Wherever You Go

by hunterofartemis080

A new regeneration of the Doctor brings him and Adelaide closer than ever before. An old friend follows them throughout the universe, watching their relationship resurge. It appears as though the stars have finally begun to align, but is everything really as simple as it appears? Sixth in the Crossed Stars. Time Lady - 12/OC

4. Show Them Right

Show Them Right

"Oh my God," Clara made a face as the antibodies started to suck up the ashes. "What's it doing?"

"The hoovering," the Doctor said simply. The antibodies, once they'd finished, flew away and the Doctor pulled out his sonic, checking it. "Gotcha."

"What did you give him?"

"Oh, just a spare power cell," the Doctor shrugged, "but I can track the radiation signature. We need to know where they dump the bodies."

"I thought you were saving him," Journey said.

The Doctor shrugged. "He was dead already. I was saving us." He moved backward. "Follow us and run." The Time Lords took off running, hearing the others following and antibodies behind them. They followed the sonic, stopping quickly when they found a hole. "They've dumped him in here. Organic refuse disposal. We need to get in there."

Clara frowned. "Why?"

The soldiers attempted to shoot at the antibodies, though it wasn't that effective. "Those antibodies won't give up until we're inside there," the Doctor told them, pointing at the hole. "I'd rather go in alive than dead."

Journey glanced back at them. "You don't know where it goes."

"Yes, we do. Away from here. Now in. In! In!"

Clara was the first to jump inside, Journey following her quickly. "I can hold them off," the female soldier said, the two Time Lords moving towards the hole.

"No, you can't. Pull back," the Doctor stepped forward, grabbing the woman's arm and pushing her down the hole. "Down." The Doctor was the last one into the hole, forcing Adelaide to jump down before him.

She was distinctly reminded of Starship UK with the sewers and high levels of disgusting liquid when she landed.

"Urgh," Clara grimaced, looking regretful. "What is this stuff?"

"People," Adelaide said. "Daleks need protein and, sometimes, they harvest it from their victims. This" she nodded to the tunnel "is a feeding tube."

Journey looked into the liquid. "Is Ross here?"

"Yeah, top layer, if you want to say a few words."

Journey pushed the Doctor against a wall at that, sneering. "A man has just died. You will not talk like that."

"A lot of people have died," he reminded her. "Everything in here is dead, and do you know why that's good?"

"There is nothing good about that."

"Nothing is alive in here," Adelaide said, "so logically this is the weakest point in the Dalek's internal security."

The Doctor nodded. "Nobody guards the dead. Mortuaries and larders, always the easiest to break out of. Oh, I've lived a life," he shook his head at that. "Tell Uncle Stupid that we're in," he told Journey, the woman finally stepping back. Adelaide gestured the group over to the decontamination tubes. The Doctor, joining her, pointed at something in the wall. "Bolt hole." He soniced it, making it turn.

Clara glanced at the two other women. "They'll get us out of here. The difficult part is not killing him before he can."

He frowned at the hole. "Bolthole. Actually, a hole for a bolt." He paused when no one laughed. "Does nobody get that?"

Clara sighed. "Also, there's the puns."

"Watch it," the Doctor gestured for them to join the Time Lords, "decontamination tubes are hot."

"Rescue One to Mission Control," Journey called to Morgan as she followed Clara and the other soldier. "The Dalek has an international defense mechanism. We've lost Ross." She listened to his reply. "Yeah, well, who knows? It's a Dalek. We're going to continue the mission."

"Are you all right back there?" the Doctor called, the whole group starting to crawl through the tunnel. "It's a bit narrow, isn't it?"

"Any remarks about my hips will not be appreciated," Clara sighed.

"Your hips are fine. You're built like a man."

Clara shook her head. "Thanks." Adelaide just sighed.

After a bit more crawling, they reached the end and the Time Lords helped Clara out of the tunnel. As the female soldier reached them, there was a strange static sound. "What's that noise?" the Doctor frowned at her. "Are you wearing a Geiger counter?"

