A/N: The time has come to bid farewell for a little while to Rose Tyler, and it will be an emotional blow upon our two heroes. As you've probably already guessed, these following two chapters will be based upon the episode 'Doomsday'.
Please note that there will be mentions of blood and gore in this chapter, so caution is advised. Your emotional wellbeing takes precedence.
I do not own Doctor Who. All I own is my OC Katy.
Please review and no flaming will be tolerated.
Cheers xx
FEAR IS NOT AN OPTION
"You're my courage when I worry in the dead of night.
You're my strength 'cos I'm not strong enough to win this fight.
You are greater than the battle raging in my mind.
I will trust You, Lord.
I will fear no more."
– The Afters: 'I Will Fear No More' (The Beginning & Everything After [2018])
Sphere Laboratory
Rose and Mickey watch with fear and horror as the four Daleks land and trundle their way across the floor towards them and Rajesh, with murder on their minds.
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
"Daleks!" Rose shouts out, causing the four aliens to stop rolling towards them, and eyed her curiously with their eyestalks. "You're called Daleks. I know your name." Rose sags with relief when she realises that she has caught their attention. "Think about it; how can I know that? A human who knows about the Daleks and the Time War." None of them make a move, so Rose cautiously continues. "If you want to know how, then keep us alive. That's all I'm asking. Me and my friends," Rose gestures towards Mickey and Rajesh without taking her eyes off the Dalek in front of her.
"Yeah, Daleks. Time War. Me too!" Mickey is quick to follow Rose's lead.
"Yeah, and me." Rajesh follows suit. The Dalek is quiet for several minutes before it eventually makes up its mind.
"YOU WILL BE NECESSARY," It decides before turning towards one of the other Daleks and trundling towards it. "REPORT! WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE GENESIS ARK?" Rose looks around the Dalek and belatedly notices that the four of them had a strange contraption with them.
She frowns curiously.
"STATUS: HYBERNATION." One of the Dalek's reports back. The Black Dalek starts bellowing more orders.
"COMMENCE AWAKENING. THE GENESIS ARK MUST BE PROTECTED ABOVE ALL ELSE!"
"The Daleks?" Rose turns her attention to a frowning Mickey. "You said they were all dead."
"Never mind that," Rose said dismissively. "What the hell's a Genesis Ark?"
Yvonne's Office
After realising that the Void Ship was opening in the Sphere Laboratory, Jackie was starting to become frantic to the point of tears, since Rose was stuck in that room, in suspected danger from whatever was about to come out of it. Katy wasn't much better, but able to get a hold of her emotions a bit faster than her mother out of personal experience.
"What's down there?" Jackie demanded desperately. "She was in that room with the sphere. What's happened to Rose?"
"I don't know," the Doctor responded truthfully. "But I'll find her. I brought you here, I'll get you all out, you and your daughters." He promised, but his sincerity did little to comfort Jackie who immediately covers her mouth with her hand to stifle her frightened wails, and clings to Katy who, summoned by her mother's fear, pulls Jackie into a hug. The Doctor grabs onto Jackie's shoulders; sandwiching Katy in between them, as he attempts to reassure the distraught older woman. "Jackie, look at me," She does; tears welling up in her eyes and slightly smudging her mascara. "Look at me. I promise you. I give you my word—"
"You will talk to your central world authority and order global surrender!" The Doctor is interrupted by the Cyberleader who barges into the conversation and addresses them all.
"Oh, do some research!" Yvonne snaps at the robot man with disdain. "We haven't got a central world authority."
"You have now," It declares. "I will speak on all global wavelengths. This broadcast is for humankind." The Doctor suddenly whips out his 3D glasses once again and studies the Cyberleader with interest as it connects itself to the television and addresses everyone in the world. "Cybermen now occupy every land mass on this planet, but you need not fear. Cybermen will remove fear. Cybermen will remove sex and class and colour and creed. You will become identical. You will become like us."
There is mass panic among the streets of London as the army starts setting up roadblocks and tries shooting at the Cybermen. A bazooka blows a Cyberman to bits, and soon London burns.
"I ordered surrender!" the Cyberleader sounded bewildered, and the Doctor was livid.
"They're not taking instructions," He shouts. "Don't you understand? You're on every street, you're in their homes, you've got their children! Of course they're going to fight!"
"And I've got a horrible feeling that this is just the beginning…" Katy mutters with dread.
Sphere Laboratory
Rose, Mickey, and Rajesh immediately tense up when the Black Dalek swivels towards them without warning and trundles forward to address them.
"WHICH OF YOU IS LEAST IMPORTANT?" It shrieks at them, and Rose immediately frowns.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She questioned it, cautiously.
"WHICH OF YOU IS LEAST IMPORTANT?" It repeats itself, and suddenly Rose understands what it means and immediately retorts defensively.
"No, we don't work like that. None of us!"
"DESIGNATE THE LEAST IMPORTANT!" The Dalek insists strongly, until Rajesh suddenly breaks off from them and walks over to the Dalek.
"This is my responsibility," He declares, and Rose's eyes widen in alarm, since she knew that this would be a death sentence, considering how ruthless and bloodthirsty Daleks can be.
"No, you don't!" She insists, but Rajesh ignores her and addresses the Dalek both bravely and authoritatively.
"I er, I represent the Torchwood Institute," Rajesh introduces himself to the Dalek who eyes him calculatingly. "Anything you need, you come through me. Leave these two alone."
