Victory of the Daleks pt. 1
The Doctor opens the door to the TARDIS. We are greeted by soldiers pointing guns at us.
"Amy, Jaz…Winston Churchill." The Doctor says with his hands in the air. We follow suit.
"Doctor? Is it you?" Churchill asks skeptically. The Doctor puts his hands down.
"Oh, Winston, my old friend!" They embrace. Churchill starts to search through the Doctor's coat pockets. "Ah, every time!" The Doctor exclaims pulling back.
"What's he after?" I ask as we put our hand down as well.
"TARDIS key, of course."
"Think of what I could achieve with your remarkable machine, Doctor! The lives that could be saved!"
"Ah, doesn't work like that."
"Must I take it by force?"
"I'd like to see you try." Amy and I stand in the background watching their interaction. Churchill turns to his soldiers.
"At ease."
"You rang?"
DWDWDWDWDW
We walk through a maze of underground tunnels and corridors. Amy and I walk a step or two behind the Doctor and Churchill.
"Do you have any idea where we are?" She whispers.
"Not sure, but I should know this."
"You are the resident WWII expert," she whispers sarcastically.
"Says the girl who is infatuated by the Romans," I whisper right back.
"So you've changed your face again." We hear Churchill ask the Doctor.
"Yeah, well, had a bit of work done." We walk into a large room filled with charts, maps, and busy with people.
"Got it, got it, got it! Cabinet War Rooms, right?" Amy asks triumphantly.
"Yep." The Doctor confirms for her. I give her a sideways glance. She just shrugs her shoulders. "Top-secret heart of the War Office, right under London."
"You're late, by the way." Churchill comments a little bitterly. A man walks up holding a piece of paper.
"Requisitions, sir."
"Excellent."
"Late?" The Doctor questions.
"I rang you a month ago."
"Really?" The Doctor asks skeptically, "Sorry. Sorry, it's a Type 40 TARDIS. I'm just running her in." I notice a woman who looks sad. Churchill notices as well.
"Something the matter, Breen? You look a little down in the dumps."
"No, sir. Fine, sir."
"Action this day, Breen! Action this day."
"Yes, sir." She smiles and goes back to work.
"Excuse me, sir. Got another formation coming in, Prime Minister. Stukas, by the look of them." Churchill smiles at this as he speaks with the man.
"We shall go up top, then, Group Captain. We'll give 'em what for!" He starts to walk off before turning to us, "Coming, Doctor?"
"Why?"
"I have something to show you." The Doctor looks at us before following. Amy grabs me by the arm and pulls me after them.
DWDWDWDWDW
Churchill leads us through more of the tunnels.
"We stand at a crossroads, Doctor, quite alone, with our backs to the wall. Invasion is expected daily. So I will grasp with both hands to anything that will give us an advantage over the Nazi menace."
"Such as?" The Doctor asks as we stop at a door at the top of some stairs.
"Follow me." We step through the door and in front of us is London in the 40s. Air raid blimps can be seen everywhere.
"Wow!" The Doctor and I say at the same time. This one of the greatest things I have ever seen.
"Oh, my God!" Amy says this at the same time as our own exclamation. A man in a lab coat is standing on the roof next to us.
"Doctor, this is Professor Edwin Bracewell, head of our Ironsides Project."
"How d'you do?" Bracewell asks politely.
"Two-five Ju 88s approaching from the east."
"It's…It's…Oh, Doctor…Doctor, it's…" Amy stutters as she takes in her surroundings.
"History." I finish for her and she nods her head mouth still agape.
"Ready, Bracewell?" We watch as a squadron of fighter planes become visible through the overcast sky.
"Aye-aye, sir. On my order," Bracewell smiles before continuing, "fire!" Laser beams shoot through the sky and disintegrate all the planes.
"What was that?" I exclaim after a moment of shocked silence.
"That wasn't human-that was never human technology. That sounded like…" The look on the Doctor's face tells me he knows what it is and he is not happy about it. "Show me. Show me! Show me what that was!"
"Advance!" Bracewell calls as a robot comes into view.
"Our new secret weapon! Hah! What do you think? Quite something, eh?" Churchill says in a flourish. Amy is impressed but I am leery, especially because of the Doctor's reaction.
"What are you doing here?" The Doctor asks with venom in his voice.
"I am your soldier." It replies in a robotic voice.
"What?" The Doctor questions again making sure he heard correctly.
"I am your soldier."
"Stop this. You stop now!" The Doctor takes a moment to collect himself before looking it straight in the eye, "Oh, you know who I am. You always know."
"Your identity is unknown." The robot replies after a pause.
"Perhaps I can clarify things here. This…" Bracewell interjects standing next to the robot, "This is one of my Ironsides."
