"Stop the car!" Terry yelled.
Mrs. Moore quickly pulled to a stop and parked them on the corner of a random street. Terry was out the door the moment the van stopped moving and the Doctor was quick to follow her. Together, they stared at the crowds of people who walked like zombies through the streets, their steps in perfect sync, everyone unblinking and all headed in the same direction.
"What the hell?" Jake breathed as he and the rest came up behind the Time Lords and stared at the same sight in mixed shock and horror.
"What's going on?" Rose asked, unable to believe her eyes. The Doctor's eyes locked in on the ear pods that everyone wore which were emitting steady blue blinks.
"It's the ear pods. Lumic's taken control."
"Can't we just, I don't know, take them off?" Rose pointed out, reaching for a nearby person's ears.
The Doctor stopped her quickly, warning her sharply, "Don't! Cause a brainstorm."
Rose looked around helplessly while the Doctor muttered half to himself, "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."
"Not true - there's always at least one human ready to stand up against those who try and take control." Terry disagreed.
As if to prove her point, Jake suddenly called from where he and Ricky had gone ahead to scout around the nearest corner.
"Hey, Come and see."
The four friends and Pete hurried over to join Ricky and Jake in watching as people marched out of their own houses and joined a squad of Cybermen who led the way down the street.
"Where are they all going?" Rose wondered.
"Lumic's base of operations." Terry answered promptly and Pete breathed in realization.
"Battersea. That's where he was building his prototypes."
Rose frowned. "Why's he doing it?"
"He's dying." Pete answered shortly. "This all started out as a way of prolonging life, of keeping the brain alive at any cost."
He nodded sadly at the scene they were witnessing but Rose's frown deepened.
"The thing is, I've seen Cybermen before, haven't I?" She glanced at the Doctor questiongly. "The head. Those handle shapes in Van Statten's museum."
"Ah, there are Cybermen in our universe." The Doctor explained grimly. "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."
"You're being a bit loose talking about our world versus this one with this other lot around." Terry observed. The Doctor shrugged in response to her mental words while Pete's brows puckered in confusion as he looked from the Doctor to Rose.
"What the hell are you two on about?"
Rose jumped, realizing their slip-up while Terry eyed the Doctor shrewdly.
"You're doing this on purpose… You want Pete to notice." Terry said accusingly and the Doctor glanced at her.
"It's better he does and that he draws a firm line between himself and Rose since she clearly won't do it." He answered. "You know as well as I do that she can't form attachments here."
Terry did know… and for once, she knew far more than the Doctor on the matter. But she said no more as Ricky interjected sharply, "Come on, we need to get out of the city."
The sound of marching caused them to turn to see another squadron of Cybermen coming around the corner at the far end of the street they were currently on. Ricky instantly took charge as he ordered, "Okay, split up. Mrs Moore, you look after that bloke."
He pointed at Pete before turning to his friend as he instructed, "Jake, distract them. Go right, I'll go left. We'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move."
The two friends quickly departed, heading in opposite directions. Mickey quickly turned to Rose and he explained hurriedly, "I'm going with him."
Kissing Rose, he hurried after his doppleganger. Rose stared after her ex-boyfriend worriedly, but Mrs. Moore ushered them into moving their feet.
"Come on, let's go."
"Rose." Terry gently tugged on her friend and the blonde finally joined them as they ran off away from where the three men had disappeared and away from the Cybermen marching steadily further down the street. Unfortunately, they ran right out onto a street just as another Cyberman patrol turned onto the same street. Luckily, they narrowly avoided being seen as the Doctor pointed quickly, "There!" and they all raced into a darker side street where they were able to disappear into the shadows without being followed.
After several close calls, including one where they very narrowly escaped being found and captured, the group finally made their way onto Bridge Street. Except, no one was there.
"Where are they?" The Doctor muttered worriedly as they huddled in the dark, trying to stay out of sight despite the lack of cover on the street.
"They'll come." Terry answered, grasping the Doctor's hand and squeezing it comfortingly.
He glanced down at their entwined hands and said nothing when Terry didn't let go. Rose was looking around continually as well, concerned for the safety of her best friend from home. But the first one to find them wasn't Mickey or Ricky, but instead Jake.
