~revised~

Chapter XX

Mira

"How did you know that Pete was telling the truth?"

Mira turned her head to Mrs Moore. She liked the other woman. She seemed to be rational and calm, a welcome contrast to the youthful enthusiasm of Rose, Jake and Mickey. Finally someone who could be considered an adult. Well, besides the Doctor. But, truth be told, she wasn't that sure when it came to him. In her opinion, he could either be incredibly old or incredibly young for his species. Or maybe a bit of both somehow.

Despite all that, Mrs Moore had preserved something light and a certain warmth. There also was a dark side to her, and Mira could only guess what she had been through. But still, she hadn't given up.

"I told you," Mira answered eventually. She was hugging herself because it was still freezing cold. And cooling tunnels didn't sound much warmer.

"Sure, observation... But you sounded way more certain than that," Mrs Moore answered.

"Fine. Got me. I'm psychic. Not a telepath, but something like that. And you're a good observer yourself."

"Well... You have to be when you're working against Lumic."

She and Mrs Moore exchanged a smile. Mrs Moore believed her with that psychic explanation, and she didn't freak out, which was incredible considering the time and place. But then again, Cybermen... Well, she felt a bit uncomfortable, but that was understandable. The Doctor was walking in front of them. He didn't turn his head once, but Mira was sure he listened to every word that was spoken.

"Here we are!" he exclaimed as they reached a trap door.

"Yes, that's it," Mrs Moore confirmed. The Doctor put out his Sonic scanning-thing and the door unlocked with a quiet click. Mira peered down into the dark, but she could hardly see the ground. A ladder was leading into the dark. All three of them listened for a moment, but there was no sound down there. And also no living being, but that didn't have to mean anything. She couldn't really sense the Cybermen that well. Sure, there was a living brain inside them, but stripped of all its emotions.

"Alright," she finally said. "I go first, then you Mrs Moore and then you, Doctor."

"You really are some sort of special agent?" Mrs Moore asked, her eyebrows raised.

"More a Major of the Fleet," the Doctor answered in her stead, a mocking tone in his voice.

"Yeah, whatever," she sighed. He could bring it up as often as he liked if it was for her. If he wanted to tease or mock her, he had to think of something better. Right now she wondered why he wasn't objecting to her going first, but she certainly wouldn't waste that opportunity. She swung her legs over the edge and climbed down the ladder. Both had actually listened to her, Mrs Moore came after her and the Doctor formed the tail. A welcome change after Rose's behaviour. She stepped off the ladder and into the tunnel. She took two steps to give Mrs Moore and the Doctor room to leave the ladder as well.

"It's freezing here," Mrs Moore said.

"Well, it's a cooling tunnel," Mira replied quietly, trying to keep her teeth from chattering.

"Any sign of a light switch?" the Doctor's voice came from behind them.

"Can't see a thing. But I've got these...," Mrs Moore said with a laugh in her voice. She rummaged through her bag and came up with a light with a headband on it. "A device for every occasion...," she said as she gave it to him.

"Ooh!" the Doctor said cheerfully.

"Put it on," she encouraged him and produced another one and a medium sized torch. "I guess you best take the torch, if you want to walk first in line," she said to Mira. She took it and Mrs Moore put the other light on her head.

"Haven't got a hot dog in there, have you? I'm starving," the Doctor asked with a look at Mrs Moore's bag.

She laughed again. "Of all the things to wish for! That's mechanically recovered meat!"

Mira only pulled a face. A hot dog. Now. Though she had to admit that something hot would be nice now.

"I know. It's the Cyberman of food - but it's tasty," the Doctor replied. "Let's see where we are," he continued and Mira switched on the torch. She moved it so that the light was shining in the tunnel in front of her – only to see it reflected by silver surfaces. Cybermen.

"Out!" she said instantly, without screaming or any sign of panic in her voice. The whole dammed tunnel was full of Cybermen. Motionless Cybermen, but who knew for how long? She waved to the ladder as a sign for the other two to climb up again.

