Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it, nor do I get paid for it.
A/N Thanks for the response on the last chapter. This chapter warrants a warning for mentions and consequences of torture.
Happy Reading!
Chapter Eight
Previously
The Monk started to regenerate again and the Dalek Time Controller pointed its gun at him. "Fine!" shouted Rose. "What do you want?"
Instead of answering, the bonds holding her to the chair sprang open. Rose looked up in surprise at the Dalek Time Controller. "YOU ARE THE ABOMINATION. YOU SHALL HELP THE SKARO DEGRADATIONS."
Rose stiffened in her seat. "The-the what?" she asked, cursing herself for stumbling.
"THE ABOMINATION!" The Dalek Time Controller repeated angrily.
"I-I don't know what you mean," she said.
There was silence before the Dalek Time Controller shot the Monk's recently regenerated body. He hadn't even regained consciousness after the latest regeneration, but the Dalek blast had surely killed him again since the regeneration energy set his skin glowing yet again.
Rose gritted her teeth and glared at the Dalek Time Controller. "Look, it isn't going to help if you keep killing him because you think I know something," she said, thankful that she was no longer stumbling on her words. "I don't even know what the Skaro degradations are, except for something about Thals that have been experimented on. As for the other thing," she took a deep breath and kept her gaze steady. "You are mistaken if you think I am the Abomination, whatever that is."
The Dalek Time Controller was silent and Rose waited with bated breath since she could see that the Monk had finished regenerating yet again. She had no idea how many regenerations he had left and if he could survive another one of the Dalek blasts. Her worry dissipated slightly when the Dalek Time Controller lowered its gun. "YOU WILL COME WITH ME!"
"Where are we going?" asked Rose warily.
"YOU SHALL SEE THE SKARO DEGRADATIONS!"
"I have to get Rose out of there," said the Doctor as they returned to the console room. "The Monk said they were experimenting. I didn't think...didn't realise that they were using the Vermillions to test the new radiation on."
"But what is it all for?" asked Susan. "What do they hope to achieve from subjecting those poor people to radiation that is obviously fatal to them?"
That made the Doctor pause. He was certain that it wouldn't have taken the Daleks long to realise that the radiation was simply killing the Vermillions. He knew that it wasn't a weapon because the Daleks possessed far superior methods and technology than irradiating people individually or even as a group. Especially since this radiation didn't even appear to be contagious once it hit the host.
He took a deep breath and tried to think it through carefully. He had been accused of waging a war against the Daleks through all his lives, and as much as it disgusted him, he had to admit that he knew better than most the way that the Daleks worked. "The Vermillions might have just been the initial test subjects," he said slowly. "Guinea pigs to improve and finetune the radiation."
"Then who is the intended target? The Skarosian radiation is fatal to practically everyone and mixed with those other radiations, they make for a deadly combination. Who could possibly survive it?" asked Susan.
"Other Skarosians," said the Doctor. "I doubt the Daleks would choose to improve their genetics through something as crude as radiation, so that leaves…"
"The Thals," realised Susan. "They are targeting the Thals."
"So, these Thals once lived on your planet?" asked Rose, as she limped behind the Dalek Time Controller. "And developed a way to combat the Skarosian radiation?"
"CORRECT! THE MONK LIED TO US BUT THE DALEKS KEPT TABS ON HIS EXPERIMENTS. THE THAL SUBJECTS HAVE RESPONDED TO THE RADIATION."
"I'm guessing they're not immune like me," said Rose.
"NO."
"So, they have evolved differently to you somehow then?" asked Rose. "Something that would be able to resist the delta waves." There was silence which Rose took as an affirmative. "How will you control them, though? From what I've heard so far, they're not exactly big fans of yours, and if you exposed them to radiation and caused them to mutate, I doubt the feeling has somehow changed."
The silence was definitely uncomfortable now and Rose felt her eyes go wide. "Oh, that is it, isn't it? You aren't able to control them. You just created a bunch of super soldiers from a race that hates your very existence. Oh that is just…"
"SILENCE!"
