Time Tunnel: The TARDIS tore through the time-space continuum moving faster and faster with each passing moment. Inside the Doctor ran about the console pressing switches and throwing dials as he tried to make up for the time he had lost dealing with that Runaway Bride.
"Come on Sec, where are you?" the Doctor seethed as he examined various readouts. He had thought the Dalek had been sucked into the Void along with the other Daleks and the Cybermen who had made Torchwood and most of London a war zone not too long ago. However, as he had been idly scanning time and space in a vain effort to try and contact Rose Tyler, his recently departed companion, his scanners had picked up the remnants of a temporal shift, specifically one involving Dalek technology. Though he had no proof it was Sec, the Doctor knew it had to be him. He and the Daleks had a connection these days as only long time mortal enemies could. The humans had a saying: 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer', with the Doctor and the Daleks that didn't even come close to their relationship but it was the best analogy he could come up with that even he could comprehend. The Daleks had called him: Ka Faraq Gatri, the Destroyer of Worlds, the Doctor could think of a number of words for the Daleks none of which were proper to repeat, but it was the same effect. The Daleks destroyed worlds and the Doctor and his fellow Time Lords had done the same. Throughout time both had engaged in open temporal warfare that both referred to as the last great Time War. In the end Gallifrey and Skaro had both been wiped out and the Daleks seemingly destroyed as well taking the Time Lords with them. The Doctor had been responsible for that, not by choice mind you, but he had been responsible for it.
Though he had hoped that would be the end of the Daleks, he had been wrong and in retrospect he shouldn't have been surprised. When he had encountered that Dalek in Nevada he had been…upset would be the best way to put it. The Doctor had done things he wasn't proud of, he had become 'a Dalek' so to speak and had reduced himself to a state he had thought he had moved past when he'd regenerated from his eighth to his ninth body following the War's conclusion. The experience had been a real eye opener to him and he knew were it not for Rose's intervention that he likely would have reached a point he could not have returned from. Yes he had been responsible for the destruction of countless Daleks during the war, but he had never murdered one in cold blood before, indeed he had never murdered anyone in cold blood to his knowledge. The Doctor had been so grateful to Rose that day that he solemnly vowed that no matter what happened to him, he would keep her safe above all else. It was this vow that had caused him to recklessly endanger his own life in an attempt to save her from, what else, the Daleks. No matter how hard he tried, no matter what lengths he took, they always came back and it was starting to wear down on his sanity. But thankfully he didn't make the same mistake twice and when the Delta Wave plan first became clear that it wouldn't work he had sent Rose away as the Daleks exterminated everything in sight. Once again Rose had saved the Doctor and disposed of the last surviving Daleks and with it the Doctor's ninth persona and he was finally able to let go of the accursed Time War.
With his new and improved Tenth Incarnation he and Rose had embarked on a series of adventures that had even briefly reunited him with a pair of old friends further helping him forget the Time War and put it behind him. True he had encountered the Cybermen, but they were a manageable threat, and he and the individuals of that alternate universe had managed to put them away with far fewer casualties than normally followed Cybermen encounters. But he his cheer and joy proved to be short-lived after that. When the demon he had encountered on that forsaken world on the edge of the black hole had predicted Rose dying in battle, the Doctor had tried to comfort Rose that he was making it up. But deep down, he knew. He knew a storm was coming but he didn't know in what form it would take.