"Your what?" The Doctor and I question at the same time.
"You will help the Allied cause in any way that you can?" Bracewell asks.
"Yes."
"Until the Germans have been utterly smashed?"
"Yes."
"And what is your ultimate aim?"
"To win…the war!"
DWDWDWDWDW
We end up in a lab looking room, the Doctor still trying to convince them of how wrong the robots are.
"They're Daleks! They're called Daleks!" I gasp quietly and Amy gives me an awkward look. I realize that she doesn't remember the Daleks so I decide to play dumb. I just glare back at her and she rolls her eyes.
"They are Bracewell's Ironsides, Doctor! Look!" Churchill points to the desk, "Blueprints, statistics, field tests, photographs. He invented them!" He exclaims pointing to Bracewell who stands their proudly.
"Invented them? Oh-ho-ho-ho, no, no. No!"
"Yes! He approached one of our brass hats a few months ago. Fella's a genius." Amy walks up next to the Doctor.
"A Scottish genius, too. Maybe you should listen to…"
"Shh!" The Doctor cuts her off. She stalks back over and stands next to me. "He didn't invent them. They're alien."
"Alien?" Bracewell questions.
"And totally hostile."
"Precisely. They will win me the war." Churchill interjects with the final word.
DWDWDWDWDW
We are heading back to the main squad room with the Doctor still trying to convince the others about the Daleks.
"Why won't you listen to me? Why did you call me in if you won't listen to me?"
"When I rang you a month ago, I must admit, I had my doubts. The Ironsides seemed too good to be true." I try not to laugh at this. It is too good to be true.
"Yes! Right! So destroy them! Exterminate them!"
"But imagine what I could do with a hundred. A thousand!" If I wasn't scared, I would have been in awe of Churchill's audacity to save the country he loves and the people who live here.
"I am imagining." The Doctor turns to us, "Amy, tell him."
"Tell him what?"
"About the Daleks." He motions her forward, expecting her to speak.
"What would I know about the Daleks?" He turns back to us suddenly. I look away. He usually knows when one of us is lying.
"Everything. They invaded your world, remember? Planets in the sky, you don't forget that. Amy…" He steps up and looks her right in the eyes. "Tell me you remember the Daleks."
"No, sorry!" He turns to me pleadingly. I know I should speak up, but I just shrug my shoulders. He stares at me a second longer before speaking again.
"That's not possible."
DWDWDWDWDW
The Doctor, Amy, and I are standing back as we watch what is going on around us. Every now and then we hear an explosion and the ground shakes.
"So they're up to something. But what is it? What are they after?" The Doctor questions aloud.
"Well, let's just ask, shall we?" Amy walks towards the nearest Ironside.
"Amy…Amelia!" The Doctor calls after her, but she ignores him.
"Can I be of assistance?"
"Oh. Yes. Yes! See, erm, my friend reckons you're dangerous. That you're an alien. Is it true?"
"I am your soldier."
"Yeah. Got that bit. Love a squaddie. What else, though?"
"Please excuse me. I have duties to perform." It leaves her and she turns to the Doctor.
"Winston, Winston, please."
"We are waging total war, Doctor! Day after day, the Luftwaffe pounds this great city like an iron fist."
"Wait till the Daleks get started." The Doctor retorts as I mutter the same thing under my breath.
"Men, women and children slaughtered. Families torn apart. Wren's churches in flame."
"Yeah, try the Earth in flames!" There is another explosion and the ground shakes again.
"I weep for my country, I weep for my empire. It is breaking my heart."
"But you're resisting, Winston. The whole world knows you're resisting. You're a beacon of hope."
"But for how long? Millions of innocent lives will be saved if I use these Ironsides now!"
"Listen to me. Just listen! The Daleks have no conscience. No mercy. No…No pity. They are my oldest and deadliest enemy. You cannot trust them." I silently hope the Doctor is getting through to Churchill.
"If Hitler invaded hell, I would give a favorable reference to the Devil. These machines are our salvation! Oh…" He pauses as a siren is heard, "the all-clear. We are safe for now." He walks off leaving the Doctor standing there defeated.
"Doctor, it's the all-clear. Are you okay?" Amy questions.
"What does hate look like, Amy?'
"Hate?" We question at the same time
"Mm. It looks like a Dalek. And I'm going to prove it." He stalks off and we follow him.
DWDWDWDWDW
Back in Bracewell's lab, the Doctor looks through all the blueprints on the table. I keep my eye on Bracewell as Amy looks through the blueprints as well.
"All right, Prof? Now, the PM's been filling me in. Amazing things, these Ironsides of yours. Amazing. You must be very proud of them."
"Just doing my bit."
"Hmm, not bad for a Paisley boy." Amy comments and I nod in agreement.
