Jessie and the Doctor laughed as they told Saleen more about their adventures in the console room, Jessie draped in the captain's chair, the Doctor's arm around her shoulders. "And that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes?" the Doctor was saying through his laughs. "Do you remember? The way she looked at you! And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out!"
"Would've been frazzled!" she agreed, doubling over in laughter.
"Yeah, one minute she's standing there, and the next minute - "
Both of them mimicked fire coming out of their mouths with a loud "RAWR!" and they collapsed in laughs again.
Saleen leaned against the console, grinning. "Where was that, then, Muspelheim?" she joked. "What happened?"
"Oh, it was on this . . . er, planet thing," the Doctor replied. "Asteroid. It's a long story. You had to be there." He blinked. "Er . . . what're you doing that for?"
Saleen looked down at the button she was holding down. "Because you told me to," she replied slowly.
The Doctor swallowed. "When was that?"
Saleen checked her watch. "About half an hour ago."
Jessie snorted loudly, and the Doctor scratched his head. "Er . . . you can let go now."
Saleen narrowed her eyes. "OK, how long's it been since I could've stopped?"
The Doctor thought. "Ten minutes? Twenty?" He looked at Saleen sheepishly. "Twenty nine?"
Jessie burst out laughing at that, but Saleen looked at him furiously. "You just forgot me!" she accused.
"No, no, no," the Doctor protested quickly. "I was just . . . I was . . . I was calibrating. I was just . . . no, I know exactly what I'm doing."
Something exploded on the console, and the TARDIS shuddered, throwing Jessie back onto the floor. She groaned, rolling over. "What's happened?" she shouted.
"The Time Vortex is gone," the Doctor whispered in shock, looking at the console. "That's impossible. It's just gone." He leaped into action, running around the console. "Brace yourself!" he shouted. "We're going to crash!"
Jessie grabbed onto the railing nearby, Saleen clinging to one of the coral structures when the TARDIS jerked to a sudden stop, sending both girls crashing to the floor. The Doctor ran over to check on Jessie, who gave him a thumbs up. "Everyone all right?" he asked. "Jess?" She nodded, accepting his hand to get up. "Saleen?"
"I'm fine," Saleen replied, standing. "I'm OK."
Jessie held a hand to her head, wincing when it began to pound. "I've got a killer headache now, though."
The Doctor was looking at the console in shock. "She's dead," he whispered. "The TARDIS is dead."
"What?" Saleen asked sharply, looking at the rotor, which was now dim.
"But can't you fix it?" Jessie asked.
"There's nothing to fix," the Doctor replied sadly, as if he was still having trouble believing it. "She's perished. The last TARDIS in the universe. Extinct."
Something made Jessie want to say it was impossible, but she shook her head, wincing. "We can get help though, right?"
"Where from?" the Doctor asked.
"We've landed. We've got to be somewhere."
"We fell out of the Vortex, through the Void, into nothingness. We're in some sort of no place. The silent realm. The lost dimension."
The door to the TARDIS opened, and Saleen grinned as she looked outside, then threw a look over her shoulder. "Otherwise known as London!"
The Doctor blinked in surprise, and Jessie followed Saleen out into, indeed, London. "London, England, Earth!" Saleen crowed, then ran over to a newspaper stand. "Hold on." She looked at the headlines, then nodded. "First of February this year." She raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. "Not exactly far flung, is it?"
"So," the Doctor said casually, looking around. "This is London."
"Yep," Saleen agreed.
"Your city."
"That's the one."
"Just as we left it."
"Bang on."
The Doctor pointed upwards. "And that includes the zeppelins?"
Jessie looked up and inhaled sharply when she saw the airships overhead. "What the hell?" she breathed. "That's beautiful!"
"OK," Saleen said slowly. "It's always possible that London's got an international zeppelin festival."
"Pretty sure that's not it," Jessie commented.
"This is not your world," the Doctor decided.
"But if the date's the same, it's parallel, right?" Saleen asked, smiling. "Am I right? It's like a parallel Earth where they've got zeppelins. Am I right?" She grinned, jumping up and down. "I'm right, aren't I?"
"Must be."
