A/N: Hey guys! Welcome back to Heart of Gold! Hope you're all ready for a new chapter update. Like my previous uploads, this will be the usual part one, part two deal. Get ready for part one!
This chapter update is based upon the Doctor Who episode: Rise of the Cybermen.
You know the drill: I do not own Doctor Who. All I own is this story and my OC.
Please review and no flaming will be tolerated. Thank you :)
Happy reading!
PARALLELS
"I'm not afraid of anything in this world.
There's nothing you can throw at me, that I haven't already heard."
– U2: 'Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of' (All That You Can't Leave Behind [2000])
Unknown Laboratory
Nighttime had fallen and a man in a lab coat presses a button on a remote control that backlights a tall, humanoid figure. Smiling with satisfaction, the man, whose name was Kendrick, turns towards another figure who was sitting in an electric wheelchair in the shadows, looking at him rather impatiently.
"The prototype has passed every test, sir." Kendrick reports. "It's working." The other man, a tycoon called John Lumic, and hereafter referred to as Lumic, scoffs.
"I hardly think working is the correct word," Lumic moves his wheelchair forward out of the shadows and into direct light, glaring at Kendrick. "That would apply only to machines."
"I'm sorry. I should say, it's alive." Kendrick amends his previous remark, swallowing nervously. Lumic nods curtly, then focuses upon the humanoid figure with calculating eyes.
"Can it hear me?"
"It might still be in shock," Kendrick admits. "Bear in mind the brain has been welded to the exoskeleton." He explains to Lumic, who gives a satisfactory smirk.
"Skin of metal and a body that will never age or die," Lumic commented, before his face furrows slightly. "I envy it." He addresses the humanoid. "Do you know me?" It doesn't respond, and Lumic frowns in annoyance. "Answer. Do you know me?"
"You are John Lumic," the humanoid eventually responds in a stilted robotic voice. Lumic smiled triumphantly.
"My child," He greets the now revealed metal humanoid like a doting father, before returning his attention back on an uncomfortable Kendrick. "Mark this day, Doctor Kendrick. We are blessed."
"Well, it's not quite over yet, sir." Kendrick clears his throat, sounding rather reluctant to speak. "We need Geneva's approval. Technically, this is a new form of life, and that contravenes the Bio-convention." He tells Lumic, who looks at him calculatingly. "They need to ratify this."
"And they will refuse me." Lumic points out, seemingly uncaring.
"Nonetheless, we need to tell them," Kendrick nods his agreement, looking regretful and relieved that Lumic appeared to understand their predicament.
"And if I don't?" Lumic challenged him. Kendrick sagged with disappointment before pulling a determined look on his face.
"Well then, I'm sorry, sir, but it's my duty. I shall have to inform them."
A sinister smirk spread across Lumic's face.
"And how will you do that from beyond the grave?" Lumic questioned him, causing Kendrick to blink at the elder man with confusion.
"I don't quite understand." He acknowledged, but Lumic ignores him turning towards the metal humanoid.
"Kill him." He orders. The metal humanoid obeys by putting a gauntlet on Kendrick's shoulder, sending strong electric currents through his system. Kendrick screams in agony, as Lumic turns away, smiling, and uses an intercom on his wheelchair. "Captain?"
"Yes, sir?" A man with obvious soldierly respect in his voice, responds.
"Inform all staff. We have a new destination." Lumic announces. "Set sail for Great Britain!"
The TARDIS
Somewhere in the Time Vortex
The loss of their dear friend Reinette, AKA Madame de Pompadour, had hit both the Doctor and Katy hard, and it took a while for both of them to get over it, and you wouldn't see one without the other at least within an arm's length of each other. Something that infuriated Rose, who wanted some alone time with the Doctor for herself. But the warnings that Reinette had left them about the blonde in her letters to them, had made the Time Lord and his tether, cautious of Rose.
Eventually, after a few more adventures, the grief started to slowly lift and the Doctor and Katy gradually pulled themselves out of their melancholy and started grinning and laughing again, much to Rose and Mickey's relief. At present, the Doctor was letting the TARDIS drift aimlessly in the vortex, focusing on an adventure he, Katy and Rose had gone on pre-Mickey, who looked slightly left out and very bemused as he listened in.
"… And that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes?" The Doctor recalled to Rose, grinning from ear to ear. "Do you remember? The way she looked at you! And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out!"
"I thought I was going to get frazzled!" Rose exclaimed as she, the Doctor, and Katy started howling with laughter.
"Yeah. One minute she's standing there, and the next minute: ROAR!" Katy chimed in, wiping tears from her eyes. She had been laughing so hard and leaning on Mickey for support where they were both leaning on the console, casually.
"Yeah? Where was that, then?" Mickey asked, interestedly. "What happened?"
"Oh, it was on this, er, this er, planet thing. Asteroid." The Doctor explained. "It's a long story, you had to be there." He then blinked at him in confusion when he noticed what the boy was doing. "Er, what're you doing that for?" Mickey had his finger pressed down on a nearby button on the console, and all eyes swivelled to look down at it. Mickey glanced up at the Doctor, frowning in confusion.
"Because you told me to?" Mickey responded.
"When was that?" The Doctor questioned.
