The Tardis materialises in a dimly lit area filled with carpeting and display cases. The Doctor stepped out and looked around, his friend Rose following after him.
"So what is it? What's wrong?"
"Don't know." The Doctor replied. "Some kind of signal drawing the Tardis off course." Rose looked around as well.
"Where are we?" She asked.
"Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground." The Doctor answered, Rather vaguely. Rose raised her eyebrows.
"And when are we?"
"Two thousand and twelve." He replied, looking into a display case. Rose was slightly surprised.
"God, that's so close. So I should be twenty six." She said. Then the Doctor found the light switch and everything became more clear.
"Blimey. It's a great big museum." She said incredulously.
"An alien museum." The Doctor corrected. "Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship." Rose gasped and pointed into a display case.
"That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed." She said. But the Doctor paid no attention as he looked at a different case.
"Oh, look at you." Rose came over to see an old Cyberman head.
"What is it?" She asked.
"An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old."
"Is that where the signal's coming from?" She asked.
"No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help." He said harshly, as if he was trying hard not to sound sad. He then touched the display case and an alarm went off. Armed guards rush in from all sides and cut them off from the Tardis! Rose turned to the Doctor.
"f someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A."
Elsewhere in the Museum...
"Attention all personnel. Bad Wolf One is Wolf One is descending." An intercom said as a man known as Mister Henry Van Statten walked down the hall with aids and four armed guards.
"On behalf of all of us, I want to wish you a very happy birthday, sir." said one of the aids. "And the president wants to convey his best wishes."
"The President is ten points down. I want him replaced." Van Statten stated. He was a very rich man and he expected things to go his way.
"I don't think that's very wise, sir." The aid told him.
"Thank you so much for your opinion." Van Statten said sarcastically. "You're fired. Get rid of him." The aid was shocked.
"What?" Then the armed guards dragged the aid away.
"Wipe his memory, put him on the road someplace. Memphis, Minneapolis. Somewhere beginning with M." Van Statten ordered as a woman ran up to take the first aid's place. "So, the next President. What do you think? Republican or Democrat?"
"Democrat, sir." The woman said.
"For what reason?" Van Statten asked, rather testing her. The woman was a little surprised to hear this, but she gave him an answer, rather haltingly.
"They're just so funny, sir?" Van Statten stopped and looked at her.
"What is your name?" he asked. She smiled pleasantly.
"Goddard, sir. Diana Goddard." she replied.
"I like you, Diana Goddard." He said smiling. Then he frowned again and continued is trek."So, where's the English kid?" Then a kid with brown hair, a brown button down shirt, and blue jeans named Adam came running up.
"Sir! Sir! I bought ten more artefacts at auction, Mister Van Statten."
"Bring 'em on, let me see 'em." But Miss Goddard thought different.
"Sir, with respect, there's something more urgent." She told him. "Went arrested two intruders fifty three floors down. We don't know how they got in."
"I'll tell you how they got in. In-tru-da window." Silence. "In-tru-da window. That was funny!" Everyone laughed obediently. "Bring 'em in. Let's see 'em. And tell Simmons and Norder I want to visit my little pets. Get to it!" Van Statten then went through a doorway. Miss Goddard stepped aside to use her headset.
"Simmons? You'd better give me good news. Is it talking?" Over the headset from a room called the Cage, Simmoms was wearing a protective suit and wielding a chainsaw on something. The thing was screaming with pain.
"Not exactly talking, no." He said.
"Then what's it doing?" She demanded.
"Screaming. Is that any good?" Miss Goddard shook her head.
"Get it talking. Mister Van Statten wants to see it. I'm going to talk to Norder." then she spoke to the other man in the next cage. "Norder. Simmons let me down. How's getting that one to talk?" Norder stared at the creature who floated in the tank, just staring at him with cold, unforgiving, icy blue eyes.
"Nothing yet. She seems very resilient to the shocks. "
"Then turn it up! Mister Van Statten wants them talking and he's getting impatient!" Miss Goddard ordered. Meanwhile, in the office, Adam was showing his boss the latest purchases.
"And this is the last. Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it." He said, just as Miss Goddard entered with the Doctor and Rose .
"What does it do?" Van Statten asked.
"Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel." Adam guessed. It was a beautiful little tool, sort of like a pipe, but yet a little different. It was curved and palm shaped.
"I really wouldn't hold it like that."
"Shut it." Miss Goddard ordered.