Jessie looked around. "So a parallel world where - "
"Oh, come on!" Saleen told her, grinning. "You've seen it on films. Like an alternate to our world where everything's the same, but a little bit different." Jessie nodded along when something caught her attention, and her eyes widened in shock and surprise, and she began walking forward as if being controlled. She barely heard Saleen behind her. "Like . . . I don't know, traffic lights are blue, Tony Blair never got elected - "
"And he's still alive," Jessie whispered, her fingers ghosting over an advert for something called Cybus Industries . . . and over the parallel version of Grant Ward's face. "A parallel world, and Grant's still alive."
"Don't look at it, Jess," the Doctor warned her, trying to gently tug her away. "Don't even think about it. This is not your world."
"It's Grant," Jessie whispered, turning to him. "And he's real." She smiled, turning to look back at the advert. "He joined Cybus instead of SHIELD, which means he never went on a mission that could get him killed. Everyone was talking about how one day his emotions would one day get in the way of his job. They did. But here, they don't."
"Jess, if you've ever trusted me, then listen to me now," the Doctor told her. "Stop looking at it. Your Grant's dead. He died in your arms when I took you to see his death. That is not your Grant. That is a Grant. For all we know, the both of you are here, his own Saleen, and his own Jessie. They're someone else, but they're not the two of you. You can't see him. Not ever."
Jessie swallowed and watched the Doctor go back to the TARDIS, and she looked at Saleen. "But he's still alive," she whispered.
Saleen silently held out her arms, and Jessie hugged her friend hard, crying into her shoulder. "It's all right," Saleen tried to sooth her. "It's all right."
Jessie pulled away, then sat down on a bench. "I just . . . "
Saleen nodded, understanding, then headed back to the TARDIS as well. The moment Saleen was gone, Jessie ran towards the Thames River.
***
The Doctor looked up when Saleen entered alone. "I thought you were keeping an eye on her!"
"She's all right," Saleen told him.
"She goes wandering off. Parallel world. It's like a gingerbread house. All those temptations calling out."
"Is there anything that could tempt me?" Saleen asked.
The Doctor shrugged. "Well, I don't know. I can't worry about everything. If I could just get this thing to . . . " He kicked the console, then winced and bounced on one foot. Ow.
Saleen smirked. "Did that help?"
"Yes," he said.
She smirked even wider and began to giggle. "Did that hurt?"
He glared at her. "Yes." He put his foot down and winced. "Ow." She burst out laughing, and he glared at her, but continued to explain as he walked around the console. "We're not meant to be here. The TARDIS draws its power from the universe, but it's the wrong universe." He thought, then found a way she might understand. "It's like diesel in a petrol engine."
"Friends from college made me look at comics all the time," Saleen said. "People go hopping from one alternative world to another. It's easy."
The Doctor shook his head. "Not in the real world. It used to be easy. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died, and took it all with them. The walls of reality closed. The world were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind."
"So how did we get here?"
"I don't know. Accident? Should've been impossible. Now we're trapped - " Something green and flashing caught his eye, and he looked down over the console to look down into the grated holes of the TARDIS floor. "What's that?"
Saleen looked down, too. "What's what?"
"That there." He pointed. "Is that a reflection?" He looked up to check. "It's a light! Is it? Is that a light?" He grinned. "I think that's a light. That's all we need. We've got power!" He laughed and held up a hand, and Saleen high-fived it. "Saleen, we've got power! Ha!" He dropped down beneath the grating and began working under the console. "It's alive!"
"What is it?" she asked, laying down and leaning on her elbows.
"It's nothing." He held up the light. "It's tiny. One of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, and it's clinging onto life, with one little ounce of reality tucked away inside."
"I understood none of that, but is it enough to get us home?"
"Not yet. I need to charge it up."
Saleen shrugged. "We could go outside and latch it onto the National Grid."
The Doctor shook his head, taking the light and looking at it. "Wrong sort of energy. It's got to come from our universe."
"We don't have anything."
The Doctor grinned. "There's me." He blew on the light, and he grinned as it began getting brighter. "I just gave away ten years of my life. Worth every second!"
Saleen frowned as the light began to dim. "It's going out. Is that OK?"
"It's on a recharging cycle," he explained, holding up a hand, and Saleen helped haul him back up. "It'll loop round, power back up, and be ready to take us home in . . . oh, twenty four hours?" he guessed.
"So that gives us twenty four hours on a parallel world?" Saleen asked, just to make sure.
