So inspiration came and met me and we collided together. And There we have the End of Doomsday. Honestly, there's gonna be an epilogue and then S3, I believe (dunno when tho) but yeh. The main part is done! Now... I'd really like to selfishly ask for you to leave me your thoughts, any. If you hadn't reviewed till now, do so for me this once. It IS Doomsday's end after all.
Thank you for your amazing support, people!
P.s. my heart was still breaking when rewatching the episodes of Doomsday.
Doomsday End
Cybermen.
The Doctor thought he could get rid of them this time round, but logically he knew that there was ever only a one way out of this. He might be a Lord of Time but he was no God. The universe was that much stronger than him…
With gritted teeth he watched everything unfold.
A Cyberman leader, which the Doctor deducted to be, suddenly approached Yvonne, who was back sitting at her desk. This woman just wasn't learning. Couldn't she see the universes collapsing? No, suppose not. That thick human brain was just that… too thick.
"You will talk to your central world authority and order global surrender," it announced.
She had the gals to scoff at a Cyberman. Well, he should give her that. Ignorance was her bliss.
"Oh, do some research. We haven't GOT a central world authority."
"You have now. I will speak on all global wavelengths."
The Doctor had a wrinkled line in his forehead, lost in thought. He could hear Jackie sniffing somewhere in the background but he had no time for this now. Mickey could do the comforting bit. Speaking of Mickey… that was a whole new level of weird happening in this new universe. This new timeline was becoming way too unpredictable. The fact which scared the Doctor to the core. The only thing they had left.
Prediction.
Yet everything they did til now went out of the window.
"This broadcast is for human kind," a Cyberman announced and suddenly there was a live show of Cybermen, talking to people on Earth. Telling them to willingly become identical to their own race. No, that was no talking. It was demanding. A demand for surrender.
But those same people, those amazingly human people, who had no means or strength to go against Cyberman, oh they were fighting. Cybermen barged inside people's homes, took their children hostage – of course they wouldn't go without a fight.
They were humans. The very race the Doctor adored most.
"I ordered surrender," a Cybermen said, as if unable to believe what was happening outside the Torchwood Tower. A war with humans.
"And they're not listening!" the Doctor said in fury, dangerous glint forming in his eyes. Oh how they would pay. He would make sure of that. He wouldn't be the Doctor if he just let this pass. "You've declared war against humankind. And take that from me. You just made your biggest mistake of your stagnant metal life."
"Are you threatening the Cybermen?"
"Oh I don't have to. Those people you're fighting, are so much stronger than you could ever imagine. And you know why? Because the very thing for that, imagination, it was stripped away from you together with your emotions."
The Cyberman stared at him, unmoving. Unblinking also, mind you, they had no eyelashes... not that they needed them.
"We are superior. Emotions are not necessary," it said and walked off, making further orders for the Cybermen to work on.
"It wasn't exactly smart to taunt Cybermen, was it?" Mickey asked, coming to stand by the Doctor's side. The Doctor himself stared after the retreating back of the Cyberman and heaved a defeated sigh.
"No, it wasn't," he agreed.
"Did that help?"
"Yes."
Mickey had a knowing grin on his face.
"Never mind that," Jackie said from the side, her one hand clutching the phone in death grip. "Rose's not answering her phone."
And suddenly everyone were looking at her, unable to say a word of what it might mean for Rose. A demise in battle? The end of journey?
The Doctor's eyes followed towards the monitor who was still blinking the eerie red sign of the "sphere activated", staring at it in unmoving silence. But Jackie wasn't done. Her breath picked up with her distress as her worries gripped everyone's fears as well.
"If Mickey is not out there then that means Rose is out there on her own with Daleks. What's happened to her? Is she dead?" she asked tearfully and the Doctor found himself answering her calmly. Where did this sudden calm come from? Somehow in the back of his mind he could feel it...
"Calm down, Jackie. Keep it together. She pulled through it before."
"How can you take her safety so easily?" she protested with accusation clear in her voice. It was her daughter, of course she would feel like that. But she was so so wrong if she thought even for a second that he would willingly risk anything to happen to her.
"I'm not taking her safety easily, Jackie!" he bit back through gritted teeth, while trying to not involve Cybermen in this conversation. "There's nothing on this Earth that could stop me from doing everything in my power to keep her safe. But there's only one reason why I agreed for her to be part of all this."
Jackie stared at him with blood-shed eyes, daring him.
"And what's that, then?"
And then it was clear, the sudden calmness of his hearts, the conviction that everything would turn out right. The reason he was still fighting with unwavering strength. He knew the answer all too well, way before he actually had to address it down the pit of something that should have been impossible to exist. Out of every God or Demon he had seen, out of every battle he might still witness, if there was one thing he was sure of. Just one thing.
"I believe in her."
"Daleks!"
Rose's shout rang out through everyone's ears, freezing the descended daleks on the spot. They camera-eyes were aimed directly at Rose, observing her.
"I know your name," she began. And with a reminder of her past memories, took off her lab coat, slamming it on the floor for show. "Think about it - how can I know that?" she intrigued, holding her eye contact with them. "A Human... who knows about the Daleks. And the Time War. If you wanna know how, then keep us alive. That's all I'm asking. Me and my friend."
"Yeh. Daleks and Time War. Me too," Rajesh added from the side, choosing to go for her plan. The Daleks' eye-piece swiveled around to look at him. The man froze on spot, not daring to make a hasty movement. Probably smart, that. Then the Daleks' swirled back to Rose, breaking the intense moment.
If only.
