"Bracewell," Churchill came striding into the lab, "Put the gun down!" He ordered, as Bracewell loaded a revolver, shaking.
"My entire life is a lie…" Bracewell swallowed, looking at the gun. "And I choose to end it."
"No." El, threw her hand out, the gun being yanked out of Bracewell's grip, flying into her hand. Churchill and Bracewell looked at the little girl, shocked. "Need your help."
"B-But those creatures…" Bracewell stuttered. "My Ironsides… they made me? I can remember things! So many things! The last war! The squalor, the mud… and the awful, awful misery of it all."
El tilted her head, looking on. Bracewell may not have been made of flesh and blood… but he was thinking, feeling, she could sense it from him.
"What am I?" Bracewell asked. "What am I?"
"What you are, sir," Churchill pointed, "Is either on our side, or theirs! Now, I don't give a damn if you're a machine, Bracewell… are you a man?"
"I understand…" El spoke up, looking at Bracewell. "Was made to do… bad things. But I don't now. Because I don't want to. You don't have to do bad things either. You can help."
"I can?" Bracewell asked.
"Daleks made you. You understand them." El said. "You said 'gravity bubbles.' Fight them in space."
"By Jove, she's got it!" Churchill breathed. "A missile, or a fighter craft, perhaps?"
"Th-Theoretically, it is possible to send something into space." Bracewell stammered, considering the notion.
"Bracewell," Churchill addressed, "It's time to think big!"
"ALL HAIL THE NEW DALEKS." The Daleks that had been hiding on Earth chanted. "ALL HAIL THE NEW DALEKS."
"YES." The grey Dalek turned to the old ones, speaking an a deep, almost growling voice. "YOU ARE INFERIOR."
"YES." The old Daleks accepted.
"THEN PREPARE." The Dalek ordered.
"WE ARE READY!"
The dark blue Dalek turned to the old Daleks.
They were now obsolete. And we all know what happens to obsolete technology.
"CLEANSE THE UNCLEAN!" The grey Dalek ordered. "TOTAL OBLITERATION! DISINTEGRATE!"
The Blue Dalek's weapons platform rotated around, the standard gunstick armament being switched out with a heavy cannon stored in the Dalek's casing. The cannon fired, the three old Daleks hailing the new models with raised gunsticks, before they were all destroyed in aqua fire.
The Doctor looked upon this scene and balked. "Blimey. What do you do to the ones who mess up?"
The Supreme Dalek began moving towards the Time Lord. "YOU ARE THE DOCTOR! YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"
The Doctor scowled, presenting the TARDIS self-destruct. "Don't mess with me, sweetheart." He growled.
"More Nazi bombers, approaching in strike formation!" A man announced over the loudspeaker, the bunker rumbling, the lights flickering as the bombardment continued.
El looked up, trying to steady her breathing.
"Incendiary bombs have hit the East End." The announcer reported.
"At last!" Churchill and El looked over, as Bracewell came running in, pushing a chair with a heavy electronic device sat in it. "Are they ready!?"
"I hope so." Bracewell replied, wearing a headset, fiddling with the controls on the device. "But in the meantime," He grunted, sitting the device on the table, hitting it, trying to get the screen to turn on. "This will pick up Dalek transmissions!"
The screen cleared, and El gasped, as she saw the Doctor, standing in front of the Dalek Supreme.
"BEHOLD, THE NEW PARIDIGM OF THE DALEK RACE."
"It's the Doctor!" El happily looked on it.
"SCIENTIST, STRATEGIST, DRONE, ETERNAL, AND THE SUPREME!"
"Which would be you, I'm guessing." The Doctor pointed at it, up and down. "Nice new paintjob, I like it, makes it easy to tell you lot apart."
"…Hurry." El swallowed, turning to Churchill. "We have to hurry."
The phone rang, and Bracewell instantly answered it. "Yes? Right, right thanks." He slammed it back down on the hook, turning to Churchill. "Ready when you are, Prime Minister."
"Splendid!" Churchill bellowed.
Bracewell looked to the scanner, turning a dial at the bottom, a side-view of the Dalek flying saucer being displayed in green. "Spacecraft's exact coordinates located!"
"Go to it, Group Captain!" Churchill turned to the man. "Go to it!"
"Broadsword to Danny Boy," The Group Captain spoke into a headset, "Broadsword to Danny Boy! Scramble! Scramble! Scramble!"
"Question is," The Doctor continued, staring down the Daleks, "What do we do now?" He furiously pointed. "Either you turn off your clever machine, or I'll blow you and your new Paradigm into eternity!"
