Disclaimer: Standard 'I don't own anything' message.
A/N: Things are getting exciting now. I do need to issue a little forewarning for this chapter though, as it gets a bit dark. I really tried to avoid the darkness, but, well, these are some awfully stubborn characters that we're dealing with here, and they rather like to have their own say in these things. So, if dark isn't your particular cup of tea, you've been warned.
Chapter 7 – Trapped
Rose's head throbbed painfully as she slowly clawed her way up out of the darkness of her hazy mind. Based on her heightened level of confusion and recent lack of consciousness, Rose was pretty sure that she had fainted. She was also pretty sure that she had fainted due to the Daleks transporting her across space using methods that weren't exactly designed for human travel. She assumed that if she opened her eyes right now, she would more than likely find herself on the invading ship in orbit above the Earth, surrounded by ridiculous amounts of Daleks.
Well, that certainly didn't bode well.
Rose quickly became aware that, although she had indeed passed out, she was not lying on the floor as one would typically expect. She felt as though her body was upright with her head dangling limply, her chin just about touching her collarbone. Cold, hard metal bit unpleasantly into the tender flesh of her wrists and she was quickly losing feeling in both of her arms. Rose's eyes snapped open at the realization that she was restrained and dangling from her arms. She quickly found her footing, standing up on her feet to alleviate some of the pressure that the handcuffs were exerting on her wrists. Looking up, Rose verified that her arms were indeed restrained above her head. Blood trickled slowly down her wrists, indicating that the Daleks had been less than careful when chaining her up. She vaguely wondered how the Daleks were even able to chain her to a wall, considering their lack of opposable thumbs, but quickly decided that now was not exactly the best time to be contemplating such things.
Groaning audibly, Rose shifted her weight as she tried to regain the feeling in her arms.
"She is awake!" A Dalek shouted from nearby, causing Rose grimace and mentally kick herself for making a noise. There went the element of surprise.
A horde of Daleks quickly rushed towards her, but Rose took a moment to survey her surroundings before focusing on the Daleks themselves. She was definitely on the Dalek ship. It looked exactly like the one that had haunted her nightmares since the time that she was kidnapped during the events at the Game Station. However, she appeared to be in some sort of a control room this time. Panels of buttons and dials lined the walls, interspersed with screens that displayed information in some language that Rose had never seen before. It was times like this that she really missed having the TARDIS around to translate. A dozen Daleks remained in the room with her, standing around the controls or advancing towards her. Rose knew from past experience that hundreds more Daleks would be housed within this ship.
A single Dalek approached her ahead of the rest and shouted, "The Bad Wolf will manifest!"
Several shouts of "Manifest!" from the other Daleks echoed its words.
Rose quickly tried to think of a solution to the predicament that she had found herself in. She was all alone on a Dalek ship in orbit above the Earth, and the Doctor had no way to get to her until he was able to get his teleport device working. Even if he did get it working, they'd both be trapped here then, since it would only be a one-way teleport. The Daleks had used some sort of transport on her, though, to get her from the Torchwood Tower to this ship, so it was possible that the Doctor and her might be able to use that technology to get back to Earth. The key point of that idea, however, was that she needed the Doctor, since Rose had no idea how this advanced technology worked.
So, chained to a wall, surrounded by Daleks, but in a control room. What would the Doctor do if he were the one in this situation? Well, he'd talk his way out of it. He'd somehow impossibly manage to get out of the restraints, then waltz around the room hitting buttons while his enormous gob ran away from him until the ship blew up and he had simultaneously managed to teleport himself off of the ship and back to Earth, safe and sound in one piece.
Rose took a deep breath and thought to herself, Okay, Step 1: Talk until I figure out how to get out of these restraints.
"So, you want the Bad Wolf?" Rose asked the Daleks in a strong voice that in no way resembled the nervousness that was quickly taking over her body.
"The Bad Wolf will manifest," the Dalek nearest to Rose answered.
"Yeah, yeah," Rose replied before they could start their chorus of "Manifest!" again. "I've heard that one already. But you lot came from the Game Station, right? So you know just what the Bad Wolf can do. You saw it rip apart an entire Dalek fleet, including the Emperor himself. Why exactly would you want to bring that power back?"
