AN-For those confused, there was a bit of a mix up with chapters. Chapter 35 is "The Death of Rose Tyler", Chapter 36 is "The Oncoming Storm". The second one is not uploaded twice. Go back and check it out and I apologize for the confusion, have been a bit distracted. Also, dialogue isn't mine.
It was his worst nightmares come true.
A midnight sky filled with hundreds of Dalek ships, filled with half a million Dalek warriors. All of those he had thought dead in Time War, all of those he thought he had killed himself. All of those whom he had thought burned along with his people, there alive, over the Earth, waiting through centuries just for him.
"That's impossible," Jack breathed over his shoulder. "I know those ships. They were destroyed."
"Obviously they survived," the Doctor whispered, watching the horror on the screen unfold before him.
"Who did?" Lynda was clueless, though she could sense the fear. "Who are they?"
The Doctor didn't even want to utter their name.
"Two hundred ships," he murmured, eyes fixated on them as they spun lazily in their orbit. "More than two thousand on board, that's just about half a million of them."
"Half a million what?" The man, the one who seemed to be somewhat in charge, watching the proceedings with wide eyes.
"Daleks," the Doctor finally intoned, not disguising the terror he felt.
"Doc," Jack whispered, "They can't be...it can't be, you know it can't be."
"What, because I killed them? Yeah Jack, I watched them burn. I made them burn." He turned to stare up at his friend, remembering all too well that awful day so long ago. "But the Daleks had learned time travel. That's how the war began. I thought they were all gone, but some of them survived, slip through time."
And they now ended up here.
"What are they," Lynda asked quietly, the question that all of the other humans in the room were silently asking him.
"Daleks are the stuff of nightmares," he replied quietly. "They are mutants, changed to serve the purpose of a madman, xenophobic to the extreme. The are cold, calculating, and extremely intelligent. And they will kill anything that they deem to be different."
"But not us, right?" One of the females, a woman who looked to be of Indian ancestry on Earth, spoke up, almost pleading.
"Oh no," the Doctor shook his head sadly. "No, you are their primary target. You've only been allowed to live because of me. You were the bait that got me here."
The whole time, the Bad Wolf was nothing more or less than his ancient enemy. But what had it all to do with Rose?
To his horror, he soon found out. The screen fuzzed in its resolution, the image shivering and melting, as a new one took it's place. On it stood Rose, flanked by no less than three Daleks.
And she was alive.
She was standing there, living, breathing, and defiant. And heaven help him, if he could reach through the screen, he'd kiss her, and damn the consequences. She met his eyes through the transmission, fearful, but determined. His Rose, brave even in this.
"I will talk to the Doctor," the first Dalek intoned in its grating, electronic voice, sending cold chills up and down the Doctor's spine.
"Oh will you now," he replied, slapping on false cheerfulness as he smiled manically into the screen. "That's nice! Hello!" He waved in fake jocularity. Then the grin melted off of his face.
It hardly affected the Dalek. "The Dalek Stratagem nears completion. The Fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene."
"Oh really," the Doctor mocked. "And why's that then?"
"We have your associate," the Dalek replied simply. The Doctor's eyes flickered to Rose. "You will obey or she will be exterminated."
He stared at her, Rose Tyler, the girl who had worked her way into a life he had been determined to live alone. He, the Doctor, the destroyer of worlds, the killer of his own kind, he had not deserved to have anyone or anything care about him. And yet there was Rose Tyler, who took his hand and came with him, when all reason said she shouldn't. She was alive, he hadn't killed her. And she was standing bravely, even in the face of the Daleks around her. Terrified, yes. But standing all the same.
Could he do any less?
"No," he said, his voice hard as he spat out the single syllable. The eyes of every human beside him whipped around to stare at this madman saying this crazy thing. Even Rose's eyes widened, staring perplexed at him.
"Explain yourself," the Dalek insisted, twitching in agitation.
"I said no," the Doctor reiterated, his voice rising.
"What is the meaning of this negative," it insisted. Clearly the Dalek didn't quite expect that answer. The Doctor almost wanted to laugh at it's discomfort, to giggle maniacally at this creatures inability to understand when someone stood up to it and didn't give in to its demands.
"It means, 'no'," he replied slowly, as if the Dalek was a particularly thick child.
"But she will be destroyed," the Dalek uttered, now truly perplexed. Ahh, Daleks, emotions were such funny things that they tried and constantly failed at understanding. Things like love and affection were not as simple as logarithms and logic, and the Doctor delighted in that weakness. He reveled in it. Because he knew, now, how he could stop them, stop this, how to put his foot down and take back his companion.
"No!" The Doctor rose slowly, full of command and presence and the confidence that only a madman could have in the face of a Dalek. "Cause this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to rescue her."
