The Last of the Cult of Skaro
"Caan," the Doctor said quietly to the last surviving member of the Cult of Skaro, "Let me help you." Dalek Caan hesitated. His companions were all dead and if what the Doctor said was true he was the last Dalek in existence. However to join forces with an enemy was against everything the Daleks stood for. Dalek Sec had done that and had tainted himself, becoming an enemy of the Daleks.
"Emergency Temporal Shift!" Caan said after a short pause. The Doctor moved forwards to try and stop him but Caan teleported away before he could reach him.
An Emergency Temporal Shift was an unpredictable method of transportation which could take a Dalek almost anywhere and was difficult to control. Also it used up a lot of power. Caan had no idea where he was going but right now he wasn't worried about that. He swivelled his eyestalk as his body materialised in the middle of a deserted building.
Caan had no idea where he was but right now he didn't care. He just stayed where he was wondering what to do. Despite himself he couldn't help feeling that he may have made the wrong choice, fleeing from the Doctor instead of accepting his offer and no matter how much he scolded himself he couldn't shake off his doubts. He thought of his fellow members of the Cult of Skaro; every single one of them had been killed. Caan began to feel something that might have been despair.
Then he had an idea; a crazy and probably suicidal idea but an idea nevertheless. If he could return to the Time War...but that was impossible; the whole event was Time Locked. Unless...
Caan remembered the time he had spent in the Void. Safe in their Void ship they had been protected from the Voids power. However the Void was between Universes and therefore it might be somehow linked to every part of space and time; not directly but with each Universe pressed together maybe some things had been squashed through the barriers and into the Void. None of the Cult of Skaro had even considered that the Void might be a gateway back into the Time War. Caan thought about it but then realised that without a Void ship he would have no protection from the power of the Void. No living creature had ever entered the Void without protection and returned.
Then again it was his only hope for resurrecting the Daleks. There was no way of him being able to return to the Time War from here, but from the Void he might be able to find a way through. Caan had no idea what would happen to him if he entered the Void but it was a risk he was going to have to take. Right now though, he was low on power. He rolled through the facility swivelling his eyestalk to and fro and hoping to stumble upon some kind of power source.
About two minutes later he found a computer. Satisfied with the amount of power the machine possessed, Caan smashed the screen with his manipulator arm and absorbed all the electricity, making sure he took in enough to allow two Emergency Temporal Shifts; if things went wrong he didn't want to be stuck inside the Void for all eternity. He didn't actually know if Emergency Temporal Shifts worked in the Void but he decided it was worth a try.
Caan absorbed all the electricity in the facility and when he was done all the lights had gone out. Caan heard alarmed yells and running footsteps. This surprised him slightly; he had assumed the place was deserted. A group of Vinvocci guards wielding blasters came running into the room. Caan turned to them and felt a surge of excitement.
"Exterminate!" he announced and shot down one of the Vinvocci before he could fire a single shot. The others fired but Caan's energy shield absorbed the blasts. The Dalek knew that his shield wasn't indestructible so he decided to finish the fight quickly. With masterful precision the Dalek shot down his assailants and felt a surge of grim satisfaction when he was done. He turned his eyestalk looking around at the corpses. Then he decided it was time to leave. Just before he did so however, he remembered that there wasn't, as far as he knew, any way of getting into the Void in this period of time. He thought back to the battle of Canary Wharf, when the Doctor had banished his Dalek kin to the Void.
"Emergency Temporal Shift," he said and this time travelled not only through space but through time as well, ending up outside the Canary Wharf tower. As soon as he materialised Caan felt the Void sucking him in. He didn't attempt to fight the pull, instead allowing it to pull him into the Void. As he went he caught a brief glimpse of the Doctor and a blonde girl, whom he recognised but didn't know by name. They were being pulled towards the Void but were being held back by two magnets fixed to the wall. Caan had a split second of time to think about shooting them but was pulled into darkness before he could do so.
Darkness pressed in all around Dalek Caan. That worried him; Daleks had not been bothered by darkness since Davros had created them. His eyestalk moved but he couldn't see a thing. He had no sense of time or space; he couldn't even tell which way was up and which way was down. Caan forced himself to relax and waited. He wondered where the other Daleks that had been sucked into the Void were. For all he knew they might be all around him; never had Caan been so blind. It frightened him. He scolded himself; Dalek's shouldn't be able to feel fear but somehow he felt it anyway. The urge to use his remaining Emergency Temporal Shift was almost overpowering but Caan stubbornly held his position floating in darkness.
