Seo was pressed up against a solid wall, her hands strapped down against two crackling metallic energy balls. Numerous Daleks were circling her, but few gave her even a cursory glance.
Their attention seemed to be fixed on the Slayer they'd taken from the cell. Now secured to a horizontal metal table.
Seo didn't know her name.
"COMMENCE CELLULAR EXTRACTION PROCESS!" shouted one of the Daleks.
A series of knives and blades and weapons of torture opened up from the ceiling. Came crashing down around the Slayer, as she screamed. Ripping her apart.
"Stop!" Seo shouted.
But they didn't care what she said.
She wasn't important to them.
"Stop or… or I'll… destroy you all!" Seo threatened. "With my weapon super-powers!"
"SILENCE!" one of the Daleks demanded.
"I mean it!" Seo said. "I will!"
But it was a bluff, and the Daleks knew it.
Seo wouldn't release the Glory inside of her. Not to defeat the Master. Not to defeat the Daleks. She wouldn't destroy one enemy by letting loose something infinitely worse.
"CELLULAR EXTRACTION COMPLETE," the Daleks reported, as the tools moved away. Revealing all that was left of the screaming Slayer.
Seo looked away from the bloody mess.
She felt she might be ill.
"EXTRACTION PENDING ANALYSIS," the Daleks said.
"What was that for?" Seo asked. Voice shaking. "There was no need for it. You massacred her for no reason!"
That was when the Daleks did begin to take note of Seo.
A few swiveling around their eye-stalks to look right at her.
"YOU HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ORIGINS OF THE SLAYER," one of the Daleks said.
"No," Seo said.
The electric charge that seared through her made her gasp with pain.
"DETECTOR INDICATES UNTRUTHFUL RESPONSE!" shouted a Dalek by a machine bay. "THE SUBJECT DOES HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ORIGINES OF THE SLAYER!"
"That's… a lie detector," Seo realized. Shook her head. "But… that's impossible! Machines can't pick up my brain…!"
"DALEK TECHNOLOGY IS SUPERIOR TO ALL," the Daleks told her.
Seo was starting to understand that.
"I… I don't…" Seo hesitated. "What do you want to know? About the Slayer?"
The Dalek interrogating her slid forwards. "THE SLAYERS CANNOT EXIST. IT IS NOT PROBABLE."
Seo didn't know how to answer that.
"THEY ARE NOT HUMAN," said a Dalek to Seo's right. "BUT THEY SCAN AS HUMAN."
"THEY ARE INFERIOR TO THE DALEKS," said a Dalek to Seo's left. "BUT THEY SUCCEED WHERE DALEKS FAIL."
"STORIES OF THEIR ORIGIN ARE INCONSISTENT LIES," the Dalek interrogator said. "LOOKING THROUGH HISTORY, THEY COME FROM NOWHERE. THEY CANNOT POSSIBLY HAVE EVOLVED."
Seo gaped in horror.
As she realized…
"That's why you're tearing them apart," said Seo. "You can't work out… how they exist."
"BUT YOU KNOW," said the Daleks. "EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN!"
"I… don't know very much!" Seo insisted. "There's… a genetic connection between them and me. That's true."
She hoped it'd be enough to get her off the hook.
After all.
Even if they could see her, there was no way they'd be able to access her genetics.
…right?
"DETECTOR INDICATES TRUTHFUL RESPONSE," the Dalek said.
"SCANS REVEAL A LINK BETWEEN VAMPIRES AND THE SLAYER," the interrogator Dalek told Seo. "EXPLAIN!"
Ah.
Seo was guessing that was due to the connection between Time Lord genetics and vampire genetics, which dated back all the way to that Time Lord war against the Great Vampires. Dad had told her about that.
Time to make sure the Daleks didn't know it.
"They… they were created as Vampire Slayers," Seo said. "It would make sense that—"
"THEY WERE CREATED?" the Dalek interrogator interrupted. "NOT EVOLVED?"
Stupid Seo.
Why'd she said that?
"There were… Shadow Men who made the Slayers," said Seo, carefully. "I don't know who the Shadow Men are. I don't understand what their name means, or where or when you could find them. I… I wasn't there. I don't know!"
"DETECTOR INDICATES TRUTHFUL RESPONSE," the Dalek by the machinery reported.
Seo was reaching up her sleeve, for the bent paperclip she'd tucked in there, earlier. Brainwave idea! If lying created an electric pulse...
She jammed one end into the cuffs, and the other into the ball. Then shouted, "Green elephants fly on Earth!"
Obvious lie.
The detector picked it up, but Seo moved her hand away before she could get the surge of electricity from it. Instead, the electricity arched up the paperclip…
Come on, short circuit!
