Reece is only a girl. Perhaps she is a little awkward; has a long way to go.

But as I sat in that chair, let Red Owl hurt me; then I was not better than her.

I cannot pretend, back in my casing, back beside the unstoppable Eliza that I am not sick and dazed from what he did to me. By what I did to him in return.

But we have a job to do.

"We have to find Reece, Eliza! Where is she?"

"She's waiting in the Prittchard's truck. What about the Doctor?"

"They took him to the Leech. You take Walter to his family; I will retrieve him! You will be safe; she would make a fine excellent Warrior."

She grins roguishly.

"Right. For God's sakes, take care of yourself."

"You too."

She turns, but before she follows me to Walter's ward, she reaches for something left on the security desk.

Her ridiculous lavender hat.

She hooks the ribbon around her neck so that it hangs behind her shoulders.

Eliza is completely crazy.

No wonder she is my friend.

I leave her with to the lone twin and glide with purpose down the corridor. Two guards come charging our way, no doubt summoned by the shots.

"The Dalek's escaped! Tell White-"

"Exterminate!"

They crumple as the white beams of energy tear through them. Not dead; out cold. I elevate over their bodies. To stay airborne is quicker.

The structure is only temporary. It is bullet proof, quite possibly bomb-proof. But certainly not Dalek proof.

I blast a barrier off is hinges. Another onslaught of Soldiers opens fire, only to dive back as their bullet's ricochet off my side. I plough through them as if they were toys. Spin mid-air to knock flat two more. All the while, moving forward.

I smash through into the central chamber. Soldiers and masked researchers line the precinct, and turn in alarm as I enter. White Owl is among them, and her eyes widen.

"Where is the Doctor?" I roar. But I can see him beyond the glass. He turns, surprized. With him, a black shape stirs. The Leech is as I first saw it; limp, grotesque limbs hanging from its underside.

"Don't just stand there!" She commands. "Shoot to kill!"

She doesn't even know…

I shoot her with a blast on energy, and she drops with a little, almost childlike gasp. Fire is opened, and my vision is obscured by the smoke and the sparks. It dies down as one by one, I take out each of them.

"Sec; you're needed!" The Doctor's cry is muffled by the glass. "Don't mind them; destroy the Leech!"

We have disagreed on many things, but I can now say with certainty that he is wrong.

It takes several blasts to warp and weaken the sliding door, and I throw it aside with my plunger. I glide inside.

The Doctor steps back to receive me.

"You're alright." He remarks. His weathered face is filled with weariness; and something else. Concern? For a Dalek. Today is a strange day indeed. "You're too bloody, noble, that's you're problem."

"I am fine; if anything the electrodes cured my depression: Well, perhaps not. But Doctor; we cannot destroy the Leech."

"…You're kidding?" He balls his fists. An ancient, stinging hatred fills his eyes. "I see; you'll pilfer it now that you have all the right equipment! Another stab at glory for Dalek Sec!"

"What? No! It is the opposite-"

"No; I don't think so! It's been too long a night for this Sec!"

Behind him, the Leech burbles quietly. It is almost a sound of unease.

"Listen to me!"

But when the old man shouts, I fall back as an almost animal fear takes me.

"I LOST ROSE TYLER BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"AND I LET MY OWN DALEKS KILL ME FOR YOU!" I scream in return. "AND I TOOK HUNDREDS OF VOLTS, WAS WILLING TO SUFFER ON THIS TERRIBLE PLANET FOR YEARS, JUST SO THAT MAYBE, MAYBE, I COULD MAKE RIGHT WHAT I DID WRONG! IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH FOR YOU, WILL IT DOCTOR?!"

The Doctor stalls. His mouth is open. His skin shimmers below his eyes; I realise he's crying. My rage at his prejudice ebbs, and I land. The Leech has taken to cower in the corner. Not a mindless blob; something that fears. Something alive and thinking.

I remember Rose Tyler. The first living thing I saw, a life time ago after waiting in a metaphysical shuttle. The Bad Wolf She was brave, and smart. The Doctor's famous companion.

So she was lost that day? I did not know that.

But I cannot let this blind him.

The Doctor blinks, looks away.

"I can't…The Daleks have taken so much away…"

"I know…" I agree. "But if it's any consolation, being one means so much was lost too. I don't want that to be a burden anymore."

"What does this have to do with the Leech? It's my fault it's here. I have to make it right."

A flood of what can only be, strange as it seems, empathy, floods through me.

"I think we both share that feeling."

Walter stumbles alongside me. He is wearing a lab coat that I snatched from the ward shivering. The T.V. helicopter still circles overhead. I wonder what the media can make of such a scene.

There are barely any soldiers in sight. Those who remain are kneeling, hands behind their head, the two Prittchard sons and their stocky father standing around them with guns. They turn as they see their brother approach.

"Walter! You were here all along! Where the hell is Jock?"

Their brother trembles, and I grab onto him before he collapses onto the ground. From behind one of the tents, Mama Prittchard appears. She places her iron fists on her hips.

"Son?" Asks the father.

The brother's faces fall as they see that something is wrong. I look up, shake my head.

"Dora; Rob…I'm so sorry…"

The arms of the Cyberwoman drop. August's lower lip trembles. I see one of the soldiers lower his head.

Junior, still wearing the lavender dress, lowers his weapon and staggers to take his brother from me. His namesake's face creases in anguish.

I did not think it was possible for a Cyberman to show feelings. But they present in what isn't shown as much as what is.

"…AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO ME…I ALWAY'S KNEW THAT I WOULD OUTLIVE MY SONS. BUT NOT SO SOON."

"It's almost over. Reece needs to come here. I think she can end it."

There is the sound of a car door shutting, and I look to see the girl in question approach. She looks tiny and frail in the desert night.