"I ran past the river." He gasped as he came to a halt before them and bent over, trying to catch his breath. "You should have seen it. The whole city's on the march. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames."
The Doctor and Terry exchanged grim looks at that news, before they all looked over as they heard the sound of running feet once again. Terry relaxed minutely when she saw Mickey coming toward them. At least he was okay, even if she had known he would be - although his expression of grim horror was warning enough of the news he brought.
Jake didn't appear to realize something was wrong however as he called brightly, "Here he is!"
Then, realizing Mickey was alone, Jake's smile dropped. Pete and Mrs. Moore's faces clouded over while the Doctor subconsciously drew Terry a little bit closer to him as the same understanding swept over the entire group: they had lost someone.
"Which one are you?" Jake asked quickly, and they could all hear the plea in his words.
Mickey glanced around at the group anxiously, his brow furrowed in pain. "I'm sorry. The Cybermen. He couldn't."
At his news, all pretense at calm fled the younger blondes in the group and Jake pressed, "Are you Ricky? Are you Ricky?"
"Mickey," Rose interjected desperately, "that's you, isn't it?"
Mickey looked over at her and admitted faintly, "Yeah."
Relief flooded Rose's face and she hugged him tightly. Mickey returned the hug but his gaze was fixed pleadingly on Jake who was now reeling from the loss of his friend.
"He tried. He was running. There was too many of them."
"Shut it." Jake snapped, turning his back on Mickey as he fought back his grief.
Feeling helpless, Mickey gently pushed Rose away and he followed Jake as he continued, "There was nothing I could do-"
"I said just shut it!" Jake whirled on Mickey, his anger and grief making him lash out harshly. "Don't even talk about him. You're nothing, you are. Nothing."
Terry placed a gentle hand on Mickey's shoulder, drawing him away quietly. Mickey let her, stunned by Jake's words and barely feeling Terry's soothing hand rubbing small circles on his arm. The Doctor meanwhile addressed Jake in a sympathetic but firm tone.
"We can mourn him when London is safe. But now, we move on."
Jake's jaw worked but he jerked his head in a nod to show he understood and agreed. They had a job to do.
It was a generally much more subdued group that stood in the middle of the waste ground across from Battersea Power Station. Jake remained quiet for the most part while the Doctor took charge once more. Under his leadership, Mrs. Moore pulled up an image on her laptop. To Terry's immense satisfaction, the Doctor whipped on his glasses again to see the screen better - although she was less pleased when he shot her a smug look as he did.
"Egotistical flirt." She shot at him through their telepathic link.
"You know you love me."
"That's a schematic of the old factory. Look." Mrs. Moore interrupted their silent conversation as she tapped a specific section of the blueprint she was showing them. "Cooling tunnels underneath the plant. Big enough to walk through."
"We go under there and up into the control centre?" The Doctor checked and Mrs. Moore nodded.
"There's another way in." Pete pointed out, gesturing to where they could see the line of people still walking like zombies into the power station. "Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in."
"We can't just go strolling up." Jake pointed out dryly but Mrs. Moore interrupted him.
"Or we could, with these." She dug into her bag and fished out something in her fist that she then opened to show the group four silver earpieces. "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 firmly.
"You'd have to show no emotion." The Doctor warned. "None at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away."
Pete just nodded; but Rose hesitated. And then she piped up, "How many of those you got?"
"Just two sets." Mrs. Moore nodded at her hand and Rose took a deep breath.
"Okay. If that's the best way of finding Jackie, then I'm coming with you." She looked at Pete, who frowned at her.
"Why does she matter to you?" He asked, puzzled.
"Rose's mum's name is also Jackie." Terry answered for the blonde when she faltered, before she turned to the Doctor. "And if they're going directly into the factory, we should work on taking down the signal to the ear pods at the same time."
"And at the very least, it'd give people their minds back so they don't walk into that place like sheep." The Doctor agreed before he gestured at Jake. "Jakey-boy? Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there."
The Doctor scanned his sonic at the power station and a circle of red lights blinked from the bow of the Zeppelin that floated above the station.
"There it is. On the zeppelin, you see?" The Doctor checked Jake had seen the position of the source of the signal. Jake nodded while the Doctor mused, "Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off."
