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Chapter Thirty-six
The theatre performance had finished and a steady flow of people crowded their way out onto the murky evening streets of Domino. For a moment Seto seemed uneasy about how dark it was for that time of day and year, but dismissed the thought as the feeling of disappointment continued to eat away at him. Not only had his hopes of spending his life with the woman he loved been knocked earlier by her reaction to his question, but he'd also just spent over an hour watching a group of drama student rejects prancing around wearing costumes made from tinfoil, which he had foolishly paid an unreasonably high price for the tickets and privilege to do so. To say that he was not in the best of moods right now was an understatement.
As long as Kisara enjoyed it, that's all that matters. The CEO told himself, trying not to let his emotions turn towards anger over the situation. Knowing that his girlfriend liked artistic things such as the horrific boredom he had just witnessed, he had gone ahead and surprised her with the tickets for the night's performance. "Well, that was … interesting." He muttered, trying to think of something positive to say but failed to come up with anything.
"Yes." Kisara agreed, as she nodded her head and silently tried to figure out what could have possessed her boyfriend to buy tickets to such an unusual production that she most probably otherwise wouldn't have considered viewing at all. "It was good, but…"
"I hated it too." The honesty was chuckled and cut off her speech.
"Oh, I didn't hate it."
"It's okay, you can say what you actually mean and I won't be offended." Seto assured his girlfriend, sensing that he'd failed to succeed yet again at getting another date to run smoothly. He didn't always make a mess of and ruin their time together, but most of the time he tried just a little too hard in his eagerness to impress her.
"It's just not something that I would want to sit through again so soon." Kisara smiled and shivered slightly as the chill of the evening air blew around her bare arms.
Removing his jacket from his arms, Seto placed it around the woman's shoulders to keep her warm as they walked towards the parking complex where his Mercedes had been left. Looking around them he noticed that the streets now seemed unusually quiet and empty except for those who had also left the theatre following along further behind them. "Where is everyone?" He mumbled his thoughts out aloud.
"Perhaps that faint judder during the performance was the early signs of something bigger on the way and they're taking refuge to avoid the quake?" Kisara suggested as it wasn't uncommon for tremors to hit the city every now and then.
"No." Seto shook his head. "If that was the case then there would have been advanced warnings on the news repo…." Falling silent mid-word as he caught sight of something off in the distance, he instinctively pulled his girlfriend down a side alley and peered back out into the street where cold electrical voices began to emit from small cone-like tanks coming closer towards them.
"All humans will come with us!"
Daleks? It was Seto's first assumption as he thought back to the description of the invaders that the Doctor had told him about during their stargazing from inside the TARDIS all those months ago. Taking a step backwards into the alley, so as not to been seen by the approaching machine, he bumped into Kisara as a result. She gave a little moan of complaint. "Shhh!" He instructed before then hurrying her out of sight as they both hid behind the dumpster located slightly further down the alleyway.
"Resistance is useless!" A Dalek stopped in the entrance and glanced down the passageway clearly aware that humans were somewhere nearby. "Failure to comply will result in immediate extermination!"
Both of them huddled together, hearts racing from the sound of the chilling voice, with nowhere to run from the 'thing' that was threatening to destroy them if they were to be found in their hiding place. The silence was only disturbed by the faint sound of motorised wheels as the Dalek then slowly began to enter the alley, Seto hoping that they somehow wouldn't be discovered though their chances were virtually nil.
"Hey, you're not ordering us around!" It was a human voice that sounded out from the open streets and caused the lone investigator to abandon its search of the still passageway in order to regroup with its fellow Daleks to round up the rowdy group of inferior beings.
"Do not oppose, you will come with us!"
"Get bent!"
"Exterminate!"
The laser blast and sound of the motionless body hitting the floor could be heard from where the couple hid and several more people began to scream in terror only to be silenced a split second later as their fate then became same as the first guy to die.
"Exterminate!"