The Doctor didn't move, just looked at the Cybermen.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked. Mrs Moore was also indecisive and looked back and forth between the ladder and the Doctor.

"Already converted, just paralysed. Come on!" the Doctor said quietly, reached past Mrs Moore and gave Mira a slight nudge in the back. She was blocking the rather narrow tunnel, so he couldn't get past her that easily. But was there a tiny hint of insecurity in his voice? She looked sharply at him, trying not to blind him with her torch. Now her empathy would have come in handy. But besides the short contacts they had made she still didn't get any emotions from him.

"Fine," she said eventually and walked on, carefully avoiding the Cybermen on her left side. She immediately turned around as she heard a slight knocking sound.

"Are you mad?" she asked the Doctor bewildered as he tapped one of the Cybermen on the nose. Well, at least where the nose should have been.

"Why?"

"You're not afraid that this will wake them up?"

"Nah, this won't wake them up. Well, most likely. Probably," he said, pulling at his earlobe. She sighed, turned around again and walked on. The faster they got out here, the better.

"Let's go slowly. Keep an eye out for trip systems," she heard him behind her. Great. She let the circle of light coming from her torch glide over the floor. There seemed to be nothing. Nothing visible at least.

"How did you get into this, then? Rattling along with the Preachers?" the Doctor behind her was asking Mrs Moore.

"Oh, I used to be ordinary. Worked at Cybus Industries. '95. 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 techy, so I... I just sat down and taught myself everything."

Techy, Mira thought with a smile on her face. That fitted.

"What about Mr Moore?" the Doctor wanted to know.

"Well, he's not called 'Moore'. I got that from a book, 'Mrs Moore'. It's safer not to use real names. But he thinks I'm dead. It was the only way to keep him safe. Him and the kids. What about you two? Got any family, or...?"

It was somehow clear she didn't want to talk about it. It must have been really hard to leave her life behind, her husband and even her children, to keep them safe.

"No, no family of my own. Was married once, sort of. But that's a long, long time ago," Mira answered without looking back.

"Can't be that long, can it? How old are you? Twenty five?" Mrs Moore asked.

"Thirty," Mira answered. That had been close. She had to be more carefully when talking like that. But then again, old habits died hard.

"Oh. Wouldn't have guessed that. You really look young. What's about you, Doctor?"

"Oh, who needs family? I've got the whole world on my shoulders," he said.

"So, and the two of you?" Mrs Moore said, a certain tone in her voice.

"What's with us?" the Doctor asked oblivious.

"You're a couple now?"

"What?" Now Mira turned around and lowered the torch. The Doctor was also staring at Mrs Moore. How did she get that idea? Was it really that obvious? Not that there was anything to be obvious. No wonder Rose was on edge like that.

"Well... I just thought. The way you talk to each other, the looks and such. But I see, I was wrong." she said with a knowing smile on her face. She didn't believe them, that was clear to feel for Mira.

"Yeah, quite so. Go on then - what's your real name?" the Doctor asked, still a bit baffled.

"Angela Price. But don't tell a soul!"

"Not a word," the Doctor said solemnly.

"Never," Mira hurried to say.

"So, what sort of Fleet did he mean?" Mrs Moore asked Mira.

"A Space Fleet. A rather huge one," she answered, again without looking back.

"Space Fleet... So, as Earth obviously doesn't have a fleet like that, you're an alien?"

"Nope."

"That would be me," the Doctor said behind Mrs Moore.

"Oh, right. The little device from your homeworld," Moore said with a hint of disbelief in her voice. For the next seconds they walked in silence.

"Doctor? Did that one just move?" Mrs Moore said all of a sudden anxiously. Mira stopped in her tracks and looked firmly at the Cybermen. If they were waking up now it would be beyond bad.

"It's just the torchlight. Keep going, come on," the Doctor said, but he sounded as he didn't really believe it himself.

"Oh holy shit." The one in front of Mira did definitely turn.