Caan started to move forwards; or at least that's what he was trying to do but since there was nothing but blackness he wasn't entirely sure if he was moving at all. He turned his eyestalk in all directions.
Then he stopped. He tried to move forwards but something was barring the way. Caan fired at it but nothing happened. It was a wall of some kind. Curiously he travelled along the wall, keeping himself pressed against it to make sure it was still there. Then he stopped when he noticed a crack in the blackness. He reached the crack and peered through but saw nothing except a white light. Tentatively he stuck his manipulator arm into the crack and pulled it out again. Then he fired his laser into it.
Though Caan didn't know it this "wall" he was up against was actually the barrier between the Void and the Universe. The light shining through the crack didn't make the Void any brighter but it gave Caan a sense of hope. He couldn't physically fit through the crack so instead he tried another Temporal Shift, aiming it directly at the light. He teleported through the crack...
And found himself in the swirling energy of the Time Vortex.
Caan felt the raw power of the Vortex seize him in its grip and spin him around. He suddenly saw fire. He felt the fire engulf him and even with his Dalek armour he could feel its heat. Then the flames were gone and suddenly Caan was seeing flashes of events so quickly that he could barely register them. The images came so quickly that his conscious mind couldn't tell them apart but some part of his sub consciousness stored away each event as it passed through the Dalek's mind. The sheer amount of knowledge that was cramming itself into Caan's mind was beginning to drive him crazy. Now he had an idea of how Time Lords felt but he doubted that they felt the raw power of time this strongly.
Then the events slowed just a little and Caan caught glimpses of the Dalek's. He saw innocent people get shot down; heard their screams of fear, their begging for mercy. This had never affected him before; killing was almost a sport as far as Dalek's were concerned but for some reason something stirred within him. He saw children get shot down, many of them screaming for their parents while the Dalek's advanced relentlessly. Women and men fought hopelessly knowing there was nothing they could do against such mighty foes. Then he caught some images of the devastating Time War with Dalek's and Time Lords alike getting cut down.
Then the events suddenly sped up again. Caan felt himself losing all sense of where he was or what he was doing. He tried to cling to any shred of sanity he had left but the relentless barrage of images stripped away the remains of his sanity. He screamed as he felt a pressure on the outside of his casing. Then his armour blew open as though it had been hit by a bomb. Caan screamed again and then the strange pressure assaulted the Dalek himself. With a final scream, Dalek Caan died.
And then he was back, armour and all, flying once again through the flames which were followed by another torrent of images followed again by that pressure on his body. Once again Caan died but then he was resurrected once more. It kept on happening again and again and again. Caan couldn't feel anything except pain. He was at the mercy of the Time Vortex itself, the raw power of time tearing into his mind, armour and body. Every time he was resurrected the images grew a little clearer.
Despite the confusing torrent of images that had crammed themselves into his mind, Caan managed to get some sense of what was happening. He was shooting right through the Time Vortex going from the beginning of the Vortex all the way to the end before starting all over again. All the images he was seeing were periods of time; every part of time and space was swirling around within the Time Vortex. One event caught his attention the most; the Time War. It was still Time Locked but somehow Caan had a feeling he could reach it. He didn't know it but the radiation he had picked up from his time in the Void countered the power of the Time Lock.
Caan died once again but this time when he was resurrected he managed to steer himself towards the Time War. He collided with the "bubble" that surrounded the Time War and pushed with all his might. The Void radiation that was all over him slowly began to melt through as though it was an acid burning through a wall. Caan felt the pressure that had blown open his casing once again; the Time Vortex seemed to be trying to stop him from getting through the barrier. But Caan had gotten this far, and he had died a thousand times in the process; he was not going to give up. Ignoring the pressure he struggled with the Time Lock. The pressure grew stronger; Caan knew his armour was beginning to crack. With one last tremendous effort of will, Caan smashed through the Time Lock just as his armour was smashed open by the power of the Time Vortex. Caan screamed in a combination of pain and triumph, as the Time Lock broke open and pulled him into the Time War.
Caan opened his eye. He was on a ship, surrounded by three other Daleks. Caan would have rotated his eyestalk to look at them, except he didn't have an eyestalk anymore. The Time Vortex had blown his casing apart exposing the Kaled mutant inside.
