A.N: This may look familiar, I've changed a few things I didn't like. Please read to the end!
The journey back to Earth was not a pleasant one. Clara had gone back to her room to sleep off the aftereffects of the shock she'd had on Ophir. The Doctor, still grim and uncharacteristically quiet, was still at the controls, fiddling with things. Mystery sat leaning against the TARDIS door, miserable. The dead scientist's last words were ringing in her ears. Don't trust her! Don't trust her! At last, she felt she had to break the silence, or that voice would drive her mad.
"Doctor?"
No response.
"Doctor, I'm...I'm sorry about your friend."
He sighed. "Yes," he said quietly. "So am I." There was a pause.
"Doctor, about what Dr. Taylor said, and the Daleks...I don't know what I might have told them, really, and I don't feel like I would ever do that even though I must have, and I'm the reason the TARDIS took us there in the first place, and if it recognized my DNA there then I'm probably a Dalek, and now you're all in danger, and...and I think you're right not to trust me anymore," she finished miserably, angrily wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
The Doctor took a deep breath, then turned around to face her. "Mystery," he said, his expression impossible to decipher. "Come here." Slowly the girl stood up and walked over to stand in front of him, head hanging low. Using one finger, he lifted her chin until he could stare her in the eyes. "Oh, Mystery," he whispered, brushing away a tear with his thumb. "It would take a lot more than that for me to stop trusting you."
Mystery looked at him in astonishment, her brown eyes boring into his. "But-But you heard them, same as me! 'The girl you call Mystery has told us much of your past, and your future,' and Dr. Taylor told you not to trust me, and he's a genius!"
"Yes, I heard, and yes, he is," the Doctor replied, smiling a little. "But he is a human and that was a Dalek. I am a Time Lord, and I can tell for myself who to trust. Whatever you might have done is in the past now, and I know you won't do anything like that again. If I didn't trust you, do you think I'd have ever let you even touch my sonic screwdriver, much less teach you how to use it? Besides, there've been loads of times you could have sabotaged me already today, but you didn't, and that's what's important. A Dalek would never let an opportunity like that go by, never fail to exploit a moment of weakness. Daleks feel only hatred, not guilt, or sadness or love. Only anger. That's how Daleks convert people: subtract love, add hate. You're no Dalek, Mystery. Not at all."
Mystery smiled up at him, sniffing. "Thank you, Doctor," she whispered.
"Oh, come here," he said, pulling her close. She buried her head in his shoulder as he held her, hugging her tight. For a moment, one brief, shining moment, Mystery felt so completely safe. For that moment it didn't matter that she might have betrayed them all, didn't matter that she didn't even know her name. This felt like home.
"But," the Doctor said, breaking the hug and holding her at arms length, "if you don't mind, I would like to take another look in that head of yours to see what's in there."
"Of course," Mystery said, wiping her eyes dry. "By all means. I'd love to know more about myself."
"Excellent," he said, beaming and pulling out his sonic. "Just hold still, then. You know the drill."
Mystery stood frozen as the Doctor waved the screwdriver all around her, bathing her in green light. "Didn't you do this once already?" she asked. "Shouldn't you already know all there is to figure out?"
"I was scanning for who you were, not what you were," he answered, poking her from behind with the screwdriver for her cheek. She grinned over her shoulder at him. "Very different processes. No active Pathweb connection, anyway, that's for sure." Just then, Mystery felt a sharp pain on the back of her head.
"Ow!" she cried, whirling around. "Are you pulling my hair?"
Sure enough, the Doctor was busily feeding one long brown strand into a machine on the TARDIS console. "Needed a DNA sample," he said, not ashamed at all. "Easiest way. Oi!" he yelped, jumping away. Mystery had poked him firmly in the ribs. "S'pose I deserve that," he muttered, rubbing his side. "Anyway, a few minutes, we'll see if there's any Dalek in you."
"Good," she said firmly. Then, struck by a new thought, she asked, "Doctor? Back in that Dalek plant, in the hallway...I couldn't hurt them. I tried, but my arm wouldn't move. It was like the message couldn't get through. My brain told it to move, but nothing happened."
"Yes, I do remember that," he answered, turning to face her and studying her intently. "Something in you stopped you from harming them. Like self-preservation, but in another species...Hit me," he said suddenly. Mystery blinked, surprised.
"Sorry, what?"