"AND YOURSELF." The Supreme, the lead grey Dalek, retorted.
"Occupational hazard!" The Doctor shot back.
The Blue Dalek, the strategist, began advancing on the Doctor, speaking in a high-pitched, scratchy voice. "SCAN REVEALS NOTHING! TARDIS SELF-DESTRUCT NON-EXISTENT!"
"All right!" The Doctor took a bite out of it, "It's a Jammie Dodger, but I was promised tea!"
An alarm began to sound, and the gold Dalek, the Eternal, turned to the console. "ALERT!" It sounded in a slow speaking, pausing voice. "PROJECTILE INCOMING!" The other Daleks turned their attention to the screen, allowing the Doctor to run over to another console across the room, looking at it. "CORRECTON! MULTIPLE PROJECTILES!"
"WHAT HAVE THE HUMANS DONE?" The Supreme demanded, looking to the Doctor.
"I don't know." The Doctor replied, eyes wide as he swallowed the last bit of his biscuit.
"EXPLAIN!" The Supreme commanded. "EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN!"
"Danny Boy to the Doctor," A voice suddenly cut in through the ship's announcement system, "Danny Boy to the Doctor! Are you receiving me? Over."
The Doctor laughed, pushing away from the terminal. "Ha ha! Winston, you beauty!"
Three British spitfires, being supported by Bracewell's gravity bubble technology, came flying out of Earth's atmosphere, towards the Dalek ship.
"Danny Boy to the Doctor, come in, over."
"Loud and clear, Danny Boy!" The Doctor replied gladly, uncaring that the Daleks were right there. "Big dish! Side of the ship! Blow it up! …over." He then broke into a sprint.
"EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR!" The Dalek Supreme ordered, as the Doctor sprinted for the TARDIS.
The Time Lord ducked and bobbed, the shots narrowly missing him, before he dove into his ship, slamming the doors behind him.
"You heard him, Group Captain!" Churchill uttered powerfully. "Target that dish! Give it all we've got!"
The Group Captain nodded, speaking into the headset. "Broadsword to Danny Boy, target the dish and stop that signal, over."
"Understood, sir. Over. You can count on us, over."
"Okay, chaps," Danny Boy directed to the two spitfires flying behind him, Earth far below, stars twinkling outside their cockpits. "Let's put London back under cover of darkness. Tally-ho!"
The three spitfires began to fire, red bolts of light shooting out from where the guns should've been, as the Daleks returned fire.
"Cover my flank!" Danny Boy ordered, as they flew underneath the saucer. "I'm going in close!"
A blast from one of the cannons hit one of the spitfires at the rear, the modified aircraft disintegrating into nothing.
Danny Boy sighed. "We've lost Jubilee, sir, over."
"Beam's still active, sir." The Group Captain reported.
"Send them in again!" Churchill ordered.
The group watched, as the spitfires did a loop around the alien vessel, coming back around to the underside, before one of the dots on the monitor vanished.
"Flintlock's down, sir." Danny Boy reported. "Dish seems to be protected, over."
"SHIELDS INTACT." The Scientist Dalek, the black colored one, reported. "PULSE STILL ACTIVE."
The Doctor stood, hearts racing, as he leaned against the railing on the console platform.
"Danny Boy to the Doctor. Only me left now, sir." The Briton radioed. "Is there anything you can do, sir? Over."
The Doctor sighed, shaking his head as he moved over to the console. He had a plan, but… it might be a longshot.
"The Doctor to Danny Boy," The Time Lord grabbed a small microphone off the console, and spoke into it, "The Doctor to Danny Boy." The Doctor rubbed his forehead frustratedly. "I can disrupt the Daleks' forcefield, but not for long. Over."
"Good show, Doctor. Go to it. Over."
The Doctor sighed dropping the microphone. They were going to get themselves killed, and it was his fault. Shaking his head, the Doctor quickly began to fiddle with the controls on the console.
"I'm going in again, over."
"SHIELDS DEACTIVATED!" The Scientist screeched in alarm, as the alert klaxons began to sound.
The ship rocked, sparking, as the lights flickered.
"ENERGY PULSE DESTROYED!"
"Direct hit, sir!" The Group Captain reported, the room erupting into cheers.
"We did it!" El laughed
"The Doctor to Danny Boy," The Time Lord radioed, "The Doctor to Danny Boy. Destroy this ship!" He commanded, "Over!"
"What about you, sir?"
The Doctor chuckled knowingly, looking at the moving time rotor in the center of the console. "I'll be okay."
The screen over by the doors activated, showing the Supreme Dalek.
