The Doctor groaned as he returned to consciousness. The first thing he noticed was the rather uncomfortable throbbing in the back of his head, which began fading the longer he was awake. The next was that he was lying on a rather uncomfortable stone ground. It didn't take him long to remember what had happened and who had taken him. Without opening his eyes, he could guess that he'd been dragged into the sewers from before. The ground he laid on felt like the cool stone of the tunnels, and the light behind his eyelids seemed the same. There was some shuffling, and a few whimpers, suggesting there were other people around him, and probably some of the pigmen from earlier. He guessed that they were the people who'd gone missing from earlier, and now he was being taken hostage with them. For what, he wasn't entirely sure.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a familiar face looking down at him with worry. "Doctor? Are you alright?"
Relief flooded him. "Frank!" The Time Lord hurried to a standing position, grinning at the boy. "Glad to see you're still up and around. Thought we'd lost you back there." He was pretty relieved Frank was okay; he was been young, younger than most of his companions generally were, and he'd cared about the people lost in the tunnels.
Before Frank could respond, a loud grunt interrupted him. Some of the pigmen were standing nearby, a couple of humans waiting anxiously in a line between them. The Doctor froze as he suddenly remembered what he'd been doing before he'd gone after Molly, the discovery he'd made about the green blob; it had originated from the planet Skaro. He had no idea how that was even possible, or what it might entail, but he knew that it couldn't be anything good.
He really, really hoped it didn't mean what he thought it did.
One of the pigmen grabbed him by the arm and pulled him roughly to his feet. With an angry squeal, it shoved the Doctor into line with the others humans, right beside Frank. The Time Lord watched the pig-creatures through narrowed eyes. They were unintelligent, merely beasts now, but they were taking orders from someone, and he had a horrible feeling he knew who.
"Doctor?" Frank seemed scared, but he managed to keep his voice fairly steady as he asked, "Where are they taking us?"
"Dunno," he answered, gaze still focused on the pigmen. They didn't seem to be intelligent enough to follow their conversation, and they clearly didn't know who he was. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been grouped with the humans.
Frank's tone took on a hard edge as he said, "Listen Doctor, you've known more about what's going on than the rest of us from the start. If you know what's happening, just tell me, please."
The Doctor shot a glance at the kid, surprised by his shrewdness. His lips quirked into a little half-smirk, which faded as he remembered just who they might be facing. Frank was too young to have to face this kind of danger – then again, to him, they were all too young. "I think we're being taken to be made like them." He nodded towards one of the pigmen, who glared back at him with narrowed, beady eyes. "Why, I'm still not sure, but someone seems to need them for something, and I've got a feeling your Mr. Diagoras is part of it."
"Like them?" Frank's voice went a little shrill with surprise. "You mean they used to be human?" The Doctor was impressed to hear both horror and sympathy in his tone. The kid had a good heart.
The Doctor started to answer, but one of the pigmen squealed angrily at him. He settled for watching them in silence, mind racing as he tried to figure out a way out of here.
SCENEBREAK
The pigmen led them into a wider area in the sewers where numerous tunnels intersected. With angry squeals and rough shoving, the pigmen herded the humans and the Doctor into a bunched group in the center. A familiar whirring echoed from further down one of the tunnels; the Doctor felt a cold shiver of dread at the sound.
A Dalek rolled out of the tunnel, eyestalk a cold, gleaming blue. The Doctor fought back the sudden blaze of hatred, the feeling that his veins had suddenly been set on fire. It took everything he had not to lunge at the metal monster with nothing but his bare hands. There had been days he'd thought that the destruction of his people had been worth it, if only he'd been able to rid the universe of those heartless creatures.
But it wasn't memories of the Time War that haunted him now as he looked at the Dalek – instead, flashes of a cold white wall, of a wretched beach, a crying woman, flashed in his mind. The Daleks had taken the one who'd mattered most to him, and they kept coming back for more. It wasn't fair! He could feel the Oncoming Storm raging inside him, but he forced it back as much as he could. Frank and the other captives needed him right now.
