The Daleks begin their latest invasion of Earth - one is enough to kill billions, and this squadron is large in numbers. The Bannerman Road gang must combine with the Doctor, Diana and David in order to defeat an existential threat to humanity.
Second part of two part story along with 'Fear of the Daleks'
David and Clyde attempt to hold in their breath and control it so the Dalek cannot detect either one of them. The creature continues its advance into the cafe which the pair were detected to be present, stopping when it finds itself very close to spotting the faces of the two frightened men.
"Exterminate," it calmly states.
David and Clyde nod at each other, and execute their plan. Two very physical people can use this to their own advantage.
They jump out from around the corner and grab the Dalek's eye stalk, pulling it downwards fiercely.
"Remove your hands from me!" the Dalek demands.
David and Clyde grunt and struggle as they continue to try and snap of the eye stalk. As the Dalek attempts to rotate its head to shake off David and Clyde, it begins to randomly shoot its extermination ray in desperation to kill its assaulters. It would be to no avail, as after a few moments of trying desperately, the pair finally snap its eye stalk off, causing the Dalek to spin around completely like a headless chicken.
"Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate!" the Dalek screams repeatedly, continuing on in order to reload its ray. With the extermination ray continuing to fire at an exponential rate, David pushes Clyde - with the Dalek's eye stalk in hand - down to the ground so the rays cannot hit them.
In the moments where the Dalek is facing away, David and Clyde get closer to the café door to get out. Eventually, they finally get out of the café and start sprinting at their top speed, with Clyde carrying the Dalek eye stalk still.
"Why the hell have you still got that eye stalk?!" David shouts, as they continue running just away.
"It might be handy! I don't know! And if it isn't, it'll be a cool decoration!" Clyde screams back. "Don't argue with the logic Dave!"
Sky panics as the Daleks prepare to exterminate her and the Doctor. Yet, the Doctor stands perfectly still and unfazed, which confuses the Supreme Dalek and slightly frightens it.
"Maximum extermination!" the Supreme Dalek screams.
All it gets as a reply is a chuckle from the confident Doctor. "God, you really are thick you lot."
The Supreme Dalek flusters its extermination ray in discomfort. To augment this, the Doctor continues to laugh at the Daleks for their ineptitude.
"What is the meaning of this?" one Dalek demands.
"Well, as I say, a simple misdirection. This time, no senses. Just comedy," the Doctor memes. "Come on, you know me! We've been running around the universe for millennia fighting each other, you gotta know that when I talk talk talk, you're doing something wrong. Everything going to plan... going to shoot me for the hundredth time... you're not because I'm laughing and then let me get talking..."
Diana begins to listen in to what the Doctor is saying properly.
"It's almost like we could get out of here with a green, triangular button," the Doctor oddly raises his voice. "Big green triangular button, like I don't know, third from left. Second panel."
Diana knows the Doctor is trying to communicate to her which button to press which might bring the TARDIS directly to them. She correctly identifies which button it is and presses it, but the TARDIS doesn't dematerialise from Bannerman Road. The Doctor continues rambling but isn't giving any more hints as to what to do next.
A flustered Diana panics as the Doctor is clearly relying on her to get the TARDIS to him.
It's been months since she and David had started travelling in the TARDIS. Along the way, she had been picking up here and there on little things that the Doctor had been doing whilst piloting the TARDIS - one of them might just do it. Diana runs over to the silver lever that she assumes is the dematerialisation lever, and pulls it, before trying to remember what the Doctor would do next. Jump around, ramble on to her and David about where they're going next... and then he uses the zigzag plotter, or whatever he called it, and eagerly hits another great button above it.
Diana does exactly that, and the TARDIS dematerialises from Bannerman Road, but still needs more 'steering'. She desperately attempts to remember what the Doctor does next, but can't. And that's a huge problem - materialising the TARDIS is easy, but piloting it is a completely different kettle of fish.
The nurse-turned-time traveller zones out, like the Doctor would, and thinks of her next move... her eyes remember the specific movements they make where she stands, watching the Doctor jump around piloting the TARDIS. Standing in the exact spot she usually does, she lets her eyes follow where they always do when her best friend is piloting the ship. This leads her to the spatial location input, basically a fancy word for TARDIS keyboard. Instead of typing in exact coordinates, Diana trusts the TARDIS's connection to her owner enough to type in the word 'Doctor'. And she would be right to do so.
