The Age of Steel Part 1

The Doctor could honestly say this moment was probably one of the most nerve racking in his long life. Not because of the Cybermen walking towards them chanting they were basically going to kill them, but because of Rose, who had her shaking arms raised above her head. He'd promised her mother he'd keep her safe and untouched. He'd promised himself she'd be safe and untouched. He knew a way to get out of this problem, but it just made him realise how simple and easy it would be to lose someone.

As the Cybermen crept foreword, the Doctor quickly snuck his hand into his Tux pocket, taking out the small, round object he had taken from the bottom of the TARDIS, her last source of life left. He thrust is toward the nearest Cyberman, an orange glow bouncing off the first and hitting the others behind it. The Cybermen screamed in pain for a few measly seconds before their disintegrated remains fell to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Ricky demanded.

"We'll have that instead- RUN!" the Doctor replied, running towards the side gates Pete was talking about. From behind, there was the beeping of a van, a woman driving towards them. "In!" she commanded. The two new men grabbed their guns and rushed toward the vehicle, while Pete made to go back to the house, the Doctor grabbing him by the jacket. "I've got to go back, my wife's in there!" Pete explained.

The Doctor shook his head as he looked back at the house. "Anyone left in that house is dead. If you wonna help, then don't let her die for nothing. You've gotta come with us right now." Pete looked between the house and the van before nodding himself, running off to the beeping van.

Rose stood staring at the house, unmoving, unable to take her eyes from it. "Rose, she's not your mother," the reminded her, taking her hand, encouraging her to follow him.

"I know," Rose said, the Doctor's voice snapping her out of her trance. They ran back to the van, Rose in first, the Doctor quickly after her.

"Finished chatting?" the van driver asked impatiently. "Never seen a slower get-away in my life!" The Doctor quickly closed the sliding door, listening to the loud marching of the remaining Cybermen. The Doctor sat down next to Rose and Mickey, taking notice of Rose's worried appearance. Snaking an arm around her shoulder, he gave a light squeeze, receiving a weak smile in reply. He rubbed her back gently as he fiddled with the Power Cell in his hand. "What was that thing?" Ricky asked from the front of the van.

"Little bit of technology from my home," the Doctor answered.

"It's stopped glowin'," Mickey noticed. "Has it run out?"
"It's on a revitalising loop," the Doctor replied, slipping the Cell back into his pocket. "It'll charge back up in about four hours."

"Right, so we don't have a weapon anymore?" Ricky asked.

"We've got weapons," said the young man, who's name was Jake. He gestured around the van, then nodded to Pete. "They might not work on those metal men, but their good enough for men like him."

"Leave him alone!" Rose defended her parallel father. "What's he done wrong?"

"Oh, you know, just laid down a trap to take down the Government, and left Lumic in change," Jack replied in a merry tone, his expression telling them he was far from happy about Mr Pete Tyler being with them.

"If I was part of all that, do you really thin I'd leave my wife inside?" Pete spat coldly.

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

"Talk about executions, and you'll make me your enemy," the Doctor growled. "And take some really good advise, you don't wonna do that."

"All the same," Ricky brushed him off. "We have evidence that Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since Twenty Point Five."

Rose's expression told her what she thought of that comment. She looked back at Pete, asking in a small voice, "Is that true?" Pete said nothing as he looked down at the van floor, bringing his hand up to one of the railings on the ceiling to steady himself.

"We've got a Government mole who feeds us information," said the woman driving the van. "Lumic's private files, the South American operations, the lot. The secret broadcasts twice a week."

Pete gave a small smile, replying, "Broadcasts from Gemini?"

"How'd you know that?" Ricky demanded.

"Because I'm Gemini," Pete answered. "That's me."

"Yeah, well you would say that," Ricky battled.
Pete looked at the young man evenly before hissing, "Encrypted wavelength six-five-seven using Binary Nine. That's the only reason I was working for Lumic, to get information," he shook his head and scoffed. "I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services, and what do I get? Scooby-Doo and his gang. They've even got the van!" The Doctor looked around the vehicle, deciding that for a sort of live action Scooby-Doo rip off, it wasn't a bad van, despite all the weaponry . "But the Preachers know what they're doing," Mickey told them. "Ricky said he was London's most wanted."

