While The Doctor and John were busy down in Autopsy with Willows and her colleagues, Rose led the way into the labs. They were quite busy looking, yet the small group of Time Travellers were greeted by a lab technician.
"Hello? Can I help you?" He asked them.
"Oh, hi," Rose replied with her friendliest of smiles. "I thought you knew you would be expecting us." She said and felt a bout of confusion from him. "We are the experts that have been called in to understand why people are randomly dying. Two of our…colleagues…have joined a couple of yours at an Autopsy."
After Rose's explanation, the technician appeared to understand. "Oh, yes. We were told a couple of experts from England would be turning up." He said.
Rose continued smiling. "Yes, that would be us," she said. "I'm Rose, and these are the rest of our team. Jaime, Alexia and Storm." She introduced, listening as her three family members also said 'hello'. Then she held her hand out towards the Technician. "And you would be?" She asked.
"David Hodges," Hodges replied, shaking her hand. "Would you like to view all the evidence we've collected so far?" He invited.
Rose nodded her head. "Yes, that would be the idea." She replied.
Hodges led the group to his lab. Well, apart from Jaime who had been distracted by someone else since walking into the building and approached their lab. As for Rose, Alexia and Storm, when they followed Hodges into the lab they saw he was searching around for the evidence of the latest case he'd been working on.
"As a Trace Technician I can find the tiniest bit of evidence and work with it," Hodges explained. "It's usually easy. Except this time. It's like nothing I've ever come across. And the smell. It's an odd smell. Nothing I've ever smelled before." He found a Trace and Tox Report as well as well as a couple of images of the crime scene. "Here you go have a good look at these." He handed them over to Rose. "You lot are the experts, you figure it out."
While Rose took the reports, Storm took the photos and looked them over.
"How do you mean?" Alexia asked the CSI. "What was the smell like?"
Hodges just shook his head. "It wasn't anything I could ever recognise. It was the type of smell a laser makes, but more foreign, unusual."
Storm looked up from the crime scene photos with raised brows. "Do you happen to have an enhanced smell by any chance?"
Hodges looked at the boy. "Yes. Why do you ask?" He soon frowned when the boy began to grin.
"Then in that case you're one of the few humans on this planet to have such an ability as an increased olfaction. That's a rare thing to have." He noticed Rose shaking her head at him, while Hodges looked dumbfounded.
"Thanks…I think." He replied.
Rose went back to reading the Trace and Tox reports. They gave very few clues as to what happened to the victim as all they gave was a number of unknown variables.
"If I told you what a certain smell was, would you be able to recognise it?" Storm asked Hodges.
"Possibly." The CSI replied.
"Brilliant!" Storm exclaimed and put down the crime scene photos. "Did it, by any chance, have a similar smell to an electrical storm? Only not of this world?"
At this point, Hodges' eyes had widened. "Yes, it was exactly like that!" He proclaimed loudly. "It was like lightning, but not like it."
A groan came from Rose. "That wasn't a laser. That was an energy phaser or an energy beam. Gives off a strong electrical smell. There's only a few species that use it, but my one guess is Daleks."
Alexia gasped, eyes widening at the mention of something being Dalek related, while Storm could feel her fear. It was understandable really, considering she had yet to get involved with the Daleks. As for Rose, he could feel hatred and anger for the Daleks, and she had her reasons.
"Come on, Grandma, Daleks aren't the only species that use electrical energy. There's the Cybermen, Rutans, Sontarans…even the Ood when they're pissed off. What makes you think it's Daleks anyway? Aren't they gone?"
The angry scowl turned to him and Storm gulped when her eyes took on a hint of gold. "You know fine well Daleks are never truly gone," Rose scolded her Grandson. "Especially when The Doctor thinks the same thing." She could sense her Wife's panic and disbelief and when she asked her what was wrong she'd gotten a glimpse of The Doctor's thoughts as well as the discussion happening down in the Autopsy room.
"Excuse me, just a question," Hodges interrupted. "But what exactly is your line of work? What kind of experts are you?" He questioned. There was an awkward silence after that.
"Hold on, where's Jaime?" Alexia asked, breaking the silence and the tension. "I'll just go see where she is." And she quickly exited the lab. Why hadn't anyone noticed that her daughter hadn't joined them.
When everyone else went into Hodges' lab, Jaime followed the sound of faint music to somebody else's lab and stood outside their door, leaning against the door jamb. The young man was working, yet also dancing away. From what she could see his hair was brown, apart from the blonde streaks. It hadn't been the music that had caught her attention, but the wide open thoughts that were emitting from his Mind. Normally, Jaime only read the Minds of humans if needed. However, she rarely ever came across a human who was psychic. And he was broadcasting for all to hear. She wondered if he was ever confronted by alien beings?