"About half an hour ago." Mickey said, and the Doctor immediately looked sheepish, which made Katy scowl at him with disappointment, when she realised that her boyfriend hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings once again.
"Er, you can let go now." The Doctor told Mickey, struggling not to laugh at his misfortune, and shrinking a little underneath the withering look his girlfriend was shooting at him. The boy pulls back his hand, frowning.
"Well, how long's it been since I could've stopped?" Mickey demanded.
"Ten minutes? Twenty? Twenty-nine?" The Doctor responded, and Mickey glared at him in both humiliation and annoyance.
"You just forgot me!" He yelled at him indignantly.
"No, no, no." The Doctor reaches for an excuse. "I was just, I was, I was calibrating. I was just." He stutters, and both Mickey and Katy look at him with annoyance, while Rose struggles to hide a smirk. "No, I know exactly what I'm doing…" The Doctor trails off, looking a little bit flustered. Suddenly, the entire TARDIS shakes violently, making everyone grab hold of something to steady themselves as the time rotor suddenly blows up.
"What's happened?" Rose blurted out, as the Doctor pulls the viewing monitor towards him and stabs at a button to turn it on.
His eyes widen in horror.
"The time vortex is gone." He reveals, going pale as milk. "That's impossible. It's just gone." The TARDIS immediately begins to drop from the sky, giving them all the sensation of their major organs flying upwards towards their throats. "Brace yourself! We're going to crash!" The Doctor warns, before the TARDIS comes to a sudden stop, and gas masks drop from the ceiling. Everything is plunged into darkness, except for a bright light shining in from the double panelled windows of the TARDIS's front double doors. "Everyone all right?" He calls out, jumping to his feet nimbly. "Katy? Rose? Mickey?" He helps Rose, who was the closest to him when the TARDIS fell out of the time vortex, from the ground.
"I'm fine. I'm okay. Sorry. Yeah." Mickey groaned, grabbing onto the console to help himself up.
"Katy?" The Doctor called out urgently when the brunette hadn't responded yet. A small groan was heard, and both Mickey and the Doctor turn and head towards where the groan had come from.
Rose follows, concerned.
"I'm okay," Katy eventually responds, but Rose frowns at her.
"No, you're not. Your nose is bleeding." The blonde rushes over and assists Katy to sit up straight. "Here, hold this over your nose." Rose pulls a small pack of tissues from her back pocket and pulls out a handful before cupping it over Katy's nose. The Doctor comes to her side and starts examining his girlfriend's nose for any breaks.
"How'd you do this?" He asked, wincing sympathetically. Katy frowns for a moment, trying to remember.
"I hit my head on Mickey's back, I think." Katy stated, as Rose and the Doctor help her to her feet and steer her over to the jump seat. The Doctor reaches for the tissue and gently pulls it away for inspection.
"Let's take a look," He coaxes and almost immediately replaces it when more blood starts leaking out. "Whoops! Not quite yet." He grimaces. "Just keep your back straight, tilt your head down and keep pressure on it." He instructs before moving away momentarily. "I'll be back in a second, just checking on the condition of the TARDIS." The Doctor walks over to the console, and Katy waves him off.
"Don't worry about me. Focus on her." She insists, as Rose takes a seat beside her sister and rubs her back sympathetically, while Mickey goes to her other side looking apologetic.
"She's dead," the Doctor mutters in disbelief, and all three of his companions' heads snap over to him looking horrified. "The TARDIS is dead."
"What? She can't be." Katy denies vehemently.
"You can fix it?" Rose asked, sounding hopeful. But the Doctor shook his head, looking anguished and grim.
"There's nothing to fix. She's perished. The last TARDIS in the universe. Extinct." The Doctor trails off looking upset. But Rose didn't look like she wanted to accept this unfortunate fact.
"We can get help, yeah?"
"Where from?" The Doctor retorted.
"It's not like he can call up AA, Rose. She's not a bloody car!" Katy backed him up.
"Well, we've landed. We've got to be somewhere." Rose insisted. The Doctor just gave her a flat look, questioning whether Rose actually realised what she was saying half the time and if she remembered that they were traveling in a time machine that could change the very fabric of time and space if the wrong sort of people or persons got their hands on her.
"We fell out of the vortex, through the void, into nothingness." The Doctor stated matter of fact. "We're in some sort of no place. The silent realm. The lost dimension—"
"—Otherwise known as London!" Mickey chirped excitedly from where he was standing at the TARDIS double doors, with his head peaking outside. Rose, Katy, and the Doctor just blinked at him.
"Seriously?" Katy exclaimed, hopping off the jump seat and heading for the doors, with an equally surprised Rose and the Doctor following her.
Lambeth Pier
London
Mickey stepped from the lifeless TARDIS with a very smug grin on his face as he drew in a deep lungful of the fresh air outside.
"London, England, Earth. Hang on," He was followed by the Doctor, Katy, and Rose, the latter two looking about with bewilderment, while the Doctor just looked very stoically around and even up at the sky. He froze at what he saw and frowned. Oblivious, Mickey strides towards a nearby park bench and picks up a discarded newspaper. "First of February this year." He snorted. "Not exactly far flung, is it?" Rose walked over to read over Mickey's shoulder as Katy rolled her eyes and walked over to a rubbish bin next to the bench; her nose had finally stopped bleeding and she wiped away any remaining blood on her face before tossing the soiled tissue.
