A/N: Hey there everyone! It's been a little too long hasn't it? I'm really sorry, I've had Covid again so really haven't been able to focus on anything. However, I'm feeling better now and am trying to get myself back together properly. I have 3 more days at work before we finish for the summer so I will have a week or two coming up where I can really work on my stories. I'm looking forward to it. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

"Right, clearly this threat to destroy the Earth at the end of the countdown is a complete hoax." Kari announced, racking her brains and trying to find a way out of all this. "If they want me because their power source is failing, they are not going to have enough power to blow up the planet. So come on, what do we know about the Daleks and their power source?"

The Doctor just looked at her, he was still struggling to put everything all together. "Uh, when the Daleks first began they were powered by static electricity. Back on Skaro, in the Dalek city they needed static electricity."

Kari smiled at him as she watched his brain finally start to focus. "And they couldn't leave the city because of that. They moved on from that, didn't they? They added those dishes to their casing so that they could receive power that way." Even she was racking her brains trying to remember as much as she could about the early years of the Daleks.

"Solar. After that they went solar." The Doctor told her, trying to piece it all together himself. "The slats, they were essentially solar panels."

"Okay, so then what?" Kari asked, still going through everything she knew about the metal monsters. Then she felt a huge wave of fear wash over the Doctor and her eyes locked with his. Instantly she knew something was wrong. "Doctor?"

He gazed at her, the fear and worry visible in his eyes. "By the start of the Time War, they had adapted their technology again." He told her slowly, clearly struggling to get his words out. "Remember what happened at Torchwood, the battle between the Cybermen and the Daleks?"

Kari continued to gaze at him. She hadn't been there, but she knew exactly what happened. "Yeah, I… I know what happened…" She really wasn't liking where this seemed to be heading.

"They needed the touch of a time traveller to open the Genesis Ark." The Doctor said, now standing right in front of her, his hands lightly gripping the tops of her arms. He was trying so hard to keep himself together, but he was starting to struggle.

That was when it all clicked into place for her. "But that… that was just a safeguard. That was so that they couldn't open it, because they don't have the ability to touch." Kari was hoping that she was wrong, that both she and the Doctor were wrong.

The Doctor let out a sigh. "They use the residual energy of a time traveller, Kari. And there is no one else in the whole of time and space that is bursting with it more than you."

Jack was just standing there, watching the pair. He had no idea what to say at this point, he didn't even really know what to think of it all. From what he could understand the Daleks wanted Kari to use as a power source. But there was one thing that was still bothering him. "Why?" He asked, grabbing the attention of Kari and the Doctor. "What's wrong with the power source they have at the moment?"

None of them knew the answer to that, so Kari closed her eyes and tried to think of anything that could help them, anything she could think of at all. Jack was right, what was wrong with their current power source? Why was it failing? She couldn't make sense of it all.

Suddenly a vision appeared before her in her mind. Fire, everywhere there was fire. People were screaming and shouting. It was chaos. Kari looked at the scene closer, she could see weapons being discharged, Dalek weapons. It seemed like she was standing with them in the middle of a battle. Then there came a massive explosion, something so massive that the sight before her burned a blinding white. Everything turned to darkness, and Kari could on think of two words. "Time War." She muttered, her mind still completely elsewhere.

"What?" Jack asked, seeing the stunned expression on the Doctor's face. "Kari, what did you say?"

"The Time War." She muttered again, her eyes still closed. "They escaped, but with little power left. They're trying to find a way back, to rejoin the war. To win the war." That was what all the fighting was, they had come from the Time War and she was the only one who could get them back there, where they thought that they would win.

The Doctor was growing more worried by the second. Every time Kari spoke she seemed to reveal something new, something else that made him fill with fear. "Even now they still survive. Straight out of the Time War and here. Always surviving, always." It was clear from what he was saying that he was upset and disappointed. He had been fighting the Daleks for so long now and every time he thought he had seen the last of them, they just showed up again.

Kari knew how he was feeling and she knew that it was her turn to try and comfort him. "Yeah, but look at us. We always survive as well and we always beat them." She told him, hoping that this would be another one of those times. "Sometimes they get away, but that doesn't stop us. Okay? We will always be ready to fight the Daleks. Right?"

