A/N: Hi everyone, I know it has been a little too long since the last update. Apologise for that. I've been having a little writers block again and really am struggling to get through it. I will keep on trying, and the next chapter is mostly written. I hope you enjoy this one!
The trio eventually found themselves a little cafe to sit down in. They seemed to be in a small town somewhere, none of them had really bothered to try and work out where they actually were. The moment they had sat down Jack had been bombarding them with questions about things that they had been up to, just to try and distract the pair.
Initially the Doctor had called him and picked him up because he was worried about Kari, but Jack was now worried about both of them. The Doctor was acting odd, he wasn't his normal self. While Kari was only acting a little off, and that was only in reaction to the Doctor and what he was saying. There was something more going on, something bigger, he just didn't know what it was. Yet.
Jack was just finishing telling them about something that had happened at Torchwood when he noticed Kari completely zone out. "Hey Kari, you okay?" He asked, watching as her eyes glazed over.
The Doctor then looked at her, trying to hide the worry he was feeling. "Kari?" He said, grabbing a hold of her hand and squeezing it. "Kari, can you hear me?" He had never seen her act like that before, and she wasn't answering him. Of course he had seen her zone out a little, go into her own little world, but not like this.
"Doc, what's wrong with her?" Jack said with worry, getting out of his chair and crouching down beside her.
"I… I don't know…" The Doctor admitted, letting go of her hand and instead placing his hands on both of her cheeks. "Hey, Kari…" He tried again, watching her, looking for any indication of what was going on. "Kari?"
Suddenly Kari blinked, then she blinked again. Her eyes began to clear and a frown formed on her face. "Uh, what… what's going on?" She asked, the Doctor still holding her face between his hands.
"We lost you for a minute there." The Doctor told her, keeping his eyes locked with hers. She hadn't done that before, at least not that he could recall.
"What do you mean, you lost me?" She had no idea what was going on.
The Doctor continued to hold the gaze. "You… zoned out." He didn't really know any other way to explain it. She was there, in front of them, but she wasn't listening to them, she wasn't there. It was hard for him to explain. "How are you feeling?"
Kari looked at him and realised just how worried he was, even though he was trying so hard to hide it. She could see the line from all his frowning and worry. She could see the desperate look in his eyes as well. "I'm fine, Doctor. I guess maybe I am still a little tired or something. I didn't mean to worry you, I promise. I just… something doesn't feel right. Not with me, I feel fine. I have this weird feeling, like when I get the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Sort of like that." It was the only way for her to explain it, to get him to understand what was going on with her. Something had felt off the moment they stepped outside of the blue box, and when she mentioned it, the Doctor started to worry and freak out over her.
"How bad?" The Doctor asked. He had learnt a very long time ago that if she was getting a feeling then he needed to trust it. Of course, he was worrying like mad at the moment but he had to try and be as normal as he could.
"I don't know." She admitted. "I feel like something big is going to happen, Doctor. I just… don't know what." Kari wanted to tell him, to tell him that she could feel some kind of strange energy all around, something that was totally alien to Earth, something that should not be there. But with the way the Doctor was acting, the way he was worrying so much, she knew that she had to keep it to herself.
Jack was just sitting there, worried and wondering what was going on. He was about to say something where there was a massive explosion from somewhere outside, causing the whole place to shake. The trio immediately rushed outside and saw a cloud of smoke billowing up into the air.
An excited look formed on Jack's face. "Now that's more like it!" He announced, hoping that this would distract the pair enough for them to stop worrying so much. "Come on!" Jack was the first to rush off, straight into the heart of the chaos.
The Doctor took a tight hold of Kari's hand as they chased after him. He was still worried, and Kari knew it, she could sense it radiating off of him. Whatever was going on, he didn't understand it, and that just made him worry even more. He didn't like not knowing or understanding. Kari wanted to make things better, to ease the worry, but she really didn't know how.
