Promised One 2

by arielle.dawnn

A continuation of season one with my OC Layla.

7. The Age of Steel

The next chapter is an original adventure where the Doctor and Layla have something to talk about!

Xxxxxx

The Cybermen were getting too close and the Doctor had no options. He had to protect Layla and the others. There was no other choice. He held up the green light power cell. Golden energy streamed from it towards the Cybermen causing them to be atomized and they bent backwards as they were stopped.

Ricky looked at him with wide, wary, eyes. "What the hell was that?"

The Doctor ignored him. "We'll have that instead. Run!" He grabbed Layla's had and turned to leg it when they all heard the sound of Missis Moore's van horn as she pulled up.

"Everybody, in!"

Pete started to head that way then stopped. "I've got to go back. My wife's in there."

The Doctor grabbed his arm and ignored the urge to let go. "Anyone inside that house is dead. If you want to help, then don't let her die for nothing. You've got to come with us right now."

"Come on! Get a move on!" Missis Moore shouted at them annoyed. Layla, Rose, the Doctor, and Pete were the only ones left to join the others in the van. Mickey refused to leave without all four and Ricky surprising didn't want to leave without Layla. It was weird, he knew she wasn't his Kayla, but she was a version of her.

The Doctor could see that Rose was also conflicted. "Rose she is not your mother."

Rose looked at him heartbroken. "I know."

"Come on." He gets behind Pete and Rose allowing them to go first. He is hoping that he can pick a seat where he doesn't have to sit by Rose, but ultimately, he is hoping that the seats will be limited and Layla will have to share with him. Fortunately, that is exactly what happens. There is only one seat left and he plucks Layla onto his lap and notices the confused glare that Ricky sends him. He wraps his arms around Layla and holds her to him tightly. He grunts when she wiggles her bum around a bit as she adjusts her legs and he starts to harden. He tightens his arms around her to hold her still. If she had continued, he would have let loose some indecent noises. He already knows that if she gets up, everyone will be able to see the evidence that he enjoys her sitting on his lap.

"Finished chatting? Never seen a slower getaway in my life!" Missis Moore puts the van into gear and she speeds off. They see Cybermen all over the place and they are looking for a place that is clear of them.

Ricky looks at the Doctor who seems to be slightly red in the face and has a glazed looked in his eyes. "What was that thing?"

"Hm? Oh, little bit of technology from my home." He was slightly distracted.

Mickey leaned up from the back seat. "It's stopped glowing. Has it run out?"

"It's on a revitalizing loop. It'll charge back up in about four hours."

Ricky slumps. "Right. So, we don't have a weapon anymore."

Jake shakes his head. "Yeah, we've got weapons. Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him." He vaguely points towards Pete.

Rose glares at him. "Leave him alone. What's he done wrong?"

"Oh, you know, just laid a trap that's wiped out the Government and left Lumic in charge." Jake said sarcastically.

Pete looked at him with wide eyes, clearly not believing what he was hearing. "If I was part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?"

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

The Doctor glared at him. "Talk about executions, you'll make me your enemy. And take some really good advice. You don't want to do that."

"Yeah." Layla looks at Ricky and attempted an Italian accent. "Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

Ricky looks at her fondly. "You're just like my Kayla, always quoting things." He shakes his head and gets back on topic. "All the same, we have evidence that says Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since twenty point five."

Rose looked at her dad heartbroken. "Is that true?" Pete looked at her a little uncomfortable and wondering why she looked at him like he broke her heart.

Ricky gives them a smug smirk. "Tell them, Mrs. M."

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

Pete leans forward from the back, a gleam in his eyes. "Broadcast from Gemini?"

Ricky looked at him with suspicion. "And how do you know that?"

Happy that he had confirmation, Pete gave him a pleased smile. "I'm Gemini. That's me."

Ricky scoffs. "Yeah, well you would say that."

"Encrypted wavelength six-five-seven using binary nine." Pete looked smug at their faces. "That's the only reason I was working for Lumic. To get information. I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services. What do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They've even got the van." He said exasperated.

"Ooh. Ten out of ten. For being undercover and the reference. Good job Pete." Layla gives him a smile and the Doctor pinches her side in amusement. She gets him back though by wiggling her bum in his lap and he grunts lightly.

"No, no, no. But the Preachers know what they're doing." Mickey jumped in protesting. "Ricky said he's London's Most Wanted."

Ricky rubbed the back of his head and had a sheepish look on his face. "Yeah, that's not exactly…"

Mickey's eyebrows scrunched together. "Not exactly what?"

"I'm London's Most Wanted for parking tickets."

"Great." Pete mocked.

"Yeah, they were deliberate!" Ricky said with feeling. "I was fighting the system. Park anywhere, that's me."

The Doctor nodded his head. "Good policy. I do much the same. I'm the Doctor by the way, this is Layla, if anyone's interest."

"And I'm Rose." She mainly said that towards Pete, hoping it meant something to him. "Hello."

"Even better." Oh, it did mean something to him. "That's the name of my dog. Still, at least I've got the catering staff on my side."

"I knew you weren't a traitor." Rose said to him softly. She wanted to grab his hand but held off.

Pete looked at her skeptically. "Why is that, then?"

Rose avoided his eyes. "I just did."

His shoulder's slumped and he sighed heavily. "They took my wife."

Rose's heart hurt when thinking about her mum being dead. "She might still be alive."

"That's even worse. Because that's what Lumic does. He takes the living and turns them into those machines." Rose cringes because she had forgotten about that.

"Cybermen. They're called Cybermen." The Doctor cut in helpfully. "And I'd take those ear pods off, if I were you. You never know Lumic could be listening." He winces inwardly as he realizes that he had just given Layla a hint that he had been hoping to put off for a little bit longer. He knows it won't take long for her to ask about it.

Pete takes the ear pods off and hands them to the Doctor when he motions for them. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver on them to disable them. "But he's overreached himself. He's still just a businessman. He's assassinated the President. All we need to do is get to the city and inform the authorities. Because I promise you, this ends tonight."

They are still driving trying to find a place that don't have any Cybermen and Layla was getting bored. She decides that she wants to tease the Doctor. She was enjoying being able to sit on his lap, and she knew that he enjoyed it as well. She started off small. During the who time since they had gotten in the van, she had been shifting every once in a while. Of course, by teasing him, she was also teasing herself, but a little foreplay and sexual tension never hurt anyone. She decided to strike up a conversation with her doubles husband and learn more about her life.

The Doctor was struggling. Layla had been purposely teasing him. Every once in a while, she would shift and he knew she was doing it on purpose because he knew she could feel his hardened cock and feel it twitch against her every time she shifted. It was taking a lot from him to keep quiet and not thrust against her. At first, it was easy with the conversation about the Cybermen, talking about that helped with keeping his mind focused. But when everyone started having different conversations, that is when he lost that focus. He decided to try to get some payback, since he was in the middle section of the van and on the right, there was no one on his right side. He released his right arm from around her waist and pulled it back and lowered it out of sight. He lightly touched the side of her knee and skimmed up her thigh slowly. He gets to the hem of her skirt and he stops and slides his finger under it. He can feel her breathing increase slightly against his left arm.

He slowly pushes up her skirt and uses his nails to lightly scratch her along the way. He takes his left arm and lowers it against the top of her thighs to hide that her skirt had risen up. Luckily it was getting dark and the others in the van were occupied with their own conversations. Layla herself was trying to have one with Ricky and learn more about her parallel self, her parents, their married life together, etc. He could tell that she was starting to struggle though the more he touched her and he didn't plan to stop here. While his left hand covered that her skirt had risen, it was resting against her skin and he was lightly stroking that. His right hand had pushed the bottom of her skirt on the side almost to her hip. He stops for a second and she seems to freeze in anticipation of what he is going to do. He takes his fingers and digs them into her thigh by her hip, knowing that she liked it when he did it to her hip, and okay, maybe he slightly regrets it because she arches slightly and pushed down hard on his cock and grinds herself onto him. His fingers press in harder to where he knows they are going to bruise and the smell of her pheromones seems to triple, and he makes note that she really liked that. He grits his teeth to stay quiet and to keep from lasting as long as a teenage virgin.

Knowing Layla, she was either doing the same or biting something to stay quiet. She was very good at keeping her reactions from being caught by others, which actually made him happy. It meant that he was able to tease her in public and see how far he can go and not have to worry about being caught by others. She seemed to get the message though and she settles down. He breathes a sigh of relief and lays his head against her back as he tries to calm down so when they get out of the van, he won't have tented pants.

