Rose stepped slowly out of the TARDIS, almost closing it on Kayla who stopped her and walked out next to her. While Kayla closed the door gently, Rose leaned against the TARDIS in defeat. Both not noticing Mickey running up to them.
"I knew it! I was all the way down Clifton's Parade, and I heard the engines and I thought 'there's only one thing that makes a noise like that.'" Mickey rambled. As he drew closer, he noticed that Rose was in tears. "What is it?" He asked, concerned. Instead of answering, Rose closed her eyes and blindly reached out for him. Instantly, Mickey wrapped his arms around the blond, holding her to him as she sobbed. His glanced up to see Kayla watching them.
'What happened?' He mouthed to her, but Kayla dismissed it.
In all honesty, she was just as broken as Rose. The Doctor, her Doctor, had sent them home because the Delta Wave was too powerful. If they had stayed on the Satellite, they would have died. And now Jack and the Doctor were going to die in their place. The universe just wouldn't be fair.
The Satellite rotated calmly above Earth, waiting.
The Doctor sat alone on the floor, working quickly.
The intercom nearby crackled as Jack's voice came flooding out. "Kayla, I've called up the internal laser codes. There should be a different number on every screen-can you read them out to me?" Jack requested.
"She's not here." The Doctor said darkly.
"Of all the times to take a leak! Well than Rose, will you read me the codes!" Jack ordered, his voice sharp. He didn't like the idea of his daughter roaming around the Satellite when Daleks were about to attack.
"They're both not here, and they aren't coming back." The Doctor's voice cracked ever-so-slightly, just enough to tell Jack that the Doctor had done something very bad.
"What d'you mean? Where'd they go? Is Kayla okay?" Jack checked.
"Just get on with your work." The Doctor commanded, sounding so tired, so old.
"You took her home, didn't you? You took Kayla and Rose home." Jack realized, a smart flash of pain flashed through both of the men, both mourning their loss.
"Yeah." The Doctor whispered his agreement.
"The Delta Wave...is it ever gonna be ready?" Jack wondered.
"Tell him the truth, Doctor." At the sudden voice, the Doctor looked up to see a video of the Dalek Emperor glaring down at him project onto a screen. "There is every possibility that the Delta Wave could be complete, but no possibility of refining it. The Delta Wave must kill every living thing in its path-with no distinction between Human and Dalek. All things will die. By your hand." The Doctor didn't answer, giving the Dalek Emperor exactly what he wanted.
"Doctor...the range of this transmitter covers the entire Earth." Jack warned softly, having already thought it through.
"You would destroy Daleks and Humans together. If I am God, the creator of all things, then what does that make you, Doctor?" The Dalek Emperor questioned. The Doctor had given up Kayla, there relationship and emotions for each other were a well-known fact. The Dalek Emperor was manipulating the Doctor by using his main weakness, his emotions.
"There are colonies out there. The Human Race would survive in some shape or form, but you're the only Daleks in existence. The whole universe is in danger if I let you live." The Doctor reasoned sharply, trying to make a good excuse for killing the entire planet. On a whim, he glanced over at the other screen which had a grainy video of Jack on it, watching the affairs with concern.
"Do you see, Jack? That's the decision I've got to make for every living thing. Die as a Human or live as a Dalek." The Doctor told him sharply, feeling so utterly helpless…he had to ask the 51st Human for advice. "What would you do?"
Jack spoke without hesitation. "You sent her home. She's safe. Keep working." There was no need to ask who he meant.
"But he will exterminate you!" the Dalek Emperor protested. He hadn't expected that!
"Never doubted him, never will." Jack grinned cheekily at the Dalek, not even fazed. At the confidence in him, the Doctor felt energy running through him. He shot to his feet and stood across the room to the screen.
"Now, you tell me, 'God of all Daleks'-'cos there's one thing I never worked out. The words 'Bad Wolf,' spread across time and space. Everywhere, drawing me in. How'd you manage that?" the Doctor wondered, the one mystery that had haunted him since he had met Rose, he would like to know about that before he died.
"I did nothing." The Dalek Emperor stated.
"Oh, come on. There's no secrets now, your worship." The Doctor protested skeptically.
"They are not part of my design." The Doctor stared at the screen, baffled. Whatever, 'Bad Wolf' was, it was genius, so why wouldn't the Dalek Emperor claim it as his own. "This is the Truth of God." Ignoring the False God, the Doctor let his eyes rise to the large letters in the middle of the ceiling
Bad Wolf Corporation
A few pigs rotated slowly, cooking in an oven. Jack, Mickey, Kayla, and Rose where in a chip shop together, sitting at one of the tables.
"And it's gone up-market, this place. They're doing little tubs of coleslaw, now." Jackie rattled on, eating her food along with Mickey. But Rose, who sat closet to the wall, hadn't touched her food. Kayla, on the other hand, hadn't gotten a box. Instead, she was fiddling with her VM, trying to get it to work. "It's not very nice. Tastes a bit sort of clinical." Jack continued.
"Have you tried that new pizza place down Minto Road?" Mickey wondered, glancing at Rose as he spoke.
Rose had drifted off onto her own planet of misery and worry. The Doctor had left her, Jack and the Doctor were both about to die or dead. She glanced over to Kayla, the traitor, who continued to work on the vortex thingy. She was supposed to be helping her get home, not play with a leather watch thing.
"What's it selling?" Jackie's voice cut into Rose's negative thoughts for a few seconds before the younger blonde tuned it out.
"Pizza." Mickey answered blankly, still watching his girlfriend.
"Oh, that's nice." Jackie commented, also glancing at her daughter, who was now gazing out of the window of the shop, depressed. "Do they deliver?" Jackie tried. The longer Rose was upset, the harder it was for Jackie to keep up the conversation.
"Yeah!" Mickey said with fake cheer. Suddenly, the silence was erupted by Kayla's VM blinking loudly.
"Yes!" She cheered, her fingers working quickly on the many buttons to quiet it. Jackie and Mickey both glanced at the girl before Jackie dropped all normal conversation.
"Oh, Rose. Have something to eat..." She begged her daughter.
