Genocide
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Rose blinked and shook her head to clear it. The last thing she remembered was a jarring pain rushing through her head. And then she had fallen to the ground. So she was slightly shocked to find that she was already sitting up. What shocked her more were the fearful looks she was getting from Martha and Frank.
Ugh! Her head was killing her! It was pounding horribly. Idly she wondered if there was an expression for having lighting run through you head. How the heck had she survived that? Groaning she tried to move. Her body was a little stiff, but everything was working. She felt really, really odd. And the pounding in her head wouldn't go away.
"Rose…?" Martha said hesitantly. "Is that you? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's me. Who else would it be?" She tried to get back up, only to fall back over with a moan. "Word of advice, don't get electrocuted," she whimpered. Martha leaned over her and she thought she was going into doctor mode. But instead she grabbed Rose's face in both hands and stared intently into her eyes.
"What the hell was that?" she asked sounding fearful. "What was that, possession? Some sort of self healing? You recovered much too quickly."
"What are you talking about?" Rose asked through the noise in her head. She tried to ignore the feeing of her every cell tingling as if it were sparking.
"Your eyes!" Frank said his voice as fearful as Martha's. "They was glowing like stars! Gold and glowing!"
Rose froze, she knew her body glowed gold when she was Bad Wolf. "What did I do?" she asked them, trying to keep her voice level.
"What?"
"This is very important, because it's happened before and I can't always remember what happens. What did I do when my eyes were gold?"
"N-nothing," Martha stammered. "You just… sat up. It was scary, you shouldn't have recovered so soon… you should barley have recovered at all. But you sat up in seconds. Your eyes were all gold and then it just… vanished."
Rose thought about this for a moment. She had gone Bad Wolf, yet she hadn't done anything. So why had she turned. And how the heck was she okay if she wasn't meant to recover.
"Of course!" she sighed. "Bad Wolf was keeping me alive!"
"Bad Wolf!" Martha exclaimed, remembering her telling her about Bad Wolf earlier.
"Yip, it's okay. She's gone. Let's just forget about it, yeah?"
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Gasping she clutched her head. It still hurt a little, but that wasn't what was bothering her. It was still beating. Literally beating. Like there were drums in her head. She had thought it would subside, but it didn't. It was then that she realised it sounded familiar. It reminded her of sitting in the Library, reading a book while she lay comfortingly against the Doctor. Her head resting on his chest, the comforting sound of his double hearts lulling her into sleep… Heartbeats. They were heartbeats, just like the Doctor's.
Something was wrong. Something was wrong with her Doctor.
"Doctor!" she cried in alarm. Ignoring the lingering pain, she scrambled up and headed to the scaffolding.
"Tallulah, stay here with Lazlo," Martha shouted behind her as she and Frank followed Rose up.
Rose froze when half way up she found the sonic-screwdriver lying discarded… or dropped. This made her quicken her pace and soon she was climbing over the edge by the mast. The Doctor was lying on his back, unconscious. He was dangerously close to the edge; one of his arms was even dangling off the side.
"Doctor!" she cried in alarm. She scrambled over and leant over him, placing a hand tenderly on his chest.
"Doctor!" Martha cried only a second later.
Rose looked down at him, then up at the mast and realisation dawned on her. He had gotten in the way. She didn't know why he had done that, she just knew he had. "Oh, you stupid idiot! You did not!" she cried, whacking him on the shoulder. He let out a faint gasp. "Hey, come on," she coaxed. "Look what we found half way down." She held out the sonic-screwdriver. "You're getting careless."
The Doctors face scrunched up in pain as he began to move a little. "Oh, my head," he groaned, not opening his eyes.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Rose laughed in relief. His eyes opened slightly and a small smile tugged at his lips. "Hey," she smiled at him.
"Hi… You survived then." He still made no effort to move. She didn't blame him. She'd only been gotten by a small volt, and that felt like hell. He had gotten the full blast.
"Yup. So did you… mostly."
"Doctor," Martha said wearily. "I can't help noticing… there's Dalekanium still attached."
With a jerk he forced himself up and looked at the base of the mast. Two panels were still attached. "Oh, yes," he said, slightly guiltily. "That's right, I dropped the sonic-screwdriver before I could finish. It's okay though. I think I've stopped them." Rose helped him to his feet and carefully they made their way back down to the hundredth floor.
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From there they just stood looking out over the city. Tallulah and Lazlo came to join them. Both Rose and the Doctor felt horrible after being electrocuted, but there was no way that would stop them.
Without realising what he was doing the Doctor reached up to stroke Rose's hair, and laughed when it gave him a small shock and started to rise in the air, following his hands. As he lowered his ands the hair would go back down, up and it would follow back up. For a moment he stood there giggling, moving his hands up and down above Rose's head. She was giving him a very odd look but was struggling to keep a smile off her face.