Xxxxxx

Missis Moore pulls into a dark alley, which the Doctor is glad for as he and Layla are the first out and he quickly walks to the end of the alley and quickly adjusts himself while looking out. The others follow and when they see that there aren't any Cybermen they walk further out but they all look around in confusion as they see people walking in straight lines with vacant looks on their faces.

"What the hell?" Jake waved his hand in front of their faces and no one reacted.

"What's going on?" Rose thought that this was similar to what they say earlier when everyone got the Cybus update earlier that day, but this time they are walking.

The Doctor instantly makes the connection and knows that as soon as he says what it is, that Layla will most likely make the connection and ask him. "It's the ear pods. Lumic's taking control."

Rose walks up to someone and reaches towards one of the ear pods. "Can't we just, I don't know, take them off?"

The Doctor grabs her wrist, pulls her back and quickly let's go. "Don't! Cause a brain storm. 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."

"Doctor?" He turns as he hears Layla call for him. her face is going through a range of expressions. It looks like she isn't sure what to think. "What about the children? They were wearing the ear pods as well? Are you telling me that they will also be turned into these Cybermen? That they are going to cut out children's brains and put them in a metal suit to control?" Her face was flushed, lips pulled back baring her teeth, and her hands were clenched into a tight fist. At first Layla didn't know what to think. She was worried when she started off asking, but it turned to fury as she finished thinking about what they would do to a child.

Everyone around her looked like they were going to get sick at the thought. They hadn't even remembered that the children also wore ear pods. They looked around but their eyebrows scrunched when they didn't see any children mixed in with the adults. They turned towards the Doctor wondering if he knew what would or what had happened to them.

The Doctor sighed. He knew this would happen. She always thought of the children first. "Not at first." He winced when he heard her growl, normally he would find it stimulating, but this time, it wasn't, it was worrying. Because he knew she wasn't going to stop until Lumic was stopped. She wouldn't care if she got hurt in the process if it meant that the children were safe and Cybermen were very dangerous. "Their brains are not fully developed. They are too young right now for them to follow orders like Lumic wants. They wouldn't understand certain orders that might be given because of how young they are. The ear pods they have are keeping them in a state similar to being catatonic. They will continue to learn, but they are also learning how to be obedient and how to be loyal as they age. Lumic right now is forcing people to be Cybermen, but he might be training the children to come willingly in the future. It is all experimentation. When they are old enough, and that is at whatever age Lumic determines, that is when they would be turned."

The more she listened the more her heart broke and her anger soared. At the end of the Doctor's explanation though, she breathed a small sigh of relief that, for now, they were safe since they were too young. "He will be stopped, Doctor. No one will hurt a child under my watch. Even if I have to do it on my own." The thought of these poor children being raised for slaughter were running through her head and tears were starting to cloud her eyes, but they didn't fall.

The Doctor looked at her in sorrow and wraps his arms around her. "I know. We will stop them, Layla. No child will suffer that fate. I promise." Ricky looks at Layla and thinks about Kayla and his own child. They definitely are doubles and it hurts to see her cry. He straightens his shoulders in determination.

"Hey, come and see." Jake caught everyone's attention. They walked over to him and went around the corner and see more people and a squad of Cybermen.

"Where are they all going?" Rose wondered.

The Doctor shrugged. "I don't know. Lumic must have a base of operations."

"He would have to. These people aren't being converted in the streets. I highly doubt that he would be compassionate enough to do it under sedation, and I don't hear any screams of pain." Layla mutters in disgust. They all wince realizing that she was probably right.

"Battersea. That's where he was building his prototypes." Pete piped up with information he was able to gather.

"Why is he doing it? People normally just didn't do things like this without a reason, Rose thought.

"He's dying. This all started out as a way of prolonging life, of keeping the brain alive at any costs."

"I can understand that. Humans are always trying to cheat death. But why drag other people into it, especially unwillingly? He could have just done this to himself, he didn't need to do it to others. He might be dying, yes, but he is just another power-seeking human that wants to control others." Layla reasoned out. She thought about it and realized that turning others wasn't necessary if he was dying. Taking away their free will wasn't necessary with him being the ruler unless he was after power. He was able to get both things that he wanted. To continue to live, or what he considered living, and the power he was trying to gain. Pete looked at her like everything he had learned from working for Lumic finally made sense to him.

"The thing is, we've seen Cybermen before, haven't we? The head. Those handle shapes in Van Statten's museum." Rose brought up.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes slightly at the memories of that trip. "Ah, there are Cybermen in our universe. They started on an ordinary world just like this, then swarmed across the galaxy. This lot are a parallel version, and they're starting from scratch right here on earth."

Pete looked between the three time-travelers. "What the hell are you on about?"

Ricky was piecing things together a little bit better, but they didn't have time for this. "Never mind that. Come on, we need to get out of the city. Okay, split up. Missis Moore, you look after that bloke. Jake, distract them. Go right, I'll go left. We'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move." He wants Layla to go with him, to protect her, but he doesn't think that the Doctor will let her based on how he has been acting.

"I'm going with him." Mickey says and gives Rose a kiss.

Layla looks on worried and turns to the Doctor. He looks at her and grimaces and knowing what she wants to do. He doesn't want to let her go with them. He wants her by his side, but he knows that she can protect herself and keep herself safe. He knows that she wants to go and keep Mickey safe and probably to keep Ricky safe as well. He gives her a stern look and restrains himself from giving her a hard kiss. "Keep yourself safe. There is a trip we are going on next that you have to be there for." Layla gives him a beaming smile, happy that he knows that she can take care of herself and that he didn't fight her on this. She quickly runs off after Mickey and Ricky to catch up to them.

Xxxxxx

Mickey and Ricky are back-to-back looking all around but don't notice that Layla had caught up to them and was watching them in amusement as they are crouched down and scanning the area.

"Which way? I don't know where we are?" Mickey said.

"Did they see us?" Ricky looked at him and then back to the streets.

"Do they know where we are?" Ricky side eyed Mickey because he had been thinking that exact same question.

Ricky nods though. "I think they saw us. I bet they can see in the dark."

Mickey's paranoia comes into play now. "I bet they've got satellites."

Mickey's paranoia brings out Ricky's. "I bet they saw us in the dark."

"They know where we are." They both say at the same time.

Ricky stands up and crosses his arms. "I don't get it. What is it with you? You are exactly like me."

Mickey was worried, he wasn't sure if he could tell him about the parallel worlds or not. "I don't know, I reckon you're braver."

Ricky looks smug. "Oh yeah, ten times. Still, your friends aren't bad. I'll give you that. Plus, the one that looks like my wife, reminds me of her too."

"Oh, that's the Doctor and Rose, and of course, Layla. I just tag along behind."

"Well, then, you're not that bad."

Layla looked at Mickey with a frown, but Mickey was looking at Ricky with a hopeful smile. "Do you think?"

Ricky shrugs but gives him a small smile in return. "Yeah, I suppose."

"You're more than not that bad, Mickey Mouse. You're fantastic." She laughs when they both jump in the air as she startles them.

"Layla?! What are you doing here? The Doctor let you come?" Mickey couldn't believe that the Doctor would let her come here on her own and with him none the less.

"The Doctor doesn't let me do anything. I wanted to come with you, so I did. I can protect myself, and I always protect you as well Mickey Mouse. You're my damsel, remember?" Ricky snorts and Mickey pulls a face. "Ricky, the reason that you and Mickey are so similar is because Mickey is you. He is the parallel version of you in our universe, just like I am the parallel version of your Kayla. Same people, different version."

"Ah, I was wondering. I thought he was too similar to be a brother, but it seemed impossible that the stuff in the comics to be real. But I kept noticing the similarities between us and you and Kayla."

"Yeah…" Layla doesn't get to say anymore as they hear the hear steps of the Cybermen coming close to where they are hiding.

Their eyes widen. "Split up!" Mickey and Ricky say together again. Mickey grabs Layla's hand and pulls her in one direction while Ricky goes in another.

Everywhere Mickey and Layla run, they are having to avoid groups of Cybermen. They find it easier to stick closer to the alleyways, but a lot of them are dead ends or just L shaped and don't do much good for them. They get to one and see that they would have to climb a fence to get to the other side and see Ricky already there.

