The Doctor clenched the TARDIS power cell and began to point them at the Cybermen, but he only got a little bit off before thunder cracked overhead. Lightning spat down from the sky, and Jessie raised her hands, bouncing it out to the Cybermen. Electricity warped through them, and the Doctor added the power from the cell, and the Cybermen all disintegrated.
Jessie stumbled around afterwards, looking a little disoriented, and Saleen helped support her. "What the hell was that?" Sally demanded.
"We'll have that instead," the Doctor decided, pocketing the power cell and taking Jessie's other hand. "Run!"
They ran through the gates, and a van's horn honked, and a woman's head poked out of the window. "Everybody, in!" she shouted.
Grant stopped. "I've got to go back," he said. "My wife's in there!"
"Anyone inside that house is dead," the Doctor replied bluntly, turning to Grant. "If you want to help, then don't let her die for nothing. You've got to come with us right now."
"Come on!" the woman shouted again as they ran towards the van. "Get a move on!"
Jessie stopped as well, looking back towards the house, a haunted look in her eyes. The Doctor stopped and took her hand. "Jess, she's not your Skye," he whispered.
She swallowed and nodded. "I know."
He tugged her arm. "Come on."
"Finished chatting?" the woman asked as they climbed into the van. "Never seen a slower getaway in my life!"
***
"What was that thing?" Sally asked after the other two had introduced themselves. Jessie was in between the Doctor and Grant, Saleen with her back to the seat Mrs. Moore was in.
"Little bit of technology from my home," the Doctor replied, rotating the power cell back and forth.
"It's stopped glowing," Saleen noted. "Has it run out?"
The Doctor shook his head. "It's on a revitalizing loop. It'll charge back up in about four hours."
"Right," Sally commented, folding her arms. "So we don't have a weapon anymore."
"Unless you want melted Cybermen everywhere or fried Cybermen," Jessie offered. The Doctor sent her a look, and she grumbled, "or not."
"Yeah, we've got weapons," Jake said. "Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him."
Jessie narrowed her eyes when the accusation was thrown at Grant, who hadn't reacted. "Leave him alone! What's he done wrong?"
He snorted. "Oh, you know, just laid a trap that's wiped out the Government and left Lumic in charge."
Grant finally looked up angrily. "If I was a part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?"
"Maybe your plan went wrong," Sally suggested. "Still gives us the right to execute you, though."
Saleen growled warningly, and the Doctor leaned forward. "Talk about executions, you'll make me your enemy. And take some really good advice: you don't want to do that," he warned.
"All the same, we have evidence that says Grant Ward's been working for Lumic since twenty point thirteen."
"Is that true?" Jessie asked in surprise.
Sally turned. "Tell them, Mrs. M."
"We've got a government mole who feeds us information," Moore replied. "Lumic's private files, his South American operations . . . the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week."
Grant raised an eyebrow. "Broadcast from Gemini?"
Jessie hitched a breath. Gemini . . . I've heard that before.
"And how do you know that?" Sally demanded.
"I'm Gemini," Grant replied. "That's me."
And Jessie remembered. She grinned with the realization and drew the Doctor down so she could whisper in his ear. "There was an undercover operation one time in SHIELD that Grant and Skye went down under. They had a broadcast called Gemini that they used to warn people nearby about any potential danger to them."
The Doctor grinned, but Sally simply snorted. "Yeah, well, you would say that."
"Encrypted wavelength six five seven using binary nine," Grant rattled off instantly, and Sally looked taken aback, and Jessie grinned wider. "That's the only reason I was working for Lumic. To get information. I was never Cybus to begin with." He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out the usual SHIELD standard 9mm, and the SHIELD badge, and Jessie and Saleen whooped together. "SHIELD sent me undercover. Took me years for a while, and I never thought I'd need to use Gemini. When I did, I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services and back to them. And what do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang." He snorted. "They've even got the van."
"And I never was told what exactly Sally is London's Most Wanted," Saleen brought up.
She grumbled. "Parking tickets."
Grant snorted again. "Great."
"Yeah, they were deliberate," Sally commented. "I was fighting the system. Park anywhere, that's me."
"Good policy," the Doctor commented. "I'm the Doctor, by the way, if anyone's interested. Partner in crime over there is Saleen."
"And I'm Jessie," Jessie rounded out, waving a hand. "Hello."
"Even better," Grant commented. "That's the name of my dog." He sighed. "Still, at least I've got the catering staff on my side."
"Knew it," Jessie told him. "Knew you weren't a traitor."
"Why's that, then?" Grant asked, looking at her.
She shrugged. "I just did."
Grant sighed, slumping against the wall of the van. "They took my wife."
Jessie swallowed. "She might still be alive."
Grant shook his head. "That's even worse. Because that's what Lumic does. He takes the living and turns them into those machines."
"Cybermen," the Doctor corrected. "They're called Cybermen." He gestured to his ears. "And I'd take those ear pods off if I were you. You never know. Lumic could be listening."