Rose ignored the Dalek Time Controller. "Oh, that is just stupid, that is," she said.
"SILENCE!" The order was more forceful now. "YOU WILL CONTROL THE DEGRADATIONS!"
"And how am I supposed to do that?" asked Rose. "Come to think of it, if I am able to do that, what's to stop me from ordering them to kill you as my first task?"
"YOU ARE THE ABOMINATION."
Rose's step faltered. "You keep saying that but I don't know what you mean," she said.
"DO NOT LIE! YOU ARE THE WEAPON MADE BY THE TIME LORDS TO DESTROY THE SKARO DEGRADATIONS."
"I think you have me confused with someone else, mate," said Rose, getting a sinking feeling in her heart just the same. "I have never even met another Time Lord apart from the Doctor."
"THE INTELLIGENCE IS SOUND! ONLY THE ABOMINATION WILL BE IMMUNE!"
"Who gave you this intelligence?" asked Rose. "Oh come on, you can at least tell me that."
"IT WAS STOLEN FROM THE OUTPOST VIRIDIAN," answered the Dalek Time Controller. "NOW, MOVE!"
"We got a plan yet?" asked Neil, grumpily.
"Grandfather," said Susan, ignoring Neil. "The shields will only hold for an hour or so."
The Doctor checked the readings and nodded. "Yes, quite," he agreed. "I think we ought to…" He turned around sharply when he heard the materialisation sound of a Time Ring in the console room. "Get out," he told the Time Lord coldly.
"Is this how you really greet all your guests, Doctor?" asked Androgar with a smirk on his face.
"My guests usually knock," snapped the Doctor. "Oh, would you mind leaving? I am rather in the middle of something."
"Yes, we have been watching," said Androgar dryly. "Taking on the Dalek Time Controller with five Vermillions and your granddaughter, are you?"
"If you're here to help then I suggest you do it fast," said the Doctor coolly.
"Yes, might as well," shrugged Androgar. "The Monk was sent in by us to infiltrate the Dalek Time Controller's operation. We knew that they were trying to find a way to bypass our delta waves."
"So that's what they are doing," murmured Susan.
"Yes, and the Monk was only meant to sabotage a few experiments, tell them it hadn't worked, so that we could chip away at the Dalek fleets with the delta waves," said Androgar. "Except, they brought in the Thals."
"It has worked then?" asked the Doctor. "You quite literally handed over a weapon to the Daleks by sanctioning this absurd enterprise."
Androgar shot him a condescending glare. "Do have some faith in us, Doctor," he said in a long-suffering tone. "The Daleks have no way of controlling those mutated Thals. Why, they even bought that absurd bit of intelligence about the Abomination."
"The Abomination?" asked the Doctor.
"Ah yes, that is what we call your little blonde friend," said Androgar with a nasty smile. "Rather suits her, doesn't it?"
The Doctor gritted his teeth. "You deliberately set her up," he spat. "What did you tell them?"
"That she could control the Skaro Degradations because she was immune to the radiation," he said lightly. At the Doctor's look of surprise, he rolled his eyes. "We have been keeping tabs on your TARDIS, Doctor, and that DNA sample you took from her is being analysed by practically every scientist on Gallifrey. We knew she would be immune, and it has been…postulated, that she might be able to destroy these Degradations."
"Except you cannot know that for sure," said the Doctor, furiously. "You just made a gamble on her life because you are convinced that she is a WEAPON!" He was shouting by the end.
"She is a weapon," said Androgar coolly. "If you weren't so busy running from the war or getting caught up in your sentimentality, you would see it too."
The Doctor looked like he was about to shout again, but then his voice lowered menacingly. "You better hope that your little game hasn't cost Rose her life, Androgar, because there are only a few things in this universe that I would protect beyond anything else, and my friends happen to fall into that category. These Skaro Degradations, whatever they might be, will pale in comparison to the sort of hell I will bring down on Gallifrey," he said.
