The Doctor, Willow, Rose, Mickey and the rest of the gang are in a race against time to stop the Cybermen before they convert the entirety of Britain into Cybermen.

Above is the song 'Underground' by Lindsey Stirling. In my opinion, it is the perfect theme for Indigo Tyler.

***

They were surrounded by Cyberman, ready to be deleted. Every single metal man had their hands outstretched towards them. This was it.

That is until the Doctor pointed the recharging TARDIS power cell at the Cybermen, who were bent backwards by the glowing energy. Their bodies were soon atomised, leaving a way out for them.

"What the hell was that?" Ricky grilled.

"We'll have that instead." He said, noticing more Cybermen behind them. "Run!"

The group ran towards an incoming van, driven by a middle-aged woman. She sounded the horn. "Everybody, in!"

Since they had no choice in the matter, the gang did exactly that. However, Pete attempted to stay behind. "I've got to go back! My wife's in there!"

"Anyone inside that house is dead. If you want to help, then don't let her die for nothing. You've got to come with us right now." He told Pete who obeyed, climbing inside the van.

"Come on! Get a move on!" The woman yelled.

Rose did nothing but look back into the house, watching the Cybermen kill everyone. "Rose, she's not your mother." stated the Doctor.

Though she was disheartened, she understood. "I know."

"Come on." He pulled her aside and got in. 

"Finished chatting? Never seen a slower getaway in my life!" The woman complained as they drove off, narrowly escaping the legions of Cybermen behind them.

Once they were back on the road, on their way to safety, Ricky questioned the Doctor. "What was that thing?" 

He showed the small recharging cell which was no longer lit up. "Little bit of technology from my home."

"It's stopped glowing. Has it run out?" Mickey asked.

"It's on a revitalising loop." The Doctor informed. "It'll charge back up in about four hours."

"Right." Mickey's parallel-twin sighed. "So, we don't have a weapon anymore."

"Yeah, we've got weapons." The blonde, known as Jake, spoke. "Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him." 

He gestured towards Pete, to which Rose protested. "Leave him alone. What's he done wrong?"

"He works for Lumic." Indigo notified, with her arms crossed. "I knew the guy was bad news right from the start but HE didn't listen to me!"

"And now he's just laid a trap that's wiped out the Government and left Lumic in charge." He added.

"If I was part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?" Pete questioned with fury in his eyes.

"Maybe your plan went wrong," mentioned Ricky. "Still gives us the right to execute you, though."

"Talk about executions, you'll make me your enemy." The Doctor asserted, not one for murder. "And take some really good advice. You don't want to do that."

"All the same," He began. "We have evidence that says Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since twenty point five."

"Is that true?" Rose asked.

Indigo leaned down. "Well, Vitex was bought out by Cybus Industries so we don't know what he's been up to."

Pete rolled his eyes at her. "Look, I had nothing to do with this!"

"Tell them, Mrs M."  Ricky said.

The woman driving explained. "We've got a government mole who feeds us information. Lumic's private files, his South American operations, the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week."

"Broadcast from Gemini?" He queried, grabbing their attention.

"And how do you know that?"

"I'm Gemini. That's me." He confessed.

"Yeah, well you would say that."

"Encrypted wavelength six five seven using binary nine. That's the only reason I was working for Lumic. To get information." He glared at Indigo, who was shocked that he was actually betraying Lumic the whole time. "I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services. What do I get? Scooby-Doo and his gang. They've even got the van."

"No, no, no. But the Preachers know what they're doing," uttered Mickey. "Ricky said he's London's Most Wanted."

He bit his lip, hesitant to respond. "Yeah, that's not exactly..."

"Not exactly what?"

"I'm London's Most Wanted for... parking tickets." Ricky grew quiet as the Doctor smiled, knowing that both Mickeys were idiots.

Thankfully it gave Pete more reasons to think that they weren't going to survive the night. "Great."

"Yeah, they were deliberate. I was fighting the system." He described. "Park anywhere, that's me."

"Good policy. I do much the same." admitted the Doctor. "I'm the Doctor, by the way, if anyone's interested."

"I'm Willow." She spoke.

"And I'm Rose. Hello!" 

Before she could say anymore, Pete continued to complain. "Even better. That's the name of my dog. Still, at least I've got the catering staff on my side."

"I knew you weren't a traitor." Rose remarked.

"Why is that, then?"

"I just did."

She could see his eyes tearing up, remembering Jackie. "They took my wife." 

"She might still be alive." Rose replied, encouraging him.

"That's even worse." He acknowledged. Because that's what Lumic does. He takes the living and he turns them into those machines."

"Cybermen. They're called Cybermen." The Doctor corrected him. "And I'd take those earpods off if I were you. You never know. Lumic could be listening."

