A wave of force swept through the Vault. The room vanished with a blinding glare and a howling burning wind; and the humans, the duplicate Doctor, Dav, Dalek Caan (his chains snapping like pins), and a handful of other Daleks found themselves jumbled and piled and stacked into a translucent force bubble that had materialised at one side of the room.
The noise of their landing was the shattering of a thousand steel skulls. Daleks do not stack very well. The Daleks and Dav were on the lower level, with people draped around and on top of them (Sarah Jane looked down at the hard glowing thing between her legs, and discovered to her horror that she was actually sitting on top of a Dalek, its communicator light glowing as it groaned. She wriggled off, but ended up standing on the Dalek's lower rim; there were no room to go elsewhere).
"Is everyone all right?" Jack said, squeezing out from between two Daleks. He looked up; Nyder and Ravon were levitating in the centre of the sphere, their faces intent and hands stretched outwards.
"Doctor. DOCTOR!" Rose shouted, pounding her hands on the clear bubble; it flushed red and black at her touch. Outside, she could see a boiling white sea of energy that crawled and billowed like the fires of a sun, and through the flames she could see glimpses of people. She turned her head, blonde hair flying, and counted who was in the bubble.
"The Doctor's out there, I think," she said. "And Donna."
"What's going on?" Jack demanded of the floating Eternals. He noticed in passing that Ravon was barefoot under his robes. He had very nicely shaped legs, and - Jack declined to look further, just this once.
Nyder frowned down at them, his eyes glazed with concentration. "What you are seeing around you is the wrath of an Eternal. Davros has lost his temper - you could say, he is exploding with rage. The reason for that anger apparently concerns the Doctor and that Donna woman, because they are out there, and quite unharmed."
Behind the thundering energy waves, Davros and the Doctor could be seen, and Donna as well. And they could see Davros. Flames were rising from him, flames that glowed but did not consume him; they streamed out like the corona of a sun. The waves of fire seemed to circle around the three figures and the TARDIS without touching them, but the Vault's metal walls and floor were being scoured away, glowing and disintegrating. There was already a noticeable lip at the bottom edge of the shielding sphere, where the deck had been pitted away into nothingness. But the fires and sparks seemed to move at an eerie dragging pace, and when they saw the Doctor shout his mouth moved like a slowed-down film.
"What's - why are they moving at a different time rate?" Sarah Jane asked.
Ravon shot her a glance. "We are moving at a different time rate because Davros' full fury would destroy all of you, and more importantly, the portal back into Eternity."
The humans turned and looked; even the Daleks turned their domes (Jackie and Mickey had to duck as the eyestalks passed through where they were standing). It was true; the bubble that held them also enclosed the glowing square opening into Elsewhere.
"And rebuilding that portal will be a delicate task. Especially from this side. And with the walls between the dimensions already so frayed, this is the best action to take."
"Typical," said Esselle, blinking into existence. She was perching on the edge of Dav's chair; in fact she was probably sitting on his hand, not that she appeared to notice. "We give Davros his feet back, and what does he do? Shoot himself in them."
"That line of humour is not appreciated, Security Liaison," Nyder said in a throttled tone.
Esselle nodded gravely and rose, drifting upwards to hover with her fellow Eternals. Dav's blind face rose to follow her, his mouth a little open. "Understood, sir. Are you sure this is all of them?" She spun in mid-air, looking at them, human and Dalek and other.
She eyed the second Doctor, his wild hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. "I wonder what we should call you. Metacrisis hybrid duplicate seems a bit long. I know; we could call you Fred."
"No, you cannot call me - Fred..." he said, his voice fading away. He frowned, and then said a little too slowly, "Why do I get the feeling you know more about me than you're letting on?"
"Oh, I know all sorts of things about you, Fred," she said, and then her eyes blazed. "Nameless stars! The console's half-slag by now."
They could all see it, slumping and blowing away in a hail of parts and cables and keys.
"Ravon, can you interface with the systems and get those planets back where they belong?" Nyder asked.
"Well, not from in here," Ravon said, touching his headband with one hand; the other was held straight out, palm forward, as though pushing strength into the protective sphere. "And we don't know if the current configuration will be held stable once the equipment is inoperative."