"If you're so able to just mutate humans into Kaleds or whatever and then stick them in shiny new bronze suits, can't you just fly out of London and start a global invasion?" the Doctor correctly points out.
All he got in return was a silent glare from the Supreme Dalek, invoking further humorous reactions from their greatest enemy.
"You're stuck! Not just the ship, but every Dalek. You're actually stuck in London!" the Doctor hysterically laughs at the incompetence of this foes.
Shaking with intense rage on the spot, the Supreme Dalek orders the Doctor to "cease comedic reactions or face imminent extermination!"
The Doctor's hysterical laughter calms down. He doesn't want to tempt them just yet. "Although, you've had the chance to shoot me dead many times before. You're really bad at it," he jokes. "Oh and, please hurry up Diana."
The Supreme Dalek finally catches on to what the Doctor is talking about. He was simply buying time for an escape.
"Exterminate the Doctor!" the Supreme Dalek viciously demands. The Daleks on the ship oblige finally, and fire at the Doctor and Sky. The girl cowers in fear, in terror and anticipation of being exterminated by the Daleks.
Upon the Daleks firing the extermination rays, a bright white light encompasses the entire room...
And after the light subsides, Sky still stands cowering, and the Doctor stands unimpressed. Turning to Sky, the Doctor complains. "Sorry, she's taking her time."
Sky is absolutely bemused. The Doctor takes this opportunity to gloat and celebrate. "Keep shooting, please. It helps her out significantly." The Doctor points directly up above, and continues technobabbling and rambling to buy some time for something.
"You see, your extermination beams are made of pure neutron star energy forged oh so long ago and harnessed by some insecure weirdo," the Doctor continues. "I was there at the start, couldn't bring myself to become one of you. But hey, like I said keep firing. It'll only speed her up."
The Supreme Dalek is clearly flustered. "Cease pointless explanations at once! Daleks demand explanation!" it demands.
The Doctor turns from excitedly babbling into an enraged and cocky face to confront the Supreme Dalek.
"We'll go in order, then. First, I'm going to get out of this pathetic ship - I could construct something better than this in half an hour. Second, I'm going to stop you, and send you back where you belong - Hell!" the Doctor angrily exclaims. "Because that's what you are, demons! And you belong in the depths of Hell itself."
The Supreme Dalek, unfazed, questions, "who are you to decide that fate?"
Carefully ensuring he stays within a perimeter by looking at the floor as he walks forward, the Doctor answers the Supreme Dalek.
"Well," Then, he brings his head up to face the eye stalk. "I'm the Doctor."
The wheezing sound of the TARDIS is growing more and more audible. The shield is the one exerted by the tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator. And the Doctor's escape route is the famous blue box.
The TARDIS materialises around Sky, and the Doctor stands within the force field, smugly grinning and preparing to entire the TARDIS.
"Buh bye!" the Doctor cheeks, before heading into the ship.
Closing the door behind him as the Daleks continue to shoot with futility at the TARDIS, shielded by the extrapolator, the Doctor thanks Diana.
"Thanks for the help, listening in and helping me find out where the bodies are," the Doctor appreciates.
Diana is slightly offended that her role in getting the TARDIS to him isn't noticed. "And?"
The Doctor looks confused. "And what?"
"Maybe a 'thanks for piloting the TARDIS to me and saving my bacon, Diana!'?" she adds on.
The man who is never lost for words is now lost for words. His face changes from I of confusion to one of amazement. "You piloted the TARDIS? I just assumed you'd hit a button and she'd do the rest. A regular human just piloted the most complex and incredible space time machine. How on earth?"
Diana is delighted with the Doctor's approval. "I've just watched you for the last few months and I guess it was just muscle memory!"
"Haha! Brilliant!" the Doctor celebrates, swooping Diana up into a gigantic hug in appreciation. "I genuinely had no idea how I was going to get out of this one. Glad you're good at watching me."
After breaking away from the hug, Sky introduces herself to Diana.
"Hey, I'm Sky," she says. Diana reciprocates the introduction and offers a handshake, but Sky joins in with the Doctor to hug her. Whilst they embrace, the Doctor rushes up to the console.
"Keep watching Di," the Doctor cheekily says. "The Doctor is in!"
"We saw Clyde, Luke and Rani, remember?" Sky mentions. "Surrounded by Daleks... how do they get saved then?"
The Doctor stands to think at first, before walking over to Diana and pulling the earpiece out of her ear.