"No…" Rose begs frantically.
"YOU WILL KNEEL!" The Dalek orders and Rajesh frowns guardedly.
"What for?"
"KNEEL!" It repeats. Rajesh reluctantly kneels with his back to the Black Dalek. "THE DALEKS NEED INFORMATION ABOUT CURRENT EARTH HISTORY!" It explains to Rajesh, who foolishly sags with relief. But Rose clings to Mickey who looks grimly at the three Daleks who surround Rajesh ominously.
Something horrible was about to happen.
"Oh, yeah, well, I can give you a certain amount of intelligence but nothing that will compromise Homeland security." Rajesh explained, trying to be helpful. The Black Dalek rolls closer to Rajesh.
"SPEECH IS NOT NECESSARY," it says. "WE WILL EXTRACT BRAINWAVES!" The three Daleks surrounding Rajesh use their sink plunger like arms to envelop a panicking Rajesh's head. The poor man immediately begins to struggle.
"Don't, I'll tell you everything you need. No. NO!" He screams as Rose turns away and buries her face into Mickey's shoulder as he pulls her close and holds her protectively against him.
Lever Room
"Scans detect unknown technology active within Sphere chamber," The Cyberleader announces much to the Doctor, Katy, and Jackie's horror. A nearby Cyberman immediately breaks away from the group of Cybermen and heads for the corridor.
"Cybermen will investigate," It requested.
"Units ten six five and ten six six will investigate Sphere Chamber!" The Cyberleader orders, and more Cybermen break off to follow the first Cyberman.
"We obey!"
Sphere Laboratory
The dry, dusty and rapidly aged corpse of Rajesh drops to the floor with a thud, causing Rose and Mickey to shudder in horror. The Black Dalek rolls back and swivels around.
"HIS MIND SPOKE OF A SECOND SPECIES INVADING EARTH INFECTED BY THE SUPERSITION OF GHOSTS," It reports back what it found in Rajesh's brainwaves. A tearful Rose shouts angrily at the four Daleks with disgust.
"You didn't need to kill him!" She stated, unknowingly echoing what Katy had said earlier to the group of Cybermen who had killed several scientists earlier in the Lever Room. One of the Daleks swivels to address Rose briefly.
"NEITHER DID WE NEED HIM ALIVE!"
"DALEK THAY, INVESTIGATE OUTSIDE!" the Black Dalek orders its comrade, who immediately trundles towards the sliding doors separating them from the corridor outside the Laboratory.
"I OBEY!"
Yvonne's Office
"Units open visual link," the Cyberleader requests over its comms link, and instantly a Cyberman's view comes up on Yvonne's laptop. "Visual contact established."
The Cyberman continues walking down the corridor towards the Sphere Laboratory but pauses when it senses something heading down the corridor towards it. The Doctor, Katy, Jackie, and Yvonne lean forward in anticipation to see what had been trapped inside of and released from the sphere, praying that it wasn't something worse than Cybermen. All hopes are dashed when a single Dalek trundles into view, and both the Doctor and Katy's eyes widen in horror.
"No…" Katy whispers, and the Doctor nearly crushes her hand in his when he squeezes in panic.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELVES!" Dalek Thay demands the Cyberman.
"You will identify first!" The Cyberman retorts.
"STATE YOUR IDENITY!"
"You will identify first!"
"IDENTIFY!"
"Oh, we could be here forever if they keep this up…" Katy muttered with a certain amount of stress in her voice.
"Aggression is wasteful and illogical. You will modify." The Cyberman suggests.
"DALEKS DO NOT TAKE ORDERS!" Dalek Thay responded evenly.
"You have identified as Daleks." The Cyberman would've sounded almost smug, if it were capable of emotions.
"OUTLINE RESEMBLES THE INFERIOR SPECIES KNOWN AS CYBERMEN!" Dalek Thay concluded. Jackie looks at the Doctor with panic, remembering the stories both Katy and Rose had told her about Daleks and what they were truly capable of if they were crossed or allowed to roam free.
"You and Rose told me about the Daleks," Jackie whispers to Katy, who nodded. "You were terrified of them," she realised before addressing the Doctor. "What have they done to Rose, Doctor? Is she dead?"
"Mum! Don't say that!" Katy chides Jackie, angrily. The Doctor then gestures towards her.
"Phone," He whispered urgently. Katy immediately hands him her phone and he quickly dials Rose's number.
"What is he doing?" Jackie asks Katy, who grips her mother's arm.
"Calling Rose." She explains as they all turn back to the laptop monitor to see what was going on. It only took a few minutes before the Doctor eventually sags with relief and looks up at Katy and Jackie.
"She's answered. She's alive." The Doctor confirms, and Jackie sagged with relief; but Katy still continued to look concerned, as did the Doctor. "But why haven't they killed her?" He wondered out loud.
"Don't complain!" Jackie scowled.
"They must need her for something," Katy guessed, looking eyes with the Doctor momentarily, as they both pondered what the hell was happening in the Sphere Laboratory.
"WE MUST PROTECT THE GENESIS ARK!" One of the Daleks announced, earning a look of confusion to pass over the Doctor's face as he put the conversation onto loudspeaker.
"The Genesis Ark?" The Doctor echoed.
"What the hell is that?" Katy questioned.
