2x06 "Age of Steel"

RECAP

"You are rogue elements," a Cyberman said.

The Doctor frowned, "But we surrender."

"You are incompatible."

"But this is a surrender!"

"You will be deleted."

The Doctor began shouting, clearly frantic, "But we're surrendering! Listen to me, we surrender!"

"You are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cybermen but you will perish under maximum deletion." The Cyberman rose its arm and reached towards the Doctor. My heart nearly stopped. Oh god no. "Delete. Delete. Delete!"

-x-x-x-

The Doctor pointed the TARDIS power cell at the Cybermen. The power cell expelled a shot of golden light which bounded off one of the Cybermen and onto the others – they all disintegrated. "What the hell was that?" Rickey asked.

"We'll have that instead - RUN!" the Doctor said grabbing my hand as we ran.

A blue van came to a stop near us, the woman inside honked the horn shouting, "Everybody in!"

Pete tried to run back to the house. The Doctor released my hand and grabbed him, trying to restrain him. "I've gotta go back," Pete said, "my wife's in there."

"Anyone inside that house is dead," the Doctor told him. "If you wanna help, then don't let her die for nothing. You've gotta come with us right now." Pete understood and hurried back to the van.

"Come on," the woman driving yelled. "Get a move on!"

Rose was still staring at the house. I moved to her, "She's not your mother."

"I know," Rose said.

"Come on," I said grabbing her hand. We made our way to the van, getting in the back. There weren't enough seats so I ended up on the Doctor's lap.

"Finished chatting?!" the woman asked. "Never seen a slower getaway in my life!" The van sped off, I almost fell off the Doctor's lap but her wrapped his arm around my waist and handed me the power cell. It was quiet now, recharging I suppose.

Rickey looked back, glaring at the power cell in my hands. "What was that thing?" he asked.

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

"It's stopped glowing. Has it run out?" Mickey asked.

I handed the power cell to the Doctor, which he put into his pocket. "It's on a revitalising loop. It'll charge back up in about four hours."

"Right. So, we don't have a weapon anymore," Rickey said.

The other man, god I need a name for him, said, "Yeah, we've got weapons. Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him." He was looking at Pete as he spoke.

Rose's voice rose as she growled, "Leave him alone! What's he done wrong?"

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

Pete glared at him, "If I was part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?"

"Maybe your plan went wrong," Rickey said. "Still gives us the right to execute you, though."

"Talk about executions, you'll make ME your enemy. And take some really good advice - you don't wanna do that," the Doctor said.

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

Rose stared at Pete in shock, "Is that true?" Clearly it was because Pete looked pretty uncomfortable.

"Tell 'em, Mrs M," Rickey said.

The woman driving the van spoke up, "We've got a government mole who feeds us information. Lumic's private files, his South American operations... the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week."

"Broadcast from Gemini?" Pete asked.

Rickey frowned, "And how do you know that?"

"I'm Gemini," Pete said. "That's ME."

Rickey rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well you would say that."

"Encrypted wavelength six-five-seven using binary nine." Rickey and the other man glanced at each other. "That's the only reason I was working for Lumic. To get information. I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services, and what do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They've even got the van!"

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

Rickey paused. "Yeah, that's not exactly…"

"Not exactly what?" Mickey asked.

Rickey was sheepish as he said, "I'm London's Most Wanted for... parking tickets."

I snickered as the Doctor smiled and Rose rose her eyebrows. Pete rolled his eyes, "Great."

Rickey got defensive, "They were deliberate! I was fighting the system! Park anywhere, that's me."

The Doctor was clearly liking this, "Good policy. I do much the same. I'm the Doctor, by the way, if anyone's interested..."

"I'm Faline," I said with the Doctor tightening his arm around me.

"And I'm Rose. Hello!" the blonde said.

Pete rolled his eyes, "Even better. That's the name of my dog. Still - at least I've got the catering staff on my side."

Rose looked at him and quietly said, "I knew you weren't a traitor."

"Why's that, then?" Pete asked.

Rose glanced at the Doctor and I before saying, "I just did."

"They took my wife," Pete said.