"This is pretty fun," he grinned.
"Doctor!" Martha snapped him out of it.
"Right, sorry." His hands shot behind his back and he plastered on a serious expression. Slowly he reached up and leant on the scaffolding.
"So, what will happen now?" Rose asked him. She was still concerned by the fact he had knowingly jumped in front of a lighting bolt. Yes, she had been shocked too, but at least she had tried to escape.
"The Daleks will have gone straight to war footing," he said, his voice cold with hatred. "They'll be using the sewers, spreading their soldiers out underneath Manhattan."
"How do we stop them?" Lazlo demanded.
"There's only one chance," he replied. His voice softened slightly, because he knew his answer would most likely scare Rose and Martha, and make them worry about him. Though he feared Rose already knew. "I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping through me first." He turned and walked away before either of them could make a fuss.
"What is it with you two and trying to kill yourself?" Martha muttered to Rose. "I swear I'm never letting you near a live wire of lightning storm again." She turned to the Doctor, chasing after him. The other's followed suit. "But what does that mean?" she asked him.
"We need to draw fire," he said to himself more than anyone else. "Before they can attack New York. I need to face them. Think, think, think, think," he muttered running his hands through his hair, making it stick up even more. "We need some sort of space, somewhere safe, somewhere out of the way… Tallulah!"
"That's me. Three 'L's and an 'H'," she replied, holding up her finger as if she were raising her hand.
"The theatre!" he cried. "It's right above them. And, what, it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?"
"Don't see why not," she shrugged. He looked back at the elevator, planning to run to it. But he saw the connection of pipes and the dead pig-slaves slumped all thought the lift.
"Is there another lift?"
"We came up in the service elevator."
"That will do," he cried. "Allons-y!"
And the six of them all squished up into the small lift. It had been bad enough with just four of them. Not that Rose was complaining. After all, she was pressed right up against the Doctor, and his arms were resting around her, keeping her up.
?...DW…?
"This should do it, here we go!" he cried. He flung his coat somewhere over one of the seats. Jumping up on the seats, he turned on the sonic-screwdriver.
"There ain't nothing more creepy than a theatre in the dark," Tallulah whinged. "Listen, Doctor, I know you got a thing for show tunes, but there's a time and a place, huh?"
Beside her Lazlo fell into one of the cheers and her attention focused on him immediately. The Doctor just continued to point about the sonic.
"Lazlo, what's wrong?" she asked worrying, sitting next to him.
"Nothing," he gasped. "It's just so hot."
"But… it's freezing in here. Doctor, what's happening to him?"
"Not now, Tallulah, sorry," he said. He finally got the sonic to the frequency he wanted and held it up in the air.
"What are you doing?" Martha asked him. She wasn't so sure she was going to like the answer.
"If the Daleks are going to war, they'll wanna find their number one enemy… I'm just telling them where I am. Alright, the lot of you have to leave."
"Nah ah!" Rose said firmly. She crossed her arms and stood her ground, Martha took on a similar position. "How many times do I have to tell you? I won't leave you."
"Rose, this is important. You have to go."
"No!"
"I'm telling you to go," he said. He jumped down off the chairs. "Frank can take you back to Hooverville." Normally, he may have let her stay… perhaps if she hid. But with what he was about to do, he didn't want her around to see it… or to try and stop him.
"And I'm telling you I'm not going."
"And neither am I, Doctor," Martha put in, her tone just as sharp as Rose's.
"Martha, that's an order." He was willing to negotiate with Rose; after all, he was trying his best to keep her at his side. He knew she could handle herself. But Martha had to be far a way from harm as he could get her.
"Who are you, then?" Martha snapped. "Some sort of Dalek!" Even Rose's eyes widened at that one. She remembered the first time she had met a Dalek, she had very nearly said the exact same thing. But now she knew just how much that would have hurt him.
He didn't have the chance to reply, because at that moment the doors crashed open and the Dalek-Human marched in.
Quickly the Doctor went and stood beside Frank, he leant down and whispered in his ear. "If Rose moves, if she does anything, I want you grab her and hold onto her as tight as you can. She'll put up a huge fight, but what ever you do, do not let her go." Frank nodded to show he understood.
On either side of them the Dalek-Humans moved in, holding guns that looked like the ones attached to the Dalek shells.
"Oh my god!" Tallulah cried. "Well, I guess that's them then, huh?"
"Humans with Dalek DNA?" Martha said.
"Just say calm. Don't antagonise them," the Doctor warned.
"But what about the Dalek masters?" Lazlo said, struggling to stand. "Where are they?"