Pete did what he suggested, taking them off as Indigo smugly smiled at him. "I told you so, didn't I?"

The Doctor zapped them with his sonic screwdriver, making sure they couldn't do anything. "But he's overreached himself. He's still just a businessman. He's assassinated the President. All we need to do is get to the city and inform the authorities. Because I promise you, this ends tonight."

***

The gang made it to the nearest London street, however, it was already too late. The ear pods on citizens began to control them. "What the hell?"

"What's going on?" Rose wondered, witnessing the population of London were walking like zombies.

The Doctor walked over to a young man, identifying his earpods were lit up. "It's the earpods. Lumic's taken control."

"Can't we just, I don't know, take them off?" She reached out a hand, trying to remove them. 

"Don't! Cause a brainstorm." He warned. "Human race. For such an intelligent lot, you aren't half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it. Easy life."

"Hey, come and see!" Jake called, drawing them to the corner of another street.

They peaked around to see more mind-controlled people and another squad of Cybermen leading them away. "Where are they all going?" asked Willow.

"I don't know. Lumic must have a base of operations." The Doctor theorised.

"Battersea. That's where he was building his prototypes." familiarised Pete.

"But why is he doing all this?" She queried, intrigued to why Lumic wanted to make everyone Cybermen in the first place.

Pete lamented. "He's dying. This all started out as a way of prolonging life, of keeping the brain alive at any cost."

"The thing is, I've seen Cybermen before, haven't I?" Rose mentioned. "The head. Those handle shapes in Van Statten's museum." 

"Ah, there are Cybermen in our universe. They started on an ordinary world just like this, then swarmed across the galaxy. This lot are a parallel version, and they're starting from scratch right here on Earth."

"What the hell are you three on about?" 

"Never mind that. Come on, we need to get out of the city." Suddenly, they regarded more Cybermen coming from behind. "Okay, split up. Mrs Moore, you look after that bloke. Jake, distract them. Go right, I'll go left. We'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move."

The Doctor nodded, agreeing with his statement. "I'm going with him." said Mickey, kissing Rose goodbye before following Ricky.

"Come on, let's go." Mrs Moore told everyone as more Cybermen patrols came marching down the street. 

"There!" He pointed down a side street where no Cybermen were coming, charging down it as fast as they could to escape the incoming threat.

Soon enough, they found themselves in a tight alley with Cybermen coming from the other end. The group scrambled behind rubbish bins, hopefully before they could have been seen. They could hear their metal boots stomp on the ground, growing louder and louder as they got nearer.

Abruptly, they stopped right where they were hiding. Rose clenched onto Pete's hand in fear. Luckily, the Doctor managed to use his sonic screwdriver to transmit another signal into the Cybermen's human brains, confusing them and sending them away. 

"Go." He muttered, leading the gang out of hiding. Rose awkwardly let go of Pete's hand, realising that he still wasn't her real father.

***

Eventually, the group reunited with Jake down another street with no Cybermen in sight, successfully evading them. "I ran past the river. You should have seen it. The whole city's on the march. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames." Finally, one of the Mickey twins sprinted up to join them. Jake smiled at him. "Here he is!" However, he soon remembered that it could be either Ricky or Mickey since the other wasn't there. He frowned. "Which one are you?"

With a timid pout, he replied. "I'm sorry. The Cybermen. He couldn't-"

"Are you Ricky?" Jake demanded but he gave no response. "Are you Ricky?"

He couldn't even answer, knowing that anything he would say would break his heart still. Rose wandered forward. "Mickey, that's you, isn't it?"

Mickey stared at her, nodding. "Yeah." She grinned in relief, embracing him. Nevertheless, Jake turned away in grief. "He tried. He was running. There was too many of them."

"Shut it."

"There was nothing I could do-"

"I said just shut it." He snapped. "Don't even talk about him. You're nothing, you are. Nothing."

"We can mourn him when London is safe. But now, we move on." The Doctor advised. He led them away from the open street to waste ground, overseeing the Cyber Factory where Lumic was converting millions. "The whole of London's been sealed off, and the entire population's been taken inside that place. To be converted."

"We've got to get in there and shut it down." Willow stated.

"How do we do that?" Mickey questioned.

The Doctor clicked his tongue, making his normal groan. "Oh, I'll think of something."

"You're just making this up as you go along." He asserted.

He nodded. "Yep. But I do it brilliantly."

A little while later, Mrs Moore joined them with her laptop. She displayed the schematics of the entire building, presenting it to the group. "That's a schematic of the old factory. Look. Cooling tunnels underneath the plant. Big enough to walk through"

"We go under there and up into the control centre?" queried the Doctor.

