AN: A thank you to harimonkids, fanfictator727, Branchpelt The Cool, Ophelia deCanards, YinFa Cullen, and iloveyourosetyler for the follows/favorites. To Purple Guest, I have to agree that a Nine pouting is one of the most adorable things. Actually, you know, when I was writing this AU it occurred to me as well how quickly they come to care for each other. I didn't pay much attention when watching Doctor Who, but this human version of events made me see it. Well, I can promise half of what you want, that they will all travel together for a bit, but not the dying/retiring part of Nine. Just because it IS part of the real Doctor Who, and I'm still trying to keep up with what happened in most of it.

A long thirteen hour flight later, Rose and John stepped off the plane in Utah.

"Ugh," she said. "I'm knackered." She stretched and yawned as if to emphasize her point.

"You slept the whole plane ride," he scoffed.

"Haven't ya ever heard of jet lag, you insensitive brat?" she teased.

"I am not a brat!" John insisted.

"Are too," she argued.

"You aren't gonna be sayin' that for much longer if ya see where we're goin'," John boasted.

"Where?" she breathed, getting excited.

"A'int gonna say," he smiled. "Haveta wait to see, Rose Tyler."

"Fine," Rose huffed, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Now, ya said ya had the RV delivered, let's go find it."

…

"Uh, I don't think we should be in here," she offered up helpfully.

John had driven them to an empty looking building with a board across the door.

"I promised ya a museum, didn't I?" he asked, pointing at it grandly.

"Except I think we mighta taken a wrong turn, yeah? That looks like a condemned building."

"Nah, trust me. No one's in there, but all the stuff still is. Best museum you'll ever see."

Rose jumped out of the TARDIS and raced to the door. She waited impatiently for John to catch up, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"How are ya gonna open it?" she asked, looking at him expectantly.

He rolled his eyes at her, and took his screwdriver out of his pocket. He carefully pried the board of the door and set it aside.

"Got a hammer and nails handy for when we come out." John winked at her.

She walked into it, and automatically noticed something. "When did this museum close?" she asked.

"A few year ago," he shrugged. "Why?"

"No dust." Rose ran a finger across a display case to show no dust.

"Maybe someone just comes in to dust," he explained, walking over to flip a light switch. The cases lit up one by one, and she rushed over to one in awe.

"Oh my God, what is all this stuff?" she asked.

"Space stuff," he replied, looking at the chunks of meteorites and rockets everywhere. "Looks authentic. Someone musta spent a fortune on this stuff."

"What's this?" Rose asked, pointing at a silver robot head in a display case. "Space suit or somethin'?"

John walked over to join her and his face paled. "An old enemy of mine."

"An enemy?" she asked, confused.

He shook his head. "It's nothin'. It's fine. It's gone dead." John reached his hand out to touch the case and suddenly an alarm sounded around them and armed guards rushed in.

"So much for bein' alone, eh?" she asked sarcastically.

….

Well, Rose reasoned, at least they hadn't been arrested. In fact, the man that ran this place seemed impressed by them.

"I can't believe you thought to come in here," he chuckled. "No one does that."

"That's us!" John called cheerfully. "Lookin' for trouble."

"And this is the last," the assistant piped up, holding what looked like a piece of space junk. "Paid eight thousand dollars for it."

"What does it do?" the man asked.

"Well, ya see the tubes on the side? I think it must be to channel something. I'm thinking fuel?"

John rolled his eyes and strode across the room to him. "Give it to me. I know what it does."

"Sir?" the assistant looked at the owner, questioning.

"Give it to him."

The object was handed over to John, and he took it from them delicately. "You just haveta be...gentle." He stroked it lightly, playing a few different notes.

"It's a musical instrument!" The owner clapped his hands in delight.

"Yeah, the Japanese used to give 'em to their astronauts to keep 'em busy in space. But they wanted somethin' lightweight to not bonk 'em on the head."

"Here let me." The man snatched it. He pawed at the instrument, making it produce awful sounding notes.

John covered his ears. "Gently!"

The man stroked it softer.

"Very good!" he approved. "Quite the expert."

"As are you," the man noted. He threw the instrument to the floor. "Who exactly are you?"

"John," he introduced. "An' this is Rose."

"You seem to be quite a collector yourself. She's a pretty little thing, isn't she?"