He looked at her, a whirlwind of emotions flooding through him. When did she become the logical one? When did Kari have to start reassuring him that everything was going to be okay? When did he become the one that did nothing but worry? He was starting to feel like their roles had reversed. Things were changing, and he wasn't sure that he liked it. "We need to find a way to stop them." He finally said, causing Kari to smile.

"And there's my sexy Time Lord." She said to him, enjoying the way he blushed when he processed her words. "Now come on, Daleks. What are we going to…" Kari trailed off as she suddenly noticed that familiar golden glow swirling around her hands. "Oh… this different." She announced, looking at her hands with a frown on her face. "This isn't…" Something wasn't right, it wasn't what she normally experienced. Both the Doctor and Jack were simply looking at her. "Doctor…" In a heartbeat he was there, holding onto her hands.

He could see that she was worried and trying her best not to panic. "Kari, I can't use the sonic, it will alert them to where we are." He said, before noticing that she was now gazing down at both their hands. The glow was spreading, now it wasn't just her hands that were surrounded by it, but the Doctor's as well. "Kari, what are you doing?" He asked her, now trying not to panic himself.

"It… it's not me. I'm not doing this." She replied. She couldn't understand it at all. Usually if she was going to be pulled away she would have such a terrible headache as well, but she didn't. Also, it had never spread to the Doctor before, and he had held onto her plenty of times in the past when she was about to be pulled somewhere else. So why was this so different? What was happening?

That was when Kari heard a familiar voice in her head. "It's me, my Angel." Kari closed her eyes tightly and focused only on the voice. "I'm bringing you home."

"Jack, get over here." Kari finally said, letting go of one of the Doctor's hands and reaching out. "Now."

There was a worried and concerned look on his face, he had no idea what was going on. "What are you doing? Can someone explain what is going on?" There was a hint of panic and frustration in his voice, nothing was making sense and no one seemed to have any answers.

The moment he was in reach, Kari took a hold of his hand, her eyes still tightly closed. "Okay, this isn't going to be pleasant, but I trust her, we are going to be fine."

Both the men looked at her, the confusion simply growing. "Trust her? Who is she?" The Doctor asked. Nothing was making sense, nothing about the Daleks, about why they wanted Kari, about what was going on. He didn't understand it and he hated it.

Kari finally opened her eyes and looked at him, a smile on her face. "Sexy." It was her who had spoken to her, it was her who was trying to protect her, just like she always does. "She's getting us home." She took a deep breath and felt the power from the vortex flood through her and spread to both the Doctor and Jack. It was slightly amusing for her, as she could feel their nervousness and anxiety about the whole event.

A few moments later, she heard that familiar hum which made her feel safe. "Oh, blimey, that was a bit rough." The Doctor called, blinking several times, now holding onto his head a little.

"Yeah, I won't be doing that again in a hurry." Jack said, pulling himself together.

Kari simply looked at them both. "And yet I feel perfectly fine." She had no headache, it had been a very painless and very smooth event for her, for a change. "I am glad to be here." As she said that there was a loud, happy humming from the TARDIS.

"I don't get it, what happened? How did we get here?" Jack asked, looking around and realising they were in the TARDIS.

Even the Doctor was looking at Kari, waiting for some kind of an explanation as to what had happened. She let out a sigh as she began wandering around the console, making a few adjustments. "Come on, I'm bursting with the Time Vortex, I'm connected to the TARDIS and we were in trouble. Or, more specifically, she knew that I was in trouble. She's trying to protect me, like she always does." She told them, now pulling the screen towards where she was standing. "Now, we have the TARDIS back. We have a better chance of fighting the Daleks. Because we have the advantage."

"What advantage?" Jack asked, wondering why the Doctor was being so quiet.

All Kari could do was roll her eyes at him. "They have no idea where we are. We are in the TARDIS, which is currently being held on a Dalek ship while they look for us." She explained, glancing over to the Doctor. She had noticed how quiet he was being as well, and she really didn't like it. "We can use technology now because we are totally shielded in here." Kari added, before stopping what she was doing and going over to the Doctor. She stood in front of him and looked at him. "Doctor?"