Ricky made a face and stuttered, "Yeah… that aint exactly… I'm London's most wanted for… parking tickets…" he said sheepishly. The Doctor smirked at Ricky, Rose raising her eyebrows at him. "But they were deliberate! Fighting the system, park anywhere, that's me!" Even his friend Jake was chuckling.

"Good policy," the Doctor commented, liking this young man more and more. "I do much the same. I'm the Doctor, by the way, if anyone's interested..."

"And I'm Rose," she greeted. She gave a small wave. "Hello."

"Great," Pete shook his head. "That's the name of my dog," Rose winced slightly. "Still, at least I've got the catering staff on my side." Rose made a tiny smile, quietly saying to him, "I knew you weren't a traitor."

"Yeah?" Pete questioned. "And how's that?" Rose could practically feel the Doctor warning gaze through the back of her skull, advising her to pick her words carefully. "I just did," Rose shrugged.

Pete shook his head. "But they took my wife…"

"She might still be alive," Rose reminded him.

"That's even worse," Pete said sincerely. "That's what Lumic does. He takes the living and turns then into those machines."

"Cybermen," the Doctor said darkly. "They're called Cybermen, and I'd take those ear pods off if I were you," the Doctor outstretched his hand, waiting to be filled by the two small objects. He took out his Sonic Screwdriver from his jacket pocket, buzzing the two. "You never know, Lumic could be listening." The two ear pieces gave a spark, showing they were disabled. "But he's over reached himself, he's still a businessman. He assassinated the President. All we have to do it go into the city and inform the authorities, because I promise you, this ends tonight."


When they'd made their way into the city, they quickly had to pull over due to the amount of people walking through the street, not a care in the world if they got hit by a van. The party poured out of the van and onto the street. "What's going on?" Rose asked, dodging the touch of the apparently zombiefied people.

"It's the ear pods," the Doctor replied. "Lumic's taking control."

"Can't we just... I don't know, take 'em off?" Rose asked as she reached up to a passing man, the Doctor stopping her. "Don't. You'll cause a brainstorm. The Human Race- for such an intelligent lot, you aren't half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it," the Doctor claimed, earning a glare from Jake. Looking down the street, Jake whispered, "Hey, come and see this." The others looking to where Jake was pointing. There was a small row of houses, beside them was a long line of Cybermen, guiding the people out of their homes, into the street and round the corner out of sight. "Lumic must have a base of operation."

"Battersea," Pete informed. "That's where he was building his prototypes," he gave a long breath, muttering, "He's dying. This all started as a way of keeping the brain alive, at any cost."

Rose thought back to when they were still in the house, the Cybermen walking towards the window as she and the Doctor peered out, watching as they marched toward them. She recognised them greatly. It was only them she remembered where she recognised them from. "Thing is, I've seen Cybermen before, haven't I?" she said, mainly to the Doctor. "Those heads- those handle shapes at Van Statten's museum."

"There are Cybermen in our Universe," the Doctor informed her."They started on an ordinary world just like this, then swarmed across the galaxy. This lot are a parallel version, and they're starting from scratch right here on earth."

"What the hell are you two on abou'?" Pete asked.

"Never mind that," Ricky told them. "We need to get out of the city," he turned to leave the street, stopping when he heard the stomping of Cybermen heading their way. "Okay, split up. Mrs Moore," he pointed at the van driver. "You look after them lot, Jake, you distract them, you go left, I'll go right, we'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move." Ricky and Jake headed off down the street, Mickey looking at his two friends. "I'm going with him," he told them, before rushing after his Parallel self.

"Be careful!" Rose called after him.

"C'mon, let's go," Mrs Moore said as they began to run, stopping many times as rows of Cybermen blocked their path. They ran down an alleyway, the Doctor quietly ordering them behind some bins and full black bags. Rose held on tightly to Pete's hand as the Doctor peeked under one of the dustbins to make sure they were all leaving. It was going to plan until they stopped right beside the dustbins, turning in their direction. The Doctor quickly rose his Sonic as they and pressing the button, causing them to keep moving. When they were half way down the street, the Doctor ushered his small party from the dustbins, running back the way they came.