"Oh! Yes, I…" He says flustered, "Yes, I thought I detected a familiar cadence, my dears."
"How did you do it, come up with the idea?" I ask.
"Well, how does the muse of invention come to anyone?"
"But you get a lot of these clever notions, do you?" The Doctor picks up my line of questions.
"Well, ideas just seem to teem from my head! Wonderful things! Like…Let me show you." He walks over to the table and points through his blueprints. "You see, some musings on the potential of hypersonic flight. Gravity bubbles that can sustain life outside of the terrestrial atmosphere! Came to me in the bath!"
"And are these your ideas or theirs?" The Doctor motions to the robot bringing Bracewell some tea.
"Oh, no, no, no, no. These robots are entirely under my control, Doctor. They are-thank you-the prefect servant, and the perfect warrior."
"I don't know what you're up to, Professor, but whatever they've promised you, you cannot trust them. Call them what you like, the Daleks are death!" Churchill walks in during the last part of the Doctor's speech.
"Yes, Doctor. Death to our enemies! Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich!" He says pumping his fist in the air at the end to punctuate his point.
"Yes, Winston, and death to everyone else too." The robot comes to the Doctor.
"Would you care for some tea?"
"Stop this! What are you doing here? What do you want?" The Doctor is starting to lose his composure.
"We seek only to help you."
"To do what?"
"To win the war."
"Really? Which war?"
"I do not understand."
"This war, against the Nazis, or your war, the war against the rest of the universe, the war against all life-forms that are not Dalek?" Amy and I look at each other. We can tell that the Doctor is about to do something drastic.
"I do not understand. I am your soldier."
"Oh, yeah? Okay." The Doctor walks over to the table and picks up a metal pipe. "Okay, soldier, defend yourself!" He starts whacking it with the pipe.
"But…What…What the devil?" Bracewell babbles.
"You do not require tea?" The machine asks the Doctor who is still beating it.
"Stop him! Prime Minister, please!"
"Doctor, what the devil? These machines are precious!" Both men's protests fall on deaf ears as the Doctor takes a few more whacks.
"Come on! Fight back! You want to, don't you? You know you do!" He hits it a few more times. Amy slowly walks over to me. She takes her arm and gently pushes me behind her and puts an arm in front of me.
"I must protest!" Churchill exclaims.
"What are you waiting for? Look. You hate me. You want to kill me. Well, go on! Kill me." He whacks it again, "Kill me!" With this last comment, the Doctor whacks it the hardest.
"Doctor, be careful!" Amy yells as her grip on my arm tightens.
"Please desist from striking me. I am your soldier."
"You…are…my…enemy!" Each word is punctuated with a whack to the machine, "And I am yours! You are everything I despise. The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you, time and time again I've defeated you. I sent you back into the void. I saved the whole of reality from you! I am the Doctor. And you are the Daleks!" The Doctor whacks it one more time.
"Correct. Review testimony," the robot states triumphantly.
"I am the Doctor. And you are the Daleks!"
"Testimony? What are you talking about, testimony?" The Doctor questions.
"Transmitting testimony now."
"Transmit what, where?"
"Testimony accepted!"
"Get back, all of you," the Doctor says as the other Daleks come into the lab.
"Marines! Marines! Get in here!" Churchill yells. Two soldiers run in and are instantly killed by the Daleks. Amy and I gasp as the Doctor moves to stand in front of us.
"Stop it! Stop it, please! What are you doing? You are my Ironsides!" Bracewell exclaims waving his arms at them.
"We are the Daleks."
"But I created you!"
"No." One of the Daleks shoots at Bracewell and it disintegrates his hand to show wires. "We created you! Victory! Victory! Victory!" All of the Daleks are beamed out of the room.
"What just happened, Doctor?" I ask.
"I wanted to know what they wanted. What their plan was. I was their plan!" He sprints off.
"Hey!" Amy yells after him. Amy and Churchill stare at each other in shock. She takes me by the hand and we run after him, Churchill right behind us.
DWDWDWDWDW
We catch up to the Doctor as he makes his way to the TARDIS.
"Testimony accepted. That's what they said! My testimony."
"Don't beat yourself up, you were right." The Doctor unlocks the door and turns back to us. "So, is this what we do now? Chase after them?"
"This is what I do, yeah, and it's dangerous, so you two wait here."
"What, so you mean we've got to stay safe down here, in the middle of the London Blitz?" Amy questions him in a 'you can't be serious' tone.
"Safe as it gets around me." He waves and we watch as the TARDIS disappears. Amy turns to me.
"Well, what does he expect us to do now?"
"KBO, of course." Churchill says looking at us.
"What?" I question.
"Keep buggering on!" We look at the spot where the TARDIS disappeared before heading back to the control room.