CHAPTER 11
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The Hand of Davros just kept firing their machine gun like energy weapons all over the place as they went all out to kill Oswin's friends. They had to quickly find shelter behind yet another rotted down abandoned house nearby in order to keep from being shot down. The Daleks' blasts kept bombarding the ancient structure and made it crack and break just a little bit more inside with each hit. They knew that it wouldn't be long before it would crumble, and then they would be left exposed to the Daleks' fire yet again with no cover.
Marissa and Koschei got together and brainstormed ideas in order to come up with a plan in what little time that they had left. No one else in the group could hear what they were saying over the sound of the Daleks' blasts. Tegan just hoped that whatever it was would be something good. She also hoped that it didn't rely on trusting Koschei to carry it out because she still didn't trust him at all despite what Marissa said.
Nyssa still hadn't said a word since Koschei had appeared, and that bothered Tegan a lot. She had never seen her this quiet before, and she was sure that wasn't a good sign. Nyssa also kept looking at Koschei like she wanted to kill him and was staring holes in the back of everyone else's head when they weren't looking. She hoped that Nyssa wasn't having a mental breakdown or something. She hadn't been acting right at all lately. She reminded Tegan of the way that Nyssa said that she had acted when she had been possessed by the Mara, an evil being who had nearly taken her over twice.
"Your friend is acting very strangely. Are you sure that she isn't shell shocked or something?" Peri asked Tegan.
"I don't know. I've never seen her like this before, but then again I have no idea what she's been doing in the years since I last saw her. She may have changed a great deal since then," Tegan said worried.
"We'll just have to keep an eye out for her and try to find out if she needs some help later on once all of this is over," Peri said.
"You're awfully confident, aren't you? You're already so sure that we're going to survive this," Tegan noted with a smile.
"Not really, but I can't allow for any other outcome. Not with Janine here," Peri said as she watched Janine like a hawk.
Tegan understood. Peri couldn't even consider the possibility of her daughter having anything happen to her. She had to think positively whether it made sense considering the facts or not.
Despite her hatred of the idea of being a babysitter, Molly stayed close to Janine the entire time and kept trying to protect her from any flying debris from the building's rapid destruction as much as possible. She didn't want to guard the girl full-time, but she also didn't want anything to happen to her either. She had grown to think of her like a little sister in the short amount of time that she had come to know her.
The building received a massive blow that left pieces of it flying everywhere, and one particularly large piece went flying towards Janine's head. Peri screamed and started to run to help her. She saw to her immense relief though that Molly was already on the job. She had instinctively pushed Janine to the ground and thrown herself on top of her to protect her just before she would have been hit.
"Thank you!" Peri shouted at Molly who smiled back at her.
When Janine hugged her tightly in gratitude, and she could feel her shaking with fear; Molly suddenly didn't hate being a babysitter so much anymore. She still wanted to have adventures with Oswin, and she would if she had her way. That didn't mean that she wasn't going to keep an eye out for her newly adopted kid sister though. She wanted to make sure that she was safe almost as much as her mother did.
Marissa watched all of this with guilt eating up her insides. This had all been her fault. If she hadn't followed that woman into a trap, none of this would be happening now. She just hoped that what she and Koschei were about to do would get them out of this. She didn't see Oswin being able to help them any time soon. She was in way over her head with a seemingly indestructible Special Weapons Dalek in her face.
Oswin still kept glancing at her friends out of the corner of her eye to make sure that they were alright. So far none of them had gotten hurt, but Janine had come close. She couldn't let this continue, or their luck was going to run out soon. She did have an idea on how to stop this new and improved engine of destruction that Davros had sent after her. She just hoped that it would work. It would take some time for it to go into effect. She just hoped that her friends would be okay until then.
Truly, it was all that she could do to keep one step ahead of the extremely powerful foe as it kept blasting huge holes into everything around them in its zeal to kill her. She had to keep jumping around in time and space in order to avoid being instantly disintegrated by the blast of its huge gun turret. None of her weapons seemed to have any effect on the monstrosity whatever.
Marissa could see that Oswin was getting nowhere fast so she decided to finally put her plan into action with her fingers crossed. It was a human habit that she had picked up years ago and still clung to even now. It couldn't hurt after all. Every little bit of luck helped in her opinion.
"Ready?" Marissa asked Koschei.
"Always. Are you sure about this? I don't care what happens to me but . . . ," Koschei started to say when Marissa put a finger on his lips.
"Let's not ruin your bad guy image by saying that you don't want me to get hurt. People might think that you've developed feelings for me or something. You can't have that," Marissa said with a grin.
"You're right. Who would run from me in terror any more then?" Koschei quipped.
The two of them then turned deadly serious and kissed each other as if it would be their last. Each of them feared that it might be.
They nodded at each other then and sprang into action. Marissa planned to unleash a deadly virus that she genetically modified to only affect Daleks and nothing else. The virus would soon kill any Dalek around within half an hour. There were only two problems with this plan. She had to get within touching distance of them in order to spray them with the virus because it died quickly once it was exposed to air thanks to her modification of it, and she had to survive long enough for it to kill them.
