A/N: I meant what I said about the new cover image, if you want to please make one and send me a link in a PM.
Okay then, let's get to it. This is the big one. We have ourselves a Dalek.

Ownership of Doctor Who lies in the hands of one Steven Moffat. He isn't likely to hand them over any time soon.
Ownership of Tahkaullus Neuvo and the Underworld lies in my hands. If anyone dares try to take it away from me I will...well...y'know the threat Kaullus made to Margaret the Slitheen a couple of chapters back? Yeah.

Chapter 23

The Survivor

Van Statten probed the Doctor for information all the way down to their destination, the Cage. Even the name gave the Doctor bad vibes as to what he was going to find when he got down there. For that reason, among many others, he kept mum to every question the American sent his way, using either a round about answer or returning fire with a question of his own for good measure. But it was clear as they arrived at the fifty-fourth level that Van Statten had caught onto what he was doing, "Well Doctor," he drawled "I guess we're not going to learn anything about each other this way."

That's where you're wrong, rich boy. He thought back, You've lain out almost your whole personality on the table. But he didn't let it show on his face, instead choosing to grin in a mock-friendly manner back at him. The only thing he was interested in was the creature that was being held here against its will. Once he had the full story over what had been done to it, then he would see about introducing Mr Van Statten to his more...outgoing persona.

He was also rather curious about the guard stood behind him who'd managed to change Rose's mind with a look and a head shake. Mind you she could've just been intimidated...nah, this was the girl who came quite literally swinging to his rescue with the Nestene Consciousness. Probably just another pretty boy. The Doctor thought to himself mopily, considering the number of young gents who seemed to just throw themselves at his companion whenever she so much as batted an eyelash their way. And now she was stuck up there with that other English kid...who was also somewhat pretty. Oh, heck, she's gonna want to take him with us. That would be just what he needed, the two of them doing domestic in his TARDIS. And why was she always so open to it? Flirting with pretty much anyone who said hello, he'd known fifty-first century humans who didn't have as good luck as her. Maybe he should've brought her with him after all.

Cursing his hindsight, the Doctor returned to the present as Van Statten lead the way with his right hand Goddard beside him, off of the lift and down a tight corridor that shot a sharp contrast to the rest of the museum. Where everything else had been reds and golds, this was sterile grey, and tightly packaged in that it almost felt claustrophobic. It opened up into a small boxed room, where the entire back wall looked to be a gigantic vault door. Around it, a small number of personnel white lab coats were scrawling down all sorts of notes on their tablets or clipboards, save for one man who was wearing what looked to be a fireproof suit, mask, gloves and all. He was currently pulling of the mask revealing a head of short cropped hair, and a brow that was covered in beads of sweat. Over to the right were a couple of small computer screens, likely with direct feed into their prisoner's cell. Except 'prisoner' didn't seem to fit the description anymore in the Doctor's mind.

As for it's owner, Van Statten didn't seem the least bit phased as he went over their problem, "It won't speak to us," he was saying, "we've tried everything." And that, the Doctor could believe. "The creature has shielded itself," Van Statten continued, taking out a card and swiping it down on a panel on the Cage's door, causing it to swing open "but there's definite signs of life inside."

Hang on, what? "Inside?" He parroted, frowning a little bit as his mind started working through all the kinds of species he knew of who'd developed a hardened outer layer...but he needed more than that. "Inside what?" The Doctor pressed, he needed to know if this 'shielding' was natural or artificial.

A little smile developed along the brim of Van Statten's moustache, the classic 'I know something you don't know look,' and didn't say a word. What are we? Five? This was getting to ridiculous levels in the Doctor's mind, but he didn't have a chance to comment on it as the man in the fireproof suit, mask under his arm, butted in first. "Welcome back sir." He greeted his boss formally, though there was something in the way he spoke, as if the attitude was a mere act. And then the Doctor noticed his eyes, wide and beady...psychotic. "I've had to take the power down, the Metaltron is resting."

Frowning again, the Doctor turned back to Van Statten, "Metaltron?" He repeated.

He nodded back enthusiastically as well as a little bit smugly, "Thought of it myself." he proclaimed, "Good, isn't it?"

Behind him, he couldn't be sure but the Doctor thought he heard one of the guards snort. Frankly he didn't blame their reaction, he felt insulted on the creature's behalf for having to be referred to by such a pathetic title. Whatever it was in there it at least deserved some dignity even if it was a prisoner...which made him wonder why it hadn't merely told them its name, or its species for that matter.

And then he saw a crease appear on Van Statten's brow, "Although," he added to his proud self-praise, somewhat frustratedly, "I would much rather find out it's real name."

And as much as he didn't want to agree with this self-promoter, the Doctor found himself wanting to know what sort of creature he was dealing with even more. A creature with an artificial shell which was metal-based if the name was anything to go by, who was hard on keeping its piece to itself even under the duress of torture. He hated to admit it, but the number of species he was narrowing it down to weren't looking too favourable as a peaceful race...and one race in particular was sticking out more and more. No, his sharp sense of reality shot back, they're dead. The Moment wiped them all out as systematically as it did Gallifrey. There was no sense in pursuing that line of possibility and the Doctor was glad for it.

"Here." The man in the fireproof suit was offering his thick black gloves, "you better put these on. The last guy who touched it" and here he shrugged and, to the Doctor's increasing unease, smiled easily "burst into flames."

