The shaking in my room caused me to wake with a start. The violent rumbling caused me to fall out of my bed and I hit the floor hard.
Stumbling, I got off the floor and moved slowly to the door. Once I made it through the door, I slowly made my way to the console room. I had barely taken ten steps when the shaking stopped and the lights turned off, leaving me stranded in the hallway.
With the shaking done, I walked hurriedly to the console room. When I got to the room, I found that no one was there, just a dark console. I walked to the door and peeked out to see London. What I wasn't expecting to see was the zeppelin flying in the air.
I closed the door and walked to the wardrobe and quickly got dressed in jeans and a sweater. Once I finished getting ready, I made my way into the console room to see the Doctor sitting on the captain's seat and Mickey standing next to him.
"Doctor! Mickey!" I called out, hurrying over to them. The two in question turned quickly towards me in surprise.
"Victoria, are you okay?" the Doctor asked and I nodded.
"Where's Rose? What happened?" I asked, looking around.
"The Time Vortex is gone and the TARDIS is dead. We landed in an alternate universe, which is where Rose is. In this universe, Pete Tyler isn't dead, and Rose is trying to deal with it," the Doctor explained.
"The TARDIS is dead?" I asked in surprise and sadness. "How?"
"She fell out of our dimension into this dimension."
"Okay, so what happened right before I entered?" I asked, causing the Doctor to scowl lightly and Mickey to laugh.
"He got mad and kicked the console, hurting his foot," Mickey explained with a laugh, causing me to laugh lightly.
"So what happens now?" I asked worriedly, looking around the dark room.
"We're not meant to be here. The TARDIS draws its power off the universe, but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine," the Doctor explained with a frown, looking uncomfortable.
"But..." Mickey trailed. "I've seen it in comics. People are hopping from one alternate world to another, it's easy." The Doctor sent Mickey a withering look.
"Not in the real world," the Doctor paused for a moment. "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, took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small glowing green light coming from the grating under the console. Kneeling down to see a closer look, I called out, "Doctor, come look at this."
"What's that?" he muttered as he leaned down next to me.
"What?" Mickey called out as he stood behind us.
"That there, is it a reflection?" the Doctor asked, mostly to himself.
"I think it's a light," Victoria told him,
"That's all we need!" he turned to me with a smile. I stood up and moved backward, allowing the Doctor to take the grate off. We've got power! Vie, Mickey, we've got power! Ha!" the Doctor called happily as he lowered himself under the console. "It's alive!" he called and I felt a swell of hope enter my heart.
"What is it?" Mickey asked curiously.
"It's nothing. It's tiny. One of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, and it's clinging on to life. But with one little ounce of reality tucked away inside," the Doctor answered and I smile.
"So the TARDIS is still alive?" I asked and the Doctor nodded.
"Is there enough power to get us home?" Mickey asked.
"Not yet," the Doctor responded as he pulled the power cell out of the floor. He handed me the cell and he pulled himself out of the floor. Once he stood up, he took the cell back and stared at it. "I need to charge it up," he explained as he cupped the cell in both hands.
"We could go outside and latch it up to the national grid!" Mickey offered but the Doctor shook his head.
"Wrong sort of energy. It's gotta come from our universe."
"But we don't have anything," Mickey retorted.
"There's me," the Doctor said before blowing on the cell, causing it to glow brightly. "I just gave away ten years of my life. Worth every second!" the Doctor laughed a little. Mickey and I moved closer to stare at the cell with a smile. The power cell continuously glowed brightly before dimming.
"Is it supposed to do that?" I asked and the Doctor nodded.
"It's on a recharging cycle," he stated "It'll loop round, power back up and be ready to take us home in, oh, twenty-four hours?"
So, that gives us twenty-four hours in a parallel world?" Mickey questioned.
"Surely! As long as we keep our heads down. Easy. No problem," the Doctor told us. As he stood up, the Doctor tossed the power cell in the air and caught it. "Let's go and tell Rose," he said before heading to the door.
I walked side by side with the Doctor as we walked to where he had left Rose. Rose was sitting quietly on a bench, staring at her phone in her hand. I stood back by Mickey as the Doctor talked to Rose. I watched as a pained look crossed over Rose's face, most likely talking about her father and his life in this universe. I winced slightly as the Doctor reached forward, trying to grab Rose's phone.
"They're rich. They've got a house and cars, and everything they want," Rose stood up. "But they haven't got me. I've gotta see him," Rose told the Doctor but he shook his head.
"You can't."
"I just wanna see him," she told him.
"I can't let you!" he responded, causing Rose to glare at him, tears in her eyes.
"You just said twenty-four hours," she spoke, anger in her voice.
"You can't become their daughter, that's not the way it works! Mickey, Victoria, tell her," the Doctor said and I looked at Rose. I felt conflicted because I know that she shouldn't see her dad, but there also might not be anything wrong with getting to see him.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Mickey spoke before I could. "Twenty-four hours, yeah?"
