Thanks yet again to Vilinye (yay, got the spelling right without checking, I think), and AvatarRikki for their reviews and encouragement, despite Chapter Five being... well, a bit fillerish. Hopefully there's more of interest here...

Chapter Six

'We need to insulate her, protect her from the electricity that's causing her pain,' Rani was saying as she and Clyde tried to think how best to help Sky. 'The question is, how?'

Clyde looked down at the small girl on the wooden floor, the boards marked from several years of abuse from teenagers. 'She seems better already,' he observed. 'Look, her colour's returning.'

'Wood doesn't conduct electricity,' Al piped up. 'My dad's an electrician, an' he says so.'

'Rubber,' Luke called as he entered, with Sarah Jane on his heels. 'Aren't there rubber mats in the games cupboard?'

Rani and Clyde exchanged glances, and shrugged.

'Genius boy returns,' Clyde remarked, grinning as he crossed the gym to 'high five' Luke's hand with his own. 'Right in the nick of time, Lukey-boy.'

'Genius boy with common sense,' Rani added with a grin of her own. 'Now there's a winning combination. Sarah Jane -'

'Already on it!' the older woman responded, turning neatly on her heel to fire her sonic lipstick at the games cupboard. 'Now go and get those mats!'

As the kids obeyed, Sarah Jane knelt down beside Sky, who was starting to show signs of life. Her eyelids fluttered, and one hand tried a limp movement.

'Sky?' Sarah Jane prompted, taking the hand in hers. 'Sky, can you hear me?'

She could hear thuds and the sounds of half-hearted argument behind her as the four kids attempted to manoeuvre one of the heavy rubber mats out; a second louder thump and vibrations that tingled through her knees and calves informed her that the foursome had succeeded in their task.

'We're going to move you now, honey,' she murmured, stroking the little girl's forehead.

'Noooooooo,' Sky whimpered. 'It hurts... everything hurts, it's all wrong...'

'Just hang in there, Sparky,' Clyde said, coming to take the little girl's shoulders. 'Rani and I have got you; we're gonna swing you on this nice mat and it should stop hurting.' We hope, he mouthed as the pair carefully lifted Sky and placed her gently on the mat.

Sarah Jane lowered herself onto the mat and bent over her daughter again. 'Is that any better?' she asked anxiously.

Sky's brown eyes popped properly open for the first time, looking darker than ever in her white face. 'Sarah Jane,' she whispered.

'You Smiths,' Clyde declared, leaning over so that Sky could see him. 'It's Mum, Sparky. She's your mum, not "Sarah Jane",' he ended, rolling his eyes as he pronounced the name.

Sky's eyes travelled from Clyde to Sarah Jane. 'Mum,' she said, a tiny small hovering at the corners of her mouth. She blinked; once, twice. 'What happened?'

'We're not sure,' Sarah Jane told her, using a hand to quickly dispose of the tears that had come when Sky had called her "Mum" at long last. 'We found you unconscious in the bushes.'

Sky's brow creased as she tried to remember. 'It hurt,' she began. 'Like... tingling, all over, and it got worse and worse, and my head...' Her voice hitched on a tiny sob. 'It hurt so much, I didn't know being human could hurt so much...'

'Oh, Sky.' Sarah Jane pulled the child into her arms. 'Being human means that sometimes you will hurt. You and Luke may not get ill in the way other people do, but there'll still be things that will cause you pain...' She trailed off, her eyes rising to meet Luke's.

'And when it happens, it's a danger sign,' he said urgently. 'Like me and the Rakweed. Mum, if Sky's well enough to move we need to go home. Now.'

'Yeah,' Sky agreed. 'The pain, it was as if... as if the world was burning up.' Her eyes were huge in her small face. 'Whatever it is, it's bad, and it's coming soon... very soon.' She shuddered. 'It's better in here, but I can still feel it...'

