Author's Note: Ooh, lots of reviews! Lessee...

Rebecca - Okay, here's your next chapter! Now you can put the pitchforks away. :-)

First Guest - I think it's a universal law for pretty much any good guy in an action setting. Thanks for the review!

Second Guest - "Damn" is about right.

Third Guest - Yeah, sometimes, Seo does act very much like Buffy (she has a few very Buffy lines in here). Sometimes, she acts very much like the Doctor. Sometimes, she's just distinctly herself. It's interesting to see how she shifts between them.

Every so often, either Buffy or the Doctor tell her to stop doing some habit or some expression because "that's mine!" I always find that funny.

Snakescreamer - Yep. But it's always interesting to watch a very flawed character attempt to overcome those flaws...

...

Thank you all for the many wonderful reviews! Makes me feel loved.

Enjoy!

"Look, if you're going to try to kill me, again, just get it over with!" Seo snapped. Preparing herself. "But I took away your nasty gun, and I'm stronger than I look."

The man coolly brought out another, smaller gun. "You took away one of them."

Seo froze.

The man thought about it. Then lowered the gun, so the barrel pointed at the ground. "Dave," he confessed. "My name's Dave. And I'm one of the five remaining members of the Pachoran Slave Cluster."

Seo blinked.

Wondering if that was supposed to mean something to her.

"Timmo knows; Zed Square doesn't," said Dave. "Neither do most people. They just think I'm your average colony kid with a grudge."

"Your colony was taken over by aliens?" Seo guessed. She could conjecture what had happened after that. Most of the colonists wiped out. The rest enslaved. He'd said that his family had died terrified, hadn't he? "I'm sorry."

Dave didn't answer. His eyes still fixed on her. Realizing… "You have no idea what the Pachoran Slave Cluster is."

"I'm… from a long ways away," Seo said. Cringed, as she caught the skeptical look in his eyes. "All right, actually, I'm from Earth. But I don't really keep up with current events. Would you like some chocolate?"

The intended distraction of the chocolate bar didn't faze Dave in the slightest.

He still seemed skeptical, but explained, anyways.

"The aliens only took the children," said Dave. "Because children couldn't fight back. They could break us in as their mules, and there was nothing we could do about it." His eyes went dark. "I grew up enslaved at the Pachoran Rechortia. A cosmopolitan area of Pachoran space, crowded with alien filth. I grew up learning every trait about every alien species out there, and what kind of disgusting, degrading jobs I had to do to keep them happy."

"Oh, you grew up in a Rechortia!" Seo cried. She actually did know what a Rechortia was. "A Rechortia — a gathering point for criminals who are trying to get away with horrible crimes. I've seen wanted posters advertising high rewards for anyone with information on where any of the alien Rechortia are located."

"Yeah, well, I'm no help with that," said Dave, with a cold laugh. "The Pachoran Rechortia is gone. I destroyed it."

Seo said nothing.

But wrapped up and put away her chocolate bar, hurriedly.

"I was twelve," said Dave. "They thought I was broken. They thought I was stupid. They assumed all their talk about doomsday weapons was going right over my head."

"But you understood it," Seo realized. "Stole one of the devices. And killed them all."

Dave gave her a pointed stare. "I gathered up a rebellion," he countered. "Got all the other human kids there working with me. We took the aliens down, locked them inside, and blew them up while we got away. Fifty kids against thousands of aliens. And we still won."

Seo shook her head. "Fifty? But you said you were one of only five…"

She stopped.

Noticed the dead look on Dave's face.

And guessed at what must have happened, next.

"You and your freed-slave friends didn't make it to Earth," Seo said. "None of you had ever flown a space ship before. You lot crashed, and when you did… instead of working together to get home… you all turned on each other."

"The aliens taught us how to be monsters," said Dave. "Cold. Ruthless. No compassion or pity. Destroying anyone who defied you. That's the reputation of the survivors of the Pachoran Slave Cluster. So inhuman, we can't even feel."

Seo looked at him, sadly.

"Did you try to stop it happening?" Seo asked, quietly.

Dave didn't answer. His face was blank.

His eyes weren't.

"You're not heartless," Seo pointed out. "If you didn't care about anyone else, you'd have left your friends to die in the Rechortia when it exploded. But you didn't. You brought them with you."

"And learned that, at the end of the day, the only person you can trust is yourself," said Dave. "And your gun."

His hand tightened around the gun at his side.

But it still remained pointed at the ground.

"I learned… there's never any rescue coming, Seo," said Dave. "No one there to bail you out when you get into trouble. No one you can trust when you get into a scrape. No such things as miracles. The only way to survive is to look after yourself. And kill every bastard out there before they manage to kill you."

