"The Doctor is initiating hostile action!" one of the Daleks stated.
"The stratagem must advance. Begin the invasion of Earth!" another ordered.
Melanie was startled when they started to spin around wildly. She stepped back when one of them rounded on her "You know the Doctor. You understand him. You will predict his actions", it ordered.
"No", Melanie replied.
"Predict! Predict! Predict!" the Dalek demanded sounding hysterical.
"Never", she said firmly.
"TARDIS detected in flight", a second Dalek said moments after Melanie had refused to help them a second time.
"Launch missiles! Exterminate!"
Melanie twisted her hands together, hoping that the next words she heard wasn't 'the TARDIS is destroyed'. Instead of hearing those words being declared by the Dalek's, she heard something far more wonderful. The sound of the TARDIS.
She smiled when she saw the faint outline of the blue box slowly appearing around her. Unfortunately she wasn't the only one the TARDIS materialised around, it appeared around the Dalek that was right next to her.
"Elle, get down!" the Doctor shouted at her. Melanie immediately dropped to the grilled floor.
"Exterminate!" the Dalek shouted firing its laser. It completely misses which enables Jack to take it out with the modified Defabricator.
The Doctor hugged Melanie tightly when she got to her feet "I told you I'd come and get you", he said, his hearts calming down now that she was in his arms. They'd been beating like crazy since finding out she was on board a Dalek ship.
"Yes you did", she said smiling at him.
"You alright?" he asked her.
"I am now", she replied.
"Hey, don't I get a hug?" Jack asked.
"Of course you do", Melanie said going over and hugged him.
"Shall we go meet the neighbours then?" the Doctor asked the pair and without waiting for a reply, he left the TARDIS. Melanie ran after him knowing that he would be shot on sight. She was surprised when the Dalek rays were stopped by a force field that surrounded the blue box.
The Doctor took several steps forward while Jack and Melanie hung back "Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Homeworld? The Oncoming Storm. You might've removed all your emotions…but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left, and that's fear" the Dalek's eye stalks twitch nervously "Doesn't it just burn when you face me? So tell me. How did you survive the Time War?"
"They survived through me"
The Doctor turned towards the voice and was startled when Dalek Emperor was illuminated, towering above all of them. "Elle… Captain…this is the Emperor of the Daleks", the Doctor said staring at the Emperor in awe.
"You destroyed us, Doctor. The Dalek race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive"
"I get it", the Doctor said.
"Do not interrupt!"
"Do not interrupt!"
"Do not interrupt!"
"I think you're forgetting something. I'm the Doctor. And there's one thing I can do- its talk" you've got that right Melanie thought "I've got 5 billion languages, and you haven't got one way of stopping me. So if anybody is gonna shut up, it's you!" The Doctor grinned when the Daleks rolled back slightly from his words. "Okey doke. So, where were we?" the Doctor asked turning back to the Emperor.
"We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding. Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured", the Emperor explained.
"So you created an army of Daleks out of the dead", the Doctor surmised.
"That makes them half human", Jack said.
"Those words are blasphemy", the Emperor declared.
"Do not blaspheme"
"Do not blaspheme"
"Do not blaspheme"
"Everything human has been purged. I cultivated pure and blessed Dalek", the Emperor said.
"Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?" Melanie asked.
"I reached into the dirt and made new life. I am the God of all Daleks!"
"Worship him! Worship him! Worship him!"
"They're insane! Hiding in silence for hundreds of years, that's enough to drive anyone mad", the Doctor said quietly to Melanie and Jack. He looked at the Daleks with pity as he walked forward "But it's worse than that. Driven mad by your own flesh. The stink of humanity" the Doctor shook his head "You hate your own existence. And that makes them more deadly than ever. We're going"
The Doctor turned around and went back to where Melanie and Jack stood. He took the girl's hand and walked back to the TARDIS without looking back at the Emperor. Once the Doctor had closed the door, he leans his head against it no longer looking as confident as he was before. Melanie went over and hugged him, getting the feeling that he needed it.
When the TARDIS appeared back on floor 500, the Doctor strode out, heading straight for the controls. "Turn everything up. All transmissions, wide open, full power. Now! Do it!" he ordered.
"What does it do?" the Male Programmer asked doing what the Doctor asked.
"Stops the Daleks from transmitting on board", the Doctor replied "How did you get on? Did you contact Earth?"
"Well, we tried to warn them, but all they did was suspend our license because we stopped the programmes", the Male Programmer explained.
"So the planet's defenceless", Melanie said not happy about that.
