Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.
Dalek
The Doctor stood just outside Astra's bedroom door, waiting for her to finish changing so they could walk back to the console room together. Astra steps out now wearing a white lace blouse with a white vest underneath, a bow tie, a short black skirt with attached suspenders, black tights, a long wool cardigan, a black satchel bag and some small black and white heeled shoes completing the look.
Grinning at her quirky look the Doctor offers Astra an arm, which she takes before they begin to walk back to the console room. Just before they reach the entrance to the console room the whole TARDIS shook sending them both stumbling into the walls on either side of the corridor.
"What in the..." the Doctor says before running the rest of the way into the room, Astra following directly behind him. He runs right over to the console and looks at the readings on the monitor. Astra coming up beside him looks at the screen too but not able to understand the circular writing in order to be any help, but she thinks the flashing red lights kind of gave way the importance of whatever was going on.
The Doctor analyses the readings on the screen and determines that it appears to be a distress signal, he slaves the TARDIS to the signal and lets it lead them to where they need to go.
~*0*~
The TARDIS materialises in barely lit room with a thin blue carpet with yellow paths leading around the floor and covered in rows display cases. The Doctor stuck his head out giving the room a curious look before stepping out completely.
"So what is it? What's wrong?" Astra questions softly as she steps out of the TARDIS after the Doctor
"Don't know" the Doctor admits "Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course"
Rose runs out of the TARDIS nearly knocking into Astra, having been taking her stuff to her room and then planning to have a talk with them, when there was a tremor throughout the TARDIS. Ditching her stuff on the floor of her room she quickly raced back to the console room figuring something must have been going on and not wanting to be left out, in the console room she saw the doors partially open rushes over and through them not wanting to be left behind "Where are we?" she questions slightly breathlessly.
"Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground" the Doctor rattles off quickly as he steadies Astra.
"When are we then?" Astra smiled.
"Two thousand and twelve" he replies, laughing slightly, before spotting a display case and moving closer to see what was inside.
"God, that's so close" Rose gasps, this seeming to freak her out a little more than any of the other travels so far.
"I'd be thirty two" Astra shrugs.
The Doctor finds the light switch, showing the true size of the room they where in. Rows upon rows of display cases line up throughout the room containing lots of different alien body parts and technology.
"Blimey. It's a great big museum" Rose gasps finally looking around the room.
"An alien museum" the Doctor says distracted by everything he can see in the cases "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" he lists pointing to the things in all the different case's he recognises ending on a round disc shaped device with glowing blue panels on the front.
"That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed" Rose says looking wide eyed into the case.
"Wouldn't it technically be a Raxacoricofallapatorian arm?" Astra asks the Doctor making him laugh and nod his head before something in a display case across the aisle caught his eye.
"Oh, look at you" the Doctor says softly, looking at what looked like a silver robot head with 2 pipes coming out of the top and into the side.
"What is it?" Rose asked bluntly.
"An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old" the Doctor explained, not even really hearing her just remembering.
"Is that where the signal's coming from?" Rose asked.
"No, it's stone dead" the Doctor said, rolling his eyes "The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help" he thinks about it for a moment before he lightly pokes the display glass with two fingers, and as with most museums sets off the blaring alarm. Security guards rush in from all sides and unlike normal museums these security guards are carrying big machine guns, blocking them off from the TARDIS.
"If someone's collecting aliens, that would make you exhibit A" Astra says slightly worried for the Doctor. Sensing this he grabs her hand and squeezes it tightly as all the guns get pointed at them.
~*0*~
"Attention all personnel. Bad Wolf One descending. Bad Wolf One descending" a distorted but polite voice announces over the PA system.
Four armed guards line the corridor as a man and his assistants stride out of a doorway from outside, having just got off the helicopter.
A man with a PDA strides along with the man, dressed sharply in his business suit and tie. "On behalf of all of us, I want to wish you a very happy birthday, sir. And the President called to convey his personal best wishes" the man said.
"The President is ten points down. I want him replaced" the man said, as if this was something that he did everyday.
"I don't think that's very wise, sir" the other man frowned down at his PDA.
"Thank you so much for your opinion. You're fired" the well dressed man said making the other man look up with a gasp knowing what usually happens to people when they get fired "Get rid of him"
An armed guard steps forward and grabs the man, dragging him away to do as ordered.
"Wipe his memory; put him on the road someplace. Memphis, Minneapolis. Somewhere beginning with M" the smartly dresses man said smugly.
A red headed woman in a business suit runs up to the side of the obvious man-in-charge, ready to take the other mans place.
"So, the next President. What do you think? Republican or Democrat?" the man asks the woman.
"Democrat, sir" the woman answers promptly.
"For what reason?" the man come to an immediate stop and turn to look at her enquiringly.
Feeling like she is being tested she answers quickly "They're just so funny, sir?"
"What is your name?" the man asks.
"Goddard, sir. Diana Goddard" the woman introduces herself.
"I like you, Diana Goddard" the man says smiling at the woman before carrying on walking "So, where's the English kid?"
"Sir! Sir! I bought ten more artefacts at auction, Mister Van Statten" the English kid said.
"Bring 'em on, let me see 'em" the man now known as Van Statten said to the kid.
Diana Goddard interrupted to fill Statten in on the situation occurring, dreading what might happen whether she did or not "Sir, with respect, there's something more urgent. We 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" Van Statten said before pausing seeming to be waiting for something before sighing in exasperation and explaining to the people following him "In-tru-da window. That was funny!" Statten preened under the obedient laughter that followed.
"Bring 'em in. Let's see 'em. And tell Simmons I want to visit my little pet. Get to it!" Van Statten ordered, going through a doorway.
Goddard steps aside to use her headset "Simmons? You'd better give me good news. Is it talking?"
"Not exactly talking, no" the man called Simmons says through the headset.
"Then what's it doing?" Goddard asks confusion colouring her face.
"Screaming. Is that any good?" Simmons says sounding like he was smiling over the headset. Goddard frowns, very uncomfortable with the situation, before taking a deep breath and hurrying after Van Statten to his office to give her report.
~*0*~
Adam enthusiastically shows some of the items he had managed to find to Van Statten in his office. Trying to explain what he thought he had found he finishes with "And this is the last. Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it"
Goddard enters the room with the Doctor, Astra and Rose trailing behind her.