They are about to climb when they see the Cybermen behind Ricky and realize that he needs to climb over to their side. "Come on! Come on! Come on!" Mickey is shouting to him trying to urge him to climb it faster. Mickey started to climb the fence to try to pull him over.

In his panic Ricky slips and starts to fall, but Layla sees a wooden crate off to the side and gets on top of it. She jumps onto the fence and reaches over and grabs Ricky by the waistband of his pants and is able to help him from falling all the way to the ground. By this time Mickey had made it to the top of the fence and was able to bend over and grab his pants as well.

Layla sees that the Cybermen are closing in and don't have much time before Ricky is grabbed. "Ricky, prepare for a wedgie. Mickey, pull up hard! Now!" Mickey grunts at the weight, not used to lifting his own weight up like this, but with the help of Layla, who was used to lifting heavy things, they are able to lift Ricky up higher on the fence to where the Cyberman that was about to grab Ricky's leg had just missed him and now was unable to reach him. They all give a small sigh but Ricky quickly continues to scale the fence and jump over. They are all over on one side and the Cybermen are on the other.

Ricky looks at Layla and pulls her into a tight hug. "Thank you."

His hug feels wrong and Layla isn't really sure why. She has noticed that for a while now, touching people has caused her to flinch or there is a feeling or wrongness to it…except for one person. She narrows her eyes slightly. I bet this is alien related. The Doctor owes me an explanation big time. Layla pulls back and gives him an easy grin trying to hide the uneasiness she feels. "Well, I can't have my double be a single mum. I'm too young." Ricky barks out a laugh and Mickey was amused and wondering if she would say something like that in front of the Doctor and what his reaction would be. They all take off running to go meet up with everyone else.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor, Rose, Pete, and Missis Moore are the first to arrive and are waiting for the others to join them. The Doctor is antsy and hoping that Layla is alright. They see Jake run up and he hunches over to catch his breath when he gets to them. "I ran past the river. You should have seen it. The whole cities on the march. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames."

The next to come up is Mickey and Jake gives him a smile but it slightly fades not knowing which one it is. "Here he is! Which one are you?" The Doctor is looking behind him worriedly and his hearts start to drop. She couldn't have…

Mickey is too busy trying to breathe from his run to answer and he bends over is practically wheezing, I need to work out more. Maybe I should join Layla sometime. "So… sorry." He was trying to explain what happened, but his heart was pounding and he was trying to take deeper breaths.

Jake took what he said wrongly though. "Are you Ricky? Are you Ricky?" He was panicking.

"Mickey, that's you, isn't it?" Rose stepped forward slightly and asked with a soft voice. Mickey nodded slightly and Rose gives him a tight hug. Mickey was wondering why they were acting so weird. The Doctor was frozen. Layla went with Mickey. Mickey is here without Layla.

The Doctor surges forward and grabs Mickey by the front of his shirt, jerks him up and snarls at him. "Where is Layla?!"

"She's with Ricky?" Mickey huffs dumbly not realizing that they think Ricky is dead. Rose gasps and is holding her hand over her mouth.

The Doctor shakes him slightly and Mickey is slightly fearful of the look in his eyes. The Doctor wants to see for himself. He wants to see her body to confirm that it is true. And, if it is, he wants to be able to take her home. "Where…" He stops when he hears a familiar laugh.

"She did not!" Layla was laughing.

They hear Ricky laughing with her. "I swear she did! It was the funniest thing. It was then that I knew I was going to marry her." Their laughter cuts off when they come up to the group and see a variety of expressions. Jake looks like he was gobsmacked and Missis Moore and Rose looked relieved. Pete was just standing there awkwardly. The Doctor was holding Mickey up by his shirt with an angry look on his face and Mickey looked confused and scared.

"Umm… is everything okay here?" Layla asked realizing that something had happened but not what. "Oof." She grunts when both Rose and the Doctor slam into her and squeeze her tightly. She looks over to see Jake practically plastered to Ricky and his face mirrors hers and Mickey's with bewilderment. "Um, not that I don't mind the love here, but what's wrong?"

They pulled back but the Doctor doesn't move very far from her and he looks at Mickey accusingly. "Mickey said you were dead."

"WHAT? I did not!" Mickey protested.

Everyone started chiming in and talking over one another, Mickey and the Doctor being the loudest. "If everyone doesn't shut up in two seconds I will start singing!" Layla threatened. It became quiet immediately. Pete was the only one looking around confused and the only one who hadn't been talking to begin with. Ricky, Jake, and Missis Moore automatically clammed up because since Layla looked like Kayla, they forgot she wasn't Kayla, and acted instinctually when the threat came up. Layla claps her hands satisfied. "Great, now that we have silence. Let's get this cleared up. Mickey, what exactly did you say when you arrived here before us?"

Mickey scratches his head as he thinks back. "Well, I was mainly trying to catch my breathe. Too busy wheezing and they were badgering me with questions. I know I was able to get out an 'sorry', apologizing that I couldn't answer their questions at that moment and needed a few minutes and then I would, but then I don't know! They just. They just freaked out!"

Layla closes her eyes and rubs her forehead. "So let me get this straight. You see one of the Mickey/Ricky doubles only come running up, wheezing, and unable to get any words out. And from one word he was able to get out, you take it that we were dead? Does that sum it up?" A flush appears on Jakes face, Missis Moore tugs on her ear, Rose scratches the back of her head, and the Doctor scuffs his foot on the ground and dips his head down. Now that she had said it that way, they realize how they did jump to conclusions based on one word.

"Sorry man, for jumping to conclusions, but what did you expect? Mickey comes up, you two aren't here, Cybermen are running around killing people and he says sorry. Tensions are high, of course we would think you died." Jake explained why he jumped to conclusions.

"Exactly." The Doctor nodded, jumping on the bandwagon. "Where were you two anyways?"

"Well, I couldn't exactly continue to run around in heels and that catering outfit. Plus, I had to save my baby's daddy from being a distressed damsel." She sends a wink to Ricky and he snorts. The words tasted like ash on her tongue and she wished she hadn't said it. "When we pulled Ricky over a fence, my skirt had a big tear in it. Mickey was supposed to come ahead of us and let you know that Ricky was taking me to where I could get some clothes and shoes."

The Doctor's face tightened at her joke while everyone else laughed. Next time they have to split up, she is going with him. She needs to know that she can't make jokes like that, the bond is raging at him at the thought of her having someone else's child. He is wondering how much of the bond she is feeling after saying something like that compared to how much he is feeling. He wants to touch her and calm the bond, but too much attention is on her right now and he doesn't want to draw more by Rose possibly causing a scene. But he does look at her and realizes that she did change. She is wearing something he has never seen her wear. A pair of sweatpants that rest low on her hips and a halter top that shows her belly, and sneakers. Besides the shoes, with her messy hair, it gives her a 'just woke up' look, and he finds it very appealing. It gets him wondering what she does wear to bed at night. He clears his throat before he can go down that lane and decides to get everyone back to the problem at hand. The Cybermen.

Xxxxxx

They are on a hill overlooking the city watching as the zombie like people are entering a huge factoring. Cybermen are roaming around all over the area. The Doctor turns to the others. "The whole of London's been sealed off, and the entire population's been taken inside that place. To be converted."

"We've got to get in there and shut it down." Rose is pacing and wondering if her mum is still alive or if she has already been converted.

"How do we do that?" Mickey looked at the Doctor. He was the only one here that has dealt with Cybermen before. Those from this universe had decided to let the Doctor take the reins on this operation since he knew more. He seemed like the best chance they had at saving their world.

The Doctor waves his hand. "Oh, I'll think of something."

Mickey narrows his eyes at him. "You're just making this up as you go along."

The Doctor just gives him a cheesy smile, in a slightly better mood since he had made sure to be by Layla since finding out that she wasn't dead and the bond had calmed down. "Yep. But I do it brilliantly."

"Mickey Mouse, he never has a plan and if he ever tells you he does, then run." Layla squawked as the Doctor pinched her on the bum, but made it look like he hadn't moved when everyone looked at her.

Luckily, for him, Missis Moore calls their attention to where she was sitting at the nearby table. "This is a schematic of the old factory. Look. Cooling tunnels underneath the plant. Big enough to walk through. But it would be slow going through them. There would be traps that need to be watched out for."

"We go under there and up into the control center?" The Doctor rubbed his chin in thought trying to figure out where to place everyone.