The Doctor then noticed Lynda, one of the housemates from Big Brother was still there. "What are you still doing on board?" he turned to the Male Programmer "I told you to evacuate everyone"
"She wouldn't go"
"Didn't wanna leave ya", Lynda told the Doctor.
"Who exactly are you?" Melanie asked curious about the woman who seemed to know the Doctor. The Time Lord in question walked over to another set of desks.
"Lynda Moss" Lynda replied holding out her hand "and you're Elle right?"
"That's right", Melanie confirmed shaking her hand.
"The Doctor's told me quite a bit about you", Lynda told her "Jack too", and she added nodding to the American man.
"Oh really?" Melanie asked looking at Jack.
"It was all good things", he assured her. They all looked over at the Doctor was he started ripping out wires from the desks.
"Dalek plan. Big mistake, because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone?" the Doctor looked at them all expecting someone to answer him. "Oh, come on, it's obvious. A great big transmitter, this station" Jack stared at him trying to work it out "If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?"
"You've got to be kidding", he said finally figuring it out.
"Give the man a medal!"
"A Delta Wave?" Jack said incredulous.
"A Delta Wave!" the Doctor said rather excitedly.
"What's a Delta Wave?" Melanie asked not knowing what that was.
"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy. It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbequed", Jack explained.
"And this place can transmit a massive wave. Wipe out the Daleks!" the Doctor added.
"Well, get started and do it then", Lynda said.
"Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about, ooh, 3 days?" the Doctor said quickly working it out "How long till the Fleet arrive?"
"Twenty two minutes", the Male Programmer replied.
The Doctor frantically pulled out another cable from underneath a desk, stared at the end for a second before he looked up and beamed at them all.
A little while later they were all gathered around the computer, the Doctor having used the extrapolator, wiring it up in a way that created a forcefield around Satellite 5. "The forcefield doesn't stop the Daleks from physically invading", Jack told them all with the exception of the Doctor who was still working away at the desks.
"Do they know about the Delta Wave?" the Male Programmer asked hoping they didn't.
"They'll have worked it out at the same time. So, if they want to stop the Doctor that means they've got to get to this level, 500" he indicates on the illustrative diagram on the screen "Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top 6 levels, 500 to 495. So, they'll penetrate the station below that at level 494 and fight their way up"
"Who're they fighting?" the male programmer asked
"Us", Jack replied.
"And…what're we fighting with?" the male programmer asked worriedly. He'd never fought a day in his life.
"The guards had guns with bastic bullets, that's enough to blow a Dalek wide open", Jack explained.
"There's 5 of us", the female programmer said skeptically.
"Elle, you can help me", the Doctor called to the brunette who went over to where he was working.
"What do you need me to do?" she asked.
"Strip those wires for me", the Doctor replied nodding to a bundle of wires, holding out a tool for her to use. Melanie took the tool, sat down and started stripping the wires. She looked up when Lynda came over.
The woman gave them both a brief goodbye before leaving. Then Jack came over to say goodbye. He gave the Doctor a kiss on the lips which didn't surprise Melanie as much as it should have. She was used to Jack Harkness and his flirting ways. Although he no longer flirted with her, they had more of a sibling relationship. "I'm glad to have met you Elle", Jack said hugging her.
"Me too. Thanks for being my big brother", Melanie said.
"You're welcome", Jack said kissing the top of her head. He stepped back and placed a hand on both of their shoulders "see ya both in hell", he said and ran off. Melanie watched him go with a heavy heart. She knew that she wasn't going to see him again. Even if the Doctor was able to finish the Delta Wave in time, there was no guarantee that they'd even survive it.
Melanie could guess that the Doctor would try to do something to trick her into the TARDIS, to send her home in order to keep her safe. She wouldn't be angry at him for doing that, she would understand his reasoning. So instead of waiting for the Doctor to trick her into the TARDIS, she was going to make the first move.
"Doctor is it possible to send the TARDIS away without you being in it to pilot her?" Melanie asked.
"It is. Why do you ask?" the Doctor questioned.
"Because I want you to send me home", Melanie said.
The Doctor stopped what he was doing and looked at her in surprise. That had been the last thing he'd expected her to say. "You want me to send you home", the Doctor repeated slightly hoping that he'd just misheard what she said.
"Yes, I do", Melanie confirmed "Don't look at me like that, you had to have been considering it yourself".
"I have", the Doctor admitted "I just didn't expect you to tell me you wanted to go home. I thought I'd have to…"
"Trick me somehow?" the Doctor nodded "I figured you might be thinking of doing that so I decided to make the first move. If I'm going home, it's going to be on my terms, not yours. Besides I know the odds of us surviving this are very small. Besides, I have my parent to think about. It would break their hearts if they knew that their daughter was never coming home.