Grant pulled them out, showing the symbol on them. "SHIELD design. Most agents wear them. We just aren't controlled."
Jessie grinned. "This SHIELD is just as brilliant."
Saleen grinned back, and even the Doctor looked impressed. "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." He got a cold look on his face. "Because I promise you, this ends tonight."
***
Jake poked his head past a fence and blinked. "What the hell?"
Jessie looked around as well and her jaw dropped when she saw several people walking past them, looking like zombies. "What's going on with them?"
"It's the ear pods," the Doctor replied grimly. "Lumic's taken control."
"Can't we just take them off?"
"Don't!" the Doctor replied sharply, and Jessie blinked, holding up her hands. "Cause a brainstorm." He sighed, looking back at the people as Jake disappeared with Sally. "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!" Saleen whined.
"Hey!" Jake called as well from around another corner. "Come and see!"
Jessie joined him, seeing Cybermen and more people. "Where are they all going?" she asked.
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted, looking around. "Lumic must have a base of operations."
Grant nodded, cocking his gun. "Battersea. That's where he was building his prototypes."
"Why's he doing it?" Jessie asked.
Grant shrugged. "He's dying. This all started out as a way of prolonging life, of keeping the brain alive at any cost."
"We've seen Cybermen before, though, haven't we?" Jessie asked, turning to the Doctor. "My nightmare, and then the head in Van Statten's museum."
"There are Cybermen in our universe," the Doctor admitted. "They started on an ordinary world just like this, then swarmed across the galaxy. This lot are the parallel version, and they're starting from scratch right here on Earth."
"What the hell are you two going on about?" Grant demanded.
Sally waved a hand. "Never mind that. Come on. We need to get out of the city." She pointed to Moore. "OK, we split up. Mrs. Moore, you look after that bloke." She looked at Jake. "Jake, distract them. Go right. I'll go left. We'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move."
The three of them left, and Saleen made a decision. "I'm going with her," she said, hugging Jessie and running after Sally.
"Come on. Let's go," the Doctor told Moore, Jessie, and Grant. He looked around, trying to avoid more Cybermen patrols, then found a side street. "There!"
***
"Which way?" Saleen asked as they ran. "I don't know where we are."
"Did they see us?" Sally asked in reply.
"Do they know where we are?"
"I think they saw us. I bet they can see in the dark."
"I bet they've got satellites."
"I bet they saw us in the dark."
They looked at each other and simultaneously said, "They know where we are."
Sally shook her head. "I don't get it. What is it with you? You are exactly like me."
Saleen shrugged. "I bet you're braver considering you're doing all this."
Sally snorted. "Oh, yeah. Ten times." She paused. "Still . . . your friends aren't bad. I'll give you that."
Saleen grinned. "Oh, that's the Doctor and Jessie. I just tag along behind."
"Well, then, you're not that bad."
Saleen tilted her head. "Do you think?"
Sally nodded. "Yeah. I s'pose."
The sound of Cybermen footsteps filled the air, and Saleen whispered, "Cybermen."
Parallel girls looked at each other, then said at the same time, "Split up!" and they ran their different ways.
***
Jessie looked up from where she was standing as Jake ran to meet them. "I ran past the river," he gasped. "You should have seen it. The whole city's on the march. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames." A figure with long hair began running towards them. "Here she is!" Jake cried happily, turning towards her. "Which one are you?"
"I'm sorry," she gasped, bending over double, pushing her hair behind her ears. "The Cybermen . . . she couldn't - "
"Are you Sally?" Jake demanded. "Are you Sally?"
Jessie slowly stepped forward. "Saleen?" she asked slowly. "That you?"
In reply, the woman held up her hand. Ice shot up her arm, and she stood in full icicle form for a second. Both Jake and Moore gasped and stepped back. "What the hell?" Jake demanded.
"It's me," Saleen gasped again, turning back to her normal self. Jessie hugged her hard, and her friend returned it. "She tried," Saleen tried to explain to Jake. "She was running. There were too many of them."
"Shut it," Jake ordered.
"There was nothing I could do!" Saleen insisted.
"I said shut it!" Jake barked, and Saleen stiffened. "Don't even talk about her. You're nothing, you are! Nothing!"
Jessie buried her head in her friend's shoulder as those words brought back memories she had worked so hard to bury. A comforting arm wrapped around her shoulder, and Saleen let Jessie go so the Doctor could take Jessie. She sniffed and leaned further into him as the Doctor looked at Jake. "We can mourn her when London is safe," he told him. "But now we move on."
***
"The whole of London's been sealed off, and the entire population's been taken inside that place," the Doctor began, folding his arms and standing next to Jessie, who sat on a picnic table opposite Battersea. "To be converted."
"So basically, we've got to get in there and shut it down," Jessie finished.
"How do we do that?" Saleen asked, checking the gun she had to make sure it had rounds in it.
The Doctor shrugged. "Oh, I'll think of something."
Saleen glared at him. "You're just making this up as you go along!"
