Jackson and Danielle slowly approached the Doctor, Rose and Rosita, keeping to the shadows. Whilst Jackson wore the cache of infostamps over his shoulder, Danielle had a few in hand ready to attack. The trio were talking to a woman in an elegant, if not slightly over the top, red dress who was flanked by two Cybermen. It was obvious that she was in charge of them.
Jackson motioned for Danielle to keep to the shadows. Having worked out where the Doctor would have ended up – the house where his wife had died – it had been a very easy choice to head to him and help.
"And it's all been timed for Christmas Day," the Doctor commented. "Was that your idea, Miss..?"
"Hartigan," the woman finished for him. She didn't seem angry, or alarmed. In fact, her calm and cool demeanour suggested she felt very much in control. "Yes. The perfect day for a birth, with a new message for the people. Only this time, it won't be the words of a man."
"The birth of what?" Rose asked.
"A birth, and a death. Namely, yours," she explained. "Thank you, Doctor. I'm glad to have been part of your very last conversation. Now, delete them."
"Delete," the Cybermen echoed and they began to approach the trio. With a sideways look at Danielle, she and Jackson stepped forward and pointed an infostamp each at a Cyberman. The blue light engulfed them until they fell to the floor.
The Doctor looked at the pair, mouth slightly open and Jackson lowered his infostamp. "At your service, Doctor," he declared grandly.
Danielle, on the other hand, waved happily before she tossed hers away. "Hi!" she greeted as if they were meeting on the street.
"Shades!" Hartigan called, now sounding very angry. "Shades!"
From the shadows the large, raggedy monsters that they had first encountered appeared, roaring wildly.
"Run!" the Doctor exclaimed, pushing both Rose and Rosita forward. Both women were happy to follow his command, Jackson right behind them, but the Doctor waited for Danielle to grab onto his hand before following.
"You should have stayed where you were," he told her firmly. "Who knows what could have happened!"
"You would have been deleted if it wasn't for us," she retorted. "We're not having this argument again, Spaceman."
The Doctor wanted to, though. He wanted to tell her how foolish it was for her to sneak up on Cybermen, even with a weapon that they knew would work. He wanted to tell her that she needed to stay somewhere safe, somewhere he could protect her, because he wasn't going to lose her. Not again.
He really wanted to know where the thought of her dying kept coming from. He had absolutely no idea, but instead of addressing it he pushed it down into his deepest thoughts, where he hid it with a large amount of denial. She was adamant that she was always safest with him, and that's what he was going to prove.
Once they were sufficiently out of the way, they all ducked into an alleyway to rest and regroup. "That stronghold down by the river. I need to find a way in," the Doctor explained.
"Jackson's got that covered," Danielle replied.
"My wife and I were moving to London so I could take up a post at the university," he explained. "And while my memory is still not intact, this was in the luggage. The deeds. Fifteen Latimer Street. And if I discovered the Cybermen there, in the cellar, then…"
"That might be our way in," the Doctor finished for him. "Brilliant."
"It's brilliant that we're about to go walking into a cellar full of those Cybermen?" Rose asked, a little incredulous.
"There's still more," Jackson added. "I remember the cellar and my wife, but I swear there was something else in that room. If we can find that, perhaps that's the key to defeating these invaders. So, onwards!"
Jackson took off, Rosita close behind him. The Doctor looked down at Danielle again, and then up at Rose. "You two…"
"Don't even try," Rose interrupted before he could even begin to suggest sending them back. "You can't keep shipping us off every time there's trouble. Look what 'appened last time. You're useless without us."
He grinned brightly. "Yeah, I am, aren't I?" he agreed. "Come on, then!"
~0~0~0~
For a house that held something incredibly important for the Cybermen, 15 Latimer Street was very much unguarded. All they found was one lone Cybermen in the cellar, who Jackson took out rather quickly with another infostamp.
In the middle of the room was a machine that definitely did not belong in the time period. The Doctor ran up to it, crouching down to take a better look, Rose and Danielle once again faithfully by his sides.
"It must've been guarding this. A Dimension Vault," he commented.
Danielle ran her fingers over the base of the Dimension Vault, over the round bumps that were on all sides. "It looks like a Dalek," she commented and he nodded.
"Dalek technology," he confirmed. "Jackson, is this it? The thing you couldn't remember?"
Jackson stared at it, an uneasy feeling running over him but he shook his head. "I don't think so," he replied. "I just can't see. It's like it's hidden."
