Notes: I realize I didn't mention in the previous chapter, I am essentially playing 'hard and loose' with the Highlander part of the story. There may be several inconsistencies since I haven't watched the entire series, only the episodes I liked, especially the ones with Methos.
Dalek
The TARDIS materialized in a dimly lit and carpeted area filled with display cases. The Doctor opened the door and walked out, followed by Seren.
"What happened? What's wrong?" She asked with a concerned frown.
Seren was wearing a light blue sleeve-less blouse that tied behind her neck, white skinny jeans and light blue 5" high heeled ankle strap sandals, with a dark gold cuff bracelet on her right wrist and a pair of dark gold dangling earrings in her ears, her white purse* on her shoulder. She had her long hair tied back in a high pony at the crown of her head, held in place by a light blue ribbon.
"Don't know." The Doctor replied, looking around the dimly lit area. "Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course."
He was wearing his usual attire of black trousers and leather jacket, with an olive green jumper and black shoes.
"Where and when are we?"
"Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground. The year 2012." He replied, looking at a display.
"Wow, that's incredibly close." Seren said in amazement. "I should be 29. And yet, I don't look a day over 23."
The Doctor nodded as he found the light switch and flipped it on, bathing the room in bright light.
"Duw," Seren breathed as she took in the glass cases that went on in organized rows for as far as she could see. "It's a museum." She glanced at the cases in front of her and added, "An alien museum."
"Someone's got a hobby." The Doctor commented as they walked down the aisle between two rows of display cases. "They must have spent no small fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust." He pointed to an artefact in one of the cases. "That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship."
"And a Slitheen arm that's been stuffed." Seren added with a slightly horrified look on her face when she saw the stuffed arm in one of the cases.
"Oh! Look at you." The Doctor breathed, drawing Seren's attention to one of the cases.
"What is it?" She asked, walking over to him and looking at the case.
"An old friend of mine - well, enemy." The Doctor replied, looking at the case.
It was the head of a Cyberman.
"The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit." He continued, before adding as an afterthought, "I'm getting old."
"That can't be were the signal's coming from, is it?" Seren asked, looking up at him. "I mean, it's a severed head."
"You're right, it isn't. This thing's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling out for help." He replied, reaching out and touching the case.
As soon as his fingers touched the glass, alarms went off. They watched as armed guards surrounded them from all sides, also effectively cutting them off from the TARDIS.
"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A." Seren whispered softly to him.
"You have a point." He admitted as the guards closed in and aimed their ready weapons at them.
The guards led the pair to an office where a young man a few years younger than Seren's physical age was showing another man, this one seated behind an oval shaped desk and looking bored, a few artifacts that had been recently purchased.
"And this is the last." The boy said, gently picking up an artifact – a palm-sized curved object - and handing it to the man. "Paid $800 000 for it."
Seren and the Doctor walked into the office, a tall woman with curly hair tied into a pony behind them.
"What does it do?" the man asked in an American accent, looking marginally interested as he took the object from the boy and held it.
"Well, you see the tubes on the side?" the boy asked, pointing to the specific area on the object. "It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel."
The man held the object in one hand, twisting it around carelessly as he looked at it.
"I really wouldn't hold it like that." The Doctor said as the boy looked at him in curiosity.
"Shut it." The woman said sternly.
"Really, though." The Doctor said, glancing at her before looking back at the man behind the desk. "It's wrong."
"Is it dangerous?" the boy asked, curious.
"No." The Doctor replied. "It just looks silly."
He reached out for the object and froze as the guards turned their weapons on him, clicking the firing bolts indicating the weapons were ready to fire. The man behind the desk raised a hand in silent command and the guards stepped back, lowering their weapons slightly. The man stood up slowly and handed the object to the Doctor.
"You just need to be…" the Doctor said, taking the object and gently stroked it with his fingers. A beautiful note echoed through the room. "…delicate."
A smile crossed Seren's face as the Doctor played a few more notes.
"Wow." She breathed, looking up at the Time Lord as he played the instrument, a wide smile on his face.
"It's a musical instrument." The American said amazement, leaning on the table.
"And it's a long way from home." The Doctor added softly.
"Here, let me." The man said, reaching out and grabbing the instrument from the Time Lord's hands.
The man held the device the same way the Doctor did and ran his fingers over the tubes. The sound he produced had them wincing as his touch on the instrument was harsh.
