Chapter 21 -- Daleks Don't Have Allies!

"So Ringo's a robot, eh?" Lennon asked out of nowhere.

"The one with you now?" Kyra said. "Think you can honestly act like all's well if we tell you he is, anyway? After what you just saw?"

"Hey, it's fine if I'm nervous. I've just been questioned by Scotland Yard," he replied. "They'll understand me bein' nervous just fine."

Kyra looked at the Doctor, a look that clearly stated 'your call'.

The Doctor tucked his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "All right. Yes, he is. But he won't hurt you, because the Daleks still need you. If we can find the real Ringo, we can bring him back, and that'll be that."

"Now get inside," Kyra said. "Before they start thinkin' we've arrested you, or something."

"Tell 'em it's about a...stolen Crown Jewel," the Doctor invented.

"Has one been stolen."

"I'll look into it," the Doctor replied. "Kyra, let's go."

She paused to make sure Lennon went back in, then followed the Doctor. "All right, so how are we gonna stop the Daleks?"

"At this point...I don't have a clue."

"So...we're wingin' it? Just like always, then."

"Not always!" He paused. "Haven't we had this conversation before?"

"Yesterday. Which reminds me, I haven't slept in almost forty-eight hours. I need sustenance if you want me to keep goin'. If I can't have sleep, the Slayer needs fuel."

"Well, maybe some sleep and something to eat would help. I'm feelin' a little peckish myself."

She stared after him. "Wait. You're volunteering to get me food? When did Hell freeze over? Usually I have to beg!"

"You know where the fridge is!" He kept walking. "Besides, you're awfully rude about it."

"I'll work on that. And do you know how hard it is to find human food in that fridge? Bigger on the inside, you know."

"It's all edible! Some of it just needs to be cooked."

"Your stove is not labeled in a language I read. In fact, I'm not sure which bit is the stove."

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to install one."

"How am I supposed to cook, then?" she asked.

"There's tons of parts of the ship that get hot."

"Salmonella and or some rare alien bacteria do not sound like fun."

"Oh, you didn't know? The Tardis automatically gets rid of those kinds of things. Can't get sick while you're in there."

"How can I know if you don't tell me? There's not an instruction manuel for the Tardis!"

"I had to have told you! I'm pretty sure I told you."

"I'm pretty sure you didn't."

"No, no. I told you. You, young lady, just weren't listening!"

She just rolled her eyes.

"And I saw that."

"You're facin' the other way. Not even you have eyes in the back of your head, Doc."

"How do you know?"

"They couldn't see through your big hair, anyway." She started to chew on her thumbnail as she watched the shop windows.

Without turning his head -- "Get your thumb out of your mouth. You're seventeen, not three."

She stopped. "That was creepy."

He turned and grinned, raising his eyebrows -- over his specs.

"Oh, reflection in the specs. That's clever."

"Innit? Also helped you were facing the window."

She bumped him with her shoulder as she walked by. "You do things like that just to make me think."

"Well, why not? It's so fun to just watch you -- deduce!"

"Yeah, well, it'd be nice if I could deduce my way to food. I'm starvin'." She brightened. "Oh! Hot dogs!"

"Well, we need money for this!"

"I still have twenty from the last time I was in LA."

"On you?"

She patted her purse.

"Better check the date."

She stopped. "Never thought of that." She looked. "Nineteen -- sixty - four. Bugger."

"See, this is why I love this year. In about...what time is it?"

"Six forty-five."

"In about three hours, I'll open an account. The bank has three branched within a six block radius."

"Ah." She nodded and pulled an apple out of her bag. "Clever."

"You have food!"

"I have snacks. A real Slayer never goes anywhere without fuel." She took a bite. "Want some trail mix?"

"No thank you. Last time I got sick."

"Ew."

"So, what do you think we should do about the Daleks?" he asked.

Kyra paused, looking down an alleyway and chewing. "Hmm. Maybe we should go see if that white moving van has plates."

"Hmm-hmm." He kept walking, then stopped. "What?"

She pointed. "That white moving van. Plates. Keep up, Doc." She wandered down the alley.

"But -- what -- What are you doing?"

"Checkin' for plates. I just told you."

"Without even investigating? Without seeing if something's looking? Are you mad?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot? No, I looked around. Place seems deserted. Cover me, then."

"Let's hope for your sake, you're right. Let's hope for my sake we get out of this alive. I was kind of hoping for some Italian pizza."

"We goin' to Italy later?" she asked. "Oh, I found the driver." She knelt. "Ugh, looks like his brains just dribbled right out his ears."

The Doctor pulled out his scanner. "It wouldn't surprise me. The Daleks don't like to leave witnesses. And they can't afford to spare the power to control two at the same time. At least not yet."

"Poor bloke," Kyra said.

"Yeah, he's dead. Massive hemorrhage."

"Randall Graves. He had two kids, little boy and girl."

He stopped and looked at her. "How do you know that?" He saw his wallet in her hands. "Picking pockets?"