"Really, though, that's wrong." The Doctor insisted. Adam looked worried.
"Is it dangerous?"
"No, it just looks silly." The Doctor said, reaching for the item. The sound of guns clicked all around him as Van Statten gave him the object.
"You just need to be..." The Doctor stroked the artefact and it makes a note. "Delicate." He played several different notes. Van Statten looked on it awe.
"It's a musical instrument." He said incredulously. The Doctor nodded.
"And it's a long way from home." He stated.
"Here, let me." Van Statten took the instrument from the Doctor and tried it. His touch is harsher an some not nice sounds are produced.
"I did say delicate." The Doctor reminded him. "It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision." Van Statten tried again and got the hang of it.
"Very good. Quite the expert." The Doctor complimented him.
"As are you." He said, tossing the instrument to the side, onto the floor. "Who exactly are you?"
"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?" Van Statten scoffed.
"Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake." The Doctor shrugged.
"Pretty much sums me up, yeah." He said.
"The question is, how did you get in? Fifty three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplice. You're quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty." Rose gasped.
"She's going to smack you if you keep calling her she." She said. Van Statten grinned.
"She's English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend." Adam blushed.
"This is Mister Henry Van Statten." Rose snickered.
"And who's he when he's at home?" Adam didn't return her grin.
"Mister Van Statten owns the internet." Rose's grin disappeared.
"Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet." She retorted. Van Statten grinned.
"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way,right kids?"
"So you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up." The Doctor seemed upset.
"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten raised his eyebrows.
"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am." The Doctor stated.
"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cages. What were you doing down there?"
"You tell me." Van Statten wasn't taking that.
"The cages contains my two living specimens." He stated.
"And what're those?" Van Statten scoffed.
"Like you don't know."
"Show me." The Doctor ordered. Van Statten raised his eyebrows.
"You want to see it?" Rose snickered again.
"Blimey, you can smell the testosterone." She said. Van Statten snapped at Miss Goddard.
"Goddard, inform the Cages we're heading down." Then he snapped at Adam. "You, English. Look after the girl. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do." Then he finally pointed at the Doctor. "And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pets." Soon, they were standing outside the Cages.
"We've tried everything." Van Statten was explaining to the Doctor. "The creature has shielded itself but there's definite signs of life inside." The Doctor's ears perked up at this.
"Inside? Inside what?" Then Simmons walked in, taking off his gauntlets. Norder was right behind him.
"Welcome back, sir." Simmons said. "I've had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting."
"And the electricity was turned down. The Sea Nymph remains silent." Norder added. The Doctor looked at Van Statten, eyebrows raised.
"Metaltron? Sea Nymph?" Van Statten grinned proudly.
"Thought of them myself. Good, aren't they? Although I'd much to prefer to find out their real names." Then Simmons held out his gauntlets to the Doctor.
"Here, you'd better put these on. The last guy that touched it burst into flames."
"I won't touch it then." Norder then stepped up.
"Then you might as well not touch the glass either. The Sea Nymph has been placed in a water tank. Just don't touch it." The Doctor nodded.
"Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me." he said. The Doctor stepped through the heavy door and Van Statten shut it behind him. Then he and Miss Goddard went to a desk with monitors on it.
"Don't open that door until we get a result." Van Statten ordered. Inside the cage, it was dark. The Doctor looked at a blue glow.
"Look, I'm sorry about this. Mister Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor." He said to the glow.
"Doc-tor?" The creature said wearily. The Doctor began to panic.
"Impossible."
"The Doctor?" Then lights came up to reveal a Dalek being held in chains.
"Exterminate! Exterminate!"
"Let me out!" The Doctor screamed, hammering on the door.
"Exterminate!" the Dalek screamed back. "You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!" The Doctor looked at it as it twitched its arm gun, but nothing happened. The Doctor relaxed.
"It's not working." The Doctor laughed as the Dalek looks at its impotent weapon. "Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?"
"Keep back!" The Dalek screamed as the Doctor stood inches away, staring into it's eyepiece.
"What for?" He asked it. "What're you going to do to me? If you can't kill, then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you? You're nothing." then the Doctor changed attitude."What the hell are you here for?"
"I am waiting for orders." It answered immediately.
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders." it said. The Doctor scoffed.
"Well you're never going to get any. Not ever."
"I demand orders!" the Dalek screamed.
"They're never going to come! Your race is dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race wiped out in one second." The Doctor declared.
