The Tardis materializes in a dimly lit area with carpeting and display cases. The three of them walk out and look around. "So, what is it? What's wrong?" Rose questions.

The Doctor is looking around looking for a light switch so they can see better. "Don't know. Some kind of signal drawing the Tardis off course."

"A signal? Like something calling the Tardis to it? Where and when are we?" Layla looks at the Doctor.

The Doctor looks at his watch. "Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground. 2012"

"God, that's so close. So, we should be twenty-six." Rose quickly calculates the numbers.

The Doctor finds a light switch and turns it on, making things easier to see.

"Blimey. It's a great big museum." Rose is shocked for some reason.

"Why would a museum be underground?" Layla ponders while rubbing her chin.

"An alien museum. Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship." Layla groans, lots of money usually means lots of assholes.

Rose makes a face of disgust. "That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed."

"Oh, look at you." The Doctor reminiscences. The girls walk over to him and sees that he is looking at a robotic head.

"What is it?" Rose asks standing close to the Doctor.

The Doctor notices and shifts slightly towards Layla who was on his other side, close enough to brush against her. She doesn't notice since she is focusing on looking at the head. "An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old."

Rose looks up at him from under her lashes. "Looking pretty good to me." The Doctor shifts uncomfortably.

"I agree with Rose, of course I've always been attracted to older men anyways." Layla says nonchalantly still looking at the head. The Doctor's cheeks heat up, I'm glad she is attracted to this daft old face. It is also good that with my regenerations being random, if it is older, then it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

"Is that where the signal's coming from?" Out of all the pieces that Rose sees, the head is the only thing, besides the Slitheen arm, that was 'alive' at one point or another.

"No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help." The Doctor touches the display case and an alarm goes off. Armed guards immediately rush in from all sides and cut them off form the Tardis. He slides in front of Layla, but it doesn't help since they were surrounded.

"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A." Rose half-ass whispers unhelpfully.

Xxxxxx

The three of them are led upstairs to where they see a man sitting behind a desk. They stand side by side, with Layla in the middle, and the Doctor close to her. The Doctor sees the young kid next to the older guy behind the desk showing him something he bought. "And this is the last. Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it."

"What does it do?" The man asks him.

"Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel." The kid was flipping the item around showing the older man what he believed were tubes for fuel.

Before the kid could get anything else wrong, the Doctor stepped in. "I really wouldn't hold it like that."

The woman that had escorted them to the office snapped at him. "Shut it."

The Doctor ignored her. "Really, though, that's wrong."

The kid looked slightly scared and worried. "Is it dangerous?"

The Doctor gives him a big grin. "No, it just looks silly." He reaches for the item, but freezes when firing bolts click all around him. The man behind the desks waves them off and hands the Doctor the curved, palm sized object.

"You just need to be…delicate." The Doctor gently strokes the artifact and it makes a musical note.

The man's eyes light up. "Here, let me." He snatches the item from the Doctor and strokes the item harshly.

"I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision." The Doctor watches as the man finally gets a hang of it. "Very good. Quite the expert."

"As are you." The man tosses the item aside and it falls to the floor and the girls glare at him for the treatment of something rare to earth. "Who exactly are you?"

The Doctor is looking at the man a little less politely after his treatment of a delicate item. "I'm the Doctor. And who are you?"

The man scoffs. "Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artifacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake."

The Doctor hums and nods his head. "Pretty much sums me up, yeah." Layla snickers quietly at the Doctor's reply.

This unfortunately draws the man's attention to her. The Doctor tenses as the man leers at her, then at Rose, before going back to Layla. "The question is, how did you get in? Fifty-three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplices. You're quite a collector yourself, they are rather pretty."

Rose sneers. "And they are going to smack you if you keep calling us, they." Layla just gives him a hardened look, but it doesn't seem to deter him.

"English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend. The other one can be mine." He winks at Layla. Her face doesn't change, but her body shivers slightly in disgust. She only wants one person right now to ogle at her like that, and it isn't this man. The Doctor's jaw clenched and his eyes blaze in anger at the leering look he is giving his Promised One.

The boy blushes slightly as he looks at Rose. "This is Mister Henry Van Statten."

"And who's he when he's not at home?" Rose looks at the boy with slight interest, he is pretty cute.

"Mister Van Statten owns the internet."

Rose scoffs. "Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet."

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" He winks at Layla trying to impress her, but she just stays quiet, so she doesn't say something and end up getting shot.

Wanting the attention off of Layla, the Doctor speaks and draws Van Statten's attention to him. "So, you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up."

"And you claim greater knowledge?"

"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am." The Doctor snaps back with confidence.

"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?"

The Cage? What's that? "You tell me." The Doctor is tense, he has a feeling that this Van Statten has what was giving out the signal.

"The Cage contains my one living specimen." Van Statten gives the Doctor a smug look.

I knew it. "And what's that?"

"Like you don't know." Van Statten was trying to be sly.

"Show me." The Doctor demanded.

"You want to see it?" The Doctor knew Van Statten was goading the him, but if he was going to save this creature, he had to let him.

Rose and Layla look at each other after having watched the Doctor and Van Statten like a tennis match. Rose whispers to Layla. "Blimey, you can smell the testosterone."

Layla snickers, giving Rose a smirk. "If Van Statten whips his out to measure, I might be sick." The Doctor heard her and internally snorted.

"Goddard, inform the Cage we're heading down. You, English. Look after the girls. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pet."

Layla quickly grabbed the Doctor's hand and squeezed it tight. "Be careful, I don't trust him not to do something to you, specifically. Come back safe."