"Hell has already descended on us, Doctor," said Androgar furiously, dropping his smug demeanour. "Look around you, you worthless renegade, and tell me that you cannot see each possibility just dying down into the same darkness that we are all headed for. All of us on Gallifrey have been trying to change the final outcome for nearly a century now, and unlike you, we have had to give up this foolish pursuit of sentimentality and emotions, Doctor. Now more than ever, it is about survival." He threw two bright green cubes the size of dice at the Doctor which he caught instinctively. "Kill the Skaro Degradations and all the Daleks on that planet before they escape," snapped Androgar. "It is the least we expect from you."
Without giving the Doctor a chance to respond, Androgar activated his Time Ring and dematerialised from the Doctor's TARDIS. Susan glanced at the Doctor in worry, realising that he had all but frozen up at Androgar's words. "Grandfather?" she asked in a small voice.
The Doctor turned around swiftly and started plugging the dice into the TARDIS console. Susan almost sighed to herself before touching his arm gently. "Grandfather?" she tried again.
He stiffened at her touch, and recoiled sharply. "Not now, Susan," he said, his voice full of forced calm. "I am afraid this time I must do as I am told."
"But what about Rose?" asked Susan, concerned.
"And the rest of our people down there?" quipped up Ciaran.
The Doctor looked at him and then at Susan. "If the Time Lords are right, and I am assuming they are, then the delta waves will only kill the Daleks and those Skaro degradations. Everyone else ought to remain safe," he said.
"Are you sure, Grandfather?" asked Susan, knowing that there were still millions of people on Vermillion.
Before the Doctor could answer, the TARDIS gave a lurch and the lights dimmed a little. "Shields are at sixty percent," said the Doctor, with a quick glance at the monitor. "I have to do it soon."
He met Susan's gaze who stared at him for a moment before nodding in determination. Heartened, the Doctor activated the two delta waves.
Rose could feel the panic settling into her chest. Nothing about this made any sense, but the thing that got to her the most was the Dalek Time Controller's invariable smugness. She rather felt like she was missing a huge point, but she truly couldn't understand how they expected her to control the Skaro Degradations and not have her first order be the destruction of all the Daleks around them.
"THE TELEPATHIC CHAMBER IS READY!"
Rose jumped at that, and cold seeped through her bones. She had been a complete idiot and looking at it the wrong way. The Daleks wouldn't control the Skaro Degradations, they would control her. At least, they thought that they could. Rose almost yelled at them that it wouldn't work, but clamped her mouth shut as she started to focus on her mental shields. She was sure that they wouldn't be able to control her but she didn't trust herself not to retaliate with all her mental strength.
The Daleks nudged her to get into the telepathic chamber, which rather resembled a small cubicle with a chair surrounded by complex wires and machinery. An entire side of the cubicle was glass and beyond it she could see what the Skaro Degradations were. It was funny, she was expecting something much like the Daleks themselves, but the Degradations looked mostly humanoid.
They were tall, well around 7 feet, and had identical blond hair. There were a dozen of them, standing in four rows of three, with their arms crossed tightly behind their backs. What unnerved her the most was not the obvious strength and odd energy emanating from them, but the blank, listless expressions on their faces. It reminded her of the void creatures she had seen briefly during her dimension jumps.
"MOVE!"
At the Dalek's command, Rose took a seat inside the telepathic chamber. Immediately, the clamps came up to bind her legs and hands. She didn't struggle, doing her best to keep her mind calm. The Dalek Time Controller, and even the other Daleks were oddly silent while the door of the chamber closed itself with a hiss. The chair turned a little so that Rose was now facing the glass wall with the Skaro Degradations beyond it.
Up close, Rose could see that their expression wasn't as blank as she had previously thought. It was almost murderous, and the memory of the void creatures slammed into her head again with surprising ferocity. It had been one of her earliest jumps and she had landed on an Earth that had been invaded by them.
They were humanoids as well, and were impervious to practically every weapon known to anyone. Their strength lay in the ruthlessness with which they bled the planet dry, murdering the populace and sucking the minerals and resources out of the planet until all that was left was a dry husk of a planet. She had likened them to Daleks at the time, but unlike the Daleks they took no prisoners, nor did they make the deaths of the other beings quick. It was a long, drawn-out death, and they had practically turned that Earth into something resembling the void where all time and space had coagulated and warped beyond recognition.