"You lie!"
"I watched it happen. I made it happen." If the Daleks had feelings, this one would be in disbelief.
"You destroyed us?" The Doctor suddenly felt terrible.
"I had no choice." He said quietly.
"And what of the Time Lords? And the Oceanics?"
"Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost."
"And the coward survived." The Dalek said, as if mocking. The Doctor grinned, as if he remembered what this thing was.
"Oh, and I caught your little signal. Help me. Poor little there's no one else coming 'cause there's no one else left."
"I am alone in the universe."
"Yep."
"So are you. We are the same." The Doctor ran up to him, his temper flaring and shaking his finger.
"We're not the same! I'm not-!" Then he paused. "No, wait. Maybe we are. You're right. Yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cause I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve. Exterminate."
The Doctor then pulled a lever on a nearby console and the Dalek lit up with electricity.
"Have pity!"
"Why should I? You never did."
"Help me!" It screamed as guards stormed in and pulled the Doctor out. Van Statten ran in and began to shout at the Dalek.
"I saved your life. Now talk to me. Goddamn it, talk to me!" He shouted as Simmons turned off the electricity.
"You've got to destroy it!" The Doctor shouted as he was dragged out.
" The last in the universe." Van Statten said, ignoring the Doctor. "And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek." Nothing. "I am Henry van Statten, now recognise me!" Nothing. The Dalek was silent. "Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes." Then he walked back out, where the Doctor was waiting with information.
"The metal's just battle armour. The real Dalek creature's inside." He stated.
"What does it look like?" Van Statten demanded.
"A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except hate."
"Genetically engineered. By whom?" Before the Doctor could answer, Norder came running in.
"Sir, the Sea Nymph. She, she spoke." Van Statten pumped his arms.
"Finally! What did she say?" Norder seemed hesitant.
"Sh-she asked for the Doctor." Everyone looked at the Doctor. He shrugged his shoulders, then went into the second cage. Just as before, it was dark. But instead of just the dark blue light, there was tank that glowed a light blue, like an aquarium. Inside, there was a human like being, except she had fins on the back of her thighs and forearms. Her long white hair floated around her elf like ears and her skin appeared to be an extremely light shade of blue. Around her chest, she wore a dark blue cloth that had strings running down her back with beads at the end and a long matching skirt. Her back was turned away from the Doctor
"Hello. I'm the Doctor. I'm here to help." She turned and looked at him in shock, and the Doctor reconised her immediately.
"Why, you're an Oceanic. The Princess Sirenia." She nodded, and the Doctor could see that she held a small tiara, decorated with sapphires.
"And you must be a Time Lord. The Doctor." She answered back in a melodious voice. It was said amongst the galaxy that Oceanics were sirens on Earth, creatures who led sailors to their deaths.
"What are you doing on Earth? With a Dalek?" he asked her.
"It had been the final moments of the Time War. As a final act, my aids took me from my war ship and sent me off in my escape pod. I saw the Dalek flying through the air similar to a meteorite. I had crashed onto Earth and was found by Van Statten. He brought me here and locked me in this tank for years, torturing me the whole time. And its all your fault!" The Doctor looked at her incredulously.
"My fault? How is this MY fault?" He shouted.
"You set off the Moment! You put Gallifrey in a Time Lock! And what about Oceania? Destroyed! The Daleks and The Oceanics shot at each other and they destroyed each other! Down with both planets and the coward survived!" The Doctor just looked at her. She was right. He hadnt thought about the other two planets. Gallifrey was safer, but the Oceanics had all died and here was their princess, furious with him.
"You're right. You're absolutely right." Then, remembering who he stood before, he got down on one knee. It was the least he could do. "Do you know of anything I can do, your majesty?"
"One thing." She stated. "Get me out of here. Let me leave this awful place." The Doctor nodded.
"Okay." Then he went over to the console and pushed a button, draining the water from the tank. The armed guards came back, but the Doctor stopped them.
"Before you take me away, I have one thing to say." Then he turned to the princess and slammed his hand on a button on the console. The tank popped open and whatever water was left in it spilled all over the floor. "Your highness, I suggest that you run!" She didn't have to be told twice. The princes dashed out of the tank as fast as her, rather weak, legs could carry her. But she was met with guards, who grabbed her arms and held her captive once more. The Doctor was dragged out and met by Miss Goddard, who was hextremely cross and wanted some answers.
