. "I'm starving." Erika and Mrs. Moore chuckled.
"I've got a Milky Way," I offered, digging in my pocket for the candy I knew was still there.
"What else you in there?" Erika asked, clearly amused. I pulled out a slightly bent copy Much Ado about Nothing. "Wh- how?"
"It's bigger on the inside," I smirked, apparently incapable of not flirting with Erika.
"A proper torch as well," Moore said, passing one to each of the others.
"Let's see where we are," the Doctor said. I flicked on my light and immediately jumped back. There were Cybermen lining both sides of the tunnel, still and cold.
"Already converted, just put on ice," the Doctor guessed. "Come on." We walked a few steps before he tapped a Cyberman's face. Nothing happened but a hollow clanging noise
"Let's go slowly. Keep an eye out for trip systems. Katelyn, up front with me." I shimmied past Mrs. Moore and walked in step with the Doctor. As soon as I was close enough, he pressed his fingers to mine.
She's not you Erika, the Doctor thought. I didn't bother to hide my irritation, turning and glaring at him, even if he could feel it already.
Yeah, not shit, Sherlock. I glanced over my shoulder. But what if this world had had a parallel Rose? What if she'd left you after you regenerated, and you found a second chance here? The Doctor looked at me with wide eyes.
Katelyn- Even his mental voice sounded strangled.
I'm sorry, I said honestly. I paused to let my sincerity sink in. That was unnecessarily cruel. I'm just asking you to understand. I know she can't come with us, and I don't even think I want her to. But I can't just pretend she's not here.
You really love her, the Doctor said, almost sounding in awe. I yanked my shields tighter, because I didn't want him to feel my constant hum of love for Erika.
No, Doc, I said sarcastically. I got engaged to someone I was mildly fond of.
Katelyn-
"I don't know how, but somehow you two are having a conversation," Erika said. The Doctor pulled his hand away from mine, but I got the lingering impression of his respect in Erika's direction. It filled me with pride. "Care to share with the class?"
"How did you get into this, then? The Doctor asked instead of answering Erika's question. "Rattling along with the Preachers?"
"Is he always like this?" Erika asked. I nodded.
"I used to be ordinary," Mrs. Moore offered before Erika and I could go on a tangent. "Worked at Cybus Industries, nine to five, till 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 techie, so I, I just sat down and taught myself everything."
"What about Mr. Moore?" the Doctor prompted.
"Well, he's not called Moore," she admitted. "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."
"You'll be able to go back after this," I said. Because I will personally ensure it. I fiddled with the nanogene bracelet. I'd only finished building the charging port a few days ago, when I'd finally admitted I knew fuck all about eletronics and asked the Doctor for help. He'd told me not to use them too often. I had them today. Desperate times and all that.
"What about you two?" Mrs. Moore asked. "Got any family, or?"
"No," I said simply, unwilling to explain.
"You had a little brother," Erika said, sounding confused. I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Erika, do you know her?" Mrs. Moore asked.
"She doesn't," I said to the hallway in front of me. "But I-" I sighed, and started walking again. "I fucked up. Erika, I know why you were scared for me earlier and I am so sorry."
"You gonna elaborate on that?" she asked, not sounding very hopeful.
I heard a click, and noticed a Cyberman in front of me move a finger.
"Maybe later," I lied. "Right now RUN!"
The Doctor took off without double checking. I grabbed Erika's hand again and ran after him. The hallway was too narrow to pick up as much speed as I wanted, but I hadn't heard Mrs. Moore scream in the back, so we were going fast enough.
"Trapdoor!" I shouted, as we ran around one last corner, and I could pretend I'd seen it. "Sonic!" The Doctor pulled the sonic out of his pocket while still running. When we hit the ladder, he jumped the first three rungs and scrambled up the last two.
"Get up! Quick! They're coming!" Moore shouted. The lock gave way and the Doctor shoved the trapdoor out of the way. I climbed the rungs two at a time. I reached down and pulled Erika up before she could even get a footing on the last few rungs. Mrs. Moore was a second behind. Erika helped her through.