"Shore leave," the Doctor confirmed. "As long as we keep our heads down. Easy. No problem. Let's go and tell her."
***
Jessie was still staring at her Galaxy in shock after she connected to Cybus Network. She barely acknowledged hearing the Doctor and Saleen walk up. "There you are!" the Doctor said brightly. "You all right?" She simply snorted, and he took that as a cue to continue. "No applause. I fixed it. Twenty four hours, then we're flying back to reality." It was then that he seemed to realize the state she was in. "What is it?"
"My phone connected," she replied, waving the said object. "There's this Cybus Network. It finds your phone. It gave me Internet access."
"Jessie, whatever it says, this is the wrong world," the Doctor told her, seeming frustrated with her.
She shook her head, looking at him. "I don't exist."
Both Saleen and the Doctor seemed taken aback. "What do you mean?" the Doctor asked slowly.
"There's no Jessie Nightshade," she replied, looking back at her phone. "I was never born. I checked everything. And I found Grant. He's one of the top experts in the world . . . and Skye." She smiled sadly. "He married Skye. An ending that both of them should've had."
"Give me that phone," the Doctor told her.
She shook her head, standing up. "They're rich. They've got everything they want. But they haven't got me. I've got to see him."
"You can't," the Doctor insisted.
"I just want to see him!"
"I can't let you!"
"You just said twenty four hours!"
"You can't just become one of their best friends! That's not the way it works!" He turned to Saleen as if looking for help. "Saleen, tell her."
"Twenty four hours, right?" Saleen asked.
The Doctor blinked. "Where're you going, then?"
"I can do what I want!" she replied, walking in the opposite direction with an encouraging nod to Jessie.
Jessie began walking backwards as well. "I've got the address and everything."
The Doctor shook his head, holding his hands out to both of them. "Stay where you are, both of you." Both girls ignored him and kept walking. "Jessie, come back here! Saleen, come back here right now!"
"I just want to see him!" Jessie protested, looking back.
"I've got things to see, too," Saleen agreed.
"Like what?" the Doctor asked.
"Well, you don't know anything about me, do you?" Saleen challenged. "It's always about Jessie. And I understand that."
"I've got to go," Jessie whispered, turning on her heel and running.
***
Saleen watched her best friend run, then looked at the Doctor. "Go on. There's never been a choice, right? You can only chase one of us. It won't be me. Go on."
The Doctor sighed, then took off in the direction Jessie ran. "Back here, twenty four hours!"
***
Jessie scrolled through her phone, then began talking when the Doctor caught up to her. "Saleen always had a good life until a few of her good friends joined the military. Every single one of them died. They were great people. Always joking around, them." He could feel his eyes on her. "And then they died. Caught in a war getting others out of the way. It's been five years. Right after we were attacked at school by Frost Giants and Chitauri."
"I never knew," he whispered.
"You never asked," she pointed out.
"You never said."
She shrugged. "That's Saleen. I s'pose we just took her for granted." She looked at him. "Do you think they're still alive? Her friends?"
"Could be," the Doctor replied. "Like I said. Parallel world. Gingerbread house. We need to get out of here as fast as we can."
Beeps echoed through the street, and everyone they were surrounded by stopped simultaneously, including the policemen. She frowned, looking around. "What're they all doing?"
"They've stopped."
"Yes, thank you, Doctor Obvious."
The pods that were in everyone's ears - now that's just odd, Jessie thought as she took it all in, getting the feeling something was wrong - began to flash. "It's the earpieces," the Doctor said. "Like Bluetooth attachments, but everyone's connected together."
Jessie checked her phone to see downloads running across the screen. "It's on my phone. It's automatic. Look." He bent over her shoulder, and she focused on her phone instead of how she could barely feel his breath on her neck. "It's downloading. Is this what they're all getting?" She read the downloads. "News, international news, sports, weather . . . "
"They get it direct," the Doctor said, making a face. "Downloaded right into their heads."
"TV schedules, lottery numbers . . . "
"Everyone shares the same information. A daily download published by Cybus Industries."
Jessie raised an eyebrow when "Joke" rolled across the screen, then looked up when everyone around them began to laugh, then continued going on their way. "OK, that's just wrong."
"You lot," the Doctor commented. "You're obsessed. You'd do anything for the latest upgrade."