Walking further into the lab, Jaime flicked her wrist and the music player switched off. "The answer is 'yes'." She spoke up. The young man was startled so much he dropped his work on the bench and whirled around, his eyes wide.
"What? Sorry…what the…" He spluttered.
"If you love her so much, and she loves you, then the answer is 'yes'. You should propose to her."
The young man gawped at her for a moment. "Sorry, but who are you?" He asked, still stunned.
"I'm Jaime," she replied with a smile. "I'm part of the team of experts from UNIT." She explained.
"Oh, right…" A puzzled feeling washed off him and then he narrowed his eyes at the odd Scottish girl. "I don't know you, so how do you know about my…"
"It's 'cause you're psychic ain't you," Jaime interrupted and stood by the bench looking at the young man. "CSI Greg Sanders. Apparently inherited from your Nana Olaf." Once again Sanders gawped, his mouth wide open. "I could hear you from all the way down the corridor, despite the music playin'."
A look of understanding appeared on Greg's face when he realised how and why the Scottish girl knew what he was thinking. "Oh, you're psychic aswell!?" He said and couldn't understand why the girl had started laughing.
"Och, no, no, no," Jaime shook her head. "I'm more than just psychic." She started walking around the lab, looking at certain things that interested her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sanders asked.
Jaime just shook her head. "Nothin' for you tae worry 'bout," she told the CSI. "You, however, should be very worried." She said, turning her attention back to Sanders. Several emotions were washing off him now.
"Are you threatening me?" He asked, sounding very nervous.
The Scots-girl shook her head. "No, not at all. It's just that you're broadcastin' a wee bit too loudly. It wouldnae be surprisin' if all those Unidentified Flyin' Objects that visit this State were 'cause of you."
Greg was getting increasingly confused. "Broadcasting? UFO's?" He said, not just nervous but also scared. This girl who claimed to be from UNIT knew what he was thinking and was now speaking a bunch of nonsense. "I'm sorry, I don't quite understand." He said.
Groaning in frustration, Jaime approached the bench, placed both hands on the worktop while leaning forward and stared back at Sanders. "You're psychic, but you're broadcastin' your thoughts very loudly. And it's only goin' tae bring a ton of danger if you dinnae sort it out soon."
Sanders stared back at Jaime, noting her naturally pale skin, her deep dark eyes and her Raven coloured hair. There was something seriously mysterious about the girl and he just couldn't figure out why. Then he realised he was still thinking and that she could hear everything he was thinking about. The CSI blushed and looked away. "What am I supposed to do then?" He asked. "If I'm apparently broadcasting, then what do you suggest?"
A wide smile appeared on Jaime's face and she stepped away from the bench. "Now you're askin' the right questions," she replied. "You need tae train your Mind, keep it protected and quieten your thoughts." She could have easily helped him herself by using her own powers, but she barely knew the young CSI and didn't trust him. Not to mention he was American and they get easily paranoid at the best of times. They were also a God fearing nation. "An hour or two of meditation every day should help."
Before Sanders had the chance to reply, the door of his lab opened and Alexia walked in. "There you are, my Little Time Lady!" She spoke out and Jaime blushed. "What are you doing in here?" She asked.
"Just talkin' to Greg. Why?"
"Because we need to join the others. It's serious."
Jaime perked up at this. "How serious?" She asked.
"Very." Came the reply.
"Okay." The Scots-girl muttered and followed her mother out if the lab.
Sanders watched the door close, then sighed and shook his head. That had to be one of the strangest moments he'd ever had. Before going back to work he switched the music back on and returned to the bench, wondering why the woman had looked so familiar.
On the way back to Hodges' lab, Jaime turned her attention to her mum. "So has somebody worked it out then?" She asked. "'cause people dinnae just mysteriously die. There's got tae be a reason why. It's probably aliens, it's usually is anyway." A grunt came from Alexia and Jaime frowned. "Ma'?" She inquired.
"Rose thinks it might be The Daleks." Alexia replied.
"Wha'?" Jaime gasped out and stopped walking, her eyes wide. "No way!" She uttered. The last time any of them had confronted a Dalek or several thousand was when the Earth had been stolen. And for herself that had been a long time ago. Daleks never seemed to truly die out.
Alexia silently nodded her head, while Jaime realised she could sense a feeling of fear and trepidation from John. Did that mean he and The Doctor had also figured out it was the Daleks? "Och, no!" The Scots-girl uttered and hurried over to the other lab where she spotted them, along with Willows taking a call, returning from the Autopsy room. "Is it actually the Daleks?" She asked, eyes still wide.
