Forgets
Adelaide woke first, wincing from the various points of pain from the impact. She looked to the side to see Rory lying there, still unconscious, but he woke as something green dripped onto his face. "What happened?" he groaned.
"The Daleks have terrible aim." She sat up. "The Doctor, at least, just woke up, so they're both likely still alive if that's any consolation."
"How do you know that?"
"All Time Lords are psychically bonded. If I focus, I could discern exactly where he is on this planet." She leaped standing and immediately froze.
She hadn't actually looked around yet and now found herself surrounded by Daleks. However, none of them moved. She reached out and poked one, making it roll away. Rory moved to stand beside her. "I've got a light," he said, holding out a penlight.
She pulled out her sonic. "So have I." She frowned. "Why do you have a penlight?"
"Never know where I'd end up, traveling with the Doctor. Wanted to stay prepared."
Adelaide nodded. Out of the two humans, Rory was the one she'd taken to more originally, with his observations of the awake coma patients helping them solve the Prisoner Zero issue. He was still far more emotional than she liked, but he had always remained devoted to Amy...unlike the woman in question.
"How have you been coping with your separation?"
He looked at her sharply. "How do you know..."
"I make observations, Rory. Even I can notice difficulties in a relationship." Rory scoffed at that. "What?"
"Just...it's a bit rich, coming from you."
"Excuse me?"
"Just saying, you and the Doctor shouldn't be the ones offering relationship advice," he shrugged.
Adelaide clenched her jaw and walked forward, not wanting to comment. True, she and the Doctor were not the epitome of a healthy relationship. They'd gone from barely speaking to hiding their feelings to devoted to each other to barely speaking again. Now, despite her regeneration, they'd reached a point of collaborating but still being uncertain about it.
And she knew why.
Her previous regeneration had, undoubtedly, been in love with the Doctor. And then the whole discovery of Alignment had happened, and she'd had to fight that love. Now...now, this regeneration was attempting to decide if she was still in love.
The problem was that the Doctor was so damn wonderful. He was enthusiastic and good and clever and loyal and dedicated and curious and understanding and sometimes just so annoying because he tried so damn hard to fix everything and everyone. And that wasn't even that annoying.
Adelaide stopped when she entered the next room. It was also full of Daleks, but there were a few more lights flickering in the walls. She held up a hand, but Rory had already leaned forward to move an eyestalk out of his way...and then it swiveled back to look at him. Instantly, he stepped back and kicked a metal bar, making a loud sound echo around the room.
The Dalek he'd touched started to light up, and soon the others in the room started to do the same. "Ex...ee...eee...ex...ee..."
Rory frowned. "What? Sorry, what?"
"Rory, don't engage."
"Ex...egg...ee...eg...ex..."
He pointed at one of the balls from the Dalek casing on the ground. "Eggs? You mean those things?"
"Just stay quiet."
"Are those things eggs?"
"They're not asking for eggs!"
As she said that, the Dalek began to finish the word. "Egg...stir...min...ate...exterminate!" All of the Daleks started to shout the word, and Adelaide and Rory started to run. Weapon blasts just missed them both. "Exterminate!"
"Run!" A voice, Oswin, shouted at them both. "The door at the end, run for it. They're waking up, but they're slow. The door at the end. Just run. Now! Now! Now!" The pair listened to her, the door rising just enough for them both to slide under it before shutting again. They could still hear the Daleks in the other room but, for the moment at least, they were safe. "So, anyway, I'm Oswin. What do I call you?"
"Adelaide," she said, flicking a few buttons on her sonic.
Rory shook his head. "Er...I can't remember...er...Rory."
"Lovely name, Rory. First boy I ever fancied was called Rory."
He nodded. "Okay."
"Actually, she was called Nina. I was going through a phase. Just flirting to keep you cheerful!"
"Exterminate!" A Dalek shouted from a room they couldn't see.
"Okay, any time you want to start flirting again is fine by me."
"What about you, sweet lady? Open to some flirting? Or are you and the chin still a thing?"
Adelaide sighed. "We're...not a thing."
"Really?"
"Shut up."
Rory actually laughed at that. "I don't think I've ever heard you say that."
|C-S|
They'd started exploring in an attempt to find a place to contact the Doctor via, with Oswin guiding them. "Hey there, Beaky Boy!" Oswin called.