"Mmm." Missis Moore confirmed.

"There's another way in. Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in." Pete and Jackie might have been getting a divorce, but he still loved her, and he didn't want her to die.

"We can't just go strolling up." Jake protested.

"Or we could, with these." Missis Moore pulls out some ear pods from her bag. "Fake ear pods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd."

Pete reaches for them. "Then that's my job."

"You'd had to show no emotion. None at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away." The Doctor warned him.

Rose looks at Missis Moore. "How many of those you got?"

"Just two sets."

She takes a deep breath. "Okay. If that's the best way of finding Jackie, then I'm coming with you."

"Why does she matter to you?" Pete didn't understand why this woman would risk her life for his wife.

Rose ignores the question though. "We haven't got time. Doctor, I'm going with him, and that's that."

"No stopping you, is there?" He figures she is going to do whatever she wants regardless. She is bound and determine to save her 'mum and dad', even if these people are not them.

Rose looks at him with defiance. "No."

"Tell you what. We can take the ear pods at the same time. Give people their minds back so they don't walk into that place like sheep. Jakey-boy? Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there." He waves his sonic screwdriver in the direction of the power station. Jake looks and sees a Zeppelin parked on top with red lights. "There it is. On the Zeppelin, you see? Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off. Reckon you could take it out?"

Jake nods in determination. "Consider it done."

"Missis Moore, would you care to accompany me and Layla into the cooling tunnels?" The Doctor didn't even ask if Layla wanted to go, she was going. She had already left his side once and then he thought she died. His hearts couldn't deal with that again. He did shoot her a look though when she looked at him stopping her if she was going to protest.

"How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?"

"We attack on three sides. Above, between, below. We get to the control center, we stop the conversion machines." The Doctor thought everything was settled but two voices piped up.

"What about us?" Mickey and Ricky spoke like twins.

"Er, you two can…" The Doctor couldn't think of anything, and this time he squawks when Layla pinched his bum, most likely for forgetting about him, again.

Mickey scoffed realizing what happened. "What, stay out of trouble? Be the tin dog? No, those days are over. We're going with Jake."

"You're not the tin dog, Mickey Mouse. I was going to suggest you go with him anyways since I know you are computer savvy. Keep each other safe, can't leave my double as a single mum. I'm too young for that." In changing how she made her joke to what she said to Ricky earlier, the strange feeling didn't hit her as hard. It seemed to realize that she was joking. She missed the Doctor's eye twitch at her joke though, but Mickey didn't and he snickered inwardly. Man, he really doesn't like the idea of parallel Layla and Ricky married and with a baby on the way.

"Mickey good luck." The Doctor might not be the biggest fan of Mickey, but he didn't want the kid to get hurt or die.

"Yeah, you too. Rose, Layla, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, you'd better." Rose grins at him.

"If we survive this, I'll see you back at the Tardis." The Doctor was coming to enjoy Mickey traveling with them, even if he did tend to forget about him.

"That's a promise!" He sends them a grin and walks off with Ricky and Jake. Layla looked at Mickey thoughtfully though. She had seen that he had a thoughtful look on his face throughout the night and wonders what he was thinking about. When the Doctor said he would see them at the Tardis, Mickey had hesitated before he replied back. She watches as Rose comes up to the Doctor and gives him a big hug as she tells him good luck and she sees the uncomfortable look on his face. She also feels uncomfortable, but giving the circumstances and the possibilities of dying, she doesn't say or do anything. She does look towards Mickey though and see that he was already looking back at Rose and she sees the look on his face before a resigned look crosses it. His face shifts again and then he looks to her and sees her staring at him, he gives her a nod and turns away. Seems like he has decided.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor has Missis Moore go down the tunnel first, then Layla, and then he follows and closes up the tunnel. There is barely any light that is coming from the lid above them. Missis Moore rubs her arms trying to get warmth in them. "It's freezing."

"It is cold, but I like it. I prefer it to the heat. You can always add clothes. You can only take so much off before you're arrested." The Doctor makes a mental note for future trips. There are a lot of places that are cooler that he could take Layla to for her to enjoy.

"Any sign of a light switch?" He asks wondering if these tunnels did have any.

"Can't see a thing. But I've got these. A device for every occasion." Missis Moore pulls out a torch on a headband for all three of them to wear.

"Ooo!" The Doctor was excited, he loves these things.

"Brings back memories of you back in Cardiff and wearing that goofy red one when Jack was with us. I miss him. I hope he is doing well. Can we see him soon?" Layla gives him a fond grin.

"It wasn't goofy!" He reaches over to pinch her hip and she dodges slightly as his fingers graze her side causing them to slide inside the waistband of her sweatpants. She didn't notice anything, but the Doctor momentarily freezes as a devious idea hits him, he just needs to wait for the right time to enact it. He brushes off her inquiry about Jack, not wanting to explain that he plans to never see Jack again because of what Rose did to him. He turns to Missis Moore instead of answering her. "Haven't got a hotdog in there, have you? I'm starving."

"Of all the things to wish for. That's mechanically recovered meat."

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

"Doctor, out of everyone I have ever met, there have only been two people that have ever kept food in their pocket. Food, not snacks. That would be you and Howard. Both fruits. But since you're asking her about a hotdog, I wouldn't be surprised if you had that in your jacket pocket as well."

The Doctor thinks about it and shrugs. "I have many things in there."

Missis Moore puts out a regular flashlight and turns it on. "A proper torch."

"Let's see where we are." The Doctor indicates for her point it further down the tunnel and it shines on Cybermen that are standing side by side on both sides of the tunnel and Missis Moore gasps. "It's alright, already converted, just put on ice. Come on." He taps on one of the Cyberman's face and there isn't any reaction. "Let's go slowly. Keep an eye out for trip systems." They walk slowly down the tunnel, stopping often so Missis Moore can check to make sure there are no trip systems. It is slow going, but it keeps them undetected and therefor safe.

"How did you get into this, then, rattling along with the Preachers?" As he asked Missis Moore this, he sees that this is the perfect time to follow with his plan and an impish grin grows on his face. He steps closer to Layla and makes sure to walk practically on the back of her heels. He takes his hands and gives a barely there touch to her hips and slowly increases the pressure and smirks when he feels her jump. She turns her head back and looks at him questioningly but he just raises his eyebrow challengingly. She purses her lips before quirking them up in a grin and facing forward again.

Missis Moore has no idea what the Doctor is doing seeing as she is in the front of their little group. "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." She shrugged her shoulders. "They needed a techie, so I, I just sat down and taught myself everything."

They stay quiet for a little bit as they walk down and listen for any odd noises. The moments that they have to stop to check for systems is when the Doctor does most of his teasing, but he never fully stops as they walk since they are practically walking like turtles. The Doctor decides to ramp up the teasing. He leaves his left hand on her hip, but takes his right and slides it towards her stomach, flattening out his hand so his palm is against her. He slides his thumb and first few fingers up under her shirt so his whole hand is touching her skin and he slightly tightens his grip of his left hand. He can feel the increase of her breathing. He takes his pinky and ring finger and slides them under the waist band of her sweats and moves his hand down slowly and he feels her stomach clench and he freezes. She lets out a shuddering breath and he runs his hand against her skin and he can feel her muscle contract. She lets out a barely there whimper and his left hand spazzes at the noise, tightening even more causing her to arch back into him. Now it is his turn to release a shuddering breath. He had been ignoring his own reactions, too busy focusing on her and when she arched, she pushed right into his hardened cock.

"What about a Mr. Moore?" He asks Missis Moore to try to calm down some. His voice was pitched lower than normal and he could feel Layla shiver against him. He closed his eyes and had to tell himself that pushing her to the ground, ripping off those sweats and giving into the pleasure was not what he planned to do and not in front of someone else. Now behind someone was a totally different matter.

"Well, he's not called Moore. I got that from a book, Mrs. Moore. It's safer not to use real names. But he thinks I'm dead. It was the only way to keep him safe. Him and the kids."

They could hear the sadness in her voice. "You'll get back to them soon enough. Then you can have lots of family bonding time." Layla was trying to get her to see the positive that after they finished with Lumic, she could go home.

"What about you? Got any family, or?" She was curious about them.