"Where're you going?" the Doctor asked in surprise.
"Well, I can do what I want!" Mice told the Doctor as Rose began walking in the opposite direction.
"Come on, Mickey. Show me something cool," I told him, walking towards him.
"Victoria, what are you doing? Don't encourage this!" the Doctor called and I looked over at him.
"I don't see anything wrong with going with Mickey. If Rose can, so can Mickey," I said, watching the Doctor's pained face.
"Fine," was all he said before racing after her.
Turning to Mickey I smiled. "So, what do you have to see here?"
"My gran lives a few blocks away. She was blind, and the carpet on the stairs was coming up. She tripped on it, fell and died," Mickey explained.
"I'm sorry," I told him, feeling sad that I really didn't know much about Mickey.
"What about you? Is there anything here?" he asked and I shrugged.
"I was adopted when I was not even one. I grew up with a loving family and supportive friends. There's nothing that I could want here when I think about it," I explained and he nodded.
"You don't want to see if your real parents are here?" he asked and I shook my head.
"I'm sure there was a reason they left me on my dads' doorstep. I think that if I were to find out who my real parents are, that would put complications in my family that we don't need."
"Do you ever miss your dads? Have you asked the Doctor to take you to visit?" he asked and I shook my head.
"Yeah, I miss my dads, but I call them constantly. Although the Doctor knows who they are, I don't think he's ready to meet them, well him, just yet."
As Mickey went to ask me another question, a soldier approached us as a group of soldiers walked next to us. "Are we alright to pass?" Mickey asked.
"Yeah. No bother. Curfew doesn't start 'til ten."
"There's curfew?" I asked and the soldier sent me an odd look.
"Course there is. Where've you been living, mate? Up there with the toffs?" he questioned, pointing up at the zeppelins in the air.
"I wish," Mickey muttered as the soldier walked away. We walked in silence for the rest of the way until we reached a run-down looking area. Mickey slowed down as we crossed the street and stopped in front of his gran's house.
I silently reached down and grabbed his hand in support. With his other hand, Mickey knocked on the door three times. "Who's that there?" a voice called from the other side of the door.
The door opened to show an older woman, obviously Mickey's gran. "Who is it? I know you're there. Shame on you, tricking an old lady. I've got nothing worth stealing," she said, pulling out a stick. "And don't think I'm gonna disappear! You're NOT gonna take ME," she said, holding the stick tightly.
"Hi," Mickey spoke, causing her to stop in her tracks.
"Is that you?" she spoke in a hushed tone. I smiled happily, watching their reunion.
"It's me, I came home," he said, releasing my hand to move closer to her, allowing her to stroke his face.
"Ricky?"
"It's Mickey," he told her and she shook her head.
"I know my own grandson's name. It's Ricky. Now, come here." Mickey then pulled his gran into a hug.
"Okay, I'm Ricky. Of course, I am. Ricky, that's me," Mickey smiled before being smacked in the shoulder.
"Ow!"
"You stupid boy. Where have you been?" she asked angrily.
"Stop hitting me!"
"It's been days and days! I keep hearing all these stories. People disappearing off the streets. There's nothing of it on the download," she said pointing to the earpiece in her ear. "But there are all these rumors, a-and whispers. I thought that God had disappeared you!"
"That carpet on the stairs, I told you to get it fixed, you're gonna fall and break your neck," his voice trembled as he looked at the carpet.
"Well, you get it fixed for me," she told him.
"I should' a done way back. I guess I'm just kinda useless," he said, causing my heart to clench painfully. It made me sad to hear Mickey say that about himself, knowing the Doctor's attention to Rose and not him helped make that image clearer.
"Now, I never said that," his gran said with a frown.
"I am, though. And I'm sorry, Gran. I'm so sorry," Mickey said with tears welling in his eyes.
"Don't talk like that. Do you know what you need? A nice sit-down and a cuppa tea. You got time?" she asked, causing Mickey to look at me.
"Oh, I brought someone for you to meet as well," he told her, wincing as she smacked him again.
"Why didn't you say something sooner?" she said.
"Gran, this is Victoria," he said and I walked forward.
"It's nice to meet you," I said, causing her to smile.
"Come in, let's all sit down and have some tea," she said.
"For you, I've got all the time in the world," Mickey told her, causing her to laugh.
"You say that, but it's all talk. It's those new friends of yours. I don't trust them," she told us, causing us to frown.
"What friends are they?" he asked and his gran shook her head.
"Don't pretend you don't know. You've been seeing them. Mrs Chan told me. Driving about all helter-skelter, in that van," she told him as the sound of tires filled the air.
"What van's that, then?" I asked in confusion.
"You know full well! Don't play games with me," she said angrily as the van pulled up behind us. "Get inside!" she said as someone grabbed the back of our shirts and pulling us into the van.
"Mickey? Victoria?" we heard as the van drove off.