"If it's a straight choice, I prefer Nina," Rory sighed.
"Loving this." Oswin laughed. "The Nose and the Chin. You two could fence, and your lady-friends could cheer you on. There's a door behind you." The door in question opened, and the pair walked through. "In there, quickly. Okay, you're safe for now. Pop your shirt off, Nose, quick as you like."
"Why?"
"Does there have to be a reason?"
Rory glanced at Adelaide. "Don't say anything."
"So now you're telling me to shut up?"
"Ooo, trouble in paradise." There was the sound of Oswin putting her elbows on something. "Want to talk about your relationship troubles, little lady?"
Adelaide stepped up to the dais at the center of the room, looking it over. "Not particularly."
"Aw, you're no fun."
"My apologies."
"Don't worry, I can forgive you."
|C-S|
Adelaide and Rory leaped up when a shockwave hit the room they were sitting in. "Oswin?" Rory called. "What was that? That was close."
Oswin opened the nearby door, letting the pair enter the next room, which was obviously where the explosion had come from. It was filled with smoke and dust, various debris and rubble scattered about. And various dead Daleks.
"Oswin?" Adelaide asked. "Who killed all the Daleks?"
The Doctor emerged through the dust, carrying an unconscious Amy. "Who do you think?"
Adelaide frowned at Amy. "What happened?"
"The explosion knocked her out."
"The protection from the nanocloud." Rory's eyes widened as she said that, realizing that Amy had, indeed, somehow lost the bracelet the Daleks had given them.
"What does that mean?" Rory asked them. "What's going to happen to Amy?"
"The nanocloud is going to attempt to turn her into a Dalek." Adelaide stepped back. "Lay her down here." She guided the Doctor back to the previous room, the Doctor laying Amy on the dais.
Rory, seemingly unable to help himself, bounced around a bit. "Will sleeping help her? Will it slow down the process?"
"You'd better hope so," Oswin called, "because pretty soon she's going to try and kill you."
The Doctor knelt down to be closer to Amy's eye level as she started to stir. "Amy."
The human made a face, pressing a hand to her head. "Ow."
"Amy. Still with us."
Rory came to Amy's other side. "Amy, it's me. Do you remember me?" Amy slapped him. "She remembers me."
The Doctor laughed. "Same old Amy."
"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek?" Oswin asked. "Subtract love, add anger. Doesn't she seem a bit too angry to you?"
"Well," Amy sat up, glaring at the camera in the corner, "somebody's never been to Scotland."
Adelaide glanced at the camera. "Why hasn't the nanocloud converted you, Oswin?"
"I mentioned the genius thing, yeah? Shielded in here."
The Doctor nodded. "Clever of you." He looked around the room. "Now, this place. The Daleks said it was fully automated. Look at it. It's a wreck."
"Well, I've had nearly a year to mess with them, and not a lot else to do."
"A junior entertainment manager hiding out in a wrecked ship, hacking the security systems of the most advanced warrior race the Universe has ever seen. But you know what really gets me about you, Oswin? The soufflés. Where do you get milk for the soufflés?"
Adelaide sighed. "Thank goodness you finally recognize the issue."
He looked at Amy and Rory. "Is no one else wondering about that?"
"No," Rory said. "Frankly, no. Twice."
"So, Doctor," Oswin continued. "I've been looking you up. You're all over the Database. Why do the Daleks call you the Predator?"
His jaw tensed. "I'm not the Predator, I'm just a man with a plan."
"A man with a plan who apparently needs someone to protect him."
"I don't protect the Doctor-"
"The Daleks disagree, little lady. You're not here as much but you're here...protecting, apparently. One would assume you're the one with the plans."
Adelaide crossed her arms. "Occasionally, but plans are all he is, so I tend to let him take charge."
The Doctor pouted at that, but when she gestured at him he spoke. "In no particular order, we need to neutralize all the Daleks in this Asylum, rescue Oswin from the wreckage, escape from this planet, and fix Amy and Rory's marriage."
Amy sighed. "Okay, I'm counting three lost causes. Anyone else?"
"Oswin, there's a Dalek ship in orbit."
"Yes, got it on the sensors."