J.D sensed her fear and revulsion for the screaming pepper-pots and put his arm around her shoulders.
"I don't know," The Doctor replied, looking at Jaime. "What do you think? Can you tell or see anything?"
Looking over at her Space-Mum, Jaime understood what she was asking. "I dinnae know," she replied. "There is an odd sense of danger though. Sort of like an impendin' doom. But I dinnae think its related."
"Hmmm…" The Doctor grunted and walked into Hodges' lab, where she was followed in by Jaime, John and Alexia. There they found the strange sight of Rose having a heated argument with Storm while Hodges tried and failed to calm them down. He himself looked quite flustered. "What's going on on?" Asked The Doctor.
Both Storm and Rose turned to her. "I was just telling her that not everything alien has to be Dalek. They're gone and what's happening with these people might be something else." Storm said.
"And I keep telling him that Daleks are never gone. There's always a small faction of them somewhere in the Universe." Rose argued.
An exasperated sigh came from The Doctor. "Rose is right," she said. "The Daleks always survive in some way."
"So it is Daleks?" Alexia asked in confirmation, bouts of worry were coming from her.
"It looks that way," John answered her. "The way those organs were cooked suggest it was them."
"And then there's the smell." Storm added causing The Doctor to frown.
"What smell?" She asked and Storm turned to Hodges. "Go on, tell her what you could smell!"
Hodges became flustered for a moment until Jaime told him to calm down. He did and then told The Doctor and J.D what exactly he smelled at the crime scenes. Alexia noticed the Time Lord had a fascinated expression on her face and she couldn't understand why, as people had died.
"Oh, you have Hyperosmia!" She stated. "No human is ever able to smell something as otherworldly like an energy beam." The excitement was followed by a cold looking scowl. "That tears it. Because now we definitely know it's the Daleks. All we got to do now is find out where they're hiding."
The Doctor paced angrily while muttering, until she was disturbed by the lab door opening and Willows poking her head in. "We've got another call out," she said. "Another mystery death. Same M.O."
This news brought The Doctor to a halt and she grinned widely at the lead CSI. "Result!" She cried out. "Let's go."
The Time Travellers all jumped into Willows' SUV and on their way to the scene the Lead CSI explained that the new incident happened in the Summerlin District that was Western Vegas. The scenery flew by as they raced to the incident. Once they got there the police presence was noticeable and people were out on the street trying to see what was going on.
When she stepped out of the SUV, Alexia was hit by a wave of heat from the Sun, then she looked around at her surroundings in fascination. She couldn't believe she was standing on a suburban looking street somewhere in Las Vegas. In fact she couldn't believe she was actually in the United States without the hassle of Passports or Visas. And oddly enough this street looked exactly like the type of street seen in the movie 'Fright Night' with David Tennant and Colin Farrell. She felt a hand on her arm and looked around to see Jaime looking at her with concerned expression.
"Mum?" She asked.
"I'm in America!" Alexia exclaimed in wonder.
"Aye, so you are!" Jaime uttered, a hint of a smile on her face.
"Have you been here before?" Alexia asked her daughter.
"Aye, lots of times," Jaime mumbled but didn't say anymore about it. "C'mon!"
Mother and daughter walked over to a house where the incident happened and entered it. Having never been in an American house before, Alexia was surprised to find every room looked quite spacious. Twice as big as British house rooms. The sound of sniffling caught her attention and she looked into what appeared to be a sitting room, though it was probably called something else, and saw a five or six year old boy being comforted by an adult, a Police Officer. She wanted to see if the boy was okay, except she found herself being pulled towards a kitchen/Dining room combo.
Once they'd joined everyone else, Jaime let go of her mum and observed the scene before her. Lying on the wooden floor of the kitchen was a woman somewhere between her thirties and fifties with chestnut coloured hair. She'd obviously hit the floor hard because there was a pool of dark coloured blood under her head that was mostly congealed. The expression on the poor woman's face was one of horror. Apparently she'd seen something horrific before she'd died.
There was a young female CSI in her early twenties taking pictures of the evidence with the help of another CSI in her late twenties. Reading their Minds, Jaime found out the young girl was Lindsey Willows, Lead CSI Willows' daughter. The other woman was Morgan Brody, the very person who had been on CSI Sanders' Mind.
"What have we got? Is there a witness this time?" Jaime heard Willows ask somebody and looked around to find she was talking to a male Police Detective. Reading his Mind she found his name was Conrad Ecklie, the father of Morgan.
"Well, yes we do. Except the child is too traumatised to even speak. Neighbours heard screaming, followed by the sound of a faint bang or explosion. By the time they arrived it was already too late."
With the wave of surprise coming from Willows, Jaime realised there was new info.