"She might still be alive," Rose said with a shrug.

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

"Cybermen," the Doctor said drawing everyone's eyes to him. "They're called Cybermen. And I'd take those ear-pods off, if I were you." Pete did so, handing them to the Doctor. "You never know... Lumic could be listening." The Doctor maneuvered around me, he didn't seam to bother him nor did it seam hard. He disabled the ear-pods with his sonic screwdriver. "But he's overreached himself. He's still just a businessman. He's assassinated the President. All we need to do is get to the City and inform the authorities. Because I promise you –" he tightened his grip on me, "this ends tonight."

-x-x-x-

We all walked down a street watching as people were marching towards the same destination. "What the hell…?" asked the man, whose name I learned to be Jake.

"What's going on?" Rose asked.

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

Rose frowned, "Can't we just… I dunno, take them off?" She reached up to one to take his ear-pods out, but the Doctor grabbed her hand before she got too close.

"Don't!" the Doctor warned. "Cause a brainstorm. Human Race - for such an intelligent lot, you aren't half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it. Easy life."

"Hey," Jake said. He and Rickey were peering around the corner, crouching. "Come and see."

The Doctor, Rose, Mickey, Pete, and I joined them in looking around the corner. A row of Cybermen marched alongside the people under the control of the ear-pods, still heading in the same direction. Rose frowned, "Where are they all going?"

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

"Battersea," Pete told us. "That's where he was building his prototypes."

I frowned, "But why is he doing this?"

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

Rose frowned, "Wait if there are these cyber-things here, are they in our world?"

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

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

"Never mind that," Rickey said. "Come on, we need to get out of the City." The Cyberman were fast-approaching down the street. "Okay, split up - Mrs Moore, you look after that bloke. Jake, distract them, go right, I'll go left, we'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move." Rickey ran off in one direction, Jake in the other.

Mickey turned to Rose. "I'm going with him." He kissed Rose briefly and followed Rickey.

The woman driver, Mrs. Moore, turned to us, "Come on, lets go." We ran as the Cybermen marched near us. "There!" We followed her down a side alley, followed by Cybermen.

We moved off to the side, crouching between trashcans. I kept my hand in the Doctor's. Please don't let the Cybermen find us. The Cybermen stopped as if they wanted to investigate our hiding space further. The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver in their direction. It bleeped and the Cybermen went on their way. We all stood, watching the Cybermen march off into the distance. "Go," the Doctor whispered. We crept from behind the dustbins and ran in the opposite direction.

Jake ran to where we were waiting. "I ran past the river," he told us. "You should've seen it, the whole City's on the watch. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames." Mickey ran down the street towards us, alone. Jake turned and his face lit up. He clearly though that Mickey was actually Jake's Rickey. "Here he is!" Mickey didn't say anything as he came to a stop in front of us. Jake frowned when Mickey didn't answer. "Which one are you?" The fact that something was wrong was written all over Mickey's face.

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

"Are you Ricky?" Jake asked. "ARE YOU RICKY?"

Rose took a step forward. "Mickey, that's you, isn't it?"

Mickey looked down, nodding, "Yeah." Rose ran to him, throwing her arms around him. Jake was silent. Mickey turned to Jake. "He tried. He was running..." Jake turned away and Mickey began to go after him. "There was too many of them."

"Shut it," Jake told him, his face contorted in pain.

"There was nothing I could do," Mickey said.

Jake spun around. "I said just SHUT IT. Don't even TALK about him. You're NOTHING, you are." Mickey's eyes were red and shining with tears. As were Jake's. "Nothing."

Calmly the Doctor spoke up, "We can mourn him when London is safe. But now, we move on." We all nodded miserably.

-x-x-x-

"The whole of London's been sealed off," the Doctor said as we walked up a slope that overlooked the river with Battersea on the opposite side. "And the entire population's been taken inside that place. To be 'converted'."

"We've gotta get in there and shut it down," Rose said.

Mickey frowned, "How do we do that?"

"Oh, I'll think of something," the Doctor said with a smirk.

Mickey gave him a look, "You're just making this up as you go along!"

