My Mad Man

by thehelpinghand

After committing a Great Crime against Magic, the Mistress of Death is reborn into a new world. Adopted by Pete Taylor, she becomes the older sister to an inquisitive young lady. and then, she stumbles upon a Mad Man who might just show her the stars and remind her what it means to laugh and live once more.

21. Chapter 20: Parallel Universe

Chapter Twenty: Into another universe

They had gone on a couple of safe adventures while Mickey got used to travelling with them. They even took him to Rose's favourite place – Women Wept - because Mickey had asked to see it after all the stories, he had heard about it. Because they hadn't done as much running around as normal, I was in the gym working out and letting off some steam while the others were in the console room.

I spent a good hour just going through my routine before having a quick shower and going to join the others. The Doctor said he was going to take them back to see mum once I was ready. Rose and I both phoned often but it wasn't the same as visiting her in person. Which we tried to do for every two of her months or less. Didn't always work that way, but we tried.

I walked into the console room while the Doctor was mid-story. "And that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes? Do you remember? The way she looked at you! And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out!"

I shook my head. This was back when we had Jack on board and he had flirted with this male alien in front of his wife. The lady hadn't been particularly impressed, especially when he offered her to join them. The fact that they turned out to be part of a smuggling ring also didn't help. Their asteroid was a layover port, which made it the perfect place to drop off illicit cargo before it reached its final destination and set it off on pirate ships to its new destination.

"I thought I was going to get frazzled!" Rose laughed.

"Yeah. One minute she's standing there, and the next minute roar!" The Doctor mimicked flames coming out of his mouth.

"Yeah. Where was that, then? What happened?" Mickey asked with a smile, trying to be included in the conversation. This wasn't the first time Rose and the Doctor had been reminiscing without including Mickey, I frowned slightly.

"Oh, it was on this er, this er planet thing. Asteroid. It's a long story, you had to be there." the Doctor dismissed after he tried to explain and came up short. He then frowned at Mickey who was holding a button down at the console. "Er, what're you doing that for?"

"Because you told me to." Mickey responded.

"When was that?" The Doctor asked confused.

"About half an hour ago" Mickey answered, frowning as he realised that the Doctor didn't remember asking him to do that.

"Er, you can let go now." The Doctor tried suppressing a smile.

"Well, how long's it been since I could've stopped?" Mickey demanded, moving away from the console.

"Ten minutes? Twenty? Twenty-nine?" The Doctor trailed off with a wince when he spotted my disapproving frown.

"You just forgot me!"

"No, no, no. I was just, I was, I was calibrating. I was just. No, I know exactly what I'm doing." Just as the Doctor finished that sentence the time rotor blew and everyone was thrown about.

I landed hard on the grating, dazed and unable to focus as the connection I had to the TARDIS disappeared. It was like it had been violently ripped from my mind, leaving me unable to focus on the explosions going on around me, or the fact that my body was sliding across the floor.

Finally, the explosions stopped and they were able to get to their feet, although the TARDIs was still moving violently. Instead of getting up I curled myself into a ball. Trying to centre myself and focus through the haze. This was wrong. The TARDIS…

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Prov-change

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"What's happened?" Rose demanded after getting to her feet.

The Doctor ran around to the screens while pressing buttons and trying to get a response from the TARDIS. "The time vortex is gone. That's impossible. It's just gone. Brace yourself! We're going to crash!" he yelled as they came to a sudden stop which caused the gas masks to drop. He had rather forgotten about those since they weren't something often used in the TARDIS due to the oxygen field and internal dimensions. The only times the oxygen masks were deployed was when the air became corrupted or poisoned.

"Everyone all right? Rose? Mickey?" the Doctor asked quickly.

"I'm fine. I'm okay. Sorry. Yeah." Mickey answered getting to his feet while Rose just nodded.

"She's dead. The Tardis is dead." The Doctor said shocked, trying to get any response from her, but there was nothing.

"You can fix it?" Rose tried to prompt reassuringly.

"There's nothing to fix. She's perished. The last Tardis in the universe. Extinct." The Doctor answered, stepping away and staring at her sadly.

"We can get help, yeah?" Rose said hesitantly.

"Where from?" The Doctor answered despondently.

"Well, we've landed. We've got to be somewhere." Rose responded desperately. She had never seen the Doctor like this. Not even when she had saved her dad and broken the laws of time.

"We fell out of the vortex, through the void, into nothingness. We're in some sort of no place. The silent realm. The lost dimension." The Doctor answered while Mickey ignored him and walked to the door.

"Otherwise known as London." He called over his shoulder with a smile causing the Doctor's attention to snap to the door.

"London, England, Earth. Hold on." Mickey picked up a newspaper as the Doctor and Rose left the TARDIS. "First of February this year not exactly far flung, is it?"

"So this is London." The Doctor questioned with his hands in his pockets.

"Yep." Mickey answered with a smile.

"Your city." The Doctor continued.

"That's the one." Mickey motioned around, not understanding why the Doctor wasn't accepting that.

"Just as we left it."

"Bang on."

"And that includes the Zeppelins?" the Doctor prompted while looking to the sky which was full of the large balloon crafts.

"What the hell?" Mickey demanded.

"That's beautiful." Rose smiled.

"Okay, so it's London with a big international Zeppelin festival." Mickey said weekly.

"This is not your world." The Doctor said darkly.

"But if the date's the same… it's parallel, right? Am I right? Like a parallel Earth where they've got Zeppelins. Am I right? I'm right, aren't I?" Mickey said excitedly.

"Must be." The Doctor agreed, looking around with narrowed eyes. He didn't like this.

"So, a parallel world where…" Rose began distractedly.

"Oh, come on. You've seen it on films. Like an alternative to our world where everything's the same but a little bit different, like, I don't know, traffic lights are blue, Tony Blair never got elected." Mickey rattled off.

"And he's still alive." Rose drew their attention to an advert for Vitex Lite which had Pete Tyler on. "A parallel world and my dad's still alive."

"Don't look at it, Rose." The Doctor said seriously coming to stand beside Rose and the advert. "Don't even think about it. This is not your world." He remembered the last time her father had been part of something and it hadn't ended well for anyone.

"But he's my dad and…" Rose reached out to touch the advert which triggered a holographic loop of some kind.

"Trust me on this." The Pete Tyler in the screen said with a smile and a thumbs up.

"Well, that's weird." Rose drew her hand away. "But he's real."

"Trust me on this." The advert repeated as Rose smiled proudly.

"He's a success. He was always planning these daft little schemes. Health food, drinks and stuff. Everyone said they were useless. But he did it."

"Rose, if you've ever trusted me, then listen to me now. Stop looking at it. Your father's dead. He died when you were six months old. That is not your Pete. That is a Pete. For all we know, he's got his own Jackie, his own Rose. His own daughter who is someone else, but not you. You can't see him. Not ever." Even as he was trying to get the seriousness of the situation across to her, something occurred to the Doctor. Annamae, she hadn't come out of the TARDIS. Otherwise, she would have been helping him try and get through to Rose because she understood about these sought of thing. But the only reason she wouldn't have come out of the TARDIS…

"Mickey, keep an eye on her. Don't wonder off." The Doctor ordered suddenly before turning and running back to the TARDIS.

He looked around the console desperately and couldn't find her so he headed down the stairs that was the shortest route to the bedrooms. And there she was, lying in a ball on the floor.

"Annamae." He called, dropping to his knees beside her and rolling her over. Annamae's eyes were closed, her breathing was uneven and there was blood. Just like when the Wraths had come to sterilise the wound in time, she was bleeding from the ears, eyes and nose. "Come on, Annamae, stay with me," he pleaded desperately, picking her up and standing.

He ran as fast as he could to the medical wing and placed her on one of the beds. He didn't know if it was going to work because her condition could be a result of either entering a parallel universe or the death of the TARDIS, but he had to try.

He grabbed the vial that contained the suppressant. The serum was used by telepathically advanced races to help their children who suddenly woke the ability or those who underwent mental trauma. It numbed their connection and ability until they were taught how to deal with it, or a barrier was put up to protect them. He was hoping it would dull Annamae's ability enough that she would stabilise.

"Come on, come on," The Doctor muttered as he kept an eye on Annamae's pulse and breathing. If this didn't work, he would have to put her into a stasis chamber and with the console dead, he had maybe seventy-two hours before the internal dimensions began matching the external dimensions and the power disappears. And even then, he wouldn't know how else to help her, and there was no one he could take her too. Not in a parallel earth without a time machine.

Slowly Annamae's breathing evened out, her heart beat steadied and the bleeding stopped. Breathing a sigh of relief, the Doctor grabbed a damp cloth and began whipping the blood away.

"Doctor," Annamae whispered weakly, struggling to open her eyes.

"Easy, you'll be okay." The Doctor reassured her quickly, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze.

"What…" Annamae's eyes opened. "The TARDIS. I can't…"

"I know. We were thrown out of the Time Vortex, and the TARDIS… she didn't survive." The Doctor said, his eyes shadowed.

"I could still feel… a spark." Annamae struggled to sit up and the Doctor moved to help. "She was there…"

"Annamae, you need to rest. Your minds been through a severe shock." The Doctor cautioned.

"We need to help her, Doctor. We have to. We can't stay here." Annamae swung her legs from the bed and the Doctor had no choice but to help her otherwise Annamae would have fallen to the floor.

"What do you mean, we can't stay here?" the Doctor frowned. He had heard of people leaving to live in other dimensions, in parallel universes, but that had been before the full of Time Lords.