"How did you do that?" He finally asked, gazing down at her, his eyes boring into hers. "It isn't possible, you can't just do that. So how did you do it?"

Kari was taken back a little, it sounded like he didn't trust her. "I can honestly say I have no idea. I felt the time vortex, but I didn't have a headache. It didn't feel like it normally does, it felt really different. Then I heard her, in my mind, telling me that she was bringing me home. That is all I can tell you, Doctor."

The Doctor didn't know what to say, or what to do. Something wasn't right, and he didn't know how to fix it. "Nothing about any of this makes any sense. Ever since…" He trailed off, pulling his eyes away from hers and looking anywhere else in the TARDIS.

But she had caught on, and he made her worry more. "Since what, Doctor?" Kari asked, doing her best not to worry herself.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter." He told her, before dashing off towards the console.

Kari was quick to follow him, not willing to give up. "No, clearly it does matter. Come on, Doctor, whatever it is, we need to talk about it." He was keeping something from her and she needed to know what it was. "We promised, no secrets."

He looked at her and let out a sigh as he ran a hand through his floppy hair. "Since what happened on Terra Earth, things haven't been right. You haven't been right." He said, trying to hold back as much of his frustration as he could. "You know what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling, how? You know about the Daleks and where they have come from. How? How do you know all this? It just doesn't make sense!"

Kari took a step back and away from the Doctor. He was beginning to let his frustration out and she was the target. "Doctor, I really don't know, okay? I have no idea what is going on. I feel fine in myself, and you keep doing scans which are coming up with nothing. Have you ever thought, maybe, you're worrying over things that aren't really there?" She asked, trying to get him to calm down. This was the last thing that they needed to be dealing with. They were in the TARDIS on a ship somewhere in the middle of a fleet of Daleks. "I know that you are worried about me, but Doctor, you need to stop this. Please, you are scaring me with it all now."

When he looked at her, he could see the slight fear in her eyes. With a heavy sigh, the Doctor took a step towards her, hoping that she wouldn't retreat from him. Kari stayed exactly where she was, watching his every step. "Kari, I'm sorry." He told her, before reaching out and pulling her towards him. "Of course I'm worried. Nothing makes sense at the moment, I don't understand what's going on and I hate that." The Doctor admitted to her.

'I get it, I really do, but you have to stop." Kari replied, holding onto him just as tightly as he was holding onto her. "Once we have dealt with the Daleks you can do as many scans and tests as you want, but you need to stay focused. Please." There was a hint of desperation in her voice now. She needed her Doctor back, this man was worrying far too much and seemed to have very little trust in her. She did not like that at all.

Their embrace was interrupted when Jack suddenly called to them. "Uh, you may want to take a look at this." He said, gazing at the monitor, a worried look on his face.

The pair of them both rushed over and saw that the Daleks were trying to break into the TARDIS, and not for the first time either. The Doctor let out a sigh. "Don't they ever learn?" He asked, twisting a few knobs on the console while Kari flicked a few switches. "They'll never break through. Especially not with Kari in here."

Kari couldn't help but smirk at him a little. "Yes, because she will protect me, just like she did by bringing us all back here." If they had sent her away like they planned, then they would still be stuck on Earth and have no idea what to do next. They were lucky to have listened to her. "So, what are we going to do?"

There was a conflicted look on the Doctor's face. He knew what he had to do, he had to destroy the Daleks, to get rid of them, wipe them from the universe. But he knew that made him no better than them. So what was he going to do?

While he was busy thinking about the Daleks, Kari had slipped over to her brother. "Jack, you're going to have to help me with this one. The Doctor isn't focusing, plus I know what is going through his head right now, he can't make this choice. But I can." She whispered to him, knowing that there was only one thing that she could do.

"And what exactly is it that you can do?" Jack asked her cautiously, not sure he wanted to hear what she had to say. Things were bad enough already, and he knew that they were most likely about to get a hundred times worse.

"The Doctor can't do it, he can't wipe out the Daleks. Back on Satellite 5, with the delta wave, he couldn't do it. He would much rather be a coward." She said, remembering it, but not having been there just yet. "Wiping out the Daleks means he is no better than they are. He does it, then he is no longer the Doctor, he will lose all sense of who he is." Kari explained, glancing over at the Doctor and noticing that he was still struggling with his thoughts. "But I can do it."

