Rise of the Cybermen
John Lumic's Airship
February 1st, 2007
The old man sat, quite literally against his will, in his wheelchair within the shadows of the cramped, messy lab, watching as his worker, Dr. Kendrick, finished the final perfections of his masterpiece. The old man was John Lumic, who had short, greying hair, dark brown eyes, and a rather gaunt form for a body. He would've been 6ft tall if he wasn't condemned to this damned wheelchair, but he…needed it to live, for he was dying. The actual illness did not matter to him anymore. All that mattered was to cure it, no matter the cost. That made public opinion on the CEO of Cybus Industries rather divisive, but it was all irrelevant to him. What was relevant, was for his work to be completed. Finally, my children could live. And, against all odds, and whatever the public has said, so can I. At that, Dr. Kendrick finished his job with a flick of a switch, causing their own, but really Lumic's own creation, to come to life with a loud crackling of electricity. There it stood, the large figure of silver steel and metal, staring down at them with blank, black eyes and with the Cybus logo engraved into its chest. My child. A Cyberman. It is done.
"The prototype has passed every test, sir. It's working!" Kendrick said with relieved glee.
Lumic blinked at his choice of words. "I hardly think "Working" is the correct word." Pushing his finger down on his power wheelchair joystick, he moved it forward, moving up beside Kendrick to look closer at his child. "That would apply only to machines." He finished, clearly admonishing the man.
"I'm sorry." Kendrick quickly apologised. "I should say it's alive."
The child didn't speak, and Lumic almost felt his heart race in anxious panic. Can it not speak?! Can it not hear me?! Did I do something wrong?! "Can it hear me?" He asked, keeping his voice calm.
"Might still be in shock." Kendrick reassured and Lumic almost sighed. "Bear in mind, the brain has been welded to the exoskeleton."
Lumic took the moment to truly gaze at his child in awe. It was simply magnificent. "Skin of metal, a heightened sense of power for its own brain, and a body that will never age or die. I…envy it." He said, almost wishing for himself to be in it, to be free of his confines, but now wasn't the time for that. He would wait until his last breath. Still, they both noticed that the child still didn't speak, and Lumic summarised that it might be waiting to be addressed directly. "Do you know me?" He asked, but he received no answer. He clenched his jaw and asked with clear irritation, "Answer: Do you know me?"
"You are John Lumic."
Lumic laughed heartfully. By god, it had truly worked. "Ahh, my child." He awed. "Mark this day, Dr. Kendrick. We are blessed."
Kendrick stepped in front of Lumic, which made his relieved joy evaporate in an instant. "Well, it's not quite over yet, sir. We need Geneva's approval."
Lumic nearly rolled his eyes. Geneva, always getting their hands in someone else's matters. This is my own child here! He is my responsibility! They all will be!
Kendrick continued, not getting clued into the man's inner thoughts. "Technically, this is a new form of life and that contravenes the bio-convention. They need to ratify this."
"And they will refuse me." Lumic said, already having deducted their decision.
"Nonetheless, we need to tell them."
Lumic narrowed his eyes in warning. "And if I don't?"
Kendrick blinked. "Well, I'm sorry, sir, but it's my duty. I shall have to inform them." He said earnestly.
"And how will you do that from beyond the grave?" Lumic remarked darkly.
Kendrick's gaze darted to the side and he chuckled nervously. "I don't quite understand."
Lumic's gaze steeled into a molten hot glare. "Kill him." He ordered. Kendrick's eyes widened, and he turned around, but was too late. The Cyberman reached out a hand and grasped Kendrick's neck, sending thousands of volts into the man's body, causing him to scream in agony and pain before he collapsed to the floor, his smoking corpse already starting to rot in the room.
Lumic just smiled at his child. There's that problem out of the way. Now we can move on. Reaching his hand over just enough to the computer attached to the right side of his chair, he tapped in a few keys to initiate communication with the desired contact. "Captain."
"Yes, sir?"
"Inform all staff: We have a new destination. Set sail…for Great Britain!"
TARDIS
The Doctor and Clara sat in the captain's chair, currently wrapped in a hug while Rose and Mickey stood at the console. The pair just watched as the Doctor pouted and whined while Clara grinned, shaking in her mad, giggling form.
"And then the voice of god was all like ""You are a skilled hunter. Adept, merciless, half cut with blood, as the best hunters are…which is why I must stop you."" The Doctor quoted, cupping an open hand over his mouth to create an echo. "Then he starts firing a bloody machine gun at me and I die. Lost all of my echoes again!"
"Hey, it was only 25,000. It's nothing." Clara giggled.
"My hard earned, 25,000 echoes and then-poof! It's all gone down the drain!" The Doctor exclaimed, quickly moving to pout.
"Aww." Clara cooed, leaning in to whisper. "I'm sure there's something else we can do to make up for it." She purred, softly biting his earlobe making him shiver.
Rose and Mickey were smiling, but they exchanged small confused glances as they couldn't hear what Clara had said, nor did they understand the topic. "Yeah. What was this?" Rose asked.
The Doctor blushed slightly as he and Clara calmed down, Clara moving back just a tad, biting her lip in bemusement. "Oh, it was on this…um…uh, this, uh, game from your…um, from your future." He blinked a bit at that. "Blame it on Clara. She wanted to play it."
Clara's jaw dropped incredulously. "Don't blame me! You were enjoying it. Even if you did die."
"It was that bastard's fault that I died!" The Doctor whined.
"You two are not making any sense." Rose quickly interrupted, making them blink.
"It's…it's a long story." The Doctor shrugged.
"Wait, Mickey." Clara said, looking properly at him, said man having one of his fingers on a small blue button on the console. "What're you doing that for?"
Mickey blinked. "Because he told me to."
Clara looked with frowned eyebrows at the Doctor, who just gazed back in bewilderment. "When was that?" He asked.
"About half an hour ago."
The Doctor bit his lip to hide a sheepish snigger. "Um…you can let go now."
Mickey took his finger away with a small bleep. "Well, how long's it been since I could've stopped?"
The Doctor shrugged. "10 minutes? 20? 29?"
"You just forgot me!" Mickey accused.
"No, no, no! I was just…I was…I was calibrating. I was just…no, I know exactly what I'm doing." Suddenly, without any warning, the console exploded, causing all four to recoil with shrieks of terror, the room beginning to quickly fall into darkness as the TARDIS shook violently around them. The Doctor rushed back to the sparking, smoking console, which groaned and whined in pain.
"What's happening?!" Clara yelled.
"The Time Vortex is gone!" The Doctor answered. "It's impossible, but it's just gone!" The shaking grew more violent and everyone knew the outcome. "Brace yourselves! We're gonna crash!" At that, the TARDIS crashed, the room completely falling into darkness as the old girl grew silent around them. Oxygen masks fell from the ceiling on rope suspenders, but they had more important things to worry about. "Everyone all right?!" The Doctor called as he helped Clara off the floor with a groan. "Rose?! Mickey?!"
"I'm fine." Rose said as she and Mickey helped each other off the floor.
"I'm okay." Mickey also said. They all stood up to glance around at the damage, while Clara and the Doctor tried any switches and levers on the console to no avail.
"Old girl?! Are you okay?!" Clara called but she received no answer. "Old girl?!" She still received no answer, and they all felt themselves grow more terrified.
"She's dead." The Doctor deducted in sadness. "The TARDIS is dead."
"But you can fix her." Clara protested.
The Doctor shook his head. "There's nothing to fix. She's perished. The last TARDIS in the universe, extinct."
"We can get help, yeah?" Clara asked.
The Doctor blinked at her. "Where from, Clara?"
"Well…we've landed. We've got to be somewhere."
"Clara, we fell out of the vortex, through the void into nothingness." The Doctor snapped. Then, he gave a small sigh and opened his arms, Clara immediately going in for a hug. "I'm sorry, Clara." He said honestly.
"It's not your fault." She returned.
"But we can't fix her now. We're in some sort of no place. The silent realm. The lost dimension."
"Otherwise known as London." Mickey called with a chuckle from the open door, where sunlight was streaming through onto his face. That made Rose immediately move over to follow while the Doctor and Clara blinked.
"Alternate reality?" Clara asked.
"Most likely." The Doctor said as they parted and moved to follow, with the Doctor putting on his brown overcoat. Stepping outside, it truly was London, high into the day with the warm sun beaming down upon them. The Doctor and Clara just glanced around, looking for any differences but they didn't have to look for long. They just had to look up.