The Doctor leaned forward to where his mouth was close to Layla ear, showing he was talking to her, but spoke loud enough for Missis Moore as well. "Oh, I've got someone in mind. Maybe in the future I can have another family." The Doctor pulled Layla back towards him where she was plastered against him. Their slow-paced walking making it easier to keep them glued together. When Layla felt him pull them together and his cock against her bum tightly, she arched her back, grinding into him. He instinctually bucked his hips forward and dug his fingers into her hip and they both bit their lips to keep quiet. He took his right hand and moved it even lower until he felt the top of her laced covered core. He toyed with the band of that with his fingers. He could pick up the sound of Layla panting and he felt that male satisfaction that he was able to get this reaction out of her.

"Do you like this?" He whispers in her ear. He feels her nod against him wanting to be quiet since she was closer to the woman in front of them. "You have been driving me mad all night." He lightly licks the shell of her ear and takes his left hand from her hip and moves it up towards her chest, under her shirt. He gets to her breast, slips his hand inside her bra and runs his finger over her nipple, feeling her piercing. He wonders if the piercing enhances the feeling for her. She bucks her hips and he lowers his right hand over the top of her knickers and cups her cunt. He could feel her wetness seeping through the fabric onto his fingers and wonders if she tastes as good as she smells. "One thing though, Layla." He growls gutturally into her ear and pushes up firmly against her cunt making sure to put more pressure on her clit. "Don't joke about having another man's child."

Layla felt like she was in an inferno. The Doctor had barely touched her and he already had her quivering for more. The fact that they were doing it behind the back of another person only added to the excitement. She didn't know what was different about today compared to all the other days. She has teased him before, and but he has never retaliated like this. She was like putty in his hands. She was so close as well which was surprising because it usually takes a bit to get a woman off, but he was pushing all the right buttons. No male has ever brought her this much pleasure before. "Do you understand me?" She hears him ask as he presses against her again and she moves her hips wanting him to move. "Answer me!"

"Yes, I won't do it again." She manages to get out quietly and then she begs. "Please..." Happy that Missis Moore was so focused on the task of looking for the traps. They are also lucky because the cooling tunnels have a background noise of fans, to keep the tunnels cool, and they are helping to cover the noises they are making.

There is a deep and dark satisfaction that runs through the Doctor as she answers him and continues to grind against his hand. The begging was icing on the cake. "Good girl." He pinches her nipple roughly and shoves her knickers to the side. He feels the silky, wetness, of her cunt and he grunts. He circles a finger over her clit and he can feel her twitch against him as he gives her what she wants. He leans down and kisses her neck and gives it light bites here and there. He can tell that she is close by how much she is twitching and she is breathing hard. She whimpers slightly, a little loud, and he lets out a fake cough to cover the sound. He lets go of her breast and covers her mouth. "You have to be quiet, love, or I will have to stop. Don't want that, now, do we?" She rapidly shakes her head and forces herself to be quieter. He leaves his hand there, and goes back to her neck. He resists the urge to leave a mark knowing it would cause complications and settles for the little nips and kisses. Her breath stutters, her body tenses, and she grips his wrist tightly. He gives one last bite, this one slightly harder, but not enough to leave a mark. Her nails dig into his skin and she jerks against him as he feels her get wetter. He continues to rub her through her orgasm until she calms down.

He clears his throat roughly and pulls down Layla's shirt but keeps his right hand here it's at for now. "So, Missis Moore. Go on, then. What's your real name?"

She looks as if she is going to turn around and Layla grabs his wrist as if to pull him out of her pants, but he refuses and Missis Moore continues to look forward. "Angela Price. Don't tell a soul."

"Not a word." He promises. He takes his fingers and runs them along her folds before sliding one inside her and his eyes almost roll back when he feels her clench around his finger, left over spasms from her orgasm. He slides another one in and moves them around gathering her fluid on his fingers. He slowly slides out making sure not to catch his fingers against the fabric of her pants. "You smell so good, Layla. I wonder how you taste."

Layla could still feel her body twitching from one of the best orgasms she has ever had, and she is having to force herself to remain standing. Her legs feel like jelly. Hearing what he said she turns to look at him as he looks at his fingers and then looks directly into her eyes as he brings his fingers to his mouth and sucks on them. His head tips back and he quietly groans. "Better than you smell. I'll have to try it from the source." He looked like he wanted to devour her and she would gladly let him.

She turns slightly so she could put her hand on his chest and slide it down towards his cock. She gripes him through his pants and feels how thick and long he is. She figured he would be, she has found that the really skinny and tall ones are built like that. "Only if you return the favor and let me have a sample." She squeezes him firmly and he closes his eyes tightly before opening them up and glancing at her lips. It looked like he was going to lean towards her to give her a kiss when Missis Moore panicked words interrupted him.

"Doctor, did that one just move?"

He wasn't sure because he had been delightfully distracted. "It's just the torchlight. Keep going, come on." He grunted slightly as Layla's grip became firmer and she went to unbutton his pants when a Cyberman nearby did, in fact, start to move. "They're waking up. Run!"

They run down the tunnel and hear the loud steps of the Cybermen behind them. They get to a ladder and Missis Moore shoves the Doctor up first knowing that he would have to open it. "Get up! Quick! They're coming! Open it! Open it!" He quickly gets the door open and leans down to pull them out, hoping that Layla was the next, but was frustrated when he seen her push Missis Moore to go first. "Come on! Come on!"

Missis Moore gets up and the Doctor reaches down and, in his determination, to save Layla, he practically just pulls her straight out of the tunnel without her even needing to climb the ladder. They close the door and the Doctor seals the door with his screwdriver. "Oh, good team, Layla, Missis Moore."

They are startled when they hear the robotic voice of a Cyberman behind them. "You are not upgraded."

"Yeah? Well, upgrade this." Missis Moore throws a small rod with copper wire wrapped around it at the Cyberman and it sticks to the metal causing the Cyberman to jerk. It sparks and then it collapses and stops moving.

The Doctor and Layla looked at her impressed. The Doctor even whistled. "What the hell was that thing?"

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

He gives her a beaming grin. "You figured right. Now, let's have a look. Know your enemy. A logo on the front. Lumic's turned them into a brand. Heart of steel, but look." The Doctor removes the logo on the chest of the Cyberman and they can see that it is not just electronics inside of the metal suit.

Missis Moore face scrunches up. "Is that flesh?"

"Hmmm. Central nervous system. Artificially grown then threaded throughout the suit so it responds like a living thing. Well, it is like a living thing. Oh, but look. Emotional inhibitor. Stops them from feeling anything."

"So, this is the thing that is stopping their free will then, huh? If we were to turn that off, Lumic would lose control of the Cybermen then, yeah?" Layla wondered.

"But why?" Missis Moore didn't understand why they were forced to stop from feeling anything.

The Doctor understood what she was asking and was able to answer Layla question at the same time. "It's still got a human brain. Imagine its reaction if it could see itself, realize itself inside this thing. They'd go insane. They'd have their will back, but they wouldn't be sane anymore."

"So, they cut out the one thing that makes them human." Missis Moore now understood why all the Cybermen were all stoic.

"Because they have to." He looks down at the Cyberman sadly. While Lumic already killed the human inside of the suit, it was still upsetting that the Cybermen were still alive in a way and they couldn't be anything other than stoic and mindless or they would go insane. Layla grabs the Doctor's hand and squeezes it tightly knowing that his heart hurts for all species, even man-made ones.

"Why am I cold?" They hear a voice ask from inside the Cyberman.

Missis Moore covers her mouth with her hand. "Oh, my god. It's alive. It can feel."

Layla's eyes clouded with tears as she thinks about the children that are being raised for slaughter, that would be forced into this metal suit, forced to be unfeeling, and if the inhibitor broke, forced to be cold and confused. And thinking about the people that have already been forced to go through this causes a tear to slip free.

The Doctor squeeze Layla's hand wanting to give her comfort. He looks at the Cyberman with guilt and sorrow. "We broke the inhibitor. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Why so cold?" The voice asked again.

"Can you remember your name?" The Doctor wanted to know how much of the brain was still active.

"Sally. Sally Phelan."

"You're a woman." Missis Moore says softly.

"Where's Gareth?" Sally asked.

"Who's Gareth?" Missis Moore was tempted to hold Sally's hand, but was worried about being electrocuted and she didn't think that Sally would even be able to feel it.

"He can't see me. It's unlucky the night before." Sally didn't answer Missis Moore's question directly, but what she said told them exactly who Gareth was.

"You're getting married." Missis Moore's heart broke for the woman who would never get to marry her love.