"Hit me," he repeated. "Punch me. Take my head off. Just to see if you can. See if this block applies to everything. And make sure you mean it."
Mystery thought about it, then shrugged. "Well, if you insist." With that, she raised a hand and slapped him hard across the face. Smack! The Doctor went reeling, staggering back against the console. Mystery rushed to help him stand, instantly apologizing.
"Don't fuss," he said, waving her off and rubbing his face. "I did ask you to. Well done!" he added, giving her an excited sort of smile. "You've got quite an arm on you! And now we know. Whatever block you've got does not apply to Time Lords."
"So what do I do?" she asked anxiously. The Doctor shrugged.
"Nothing for now. Just don't run into any more Daleks."
Ding!
"Ah!" he exclaimed, dashing back to the console. "Here we go!" He swung over one of the hanging screens and pulled up the report, Mystery standing just behind him on tiptoe to see over his shoulder. "Alright then, let's see..." He typed in some commands and a section of text appeared. "Okay, DNA analysis report...blah blah blah...here. 'The DNA given for analysis contains-'"
"A dormant Pathweb connection," Mystery read. The Doctor turned and stared at her. "What?"
"You do realize that's written in Gallifreyan."
"So? You've got a translator thing, haven't you? Or do Daleks always speak English?"
The Doctor glanced back at the screen, still displaying the report, then spun back to Mystery. "The TARDIS doesn't translate written Gallifreyan."
It was Mystery's turn to simply stare. "Then...I can read Gallifreyan? How?"
"That, my dear," he said, raising an eyebrow, "is not something I can answer."
Mystery sighed, then pounded herself on the forehead. "I hate not knowing anything!" she yelled in frustration.
The Doctor patted her on the shoulder. "Hush now," he said soothingly. "It's the stress getting to you. Not to worry. I'm sure everything will come back in time. Be patient."
"I hate being patient!"
"Agreed," the Doctor said with a grin. "Patience is for wimps. But think how much you've already learned: you know how to use a sonic screwdriver, you read Gallifreyan, and you've got a bit of Dalek bouncing around in your brain. About that-" he added before Mystery could say a word. He turned back to his screen, typing furiously. "It does seem to be completely inactive. Probably why you weren't affected when I blew it up. And, now that the source is gone, they shouldn't be able to reactivate it." He smiled encouragingly at her. Mystery was unwilling to be cheered just yet.
"So I am part Dalek, then."
"No!" he exclaimed. "Of course not. Well, not really, that is, mostly not. Only part way." Mystery glared at him. "Well, alright. Part Dalek, yes, I suppose so. Not genetically though, none of your ancestors were Daleks. You've been...converted."
"Converted," she repeated, not liking the sound of that.
"Like Malcolm. The Daleks have perfected nanocloud technology, which basically means that they can animate any kind of organic material, alive or dead, and turn it into their puppet. However, he retained his free will, which means it must be a less complete conversion than I've ever seen. They had control, but he still was able to apply human ingenuity."
"So the Daleks could control me at any second. And I wouldn't know it. I could be a Dalek right now!" Mystery was already spiraling back into her misery. How could they possibly trust her now?
"Nonsense," the Doctor replied. "There's ways to tell. And besides, my analysis shows that you have a dormant connection, and furthermore, it hasn't been activated since you first entered the TARDIS. I'll know, don't worry."
"But-"
"I've got to tell Clara," he said, dashing up the stairs to the archway on the upper level. "Call me when we've landed." Before Mystery was able to protest she didn't know how to tell when the TARDIS had landed, he was gone, leaving her alone in the room and feeling inexplicably lonesome.
A.N: Okay. Hello again. For those of you who might be confused, yes, this is the second time I have posted this chapter. I just didn't like the way the first draft was going, and I've adjusted the plot some as well. What you read before may or may not be significant any longer. Sorry. But I do like this much better, for whatever reason, so I hope you aren't too disappointed. Anyway, a shout out to AnimeStitches for being the only one to catch any quotes at all. I'm very disappointed in you all 3. If you are interested, I will hopefully post a full list of quotes and where they're quoted from in my profile soon, so go check it out if you're interested. There is maybe one quote in this chapter, but there's plenty still unfound in what's already been posted! Next chapter will begin their next adventure, and I think you'll like it. I hope so. So anyway. Thank you all so so much for reading, and please let me know what you thought! Much love to you all!
-Forever the Optimist