A/N: I have edited chapters 1-5, but the changes are minor and don't impact anything. You can go back, but it's not necessary.
Chapter Six: Dalek
The night had passed comfortable and the Doctor set us off on a new adventure. He had planned to take Rose to a nice safe place for her first trip, but the TARDIS jerked suddenly. Since I was standing by the monitor, I saw the co-ordinates change. I didn't understand what it said since everything was written in Gallifraian (the language of the Doctor's home world) but I could reference enough to know that we had suddenly changed cause.
"So, what is it? What's wrong?" Rose asked, following us as we ran out of the TARDIS. We had landed in a very large room with display cases spread out. Like a museum but the artefacts on display weren't normal, they were alien. Everything within eyesight was of alien origin.
"Don't know. Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course." The Doctor explained, sharing a concerned look with me. He knew that I didn't want Rose's first trip to be life threatening, but it was starting to look like they were about to encounter trouble. I wouldn't be able to convince Rose to remain in the TARDIS since she could be extremely pig-headed and curious. I was better of allowing her to come with them so that I could keep an eye on her which meant that, if there was trouble, I had a greater chance of making sure she escaped alive and relatively unharmed.
"When and where are we?" I asked, looking around for any sign that we were being watched.
"Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground. Two thousand and twelve." The Doctor responded promptly, drifting towards one of the display cases.
"God, that's so close. I should be twenty-six." Rose said, looking around with wide eyes.
"Wait until he takes you to the 52nd century." I told her, amused at her reaction, as I also looked closer at the display cases.
"This place looks like a museum." Rose said aloud.
"Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship." The Doctor said, pointing at various exhibits as we wondered passed, moving further from the TARDIS.
"That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed." Rose suddenly called, pointing to said item. But the Doctor had noticed something else. A metal head was in one of the display cases.
"Oh, look at you." The Doctor muttered, leaning forward so he was only inches from the display case.
"What is it?" Rose asked.
"An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old."
"No you're not." I disagreed lightly, not liking how sad his tone was. "You've plenty of life left." I reassured him.
"Is that where the signal's coming from?" Rose asked, wanting to get out of the museum. She never was much for history. But as I was looking around, I noticed the little things that indicated that it wasn't really a museum. If it was a museum they wouldn't be so far underground and there would be more information with the display cases. Instead, the only information they were provided with was the name (or just a question mark followed by possible purpose or description), date it was brought and for what price. It reminded me more of a trophy room.
"No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help." The Doctor reached out and the tips of his fingers touched the display case. Immediately alarms sounded and they were swiftly surrounded by armed guards. This place had very impressive security despite no one being stationed in the room with the artefacts.
"If someone's collecting aliens that makes you Exhibit A." I told the Doctor under my breath. He just smiled around at the soldiers.
We were led at gun point through the base to a lavishly decorated office. There was a man sat behind a desk while an English-man was showing him different alien artefacts that had been found. The one he was currently describing he seemed to think was some kind of weapon.
"I really wouldn't hold it like that." The Doctor commented calmly, when he saw the artefact in question.
"Shut it." a ginger haired woman snapped from behind the man who was obviously the boss.
"Really, though, that's wrong." The Doctor continued, ignoring the order.
"Is it dangerous?" the English man asked concerned.
"No, it just looks silly." The Doctor reached out to take the item but froze when all the guns were suddenly aimed at him and the safety taken off. I stiffened and shifted Rose slightly behind me, not liking how trigger happy these men seemed to be. The move the Doctor had made was clearly not remotely threatening in nature, and they had still taken aim. The boss looked at the Doctor, assessing, before handing him the palm sized object.
"You just need to be…" he gentle ran his fingers along the spine of the object, making it release a clear, tinkling note. "Delicate." He finished playing a couple more notes as demonstration.
"It's a musical instrument." The boss said in realisation.
"And it's a long way from home." The Doctor agreed sadly.
"Here, let me." the boss said taking the instrument back. However, he wasn't as gentle as the Doctor and the sound he produced was as bad as a new violinist.
