~revised~

Chapter XIX

Doctor

He looked directly at the Cybermen. They still stuck to their policy of deletion, despite his and Mira's efforts. She had made a good point, he had to give her that, but the Cybermen remained unimpressed. Fine. He had hoped to solve it without violence and destruction, but they had asked for it. He pulled the little power cell out of his pocket and pointed it at the Cybermen. A short mental impulse was all it took – suddenly the Cybermen were all disintegrated into thin air by the stored power in the little crystal. The others – Mickey, Ricky, the other guy, Pete, Rose and Mira stared at him in disbelief.

"That's some power cell – better than the actual weapons where I come from," Mira said dryly after a moment of silence.

"What the hell was that?" Ricky asked, not quite as dryly.

"We'll have that instead – RUN!" Oh these humans. Always asking so many questions - not always at the right moment. Not that he minded questions in general. As they started running, a blue van drove around the corner, the driver hooting the horn.

"Everybody in!" the woman in the van shouted through the open window. Just as he was about to get into the van, Pete ran off – back to his house. "Pete!" he shouted and grabbed the other man by the arm.

"I've gotta go back, my wife's in there," Pete said in despair.

"Anyone inside that house is dead. If you wanna help, then don't let her die for nothing. You've gotta come with us right now," he said and looked at Pete. It was true. If Jackie was still inside there, she was dead. Actually, probably worse than dead in his opinion, but no need to tell that to Pete now. Finally, Pete nodded and went to the van.

"Come on, get a move on!" the driver called once more.

He had taken care of Pete, but Rose was still standing there and staring at the house. She was the last one – besides him – who was still outside the car.

"Rose, she's not your mother," he said and walked over to her. She blinked and looked away from the house and into his eyes.

"I know," she said quietly.

"Come on," he said and took her by the hand. She grabbed it tightly and followed him.

"Finished chatting?! Never seen a slower getaway in my life!" the woman on the driving seat said as they all were finally in the van. She drove off with squealing tyres, leaving the rows of Cybermen behind.

"What was that thing?" Ricky repeated his question from earlier on, looking through the mesh between the driver´s cab and the back of the van.

"Little bit of technology from my home," he answered evasively. No need for further explanations, they wouldn't understand it anyway. Not that he wasn't willing to give some explanations every now and then (all right, maybe a bit more often than that), but sometimes he just got tired of it. People were always just looking at him as if he had spoken Gallifreyan. Not that it was their fault that they had gotten these tiny little brains – amazing brains, full of creativity and such - but that didn't help the fact that they would never understand Timelord technology. Well, maybe Mira would get at least the basic principles, but surely not Ricky. Or Mickey for that matter.

"It's stopped glowing. Has it run out?" Mickey wanted to know.

"It's on a revitalising loop. It'll charge back up in about four hours," he answered and put the little power crystal back into his pocket.

"Right. So, we don't have a weapon anymore," Ricky stated.

"Yeah. Not so good," Mira added.

He looked at her. Maybe he not only had to talk to Rose, but to her as well. About this military thing. This was not his way of dealing with problems, at least not anymore. Actually it had never been his way, it had just been a short period in his life, out of sheer necessity.

"Yeah, we've got weapons. Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him," the other guy pulled him out of his thoughts. He had obviously meant Pete.

"Leave him alone! What's he done wrong?" Rose instantly snapped at him with a scared tone in her voice.

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

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

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

"Talk about executions, you'll make me your enemy. And take some really good advice - you don't wanna do that." Now that had been enough for him. They could throw accusations at each other as much as they wanted, but no-one would execute anyone here. So many people had just lost their lives and they were talking about killing even more. He was still staring at Ricky, who was obviously thinking about what to say.

"All the same... we have evidence that says Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since 20.5.," Ricky said eventually.

"Is that true?" Rose asked after she had looked at Pete for a few moments. The Doctor looked at Mira. She just sat there, opposite of him, being quiet the whole time, except for the remark regarding the weapons. On her face again this expressionless Mona-Lisa like smile as she watched the others. He wondered what she made out of all this with her psychic senses.

"Tell 'em, Mrs M.," Ricky said to the woman driving as Pete remained silent, seemingly uncomfortable.

