Chapter Twenty-Five
"It's impossible. You can't move a planet without leaving a trace," the Doctor said for the third or fourth time, staring at the monitor as if willing it to present a solution.
"But you said there wasn't one," Jack threw in.
"Maybe we've overlooked something." He turned to his companions. "When you were on Earth, before we went to Midnight, did you notice something? Something unusual, like electrical storms or patterns in the sky..."
"No idea," Jack said.
"Nothing. Just that thing with the bees," Donna said. "And you said they were going home."
For a moment the Doctor just stared at her. "But that's it!"
"Disappearing bees? How is that of significance?" The Shadow Architect asked.
The Doctor ignored her, in favour of checking something on the computer. "Melissa Majoria was reported missing a couple of weeks ago. And if the migrant bees felt something, and decided to return to their home planet..." He paused, thinking. "Migrant bees. The Tandocca Scale."
"Do you have any idea what he's talking about?" Donna asked Jack, who shook his head.
The Doctor sighed and mumbled something under his breath, then elaborated, "The Tandocca Scale is a category of wavelengths migrant bees use to send carrier signals, so they can find their way back home. It's almost impossible to detect if you're not looking for it. So, if whoever is responsible for this tried to use that as an advantage, to hide what they were doing... Maybe the bees just misunderstood what the signal was saying, that it was designed to orchestrate the disappearance of all those planets. And that means–"
"We can use it to find the planets!" Jack exclaimed.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Donna asked, already halfway back to the TARDIS.
The Doctor looked at Jack. "Run!"
They dashed back to the TARDIS, and the Doctor closed the doors behind them, then he went to the console and typed a few commands.
"See? There it is. Barely there, because it has already started to scatter, but if I enhance the range of the sensors and narrow down the frequency..." He made a few adjustments on a couple of instruments, tuning the sensors to the wavelengths of the Tandocca Scale until the remnants of the trail slowly grew more pronounced.
"Doc, there's something going on outside," Jack said, pointing to a monitor on the console. The Shadow Architect was standing opposite the TARDIS doors, accompanied by a platoon of Judoon who had surrounded the TARDIS.
"Doctor, by the Holy Writ of the Shadow Proclamation, I order you to surrender your ship," the Shadow Architect declared.
"Over my dead body," the Doctor said, flipping a switch and starting the dematerialisation sequence.
"Doctor, come –" The rest of her sentence was cut off when the TARDIS entered the time vortex.
"What was that?" Jack asked. "You could have told her that we have found something."
The Doctor shook his head. "Been there, done that, during the early days of the Time War. The next thing that happened was that they tried to confiscate the TARDIS and order me to fight for them. The entire organisation is a lot like the Judoon: single-minded and unable to accept something that doesn't fit into their picture of the universe."
Despite the situation Jack grinned suddenly. "I guess that makes you the one with the warrant on his head."
"Wouldn't be the first time," the Doctor gave back, adjusting their flight path slightly.
Donna grinned. "I knew it. I was abducted by an intergalactic criminal."
"I didn't abduct you!"
"Funny how it's that part of her statement you choose to focus on," Jack said, still grinning.
"Oi!"
~o~o~o~
"All humans will leave their homes. The males, the females, the descendants. You will come with us. Resistance is useless."
Rose and Mickey had heard the screeching sounds coming nearer for some time but only now were able to make out what the Daleks were saying.
"At least they didn't say 'resistance is futile', or else I'd never be able to watch a Star Trek episode with Borg again without remembering this," Mickey said, already stowing the computer in his backpack.
"Yeah, but before our next Star Trek marathon we should make sure that we actually survive this," Rose gave back, checking her weapon.
"Do you reckon they'll check the houses and the premises?"
"Maybe not this time, if enough people follow their orders, but that doesn't mean they won't do a thorough search later on."
"Then I guess that's our cue. Let's avoid the streets as much as we can."
Rose nodded. She didn't like leaving all those people in danger, but she knew she had no choice. She couldn't help any of them if she got caught herself. Slowly she opened the door of the shed and looked outside. "The coast is clear."
She went out and made her way through the garden towards the next building, looked around again, then quickly crossed the fence that separated the property from the next, Mickey giving her cover. Afterwards he crossed the fence himself, then took the lead.
Two houses down Rose looked around a bush and discovered an old man and a middle-aged woman hiding in the shadows of a house, whispering to each other. Then the woman pulled the man away, to the back of the house, where suddenly a Dalek appeared in front of them.