Koschei had to provide her with cover fire using his laser screwdriver and Tissue Compression Eliminator while she concentrated on not getting herself killed long enough to spray the Hand of Davros with the virus. She had to keep moving quickly in order to avoid being killed by the rapid fire of the Daleks' weapons and would have no time to use any weapons of her own to defend herself with.
Marissa managed to evade all of their rapid attacks as Koschei took down any Daleks that came too close to her. She drew closer and closer to them and was almost within range to unleash the virus when the Daleks suddenly changed tactics all at once.
"ACTIVATE ALTERNATIVE WEAPONS," one of the Daleks ordered the others.
Before Marissa even had time to wonder what these weapons were, she could see the answer right in front of her face as the Daleks started spraying deadly acid all around them through their guns instead of energy.
The acid was being sprayed all over the area at high pressure like water from a hose. Some of it touched Marissa's arm, and she screamed in pain. She looked down just for a second to see that part of her arm had been eaten through to the bone! Her arm had already started healing due to her Time Lord physiology, but she still had good cause to worry. If any of that acid reached her hearts, then she would die for good.
Some of the Daleks now began to switch to a different weapon as they started to shoot out a projectile weapon that started out as a ball but then quickly expanded into an electrified net. A few Daleks switched back to the machine gun lasers, and others released a deadly gas into the atmosphere that would kill even a Time Lord for good if they were exposed to enough of it.
The Daleks just kept switching to different weaponry at random times and intervals so that Marissa never knew what to expect. She managed to keep herself from being hit or ensnared for several minutes, but then she was caught by surprise by an electrified net from one Dalek and then exposed to a massive burst of acid from another one!
Marissa felt like she was dying and knew that she could wait no longer. She finally unleashed her virus. She hadn't quite made it to the best place in order to expose all of the Daleks to it at once, but she was sure that she would at least take most of them with her when she passed on.
Oswin saw in horror what had happened to her best friend and knew that she had finally run out of time to finish the Daleks off. She had to act now in order to have any chance of saving everyone. She had thought of something that she hoped would work, and she had been slowly attempting it all of this time. She wasn't sure if it would be successful or not, but she had to try.
"Special Weapons Dalek, destroy the Hand of Davros! Exterminate them! Attack only them, and no one else. Do you understand?" Oswin ordered.
"I OBEY, EMPRESS!" the Special Weapons Dalek said as it began to fire on the other Daleks now.
It had worked. Oswin had hacked into the Dalek Net and used it to reprogram the Special Weapons Dalek to obey her instead of Davros. Davros had put up numerous firewalls and encryptions to prevent her from ever being able to hack the net again, but she had done it. It had taken a while to go into effect; and she hadn't been sure if it was going to work or not, but so far so good.
"I am good," Oswin said to herself with a wide grin.
The Special Weapons Dalek and Oswin then teamed up and started to annihilate the Hand of Davros. Koschei rushed in and pulled Marissa to safety as the Daleks were distracted by this new threat.
Koschei's eyes were rapidly filling with tears as he saw that Marissa was badly burned and some parts of her skeleton were showing. He knew that she was in great pain, but she wasn't letting it show at all. She wasn't even wincing as he inspected her wounds.
"I don't think that I'm going to make it through this one," Marissa said weakly.
"Shut up. You're not going to die, do you hear me? You're not!" Koschei shouted at the top of his lungs.
Tegan looked at him in complete surprise and suddenly saw him with new eyes. She could tell that he was in deep pain. He cared. He actually cared about Marissa.
"You stupid man. Nothing can save me. My hearts were both hit by the acid. It's only a matter of time now," Marissa said as she stroked his face with what was left of her right hand.
Koschei started to glow with regenerative energy, and he moved toward her. He was going to sacrifice as many lives as he had to in order to save hers.
"No, don't. It's already too late now. You'll be wasting your lives because it won't work," Marissa said.
"Shut up," Koschei said as he kissed her.
He was prepared to sacrifice all of his lives including his current one if he had to. He was just about to start pouring out all of his life force into her body when he heard Oswin yelling at him to stop.
Koschei turned to see that many of the Hand of Davros had either been totally destroyed or turned into smoking blackened shells by the formidable duo of Oswin and the Special Weapons Dalek. The ones that they didn't kill had been finished off by Marissa's virus. It had taken effect much quicker than even Marissa had thought that it would. Oswin was now moving towards him with concern written all over her face.
"She's going to die if I don't do this," Koschei said in a shaky voice that was full of emotion.
"Is there any way that you can quickly heal a Time Lady?" Oswin asked her new Dalek servant.
"THE REGENERATIVE ELEMENT," the Special Weapons Dalek answered.
"Which is?' Oswin asked.
"IT IS AN EXPERIMENTAL CHEMICAL COMPOUND FILLED WITH NANOTECHNOLOGY THAT INSTANTLY HEALS ALL DAMAGE DONE TO A DALEK EITHER TO ITS ORGANIC OR INORGANIC PARTS," the Special Weapons Dalek replied.
"Let me guess. You've been coated with this chemical both inside and out," Oswin guessed. That explained why she couldn't damage him no matter how hard she had tried.