Except… it didn't short circuit.
Seo stared at the clever plan that had utterly failed to work. Then stared up at the Daleks, who seemed to almost have been expecting it.
"WE KNOW HOW YOU WILL TRY TO ESCAPE," said one of the Daleks. "THROUGH THE ONE WITH SUNGLASSES, WE KNOW HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS FAIL."
Seo's breath came more rapidly. Sunglasses. Again. Like Drusilla had said…
This 'Sunglasses' lady had put her here. A 'Sunglasses' lady who knew everything about Seo. That, combined with their experience dealing with future-hers… meant that Seo couldn't get out of this one!
The Daleks somehow understood how to track and manipulate her completely. They couldn't be coerced or persuaded, couldn't be tricked, saw through her every bluff and her every advantage…
How could she possibly defeat them?
No.
Not defeat. This was like the Master. Best thing Seo could do was get out while she still could. Just rescue Drusilla and leave.
Which was when the door opened.
And Drusilla was marched inside.
Drusilla looked horrible. As if they'd been tearing into her since the last time Seo had seen her, trying to extract information and samples and everything else they could get from her.
Drusilla's yellow eyes lingered on Seo.
"My beautiful angel, dropped from heaven to save me," she whispered, with a smile. "Pretty little shiny one."
"THE VAMPIRE SPEAKS ONLY NONSENSE," said the Dalek leading Drusilla inside. "HER ANSWERS ARE UNINTELLIGIBLE."
"TESTS AND ANALYSIS ON THE VAMPIRE HAVE BEEN COMPLETED," said the Dalek who'd been interrogating Seo. "THE VAMPIRE WILL BE EXT—"
"No, wait!" Seo cried. "Don't… please. I'll tell you anything, just don't… hurt her."
All eye-stalks swiveled around to face Seo.
And Seo had the uneasy feeling… that the Daleks had done this on purpose. To force Seo to tell them everything she knew.
"YOU WILL TELL US THE CONNECTION BETWEEN VAMPIRES AND THE SLAYERS," said the Dalek interrogator. "YOU WILL TELL US EVERYTHING."
"I don't know everything!" Seo protested.
"THEN THE VAMPIRE WILL BE EXT—!"
"No, wait!" Seo didn't know how much the Daleks had been able to get from the tests they'd done on Drusilla — but she was guessing they knew how to kill vampires, now. "I… it's complicated. The connection, I mean. It's dates back before humanity. Back to… the Great Vampires."
"WHAT ARE THE GREAT VAMPIRES?" said the Dalek.
That one Seo really didn't know.
"Drusilla's half human, half vampire," said Seo. "The Great Vampires were just vampires. I don't know. Mom said they were very big and very evil."
"DETECTOR INDICATES TRUTHFUL RESPONSE," said the Dalek by the machinery.
"ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUS DIALOGUE INTERACTIONS IDENTIFIES 'MOM' AS A SLAYER," said the Dalek interrogator. Turned back to Seo. "EXPLAIN. THE SLAYERS KNOW OF THESE CREATURES?"
Probably not.
Well, not except for Mom.
"The Slayer does," Seo said. That was true. Mom was 'the Slayer'. Always had been, always will be — to some extent.
The Slayers, plural, might not know, but 'the Slayer', i.e. Mom, did, and… maybe that would be enough to throw the Daleks off a little.
Then, just to scare the Daleks a little more, Seo added, "And the Slayer knows all about your little scheme to use the Fountain of Kulkmattoll to destroy everything. The Slayer knows all your plans."
For a few moments, silence.
Then, "EXPLAIN THE FOUNTAIN OF KULKMATTOLL."
"Or… whatever it's called." Seo chided herself for not getting the name right. Threats were a lot less intimidating when the villains had to ask for clarification. "You know! The thing from the Sunnydale Hellmouth! The Slayer knows all about it!"
The Daleks were quiet.
"YOU WILL EXPLAIN THE FOUNTAIN'S PURPOSE," the Dalek interrogator said.
Drusilla, from her spot, broke down into hysterical giggling. "Circling round and round and round!" she giggled. "Past falls to future, future to past. You drop the axe that falls on mummy's head. Chop, chop! All dead."
Seo froze.
As she suddenly realized… as it suddenly dawned on her…
"This is before the Daleks invaded Sunnydale," Seo said. "You didn't know about the Fountain. You'd never have known. Except I…!"
Stupid.
Stupid, thick-headed Seo! Why hadn't she thought of that before?!
She needed to get free. To destroy these Daleks. Make sure the information never, ever left this ship. She couldn't let that get out! She couldn't…!