"Yep!" the Doctor confirmed with a grin. "But I do it brilliantly."
"Here we go," Moore said as she joined them, opening up her laptop and showing something on the screen. "That's a schematic of the old factory. Look." She pointed. "Cooling tunnels underneath the plant. Big enough to walk through."
"We go under there and up into the control center?" the Doctor asked.
"Mmm," Moore agreed.
"There's another way in," Grant brought up. "Through the front door. If they've taken Skye for upgrading, that's how she'll get in."
"We can't just go strolling up," Jake denied.
"Or we could . . . with these." Moore held up her hand, revealing two sets of ear pods. "Fake ear pods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd."
Grant nodded. "Then that's my job."
"You'd have to show no emotion," the Doctor warned. "None at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away."
"I'm a special ops agent," Grant replied, taking one of the sets, and he only spared Jessie and Saleen a glance when both of them began to snicker. "I'll do it."
Jessie straightened up. "How many of those you got?"
"Just these two sets," Moore replied.
"OK," Jessie replied, holding out her hand. "If that's the best way of finding Skye, then I'm coming with you."
"Why does she matter to you?" Grant asked in surprise.
Jessie took the other pods and turned to the Doctor. "We haven't got time. Doctor, I'm going with him, and that's that."
The Doctor looked at her. "No stopping you, is there?"
"No," she replied bluntly. "Besides, easy way to get out."
"How?" Jake asked suspiciously.
The Doctor changed the subject. "Tell you what. We can take the ear pods at the same time. Give people their minds back so they don't walk into that place like sheep." He turned to Jake. "Jakey boy? Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there." He waved his sonic screwdriver towards the power station, pointing out the zeppelin on top. "There it is. On the zeppelin, you see? Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off. Reckon you could take it out?"
Jake nodded. "Consider it done."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow to Moore. "Mrs. Moore, would you care to accompany me into the cooling tunnels?"
She smiled. "How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?"
The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "We attack on three sides: above, between, below. We get to the control center, we stop the conversion machines."
Saleen raised an eyebrow. "And me?"
The Doctor stopped. "Uh . . . "
"You better not say stay out of trouble and be the tin dog," Saleen warned, holding up a hand. "No. Those days are over." She folded her arms. "I'm going with Jake."
"I don't need you, Icicle girl," Jake muttered.
"To hell with being an icicle," Saleen snapped. "You got that? I'm offering to help!"
"Whatever," he replied, walking off.
"Saleen, good luck," the Doctor told her, giving her a hug.
"Yeah. You too," she replied, then hugged Jessie as well. "Jessie, I'll see you later."
"Yeah, you'd better," Jessie retorted with a smile on her face.
"If we survive this, I'll see you back at the TARDIS," the Doctor told Saleen.
She nodded. "That's a promise."
Jessie turned to the Doctor, and he leaned down, kissing her forehead before hugging her tightly. "Good luck," he whispered to her.
"You, too," she whispered back.
***
"It's freezing," Moore commented as they made their way through the cooling tunnels.
The Doctor looked around, trying to see in the dark. "Any sign of a light switch?" he asked hopefully.
"Can't see a thing," Moore replied, digging through her backpack. "But I've got these." She smiled and pulled out two lights on headbands. "A device for every occasion."
The Doctor grinned and took one, turning the light on. "Haven't got a hot dog in there, have you?" he asked as they kept moving on a little more confidently, thanks to the lights. "I'm starving."
"Of all the things to wish for," Moore commented. "That's mechanically recovered meat."
"I know. It's the Cybermen of food, but it's tasty."
"A proper torch as well."
"Let's see where we are." The Doctor looked down the hallway and blinked when he saw the Cybermen lining both sides of the tunnel. "Already converted, just put on ice," he murmured, tapping on one's face. When he got no reaction, he turned to Moore. "Come on. Let's go slowly. Keep an eye out for trip systems."
They kept moving through the tunnel, keeping a close eye on the Cybermen.
***
Jessie looked out onto the streets to see people being escorted into Battersea. "Chamber six now open for human upgrading," a Cyberman announced over an intercom. "Chamber seven now open for human upgrading. Chamber eight now open for human upgrading."
"Just put them on," Grant whispered to Jessie as they pulled their ear pods out. "Don't show any emotions. No signs. Nothing. OK?"
She nodded. "Don't worry. We can do it."
"Chamber seven now open for human upgrading."
"We could die in here," Grant warned, looking at Jessie as they slipped the ear pods on. "Why are you doing this?"
Jessie looked at him and swallowed. "Let's just say I'm doing it for my best friends and partners." Grant nodded in acceptance, and Jessie took a deep breath. "Right. Let's go."
"Chamber eight now open for human upgrading." Jessie and Grant stood and headed for the procession. "Chamber nine now open for upgrading." The two caught hands for just a second, squeezing, before letting go. "Chamber ten now open for human upgrading." Jessie fell in line first, relaxing her face for no emotion, Grant behind her. "Chamber eleven now open for human upgrading."