"What does it do?" Van Staten asks ignoring the new comers for the moment.
"Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel" Adam explains his theory.
"I really wouldn't hold it like that" the Doctor speaks up unable to help himself.
"Shut it" Goddard snaps at him.
The Doctor ignores her and continues "Really, though, that's wrong."
"Is it dangerous?" Astra asks looking at the device curiously.
"No, it just looks silly" the Doctor scoffs as he reaches for the device and all the security guards react all pointing their guns at him from every direction, makingthe Doctor raise an eyebrow at the trigger happy security before Van Statten waves them off and leans forward handing over the device.
"You just need to be" the Doctor starts to slowly stroke the length o the device away from his releasing a musical note "Delicate" He plays several different notes turning to look at Astra who is smiling slightly at the Doctor and returning her smile.
"It's a musical instrument" Van Statten says raising his eye brows slightly in surprise.
"And it's a long way from home" the Doctor says still smiling.
"Here, let me" Van Statten says snatching the device away from the Doctor and repeating his action with a bit more force. The instrument lets out some high pitched hums.
"I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision" the Doctor says raising an eyebrow as Van Statten gradually gets the hand of it and starts to produce some nice notes "Very good. Quite the expert".
"As are you" Van Statten says whilst tossing the device over his shoulder, making it clatter onto the floor "Who exactly are you?"
The Doctor raises his eyebrow at the treatment of the device and states not very impressed "I'm the Doctor. And who are you?"
"Like you don't know" Van Statten says looking incredulous "We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake".
"Pretty much sums me up, yeah" the Doctor nods with a grin.
"The question is, how did you get in?" Van Statten starts not paying attention to the Doctors answer "Fifty three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplices. You're quite a collector yourself, their rather pretty" he finishes eyeing Rose and Astra up and down.
Rose seems rather flattered but Astra retorts "She is going to smack you in that smug little face if you keep looking at her like that" raising her eye brow at the man.
"She's English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend" Van Statten says completely ignoring Astra's threat.
"This is Mister Henry Van Statten" introduces the English kid.
"And who's he when he's at home?" Astra asks rolling her eyes at the pretentious introduction.
"Mister Van Statten owns the internet" the English kid explains.
"Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet" Astra scoffs.
"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten smirks at Astra disbelieving look.
"So you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum" the Doctor states figuring the man out "Anything you don't understand, you lock up"
"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten scoffs at the mere idea of anyone being smarter than him.
"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am" the Doctor brushes him off.
"And yet, I captured you" Van Statten says smugly "Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?" he questions.
"You tell me" the Doctor says not very impressed with the man's posturing or theway his eyes kept lingering on Astra.
"The cage contains my one living specimen" Van Statten says.
"And what's that?" the Doctor asks curiously, his brow furrowing in concern for the alien that anything could be happening too.
"Like you don't know" Van Statten scoffs.
"Show me" the Doctor goads the man.
"You want to see it?" Van Statten says rising to the challenge.
"Bloody hell, you can smell the testosterone" Astra says rolling her eyes slightly to hide her concern for the Doctor, knowing his concern and curiosity for this mystery alien is overriding the realisation of the potential threat should Van Statten discover the Doctors alien status.
"Goddard, inform the Cage we're heading down" Van Statten orders Goddard who turns to speak through her ear piece "You, English. Look after the girls. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pet" Van Statten drawls smugly.
The Doctor looks towards Astra in concern not wanting her away from him but she just smiles at him and mouths "Be Careful, Be Smart" and he nods at her with a smile before allowing himself to be led away.
~*0*~
"We've tried everything" Van Statten says as he, the Doctor and Goddard walkthrough a group of soldiers who immediately spread throughout the room creating a perimeter around the door "The creature has shielded itself but there's definite signs of life inside" he finishes inputting a code to unlock the door.
"Inside? Inside what?" the Doctor questions a bad feeling rising in his gut.
"Welcome back, sir" Simmons says as he walks over to Van Statten "I've had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting" he finishes smiling.
"Metaltron?" the Doctor frowns the bad feeling getting worse by the minute.
"Thought of it myself" Van Statten boasts proudly "Good, isn't it? Although I'd much to prefer to find out it's real name" he says turning his head back to Simmons.
"Here, you'd better put these on" Simmons says taking off his gauntlets and passing them to the Doctor "The last guy that touched it burst into flames" Simmons smiles giving the Doctor a look of anticipation.
"I won't touch it then" the Doctor raises his eyebrow at the man.
"Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me" Van Statten says as he gestures to the now open door of the cage.
The Doctor steps through the heavy door looking around the dark room.
Van Statten walks over to Goddard and turns to Simmons "Don't open that door until we get a result" he orders as he and Goddard go to a desk with security camera monitors on it and lean on the desk to watch.
~*0*~
The door clangs shut behind him and locks the Doctor in the dark room with a single blue spot of light. As he looks around the room he spots a table with all kinds of metal saws and drill on it. Feeling undeniable sympathy for the alien he says looking in the direction of the blue glow coming from the alien "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 introduces himself.
Two white light blinks next to the blue spot as the alien speaks "Doc..Tor?" a robotic voice says.
"Impossible" the Doctor gasps, staggering backwards slightly.
"The Doctor?" the robotic voice says louder and angrier than before.
The lights come on within the room to reveal a pepper pot like alien being held in chains bolted to the floor. "Exterminate! Exterminate!" it yells out in anger trying to escape the chains holding it in place.
The Doctor stumbles back to the door and hammers on it in terror yelling for them "Let me out!" and the alien continues to yell angrily behind him not able to get out of the chains.
~*0*~
"Sir, it's going to kill him" Goddard says worried leaning forward wide eyed.
Van Statten holds up a hand to silence her and says excitedly "It's talking!"
~*0*~
"You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!" The Dalek yells out angrily, trying to activate its weapon systems. Its gun arm twitches and moves but nothing happens.
"It's not working" The Doctor laughs hysterically as the Dalek looks at its malfunctioning weapon "Fantastic! Oh, fantastic!" the Doctor grins "Powerless! Look at you. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?" he goads grinning madly running right up to the Dalek who tries to back away.
"Keep back!" the Dalek says trying to back away from the treat but unable to get out of the chains.
