Trapped
Amy and Chase managed to make it to the bottom of the complex when the alarms started blaring.
"What's that?" Amy asked her companion, though she already had a hunch.
"That's the emergency alarm." Chase whispered. Recognition and fear flooded his face. "Something bad has happened!"
They continued thundering down the corridors. Amy hoped the Doctor didn't go and do something stupid. They would need his help to get rid of the Dalek. They rounded a corner and Amy ran straight into Rose. The two women yelped and jumped back.
"Amy?" Rose breathed and Amy glared at the girl.
"You shouldn't have left without me. I promised Jackie I'd look after you!" Amy hissed. The peroxide blonde looked down sheepishly. Pretty boy walked over and glared at Chase.
"Why did you bring her for? She's supposed to be quarantine and under supervision!" He hissed at Chase but Amy shoved him roughly.
"Who the hell do you think you're kidding, boy wonder?!" she yelled at him. "You've brought her into danger just because you wanted to impress her!"
Pretty boy glared at his feet and Rose looked chastised. Amy was about to continue yelling at him when the Doctor's face popped up on a screen. Amy then looked around and took in the chaotic surrounding. Soldiers were moving frantically while one was typing on the computer frantically and another one was briefing Chase about the situation.
"Rose, we have to go." Amy hissed urgently. "Van Statten's an idiot. That's a Dalek in the vault. If it gets out, we're all in trouble."
"You've got to keep it in that cell!" The Doctor ordered from the screen. Instead of listening to her, Rose ran towards the computer and Amy groaned.
"Doctor, it's all my fault!"
Chase turned to her. "We really have to leave…"
"I've sealed the compartment," a soldier defended. "It can't get out. That lock's got a billion combinations."
"A billion combinations aren't enough for a Dalek!" Amy yelled at him, growing increasingly frustrated.
"Amy's right. The Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one single flat!"
Amy turned to Rose. "We're leaving. Chase, come on!"
Before they could leave, the soldiers' were pointing their gun at the door. The controls of the cage were whirring erratically and Amy realised it was already breaking out. The door started to open and Amy pulled Chase next to her.
"Open fire!" The leader yelled and they started to fire at the pepper pot. Amy watched as the bullets evaporated before contact or ricochetoff the Dalek's casing while tugging on Rose's sleeve.
The Daleks looked like the ones she was used to except with scorch marks and several orbs missing from when they had tortured it. This was bad. A normal Dalek was evil, a tortured Dalek held a cruel vendetta that it would carry out.
"Don't shoot it, I want it unharmed!" Van Statten yelled.
"Oh, shut up!" Amy snapped. "Seriously Rose, we have to go!"
"Rose, Amy, get out of there!" The Doctor's panicked voice cried out. Rose snapped out of her trance and responded when Amy tugged her towards the door, Chase and pretty boy following.
"Wait!" the leader of the soldiers cried out. He turned to the woman as the Dalek made its way to the computer. "De Maggio! You will provide Jackson with backup and every single one of them out alive. That is your job, got that?"
The woman nodded, and followed the four out. "Follow me, you three!" she ordered and ran down the hallway. They all followed her, Amy risking glances back to see if the Dalek was following them. The lights started to flicker and the Dalek's screams reverberated off the walls.
De Maggio paused and pulled out her gun, looking around.
"What's it doing?" pretty boy asked. Amy rolled her eyes.
"And you're supposed to be a genius? It's cutting the power!" As soon as the words left her mouth, the power went out.
"You sound just like the Doctor." Rose noted.
"The lift's not going to work with the power cut." Chase called out. "Follow me!"
They all followed him until they ran into a group of armed soldiers.
"Civilians, let them through!" De Maggio ordered. The soldiers parted to let the five of them pass through quickly. Looking around, Amy realised they were running towards the staircase. She flinched. They didn't know Daleks could fly.
Screams filled the air and Amy tried to block them out as they ran. They seemed to have put Chase off as he suddenly tripped and fell. Amy quickly helped him up.
"Thanks." He said, breathing heavily from all the running. He looked pale and Amy guessed it was from listening to his co-workers scream in agony.