"The Bad Wolf destroyed the Emperor," the Dalek replied as the other Daleks shouted, "Blaspheme!" angrily at her.
"Yeah, so shouldn't you lot be running as far away as you can get from that kind of power?"
"The Bad Wolf also brings life. The Bad Wolf will return the Emperor."
"Oho!" Rose shouted as she tried to nonchalantly pull at the chains of her restraints, "So that's what you want. You want your precious Dalek emperor back. Well, what makes you think the Bad Wolf would bring him back? Why bring him back when she could just destroy all of you instead?"
"The Bad Wolf will manifest, or the Earth will be destroyed," The Dalek replied simply, and Rose noticed a handful of Daleks return to their controls, spinning dials with their suckers and monitoring the screens for changes.
"Right, forgot about that one," Rose mumbled as she continued to tug at her chains. They were too strong for her to break out of on her own, so step 2 (magically get out of the restraints) of the "Do what the Doctor would do" game was at a standstill for now.
Suddenly, a transparent screen appeared, hovering in the air before Rose, and she was startled to see that it was showing video feeds of residential areas of London. Within the video feeds, Daleks began streaming down out of the sky, and explosions erupted as they fired their weapons at the houses. Men, women, and children ran outside screaming, at a loss for what to do. Others ran for shelter, attempting to evade the explosions by hiding out in bunkers and safe rooms that were built when the Cybermen had laid siege to this world.
Tears streamed down Rose's face as she witnessed all of the death and destruction that was occurring on Earth due to her own actions (whether she could remember them or not) from years ago at the Game Station.
"Stop it!" Rose shouted through her tears. "Those are innocent people that you're attacking! This is a level five planet, they can't defend themselves and they've done nothing to harm you."
"Manifest!" The Daleks shouted at her. "Manifest, or your planet will suffer!"
"I've already told you, I can't bring the Bad Wolf back! I don't have that power, it was taken away from me before it killed me. It's the power of the time vortex, and we have no way to access it any more."
"Then more will die."
The explosions continued, and the screen showed various sections of London as it was attacked. Then, the view switched to show a large building that Rose had grown to call home during her time in this universe. It was the Tyler mansion, and she knew that her Mum and brother were currently sealed within it.
"No," Rose whispered, unable to raise her voice any louder as fear for her family clouded her mind.
"We have been watching the Earth," The Dalek said. "We have access to Earth's records. We have access to Torchwood's records, Rose Tyler. It was not difficult to locate your family."
Rose looked on with horror as a line of Daleks surrounded her family's home. "You can't do this," she whimpered.
"Obey!" The Daleks shouted at her.
"I can't 'manifest'! I don't have any power. I'm human!" She shouted in desperation.
The Dalek gave an order, and Rose saw on the screen as each of the Daleks surrounding her parents' house fired their weapons at the building. She could hear the roar as an explosion shook the mansion and a cloud of fire and billowing smoke erupted from it.
"No!" Rose screamed so loud that it felt as though her throat was ripping apart. She quickly turned her head away from the screen as tears filled her eyes. Her Mum, the one person that had always been there for her, was inside that explosion. Her brother, far too young to be faced with such a tragedy, whom she had helped raise and entertained with countless stories of her's and the Doctor's adventures since he was a baby, was in that building. Rose could only hope that they were in the safe room that they'd built underneath the house, and that it had been able to withstand the explosion and flames that followed. It was possible that they'd survived, although it wasn't very likely.
"You won't get away with this," Rose said to the Daleks, her voice dangerously low.
"You will obey us," the Dalek responded.
"I will never obey you," Rose spat back at the Dalek, hatred coating her words as her voice trembled with emotion. "I will stop you, though."
"You are restrained," the Dalek taunted back. "How do you plan to stop us?"
"Ooh, I think I might be of some help there," the familiar voice of the Doctor rang out through the room, causing a wave of relief to pass through Rose. She quickly scanned the room to find him leisurely leaning up against one of the control panels along the far wall. At the same time, every Dalek in the room spun around to stare him down with their eyestalks.
"Hello!" The Doctor waved his fingers cheerfully. "I'm the Doctor! Surprised to see me?"