"What are you doing here?" demanded one of the Daleks. Caan stared at the Dalek and then started to giggle insanely. He knew he was hysterical but he didn't care; right now all he could feel was relief. At last he had managed to break out of the Time Vortex; not only that but he had also broken into the Time War.
"I flew through the fire, through the power of time," he said in a high voice that didn't sound like his own. The Daleks looked at each other in confusion. "I come from a time beyond this war," Caan told them.
"What happened to your casing?" said one of the other Daleks.
"Time is a powerful thing," Caan told it twitching his tentacles and then giggled again.
"Should we exterminate this...abomination?" asked the third Dalek.
"What the hell is happening in here?" snapped a voice, "We're flying into the jaws of the Nightmare Child so what on Skaro are you..." the voice stopped as the speaker entered the room.
Caan looked upon the creator of the Daleks and giggled. "Hello creator," he said cheerfully, "Dalek Caan, at your service." He giggled again.
"What happened to you?" said Davros staring at the insane Dalek.
"The Time Vortex," Caan told him simply rubbing his skull with one of his tentacles, "Ahh, the power of time; you could not imagine it. So many images running through my head..."
"What the hell are you going on about?" snapped Davros. Caan giggled again.
"I just told you," he said and then waved his tentacles as he cackled.
Davros stared at the Dalek, no longer thinking about the fact that his ship was flying straight towards the Nightmare Child. Right now he was wondering what in the world this mad Dalek was doing here. And why on Skaro had its casing been destroyed?
"What are you doing here?" he said.
"I came to rescue you," Caan said simply.
"How?" said Davros, "We're heading towards the Nightmare Child. And once you get between its jaws..." He grimaced. The other Daleks on the ship were doing all they could to avoid the Nightmare Child but once it caught you it wouldn't let go.
"There is a way out of this war," Caan explained, "But first we must flee." Davros looked at him uncertainly but then the ship jerked violently.
"We don't have time for this," Davros exclaimed, "How do we escape?"
"Emergency Temporal Shift," Caan told him then chucked, "but oh dear I do not have enough power." Davros hesitated then the ship jerked again.
"Drain the remaining power from this ship Dalek Caan," he ordered, "It is about to be consumed but it has enough power to allow a Temporal Shift. You three..." he gestured to the other Daleks, "Wait for us near the base."
"Yes creator," said the three Daleks and vanished. Caan went over to the nearest computer and smashed it with his manipulator arm before draining the power out of it. Due to the fact that half his armour had been blown away this was far less comfortable than it had been the last time he did it but Caan ignored the pain as the ships power was drained. The lights dimmed and the ship began to fall. Davros grabbed onto Caan who teleported them away just as the Nightmare Child consumed the ship.
The Dalek and Davros appeared inside a Dalek base. Currently the Daleks that resided in the base were either out fighting or commanding the battle. Davros felt slightly more at ease as he turned to Dalek Caan.
"How do we escape?" he said.
"Through the Void," Caan responded, "The Cult of Skaro escaped through there once before so we can do it again."
"The Cult of Skaro," Davros murmured, "I was wondering why you had a name. I assumed that was just a symptom of insanity but now I see that the Cult of Skaro survived."
"I am the last," Caan said with a hint of sadness, though Davros didn't notice it, "The others were either destroyed or corrupted. Our leader was no longer pure." Even as he spoke however Caan didn't fully believe that. He dismissed his doubts; now was not the time to be contemplative, now was the time to get the hell out of here.
"If we're going to go through the Void then we'll need to build a Void Ship," Davros said.
"I made it through without one," Caan said. Davros stared at him.
"Impossible," he said, "Nobody can get through the Void without a Void ship."
"And yet I managed it," Caan said then twitched his tentacles thoughtfully, "Although you need to breathe. I do not think there is any air in the Void."
"Damn," snarled Davros, "You Daleks are safe inside your casing but how the hell am I supposed to get through?"
"Maybe we do need a Void Ship," one of the other Dalek's suggested. Davros sighed.
"There's a war going on," he muttered, "I don't have time to..." Caan started giggling again. The Daleks and Davros glanced at him.
"Silly me," Caan chuckled, "I saw the whole of time and space and yet I forgot the thing that could get us out of the Time War. It showed me another Void Ship; one that the Time Lords have been building. It is almost complete. With your genius Davros, I think you could get it working quickly."