"Oi, she's gonna slap ya if ya keep callin' her a she!" Rose protested.

"She's English, too!" he said gleefully. "Little Lord Fauntleroy, I found you a little girlfriend."

"I don't think so," John and Rose said at the same time.

"Not that you're not-ya know...uhm, nice lookin', it's just-" she stumbled around with the words.

Rose noticed John turn red whenever she called the assistant nice looking, and this just made her blush even more.

"This is Mr. Henry Van Statten," the assistant introduced, giving her a smile.

"An' who is he when he's at home?" she asked.

"Mr. Van Statten owns the internet," the assistant said.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Rose scoffed. "No one owns the internet!"

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten chuckled.

"So, you're just 'bout an expert in everythin' except your museum. Anythin' you don't understand, ya lock up," John stated.

"And you claim greater knowledge?" he asked.

"I don't claim," John said, "I know how good I am."

Rose grinned at that. He was so full of himself, wasn't he?

"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the cage. What were you doing in there?"

"You tell me," John said, with a smug grin on his face and arms crossed across his chest.

"That cage contains my one live specimen."

"An' what's that?" John asked, curious.

"Like you don't know," Van Statten rolled his eyes.

"Show me," he instructed.

"You want to see it?" Van Statten challenged.

"Blimey, you can smell the testosterone," Rose commented.

"Inform the cage we're heading down," Van Statten said to the assistant. Look after the girl. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you," he pointed at John, "come and see my pet."

…

"Sorry about the mess," the assistant apologized down in his lab. "Mr. Van Statten sorta let's me do my own thing, as long as I deliver the goods. What do ya think that is?" he asked, handing her a piece of metal.

Rose ignored his question. "What's your name?"

"Adam," he grinned.

She turned her attention back to the object. "Er, a lump of metal?"

He laughed. "Yeah. But I think, well, I'm almost certain, it's from a spacecraft. I honestly believe the whole universe is teeming with life."

"I'm gobsmacked, yeah," she pretended to sound interested. "An' you do what, sit here and catalogue it?"

"Best job in the world," Adam beamed.

"Imagine if ya could get out there," she said breathlessly. "Travel amongst the stars and see it for real."

"Yeah, I'd give anything," he said. "I don't think it's gonna happen, though. Not in our lifetimes."

"Oh, ya never know," she said, shrugging. What about all those people who say they've been in space with aliens and things?"

"I think they're nutters!"

"Yeah, me too," she laughed. "So, how'd ya end up here?"

"Van Statten has agents all over the world, looking to recruit geniuses."

"Oh, right," she said, "you're a genius."

"Sorry, but yeah. Can't help it," Adam boasted. "I was born clever. When I was eight, I logged into the US defense system. Nearly caused World War 3."

Rose rolled her eyes. He was full of himself, too, but on him it was annoying. "What, and that's funny, is it?"

"Well, you shoulda been there, seeing them running about! Fantastic!" he insisted.

"You sound like John," she sighed.

"Are you and him-?" he asked, breaking off his question.

"No, we're just friends," she said.

"Good," he said.

"Why's that good?" she asked, sounding irritated.

"It just is."

She paused, a bit awkward. "So, uh, wouldn't ya rather be downstairs? I mean, ya got these bits of metal and stuff, but he's got a living thing down there."

"Well, when you're a genius like me, it doesn't take long to hack the communication systems."

"Let's have a look then!" Rose exclaimed.

"It doesn't do much," Adam said, sounding quite bored with it. "It's weird. It's kinda useless, actually."

But what Rose saw on screen didn't look useless. The creature was screaming.

"It's bein' tortured!" she screamed. "Where's John?"

"I don't know," Adam admitted.

"Take me down there now!" she instructed.

…

They were stopped at the cage, but Adam let them in with his ID card. So, he was good for something besides his boasting about himself.

"Don't get too close," he warned.

"Hello? Are ya in pain?" Rose asked. "My name's Rose Tyler. I gotta friend that can help ya. He's called John, what's your name?"

"Yes."

"What? Your name is yes?" she asked.

"I am in pain," it replied. "They torture me, but they still fear me. Do you fear me?"

"No," she said calmly.

"I am dying," it informed her.

"No, we can help," Rose insisted.

