Notes: Yes, there are some rather big changes here. You might figure out what I've done, or it might just really confuse you. Not sure which.

Chapter Five: Asylum of the Daleks

The Doctor was upset. Upset and angry. He had received a summons through a dream. An unknown woman had sent a psychic projection into his mind while they were sleeping and called them to Skaro of all places. One of the places that he never wanted to set foot again.

"I thought Skaro would have been time locked with the War?" Rose asked tentatively. She knew this was a sensitive topic for him, but she needed to know as much as possible if she was going to help.

"No. There weren't any Daleks left there by then. So there was no reason to extend the time lock that far. As far as I know, it's completely uninhabited now," he explained, the tension in his voice apparent as he piloted the ship to their destination. "Let's get this over with," he grumbled, taking her hand and leading her out onto the dreaded planet.

They were inside some kind of structure. They could hear rain pouring down outside and beating patterns on the metal roof above them. The Doctor took out his sonic and scanned for life signs. There was only one other person in the area, so they went to go and meet her. The woman stood by a large window, looking out over the desolate landscape. She wore a long, hooded cape, and turned slightly towards them as they approached.

"I got your message. Not many people can do that. Send me messages," the Doctor said coldly.

Rose noticed that the woman seemed nervous and kept looking around as if she expected to be attacked.

"I have a daughter, Hannah. She's in a Dalek prison camp. They say you can help," the stranger replied.

"Do they? I wish they'd stop. Hell of a choice of a meeting place," he commented.

"They said I'd have to intrigue you," she responded.

"Who is 'they' exactly?" Rose questioned, but the woman just looked away and stayed quiet.

"Skaro. The original planet of the Daleks. Look at the state of it. Who told you about me?" the Doctor finally said, breaking the silence and asking his wife's question again.

"Does it matter?" the woman asked worriedly.

"Maybe not, but you're very well informed. If Hannah's in a Dalek prison camp, tell me, why aren't you?" he pressed. Something about all of this wasn't adding up.

"I escaped," she replied quickly.

The Doctor chuckled at catching her out. "No. Nobody escapes the Dalek camps," he said, sure of himself and grasped her hand. "You're very cold."

The Doctor looked around them all of a sudden. Rose could feel his worry through their bond and grasped his hand, their bracelets clinking together between them. They started backing away from the strange woman and she looked at them in alarm.

"What's wrong?" she wondered.

"It's a trap," he answered.

"What is?" she asked.

"You are, and you don't even know it," he told her.

"What?" Rose gasped.

There was a slight cracking sound before a Dalek eyepiece suddenly burst through her forehead, and one of their guns from the palm of her hand. They didn't even have a chance to start running; she shot them both with a stun beam.

The Doctor awoke before his wife with a gasp and quickly took in their surroundings. The walls, floor and ceiling were all completely white, but they seemed to be alone. As soon as he established that there was nothing immediately threatening them, he moved to check on Rose and she opened her eyes at his touch.

"Where are we?" she asked dazedly.

"Not sure yet, but you can bet there'll be Daleks," he replied as he helped her up off the floor.

A moment later, the door to the room opened and two bronze Daleks rolled in.

"YOU WILL FOLLOW," one of them ordered.

Not wanting to get themselves killed before they even found out what the situation was, they both followed silently, as directed. Through the door to the next cell, they could hear Rory's voice asking "So, how much trouble are we in?"

"How much trouble, Mr. Pond?" the Doctor began as they were led into the room with their friends. Both Amy and Rory were there, but Rose noticed that they weren't holding onto each other as they usually would in a threatening situation. "Out of ten? Eleven," the Doctor concluded.

The ceiling of the room they had just entered opened and slid away as the floor began to rise. They suddenly found themselves in a huge chamber as the platform they were standing on locked into place in the floor of the new room. The levels around them held tiers of Daleks, perhaps thousands of them, all focussed on the four people now in the centre of the room.

The TARDIS stood beside them, obviously taken when they had captured Rose and the Doctor. At the front of the room, there was a Dalek out of its casing, in a transparent container, much like that of the Emperor that they had met previously, though much smaller in size. All of the Daleks just stared at them silently.

"Where are we? A spaceship, right?" Amy asked quietly.

"Not just any spaceship. The Parliament of the Daleks. Be brave," the Doctor replied. He grasped his wife's hand tightly as they steeled themselves for yet another face off against their greatest enemy.

"What do we do?" Amy questioned.

"Make them remember you," he whispered back. With an unspoken agreement, he and Rose walked toward the front of the assembly. "Well, come on then. You've got us. What are you waiting for? At long last, it's Christmas! Here we are," the Doctor announced loudly and they waited for the barrage of lasers to kill them both.

"SAVE US. YOU WILL SAVE US," came the voice from the Dalek at the front of the room. It sounded hesitant, but pleading.

"I'll what?" the Doctor sputtered disbelievingly.

"YOU WILL SAVE THE DALEKS," it insisted.

"You've got to be joking," Rose commented, crossing her arms over her chest.