"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," she said.

"Broadcast from Gemini?" Pete said.

"And how do you know that?" Ricky asked sceptically.

"I'm Gemini. That's me," Pete said, somehow a bit desperate.

"Yeah, well you would say that," Ricky said. Well, he had a point there.

"He's telling the truth," Mira said casually. All heads swung around to her and for a moment no one spoke. Pete probably was surprised the most, because he didn't even know her – unless there was a Mira in this universe working with him somehow.

"Oh. Sorry. Old habits die hard," she said with a shy smile after she had looked – equally surprised – from one to the other.

"And how would you know that?" the other guy asked her.

"And you are?" he asked, hoping to spare Mira an answer.

"Jake."

Then Pete continued. "Encrypted wavelength six-five-seven using binary nine." Ricky and Jake were glancing at one another. "That's the only reason I was working for Lumic. To get information. I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services, and what do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They've even got the van!"

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

"Yeah, that's not exactly...," Ricky started.

"Not exactly what?" Mickey insisted.

"I'm London's Most Wanted for... parking tickets," Ricky finally admitted. The Doctor smiled and Mira chuckled. Rose just raised her eyebrow. So, that was the great Ricky.

"Great." That was everything Pete had to say.

"They were deliberate! I was fighting the system! Park anywhere, that's me," Ricky said, defending himself.

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

"Yeah, and I'm Mira."

"And I'm Rose. Hello!"

"Even better. That's the name of my dog. Still - at least I've got the catering staff on my side," Pete said with a defeated tone. The Doctor almost felt sorry for him. Well, he clearly did, for Jackie. But also for the rest.

"Yeah, we're not the catering staff," Mira added quietly.

"I knew you weren't a traitor," Rose said quietly to him.

"Why is everybody saying they knew? What's going on with you? We haven't met before!" Pete had enough, that was clear to hear.

"Oh... I...," Rose started. The Doctor looked at her intently.

"I just did," she finally said.

"And you?" Pete looked at Mira now.

"She is...," Rose started, but Mira interrupted her. The Doctor just shook his head. No need for that now.

"Um. Just a wild guess. I'm quite good at reading faces. There are certain small expressions that give it away no matter what. I'm a psychologist," Mira said. "Specialised in... um. Investigation."

Pete looked at her for a few more seconds before he accepted her explanation and nodded. Maybe it was for the best, the Doctor thought. Humans were often a bit sceptical about psychic powers. At this time they most likely just wouldn't believe it, a few centuries earlier she would have been burnt at the stake for being a witch.

"They took my wife," Pete said all of a sudden, looking at Rose as if searching for help.

"She might still be alive," Rose tried to comfort him.

"That's even worse. 'Cos that's what Lumic does. He takes the living... and he turns them into those machines," Pete replied sadly.

"Cybermen," the Doctor said and all eyes turned to him. "They're called Cybermen. And I'd take those ear-pods off, if I were you." Pete looked a bit shocked and immediately gave the ear-pods to him. He deactivated them with his Sonic. "You never know... Lumic could be listening." He put the ear-pods away. "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 authorities? Yeah. They go to their secret store rooms, get the plasma-rifles out and kill all Cybermen?" Mira looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Really? I mean, Lumic knew the President was there. It was all planned. So he has the authorities in his hands as well. Either by bribing or threatening them."

"Any better idea?" he asked.

"Yeah. If you want something done properly, do it yourself. No need to rely on the authorities. Well, unless it's the Fleet or the USO."

"USO?" Ricky asked.

"United Stars Organisation. Never mind, doesn't exist anymore," she said. "What do you say, Doctor? Do we take this into our own hands or do we rely on the authorities of pre-space-flight Earth to fight off pretty much invincible Cybermen?"

He looked at her out of wide eyes. Slowly a smile was forming on his face. Maybe they had to talk about her methods, but not about the general approach.

"Who needs authorities?" he finally said, ignoring the irritated glances of the others. Well, the others except for Rose, who shot a not so nice and rather annoyed glance at Mira.


Mira

She walked with the others along a street, watching all people marching towards the same destination. It wasn't that hard to figure out where to. Or at least, who was behind it.

"What the hell...?" Jake asked bewildered. Well, maybe it wasn't that easy to figure out.