"Our species is similar, though your design is inelegant," all three of them turn back towards the laptop with Katy's phone held in the middle of their huddle so they could hear the conversation. The Doctor once again dons his 3D glasses, and Katy makes a face; wondering not for the first time, what the glasses were for.
"DALEKS HAVE NO CONCEPT OF ELEGANCE." Dalek Thay responded.
"This is obvious," the Cyberman agreed. "But consider, our technologies are compatible. Cybermen plus Daleks. Together, we could upgrade the Universe."
"YOU PROPOSE AN ALLIANCE?"
"This is correct."
"REQUEST … DENIED!" Dalek Thay shouts, and the Cybermen ready their weapons.
"Hostile elements will be deleted." The Cybermen shoot at the Dalek, but barely scratch its armour with the deadly ray beams. There was a pause before Dalek Thay retaliates.
"EXTERMINATE!" It makes a direct hit with the Cyberman, causing the laptop screen to go black.
"Open visual link!" The Cyberleader orders almost immediately, and the image of Dalek Thay returns. "Daleks, be warned. You have declared war upon the Cybermen."
"THIS IS NOT WAR. THIS IS PEST CONTROL!" The Black Dalek disagreed.
"We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?" The Cyberleader questioned the Black Dalek.
"FOUR."
"You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?" The Cyberleader sounded almost surprised.
"WE WOULD DESTROY THE CYBERMEN WITH ONE DALEK!" The Black Dalek corrected the Cyberleader. "YOU ARE SUPERIOR IN ONLY ONE RESPECT."
"What is that?" The Cyberleader inquired, curiously.
"YOU ARE BETTER AT DYING. RAISE COMMUNICATIONS BARRIER!"
The line goes dead on the Doctor's side, and he curses underneath his breath and shuts off Katy's phone before handing it back to her.
"Lost her," the Doctor stated solemnly to Katy and Jackie, who grimace out of fear.
Sphere Laboratory
At the same moment before the Black Dalek severs communication with the Cyberleader, the Doctor obliviously walks onto the viewscreen, still holding Katy's phone to his ear, looking anxious. As the screen cuts to black, one of the Daleks raises an alarm.
"WAIT! REWIND IMAGE BY NINE RELLS!" The viewscreen turns back on and an image of the Doctor reappears. "IDENTIFY GRID SEVEN GAMMA FRAME!" The viewscreen gets a close-up on the Doctor listening in on Katy's phone. "THIS MALE REGISTERS AS ENEMY!" Rose beams happily when she sees that the Doctor is still alive.
"THE FEMALE'S HEARTBEAT HAS INCREASED!" The Black Dalek swivels in Rose's direction, causing the blonde to flush in embarrassment when she is caught out, and Mickey folds his arms across his chest and rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Mickey drawls dryly.
"IDENTIFY HIM!" The Black Dalek demands to Rose who immediately smirks at it with triumph.
"All right, then. If you really want to know, that's the Doctor." Rose gestures with her head at the viewscreen. The Black Dalek rolls back a bit in obvious alarm. "Five million Cybermen, easy. One Doctor? Now you're scared."
Yvonne's Office
Things were about to go from bad to worse; and for years to come, the Doctor would look back on this moment and would not be able to forget how unbelievably terrified he felt the moment the Cyberleader said this:
"Quarantine the Sphere Chamber," It orders. "Start emergency upgrading! Begin with these personnel." It indicates to the Doctor, Yvonne, Jackie, and Katy who immediately launches herself at the Doctor, and vice versa, grabbing onto each other for dear life; knowing exactly what was going to happen next.
"No, you can't do this!" Yvonne protested frantically. "We surrendered! We surrendered!" She wails as the Cyberman restraining her drags her away.
"No! No, let go of me! I'm not going!" Katy protested, violently dodging and struggling to get out of the clutches of the Cyberman holding her but failing dismally. "Doctor!"
"This one," the Cyberman indicates to an extremely desperate looking Doctor, who was fighting tooth and nail to keep a hold of Katy. "His increased adrenaline suggests that he has vital Dalek information." The Cybermen manage to tear Katy and the Doctor apart and start dragging a protesting, shrieking Katy away, followed closely by a struggling Jackie.
"Stop them! I don't want to go!" Jackie screams before glaring tearfully at the Doctor. "You promised me! You gave me your word!"
"Doctor! No, please! Let go of me! Doctor! DOCTOR!" Katy screamed.
"I demand you leave those women alone! I won't help you if you hurt them. JACKIE! KATY! NO!" The Doctor yells.
Sphere Laboratory
Unaware that her sister and her mother were being dragged off to be upgraded into Cybermen, Rose waits impatiently in the Sphere Laboratory with Mickey and scowls when the 'victorious' Dalek returns to the Sphere Laboratory.
"CYBER THREAT IRRELEVANT. CONCENTRATE ON THE GENESIS ARK." The Genesis Ark turned out to look like a Dalek shaped copper container. Mickey leans over to whisper into Rose's ear.
"Why are we being kept alive?"
"They might need me," Rose responded, a little uncertain, and Mickey's eyes narrowed.
"What? What is it?" He demanded.
Unoccupied Floor
The Cybermen forcibly led Katy, Jackie, and Yvonne, along with other unfortunates to the unoccupied floor the Doctor had first discovered the Cybermen and lined them up in a queue leading into some hanging plastic curtains in the order of Yvonne, Jackie, and Katy. Beyond the plastic curtains, the trio of frightened women saw sparks flying overhead and the horrible sounds of people screaming. Yvonne was visibly trembling, while Jackie had turned pale. Katy, however, while scared out of her mind, was determined not to go down without a fight, as she knew what was going to happen the moment she stepped past those plastic curtains.