"They're waking up – RUN!" the Doctor shouted. No need to tell that twice, she thought. The end of the tunnel was close, but there were still a lot of Cybermen between them and their way out. Just as the Cybermen began to march forward they reached the ladder on the other end of the tunnel. The Doctor shoved past her and hurried up the ladder. There he scrambled to open the trapdoor.

"Get up! Quick! They're coming!" Mrs Moore yelled, halfway up the ladder just as Mira herself. The Doctor pulled the Sonic out of his pockets and finally managed to unlock the door.

"Hurry!" Mira said, looking at the first Cybermen who had reached the ladder and were raising their arms up to them.

The Doctor pushed the door open, hurried to get up and then pulled Mrs Moore out of the tunnel, almost as if she didn't weigh anything.

"Quick! Quick!" Mrs Moore yelled.

"Come on! Come on!" the Doctor hurried as he grabbed Mira´s wrist and pulled her up just like Mrs Moore a few seconds earlier. Not a moment too late as the Cybermen were halfway up the ladder now. They slammed the door shut and the Doctor sealed it.

"Oh, good team, Mrs Moore and Mira!" he said cheerfully with a huge grin on his face as they both were still catching their breath.


Doctor

They had entered another part of the tunnels and the Doctor had almost dared to hope that they were safe from the Cybermen for now – but of course, as always, right as he was thinking it another one came round a corner, roaring, "You are not upgraded."

He was about to shove Mira and Mrs Moore behind him, as the blond woman suddenly threw something at the Cyberman.

"Yeah? Well, upgrade THIS," she said as the little device stuck to the metal suite. Almost instantly some sort of energy seem to run through the Cyberman. It shook violently and finally fell to the floor.

"What the hell was that thing?!" he asked delighted and smiled at Mrs Moore.

"Electromagnetic bomb. Takes out computers, I figured it might stop the cyber-suit," she answered as they were approaching the body.

"You figured right. Now, let's have a look...," he said and crouched down. He scanned the body with his Sonic and then unlocked the chest plate.

"Now... know your enemy... and the logo on the front... Lumic's turned them into a brand," he murmured as he removed it. Mrs Moore was on his right and Mira on his left side, both watching what he was doing. They were now able to see in the inside of the Cyberman. "Heart of steel... but look..." There was some tissue inside it. Wiring it together.

"Is that flesh?" Mrs Moore asked.

"Hmmm... central nervous system. Artificially grown then threaded throughout the suit so it responds like a living thing. Well, it is a living thing. Oh, but look...," he said as he had pulled out some of the tissue and watched it closely.

"Doctor...," he heard Mira say.

"A moment. What's that?" He carefully touched some sort of electronic chip.

"Doctor!" she said again. Her voice sounded somehow brittle, he noticed.

"Emotional inhibitor. Stops them feeling anything," he continued, totally captured by his discovery.

"But... why?" Mrs Moore asked.

"It's still got a human brain... imagine its reaction if it could see itself. Realise itself inside this thing. They'd go insane...," he explained.

"So they cut out the one thing that makes them human," Mrs Moore said bewildered.

"Because they ha-" he started.

"DOCTOR!" Now he felt Mira's hand on his lower arm. She grabbed it almost painfully tight.

He finally turned his head to her – and was shocked. There were tears running down her cheek and an expression of pain in her face and in her eyes. "He's still alive. This inhibitor thing.. I guess it's broken. He's dying," she said and gently touched the arm of the Cyberman. In vain, of course. He couldn't feel anything.

"Why am I cold?" he suddenly asked.

"Oh, my God," Mrs Moore whispered and looked from Mira to the Cyberman and back.

The Doctor himself looked horrified at the Cyberman. He hadn't wanted that, really. Now he was touching him as well. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he said sincerely.

"Why so cold?" the Cybermen asked again. Next to him he could hear Mira sniffing quietly.

"Can you remember your name?" he asked.

"Sally. Sally Phelan."

"You're a woman...," Mrs Moore said.

"Where's Gareth?" the Cyberman wanted to know.