"We get it, Mick. Stop being so smug." She grumbled, as the Doctor walked over and came to a stop beside her.
"So this is London." The Doctor confirmed, still staring up at the sky.
"Yep," Mickey agreed, still oblivious to what the Doctor was looking at.
"Your city."
"That's the one." Mickey continued agreeing.
"Just as we left it."
"Bang on."
"And that includes the Zeppelins?" The Doctor gestured casually at the skyline of London off in the distance. Katy followed his pointing finger and felt her mouth drop open in shock.
"Oh, wow!" She cried out.
"What the hell?" Mickey was just as shocked, and Rose smiled with awe as they saw massive airships pass overhead.
"That's beautiful!" She marvelled.
"Okay," Mickey shrugged, surprisingly taking all of this in his stride instead of completely freaking out. Katy couldn't help but smile at him for this; her best friend had definitely come a long way from being a distrustful, resentful naysayer, to this brave boy who was taking a chance. "So, it's London with a big international Zeppelin festival." He attempted to justify what he was seeing.
"This is not your world," the Doctor insisted, firmly.
"But if the date's the same, it's parallel, right? Am I right? Like a parallel Earth where they've got Zeppelins. Am I right? I'm right, aren't I?" Mickey was starting to get excited again.
"Yes, yes. You're right, Mick." Katy hastened to acknowledge him.
"Must be." The Doctor agreed, but still didn't look convinced. Katy tugged on her friend's arm.
"Calm down." She urged, and Mickey looked a little sheepish. Rose glanced around, trying to make sense of what she was seeing for herself.
"So, a parallel world where…" she trailed off.
"Oh, come on. You've seen in on films." Mickey continued justifying. "Like an alternative to our world where everything's the same but a little bit different, like, I don't know, traffic lights are blue, Tony Blair never got elected—"
"—And he's still alive." Rose sounded completely stunned and Katy turned to look at what her sister was staring at and couldn't help but gape. In front of them was a bus stop advert for Vitex Lite, cherry flavour, featuring a grinning picture of Pete Tyler holding a Vitex bottle and giving a thumbs up.
"Dad…" Katy mumbled, which immediately alarmed the Doctor and made him act quickly.
"A parallel world, and our dad's still alive." Rose mumbled also. Her wide, heavily mascaraed whiskey-coloured eyes were glued to the advert. The Doctor jumped in front of both sisters, blocking their view of it.
"No, don't look at it, Rose." The Doctor warned, firmly. "You too, Katy." Katy glanced away from the picture of her father's face and focused on the Time Lord. "Don't even think about it. This is not your world."
"I'm aware of that, Doctor. You don't need to tell me this." Katy admonished, slightly insulted by the insinuation that she was capable of doing something foolish, after everything they had been through together. The Doctor nodded, relaxing a little and smiling approvingly at her.
However, Rose was harder to convince.
"But he's my dad and—" She reaches out and touches the advert, jumping back when it suddenly triggers a short film.
"Trust me on this." Pete's voice rings out, and Katy winced at the familiar voice. Rose frowned in confusion.
"Well, that's weird. But he's real." Rose insists.
"Trust me on this." The advert repeats itself, and Rose suddenly brightened when she realises something.
"He's a success. He was always planning these daft little schemes. Health food, drinks, and stuff." She reminisces, fondly. "Everyone said they were useless. But he did it." The Doctor lets out a frustrated sigh and attempts to regain Rose's focus so he could lay down some stone-cold reality to her. It was harsh, and it was going to be brutal, but it was necessary.
"Rose, if you've ever trusted me, then listen to me now. Stop looking at it." Rose reluctantly peels her gaze away from the advert and looks at him. "Your father's dead. He died when you and Katy were six months old. That is not your Pete. That is a Pete. For all we know, he's got his own Jackie, his own Rose, his own Katy. His own daughters who are someone else, but not you or Katy." The blonde's face falls. "You can't see him. Not ever." The Doctor stated firmly.
"He's right, Rose. It's not worth it." Katy backed up her boyfriend, laying a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Trust me on this. Trust me on this. Trust me on this. Trust me on this." The advert rapidly repeats, and Katy makes a face at it.
"Okay, that is gonna be annoying."
The Tyler Mansion
An expensive luxury, dark Lexus with a licence plate that read PETE 1, rolls its way up a white gravel driveway towards a small, modest mansion. Pete (a more successful, well put together, and confident looking version of the Pete we met in The Heart Within) gets out of the car, holding an extravagant and beautiful looking bouquet, and heads towards the front door, pushing a button on his key fob which makes the Lexus bleep closed. He was wearing a black business suit and well-shined black dress shoes, and two grey earbuds in his ears. Heading inside the mansion, he sees groups of his servants setting up for what appeared to be a glamourous party.
"Hello? Sweetheart? Only me." He calls out at the base of the staircase, which lead upstairs to the bedrooms. A scowling Jackie comes down the staircase, wearing a black silk dressing gown, and fluffy high-heeled slippers. Her long blonde hair was in a half-up, half-down hairstyle. This version of Jackie was more haughty and self-centred than the bubbly, warmer version we are all accustomed to, used to the finer things in life and had a sort of 'entitled' attitude. She was glaring angrily at her husband.
