"Leave him alone! What's he done wrong?!" Rose exclaimed, rushing to her 'not-father's' defense.
"Oh you know, just laid a trap that's wiped out the government, and left Lumic in charge." Jake accused.
"If I was part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?" Pete asked. I nodded, finally putting the pieces together.
"Maybe your plan went wrong," Rickey theorized, "Still gives us the right to execute you, though."
"Talk about executions, you'll make me your enemy," The Doctor warned, glancing between me and the boys, "and take some really good advice, you don't want to do that."
"Oh good lord Doctor I don't know! Is that really so impossible for you to understand, I don't know what I did, I don't remember what the locket is, I. Don't. Know." I exclaimed.
"Just because you don't remember now doesn't mean you won't be a threat whenever you do." He argued. I leaned forward to look at him.
"You don't even know what this is or what I am, so do me a favor and keep your accusations to yourself." I said, narrowing my eyes at him.
"All the same," Rickey continued, ignoring our argument "We've got evidence that says Pete Tyler's been working for the Lumic since 20.5."
"Is that true?" Rose asked, glancing at the man beside her.
"Tell 'em, Mrs. M."
"We've got a government mole who feeds us information," Mrs. M explained, "Lumic's private files, his South American operations, the lot. Secret Broadcasts twice a week."
"Broadcasts from Gemini." I stated.
"Broadcasts from Gemini?" Pete asked in unison.
"And how do you know that?" Rickey asked.
"Right, still waiting for you lot to catch up then, are we?" I questioned. "Go on, tell 'em Pete."
"I'm Gemini, that's me," He clarified, "Encrypted wavelength 657, using binary 9. 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."
"Wait, how did you know that?" Rickey asked me.
"Oh come on," I exclaimed, "Use your brain, preachers! He's a documented henchman and yet his house is the location of the first target? His very nice, very expensive house that got destroyed in the middle of his wife's birthday party? Rule number one of Rich bad guys, their ill-gotten gains are always first priority."
"The Preachers know what they're doing," Mickey defended, "Rickey said he's London's most wanted."
"Yeah, that's not exactly..." Rickey trailed off.
"Not exactly what?"
"I'm London's most wanted for parking tickets." The Doctor smiled and I laughed, throwing my head back against the paneling of the van.
"Great." Pete muttered.
"Course you are, Rickey. Of course you are," I laughed.
"They were deliberate, I was fighting the system. Park anywhere, that's me."
"Good policy. I do much the same." The Doctor told him.
"Hang tight there, Pete," I clarified, "Don't underestimate these guys. I think they have more potential than you realize."
"Sorry, who are you?" He asked, leaning around Rose to look at me.
"Oh, right. Mary Perdita." I greeted, reaching out to shake his hand.
"I'm the Doctor." He followed, glancing at me once more.
"And I'm Rose. Hello." Rose introduced.
"Even better. That's the name of my dog." Pete muttered. "Still, at least I've got the catering staff on my side."
"Oi!' I leaned around her again to look at Pete, "You've got someone on your side, so maybe don't be a git about it."
"I knew you weren't a traitor." Rose told him.
"Why's that then?" He asked. She glanced at the Doctor who offered her a warning look.
"I just did."
"They took my wife." He stated.
"She might still be alive."
"That's even worse, 'cause that's what Lumic does. He takes the living and he turns them into those machines."
"Cybermen." The Doctor and I said in unison again, prompting us to share yet another tense, unfriendly look. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms and legs and glaring toward the front.
"They're called Cybermen." The Doctor clarified.
"Oh, right, and I'd lost the Ear Pods." I added, not looking at them. He did so, handing them off to the Doctor.
"Never know. Lumic could be listening." He agreed, sonicing 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."
"Yeah, you promise a lot of things, don't you?" I asked, looking at him again. "Till they don't serve you anymore, at least."
"We'll discuss this later-" He started.
"Maybe we will...maybe we won't." I shot back.
~~~
"What the hell?" Mrs. Moore asked, as we got out of the van near the Preacher's HQ. The street was full of people walking in the same direction with blank looks on their faces.
"What is going on?" Rose asked.
"Its the Ear Pods. Lumic's taken control." The Doctor said.
"Can't we just, I don't know, take them off?" Rose asked, reaching for a man as he passed her. The Doctor grabbed her, stopping her from doing so.
"Don't," he said, pushing her away from him, "It'll cause a brainstorm. The 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."
"Hey! Come and see!" Jake called, waving us over to where he and Rickey were hiding behind a wall. We ran over to join them, peering around to see people leaving their houses and falling into line beside a line of Cybermen.
"Where are they all going?" Rose questioned.
"I don't know," The Doctor answered, "Lumic must have a base of operations."
"Battersea," Pete replied, "That's where he was building his prototypes."
"Why's he doing it?"
"He's dying. This all started out as a way of prolonging life, keeping the brain alive. At any cost."
"Some life." I muttered.