"She was shot?" Willows asked, hopeful they were finally getting somewhere.
However Ecklie sighed and shook his head. "If only it were that simple!" He said. "No, this death is just like all the others."
The Doctor had spotted a black charred mess on the kitchen floor that was being seen to by another CSI. At first he took several images of it, followed by taking some scrapings for evidence. "What's that all about?" The Time Lord pointed out. "Does that usually happen?" A random charred spot certainly had her feeling suspicious.
"It's happened at every incident," Willows answered The Doctor. "Somebody dies in mysterious circumstances and there's always a charred spot on the floor. At first we thought that was the spot they'd died on, except we found one in a different room away from the victim. And it seems all the deaths are instant."
"Which is why we called in Experts from UNIT," Ecklie spoke up. "Which I take is you lot I expect." He added, looking over at the Time Travellers.
"Yep, that would be us,"The Doctor replied. "When humans become flummoxed over a problem they always call in the professionals." She turned her attention to Ecklie. "The young witness through there…" She nodded at the sitting room. "Is he free to speak?"
Ecklie shook his head. "Not unless he has a family member or a Guardian present." The detective said.
The Doctor groaned in frustration while Jaime heard the meow of a cat. Looking around she saw a beautiful Maine Coone walking in through the open back door before jumping up onto the kitchen bench. She could feel it's anxiety and wariness over having strangers in its home. "What if the boy wasnae the only witness?" Jaime inquired.
"What?" Ecklie muttered and she pointed at the cat. "Oh, god!" The Detective uttered out and pulled a tissue from his pocket before placing it over his nose. Poor Ecklie was allergic to cats.
"What does it matter," Willows said. "A cat can't tell us anything."
Jaime smirked at this. That was where Willows was wrong. "Hey, you!" The Scots-girl called to the cat, approaching it. The cat looked up at her, it's green eyes full of suspicion.
"Yes?" It meowed back and sat on the bench facing her.
"Did you see what happened here?" Jaime asked.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch Jaime as she meowed at the cat. "What the hell is she doing?" A dumbfounded Willows asked.
"My daughter has the ability to talk to animals." Alexia proudly stated and began to translate to the humans what was being said between Jaime and the cat.
"Oh my. Yes," the cat meowed back in such a lazy way. "The human female slave had bought a robot toy for the human boy slave. He wound it up and it suddenly started attacking everyone with laser beams."
Jaime looked grim at what the male cat told her, and especially ignored the use of the word 'slave'. It was easily forgivable as all cats thought that way. "What did this robot look like?" She questioned next.
"It looked like a dustbin with a dome head and bumps," the cat answered her. "One arm looked like a whisk, and that was where the laser came from, and the other arm was a plunger. It had a stalk sticking out of its dome."
A shiver came from Jaime at the cat's description of the so-called toy, and she could feel horror, anger, fear, revulsion from everyone in the room. The cat had given a perfect description of a Dalek, but it had long gone. "Did you see where it went?" Jaime further questioned.
"No, sorry," the cat replied. "I was out of here the minute it started shooting."
Letting out a sigh, Jaime thanked the cat, gave his head a good rub and finally turned to everyone else, doing her best to ignore the gawping from the Crime Scene Investigators.
"I can't believe we just got an eyewitness report from a cat!" Lindsey Willows spoke first in disbelief.
A groan came from Ecklie. "A boy too traumatised to speak and a feline witness. This is hardly going to stand up in court. If it ever gets to court." He grumped.
"Do cats usually stand up?" J.D cheeked and the detective glared at him.
"Never mind all that," The Doctor spoke before an argument could ensue. "We've got a missing Dalek toy on the loose." Everyone became very wary and started looking under or behind the furniture for the wayward toy Dalek, while The Doctor pulled her Sonic from her pouch and began scanning.
"What's that?" CSI Brody asked when she saw the Screwdriver.
"Sonic Screwdriver." Answered the Doctor as she neared the charred patch.
The Time Lord passed the Screwdriver over the patch and stopped when the instrument reacted to it. "Oh!" The Doctor exclaimed. "It appears I've solved the mystery charred patch," she spoke. "The toy Dalek blew itself up, there's remnants of biological matter as well as bits of polycarbide." She noticed Jaime had been staring at it the whole time she'd been using her Sonic. "What did you see?" The Doctor asked her daughter, putting her hand on her shoulder to rouse her.
Jaime gasped and looked up at her Space-Mum. "It wasnae attackin' like a Dalek usually does. It was random, unco-ordinated, almost like it couldnae see where it was goin'. I think it was meant tae kill everyone in the household before blowin' itself up."
The feeling of annoyance could be felt from Detective Ecklie. "Oh, that's all we need," he growled. "Somebody's building toy bombs." He complained.