Clyde hunkered down to look at her. 'It might hurt when we take you out of here,' he warned. 'Your mate Al and wonder-bro Luke helped us insulate you from the lecky charges, but we can't take the gym with us - '

'Dad wouldn't approve,' Rani added with a flashing grin that extracted an weak smile in answer from Sky. 'D'you think you can handle it?'

Sarah Jane could feel how Sky flinched at the thought of exposing herself to that pain again, but she could also feel how the girl literally stiffened herself to face it, and fierce pride warmed her heart and tightened her throat. As a result, she said nothing, but loosened her hold on her daughter, so that Sky could move away.

The girl held out her hands, one each to Clyde and Rani. 'Help me up,' she said as strongly as she could. 'I wanna go home.'

Clyde's beam stretched from ear to ear. 'There's my Sparky,' he said as he helped the child to her feet and steadied her when she wobbled. 'Let's go and save the world!'

Between them, Clyde and Rani began to guide Sky out of the gym.

'Wait!' Luke called, dashing into the games cupboard. 'Had an idea,' his voice continued, sounding distorted and muffled. 'No need to put Sky through hell if we don't need to.' He re-emerged with a smaller, lighter version of the mat they'd carried out earlier. 'Saw this when we went for that,' he went on, nodding towards it. 'It won't be as good, but it might help.'

Clyde accepted the rolls from him and frowned. 'What do we do with them?'

'Wrap her in them,' Luke said firmly, attempting to demonstrate. He frowned in his turn when the rubbery stuff proved awkward. 'H'mmm, we need something to hold it – keep her wrapped, Rani!' he added, dashing across to where Sarah Jane was standing beside a blinking and bemused Al. 'Give us that spidersilk and then we can get going!'

He was as good as his word; less than ten minutes after he finished cocooning Sky in his rubber-and-spidersilk mixture found them back at the cars. Luke returned to his own, still occupied by the snoozing Jones contingent, and the other five clambered into Sarah Jane's little Nissan. Despite their precautions, Sky was dangerously close to lapsing into unconsciousness once more, and Clyde – due to his shorter height – got into the back with her and Al, allowing Rani to share the front with Sarah Jane.

That lady adjusted her mirror and glanced casually at her watch. 'It's five to five,' she commented. 'Sky, I think we'll be caught in the traffic. Do you think you can manage until we get home?'

A muffled whimper was her only response, and Sarah Jane met Clyde's eyes over Sky's head.

'She's about to go again, Sarah Jane,' Clyde said. 'Drive fast – or as fast as you can.'

'And get done by speed cameras, no thanks,' Rani retorted, glancing over her shoulder. 'I think we'd rather get home in one piece.'

'We will get home in one piece,' Sarah Jane told them firmly as she drove the car out of the school gates and turned down the lane. 'As quickly and as safely as we can.'

None of the children would ever let her forget those words, for just as they reached the main road, the sun went out. The car's clock was the only source of light: a neon green that blinked 5:02pm at them.

And something screeched and landed on the car's roof with a raucous scratching that sounded unnervingly like claws trying to get a grip on metal...

Sarah Jane had stopped the car automatically when everything went dark. She was trembling so violently that she was glad of the blackness; she did not want the kids to see how frightened she was. That screech had revived some very old and unpleasant memories.

'Wh-what happened?' she heard Rani ask in a thin tone that was most unlike the usually confident girl. 'Where'd the sun go?'

The – something – on the roof squawked loudly, and there was another furious rattle of claws, and the car shook from the force of the onslaught.

'Shh,' Clyde hissed. 'There's something out there – and I've a nasty idea it's hungry.' The clattering on the roof became uglier, more targeted, and Clyde gave a suppressed yelp that betrayed his fear more than any words could have done.

'I wish the sun would come back,' Sarah Jane heard Rani whisper. 'It's always easier when you can see.'

Sarah Jane could not disagree with this, but it was becoming clear that sitting still wasn't helping either. She took a deep breath, clenched her hands around the steering wheel, and started the car again, her lips pressed into a thin line as she began to drive very, very slowly, praying that she would not run into a building, another vehicle, or something living.