"And where is this ship?" Davros asked. Caan giggled hysterically.
"In the citadel of the Time Lords," he said.
Dalek ships were conveniently already attacking the citadel of the Time Lords and therefore would provide a perfect distraction. Getting past the shield was more difficult but even the Time Lord's shield technology wasn't indestructible. Caan foresaw when one Dalek ship would make a tiny hole in the shield, just big enough for them to squeeze through by using an Emergency Temporal Shift. Caan had been using the Temporal Shift a lot recently and was getting tired of it, no matter how many times he powered himself up (it didn't help that powering himself up was considerably more painful than it had been when he'd been encased in armour). He'd never realised that Temporal Shifts were so important. Without it he would still be on Earth with the Doctor.
Caan knew they would succeed in escaping; he had foreseen it and he was looking forward to getting a chance to rest and think about everything that had happened. Unlike Davros who was agitated and a little worried, Caan was completely at ease though he said nothing to ease Davros' worries. The other three Dalek's were as emotionless as ever awaiting their creator's commands.
Caan still hadn't sorted out everything that was going on inside his head but images of him, Davros and the three Daleks escaping the Time War kept coming into his mind and Caan focussed on them, deciding to sort out the rest once they had escaped. Due to his ability Caan was able to make a rough prediction of when one Dalek ship would breach the Time Lords shield. He and the others were all powered up and ready to make a Temporal Shift as soon as Caan gave the word.
"Now!" Caan ordered sensing that the time was upon them. Davros gripped one of the other Daleks as they teleported through the crack in the Time Lords shield. The crack wouldn't take long to close but they had more than enough time to make it through.
Outside the citadel the four Daleks and Davros stared up at it. Outside the shield there was chaos but inside it was almost tranquil; the noise of the battle wasn't so loud thanks to the shields ability to filter sound. It didn't block the sounds of the battle completely but neither was the noise overwhelming.
The next part of Caan's plan was quite simple; due to the fact that the Void Ship was virtually finished and the fact that the Time Lords and Ladies were all focused on the battle they could simply blast through the wall into the room where the Void Ship was. Caan had already foreseen that it would take several minutes for Time Lords to arrive so they had enough time. Davros wasn't so confident but Caan pointed out that so far all his predictions had been accurate and it was because of his predictions that they had found out about the Void Ship in the first place.
"This is madness," snarled Davros, "We cannot just blast our way through."
"That is what we are going to do," Caan told him firmly, "We do not need to sneak in; I have foreseen it." He pointed his blaster at the wall and, out of habit, exclaimed, "Exterminate!" before firing.
Nothing happened.
That was unexpected. Despite his ability to see into the future, Caan hadn't known that his weapon didn't work. With so many images shooting through his brain he didn't have time to look at every single moment of the future or past. Then he remembered that the Time Vortex had seriously damaged him. His weapon didn't work anymore. He could still use Emergency Temporal Shift and levitation since they were used by the bottom half of his casing but both were considerably harder than they were when used by an undamaged Dalek.
"You will have to smash through," he said to the other three Daleks almost apologetically. The three of them moved forwards and blasted the wall apart. Instantly alarms went off. Two Time Lord guards standing at the door turned to them but were shot down by two of the Daleks before they could do anything. They attempted to regenerate but the third Dalek finished them off before they could complete the process. Caan ignored the alarms and led the way inside. "We still have time," he insisted leading them towards the Void Ship.
"I would have expected Rassilon to hide the Void Ship better and to give it better protection," muttered Davros as he looked up at the large golden sphere.
"Get to work Davros," Caan ordered.
"I'm the one who gives the commands here!" Davros said indignantly but nevertheless moved forwards and opened the roof of the Void Ship using a control panel.
Davros worked as quickly as he could, getting everything ready for the jump into the Void. Caan was beside him humming contentedly, oblivious to the deafening alarms. The other three Daleks were guarding the door ready to shoot anything that entered.
"There," Davros said triumphantly.
"I told you we would be done in time," Caan said smugly. He, Davros and the other three levitated into the Void Ship just as Time Lord security forces burst into the room.
"You're too late Time Lords!" Davros said triumphantly as the roof of the Void Ship closed over their heads, "We're leaving!" With that he pulled a lever and the Void Ship disappeared through a black hole that had appeared from nowhere. The Time Lords watched helplessly as the Daleks and their creator escaped.