"I did say delicate." The Doctor reminded. "It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision."
The man tried again, this time he was able to play some more pleasant sounds.
"Very good. Quite the expert." The Doctor complemented.
"As are you." The man returned, tossing the instrument off to the side carelessly. The Doctor stared after it sadly. "Who exactly are you?"
"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?" The Doctor responded tightly, annoyed at this man's casual disregard to an alien artefact.
"Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake." he said sarcastically.
"Pretty much sums me up, yeah." The Doctor agreed.
"The question is, how did you get in? Fifty-three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplices. You're quite the collector yourself, they're rather pretty."
"Eyes to yourself." I snapped. I never liked being dismissed purely based on my gender, and I particularly hated being turned into a sex object in the eyes of arrogant man. "We aren't property to be put on display."
"She's English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend." The man said, turning to look at the English man who had been handing his boss the alien artefacts.
"This is Mister Henry Van Statten." The English man said, trying to hide his blush while his eyes kept travelling to Rose who was closer to his own age then me.
"And who's he when he's at home?" Rose asked, speaking up as she crossed her arms.
"Mister Van Statten owns the internet."
"Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet." Rose scoffed.
"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten added with a smirk.
"So you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up." The Doctor said condescendingly. He was liking this man less and less with every word spoken and action taken.
"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten mocked.
"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am." The Doctor answered. If anyone else had said it, it would have sounded arrogant but the Doctor managed to make it sound like fact. And from what I had observed, the Doctor had an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of aliens and planets.
"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?" Van Statten demanded seriously.
"You tell me." The Doctor responded.
"The cage contains my one living specimen." Van Statten said proudly.
"And what's that?" The Doctor challenged, trying to find out what had sent him that message so he could get them out.
"Like you don't know." Van Statten scoffed.
"Show me." The Doctor demanded.
"You want to see it?"
"Blimey, you can smell the testosterone." Rose muttered.
"Goddard, inform the Cage we're heading down. You, English and…" he hesitated before randomly pointing at one of the guards. "… and you. Look after the girls. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pet." Van Statten ordered as he stood.
The English kid, who introduced himself as Adam, led them down to his office. Rose was stood next to him flirting, while I hung back with the soldier. The further we got from Van Statten's office the more relaxed the solider became even if he never lost the alert stance she was use to from a soldier on duty. At least he was no longer acting like a soldier who was expecting to be attacked, or asked to attack, at any second.
"Sorry about the mess. Mister Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods." Adam apologised as they walked into a large room that was full of junk. While Rose continued following the kid, I broke off to another area of the room, looking through some of the alien artefacts to see if I recognised anything from the research I had been doing in the library while talking with the Doctor.
"So, why are you so scared of your boss?" I asked the soldier casually. He had kept to my side since Rose was 'guarded' by Adam.
"What makes you think I'm scared of him?" the soldier challenged as we both came to a stop out of ear shot of Adam.
"Because you were tense in his presence, but as you got further away, you relaxed. Normally I don't see such an alert stance in a soldier unless they are preparing for active-combat or are behind enemy lines. You and every soldier in Van Statten's office were prepared to find yourselves suddenly facing death. The way you all had your guns off safety and pointed at the Doctor at a non-threatening gesture suggests that you're used to being given the order to shoot without much warning. Unless the building was in a state of red alert – which it clearly isn't – the only reason you would all be acting like this was if you feared your boss." I responded easily, carefully watching the soldier's reaction to my assessment.
He started at her in shock for a moment before he allowed his shoulders to slump forward and bowed his head in defeat. "Van Statten, he's the sort of man that likes his power and control, and has enough loyal guards to ensure that loyalty – even from those who aren't loyal to him. No one know this until after they've signed their five-year contract, but Van Statten is fond of firing employees for small things like not being amusing or speaking out of turn. When he fire's someone, they don't just lose their job. They lose their memory, their identity. They become a nobody living on the streets of whatever city of his choosing with no means of getting helps because they are lucky if they can remember their time before Van Statten. The longer you've worked for him, or the bigger the infraction, the more you lose." The solider started his explanation hesitantly, but as he saw my posture change from a casual calm to an alert posture he had likely seen in his generals, be began to relax and offer more in his explanation.
