Victory of the Daleks - Part Three

It didn't really take that long before we unleashed clumsiness on high after our supposedly heroic running began. First it was the Doctor, falling down the stairs onto the glass floor of the control room, pulling me down on top of him. The next time it happened was when I was trying to run up the file room's steep steps and ended up tripping up them instead. The whole scenario kind of reminded me of when 10 fell over as he was trying to get to the kitchen after drinking sparkling cyanide by mistake with Agatha Christie.

Either way, I was pulled up to my feet and decided to walk quickly to the map room. The Doctor, on the other hand, kept up with the sprinting and once we entered, he socked poor Bracewell right on the jaw, sending him to the ground.

"Doctor!" Amy cried out, shocked by the Time Lord's action. She wasn't the only one who was shocked, either. Everyone in the map room collectively gasped, including myself. The Doctor shook his hand and winced. It must've been like punching a metal wall.

"Ow! Sorry, Professor, you're a bomb. An inconceivably massive Dalek bomb," he said quickly.

"What?" Bracewell asked, panicking a bit.

"There's an Oblivion Continuum inside you. A captured wormhole that provides perpetual power. Detonate that, and the whole world would bleed through into another dimension," the Doctor got down on his knees and ripped open the Professor's shirt, earning a bit of a squeak from said Prof, "Now keep down." From there, the Doctor soniced Bracewell's torso, revealing a bronze piece of machinery with a circle divided into five triangles at the center.

"Any luck?" I asked.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Never seen one up close before," he admitted.

"Well that's helpful," I said.

"So what, they've wired him up to detonate?" Amy asked.

"Oh no, not wired him up. He is a bomb. Walking, talking," he stopped to make a noise similar to an explosion, "pow, exploding, the moment that flashes red."

"There's a blue wire or something you have to cut, isn't there? There's always a blue wire," Amy suggested, then had second thoughts, "Or a red one."

"You're not helping," the Doctor said plainly.

"No, Amy's actually on the right track," I proved, "Every bomb should have an off switch, otherwise everything would go to pot."

"Clever, but a Dalek doesn't care if it gets a time wrong. As long as people die, it's considered a success," he said grimly.

"It's incredible. He talked to us about his memories. The Great War," Churchill piped in.

"Someone else's stolen thoughts, implanted in a positronic brain," the Doctor said, tossing his screwdriver in his hands, when it suddenly clicked, "Tell me about it, Bracewell. Tell me about your life."

"Doctor, I really don't think this is the time," Bracewell said sheepishly.

"Now may be the only time," I said, "Tell us about your life, and prove you're human. Tell us everything you can recall."

Bracewell took a moment to think before starting his backstory.

"My family ran the post office," he said, "It's a little place just near the abbey, just by the ash trees. There used to be eight trees but there was a storm."

I could almost picture the place in my head. A tiny brick building with five, maybe six ash trees after the storm, and an abbey a little ways down the road.

"And your parents? Come on, tell me," the Doctor requested.

"Good people. Kind people. They died. Scarlet fever," the professor recounted.

"What was that like? How did it feel? How did it make you feel, Edwin? Tell me. Tell me now," the Doctor urged. Bracewell looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"It hurt. It hurt, Doctor, it hurt so badly. It was like a wound," the professor answered, "I thought it was worse than a wound. Like I'd been emptied out. There was nothing left."

"Doctor," I called, but was not acknowledged.

"Good. Remember it now, Edwin. The ash trees by the post office and your mum and dad, and losing them, and the men in the trenches you saw die," the Time Lord went on, "Remember it. Feel it. You feel it because you're human. You're not like them. You're not like the Daleks."

"It hurts, Doctor. It hurts so much," Bracewell pleaded.

"Good. Good, good, brilliant. Embrace it. That means you're alive. They cannot explode that bomb because you're a human being. You are flesh and blood. They cannot explode that bomb. Believe it. You are Professor Edwin Bracewell, and you, my friend, are a human being," the Doctor continued.