"THE-DALEKS-DO-NOT-NEGOTIATE-WITH-INFERIOR-LIFE-FORMS. ONLY-ONE-OF-YOU-WILL-BE-NECESSARY," it announced, gaining a disapproving frown from Rose.
"Yeh, that's not happening."
"DESIGNATE-THE-LEAST-IMPORTANT," Dalek Sek cried with a shrill in its voice.
"This is my responsibility," Rajesh said and came to stand before the Daleks. Rose could feel her blood freezing and boiling in the span of seconds. How is this all happening again?
"No, don't!" She tried to grab for him but he was already surrounded by the four Daleks.
"I er - I represent the Torchwood Institute. Anything you need, you... come through me. Leave her alone."
"YOU-WILL-KNEEL."
The man furrowed his brows in confusion.
"What for?"
"KNEEL," Dalek sek repeated, his whole frame shaking.
Thinking he had no choice, Rajesh proceeded to do what he was being told, but before his knees could reach the ground, Rose grabbed onto his forearm, bringing him back on feet.
"No. Don't you dare kneeling for them." She stared at the Daleks right into their eye-pieces, her eyes unwavering. No way they were having their way.
"But they said-„
"Never mind that," she cut him off. "If you kneel - you die. They'll try to get information directly from your head. Sucking it in." She gestured lightly with her hand, Rajesh's face loosing color.
"Oh my God."
"Isn't that right, Daleks?" she addressed them, standing tall before them.
"EXPLAIN-YOUR-KNOWLEDGE-OF-THIS," Dalek Sek asked with a cry.
Rose raised her head a little bit higher, making her own muscles relax to appear nonchalant as she spoke with a casual authority. A good imitation of the Doctor, she supposed.
"Well, if you must know... I know a lot more than this. I've seen the future. For example... what happened to the Emperor?"
"THE-EMPEROR-SURVIVED," Dalek Sek said, every other Dalek remaining unmoving in the background.
Rose stared him down.
"'Til he met me... I met the Emperor. And I took the Time Vortex and I pulled it into his head and turned him into dust. With a wave of my hand," she added for good measure and wiggled her fingers slightly to imitate. "Do you get that? The God of all Daleks... and I destroyed him," she said proudly.
"YOU-WILL-BE-EXTERMINATED!" Dalek Sek cried in furry, just about to advance on her. But Rose took a step further towards them, instead of backwards, momentary confusing Daleks.
"But you don't really care about the Emperor, do you?" she asked with a glint in her eyes. "You're a secret order. Above and beyond the Emperor himself. Each one of you having a name of your own."
The Daleks stood frozen in place as Rose advanced further. Step by step.
"Daleks with names," she taunted them and then turned to each one of them. "Dalek Thay. Dalek Sek. Dalek Jast. Dalek Caan. The cult of Scaro!" she exclaimed with passion, making the Daleks roll backwards from the sheer force of her words. The sudden predatory grin on her face, didn't sit well with them either.
"D'you really wanna know what happens to you lot?" she asked casually while raising her hand in the air, wiggling her fingers slightly.
The daleks rolled backwards, hitting the wall behind them.
"Now you're scared."
"So what's the idea with this golden sphere, then?" the Doctor addressed one of the Cyberman as it passed by.
It stopped moving and turned towards the Doctor.
"The sphere is not ours."
The Doctor pressed his lips together with a nod.
"Whose is it, then?" he asked with interest.
"Its origin is unknown. The sphere broke down the barriers between worlds. We only followed."
"So you don't know," the Doctor exhaled, a faraway look on his face. "I thought you knew everything. But... never mind. Sorry, my mistake. Even for you lot some things are just tooo far out of reach," he continued taunting him, Jackie and Mickey watching him from the sidelines like he had lost his mind.
"The Cybermen control everything that's happening on Earth."
"Well... yeh, probably. Most definitely. But you still don't know what's down in that sphere." The Doctor looked at him with pity and understanding. He waited till the staring contest with the Cyberman ended and then watched how it pushed on its chest.
"What are the results of sphere scanning?"
"Scans detect unknown technology active within sphere chamber," an equally metallic voice reached inside the Rift Chamber. The rest followed suit.
"Cybermen will investigate."
"Units 10 65 and 10 66 will investigate sphere chamber."
"We obey."
The Cyberman the Doctor was conversing with marched away while the Doctor waved at him in parting.
Mickey came to stand beside him, hands crossed against his chest.
"Did you just bait Cybermen?"
"Yeeep," the Doctor agreed in a casual voice, popping the p.
Mickey watched a group of Cybermen marching out of the office area and couldn't help a grin forming onto his face.
"Knew you were good."
Just as with the Cybermen, the Daleks also felt a need to investigate after Rose subtly hinted them that the Earth was at war. They sent Dalek Thay as their representative, and soon a pair of visuals appeared in each chamber. One showing the Dalek's Thay perspective, another of the group of Cybermen.
Both species rounded a corner and came to a sudden stop, finally seeing each other for the first time.
"IDENTIFY-YOURSELVES," Dalek Thay started first.
"You will identify first," the Cybermen shot back, equally stubborn.
"STATE-YOUR-IDENTITY!"
"You will identify first."
"IDENTIFY!"
"It's like Stephen Hawkins meets the Speaking Clock," Mickey couldn't help commenting, the Doctor quirked the corner of his mouth while Jackie spared them both a hateful look.
"You're both mad," she hissed, her voice still slightly shaky.
"... illogical, you will modify."
"DALEKS-DO-NOT-TAKE-ORDERS."
"Youhave identified as Daleks."
"OUTLINE-RESEMBLES-THE-INFERIOR-SPECIES-KNOWS-AS-CYBERMEN."