"Who's Gareth?" Mira asked, still stroking the arm of Sally.

"He can't see me. It's unlucky the night before."

"You're getting married," Mira managed to say.

"I'm cold. I'm so cold."

"Sorry. You sleep now, Sally. Just go to sleep," he said. There was nothing he could do to help Sally, but to put an end to her suffering. He pointed the Sonic at her suit until the blue lights inside it went out.

"Sally Phelan didn't die for nothing." Then it suddenly hit him. "'Cos 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..." Mrs Moore nodded and he looked back at Mira. "They'd realise what they are..."

"And what happens then?" Mrs Moore asked.

"I think it would kill them," he said quietly. "Could we do that?" He searched in Mira's face for an answer. Now there was an expression on her face that was almost frightening. Sometimes she seemed so young, but now he could see every single year she had lived in her eyes. And there was a hardness in her face that came out of knowing that there was no right choice now. "We have to," she said slowly and determined. "There is nothing else we can do. Aside from leaving them as they are, allowing them to convert everyone last one on this planet." He still looked at her, following the trails of tears on her cheeks with his eyes. He didn't want to do that and that must have shown on his face, because she continued, "One of these days, hm? Where there are no right choices. What would you prefer? A rather fast, painful death to put an end to all this or vegetating like that, having all humans turned into Cybermen?"

"She's right," Mrs Moore said softly and stood up. He was looking back at the body of the Cyberman that once had been Sally Phelan, a woman the night before her wedding.

"NO!" Mira suddenly yelled and his head flung around. Another Cyberman had shown up, touched Mrs Moore at the shoulder and killed her. She fell to the floor as Mira and he jumped up.

"No! No! You didn't have to kill her!" he cried in horror. He took Mira's hand and pulled her close, not to take the chance that she would attack the Cyberman. But gladly she didn't seem to think about anything like that. She just clung to his hand and stared at the dead body of Mrs Moore.

"Sensors detect a binary vascular system," the Cyberman said and turned his head slightly to Mira. "And abnormal brain structure. You are unknown upgrades. You will be taken for analysis." More Cybermen were approaching to lead them away. He followed, still holding Mira's hand. They had no other choice, and at least the Cybermen weren't about to kill them. Yet. He had no illusions about the kind of analysis they were about to perform on them. But that also meant that they still had a chance to stick to their plan to deactivate the emotional inhibitor. Put an end to this. He looked over to Mira. She was walking at his side, staring into space. He worried about what would happen to her if suddenly every Cybermen was able to feel again, to see what they had become. Empathy could really be a curse. She could surely handle a few if she knew what was about to happen and could brace herself, but here were hundreds of them. Thousands. Being in so much emotional pain that it would kill them. Maybe he could build some sort of hypnotic block in her mind, disabling her abilities temporarily, but for that he would need a few moments of concentration.

"You won't succeed, you know that?" he said. The Cybermen ignored him. As if he had expected anything else. "There are others. Friends of mine. They will rescue us." Still no response. But Mira had turned her head and looked at him. He was almost afraid that he would see fear and resignation in her eyes, but it was just the opposite. They were still red from crying, but there was a bright spark of fighting spirit and determination in them. Maybe everything wasn't lost by now. She was as far from giving up as anyone could be, and he felt new hope in himself. Humans. Some of them never gave up.

Finally they reached some sort of control room. In it were a lot of Cybermen and – Rose and Pete. So much for that. They looked at him somehow apologetic.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. But they got Jackie," Rose said sadly.

"We were too late. Lumic killed her," Pete said.

"Well then," he raised his voice and let go of Mira's hand. "Where is he? The famous Mr Lumic? Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master? " He looked around.

"He has been upgraded," one of the Cybermen answered.

"So he's just like you?"

"He is superior. The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller."

A door slid open and they all turned their heads. That must be Mr Lumic. He really was a Cyberman himself, sitting on a gigantic chair, covered with wires and tubes.

"This is The Age of Steel and I am its Creator," he announced.

