CHAPTER 49

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THE FACE OF FEAR

As Oswin, John, and Cydonia fought the Thals side by side, Epsilon stayed behind them and didn't engage anyone in battle. He was now too afraid to. Whatever was affecting the other Daleks was now affecting him as well, and he was too terrified of the Thals to even look at them much less fight them. The only reason that he hadn't run screaming from them in terror was that there was one thing that he was afraid of even more than them.

He was afraid of Oswin dying because he wasn't there to protect her.

So Epsilon forced himself to stay by her no matter how scared that he was so that he could be there to defend her if he needed to do so. So far though it didn't really seem like that would be necessary as Oswin was proving that she was more than capable of handling the Thals by herself. This was just fine by Epsilon as he was absolutely terrified of them by this point, and he still couldn't figure out why.

What were the Thals doing to them?

Oswin was about to find out through first hand experience as she started to feel oddly herself now. She suddenly developed a fear of the Thals for no reason, but she kept fighting them anyway despite that. As her fear of them intensified, she realized that whatever the Thals were doing that it didn't just affect the Daleks.

"John, do you feel . . . ?" Oswin started to ask.

"Yeah, I do, Clara. I'm starting to feel as terrified as the Daleks. Believe me when I say that the only reason that I'm not leaving is because you haven't yet," John admitted with an embarrassed look on his face.

"I feel exactly the same so don't feel so bad," Oswin said with a sympathetic smile before giving him a tender kiss.

"Maybe if you keep doing that, I'll be able to overcome the fear," John said with a seductive smile.

"Really? We're in the fight of our lives, and you're trying to score some extra kisses from me?" Oswin asked with a grin.

"I say always take every possible advantage of a situation, and in this case I'm going to use the situation to get a few kisses from my extremely beautiful wife. So sue me," John said.

"You're impossible," Oswin said with a snort.

"No, you're the impossible one, remember?" John shot back as he laughed at her.

"WHAT ARE THEY DOING? WHY AREN'T THEY AFRAID ANYMORE?" Epsilon asked Cydonia as they stood off to the side watching the newlyweds take on the Thals together as if they didn't have a care in the world.

"Don't let them fool you. They're absolutely terrified, Epsilon, but they're trying hard not to show it. They're using their banter to make themselves laugh and to bolster each other's courage. So far it seems to be working. I don't know what I'll do if it doesn't," Cydonia said.

"YOU'RE NOT AFFECTED AT ALL ARE YOU?" Epsilon noted.

"Not yet. Luckily for me, it must take longer to affect Time Lords. We've got to hurry up and figure out what's going on here before it's too late to save any of us," Cydonia said in a worried voice.

"I think I know. I just hope that I'm wrong," Koschei said as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere along with Marissa.

"Wrong about what? What's going on?" Oswin asked.

"I believe that the Thals are using a psychic parasite. They're a group of creatures that feed off of the negative emotions of others, and they can also use a person's greatest fears against them. I've had some . . . experience with them before," Koschei said with a bothered expression on his face.

"By 'experience' he means that he used one of them in another one of his many insane plots against the Doctor back in the bad old days," Marissa said with a smirk.

"That's why I'm afraid of what might happen if this parasite turns on the Thals like the one I had turned on me. It'll start killing us all by using our greatest fears against us," Koschei said.

"Oh, so you mean that the fun will continue and just get worse from here then? Why am I not surprised?" Oswin asked with a sigh.

"Did the psychic parasite have any weaknesses?" John asked Koschei.

"It couldn't affect people with no negative emotions. They acted like a damper on it and immobilized it. Unfortunately we don't seem to have any of those handy," Koschei said.

"So in other words, people with no dark side whatsoever? We're on Skaro, Koschei. This really isn't the place to look for anyone like that. Sorry, Eppy. No offense meant," Oswin said.

"NONE TAKEN, EMPRESS. I'M WELL AWARE THAT EVEN WITH YOUR HELP THAT THE DALEKS STILL HAVE A DARK SIDE. THAT CANNOT BE DENIED," Epsilon said.

"So what we need is a way to create a person with no dark side whatsoever. How though is the question. How did you do it? Obviously you must have in order to know that about the parasites' weakness to them," Cydonia asked Koschei.