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Suddenly there was an explosion in the stage. They all ducked down behind the chairs and Tallulah screamed. Carefully they peaked over the edge to see two Daleks coming out of the smoke. Dalek Sec was chained at their 'feet' – or lack of – forced to crawl. Slowly the Doctor stood up, so did the others… all except Tallulah, who only peered over the edge.
"THE-DOC-TOR-WILL-STAND-BE-FORE-THE – DA-LEKS."
The Doctor nodded to Frank, who braced himself. Then he pushed himself up and standing on the backs of the chairs, walked forwards.
"YOU-WILL-DIE-DOC-TOR.IT'S-THE-BE-GINN-ING-OF-A-NEW-AGE."
"PLAN-ET-EARTH-WILL-BE-COME-NEW-SKARO."
"Oh, and what a world," he spat. "With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt. That's Dalek Sec! Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new empire? Hmm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilisation?"
"Listen to him!" Sec pleaded.
"Oh, and I'm sorry, Dalek Sec, for give me," he scoffed mercilessly. "But how many worlds have suffered like you? How many victims? How many millions have wept in front of the Daleks and been shown no mercy, just like you are now?"
"I know," Sec whispered. His one eye brimming with tears. "Don't - you see? I know." Then he turned to the Daleks on either side of him. "My Daleks… just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you."
"IN-CORECT!" a Dalek snapped. "WE-WILL-AL-WAYS-SUR-VIVE."
"NOW-WE-WILL-DES-TROY-OUR-GREAT-EST-ENEMY.THE-DOC-TOR."
Rose made to go forward at this but Frank grabbed her by the wrist. "Just wait a moment," he whispered. Reluctantly she agreed and stayed still. Frank didn't let go of her.
"But he can help you!" Sec told the Daleks.
"THE-DOC-TOR-MUST-DIE!"
"No, I beg you, don't!" he shuffled and crawled along. Hoping to draw them away from the Doctor.
"EXTERMINATE!" And Dalek Sec fell to the ground, dead. The Doctor looked at the Dalek in fury.
"Your own leader!" he said in disgust. "The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him." He turned to the Dalek-Humans. "Do you see what they did? Huh? You see what a Dalek really is?" He turned back to the Daleks before him. "If I'm going to die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh?"
"Doctor!" Rose cried aghast. Frank knew that this was the moment the Doctor hand meant. And with his grip, still firm on her wrist, he pulled her into his arms and held on to her. "Frank, let me go!" she shouted, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. She struggled and kicked, but he held tight. Martha stood beside them, unsure of who to help. She was sure he was following the Doctor's instructions. "The Dalek-Humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptize them!" Slowly he raised his arms and held them out at his sides, like a sacrifice.
"DA-LEK-HU-MANS,TAKE-AIM."
"What are you waiting for? Give the command!" he shouted at them.
"No!" Rose shrieked, redoubling her efforts to get free. He didn't even glace back at her as she struggled to get to him. He trusted Frank to keep her safe.
"EXTERMINATE!"
He closed his eyes and braised himself for the shot. Tallulah curled into Lazlo. Frank held on to Rose, who was even more determined to get out. He curled her into him, trying to shield her from what she was about to see. Martha whimpered and curled into Rose, trying to do the same, and effectively made it harder for her to get in the way.
… But nothing happened.
"EXTERMINATE!" the Dalek said again, more forcefully. Still nothing happened. "OBEY.DA-LEK-HU-MANS-WILL-OBEY!"
"They're not firing…" Martha whispered. Rose calmed down a little and took in the situation. "What have you done?" she called up to the Doctor.
"YOU-WILL-OBEY.EXTERMINATE!"
"Why?" the Dalek-Human closest to the Daleks asked in a thick voice. Every head and eyestalk snapped to him. Slowly the Doctor's arms fell to his sides.
"DA-LEKS-DO-NOT-QUEST-ION-ORDERS."
"But why?" the Dalek-Human said again.
"YOU-WILL-STOP-THIS!"
"But… why?"
"YOU-MUST-NOT-QUEST-ION!"
"But you are not our master," he said. "And we… we are not Daleks."
"No, you're not," the Doctor said gently. "And you never will be." He looked back up at the Daleks with renewed enthusiasm. "Sorry," he said unremorsefully. "I got in the way of the way of the lighting strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom." He winked at them.
"IF-THEY-WILL-NOT-OBEY,THEN-THEY-MUSTDIE!" With that the Dalek shot at the Non-Dalek-Human who had spoken out.
"Get down!" the Doctor cried.
They all ducked beneath the chairs just as a full scale war broke out above their heads. The two Daleks shooting at the Non-Dalek-Humans, and the many Non-Dalek-Humans shooting right back. For a while all they could hear were the sounds of gunfire and the Daleks constant cried of "EXTERMINATE!"