The Doctor stands inches away; staring down its eye stalk he says "What for? What're you going to do to me?" he grins madly as he walks around the defenceless Dalek "If you can't kill, then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you? You're nothing" the Doctor spits angrily as he ends up back in front of it. "What the hell are you here for?"
"I am waiting for orders" the Dalek says mechanically.
"What does that mean?" the Doctor asks not satisfied with that answer.
"I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders" the Dalek states.
"Well you're never going to get any" the Doctor almost crows in victory "Not ever"
"I demand orders!" the Dalek says sounding slightly worried.
"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 brags his eyes wide and desperate.
"You lie!" the Dalek yelled.
"I watched it happen. I made it happen" the Doctor announces his mad grin falling into something more sad and broken.
"You destroyed us?" the Dalek says.
The Doctor looks away shaking his head sadly as he softly says "I had no choice"
"And what of the Time Lords?" the Dalek questions.
"Dead" the Doctor says closing his eyes in sadness "They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost" the Doctor muses opening his eyes.
"And the coward survived" the Dalek says scathingly.
"Oh, and I caught your little signal" the Doctor says, a bit of fire coming back into his voice "Help me. Poor little thing. But there's no one else coming 'cause there's no one else left"
"I am alone in the universe" the Dalek says sadly.
"Yep" the Doctor pops still looking away, eyes slightly clearer after remembering that he was too.
"So are you" the Dalek says as though confirming the Doctors thoughts "We are the same"
"We're not the same! I'm not" the Doctor pauses in thought before turning back to the Dalek realising that if he didn't finish off the Daleks for good she had died for nothing. "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" the Doctor walks over to a lever and says simply "Exterminate!" as he pulls the lever the chains holding the Dalek light up as electricity races through them and into the Dalek.
"Have pity!" the Dalek screams.
"Why should I? You never did" the Doctor says loudly as he pulls the lever even turning up the voltage.
~*0*~
Outside the Cage Van Statten turns to the armed security guards and orders "Get him out" as they head into the room to stop the Doctor.
~*0*~
"Help me!" the Dalek screams as it spots the guards entering the room with Van Statten and Goddard following. The guards grab the Doctor as he lunges for the lever to ramp up the voltage again and finish off the Dalek.
"I saved your life. Now talk to me. Goddamn it, talk to me!" Van Statten orders the Dalek as Simmons turns off the electricity.
All of them ignoring the Doctors yelling off "You've got to destroy it!" as he is dragged out of the room by two security guards.
"The last in the universe. And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek" Van Statten orders again but the Dalek remains silent "I am Henry Van Statten, now recognise me!" the Dalek still remains silent so Van Statten turns to Simmons and orders darkly "Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes" and leaves the room as Simmons approaches the Dalek with a slightly blood thirsty smile on his face.
~*0*~
Astra and Rose get escorted by the newly introduced Adam to his work shop in the base. The room is full of shelves and tables stacked with broken pieces of metal and alien objects.
"Sorry about the mess" Adam says to Rose as Astra walks around the room looking at all the stuff seeing if she can tell what any of it is "Mister Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods" Adam picks up an object and shows it to Rose asking "What do you think that is?"
Rose looks at it for a moment before shrugging and saying unimpressed "Er, a lump of metal?"
"Yeah. Yeah, but I think" Adam starts before looking away slightly then looking back "well, I'm almost certain, it's from the hull of a spacecraft" he says excitedly before explaining "The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet, spacecraft, aliens, visitors to Earth. They really exist" Adam explains eyes wide with excitement.
"That's amazing" Rose says sounding bored but loving the attention.
Adam doesn't seem to notice her boredom in his enthusiasm and carries on "I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe the whole universe is just teeming with life"
"I'm gobsmacked, yeah" Rose says with a slight scoff to her voice she asks "And you do what, sit here and catalogue it?"
"Best job in the world" Adam says slightly defensive finally noticing the tone of her voice.
"Imagine if you could get out there" Rose says "Travel amongst the stars and see it for real" she says leadingly.
Astra looks over, where she is examining what looks like some kind of clockwork mechanism that almost looked like it could be the shape of a head, as she hears this part of the conversation. Wondering what the hell Rose was trying to play at, hoping it wasn't what she thinks it was because that would be really so far beyond not OK, it was out and out stupidity, especially with the kind of man Adam seemed to be.
"Yeah, I'd give anything. I don't think it's ever going to happen. Not in our lifetimes" Adam says despondently.
"Oh, you never know" Rose trails off suggestively "What about all those people who say they've been inside of spaceships and things and talked to aliens?" Rose hints.
"I think they're nutters" Adam laughs thinking she was making a joke.
Astra joins them laughing "Yeah, me too" while Rose jaw drops completely offended "So, how did you end up here?"
"Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit" Adam replies smugly causing Astra to raise an eyebrow at the size of the man's ego.
"Oh" Astra says turning to continue looking around the room rolling her eyes no longer interested having any conversation with him but having changed the topic for now.
"Right. You're a genius" Rose scoffs.
Adam shrugs and says "Sorry, but yeah. I can't help it. I was born clever" he continues arrogantly "When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defence System. Nearly caused World War Three" he laughs slightly.
Astra looks over with a raised eyebrow and an incredulous expression on her face "Number one the best hackers are the ones that don't get caught cause people never even realise they had been hacked in the first place ad number two in what way is nearly starting a war a good or in any way funny thing?"
"Well, you should've been there just to see them running about. Fantastic!" Adam exclaims in delight ignoring the first part of her statement still laughing slightly. He didn't really think the girl knew what she was talking about any way.
Rose laughs slightly too, also ignoring Astra, before saying "You sound like the Doctor"
Astra looks over again with a raised eyebrow her expression even more incredulous before she looks between the two. Seeing the similarities between the two of them and their rather lacking personalities, she rolls her eye silently groaning at the fact she now had to deal with the two of them. It seemed stupidity was catching today.
"Are you and him?" Adam asks curiously.
"No, we're just friends" Rose says quickly smiling at him.
"Good" Adam says before turning to fiddle with something on the table.
"Why is it good?" Rose flirts.
"It just is" Adam says with his eyes on the table missing the eye roll from Rose at how slow the boy was.