Well that explains the suit. He thought to himself, filing that bit away and cross-referencing it with all kinds of potential causes for such a reaction. Amongst the different reasons he came up with, he found another link with them – No, no! They're dead! All of them! I watched the Emperor burn! – but shoved it aside as easily as he'd done the other facts. Hiding his growing worries behind a smile he replied cheekily, "I won't touch it then."

There were more than a couple of smirks at his witty retort, Van Statten being among them. "Go ahead then Doctor," he stepped aside and waved towards the open door of the Cage, "impress me."

Oh, he wanted impressing did he? And at once the Doctor felt himself return to something resembling ease, an easy little smile returning to him. He never thought the day would come when he'd be comforted by an act of genocide but it seemed today was one of those days. He reminded himself that whatever was in there had sent out a distress signal, calling for help. They never asked for help from anyone, even from each other. To fail a mission or be captured was to be less than perfect. That alone meant that it simply couldn't be one of them, it was just something else whose particulars just seemed similar, nothing more. He was getting worried over nothing.

Feeling like himself again, the Doctor shrugged and stepped inside the dimly lit cell. If Van Statten wanted to be impressed, he was about to get his wish, and maybe then some.

The moment the Doctor had stepped inside, the giant door of the Cage was sealed shut by Simmons and Van Statten's smile vanished to be replaced by a look of fierce determination. It actually shook Kaullus a little bit to see the man so focussed on one thing. Stalking past him, the man turned back to the creature's keeper and told him firmly "Don't open that door until we get a result."

If it had been anyone else going in there he might have contested that decision, however he held off for two reasons. The first, of course, was because he was undercover and Van Statten didn't pay his guards to have an opinion, and the second was because it was the Doctor who was in there. If anyone could get this...Metaltron (he grimaced just thinking about the terrible name) to open up, Kaullus was pretty sure it was the Time Lord with a Northern accent who liked to lie about his age. Regardless of his feelings on the matter, he decided he'd just have to go with it for now.

Therefore he took up position by the entrance, his eyes firmly on the sealed vault whilst the great Compensator and his Indomitable right hand bent over the monitor to watch their 'guest' work.

For a while there was silence, probably because the Doctor was having a look at what had been going on inside the cell, likely finding all manner of torture devices. He hoped it wouldn't take him too long, the more time he spent observing all the different kinds of pain this creature had endured was time that could be spent levelling this entire museum.

"Come on you smug bastard," raising his scarred eyebrow at the language, Kaullus glanced over at Van Statten "show me what you got."

He wasn't the only one looking, Goddard was frowning at him, "Sir," she began carefully, "if he manages to get it to talk...what're we going to do with him?" Huh, now that he thought about it, Kaullus hadn't considered that bit. Props to her for thinking of that, too bad she worked for this scum.

"The same thing we always do." Said scum replied as if it was the simplest question imaginable, "We give him a choice: Memory erasure, or a bullet between the eyes."

Not while I breathe, you walking dead man. He could feel the snarl building in the back of his throat and he quickly covered it with a cough, garnering DeMaggio's attention, but he just waved her off. But something had been settled in his mind: When the Doctor came out of there, if Van Statten even came within spitting distance of him Kaullus would rip him apart, the Committee be damned.

Finally though, the Doctor seemed to have finished his inspection as he began to speak, "Look, I'm sorry about all this." He began, "Mr Van Statten might think he's smart but never mind him." Kaullus repressed a grin as he saw the furious glare said egomaniac threw at the screen at that remark, a look that was shared with every guard in the room. In that moment, they were all thinking the same thing: It's about damn time the Compensator got it thrown back at him.

But his attention returned as the interview continued, "I'm here to help. I'm the Doctor"

At that, Kaullus again smiled sadly, remembering a time not to long ago where that had been his slogan on a nametag. 'I'm the Doctor, I work in a shop now. Here to help! Look, they gave me a badge with my name on it in case I forget who I am!' But never again now...and all because of some stupid prophecy.

But then the creature spoke, and all thoughts of the past vanished as it uttered its first syllables. "DOC...TOR..."

Everyone in the Cage froze. Van Statten was open-mouthed, over the moon at what he was hearing. Goddard was also amazed, though hers was more in the way that the Doctor had managed to make the creature talk without any sort of force. She was impressed, which was not an easy thing to do. Further back, Simmons looked furious; all his work for his boss, all the time spent working on getting the thing to open its big fat mouth, all of his fun, taken away by some English stranger. Everyone else was varying degrees of amazed and pleased with this result.

There were only two who found this development bad. Kaullus suddenly felt his blood run cold at the sound of that familiar crackled synthesised bark.

"No..." He couldn't help it, the word escaped his lips before he could stop himself, because he now knew what they were dealing with. All the pieces fit into place: A metal shell...more like a MK III travel machine; burning anyone who touched it, the result of it scanning for residual artron energy to feed off of and recharge; refusing to speak because why should it lower itself to speak to creatures less than itself? His realisation didn't go unnoticed though as his small exhalation caught the attention of a couple of the guards and scientists...and Goddard.

But all eyes returned to the monitors when the Doctor's own terrified whisper uttered through the speakers. "Impossible."