"You will give us answers. Now, you talked about a war? What is that about?" She asked as they entered the lift. The Princess looked away, resuming her vow of silence to the humans. Miss Goddard looked at the Doctor.
"The Time War. The final battle between my people, the Oceanics, and the Dalek race."
"But you survived, too." The Doctor looked away.
"Not by choice." Van Statten raised his eyebrows.
"his means that the Dalek and the Princess her aren't the only aliens on Earth. Doctor, there's you. The only one of your kind in existence. " Then they walked to a different cage, where the Doctor was stripped and chained spread-eagled.
"Now, smile!" Van Statten ordered sarcastically, a big grin on his face. Then a painful laser scan ran down the Doctor's body, making him yell out in pain. The Princess looked away, remembering the time she herself had been hooked up to this machine. Van Statten got very excited from what he got on his monitor.
"Two hearts!" He exclaimed. "Binary vascular system. Oh, I am so going to patent this." The Doctor looked at him coldly.
"So that's your secret. You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it."
"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries." Van Statten said defensively. " All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk. You have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater, and do you know what we found? The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course. No need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?"
"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten?" The Doctor asked him, seriously. "A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you."
"In that case, I will be true to myself and continue." The Doctor leaned as far forward as he could.
"Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!" Van Statten scoffed.
"Nothing can escape the Cage." He then blasted the Doctor with the laser again.
"But it's woken up." The Doctor whined. "It knows I'm here. It's going to get out. Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe. No one on this planet!" Van Statten ignored him and ran the laser scan again, just to hear the Doctor scream. Just then, there a came a crackle over the intercom and over it came a panicked voice.
"Condition red! Condition red!" The voice shouted. "I repeat, this is not a drill!" In the background, they could hear Rose screaming,
"Its killing him! Do something!" The Doctor looked Van Staten dead in the eye.
"Release us if you want to live." Van Statten swallowed, then nodded. Soon, they were running in an office where they could see the cage on a large monitor.
"You've got to keep it in that cell. " the Doctor ordered.
"Doctor, it's all my fault." Rose said on the screen.
"Shut it, Blondie." The Princess ordered.
"I've sealed the compartment." Said the guard from before. "It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations."
"A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat." The Princess said. Meanwhile, the Dalek was doing just that.
"Open fire!"
"Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed." Van Statten ordered. The Princess rolled her eyes.
"Rose, get out of there!" The Doctor shouted. They watched as a woman guard led Rose and Adam out of there. They then watched as the Dalek glided up to the wall monitor and smashed it, absorbing the electricity. It's battered armour started to mend, turning from brown to golden.
"Abandoning the Cage, sir." The first guard said as he and his men retreated. Then the monitor went off and showed what power that had left. Miss Goddard watched as the power drained like water from a glass into a dehydrated man.
"We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh, my God. It's draining entire power supplies for the whole of Utah."
"It's downloading." The Doctor muttered, not turning away from the monitor.
"Downloading what?" Van Statten asked. The Princess was wondering the same thing. She had been on Earth for a little while, but she had been in that tank the whole time, so she didn't know much about the planet.
"Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down." Miss Goddard exclaimed.
"It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything." The Doctor said.
"What the hell is the internet?" The Princess asked.
"The internet is information, it's everything that the Earth knows. The Dalek knows everything that the Earth knows."
"Oh." was all she said.
"The cameras in the vault have gone down." Miss Goddard announced. They couldn't see the Dalek anymore.
"We've only got emergency power. It's eaten everything else. You've got to kill it now!" The Doctor shouted.
"All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately." Miss Goddard announced through the intercom. The Princess threw up her hands.
This is nonsense! Where do you idiots keep your weaponry?" Van Statten looked at her wearily.
"Why?"
"So that I can take the biggest gun you have and blow that thing back into the Time War!" The Doctor went up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Princess-"
"Don't call me Princess." She demanded, shrugging him off. "My planet is gone, and I am princess of nothing. Call me by my name, for all I am now, is Sirenia." The Doctor felt a wave of sadness go over his body.
"Sirenia, I won't allow you to risk yourself by going down there. I'm already risking Rose, I won't allow you down there either."
"My safety, as you have proven, is none of your concern!" she exclaimed. "I will determine what I risk, and I choose to risk myself. Now, where do you imbeciles keep your weaponry?"
"The weaponry is kept downstairs, with the Dalek, in weapons testing." Miss Goddard stated. Meanwhile, they listened to the gunshots over the intercom.