The Doctor squeezes her hand back and understands what she is implying. If Van Statten finds out that he is an alien, it would not be good. They didn't notice that Van Statten noticed their interaction, he just couldn't hear what they were saying. If this Doctor does know something about his pet, if he doesn't cooperate, I can use the beautiful white-haired woman as leverage. I might just keep her anyways.

Xxxxxx

On the way down to the workshop they were now in, the boy had given his name to them. "Sorry about the mess. Mister Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods. What do you think that is?" Adam gives Rose an inch thick piece of metal to look at.

"Er, a lump of metal?" Rose stammers out. She hears Layla snort and gives her the stink eye. Layla is just glad that Adam is focusing on Rose and not herself. She gets enough unwanted attention.

Adam got all excited. "Yeah. Yeah, but I think, well, I'm almost certain, it's from the hull of a spacecraft. The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet, spacecraft, aliens, visitors to earth. They really exist."

"That's amazing." Rose said in faux excitement.

"Well, it is like the government to keep us in the dark on things. I wouldn't be surprised if we met an alien and didn't know." Layla says to Adam, but smirks to Rose.

"Yeah, I'd give anything. I don't think it is ever going to happen. Now in our lifetimes." He said forlornly. Layla has to turn around and mess with things on the table to keep from laughing at the irony that he did in fact meet an alien already.

"Oh, you never know. What about all those people who say they've been inside of spaceships and things and talked to aliens?" Rose was wanting to get his view on this and see how he might possibly handle space.

"I think they're nutters." He said with no hesitation.

"Yeah, me too. So, how'd you end up here?"

"Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit." He tells her smugly.

"Oh, right. You're a genius." Rose plays on his ego.

"Yeah, we know someone who is like that." Layla tells him thinking of the Doctor, but she thinks that the Doctor is smarter than a genius, definitely a lot better looking than this one too.

"Sorry, but yeah. I can't help it. I was born clever. When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defense System. Nearly caused World War Three." His attempt at being humble failed spectacularly and Layla curled her lip up in disgust about the excitement he displayed about starting a war.

"What, and that's funny, is it?" Rose was hoping that he was joking about it.

"Well, you should've been there just to see them running about. Fantastic!" He had this big grin directed at Rose.

"You sound like the Doctor." Rose pondered out loud. Maybe if she gives Adam attention, the Doctor might get jealous, and if not, what girl doesn't enjoy the attentions of a cute boy every now and then?

Layla had to think about that, Adam did resemble the Doctor with his smugness, cockiness, they were both smart, but she thinks the Doctor did it way better than Adam.

"Are you and him?" Adam hints at towards Rose wanting to know what her status was.

"No, we're just friends." Rose played with her hair as she quirked up her lips in a teasing grin.

Adam blushes and ducks his head down. "Good."

"Why is it good?" Rose bites her lip.

"It just is."

Layla grimaces and slightly gags at them and decides to break up this flirt festival. "Wouldn't you rather be downstairs? I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but Mister Van Statten's got a living creature down there." They jump slightly as if they forgot she was there, and they probably did, Layla was good at being sneaky when need be.

"Yeah. Yeah, well, I did ask, but he keeps it to himself. Although, if you're a genius, it doesn't take long to patch through on the comm system."

Rose jumps slightly in excitement. "Let's have a look, then."

"It doesn't do much, the alien. It's weird. It's kind of useless. It's just like this great big pepper pot." Adam pulls up the camera from the Cage and they see the alien screaming as one of the employees takes a big drill to its casing.

Rose's eyes widen in horror. "It's being tortured! Where's the Doctor?"

Layla looks on in pity and worry. "If the Doctor hasn't stopped this already, something may have happened to him."

"I don't know." Adam stammers out.

Rose gives him a glare. "Take us down there now."

Xxxxxx

Van Statten was leading the Doctor towards the Cage. "We've tried everything. The creature has shielded itself, but there's definite signs of life inside."

"Inside? Inside what?" The Doctor was trying to think of aliens that used casings to cover themselves and there weren't many.

Van Statten didn't answer him though, one of his employees walked up to him. "Welcome back, sir. I've had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting."

"Metaltron?" The Doctor raised his eyebrow. What a ridiculous name. What idiot came up with that?

"Thought of it myself. Good, isn't it? Although I'd much prefer to find out its real name." Van Statten boasted. Ah, now why am I not surprised, the Doctor snickered inwardly.

The employee held out some gloves to the Doctor. "Here, you'd better put these on. The last guy that touched it burst into flames."

The Doctor held up his hands. "I won't touch it then."

Van Statten held out he hand. "Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me."

The Doctor walks through the heavy door and they close him in not knowing that they won't open the door unless they get a result they want. Inside the dark room, the Doctor hears the door shut and lock but ignores it. He looks towards the alien, but can't see it that well. "Look, I'm sorry about this. Mister Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor."

A white light blinked next to a blue light and he hears a metallic voice stutter. "Doc tor?"

"Impossible." The Doctor shakes his head in denial.

The alien seems to become stronger after the lights come up seeing the Doctor better. "The Doctor?" The lights reveal a bad-tempered pepper pot being held in chains. "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

The Doctor bolts to the door rushing away from the threat, his hearts are pounding, and hammers on the door screaming. "Let me out!" But the doors stay closed.

"Exterminate!" The alien continues to scream. "You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!" Its gun arm twitches, but nothing happens.

The Doctor, realizing that he is still alive, feels his hearts start to calm down from the fast tempo that they had climbed up to. His skin is clammy and he is gasping for air. He has a few seconds to relax before looking over at the Dalek. "It's not working."

