Hi, everyone! I know, I know, I've been gone for ages. I've had a lot going on, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to post more. However, here we are with Rise of the Cybermen! It's broken up rather differently than the canon story, in large part because I wasn't satisfied with the Doctor and Barry going to just some alternate universe where his mom is alive. Oh, no, this is very different. I hope you enjoy!

"And that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes?" the Doctor reminisced as he and Barry entered the console room. "Do you remember? The way she looked at you! And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out!"

"I thought I was going to get frazzled!" Barry grinned, leaning against the console.

"Yeah, one minute she's standing there, and the next minute, roar!"

"Right, and then there was that robot Madonna, and you were like, what?"

"Oh, please," the Doctor waved dismissively. "I knew exactly what I was doing. Always do."

The TARDIS console chose that exact moment to explode. Barry was thrown tail over teakettle as the TARDIS spun around like a washing machine. He banged off one of the rails, tumbled, rolled, and clambered onto his knees,

ducking a cloud of smoke.

"What's happened?"

"The Time Vortex is gone!" the Doctor yelled, stabbing wildly at the console. "That's impossible, just gone!"

"What…"

"Brace yourself, we're going to crash!"

Barry crouched and covered his head. There was a final jolt, he fell over onto his side, and with a groan, the ship stabilized. As one, all of the lights

flickered and died.

"You all right?" the Doctor called.

"Yeah," Barry grunted. "Nothing broken. You?"

"Yeah."

The Doctor rose and went immediately to the console, running one hand along it. "She's dead," he whispered in a funereal tone. "The TARDIS is dead."

"You can fix it, though, right?" Barry asked, ducking under a hanging oxygen mask.

"There's nothing to fix. She's perished. The last TARDIS in the universe. Extinct."

"I'm so sorry."

"Yeah."

"What happened?" Barry asked, rubbing his arm.

"No idea. We must've fallen…out of the vortex, through the void, into nothingness. We're in some sort of no place. The silent realm. The lost dimension."

"You mean we're…outside reality?"

"Yup," the Doctor told him, leaning on the console. "Nothing out there. No time, no space, just darkness and silence in every direction, for infinity."

"Then why is there sunlight?"

"What?"

Barry pointed to the doors,

Cautiously, Barry opened one door a crack. He peeked his head around, and the Doctor leaned over his shoulder. Beyond was…a wall. A pretty much ordinary brick wall, like hundreds in London or Central City. A Vote Ellis poster hung

at eye level.

"Okay," Barry mused. "This does not look like the void beyond dimensions. Must be some kind of alternate universe, right?"

"Very good," the Doctor nodded.

"Why don't we look around a little?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"Um," Barry said as they left the alleyway, to be confronted by a line of people marching past as if hypnotized, "What exactly is going on here?"

"No idea," the Doctor raised his eyebrows. He peered more closely at one of the marching people, brainy specs appearing upon his nose as if by magic.

"Seems like they're being controlled by these earpods. The question is, who's controlling them, and why?"

"No matter what universe we land in, there's always trouble," the speedster sighed affectionately, but the Doctor threw an arm around his shoulders.

"Nah, trouble's just the bits in between! C'mon, let's see where they're going."

"Surprise, surprise," Barry muttered, but smiled as he gazed around, taking in the skyscrapers, the hot dog stands, the mix of old and new that you got a little in the older American cities, and absolutely everywhere in Britain.

"So this is alternate New York?" he asked. "I mean, it looks like New York."

"Mm," the Doctor nodded. "Bit more technologically advanced than yours, though."

"Yeah, see what you mean," Barry agreed. It wasn't obvious, but there were subtle signs when you looked, like the holo-screens that hung from many buildings, advertising everything from shampoo to tech gadgets, some of which

he'd only seen in sci-fi shows.

"So we're in the future?"

"Not necessarily," the Doctor shook his head. "Alternate universe, so there could be all kinds of little changes that led to more advanced technology. One person living a little longer, turning right instead of left…who knows?"

"Step on a butterfly, change the future of the human race," Barry nodded.

"Why would you step on a butterfly?" the Doctor protested. "They're my fifty-second favorite species on your planet!"

At Barry's raised eyebrows, he shrugged. "I was locked in a prison cell for twenty years once. I got bored, made a list."

"So who's number one?"

"Dolphins."

Barry couldn't tell whether or not the Doctor was joking, so he shook his head and looked around.

"So, is everyone in New York mind-controlled?"

"Looks like the whole city," Barry breathed as he looked up and down the line of marchers, which stretched in either direction as far as he could see.

"Not a single person with a functioning brain," the Doctor agreed. "I mean, more than usual in the States."

"Hey, guys!"