"Yuuuup," the Doctor said. "But I do it brilliantly."

I rolled my eyes, "Like he ever has a plan."

"Oi," the Doctor said.

I snickered thinking of Donna and Ten's duplicate. "Don't 'oi' me. You know I'm telling the truth, your plans never come to life until minutes before the event." The Doctor didn't say anything, knowing that I was right. I smirked and kissed his cheek. Aw! He's so cute.

-x-x-x-

We gathered around Mrs. Moore's laptop, watching as she typed away, showing us a 3D model on the screen. "That's a schematic of the old factory. Look, cooling tunnels... underneath the plant... big enough to walk through."

The Doctor, wearing his sexy 'thinking' glasses, pointed to a specific part. "We go under there and up into the control centre?"

"Hmm," Mrs. Moore said nodding.

"There's another way in," Pete said. We all looked to him. "Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in..."

Jake finally came over to us, still pissed about Mickey coming back rather then Rickey. "We can't just go strolling up."

"Or we could…" Mrs. Moore said, "with these…" She took out some ear-pods from her bag. The Doctor took one. "Fake ear-pods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd."

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

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

Rose turned to Mrs. Moore. "How many of those have you got?"

"Just two sets," Mrs. Moore said.

"Okay. Its that's the best way to finding Jackie… I'm coming with you." Rose stood and moved beside Pete.

Pete frowned looking at her, "Why does she matter to YOU?"

"We haven't got time," Rose said turning to the Doctor. "Doctor, I'm going with him, and that's that."

The Doctor stared at her, "No stopping you, is there?"

"Nope," Rose answered.

The Doctor chucked her the ear-pods. "Tell you what... we can take the ear-pods at the same time. Give people their minds back. So they don't walk into that place like sheep. Jakey-boy?" The Doctor led Jake further up the hill for a better look at Battersea and the zeppelin stationed above it. "Lumic's transmitting the control signal, and it must be from over there..." He pointed the sonic screwdriver in the general direction. It bleeped. "There it is... on the zeppelin, see? Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off. Reckon you could take it out?"

Jake smiled, looking pleased. "Consider it done."

The Doctor pat him on the shoulder and went back to the others, not that we couldn't hear him. "Mrs Moore... would you care to accompany me into the cooling tunnels?" He took my hand, letting me know that he wanted me to come with him too, probably to keep an eye on me.

Mrs. Moore gave a smirk, "How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?"

The Doctor took off his 'thinking' glasses. "We attack on three sides - above - between - below. We get to the control centre, we stop the conversion machines."

"What about me?" Mickey asked. He stood slightly apart from the group, forgotten, again. Poor Mickey. We all looked over to him. They had looks on their faces like they had just remembered he was there.

"Mickey!" the Doctor said. "You can... ahm..."

"What, stay out of trouble?" Mickey asked. "Be the tin dog? No, those days are over. I'm going with Jake."

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

"I'm not an idiot! You got that?!" Mickey yelled before calming again. "I'm offering to help."

"Whatever," Jake scoffed and walked off with Mickey following him.

"Mickey?" the Doctor said. Mickey turned back, "Good luck."

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

Rose ran to him and hugged him. "Yeah, you better."

"If we survive this," the Doctor said. "I'll see you back at the TARDIS." He smiled at Mickey.

Mickey nodded. "That's a promise." Mickey walked away with a smile on his face.

I walked over to Rose, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Good luck," I told her.

-x-x-x-

Mrs. Moore went down the ladder into the cooling tunnels. The Doctor followed her, and then me. With my luck I would slip going down, and of course I did on the last step. The Doctor grabbed me around the waist and straightened me up. "You alright?" he asked.

I gave him a smile, "I'm fine." I hugged my arms. "It's freezing here."

The Doctor took off his trench coat and wrapped it around me. "Any sign of a light switch?" the Doctor asked Mrs. Moore as I put my arms though the sleeves. Wow, this thing was huge on me. I didn't know I was this much smaller then the Doctor.

She laughed. "Can't see a thing. But I've got these..." She went through her bag and handed the Doctor and I a light that could be tired around our heads. "A device for every occasion..."