If the Dalek saw him, he'd be exterminated without a second thought. He needed somewhere to hide, but the smooth tunnels offered no shelter, and the pigmen were crowded around too tightly to get past. His sonic screwdriver and anything else of use were in his coat pocket, and he'd left his coat upstairs. There was nowhere to run to and no way to fight.
The Dalek glared out coldly at the humans, letting out a metallic shriek. "THE PRI-SO-NERS WILL FORM A LINE. MO-OVE! MO-OVE!"
The pigmen began roughly shoving them into a line against the wall, thrusting the Doctor into a spot at the end beside Frank. The Dalek started at the other end of the line, eyestalk focused on the first person in line. Another Dalek glided in from the tunnel. "RE-PORT," it ordered the first Dalek.
The first Dalek wheeled his eyestalk around to face the newcomer. "THESE ARE STRONG SPEC-I-MENS. THEY WILL HELP THE DA-LEK CAUSE. WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE FINAL EX-PER-I-MENT?" The Doctor's ears perked at that last part. The Daleks were planning something, and he was pretty sure it went further than turning humans into animals.
The new Dalek reported, "THE DA-LEK-ANIUM IS IN PLACE. THE ENERGY CON-DUC-TOR IS NOW COM-PLETE."
"THEN I WILL EXTRACT PRI-SO-NERS FOR SEL-EC-TION." The first Dalek whirled around to face the prisoners. Two pigmen dragged forward one of the prisoners, an older man who looked at the Dalek with wide, terrified eyes. The Dalek reached out towards his face with the plunger, suction cup stretching over the man's face for a moment before it drew back. "READING BRAIN WAVES. LOW IN-TELL-I-GENCE."
The man forgot his fear long enough to be insulted. "You calling me stupid?" he demanded roughly.
"SI-LENCE!" The Dalek ordered shrilly. The man snapped his mouth shut, staring at the Dalek with wide eyes. It turned to the pigmen. "THIS ONE WILL BE-COME A PIG SLAVE. NEXT!"
The man began struggling, energy renewed at the Dalek's words. "No, let go of me. I'm not becoming one of them!" But the pigmen were too strong and, still protesting, the man was dragged away. The Doctor felt a rush of guilt, but for the moment at least there was nothing he could do.
The Dalek began going through the whole line, scanning all of the prisoners. Those of low intelligence were sent away to become pigmen, but those of high intelligence were taken aside, to be led elsewhere when the scans were done. The Doctor guessed that they were to be used for this "final experiment," whatever that was.
Soon, only he and Frank were left to scan. The pigmen yanked Frank before the Dalek, who scanned him the same as the others. "SUPERIOR IN-TELL-I-GENCE." Frank was shoved into line with the other people with high intelligence. Now it was the Doctor's turn. He considered a last-ditch effort at running, but the pigmen were too strong. If he was getting out of here, it was by talking his way out.
The pigmen dragged him before the Dalek. He fought back the cold, burning hatred and grinned pleasantly at the creature. "Hello again. You know, you should really train your men better," he quipped, nodding towards the pigmen. "They're only supposed to bring you humans."
The Dalek jerked back sharply at the sight of him, eyestalk waving wildly. "IT IS THE DOC-TOR!" He felt a rush of grim satisfaction at the Dalek's obvious fear. When the creature calmed, it began advancing toward him. "EX-TER-MI-NATE!"
"Well, hold on now, just a tic," the Doctor said quickly, holding up both hands."There's no need for that."
"AND WHY IS THAT?" The Dalek asked suspiciously.
The Doctor's thoughts raced with something to reply with. "Well, I'm not armed for one thing. For another, you're looking for people of high intelligence, aren't you? Superior intelligence. And who's got greater intelligence than a Time Lord, eh?"
The Dalek's eyestalk looked him up and down, but the creature itself was silent. If he didn't know better, he would have said it wasuncertain. It exchanged a quick glance with the other Dalek, who said reluctantly, "DA-LEK SEC WILL WANT TO USE HIM."
