Chapter 7: Asylum of the Daleks – Part 3

They quickly explained to Rory what had happened when they were separated. He was frantically worried about why Amy was unconscious. Rose gathered from his reactions that the separation was not his idea and he might not even know why Amy was pushing him away. The Doctor laid her down on the floor, Rory hovering over her.

"Will sleeping help her? Will it slow down the process?" Rory questioned fearfully.

"You'd better hope so because pretty soon she's going to try and kill you," Aria said over the speakers in the room.

They had locked themselves in this relatively safe spot. There was a large teleport pad in the middle of the room and Rose was hopeful that they might be able to get it working to get out of here once they brought the shields down.

"Amy," the Doctor called to her, hoping to bring her out of it.

"Ow," she grumbled and scrunched her eyes shut tightly.

"Amy. Still with us?" the Doctor checked again.

"Amy, it's me. Do you remember me?" Rory asked.

Without opening her eyes, she harshly slapped Rory across the face.

"She remembers me," he sighed.

"Same old Amy. Are you sure you're not a Tyler?" the Doctor asked.

"That would be a bit disturbing considering our son is married to their daughter, yeah?" Rose commented.

"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek? Subtract love, add anger. Doesn't she seem a bit too angry to you?" Aria asked.

"Well, somebody's never been to Scotland," Amy commented as she pushed herself up off the floor.

"What about you, though, Aria. How come you're okay? Why hasn't the nanocloud converted you?" the Doctor questioned suspiciously.

"I mentioned the genius thing, yeah? And the incredible technology? Shielded in here," she told him.

"Clever of you. Now, this place. The Daleks said it was fully automated. Look at it. It's a wreck," the Doctor responded quickly, perhaps not completely believing her excuses.

"Well, I did come in here with the intent to make a bit of a mess," Aria answered smugly.

"Who are you though? Hacking the security systems of the most advanced warrior race the universe has ever seen. And I'm getting the distinct impression that you know more about us than you're letting on," he stated accusingly.

"I've been looking you up. You're all over the database. Why do the Daleks call you the Predators?" she deflected.

"Because we seem to be the only ones that can stop them," Rose told her.

"We are not the Predators. I'm just a man with a plan," he insisted.

"You've got a plan?" Aria asked hopefully.

"We're all ears," Rory said impatiently. He clearly just wanted to get everyone safely out of there.

"There's a nose joke going if someone wants to pick that one off," Amy teased.

"In no particular order, we need to neutralize all the Daleks in this Asylum, rescue Aria from wherever she's stuck, escape from this planet, and fix Amy and Rory's marriage," the Doctor listed.

"Ok, I'm counting three lost causes. Anyone else?" Amy argued.

"I don't really need a rescue. Just need the shields down so that my ship can leave," Aria told him.

"Makes things a little easier. Aria, there's a Dalek ship in orbit," he instructed.

"Yes. Got it on the sensors," she replied.

"The Daleks upstairs are waiting for me to turn off the forcefield. Soon as I do, they'll burn this whole world and us with it. So, once we get that forcefield dropped, we need to get out of here before that happens. This is a teleport. Am I right?" he explained.

"Yeah. Internal use only," Aria replied.

"If you can work on boosting the power, I can figure out how we get that forcefield down. Once the forcefield is down, I can use it to beam us right off this planet," the Doctor reasoned.

"You said when the forcefield is down, the Daleks will blow us up," Rory argued.

"We'll have to be quick, yes," the Doctor agreed.

"Fine, we'll be quick. But where do we beam to?" Amy asked.

"We need to get home. Our home is just within range of the teleport. On the Dalek ship," the Doctor answered.

"They'll exterminate us on the spot," Amy shouted.

"Ah, so this is the kind of escape plan where you survive about four seconds longer," Rory commented.

"What's wrong with four seconds? You can do loads in four seconds, right Rose?"

"Absolutely, love," she smiled and twirled her sonic in her fingers. "Let's work on that forcefield."