"Ooh!" the Doctor said.

"Put it on," Mrs. Moore said putting hers on.

The Doctor and I put ours on. The Doctor then asked, "Haven't got a hotdog in there, have you? I'm starving." I made a face, ew. Hotdogs are gross.

Mrs. Moore laughed. "Of all the things to wish for! That's mechanically recovered meat!"

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

I gave him a look. "I am so making food for you when all this is over, and it more defiantly wont be hotdogs."

Mrs. Moore handed the Doctor a real flashlight. "A proper torch as well," she said.

"Let's see where we are," the Doctor switched on the flashlight and took a step forwards. The first thing the light fell on was a Cyberman. There were hundreds of them lining the cooling tunnels. Lifeless Cybermen. "Already converted, just paralyzed. Come on!" I grabbed the Doctor's free hand and followed him down the cooling tunnel. After a moment I can hear Mrs. Moore follow. The Doctor paused and knocked on the nose, or where the nose should be, which elicited no response. "Let's go slowly. Keep an eye out for trip systems." We walked slowly and warily down the tunnel, past lifeless Cyberman after lifeless Cyberman.

"How did you get into this, then?" the Doctor asked after a few minutes of silent walking. "Rattling along with the Preachers?"

"Oh, I used to be ordinary," she said. "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 asked.

Mrs. Moore gave a smile, remembering her husband. "Well, he's not called 'Moore'. 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 two? Got any family, or...?"

The Doctor grabbed my hand saying, "Just Faline." I smiled. AWE! That was so sweet. "But other then her, who needs family? I've got the whole world on my shoulders."

Mrs. Moore looked to me. "And you?"

I bit at my lip ring. Wow, haven't done that in a while, anyways. "The Doctor is the last bit of family I have. But I suppose Rose, Mickey, and a few others are my family too. My own jumble of misfits." I paused. "So, what's your real name?"

"Angela Price," she said. I smiled at her. "Don't tell a soul."

"Of course not," I said as on of the Cyberman's hand twitched.

Both Mrs. Moore and I paled. "Doctor?" Mrs. Moore said. "Did that one just move?"

The Doctor glanced at it. "Its just the torchlight. Keep going, come on." I could see the fear in his eyes as another one, just in front of us, definitely turned. "They're waking up- RUN!"

We ran down the cooling tunnel as fast as possible. As we ran, the Cybermen sprang to life, one after another. They began to march forwards just as we reached the ladder at the end of the tunnel and we scrambled to get up it.

"Get up! Quick! They're coming!" Mrs. Moore said as the Doctor attempted to open the seal with his sonic screwdriver. "Open it! Open it!" the Doctor succeeded and tossed the door aside. "Get up!" We climbed the ladder as fast as we could. "Quick! Quick!"

"Come on! Come on!" the Doctor said. We made it out of the trapdoor and managed to slam it closed just before the Cybermen got too close. The Doctor sealed it with his sonic screwdriver. I held a hand over my chest, trying to calm my hammering heart. "Oh, good team, Mrs Moore!" Mrs. Moore nodded.

-x-x-x-

We continued down the long, dark, metal corridor. A Cyberman stepped out in front of us. We all jumped. "You are not upgraded." It said.

Mrs. Moore glared at it. "Yeah? Well, upgrade THIS." She threw a small metal device at the Cyberman – it stuck to its chest. It sparked and caused the Cyberman to be electrocuted. It shook and jerked, then slumped to the floor.

The Doctor looked delighted. "What the hell was that thing?!" he asked as we approached the body.

"Electromagnetic bomb," she said. "Takes out computers, I figured it might stop the cyber-suit."

The Doctor nodded. "You figured right. Now, let's have a look..." He took out his sonic screwdriver, bent down and held it to the Cybus logo on its chest. "Now... know your enemy... and the logo on the front... Lumic's turned them into a brand." He took the logo off so we could see inside the Cyberman. "Heart of steel... but look..." He put his fingered inside the Cyberman, and drew out some bodily tissues.

"Is that flesh?" Mrs. Moore asked.

