Author's Note: Hey! I'm so terribly sorry that it took so long, I had to do a lot of homework and I got to go to a "unique animal expo" with my aunt and eat at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was really cool, anywho, back to business. I hope people are actually reading and enjoying this story. I only got one review for the last chapter. Also, Avery Park is a real park, but I have combined it with another park for the needs of this story. I actually wrote most of this chapter during Biology class, at the same time while I was taking notes. Hooray for multi-tasking!
AN2: America is getting the new season this Friday! Yay! I'm going to get to see the new season! I'm so happy! New Doctor that British girls think is cute! Whoo! Run around house laughing and screaming I told my friends about it coming back, and they are not too pleased. Oh well. They're losers. The Daleks will come destroy them. Once I take over the Daleks. Mwahahahaha. Um… you didn't read that.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, Avery Park, or the other park mentioned above.
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The jeep pulled into Avery Park. Trees lined the driveway and surrounded the small parking lot. Off to one side was a quaint rose garden and on the other side were a large, modern gazebo and a manmade lake with a few ducks. Directly in front, the road curved around a part of the park that had a bunch of gray things and an old steam-engine train. There was lots of open space in between these attractions, and families were lounging around, having picnics, while the kids were playing.
Mr. Bradshaw's "colleagues" piled out of the jeep, guns at the ready. Roxanne and two others went to search the rose garden and the forests surrounding the park while another group went to the gazebo and lake. A third group stayed with Mr. Bradshaw, the Doctor, and Rose.
Rose was the first to see Daphne. She couldn't believe that the girl was really a Dalek. The "Dalek" was sitting on one of the large gray things, a concrete mass, one of many arranged in a circle, made to look like abstract dinosaur bones. Her head was back, enjoying the sun and the laughter of the kids playing on and around the "bones".
A beep from Mr. Bradshaw's walkie-talkie interrupted he thoughts. "Mr. Bradshaw. We have it in our sights. It's on the bones. Should we move in to contain it, or shoot on sight?" Mr. Bradshaw was about to respond, a deadly serious look on his face, but Rose couldn't let that happen.
"No! Let me see if I can reason with her. You said she was asking for orders from Rose, so let me give her some. Please?"
"Rose-" The Doctor had a concerned look on his face.
"Are you crazy? It would kill you. It's got to be taken out, and taken out now!"
"Just give me a chance. She's not killing those kids, is she? Please, I just want to try." Rose glanced over at the Doctor, who had worry written all over his face. He obviously remembered the last time Rose had encountered a Dalek, when she almost died. When he went all …crazy …and scary.
Mr. Bradshaw sighed and gave in, putting his walkie-talkie to his mouth. "Miss Rose is going in. Keep a lock on it and be ready for anything." He turned to Rose. "Go ahead, but be careful."
The Doctor still reappeared concerned, so Rose gave him a reassuring smile before running off in the direction of the bones. She slowed down as she got closer, trying to see where the gunners were. She couldn't see them, but knew they were just beyond the tree line. She stopped by the bone where Daphne sat.
"Daphne?" Her head came down from the sun and those blue eyes grabbed Rose's attention again. "Do you mind if I sit down?"
"No, Rose. Go right ahead." She motioned to one of the bones and Rose climbed on, turning to face Daphne. "How'd you find me?"
"Mr. Bradshaw." A hint of fear crossed Daphne's face, but she swallowed and closed her eyes. Now that they were closed, Rose noticed that Daphne had on a lot of eye makeup. Large swathes of smoky black eyeliner surrounded her eyes, but not so bad that they looked like raccoon eyes. Rose realized that she hadn't noticed it earlier because the striking color of her eyes had distracted her.
"Oh." The word was almost a whisper. She opened her eyes and stared up at the sky again. "I suppose I have to go with them, don't I?"
"Um, yeah. Are you afraid of them?" Rose leaned forward a little. Daphne turned to her.
"Petrified. If they catch me, they'll cut me up to see what I am and then kill me. I don't want to die. I just want to be free. I have ever since Utah."
"Speaking of which, how did you survive? The Doctor and I thought you blew yourself up." Rose shifted uneasily. Daphne ran her ungloved left hand over her right arm.