"And while you are all working on that?" Amy asked, hoping for some kind of fix for her nanocloud problem.

"You are going to remember what I told you would slow it down," Rose told her pointedly.

The Doctor and Rose moved to the computer terminal to see exactly what security protocols might have gotten this apparent computer genius stuck. Meanwhile, they could see activity on the nearby teleport controls to show that Aria was fulfilling her part of the deal.

"Okay, look at me. I'm going to be logical. Cold and logical, okay? For both of our sakes, for both of us, I'm going to take this off my wrist and put it on yours," Rory told Amy. He tried to keep his voice down. He knew that the Doctor and Rose wouldn't like his plan, but he didn't care, he just wanted to save Amy.

"Why? Then it'll just start converting you. That's not better," Amy argued.

"Yes, but it'll buy us time, because it'll take longer with me," he insisted.

"Sorry, what?" she questioned incredulously. Why would it take longer?

"It subtracts love, that's what Aria said," he pointed out.

"What's that got to do with it? What does that even mean?" Amy asked.

"It's arithmetic. It'll take longer with me because we both know, we've always known, that... Amy, the basic fact of our relationship is that I love you more than you love me, which today is good news because it might just save both of our lives," Rory stated, the admission clearly painful for him.

"How can you say that?" Amy gasped, her eyes filling with tears at his accusation.

"Two thousand years, waiting for you outside a box. Don't say it isn't true, you know it's true. Give me your arm. Amy!" Rory told her, his voice raising angrily at her for denying what he felt was obvious.

Suddenly furious with him again, Amy slapped him harshly across the face. "Don't you dare say that to me. Don't you ever dare!" she cried tearfully.

"Amy, you kicked me out!" he argued.

"You want kids! You have always wanted kids. Ever since you were a kid. And I can't have them," she insisted.

"I know," he answered, not quite understanding what this had to do with her kicking him out.

"Whatever they did to me at Demon's Run, I can't ever give you children. I didn't kick you out. I gave you up," she admitted.

"Amy, I don't..." he began.

"Don't you dare talk to me about waiting outside a box, because that is nothing, Rory, nothing, compared to giving you up!" Amy told him, tears sliding down her face.

"Just give me your arm. Let me put this on you. Just give me your arm!" Rory insisted as he grabbed for her wrist.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted, but they both froze when they saw that Amy was already wearing one of the bracelets. They both looked over at the Doctor, who was smirking at them knowingly.

"Didn't I mention? Superior Time Lord biology," he said cheekily.

"You don't even need it?" Rose questioned, shaking her head.

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Rory asked.

The Doctor didn't reply, but straightened his bow tie smugly. Rose wrapped an arm around his waist as they continued working.

"Nice work, love. There's one item off the list," Rose thought to him.

"Thank you. And we'll see what we can do to fix Amy's problem after we get out of here too," he assured her.

"Amy, you've got a daughter, yeah? Even if you can't have any more kids, maybe you should talk to her?" Aria suggested. Rose and the Doctor looked up in shock at her statement. They were sure that Jamie and River hadn't told anyone else about their pregnancy yet, but this girl implied that she knew about it.

"How did you know that?" Amy questioned.

"Oh, I think Rose mentioned something about your children being married?" Aria replied. "Anyway, think I've almost got this done, Doctor. Also, I've got an idea that might buy you a bit more than four seconds up on that Dalek ship."

"And this idea is?" Rose wondered.

"The Daleks, they have a hive mind. Well, they don't, they have a sort of telepathic web," Aria told them.

"The path web, yes," the Doctor acknowledged.

"I hacked into it, did a mass delete on all the information connected with the Doctor and the Bad Wolf," she told them.

"You made them forget us?" the Doctor asked incredulously. He was almost offended that they could forget him after everything he had been involved with regarding the Daleks, despite the fact that it really was just data in a massive computer.

"Good, eh?" Aria bragged.