"Hmmm... central nervous system. Artificially grown then threaded throughout the suit so it responds like a living thing. Well, it IS a living thing. Oh, but look..." the Doctor carefully fingered an electronic chip. "Emotional inhibitor. Stops them feeling anything."

Mrs. Moore frowned, "But… why?"

"It's still got a human brain..." the Doctor explained, "imagine its reaction if it could see itself. Realise itself inside this thing. They'd go insane..."

"So they cut out the one thing that makes them human."

"Because they have to," the Doctor said.

"Because it hurts," I whispered.

"Why am I so cold?" the Cyberman asked.

Mrs. Moore's eyes widened. "Oh, my God. It's alive. It can FEEL."

"We broke the inhibitor." The Doctor leaned over the Cyberman, touching its head. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Why so cold?" the Cyberman asked. I couldn't call the Cyberman an it. That was a human mind in there, in pain.

"Can you remember your name?" the Doctor asked.

"Sally," the Cyberman said. "Sally Phelan."

"You're a woman…" Mrs. Moore said shocked.

"Where's Gareth?" the Cyberman… Sally asked.

"Who's Gareth?"

"He cant see me." Sally said. "It's unlucky the night before."

"Your getting married," Mrs. Moore said.

"I'm cold. I'm so cold." Sally said.

I knelt down beside Sally, tears forming. "Sally, you'll see Gareth soon." The Doctor and Mrs. Moore listened as I spoke to the broken Cyberman, then dying woman. "Just imagine. Soon you'll be walking down the isle looking at him in a tux. He'll look at you in that white gown, and in that moment you will be the most beautiful thing in the universe." I was in tears now. "Can you see it Sally?"

"Yes," Sally whispered.

I couldn't say anything more, covering my mouth to keep me from sobbing aloud. The Doctor took over quietly telling Sally. "You sleep now, Sally. Just go to sleep. You'll see Gareth soon." He pointed the sonic screwdriver just inside the suit. The blue light inside went out. I sobbed openly now as the Doctor pulled me into his arms. I clutched at his suit jacket, trying to take comfort in his beating hearts. "Sally Phelan didn't die for nothing," he told me. I nodded. I know that. There was a pause and I felt the Doctor move his head, seeing as his chin rested on my head, in Mrs. Moore's direction. "'Cos that's the key. The emotional inhibitor - if we could find the code behind it, the cancellation code, then feed it throughout the system into every Cyberman's head..." there was a pause. "They'd realise what they are..."

"And what happens then?" Mrs. Moore asked.

I pulled away wiping at my tears, trying to get them to stop. "I think it would kill them," his brow furrowed.

"We cant let them go on like this," I said softly.

"But can we kill them?" the Doctor asked as he helped me wipe away the tears.

"We've got to. Before they kill everyone else," Mrs. Moore said. The Doctor stopped moving, his hands cradling my face as he looked down, trying to think of the right thing to do. "There's no choice, Doctor. It's got to be done."

The Doctor looked right into my eyes trying to find the right thing to do I suppose. I wasn't going to tell him to do anything, not that I remember what he did. There was a strangled screamed and the Doctor and I jumped, turning to see Mrs. Moore being held by the neck as a Cyberman killed her. The Doctor stood, pulling me up with him and shielding me. "No! No!" the Doctor growled. "You didn't have to kill her!"

"Sensors detect a binary vascular system. You are an unknown upgrade. You both will be taken for analysis." The Cyberman said.

The Doctor brought me to him as we were forced to follow the lead of the Cyberman as two others followed up behind. We were marched down long halls and up stairs until we were inside the main control room. Rose and Pete are here with us too, by the computers. The Doctor turned to me, "We've been captured, but don't worry - Rose and Pete are still out there, they can rescue us- oh well, never mind."

I rolled my eyes at him and looked at Rose, "You okay?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah. But they got Jackie."

Pete frowned looking down, "We were too late. Lumic killed her." I took Rose's hand, squeezing it to let her know I was sorry, even though it wasn't really Jackie.

The Doctor looked around, raising his voice. "Then where is he? The famous Mr Lumic? Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?"

"He has been upgraded," a Cyberman said.