"Two hundred thousand years in the future, he's dying, and there's NOTHING I can do." Rose muttered, growing more restless as she spoke. It was her Doctor, not Kayla's.
"Well, like you said-two hundred thousand years-it's way off!" Jackie protested.
"No it isn't. Most people assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff." Kayla finished, smiling as the finale words rolled off her tongue like a ball. "Basically, time is curved and every single thing we do effects the world around us." She simplified, before swiveling her body to face Rose's, returning the blond's icy glare with one of her own.
"And what makes you so sure about that. 'Cause last time I checked, you weren't an expert." Kayla's eyes darkened.
"I actually am you very stupid ape." Kayla grounded out in a calm voice, her words making Mickey and Jackie jump while Rose rolled her eyes. "I'm a Time Agent, and guess what," She got up from the table and towered over the blond. "I know things that would make you scream. I'm a trained assassin, I've watched as children died in front of me and I laughed when I heard people's pain filled screams. And right now, I've been figuring out a way to get back to my Doctor, and I was going to tell you, but now I think I'll get into the TARDIS and leave you behind. You are nothing compared to me, and you don't you forget it Rose Tyler. When it comes to experts, leave it to me." With that, she turned away from the three shocked people and stalked out of the dinner. After a few seconds, Mickey followed her.
"Mickey!" Rose protested, getting up to dash after her departed boyfriend. Sighing about the wasted chips, Jackie followed the rest.
Jack and Lynda stood on Floor 56 in the observation deck. Jack stood next to the blond, the latter of which was in front of a terminal.
"Right, Lynda-you are my eyes and ears. When the Daleks get in, you can follow it on that screen and report it to me." Jack started.
"Understood." Lynda nodded, terrified.
"They'll detect you but the door's made of Hydra Combination. Should keep them out." Jack warned, trying to put a positive spin on it.
"Should?" Lynda questioned softly, almost like Jack would snap at her for asking a question.
"It's the best I can do." Jack answered, and then started to speak into his vortex manipulator.
"How long till the Fleet arrives?" He asked Davitch.
"They've accelerated." He answered mournfully.
Davitch was slightly wrong, the fleet was already at the Satellite, flying around that and the Earth.
"This is it, ladies and gentlemen! We are at war!" Jack crowed, seeing them before he dashed off for the last minute preparation
Rows and rows of Daleks flew out of the ships and across space to Satellite Five.
Mickey found Kayla sitting on a bench, her head bent over her VM as she worked. Carefully, he sat down beside her.
"What are you doing?" He asked softly. Kayla looked up and smiled.
"I've been trying to make a link through time with my vortex manipulator and his. Since there's such a time deference and the Satellite is protected by billions of codes…it's hard." She explained, her fingers lightly stroking the buttons.
"Ah." Mickey stated at a loss. "Rose doesn't mean what she said at the shop. She's just upset about the Doc-"
"Please Mickey, save your apologizes. Rose flirted with my father and when that didn't work she flirted with the Doctor, who didn't flirt back so she turned to you. She only loves the Doctor and would like it if I left because apparently the Doctor has feelings for me. And I return it, which makes it worse. She likes the Doctor in a way he never will." She sighed deeply and turned her head back down to her work, ignoring the stomping feet that announced Rose's arrival.
"Rose!" Mickey yelled, getting up from the bench guiltily. Despite what Kayla had just told him, Mickey was still stuck on Rose.
The blond narrowed her eyes at Kayla and then went over to the other bench in the small playground, Mickey joined her soon after. Though it didn't make much difference, Rose had gone back to "You can't spend the rest of your life thinking about the Doctor." He stated softly, glancing at his girlfriend.
"But how do I forget him?" Rose pointed out.
"You've got to start living your own life." Rose looked over at him like the thought had never occurred to her, which it hadn't. "You know, a proper life, like the kind he's never had. The sort of life that you could have with me." Mickey continued, taking the look as a cue to continue. About halfway through though, Rose had turned her attention to the graffiti on the playground, one word in spray pain was bolded on the ground.
Bad Wolf
Rose glanced around to see those two words everywhere, on the walls, little strips of it coming off the metal bars. She stood up and glanced over at Kayla who seemed oblivious to the words. Figures too, she hadn't been traveling with the Doctor since the start like Rose had. She hadn't seen those two words everywhere. "Over here. It's over here as well!" She shouted to Mickey, casting the thoughts aside as she dashed to the wall.
Hearing the cry, Kayla looked up and saw what Rose was examining. "Rose, you really don't want to find out why those are there." Kayla warned, walking over to the blond.
"That's been there for years! It's just a phrase! It's just words!" Mickey called after the two girls.
"No it isn't. It's…a long and very dangerous story." Kayla tried, her voice softening as Rose started to talk over her.
"I thought it was a warning...maybe it's the opposite. Maybe it's a message. The same words written down now and two hundred thousand years in the future. It's a link between me and the Doctor! Bad Wolf here...Bad Wolf there!"
"Rose that isn't how it works-" Kayla warned, only to get cut off by Mickey, who in all fairness didn't know she was speaking.
"But if it's a message, what's it saying?" He wondered as Rose started to run off.
"It's telling me I can get back! The least I can do is help him escape!" She yelled back to them. Kayla rolled her eyes at Mickey.
"Come on, let's follow her before she does something stupid like look into the heart of the TARDIS." Kayla sighed, knowing that was going to happen. One of the files she had stolen had started off with the Doctor sending Rose and another nameless girl home.
The volunteers were getting ready on Floor 499.
"Stand your ground, everyone... follow my commands. And good luck." Davitch handed a gun to the Female Programmer.
Lynda watched the screen on Floor 56.
"You were right! They're forcing the airlock on 494." She warned over intercom.
The Doctor was on overdrive, working as fast as he could on the Delta Wave. Not for the first time did he wish for Kayla to be beside him, and then the Satellite shook furiously, making the wish leave the Doctor's head, Kayla was safe where she was.
Feeling the shudder, the contestants who had opted out on fighting the Daleks, believing that they were just stories, looked up in alarm. Suddenly, staying on Floor 0 wasn't the best idea after all.
Rows of Daleks glided smoothly over the floor of 494. Very real, and very deadly.