A figure garbed in a red and blue suit swung out of an alleyway, did a flip, and landed in front of them. "How's it going?"

Barry and the Doctor looked at the man with the spider emblem emblazoned on his chest, looked at each other, and spoke in unison. "What?"

"Yeah," the costumed figure said. "Hey, I'm Spider-Man. Who are you?"

"Wait, wait," Barry insisted. "You're real? Like, actually, really real?"

"Yep, that's me. Really real."

"Who are you guys?" a young woman asked, and both turned to see a teenage girl, a couple years younger than Barry, coming around the street.

"We're…"

They looked at each other. "Superheroes," Barry said. "English superheroes. I'm, uh, Speedy, and this is my sidekick Dr. Terrific."

The Doctor glared at him.

"No you're not," the young woman said.

"Sorry?" the Doctor asked.

"I've never heard of you. And I keep an eye on all the superhero websites."

"We're…new."

"Uh-huh."

"Okay, we're visitors from another dimension who landed here by accident and just want to find a way home," Barry sighed.

"I'm sorry, you're saying there's a multiverse?" Spider-Man exclaimed. "'Cause I thought that was just theoretical. That completely changes how we understand the initial singularity. We're talking about an eternal inflation system and

how does that even work with all the quantum-? It's insane…"

The young woman nudged him. "Right, sorry."

"Sensors indicate an unknown type of radiation," a robotic female voice said from Spider-Man's vicinity. "The older one is definitely not human. They could be telling the truth."

"Wait, what? You're not human? Man, that's so cool! You look human, though!"

"No, you look Time Lord," the Doctor told him. "We were around first."

"Man, that's so cool!" Spider-Man exclaimed, poking at the Doctor, who gently swatted his hand away.

"So is this, like, parallel evolution, or a huge coincidence? Are there lots of alien species that look human or Time Lord or whatever? I mean, I know the Asgardians and those guys do, but..."

"Hey," the young woman said. "Geek out later. Worry about mind-controlled New Yorkers now."

She smiled and held out a hand. "Michelle Jones. This dweeb here is Spider-Man."

"Hey!"

"Nice to meet you," the Doctor nodded, shooting Barry a look. "I'm the Doctor, this is Barry. So what's happening here?"

"It's this guy, John Lumic. He's a giant. I mean, not literally a giant, but he's a tech giant. Lumic Industries is into everything—politics, luxury items,

phones, Internet, all kinds of cutting-edge tech. They do scholarships, charity work…you name it."

"I've never trusted him," Michelle added. "It's why we're not wearing the earpods."

"Right. So earlier today, he had this meeting with Mr. Stark."

"Wait, wait, Mr. Stark," Barry said. "You mean Tony Stark, the Tony Stark, Iron Man Tony Stark?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Uh, no reason."

Oh my God, Iron Man actually exists! This is so awesome!

"So where is he?" the Doctor asked. "Mr. Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers."

"That's what I was saying," Spider-Man responded, shooting Barry a look through his mask that he couldn't identify, but he guessed was mildly irritated.

"Lumic set up this meeting with Mr. Stark earlier today. Then…I don't know. I've tried reaching out to him half a dozen times, but nothing. I think he must've...done something."

The Doctor, Barry, MJ, and Spider-Man exchanged looks, and the Doctor spoke for all of them.

"Then it's up to us. This Lumic guy, he must have some kind of base, or something?"

"Yeah," Michelle said. "North shore of Staten Island. I guess it's where all these people are going."

"So, I guess we'll have to borrow a car…" Spider-Man started. Barry and the Doctor grinned at each other.

"Nah. I've got a better idea."

Within a laboratory, in the heart of the complex, in a cold metal room that had never known light, laughter, or love, a screen flashed the color of blood. An alert flashed up and was noticed.

Speed Force usage identified. Speed Force usage identified.

A shadow fell over the screen as a tall, hulking figure looked down at it. His eyes were no longer surrounded by biological muscles, so they could not

narrow. However, they brightened in intensity, and glowed with their own inner light.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?"

He spun, and was gone in a flash of blue lightning.

"Whoa!" Spidey exclaimed as the three humans skidded to a halt on the near shore of Staten Island, nearby an abandoned construction site. "That was atotal rush!"

"Literally," Michelle put in, as she bent over, one hand on her stomach. "Whoah. Okay. No. Never, never doing that again."

As she spoke, Barry disappeared again, then reappeared a few moments later with the Doctor in tow.

"Nice job," the Time Lord nodded, gazing around. Barry smothered a laugh as he noted that the Doctor's hair, usually messy already, had become exponentially more so thanks to wind shear, to the point that he now resembled one of

the humanoid hedgehogs they'd met on Thoros Beta the other day.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Uh, nothing. So how do we get in?"