"So he's just like you?" the Doctor said.

"He is superior. The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller," the Cyberman said.

We all turned as the sliding doors opened. Mr. Lumic – now as a Cyberman – rolled through them. He sat on an elaborate chair, covered with wires and tubes. "This is The Age of Steel and I am its Creator."

We could clearly hear the screams from the control room. The Doctor smirked, "That's my friends at work. Good boys! Mr Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will." He winked.

"I have factories waiting on seven continents," Lumic said. "If the ear-pods have failed, then Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world. I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace - and unity - and uniformity."

The Doctor frowned, "And imagination? What about that? The one thing that lead you here. Imagination - you're killing it, dead!"

"What is your name?" Lumic asked.

"I'm the Doctor," he said.

"A redundant title. Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken," Lumic said.

The Doctor stepped forward in his enthusiasm. "Yeah, but that's it! That's exactly the point!" He shook his head at Lumic. "Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man... I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room. But everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant. That is SO human. But once you get rid of sickness and mortality, then what's there to strive for? Eh? The Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop! You'll stay like this forever. A metal Earth with metal men and metal thoughts. Lacking the one thing that makes this planet so ALIVE. PEOPLE. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people."

"You are proud of your emotions?" Lumic asked.

"Oh, yes," the Doctor said.

"Then tell me, Doctor – have you known grief – and rage – and pain?"

The Doctor frowned. I could tell he was thinking of the Time War. "Yes. Yes, I have."

"And they hurt?" Lumic asked.

"Oh yes."

"I could set you free," Lumic said. "Would you not want that? A life without pain?"

I then spoke up, "A life without emotions means even though you get rid of all the bad. Everything good leaves with it. All your happiness and all your love, gone." The Doctor gave me a small smile.

"You might as well kill me," the Doctor said turning to Lumic.

"Then I take that option," Lumic said.

"It's not yours to take," the Doctor said. "You're a CYBER controller. You don't control me or anything with blood in its heart."

"You have no means of stopping me," Lumic said. "I have an army. A species of my own."

The Doctor put his face in his palm. Haha. He face palmed himself. "You just don't get it, do you? An army's NOTHING. 'Cos those ordinary people - they're the key." The Doctor glanced at the security camera. "The most ordinary person could change the world. Some ordinary man or woman... some idiot..." I smirked knowing right then that the Doctor was talking about Mickey. There's no one else he would call an 'idiot' like that. "All it takes is for him to find, say, the right numbers... say, the right codes... say, for for example, the code behind the emotional inhibitor. The code right in front of him. 'Cos even an idiot knows how to use computers these days. Knows how to get past firewalls and passwords... knows how to find something encrypted in the Lumic Family Database, under... what was it, Pete? Binary what?"

Pete, catching on that the Doctor was talking to Mickey or Jake, said loudly, "Binary 9."

"An IDIOT could find that code. The cancellation code. And he'd keep on typing. Keep on fighting." The Doctor looked meaningfully at the camera. "Anything to save his friends…"

"Your words are irrelevant," Lumic said.

The Doctor grinned, "Talk too much, that's my problem. Lucky I got you that cheap tariff, Faline. For all our long chats. On your PHONE." He gave another meaningful glance into the camera and did the 'phone' sign.

"You will be deleted," Lumic said.

The Doctor nodded, "Yes, delete, control, hash, all those lovely buttons. Then of course, my particular favourite - SEND. And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place." I felt my phone buzz in my pocket; I didn't have the ringer on that often. "By making every bit of technology compatible with everything else..." He moved around, staying by one particular computer.

I pulled my phone from its case, knowing the Doctor wouldn't need that. "For you," I told him, tossing him my phone.

The Doctor caught the phone, "Like this." He shoved the phone into the port. It fit perfectly! Thank god. All hell broke loose as the Cybermen began clutching their heads, moaning. The code flashed on every single computer screen. Cybermen, I'm sure all over the factory, began falling to the ground twitching, crying out, and clutching their metal skulls. "I'm sorry," the Doctor said.

Lumic was furious asked, "What have you done?"

