The Doctor used his screwdriver to open the hatch leading down into the cooling tunnels. Mrs. Moore climbed down the ladder first, followed by me, with the Doctor leading up the back.
I shivered as I stepped down onto the floor, pulling my jacket tighter around me.
"Its freezing." Mrs. Moore pointed out as the Doctor skipped half the ladder and jumped down to land between us.
"They weren't kidding about cooling tunnels I guess." I stated, glancing around the dark corridor.
"Any sign of a light switch?" The Doctor asked.
"Can't see a thing. But, I've got these." Mrs. Moore reached into her messenger bag, pulling out a trio of headlamps. "A device for every occasion."
"A woman after my own heart." I said, adjusting my own bag as I slid the lamp strap over my head, taking down y ponytail in order to do so.
"You haven't got a hot dog in there, have you? I'm starving." The Doctor asked.
"Of all the things to wish for. That's mechanically recovered meat." Mrs. Moore pointed out. I reached into my bag, pulling out a granola bar and tossing it up for him to catch.
"Ah, perfect. You and your magic bag, M.P. initials. I'm gonna have to start calling you Mary Poppins." The Doctor quipped. I smiled, clicking on the headlamp.
"Spoon full of sugar, that's me." I said dryly, pulling out a series of flashlights. "I've got handhelds as well."
I passed them out, clicking my own on and pointing it at the floor.
"Let's see where we are." The Doctor turned his torch at the wall, and I froze as it illuminated the fact that one of the very close-together tunnel walls was lined with Cybermen. My hand shot out, grabbing the fabric of his blazer on his arm. "Already converted, just put on ice. Come on."
He slipped his hand into mine, leading us both down the tunnel while Mrs. Moore followed behind, all of us keeping our torches trained on the Cybermen around us. He paused in front of one of them, knocking on the helmet. I winced, but luckily nothing happened.
"I've had dreams about the Cybermen," I recounted, "But this...this is my nightmare."
"Let's go slowly," The Doctor warned, "Keep an eye out for trip systems."
"While we've got a moment, may I ask the two of you a personal question?" Mrs. Moore said quietly.
"Sure, don't see why not." The Doctor answered.
"You two are very similar. To hear her talk when she first arrived, its like there's two of you," She observed, "So what's the story there? What is your relationship, because you get on and go at each other like a married couple."
"We're...associates." I tried, unsure of how I would categorize us.
"Friends, I should say?" The Doctor guessed.
"Most of the time, yeah." I agreed.
"And that's...all you are?" She questioned.
"Well yes, I would say so," I stated, "Wouldn't you, Doctor?"
"Course," He added, "Mates. Just mates, that's all we are."
"Mates who hold hands?" She leaned forward, pointing her torch at our still-combined hands. We shared a look before letting go.
"How did you get into this then?" The Doctor asked, changing the subject, "Rattling along with the Preachers?"
"Oh, I used to be ordinary," She said, "Worked at Cybus Industries, 9-to-5...until 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. A life on the run. Then I found the Preachers. They needed a techie, so I just say don and taught myself everything."
"What about Mr. Moore?" The Doctor wondered.
"Well, he's not called Moore," She clarified, "I got that from a book. Mrs. Moore. Its 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."
"I'm sorry." I said, reaching a hand back to her. She took it and I squeezed it supportively.
"What about you two? Got any family or..."
Images of the man and woman from my dream filtered through y head, but I thought better than to say anything about it.
"Who needs family? I've got the whole world on my shoulders." The Doctor told her.
"And I can't remember anything about my life so, I haven't the faintest idea," I threw in, "But what is your real name?"
"Angela Price," She said, "Don't tell a soul."
"Wonderful name." I commented.
"Not a word." The Doctor followed.
"Doctor," Mrs. Moore said fearfully, "Did that one just move?"
"Its just the torch light." He told her. "Keep going."
Just as he said this, one of them turned slightly towards us with a metallic 'whoosh'.
"They're waking up. Run!"
We took off down the corridor as the Cybermen began extending their arms. We managed to run the rest of the way before they turned completely and filled all of the empty space. We ran to the ladder at the end of the tunnel and the Doctor climbed up first so that he could open the hatch with the screwdriver. I climbed up beside him, trying to leave as much room for Mrs. Moore as possible to get away from the Cybermen.
"Get up! Quick, they're coming!" Mrs. Moore warned. "Open it! Open it!"
He finally managed to do so, pushing it open and quickly climbing the ladder, with me following closely behind him. I jumped out of the hatch and we each grabbed one of her arms, pulling her through the hatch and pushing it closed on top of pursuing Cybermen. The Doctor then soniced it again in order to lock it into place.
"Oh, good team, Mrs. Moore." The Doctor breathed, with his hands on his knees. I laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder before standing up straight and lifting my hair off of my neck.