"We don't belong here, Doctor. This world, it's trying to push us out. I can feel it. You and me, it wants us gone." Annamae explained, beginning the slow walk back to the console room with the Doctor's help.

"What about Rose and Mickey? Is it trying to push them out as well?" The Doctor asked. He couldn't see the time lines in this universe, he couldn't feel anything. Yet Annamae seemed to have maintained her ability to sense things, even with the serum.

"No, they don't cause waves. This world, recognises them as one." Annamae tried to explain, fighting the disconnect and the exhaustion to be helpful. "But me and you, we don't exist as anything in this universe. No Time Lords. And I'm not human enough, not normal enough, to be safe."

"How long?" The Doctor asked seriously. He needed to find a way of fixing the TARDIS and getting them back to their own home. He could fight back, but Annamae didn't have the strength.

"If you stay as you are, probably two years. Maybe three. If you use the biograph thing, twenty, maybe thirty years. In my current state, I might have three months. If the TARDIS hadn't been damaged, I might have lasted two years at a push." Annamae answered grimly while trying to even out her breathing.

"Right," The Doctor muttered, lowering Annamae down onto the flight seat. "You need to rest. I'm going to see if there is even just one power cell still active. Are you sure you can still feel a connection to her?" The Doctor asked seriously.

"It's week, barely there. But yes, I can feel her." Annamae answered, allowing her body to fall into a lying position and her eyes to close. The Doctor would wake her if he found anything. And she was going to need to rest, if she was going to fight a world that didn't want her in it.

"Right," The Doctor lay his jacket over Annamae before turning to face the console. "I had best get to work."

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Prov-change

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I came around to the sound of the Doctor talking. I was weak, my body feeling very lethargic. My mind felt like it had been stretched thin and was now feeling hazy and confused – as though I was suffering from sleep exhaustion. I pushed myself up right and realised that the Doctor was addressing Mickey.

"I told you to keep an eye on her." The Doctor pulled himself out of the whole in the grating that he had been searching through.

"She's all right." Mickey reassured him, coming to slump against the coral strut as he looked around and saw the mess of wires that now littered the console.

"She goes wandering off. Parallel world, it's like a gingerbread house. All those temptations calling out." The Doctor frowned in disapproval. When it came to her father Rose had already shown she didn't have the best judgement.

"Oh, so it's just Rose, then? Nothing out there to tempt me?" Mickey demanded.

"Well, I don't know, I can't worry about everything. If I could just get this thing to…" The Doctor kicked the console in frustration.

"Did that help?" Mickey asked like he would a five-year-old who had just done something foolish.

"Yes." The Doctor answered.

"Did that hurt?" Mickey asked next with a smile.

"Yes." The Doctor responded before lifting his foot so he could rub at his toe. "Ow."

"What's wrong with her anyway?" Mickey asked. He had picked up on the female pronoun that the Doctor and I both used when referring to the TARDIS so he had stopped using 'it' and started using 'she' when describing her. Much to the Doctor's and I's joy.

"We're not meant to be here. The Tardis draws its power from the universe, but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine." The Doctor tried explaining it in a way that Mickey would understand since he was a mechanic and so would understand cars. Just like he understood computers.

"But I've seen it in comics. People go hopping from one alternative world to another. It's easy." Mickey pointed out.

"Not in the real world." The Doctor frowned darkly before his look turned sad and nostalgic. "It used to be easy. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died, and took it all with them. The walls of reality closed; the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind."

"Then how did we get here?" Mickey asked confused.

"I don't know. Accident? Should've been impossible. Now we're trapped. What's that?" the Doctor leaned forward suddenly having spotted something on the floor that he could see from his vantage point but I couldn't see from the pilots chair. I would have gotten up to look, but I didn't yet feel like I had the energy to do so.

"What?" Mickey asked, hope creeping into him when he heard the excitement in the Doctor's voice.

"That, there. Is that a reflection? It's a light! Is it? Is that a light? I think that's a light. That's all we need." The Doctor ran forward and started pulling up the grating. "We've got power! Mickey, we've got power! Ha!" The Doctor jumped down to the sub floor where all the wiring for the console was.

After nearly five minutes of digging through wires the Doctor suddenly popped up cradling something gentle in his hands. "It's alive!" he cheered with a bright smile. They would be able to get out of here, which means Annamae would recover.

"What is it?" Mickey asked curiously coming closer so he could see what the Doctor was holding.

"It's nothing. It's tiny. One of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, and it's clinging onto life, with one little ounce of our reality tucked away inside." The Doctor explained showing the small green diamond like cell he held in his hands.

I forced myself up and stumbled over, using the console as support until I got to the Doctor's side and could sink to the floor next to him. Reaching out I gentle touched the cell, and it sent a jolt of warmth up my arm and into my body. The TARDIS, she was there.

"Enough to get us home?" Mickey asked excitedly.

"Not yet. I need to charge it up." The Doctor answered softly, holding the cell closer to Annamae when he noticed that her colour had returned slightly to her when she touched the cell.

"We could go outside and lash it up to the National Grid." Mickey suggested.

"Wrong sort of energy. It's got to come from our universe." The Doctor shook his head while he stared at the cell. It had been a long time since he had pulled on his regeneration energy without regenerating. In fact, he had only done it once before – in his first life.

"But we don't have anything." Mickey deflated.

"There's me." The Doctor responded before he brought the cell to his lips and breathed out on it. The golden light of regeneration energy left his body and entered the cell, making it glow brighter.

"I just gave away ten years of my life. Worth every second." The Doctor smiled up at Mickey.

"It's going out. Is that okay?" Mickey asked in worry.

"It's on a recharging cycle. It'll loop round, power back up and be ready to take us home in, oo, twenty-four hours?" The Doctor guessed. He only needed enough to get them to Cardiff, then he could repair the TARDIS and let her recharge. Although he would have to park away from the Water Tower – perhaps in the Breccon Hills. That was close enough to the rift, and far enough away to not be noticed.

"So that gives us twenty-four hours on a parallel world?" Mickey questioned, trying to hide his excitement and not quite managing it. I frowned at him, what was he thinking? What had I missed?

"Shore leave. As long as we keep our heads down. Easy. No problem." The Doctor went to put the cell in his pocket before he thought better of it and handed it to me. I held it close for a moment, letting the warmth sink into me and give me the energy I would need for the next twenty-four hours. I placed the cell in the pocket of my coat that would rest over my heart when I did it up. "Let's go and tell Rose." The Doctor said happily, offering his hand to help me up while he grabbed his coat with his other.

Leaving the TARDIS was difficult. The Doctor had to wrap an arm around my waist for a few minutes while I came to terms with the full impact of this parallel world. Despite the TARDIS's power being nearly completely gone, some of her shielding was still active and it had been just enough to limit the full force of what I could feel. But stepping outside took that protection away. I shuddered to think what I would be like if the Doctor hadn't suppressed some of my telepathic abilities. Unfortunately, they were linked through my magic and empathy which meant they couldn't be fully suppressed.

It took them nearly twenty minutes to find Rose since she had moved away from the TARDIS and it was taking me time to gather the strength I would need to move around normally without support. Rose had sat on a bench on the embankment, looking down at her phone.

The Doctor took a seat next to Rose and I sat on his other side. "There you are." The Doctor greeted Rose with a smile. "No applause. I fixed it. Twenty-four hours, then we're flying back to reality." The Doctor noticed that Rose didn't respond to anything he was saying and was instead staring at her phone. "What is it?" he asked seriously, the smile dropping from his face.

"My phone connected. There's this Cybus Network. It finds your phone. It gave me Internet Access." Rose explained, showing the phone connection screen to me and the Doctor.

"Rose, whatever it says, this is the wrong world."

"I don't exist." Rose tried to smile but failed. "There's no Rose Tyler. I was never born. There's Pete, my dad, and Jackie. He stilled married mum, but they never had kids. I couldn't even find Annamae." Rose explained, and my eyes widened slightly as I realised what was wrong.

Pete was alive in this world, and Rose was associating him with her father. That really did take me far too long to catch on, I should have made the connection while we were in the TARDIs. I had heard the Doctor and Mickey talking, but their words just didn't seem to settle into my brain.

"Give me that phone." The Doctor reached out to take the phone but Rose pulled away from him.

"They're rich. They've got a house and cars, and everything they want. But they haven't got me. I've got to see him." Rose suddenly declared strongly.

"You can't." the Doctor disagreed immediately.

"I just want to see him." Rose explained.

"You can't Rose. This Pete isn't our father. That Jackie isn't our mother. They're completely different people." I tried to caution her with the Doctor.

"Please." Rose pleaded, looking to both the Doctor and me now.

"I can't let you." The Doctor said sadly.

"You just said twenty-four hours!" Rose pointed out.

"You can't become their daughter, that's not the way it works. Mickey, tell her." The Doctor turned to Mickey who had been stood with a thoughtful thrown on his face.

"Twenty-four hours, yeah?" he asked, beginning to walk away as Rose took the opportunity to stand from the bench and go the other way.

"Where're you going?" The Doctor asked frustrated.

"Well, I can do what I want." Mickey shrugged.

The Doctor and I both stood from the bench, conflicted about what to do. They couldn't really leave either of them alone on the parallel earth. It was far too tempting.

"I've got the address and everything." Rose explained while still backing away from us.

"Stay where you are, both of you." The Doctor held out his arms as though to grab both companions. "Rose, come back here! Mickey, come back here right now!"