It all ended, or one could argue 'started' with the Daleks killing a group of Cybermen, with little effort from themselves. The Cybermen tried to offer an alliance, but their answer was death fat no.
In the projection screen, the Cyberman addressed the Daleks.
"Daleks, be warned: you have declared war upon the Cybermen."
"THIS-IS-NOT-WAR-THIS-IS-PEST-CONTROL."
"We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?"
"FOUR," Dalek Sek announced, not in the least worried about that.
"Youwould destroy the Cybermen with FOUR Daleks?!"
"WE-WOULD-DESTROY-THE-CYBERMEN-WITH-ONE-DALEK," it shot back. "YOU-ARE-SUPERIOR-IN-ONLY-ONE-RESPECT."
"What is that?"
"YOU-ARE-BETTER-AT-DYING-RAISE-COMMUNICATIONS-BARIER!" Dalek Sek cried and suddenly Rose could spot the Doctor passing through the screen, a tilt of his head making her wonder if he wasn't deliberately letting himself be seen. A full blown grin formed on her face at finally seeing his face.
The screen went static.
"WAIT!" Dalek Sek suddenly cried, and Rose had to bit her lip, knowing what was coming next.
"REWING-IMAGE-BY-NINE-RELLS. IDENTIFY-GRID-SEVEN-GAMMA-FRAME."
Suddenly the Doctor in all his pinstriped glory was back on the screen, in the background of the talking Cyberman.
"THIS-MALE-REGISTERS-AS-ENEMY," Dalek Jast announced, finally making an appearance. It then swirled around to Rose, spotting her beaming at the image of the man registering as an enemy. Rose shifted her eyes from the screen to dare the Daleks with a raised-eyebrow look.
"IDENTIFY-HIM," Dalek Sek cried.
"All right then... if you really wanna know... that's the Doctor," she said while looking them straight into their eye-pieces.
The Daleks rolled backwards sharply.
"I told you I came prepared," she said lightly, beaming at the sight.
The Doctor watched as the Cybermen leader started making orders of their upgrade. Suddenly the situation was getting a bit more out of control than he liked. Or ever wanted to be left in, really. He opened his mouth to delay them, but was cut off.
"Quarantine the Sphere Chamber. Start emergency upgrading. Begin with these personnel."
They started with taking Yvonne, who struggled and shouted as they were dragging her away. "No, you can't do this! We surrendered! We surrendered!"
Then they began to drag Jackie, Mickey and the Doctor away too.
"If only I had my gun with me. Without it, I'm useless." Mickey tried to struggle against the death grip of the Cybermen but it was useless.
"You said you had a plan!" Jackie shouted at the Doctor.
"Hold on a minute," the Doctor tried to take the Cybermen attention once again. "Just... just hold on a minute. There's no rush. Is there?" he tried to play it casual.
The Cybermen stopped for a moment, staring him down.
"Are you resisting the upgrade program?"
"Oh, I would never!" the Doctor cried out with conviction.
"Then proceed to the upgrade chamber," it said and started to once again drag the group of humans with them, but the Doctor wasn't nearly done. They might not have had the guns, but they always had one thing. The Doctor's gob.
"Oh, oh in a second! But there's one thing I'm missing here," he said with a wide-eyed look.
The Cybermen stopped once again. Oh the Doctor loved how he could get under their skin.
"What is that?"
The Doctor grinned, before answering them. "Hope."
"There's no hope for humankind. Everyone will be upgraded."
The next moment 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 and he could see Mickey cowering for Jackie while she yelled out in fear as the last Cyberman had his head blown off.
They Doctor couldn't be more happy at hearing the familiar voice.
He could come to like prediction. He thought… maybe…possibly not…not ever. Never mind.
"Doctor - good to see you again," Jake said with a big smile on his face.
The Doctor came to greet him from Yvonne's office, while also not forgetting to add. "See? Hope," he addressed the bits of the Cybermen at the floor. With a big inhale of air, he shifted his gaze, reaching Jake.
"Jake," he beamed at the lad.
Before he could say more, Mickey Smith rushed to his side. "Oh my God. Jake!"
The other man blinked in surprise at being enveloped in a hug.
"Mickey? I thought you were with Rose. And why did you leave your gun behind?"
"Oh, good. You have it," Mickey smiled at seeing his stuff back to where they belonged. By his side. Now he was ready for war. The Doctor watched him putting on a gun from the side with distaste.
"Defend this room. Chrissie, monitor communications," Jake ordered his group and everyone hurried from the room to do as they were told, leaving the group in the Rift Chamber.
"You're Jake," Jackie said with a frown on her face.
Jake blinked at the strange woman. "Sorry. I don't think I know you…" he trailed off.
"But you're Jake," Jackie protested until the Doctor pushed her aside with a soft whisper. "Wrong timeline. He doesn't know you yet."
Luckily before Jackie could say further, Jake addressed the Doctor once more.
"Doctor. We came to get you. Our side has their own Torchwood, except we found out what the institute was doing and the people's republic took control."
"Yeh, with dimension hoppers," the Doctor agreed.
"How..?" Jake trailed off in confusion but then shook himself out of it. "Never mind. You'll have to come with us." He took a yellow button device from his pocket and threw it at the Doctor, only to watch the Doctor dodge it. The device rolling down the room.
"Wha-? What're you doing?" Jake sputtered, uncomprehending while the Doctor stalked towards him.
"I don't have to go to Pete's World to know what's happening there. Now stop using that thing." He reached out for the device and harshly ripped it away from Jake's hands, pointing at the young man rudely. "You're breaking the universe apart."