"Ow!" Diana exclaims, in discomfort and holding her ear.
"Apologies," the Doctor adds. "I told you earpiece, I mean sensory-motor neurone ear monitoring device. You were able to slow down my quick looking around to determine where the bodies were being held. So, theoretically, we can go back and have a look at what the Supreme Dalek showed us about where they are."
"Or I can just ring David?" she asks. The Doctor stops rambling and realises that works too. Sky chuckles slightly, and the Doctor gives a hand gesture telling her to call him.
"Do that, and tell him to silence the call. I can track it, and I'll try my best to find Rani and Luke too," the Doctor adds. Diana obliges, and the Doctor and Sky start their side of the task, attempting to find the Bannerman Road gang.
Clyde and David stopped running a while ago, and are trying to find Luke and Rani within south west London, and are trying to avoid the growing number of Daleks.
"Every time we pass one Dalek, two more show up. They're reproducing somehow," David confirms to Clyde. "But how on Earth?"
"Thanks for the visual," Clyde jokes, trying to defuse the situation.
"Oh mate, come on. Really?" David complains. Clyde gives him an apologetic look. As David rolls his eyes in annoyance still, his phone suddenly begins to vibrate. He always had it on silent from the second he stepped on board the TARDIS to adventure throughout all of time and space. You know, just in case it rang at a time when they're trying to be sneaky. Noticing that the phone call is coming from Diana, he accepts it. Diana is down on his phone contact as "Beloved Wife", which Clyde picks up on looking over his shoulder.
"What?!" David angrily whispers to Diana.
"Shush! Put the call on silent. The Doctor can start tracking you through the call. It'll take some time because the Daleks have confused communications but we'll get to you, I promise!" Diana exposures down the phone to her partner. "You're always good at staying alive. Keep doing it. I love you..."
David eagerly grins at the latest confession of love from his princess Diana.
"I love you too," David whispers back, putting himself on mute over the phone call, as does Diana.
"Your 'beloved wife'?" Clyde jests. "You two aren't even engaged!"
As Clyde laughs at the seemingly overly affectionate name for his girlfriend, David looks dead serious at him, shattering the laughter of Clyde.
David pulls out a bright red box from the top left pocket of his jacket. It's obvious what it is - an engagement ring. Opening the box, he reveals the silver ring, with a missing gem upon the top of it.
"Well, hopefully," David says. "A missing gem because I was hoping that I could work with the Doctor to maybe get something special for her. I've had the ring for months, waiting for the right time. It's never come. And ever since we joined the Doctor, it's not felt right."
Clyde rubs his eyes.
"We had a month off from travelling with him and I couldn't do it even then. What does that make me?" David, panicked, asks.
Clyde places his hand on the shoulder reassuringly. "It makes you a man who is clearly worried mostly about his girl and her feelings. When we win, get the Doctor's help to make your proposal perfect. The right gem for the right girl. I love your determination."
The glum looking David cheers up as Clyde offers reassurance. Closing the box with the engagement ring in it, David places the box back into the top left pocket of his jacket.
"Thank you," he declares his appreciation.
Clyde simply brings David into a hug, in acknowledgment and silence. Pulling away, David notices an eye stalk raised behind them. And it's not the snapped eye stalk that they've had for a while now...
"Exterminate!" the Dalek shouts, as David forces Clyde down to avoid the extermination ray.
"Get running, now!" David exclaims, snatching the snapped Dalek eye stalk from the hands of Clyde. He obliges, and they start to run as fast as they can away from the Dalek. Anywhere will do - the Doctor should still be able to find them.
Luke and Rani are sneaking around with their two UNIT soldiers, counting the number of Daleks in each district of south west London they walk through, hiding within a small abandoned corner store.
"Running count is twenty six," Luke notes. "squadrons..."
Rani groans. "How long until they reach UNIT defences around the south west perimeter?"
Luke begins to think in his head. He and Rani aren't too far away from the perimeter themselves, so he begins to calculate how long it's gonna take.
"Exterminate!" a Dalek screams, interrupting and killing off Luke's thought bubble, and killing a UNIT soldier, as they begin to open fire back.
"Well, I guess not that long at all," Luke panics. "They're going to take no time at all to break down the defences! What the hell are we going to do?"
Straight after, the whirring noise of the TARDIS can be heard as the blue box appears in the store, behind the store counter. The Doctor steps out of the right hand door to pick up and answer Luke's fearful question.