"What happened? Did you find them?" She asks hoarsely. I nod, kneel down to meet her.

"Reece; it may be a bit much to ask, but we need you to use your powers. Just one last time."

Her eyes widen behind her glasses. She shakes her head.

"What about the angels? They might escape! I don't know what they are, but I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

"You dragged us into this." August agrees savagely. "Haven't you done enough, girl?"

I close my eyes.

"They can't use the weapon. We have to set the Leech free. I think it must live in the Cathedral world. That's must be why it went wild whenever you used your powers."

Reece bites her lip. She seems to consider.

"But…where will I go? What will happen to my world?"

I place a hand on her shoulder.

"You will stay here. You shouldn't have to run away from your problems. Kids can be shits. I can only promise you that it gets better."

Reece listens, looking a little uncertain. But then she nods.

"Okay then." She says.

And then she kneels to the ground. I step back.

"Wait; not here. Nearer the Leech!"

She is tracing a large square in the ground. She is frightened. She wants to get it over with.

"Reece; listen to me!"

I try to erase a portion of the square; but it's too late. The young girl slams her foot on the ground.

The Prittchards and the Soldiers struggle away as the ground cracks open and the land falls in, and like a reflection in a pool, a morning sky and ancient walls shines up at us.

We feel the Earth shake. The Doctor turns to look at me in alarm.

"What was that?" He asks slowly.

"How should I know?"

A deep, rhythmic purr seeps from the corner of the room. Slowly, the two of us turn.

The Leech has shrank. She is almost smaller than the puddle she became on the first day.

"Reece…" I realise.

Then a tide of black sludge crashes over us. Everything becomes black.

"Help!" The Doctor cries as he is engulfed. I dive under the surface, find the fabric of his coat with my plunger. Try to grapple, but he is pulled away.

It surges out of the building like a mudslide. The Soldiers. White Owl. They could drown.

I prepare to fire; but what if she is conductive? I could kill them, too. Instead, I aim upwards.

As I burst out into the night sky, the Leech has already broken out of the building and is knocking aside the tents. I can see a shock of hair floating on the surface. Two. White Owl. The Doctor.

A square of light is beaming from the ground. The foolish girl. What has she done?

The soldiers are struggling like ants up the side of the outcrop. Among them are the Prittchards. I see Eliza's full-haired figure further down the slope. She doesn't run. Panicking, I dive.

"Eliza, what are you waiting for?" I cry. "She has the Doctor! She will wash you all away!"

"The angel!"

"What angel?" I turn.

The stone figure waits, unmoving, granite against sandstone. Those demons. I don't even wait. A moment later, it has exploded in a blast of blue light. Shrapnel rains down.

"How many more are there?"

"One by Reece; her porthole is a nest for them." She points.

"Grab on."

"Oh God; not again…"

Eliza hangs on below me as we fly over the pit. Reece is frozen to the spot, and archaic figure feet away from her. Behind her, the deadly tide of the Leech is sweeping. In second's time, she will drain away into the morning-filled pit.

"Reece! Take cover!" Eliza yells as I open fire. The angel glows before it shatters. Reece turns on her heels.

The Leech catches her, swiping her off her feet. Her scream is shrill and sudden.

"NO!"

I make a dive. The edges of the pit are trembling. I have to save her. I have to keep my promise.

"Eliza; you can drop now! Save yourself."

"I told you we're a team, didn't I? I don't think so." She yells back.

And so the two of us surge past the inky waterfall, only for gravity to shift.

We tumble through the new, snow-filled air. A world surrounded by pillars. And as Reece's porthole closes, it surges like a storm over the sides.

The Doctor is struggling to his feet. He looks around in awe, then cups his hands. The White Owl is on her knees, trying to stand. And far down the ancient aisle, Reece is floundering.

And a horrific, world breaking scream fills the air. The Leech herself is crying in anguish. This was not her home. She is trapped. Just like us.

"She spoke!" Yells the Doctor. "Sec; she's alive! You were right!"

"What is she saying?" Eliza asks. The snow is landing in the inky surface, peppering it with white. He closes his eyes, struggling against the flood.

"'Not here…not here'. Just that. Over and over.'"

There comes another scream, and I turn to see the White Owl, trying to scramble up the rotten pulpit. The flood lashes around the skirts of the angel. I raise my weapon, ready to destroy it.

And then Eliza's weight vanishes from beneath me.

"Eliza!" Reece cries. Before I can even turn, she has vanished herself.

The Weeping angels. They've taken them both.

"Where have they gone?" Demands White Owl. She is cut off mid-sentence.

The grief washes over me. I almost hurl myself from my casing into the flood.

"I…I wasn't looking... Doctor?" My voice is too high; hardly mine.

His face has clouded with grief. The swirling of the tide is calming.

"I have failed them…"

The Time Lord is focussed on the statue that now stands before him. My advantage of being unable to blink has done nothing. I can only wait. Hold on. But he has turned his face to the sky.

"Why are you looking away? They will take you too!"

"Sec…look how large the sun is…" He muses.

"I can't! What do you think I'm doing?"

"Wormholes can appear anywhere. Sometimes they wait in the hearts of children. But they don't just travel through space. Oh no. They travel through time, too. Sec, trust me."

I falter.

The Time Lord raises his arms, and speaks in a voice full of rage and fear.

"Angels! You've waited long enough! You've scoured this dead world; no souls left to take! You spared the girl, but only in wait for a larger meal! Well, you will eat well tonight! Take me! Take the Dalek! Take the Leech! If we are to go, let us go together!"

I want to ask him if he has gone mad, but I stop. Understanding.

I cannot be afraid.

I switch off my vision, and in the following dark, there is a rushing like a shower torn back into the heavens.

And I feel stone wings clatter against my casing.