"London, England, Earth." Mickey said proudly and then he spotted a newspaper in a nearby trashcan. "Hold on." He quickly moved over and took the paper out, glancing at the date. "1st of February, this year. Not exactly far-flung, is it?"
Rose quickly moved over to glance at the paper while the Doctor and Clara simply moved up to stand beside them, still looking up at the sky. "So, this is London?" The Doctor asked.
"Yep."
"Your city?"
"That's the one."
"Just as we left it?"
"Bang on."
"And that includes the zeppelins?" Clara interjected. Rose and Mickey blinked, following their gaze to the sky. And they were right, for there were zeppelins. Lots of them. Just sitting in the sky, floating about, and casting their shadows onto the ground.
"What the hell?" Mickey muttered.
"That's beautiful." Rose awed.
Mickey shook his head, turning back to the main duo. "Okay, so this is London with a big international zeppelin festival."
"No." The Doctor shook his head as they started to walk away down a path. "This is not your world."
"But if the date's the same…" His eyes widened in realising glee. "It's parallel, right? A parallel Earth where they've got zeppelins. Am I right? I'm right, aren't I?"
"Must be." The Doctor agreed.
"So, a parallel world where-"
"Oh, come on." Mickey interrupted Rose. "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…"
"And he's still alive." Rose interrupted with a weak voice. The three followed her gaze to a nearby advertisement. It had Peter Tyler on it, alive and well, but he was dressed in a suit with a red tie, holding a weird looking fruit drink and odd, silver pods in his ears. The advertisement was for Vitex, as presented by said man. It even had a quote, "Trust me on this". "A parallel world, and my Dad's still alive." Rose continued, still staring at the advertisement.
"Rose." Clara warned as she began to walk up to the ad. "Don't look at it, don't even think about it. This is not your world."
"But he's my Dad and…" Rose reached out to place a hand on the ad.
"Trust me on this." Peter's voice said, making Rose flinch a bit in surprise.
"Oh. That's weird." The ad turned to life, like a painting at Hogwarts, and Peter gave a thumbs up with a glowing smile and a wink. "But he's real."
"Trust me on this." Peter repeated.
"He's a success!" Rose beamed. "He was always planning these daft little schemes, health-food drinks and stuff. Everyone said they were useless, but he did it."
"Rose!" Clara growled, moving to stand in front of her, said person flinching at Clara's tone. "If you ever trusted me, then listen to me now. Stop looking at him! Your father's dead!" Those words started to make Rose's smile fade into knowing sadness. "He died when you were 6 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."
"I know." Rose whispered, but her own eyes still flickered back to the ad, still longing for that kind of family.
Tyler Residence
Oh blimey, I'm not looking forward to this. Pete mused in his head as he pulled up to the massive and gorgeous residence of his wife. Well…soon to be ex, but that isn't important right now. It was her big day. Stepping out of the car, not before forgetting the yellow bouquet of flowers for his missus, he closed the car door and walked up to the front doors of the house, pressing the lock button on his car keys as he did, before stepping through the entrance. "Hello?!" He called. "Sweetheart?! It's only me!" Moving into the house, he came to the foot of the double forked stairs, which were currently being decorated with flowers and plants, a personal favourite of Jackie's. And here came the lady in question, all blonde and as beautiful as ever, stepping down the stairs. Even with that scowl on her face, she could age like fine-Wait. Oh, don't tell me. I've done something wrong.
"Oh, the bad penny." Jackie poked sarcastically, holding up the hems of her black dressing gown as she walked down the stairs to Peter. "Was this your idea? And don't deny it." She warned. "It's got your fingerprints all over it. "Trust me on this"." She mocked before returning to her scowl. "Oh, I can trust you, all right, trust you to cock it up."
"What've I done now?" Peter sighed.
"Have a look." Jackie led him into the spaced living room, where the carpet mats had been rolled up and the tables moved to the side to clear the room for the guests tonight. Jackie pointed up to the ceiling, just below the chandelier, where the banner for her event was being hung up. "Happy 40th Birthday", it said but apparently, she wasn't happy with it.
"What's wrong with that?" He asked.
Her face fell into almost childish pouting. "40! It says 40!"
He blinked at her. "You ARE 40."
"Well, I don't want the whole world telling, do I?"
"You're having a party tonight." He said obviously.
"My 39th." She said, now back into proper Jackie mode. "My official biography says I was born on the same day as Cuba Gooding Jr., and that makes me 39, thank you very much." She sassed before moving from the room. "Rose!" She called, and Pete rolled his eyes, both at her words, since she really is 40, but also at who she was calling.
"She barely ever listens. It's almost like she's pulling Jackie's sleeves with this." He muttered under his breath.
"Come here! Rose!" Jackie continued calling as he followed her back to the foot of the stairwell.
"These are from the girls in the office. Happy birthday." He said, holding up the yellow bouquet of flowers for her.
Jackie raised her eyebrows at him. "I've got hand sculpted arrangements by Veronica of Reykjavik, and your secretary stopped off at the garage?" She tutted at him. "I don't think so."
Peter had to hold back a groan. Seriously Jackie, sometimes a duffle coat is just a duffle coat. But there really wasn't a point to go back down that rabbit hole again.
"And if you're giving out presents, where's my zeppelin? Everyone else has got one." Peter gave a small sigh and placed the flowers into a small loop in the bottom of the stairs handle. "Rose!" Jackie called again. "Come on, Rose!" Jackie turned back to Peter and tilted her head to the side. "Look. You didn't even notice, did you?"
Peter really did look now. She had Lumic's ear pods in her ears, but these were diamond encrusted. They do look good on her.
"Special delivery." Jackie explained. "Got send round today. Birthday present from Mr. Lumic, the latest model. Diamond studded. I can pick up signals from Venezuela."
That made him look puzzled again. "Why would you want to pick up signals from Venezuela?"
Jackie waved her arms up above her head. "Well, I don't know, but now I can find out!" Jackie shook her head and turned back to the stairwell. "For god's sake, where is she? Rose!" She called again since Rose still hadn't come down the stairs yet. "Oh, she needs a good bath before tonight or she's going to be honking. Rose! Rose, come to mummy! Come on!" Now came the pitter patter of their favourite brown and black Yorkshire Terrier, moving down the steps to stare at Jackie, who beamed at her. "Ah, there you are, my darling!" Jackie cooed, earning a few joyful yaps from Rose. Jackie moved up a few steps as Rose bounded down to Jackie, who immediately picked her up to carry her up the stairs. "Good girl!" She continued to coo just as Pete got a call in his earpieces.
Pete pressed his hand to one of his ear pods to answer the call, getting in his mind, the I.D of- "Mr. Lumic!" Pete greeted. "Jackie was just saying thank you, that's very kind of you."
"Those ear pods are handmade." Lumic said into the microphone on his computer. "Tell her to take care."
"Course I will." Peter's voice came in through his computer. "Course I will. Uh, I don't suppose you'll be, uh, joining us tonight for the party? We'd be very honoured."
Lumic just stared blankly ahead at his large monitor. "The world below can party. Some of us have work to do. My plans have advanced, Peter, for the President has promised a decision. I'm flying in now. We'll be at the airstrip by 5 o'clock."
"Right." Peter said, his tone a bit awkward now. "It's just that I promised I'd help the wife out tonight."
Lumic nearly snorted. If anyone looked at you two, they'd know that your marriage has already disintegrated. "If the President of Great Britain can make this meeting, then so can you."
Peter huffed. "I don't know. He's not married to Jackie, is he?"
"5 o'clock, Mr. Tyler." Lumic repeated, making his tone final. "Famous day." At that, he pressed a key on his computer to hang up the call. A small alarm sounded on his computer, and he knew he would need to take another dosage of the drugs in his chair. Not yet! Not yet! "Voiceprint access. John Lumic." The monitor produced his name in green letters as a form of welcome. "Initiate ear pod override. Subject…Jacqueline Tyler. Activate." The computer then brought up a live feed of said person, who was currently sitting at her makeup chair in her bedroom. When the override activated, the ear pods had brought out two rods of steel that curved over her head and joined together, forming a small arc of blue light and energy, leaving Jackie suspended in a form of stasis. "Download: Tyler Residence, February the 1st. Give me security arrangements for tonight. Passwords, encryption services." At that, his lungs began to burn, and he gave a small cry of pain, immediately bringing over his gas mask and breathed in, needing to close his eyes to help dull the pain, as the throbbing in his head increased tenfold. He waited for a few moments, just breathing in deeply, and letting the drugs fight away the pain in his body, and he let himself relax in relief. Pulling away the gas mask, he could see that the monitor had created a green schematic of the Tyler Residence and he smiled. "And restore." The live video cut off, as Jackie's ear pods returned to normal. Lumic already summarised that Jackie may have been confused for a few moments before she shrugged it off and returned to her daily routine. "Thank you, Mrs. Tyler." Lumic said earnestly. At that, he pressed a few keys on his computer to save all the acquired data away. "Activate picture link." At that, it brought up a live feed of his old friend, Mr. Crane. He had brown hair that was already starting to bald, and obvious blue eyes underneath his reading glasses. He was apparently staring off into the distance, most likely daydreaming as he waited patiently. "Mr. Crane."
