Rose backed up until she hit a pillar. When the screen had shut off, the Daleks had seemed to forget about her, a fact that she wasn't going to complain about.
A Dalek suddenly stopped in front of her. "You know the Doctor," it screeched. "You understand him. You will predict his actions."
Yeah, right. "I don't know!" Rose told it. "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
"Predict!" the Dalek demanded. "Predict! Predict!"
A second Dalek interrupted. "TARDIS detected in flight."
"Launch missiles," the Dalek in front of her said. "Exterminate."
"You can't!" Rose shouted, stepping forward in panic. "The TARDIS hasn't got any defenses. You're going to kill him."
If a Dalek could sound smug, this one did. "You have predicted correctly."
~~~
The Doctor and Emissary worked together to fly the TARDIS into the Dalek ship where Rose was being held hostage.
"We've got incoming!" Jack announced from where he was monitoring the screen.
The Time Lords didn't pause at all. Dalek missiles struck the TARDIS, there was a large explosion and the TARDIS kept going. Jack checked the screens again. "The extrapolator's working," he reported. "We've got a fully functional forcefield." He laughed a bit. "Try saying that when you're drunk."
"And for my next trick," the Doctor said, flipping a switch to land them. The TARDIS materialized around Rose and the Dalek closest to her. "Rose, get down!" the Doctor shouted. "Get down, Rose!"
She dove off to the side as the Dalek caught sight of the Doctor and fired.
"Exterminate!" The Dalek's shot missed and it didn't get a chance to try again. Jack took aim with the defabricator gun and blew the head clean off.
Rose got to her feet a little shakily. "You did it."
"So glad you're okay," the Emissary said as she pulled Rose into a tight hug.
"Feels like I haven't seen you in years," Rose said as she went to hug the Doctor as well.
"I told you I'd come and get you," he said.
Rose grinned. "Never doubted it."
"I did," the Doctor said as he let her go. "You all right?"
"Yeah," Rose nodded. "You?"
"Not bad, been better." He bent to examine the still smoking Dalek as Rose moved behind him to hug Jack. The Emissary crouched down next to him as he scanned it, noting the odd look on his face.
"What is it?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Some weird readings."
He showed her the sonic and she looked up at him in shock. "But that means..." she trailed off. He just nodded grimly.
"Oh, I thought I'd never see you again," Rose was saying to Jack as they came over.
"Oh, you were lucky," Jack said. He hefted the gun up. "That was just a one shot wonder. Drained the gun of all its power supply." He dropped it off to the side. "Now it's just a piece of junk."
They stopped next to the Time Lords, staring at the Dalek.
"You said they were extinct," Rose remembered. "How come they're still alive?"
"One minute they're the greatest threat in the universe," Jack told her, "the next minute they vanished out of time and space."
"They went off to fight in bigger war," the Emissary said hollowly. "The Time War."
Jack looked between the two Time Lords. "I... thought that was just a legend."
"I was there," the Doctor said. "The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords, with the whole of creation at stake." The Emissary slipped her hand into his as they both remembered. "Our people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them. I almost thought it was worth it. Now it turns out they died for nothing."
"There's thousands of them now," Rose pointed out. "We could hardly stop one. What're we going to do?"
The Time Lords were both silent for a long moment before the Doctor took a deep breath and plastered a smile on his face.
"No good stood round here chin wagging," he said looking at Rose and Jack. "Human race, you'd gossip all day. The Daleks have got the answers. Let's go and meet the neighbours." He headed for the door, pulling the Emissary along with him.
"You can't go out there!" Rose cried. They didn't stop.
"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" The Daleks fired the second the TARDIS door opened. Every single shot fizzled into nothing a good three feet from the TARDIS.
"Is that it?" the Doctor scoffed. "Useless! Nul point."
"It's all right, you can come on out," the Emissary called back into the TARDIS. Rose and Jack came out hesitantly. "The forcefield can hold back anything."
"Almost anything," Jack corrected.
"Yes, but we weren't going to tell them that," the Emissary told him, rolling her eyes. "Thanks."
Jack winced. "Sorry."
She stopped paying attention to him as the Doctor stepped right up to the edge of the forcefield. "Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Homeworld?" he asked the Daleks. "The Oncoming Storm. You might've removed all your emotions but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left, and that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face us?" He smirked as the Emissary waved from where she leaned against the TARDIS. "A Sentry and the Oncoming Storm. You must be terrified. So tell me. How did you survive the Time War?"
"They survived through me," a deep voice answered. A dark corner lit up. A giant, open Dalek casing sat there, with a Dalek mutant encased in glass. It blinked down at them imperiously. The Time Lords walked over to stand in front of it. Rose and Jack followed slowly.
"Rose, Jack," the Emissary said, forcing her tone to be pleasant. "This is the Emperor of the Daleks."
"You destroyed us, Doctor," the Emperor said. "The Emissary might have wiped hundreds of us out, but the Dalek race died in your inferno. My ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive."