"And he's just been allowed to get away with it. Isn't there anyone looking in on him? Monitoring his actions? Why hasn't any of the soldiers or ex-intelligence members contacted UNIT?" I demanded, horrified. Common, every day, civilians didn't really know anything about UNIT. But the majority of the military and those of high enough intelligence knew about the organisation, with those who reached certain ranks knowing exactly what UNIT did as opposite to the simple protection and research aspect.
"UNIT?" the soldier questioned confused.
"UNified Intelligent Taskforce, used to be United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. They had a division specifically for dealing with alien artefacts. This entire place technically comes under their purview, especially if Van Statten has a living alien. Although knowledge of the alien branch is classified, the fact that UNIT deals with civilian threats isn't. You should have been made aware of that during your years of service – there is no way you got your instincts from training to be a body guard. Things haven't changed that much since my time." I explained.
"How would I contact them?" the soldier asked curiously.
"What's your name?" I asked in turn.
"Private Samuel Mathews," he responded.
"Transfer from the army?" I asked in order to see which route was accessible to this solider who obviously didn't like the job he had been landed in but he couldn't back out without losing everything that makes him. I knew the protocols for the army and the special ops, but I wasn't as clear on the navy's protocols and I would have to find a way of getting him in contact with an army commando.
"Yes."
"And we're in America?"
"Yes ma'am. Utia to be exact."
"You still in contact with your captain?" I asked him.
"Yes."
"Phone him. Tell him you have intelligence for UNIT. Then give him the following code…" I waited a moment for the man to pull out a note pad (always be prepared). "2. .3.1. .2."
"2. .3.1. .2.?" he repeated back to me to make sure he had everything.
"Yes. They'll know I've sent you. You'll get a meeting pretty quickly." I smiled at him.
"Who are you, ma'am?" he asked confused.
"Agent Raven, special consultant for UNIT and the Crown." I responded, allowing my tone to drift to the professional crisp one I had used when speaking with anyone in the agency.
Samuel's eyes widen and he snapped to attention and gave me a salute. "Ma'am."
"At ease. I don't really like being saluted." I told him with a smile. He nodded his acceptance and relaxed slightly. "Can you tell me what the alien in the Cage is?" I asked, remembering the term Van Statten had used.
Suddenly an alarm blared through the base. "Condition Red! Condition Red! This is not a drill!" A voice shouted over the radio.
I ran out from where I was in the room to find that Rose and Adam were gone but the screen was on - showing footage from a cell. There was a dead body on the floor, and what looked to be a pepper pot on wheels moving to the door.
"Samuel, I need you to take me there!" I ordered as I ran from the room, silently cursing Rose in my head as I pulled my phone from my pocket.
{"Annaamae, where are you?"} the Doctor's concerned voice greeted me as I hit speed dial. I had given the Doctor Rose's phone with the understanding that either me or him would be with Rose at all times and they would stop to grab a third phone when they could.
"On the way to the Cage, Rose is there." I responded.
{"Be careful, there's a Dalek in that cage."} The Doctor warned his voice dark.
"I thought you said they all died?" I asked sharply, picking up my pace slightly forcing Samuel to do the same.
{"I thought they were. This one must had fallen through time. Escaped the Time Lock."} The Doctor explained.
"Rose!" I said, coming to a stop outside the cage were there were several soldiers pointing their guns at the door.
The Doctor appeared on one of the screens so I hung up, him doing the same on the other side.
"You've got to keep it in that cell." The Doctor shouted at the soldiers.
"Doctor, it's all my fault." Rose admitted, looking like she was holding back tears.
"I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations." The head soldier responded to the Doctor.
"A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat." The Doctor said darkly. Something was wrong with him, I noted. It wasn't just the knowledge that his greatest enemy was still alive, or that Rose and I were in danger. He was in pain, physical pain. Van Statten must have realised that he was an alien.