"I understand Elle" the Doctor said standing up "when you get home there's a few of things you can do for me".
"Name it", Melanie said.
"Firstly, leave the TARDIS wherever she lands. Let her die, gather dust and become a strange little thing on a street corner. Secondly, have a fantastic life. And finally, spare me a thought once in a while, ok?"
Melanie nodded "I promise that I'll do all those things", she vowed. She knew it was going to be hard living a normal life, especially after what she'd experienced travelling with the Doctor. But for him she would try to live as a fantastic life as she could possibly manage. The Doctor hugged her "thank you", he said kissing the top of her head. They stayed there in each other's arms trying to make this hug last as long as they could, seeing as it was the last one.
Eventually Melanie moved away and walked over to the TARDIS. She gave him one last smile before she stepped inside, closing the door. The Doctor took out his sonic, pointed it at the box and pressed the button. He watched as the TARDIS faded away taking with it the young woman he cared about. The moment she left, he could feel a dull ache in his chest. He knew that was because they were separated. He sincerely hoped that she couldn't feel it. The Doctor hated to send her away but he knew it was for the best. Her safety would be his top priority, always.
Melanie let go of the console when the shaking stopped. "Well this is it. Thanks for taking me to all those amazing places", she said. Melanie pulled out the chain with the TARDIS key attached to it and looked at it sadly. She probably should leave behind but….she couldn't bring herself to do it. It was more than just a key, it was hope. It was the one thing that kept her going when her uncle kidnapped her. Melanie slid the chain back under her shirt. "Goodbye TARDIS", she said softly. She patted the console one last time before heading for the ramp. When Melanie reached the doors, she heard a soft click. She grasped the handle and tugged only to find that the doors were locked. The TARDIS had locked her in!
"Look I have to go. The Doctor wants me to get on with my life and I can't do that if I'm locked in here. So could you please unlock your doors?"
Her phone buzzed. She pulled it out and frowned at the message.
No
"Why not?" she asked turning back to face the console.
You have to go back
"I can't, I chose to leave. Even if I changed my mind and I could go back, he'd send me away again"
You have to go back the TARDIS repeated.
"Why?" Melanie asked.
You have to save the Doctor
"How am I supposed to do that? I'm just an ordinary human, there's no way I can save him from the Daleks", Melanie pointed out.
You are far more than just an ordinary human, Elle. You're the Doctor's Bonded. And there is a way to save him.
"How?" Melanie asked. Even though she had been the one to decide to leave, it still didn't stop her from wondering if there was a way to save him. Despite the things she promised she'd do for the Doctor.
Look into my heart
"Your heart? But that destroyed Margaret" Rose and Jack wanted an explanation as to what had happened to Margaret so the Doctor explained that it was the heart of the TARDIS.
Margaret hurt you. I would NEVER harm you Elle, never.
Melanie felt a little assured by that but she was still a little uneasy about looking into the heart of the TARDIS. "So I just look into your heart and it'll help me save the Doctor?" she asked slowly walking up the ramp to the console.
Yes. You don't need to be afraid
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who's got to look into the heart of a sentient ship that is powerful that literally destroyed Margaret the Slitheen", Melanie muttered.
True. But you really don't need to be afraid. As I said before I would never harm you.
"What do I need to do?" Melanie asked.
In response the panel containing the heart cracked open. Pull up the panel
Melanie pocketed her phone and went over to the slightly open panel. "I hope I'm not going to regret this", she murmured. She took a deep breath, reached out and pulled up the panel. Melanie gasped as golden light streamed into her eyes. As she stared into the heart, the engines started up and soon they were flying back through the time vortex back to the Doctor.
~Satellite 5/Game Station~
The Doctor braced himself for his death when he heard the familiar wheezing of the TARDIS. He stares in shock as the doors fly open to reveal Melanie standing there, golden light spilling out around her. When she stepped out, the Doctor stumbled backwards falling to the ground. "What've you done?" the Doctor asked scared.
Melanie looked down at him, her brown eyes now turned gold from the vortex "I looked into the TARDIS and she looked into me", she said her voice echoing.
"You looked into the Time Vortex. Elle, no one's meant to see that", the Doctor said staring at her.
"This is the Abomination!" the Emperor Dalek screamed.
A Dalek fired at her but Melanie simply held up her hand. The bolt froze and reversed back into the gun. The Doctor stared at her amazed "I am the Bad Wolf, the Doctor's Bonded. I take the words…" Melanie waves her hand at the words Bad Wolf Corporation "I scatter them in time and space" they rise up and float away "a message to lead myself here".