They reached Bridge Street not long after, mainly sticking to the shadows to avoid being seen. "Are you alright?" the Doctor asked Rose once they had all gotten their breath back. Rose gave a small nod, slipping into the Doctor embrace when he outstretched his arms.

"I ran past the river!" came the cry of Jake as he ran down the street. "You should've seen it. The whole city's on the look out. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames." There were footsteps running from behind Jake, normal ones. The group turned to see Mickey/Ricky running down the street towards them. "Here he is!" Jake greeted happily. When the young man didn't reply, Jake's grin faded as he began to frown. "Which one are you?"

"I'm sorry," said the young man, confirming it to the Doctor and Rose to be Mickey. "The Cybermen. He... couldn't..."

Jake shook his head, asking urgently, "Are you Ricky?"

"That's you, aint it, Mickey?" Rose asked quietly.

Mickey nodded, his eyes sealed on Jake. "I tried, he was runnin'-"

"Shut it," Jake spat, his face twisted in pain like he was about to burst into tears at any moment. "Don't even talk about him. You're nothing, you are!"

"We can mourn him when London is safe," the Doctor said quietly. "But now, we move on."


They made their way to the River Battersea, which over looked one of Lumic's factories. "The whole of London's been sealed off, and the entire population's been taken inside that place, to be converted."

"We've got to get in there and shut it down," Rose muttered.

"And how do we do that?" Mickey asked.

"Oh, I'll think of something," the Doctor said dismissively. Mickey frowned at him, and replied in an accusing manor, "You're just making this up as you go along!"

"Yup," the Doctor agreed. "But I do it brilliantly!" Rose gave a smirk as Mickey nodded his head in agreement.

Mrs Moore was on the ground, her laptop placed gently upon the dry grass. It showed the layout of some sort of floor, showing the 2-D and 3-D levels. "That's a schematic of the old factory. Look, cooling tunnels... underneath the plant... big enough to walk through."

"So we go under there and into the control centre?" the Doctor asked, pointing at one of the floors.

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

"Well, we cant just go strolling up," Jake interrupted.

"Well, we could," Mrs Moore told him. She reaching into the front of her back pack, taking out four ear pieces. "With these. Fake ear pods. Dead, no signal. You'd put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for part of the crowd."

"Then that's my job," Pete said determinedly.

"You'd have to show no emotion," the Doctor told him. "Any sign of emotion would give you away."

Before Pete could reply, Rose turned to Mrs Moore. "How many of those have you got?"

"Jut two sets."

"Okay. If that's the best way of finding Jackie... I'm coming with you," she told Pete as she stood up beside him. The Doctor gave her a wary, uneasy look. "What does she matter to you?" Pete asked.

"We haven't got time," she told him quickly. Not able to ignore the look the Doctor gave her, she sighed. "I'm going with him, Doctor. That's that."

He gave her a small smile, replying, "There's no stopping you, is there?" She shook her head determinedly, letting out another sigh of relief as he chucked her the ear pods. "We can take the ear pods at the same time, give the people their minds back, so they don't walk into that place like sheep. Jokey-boy!" he called taking him a little bit higher up a slope. "Lumic's transmitting the control signal, it must be from over there," he took his Sonic out of his pocket and pointed at a zeppelin, a big 'C', on its belly. "There it is, on the zeppelin, d'you see? A great big transmitter, good thing Lumic likes showing off. You think you can take it out?"

"Consider it done," Jake replied smiling, looking over at his big, fat challenge. The Doctor jogged over to the woman on the ground, who was shutting down her laptop. "Mrs Moore, would you care to accompany me into the cooling tunnels?"

"How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?" Mrs Moore replied, sticking her laptop back into her backpack.

"We attack on three sides- above - between - below. We get to the control centre, we stop the conversion machines," the Doctor ran through everything in his mind, ticking everything off as he went along. "What about me?" Mickey asked.