All of the Daleks around them began to chant, "SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS."

"Well. This is new," the Doctor added as they looked around them.

The woman that they had met on Skaro arrived and stood near them. All of the Daleks went silent as she informed them that they would arrive at their destination soon. The Doctor nervously paced the floor. Rose sent him her reassurance through their bond. Something strange was happening and they would need each other's strength to get through it.

They could hear Amy and Rory speaking to each other in low voices. The room was so deathly silent, that even the slightest whisper could have been heard.

"What's he doing?" Rory asked.

"He's chosen the most defendable area in the room, counted all the Daleks, counted all the exits, and now he's calculating the exact distance we're standing apart and starting to worry. Oh, and look at him frowning now. Something's wrong with Amy and Rory, and who's going to fix it? And he straightens his bow tie," Amy rambled as she watched him.

"WE HAVE ARRIVED," one of the Daleks announced loudly.

The Doctor braced himself before bravely asking, "Arrived where?"

"DOCTOR," the Dalek in the jar called.

"The Prime Minister will speak with you now," the woman from Skaro informed them.

"Do you remember who you were before they emptied you out and turned you into their puppet?" the Doctor asked her.

"My memories are only reactivated if they are required to facilitate deep cover or disguise," she replied coldly.

"Oh my god," Rose gasped, realizing that this wasn't just a construction, but used to be a real person.

"You had a daughter," he growled angrily.

"I know. I've read my file," she responded jokingly.

The Doctor's teeth were clenched as he and his wife made their way up to address the one they had been informed was the Prime Minister. Rose could barely bring herself to look at the thing in disgust. There had been a time, long ago, where she had felt so much pity for a Dalek. It had changed at her touch and suddenly began to feel. In its last moments, all it wanted was to see the sunlight outside of its casing, and she questioned the Doctor for wanting to kill it.

While that one had changed, she wouldn't be so forgiving of any of them now. She understood the pain that they would inflict. Somehow, the few survivors that they had met with Winston Churchill had become all of this. They were back in full force.

"Well?" the Doctor asked curtly.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE DALEK ASYLUM?" it questioned.

"According to legend, you have a dumping ground. A planet where you lock up all the Daleks that go wrong. The battle-scarred, the insane, the ones even you can't control. It's never made any sense to me," the Doctor responded, pacing again as he grew impatient for them to just come out with what it was they wanted.

"WHY NOT?" it asked.

"Why not just destroy them like you did with the ones that found the Progenitor thing?" Rose wondered.

"Exactly, why not just kill them?" the Doctor agreed.

"IT IS OFFENSIVE TO US TO EXTINGUISH SUCH DIVINE HATRED," it replied.

"Offensive?!" the Doctor shouted.

"DOES IT SURPRISE YOU TO KNOW THE DALEKS HAVE A CONCEPT OF BEAUTY?" the Prime Minister of the Daleks responded calmly.

The Doctor leaned in close to the container holding the creature and stared into its singular eye as he hissed his reply, "I thought you'd run out of ways to make me sick. Hello again. You think hatred is beautiful?"

The Doctor walked back to his wife's side as they both seethed at the disgusting things.

"PERHAPS THAT IS WHY WE HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO KILL YOU," the Dalek suggested, clearly trying to anger the Doctor even more. He refused to rise to the bait with his wife and friends held captive with him.

Apparently deciding that the conversation was over, a hole opened in the floor at the centre of the room. The woman from Skaro led them toward it and began to explain. Through the opening, they could see a small planet. It seemed to be surrounded by some kind of energy field, which was probably a good idea if it contained insane Daleks.

"The Asylum. It occupies the entire planet, right to the core," she told them.

Amy and Rory moved to stand next to the Doctor and Rose as they all looked down at the planet below.

"How many Daleks are in there?" the Doctor questioned.

"A count has not been made. Millions, certainly," the woman answered.

"All still alive?" he asked.

"It has to be assumed. The Asylum is fully automated. Supervision is not required."

"You talk like this is Dalek Daycare," Rose interjected.

"Armed?" Amy asked.

"The Daleks are always armed," the woman replied.

"What colour?" Rory asked, earning himself an incomprehensible look from everyone. He blushed slightly and told them, "I'm sorry, there weren't any good questions left."

"Well, most of the ones I've seen are that sort of bronze-y colour, but I still think those bright and shiny ones ought to start a basketball team. Maybe they've done that in the little school down below, yeah?" Rose answered.

"This signal is being received from the very heart of the Asylum," the woman informed them and pressed a button. Over the speakers of the ship, a selection from the opera Carmen began blaring loudly.

"WHAT IS THE NOISE? EXPLAIN. EXPLAIN," one of the large, white Daleks demanded.

The Doctor pulled Rose into his arms and began to twirl her around the room in a dance to the music. "Er, it's me," he told them.

"Sorry, what?" Rory questioned, unsure how to take their apparent disregard for the danger they were all in.

