A/N: At last! Another chapter! Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites.

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disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

Chapter Twelve

John stumbled alongside Jackson. He momentarily forgot he was human now. He remembered a second later when he inhaled some smoke and started coughing violently. How did humans survive without a respiratory bypass system? It was pathetic!

In the background, John could hear the Doctor and Rose shouting for each other.

"Doctor!" screamed Rose.

"Rose!" shouted the Doctor in reply.

The explosion must have thrown the Doctor away from the controls.

The Doctor and Rose continued to find each other using their voices.

Beside him, Jackson was still calling to his son.

"I can't get up there! Fredric! Don't move!" yelled Jackson.

Up on the platform, Fredric remained frozen in terror as the world around him burned.

"What do we do, Doctor? What do we do?" asked Jackson.

John briefly considered correcting Jackson, but quickly pushed that thought away. There would be time for explanations later. Right now, he had a child to save, since the Doctor was too busy with Rose.

"Come on Jackson. You know me." said John. He wrapped his hand around a chain.

John grabbed Jackson's sword and sliced off the counter weight in one clean swoop.

With the counter weight now gone, John was carried up above the roaring flames.

From up above, he could see Jackson below, gaping at him in wonder. Toward the exit, the Doctor was frantically trying to convince Rose to leave. Rose was stubbornly refusing, probably because the Doctor wanted to stay behind and help and she refused to leave him.

John swung above it all one the chain.

As the chain swung by the platform, John let go of the chain.

For an infinite, eternal moment, John was suspended in mid air, completely free of everything, even gravity. It was magical and exhilarating. No wonder humans had always been captivated by flight.

A second later, John landed with a thud on the platform in front of Jackson's son.

Fredric instantly ran to John and wrapped his small arms around him. John gripped the little boy in return.

"That's it, hello!" John said brightly. He hoisted Fredric onto his back. "Now hold on tight, don't let go. Tell you what. Close your eyes. I would."

John reached for another chain that dangled from the ceiling and wrapped it around his waist.

John gripped the chain tightly and jumped. Together they flew over the fiery inferno. They landed on a platform on the opposite side of the room.

Down below, the Doctor spotted John and Fredric. He turned to Rose and said something. Rose seemed hesitant, then they joined hands and ran out of the burning room.

"Oh excellent, sir! Excellent!" exclaimed Jackson.

John found another staircase and ran down, dodging rubble and shielding Fredric from the flames as best he could.

John reached the ground and thrust Fredric into Jackson's waiting arms.

"Merry Christmas!" declared John brightly, grinning.

Jackson gripped his son in a tight protective hug.

Around the trio, more flaming rubble started to fall.

"Come on, Doctor! Hurry up!" Jackson called, heading for the tunnels.

As they ran through the tunnels, they passed the cellar with the Dimension Vault the Cybermen stole from the Daleks.

Upon seeing it, an idea suddenly popped into John's head, and he reached forward and ripped out a rod. "Gotcha!"

The Doctor dragged Rose out of the burning engine room, the same way Rosita had gone. He didn't want to leave, but Rose refused to leave without him, and he knew if he lost her again he would go completely insane. So against his instincts, and grabbed Rose's hand and they ran to safety.

The Doctor felt guilty, but he saw John rescue that little boy. He and John were truly the same man. He was as clever and brave. He had as great a chance of saving the day as the Doctor did.

They were nearly out now. The Doctor could hear Rosita shouting orders to the escaping children.

"Go to Saint Stephen's, asked for the Warden, he'll take care of you. Now run! Quickly!" ordered Rosita.

The Doctor became aware of a deep rumbling.

"Doctor! Look at the river!" said Rose.

The Doctor turned to the Thames.

Dockers were fleeing in panic, while Rosita was running closer, trying to get a good look. The Doctor and Rose ran to join her.

"It's under the water." said Rosita. "There's something under the Thames."

