Chapter Four:
"So we just saved a star whale and now we're going to meet Winston Churchill?" Scarlett asked as the Doctor hung up the phone, after speaking to the man himself.
"Yep, says he needs my help and who am I to deny him of that?"
The Doctor grinned at both Amy and Scarlett as the TARDIS landed. "Looks like we're here," he said, striding over to the doors and stepping out into wherever Churchill had summoned him this time. Amy and Scarlett followed him out just in time to see soldiers surrounding the TARDIS with guns pointing straight at them.
"Lovely welcome," Scarlett stated.
The soldiers then parted, but not because of her words, oh no, it was because Winston Churchill had just stepped into the room.
"Scarlett, Amy," said the Doctor, gesturing towards Churchill, "Winston Churchill."
"Doctor? Is it you?" said the man.
"Oh, Winston, my old friend!" He tried to shake hands but Churchill motioned with his instead, almost as if he wanted something. "Ah, every time!"
"What's he after?" asked Amy.
"TARDIS key, of course," said the Doctor matter-of-factly. That wasn't the first time he had tried to get it from him.
"Think of what I could achieve with your remarkable machine, Doctor! The lives that could be saved!"
"Ah, doesn't work like that," said the Doctor as he shut the TARDIS door.
"Must I take it by force?" said Churchill in a joking manner, though some truth lay underneath.
"I'd like to see you try."
"At ease," ordered Churchill and his soldiers lowered their guns, much to Scarlett's relief.
"So," smiled the Doctor, "you rang?"
As they strode through the corridor, they heard an air raid occur from above. Just the thought gave Scarlett shivers.
"You've changed your face again," stated Churchill causing Scarlett to furrow her eyebrows.
How can someone just change their face? Well, except for using plastic surgery but something told her the Doctor wasn't a fan of that type of thing.
"Yeah, well, had a bit of work done," shrugged the Doctor.
"You're late, by the way," said Churchill. He started to say more, but paused when a woman walked over to speak with him.
"Late?" Scarlett asked.
"I rang him a month ago."
"Really? Sorry. Sorry, it's a Type 40 TARDIS. I'm just running her in," he apologised.
Amy gazed around in awe but Scarlett's eyes were focused on the woman in front of her.
"Are you alright? You seem… sad," she said to her.
"Yes, ma'am. Fine, ma'am," she replied with a forced smile.
Ma'am? Scarlett thought. I could get used to that.
"Action this day, Breen! Action this day!" said Churchill in an attempt to cheer her up. She nodded briefly before walking off. "Now," he spoke again, "coming, Doctor?"
"Why?" inquired the Doctor.
"I have something to show you."
They stepped out of a lift at Churchill's instructions when he said; "Follow me."
He took them to the rooftop (of all places), and they stepped carefully over the sandbags. A man in a white coat was watching the sky with binoculars and was introduced to them as Professor Edwin Bracewell.
"How do you do?" the man smiled as a formation of German planes started approaching and they all watched with a frown.
"Doctor, it's…" Scarlett started.
"History," he finished.
"Ready, Bracewell?" asked Churchill.
"Aye aye, sir," he responded. "On my order! Fire!"
From within a sandbagged area, laser beams appeared and were fired at the German planes, destroying them completely.
"What was that?" Amy asked, baffled. She'd never seen anything like it.
"That wasn't human, that was never human technology," said the Doctor, mainly to himself. He was getting more worried by the second. "That sounded like... Show me! Show me what that was!" He turned and climbed the ladder quickly so that he could stand next to Bracewell.
"Advance!" yelled Bracewell.
"Our new secret weapon," added Churchill, beaming with pride.
Amy and Scarlett watched as a machine slid into view. It was painted in Army khaki, a utility belt around it, a small Union Flag under the eyestalk and the lights on the top of its dome were covered. It looked familiar to Scarlett, and she knew she had seen one of those before. But the Doctor recognised it immediately. He was all too familiar with those particular creatures.
"What do you think? Quite something, eh?" Churchill grinned.
"What are you doing here?" asked the Doctor roughly.
Scarlett climbed up the ladder and Amy followed.
"I am your soldier," said the machine, its voice robotic.
"What?"
"I am your soldier," it repeated.
"Stop this," snapped the Doctor. "Stop now! You know who I am, you always know."
"Your identity is unknown," it said.
"Perhaps I can clarify things here," said Bracewell, stepping forward. "This is one of my Ironsides."
"Your what?" Scarlett asked. She had never heard of an 'Ironside' before.
The man then turned to said 'Ironside'.
"You will help the Allied cause in any way that you can?" he questioned.
"Yes," it answered.
"Until the Germans have been utterly smashed?"
"Yes." Its voice sounded scratchy and quite frankly, Scarlett hated it.
"And what is your ultimate aim?" Bracewell asked.