"What happens in there?" Jackie asks Yvonne, who was yet to take her eyes off the plastic curtains. "What's upgrading mean? What do they do?"
"I think they remove the brain…" Yvonne swallowed hard, then tried again. "Sorry. I think they remove the brain and they put it in a suit of armour." Jackie's eyes widened while Katy shuddered from the memory. "That's what these things are. They're us."
"Next!"
A Cyberman grabs Yvonne by the arm and forcibly leads her forward, while Jackie recovers from her shock and glares venomously at her.
"This is your fault! You and your Torchwood. You've killed us all!" Jackie shouts as Yvonne disappears through the plastic curtain.
"I did my duty for Queen and Country!" Yvonne yells back defensively, tears streaming down her face. "I did my duty. I did my duty. Oh, God… I did my duty." Yvonne swallows her pride and bravely walks forward.
Outside, Jackie and Katy shake with fear when they see sparks fly and Yvonne's agonised screams.
"Next!" The Cyberman turns and grabs Jackie by the arm and starts to pull her towards the curtain.
"No! No!" Jackie struggles to get away, and Katy immediately steps in front of her mother and speaks up.
"Leave her! Take me!" Katy insists, and Jackie immediately protests.
"No, Katy!"
"Take me instead!" Katy ignores her mother's protests, and the Cyberman pauses and looks directly at her.
"Are you volunteering?"
"Yes, I am." Katy declares firmly, and the Cyberman immediately grabs Katy's arm and pulls her towards the plastic curtain.
"No, Katy! Don't do this!" Jackie begs, but Katy pauses and turns back to Jackie, tears streaming down her face.
"No, Mum. Get out of here while you still can. Tell the Doctor, I'm sorry and that I love him, and this is not his fault. And I love you and Rose too!"
Katy raises her head high, despite the tears falling down her cheeks, and reluctantly allows the Cyberman to walk her through the curtain, trying to ignore the sounds of her mother's sobs from right behind her. She felt as though she was stumbling into a nightmare, and the sounds of drilling and screams from the other chambers on the unoccupied floor echoed loudly in her ears, until she finally stepped inside the chamber, and froze in horror at what she could see in front of her.
It was a massacre.
There wasn't a surface that wasn't covered in thick, horrific amounts of freshly spilt blood – the floor, the curtains, the ceiling. The drill bits and saw that whirled in a circle above her head was still dripping with Yvonne's blood, and blood was pooled into puddles on the floor, which almost caused Katy to throw up when she realised that she was standing directly in one of them, staining her converse and her socks bright red.
At the far end of the room was a shiny, empty Cyberman body that Katy realised to her horror, was meant to hold her brain after it was harvested from her mutilated body. She hears a whirring and looks up, paling when she saw the saws moving in a circle before focusing in on her. Katy immediately attempted to back up, but the Cyberman who had escorted her into the chamber blocked her way and herded her to the centre of the room, her feet slipping and sliding on the slick floor, before it trapped and held her fast, as the sharp blades descended.
"No! No! DOCTOR!" Katy screamed, ducking away to avoid the blades. She closed her eyes as she waited for the pain to come, and for death to take her… but suddenly, everything went silent and the Cyberman holding her arm, abruptly releases her and she crumpled to the floor, flinching when the fresh blood soaks into her clothes and hair, and smears across her face and hands.
"CyberLeader One has been terminated." Katy risks a look and notices that her captor had turned towards the Cyberman, who had been guarding her mother, who had walked into the room to report the death of their leader.
"Explain," Her Cyberman requested. "Download shared files."
Seeing her chance, Katy crawls towards the way she had come, got to her feet and sneaks off while they were distracted. Stepping back through the plastic curtains, she had expected to see Jackie standing there waiting for her. But her mother was nowhere to be seen, which was good, because it meant that Jackie had actually listened for once and used the opportunity to escape before the upgrading re-commenced. Katy ran and did not stop running until she made it to another corridor, devoid of any Cybermen, and pressed her back against the wall; sliding down to the floor and dissolving into tears of relief and fear as she buried her face into her knees.
Yvonne's office
After Yvonne, Jackie, and Katy had been forcibly removed from the room to be upgraded, the Doctor relocated himself towards the window, overlooking the destruction of Canary Wharf unfolding off in the distance. He was feeling enormous guilt and anger that he was unable to save both Jackie and Katy from their fate.
Especially Katy.
He could not remove the look of absolute horror on his girlfriend's face as she was dragged away from him. The Doctor stiffened when he heard the approaching footsteps of one of the Cybermen he was currently trapped in the room with, and stood ramrod straight, white knuckling the window frame in his anger.
"You are proof," the Cyberleader spoke up. The Doctor turned around to face it and sat on the window ceil casually.
"Of what?"
"That emotions destroy you." It explained, and the Doctor shrugged, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.
"Yeah, I am." He agreed with it. "Mind you, I quite like hope." The Doctor added, sensing an unexpected, but very much welcomed change in the air and ran with it. "Hope's a good emotion. And here it comes…"
A group of black-clad commandoes pop into existence, taking out the remaining Cybermen in the Lever Room. The Cyberleader walks out of Yvonne's office and get zapped too. Its head explodes right off its shoulders. The Doctor immediately pushes off the window ceil and approaches the group of commandoes, frowning warily.