"Halt! You will come with me!" it screeched, and Rose winced.
The old man said something indistinguishable, then pointed a gun at the Dalek and fired. A blotch of yellow colour hit its eyestalk, coating it. For a moment it seemed as if the man would get away with it, but then the paint boiled away.
Rose got up, unable to watch what was going to happen without doing something.
"Rose, no! We can't afford to be discovered!" Mickey hissed, but she was already taking aim.
"Hostility will not be tolerated!" the Dalek screeched. "Exterminate! Exterminate! Extermin-"
She fired.
The blast hit the Dalek full force, splitting off its top half. All that remained was a smouldering wreck.
The old man recovered quickly from his surprise. "Do you want to swap?" he asked, holding out his paint-gun.
Rose smiled. "No, thanks. Even if it was a good idea. It might have worked with the older models, but they seem to have improved the design."
"Do you know what they are?"
She nodded. "They're an alien race called Daleks."
"Can you stay?"
She shook her head. "We're looking for someone."
"Yeah, we've been looking for someone, too. There's this man my granddaughter knows. He's called the Doctor. He might be able to help," Wilf said. "But we can't reach him. I've tried to call Donna as soon as this started, but she doesn't answer. As if the signal is blocked."
For a moment she just stared at them. "You're Donna Noble's family!" she exclaimed, a smile blossoming on her face. "Can I ask you for something? If you reach her, please tell her that Rose Tyler is back. She'll know what that means. And now, please, take cover. Don't come out, whatever they say."
"Good luck, Rose." Donna's grandfather said. "She's told me about you, and I'll be cheering you on until you find him."
"Thanks." She hugged him impulsively, nodded at Donna's mother, then gestured at Mickey. He got up and made his way towards the next house, Rose following him only seconds later.
~o~o~o~
The Doctor had just opened his mouth to reply to something Donna had asked when the time rotor suddenly stopped. He gripped the console to steady himself, then pressed a few buttons to check their status.
"It's gone," he said.
"What do you mean, 'gone'?" Donna asked.
"The trail ends here." His shoulders slumped. "And there's absolutely no trace of the planets."
"And where are we?"
"The Medusa Cascade. I came here when I was just a kid, studying at the Academy. It's the centre of a rift in space and time."
"Like the rift in Cardiff?" Jack asked.
The Doctor shook his head. "Compared to this, the Cardiff rift is nothing more than a pothole."
"But what about the lost planets? What about Earth? What about my family?" Donna asked.
"Donna, don't you see? We're at a dead end."
"But you can't give up! Not now! Not like this!"
The Doctor almost collapsed on the jump seat. "It's over."
"But you must have an idea. You always have an idea!"
The Doctor looked at her, his eyes completely lifeless. "No, Donna. I wished it was true, but... I had no idea how to prevent the Time War, no idea how to save all those lives, no idea how to get to Rose..."
"Rose..." Jack repeated slowly. "But that's it!" Suddenly the former time agent was grinning like a loon.
"Leave her out of this, Jack..." The Doctor's voice was dangerously calm, but at least he didn't sound as defeated as he had only seconds before.
"No, Doc, listen. You said that the dreams stopped because the TARDIS refused to make the connection, right?" He looked at the Doctor, but went on without waiting for an answer. "But she'd never do that without a reason. What if... what if she knew that whatever is going on would cause the walls between universes to collapse, and that a connection would be too dangerous because of that?"
"And why didn't she just tell me then?"
Jack shrugged. "Maybe she couldn't. Maybe she needed to protect the integrity of the timelines. Maybe you pissed her off. You're the Time Lord, you should tell me. Anyway, if that's the case, and if this is affecting the other universe as well, what would Rose have done?"
Realisation dawned in the Doctor's eyes. "If the walls between universes were breaking down... She would have tried to find me. On Earth."
"And now... If she really is in this universe, do you think you can use your connection to find her?"
"Jack, I already told you, it doesn't work like a phone call."
"I never said you needed to contact her. But if you use your connection as if you followed a telephone cable to the nearest phone..."
"Do you think that'll work?" the Doctor asked the ceiling, trying to sound as if it was just an academic question, as if the answer didn't really matter, but unable to keep the hope out of his voice.
The hum changed slightly and the lights dimmed. The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at them again.
"What does she say?" Donna asked.
"She doesn't like it. She doesn't like the entire situation. But she'll try. She really must like me." A tiny smile appeared on his lips.