"To win the war!"
Back in the Cabinet War rooms, the Doctor was searching through Bracewell's diagrams and blueprints of his so-called Ironsides.
"They're Daleks! They're called Daleks!" stated the Doctor. He didn't know how the Daleks got there or what their plan was, but he would do everything in his power to stop them.
"They are Bracewell's Ironsides, Doctor! Look! Blueprints, statistics, field-tests, photographs. He invented them!" Churchill gestured to the blueprints.
"Invented them?" the Doctor scoffed, "Oh, no, no, no!"
"Yes! He approached one of our brass hats a few months ago. Fella's a genius."
"A Scottish genius, too," grinned Amy, "Maybe you should listen to –"
"Shh! He didn't invent them! They're alien," the Doctor stated, not wanting to listen to any excuses.
Scarlett believed him. Why shouldn't she? He was speaking with such urgency that she highly doubted he was lying, and after all, he did save their lives with the whole Prisoner Zero fiasco. She thought they kind of owed him one.
"Alien?" asked Churchill.
That was when an Ironside – or a Dalek, Scarlett personally wasn't too sure what to call them – glided into the room, earning a glare from the Doctor.
"And totally hostile," he frowned.
"Precisely," started Churchill, turning over a page to show them a propaganda poster with an Ironside printed onto it. "And they will win me the war."
"Why won't you listen? Why 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."
"Yes! Right! So destroy them! Exterminate them!" begged the Doctor.
"But imagine what I could do with a hundred! A thousand!" Churchill bellowed.
"I am imagining," the Doctor mumbled before turning to Amy and Scarlett. "One of you, tell him."
"Tell him what?" asked Amy.
"About the Daleks."
"What would I know about the Daleks?" frowned Amy.
"Everything. They invaded your world, remember? Planets in the sky, you don't forget that! Tell me you remember the Daleks."
"I do," Scarlett said, causing their gazes to turn to her. "When I saw it out there, I couldn't place it but now that you say that, Doctor, I remember. Amy, you should, too. You were with me the day the Daleks invaded. You were with Rory and me."
Amy shook her head, "Nope, sorry."
"That's not possible," said the Doctor, looking carefully at the Scottish girl.
"So they're up to something, but what is it? What are they after?" said the Doctor – mostly to himself – as they entered the map room where women were manning the radios and moving figures on the map as required.
"Well, let's just ask, shall we?" said Amy, making her way over to a Dalek in the corner.
"Amy!" Scarlett yelled, just as the Doctor said "Amelia!"
They watched as Amy tapped on the Dalek's casing and it swivelled round to look at her.
"Can I be of assistance?" it asked in that annoying mechanical voice.
"Oh. Yes. Yes! See, my friends reckon you're dangerous; that you're an alien. Is it true?"
Does she really think she's going to get an honest answer like that? Scarlett thought.
"I am your soldier," it stated, just like it had earlier.
"Yeah. Got that bit. Love a squaddie. What else, though?" Amy continued.
"Please excuse me. I have duties to perform."
"Winston, please," begged the Doctor once more, turning to the man next to them.
"We are waging total war, Doctor! Day after day, the Luftwaffe pound this great city like an iron fist. Men, women and children slaughtered. Families torn apart. Wren's churches in flames."
"Yeah? Try the Earth in flames!" said the Doctor, trying to push away the image building in his mind.
"I weep for my country, I weep for my empire. It is breaking my heart," replied the Prime Minister.
"But you're resisting, Winston! The whole world knows you're resisting! You're a beacon of hope."
Churchill started signing papers as he listened. "But for how long? Millions of innocent lives will be saved if I use these Ironsides now!"
That was when the Dalek Amy had spoken to moved up to them. "Can I be of assistance?"
"Shut it!" yelled the Doctor before turning to Churchill once more. "Listen to me. Just listen! The Daleks have no conscience, no mercy, no pity. They are my oldest and deadliest enemy. You cannot trust them!"
Please just listen to him, Scarlett willed.
"If Hitler invaded hell, I would give a favourable reference to the Devil! These machines are our salvation!" He paused as a siren was heard from above, "Oh, the all-clear. We are safe. For now," And then he departed.
"Doctor, are you okay?" Scarlett asked as he stared at the Dalek in the room.
"What does hate look like to you?" he asked as Amy joined them.
"Hate?" she questioned.
"It looks like a Dalek," he answered. "And I'm going to prove it."
A/N: Wow, I'm so good with updating recently aren't I? Wow. Anyway, yesterday I posted Chapter 3 and named it 'The Nurse and the Kissogram', just because I thought it was a catchy title. Then I watched The Hungry Earth and Rory calls himself and Amy 'The Nurse and the Kissogram'. I just found this weird and awesome at the same time and I don't know, I'll be shutting up now. See you soon! x