"No need to thank me. Just keep moving!" She ordered and the five resumed running. The piercing screams stopped and Amy gave Rose's hand a quick squeeze when the blonde squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Every single one of those men had died.
"Go on." De Maggio ordered. "I'll check for survivors. Chase will lead you to where you need to go." Amy didn't have the heart to tell the woman that they were all dead.
"Stairs! That's more like it!" Rose breathed in relief. "It hasn't got legs, it's stuck!"
Amy opened her mouth to speak but De Maggio ran in and pushed them all up. Amy ran up the stairs as fast as you could.
"Wait! Amy!" Chase called out and Amy stopped. She turned around and saw that Chase was the only sensible one that had followed her. Growling, she stormed down the stairs and grabbed Rose's arm.
"Great big alien death machine, defeated by a flight of stairs." Pretty boy declared smugly and Amy kicked him in the leg.
"I swear to god when this is all over I will kill you myself." Amy vowed.
"Now listen to me," De Maggio said. Amy looked behind pretty boy to see her pointing her gun at the Dalek. "I demand you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate, then I guarantee that Mr Van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you, and maybe that was wrong, but people have died and that stops right now. The killing stops, have you got that?"
"It's not going to work. Daleks don't have a concept of morality." Amy tried to warn her but De Maggio didn't move.
"I demand you surrender, is that clear?"
"Chase, tell her! We have to go!" Amy hissed. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. Amy dared to glance at the Dalek, who was staring straight back at them.
"…El…ev...ate." The Dalek croaked and slowly lifted itself off the ground. Amy grabbed Rose by the shoulders and forcefully dragged her up the steps. She then kicked Adam in the rib. The pretty boy winced and jumped up after them.
"De Maggio, come on!" Chase cried out.
"Go!" De Maggio yelled in reply. "Someone's got to try. Now get out! Get those civilians to safety. That is your mission. Don't look back, just run!"
Chase looked torn so Amy grabbed the young man by the hand and pulled him up, pushing him in front of her. De Maggio's piercing scream herded them on. The four turned a hallway and ran straight into a room with a bunch of people pointing guns at them.
"I have civilians!" Chase yelled.
"Hold your fire!" The leader ordered. "You four, get the hell out of here!"
They complied and ran down the centre. Amy's eyes briefly scanned the ammunition and weaponry. They heard the Dalek approach and Amy sighed in frustration when her three companions stopped to watch.
"Rose, when this is all over, we are having a very serious talk about when we can stop and watch." Amy hissed. Nevertheless, they all stopped and watched as the Dalek stood motionless in the room. Amy noticed how the eyestalk flickered and dimmed and focused right on them.
Hold on.
No. When the eyestalk dimmed and focused on Rose.
Pretty boy grabbed Rose's hand and tried to drag her down the hall, but the blonde stopped and furrowed her brows.
"It was looking at me."
"Yeah, I noticed that." Amy added. Chase nodded, signalling he had noticed as well.
"So?" Pretty boy shrugged. "It's just a sort of…metal eye thing. It's looking all around."
"No, she's right." Chase piped up.
"It sort of…zoomed in on her specifically. What did you do in there, Rose?"
Amy never got a response because the men started to fire at the Dalek at that exact moment. Peering around the corner with the rest of the group, Amy could see the bullets still had no effect on the Dalek. The Dalek itself was too busy staring at the camera.
Amy realised the Doctor was watching.
"Right, come on. Now would be a good time to run!"
The three nodded and followed after her. Amy tried to ignore the screams of the men and the silence that followed it.
Amy clambered up the steps as quickly as she could. A loud ringing caught her attention and she turned back to see Rose answer her phone.
"This isn't the best time!" Rose gritted through her teeth. They continued running, unsure of how far behind the Dalek was. "Level 49!" Rose yelled into the phone. "Can't you stop them from closing?"
Amy frowned at the question.
"We have to get to level 46!" Rose informed them. With a renewed burst of adrenaline, Amy thundered up the steps after Adam and Chase.