I reached up, stripping my head lamp off and running my fingers through my hair. I glanced up at Mrs. Moore to find her watching the Doctor, so I looked at him to find his eyes were already on me. I raised my eyebrows, handing my head lamp back to Mrs. Moore as I ran my free hand through my hair once more.
"Keep your pants on." I teased, flipping my hair over my shoulder.
"Oh, please. I know you love me in a tux."
"In your dreams, Doctor." I shot back, turning to face the corridor behind us. "So, where to from here?"
"We should just be able to keep going down this corridor." Mrs. Moore answered, putting the torches and head lamps back into her bag. I nodded, starting down it with the Doctor and Mrs. Moore following along behind me.
I reached the end of the corridor, and a Cyberman side stepped out in front of me, causing me to the jump. The Doctor jumped forward, throwing an arm out in front of me.
"You are not upgraded."
"Yeah, well, upgrade this!" Mrs. Moore threw some kind of copper-wire wrapped device at the Cyberman. It stuck to his chest, causing it to spark and twitch with a loud mechanical scream before collapsing onto the floor.
"What the hell was that thing?!" The Doctor asked, impressed.
"Electromagnetic bomb," She explained, as we moved to stand beside it, "Takes out computers, I figured it might stop a Cyber suit."
"Well, you figured right, now let's have a look. Know your enemy." The Doctor fished his screwdriver out of his inside jacket pocket, crouching down in front of the Cyberman. "Got a logo on the front. Mary, the ones in your dreams, did they have logos?"
"Not that I can recall, no." I said as Mrs. Moore and I crouched down with him.
"Lumic's turned them into a brand," He noted, pulling the logo off to reveal the inside capsule, "Heart of Steel."
"Ooh, that's..." I trailed off, reaching into the circular opening and pulling out a slimey, stretchy piece of white matter.
"Is that flesh?" Mrs. Moore questioned.
"Is this an artificially created central nervous system?" I asked, putting the flesh back as I looked to the Doctor for an answer. He nodded.
"Artificially grown and then threaded throughout the suit so it responds like a living thing." He confirmed. "Well, it is a living thing. Ooh, but look."
He tapped the microchip that sat in the center of the capsule.
"Emotional inhibitor," He continued, "Stops them feeling anything."
"So its a living thing but...its without the one thing that makes it alive." I noted.
"But why?" Mrs. Moore wondered.
"Its still got a human brain," The Doctor said, "Imagine its reaction if it could see itself. Realize itself, inside this thing."
"It be madness." I said sadly, looking down at the Cyberman. I reached down, gently touching its metal face with my fingers. "You'd lose your mind. Its awful."
"Why am I cold?" I put a hand over my mouth as the Cyberman began to speak.
"Oh my gosh, its alive." Mrs. Moore stated. "It can feel."
"We broke the inhibitor, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor said. I ran a hand over the top of the head, knowing full well that it couldn't feel it. Tears welled up in my eyes.
"Why so cold?"
"Can you remember your name?"
"Sal-ly. Sal-ly Phe-lan."
"You're a woman?" Mrs. Moore asked.
"Where is Gar-eth? He can't see me. Its un-luck-y the night before."
"The night before...your wedding," I said, wiping tears away, "You were...you were getting married tomorrow."
"I'm cold. I'm so cold."
"Doctor, please, can't you do something?" I asked, looking up at him.
"Its alright," He said, "You sleep now, Sally. Just go to sleep." He put the screwdriver in the center capsule, pressing the button and causing the whole suit to shut down. I shook my head, wiping my eyes with the side of my hand. "Sally Phelan didn't die for nothing...'cause that's the key. The Emotional inhibitor!"
I looked up at him.
"We could find the code," I elaborated, "If we could find the cancellation code behind the inhibitor, we could feed it through the system and into every Cyberman's head!"
"They'd realize what they are." He realized.
"And what happens then?" Mrs. Moore questioned.
"I think it would kill them," He answered, "Can we do that?"
"We've got to," She replied, "Before they kill everyone else."
"We can't save them," I told him, "I wish we could, but we can't preserve their bodies, and even if we could, there's no telling if we could reverse what's been done to them. Its the only way."
The Doctor and I looked back at the Cyber suit of Sally Phelan as Mrs. Moore stood up. I heard a wave of electricity and my head jerked up to see Mrs. Moore with a Cyberman's hand on her shoulder, electricity coursing through her body.
"NO!" I screamed, pressing a hand to my mouth.
The newly appeared Cyberman let her fall to the ground, and the Doctor and I jumped to our feet.
"NO! NO, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL HER!" The Doctor screamed as two other Cybermen filed in around us.