She nodded in affirmation. Meanwhile, Pete straightened up, glaring at the factory. "There's another way in. Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in."

"We can't just go strolling up." Jake argued.

"Or we could, with these." Mrs Moore uttered, taking three pairs of earpods from her pocket. "Fake earpods. Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd."

"Then that's my job." Pete stated, taking a pair.

"You'd have to show no emotion." The Doctor warned. "None at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away."

"How many of those you got?" Rose questioned.

"Just three sets." She answered.

"Okay. If that's the best way of finding Jackie, then I'm coming with you." She told Pete.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why does she matter to you?"

"We haven't got time. Doctor, I'm going with him, and that's that." said Rose.

"No stopping you, is there?"

"No."

Willow grabbed the two other earpods. "Then if you're going, I'm coming to."

Rose didn't dare to deny, knowing her cousin far too well. "That's fine with me."

"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 yanked Jake aside, pointing at Lumic's Zeppelin. "Jakey-boy? Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there."

"Consider it done."

"Mrs Moore, Indigo, would you care to accompany me into the cooling tunnels?" He asked the remaining ladies.

"How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?" Mrs Moore replied.

Indigo sighed. "Well, I guess it's better than nothing!"

"We attack on three sides. Above, between, below. We get to the control centre, we stop the conversion machines." The plan was bound to work in their favour somehow yet Willow doubted it could work in its entirety, yet it wasn't bad to try.

"What about me?" Mickey, the odd-one-out in the group, asked as he had not yet been given a job.

"Mickey. You can er-"

"What, stay out of trouble?" He interrupted, pointing out the obvious. "Be the tin dog? No, those days are over. I'm going with Jake."

The blonde's boys eyes widened upon hearing his name, storming over. "I don't need you, idiot."

"I'm not an idiot! You got that?" yelled Mickey, standing up for himself for seemingly the first time. "I'm offering to help."

He rolled his eyes, giving up already. "Whatever."

"Mickey. Good luck." The Doctor expressed with gratitude.

"Yeah, you too. Rose, I'll see you later." He addressed her, hopeful of her return.

She smiled at him. "Yeah, you'd better."

"If we survive this, I'll see you back at the TARDIS." The Doctor stated.

Mickey agreed, walking off with Jake. "That's a promise."

The Doctor turned to Willow, hugging her and wishing her well. "Good luck."

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." She explained to him before heading off with Rose and Pete. 

The thing is, he couldn't help but worry about Willow. The Doctor worried about her all the time. He knew there was something about her that didn't feel right, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

***

Once the Doctor, Indigo and Mrs Moore had made their way into the cooling tunnels via a ladder. "It's freezing." Mrs Moore murmured.

"It wouldn't be a cooling tunnel if it wasn't." mentioned Indigo who was wearing the wrong type of outfit to be exploring tunnels. Her dress was black with glitter all over it which sparkled in the light, great for a party but not for saving the world.

"Any sign of a light switch?" The Doctor wondered.

"Can't see a thing. But I've got these." She showed off her bag, upon which she was digging into, retrieving a torch headband and handing it to the Doctor. "A device for every occasion."

"Ooo!" He humbly examined it as Mrs Moore took out two more, giving one to Indigo.

"Put it on." Mrs Moore lifted the torch headband onto her head and strapped it on nice and tight as did the Doctor and Indigo. 

"Haven't got a hotdog in there, have you?" He queried. "I'm starving."

She rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Of all the things to wish for. That's mechanically recovered meat."

"I know. It's the Cyberman of food, but it's tasty." He gazed into her bag, wondering what she was going to pull out next.

Mrs Moore revealed a torch, delivering it to him. "A proper torch as well."

"Let's see where we are." The Doctor wandered forwards, flashing the torch down the tunnel. However, the light revealed a long line of Cyberman absently standing against a wall. The sight of them made Indigo jump a little, thinking that going down here wasn't the best idea. "Already converted, just put on ice." He theorised. "Come on."

Indigo slyly stepped by one, anxiously while the Doctor tapped on of the Cybermen's heads. There was no reaction to his action, but it didn't mean they weren't working. "Let's go slowly. Keep an eye out for trip systems." They continued on, wary of the metal machines of death beside them.

***

Outside of the Cyber Factory, Rose, Willow and Pete were trying to keep out of sight. Over tannoy, a Cyberman spoke. "Chamber six now open for human upgrading. Chamber seven now open for human upgrading. Chamber eight now open for human upgrading."

"Just put them on. Don't show any emotion. No signs, nothing. Okay?" Pete explained as he put his own on.

"Don't worry. We can do it." said Rose as both she and Willow slipped them in their ears.

"Chamber seven now open for human upgrading." The tannoy announced.

"We could die in here. Why are you doing this?" He asked again, curious to why the girls were so loyal to him.