"Doctor!" I called again.

"What?" he asked, turning to face me.

"He can't be human if all he feels is pain and regret!" I said, "If you keep going on down this path, then that bomb is gonna explode. Bracewell can't be human if all he feels is sadness; he needs something to make him happy."

"Any ideas?" he requested, reverting to sonicing the bomb. I glanced over to Amy and nodded.

"Me?" she asked, pointing to herself.

"Yes, you," I said, "You've got an idea. I can see it in your face. Give it a try."

"Okay," she said, and started to walk over and kneel beside Bracewell, "Hey, Paisley. Ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?"

"What?" the professor asked.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Amy said, "But kind of a good hurt."

"I really shouldn't talk about her," he said sheepishly.

"So there's a her, is there?" I asked, smirking a bit. I could see the dials starting to turn back to blue from their harsh red color.

"What was her name?" the Doctor asked.

"Dorabella," Bracewell said dreamily.

"Dorabella?" the Doctor repeated, sounding amused by the name, which earned a glare on both mine and Amy's parts, "It's a lovely name. It's a beautiful name."

"What was she like, Edwin?" Amy asked.

"Oh, such a smile. And her eyes. Her eyes were so blue. Almost violet, like the last touch of sunset on the edge of the world," he recounted, "Dorabella."

Suddenly, all the dials reverted back to blue almost all at once; the bomb had been deactivated.

"Welcome to the human race," the Doctor said, grinning uncontrollably, then pointed to Churchill, "You're brilliant," pointed to Bracewell, "You're brilliant," then to Amy and me with different hands, "And both of you, I-" he stopped abruptly to kiss Amy's forehead, rise from his knees to walk over to me, and do just the same, "Now. Got to stop them. Stop the Daleks."

The Doctor was about to leave the map room when Bracewell stopped him, "Wait, Doctor. Wait, wait. It's too late. Gone. They've gone."

"No. No! They can't have got away from me again!" the Time Lord roared.

"No, I can feel it. My mind is clear. The Daleks have gone," Bracewell said.

The Doctor leaned against a pole, a look of shock on his face.

"Doctor, it's okay. You did it. You stopped the bomb," Amy said, trying to cheer him up, "Doctor?"

"I had a choice. And they knew I'd choose the Earth," he said, "The Daleks have won. They beat me. They've won."

"But you saved the Earth," Amy reminded, "Not too shabby, is it?"

"Yeah," I added, "I mean, it's better to save live than to end them, no matter what the scenario. And you saved everyone on this planet! That's definitely not too shabby."

It took a bit of convincing, but the Doctor eventually cracked a smile.

"No, it's not too shabby," he admitted.

"It's a brilliant achievement, my dear friend," Churchill said, pulling a cigar from his coat pocket, "Here, have a cigar."

The Doctor declined the offer awkwardly, "No."

A few hours later found us still in the Cabinet War Rooms. Amy was talking with Churchill in the map room, and the Doctor was removing the tech from the Spitfires, so I was left wandering the hallways. In my time doing so, I came across a contemporary gas mask which looked like the one from "The Empty Child". I suddenly got an idea; an awful idea. Snatching the gas mask from its place, I walked back into the map room until I was behind a tweed jacket, walking in the same direction. I grinned evilly as I slipped the mask on and tapped the Doctor's shoulder.

"Are you my mummy?" I asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible. The Doctor turned around and visibly jumped upon seeing me.

"Virginia Parks, what is wrong with you?!" he asked, taking the gas mask off of me. I snickered a bit.

"Sorry, but I couldn't resist," I replied. He walked away, "Oh come on! You've got to admit it was clever!" He stopped.

"Okay, it was pretty clever," he finally said before turning a corner into the map room. I ran after him. By the time I was in, the Doctor had finally gotten that cup of tea he wanted from before, and he, Churchill, and Amy were standing in a group talking.

"But why not? Why can't we put an end to all this misery?" Churchill asked.