Another once over and the Doctor dismissed the Vault, jumping back up. "Not enough power. Come on! Avanti!"
He led them into the sewers, which had been converted with pipes and wires that connected back up to the Dimension Vault.
"What do the Cybermen want?" Rosita asked.
"They want us," Rose replied. "The Cybermen were human, once. Right Doctor?"
He nodded. "They want every living thing to be like them." He held up a finger, shushing them gently as they came to the end of the tunnel.
"Oh my god," Danielle whispered anyway, horrified at what she saw below them. The room was filled with dirt, and smoke and steam with dim lights that could barely make it through the air. Children covered in soot moved coal and spun wheels as Cybermen watched on. There were multiple layers surrounding a large metal cylinder that appears to powering multiple cogs.
"What is it?" Rosita asked.
"It's an engine," the Doctor replied. "They're generating electricity, but what for?"
"We can set them free," Jackson declared, reaching for one of the infostamps. The Doctor reached out and stopped him, though, before motioning them to follow him.
Jackson stayed behind, staring out at all the children like they were reminding him of something he'd forgotten. Rose stood next to him for a moment, studying his face, before tapping him on the arm.
"We should go," she told him and he nodded, stepping out before her and after the Doctor. They caught up as the Doctor was inspecting a screen that definitely didn't belong in the time period either.
"Power at ninety percent," he explained. "But if we stop the engine, the power dies down, the Cybermen'll come running." The screen flickered, glitching, before settling back down. The Doctor gave it a tap. "Ooo. Hold on. Power fluctuation. That's not meant to happen."
"Is something wrong with it?" Danielle asked.
"No, it's weird. The software's rewriting itself. It's changing."
"Changing?" Rose repeated. "Changing how?"
Before the Doctor could answer, the whole control panel sparked aggressively. They all darted back and out of the way. "Whoa! What the hell's happening? It's out of control."
"It's accelerating," Jackson pointed out as the numbers started to climb quickly towards a hundred percent.
"When it reaches a hundred, what about the children?" Rosita asked. It was a thought that quickly passed through all their minds and the Doctor's eyes widened.
"They're disposable!" he exclaimed. "Come on!"
They all dashed back the way they came, but Rose grabbed the Doctor's arm to pull him and Danielle to a stop. "Rose, we don't have time…"
"I think he has a kid," she stated. "Jackson. I think that's what he can't remember."
"What makes you say that?" he asked.
"The way he looked at the kids. He wasn't looking at them, he was looking for someone," she explained.
"If the Cybermen took his child…" Danielle started.
"That's definitely something he would repress," the Doctor agreed. "Come on, before he remembers and does something stupid!"
~0~0~0~
The echoing of the word 'Delete' met them before they'd even made it back to the work room. The children had become redundant, and they needed to get them out. The Doctor was the first in, waving his hands. "Right. Now, all of you, out! Do you hear me? That's an order! Every single one of you, run!" he shouted, and the children didn't wait, all doing as the man said.
Danielle and Jackson starting taking out Cybermen with their remaining infostamps as they started turning their attention to the troublesome group. She shot him a giant grin. "Look at you," she told him. "You might not be the Doctor, but you are good."
"No better than the people I keep company with," he replied with his own grin. She really was just like his wife, his dear Danielle. She'd saved his life then, and now this young woman had saved his soul by pulling her out of his own head. Maybe she really was the key to working out what he was missing.
That was for another day, though. The children were more important than his missing memories, so he also helped with the shepherding. "All of you, come on, as fast as you can. Come on!"
The Doctor hadn't paused his efforts, but he couldn't help but be a little distracted by the sight of Danielle fighting monsters. Is that how it felt like to be other people around him? He could understand the fascination.
"Rosita," he called, forcibly taking his attention off her. "You are Rose get them out of sluice gate. Once you're out, keep running. Far as you can!"
"Why me?" Rose protested.
"To save the children?" he replied. She just raised her eyebrow, staring at him. "Fine, fine, it's because it's safer, alright? I'm trying to keep you safe."
"And Danni's fine here with you?" she countered. "Admit it; you love that Jackson found another Rose when he thought he was you."
"Will you go if I agree?" he said and she nodded happy. "Okay, yes, I love that I managed to look for someone who fit where you do. Now will you please save the children."