"Open fire!" the soldier ordered as the door started opening. I grabbed Rose and pulled her back to the door way with Samuel who had his gun out and ready to fire.
"Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed." Van Statten ordered over the coms, but his soldiers ignored him in the face of the danger the Dalek presented.
"Rose, Anna, get out of there!" the Doctor ordered.
"De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?" the main soldier ordered.
"You, with me." The only women guard said.
"Samuel, you're with me." I shouted, as I kept a tight hold on Rose's arm.
"Ma'am." Samuel responded, joining the group as we ran, not even questioning that my authority was greater than the soldier issuing orders in the cage.
As we were running the lights started to flicker and I pushed Rose in front of me, fulling back to run beside Samuel so that I was between my sister and where the Dalek was. From what little the Doctor had said about the Dalek race, they were genetically mutated things inside a cybernetic shell. If the base lights were failing it was absorbing the electricity (at a minimum) and would most likely be using it to heal itself. There was some information I had pulled from the UNIT databases as well from previous Dalek attempts to take over the world only to be stopped by UNIT's scientific adviser and the Brigadier.
"Civilians! Let them through!" De Maggio shouted as we ran around a corner to find an incoming phalanx of guards that were converging on the Cage.
"Cover the north wall. Red division, maintain suppressing fire along the perimeter. Blue division argh!" the head of the group was ordering as we ran through.
Looking briefly over my shoulder, I found that the head guard was dead, and the bullets were being absorbed by some kind of shield around the Dalek. We kept running, De Maggio, Adam and Rose at the front, me and Samuel covering our retreat although I didn't have a weapon.
"Stairs! That's more like it. It hasn't got legs. It's stuck!" Rose laughed in relief.
"DON'T STOP. Dalek's can levitate." I ordered, pushing them up the stairs. The first version of the Dalek's recorded on earth were stopped by a set of stairs, the next lot to invade had evidently upgraded because they no longer needed to be in contact with the ground in order to generate the electrostatic force which powered them.
"Ma'am you get the civilians out." De Maggio ordered, stopping half-way up the stairs and turning to face the Dalek.
"Samuel, get Rose and Adam out of here. Take them to Van Statten's office." I ordered stopping next to De Maggio. I figured that an egotistical, power hungry man like Van Statten probably had the greatest protection around his office, and even if he didn't that was where the Doctor was. Samuel nodded, grabbing Rose's arm and pulling them up the flight of stairs. "De Maggio, that Dalek will kill you, you can't stop it."
"Someone's got to try, ma'am." She responded bravely.
"Good luck." I told her softly, grasping her shoulder and claiming her soul. I had felt the death of the other guards, but the adrenaline was keeping me on my feet. If their numbers moved out of the dozens and into the hundreds, it would be harder to ignore. Turning, I fled up the stairs.
"Now listen to me. I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate then I can guarantee that Mister Van Statten will be willing to talk…." De Maggio addressed the Dalek bravely.
I got too far away to hear the rest of what she said, but I heard her scream and felt her soul as she died. I stumbled slightly but kept running. I finally ran into a wide, open space, with crates and various equipment spread around the room. There were guards and technicians throughout the room, behind various corners, packing cases, boxes and up on a catwalk. Rose, Adam and Samuel were stood in the doorway, Samuel trying to get the other two moving again but they were stood there panting for breath.
"The Dalek's behind me. It's surrounded by a force-field. Aim your fire at the eyestalk. Enough force focused on a single point should be enough to overcome the shield and kill it." I shouted as I ran through the room.
Just as I reached Rose, the Dalek appeared at the other end of the room. Rose paled, but I didn't give her time to hesitate, I grabbed her other arm and made her start running with my own momentum. Adam didn't need any encouragement to pick up the pace.
"It was looking at me." Rose panted.
"Yeah, it wants to slaughter us." Adam said on the edge of hysteria.
"I know, but it was looking right at me." Rose responded adamantly.
"Think about it later. The soldiers won't be able to stop the Dalek. We need to get to the Doctor. He's the only one who can stop it now." I said sharply, cutting Adam off before he could say anything.