"Oh, it doesn't work like that, Winston, and it's going to be tough. There are terrible days to come. The darkest days. But you can do it. You know you can," the Doctor said.

"Stay with us, and help us win through. The world needs you," the Prime Minister pleaded.

"The world doesn't need me," the Doctor replied. There was a moment of shocked silence.

"No?" Churchill asked.

"The world's got Winston Spencer Churchill," the Doctor clarified, earning a chuckle from the Prime Minister.

"It's been a pleasure, Doctor, as always," he said.

"Too right," the Time Lord agreed, before they embraced.

"Goodbye, Doctor," Churchill said.

"Oh, shall we say adieu?" the Time Lord asked.

"Indeed," Churchill said as they broke out, "Goodbye, Miss Pond." He turned to face Amy.

"It's, it's been amazing, meeting you," she said.

"I'm sure it has," he said, then faced me, "Goodbye, Miss Parks."

"It's been an honor, sir," I said, "I hope we meet again someday."

"As do I," he replied. Amy kissed his cheek, and I shook his hand before he left. Churchill was almost out the doorway when Amy stopped him.

"Oi, Churchill," she called, "TARDIS key. The one you just took from the Doctor."

The Prime Minister chuckled again.

"Oh, she's good, Doctor. As sharp as a pin," he said, handing the key to Amy, "Almost as sharp as me. KBO." With that, Churchill exited the map room. The Doctor held his hand out for the key, and with a sigh Amy gave it to him.

Yet again, the two of them were off with the running to Bracewell's lab, leaving me in the map room. Is this how it's going to be every single time? I certainly hope not.

I decided to stay in the filing room next to the TARDIS until the Doctor and Amy returned from Bracewell; it didn't take them as long as I thought. Within a few minutes, the two of them were coming down the stairs of the filing room.

"Where were you?" the Doctor asked me.

"You ran off without me again, and I didn't want you to lecture me about wandering off, so I stayed here," I replied.

"Oh. Okay," he said.

"So, you have enemies then?" Amy asked.

"Everyone's got enemies," the Doctor answered.

"Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell. You've got, like, you know, arch-enemies," Amy clarified.

"Suppose so," he said.

"And here's me thinking we'd just be running through time, being daft and fixing stuff," she mused, "But no, it's dangerous."

"Yep. Very," he said, then asked, "Is that a problem?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?" she asked in return, "You're worried about the Daleks."

"I'm always worried about the Daleks," the Time Lord admitted.

"It'll take time though, won't it? I mean, there's still not many of them. They'll need awhile to build themselves up," Amy thought out loud.

"It's not that. There's something else. Something we've forgotten. Or rather you have," the Doctor said.

"Me?" Amy asked.

"You didn't know them, Amy. You'd never seen them before. And you should have done," the Doctor explained, "You should." He unlocked the TARDIS and entered with me trailing behind him. Amy entered after a moment.

"Well, I'm gonna go officially settle into my room," I announced, going back up the stairs.

"All right. Sorry about last time," the Doctor apologized.

"It's fine! Really!" I assured him before setting off again.

Back in my new room, I went to marveling at the bathroom I wasn't able to previously see.

The walls were colored the same as the bedroom, with a spacious white counter and silver sink. There was a stand-in shower with the head on the ceiling, and a large bathtub right next to it. The toilet was shut off from the rest of the room for extra privacy.

Upon looking in the mirror above my sink, the first thing I noticed was how frizzy my wavy scarlet hair had gotten. Granted I hadn't brushed it out when I got out of the shower this morning, but it had gotten much worse. I immediately went to brushing it out for the first time that day, and believe me, it was hard work. Once it was accomplished, I decided to just go ahead and wash my face as well. I used a makeup wipe to clean my freckle covered face and blue-green eyes of any cosmetics, and then changed into a T-shirt and some sweatpants to lounge in.

I would need every bit of rest I got for the adventure coming up ahead of me.