Jake stared at him in stunned silence.
"But Pete Tyler sai-" he started protesting again but was shushed by the Doctor's finger.
"Mr. Pete Tyler can wait. Now, come on. We've got to get Rose."
Back in the Sphere room the doors opened up and Dalek Thay rolled inside, sealing the doors after itself.
"CYBER-THREAT-IRRELEVANT-CONCENTRATE-ON-THE-GENESIS-ARK."
"THE-DOCTOR-IS-OF-CONCERN," Dalek Caan shook with a cry.
"THE-DALEKS-WILL-NOT-FEAR!" Dalek Sek cried in protest. "THE-GENESIS-ARK-MUST-BE-PROTECTED-AT-ALL-COST."
Rose kept her attention on the Daleks as they struggled with their own internal war and fears. Fears, ha. Daleks fearing something. Now that was a sight to see. She grinned in the background while the Daleks prepared to do whatever they meant to the Genesis Ark.
"Not gonna work," she muttered quietly as the Daleks started to press their suction arms on the side of the stolen Time Lords' technology.
Rajesh watched everything play out in quiet. It was total madness, even for a scientist in an alien institute like him. He couldn't fathom, how could this ordinary girl show such strength in times like these? "Who are you?" he asked in wonder.
Rose grinned in return.
Meanwile, the Doctor's team were running through the infinite corridors of Toorchwood institute. Oh, he hated the word team...
They rounded the corner and the Doctor dug inside his pocket, rummaging through it until he pulled out what he needed. "Ha!"
"What's that thing, then?" Mickey asked, running just beside him.
"Aah! Here it is! Bubble gum. From Galaxy Norpherra. 57th century. Banana flavor. Marvelous! Want one?" He casually offered the thing in wrapped paper to Mickey, but just as he began to respond, the Doctor pulled away, unfolding the paper and throwing the gum inside his mouth. "Nope. Sorry. Had only one."
Mickey frowned at him in thought.
"What're you doing chewing on gum when the world is ending? Are you gonna fight with it or something?"
"Yuuup," the Doctor dragged out the word with a popped p at the end.
"What, really? But... like you said. It's a bubble gum. What could bubble gum possibly do?"
The Doctor turned towards Mickey and gave him the look like all the others he threw at Mickey such a long time ago. "Never underestimate something for harmless."
Just then Yvonne pushed through the doors at the end of the corridor, with Jake by her side, only to scream in terror as a lone Cyberman shot out a laser beam right at her. She slumped on the floor, dead.
The Doctor and everyone else stopped in their tracks, with a slight loss of breath when Jake took care of the Cyberman, its head exploding from the sheer power. Jackie yelped in the background while the Doctor stared at the woman on the ground with gritted teeth. She might not have been his most favourite person but they didn't have to kill her! He took a few calming breaths and abruptly turned to Jake then Mickey.
"Jake, take Jackie out of here."
"What about you?" Jake asked in concern but the Doctor only dismissed him.
"I'll be fine. Mickey, I've got you an important job."
He turned to face Mickey, an intense look on his face.
"What is it, boss?"
"Go get us two magnaclamps from the storage room."
Mickey frowned a little in thought until it downed on him.
"Those things you used to attach yourself to the wall?"
"Yeh, those," the Doctor agreed quickly.
"So you're still sending the Daleks and Cybermen to hell, then?" Mickey asked him and the Doctor only had one answer to that.
"Oh, yes."
Rose stared down at the Daleks backing away from the Genesis Ark. Now for the main course.
"FINAL-STAGE-OF-AWAKENING," Dalek Caan cried out.
"YOUR-HANDPRINT-WILL-OPEN-THE-ARK," Dalek Sek addressed Rose, moving towards her. All the fear of her gone. She frowned in slight worry. She played all her hands already. Still, she wasn't Rose Tyler for nothing.
"Well tough, 'cos I'm not doing it," she shot back stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"OBEY-OR-THE-MALE-WILL-DIE," Dalek Sek cried with a shake of his metal casket.
Rose stared at him in the eye-piece, trying to find a loophole out of this but the Dalek was unmoving, as the cold lump of metal it was. She sighed in defeat and rounded a circle against the Daleks.
"PLACE-YOUR-HAND-UPON-THE-CASKET," Dalek Sek ordered.
"What happens when they open it?" Rajesh asked from the side.
"You don't wanna know," Rose muttered under her breath.
"PLACE-YOUR-" Dalek Sek started saying again but Rose cut him off.
"All right!" she exclaimed in frustration. She stopped by the Ark, staring at it. No way. There was no way in the universe she was opening that thing. She exhaled a breath.
"PLACE-YOUR-HAND-" Dalek Sek began once more but then stopped abruptly when Rose lifted her arms in the air, eyes closed.
One beat.
Two beats.
There was a silence, when nothing happened. What was worse, though, was that there was no sound of the Daleks 'rolling away'. Rose peeked from her closed eyes only to find herself still in a perfect circle, the Daleks staring at her.
"All right." Her hands fell back towards her sides. With a grave voice, she addressed them quietly. "I can't let you open it. You'll have to kill me first." She looked at them, her body betraying her as suddenly fear started to overtake her. The Daleks advanced on her, Dalek Sek pointing its eye-piece towards her.
"YOU-WILL-BE-EXTERMINATED!"
Rose closed her eyes tightly shut, waiting for it to happen when suddenly a very familiar voice reached out from the doorway.
"Oh now, hold on, wait a minute."
Rose opened her eyes in flourish and whipped her head just to find the Doctor casually coming into the room, his mouth chewing on the gum, not even trying to hide the fact. Rose was just so happy to see him, beaming at him with delight, so put that thought to later.