"I get it," the Doctor started to say, but got cut off.
"Do not interrupt!" the Daleks surrounding them screeched. The Emissary looked around at them, almost amused.
"I think you're forgetting something," the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm the Doctor, and if there's one thing I can do, it's talk. I've got five billion languages, and you haven't got one way of stopping me." He glared around at the Daleks. "So if anybody's going to shut up, IT'S YOU!" The Emissary smirked as every single Dalek rolled back several feet. "Okey doke." The Doctor turned back to the Emperor. "So, where were we?"
"We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding," the Emperor said. "Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured."
"You created an army of Daleks out of the dead," the Emissary said.
"That makes them half human," Rose realized.
The Emissary nodded at her. "Yes, exactly."
"Those words are blasphemy," the Emperor said angrily.
"Do not blaspheme," the Daleks began to chorus. "Do not blaspheme. Do not blaspheme."
"Everything human has been purged," the Emperor insisted. "I cultivated pure and blessed Dalek."
"Last I checked, the Daleks didn't have a concept of blasphemy," the Emissary stated flatly. "When did that happen?"
"I reached into the dirt and made new life," the Emperor proclaimed. "I am the God of all Daleks!"
"Worship him. Worship him. Worship him."
"They're insane," the Emissary breathed as they looked around at the worshipping Daleks.
"Hiding in silence for hundreds of years, that's enough to drive anyone mad," the Doctor agreed, staring the Daleks down. "But it's worse than that. Driven mad by your own flesh. The stink of humanity." His voice was dark. "You hate your own existence. And that makes them more deadly than ever."
"Back to the TARDIS, now," the Emissary ordered Jack and Rose. They ran for the doors.
"We're going!" the Doctor told the Emperor.
"You may not leave my presence," the Emperor ordered as the Time Lords turned away and walked back to the TARDIS.
"Stay where you are," the Daleks demanded. "Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"
The TARDIS dematerialized as the Daleks fired.
~~~
The second the TARDIS was fully materialized, the Doctor was out the door.
"Turn everything up," he ordered. The Emissary followed Jack and Rose out and they started flipping switches. "All transmitters full power, wide open." The three humans huddled together just stared at him. "Now! Do it!"
"What does this do?" Pavale asked as he ran to comply.
"Stops the Daleks from transmatting on board," the Doctor said. "How did you get on? Did you contact Earth?"
"Well, we tried to warn them," Pavale reported, "but all they did was suspend our license because we stopped the programs."
"Humans," the Emissary scoffed quietly.
"And the planet's just sitting there, defenceless," the Doctor said, very much agreeing with the sentiment. He looked past Pavale as if just noticing Lynda was still there. "Lynda, what're you still doing on board? I told you to evacuate everyone."
Pavale rolled his eyes. "She wouldn't go."
Lynda gave a small smile. "Didn't want to leave you."
Rose noticed the Emissary looking a little irritated and nudged her shoulder gently. "Jealous?" she teased lightly.
"What are you talking about?" the Emissary asked. "No." She walked away from Rose and over to the Doctor. Rose just smirked and shook her head.
"There weren't enough shuttles anyway, or I wouldn't be here," the head of staff was telling the Doctor. "We've got about a hundred people stranded on Floor Zero."
"Oh, my God," Pavale said as he looked at a computer. "The Fleet is moving. They're on their way."
The Doctor jumped into motion, pulling parts and wires out of the computers. "Dalek plan," he scoffed. "Big mistake, because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone? Oh, come on, it's obvious." He looked around. None of the humans had an answer.
"The transmitter," the Emissary said finally as she helped him take apart the computers.
"A great big transmitter!" the Doctor confirmed. "This station. If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?"
Jack caught on first. "You've got to be kidding."
"Give the man a medal," the Doctor quipped.
"A Delta Wave?" Jack asked.
"A Delta Wave!" the Doctor confirmed.
"What's a Delta Wave?" Rose asked.
"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy," Jack explained. "It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbequed."
"And this place can transmit a massive wave," the Doctor told her. "Wipe out the Daleks!"
"Well, get started and do it then," Lynda said, smiling.
"Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, two brains as clever as ours, should take about..." he trailed off, thinking.
"Day and a half, at the least," the Emissary answered for him. She looked over at Pavale. "How long until the Fleet is here?"
Pavale was pale. "Twenty two minutes."
She sighed. "Brilliant."
~~~
Fifteen minutes later, Jack finished wiring the extrapolator into the satellite's defenses.
"We've now got a forcefield so they can't blast us out of the sky," he said to Pavale, "but that doesn't stop the Daleks from physically invading."
"Do they know about the Delta Wave?" Pavale asked.
Jack nodded. "They'll have worked it out at the same time." He stood and addressed the room at large. "So, they want to stop the Doctor and the Emissary. That means they've got to get to this level, five hundred. Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top six levels, five hundred to four nine five. So they'll penetrate the station below that at level four nine four and fight their way up."