"Let's just say we're doing it for family," Willow stated to him. "My family is the most important thing in the universe.

Rose took a breath, realising that her cousin would do anything for her protection. Although, they had no time to embrace as there was a delicate matter in hand. "Right, let's go."

The trio stood up, using their acting skills to pretend to be under Lumic's control by showing no emotion. Willow observed as Pete and Rose took each other's hands, happy that they were able to bond even though Rose didn't exist in this universe.

"Chamber nine now open for human upgrading. Chamber ten now open for human upgrading. Chamber eleven now open for human upgrading." The tannoy spoke as the three joined the procession.

***

Down in the cooling tunnels, the Doctor, Mrs Moore and Indigo continued to stroll past the sleeping Cybermen, hoping to find an exit soon. Because silence bored him, the Doctor attempted to make small talk. "How did you get into this, then, Mrs Moore, rattling along with the Preachers?"

"Oh, I used to be ordinary. Worked at Cybus Industries, nine to five, till one day, I find something I'm not supposed to." She recited. "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."

"What about Mr Moore?" queried the Doctor.

"Well, he's not called Moore." Mrs Moore confessed. "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. What about you? Got any family, or?"

"Oh, who needs family? I've got the whole world on my shoulders." He said, skipping past his depressing backstory. "Go on, then. What's your real name?"

"Angela Price." She uttered. "Don't tell a soul."

"Not a word." The Doctor promised, quickly looking back at Indigo. "What about you, Indy?"

Upon the mention of her name, she was taken aback. "Oh, me? I'm just a girl who was adopted by a rich family, that's all."

"What about before? Before you were adopted." He questioned.

"I mean, I can't really remember the first seven years of my life. Mostly because of traumatic memories and such." Indigo described. "But anyway, around seven years old I was adopted by the Tylers by Lumic's charity."

He raised his eyebrows, surprised. "Lumic has a charity?"

"Well, of course he does to keep up appearances and it's worked so far. You know, investing in scientific research for new medicines. All kinds of things a man would want to stay alive." She informed him as they proceeded narrowly past a Cyberman who, behind them, activated an alarm unknowingly.

Abruptly, in front of them, a Cyberman made a slight movement. "Doctor, did that one just move?"

"It's just the torchlight. Keep going, come on." He said, keeping her calm until another one moved its body in their direction. "They're waking up. Run!"

The trio sprinted down the hallway, although Indigo ran at a slower pace due to her heels. As they ran along the row, the Cyberman awoke and fell in behind them. They could hear the clomps of their feet, marching behind. Luckily, right at the end of the tunnel, there was another ladder leading into the factory. The Doctor instinctively climbed up, taking the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and using it to open the trapdoor. "Get up! Quick! Quick!"

It unsealed in time, allowing the Doctor and Mrs Moore to climb up. "Come on! Come on!" He shouted to Indigo as she followed. Just as she reached the top, she slid her arm across a piece of dislodged metal, cutting into her skin. She winced in pain as Mrs Moore helped her up.

Fortunately, they made it, beating the Cybermen at the cost of their own skin. Indigo fell to the ground as Mrs Moore and the Doctor lifted the trapdoor over the hatch, locking the Cybermen out. He placed a foot on the door, sealing it shut with the sonic screwdriver. "Oh, good team!

Indigo caressed her cut, feeling only slight pain. "Are you alright?" The Doctor asked, checking she was ok.

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt that much." She avowed.

He squinted at her, confused. "Are you sure, it's pretty deep?" 

The Doctor placed a hand on her arm, inspecting the cut curiously. He laid two fingers on her blood which caught his eye. "What is it?" She questioned with worry.

Honestly, he didn't know what to say until snapping back to reality. "Er..." murmured the Doctor, removing his bowtie. "Here, I'll wrap this around your arm to stop the... blood..."

There was something he wasn't telling her but the shock from narrowly escaping Cybermen prevented her from questioning him.

***

"Units upgraded now six thousand five hundred. Repeat. Six thousand five hundred and rising." The trio was now right in the centre of the factory where everyone was being converted into Cybermen. They were so close to being upgraded, frightening Willow.

A Cyberman came in front of Rose, stopping the procession. "You will wait."

It moved away as they heard the blades inside the conversion units whir endlessly. "You okay?" Pete asked.

"No," Rose responded.

"If we don't find Jackie, then we're going to become like them. But the problem is that we're going to feel it all." described Willow. "All the blades cutting into our skin."

A tannoy overhead sounded. "Chamber six now open for human upgrading. All reject stock will be incinerated."

"Any sign of Jackie?" He questioned.