"Or maybe Rose," Jack commented.
The Doctor glared at him, but more out of principle than anything else – especially since Jack was most likely right. Then he shut everything else out and concentrated on his connection with Rose and the TARDIS.
~o~o~o~
After the end of the Time War, the silence in his head had been deafening. He had even shut out his TARDIS as much as possible. The wound would never heal completely, but ever since meeting Rose he had slowly been coming to terms with what he had done. Then Rose had agreed to bond with him, and an almost imperceptible spark had ignited in his mind that would grow stronger along with their bond.
He was dimly aware that he was standing in the middle of the console room, and that Donna and Jack were watching him, but it didn't matter. He could have been in a lush forest, or on a crowded street, it wouldn't have made any difference. He shut his senses down, one by one, until the tiny golden presence at the back of his mind became the centre of his attention. Then he reached out, to both the TARDIS and the presence at exactly the same time, and suddenly his mind expanded into every possible and several impossible dimensions, perceiving the universe as the TARDIS did.
For a long moment he just was, then he began to narrow his focus down, until he once more found the spark that represented Rose in his mind. He regarded it for some time, then discovered a small golden tendril emanating from it. Slowly he began to follow it with his mind, careful not to touch the presence itself, because he had no idea what that might do to their still developing bond, or to Rose, for that matter. She could have died because she had tried to help them on Xeriax, and he wanted to avoid a repetition at all costs.
If he just wasn't so tired. He hadn't slept since before Midnight, hadn't been able to, and fighting the entity had taken its toll as well. He took a moment to push his exhaustion away, to sharpen his concentration. He could collapse later. Now there were more important things at stake.
He returned his attention to the connection with Rose. In the beginning it had been like Jack had suggested, just following a cable towards the nearest telephone, but it grew harder with every second. Whatever was happening here was indeed affecting the walls between universes, and now countless realities were tugging at the flimsy thread like a storm searching for a weakness in a roof. If this went on for much longer, it might damage both the TARDIS and his mind, and maybe it would even be dangerous for Rose. No wonder the TARDIS had refused to make a connection.
His body moved around the console, his hands pressed buttons and flipped switches by pure instinct, until the time rotor began to move. The ship was shaking madly, but there wasn't anything he could do about that right now. Detachedly he registered that Donna and Jack were clinging to the nearest handholds. His focus was still on the connection with Rose and the TARDIS. He followed it like he would follow a safety leash during an ice storm in the Antarctic, because if he lost it he'd be lost as well. He leant on a lever, having to force it into the correct position, then the shaking suddenly stopped, and he almost collapsed against the console.
For a moment silence settled in the TARDIS, then the cloister bell began to ring.
~o~o~o~
"What's wrong?" Jack yelled over the alarm.
"I don't know," the Doctor gave back, already checking the instruments. He flipped a switch and the alarm died down.
"Doctor, look!" Donna pointed at another monitor. "There's Earth! And all those other missing planets! But why couldn't we see them before?"
One of the sensors dinged, and the Doctor pressed a button. Forms he had hoped to never see again appeared on the tactical display and he forgot completely about Donna's question. He gripped the monitor so hard he could have broken it in half.
"Doc?" the former time agent asked, sensing something was really, really wrong.
"See for yourself, Jack."
"Is that..."
"Daleks." His voice was devoid of emotion. He had already suspected it when he had realised that the planets had been taken out of time, but he had hoped that for once he was wrong. He should have known he wouldn't get away that easily.
"Doc! Incoming ships in sector seven!" Jack interrupted his thoughts, and without conscious thought he initiated an evasion manoeuvre, bringing the TARDIS closer to Earth in the process. Apparently the old reflexes still worked. He just hoped that also applied to the shields. Unfortunately the manoeuvre took his companions by surprise, and Donna ended up on the floor, while Jack had clung to the console, his eyes never leaving the screen.
"A warning would have been nice," Donna said, coming back to her feet.
"I could have waited until the Daleks had hit us," the Doctor bit back, once again sending the TARDIS into a spiral to avoid the returning ships who had started firing even before they came into range.
"Nice manoeuvre," Jack commented.
"Something about this doesn't add up," the Doctor said, ignoring the comment. "There must be an entire Dalek fleet around somewhere, and yet only two fighters are attacking us."
"A trap?"
"Exactly. And we're going to walk-" A light suddenly began to flash on the console, and he interrupted himself. "Incoming transmission." He pressed a button and suddenly a voice he had thought he would never hear again filled the console room.