"He's not the only one." Terry pointed out and the Doctor winked at her. The confident wink did funny things to her hearts although she wasn't exactly complaining even as the Doctor turned his attention back to Jake.
"Reckon you could take it out?"
"Consider it done." Jake answered confidently.
The Doctor clapped the young man's shoulder before he turned to the eldest woman in their midst.
"Mrs Moore, would you care to accompany me and my companion into the cooling tunnels?" He gestured toward Terry and Mrs. Moore smiled.
"How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?" The older lady joked.
Satisfied, the Doctor removed his glasses and tucked them safely into his pocket as he summarized the plan for everyone, "We attack on three sides. Above, between, below. We get to the control centre, we stop the conversion machines."
"What about me?" Mickey piped up from the back.
Everyone turned to look at him in surprise and the Doctor stammered, "Mickey. You can er-"
"Go with Jake." Terry instructed smoothly.
"I don't need this idiot!" Jake exclaimed and Mickey looked offended.
"I'm not an idiot! You got that? I can help." He snapped back.
Jake scoffed but Terry just said firmly, "So, it's all settled. Good luck everyone."
They all nodded and started to move. Jake started off at once while Rose and Pete popped in their ear pods and Mrs. Moore shut down her laptop. Before Mickey could follow Jake, Terry caught him and she said seriously, "Be careful."
"I will." The young man promised.
The Doctor joined them and clapped Mickey's shoulder. "If we survive this, I'll see you back at the Tardis."
"That's a promise." Mickey agreed. He turned to say goodbye to Rose while the Doctor moved back again to oversee proceedings.
Terry followed him and she joked lightly, "You're getting soft with old age."
"Do you really think so?" He asked and Terry chuckled.
"No. You were always soft inside, Doctor. And that's what I love about you."
He froze and Terry had to hide a smirk at the way his eyes darted to hers uncertainly. She hadn't noticed before but he really was just as obvious as she had no doubt the Doctor had found her in her younger days. It was quite illuminating really. And just a little bit flattering. Terry kept an innocent smile on her face, making the Doctor deflate a little, before she turned away to hide the enormous ego boost she had just received. Who said only the Doctor liked to feed his ego?
Terry dropped down into the cooling tunnels behind Mrs. Moore and she shivered as the cold air nipped at her exposed skin. It was a good thing her red sweater dress was warmer than it looked although she wished it had sleeves as the thin material of her white dress-shirt underneath wasn't really giving her arms much protection. She pulled her yellow scarf a little bit tighter around her neck to keep warm as the Doctor dropped down behind her.
"You all right?" The Doctor asked.
Terry nodded while Mrs. Moore voiced their joint complaints. "It's freezing."
"Well, they had to have called it the cooling tunnels for a reason." Terry pointed out while the Doctor squinted down the dark tunnel.
"Any sign of a light switch?" He asked the two women and both of them shook their heads.
"Can't see a thing. But I've got these." Mrs. Moore rummaged in her bag before producing a torch on a headband much like miners might use. "A device for every occasion."
"Are you sure you didn't steal Hermione's magic bag from Harry Potter? Just how many other goodies have you managed to fit in there?" Terry teased and Mrs. Moore smiled.
"Unfortunately, I've only got two of everything." She admitted as she held out a second torch on a headband. Terry pushed it back into the older woman's hands.
"I'll be fine, I'll just stick close to you two." Terry said.
Mrs. Moore looked like she might protest but the Doctor took Terry's hand casually so she let it go as she instead dug into her bag and produced handheld torches.
"At least take a proper torch then."
Terry accepted the torch although she was a bit reluctant to turn it on just yet. Not understanding her hesitation, the Doctor flipped the switch for her.
"Let's see where we are-"
He cut off as the light revealed a whole line of Cybermen on each side of the tunnel. Mrs. Moore froze midway through pulling out a second torch while the Doctor's hand tightened around Terry's instantly as though he was about to jerk her back protectively. But they all slowly relaxed when there was no reaction from the metal men.
"Already converted, just put on ice." The Doctor mumbled before he slowly walked forward. He tapped one of the Cybermen on the face, confirming his theory.