Crane blinked as he turned his head to his computer, sitting in the passenger seat of a black Cybus Industries truck, masked as a dummy company called "International Electromatics". Well…it belonged to Cybus, but it was masked that way, for special purposes. There, on the computer monitor, was his old friend, Mr. Lumic. At least, he would say "Old Friend", for he truly was, but his…current circumstance of living had brought him to, in the public eyes, to be labelled "Insane". But he didn't believe them, not really. He was just a man that didn't want to die. "Mr. Lumic?" Crane asked.
"Events are moving faster than I anticipated. I need extra staff."
Crane smiled knowingly. "Very good, sir. Then I shall go on a recruitment drive." He turned over to the driver and winked. "Back her up." The driver nodded without a word and proceeded to back the black truck out of its parking spot.
Mickey walked back into the silent, dark TARDIS, seeing the Doctor and Clara at the console, apparently in the mood of consoling each other. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Mickey asked.
They both turned around, furrowing their eyebrows. "Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on her?" Clara asked.
"She's all right." Mickey shrugged.
"And if she goes wandering off?" Clara retorted. "Parallel world, it's like a gingerbread house, with all those temptations calling her."
"Oh, so it's just Rose, then? Nothing out there to tempt me?"
Clara scoffed. "Don't be daft. Of course, there'd be. If we could just get her back up and running." Clara kicked the console and immediately regretted it, letting a cry of pain out over her throbbing toes. "Oww." She whimpered, going to sit down on the chair.
"Did that help?" The Doctor reprimanded as he moved in front of her and proceeded to massage her foot through her shoe.
"No." Clara said dejectedly.
"Did it fix anything?"
"No."
"Did it hurt?"
"Yes." Clara sighed, just letting the Doctor dull away the pain. "Sorry Mickey."
"Not your fault." Mickey muttered.
The Doctor just sighed, moving to sit beside Clara and drawing her legs over his lap, motioning Mickey to sit on her other side. "We're not meant to be here." The Doctor said. "The TARDIS draws its power from the universe but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine."
"But I've seen it in comics." Mickey tried. "People are hopping from one alternative world to another. It's easy."
The Doctor just sent him a dull look. "Not in the real world." At that, he caught himself and shrugged. "It used to be easy." Mickey shot him an intrigued look. "When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could pop between realities, home in time for tea." He sighed. "Then they died and took it all with them. The walls of reality closed. The worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind." Clara shot him a soft look and he smiled. "Well…not everything became less kind." He said fondly, and she smiled.
"Then how did we get here?" Mickey asked.
The Doctor just shrugged again. "I don't know. Accident? Should've been impossible but now we're trapped."
"Could it have been like Danny?" Clara asked.
The Doctor just stared ahead in contemplation for a moment and nodded. "That would make sense."
"Danny?" Mickey asked.
"My old boyfriend." Clara explained. "He died, rather a long time ago. We met a version of him from an alternate reality."
"He fell through a crack in the universe." The Doctor explained as well. "We could've done the same, fell through a crack without realising it, through the void and into this world."
"But where do they come from? The cracks?" Mickey asked.
"The ones I've encountered came from the Time War. That one with Danny…I'm still not sure. Still, we closed it anyway, but maybe a crack opened just enough to let us through. Maybe we could go back through if we could get the TARDIS running again." They just let themselves sink into a bit of silence for a moment. Then, the Doctor perked up, looking towards the floor. "What's that?" He muttered. It was small, incredibly tiny, but it was a light. A green light, like a dim star in the night sky.
"What?" Clara asked, trying to find where he was looking, Mickey doing the same.
"That, there." He pointed, moving up off the seat. "Is that a reflection?" He looked up, quickly scrutinising the ceiling for any green light, but there was none to be found. It made him beam and he marched over to the grate. "It's a light. Is it?" He double checked. "Is that a light?"
Clara knelt beside him to look at it. "I think that is a light." Clara pieced it together and she began to laugh.
"That's all we need." The Doctor grasped a panel of the grate flooring to pull it away. "We've got power! Clara, we've got power! Ha!" He dove into the hole in the floor and began wrenching out any mechanics and wires in the way. "It's alive!"
"Doctor, what is it?" Clara asked.
"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. One little ounce of reality tucked away inside."
"Enough to get us home?" Mickey inputted.
The Doctor put a gentle hand around the cell, a small piece of white crystal encased in a golden ring around the middle and gleaming with green light. He hopped out of the hole and sat on the floor with them, holding it up into view. "Not yet. We need to charge it up."
"We could go outside and lash it up to the national grid." Mickey suggested.
The Doctor shook his head. "Wrong sort of energy. It's got to come from our universe."
"But we don't have anything."
He smiled. "There's me." He took a deep breath and sighed onto the crystal. The crystal's green light brightened until it bathed all three of their faces like a bright torch in the dark and the Doctor beamed.
"Doctor, what did you do?" Clara asked.
"I just gave away ten years of my life to get us home. Worth every second." Clara just shot him a sad, worried look and he softened, taking her hand. "I'll be fine, Clara. Okay?" She smiled and nodded, so he kissed her hand and put the crystal in hers, then moved up to sit beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "You look after it. I can trust you better than myself." He said, giving her a wink, making Clara snort.
"Tell me about it." She quipped. The crystal began to fade out, letting the room darkened again, before it brightened up. It repeated this process many times, making Clara and Mickey look puzzled. "Doctor is this okay?" Clara asked.
"It's just on a recharging cycle. It'll loop round, power back up and be ready to take us home in, ooh, 24 hours? At least now, we have a route home, eh?" He quickly pecked Clara's lips and she smiled.
"24 hours in a parallel world?" Clara asked. "Feels odd, doesn't it?"
"Shore leave!" The Docctor beamed. "As long as we don't go crazy out there and keep our heads down, easy, no problem."
"Let's find Rose, then." Clara said, and they hopped off the floor as she pocketed the crystal away. "We can tell her the good news."
Rose walked along the waterfront of the Thames, feeling a small chilly breeze from the low wind. She decided to sit down on a nearby bench and stared up at the zeppelins floating around in the sky above the world. It looked beautiful to her, but also striking in its difference to her world.
*Beep Beep Beep Beep*
A notification on her phone had gone off, so she unzipped one of her pockets to pull it out. The screen said "Cybus Network. Welcome! Free Trial Period". Intrigued, Rose accepted, and it started a live news feed of a brown-haired man wearing small silver earpieces. He didn't say anything for a moment, and Rose quickly turned up the volume on her phone.
"And it's good news for Great Britain as John Lumic returns to the country of his birth. Mr. Lumic, the creator of high content metal, has denied allegations of ill health."
The feed switched to a man in a wheelchair, and a rather scorching look in his eyes. "We're all flesh and blood, but the brain is what makes us Human. And my mind is more creative than ever."
"With shares in Cybus Industries doubling in price…"
"Cybus." Rose muttered, staring up at the zeppelins in the sky. The ones she could see clearly, had the Cybus logo on them. "It's everywhere." She muttered.
"In other news, the Torchwood institute has published a study claiming that-"
Rose quickly turned the volume off and went out of the live feed. Then, she got an idea. If I can connect to the network, maybe I can connect to the internet. Going into the search engine of the Cybus Network, she inputted the words "Peter Tyler" and hit enter.