"Elle, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now", the Doctor said urgently. Melanie looked straight ahead as if she hadn't heard him. "You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn", he added his concern growing for the teenager. While she was his Bonded, there was no way she'd be able to survive with the vortex flowing through her.
Melanie suddenly looked at him "I want you safe", she said, tears in her eyes "My Doctor. Protected from the false god".
"You cannot hurt me. I am immortal" the Emperor Dalek declared. Melanie looked up at the Dalek facing her.
"You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them" Melanie raised her hand and the Dalek in front of her disintegrated into golden particles "Everything must come to dust…all things. Everything dies" she looked to the side and the Daleks lined up were also reduced to golden particles "The Time War ends", Melanie said as the Emperor and his entire mother ship turned into golden particles, dissolving away into oblivion.
"Elle, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go", the Doctor urged.
"I can't. There's one more she wants me to do", Melanie said.
In the corridor, Jack takes a huge intake of air as his eyes snap open….
The Doctor felt what she'd done and knew it was wrong. Why would the TARDIS want her to bring Jack back to life? He was broken from his thoughts when Melanie spoke again "I can see everything. All that is…all that was…all that ever could be"
The Doctor stands up abruptly. He understood completely what she could see, he was it all the time "That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?"
"Yes", she replied "it's too much" her voice started to tremble and the Doctor saw her face contort in pain "My head…its killing me…"
The Doctor reached out, cupping her face "I think you need a Doctor", he said softly before leaning down and pressing his lips against hers. As he kissed her, the time vortex flows out of her eyes and into the Doctor's. Slowly, they parted, gazing at each other before Melanie's eyes fluttered closed and fell into his arms, unconscious.
The Doctor laid her carefully down on the floor before turning to the TARDIS and exhaling the time vortex out of his mouth. The golden energy flowed back into the ship and its doors close. He knelt down, regarding his Bonded as he reached out and tenderly stroking her face.
A moment later, he gently picked her up and carried her into the TARDIS, the door swinging shut behind him. The Doctor put her down on the grilled floor and sent the TARDIS into the time vortex. He winced in pain as the regeneration process was starting. I can't go. Not yet the Doctor thought. It wouldn't be fair to Melanie if she woke up to find he'd changed.
Eventually she regained consciousness. "What happened?" Melanie asked sitting up and rubbing her head rather confused.
"You don't remember?" the Doctor asked mildly surprised.
Melanie shook her head, getting to her feet "No. I remember a golden light… and there was this singing…"
"That's right! I sang a song and the Dalek's ran away", the Doctor said cheerfully.
Melanie closed her eyes, frowning in concentration as she tried to recall something else. While she did that, the Doctor noticed the veins in the hand resting on the console shimmer for a brief moment with a golden light.
"I can't remember anything else…" Melanie said opening her eyes and looking at the Doctor.
"Elle I was going take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses" the Doctor laughed at his own joke. Melanie giggled too "Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny"
"Then why can't we go?" Melanie asked.
"Maybe you will. And maybe I will. But not like this", the Doctor replied.
Melanie was confused by that "what does that mean?"
The Doctor opened his mouth to explain when he was suddenly forced backward with a blast of golden light. He clutched his stomach as though he'd been punched. "Stay away!" he said urgently as Melanie rushed forward, her face full of concern.
"Doctor, what's going on?" she asked looking at him worriedly.
"I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, no one's meant to do that" he screwed his eyes up in pain "every cell in my body is dying"
Melanie's eyes widened in horror "oh god", she breathed what I have a done? "I'm so sorry, I meant to save you. Not kill you".
"It's not your fault Elle. And you did save me, in so many ways", the Doctor said.
"Isn't there anything we can do to save you now?" she asked really hoping there was.
"Yeah, I'm doing it now. I'm gonna regenerate", the Doctor replied. Melanie could've smacked herself for forgetting about regeneration. He'd told her about it before. "And you know what that means Elle. I'm not gonna see you again, not like this. Not with this daft 'old face'" the Doctor laughed, not wanting to scare her "and before I go, I just wanna tell you that you were fantastic" he smiled at her, very proud "and d'you know what?"
"What?" Melanie asked, struggling to fight back her tears.
"So was I" the Doctor grinned at her before seemingly exploding with orange energy. Melanie stumbled backwards, watching with wide eyes as the Doctor she knew change. His hair lengthened, his face changed and he grew slimmer.
The light suddenly died away, revealing a completely different man wearing the Doctor's clothes. He looked slightly surprised for a moment before turning to Melanie who was staring at him.
"Hello! Okay… Ooo" the Doctor stopped and frowned, running his tongue over his teeth "new teeth. That's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right. Barcelona"
The newly regenerated Doctor grinned at her.