"I just want to see him." Rose said sadly.

"Yeah, I've got things to see and all." Mickey added.

"Like what?" The Doctor blinked. Mickey hadn't made any mention of anyone he might want to go and find.

"Well, you don't know anything about me, do you? It's always about Rose. I'm just the spare part."

"Mickey." I said sadly. I had tried including him as much as possible, but the Doctor had a tendency to forget about people when things started happening. He did it to strangers all the time.

"I'm sorry. I've got to go." Rose finally turned her back and started walking at a normal pace away from them.

The Doctor looked conflicted between them both.

"Go on, then. There's no choice, is there? You can only chase after one of us. It's never going to be me, is it?" Mickey finally turned away with a resigned hunch to his shoulders.

"Doctor," I drew his attention. "You keep my sister out of trouble. You hear me?" I instructed him seriously.

"I'll try my best." The Doctor promised placing a hand on my cheek. "You be careful."

"I will." I kissed him lightly on the lips before heading after Mickey.

The slight jog I needed in order to catch up with Mickey left me winded but I ignored it. Looping arms with a surprised Mickey I offered him a smile. "So, who're we going to see for the next twenty-four hours?"

"My gran. I figured if you're dads alive, she might be too." He admitted.

"Well then, let's go find Grandma Smith." I said encouragingly. I had no doubt that the Doctor wouldn't be able to stop Rose from seeing her father but, at least if he was with her, he could limit the damage done. And I could do the same for Mickey, who would likely just end up saying hello and having a cup of tea if he found his gran.

"You going to be okay? It's quite a walk?" Mickey asked with a concerned thrown.

"I'll be fine. I'm just more tired than normal, that's all." I reassured him quickly.

"You're pale, and you were out of breath just running to catch up with me. I've never known you to get tired from running." Mickey pointed out. "And you did an Iron Man – twice."

"I'm just tired. I'll be fine once the TARDIS has recovered and we're back in our own world." I comforted him. "Besides, I'm not going to miss out on a nice cup of your Gran's tea."

"Yeah," Mickey shook his head. "You loved that stuff. Maybe she can finally teach you how to make it."

"I doubt it. After all, 'it's a Smith family secret'." I responded, taking on the stern tone of voice his gran had used when I asked to learn, causing Mickey to laugh.

While they walked together, I pulled out my phone and began doing some research on this world and the differences beyond the Zeppelins and Pete being alive. Like Rose, my phone automatically connected with cybus-network, which seemed to be the universal internet. I searched some information about it, and the government, before looking more into the dark side of the web which was generally more informative in the truth of the matter.

"What are you doing anyway?" Mickey asked when they got to a street leading to the estate. There was an army roadblock ahead, and the streets looked completely deserted.

"Looking up information about this world. It seems that there's been a spike in missing people, particularly among the homeless." I frowned down at the phone. That was never a good sign. One particular individual seemed to think it was a result of Lumic that these people were going missing - taking people right off the streets using food vans as a ruse. They had even posted a video that morning showing the people being taken and one of the homeless men trying to run out of the van shouting for help, help from someone named Jake. Who, I guessed, was the one recording everything.

"How do they track that? They're homeless?" Mickey frowned.

"Local councils and homeless shelters and charities keep an eye on the homeless population in their local areas. Sudden drops in the population is unusual, and since they aren't turning up in anyone else's jurisdiction the police are listing them as missing. Although they don't have a lot of names or pictures, just estimated numbers.

"Am I all right to get past?" Mickey asked the soldier at the road block.

"Yeah. No bother. Curfew doesn't start till ten." The Soldier answered.

"I thought they were rolling back curfews?" I asked before Mickey could make himself stand out more by asking about the curfew. I had seen a couple of articles about curfews, which had been put in place about fifteen years back due to the increase in violent crime. Sociologists and criminologists theorise it was because of a result of the Zeppelins, and a lot of the rich taking to the skies.

"They are, in outer London and the other cities like Birmingham and Manchester. If crime stays down in those areas, they'll start rolling back the curfew here, although we'll likely still be stationed here for a while after the lift." The solider explained with a shrug. "Just in case."

"Alright. Thanks." I pulled Mickey past the road block. "Always act like you know what they're talking about. Stops them from being suspicious about us." I explained, holding up my phone so Mickey could see the current article that I was on, discussing whether Lumic was going to step down from his company due to ill health.

"Right. Course. Act like you know what's happening." Mickey agreed as he led me down the street to his gran's house.

"Remember, you're Nan might not be alive." I cautioned Mickey when we finally reached the house that Rita Anne had lived in since she was eighteen and married Mickey's grandfather.

"I know." Mickey took the knocker and nocked only twice. His gran hated people who would continuously bang with the knocker – she thought they were impatient hooligans. She didn't even like it if someone wrapped quickly on the door because that was also a sign of impatience.

"Who's that there?" A very familiar voice called from the inside of the door before opening to reveal Mickey's gran. She was just as I remembered her, except for the silver ear pods. I had seen a lot of people wearing them as they had walked here, including the soldiers. In fact, I hadn't read about or seen a single person without them.

"Who is it? I know you're there. Shame on you, tricking an old lady. I've got nothing worth stealing. And don't think I'm going to disappear! You're not going to take me." Rita Anne shook her stick threateningly in front of her.

"Hi." Mickey found his voice enough to say in greeting, cutting of his gran's tirade.

"Is that you?" Rita Anne asked sounding shocked. I really hope the Mickey of this world was still alive, otherwise we would have a lot of explaining to do. This was something I should have looked up on the way over so we were prepared, but the thought hadn't occurred to me. And it was a lot harder than it looked to find birth and death records of common civilians.

"It's me. I came home." Mickey confirmed, trying to pull back his emotions and smile at his gran even if she couldn't see it. She used to always know what your face looked like from you're tone of voice.

"Ricky?" Rita Anne asked.

"It's Mickey" Mickey corrected automatically.

"I know my own grandson's name. It's Rickey. Now, come here." Rita Anne pulled Mickey into a hug, and I resisted the urge to smile. Of course, his parallel would have the name that the Doctor kept calling him and Mickey hated. That was just ironic.

"Okay, I'm Rickey. Of course, I am. Ricky, that's me." Mickey sighed resignedly as he stepped away from his grandmother, only to get slapped. "Ow!"

"You stupid boy. Where have you been?" Rita Anne demanded, slapping Mickey repeatedly.

"Ow! Stop hitting me!"

"It's been days and days! I keep hearing all these stories. People disappearing off the streets. There's nothing official on the download but there're all these rumours, and, and whispers. I thought that God had disappeared you!" Rita Anne stated furiously, clearly making it clear that Rickey had made her worry by not contacting her.

But Mickey had stopped listening to what his gran was saying because he had noticed something behind her. "That carpet on the stairs, I told you to get it fixed. You're going to fall and break your neck."

I winced slightly. That was how his gran had died in the other world. Seeing the carpet loose at the top of the stairs in this world would have brought back horrible memories. He had been the one to find the body, and the only thing he could think to do was phone me for help. I had been the one to call the ambulance while I had made my way to him, and they had pronounced her dead at the scene.

"Well, you get it fixed for me." Rita Anne stated, making it clear she wanted him to stay.

"I should have done way back. I guess I'm just kind of useless." Mickey admitted.

"Now, I never said that." Rita Anne disagreed. She had always disliked how shy and self-deprecating Mickey had been.

"I am, though. And I'm sorry gran. I'm so sorry." I reached over and placed a comforting arm on his shoulder as I realised he was actually apologising for her death because he felt like he was responsible.

"Don't talk like that. Do you know what you need? A nice sit down and a cup of tea. You got time?" Rita Anna asked.

"A nice cup of tea always helps." I imputed quietly.

"Who's this? Your girlfriend? If so, I like her." Rita Anne asked with a smile.

"No." I laughed. "I'm not Rickey's girlfriend. I'm just a good friend." I answered for Mickey when he just stuttered, obviously embarrassed by the question. "And, I think we would love a cup of tea."

"As long as you're not like Ricky's other friends. I don't trust them." Rita Anne waved her guide stick in my face.

"What friends are they?" Mickey blinked confused. Other than Rose and Ann he didn't really have friends, and he couldn't see himself from another reality having friends that his gran didn't trust.

"Don't pretend you don't know. You've been seeing them. Missus Chan told me. Driving about all helter skelter in that van" she scolded him

"Van? What van's that, then?"

"You know full well! Don't play games with me."

I turned as there was the sound of squealing tires and a van did a handbrake turn in the road behind them.

"Get inside." Rita Anne said, moving aside, but not fast enough because someone jumped out of the back of the van and grabbed Ricky.

"I've been looking for you everywhere!" A voice I recognised came from the man who grabbed Mickey.

Instead of stopping them I jumped in the van after them. "OI!" The door was slammed closed behind me. "What do you think you're doing just grabbing Ricky off the streets like that? Who the hell are you?"

"The name's Jake. What were you thinking Ricky? You said don't contact your family because it puts them in danger. And you brought a friend." Jake demanded, waving a hand in my direction.

"I found him. Wanted to meet his gran because he promised me that she made the best cup of tea." I came up with quickly.

"Didn't really have a way of shaking her off. Anna doesn't take no for an answer. Especially when tea's involved and I've been promising to take her to my nan's for a long time." Mickey shrugged, quickly catching on.