"So, would you rather be downstairs?" Astra asks as she walks back over to the couple "I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but it doesn't seem like you're doing much with them and Mister Van Statten's got a living creature down there. If you just study things wouldn't a live alien give you more information?"
"Yeah. Yeah, well, I did ask, but he keeps it to himself and I am not really into engineering and fixing things" Adam shrugs looking at her "Although, if you're a genius, it doesn't take long to patch through on the comm. System"
"Let's have a look, then" Rose says bouncing over to the computer with Adam ignoring Astra, who was too busy rolling her eyes at the man's ego again.
"It doesn't do much, the alien" Adam warns "It's weird. It's kind of useless. It's just like this great big pepper pot"
Adam hacks into the security feed and they watch as the pepper pot alien scream as Simmons takes a big drill to its casing.
"There torturing it" Rose gasps surprised.
"Where's the Doctor?" Astra asks, a sinking feeling growing in the pit of her stomach for the Doctor at the sight of the alien.
"I don't know" Adam says looking between the two girls.
"Take me down there now" Astra says wanting to be near the Doctor, if that Alien was what she thought it was, and based off the description the Doctor had given her it was, he was going to need help.
~*0*~
The Doctor, Van Statten and Goddard all enter a lift. Van Statten presses a button to go to another level of the complex with a suspicious look on his face as he questions the Doctor about the Dalek.
"The metal's just battle armour" The Doctor explains "The real Dalek creature's inside"
"What does it look like?" Van Statten asks wondering if they could manage to get inside the Dalek.
"A nightmare" the Doctor says immediately the first thing he thinks of in regards to the Dalek "It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except hate" the Doctor finishes grimly.
"Genetically engineered. By whom?" Van Statten asks intrigued.
"By a genius, Van Statten" the Doctor rolls his eyes at the man, a habit he seemed to be using more and more since he had been around Astra and her little habit "By a man who was king of his own little world. You'd like him"
"It's been on Earth for over fifty years" Goddard interrupts before Van Statten can ask another question "Sold at a private auction, moving from one collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?" she questions wondering why something that had been mostly dormant for the five decades could possibly be a threat now.
"Because now it knows I'm here" the Doctor says simply, not wanting to explain their two species history to some strangers "How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?"
"The records say it came from the sky like a meteorite" Goddard explains knowing the man was leaving something out "It fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands. Burnt in its crater for three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane" Goddard finishes her explanation with sympathy.
"It must have fallen through time. The only survivor" the Doctor muses ignoring the sympathy he can hear from the woman.
"You talked about a war?" Goddard asks back on track after answering the Doctors Question.
"The Time War" The Doctor simplifies leaving out all the detail for a rather blunt description "The final battle between my people and the Dalek race"
"But you survived, too" Van Statten interrupts gaining a look in his eyes that spells trouble.
"Not by choice" The Doctor responds not noticing the look as he gets slightly lost in thought about the Time War and everything he lost.
"This means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth" Van Statten quips finally drawing the Doctors attention to himself "Doctor, there's you. The only one of your kind in existence" as the lift opens and all the security guards there point guns at him.
~*0*~
The Doctor, now topless, is strapped down to a metal gurney spread eagle in front of what looks like some kind of laser scanner with Van Statten and Goddard stood behind it next to a monitor.
Van Statten throws a big grin at the Doctor who is glaring darkly at him "Now, smile!" he says as he turn on the laser scan and running it down the Doctors body making him groan in pain.
"Two hearts! Binary vascular system" Van Statten lists excitedly as he looks at the results of his scan "Oh, I am so going to patent this" he cheers.
"So that's your secret" the Doctor groans slightly "You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it" he finishes raising his head to look at the man.
"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries" Van Statten brags "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" Van Statten explains smugly "Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?"
The Doctor gives the man a disgusted look "Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest" he sneers feeling slightly nauseated by the fact he actually thinks a Dalek is actually in some ways better than the man in front of him "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" Van Statten says not bothered in the slightest as he turns the scanner back on, turning it up a level, making the Doctor arch in pain.
"Listen to me!" the Doctor yells out of breath over the sound of the scan "That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!"
"Nothing can escape the Cage" Van Statten brushes off his concern feeling very smug in that knowledge, not noticing Goddard behind asking for extra security to be sent down to the Daleks cage through her ear piece just in case.
"But it's woken up. It knows I'm here. It's going to get out" the Doctor yells still trying to get through to the man "Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe. No one on this planet!" Van Statten ignores him and just turns up the scan to a deeper level making the Doctor scream out in pain no longer able to hold it in.
~*0*~
A security guard stops the girls and Adam just outside the door to the Daleks Cage "Hold it right there"
Adam flashes his security card at the man "Level three access. Special clearance from Mister Van Statten" the Security guard moves out of the way allowing them to go into the room, not wanting to do anything if the kid had been sent down here by Van Statten.
"Don't get too close" Adam warns them, as the door closes locking them in, remembering hearing about what happen the last time someone got to close to it, seeing Rose move forward to get a better look at the Alien.
Astra just hangs back by the door certain she knows what the alien is and not wanting to be anywhere near it.
"Hello. Can you speak? My name's Rose Tyler. I've this friend, he can help. He's called the Doctor" Rose asks trying to see the Alien in the dim light of the room.
"Yes" the alien stutters mechanically "and I am in pain. They torture me, but still they fear me. Do you fear me?" the Alien asks, knowing humans can be very easy to manipulate and knowing that if she had been travelling with the Doctor that she could be just what he needs to mend his systems.
"No" Rose gulps clearly lying and feeling a bit intimidated by the alien.
"I am dying" the alien moans.
"No, we can help" Rose perks up feeling a bit safer with the knowledge that the alien isn't in any state to attack her if it was dying.
"I welcome death. But I am glad that before I die" the alien breathes slowly showing its pain "I have met a human who was not afraid" it finishes lowering its eye stalk.
"Isn't there anything I can do?" Rose asks feeling a little sorry for the alien.
"My race is dead, and I shall die alone" the alien says as its eyestalk droops lower.
Rose seems to argue with herself slightly not wanting to really touch the alien but the manners she was brought up with make her reach for the dome on top of the aliens head and lays a sympathetic hand on it to try and offer some form of comfort.