"I did say delicate." The Doctor reminded him with a slight wince as Seren fought against the urge to cover her ears. "It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision."
The man continued to run his fingers over the instrument, though his touch became gentle.
"Very good." The Time Lord said with a smile as the sounds began sounding more like musical notes instead of a screeching feline. "Quite the expert."
"As are you." The man said, casually and carelessly tossing the instrument over his shoulder. The gentle smiles on Seren and the Doctor's faces faded as they saw the action. "Who exactly are you?"
"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?"
"Like you don't know." The man scoffed in reply. "We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake."
"Pretty much sums me up, yeah." The Doctor replied with a chuckle.
"The question is, how did you get in?" The man asked contemplatively, walking around his desk and coming to stand in front of the two intruders. "53 floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplice. You're quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty."
The man's eyes roamed over her bare arms and the swell of her breasts beneath her blouse before travelling down her hourglass figure and back up to her face, lingering momentarily on her breasts once more.
"She will kick your arse if you keep calling her she." Seren snapped, irritated with the way the man had looked at her as if she were a piece of meat. "And if you keep looking at me as if I was a piece of arse, you won't have eyes by the end of this meeting."
"She's English, too!" the man exclaimed, ignoring Seren and looking back at the Doctor. "Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend."
"I'm Welsh." Seren corrected, glaring at the man, only to be ignored once more.
"This is Mr. Henry Van Statten." The boy said, sighing at the nickname he was given and at the mistake the man had made about Seren's accent. The boy's own eyes roamed over Seren's figure, though was much more subtle about it, considering the glare Seren was giving Van Statten.
"And who's he when he's at home?" Seren asked, looking at the boy with an unimpressed expression on her beautiful face.
"Mr. Van Statten owns the internet." The boy informed them, wisely moving his gaze up to Seren's face.
"Don't be daft." Seren scoffed. "No one owns the internet."
"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten said with a smirk.
"So, you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up." The Doctor summarized, and unimpressed look now on his face.
"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten asked imperiously.
"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am." The Doctor replied.
"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?" Van Statten asked.
"You tell me."
"The Cage contains my one living specimen."
"And what's that?"
"Like you don't know."
"Show me."
"You want to see it?'
"You can almost smell the testosterone." Seren muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at the two posturing men in front of her.
The boy that had introduced Van Statten and the woman with the curly hair hid their smirks at the comment.
"Goddard." Van Statten called and the woman with the curly hair looked up. "Inform the Cage we're heading down." Goddard nodded, and Van Statten turned to the boy. "You, English. Look after the girl. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do." Van Statten walked to the lift and turned back. "And you, Doctor-With-No-Name, come and see my pet."
The Doctor glanced at Seren, silently asking if she'll be okay on her own. Seren nodded encouragingly and he followed Van Statten into the lift, the doors closing behind him.
"So, what's your name?" Seren asked, turning to look at the boy.
"Adam. Adam Mitchell." Adam replied, a slight flush covering his cheeks as he looked at the beautiful woman in front of him. "You?"
"Jones. Seren Jones." She replied with a smile as Adam led her out of the office and down the vast corridors of the underground complex. "Where are we going?"
"My workshop." Adam replied.
"Okay." She said, nodding and fell silent, listening to Adam's chatter about Van Statten and the bunker.
Seren looked at the bleak walls, feeling an unexplained sense of uneasiness. Thinking about it, she felt it the moment they stepped out of the TARDIS, but it was slowly becoming more pronounced the longer they spent in this underground bunker/ complex.
"Sorry about the mess." He said apologetically as he led her into his workshop several minutes later. When she looked around, she had to hold back a grimace as she looked around and took in the mess that littered the small room. The room has filled with shelves and boxes, each shelf and box overflowing with items and artifacts. On a waist-high table in the middle of the room, there was a computer set up along with several items beside it. "Mr. Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods. What do you think that is?"
She turned to look at him and he handed her an object that was an inch thick and looked like pure mental. She took it and turned it over gently in her hands, running her fingers over the metal.
"A piece of metal." Seren replied, looking back at him with a raised eyebrow.
She had a feeling it was likely more than that, but was too focused on the uneasy feeling that was growing in the pit of her stomach. She wondered how the Doctor was doing with Van Statten's 'living specimen', and hoped that he was alright.
"Yeah. Yeah, but I think, well, I'm almost certain, it's from the hull of a spacecraft." Adam said in a conspiratorial whisper, looking at Seren earnestly. "The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet - spacecraft, aliens, visitors to Earth. They really exist."