She gestured to her armor. "Standard battle equipment. That's just low-level radiation."

"But stronger down here, for some reason." The Doctor held out a hand. "Gimme." He glanced at Adelaide. "Please." The soldier passed it over after a nod from Journey. The Time Lord began to use it to sweep the circuit boards on the sides of the room.

"It's hard to say," Journey said, speaking to her uncle. "He's..."

"I've got it!" the Doctor called, turning to Adelaide. "I know what's wrong with Rusty."

Clara nodded. "Okay, that's good. Is that good?"

"Well, you know how I said this was the most dangerous place in the Universe?" Clara nodded. "I was wrong. It's way more dangerous than that." He held up the counter, showing the quickly changing radiation levels.

"Colonel, we have radiation indicators red-lining in here," Journey told her uncle. "Could be that the Dalek is more badly damaged than we thought."

"Old Rusty here is suffering a trionic radiation leak," the Doctor looked around the room again. "It's poisoning the Dalek and us. Just as well we're here."

Journey frowned. "Really? Perhaps we should get out while we can. Why should we trust a Dalek? Why would it change?"

"Good question," Adelaide nodded. "Rusty? What changed you?"

"I saw beauty."

The Time Lords glanced at each other. "You saw what?"

"In the silence and the cold, I saw worlds burning."

Journey shook her head. "That's not beauty, that's destruction."

"I saw more."

"What?" the Doctor asked. "What did you see?"

"The birth of a star."

The Time Lord shrugged. "Stars are born every day. You've seen a million stars born. So what?"

"Daleks have destroyed a million stars."

"Oh, millions and millions. Trust me, I keep count."

"And yet, new stars are born."

Adelaide nodded. "All of the time."

"Resistance is futile."

"Resistance to what?"

"Life returns," Rusty said. "Life prevails. Resistance is futile."

The Doctor frowned, nodding. "So you saw a star being born, and you learned something. Oh, Dalek, do not be lying to me." He turned to the women. "Come on."

|C-S|

The group stopped in the Trionic power cells, which was directly underneath the Dalek mutant. "We're at the heart of the Dalek," the Doctor mumbled.

"It's incredible," Clara breathed, watching energy arc above them.

Journey glanced at the counter in the Doctor's hand. "Geiger counter's off the scale. Looks like it's about to blow."

"Good."

"How is that good?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, I like a bit of pressure." He looked up to the Dalek. "Rusty, can you hear me?"

"Doctor?"

"Rusty, we've found the damage. We're sealing up the breach in your power cell." Adelaide stepped over to the large crack, using her sonic to weld it back together. "No more radiation poisoning. Good as new. There. Job done."

Clara frowned. "That's it? Just like that?"

"An anti-climax once in a while is good for my hearts." The Doctor shrugged. "Rusty? How do you feel?" but the Dalek said nothing. "Rusty? Rusty? Rusty?"

"The malfunction is corrected," the Dalek said.

Journey frowned. "What's happened?"

The lights around them started to brighten. "Not entirely sure."

"It's like it's waking up."

"Rusty, come on, talk to me. What's going on?"

"The malfunction is corrected. All systems are functioning. Weapons charged."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh, no, no, no!"

The room around them started to shape. "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"No, no, no!"

"Exterminate! Exterminate! The Daleks will be victorious. The rebels will be exterminated!"

"Colonel?" Journey called, panicking. "What's happening out there?" but she received no response, and the Dalek just continued to shout about extermination.

Clara turned to the Time Lords, who were still standing on opposite sides of the room. "Doctor, Adelaide, what happened?"

"Do you see?"

"Do I see what?"

"Daleks don't turn good," Adelaide said. "It was radiation affecting the brain chemistry."

Journey shook her head. "Let me get this straight. We had a good Dalek, and we made it bad again? That's all we've done?"

"There was never a good Dalek," Adelaide's voice was empty. "There was a broken Dalek and we repaired it."