"Oh, the bad penny," Jackie sneers, earning an exasperated eye roll from Pete. "Was this your idea? Don't deny it. It's got your fingerprints all over it." She snaps. "Trust me on this," she sarcastically quotes Pete his marketing catchphrase with a half-hearted thumbs up. "Oh, I can trust you all right. Trust you to cock it up." She continues ranting.
"What have I done now?" Pete sighed.
"Have a look," Jackie gestures towards a large banner, which is being hung between two pillars. It reads: 'HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY' in elegant calligraphic script. Pete blinks at the banner with confusion.
"What's wrong with that?" He asks.
"Forty," Jackie whines. "It says forty."
"You are forty," Pete reminds her, patiently. Jackie looks at him with frustration. If it were possible; steam would be wafting from her ears.
"Well, I don't want the whole world telling, do I?" She insisted.
"You're having a party tonight."
"My thirty-ninth," Jackie emphasises. "My official biography says I was born on the same day as Cuba Gooding Jr, and that makes me thirty-nine, thank you very much. Rose!" Jackie tears her eyes away from her long-suffering husband and back up the staircase, calling out to someone. "Come here, Rose!"
"These are from the girls in the office," Pete holds out the bouquet to Jackie, who turns and looks down at the flower arrangement. "Happy birthday!" He says with a thin smile. Jackie merely looks at the bouquet with an unimpressed flick of her eyes.
"I've got hand sculped arrangements by Veronica of Reykjavik, and your secretary stopped off at a garage? I don't think so." Pete bristles in annoyance, pulling back the bouquet. "And if you're giving out presents, where's my Zeppelin? Everyone else has got one." Jackie bitches like a spoilt little rich girl, before turning and continuing to yell up the staircase. "Rose? Come on, Rose!" Giving up on summoning 'Rose', Jackie turns around and gestures to her ears. "Look, you didn't even notice, did you?" Pete zeroes in on some ear buds in his wife's ears. "Special delivery. Got sent round today." Jackie was wearing some very expensive looking ear buds in each ear, each with little diamond chips embedded in them. The ones Pete were wearing, were very drab in comparison. "Birthday present from Mister Lumic. Latest model. Diamond studded. Picks up signals from Venezuela." Jackie grinned from ear to ear.
"Why would you want to pick up signals from Venezuela?" Pete frowned at Jackie, who seemed momentarily stumped by his very reasonable question.
"Well, I don't know, but now I can find out." Jackie waved away the question, before frowning at the staircase. "For God's sake, where is she?" She grumbles. "Rose? Oh, she needs a good bath before tonight. She's going to be honking. Rose, come to mummy!" Jackie continues shouting, before finally, a small Yorkshire Terrier suddenly appears on the landing and bounds down the staircase towards Jackie, who beams with delight. "Come on. There you are my darling." She scoops up the lap dog and starts cooing at her. Pete once again rolls his eyes, before his phone suddenly rings. He answers it by activating his earpiece.
"Mister Lumic!" Pete answers, pleasantly. "Jackie was just saying thank you. That's very kind of you."
Lumic's Zeppelin
Suspiciously, Lumic doesn't appear to be wearing any earbuds of his own.
"Those ear pods are handmade. Tell her to take care." Lumic instructs Pete.
"'Course I will, course I will." Pete responds hastily. Then clears his throat before speaking up again. "I don't suppose you'd be joining us tonight for the party. We'd be very honoured." Pete invites Lumic.
"The world below can party. Some of us have work to do." Lumic declines, sharply. "My plans have advanced, Peter. The President has promised a decision. I'm flying in now. We'll be at the airstrip by five o'clock." He tells Pete, who sounds a little disgruntled.
"Right," He acknowledges. "It's just that I promised I'd help the wife out tonight—" Pete attempts to explain, but Lumic immediately cuts him off.
"If the President of Great Britain can make this meeting, then so can you."
"Oh, I don't know," Pete chuckles, weakly. "He's not married to Jackie, is he."
"Five o'clock, Mister Tyler. Famous day." Lumic orders before terminating the conversation. He then takes a deep breath from his breathing apparatus, before talking to his computer screen. "Voice print access, John Lumic. Initiate ear pod override. Subject: Jacqueline Tyler."
Jackie's bedroom
In her bedroom, Jackie was seated at her dressing table, applying face powder on herself with a makeup brush.
Lumic's Zeppelin
"Activate," Lumic instructs.
Jackie's Bedroom
Jackie, in the middle of applying her makeup, suddenly freezes and her face goes blank. Metal rods retract from inside the EarPods and meet above her head, Cybermen-style. The makeup brush falls from her limp fingers and clatters on the dressing table.
Lumic's Zeppelin
"Download Tyler Residence, February the first. Give me security arrangements for tonight. Passwords, encryptions, services." Lumic orders, and the data is downloaded from the device in Jackie's ear pods directly into Lumic's computer. "And restore."
Jackie's Bedroom
Jackie's ear pods return to normal. She blinks in confusion, before shrugging, then picking up the makeup brush and carrying on applying her makeup for the party that night.