The first Dalek hesitated before lowering his eyestalk, as though in defeat. "VE-RY WELL. BRING THE DOC-TOR TO THE LA-BOR-A-TOR-Y FOR THE FINAL EX-PER-I-MENT."
The pigmen grabbed the Doctor again and shoved him into line with the prisoners of high intelligence. Frank had watched the exchange with the Doctor with surprise, but he didn't remark on the Dalek's familiarity with him. Instead, he asked quietly, "Do you know where they're taking us?"
"I'm not sure,"he admitted. "But when we're there we'll be able to find out more about this final experiment of theirs."
SCENEBREAK
They were led up from the sewers into what seemed like a great laboratory. Two more Daleks waited inside. One was the same dull coloring as the other two, but the other was a sleek black, marking him as a commander. The Doctor's stomach clenched as he recognized it as one of the Cult of Skaro, which meant the three other Daleks were probably from the Cult as well. The four Daleks to escape the Time War, the ones responsible for Canary Wharf, for losing Rose. The Doctor clenched his fists, fighting back the rage, the pain of his loss, the utter hatred he felt for these Daleks in particular.
He was so worked up, it took him a few moments to notice anything off about the Daleks in front of him. The three other Daleks were watching their leader in silence, but the sleek black Dalek, Dalek Sec if he remembered correctly, was trembling wildly, shifting back and forth, with smoke emitting from his metal suit. The Doctor felt a thrill of fear. This, whatever was happening to Sec, was the final experiment, he was sure of it.
"RE-PORT," one of the first two Daleks, Dalek Caan he believed, ordered the Dalek with Sec, Dalek Thay.
"DA-LEK SEC IS IN THE FI-NAL STAGE OF EV-O-LU-TION," Thay reported. The Doctor blinked at Thay in shock, turning to look at Sec. If there was one thing a Dalek would never, ever do, it was change or evolve at all from the pure Dalek form. Something was very, very wrong here.
"SCAN HIM," the last Dalek, Dalek Jast commanded."PRE-PARE FOR BIRTH."
"Birth?" The Doctor repeated, now wildly confused. He shuffled through line to stand beside Dalek Caan. "Caan, it is Caan, right, what's up with your buddy Sec over there?"
"THE DOC-TOR WILL NOT SPEAK!" The Dalek insisted shrilly.
He threw up his hands, backed up a few steps to seem nonthreatening. "Hey, I'm just asking a question here."
"THE DOC-TOR WILL BEAR WIT-NESS," Dalek Jast said a little smugly.
The Doctor spun around to face Jast instead, sensing he was more likely to talk. "Alright then, witness to what?"
"THIS IS THE DAWN OF A NEW AGE."
He felt a shiver of dread at those words, but forced it back. "Yeah, meaning…?"
"WE ARE THE ONLY FOUR DA-LEKS IN EX-IS-TANCE, SO THE SPECIES MUST E-VOLVE A LIFE OUTSIDE THE SHELL. THE CHIL-DREN OF SKA-RO MUST WALK AGAIN."
The explanation only served to baffle him further. "Evolve? But you lot don't evolve, not ever. Otherwise you wouldn't be pure Daleks anymore!" He spoke the words pure Dalek with as much contempt as he could manage.
Jast didn't answer, for at that moment Dalek Sec's metal shell stopped smoking, and the light faded from his eyestalk. The Doctor watched in nervous anticipation as Dalek Sec's shell opened, and a human-shaped form struggled it's way out. As it straightened, he could see that it had the head and hands similar to a Dalek mutant, with one eye and tentacles on its head, but it was shaped like a bipedal human, and it wore a black suit.
In a slow, halting tone, softer than that of its purer companions, Sec announced, "I… am a human…Dalek. I am… your future."
SCENEBREAK
The Doctor stared at the human Dalek in shock. He thought he'd known Daleks. He'd understood how they'd worked. Motivated by hate and a cruel cleverness, they would go to any lengths to exterminate those not Dalek. But this evolution… it went against everything he knew about the Dalek race. There had been one time, only one other time that a Dalek had acted so against its nature; when it had soaked up the DNA of Rose Tyler.