The look on Jack's face was a mixture of surprise and horror. "What are you saying, Princess?" He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

She took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself. "I'm saying I'm going to wipe out every single one of these Daleks." Kari could tell by the look on her big brother's face that he had no words. "Jack, they make it, every single time, they always survive. The Doctor has suffered so much because of them, he has lost so much. I can't… I'm not going to let them get away, I'm going to make them pay for everything they have ever done." As she said that, she felt the time vortex flare a little, her anger starting to break through.

Jack had seen it as well, he had seen the slight glow around her eyes, the one he only ever saw when she was angry. He remembered the first time he had seen her eyes glow like that, the day that they first met. "Kari, you need to calm down." He said, dragging her to one side, out of view of the Doctor. If he saw the state she was getting herself into then it would just make matters worse. "Right now, neither you or the Doctor are thinking straight. Now, I don't know everything that is going on with you two, or what has happened, but you both need to pull it together." To him it seemed like there was a lot more going on than either of them was letting on. "What you are talking about is crazy. How are you going to defeat that many Daleks?"

All Kari could do was look at him, a blank expression on her face. "By giving them what they want." She told him, not a hint of emotion in her voice as she spoke. "They want the energy of the time traveller, fine, let them have it. The Angels wanted the power of the time vortex once. I gave them what they wanted. It didn't end so well for them." Kari said, recalling what she had done to those Weeping Angels. "It's not going to end so well for the Daleks either."

Her big brother stood there, staring at her, not really knowing what to say. It all just sounded ridiculous, it was a crazy plan that would never work. But yet, he trusted her, he had trusted her from the moment she had first appeared on his ship hundreds of years ago. Jack would do anything for her, for his Princess. But this, it just seemed far too risky. "You need to tell me more of this plan before I make a decision." He finally told her, hoping that with more information he would feel a little more at ease.

"I can overload the power source." Kari told him simply. "Blow the whole lot up. No more Daleks." She risked a glance at the Doctor, there was a frown on his face as he paced around the console. Her hearts sank when she felt how worried and conflicted he was. All Kari wanted to do was make everything better, to stop him from worrying and for him to be happy.

"Yeah, and how exactly are you going to do that?" Jack asked, seeing that she was getting distracted.

Kari kept her gaze on the Doctor. "I need to go out there, and you need to distract the Doctor." She replied quietly. "Get him away from the console, keep him somewhere else in the TARDIS, just get him out of here and keep him away. There is no way that he is going to approve of this plan, no way in hell he will let me go through with it if he knew. You have to keep him distracted."

There was a conflicted look on Jack's face now. "I don't know about this, Princess."

"Please, Jack. I can't let the Doctor keep burdening himself with this. The Daleks are one of his oldest and deadliest enemies. They have caused so much pain and grief for him. I have to do this. For him." She was desperate, she needed him to listen to her, to help her. Kari wanted to put an end to the Daleks for all they had done. "Please."

The look on Jack's face told her that he was thinking about it. He wanted to help her, and he knew that she would do anything for the Doctor. But was he willing to let her do this? He let out a reluctant sigh. "Okay, fine." He replied quietly. "I'll help you, but I swear, if anything happens to you…"

Kari couldn't help but smile a little. "The Doctor will be killing you until the end of time. I'll be fine, Jack. I promise. The Daleks need me alive, remember?" She was relieved that he had said yes, that he was going to help her. "I'll ask him to go make some tea, you go after him, keep him busy. Okay?"

Her big brother nodded at her, that unsure look still on his face. "Are you sure about this? This plan that you have told me absolutely nothing about. You're sure it's going to work?" He was letting her go through with it, only because he knew that there was no way he could stop her. She was doing this for the Doctor, there was no way anyone was going to be able to stop her.

"I am. I have to do this, Jack." Kari told him, before heading over to the Doctor. She stopped when she was standing beside him, the frustration and worry radiating off him. "Hey, come on. We will deal with this. Now I don't know about you, but I could really do with a cuppa." She told him, trying to be cheerful, to act as normal as she could. "How about you go and pop the kettle on, then we can work all of this out."