"I'm cold. I'm so cold."

"It's alright. You sleep now, Sally. Just go to sleep." The Doctor tells her soothingly. He puts his screwdriver inside the chest cavity and is startled when he feels Layla wrap her hand around his.

"I'm right here with you. You don't need to suffer this alone." Layla presses down on the Doctor's thumb that would press the button that would turn it on and deactivate Sally. The Doctor looks at her gratefully. She knows that while it was a mercy killing, it was still a death he would have put on his shoulders, and she wasn't going to let him carry that burden on his own.

"Sally Phelan didn't die for nothing, because that's the key. The emotional inhibitor. If we could find the code behind it, the cancellation code, then feed it throughout the system into every Cyberman's head, they'd realize what they are." The Doctor swallows hard at what that would do to the Cybermen.

"What would happen then?" Missis Moore asks.

"I think it would kill them. Could we do that?" He questions aloud, but it is more of a question for himself. Could he really kill more people who were unwillingly forced into this existence?

Missis Moore sighed. She could hear the hesitancy in his voice. She didn't want to do it either, but there didn't seem to be any other options. "We've got to. Before they kill everyone else. There's no choice, Doctor. It's got to be done."

Missis Moore goes to stand when Layla sees something silver out of the corner of her eye. She looks over and realizes that they were surrounded by Cybermen. She quickly wraps her hand around Missis Moore's wrist like a vice and yanks her back down before she could fully stand. She was thankful for her quick reflexes from her mixed martial arts because they all see that the Cyberman had his arm extended where Missis Moore would have been standing and it would have most likely electrocuted her.

The Doctor quickly stands up and gets in front of them, but the Cybermen stop coming towards them. "Sensors detect a binary vascular system. You are an unknown upgrade. You will be taken for analysis." They all breathe a sigh of relief as both Missis Moore and Layla are taken along with the Doctor. He grabs Layla's hand and grips it tightly and is trying to keep her out of reach of the Cybermen.

Xxxxxx

Rose doesn't know how her dad is feeling, but she is absolutely terrified. It is going to take everything in her to not show any type of emotion. But for her mum, she knew she could do it. She would do it. She sees the humans go into the chambers and come out as Cybermen knowing that they were dissected for their brains. She wants to hurl. She shudders when she remembers that she was going to get in line for it to find her mum.

"Chamber six now open for human upgrading. Chamber seven now open for human upgrading." Rose and Pete are avoiding the Cybermen that are in charge of the chambers, but they are about to get in line and then it's up in the air from there.

"Just put them on. Don't show any emotion. No signs, nothing. Okay?" Pete warns her as he tries to mentally prepare himself for whatever outcome he may find when it comes to his wife.

"Don't worry. We can do it." Rose gives him a smile trying to be encouraging.

"Chamber seven now open for human upgrading."

Pete looks at her intensely. "We could die in here. Why are you doing this?"

"Let's just say, I'm doing it for my mum and dad." She gives him a mysterious smile. "Right, let's go."

"Chamber eight now open for human upgrading."

Holding hands tightly, they quickly join in the queue and are constantly reminding themselves to show no emotion.

"Chambers nine now open for human upgrading. Chamber ten now open for human upgrading. Chamber eleven now open for human upgrading."

"Units upgraded now six thousand five hundred. Repeat. Six thousand five hundred and rising."

A Cyberman stops the procession with Rose in the front and Pete is right behind her. "You will wait." The Cyberman tells her and moves away.

Pete leans forward a little bit and whispers under his breath. "You okay?"

Rose was scared, and she wanted comfort from her daddy, so she didn't lie to him. "No."

"Chamber six now open for human upgrading. All reject stock will be incinerated."

A woman walks into the chamber and multiple blades are spinning around. Rose is forced to watch the woman's fate and she knows that it will haunt her for the rest of her life. She is only hoping, that with these people in a zombie like state, that they don't feel any pain during this process.

"Any sign of Jackie?" Pete is looking around as best as he can, but it is limited as they aren't supposed to be able to move.

Rose wasn't able to answer as a Cyberman walks up to them. "You are Peter Tyler. Confirm you are Peter Tyler."

Pete wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond, but gave his answer. "Confirmed."

"I recognize you. I went first. My name was Jacqueline Tyler."

It was the first that they had heard a Cyberman refer to the life it had before they were converted. Rose was devastated though and broke her act. "No!"

Pete was just as distressed. "What?" He didn't want to believe it.

"They are unprogrammed. Restrain." More Cybermen come over and grab Rose and Pete.

Pete slightly fights against them and snarls at the one that said it was his wife. "You're lying. You're not her. You're not my Jackie!"

"No, I am Cyber-form. Once I was Jacqueline Tyler."

Rose's eyes welled up with tears, she didn't see this world's Jackie as just another Jackie in the world. She still seen her as her mum because she was a version of her mum. "But you can't be. Not her."

"Her brain is inside this body." Whether the Cyberman was doing it on purpose or not, it was rubbing salt in the wound.

"Jacs, I came to save you." Pete pleaded with the creature who now had his wife's brain hoping that some of his Jackie was still there and could be saved.

The Cyberman ignored him though. "This man worked with Cybus Industries to create our species. He will be rewarded by force. Take them to Cyber Control." The Cybermen that are restraining them drag them off, but there isn't much fight left in them as they are too distraught to care at that moment.

Rose's bottom lip trembled. "They killed her. They just took her and killed her."

Pete didn't want to believe it though. He didn't want to give up on her yet. "Maybe there's a chance, I don't know. Maybe we can reverse it."

Rose's head drops to her chest. "There's nothing we can do."

"But if, if she remembers. Where is she? Which one was it? Which one was her?" Pete looked around desperately trying to find the one that was supposed to be his Jackie.

Rose looked around before giving up. "They all look the same."

Xxxxxx

Jake is the first up the ladder then Ricky and Mickey. Jake has some binoculars. "Two guards. We can take them."

"Don't kill them." Mickey may not like the Doctor all the time, but he does have good morals, and he agrees with him on not killing unless there is no choice.

Jake and Ricky raised their brows at him, and Ricky asked. "Who put you in charge?"

Mickey gave them a patient look. "If you kill them, what's the difference between you and the Cybermen?"

They think about this and nod their heads. They don't want to be anything like those machines. Jake reaches into his bag and pulls out a glass jar. "Well, I suppose we could use these."

"Smelling salts?" Isn't that supposed to wake people up? Not put them to sleep? Mickey thought.

"Not exactly. One of Missis Moore's little tricks. Should knock them out. Three, two, one."

All three of them run out from where they were hide and run up behind the human guards. They put the bottles under their noses and within seconds the guards drop like their strings were cut. Mickey looked at the jar in wonder. "There's got to be more guards on board."

Ricky and Jake give him broad grins, Jake rummages around the guard's pockets and gets a ring of keys. "Then let's go get them."

Along the way to the control room, they run into six more guards and they are all easily taken care of. Every one of them are drag into a nearby room and the slide things through the handle to block them from being able to open the doors. They close the door on the last guard they came across. Jake puts his hands on his hips. "Nice one. Nobody's home. Find the transmitter controls."

"What do they look like?" Mickey asked. He wasn't sure if they would look like they did in his world.

Jake huffed. "Well, I don't know. They might have Transmitter Controls written in big red letters. Just look."

They are walking around looking for the control when Ricky sees a Cyberman and gives a small scream. Mickey has a flashback to the sealed rats in the school and now he understands why Layla was laughing so hard at him. He turned away and bit his lip to keep from laughing.

Jake holds up his pistol and turns on the alcove light. Mickey gets himself under control and looks at it closer. "It's dead. I don't think it was ever alive." He knocks on the head three times and it sounded sort of hollow. "It's empty. No brain. It's just a robot suit. It's for display."

Ricky straightened his clothes and puts a tough look on his face and goes back to looking for the transmitter. Mickey and Jake share a look and quietly snicker.

"Hey, I think I found them." Mickey gets their attention. "The transmitter controls are sealed behind here, we need like an oxyacetylene or something."

Jake snaps his finger. "Oh, and I forgot to bring it with me."

"Well then, what do we do?" Mickey wondered if he had a better idea.

"Are we sure there isn't anything here that can break the seal?" Ricky wondered.

"We could crash the Zeppelin." Jake suggested.

"With us in it?" Mickey looked at him like he was crazy.