He laughs at the Dalek hysterical and he has a wild-eyed look. "Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?" The Doctor gets within inches of its eyepieces and stares at it.

"Keep back!" The Dalek screeches.

The Doctor tries to restrain the smile he is giving the Dalek, but he fails and it looks maniacal. "What for? What're you going to do to me? if you can't kill, then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you? You're nothing. What the hell are you here for?"

"I am waiting for orders."

"What does that mean?"

"I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders."

The Doctor looked at the Dalek gleeful, an unkind smile spreading slowly over his face. "Well, you're never going to get any. Not ever."

"I demand orders!"

"They're never going to come! Your race is dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race wiped out in one second!"

"You lie!" The Dalek screeched.

The Doctor got close to its eye piece again. "I watched it happen. I made it happen." During this who time, the Doctor is not once thinking of the consequences this conversation is going to have for him. He is too far gone with the memories and pain from the war.

"You destroyed us?" The Dalek asked surprisingly soft for a Dalek.

For the first time since the conversation started, emotion other than malicious enjoyment was expressed by the Doctor. "I had no choice." He said brokenly.

"And what of the Time Lords?"

"Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost." It was said flatly, no emotion at all, even though the guilt was crushing the Doctor's hearts to pieces.

"And the coward survived." The Dalek rubbed salt in the wound.

"Oh, and I caught your little signal. Help me. Poor little thing. But there's no one else coming 'cos there's no one else left." They just kept kicking each other while they were down.

"I am alone in the universe."

"Yep." The Doctor popping the 'p'.

"So are you. We are the same."

"We're not the same!" The Doctor pauses and thinks about that for a second. He is the last Time Lord but he has Layla, but doesn't want the Dalek to know that. And thinking of Layla makes him realize that he has to do something about this Dalek or she will be in danger. "No, wait. Maybe we are. You're right. Yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cos I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve. Exterminate." The Doctor pulls a lever on a nearby console and the Dalek is lit up with electricity.

"Have pity!" The Dalek screams in pain.

"Why should I? You never did." The Doctor looks on with a stony face that is devoid of emotion as he watches the Dalek suffer, but feels malicious satisfaction and a heady rush of power.

The guards rush in and pull the Doctor out of the room. They cut off the power and the Daleks screams quiet down. Van Statten walks up to the Dalek. "I saved your life. Now talk to me. Goddamn it, talk to me!"

As they are dragging the Doctor out, he is resisting and yelling back towards Van Statten. "You've got to destroy it!"

Van Statten gives the Dalek a greedy smile. "The last in the universe. And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek. I am Henry Van Statten, now recognize me! Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes."

xxxxxx

The Doctor walks into the elevator along with Van Statten, Goddard, and a guard. This was after the Doctor had calmed down from his interaction with the Dalek. "The metal's just battle armor. The real Dalek creature's inside."

Van Statten gives wide grin, happy that he is finally getting information on the alien he owns. "What does it look like?"

"A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except for hate." The Doctor lectures, not noticing the greed in Van Statten's eyes.

"Genetically engineered. By whom?" Maybe we can patent this, Van Statten thought.

"By a genius, Van Statten. By a man who was king of his own little world." The Doctor gave a sneer towards Van Statten. "You'd like him."

"It's been on earth for over fifty years. Sold at a private auction, moving from one collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?" Goddard asks the Doctor.

"Because I'm here. How did it get to earth? Does anyone know?" The Doctor looks at both Goddard and Van Statten.

Goddard internally winces, if the Dalek is an alien, and it knows the Doctor, it isn't hard to guess that he is also an alien. This won't end well for him. "The records say it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to earth on the Ascension Islands. Burnt in its crater for three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane."

"It must have fallen through time. The only survivor." The Doctor tells them.

"You talked about a war?" Goddard was curious about this man, but she can see Van Statten's face, and feels slightly bad about what he is about to do, but she wants to keep her memories and life.

"The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race." It was said calmly, but his hearts still clinch in pain that he is the last and it is his fault that he was the last.

"But you survived, too." Van Statten looks at him and sees the possibilities of adding him to his collection.

The Doctor's face tightens in pain. "Not by choice."

Van Statten starts to rock back and forth on his feet, his smile gets bigger. "This means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on earth. Doctor, there's you. The only one of your kind in existence." The Doctor's face drops as he realizes his mistake.

Xxxxxx

The Doctor is seized and stripped of his shirt. He is spread-eagled and chained standing up. The Doctor gives Van Statten a glare, but all he gets in return is a smile. "Now, smile!" Van Statten turns on a laser that scans the Doctor's body and the Doctor screams in pain.

Van Statten reads the results of the scan and claps his hands together. "Two hearts! Binary vascular system. Oh, I am so going to patent this."

The Doctor is breathing heavily but musters up a sneer. "So, that's your secret. You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it."

"This technology has been falling to earth for centuries. All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk. You have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater, and do you know what we found? The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course. No need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?"

"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you."

"In that case, I will be true to myself and continue." Van Statten gives him a careless shrug of the shoulders.

The Doctor can see that he isn't getting through to Van Statten, but he can't give up. Layla and Rose are in this building and if the Dalek gets free, they are in danger. "Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!"

Van Statten scoffs. "Nothing can escape the Cage." He then turns on the laser again just because, why not?

"But it's woken up. It knows I'm here. It's going to get out. Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe. No one on this planet!" My Promised One is in danger! Why won't this stupid ape listen to me?!