"Ricky, you were the one who told us you don't contact your family 'cos it puts them in danger!" he said before turning towards us.
"And who is this?"
"Of course, I said that just testing," Mickey said, trying to play along with the man.
"I'm Victoria Jones," I told him.
"I saw them. I taped them! They went round Black Friars gathering up the homeless like a child-catcher. They must've taken four dozen," the man said to the driver.
She replied, "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?"
"I dunno, who?"
"Cybus Industries," both the driver and the man said.
"And now we got evidence," the man explained.
"Bad news is, they've arrested Thin Jimmy. So that just leaves you," he told us, causing Mickey to stiffen in confusion.
"Leave me what?" he asked, causing the man to smirk.
"The Number One. Top of the list. London's Most Wanted."
"Oh, okay," Mickey nodded before realizing what he said. "Say that again?"
I looked down at my hands as the man talked to Mickey as if he were someone else, Ricky going off of what his gran said earlier. After maybe ten minutes, we can to a stop. The man got out first and we followed behind him.
"There's a light on. There's someone inside the base."
"Mrs. Moore, we've got visitors," the man said, and we snuck around the side of the house.
"One, two, three, go!" the man called out and we entered the house. Inside the house, we came face to face with Ricky.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ricky asked.
"What are you doing here?" the man asked, looking between Mickey and Ricky.
"What am I doing here?" Ricky asked, moving closer to Mickey. "What am I doing there?" he said, causing the man and driver to point their guns at us, causing us to immediately put our hands up.
The three made Mickey strip to his underwear before tying him up in a chair.
"What do we do with the girl?" the man asked and Ricky told him to just simply tie me up. Soon enough, we were both tied up and the other three were scanning Mickey.
"He's clean. No bugs," the man called out.
"But this is off the scale. He's flesh and blood. How did that happen?" Ricky asked, staring at Mickey.
"Well, it could be that Cybus Industries have perfected the science of human cloning...? Or your father had a bike?" the driver suggested, causing Ricky to circle Mickey dangerously.
"Your name is Mickey, not Ricky?" Ricky asked and he nodded.
"Mickey. Dad was Jackson Smith. Used to work at the key cutters in Cliffton's Parade. Went to Spain, never came back," Mickey told Rickey.
"But that's MY dad. So, we're brothers?" Ricky asked, leaning closer to Mickey.
"Be fair, what else could it be?" the man asked.
"I don't know. But he doesn't just look like me, he is exactly the same. There's something else going on here, Jake."
"So, who are you lot?" Mickey asked.
"We - we are the Preachers. As in Gospel Truth. You see?" Ricky said, pointing to his ear. "No earplugs. 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."
"From your kitchen?" I asked, causing Jake to smirk.
"Do you have a problem with it?" Ricky asked and I shook my head.
"No, it's a good kitchen."
A beep came from their laptop. "It's an upload from Gemini."
"Who is Gemini?" Mickey and I asked at the same time.
"The vans are back. They're moving out of Battersea. Looks like Gemini was right. Lumic's finally making a move."
"And we are right behind him. Pack up, we're leaving," Ricky said before untying us. We quickly found ourselves in the van once again. At some point, Ricky and Jake got out of the van, leaving us with the driver.
"I've identified the address. It belongs to Peter Tyler. The Vitex millionaire," causing both Mickey and I to look at her in surprise.
"Pete Tyler?" Mickey asked.
"He's listed as one of Lumic's henchmen. A traitor to the state," she told us, shocking us even more.
"But... but... we've gotta get in there."
Together, we got out of the van and ran towards the mansion in the direction Ricky and Jake went.
It took us a few minutes, but we quickly found Ricky who was being hugged by Rose.
"Rose!" Mickey called out. "That's not me. That's like... the other one."
"Oh, as if things weren't bad enough - there's two Mickey's!" the Doctor said and I glared at him.
"It's Ricky," Ricky told him.
"But there's more of them," Mickey said, talking about the cyberman. I stiffened in fear as the cyberman began to close in on us. The Doctor had told me a few stories about them but never had I imagined that I'd see one in person.
"We're surrounded," I whispered in slight fear as Ricky raised his gun.
"Put the guns down. Bullets won't stop them," the Doctor told him, but Jake ignored him and shot rounds at them.
"No! Stop shooting!" the Doctor said pushing the gun down. "We surrender! Hands up," the Doctor told us, and we all slowly put our hands up."There's no need to damage us, we're good stock. We volunteer for the upgrade program. Take us to be processed."
"You are rogue elements," the cyberman said.
"But we surrender."
"You are incompatible," the cyberman replied.
"But this is a surrender!" the Doctor cried.
"You will be deleted."
"But we're surrendering! Listen to me, we surrender!" I looked at the Doctor in fear.
"You are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cybermen but you will perish under maximum deletion," the Cyberman reached it's hand towards the Doctor.
"Oh, Doctor," I muttered, looking at him in fear of what would happen.
"Delete. Delete. Delete."