"Thing is, I've seen Cybermen before, haven't I?" Rose asked. "The head, those handle shapes, in Van Statten's Museum. And Mary, she's dreamed about them-"
"Oh, there are Cybermen in our universe," The Doctor confirmed, "They started on an ordinary world, just like this, then swarmed across the galaxy. This lot are a parallel version, they're starting from scratch right here on Earth."
"What the hell are you two on about?" Pete asked.
"Never mind that, come on, we need to get out of the city." Rickey instructed. "Ok, split up, Mrs. Moore, you look after that lot. Jake, you take Mary and distract them, go right, I'll go left. We'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move."
I went to follow but the Doctor grabbed my wrist, holding me in place.
"I don't think so. Mary stays with me." He said. I yanked my arm out of his grasp.
"What's wrong, Doctor? Scared I'll run off and you'll have to fight me off next?" I asked. "I'm not one of your monsters. I'm going with him."
"I thought we agreed-"
"But that's just it, it wouldn't have mattered if we had agreed, would it?" I asked. "Because you're the Doctor, the man who stops the Monsters, and either you're on your side, or you're one of them. I'm not gonna sit around here with you acting like I'm going to try and kill you at any moment."
I turned around, running to catch up with Jake as we caught the attention of the Cybermen and then turned off to the right.
"What's your deal with Doctor man, anyway?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder to make sure they were following us. "I can't tell if you want to punch him or kiss him."
"Yeah, well...most of the time, neither can I." I retorted. "Oi, Cybermen! Come along, right this way!"
"You're a bit nuts, aren't you?" He shouted.
"A bit, yeah!"
~~~
We did just as Rickey said, weaving through alleys to distract the Cybermen until we reunited with Mrs. Moore and the others back on Bridge Street.
"We ran past the river," Jake reported, running up to join them, "You should've seen it. The whole city's on the march. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames."
The Doctor glanced past him, looking at me, but I avoided his gaze, turning around in time to see Rickey running towards us. I paused, furrowing my eyebrows and surveying the group to see that Mickey was missing.
"Where is Mickey?" I asked.
"He went with Rickey." Rose replied. I whirled around again as I saw that only one of them was running down the street in our direction.
"Here he is," Jake called as he slowed to a stop, "Which one are you?"
"I'm sorry, the Cybermen, he couldn't..."
"Are you Rickey?" Jake asked. "Are you Rickey?"
"Mickey, that's you, isn't it?" Rose asked.
"Yeah." He said. She ran forward, crushing him into a hug. I groaned in frustration putting my hands on my knees.
"He tried. He was running, there was too many of them." Mickey said as Jake turned away from him. I put a hand on Jake's shoulder, squeezing it tightly.
"Shut it." He said.
"There was nothing I could do." Mickey told him.
"I said, just shut it!" Jake shouted. "Don't even talk about him. You're nothing, you are! Nothing."
I simply shook my head, putting a hand on Mickey's back.
"We can mourn him when London is safe." The Doctor said gently. "For now, we move on."
Both Mickey and Jake nodded in agreement, and we began trekking up the hill toward the River, where Lumic's base was located just on the other side. I fell into step beside Jake.
"I'm sorry." I said quietly. He simply shook his head, moving past me to walk beside Pete. Mickey stepped up beside me.
"I didn't mean for-"
"I know, Mickey. It wasn't your fault." I whispered, sliding my hand into his. "You're here, and he's not, but that is not your fault."
He sighed, shaking his head, but tightening his grip on my hand nonetheless as we finally reached the top of the hill, causing the factory to come into view from its position across the water.
"The whole of London's been sealed off and the entire population's been taken inside that place." The Doctor commented. "To be converted."
"We've got to get in there and shut it down." Rose added.
"How do we do that?" Mickey questioned.
"Oh, I'll think of something." The Doctor told him.
"You're just making this up as you go along."
"Yep. But I do it brilliantly." Mickey shrugged and the Doctor glanced at me in order to gauge my reaction to this. I simply rolled my eyes and sat down beside Mrs. Moore, who had sat down on a random picnic table bench with her laptop in her lap.
"That's the schematic of the old factory," She explained as the blueprints loaded up, "Look. Cooling tunnels, underneath the plant, big enough to walk through."
The Doctor sat up on the table, propping his foot onto the bench beside me. Rose sat on Mrs. Moore's other side, and Mickey crowded in behind them. Pete stood by, looking at the factory while Jake stood a couple feet away brooding silently.
"We can go under then up into the control center." The Doctor theorized.
"There's another way in," Pete pointed out, "Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in."
"We can't just go strollin' up." Jake argued.
"Well, we could. With these." Mrs. Moore reached into her bag, pulling out a handful of earpods. "Fake ear pods. Dead, no signal."
The Doctor picked one up, standing so that he could examine it.
"But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd."
"Then that's my job." Pete decided.
"You'd have to show no emotion, none at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away." The Doctor warned.
"How many of those you got?" Rose asked.
"Just two sets."
"Ok...then if that's the best way of finding Jackie," She stood up, moving to stand beside him, "Then I'm coming with you."
"Why does she matter to you?"