"Welcome to my new empire, Doctor!" the voice said. "It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, Lord and Creator of the Dalek Race."
Donna stumbled back a few steps. "But how can he be here? He was on Skaro when the Daleks imprisoned me, but you said that was in the past, Doctor!"
"Do you have nothing to say?" Davros taunted.
"No," the Doctor replied coldly, pressing the send button.
"Don't you want to know how I created this new race of Daleks?"
"No," the Doctor repeated, his voice becoming even colder, if possible. "Because it doesn't matter."
"Oh, I think you'll find it does, Doctor."
"No. Because here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna save the Earth and all those other planets, and then I'm gonna do what I should have done ages ago: kill you and every single one of your precious Daleks, once and for all." His voice was dangerously calm, and he could see that it scared Donna more than if he had shouted.
He ended the transmission and glanced at the tactical display. The Dalek fighters were back. Once more he drove the TARDIS into an evasion manoeuvre. He hadn't even finished it when suddenly Donna's phone began to ring.
Even though she currently was clinging to the console, she somehow managed to pull it out and took the call. "We're a bit busy at the moment, Granddad... No, we can't... Really? ... Are you sure? ... Love you, too. Bye."
She switched the phone off and said, in a tone that brooked no argument, "We need to go to Chiswick. Now."
"Sector eight, Doc," Jack said, staring at the tactical display. "Donna, as much as I know you love your Granddad, there are more important-"
"No, Jack, we need to go to Chiswick. There's nothing more important than that," she said, a smile blossoming on her face. "That's why my Granddad called. She's there."
"Who's there?" the Doctor said distractedly, busy with the controls.
"Rose."
For a long moment that couldn't have lasted longer than half a second the Doctor just stared at her, trying to process what she had just said, until the full force of her words hit him. Then he forced the TARDIS in a couple of manoeuvres that confused the two Dalek ships so much that they eventually collided with each other.
"That should buy us some time," he said, already setting a new course.
~o~o~o~
"Owen! Dalek ships heading for the Bay! They've found us!" Ianto yelled.
Owen rushed to the terminal. "Damn! And all of our weapons are completely useless against Daleks. Tosh, ideas?"
The scientist looked up from her workstation. "Working on it. But I need more time."
Owen nodded. "Ianto, how long until they're here?"
"Five minutes, maybe ten," Ianto said.
"Tosh?"
"Fifteen would be better."
"Okay. We'll do what we can." He turned around. "Gwen? Where are you?"
The woman in question emerged from the armoury. "I thought we might need these." She handed weapons to the men. "Better than nothing."
"Thanks."
The three Torchwood agents moved into positions that would allow them to cover both the lift leading to the Plass and the main entrance.
For four long minutes nothing happened, then suddenly there was a crash above. Rubble fell from the ceiling and dust filled the room.
"I guess that was the tourist information centre," Ianto said. "They're here."
Owen checked his weapon. "Tosh?"
"Working on it!"
"Gwen, any activity at the invisible lift?"
She checked the monitor. "No. It seems they are concentrating on the main entrance. Maybe they don't know about the lift."
"Then come here. We could use additional firepower."
They adjusted their battle positions, taking cover behind desks and drawers.
Then another crash sounded and the door to the vault creaked open.
"Exterminate!"
A Dalek glided into the vault, its eyestalk taking everything in.
The three Torchwood agents fired before it had even finished the word, but nothing happened.
"It must be shielded!" Ianto yelled.
"Keep shooting!" Owen gave back.
The Dalek pointed its weapon at Gwen, and it began to glow.
Gwen screamed but kept firing at the Dalek nonetheless. Then she noticed something weird.
"Guys! You can stop! Look!"
Their bullets had stopped in midair, and the Dalek looked as if it was frozen.
Silence filled the room.
"What the hell just happened?" Owen asked.
"A time-lock," Tosh answered. "It contains the entire hub. As long as it's activated, nothing can get in, not even an entire Dalek fleet. I've been working on that on and off for the last year."
"If you say, nothing gets in..." Gwen said. "Are we locked in here?"
"Yeah. We still receive data and can send messages, but apart from that we're trapped inside. Unless we decide to unlock that Dalek," she added dryly.
~o~o~o~
They had maybe made it another kilometre after meeting Donna's grandfather, when Rose suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. She had heard a noise that sounded like nothing else in the universe. She held up a hand and waved. Within seconds Mickey was standing next to her.