"ALERT-ALERT-YOU-ARE-THE-DOCTOR," Dalek Sek rolled forward to meet the man.
"SENSORS-REPORT-HE-IS-UNARMED," Dalek Thay announced.
"That's me. Always," The Doctor agreed lightly.
"YOU-WILL-FREEZE. IDENTIFY-THE-MATERIAL-ON-YOUR-MUSCULAR-HYDROSTAT," Dalek Sek cried out.
The Doctor frowned in confusion. "What, thisss?" He poked his tongue out briskly, pink gum on the tip of it, and then pulled it back in his mouth. "It's a bubble gum! Haven't you tried it before? No. I suppose you didn't. Living in a metal casket your whole life would make it a bit difficult," the Doctor conversed while casually walking around the Daleks, his hands in his pockets. He then walked over to Rose, greeting her with a smile.
"How are you?"
Rose grinned at him in return, just so happy to see him. She could kiss him now, if… you know, Daleks.
"Oh you know, same old. Just having a chat with the Daleks."
They both exhaled a short laugh.
Rose's face then sobered. "Doctor, Mickey is not out here. I dunno where he is."
"Oh, no, don't worry. He's safe. With me," he assured her with a smile.
Rose frowned in confusion. "Wha-? You mean parallel him?"
The Doctor sniffed. "Oh yes, both of them, actually."
"Wha-?"
"SOCIAL-INTERACTION-WILL-CEASE!" Dalek Sek cried out.
"IDENTIFY-THE-MATERIAL-IN-YOUR-MUSCULAR-HYDROST!" Dalek Thay demanded from the side.
"I told you! It's a bubble gum!" the Doctor cried out, clear exasperation in his voice.
"IT-IS-HARMLESS," Dalek Sek stated.
"Yeeh, doesn't kill, doesn't wound," the Doctor agreed nonchalantly. "Same as this other thing I have." He struck his hand in his pocket only to retrieve the sonic screwdriver, tossing it between his fingers.
"YOU-PRESENT-US-ANOTHER-HARMLESS-MATERIAL," Dalek Sek announced.
"Oh, I'm full of them," the Doctor said with pride and pressed on the button of his sonic screwdriver.
Immediately, the doors exploded inwards. Jake, his men, and the Cybermen lept into action, firing their guns at the Daleks.
"Oh! You lot, you'd follow me anywhere," he commented lightly while watching the Cybermen firing at the Daleks.
"Delete! Delete! Delete! Delete!"
"ALERT!-CASING-IMPACT-CASING-IMPACT"
The Doctor, using the moment of distraction, spit the gum on the Genesis Ark. When it reached the surface of the Ark, it melted inside the Ark and suddenly the whole thing started to spark in blue lighting. Rose stared at it in awe and confusion, not yet understanding what was being done.
The Daleks and Cybermen were still too preoccupied in firing at each other so the Doctor and Rose had to flung themselves to the ground, while trying to avoid being caught in the chaos.
"Come on, we've gotta move," he told her and took her hand in his, dragging her out of the room after him. Rose stopped for a moment, when she remembered Rajesh, but when she turned he was already laying on the floor, unmoving. She grimaced at the sight. The Doctor noticing this, pulled her closer to him and urged her to move. "Come on."
"FIRE-POWER-INSUFFICIENT!-FIRE-POWER-INSUFFICIENT!" the Dalek cried in the background while the two stumbled away out in the corridor, breathing heavily.
When Rose spotted her mother outside, cowering behind one of Jake's men, she quickly made her way to her, embracing her tightly. "Mum!"
"Oh, Rose. You're safe!"
After restoring its power the Dalek then fired once at a Cyberman, immediately destroying it. Jake came rushing in through the doors, but Mickey was still struggling to maneuver between the Cybermen.
"Watch your footing!" the Doctor called out for him from the doorway just as Mickey managed to right himself, and reached the others.
"CYBERMEN-PRIMARY-TARGET," Dalek Sek stated from the inside.
Just as the rest of Jake's men managed to slip through the door, it closed, the Doctor sealing both the Daleks and the Cybermen inside.
Everyone barely managed to spare a breath for themselves before the Doctor urged everyone to follow after him.
"What was that thing? What did you do?" Mickey asked, breathless by his side.
"I activated a magnetic field around the Genesis Arc. A permanent lock to the prison. They'll never open that thing," he said with a certain finality in his words and turned to look at Rose, sharing an enthusiastic grin with her. Rose squeezed his forearm from sheer glee.
"No way! It's brilliant!"
"Yep. But we've got to hurry up. They won't be very happy about this." He shared a meaningful look with her while he could imagine himself hearing the cries of the Daleks.
"THE-GENESIS-ARC-HAS-BEEN-COMPROMISED-THE-DOCTOR-MUST-BE-EXTERMINATED!"
Their quite big in quantity group of people ran through the N3 corridors, the path the Doctor could recognise at least. Mickey had his gun ready in case anything were to appear. Jake and his team on the other side. They were most definitely prepared what's to come.
But that's not right, is it?
When Mr. Pete Tyler suddenly appeared out of thin air before the very group, it was a lucky chance he hadn't gotten himself shot dead on the spot.
"Pete!?" the Doctor shouted out in question.
"It's good to finally see you again, Doctor," the man said, one hand holding a massive gun.
"What're you doing here?" the Doctor asked, still uncomprehending how everyone were just appearing out of nowhere. What was wrong with this timeline?
"My team wasn't coming back. I had to go check," Pete shrugged slightly but then his eyes fell upon one blonde in the group. She had an equally surprised look on her face, but it soon morphed into a gleeful one.
