The first room was just a shallow rectangle with a sliding steel door. The Doctor opened the door and stepped through.

He couldn't see anything. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and could make out dim silhouettes. He examined one more closely. He'd seen that sort of machine before...

He moved on, walking down the shadowy aisle between the looming machines. The door on the other end of the room slid open and he stepped through.

On either side, he saw what he'd been fearing: an army of metal men lined up in neat rows and columns against the walls.

"Well," he said softly to himself. "I think that explains the vanishing employees."

The door had just closed behind him when the girl in the jacket walked into the second room. Her torch shone on the machines and her free hand clenched into a fist. "I've seen those machines before," she whispered. Eerie shadows moved across the floor in the narrow beam of light.

She was halfway across the room when she heard the door open. She whirled. "Who's that?"

"Who's that?" a voice shot back.

"I asked you first." She raised the torch. It gleamed off of ginger hair and made the woman appar pale.

"Right, torch out of my eyes," the woman said.

She lowered the torch and let it shine on the floor, reflecting back into her own face.

"I'm Donna Noble," Donna said. "Who're you?"

The girl frowned, then shook her head slightly, sadly. "I — I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"I just can't, that's all."

"Tell me why." Donna paused. "Please?"

She shook her head again. "I don't know why. I just can't."

"If you don't know why, then how do you know you can't? How can you justify it?"

"Because I know there's a reason. There's a man who knows the reason, because he would never, ever do that, not if he didn't have a good reason. He wouldn't want me to tell you, I have no idea why, but I would trust him with my life."

Donna opened her mouth to say something snappish, but changed her mind and lowered her gaze. "Who is he?"

"I can't say. I'm sorry, Donna, I'm really, really sorry."

"What are Cybermen?"

"Where did you her about Cybermen?"

"This computer — I shouldn't have been looking, I know, but the chair was knocked over and I just happened to see out of the corner of my eye —"

"Anyone would have done the same." She frowned. "I wish I could explain."

Donna scowled. "Who is this man you trust so much?"

"He's..." The girl's eyes became softer, less hard. "He's the most wonderful man in the universe," she said, just barely loud enough for Dona to hear. "He's like fire, like ice. He's seen so much. He's lost so much. He's like a storm. The Oncoming Storm."

"He sounds brilliant," Donna whispered.

"He is." Then the girl changed again. The sadness, the vulnerability, it all vanished behind the mask of being untouchable. That was what this girl was. Untouchable.

"Listen, Donna Noble," she said. "Get out. Walk off and don't look back. Forget you ever had this job. Forget about Cybermen. Forget that you ever met a girl in a blue jacket in the basement of Cybernet Electronics."

"Forget? Why the hell would I want to do that?"

"You wouldn't." There was a look of steel, of cold fire in the girl's eyes. "But you have to."

"I won't. I'm not going to go home."

"I need you to do this, Donna. It might save your life."

"Save...my life?"

The girl's face was unreadable. She nodded.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

That caught the girl off guard. "What?"

"How can I trust you?"

"Donna, do you know how fast the Earth turns on its axis?"

"No..."

"A thousand miles an hour. And how fast do you think it goes around the sun? Sixty-seven thousand miles an hour."

She was walking slowly towards Donna. "I can feel it, Donna Noble."

"What?"

"I can feel the Earth turning, going around the sun. This star isn't stationary, you know. The galaxy itself turns, and I can feel it, all the time."

"Who are you?" Donna asked again.

"I'm the girl who doesn't exist." She stopped, barely a foot away. "Now look into my eyes and tell me you don't trust me."

Donna looked into the girl's eyes, and tried to hold that impossible gaze, but in the end she looked away.

"Forget everythign that happened here, Donna," the girl said.

Donna turned around and began to walk away.

When she was in the other room, she paused. She heard a door slide open and slide close.

Only then did she turn back.

* * *

The Doctor closed the door behind him. "Who's here?"