Kaullus' rifle rattled in his shaking hands as he turned to look at the screen, ignorant of the eyes that were turning his way. It couldn't be, it just couldn't be. Not that, anything but that. But there it was. On the monitor all was dark, save for a small blue light that was now focussed on the Doctor's face. And then it spoke again, two lights either side of a domed top flashing with each syllable, "THE DOC-TOR!"

Oh god it is!

He didn't hear the clatter of his rifle as he dropped it on the floor, didn't hear Simmons surprised exclamation as he was thrown aside. Kaullus didn't even realise that he'd run for the door and was punching in every single combination he could think of until he was dragged back by DeMaggio and another guard. "Hylan!" Goddard was looking at him in shock, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

But he barely saw her as he pulled against his restraints, screaming at anyone who would listen "GET THE FUCKING DOOR OPEN!"

And then he heard it, a single line that had spelt doom for more than a hundred races throughout the universe. "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" So simple...and deadly in it's simplicity. "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"

"Let me out!"

He could hear the Doctor pounding on the door mere inches away from him, trapped inside with the single worst thing in all of creation, and he was being held back by two mere humans! His fear – his petrifying terror – made him angry, and Kaullus suddenly threw DeMaggio and the other guard off of him, barely hearing their slamming against the far wall as he rushed back to the door.

"EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"

It took five guards to restrain him, forcing him down to the floor. "Let me go, you fools!" He bellowed for all his worth, "Open the damn door!"

Goddard's attention was split between the drama outside and what was happening inside the Cage, but for the moment she was looking at the screen as well as her wide-eyed superior. At the sound of the Dalek's battlecry though, along with the Doctor's frantic beating on the door, her expression became alarmed "Sir, it's going to kill him!"

But Van Statten was still looking jubilant, "It's talking!" He crowed.

"You bastard..." the roar in Kaullus' voice grew, the only thing keeping him from tearing into the rampant mad man being the five men holding him down, "you fucking BASTARD! OPEN THE GODDAMNED DOOR!"

"YOU ARE THE EN-EMY OF THE DA-LEKS!" The metallic voice shouted at the Doctor on the screen, "YOU MUST BE DES-TROYED!"

Don't you touch him, you talking salt shaker! Struggling to get any kind of footing, Kaullus almost managed to get back up, his growing terror and fury sending his strength to new heights. His efforts were crushed however as he felt another guard join in holding him down. "Get the fuck off of me!"

He could still hear the hammering on the door, hammering which was becoming less frequent. No...no! The Doctor doesn't die here! He can't, it's fixed! But this was Utah...maybe that was all that was required for the fixed point to be set...no. No that couldn't be right! Denying everything his fear-addled brain was sending to him, Kaullus almost missed the Doctor's voice speak up with...was that joy?

"It's not working!"

What's not...? But then it hit him, as he remembered the numerous soldiers around him, the scientists working, the rich head honcho. All of them shared something critical that he had missed: They were still alive. The Dalek's gunstick was broken!

The fight went out of him...the Doctor was safe. And then he let out a guttural laugh even as he went limp and the guards pulled him up and forced him against a wall. There was nothing else he could do at the moment except laugh. Bitterly, with relief, with anger, with terror, it didn't matter, all he could do was laugh, even as four rifles and two handguns were shoved under his chin.

Turning his head just a little bit, he finally got himself a good look at the Dalek. Somewhere between all the drama, the lights in the Cage had turned on, revealing it's hostage. The creature was covered in soot and dust, it's 'skirt' armour had a huge gash in it and several of the force field generating spheres were dented, rendered inoperable. And finally the gunstick, he could only just make it out, but one of the power converters was cut, it simply didn't have enough energy – if any at all – to fire. In other words, this Dalek, once the most feared being to ever take to the stars...was a completely useless wreck.

And this time it was the Doctor who laughed, deep and powerful and furious, as he stepped away from the giant door. "Fantastic!" He shouted angrily to the heavens, "Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you!" He snarled at the worthless piece of metal before rushing right at it, "The great space dustbin! How does it feel?!"

At his approach, the Dalek tried to retreat backwards, but the chains around it held it firm "KEEP BACK!" It shouted at him.

"Why should he?!" Kaullus shouted at the screen, glaring at the Dalek. At his shout, every guard in the room turned their weapons on him.

The Doctor echoed his statement as he got right up into the Dalek's eyestalk, "What for?" He taunted, "What're you gonna do to me? Hah? Well!?"

In response, the Dalek remained silent, a creature of pure logic it must have realised that he was absolutely right. There was nothing it could do, it was absolutely helpless and at the mercy of its most hated enemy. An enemy who was now prowling around the enclosed space, a thunderous glare in his eyes as he spat at it. "If you can't kill, then what are you good for Dalek?"

"Dalek..." Kaullus barely heard Van Statten as he watched the Doctor bate the creature. Kill it. He chanted in his head. Kill it and be done with it.

But the Doctor was taking his sweet time as he continued prancing around, "What's the point of you now, eh?! You're nothing!" His stroll came to and end as he stopped back where he'd started, still right in front of the Dalek's eyestalk which had followed him around the room, both anticipating something from the other. Well the Doctor bit first, "What the hell are you here for?" He demanded.

"I AM WAIT-ING FOR OR-DERS."