"Doctor?" One the commandoes approaches him, grinning from ear to ear. "Good to see you again."
"Jake?" The Doctor was dumbstruck.
"The Cybermen came through from one world to another, and so did we." Jake debriefed the Doctor, who was relieved, but still very guarded as he once again pulls out his 3D glasses and puts them on, studying Jake and the commandoes from head to toe, and grimacing at what he sees. Jake turns towards the other commandoes and starts giving out orders. "Defend this room. Chrissie," He addresses a nearby young woman who gives him her direct attention. "Monitor communications. Kill one CyberLeader and they just download into another. Move!" She and the other commandoes run off, leaving Jake behind with the Doctor, who frowned disapprovingly at him.
"You can't just, just, just hop from one world to another. You can't!" He protested, but Jake just grins at him.
"We just did. With these," he holds up a large yellow medallion on a chain around his neck, and produces one from his pocket, which he throws at the Doctor. He catches it and examines the strange button with critical eyes.
"But that's impossible. You can't have this sort of technology!" The Doctor protested vehemently.
"We've got our own version of Torchwood," Jake explains. "They developed it. Do you want to come and see?" He picks up his yellow button and firmly presses it, as the Doctor notices this and immediately protests.
"No!" He and Jake vanish…
Parallel Torchwood
… And materialise in the parallel version of Torchwood. The Doctor scrutinises the place with a mixture of shock and awe. The entire building was a wreck.
"Parallel Earth, parallel Torchwood," Jake states. "Except that we found out what the Institute was doing, and the People's Republic took control."
"Look, I've got to get back," the Doctor insisted, urgently. "Katy and Rose are in danger, as is their mother—"
"That'd be Jackie," A familiar voice interrupts, and the Doctor turns towards it and spots Pete Tyler stepping out from the shadows, looking calculatingly at him. "My wife in a parallel universe. And as for you, Doctor, at least this time I know who you are." The Doctor groans in frustration; he literally had no time to discuss this with Pete. His girlfriend, her sister and her mother were in danger, and he needed to go and rescue them.
"Right, yes, fine, hooray!" The Doctor acknowledged him. "But I've got to get back, right now."
"No, you're not in charge here," Pete did not waste time in reminding him, eying the Doctor off sternly. "This is our world, not yours. And you're going to listen for once."
Sphere Laboratory
Back in the other universe, Mickey and Rose were still trapped with the Four Daleks and the mysterious Genesis Ark, and Mickey was growing impatient; knowing that his team from the parallel universe was bound to have arrived by now and were probably taking down as many Cybermen as possible… and he was eager to join in the action.
"I could transport out of here, but it only carries one and I'm not leaving you," Mickey explains to Rose, holding up the same yellow medallion as Jake had shown to the Doctor, and showing it to her.
"You'd follow me anywhere," Rose grinned with affection at Mickey. "What did I do to you all those years ago?"
"Guess I'm just stupid," Mickey shrugged. However, Rose frowns gently at him, disapprovingly.
"You're the bravest man I've ever met," she bolsters him.
"What about the Doctor?" Mickey challenges her, and Rose grinned.
"Oh, all right. Bravest human."
"Well, I can't think what the Daleks need with me," Mickey frowned. "I'm nothing to them." He points out, but there was something familiar about this situation, and it was enough to jog Rose's memory of the first time she and Katy had ever encountered a Dalek.
"You could be," she stated. "Whatever's inside that Ark is waking up, and I've seen this happen before. The first time I saw a Dalek, it was broken. It was dying. But I touched it. The moment I did that, I brought it back to life." She recalled, still a little upset about how it had turned out and how it had actually been a fate worse than death for the Dalek at the time. "As the Doctor said, when you travel in time in the Tardis, you soak up all this background radiation." Rose explained. "It's harmless. It's just there. But in the Time War, the Daleks evolved so they could use it as a power supply."
"I love it when you talk technical," Mickey flirted with Rose, who smirks at the compliment.
"Shut up!" but then she sobered once again. "If the Daleks have got something inside that thing, and it needs waking up…"
"… They need you." Mickey concluded, grimly.
However, Rose shook her head.
"You've travelled in time," she points out to him. "Either one of us would do."
"But why would they build something they can't open themselves?" Mickey asked, puzzled.
"THE TECHNOLOGY IS STOLEN," the Black Dalek answered, overhearing their discussion. "THE ARK IS NOT OF DALEK DESIGN."
"Then who built it?" Rose questioned.
"THE TIME LORDS," the Black Dalek confirmed. "THIS IS ALL THAT SURVIVES OF THEIR HOME WORLD."
"What's inside?" Rose wondered, suddenly filled with dread.
"THE FUTURE."
Parallel Torchwood
The Doctor had no choice but to listen to what Pete had to say. He watched as the millionaire paced up and down the length of the room, as he laid it all out for the Doctor, what had transpired since he, Katy, and Rose returned to their reality after helping out on that fateful day Cybus Industries attempted to take over the world.
"When you left this world, you warned us there'd be more Cybermen. So, we sealed them inside the factories," Pete explained.
"Except the people argued," Jake joined the explanation. "Said they were living. We should help them."