That was when such a terrible feeling of fear washed over her, the blood draining from her face. "Stop!" She shouted, forcing the Doctor to halt his running and causing Jack to look back at her. "No, we… we are not going any further." She said, her voice trembling slightly. She knew what they were going to find when they got there, Kari knew exactly what had caused the explosion. She didn't understand how they could be there and wondered if that was what she had been feeling.
"Kari? What is? What's wrong?" The Doctor was worried even more now, even though that had not been Kari's intention.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked him in the eyes. "Daleks…" Kari whispered.
Both the Doctor and Jack froze and looked at her. "What did you say?" The Doctor was shocked, that was certain.
"Daleks…" Kari whispered, her eyes wide and her fear clearly showing. "Doctor, there are Daleks here." She could sense them, knew that they were there, that they were not just on Earth but right there in front of them somewhere.
He didn't know what to say, how to respond. There was so much running through his head, such as how she knew that there were Daleks there, why she was so scared. "What else?" The Doctor needed to know, it was clear that she knew about something else, that she sensed something else.
She stared at him blankly, not knowing what to say. She knew that there were Daleks there, and they certainly shouldn't be there. "I… I don't…" Kari was trying to block out all the screaming and yelling that she could hear, all of those people panicking.
"Uh, I think we should probably go." Jack said, breaking the gaze the pair were sharing. They looked at him and they followed his gaze. In the sky about them they saw several Daleks, just hovering there, seemingly searching for something. The excitement was quickly fading as things just turned to chaos around them.
"You know, I agree with you." The Doctor said, grabbing Kari's hand tightly before the three of them made a run for it with everyone else. They had no idea where they were heading, no idea what they were going to do, but they knew that they needed to get out of sight.
The crowd kept on going, but Kari pulled them down a side alley. Giving them a chance to catch their breath. "Okay, so what the hell are the Daleks doing here?" Jack asked, constantly glancing at the way they had just come, just in case the Daleks decided to follow them.
Straight away the Doctor looked at Kari. There was a distant look on her face and he wasn't sure he liked it. "I have no idea. But I can tell you this, whatever it is, it can't be good." Where there were Daleks, there was danger, death and destruction. He just needed to work out why they were there.
"And you had no idea that they were going to be here?" Jack asked, looking between the Doctor and Kari. He had noticed that look on her face as well and it was worrying him. The Doctor shook his head. "Okay, so what do we do?"
"They're looking for something." Kari told them, that distant look still on her face. "Something that isn't human. Something that they want. No, that they need."
The Doctor was becoming more and more concerned. "Right, we need to get back to the TARDIS." He announced, sharing a worried glance with Jack. "Safest place for us to be and we can work out what they are doing from there." With his hand tightly holding Kari's, the trio started to back track their way to where they had stepped out of the blue box.
Unfortunately for them, just as they turned the corner to where the TARDIS was parked, they heard the mechanical voices of the Daleks. "THE TARDIS HAS BEEN LOCATED." One of them screeched. "FIND THE ANGEL." Upon hearing that, Kari took a sharp breath and a step back. She knew what the Daleks, amongst others, called her.
The worry that the Doctor was feeling was just growing. "Kari, what is it?" He couldn't tell what was going on in her head, he had no idea what she was thinking or feeling. Something didn't feel right but he couldn't work out what it was.
"It's…" She started, trying to pull it together. She was starting to wish that they had all just stayed in the TARDIS, had a nice cup of tea and a catch up, instead of going somewhere at random. "We need to get out of here." Kari announced, before turning to look at her big brother. "Jack, are there any… Torchwood bases or abandoned Unit bases around? Anything? Somewhere we can lay low for a bit while we work all of this out?" The panic was rising but she was doing her best to contain it. Once they were somewhere safe she could let it all out. But not now, not while they were out in the open.
Jack was taken back a bit by her request, but he quickly tapped away on his broken vortex manipulator and brought up a map. "Uh, yeah. There is an underground base a couple of miles from here."