"And what does that mean?" He mocked. Not that Kaullus could understand why, it seemed about right to him. Every Dalek he'd ever come across was following some sort of order, usually with the words 'kill them all' stuck in there somewhere.

This one was most certainly the same "I AM A SOL-DIER!" It responded fanatically, "I WAS BRED TO RE-CEIVE ORDERS!"

And then it hit Kaullus why this made no sense, why this one was so beat up, and why the Doctor was having trouble believing it could be waiting for orders. He doesn't know yet... Of course, it was too early in his timestream for him to have discovered the Daleks' survival. As far as he knew, this was the only one left.

Something he seemed ready to laud over this one. "Well you're never gonna get any." He told it smugly, a sickly smirk stretching over his face, "Not ever."

It didn't take the news well, "I DE-MAND OR-DERS!" It screamed at him.

And the Doctor screamed right back, "They're never gonna come! Your race is dead! You all burned, all of you! Ten million ships on fire! The entire Dalek race wiped out in one second!" He finished, beaming away.

"YOU LIE!" The Dalek accused, shaking in it's chains.

"I watched it happen!" The Doctor boasted, before getting right back in it's stalk, "I MADE it happen!"

Damn right you did. Kaullus thought to himself, still glaring at the despicable creature he had actually considered helping a few minutes ago. If he'd known, he would have left it to scream in silence.

And then the Dalek demanded, still disbelieving of what it was being told, "YOU DES-TROYED US?!"

Something about the way it asked that question brought the Doctor up short as his smile slipped away, to be replaced with a haunted gaze that Kaullus was all too familiar with. Backing away from it, he turned his back on the trapped creature. "I had no choice." He whispered pitifully, his gaze miles away.

"AND..." The Dalek pressed, staring at his back, "WHAT OF THE TIME LORDS?"

Sighing Kaullus felt his rage drop somewhat as he remembered, once again, just which Doctor he was dealing with here. The one who had come out of it. The Doctor who ended it. This one was still as much a wreck as his chained up enemy behind him.

And when he spoke, that wrecked nature revealed itself, "Dead..." he all but whimpered, "they burned with you. The end of the Last Great Time War...everyone lost."

In a war like that there's never a winner, Kaullus silently admitted, his own nightmares still filled with the final days of the Purge. His own actions that haunted him still, the conclusion he'd come to. It was ironic, how similar the two of them were.

"AND THE COW-ARD SUR-VIVED." It was unusual for a Dalek to taunt someone, but then for the Doctor they always seemed to make an exception.

But Kaullus just scoffed at it's attempt to rile him. It takes less guts to pull the trigger than it does not to. He wanted to shout at it scathingly, who did it think it was? Did it forget just how powerless it was right now? Where did it get off trying to provoke a confrontation?

However the Doctor himself replied first, "Oh," he cooed, sickly sweet and absolutely mocking, "and I caught your little signal. 'Help me.' Poor little thing." But the tone vanished along with the sweet smile as he carried on. "But there's no one else coming 'cos there's no one else left."

As he finished, Kaullus wasn't entirely sure who he was referring to...the Daleks or his own people. If they got out of this, he wasn't sure he would have the heart to tell him they had survived, that he'd personally fought the Daleks a few years ago in the Medusa Cascade. How could he? It would be like telling him that despite his actions, the Chosen were still alive and active, that his telepathic genocide was for nothing.

Finally, on the screen, the Dalek's eyestalk left the Doctor, drooping down as if in deep contemplation. "I AM A-LONE IN THE U-NI-VERSE." It croaked distantly.

At it's musing, the Doctor gave off a satisfied grin, "Yep!" he confirmed cheerfully...barely hiding the pain in his eyes that Kaullus easily spotted.

Then the eyestalk lifted back up to stare at him again, "SO ARE YOU." It pointed out, causing the smile to drop away instantly. And then it did something very stupid, it made the Doctor very angry. "WE ARE THE SAME."

That was just too much. Roaring defiantly, Kaullus charged at the vault door, only to be barely stopped by the five guards who were in front of him. His lunge had caught them off guard so they weren't able to shoot him, but there was still enough of them that they could hold him back. But that didn't stop him from shouting at the door, "HE'S NOTHING LIKE YOU, YOU MURDERING, UNFEELING JELLYFISH!"

On the other side of the door, the Doctor himself had whirled around and gotten right in the Dalek's stalk again. "We're not the same!" He shouted at it, "I'm not a..." But then he stopped, and that alone made Kaullus stop pushing against the guards, allowing them to shove him back up against the wall. Curious as to why the Doctor had halted mid-sentence, he looked back around at the screen where Van Statten was still watching with glee.

The Doctor was backing away, ever so slightly to the left. "No wait," he was saying, nodding slightly as he said it, "maybe we are."

What?! He was actually agreeing with it? It was enough of a shock that Kaullus almost forgot where the Doctor was moving to, some sort of control panel on the left. Once he remembered that bit he tried to get a better look, but he was shoved right back flat against the wall. What are you doing, Doctor?

Whatever he was up to, it seemed to involve continuing to agree with the Dalek, "You're right, yeah, okay. You've got a point." Whilst he couldn't see what was going on, he could still hear everything and the heavy footfalls of the Doctor's shoes had ceased. Whatever he was doing it seemed like he was about to do it. "'Cos I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve."