"Tell them to stop shooting at it." Van Statten ordered. Miss Goddard looked at him, shocked.
"But it's killing them!" she exclaimed. Van Statten looked at her like a crazed man.
"They're dispensable. That Dalek is unique. I don't want a scratch on its bodywork, do you hear me? Do you hear me?" They listened as the gunfire stopped, and realised that there is no one left to shoot. Miss Goddard called up a schematic of the base.
"That's us, right below the surface." She said, pointing. "That's the cage, and that's the Dalek."
"This museum of yours. Have you got any alien weapons?" The Doctor asked. Miss Goddard nodded.
"Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them."
"We've got to keep that thing alive. We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there." Van Statten said, rather begging. The Doctor looked at him deathly.
"Leaving everyone trapped with it. Rose is down there. I won't let that happen. Have you got that?" Then he looked at the Van Statten stands up. The Doctor turns back to the computer screen and Goddard. "It's got to go through this area. What's that?" he asked, pointing.
"Weapons testing." She answered quickly. Nobody noticed as Sirenia slipped out.
"Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it." He ordered. Meanwhile Rose, Adam, and a guard called DeMaggio were running right into a staircase.
"Stairs!"Rose exclaimed. "That's more like it. It hasn't got legs. It's stuck!" DeMaggio turned around, then began to push the two up the stairs.
"It's coming! Get up!" She shouted. Just as they did, a girl white hair, elf ears, pale, pale blue skin, and what appeared to be a bathing suit, came running down. They looked at her in shock.
"Why, you're the Sea Nymph! How did you escape from your cage?" DeMaggio asked. The girl rolled her eyes and took DeMaggio's gun.
"The name is Sirenia and I want you three to get your sorry arses up those stairs and out of this area. There's a bloody Dalek for goodness sakes! Now go!" The three of them ran up a flight and looked back down to see her turn into some sort of whispy vapor and go right through the Dalek as it slowly made its way over. They watched as it stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Adam snickered.
"Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs." He mocked. The Dalek moved it's eyepiece up to face them. DeMaggio held out her hand protectively over the two.
"Now listen to me. I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate then I can guarantee that Mister van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong, but people have died, and that stops right now. The killing stops. Have you got that? I demand that you surrender. Is that clear?" The Dalek moved his eyepiece back down to face forward.
"Elevate." It said. Then it began to rise into the air and it began to glide up the stairs.
"Oh my God."
"Adam, get her out of here."
"Come with us. You can't stop it."
"Someone's got to try. Now get out! Don't look back. Just run." She ordered. All of a sudden, there were shots from behind it. The Dalek spun around in circles, trying to find the foe.
"Humans! Get the hell outta here!" They heard Sirenia's voice shout. De Maggio wasted no time running after Rose and Adam. From below, there were gun shots, coming from De Maggio's gun and the Dalek's laser. No screams of death though. Sirenia had survived! Meanwhile the office, the Doctor was pacing back and forth, worried. He was trying to think of a way to kill the Dalek, save Rose, and find Sirenia. Meanwhile, Van Statten was watching him, rather cocky.
"I thought you were the great expert, Doctor." he mocked. "If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it needs. Everything needs something." The Doctor looked at him.
"What's the nearest town?" He asked.
"Salt Lake City." Van Statten answered swiftly.
"Population?"
"One million."
"All dead." Miss Goddard gasped. "If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs." Van Stattten looked at him curiously.
"But why would it do that?" Van Statten mumbled.
"Because it honestly believes they should die." The Doctor stated. "Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose!" Then he began to pace again. "The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible." Meanwhile, Sirenia had reached where the alien tech was held. Along the walls, gleaming guns from all around the galaxy shone from being cleaned. She grinned.
"Aw hell yeah!" She shouted. The. She went over and picked up the biggest gun she could carry and dashed up to find the Dalek again. And something an Oceanic can do, is run fast. And she ran so fast that she caught up to Rose, De Maggio and Adam in the loading bay.
"Hold your fire!" The Commander shouted. Then he pointed to them. "You three, get the hell out of there!" De Maggio joined her fellow officers while Sirenia caught up to Rose and Adam and ran with them. Then they stopped at the entrance and saw that the Dalek had zoomed in on Rose's face. Along with the the guards in the room, Sirenia tried to shoot the Dalek, but the gun wouldn't shoot!