There was a soft laugh from the shadows. "Oh, my, would you look at that! Do my eyes deceive me, or is that the Doctor?"

"Who is that?"

"If you're the one who walks in the light, Bringer of Darkness, then I'm the one who hides in the shadows behind you."

This time the voice came from the other side. The Doctor whirled. "How —"

The voice was farther away and to his right. "I'm the one who haunts your footsteps. An echo. A shadow. A reflection. Whatever you choose to call me."

"What do you mean?"

"You know me, Doctor."

This time, the voice was right behind him, but when he looked over his shoulder, no one was there.

"What do you want? Why are you here?"

"I want to make a better world, Doctor."

"Better?" He laughed. "How is it better?"

"Don't you know that already?"

Don't go there, just don't go there. Don' thtink about it. Don't think.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Liar." The word was like poison and it stung like acid.

"Tkae away the emotions, and all you have is a shell! No one wants to live like that!"

"Think about it! No more war. No more poverty. No more pain or loss or suffering."

"At the cost of happiness, and love, and excitement! At the cost of individuality!"

"Is it too high a price to pay?"

"Yes!"

"Do you think so? Really?"

"Absolutely."

"We'll see." There was a soft laugh. "Someone's coming to find you, Doctor."

A screen flickered to life overhead, and the Doctor stood frozen as he watched.

* * *

Donna walked quickly across the room. She was nearly to the door when she heard a grinding sound. She turned and saw the machines one either side. They were moving.

Coming closer.

Coming for her.

She shrieked piercingly as they drew closer. She pulled on the door furiously and found she couldn't open it. She screamed again, looking at the machines coming for her.

In the next room, the girl in the jacket heard the screams and spun. Before she could get far, blue lights came on all around her. Steel joints gleamed in the pale glow as metal arms and legs moved for the first time.

The Cybermen were awake.

* * *

"No," said the Doctor. "No!"

"Oh, yes," said the voice in the shadows. "Isn't that a shame?"

"Stop this right now and I can let you leave in peace," the Doctor snarled. "If you don't, then I'm sorry, I am so sorry, but I have no choice but to stop you."

"Oh, but maybe you'll see then why I must do this."

He was getting nowhere. He turned on his heel and ran for the door, but before he could get through, it shut. His hand was caught between the door and the frame. He sucked in a breath through his teeth, gritting his teeth against the pain.

He tried again to find the man who was running this operation, but he could see nothing in the darkness. Nothing but the screen, on which he could see an army of Cybermen surrounding Rose Tyler.

He watched the screen, horrified, but unable to look away.

Suddenly, some sort of light crackled through the Cybermen, and they all stumbled backwards. His eyes widened as Rose did perhaps the most impossible thing he'd ever seen. She stepped back, ran forwards, and jumped onto the shoulders of a Cyberman. Her arms kept the momentum as she sprang off, flipped in midair, and hit the ground running. The Cybermen marched after her. She threw the door open and sprinted away.

"What?" roared the voice, so close but still invisible. The view changed and the screen showed the machine room.

One of the machines had grabbed Donna. The redhead was struggling for all she was worht, her hands flailing, her feet kicking, but it was useless.

Then, she saw Rose.

An icy leaden feeling settled over the Doctor. Slowly, Donna's face changed. Her mouth opened, her eyes widened, and even though the viewscreen had no sound, he could hear the scream that escaped her. For a moment, she was frozen, her mouth wide, her eyes terrified, screaming with pain.

Then, she went limp, still in the grasp of the machine's arms.

The Cybermen were on the march.

A storm was coming.

And even the Doctor couldn't stop it.

A/N: Oh, yes, I WOULD be that cruel! I'm inordinately proud of my cliffhangers. This one was much longer; after this first episode I'll have a better feel for how long the episodes are and maybe include more chapters or more in each chapter so it's more even. Reviewsare my muse! Oooh, rhyme!

~DH~