Untold Knowledge (Doctor Who x Genius Fem! Oc) [Book 1]

Chapter 23: The Age of Steel

"Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success."
-- Pablo Picasso

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Opposite Battersea Power Station, everyone paused so they could come up with a plan for how they were going to handle the intensely massive problem. "The whole of London's been sealed off; the entire population's been taken inside that place. To be converted." the Doctor said as he stared at the location in question.

"We've got to get in there and shut it down." Rose said with hidden intimidation. It was a very big and important mission they were involved with, after all.

"How do we do that?" Mickey asked as he, too, tried to not feel overwhelmed.

Echo shrugged from her spot beside her love. "Oh, you know. We'll do a thing with awesome results." she answered as she tried to figure out what they should do.

"Your both just making this up as you go, aren't you?" Mickey accused, not liking the mere idea of having no plan.

"Of course. But we do it brilliantly, don't you think?" the Doctor responded, never taking his eyes off the building.

Not long after did Mrs. Moore join them with her Cybus Industries laptop in hand. "That's a schematic of the old factory." she explained as they analyzed what was on the screen. "Look. Cooling tunnels underneath the plant. Big enough to walk through." she pointed out.

Echo nodded, "Alright, so a few of us can go through there and up into the control center." she said in understanding.

When Mrs. Moore nodded in agreement, Pete decided to point out another way in. "There's another way in. Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in." he said, refusing to just give up on his wife.

"We can't just go strolling up." Jake countered, giving him a look of confusion.

But Mrs. M knew otherwise. "Or we could, with these." She then pulled into view a set of dead earbuds. "Dead. No signal. But put them on, the Cybermen would mistake you for one of the crowd." she elaborated, though not too thrilled with the higher danger of such a plan.

"Then that's my job." He immediately grabbed them and put them in place.

The Doctor stepped forward, "You'd have to show no emotion. None at all. Any sign of emotion would give you away." he advised seriously, hoping to give him a better chance at success. Though, sadly, the chance was far lower than he was willing to admit.

Rose then looked at Echo with determination obvious in her hard gaze. "You still have those dead ear pods?" Without saying a word, she nodded with instant understanding and gave her the dead devices. The blonde then put them in as well. "If that's the best way of finding Jackie, then I'm coming with you." she stated matter-of-factly.

Pete looked at her with surprise, suspicious of the way Echo looked at her. "Why does she matter to you?"

"We haven't got time." she answered without skipping a beat. "Doctor, I'm going with him and that's that."

He gave her a similar expression of understanding. "No stopping you, is there?" he asked, wanting complete honesty as he silently asked a different question.

Knowing what he meant, Rose shook her head. "No."

Just then, another idea came to mind as he pointed at them. "Tell you what. We can take the ear pods out at the same time. Give people their minds back so they don't walk into that place like sheep." he said as he thought deeper into the plan simultaneously. "Jakey-boy, Ricky? Lumic's transmitting the control signal. It must be from over there." As they looked in the direction of the power station, they saw most easily the zeppelin parked atop. A circle of red lights blinked in the area they needed to look. Before the Time Lord could get his screwdriver in hand so as to scan the area, Echo emitted a hologram through her watch and saw exactly what he was trying to explain. "Haha! There it is!" he said happily and gave her a quick kiss of excitement. "You are absolutely brilliant. On the zeppelin in this area is where you'll want to be. It's basically just a big transmitter. Good thing Lumic likes showing off." He then looked at Jake and Ricky. "Reckon you gents could take it out?"