"Damn Van Statten! He must have unloaded the guns!" She shouted, throwing the gun at the Dalek. Then the three of them ran out of the bay.
"It was looking at me." Rose muttered nervously.
"Yeah, it wants to slaughter us." Adam exclaimed.
"I know, but it was looking right at me." Sirenia gave her a look.
"It did that because you did something. Question is, what did you do?" Adam scoffed.
"No she didn't! It's just a sort of metal eye thing. It's looking all around."
"I don't know. It's like there's something inside, looking at me, like, like it knows me." Sirenia nodded wearily.
"C'mon. That Dalek's going to run out of people to shoot. We need to get out here if we don't want to be one of them." Meanwhile, the Dalek had just killed all of the guards in the room and was now watching the Doctor through the monitor.
"Perhaps it's time for a new strategy." Van Statten was saying, after watching his men get slaughtered. "Maybe we should consider abandoning this place." Miss Goddard looked like she wanted to smack him.
"Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out." She stated. The Doctor looked towards Van Statten.
"You said we could seal the vault." Van Statten nodded.
"It was designed to be a bunker in the event of nuclear war." He explained. "Steel bulkheads."
"There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive." Miss Goddard retorted.
"We've got emergency power." The Doctor told them. "We can re-route that to the bulkhead doors."
"We'd have to bypass the security codes. That would take a computer genius." She shot back. Then Van Statten took a seat at the computer.
"Good thing you've got me, then." he said. The Doctor looked at him, shocked.
"You want to help?" he asked. Van Statten gave him a look.
"I don't want to die, Doctor. Simple as that. And nobody knows this software better than me." He retorted.
"Sir." Miss Goddard pointed to the monitor and they all saw that the Dalek was back on the ground.
"I shall speak only to the Doctor." it stated. The Doctor stepped up.
"You're going to get rusty." he told the space machine.
"I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me." The Dalek explained.
"What's your next trick?" The Doctor asked it.
"I have been searching for the Daleks."
"Yeah, I saw. downloading the internet. What did you find?" The Doctor inquired.
"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes."
"And?" The Doctor narrowed his eyes.
"Nothing." It paused for a moment. "Where shall I get my orders now?" It screamed the question.
"You're just a soldier without commands." The Doctor teased.
"Then I shall follow the Primary Order, the Dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer." The Dalek stated. The Doctor stepped forward.
"What for? What's the point? Don't you see it's all gone? Everything you were, everything you stood for."
"Then what should I do?" The Dalek inquired.
"All right, then. If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself." he ordered.
"The Daleks must survive!"
"The Daleks have failed!" The Doctor shouted. "Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct. Rid the Universe of your filth. Why don't you just die?" He stared deathly into the monitor. The Dalek did nothing for a moment, then spoke.
" I can feel the Princess of Oceania's hatred for you. She would agree with me. You would make a good Dalek." Then the screen went blank. The Doctor didn't turn away.
"Seal the Vault" he ordered. Van Statten began typing like crazy.
"I can leech power off the ground defences, feed it to the bulkheads. God, it's been years since I had to work this fast."
"Are you enjoying this?" The Doctor demanded.
"Doctor," Miss Goddard got his attention. "they're still down there." On the staircase, Rose's phone rang. She answered it, but kept running.
"This isn't the best time." She stated.
"Is that the Doctor?" Sirenia asked.
"Where are you?" The Doctor asked her at the same time.
"Level forty nine." she answered, nodding to Sirenia at the same time, who rolled her eyes.
"Bloody bonehead! Can't he tell we're a bit busy here?"
"You've got to keep moving." He told them. "The vault's being sealed off up at level forty six."
"Can't you stop them closing?" Rose demanded.
"I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run." The three of them kept running as the Dalek made it up to level fifty one.
"Done it." Van Statten stated, looking satisfied. "We've got power to the bulkheads." Miss Goddard was still tracking the Dalek.
"The Dalek's right behind them." She said. Rose still had her phone on as they reached level forty six.
"We're nearly there. Give us two seconds."
"Doctor, I can't sustain the power." Van Statten told him. "The whole system is failing. Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads." The Doctor closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry." Then he hit enter. The three of them ran faster and faster as the bulkheads were closing.
"Come on!" Adam called as he slid under with eighteen inches left. Sirenia used her Oceanic speed and grabbed Rose and threw her under, just as the bulkheads shut.
"The vault is sealed." Van Statten announced. But the Doctor was worried.