Rose stood in the TARDIS, hopeful and lively. Mickey stood behind her, confused about her new mood while Kayla leaned against the wall, disproving the stupid plan the blond had made.
"All the TARDIS needs to do is make a return trip. Just...reverse." Rose explained.
"Yeah, but we still can't do it." Mickey pointed.
"The Doctor always said the TARDIS is telepathic. This thing is alive. It can listen." Rose pressed on.
"And she knows what you're doing. You're going to rip the TARDIS apart. Do you think she'd like that?" Kayla muttered loudly, but got no reaction from the blond who ignored her and from Mickey who didn't want to think about the answer to that question.
"It's not listening now, is it?" He said softly.
"We need to get inside it. Last time I saw you, with the Slitheen, this middle bit opened..." Kayla winced as she remembered the heart of the TARDIS opening, the light pouring out of it, couldn't Rose see what she was doing? "And there was this light...and the Doctor said it was the heart of the TARDIS. If we can open it, we can make contact. I can tell it what to do!" No, she couldn't see what she was doing.
"Rose, this isn't a good idea." Kayla tried, but the blond didn't listen to her.
"Rose..." Mickey said softly.
"Mm?" Rose wondered, hardly listening.
"If you go back, you're gonna die." He stated softly, concerned.
"That's a risk I've gotta take. 'Cos there's nothing left for me here." Rose said cruelly, meaning every word.
"Nothing?" Mickey asked. Rose couldn't mean that, right?
"No." Rose agreed. In her mind, it had to be said, Mickey had to move on, and if she had to call him noting, then so be it.
"Okay, if that's what you think...let's get this thing open." Mickey said with dignity. Kayla groaned softly, pinching the bridge of her nose at the horrible plan. Since he was standing next to her, Mickey glanced over at her but Kayla waved him off.
The Satellite revolved slowly.
Lynda watched the screen in front of her, the red lights that were the Daleks moved slowly down the corridor.
The Daleks glided around the corner towards a group of volunteers. Jack was communicating with them by his vortex manipulator.
"Okay-activate internal lasers. Slice 'em up." He commanded, making the Floor Manager place her hand on one of the touch sensitive pad.
The monitor beeped loudly.
"Defenses have gone offline. The Dalek's have overridden the lock." Lynda warned nervously, terrified.
A row of Daleks moved dangerously down the corridor. The volunteers held their guns at the ready and got into position. At the sight of the Daleks, they began to shoot, but the bullets had absolutely no affects at all on the Daleks because the bullets melted away before they even touched the armor. "You lied to me! The bullets don't work!" the female floor manager screamed, but continued to fire. Yet only a second later, one of the Dalek lasers hit her. The woman shouted in pain, and then she slumped onto the ground, so very dead.
Mickey sat in his Beetle, his hand releasing the handbrake. He started his engine, determined to help Rose despite Kayla's attempts to stop their plan. He liked Kayla, and he felt like he understood her worry. The TARDIS was alive, Mickey had felt that to a degree when he had first gone into it. They were ripping it open, and Kayla didn't want the TARDIS to feel that…but Mickey wanted to be more than nothing to Rose. He already was the fifth wheel of the group, literally and figuratively, and he didn't want to be that. With a sigh, he started to make the car go faster, but it stayed in place because of the thick, strong chain that was hooked to the back of his car and led into the TARDIS…
…where it was hooked onto the console of the TARDIS, the same spot where the heart was revealed the last time. Rose stood by it while Kayla sat in the captain's chair, watching.
"Faster!" She yelled the commanded as the console didn't move.
Mickey slammed his foot down on the peddle, making steam billow from underneath his car, but the console continued to refuse the budge.
"Come on!" he yelled while the wheels of his car spun uselessly.
"It's not moving!" he heard Rose yell back. At her words, Mickey growled in frustration, feeling the chain become taunt under the stress it was under.
Kayla winced as she watch the chain grow tighter as Rose chewed her lip with anticipation. The chain shuddered…and then snapped, making the blond yelp in frustration. She kicked the console before she leaned on it, head down and defeated once more.
"Now will you give up?" Kayla pleaded softly, but Rose paid no attention to her or to the low, almost sob-like hum from the TARDIS.
Lynda stood on Floor 56, watching as three red blips registered on a floor.
"Advance guard have made it to 495." She warned Jack.
The Doctor spoke into the intercom.
"Jack, how're we doing?" He asked, not hearing Lynda's warning.
"495 should be good. I like 495." Jack reported through his VM.
Three Daleks glided onto Floor 495, immediately sensing that they weren't alone.
"Identify yourself!" A Dalek commanded.
"You are the weakest link. Goodbye!" The Anne Droid's gun slid out of her mouth and in quick succession, she fired at the three Daleks, actually disintegrated.
Jack listened with a rare hint of joy as the Anne Droid killed three Daleks. "Yes!" He punched the air with his fist.
Another Dalek slid into the Anne Droid's room. This Dalek already knew that there was a threat in the room, so when the Anne Droid cocked its head towards it, the Dalek was ready.
"You are the weakest link—" Before the Anne Droid could finish her sentence, the Dalek shot its head off. "Goodbye." The power failed and the Dalek started to glide away, the object was no longer a threat to it.
"Proceed to next level." Behind it, more Daleks followed the lead Dalek.
Lynda watched the monitor, growing worried as she saw the red blips that were the Daleks starting to go into the ventilation shaft.
"They're flying up the ventilation shafts!" She reported, and then gasped as she saw the Daleks switch from going up to going..."No...wait a minute...oh, my God! Why're they doing that? They're going down!" And they were.
One of the many Daleks still on the ship made the screen it was using to go down the length of the Satellite, following the Daleks inside.
The stranded contestants on Floor Zero, the ones who didn't volunteer, sat in nervous silence. Many of them were unsure. The Satellite couldn't just shake for no reason, so what had made it do just that?
"Exterminate!" Daleks, stuff of legends, started to glide through the doors, making the contestants leap to their feet, horrified. They all started to scream, trying to run away. But there were too many of them, all crying for their blood. This wasn't just a murder, this was a massacre.