"You don't," intoned a voice from the shadows, and all of them spun. Barry blinked as a young man stepped forward. He wore a form-fitting suit of silver armor that seemed to have been grafted to his flesh, with a "C" logo atop his

heart. His eyes had been replaced by twin sensors, which glowed a faint blue

as he scanned the group in front of him. He stood slightly taller than Barry, and was definitely more muscular. His eyes had been replaced by cybernetic implants, his arms and legs augmented by metal. But even with that, his

identity was unmistakable.

"You're…" Barry breathed. "You're me."

The man in front of him tilted his head, and Barry shivered at the emotionless gaze which scanned over him as if he were an insect. Around him, he was aware of Spidey centering his weight; the Doctor withdrawing his sonic

screwdriver and holding it ready at his side.

"Analysis indicates Artron energy and other indistinct particulates," Barry's other self stated, with all the emotion of a frozen puddle. "Genetic scan equivalent to that of myself. Evidence suggests you are my duplicate from another

universe."

His gaze shifted to the others. "Along with humans identified as Michelle Jones, Peter Parker, and unknown alien other."

"He's the Doctor. And hey, from my point of view, you're my duplicate," Barry grinned, but his smile faded. "Man…what happened to you?"

"I attended Harvard thanks to a science scholarship from Cybus Industries," Barry recited, as if reading off a grocery list. "John Lumic kept an eye on me afterwards. When I received super speed, I was recruited by him. He tested my

abilities and upgraded me."

"God," Peter breathed, hands to his mouth. "That is so sick! I mean, that's like, total Frankenstein-level, just, it's obscene!"

"And when you say 'upgraded'…" the Doctor began, scanning him with the sonic.

"Lumic will make the whole world better. He will make humanity stronger, tougher, smarter. He will make humanity great again. All weaknesses will be purged, all individuals assimilated. The Ultimate Upgrade will begin."

"I know what you're doing," the Doctor warned. "I've seen this before. And I will stop you."

"Incorrect. No one can defeat us."

Barry's friend drew himself up to his full, intimidating height, and gazed upon the cyborg with all of the power and authority nine centuries of battling monsters had bestowed upon him.

CLANG!

Cyber-Barry toppled over, without even enough time to look surprised. Michelle, behind him, held up a length of metal piping and smirked. "Or not."

"Man, that was so awesome," Peter said, sounding simultaneously impressed and aroused by his girlfriend's badassery. Barry, who'd seen Kara take on half a dozen Axons with her bare hands, knew the feeling.

"Nice job," he agreed.

"I completely disapprove," the Doctor noted. He bent down to examine the other Barry's chest armor and used his sonic to peel back a section, popping on his brainy specs as he did so.

"Thought so. Look," he ordered, reaching in and pulling out a mechanical device nestled into the flesh. "Emotional inhibitor."

"Yeesh," Peter winced.

"That's…that's just…" MJ trailed off, while Barry swallowed hard.

"Why?"

"You know how you're feeling now?" the Doctor asked his companion. "That's how he would feel, if he could. He'd have gone insane."

In a single, swift motion, he straightened up and pulled the glasses off.

"We need to get moving, now."

"What about me?" Barry asked. "I mean him, I mean other me."

"Leave him," the Doctor ordered as he strode off. "No time. Even with speed-healing, he'll be out of the way for a while. Everyone, let's go. Peter, scout

ahead."

"Why? Doctor, what's happening? What's this ultimate upgrade thing?" Barry asked as the superhero, without a word of objection, leapt into the air and

began to swing from building to building.

"It happened before in our universe," the Doctor explained as he strode towards the factory, coat flaring behind him and the others following behind.

"Started out on your twin planet Mondas, then spread out across the universe. Humans wanting to upgrade themselves, replacing themselves with metal

and circuits. Starts out with artificial limbs…then, eventually, full conversion."

"Conversion? Into what?" Peter asked from up ahead. The Doctor looked up at him, face grim, as they rounded a corner and saw the factory looming above

them. A line of blank-faced men and women stretched from its doors, out across the bridge, as far as the eye could see.

"Cybermen."

Well, I think that's a good place to leave off. The Avengers have mysteriously been taken out of action, and John Lumic is set to upgrade
first New York, then all of humanity. Why is he starting with New York? Well, he wanted to take out the Avengers first, as they're by far the
most serious threat to him. Why aren't MJ and Peter more cynical of the Doctor and Barry? Well, they've seen a lot of weird stuff (though
Far From Home didn't happen in this universe), so after a while you pretty much just roll with it. What will our intrepid team of adventurers
do, and will they be able to stop the Age of Steel? Well, tune in next time (probably pretty soon) to find out!