***
Saleen pulled herself up next to Jake, looking out onto the roof platform. "Two guards," Jake reported. "We can take them."
"Don't kill them," Saleen warned.
He looked at her. "Who put you in charge?"
"If you kill them, what's the difference between you and the Cybermen?" Saleen pointed out.
He looked at her for a second with something similar to respect before digging in his pockets. "Well . . . I suppose we could use these."
Saleen wrinkled her nose at the bottles he pulled out. "Smelling salts?"
"Bit stronger than that," he replied, handing her one. "One of Mrs. Moore's little tricks. Should knock them out. Three . . . two . . . one."
Saleen ran in one direction, Jake in the other. She made it to one of the human guards, shoving the bottle under his nose. He collapsed instantly, and Saleen caught him as Jake did the same to the other one. "There's got to be more guards on board," she warned.
Jake grinned. "Then let's go get them."
***
"How did you get into this, then, rattling along with the Preachers?" the Doctor asked, genuinely curious as they kept moving through the tunnels.
"Oh, I used to be ordinary," Moore replied. "Worked at Cybus Industries, nine to five, till 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. Life on the run. Then I found the Preachers. They needed a techie, so I . . . I just sat down and taught myself everything."
He looked at her. "What about Mr. Moore?"
"Well, he's not called Moore. I got that from a book, Mrs. Moore. It's 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." The Doctor swallowed as memories of the Time War flew through his mind, of his wife and kids, and possibly even his granddaughter. Moore tilted her head, looking at him. "What about you? Got any family, or . . . ?"
"I've got Jessie," the Doctor replied, "and I've got the whole world on my shoulders." He looked at her. "Go on, then. What's your real name?"
She hesitated. "Angela Price. Don't tell a soul."
He grinned at her. "Not a word." They kept walking through the tunnels when she stopped. "Doctor, did that one just move?"
He shook his head. "It's just the torchlight. Keep going. Come on." He, however, stopped when a Cyberman in front of them began to move. "They're waking up," he realized, grabbing her arm. "Run!"
As they kept running, the Cybermen fell in behind them. "Get up!" Moore shouted, pointing to a ladder at the end of the tunnel. "Quick! They're coming!" He jumped onto the ladder and began to climb, twisting the wheel on the trapdoor above them and shoving it open. "Come on!" he told her, pulling her up with him. "Come on!"
He slammed the trapdoor down and sealed it with the sonic screwdriver. He panted a little, then grinned at Moore. "Oh, good team, Mrs. Moore," he complimented.
***
"Units upgraded now six thousand five hundred. Repeat. Six thousand five hundred and rising."
Jessie inhaled sharply when a Cyberman cut her off from the procession. "You will wait," it ordered before moving away.
She breathed out shakily, and she felt Grant take her hand silently. "You OK?" he asked quietly.
She gulped. "No," she whispered back.
"Chamber ix now open for human upgrading. All reject stock will be incinerated."
"Any sign of Skye?" Grant asked.
A few Cybermen clomped up to them. One of them took a closer look at Grant. "You are Grant Ward," it said. "Confirm you are Grant Ward."
Grant swallowed. "Confirmed," he replied as if automatically.
"I recognize you. I went first." Jessie's eyes widened, and Grant seemed to realize it at the same time as she did. "My name was Skye Ward."
"No!" Jessie gasped in shock.
"What?" Grant demanded at the same time.
"They are unprogrammed," the Cyberman announced, and several other Cybermen joined them. "Restrain."
"You're lying!" Grant shouted as both of them were grabbed. "You're not her! You're not my Skye!"
"No. I am Cyber-form. Once I was Skye Ward."
"But you can't be!" Jessie protested, even though she knew it was true. "Not her!"
"Her brain is inside this body."
"Skye, I came to save you," Grant told it, still working to convince it otherwise.
"This man worked with Cybus Industries to create our species," the Cyberman replied, looking at its comrades. "He will be rewarded by force. Take them to Cyber Control."
Jessie swallowed as they were marched off. "They killed her," she whispered, her voice choking up. "They just took her and killed her."
"Maybe there's a chance," Grant offered, turning to her. "I don't know. Maybe we can reverse it."
"There's nothing we can do."
"But if . . . if she remembers." He looked behind them. "Where is she? Which one was it? Which one was her?"
Jessie shook her head, still reeling from the fact that Skye was dead. "They all look the same."
***
Saleen wrung her hand out as Jake dumped a guard onto the floor. "Nice one," he commented to her before channeling soldier again. "Nobody's home. Find the transmitter controls."
"What would they look like?" Saleen asked, moving around.
"Well, I don't know," he replied sarcastically. "They might have Transmitter Controls written in big red letters. Just look!"
Saleen grumbled more to herself as she continued moving, finding the steering wheel. She opened a door nearby and squeaked when she found something inside. "Cyberman!" Jake held a gun up to it, turning on the alcove light. Saleen took closer look. "It's dead," she commented. "I don't think it was ever alive." She gently knocked on its head, hearing it being hollow. "It's empty." She pulled back. "No brain. It's just a robot suit. It's for display."