However, before the girls could answer, a Cyberman looked straight towards them. Its soulless black eyes stared out at them, causing them to become emotionless again. "You are Peter Tyler. Confirm you are Peter Tyler."

He hesitated. "Confirmed."

"I recognise you. I went first. My name was Jacqueline Tyler-"

Rose shouted in fear upon seeing her mother in this form. "No!"

Her cousin's eyes widened in horror. "Jackie..."

"What?!" shouted Pete.

"They are unprogrammed. Restrain." The Cyber-Jackie ordered as three Cybermen latched onto their arms.

"You're lying. You're not her. You're not my Jackie!" He yelled in sorrowful fury.

"No, I am Cyber-form. Once I was Jacqueline Tyler." It spoke.

Rose shook her head. "But you can't be. Not her."

"Her brain is inside this body," stated Cyber-Jackie.

"Jacs, I came to save you!" He bellowed.

The Cyber-Jackie ignored his cries, informing the Cybermen. "This man worked with Cybus Industries to create our species. He will be rewarded by force. Take them to Cyber Control."

Willow, Pete and Rose were escorted away from the conversion units in shock. "They killed her. They just took her and killed her."

"Maybe there's a chance, I don't know. Maybe we can reverse it." thought Pete.

"There's nothing we can do."

"But if, if she remembers." He stopped, staring back to see her again. Nonetheless, there was now a small group of Cyberman that was indistinguishable. "Where is she? Which one was it? Which one was her?"

Willow sighed, knowing that they wouldn't find her again. "They all look the same."

***

Hidden in the factory, the others made their way down a corridor until a Cyberman stepped in front of them. "You are not upgraded."

"Yeah?" Mrs Moore reached into her bag. "Well, upgrade this." She threw a small rod tied over with copper wiring at the Cyberman. 

It successfully stuck to the metal exoskeleton as it caused the Cyberman to jerk and moan as electricity fizzled through its body. A spark made it collapse to the ground, seemingly dead. "What the hell was that thing?"

 "Electromagnetic bomb." She answered. "Takes out computers, I figured it might stop the cyber-suit."

The Doctor went over to its fallen body, examining it. "You figured right. Now, let's have a look. Know your enemy. A logo on the front. Lumic's turned them into a brand. Heart of steel, but look." He opened the Cybus plate, revealing the innards of the suit.

Inside was not just electronics but a fleshy white material. "Is that flesh?"

The Doctor picked up a piece. "Hmmm. 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 pointed at a small, broken piece of technology. "Emotional inhibitor. Stops them feeling anything."

"But why?"

"It's still got a human brain. Imagine its reaction if it could see itself, realise itself inside this thing. They'd go insane."

"I think anybody would go insane if they woke up like this," Indigo commented.

Mrs Moore frowned. "So they cut out the one thing that makes them human."

"Because they have to."

The Cyberman's mouth lit up blue. "Why am I cold?"

"Oh, my God. It's alive." She muttered as their focus turned to her. "It can feel."

"We broke the inhibitor." The Doctor realised. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Why so cold?" It slowly voiced.

"Can you remember your name?" He asked.

"Sally." The Cyberman spoke. "Sally Phelan."

"You're a woman."

"Where's Gareth?" She questioned.

Mrs Moore squinted at her. "Who's Gareth?"

"He can't see me. It's unlucky the night before." Cyber-Sally told them.

"You're getting married," replied Indigo.

"I'm cold. I'm so cold."

"It's all right. You sleep now, Sally. Just go to sleep." The Doctor put his sonic screwdriver into her chest cavity, switching her off. 

Indigo couldn't help but feel drawn to tears at the sight of Sally's torment. "That was horrible. I can't believe Lumic did that to her."

"Sally Phelan didn't die for nothing, because that's the key. The emotional inhibitor. If we could find the code behind it, the cancellation code, then feed it throughout the system into every Cyberman's head, they'd realise what they are."

"And what happens then?" asked Mrs Moore.

It was against his nature but it had to be done to save everyone. "I think it would kill them. Could we do that?"

"We've got to. Before they kill everyone else. There's no choice, Doctor. It's got to be done." She reasoned, standing up before him. 

However, unknowingly from behind, a Cyberman had crept up on them and laid a single hand on Mrs Moore's shoulder. Ripples of electricity were sent through her body, killing her instantly. The Doctor and Indigo jumped back in fear. Once she was lifeless on the ground, his anger hit an extreme. "No! No, you didn't have to kill her!"

"Sensors detect a binary vascular system. You are an unknown upgrade." It said to the Doctor as two more Cybermen approached them at both ends. Then, it looked at Indigo. "You are incompatible for an upgrade. You both will be taken for analysis."

They were soon marched away by the two Cybermen, reluctantly being taken to the main control centre for analysis. 