"The Asylum has a forcefield. The Daleks upstairs are waiting for me to turn it off. Soon as I do, they'll burn this whole world and us with it." He clapped. "So, Oswin, my question is this: how fast can you drop the forcefield?"
"Pretty fast. But why would I?"
He stepped onto the dais. "Because this is a teleport. Am I right, Oswin?"
"Yeah. Internal use only."
He snapped, crouching down to sonic. "I can boost the power. Once the forcefield is down, I can use it to beam us right off this planet."
"You said when the forcefield is down the Daleks will blow us up."
The Doctor nodded. "We'll have to be quick, yes."
"Fine, we'll be quick," Amy said. "But where do we beam to?"
"The only place within range," Adelaide answered. "The Dalek ship."
"They'll exterminate us on the spot!"
Rory sighed. "Ah, so this is the kind of escape plan where you survive about four seconds longer."
"What's wrong with four seconds? You can do loads in four seconds. Oswin, how fast can you drop the forcefield?"
"I can do it from here, as soon as you come and get me."
"No, just drop the forcefield and come to us."
"There's enough power in that teleport for one go. Why would you wait for me?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Why wouldn't we?"
"No idea. Never met you." A pause. "Sending you a map so you can come get me." A map flickered onto a nearby screen.
Rory shook his head. "This place is crawling with Daleks."
"Yeah. Kind of why I'm anxious to leave. Come up and see me sometime."
Rory stepped up to the Doctor's side. "So, are we going to get her?"
The Time Lord looked to Adelaide. "We don't have a choice," Adelaide said and he nodded.
"Okay, as soon as the forcefield is down the Daleks will attack. If it gets too explody-wody in here, you go without us, okay?"
"And leave you to die?"
The Doctor waved a hand. "Oh, don't worry about us. You're the one beaming up to a Dalek ship to get exterminated."
"Fair point, love this plan." Rory glanced back at Amy. "What about Amy?"
"Keep her remembering, keep her focused. That'll hold back the conversion."
Amy shook her head. "What do I do?"
Adelaide glanced over. "You heard Oswin. They're subtracting love; don't let them."
The Time Lords left the humans, knowing they weren't the best to attempt to fix their relationship but couldn't help themselves.
|C-S|
As the sounds of Daleks grew louder, the Doctor called out for Oswin. "Oswin, I think we're close."
"You are. Less than twenty feet away. Which is the good news..."
"Okay. And the bad, which I suddenly feel is coming?"
"You're about to pass through Intensive Care." The door in front of them slid open, and the Time Lords stepped inside carefully.
There were various Daleks in individual cells, some even chained in place. "What's so special about this lot, then?"
"Don't know," Oswin sighed. "Survivors of particular wars. Spiridon, Kembel, Aridius, Vulcan, Exxilon...ringing any bells?"
Adelaide nodded. "All of them." She and the Doctor may have only met once on Gallifrey, but by now they had determined that she'd tended to visit planets after him to study the civilizations he left behind.
She'd seen his wreckage.
"Yeah? How?"
"These are the Daleks who survived me."
The Daleks started to shake themselves awake, lights flickering. "Doc...tor...Doc...tor... ..."
"That's weird," Oswin said. "Those ones don't usually wake up for anything."
The Doctor shrugged. "Yeah, well, special visitor." They walked to the door on the other side of the room, but nothing happened. "Okay, door, but it won't open. We can't be far away, though."
"Hang on, not quite sure...there's a release code. Let me just...anything out there?"
"No!"
"Hang on, I'm trying to think."
The Doctor tried sonicing the door, but Adelaide was focused on a chained up Dalek that was currently attempting, very hard, to break its chains. When it did, she grabbed the Doctor's shoulder. "Oswin, get this door open!" Adelaide ordered.
Other Daleks rolled forward, twitching, not attacking but closing in. "Just get this door open!" The Doctor shouted. "Oswin! Get this door open!"
But then all of the Daleks stopped. After a moment of appearing to study them, all of the Daleks turned and rolled away again. "Oh, that is cool. Tell me I'm cool, chin-boy and little lady."
"What...what did you do?"
"Hang on, I think I've found the door thingy."
"No, tell us what you did."
"The Daleks, they have a hive mind," Oswin explained. "Well, they don't, they have a sort of telepathic web..."
The Doctor nodded. "The Path Web, yes."