Both of them paused, then Jake took a deep breath. "OK. Transmitter."
***
"You are not upgraded," a Cyberman announced as it marched towards the Doctor and Moore.
"Yeah?" Moore asked, pulling out a small rod with a copper wire on it. "Well, upgrade this!" She tossed it to the Cyberman. It stuck to the metal, and the Cyberman jerked, sparking as it collapsed.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "What the hell was that?"
"Electromagnetic bomb," she replied. "Takes out computers. I figured it might stop the cyber suit."
He grinned. "You figured right." He knelt next to the Cyberman. "Now, let's have a look. Know your enemy. A logo on the front." He saw the Cybus Industries logo. "Lumic's turned them into a brand. Heart of steel . . . but look." He removed the logo, recoiling after finding not just wiring and electronics.
"Is that flesh?" Moore gasped.
"Hmm," the Doctor agreed, examining it. "Central nervous system. Artificially grown, then threaded throughout the suit so it responds like a living thing. Well . . . it is a living thing. Oh, but look." He pulled something out. "Emotional inhibitor. Stops them feeling anything."
"But why?" Moore asked.
"It's still got a human brain. Imagine its reaction if it could see itself, realize itself inside this thing. They'd go insane."
"So they cut out the one thing that makes them human."
The Doctor nodded, swallowing. "Because they have to."
"Why am I cold?"
The Doctor looked down sharply as the Cyberman spoke. "Oh my God," Moore whispered in shock. "It's alive. It can feel."
"We broke the inhibitor," the Doctor realized, looking down at what he had in his hands. "I'm sorry," he apologized to the Cyberman. "I'm so sorry."
"Why so cold?" it asked.
"Can you remember your name?"
"Sally. Sally Phelan."
The Doctor inhaled sharply as Moore's eyes widened. "You're a woman!"
"Where's Gareth?" Sally asked.
"Who's Gareth?"
"He can't see me," Sally said. "It's unlucky the night before."
"You're getting married," Moore realized.
"I'm cold," Sally said, and the Doctor closed his eyes. "I'm so cold.
"It's all right," the Doctor told her, swallowing as he realized that Jessie and Grant were up there right now, in the chambers where they could easily also be turned into Cybermen. He wasn't going to let that happen to either of them, even when he barely knew Grant. "You sleep now, Sally. Just go to sleep." He aimed the sonic screwdriver at the chest cavity, and he switched her off, then looked up at Moore. "Sally Phelan didn't die for nothing, because that's the key," he said. "The emotional inhibitor. If we could find the code behind it, the cancellation code, then feed it through the system into every Cyberman's head, they'd realize what they are."
"And what happens then?" Moore asked.
"I think it would kill them," he admitted. "Could we do that?"
She nodded. "We've got to. Before they kill everyone else. There's no choice, Doctor. It's got to be done."
She stood up, and a Cyberman suddenly towered over her and brought its hand down on her shoulder, electrocuting her to death. "No!" the Doctor shouted, standing as well as other Cybermen approached. "No! You didn't have to kill her!"
"Sensors detect a binary vascular system," the Cyberman reported. "You are an unknown upgrade. You will be taken for analysis."
***
Saleen peered at the transmitter control box. "The transmitter controls are sealed behind here," she told Jake. "We need, like, an oxyacetylene or something."
"Oh, and I forgot to bring it with me," Jake said sarcastically.
"Well, then, what do we do?"
"We'll crash the zeppelin."
Is he nuts? Saleen thought, staring at him. "With us inside it?"
"We could set it to automatic, and then just leg it. Let's have a look."
Saleen joined him by the steering controls. She ran through her knowledge of computers from spending time with Tony and Bruce, even when Jake snorted in annoyance. "It's locked. There's got to be an override!"
"Let me have a go," she suggested. "I'm good with computers." At Jake's incredulous look, she stared at him pointedly. "Just trust me."
He stood back, and Saleen began to work.
***
"I've been captured, but don't worry," the Doctor said as he was led through the power station. "Jess and Grant are still out there. They can rescue me - " He cut off when he entered the control room, seeing Grant and Jessie leaning against a few control boxes, Grant looking devastated, Jessie looking like her best friend had died. "Oh, well, never mind." He approached them, slowly, knowing something was instantly wrong. "You OK?" she asked.
"Yeah," Jessie replied hoarsely. "But they got Skye."
"We were too late," Grant agreed. "Lumic killed her."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Then where is he, the famous Mr. Lumic?" he asked, turning to the Cybermen. "Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?"
"He has been upgraded," one replied.
"So he's just like you?"
"He is superior. The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller."
The doors nearby opened, and the Doctor turned as Jessie gasped in horror. A large Cyberman in a wheelchair just as robotic as he was rolled out. "This is the Age of Steel," Lumic announced, "and I am its Creator."