Seren gently set the object down on the tale surface as she looked at him with an appropriately interested expression on her face.
"That's amazing." She said, schooling her face to take on an expression of wonder.
She had never been gladder that her mother had insisted she take drama as an elective while in high school, otherwise acting like she didn't know the truth about aliens would have been slightly difficult.
"I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe the whole universe is just teeming with life." Adam said insistently, wonder on his face as he told Seren his theory.
"I'm completely gob-smacked." Seren said with a small smile at his naiveté. "And you sit here and what? Catalogue it all?"
"Best job in the world. " Adam replied, turning and fiddling with some of the artifacts.
"Have you imagined going out there? Seeing it for real?" Seren asked curiously, looking at him with her large expressive amethyst eyes.
"Yeah." Adam replied, turning back to look at her. "I'd give anything to see it for real." He sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly. "I don't think it's ever going to happen. Not in our lifetimes."
He shook his head slightly, certain in his belief as Seren looked at him with a mysterious and knowing look in her eyes.
"Oh, you never know. Stranger things have happened." Seren said with a smile. "What about all those people who say they've been inside of spaceships and things and talked to aliens?"
"I think they're nutters." Adam replied matter-of-factly, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Yeah, my god-sister says the same." Seren replied with a laugh. Adam laughed as well, a slight flush on his cheeks as he looked at the beautiful woman in front of him. "How did you end up here?"
"Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit." Adam replied.
"And you're a genius?" Seren asked, smirking at him.
"Sorry, but yeah." Adam replied, shrugging. "I can't help it. I was born clever. When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defence System. Nearly caused World War Three."
"And you think that's funny?" Seren asked, her smirk fading as she raised her eyebrow at the boy's boast.
"Well, you should've been there just to see them running about." Adam said, shrugging and missing the unimpressed tone of Seren's voice. "Fantastic!"
"You sound like the Doctor." Seren muttered.
"Are you and him…?" Adam asked, trailing off awkwardly.
"Are him and I, what?" Seren asked obliviously, looking back at him.
"Are you together?" Adam clarified, looking decidedly awkward and uncomfortable.
"We're just friends." Seren replied.
"Good." Adam said, nodding.
"Why is that good?" Seren asked clueless.
"It just is." Adam replied vaguely, his ears turning red.
Seren shrugged at the response, her hand absently straying to her stomach. The uneasy feeling was growing and it was driving her crazy not knowing why she was feeling that way.
"Wouldn't you rather be downstairs?" She asked, wanting to change the subject and distract herself from the growing pit in her stomach. ""You've got all of these bits and pieces here, but there's a living creature downstairs."
"Yeah. Yeah, well, I did ask, but he keeps it to himself." Adam replied regretfully. He frowned slightly and continued, "Although, if you're a genius, it doesn't take long to patch through on the comm. system."
"Okay, let's have a look." Seren said, a smile on her face at Adam's attempt at being impressive.
"It doesn't do much, the alien.' Adam said as he went to his computer and began entering a series of commands. "It's weird. It's kind of useless. It's just like this great big pepper pot."
Adam trailed off as they received visual of the Cage. A man wearing a full-body hazmat suit picked up a large drill and began drilling into the creature's casing. The creature screamed in pain and Seren gasped, her hands flying to her chest as she felt the briefest flash of its pain.
"It's being tortured!" Seren exclaimed in alarm as the flash of pain faded, though the creature continued screaming in agony. "Where's the Doctor?"
"I don't know." Adam replied, eyes wide though he didn't seem all that surprised at what he was witnessing.
"Take me down there." Seren ordered, making her way to the door. "Now!" she added firmly when Adam didn't move.
Adam jumped and followed her out of the workshop before leading her down to the Cage. Seren was silent the entire trip down, wondering where the Doctor was, if he was alright.
The pair got off the lift and entered the lobby outside the Cage.
"Hold it right there." One of the guards ordered, standing up when he saw them.
"Level 3 access." Adam said, flashing his ID card as the pair stalked through the room. "Special clearance from Mr. Van Statten."
The guards and the technicians moved back and allowed the two of them into the Cage. They stopped short just inside as the last technician walked out.
"Don't get too close." Adam warned her as the door closed behind them.
Seren ignored him as she slowly walked forwards, toward the creature and peered into its eyestalk.