There was a boom and one of the Daleks was blown up. It was followed a few moments later by the other one. The Non-Dalek-Humans stopped firing and everyone stood up. The Doctor stumbled over to the Non-Dalek-Humans to clam them down and make sure the remaining ones were okay.
"It's all right. It's alright. It's alright. You did it. You're free," he told them.
Then he turned from the Non-Dalek-Humans and grinned at Rose who was running up to him. He was very surprised and shocked when her hand swung round and hit him in the face. The oh-so-famous Tyler Slap. He'd been on the receiving end of one from her mother before; he had thought that was bad enough. But getting one from Rose was 100 times worse, physically and emotionally. He was even more shocked and confused when in the next second she had her arms around him in a hug that left him gasping for air.
"You stupid, idiotic jerk!" she cried in relieved frustration, she also sounded a bit too angry for his liking.
"What did I do?" he protested.
"That, back there!" she said pointing back to the chairs where he had stood moments ago. "Three times in one day, you were asking for it! I swear, if you try to sacrifice or kill yourself one more time today…" He grinned at her adorable and empty threat. She had slapped him because she was scared for him? Oh, crazy, wonderful, beautiful Rose Tyler…
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Before he could reply to her, all the Non-Dalek-Humans suddenly began to scream and put their hands to their heads in pain. It was like they were hearing a horrible sonic sound that was frying their brains… actually, that was what was happening.
"No!" he cried. The Non-Dalek-Humans crumpled to the ground, dead. "They can't! They can't! They can't!" he cried.
"What happened?" Rose asked at the same time that Martha rushed over yelling, "What was that?"
"They've killed them, rather than let them live. An entire species… Genocide!" his voice became harsher with fury.
"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed," Lazlo said. "One of the Dalek masters must still be alive."
"Oh, yes," the Doctor hissed, standing up. His eyes were wide with fury, staring out at nothing. Rose knew he wasn't seeing what was before him. "In the whole universe, just one."
?...DW…?
The Doctor stood alone. The Dalek was opposite him on the other side of the laboratory. The last Time Lord facing the last Dalek.
"Now what?" he said coldly.
"YOU-WILL-BE – EXTERMINATED!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," he said, sick of the usual conversation. "Just think about it Dalek- …What was your name?"
"DA-LEK-CANN."
"Dalek Cann." He pushed aside his coat and stuck his hands in his pockets. With slow, heavy footfalls he walked forward. "Your entire species has been wiped out. And now the Cult of Skaro has been eradicated. Leaving only you. right now, you're facing the only man in the universe who might show you some compassion. 'Cause I've just seen one genocide. I wont cause another. Cann… let me help you. what do you say." For a moment Dalek Cann said nothing.
"EMER-GENCY – TEMP-ORAL-SHIFT!" it shouted. It began to shake and glow, then it vanished, leaving the wires it had been plugged into just dangling there. Angrily the Doctor ran forward, but was too late to stop it.
"Doctor! Doctor!" Martha's cries came form the end of the lab. He turned to see the three girls half supporting, half dragging Lazlo in. "He's sick." They lowered him to the floor and Tallulah cradled him in her arms, a look of worry and terror on her face. She couldn't loose him, no matter what he was. He was her Lazlo!
"It's okay," Rose soothed him. "You're alright."
"It's his heart," Martha said. "It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it!"
"What is it, Doctor?" Tallulah asked him. "What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe. What is it?" The Doctor walked over and crouched down next to them, pity and sorrow etched across his face.
"It's time, Sweetheart," Lazlo gasped out.
"What do you mean 'time'? What are you talking about?" she sobbed.
"None of the slaves… survive for long," he told her, struggling for breath. "Most of them only live a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on 'cause I had you. But now… I'm dying, Tallulah."
"No you're not," she said. "Not now, after all this." She lifted her tear streaked face up to the Doctor. He crouched before her, his too old eyes burning with sorrow, and his clasped hands pressed against his lips. "Doctor, can't you do something?" she pleaded.
"Oh, Tallulah with three 'L's and an 'H'…" he said sadly. He paused a moment… then his voice became more determined. "Just you watch me!" Suddenly he jumped up and threw his coat off. "What do I need?" he said, life pouring back into his voice. "Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look! I've got one! Lazlo, just you hold on!"
Rose smiled, tears coming to her eyes as she watched him run about mixing formulas together. She knew that he believed he caused death and destruction where ever he went. But she knew that none of them were his fault, though he may bare the burden of the guilt that was not rightfully his. She knew that he would always do everything in his power to save everyone. It was one of the many things she loved most about him.
"There's been too many deaths today," he babbled as he ran about. "Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age-old enemies. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, I am not having one more death! Got that? Not one! Tallulah, out of the way," he ordered, pulling out his stethoscope and putting it on. "The Doctor is in!"
And so, the Doctor ran to save, just that one life. That one incredible loved life.