***

The Doctor and Indigo entered the control centre where Rose, Willow and Pete were already captured. "We've been captured, but don't worry, Rose, Willow and Pete are still out there. They can rescue me. Oh well, never mind. You okay?"

"Yeah," Willow answered for Rose who was in stunned silence. "But they got Jackie."

"We were too late. Lumic killed her." stated Pete.

Upon the mention of Lumic, the Doctor was soon set on meeting the man. "Then where is he, the famous Mister Lumic? Don't we get the chance to meet our Lord and Master?"

"He has been upgraded." A Cyberman declared.

"So he's just like you?"

"He is superior." It admonished. "The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller."

Suddenly, a large door slid open and a Cyberman, sitting in an upgraded wheelchair, came out. Unlike the other Cybermen, the Controller had white lights for eyes and an exposed brain. This was the outcome of Lumic after he was upgraded. "This is The Age of Steel and I am its Creator."

"So it seems." The Doctor replied. "First things first Lumic, a little questionnaire for you. Since this has been your most "successful" experiment into immortality, I can guess there have been a few failures in the past?"

"You are correct." He answered. "But without those failures, I would have not succeeded."

"Then answer me this, why did you experiment on a human child?" He interrogated with a tone of anger in his voice. Willow's eyes widened in horror, along with Rose's. On the other hand, Lumic was silent, neither denying nor confirming he did. When he did not respond, the Doctor gritted his teeth. "Answer me, Lumic!"

"It was necessary-"

"Necessary? How could you say that!" For the first time in a while, the Doctor was in full outrage. "And when you were done with her, let me guess, you couldn't kill her so you gave her to the Tylers instead because you were so keen to keep people alive." 

The Doctor turned his head at Indigo who was in full shock. She was panic-stricken noticing Pete and the other's horrified glares. "W-what are you saying?"

Although, instead of replying, he merely faced Lumic once more. "Was it worth it in the end?"

"Project INDIGO showed me that it is not the body that should be kept alive, it should have been the brain." He explained to a bewildered crowd.

"Ok, can someone tell me what the hell is going on?!" Indigo shouted, panicked.

The Doctor sighed, turning back to her. "Indigo," He started to speak in a calming manner. "You said that you couldn't remember anything before you were seven."

She shyly nodded. "Yeah, because of traumatic memories..." A sudden realisation hit her like a ton of bricks. Indigo was adopted by Lumic's CHARITY, her life leading up to now was given to her by Lumic. Tears welled up in her eyes, confused and startled. "What am I?"

"I think you were a normal kid once, but HE changed you into something... cybernetic." His glares of fury did not dissuade Lumic in any way. "When you cut yourself earlier, the liquid coming out of your veins was too thick to be blood." She stared down at where the Doctor had bandaged her arm with his black bowtie, moderately understanding what he was saying. "It was ink. Red ink."

"The perfect version of a human being, with bionic technology to improve speed, stamina and intelligence," Lumic explained. "I saved her from dying and improved her."

"I'm not a machine!" She argued. "How could you- who am I?" Nonetheless, Lumic did not answer. "Who am I?!" Even though she pleaded to know, she was continually denied by his silence. Her life had been a lie all this time. She was just another toy in Lumic's sick game.

Abruptly, an alarm blared and screams were soon heard outside. Upon hearing the freedom people now had, the Doctor couldn't help but smirk. "That's my friends at work. Good boys! Mister Lumic, I think that's a vote for free will."

Though hope seemed out of reach, Lumic was still unfazed. "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." He informed them. "I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace and unity and uniformity."

"And imagination? What about that?" His arms were crossed, unhappy by Lumic's thought process. "The one thing that led you here, imagination, you're killing it dead!"

"What is your name?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"A redundant title." Lumic judged. "Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken."

"Yeah, but that's it. That's exactly the point! Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room." He stated with a hint of sassiness. "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." The Doctor spat, clenching his fists in annoyance at Lumic's actions.

"You are proud of your emotions."

"Oh, yes!" He grinned.

"Then tell me, Doctor," commanded Lumic. "Have you known grief, and rage, and pain?"

He bobbed his head with no denial. "Yes. Yes, I have."

"And they hurt?"

"Oh, yes." The Doctor seemed almost proud, even if he's felt so many heartbreaks and sadness in his lifetimes.

"I could set you free. Would you not want that? A life without pain?" Lumic ventured to pitch, vying for the Doctor to think like him.

"You might as well kill me."

He paused. "Then I take that option."

"It's not yours to take. You're a Cyber Controller. You don't control me or anything with blood in its heart!" The Doctor chastised.

"You have no means of stopping me. I have an army. A species of my own."