Van Statten, tired of hearing the Doctor whine about the danger, turns the laser on again just to hear him scream. "So, tell me Doctor, what other information can you give me about aliens?"

"You mean what can I tell you so you can make money off it, right?" The Doctor sneers at him, but it isn't really effective since he is in pain from the scanning.

Van Statten hums. "Yeah pretty much. Give me something."

"I will not tell you anything more. You are already putting us all in danger, I won't let anyone else be a part of your sick money scheme. That's all you humans seem to care about. Money."

Van Statten looks at him thoughtfully for a few minutes. Then he has an idea. "What about that white-haired woman with you? She looks almost unearthly. Maybe she is an alien? Maybe I should have a thorough look at her as well to check to make sure she isn't an alien in hiding. She could be hiding scales or something under her clothes for all I know. Human or alien, she is rather attractive. Even if she isn't an alien, she has obviously been traveling with one. I'm sure there is a lot she can tell me." Van Statten stops talking for a minute. He can see the anger on the Doctor's face and he enjoys that the Doctor is at his mercy. "There are many fun ways a man can get a woman to talk." He leers at the Doctor so he understands what he is implying.

The Doctor surges forwards as much as he can, the chains are pulled taut. His body is tight with tension, his arms straining against the cuffs around his wrist. They are scrapping the skin, but he doesn't care. The tiredness and lingering pain he felt from his torture is forgotten with the need to protect his Promised One. "Stay away from her! She is human! They both are!" In protective fury, a snarl rumbles through his chest.

The hardened look on the Doctor's face momentarily spooks Van Statten, but he believes himself to be safe with the Doctor chained up. "Oh my, someone is protective. One has to wonder why. Maybe detaining them will get you to be more cooperative with me."

The Doctor forces his body to relax and speaks in a quiet, calm, voice, the tone that even his enemies fear. "If you hurt them in any way Van Statten, you will have to deal with me. That is your one and only warning."

Van Statten scoffs. "Seeing as you're currently at my mercy I'm not too concerned."

Xxxxxx

Adam is in front of the girls when they get stopped by a guard. "Hold it right there."

Adam flashes his badge in the guard's face quickly and without stopping. "Level three access. Special clearance from Mister Van Statten." They are let into the Cage with the alien and slowly walk towards it as the door closes them in. "Don't get too close."

Rose steps towards the Dalek, not knowing how dangerous it really is. "Hello. Are you in pain? My name's Rose Tyler. I've got a friend, he can help. He's called the Doctor. What's your name?"

It is quiet for a moment before the Dalek answers. "Yes."

"What?"

"I am in pain. They torture me, but they still fear me. Do you fear me?" The Dalek plays on Rose's heart strings.

She keeps getting closer to the Dalek. "No, I don't fear you."

"I am dying." Was the pitiful response.

"Rose, don't get too close. It might think this is a trap for it and harm you. Van Statten's men has been torturing it, this alien could think this is a new form of attack. I think we should wait for the Doctor to give us more information." Layla says while she stayed back by Adam.

Rose ignores her though. "No, we can help."

Layla frowns. She knows that Rose has a big heart, but they didn't know anything about this alien and if it was dangerous. But she is used to Rose ignoring her warnings when it is about something she wants to do or someone she wants to help. That's how she got into the mess with Jimmy Stone.

"I welcome death. But I am glad that before I die, I have met a human who was not afraid." The way the alien was talking was making Layla think that it was trying to manipulate them.

"Isn't there anything I can do?" Rose asks softly. Her heart hurts that this alien is hurting and dying.

"My race is dead, and I shall die alone." Rose reaches her hand out and lays it on the metal of the aliens casing.

"Rose! No!" Both Adam and Layla yell at the same time.

Rose's brief touch on the casing glows gold and quickly fades. The Dalek becomes more animated as it shrieks. "Genetic material extrapolated. Initiate cellular reconstruction!" The Dalek strains against the chains and they break, freeing the alien.

The man that was torturing the Dalek before they came down comes running into the room. "What the hell have you done?" He walks to the Dalek, carrying his drill. The Dalek raises its plunger and the man scoffs. "What are you going to do? Sucker me to death?" And that is exactly what the Dalek does to him. Rose, Layla, and Adam scramble out of the room quickly when they see the man's head caving in.

The guard that stopped them on the way down is screaming into his radio. "Condition red! Condition red!"

Xxxxxx

After more scans and tests on the Doctor, they are giving him a slight break when the alarms start to blare. "I repeat, this is not a drill."

The Doctor rolls his head forward limply. "Release me if you want to live." Van Statten does just that and they head towards his office.

The TV on the wall is showing the scene in the Cage. The Doctor grabs a headset to talk to the guards. "You've got to keep it in that cell."

Rose comes into view a little teary. "Doctor, it's all my fault."

The guard next to Rose cuts in. "I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out. That lock's got a billion combinations."

Oh my god, they are down there. The Doctor looks for Layla and sees her standing next to Adam. He sees that she is temporarily safe, but it won't last long. "A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat."

That is exactly what they see happen as the door to the Cage starts to open up. "Open fire!" The guard shouts.

Van Statten gets in view of the screen. "Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed."

The Doctor gives him a nasty glare. "Layla, Rose, get out of there!" When they leave, the Doctor sees the Dalek glide up to the wall monitor and smashes it, absorbing the electricity. They all see it's battered armor start to mend, turning from brown to gold.

Goddard is on a computer close by. "We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh, my god. It's draining entire power supplies for the whole of Utah."

"It's downloading." The Doctor says grimly, his voice and face devoid of emotion.

"Downloading what?" Van Statten asks dumbly.

"Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down." Goddard says before the Doctor can answer.

"It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything." The Doctor is working on the computer to get a layout of the building.

Goddard sees the Dalek shooting around and hits the cameras. "The cameras in the vault have gone down."

The Doctor looks at the reading on the computer screen. "We've only got emergency power. It's eaten everything else. You've got to kill it now!"

Goddard agreed with the Doctor. "All guards converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately."

The guards are shooting at the Dalek, but it isn't making any difference. The guards are going down, one by one. Van Statten doesn't care though. "Tell them to stop shooting at it."

Goddard looks at him in disgust. "But it's killing them!"

Van Statten gives her a look that basically says, 'so?' "They're dispensable. That Dalek is unique. I don't want a scratch on its bodywork, do you hear me? Do you hear me?"

Van Statten gets what he wants, the guards stop shooting at the Dalek, but only because there is no one left alive to shoot. Goddard looks at the schematic of the base. "That's us, right below the surface. That's the cage, and that's the Dalek."

The Doctor looks at Goddard, not even wanting to look at Van Statten right now. "This museum of yours. Have you got any alien weapons?"

"Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them." She tells him.

The Doctor grits his teeth when he hears Van Statten. "We've got to keep that thing alive. We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there."

The Doctor looks at him incredulously. "Leaving everyone trapped with it? Layla and Rose are down there. I won't let that happen. Have you got that? It's got to go through this area." The Doctor points to an area on the screen. "What's that?"

Goddard looks at where he is pointing. "Weapons testing." She readily gives him the answers he wants and ignores Van Statten. She believes that the Doctor is the only one that can save them.

"Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it." The usual guilt towards killing a living creature and disgust towards weapons never appears. His hatred of the Dalek's and that his Promised One is close to one keeps his mind from those usual feelings in his want and need to protect her.

"I thought you were the great expert, Doctor. If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it needs. Everything needs something." Van Statten was starting to panic; he doesn't want to die.

The Doctor ignores his questions and asks one of his own. "What's the nearest town?"

Van Statten's eyebrows squish together. "Salt Lake City."

"Population?" The Doctor's tone doesn't change from being monotoned.

"One million." Why was this important? Van Statten asked himself.

"All dead. If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs."

Van Statten throws his hands up in the air as he paces. "But why would it do that?"

The Doctor finally looks at him. "Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose!" The Doctor turns away from Van Statten and turns back towards the computers.

"The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece." The Doctor talks into the headset to the guards. "That's the weak spot."

"Thank you, Doctor, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions." The Doctor grits his teeth in anger at the stupid apes he is having to deal with. Why does no one want to listen to me?

Xxxxxx

While the Doctor was looking for a way to solve this problem, Layla, Rose, Adam, and a guard, De Maggio, are running from the Dalek. De Maggio's job was to get the three of them out alive and she was determined to do it. "Civilians! Let them through!" They run past a group of soldiers that are prepared to attack the Dalek. As they get past though, they look back and see that the Dalek is attacking and killing the guards.

They get to a staircase and Rose is excited. "Stairs! That's more like it. It hasn't got legs. It's stuck!"

"It's coming! Get up!" De Maggio is pushing them to run up the stairs.

They get to the bend in the staircase and look towards the Dalek. Adam has a gleeful smile on his face. "Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs."

"Now listen to me. I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate then I can guarantee that Mister Van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong, but people have died, and it stops right now. The killing stops. Have you got that? I demand that you surrender. Is that clear?" De Maggio is facing the Dalek and waits for a reply.

It does something that none of them expect. "Elevate."

"Oh my god." Rose pales and raises her hand to her mouth in shock.

De Maggio never looks away from the Dalek. "Adam, get them out of here."

Rose looks at her in shock, they have heard and seen how many guards it has killed, if she stays, she will die too. "Come with us. You can't stop it."

However, De Maggio is taking her task seriously and will do what she can to get the three of them out alive. "Someone's got to try. Now get out! Don't look back. Just run."

Layla knows how this is going to end though. Rose and Adam start to run up the stairs again, but Layla reaches down and grabs De Maggio by the wrist tightly and pulls hard, forcing De Maggio to come with them because she can't escape Layla's grasp. "Like you said, no more killing. No reason to throw your life away because Van Statten is an idiot." She had heard Van Statten ordering his guards to stop firing at the Dalek and it made her blood boil. Given no choice, De Maggio picks up the pace to where she is running next to Layla and Layla lets go of her wrist so they don't trip and drag each other down. The four of them run into the area where the next group of guards are stationed to take their shot at killing the Dalek.

"Hold your fire! You four, get the hell out of here!" The commander hollers at them. While they could use De Maggio, he wants the civilians to have some protection with them.

The four of them run past the guards to the entrance. The Dalek enters, turns, and zooms in on Rose's face. They keep running away from the Dalek. "It was looking at me."

Adam scoffs. "Yeah, it wants to slaughter us."

"No, you ding-dong. It looked at all of us before stopping on Rose and staying there." Layla snarks. They enter the fire escape staircases and struggle up them tiredly.

Xxxxxx

"Doctor, we've got vision." Goddard gets his attention and points to the TV.

The Doctor swallows harshly. "It wants us to see."

They watch as the numerous guards all shoot at the Dalek, but it does not take any damage. The Dalek doesn't move and lets the bullets come towards it. The Dalek's eyestalk moves around before it lands on the sprinklers. The Dalek shoots the fire alarm and the sprinklers turn on getting everyone and everything wet. The Dalek then elevates into the air and when it was a safe distance away from the floor, fires towards the floor causing everyone to be electrocuted.