"Explain! Explain!" The Daleks shouted at him as they pointed their weapons at him.
The Doctor began to animatedly walk in circles around the Daleks, occasionally leaning down to peer menacingly at one of them through their eyestalk. "I'm the Doctor, welll, mostly the Doctor. A bit more human than you're used to and a bit more Donna-ish that I used to be, but you know what?" The loudness of his voice dropped conspiratorially, "I've grown rather fond of this human-y me, one heart and domestics and all. So I've come to stop you. Again."
The Doctor pranced around some more, running circles around the Daleks with his active, lithe body, making it difficult to keep track of his whereabouts despite the smallness of the room they were in. It was this particular fact that made it difficult to notice that as he roamed around the room, he was discreetly hitting buttons and twisting dials along the walls. He was doing exactly what Rose had imagined he would—running his gob as distraction while he bounced around, hitting buttons that undoubtedly would destroy the ship once he was done. Rose smiled proudly at him as a sense of relief and safety washed over her. Now that her Doctor was here, strutting about as if he owned the place, she had no doubt in her mind that he would save the day once again. He'd set her free, destroy the Daleks, and get them both safely back home. No problem. The Doctor could do anything. This Doctor began as only a hand, after all.
The Doctor continued his rant as he flitted excitedly about the room, "You'd think that you lot would have learned your lesson by now. You took Rose. You threatened her. You chained her up and threatened her family. And you know what?" He paused for effect, glaring at the nearest Dalek with one of his terrifying Oncoming Storm looks. "Nobody threatens my Rose. That was your first mistake. Your second mistake was leaving me free to build a teleportation device out of random bits and bobs from Earth. 'Cause I'm a genius. But your third mistake? That was underestimating me. I may be part human, but I'm also part Time Lord. I'm still the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, the Destroyer of Worlds. More so even than my counterpart in the other universe. Cause I was born in battle, out of anger and rage. I was born specifically to fight you Daleks. I destroyed an entire, established Dalek colony simply because they existed. So if you had any sense at all, you'd drop Rose and I off on the Earth - unharmed, mind you - and you'd run. Run for your lives."
The full force of the Oncoming Storm settled over the Daleks as the Doctor looked pointedly at each of them, giving them their one chance at survival and desperately hoping that they'd actually take it this time. He'd prepared the ship for self-destruction with his seemingly random pushing of buttons, but there hadn't been time yet to set up transport back to Earth.
The room was silent for a moment, before the Dalek that had been doing most of the speaking shouted, "Restrain him!"
The Doctor suddenly found himself surrounded by Daleks, cut off from the lever that he needed to pull to complete the destruction of the ship. They were prodding him with their suckers, shoving him towards the center of the room and away from the ship's controls. He could feel his single heart beating rapidly in his chest as he realized that he may have lost his one chance to destroy the ship.
"That was your one warning," he told them with regret. "There won't be any second chances."
"We do not need your mercy," a Dalek replied. "We have captured this Earth's only defenders. The Earth is ours."
"No!" The Doctor hissed back at them, but the Daleks were no longer paying attention to him. They had turned once more to look at Rose. His beautiful, brilliant Rose, chained up against a wall with blood trickling slowly down her arms. It was a sight that quickly brought back his will to fight.
The Doctor looked back at the lever and saw that he had a clear path to it. But there would be no time for him to get himself and Rose off of the ship. He glanced over at Rose questioningly. She met his eyes and nodded solemnly in response. There wouldn't be any hope for them, but at least they could save the planet in their one last act and go down fighting, together. With the Daleks' attention focused on Rose once more, the Doctor took his opportunity to lunge towards the control panel.
Before the Doctor could reach the necessary lever, he heard a Dalek shout, he heard Rose scream his name in terror, and he heard the firing of a Dalek weapon. Then his legs gave out from underneath him.
"Your legs have been paralyzed," a Dalek told the Doctor as he remained on the floor, desperately trying to get his legs working again.
"Why didn't you just kill me, then?" the Doctor growled, the anger of his birth quickly rising to the surface. "Haven't seen you lot paralyzing people for a long time now."
"You are still needed," the Dalek replied before turning back to Rose.
Rose stared helplessly at her Doctor as he attempted use his arms to pull himself through the line of Daleks towards the console with the lever.