Perhaps the idea that a storm was coming at all should have tipped him off, but he once again vainly believed that they were gone, that they couldn't come back, not after what Rose had done to them. When the Cybermen had finally shown up again the Doctor had secretly been relieved, at least he could deal with them. But the Void Ship was a real mystery, one the Doctor couldn't place, and couldn't easily dismiss. Then when the Cyberleader told him the sphere was not theirs, he knew. He couldn't see them, he couldn't hear them, he couldn't even confirm they were there, and indeed he tried to briefly deny it, but he knew. He knew the Daleks had returned and that whatever threat the Cybermen posed to the planet Earth now paled in comparison. So he was not surprised when the two Cybermen sent to investigate the Sphere Chamber sent back an image of Dalek Thay appearing in that doorway. He also knew Rose was in all likelihood, dead. The Daleks would've killed her the second they emerged from that sphere along with anyone else in that room. When Jackie commented on Rose's fear of the Daleks, something inside the Doctor momentarily snapped and he demanded Jackie's phone. When Rose, surprisingly picked up, the Doctor did feel a bit of momentary relief but he coldly knew that the Daleks would only have kept her alive if they needed her and for whatever purpose that was he knew it was something terrible. When one of the Daleks on the other end mentioned the Genesis Ark, he knew that must've been it, but what it was he had no clue. In an attempt to do something productive he had put on his 3-D void glasses and noted how the Cybermen and Dalek were all covered in it. That gave him the workings of a plan but he had no way to implement it. Then hope intervened and he found himself back in that alternate universe of before, a universe apparently without Daleks for which he was grateful, before being deposited back in his own universe and agreed to an unholy alliance with the Cybermen to defeat the Daleks once and for all. Things seemed to be going well and when he entered into the Sphere Chamber to finally confront the Daleks he felt a sense of melancholy, perhaps even giddiness at meeting his mortal enemy one final time. He had met up with Rose and Mickey and he and the Daleks had a brief discussion about the Time War when he mentioned one his sadder memories of the war, the fall of Arcadia, and it was all going to plan as he knew the Daleks and Jake's soldiers were steadily surrounding the sphere room. The Genesis Ark was a bit of a mystery but one he knew he could solve once these four Daleks were disposed of. But whatever happiness he had felt was shattered when the four Daleks had revealed that they were the long rumored but rarely seen Cult of Skaro.
During the war the Cult of Skaro had been responsible for outthinking the Time Lords and deducing their strategies and as much as the Doctor hated to admit it, they had succeeded brilliantly. The Cult's plans and strategies had killed scores of Time Lords on a consistent basis during the war. It got to the point where they were more of a priority for the Time Lords than even the Emperor. The Time Lords managed to corner the Cult near Alpha Centauri and thought they had finally managed to dispose of them when the Cult didn't emerge from the barrage from the fleet of bowships. But like they had been wrong with the Emperor so too had they been wrong with the Cult and the Doctor couldn't help but wonder what other detrimental secrets the Time War would reveal that would drive the Doctor insane. The Doctor knew the Cult was a problem and that even if a million Cybermen poured through that door it would make no difference. The Cult would exterminate them all without a second thought and that whatever modification he had made to the Cybermen rifles would accomplish nothing. So he blew open the doors without a second thought and did the only thing possible, he fled. Mickey accidentally laid his hand on the Genesis Ark but there was little the Doctor could do to stop the Ark from activating as the Daleks and Cybermen were at war with each other in there and the Doctor had no desire to get himself killed while the Daleks were still loose in the galaxy. Though he had told Mickey that he had done them a favor, his inner voice said they might've been better off had the Daleks actually blown up the sun, then death on Earth would have been instantaneous and the human race wouldn't have had to face the crushing demoralization most races felt when they found they could not even defeat a single Dalek.
So they had run away as Sec and the Cult exterminated the Cybermen before proceeding to exterminate even more Cybermen. When Jackie and Pete had met for the first time, the Doctor did feel a bit of happiness for them, but blast it didn't they know there was a war going on that could potentially destroy both of their worlds? If there's one thing humans are good at it's forgetting that the world doesn't revolve around them and that time doesn't stop just because they're having an 'apple pie' moment. Someone has to solve their problems and surprise, surprise they always expect the Doctor to fix everything. He needed a vacation but he hadn't had one in nearly 200 years and that had been wrecked by the Sontarans. How the Doctor hated his morals at times, and when the Genesis Ark opened and millions of Daleks came spewing out of it, the Doctor had to reluctantly admit that for one millisecond he'd been tempted to just say 'game over man, game over' and throw in the towel and just leave. But there were Daleks and the Doctor was the only one remotely qualified to deal with them so he silently resigned himself to his task. In the end he used the Daleks own mechanisms against them by sucking them all back into the cracks in the Void that they had opened up in the first place. But it had come at a great cost. Rose was now gone. His one constant companion since the Time War, the one whom he had opened up to about the Time War and the fate of Gallifrey, had been torn from him trying once more to stop the actions of the accursed Daleks. He had at least the chance to say goodbye before it got cut short but still, her absence like those of all of his companions left a hole in the Doctor's heart that constantly made him question the sanity of even taking companions on in the first place. But even he didn't have time to dwell on this as an unwanted visitor in the TARDIS warranted his attention and one adventure later he was finally alone to himself. …And then he had found Sec's temporal trail and found himself where he was now.