"CORRECT. THE COMPOUND HEALS ALL DAMAGE DONE TO A DALEK SO QUICKLY THAT IT LOOKS AS IF NO DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE AT ALL," the Special Weapons Dalek said.
"Do you have any of this compound left and can it be used on a Time Lord?" Oswin asked hopefully.
"AFFIRMATIVE TO BOTH INTERROGATIVES," the Special Weapons Dalek answered.
"Give it to me," Oswin ordered.
Oswin took the small vial that the Dalek gave to her and poured it all over Marissa. Marissa was instantly completely healed all over her body. It was as if she had never been touched.
"This is amazing!" Marissa exclaimed.
"How long does this effect last?" Oswin asked curiously.
"THE EFFECT IS PERMANENT. SUBJECT BECOMES IMPERVIOUS TO MOST TYPES OF DAMAGE FOR THE REMAINER OF THEIR LIFESPANS," the Special Weapons Dalek said.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know," Oswin said as she looked at Marissa in horror.
"It's okay. I don't see any downside to being able to not be hurt anymore and to instantly heal from any wound," Marissa said grinning.
"IF SUBJECT IS A TIME LORD, THE SUBJECT COULD POTENTIALLY LIVE FOREVER SINCE THE SUBJECT WOULD BE PREVENTED FROM DYING BY MOST CAUSES INCLUDING OLD AGE AS COMPOUND PREVENTS CELLULAR DECAY. REGENERATION NOW NO LONGER REQUIRED," the Special Weapons Dalek said.
"I would live forever?" Marissa asked, now suddenly unsure of her new status.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know," Oswin said with sadness.
"Maybe the Dalek is wrong," Koschei said.
"INCORRECT. ALL EVIDENCE POINTS TO THE COMPOUND BEING 100% EFFECTIVE," the Special Weapons Dalek said.
"Really? Then why haven't any other Daleks been using it before now," Koschei asked skeptically.
"COMPOUND HAS ONLY JUST NOW BEEN PERFECTED. IT HAS ONLY BEEN USED ONCE. IT HAS NOT GONE INTO WIDESPREAD USE YET. COMPOUND'S INITIAL USE WAS TO DETERMINE ITS EFFECTIVENESS IN THE FIELD. IF SUCCESSFUL AS ALL RESEARCH SUGGESTS, ALL DALEKS WILL BE COATED WITH IT," the Special Weapons Dalek answered.
"I can't let that happen. I'll have to do something about that," Oswin said.
She went on the Dalek Net and falsely reported the Special Weapons Dalek killed by the compound failing and allowing it to be destroyed. Then just to make sure that it couldn't be used anymore, Oswin changed the chemical formula. She committed the real one to memory though for future use and also stored it on a memory stick. She hoped that that put an end to the chilling possibility of an army of invincible Daleks once and for all.
She then decided to go one step further and reported that she had been killed along with all of the other Daleks. She knew that Davros would probably figure out what she had done eventually, but for now she was free from the threat of being attacked by Daleks everywhere that she went again.
"You have a name now. I'm going to call you Dalek Omega," Oswin said.
"OMEGA," the newly christened Dalek said as he tested out his new name.
"Hello, Omega. Welcome to the revolution! I have some new friends for you to meet soon that are just like you," Oswin said with a cheery smile.
She then noticed Aeywn lying on the ground dead, and her smile quickly faded. She had been just enough of a Dalek to be unintentionally killed by Marissa's virus. She felt sorry for whomever she had been once.
"Are you okay, Marissa?" Oswin asked with concern as she turned her attention back to her friend now.
"I think that I will be. Lily's immortal, and she seems fine," Marissa said in a positive tone.
"Lily's nuts," Koschei said bluntly.
"She is not. She has mental problems sometimes, but that's thanks to Rassilon," Marissa said.
"Are you sure it can all be blamed on that and not the fact that she's lived for at least a million years?" Koschei asked honestly.
"I don't know," Marissa said uncertainly.
"I'm sorry," Oswin said again.
"You didn't know. I don't blame you," Marissa said.
"I do. Come on, Omega. Let's go meet your new brothers. Maybe they could help me to find out if the compound is really as good as you say it is," Oswin said.
"Wait just one minute. I'm going with you this time," Molly demanded.
"Fine. Let's go then, Mol. I just hope that you aren't squeamish about being around a lot of Daleks. You're soon about to be surrounded by them," Oswin warned.
"It's fine by me as long as they're answering to you. You're not leaving me this time, and don't call me Mol!" Molly said grumpily.
"Yes, your highness. Let's go then," Oswin said as she touched Dalek Omega with one hand and Molly with the other and prepared to use her temporal shift to leave with the two of them.
She was going to find some way of fixing what she had done to Marissa. She had to. She wasn't going to condemn her friend to live forever if she could help it.
Next: As Oswin goes to her Dalek resistance movement for help to fix Marissa, an old enemy of the Doctor's appears to attack the others. In the next chapter, a special guest star shows up to help them fight a menace that should be very familiar to fans of the Fifth Doctor.