"And the debate went on," Pete continued. "But all that time, the Cybermen made plans. Infiltrated this version of Torchwood, mapped themselves onto your world, and then vanished."
"When was this?" the Doctor asked.
"Three years ago," Pete replied. The Doctor blinked in astonishment.
"It's taken them three years to cross the void, but we can pop to and fro in a second?" He scoffs in disbelief. "Must be the sheer mass of five million Cybermen crossing all at once."
"Yeah, Mickey said you'd rattle off that sort of stuff," Pete pointed out, and the Doctor immediately brightened when his old friend was mentioned.
"Oh, where is the Mickey boy?"
"He went ahead first. Any chance to go and find the Misses Tyler." Pete confirmed. The Doctor looked at Pete pointedly.
"They're both your daughters. You do know that? Did Mickey explain?"
"They're not mine. Rose is the child of a dead man, and Katy, well, in this universe she's technically my niece. In your world? She's adopted," The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Pete's knowledge. "Mickey did explain that part to me." The Doctor nodded, as Pete gestures towards the window to alternate Canary Wharf. "Look at it, a world of peace. They're calling this 'the Golden Age.'" Pete tells the Doctor.
"Who's the President now?" the Doctor suddenly questioned, and Pete gives him a strange look.
"A woman called Harriet Jones," Pete stated and the Doctor grimaced.
"Oof. I'd keep an eye on her," He suggested, remembering back to the Harriet Jones of his world who committed genocide in an effort to protect the Earth from the Sycorax.
"But it's a lie," Pete suddenly reveals. "Temperatures have risen by two degrees in the past six months. The ice caps are melting. They're saying all this is going to be flooded. That's not just global warming, is it?"
"No," the Doctor went quiet.
"It's the breach," Pete confirmed. But the Doctor shook his head, feeling exasperated.
"I've been trying to tell you. Travel between parallel worlds is impossible. Then the Daleks break down the walls with a Sphere…" He mutters, and Pete looks at him with confusion.
"Daleks?"
"Then the Cybermen travelled across, then you lot." The Doctor eyes off the yellow medallions dangling from around Pete and Jake's necks. "These discs. Every time you jump from one reality to another, you rip a hole in the universe. This planet is starting to boil; keep going and both worlds will fall into the Void."
"But can you stop it?" Pete questioned him, urgently. "The famous Doctor. You can seal the breach?"
"Leaving five million Cybermen stranded on my Earth," the Doctor pointed out, grimly.
"That's your problem," Pete stated bluntly. "I'm protecting this world, and this world only."
The Doctor studies Pete curiously.
"Hmm. Pete Tyler. I knew you when you were dead. Now here you are, fighting the fight alone," He stated, then smiled. "There is a chance, back on my world, Jackie Tyler might still be alive."
"My wife died," Pete stated firmly.
"Her husband died. Good match," The Doctor countered, and Pete sighed heavily.
"There's more important things at stake," Pete insisted. "Doctor, help us!"
"What, close the breach? Stop the Cybermen? Defeat the Daleks? Do you believe I can do that?"
"Yes." Pete confirmed sincerely, earning a grin from the Doctor.
"Maybe that's all I need. Off we go, then!" The Doctor gets back to his feet and loops the yellow medallion around his neck before hitting the button, transporting himself, Pete, and Jake back to his world.
Lever Room & Yvonne's office
"First of all, I need to make a phone call. You don't mind?" The Doctor darts off into Yvonne's office without listening for a reply from Pete, and snatches up the landline, dialing in Jackie's phone number, while Jake hands out orders to the patiently waiting commandoes.
On a stairwell, a distraught Jackie was running up a flight of stairs, trying to suppress the memory of hearing Katy screaming out of fear, followed by the sounds of a saw whirring, out of her head. She wasn't succeeding very well and was almost grateful for the distraction of her phone ringing.
"Oh, my God, help me!" Jackie croaks into her phone.
"Jackie, you're alive!" the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. "Listen—"
"They tried to download me, but I ran away!" Jackie continued talking as though the Doctor hadn't spoken a word.
He paused for a moment, hopeful.
"Is Katy with you?" He asked, and his hearts sank when he heard Jackie's sobs. "Jackie, is Katy with you? Answer me!" He demanded, fearfully.
"No, she's… she's not." Jackie sobbed, and time literally stopped still for the Doctor. If Jackie was crying, then that would mean... "Doctor, she wanted me to tell you, that, that she loves you and she's sorry, and it wasn't your fault…" Tears welled up and immediately spilled over the Doctor's cheeks as the reality of what Jackie said, hit him. But there would be time to grieve for Katy when the Cybermen and the Daleks had been taken care of, and Rose was rescued.
"Shush. There will be time to mourn her later," the Doctor's voice was shaky. "Just tell me, where are you?"
"I don't know. Staircase…" Jackie responded.
"Yeah, which one?" the Doctor attempted to rein in his temper and frustration. "Is there any sort of sign? Anything to identify it?"
"Yes, a fire extinguisher!" Jackie tells him.
"Not helpful!"
"Oh, wait a minute. It says N3," Jackie adds, and the Doctor sags in relief; Jackie wasn't too far away from the Lever Room.
"North corner, staircase three." He rattled off. "Just keep low, we're trying our best." The Doctor promises her; and this time it was a promise he was going to keep.
"No, don't leave me!" Jackie sounded frantic.