When they finally reached the correct level, Adam shoved the door open and they were running again. They ran as fast as they could until Amy could see why Rose was so worried. The doors were sealing in an attempt to trap the Dalek. She noticed Rose lagging behind and grabbed her hand.
"Come on!" she cried encouragingly, pushing the girl ahead of her.
"Come on!" Adam repeated, rolling under the door. Chase glanced back at them worriedly before rolling under as well. Amy quickly pushed Rose under the metal door before it closed. She held her breath.
She was trapped on the wrong side with the Dalek. Rose and Chase were pounding on the door, the former shouting and crying.
Her phone started to ring. Amy picked it up with shaking hands. She took a deep breath.
"Hey."
"I'm sorry." The Doctor's pained voice said. "I can't open the bulkheads without letting the Dalek out."
"I know." Amy sighed. She rested her head on the metal door. "It's not your fault Doctor, remember that ok? I promised Jackie I'd look after Rose and that's what I did. Do me one favour, won't you? If you find Rory, tell him what happened to me and tell him I told him if he thinks to blame you, I'll haunt the living hell out of his ass."
The Doctor laughed over the phone, but it sounded choked. Amy sighed.
"Besides, if I didn't look after Rose, I would've gotten another slap from Jackie! God forbid!" The Doctor gave her a genuine laugh at that and Amy smiled sadly. "See ya." She whispered, before hanging up. The Doctor didn't need to hear her screams. He felt guilty enough.
She turned around and looked at the Dalek straight in the eyestalk. The cries and shouts had ceased and Amy closed her eyes, revelling in the peace before her death.
"Exterminate."
"Yeah," she scoffed, forever flippant in the face of danger. "I kind of guessed that."
Chase held a writhing and screaming Rose in his hands, willing the lift to go up faster. He had been forced to drag Rose away from the door and take her to the Doctor in hopes of finding a way to help Amy. He knew it was hopeless. So many people had died already.
The lift finally opened and Rose crashed onto the floor. The Doctor tried to wrap his arms around her, but the blonde just pushed him away and curled in on herself, her eyes were red and bloodshot.
"You were quick on your feet, leaving them both behind." The Doctor growled at Adam. "Now I've lost a friend because of you!"
"I'm not the one who sealed the vault!" Adam yelled indignantly.
"This is my fault." Rose whispered from her spot on the floor. "All of it. I guess I was a bit slow."
Chase was about to say something when the screen flickered to life and he felt a huge smile spread across his face.
"Amy!"
"You're alive!" The Doctor gasped happily. Rose jumped off her spot on the ground and looked at the screen with the biggest smile on her face.
"Just keeping you on your toes!" Amy called out, looking like she was reliving a past event. She looked perturbed to be standing next to the Dalek, who was staring right at them.
"Open the bulkhead or Amy Pond dies!" the Dalek declared.
"Doctor, don't you dare." Amy warned him. Chase looked at the Doctor, wondering what was going through the man's head.
"What use are emotions if you will not show compassion to your friend?"
The Doctor looked stunned and Chase couldn't figure out why. Amy looked equally stunned, gaping at the Dalek from her awkward position.
"We started on the wrong foot," the Doctor said with conviction. "I never told her how important she is." He glanced at Rose, who nodded quickly.
"Do it." He nodded and hit the enter key. The door slowly opened and Amy scowled at them through the screen.
"Jeez, if looks could kill…" Chase muttered.
"What do we do now? You bleeding heart, what the hell do we do?!" Van Statten roared, sounding paranoid and hysterical.
"Kill it when it gets here!" Adam suggested. Chase shook his head profusely.
"None of the weapons will do any damage. You need a highly concentrated blast to knock out a Dalek." He said, reciting what the grey haired magician had told him. "Besides, the eyestalk is the weakest point but the guns we have won't even leave a scratch."
The Doctor was looking at him strangely but he just shrugged it off.
"All the alien weapons are in the vault." Diana sighed. Chase glared at Adam.
"Only the catalogued ones." Adam conceded. Chase gave a satisfied smirk.
Van Statten raised an eyebrow at him.