"Rose, no!" Astra shouts seeing what Rose is about to do, making Adam look and shout "No!" just after Roses hand touches the alien before pulling back abruptly having burnt her hand and stumbling back to hide behind Astra and Adam.
The brief touch leaves the impression of a golden handprint on the domed head of the alien which quickly fades and its eye stalk rises with its victory as it bellows out mechanically "Genetic material of a Time Traveller extrapolated. Initiate cellular reconstruction!" it says as it shakes, breaking its chains.
Simmons re-enters the room with his drill in hand saying "What the hell have you done?" he asks the whimpering Rose on the way past coming to stand in front of the alien blocking the other three from view slightly.
The alien raise its plunger arm slightly in warning making Simmons stop, raising his eyebrow he asks sarcastically "What are you going to do? Sucker me to death?" the alien says nothing as the plunger extends attaching itself to the lower half of his face with a powerful suction crushes his skull.
Astra grabs the other two by the hand and pulls them out of the room shutting and locking the door behind her.
~*0*~
"It's killing him! Do something!" Rose panics at the security team.
Astra turns to look at the girl annoyed saying "He's already dead" as one of the security guards call a "Condition red! Condition red!" over the complex wide announcement system "I repeat, this is not a drill!"
~*0*~
The Doctor, coated in sweat as he pants with pain, raises his head, hearing the announcement, looking straight at Van Statten and Goddard says in a gruff slightly raw voice "Release me if you want to live"
~*0*~
Goddard followed by the Doctor and Van Statten enter a room with a huge monitor attached to the wall with the direct link to the video and audio feed from just outside the Daleks cell.
"You've got to keep it in that cell" the Doctor shouts to the man through the system.
"It's not my fault" Rose announces before anyone else can say anything.
Astra, who was stood partially behind Rose, keeps an eye on the cage door whilst still being able to hear the conversation. She rolls her eyes at the girl, making the Doctor smile, before looking back at the cage door warily.
"I've sealed the compartment" the on screen security guard says "It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations"
"A Dalek's a genius" the Doctor retorts instantly "It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat"
The Dalek, as it was now known to everyone proceeded to do just that. Using its sucker it covered the entire keypad seeming to try hundreds of different combination before hearing the bolt click loose and the door start to swing open.
The security guard on screen quickly turns and orders "Open fire!"
Van Statten pushes his way in front of the screen shouting at the security personnel "Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed"
"Astra, get out of there!" the Doctor shouts watching as Astra turns to grab Rose and do just that.
~*0*~
The Security guard turns to one of the female personnel and orders "De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?"
De Maggio instantly responds "Yes Sir" to her orders before turning to Astra, Rose and Adam and orders them "You, with me" before leading them away from the cage.
~*0*~
The Dalek now completely out of its cage glides up to the wall monitor with the Doctor and Van Statten on and smashes it by ramming its plunger through it, seeming to absorb the electricity to help its battered armour to mend.
The last security guard says "Abandoning the Cage, sir" through his ear piece before exiting the room and locking the door behind him.
~*0*~
Goddard, having run over to use one of the nearby computers when she saw what the Dalek had done, announces "We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh, my God. It's draining entire power supplies for the whole of Utah" looking at the power readings on the screen for the entire USA as one by one the states black out.
"It's downloading" the Doctor explains.
"Downloading what?" Van Statten says incredulously.
"Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down" Goddard announces.
"It's not just energy" the Doctor explains, for once not feeling the satisfaction of being proved right, knowing that Astra was down there with that thing "That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything"
~*0*~
The Dalek having pulled away from the computer once it was finished yelled out "The Daleks survive in me!" using its newly restored weapon it starts shooting around the room, eventually shooting out the cameras.
~*0*~
"The cameras in the vault have gone down" Goddard announces having been keeping an eye on the live feed.
"We've only got emergency power. It's eaten everything else" the Doctor tells her "You've got to kill it now!"
"All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately" She orders through her ear piece.
~*0*~
De Maggio runs ahead down the corridor where the rest of the security personnel are setting up a perimeter shouting as she runs to get the others behind the perimeter "Civilians! Let them through!"
The Security guard from outside the cage runs in directly behind them shouting out orders "Cover the north wall. Red division, maintain suppressing fire along the perimeter. Blue division" he starts but cuts off in a scream as he is shot by the Dalek.
The guard collapses to the floor dead as the rest of the guards open fire, but the Dalek has some kind of force field around it which causes the bullets to disappear before they can even hit.
It kills another man in front of it as more guards come up behind it. It rotates its head to see behind it and then rotates the middle section with its gun to shoot down the opposite end of the corridor. Back and forward it alternates, killing someone each time until there is no one left and not one of the bullets had even touched it before it carries on down the corridor.
~*0*~
Back in the office Van Statten unable to remain silent any longer turns to Goddard and orders "Tell them to stop shooting at it"
Goddard turns to look at Van Statten horrified he could even try to make her give that order and gasps "But it's killing them!"
"They're dispensable" Van Statten retorts angrily "That Dalek is unique. I don't want a scratch on its bodywork, do you hear me? Do you hear me?" he continues to yell down his ear piece as the bullets trail off making him realise its only stopped because there is no one else left alive.
Goddard calls up a schematic of the base on the computer to show the Doctor as he knew of the Dalek species the best and try to come up with a plan. "That's us, right below the surface. That's the cage, and that's the Dalek" she gesture to a corridor on one part of the map and a room on the other.
The Doctor considers the map for a moment before asking "This museum of yours. Have you got any alien weapons?"
"Lots of them" Goddard admits ruefully "but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them"
Van Statten tries to insert himself into the conversation not liking the fact he was being ignored "We've got to keep that thing alive. We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there" Van Statten suggest, trying to come up with a happy medium.
"Leaving everyone trapped with it" the Doctor scoffs "Astra is down there and I won't let her get hurt. So no, I won't let that happen. Have you got that?" he narrows his eyes at Van Statten to make sure he got the message before turning to Goddard" It's got to go through this area. What's that?" he asks pointing at an area on the map that seems to be between where they are and where Astra was.
"Weapons testing" Goddard answers after looking at the area for a second.
"Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it" the Doctor finishes grimly.