"Rose, where are you? Rose, did you make it? What about Sirenia? Did she make it too?"
"Sorry, I was a bit slow." Rose told him, standing outside the bulkhead. "She saved my life." On the other side, the Dalek rolled around the corner. Sirenia felt tears run down her face.
"Doctor, I know you can hear me." She said. "I'm about to die, so do this for me. Take care of Rose. She needs it." She snickered a little as the Dalek came closer. "The last Oceanic. That's not how I expected to die as."
"Exterminate!" The Dalek screamed. Then there was a zapping sound. The Doctor stared at the screen that they were using to track the Dalek.
"I killed her." he murmured. Van Statten tried to comfort him.
"I'm sorry."
"I destroyed her planet. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry? I could've killed that Dalek in it's cell, but you stopped me." Van Statten stepped back, astonished.
"It was the prize of my collection!" he shouted. The Doctor stepped forward.
"Your collection? But was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Sirenia? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater."
"Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!" Van Statten shouted back.
"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get. And you took her down with you." he looked away from Van Statten. "She was the princess. And I took her planet down in front of her." But she wasn't dead. She stood in front of the Dalek and listened to the blast, but didn't feel the impact. She opened her eyes and looked at the machine.
"Go on then, kill me. Why're you doing this?" She asked the Dalek.
"I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose." it stated.
"They're all dead because of you. It's all your fault!" She shouted, scared.
"They are dead because of I and Rose Tyler." It said.
"And now what? What're you waiting for?" She was practically begging it to kill her.
"I feel Rose Tyler's fear."
"What do you expect? She's a nineteen year old human who just regenerated the most hated creature in the universe! Of course she's afraid!"
"Daleks do not fear. Must not fear." It screamed. It began shooting crazy. "Rose Tyler gave me life. What else have she given me? I am contaminated." In the office, Adam and Rose entered. The Doctor went up and cornered Adam.
"You were quick on your feet, leaving them behind."
"I'm not the one who sealed the vault!" Adam shot back.
"Doctor, the monitor." Rose said, pointing. On the screen, the monitor was back on and there was the Dalek standing there with his gun to Sirenia's back.
"Open the bulkhead or the Princess dies." it ordered. The Doctor paid no attention as he stared at Sirenia.
"You're alive!" he cried. Sirenia nodded.
"I'm a hard woman to get rid of." She said. His eyes narrowed.
"I thought you were dead." He muttered. But the Dalek was impatient.
"Open the bulkhead!" it demanded more forcefully.
"Don't do it!" Sirenia cried.
"What use are emotions if you will not save a woman of your sister planet?" It persisted. The Doctor made a split second decision.
"I killed her twice. I can't do it again." Then he opened the bulkheads and Dalek pushed Sirenia through it.
"What do we do now, you bleeding heart. What the hell do we do?" Van Statten shouted at the Doctor.
"Kill it when it gets here." Adam decided for the Doctor.
"All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault." Miss Goddard said, exasperated. But Adam looked confident.
"Only the catalogued ones." Meanwhile, the Dalek and Sirenia were making their way up to Van Statten and the rest. As they did that, Sirenia tried to coax it out of killing Van Statten.
"I'm begging you, don't kill them. You didn't kill me." She said. The Dalek was still questioning itself.
"But why not? Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?" When they got to the office, the Dalek went up to Van Statten. Sirenia stood behind it.
""Don't move. Don't do anything." She told Van Statten. "It's beginning to question itself."
"Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?" The Dalek asked immediately.
"I wanted to help you." Van Statten stammered. Sirenia did a face palm. "I just, I don't know. I was trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you. I wanted you better. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!" The Dalek backed him against the wall.
"Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" Sirenia ran up and put herself between the Dalek and Van Statten.
"Don't do it! Don't kill him! You don't have to do this anymore. You didn't kill me and I was one of your biggest enemies before. What else is there? What do you want?" The Dalek didn't do anything, for just a sliver of a moment. then it spoke.
"I want freedom." Sirenia's eyes widened.
"Okay." She murmured. Then she led the Dalek up to the top level, where it blasted a hole in the roof, and a shaft of sunlight streams down straight onto its eyepiece. Sirenia blinked and smiled in the bright sunshine, her eyes watering.
"We're out. We made it. We're finally free. I never thought I'd feel the sunlight again."
"How does it feel?" The Dalek asked.