"Does anyone know if any toy shops have opened recently, or maybe been taken over?" The Doctor enquired. Luckily she was provided with a quick answer by Willows the younger.
"There has, yes!" She spoke. "There was one recently opened up at the Centennial Hills Shopping Precinct. It's really popular."
The Doctor grinned. "Brilliant, thank you." She said to the young CSI. Now they knew where to start their actual investigation.
One quick trip over to Centennial Hills Shopping Precinct later and the Time Travellers were stood outside the most popular toy shop in Vegas. The Precinct had long since been evacuated for safety purposes which just left themselves and several Police Officers hanging about. The Doctor had told them not to go barging in considering Daleks were very dangerous creatures. Ecklie had grumbled something about 'aliens not being real', which got him an incredulous glare from all the Time Travellers. In a bid to keep Ecklie and his officers away from danger, the Doctor suggested she give him a signal if he was needed. Luckily Ecklie agreed and let them get close to the toy store.
Looking up at the sign, The Doctor frowned. "Baxton Toys," she read. "Why does that name sound familiar?" She wondered, though she had her suspicions.
"You're not the only one!" J.D agreed as he too realised it felt familiar. However, it had been a long time since he had come across a surname like that.
"Knowing you, Doctor, it's probably another one of your enemies." Rose quipped.
"Hmmm…" The Doctor grunted with a nod. Several times The Master…or at one point 'Missy'…had turned up in their lives, yet Rose had been brilliant when dealing with him/her.
"Right, I suppose we should go in." J.D prompted and a nervous Alexia nodded. So the Time Travellers entered the shop and those with Sonics took them out and began to scan for anomalies and alien signals.
As Alexia was looking around at the homely looking toy store it began to remind her of another toy store from her old Universe and a City she sorely missed. It was called 'Joseph's' and she'd spent many hours of her Saturdays in that shop as a child. It was popular than a chain store but she was saddened when it closed for the final time in late 1997.
"What are you thinkin' of?" Jaime asked from beside her mum, making her jump and yell in shock. The Doctor, J.D and Rose all hushed her. "Sorry." Jaime apologised to her mum. "It's just that you were curious at first until you suddenly became sad."
Alexia sighed. It was hard to hide anything from her daughter. "Oh, it was nothing." She dismissed at first. "I was just thinking about a different toy shop back home. It was just as popular as this place apparently was."
Jaime frowned thoughtfully. "What was it called?" She asked.
"Joseph's," Alexia answered. "It closed the same year you were born so you'll not remember it."
"I take it that toy shop has a long history though?" Jaime continued to question and Alexia nodded her head.
"Oh, indeed. A VERY long history. Opened in the 1800's at one point it got bombed out during the Blitz."
Jaime raised her brows at this. Despite the Time Lord part of her Mind having extensive knowledge of a World War Two, the Scots-girl was actually quite surprised. "I thought it was just London that got bombed?" Jaime queried.
A grim smile appeared on Alexia's face and she looked at her daughter. She hadn't had much education so it was obvious Jaime didn't know. Regret washed off her in waves making Jaime narrow her eyes. Just what was it that her mum regretted.
"No, it wasn't just London," Alexia answered Jaime. "It was towns and city's that had shipyards. And Sunderland was a shipbuilding town at the time it too got bombed by the Germans."
"Oh, wow!" That was one bit of history about World War Two she never even knew about.
As for the rest, she definitely knew about. One time she stood alone on a hillside overlooking a German death camp. She would never ever forget the feeling of desperation, hopelessness and despair that came to it, the smell of burning that lingered in the air, the constant ash that rained down like snow. With a shudder, Jaime grunted and shook the memories away before hugging her mum.
Puzzled, Alexia hugged back. Meanwhile, J.D looked over at them with a sad expression on his face. The Half-Time Lord had sensed what Jaime had been thinking about.
The sound of a Sonic Screwdriver's warbling tone changed frequency, which was followed by the sound of a door clicking open and a cry of 'Result!' from The Doctor.
"What have you found?" Rose asked as she joined The Doctor.
"This. It's a hidden doorway." She answered Rose.
They were soon joined by J.D, Storm, Jaime and Alexia. The woman looked into the open doorway and noticed it led down into a basement.
"There's somethin' down there," Jaime spoke up. "I can feel it."
"Oh, aye, most likely the obvious." The Doctor uttered as she peered down the stairs. It was a good thing they were illuminated because she really didn't like jump scares.
"You think there might be Daleks down there?" Alexia asked, sounding nervous.
"Very much so!" The Doctor answered her and then turned towards her. "Are you okay, Lexy?" She asked.