"I'm going to find you Sec, and I'm going to finish this Time War once and for all one way or another," the Doctor swore as he flipped another switch and the TARDIS continued on down the time stream.
1968: 16 year old Kalenda Savrod packed her books like she always did for school and straightened her school uniform in the mirror. She sighed deeply as she looked at the image staring back at her. Blonde hair, dark eyes, perfect complexion, she looked like she shouldn't have had a care in the world, but this couldn't have been farther from the truth. Though on the outside her life seemed perfect, on the inside she was hurting. She wasn't very outgoing, never had been, she felt she couldn't connect with anybody. Even when she managed to find someone who shared the exact same interests as her, she felt this nagging sensation each time that this individual was…beneath her. Maybe it was because she was adopted, she didn't know. She also couldn't explain why, but she also knew that somewhere out there, something was awaiting her. Something that could explain who she was, where she came from, who her real family was because although she had no sense of ill-will towards her foster parents she found she could simply not connect with them and she didn't know why either. Whoever held her answers, she knew they were out there and one day they would come and find her. And somehow she knew that day would be soon. …Or so she hoped. But she knew she couldn't dwell on such thoughts, it would distract her from her schoolwork. Schoolwork that would allow her to someday assume control over these…
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" said a voice jarring her from her thoughts. She had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she had failed to notice that she'd left her house and walked down the street before being faced by two females approximately her same age.
"Looks like we got ourselves a trespasser," said the other female as they circled Kalenda. Kalenda knew them both, they were the school bullies and they liked to pick on the loners of the school, perhaps to make themselves feel better since they only had each other as friends and that was because they were twins. Kalenda just glared at them behind her dark sunglasses but otherwise remained passive towards them. 'Violence beget violence' she remembered as one time she had fought them and only regretted it later as they had given more than they had gotten. But that incident had only further drawn their ire and so they picked on her more so than the other loners out there. To this end Kalenda was steadily training herself into a deadly weapon so nothing would ever stand in her way ever again. But she still had yet to reach the level where she could take them both and so had to endure their constant torment at least once a week.
"Then deal with it and don't waste any more of my time," she said darkly at the two of them. The two girls reared back briefly at that statement before continuing their circling of her.
"You talk tough but can you act tough?" asked the first girl, Thalena.
"Yeah," chimed in her lackey, Lathena. Kalenda passively consulted her watch before looking up at them.
"I don't have time to act tough I have to get to school," she said.
"Oh yes, school the place of brainwashing for the masses," said Thalena disgusted. "Let's get this wrapped up so we're not late."
"If you want to be left in ignorance please don't let me stop you," said Kalenda with a mild grin. That was the final straw for the two girls as the both began rubbing their fists angrily. Kalenda merely shut her eyes and clenched her fists and braced herself for the oncoming barrage. But the attack never came as a massive bright light filled her darkened vision.
"What the?" she could hear Lathena ask.
"Hey buddy, it's a little early for Halloween isn't it?" said Thalena. Whoever they were apparently talking to didn't speak and Kalenda would've thought they were bluffing that there was someone else there if she couldn't hear a strange soft mechanical whirring noise.
"C'mon say something stupid!" shouted Thalena. Still no response from whomever they were talking to.
"Forget it, it must just be a joke," said Lathena.
"Yeah, let's just finish what we came here to do," said Thalena cracking her knuckles. Kalenda braced herself as best she could when suddenly whatever they were talking to spoke up.
"EX-TER-MI-NATE!" shouted the being. An indescribable sound was heard followed by a scream and then silence. Kalenda stood there in silence for several moments as she frantically tried to figure out if she was still alive or not. After a couple moments of hearing her own breathing and heavy beating heart she cautiously and slowly opened her eyes. What she saw defied belief as Thalena and Lathena were both lying on the ground, dead or alive she didn't know, but behind them stood the strangest thing she had ever seen. It was tall and primarily cylindrical on top with a large blocky base and completely pitch-black. It had a strange shaft emerging from the top of the dome on top of its head and on its 'torso' it had a plunger and a strange silver protrusion. The 'creature' was apparently looking at Thalena and Lathena as if admiring its handiwork and took no immediate notice of Kalenda. As soon as it 'sensed' she was looking at it, the stalk on its head maneuvered to look straight at her. The two stared at each other in silence for several moments as a light wind passed by blowing the nearby leaves.