Before the Doctor could say anything, he saw Mira stiffening out of the corner of his eye. Did she sense anything? A moment later they all could hear screams. The Cybermen looked around, obviously not sure what to make of it.

"That's my friends at work. Good boys! Mr Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will." It seemed that Mickey and Jake had been successful and the ear-pods were disabled. Not everything was going wrong.

"I have factories waiting on seven continents. If the ear-pods have failed, then Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world," Lumic said, apparently not convinced of the concept of free will. "I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace - and unity - and uniformity."

"You're a traitor. You sold out your own people," Mira spat at him with such passion that the Doctor could only stare at her in amazement. "What did they promise you for that, hm? Eternity? Trust me, it gets old pretty fast, even with a real body and probably much faster when converted into an abomination like that."

"You should listen to her," he fell in. "You just despised everything that's human. Like imagination. What about that? The one thing that lead you here. Imagination - you're killing it, dead!"

"What is your name?" Lumic asked.

"I'm the Doctor."

"A redundant title. Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken."

"Yeah, but that's it! That's exactly the point!" he said enthusiastically and stepped forward. He shook his head in despair and continued, "Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man... I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room. But everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant. That is so human. But once you get rid of sickness and mortality, then what's there to strive for? Eh? The Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop! You'll stay like this forever. A metal Earth with metal men and metal thoughts. Lacking the one thing that makes this planet so ALIVE. PEOPLE. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant PEOPLE."

"You are proud of your emotions?" Lumic asked.

"Oh, yes."

"Then tell me, Doctor - have you known grief - and rage - and pain?"

"Yes. Yes, I have."

"And they hurt?"

"Oh yes," the Doctor said, now suddenly serious.

"I could set you free. Would you not want that? A life without pain?"

"This is not setting free," Mira fell in. "That's vegetating. Trust me, I'm good at avoiding pain because I already had too much of it in my life. But that's not how things work. What will you do with all the years you have won now? Every minute just like the other, no ups, no downs, just an endless stream of time, an eternity? What for? You're existing, not living." She was now standing next to him. He looked at her in admiration, before he turned his attention back to Lumic.

"Your talking is pointless," the leader of the Cybermen said to Mira. "What do you say, Doctor? Will you be free?"

"You might as well kill me," he answered determined.

"Then I take that option," Lumic said unimpressed.

"It's not yours to take. You're a CYBER controller. You don't control me or anything with blood in its heart," he yelled at Lumic.

"You have no means of stopping me. I have an army. A species of my own."

He put his head in his palms. He could as well try to reason with a computer. "You just don't get it, do you? An army's NOTHING. 'Cos those ordinary people - they're the key." What was that? He turned his head. Oh, brilliant. A security camera. "The most ordinary person could change the world." He just hoped that it was linked to Lumic's Zeppelin. It must be, it was his mobile control room. "Some ordinary man or woman... some idiot..," he continued and walked through the room as he was talking. "All it takes is for him to find, say, the right numbers... say, the right codes... say, for for example, the code behind the emotional inhibitor. The code right in front of him. 'Cos even an idiot knows how to use computers these days." Time. That was all he needed now. And a quick thinking Mickey. "Knows how to get past firewalls and passwords... knows how to find something encrypted in the Lumic Family Database, under... what was it, Pete? Binary what?" He nodded over to Pete. After a second of looking at him in confusion, Pete got it.

"Binary 9."

"An idiot could find that code. The cancellation code. And he'd keep on typing. Keep on fighting." He looked in the camera intently. Well, there was still the problem with the Cybermen suddenly realising what they were and Mira. Couldn't be helped now, he hoped that she would just pass out at worst. No stroke or brain damage or something like that. "Anything to save his friends...It's good to have friends. Friends like her, for example." He walked over to Mira, hugged her and whispered in her ear, "You'll be alright?" He let go of her and she nodded at him. Well, let's hope for the best.

"Your words are irrelevant." Lumic finally seemed to have enough.