"You can't! You don't exist!" Rodrick yelled, staring at the advancing Dalek in horror. He started to back away, but soon felt his back brush the wall. "It's not fair! I won the game! I should be rich! I'm a winner, you can't do this to me!" He tried.
Lynda stood on the observation deck, hearing the screams from the dying people, the unforgiving cries of the Daleks, and the sound of the Dalek's guns going off. She clicked the sound off of the monitor, horrified at the devastation. She clapped a hand over her mouth, fighting back the tears as she opened the communication again, knowing she had to continue on with her duty of reporting to the others.
"Floor Zero. They killed them all." Her eyes filled with tears, and she put her recently removed hand back over her mouth as she stifled her sobs.
Rose was slumped into one of the chairs next to the TARDIS console, broken, defeated, and staring off into space. Jackie stood over her, and Kayla leaned against the wall heavily, still fiddling with her VM, which had now started to make beeps as she tried to put in the baseline of the TARDIS. She had to be able to control it manually, or else the TARDIS would be in pain as they flew.
"It was never gonna work, sweetheart. And the Doctor knew that. He just wanted you to be safe." Jackie comforted her daughter, making Kayla jump, having not expected her to speak.
"I can't give up." Rose said defiantly, still staring off into space.
"Lock the door. Walk away." Jackie tried, worried for her daughter's health.
"Dad wouldn't give up." Rose stated.
"Well, he's not here, is he?" Rose stared at her for a few seconds, thinking about the time she and the Doctor had gone to meet her father…it was the last adventure without Kayla. "And even if he was, he'd say the same." Jackie continued.
"No, he wouldn't." Rose argued. Jackie stared at her daughter, shocked. Her father was one of the few topics Rose knew not to bring up with her mother, but here she was, bring it up.
"Well, we're never gonna know." Jackie tried, putting on a brave face.
"Well, I know. 'Cos I met him. I met Dad." Rose told her mother, barely registering the hurt that flashed across the older blond's face. Instead, Kayla glance up, watching as Jackie spoke.
"Don't be ridiculous." Rose sat up at her mother's words, wanting to prove her right.
"The Doctor took me back in time, and I met Dad." Rose repeated, growing defiant.
"Don't say that." Jackie pleaded.
"Remember when Dad died...? There was someone with him." Rose's voice began to crack as she held back the tears, trying to get her mother to understand, but Jackie stared at her daughter, trying to suppress the memory of her husband's death. "A girl. A blonde girl. She held his hand..." Jackie gave no reply. Rose grew frustrated, her tears started to run down her face. "You saw her from a distance, mum! You saw her! Think about it! That was me. You saw me—"
"Stop it." Jack cut her off abruptly, not wanting to listen, to relive the pain.
"That's how good the Doctor is—"
"Stop it! Just stop it!" Jackie cried as she ran out of the TARDIS, seeing her husband die in front of her over and over again. Rose sat in the chair, starting to sob, when an annoying and very loud beep came from where Kayla was sitting.
"Can't you just stop that?" the blond complained. At the her words, Kayla glanced up, a sarcastic look of thought on her face.
"Hmm…nope!" She went back to her VM, starting to rush with her typing, almost done. Every single time the switched to a new line, the beep sounded, but Kayla had learned that she couldn't do anything about it. Thank god her battery wasn't running low, because then the entire data would be deleted, and it had taken her the whole time she had been on the TARDIS to collect it…
Suddenly, the VM started to beep widely as Kayla entered the last line-and it was snatched out of her hands.
"Oi!" She yelled as Rose fiddled with it for a second and then pressed the large red center button, the power button. The VM shut down and all the data was erased.
"There." Rose spat and then went to slump in the chair, when Kayla's hand clasped around her wrist in a metal grip.
"How dare you. That was our ticket out of here, the one way that the TARDIS wouldn't feel pain, but instead you want to make her scream as we fly through the vortex. Do you think it's fun to be ripped open? Have fun trying to get back to the Doctor without my help, I'll just watch as you ruin the last TARDIS in existence." Kayla removed her hand of Rose's wrist and stalked towards the door, heading to her room. "One more thing Rose." She called, turning to face the shocked blond. "You. Disgust. Me." And Kayla vanished, wanting nothing more than to strangle Rose to death.
The Dalek ship hovered next to the Satellite, both sat above Earth.
"Lynda! What's happening on Earth?" the Doctor asked as he worked.
Lynda watched from the observation deck as the Daleks glided towards the defenseless planet.
"The Fleet's descending...they're bombing whole continents. Europa...Pacifica...the New American Alliance..." She rattled off, her eyes switching to the monitor only to see waves coming from the Continents she had named. All of them were reshaped, now having sharp corners. "Australasia's just...gone." Lynda gasped.
Daleks flew through house, their cries echoing off of the streets. Huddled in a corner, Crosibe's family, her husband and her three children, cowered. Their father pressed his children behind him as the cries of, 'Exterminate' grew louder, and then their windows smashed open and one Dalek entered the house. "Please, please don't hurt my children!" the father begged.
"You are known as Jim." The Dalek stated, making Jim blink.
"Yes." He said softly, unsure of how to reply.
"I know you, and your child. Donna, Rory, and Amy." At their names, the three children looked up at the Dalek, staring at it in shock.
"How do you know that?" Mickey asked, trying to sound threatening.
"I was once the female known as Crosibe." Mickey let out a strangled sob at his wife's name. "I will self-destruct." The Dalek said suddenly. Shocked at the announcement, Jim jumped up and started to help his children up, trying to get them away from the Dalek.
"Is it really mommy?" Amy asked softly, her little five year old voice filled with her doziness.
"No, it isn't." Mickey stated, trying to get the three to a safer spot in the house.
"3…2…1." They were too late. The Dalek exploded into fire, destroying the house in a matter of seconds. Jim, Donna, Rory, Amy, and Crosibe were all dead.
Far above the Earth and in the Dalek spaceship, the Dalek Emperor looked over the destruction of Earth. "This is perfection. I have created Heaven on Earth." He announced to the Daleks.