Fantastic, the Doctor thought sarcastically, stepping in front of Jessie.
***
"Almost there," Saleen told Jake, her fingers flying over the keys.
"Not bad work," he complimented.
Saleen grinned at him when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. "Look out!"
Jake dodged the Cyberman arm coming down on him. "It's moving!" he shouted unnecessarily. "You said it was dead!"
"Yea, but a robot's still a big robot," Saleen pointed out before getting an idea and grinning. "Wait a minute." She began backing up. "Hey, Cyberman, over here! Come on, you brainless lump of metal! Come and have a go!"
It clomped towards her, and Saleen backed up against the panel with the transmitter controls. When the Cyberman brought its fist down on her, she ducked, and the Cyberman punched through the controls. Electricity warped through its body, and Saleen grinned to Jake, who was looking at her in shock. "Transmitter's down!" she said happily.
***
"That's my friends at work!" the Doctor said gleefully when they heard the screaming of the people outside. "Good team, the two of 'em!" He faced Lumic. "Mr. Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will."
"I have factories waiting on seven continents," Lumic replied. "If the ear pods have failed, then the Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world."
***
Saleen kept working on the keyboard when a viewscreen popped up. "Hold on. I've logged on to Cyber Control." She grinned when she saw who was on screen. "They're alive! The Doctor and Jessie. There they are!"
"Never mind them," Jake replied, pointing to the Cyberman in the wheelchair. "What the hell is that thing?"
"Shush," Saleen replied, looking around. "Has this thing got sound?"
***
"I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace and unity and uniformity," Lumic told the Doctor.
"And imagination?" the Doctor wondered. "What about that? The one thing that led you here. Imagination. You're killing it dead!"
"What is your name?"
"I'm the Doctor," he replied, resisting to grin when Jessie snorted.
"A redundant title. Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken."
"Yeah, but that's it. That's exactly the point!" He began to walk around, tired of standing still. "Oh, Lumic, you're a clever ma. I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room."
"Rude!" Jessie hissed.
"And not ginger," he added, and Jessie grinned as he continued. "But everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant. That is so human. But once you get rid of sickness and mortality, then what's there to strive for, eh? The Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop. You'll stay like this forever. A metal Earth with metal men and metal thoughts, lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive. People. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people."
"You are proud of your emotions," Lumic stated.
"Oh, yes," the Doctor agreed.
"Then tell me, Doctor. Have you known grief, and rage, and pain?"
Susan leaving the TARDIS.
The Time War.
Jessie running towards him on the Game Station before being disintegrated by the Anne droid.
"Yes," he replied, swallowing. "Yes, I have."
"And they hurt?"
"Oh, yes," the Doctor agreed.
"I could set you free," Lumic suggested. "Would you not want that? A life without pain?"
"You might as well kill me."
"Then I take that option."
"It's not yours to take," the Doctor snapped. "You're a Cyber Controller. You don't control me or anything with blood in its heart."
"You have no means of stopping me. I have an army. A species of my own."
"You just don't get it, do you? An army's nothing." Something red and blinking caught his eye, and he looked into the corner of the room to see a camera pointed down at him, and its light was flashing red. He resisted the urge to smirk. "Because those ordinary people, they're the key," he said slowly, forming a plan and carefully forming his words. "The most ordinary person could change the world."
***
Saleen paid attention to the Doctor as he stared at the camera. "Some ordinary man or woman, some idiot or icicle." He stressed icicle, and she smiled, waiting for instructions. "All it takes is for her to find, say . . . the right numbers. Say . . . the right codes. Say, for example, the code behind the emotional inhibitor. The code right in front of her. Because even an icicle knows how to use computers these days."
"What?" Grant asked next to him as Saleen worked on the keyboard.
"Knows how to get past firewalls and passwords," the Doctor continued, and Saleen cracked code after code with Jake over her shoulder. "Knows how to find something encrypted in the Lumic Family Database under, er . . . " He turned. "What was it, Grant? Binary what?"
Grant coughed loudly, and in the middle of it, Saleen caught "Binary nine."
"Binary nine," she repeated as she worked.
"An icicle could find that code," the Doctor commented. "Cancellation code. And she'd keep on typing, keep on fighting. Anything to save her friends."
"Your words are irrelevant," the Cyberman, most likely Lumic, declared.
"Yeah, talk too much, that's my problem," the Doctor agreed, turning to Jessie. "Lucky I got you that cheap tariff, Jessie, for all our long chats on your phone."
Saleen smiled when the code popped up: 6879760. She held out her hand to Jake. "Phone."
***
"You will be deleted," Lumic declared, and Jessie backed up.
"Yes," the Doctor replied, still standing in front of her, occasionally glancing up at the camera. "Delete. Control. Hash. All those lovely buttons. Then, of course, my particular favorite: send. And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place." She looked down when her phone beeped, and she opened the text. She grinned when she saw the glowing numbers: 6879760. "By making every bit of technology compatible with everything else."