"Right." Jake shook his head, "Anyway, I saw them. I taped them. They went round Blackfriars, gathering up the homeless like the child catcher. They must've took four dozen." Jake said excitedly, and I blinked as I realised that this Jake was the one who posted the video of the food van stealing the people.

"The vans were hired out to a company called International Electromatics. But I did a protocol search. Turns out that's a dummy company established by guess who?" the women behind the wheel of the van said.

"I don't know. Who?" Mickey blinked.

"Cybus Industries!" Me, Jake and the women said as one.

"Well, now we've got evidence." Jake said with a smile.

"Yeah, but they took them in a food van. Your video doesn't link anyone at cybus industries to the disappearances." I pointed out, raining on Jake's parade.

"This man," Jake pulled up the video on his phone and zoomed in on the man who had banged on the doors to open them. "Is Lumic's chief staff adviser."

"I pulled the employment files. Matched the face." the driver said with a smirk. "I'm Mrs Moore by the way."

"Nice to meet you miss Moore. I'm Annamae." I introduced myself.

"Oh, Ricky. Bad news, they've arrested Thin Jimmy. So that just leaves you." Mrs Moore suddenly said like she had just remembered something.

"Leaves me what?" Mickey asked, looking between the two strangers.

"The Number One. Top of the list. London's Most Wanted." Jake said with a smile.

I blinked at that, and pulled out my phone to do some more research. Now that they were interacting with others, with Mickey being mistaken for another, they needed more information. Also, if Cybus were kidnapping people then we needed more information, because that means they need stopping.

While I was researching, I also looked up a bit more information on Jake, Ricky and Thin Jimmy. I suppressed a smile when I realised that Thin Jimmy was wanted for not paying his parking tickets. So, not as tough sounding as was implied.

The sun had been starting to set before they had gotten in the van, but by the time they got to their destination it was night time. Which made the light being visible in the house far clearer.

"There's a light on. There's someone inside the base. Missis Moore, we've got visitors." Jake and Moore pulled guns causing me to frown.

"Rickey, where's your gun?" Jake demanded as they all climbed out of the van.

"Anna doesn't like guns. I left it here." Mickey came up with his lie quickly. Especially now that he had found his footing.

"Fat load of good that is." Mrs Moore snorted.

They sneaked into the building and paused outside one of the doors. "One," Jake began the count down. "Two, three, go!"

Jake and Mrs Moore entered the room first. With me and Mickey following behind. They all paused as they found an identical copy of Mickey – presumable the real Ricky – stood in the kitchen.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ricky demanded when he saw that Jake and Mrs Moore had burst into the room weapon drawn.

"What're you doing there?" Jake questioned.

"What am I doing here? What am I doing there?" Ricky asked with enough confidence to have the guns turned on Mickey. I automatically stepped in front of Mickey in a protective gesture.

"I don't like guns. So, unless you wish to find out why, I would advise you disarm yourselves." I told them tightly.

"Who are you?" Jake demanded.

"We're friends. We're here to help. But not at gun point. So, put them down or I'll make you put them down and we can explain who we are." I said calmly.

"Not going to happen, love. Now who are you?" Rickey demanded, coming to stand beside Jake.

"Um… you might want…" Mickey tried to warn them, but got cut off by Ricky.

"Shut it." he snapped.

Faster than Jake or Mrs Moore could react I stepped within Jake's guard and grabbed his magazine with my left and disengaged the gun with my right. Throwing the mag behind me, I span and grabbed Mrs Moore wrist, pulling the gun from her while twisting sharply away and back to Mickey. Since I was once more stood in front of Mickey, I disarmed the gun and threw the two parts in opposite directions.

"Now then, my names Annamae and this is Mickey, we're from a parallel Earth. We travel through time and space helping distant civilisations and protecting the innocent. We've recently found ourselves stranded here, and I think that you just might need our help." I told them, crossing my arms and staring the three down.

"If you're from a parallel universe, why does he look so much like Ricky?" Mrs Moore asked with a frown, shaking out her wrist from where I had twisted it.

"Because he's the Rickey of my world." I answered. "Mickey, tell them about your mother and father."

"So, names Mickey Smith. My dad was Jackson Smith. Used to work at the key cutters on Clifton's Parade. When I was seven, he went to Spain and never came back. Mum, Charity Smith, died when I was twelve. Cancer. Lived with my gran after that. Rita Anne." Mickey explained.

"But those are my parents." Ricky frowned. "My history."

"Parallel universe. Lots of similarities, lots of differences. For example, I don't exist in this universe. You won't find me anywhere in your files. Also, we don't have cybus industries. Which you all seem to have identified a problem with. So, other than kidnapping the homeless what do you have on them? And who are you?"

"We? We are the Preachers. As in Gospel Truth. You see? No ear plugs. While the rest of the world downloads from Cybus Industries, we, we have got freedom. You're talking to London's Most Wanted, but target Number One is Lumic, and we are going to bring him down." Ricky explained with a smirk.

"From your kitchen?" Mickey questioned before I could burst his bubble.

"Have you got a problem with that?" Ricky asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it's a good kitchen." Mickey quickly hastened to say.

"What's this about the ear plugs? What's so bad about them?" I questioned.

"The software for the earplugs…" Mrs Moore began to explain but was interrupted by a beep on her computer. "It's an upload from Gemini." She explained tapping away.

"Who's Gemini?" Mickey asked.

"The vans are back. They're moving out of Battersea. Looks like Gemini was right. Lumic's finally making a move." Mrs Moore told them.

"And we are right behind him. Pack up, we're leaving." Ricky ordered. Grabbing their guns and checking them over. I frowned at them in disapproval but didn't try and stop them. This was their world, and their life. I only had so much right to interference.

Once they were ready, the Preachers jumped into the van and followed behind the Lumic van's which were all heading in the same direction. Mrs Moore was the driver and, by the sounds of it, the technician. While Jake seemed to be the evidence finder – researcher? – and Ricky was the leader.

Finally, the vans came to a stop outside a large manor house. Mrs Moore drove round the back, and everyone except her got out in order to crouch in the bushes and observe what was happening. The house was lit up with a party and the vans had parked under the cover of darkness.

"I don't know what they're doing, but this seems to be the target. Big house, fair bit of money. Now we have got to find a way to get in." Ricky frowned.

"I've identified the address. It belongs to Peter Tyler, the Vitex millionaire." Mrs Moore informed.

"We don't need to get in, I've got an inside man." I told them, pulling out my phone and hitting speed dial.

"How do you have an inside man if you're from a parallel universe?" Jake asked.

"He came with us." I answered. {Doctor. You're surrounded. Unknown enemy. Get everyone out.} I said quickly.

{I know who they are. The Cybermen.} The Doctor answered darkly.

{Doctor. You have to get them out of there. We're at the rear of the property, you have some quick thinking to do.} I added when I heard the hydraulics of the cybermen's legs as they were released from the back of the van. "Mickey, Ricky, Jake, Mrs Moore, we need to hold this position. And those guns aren't going to do you any good. Not against this enemy."

The cybermen became visible as they forced entry into the house.

"What the hell are they?" Ricky demanded.

"Cybermen. Men of steel." I answered. "Dammit Doctor, get them the hell out of there." I hissed under my breath as the screams in the house stopped. They hadn't killed anyone yet, but they had clearly detained everyone and were holding them under threat.

"We've got to get in there." Mickey frowned at the manor house.

"No, we're more likely to endanger everyone inside that house if we do that. We need to wait, if the Doctor loses control we give as many people an escape route as we can." I grabbed both Mickey and Ricky to ensure they didn't run forward. If I had a third hand, I would have also grabbed Jake, who I had a feeling was impulsive. Hopefully holding Ricky back would be enough.

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Prov change

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I'm not sure if I'm grateful or not that Annamae was waiting for me outside the house. Her phone call hadn't come with enough warning to get everyone outside the house, so the cybermen had been able to corral the guests into the centre of the room.

"Mister Lumic," the President answered his phone. Despite using his head pieces to talk with the man, the reply was broadcasted through the rest of the guest's headsets so Rose and I could hear the answer. It seemed that Mr Lumic wanted to create a spectacle. There were a lot of important people at Pete Tyler's party.

"I forbade this." The president frowned at the cybermen that were stood before them.

"These are my children, sir. Would you deny my family?"

"What are they, robots?" Rose leaned close to whisper.

"Worse than that." I answered, wondering how much the president truly knew about these cybermen. And how Lumic came up with their design, because these looked nearly identical to the cybermen the last time they had faced each other – except perhaps a little sleeker.

"Who were these people?" the president demanded, angrily.

"Doesn't matter." Lumic dismissed.

"They're people?" Rose demanded horrified.

Shooting a quick look around at the people who would be able to hear, both my answer, and the president's conversation, I hesitated before deciding to explain. I didn't really want to cause panic among the masses.

"They were, until they had all their humanity taken away." I corrected gently. "That's a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body, with a heart of steel. All emotions removed."

"Why no emotions?" Rose asked with a frown.

"Because it hurts." I answered sadly.

"I demand to know, Lumic. These people, who were they?" This was clearly an important matter to the president, finding out who exactly Lumic had taken and killed.

"They were homeless and wretched and useless until I saved them, and elevated them, and gave them life eternal. And now I leave you in their capable hands. Goodnight, sir. Goodnight, Mister President." There was a clicking sound as Lumic hung up the phone.

"We have been upgraded." The cybermen in front of the President informed them.