"Th-thank you," said Kalenda, almost speechless for once in her life, to the creature. "But, but why did you save me?"
Kalenda as she looked at the thing. The creature said nothing it just looked away back at the two other bodies and then back at her as if even it didn't know. It's mind apparently made up after a couple moments it then turned to leave.
"Wait!" protested Kalenda as the thing stopped after hearing her voice. "What are you?"
The stalk turned to the side as if eyeing her out of the corner of its eye before spinning forward as the entire device took off into the sky leaving behind a stunned Kalenda. It took the girl a couple moments to realize what happened hadn't been a dream before realizing what time it was and tore off for school still in a mild state of shock.
I.M. Forman Scrapyard: A cranking noise was heard as a blue police box appeared from out of thin air. An instant later the door opened and the Doctor stepped out while consulting his sonic screwdriver.
"Remnants of an energy beam discharge, looks like I'm already too late," said the Doctor sadly. As he exited the yard he was immediately run into by a blonde girl who looked at him with an expression of shock and confusion before she kept running. The screwdriver went off indicating that she had been touched by the residual energy of a nearby energy blast. The Doctor raised an eyebrow curiously but the girl was gone from sight. The Doctor placed his hands into his pockets and walked off the way she had come in search of the blast as if Sec was here, he'd certainly be making his presence known. Daleks never were one for subtlety and he half expected to see a rush of people fleeing from whatever destruction Sec was likely causing.
"But why here and why now?" the Doctor couldn't hope but wonder. Out of all the places Sec could've chosen the Doctor couldn't fathom the answer. The only thing that immediately came to his mind was an adventure with his seventh incarnation that had taken place three Earth years ago, an event which precipitated into the Time War. But Sec would've known better than to risk tampering with that event. The consequences could potentially destroy the entire Space-Time Continuum and the Doctor knew things weren't desperate enough for Sec to resort to that option. Yes he was one lone Dalek, but still one Dalek was still a large threat. The Doctor shuddered as memories of that fateful day when a Dalek Supreme, like Sec, had appeared in the Council Chambers of the Time Lords on Gallifrey and proceeded to exterminate nearly every member of the High Council. Only his timely arrival had allowed Romana to escape but still seeing that Dalek hovering over the dead remains of the Council had both chilled him to the bone and nearly caused him to loose it. Only Romana's advice had brought him back from the brink, but what would happen now? Rose was gone, he had no companion to voice his thoughts too, and that scared him more than anything. As he had told Brother Lassar, he used to have so much mercy, but after more than 1000 years of living, his joy and wonder regarding the universe slowly faded. He had gone from an intrepid explorer to a lonely god and it was times like these when he was all alone that the reality of his situation caught up with him. And without Rose he had no one to talk to and for that Sec was also going to answer for.
HONK! HONK! HONK!
The sound of alarms and horns jolted the Doctor out of his reverie as emergency vehicles raced past the Doctor and continued on down the street. The Time Lord quickly consulted the readings on his Sonic Screwdriver before chasing off after them.
Crime Scene: By the time the Time Lord had reached where the vehicles had stopped, the area was already taped off with a small crowd gathered watching the event. The Doctor wormed his way through them until he stood right at the tape and watched as a pair of stretchers rolled past with a pair of teenage schoolgirls on them surrounded by paramedics. The Doctor eyed them quizzically before taking out his Sonic Screwdriver and flipping it on. The device indicated that a massive energy surge had taken place recently on this spot, one of Dalek design.
"So Sec was here," the Doctor seethed as his grip tightened heavily on the screwdriver to the point that his knuckles began whitening. He forced himself to calm down and put his screwdriver away as he witnessed the police investigating the scene.
"I can only wonder what did this," he overheard one of the investigators mention to their fellow officer.