The water bubbled some more, then something started to rise. At first it was just a glint of metal, but then it stood up, water cascading down its metal body. The Doctor began analyzing it, though he had a feeling he knew what it was. It was around 200 feet tall, had the same basic shape as a Cyberman, but was stockier and more skeletal. It was steaming, and small flames occasionally burst from the joints. Instead of hands, its arms ending in massive cannons. Inside the head, where a mouth would have been, were several figures. There was Miss Hartigan, identifiable from her scarlet dress. She was flanked by several Cybermen, with the smaller forms of cybershades surrounding them.

"Behold! I am risen!" declared Miss Hartigan in the mechanical speech of the Cybermen. "Witness me, mankind, as CyberKing of all!"

"Doctor, what the hell is that thing?" asked Rose.

"A CyberKing." answered the Doctor. "A ship. Front line of an invasion. There's a Cyberfactory in its chest, ready to convert millions."

A few hundred feet away, John, Jackson, and Fredric spotted it as they ran down a street.

"It's a CyberKing!" exclaimed John.

"And a CyberKing is what?" asked Jackson.

It's a ship! Dreadnought class!" John answered. "Front line of an invasion, and inside the chest, a Cyberfactory, ready to convert millions!"

Jackson's eyes looked at the CyberKing again, then he and John took off running, joining the masses of fleeing, panicking Londoners.

Behind them, the CyberKing took a step, and began to walk, crushing anything and anyone unfortunate to be where it chose to place its feet. It fired its cannon, and fires spread. Everywhere, as far as the eye could see, people ran about, screaming in panic.

John spotted three people fight their way though the crowd, toward where he stood with Jackson.

"Just head south! Take Him south! Go to the parkland!" ordered John. "Make sure Rose and Rosita follow you!"

"But what about your twin?" asked Jackson. "And where are you going?"

"Oh, my 'twin' will go wherever Rose goes. As for me, I'm going to stop that thing!" declared John.

"Then I should be with you!" protested Jackson.

John shook his head. "Jackson. You've got your son. You've got a reason to live."

"And you haven't?" countered Jackson.

John stared at Jackson for a moment.

"I'm not the Doctor. I'm sort of, well, a clone. But the only life I ever remember is being him, and I never will be." confessed John. "You know what it's like, but you're not just the Doctor. Take away the Doctor, you're still Jackson Lake. Take the Doctor from me, though, and I'm no one."

Before he could hear Jackson's response, John ran off. He had a city to save.

Rose pushed her way through the crowd along with the Doctor and Rosita. They had almost made it to John and Jackson (and who was that boy Jackson was carrying?) when John left Jackson.

"And where's he gone off to?" asked Rosita as they reached Jackson.

"To be the Doctor." answered Jackson. "He wanted the rest of you to get to safety. Especially you, Rose."

Jackson beckoned for them to follow him, and started to walk away.

"Hold on a minute, we can't just leave 'im." protested Rose as they fled with everyone else.

"Rose, he's me. He's probably come up with some brilliant plan and is saving us as we speak." said the Doctor. "Jackson, if you don't mind my asking, who's that you got there?"

"He's my son. His name is Fredric." answered Jackson. "I almost lost him, but, Doctor, your clone saved him. He thinks he's not the Doctor, but I've been the Doctor, and he's every bit the Doctor, if not more, than I ever was. And now he's shown he's willing to sacrifice himself to save us."

Rose smiled. "Yeah, that's the Doctor for you."

John ran back to the warehouse and tore through Jackson's luggage.

"Ha!" John pulled another strip of Infostamps out of one of the chests.

Jed emerged from where he had apparently been hiding among the luggage.

"What the hell is that thing, sir?" asked Jed.

"Ohh, good man... Jed! Wasn't it?" exclaimed John. "Jed I need your help!"

"I'm not going out there!" protested Jed.

"I'll give you five pound notes!" promised John.

Jed hesitated. Safety, or money?

"What d'you want me to do?" Jed finally asked.

John grinned. He remembered saving the day all those times as the Doctor, but this time it was just him. Not the Doctor, just John Smith. He was going to save the day.

"The TARDIS is gonna fly!" declared John.

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