"Hello." She said in concern, looking at him with large innocent eyes. "Are you still in pain? My name's Seren Jones. What's your name?"
"Yes." The lights on either side of the dome flashed as the creature replied.
"Yes, what?" Seren asked. "Are you still in pain?"
"I am in pain." The creature said slowly, raising its eyestalk and looking at Seren. "They torture me, but still they fear me. Do you fear me?"
"No." Seren replied honestly.
"I am dying." The creature said slowly lowering its eyestalk once more.
"No, we can help you." Seren said shaking her head, not wanting to accept that the creature was going to die a prisoner.
"I welcome death. But I am glad… that before I die… I have met a human who was not afraid."
At the creature's words, Seren's eyes filled with tears.
"Is there anything I can do to make this easier for you?" she asked softly, looking into its eyestalk.
"My race is dead. I shall die alone."
"You're not alone." Seren said softly, slowly raising her tiny hand and reaching for the creature's head.
"Seren, no!" Adam cried.
Seren pulled her hand back just before she touched the creature's head. There was a crash behind her as Adam made to move forwards but tripped over some of the equipment that was by his feet. The sudden noise startled Seren, making her jump as she whirled around to find the source of the noise, tripping on the creature's chain and stumbling back into it. She caught herself on the creature, her tiny hand on its helmet as she straightened up and pulled herself away from it, glaring at Adam for making the sudden noise. She absently noticed her hand burning slightly after touching the creature.
Adam looked contrite, the expression fading into one of surprise as the place where Seren's hand touched on the creature suddenly glowed bright golden-orange before fading. Seren moved back slowly, her own eyes wide as she wondered what she had just caused.
The creature became more animated as it turned slightly, facing the human and the Chosen One.
"Genetic material extrapolated. Initiate cellular reconstruction!"
Adam and Seren could only watch in horror as the creature broke its chains, sparks flying from it and casing minor explosions at the bases where the chains had been secured. One of the scientists entered the Cage, carrying his drill.
"What the hell have you done?" he asked, moving around them and stopping in front of the creature. The creature raised its sucker at him threateningly. "What are you going to do? Sucker me to death?"
The creature did exactly that, using the sucker to cover the human's mouth and nose. The man screamed in agony as it created a vacuum inside the sucker, absorbing the human's life force, killing him.
Adam pulled Seren out of the Cage and into the lobby.
"It's killing him! Do something!" Seren yelled to the security guard, running to the monitor as they watched in horror.
The security guard did the only thing he could do, raise the alarm.
"Condition red! Condition red! I repeat, this is not a drill!"
The announcement echoed through the bunker as the guard sealed the door to the Cage. The guards aimed their guns at the door as the comm. Screen behind Seren came to life.
"You've got to keep it in that cell." The Doctor said.
At the sound of the Time Lord's voice, Seren turned and looked at the screen.
"Doctor, I'm so sorry." She said, leaning against the table. A frown crossed her face as she took in the sweat that marred the ancient man's face and the slightly weak voice he used. "Doctor, are you okay?"
"I've sealed the compartment." The guard told the Doctor through the screen before the Time Lord could respond to Seren's concerned question. "It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations."
"A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat." The Doctor told them.
"And that's exactly what it's doing." Seren said, her eyes catching sight of the keypad running through the combinations. "Look."
Adam and the guard followed Seren's line of sight and gasped in horror. Within seconds, the klaxon alarms blared in warning as the door to the Cage opened and the Dalek slowly made its way out.
"Open fire!" the guard ordered as he and the other guards fired their weapons on the approaching Dalek.
Seren and Adam stepped back towards the hallway, staying out of the way of the ricocheting bullets. The bullets did nothing to halt the Dalek.
"Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed." Van Statten ordered them, seeing the scene through the still live comm. feed.
"Seren, get out of there!" The Doctor yelled frantically.
The guards kept firing their guns on the advancing Dalek, ignoring Van Statten's order, until they emptied their clips.
"De Magio," one of the guards said, turning to the woman beside him as they chagend the empty clips for full ones. "Take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?"
The guard decided that it was more beneficial to listen to the Doctor's order rather than Van Statten's order, since the latter's would definitely end with them all dead while at least with the former's, there was a chance for the one innocent person in this mess to get out alive - Seren.
The female guard, De Magio, clearly had the same thought as she nodded and turned to Seren and Adam.
"You two, with me." She said, gesturing to them to follow her down the hall.
