"You, you have your mother's eyes." Every step towards Donna was another one she heard. It was the sound of metal scraping against metal. He looked human but was possibly an android. He grabbed for her arm wistfully and she recoiled.

"You don't know my mother! Don't touch me! Tell me what the hell is going on and why I'm dead!"

"Donna? Didn't the Doctor tell you?" Ford's voice was tinged with concern and he moved a step back in respect for the command of her voice.

"Tell me what?"

Ford shook his head. "Maybe it would be better to show you your heritage, your lineage. Come."

"But I'm a temp."

Ford turned back as he was leaving the cavern. "Then you must know the truth."

Donna followed at a pace, trying to organize her thoughts. She had watched the Doctor and Rose leave for Bad Wolf Bay. She had been taken for dead on the Medusa Cascade, a place where she was apparently royalty. Fat lot of good that did now. Her heels echoed down the hallways as she followed Ford. Each step made her more nervous than the laugh.

"We are here, Donna Noble."

"But where is here?"

Ford placed his hand over the scrapings in the wall and Donna squinted to see it in the shadows. The letters converged upon her, glowing a light yellow. "May God have mercy on our souls. What does that have to do with me?"

"That is the creed of the Medusa heir, Donna Noble. Only a true member of the royal family may gaze upon it. But there is one more proof yet and then you will believe. I will tell you the story, but first you must believe."

"I'm almost ready to believe anything now." Her voice grumbled low as they began an ascent through the large asteroid she had landed in.

"Luke! You must run! Find somewhere and hide!" Sarah Jane's voice screamed with worry and panic as they began to race about the sky.

"No. No, it's no use, Sarah Jane. They've returned and it's the end. We're all dead. I'm so sorry." Ianto found his place near Jack's arm, squeezing it and telling him he wouldn't go either. Gwen looked from beyond Rhys uncertain but with a level of understanding. Something that Jack feared could be the ruin of them all.

"But what are they?"

"We are the Daleks. We are the Lords and Masters of the Doctor's favorite children! We will Exterminate!"

"Well, that answers my question." Ianto wasn't quite as phased as his Captain by the large toasters with the blinking blue eye tracing the skies above him. Maybe Jack saw something he didn't. "But how do they relate to the dead worms in the Hub?"

"Rejects, Ianto. The Daleks are actually inside the machines. By themselves, they aren't fearsome, but their armor is nearly indestructible. The rejects we received through the Rift were mutated experiments. But how?"

"No more queries, humans!" One of the Daleks in the sweeping formations roaming the skies moved from the pack, descending upon Torchwood, Sarah Jane, and Luke. "You shall serve the Daleks."

"I'll tell you what I told that miserable Red Caan, you overgrown toaster! I will not serve you!" Jack growled as Sarah Jane tearfully put her hands on her head.

"Just don't hurt the child!"

"The male will be eliminated."

"No, Jack!"

"Ianto, don't!"

There was a flash of blue light as Ianto threw himself in front of Jack. Sarah Jane bit her lip as she watched the polite young man fall. Luke's first reaction was to run to catch Ianto. Sarah Jane just barely threw herself in front of the beam aimed for him. She fell inches from where Ianto was. Her last thought was about the color of his eyes and how happy, peaceful even, he looked suddenly struck down.

Jack's voice cracked as a tear raged down his cheek. "Bastards."

"All resistors shall be exterminated!"

"You are relieved, captain." Archie's weapon swung around, the butt splitting apart the head of the guards near the entrance to the electrical room. Martha herself could no longer hear anything but her own heartbeat, even above her own thoughts. Her tears even burned deep within, when they could even bother to make it to the surface.

"I'm so sorry, lass. I'm too late." His face was downcast as she saw him without really seeing him. The output was wavering and Daleks had been leaving the fleet twenty in a pack. The men hadn't been difficult to strike. It was though there had been a program in place. There had been no resistance and no fighting. Just a young girl giving her life for the cause of the darkness. Archie hated his job some days.

Martha ceased screaming, even silently. She thought of the Doctor and her wedding day. She thought of his toast to Tom and Jack and Ianto shocking one of the bridesmaids in a back room. She thought of dancing against a backdrop of stars like some fairy tale. But the fairy tale had ended. That was three members of her wedding party dead: Owen, Toshiko, and herself. What would they tell Tom?