Child of Earth

By Lumendea

Chapter Nineteen: Dalek: Regenerate Exterminate

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

….

Rose hated waiting even on the best days. She'd never been very good at it and today was not the best day. Waiting in a small room opposite a chained up Dalek that just kept looking at her while the Doctor was off talking to Geneva and facing who knew what demons without her was bloody horrible. This was not a good day. In fact, she was already certain that today was going to go down as one of her worst days right up there with Lake Silencio. When this was over, however it ended, she was never ever coming back to Utah again.

Her right hand was hanging loosely at her side, ready to summon her sword at a moment's notice, but the Dalek hadn't tried to move or fire its weapon since the Doctor left.

"Did you choose Earth?" Rose questioned when the silence became too much. "When you crashed after…"

She trailed off awkwardly and nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment. The Dalek's eyestalk was still fixed on her face and Rose noted uncomfortably that its height lined up almost perfectly with hers.

"No," the Dalek replied slowly, surprising Rose as she hadn't expected a response. "I did not select my destination."

"Might have been from the Web of Time," Rose murmured to herself. Earth was the only one of the three major metaphysical planets left. There were others of course, but Earth, Skaro and Gallifrey had been the most critical ones according to the Guardians. "Suppose it doesn't matter."

"You are an associate of the Doctor?" the Dalek questioned and Rose felt a flicker of worry in her stomach at the question.

"I work for UNIT," she offered honestly. "And he is still the Head Scientific Advisor."

Rose doubted if the Dalek thought it was really that simple. He was their long time enemy and at this point, they really had to have caught onto his habit of travelling with humans. From his first encounter with them on Ian and Barbara's second trip in the TARDIS to Ace's destruction of a Dalek with a rocket launcher, human companions had been nearby during some big moments. The Dalek just watched her silently and Rose struggled to remain still under the watchful gaze.

Then there were loud almost frantic voices out in the hall that made Rose straighten up. She hesitated to turn her attention away from the Dalek and thus watched the doorway out of the corner of her eye. Van Statten stepped into the room with two of his aides and a group of four guards who made the room suddenly very crowded.

"Van Statten," Rose half greeted, half growled out. "Get out!"

"What happened to taking the alien away?" Van Statten asked smugly as he strode forward. "Bit more complicated than that huh?"

"Stay away from it," Rose ordered as she moved closer to him as he strode over to the Dalek. "It's dangerous."

"It hasn't done anything for fifty years," Van Statten scoffed again and his two aides laughed at her expense though they did look nervous. "I remembered where I know you from," Van Statten informed her with a chuckle. "Marion Beckett wasn't it?"

"Wondered how long it would take you."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but as nice as you looked in that dress I do like you better in jeans," Van Statten leered with a smirk. "And a kickboxer? You must have great abs at this point."

"So being a pig is consistent for you," Rose remarked with a raised eyebrow. "Lovely."

"Ah you English, sticks up your asses," Van Statten chuckled before turning his attention back to the Dalek. "I heard one of your soldiers say that it talked, had a conversation."

"That doesn't concern you," Rose insisted as she reached out and tried to pull Van Statten away from the Dalek. "You already tortured it so get the hell out of here."

"This is still my vault doll," Van Statten sneered.

"But the Dalek is not yours," Rose countered, once again having to resist the urge to punch him. "Now get out."

"My men told me that something just appeared in one of the rooms," Van Statten pressed. "And some strange man just stepped out of it. How does a person manage that fifty floors down?"

"Don't poke at things that are out of your league of understanding," Rose told him, shifting forward to keep herself between him and the lever. The Dalek's eyestalk was shifting between the pair of them. "Go back to your office and wait until we're done."

"I'm one of the greatest minds in the world," Van Statten scolded, his features twisting into an ugly frown. "And you're just a little girl?"

"That's you've tried and failed to seduce," Rose reminded him. "Are you admitting to some other crime that I can get you locked up for?"

"Watch it," Van Statten growled, all humour gone from his face. "You have no idea what I can do to you. I'm Henry Van Statten. I buy presidents! I decide who the world works. I touch the stars!"

"You live off of scavenging the tragedies of others," Rose replied sharply, gesturing towards the Dalek. "You lock anything you don't understand underground and torture sentient beings! You don't know anything about the stars."