The Doctor stared at the young man for a few moments, trying to remember when he'd shown up. "Mickey! You can... erm..."

"What?" Mickey asked again, more forcefully this time. "Stay out of trouble? Be the tin dog? Nah, those days are over, I'm going with Jake."

"I don't need you, idiot," Jake hissed at him.

"I'm not an idiot!" Mickey exclaimed. "You got that? I'm offering to help."

"Whatever," Jake scoffed as he trotted down the slope towards the giant zeppelin. Silently, Mickey turned to follow him, turning when the Doctor called him. "Good luck."

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

"If we survive this, I'll see you back at the TARDIS," the Doctor told him.

Mickey smiled, then nodded his head before continuing after Jake. "That's a promise," he called back before disappearing down the slope. Rose turned to the Doctor, who quickly enveloped her in a tight hug. He kissed her on the forehead, then rested his head on her shoulder, muttering a 'Good luck' into her hair.


The Doctor and Mrs Moore made their down one of the cooling tunnels, descending a small ladder which led to a narrow path. "It's freezing," Mrs Moore complained as she rubbed her hands together.

"Any sign of a light switch?" the Doctor asked through the darkness.

"I can't see a thing," Mrs Moore said as she slipped off her backpacks, digging into the side of it. "But I've got these," she retreated her hand and pulled out two head torches. "A device for every occasion."

"Haven't got a hot dog in there have you?" the Doctor joked as he put on his torch. "I'm starving."

Mrs Moore scoffed. "Of all the things to wish for... that's mechanically recovered meat."

"I know," the Doctor admitted. "It's the Cyberman of food, but it is tasty."

Mrs Moore nodded in agreement as she continued to search through her bag. "Here," she said as she gave the Doctor another device. "Another torch as well," she said as she took another on out for herself.

"Let's see where we are," the Doctor suggested, flicking on the switch on his hand torch, jumping back in surprise to see a Cyberman, its back to the wall, followed by more Cybermen, all lifeless and unmoving. "Already converted," the Doctor told Mrs Moore. "Just paralyzed. Come on," he encouraged as he walked down the small, narrow path. The Doctor stopped in front of one of the dead Cybermen, tapping it on the face with his knuckle. "Let's go slowly," he advised the short woman. "Keep an eye out for trip systems."

They walked for a short while in silence, passing Cyberman after Cyberman, until the Doctor broke it. "How did you get into this, then? Rattling along with the Preachers?"

Mrs Moore gave short laugh. "I used to be ordinary," she told him. "Worked at Cybus Industries. '95. 'Til one day, I find something I'm not supposed to. A file on the mainframe. All I did was read it, then suddenly, I've got men with guns knocking in the middle of the night. Life on the run. Then I found the Preachers. They needed a techy, so I... I just sat down and taught myself everything."

"What about Mr Moore?" the Doctor questioned.

"Well, he's not called Moore," she admitted. The Doctor gave her a look, and she continued, "I got that from a book; 'Mrs Moore'. It's safer not to use real names. But he thinks I'm dead. It was the only way to keep him safe. Him and the kids. What about you? Got any family, or...?"

"Oh, who needs family?" the Doctor asked. "I've got the whole world on my shoulders. I've got Rose, I suppose..." he trailed off. Looking back at Mrs Moore, he said, "Go on, then. What's your real name?"

She hesitated for a moment before answering, "Angela Price," the Doctor smiled at her, Mrs Moore instantly ordering, "Don't tell a soul."

"Not a word," he promised. They walked for another few minutes, Mrs Moore jumping from her skin while asking frantically, "Doctor, did that one just move?" He looked to one of them, surprised to see it turn completely toward him. "They're waking up! RUN!" The two of them legged it down the path at fun speed, quickly dodging all arms that extended towards them. Shortly, they made their way to a ladder, the Doctor rapidly climbing it, using his Sonic to open the hatch as Mrs Moore began to panic. He hastily opened the hatch, running up the ladder, as did Mrs Moore. They shut the hatch again just as one of thee Cybermen was around to follow them. "Oh, Good team, Mrs Moore," the Doctor smiled as the adrenaline began to leave his body.