"Try little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armor," the doctor commented wryly to himself as he crossed his arms.
"There has to be more to it than that!" shouted a voice. The Doctor and the others looked over at a young woman who couldn't have been more than twenty, pressing a police officer for information while carrying a pencil and a notepad, evidently a reporter of some kind. The Doctor would've shrugged her off had he not wanted to know what the police knew as well about what had happened so he figure he should take as much advantage of the situation as possible.
"What's going on here?" asked the Doctor as he stood just behind the woman facing the officer. The woman looked at him confused before looking at the officer.
"Nothing is happening here," said the officer. "Now please leave."
"Don't you want to rephrase that question officer?" said the Doctor with mock authority as he held up his psychic paper indicating his position with the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce stunning the woman.
"Yes sir!" said the officer saluting. "But shouldn't we discuss this in private?"
The look on the woman's face silently pleading with him for information nearly made the Doctor crack a smile for the first time since Rose's 'death'.
"I see no harm in discussing this with her," the Doctor answered. The woman turned happily to her notepad as the officer looked at him unsure before sighing and rubbing his eyes.
"Fine, the truth is we don't know what happened. The only witness reported that they were in the area because they heard a shouting match going on. Before she could actually witness the participants she heard a voice say something like 'initiate' and then there were a pair of flashes. The woman hurried her pace and arrived just to witness a young woman fleeing the scene and the two fatalities here," said the officer pointing his head at the ambulance that took off.
"And who were the fatalities?" asked the woman. The officer looked at her and then at the Doctor.
"The press will find out eventually," the Doctor reasoned.
"You cannot report the names," said the officer to the woman.
"Fair enough," the woman slightly pouted.
"Lathena and Thalena Reynolds," said the officer. The woman appeared briefly startled by that revelation, something not lost on the Doctor, but she continued writing.
"And the other woman?" the woman continued.
"We don't know yet but presumably she came from the same school as the two women," said the officer. "We'll find her and question her as soon as we can."
"Do you think she was responsible?" asked the Doctor knowing she wasn't.
"Doubtful. We're not quite sure what killed these women but it wasn't from any known physical causes," said the officer. "But we're still investigating."
"Well let me know if anything more comes up," said the Doctor as the woman walked off and the Doctor began to follow suit.
"Yes sir, I'll inform Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart to contact you," said the officer. The Doctor stopped in his tracks as another smile threatened to break across as his face at the mention of his old friend.
"Tell him, the Doctor says hello," said the Doctor this time not able to conceal his broad grin. The Time Lord then chased after the woman who had been questioning the officer earlier.
"I hope that was of some help to you," he commented upon falling into line with her.
"Oh," said the woman slightly startled as she had been flipping through her notes. "Yes, yes it was thank you."
"I couldn't help but notice that you appeared to recognize the names of the two victims," stated the Doctor. The woman stopped suddenly.
"I-I might have an idea as to who they are," said the woman. "Not personally but I have heard of them."
"And who are they?" asked the Doctor needing to know so he could get in touch with that girl he had encountered earlier.
"Look, it's not like I mean to be rude, after all you've been very helpful," commented the woman. "It's just that this is my investigation and I don't need you interfering."
The Doctor stepped right in front of her.
"Listen I don't mean to be rude either but right now there are events occurring that are far beyond your possible comprehension. If you don't tell me what you know very bad things are going to happen," said the Doctor before amending his statement so that she wouldn't think he was threatening her. "Not just to you but to this entire planet. I need you to tell me the truth or this whole world faces complete and total destruction."
"What are you-," began the woman.
"Does the word 'Dalek' mean anything to you?" demanded the Doctor. A strange image passed in front of the woman's eyes but she let it go.
"No," she responded.
"Good and with any luck it never will, unless you don't tell me who those two girls were," swore the Doctor darkly. The woman weighed her options at that statement before sighing.
"They're both students at Coal Hill," said the woman finally. "That's all I can tell you."
The Doctor internally sighed. He shouldn't have been surprised that once again a Dalek encounter would involve Susan's former school.
"Thank you," said the Doctor grateful. "I wish you luck with your investigation."
"And I with yours," said the woman before she left leaving the Doctor alone on the street. The Doctor watched her go and secretly wondered if he'd ever see her again.