"You know me so well, Cy. Yes, I created something called the Keller Machine which the parasite that I had was a part of and used it to completely drain the negativity from humans forever. It left them with no negative impulses whatsoever. Unfortunatley I don't have one of those available at the moment either, and there's no time to build a new one," Koschei said.

"He's a lot of help isn't he?" Marissa said with a chuckle.

"No, he's helping me much more than you think. I think I know a way out of this now. Davros," Oswin said as an idea suddenly sprang into her head.

"Davros? What good could he possibly do?" Marissa asked confused.

"He programmed the Daleks not to feel pity or any other positive emotions when he created them. If he could create a race with no positive impulses then maybe he could do the opposite and help me create a being with no negative ones," Oswin said.

"Even if he could, you can't do that in a few hours which are all that you have tops before the Thals completely overrun Skaro or worse the psychic parasite starts killing everyone once it starts getting too greedy," Marissa said.

"Maybe he can't but what if you helped him? Two of the greatest scientific minds in the universe working together should be able to come up with something in no time, right?" Oswin asked with a hopeful look on her face.

"You must really be desperate, Clara, if you're resorting to flattery to appeal to my ego," Marissa said with a laugh.

"It's working though isn't it?" Oswin asked.

"Of course it is. Her ego's almost as big as mine," Koschei said.

"Ha! Not even close," Marissa said as she gave him a warm smile.

"Do you think that you can get started now? I hate to admit it but I'm starting to become as filled with fear as the Daleks," Oswin said with a nervous laugh.

It was only now that Marissa realized just how scared that Oswin really was, and it wasn't just because of the parasite either. She was scared of herself and her Daleks all dying here.

"I'll do the best that I can, Clara," Marissa said as she embraced her.

She felt Oswin shaking all over her body as she did so. She was keeping it controlled where it wasn't noticeable when you were watching her Marissa realized with a sinking feeling in her hearts. Her friend was fighting so hard to keep up a brave face for the few remaining Daleks who were still there because of her. They hadn't left yet but Oswin obviously feared that they would if she showed the first sign that she was afraid too.

"It's going to be okay. I'll always protect my little sister," Marissa said as she kissed Oswin's forehead.

Oswin smiled and said, "I never doubted it for a moment. Now get going before the Thals start moving in and cause the property values to plunge around here."

Marissa and Koschei immediately went to the prison area where Davros was being kept and found him luckily unaffected so far by the parasite. They were momentarily surprised to find that he had completely regained his original form and was no longer the withered, crippled being that he had once been.

He explained that he had used the waters from the Chaos Pool where the Key to Time was created to restore his body to its original condition while traveling for a while with Christina de Souza and Jacqueline Tyler.* Marissa hoped that this new change in his life would somehow make him more trustworthy now since a lot of his twisted personality came from having his body ruined.

"So why are you here? Do my Daleks need me to help them? Is that it?" Davros asked as he had absolutely no idea what was going on outside.

"All of us do, Davros. Sooner or later the psychic parasite that the Thals brought to defeat the Daleks will start to affect you too," Marissa said.

"The Thals?! The Thals are attempting to invade Skaro? Tell me more!" Davros demanded as his eyes filled with hatred.

After Marissa and Koschei explained the situation and Oswin's idea to solve it to him, Davros nodded and said, "So she wants me to create a new species that would be the exact opposite of my Daleks in every way. I'm intrigued by that. I think that I could do it, but I'm not sure that even I could do it in time. I've heard of your advanced studies in biology and genetics, Rani. Do you have any techniques to greatly accelerate the mutation process so that we could have this new creature ready in time?"

Marissa's face darkened as she said, "I'm not the Rani anymore. Call me Marissa. Yes, I believe that I know enough from my experiments to have our creation finished within a few hours. The question is whether I trust you anywhere near a lab or not, and whose genes should it be that we use to create this creature?"

Davros looked at her with an apologetic look as he said, "I meant no disrespect by using that name. Just because you've done evil things using that name doesn't make it evil in and of itself. Perhaps you should start using that name again in order to redeem it as you obviously have yourself. That's your business not mine of course. Yes, you can trust me because I no longer have any desire to continue on as the man that I was before. You could say that Jacqueline changed my mind about a great many things and that I never want to disappoint her in any way even if all that we can ever be is friends. As for whose genes to use, why not a Dalek's? Let's see exactly what kind of being that they would become if all of their negative qualities were taken away and they were mutated into what could have been the Kaleds' ultimate humanoid form."