~*0*~
The Trio and the security guard run through a door at the end of the corridor. After seeing what was behind the door Rose and Adam cheer slightly, Rose excitedly saying "Stairs! That's more like it. It hasn't got legs. It's stuck!" making Astra roll her eyes once again at the girl's stupidity.
"It's coming! Get up!" De Maggio orders trying to hurry them up the stairs.
They run up a flight before stopping and turning to look down on the Dalek. The Dalek comes into view pausing at the base of the stairs. Adam not being able to resist jeers at the Dalek "Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs"
Astra couldn't help it, she had to say something to the supposed genius in the room "Yes, it's part of an alien species that has destroyed hundreds of planets and killed millions of people, and it managed all that without being able to get up stairs" she finishes in a sneer at the two idiot people that thought they were oh so smart. She turns to continue up the stairs but stops when she hears De Maggio start to speak pointing her gun at the Dalek.
"Now listen to me" De Maggio orders "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?"
Astra yells "you can't reason with a Dalek" trying to pull the others to continue up the stairs.
The Dalek merely looks straight at De Maggio and exclaims "Elevate" as it starts to levitate off the ground and float up the stairs after them.
"Oh my God" Rose gasps faintly not having really believed them to be wrong no matter what Astra had said.
"Adam, get them out of here" De Maggio orders of the man as she holds her gun steady preparing to fire on the Dalek.
Astra leans over the rail grabbing De Maggio's arm as Rose and Adam run up the stairs behind her "Come with us. You can't stop it" she says intensely trying to make the woman come with them.
"Someone's got to try" De Maggio states "Now get out! I can buy you time! Don't look back. Just run" she says pushing Astra up the stairs making her reluctantly turn and run after the others. De Maggio turns and fires at near point blank range at the Dalek who doesn't even seem fazed just shoot one bolt straight at the woman killing her before carrying on up the stairs after the others.
Running after the others, who are already down the corridor from her, she flinches as she hears De Maggio scream behind her as she dies.
~*0*~
Van Statten was pacing around the office as he watches the security feed as the danger of the situation finally starts to sink in "I thought you were the great expert, Doctor. 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"
Seeing that Van Statten clearly still doesn't fully understand the danger he asks "What's the nearest town?"
Van Statten responds immediately "Salt Lake City"
"Population?" the Doctor questions with a quirked brow.
"One million" Van Statten says.
"All dead" the Doctor says by way of explanation "If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs"
"But why would it do that?" Van Statten exclaims in confusion.
"Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong" the Doctor tried to explain "It's the ultimate in racial cleansing, that's what a Dalek is and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose! The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible
The Doctor turns to say over the comms "If you concentrate your fire, you might get through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot"
~*0*~
The Head of the Security answers "Thank you, Doctor, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot" he says in condescendingly "Positions!" he orders the rest of his men. His men take cover behind various corners, packing cases, boxes and a few where positioned up on a catwalk with him as Rose, Adam and Astra run into view.
"Hold your fire! You three get the hell out of there!" the Commander yells out.
Rose, Adam and Astra run past a guard at the entrance to another part of the complex but Rose pauses to look back and watch what happens making Adam stop with her as Astra tries to keep them moving. The Dalek enters the loading bay and all of the soldier immediately start to fire but nothing touches it as it turns and looks at the three stood in the doorway. Adam finally realising the situation turns and helps Astra drag Rose out with them.
~*0*~
Outside the loading bay Rose starts saying terrified "It was looking at me"
"Yeah, it wants to slaughter us" Adam says stating the obvious.
"I know, but it was looking right at me" Rose says truly believing that the Dalek stared right at her.
"So? It's just a sort of metal eye thing. It's looking all around" Adam says trying to start Rose moving again.
"It was looking at me, like, like it knows me" Rose says still not moving.
Astra having enough of having to drag Rose about turns and says "Yeah, that probably because you touched it and it got an imprint of your DNA. However it may have just recognised you as the stupid girl that woke it up! Now, Come on!" she finishes finally just turning and running with Rose and Adam following her.
~*0*~
The Head of security readies his gun aiming at the Dalek as it glides through the room to the centre "On my mark. Open fire!" he orders as all the soldiers and the technicians open fire on the Dalek.
~*0*~
In the Office with Van Statten and the Doctor the monitor on the all turns on giving them a visual of the Dalek.
Goddard notices it out of the corner of her eye from where she is working on "We've got vision" she says as she approaches the screen.
"It wants us to see" the Doctor says grimly as he and Van Statten look over at the screen too.
~*0*~
The Dalek halts in the middle of the room as a hail of bullets attack it but still having no effect. Then the Dalek starts to rise straight up into the air. It shoots the fire alarm and sets off the sprinklers. Once the concrete floor and all the people are covered with a layer of water, it fires downwards straight at the floor with a bolt of electricity and electrocutes every wet person on the ground.
Up on the cat walk the commander leaning over the rail shouts to the remaining men on the other side of the cat walk "Fall back! Fall back!" before the Dalek shoots at the rail directly in front of him killing him immediately whilst the rest of his men on the cat walk get electrocuted.
The Dalek pauses in the air for a moment just looking around the room and almost surveying the room of dead people before slowly gliding forward.
~*0*~
Van Statten looks shaken after hearing all the screams stutters "Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place"
Goddard slowly turns her head to look at the man absolutely disgusted by him "Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out"
"You said we could seal the vault" the Doctor looks up straight at Van Statten who starts to walk over to the computer.
"It was designed to be a bunker in the event of nuclear war. Steel bulkheads" Van Statten explains as he starts typing away.
"There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive" Goddard shakes her head.
"We've got emergency power. We can re-route that to the bulkhead doors" the Doctor suggests.
"We'd have to bypass the security codes. That would take a computer genius" Goddard shrugs helplessly.
"Good thing you've got me, then" Van Statten says straightening up from where he had been looking at the computer.
"You want to help?" the Doctor scoffs.
"I don't want to die, Doctor" Van Statten corrects "Simple as that. And nobody knows this software better than me"
"Sir" Goddard interrupts seeing the Dalek move on the other screen lowering itself back down to the ground.
The Dalek looks directly at the camera and says "I shall speak only to the Doctor"
"You're going to get rusty" the Doctor quips by way of announcing he was listening.