"YOU WILL TELL US ABOUT THE FOUNTAIN OF KULKMATTOLL," the Dalek commanded, heading towards her.
"I will not!" Seo retorted. "And if you kill me… there's no one else who knows!"
A pause.
Then, "INCORRECT."
And Seo listened as her own voice was played back to her, over the ship loudspeaker.
"The thing from the Sunnydale Hellmouth! The Slayer knows all about it!"
"THE INFORMATION REQUIRED IS ALSO FOUND IN A HUMANOID FEMALE KNOWN AS 'THE SLAYER'," said the Daleks. "'SLAYER', SINGULAR. SHE WILL BE FOUND AND THE INFORMATION EXTRACTED FROM HER MIND."
"What? No!"
"YOU ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED," said the Dalek to Seo's right.
"EXTERMIN—!" all the Daleks shouted.
"So many worlds she opens," Drusilla cut in, stepping into the middle, between the Daleks and Seo. Ruffling Seo's hair, fondly. "Worlds locked away. Opened by my pretty, shiny little Key."
The Daleks paused in their extermination.
And Seo's hearts stopped.
"Don't," Seo begged. "Please."
But Drusilla wasn't listening. "Universes to unlock," Drusilla said, putting a hand down on the truth-detector. "Dimensions to reveal. You unlock everything, Seo. Such forbidden power within you, my shiny, beautiful Key."
"Stop it!" Seo shouted. "Drusilla, you can't…!"
But she could.
And she already had.
"DETECTOR INDICATES TRUTHFUL RESPONSE," the Dalek by the machinery noted.
The Dalek gun stalks lowered, all at once.
The Key.
This was something they hadn't known about Seo. Something new. Something they wanted.
The ability to unlock anything and everything in all of creation.
"The Key energy is unstable," Seo warned — both the Daleks and Drusilla. "Use me that way, and you'll be wiping yourselves out along with everyone else. You'll destroy everything. Everywhere!"
"DETECTOR INDICATES TRUTHFUL RESPONSE," the Dalek by the machines reported.
"Oh, but pretty little Seo," Drusilla whined. "Can't your other Key come out to play? You will be stable, and we can have so much fun together!"
Seo stopped breathing for a full minute.
"EXPLAIN," the Dalek interrogator demanded.
But he didn't need explanations.
Seo knew that Dawn was leaking dangerous amounts of unstable energy all over the place. The Daleks would be able to track her down in an instant. Pluck her away.
And use both of them together to end the universe.
"ANOTHER HUMANOID IS REQUIRED TO BRIDGE THE LOCKED DIMENSIONAL GATEWAYS," one of the Daleks reported. "WE CAN SCAN FOR THE HUMANOID. DISCOVER ITS ENERGY SOURCE." Its voice raised, in an excited grate. "THEN WE WILL HAVE CONTROL OVER ALL OF TIME AND SPACE, IN EVERY UNIVERSE! THE DALEKS WILL BE THE SUPREME RULERS OF EVERYTHING!"
"Drusilla," Seo breathed, her anger rising. "What have you just done?"
Drusilla gave an amused smile. "Miss Edith always said you were naughty," she said. Tapped Seo on the nose. "Beep! Beep! All gone!"
"You've killed everyone!" Seo hissed. "You've told the Daleks the one thing they should never have known about me!"
Drusilla leaned over. Whispered into Seo's ear. "Wicked Drusilla. Doesn't want everyone. Doesn't care if everyone is dead." She paused. "Long as my pretty shiny one is alive."
It was only then that it really struck Seo.
That the snogging and the groping and all the unpleasantness… it hadn't been lust. Somehow, somewhere, in some way Seo couldn't quite fathom… Drusilla actually loved her.
Enough to let every universe in existence burn under Dalek firepower.
Just so Seo would live a little longer.
Seo stared. Meeting Drusilla's eyes with her own. They eyes she'd first seen so long ago, on a human face, filled with compassion and virtue. And now… the same eyes. Devoid of sanity. Devoid of kindness. Devoid of any feeling towards the greater universe.
But that love was still there.
Love for Seo.
That had survived.
Drusilla lunged forwards, capturing Seo's lips in a deep kiss, and for the first time, Seo didn't resist it. Wasn't really sure how to respond.
"ACQUISITION OF THE KEY HAS MADE THE VAMPIRE USELESS!" shouted the Dalek interrogator.
"EXTERMINATE!"
Beams of light flashed through the air, colliding with Drusilla. And before Seo even had a chance to tear her lips away from the snog so she could protest… Drusilla's body had gone transparent.
Then crumpled away into ash.
You will cause my death. Twice.
And so… Seo had.