"I hacked into it, did a mass delete on all the information connected with the Doctor and Adelaide."
Adelaide's eyes widened. "You made them forget us?"
"Good, eh? And here comes the door." The door behind them rose.
"I've tried hacking into the Path Web," the Doctor said. "Even I couldn't do it."
"Come and meet the girl who can."
But when they turned, expecting to see a human woman standing there with a grin, they found a chained up Dalek.
Of course. Adelaide should have thought, she should have realized...
"Hey, you're right outside, come on in!" Oswin said, but now she sounded like a Dalek, whatever filter that had been on her words earlier fading away.
"Oswin, we have a problem..."
"No, we don't. Don't even say that. Joined the Alaska to see the universe, ended up stuck in a shipwreck first time out. Rescue me, chin-boy and little lady, and show me the stars."
Adelaide frowned at Oswin...the Dalek...Oswin... "Does it look real to you?"
"Does what look real?"
"Where you are, right now. Does it seem real to you?"
"It is real!"
"It's a dream, Oswin. You must have dreamed it for yourself because the truth was too terrible."
She was silent for a minute. "Where am I? Where...am...I? Where...am...I?"
The Doctor took a deep breath. "Because you...are a Dalek."
"I am not a Dalek. I am not a Dalek! I'm human."
"You were human when you crashed here," the Doctor explained. "It was you who climbed out of the pod. That was your ladder."
"You mean...human..."
Adelaide shook her head. "Not anymore. You were right, you are a genius, and the Daleks need genius."
"They didn't just make you a puppet, they did a full conversion. Oswin, I'm so sorry, but you are a Dalek...the milk, Oswin. The milk and the eggs for the souffles...where did it all come from?"
"Eggs..."
"It wasn't real. It was never real."
"Stir...min...ate..." Oswin said.
"Oswin?"
"Eggs...tir...min...ate..." She raised the weapon, straining against the chains. "Exterminate!"
The Doctor held up his hands, both Time Lords backing towards the door. "Oswin! No, no, no, Oswin. Oswin!"
"Exterminate!"
"Listen, Oswin, you don't have to do this."
"Exterminate!" She broke through the chains, advancing.
"Oswin!"
Then she stopped and, for the first time ever, the Time Lords heard a Dalek cry. "Why...do they hate you...so much? They hate you..." The eyestalk twitched to look at them, "so much. Why?"
"I have fought them many, many times."
"We have," Adelaide corrected.
"We have grown stronger in fear of you," she said.
He nodded. "I know. We tried to stop."
"Then run."
"What did you say?"
"I've taken down the forcefield. The Daleks above have begun their attack. Run!" The door behind them opened.
"Oswin...are you..."
"I am Oswin Oswald. I fought the Daleks. And I am human!"
The Doctor grinned. "Thank you!"
"Run!"
The Time Lords turned and ran back through the Asylum, dodging the effects of the Daleks attacking the planet, until they reached the teleport room. "Right, go!" They leaped onto the console as Amy and Rory, despite everything going on around them, continued kissing. "Let's go! We're good, let's go!" The Doctor sighed. "Oh, for God's sake." He snatched the controls from Rory and hit the button, with the humans continuing to kiss.
|C-S|
"You know," the Doctor shouted to the Daleks as he sauntered towards the door, "you guys should really have seen this coming. The thing about me and teleports, I've got really good aim. Pin-point accurate, in fact. Or, to put it another way..." He bounded out of the TARDIS, Adelaide stepping out a second later, "suckers!"
"Identify yourself!" A Dalek shouted. "Identify! Identify!"
He spread his arms. "It's me! You know me. The Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, the Predator..." He pointed at Adelaide, "Adelaide, the protector..."
"Titles are not meaningful in this context," Darla said. "Doctor who?"
"Doctor who?"
"Doctor who?"
The Doctor actually laughed at the situation. "Oh, Oswin...oh, you did it to them all. You beauty!"
"Doctor who? Doctor who?"
"Fellas, you're never going to stop asking." He turned, grabbing Adelaide's hands and spinning them in a circle before running into the TARDIS.
A/N: What's this, Adelaide still thinks the Doctor is wonderful? Maybe the Time Lords aren't fated for so much hardship ;)
Notes on reviews:
Tina. And. Maxwell: So am I :)