"Pete!" she yelled out for him and ran forward.
Mr. Tyler blinked in surprise. "Jackie?"
Before he could any more the woman launched herself at him, stunning the poor man on the spot as he could only submit to Jackie's onslaught. When they parted, Pete had a slightly dazed look.
"What was that for?"
"I was happy to see you, of course." She beamed at him, but by then Pete's face had changed into an uncomfortable one.
"Jackie... uh, the thing is, I'm not your husband."
"Of course you are," Jackie said with vigor.
"No, Jackie. You don't understand-" he began to say again in desperation but then had to blink at the Doctor who suddenly appeared by the pair's side.
"Yeeh. Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt your happy reunion but if we don't go now, they'll catch us. So, let me do the introductions. Jackie – parallel Pete. Pete – parallel Jackie." He indicated comically to both. "Now then, allons-y!" he yelled out and everyone were running again.
The whole building was in a state of chaos.
Just a few corridors away, the Daleks burst through the doors of the factory floor to meet rows of Cybermen.
"EXTERMINATE!"
"Delete!"
The two species continued to fire at each other time and time again. But one side was so much more at an disadvantage. The Cybermen's rays bounced off the Dalek's armour, the Dalek's exterminator beams just that bit more effective. Cries of 'delete!' and 'exterminate!' filled the air, along with the shouts of the surrounding soldiers who were shooting at both parties.
"THE-DOCTOR-MUST-BE-FOUND!" the Daleks cried while the Cybermen were starting to unite themselves against the Daleks, all coming in to Torchwood One.
Everyone burst through the black doors leading to the Rift Chamber just as Mickey came rushing in from another corridor, holding the two magnaclamps. The Doctor beamed at him in pride.
"Doctor! I got you these!"
"Good, man! Seal the doors!" he yelled out to the black-suited men, while he ran further into the room just to abruptly stop, facing the main group of his friends.
"Now you lot. I have a preposition for you."
He grinned at the dumbstruck faces.
"LIFE-FORMS-DETECTED-ON-THE-TOP-FLOOR," Dalek Thay shook as it spoke.
"INSTIGATE-LEVITATION," Dalek Sek ordered.
"This world's gonna crash and burn. There's nothing we can do. We've to go back to our world. It's safe there. As long as the Doctor closes the breach. Doctor?" Pete asked from his place by the window.
"Oh, I'm ready. I've got the equipment right here," the Doctor said with a grin, dashing to the computer to check the last bits of information he needed. "Slam it down and close off both universes."
"Reboot systems," the computer announced.
"Yeh, but we're not leaving, are we?" Rose asked in a wary voice, staring at the back of the Doctor's head.
"We have to," Pete told her in regretful voice. "With all the Cybermen out there-„
"But that's it!" the Doctor announced in flourish, suddenly wearing a pair of very familiar looking glasses. "They're part of the problem. And THAT makes them part of the solution. Pete."
He tossed the glasses to Pete, the man catching them with a confused look on his face.
"What are these for?"
"Put then on. Come on," the Doctor urged him, until the man finally complied.
"See that?" He dodged about so Pete could see, with the aid of the glasses, that he was surrounded by floating green and red particles.
"What is that stuff?"
"Void stuff!" Rose answered with a grin of her own.
"The Daleks lived inside the Void. That's the dead space between the worlds, by the way," the Doctor added as an afterthought. "Anyway... Cybermen are bristling with void stuff. Daleks - all of them. I just open the Void - end of verse. The Void stuff gets sucked back inside," he ended enthusiastically.
"PULLING them all in," Rose seconded him just as enthusiastic.
"Pulling them all in!"
The two sharing a look.
"Yeh, sending the Daleks and Cybermen to Hell," Mickey added in, smiling all the same.
The Doctor walked back to stand by the group.
"And then – we close it. Done. Kaput. All Cybermen and Daleks tucked safely inside the void. This world safe."
His enthusiasm seemed to be lost on Pete, because the man only stared at him with uncertainty. The Doctor's smile diminished a little.
"You said you had a preposition. Or was that it?"
The Doctor's eyes widened as if only now remembering.
"Oh! No no no. Sorry. Right. I meant to say... I can reroute your dimension hoppers so you would get back right inside the TARDIS. Now."
Rose turned her head briskly at hearing the Doctor say that. It was the first time she was hearing any of this.
"How would you do that?" Pete asked in wonder.
"Well," the Doctor scratched the back of his head, looking a little uncomfortable. "I took some particles from my ship... there's really no time for that now." He quickly dismissed it with his hand.
"So we could stay here? On this side?" Jackie asked, her voice sounding hopeful for once.
"Yep. But I..." the Doctor began but then glanced at Rose, who was looking at him with those hazel eyes of hers, waiting, and he knew he had just lost his last chance at sending her away. "We will be sealing the breach from this side. You won't be able to get back to Pete's World after that."
The Doctor smiled in encouragement, because clearly gaining a wife back had to be way more rewarding than the price of it. What he didn't expect was that it was all starting to be too much for Mr. Tyler. Somehow the man was on the verge of backing away.
"I can-I can't don't this right now."
Rose watched at the man, who she came to call her dad, with wide eyes. Jackie wasn't going down that easily, though.
"But you're my husband!"
"No, I'm not."
"But you are!" she insisted. "We've been through this before. Living in your world together."
Pete could only frown at her in confusion while the Doctor tried to somehow make them cut this short. Time wasn't exactly on their side right now.
"What're you talking about?" Pete asked.