Crane had already hopped out of the truck, standing within one of London's many junkyards. Here he would find some people whose lives had been thrown away, rotting and starving in makeshift huts, huddling by fires. But all they need is a form of hope, given by a man with charming personality. Not to stroke his own pride, but he would absolutely deliver on that. Knocking on the truck's back door, he moved over to stand a small distance from a hut, where six homeless men, all wrapped in ruined clothes were staring at him in puzzlement. "Gentlemen! Gentlemen! I beg your attention! Christmas has come early, so come and get it!" Right on cue, the truck was opened by a team of four workers, who had already started the illusionistic smell of food. "Oh, smell that, comrades." He took a deep breath to enunciate his point, which started to make the men get agitated in excitement. "Burgers and chips, sausage and beans, pork, chicken and hot sweet tea, all for free! So, come and get it while it's hot!" The men, with beaming smiles, rushed for the ladder stair that led into the back of the truck. "That's it, kind sir's, don't just stand there! Get in there and fill your face! Fill your faces with pasties!" The group of men went into the truck, quickly followed by a couple of workers who went about closing the door. Then, the men began screaming and Crane's mask dropped. "Take them away." He ordered without emotion. Some of the workers nodded while one pointed behind him.
"Sir." He said simply.
Crane sighed and turned around, seeing a reflection amongst the rubble and a man shuffling about. Someone trying to get "Evidence" about us. "We know you're there. Now step out." He growled. Someone did, a young man in his 20's, with spiked dirty blonde hair and wearing a dull, black leather jacket with matching shirt and jeans. He was 5ft 7, ever so slightly taller than Crane himself and holding a camera. Crane just walked up to him and clicked his neck. "As for you, sunshine, who are you going to show that to, eh? Newspapers? Television? Police?" Crane chuckled. "We own them all." The man gulped at that and quickly moved to run away, causing Crane to laugh as he walked back to the truck.
"There you are!" The Doctor called as he, Clara and Mickey walked up to see Rose sitting on the top part of a wooden bench. "You okay? No applause, we fixed it. 24 hours, then we're flying back to reality." The Doctor and Mickey sat on either side of her, while Clara stood in front of them. Rose had a distant look in her eyes and her phone lay in her grasp. "What is it?" The Doctor asked, already guessing the answer.
"My phone connected. There's this…Cybus Network, it finds your phone. It gave me internet access." Rose said in a small voice.
"Rose." Clara warned, making Rose look at said person standing in front of her. "Whatever it says, this is the wrong world."
"I don't exist." Rose said simply, making them blink.
"How'd you mean?"
"There's no Rose Tyler, I was never born. There's Pete, my Dad, and Jackie, he still married Mum, but they never had kids."
"Give me that phone." The Doctor interjected, reaching over to take it but Rose held it back.
"Rose." Clara warned but she ignored Clara.
"They're rich. They've got a house and…cars and everything they want. But they haven't got me." Rose moved to stand up off the bench and pocketed her phone. "I've got to see him."
"Rose, you can't go." Clara repeated.
"I just want to see him." Rose reiterated. "I've got the address and everything."
"We can't let you." The Doctor joined Clara, standing up from the bench.
Rose groaned. "You just said 24 hours!"
"You can't become their daughter!" Clara snapped. "You'll be leaving your own mother behind!"
"I don't want to leave her behind!" Rose interrupted.
"Then why do you want to see him?!"
"Because I don't know him!" Rose exclaimed. Clara blinked and sighed, while Rose had to blink away a prickle in her eyes and she walked away.
"Rose?!" Clara called and now the Doctor got off the bench.
"Rose, come back here!" He ordered.
"I just want to see him!" Rose repeated, now with an irritated growl.
"You can't! Mickey, tell her!"
"24 hours, yeah?" Mickey repeated, getting off the bench and moving in the direction they came from.
The Doctor and Clara blinked. "Where are you going?!" The Doctor asked.
Mickey shrugged. "Well, I can do what I want."
"Stay where you are, both of you!" Clara ordered.
"Rose, come back here! Mickey, come back here right now!" The Doctor demanded.
"I can't! I've got things to see and all!" Mickey said.
"Like what?!"
"Well, you and Clara don't know anything about me, do you?!"
"You never said anything!"
"Because you never asked!" Mickey watched as the Doctor and Clara gazed at each other, trying to figure out what to do. "Go on, then." Mickey said. "Either one of you follows or neither, but the both of you can't chase after the two of us, and it won't be me. Besides, this is something I need to do on my own."
They glanced over at Mickey. "You really want to go wandering around alone?"
"I'll be fine." Mickey reassured. "Stay with Rose."
They both sighed and moved to follow Rose. "Back here, 24 hours!" They repeated to Mickey.
"Yeah, if I haven't found something better." Mickey promised to himself before walking away.
London Airstrip
Pete almost gulped at the massive size of Lumic's zeppelin looming overhead, blocking out the view of the grey, cloudy sky as it hovered down to the Earth. He didn't have to stare at it for long, as a black car drove up, containing four men all dressed in black and white suits. One in the front passenger seat quickly got out and opened the door to the back, politely letting out the man in question, President Lyndon Germaine of Great Britain. A dark-skinned man at 5ft 10, just shy of 6ft and with short, cropped hair that was a blend of light brown and shy grey. Pete quickly walked up to the car with a smile, which the President returned.
"Mr. Tyler…what's the matter? Couldn't wait until tonight?" President Lyndon asked with a hint of playfulness as he and Pete shook hands.
"Mr. President, honoured. I'm on the fast-track program." He informed, and they began their walk towards the zeppelin, where they were bringing out the long stair ladder to the base door of the ship. "Cybus Industries have bought up my company, so I'm part of the firm now."
"Some people say they've bought my government." President Lyndon remarked.
Pete laughed. "I've never heard anybody say that, never." President Lyndon just cocked an eyebrow and Pete quickly performed his catchphrase, "You can trust me on this."
"I tried your drink, that Vitex stuff. It tastes like Pop." President Lyndon said honestly.
"Well, it IS Pop." He said obviously.
President Lyndon squinted one eye at him knowingly. "You made money by selling a health food drink to a sick world. Not quite the ordinary Joe you appear to be, are you?" Pete said nothing to that which made him smile before he looked at the zeppelin with a sigh. "He does like to keep us waiting." They continued walking until they got to the base of the stairs and then stopped. "But tell me, you've had a chance to observe John Lumic more than most. What's your opinion?"
Pete thought for a moment and nodded slightly. "He's very sharp, I'd say, sharp as ever. Very clever man. Brilliant, in fact."
"Then you don't think he's insane?"
Pete blinked. "That's not the word I would've used, no."
"I see." President Lyndon said simply before sighing. "He does like to keep us waiting." He remarked dryly before climbing the stairs, Pete following shortly after.
Mickey walked through the streets of London, gazing around to see if there were any difference in the buildings, but it all looked the same. This part seemed a bit more run down but that could just be because of the zeppelins in the sky. Coming to the underside of a bridge, Mickey found two soldiers had put up a barricade on the road with a traffic halt bar. "Am I all right to get past?" Mickey asked the first soldier.
"Yeah, no bother." The soldier responded. "Curfew doesn't start till 10."
Mickey blinked. "There's a curfew?"
The soldier scoffed. "Course there is. Where you been living, mate? Up there with the toffs?" He asked, pointing to the zeppelins in the sky.
"I wish." Mickey remarked, and the soldier shrugged, motioning for the other to raise the bar to let him pass.
"Mickey's mum just couldn't cope." Rose explained to Clara and the Doctor as they walked through another street of London. "His dad hung around for a while, but then he just sort of…wandered off. So, he was brought up by his gran." Rose smiled warmly in nostalgia. "She was such a great woman. God, she used to slap him!" She said with glee and they chuckled. Then Rose let her smile fade. "And then s-she died, she tripped and fell down the stairs. It was about 5 years ago now; I was still in school."
Clara sighed. "We never knew."
"You never asked." Rose retorted.
"You never said." Clara retorted back.
Rose shrugged. "That's Mickey. I suppose we…we just…take him for granted. Do you think she's still alive, his gran?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Could be. Like Clara said: Parallel world, gingerbread house. We need to get out of here as fast as we can." At that, there was a loud beeping ringing through the streets and everyone around them…stopped. They just stopped moving, standing completely still, and staring into the middle distance blankly.
"What're they all doing?" Rose asked.
"They've stopped." The Doctor said simply as she looked around. They continued moving through the people, looking at everyone for any kind of difference. They could only spot one: The ear pods. Leaning in close to one man with dark hair, the small ear pod had a blue light that was beeping continuously on a cycle, which everyone else seemed to be echoing. "It's the earpieces. Like Bluetooth attachments, but everyone's connected together."