"We could set it to automatic and then just leg it. Let's have a look." They go to the steering controls and Jake pouts. "It's locked. There's got to be an override."

Mickey gently pushes him aside. "Let me have a go. I'm good with computers. Trust me."

"That's good, because we know nothing about them." Ricky said. This cause both him and Mickey to be surprised about the difference since they were parallel doubles.

"By the way, Ricky. Gran, she was wearing the ear pods. Why aren't you worried about her being converted?"

"Oh that? I had Missis Moore give hers an upgrade. She disabled most of the programs Lumic put on them, the only thing she can really get on them is the news and that's all she used it for before Missis Moore got ahold of them. So, she wouldn't be one of these zombies. Kayla and her parents also don't wear the ear pods so they are safe as well, and Kayla and I live with gran to take care of her."

Mickey turns to him and gives him a solemn look. "Get the rug on the stairs fixed."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to get to it. I'll get to it soon enough."

"No, Ricky. I don't think you understand. Make it your number one priority when this is done." Mickey's eyes cloud as he thinks back and regrets that he didn't make it a priority and she paid the price.

Ricky looks at Mickey and seems to read between the lines. His eyes widen and he covers his mouth with his hand rubbing his face. He sees how serious Mickey is and realizes why he is being warned. Mickey didn't get a warning like this, but he made sure to give me one. I won't let it be ignored. He nods seriously. It will be the first thing he does after they stop Lumic and he goes home.

Mickey gets back to working on the computer, but none of them had realized that the Cyberman had woken up. Mickey was getting excited. "Almost there."

Jake was impressed, he didn't think much of this Ricky double, but he seems to be alright. "Not bad work." Jake hears a weird screech, and looks around and sees that the Cyberman was moving. "It's moving! You said it was dead!"

"Yeah. But a robot's still a big robot. Wait a minute." Mickey goes and stands in front of the transmitter and starts to taunt the Cyberman. "Hey, Cyberman, over here. Come on, you brainless lump of metal. Come and have a go!" The Cyberman gets close and he ducks out of the way. The Cyberman smashes its fists into the panel, electrocuting itself. Mickey looks at the controls. "The transmitter's down!" They look out of the window of the Zeppelin and see people fleeing from the building and in the streets.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor, Layla, and Missis Moore are being escorted to the control room and he sees Rose and Pete, but they don't notice them yet. "We've been captured, but don't worry, Rose and Pete are still out there. They can rescue us. Oh well, never mind." He says sarcastically. He sees that Rose and Pete are upset. "You okay?"

Rose gave them a quivering smile. "Yeah. But they got Jackie."

Pete slumped even lower than he already was at the reminder that his wife was dead and is an unfeeling robot. "We were too late. Lumic killed her."

The Doctor stepped back and opened he arms wide, spinning around. "There where is he, the famous Mister Lumic? Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?"

"He has been upgraded." The nearest Cyberman answered him.

The Doctor raised his brow. "So, he's just like you?" Is he a mindless, obedient, follower? Someone controlling him?

"He is superior. The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller." A nearby door opens and a Cyberman is wheeled out in an upgraded version of a wheelchair.

Layla leans over to the Doctor. "If they are just taking brains, why does he need a wheel chair? Is his brain paralyzed too? Makes sense to come up with a plan like this."

The Doctor snickers slightly, but quietens as Lumic speaks. "This is The Age of Steel and I am its Creator."

Right after Lumic says that they hear hundreds of people screaming and can see them running around in the streets from the windows. The Doctor gives Lumic a smug smile. "That's my friends at work. Good boys! Mister Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will."

Lumic sounded unconcerned about the people outside and probably would have shrugged if he could have. "I have factories waiting on seven continents. If the ear pods have failed, then the Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world. I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace and unity and uniformity."

The Doctor puts his hands behind his back and bounces on his toes. "And imagination? What about that? The one thing that led you here, imagination, you're killing it dead!"

"What is your name?" Lumic wondered.

"I'm the Doctor."

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

"What about the Mechanic. The Mechanic could be considered a doctor to your kind." Layla pointed out with humor. "Robotics don't last forever. At some point you will need new parts, new body plating, etc. Needing all that could be considered a sickness, because if you don't fix it, you will eventually shut down."

The Doctor pointed at her proudly. "Exactly. That is my point. Oh, Lumic you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius, except, I'm in the room. But everything you've invented, you did it to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant. So human. But once you get rid of sickness and mortality, then what? What's next? Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop. You'll stay like this forever. No imagination to think of advancements for this new species you have forcefully created. A metal earth with metal men and metal thoughts, lacking one thing that makes this planet so alive. People. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people."

"You are proud of your emotions." Lumic stated it. He didn't ask. He could already tell how the Doctor felt.

The Doctor gives him a grin and he side eyes Layla. "Oh, yes."

"Then tell me, Doctor. Have you known grief, and rage, and pain?"

The Doctor doesn't just know it, he lives it, every day. His emotions are a chaotic storm and sometimes he is able to drown them out with other things, but the grief, rage, and pain from the war was still so fresh in his mind that it was hard to suppress it for long. Like Layla once said, the longer it is numb, the worse it is when allowing it to be felt. "Yes. Yes, I have."

"And they hurt?"

"Oh, yes." He replied quietly, but without regret. He wouldn't trade his emotions for anything.

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

The Doctor glared at him. "You might as well kill me."

If Lumic could have smiled, they imagined he would be in this moment. "Then I take that option."

"It's not yours to take. You're a Cyber Controller. You don't control me or anything with blood in its heart." He spat at Lumic.

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

The Doctor smirked. He might have had an army, but the Doctor had the bomb. "You just don't get it, do you? An army's nothing. Because those ordinary people, they're the key. The most ordinary person could change the world." He looks directly at the camera as he says his last sentence hoping the person he said it to makes the connection from what he is saying. "Some ordinary man or woman, some idiot. All it takes is for him to find, say, the right numbers. Say the right code. Say, for example, the code behind the emotional inhibitor. The code right in front of him. Because even an idiot knows how to use computers these days. Knows how to get past firewalls and passwords. Knows how to find something encrypted in the Lumic Family Database, under er. What was it, Pete? Binary what?"

Pete realized what he was doing and spoke up loudly. "Binary nine."

"An idiot could find that code. Cancellation code. And he'd keep on typing. Keep on fighting. Anything to save his friends."

"Your words are irrelevant." Lumic was completely ignorant to what the Doctor was doing and that was the problem with getting rid of imagination.

The Doctor starts to bob his head rapidly. "Yeah. Talk too much, that's my problem. Lucky, I got you two that cheap tariff for all the long chats we have on your phones. Well usually Rose's, since Layla never carries hers."

"You will be deleted." Lumic said the Cyberman's catchphrase.

"Yes. Delete, control, hashtag. All those lovely buttons. Then, of course, my particular favorite, send. And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place." Rose's phone beeps and the Doctor's lips quirk up. "By making every bit of technology compatible with everything else."

"It's for you." Rose tosses him her phone.

"Like this." The Doctor puts her phone into a docking station, and the code is transmitted. All of the Cybermen cry out in pain and the code appears on all of the computers. Cybermen everywhere are clutching their heads. One near the Doctor catches its reflection on a reflective service and freaks out. "I'm sorry." The Doctor whispered to it.

"What have you done?" For the first time real emotion had entered Lumic's voice. They could all hear the rage in it.

"I gave them back their souls. They can see what you've done, Lumic, and it's killing them!"

The humans and the Doctor all run out of the room with Lumic screaming behind them. "Delete! Delete! Delete!"

Things all around them are starting to explode and Cybermen where all over the place writhing in pain. The emergency exit was even blocked by them. The Doctor's eye widened. "There's no way out!"

"Wait! It's Mickey! He says head for the roof." Rose yelled out over the explosions. The Doctor immediately leads them to the stairs and they all climb up as fast as they can. Rose was still on the phone with Mickey and she sees why he told her to go to the roof. "Mickey, where'd you learn to fly that thing? PlayStation?!"

A rope ladder is dropped in front of them and Pete huffs. "You've got to be kidding."

"Well, it is either this, or death by Lumic and or explosions. Your choice Pete. Personally, I'd go with the option of a little more exercise and not be electrocuted or blown up." Layla pointed out and when he thought about it, he nodded his head in agreement.

"Layla, get up. Rose, you next. Missis Moore." The Doctor grabs on and Pete joins him, but a little lower to not be crammed together.