"What about the others?" Seren asked as her and Adam followed De Magio through the maze of corridors at a run.
"Right now, my job is to get you two out alive." De Magio said, avoiding answering the Welshwoman's question since she didn't have an answer. "We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we signed up for this. Sort of, we didn't exactly expect an alien, but we signed up for this. You didn't."
Seren glanced back towards the general area of the Cage one last time, sending up a prayer to all the deities she believed in for them to survive this sudden nightmare. The lights flickered around them as they ran before dying out completely and the emergency lights flickered on. As they ran down the corridor, a group of guards ran towards them from the opposite direction.
"Civilians! Let them through!" De Magio yelled as the guards separated from their formation, still running but allowing De Magio to lead the two through.
Once the three of them had passed, the guards took up positions with their weapons ready, some kneeling while others stood, and waiting for the Dalek to approach. Seren and Adam ran until they reached a flight of stairs, De Magio a few feet behind them.
Seren stopped at the foot of the stairs. Adam came up behind her, holding onto the railing and catching his breath; he wasn't used to the intense running they had been doing and was out of breath.
"It's coming! Get up!" De Magio screamed to them, pushing them up the stairs.
Seren ran up the stairs with Adam right behind her and De Magio bringing up the rear. They ran up one flight before stopping and turning to look at the approaching Dalek. It stopped at the foot of the stairs.
"Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs." Adam said mockingly as the Dalek turned its eyestalk towards them.
"Don't antagonize it." Seren warned him, but he ignored her.
"Now listen to me." De Magio ordered, raising her gun and pointing it down t at the Dalek. "I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate then I can guarantee that Mr. Van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong, but people have died, and that stops right now. The killing stops. Have you got that? I demand that you surrender. Is that clear?"
"Ele-vate." The Dalek said in lieu of a response.
Seren, De Magio and Adam could only watch in horrified dismay as the Dalek levitated and began gliding up the stairs.
"Oh Duw." Seren breathed with wide eyes.
"Adam, get her out of here." De Magio ordered Adam as the Dalek began ascending the flight of steps that led to them.
"What about you?" Seren asked, whirling around to look at the soldier with tears in her eyes. She stepped down, standing beside the American woman. "You can't stop it, please come with us."
"Someone's gotta try." De Magio said softly, looking at the beautiful woman who had tears in her eyes for a complete stranger. "Now get out!" she gently pushed Seren towards Adam. "Don't look back! Just run!"
Adam and Seren ran up the stairs, hearing De Magio fire her weapon on the approaching alien. They had just turned into one of the corridors, running down as the klaxon lights flashed yellow, when they heard De Magio scream. They looked back as they ran but didn't stop or falter. There was nothing they could do except follow her order to run.
They ran until they reached the loading bay, scrambling to a stop when they caught sight of the weapons aimed at them. What got to Seren was that it wasn't only security and army personnel that had the weapons, but those who were clearly civilians – lawyers, scientists, everyone had a weapon and was prepared to fight the approaching Dalek.
"Hold your fire!" the Commander ordered. "You two, get the hell out of there!"
Seren and Adam needed no further prompting to resume their run, running past a guard and stopping in the doorway of the entrance to watch as the Dalek approached. The Dalek turned and zoomed in on Seren's face as Adam grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the bay.
"It looked at me." Seren said, pulling Adam to a stop, her hand still in his.
"Yeah, it wants to slaughter us." Adam reminded her, tugging her away from the Loading Bay.
"I know," Seren said, pulling her hand from his and making him look at her. "But it looked right at me."
"So? It's just a sort of metal eye thing. It's looking all around." Adam said frantically, panting from exertion.
"I don't know." Seren said with a contemplative frown. "It's as if there's something inside the armor. Something that's looking at me, like it knowsme."
"Look. Once that Dalek is done killing everyone in the loading bay, it's gonna come after us. Can we go back to running for our lives now? Please?" Adam pleaded with her.
"Good point. Let's go." Seren said as they began running once more.
They ran until they reached another stairwell, wasting no time to run up, using the railing to propel themselves upwards.
Seren's phone rang, 'Ode to Joy' echoing through the stairwell.
"Yeah, this really isn't the best time." Seren said once she answered the call.
"Where are you?" the Doctor asked.
"Level… 49." Seren replied, pausing briefly to find the floor number they were on.
"You've got to keep moving. The vault's being sealed off up at level 46."