"What do you know about these things, ma'am?" Samuel asked, out of the other three he was the one in best shape but he was starting to have trouble keeping his breathing even, I noted.
"They are a warrior race, bread to kill. No human technology is currently strong enough to penetrate a Dalek's shield. The Doctor's people fought them, for hundreds of years. And he killed them. That Dalek behind us is the last of its kind, and that makes it deadly because it will fall back to its primary setting." I responded, drawing on the small amount of knowledge the Doctor had shared in the time I had known him in combination of what I had inferred from the mission reports and debriefs.
"And what's that?" Samuel asked, concerned.
"Dalek supremacy. Death to everything not Dalek." I responded simply. Suddenly I stumbled slightly and only Samuel's quick reflexes kept me on my feet and moving. All the soldiers behind us had just died at the same time. All two hundred of them.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah." I nodded, straightening up and picking up the pace again. The Dalek would be following us soon.
"Is that a phone?" Adam asked incredulously as a ringing sounded.
"Doctor." I answered the phone without acknowledging Adam's question.
{Where are you?} the Doctor asked sharply.
"Level forty-nine, nearly at forty-eight." I responded, having seen the number as I came up the stairs.
{You've got to keep moving. The vault's being sealed off up at level forty-six.} The Doctor said.
"How long?" I asked concerned.
{Not long, I can only hold it a couple of minutes, we're draining the rest of the bases defences to close the bulk head door.} The Doctor explained. {Now for gods sack run.}
"Samuel, we need to get to level forty-six, and we need to be there now." I ordered, picking up the pace and forcing the others to do so as well, as I lowered the phone.
We were on level forty-six, running towards the door when it started lowering.
"GET THEM THROUGH." I shouted to Samuel, who was running beside Rose. I had fallen back slightly again to keep myself between the Dalek and my sister since it had appeared at the end of the corridor.
Adam was close enough to roll through himself, but Rose wouldn't have made it had Samuel not grabbed Rose's arms and thrown her forward. Rose screamed as she hit the floor and rolled under the rapidly closing doors. Samuel followed through, and I smiled grimly, pleased that they had all made it to safety.
I got close enough to roll under but the gap was too small and I came to a stop. I hadn't had time to visualise the other side of the door and I couldn't afford to blind Apparate since I was out of practise with using my magic in this body. Before I was reborn, I wouldn't have even thought about it, but now I couldn't risk it. The Doctor was too far away to blind Apparate too, and Rose was too distressed to larch onto without time and practise. Perhaps, if by some miracle my inability to die had transferred over I would begin practising my magic again. It might come in handy.
{Annamae, where are you? Annamae, did you make it?} the Doctor's concerned voice sounded through the phone.
"No." I breathed back, turning to face the approaching Dalek. "But Rose is safe. You look after her Doctor, you look after my sister." I ordered him.
The Doctor was silent on the other side of the phone. I had told him the night before that in my past life that I couldn't die, but I didn't know if that held true in this world as well. It hadn't been tested, and neither of us really wanted to test it with a Dalek, since we just didn't know.
"See you, then, Doctor. It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault." I blinked back tears. "And do you know what? I wouldn't have missed travelling with you for the world."
As the Dalek approached I lowered the phone, and just as I hit the end call button the Dalek cried "Exterminate!"
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"It killed her." The Doctor said hollowly, lowering the phone. Annamae hadn't been fast enough to hang up on him.
"I'm sorry." Van Statten said.
"I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry? I could've killed that Dalek in its cell, but you stopped me." the Doctor shouted angrily.
"It was the prize of my collection!" Van Statten shouted back.
"Your collection? But was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Annamae? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater." The Doctor said in disgust.
"Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!"
"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get. And you took her down with you." The Doctor shook his head, turning away from the human in disgust.
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"Why haven't you killed me?" I questioned the Dalek, who had fired at the door leaving behind a burn mark.
"I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose." The Dalek responded as through it was trying to convince itself of this purpose.
"I've noticed; all those men and women are dead because of you." I told it.
"Dead because of Rose." The Dalek corrected.