"Oi!" Jessie whined, slapping his arm. "It's not my lot! Different world, remember."
"It's not so far off your world," the Doctor told her. "This place is only parallel." He raised an eyebrow, looking at the logo that flashed. "Oh, look at that. Cybus Industries. Owners of just about every company in Britain. And a certain Mr. Grant Ward is one of their top employees. Very well connected." Jessie gave him her best puppy dog eyes, and he sighed. "Oh, OK. I give up. Let's go and see him."
She squealed in delight and grabbed his arm, running off.
***
Saleen walked through the streets of the parallel world, then realized she hadn't asked if there was a parallel version of her. She pulled out her phone and began trying to get a connection. She turned when she heard the squeal of brakes, seeing a blue van stop at an intersection rather hard. She raised an eyebrow, then looked back down when she got a connection. "Right, then," she said brightly, looking through her contacts. "Now - "
She yelped when a blond-haired young man jumped out of the van and grabbed her arm. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"
"What?" she protested as he pushed her inside of the van.
"Sally, you were the one who told us you don't contact your friends and family because it puts them in danger!"
Saleen couldn't believe it. The stupid leather Doctor's messed up name for me is my parallel self. Good Lord. "Yeah," she said slowly. "Sally said that." The young man nodded, and Saleen sighed. "'Course I did. Just testing."
"I saw them. I taped them. They went round Blackfriars, gathering up the homeless like the child catcher. They must've took four dozen."
"The vans were hired out to a company called International Electromatics." Jessie craned her neck to see a blond-haired woman driving the van. "But I did a protocol search. Turns out that's a dummy company established by guess who?"
"I don't know," she replied sarcastically. "Who?"
Both of the two spoke at the same time. "Cybus Industries!"
"Now we've got evidence," the man said confidently.
The woman checked something on the dashboard. "Bad news is they've arrested Thin Jimmy. So that just leaves you."
"Leaves me what?" she asked.
"The Number One," the woman replied. "Top of the list. London's Most Wanted."
"OK," Saleen agreed, then realized what had just been said. London's Most Wanted? "Say that again?"
***
It was nighttime by the time the van finally stopped. The two unknown people who apparently "knew" her led her towards a house. The man stopped, holding up a hand. "There's a light on," he hissed. "There's someone inside the base. Mrs. Moore, we've got visitors." Saleen yelped softly when she saw them both pull out guns. "One, two, three . . . go!"
Saleen hurried behind them when they burst into the house, and Saleen's jaw dropped when she saw a look-alike of herself spin around as well, a gun of her own drawn. "What the hell are you doing?" her parallel self demanded. Sally Harper, she thought with a snort.
"What're you doing there?" the man demanded, looking between Sally and Saleen.
"What am I doing here?" Sally asked, then pointed her gun at Saleen. "What am I doing there?"
Saleen held up her hands as the two turned to her, guns raised. "Oh, this is going to be just pleasant."
***
Jessie looked around as they approached the Ward mansion. She grinned as a limo drove past. "They've got visitors," the Doctor noted.
Jessie nodded. "February the first. Skye's birthday." She grinned. "Even in a parallel universe, she still loves a party."
"Well, given Grant Ward's guest list, I wouldn't mind a look." He grinned at her. "And there is one guaranteed way of getting inside."
Jessie smirked as he pulled out the object he was talking about. "Psychic paper."
"Who do you want to be?"
***
The Doctor was the one who chose who they were, and Jessie sighed as she carried a tray of champagne on her shoulder, tugging at the skirt of her serving uniform. "We could've been anyone," she grumbled.
"Got us in, didn't it?" the Doctor pointed out.
"You're in charge of the psychic paper," she continued. "We could've been guests! Celebrities! Sir Doctor, Dame Jessie. Dame Bad Wolf, even, but no, we end up serving." She snorted. "I had enough of this as a bloody cafeteria lady at that school."
"If you want to know what's going on, work in the kitchens," the Doctor advised. "According to Lucy, that woman over there - "
Jessie threw a look over her shoulder. "Who's Lucy?"
The Doctor nodded to another woman. "She's carrying the salmon pinwheels."
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that's Lucy, is it?"
"Yeah," the Doctor agreed, then shifted his tray to point to a black man. "Lucy says that is the President of Great Britain."