"DOCTOR." The Dalek addressed. "YOU WILL CEASE YOUR ATTACK!"
"What?" The Doctor huffed, throwing the microphone to the side. "And let you lot scuttle off back to the future?" He rhetorically asked, stepping closer to the screen. "No fear. This is the end for you." He growled, leaning on the railing. "The final end."
The Daleks had gotten away, been given the chance to rebuild and resume their crusade against the universe.
Never again.
"CALL OFF THE ATTACK, OR WE WILL DESTROY THE EARTH!" The Supreme threatened, glaring at the Doctor through the screen.
The Doctor laughed ruefully. "I'm not stupid, mate. You just played your last card."
"BRACEWELL IS A BOMB."
The Doctor froze, stiffening. "You're bluffing. Deception is second nature to you. There isn't a sincere bone in your body. There isn't a… bone in your body period, come to think of it."
"THE ANDROID IS POWERED VIA AN OBLIVION CONTINUUM." The Dalek explained. "CALL OFF THE ATTACK, OR WE WILL RUPTURE THE CONTAINMENT FIELD!"
"No!" The Doctor turned back to the console monitor, flicking the switch to send the feed to it. "This is my best chance! The last of the Daleks, I can rid the universe of you once and for all!"
"THEN DO IT." The Supreme Dalek replied. "BUT WE WILL SHATTER THE PLANET BELOW. THE PLANET WILL DIE SCREAMING!"
"And if I let you go… you'll be stronger than ever." The Time Lord stared. "A new race of Daleks."
"THEN CHOOSE, DOCTOR." The Supreme Dalek commanded. "DEATH TO THE DALEKS… OR SALVATION TO THE EARTH! BEGIN COUNTDOWN OF OBLIVION CONTINUUM." The Dalek ordered its subordinates. "CHOOSE, DOCTOR! CHOOSE! CHOOSE!"
The Doctor swallowed and forced himself to turn off the monitor. There was only one reasonable choice he could make.
"The Doctor to Danny Boy, the Doctor to Danny Boy…" He closed his eyes, knowing that there would come a day where he would regret speaking his next words. "Withdraw."
"Say again, sir?"
"Withdraw!" The Doctor repeated. "Return to Earth! Over and out!"
"But sir-"
"There's no time, we have to get back to Earth, now." The Doctor cut him off. "Over and out."
The group in the war room stood, looking at the scanner, when suddenly, the Doctor came sprinting in, knocking Bracewell to the floor with an uppercut.
"Doctor!" El shouted, looking at the man, shocked.
"Ow!" The Doctor shook the pain out of his hand. "Sorry, Professor!" He apologized, looking down at Bracewell. "You're a bomb! An inconceivably massive, Dalek bomb!"
Bracewell spluttered, looking up. "What?"
"An oblivion continuum, that's what powers you." The Doctor rushed through the explanation. "Captured wormhole, but if the containment field ruptures, it creates an explosion powerful enough to reduce the Earth to nothing more than dust!" He crouched down next to the other man, ripping his shirt open, exposing his chest. "Now, keep down…" He ordered, activating the sonic screwdriver.
Bracewell's chest split open, skin folding away, to reveal a metal underlayer, a circle split into five glowing segments in his sternum.
One of the segments turned yellow.
El moved to the Doctor's side. "Well?"
"I don't know, I don't know!" The Doctor frantically replied, as the yellow segment turned red, and the next segment in clockwise sequence began turning yellow. He looked over the screwdriver readouts. "I've never seen an oblivion continuum up close before…"
"Um…" El anxiously looked to the glowing part of Bracewell's chest, feeling the man's terror. "What happens when they all turn red?"
"He goes, and the Earth goes with him." The Doctor answered.
"It's incredible," Churchill spluttered, "He talked to us about his memories, the Great War!"
"Someone else's stolen thoughts." The Doctor pointed. "Implanted in a positronic brain." He tossed the sonic screwdriver between his hands. He suddenly snapped his finger, pointing at Bracewell. "Tell me about it, Bracewell! Tell me about your life!"
"Doctor, I really don't think this is the time." Bracewell replied.
"Tell me, and prove you're human." The Doctor said. "Tell me everything."
"My family ran the post shop…" Bracewell began, confused. "It was a little place, just near the abbey. By the ash trees. Used to be eight trees, but there was a storm…"
The Doctor gestured frustratedly, as the second section hit red. "Your parents!" He requested. "Tell me about them!"
"Good people, kind people…" Bracewell answered. "They died, of course. Scarlet fever."