"An army of Daleks that recruit the more they kill?" the Doctor asks. "Finally, they might have managed to get one step ahead of me."
Diana and Sky step out of the TARDIS too. Upon seeing Luke and Rani, Sky embraces her best friend and her brother - the time that she was in Dalek captivity was frightening, and it wasn't exactly the most flawless of escape plans in either execution or elegance from the Doctor and Diana.
"I thought you were dead!" Rani shouts, pushing Sky in anger. Sky seems shocked and upset, but she can understand the panic she definitely felt. After a few seconds of tense air, Sky and Rani embrace again. Their friendship has really developed since the death of Sarah Jane. The Bannerman Road gang initially broke up following her death, but reassembled in the face of potential dangers to London, to work in a more peaceful and stealthy way than the big military corporation of UNIT and the questionable ways of Torchwood.
The Doctor looks on with a smile, as Luke joins in the hug with his sister and best friend. Looking over at one of his own closest friends, the Doctor's smile grows even more. Diana smiles profoundly back, and even though nothing is won, the Doctor hugs her with a laugh of happiness accompanying it.
"You know, I'm really impressed," the Doctor admits. "No normal person can fly the TARDIS. Yeah, I sometimes teach companions, but you used your sheer memory to pilot a ship that even Time Lords struggle to pilot."
"What can I say?" she replies. "I've got a great memory."
The joyous cloud breaks down as a chant of "Exterminate!" pierces the room.
The Doctor, Diana, David, Luke, Rani and Sky all start to think of how they're going to defeat the latest Dalek incursion - it's made more difficult by the fact that for every death, the Daleks either recruit, or add even more power to their ship in an incredibly intelligent attempt to finally extinguish human life on Earth.
"Okay, let's first stay everything we definitely know. So, for every death, the Daleks grow stronger this time," the Doctor says. "And they're already getting hold of UNIT soldiers, and are about to break through and open fire on London,"
"I've already signalled UNIT to continue evacuating London in the surrounding areas to minimise civilian casualties," Luke confirms.
The Doctor silently applauds this move. The most predominant problem he has with having to deal with these invasions is the amount of civilian death. Well, death in general.
The Doctor begins pacing around the room.
"We have a little bit more space and therefore, time, in order to stop the Daleks before they march on civilians. UNIT slow them down at the cost of creating more Daleks, so we're going to have to be exceptionally clever in order to stop them."
"Maybe," Diana interjects, which the Doctor gives her permission to. "Maybe if we find a fundamental error in Dalek coding, we could shut them down remotely?"
The group takes liking to this idea, confirming it amongst themselves.
"A matching mechanical or biological receptacle of a Dalek is what we need! I can hot wire it into the TARDIS and maybe, just maybe we could hack into the mainframe, with a bit of luck," the Doctor confers.
The words "hot wire" make Diana remember - they've completely forgot about David and Clyde! They've been left in the middle of nowhere and the Doctor promised to rescue them.
"Doctor! David, Clyde!" Diana flusters. The Doctor's eyes open widely as he realises he has just forgotten.
"All of you, get in the TARDIS, quickly!" he commands, as he opens the door again. Sharply turning back, he says to Luke and Rani, "oh, and it is a little different from the last time you saw it."
With an excited grin, the five human companions run into the TARDIS alongside the Doctor. Entering the TARDIS was commonplace for Diana now. Luke and Rani had only been inside twice before. And Sky's first introduction was the Doctor's very messy, very uncoordinated rescue mission.
Interrupting the Bannerman Road gang's marvelling would be the rushed Doctor, calling for Diana to toss him the phone with David, with the phone line still open.
Plugging the phone into the TARDIS location circuits, the Doctor asks, "is the call on mute?"
Diana nods 'yes', affirmation for the Doctor. "Good, because the static from this would kill his ears."
The phone begins emitting dangerous sparks of electricity as it begins burning up, much to the detectable irritation of Diana.
"Doctor! That's my phone!" she angrily screams.
The Doctor scoffs. "Humans... they have access to a space time machine to travel anywhere and anywhen and their main focus is Instagram and TikTok." A still enraged Diana glares at the Doctor. "Look, we'll get you a nice new one from the mid 2020s if that'll make you happy. I'll soup it up and make it a super-phone, like David's. Just, don't go showing anybody and causing a paradox."