Lumic's Zeppelin
"Thank you, Missus Tyler." Lumic smirks before moving on with the next phase of his plan. "Activate picture link. Mister Crane?" The computer screen brings up a video conference call with a picture of a balding, middle-aged man with coke-bottle glasses and dressed in a business suit, speaking into his ear pods.
"Mister Lumic?" The man, hereafter known as 'Crane', responds to Lumic's call.
"Events are moving faster than I anticipated. I need extra staff." Lumic orders, and Crane nods subserviently.
"Very good, sir."
Lorry cab
It turned out that Crane was sitting in the passenger seat of an articulated lorry, in the middle of an abandoned field, underneath a concrete bridge. The kind of place you'd expect to find the homeless or drug-users lurking about.
"I shall go on a recruitment drive," He reassures Lumic, before turning to the driver of the lorry. "Back her up." He instructs.
The TARDIS
Meanwhile, back with the Doctor, Katy, Rose, and Mickey. The Doctor had retreated back inside the TARDIS trying to figure out how they were going to escape this alternate universe and avoid temptation for his companions. Katy had tagged along with him, mostly because she wanted to help, but also because she was trying to avoid temptation herself and because Rose was starting to annoy her with her melancholy mood revolving around the fact that Pete Tyler was alive, healthy, and apparently living it large in a successful business enterprise. Mickey opted to keep an eye out on Rose outside the TARDIS.
"Are you okay?" Katy glanced up from where she was perched on one of the coral supporting beams holding up the TARDIS's roof, and over to where the Doctor was standing near the lifeless console and looking at her with his troubled and concerned brown eyes.
"Why wouldn't I be?" She returned his question with a question. The Doctor frowned at her.
"You've just discovered that Pete Tyler is alive and well in this universe," he pointed out. "Aren't you even remotely curious about him?"
"He's not my father," Katy replied succinctly.
"You're not even tempted to go look for him?" The Doctor was surprised by Katy's reaction. The brunette scowled at him with annoyance and hopped down from the coral beam to walk over to him.
"He's not my father," Katy repeated herself insistently. "Why subject myself to even more pain and heartbreak, if I should find out that he was living with an alternate version of myself?" She leant against the console beside the Doctor who was looking at her with a mingled combination of sadness and approval. "Besides, even if I did go looking; the likelihood of there being a second version of myself in this universe is low. I'm not technically human, I'm one-of-a-kind." Katy grins at her boyfriend and bumps shoulders with him playfully. "Like you."
"Right," the Doctor chuckles affectionately, impressed by her logic. The door to the TARDIS opens and Mickey walks in, instantly wiping the warm smile off the Doctor's face as he glowers at the boy. "I told you to keep an eye on her." He scolds Mickey, who shrugged dismissively.
"She's all right." He stated, unconcerned. The Doctor let out a frustrated groan before he pulls away from Katy and starts pacing around the console, worried about Rose.
"She goes wondering off. Parallel world, it's like a gingerbread house. All those temptations calling out—"
"Oh, so it's just Rose, then?" Mickey spat, looking defensive. "Nothing out there to tempt me? What about Katy?" He gestures towards Katy who gives him a baleful look.
"We were just discussing that before, Mick. There's nothing even remotely enticing out there for me." She reassures him. Mickey looks just as surprised as the Doctor did.
"Really? Alright, fine then. Just me. How do you know there's nothing out there to tempt me?" He challenges the Doctor.
"Well, I don't know, I can't worry about everything." The Doctor whines helplessly. "If I could just get this thing to—" He vents his frustration by kicking the console, causing Katy and Mickey to jump at the unexpected noise.
"Bloody hell, Doctor!" Katy exclaimed, scowling at him. "What the hell did that achieve?" The Doctor winced, slightly limping.
"Did that help?" Mickey smirked.
"Yes," the Doctor nodded.
"Did that hurt?" Katy added, pushing away from the console, and walking around to help him.
"Yes. Ow!" The Doctor confirmed, and Katy gently grabbed him by the arm and guided him towards the jump seat, pushing him down onto it. She starts to undo his shoelaces.
"Hang on, let me take a look." She suggests, tiredly.
Embankment
A brooding Rose sat on a different park bench, not that far away from where the TARDIS stood, watching the Thames. Zeppelins drift by in the air above her, their propellers thrumming along as they go. There are lots of them, and as one passes overhead, barely missing the rooftop of a building nearby, Rose's phone suddenly beeps. Frowning, she pulls it from her pocket and accesses a text message. It reads: 'Cybus Network – Welcome! Free Trial Period'. Normally, the blonde would ignore messages like this, but in her current state of mind, Rose threw caution to the wind; she tapped onto the link accepting the trial. Immediately, she is given access to IE24 News.
Rose's curiosity leads her to view the top story.
"…And it's good news for Great Britain as John Lumic returns to the country of his birth. Mister Lumic, the inventor of high content metal, has denied allegations of ill health." A newsreader reports over the phone speakers. An additional video of John Lumic appears, causing Rose to frown as she studies it.
"We're all flesh and blood, but the brain is what makes us human. And my mind is more creative than ever." Lumic explains in the video.