"You were supposed to be helping us!"

The Doctor shrugged. "We gave it a shot. It didn't work. It was a Dalek, what did you expect?"

Journey pointed at both Time Lords. "No more talking. You are done! Okay, new objective. We are taking this Dalek down." She and the female soldier moved together.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

The Doctor glanced at Clara. "What's that look for?"

"It's the look you get when I'm about to slap you. Both of you." Clara slapped the Doctor first before rounding on Adelaide too, not letting her escape the blame this time.

"Ow," both Time Lords said, rubbing their faces.

"Are we going to die in here? I mean, there's a little bit of you" specifically pointing to the Doctor, Adelaide's expression was harder to read as always "that's pleased. The Daleks are evil after all. Everything makes sense. The Doctor is right."

The Doctor nodded. "Daleks are evil. Irreversibly so. That's what we just learned."

"No, Doctor, that is not what we just learned."

"We need to place these charges for maximum effect," Journey called, holding up a collection of cylinders. "I'm going to scan the rest of the architecture for weakness."

"One question," Clara said, but Journey interrupted.

"No time." The two soldiers hurried to place charges around the room.

"Why did we come here today?" Clara stepped up to the Doctor. "What was the point? You." She nodded at him. "You thought there was a good Dalek. What difference would one good Dalek make?"

The Doctor shook his head. "All the difference in the universe, but it's impossible."

"Is that a fact?" Clara looked between the Time Lords. "Is that really what we've learned today? Think about it. Is that what we've learned?"

The Time Lords, mainly the Doctor, grinned. "Clara Oswald, do we really not pay you?"

Clara grinned. "You couldn't afford me."

The Doctor spun to the soldiers, Journey having just lowered her comm. "Whatever you're going to do, don't do it. This Dalek must not be destroyed. We can do better."

Journey looked at him in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind?"

"No, I'm inside a Dalek. I'm standing where I've never been." He looked to Adelaide. "We cannot waste this chance. It won't come again."

"What chance? I have my orders."

"Soldiers take orders."

Journey nodded. "And I'm a soldier."

"A Dalek is a better soldier than you will ever be." He gestured to the charges. "You can't win this way."

Journey held up the charge, considering it, but then she put it down again. "So what do we do?"

The Doctor grinned. "Something better."

|C-S|

They climbed up the interior of the Dalek, only stopping once they reached a small outcropping. The Time Lords, having gone up first, helped each of the group up as they arrived. "The Dalek isn't just some angry blob in a Dalekanium tank," the Doctor explained. "If it was, the radiation would have turned it into a raging lunatic."

"It is a raging lunatic," Journey said, "it's a Dalek."

"But for a moment, it wasn't," Adelaide reminded her. "The radiation allowed it to expand its consciousness, to consider things beyond its natural terms of reference."

The Doctor pointed at her. "It became good. That means a good Dalek is possible. That's what we learned today." He glanced at Clara. "Are we right, teach?"

Clara smiled. "Top of the class."

"But now it's back to how it was."

The Doctor nodded. "But what it saw, what it felt, is still there."

"Yeah," Journey shook her head, "I'm not really seeing that."

"Not here. There." He pointed upward.

Journey followed the gesture. "You mean in the cortex vault?"

Clara raised her eyebrows. "The evil engineering?"

"Every memory recorded. Some suppressed, but all still intact. We need to show the Dalek that star being born again. Recreate that moment. You" he pointed to Clara "need to get up there, find that moment and reawaken it."

"Me?" Clara pointed at herself.

"Yes, you. Good idea."

"How?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Haven't the foggiest. Do a clever thing."

"I think you can spot suppressed memories via dark panels and bulbs," Adelaide told her. "Find some way to turn them on." She knew that Clara would likely succeed quicker if Adelaide actually went with her but, honestly, Adelaide was a bit selfish and she wanted to see for herself if it was possible to create a good Dalek.

If she could prove the Time Lords wrong.

"See?" the Doctor pointed at Adelaide. "A clever thing from a clever girl."