"Fall back! Fall back!" The commander is yelling, but it makes no difference. The Dalek shoots up towards the rest of the guards, killing them.

The Doctor looks on in horror at the lives lost because of this Dalek. He can't let this thing kill any more people. He gives his attention to Van Statten when he talks. "Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place."

"Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out." Goddard tells him in contempt.

The Doctor swallows harshly at what he is thinking. "You said we could seal the vault."

Van Statten nods. "It was designed to be a bunker in the event of a nuclear war. Steel bulkheads."

"There isn't enough power, those bulkheads are massive." Goddard inputs.

"We've got emergency power. We can re-route that to the bulkhead doors." The Doctor is having a hard time making this decision, but just like with the Slitheen, he can't put his wants of Layla being with him over the entire world.

"We'd have to bypass the security codes. That would take a computer genius." Goddard snapped out angrily.

Van Statten rubs his hands together and takes a seat in front of the computer. "Good thing you've got me, then."

The Doctor's eyes widen and runs his hands over his head. "You want to help?" There has to be more to this.

"I don't want to die, Doctor. Simple as that. And nobody knows this software better than me." Van Statten says smugly. I knew it, the Doctor thought in derision.

"Sir." Goddard directed towards the Doctor, and points to the TV.

"I shall speak only to the Doctor." They hear the Dalek say after he is back on the ground.

"You're going to get rusty." Was the snarky reply.

"I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveler regenerated me."

Dammit Rose, the Doctor crosses his arms over his chest. "What's your next trick?"

"I have been searching for the Daleks."

"Yeah, I saw. Downloading the internet. What did you find?" The Doctor questions knowing that the Dalek found nothing.

"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes. There was nothing." The Dalek seems to hesitate a second and shockingly it sounds a little hysterical and lost. "Where shall I get my orders now?"

"You're just a soldier without commands." The Doctor rubs the salt in deeper.

"Then I shall follow the Primary Order, the Dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer."

"What for? What's the point? Don't you see, it's all gone? Everything you were, everything you stood for." He questions rapidly.

"Then what should I do?"

"Alright, then. If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself!" The hatred that the Doctor feels for the Dalek takes over rational thought and the morals he vowed to.

"The Daleks must survive!"

"The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth. Why don't you just die?" The Doctor spits out in fury, hatred and pain.

The Dalek is quiet for a moment, then says something that cuts the Doctor to his core. "You would make a good Dalek."

The Doctor's face drops and his hearts clench. But he can feel the guilt and shame later. "Seal the vault."

Van Statten starts typing on the keyboard quickly. "I can leech power off the ground defenses, feed it to the bulkheads. God, it's been years since I had to work this fast."

The Doctor looks at him in disbelief. "Are you enjoying this?"

"Doctor." Goddard gets his attention. "They are still down there." The Doctor goes to the phone on the desk and dials Layla's number.

Xxxxxx

Layla hears her phone ringing and sees that it is an unknown number. Hoping it is the Doctor, she answers. "If this isn't the Doctor, this isn't the best time."

"Where are you?"

Layla looks at the wall. "Level forty-nine."

"You've got to keep moving. The vault's being sealed off up at level forty-six."

"Can't you stop them from closing?"

"I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for god's sake, run!" He pleads to her, desperate that they make it safely.

Layla keeps the call on, but pulls it away from her ear. "We've got to speed it up, they are sealing the vaults to keep the Dalek sealed in." She picks up the pace and tiredly, the others do as well. The adrenaline is helping their muscles and stamina.

They get up to floor forty-six and run through the hallway. "We're nearly there. Give us two seconds." Layla tells the Doctor as she breaths heavily.

They see the bulkheads slowly going down and they have tunnel vision, looking at it. Adam and Layla are ahead of De Maggio and Rose. Layla trips and starts to go down when Adam grabs her arm and steadies her, but she drops her phone. They crawl under the bulkhead and move out of the way for the other two, but they didn't realize how far behind them they were. When there is only roughly a foot and a half of space left, they see De Maggio roll under the door. It closes and Layla realizes that they are missing Rose.

She starts to pound on the bulkhead. "Rose! No, no, no!" She is crying and screaming, but Adam and De Maggio grab her and pull her towards the elevator.

Xxxxxx

"The vault is sealed." Van Statten alerts the Doctor.

"Layla, where are you? Layla, did you and Rose make it?" He asks panicky. He hears heavy breathing before he hears a voice.

"Sorry, I was a bit slow. Layla made it through." Rose says softly. At least Layla is safe. She can be there for mum and Mickey. The Doctor's hearts drop. He is feeling a mix of emotions. He is happy that his Promised One is safe, but saddened that he is about to lose his friend, Rose. "See you, then, Doctor. It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault. And do you know what? I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Please don't let Layla blame herself for this either." She takes a deep breath. "Here it is."

The last thing that the Doctor hears is the Dalek screaming. "Exterminate!"

The Doctor takes off the headset and throws it to the side. "I killed her."

"I'm sorry." Van Statten says, like his apology will make things okay, or that he even means it.

"I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry? I could've killed that Dalek in its cell, but you stopped me."

"It was the prize of my collection!"

"Your collection? But was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth my friend, Rose? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater."

"Exactly!" Van Statten throws his arms up. "I wanted to touch the stars!'

"No. You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get. And you took her down with you. She was only nineteen years old."