"What's going on?" Rose was also wondering.

"Lumic," she said.

"He has taken control," the Doctor clarified it. "It's the ear-pods."

"Can't we just... I dunno, take them off?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. How many people live in London?" she said. "About eight million? Let's say, five seconds per person, makes something around-"

"Don't!" the Doctor interrupted her. "Cause a brainstorm. 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." He grabbed Rose's hand because she was about to pull out the ear-pods of one of the passer-bys.

"-four-hundred and sixty-two days. Actually, divide that by six or so, as you don't have to do it on your own. But you get the point? And yes," she continued and turned to the Doctor, "Easy life. You got it. Freedom is actually quite exhausting. All those decisions. No-one to tell you what's right and wrong. But on the other hand, laziness and striving for making life easier has lead to some of the most outstanding inventions mankind has made so far. There's a good and bad side to everything." He just stared at her. Oh hell. Yes, she could babble when it came to humanity. But it was her species, and she really liked them. She liked being human. They could be pretty horrible, but also really amazing. Even though there were times when she'd love nothing better than to launch them all into outer space. Figuratively in this case, of course. They really could drive her mad some times. "Anyway. Rose is right, we need to stop them."

"Hey," Jake waved at them. "Come and see." He and Ricky were peering around a corner, they joined them. A row of Cybermen was marching alongside the people. It almost seemed as if they were guarding them. Maybe in case if there were some without ear-pods among them. Some like their little group.

"Where are they all going?" Rose asked.

"I don't know. Lumic must have a base of operation," the Doctor said.

"Battersea. That's where he was building his prototypes," Pete pointed out. Mira looked at him. She still didn't quite get why Lumic was doing this. He was basically selling out his own species. Out of good intentions? Maybe. Or he could just be that mad. But that was not really a satisfying explanation.

"Why's he doing it?" she asked Pete after she had shaken violently with the cold. It was February and she was outside with a dress with short sleeves. She wasn't made for these temperatures. She was more into thirty degrees Celsius or something like that.

"He's dying. This all started out as a way of life by keeping the brain alive. At any cost," Pete answered.

"Oh well. And it's not enough that he's doing it to himself, which would be fine with me because it's his brain and body, but to everyone else? These kinds of people I like the most," she said.

"The thing is, I've seen Cybermen before, haven't I? That head - those handle shapes in Van Statten's museum," Rose said to the Doctor.

"Ah, there are Cybermen in our universe. They 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 answered.

"What the hell are you on about?" Pete asked.

"Never mind that. Come on, we need to get out of the City," Ricky said. He was right about it, Mira thought. And apart from that, Cybermen were approaching. It just wasn't save here.

"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 commanded before he ran off. Jake took the other direction.

"I'm going with him," Mickey said to Rose and kissed her, then he followed Ricky.

"Come on, let's go," Mrs Moore said to them. It was high time, the Cybermen were coming closer. They ran down the street until the Mrs Moore waved them behind a pile of rubbish and dustbins. They were crouching behind the pile, Rose clutching Pete's hand as if there would be no tomorrow. Mira was next to the Doctor, both listening for the Cybermen.

Keep moving. Don't look at the rubbish. Don't lo- Dammit.

Suddenly the Cybermen stopped. They were trapped. The next second the Doctor had his Sonic device in his hand and pointed it upwards in the direction of the Cybermen. She could hear a short bleep that almost caused her heart to stop, but the Cybermen just walked away. He turned is head to her – she hadn't been aware that she was staring at him from the side – and looked into his deep, dark eyes. A shiver ran down her spine, but this time not because of the cold. Not a good time now.

She looked at Rose and Pete as she listened for more Cybermen, but it was quiet.

"Go," the Doctor whispered and they carefully crept out from behind the dustbins and ran in the opposite direction. The didn't stop till they reached the crossroads where they had parted. A few minutes later Jake came back.

"I ran past the river. You should've seen it, the whole City's on the watch. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames," he informed them. As he had finished, Mickey came along. Alone. Or was it Ricky? Hard to say, although his posture looked more like Mickey.