"And, hopefully, once you've done it, the Dalek will be suggestible to new ideas."

He nodded. "It will be open again. And we will show it something that will change its mind forever."

"What?" Journey asked, but the Time Lords said nothing. "Not a clue. This is crazy. There is no way that we can get back up there in time."

The other soldier pulled out her harpoon. "Yes, there is."

"No, Gretchen. It'll bring the antibodies back down on us."

Gretchen turned to Clara. "Tell me the truth. Are they mad, or are they right? I've come this far. Probably going to die anyway. Wouldn't mind something to do for the rest of my life. Are they mad, or are they right?"

"Hand on my heart?" Clara did so. "Most days they're both."

Gretchen nodded. "One question, then. Is this worth it?"

"If we can turn one Dalek, we can turn them all." The Doctor nodded. "We can save the future."

"Gretchen Alison Carlisle. Do something good and name it after me."

The Time Lords nodded. "We will do something amazing, I promise."

"Damn well better." Gretchen prepared her harpoon, firing two up to the memory bank. Almost instantly they could hear the antibodies approaching. "Go!"

"They're coming," Clara gasped. "They're coming."

Journey attached a pulley onto the harpoon wires. "Grab hold of the rope," she told Clara. "Don't look down."

Gretchen gave them a small smile. "Good luck."

Clara and Journey rode the pulley upward and the Time Lords hurried to get back down to the Dalek, leaving Gretchen to sacrifice herself.

|C-S|

The Time Lords, assisting each other, managed to reach the platform right in front of the Dalek's eye. "Well, Rusty," the Doctor said, "here we are. Eye to Eye."

"You cannot save the humans," the Dalek told them. "They will be exterminated. I shall join the Dalek units in the final attack."

"We saved your life, Rusty," he reminded the Dalek. "Now we're going to do one better. We're going to save your soul."

"Daleks do not have souls."

"Imagine if you did," Adelaide said. "What would happen then?"

There was a flash and a screen was projected where they could see. Whatever Clara was doing, likely, was working to at least some degree. "Your memories," the Doctor gestured towards the screen, to the dying soldiers. "We're about to give some back to you." He rushed to the side, grabbing a long bit of tubing and beginning to sonic it. "See, all those years ago, when I began, I was just running. I called myself the Doctor, but it was just a name. And then I went to Skaro." He managed to split the tubing in half, pulling out the cable-like things inside. "And then I met you lot and I understood who I was. The Doctor was not the Daleks."

More memories flashed down to the Dalek, ones Adelaide actually recognized from her time as Caroline, ships she'd been on. "Look, it's your memories. Someone's been messing about in your head." She glanced at the Doctor. "Do you remember the star you saw being born?"

"I...I remember..."

The memory appeared behind them, the birth of a star reflected in the eye of a Dalek.

The Doctor nodded. "You saw the truth, Rusty. Remember how you felt. You saw a star being born. The endless rebirth of the universe!"

"No..."

"And you realized the truth about the Daleks!"

"Truth? What is the truth?"

"Let me show you the truth. I've opened your mind and now I'm coming in." He forced two cut ends of the wire, screaming from the pain of the energy surging through him. He opened his mind up to the Dalek. "I'm part of you. My mind is your mind."

The Dalek's eye widened. "I see your mind, Doctor. I see your universe."

"And isn't the universe beautiful?" The Doctor's memories were playing across the screen now. Adelaide knew she couldn't help him now, but she had come here to watch anyway. To witness a good Dalek.

To witness proof that it could change without being broken.

"I see beauty."

"Yes, that's good." The Doctor nodded. "That is good. Hold on to that."

"I see endless, divine perfection."

"Make it a part of you. Remember how you feel right now. Put it inside you and live by it."

"I see into your soul, Doctor," the Dalek said. "I see beauty. I see divinity. I see...hatred." The images shifted to the destruction of the Daleks, to the various points when the Doctor had faced them, had destroyed them.