The Doctor and I grabbed the trapdoor and swung it back into place. It shoved down the reaching arm of a Cyberman. I stood on the block to add my weight until the Doctor had it sealed shut again.
Only when the sonic stopped buzzing did I remember to breathe.
"You two can read each other well," Erika noticed.
"Comes of having to run for your life every few days," I said, eyes darting around. "We've been in planet ending disasters… oh, eight times this month?"
"Decrox does not count," the Doctor said, standing.
"Oh, so just because your life wasn't threatened-"
"You are not upgraded," a Cyberman droned. We all spun to it, but it was alone and not advancing.
"Yeah? Well, upgrade this," Mrs. Moore growled. She threw a small rod with copper wire wrapped around it at the Cyberman. It stuck, and the Cyberman seized and jerked, throwing off sparks for a few moments before it collapsed.
"What the hell was that thing?" the Doctor cried, clearly impressed.
"Electromagnetic bomb," Mrs. Moore explained as we walked toward the Cyberman. "Takes out computers, I figured it might stop the cyber-suit." We crouched around the Cyberman. I put my hand on its - her - shoulder.
"You figured right. Now, let's have a look," the Doctor said. "Know your enemy. A logo on the front." He tapped it, then started sonicing it off. "Lumic's turned them into a brand. Heart of steel, but look." The Doctor removed the logo on the chest. The inside was not just electronics.
"Is that...still bits of human?" Erika asked, sounding like she really hoped the answer was no.
"In a way," the Doctor said, scooping the strips of white material out of the Cybermans chest. "Central nervous system. Artificially grown, I'd say, then threaded throughout the suit so it responds like a living thing." He dropped the nerves and wiped his hands off. "Well, it is a living thing. Oh, but look." He tapped an exposed circuit board.
"Emotional inhibitor," I said. "Blocks them from feeling anything, good or bad."
"But why?" Mrs. Moore asked.
"It's still got a human brain," I said.
"Imagine its reaction if it could see itself, realise itself inside this thing," the Doctor added. "They'd go insane."
"So they cut out the one thing that makes them human," Moore said quietly.
"Because they have to," the Doctor agreed. Erika reached over and grabbed my arm. I rested my hand over hers.
"Why am I cold?" the Cyberman asked.
"Oh, my God," Mrs. Moore whispered. "It's alive."
"It can feel," Erika realized, voice choked with horror.
"We broke the inhibitor," the Doctor said, leaning over the Cyberman. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Why so cold?" the Cyberman asked again.
"What's your name, sweetheart?" I asked.
"Sally," she said. "Sally Phelan."
"You're a woman," Mrs. Moore realized.
"Where's Gareth?" Sally asked. The Doctor sat back. I put a hand on his shoulder.
"Who's Gareth?" Moore asked.
"He can't see me," Sally said. "It's unlucky the night before." My grip on Erika's hand tightened. She leaned closer.
"You're getting married," Erika whispered.
"I'm cold. I'm so cold," Sally said. The Doctor leaned forward.
"It's all right. You sleep now, Sally," he whispered. "Just go to sleep." He pressed the sonic screwdriver inside the chest cavity and all the lights went dead. "Sally Phelan didn't die for nothing," the Doctor whispered. "'Cause that's the key! The emotional inhibitor. If we could find the code behind it, the cancellation code, then feed it throughout the system into every Cyberman's head-"
"They'd realise what they are," I said so the Doctor didn't have to. "It would kill them." The Doctor narrowed his eyes at me, looking stricken.
"Could we do that?"
"We have to," Erika said, voice firm despite the waver.
"Before they kill everyone else," Mrs. Moore agreed. The Doctor scowled down at the Cyberman on the floor. He was never happy with the killing option, even if it was the only one. "There's no choice, Doctor. It's got to be done."
Mrs Moore stood up, and I started the last of my Plan for the day.
I twisted in a way that my hips would definitely complain about tomorrow. Erika's hand came off my arm. I kicked over the dead Cyberman in front of me, and knocked Mrs. Moore's legs out from under her. She fell forward, an unpleasant cracking noise signaling her face had hit the steel of the Cyberman's chest. I clicked the nanogene bracelet before my legs had a chance to succumb to gravity. Some nanogenes flew immediately to heal Mrs. Moore. I scooped my hand around the last of them and pressed them into Erika's skin.