"With shares in Cybus Industries doubling in price, Mister Lumic is—" The newsreader's voice is cut off when the Zeppelin that gave Rose access to the trial passes overhead. The noise from its rotors blocking out the newsreader's words. Rose huffs in frustration, glaring at the Zeppelin. "—In other news, the Torchwood Institute published a study claiming that…"
The TARDIS
The Doctor, Katy, and Mickey were sitting around in the console room, also brooding, but not because they weren't getting their own way. It was because the situation seemed hopeless and they were stuck for any ideas or answers to their current predicament.
"We're not meant to be here," the Doctor stated once again. "The TARDIS drew its power from the universe, but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine."
"But I've seen it in comics," Mickey protested. "People go hopping from one alternative world to another. It's easy." The hopeful expression on Mickey's face was endearing, but naïve, causing an almost smile to appear on the Doctor's face as he responded to him.
"Not in the real world. It used to be easy," the Doctor stated. "When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died and took it all with them. The walls of reality closed the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind."
"Then how did we get here?" Katy questioned.
"I don't know. Accident?" the Doctor shrugged, just as perplexed. "Should've been impossible. Now we're trapped." He shut his eyes and let his head fall back with a dull thud against the wall behind the jump seat. Katy observed the despair and sadness on his face and was about to reach out and take his hand to comfort him when something underneath the floor grates caught her eye.
"What's that?" She asked, and the Doctor raised his head and looked at her curiously.
"What's what?" He asked. Katy hopped up from her seat beside the Doctor and walked over to inspect. Whatever it was, was emitting a tiny glowing green light. A tiny spark of hope started growing in her chest and a smile spread on her face.
"What?" Mickey came over to look as well. Katy pointed towards the light, and Mickey squinted down at it. "Doctor, you gotta come over here and see this." The Doctor got up from the jump seat and came over to investigate.
"That, there. Is that a reflection?" Katy wondered, glancing up at the ceiling for something green that could be the cause of the glow. But there was nothing. The Doctor pulled up the grating and jumped down into the hole he had made into the floor, and a huge joyful smile formed on his face.
"It's a light!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Is it? Is that a light? I think that's a light." He scooped up the light source, which turned out to be something that resembled a light fuse but with a green crystal on the top. "That's all we need. We've got power!" Katy and Mickey sagged with relief. "Mickey, Katy! We've got power! Ha!"
The Doctor was practically vibrating with excitement.
Hope was rekindled.
Waste ground
Crane's lorry backs up towards where a group of homeless people are living. Hidden behind the scenes, watching all this in secret is a young man dressed in black. His name is Jake, and he does not like what he sees. Crane gets down from the passenger side of the lorry and approaches the wary and suspicious homeless men, watching him.
"Gentlemen! Gentlemen! I beg your attention," Crane calls out, imitating a carnival barker. "Christmas has come early, so come and get it!" The back of the lorry is opened and a ladder is lowered, revealing a plastic curtain blocking view of what was within the interior. Pleasant smells of homecooked food wafts from within the lorry, definitely catching the attention of the homeless men. "Oh, smell that, comrades?" Crane gestures towards the entrance of the lorry like a game show host. "Burgers and chips. Sausage and beans. Pork, chicken, and hot, sweet tea. All for free." All the homeless men scurry eagerly towards the lorry, in search for some warm food to satisfy their hunger, unaware of the danger that was lurking within.
Jake runs up to one of the homeless men and pulls on his arm trying to gain his attention.
"Don't go!" He urges, frantically.
"But there's food!" the homeless man points out, hesitating. Crane continues corralling the unsuspecting homeless men into the lorry.
"All you can eat, free of charge." He insists. "Don't just stand there. Fill your faces with pasties and…"
"He's lying," Jake insists to the homeless man, who scowls at him indignantly.
"It's easy for you to say. When did you last starve?"
"All those people disappearing off the streets. It's been going on for months." Jake was desperate to save at least one of them, and he was trying in vain to convince the man in front of him to reconsider. "It's them. They're taking you away." He points frantically at Crane and the lorry.
"…Tomato soup." Crane was still listing potential food items to lure them. The homeless man looked at him doubtfully, bringing hope to Jake who assumed he was getting through to him.
"What for?" the man asked.
"Experiments," Jake was succinct. The man's eyes widened in alarm, looking between both Jake and the lorry.
"But hurry, now." Crane warned. But in the end, Jake's warnings were in vain.
"No, I'm so hungry…" Jake's face fell in despair as the man ran for the lorry.
"So come and get it while it's hot!" Crane yelled, and when the homeless man approaches him eagerly, he almost greets him like an old friend. "That's it, kind sir. Get in there and fill your face." The man climbs the ladder into the lorry. Jake, despite despairing that he had failed to save the homeless man, pulls free a video camera, and moves behind the old homeless shelters to watch what happens next. "Feast yourself, brother. Feast yourself." Crane pushes the man further into the lorry, and he goes eagerly. However, when horrified then agonised shouts and screams begin, the man changes his mind and tries to leave.
"Help! Help me!" He yells frantically. But Crane shuts the trailer doors in his face, with only a hint of remorse reflected on his bespectacled face.
"Take them away." Crane orders, sorrowfully. He goes back to the passenger side of the lorry and gets in.