"What?" I asked.
"I feel her fear. Her despair." The Dalek responded.
"She thinks I'm dead." I told the Dalek thickly. The Doctor said that the Dalek's were genetically engineered to feel only hate. How was this Dalek feeling Roses' emotions? How was it able to identify what those emotions were?
"Daleks do not fear. Must not fear." The Dalek responded, shooting at the door randomly, forcing me to duck a blast that would have caught me in the shoulder. "She gave me life. What else has she given me? I am contaminated." The Dalek shouted.
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The lift door opened to reveal Adam, Rose and a soldier. The soldier was holding Rose comfortingly while she cried and he didn't look much better off. Pale and horrified, standing only because of his training. The moment they entered the office the soldier sat Rose down on a chair before turning to Van Statten and punching him hard enough to break his nose and send him to the floor.
"You should have reported that Dalek to UNIT the moment it landed in your collection." The man snapped. "That women was probably the bravest person I have ever met and she gave me the power to bring you down. Now that the Dalek is trapped, I will be contacting them on her orders."
Before anyone could say anything in response, the TV flickered and the Dalek appeared with Annamae stood next to it, its blaster pointed at her.
"Open the bulkhead or Anna Tyler dies." The Dalek ordered.
"You're alive!" The Doctor, Samuel and Rose shouted in shock.
"Always." Annamae responded with a smile. Rose whipped her tears away, while Samuel gave her a relieved smiled.
"I thought you were dead." The Doctor admitted.
"Never." Annamae responded.
"Open the bulkhead!" The Dalek ordered.
"Doctor, don't you dare. I would rather die than endanger my sister and the rest of humanity." Anna ordered, just as fierce, strong and defiant as always despite the gun pointed at her.
"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" The Dalek questioned before turning off the screen.
The Doctor hesitated, looking to Rose.
"Open it." Rose begged.
"I'll protect her." Samuel promised.
"I killed her once. I can't do it again." The Doctor said, hitting the enter key which automatically reversed the lockdown.
"What do we do now, you bleeding heart? What the hell do we do?" Van Statten demanded thickly, holding a bloody handkerchief to his face.
"Kill it when it gets here." Adam proposed.
"The guard's gun won't work and the alien weapons are in the vault." Goddard responded.
"Only the catalogued ones" Adam admitted.
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The Dalek led me into the lift. He seemed to have the layout of the base memorised since he hit floor one, where Van Statten's office was located.
"I'm asking you, don't kill them. You didn't kill me." I told the Dalek, hoping to save those waiting in the office. I had no doubt that the Doctor had gone to find something that would kill the Dalek, and end the time war since he didn't have all the data.
"But why not? Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?" the Dalek demanded, turning its eye stork to face me.
"Don't move. Don't do anything. It's beginning to question itself." I shouted at those in the office the moment that the door opened. Samuel was stood in front of Rose, his gun raised but at my words he didn't open fire.
"Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?" The Dalek questioned, moving towards the man who was stood alone with a bleeding nose. I quickly looked to Samuel and raised an eyebrow at his knuckles were there was some blood. He smiled sheepishly in return.
"I wanted to help you. I just, I don't know. I was trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you. I wanted you better. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!" Van Statten said, backing against the wall with the Dalek following.
"Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" the Dalek shouted.
"Don't do it! Don't kill him! You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else, not just killing. What else is there? What do you want?" I asked the Dalek, hoping that it had changed enough.
"I want freedom." The Dalek responded slowly.
"Goddard, Samuel, contact UNIT. Close this base. Tell then that agent 2.9. .Roma.4.9 wants the based sealed for good. Go direct, their number is on my phone." I ordered sharply, tossing the object to Samuel who caught it with ease.
"Ma'am." They both responded as I left the office with the Dalek, glaring at Rose when she went to follow.
"Stay here." I ordered her. I had no doubt that the Doctor had a plan, and if the Dalek was truly changing then I doubted it would want to survive much longer. It was programmed to feel nothing but hate, and yet here it was feeling fear, despair and love.