"I saved you," Seo offered.

Dave looked away. "You tried to kill me, first," he retorted, with real vehemence. "You knew the Nestene Consciousness could get into plastic. You lured me under that hat deliberately."

"Excuse me!" Seo said, surging forwards, pointing her finger in his face. "You were trying to vaporize me, remember? For no reason! I tricked you, then rescued you. Then I offered you chocolate!" Pressed her hand against her chest. "I'm not the villain, here!"

"No," said Dave. "You just don't make sense. Saving people!" He scoffed. "If they can't save themselves, they don't deserve to live."

Seo groaned. "Would you stop lying, for once?" She grabbed up the life sign detector from his belt, held it in front of him. "You're here looking for life signs. Tracking them down. Doesn't matter what you say — you're still here to rescue someone."

Dave didn't answer.

"Who are you rescuing?" said Seo. "Me? My friends?"

"You three blundered into the way," said Dave. "We're looking for someone else. Someone with information."

"There are no other life signs on this reader," Seo pointed out. "Whoever it is must be trapped somewhere shielded." She dropped her arm. "How could you hope to…?"

Then stopped.

Realizing…

"That's why you were sent on this mission," Seo said. "Because you can track minds. Without a life sign reader."

Dave didn't answer.

"Who are you looking for?" Seo asked. "Why? How did this person manage to survive this long without the Nestenes getting to him?"

Dave shook his head. His face stony.

Didn't answer.

"You can tell me," Seo offered. "You need my help, after all." She gestured at his clothes. "Your uniform and technology is old and patchy enough that I know you're not part of a centralized military powerhouse. This is a small-scale rescue mission, carried out by a ragtag militia force."

"Chevauchéers," Dave corrected. "Not militia."

"If you tell me what's going on, I can help you," Seo said. "And since you're a small group with no backup coming in, going up against a whole planet — you'll need my help."

Dave thought about it a long moment. His eyes locked on hers. His stance rigid, but a bit of tension falling away from around his lips. The hints of a smile on his face.

"And what could you contribute?" he asked — his voice turning gentle, almost teasing. "You don't even have a gun."

Seo shook her hair so it fell behind her shoulders. "No, but I'm clever," she told him. "Because I've worked out that there's something very wrong with this place. And very wrong with your mission."

A bit more of the rigidity in Dave's face faded. He seemed vaguely intrigued. "Explain."

"This 'Nestene'… it's a living consciousness inhabiting plastic, right?" Seo guessed. "At least, I gather as much. From what I've seen." She gestured around herself. "This place would have seemed ideal. A shopping mall created back when 3D printing was limited to the manipulation of plastics. And, judging by the way it seems to have thrived, the other conditions on this planet must have been exactly what the Nestene needed in order to flourish."

"Everyone knows that," said Dave. "The Nestene Consciousness is why 3D printing shifted so drastically away from plastics."

Which meant that Seo had guessed correctly.

"So if all that is true," Seo continued, quirking an eyebrow at Dave, "then why is the Nestene Consciousness so eager to leave?"

Dave went quiet.

"It's still trying to lure people here," said Seo. "Hand out flyers on other worlds, to invite us to come. You weren't surprised that people had wound up on this planet, so I'm betting my friends and I aren't the first. This Nestene of yours is trying to get out of here."

"So it can find human-populated planets," Dave said. "Invade them, instead. We've had Nestene invasion attempts on Earth since the 1970's. They want to destroy us."

"But why?" Seo asked. She stepped forwards. "They want plastic. Not people. Just plastic. And everyone else has taken measures against the Nestene Consciousness — changed the whole way 3D printing works, to make sure plastic didn't dominate your lives. Set up this blockade around the planet… manned by volunteers, yes?"

Dave nodded.

Seo had figured as much. If there was no military powerhouse around, it'd have to be volunteers.

No wonder other people before Seo had managed to get past the blockade.

"Which means the Nestene doesn't really have anywhere else better to go," Seo said. "And, aside from all that — if the Nestene had wanted to simply invade and conquer, anyways — don't you think the one on this planet would have sent out a beacon into space, asking his friends to join him?"

For the first time, all tension fell away from Dave's face. As he honestly thought this through. Tried to puzzle out the questions Seo had posed.

"You're definitely clever," Dave told her. "I'll give you that."

Seo beamed.

"But you're still a contradiction," Dave said, raising up his gun a little. "Part human, part alien. How can I be sure you're really on my side? You could be lying. Trying to protect the Nestene, let it out to consume humanity. You could be trying to trick me."