"Is that...?" he asked.
"Yeah." She smiled. "That's the TARDIS."
Without a second thought she moved towards the sound, Mickey following her slower.
"Rose, wait!" he hissed. "The Daleks!"
She ignored him, unable to wait any longer. It had been much too long. All those years during which she had clung to the hope that she would see him again, all those moments she had wanted to share with him, all those things she had done. And even though she knew she needed to tell him, not only about her mum, but also about that man she had so much wanted to kill, all she wanted now was to see him again, hear his voice, hold his hand, no matter the danger.
She was already on the street before the TARDIS had fully materialised, and her speed increased with every step. She slung her gun over her shoulder and accelerated.
Then the TARDIS door opened and her eyes locked with the most intense blue eyes she had ever seen, and even though she was running full tilt it felt as if the moment was frozen in time.
In the back of her head she counted down the metres that still separated her from the Doctor. Fourty... Thirty... Twenty-Five...
Then several things happened at the same time.
"Down!" she heard Mickey's voice, dimly over the roaring in her ears, even though he must have shouted.
Her body moved out of its own volition. Rose dove to the ground, coiling herself up to protect her body in a much-practised move. She barely registered the gun hitting her back, the blow at least partly cushioned by her leather jacket. She ended up on her belly, protecting her head with her arms.
"Exterminate!" a voice shrieked, and the distinctive sound of a Dalek death ray filled the air.
An explosion shook the air, and debris rained down on her. Her ears rang.
Then she realised that someone had entered her personal space, and she reached for the small blaster in the holster on her hip, but a voice stopped her.
"Rose."
Nobody had ever said her name like he did. It was just one word, but the way he said it this time conveyed so many emotions he would never openly admit, not even to her.
She turned around and looked him in the eyes for a seemingly endless amount of time, saw the loneliness that always lurked near the surface, but also the sheer joy on seeing her again and love so powerful it took her breath away. She hoped he could read as much in her eyes as she in his, because she seemed unable to utter a single word.
Then another explosion in a nearby street shattered the moment.
The Doctor held out his hand and helped her up.
"Rose?" he repeated.
"Yes, Doctor?"
"Run!"
~o~o~o~
"Nice weapon!" Jack commented, when Mickey entered the TARDIS. "Villengard?"
"It has come in handy," Mickey said. "We found a couple of blasters on a crash site, and our scientists did some reverse engineering with them. Even though the development came too late for the last invasion, they thought they would be helpful."
Jack considered the other man. "You've changed a lot since I last saw you."
Mickey shrugged. "I've grown up."
Before he could say more, Rose came up to them and hugged him. "Thanks, Mickey. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't stopped that Dalek. I should have waited for you."
Mickey grinned. "Babe, that's what partners are for. Besides, you've got a reputation for being jeopardy-friendly, so I kind of figured you'd just run off as soon as you heard the TARDIS."
Apparently the exchange had alerted the Doctor to his presence, because he turned away from the monitor he had been staring at and straightened.
"Mickey Smith." A small smile appeared on the Doctor's lips, then he became serious again and looked him straight in the eye. "Thank you."
Mickey slightly bowed his head, unable to say anything, feeling the weight of the Doctor's words almost physically.
"So we're here, but what now, Doctor?" the redheaded woman – Donna – asked, breaking the silence that had settled in the console room. "I mean, you said the planets were like an engine, but for what?"
The Doctor looked at Rose, who had returned to his side and was now leaning against the console.
"Rose, what was happening on Pete's World when you left? Maybe that'll help us understand what's going on here."
"The stars were going out, one by one," she said. "No supernova, no collapsing into black holes, they just... blinked out of existence. At first, only the large telescopes could detect the phenomenon, later also hobby astronomers. It's only been two or three days since the general public realised something was wrong.
"Neither we or our alien allies had any idea what it was or how to stop it. When we contacted them, they had already sent out scout ships and space probes, but lost contact as soon as the crafts reached the dark regions. Eventually Torchwood decided that we had no choice, that our only chance was to find you, even though we knew that we might destroy the universe in the process. We were desperate.
"At first we tried to send messages. I don't know how many times I stood in that small cabin to contact you and hoped that maybe this time it would work, and I would appear on a monitor in the TARDIS and you would look at it at the same time."
Something like dawning realisation crossed the Doctor's face, but it was gone so fast Mickey wasn't sure he had actually seen it.