Although Rose had narrowly escaped one of them only a few hours after landing there, nearly a week had passed in Pete's world by the time she had returned. They had never found a name for them, and they had been dubbed 'void creatures' by her Torchwood team for convenience. If Rose didn't know better, she would consider these Skaro Degradations to be one mutation away from turning into those void creatures.
"INITIATE SEQUENCE EPSILON."
The words sounded muted from outside the chamber, and Rose clenched her fists in preparation. A bright light shone into her eyes and for a moment, it seemed like nothing had happened. Rose relaxed slightly but then her head was suddenly gripped with an onslaught of pain that made the radiation torture she had suffered before seem almost bearable.
She didn't even know if she was screaming, or if it was the Daleks crying out, or if she was back facing the void creatures who were bleeding her life force dry, or if she was just back inside her dungeon under the Torchwood building being carved into pieces…
The pain didn't stop, didn't let up, and Rose fought with all her might to keep the heat behind her eyes caged up but then darkness fell upon her and she knew no more.
"Has it worked?" asked Susan quickly, as the Vermillions crowded around the console eagerly too.
The Doctor checked a few readings and gave a nod. "Yes, I should think so," he said. "Come."
He opened the doors of the TARDIS and they found the dead shells of the Daleks littering the woods where the TARDIS had taken refuge. The Vermillions and Susan followed him out cautiously, but upon seeing the sight that greeted them, the Vermillions broke out into cheers.
"Sshh," said Susan sharply. "We don't know what could be about."
"What could be around?" asked Neil, looking at her like she was mad. "The Daleks are dead!" He kicked an empty Dalek shell which fell over with a clang. Ignoring the glare that the Doctor shot him, he looked at the remaining of his people. "Come on you lot, let's take this joyous news back to our people."
"What about me?" asked Meria, who had been rather quiet the entire time.
"We'll find a way to treat you," said Ciaran, trying to sound optimistic.
"I think we ought to stay together for now," said Susan carefully.
"No, thank you," snapped Neil as he ushered the rest of the party behind him. "Your lot have done enough here. Just leave us be."
Susan opened her mouth to protest, but the Doctor gripped her shoulder and shook his head. The Vermillions left the area quickly, not sparing the Time Lords another glance. Even Meria avoided their gaze as she followed behind the rest of the group.
Susan sighed and shook her head. "I still think…" she began.
"Let them go, Susan," said the Doctor as he took her hand and led her towards the Dalek ship which was camouflaged further into the woods.
It didn't take the Doctor's sonic screwdriver long to undo the camouflage and as the two of them entered the Dalek ship, they were struck by the deathly silence inside the ship. The Daleks were all definitely dead, and when the Doctor and Susan walked through the ship, they found a man in the monk's robes lying inside a cell. A quick scan told them that he was dead too, and it was too late for regeneration.
Regretfully, the Doctor gave him his final rites, just as he had the poor Time Lord that Morbius had fed on. He and Susan continued to look for Rose, and they finally found her lying unconscious into what appeared to be a telepathic chamber.
"Oh no," gasped Susan, when she saw how pale Rose looked.
The Doctor wasted no time in opening the chamber and freeing Rose from the bindings holding her trapped. Fortunately, she was still breathing, albeit a bit slowly. A quick glance into the chamber next to it showed a group of Thals lying unconscious on the ground. Thankful that the Time Lords' delta waves had worked on both Daleks and the Skaro Degradations alike, the Doctor picked Rose up in his arms carefully and beckoned Susan to follow him towards the TARDIS.
Unbeknownst to them, the Skaro Degradations started gaining their life signs back even before they had reached the TARDIS infirmary.
"Well?" asked Susan in concern as the Doctor laid Rose onto the examination table and scanned her briefly.
"Minor psychic trauma and some lacerations on her palms. She seems fine apart from that," he said, sounding a bit puzzled. "Get her clothes off so I can put her into the full body scanner to check for internal injuries."