"Well, I thought it would work. …I think that I had changed too much, and it had interfered with my mechanism. I ended up just melding my biological body with my armor, but that caused some problems. My armor changed and combined with your DNA, creating my new appearance. What used to be my biological body is now combined with it all. I'm not sure how, but when I tried to exterminate myself, I ended up in Nevada, in a lot of pain. I'm so sorry. Are you going to try to kill me too?" Daphne glanced down at her hands, scared of the answer.
"No, of course not. And I'm going to try to have the others not kill you either. How do you know about what happened to your body?" Rose glanced back at the two men standing over by the jeep.
"I just know. It's one of the benefits of being a Dalek. I tried to ignore it before, back in Utah, when I first started to change, but I gave up when I woke up in the hospital." She had tipped her head back and was enjoying the sun again.
"Oh. …Um, what is with the glove?" Rose pointed at the Daphne's right hand, which she immediately slid back and out of view.
"Don't you remember what my right 'arm' does?" Rose thought for a second before remembering.
"Wait. You don't mean…"
"Yep. My armor kept most, if not all, of it's old properties, I just haven't figured out how to use them properly yet. Without the glove, my gun goes off at random, or when I get to emotional." She looked down at her gloved hand, which was now sitting in her lap.
Rose shifted nervously. "Um… have you… um… killed anyone recently?"
"No! Of course not… I'm trying to be normal …well, as normal as I can be." Daphne looked up at the woods and the jeep. "Well, I guess I better go back to Mr. Bradshaw." She slid off the bone and Rose heard a terrifying click.
"Put your hands up, Dalek!" Roxanne had somehow snuck up behind them, and now had her gun leveled on Daphne, just on the other side of the bone circle. A few kids saw the gun and ran off, scared. Mr. Bradshaw's voice came over the walkie-talkie on her belt. 'Roxanne, I told you to hold your position!' She snatched it up in one hand, never taking her eyes or her gun off Daphne. "Mr. Bradshaw, I'm going to have to refuse that order. Move in and destroy the Dalek!" Rose could see a few of the other men moving in from the forests and the other areas where they were hiding.
"Stop!" Rose jumped off the bone and ran over to Roxanne, standing between her and Daphne. Daphne had put her hands up by now and was starting to kneel down. "Can't you see she's changed? She only wants to be free. She's not going to kill anybody."
"Rose, you don't know what you're talking about. It's not a 'she', it's an 'IT.' And it's a Dalek. They only care about killing, not about being free. And I'm not going to let it kill any more people. Not when I have anything to say about it." She cocked her gun, and Rose heard a flurry of other guns being cocked all around her and Daphne.
"She's not a Dalek. Not anymore." Rose backed up, stepping closer to Daphne.
"I don't believe you." Roxanne motioned with her head and a few of the men moved in on Daphne with handcuffs. Rose looked back at Daphne, who was starting to get a scared look in her strong blue eyes. Rose noticed Daphne start fingering her glove.
"Well, maybe you'll believe me." Rose looked up to see the Doctor and Mr. Bradshaw had come over, along with the men that still followed him. The men who were there with Roxanne rejoined Mr. Bradshaw and their comrades, confused but willing to follow Mr. Bradshaw anyway.
"Roxanne, the Dalek has a protective shield. Do you? Or your men? Lower your weapon, now." Mr. Bradshaw had apparently been talking to the Doctor.
"No. But you don't, either." She raised her gun from Daphne and leveled it on Mr. Bradshaw for a second before firing.
"No!" Daphne jumped up, taking the bullet and dissolving it in her shield. Roxanne re-cocked her gun, determination and fury on her face. Someone was going to end up dead. Daphne turned to Rose, who had a shocked look on her face. "Give me orders, Rose." Her voice held traces of her old voice, and her eyes looked exactly like they did before.
"Do it." Rose turned away as Daphne pulled off her glove, aiming her hand at Roxanne before she could fire back. Rose barely heard the whisper of 'exterminate', but even through her closed eyes she could see the familiar green glow.
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AN: Whew! That was longer than I planned. Hope it answered some questions you had as to Daphne. Also, did anybody find her name meaning? I hope some people review this chapter. I miss having people saying my writing is good. Farewell for now.