"It feels, amazing." She murmured happily. The Dalek opened its middle and dome sections to reveal the one-eyed mutant within. It held out a tendril, as if wanting to touch the sun.
"Get out of the way." Sirenia looked away from the gap in the roof to see the Doctor aiming an enormous gun at the Dalek. "Sirenia, get out of the way now!" He shouted again.
"No!" She cried, stepping in front of the Dalek, blocking the Doctor's path. "I won't let you do this."
"That thing killed hundreds of people!" The Doctor shouted at her. Sirenia crossed her arms.
"It's not the one pointing the gun at me. And its also not the one who let my planet get destroyed!" She shot back. The Doctor didn't lower his gun.
"I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed our homes, our people! We've got nothing left." She stepped to the side, just a little bit.
"Look at it." She told him. The Doctor slowly lowered the gun.
"What's it doing?" He asked slowly.
"It's the sunlight, that's all it wants. Neither of us have seen the sun in so long."
"But it can't-" The Doctor tried to argue, but Sirenia stopped him.
"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing. What about you, Doctor? What in the name of Poseidon are you changing into?" The Doctor looked like he was about to cry.
"I couldn't- I wasn't-" He couldn't finish the sentences, tears threatening to fall. "Oh, Sirenia. They're all dead." She nodded, a tear running down her own cheek. They were all remembering their planets, their friends, and their families. Then they Dalek spoke.
"Why do we survive?" It asked. The Doctor shook his head sadly.
"I don't know." he said.
"I am the last of the Daleks." It mumbled.
"You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating."
"Into what?"
"Something new." Sirenia told it. "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."
"I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness. Princess, give me orders. Order me to die." Sirenia gasped.
"No! No, I can't do that."
"This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like a human. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!" Sirenia nodded slowly, wiping away her tears.
"Okay then. Do it."
"Would Rose Tyler be afraid?" it asked her. Sirenia nodded again.
"Yes. She most certainly would."
"I am. Exterminate." The Dalek then shut its eye. Sirenia went to the Doctor and gripped his hand, not caring that she hated him, not caring that he destroyed her planet. It closed up its armour again, then rose into the air. The balls on its lower body spread out around it creating a forcefield, and it exploded.
"That was the most horrible thing I have ever done." She said quietly. "And I led my people into a war." The Doctor looked at her, and she to him. "No matter what we feel for each other, we need each other, don't we?" She asked him. He nodded. She took a deep breath and released his hand, then wiped her eyes. "So be it then." The Doctor then led her back to the Tardis, where they found Rose waiting for them.
"Is that the end of it, the Time War?" She asked them.
"We're the only ones left. We win. How about that?"
"The Dalek survived. Maybe some of your people did too." She told them, somewhat coaxing them into believing her. They both shook their heads.
"I'd know. In here." He tapped the side of his head. "Feels like there's no one."
"And I watched from an escape pod as my planet was blown up. There's no one left." She said.
"Well then, good thing I'm not going anywhere." Rose said, smiling. The two aliens smiled back.
"And you're stuck with me!" Sirenia chuckled, punching him in the shoulder. He chuckled too, rubbing his arm.
"Yeah." he mumbled. Then Adam came running over.
"We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared. They're closing down the base. Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed." He told them. Rose snorted.
"About time." she said. Adam sighed.
"I'll have to go back home." He told them. Doctor looked at his watch.
"Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours." He said. Rose gave him a look.
"Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars." She told them. Sirenia crossed her arms.
"Tell him to go and stand outside, then." She told Rose.
"He's all on his own, and he did help."
"He left you down there."
"So did you, nearly." Adam was confused.
"What're you talking about? We've got to leave." he told them
"He's a bit pretty." Sirenia commented.
"I hadn't noticed." Rose said, crossing her arms. The Doctor opened the doors and Sirenia stepped in.
"On your own head." He said, following her.
"What're you doing? She said cement. She wasn't joking. We're going to get sealed in." Adam told them as Rose followed the Doctor.
"Doctor? What're you doing standing inside a box? Rose? Sirenia?" then he followed them in as the Tardis dematerialized.
(I FINALLY GOT THIS CHAPTER DONE! Phew! It took forever! I was literally copying and pasting for days on end, trying to get it done! And now it is! Someone please tell me a more efficient way to copy and paste stuff from Wattpad! Because I swear, that did not work the way it did for the Songstress or Baby Daddy's Babysitter! But I am still so glad that I got this up for you guys!)