Kari nodded at him. "Right, then we need to go. Hopefully it will have some equipment there that we can use to find out what is going on and figure out what the Daleks want." She told them, even though she was pretty sure she already knew what they wanted.
It didn't take them too long to reach an abandoned Unit base. It seemed like no one had been there for years, but they were lucky, the Doctor and Jack had worked hard to make sure that they had everything they needed working, that the systems and computers were up and running so they could keep an eye on the outside world.
The streets were filled with soldiers, nobody was to go outside. The biggest worry was that the Daleks seemed to be nowhere. They were no longer on the streets, they had just vanished. That just made Kari worry even more. She had heard what they had said, who they were trying to find, and she knew exactly who that person was. The one thing she didn't understand is what they wanted with her.
Kari sat there and closed her eyes, trying to figure it all out, to see if she could work out why they needed her. There had to be a reason, the Daleks always had a reason. She focused on the Daleks and only them. Kari thought about all the times she had met them, and all those times that were still to come.
"THE TARDIS HAS BEEN PROCURED." Kari heard a Dalek screech in her head. She had managed to focus on them and find them.
"INFORM ALL DALEKS TO SEARCH FOR HER. THE ANGEL MUST BE ACQUIRED." She didn't want to listen to any more, but she couldn't help herself, and she started looking around, poking and prodding, trying to discover why they wanted her.
"THE FLEET IS READY TO DESCEND."
"ORDERS TO SEEK OUT THE ANGEL AND BRING TO DALEK MOTHERSHIP AND EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR HAVE BEEN RELAYED." Kari really didn't like the sound of, now she was completely sure that it was her they were after. But why were they going to keep her alive and kill the Doctor? It just didn't make any sense.
She was about to push harder, to try and find out more, when all she could see was the eyestalk of a Dalek, like it was staring straight at her. "WE WILL FIND YOU, KARI, THE ANGEL OF TIME. YOU CANNOT HIDE FROM US."
Kari quickly jumped up from where she had been sitting, her breathing erratic, her eyes wide with both fear and panic. The Doctor had his arms around her in a heartbeat, holding onto her tightly, confused as to what had just happened. "Hey, shush, it's okay." He told her, not really knowing what else he could say.
"I have to tell you something, Doctor, about the Daleks." She whispered, knowing that she couldn't keep this a secret.
The Doctor pulled away a little and looked at her, he could see that something was seriously wrong. "What is it?"
Kari tried to pull herself together, to toughen up a little, but she was failing. "I know what it is they are after, what they are searching for." She said, still struggling to understand why they were after her. "There are four thousand Dalek ships up there, including a mothership. It's me. They're looking for me."
Both the Doctor and Jack just looked at her with wide eyes. "What?" They both said at the same time. Jack in disbelief and the Doctor with so much worry.
"Kari, how do you know? How do you know they are after you?" The Doctor was feeling his own panic rising now.
She looked at him. "When they took the TARDIS, they said to find the Angel. They meant me. They're looking for me and they want to kill you." Kari still didn't understand why, it didn't make any sense that they would want her alive. Surely they should be trying to exterminate her alongside the Doctor, like they usually did. "I don't know why, I don't understand it."
Jack was fiddling with his vortex manipulator, the Doctor was simply gazing at Kari, his mind going through so many different things. All Kari could really do was stand there and wait for one of them to say something. She didn't like the silence, but she had to suffer it until one of them decided to make some kind of a comment. It seemed like hours had gone by before someone actually spoke.
"We need to get you out of here." Jack suddenly announced, pulling off his vortex manipulator and grabbing a hold of Kari's wrist. "Whatever the Daleks want you for, it can't be good. They have the TARDIS, there is no other way out."
Kari stared at him, confused. "What do you mean? What are you doing?" She said, trying to pull her arm away. "Jack, stop it, let go!"
"He's right. We'll get you somewhere safe, then we can work on getting the TARDIS back. We will find you, Kari. I promise." The way the Doctor was speaking was scaring her as well.