"Katelyn-" the Doctor whispered.
"Sensors detect two rapidly repairing bodies, one binary vascular system, and one unknown configuration," the Cyberman who tried to kill Moore said. "You are unknown upgrades. You will be taken for analysis."
We stood without much complaint. Mrs. Moore's face was covered in blood, but her bewildered expression told me the nanogenes had already done their work. Erika was wearing a similar expression, her hand on her throat. We followed the Cybermen out of the room.
"What was that?" Moore asked. I glanced at the Cyberman behind us.
"A little tech of my own," I said. "Sorry about breaking your nose." Mrs. Moore touched her own face, feeling for anything out of place.
"Well, it's fixed now."
"What are the lights doing to me?" Erika asked.
"Probably regrowing the tonsils you had taken out when you were ten," I said. "Sorry about that too."
"I'll take tonsils over death," Erika joked weakly.
"Unknown configuration?" the Doctor asked, not even bothering with pretense. A bolt of panic shot through me.
"List it under 'shit we don't have time for' and come back to it?" I offered. The Doctor looked around at the marching Cybermen, and the two humans with us.
"Yeah."
...
"We've been captured!" the Doctor announced once we walked into the control room. "But don't worry, Rose and Pete are still out there. They can rescue us." The Doctor walked straight over to Rose. "Oh well, never mind. You okay?" Rose nodded, looking back and forth between us.
"Yeah." She paused and swallowed. "But they got Jackie."
"I'm sorry," I offered. Rose looked at her shoes.
"We were too late. Lumic killed her," Pete said, voice breaking. Poor man. He'd only wanted to help.
"And where is he?" the Doctor asked the room. "The famous Mister Lumic? Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?"
"Is he trying to put us in more danger?" Erika whispered to me.
"We're already in the belly of the beast, darling," I whispered back. "Time to confront the one that put us there."
"He has been upgraded," a Cyberman said.
"So he's just like you?" the Doctor asked, sounding both angry and disappointed.
"He is superior," the Cyberman corrected. "The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller." The Cybermen spun to look at a wall. The wall opened with a dramatic puff of smoke. Lumic rolled out on an upgraded, chrome wheelchair.
"This is The Age of Steel and I am its Creator," Lumic droned, his voice just a smidge different from the regular Cybermen.
Although, no sooner had the words left Lumic's robot mouth than screams echoed through the factory. I laughed, and the Doctor grinned.
"That's my friends at work. Good boys!" the Doctor said proudly. "Mister Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will."
"I have factories waiting on seven continents. If the earpods have failed, then the Cybermen will take humanity by force," Lumic explained. Everyone but Pete, the Doctor, and I took a step back in horror. The Doctor glanced over his shoulder, but made no move to show he had a real plan now. "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 asked. The Doctor stood up straighter.
"I'm the Doctor."
"A redundant title," Lumic droned. "Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken."
"Yeah, but that's it. That's exactly the point!" the Doctor shouted. "Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room."
"How does the presence of one genuis negate the presence of another?" I asked. The Doctor ignored me, as he was wont to do during one of these speeches.
"Everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness," he continued. "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 Doctor looked around the room. "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," Lumic observed.
"Oh, yes," the Doctor agreed.
"Then tell me, Doctor," Lumic said. "Have you know grief and rage and pain?"
I almost laughed. Had this man really just asked the Last of the Time Lords if he'd ever felt grief? Had he asked the Oncoming Storm if he'd ever felt rage? Had he asked the Doctor if he'd ever felt pain?
"Yes," he whispered. "Yes, I have."
"And they hurt?" Lumic asked.
"Oh, yes," the Doctor said proudly.
"I could set you free," Lumic droned. "Would you not want that? A life without pain?"
"You might as well kill us," I said. Lumic's head turned toward me. Erika gripped my arm again.
"Then I take that option," Lumic said. The Doctor stepped in front of me, as if that would somehow protect me.