Rose, looking incredibly smug at knowing that she was that ingrained in her friend's brain that someone mimicking him picked it up, started ushering the kids as well. "Come on, quick as you can!" she shouted.
"What is this place?" Danielle asked after the last Cyberman was down and she was back by his side again.
"I don't know," he admitted, spotting a door to the side. His longer legs got him there before her and he pulled out his glasses to look at even more gauges. "It's some sort of starter motor, but starting what?" he asked.
"Can we stop it?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Not if I don't know what it's starting," he explained. "It could cause everything to explode and take out half of London for all I know. What are they doing?"
"Doctor!" Jackson screamed and the pair turned to him. He was starting upwards in the main room, eyes widened and tears already filling them.
"I think he's worked it out," Danielle stated and the Doctor nodded.
"They took my son," Jackson rambled, grabbing the Doctor's arm as if to steady himself. "No wonder my mind escaped. Those damned Cybermen, they took my child! But he's alive, Doctor." He pointed up to a higher platform, where a young boy stood frozen. He seemed younger than the rest of the children they had freed. "Frederick!"
The Doctor took action, rushing over and holding his arms out to the boy. "Come on!"
Fredrick didn't move and just stared at them with wide eyes. "No, he's too scared," Jackson breathed. "Stay there! Don't move! I'm coming!"
He rushed over the stairs that were leading up, but they exploded into fire. Jackson was thrown back. "I can't get up there. Fred!"
The Doctor helped him up off the floor. "They've finished with the motor. It's going to blow up," he explained.
"What are we going to do, Doctor? Danielle?" he looked to the woman for help, but couldn't see her. "Danielle?"
The Doctor's hearts began to race. "Danni?!" he shouted, suddenly very aware that he couldn't see her. What had happened? Had they missed a Cyberman?
"I'm-I'm here!" Danielle called, appearing from the flames that had started to engulf the stairs as she ran over to Fredrick. The moment she had seen him up there, she'd not wasted any time and had made a mad dash to the stairs. She'd been blown up the last couple of them, but then again it wasn't worst thing that had ever happened to her. Just meant that her clothes were a little singed.
"What are you doing up there?" Jackson called.
"Oh, she has previous," the Doctor muttered. "Always chasing after children in danger."
That was how she had meant that blasted Captain Jack. He should have known better than to take an eye of her when children were in danger. Luckily, this time, she seemed fine as she bent over slightly to be at Fredrick's level.
"Everything's fine. We're going to get you back to your dad, alright?" she promised. "Doctor! Is there any way down?"
He looked around. The stairs were definitely out of the question, he thought, as the bottom ones caved in under the heat of the fire. He couldn't climb up the side as there wasn't much holding the platform to the wall, so she definitely had no chance of climbing down.
He spotted a rope that was weight down at one end, the other tied in place. He rushed over to it. "Danielle!" he called up. "Barrage balloon!"
She groaned. "Oh no," she said. "Not again! Fine! Fine!"
The Doctor cut the rope at his end, sending the other up to her. She shot Fredrick another smile. "Come here, just hold on tight," she instructed as she picked him up. She was rather grateful he was such a small child, because she wasn't very strong, but she managed to grab the end of the rope and get a good grip whilst also holding onto him.
"Jackson!" the Doctor commanded and, without any more instruction, the other man rushed over and into place. The Doctor found the end of the rope with the weight on it and released it, causing Danielle and Fredrick to plummet to the group just before the platform also exploded.
"I believe this might be yours," Danielle teased slightly as she handed the small boy off to his father. Jackson quickly took hold of him and held him tightly.
"My boy, oh, my boy," he sobbed in pure relief.
The Doctor appeared moments later, wrapping Danielle up in a hug of his own. "That was incredibly dangerous," he scolded. "But amazing. Absolutely amazing."
She didn't really want to break up the hug, but another explosion rattled through the workroom. "What now?"
He took hold of her hand, grinning. This was the best part. "Run!"
~0~0~0~
The streets were full of people screaming as a towering robot rose out of the Thames. The trio made it back on the surface and they could only stare at the metal monstrosity. The only thing that alluded to the Cybermen was the handle on its head. Whereas the Cybermen were silver and shiny, this was a machine built of the age. It had a dark, oily shell with chains used to move its massive limbs. It was taller than anything London had ever seen and, at the top, its open mouth was glowing ominously.
"What is that?" Danielle asked the Doctor.
"It's a CyberKing."