"What? Doctor, what are you saying?" Nothing was making any sense to her, she didn't know why the Daleks were after her, she didn't know what Jack and the Doctor had planned. She was scared.
Jack had finished attaching his vortex manipulator around her wrist and there was a sad look on his face. "You'll be safe this way, Princess."
Before she could answer him, or say anything at all, the Doctor had his hands on her cheeks while he gazed deeply into her eyes. "You have to trust me. This is to keep you safe. Until we know what they want, you are not safe here." He told her, his hearts breaking as he did. "Kari, I am so sorry."
Now Kari was starting to get a little emotional. "Doctor, please, what is going on? Where are you sending me?" She didn't like it at all, she was just so confused and scared.
"I'm sending you somewhere safe. Somewhere the Daleks can't get to you. But you have to promise me that no matter what happens, you will wait for me."
"No. Look, if you think you're sending me away with Jack's vortex manipulator then you are wrong." Kari told him firmly, trying to figure something out. "If this thing is working, then why don't the three of us all just use it to get back to the TARDIS?" She asked, not wanting to be separated from the Doctor and her big brother. "Once we are in the TARDIS then I'll be somewhere safe, and you guys can work out what the hell is going on with the Daleks."
Both of the men looked at each other, neither of them really knowing how to answer her. Jack rested a hand on her shoulder and looked at her. "Kari, you know it doesn't work properly. It burnt out years ago. The amount of times you and the Doctor have tried to fix it, there is no way it would be able to take all three of us." Kari knew part of that statement was true, they had tried to fix it on multiple occasions, sometimes with a little bit of success. But he was right, it was never going to work fully again. "We need to keep you safe. The Doctor and I can deal with the Daleks, but you need to be somewhere safe."
"No, I'm staying here, with you. With both of you." Kari told them firmly, trying to get them to listen to her. "If the Daleks are after me then there is nowhere in the whole of time and space that is going to be safe for me. We've been here for a matter of hours and they showed up pretty quickly." She told them, wishing they would understand it all from her perspective. "No matter where you send me, they will follow. And then what? If you haven't got the TARDIS back how are you going to find me? How am I really going to be safe?"
"No!" The Doctor ended up shouting at her, making her flinch a little. "You are going!" Kari looked at him, fear now in her eyes. He had never shouted at her like that before, maybe in a previous regeneration, but never this man standing before her. The Doctor noticed the fear and let out a sigh. "I am not going to lose you. I thought that I was going to lose you on Terra Earth, Kari, I thought that you were going to die. I will never let that happen." He told her, softly and more calmly. "I have to protect you, I have to keep you safe."
The tears in Kari's eyes were threatening to fall, but she was doing her best to hold them back. "Doctor, please, just listen to me. How do we know that wherever you send me, they won't follow? Please, think it through. I know how scared and worried you are, that's why you went and picked up Jack. I don't know why they are after me, they want me alive, it's you that they will kill on sight. You want to protect me, and I want to protect you."
Now the Doctor was feeling conflicted. He could understand why Kari was reluctant to go, why she wanted to stay and be there with them, but he honestly felt that she would be safer somewhere else, somewhere away from him. He knew that the Daleks would assume Kari was there with him, they were always together. He needed to keep them there, distracted, while Kari was safe somewhere else. "It isn't safe here, Kari." He finally said to her. "Until we know why they want you, you can't be here."
"And where do you plan on sending me?" Kari snapped, hating the fact that he wasn't listening to her. "You can't send me to the TARDIS, because the Daleks have that. Wherever you send me, they will follow. The moment you even think of turning on your sonic screwdriver, they will descend, because they are monitoring for any kind of non-terrestrial technology."
Jack and the Doctor both looked at each other. They knew there was some truth to what she was saying, but neither of them really knew what to do. "She does have a point there, Doc." Jack said, knowing that the Daleks would be on them in seconds if his sonic screwdriver was used. Even using the vortex manipulator would alert them to where they were.