"Who are they fighting?" Pavale asked slowly, like he knew the answer and didn't want to be right.
"Us."
Pavale nodded, resigned. "And what are we fighting with?"
"The guards had guns with bastic bullets," Jack told him. "That's enough to blow a Dalek wide open."
The Emissary glanced up briefly, frowning, then went back to stripping wires. "He's lying," she said to the Doctor.
"They need him to," he replied simply.
"There's five of us," the head of staff pointed out.
"Rose, you can help us," the Doctor said quickly. "We need all these wires stripped bare." Rose ran over to them, relief written on her face.
"Right," the head of staff scoffed. "Now there's four of us."
"Then let's move it," Jack ordered and tossed her a gun. "Into the lift. Isolate the lift controls." She and Pavale ran off.
Lynda hesitated. "I just want to say, er, thanks, I suppose," she said to the Doctor, "and I'll do my best."
"Me too," he said and gave her a tense smile. Lynda shook his hand and ran off to join the others.
Jack took her place. "It's been fun, but I guess this is goodbye."
"Don't talk like that," Rose protested. "They're going to do it. You just watch them."
Jack smiled sadly. "Rose, you are worth fighting for."
The Emissary blinked as he pulled Rose in and kissed her soundly. Jack let Rose go and moved to stand in front of the Emissary. "You're like the little sister I never had," he told her.
"I'm older than you," she tried to joke, but it fell flat. Jack took her face in both hands and kissed her forehead, then hugged her tightly.
He moved on to the Doctor. "I wish I'd never met you, Doctor. I was much better off as a coward." He kissed the Doctor just as soundly as Rose. The Emissary almost wanted to laugh at the Doctor's expression.
"See you in hell." Jack winked at them and ran off to join the other three.
"He's going to be alright, isn't he?" Rose asked halfheartedly.
Neither Time Lord answered.
~~~
"Suppose," Rose said a little while later. The Time Lords shared a look when she didn't continue, then looked over at her.
"What?" the Doctor asked.
Rose shook her head. "Nothing."
"You said suppose," the Emissary pointed out.
"No, I was just thinking," Rose said. "I mean, obviously you can't, but, you've got a time machine. Why can't you just go back to last week and warn them?"
"As soon as the TARDIS lands in that second," the Emissary explained, "we'll become part of the events. We'll be stuck in that timeline."
Rose sighed. "Yeah, thought it'd be something like that."
"There's another thing the TARDIS could do," the Doctor offered. "It could take us away. We could leave. Let history take its course. We go to Marbella in 1989."
"Yeah, but you'd never do that," Rose said at once. The Emissary smiled.
"No," the Doctor agreed. "But you could ask. Never even occurred to you, did it?"
She grinned at him. "Well, I'm just too good."
"The Delta Wave's started building," the Emissary said as a loud hum sounded through the room. She stood up and brushed off her hands. She looked over at the Doctor as he approached the screens. "How long does it need?"
When the Doctor didn't answer, the Emissary stepped over to check. Her face fell.
Rose went over and took a look herself. She didn't understand anything on the screen, but judging by the Time Lords' silence, she could guess well enough.
"Is that bad?" she asked. They just looked at her. "Okay, it's bad. How bad is it?"
The Doctor paused. He knew what he could do, what he had to do, but how was he supposed to keep the Emissary from figuring it out?
She'd know he was lying, but there was a way for him to keep her from knowing a little while longer. He hated the idea of it, but it had to be done. He took a deep breath and slammed his mental barriers down.
The Emissary looked over at him, startled when she felt his mind disappear. "Doctor?" she asked aloud. "What's wrong?"
He smiled at her. "Absolutely nothing!" he said cheerfully. "Rose Tyler, you're a genius!" He kissed Rose's forehead, making the girl grin, bewildered. "We can do it. If I use the TARDIS to cross my own timeline..." He laughed and took off for the TARDIS. "Yes!"
"What are you talking about?!" he heard the Emissary shout, but she and Rose followed him inside.
He pointed the Emissary to a lever. "Hold that down and keep it in position."
"What's it do?" Rose asked as the Emissary held it down, still thoroughly confused.
"Cancels the buffers," the Doctor told her as he worked. "If I'm very clever — and I'm more than clever, I'm brilliant — I might just save the world. Or rip it apart."
"I'd go for the first one," Rose quipped as she took a seat on the captain's chair.
"You can't cross your own timeline," the Emissary protested. "That's not going to work, even with the buffers off!"
"And of the two of us, who's been flying a TARDIS longer?" he asked. She didn't answer. He nodded. "Exactly. I know what I'm doing. Now, I've just got to go and power up the Game Station. Hold on!"
He ran out and turned to face the TARDIS. Holding up his sonic, he locked the doors and started the engines remotely.
~~~
"Wait, what's happening?" Rose asked as the engines started up.
The Emissary looked up in horror. "No," she breathed. "He wouldn't." She ran for the door, Rose right behind her. "Doctor! What are you doing?!"