"Here he is!" Jake exclaimed. He was obviously expecting Ricky. There was something between the two of them, Mira had noticed. Mickey/Ricky came closer, but didn't say anything. Not good.

"Which one are you?" Jake asked confused.

"I'm sorry. The Cybermen. He couldn't...," Mickey/Ricky said.

Mickey. That's Mickey. Now she was certain. Not that she could tell them apart on a psychic level, but his whole behaviour had Mickey written all over it. The other one was more determined.

"Are you Ricky? Are you Ricky?" Jake obviously refused to believe that that was actually Mickey.

"Mickey, that's you, isn't it?" Rose asked and stepped over to Mickey.

"Yeah," he answered with a shaky voice and Rose threw her arms around him. There was not much need for asking about Ricky. Had he been captured, Mickey would have rushed to free him. Since he didn't do that it could only mean...

"He tried. He was running...," Mickey said now to Jake, who didn't reply and just turned away.

"There was too many of them," Mickey continued and walked after Jake.

"Shut it."

She could feel Jake's pain now, pain that was only too visible on his face. She could feel hot tears forming in her eyes. It was exactly as if she had lost someone she loved right now. She bit her lip and tried to gather herself, tried to separate herself from Jake's feelings, and from her own as well. She had practice in doing so, but it wasn't easy. She wiped a tear off her cheek.

"There was nothing I could do," Mickey tried it again.

"I said just SHUT IT. Don't even TALK about him. You're NOTHING, you are," Jake spun around to Mickey, who had also tears in his eyes now. "Nothing," Jake said once more and turned away again.

"We can mourn him when London is safe. But now, we move on," the Doctor said calmly to Jake. Just the right thing, she thought. Normally it would have been on her to remind the others of that. At least most of the times. Way too often for her taste. Ricky had been so young, and all his life had been over in an instant. So completely senseless. And she couldn't even blame the Cybermen for that. They were stripped of all emotions. They couldn't grasp how valuable every single life was. They were following orders. To them it was just resistance, something they had to deal with. Lumic was the one responsible for that. But even blaming and punishing him wouldn't bring Ricky back nor would it help Jake. Just as it had never brought anyone back who had died under her command.


Doctor

The Doctor was walking down a hill which overlooked the river. The others were behind him and on the opposite bank was Battersea. It was a huge factory, Lumic's Zeppelin fastened at the rooftop.

"The whole of London's been sealed off, and the entire population's been taken inside that place. To be 'converted'," he said and shook his head. He basically expected everything from humans, from completely stupid ideas to really genius behaviour, but that was a whole new level. Converting their own species willingly into Cybermen. On the other hand it was so human. Seemingly succeeding in fighting death. Immortality. The ultimate human dream. But what was life itself worth without emotions? Being trapped inside a metal suite? Only brain, almost no way to interact with the environment in ways humans – and he himself – were used to left? No touching, no body with all its needs and sensations?

"We've gotta get in there and shut it down," Rose said. She was now standing beside him. She seemed to be a bit more cooperative now, but he still needed to set a few things straight.

"We need a plan," Mira said, standing on his other side. All of a sudden he got a certain feeling of discomfort, being stuck in the middle of them.

"Plans are overrated. I'll think of something," he said.

"You're just making this up as you go along!" he heard Mickey behind him.

"Yuuuup," he said, popping the p. "But I do it brilliantly."

Meanwhile, Mrs Moore had her laptop out, a schematic on the screen.

"That's a schematic of the old factory. Look, cooling tunnels... underneath the plant... big enough to walk through," she said. He walked over to her, followed by the rest and they all sat down on the bench next to her. Everyone except Jake. He stood some distance away, apparently not really listening. The Doctor shot a short glance at him. He was worrying about him.

"We go under there and up into the control centre?" He said and turned his attention back to Mrs Moore. He had put on his glasses and peered at the screen.

"Hmm," Mrs Moore said.

"There's another way in," Pete threw in. "Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in..."

"We can't just go strolling up," Jake said angrily, finally joining them.

"Or, we could... with these...," Mrs Moore said and pulled out some ear-pods. The Doctor looked interested at her and took one. They were fake, and for that exactly what the needed now.

"Fake ear-pods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd," she informed the others.

"Then that's my job," Pete said. Of course. For Jackie.