Kari was glad that he was starting to see her side of things. "What we need is to know what they are up to. They have brought a hell of a lot of ships with them, and for what? They aren't invading. There was only that one attack as far as we know. They want me alive and you dead. But why?"
The Doctor let out a long breath. "I don't know, Kari. I don't even know how they knew we were here. None of this makes any sense. This isn't what the Daleks do. They exterminate, they want to eradicate anything and everything that isn't Dalek. So why are they doing this?"
"Then we need to work on finding out. Okay?" Kari told him, hoping that he would listen to her. "I am much safer here with you than I would be on my own. Now come on, we've got all this Earth technology around us, we can use this to try and work out what's going on. There has to be something we can find to work out what is going on."
Reluctantly, the Doctor backed down and Kari gave the vortex manipulator back to her big brother. She knew that she would be safer with them than being sent off somewhere on her own. Knowing her luck instead of being sent somewhere safe she would just end up somewhere where she would be in just as much or even more trouble. Kari knew that after everything that had just happened the Doctor was even more concerned about her than he usually was, but he needed to get past that.
"Okay, so I've got this patched into the Torchwood network." Jack said, causing Kari to raise an eyebrow at him. She knew a lot more about Torchwood than the Doctor would ever know, and a lot more about Jack to go with it. "Yeah, I know, but that is different." He replied, understanding the look she was giving him. "But look, this is all those Dalek ships, all just… sitting there. They have the whole planet surrounded but they aren't doing anything."
Kari looked at the screen and saw the formation they were in. It was clear that while they were not attacking, they could really blow up the whole plant within seconds if they wanted to. "They're still scanning. They may have found the TARDIS, but they haven't found us." She said, hoping that they would find a way out of this. "We have got to be really careful. The Daleks will be looking out for anything that can lead them to us. So, no sonic and no vortex manipulator. And do not even think of trying to hack into the pathweb. That will be the biggest give away." Kari knew that the Doctor was considering it, because he wanted to know why they were after his Kari.
"But why?" The Doctor asked, looking at Kari. "Why do they want you? What is it they are after?" He just couldn't understand it. The Daleks had never shown that kind of interest in her before. Usually they just wanted to exterminate the pair, that was the normal plan from the Daleks. This was different, and it was unsettling for the Doctor.
"I really don't know, Doctor. This… this isn't something that I know about. This isn't one of those times where I know everything." And Kari really did hate those times so much. They seemed to be happening more frequently now, where she had no idea where they were or what was going to happen. These were the adventures she hadn't seen before, where even she was going in blind.
Suddenly, one of the screens flickered and a golden Dalek appeared on the screen. In fact, it appeared on every screen around them. "THIS IS A MESSAGE FOR THE DOCTOR AND KARI. WE KNOW YOU ARE THERE, WE HAVE THE TARDIS." It screeched, before moving to the side, revealing the blue box that they travelled in. "SURRENDER TO THE DALEKS OR YOU WILL BURN WITH THIS PLANET. YOU HAVE ONE EARTH HOUR." The screen then changed to a count down and a shiver went down Kari's spine.
"Oh, this is not good." She muttered, knowing that things were just going to get worse from here. "Their scans have come up with nothing so now they are threatening the whole planet, and that is very bad." Kari said, glancing at the Doctor who was running his hands through his hair.
Jack looked at her and then to the Doctor, not fully understanding. "Why?"
Kari let out a sigh as she watched her Doctor pacing a muttering to himself. "Because now he can only see two options. Save me, or save the Earth." She knew exactly what was running through his mind. He would offer himself up to the Daleks after using the vortex manipulator to send her away, hoping that it would be enough to stop the Daleks blowing the Earth to pieces. Or they could both surrender to the Daleks, to certain death.
"Come on, that is not what he is thinking." Jack said, a little unsure himself as he watched the Doctor pacing some more.
"It is. He doesn't know what to do." Kari replied, before going over to the Doctor and stepping in front of him. "Doctor, stop. We will deal with this, okay? We will stop the Daleks, like we always do. Okay?" She needed him to stop panicking and start to focus.