Mrs. Moore finally relaxed completely while Terry watched the Cybermen warily as the Doctor suggested quietly, "Let's go slowly. Keep an eye out for trip systems."
Terry trailed slightly behind him as the Doctor kept her close using their linked hands. It was more than a little eerie walking in the dark with only their torches to shine small beams of light that just threw the darkest shadows across the motionless Cybermen they kept passing. She gestured for Mrs. Moore to walk with her and the Time Lady began conversationally, "So, you seem like a clever, practical woman. How did you end up with the other two 'Preachers'?"
The Doctor turned slightly to listen in on the conversation as Mrs. Moore smiled grimly.
"Oh, I used to be ordinary. Worked at Cybus Industries, nine to five, till 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 techie, so I, I just sat down and taught myself everything."
"And just like that you became a mastermind hacker?" Terry smiled.
Mrs. Moore's grin became a little more genuine but it dropped slightly when the Doctor asked curiously, "What about Mr. Moore?"
Mrs. Moore only hesitated for a fraction of a second before she admitted, "Well, he's not called 'Moore'."
The Doctor looked back in surprise and Mrs. Moore admitted, "I got that from a book, Mrs. Moore. It's safer not to use real names. But he thinks I'm dead."
The Doctor glanced back at the woman again as Mrs. Moore continued wistfully, "It was the only way to keep him safe. Him and the kids."
Terry remained silent; she wondered, was this one of the moments the Doctor thought about years later when he was planning his own 'death'? Was Mrs. Moore one of the seeds that sowed the idea for him to fake his own death to keep the people who loved him safe?
"What about you two?" Mrs. Moore asked the two Time Lords. "Got any other family, or-?"
"No, no. But I've got my angel and the whole world on my shoulders, that's more than enough, eh?" The Doctor answered lightly, hiding the darkness that the thoughts of his family and their planet always brought into his heart.
Changing the subject back to her before Mrs. Moore could ask, he added, "Go on, then. What's your real name?"
Again, she hesitated for only a moment before she admitted, "Angela Price."
Terry smiled while the older woman threatened playfully, "Don't tell a soul."
"Not a word." The Doctor promised with a small smile. He was starting to really like this woman. Terry could tell as well, and that also meant…
Terry glanced back in time to see the faint blinking blue light on the back of one of the Cybermen's heads. The alarm signal.
"Doctor, they've started the alarm." Terry warned sharply.
The Doctor whirled around to see the same thing she had before they all jumped as the Cyberman nearest them twitched its arm.
"They're waking up. Run!" The Doctor yelled.
Neither Terry nor Mrs. Moore needed to be told twice. They broke into a mad dash down the tunnel while behind them the Cybermen slowly began to wake up one by one. Terry could hear the sound of marching feet steadily increasing as the Cybermen started to fall in line as they chased after the trio running down the tunnel. Seeing a ladder at the end of the tunnel, Terry let go of the Doctor's hand and pushed him forward.
"Doctor, hurry! The trapdoor!"
The Doctor dashed up the ladder to reach the trapdoor and he soniced it to unlock it while Terry ushered Mrs. Moore up the ladder next.
"No, just go! Go!" Terry urged when the woman hesitated. Mrs. Moore quickly followed the Doctor up and Terry brought up the rear as the Doctor hauled open the trapdoor.
"Quickly! They're coming!" Mrs. Moore cried as they saw the line of Cybermen coming into sight behind them.
The Doctor finally heaved the trapdoor open enough that he could climb out of the tunnel and he hurriedly reached back down to help Mrs. Moore up.
"Come on! Come on!" He yelled as Mrs. Moore crawled out beside him and Terry came up behind her.
The Cybermen were basically on the Time Lady by this point and the Doctor grasped Terry's arm before he all but hauled her out through the trapdoor. Terry's foot narrowly missed being caught by one of the Cybermen before she was out of the tunnel and she rolled quickly out of the way as the Doctor and Mrs. Moore shoved the trapdoor shut and locked it again.
The trio lay gasping in a heap for a moment, before the Doctor laughed. "Oh, good team, Mrs. Moore."
The lady laughed while Terry groaned as she grasped her sides. "Does anyone have water? And a bit of chocolate?"