"What?" she asked in surprise. "There's a President? Not a Prime Minister?"
"Seems so."
"Or maybe Lucy's just a bit thick," Jessie suggested.
The Doctor opened his mouth to say something when a familiar voice to her, the last time she heard it so weak, this time strong, called out. "Excuse me!" She pushed through the guests to make it to the front of the mansion. "Thank you very much. Thank you! If I could just have your attention, please?"
Jessie stopped in front of the staircase, still in shock as she looked up at who definitely to her looked like Grant Ward from her universe. "Oh my God," she whispered as the Doctor joined her.
"I'd just like to say thank you to you all for coming on this . . . " He tilted his head. "This very special occasion: my wife's twenty-ninth."
"Don't believe that one," one of the guests called out, and Jessie grinned.
"What?" the Doctor asked.
Jessie grinned at him. "Skye's currently twenty nine in the other world."
"Trust me on this," Grant told them. "And so, without further ado, here she is. The birthday girl. My lovely wife, Skye Ward."
Jessie nodded in appreciation as Skye joined Grant on the steps in a tight black dress, her hair loose. "Looks just like her," she whispered.
Skye held up her hands to quiet the applause. "Now, I'm not giving a speech," she warned them. "That's what my parties are famous for. No work, no politics, just a few good friends . . . and plenty of black market whiskey." Jessie's jaw dropped at that as people began laughing, and Skye sent a wink to the black man. "Sorry, Mr. President!" Jessie shook her head, smirking a little as Skye waved her hands. "So get on with it! Enjoy! Enjoy!"
"You can't stay," the Doctor whispered. "Even if there was some way of telling them."
Jessie shook her head. "'Course I can't," she agreed, turning away from the stairs as Grant and Skye descended. "I've still got Skye at home. My real Skye. I couldn't just leave her, could I? It's what I promised, to look after Skye. It's just . . . they've got each other here. Skye's got no one."
"She's got the SHIELD team, and she's got you," the Doctor pointed out. "Those two haven't. All these different worlds, and not one of them gets it right."
"Jessie!" Jessie whipped around, her ponytail smacking the Doctor in the face when Skye let out a squeal, kneeling down to a Yorkie that padded up to her. "Jessie! There's my little girl! Come to mommy!" She picks her up and grins. "Yes, good girl! Good girl, aren't you!"
Jessie's jaw dropped, and the Doctor guffawed next to her. She glared at him and raised her hand warningly, and he shut his mouth with an audible "clomp." "Sorry," he apologized.
***
"Never been so glad for wearing better under layers," Saleen commented sarcastically as the two she had met, now known as Jake Simmonds - not to be confused with Simmons, she thought - and Mrs. Moore, her first name still unknown, scanned her, her shirt off, leaving her just in her sports bra and jeans.
"She's clean," Jake reported. "No bugs."
"But this is off the scale!" Sally protested, looking her over. "She's flesh and blood. How did that happen?"
"Well, it could be that Cybus Industries have perfected the science of human cloning, or your father had a bike."
"And your name is Saleen, not Sally," Sally added.
Saleen nodded furiously. "Saleen. Dad was Jackson Harper. Used to work all over the world. Went to Spain one year and never came back."
"But that's my dad," Sally whispered, then narrowed her eyes. "So we're sisters?"
"God, that's just wrong," Saleen muttered.
"Who else could it be?" Jake asked.
"I don't know," Sally replied, turning back to whatever it was she had been doing. "But she doesn't just look like me. She's exactly the same. There's something else going on here, Jake."
"So . . . who exactly are you lot?" Saleen asked.
"We?" Sally asked, turning back. "We are the Preachers. As in Gospel Truth." Saleen snorted rather loudly, but Sally gestured to her ears. "You see? No earplugs." Saleen looked around to see Moore and Jack didn't have the plugs either. "While the rest of the world downloads from Cybus Industries, we . . . we have got freedom. You're talking to London's Most Wanted, but target Number One is Lumic, and we are going to bring him down."
Lumic. Saleen filed away the name, then snorted again when she saw where they were. "From your kitchen?"
"Got a problem with that?" Sally retorted.
Saleen just grinned, shaking her head. "Nah. It's a good kitchen."
Moore looked up from the computer she was looking on. "It's an upload from Gemini."
"Who's Gemini?" Saleen asked, craning her neck.