"You'd have to show NO emotion. None at all. ANY sign of emotion would give you away," the Doctor said to him.

"How many of those have you got?" Rose asked.

"Just two sets."

"Okay. If that's the best way of finding Jackie... I'm coming with you," Rose said, got up and stood next to Pete.

"Why does she matter to you?" Pete asked, as confused as he had been in the van. Now the Doctor definitely felt sorry for him. Must be terrible not knowing what's going on.

"We haven't got time. Doctor, I'm going with him, and that's that," Rose said gravely. That was her. His Rose. Always head first into trouble to save the ones she loved.

"No stopping you, is there?" he said and looked at her.

"Nope."

"Tell you what...," he said and threw the ear-pods to her, "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. Jakey-boy?" He lead Jake up the Hill to have a better look at Battersea.

"Lumic's transmitting the control signal, and it must be from over there...," he said and pulled out his Sonic. He scanned for the transmitter until the Sonic bleeped. "There it is... on the Zeppelin, see? Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off. Reckon you could take it out?"

"Consider it done," Jake said and finally smiled. Good.

"You can take Mira with you," he said to Jake, whose face immediately fell.

"I don't need anyone with me. She'll just be in the way."

"Watch it, boy," he heard Mira say as she approached.

"No offence, but I don't need a psychologist," Jake said and turned around to her.

"Probably. But where I come from, I'm more of a special agent, not so much a psychologist. It's merely a hobby."

The Doctor eyed her. Well, she didn't look very convincing right now, with her waitress-uniform and freezing in the cold night's air, and so was the expression on Jake's face. But she had taken out the battle-monk at Torchwood with her bare hands as the Queen had told, and that was quite an achievement.

"Fine," Jake sighed. It was clear that he didn't intend to take her with him. And even if, he would stroll off at the first opportunity. Well, Mira would handle it somehow, he had no doubt. They walked back to the others.

"Mrs Moore... would you care to accompany me into the cooling tunnels?" he asked.

"How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?" she answered with a slight smile. He nodded to her, also with a smile.

"We attack on three sides - above - between - below. We get to the control centre, we stop the conversion machines," he said to the others whilst taking his glasses of. He eyed them, and they seem to understand.

"What about me?" A voice, somehow off-stage. Oh. Mickey. He hadn't forgotten him, had he? Nah. He was still thinking about what Mickey could do. Um. Keep watch or something like that.

"Mickey! You can... ahm...," he started and scratched his neck. Well, that was a bit embarrassing. For him and Mickey.

"What, stay out of trouble? Be the tin dog? No, those days are over. I'm going with Jake and Mira," he said wilfully.

"I already have a psychologist. I don't need an idiot," Jake said.

"I'm not an idiot! You got that?!" Mickey suddenly yelled at Jake. "I'm offering to help," he continued, now calm again.

"Whatever," Jake said and started to walk away. Mickey followed him.

"Mickey?" the Doctor said and Mickey turned around once more.

"Good luck!"

"Yeah. You too. Rose, I'll see you later," Mickey replied.

"Yeah, you better," Rose said.

"If we survive this, I'll see you back at the TARDIS," the Doctor said to him with a slight smile and an intense look in his eyes.

"That's a promise," Mickey said and finally walked away.

"Yeah, good luck. I guess two are enough to sneak into a Zeppelin," Mira said.

"Sure?" he turned to Mira.

"Yes. Let me be a good psychologist and give them some time."

"Then you come with Mrs Moore and me?"

"Yeah, obviously. There are only two sets of ear-pods. I'm definitely not staying here. And you could use more hands in there."

"Fine," he said. She was right. Rose on the other hand didn't seem to like it, judging by the look in her eyes.

"Good luck you two," he said, nodded to Pete and gave Rose a big hug. He meant it, even though hugging her wasn't quite the same as it had been before the things she had said in the TARDIS. He still couldn't forget it.

And neither Rose nor he saw that Mickey turned around once more, just to see that they were hugging each other. They parted ways, Rose and Pete with the ear-pods and he, Mira and Mrs Moore to the cooling tunnels.


Lucifae, 3rd Squad 10th Seat, bored411 and alwaystherereading: Thank you for reviewing :-)