The door slammed shut in their faces. The Emissary pulled, but it was locked.
"Let us out," Rose yelled as she tried in vain to open the doors. "What've you done?"
She turned around to see the Emissary running around the console, trying to get the engines to stop. Nothing worked and the TARDIS took off.
"He's locked the controls," the Emissary told her. Rose blinked as a stream of a strange language left the Emissary's mouth and the TARDIS didn't translate.
"Sorry, what did you say?" The Emissary shook her head, face set in a scowl.
"Nothing nice," she said flatly.
Rose's eyes widened as a hologram of the Doctor appeared behind the Emissary. The Time Lady noticed where she was looking and turned around.
"This is Emergency Program One," the Doctor's voice said. "Rose, now listen, this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal. I'm dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape."
"No!" Rose cried out.
"So why'd you send me away, idiot?" the Emissary snapped.
"And that's okay," the hologram continued. "Hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home."
"I won't let you." Rose argued, but the Emissary just shook her head. There was nothing they could do. Rose wilted.
"And I bet you're fussing and moaning now," the hologram Doctor said, rolling his eyes. "Typical. But hold on and just listen a bit more. Hopefully I managed to send the Emissary with you." Rose chanced a look at said Time Lady. Her face was flat and furious. "The TARDIS can never return for me. And don't look at the Emissary, because she can't fly her either."
Rose looked back at the Emissary, who just nodded silently. Once the TARDIS landed, she wouldn't be able to take off again. They'd be stuck.
"Emergency Program One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine," the hologram informed. "So this is what you should do. Let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one'll even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world'll move on and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing." The hologram smiled. "Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life."
The hologram flickered out before another one took its place. "If this recording is playing, then I managed to get you out, too," the new hologram said. Rose blinked. She couldn't understand a single word, but the Emissary had frozen in place.
"I know you are probably furious with me," the hologram continued, "but I couldn't let you die with me. I thought I killed you once before, and finding you was the best thing I could've asked for." The hologram smiled sadly. "Live a happy life for me. That's all I want, is for you to live."
The hologram flickered out for good, right as the TARDIS landed. Rose ran for the console, shaking her head.
"You can't do this to us," she shouted at the controls. "You can't." She flipped switches and pressed buttons, but nothing happened. "Take us back! Take us back! No!"
"Rose," the Emissary said. Rose stopped. The Time Lady's voice was tense, but Rose couldn't tell if she was angry or about to start crying. She suspected probably a bit of both. "Leave it. It's not going to work."
She turned and left the TARDIS. Rose followed after a moment. Mickey was running up the road towards them.
"I knew it!" he shouted, grinning. "I was all the way down Clifton Parade, and I heard the engines. I thought, there's only one thing that makes a noise like that." He stopped short when he saw their faces. "What is it?" The Emissary just turned around and locked the door to the TARDIS. "What happened?"
"The Doctor kept his promise," was all she said.
Rose collapsed into Mickey's arms, sobbing.
~~~
The Doctor worked in silence for a while after the TARDIS was gone. He knew it was the right thing to do, but if by some miracle he got out of this alive, the Emissary was going to kill him.
"Rose," Jack's voice came over the intercom. The Doctor stopped working. "I've called up the internal laser codes. There should be a different number on every screen. Can you read them out to me?"
"She's not here," the Doctor replied.
Jack sighed. "Of all the times to take a leak, I swear. Alright then. Em, how about you?
"She's not here either," the Doctor answered.
"What, did they go together?" Jack asked. "When they get back, tell one of them to read me the codes."
"They're not coming back." The Doctor went back to work.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked. "Where'd they go?"
"Just get on with your work."
Jack was silent for a moment. "You took her home, didn't you?" he asked quietly. "Rose and Em, you sent them back to Rose's home."
"Yeah."
"The Delta Wave," Jack asked. "Is it ever going to be ready?"
Before the Doctor could answer, the Dalek Emperor came on the screen. "Tell him the truth, Doctor," the Emperor said. "There is every possibility the Delta Wave could be complete, but no possibility of refining it. The Delta Wave must kill every living thing in its path, with no distinction between human and Dalek. All things will die by your hand."
"Doctor, the range of this transmitter covers the entire Earth," Jack said seriously.
The Emperor sounded as smug as a Dalek could. "You would destroy Daleks and Humans together. If I am God, the creator of all things, then what does that make you, Doctor?"
"There are colonies out there," the Doctor justified. "The Human Race would survive in some shape or form, but you're the only Daleks in existence. The whole universe is in danger if I let you live." He swallowed and addressed Jack. "Do you see, Jack? That's the decision I've got to make for every living thing. Die as a human or live as a Dalek. What would you do?"
"You sent them home," Jack said after a second. "They're safe. Keep working."
"But he will exterminate you!" the Emperor growled.
"Never doubted him," Jack retorted. "Never will." He cut out.