Caan was exhausted. Everything that had happened was catching up to him and now he just wanted to sleep. Daleks were capable of sleeping because although they were robots the creatures controlling the robots were still living beings. Caan closed his eye and tried to ignore all the images that were still swirling around in his mind.
Davros piloted the Void Ship through the blackness of the Void wondering when would be the most appropriate time to exit it. Time didn't exist here but in some places there were a few holes in the "wall" of the Void which led into a Universe. He hoped that Caan would tell him when he should exit but when he looked back the crazy Dalek was fast asleep.
Davros did not care about his Dalek creations; they were little more than robots after all, but as he looked at Dalek Caan he felt respect and even admiration for the strong willed Dalek who had broken him out of the Time War. It had cost him his mind but he'd managed it nevertheless. Along with respect, Davros felt a sense of smug satisfaction; one of his creations had broken through the most powerful Time Lock in history which was something no other being had done.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Davros sent a quick jolt of electricity from his finger tip into Caan's body and the little creature yelped in surprise and opened his eye to glare at Davros.
"When do I exit?" Davros asked him getting straight to the point. Caan closed his eye again.
"At the next crack," he said lazily, "The Time Vortex is the first thing you encounter when leaving the Void." His tentacles twitched and his lazy demeanour was quickly replaced by agitation, "Ah the Time Vortex. So strong, so fierce, so mighty..." He continued gibbering away about the strength of the Time Vortex but Davros ignored him and exited the Void through the next hole between the Void and the Universe. Caan had been right; as soon as they exited they found themselves in the Time Vortex. Caan had his eye shut tightly, his tentacles twitching in agitation; even from inside the Void Ship he could feel the Vortex's power. Davros exited the Vortex on a suitably deserted planet and opened the roof of the Void Ship as it landed.
"Free at last," Davros said happily, "And now the resurrection of the Daleks can begin!"
Dalek Caan watched as Davros rebuilt his Dalek Empire. Due to his madness and the fact that half of his armour was destroyed he did little else. He never levitated anymore or used a Temporal Shift and Davros kept him with him wherever he went. The old Dalek Caan would have been delighted about the attention Davros was giving him but instead he merely felt uncomfortable and this discomfort eventually evolved into disgust with himself, Davros and the rest of the Daleks. As time went on (sometimes backwards, sometimes forwards; Davros had to keep finding deserted planets at different points in time to avoid discovery) Caan began to sort out the jumble of visions he had in his mind examining each vision carefully before moving on to the next. However there were a few visions that he kept coming back to. Mostly they involved all the appalling things the Daleks had done.
Until now Caan had only felt uneasy about these visions but as time went on he began to feel genuinely guilty. He had done much killing in his time but until he'd entered the Time Vortex it had never bothered him. Now however he felt like vomiting (or he would if Daleks were capable of vomiting) every time an image of the chaos the Daleks caused came into his mind. Caan often thought about Dalek Sec who had tried to make the Daleks better. At the time Caan thought he was betraying them but now he knew that Sec had simply wanted what was best for them and felt guilty for betraying him.
Caan also examined visions of the Doctor and each time he watched the Doctor save a planet or prevent alien invasions his respect for him grew. Most Daleks were afraid of the Doctor but Caan admired him for his dedication to protecting the Universe.
Eventually Davros created the Supreme Dalek who took control of the Dalek Empire. Davros spent almost all of his time with Caan after that frequently asking him for visions of the future. Caan never lied to Davros but he did not reveal everything that he had foreseen. In addition to the Doctor and the Daleks he had also foreseen the creation of a second Doctor and saw a seemingly ordinary human woman get transformed into a part Time Lady hybrid before seeing her turn back into a human when the Doctor erased her memories. Caan felt that destroying the woman's memories and Time Lady mind was basically killing her but he soon realised that all the knowledge in the woman's mind would eventually kill her anyway and in a more literal sense than simply destroying the Time Lady part of her.