"We haven't got time, Doctor, I'm going with him and that's that." Rose told him.
"No stopping you, is there?" He questioned.
"Nope." He tossed her the ear pod in his hand.
"Tell you what, we can attack the Ear pods at the same time. Give people their minds back so they don't walk into that place like sheep. Jakey boy!"
The Doctor ran up to the highest point of the hill and Jake followed after him. I trailed behind, staying back a few feet so that I could still hear what they were saying.
"Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there." The Doctor explained. He held his sonic out towards the building, scanning it until the lights on the end of the Zepplin, which was parked on top of the roof, began flashing oddly. "There it is. On the Zepplin, you see? Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off. Reckon you can take it out?"
"Consider it done." he smiled and the Doctor patted his shoulder, turning around so that his eyes fell on me. I sighed, crossing my arms.
"Just give me an assignment." I said dryly, as he moved to stand in front of me. He grabbed my arm, pulling me so that I was out of earshot of the others.
"Look, I know that you're angry with me right now-"
"Angry doesn't seem accurate." I muttered.
"I'm sorry, ok? I'm sorry." he said. "You know that things I don't understand scare me, and you and that bloody locket are one big dangerous mystery, but I know that you are as oblivious to it as I am, alright? I do know that."
"If you know that, then why do we always end up back here?" I asked. "I get being afraid of what you don't understand, I've been afraid my entire life. But Doctor, the one thing about me that is certain, that is clear as day is the person that I am, here and now. Is it possible, even a little bit for that person to be enough proof that you can trust me? At the very least until we can figure out what the hell is going on."
He stared at me for a long moment.
"Doctor, if you can't agree to that, then you need to just drop me off somewhere and stop wasting my time, because I'm not going to continue to travel with someone who doesn't trust me." I went to move past him, but he grabbed my arm, holding me in place beside him.
"I do trust you." He said quietly.
"Then prove it." I fired back, staring at him with hard eyes. He nodded.
"I want you to come with me into the cooling tunnels." He replied. "But its not because I want to keep an eye on you, its because, as we've discussed, I'm still figuring this out as I go and your intelligence is a resource that I need."
"Promise me." I demanded. "Promise me that I'm going with you because you need me, and not-"
He let go of my arm, putting both hands on either side of my face. My eyes widened, shocked by this gesture. I'd completely forgotten about the strange feelings associated with the Doctor until his hands were on my face and the calloses of his fingers were brushing against my skin.
"I promise." He said, skimming his thumbs across my cheekbones. "Mary...I need you."
I nodded against his hands, pulling them away from me as I attempted to regulate my breathing. I glanced at the ground before meeting his eyes with his wrists still clasped in my hands.
"Alright. I'm with you." He nodded, sliding one of his hands into mine and leading me back toward the others.
"Mrs. Moore, would you care to accompany Mary and I into the cooling tunnels?" He asked, strolling over to stand us both in front of her.
"How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?"
"Mickey," I said, turning toward him, "You've got tech skills, I think you'd be best going with Jake and helping him shut down the transmitter."
"I don't need this idiot-" Jake started.
"I'm not an idiot!" Mickey shouted. "You got that?! I'm offering to help! I'm not gonna stay out of trouble and be the tin dog, those days are over. I'm going with Jake."
"Whatever." Jake mumbled.
"We attack on three sides," The Doctor recounted, taking his glasses off, "Above, between, below. We get to the control center, we stop the conversion machines."
Mickey and Jake headed off first, the rest of us standing in a clump as we watched them go.
"Mickey," The Doctor called, prompting him to turn around, "Good luck."
"Yeah, you too." He replied. "Rose, Mary, I'll see you later."
"Yeah, you better." Rose called, causing him to look at me.
"Go be amazing...like you need to be told." I stated. He smiled.
"If we survive this, I'll see you back at the TARDIS." The Doctor finished, smiling at him.
"That's a promise." Mickey agreed before turning around and following after Jake.
The Doctor glanced at me, and I glanced back, knowing full well what he was thinking.
Mickey wouldn't be coming back...not because he was going to die, but because something about this place, and the fact that Rickey died instead of him had lit a fire underneath of him. I think both of us had a feeling that when this was all over, Mickey would want to stay behind and keep a good thing going. At the very least make sure his parallel self didn't die in vain.
The Doctor stepped forward, hugging Rose one final time, and I looked over to see that Mickey had paused once more and was looking at the two of them. The look on his face told me he had made his decision, and the way his eyes slid over to mine revealed that he knew that I'd worked this out. I nodded, smiling supportively at him. He smiled back, offering me a two fingered salute before continuing on.
"Good luck." The Doctor told her. She pulled back, turning to look at me.
"Take care of him, yeah? And yourself." She requested. I nodded, wrapping my arms around her neck and hugging her as well.
"Same goes for you." I agreed, pulling back to look at her before looking at the Doctor over my shoulder. "Are we ready?"
"Ready." He confirmed. I nodded, stepping back to stand beside him.
"Right then," I concluded, "Let's go save the world, shall we?"