He's gonna kill it, Kaullus realised. Somehow, that panel was a part of his plan to kill the Dalek. Any other creature he might have pressed for another option first, but a Dalek? He had only one thought in response to his realisation. Good.

Allowing a small smirk, he listened as the Doctor threw the Dalek's own line back at it. "Exterminate."

Glancing around, he noted that Van Statten's joyous expression had vanished as if he was also just realising what the Doctor was about to do. If he even tried to stop him...

And then suddenly the audio feeds were flooded with crackling and synthesised screaming. Music to my ears.

Not so much to Van Statten's as he turned to Simmons, "Get him out!" He ordered sharply.

Oh, no the hell you don't! Two of the guards watching him broke off to subdue the Doctor as Simmons opened the door. That was all the weakening of his watch that Kaullus needed. Before anyone knew what he was doing, one lay dead with a broken neck whilst another collapsed screaming in agony over a shattered knee. The other two were luckier in that he only knocked them out with a marginal chance of concussion, and he was inside the Cage before Van Statten could shout for more guards, smashing the heads of the final two against the thick metal of the giant door.

When the Doctor first saw him, Kaullus didn't doubt he thought he was coming to stop him as he turned to pull whatever lever that was causing the Dalek such joyous torture even further down. However when Kaullus just walked right passed him and turned the settings all the way up to maximum voltage, he took a good look at him. Kaullus just looked back blankly long enough for him to realise who it was helping him out.

The Dalek's cries brought them back to it as it screamed out the most unbelievable line either of them could probably imagine of it. "HAVE PI-TY!"

"Pity?!" Kaullus shouted at it. "How many races begged for the same thing from you and you killed them anyway?!" He demanded, unflinching as he watched long arcs of electricity sizzle its way over the Dalek's frame. "Did you have any pity for me?! My friends? Well! DID YOU?!"

He didn't care that he was saying too much, he didn't care that this would raise more questions with the Doctor, right now he didn't even care if he spilled the beans about Bad Wolf and Harold Saxon. All he knew, right here and right now, was that he wanted to watch this Dalek die. And so he stood back, and watched alongside the Doctor.

And that was their downfall. A moment later the whole Cage was swarmed with guards, two grabbing hold of the Doctor and dragging him away, DeMaggio keeping her pistol aimed at him. Everyone else dog-piled Kaullus, forcing him down even as he threw them back off.

"HELP ME!"

"SHUT UP!" He yelled right back at the Dalek, even as three more tackled him down, "YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY RIGHTS! ALL YOU'RE ALLOWED TO DO IS DIE!"

That was the last thing he screamed out at it before something heavy was rammed into the back of his head. Suddenly everything became woozy, his vision becoming cloudy. He was marginally aware of the Doctor shouting at Van Statten but he couldn't make out anything he was saying. All he could make out was Van Statten shouting at the Dalek, "I saved your life now talk to me!" He yelled at it, "Goddammit talk to me!"

You fool...his final thoughts were as he drifted off, the only thing the Dalek will ever say to you...is...exterminate... And then everything went black.

Right up at the top of the complex, Rose was being given the tour as it were of the place by the boy the American blockhead. As far as things went, Adam was nice enough, a little bit on the shy side, but he was sweet, opening doors for her and such, a shy little smile here and there. All in all a nice enough bloke. Too bad for him she'd rather be downstairs right now, having a look at whatever it was that had brought them here in the first place.

She'd also like to ask Kaullus what the hell he was playing at, dressed up in that security guard outfit. It probably had something to do with whatever it was he did when they didn't see him, but this was a bit far out from home. And more importantly, why had he looked so sad? Was it to do with the fact that she was still unfamiliar with him? She still remembered the devastated look he'd had when they'd run into him in 1869...except it couldn't be that because in 2006 he'd seemed more than comfortable around her and the Doctor. No, this was some other kind of sad, which she couldn't probe for further information over because she was stuck up here with the delivery boy!

Hey, calm down, girl. Her inner reason told her, which sounded suspiciously like Mickey, what's he done to get you all snippy with him? And that was the problem, Adam hadn't done anything wrong. So maybe she ought to relax somewhat. Kaullus and the Doctor would be back up here in no time, arguing away like they always did over the most pointless subject, one freed alien richer.

Sighing internally, she tuned in as Adam opened another door for her which led to what looked more like a cluttered mess rather than what he termed it as his office. "Sorry about the mess." He apologised closing the door behind him, "Mr Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods."

Give a bloke an office, he turns it into his personal waste dump, she thought to herself as she looked around at all the different kinds of junk that was stored on the numerous shelves he had lying around. Nothing ever changes.

Speaking of said bloke he was holding out what for the world to her looked like a piece of scrap metal, "What do you think that is?" He asked, looking somewhat proud with himself as he handed it over.

Why he was asking her was beyond her comprehension, aliens and spaceships were the Doctor's domain. Hers seemed to be making sure he didn't get himself killed in the process...and breaking up his and Kaullus' arguments. So when she was presented with a lump of metal that could've been found somewhere at the dump, or could've come off the rear bumper of a planet hopper that backed out the wrong way, all Rose could say it was to her was "A...lump of metal?"