Alexia snorted and gave The Doctor an incredulous expression. Here they were, about to step into terrible danger and The Doctor was asking if she was okay. "No, I'm not!" She replied. "Not in the slightest. But the sooner we do this, the better. There's Daleks down there. Real actual Daleks. So scary that they were the number one favourite 'Doctor Who' alien villain in our old Universe. Everyone loved them." She looked around at everyone. "I'm scared but I want to go down there. Does that sound mad to you?"
Jaime shook her head and took a hold of her mam's hand. "First time I faced the Daleks I was scared too." She said.
"No, it's not mad at all." The Doctor told her. "C'mon then."
The group of Time Travellers began to walk down the stairs towards the basement.
With the Doctor leading the group she was the first to reach a door to a room. Trying said door, she found it was locked. But that was okay because the Sonic soon made short work of the lock, then the Doctor twisted the handle and opened the door. It squeaked, causing several winces and gasps. They waited for all hell to break loose but nothing happened. Looking back at her fellow Time Travellers with raised questioning brows, The Doctor expected somebody to ask her something. All she got was a shrug from J.D.
So with hearts thundering away in her chest, the Time Lord turned back to the door, took a deep breath and fully opened it. After taking a few tentative steps inside, The Doctor stopped. From what she could see, the room was rather large. Too big for a normal room, which led The Doctor to believe it wasn't part of the building. The lights in the room were at their dimmest and despite her good eyesight it was hard to see anything inside…apart from several faded blue lights.
A scowl of Oncoming Storm proportions appeared on The Doctor's face and she walked further into the room, her Sonic held out in her hand. "Lights up!" She snarled, aware that everyone else had followed her in.
The lights in the room brightened, revealing the room's occupants. Eight very dangerous Daleks. And they were all looking at the Time Travellers. A fearful sounding gasp emitted from Alexia once she peered out from behind the Half-Time Lord. She couldn't believe she was stood in a room full of the Universe's most homicidal creatures, the Daleks. They weren't remote controlled, they weren't operated by people inside them, nor were they voiced by a man with a voice synthesiser. They were REAL…LIVING…DALEKS!
But she soon frowned when she noticed something off about them. They all looked well and truly battered in some way. One of them was missing a light on it's dome, another was missing some of its bumps and a couple of panels, a third had a dent or two, along with wires poking out of a rather large crack. All of them had some serious damage to them, almost like they'd been involved in a fight…a skirmish…a war… Alexia's eyes widened at that last thought. Surely not! Surely they couldn't have come from the Time War. Could they?
"ALERT, ALERT!" Cried one of the Daleks causing Alexia to squawk and hide behind J.D. They were bloody well loud and sounded a lot different than their TV counterparts. "INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS!"
"INTRUDERS WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" Cried out another Dalek as it moved closer to them.
"Daleks! Stop right there!" The Doctor called out and the Dalek stopped moving. Now they were just stood there, waiting for the next move.
"Doctor, what's wrong with them?" Rose asked from beside her. "I've never seen such a sorry lot of Daleks before. I mean, they look even worse than Rusty was and that one in Utah."
The Doctor looked at Rose with a smile before looking back at the Daleks with narrowed eyes. "Good thinking, Rose," she replied. "They do look a bit…worn out."
"There's somethin' not right 'bout them." Jaime spoke up, frowning at the Daleks. They were giving her some serious heebie-jeebies.
"How do you mean?" Alexia asked her daughter.
"Daleks have nearly all their emotions stripped from them, apart from hate. A million Daleks expressin' their hatred ain't a nice feelin'," Jaime explained and shuddered at the memory of how much it hurt. "But with these…they're just…odd." Is all she could come up with. Odd Daleks were a first for her.
"WHO ARE YOU?" The Dalek with the missing light asked and Alexia couldn't help noticing it sounded like it was… Perhaps a tad intimidated in some way? Nervous or panicky even?
"Oh, there's definitely something wrong with them," John uttered. "Daleks don't normally asks questions."
"Unless they're interrogating people." The Doctor added, glaring coldly at The Daleks.
"And they don't normally sound petrified while asking the question!" John also added, giving a quick glance at The Doctor. He could sense her revulsion towards the Daleks which would probably give him an understanding as to why she hadn't noticed it herself. Even as a female, the Doctor was still as hotheaded as ever when it came to The Daleks.
"Petrified?" The Doctor looked at him before turning her cold gaze back on the Daleks. "Since when has a Dalek ever been petrified of anything? They're cold blooded murderers."