The Doctor faced the screen fully. "Now, you tell me, God of all Daleks, because there's one thing I never worked out." He gestured at the sign above the elevator. "The words Bad Wolf, spread across time and space, everywhere, drawing me in. How'd you manage that?"
"I did nothing," the Emperor said.
"Oh, come on," the Doctor scoffed, rolling his eyes. "There's no secrets now, your worship."
"They are not part of my design," the Emperor said again. "This is the Truth of God."
The Doctor stared up at the Bad Wolf sign, trepidation running down his spine. If not the Daleks...
What the hell was Bad Wolf?
~~~
Rose picked at her food and stared out the window. The Emissary sat next to her glaring at the table. Rose didn't know how the Time Lady was even managing to sit in the cafe, when Rose could practically feel her seething. Rose couldn't imagine what the Emissary was going through, couldn't even begin to fathom what it must feel like to be one of two people left of your species and have the other send you away while he died. She shook her head and pulled her attention back to her momther.
"And it's gone up market, this place," Jackie was saying. "They're doing little tubs of coleslaw, now. It's not very nice. It tastes a bit sort of clinical."
"Have you tried that new pizza place down Minto Road?" Mickey asked.
"What's it selling?" Jackie asked, not really listening to Mickey.
"Pizza," he answered slowly, looking at Jackie weird.
"That's nice," Jackie said absently. "Do they deliver?"
"Yeah."
Jackie watched Rose stare out the window. "Oh, Rose, have something to eat."
"Two hundred thousand years in the future," Rose said, "he's dying, and there's nothing I can do."
The Emissary suddenly pushed herself away from the table and left the cafe. Rose watched her go.
"Well, like you said two hundred thousand years," Jackie tried to reason. "It's way off."
Rose looked at her mother. "But it's not," she snapped. "It's now. That fight is happening right now, and he's fighting for us, for the whole planet, and I'm just sitting here, eating chips."
"The Emissary probably has it worse," Mickey pointed out unhelpfully. "Weren't they the same kind of alien or something?"
Rose nodded miserably. "The last two. I can tell she's furious with him." She frowned, upset. "I just can't believe he'd do this."
"Listen to me," Jackie said, leaning forward. She covered Rose's hands with her own. "God knows I have hated that man, but right now, I love him and do you know why?" Rose just stared at her. "Because he did the right thing. He sent you back to me."
"But what do I do every day, mum?" Rose asked. "What do I do? Get up, catch the bus, go to work, come back home, eat chips and go to bed? Is that it?"
"It's what the rest of us do," Mickey shrugged.
"But I can't!" Rose cried.
"Why, because you're better than us?" Mickey snapped. Rose shook her head.
"No, I didn't mean that," she said. She hadn't meant to imply that at all. "But it was. It was a better life. And I don't mean all the travelling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That doesn't matter." She leaned back, sighing. "The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know, he showed you too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't—"
She broke off and ran out of the cafe.
~~~
The Emissary had to leave the cafe when Rose started talking about the Doctor dying. Somehow the idea of being the last of her kind hurt worse now than it did before. Getting the Doctor back after losing everyone, only to lose him again, she didn't know whether to be angry or devastated.
She was leaning towards anger at the moment.
She sighed and sat down on a nearby bench, dropping her head into her hands. She hadn't felt this helpless since right after the War ended. She hated the feeling.
A body dropped onto the bench next to her. She didn't look up.
"You told me once that you could feel others of your species in your head," Rose said softly. The Emissary glanced at her. "Can you feel him now?"
"No," came the quiet answer. "He shut me out before we left." The Emissary looked down at her hands. "Feels like nothing again."
The two of them sat in a commiserating silence for a moment.
"There's nothing we can do, is there?" Rose asked. The Emissary shook her head, then paused.
"Well... maybe," she said. Rose blinked at her, having expected a no. "I kept my flat here, just in case it was ever needed." She sighed. "My old vortex manipulator—" Rose gave her a quizzical look. She waved it off. "Not important right now. We might be able use it to get back to the Game Station."
Rose stood excitedly. "What are you waiting for?" she asked. "Go get it."
"It's a long shot, Rose," the Emissary told her. Rose sat back down. "The manipulator broke when I first arrived here, and I don't know if I can fix it." She stood up. "But I'm not giving up on him."
"Better a long shot than nothing," Rose agreed weakly as the Emissary patted her shoulder.
The Time Lady froze as her hand brushed against Rose's skin. A tingling rush of power ran up her arm and her vision took on a golden tinge around the edges, in a way it hadn't since Gallifrey fell. Since she lost her Sentry abilities to see the Timeline.
Suddenly she was in the TARDIS. Rose stood in front of her, but it wasn't Rose, exactly. The Emissary watched as Rose stepped past her out of the TARDIS, out onto... the Game Station? There was a flash of the Doctor, staring at Rose. Her eyes glowed golden as the Vortex burst out of her and the Emissary snapped out of the vision.
She blinked. Rose was still sitting on the bench, staring at her concerned.