"Into what?" I asked, stepping forward so I was next to the President

"The next level of mankind. We are human point two. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us." The cybermen explained. Human point two, that was new.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what's been done to you, but listen to me. This experiment ends tonight." The president said sadly, addressing them with all of the authority of his position. Which wouldn't end well.

"Upgrading is compulsory." The cybermen ordered.

"And if I refuse?" the president asked.

"Don't." I advised. Accepting the upgrade would give me more time to do something about it. And save more people.

"What if I refuse?" The president frowned at me.

"I'm telling you, don't." I repeated seriously.

"What happens if I refuse?" the president demanded for a final time.

"Then you are not compatible." The cybermen informed him.

"What happens then?" the president asked.

"You will be deleted." The cyberman reached out to grab the president on his shoulder and electrocuting him. Knowing what was going to happen next, I grabbed Rose and ran.

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I felt it when the first man was killed, and it was different to feelings from back on our earth. I felt like I was winded with each death, unable to quite breathe in properly. The fact that twenty people were killed almost immediately following the first wasn't helpful. My grip on Ricky slackened while my grip on Mickey tightened, catching his attention.

Before he could ask what was wrong, they spotted two people jumping out of a broken window in the Tyler's house.

"Come on, we've got to go and help them." Rickey and Jake both ran forward with their guns raised to help.

Just as Ricky reached them, they were joined by a third figure. With the help of Micky, we went to join them. The closer we came, the easier it was to tell that it was the Doctor, with Rose and Pete.

"Behind us." Ricky ordered, opening fire on the two cybermen that had followed them but the bullets just bounced off.

"Oh my God, look at you." Rose grabbed Ricky in a hug once they had stopped firing because the cybermen had stopped.

"That's not me." Mickey said when we finally reached the group. "That's like the other one."

I stepped away from Mickey and to the Doctor who would find it easier to support me should I suddenly get hit with another wave of weakness. I was still struggling to draw in breath properly, despite the deaths having now stopped. If there was a sudden, large spike in deaths I wouldn't be able to cope.

"Oh, as if things weren't bad enough, there's two Mickey's." The Doctor rolled his eyes, before lowering his voice. "You okay?"

"It's Ricky." Ricky said in exactly the same tone of voice Micky used when he was called Ricky.

"For now." I responded, my voice coming out slightly breathier than I would like.

"But there's more of them." Mickey suddenly alerted them.

"We're surrounded." Rose imputed with a quick look around.

"Put the guns down. Bullets won't stop them." The Doctor warned, but Jake ignored him and started shooting. "No! Stop shooting, now. We surrender! Hands up. There's no need to damage us. We're good stock. We volunteer for the upgrade program. Take us to be processed." The Doctor raised his hands and with pointed looks to the others, they did so as well. Even Jake grudgingly dropped his gun and raised his hands.

"You are rogue elements." The cybermen responded, raising their arms in a threatening gesture.

"But we surrender." The Doctor looked around desperately.

"You are incompatible." The cybermen informed them.

"But this is a surrender." The Doctor shouted, lowering his hands.

"You will be deleted."

"But we're surrendering! Listen to me, we surrender!" the Doctor moved so I was hidden slightly behind him as he reached back to grab something from me. It took a few moments to realise what he wanted, before I reached into my pocket and pulled out the power cell.

"You are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cybermen, but you will perish under maximum deletion." All of the cybermen raised their right arm before clamping their left over it. "Delete. Delete. Delete!"

Before the cybermen could open fire, the Doctor uncovered the cell and a green beam shot from the cell to the lead cybermen before bouncing to the rest. The cybermen bent backwards before being turned to dust.

"What the hell was that?" Ricky demanded in shock, grabbing his weapon once more.

"How about, instead. Run!" the Doctor shouted as Mrs Moore drove up behind them in the van.

"Everybody, in!"

I marshalled Jake, Micky and Ricky into the van, trusting the Doctor to get the other two into the van. I ended up next to Mickey, leaning back heavily and trying to draw in a deep breath. Pete and Rose climbed into the van, Pete next to Rose who was next to Jake. The Doctor took a seat next to me after closing the door. Ricky was in the front with Mrs Moore.

"Finished chatting?" Mrs Moore asked as she put her foot down. "Never seen a slower getaway in my life!"

"Welcome to my life, where a getaway involves a quick chat." I spoke loud enough for Mrs Moor to hear despite the fact that she was driving and I was in the back of the van.

"What was that thing?" Ricky asked again, sitting at an angle in his seat so he could see them.

"Little bit of technology from my home." the Doctor held it up so everyone could see.

"It's stopped glowing. Has it run out?" Mickey asked horridly.

"It's on a revitalising loop." The Doctor explained. Handing it back to me so I could put it safely into my pocket, feeling its warmth giving me just a little bit more strength. "It'll charge back up in about four hours."

"Right. So, we don't have a weapon anymore." Ricky slumped in disappointment.

"Yeah, we've got weapons. Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him." Jake pointed at Pete until Rose got in the way with a frown.

"Leave him alone. What's he done wrong?" she demanded.

"Oh, you know, just laid a trap that's wiped out the Government and left Lumic in charge." Jake answered sarcastically.

"If I was part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?" Pete demanded angrily.

"Maybe your plan went wrong. Still gives us the right to execute you, though." Ricky responded.

"Talk about executions, you'll make me your enemy. And take some really good advice. You don't want to do that." the Doctor said angrily.

"And I've already proven that I can disarm you. I am not unafraid to do it again if you raise your guns against someone else." I added to the threat despite my weakened state.

"All the same, we have evidence that says Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since twenty point five." Ricky grimaced slightly when he remembered how easily his team had been disarmed.

"What evidence?" I asked. The Lumic Corporation had a lot of subsidiary companies but they were too low down the food chain to really know anything. Even if Pete Tyler had somehow worked his way high enough to be in the know, he wouldn't have any kind of impute.

"Tell them, Mrs M." Ricky ordered.

"We've got a government mole who feeds us information. Lumic's private files, his South American operations, the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week" Mrs Moore explained.

"Broadcast from Gemini?" Pete asked, a note of exasperation in his voice.

"And how do you know that?" Ricky demanded angrily.

"I'm Gemini. That's me."

"Yeah, well you would say that." Ricky said, clearly not wanting to let go of the opinion he had held of Pete for so long.

"Encrypted wavelength six five seven using binary nine. That's the only reason I was working for Lumic. To get information. I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services. What do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They've even got the van." Pete tried throwing his arms out but due to the small space he just managed a shrug.

"No, no, no. But the Preachers know what they're doing. Ricky said he's London's Most Wanted." Mickey pointed out.

"For parking Tickets." I imputed here when Ricky winced slightly in embarrassment. Yeah, that omission was always going to come back and bite him in the ass when he was using it as bragging.

"Great." Pete threw his head back against the side of the van.

"Yeah, they were deliberate. I was fighting the system park anywhere, that's me." Ricky tried to explain so it didn't sound quite as lame.

"Good policy." The Doctor smiled. "I do much the same. I'm the Doctor, by the way, if anyone's interested."

"I'm Rose. Hello." Rose introduced herself.

"Even better. That's the name of my dog. Still, at least I've got the catering staff on my side." Pete looked on the bright side.

I hid a smile at that. "I'm Annamae. It's nice to meet you Pete Tylor."

"And you." Pete responded automatically before he turned grim. "They've got my wife."

"She might still be alive." Rose tried to reassure him.

"That's even worse. Because that's what Lumic does. He takes the living and he turns them into those machines." Pete explained grimly.

"Cybermen. They're called Cybermen. And I'd take those ear pods off, if I were you. You never know. Lumic could be listening." Pete handed the pods to the Doctor who soniced them. "But he's overreached himself. He's still just a businessman. He's assassinated the President. All we need to do is get to the city and inform the authorities. Because I promise you, this ends tonight." The Doctor said with grim authority.

"You okay?" The Doctor turned to me and asked seriously when he realised that my breathing hadn't normalised.

"Not for long. If he activates the signal…" I trailed off.

"Can you block it off?" The Doctor asked seriously. The others were listening, but we ignored them.

"I don't have the strength to… We can't stay here." I locked eyes with the Doctor and gently reached out to his mind so he could feel the difficulty I was having breathing and how weak I was feeling.

"How long do you have?" he demanded seriously. This wasn't the weakness of someone who could hold on and fight for months, this felt more like a telepath who was at the end of their line.

"If I'm lucky, 48 hours. If I lose more strength due to a sudden spike… 24hours." I admitted.

"Don't lose that cell," The Doctor said seriously. "It's the only hope we have of getting back to our world."

"What are you two talking about? What's going to happen to Annamae in 24hrs?" Rose suddenly asked in concern.

Before the Doctor or I could come up with an answer Mrs Moore suddenly slammed on the breaks.

"We can't go any further." Mrs Moore explained, getting out of the van, everyone else following.

"What the hell?" Jake asked when they saw the people walking like zombies down the streets.

"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 reached out but was stopped by the Doctor.

"Don't! It'll cause a brainstorm, killing them stone dead. Human race. 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." The Doctor frowned around the streets.

"Hey, come and see." Jake waved them to the corner, which showed more people being escorted by a squad of Cybermen.

"Where are they all going?" Rose asked, noticing that everyone was walking in the same direction.

"I don't know. Lumic must have a base of operations."

"Battersea. That's where he was building his prototypes." Pete answered for them.

"Why's he doing it?" Rose asked.

"He's dying. This all started out as a way of prolonging life, of keeping the brain alive at any cost." Pete explained.