The screaming stopped to leave behind just a few sobbing people who had obeyed the invaders orders as they were then led away by the small group of patrolling Daleks.
Only when he could hear nothing but pure silence did Seto dare peek out from behind the dumpster. What are they doing here on Earth?! He mused to himself about the Daleks' appearance as his eyes scanned the lifeless bodies that had been left behind in the street. There was a gasp from behind him as Kisara too gazed out to view the carnage. "It's okay." He told her as he saw the wide terrified watery eyes staring back at him. "Everything is going to be okay. Nothing bad will happen to you; I won't let it, we're …"
"We're going to die aren't we?"
For a moment he was unsure of what to say in response from having just witnessed the merciless killings by the beings that the timelord had spoken of, but knew that he had to keep her spirits up in the gloomy situation at hand. He also knew that he couldn't lie to the one he loved and tried to smile as he spoke. "No." Pulling Kisara close to him he embraced her tightly and kissed her forehead. "I'm not going to let a group of giant traffic cones, with sink plungers and egg whisks attached to them, bring us down."
There was a half laugh, half sob as she wrapped her arms around him to return the hug, relishing the feeling of security that was felt from her boyfriend's hold, before he then gently eased her from him in order to make a call on his cell phone.
"Hey Seto, how are things going?" The cheery voice came down the line.
"Never mind that right now…..."
"Why are you whispering? Have things gone horribly wrong between you two? You didn't pop the question already before…?"
"Mokie!" A low growl expressed Seto's irritation as his brother was causing the warning of danger to be delayed. "Just get whoever is there into the panic room right away, it's located between my study and the games room."
"Your mansion has a panic room?" The younger brother sounded far from impressed.
"Yeah. Doesn't yours?"
"No." The reply was snorted with laughter. "I'm not that paranoid."
"This is serious!" Seto bit his tongue to stop himself from raising his voice at the petty sibling teasing. "There are these things; Daleks, that Doctor friend of yours calls them."
"Daleks?"
"They're merciless alien beings inside protective armoured tank-like machines, and are currently on the city's streets gunning down those who defy them whilst capturing the rest."
"Do they shout out, 'Exterminate'?"
"How do you know…?"
"I dreamt about them once."
There was no time to ask further questions, Seto had to make sure that his brother remained safe. "Just get everyone into the panic room; you'll be untouchable once you're in there."
"Okay, will do." Mokuba confirmed as a blasting sound could be heard in the background, followed by the orders of the invaders as they burst through into the mansion. "No, Roland don't…." The battle cry of extermination filled the phone line before it turned silent.
"Mokuba?!" Seto failed to keep his voice calm as the call was disconnected from his brother. He didn't want to think about what fate had fallen on those gathered at his mansion and swiftly made his second call to the only people he knew that might be able to do something about the situation.
Come on Jack, pick up! The CEO growled to himself in frustration as the line rang for a short period of two bleeps before the 'this line is currently in use' message began to play. He tried Ianto's cell phone only to receive the same message, and again from trying to call the phone in the tourist office at the entrance of the hub. Out of desperation to contact any one of the Torchwood team, Seto even tried dialling the number for Jubilee Pizzas but was now told 'all phone lines in this area are currently in use, please try again later'.
"Seto?" Kisara's voice was weak at seeing the scared and perturbed expression worn by her boyfriend.
At first he didn't answer her as he sank into thoughts of what to do next. It would be suicide to try and fight these things alone, he had to seek help and fast, but how was he supposed to do that when the phone lines were unusable? There is one 'possible' way… "Can you run?"
"Yes, of course I can." Kisara replied a little unsurely to the unexpected question.
"Good. Follow me and stay close." Before his girlfriend had the chance to ask further questions, Seto strode off to the entrance of the alleyway and looked out. There was no sign of Daleks anywhere right now, but that was no guarantee that their several block journey would remain trouble free.
Stepping out from the passageway, they moved quickly in order to try and reach his company's building undetected, and where just several streets away when they ran into a group of the invaders. Shit!