Rose's phone went off, making her take it out to see the Cybus Network was downloading updates. "It's on my phone." She said, and they went over to stand beside her, the Doctor putting on his "Brainy Specs". "It's automatic. Is this what they're all getting?" Rose clicked through the update, seeing the brief summaries of her newly acquired data. "News, international news, sports, weather, TV schedules, lottery numbers."
"They get it direct." The Doctor deducted. "Downloaded right into their heads, all sharing the same information." He looked closer at the phone. "Daily download published by Cybus Industries."
"Cybus"? Clara thought, her own gaze briefly filling with nervousness. Cybus. She repeated. The phone came up with a new message: Joke. At once, everyone around them started laughing, before moving on with their day as if nothing happened.
The Doctor sighed. "You lot, you're obsessed. You'd do anything for the latest upgrade." He remarked, taking Rose's phone to gaze through the data.
"Oi." Rose poked. "Not our lot. Different world remember?"
"It's not so far off your world. This place is only parallel." He stopped clicking, giving a quick blink at the info. "Ooh look at that. Cybus Industries, owners of just about every company in Britain including Vitex. Mr. Pete Tyler's very well connected." He and Clara shrugged at that and looked over at Rose, who was staring with her best puppy dog eyes. "No." The Doctor remarked but Rose just kept silently pleading.
"Rose." Clara tried but she ignored them, making them groan. "We're so going to regret this. Fine, let's go and see him." She said, needing something to take her mind off Cybus. That word was so familiar, but the kind of familiar like she didn't want to know what it meant.
There it was, Mickey realised. Her old flat, still on Waterton Street, even with the same door and handle, everything. Moving up and reaching out with a shaking hand, he grasped the metal handle and knocked three times.
"Who's that there?!" Mickey breathed as the voice of his Gran came through the door, which immediately opened. There she was, sunglasses over her eyes to cover her blindness, with black hair mixed with grey and wearing a blue suit dress. She also carried a white walking cane with a light brown handle, almost unconsciously resting both hands on it instead of one. "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 gonna disappear. You're not gonna take me!" She threatened, holding up her cane in warning.
"Hi." Mickey said, and it made her stop.
"Is that you?" She asked, reaching out a hand.
Mickey smiled. "It's me. I came home."
"Rickey?" She asked, finally reaching her hand to cup his face.
"It's Mickey."
"I know my own grandson's name." She tutted, holding a finger in front of his face. "It's Rickey. Now, come here."
He relented, opening out his arms to bring her into a warm hug. "Okay, I'm Rickey. Of course, I am, Rickey, that's me." Then, she pulled out and smacked his face hard. "Ow!"
"You stupid boy!" She smacked his shoulder.
"Ow!"
"Where have you been?!" She smacked his other arm.
"Ow! Stop hitting me!"
"It's been days and days!" She exclaimed, making Mickey blink. "I keep hearing all these stories, people disappearing off the streets. There's nothing official on the download, but there are all these rumours and-and whispers. I thought they'd gone and disappeared you."
Mickey didn't really focus on her words, staring past her shoulder to the tear in the carpet on the stairs and he gulped. "That carpet on the stairs, I told you to get it fixed. You're gonna…" He gulped again to stop his voice breaking. "fall and break your neck."
"Well, you get it fixed for me." She snapped lightly.
"I should've done way back. I guess I'm just kind of useless."
"Now, I never said that." She said, her tone gentler now.
"I am, though." He protested, needing to blink away a few tears prickling his eyes. "And I'm sorry, Gran, I'm so sorry."
"Don't talk like that." She stopped him. "Do you know what you need? A nice sit down and a cup of tea. You got time?"
"For you, I've got all the time in the world." He said honestly.
She laughed cheerfully. "Oh, you say that, but it's all talk." She shook her head. "It's those new friends of yours. I don't trust them."
Mickey blinked, now thoroughly confused. "What friends are they?"
"Don't pretend you don't know!" She huffed. "You've been seen. Mrs. Chan told me. Driving about all Helter Skelter in that van."
"What van's that, then?" He asked as the screeching of tires came from around the corner.
"You know full well. Don't play games with me! Now, get inside!" She snapped.
Mickey blinked as a big, blue van screeched to a halt beside him, before a man with spikey hair, almost like a backstreet boy dove out and grabbed his arms. "I've been looking for you everywhere!" He yelled, pushing a freaked Mickey into the back of the van. The man closed the door behind them, and the van pulled away, Mickey looking around in confusion. There was a woman with short white hair in the driver's seat, while he was stuck in the cramped back of the van with the backstreet boy. "Rickey, you were the one who told us. You don't contact your family because it puts them in danger."
Mickey blinked in bewilderment. "Yeah, Rickey said that." Whoever these guys are, they seem to know my alternate me, at the very least on a colleague level. "Course I did. Just testing. Remind me who you guys are?"
The man scrunched his face in confusion. "Rickey, you know us. Jake and Mrs. Moore." He motioned between the two.
Mickey cleared his throat to hide his predicament. "Sorry."
Jake grinned. "I saw them. I taped them. They went around Blackfriars, gathering up the homeless like the child catcher. They must've taken four dozen."
"The trucks were hired out to a company called "International Electromatics"." Mrs. Moore inputted. "But I did a protocol search. Turns out that's a dummy company established by guess who?"
"I don't know. Who?" Mickey asked.
"Cybus Industries!" They groaned in unison.
"But now, we've got evidence." Jake reassured.
"But the bad news is, they've arrested Thin Jimmy. So that just leaves you."
"Leaves me what?" Mickey asked, dreading the answer.
"The number one." Jake said with a smug grin. "Top of the list. London's most wanted."
Mickey snorted. "Okay, cool." Wait, what? "Say that again?"
Peter Tyler and President Lyndon sat at a long table, watching a presentation pitch while John Lumic sat in his wheelchair behind them, breathing the medicinal chemicals from his gas mask to calm his burning lungs.
"The most precious thing on this Earth is the Human brain, and yet we allow it to die." Lumic's voice rang from the presentation as it showed a brain in a skeleton. "But now, Cybus Industries has perfected a way of sustaining the brain indefinitely within a cradle of copyrighted chemicals. And the latest advances in synapse research allows cyberkinetic impulses to be bonded onto a metal exoskeleton. This is the ultimate upgrade, our greatest step into Cyberspace."
"I'm sorry." President Lyndon interrupted. "Could we stop at that?" Lumic immediately drew back the mask, staring at the President with his own mask of restrained outrage, hiding the bubbling, knowing terror beneath. "I don't need the pitch. I think we all know what this ultimate upgrade entails. And I'm here to tell you, John, the answer is no. My government does not give you permission, and I think no government ever will." He stands up from his seat at that, Peter echoing his movement.
"I've prepared a paper for the Ethical Committee." Lumic protested.
"Oh, come on." President Lyndon scoffed. "It's not just unethical, it's obscene."
"Mr. President, if I might make a personal plea." He nodded. "I am dying, sir."
President Lyndon gave him a sad look. "I'm aware of that and I'm very sorry."
"Without this project, you have condemned me. My inventions have advanced this whole planet. Would you have all that perish?"
"You're a fine businessman, John, but you're not God." Lumic gave a slight gulp and President Lyndon sighed. "I'm really very sorry, but I think we should end it there." He gazed over at Peter. "Mr. Tyler, I'll see you tonight. I think we could all do with a drink." Peter nodded in agreement. "Mr. Lumic." He said in farewell, before leaving the room. As he left, Lumic's gaze hardened into steel and his decision was made.
"Still…" Peter said, turning to Lumic with his characteristically accurate grin. "It's not the only country in the world. There's always New Germany."
"This is the homeland. My birthplace. You may leave." He ordered.
"Thank you, sir." Peter left the room and Lumic quickly turned his chair around to the monitor behind him.
"Mr. Crane."
Inside a large computer room within a laboratory, Mr. Crane pressed a few keys to answer Lumic's call, causing his face to pop up on a large screen at the front of the room. "Ready and waiting, sir."
"Did the override work?"
He shrugged. "Well, it needs a bit of fine tuning. We weren't exactly delicate, given the rush, but uh, yeah, yeah. It's all working." He stood up, taking a black remote and moved up to the homeless men they had recently…acquired, all of them staring blankly with beeping ear pods, rather like mindless slaves. "I've been testing the system, sir." He informed, standing before one of them and gently patting the ear pods. "They've grafted on a treat, these have. Given a little persuasion." He quickly backtracked, earning a small puzzled blink from Lumic. "If you care to observe, sir." Lumic gave a small nod, Crane missing him holding back a sigh as he moved into the centre of the room and held out the remote, pressing a large command button. "And…turn to the right." They all did as they were ordered, their backs turned towards a nearby door where a patient worker stood. Crane pressed the button again. "And…back to the left." Crane gave a small chuckle as they obeyed again.