"Sensors detect a binary vascular system. You are an unknown upgrade. You will be taken for analysis."
One of the three Cybermen turned around, leading the way down the corridor. The Doctor and I stared down at Mrs. Moore sadly, and the Doctor put a hand on my back, urging me to follow after it. The Doctor turned around, glaring at the Cyberman that followed closely behind.
~~~
The Cybermen brought us to a large, grey control room, lit by ominous blue lights. The Doctor looked up upon entering the room, sighing slightly as he spotted Rose and Pete standing beside a control panel.
"We've been captured, but don't worry, Rose and Pete are still out there, they can rescue us. Oh well, never mind." The Doctor held my hand, leading me over to stand in front of them. "You ok?"
"Yeah...but they got Jackie." Rose reported. I looked over at Pete.
"We were too late. Lumic killed her." I moved to lean on the panel beside him, rubbing a hand down his back.
"I'm sorry." I whispered. "They got Mrs. Moore too."
"And where is he?! The Famous Mr. Lumic." The Doctor called, spinning to look at the Cybermen in the room. "Don't we get the chance to meet our lord and master?"
"He has been upgraded."
"Upgraded?" I asked, standing up and crossing my arms. "What, even your own creator isn't safe?! He's just another human life to throw away, just like the rest of you?"
"He is superior. The Lumic unit has been designated Cyber controller."
"Oh well goodie for him." I spat as they moved to look at a pair of double doors with the Cybus Industries symbol joining them. The doors opened to reveal a giant throne-esque chair made out of wires and coils, and sitting in it was the newest and shiniest Cyberman of them all.
Pete slowly rose to his feet, and I looked down to notice that the suit was wired into the throne.
"This is the Age of Steel and I am its creator." Lumic said. His voice was mechanical, but you could still recognize Lumic's cold, unemotional tonality.
That was all he was able to say, because just as Lumic's chair came to rest on the platform above us, the sound of human screams began echoing from every angle. I smiled.
"That's my friends at work, good boys!" The Doctor complimented. "Mr. Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will."
The Doctor winked, clicking his tongue at him.
"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 turned away from him, shaking my head and rolling my eyes. As my eyes pointed toward the ceiling, they zeroed in on a CCTV camera located in the corner of the room. I furrowed my eyebrows as the camera moved to point at the Lumic and the other Cybermen on the platform. I smiled, elbowing the Doctor as subtley as I could. He glanced at me and I nodded toward the camera. He followed my gaze.
"How much do you want to bet the transmitter isn't the only thing on that zeppelin," I whispered, "Maybe access to security camera footage?"
"Good eye, Ms. Perdita." He muttered back, untying his bow tie so he wouldn't look suspicious.
"I will bring peace to the world," Lumic continued, "Everlasting peace. and Unity. and uniformity."
"And imagination? What about that?" He asked, leaning back against the control panel and crossing his arms. "The one thing that led you here, imagination, you're killing it dead."
"What is your name?"
"I'm the Doctor."
"A redundant title. Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken."
"That's exactly the point, what aren't you getting about this?!" I exclaimed, strolling over to stand in front of him. "You're smart, are you not? I mean you created all of this."
"Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man," The Doctor continued, stepping up beside me, "I'd call you a genius except I'm in the room."
" Everything you've done, everything that you've invented, you did it all in order to fight your sickness." I pointed out.
"And that's brilliant! That is so human!" The Doctor complimented. "But once you've got rid of sickness and mortality then what's there to strive for, eh?"
"The Cybermen won't advance, there's nowhere to go," I threw in, "You're all just stay like this, just as you are now, forever."
"A metal Earth with metal men and metal thoughts!" The Doctor ranted, walking over to one of the Cybermen and putting his face near his before beginning to weave through them, "Lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive."
"That's people, in case you were confused." I finished, as the Doctor came to stand beside me again.
"Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people!"
"You are proud of your emotions?"
"Oh, yes." We said in unison, turning to look at each other.
"Then tell me Doctor. Have you known grief and rage and pain?"
"Yes, yes I have." He confirmed, looking at me for one lingering moment before glancing back at Lumic.
"And they hurt?"
"Of course." I said quietly, doing the same.
"I can set you free," Lumic reasoned, "Would you not want that? A life without pain?"
"You might as well kill me." The Doctor told him.
"Then I take that option." I shook my head.
"You don't get to take that option, its not yours to take!" I shouted. "You don't control me, or him, or anything with blood in its heart!"
The Cybermen flanking him turning aggressively to face us.
"You have no means of stopping me. I have an army. A species of my own." The Doctor ran a hand over his face, walking back toward one of the other Cybermen.
"You just don't get it, an army is nothing. 'Cause those ordinary people, they're the key. The most ordinary person can change the world! Some ordinary man or woman...some idiot." He scrached the back of his head, glancing up at the camera.