"Well, yes," he blushed a bit at her blunt answer, before tripping over his words to explain, "but...you see I'm pretty sure...I mean I'm almost certain, in fact, that it came from the hull of an alien spacecraft." Aww, she couldn't help it, his little face as he talked about it was adorable. "You see the thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet. Aliens, spacecrafts, visitors to Earth," his eyes wide with excited glee not unlike a certain Time Lord she knew, "they really exist."

And here was the hard bit, pretending to be impressed. Considering I travel with one, all across time and space, this one's falling a bit short. But she did her best and put on what she hoped was a convincing smile. "That's amazing."

If she wasn't a good enough actor to pull it off, Adam didn't notice as he just went on with their chat, "I know it sounds incredible," he admitted, "but I honestly believe that the whole universe is teeming with life out there." But then he frowned as something occurred to him, "Mind you though the public will seem to believe anything is alien related these days."

"Oh?" She asked, admittedly a bit curious about what people thought on the alien subject in 2012. "How so?"

"Well it's just a few years ago they were saying everything had aliens written on it." He told her, snorting as something he must've read came up "Like that terrorist bombing on Downing Street in 2006. Everyone was convinced it was the first wave of an alien invasion."

Oh...Rose's thoughts jumped back to a couple of weeks ago when Kaullus had remarked that, if it was ever discovered, she would be the most infamous terrorist in UK history. Seemed like they were doing quite a good job on keeping the aliens quiet though if Adam bought that story, a bit funny too now that she thought about it. Hadn't stopped him believing though. "And you do what?" She asked, looking around at all the...nah she couldn't find a nicer word, it was still junk. "Just sit around and catalogue everything?"

And again his eyes lit up in that cute manner of his, accompanied by a grin, "Best job in the world." He proclaimed happily. "Not the nicest employer, but Goddard mostly keeps him under control."

Not nice is an understatement. The look Van Statten had given her had made her skin crawl, another reason she sort of wished she was with the Doctor, but was also glad he wasn't here at the same time...but did he have to take Kaullus with him? One swift knock to the head from him would solve all their problems. Still one thing at a time, and anyway, Van Statten wasn't here right now.

Besides, maybe Adam liked his current job, but Rose was pretty sure she had a better deal. "Imagine you could get out there." she murmured suggestively, a small little smile at what she'd already seen coming back to her. "Travelling amongst the stars, seeing it all for real." And, if you were lucky, you got worshipped as a deity for a bit...until they tried to kill you, that bit hadn't been as much fun.

It looked like her words had stirred something though because Adam had a similar faraway look in his eyes that the Doctor had teased her over more than a couple of times now. It'd be nice to have someone else around, maybe then he'd let up a bit. And Adam seemed a smart enough bloke, "Yeah..." he smiled with a dreamy expression, "I'd give anything to see it all but..." he shook his head sadly, "I doubt we'll ever see it, not in our lifetimes anyway."

Doubt we'll ever see, eh? Sounds a bit like 'never' to me. If there was one thing Rose had learned travelling with the Doctor, it was never to say 'never' about anything. Chances were you'd be happily surprised. Not that she could out and out say that of course. "Oh you never know," she decided to go the long way around to explain it, toying with one of the many cluttered pieces on the desk separating them "what about all those people who've said they've been inside spaceships and talked to aliens?"

He took his time answering, taking a sip of coffee that had to be cold now which probably explained his screwed up face when he told her plainly, "I think they're nutters."

At first she intended to take full offence at that considering her current occupation...but then she remembered all of the silly shows on TV that Americans loved to put on and she couldn't resist a giggle, "Yeah, me too!"

They both got a good laugh out of that, a pair of Brits in the middle of the paranoid US. Once they had gotten that out of the way it actually occurred to Rose how weird it was to find another Brit here. "So how'd you end up here?" She asked casually, "You Van Statten's Giles or something?"

"Who's Giles?"

Oh...Rose stared at the boy in shock. He didn't know who Rupert Giles was? That's just wrong. Anthony Head was her mum's celeb crush for crying out loud, not to mention Buffy being a personal role model for her when she was a kid.

But Adam didn't seem to notice as he carried on, "Van Statten has people all over the world just looking for geniuses to recruit."

"Oh right, I see," she nodded, barely containing an eye-roll, "you're a genius." With all the ego-maniacs here, she wondered if the Doctor would ever leave. At least now she knew the other reason Kaullus had taken the job here.

"Sorry, but yeah," he shrugged a little nonchalantly, "I can't help it, I was born clever." Leaning over the desk, he dropped his voice down to a whisper, but the proud little grin on his face didn't falter a jot, "When I was eight, I hacked into the US defence network at the Pentagon. Nearly caused World War Three."

Okay, that was quite the unusual thing to be proud of seeing as she'd helped stop World War Three a couple of weeks back, but hey whatever floats your boat. Still she had to ask, "What's so funny about that?"

"Well you should've been there!" He chortled, grinning madly in a very familiar way, "Just to see them running about. Fantastic!"

Hearing that old word being bandied about brought another big smile to Rose's face as she remembered all the things so far that could be described with it. "You sound like the Doctor." Except, you know, a little bit innocent, still opening his eyes...and the Doctor did have height going for him as well.

At the mention of the designated driver though, Adam's smile faltered a little, becoming a little more subconscious, "Are you and him...?"