"All humans will come with us!"
Like a flash and not wasting any time, Seto turn tailed to double back on himself and sprinted faster than he had ever done in his life, - closely followed by Kisara, - as they would find another route to take to get to the KC building.
"Exterminate!"
The couple zigzagged as they raced for their lives, narrowly avoiding the laser blasts that would otherwise cause their deaths. Neither of them dare to look back as they managed to eventually outrun the Daleks, but knowing that they would still be followed.
"Seto!" Kisara cried out as she stumbled with exhaustion and unable to go on another step.
Hearing his name called out like that made him stop and hurry back to help the woman he loved. "Come on Kisara, you can do this." He tried to encourage her to push onwards. "We're almost there." Watching her struggle to stay upright and concerned about their pursuers gaining ground on them, he lifted her up in his arms and continued towards their destination.
When they reached his towering building, - Seto still carrying his girlfriend, - he quickly keyed in his clearance code and they went inside. It was only when they entered one of the storage rooms that he placed Kisara back down onto the ground where she then mockingly complained about what had just happened.
"When you asked if I could run, I wasn't expecting to have to do so like that!" She reached down to remove one of the high heeled shoes that she wore and held it up to show her boyfriend. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to run in these?"
"Next time I'll try and be more specific." Seto shrugged as he wandered off to find all of the items he required.
"Naoko is going to kill me when she sees this." Kisara groaned at the sight of one of the heels on the expensive designer shoes which had started to crack. "That's the last time she'll ever let me borrow her things." With her light-hearted remarks she tried to remain positive on the situation but failed to vanquish the feeling of never seeing her closest friend ever again.
Glancing across the storeroom she saw Seto speedily dismantling one of his company's Dueldisks, along with several other small electrical devices. What is he trying to do? Pulling his jacket tightly around herself for comfort as she watched him go about the peculiar task, she felt something poking at her hips. Her hand dived into the pocket to remove the object that caused the discomfort…
"Exterminate!"
The sound of the Dalek had been faint but still it caused Seto to work even faster as he attempted to make his own vortex manipulator. He had to warn Jack about what was happening and transporting his way into the hub was the only other option he could think of. Using the miniature tool set from his keychain and parts from all the items he had gathered, he recreated the circuitry board to match that of the futuristic device and was almost finished. All he had to do was find a way to lock onto his destination.
"Seto?" Kisara's voice broke through his concentration and he raised his head to look over towards her. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Ermmm…." His tongue wouldn't work as it felt like lead inside his mouth. He had completely forgotten about the small square box that had been inside his jacket pocket, and now found himself staring right at the diamond engagement ring displayed within it as his girlfriend held the box open. Finally he found his voice and stuttered, "Y-yes."
Their eyes remained focused on each other for what seemed like an eternity, Seto met with a surprised and fearful expression from the woman he loved. This was far from the way he had planned things, on what should have been a happy day and milestone in his life…
"Exterminate!" The Dalek cry had become louder as their pursuer now stood right outside the storeroom door.
"Quick, get behind me!" He ordered and saw Kisara instantly race over to him, the ring box now placed back inside the pocket which it had come from and high heeled shoes abandoned where she had once stood. I can't use the phone numbers to track onto if the lines are still busy! What other options do I have?
There was a loud blast and the doors of the storeroom disappeared in a cloud of smoke which cleared to reveal a Dalek in the open doorway.
Postcode! Seto stumbled onto the very thing that he needed to lock onto the hub's location and felt his arm squeezed tightly as Kisara became even more fearful of the situation they were in. What was it again? It was at times like this that he could now see the usefulness of the Welshman's retentive nature.
A bright blue light glared from the end of the eye-stoke as the Dalek fixed onto them both and repositioned its firing arm.
CF10…
"Exterminate!"
… 5AL!
The laser beam shot out from the Dalek and flew across the room at lightning speed, hitting nothing but the wall opposite as it passed right through empty space and area of white light where the couple of inferior beings had once been.