The Doctor looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Tea? We are facing the Daleks and you want tea?"

A sigh escaped her lips as she looked at him, her plan falling apart before it had even begun. "What else do you suggest, Doctor?" Kari asked, hoping that she could somehow still convince him. "You are stressed, worried and need to take a step back for a minute. Please, Doctor. We know that the Daleks haven't got the fire power to destroy the Earth. They are bluffing. You need to take a moment to refocus. Please."

Her eyes were pleading with him, and eventually he seemed to relent. "Okay. Maybe you're right. Tea. I'll just go and… tea." The Doctor said. His mind was clearly elsewhere, he was struggling to get his words together to form a sentence.

Kari smiled up at him. "Good. I'll meet you in the kitchen. And since Jack is here, why don't you get the posh biscuits out?" She said, before reaching up and giving him a quick peck on the lips.

She watched as he nodded at her before heading across the console room and disappeared down one of the corridors. A few moments later, Jack was following him after giving Kari a nod. Now she was on her own, it was time for her to put her plan into action. The TARDIS knew what she was up to, the magical ship was going to protect her as much as she could.

"Well, it's now or never." Kari told herself, straightening herself up and heading towards the TARDIS doors. "Wish me luck." There was a hum in response, and she knew it was time to head out.

After taking a deep breath, she reached out for the latch. She knew she had to do this, for the Doctor, for the Earth. She had to do this. Kari turned the latch and pulled the door open, plastering a huge smile on her face. "Well, hello. I believe you've been looking for me?" Kari said, being as confident as she could while facing many Daleks.

"STEP AWAY FROM THE TARDIS." One of them screeched as it rolled towards her a little.

"Um, no." She said, stepping fully outside of the box and closing the door behind her. Kari listened and heard it click and lock. The TARDIS was going into lockdown, keeping the Doctor and Jack inside while she was out there. "How about you all back away?" To her surprise they did as she asked. "That's better. Now then, would you like to tell me what is going on? Why are you lot so short on power?" Kari was doing her best to keep the confidence act up, to make it seem like she was in charge. She had to keep them scared of her.

There seemed to be some reluctance to answer from the Daleks, which was something new. Eventually, one of the oversize pepper pots decided to speak up. "OUR POWER CORE WAS BURNT UP AS WE ESCAPED YOUR SLAUGHTER. YOU WILL GIVE US THE POWER TO REJOIN THE TIME WAR. THE DALEKS WILL REIGN SUPREME AND WIN THE WAR."

Kari couldn't help but snort a little. "You really won't. What makes you think that I am going to help you?" She needed to do a little more digging, to find out If they really did have any leverage over her, which she very much doubted.

"IF YOU DO NOT ASSIST US THEN YOU WILL DIE. SO WILL THE DOCTOR." The Dalek replied.

"Yeah? And how are you going to do that? You don't have the power. The whole threat to blow up the Earth is nothing more than a bluff, because you don't have the power. If you did then you wouldn't need my help, would you?" There was something else, something she was missing, she knew there was.

"WE DO NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT POWER TO TIME TRAVEL. WE HAVE SUFFICIENT POWER TO INITIATE SELF DESTRUCT." Kari was sure she heard the smugness in its voice. Was a Dalek able to even be smug?

Self destruct. That was something that she had not considered. They weren't surrounding the planet to scan, they were surrounding it so that if they all went into self destruction, they would take the planet with them. Her plan was quickly starting to fall apart. "Okay, so what exactly do you need me to do to help you?" Kari asked, trying to form a new plan in her head as quickly as she could. There was no way she was going to retreat back into the TARDIS, she couldn't face the Doctor until she had dealt with this mess she had gotten herself into. There was no way he would understand. He would just shout at her, then hug her, then shout at her some more.

A/N: I do hope that you are all still enjoying the story. I know that my updates are not regular, and I promise I am trying to work on that. but know that I haven't abandoned this story.

A big thank you to everyone that has left a review, both on the recent chapters and past chapters. I really do appreciate it and when I get the notification I can't help but smile.

I hope to update again soon, so until the next time!

Pippa.