"You're the one sealing them?" Seren asked.
"Yeah, I am. I can't stop and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run!"
"Running." Seren said into the phone before calling up to Adam who was a few steps ahead of her, "We've got to get to Level 46, the vault's being sealed off."
He nodded and the two of them increased their speed as much as possible, adrenaline pumping through them as they ran.
"Where are you? The Doctor asked as they exited the stairwell on Level 46 and began running towards the bulkhead doors.
"We're nearly there. Just two seconds." Seren said, the phone held to her ear.
They turned the last corner as the klaxon alarms sounded, the bulkhead doors slowly lowering.
"Come on!" Adam yelled, putting on a burst of speed and rolling under the doors with Seren right behind him.
"Seren, where are you! Seren, did you make it?" The Doctor asked frantically as the klaxons stopped sounding their alarm.
"I was a tad too slow." Seren said softly, resting her head against the sealed doors, Adam on the other side. She turned and watched as the Dalek turned the corner. "Listen, I don't know if I can survive a Dalek's weapon fire, but it wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay?" her voice trembled as she heard the Dalek approach. Tears streamed down her face in rivers of silver as she continued, "And I want you to know, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Tell Rose, Aunt Jackie, Mickey, Siwan and the others that I love them, okay." She heard the Dalek behind her and said, "See you, my mad man."
She ended the call and turned around to face the Dalek. If she was going to meet her final death because of a Dalek, then she was going to damn well make sure it looked her in the eyes as it killed her.
"Exterminate!" the Dalek said as it aimed its gun arm at her and fired with a 'zap!'
Seren could only watch in shock as the Dalek altered its aim at the last second and hit the bulkhead door instead of her.
"Go on then." Seren said to it. It stared at her through its eyestalk. "You said you'd kill me, so do it. Why are you hesitating?"
"I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose." The Dalek said.
"They're all dead because of you!" Seren yelled, suddenly very angry. Tears of anger and sorrow streamed down her face, unchecked as she glared at the Dalek in front of her.
"They are dead because of us." It corrected her.
"And now what? What are you waiting for?" Seren asked angrily.
"I feel your fear." It said.
"What do you expect?" Seren asked. "You killed nearly everyone on this base. Good people, those that had nothing to do with your imprisonment and torture."
"Daleks do not fear. Must not fear." The Dalek said before shooting the bulkhead door on either side of the Chosen One.
Seren flinched at the sound, remembering what it was prelude to for all the people that were unfortunate enough to have faced the Dalek.
"You gave me life. What else have you given me?" The Dalek asked in confusion, slightly hysterical. "I am contaminated!"
The Dalek glided towards her, pushing her forwards until she was standing in front of its gun arm like a hostage. It activated the camera and the visual feed to Van Statten's office.
"Open the bulkhead doors or Seren Jones dies." The Dalek said, causing the Doctor to whirl around and look at the screen.
"You're alive!" He breathed in relief, a wide smile crossing his face.
"You're not getting rid of me that easily." Seren said with a smile, shifting slightly as she felt the gun arm poke into her back.
"I thought you were dead." The Doctor admitted.
"Not happening." Seren replied.
"Open the bulkhead!" the Dalek repeated its order.
"Don't do it, Doctor!" Seren yelled firmly as she saw the Doctor's tormented expression.
"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" the Dalek asked.
As the Doctor walked away from the screen, Seren looked at the Dalek with wide eyes, its words playing over in her mind, as if they were on a loop.
'The Doctor loves me?' she thought as the bulkhead doors opened and her and the Dalek went through.
She was silent as her and her captor walked down the corridor towards the lift. The silence remained as they entered the lift and began their ascent up to Van Statten's office, the atmosphere utterly tense.
The Dalek's gun arm twitched, Seren watching it wearily.
"Don't kill them, please." Seren pleaded, breaking the tense silence and looking at the Dalek. "I'm begging you, please don't kill them you didn't kill me."
"But why not?" the Dalek asked, spinning its eyestalk around so fast that she had to duck to avoid having being hit in the head. "Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?"
"I don't know." Seren replied softly as the indicator showed that they were almost at Van Statten's office.
It took her genetic material and extrapolated it, but what else did it get from her? Why didn't it kill her when it didn't hesitate to kill everyone else on the base?
These questions ran through her mind as the doors opened into Van Statten's office, the Dalek in front of her.