The TARDIS
The Doctor cradled the glowing green light source in his hands, as he examined it further.
"It's alive!" He stated, happily.
"What is it?" Mickey asked, looking at it curiously. The Doctor emerges from the hole in the metal grated floor and perches on the side of it, so that Katy and Mickey could get a proper look at their saving grace cradled carefully in the Time Lord's hands.
"It's nothing. It's tiny. One of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, and it's clinging onto life, with one little ounce of reality tucked away inside." The Doctor explained.
"Enough to get us home?" Katy asked, hopefully.
"Not yet," the Doctor said. "I need to charge it up."
"We could go outside and lash it up to the National Grid." Mickey suggested, trying to be helpful now that they had finally found a way to get home. The Doctor grinned but shook his head.
"Wrong sort of energy. It's got to come from our universe." The Doctor stated as Mickey's face fell.
"But we don't have anything."
"There's me." The Doctor raises his cradled hands to his mouth and gently blows on the power cell. The dimmed green light instantly gets brighter, and the grin on the Doctor's face threatens to break it apart. "I just gave away ten years of my life. Worth every second."
"That's not going to have any negative consequences for you, is it?" Katy was slightly worried, but the Doctor shook his head.
"Nah, not at all. Just a drop in the ocean." He reassures her. The Doctor steps completely out of the hole, and hands the power cell to Katy momentarily so he could replace the grating over it. The power cells starts fading in and out, worrying Mickey.
"It's going out. Is that okay?"
"It's on a recharging cycle," the Doctor explains, taking back the power cell from Katy with a murmured thanks. "It'll loop around, power back up and be ready to take us home in, uh, twenty-four hours?" He tosses and catches the power cell in the air a few times before finally pocketing it in his suit jacket.
"So that gives us twenty-four hours in a parallel world?" Katy clarifies, looking worried.
"Shore leave," the Doctor confirmed, not exactly looking thrilled about the concept either, but relenting because they had no choice. "As long as we keep our heads down. Easy. No problem." He tells both Katy and Mickey, who nod, accepting the conditions the Doctor had just given them. "Now come on, let's go and tell Rose."
Embankment
The Doctor, Katy and Mickey make their way out of the TARDIS, all three of them extremely excited that the TARDIS had unknowingly just given them the solution to their current problem in the form of the glowing green power cell that the Doctor was still tossing and catching in the air. Rose glanced up from her phone, watching them coming closer, and was wearing a very determined look on her face that Katy took note of, and did not like seeing. It was obvious the blonde was up to something that was likely to get herself and possibly the others into trouble. And much to her frustration, the Doctor was, for the moment, completely oblivious.
"There you are. You all right?" the Doctor greeted Rose who gives him a small smile in response, further fuelling Katy's suspicions. "No applause. I fixed it." He indicates towards the power cell.
"Er, Doctor. It was a team effort, you know." Katy interrupted, scowling a little at him; since it was she who had spotted the green glow in the first place. The Doctor grimaced a little and looked at her apologetically.
"Alright, fine. We fixed it. Happy?" He asked Katy who rolled her eyes but nodded in approval, while Mickey smirked at their bickering couple's banter. "Any who, twenty-four hours, then we're flying back to reality." The Doctor announces to Rose who merely nods her head, still fiddling with her phone. The Doctor pauses and takes in her mood. "What is it?"
"My phone connected," Rose replied, holding up the phone. "There's this Cybus Network. It finds your phone. It gave me internet access…" The Doctor groaned realising what happened in their absence.
"Rose, whatever it says, this is the wrong world." He reminded her, firmly.
"I don't exist."
"What do you mean?" Katy piped up, sensing Rose's pain.
"There's no Rose Tyler," Rose explained, looking dejected. "I was never born. There's Pete, my dad, and Jackie. He still married mum but they never had kids."
"Shit…" Katy muttered underneath her breath and looked worriedly at both the Doctor and Mickey, realising that Rose wasn't dealing with this very well.
"Give me that phone." The Doctor made a swipe for Rose's phone, but she managed to hold it out of his reach.
"They're rich," Rose continued. "They've got a house and cars, and everything they want. But they haven't got me." She gets to her feet, a look of desperation on her face. "I've got to see him."
"Rose, we can't." Katy stated, looking sympathetic but resolute. Rose scowled at her, annoyed that her sister wasn't as determined as she was to see their father.
"I just want to see him!" Rose maintained her stubbornness. "I don't get why you don't."
"Because he's not our father, Rose!" Katy shouted with frustration.
"Well, maybe you don't love him as much as I do!" Rose retorted, angrily. Katy looked like she had been slapped across the face. Were they really going to get into this again?
"I can't believe you just said that…" Katy was astounded.
"Yeah, well. It's the truth. Otherwise you'd be just as determined to see him as I am." Rose stated, and Katy attempted to storm over and give Rose what for. However, both Mickey and the Doctor stopped her just in time; with Mickey bear hugging Katy from behind, restraining her, and the Doctor jumping in-between them both with his hands raised, before turning and gently grabbing his tether's shoulders.
"Calm down." He says to her soothingly, before turning back to look at Rose. Katy nodded reluctantly, and Mickey cautiously let her go. "I can't let you go see him," The Doctor repeated, looking just as resolute as Katy did, but also looking angry and disappointed that Rose had apparently not learnt the last time she made accusations about their father to Katy like this.