Finally he stopped and looked at her, before grabbing a hold of her and pulling her close. "What do they want, Kari? Why do they want you?" He asked, burying his face into her hair a little.
All she could do was sigh as she wrapped her arms around him. "I don't know, Doctor, I really don't." Kari told him, before having an idea, one that she knew the Doctor was not going to like. "I guess there really is only one way to find out." She said, before pulling away from him and heading over to one of the computers.
Both the Doctor and Jack came and stood behind her. "Uh, what are you doing there, Princess?" Jack asked, watching as she typed away furiously.
A slight grin spread across her face. "I am about to do something that neither of you are going to approve of." She said, before hitting the enter key on the keyboard in front of her. The countdown disappeared from the screen and instead they could see onto one of the Dalek ships. "Hello Daleks!" She called, "The Angel of Time here, I seek audience with you lot under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."
The Doctor was looking horrified at what she had just done. "Kari, what are you…" She quickly shushed him.
"Don't bother trying to track back the signal." Kari said, knowing that they were about to start doing that. "It's been looped through the time vortex and sent from a billion different locations. You want to find me, talk."
Suddenly the Dalek that had sent out the message appeared on the screen before them. "WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE FROM THIS?" The Dalek screeched.
"What do you want?" Kari asked simply. "I mean, yeah you want that Doctor dead, that's normal. But not me. Why?" She wasn't going to beat around, she was going to get straight down to business. It wasn't going to be long until they got a better track on their location, she knew that they were working on it.
"YOU ARE FILLED WITH ENERGY FROM THE TIME VORTEX."
Kari couldn't help but frown. "Yup, always have been, but you've never wanted me because of that before. Usually you want me dead as well." Something wasn't adding up, she just couldn't put her finger on it. "So, what's changed?"
The Dalek seemed to shift uncomfortably, if that was even possible. "WE REQUIRE… ASSISTANCE."
The trio stood there, stunned a little as they watched the screen. "I'm sorry, what?" Kari asked, unable to believe what had just been said. "You, the Daleks, require assistance? Assistance from me?" She wanted to laugh, but something was telling her that there was more to it. "You've got 50 rels. Explain." Kari knew that in about 200 rels they would have locked on to where they were, she wasn't going to risk it. She had to cut the connection by then.
"OUR POWER SOURCE IS FAILING. YOU WILL PROVIDE THE POWER FOR THE DALEKS."
That was not an answer that Kari had anticipated hearing. "Not going to happen. Bye bye." She said, before cutting the connection and watching as the countdown came back up on each of the screens. At least now they knew what they wanted, they had some insight into what the Daleks were up to.
When she turned to look at the Doctor she couldn't read the expression on his face, but she could feel everything he was feeling and thinking. He was angry, angry at her for contacting the Daleks, for essentially invoking parley with them. The Doctor was also scared, now they knew why they wanted Kari, and that was very bad.
"Doctor, listen to me, we know what they want now. Now we can fight them." She said, hoping that he would listen to her. "Clearly they are in trouble, especially if they need me to help them. I am not going to help them, not now and not ever, do you understand?"
All the Doctor could do was look at her and nod. His mind was still running through a thousand different things, and each one Kari could see. Even though he still had his mind closed off, she was getting everything, and it was starting to freak her out a little. Kari needed to forget about that, they had some Daleks to deal with first.
A/N: Things are going to start to change, but is it going to be a good change or not?
Recently, to help with my block, I've been watching a lot of the 10th Doctor. I guess it may have something to do with all the who news at the moment and all the filming that is going on. Either way, I have some big ideas for later on! I've gained inspiration from episodes, but I'm still struggling with some of my own creativity. Fingers crossed it will come back soon
A massive thank you to all who have left a review, I really do appreciate it. Thank you.
I'm going to zip it now and get back to work.
Until the next time...
Pippa.