"Don't move! Nobody do anything!" Seren yelled to Van Statten, the only person she could see from her position behind the Dalek, but loud enough for her to be heard by anyone else that was in the office. "It's beginning to question itself."
"Van Statten." The Dalek said, gliding forwards and stopping in front of the human that had caged and tortured him for so long. "You tortured me. Why?"
"I wanted to help you. I just, I don't know." Van Statted replied, stammering and walking back towards the wall in terror. "I was trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you. I wanted you better. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!"
"Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" It cried and Van Statten flinched, whimpering as the Dalek raised its gun arm and aimed at the cruel human.
"Don't do it!" Seren yelled, running forwards and stopping beside the Dalek. "Don't kill him, please!" the Dalek spun its eyestalk around and looked at the desperate Welshwoman. "You don't have to kill anymore. There must be something else, something other than killing that you want. What else is there? What do you want?"
The Dalek turned to look at Van Statten, who whimpered in fear, before it turned back to look at the Chosen One.
"I want… freedom." It replied slowly.
"Okay, let's go." Seren said, nodding. "Let's get you to freedom."
She opened the door and stepped back, letting the Dalek glide out before following behind. They went down the corridor and turned around a corner. She ducked as the Dalek blasted a hole in the ceiling, letting a stream of sunlight in. The life-giving beam streamed directly down onto the Dalek's eyestalk.
"That's it. You're out." Seren said, looking at the Dalek for a moment before turning towards the sunlight, letting the stream bathe her in its warmth. She closed her eyes, tilting her head upwards and baring her neck to the light. "I never thought I would feel the sunlight again."
"How… does… it… feel?" The Dalek asked.
Seren's eyes flew open and she looked at the Dalek in surprise. It slowly opened its middle and dome sections with a hiss, revealing the one-eyed mutated squid-like creature inside. It slowly held out a tendril towards the shaft of sunlight as Seren watched.
"Get out of the way!"
The sound of the Doctor's voice made Seren jump as she spun around to look at the Time Lord. She was taken aback at the sight of him holding a big gun, aimed at the Dalek.
"Seren, get out of the way, now!" The Doctor growled when she didn't move, staring at him in shock.
"No." Seren said, shaking her head. "I won't let you kill it."
"That thing killed hundreds of people. It nearly killed you." The Doctor growled hatefully.
"You're the one pointing a gun at me right now." Seren reminded him firmly.
"Seren, I've got to do this." He said, tears in his eyes as he fought to keep them at bay. "I've got to end it. The Dalek's destroyed my home, my people, everyone and everything I ever knew. I've got to end it, once and for all. I've got nothing left."
The pain and anguish in his voice and on his face reminded Seren of everything the mad man in front of her had lost, and his habit of using his maniacal grin to mask his pain at the loss.
"Before you kill it, can you do one thing for me?" Seren asked, playing on a hunch and hoping that it would work.
"What?" he asked with a frown.
"Look at it." She replied simply, moving away and letting him see the Dalek. The Dalek was basking in the warm rays of the golden sunlight that streamed in through the hole in the ceiling.
"What's it doing?" the Doctor asked in confusion, lowering the gun slightly.
"It's feeling the sunlight. That's all it wants now." Seren explained.
"But it can't." The Doctor whispered in disbelief, shaken at the sight of his most hated enemy doing something that shouldn't be possible.
"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing." Seren told the Time Lord, trying to get him to see that the creature he was adamant to kill was no longer the one that had destroyed his world and his people. "What about you?"
The Doctor lowered the gun, an utterly lost expression on his face as he looked at the beautiful woman in front of him.
"I couldn't… I wasn't…." he started shakily, losing the battle against his tears as they streamed down his cheeks, unchecked. "Oh, Seren. They're all dead." The gun fell to the ground with a clatter.
"Why do we survive?" The Dalek asked, making Seren and the Doctor look at it.
"I don't know." The Doctor replied softly.
"I am the last of the Daleks."
"You're not even that. Seren did more than regenerate you." The Doctor said, making Seren look at him in surprise. "You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating."
"Into what?"
"Something new. I'm sorry." The Doctor replied, genuinely apologetic.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Seren asked, confused by the apology the Doctor gave the Dalek.
"Not for a Dalek." The Doctor replied.
"I can feel so many ideas…" The Dalek said, making Seren turn to look at it. "So much darkness… Seren, give me orders... Order me to die."
"I can't." Seren said, tears filling her own eyes as she shook her head.