He rolled his eyes, slapping a hand on his forehead in irritation. "You just don't get it, do you?" The Doctor strolled across the room. "An army's nothing. Because those ordinary people, they're the key. The most ordinary person could change the world." A nearby camera with a flashing red light caught his attention, speaking to it. "Some ordinary man or woman, some idiot." He inputted, targeting someone very specific. "All it takes is for him 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 him. Because even an idiot knows how to use computers these days. Knows how to get past firewalls and passwords. Knows how to find something encrypted in the Lumic Family Database, under er. What was it, Pete? Binary what?"

"Binary nine." He told him.

"An idiot could find that code. Cancellation code. And he'd keep on typing. Keep on fighting. Anything to save his friends." His words sounded more like instructions than a speech, meaning he was onto something.

"Your words are irrelevant."

The Doctor chuckled, leaning forwards. "Yeah, talk too much, that's my problem. Lucky I got you that cheap tariff, Rose, for all our long chats. On your phone." He turned and made a sign with his hand to the camera, communicating with someone unknown to Lumic.

Eventually, Willow and Rose caught on, smirking to themselves. "You will be deleted."

"Yes. Delete, control, hash. All those lovely buttons. Then, of course, my particular favourite, send." He sent the command, waiting for the crucial moment in time. "And let's not forget how you seduced all those ordinary people in the first place." Rose's phone beeped in her pocket whereupon reading the message, she discovered a code. "By making every bit of technology compatible with everything else."

"It's for you." She threw her phone to the Doctor who admired it in curiosity.

"Like this." He slammed it into a slot, creating an invisible emotional eruption that tore through the Cybermen like radiation. The code for emotional inhibitor had been transmitted, giving the Cybermen everything that was taken away from them. The metal machines clutched their heads in pain, one stared into a shiny piece of metal and cried in anguish. "I'm sorry."

"What have you done?!" screeched Lumic, who was unaffected.

"I gave them back their souls. They can see what you've done, Lumic," He removed the phone from the slot, throwing it back to Rose. "And it's killing them!"

The group ran out as fast as they could to find safety. "Delete! Delete! Delete!" He screamed as the factory started to explode.

Outside the control centre, everything was covered in fire as the factory crumbled around them. The Doctor tried an emergency exit, however, the other side was blocked by screaming, impassioned Cybermen. More explosions and fire broke out behind them. "There's no way out!"

Nonetheless, Rose got another phone call on her phone from Mickey. She picked it up, hearing his voice on the other end. "It's Mickey. He says head for the roof."

They did what he suggested, running up a metal staircase as several fires leapt from the ground. Ultimately, they made it just in time to see Lumic's Zeppelin flying in mid-air. "Mickey, where'd you learn to fly that thing?"

Instantaneously, a rope ladder descended in front of them. "You've got to be kidding." Pete remarked.

"Rose, get up and you, Willow." The Doctor ordered, allowing them to escape first.

As everyone climbed the ladder, the Zeppelin rose higher into the sky. "We did it! We did it!" Rose shouted in joy.

Despite succeeding, Lumic was still alive and hot on the trail, clinging onto the rope ladder to catch up. His weight pulled them down slightly, grabbing their attention. The Doctor, with the use of his quick thinking, dug into his pocket and retrieved his sonic screwdriver. "Pete! Take this!" He dropped it down to him upon which Pete luckily caught it. "Use it! Hold the button down! Press it against the rope. Just do it!"

Without any hesitation, Pete pressed the sonic against the ladder, trying to break it. "Jackie Tyler. This is for her!" The rope finally snapped, giving way and allowing Lumic to fall to his death.

The shortlived Cyber Controller fell back into the fire and flames, dying; the opposite of what he had originally wanted. He was engulfed by the exploding factory, seemingly destroyed.

***

Indigo stood by the river, curious to what happens now. So many questions to who she was and how she became partially cybernetic. What was she now? A cyborg?

"Hey," Willow wandered up to her. "Are you alright?"

"No, and I don't think I ever will be." She joked with satire. Indy looked over to her, remembering what she had been told earlier. "Rose told me earlier that you were adopted, like me, but you didn't know. Was it better that way?"

"I don't know." She admitted. "I'm just happy they raised me, and they must have thought it was better that way. No questions."

Indigo frowned, wondering to herself. "Don't you have any mild curiosity to where you came from?"

"Yeah, I do. Every day," confessed Willow. "And I don't think I'll ever stop. There's something about me that I just don't understand."

"Not sure I will either."

"Perhaps if you try to remember who you were before Lumic experimented on you, you might find out who you are beneath all that wiring." She persuaded with a smile, walking away from her.

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was placing the power cell back into the TARDIS, giving life back to his beautiful machine. Willow wandered in, happy to see her return to normal. He gave her a small smile as she stood by the door. She regarded it while waiting patiently for Rose and Mickey by the door.