Jack hurried onto Floor 499 carrying a gun. "Floor 499. We're the last defense. The bullets should work if you concentrate them on the Dalek's eyestalk. I've got the forcefield at maximum so the Dalek fire part should be at its weakest." He quickly positioned himself behind a barricade, prepared for the Daleks arrival.
"I'm only here 'cos of you. I joined the Program because...you were on it." Davitch told the Female Programmer, careful not to look at her while he spoke.
"Am I supposed to say, when this is all over and if we're still alive, maybe we could go for a drink?" She asked him stiffly.
"That'd be nice." He agreed.
"Yeah, well, tough." At her words, he glanced over at her, stunned, but then he caught her wink, and he smiled in understanding. As one, they released the safety on their guns, ready to kill any Daleks.
Kayla sat in the library, the VM back on her wrist and a roaring fire was in front of her. She was pissed at Rose, at the flower. She had touched her VM, and she had caused the TARDIS pain that she was only now recovering from. The TARDIS was alive, and Rose was pulling it apart. The dreamy silence that had gathered in the spaceship was broken by a short chime of warning and then the sound of someone, probably Rose, pushing open the front doors roughly, causing them to bang on the walls. With a sigh, Kayla got up and headed towards the console room where she saw the blond hooking a chain to the console again.
"What are you doing?" Kayla asked sharply, hearing the TARDIS huff as Rose hooked the chain to her.
"I'm getting us back to the Doctor. Mum got this truck, and it'll open the heart of the TARDIS up. Either help us or stay out of our way." Rose spat, making Kayla shrug.
"Have fun, and I hope she fights you." Kayla retorted, and then she started to walk away.
The volunteers were ready, their guns aimed from behind the barricade as they watched the doors…which slid open to show the Daleks who glided out.
"Open fire!" Jack ordered, and the volunteers didn't need anything else. They started to fire madly, their noise surely echoing up to the Doctor…
The Doctor did hear the gunshots, they were only one floor below him. The shots grated on his fried nerves, making him work all the more harder.
The Daleks continued to advance, not affected by the bullets. Since Jack had started to travel with the Doctor, he had felt fear, horror, emotions that he had never felt when he was at the Time Agency, but in all his year, he had never felt terror on this scale. The probability of his death, of the Doctor's, was high.
So when one of the volunteers, the Male Programmer from Floor 500, jumped down from his tall barricade and yelled, "It's not working!" Jack had to put on a brave face and answer him.
"Concentrate your fire! Eyestalk, two o' clock!" He tried, trying to put confidence behind his words as he addressed not just the Male Programmer, but the others as well.
"My vision is impaired! I cannot see!" One of the Daleks complained after several minutes of firing.
"We did it!" the Female Programmer cheered, momentarily losing her focus…something the Daleks took advantage of. A Dalek ray, the first for that floor, shot her squarely in the chest and her dead body slumped backwards.
"No! Nooooo!" the Male Programmer yelled in rage, suddenly standing taller than he should have. He too was shot.
A primal roar of rage came from Jack's mouth as he continued to shoot, his fear forgotten due to his rage for the dead.
Lynda's computer beeped with warning.
"I've got a problem..." She told the Doctor through the intercom. Just as she spook, the beeping subsided and Lynda looked uneasily at the door, waiting…
"Human female detected." A Dalek said from outside, and a deadly silence fell.
Two Daleks were outside, one touched the pad next to the door, starting to work the code of the door to open it.
Lynda glanced at the door, hearing the slight vibration as the Dalek tried to unlock it. "They've found me." She continued, her fear growing.
The Doctor heard Lynda's fearful voice come through the speaker in the room, but he did not rest in his feverish work. The quicker he was finished, the better. "You'll be all right, Lynda. That side of the station's reinforced against meteors." The Doctor reassured.
"Hope so! Know what they say about Earth Workmanship..." Lynda struggled to keep the words light, but she knew that she had failed.
Another Dalek, a third, advanced on the door sheltering Lynda. A small blow-torch was hooked to him, and the Dalek placed the flame in between the crack that separated the door and the wall.
Lynda watched the door, seeing the flame crackle almost mockingly at her as the Dalek tried to open it, but then she started to turn slowly, sensing unfriendly eyes on her. At the view, her eyes widened in shock as three Daleks rose to face her. The dome lights on the head Dalek front flashed four times, indicating four syllables, 'Exterminate.' With that warning, the Dalek fired. The window smashed, and Lynda screamed as she was gusted out into space. Her blood boiling and bubbling inside of her as she floated in the vacuum of space…and death did not come painlessly for Lynda with a 'y.'
The Doctor heard the scream echo from out of the intercom, like Lynda was being pulled by a wind and was far away as she uttered it. His eyes widened in shock before they closed in resigned failure. One more person he had failed to save.
Jack ran down the corridor backwards, firing at the Dalek that was perusing him. All the others…dead, and he would go down fighting like them. Too bad Kayla didn't get to meet him in hell. "Last man standing! For God's sake, Doctor, finish that thing and kill them!" Jack yelled to the Doctor through the intercom. Adrenaline pumping through him.
The Doctor was still working, and then he heard the Dalek Emperor's voice. He glanced around and saw it on screen.
"Finish that thing and kill mankind." The Dalek Emperor taunted, and the Doctor paused. If the Dalek agreed with something…but he had to finish them off. His training in the Time War had taught him that, the Time War had burned it into him. Daleks could NOT live on. The Doctor started to work again, his pace picking up.
Jackie stood by the TARDIS doors as the chain tightened under the pressure it was in. Mickey was in the giant truck she had brought while Rose watched next to the console. Kayla sat in the chairs by the console, rubbing random spots on it softly.
"Keep going!" Rose yelled to Jackie.
"Put your foot down!" Jackie yelled to Mickey, and he did so.
"Faster!" Rose yelled, still in the TARDIS.
Part of Jackie wanted to go inside…but Rose had instructed her to stand right outside, so Jackie Tyler did what her daughter told. "Give it some more, Mickey!" Jackie relayed to Mickey who had started to roar along with the engine because of the increasing effort.
The metal on console started to creak, and the TARDIS was joining in with sound-effects of her own, all pain riddled. Rose however, took the creaking as a good thing. "Keep going!" She yelled to Jackie.