Moore looked back up. "The vans are back. They're moving out of Battersea. Looks like Gemini was right. Lumic's finally making a move."
"And we are right behind him." Sally cocked the gun she was holding. "Pack up. We're leaving."
***
Jessie kept an eye on Skye, who was laughing with the President. She was so caught up she didn't hear the man beside her until he spoke. "I remember her twenty-first. Champagne with one of her best friends from school, Jemma Simmons."
Jessie jumped in surprise, partly because it was Grant, another because she found out Jemma had a parallel self here as well. "Is she here?"
Grant shook his head. "No. She took a mission trip to Ireland. No idea when she gets back. Skye's starting to worry."
"Sorry." Jessie looked down at her tray, then held it out. "Champagne?"
Grant grinned. "Oh, might as well." He took a glass and nodded his thanks. "I'm paying for it."
"Big night for you."
Grant nodded to Skye. "For her. Still . . . she's happy."
"She should be. It's a great party."
"Do you think?"
"You can trust me." Jessie smiled at him, then nodded to Skye. "So, how long have you two been married?"
"Six years."
"No kids or anyone close?"
"We kept putting it off," Grant replied tilting his head to keep an eye on Skye.
"It's not too late," Jessie told him. "She's only thirty."
"Twenty nine," Grant corrected.
Jessie smirked. "Right. Twenty nine."
Grant kept silent for a moment before he spoke again. "It's still too late. I moved out last month, but we're going to keep it quiet." Jessie looked at him sharply. What? she thought in shock. "You know, it's bad for business." He stopped and looked at her curiously. "Why am I telling you all this? We haven't met before, have we? I don't know . . . you just seem sort of . . . "
"What?"
"I don't know. Just sort of . . . right." Jessie smiled a little before going off to serve more drinks, but she stopped once more when she heard what Grant said next. "Stevie! How's things? How's it going at Torchwood?"
Torchwood?!
***
"I don't know what they're doing, but this seems to be the target." Saleen listened to Sally from inside the van Moore was with her in. "Big house, fair bit of money. Now we've got to find a way to get in."
Moore looked up from her computer. "I've identified the address. It belongs to Grant Ward, one of the top millionaire employees for Lumic."
Saleen looked up. "Grant Ward?"
Moore nodded. "He's listed as one of Lumic's henchmen. A traitor to the state."
"But we've got to get in there!"
"Now shut it, duplicate," Sally snapped. "That's what I just said!"
Saleen grumbled and folded her arms. "Meh."
***
Jessie made it a few more minutes before her stomach caught up with her, and her headache. She pushed through the other servers, hearing Grant calling after her. She put her tray on a counter nearby before making it to the nearest bathroom and leaning against the door, clutching her head as everything seemed to spin. She sank to the floor, putting her head in her arms and squeezing her eyes shut.
She heard knocking on the door, but she reached up and simply locked it, curling up further, feeling as if a knife was punching through her skull.
"The doomsday of the girl fighting wars she cannot win," she heard the voice of the Beast.
"No." That voice was familiar, and Jessie looked up slowly when she realized what it was. She'd heard that before: when she'd looked into the heart of the TARDIS. "Not today, my Wolf."
The headache cut out, and Jessie panted hard, throwing her head back against the door. "What the hell was that?" she muttered.
There was banging on the door more. "Jess!" the Doctor shouted. She fumbled for the door handle and pulled herself, hearing the buzz of the sonic screwdriver. She unlocked it and opened the door, looking at the Doctor's extremely worried face. He sighed in relief and pulled her in tightly for a hug. "Don't run off again," he demanded.
"No promises," Jessie replied shakily as he pulled her over to a window. She gasped when she saw the robot soldiers marching on the mansion in the shape of humans. They're what I saw in my nightmare.
The Doctor nodded grimly. "It's happening again."
"What do you mean?"
"I've seen them before."
Jessie looked at him. "What are they?"
He swallowed. "Cybermen."
The windows off to the other side smashed inwards, and several Cybermen marched through the broken windows as through the front door. The Doctor pulled Jessie with him so they stood closer to the President when his phone rang. "Mr. Lumic," he spat into it.
"Mr. President," the voice of who could've only been John Lumic replied smoothly. "I suppose a remark about crashing the party would be appropriate at this point."
"I forbade this!"