His relent seems to amuse the humans onboard, who giggle. The however unamused Doctor continues to guide the TARDIS towards the signal of the phone call.
Aboard the lone Dalek ship, hovering invisibly above an increasingly threatened London, the Supreme Dalek revels in the early Dalek successes in their invasion of the capital of the United Kingdom.
"The Doctor is powerless to defeat the superior Dalek race!" it would declare.
One of the many newly commissioned Daleks, with a mutant evolved from deceased humans, monitoring the invasion of London, turns to share a report with the Supreme Dalek.
"UNIT defences and blockades in south west London area soon to be exterminated," it proclaims. "Daleks will soon be able to march on the retreating London."
The Supreme Dalek commends the bronze slave for relaying this information of impending Dalek victory.
As London's population continues to retreat further and further away from the approaching Daleks, the situation grows ever more dire. Buckingham Palace and Downing Street evacuated, even though the Daleks are still restricted to the south west of London. NATO stands on high alert - wiping out London entirely may be the only way to prevent the inhibited Daleks from escaping the city and wrecking havoc on humanity. But UNIT are holding them off, knowing that they have 'special operatives' at work, in the heart of the invasion.
Hiding next to the bins outside of a church, David and Clyde pant, as it seems they've managed to outrun the Daleks.
And just as if they needed saving, they are - the familiar sound of the TARDIS begins to become detectable to the pair, who wait expectantly for the ship to land in their vicinity.
"Phew," David says. "Good thing the Doctor's got that box."
Clyde decides to quickly poke fun. "Yeah. Bet you can't wait to be reunited with the wife."
To Clyde's surprise, this amuses David, who is clearly beginning to relax his fears about a hypothetical proposal to Diana, and as a slight thanks tosses the Dalek eye stalk they've been fighting over to Clyde.
The TARDIS completes its materialisation nearby, as Diana pokes her head out of the right hand door.
"Get in!" she commands, and the two oblige.
Much like when Luke and Rani entered, Clyde is still as amazed as the first few times he saw the TARDIS interior. From fairytale to futuristic - the beautiful neon blue flooring and the deep black walling, illuminated by perfectly placed lights around the top and bottom of the walls. David, unfazed as his girlfriend, rushes up the two steps to the platform propping the TARDIS console up, with complex mechanics beneath. That was kind of familiar to Clyde, but also not in a way.
"Hello stranger," the Doctor beamingly grins at his friend, pulling him in for a hug.
Upon pulling away, David and Diana make eye contact, and without a word, hug each other themselves. A deep kiss followed, cringing out everyone on the TARDIS, including the Doctor for a second. Yet, quickly, the cringe turns into worry for him - he's well aware of David's plans.
And that if he does propose, that it could be the end for himself and Diana travelling with him. Maybe not their choice, but he remembers what happened to the last married couple he took with him in Amy and Rory, back when he thought bow ties were cool. It didn't end that well for him, even if they did live the rest of their lives together - 50 years before either of them were actually born.
The Doctor notices what Clyde has in his hand.
He raised his eyebrow in suspicion. "Why are you holding a Dalek eye stalk?"
Clyde raises it up into the air, triumphantly as if it were the sword of King Arthur. "A relic from an epic encounter with a menacing Dalek that myself and David heroically prevailed in!"
A groaning Doctor interjects. "Did you just panic and snap its eye off?"
"Yes..." an embarrassed Clyde admits. Everyone shrugs this off, continuing their happy reunions, as the Doctor continues to think of their next move.
It wouldn't take him long.
"Hold on..." he whispers to himself. "Clyde! Eye stalk, now!" The commands of a Time Lord were one that you would have to be brave - or an idiot - to ignore. Clyde certainly wasn't going to ignore them, tossing the eye stalk over to the Doctor.
Looking at Diana with a beaming grin, he confirms their plan could work. "A matching biological and mechanical receptacle. A bit of luck and a bit of time, and we could fix this in no time!"
The Daleks finally breach the defences scattered around the perimeter of south west London. UNIT soldiers fall like dominos as the population of London continue to retreat further north to avoid the Dalek invasion - but soon they will be caught in the crossfire.
"Exterminate!" a Dalek screams with ferocity. Aiming at the UNIT soldiers, their screams aren't ones of ferocity, they are ones of agony.