"Are you alright?" Rose asked. The Emissary nodded and withdrew her hand.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," she told Rose, putting on a smile. She hesitated before she walked away. "Just... just stay here and don't do anything rash, okay?"
She left quickly before Rose could ask her any more questions. She didn't know how the vision had happened, but one thing had become perfectly clear to her.
Somehow, Rose was going to save the Doctor.
~~~
Rose stared after the Emissary. What had made her just freeze like that? It had only been for a second, but when she'd snapped out of it, she had looked like she'd seen a ghost. Rose sighed. The Doctor would have known what was wrong with the Emissary.
Rose put her head in her hands. She didn't look up when Mickey found her.
"You can't spend the rest of your life thinking about the Doctor," he told her.
Rose nodded, knowing he was right. "But how do I forget him?"
"You've got to start living your own life," he said. "You know, a proper life, like the kind he's never had. The sort of life that you could have with me."
She lifted her head to look at him and froze. The words Bad Wolf were painted across the pavement. Wildly, she looked around the park and spotted the words on a stone wall as well. "Over here," she exclaimed, running over. "It's over here as well!"
"That's been there for years," Mickey said, shaking his head. "It's just a phrase. It's just words."
"I thought it was a warning," Rose continued like he hadn't spoken. "Maybe it's the opposite. Maybe it's a message." She looked up at Mickey. "The same words written down now and two hundred thousand years in the future. It's a link between me and the Doctor. Bad Wolf here, Bad Wolf there."
Mickey, to his credit, just nodded and went along with it. "But if it's a message, what's it saying?"
"It's telling me I can get back!" Rose took off running for the TARDIS. "The least I can do is help him escape."
Mickey watched her go worriedly before he followed. By the time he caught up to her, Rose was unlocking the TARDIS doors.
"All the TARDIS needs to do is make a return trip," Rose told him as they entered. "Just reverse."
"Yeah, but we still can't do it," Mickey pointed out. "If it was possible, wouldn't the Emissary have already done that?"
Rose ignored the question. "The Doctor always said the Tardis was telepathic," she said, examining the console. "This thing is alive. It can listen."
Mickey raised an eyebrow as she pushed some buttons and nothing happened. "It's not listening now, is it?"
Rose scowled at him. "We need to get inside it," she decided. "Last time I saw you, with the Slitheen, this middle bit opened, and there was this light, and the Doctor said it was the heart of the TARDIS." She tapped the middle section of the console. "If we can open it, I can make contact. I can tell it what to do."
Mickey frowned. That didn't sound very safe. "Rose."
"Mmm?" Rose hummed, barely acknowledging him as she tried to find a way to open the console.
"Rose!" She looked up at him. "Maybe we should wait for the Emissary," he suggested. "She might know how to open it up." She might stop you, he didn't say.
Rose hesitated. "No," she said finally. "She'd try to stop me, or go in my place, and the Doctor sent her with me so she wouldn't be killed."
"Rose, he sent you back for the same reason," Mickey reminded her. "If you go back, you're going to die."
Rose just looked at him. "That's a risk I've got to take, because there's nothing left for me here."
Mickey stared at her, trying not to show how much that had stung. "Nothing?"
Rose shook her head resolutely. "No."
"Okay," Mickey sighed. "If that's what you think, let's get this thing open."
~~~
Jackie watched from the fence as Mickey drove forward slowly. The chain attached to his bumper pulled taut until he could go no further.
"Faster!" Rose shouted from inside the TARDIS.
Mickey pressed the gas uselessly. The tires started to smoke as he burned rubber, pulling against the ship. Jackie made a face at the smell.
"Come on!" Mickey urged.
"It's not moving!" Rose shouted just as the chain broke.
Inside the TARDIS, Rose kicked the console in frustration.
~~~
The Doctor worked as fast as he could, wincing when he heard the dying screams came over the comms.
"Advance guard have made it to 495," Lynda's voice reported shakily.
The Doctor barely glanced up. "Jack," he asked, "how're we doing?"
Jack's voice was optimistic over the tension. "495 should be good," he said. "I like 495."
The Doctor worked faster.
~~~
When Jackie entered the TARDIS, Rose was sitting dejectedly in the captain's chair, staring at the ceiling. Jackie leaned against the console for a moment, watching her. When Rose finally looked at her, Jackie's heart broke for her daughter. She couldn't remember the last time Rose had looked so defeated.
"It was never going to work, sweetheart," she told her gently. "And the Doctor knew that. He just wanted you to be safe."
"I can't give up."
"Lock the door," Jackie said. "Walk away."
Rose was silent for several seconds. Jackie was about to leave when she spoke again, voice filled with determination. "Dad wouldn't give up."
Jackie blinked. "Well, he's not here, is he? And even if he was, he'd say the same."
"No, he wouldn't," Rose argued. "He'd tell me to try anything. If I could save the Doctor's life, try anything."
"Well, we're never going to know," Jackie said.