Outside, Pete and Rose were talking. "So, what happens inside that thing, then?"

"Do you want to see?" She wondered.

He shook his head, already having seen enough tonight. "No, I don't think so. But you three, you know, all that stuff you said about different worlds. Who are you?"

"It's like you say. Imagine there are different worlds, parallel worlds." She gazed over at Willow, observing her sigh. Rose knew she wouldn't be happy about telling him, but she had to risk it. "Worlds with another Pete Tyler and Jackie Tyler's still alive, their niece... and their own daughter."

Willow could tell she was confusing him. "I've got to go."

"But if you just look inside-"

"No, I can't. There's all those Lumic factories out there. All those Cybermen still in storage. Someone's got to tell the authorities what happened, carry on the fight..." He explained.

The Doctor popped out of the door, glaring at Rose. "Rose? I've only got five minutes of power. We've got to go."

Nonetheless, Rose still proceeded to persuade Pete to come along. "The Doctor could show you."

"Thank you. For everything."

"Dad." She muttered.

"Don't. Just, just don't." With his final sentence, Pete Tyler left, taking Indigo with him. 

Though Rose was disheartened, she knew that a relationship with him would have been unlikely anyway. Jake and Mickey sprinted up to the Doctor, holding his signature suit. "Here it is. I found it. Not a crease."

"My suit!" He exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. "Good man. 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 died saving the world."

"Yeah, course I will." He answered.

"Off we go, then." The Doctor stated, ready to depart.

"Er, thing is, I'm staying." Mickey blurted out, stunning the three.

"You're doing what?"

"You can't," said Rose.

He shrugged. "It sort of balances out, because this world lost its Ricky, but there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there."

"But you can't stay." She argued.

"Rose, my gran's here. She's still alive. My old gran, remember her?"

"Yeah."

"She needs me." asserted Mickey.

"What about me?" She asked. "What if I need you?"

"Yeah, but Rose, you don't. It's just you, Willow and him, isn't it? We had something a long time ago, but not anymore." He wasn't wrong, all this time Rose had taken him for granted after meeting the Doctor and now it was finally time to let him go.

Realising there was no way of convincing him to stay, Rose prepared to say goodbye. "Well, we'll come back. We can travel anywhere. Come and see you, yeah?"

"We can't." The Doctor intruded, arguing against it. "I told you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. We only got here by accident. We, we fell through a crack in time. When we leave, I've got to close it. We can't ever return."

"Doctor." He firmly shook his hand, parting ways.

"Take Rose's phone. It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories. And good luck, Mickey the idiot." He joked.

"Watch it." said Mickey as the Doctor headed back into the TARDIS.

"Goodbye, Mickey," Willow spoke. "You're not such a cow after all."

She departed, leaving Rose and Mickey to finish their definite but mutual breakup. She handed him her phone, carrying the essential code. "Thanks. 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 estate, flying through the stars."

"All those years just sitting there, imagining what we'd do one day. We never saw this, did we?" She commented.

"Go on, don't miss your flight." They embraced each other for a little before Rose exited through the entrance of the TARDIS crying.

The door shut behind her, leaving Mickey, the parallel version of Pete Tyler, Indigo the cyborg and the Cyberman behind for good. 

***

Once Willow and Rose had changed out of their maid attire, they were taken directly to the home of the real Jackie Tyler, Rose's mother. The TARDIS materialised in the middle of the living room, exciting the forty-year-old.

When Rose opened the door, her eyes widened at her mum. "You're alive. Oh, mum, you're alive." She ran into her arms, both happy and upset.

Willow exited the TARDIS next, also pleased that her aunt was still alive yet waited until Rose would let her go so she could hug her too. "Well, I was the last time I looked. What is it? What's happened, sweetheart? What's wrong? Where did you go?" Jackie questioned.

"Far away." The Doctor replied. "That was far away."

"Where's Mickey?"

"He's gone home."

Home. A place where he could be happy perhaps without the need of being the tin dog in the group.

***

Well, this sure was a whirlwind of an episode to write down! BUT I DID IT IN TWO DAYS! This gives me hope I can finish it before the end of the year.

Oh, but wait a moment. Have we set up a little spinoff based on Indigo? I think we have!

Indigo Tyler, a girl with cybernetic properties and red ink for blood. After a fight, she begins to regain fragments of her past. What will she discover?

COMING SOON TO WATTPAD: INK HEART!

Can't wait to start writing that! So, this is only two out of the three spinoffs I have planned after and I bet you can guess what the third will be. That will be announced a little later in the book, don't worry!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! Please vote and comment as it means the world to me! Love you guys!

- Alice ❤