Right, here we go again. I can't believe I'm almost finished this.
The Cyberman followed his gaze. A group of people dressed in black suits, wearing helmets and carrying guns appeared out of thin air. One of them shouted to the others and they shot at a row of Cybermen, immediately destroying them. The Doctor rolled out of the way and crouched in a corner of Yvonne's office as the last Cyberman had his head blown off. The man responsible spoke to the Doctor in a familiar voice. "Doctor - good to see you again." He took off his helmet. It was Jake. The Doctor's eyes widened.
"Jake?!" the Doctor said
"The Cybermen came through from one world to another - and so did we." he answered the unasked question. The Doctor stared at him, looking more concerned than pleased
--
A Cyberman dragged a struggling Jackie along, but let go of her as he spoke to one of his fellows. "Cyber Leader One has been terminated."
"Explain - download shared files." Jackie took this opportunity to sneak away
"I will be upgraded to Cyber Leader." Jackie ran down a back stair well as fast as she could.
--
"Defend this room." Jake said to his group "Chrissie, monitor communications." The Doctor put on his 3D glasses and used them to look at the group. "Kill one Cyber Leader and they just download into another. Move!" The ran from the room to do as they were told, which left the Doctor alone with Jake
"You can't just-- just-- just hop from one world to another." he said "You can't."
"We just did." Jake said "With these." He chucked the Doctor what looked like a large yellow button on a chain, to be worn around the neck.
"But that's impossible." the Doctor said "You can't have this sort of technology."
"We've got our own version of Torchwood." Jake said "They developed it. Do you wanna come and see?"
"No!" the Doctor said, but it was too late, Jake had already pressed the button and they both disappeared
They reappeared in the same room, except it's considerably darker and looked as though there had been a recent struggle. There were wires and pieces of equipment strewn all over the floor
"Parallel Earth - parallel Torchwood." Jake said "Except we found out what the institute was doing and the people's republic took control."
"I've gotta get back." the Doctor said "Rose is in danger. And her mother."
"That'd be Jackie." Pete said as he walked in with two soldiers. The Doctor looked up in surprise "My wife in a parallel universe. And as for you, Doctor, at least this time I know who you are."
"Right, yes, fine, hooray." the Doctor said as he ran over to him "But I've gotta get back. Right now."
"No, you're not in charge here." Pete said calmly "This is our world, not yours. And you're gonna listen for once. " The Doctor looked at him darkly but fell silent.
--
Whilst the Daleks were crowded around the Genesis Ark, Mickey showed Rose his own yellow button. "I could transport out of here, but it only carries one and I'm not leaving you." he said
"You'd follow me anywhere." Rose said "What did I do to you all those years ago?"
"Guess I'm just stupid."
"You're the bravest man I've ever met." Rose said as she squeezed his hand
"What about the Doctor?" he asked
"Oh, all right." she said "Bravest Human." they smiled
"Well, I can't think what the Daleks need with me." Mickey said "I'm nothing to them."
"You could be..." Rose started "whatever's inside that Ark is waking up and I've seen this happen before."
She remembered the first time she had met a Dalek "The first time I saw a Dalek, it was broken. It was dying. But I touched it. The moment I did that... I brought it back to life. As the Doctor said... when you travel in time in the TARDIS, you soak up all this... um... background radiation. It's harmless, it's just there. But in the Time War, the Daleks evolved so they could use it as a power supply."
"I love it when you talk technical." Mickey said
"Shut up." Rose said "If the Daleks have got something inside that thing that needs waking up..."
"They need you." Mickey surmised
"You've travelled in time - either one of us would do." Rose replied
"But why would they build something they can't open themselves?" Mickey asked
"The technology is stolen. The Ark is not of Dalek design."
"Then who built it?" Rose asked
"The Time Lords. This is all that survives of their Home World."
"What's inside?"
"The future." Rose stared at the Ark and the surrounding Daleks with fearful apprehension.
--
The Doctor was pressed up against the white expanse of wall in the parallel Torchwood, squinting as if trying to hear something. Pete stood behind him. "When you left this world, you warned us there'd be more Cybermen." Pete said "So we sealed them inside the factories." The Doctor stepped away form the wall.
"Except people argued." Jake said "Said they were living. We should help them."
"And the debate went on." Pete added "But all that time, the Cybermen made plans. Infiltrated this version of Torchwood, mapped themselves onto your world, and then vanished."
"When was this?" the Doctor said
"Three years ago." Pete answered. They walked back down the room
"It's taken them three years to cross the void, but we can pop to and fro in a second." the Doctor said "Must be the sheer mass of five million Cybermen crossing all at once."
"Yeah, Mickey said you'd rattle off that sort of stuff."
"Oh, where is the Mickey-boy?" the Doctor asked
"He went ahead first." Pete said "Any chance to go and find Miss Rose Tyler."
"She's your daughter." the Doctor said "You do know that? Did Mickey explain?"
"She's not mine." Pete said "She's the child of a dead man." Now they had reached the window and looked down at the scene below. "Look at it. A world of peace. They're calling this 'The Golden Age'."
"Who's the President now?" the Doctor asked
"A woman called Harriet Jones." Pete answered
"I'd keep an eye on her." the Doctor said
"But it's a lie." Pete said "Temperatures have risen by two degrees in the past six months. The ice caps are melting. They're saying all this is gonna be flooded. That's not just global warming, is it?"
"No."
"It's the breach." Pete continued"
"I've been trying to tell you - travel between parallel worlds is impossible." The Doctor said "Then the Daleks break down the walls with the sphere..."