Wait… the DNA of a human. The last time it had only been one touch, and that had been enough to make the Dalek hesitate from killing. Dalek Sec had just made himself 50% human. What kind of changes could that entail?
He stepped forward out of line, walking up to Dalek Sec. "Well," he said lightly, "I have to say, this is new."
Sec looked at him in surprise, but after a few moments he bowed his head slightly. "Doctor,"he greeted in his raspy tone.
Dalek Thay, who apparently hadn't noticed him yet, advanced menacingly towards him. "THE EN-E-MY OF THE DA-LEKS! EX-TER-MI-NATE!"
The human Dalek held up a hand, halting Dalek Thay. "Wait," he ordered softly.
The Doctor tried not to feel too hopeful about Sec's hesitation. "Well then. A new form of Dalek. Fascinating and very clever."
"The Cult of Skaro… escaped your slaughter," Sec explained, gaze focused shrewdly on the Time Lord.
Cold hatred burned in him at the callous mention of Canary Wharf, but he pushed it back. "How did you end up in 1930?" he asked instead.
"Emergency Temporal Shift," Sec admitted.
The Doctor scoffed, hatred leaking through in his tone. "Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, yeah?" Loathing and condensation dripped from his tone as he remarked, "Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world but instead your skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting. All of which results in you."
Sec blinked back calmly at him, unaffected by the Doctor's tone. "I am Dalek… in human form."
That hope from earlier rose up again. Human and Dalek had proved to be a merciful mix before. Maybe Sec had changed as the last Dalek had. "What does it feel like? You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now.
Sec took in a deep breath, eye gazing curiously at everything around him. "I feel… humanity."
The Doctor felt that hope from before growing. "Good, that's good.
That hope was dashed as Sec continued, " I feel… everything we wanted from humanity, which is… ambition, hatred, aggression… and war. Such a… genius for war."
The Doctor began shaking his head. "No, that's not what humanity means…"
Sec cut him off. "I think… it does. At heart, this species… is so very Dalek."
Bitter disappointment churned in the Time Lord, but he forced himself to remain outwardly casual. "Well, your loss I suppose. If that's all you think humanity is, then you're missing a lot."
"Maybe so," Sec agreed surprisingly easily, "but… perhaps there is more you can teach us… Doctor."
He blinked at the human Dalek, completely stunned. All he could manage was a flat, "What?" The other Daleks shifted, seeming almost uncomfortable with their leader's words. That didn't surprise him; Sec's words had bordered on blasphemy.
"We have… everything we need for the final experiment, but your genius, Doctor, could be… useful," Sec explained, one-eyed glance focused calmly on the Doctor.
The Time Lord bit back a fierce retort. Maybe there was a bargain to be found in this. He straightened fully, feeling a small flicker of satisfaction when he rose up taller than the human Dalek. "Alright then, Sec. I'll help if you promise to let them go." He nodded towards the people of high intelligence who were still lined up by the pigmen.
Dalek Thay let out a shrill shriek. "DA-LEKS DO NOT RE-LEASE PRI-SO-NERS!"
"Tough," the Doctor retorted sharply. "Until they walk you won't get any help from me."
Sec watched him with a narrowed eye for a few moments before dipping his head. "Very well. The… prisoners will be escorted to the… edge of the sewers." When the Daleks stared at him in stubborn silence, his voice took on a sharp edge. "Now. That was an order."
Dalek Caan stared at him for a few moments, then lowered his eyestalk in defeat. "I O-BEY." He turned to the pigmen, nodding at them. They began dragging the prisoners back towards the sewers.
The Doctor would've been worried if one of the Daleks had gone with the prisoners, but a mere two pigmen had gone, and the prisoners could easily overpower them if needed. Satisfied, and more than a little hopeful, he whirled around to face Dalek Sec. "Well then," he said cheerfully, "let's get started."
Alright, a quick note, since I have to be somewhere in a few minutes. I am going to be in Disney all next week, so you can expect some extra updates this week, but not many next week.