"Are you having fun, Mr. Crane?" Lumic asked sarcastically, making Crane turn back sheepishly.
"Oh, no, no, no. Not at all, sir, no. It's just…well, it's, uh…irresistible."
"Then resist and start the upgrade."
Crane breathed out a bit in surprise. "Did we get permission?"
Lumic clenched his jaw. "I am governed by greater laws, old friend, the right of a man to survive. Now, begin!" He ordered before cutting off the link, causing static to flare on the monitor for a few seconds before a worker cut off the link at their end.
Crane just sighed, turned back to the men, and pressed the remote button. "And…turn to the left." They did so. "Forward march." They walked up to the nearby door, where the patient worker opened it for them, letting out the agonised screams of everyone that was being upgraded flood the room, causing everyone but the brainless men to flinch. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. L-Let's cover up that noise." He quickly said. "Uh…give us track number 19." At that, they played the music, Crane and the workers humming along, just letting it drown out the screams.
In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The lion sleeps tonight
In the jungle, the quiet jungle
The lion sleeps tonight
"A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh."
The blue van pulled up to a lonely and abandoned brown mansion. Well…if you could call a single light on inside the building abandoned. Jake thought so, as he opened the back door to let Mickey out. "There's a light on. There's someone inside the base. Mrs. Moore, we've got visitors." He said.
Mrs. Moore exited the front seat, quickly coming over with a large black bag where she took out two loaded pistols and handed one to Jake. "Took them long enough." She quipped, and they rushed up towards the building, moving through the back entrance towards the room they had been stationed in. They're own messy, cramped base of operations.
They could hear a single pair of footsteps pacing about in the room and Jake carefully grasped the door handle. "One, two, three. Go!" Him and Mrs. Moore pushed open the door and aimed their pistols inside. Then, they stopped, letting their guard down in shock. There, standing by a curtain drawn window, to Mickey's icy shock was…himself. Except this one was clad in the same black leather garb as the two with him.
"What the hell are you doing?" The alternate Mickey, quite possibly Rickey, demanded as he moved away from the window. His own demeanour screamed difference and, to Mickey's sliver of delight, angsty edgyness. But now wasn't the time to snigger when you could be in danger.
Jake and Mrs. Moore looked back and forth between Mickey and Rickey. "What are you doing there?!" Jake demanded in bewilderment.
Rickey blinked, glaring embers at Mickey. "What am I doing here? Better yet, what am I doing there?" He retorted, pointing right at Mickey.
Jake and Mrs. Moore quickly turned their guns on Mickey, who held his hands up in defence. Well…shit.
"They've got visitors." Clara remarked as she, the Doctor and Rose hid in the shadows of the trees outside the Tyler Residence.
"February the 1st. Mum's birthday." Rose informed. "Even in a parallel universe, she still loves a party."
"Well, given Pete Tyler's guest list, I wouldn't mind a look." The Doctor said. "And there is one guaranteed way of getting inside…"
"Psychic paper." Clara squealed slightly as the Doctor took said item out of his overcoat.
"Reminds me, I forgot to get you one." The Doctor said to Clara.
"Ah." She shrugged. "Worry about that when we get back to our world."
"Fair enough. Who do you want to be?"
Half an Hour Later…
"Is this a prank?" Rose growled. She and Clara had changed into white and black waitress outfits while the Doctor had changed into a matching tuxedo. Clara and Rose carried food sticks on their trays while the Doctor had to balance eight glasses of champagne on his. Walking out of the kitchens, they passed by the stairwell and through into the living room, where all the guests were chattering away, their voices along with someone playing, to the trio, a rather dull tune on the piano, created a loud roar in the room that allowed them to talk amongst themselves. Of course, they had to be mindful of the guests wanting their food or drinks, always ready to flash a bright smile at everyone. "We could've been anyone."
"Got us in, didn't it?" Clara defended the Doctor.
"Yes, but you could've snatched the psychic paper from him. You could've made us guests, celebrities. Sir Doctor with Dame's Clara and Rose."
"But then we would have to be properly interacting with everyone. Here, we just need to flash them a smile."
Rose groaned. "I did enough of serving back home."
"And I wasn't always a fan of interacting with children on a daily basis, but it got the job done."
Rose scoffed. "You can talk."
"What did you say?" Clara growled as they continued walking through the room.
"Ladies." The Doctor interrupted. "Stop it. If you want to know what goes on at a party, work in the kitchens." He gazed around the room, before nudging Clara, which got Rose's attention out of the corner of her eye, and they turned their gaze to President Lyndon. "According to Lucy, that man over there-"
"Who's Lucy?" Clara snapped.
The Doctor gulped at her tone. "She's…carrying the salmon pinwheels." Clara looked over at where he nodded, seeing a brunette with her hair tied up behind her head.
"Oh, THAT's Lucy, is it?" She asked.
"I was just talking." The Doctor squeaked. "I didn't mean to make you jealous."
Clara sighed. "Well, you did it anyway, you bloody idiot."
He just took her absent hand and kissed her palm. "Can I make it up to you?" He asked earnestly.
She just smirked at him, waggling her eyebrows and letting her inner jealousy melt away. "Yes. You'd better do that."
"Do your flirting later, children." Rose poked sarcastically.
"Sorry." They said in unison.
"Anyway, Lucy said that he…" Nodding back to who they had been looking at earlier, "is the President of Great Britain."
"What, there's a President, not a Prime Minister?" Rose interjected with blinking eyes, Clara doing the same.
He shrugged. "Seems so."
"Or maybe Lucy's a thick idiot." Clara growled, earning a laugh from the two, making her smile.
"Excuse me, thank you very much!" Peter called above everyone, the roar of chatter quieting down as they all turned to look at the man, standing up on the stairwell. "Thank you. If I could just have your attention for a moment." Everyone stopped talking, including the TARDIS trio, with Rose staring at him in wide eyed disbelief. "Um…I'd just like to say thank you to you all for coming on this, uh, this very special occasion. My wife's…39th." Everyone laughed at that and Pete had to contain his own grin. "Trust me on this." He said with a thumbs up, making everyone laugh harder. "And so, without any further ado, here she is. The birthday girl and my lovely wife…Jackie Tyler." Peter motioned up the stairs where Jackie came down, dressed in a figure-hugging black dress and her hair wrapped up in a short length around her head. Everyone gave a round of applause at her entrance and she waved with a beaming grin, coming down to stand beside Peter.
"Now, I'm not giving a speech." Jackie said with her hands clasped together as everyone calmed down. "That's what my parties are famous for. No work, no politics. Just a few good mates, with some lovely champagne…and plenty of black-market whiskey." Everyone laughed at that before Jackie coughed sheepishly. "Pardon me, Mr. President." President Lyndon just rolled his eyes, despite his smirk. "So, yeah, get on with it. Enjoy. Enjoy." Everyone clapped in applause again, Jackie taking Peter's hand and he led her down the stairs, past a wide-eyed Rose, just as Clara leaned into her.
"You can't stay, Rose." Clara whispered. "Even if there was some way of telling them."
"Course I can't." Rose agreed, taking a sharp breath. "I've still got my mum at home, my real mum. I can't just leave her, can I? It's just…" Rose sighed. "They've got each other. Mum's got no one."
"Don't talk about your own mother like that." Clara snapped, making Rose flinch. "She's got you, those two haven't. You can say you love her Rose, but you need to stop taking her for granted."
Rose blinked, shuffling as she looked down at the floor. "Sorry." She muttered.
Clara sighed as the Doctor placed a hand on her shoulder. "All these different worlds, not one of them gets it right." Clara muttered under her breath.
"Rose!" Jackie exclaimed gleefully, followed quickly by the dog Rose barking as she pounced into the room, dashing straight towards Jackie. "There's my little girl. Come to Mummy! Come to Mummy! Yes, good girl!" Jackie reached down and heaved up the dog Rose into her arms, carrying her out of the room. Rose deflated at the sight, glancing everywhere before her gaze landed back on the main pair, who was gazing at her blankly before quickly bursting into laughter, earning a hurt look from Rose, making them stop.
"Sorry." They muttered in unison. Rose just sighed but they saw her give a ghost of a thankful smile just out of the corner of her eye.