"I welcome death. But I am glad that I have met someone who was not afraid."

"Isn't there anythin' I can do?"

"I shall die alone."

Rose felt so bad for this thing that she placed her hand out to touch it.

"Rose, no!" Adam yelled.

She had touched it by now, a golden handprint in place of her hand when she pulled away. The robot had straighten itself up.

"Genetic material extrapolated, cellular reconstruction initiated." The robot broke out of it's chains and raised it's arm.

A man ran into the room. "What have you done?"

A sound came from the arm, and it was pointed at the man's chest.

"What are you going to do?" he laughed. "That thing doesn't work."

To Rose's horror, the robot fired it's weapon at the man, and he fell to the ground. Adam pushed her out of the cage and pressed the button to close down the metal walls.

The screen across from them came on, and she saw John's face.

"John!" she cried out, relieved. "It's all my fault. I'm so sorry, I-"

Adam cut her off. "I've sealed off the compartment. Nothing can get through that it's got a billion combinations."

"That thing is a genius," John said. "It's a mutated human bred for this sorta thing. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat."

"Open fire!" a woman in the room with John ordered.

"Don't shoot it!" Van Statten whined. "I want it unharmed."

"Rose, get out!" John called. "Just get outta there!"

She listened to him. She grabbed Adam by the arm and ran from the room, running smack dab into a guard.

"I was told to get you two out. Come with me."

They ran down a hallway into a crowd of guards posted. "I've got civilians coming through, move out of the way!" the woman they were with commanded.

The robot followed them to the staircase, and they ran up. "You're never going to make it," the guard said. "Adam, you take her."

"You can't stop it!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, well someone's gotta try. Now go!"

And with that Adam and Rose were off again. She winced at the sound of the guard's screams behind them.

They made it into a room, surrounded by more guards.

"Hold your fire!" the commander ordered. "You two, get the hell out of there!"

Rose and Adam were more than happy to oblige. They ran behind the wall of guards as the robot came into the room behind them. The guards cocked their weapons, ready to fire. The robot zoomed in on Rose's face and just stared at her. She was about to say something, when Adam pulled her through to the next hallway.

"That thing was starin' at me," she told him as they ran.

"Yeah, 'cause it wants to kill us!" Adam insisted.

"I know, but it was lookin' right at me."

"So? It's just looking all around!"

"I don't know," she said uneasily. "It's like there's somethin' inside, starin' at me. Like…like it knows me."

Just then her mobile in her pocket rang. She picked it up to look at it. John was calling her. "Look," Rose said when she answered, "this isn't really the best time."

"Where are ya?" he asked, ignoring her sentence.

"Level 49," she sighed.

"You've gotta keep moving," John told her. "The vault's bein' sealed off at level 46."

"Can't you stop them closin'?" she asked frantically, trying to encourage even mroe powere from her legs.

"I'm the one who's closin' them," he told her flatly. "I can't wait and I can't help ya. Now, for God's sakes, please, Rose, run!"

She saw level 46 come into view. "We're nearly there," she panted. "Give us two seconds!"

"John, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing, you've got to close the bulkheads," Rose heard Van Statten say from the other end.

"I'm sorry," John whispered.

She heard the click of a button, and she held her breath. The door in front of them was closing.

"Come on!" Adam yelled, running ahead of her. He made it and rolled under the door.

Rose came just short of it.

"The bulkhead is sealed," Van Statten informed John on the other end of her mobile.

"Rose, where are ya? Did ya make it?" And she could hear the hope in his voice. Oh, how she wished she could tell him she had made it.

She gulped. "Erm, sorry. Seems I'm not winnin' any gold medals for sprintin' anytime soon." She laughed dryly.

She saw the robot rounding the corner. "See you then," Rose continued to John. "It wasn't your fault. Remember that, 'kay? It wasn't your fault." She backed against the door and took a deep breath.

"And d'you know what?" she asked him. "I wouldn't 'ave missed it for the world."

"Exterminate!" the robot called, his arm pointed at her.

The mobile connection cut out. The robot was still standing there.

"Go on then!" she called out. "What're ya waitin' for! Kill me!"

"I am armed," the robot told her. "I will kill. It is my purpose."

"They're all dead 'cos of ya," she told it.

"Because of us," it corrected.

"An' now what?" she asked.