"These are my children, sir. Would you deny my family?"
"What are they, robots?" Jessie asked the Doctor.
He shook his head. "Worse than that."
"Who were these people?" the President asked.
"Doesn't matter," Lumic replied.
Jessie's jaw dropped. "They're people?"
"They were," the Doctor replied grimly. "Until they had all their humanity taken away. That's a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body with a heart of steel. All emotions removed."
"Why no emotions?"
"Because it hurts."
Jessie gagged a little as the President continued. "I demand to know, Lumic. These people. Who were they?"
"They were homeless and wretched and useless until I saved them, and elevated them, and gave them life eternal," Lumic replied. "And now I leave you in their capable hands. Goodnight, sir. Goodnight, Mr. President."
The phone clicked off, and the lead Cyberman spoke. "We have been upgraded."
"Into what?" the Doctor asked.
"The next level of mankind. We are Human Point Two. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us."
"I'm sorry," the President apologized. "I'm so sorry for what's been done to you, but listen to me. This experiment ends tonight."
"Upgrading is compulsory."
"And if I refuse?"
The Doctor shook his head. "Don't," he warned.
"What if I refuse?" the President continued, ignoring the Doctor.
The Doctor stepped forward. "I'm telling you, don't!" he insisted.
The President barely spared him a glance. "What happens if I refuse?"
"Then you are not compatible," the Cyberman replied.
"What happens then?"
"You will be deleted."
Jessie gasped in shock when the Cyberman's hand clamped onto the President's neck, and electric shocks warped through the man's body. The guests screamed all around them, and the Doctor grabbed Jessie's hand. "Run!" he told her. They ran over to one of the windows, and they jumped through, landing outside. "There's nothing we can do!"
"Skye and Grant are in there!" she told him.
"They are not your Skye and Grant! Come on!"
Jessie ran after him, but skidded to a halt when a row of Cybermen came marching towards them. The Doctor growled and they turned tail, going around the other side of the house, just as Grant jumped out of one of the windows. She grabbed his arm. "Quick!" she shouted to him.
The three of them kept running, and the Doctor looked at Grant. "Grant, is there a way out?" he asked.
"The side gates," he replied immediately, leading them in that direction. "Who are you? How do you know so much?"
The Doctor snorted. "You wouldn't believe it in a million years."
"And how many of these things are there here?" Jessie shouted as more Cybermen cut them off.
The ringing of bullets through the air cut them off, and the Cybermen halted as a familiar figure and an unfamiliar one ran up. Jessie stared at her best friend in shock. "Saleen, where the hell did you get that outfit?" she asked.
"No offense, sweetheart, but who the hell are you?" was her friend's reply.
"Jessie!" Jessie turned, blinking as the real Saleen ran towards them, two guns clutched in her hands. "That's not me," she gasped, stopping by them and handing her one of the guns. "That's, like . . . the other one."
The Doctor groaned. "Oh, as if things weren't bad enough! Now there's two Saleens!"
"It's Sally," the look-alike corrected.
Jessie couldn't help but snort loudly, and Saleen grinned at her. "Of course."
"Put the guns down," the Doctor ordered. "Bullets won't stop them." Jessie tucked her gun into the waist of her serving skirt, and Saleen did the same thing into her jeans, but the man with Sally kept shooting. The Doctor had say it again. "No! Stop shooting, now!" The man finally did, and the Doctor turned to the Cybermen. "We surrender!" Jessie's jaw dropped, but the Doctor turned to them. "Hands up," he whispered, and she did obediently, followed by Saleen. Grant was the next one, and lastly Sally and her friend. "There's no need to damage us! We're good stock. We volunteer for the upgrade program. Take us to be processed."
"You are rogue elements," the Cyberman in front announced.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "But we surrender!"
"You are incompatible."
"But this is a surrender!"
"Give it up," Saleen whispered.
"You will be deleted," the Cyberman decided.
"But we surrender!" the Doctor insisted. "Listen to me, we surrender!"
"You are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cyberme, but you will perish under maximum deletion."
"Delete!" the Cybermen began to chorus. "Delete! Delete!"
Jessie swallowed, then closed her eyes and concentrated. Here come the nightmares.
***
And next up comes "The Age of Steel." Do you really think Grant is working for Cybus or not? Just out of curiosity . . .