"It's for you," she told the Doctor, tossing her phone to him.
He took it, walking over to a docking station. "Like this," he told Lumic, and slammed the phone into it. The code appeared on every screen around the control room, and the Cybermen began to scream. "What have you done?" Lumic shouted.
"I gave them back their souls!" the Doctor replied, running for the door with Jessie and Grant hot on his heels. "They can see what you've done, Lumic. And it's killing them!"
"Delete!" Lumic called from behind them. "Delete! Delete!"
"There's no way out!" Grant shouted as they saw their way blocked from many exits.
Jessie felt her phone vibrate, and she held it up to her ear. "Jessie?" Saleen's voice shouted. "Jessie, can you hear me? Head for the roof!"
Jessie looked at the Doctor. "It's Saleen! She says head for the roof!"
The Doctor ran up the metal staircase in front of them, Jessie and Grant right on his heels. When they made it onto the roof, Jessie's jaw dropped when she saw the zeppelin lowering slowly. "Saleen, where'd you learn to fly that thing?"
"Not unlike flying one of the Quinjets," Saleen replied smugly. "Just hold on, Jessie. I'm coming to get you."
A trapdoor under the zeppelin dropped open, along with a rope ladder, and Jessie's jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding."
"Jessie, get up!" the Doctor told her, running for the ladder. She bounded along behind him and let him help pull her up, and Grant joined them a few rungs below.
"Hold on tight!" Saleen crowed over the phone. "We're going up! Welcome to Saleen Harper's Airline. Please enjoy your flight. Woohoo!"
Jessie laughed as the zeppelin began to rise. "We did it!"
Something tugged on the ladder, and Jessie yelped, nearly losing her grip. One of the Doctor's arms clung to her, helping her with her grip, and both of them looked down, eyes widening when they saw Lumic. The Doctor dug his hand into his pocket, and he pulled the sonic screwdriver before handing it down to Grant, who was the closest to Lumic. "Grant! Take this!" he shouted, and Grant brought a hand up to grasp it. "Use it! Hold the button down! Press it against the rope. Just do it!"
Grant got ahold of it and held it against the rope, looking down at Lumic. "Skye Ward," he spat to Lumic. "This is for her!"
The rope gave way, and Lumic fell screaming into the exploding power station. Jessie breathed a sigh of relief and slumped against the Doctor, still holding onto the rope. He kissed the top of her head comfortingly as Saleen flew the zeppelin away from London.
***
Jessie smiled, glad to finally be out of the maid's uniform as she strapped her boots back on. "Oh, this is much better," she said happily.
Grant folded his arms, looking at the TARDIS. "So, what happens inside that thing, then?"
"Do you want to see?" she offered, looking up at him.
He shook his head hesitantly. "No, I don't think so. Already bad enough working for SHIELD. But you two, you know . . . all that stuff you said about different worlds. Who are you?"
"It's like you say," Jessie replied slowly, straightening up and looking in her jacket pockets. "Imagine there are different worlds. Parallel worlds. World with another Grant Ward, and Skye's still alive." She pulled out her badge and flipped it open to him and found a picture with the three of them together, and Grant's eyes widened. "And their partner," she finished softly. "One of their best friends."
He took a shuddering breath. "I've got to go."
"But if you just look inside - "
"No. I can't." He shook his head, backing away. "There's all those Lumic factories out there. All those Cybermen still in storage. Someone's got to tell everyone what happened here, because who knows how many of those ear pods actually were under Lumic's control in SHIELD. Someone's got to carry on the fight."
"Jessie?" the Doctor called, poking his head out of the TARDIS. "I've only got five minutes of power. We've got to go."
"The Doctor could show you," Jessie told Grant, trying one last time.
"Thank you," Grant whispered, giving her a quick hug. "For everything."
"Ward," she said, her voice cracking.
He shook his head. "Don't." He backed away. "Just . . . just don't."
Jessie took a deep breath as he turned and ran off, but turned back as Saleen and Jake walked up, Saleen smirking at the Doctor. "Here it is," she said, handing him a bundle. "I found it. Not even a crease."
"My suit!" he said gleefully, and Jessie smirked, walking to his side. "Good girl." He turned to Jake. "Now, then, Jake, we've got to run. But one more thing. Mrs. Moore. Her real name was Angela Price. She's got a husband out there and children. Find them. Tell them how she did saving the world."
Jake nodded. "Yeah. Of course I will."
The Doctor clapped his hands. "Off we go, then!"
"Er . . . " Saleen looked back and forth between the TARDIS and Jake. "Thing is . . . " She took a deep breath. "I'm staying."
Jessie stopped short, her eyes widening in shock, and the Doctor stopped as well, for once looking like he was caught off guard. "You're doing what?" he asked.
"You can't!" she whispered.
Saleen shrugged. "It sort of balances out, because this world lost its Sally, but there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there."
"But you can't stay!" Jessie protested.