"I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler" the Dalek starts making the Doctor roll his eyes, of course it would be her "Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me"
"What's your next trick?" the Doctor sneers.
"I have been searching for the Daleks" the Dalek answers.
"Yeah, I saw. downloading the internet. What did you find?" the Doctor smirks.
"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes" the Dalek continues not answering.
"And?" the Doctor's smirk widens as he waits to hear the Dalek say the inevitable truth.
"Nothing. Where shall I get my orders now?" the Dalek asks warily.
"You're just a soldier without commands" the Doctor states actually feeling a little bit of sympathy.
"Then I shall follow the Primary Order, the Dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer" the Dalek yells.
Just like that the sympathy gives way for exasperation as he asks "What for? What's the point?" annoyances clear in his voice "Don't you see it's all gone? Everything you were, everything you stood for"
"Then what should I do?" the Dalek asks shiftily.
"All right, then" the Doctor nods an idea taking shape in his head "If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself"
"The Daleks must survive!" the Dalek screams.
"The Daleks have failed!" the Doctor yells "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 finishes angrily.
The Dalek pauses for a moment before commenting "You would make a good Dalek" then making the screen go blank and then floating up in the air to make its way through the rest of the base.
The Doctor shakes off his shock at the Daleks comment before turning to Van Statten and ordering "Seal the Vault" before joining van Statten on a second computer to help.
"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" Van Statten exclaims filled with adrenaline.
"Are you enjoying this?" the Doctor demands of the man only to be interrupted by Goddard.
"Doctor, they're still down there" she says softly.
The Doctor zaps his ear piece with his sonic and calls Astra.
~*0*~
Running up the staircases together with Adam and Rose in the lead Astra answers her phone really regretting wearing heels today "This isn't the best time" she yells through the phone to the Doctor having looked at the caller ID just in case.
"Where are you?" he asks intensely.
Astra pauses for a second to read the numbers on the wall and answers "Level forty nine"
~*0*~
"You've got to keep moving. The vault's being sealed off up at level forty six" the Doctor says.
Astra doesn't reply directly to the Doctor she turns to the other two and yells up to them "we have to get above level 46, the Doctor's closing the bulk head there"
Rose yells out terrified "Can't he stop them closing?"
"He's the one who's closing them" Astra yells exasperatedly rolling her eyes at the girl, very annoyed with having to keep repeating herself to her especially when they were in the most dangerous situations.
"I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run" the Doctor says to Astra before hanging up, praying to every deity he knows that she would make it out alright.
Astra glances over the railing just being able to spot part of the Dalek about two floors below them before racing up the stairs after the others.
~*0*~
Van Statten taps a final key before looking to the Doctor "Done it. We've got power to the bulkheads"
"The Dalek's right behind them" Goddard says keeping an eye on their bio signs on the security system. The Doctor presses a button on his comm. to call Astra again.
~*0*~
Astra answers her phone instantly having just come off the stairs and running towards a door at the end of the corridor "We're nearly there. Give us two seconds"
~*0*~
"Doctor, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing. Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads" Van Statten yells.
"I'm sorry" The Doctor breathes out as he hits Enter on his keyboard. A klaxon sounds and the bulkhead starts to lower.
~*0*~
Adam yells "Come on!" as he drags Rose under the bulkhead which closes just as Astra makes it to the door.
~*0*~
"The vault is sealed" Van Statten announces looking at the readings on his screen.
"Astra, where are you? Astra, did you make it?" the Doctor shouts down comm.
~*0*~
Astra sighs resting her head against the bulkhead as she takes a deep breath before lifting her phone to her ear as says softly "Sorry, I was a bit slow" turning to look back down the corridor just as the Dalek comes round the corner. "See you, then, Doctor. It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault and do you know what? I wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world" Astra finishes standing tall facing down the Dalek with her head high as it powers up its weapon up, readying to shoot.
~*0*~
Through the office all that is heard is the sound of the Dalek calling out in victory "Exterminate!" just before it fires.
The Doctor throws off the ear piece staring down at it in horror with tears shining in his eyes "I killed her"
"I'm sorry" Van Statten says regretfully.
"I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry?" The Doctor snarls his anger rising "I could've killed that Dalek in its cell, but you stopped me"
"It was the prize of my collection!" Van Statten stutters trying to mount a defence to the angry man.
"Your collection?" the Doctor spits "But was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Astra? 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 exclaims.
The Doctor scoffs "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. She was amazing" he trails off in a whisper.
~*0*~
Astra lent against the bulk head looking at the laser mark at the side of her head "Why haven't you killed me? What do you want?" she demands knowing from the Doctors descriptions of the Daleks that it must be up to something.
The Dalek shoots at either side of Astra before saying simply "you are the Doctors companion, you have uses" making Astra glare at the alien. She would not let herself be used to get to the Doctor!
~*0*~
Adam enters the office with his arm wrapped around Rose in comfort having witnessed her falling apart after they got through the door, not realising it was in hysterical relief not fear that caused her reaction and was trying to help her calm down.
"You two were quick on your feet, leaving Astra behind weren't you" the Doctor glares at them as they enter the room.
"We're not the one who sealed the vault!" Adam says defensively, while Rose just whines "It's not my fault, she couldn't keep up"
The monitor on the wall switches on again to reveal the Dalek with its gun pointed threateningly at Astra "Open the bulkhead or the girl dies"
"Don't do anything it says" Astra yells.
"You're alive!" the Doctor gasps in delight "I thought you were dead"
Astra laughs slightly despite the situation quipping "you can't get rid of me that easily"
"Open the bulkhead!" the Dalek orders.
"Don't do it!" Astra begs "it's just trying to get to you"
"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" the Dalek seems to goad as Astra turns to glare at the Dalek, looking like she wanted nothing more than to kick it.
The Doctor looks at the screen in surprise, did he love Astra? He knew he cared about her, a great deal, but something as immense as love he didn't know, but what he did know was "I killed you once. I can't do it again" he says directly to Astra, who was looking at him pleadingly, before pressing the button to open the door.
The rest of the people watch on the monitor as the bulkhead opens and the Dalek forces Astra to walk through.
"What do we do now, you bleeding heart? What the hell do we do?" Van Statten yells out in a mix of fear and fury.
"Kill it when it gets here" Adam chirps in.