There was another clatter and squawk, and the entire car rocked, more violently this time, as the – thing – vanished, but they could hear its shrieks fading into the distance.

And the sun returned with such stunning suddenness that Sarah Jane was momentarily blinded, jerking the car to a stop once again. Once the retina burn had faded from her eyes, she turned to check on her passengers.

Rani's skin was the colour of very weak coffee, but she was composed and even managed a small smile. Al had folded himself in a compact ball at his side of the back seat, his arms wrapped protectively around his head, and Clyde had slid as far down in his seat as he could, his arms closed tightly around the brown-haired limp huddle that was Sky. They were lit by rays of sunlight streaming through a vicious rip in the roof, and Sarah Jane's breath caught at the sight. The edges of the metal were like shark's teeth, the wicked points gleaming as they refracted the light.

'Are we all safe?' she asked in the voice that only just remained steady. 'Clyde – were you or Sky hurt at all?' Her eyes returned to that cruel jag, and she inwardly flinched at the thought of whatever had caused it making contact with vulnerable human flesh.

'Not a scratch on any of us,' Clyde assured her with a touch of his old jauntiness, but his grip on Sky did not ease. 'Sky, though – she's not so good, Sarah Jane.' The use of Sky's name rather than her nickname showed how worried he was. 'It's as if she's gone catatonic or something.'

'But she's breathing?'

'Yeah, yeah, she's alive, she's just like… totally out of it.'

Sarah Jane tore her eyes from her daughter and turned around, willing her shaking body to still its tremors. They were some streets away from Bannerman Road, and she was desperate to get Sky home – and find out if Luke was there, and in one piece.

Then something struck her. Apart from themselves, they were alone on what was normally a busy road at rush hour.

Apparently, the same idea had occurred to Rani.

'Where's everyone gone?' she asked, beginning to sound panicked. She had her phone out, her fingers already moving on the keypad. 'What if Mum and Dad -'

Sarah Jane reached across and stilled the moving fingers. 'We'll find out soon enough. I'm sure they'll be fine,' she went on when Rani opened her mouth to protest. 'Let's just concentrate on getting home, h'mm?' She squeezed Rani's fingers a final time, and began to drive, trying to ignore the uncanny quiet.

And then they turned the corner into Bannerman Road, and found themselves suddenly, shockingly, confronted with the sight and sounds of a medieval battlefield: armour, rearing horses, tattered banners that blew in the wind, threads of gold winking in the sun. They could hear screams of pain and fear and rage from man and beast alike … and then they saw something else.

'Crikey,' Clyde breathed, having recovered somewhat from his earlier shock. 'It's the Middle Ages versus the Giant Pepperpots.'

'No,' Sarah Jane told him tensely, stopped the car with a foot jammed hard on the brake, not even caring when the car bumped along the kerb in protest. 'Those aren't pepperpots, Clyde. It's the Daleks. The Daleks are back.'

Her voice shook from a complex mixture of emotions: simple terror, disbelief, and always, always, the nagging feeling of guilt that once upon a time she had been unable to convince the Doctor to wipe out the Daleks at birth.

She glanced at the car's clock again and frowned, a further sense of unease prickling down her spine at what she saw. It was still 5:02pm. Hurriedly, she checked her watch: 5:02pm.

'Rani, does your phone have the time?' she asked, carefully casual.

Rani's eyes flickered sideways to Sarah Jane and down, back to the mobile that was still clutched in her hand. 'It's 5:02,' she said, and her eyes widened as she looked again. 'But it can't be. It was five to when we left school and that was ages ago.'

'Maybe whatever turned out the sun stopped all the clocks,' Clyde suggested.

'No, I don't think it's that at all,' Sarah Jane whispered, watching the battle that raged in front of them. 'My watch is still ticking, I can hear it. I think it's more than the clocks just stopping. Something's gone wrong with time itself!'

TBC