He stared straight at Rose, who smiled, pride and assurance breaking over her face like the sun after a storm. He stood, glaring fire and brimstone down on the Dalek who dared to speak to him, the Doctor, the last of the Time Lords. "I'm going to save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet. And then I'm going to save the Earth. And then to finish it off, I'm going to wipe every last, stinking Dalek out of the sky."
His voice rang as he spit out his words, the rush of blood, and rage, and madness in his ears. Even through the transmission he could sense their panic and terror. This had not been what the Daleks had expected! This was not the reaction they had wanted at all!
"But you have no weapons, no plan, no defenses," the speaking Dalek protested in confounded worry. As if these paltry items mattered at all to him, the Doctor.
"Yeah," he found himself grinning, a smile that was both insane and deadly. "And doesn't that scare you to death?"
Clearly, judging by their agitated reaction, it did.
"Rose," his eyes whipped to hers.
She smiled, eager. "Yes, Doctor?"
"I'm coming to get you." It wasn't a statement. It was a promise.
With a flick of the remote he turned off the screen.
Behind him, the collective room took a deep, frightened breath.
"Were...were those Daleks?" The head controller's voice shook as he pointed towards the now blank screen. Indeed, most of the humans, save for Jack, looked both confused and terrified by what they saw.
"Yeah," the Doctor replied, snapping his attention towards Jack. "We need to get to the TARDIS."
"You can't just go in there with no plan!" It was the woman, her liquid dark eyes wide and wild. "They said they'd kill her! They'd certainly kill you!"
"They can try," the Doctor scoffed. "Nine hundred years and they haven't managed it yet, Besides, they have Rose. And I won't let her die like that, not with them I won't. I've almost lost her before to them, I won't do it again."
"If we are heading towards the Dalek fleet, Doc, we will need some sort of shields." Jack's keen mind was already calculating, strategizing. "What do you got onboard."
"I've got shields, enough to hold off a horde, but not enough for a Dalek battle fleet."
"Can't you just materialize the TARDIS straight on board?"
The Doctor had thought of that. "The Daleks had a cloaking field up to hide their presence here, I won't be able to get through that unless I fly up close.
"So you have to get in there." Jack considered for half a second. "You have Margaret's extrapolator. There's enough juice left in it, I could power up the shields, at least enough for you to fly in and get near to Rose."
"That will work." The Doctor spun towards the archive where his beloved ship waited. The controllers all broke in his wake, some staring in fear, others in awe, but none wanting to get in his way. "The rest of you, stay here, monitor the fleet. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"And what if they kill you?" The head controller called, somewhat fearful. The Doctor supposed it was a valid enough question in the face of everything. He stopped, turning to regarding the poor man in his shirt and tie. Just a fellow, doing his job, caught in something he didn't understand. It was the cruelty of the universe.
"Then I suggest you all get off this satellite and get out of here, as fast as you can. Warn the Earth, tell them to prepare for what is coming. Because the Daleks will come for you next.."
He spun, beckoning Jack as he began to move towards his ship again.
"Doctor," Lynda called, running behind him. He didn't turn towards her, but that didn't seem to stop her. "Doctor, how can I help? What do you want me to do?"
"Get off this satellite and go home, Lynda with a Y," he replied firmly, opening the TARDIS. He paused, long enough to look at her, this sweet, sprite of a girl. "You don't need to be a part of this."
"But I am a part of this. I want to stay here!" She eyed the unfamiliar shape of the TARDIS. "I could help."
"Not in this. Get off here. I'll be fine."
He gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. He hoped it didn't look as fake as he felt in that moment. To his relief, Jack stepped in, patting Lynda on the shoulder.
"We'll be back, don't you worry. I've yet to see the Doctor get licked. And we'll stop them, and everyone can go home, safe and sound." He flashed Lynda one of his megawatt smiles, leaning over to brush his lips against her cheek. It had the desired effect. The girl flushed from head to toe, looking embarrassed as she nodded her head and pulled away from Jack's charm.
"I hope you get your friend back," she called after them, sincere and earnest. "I'll see you soon, Doctor?"
"If all goes well," the Doctor called. "Best of luck, Lynda."
He closed the door on her, the Time Rotor already kicking to life as he moved towards the console.
"I hate lying to the kid," Jack mused ruefully, staring at the doors regretfully for only the briefest of moments.
"Got to get a move on, Jack, Rose is out there."
"Yeah," the other man called back, diving towards the hallway beyond. "I'll go get the extrapolator, you put us into flight."
As the Doctor listened to Jack's footsteps thunder through the TARDIS, he considered the audacity of this plan, the utter insanity of it. And he hoped like hell that it actually worked.