Both Time Lords paused. "Hatred?" the Doctor asked.

"I see your hatred of the Daleks and it is good."

"No, no, no," the Doctor was panicking slightly. "You must see more than that, there must be more than that."

"Death to the Daleks!" the Dalek cheered. "Death to the Daleks! Death to the Daleks!"

"No, there must be more than that. There must be more than that! Please!"

"Daleks are evil! Daleks must be exterminated!" the Dalek chanted. "Daleks are evil! Daleks must be exterminated! Exterminate!" The Dalek, from what they could see on the screen, raged through the ship, destroying all of the Daleks in the ship. Only then did it stop. "The Daleks are exterminated."

The Doctor glared at it. "Of course they are. That's what you do, isn't it?"

And Adelaide closed her eyes because the Time Lords had been right. Because all Daleks could do was hate.

|C-S|

Once they'd been resized, Journey ran to hug her uncle. "Journey," he said, relieved.

"Uncle Morgan."

"I have transmitted a retreat signal," the Dalek said, the two Time Lords turning to look at it while Clara stepped up to them. "The Daleks will believe the humans have initiated the ship's self-destruct."

"What about you, Rusty?" Clara asked.

"I must go with them."

The Doctor nodded, his expression stern. "Of course you must. You've unfinished work, haven't you?"

"Victory is yours, but it does not please you."

He shook his head, taking Adelaide's hand. "You looked inside me and you saw hatred. That's not victory. Victory would have been a good Dalek."

"I am not a good Dalek," the Dalek replied. "You are a good Dalek." It rolled out of the room, leaving them.

The Doctor looked after it. "Till the next time."

The Time Lords turned without saying anything, leaving the room and hurrying to where they'd left the TARDIS. They couldn't say anything when they were both attempting to work through the revelations this Dalek had given them. Normally, Adelaide would have said goodbye, but she was a bit distracted.

The Dalek had only turned good because of a leak of radiation. She'd only changed because of a leak of a fob watch. And the Dalek had returned to its original self. She had not.

"Doctor!" Journey called, making them turn. Clara had run after the Time Lords once she'd noticed they'd left. "Adelaide! Take me with you."

The Time Lords tightened their grips on each other's hand for a moment. "I think you're probably nice," the Doctor said. "Underneath it all, I think you're kind and you're definitely brave." He shook his head. "I just wish you hadn't been a soldier."

And Adelaide said nothing to contradict him because she thought it was right. Especially after Christmas, she wanted nothing to do with war or soldiers.

They stepped into the TARDIS, Clara exchanging a smile with Journey before joining them.

|C-S|

Clara ran back into the console after getting changed; all three of them had and taken long showers, but the Time Lords still looked the same as before. "How do I look?" she gestured at her new clothing.

The Doctor glanced up. "Sort of short and round-ish, but with a good personality, which the main thing."

Clara sighed. "I meant my clothes. I just changed."

He grinned. "Oh, good for you, still making an effort."

Clara just turned to Adelaide. "Lovely," Adelaide called, setting the TARDIS down. "Back where we found you thirty seconds after you left...hopefully."

Clara moved towards the door. "When will I see you again?"

"Oh...soon, I expect. Or later. One of those."

She opened the door, about to step back, but then she looked back at the Time Lords. "I don't know."

"I'm sorry?"

"You asked me if you're a good man and the answer is...I don't know. But I think you try to be and I think that's probably the point."

Adelaide smiled at her. "You are an amazing teacher."

Clara laughed. "I think I'd better be." She stepped out of the TARDIS and closed the door behind her, leaving the Time Lords to turn to the TARDIS.

"For the record," the Doctor said as they set the TARDIS flying together, "I think you're a good woman."

"Really?"

He nodded. "If my opinion matters."

"Of course it does." Adelaide squeezed the Doctor's hand when she stepped closer to him. They stayed like that, side by side, for a second longer than necessary before they parted ways again.

A/N: If only they'd found a real good Dalek...