"I've got to go. I'm sorry!" The Doctor puts down the phone and pauses for a moment to compose himself and wipe his eyes. Pete walks into the office and pauses when he sees the state the Doctor was in and the redness of his brown eyes that indicated he had been crying.
"What's wrong?" Pete asked, concerned.
"Katy's dead. The Cybermen upgraded her," the Doctor reluctantly revealed, and Pete winced and looked away.
"Shit… I'm so sorry," He acknowledged, and the Doctor nodded, but then looked up at him with a determination.
"However, Jackie is still alive. Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler," He confirms to Pete, who immediately frowned.
"She's not my wife." He insisted, and the Doctor immediately stood up from his perch on Yvonne's desk and strode towards Pete, walking past to the entrance.
"I was at the wedding. You got her name wrong," he tells Pete who looks sheepish. The Doctor grabs Jake's attention and takes his gun from him, starting to fiddle with it with his sonic screwdriver. "Now then, Jakey-boy, if I can open up the bonding chamber on this thing, it'll work on polycarbite."
"What's polycarbite?" Jake frowned.
"Skin of a Dalek," the Doctor explained, darkly.
Corridor
Seconds later, the Doctor was walking down the corridor, and eventually came upon a group of Cybermen. In his hand was a lecturer's pointer with a single piece of white A4 paper attached to it, in a makeshift white flag. Ignoring the intense anger he was feeling towards the ones responsible for his beloved girlfriend's death, the Doctor plastered on a fake grin as he approached the group of Cybermen.
"Sorry!" the Cybermen turned towards him. "No white flag. I only had a sheet of A4." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Same difference."
"Do you surrender?"
"I surrender unto you," the Doctor agreed. "A very good idea." His fake grin immediately changed into a calculating one, as he had a very ingenious plan in mind for these abominations. A way for him to get his revenge upon them for taking away what mattered to him most.
Sphere Laboratory
The four mysterious Daleks detached themselves from the Ark and turned towards Rose and Mickey, who eye them suspiciously and simultaneously back away as they came closer to them.
"FINAL STAGE OF AWAKENING," one of the Daleks announced.
The Black Dalek came closer.
"YOUR HANDPRINT WILL OPEN THE ARK!" It demands to them, and Rose scowls at it in defiance.
"Well tough, because I'm not doing it," She retorts, then has a moment of regret when one of the other Daleks move closer to Mickey and threaten him with their ray gun.
"OBEY OR THE MALE WILL DIE!" It threatens, and Rose swallows hard and goes to follow through with the Dalek's order.
"I can't let them…" Rose relents, and Mickey immediately stops her.
"Rose, don't!"
"PLACE YOUR HAND UPON THE CASKET!" The Dalek shouts at Rose who glares back at it.
"Alright!" She snapped. "You're going to kill us anyway, so what the hell?" Then she pauses, turns and looks the Black Dalek in its eyestalk. "If you er, escaped the Time War, don't you want to know what happened?" Rose asked shrewdly.
"PLACE YOUR HAND—"
"What happened to the Emperor?" Rose interrupts, then inwardly grinned when the Dalek pauses, obviously surprised that Rose knew about its liege.
"THE EMPEROR SURVIVED?"
"Till he met me," Rose shrugged carelessly. "Because if these are going to be my last words, then you're going to listen. I met the Emperor, and my sister took in the Time Vortex and put it into his head and turned him into dust." Rose smirked. "Do you get that? The God of all Daleks, and I helped destroy him. Ha!" She laughs in its face, but the smirk immediately dropped when the Dalek started thrashing about angrily and realised that she might've made a big mistake in taunting this volatile alien.
"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"
"Oh now, hold on, wait a minute…" The Doctor suddenly calls out, as he strides casually into the room, wearing his 3D glasses once again.
"ALERT, ALERT! YOU ARE THE DOCTOR!" the Black Dalek shouted.
"SENSORS REPORT HE IS UNARMED!" another one piped up. The Doctor grinned, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Yep! That's me. Always!" The Doctor confirmed.
"THEN YOU ARE POWERLESS" The Daleks looked positively gleeful about this, but the Doctor barely looked fazed; he was more focused on Rose and Mickey who were looking at him with relief.
"Not me. Never!" He responded to the Daleks before focusing on Rose. "How are you?"
"Oh, same old, you know." Rose aimed for unfazed and missed the mark by a lot. She latched onto the Doctor for a hug, relieved to see he was alright. But was a bit taken aback and hurt when the Doctor flinched and barely responded to the hug.
"Good…" the Doctor nodded, turning his attention onto Mickey. "And Mickity McMickey. Nice to see you!" The Doctor was a little bit more enthusiastic with his greeting to Mickey than he did with Rose.
"And you, boss." Mickey bumped fists with the Doctor, then looked around him, frowning when he didn't see someone he also missed dearly. "Where's Katy?" The smile on the Doctor's face faded and a shadow crossed over his face, which instantly alerted Mickey that something had gone very, very wrong.
"Doctor? What's wrong?" Rose asked, concerned.
"Rose…" the Doctor struggled to reveal Katy's fate to her and Mickey. "Katy, um…"
"What's happened? Where's Mum?" Rose demanded, urgently.
"Your mum and Katy were taken by the Cybermen to be upgraded…" The Doctor reluctantly explained, tears starting to well up in his eyes again which he attempted to hide, but Rose saw them and paled.