'Good! Good! There's something I can work with!' "What was that like?" The Doctor asked. "How did that feel?"
"Oh, please…" Bracewell stared up.
"How did it make you feel, Edwin?" The Doctor pressed. "Tell me! Tell me now!"
"Oh, it hurt." Bracewell answered, tearing up. "It hurt, Doctor. It hurt so badly… It was like a wound. I thought it was worse than a wound, like I'd been emptied out… there was nothing."
El choked up, feeling the man's grief, as the third section became red, the fourth one beginning to change.
"Good, Edwin, remember it now!" The Doctor pressed. "Remember the post office, and the ash trees, and your mum and dad, and losing them, and the men in the trenches you saw die!" He snapped his fingers. "Remember it! Feel it! You feel it because you're human! You're not like them, you're not like the Daleks!"
"It hurts, Doctor…" Bracewell cried. "It hurts."
"Good! Good! Good!" The Doctor replied. "Brilliant! Embrace it! That means you're alive! They cannot explode that bomb because you are a human being! You are flesh and blood! They cannot explode that bomb, believe it! You are Professor Edwin Bracewell, and you are a human being!"
The fourth section went solid red, and the fifth began to change.
"It's not working." The Doctor breathed with horror. "I can't stop it."
"Hey." El suddenly crouched down next to Bracewell. "Ever meet someone special?"
Bracewell looked to the child in confusion. "What?"
"Someone nice." El continued. "When no one else was."
Bracewell's eyes glossed over, as the fifth section, a deep orange, began to lighten.
The Doctor's eyes widened, and he looked at El. Oh…
Oh!
He knew what she was doing! Pain only hurt, made Bracewell subconsciously wish to succumb to the continuum, but the good memories, they reinforced his desire to live!
"Someone… who saved you."
"Oh, I…" Bracewell softly replied. "I shouldn't talk about her."
"Her." El repeated, looking at the Doctor.
"What was her name?" The Doctor asked, picking up from El, looking down at Bracewell.
Bracewell remained silent for a moment, before a fond smile overtook his features. "Dorabella…"
"Dorabella?" The Doctor incredulously repeated, earning a look courtesy of El. "Is a beautiful name!" He quickly amended."
"Who was she?" El asked.
"She was…" Edwin reflected. "Everything. All the others used to be so cruel to me… except her. She was always so kind… Her eyes were blue, almost violet." He remembered, as the fourth section began to revert. "Like the last touch of sunset… on the edge of the world." The longing for days long since past were practically visible, as he looked up at the ceiling. "Dorabella…"
'The last three sections all reverted at once, the oblivion continuum returning to a calm, pale blue.
The Doctor smiled. "Welcome to the human race." He then snapped his fingers and pointed at Churchill. "You're brilliant!" He then pointed to Bracewell. "You're brilliant!" Then, the Doctor looked at El. "And you…" He laughed, pulling the girl into a hug. "Now!" He released her. "Got to stop them!" He said, dashing away. "Got to stop the Daleks!"
"Wait, Doctor!" Bracewell called. "It's too late… Gone. They've gone."
"No! No!" The Doctor shouted. "They can't have gotten away from me again!"
"No, I can feel it." Bracewell straightened his spectacles. "My mind is clear. The Daleks have gone."
The Doctor exhaled in horror, leaning on the pillar.
El walked up to him, looking at him, confused. "But… we stopped the bomb."
"They knew…" The Doctor breathed. "They knew I would choose the Earth. They won… The Daleks won."
El tilted her head, reaching out mentally. She felt the Doctor's emotions, the anger at the Daleks, the regret…
And pulled him into another hug, despite her small stature relative to him.
"Okay." El told him. "You will be okay."
The Doctor smiled, despite the stinging of the fresh loss against the Daleks. "Yes… Yes, I suppose I will."
"So…" El looked to Churchill. "What now?"
Churchill chuckled. "I still have a war to run, miss El."
"Prime Minister," A woman passed over a sheet of paper to him.
Churchill huffed in exasperation. "Oh, they've hit the Palace, and Saint Paul's again! Fire crews only just saved it."
Across the way, Breen suddenly broke down into tears.
"Mister Churchill," El addressed, "Is she going to be okay?"
"Hm?" Churchill looked up. "Oh, Miss Breen… Her young man didn't make it, I'm afraid. Shot down over the channel."
El slowly nodded. "Where's Doctor?"
"Tying up loose ends!" The Time Lord suddenly arrived. "Took out all that alien tech Bracewell put in."
Churchill let out a sigh. "Won't you reconsider, Doctor? Those Spitfires would win me the war in 24 hours!"