Seo's beam fell. "You're never going to trust me, are you?" she asked.

"I don't trust anyone," said Dave, turning away from her, towards the door. "It's how I've stayed alive this long."

Seo opened her mouth to reply.

But was interrupted, as the elevator juddered. Then began to creak back into life, descending towards the floor they'd come from.

Seo stumbled. "What…?" she said.

"Not so clever after all, then," Dave replied. Seeming completely calm and at-ease. "I heard the hum of the motors warming up while you were chattering on. Someone wants to get at us. My team. Or the Autons." He grabbed out, snatched her up by the arm in a punishing grip. "So it's time for some insurance."

Seo gritted her teeth. Glaring at him. "Is that your solution?" she said. "Throw me to the Autons and hope that'll appease them? I thought you were better than that."

Dave didn't answer.

The cold, rigid look had entered his face, again. And, as the elevator pinged, and stopped, Seo could see that he'd gone back to being the man who didn't care and didn't trust.

The doors slid open.

Revealing a young-looking man wearing the same ragtag uniform as Dave, his skin dark and his face full of a zeal for life.

A gun nestled in his hands.

"Beside you, D!" the young man shouted, blasting with his gun.

The blast nearly hit Seo, but Dave, still gripping her arm, yanked her out of the way just in time. The energy seared the back of the elevator, melting the walls a little beneath its heat.

"Zed Square," Dave greeted. His voice cold and emotionless.

"D, what the hell are you…?" Zed Square shouted.

Dave didn't even wince, as he pulled the trigger on his own gun.

And blasted Zed Square right in his chest.

Seo cried out, as the young man collapsed onto the floor. "You didn't have to do that!" she shouted. "He was human. You knew he was human!"

Dave let go of her arm. "He was my friend," he said, walking over to the fallen man. "My team. But I always make sure I can turn on my team in a second, if I have to."

"You'd kill your friends and not even care?" Seo snapped.

"It was a stun beam," Dave countered, with a shrug. "Zed Square was going to kill you the moment he found you. I knew it when we started descending. He'd have seen only one life sign in the elevator, which meant the moment he saw you and me, together, he'd assume you were an Auton." He checked vital signs, then gave an approving nod. "Help me move him into the elevator. He'll be safe, there, until he wakes up."

Seo didn't know what to say, for a moment.

"You… did it to save my life?" Seo asked. Went over, helping him drag his friend into the elevator car. "I thought you said you couldn't trust me."

"I can't and I don't," said Dave, as they dropped Zed Square inside the elevator. He then stepped back outside, and played around with the gizmo Zed Square had used to get the lift working, again. "But I owed you one. And I always repay my debts."

"Oh," was all Seo could say, as she followed him out of the elevator.

Dave pressed a few more buttons, and sealed the doors. Then dragged the elevator up a half floor, before yanking Zed Square's gizmo out and cutting power to the motors.

"Besides," said Dave, pocketing the gizmo, his eyes fixing back on Seo. "I like you. You're… interesting."

There it was, again.

That little smile, on his face, like a break in the clouds. Or a crack in the armor.

"Is that your way of saying you're accepting my help with your mission?" Seo asked.

"So long as there's a gun aimed at you the entire time, just in case," Dave replied, altering the setting and pointing it at her. "It's on lethal, now. Not stun. I won't use it to kill you, but I'm not taking any chances."

Seo swallowed, hard. "I… see."

"Or you can decide not to come on this mission with me," said Dave. "Go back to your friends, get off this planet, and never see me again. I won't shoot. It's your choice."

Ah.

Oh, dear.

"This is you trying to actually be nice to me, isn't it?" Seo guessed. She sighed. "You really don't have a clue."

Dave didn't answer.

"What if your finger slips on that trigger," Seo asked, "or something startles you, or you get scared and don't realize what you're doing? You could shoot me accidentally."

"What if I don't have this pointed at you," Dave countered, "and you trick me, again? Betray me? And I can't defend myself?"

"I won't."

"I'm giving you a choice," said Dave, firmly. "If you don't like the gun, you can forget about the mission and leave this planet. It's up to you."

Seo looked deep into his eyes. Weighing the possibilities, carefully. Trying to work out what to do.

"I'll come," Seo decided, at last. "Even let you point a gun at me the whole time. But you have to keep the safety engaged."

Dave frowned.

"It's just a little bit of trust," Seo said. "You can flip it off in seconds, if I turn on you."

Dave thought it through.

Then clicked the safety back on. "You win, Seo."

Seo smiled at him. "I usually do," she replied. Gestured ahead of her. "Now. Which way do we go to rescue this mystery-man of yours?"