Adam, Layla, and De Maggio enter the room. As soon as Layla and the Doctor see each other and the tears in Layla's eyes and sorrow in the Doctor's, they run towards each other and grasp each other tightly in a hug. Layla is trembling and crying and it hurts the Doctor's hearts that he caused that. He pulls Layla's face to his neck and rubs the back of her head in comfort. The Doctor wants to blame Adam or even the female guard for leaving Rose behind, but he knows that if he did, Layla would blame herself for Rose being slower than them. He can't help the thought, even with it making him feel guilty, that out of the two of them, Layla and Rose, he is glad that Layla is safe and in his arms.

It isn't long before they are interrupted. "Open the bulkhead or Rose Tyler dies."

Layla and the Doctor snap their heads towards the TV and see that Rose is standing there unharmed. "You're alive!" The Doctor is able to get out in glee while Layla just gives a big sob, but in happiness this time that Rose is safe.

"Can't get rid of me."

"We thought you were dead."

"Open the bulkhead!" The Dalek demands.

"NO, don't do it!"

"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" The Dalek taunts. The Doctor looks at the Dalek flabbergasted. Since when and what do Daleks know of love? And why would they think I love Rose?

Layla's heart drops in disappointment. She doesn't know that the Dalek can't recognize any other emotion other than hate, and with this Dalek mutating, it is even more mixed up and confused. Rose looks slightly confused, there seemed to be a lot of mixed signals, because he seems to pay a lot of attention to Layla. But is feeling giddy at the thought that the Doctor might love her.

The Doctor thinks about his choices. He would be sad to lose Rose, but is her life worth millions of others? He looks down at Layla and sees her pleading eyes. He can't do it. He can't sacrifice Rose's life. He will do what he does best, and make up a plan along the way. "I killed her once. I can't do it again." He hits enter on the keyboard and opens the bulkhead allowing Rose and the Dalek to walk through.

"What do we do now, you bleeding heart? What the hell do we do?" Van Statten asks the Doctor angrily.

Adam shrugs. "Kill it when it gets here."

"All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault." Goddard told Adam.

Adam gets a sheepish look on his face. "Only the catalogued ones."

Xxxxxx

The Doctor, Layla, and Adam are in Adam's workshop looking for something to kill the Dalek. The Doctor has refused to let go of Layla's hand since they left Van Statten's office. His grip is tight and even though he is touching her, he and the bond are having a hard time affirming that she is really here, alive, and safe.

He is looking through the items and tossing useless ones away, it would go by faster if he could use both hands, but his hand won't release Layla's, so he makes due. "Broken. Broke. Hairdryer."

"Mister Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does, he wipes their memory. I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day." Adam tells them as the Doctor looks for something useful.

The Doctor raises his eyebrows upwards. "What, you in a fight? I'd like to see that."

"I could do." Was the delusional reply.

"What're you going to do, throw you're A-Levels at 'em?" The Doctors mocking smile turns into a grin when he hears Layla snickering. She wasn't too sure about this whole plan, but she wanted Rose safe and they couldn't let the Dalek continue killing people, but she didn't know how it would affect the Doctor mentally to do it. However it feels wrong to see the Doctor with a gun. In a way, he doesn't look like the Doctor anymore. "Oh, yes. Lock and load." He picks up the gun he found and they head off to kill the Dalek.

They get to the office and see that Rose and the Dalek have already left. He doesn't want Layla around the Dalek, but doesn't trust Van Statten either so he takes her with him, but keeps her behind him, still holding her hand. When they get closer to Rose and the Dalek, they can hear them talking. He lets go of Layla's hand and grips the gun ready to shoot.

"Get out of the way. Rose, get out of the way now!"

Rose looks at him in shock. "No, I won't let you do this."

"That thing killed hundreds of people." The Doctor was defending himself to her.

"It's not the one pointing the gun at me." Rose tells him calmly.

The Doctor gets an anguished look on his face. "I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I don't have much left."

"Look at it." Rose steps to the side so the Doctor can see the Dalek. Layla looks out from behind the Doctor to see as well.

"It's the sunlight, that's all it wants."

The Doctor was lost and confused. "But it can't."

"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?" Her voice started off soft, but ended on a harsh note.

Layla sees that the Dalek wasn't going to harm anyone anymore and that the Doctor having the gun was doing a lot more damage to him than she realized it would. Most likely he was struggling with his PSTD right now from the war and was having a hard time comprehending what he was seeing. She leans up and whispers into his ear "Darling, doctors are people who love, care, and heal. That is who you are. This right here, is not. Drop the gun, please."

The Doctor thinks about the words and remembers why he picked his title. He looks at the Dalek and sees that it wasn't going to attack them, and he drops the gun. The guilt and shame slam into him and he staggers slightly, and Layla grabs him to make sure he doesn't fall. He was acting worse than this Dalek was right now. I am not who I was when I was in the war. I don't want to be. Ever again. "I couldn't... I wasn't... They're all dead."

"Why do we survive?" The Dalek asks him as he continues to move its appendage in the sunlight.

"I don't know." The Doctor has asked himself that every day.

"I am the last of the Daleks." The Dalek was having trouble with its speech.

The Doctor looks at it in pity. "You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating. Into something new. I'm sorry."

"Isn't that better?" Rose asks naively, hopefully.

The Doctor shakes his head no. "Not for a Dalek."

"I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness. Rose, give me orders. Order me to die." The Dalek screeches at her.

Rose's face drops. "I can't do that." Layla can see the pain on her face, and she would step in to protect her from having to kill it, but she didn't think it would take an order from her. It wants Rose to order it.

"This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!" The Dalek was becoming hysterical.

A tear runs down Rose's face. "Do it." She softly orders.

"Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?"

"Yeah." Her heart hurts, she wishes she never had to do it, and she hopes she never has too ever again.

"So am I. Exterminate." The Dalek closes itself back up. Rose runs towards the Doctor and Layla as the Dalek rises into the air. The balls on its lower body spread out around it creating a forcefield, then it explodes safely, not leaving anything behind.

When Layla sees Rose run towards the Doctor and give him a hug, even if it was a short hug on his part, instead of seeking comfort from her, like she normally does, there is a slight bitterness in her heart that Rose has developed feelings for the Doctor. She isn't going to deny that she has feelings for the Doctor are developing pretty quick, a lot quicker than it normally happens when she likes someone. But while she likes the Doctor, she doesn't want to fight her best friend for him, so she won't actively go after him like she normally would, but she isn't going to change her personality as a flirt either. I will let him decide if he chooses either of us and if he happens to pick me, I'm not going to turn him down because of Rose's unrequited feelings. However, she does feel pity towards her Mickey Mouse.

They all walk back towards the Tardis in silence. When they get there, the Doctor sighs heavily. He pats his beautiful ship softly. "A little piece of home. Better than nothing." Luckily for him though, not only does he has his ship, he also has his Promised One. Well, he is hoping he can win her heart.

Layla puts her hand on his back under his leather jacket and makes gentle circles to give him comfort when she sees the forlorn look on his face. He holds in a shiver at her touch and care towards his emotions.

"Is that the end of it, the Time War?" Rose asks him.

The Doctor gives a pitiful laugh. "I'm the only one left. I win. How about that?"

"The Dalek survived, maybe some of your people did too?" Rose tries to cheer him up, but his face is still frowning.

"I'd know. In here." He points to his forehead. "Feels like there's no one." For now, at least, until Layla and I bond, when, if. Hopefully.

Layla wraps her arm around the Doctor's waist. "Well then, good thing we're not going anywhere, right Rose?"

Rose gives them a cheeky grin. "Of course."

The Doctor smiles at them softly. "Yeah."

Adam comes running up to them. "We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared. They're closing down the base. Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed."

"About time." Rose remarks.

"That is a lot of cement, hopefully someone has access to his money to pay for it." Layla snickers.

Adam gives them a sad look. "I'll have to go back home."

"Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours." The Doctor tells him mockingly. Layla just raises her brows up, was he just saying that to get rid of Adam, or does he really know the flight times?

"Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars." Rose looks at the Doctor coyly.

"Tell him to go and stand outside, then." And he grins when he hears Layla laugh.

"He's all on his own, Doctor, and he did help."

The Doctor was about to snap out that he left her down there, but then that would make Layla feel bad, because even unintentionally, she did as well and he couldn't do that to her. "He is a bit pretty." He looks towards Layla to see if she thought that about the kid. Her lip curls and nose wrinkles.

Rose twirls her hair and looks off to the side. "I hadn't noticed."

Happy that Layla doesn't seem to have feelings for the boy, he can let him come on at least one trip. "On your own head." He unlocks the Tardis and pushes the door open, allowing Layla to go in first and follow behind her. He goes to the controls and starts to send them off. Rose has walked in by herself, but left the door open. The Tardis starts her whirling and Adam comes in before they dematerialize.

Rose goes towards the Doctor to see where they are going next and to get information that she could use to impress Adam on their trip. Layla goes up to Adam to thank him, not knowing that the Doctor is staring at them intensely.

"Hey Adam, I just wanted to say thanks. You know when I tripped and you kept me from falling. I appreciate the help you gave me."

Adam blushes slightly, while he likes Rose, he can't deny that Layla is very beautiful. "It is not a big deal. I am sure you would have done the same for me. I mean you did drag De Maggio with us and saved her life."

Layla gives him a grin. "Yeah, I'm glad she didn't fight me on that. Of course, I didn't really give her a chance to when I was gripping her wrist tightly to keep her from pulling away." They both laugh and the Doctor's face tightens, maybe I shouldn't have let the kid come with us. That possessive jealousy is still going strong. It will probably be there for a while since Layla is human. She doesn't know about our bond, and won't develop instincts as strongly as him until she starts to accept him as a mate. He breathes a sigh of relief when Layla heads towards him.

"I'm going to go take a shower and wash this sweat off before our next adventure. I don't care where we go either, it is always fun. Rose, you might want to shower too, you smell a little ripe." Layla smirks at her and Rose gives her the stink eye but agrees and walks with her. The Doctor has to forcefully ignore the thought of Layla showering, and when she came out with her short robe and all the preceded that. He gives Layla a jerky nod assuring that they will wait for them before they leave.

"Are you alright, after the who thing with the Dalek and it asking to die?" Layla asked Rose softly and putting her arm around her shoulder softly.

Thinking about it again caused Rose to sniffle softly. "Yeah, it's just hard to have to do that. I hope I never have to do it again; it was horrible."

"I would have done it for you to spare you the pain if I could have, but I don't think it would have taken the order from me, it wanted it from you specifically." Layla tells her.

"You'd do that for me?" Rose looks at her shocked.

"Of course, Rose, I know how soft hearted you are. I have thicker skin than you, I would have taken that burden in a heartbeat to spare you."

Rose stops walking and pulls Layla into a tight hug. "Thank you Layla. I love you."

"Love you too, Rose." They stay like that for a second before Layla decides to break the tension. "Rose, you really do stink, go take a shower." In the console area, the Doctor and Adam can hear loud laughter from somewhere down the hallway and the Doctor smiles softly, happily, as he listens to it.