"I feel your fear," the robot told her.

"What d'you expect?" Rose asked.

"I do not fear. Not supposed to fear." It shot the weapon at either side of Rose, making her flinch. "What else have you given me?" it demanded. "You have contaminated me!"

It opened the communications again to contact Van Statten.

"Open the bulkheads, or Rose Tyler dies!" it demanded, holding her ransom.

John crowded his face into the screen. "You're alive!" he said happily.

"Can't get rid of me," she grinned.

"I thought you were dead," he told her seriously, all traces of smiling gone.

"Open the bulkhead!" the robot commanded.

"Don't do it!" Rose protested.

"What use are emotions, if you will not save the woman you love?" the robot asked cruelly.

John sighed. "I killed 'er once, I can't do it again."

Rose tried to ignore the burst of happiness when John didn't deny what the robot said. It forced her to walk through with it.

"I'm beggin' you," she pleaded. "Don't kill 'em. You didn't kill me."

"My purpose is to kill," it informed. "What am I if I do not?"

They had reached Van Statten's office and she saw the look of fear on his face.

"Don't move!" she exclaimed. "It's startin' to question itself."

"Why did you torture me?" it asked him.

"I wanted you better!" he insisted. "I just wanted you to talk!"

"Then hear me now!" the robot said, backing him against a wall, his weapon pointed at his chest. "Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Don't do it!" Rose yelled. "You don't haveta do this anymore. There must be somethin' else, not killin'. What do ya want?"

"Freedom," it told her. It turned away from Van Statten and shot it's weapon at the roof instead. A stream of sunlight burst through.

"How does it feel?" it asked. To Rose's shock, the robot pressed a button and a mutated human walked out of the suit, stepping into the light.

"Rose! Get outta the way!" John yelled, rushing up to her side with a huge gun.

"No," she said defiantly, stepping in front of him. "I won't let ya do this."

"That thing killed hundreds of people!" he said, pointing at it.

"It's not the one pointin' the gun at me," she said, looking down at the gun by her ribs to make a point.

"I've got to this, end this. Those robots, they destroyed my home, my people, Rose!"

"Look at it," she told him.

"What's it doin'?" he asked, confused.

"The sunlight, that's all it wants."

"But it can't," John insisted.

"It couldn't kill me or Van Statten," she reasoned. "It's changin'. What about you, John? What the hell are you changin' into?"

"I couldn't-" he started, "I mean, I wasn't-" he sighed. "Oh, Rose, they're all dead." His shoulders slumped, and Rose realized this was the most tired she had ever seen him.

"Order me to to die, Rose Tyler," the mutated human said.

"I can't."

"DO IT!" it yelled.

"Okay, do it," she said quietly.

"Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?" it asked her.

"Yeah."

"Me too." It stepped back into it's suit and pressed a button to lift itself through the roof. It exploded.

…

"Is that the end of the war you were talkin' about?" she asked John as they walked back to the RV.

"I'm the only one left," he said. "I win. How 'bout that?"

"The robot survived," Rose pointed out. "Maybe some of your people did, too."

"Dalek," he corrected. "That robot is called a Dalek. And I'd know."

"Well, then good thing I'm not goin' anywhere," Rose smiled.

"Yeah."

They heard footsteps running behind them and saw Adam, bag slung over his shoulder. "We'd better get out. Van Statten disappeared, they're closing down the base. Gonna fill it with cement."

"About time," Rose rolled her eyes.

"I'll have to go back home," Adam said, looking down at the ground.

And as much as Rose thought Adam was annoying, she realized something. He was out here all on his own, too. Shouldn't they offer him some travelling at least? They could drop him off with then got back to England and to his town. She couldn't offer the stars, but this was the next best thing, right?

"Better hurry up then,"John told him. "Next flight to Heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours."

"Adam was sayin' that he wanted to travel," Rose hinted.

"So, tell him to go home an' do it then," John scoffed.

"He's all on his own, John. And he did help."

"He left ya down there!" he insisted.

"So did you," she pointed out.

John sighed. "He's a bit pretty, isn't he?"

"I hadn't noticed," Rose grinned at him.

"Fine," he huffed, "but it's on your own head."

They all walked out together, and John unlocked the RV.

"Adam, this is the TARDIS," Rose introduced grandly.