"There're these memories of another life... the Doctor could give them to you." Jackie looked at the Doctor expectedly. The alien himself opened his mouth to reply, when Rose cut in, trying a gentle approach with Pete.
"It's like... parallel timeline. Where we lived through this before, just stayed on the other side. You've got those memories inside you. You could get them back."
"I..." Pete faltered, a wild, lost look in his eyes.
The Doctor stepped in.
"Except, it doesn't matter. Even if I did give you back your memories now, it'd take hours for them to fully subside inside your brain. That's why I did it days prior for you, Jackie. Now I've got nothing here. No synapses stimulating vial, no time. You've got to choose one of the two, Pete. And it's gotta be now."
"Now?" the man asked in bewilderment. "You want me to make my... lifetime decision in a minute?"
"We might not even have that," the Doctor said apologetically.
"Great. It's getting better and better." Pete turned around, his face in his hands.
The Doctor took a step to him.
"I'm sorry. But you've got to choose now. Once I access your dimension hopper, there won't be a turnover. Either you're going or I'm activating it."
The Doctor could really not understand what the problem was. If he was offered a second chance with his beloved (which, ironically, he was given) he would take it any day. Which… he did. Instead of pondering over useless things, Pete should just grab his woman and kiss her… urgh, now he was having visions of that. Better stop thinking about this. Jackie's voice ringing in his ears wasn't helping the situation either.
"Well, there's no choice here now, is there? What're you looking at? Press that bloody button and go. There's nothing keeping you here."
"Jacks, come on, don't be like that. You know that-"
"I don't bloody know anything! Not about you. I thought I did, but I was wrong. You know, my Pete might have not succeeded with all his daft schemes like you did, but at least he would never leave his family alone." She looked at him with all the betrayal she felt, making him see just what was he doing to her.
"How can you say that? Of course I want a family. With you. But all my life I only had Vitex. And now you want me to leave everything I ever had. I'd have nothing to give you."
"Oh, you daft man. I don't care if you're a millionaire or a shop assistant. I've lived a simple life for the last twenty years, I can live some more," she spoke softly with a smile on her face. The two gradually coming to stand up close.
"Then you're really alright with me going as I stand now?"
"Any chance you're gonna make up your minds today?" the Doctor called out with urgency. He checked the monitor, and the Cybermen were literally four floors down. Not to mention he had no idea where the revenge-searching Daleks were lurking about.
Luckily Jackie answered for all.
"Yeh, yeh, he's staying, all right. We all are."
"Good to hear that." Rose beamed in delight, just so happy to see her two parents together once again.
"Not everyone."
Rose turned around to look at Mickey in confusion. "Mickey?"
The Doctor inched closer, seeing where this would likely go.
"What do you mean?" Jackie asked, with the same confusion as Rose.
For a while it looked like Mickey would say something big and extraordinary but then his shoulders just slumped and he exhaled.
"My gran is still on the other side. She needs me."
Rose shook her head, a frown on her forehead. "But... you'd be on your own."
"That's all right. I've got Jake with me. It took us a while but we're friends now." He looked at the man in question and the two bumped fists together.
Rose still had a shocked expression on her face while the Doctor passed by her, squeezing her shoulder slightly in comfort and then addressed Mickey. "You're gonna be missed. Mickey the idiot." He tried to slap him affectionately on his cheek for old times' sake but Mickey successfully evaded him.
"Watch it," he chided with a smile. "I may take it once, but not twice."
The Doctor laughed softly in return, his eyes smiling. "Keep up the good work, Mickey the idiot."
Mickey smiled to him in return and went to face Rose who had a pained look on her face. "Rose."
She swallowed and looked up to him.
"Yeh."
"We've been through this before. Nothing new already." He joked lightly and Rose quirked the corner of her mouth. She nodded.
"Yeh."
"Come here," he urged her and the two met each other in a tight hug.
Mickey quickly embraced even Jackie and then just disappeared out of thin air.
Mickey Smith back to the parallel universe. Defender of the Earth.
Mickey, Pete and Jackie, Jake's team - everyone were gone back to where they were supposed to. That left the last two standing. The Doctor ran towards the computer as it flashed 'Reboot in 3 minutes'.
Finally reaching this point in time, he couldn't stop himself from moving. The urge to keep on moving was unbearable. If he stopped… he feared he would go mad.
"How long have we got?" she asked him and the Doctor's hearts nearly stopped beating from the sheer power those words held. It held everything for them that day. That fateful day when they lost each other, what they expected, forever. He swallowed, answering her in a tight voice. "About 2 minutes."
Rose exhaled a watery laugh and at once he whipped his head to look at her. He stared at her long and hard before he found himself asking one last time. "Rose, if you-"
"I'm not leaving you!" she shot back angrily, her voice holding on the conviction even more so than the last time. He nodded tightly at her and walked the last remaining space separating them. He took the dragon tail's ropes from his pocket and tied it strongly around each one of them. When he was done, he lifted his head to look at her in the eyes.
They looked at each other for a prolonged moment and the next found themselves in a tight embrace, clutching at each other like a lifeline. Rose sniffed into his shoulder and his grip on her only tightened.
"I don't wanna lose you again," she whispered brokenly.
He held onto her without answering, counting her breaths.
With a physical ache the two separated, the computer urging them on, the last remaining minute on their side.
His eyes found hers, holding onto their contact as his one hand brushed her hair out of her face. With a deep breath in, he cupped her cheeks, gazing at her with an unwavering stare. He opened his mouth and poured out everything, if it was his last chance to say it.
"I was always too late. Never telling what needed to be said. Just running and wasting time. And this time I might lose you again… but before that happens. I'll tell you this properly. Not as a delayed message or a reply. But something I always meant to tell you myself." He swallowed tightly before continuing.