"Daleks?" Pete asked
"Then the Cybermen travelled across, then you lot - those disks - every time you jump from one reality to another, you rip a hole in the universe." The Doctor continued as though he hadn't heard him "This planet is starting to boil. Keep going and BOTH worlds will fall into the Void."
"But you can stop it - the famous Doctor...?" Pete asked "You can seal the breach?"
"Leaving five million Cybermen stranded on my Earth."
"That's your problem." Pete said "I'm protecting this world, and this world only."
The Doctor laughed softly and looked his parallel father-in-law up and down "Hm... Pete Tyler... I knew you when you were dead. Now here you are, fighting the fight... alone..." He stepped closer "There is a chance... back on my world... Jackie Tyler might still be alive."
"My wife died." Pete said
"Her husband died." the Doctor said "Good match."
"There's more important things at stake." Pete said "Doctor...help us."
The Doctor backed away "What? Close the breach? Stop the Cybermen? Defeat the Daleks? Do you believe I can do that?"
"Yes." Pete said confidently
"Maybe that's all I need." the Doctor grinned "Off we go, then!"
The three of them reappeared in the Doctor's universe and the Doctor rushed to the phone "First of all, I need to make a phone call. You don't mind?"
"You two, guard to door." Jake said to the two soldiers who had also come with him. Pete watched the Doctor as he hurriedly dialed Jackie's number on the phone in Yvonne's office.
--
Jackie was running down the stairs when her phone rang. "Help me! Oh, my God, help me." she said
"Jackie, you're alive! Listen--" He shushed her as she screeched hysterically down the phone at him
"They tried to download me but I ran away!"
"Listen, tell me - where are you?" the Doctor asked
"I don't know! Staircase." Jackie answered
"Yeah, which one?" the Doctor asked "Is there any-- any sort of sign? Anything to identify it?"
"Yes!" Jackie said "A fire extinguisher!"
"Yeah, that helps..."
After a pause she said "Oh, wait a minute - it says 'N3'."
"North corner, staircase 3." the Doctor said "Just keep low, we're trying our best."
"No, don't leave me!" Jackie said quickly
"I've gotta go, I'm sorry." he put the phone down and turned to Pete "Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler."
"She's not my wife."
"I was at the wedding." the Doctor said accusingly "You got her name wrong." He went to Jake and took his gun from him "Now then, Jake-y boy, if I can open up the bonding chamber on this thing, it could work on polycarbide."
"What's polycarbide?"
"Skin of a Dalek." the Doctor answered
--
The Doctor attached a white sheet of A4 paper to a stick to make a flag and popped it around the corner and waved comically. The Doctor followed a few seconds later "Sorry." he said. The Cybermen spun around to look at him "No white flag. I only had a sheet of A4. Same difference."
"Do you surrender?"
The Doctor marched forward to meet the Cyberman "I surrender. Unto you." he said they were now nose to nose "A very good idea." He grinned.
--
The Daleks backed away from the Genesis Ark. "Final stage of awakening."
"Your handprint will open the Ark."
"Well tough, 'cos I'm not doing it." Rose said
"Obey or the male will die."
Rose moved towards the Ark "I can't let them." she told Mickey
"Rose, don't." Mickey said
"Place your hand upon the casket."
"All right!" she said and turned to the Ark "You're gonna kill us anyway, so what the hell?" she turned back to the Dalek trying to buy some time "If you um... escaped the Time War... don't you want to know what happened?" she asked standing in front of it
"Place your hand--"
"What happened to the Emperor?" Rose asked
"The Emperor survived."
"'Til he met me... 'cos if these are gonna be my last words, then you're gonna listen." she said "I met the Emperor. And I took the Time Vortex and I pulled it into his head and turned him into dust. Do you get that? The God of all Daleks... and I destroyed him." she smiled and then laughed
"You will be EXTERMINATED!"
"Oh now, hold on, wait a minute." the Doctor said from the doorway
"Alert, alert - you are the Doctor." Rose smiled as the Doctor sauntered into the room wearing his 3D glasses again
"Sensors report he is unarmed."
"That's me." the Doctor said lightly "Always."
"Then you are powerless."
"Not me." he said as he took off the 3D specs "Never." He turned to Rose "How are you?" he asked
Rose grinned at him "Oh, same old, you know."
"Good! And Mickity-McMickey!" the two men bash fists "Nice to see ya!"
"And you, boss." Mickey said genuinely
"Social interaction will cease!"
"How did you survive the Time War?"
"By fighting." the Doctor said "On the front line." Mickey turned, as if maybe this was the first time he's heard of this. "I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that. But you lot - ran away!"
"We had to survive."
"The last four Daleks in existence." the Doctor said "So what's so special about you?"
"Doctor, they've got names." Rose said in a low voice "And Daleks don't have names, do they? One of them said they--"
"I am Dalek Thay."
"Dalek Sek."
"Dalek Jast."
"Dalek Caan."
"So that's it!" the Doctor said delightedly "At last... the Cult of Skaro. I thought you were just a legend."
"Who are they?" Rose asked her husband
"A secret order." he answered "Above and beyond the Emperor himself. Their job was to imagine. Think as the enemy thinks. Even dared to have names." he paused "All to find new ways of killing."
"But that thing, they said it was yours." Mickey said, gesturing to the Ark "I mean, Time Lords. They built it. What does it do?"
The Doctor looked at it "I don't know." he answered "Never seen it before."
Right, that's this part done. I know that probably wasn't the best of places to stop, but on the bright side, since I've got this all ready you won't have to wait very long for the next chapter, unless the internet decides to stop working again.
TTFN
Julie.