"How did he get designs so close to the cybermen of our universe?" I asked the Doctor.

"Lots of different ways, normally a dream of a genius. The cybermen of our universe started on an ordinary world just like this, then swarmed across the galaxy. This lot are a parallel version, and they're starting from scratch right here on Earth." The Doctor explained.

"What the hell are you three on about?" Pete demanded.

"Never mind that. Come on, we need to get out of the city. Okay, split up. Mrs Moore, you look after that bloke. Jake, distract them. Go right, I'll go left. We'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move." Ricky ordered, referring to the Doctor as 'that bloke'.

"I'm going with him." Mickey kissed Rose on the cheek before following after Ricky.

"Come on, let's go." Mrs Moore said, just as the cybermen patrols caught sight of them.

They had just reached an alleyway on their left when I stumbled and my vision went black. The Doctor wrapped an arm around my waist and pointed to the alleyway.

"There." he ordered.

They ducked behind some bins in the alleyway. The Doctor laid me down on the floor, resting my head on his leg. I could hear the cybermen walking down the alleyway and the sound of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver before the cybermen marched on. "Go." The Doctor ordered, lifting me up into his arms before they made their way out of the alley.

My vision remained black, with sparks of white which corresponded to each death. My chest felt compressed but I was able to breathe, and I could still hear. But if my vision didn't come back, I wouldn't be able to assist the Doctor.

They stopped at Baker's Street; the Doctor shifted me slightly in his arms while everyone caught their breath.

"What's wrong with her?" Pete asked. "She's looking awfully pale."

"I ran past the river." Jake suddenly said coming to a stop by the group before the Doctor could answer. "You should have seen it. The whole city is on the march. Hundreds of cybermen all down the Thames."

"He's turning them in bulk, hundreds at a time." I informed them quietly, shifting my arm so it went round the Doctor's neck in order to give me more purchase.

Micky ran up to the group then, out of breath and alone, before anyone could question how I knew that.

"Here he is! Which one are you?" Jake asked happily before turning serious when he realised that Micky was alone.

"I'm sorry. The Cybermen. He couldn't." Mickey told them.

"Are you Ricky? Are you Ricky?" Jake demanded.

"Mickey." I held a hand out for him to take since I couldn't grab him in a hug.

"Yeah, yeah it's me." Mickey took my hand and I gave it a squeeze. Mickey was forced to let my hand go when he was grabbed in a hug by Rose.

I allowed my eyes to close since they weren't exactly being useful, and fell into meditation so I could see my magical core. It was in complete disarray.

Meditating on the TARDIS had showed me the differences in my magical core. Before I had started travelling in time my magical core had been like a vast see of greens, with a hallo of yellow around the outside. The yellow symbolised my empathy skills. Then, when I had gotten the Deathly Hallows, a string of grey had looped around the yellow with a string entering the sea that was my core.

Entering the TARDIs, and travelling through time had caused a rich TARDIS blue and gold band to appear around my core. That band had gotten bigger, and bigger the more we travelled. The last time I had meditated that band was about twice the size of the yellow band.

Now, it was in complete and utter chaos. The blue and gold band, broken with a black spike which had also pierced the yellow band. The green core was raging, and folding in on itself. Reaching out a metaphysical hand, I gently calmed the green in my core. Soothing it and threading it through the yellow and blue in an attempt at soothing both, since the black was like an injury. Once I had done that, I noticed that the grey thread which connected me to death, was swollen and pulsing. Unable to cope and adapt to the influx of death while struggling to fight against this universe which wasn't ours. Unlike when I was transported on my death, I didn't have the ability to adapt and adjust so I wasn't fought against.

In an attempt to ensure I didn't collapse before we had dealt with the cybermen, I sent a stream of magic through my body with the intention to heal and strengthen.

Once I had done that, I noticed something hidden in the corner of my core. Something bright, and old, and young. Something powerful, and ancient.

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When I opened my eyes, it was to find that we were on a waste ground which looked onto Battersea power station. I blinked rapidly to ensure that my vision was clear.

"You sure she's going to be alright, because we don't need to be carrying around dead weight?" Jake demanded to know.

"I'll be fine." I answered, forcing myself up right with a frown. Blinking down at the Doctor's suit jacket which had been draped over me. The Doctor had laid me down on a park bench, which for some reason was on the waste land.

"Hay, you alright?" the Doctor knelt in front of me.

"For now." I looked over to the power station. "We need to shut this down. Before he manages to convert more than half of London's population. Once he's done that, I won't be able to remain functioning. It's too much for me to process with the TARDIS in its current state. She's pulling on me in order to stay alive until we can get her power running again."

"You mean…" The Doctor trailed off.

"She took refuge inside my mind when she felt the impact. But I wasn't able to process the sudden influx while my body was in shock from the universe change. It caused a lot of damage that I've been able to patch, but not heal. Not until we're back in our world." I explained.

"The power cell is about forty percent charged. It needs another twelve hours. Then we can get out of here. But we need to stop Lumic first. Do you think that you'll be able to help?" The Doctor asked, offering his hand so I could stand.

"Of course." I accepted his hand and stood, giving his jacket back.

"Right so, how are we getting in there and shutting it down?" Mickey asked once he had been assured of my health.

"Oh, I'll think of something." The Doctor offered his patented smile.

"You're just making this up as you go along." Mickey realised.

"Yep. But I do it brilliantly." The Doctor said with pride.

"We need the blueprints." I told the Doctor. "Because that place is cruelling with cybermen."

"I can do that." Mrs Moore pulled a laptop out of her bag and began looking up the blueprints.

"Anna, is this… is this like last time?" Rose's eyes darted towards Pete as she asked this, clearly indicating that she wanted to know if my health was like the last time that we had met dad. Because I had very nearly died that day.

"Same consequence." I responded truthfully.

"Why?" Rose asked, her eyes wide. "Why does this keep happening to you? What happened?"

"Maybe one day I will tell you." I told her softly, going to sit on the bench. No point in wasting more of my energy until I needed to.

"I've got a blueprint." Mrs Moore pulled their attention to her. "This is a schematic of the old factory. Look. Cooling tunnels underneath the plant. Big enough to walk through."

"We can go under there and up into the control centre?" The Doctor tracked the path through the cooling tunnels.

"Mmm." Mrs Moore hummed in agreement.

"There's another way in." Pete pointed out, turning to stare at the power station. "Through the front door." He turned back to the Doctor. "If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in."

"We can't just go strolling up." Jake pointed out.

"Or we could" Mrs Moore reached into her bag and pulled out some ear pods, "with these. Fake ear pods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd."

"Then that's my job." Pete said seriously. His love for Jackie strong enough that he would willing walk into the heart of the death factory for her… I really hoped that the Jackie of this would was alive. Pete deserved that.

"You'd have to show no emotion. None at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away." The Doctor warned.

"How many of those you got?" Rose asked, coming to a decision.

"Just two sets." Mrs Moore opened her hands for them to see.

"Okay. If that's the best way of finding Jackie, then I'm coming with you." Rose said strongly. I'm surprised that she managed to say Jackie, instead of mum, considering the situation.

"Why does she matter to you?" Pete asked with a frown.

"We haven't got time. Doctor, I'm going with him, and that's that." Rose turned to the Doctor so as to avoid the conversation.

He stared at her for a moment before turning to me with a raised eyebrow. I gave him a slight nod. She'd be no safer going in with Pete then she would be going in with us. And they wouldn't be able to stop her going in. That was their life.

"No stopping you, is there?" The Doctor asked with a sigh.

"No."

"Tell you what." The Doctor said suddenly getting a brain wave. "We can take the ear pods at the same time. Give people their minds back so they don't walk into that place like sheep." He pulled out his sonic to start scanning. "Jakey-boy? Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there." he stopped scanning when the sonic picked up on the Zeppelin that was on the roof of the building. "There it is. On the Zeppelin, you see? Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off. Reckon you could take it out?"

"Consider it done." Jake nodded his acceptance.

"Mickey, go with him. He's going to need your computer skills, and I don't want anyone going in alone." I told Mickey, who I knew the Doctor would forget to give a job because Mickey didn't have a presence that drew attention to himself and he hadn't been with them long enough for the Doctor to instinctively remember him. Besides, Mickey was more my companion then the Doctor's.

"Of course." Mickey accepted his job with a brief look of surprise.

"Mrs Moore, would you care to accompany us into the cooling tunnels?"

"How could I refuse the offer of cooling tunnels?" Mrs Moore responded with a smile, closing down her laptop.

"We attack on three sides. Above, between and below. We get to the control centre; we stop the conversion machines." The Doctor told them all seriously. "We stop this massacre before it spreads to the rest of the world."

"Come on Idiot." Jake started walking away.

"I'm not an idiot. You hear me." Mickey said strongly walking after Jake and grabbing his shoulder to make the other man look at him – something he hadn't done since the news of Ricky's death. "I'm here to help. So, let me."

"Whatever." Jake shrugged Mickey off after a long moment and continued walking.

"Mickey." The Doctor caught his attention before they got too far away. "Good luck."

"Yeah, you too." Mickey responded, hiding his surprise at the concern. "Rose, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, you'd better." Rose threatened.

"If we survive this, I'll see you back at the Tardis."

"Keep your phone on you." I added, because being able to contact each other might just save their lives.

"That's a promise." Mickey saluted before turning to catch up with Jake before he got too far away.

"Good luck." The Doctor said, giving Rose a quick hug because he knew how scared and worried she really was.