Van Statten reached out and grabbed her as his guards shifted to point their weapons at her. At the doorway, the UNIT and Section 13 men suddenly moved. Rose raised her free left hand up for a moment, gesturing for them to stay calm as she met Van Statten's eyes.

"The Dalek is going to be leaving," Rose told him in as calm a voice as she could muster even as a guilty voice reminded her that she shouldn't be taking her frustration out on Van Statten, no matter how much of a slimy creep he was.

"Fine," Van Statten huffed, also seeming to move past his anger for the most part.

But then he shoved Rose to the side, twisting the arm he had a grip on just enough to throw her off balance. She was too close to the Dalek, she realised as her feet tangled up. Falling forward, Rose could only gasp in alarm as her hands collided with the Dalek. She shrieked in pain as a sharp burning sensation seared across both her hands as she tried to detangle her feet. Her ankle was throbbing, but she righted herself and wretched her hands off the Dalek's casing. The words of the Doctor not to touch it echoed in Rose's mind.

On the Dalek's casing were two bright glowing handprints and a sense of icy dread filled Rose's stomach. She should never have stayed in the room. The Dalek suddenly became more animated and pulled at the chains causing them to shift and the metal to begin cracking.

"Genetic material extrapolated," the Dalek announced. "Initiate cellular reconstruction!"

The chains snapped and Van Statten tried to move away, but they were all too close. Ignoring her for the moment, the Dalek moved forward and advanced on Van Statten who was watching it with a mixture of glee and fear. Roe began to shout a warning, but before Van Statten could say or do anything the Dalek lifted its sucker up over his face. A muffled scream escaped Van Staten and his guards opened fire on the Dalek.

The bullets collided with the Dalek's metal armour but had no effect as Van Statten's whole body convulsed. Rose tried to move and summon her sword, but the bullets kept bouncing around the room, forcing her to stay down, helpless to do anything, but watch Van Statten twist. The sucker released from his face a moment later and his body collapsed to the ground.

"Condition red! Condition red!" one of Van Statten's guards called into an intercom.

Rose crouched by the lever as the sound of gunfire rang all around her. The Dalek and now the guards, a mixture of Van Statten's men and UNIT guards were all opening fire. She looked towards the door with the keypad next to it and grimaced. That wouldn't hold it in for long. Nothing would and the guards began to fall back as the Dalek rolled towards them. A braver one stayed in place only to be suffocated with the sucker arm. Slowly, Rose stood up to follow the Dalek out of the small prison room.

Moving out the door and forcing the guards further back into the antechamber, the Dalek ignored them after dropping the now dead guard. It rolled over to a terminal as Rose kept following. The Dalek moved to the terminal and thrust its sucker arm forward. The screen cracked and she watched in horror as the Dalek's metal armour began to glow and pulse. Glancing towards the doorway out, Rose felt her heart jump to her throat. She knew what the Doctor would want her to do, but right now frantic and terrified guards just kept firing on the Dalek and Rose shifted into the far corner to stay out of the gunfire.

Her palms were still burning with pain and she eyed the still softly glowing spots on the Dalek's armour as it began to knit itself back together. Then the Dalek spun around its weapon arm at the ready. Rose began to shout a warning, but the Dalek gave a cry of Exterminate and the first man dropped as his skeleton appeared with a flash. Another dropped a moment later while frantically reloading his pistol. The last just kept firing, stepping back beyond the threshold of the door. The two surviving aides were already running down the hall screaming, but the Dalek was now firmly between Rose and the door once again.

UNIT and Section 13 guards were lining up outside the door with their firearms raised. Even from her position, Rose could see the bullets were vanishing in some sort of field surrounding the Dalek. Nothing was getting through at all, but maybe her weapon could. Fear clutched at Rose's chest, but this was her fault. Maybe she hadn't meant to touch the Dalek, Van Statten had caused that, but she shouldn't have gotten so close in the first place.

"Fall back!" Rose shouted from behind the Dalek. "Fall back and seal the lower levels!" She ordered hoping that they'd listen.

A couple of the UNIT men began to shift away from the door, narrowing avoiding extermination beams. Summoning her sword, Rose threw all of her weight down on it. She felt the shield resist the blow, but it buckled a little under the force. The Dalek stopped moving, distracted by the sudden threat from behind. The soldiers were watching in horror and Rose grunted, trying to force the sword through. A low hum filled the room and Rose's hand began to shake as the Dalek pushed more power into the shield.