"This is not life. This is… sickness. I shall… not be… like you." As the Dalek spoke, Seren's face contorted in pain and pity, listening to the creature's words. "Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!"
For a long moment, Seren stared at the Dalek, flailing its tendrils, before finally saying, "Do it."
"Are you frightened, Seren Jones?"
"Yes." Seren replied quietly, a single tear running down her pale-white rose-dusted cheek.
"So am I." The Dalek admitted. "Exterminate."
Seren ran back towards the Doctor and he held her in his arms as they watched the Dalek close its body armor once more and rise into the air. The golden-bronze orbs along its lower body detached and surrounded it in a perfect spherical force field. It glowed for a single moments before exploding within the sphere and vanishing completely, leaving no sign or trace it had ever existed.
The Doctor stared at the place it had exploded, completely stunned. Seren reached out and took his hand, gently guiding the stunned man back towards the lift. He didn't fight her grip, merely leaning into it as he drew comfort from the tiny woman as they rode the lift down to the museum in silence.
"I'm sorry." He said finally, when they were about half-way down to the museum.
"For what?" she asked, looking up at him with large orbs.
"For holding a gun at you, for starters." He said, putting his arm around her and looking down at her face.
"Well, if I were in your position, I probably would've done the same." Seren replied, wrapping her arms around his broad waist and squeezing gently as she looked up at him. "So, you're forgiven. But if you ever do that again, then there'll be hell to pay."
She gave her warning with a stern expression on her face, the same one she had often used on Johnny, Rhys and their friends when they were young.
"Duly noted." The Doctor said with a laugh as the lift doors opened and they stepped out into the dimly lit museum.
They walked back to the TARDIS, arms still wrapped around each other before separating when they reached the sentient blue box.
"Little piece of home." The Doctor said softly, putting a hand on the TARDIS' side panel. "Still, better than nothing."
"I guess this means it's the end of the Time War. For good this time." Seren stated softly, putting her own hand on the TARDIS' side panel, right next to the Doctor's larger hand.
"I'm the only one left." The Doctor replied, nodding. "I win. How about that?" He laughed mockingly.
"Maybe some of your people survived." Seren suggested softly. "I mean, the Dalek did. So couldn't yours as well?"
"I'd know." The Doctor said softly. "In here." With his free hand, he tapped his temple. "Feels like there's no one."
"Then it's a good thing that I'm not planning on going anywhere." Seren said with a radiant smile, her eyes sparkling.
"Yeah." He said, nodding as he gently covered her tiny hand with his larger one.
The moment between them was broken when Adam jogged up to them, a bag in his hand. They both dropped their hands to their sides, turning to look at the boy.
"We'd better get out." Adam said, looking at them. "Van Statten's disappeared. They're closing down the base. Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed."
"It's about time." Seren muttered as the Doctor nodded in agreement. The sooner this place was shut down, the happier he'll be.
"I'll have to go back home." Adam said, his eyes wide in realization as an expression akin to horror crossed his face.
"Better hurry up then." The Doctor said to Adam. "Next flight to Heathrow leaves at" he glanced at his watch, "1500 hours."
"Adam was telling me earlier that he'd wanted to see the stars all his life." Seren hinted, looking pointedly at the Time Lord.
"Tell him to go and stand outside, then." The Doctor replied coolly.
"He's on his own." Seren said softly. "And he did help."
"He left you down there." The Doctor reminded her.
"You were the one closing the doors." Seren reminded him.
"What are you talking about?" Adam exclaimed, looking between the two in complete confusion. "We need to leave."
"Plus, he's a bit pretty." The Doctor said with a pointed smirk. He had noticed that Adam had a bit of a crush on Seren.
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Seren replied, glancing at Adam briefly before looking back at the Time Lord. "Besides, he's not my type."
The Doctor shook his head and rolled his eyes. And the woman says Siwan was the oblivious one when it came to people having crushes on her.
"On your own head." He said with a sigh, turning and unlocking the TARDIS door.
"What're you doing?" Adam asked, watching as the two of them entered the blue box, leaving him standing outside. "She said cement! She wasn't joking. We're going to get sealed in." He walked over to the TARDIS. "Doctor, what are you doing standing inside a box? Seren?"
He slowly opened the door and crept inside, the TARDIS dematerializing as soon as the door closed behind him.
Links (on pinterest):
*Seren outfit - .ca/pin/474566879477260413/