"Jessie," Saleen told her, stepping forward. "I did the search, too. The friends I lost in the war are still here. Remember them?"
"Yeah."
"They might need me." Saleen cracked a smile. "'Sides, if I can find Ward again and ask, he might bring me into the SHIELD here."
"What about me?" Jessie asked. "What if I need you?"
"Jessie, you don't." She placed her hands on Jessie's shoulders. "You never will, not anymore. It's just you and him. You and the Doctor. We had a great team a long time ago, but not anymore."
"We'll come back," Jessie told her, a little hope in her voice. "We can travel anywhere. Come and see you, yeah?"
"We can't." Jessie turned to the Doctor, her eyes widening at the sad look on his face. "I told you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. We only got here by accident. We fell through a crack in time. When we leave, I've got to close it." He looked back at Saleen. "We can't ever return."
Saleen didn't back down. Instead, she simply walked towards him. "Doctor."
He nodded in acceptance and hugged her. "Take Jessie's phone. It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories." He grinned, pulling back. "And good luck, Saleen the Icicle."
She mock glared at him. "Watch it."
He stepped back towards the TARDIS, and Jessie sighed, pulling out her phone and handing it to Saleen. "Thanks," Saleen told her, taking it. "We've had a laugh, though, haven't we? Seen it all. Been there and back. Who would have thought? Me and you, off the old Triskelion flying everywhere, even running through the stars."
"Dancing across time and space," Jessie sniffed. "All those years, just sitting there, imagining what we'd do one day." She forced out a laugh. "We never saw this. Did we?"
"Go on," Saleen told her gently. "Don't miss your flight."
Jessie hugged her best friend one last time, then ran into the TARDIS, closing the door and letting her tears finally fall.
***
Saleen smiled sadly, wiping her own tears away. She saw Jake begin to walk away. "Hey, Jake!" she called to him. "You'll want to watch this."
Jake turned back just as the TARDIS's engines began to wheeze, and the TARDIS dematerialized. His eyes widened in shock. "What the hell?" he asked in shock.
Saleen grinned proudly. "That's the Doctor in the TARDIS," she replied, her proud clear in her voice. "With Jessie Nightshade."
***
Skye was pouring herself a drink in the bar of the Bus when she heard the sound of the TARDIS engines. She stopped immediately, put her drink down, then ran for the area where Lola and the other SHIELD cars were being held. She ran down the stairs, going as fast as she could, and she could see FitzSimmons stop what they were doing in the lab, and soon Coulson emerged on the top floor.
The TARDIS materialized, and Jessie opened the door. Skye's eyes widened in shock when she saw the state her friend was in: her eyes red, tears still running down her cheeks. "Jessie?" she asked, approaching.
Jessie looked at her in immense relief. "You're alive," she whispered, to Skye's confusion. "Oh, God, you're alive."
"Well, I was the last time I looked," she said in a joking voice, but when Jessie let out a sob, she immediately kept walking forward. "What is it?" she asked, holding out her arms, and Jessie practically collapsed into them, crying her eyes out. Jemma instantly ran out of the lab as Coulson began to descend down the stairs. "What's happened, Jessie?" She looked up as the Doctor appeared in the doorway of the TARDIS, sadness in his eyes as well. "What's wrong? Where did you go?" she demanded.
"Far away," he replied simply, shaking his head. "That was far away."
Coulson joined them, rubbing Jessie's back. "Where's Saleen?" he asked.
Jessie let out a sob, and Skye's gaze flew to the Doctor in shock. He simply gave a sad smile and replied simply, "She's gone home."
***
Saleen buckled herself into the passenger side of the van and looked at Jake. "I know it's not easy with my face looking exactly like Sally, but I'm a different woman," she told him. "I'm not replacing her. But we can remember her by fighting in her name." Jake looked at her with acceptance, and Saleen grinned. "With all those Cyber factories out there, d'you think there'll be one in Paris?"
Jake blinked. "Yeah."
"Right then." She cocked her gun, smirking at the shocked look on his face. "Let's go and liberate Paris."
"What?" Jake asked incredulously. "You and me in a van?"
"There's nothing wrong with a van," Saleen told him, smiling as she remembered a time once when the Doctor was all leather and big ears, and Jessie was still innocent, until the day came when she had to return to him, ripping open the TARDIS to do so. "After all . . . " She gave him a coy smile. "I once saved the universe with a big yellow truck."
"You're kidding."
Saleen smirked. "Some things are hard to believe until you see them yourself."
Jake paused, looking at her, then held out his hand. "I don't think I ever fully introduced myself. Jake Simmonds. Start again?"
Saleen smiled, shaking it. "Saleen Harper." She nodded. "Start again."
***
So the next chapter is going to be . . . interesting.
How do you think of Grant and his affiliation with SHIELD? What I'm thinking about doing is that Torchwood and SHIELD combine together in this world, with Grant taking over as director of SHIELD and . . . someone taking over as director of Torchwood. Whaddya think? Spoilers would've been given if I said who would be Torchwood. :P