"All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault" Goddard says suspiciously.
"Only the catalogued ones" Adam admits seeing her expression and making Van Statten look over at his admission.
~*0*~
The Doctor and Adam get to Adams workshop where he pulls out a big box of the supposed alien weapons. The Doctor looks through tossing all the rubbish ones away commenting as he goes "Broken. Broken. Hairdryer"
"Mister Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does he wipes their memory. I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day" Adam says explaining his reasoning behind keeping what he thought where weapons.
"What, you in a fight? I'd like to see that" the Doctor scoffs at the very idea.
"I could do" Adam huffs offended.
"What're you going to do, throw your A-Levels at 'em?" the Doctor sneers before finding a gun that seems to work "Oh, yes. Lock and load" he says picking up the big shotgun like machine.
~*0*~
The lift dings as the Dalek and Astra reach the office, the Dalek moving forward intimidating the human "Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?"
Van Statten stutters looking for an answer that may appease the Dalek "I wanted to help you. 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!" he begs with his back against the wall.
"Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" the Dalek yells but just before it can Rose runs up slightly hidden by Goddard.
Knowing the Doctor had gone to get a gun Rose wanted to try and talk the Dalek down, thinking that this might make up for the fact she woke it up in the first place "Don't do it! Don't kill him! You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else, not just killing. What else is there? What do you want?" Rose screeches towards the end ducking back behind the Goddard.
"I want freedom" the Dalek says making Astra look at it suspiciously trying to figure out what it was up to now.
~*0*~
At the top level of the complex the Dalek with Astra still at gun point and Rose and Goddard trailing behind it rolls into the centre of the room. The Dalek blasts a hole in the roof, and a shaft of sunlight streams down straight onto its eyepiece.
"You're out. You made it" Rose says not noticing the looks she is getting from Goddard and Astra, both wondering why after everything Rose had seen it do it thought it a good idea to release it into the world but not wanting to get shot so they remained silent.
Just then the Doctor runs in with his big gun aimed at the Dalek with Rose stood dumbly between him and it "Get out of the way. Rose, get out of the way now!"
"No. I won't let you do this" Rose says resolutely.
"That thing killed hundreds of people" the Doctor snarls at the stupid girl.
"It's not the one pointing the gun at me" Rose says back.
"I've got to do this. I've got to end it" the Doctor tries to get Rose to move "The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left. And it'll destroy the entire Earth too if it gets out. So Move Out Of My Way"
"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing" Rose pleads before trying to guilt the Doctor "What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?"
The Doctor lowers the gun slightly and the Dalek takes its chance to try and shoot at Astra "Exterminate".
Astra lunges for Rose the shot grazing her arm as she takes both of them along with Goddard to the floor. The Doctor quickly raises his gun and shoots the Dalek making the front of it casing explode and killing the thing inside.
The Doctor runs over to help Astra up and check her arm when he notices the locket she always wears but has never seen had fallen out of her shirt. Noticing the design on the front, a heart with a crown on it being held up by a pair of hands, his gaze stays fixed on the design until Astra tucks it back into her shirt and grabbing the Doctor hand breaking him out of his trance.
"Are you OK?" he checks, releasing a relieved sigh when she nods her head.
~*0*~
Goddard walks down a corridor towards Van Statten who is surrounded by what is left of the security. At her nod the guards grab Van Statten and start making him walk, dragging him slightly, backwards.
"What the hell are you doing?" Van Statten yells incredulously.
"Two hundred personnel dead, and all because of you, sir" Goddard sneers at the man "Take him away, wipe his memory, and leave him by the road someplace" she orders with satisfaction before turning to walk away.
Van Statten yells "You can't do this to me. I am Henry van Statten!"
Goddard turns slightly and looks at him saying smugly "And by tonight, Henry van Statten will be a homeless, brainless junkie living on the streets of San Diego, Seattle, Sacramento. Someplace beginning with S" she sasses before walking away.
~*0*~
The Doctor and Astra walk towards the TARDIS, the Doctor having his arm around tired Astra. He walks up to the TARDIS patting the corner of the box with his free hand "A little piece of home. Better than nothing" making Astra smile.
"So, is that the end of it, the Time War?" Astra asks softly.
The Doctor bobs his head once saying "I'm the only one left. I win. How about that?"
"The Dalek survived. Maybe some of your people did too" Astra says optimistically.
"I'd know. In here" the Doctor says pointing to his head sadly "Us being telepathic by nature we would be able to sense if there was anyone else, but it feels like there's no one" he ends in a shrug.
"Well I'm not going anywhere" Astra promises.
The Doctor smiles "Yeah"
Adam and Rose run up behind the two of them. Adam announcing "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"
"About time" the Doctor says at the same time Astra just says "good" making them both laugh slightly.
"I'll have to go back home" Adam sighs disappointedly as he looks around the museum.
"Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours" the Doctor says as he sees Rose open her mouth to, no doubt, add something stupid.
"Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars" Rose pleads giving the Doctor a wide eyed look and a pout that was supposed to make her look cute but just made her look like a over grown child.
"Tell him to go and stand outside, then" the Doctor answers nonplussed.
"He's all on his own, Doctor, and he did help" Rose says remembering the fact Adam dragged her through the door.
"He left Astra down there" he reminds her scathingly.
"So!" Rose whines.
"What're you talking about?" Adam interrupts not having a clue what they were talking about and shooting a slightly guilty look towards Astra who ignores it "We've got to leave"
Astra looks towards the Doctor and sighs "It'll keep her out of our hair for a while"
"This is her last chance" he whispers, not liking the girl at all especially the way she dismisses the danger she helped leave Astra in "One more event. Even the tiniest thing and she is gone" the Doctor says pointedly to Astra who nods, before turning and unlocking the TARDIS with a huffed "Fine" at the other two making Rose squeal and throw herself at the Doctor who quickly tries to get her off him.
Managing to push Rose off and enters the TARDIS, reaching the console with Astra before calling for the other two to hurry up or stay behind. As they get in Adam staring around in awe the Doctor sets them off to drift in the vortex while he grabs Astra hand leading her to the med bay to fix up her arm, calling over his shoulder for the other two to stay here.
AN: Hope you like it! Let me know what you think. See you next time, BlackRoseBooks x