"Well, I know because I met him," Rose retorted. "I met Dad."
"Don't be ridiculous," Jackie scoffed.
Rose didn't let up. "The Doctor and the Emissary took me back in time, and I met Dad."
"Don't say that."
"Remember when Dad died?" Rose pushed on. "There was someone with him. A girl, a blonde girl. She held his hand." She started to cry. "You saw her from a distance, Mum. You saw her! Think about it. That was me. You saw me."
"Stop it," Jackie ordered.
"They took me back in time so I could be there with him," Rose cried. "That's how good the Doctor is."
"Stop it!" Jackie shouted. "Just stop it!" She ran out of the TARDIS.
~~~
"Lynda!" the Doctor called over the comms. "What's happening on Earth?"
"The Fleet's descending," Lynda told him. "They're bombing whole continents. Europa, Pacifica, the New American Alliance." There was a beat of silence. "Australasia's just gone."
~~~
The Emissary tore apart her flat, but couldn't find her vortex manipulator. She didn't remember taking it on board the TARDIS, but obviously she had. She headed back outside. She'd have to check her room onboard.
She got halfway down the block before she stopped, bewildered, as Jackie Tyler drove past in a giant yellow truck.
Her eyes widened as she realized Jackie was driving towards the TARDIS. She took off running. She had a terrible feeling that she knew what Jackie had that truck for.
~~~
"There's got to be something else we can do," Mickey said as he and Rose leaned against his car.
"Mum was right," Rose replied. She brushed hair out of her eyes as she stared at the TARDIS. "Maybe we should just lock the door and walk away."
Mickey didn't like the resigned tone of her voice. He pushed off the car and faced Rose. "I'm not having that," he argued. "I'm not having you just, just give up now. No way. We just need something stronger than my car. Something bigger." He gaped as he watched a large truck come around the corner. "Something like that."
Rose looked up to see what he was talking about and gaped as her mother parked next to the TARDIS and jumped out of the driver's seat. Just past the truck, the Emissary came running up the block.
"Right," Jackie said as she joined them. "You've only got this until six o'clock, so get on with it."
"Mum, where the hell did you get that from?" Rose asked.
"Rodrigo," Jackie said. "He owes me a favour. Never mind why, but you were right about your dad, sweetheart." Rose started to smile. "He was full of mad ideas, and it's exactly what he would've done." Jackie tossed Mickey the keys. "Now, get on with it before I change my mind."
"Get on with what, exactly?" the Emissary asked. Rose shifted uncomfortably and didn't meet her eyes, choosing instead to walk away into the TARDIS. The Emissary looked over at where Jackie and Mickey were attaching a chain to the truck. She followed the chain inside. Rose was standing at the console, attaching the other end.
"You're trying to break open the ship," the Emissary said flatly as she leaned in the doorway. "Care to explain why?"
Rose straightened up and looked her dead in the eyes. "I'm going to make contact with the TARDIS and I'm going to go and save the Doctor."
It was exactly what the Emissary was afraid she'd say. She thought back to the timeline vision she'd been shown and frowned. It had felt like a fixed point. But then again, she didn't have the ability to see the Timeline anymore, so could that vision even be trusted?
"You'll be killed," she told Rose. "I'm not letting you do this." Timeline be damned, she was not losing Rose, too. Rose sighed like she'd expected this.
"I'm doing this for you, too, Em," she responded, using Jack's nickname in the hopes that it would make the Emissary listen. "You need the Doctor and he needs you."
"Rose, be reasonable," the Emissary argued. She went up to the console and tried to detach the chain. Rose stepped in front of it. "Rose, move."
"Listen," Rose told her. "You and the Doctor are my best friends. The only way you're gonna stop me is if you use that energy thing and shoot me with it."
As Rose argued, the chain pulled tighter and tighter. The Emissary groaned when she noticed. She'd forgotten about Mickey. She walked backwards towards the doors.
"Don't move," she ordered Rose. "Don't touch anything, don't look anywhere. This isn't over!" She darted out to the truck.
~~~
"I've got a problem." The Doctor paused briefly in his work as Lynda's voice came over the speaker. "They've found me."
"You'll be all right, Lynda," he said, forcing his voice to sound reassuring. "That side of the station's reinforced against meteors."
"Hope so!" Lynda laughed. "You know what they say about Earth workmanship." A few seconds later, she screamed and the line cut out.
"Last man standing!" Jack shouted. "For God's sake, Doctor, finish that thing and kill them!"
"Finish that thing and kill mankind," the Dalek Emperor countered.
~~~
"Mickey!" the Emissary shouted as she ran up to the truck. "Stop, you know she can't do this!"
From inside the TARDIS, Rose shouted out the opposite. "Keep going!"
Jackie backed her up. "Put your foot down!"
"Mickey," the Emissary said. "Please, she'll die if she does this."
He looked over at her. "I know, and I tried to tell her that, but it's her choice."
"Faster!" Rose shouted.
"Give it some more Mickey!" Jackie said. Mickey complied.