"You look after yourself. You hear me? Don't do anything rash or foolish." I grabbed Rose in a hug, holding on tightly. Once I let go I turned to Pete as well. "You look after yourself. Don't let your emotions drive you. This world's going to need you once this is all over."

"I'll try." Pete nodded, before heading towards the power station with Rose at his side.

"The entrance to the tunnels isn't that far from here. We'll reach it before they get to the main entrance." Mrs Moore said quietly since the Doctor and I hadn't turned away from Rose.

"Right, let's get going." The Doctor instinctively offered me his arm, which I took.

"You going to be alright going through the tunnels?" Mrs Moore asked me.

"As long as we end this in the next two hours, I should be okay." I responded.

"Ah, here we are." The Doctor soniced the trap door open and climbed in first. I went down after him, and then Mrs Moore.

"It's freezing." Mrs Moore complained.

"Explains why it's called a cooling tunnel." I offered her a smile.

"Any sign of a light switch" the Doctor asked, using the little light from the hatch to look around.

"Can't see a thing." Mrs Moore answered, once more rummaging around in her back pack. "But I've got these. A device for every occasion." She handed the Doctor a headband and a torch.

"You should really start carrying a torch with you, what with the amount of sneaking we do." I told the Doctor, impressed with how prepared Mrs Moore was. Also, she wasn't carrying a gun – she never picked it back up back at the base.

"Haven't got a hotdog in there, have you? I'm starving." The Doctor asked, putting the head torch on.

"Of all the things to wish for. Mechanically processed meat."

"I know. It's the cyberman of food, but it's tasty." The Doctor responded with a smile. "Now, let's see what we've got." The Doctor turned on his torch which showed the face of a cyberman. When it didn't react to their presents, the Doctor turned his torch down the tunnel to reveal more cybermen. All of them inactive. "Already converted, just put on ice. Come on. Let's go slowly. Keep an eye out for trip systems." The Doctor started walking forward.

"The reports only listed a prediction of 65 homeless people missing. There are far more than that in these tunnels and used in Lumic's initial testing and front team. How did the government miss this? And it's not just here, this is on a global scale." I asked horrified.

"Like you said, they were homeless. And Lumic's been playing the long game. Going back years." Mrs Moore responded grimly.

"How did you get into this, then, rattling along with the Preachers?" The Doctor asked Mrs Moore in order to make conversation.

"Oh, I used to be ordinary." Mrs Moore responded humbly.

"No such thing." I told her with a smile.

"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."

"Impressive. You got very good at finding things." I complimented.

"What about Mr Moore?" the Doctor queried.

"Well, he's not called Moore. I got that from a book, Mrs Moore. Its 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? Any family? Are you to together? Or?"

"Oh, who needs family? I've got the whole world on my shoulders. Besides, Annamae's more than enough for me." the Doctor confirmed Mrs Moore subtle question about our relationship. "Go on, then. What's your real name?"

"Angela Price. Don't tell a soul."

"Not a word." The Doctor and I promised together.

"Besides, you might be able to go home to him when this is all over."

"Maybe," Angela agreed doubtfully. "Maybe."

"Doctor. They're waking up." I suddenly said, getting the slight flicker of life from the cybermen.

The Doctor didn't even question me despite the fact that we hadn't seen any of them move. "Run." He ordered. They had barely started running when the cybermen started moving, stepping of the pedestals behind them.

They came to the end of the tunnel with a ladder. The Doctor went up first so he could open the Door, then I made Mrs Moore go up before following behind, forcing a shield up to keep the cybermen back otherwise we wouldn't have been able to all get to the top of the ladder.

"Oh, good team, Mrs Moore." The Doctor smiled to her since she had held the hatch down while he sealed it. "Annamae, you alright?" he asked.

"You're bleeding." Mrs Moore said in shock.

"It will pass." I waved off Mrs Moore's concern, pulling out a tissue to stop the nose bleed which I hadn't noticed. So, using my magic probably hadn't been the best idea considering the situation.

"Do you need me to put up a barrier?" The Doctor asked seriously.

"It's not going to do any good." I turned his offer down. "The damage is already done."

A cybermen came up behind them. "You are not upgraded." It observed.

"Yeah? Well, upgrade this." She threw a small rod with copper wire wrapped around it at the Cyberman. The device stuck to the metal, causing the cyberman to jerk and then collapse.

"What the hell was that?" the Doctor ran over to the cyberman to exam it.

"Electromagnetic bomb. Takes out computers, I figured it might stop the cyber-suit." Mrs Moore admitted.

"Oh, I like you." I smiled at her.

"Now, let's have a look. Know your enemy. A logo on the front. Lumic's turned them into a brand. Heart of steel, but look." The Doctor soniced the front of the suit, which allowed the logo to be removed from the cyberman's chest. There wasn't just electronics inside, but also organic matter.

"Is that flesh?" Mrs Moore asked horrified.

"Hmmm." The Doctor used a pen to lift it up and move it aside. "Central nervous system. Artificially grown then threaded throughout the suit so it responds like a living thing. Oh, but look. Emotional inhibitor. Stops them feeling anything." The Doctor pointed to a series of buttons.

"But why?" Mrs Moore asked confused.

"It's still got a human brain. Imagine its reaction if it could see itself, realise itself inside this thing. They'd go insane." The Doctor answered sadly.

"So they cut out the one thing that makes them human."

"Because they have to." The Doctor added.

"Why am I cold?" the cyberman asked suddenly

"Oh," I breathed. I couldn't even feel the small spark anymore. That wasn't good. That meant that the deaths were overwhelming my ability to feel life. And that meant the balance was out of sync within me – and possible in the world.

"Oh, my God. It's alive. It can feel." Mrs Moore covered her mouth.

"We broke the inhibitor." The Doctor explained before addressing the cyberman. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Why so cold?" The Cyberman repeated.

"Can you remember your name?" The Doctor asked softly.

"Sally. Sally Phelan."

"You're a woman." Mrs Moore blinked in shock.

"Where's Gareth?"

"Who's Gareth?" I asked gently.

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

"You're getting married." Mrs Moore realised sadly.

"I'm cold. I'm so cold." The cyberman informed them again.

"It's all right. You sleep now, Sally. Just go to sleep." The Doctor placed his sonic inside the chest cavity in order to switch her off. The Doctor bowed his head for a moment before straightening up. "Sally Phelan didn't die for nothing, because 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."

"And what happens then?" Mrs Moore asked.

"I think it would kill them. Could we do that?" The Doctor frowned doubtfully.

"We've got to. Before they kill everyone else. There's no choice, Doctor. It's got to be done."

"They're already dead Doctor. We would simply be stopping their pain." I added softly.

Mrs Moore stood, and was immediately grabbed by a cyberman which had managed to sneak up on them and it electrocuted her.

"No!" The Doctor and I shouted together getting to our feet.

"No, you didn't have to kill her!" The Doctor said outraged.

"Sensors detect a binary vascular system. You are an unknown upgrade. You will be taken for analysis." The Cyberman said. The Doctor grabbed me and moved so he was stood between me and the cyberman in order to protect me since I didn't have the binary vascular system to protect myself with.

"I've been captured," the Doctor swaggered into the control centre with his hands in his pocket and me at his side, "but don't worry, Rose and Pete are still out there. They can rescue me." he came to a stop between the two, while I stood next to Rose. "Oh well, never mind. You okay?" He dropped his voice slightly.

"Yeah." Rose admitted. "But they got Jackie."

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

"Then where is he, the famous Mister Lumic?" The Doctor questioned turning to address the room. "Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?"

"He has been upgraded." The cyberman guard (one of two which had remained in the room) answered.

"So he's just like you?"

"He is superior." The cyberman disagreed. "The Lumic unit has been designated Cyber Controller."

A door at the back of the room opened to reveal a cyberman in a cyber wheel chair. He was attached to it using several different wires.

"This is the Age of Steel and I am its creator." The Lumic unit stated, its voice still holding some of the verbal patterning that Lumic had used which distinguished it to the robotic voice that all the other cyber units used.

Suddenly the sound of screams reached their ears and I smiled grimly. With the people free, that meant there would be less deaths, I might just get some of my strength back. Because I had the sudden feeling that we would be doing some running soon.

"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 ear pods have failed, then the Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world." Lumic informed them. "I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace and unity and uniformity."

"And imagination? What about that? The one thing that led you here, imagination, you're killing it dead!" The Doctor demanded.

"What is your name?" Lumic asked.

"I'm the Doctor." he answered proudly, and with authority that normally got people to listen to him.

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

"Yeah, but that's it. That's exactly the point! Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius accept 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 Doctor demanded, wondering the room and looking around. One of his greatest skills, talk until he comes up with a plan. "The Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop. You'll stay like this forever. A metal Earth with metal men and metal thought, lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive. People. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people."

"You are proud of your emotions." The Lumic unit pointed out.

"Oh, yes." The Doctor agreed as he came to stand by us again.

"Then tell me, Doctor. Have you known grief, and rage, and pain?"

"Yes. Yes, I have." He answered his voice losing some of its energy.

"And they hurt?"

"Oh, yes." The Doctor bounced back when I squeezed his hand.

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

"You might as well kill me." the Doctor answered.

"Then I take that option."

"It's not yours to take." The Doctor leaned forward suddenly. "You're a Cyber Controller. You don't control me or anything with blood in its heart."

