Chapter 20

Let's Go

"Showtime," Peter muttered before greeting the woman his traditional winsome smirk. "Nova Prime," he smiled holding out his arms as if to embrace her, "you look ravishing today."

"Spare me the flattery Peter Quill," she said with a slightly exasperated look. "You'd needn't bother since I was going to thank you on behalf of the Nova Force and for the Empire."

"Nice for our hard work to be acknowledged," the Doctor said. "Now you wanted us for debriefing?"

"Who's that man?" Nova blinked as if seeing him for the first time. She turned annoyed to a present Rhomann Day. "I told you to find all the Guardians of the Galaxy."

"I did," the Nova officer protested. "I tracked the shuttlecraft and told the others to bring them in."

"Then where pray tell is the one called "Gramps"?"

"I..I uh, don't know?"

" "You don't know?" " Nova Prime repeated looking shocked before turning back to the others. "What happened to him?"

"We left him a hospital," Gamora interjected. "He's recovering there."

"Is he?"

"Yeah," Peter pipped in. "He's doing fine."

"In fact this dude's a Ravager friend of mine," Peter draped his arm on the Doctor's shoulders. "He's good. He came with us to make sure things were alright here."

"Really?"

"What?" Peter pulled out his innocent look. It usually disarmed their intended audience. it was something that he'd picked up from the Doctor's former face. "Why would I lie about that?"

"Because we know he's a Time Lord," she said causing the whole group to stiffen. "He can't go to a regular hospital or someone will try to harvest his organs."

"How do you know that?" Rocket asked his fur bristling slightly. "That's not common knowledge you know."

"That's true," Nova Prime nodded. "But I was curious as to why there was a Earthian looking being with a binary heart system, a respiratory bypass and a far more complicated brain than normal for a Terran among the group."

"Fine," the Doctor sigh giving a jaunty wave. "I'm the Time Lord you're looking for. I had a bit of a change before I got here."

The woman blinked at him before stepping forward to examine him. She stared at his face and then walked around before coming back to his face. "How did you do that?"

"Trade secret," he smiled thinly. "Can't have that kind of information in the open, me."

"I understand," Nova Prime said with apologetic smile. "Forgive me, I was told your people were just fairy tales."

" 'Ts fine," he shrugged. "Common mistake."

"So why are we here?" Rocket interrupted crossing his arms. "You said you wanted to speak with us."

"Yes," she said turning her gaze to Rocket. "It's about Quill."

"What about me?"

"Did you know you're half human?"

"Say what?"

"We discovered some anomalies in your physic while we were processing you in Kyln," Nova Prime as she led over to a console. Pressing a few command keys she called up the records along with the scans. True enough there were several genetic anomalies that shouldn't be present in this body. How odd, the Doctor mused as he studied the scan.

"Wait I'm not human?"

"You mother was," Nova Prime corrected. "But you're father, well he's part of a species we've never seen before."

"Huh, interesting," the Doctor mused as he turned his gaze to woman. "Have you checked with the Shadow Proclamation for that?"

Rhomann snorted: "Those bureaucrats couldn't find their way to waste disposal with a triplicated paperwork. I doubt they've have anything."

"Agree," Nova Prime said. "We have much better records then they do. So I'd say that if we don't know then chances are they don't either."

"Oh fun," Peter groaned. "I'm an anomaly."

"No more like a hybrid," Rhomann corrected. That particular word make the Doctor shudder slightly even though he sincerely doubted that Peter was the Hybrid of the prophecy that was destined to destroy Gallifrey. Which of course was rather hard to do considering he blow it up. Still the word brought back some very old memories from the Matrix that he would rather not revisit right now.

As they got further into discussion on possible fathers the Doctor edged away from the group and went to the nearest reflective surface namely the window. Looking up the Doctor got a view of his new face for the very first time. His nose was indeed huge, his ears stuck out making him look rather comical. His hair now black was closely shaven near his hear. His formly brown eyes were now steely blue with the sharp features of his face bringing them into focus.

"Admiring the view?" Rocket asked as he walked up beside him. "Or looking at something else?"

"Looking at my face actually," the Doctor replied. "Just taking stock of what I've gotten this time."

"How often does it happen?"

"Every time that I've died," the Doctor said. "And no I'm not giving you a number here."

"You're too loud and there are too many people here," Rocket agreed giving him a look that clearly added: and there are too many prying ears here.

"Exactly," he nodded. He looked down at the raccoon who quite frankly looked exhausted. His whiskers were dropping and he was cradling a stick freshly planted. Most likely it was the remains of his friend. Drax and him must have gotten him planted while looking for ship. The Doctor turned away from Rocket and continued to look at his reflection. So this was the man he was now...

"Um excuse me sir," a Nova officer came up from behind him. "We need you in another conference room."