He grinned at him. "Talk too much, that's my problem. Lucky I got you that cheap tariff, Rose. For all our long chats. On your phone." He glanced to the camera once more and Rose did the 'phone' sign with her hand.

"You will be deleted," Lumic stated.

"Yes, delete, control, hash, all those lovely buttons," he said, still talking to the camera. "Then of course, my particular favourite – send." He gestured pressing a button to the camera. "And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place." Rose's phone beeped. "By making every bit of technology compatible with everything else..." He strolled over to one particular computer.

"It's for you," Rose said and threw the phone to him.

"Like this!" He shoved the phone into a slot in the computer. Suddenly all hell broke loose as the Cybermen got their feelings back. They all started to scream in their electronic voices, grabbing their heads in pain. He looked for Mira. She had stumbled backwards against a wall and was now sitting on the floor, her head on her knees and hands over her ears. With a few long steps he was crouching in front of her. "Mira! Look at me!" She didn't react. He took a quick look around. It had been only seconds since he had deactivated the inhibitor, and Lumic seemed to be still in shock. He turned his head back to her and carefully placed his fingertips on her temples. Not ideal to do it in a rush, but at worst it just wouldn't work at all. Too bad he still didn't know exactly how her psychic abilities were working. He closed his eyes and the next second he was in her mind. No time to be careful. He was almost overwhelmed by all the pain she was feeling, pain that was coming from the Cybermen. He tried to block it out, imagining a wall that shut out all the emotions that were flooding her brain and at the same time isolating her psychic senses, so that she couldn't use them any more. It was crude and rushed, but it seemed to work. He opened his eyes and looked directly into hers. She had lifted her head, a look of utter surprise on her face. He lowered his hands and pulled her to her feet. No time for explanations now.

"What have you done?" she asked slowly.

"Later!"

"What have you done?" That was Lumic now.

"I gave them back their souls. They can see what you've done, Lumic! And it's killing them," he yelled over the screams of the Cybermen. Pete and Rose were almost out of the room by now, and so he followed, pulling Mira with him. She still seemed to be a bit dizzy, but at least she could walk.

"Delete! Delete! Delete!" he heard Lumic shout behind him.

Outside the control room the chaos was even worse. Cybermen were stumbling around everywhere, holding their heads until they exploded. He was desperately looking for a way out. Fire had broken out on various locations, and every now and then he could hear the blast of a detonation. He tried a door, but behind it were even more wailing Cybermen. He slammed it shut again.

"There's no way out!" he said to the others. Pete was looking around hastily, Mira seemingly was gathering herself more and more, yet he still didn't dare to let go of her hand. Rose had her phone on her ear.

"It's Mickey. He says 'head for the roof'," she yelled over the noise. He didn't hesitate and ran up the stairs, carefully avoiding the flames from the ongoing explosions. Against all odds they finally managed to reach the ladder the roof. A perfect trap if Rose had been wrong. They all went up, leaped over the wall and then he saw the Zeppelin. Brilliant.

"Mickey, where'd you learn to fly that thing?!" Rose yelled into the phone. They where running towards the Zeppelin, as suddenly a ladder was thrown down.

"You've got to be kidding. Rose, get up!" he said and waved towards the ladder. "Mira, up with you!" As both of them were climbing up and Pete was right behind him, he got up himself, followed by Pete. Now the air was filled with smoke and most of the facility was in flames.

The Zeppelin started to ascent and he almost thought that they would make it – then the ladder was suddenly jerked downwards. He looked down and saw Lumic clinging to the bottom steps. Certainly not. He reached for his Screwdriver. "Pete! Take This!" he shouted and let it fall as Pete looked up and held his hand out. After a second of holding his breath he saw the Sonic landing safely in Pete's hand. "Use it! Hold the button down! Press it against the rope - just do it!"

Pete did as he was told. "Jackie Tyler - this is for her!"

The Doctor could see Lumic climbing up the ladder and for a moment it seemed as if he would make it – then the rope finally snapped and Lumic fell back into the flames with a last, desperate scream.