A wave of pressure hit Rose in the chest, knocking her back against the wall. She hit it with a grunt and dropped her sword which returned to bracelet form in less than a second. For a moment her head was spinning, but she could see the Dalek moving towards the door. She tried to remember the layout beyond that point, but it was just a series of corridors and stairs in a tightly stacked maze. Nothing that would hold the Dalek down here until a plan could be made by the Doctor and Geneva.

Frantically, Rose pulled her sonic pen roughly out from her bag and pointed it at the electronic lock by the door. It beeped in front of the Dalek and began to descend right in front of it. Part of her realised that she was trying to lock herself in with a Dalek, but she could hear voices echoing outside and the bodies now strew around the room told her what would happen if the Dalek went any further.

She didn't know. Rose wondered if her timeline would just unravel here and now. Athena, Astra and her Doctors flashed before her eyes and she felt completely cold like she'd been dropped in ice. Yet there was still a Dalek here and Rose tossed her sonic pen past the Dalek and outside beyond the falling door. As the door sealed Rose exhaled even as her hands trembled. Even the combination lock wouldn't open it now.

As the door shut with a metallic thud the Dalek spun back her, its eyestalk lowered to fix on her position still by the ground. Rose began to shift to stand, but it was difficult as she was unwilling to take her eyes off the Dalek at all. She wanted to say something brave and clever, but her mouth was too dry.

"You will open the door," the Dalek demanded.

"I will not," Rose answered in a shaky voice.

The Dalek turned its weapon arm towards her and Rose braced herself as the cry of Exterminate echoed in the small room.

…..

The Doctor was trying not to lose his temper like he had down in the Cage. The distance between him and the Dalek was helping a little as he tried to calmly explain the situation to Geneva. Lethbridge-Stewart was not present and that fact wasn't helping his temperament. A sudden flickering of the lights and a cry of alarm from outside cut the conversation short as someone shouted about power being drained.

"Sir! The Dalek is on the move!" a soldier shouted to Roberts as he rushed in. "We aren't sure how, but reports are coming up from the Cage."

"Doesn't matter how " the Doctor snapped, anger flaring in him with certainty of how. Rose had touched it, he'd told her not to and she'd touched it. DNA of a time traveller. "We have to stop it, here and now. If we don't then millions if not billions will die."

"The Cage has been sealed," one of the privates on the nearby computer reported. "But energy levels are dropping all throughout the west coast."

The Doctor abandoned the conversation with Geneva as the link was lost and rushed over to the computer. He leaned over the young female private who had brought up a map of the region.

"It's downloading," the Doctor announced as both Colonels rushed over to join him.

"Downloading what?" Peterson asked urgently.

"Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down," the private informed them nervously.

"It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything."

"Who is down there?" Roberts asked as he looked up at the soldier who'd reported it.

"Tyler sir," the man replied uneasily. "The report we received said that she was trapped behind the Dalek and ordered them to fall back. The door of the Cage closed a moment later behind them." He swallowed and added, "They have her sonic pen."

"She's locked herself in with it," the Doctor whispered in horror, half collapsing against the table. "If she used her sonic then even with the right combination the Dalek can't open that door."

"We could still open it from up here," the private reminded him weakly, but no one said anything.

…

The thin laser reflected off of the blade of Rose's sword, but she struggled to keep it steady even as it began to burn a hole in the ceiling. Raising her other hand, Rose forced it up against the flat part of her sword, trying to keep it steady. The pressure of the laser slowly forced it into her palm and Rose vaguely wondered how long it would take before even her own sword sliced into her flesh.

Then it stopped firing only to resume a moment later. Rose again caught the blast, still pinned against the wall and unable to do anything. The sword was vibrating in her hands and Rose dearly hoped at the White Guardian had made sure the blade could stand up to Dalek fire even if it couldn't cut through their shields.

"Extermination failed," the Dalek announced as it ceased firing, but Rose kept the blade at the ready as her heart pounded in her ears. "What are you?"

"I'm Rose Tyler," she forced out. "I'm a Star Knight."

The Dalek did not reply to her statement and Rose shifted uneasily as the cool blue end of the eyestalk stayed fixed on her.

"You healed yourself?" Rose tried again. "How?"

"Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me," the Dalek informed her, still just staring at her.