"Exactly." The Doctor replied, taking a sip of tea.
"But why not?" Churchill demanded. "Why can't we put an end to this misery?"
"Oh, it doesn't work like that, Winston." The Doctor replied. "It's gonna be tough. There are terrible days to come." He sat the cup of tea down. "The darkest days… but you can do it! You know you can."
"Stay with us and help us win this war through!" Churchill pleaded. "The world needs you."
The Doctor smiled sadly, a haunted look behind his eyes. "I've seen enough war in my life… and the world doesn't need me."
Churchill looked shocked. "No?"
"The world's got Winston Spencer Churchill!" The Doctor pointed proudly.
Churchill laughed, as the Doctor held up a v for victory. "It's been a pleasure, Doctor. As always!" He held out his arms.
"Too right!" The Doctor agreed, pulling the Prime Minister in for a hug.
"Goodbye, Doctor!" Churchill said.
"Shall we say adieu?" The Doctor asked, pulling back.
"Indeed." Churchill nodded. He turned to El, bowing slightly. "Farewell, Miss El."
"Goodbye." El replied.
Churchill flashed both of them a smile, before turning to walk.
El frowned, sensing a flash of mischievousness from Churchill… the same feeling she'd gotten upon their arrival. "Hey." She called, causing the imposing man to turn around. She held out her hand. "Key."
The Doctor coughed, spitting out a bit of tea, as he patted frantically at his pockets.
"Oho!" Churchill laughed, walking back over, key in hand. "Very observant child of yours, Doctor!" He passed the Time Lord the key back and shook his fist. "KBO."
The two watched, as the legendary British Prime Minister walked off, a war that still had to be won waiting for him.
The Doctor and El walked into Bracewell's lab, the android stood over his desk, staring into the distance.
"I've been expecting you, Doctor." Bracewell said upon their arrival, sounding choked up. "I knew this moment had to come."
The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows. "Moment?"
Bracewell sniffed. "It's time to deactivate me…" He slowly turned about.
"Is it?" The Doctor asked. "Oh… uh…" He glanced at El. "Yeah."
"You have no choice." Bracewell said. "I'm Dalek technology. Can't allow me to go pottering on around down here where I have no business."
"No, you're," The Doctor nodded. "Dead right, professor. One hundred percent right. And," He turned to El, "By the time I get back here in, what, ten minutes?"
El frowned. "Don't know."
"Fifteen minutes," The Doctor amended, "Yes, in fifteen minutes, that's exactly what I'm going to do. You are going to be so deactivated. It's going to be like you were never even activated."
"…fifteen minutes?" Bracewell repeated.
"More like twenty," The Doctor amended again, "Just realized El doesn't really know a lot about how to tell time, or numbers, or how to read or spell, I'm going to have to fix those. But once I take care of that," The Doctor said, "We, uh, we… the…" He turned to Bracewell. "See?"
Bracewell nodded. "Very well, Doctor. I shall wait here, and, um, prepare myself."
El blinked. He still wasn't getting it. "Going to be long."
"Easily!" The Doctor agreed. "So, no running off. Don't go trying to find that little post office by the ash trees, or that girl, what was her name?"
"Dorabella."
"Dorabella." The Doctor repeated. "On no account go trying to look for her. Mind you… you can get a lot done in half an hour."
Bracewell slowly smiled and began to laugh as it hit him.
"Hey! We got there!" The Doctor high-fived El, the girl looking confused as she didn't really understand.
"Thank you!" Bracewell beamed. "Thank you, Doctor!"
The Doctor turned to El. "Come along, El."
Bracewell watched, smiling as the two time travelers departed the room, and began frantically packing his bags.
He had a girl to find.
"So, Daleks… bad people?" El asked, following the Doctor back to the TARDIS.
The Doctor glanced at her. "Yeah… really bad people." He said, shutting the door behind her, walking up to the console.
"But… why?" El asked.
The Doctor shot her a look as he set the controls. "What do you mean, why?"
"Why do you hate them?"
The Doctor sighed. Leave it to the psychic to read him like an open book, despite the defenses he'd built up for himself.
"Remember earlier, when I told Winston I'd seen enough wars…" He sat down on the steps, looking at El. "It was them. The Daleks. My people went to war with them, and by the end of it… I was the only one left." He swallowed, drew a breath, and stood back up. "Now," He set the TARDIS into motion, "I wonder if there's a room around here we can use as a classroom space…"
And as the TARDIS dematerialized once more, nobody noticed a crack, identical in shape to the one that had been on the Starship UK, appear in the storeroom, glowing faintly…