He looked up. Rose and Mira were looking down, especially the latter of them both with a not so happy expression on her face.

"Don't look down!" he said to her. Well, at least Rose already had some experience with Zeppelins and ropes. Finally they started to climb up and got safely into the Zeppelin.


Mira

To her everything from the moment on when the Cybermen had 'woken up' had seemed as if covered by fog. She had felt their agony, their pain and their suffering. The madness that had been rolling over them and that had threatened to engulf her as well. She had tried to brace herself for it, although she had known that she most like wouldn't stand a chance. And she had been right. But then something – or more likely, someone – had crashed into her mind. Had pushed back forcefully all the overwhelming feelings, erecting a wall around certain parts of her brain, preventing her to access them and anything from the outside reaching them. The next thing she remembered was looking into intense, dark eyes and the Doctor pulling her to her feet.

She had tried to use her psychic senses as they had made it into the Zeppelin, but it had felt as if crashing against a wall with full speed or touching a high voltage power line, so she hadn't tried it again. She knew it was some sort of hypnotic block, and it wasn't the first time that had happened, but this was different. Way stronger and more powerful than anything she had ever experienced before. Something incredibly foreign. There had been people – humans - with hypnotic abilities in the mutant-corps, really good ones, but none of them had been able to block her own abilities like that. And they had practised it a lot. How long had it taken him? Seconds? And it felt horrible. Everyone around her seemed to be a walking corpse to her as she no longer got anything from them besides what her normal senses told her. They seemed dead, flat, two dimensional now. And so she herself felt. Empty and hollow. Everything she did now happened more or less automatically. She jumped off the Zeppelin with the others after Mickey had piloted it close to the ground where they had left the van. Jake drove them back to the TARDIS in a hurry, before anyone could stop them. The whole city was in a turmoil. But it seemed to be over. The Cybermen were all gone, Earth was safe once more. As they had reached the TARDIS she looked around for the Doctor. Hopefully he was as good in removing this block as he had been in building it.

"Come," she suddenly heard his soft voice next to her.

She followed him into the TARDIS whilst the others stayed outside. Jake and Mickey had driven off again to get something, and Rose was talking to Pete. She closed the door and saw the Doctor hurrying to the console, plugging the little crystal in it. Instantly the lights went on again and the constant humming filled the air – though this time she could only hear it with her ears. In her head there was nothing. The Doctor smiled for a moment and looked around as the TARDIS came back to life. Then he looked at her and suddenly his expression got serious again. Well, she could imagine how she looked like. Like chewed and spit out again, to put it nicely.

"I'm so sorry," he said and walked over to her. "But there was no other way, really."

"I know," she said. "And I'm really grateful. But would you mind...? Please." Not that she wanted him in her head right now, with her powers so completely locked away. Not that she really thought she would have a fair chance of stopping him from seeing what he wasn't supposed to when she could access them, but right now she couldn't even try. She didn't know if she had tried to fight him earlier with the Cybermen all going crazy, but even if so, it hadn't stopped him for a second. She couldn't help but actually feel a bit frightened by it.

"Sure," he said quietly, took another step towards her, lifted his arms and touched her temples gently with his fingers. She flinched slightly at his touch. He closed his eyes and instantly she felt his presence in her mind, washing over her like a wave. This time it wasn't forceful at all, but careful and almost gentle. She could feel how the fog around her brain lifted and the wall which had felt like a foreign matter dissolved. As that happened and her own powers slowly came back she began to feel and see his psychic energy. She subconsciously began to adapt her own brainwaves to it and before she really knew it, she did not only feel him inside her head, but also realised that it would be just one step for her to enter his mind. A step she had just almost instinctively taken. That was close, she thought. Suddenly his presence faded and with it the wide open gate to his mind that had been lying right in front of her.

"See?" he said softly and took his hands off her temples. She opened her eyes – she hadn't even realised that she had closed them - and looked right in his face. She almost gasped as she saw the expression in it. She could see melancholy, longing and something else so foreign that she couldn't name it. Right now she would have sworn that his eyes were as black as the universe. Maybe it was just due to the light in the console room...