"And it would be so easy, too easy," I continued, "All it would take for him is to, for example, purely hypothetical, find the right numbers, the right code, like the code behind the emotional inhibitor!"
"The code right in front of him," The Doctor added, weaving through the Cybermen again, " 'Cause even an idiot knows his computers these days. He knows how to get past firewalls and Passwords. Knows how to find something encrypted in the Lumic family database under, what was it Pete, Binary what?"
"Binary 9." Peye answered.
"Binary 9, that's right!" I exclaimed, folding my arms behind my back and turning away from Lumic, "Any old inredibly smart, capable idiot could find that code, the cancellation code. And he would keep on typing and fighting, he would do anything to save his friends because that's just the kind of person he is, even if they do take him for granted sometimes.'
"Your words are irrelevant." Lumic droned as the Doctor and I walked around the console at the same time, folding our arms and leaning on it side by side.
"Talk too much, that's my problem. It was bad enough before Mary came along, now you just can't get us to shut up," The Doctor told him, "Lucky I got you that cheap tariff Rose, for all our long chats on your phone."
He looked up at the camera, making a phone sign.
"You will be deleted."
"Yes, delete, control, has, all those lovely buttons."
"Not really my favorite though, if I'm honest." I quipped, looking at my nails in an attempt to seem bored. The Doctor moved further down the control pannel, and I glanced down to see that there was an upload port on the table in front of him.
"Not mine either Mary, I quite like Send." He lifted his hand, miming hitting a button. "And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place, by making every bit of technology compatible with everything else."
"Its for you." Rose said suddenly, tossing her cellphone to the Doctor.
"Like this." I said as he shoved it into the port, prompting all of the Cybermen in the room to grab their heads and start screaming. The number filled every screen, and while the defeat of Lumic was immensly satisfying, all I could really think about was all of those people who were in pain.
The Doctor sensed this, coming behind me and putting a hand on my back.
"What have you done?!"
"We gave them back their souls." The Doctor told him, unplugging the phone and tossing it back to Rose, "They can see what you've done, Lumic...and its kill them!"
We all made a break for the exist, jumping between screaming Cybermen as we headed toward the door. The factory was in flames as many of the Cybermen exploded, and the Doctor shoved open an exit door, only to find that it as crammed full of panicking Cybermen. we turned around again just as an explosion blew a hole in the floor above us.
"There's no way out!" The Doctor noted. I turned around to see Rose with her phone pressed to her ear.
"Its Mickey, he says head for the roof." She reported. We all took off running for the stairs, dodging explosions and bursts of flame as we did so.
Rose led the way up the ladder to the roof, staying on with Mickey the entire time. The entire roof was engulfed in flame by the time we got there, and the structural integrity of the building was crumbling by the minute. It rumbled beneath us, and I stumbled slightly, only to be caught be Pete, who grabbed the underside of my arm.
Above us was the zepplin, which had been removed from its dock and was flying over the factory.
"MICKEY WHERE'D YOU LEARN TO FLY THAT THING?!' Rose shouted over the explosions. We ran toward the far end of the building, and a rope ladder dropped down directly into our path.
"You've got to be kidding!" Pete shouted.
"Rose, get on!" The Doctor instructed. She did so, climbing up first with the Doctor holding the ladder still as best he could. "Mary, you follow next!"
I stepped forward, the Doctor supporting me as well as Rose and I continued to climb so that the boys could join us. Once we were all on the ladder, the Zepplin began moving away from the building.
"Welcome to Mickey Smith airlines, I hope you enjoy your flight." Mickey's voice echoed, causing me to laugh.
"WE DID IT! WE DID IT!" Rose screamed. The Doctor laughed, climbing over onto the side of the ladder beside me. We clung on as Pete climbed up behind us, when all of a sudden the ladder dropped down about a foot. My eyes widened and I moved to the side of the ladder as well so that I could see past Pete. Just a few rungs behind him, climbing up the ladder, was Lumic.
"ITS LUMIC!" I shouted. I looked up, and the Doctor and I locked eyes. I reached across to him, reaching into his inside pocket and pulling out his screwdriver.
"PETE! TAKE THIS!" I dropped the screwdriver to Pete and he caught it. "USE IT! HOLD THE BUTTON DOWN, PRESS IT AGAINST THE ROPE, JUST DO IT!"
"JACKIE TYLER," Pete shouted, aiming for the rope just below his feet, "THIS IS FOR HER!"
Lumic reached up a metal hand, aiming for Pete's foot, when finally the rope ladder snapped and he went falling back to the earth, his mechanical cyber scream sounding all the way down. Pete laughed, looking up at the Doctor, Rose, and I. I let out a sigh of relief, leaning my forehead against the rope.