"Come on, come on!" Jackie shouted to Mickey. The chain was becoming more taunt, and the metal was now screaming its creaks in protest.
"Keep going!" Rose screamed hysterically. They were so close…
"Give it some more!" Mickey growled as he heard the words, pressing his foot down as hard as he physically could…
The catch on the panel flew open violently, deathly white light spilled out of it.
The pickup truck lurched forwards as the chain went slack and dragged behind it.
Rose stepped to look at the light, Kayla's protests falling on deaf ears. There was a golden light in the center of the white, and it reflected on her face, casting her in an unearthly glow. A breeze flew through her hair, and two golden beckons of light flew into her eyes.
"Rose!" Mickey rushed towards the TARDIS but the doors slammed shut before he could reach it. Jackie covered her mouth with her hands, stifling her gasp of shock. After a few seconds, the engines started up, and acting on reflex, she pulled Mickey back. They both watched as the TARDIS dematerialized in front of them, both no seeing the golden light spilling out of the windows. In only a minute, the TARDIS was gone, leaving Jackie and Mickey breathing heavily and stunned.
Jack had somehow gotten to Floor 500, the memory foggy in his brain, his body still filled with adrenaline. He was shooting vainly at the multiple Daleks advancing on him, proving his earlier statement that he was the last one. "Doctor, you've got twenty seconds maximum!" He warned.
The Doctor was now throwing equipment together, dashing about like a madman.
The TARDIS was hurdling through the vortex in a choppy, unnatural fast pace-when it suddenly jerked to a halt.
Kayla took Rose by the shoulders, the foggy memory of a rushed stolen folder in the ex-Time Agent mind. It was time to rewrite history. Kayla wasn't supposed to be on the TARDIS in the first place, but she had wanted to meet the Doctor, so she went with him. And if the file was correct, then Rose died as soon as she arrived at the Game Station. That couldn't happen to the Doctor, he had already lost so much. Taking a deep breath, Kayla pulled Rose towards her, and the brunet kissed the blond fiercely, drawing the heart of the TARDIS from her. Rose sagged in Kayla's arms, and the latter carefully set her down before she faced the TARDIS and resumed the flight that Rose had started, letting the TARDIS lead the way, an itch in her now gold eyes.
Jack's bullets ran out when he reached the end of a corridor. He tossed his now useless Defabricator aside and produced a smaller gun, mentally thanking Kayla's rule to carry a gun with him at all times. He started to fire with his gun, but it did even less damage than the Defabricator, and that had been useless. The Daleks continued to advance, one was leading the others, so when his spare gun signaled it was empty by one fateful click, Jack started to back up, his back quickly greeted by a wall. He had no weapon, and he was faced by three Daleks, but Jack still was defiant, and he greeted the Daleks squarely.
"Exterminate!" They aimed their guns firmly at him.
"I kinda figured that." Jack opened his arms slightly, ready for death. The Daleks fired, and Jack slumped against the wall, dead. But Captain Jack Harkness didn't really dig death, too painful. Thank God he only had to do it once.
The Doctor pulled up the lever of the device he had put together. "It's ready!" He gasped, amazed, and then a sound alerted him that he was no longer alone. He glanced up to see Daleks filing into the room, surrounding him. "You really wanna think about this. 'Cos if I activate the signal, every living creature dies." He threatened.
"I am immortal." The Emperor Dalek reminded from a screen.
"D'you wanna put that to the test?" He questioned, not really wanting an answer.
"I want to see you become like me. Hail the Doctor, the Great Exterminator!" The Emperor Dalek stated, not answering the Doctor's question.
In a fit of rage from the Emperor's words, the Doctor placed his hand angrily on the lever. "I'll do it!" He told the Emperor.
"Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you-coward or killer?" The Doctor's hands tensed on the lever as he fought himself to kill all the Daleks-but he had promised himself that he would never go down the path he had forged during the war ever again. His felt his face screw up in the suppressed pain, and then he let go.
"Coward. Any day." He stated proudly to the Emperor of the Daleks.
"Mankind will be harvested because of your weakness." The Emperor reminded, almost sounding like he wanted to have the Doctor kill him.
"And what about me? Am I becoming one of your angels?" the Doctor questioned, ignoring the Emperor's taunt.
"You are the Heathen. You will be exterminated." The Emperor spat, and the Doctor sighed.
"Maybe it's time." The Doctor didn't fight, instead he closed his eyes, his head tilted back ever-so-slightly, and then the Doctor heard a sound that could only be a fantasy, an illusion, because the TARDIS couldn't be there.
"Alert! TARDIS materializing!" A Dalek voiced as the sound grew louder. The Doctor's eyes snapped open, and he spun around to see all the Dalek's looking at the nearly empty spot where the TARDIS had once sat, and it was now the spot where the TARDIS was coming back. A mere ghost but starting to glow stronger all the same.
"You will not escape!" The Emperor commanded from his screen.
The TARDIS doors flung open at the end of the Dalek Emperor's sentence, forcing the Doctor to shield his eyes with his hand because of the blinding golden light that spilled out, the time vortex. In the doorway stood Kayla. Despite the light, the Doctor stared at her, horrified and shocked by the site. What had Kayla done? There was no time to ponder the question more because Kayla stepped out of the TARDIS, the light curling around her, and the Doctor instinctively stumbled backwards, falling to the ground. She felt wrong, she was wrong.
"What've you done?" the Doctor asked, his fear evident in his voice. Kayla glanced down at him, her warm blue and green eyes filled with the light of the time vortex. When she spoke, the British accent she had was gone and replaced with a smooth cool voice with no distinct accent, but perfect to host any.
"Rose looked into the TARDIS, but she couldn't take the power so I saved her from the powerful and I looked into the TARDIS who looked into me, who controlled me." The Doctor shook his head, still terrified. The vortex would reduce Kayla into a vengeful god if he didn't do something.
"You looked into the Time Vortex-Kayla, no one's meant to see that." The Doctor stalled, still trying to think a plan that would work.
"This is the abomination!" the Dalek Emperor roared, staring at Kayla.
