~~~Doctor~~~
"Quarantine the Sphere Chamber. Start emergency upgrading. Begin with these personnel."
The Cybermen walked into the office and began dragging us out of the office.
"NO, YOU CAN'T DO THIS! WE SURRENDERED! WE SURRENDERED!" Yvonne screamed, fighting against their grip.
"Keep this one," The Cyber-commander said, "His increased adrenaline suggests that he has vital Dalek information."
"STOP THEM! I DON'T WANT TO GO! DOCTOR!" Jackie begged, reaching for me. I reached for her, shouting at the Cybermen to stop.
"I DEMAND YOU LEAVE THAT WOMAN ALONE!"
"YOU PROMISED ME! YOU GAVE ME YOUR WORD! HELP ME!"
"I WON'T HELP YOU UNLESS YOU LEAVE THAT WOMAN ALONE! JACKIE DON'T FIGHT THEM!"
They dragged her off around the corner while I fought against the Cyberman holding me.
~~~Mary~~~
"CYBERTHREAT IRRELEVANT. CONCENTRATE ON THE GENESIS ARK."
They all circled around it, placing their plungers on the mechanisms just as they had with Rajesh's face.
"Why are we being kept alive?" Mickey whisepred.
"They either need us, or they're scared of the Doctor." I replied, "Either way, there's no guarantee how long that will last. We need to figure out a way out of here."
~~~Doctor~~~
I sat in the window of Yvonne's office, trying desperatley to come up with some sort of plan. Mary and Rose are trapped down there with the Daleks. What is a Genesis Ark? Why haven't they killed them? What do they need them for-
"You are proof." The Cybercommander said, stepping up in froont of me.
"Of what?" I questioned.
"That emotions destroy you."
"Yeah, I am." I agreed, glancing behind it. "Mind you, I quite like hope. Hope's a good emotion. And here it comes."
The Cyberman turned around just as a group of men in black suits appeared in the center of the room. They all dropepd to their knees, aiming their weapons at the surrounding Cybermen. I flung myself into a corner, taking cover behind a couch while one of the men shot the Cybercommander. They all screamed in their sickening, robotic way before falling to their knees. Their metal heads exploaded, leaking mechanical juices and brain matter all over the place.
"Doctor, good to see you again." The main shooter said. He removed his helmet to reveal the face of Jake, the last remaining Preacher that we met while visiting the Parallel world.
"Jake?" I asked, voicing my confusion.
"The Cybermen came through from one world to another," He said, walking over to me, "And so did we. Defend this room. Chrissie, monitor communications. Kill one Cyberleader and they just download into another. Move!"
I put my 3D glasses on, surveying all of the soldiers.
They all ran out of the room, leaving me alone with Jake.
"You can't just hop from one world to another!" I exclaimed. "You can't!"
"We just did," He said, "With these."
He tossed soething at me and I caught it, looking down to see that in my hands, was a giant yellow button on a chain.
"But that's impossible, you can't have this sort of technology." I said, looking up at him.
"We've got our own version of Torchwood," He said, "They developed it. Do you want to come and see?"
"No!" I shouted as he hit the button, causing both of us to disappear from the lab.
We reappeared in the alternate version; a dark room covered in exposed wiring and debris. But it was the same room nonetheless.
"Parallel Earth," Jake said, "Parallel Torchwood. Except we found out what the Institute was doing, and the People's Republic took control."
"I've gotta get back, Mary and Rose are in danger! And her her mother!" I told him.
"That would be Jackie," I looked up at yet another familiar voice to see Pete Tyler, flanked by more parallel soldiers, "My wife in a parallel universe. And as for you, Doctor, at least this time I know who you are."
"Right yes, fine, hurray, but I've gotta get back, right now!" I insisted, running over to stand in front of him.
"No, you're not in charge here," He said, "This is our world, not yours. And you're going to listen for once."
~~~Mary~~~
With the Daleks distracted by the Genesis Ark, Mickey turned around to face us.
"I could transport out of here, but it only carries one." He said. "and I'm not leaving you two."
"Follow me anywere," Rose said, "What did I do to you all those years ago?"
"Guess I'm just stupid." He said with a shrug, "And as for Mary, she's my hero. She saved my life in more ways than one."
"You saved yourself." I said, keeping my eyes on the Daleks. "I just nudged you a little."
Rose grabbed Mickey's hand, holding it against her chest.
"You're the bravest man I've ever met." She said.
"What about the Doctor?"
"Oh, alright." She sucked in a breath. "Bravest human."
"You could get help," I told Mickey, "Get out of this room, call for reinforcements. You'd be more helpful to us out there than trapped in here, no offense. And if I'm right about my theory of what's inside that Ark, then we need all the help we can get, before they get it open. I just don't understand what they want with us! Surely they aren't just scared of the Doctor! We should be nothing to them."
"But what if we're not?" Rose asked, looking over Mickey's shoulder at the Ark, "Whatever's inside that Ark, its 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.And the moment I did that, it brought it back to life."
My eyes widened.
"Artron Energy." I realized.
"What?" Mickey asked.
"Artron Energy, its what the TARDIS runs on," I said, "We're all Time Travellers, we're all saturated with it, its practically in our DNA. What did the Doctor say?"
"He said in the Time War, the Daleks evolved so they could use it as a power supply." She explained.
"I love it when you talk technical." Mickey quipped.
"Shut up."
I nodded.