She gave him a hard look over her glasses. "No." She tucked the wallet away. "I wish they'd at least picked on somebody without kids."

"You're taking it personally," he warned. "They don't differentiate."

"Bet your ass I'm takin' it personally." She pointed. "Entrance. Do we go in, or do we reconnaissance?"

"Well, it's safe to say they'll have someone moving all the stuff. Doesn't look like the van's completely empty. So...going in is probably out of the question."

"Recon. Stakeout. Oh, this should be extraordinarily dull."

"We just wait for the van to leave. No humans."

"Good plan."

"Wait a minute. They killed this one, why not the other one?"

Kyra stopped. "Maybe they're waitin' until he's done doin' their work for 'em."

"But they've got the technology to carry things without...carrying them."

"So maybe that's not a human," she said. "Maybe that's a Dalek."

"Oh, yeah, I suppose. Something just seems off."

She tilted her head. "Those footsteps are awfully heavy for a human, but there are footsteps."

"You can hear that?"

"Good ears to go with bad eyes." She held a finger to her lips and started to move closer.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm lighter -- less noise -- and I'm smaller, easier to hide. I'm a hunter, Doc. Trust me."

He muttered under his breath, as she crept closer, pressed her ear to the truck, then peeked around the rear. She ducked back. Her eyes squeezed shut, then rolled heavenward for a moment before she crossed herself, ducked back down, and bolted to their hiding place.

"I repeat -- once I kill something, I expect it to stay dead."

He frowned at her. "That's impossible."

"Yeah? Tell that to the two Cybermen unloading that truck."

"That's impossible! That's just -- that's impossible! They were disintegrated! The rest were locked in the Void!"

"Yeah, I know. The ones who are disintegrated I did, remember? And I watched a bunch of Cybermen get sucked up a few summers back, so I'm assumin' those are the ones in the Void."

"Just once, I'd like them to get the hint and stay away!" He paused. "Wait. They're allies? That's impossible! The Daleks don't have allies!"

"Yeah? Tell that to the ones unloadin' the truck."

"But they hate each other!"

"Ain't stoppin' em. What the hell are we gonna do?" She held up her hands. "I'll do just about anythin' to save the world -- including die, you know that -- but I ain't lookin' into the Vortex again. To hell with that."

"No, no, no. Looking into it again would kill you. It should've killed you the first time."

"So...I'm all out of brilliant ideas. That was my one brilliant idea for the decade, actually."

"Well, we have to think. The Torchwood here isn't advanced enough. Not to mention they wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole. What else? Your Slayers aren't even born yet."

"And the current one is in Spain."

"Doable, but why would she listen to us?"

"A valid point." She paused. "You know what that leaves us with?"

"Nothing?"

"Close. Just us."

"I was gettin' to that."

"Oh. Sorry."

"We could go back and get help. From your time. But...then we'd be breaking several different physical and...natural laws, and I ...don't think we want to try that."

"So...we're back to us again?"

He snapped his fingers. "What about Spike? Where is he?"

"Here, in New York. With Drusilla, who's nuttier'n a fruitcake, and Darla, who's a royal bitch. Also, he's not that great himself."

"Which brings us back to...us. Damn!"

"Well, there's Angel, who's in LA, living on rats. And completely off his guord, at the moment."

"What about Giles?"

"Giles? He's like fifteen!"

"He would've started his training now! He said he'd read about me before, when he was young!"

"What the hell are we gonna do with a pissed off -- shit, he's not even fifteen! He's like twelve!"

"Wait a minute. Twelve?"

"Yeah, the whole demon thing happened in the early seventies, when he was in his early twenties. So...yeah, about twelve. And the Watcher's Council feels about the same way about you that Torchwood does."

"You're not very helpful, are you?"

"Look, I'm doing my best!"

"OK, here's what we'll do. When they go back in --"

Suddenly, she hauled off and punched his shoulder. "The coven! The bloody coven!"

"Coven? Coven of what?"

"Witches! There's a powerful coven in Devon, they're bloody centuries old!"

"Which does what for us?"

"Well, it'd be more bloody use than a twelve-year-old Giles, wouldn't it?"

"How are you gonna keep track of them?"

"They're in the phone book," she replied absently. "At least, the coven leader is. She'd been about, oh, twenty-five right now. If she can see us in person -- well, me, at least -- she can do a truth spell, maybe do something about ...I don't know, blasting them or moving them or freezing them. I don't know how magic works."

A Cyberman came out to retrieve the last bit of Dalek gear. The Doctor darted out, grabbed him by the neck, pushed a button on the sonic screwdriver, then laid the Cyberman down as he collapsed. He pressed something to the back of its neck, then bolted back to Kyra, grabbed her, and ran for the exit.

"What did you just do?" Kyra demanded, keeping pace easily.

"Tracking device. Come on, he'll be up in a few seconds! Let's find this coven!"

TBC...