"I love you, Rose Tyler. The one thing I could never regret doing."
A chocked sound escaped her lips as tears rolled down her face. "Quite right too."
He smiled sadly at the significance of all that were said today and bent down to capture her lips in one last attempt at desperation. He held onto her strongly, like willing the universe to dare to break them apart. It was urgent, fervent and heart-wrenching, not the kiss she ever deserved, but he supposed there was simply no other life for them.
Always running out of time.
He pulled apart from the kiss abruptly, sparing her one last glance, before rushing to take a magnaclamp into his grip and attaching it to the right side just as Rose rushed to join him on the opposite side.
They looked at each other for confirmation and both pressed the red buttons to activate the clamps.
"They're already here. Come on!" he yelled out when he saw the Daleks just outside the window. They ran towards the lever and simultaneously pulled them towards activation, his hearts beating erratically at the signs of wind reaching from the breach.
He cast a desperate glance at Rose just as her eyes found his and steeled his hearts to hold on. To hold on, until it was all over. One way or another.
They rushed towards the magnaclamps, clinging to them as the wind picked up and the three Daleks with the Genesis Ark went right through the window, straight towards the void.
More and more joined the first to go to the void, seconds later hundreds of Cybermen were being sucked in, without a chance of protest.
They held onto the magnaclamps as the pull got stronger and stronger, gripping them in death-white grips. The rushing bodies of Cybermen only increasing the struggle.
But they held on.
They held on strongly and when he would cast a glance at Rose he would see her holding on just as fiercely. And he started to hope. Letting himself feel that tad bit of hope in his life. Maybe this will work out?
Slowly, little by little, a smile started to creep on his face, Rose's face mirroring his. He looked at her and just thought they could do it. They could make this through.
And then a hole appeared in the universe.
In the middle of chaos that were Cybermen bodies, the Doctor could only watch in horror as a layer of universe ripped apart and through it went a Dalek on Rose's side, her face twisting into pure fright and disbelief. She cried out as it brushed her hand, and her grip slackened on the magnaclamp.
His hearts stopped for a moment.
He watched it in slow motion as Rose started to loose her grip on the magnaclamp, slipping by. He couldn't hear anything. Not the Cybermen screaming, not the rush of the void, he could only watch in terror as his second chance in life was slipping through his fingers once again.
The sudden noise that rang through his ears was nearly deafening and he only later realised that the sound came from him. "HOLD ON!" he yelled out, his voice and hearts breaking apart as Rose hang only by a string of rope, her body dangling in mid-air.
She struggled to keep her hold onto the rope, but it was no use. The pull was that much too strong.
And then he could see the rope starting to break down, little parts of it ripping and ripping. "HOLD ON!" he yelled out again, his hand reaching out for her uselessly.
It couldn't turn out like the last time. It couldn't. It just couldn't!
He cried out again in desperate attempt when he realised that this time there was no Pete Tyler to pull her from the void at the last minute.
The nightmare he had, was a warning for him. A warning he stupidly ignored for selfish reasons.
Rose's cry nearly broke him when he found her looking at him with all the regret she had. She was sorry for him while all he could do was plead for her to just hold on.
The wind pulled at her one time, two times more and then it finally snapped. The rope snapped, dragging Rose straight towards the end.
His mind short-circuited, unable to see anything properly but his very worst nightmare coming true. Rose being lost to him forever and at a fate worse than death. The ache in his chest was so strong that he only realised he had moved when he found his finger instinctively pressing on the sonic screwdriver, and the most wonderful sound in the universe surrounding the whole room.
Just as Rose was being pulled straight for the void, the TARDIS materialised around her, hiding her from the Doctor's view completely, making it unable to tell which way she went.
Moments later the breach was closed and he could only stare wide-eyed at the sight ahead, begging for all the universes that it had worked.
A familiar feeling of lightness and being carried away overwhelmed her. Suddenly all she could see was gold. Gold dust gathering around until she finally could feel her feet on a solid ground. She gasped, her lungs aching for oxygen as her eyes slowly started to focus. Slowly she could start to see and hear things and the familiar faces were looking at her in sheer shock and bewilderment.
She swallowed a big lump in her throat, gulping air when she finally could see. She was in the TARDIS.
She was in the TARDIS.
Her head whipped to the side – her mother, dad were standing there. They were here with her.
Somehow she had appeared in the TARDIS after nearly being pulled away into the void, the Doctor looking at her…
Her heart skipped a beat when her eyes followed the doors and the next moment she was running without looking back, opening the doors with sheer force.
He was just starting to regain the feeling of his legs, his both hearts still beating wildly in his rib cage when suddenly the doors to the TARDIS ripped wide open and he never thought he had seen a more beautiful sight ahead.
He stared at her tearful face, watching him in equal shock, not daring to believe. His legs started sending him towards her way before he realised what was happening but in a second he was running in a sprint, Rose dashing towards him all the same. By the time he reached her he was grinning so wide that he thought his face would split from the stretch. And then he really did reach her, gathering her in his arms as he swung her around, swirling in circles by the logic of physics that their fervent colliding of bodies created.
She clutched onto him with equal power, whispering words of promises that could finally be kept. And while he held her in his arms, one victorious thought repeated itself in his mind.
They made it. They really made it this time.
to be continued... in Epilogue of Doomsday.
And as I said, please do brush a review. It would mean a world to me.
I can't believe that I have finally written what I wanted to nearly 3 years back... talk about slow-circuit.
Can't believe I DID finish, tho. Well... almost.