"Exterminate!" A Dalek yelled obediently, and then fired at Kayla, who did nothing but raise her hand, freezing the gun shot and then reversing it back to the Dalek's gun. The Doctor watched in a mixture of amazement and horror, his gaze switching from the Dalek to Kayla quickly, but finally he landed on Kayla and his eyes refused to move.
"Rose was the Bad Wolf, I am merely the Messenger. She was created through me, for I must scatter the words…" Kayla waved her hands at the words,
BAD WOLF CORPORATION.
"I scatter them in time and space." The words rose from the wall and flowed away as if they were never there. "A message to lead Rose and myself here." She finished.
"Kayla, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now." The Doctor said urgently, deep panic rising in his throat.
Yes, it was all fine and well if Kayla led herself there, but if she continued…the results would equal her humanity's death, and she would be a killing god. There was no way the Doctor would allow that to happen. Kayla stared straight ahead, not appearing to hear him, to even acknowledge him.
"You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're gonna burn." His panic and concern existed side-by-side, both growing bigger. Even though he loved Kayla and had complete faith that she wouldn't harm him, he couldn't help the small flinch when Kayla turned her head suddenly, her gaze falling solely on him.
"I want you safe, I need you safe." Kayla told him, a few tears starting to run down her cheeks that the Doctor wanted to wipe away, shocked by her answer. He stared at her, at the tear, unsure of what to say, luckily Kayla broke the silence. "My Doctor. Protected from the false God and the Flower." While the Doctor knew who the false God was, he had no idea who the Flower was.
The Emperor of the Daleks seemed enraged at being called a, 'false God,' something that he shared with Kayla quite quickly. "You cannot hurt me. I am immortal." Kayla changed her gaze from a soft and loving to cold and lethal, aimed directly at the Dalek Emperor, who didn't have the sense to run the hell away.
"You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space-every single atom of your existence, and I divide them." She raised her hand, making the Dalek in the center separate into golden particles. "Everything must come to dust...all things. Everything dies." She glanced to the side, and the Daleks there were soon reduced to particles like their brethren. "The Time War ends." She finished strongly.
"I will not die. I cannot die!" As the Dalek Emperor spoke, his voice rose in volume due to fear, and he screwed up his eye at the end, knowing that death was close.
The Dalek Emperor was a creature to behold. Powerful, angry, immortal, and the ruler of all Daleks. During the Time War, he had seen what his brethren was reduced to, what all Daleks had become. Monsters, and things from the darkest pit of hell. He had wanted to die ever since that day, and suddenly, his immortality had become a curse. So when the Doctor came, the Dalek Emperor knew he wanted to die by the last Time Lord's hands. Instead, he was now dying by the hands of an abomination, one that the Doctor seemed to careful. A light suddenly started at the base of the Dalek Emperor…and death didn't come painless, but it was well received, death was a gift for the Dalek Emperor, who was once a creature to behold.
The entire mother ship and its occupants were reduced to the golden particles, they hung in the air like a shimmering wave, before the particles vanished too. The Time War was done, and the Doctor had finally won.
Kayla stood with her arms raised, staring straight ahead at the spot where the screen that had the Dalek Emperor on it had once hovered. She was shaking some, the strain of it all starting to add up.
"Kayla, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go." The Doctor begged, terrified.
"How can I let go of this? I bring life to him..."
Jack, who had been slumped against the wall, very dead, suddenly took a huge intake of air and his eyes snapped open, very alive…
"I could find her, bring her life…" the Doctor blinked, struggling to find out who Kayla meant.
"Who?" He finally asked.
"Lucy, my Lucy. My perfect baby, my perfect daughter." Kayla explained, some tears leaking out of her eyes as she spoke.
"But this is wrong! You can't control life and death!" The Doctor protested, his mind a whirl wind. Who was Lucy?
"But I can. The sun and the moon...the day and night." Kayla's voice started to tremble, the strain becoming too much. "But why do they hurt...?"
The Doctor's voice took a desperate chord as he realized the worst fact ever. "The power's gonna kill you and it's my fault." He lowered his head to his hands, his elbows resting on his knees as rocked slightly back and forth on the floor.
"I can see everything." Kayla said as another tear fell. Hope began to flair in the Doctor, and he lifted his head back up. "All that is...all that was...all that ever could be."
The Doctor stood up abruptly. He was taller than her, so instead of facing her dead on, he was looking down at her, his gaze filled with understanding. "That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?" He asked Kayla, knowing what he had to do. What Kayla had done to Rose.
"My head..." Kayla whispered, showing her first sign of fear to the Doctor.
"Come here." The Doctor said just as softly, a fond smile playing on his lips.
"...it's killing me..." Kayla continued.
The Doctor took her hands as he uttered his next words, "I think you need a Doctor."
They both took a step towards each other, the Doctor gazing into her eyes throughout the whole time. Gently and carefully, he leaned down to press his lips against hers softly. Each second was wonderful and glorious, but then the vortex started to flow freely from Kayla's eyes and into the Doctor's. Once he knew that it was all gone, he ended the kiss by drawing backwards slightly, watching for a few moments as Kayla's eyes fluttered close and she fell into the Doctor's awaiting arms, unconscious. He placed her gently onto the floor and then he slowly stood up, facing the TARDIS calmly. He slowly exhaled and the time vortex flowed from his mouth and streamed into the TARDIS. The doors closed softly, and the TARDIS looked completely normal. The Doctor opened his eyes and smiled softly to himself. He had saved Kayla, and the Earth would have to cope. He glanced over to Kayla and knelt down beside her, leaning over the sleeping form and stroking her face and neck tenderly, one hand taking a scrap of paper.
Groaning and wincing, Jack stood up. He staggered through the doorway, and then he spot the pile of dust where one of the Daleks had once stood. He stooped and ran his hand through it, utterly confused about what had happen. He was dying…no, he was dead. Then how was he alive now? All thoughts were expelled when the TARDIS engines groaning to life, making Jack get up and run as fast as he can…
He was too late. All he got to see was the TARDIS fading away, leaving Jack stranded. He stared after it, horrified that it had even been there. What had happened to Kayla? A scrap of paper answered all questions. A wind blew through the room, and the paper flew towards him, making Jack pick it up and hungrily read it.