Jackson shifted his son in his arms slightly, making sure to keep a tight hold of his child. "And a CyberKing is what?"
"It's a ship. Dreadnought class. Front line of an invasion," he quickly rambled off. "And inside the chest, a Cyberfactory, ready to convert millions."
He was quick to grab Danielle's hand again, leading them to a more secluded part of the street just as the CyberKing started walking across London, destroying everything in its wake. He kept an eye on its movements for a moment before turning to Jackson.
"Just head south. Take him south. Go to the parkland," he instructed.
"But where are you going?!" Jackson protested.
"To stop that thing."
"But I should be with you."
The Doctor shook his head. "Jackson, you've got your son. You've got a reason to live."
"And you haven't?"
"Of course he does," Danielle interjected, like the mere thought of it offended her. "But he's a child, and you have to keep him safe. Leave the Doctor to me."
Jackson shot her a smile. He wished, for a moment, that his wife could have met the ginger woman in front of him. He had a feeling that they would have been friends. Their attitudes certainly matched. "I wouldn't trust anyone else," he told her before running off and away.
"So, how do we get up there?" Danielle asked.
"We?" the Doctor repeated and she nodded.
"Well, I'm assuming that you grabbed that thing from the Dimension Vault for a reason," she replied. "And I've learnt enough to say that if the mouth is glowing that you want to use it there, right? So, it stands to reason that we need to get up there."
"Danielle, I need you to stay down here," he told her and she immediately shook her head.
"No, you need as much help as you can get," she replied. "Jackson is saving his son, Rose and Rosita are saving the kids, and I'm saving you."
"I don't need…" he started before glancing up at the CyberKing. "I don't have time for this," he interrupted himself. He placed the device down before holding her by both arms. "I need you down here because I cannot be distracted, and I cannot be worried about you," he told her. She opened her mouth to protest. "It's not because you are not capable, it's because I can't lose you again, Danni-Girl. Please."
She opened and closed her mouth a few times, making noses of outrage at being sidelines. She too, though, could see the danger the city was in and how they needed to act fast. "Just because I let you kiss me doesn't mean that you get to sideline me whenever you're scared," she countered before growling. He kept sending them away, he kept sending her away and she wanted to argue against it. This felt different, though, and so she kept it in her pocket for when the world was safe again. "Fine!"
He grinned, pulling her a little closer. The relief he felt was almost overwhelming, and he really didn't understand it. Instead, he masked it with a cheeky little grin. "Will you let me kiss you now?" he asked. "For good luck?"
She rolled her eyes, but leant up and he held her just as tightly as he had done when he'd finally kissed her again in the TARDIS. It took her breath away, and she felt a little reluctant to let him go. Instead, she did, and grabbed the long metal thing he had grabbed from the basement.
"We need to get you up there, and fast," she stated and he grinned wolfishly at her. "We need to get to the TARDIS."
He shook his head. "I can't risk the Cybermen getting their hands on the TARDIS," he replied. "The damage they could do..."
"Not your TARDIS," she corrected and she saw that his thoughts quickly aligned with hers.
"Let's get the TARDIS flying," he cried.
~0~0~0~
After Danielle had watched the Doctor fly upwards in the hot air balloon that Jackson had never flown, she turned and ran back into the street, hoping she would be able to locate Rose somewhere in the madness. If she couldn't keep the Doctor safe by being up in the sky with him, at least she could find their friend and give him one less thing to be worried about when he made his way back down.
It wasn't hard to find Rose, in the end. Everyone on the streets had all headed in the same direction and she found the blonde with Jackson, his son and Rosita. Rose had immediately hugged her the moment she had appeared, but then had realised what her appearance had meant.
"He's up there on his own?!" she exclaimed and Danielle nodded.
"He said he needed space to work, and that I would be a distraction," she explained.
"That's bollocks!" Rose retorted.
Danielle nodded enthusiastically in agreement. "What was I supposed to do? I couldn't exactly stand and argue with him, there's a great big Cyberman walking over this city like it's made of cardboard!"
"He's got to stop leaving us behind. It's not fair." Danielle agreed. This time felt different, somehow. It didn't feel like he was hiding them away because they were in the way, it felt like this was something he needed to do on his own. It was that they needed to work on. Everything worked out so much better when it was the three of them.
They all watched as the hot air balloon lined up with the glowing mouth of the CyberKing, but no one could really see what was going on. They just hoped that the Doctor really did know what he was doing.