Cybus Factory Backlot, Battersea
Crane almost winced at the thundering sound of the large platoon of Cybermen boarding into one of the masked black trucks of Cybus. He glanced around, seeing one of the truck drivers, a 30 something man with black hair, staring at the Cybermen in utter shock and he walked over.
"Platoon 02 now boarding. Platoon 02 now boarding." One of the Cyber Leader's reported.
"Stop staring." Crane told the shocked driver.
"Who are they, sir?" He asked.
"I'm told they're the future. Isn't technology wonderful?" The driver kept staring at the Cybermen and Crane rolled his eyes. "Go on. Get into the cab. Start her up." He ordered.
"Sir." The driver nodded, moving away, still glancing at the Cybermen.
Crane's ear pods rang the notification of an incoming call from Lumic and he answered. "Mr. Crane. Are we mobile?"
"Just about to hit the road, sir. And yourself?"
"I'm arriving, Mr. Crane. Prepare the factory." Crane blinked, looking up into the sky above the factory, spotting Lumic's zeppelin getting closer towards them. "Now, send them forth, old friend. Let the good work begin."
The Preacher's Hideout
Mickey, stripped down only to a pair of black boxers, was bound in restraints to a wooden chair in the centre of the room. Jake ran a small blue scanner up and down his body, the scanner linked to a computer being monitored by Mrs. Moore while Rickey stood silently away, his arms crossed with a puzzled scowl on his face. Mrs. Moore just put a hand to her face with a sigh, making Jake stop.
"Nothing?" He asked.
"Nothing." She answered. "He's clean. No bugs whatsoever."
"But this is off the scale." Rickey commented, uncrossing his arms, and walked over, still staring straight at Mickey while Jake stood up and backed away a few steps. "I mean, he's flesh and blood. How did that happen?"
"Well, it could be that Cybus Industries have perfected the science of Human cloning." Mrs. Moore offered. "Or your father had a bike."
Jake smirked at that, but Rickey just clenched his jaw and started to slowly circle around Mickey. "And your name is Mickey, not Rickey?"
"Mickey." He nodded. "Dad was Jackson Smith. Used to work at the key cutters in Clifton's Parade. Went to Spain, never came back."
"But that's MY dad." Rickey pointed out, leaning down. "So…we're brothers?" He asked dryly with a shrug.
"Be fair." Jake inputted. "What else could it be?"
Rickey shook his head slowly. "I don't know. But he doesn't just look like me, he is exactly the same. There is something else going on here, Jake."
"S-So, who are you lot?" Mickey interrupted.
"We?" Rickey asked, standing up with a small smile, circling Mickey counter clockwise. "We are "The Preachers", as in gospel truth. You see?" He pointed to both his ears, which were empty. "No ear pods. While the rest of the world downloads from Cybus Industries, we-WE-have got freedom. You're talking to London's most wanted." Rickey snarled, making Mickey blink. "But target number one is Lumic and we ARE going to bring him down."
Mickey quickly glanced around. "From your kitchen?"
Rickey glanced at Jake, who sent him a small smirk of amusement. "Have you got a problem with that?" Rickey asked.
"No." Mickey quickly said. "It's a good kitchen." Rickey shook his head while Mrs. Moore's computer beeped with a notification.
"It's an upload from Gemini." She said.
"Who's Gemini?" Mickey asked.
"The vans are back." She informed, ignoring his question. "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." Rickey ordered.
Rose, having been given a new tray of champagne glasses, down to the last four, was staring around the room, discreetly following the alternate Jackie with wide eyes. Remember Rose, it's not her. She admonished in her head. But still, it looked and acted so much like her, but only…more abrasive and louder with none of the gentle warmth that her own mother knew to use so well. I miss her. I miss her so much. Rose looked down in sadness at that, now starting to wish they could get back home-
"I remember her 21st." Pete said, startling her out of her own thoughts as he stared at Jackie with a distant smile. "Pint of cider in the George."
There was Pete, the only thing about this world that seemed so much like her own. Then again, she barely knew her own father, even when she had more time. Rose shook her head to silence her head. "Sorry, sir, champagne?" She offered.
He glanced down at the tray and shrugged. "Oh, might as well. I'm paying for it." They chuckled lightly at that as he took a sip.
"It's a big night for you."
He shook his head. "For her. Still, she's happy."
"Yeah, she should be." Rose agreed. "It's a great party."
He raised his eyebrows in genuine surprise. "Do you think?"
Rose bit her lip. "You can trust me." She said with a grin, doing a thumbs up.
Pete chuckled but he shook his head. "Uh-uh. You can trust me on this." He said with a wink making Rose laugh.
"That's it. Sorry, yeah." He kept chuckling right into his next sip of champagne. "So, um, how long have you two been married?"
"20 years."
Rose blinked. "No kids or…"
He gave a small sigh, a glint of sadness in his eyes. "We kept putting it off. She said she didn't want to spoil her figure."
"It's not too late. She's only 40."
"39." He corrected.
Rose smirked. "Yeah, sure. 39." They laughed at that again for a bit before Pete sighed.
"Still, too late. I moved out last month." Rose blinked, getting a look of sadness in her eyes that she had to hide. "But we're going to keep it quiet, you know. It's bad for business." Rose gave a small nod while he started to blink incredulously. "Why am I telling you all this? We haven't met before, have we?"
"No." Rose said. "Why?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "You just seem…sort of…"
"What?"
"I don't know. Just sort of…right." Rose had to blink to stop a tear prickling her eye while Pete shook his head, moving away with a grin. "Stevie! How's things? How's it going at Torchwood?" He asked to one of the guests, their conversation drowning away.
The Preachers van was parked in a hiding spot amongst trees, just hidden from the Tyler Residence. The gang was stalking one of the dummy trucks from Cybus, where a couple of workers had stopped and were exiting, starting to unlock the back. Mickey and Mrs. Moore sat in the front seat of the van while Rickey and Jake, both armed with rifles and carrying a walkie, lay hidden in a nearby bush.
"I don't know what they're doing but this seems to be the target. Big house, fair bit of money. Now we've just got to find a way to get in there." Rickey said.
"I've identified the address." Mrs. Moore inputted through the walkie. "It belongs to Peter Tyler, the Vitex millionaire."
"Pete Tyler?" Mickey whispered.
"He's listed as one of Lumic's henchmen, a traitor to the state." Mrs. Moore answered both informing Mickey and Rickey.
"Well…we've got to get in there."
"Now, shut it, duplicate. That's what I just said." Rickey retorted. The workers finished opening the back, bringing out a steel platform for whatever was inside. "What're they doing?" Rickey muttered. The answer was the thundering sound of metal footsteps, large men of silver steel stomping slowly out of the truck. "What the hell are they?" Rickey asked, but no one answered. They just silently echoed his question.
Rose walked up to one of the glass doors of the house, seeing Jackie standing outside silently, moving over to a small bench out of view. Rose put down her tray, still with two glasses of champagne on it, and opened the door to step outside. Jackie was staring out with a gloomy expression in her eyes, which made Rose clear her throat. "Mrs. Tyler is there anything I can get you?"
Jackie glanced over. "The last twenty years back." She quipped dryly before chuckling to herself.
"I can manage a glass of champagne?" She offered, but Jackie didn't respond, so she tried again. "Or a nice cup of tea?"
"Oh, that'd do me." Jackie said, now properly smiling.
Rose chuckled, moving to sit beside Jackie. "My mum loves that. End of a long night, she never goes straight to bed. She always stays up just to have that last cup of tea."
"Oh, I'm the same." Jackie commented, still smiling, now getting a dreamy look regarding tea.
Rose smirked. "Two sugars."
"And me. And Pete always says, "You know…"." At that, she stopped, regaining her gloomy expression just at the mention of his name. "Ah, never mind him."
Rose gazed off briefly, giving a small sigh. I know they're not the same, but they are a couple in danger of leaving each other. I've got to give them a chance. "I was talking to him earlier. He's a nice man." Rose glanced up briefly in small playfulness. "You know…bit of a jack the lad, I suppose, even if he has got money, but…he's a good bloke. He's worth a second chance." Jackie looked at her properly again, but her expression was that of glaring, burning flames, that made Rose inwardly sigh. Never mind. Pete's more like your own dad than this Jackie is like your own mum.
"Are you commenting on my marriage?" She snarled.