Marissa's eyes shone with curiosity and a large smile filled her face as she said, "Yes, I like that. I have to admit that I'm kind of intrigued by that myself. I haven't felt this excited about an experiment for a long time."

"Should I be worried?" Koschei asked at the zealous almost fanatical look on Marissa's face.

Marissa smiled and kissed him as she said, "No, I'm not becoming the Rani again. I'm just really getting into this. I have to know now. What would the Kaleds have become if their evolutionary development had continued on its natural course?"

"Let's find out," Davros said.

"I just hope that we don't regret this," Koschei said suspiciously as they released Davros and took him to Marissa's lab in their TARDIS.

Meanwhile while this was going on, Oswin, John, Cydonia, and Epsilon were still fighting with the Thals and their own fears at the same time as the Thals' parasite started to finally affect Cydonia as well. It wasn't long before just a general feeling of overwhelming fear soon turned into something else though just as Koschei had warned.

Oswin was still keeping a good handle on her emotions as she tore through a small army of Thals that were threatening to take over the Dalek capitol but that changed in a single moment as she suddenly saw her father standing there with a disgusted look on his face. He looked at her as if she was the most repellant thing in the universe and then slapped her right in the face.

"What?" Oswin asked in shock.

"My mother told me all about the Daleks and what they've done, and now I know that I was wrong about you. I can see that now. You're not my daughter. You're a fake masquerading as her. My daughter would never try to help a bunch of killers like the Daleks. You're no better than they are for doing anything for them but shooting them dead on sight. You honestly think that they can ever be anything but murderous monsters? You think of these things as your children? You should be ashamed of yourself! I'm ashamed to even look at you!" Dave Oswald said.

"No! That's not true! They are good now. I've helped them. I've made them better. They're not like they were anymore. Please believe me. Please, Dad!" Oswin begged.

"Clara! Clara, there's nothing there! It's not real!" John said as he wrapped his arms around her and tried to comfort her.

"He hates me. My Dad hates me," Oswin said in tears.

"No, he doesn't. That's just your greatest fear, Clara. It's not real though. I met your Dad. He loves you," John said as he gave her a tender kiss in an attempt to help calm her down.

Then Epsilon started to screech in terror and John and Cydonia looked at each other as they both realized that he was seeing his greatest fear now as well. Epsilon wailed as he called out Oswin's name over and over again. It was easy to see that his fear was of his Empress, his friend, dying right in front of him.

John shuddered as he worried about when it would be his turn and what he would see. He continued to fight on though despite that as Oswin began crying and shaking out of control on the ground nearby. He and Cydonia were now all alone since the Daleks had fled just as Oswin feared that they would as soon as she started to scream in fear. They were now doing their best to keep the Thals from getting anywhere near Oswin and Epsilon.

Both John and Cydonia knew though that without Oswin's help that the odds were growing more and more against them. If one of them should fall under the parasite's power too, then the other would be quickly overwhelmed and doom them all.

It seemed to be only a matter of time before that happened now.

"Come on, Mari. Hurry up," John said to himself.

Then Cydonia began to see a hallucination of so many of the people who she had seen die in the Time War. They all stood there with accusing eyes as one by one they said, "Why are we dead and yet you're still alive? You're a coward! That must be it. If you weren't, then why are you still alive? You were too busy worrying about yourself instead of protecting us like you should have been, weren't you? Admit it! You're secretly a coward who was only looking out for number one!"

"No! That's not true! I wanted to save you! I wanted to save all of you but I couldn't! I'm so sorry!" Cydonia said in a voice filled with unbelievable pain as she fell to her knees.

"Oh, no. Not now, Cy. Not now," John said as he watched her fall apart nearby.

The Thals soon overwhelmed John and they restrained his arms behind his back as one of them held a gun to his head.

"It's over with, human. You fought well but it was all for nothing in the end. Now you and all of the rest of the so-called Empress' friends will die along with the Daleks. Then this world will be ours once more. Soon Skaro will belong to the Thals, and the Daleks will just be a distant unpleasant memory and so will you," The Thal soldier said as he started to pull the trigger.

Before he could though, the parasite finally grew tired of just feeding off the Daleks and their allies just as Koschei predicted that it would. It suddenly started feeding on the fears of the Thals now as well, and they too started to scream in terror and finally so did John.