"It's not yours to take," the Doctor shouted. "You're a Cyber Controller. You don't control me or her or anything with blood in its heart." The Cybermen all stepped closer to Lumic.
"You have no means of stopping me," he insisted. "I have an army. A species of my own." The Doctor groaned and dragged a hand down his face. Rose gave me a similar look.
"You just don't get it, do you?" the Doctor said. "An army's nothing. Because those ordinary people, they're the key." The Doctor looked over his shoulder again. I looked at the security camera too, nudging Erika. I heard her stifle a gasp as she realized what was going on.
"The most ordinary person could change the world!" the Doctor continued. "Some ordinary man or woman, some idiot. All it takes is for him to find, say, the right numbers. Say the right codes." The other humans looked like they were slowly catching on. "Say, for example, the code behind the emotional inhibitor. The code right in front of him. Because 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 er. What was it, Pete? Binary what?"
"Binary nine," Pete said quickly, purposefully not looking at the Cybermen.
"An idiot could find that code," I said. "And he'd keep on fighting. As fast as he could. Anything to save his friends," I said, decidedly not looking over my shoulder. The Doctor gave me a disappointed look. "What? You looked like you were having fun."
"Not just showing off then?" the Doctor said with a nod in Erika's direction. I raised an eyebrow.
"Is that why you do it?" I shot back. The Doctor snapped his mouth shut. "Check and mate, friend."
"Your words are irrelevant," Lumic droned. The Doctor and I laughed.
"Yeah, talk too much, that's our problem," he agreed. "Lucky I got you that cheap tariff, Rose, for all our long chats. On your phone." He gestured toward the camera.
"You will be deleted," Lumic all but growled.
"Yes. Delete, control, hash," the Doctor said. "All those lovely buttons. Then, of course, my particular favourite, send. And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place." Rose's phone beeped. She dug it out of her pocket and smiled. "By making every bit of technology compatible with everything else."
"It's for you," Rose announced, tossing her phone at the Doctor. He caught it with ease.
"Like this." The Doctor slammed the phone into a docking station. The Cybermen cried out in pain. Every computer screen started flashing to code.
One Cyberan near the Doctor caught sight of itself in a shiny piece of metal, and made a truly pitiful sound of pain.
"I'm sorry," we said.
"What have you done?" Lumic yelled, sounding outraged despite his apparent lack of emotions.
"We gave them back their souls," I said, grabbing Erika's hand and getting ready to run.
"They can see what you've done, Lumic," the Doctor agreed, grabbing Rose's phone and then her hand. "and it's killing them!"
We ran out to Lumic screeching "Delete!" behind us.
The rest of the factory was in utter chaos. A few of the Cybermen seemed to think that destroying the factory had been their best course of action. The very building was exploding. Everything was on fire. The Doctor found an emergency exit and pulled the door open. It was blocked by writhing Cybermen.
"There's no way out!" the Doctor shouted. Erika and Mrs. Moore were in such a panic that I could feel it leaking through my shields.
I don't know how she heard it ring over the chaos, but Rose pulled her phone out of her pocket and held it to her ear.
"It's Mickey," she said calmly. After all, we knew the going wasn't hopeless until the Doctor got clingy. "He says head for the roof."
Rose picked a direction and ran. We all followed her. We found a metal staircase and ran up, Rose leading and Mrs. Moore bringing up the rear. The air was so full of smoke I worried we wouldn't be able breathe long enough to get up to the roof.
Luckily, only four feet after I had that thought, Rose jumped on a ladder and threw a door open. We scrambled up to the roof, which was also mostly on fire, to see the Cybus Zeppelin lowering toward us.
"Mickey, where'd you learn to fly that thing?" she shouted. The Zeppelin dipped lower, then bobbed back up. Rose shoved her phone back in her pocket. The Zeppelin dipped again, veered right a bit, then dropped a rope ladder.
We ran over immediately. "You've got to be kidding!" literally only Pete complained. The Doctor grabbed the rope to steady it, and helped (pushed) Rose up. I pushed Erika in front of me and made her go first too.
I wanted to refuse to get on until everyone was above me, but Pete just glared at me until I got on. He barely managed to grab the ladder before the Zeppelin started pulling away. We clung for dear life for a moment before climbing up a few more rungs.