Rose blinked. It still hurt to hear someone who looked and sounded like her mother behaving so cruelly. "No, I was just-"
"Who the hell do you think you are? You're staff. You're nothing but staff. You're just the serving girl for god's sake. And you are certainly not getting paid. Don't you dare talk to me." Jackie immediately stood up and moved back inside the house, still glaring at Rose, who once she was out of sight, breathed out deeply and put her face in her hands.
Clara walked silently through the people of the party; her empty food tray tucked under her arm. Clara's attention however was gained by an office door left ajar, seeing the computer inside still on, sitting patiently in sleep mode. Quickly glancing around her, she saw no one looking, except for the Doctor who had finished handing out his champagne glasses. She quickly motioned with her head for him to follow and she silently crept into the room, carefully placing the tray down on the table as the Doctor followed her inside. He also placed his tray atop hers before he put on his "Brainy Specs" and leant onto the desk, Clara moving up beside him.
"So, what've we got here?" The Doctor muttered. Quickly using his sonic and his own computer skills, he got inside the computer to view a video file narrated by John Lumic, showing a schematic animation of a Human being.
"The most precious thing on this Earth is the Human brain, and yet we allow it to die. But now, Cybus Industries has perfected a way of sustaining the brain indefinitely within a cradle of copyrighted chemicals."
"Cybus?" Clara muttered, leaning in, her own blinking eyes widening as she listened.
"And the latest advances in synapse research allows cyberkinetic impulses to be bonded onto a metal exoskeleton. This is the ultimate upgrade, our greatest step into Cyberspace."
The schematic showed two metal rods extending from the Human's ear pods, moving up in a rectangular motion to join above his head. "No." Clara said, her own breathing hitching. "No, it can't! It can't be!" She quickly flung open the door, the Doctor moving after her, said man already knowing what she was afraid of. Moving back into the unaware party, they saw Rose standing by a window and looking at them with wide eyes, so they moved to join her. Outside, even through the window, they could hear the thundering march of the Cybermen, seeing their silhouettes getting closer in the darkness of the night. "No, it can't be." Clara muttered. "They're happening again."
Rose's eyes widened while the Doctor stared out in realization. "Oh my god." Rose muttered. "They're-"
"Cybermen." Clara finished with a growl, clenching her jaw. The Cybermen kept advancing up to the house, drawing the bewildered and bemused expressions of the party guests until they approached the windows, raised their fists and smashed the glass. The guests started to scream and shriek in panic as the metal horde smashed and kicked the glass down, quickly marching in to corner everyone, guest and staff alike into a large group huddled in the living room. The Doctor quickly grasped Clara's hand while they both sought Rose's arms to hold her close.
President Lyndon's ear pod created a ringing notification and he answered, deciding to use speaker since they all would know who it was. "Mr. Lumic." He greeted dully.
"Mr. President." Lumic returned, his own voice coming out of President Lyndon's ear pods. "I suppose a remark about crashing the party would be appropriate at this point, sir." He finished with a dark laugh.
"I forbade this!" President Lyndon snarled.
"These are my children, sir. Would you deny my family?"
"Who were these people?"
"Does it matter?" Lumic growled sarcastically.
"It always matters." Clara snarled under her breath.
"What's happened to them?" Rose asked.
"Their brain was taken out and jammed inside a cybernetic body, with a heart of steel, all emotions removed." Clara said, glaring daggers at the Cybermen. She didn't show it, but the Doctor grasped her hand tighter for he guessed it, that she was still afraid of them. Even if SHE was gone.
"Why no emotions?"
"Because it hurts." Clara informed. "Except for when they become an A.I Cyberplanner. Then it becomes irrelevant."
"I demand to know, Lumic!" President Lyndon exclaimed. "These people, who were they?!"
"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. Good night, sir. Good night, Mr. President."
Once the call was cut off, one of the Cybermen, presumably their Leader, stepped forward in front of President Lyndon. "We have been upgraded." It said, the mouth slit lighting up as it spoke.
"Into what?" The Doctor asked.
"The next level of mankind. We are Human.2. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us."
"I'm sorry." President Lyndon said with pity. "I'm so sorry for what's been done to you. But listen to me…this experiment ends tonight." He said with finality.
"Upgrading is compulsory."
"And if I refuse?"
"Don't." Clara warned.
"What if I refuse?"
"Stop it." Clara warned but he ignored her again.
"What happens if I refuse?"
"Then you are not compatible."
"What happens then?" He asked, stepping forward in defiance.
"You will be deleted." Without warning, the Leader reached out and grasped President Lyndon's shoulder, sending thousands of volts into the man, instantly killing him to everyone's horror. His death triggered a domino effect, causing everyone to scream and shriek in terror as they tried to escape the room, the Cybermen having to be quick on their stomping feet as they caught and shocked to death anyone that was in their way. The Doctor, Clara and Rose quickly moved through the chaos to exit the house, while Pete closely followed their trail, still looking back.
"Jackie!" He called, trying to see his wife. "Jackie!"
"Clara, we can't leave them!" Rose protested as she and the Doctor closely followed Clara out of one of the smashed windows.
"Listen to me right now, Rose Tyler, there is nothing we can do!" Clara snapped. "Now move it!" Trying to run back in the direction of the house gates, they found that it was surrounded by the oncoming horde of Cybermen, so they turned to rush around the house, just catching the moving blur of Pete diving out of one of the windows.
"Pete! Pete!" Rose called, gaining his attention and he rushed to sprint after them.
"Pete, is there a way out?" The Doctor asked as they glanced around the massive lot.
"The side gates." He nodded for them to follow. "Who are you two? How do you know so much?"
"Trust me Pete," Clara shrugged as they ran, "you wouldn't believe it in a million years-" Clara was cut off just like their route as Cybermen appeared from around another corner of the house, causing them to rush deeper into the back lot of the Residence.
"Who's that?!" Rose asked, the group seeing two silhouettes coming out of the darkness, both apparently armed with a weapon, most likely a rifle.
"Get behind me!" Mickey's voice, even though it was really Rickey, yelled, making the group rush behind him and Jake as they fired at the Cybermen. Despite the loud gunfire, the bullets did nothing but bounce off the Cybermen's armour, not even leaving a scratch.
"Good to see you. Thought you had disappeared for good." Rose smiled, patting Rickey's back.
Rickey glanced at her in complete confusion. "Yeah, no offence, but who the hell are you?" The TARDIS trio blinked, before they heard a pair of footsteps rushing up to them.
"Rose!" Mickey called, making their eyes widen as he caught up, the Cybermen still getting closer. "That's not me. That's, like, the other one." He quickly said despite his panting.
"Oh, as if things weren't bad enough, there's two Mickeys?" The Doctor quipped.
"It's Rickey." Rickey inputted, making the Doctor blink with a small smirk.
"But there's more of them." Mickey pointed out, returning their attention to the Cybermen, who were quickly encircling them, closing off any escape path from the metal horde. Rickey and Jake raised their guns, making Clara growl again.
"Put the guns down. Bullets won't stop them." Jake ignored her and started firing, making her rush over and shove the gun out of his grasp. "No! Stop shooting now!"
"But-"
Clara smacked Jake, making everyone blink in shock. "Shut up!" She turned back, standing in front of the group. "Put your hands up. We surrender!" She called to the Cybermen, who quickly moved up to stand around the group in a large circle. Everyone quickly put their hands up, even Clara. "There's no need to damage us. We're good stock." She said just as the Cybermen stopped moving. "We volunteer for the upgrade program. Take us to be processed."
"What's she doing?" Rose whispered to the Doctor.
"Trying to give them a chance." He whispered back.
The Cyber Leader stepped forward, staring emotionlessly at Clara. It didn't say anything for a moment, and she guessed that they were scanning her silent brain. "You are the only non-rogue element."
"But my friends also surrendered." She protested.
"You are compatible. They are incompatible."
"But this is a surrender!"
"You will be spared from being deleted."
"But we're surrendering!" She exclaimed; her own voice high with fear. "Listen to me! We surrender!"
"You are Cyber Planner material, but your companions are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cyberman, but they will perish under maximum deletion." The Cybermen punched their hands to their chests before reaching their arms out, staring at the group behind Clara. "Delete! Delete! Delete!"
AN: To be continued! Ayyy, I love me some Cybermen. That and I really enjoyed writing John Lumic and Crane. Especially Crane. I will say that I struggled on whether Mickey would be by himself or would get the Doctor for accompaniment. I decided, for the two parter, that he should be on his own. Anyway, as always, thank you for reading and leave a review if you wish. :)