Soon everyone on Skaro had succumbed to the parasite's power. Everyone but one being.

A being who now touched Oswin's head with a single finger and said, "Let your fears be banished."

Oswin's father suddenly vanished, and she finally realized that it was all a hallucination at last. Somehow the attack on her mind had stopped but how? Then she got her answer as she looked up to see a beautiful woman with long golden hair who was glowing with energy standing over her.

"Who are you? Did you free me?" Oswin asked.

The woman nodded as she said, "I am able to shield your mind against the parasite's attack, but I can only do it for one person at a time. I'm sorry that I can't do it for anyone else. I picked you because my creators said that you're the Empress of Skaro and a good woman."

"You're the ultimate form of the Kaleds then only with your dark side removed?" Oswin asked as she smiled in relief.

"Yes, I am apparently. Father Davros said that I was the complete opposite of my brothers and that he hoped that I could do some good in the universe to undo the evil that they had done in the past. Mother Marissa said that I needed to help you save the planet first though. I'm afraid that I still have a long way to go. I can only shield myself and one other person against the parasite's abilities I'm afraid, and now we have an entire planet being mobilized against us," The woman said as she pointed to the Thals surrounding them who were now looking at them in terror as they pointed their guns at them.

"The parasite knows that we're after it, and it's making us into the objects of their fears. It's tricking them into getting rid of us before we can free them from it," Oswin realized.

"Yes, it would seem so. We must somehow make it out of here and find the parasite before it's too late. Do you know where it might be?" The woman asked.

"I'm afraid not. If I could get to the sensors in Marissa's TARDIS though, I just might be able to find it. Of course she might just attack us too. I assume that she, Davros, and Koschei are all mad with fear now too," Oswin said.

"Yes, they are. They had just finished making me and telling me my mission when they all suddenly succumbed one after another. I put them each in different rooms of the TARDIS and locked them in them to keep them from hurting themselves or each other though so it will be safe to go there," The woman said.

"Let's go then. I can teleport us there now. What's your name by the way? You never did say," Oswin asked.

"There wasn't enough time to give me one. Father Davros did call my species the Legna though. Mother Marissa thought that it wasn't a very good name for some reason," The woman said with a slight smile.

"It's angel spelled backwards. Davros never did have much of an imagination. You do look like an angel though. I'll give him that. That's it. I'll call you Angela. How's that?" Oswin asked.

"Since we don't have much time to pick out names before the Thals overwhelm us, I guess I'll have to go along with it. I think I like it anyway though if that makes you feel better. I hope I haven't hurt your feelings by not saying yes automatically," Angela said with a worried look on her face.

"Angela, hurt feelings are the least of my concerns right now. Believe me. You really are pure good aren't you? Come on. I'll take you to Mari's TARDIS. We've got to find this thing and stop it before everyone on Skaro winds up dead. It can't be good for our hearts to be experiencing all of this fear," Oswin said as she looked at John and Cydonia with concern as they still lay on the ground screaming.

"It isn't. I calculate that another hour of the parasite's assault at its current level will cause everyone on the planet to suffer complete cardiac arrest," Angela said with a sad expression.

"So you're a genius as well as a goody two shoes, eh? Well come on, Angel Girl. We don't have any more time to lose do we? Let's go find that overgrown leech and give it a little fright of its own for a change," Oswin said as she did her best not to worry too much about John while she grabbed him and Cydonia.

"Don't worry. We'll lock them away where they'll be safe at least for now anyway. I will help you save him, Empress. I won't let you down," Angela said.

Oswin then teleported herself and the others to Davros' cell where she knew that she would find Mari's TARDIS as she said in a determined voice, "I'm sure you won't. Come on, Angela. It's time for me to earn my title here today. No one threatens my family and gets away with it!"

She could finally admit it to herself now after the illusion of her father had confronted her with the truth. The Daleks were more than her friends. They were her family and she would do anything to protect them. No one would ever hurt her children. Not while she still had a single breath left in her body to defend them.

*See The Thief of Time Chapters 2 – 4.

Next: It's the 50th chapter of this story as Oswin and Angela fight alone against a planet filled with crazed Thals and Daleks alike as they try to find the parasite and put a stop to it before it's too late to save anyone. Can they succeed in time or will Oswin be left all alone on a barren lifeless planet as the Empress of nothing and no one?