Susan nodded, and worked the black coat and jumper off Rose's body while the Doctor prepared the full body scanner. She was about to continue when she pulled away with a gasp.
The Doctor turned around and saw the horrified look on Susan's face. "What is it, Susan?" he asked.
"Look, Grandfather," she said in a low voice, pointing to the criss-cross of deep scars decorating Rose's arms and torso.
The Doctor's eyes went wide and his hands trembled slightly as he scanned Rose again. "They-they are old scars," he pronounced slowly.
"What happened to her?" asked Susan, looking close to tears.
The Doctor rested a gentle hand on Susan's shoulder. "I don't know, my dear, but I shall find out," he said. He traced a scar on Rose's right forearm and almost flinched at the coldness he could feel emanating from the scar. Abruptly, he pulled away and returned to the scanner. "Get the remaining clothes off her, and take her jewellery off too. The metal might interfere with the results," he said, his voice sounding flat and detached.
Susan didn't move, still looking horrified at the myriad of scars on Rose's body. It took a sharp reminder from her Grandfather for her to jump back to work. She got Rose's remaining clothes off and dressed her in a flimsy hospital gown, all the while trying not to flinch at the scars that covered nearly every surface of her body, save her face.
The only jewellery that Rose appeared to be wearing was a chain with the TARDIS key, her hoop earrings and a wedding ring on her left hand. Susan's brow furrowed as she took them off carefully. "You didn't tell me she was married," said Susan.
"She's a widow," said the Doctor shortly. "The scanner's ready, but I need the R-79 solution. It's in a jar over by the cupboard." He lifted Rose off the examination table and situated her inside the scanner. "Susan," he said sharply when he saw that she hadn't fetched the solution. He turned around and found her staring at something in her hand with a puzzled look on her face. "Susan!" he said again, letting some admonishment slip into his tone.
She looked up hurriedly and went a little pink. "Sorry, Grandfather," she said and quickly fetched him the solution that he had asked for. Almost immediately, she returned to looking at the object in her hand.
"Should I ask what interests you so much?" asked the Doctor, sounding a little cross.
Susan held up the object in her hand which turned out to be Rose's ring. "There's an inscription in her wedding ring," she said.
"So?" asked the Doctor. "I understand that it is a human custom."
"I know that, Grandfather," said Susan, as she walked up to him. "But look at this one."
The Doctor took the ring with a sigh and examined the inscription. He felt himself freeze as he read it again, hoping he had misread it before.
"It's Old High Gallifreyan, isn't it?" asked Susan, oblivious of the Doctor's state. "No wonder I can't read it. I could never quite get the grasp of it, and nobody used it by the time I was born. But does that mean her husband was a Time Lord, Grandfather?" When she didn't get a reply, she looked at the Doctor and saw how pale he had gone. "Grandfather? What's wrong?" she asked.
The Doctor tore his eyes away from the inscription and closed the ring inside his fist, tightly enough for it to hurt. "Not a Time Lord," he said slowly, still sounding shocked. "It is a mark and handwriting that I recognise."
Susan's brow furrowed. "Whose is it?" she asked curiously.
The Doctor's mouth opened but whatever he was about to say was cut off by the ominous ringing coming from the depths of the TARDIS.
"The Cloister Bell," realised Susan with a gasp.
"Come, Susan," he said imperiously, and ran towards the console room.
"What's wrong? We are still on Vermillion, aren't we?" she asked while the Doctor checked the monitors quickly.
"No, we are in orbit around the planet, and I set an alert to check for any Dalek survivors," he said, pulling a lever rather angrily.
"And did any of them survive?" asked Susan.
The Doctor looked at her, and she nearly gasped at the sheer terror in his eyes. "No," he said. "The Daleks are dead."
"Then what?" asked Susan.
"The Skaro Degradations," he said. "They have escaped."
A/N End of the chapter. Let me know what you thought of it.
The next chapter will deal with the Skaro Degradations, and more about Rose's past. It will be up soon. See you then!