"What?" The Doctor blinked noticing that Rocket stiffened beside him in fact, the Doctor could swear that he looked ready to bear his teeth at them.

"You can't talk about this with Nova Prime here?" He bit out glaring at the man.

"It's just a logistics issue sir," the man said looking slightly nervous. "It's about what happened on the Dark Aster, sir. You see we are need some information about that."

This was a facade and the Doctor knew it. He wasn't sure what these people wanted but it certainly wasn't that considering Nova Prime would want to hear about what happened. So spring the trap or call it out? Oh who was he kidding? Besides if he called it out then he wouldn't find out who was doing this in the first place since they were at the very least smart enough to infiltrate this Nova Corp headquarters.

"I see," the Doctor smiled while Rocket glared at the man. "Lead on."

"Hang on a sec," Rocket said looking at the Doctor with a calculating look. "Let me drop off this pot."

"That isn't necessary," the guard said. "I only require him."

"Oh yeah? Well that's tough because I'm going with him. I was with him on the ship after all."

"Fine," the man said dully. "My partner will take care of the plant," the officer gesturing to a slightly confused man standing guard at the door. Could this be anymore obvious? Now Rocket too was seeing the very obvious signs that something was off. "Please come with me."

"Sure fine," Rocket nonchalantly shrugged. He quietly handed over Groot's remains to the man who placed it on the table. Then once this was done the guard jerkily gestured them to move. Both followed their bodies tense and waiting for a fight as the man lead them out of the room and into the hallway. They all walked quietly each contemplating on what was going on here.

"Okay I know why I'm following this guy but why are you?" The Doctor asked Rocket.

"Groot cared about you for some reason," Rocket said. "The least I can do is make sure you get out of this alive for Groot's sake. 'Sides something's wrong with this punk and I wanna see what it is without involving the others yet."

"And," he continued looking slightly embarrassed. "You're my friend."

"Aw that's sweet," the Doctor teased. "I always wanted a Cyber for a friend."

"Always wanted a Gallifreyan geezer for one too," Rocket shot back with a smirk.

The guard led them to an abandoned section that evidentially had been hit during the battle. Stopping he turned to them them and roughly grabbed both their arms. He heard the telltale sound of a teleporter being powered up and soon Xandar vanished in favor of a stark ship-like scenery. The Doctor swallowing a bit of unexpected bit of nausea gave a look over while Rocket just tried not to hurl as he too took in the surroundings. It was indeed a ship, 51st century if he was correct which would explain the nausea. Time travel without a capsule could be rough on his senses. Looking down at the decidedly not Nova Corp guard he saw the flash of a vortex manipulator control panel. He snapped the covering close and looked at them in the slightly darkened amphitheater surrounded by control panels.

"Where are we?" Rocket asked. "And what are you supposed to be?"

"You are on the ship Calcula," the man said. "We're in orbit over the place in which you're needed Guardians of the Galaxy but namely you Time Lord."

"Who are you?" The Doctor leaned forward to the man giving him a hard look.

"I died in the attack on Xandar so my name is irrelevant but I was brought back by the last vestiges of a great empire," the man said. As he spoke the Doctor heard a sickening crack of bone being moved and from his forehead came out...a Dalek eyestalk!

I am a Roboman one of the last," the Nova Corp zombie said. "And I along with my few comrades are the last of the Dalek Empire."

"WHAT THE FRAK!?"

"No it can't be!" The Doctor screamed as he turned to run away in a panic only to be stopped by other Robomen surrounding them into the amphitheater closing off all avenues of escape.

"And the Time Lord will save what is the left of the Daleks."

"The Daleks are dead!" He screamed at the man. "I watched it happen, I made it happen! Why the bloody hell would I save them especially if they were alive!?"

"These Daleks weren't involved with the war," the Roboman continued. "They're mad."

"Okay that's a misleading considering the Daleks are practically mad to begin with," the Doctor retorted. "How they could the be even more mad than usual?"

"They are insane," the Roboman said. "Clinically insane."

"What like off their rocker insane?" Rocket asked. "As in like screws loss kind?"

"They are clinically insane," the Roboman repeated. "Harder to control and therefore dangerous even to regular Daleks."

"Best if you don't use metaphors," the Doctor remarked as he took in the information. This wasn't good. "This lot are as thick as two short boards."

"Huh?"

"Idiots," the Doctor explained to Rocket. "It means idiots."

"Weird," Rocket commented shaking his head. "But getting back to the Daleks why would we help out this nutcases?"

"If you don't then the Faction will get them."

"Faction?" The Doctor blinked. Now this was new given that in all of his traveling he'd never heard of this group before. Who would be mad enough to use Daleks and for that matter who'd use more unstable Daleks? "What Faction?"