"So if the Daleks have something inside of that Ark or...more likely a lot of somethings that need to be woken up, they need us. Any of us, all of us, doesn't matter, any of us can open it with a single touch of our hand." I said. "That is very...not good, but I do like knowing our odds."
"But why would they build something they can't open themselves?" Mickey asked.
"THE TECHNOLOGY IS STOLEN." We all turned around to find the Daleks watching us. "THE ARK IS NOT OF DALEK DESIGN."
"Not of Dalek de..." I trailed of, the pieces clicking together in my head. "Oh, of course. Of course!"
"Then who built it?" Rose asked.
"THE TIME LORDS. THIS IS ALL THAT SURVIVES OF THEIR HOME WORLD."
"Oh, that is thick," I said, shaking my head, "Like really, that's proper stupid, you should give yourselves some credit. Concealing your own people inside of a device that you can't open? That's-wow. And you're the biggest threat to the known universe? Seriously?"
"But what's inside?!" Rose demanded. I sighed,already knowing the answer.
"THE FUTURE."
"Well,that's vague."I said dryly.
~~~Doctor~~~
"When you left this world, you warned us there'd be more Cybermen," Pete said, as I pressed my ear to the wall that held the breach. "So we sealed them inside the factories."
"Except people argued," Jake explained, as I turned to lean back against the wall, crossing my arms, "Said they were living...that we should help them."
"And the debate went on," Pete continued, "But all that time, the Cybermen made plans. Infiltrated this version of touchwood, mapped themselves onto your world, and then vanished."
"When was this?" I questioned.
"Three years ago."
I nodded, pushing myself off of the wall. The three of us began walking back across the room.
"It took them three years to cross the void, but we can pop to and fro in a second," I commented, "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 commented.
"Yeah, where is Mickey boy?"
"He went ahead first," Pete replied, "Any chance to go and find Miss Rose Tyler and Mary Perdita."
"She's your daughter," I pointed out, "You do know that, did Mickey explain?"
"She's not mine," He argued as we stepped into Yvonne's office, "She's the child of a dead man. Look at it. A world at peace. We're calling this the Golden Age."
We wandered over to the window, staring out over the blimp-filled city.
"Who's the president now?"
"A woman called Harriet Jones." He said. I snorted.
"I'd keep an eye on her." I told him.
"But its a lie," He pressed, "Temperatures have risen by two degrees in the past six months. The ice caps are melting. They're saying all of this is gonna be flooded. That's not just global warming, is it?"
"No."
"Its the breach."
"I've been trying to tell you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible." I said, turning to look at him. "Then the Daleks break down the wall with a sphere."
"Daleks?" He questioned
"Then the Cybermen traveled across, then you lot, those discs," I pointed to the disc around Jake's neck, "Every time you jump from one reality to another, you rip a hole in the universe! This planet is starting to boil!"
I left the office, walking back towards the wall.
"Keep going and both worlds will fall into the Void." I concluded.
"But you can stop it?" Pete asked as I turned to face him again. "The famous Doctor. You can seal the breach."
"Leaving five million Cybermen stranded on my Earth." I replied.
"That's your problem, I'm protecting this world and this world only."
I smiled.
"Pete Tyler," I stated, "I knew you when you were dead. Now here you are, fighting the fight...alone."
I took a few steps toward him until I was standing right in front of him.
"There is a chance...back on my world...Jackie Tyler might still be alive."
"My wife died." He said quickly.
"Her husband died. Good match." I retorted.
"There's more important things at stake. Doctor. Help us."
"What, close the breach?" I asked, stepping back away from him. "Stop the Cybermen, defeat the Daleks? Do you believe I can do that?"
He smiled.
"Yes."
"Maybe that's all I need," I said, my face breaking into a smile, "Off we go then."
We traveled back to the other world, right where we were standing, and I ran into the other version of the office.
"First of all, I need to make a phone call. You don't mind?" I asked, grabbing the office phone.
"You two, guard the door." Jake commanded.
I pressed the phone to my ear, dialling Jackie's mobile number.
"Oh my gosh, help me!"
"Jackie, you're alive." I said.
"They tried to download me, but I ran away!"
"Listen, shh, shh, tell me, where are you?"
"I don't know!" She shouted. "Staircase."
"Yeah, which one? Is there any sort of sign, anything to identify it?" I questioned.
"A fire extinguisher!"
"Yeah, that helps." I said dryly.
"Oh, wait a minute. It says N3."
"North Corner, staircase three," I concluded, "Just keep low, we're trying our best."
"Oh, don't leave me!"
"I've gotta go, I'm sorry." I said, quickly hanging up the phone.
I turned around to face Pete.
"Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler." I recited.
"She's not my wife." Pete protested.
"I was at the wedding. You got her name wrong." I quipped, rushing through the door and grabbing Jake's gun from his hand, "Now then Jakey-boy, if I could open the bonding chamber on this thing, it could work on polycarbide."
"What's polycarbide?" He questioned.
"The skin of a Dalek."
~~~
Later on, I stuck a piece of paper on a presentation pointer and stuck it around the corner, waving it around before walking around to face three Cybermen.
"Sorry," I said, prompting them to turn around, "No white flag. Only had a sheet of A4. Same difference."
They all stuck their arms out, and the Cyberman in the front began marching towards me.
"Do you surrender?"
"I surrender," I said, walking towards it with the flag dropped over my shoulder, "Unto you."
I came to a stop, mere inches away from the Cyberman.
"...a very good idea."
I smiled.