One of the Daleks nearest to Rose moved closer to her, peering up at her with its eyestalk. She refused to look at it until it demanded, "The Bad Wolf will manifest, or the Doctor will be exterminated."
"No!" Rose shouted as her focus snapped to the Dalek. "You can't hurt him! That was part of my terms of surrender, remember?"
"We do not negotiate with inferior species."
Rose stared open-mouthed at the Dalek for a moment, before looking over at her Doctor with pleading eyes. She didn't know what to do. He returned her gaze with a look of pity, but he had no answers for her.
"Okay," Rose chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to make her words believable. "I'll become the Bad Wolf. I'll bring back your Emperor. Just let the Doctor go and stop your attack on Earth."
Rose knew that there was no way she could follow through with her promise, but Step 1 in the 'Act like the Doctor' guide was to jabber on as long as possible, after all. Keep your enemies distracted until a path to survival comes along and lie through your teeth if it'll help.
"We will let the Doctor free when the Bad Wolf has manifested."
"And how would you know if it had manifested?" Rose argued, determined to keep them talking. "Maybe I've been the Bad Wolf this whole time, and I've just been bluffing. I've been having you on. I am Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf, Defender of the Earth, and you will do as I say." She tried to put as much power behind her words as she could muster.
She briefly looked over at the Doctor to see him smiling proudly at her. His brilliant Rose.
The Dalek peered at her carefully for a moment, before replying, "There is only a hint of time about you. You are not yet the Bad Wolf."
Rose sighed with annoyance. This was getting old fast.
The Dalek continued, "We will fix that."
"What?" Rose and the Doctor exclaimed simultaneously.
Before Rose could fully comprehend what was happening, the mass of Daleks descended on her Doctor where he remained on the floor. Time itself seemed to slow as they advanced on him, and Rose and the Doctor locked eyes. Fear and sorrow emanated from his eyes, and that scared Rose. It was a devastating look that she hadn't before seen on this face.
The Doctor was too far away from Rose to have a proper conversation, but she suddenly felt a comforting presence battering its way into her mind.
Doctor? She thought tentatively towards the mind invasion.
It's me, he replied.
They only rarely joined minds. While the Time Lords were a telepathic species, and some humans can show a propensity for telepathic tendencies, Rose always had difficulty maintaining a connection for longer than a minute or so.
We don't have much time, love, he said as he tried to send comforting thoughts her way despite the fear and regret that laced his mental voice. I don't think I'm going to make it out of this one. But you will. You are Rose Tyler, the doer of all things impossible. You need to know how to destroy the ship.
Rose's mind was suddenly filled with a series of images, flickering past like pages of a children's flip book. The images showed her what buttons to press to activate the teleport for herself, then showed her which lever to pull in order to cause self-destruction to occur.
Tears started to slip down Rose's face as she realized that the Doctor had given up on getting himself out of this situation. She could see an image of him in her mind's eye as they talked, but at the same time, she saw the Daleks pointing weapons at his paralyzed form on the ground, shouting words that no longer registered through the deafening roar that filled her ears. She wildly fought at her restraints, ripping the skin on her wrists apart as she desperately tried to get free and save her Doctor from his enemies.
I love you, Rose Tyler, the Doctor told her as he sent her a sequence of images from his own memories of their time together. The kiss on the beach, working together at Torchwood, longing glances, stolen kisses and touches, their private wedding, their honeymoon. He shared his emotions of those events with her, as well, and Rose stopped struggling fruitlessly against her bonds as her Doctor's love overwhelmed her.
One more image projected into her mind, that of the Doctor slipping into his pocket some small device that resembled a little circuit board on a keychain and a stray thought that indicated that it was for her.
Rose was in shock. She was properly in shock. She could barely process the events going on around her. Her body had gone numb, there was a roaring sound filling her ears, and she couldn't seem to form the words that she needed to say. So she simply stared, open-mouthed, at the Doctor as tears ran down her face.
The Doctor met Rose's stunned gaze with a look of regret, and said out loud, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
At that exact moment, dozens of cries of "Exterminate!" echoed around the room as the Daleks fired their weapons at the Doctor and he collapsed, lifeless, on the floor.