A shiver ran through Alexia as she stepped out from behind J.D and looked at The Doctor. The room had taken on a significant chill and she noticed The Doctor was still holding out her Screwdriver towards the Daleks. Alexia had never thought she'd be present when The Doctor went all 'Oncoming Storm' and it was a little bit scary. She was just so angry. Of course, she was just protecting her family from a horde of Daleks. Not to mention they were the whole cause of the Time War and Gallifrey's demise, albeit temporary.
"I'm The Doctor," the Time Lord finally answered the Daleks with a snarl. "What are you lot doing here?"
"THE DOCTOR?" The Dalek with the most dents in its casing questioned. It stared at the Doctor and trundled forward until she pointed her Sonic at it. "IMPOSSIBLE!" It then stated. "THE DOCTOR IS KNOWN IN THE DALEK DATABASE AS A HUMANOID MALE IN APPEARANCE," it continued. "AND NOT A MEMBER OF THR WEAKER INFERIOR SEX!"
A snort of disgusted disbelief came from Alexia after this was said. "For the love of Sanity!" She cried out. "Who knew sexism was rife on Skaro!" She rolled her eyes and then yelped as John quickly pulled her behind him.
"Hush." The Doctor admonished her without even looking at her. Her attention was completely focused on The Daleks and didn't appear fussed about the 'weaker sex' comment.
Rose, on the other hand, was different. "You're not actually going to let them get away with that are you?" She asked The Doctor.
Sighing, the Doctor fully turned her attention to Rose, lowering her arm that held the Screwdriver. "Rose Tyler, if I got offended by every silly remark thrown at me I wouldn't get much work done." She explained to her bond-mate.
"Uhh, Doctor," John called. "Trouble!"
With a frown at her brother, she noticed his wide-eyed look, then she looked over at the Daleks. All of them were visibly shaking in their casings in a violent way. "What the…" She muttered in confusion.
"IT IS THE ABOMINATION!" One of the Daleks cried out in a panic and the Time Lord finally noticed it sounded really terrified.
"Oh, come on!" The Doctor groaned. "You fail to recognise me but you recognise Rose? She doesn't even look the same!"
But the Daleks were barely listening anymore. They had moved around the Time Travellers, surrounding them and still shaking violently. "EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE…" All the Daleks cried out at the same time.
Jaime pushed her mum and J.D behind her and was about to give the Daleks a good kicking, until there was a blur of movement, the whiff of kinetic energy and everyone's hair was fussed by wind. Mere seconds later Storm appeared beside Jaime with a shit-eating grin on his face. He dropped several gun arms at his feet with a noisy clunk.
"What the hell was that?" Alexia asked, eyes wide.
"Och, you're a Speedster!" Jaime exclaimed in disbelief. That would mean one of his parents had superpowers and at this point could be damn near anybody!
"And he's just disabled all the Daleks." John added in amazement.
The group of Daleks, now minus their gun arms, looked around at each other as if to say they were confused.
"Oh, aye, Storm can be handy when it comes to needing things done quickly." The Doctor uttered with a grin.
The sound of a door squeaking open on the other side of the room caught their attention, and a woman with ginger hair, green eyes and over the top clothing stepped out, looking around. "What's going on here?" She asked, her Scottish accent prominent.
The Doctor groaned when she saw the ginger woman, while Rose sighed in exasperation.
"Not you again!" She muttered.
"Flippin' 'eck. I should've known!" The Doctor spoke up. "What are you doing here, Rani?" She questioned. "Don't think you can pull the wool over my eyes like you've done with these Daleks. They're likely to turn on you in a blink of an eye."
The Rani, apparently in a new incarnation, glared at The Doctor. "What are you blabbering about now woman?" She demanded.
"Forming an unholy alliance with the Daleks," The Doctor replied and approached the other Time Lady. "It's never going to end well." She ignored the Daleks as they fearfully scooted away from her. Then to her complete bemusement, The Rani suddenly let out an amused laugh.
"Wait just a wee minute!" Jaime interrupted. "That's The Rani?" She asked. The last time she'd seen The Rani was when she'd been turned into a human with the use of the Chameleon Arch. It was basically to keep her safe and away from the Time War. Now she was somehow back to being a Time Lady again in a different incarnation.
The Rani looked over at her and Jaime felt confusion washing off her. "You know fine well who I am, Omni," she answered the Scots-girl. "After all, it was you and your pet Hybrids who returned me back to my Time Lady self."
The Doctor silently shook her head, knowing the full story of why she'd been turned human in the first place.
"You even saw me regenerate!" The Rani added.
Eyes widening at this, Jaime knew she'd be helping The Rani at some point in their future. She even promised it. But to be there when The Rani regenerated. That had to be serious!
"Alright, that's enough, Rani," J.D spoke up, ignoring her glare from the Time Lady. "Don't say any more or you'll make things worse."