"So now what?" Rose questioned. "You're regenerated. Now, what will you do?"

"The Daleks survive in me," it announced. "I shall follow the Primary Order, the Dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer."

"But why?" Rose pressed. "Why do that? What's the point? Why?"

The Dalek didn't answer and instead fired again, but Rose was ready and the beam bounced off the smooth surface of her blade. Again it stopped and they stared at each other. Rose had a strange sense that it was debating something, turning something over in its head, but she had no idea of what to do with that.

"I feel your fear," the Dalek announced with a hint of panic.

"Are you surprised?" Rose questioned as she eyed the Dalek and slowly pushed herself off the ground.

"Daleks do not fear," the Dalek said frantically. "Must not fear." Rose gasped as the Dalek suddenly fired fast shots on either side of her, striking the bulkhead door. "You gave me life. What else have you given me? I am contaminated."

Shifting forward, Rose reached towards the Dalek before the action even fully processed in her mind. She stopped her hand just before it reached the Dalek's shell and swallowed thickly.

"Calm down," she told it softly, having to force the words out. "Just try to calm down. It'll be okay."

It stared at her again and that creepy sense of being judged weighed on Rose's shoulders. Licking her lips, she wondered how much the Doctor knew about what had happened, what was happening down here. The idea didn't give her hope, instead, it made her feel ill. She was tempted to reach for her phone, but she had no number to call him on. Then the Dalek spun away from her.

"What are you doing?" Rose questioned as the Dalek turned back to the terminal.

"Restore visual relay functions," the Dalek intoned as it put its sucker back on the computer.

"What for?"

"You are the Doctor's associate," the Dalek reminded her though there was an unusual note in its voice. "He will open the door from master controls."

…..

Across the room, the screen suddenly turned on again drawing the Doctor's attention. His eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of Rose standing next to the Dalek in the small antechamber she'd locked them both in.

"Open the bulkhead or Rose Tyler dies," the Dalek announced coldly as it and Rose stared at each other.

Staring at the screen the Doctor couldn't believe it. His two hearts jumped painfully in his chest. She didn't look injured, but there she was trapped with a Dalek. The stuff of nightmares.

"You're alive!" the Doctor gasped, his voice cracking to a higher tone than he knew it was capable of.

"Won't get rid of me that easily," Rose offered, sounding tired, but trying to be brave for him.

"I thought you were dead," the Doctor confessed as the pain in his voice became clearer. Yet there was nothing he could do about it.

"Open the bulkhead!" the Dalek ordered again.

"Don't do it!" Rose shouted back, her voice stronger than before.

"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" the Dalek asked in that blasted familiar machine voice.

He was moving before he could even think about it. There was noise around him as the various UNIT forces tried to talk to him, but words were rattling around in his head. Nine billion languages all echoing the word love and repeating the Dalek's question. A Dalek had seen… how could that be? He'd pressed the button before any other thought entered into his mind, a cold numb shock setting in. He'd done many things over the centuries to protect companions, made a lot of stupid decisions to protect them, but this was different. This hurt so much more.

This wasn't going to go away. This 'thing' wasn't going to fade, was it? That was terrifying, the realisation that no amount of running or delaying travelling with her would help. Breaking his word and leaving her behind wouldn't help either. His knees shook, but then the painful fact that it might not matter cut through the haze. Rose was still next to a Dalek. It might not matter at all. Was that the reason he'd help her and watch over in future incarnations? Some desperate need to see her, to protect her while he still could? Was he doomed to be the protector of a too beautiful, too kind, too smart and all too human girl for the rest of his lives as the only way he could ever be close to her? A fallen guardian angel of a woman killed by the last Dalek.

He'd known from the first time they'd met that she was special. A little too brave and clever even after Odd Bob frightened her. And she'd just grown up into someone utterly fantastic. And he'd… fallen. That's how humans described it. Too old, too damaged and too dark and he'd fallen for a young, kind, optimistic and oh so bright human girl. And now thanks to all that she was trapped with a Dalek. It was terrifying and he turned back to the screen to see the Dalek and Rose vanish from the vault room and into the hallway.

"What do we do now sir?" Captain Parker asked, his voice strained and confused.

The Doctor couldn't blame him. He'd just watched him trade billions of lives for one blonde girl. Maybe, that is if the Dalek didn't just kill her now. He inhaled deeply and waited for some stroke of genius to come.