"I gave them back their souls," the Doctor said pulling out my phone and putting it into his pocket. "They can see what you've done, Lumic! And it's killing them." The Doctor grabbed my hand as we ran from the control room followed by Rose and Pete.

"Delete! Delete! Delete!" Lumic growled as we ran.

The ground quaked as small explosions erupted all over the factory. The Doctor rushed forward, seeing as he had longer legs, and opened the door ahead. Wailing Cybermen blocked the way. The Doctor slammed the door shut. "There's no way out!" he said running back and grabbing my hand as we went the other way.

Rose's phone went off as we ran down the corridor. Rose pulled the phone to her ear before turning to us. "It's Mickey. He says 'head for the roof'." We turned to the right before running up a flight of stairs, trying to avoid the explosions and flames. Rose was the first to go up the ladder that led to the roof. I followed right after, with the Doctor right behind me and Pete behind me. When we made it to the top we could see a zeppelin hovering by the roof. "Mickey, where'd you learn to fly that thing?!" Rose asked.

We ran forward towards the zeppelin. Well, the Doctor pulled me forwards. I knew we were going to end up on that zeppelin and for the life of me I didn't want to go. However, the choice between falling off the zeppelin and dying alone on the Power Station rooftop in a fire-y explosion wasn't much of a choice. We moved to the edge of the rooftop, overlooking the building. A rope ladder fell from the zeppelin.

I clutched at the Doctor's shirt. "I cant," I whispered. The Doctor wrapped his arms around me as Rose began to climb the ladder. "Ten, please."

The Doctor kissed my forehead. "Together," he told me. He made me grab ahold first and was on, climbing upwards before joining me, grabbing me around the waist. We made our way up the rope ladder with me keeping one arm wrapped awkwardly around the ladder. The ladder swayed slightly as Pete climbed on behind causing me to stop moving completely. "Come on Faline," the Doctor said to me. "Keep going, I've got you." With that little bit of encouragement and the reminder that his arm was wrapped around my waist, I continued upwards.

Above us I could hear Rose cry out, "We did it! We did it!"

The ladder suddenly jerked downwards. I could see Rose nearly fall off before I closed my eyes, clutching the rope. When the Doctor moved beside me I opened my eyes to see him pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket with the hand that had been around my waist. The Doctor then shouted down to Pete. "Pete! Take this!" he dropped it into Pete's outstretched hand before wrapped his arm back around my waist. "Use it! Hold the button down! Press it against the rope - just do it!"

"Jackie Tyler - this is for her!" Pete said. He pressed the button down and held the sonic screwdriver against the rope ladder.

Lumic was getting closer and closer before it seamed like anything happened. But then the rope snapped and Lumic fell down to earth in slow motion screaming. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Pete laughed in delight. Lumic fell into the fames below. I stared for a moment before moving upwards with a slight nudge from the Doctor.

-x-x-x-

I followed the Doctor into the dark TARDIS, as he carried the glowing power cell. He put it in to place – and the TARDIS sprang to life. The lights all turned back on and she began to hum again. The Doctor and I looked at one another, smiling. While the Doctor was distracted checking over the TARDIS I noticed a small light blinking rapidly. I was about to tell the Doctor when a section opened showing a place to insert my iPhone. I put it inside, knowing that the TARDIS was trying to tell me something. The TARDIS took a few moments before spitting out my phone and another that looked almost the same; only this one was TARDIS blue. I looked through the blue one to see it was the same as my black one. I then looked through the black one only to see that all my information was gone other then the central code and some important phone numbers. I put both phones into my pocket as the Doctor came over and took my hand, leading the way back to the doors of the TARDIS. "Rose?" I called when we came outside. Pete and Rose stood not too far away.

The Doctor jogged over to them, tugging me along. "I've only got five minutes of power... we've gotta go."

Rose turned to Pete, continuing the conversation they were having. "The Doctor could show ya..."

"Thank you. For everything," Pete said.

Rose had tears in her eyes. She looked at him intensely. "Dad."

Pete shook his head. "Don't. Just—just don't." He walked away. The Doctor scratched the back of his neck, as he always did when things became uncomfortable.