"We did it!" Rose cried above me. I looked up to see the Doctor had climbed to the same rung as her, and I smiled. "We did it!"
Something heavy yanked the ladder back down, nearly making us all lose our grips. Lumic had grabbed the last rung and was desperately trying to pull himself up.
"Katelyn!" the Doctor called. I looked back up. The Doctor pulled the sonic out of his pocket. I held out my hand, and caught it when he dropped it. I hooked my legs around the rung I was on, sat to close the distance, and passed the sonic to Pete.
"Hold the button down!" I commanded. "Press it against the rope. Just do it!" Pete didn't hesitate.
"Jackie Tyler!" he shouted down at Lumic. "This is for her!" He pressed the sonic to the rope, which unraveled, then gave way.
Lumic fell, screaming, into the factory.
...
As soon as they were back at the TARDIS, the Doctor ran inside. He plugged the power cell directly into the console, and the lights came back up. The Doctor felt the TARDIS settle back into her place in his mind, humming a quiet, pleased sound, and he grinned.
Someone sighed by the door. The Doctor looked over to see Katelyn walk in, eyes closed. "Good to have you back, old girl," she said fondly. The TARDIS beeped a weak hello.
"We can't stay long," the Doctor said. Katelyn opened her eyes.
"I know." She stepped inside, and Erika followed her.
"Katelyn-"
"I just want to show her," Katelyn said. The Doctor could hear to infinite sadness in Katelyn's voice. She looked so… old, ancient in a way he'd only ever seen in the mirror. It was an expression that just didn't look right on a young human's face.
Time Lord Reborn indeed. She certainly already carried the burden of his people.
"You should probably go tell Rose," Katelyn said. It was not a suggestion. The Doctor did not treat it like one, just patted Katelyn's shoulder on his way out.
This leaving was going to be painful for all of them, he suspected..
...
Erika looked around in amazement, even after the Doctor walked out.
"It's bigger on the inside," she whispered eventually. I laughed.
"You know, we get that a lot," I teased. Erika walked up to the console.
"Can I-?" she asked. I walked over and rested my hand on the console. The metal was just starting to feel warm again.
"Just don't push any buttons," I said. Erika rested her hands gently on the edge. The TARDIS hummed a little louder, but gave no sign that she either approved or disapproved, which was unusual. She usually had no qualms about telling even the people she liked when she was unhappy with us. I'd had the burns to prove it.
"It's like it's alive," Erika said. I put one of my hands over hers.
"She is," I said. "You just need to be telepathic to feel her." Erika met my eyes.
"And you're telepathic?" she guessed. I nodded. "I cannot believe that I believe you." I took a deep breath, almost afraid to say what I was going to say next.
This Erika wasn't mine. She wasn't coming with us and I didn't want her too. But her rejection here, her reaction to my mistake… It was going to hurt.
"It's my fault," I admitted. "The first time I took your hand-" I laced my fingers through hers on the console, and held. "-I was panicking and hurt. My shields weren't as strong as they should have been. I think I… I think I sent you some of my…" I paused, trying to figure out how to word my realization. Erika moved her second hand on top of mine.
"You sent me your emotions," she said.
"Yup," I whispered. "And maybe a few vague memories too. I'm so sorry." Erika looked confused, which made me panic. Had I slipped up bad enough to erase her understanding of why this was not ok? "Erika, that slip up was the only reason you believe me-"
"But not the only reason I trust you," she interrupted. "Look, I don't believe in a relationship without effort, but I can already see how I would fall in love with you," Erika said softly. "You're kind, and compassionate, wicked smart, and quick thinking. Also snarky as all get out." My mouth twitched toward a smile, but didn't quite make it.
"I never stopped loving you," I whispered. "I never will. I love you sympathy and your sarcasm and your willingness to accept anyone and anything. Some part of me always knew that." Erika let that hang for a long moment, then the light behind her eyes faded slightly.
"You can't ever come back, can you?" she asked. I shook my head. "I-I'm not ready to go with you."
"I was expecting that," I admitted.