"You don't have to help her, though!" The Emissary pulled on the door, figuring that if Mickey wasn't going to listen, she could just pull him out of the vehicle. She blinked then looked up at Mickey in shock. "Unlock the door!" He ignored her. The Emissary huffed and ran over to Jackie.
Rose was still shouting inside. "Keep going!"
"Jackie!" the Emissary took the woman by both shoulders and shook her a little. "She will die, Jackie! Do you get that?"
Jackie didn't get a chance to respond as the chain suddenly snapped loose. The Emissary whipped around, horrified to see bright light shining out of the TARDIS.
"Rose!" she shouted and ran for the door. She got a glimpse of Rose staring into the light before the doors slammed shut in her face. "Rose!"
The TARDIS took off.
~~~
"Doctor, you've got twenty seconds maximum!" Jack shouted.
The Doctor finished connecting the last wire as he heard the elevator start to move.
"It's ready!" he shouted to no one as Daleks poured into the room. He turned to them, hand on a lever. "You really want to think about this, because if I activate the signal, every living creature dies."
"I am immortal," the Emperor denied.
The Doctor smirked. "Do you want to put that to the test?"
"I want to see you become like me," the Emperor taunted. "Hail the Doctor, the Great Exterminator."
The Doctor didn't flinch. "I'll do it!"
"Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you, coward or killer?"
The Doctor hesitated, then withdrew his hand. "Coward," he said. "Any day."
"Mankind will be harvested because of your weakness."
"And what about me?" the Doctor asked angrily. "Am I becoming one of your angels?" Rassilon, he hoped not.
"You are the heathen. You will be exterminated."
"Maybe it's time," the Doctor accepted. He closed his eyes, waiting for the shot.
His eyes snapped back open. He had to be imagining things, because there was no way he was hearing the TARDIS right now.
"Alert!" a Dalek screeched, confirming his fear. "TARDIS materialising!"
"You will not escape!" the Emperor shouted.
The Doctor could only watch as the TARDIS opened and golden light spilled open. He blinked, shocked, when instead of the Emissary like he'd expected, Rose stepped out. Her eyes were glowing with the same golden light.
"What've you done?" he breathed in horror. He glanced behind her, but no one else came out. Where was the Emissary?
"I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me." Her voice reverberated through the room.
"You looked into the Time Vortex," the Doctor realized. "Rose, no one's meant to see that!"
"This is the Abomination!" the Emperor shouted. A Dalek rolled forward.
"Exterminate!" The Doctor watched as Rose raised one hand. The Dalek's laser stopped and fizzled out.
"I am the Bad Wolf," Rose announced. "I create myself. I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here."
Well, that explained that, then.
"Rose, you've got to stop this," he said gently. "You've got to stop this now. You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn."
"I want you safe," Rose said. "Her Doctor." He inhaled sharply at that. He didn't need to ask who she meant by her. Rose turned and glared fiercely at the Emperor. "Protected from the false god."
"You cannot hurt me," the Emperor snarled. "I am immortal."
"You are tiny," Rose spat, body trembling in fury. "I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them." The Doctor watched worriedly as Rose waved a hand and the Daleks dissolved, gently, into showers of sparkling dust. "Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends."
On the screen, the Doctor could see that she hadn't just affected the station. The Dalek ship was disintegrating as well. He had just enough time to watch the Emperor turn into golden sparkles before the feed cut out. He turned back to Rose.
"Rose, you've done it," he told her. "Now stop. Just let go."
"How can I let go of this?" Rose breathed. "I bring life."
The Doctor cringed as she spread her arms, bringing Jack back to life. "But this is wrong!" he argued. "You can't control life and death."
"But I can." Rose's voice was near a whisper now. "The sun and the moon, the day and night." Her voice broke. "But why do they hurt?"
The Doctor looked away from her. "The power's going to kill you and it's my fault."
"I can see everything," Rose said, looking down at him. Her eyes had gone back to brown, and were filled with tears. "All that is, all that was, all that ever could be."
"That's what we see," he told her as he stood. "All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?"
"My head," she sobbed.
"Come here." He took her face in both hands.
"It's killing me."
He smirked sadly. "I think you need a Doctor."
"I'm sorry," he thought to the Emissary, despite knowing she probably wouldn't hear it. He pressed a kiss to Rose's forehead and opened his mind.
He wanted to cringe away almost instantly.
The crushing pressure of the Vortex flooded into his mind, burning and oppressive. He held tight on to Rose and kept drawing the Vortex in until there was nothing left.
Rose fainted. He laid her down carefully before he turned to the TARDIS and blew the golden energy out. He almost collapsed in relief as the pressure of the Vortex left him.
He picked Rose up and carried her into the TARDIS, laying her down on the floor. He surveyed the console room, hoping, but there was no sign of the Emissary. He sighed, going to the console and sending them into flight.
He looked down and swallowed heavily as orange gold rippled across his skin.
His time was up.