"Well," he said and cleared his throat. "Let's go get the others. There's only power for about five minutes." Before she could say anything he had turned on his heals and walked out the door. She followed him after a moment.

Outside were Pete and Rose. Where was Mickey?

"I've only got five minutes of power... we've gotta go," the Doctor said as he jogged over to Rose and Pete.

"The Doctor could show ya...," Rose said to Pete.

"Thank you. For everything," Pete said confused. Mira didn't need to see the tears in Rose's eyes to know what was going on, now that she had back her empathy.

"Dad," Rose finally said to Pete. Oh hell. Didn't make saying goodbye easier.

"Don't. Just... just don't," Pete said and walked away. She looked over to the Doctor who scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. At this moment, Jake and Mickey came running over, Mickey carrying a pack of clothes.

"Here it is! I found it. Not a crease," he said triumphantly and handed it to the Doctor.

"My suit! Good man!" he said to Mickey. "Now then, Jake - we've gotta run. But one more thing; Mrs Moore. Her real name is Angela Price. She's got a husband out there. And children. Find them. Tell them how she died saving the world."

"Yeah, course I will," Jake said solemnly.

"Off we go then!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Uh... thing is, I'm staying," Mickey said. He was serious, as serious as one could be.

"You're doing what?" the Doctor asked startled.

"You can't," Rose said shocked.

"It sort of balances out, 'cos this world lost its Ricky. But there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there," Mickey said with a trembling voice.

"But you can't stay," Rose tried it again.

"Rose, my gran's here. She's still alive. My old gran - remember her?" Mickey said to her. Rose was desperately trying to hold her tears back – and Mira was already crying with her. Dammit. One of those days... No self control left in her. Well, who could blame her, she thought, after all this. But going back to being that numb as she had been a few minutes ago? Never. The Doctor had been right. Emotions, all of them, belonged to life. The good ones, the bad ones, and for her even the ones of others. Thankfully though not everything in life was about goodbyes and tears and pain.

"She needs me," Mickey said to Rose.

"What about me? What if I need you?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, but Rose... you don't. It's just you and him, isn't it?" Mickey looked over to the Doctor, who got even more uncomfortable, if that was possible. "We had something a long time ago, but... not anymore."

"Well.. we'll come back. We can travel anywhere, come and see you, yeah?" Rose was clearly desperate. Mira felt honestly sorry for her. She didn't deserve this, despite her behaviour. Now that she was about to lose Mickey she fully realised what he meant to her.

"We can't. I told you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. We only got here by accident. We... we fell through a crack in time. When we leave... I've got to close it. We can't ever return," the Doctor said to him. Yeah, this again. Universes sealed off and stuff.

"Doctor." Mickey said and shook his hand.

"Take Rose's phone. It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories," the Doctor said to him. "And good luck. Mickey the Idiot." He grinned at Mickey, slapped his cheek lightly and went off to the TARDIS.

"Watch it!" Mickey said after him.

"Well then," Mira looked at Mickey. "Goodbye I guess. And good luck." She also shook his hand – hugging him in front of Rose would have been a bit too much.

"Yeah. Was a lot of fun, wasn't it?" he said and smiled at her.

"Yes. Definitely," she smiled back. He would make his way, she was sure of that. No more Mickey the Idiot. She hurried after the Doctor into the TARDIS.

After a few moments Rose also came, drenched in tears. Mira sighed. She would really like to comfort her now, but that was maybe not the best of all ideas. Nevertheless, something had happened with Rose in this parallel universe. Not only had she lost Mickey, but something else inside her has changed. But only time would tell how it would affect her. The Doctor looked at her sadly, then pulled a lever and the TARDIS engine came to life.


alwaystherereading: I´m 32, and yes, I´m from Germany :-)

10th Squad 3rd Seat: Sorry for changing your nick ;)

time-twilight, bored411 and lucifae: Thank you for your reviews. :-)