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

"You just don't get it, do you? An army's nothing. Because those ordinary people, they're the key. The most ordinary person could change the world." The Doctor looked to the camera because he knew that Mickey would have hacked into the footage in order to find them the moment that he had disabled the ear pods. And he finally had a plan, which he could disguise with his random talking. "Some ordinary man or women, some idiot. All it takes is for him to find, say, the right numbers." The Doctor started wondering again. "Say the right codes. 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?" The Doctor pointed to him. "Binary what?"

"Binary nine." Pete coughed into his hand.

"An idiot could find that code, cancellation code. And he'd keep on typing. Keep on fighting. Anything to save his friends."

"Your words are irrelevant."

"Yeah, talk too much, that's my problem. Lucky that I got you that cheap tariff, Rose, for all our long chats." The Doctor came to a stop at a certain point along the computers that were around the room. "On your phone." The Doctor made the phone signal.

"You will be deleted.

"Yes. Delete, control, hash. All those lovely buttons. Then, of course, my particular favourite, send." The Doctor made as though to press a button. "And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place…" Rose's phone beeped and she pulled it out of her pocket. "By making every bit of technology compatible with everything else."

"It's for you." Rose tossed her phone to the Doctor.

"Like this." The Doctor placed the phone into the docking station, causing the code to transmit to the cybermen who cried out in pain.

The cyberman which had been behind the Doctor caught sight of itself in a shiny piece of metal. Causing it to clutch at its head in pain.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor apologised moments before its head exploded.

"What have you done?" the Lumic unit wasn't affected by the transmission for some reason. Perhaps he didn't need the suppression fitted, only the one which stopped the pain.

"I gave them back their souls. They can see what you've done, Lumic, and it's killing them!"

The Doctor grabbed my hand, and the four off us ran out of the room. They needed to get out of the building because the exploding cybermen would cause a failure within the system which would mean the entire factory was going to go up. Unfortunately, the exits were blocked by said exploding cybermen.

"There's no way out!" the Doctor shouted to be heard over the explosions when they found the stairs down blocked.

My phone rang so I answered it because Micky would have been the only person capable of phoning me other than Rose, and the Doctor had her phone since he had grabbed it once the code had been transmitted.

{"Anna, can you hear me?}" Mickey shouted to be heard. "{Head for the roof!}"

"Head for the roof," I pulled the Doctor to the stairs, grateful that the up staircase was still working. I kept Mickey on the line, so when we reached the roof and saw the Zeppelin descending, I placed the phone to my ear. "Mickey, please tell me you actually know how to fly that."

{"Cause I do."} Mickey answered, and I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"And where did you learn to fly that?" I asked as the ladder dropped.

{"Playstation."} He answered.

"You've got to be kidding me." Pete stated when he saw the ladder.

"Best you not know where he learnt how to drive that." I short him a side glance.

"Rose, Anna, get up." The Doctor shouted when there was an explosion behind them.

I let Rose get up first before following behind. They started climbing, but stopped about half way up when Mickey pulled away from the building.

"We did it! We did it!" Rose cheered, moments before something heavy pulled at the ladder nearly pulling them loose.

The Doctor pulled out the screwdriver and called to Pete who was at the bottom of the ladder. "Pete! Take this! Use it! Hold the button down! Press it against the rope. Just do it!"

Pete leaned back in order to catch the screwdriver. He then applied the sonic screwdriver to the rope and pressed the button with a shout. "Jackie Tyler. This is for her!"

The rope finally gave way and Lumic fell, and he was engulfed in the explosion from the power station. Pete had to hug the ladder to stay on since he suddenly lost his foot purchase.

When we finally made it into the Zeppelin, I collapsed from the sudden drain in my energy that climbing the ladder had taken.

"Anna!?" Rose shouted, running to my side and lifting my head up, while I allowed my eyes to close; just giving myself the strength I needed in order to see and function had drained my magical core, as well as what I needed in order to sooth the damage done to my mind and support the TARDIS.

"What happened?" I heard the Doctor ask when he got in the Zeppelin.

"I don't know, she just collapsed." Rose answered, as I heard Pete get in and close the hatch.

"Annamae," the Doctor took my face in his hands and I felt his mind touch my own. Unable to bring up the strength needed to respond in any kind of physical way, I allowed the Doctor into my mind enough that he could speak with me without him getting the backlash of the damage.

'Let me rest, please.' I requested.

'What will happen to you if I do that?' The Doctor asked seriously. 'If you sleep then your shields go down. All that damage that you've been holding back will flood your mind when you don't have the strength to heal it.'

'But I don't have the strength to hold on either' I responded, allowing him to feel just how tired I was. 'The deaths, the strength the TARDIs is taking, the fight of this world…'

'Let me help you.' The Doctor requested gently.

'You can't' I told him.

'My telepathic skills have been getting better. I can create a temporary mind link which will give you some of my mental strength. That means you'll be able to fall into a meditative state, like you did before.' The Doctor rebooked, gently bringing me to his mind so I could feel the difference to how it was before.

'If you go too far into my mind, you'll get the feedback' I warned him, accepting that I was going to need his help. Because he was right, fulling asleep would mean I wouldn't be able hold back the damage. And with the TARDIS hiding there, we might well loose our way home. And I would be forced into a healing coma and would run the risk of getting temporary amnesia until my magic repaired the damage.

'I'll be careful,' the Doctor promised, the relief flowing from him at my acceptance. He wouldn't be able to set up the mind link without my permission, even with how weak I am.

The feel of the Doctor's mind slowly got stronger and I could feel him slipping past my shields until he got to the point just before my core. Once there the feel of his mind became fixed and his active conscious pulled back. I could still feel his emotions, and the support he was giving me, but I wouldn't be able to talk with him unless one of us focused.

Knowing that I would be safe, I fell back into meditation, trying to heal some of the damage or at least setting up the process so that it would heal once we were back in our universe and I could sleep.

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"Doctor?" Rose asked, for what was clearly not the first time when I gently placed Annamae's head on my jacket which I had taken off. "What's wrong with her? Is she…?" Rose broke off as Mickey entered the room.

"I've parked us for now. What happened?" Mickey demanded when he spotted Annamae lying on the ground and the fact that Rose was practically in tears.

"We need to get out of this universe. It's weakening her. And the TARDIs matrix took refuge inside her when we crashed here. It's caused damage to her mind, which she can't fix until we're out of here. If the power cell isn't powered up in the next twelve hours..." I swallowed thickly. "I've linked our minds which is buying us time and reducing the damage done if Annamae were to fall unconscious. She's currently in a meditative state in order to conserve her strength."

"I'll go land us." Mickey said before running from the room after a concerned look to Anna.

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Placing the power cell into the console I smiled as the lights powered up. Clicking a few buttons on the monitor told me that we only had just enough juice to get back, but we needed to leave in the next five minutes. I glanced back at Annamae who was currently lying on the pilot's seat, her mind had sparked slightly when I placed the cell, but she remained in her meditative stance.

I went to the door and found Rose saying goodbye to Pete.

"Do you want to see?" Rose asked Pete, obviously in response to whatever the man had asked.

"No, I don't think so. But you two, you know, all that stuff you said about different worlds. Who are you?" Pete asked.

"It's like you say. Imagine there are different worlds, parallel worlds. Worlds with another Pete Tyler and Jackie Tyler's still alive, and their daughter…" Rose trailed off.

"I've got to go." Pete tried to back out of this conversation before Rose could bluntly say anything else.

"But if you just look inside." Rose tried to persuade him.

"No, I can't. There's all those Lumic factories out there. All those cybermen still in storage. Someone's got to tell the authorities what happened, carry on the fight…" Pete said. Deciding to help the man out I interrupted.

"Rose? I've only got five minutes of power. We've got to go."

"The Doctor could show you." Rose offered.

"Thank you. For everything." Pete looked to both of them.

"Dad." Rose said, practically in tears.

"Don't." Pete backed off like he would be able to ward off her words. "Just don't."

He left, just as Mickey arrived carrying a very familiar coat. "Here it is. I found it. Not a crease."

"My suit." I cheered. "Good man. Now then, Jake we've got to run. But one more thing. Mrs Moore. Her real name was Angela Price. She's got a husband out there, and children. Find them. Tell them how she died saving the world."

"Yeah, course I will." Jake promised.

"Off we go, then." I made to go back into the TARDIs but was stopped by Mickey.

"Er, thing is, I'm staying." He said hesitantly.

"You're doing what?" I demanded, opening the mental link fully in order to catch Annamae's attention so she could hear this.

"You can't." Rose demanded.

"It sort of balances out, because this world lost it's Ricky, but there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there." Mickey answered.

'Will he be safe staying here?' I asked Annamae.

"But you can't stay." Rose denied again.

'Yes, he'll be accepted due to Ricky's death. If Ricky was still alive, he would only be able to stay five years.' Annamae answered.

"Rose, my gran's here. She's still alive. My old gran, remember her?"

"Yeah." Rose sighed, knowing that she had lost the argument.

"Mickey, you need to understand that 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." I warned him, making sure that he understood the seriousness of the situation.

"I understand. But they need me here." Mickey responded.

"Alright," I accepted his decision.

"Doctor." Mickey held out his hand so they shook.

"Take Rose's phone. It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories. And good luck, Mickey the idiot."

"Watch it." Mickey smiled.

"Anna says, do your research and keep your head up." I added, before going back into the TARDIS so Rose could say goodbye.

'Take Rose back to mum, she'll be able to look after her while I recover.' Annamae requested of me just as Rose stepped into the TARDIs in tears.