The Rani huffed and put her hands on her hips while continuing to glare at the Half-Time Lord.
"We actually havnae done any of what you said yet," Jaime explained. "We're from the past."
When The Rani took a closer look at Jaime, her mother and J.D, she saw that the girl was indeed telling the truth. They really were from the past. "Oh, are you still travelling through The Doctor's timeline?" She queried.
"Aye," Jaime nodded. "We were meant tae go back tae our own timeline, but we found ourselves here instead." And she had a good guess why they were here.
A very confused Alexia looked from her daughter to the next incarnation of The Rani, wondering why they were so friendly with each other. Then she looked over at John who looked just as equally confused. He even shrugged his shoulders.
"As for the Daleks," The Rani continued her conversation with The Doctor. "I'm not 'in league' with them," she smirked at the Time Travellers and leaned against a Dalek, tapping the dome of its head with her fingers. "They're my pets." Just as she had anticipated there was uproar from The Doctor and her weird family.
"Rani you flippin' radge," The Doctor cried out. "Only you would turn a bunch of dangerous creatures into mere pets."
The Rani rolled her eyes. "Hardly dangerous," she said. "I disabled their weaponry long ago," she looked over at Storm. "So there was no need for your freaky family member to take their toys off them." She had the satisfaction of wiping the stupid grin off his face.
"Where did you get these Daleks from anyway?" A curious Rose asked.
Still smirking, The Rani answered with; "Och, a couple are Time War strays found wandering the Universe and the rest are from the Dalek Asylum." And before she could be further interrupted by The Doctor she continued on. "I'm performing a study on them, considering I never got to take part in the Time War…" She rolled her eyes. "…on how their Minds were affected by it. And to also pick them, see how they tick."
Waves of disgust was felt throughout the room. "So basically you're just experimenting on them?" Alexia asked in disgust. "That is so you!"
"Thank you." The Rani replied, taking Alexia's words as a compliment.
The woman just groaned and turned away with a shake of her head.
"What about those toy Daleks?" Rose further questioned The Rani. "What's with them?"
The smirk on The Rani's face became even wider. But to the Time Travelling family it just looked like the grin of a mad scientist. "Those aren't toys. They're my wind up Daleks," she explained. "Using their biological DNA I created my own version of Daleks but they only grew to the size of a small jellyfish. So I copied their travel machines and put them in it. I needed to see how well they worked so I distributed a couple of them out. I still have to work out the kinks, like their blindness and their inability to finish a full task. But I'll get there in the end!" She sighed in exasperation while the Time Travellers stared in silent disbelief at the mad scientist.
"Bloody hell, you're utterly despicable, Rani. Just downright bloody bonkers!" An angry John said, glaring at The Rani.
"I thought Davros was bad, but along comes somebody just as worse!" The Doctor spoke up. "Stop this, Rani, at once. Before you find yourself out of your depth and facing charges from the Shadow Proclamation."
But The Rani snorted and pushed herself away from the Dalek she had been leaning on. "Pah, you know fine well they can't touch me. We Time Lords have our own rules. And I'm not finished perfecting my research yet. I've still got lots of test subjects to use my creations on."
Alexia let out a disbelieving laugh and a shake of her head. Didn't she realise she was killing, no, murdering innocent people? Then she noticed Jaime taking several steps towards The Rani, a look of anger on her face.
"Do as you're told, Rani," she ordered the mad scientist Time Lady. "Pack up and go. You've got the whole of Las Vegas in a panic, not tae mention the police are waitin' outside. And they tend tae shoot first and ask questions later."
Silence descended on the room as The Rani and Jaime stared each other out. John, Alexia, Rose, Storm and The Doctor expected Jaime to back down.
Yet to their surprise it was The Rani who looked away first. "Oh, fine. I'll leave. But I'm not done with my research just yet." She moaned.
"Whatever, just take your Daleks and leave," Jaime snapped. "C'mon. We're leavin'." And she turned away to exit the room, continuing to surprise her family. They followed the Scots-girl until they were back in the shop.
"What the hell was that?" An amazed Alexia questioned her daughter.
"How do you know she'll do what you asked her?" The Doctor also questioned her daughter.
"Because she will." Jaime replied.
"It's The Rani. Why should you trust someone who spends half her life experimenting on sentient creatures!" John asked.
Before The Omni had the chance to reply there was a loud hum and a gust of temporal wind. When the hum faded, Rose looked through the doorway they had just exited from and saw it was just a regular old stockroom. Full of empty boxes. "She's gone!" She said.
"Really?" The Doctor asked and peered into the room with John, Alexia and Storm.
"I told you so, didn't I!" Jaime muttered. "Now we got tae tell Detective Ecklie the store is clear."