Rose continued, "Even though we hoped that sending a message might be enough, we had already begun to build a device that would allow us to cross the void. Mickey calls it a dimension cannon."
"Yeah, because it feels like sitting on a cannon ball that's been shot across the universe at light speed," Mickey threw in.
"It was weird. It was ready, but it didn't work, until it suddenly did. I think it's because the walls between universes had finally broken down so far that it didn't matter anymore if there were natural cracks that would allow us to safely cross into another universe."
"So whatever Davros and the Daleks are doing is already affecting the multiverse," the Doctor concluded. "And if it continues, it's going to unravel all of time and space."
"And how do we stop it?" Mickey asked.
"We wait," the Time Lord gave back.
"We wait?" Mickey repeated incredulously. The Doctor had just told them that the entire multiverse, that reality itself was in danger, and now he was telling them to wait?
But before he could say something about that the lights went out.
"Power loss?" Jack asked.
The Doctor tried a few switches on the console. "Looks like."
Then a crash shook the TARDIS, and it tilted to one side.
"I guess that's our transport," he said, grimly.
"But where are they taking us?" Donna wanted to know.
"Since Davros will want to boast about his victory in person, their command centre, most likely. And that's exactly where we need to be."
"Why?" Donna asked.
"Because if you want to thwart an operation, it's easier to do it from within," Jack said. "And the command centre is the place where everything comes together."
"Wait," Mickey said, his former anger forgotten. "When I hacked into Torchwood, I came across a report. Apparently there's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets. If I had to guess, I'd say that's where we'll end up."
"You hacked into Torchwood?" Jack asked.
"Yeah. We had to find out what was going on when we got here, so I hacked into their computer, which gave me access to all relevant data streams, military, UNIT, Torchwood, you name it."
"But that's impossible."
"Not really. You're using the same protocols we did almost eight years ago." He thought for a moment. "Don't tell me. Toshiko Sato."
"How'd you know that?"
"Because I've worked with her, in our Torchwood."
Jack shook his head disbelievingly. "I guess I'll have to tell her to get a bit more unpredictable, once this is over," he said. "To surprise herself on occasion."
Donna had followed the exchange with fascination. "This parallel universe thing is weird," she said to Rose. "I mean, he's got a time machine, and you'd say it can't get weirder than that, but this..."
"I know what you mean. My mum fell in love with my parallel dad, and now I have a little brother."
Even though Rose was smiling, Mickey could see the look in her eyes. He just hoped that once this was over she would talk to the Doctor, because what she was doing wasn't healthy. For months she had pretended she was alright, but she wasn't. She still refused to mourn Jackie, even though she had finally acknowledged that her mum was likely dead, and she still hadn't come to terms with what she had done to save Tony. He had told her that it had been an act of self-defence, but she felt guilty because she had wanted to kill, not only the thug that had pressed a knife against Tony's throat, but also the others. Until that day in the tunnels Rose Tyler, the girl he had known since childhood, had somehow managed to keep her innocence despite all those things she had seen and done, and now she had lost something irretrievable. If anyone could help her, it would be the Doctor. His thoughts had reached that point when the TARDIS suddenly crashed.
"I guess we've landed, then," Jack stated grimly and looked at one of the monitors to see what was going on outside. "They are surrounding us."
A Dalek with a red shell, apparently their leader, moved forward and screeched, "Doctor! You will come outside or die!"
Jack glanced at the Doctor. "Are the shields going to hold?"
The Time Lord looked back at the other man. "No." There was so much finality in that single word that Mickey shivered involuntarily.
Then the Doctor locked his eyes with Rose's, entwining his fingers with hers, and Mickey could have sworn they were communicating silently, even though he couldn't read their expressions.
"We go down fighting, yeah?" Rose said eventually.
"Together." He tightened his grip at her hand and leant his forehead against hers, cupping her cheek with his other hand, a gesture so intimate Mickey had to look away.
Eventually the Time Lord straightened again, let go of Rose's hand and turned to the others. "Right. No time like the present. Let's go meet the neighbours."
"You'll want to go outside?" Donna asked. "Are you mad?"
"Quite possibly, yes!" The Doctor gave her a grin Mickey had seen before, and that Donna must have seen as well, judging from her expression. The one that said they had nothing to lose. Becoming serious again, he explained, "We don't have a choice. Right now, those doors over there are nothing more than wood."
Donna nodded silently.
Then the Doctor opened the doors.
~o~o~o~