Apart from Davros and the Supreme Dalek, Caan was the most important member of the Dalek Empire. The Supreme Dalek disliked him, possibly because Davros favoured him over the rest of his "children" but Caan ignored the Dalek leader's hostility. Although Davros treated him with respect and admiration, Caan did not feel any warmth towards him in return; only disgust at what Davros was planning once his Dalek Empire was complete. Davros hadn't told anyone about his plan but Caan had foreseen it and knew that he had to stop it. He watched the timelines all move towards the same point in time; the point where the Doctor's "Children of Time" would gather together and bring down the Dalek Empire. Davros was confident in the success of his insane scheme but Caan was not concerned; he had examined every possible future and found that the gathering of the Doctor and his companions was unavoidable as was the fate of the woman that the Doctor would later call his best friend. Caan began to feel sorry for the Doctor for all the losses he'd suffered in his life.
Finally Davros was ready to begin his mission to destroy the whole of reality.
Caan watched as Davros and the Daleks stole planets throughout time and space moving them all to the Medusa Cascade where it would be almost impossible for the Doctor to find them; almost impossible, but not quite. Caan pretended to feel uneasy about the Doctor's gathering with his companions but he was actually looking forward to it. He was tired of hearing Davros' gloating about his genius or the nasty comments the Supreme Dalek directed at him. But most of all he was tired of having the whole of time constantly running through his mind, especially all the bad things that happened because of his kind.
Caan blinked when Davros switched on a light after stealing the final planet that was needed for Davros' plan to work. The Supreme Dalek had reported to Davros about the successful invasion of Earth and Caan heard a tone of smug confidence in the Dalek's voice. Davros heard it too and warned the Dalek to be careful of his pride before telling him that Caan was uneasy.
"The abomination is insane," said the Supreme Dalek dismissively. Caan ignored the insult but Davros snapped at the Dalek leader.
"Show respect!" he demanded, "Without Dalek Caan none of this would be possible." Caan had long ago regretted rescuing Davros from the Time War because he knew that even after they were defeated three Daleks – the three that had been with him and Davros when they escaped the Time War – would survive. He took no pleasure from Davros' praise, instead it filled him with shame. As a distraction, he started gibbering to himself hardly aware of what he was saying. This had become a habit and although he knew that he must look crazy, talking to himself always made him feel better.
Eventually they received a message from Earth telling them that they surrendered. Caan felt guilty as he wondered how many people had died during the invasion. He could have prevented it if he had not returned to the Time War in the first place. To distract himself from his shame, Caan took another look into the future and saw the Doctor's arrival. This happened only a few minutes later and Caan watched Davros communicate with his old enemy. He giggled when the Doctor cheerfully said "Bye!" and cut of the communication.
"He will go to the Earth," Davros croaked, "to find his precious human allies." Caan chuckled quietly and started talking to himself again.
Caan simply observed as the Doctor and Rose Tyler were brought into the Vault and trapped inside invisible containment shields. He felt slightly hurt by the Doctor's accusations of him killing his friend Donna but then again the Doctor thought he was an enemy and considering everything he'd done as a member of the Cult of Skaro Caan couldn't blame him for thinking that. It was the TARDIS that had trapped Donna; the living Time Machine had foreseen Donna's transformation just as Caan had and knew that she had to keep Donna within her until the second Doctor was created. Dropping into the Core of the Crucible was not part of the TARDIS' plan but Caan had seen their survival so he wasn't worried.
Caan watched as all the Doctor's companions were teleported to the Crucible and watched Davros order the Daleks to guard them. The time Caan had been waiting for was approaching quickly and Caan was shaking with anticipation. Davros did his gloating and Caan rolled his single eye in annoyance; for someone who claimed to hate pride, Davros was arrogant.
"Hypocrite," Caan muttered to himself, glaring at Davros in disgust.
"Supreme Dalek," Davros said turning to a screen which showed the Supreme Dalek, "the time has come! Detonate the Reality Bomb!"
"You can't Davros!" the Doctor yelled, "Just listen to me! Just stop!" Davros ignored him and laughed insanely.
"Nothing can stop the Reality Bomb!" he yelled, "Nothing and no one!" By now even Caan was feeling worried even though he knew that Davros' plan would be foiled.
Then he heard it; a sound that most Daleks feared and despised but that Caan had learned to love having imagined the sound countless times inside his head when he examined visions of the Doctor. The TARDIS materialised and Caan watched eagerly while everyone else stared in shock. The countdown was still happening (fortunately it took the Reality Bomb a while to fully charge up) but everyone seemed to have forgotten about it.
"But that's..." the Doctor exclaimed.
