I forced myself not to start having a panic attack right then and there. Rose looked like she was trying to force back tears and Brenna was pacing in our new cage. The Doctor, meanwhile, had withdrawn into himself, his dark eyes mournful. I felt sad as well, grieving over Donna and Jack, despite the fact that I had only known them for a few measly minutes.
"Doctor," I said softly. The Doctor glanced at me briefly before he grabbed my hand in a comforting way. I squeezed his hand and patted his shoulder with my other hand. "We're gonna be fine. We're going to figure a way out of here."
"You really believe that?" The Doctor asked in a low voice.
"Yeah," I said in what I hoped sounded like a confident voice. "I really do."
The Doctor smiled kindly at me and I felt myself melt just like I used to back when I traveled with him. "How're your legs doin'?" He asked. I moved my legs around slowly; they still gave off painful twinges every now and then. When I told the Doctor this, he just nodded. "Yes, that'd be them morphing together with your legs. They should be completely set within the hour."
"Well, that's a relief." I muttered. The Doctor smiled at me again just as Davros entered the room again.
"Activate the holding cells," He said in his low, gravelly voice. Beams of light shot down and landed on each of us, forcing the Doctor and me to separate. "Excellent." Davros muttered. "Even when powerless, the Time Lord is best contained."
"Still scared of me then?" The Doctor asked, his confidence and bravado back in his voice. "And before you start talking, don't give me the nostalgia tour. I want to know what's happening right here, right now. 'Cause the Daleks upstairs called this the cellar. You're not in charge of this ship; they keep you down here for what purpose? Slave, court jester?"
I narrowed my eyes at the Doctor. He had better know what he was doing.
"Enough!" Davros snapped.
The Doctor laughed. "No no I've got a better one: you're the Daleks' pet!"
"So very full of fire, this one!" Davros said, wheeling himself so that he sat between me and Rose. "And to think you bounced from parallel to parallel, trying to find these two."
"Leave them alone." The Doctor snapped.
But Davros wasn't finished. "Oh yes, you watched over the little one and searched for a very long time for the taller one." I glanced over to the Doctor, wondering if he really did watch over me while I was healing.
"It was foretold..." A voice from the dark corner began to say slowly. I heard Brenna whimper as a Dalek outside of his armor appeared, looking like a pink octopus with one yellow eye glaring at all of us. "The Doctor would witness the end of time with his children...his children of time! And one of them...will die!"
"It was you who killed Donna!" The Doctor shouted suddenly. "You closed the TARDIS doors! Why did you do it, tell me!"
"There it is!" Davros said in an almost cheerful voice. "The fury of a Time Lord!" The Doctor stared at him blankly, suddenly quiet again. "Why so shy? They were your companions."
The exposed Dalek began to rant again. "I saw at the end of times, the Doctor's soul shall be revealed!"
"And what does that mean?" The Doctor asked.
"We will discover it together." Davros said. "Our final journey, because the ending approaches. The testing begins."
"The testing of what?" I asked, unable to stop myself. Davros spun his chair around so that he could face me.
"The reality bomb," He said simply, as if I was able to understand what that meant. He typed something onto the keypad attached to his chair and a screen appeared from the ceiling. We all watched in silence as a group of people were corralled into a room and a green light began to shine brightly above them. I glanced at the Doctor; he looked like he knew exactly what was happening but was too horrified to say anything. I watched as the people in the group slowly faded into dust and floated skyward. Then the green light turned off.
"Doctor, what happened?" Rose asked.
Davros decided to interrupt again. "Every atom is bound by an electrical field; the reality bomb takes that away. Structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone. For the full power, it will attack every form of matter." He smiled to himself as if proud of the Daleks.
"Those twenty-seven planets have become a full transmitter!" The Doctor said.
"It will echo across the entire universe!" Davros finished, smiling that sick smile of his. "It'll never stop nor fade. People, planets, stars, all matter will turn to dust. The dust will become atoms and the atoms will become nothing. The wavelength will continue into the Medusa Cascade into every opening, every dimension, nothing will be safe. This is my ultimate victory, Doctor: the destruction of reality itself!"
I stared at him, feeling horrified. Brenna had fallen to her knees in her cell. I exchanged looks with Rose, and I saw the same horror that I was feeling echoed in her face. But before anyone could say anything else, the screen lit back up with a face that I recognized from the computer shop.
"This is Martha Jones requesting for the Doctor!" She said.
"Just as foretold!" Davros crooned.
"The children of time will gather!" The unarmored Dalek cried. "And one of them will die!"
"Stop saying that!" The Doctor yelled. "Put me through!"
"Doctor! I'm sorry but I've got no choice." Martha said. She held up a small square. "I have the Osterhagen Key. If the Daleks don't let us go now, I'll use it."
"What's an Osterhagen key?" The Doctor asked, looking really confused. I could barely pronounce the name of the key, let alone know what it does. I looked back up to Martha as she explained.
"It's a key that commands twelve nuclear warheads placed in certain points beneath the Earth's crust. If I activate the key, they'll detonate and rip the Earth apart."
"That sounds like a bad idea," I muttered. Rose shot me a look but didn't say anything.
"What?" The Doctor asked shrilly. "Who invented that? Well, someone named Osterhagen, I suppose. But Martha, are you insane?"
"The Osterhagen Key is supposed to be used when the human race is so without hope that this is the only option." Martha said, and she looked very sad about the idea of what that key could do. She hardened her gaze. "Now don't argue with me, Doctor! I reckon those Daleks need twenty-seven planets but what if it suddenly became twenty-six?"
I looked over at the Doctor, wanting to know what he would do. But he was still frozen in his place, looking horrified at what Martha was suggesting.
"She's good," Rose said with admiration. I laughed just a bit and had to agree with her. The Doctor shot us a glare, but I couldn't help but wonder if what Martha was suggesting was worth it.