"We did it! We did it!" Rose is shouting happily.

Everyone tightens their grip when the ladder is suddenly jerked and almost causing them let go. The Doctor looks down and sees that Lumic is on the bottom of the ladder. He takes out his sonic and switches the settings. "Pete! Take this! Use it! Hold the button down! Press it against the rope. Just do it!"

Pete doesn't even question what he was handed and does it immediately. "Jackie Tyler. This is for her!" The Rope snaps under Pete and Lumic falls and is submerged when the power station explodes.

Xxxxxx

It's day time now and the Doctor is excited to be able to go back to their universe. He is going to tell Rose to spend some time with her mum and talk to Mickey about staying with her for support and then he is going to take Layla on a relaxing, romantic trip and ask her to bond with him. He has it all planned out, he just hopes, for once, that no trouble pops up and they don't end up running for their lives. He goes to work on putting the power cell into the Tardis to get her started back up again. Oh, how he has missed her.

Rose is standing outside with Pete and she is trying to find a way to ask him to come back to their universe with them. His Jackie died. But she has her mum back home. Maybe they could work it out together. "So, what happens inside that thing, then?" Pete was feeling a little uncomfortable. He felt way too comfortable with this woman, and it wasn't like it was sexual or romantic, more familial and he didn't know why.

Rose looks at him hopefully. "Do you want to see?"

He thinks for a second and realizes that it is probably more than he wants to deal with right now. He just lost his wife, his home is in shambles, thousands have died, and their President is dead. It was a mess and it needed to be fixed. "No, I don't think so. But you four, you know, all that stuff you said about different worlds. Who are you?" He wonders if he means something to her in her world and maybe that is why he feels comfortable with her.

"It's like you say. Imagine there are different worlds, parallel worlds. Worlds with another Pete Tyler and Jackie Tyler's still alive, and their daughter."

Yeah, it is definitely more than I want to handle right now. "I've got to go."

"But if you just look inside." Rose pleaded with him.

"No, I can't. There's all those Lumic Factories out there. All those Cybermen still in storage. Someone's got to tell the authorities what happened, carry on the fight…"

"Rose? There is only five minutes of power. We have to go." The Doctor told her distractedly because she was there and he could clearly see that she was trying to get Pete to come with them, but he was looking for Layla and Mickey. They went back to Pete's house to find his Jacket and suit and to get Layla's clothes. She didn't want to leave them because the Tardis gave them to her and said it would be rude to leave behind a gift. He was worried they wouldn't make it back in time, but he wasn't leaving without her.

"The Doctor could show you." Rose tried again.

"Thank you. For everything." Pete tried to walk away.

"Dad." Rose blurted out and winced when he recoiled.

Now I understand why I'm so comfortable with her and why she was so attached to me and wanted to help me rescue Jackie. But she isn't mine. I never got to experience that joy. And without Jackie, now I never will. "Don't. Just, just don't." He walks away quickly worried that she would call him back and try to talk to him again. He just couldn't deal with it right now.

Mickey and Layla run up to them and the Doctor has a beaming smile on his face happy that they made it back in time. "Here it is. I found it. Not a crease." Mickey passes the Doctor's jacket and suit to him. Layla keeps her bundle of clothes in her arms, but she sends the Doctor a slightly impish grin and he wonders what she is up to.

"My clothes! Good man! Now then, we've got to run. Missis Moore. Her real name was Angela Price. I am sure she went home to check on her family. Please find her and make sure that she is alright. Wait where is Ricky?"

"Of course, we will." Jake promised. "He said that he promised to fix the carpet on the stairs at home at soon as he got there." The Doctor looks slightly confused having forgot what happened to Mickey's gran, but Layla looks at Mickey with a knowing look. She is happy that his gran in this world won't die the same way.

"Off we go, then."

Mickey hesitates, but a reassuring look from Layla boosts his confidence. "Er, thing is, I'm staying."

The Doctor frowns and sends a look to Layla wondering how she was feeling about this knowing how close they were. "You're doing what?"

"You can't." Rose protested.

"I know that there is already a 'me' here, but there is work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there, and Ricky and Jake were saying that they could use more tech support. They weren't sure if Missis Moore, or Angela was going to continue or not. I can make a difference here."

"But you can't stay." Rose whispered this time.

"Rose, my gran's here. She's still alive. My old gran, remember her?" Mickey gets down to the main reason why he wants to stay. The Doctor looks at Layla and she is giving him an understanding expression, but it doesn't hide the tears in her eyes.

"Yeah."

"While she has Ricky, it never hurts to have an extra set of hands. With her being blind we are going to tell her that we are half-brothers or something. Haven't worked out the details, but this way she can see me as a grandson too and I can work my way into her life. And Kayla is pregnant and gran lives with them. They all need the help.

"What about me? What if I need you?"

His heart clenches because he knows the truth. "You don't need me, Rose. We had something, a long time ago, but not anymore." It was time for him to accept it and move on. He held on and gave it his best shot. No one can say he didn't try. It just hurt too much to try anymore knowing that she would never be his again, especially when the Doctor eventually rejects her.

"Well, we'll come back. We can travel anywhere. Come and see you, yeah?"

The Doctor cuts in. "Rose, we can't. I told you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. We only got here by accident. We, we fell through a crack in time. When we leave, I've got to close it. We can't ever return."

"Doctor." Mickey holds out his hand and the Doctor returns the handshake.

"Here, take Rose's phone. It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories. And good luck, Mickey the Idiot."

"Watch it." Mickey laughed.

Mickey looks at Layla who had been patiently waiting her turn. He envelops her in a tight hug that she wants to pull away from immediately but ignores because this is the last time, she will ever see her best friend again. "I'm sorry I sprung this on you."

"I actually figured you were thinking about something like this. During this whole trip you have stepped up and proven yourself. I also know how much your gran means to you and I don't blame you for staying. She is a great woman. I hope things work out for you Mickey Mouse." She chokes slightly on a sob and he wipes away the tears that run down her cheeks. "I know that you will be a great uncle, and while I didn't get to know Ricky very well, if he is anything like you, I know he will be a great father, so pass that along to him for me. Good luck Mickey and have a great life." She gives him one more tight hug before going into the Tardis with the Doctor to let Rose have a moment to say her goodbyes.

The Doctor wraps his arm around Layla and pulls her towards his chest once they get inside and she wraps her arms around him tightly. He kisses the top of her head. "It will be alright. He will be happy and have a good life, and be forced to change nappy's and babysit.

A startled laugh bursts out from Layla as she imagines Mickey and the panic attack he would have as he tried to change a baby. The Doctor smiles in satisfaction that he was able to get her to smile. "I'm going to drop Rose off at home, I am going to assume she will want to spend some time with her mum and then I am taking you on a special trip."

He takes his hand and lightly skims it along her neck to the back of her head. He grabs her head and tilts it to the side and puts his face in the where her neck touches her shoulder. He nuzzles it lightly before taking his tongue and licking one long path up the length of her neck and back down. He feels her grip his sides and pull him closer to her. He lightly sucks on a spot of her neck, not enough to bruise, but if you were to look close enough, you could see the red patch he created. He bites over the spot and licks back up her neck to her ear. "I believe that we have some unfinished business to discuss. There are somethings that need to be divulged, questions asked, and answers given. He gives her a kiss on her temple and steps away from her and go to the console. He looks back over at her and sees that she is looking at him heatedly, but she is able to pull herself together when Rose comes in with tears pouring from her eyes. But she doesn't go to either of them for comfort. There is only one person she wants right now and the Doctor is going to bring her to her.

The flight was quick and easy. It seems that for a serious reason, the Doctor could fly the Tardis pretty well. Rose flies out of the Tardis with Layla walking out behind her and they see that the Doctor parked the Tardis right in the middle on their living room. Jackie comes in and see the Tardis and was about to start to demand that he gets it out of her flat when Rose plasters herself onto her. "You're alive. Oh mum, you're alive."

Jackie looks at the Doctor and Layla bewildered. "Well, I was the last time I looked. What is it? What's happened, Sweetheart? What's wrong? Where did you go?" She sent a small glower to the Doctor knowing it was his fault her baby was distressed. The Doctor leaned against the Tardis. "Far away. That was far away."

Jackie looks around and realizes they are one person short. "Where's Mickey?"

The Doctor gives her a wistful smile. "He's gone home."