You're wrong.
Kayla's safe.
Rose is safe.
Thanks for your blessing.
Jack reread it, blinking in confusion before he laughed softly, knowing what the Doctor meant.
"Damn Northern humor." He muttered.
The TARDIS fell through the vortex easily.
The Doctor had walked into the TARDIS to see Rose sitting in a chair. Upon seeing Kayla, Rose glared venomously at the brunet, something that had continued as he had placed Kayla next to the console beside him, piloting the TARDIS under Rose's glares. After ten minutes of silence, Kayla woke up. "Did it work?" She asked softly.
"Yes." The Doctor answered at the same volume.
"There was…singing." Kayla muttered, sitting up slowly.
"That's right! I sang a song and the Daleks ran away." The Doctor said cheerfully, causing Kayla to smile some and Rose's face to defrost a bit.
"I was in the TARDIS…and then…" As Kayla struggled to remember, her eyes wandered, which was why she saw the glow in the Doctor's hand. She closed her eyes slowly, while the Doctor tried to keep his face from showing his concern. "I can't remember anything else..." She slowly got up, glancing at his hands to make sure that there was no glow.
"Kayla Harkness." The Doctor said slowly, rolling the name on his tongue. "I was gonna take you to so many places. Barcelona-not the city Barcelona, the planet. You'd love it. Fantastic place-they've got dogs with no noses." He glanced quickly over at Rose, who had an expression that made her look like she was swallowing something bitter, but then he trained his eyes back to Kayla who was in the middle of rolling her eyes at the Doctor's joke. "Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny!" He laughed some, earning a soft giggle from Kayla.
"How soon until…" Kayla didn't have to finish the sentence, the Doctor knew what she was talking about.
"Soon, but just let me ramble." He pleaded. The Doctor wanted his last moments to be talking to Kayla, to be looking at Kayla.
"You do realize you're not making sense." Kayla pointed out, giving the Doctor a place to start from.
"I might never make sense again! I might have two heads. Or no head!" He laughed, and Kayla joined him. "Imagine me with no head! And don't say that's an improvement..." Kayla smirked.
"I would never say that." She promised with a wink.
"It's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you're gonna end up with—" He was suddenly propelled backwards by a blast of golden light. He clutched his stomach, doubling over slightly.
"Rose, get over here." Kayla called loudly before rushing over to the Doctor's side, helping him to stand properly.
"You need to stay away, I'm not safe!" The Doctor warned as the blond walked in.
"Doctor, tell me what's going on." Rose demanded when she saw the stance that the Doctor was in and the pain he was in too.
"I absorbed all the energy of the time vortex, and no one's meant to do that!" He explained to Rose, trying to keep the words light despite his pain. His eyes screwed shut, and he wobbled slightly.
"Eat less." Kayla grunted, trying to continue her support for the Doctor.
"Every cell in my body's dying." The Doctor continued, wrapping an arm tightly around Kayla as he tone turned serious.
"Can't you do something?" Rose asked softly, worried for the Doctor.
"He is doing something." Kayla interjected.
"Time Lords have this little trick, it's...sort of a way of cheating death. Except..." he looked down at Kayla, gazing into her blue green eyes. "It means I'm gonna change." He said softly, smiling despite the pain. Nearby, Rose winced at the scene, truly realizing that the Doctor would never be hers…and a part of her was slightly okay with that, but the rest needed him as her Doctor.
"And I'm not gonna see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face." The Doctor interrupted Rose's train of thought as he spoke, and he couldn't help but laugh at his words. Kayla squeezed him tightly. "And before I go..." the Doctor started.
"Don't say that." Rose begged, cutting across his words.
"Kayla…before I go, I just want you to know that you were perfect, the best thing ever." The Doctor leaned down and kissed her softly before he moved her away, his hands clenching the console for support. Slowly, he turned to face Rose.
"I just wanna tell you, you were fantastic." He smiled at her proudly. "Really fantastic." Rose couldn't muster a smile, to confused by what was going on to try,
"And d'you know what?" the Doctor continued.
"What?" Kayla asked softly.
"So was I." Kayla grinned widely while Rose finally smiled, nodding slightly.
The Doctor smiled back at the two, his eyes on Kayla only, but he meant it for both. And then, he convulsed, orange energy exploded from his skin at the neck of his jumper, from the sleeves of his jacket, and the bottom of his trousers. Rose staggered backwards with Kayla doing the same, both shielding their eyes from the power and the heat. Rose turned her head, not able to watch, but Kayla did. She was transfixed as the Doctor's hair lengthened and his face changed…until the energy died away and Rose turned to look, shocked to see someone else in the Doctor's clothes. He had brown hair that had strands hanging over his forehead and the Doctor's black jumper, leather jacket, and black trousers on. He looked around, surprised, and then turned to face Kayla and Rose, his eyes focusing only on the brunet.
"Hello! Okay-oo." He gulped, blushing slightly as he felt Kayla's eyes wander his new body, focusing on…certain areas. Rose however watched his face as the Doctor ran his tongue over his teeth, his brow furrowing in confusion. "New teeth. That's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right! Barcelona." Rose stared at him with undisguised shock, while Kayla giggled.
"Yes you were." She agreed with a wink, still mapping out his body.
So, one more chapter and then we have the next book...OMG I AM SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN IT!
Oh, I forgot to, you know, reply to the reviews on here. So, mega replying to every single review I have received:
beulah2013: It made sense at 2 AM, but Rose didn't see the whole thing going on with Kayla and the Doctor. It was just a private message from him to her.
TeamTHEFT: I'm glad you like it.
Imou: Jealous Rose is a happy Rose! And thanks for reviewing!
Guest (1): ...Is that good or bad sobbing?
beluah2013: The Doctor doesn't want to admit his feelings for Kayla to others because of being scared and such. The meta-crisis with Rose will happen and the parallel world is coming up. As for the dragging...you'll see...
grapejuice101: Thanks!
SheldorOfAleraan: Thanks!
Guest (2): Thanks!
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. THIS HAS BEEN SO MUCH FUN TO DO AND I LOVED EVERY MINUTE!