"It's me, playing the triangle. Okay, I got buried in the mix. Carmen. Lovely show," the Doctor added as he and his wife stopped dancing and addressed the matter at hand again. "Someone's transmitting this. Have you considered tracking back the signal and talking to them?" There was silence, as if such a concept were incomprehensible. "He asked the Daleks," the Doctor added cheekily.

Using his sonic on the computer interface near the Dalek Prime Minister, the Doctor tried to respond to the broadcast signal. "Hello? Hello? Carmen? Hello?" he called.

"Hello?" a female voice replied.

"Come in. Come in. Come in, Carmen," the Doctor continued as he worked with his sonic to strengthen the signal.

"Hello! Yes, yes, sorry. Do you read me?" the girl's voice asked, sounding as if she had just run to the interface.

"Yes, reading you loud and clear. Identify yourself and report your status," he told her.

"Oh, it's you isn't it?" she responded.

"Who is this?" the Doctor asked.

"Ah, right then, you can call me Aria. Been here quite a while now. A bit stuck, but we're working on that," she answered.

"Are you okay? Are you under attack?" he wondered. How could someone get in there, let alone survive there.

"Yes, well, the locals aren't too friendly, but we're keeping them out so far," Aria told them.

"Do you know what those lifeforms are?" he asked, unsure of whether she realized just how much danger she was in down there.

"I know a Dalek when I hear one, yeah," Aria answered.

"What are you doing down there?" the Doctor questioned incredulously.

"At the moment, trying not to be down here anymore," she replied cheekily.

"THIS CONVERSATION IS IRRELEVANT," the white Dalek interrupted and cut off the signal.

"No, it isn't," the Doctor insisted angrily. "Because someone has gotten into your Asylum, and if someone can get in, then everything can get out. A tsunami of insane Daleks. Even you don't want that."

"THE ASYLUM MUST BE CLEANSED," the white Dalek demanded.

"Then why is it still here? You've enough firepower on this ship to blast it out of the sky," the Doctor wondered.

"The Asylum forcefield is impenetrable," the woman told them.

"Turn it off," the Doctor suggested.

"It can only be turned off from within the Asylum," she informed them.

"A small taskforce could sneak through a forcefield. Send in a couple of Daleks. Oh," he paused as he suddenly realized why they hadn't already gone to fix the problem. He began to clap his hands at the corner the Daleks had found themselves in. "Oh. Oh, that's good. That's brilliant."

"What is it, love?" Rose wondered. She could usually spot this sort of thing, but their logic was evading her this time.

"You're all too scared to go down there. Not one of you will go, so tell me, what do the Daleks do when they're too scared?" the Doctor asked.

"THE PREDATORS OF THE DALEKS WILL BE DEPLOYED," the white Dalek responded.

"You don't have any Predators, and even if you did, why would they turn off a forcefield for you?" he asked.

"Because you will have no other means of escape," the Dalek Prime Minister answered haughtily.

The Doctor looked at them in confusion, but Rose realized just what they had in mind and felt the rage inside her starting to rise.

"May I clarify? The Predators are what the Daleks call the two of you," the woman informed them.

"What?! You can't possibly..." the Doctor argued as he and Rose were led back to the hole in the floor, where Amy and Rory were still waiting patiently to find out their own fate in all this.

"You will need this. It will protect you from the nanocloud," the woman announced as two other humanoids attached devices to their wrists, opposite their marriage bracelets. It was like a large, black wristwatch with a blue light on it.

"The what? The nano what?" the Doctor asked. Everything seemed to be happening far too quickly now.

"The gravity beam will convey you close to the source of the transmission. You must find a way to deactivate the forcefield from there," the woman told them.

"Gravity beam?" Rose gasped as a bright beam of light fired from the ceiling, through the hole in the floor and towards the planet below.

"You're going to fire us at a planet? That's your plan? Rose and I get fired at a planet and expected to fix it?" the Doctor argued.

"In fairness, that is slightly your M.O." Rory commented.

"Don't be fair to the Daleks when they're firing us at a planet!" the Doctor told him.

"Can I have a moment to think up an alternative solution to this?" Rose requested.

The controlled humanoids placed similar bands on Amy and Rory's wrists as well.

"What are you doing? Why would they need those?" Rose demanded.

"IT IS KNOWN THAT THE DOCTOR REQUIRES COMPANIONS," the white Dalek answered.

"Oh, brilliant. Good oh," Rory exclaimed, rolling his eyes at being dragged back into one of these situations.

"Don't worry. We'll get through this, I promise. Don't be scared," the Doctor told them. While he wasn't happy to be taking them into another dangerous situation, they wouldn't be any safer held on the ship as hostages.

"Scared? Who's scared?" Amy said with a wink at Rose. "Geronimo."

"Ha! Oi!" the Doctor called as they were all pushed into the light of the gravity beam and fell toward the planet. All four of them were screaming as they fell, but it was more from the excitement than fear. The Doctor managed to control his fall enough to reach out and grasp his wife's hand. They smiled at each other and relaxed to enjoy the ride.