"No!" She quickly cut him off before he could finish that line, "We're just friends." Honestly what was it with everyone they met thinking there was something going on between them? There wasn't...was there?

At her denial of anything going on between them though, Adam's smile came back. "Good." He said, though his cheeks sort of flamed up a little bit and he looked down at...whatever it was he was playing with.

But she caught his other meaning and couldn't help milking it, "And why's that good?" She asked, grinning slyly, her tongue playing around her top lip.

But he just ducked his head further, though he did allow a small smile to slip through as he replied, "It just is."

Now it was quite possible that Rose could've played this game all day if she wanted, it wasn't the first time a boy had made a pass at her. Heck it seemed to be happening all the time now anywhere the Doctor took her, much to his annoyance. She wouldn't deny she felt a bit flattered but there was this great big gaping problem: She already had a boyfriend. So that said she decided to cut poor Adam a break and get them into some proper trouble.

"So," she started, as offhand as you like, "wouldn't you rather be downstairs?" Ooh, now she had his full attention again, "I mean you have all these bits of metal and stuff but, Mr Van Statten's got a real life alien down there."

Seemed this was a sore subject for him as he moaned in annoyance, "Yeah, I did ask but he keeps it to himself." If that was supposed to be surprising news he was in for a disappointment, Rose had had him pegged as something like that the moment he snatched that alien musical instrument out of the Doctor's hands. However, Adam didn't look that defeated "Although, if you are a genius," and the casual smirk with a touch of pride was back, "it doesn't take you long to patch into the comms system."

That sounded more like it, "Well then," she patted him on the shoulder, "lets have a look, shall we?" She may have also batted her eyelashes just a tad. Admittedly there was another reason behind this request. If it weren't for Van Statten being a tosser and forcing her to stay up here, Rose had no doubt that she'd be at the Doctor's side right now talking to the alien and figuring out how to get it home. If she couldn't help out in that way then she could at least listen in to the Doctor running Van Statten the riot act.

The typing didn't take long, and soon the scree was loading up a camera's view of what Van Statten had called the Cage. "It doesn't do much," Adam admitted, "the alien I mean. It's just sort of useless, just a great big pepper pot."

She saw what he meant when the image finally loaded up. It did sort of resemble a pepper pot, save for the fact that it was quite a bit bigger than that. It had a domed head with a long stalk that she supposed might be some sort of camera eye, but she couldn't see any sort of arms or legs. The whole thing looked like some sort of cross between a tank and a wheelchair. The alien must be inside, and suddenly she had this weird vision of the Ewoks from Star Wars piloting the strange contraption. But then she noticed the chains restraining it, as well as the gashes in it's armour. She really hoped that that was how they found the alien otherwise the Doctor and Kaullus were going to have a field day with Van Statten. Speaking of which, where were they? She would've thought she'd see them in there talking to it but there was no sign of them.

Then the door to the creature's cell opened and for a moment she thought it was them, but instead it was someone wearing an orange suit. He looked at the creature momentarily before going over to a table offscreen. A moment later he returned with a giant buzzsaw and turned it on. A moment later he was digging it into the creature's armour causing it to let out a loud electronic scream.

"It's being tortured!" Rose exclaimed turning furious eyes to Adam, who backed away from her guiltily, "Where's the Doctor?"

But he just shook his head, "I-I don't know."

Well that didn't matter, she'd seen all she needed of this place to know that the people here were no good. And if neither the Doctor, nor Kaullus, had stopped that man from torturing the poor creature then she could only conclude that they'd both somehow been captured. How and when didn't matter, she just had to find one of them and get him out. But she couldn't do it on her own, she needed someone to help her...and that help may just come in the form of the alien that they had come to find. It was worth a try.

"Take me down there." She snapped at Adam, "Now!"

Rose wasn't the Doctor, she couldn't work out any of the complicated things he did or work his sonic screwdriver, and she wasn't Kaullus either, who could find a way out of any tricky situation – usually with a whack to the head. But she wasn't about to stand around and do nothing while that creature was screaming in agony.

It took quite some time before the Doctor finally gave up struggling against his handlers, shouting at Van Statten all the time to just let him finish what he'd started in that cell and kill the Dalek. But the egotistical fool hadn't listened, just rambled on and on about how the world wasn't fair to him, how the cute 'Metaltron' wouldn't talk to him. His surprise at seeing Tahkaullus here hadn't really struck him yet, because he was still processing every last word that he'd screamed at the Dalek before he'd been knocked unconscious and hauled away somewhere.

He's met them before. That much had been clear to him as the guards checked him over for any kinds of weapons that he could use against them, stopping only to inspect his screwdriver, which Van Statten, in his stupidity, had labelled a pen. The fact that Tahkaullus was familiar enough with the Daleks to hate them so viciously spoke volumes to how many times he'd crossed their path. And that was a very worrying thought at the absolute least.

The frisking finally stopped as Van Statten stepped out of the Cage, leaving his dog Simmons to play with the Dalek. The Doctor desperately hoped that the psycho hit something important in his clumsy work and killed it with his tools, he'd seen more than enough that could finish the job he started. But for now he had to deal with the idiot who stopped him from doing it himself.

"You've been holding out on us Doctor." Said idiot proclaimed, nodding at Goddard in some silent command. She nodded in return and called the lift back down. "How's about this time you tell me everything you know about my Dalek."