Mickey and Jake came over. Mickey holding onto a bundle of something. "Here it is!" Mickey said. "I found it. Not a crease." It was then I realized we were all still in our uniforms. Well, I can say that I was a little too preoccupied to look at anyone's clothes.

The Doctor took it, overjoyed. Mickey also handed Rose and I our own clothes. "My suit! Good man! Now then, Jake - we've gotta run." I nudge the Doctor's side when he paused and he spoke again, remembering what we also wanted Jake to do. "But one more thing; Mrs. Moore. Her real name is Angela Price. She's got a husband out there. And children. Find them. Tell them how she died saving the world."

Jake nodded, "Yeah, course I will."

The Doctor smiled, "Off we go, then!"

"Uh…" Mickey said, "thing is, I'm staying."

The Doctor just stared at him. "Your doing what?"

Rose, who was already close to tears, "You can't."

Mickey's voice trembled as he said, "It sort of balances out, 'cos this world lost its Ricky. But there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there."

"But you cant stay," Rose said.

"Rose," Mickey said, "my gran's here. She's still alive. My old gran – remember her?"

Rose tried to hold back her tears. "Yeah."

"She NEEDS me."

"What about me?" Rose asked. "What if I need you?"

Mickey shook his head. "Rose, you haven't been in love with me for a while now. We had something a long time ago, but... not anymore."

At this point Rose was grasping at straws, "Well- we'll come back. We can travel anywhere, come and see you, yeah?"

Rose turned to the Doctor, who shook his head. "We can't. I told you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. We only got here by accident. We- we fell through a crack in time. When we leave... I've got to close it. We can't ever return." He looked at Mickey, as though asking him if this was what he really wanted. Rose looked defeated.

Mickey glanced at her, and then held his hand out for the Doctor. "Doctor," he said shaking his hand.

"Take Faline's phone," the Doctor said. "It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories." Mickey nodded. "And good luck. Mickey the Idiot." The Doctor slapped Mickey's cheek with a twinkle in his eye.

"Watch it!" Mickey said. The Doctor went back to the TARDIS and slipped inside.

I moved to Mickey handing him the black iPhone. Mickey took the phone and I wrapped my arms around him. "Don't loose touch with me Mickey. You might not have been the Doctor's companion, but you were mine."

Mickey hugged me back telling me, "Thank you."

I smiled and walked back to the TARDIS, going inside. The Doctor was there already to wrap his arms around my waist from behind. "You knew he was going to stay," he told me.

I nodded. "Yes. Though the only difference was that he was jealous of you and Rose."

The Doctor frowned, "Why?"

I smiled. "Because you were in love with her, or would have been, or will be."

There was a kiss placed on the side of my head. "Impossible," he whispered. "Your brilliant, no one can take your place." He turned me around in his arms and kissed me hard on the lips. My arms wrapped around his neck as one of his stayed on my waist with the other moving up into my hair.

The door began to open and the Doctor and I quickly moved apart. I skipped over to the console and began to fiddle with a bit of the TARDIS that lit up as soon as I came near. Rose came through the doors, practically sobbing. I moved from where I was over to Rose and just wrapped her into a hug as the Doctor began inputting our destination, knowing that Rose would want to return home to her mother.

"Just take me home," Rose whispered.

-x-x-x-

Rose was the first one out of the TARDIS. Meeting up with Jackie as she came rushing in from the kitchen. I could see from the console room. Really? We materialized in her living room? "You're alive…" Rose whispered. Jackie raised her eyebrows at the statement. "Oh, mum. You're alive." Rose flung her arms around her mother.

Jackie was clearly confused but hugged her daughter back nonetheless. "Well, I was the last time I looked..." The Doctor and I came out of the TARDIS, watching them. "What is it? What's happened, sweetheart?" Rose just clung to her mother tighter. Jackie looked to the Doctor and I. "What's wrong? Where did you go?"

"Far away," the Doctor said. "That was... far away."

"Where's Mickey?" Jackie asked.

"He's gone home," I said softly. Jackie turned her attention back to Rose and hugged her comfortingly.

END