ignite ➝ Doctor Who¹

XXX

"Still, your friends aren't bad. I'll give you that."
— Ricky, The Age of Steel

They had run for so damn long. Penelope could practically still feel herself running, even when she sat still. The Doctor had grabbed her hand whilst running and his legs are far longer than hers. Mrs Moore stood with a computer, showing the Doctor something. She couldn't quite see from where she was sitting on the floor, next to Jake. He was still a little out of it - Ricky didn't make it.

"Jakey-boy? Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there." Penelope finally looks up, the Doctor crouching in front of both of them. He waves his sonic screwdriver in the direction of the power station. A Zeppelin is parked on top, with a circle of red lights blinking on its bow, or stern. "There it is. On the zeppelin, you see? Great big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off. Reckon you could take it out?" The boy nods.

"Consider it done."

"Mrs McCrimmon, Mrs Moore, would you care to accompany me into the cooling tunnels?"

"How could I refuse an offer of cooling tunnels?" They turned to her on the floor and the Doctor gave her a hand to get up. Which she took and pulled herself up from the ground.

"How could I say no to that, love." There was a giddy smile on his face as he explained what they were going to do.

"We attack on three sides. Above, between, below. We get to the control centre, we stop the conversion machines." Jena waved her hands a little to get his attention.

"What about us?" He walks over to them, as if thinking of something.

"Garrick, would you be able to contact anyone from the Navy or the Army?"

"I've got a radio at home, it isn't far."

"Would you be able to send out a distress signal, get them here as fast as you can? Pretty sure you're going to need all the help you can get to clear everything up, if this whole plan works." He salutes the Doctor and turns to talk quietly with his wife as the Doctor himself walks back to Penelope.

"So, cooling tunnels? Sounds like an excellent date."

"You never told me what happened, with your father. You said that you would one day, so I never bought it up." She wraps her arms around herself.

"I'm not even sure anymore. That man is just so.. wrong. Everything about him that I know is so completely different. Pete only has small differences compared to our world, but him? He is nothing like the man I- he's wrong."

"And your mother?"

"That woman can't have children. Sure they said they didn't want them, but she can't have them. Can parallel worlds really be that different?" Mickey called the Doctor over, and he reluctantly left her, only for Mrs Moore to come and wrap a comforting arm around her.

"Are you okay?" She sniffs.

"I will be when this is over."

"Right, if we survive this, I'll see you back at the Tardis." Mickey nods at him, determined.

"That's a promise." Penelope smiles at him as he passes.

"Be safe Mickey." He continues to walk away with Jake, focused solely by the task at hand, but it helps to know that Penelope wants him safe as well.

The Doctor, Penelope and Mrs Moore made their way to the cooling tunnels. They were relatively quiet the whole way, just absentminded chatter when they do talk. Everyone wanted to think about something else, Penelope spun the ring on her finger, grateful to have it back.

Reaching the tunnels, The Doctor went first, followed by Penelope. Who warned him that 'if you dare look up at me when I'm climbing down in this dress it won't be the cybermen you have to worry about' which earned a laugh from the two people with her. Not that he'd ever admit it, but his eyes might've glanced up a few times.

By the time she was down, she smacked his shoulder. Just for good measure, and turned to help Mrs Moore. He rubbed his shoulder and thanked the dark for covering the grin on his face. Mrs Moore jumped down the last few steps and shivered.

"It's freezing."

"At least you've got trousers on." Penelope's comment caused the Doctor to flush a little red again. Who was he becoming around her? He coughed and mentioned something or other about the dark. He really couldn't concentrate, which was not good for the situation they're in. Mrs Moore pulled out a headlight for the Doctor to use, causing him to light up. He shook away the fog in his brain and pressed onwards, vaguely listening to Penelope's conversation with her as they walked.

"Is there a Mr Moore?" All of them were wary of the deactivated Cybermen lining the walls and the two women were desperate for something else to think about.

"Yea, but- 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. What about you? You ever want to start a family?"

"One day yes, but I've got my husband, for now we're enough. We've got the whole world on our shoulders." The Doctor smiled at this, together they are enough. That smile got a tad wider when he realised that starting a family was directed at him. "If you don't mind, what's your real name?"

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

"Not a word from me. Or you, husband. Mouth. Shut." He's quiet, his headlight trained on one of the Cybermen. It makes her nervous, so she moves forward and places a hand on his back.

"Doctor, are we okay? Did it move?"

"It's just the torchlight. Keep going, come on." One of the Cybermen moved and Penelope gasped. The Doctor turned and grabbed her hand, pulling her up next to him. "They're waking up. Run!"

They run along the row, who fall in behind them and start clomping along. They get to a ladder at the end of the tunnel. "Get up! Quick! They're coming! Open it! Open it!" The Doctor pushed Penelope up first, who opened the trapdoor with barely any problems. She shuffled her way up the ladder, unable to even think about complaining about them looking up her dress.

"Come on!" The other side of the trapdoor she turned and helped them up best she could. Mrs Moore beat the Cybermen up the ladder and they closed the trapdoor again. The Doctor sealing it with his screwdriver.

"Oh, us three make a good team, don't you agree Mrs Moore."