The last time they had encountered Pete, Rose had accused Katy of not really being his daughter. At the time, Katy had privately told him afterwards, that she had never really forgiven Rose for the accusation, even after the blonde had apologised to her; and it seemed she had been right to do so.
"You just said twenty-four hours!" Rose protested to the Doctor.
"You can't become their daughter, that's not the way it works." The Doctor explained, before turning to Mickey for back up. "Mickey, tell her." However, it seemed Mickey was also deep in thought about something and did not reply right away.
Katy looked at him questioningly.
"Mickey?"
"Twenty-four hours, yeah?" He questioned the Doctor, who gave him a look of betrayal.
"Where're you going?"
"Well, I can do what I want." Mickey stated, very matter of fact. Rose took this opportunity to head off on her little mission.
"I've got the address and everything." She tells the Doctor. The Time Lord started to panic.
"Stay where you are, both of you." He ordered, firmly. But Rose continued backing up, her mind made up. "Rose, come back here!" Mickey was also doing the same thing in the opposite direction, while Katy just stood there looking between them both with a frosty expression on her face. "Mickey, come back here right now!" The Doctor insisted.
"I just want to see him!" Rose's voice was shrill in her insistence.
"Yeah, I've got things to see and all." Mickey was in agreeance, smirking at the Doctor, knowing full well that the Time Lord had to make a choice. The Doctor looked at him questioningly. "Like what?"
"Well, you don't know anything about me, do you?" Mickey stated, rather accusingly. "It's always about Rose, or even Katy." He points towards his best friend who was still staring at him and Rose silently. "I'm just a spare part."
"I'm sorry. I've got to go!" Rose calls out to them, before turning and running off. The Doctor was torn, trying to decide who to go after.
"Go on, then. There's no choice, is there?" Mickey taunts the hesitating Time Lord. "You can only chase after one of us. It's never going to be me, is it?"
"Wrong," Both the Doctor and Mickey look at Katy with astonishment. "I'll go with you." The brunette tells Mickey in a quiet voice. The Doctor immediately goes to her, gently grabbing her shoulders.
"Katy, are you sure? I mean, if this is about what Rose said—" Katy raises her hand and rests her index finger against the Doctor's lips, silencing him.
"This has nothing to do with Rose, Doctor. It has everything to do with keeping an eye on Mickey and making sure that he doesn't do anything stupid." Katy reassures him. "He's still new to this, and one of us has to go with him. Why shouldn't it be me?"
"Katy, I don't know—"
"We'll be fine, sweetie. You better go and catch up with Rose before she gets herself into trouble." Katy tells him, and the Doctor reluctantly nods before planting a hard kiss on her forehead.
"Be careful," He warns her, earning an affectionate smile from Katy before looking up at Mickey over her head. "Back here, twenty-four hours!" He orders, before turning and sprinting after Rose.
Katy watches him go, but not before getting a glimpse of Rose who had paused and turned to see if the Doctor was following her and was now giving Katy a taunting smirk, believing the Time Lord had chosen her over Katy. The brunette gave Rose a glare that would melt steel, causing the blonde to deflate slightly; shocked by her expression, before Katy turned on her heel, hands in pockets of her denim jacket and walked towards a confused Mickey.
"What gives? Why are you coming with me?" Mickey asked.
"Why wouldn't I?" Katy responded nonchalantly as he fell into step beside her.
Airstrip
Lumic's Zeppelin arrives, with Pete already there waiting to greet him as promised. A Range Rover is idling nearby, ready and waiting with security guards and the President of Great Britain waiting to receive him. However, the President is less than impressed about the entire situation.
"Mister Tyler," he greets Pete when he steps from the car. Pete looks awkward and a little nervous, like he'd rather be elsewhere than where he was at that moment. Which was essentially true. "What's the matter? Couldn't wait until tonight?"
"Mister President. Honoured." Pete greets him, before explaining himself. "I'm on the fast-track program. Cybus Industries have bought up my company, so I'm part of the firm now."
"Some people say they've bought my Government." The President states, looking mildly annoyed.
"I've never heard anybody say that," Pete admits truthfully. "Never. You can trust me on this." He quotes his marketing slogan. The President makes a face.
"I've tried your drink, that Vitex stuff. It tastes like pop."
"Well, it is pop." Pete confirms. The President gives him a flat look before responding.
"You made money by selling a health food drink to a sick world. Not quite the ordinary Joe you appear to be, are you?" Pete gives a polite smile, as the President consults his watch, looking somewhat impatient. "He does like to keep us waiting. But tell me, you've had the chance to observe John Lumic more than most. What's your opinion?" He requests, and Pete gives him an honest answer, despite not quite liking the man himself.
"He's very sharp, I'd say." Pete was quick to answer. "Sharp as ever. Very clever man. Brilliant, in fact." The President looks at him, not really believing what he was saying.
"Then you don't think he's insane?"
"That's not the word I would've used, no." Pete admits, awkwardly.
The President nodded.
"I see." He then goes into Lumic's Zeppelin to greet the man himself.
A/N: The next chapter will be out soon!