Your Dalek? Oh, the Doctor had never wished extermination on anyone, and he never would, but Van Statten was digging his grave faster than he realised. Still maybe if he talked enough, something might get through that thick skull of his. "All you need to know is that it's an alien death machine and needs to be put down!"

"Out of the question." Van Statten replied sharply, "That thing is one of a kind, the last in the universe you said." He smirked at him triumphantly as he added on, "To kill it would be genocide."

Taking a deep breath, the Doctor forced himself not to rise to that stupid remark and pressed on, "If you have any sense whatsoever Van Statten, you'll let me go back in there and kill it!"

"And if you value your life, Doctor," the tycoon replied firmly, "you'll tell me every last scrap of detail you know about my Dalek."

Behind them there was a small 'bing' heralding the lift's arrival and the Doctor found himself at an impasse. If he left now there was the chance that the Dalek could get free and escape killing everything in its way, but if he stayed then he may as well shoot himself...and the Dalek could get free and escape killing everything in its way. Scowling at his choices he surrendered to option A and stepped into the lift, two guards preceding him, followed by Goddard and Van Statten. Maybe if he could get at least one of them to realise the danger they were all in then they would do the smart thing and exterminate that thing!

Resigning to giving them a crash course in Dalek history, he began "The metal's just battle armour, the real Dalek creature's inside."

"And what does that look like?" Van Statten asked eagerly, clearly still not getting the issue.

"A nightmare," he sufficed, remembering the embryo creatures on Skaro that had tried to suffocate him before they had even been placed inside their new travel machines, "it's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered out of the Kaled race of Skaro. Every last emotion was removed, except hate. Hate for the Kaled enemy, the Thals; hate for the half-mutated creatures created from Skaro's thousand year war; hate for every living, breathing thing that wasn't a Dalek too."

He hoped that would help them understand, but Van Statten just smiled wider, "Genetically engineered..." he mused to himself, clearly fascinated with the prospect. "By who?"

It was interesting that they should come to that, because the Doctor was seeing some eerie similarities here, "By a genius, Van Statten. By a man who was king of his own little world, you'd like him!" In fact, give the man a wheelchair and he'd probably pass off as Earth's own Davros by the way he was smiling to himself.

His words however seemed to have struck a chord with Goddard who began pacing as best she could in their confined space, "It's been on Earth for over fifty years," she pointed out, "sold at a private auction, moving from one collection to another." Her stance was clear, she didn't believe him...but she was listening, "Why would it be a threat now?"

That was a simple question to answer, "Because I'm here." He told her bluntly. He shouldn't have gone out to investigate, he should've just ignored the TARDIS landing here and gone straight to the 1950s and let these humans tear the last Dalek in existence apart by themselves. But there was one thing he couldn't figure out, what it was doing here in the first place. Seeing as Van Statten was still lost in whatever fantasy he was indulging himself in, he questioned Goddard instead, "How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?"

"The records say it came from the sky like a meteorite," she recounted, "it fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands, burnt in its crater for nearly three days before anyone could get near it, and all that time it was screaming." She shook a bit at her own description, though the reaction was quickly masked behind professionalism again as she concluded "It must've gone insane."

Falling from the sky...so there was a chance it was in flight when the Moment had been activated, or it had been thrown out of the War "It must've fallen through time," the Doctor said aloud, "the only survivor." That meant that this Dalek hadn't fought in the last days, hadn't been part of the Skaro degradations, though it was insane enough. It hadn't been there when the Moment was used, hell it even pre-dated the Time Lock which had been instigated just one year into the War. And then stuck on Earth for fifty years, screaming in the dark for its people...and the Doctor felt a stab of regret.

He regretted that he hadn't come to kill this waste of genetic tissue sooner.

It was Goddard that pulled him out of his theorising, "You talked about a war?" She prompted.

He nodded briefly, "The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race."

"But you survived too." Oh look who was back from his little fantasy world. Van Statten's gaze was pointed up at the ceiling of the lift, a thoughtful look on his face.

Nice of him to state out the obvious, but the Doctor had his own thoughts on that, "It wasn't my choice." No, his survival had been forced on him, he knew that much. That was his punishment for using the Moment, to outlive them all, forced to go on in a universe devoid of his people, his mind never again filled with the comforting knowledge that he wasn't alone.

But Van Statten had his own reasons for bringing up his survival. "This means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth." His gaze finally dropped from the ceiling to focus on him, a greedy gleam having settled in his eyes, "Doctor, there's you. The only one of your kind left in existence..." a crafty smile suddenly streaked up his face and he clicked his fingers. "Boys."

Before he knew what had happened, one of the guards had moved forward and whacked the Doctor on the back of the head, sending him sprawling on the floor. Blinking dazedly, he was barely able to make out Goddard shouting furiously at her boss. Nice to know there was someone on his side here...

A/N: Well...I might have laid it on big time with the Dalek hateage...which is weird because they're my favourite villains, right in front of the Weeping Angels...y'know, before things got stupid - seriously the Statue of Liberty?!. Anyway, Kaullus has been knocked out, the Doctor has been knocked out. There's a lot of head-banging in this chapter, but I needed to get Kaullus in position somehow and the Doctor needed to be trussed up.
So, next chapter, a lot of killing happens. Nuf said.