"He cannot do that!" Dav snapped. "You must stop him! He will destroy everything!"
"He'd have to be pretty angry to do that," Esselle said thoughtfully, "but it could happen."
"We don't have time to reminisce," Nyder said. His hands were held out towards the sphere as well, and they were shaking. "Esselle. You will have to translate outside this ship, and return the planets to their proper places."
Esselle looked at him, eyes wide, and the humans stared as well.
"Sir," she said hesitantly, "are you certain-"
"Of course I'm certain," he snapped. "If we are to repair the damage to the various dimensions, we must return this one to its proper balance. All twenty seven planets put back, and scrape any Daleks off them before you move them, please; their satellites and respective systems readjusted, and then return here."
"Y-yes, sir," she said.
"Esselle," Ravon said unexpectedly.
She looked at him, her face full of nervousness and fear.
"Make Davros proud of you," he ordered rather than said.
She smiled, her grave face suddenly alight. For a moment she was beautiful. "Yes!" she said happily, and vanished.
"Why are you sending her?" the second Doctor said, his eyes studying the remaining Eternals.
"She is the strongest," Nyder said. "Two of us are enough for here. Although holding a protective sphere large enough to protect you all is not-"
The outside world went pure white, light blinding them; Nyder and Ravon stiffened, seeming to push back against the light.
"If the size of the sphere is a problem, Eternals, perhaps I can help you reduce it," Dav rasped. "Dalek units. Destroy these humans! Exterminate!"
In the Vault, Davros was screaming in fury. His every word was accompanied by a new burst of wrathful flame that spat out of him and circled the Doctor like a hungry phoenix. The smell of boiling metal and seared circuitry was thick in the room, but the flames were burning the smoke out of the atmosphere as fast as they created it. This was not much consolation to the Doctor as he fought to hold Davros' attention.
"You closed-minded fool!" Davros roared, flinging one hand to where Donna stood; the flames roiled around and over her but did not touch her dazed face. "How can you even contemplate harming such a spectacular being!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" the Doctor screamed back. "I-"
"Oh yes you do, Doctor, yes you do! You've done it before, I can see it! I see your past and your now, Doctor, I see it all as clearly as I see your face. And I see the future, Doctor! I see what you are going to do to her! And I will not let it happen!"
"What are you both on about?" Donna finally shouted, and they both turned to her. All three of them were haloed and framed by the corroding flames, like standing in a simulation of Hell that could turn real at any moment.
"Donna, don't listen to him," the Doctor jumped in, trying to talk over Davros, and only too late realised that he had held silent, letting the Doctor put out his blanket denunciation first.
"Donna Noble, look inside yourself," Davros said urgently. She stared at him as he went on, his attention totally focused on her. "You have the Doctor's mind and knowledge, I can see it, a two way metacrisis; you know what you are, you know what he is, and so ask that Doctor within you: what will he do to you?"
"Donna-"
"What will he do?"
Donna's eyes widened, and seemed to bleed golden sparks. "No," she whispered. "No, you can't, damn you, you skinny miserable alien git, YOU CAN'T!"
"I HAVEN'T DONE IT!" he screamed in utter despair.
"But you will," she said, shaking, her eyes starred with tears. "You will. You've done it before. You'll destroy what I am, to save my life - or a life. Not this me, but - a me." The cords stood out in her neck. "And I won't let you. Never!"
"Donna, come with me," Davros said, one hand out, his tone oozing sincerity. A passage opened between him and Donna, roofed over with the inferno. "No matter how long it takes, I can show you how to survive this. Let me teach you, let me help you-"
"NO! Donna, that's Davros, the most evil man in the Universe! You can't possibly trust him!"
"You don't know that I will harm you." Davros tilted his head to one side. "And you do know that he will. There is not much time left for you. So-"
A long silent moment, all three of their faces lit by the boiling flames, tearing at the steel and filling the air with the smell of burning Time.
"Yes," she said, holding out her hands to Davros.
His hands closed over hers, and his face glowed with triumph. "Yes!" he repeated happily, and vanished along with Donna.
The Doctor opened his mouth wide, ready to scream his hearts out with one word: "NOOOOOOOO..."