"That's bloody brilliant," Rose told her. "But they are still Daleks. Won't they still try to exterminate us the moment we teleport straight onto their ship anyway?"

"Well, I did say it would probably give you more than four seconds. Didn't say how much more," Aria admitted.

"I've tried hacking into the path web. Even I couldn't do it. How can you do that, but not figure out this forcefield?" he questioned. It was difficult, yes, but nowhere near as difficult as what she just proved she was capable of.

"Maybe, one day, you'll meet the girl who can. Anyway, if you've got that forcefield ready, let's do this," she told him.

"Hang on. I just wanted to ask you, a few times, you've said 'we.' Have you got a crew or something with you? Is everyone alright?" Rose asked her.

"Oh, just me and my boyfriend. He stayed inside the ship. Couldn't protect him from the nanocloud," she answered. "If you're ready to go, I'll just go and get my ship ready to de... um, take off as well."

"You didn't need me to take down the forcefield. Who are you? Why are you here?" the Doctor demanded.

"Can't say. Not yet. I'm feeding that teleport with energy from my ship, you'll have to use it before I can leave," she answered.

"But they'll attack right away. No ship can get through the atmosphere fast enough to get away from the planet before it explodes," Rose argued.

"I don't think she needs to get through the atmosphere. Do you, Aria?" the Doctor suggested.

"Run," she told them.

"What did you say?" the Doctor asked in confusion.

"I've taken down the forcefield. The Daleks above have begun their attack. You'd best teleport out of here so we can all get home safely," Aria stated.

"Let's go, Doctor," Rory insisted.

"Right, yes. Leaving the exploding planet, in favour of hundreds of Daleks," he replied, pulling Rose with him as he rushed over to the teleport pad. He had a remote control in his hand to activate it and in a flash of blue light, they found themselves back in the large room housing the Parliament of the Daleks. The TARDIS was right behind them and Rose turned to open the door quickly.

"THE ASYLUM IS DESTROYED," the white Dalek announced.

"INCOMING TELEPORT FROM ASYLUM PLANET. WE ARE UNDER ATTACK," another reported.

"PREPARE TO DEFEND. DEFEND. DEFEND!" the white Dalek ordered.

"EXPLAIN, DALEK SUPREME," the Dalek Prime Minister demanded.

"You didn't really expect that little stunt to stop the Oncoming Storm and the Bad Wolf, did you?" the Doctor asked them.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF. IDENTIFY. IDENTIFY," one of the Daleks shouted.

"It's me. You know me. The Doctor. The Oncoming Storm. With the one you call the Abomination, we are the Predators," he insisted. It really was a blast to his ego to have them forget him completely.

"Don't argue! She gave us an advantage," Rose said under her breath as she poked him in the side with her elbow.

"Titles are not meaningful in this context. Doctor who?" the woman from Skaro asked.

"DOCTOR WHO?" the Prime Minister repeated.

"DOCTOR WHO?" all of the Daleks chanted around them.

Rose had already pushed Amy and Rory inside the TARDIS and was tugging on his sleeve to pull him to safety as well.

"Oh, Aria. You beauty. It worked," he said with a grin. If he had been his last self, Rose was sure he would have giggled. "Fellas, you're never going to stop asking."

Rose was happy to find that Amy would be just fine after her exposure to the nanocloud. The TARDIS medbay easily managed to clear her body of all of the microscopic robots and prevented any of their changes from affecting her. The Doctor also brought them for a quick stop in the sixty-fourth century, where a session with some properly calibrated nanogenes corrected the damage done to her at Demon's Run.

The Doctor and Rose were ecstatic to be leaving a much happier Amy and Rory at their house after all of this was over. They knew that it wasn't just because Amy could have children again. The two of them had finally realized that the love they felt for each other was mutual.

"Any idea who she was?" Rose asked her husband as they piloted their beloved ship back into the vortex.

"Not for sure, but I have a feeling that the official answer would be, spoilers," he replied.