"Unknown," the Roboman replied much to the Doctor's annoyance. He didn't like not having information especially when concerned the Daleks. "They seek to use these Daleks for their plans."

"Which I'm guessing you don't know either," the Doctor growled. "Fat lot of good. you are."

"So why contact us?" Rocket interrupted. "Renegade's made his point clear and I agree with him. We ain't helping you not till you give us a good reason."

"There's a crashed ship on the planet making it easier for them to escape."

"Wait the insane asylum's a planet?"

"It is," the Roboman confirmed.

"Great, so some poor sod crashed there?"

"It has compromised the shield protectors allowing for Enemies to discover its location. Therefore you must retrieve it and load up the shields once more."

"And they want to use crazy Daleks," Rocket said incredulously ignoring the latter portion of the conversation. "Are they insane or suicidal considering you said they're hard to control?"

"Maybe both," the Doctor replied. "Were there any survivors from the ship?"

"We've received this signal," the Roboman said stepping towards one of the main consoles and pressing a few buttons. Suddenly the room was filled with...was that Bizet?

"Habanera?" The Doctor confusedly asked. "Someone's playing the Habanera?"

"What's that?" Rocket asked. "Sounds operatic to me."

"And you'd be right, it comes from an opera from Earth," the Doctor answered.

"So there's a Earthian down there?"

"Or at the very least someone how knows Earth culture," the Doctor nodded. "So have you tried answering this bloke or bird?"

The silence that greeted his words was answer enough. Groaning of the unimaginative nature of Dalek inventions he walked up to the speaker and leaning over pressed the transmit key. If only the war were so easy...

"Hallo?"

"Yes hallo," an very eager feminine voice with a Lancashire accent like his own answered back. Clearly she'd been there for a while given her utter relief coloring her voice. Now how long she'd survived was the question and how she'd been surviving in first place given her situation. "Is there anyone out there?"

"Yeah," the Doctor said. "We're a rescue crew in orbit around the planet. We've received your distress beacon. What's your name?"

"It's Oswin," she replied. "Oswin Oswald, Junior Entertainment Officer of the starship Alaska."

"I see," the Doctor said smiling at the comm. He liked her spunk it was rather refreshing to hear compared to the dull monotone of the Roboman. "How long have you been down there love?"

"A year," she answered clearly trying to keep herself under control. "I've been waiting for rescue and making souffles for a year."

"Souffles?" Rocket asked softly so the microphone wouldn't pick up his voice. "What are those?"

"Earthian delicacy," the Doctor replied after he muted the audio. "It's eggs delicacy."

"Hang on a minute where is she getting the eggs?" Rocket asked. "If she's been down there for a year they should be rotten or at the very least running out."

"There's good refrigeration in the 51st century."

"51st what?" Rocket's ears lowered. "Are you telling me we've time traveled?"

"Yeah."

"That's impossible," Rocket said crossing his arms. "But then again I'm talking about going to Dalek insane asylum. So you know what, I'll just roll with this for now."

"Don't worry," the Doctor smiled. "I'll explain later."

"You'd better," Rocket retorted, "and you'd better keep the hummie talking before she thinks we've abandoned her."

"Right," he agreed as he switched on the audio again and said: "Listen Oswin we're getting you out of there so don't you worry."

"Oh thank God," she said with a relieved note in her voice. "I need to get out of here, there are mad Daleks here."

"I know," the Doctor said. "We'll be with you in mo' ta."

"You'd better," she said as the connection was cut off. Turning to the Roboman the Doctor said: "Well now how do we get this girl off so you're planet isn't invaded?"

"First you'll need these," the Roboman placed very decidedly Dalek looking bracelets that made the Doctor want to scrub his arm with a hot iron. "It will protect from the nanogenes on the planet."

"And what do those nanogenes do?" Rocket asked eyeing the bracelet with similar distain. "Cause till I'm told what they do, I ain't putting that thing on me."

"It will convert you into one of us," the Roboman said.

"Well in that case," Rocket replied snatching the device from the man's hands. "Give it here, I'm already enough of a freak as it is,"

"We know," the Doctor teased trying desperately not to think of the fact that Dalek tech was on his arm and he was going down to a planet filled with his sworn enemies. "That's obvious for all involved."

"Screw you," Rocket retorted. "Compared to you I'm a noble specimen."

"You will be shot down to the planet via this teleporter and to get back you must activate the retrieval beacon."

"Oh joy," Rocket deadpanned. "This is going to be so much fun."

"Nah, this is a normal Saturday for me," the Doctor said before pausing. "Or at least it used to be."

"Readying descent, in three, two, one!"

The two didn't even have a chance to scream as they were literally shot down to the planets surface. Here we go, the Doctor thought as he noted the approaching ground.