Walking beside the Dalek we reached the highest point of the base. The Dalek blasted a hole in the roof and a shaft of sunlight streamed down onto it.
"The sunlight." I smiled slightly.
"How does it feel?" The Dalek asked. The Dalek opened up its casing to reveal the one-eyed green mutant within. It was holding out a tentacle towards the sunlight.
"Get out of the way. Annamae, get out of the way now!" The Doctor shouted, appearing at the other end of the corridor with a large gun.
"Doctor, I don't think you need that." I told him, hesitantly stepping aside to reveal the Dalek with its open casing.
"What's it doing?" The Doctor questioned, lowering his gun in shock.
"It wanted to feel the sunlight." I explained.
"But it can't." The Doctor breathed in horror.
"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing."
"Why do we survive?" The Dalek questioned as the Doctor dropped the gun to the floor in disgust.
"I don't know." The Doctor admitted sadly, closing the distance between him and the Dalek.
"I am the last of the Daleks."
"You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating.
"Into what?" the Dalek questioned.
"Something new. I'm sorry." The Doctor responded sadly and I blinked back tears realising what he was saying.
"I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness. Anna, give me orders. Order me to die." The Dalek asked.
"I order you, Dalek. Die." I told it sadly stepping back to the Doctor, who wrapped his arms around me comfortingly. This was the last of the Daleks and I had just ordered it to die, committing genocide – again.
"Are you frightened, Anna Tyler?" the Dalek questioned.
"Only for you." I told the Dalek.
"So am I. Exterminate." The Dalek said, closing its eye before closing its casing and rising into the air. The balls that were spread over the Dalek left the casing and created a force field so that it could implode safely.
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"A little piece of home. Better than nothing." The Doctor said, sadly rubbing his hand along the side of the TARDIS.
"Is that the end of it, the Time War?" Rose asked hesitantly.
"I'm the only one left. I win. How about that?" The Doctor said sadly, a touch of bitterness in his tone.
"The Dalek survived. Maybe some of your people did too." Rose proposed trying to offer a smile of reassurance.
"I'd know. In here." the Doctor said, gently tapping the side of his forehead. "Feels like there's no one." He admitted.
"We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared. UNIT's closing down the base." Adam told them, approaching the group with a back pack on. Samuel was behind him with a single bag over his shoulder.
"They're sending a team to ensure everything is safe, and to round up the few personal that are left. Then they're gutting the base and destroying what artefacts they can." Samuel explained. "They don't want to seal the base, they are thinking about using it for training but all the alien artefacts will be destroyed."
"About time." Rose nodded her head.
"I'll have to go back home." Adam sighed.
"Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours." The Doctor said, looking at his watch.
"Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars." Rose said turning to the Doctor with wide eyes.
"Tell him to go and stand outside, then." The Doctor responded grumpily.
"He's all on his own, Doctor, and he did help." Rose pleaded.
"He left Anna down there."
"So did you." Rose said back.
"What're you talking about? We've got to leave." Adam said shiftily, making Samuel raise an eyebrow.
"Plus, he's a bit pretty." The Doctor said.
"I hadn't noticed." Rose responded with a smile while I shook my head. Rose was still dating Mickey, she shouldn't be going around flirting with every boy she found handsome. But it wasn't my right to step in unless her words became actions, at which point my own moral obligations would step in.
"On your own head." The Doctor said unlocking the TARDIS.
"Samuel, look after yourself." I said kindly.
"I will ma'am. I've gotten a new job with UNIT." He explained. "A man named Brigadier Lethbride-Stewart seemed more than happy to have me on board."
"Good for you," I smiled pleased before entering the TARDIS.
"What're you doing?" Adam asked as the Doctor and Rose followed me inside.
"Doctor? What're you doing standing inside a box? Rose?" Adam asked, creeping inside the TARDIS.
Just as he entered, the Doctor closed the door and dematerialised, not wanting to deal with UNIT. He would have to speak with Annamae at some point to find out how she was connected with them. And probably explain why the Brigadier was so happy to have a soldier who was on friendly terms with his companion on board his team.