"Oh, God. Mum! She's not—" Rose immediately remembered when Jackie from the other universe had been turned into a Cyberman and thought the worst. But the Doctor was quick to correct her.
"No, your mother's fine. She escaped. But…" The Doctor couldn't continue, and Rose clapped a hand over her mouth when she put two and two together.
"Katy! No!" Rose sobbed.
"You said you would protect her!" Mickey was furious, tears gathering in his eyes too.
"SOCIAL INTERACTION WILL CEASE!" one of the Daleks interrupted, causing all three of them to turn and glare at the murderous aliens.
"HOW DID YOU SURVIVE THE WAR!?" the Black Dalek demanded to the Doctor. Mickey immediately storms over to the Dalek in his grief.
"You can just shut it!" He raged, but the Doctor grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
"By fighting," the Doctor responded, using the question as a distraction. "On the front line. I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that." Right after I accept the fact that once again, I am the last of the Time Lords… He thought bitterly. "But you lot ran away!"
"WE HAD TO SURVIVE." The Black Dalek stated.
"The last four Daleks in existence," The Doctor sneered unpleasantly. "So, what's so special about you?"
"Doctor, they've got names," Rose suddenly remembered. "I mean, Daleks don't have names, do they? One of them said they—"
"I AM DALEK THAY!"
"DALEK SEK!" the Black Dalek introduced itself.
"DALEK JAST!"
"DALEK CAAN!"
"So that's it!" the Doctor was surprised. "At last. The Cult of Skaro. I thought you were just a legend."
"Who are they?" Rose asked, curiously.
"A secret order above and beyond the Emperor himself," the Doctor explained solemnly. "Their job was to imagine, think as the enemy thinks. Even dared to have names. All to find new ways of killing." He said with disgust.
"But that thing, they said it was yours," Mickey indicated towards the Genesis Ark, which the Doctor turns to look at with interest. "I mean, Time Lords. They built it. What does it do?" He asked curiously.
"I don't know. Never seen it before." The Doctor responded, looking just as perplexed as both Rose and Mickey.
"But it's Time Lord," Rose protested.
"Both sides had secrets," the Doctor shrugged, but then turned on the four Daleks, scowling at them grimly. "What is it? What have you done?"
"TIME LORD SCIENCE WILL RESTORE DALEK SUPREMACY!" Dalek Sek stated, earning a look of confusion from the Doctor.
"What does that mean? What sort of Time Lord science? What do you mean?"
"They said one touch from a time traveler will wake it up," Rose explained to the Doctor who made an 'oh' expression when he realised what the Dalek's problem was.
"Technology using the one thing a Dalek can't do: Touch. Sealed inside your casing. Not feeling anything ever, from birth to death, locked inside a cold metal cage." He sneers. "Completely alone. That explains your voice. No wonder you scream…"
"THE DOCTOR WILL OPEN THE ARK!" Dalek Sek insisted, and the Doctor scoffed in sardonic amusement.
"The Doctor will not!"
"YOU HAVE NO WAY OF RESISTING" Dalek Sek pointed out, smugly. The Doctor nodded, conceding his enemy's argument.
"Well, you got me there. Although there is always this…" He reaches into his pocket and produces the sonic screwdriver.
"A SONIC PROBE?"
"That's screwdriver…" the Doctor pouted.
"IT IS HARMLESS," Dalek Sek dismissed him, and the Doctor grinned triumphantly. "Oh, yes. Harmless is just the word. That's why I like it. Doesn't kill, doesn't wound, doesn't maim." He states, as he holds it up for everyone to see. "But I'll tell you what it does do. It is very good at opening doors." The Doctor presses a single button on the sonic, causing the door to the laboratory to blow in, followed swiftly by both Jake and a Cyberman the Doctor had captured and tampered with to assist them, all guns blazing.
The Cyberman takes aim and fires.
"Delete! Delete! Delete! Delete!"
"ALERT. CASING IMPAIRED! CASING IMPAIRED!" one of the other Daleks started shrieking and the Doctor pushes Rose in the direction of the sliding doors.
"Rose, get out!" He urges her, dodging ray gun fire from both the Cyberman and the four Daleks attempting to defend themselves.
"FIRE POWER INSUFFICIENT! FIRE POWER INSUFFICIENT!"
Rose, in her haste to get the hell outta dodge, stumbles. A hand reaches down and grabs her upper arm, pulling her to her feet, and Rose looks over and sees, to her shock and delight, Pete helping her escape.
"Come on!" Pete urges Rose, who nodded and follows him out. Mickey dives for his big gun and blindly returns fire.
"Daleks will be deleted. Delete. Delete." The Cyberman shouts.
"Mickey, come on!" Rose urges her ex, who nods, dodging both Dalek and Cybermen in his attempt to get out the laboratory safely.
"ADAPT TO WEAPONRY" One of the Dalek's ordered.
"FIRE POWER RESTORED!" Dalek Sek confirmed, before it shoots and kills a Cyberman.
At the same time, Mickey gets jostled, and he puts out his hand to steady himself. But he ends up, instead, touching the Ark. It leaves behind a golden handprint, similar to what Rose left on the dying Dalek back in Van Statten's museum. Mickey pulls back his hand, swearing underneath his breath, and shakes it from the pain. He quickly joins the Doctor, Rose, and Pete outside with Jake.
"CYBERMEN PRIMARY TARGET!" They hear Dalek Sek declare as they make it outside.
A/N: Please wait! Part two is pending…