"Course you were," Erika whispered. "Just said you were wicked smart, didn't I?" She paused. "Do… do you want a kiss before you go?"
I forgot how to breathe for a minute.
"I don't think I would survive it," I finally managed around the lump in my throat. Erika looked both heartbroken and very grateful. She was like that sometimes. Or maybe I'd made her like that.
I raised my arms for a hug instead. Erika smiled and accepted. This was good. This was nice. But her arms felt the same and she smelled the same and she was still so warm, and that was all less good.
It was almost impossible to think of her as different. She was my Erika in almost every way it matter and in a fair few that it didn't. She was just missing the memories.
For a brief second, I wished I'd never gotten mine back.
Erika pulled back from the hug and, with a pat on my shoulder, walked out the TARDIS doors. The Doctor came in right as Erika walked out.
I ran into the corridors.
...
I retreated to the Willow Brook room before we'd even taken off again. I didn't want to face the Doctor. I especially didn't want to face Rose. She had enough on her plate without seeing my pain.
I don't know how long I'd been in there when I heard the door open and someone walked in. The Doctor came over to where I was laying on the grass and sat next to me.
"You told Mickey about being from a parallel world." It wasn't a question, so I didn't answer it. "I can understand why you'd tell Erika, but why Mickey?"
"Because I wanted to," I answered honestly. "Because it was nice to let that burden go. Because he was the only one who would understand not wanting to go back." The Doctor was quiet for a long time. The TARDIS graced us with the image of a shooting star on the projected night sky. I almost smiled. She was so good to me.
"You don't want to go back home?" he asked. I sat up and looked at him
"I am home, Doctor," I said firmly. It was hard to tell if I was still convincing myself, or him. "I have to be. I gave up on being able to go back a long time ago; I mourned a life lost, and I moved on. I'll never be that person again. That-" I took a deep breath. Pouring out your soul was hard, as it turned out.
"That was why I had that freakout, way back on Calos Prime," I managed. "I-I looked in that mirror, and all I could see was the person I needed to leave behind. The poor little lost girl. I couldn't bear to look at her, to look at myself." When only silence followed that confession, I turned my head and found the Doctor just staring at me, heartbreak and sympathy in his eyes. "What?"
"That-that…" He didn't seem to know which depressing part of that confession to pick apart first. "You'd only been here a month, and you'd already given up?" I turned away from him again.
"I didn't want to take the risk of asking if it were possible," I admitted. "I didn't want to take the risk of asking you. Part of me clung desperately to the hope that I could go back. But most of me, most of the time, knew the walls had closed. My coming here-" I paused, took another deep breath. "My coming here was a mistake. Some… cosmic fuck up."
"Katelyn, you aren't a mistake," the Doctor said firmly. He sounded angry, but I knew it was more on my behalf than at me.
"Maybe not," I said. The Doctor opened his mouth, but I kept going. "But I was never supposed to be here. I've understood from day one that my world couldn't be parallel. There were just too many differences. I'm no dimensional physicist, but I started thinking it wasn't parallel, it was-" I held my hands up in an 'x'.
"A perpendicular world," the Doctor said. "Crossing, bumping, this one at one tiny, incredibly specific point in space-time." He paused, just staring for a moment. "If that's true, it's a miracle you even got here. It would be a certified act of the divine to ever get you back."
I laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I figured something like that."
"But not being able to go back is different than not wanting to," the Doctor said.
"I-" I closed my eyes, because that made the talking easier. "Can't do it again. Going back, losing this life… it would kill me."
"Well," the Doctor said, tone falsely light. "We can't have that."
I almost laughed. "No, I'd much prefer to stay alive." For a few minutes, we just sat and watched the light show the TARDIS gave us. "How'd you convince Rose to stay away?" I asked eventually.
"I landed us at Jackie's," the Doctor said. "Rose's with her mum."
I sniffled, determined to stay strong this time. I failed, breaking down and curling in on myself. "I miss my mom," I sobbed. There was only a second before a hand was on my back and an arm went under my legs and the Doctor me into his lap. I rested my head on his chest and tried to let the double heartbeats soothe away my tears.
"I miss mine too," he whispered into the top of my head.