"Although," Danielle started slowly. "I don't think I'd've liked to be hanging over London on a balloon a second time."
"Don't you worry, Danielle," Jackson said to her. "The Doctor will stop the CyberKing and save us all."
"But who saves him?" she whispered to herself in reply.
It was torture, watching him from down below. Every bone in her body screamed that she should have been saving him, or stopping him, or anything that would get him out of harm's way. Her palms were wet as she clenched her hands over and over again. She couldn't explain it, and she never would tell anyone about it, but it felt like something in her was screaming that her being on the ground was very, very wrong. Like it was supposed to go another way. Like she wasn't supposed to let him get himself into danger. That she was supposed to do it for him. That, maybe, she was supposed to put herself in harm's way for him. That she was supposed to…
The thought was startled out of her head as the CyberKing was attacked by a large blue beam of light from the hot air balloon and everyone gasped in shock.
"It looks like the infostamps from before," Rose commented.
"He did grab a load before he went up," Danielle explained. The beam disappeared and nothing happened. The whole of the crowd held their breath until the CyberKing began to explode.
"He's done it!" Danielle exclaimed, grabbing onto Rose's arm with both of her hands.
"Of course he did," she exclaimed. "He's the Doctor and this planet is protected!"
With another blue beam of light as the CyberKing began to collapse forward, it disappeared from the world, leaving the Doctor alone in his balloon in the sky.
"Well, I'd say he used that Dimension vault to transfer the wreckage of the CyberKing into the Time Vortex, there to be harmlessly disintegrated," Jackson rattled off as if it was second nature for him to know such things. All three women looked at him in surprise, a surprise he mirrored on his own face. "Oh, I've picked up a lot."
They laughed in delight before he passed his son to Rosita, moving to a lamp post and climbing up on its stand so he could see over the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, I know that man, that Doctor on high. And I know that he has done this deed a thousand times. But not once. No, sir, not once, not ever, has he ever been thanked. But no more. For I say to you, on this Christmas morn, bravo, sir!"
As the crowd began to cheer with him, Rose and Danielle shared a look of relief and pure delight. They had both seen what the Doctor could do, and what he had done, and this was the very least that he deserved. And, after everything that had happened, they couldn't help but join in.
~0~0~0~
Danielle had been the first to chuck herself at the Doctor when he had finally landed, hugging him tightly. He squeezed her back just as hard, relieved that his plan had worked and both she and London were safe once again. He didn't even want to think about what would have happened to her had she been caught by the Cybermen.
Rose was next, of course, and the trio bounced on the spot a little as they were finally reunited.
"So, how did I do?" the Doctor asked them as they walked through the streets.
"Not bad," Rose admitted. "A bit flashier now, though, than you used to be. A hot air balloon? Really?"
"There's nothing wrong with a bit of flare," the Doctor defended.
"Jack would have been proud," Danielle replied with a bittersweet edge to her tone.
"Jack would have teased him something rotten," Rose counted.
Danielle laughed. "Yeah, he would have," she agreed. "And, anyway, we have to have a chat, Mr Time Lord." Both she and Rose came to a stop and the Doctor got the distinct feeling like he was about to be told off.
"You can't keep dumping us and running off into danger," Danielle started.
"Just because you think you are so clever doesn't mean that you have to leave us behind," Rose added. "It didn't work last time."
"You're not on your own anymore. We can help. You don't need to leave us behind just because you're worried about us. It's not fair that we have to sit back and watch you almost kill yourself."
"You wanted us to keep travelling with you," Rose pointed out. "And you're not the only smart one around here."
"We've fought Daleks, and witches, and nanogenes. We're not completely useless you know?"
The Doctor looked between the two before sighing heavily, like it was a massive inconvenience to him. "Fine, fine, you're right," he agreed, much to their delight. "You can stay and help."
Danielle's grip on his hand tightened slightly and she bounced slightly on the spot. He couldn't help but be infected by her happiness.
He was so used to working on his own, and before Rose he had come to accept that as his lot in life. Slowly, but surely, she had worked her way into his life so seamlessly that he knew he wanted to keep it that way.
And Danielle? His Danni-Girl, whose nickname now came to mind despite not really knowing why it was there in the first place, definitely was not someone he was willing to let go. She was someone who made everything he did better, more fun, more exciting.
Maybe it was better if she was by his side. What could possibly go wrong?