"Impossible," Davros finished and Caan giggled at the door opened and the second Doctor emerged holding a strange weapon. Caan watched in amusement as Davros backed away in fear and the Doctor charged. In desperation, Davros raised a hand and sent a bolt of electricity into the Doctor's chest knocking him to the ground, "Activate holding cell," Davros said and Caan could sense his relief at stopping the second Doctor.
Then Donna came charging out of the TARDIS and grabbed the weapon. Davros blasted her too sending her flying and then ordered one of the Daleks to destroy the weapon. His confidence restored Davros turned to the fully Time Lord Doctor.
"I was wrong about your warriors Doctor," he taunted, "They are pathetic." He turned away. The Doctor and his companions briefly discussed the fact that there were two Doctors and the fact that the situation seemed hopeless. Caan waited calmly while the Reality Bomb continued to charge up, ready to blast the whole of creation into dust, then atoms, then nothing at all.
At the last moment the countdown stopped. Everyone saw Donna at a set of controls near the TARDIS. Caan watched happily and with amusement as Donna caused Davros to electrocute himself, stopped the Daleks weapons from working, caused the Daleks to spin in circles and released both of the Doctors and their allies. Caan couldn't see Davros' face from his position but he could imagine his expression. Davros turned to him in despair.
"But you promised me Dalek Caan," Davros said, "How could you not foresee this?" Caan looked at the creator of the Daleks and giggled. He had been looking forward to this moment for a long time.
"Oh I think he did," the Doctor said quietly, "Something's been manipulating the Timelines for ages getting Donna Noble to the right place at the right time." Caan had not done much manipulation because the outcome of this event was inevitable but he had done his part to make it happen.
"This would always have happened," he said modestly, "I only helped Doctor." Davros stared at him in disbelief.
"You...betrayed the Daleks?" he said in shock.
"I saw the Daleks," Caan retorted, "What we have done throughout time and space. I saw the truth of us Creator, and I decreed no more!"
"Davros," rumbled the familiar and hated voice of the Supreme Dalek as it descended into the Vault, "You have betrayed us!"
"It was Dalek Caan," Davros protested.
"The Vault will be purged," the Supreme Dalek announced ignoring Davros' protest, "You will all be exterminated!" If Caan's gun had been working he would have shot the Supreme Dalek then and there but he didn't have to. The Supreme Dalek destroyed the controls Donna and the two Doctor's had been working at but then got its top half blown off by Captain Jack Harkness. Caan looked smugly at the Supreme Daleks remains and turned back to his new allies. The real Doctor rushed into the TARDIS and Caan spoke to his double telling him that he had to finish the Daleks here and now. He knew they wouldn't be destroyed completely but he also knew that there would only be three survivors; the Doctor could deal with them later.
"Just wait for the Doctor," Donna protested. The Doctor's double looked at her.
"I am the Doctor!" he stated and started fiddling with the controls. Caan watched as Daleks exploded around him and didn't feel anything at their demise; as far as he was concerned he was no longer one of them. He was unaffected by what the Doctor was doing to the other Daleks but he had already foreseen his death and accepted it. Caan was old and tired and was pleased that he had made a difference in the Universe. He watched the Doctor, his double and their companions rush into the TARDIS but made no effort to follow them. Neither did Davros even as fire started to fill the Vault as the Crucible prepared to explode.
"Davros!" the Doctor yelled, "Come with me! I can save you!" Caan felt slightly offended that the Doctor hadn't offered to save him but even if he had the Dalek would have refused. He had lived a long life and unlike most Daleks he had seen the error of his ways. He was content.
"Never forget Doctor!" roared Davros, "You did this! I name you forever! You are the destroyer of worlds!" Then the flames engulfed him. Caan stared at the Doctor. He was ready to die but there was still one more thing he had to say to the man who had once been his worst enemy.
"One will still die," he told the Doctor sadly then closed his eye for the last time and listened to the TARDIS disappear, enjoying the sound of the ancient Time Machine just before the Crucible exploded.
I thought that the three Daleks that the eleventh Doctor confronted in Victory of the Daleks probably survived the Meta-crisis Doctor's attempted genocide because they were not among the Daleks Davros created after escaping the Time War.
I'm not sure what caused the TARDIS' doors to close because Caan niether confirmed nor denied that he had closed them when the Doctor questioned him about it so I'm just guessing that the TARDIS might have done it deliberately.
I'd appreciate reveiws.