The men continue to fall like chess pieces as the Daleks advance. Some decide to cower in fear in their homes, attempting to be left unnoticed. They are unsuccessful - the Daleks locate them, break into their homes, and violently exterminating them. Bodies of dead UNIT soldiers are readied for mutation into Daleks, and ones deemed not useful are burned for fuel to help the Daleks launch a true full scale invasion of Earth.
Back on the mothership hidden above London, the Supreme Dalek begins questioning some of his operatives.
"Report, how long until we can call for Dalek reinforcements?" it asks.
"Current prediction states that approximately 471 humans are required for stealthy transition of distress call for Dalek assistance," one Dalek operative confirms to his supreme.
The mothership is so low on power that only invisibility and stationary hovering are some of the only settings that the ship can use without being detected. To maintain its ship invisibility and stealth, whilst carrying out other actions such as sending distress calls whilst being masked, take extraordinary amounts of energy. The quickest way to generate sufficient energy is through biofuel - and the best biofuel for Dalek ships is organic life forms such as humans. They are designed for it to encourage further extermination from the pepper pots, and to enable usefulness from organisms exterminated.
"What is the status of the Doctor?" the Supreme Dalek demands. Concern as to what the Doctor is up to is beginning to dominate the minds of the ones at the top of this branch of the vast New Dalek Empire.
Another top bronze Dalek tasked with response is quiet for a few moments, before responding to the question. "The Doctor's location is currently unknown."
Flustered once again, the Supreme Dalek yells in panic. "Find the Doctor and ensure that he cannot enable the humans to interfere with Dalek plans for domination of London!"
A few bronze Daleks converge where the original who answered and begin a large scale search for the Doctor, his companions and the Bannerman Road gang.
They must NOT interfere with the plans of the Daleks this time.
Elizabeth Jago-Stewart, the head of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, is informed of the Daleks breaching UNIT defences in south west London, talking in an underground bunker with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and other senior Cabinet ministers.
Rubbing her eyes in disappointment and now fear as UNIT is now powerless, she looks up at the ceiling of the underground bunker.
"Where is he? Where is the Doctor?" she asks.
Prime Minister Finlay Kamara shrugs his shoulders in pure confusion. "The Doctor? Doctor Who?"
Eliza realises that the Prime Minister doesn't know who the Doctor is - as is protocol now, the Doctor is classified to UNIT documentations only. She chuckles, and looks over to her right hand man who shrugs his shoulders, this time for different reasons.
"The Doctor hasn't been spotted directly BUT," she adds. "He and his companions Miss Walker and Mr Redgrave are currently in league with the Bannerman Road gang, as informed when they alerted UNIT to shut down the perimeter of south west London. I'm sure they are all currently working against the Daleks."
Eliza runs her hand through her dark blue hair in relief that the Doctor and his associates are battling against the foes they are ill equipped to. Their next plan of action is to devise a plan in order to delay their advance further without losing further men.
Eliza has been arguing her case with her UNIT colleagues that a classified third party is currently dealing with the emergency. Prime Minister Kamara is arguing the case that no third party is classified to the head of government. Eliza knows significantly better than he does. How typical of a politician.
"Well, you're the leader of the defence forces. I'm assuming you have a plan of action whilst this classified 'Doctor' is busy defeating these creatures. So I'll let you take charge of this one, Jago-Stewart," the Prime Minister confirms. "But you are declassifying everything about what I need to know after. Understood?"
Eliza stares directly and blankly at him. Yes, she will have to. It doesn't mean she likes him or enjoys working alongside him. A silent nod with a death stare is enough from Eliza to confirm to Kamara that she is not interested in cooperation with the government - UNIT is an organisation entirely independent from any international government, and it has been for years since it received private autonomy from the United Nations, provided it passes independent checks from the UN each August. It even carries a military authority above any individual nation's.
Now, it's October, four months for Diana and David since they first joined the Doctor in the TARDIS in July. UNIT passed the annual independent verification from the United Nations two months ago - there isn't any issue there. Since the organisation is based in the United Kingdom however, Prime Minister Kamara feels as if it should be monitored by the country. Determined to keep the history of the task force intact, Eliza refuses to cooperate with the government unless absolutely necessary.
She stands still, with her hand still in her blue hair, hoping that the Doctor can fix this, as the final agreement is to set up physical blockades at a perimeter further up to allow the investigators time to defeat the enemy.
The Doctor flaunters around the console, and only Diana and David are actually managing to keep up with him and stay on the same page. To commune to his intelligent, yet inexperienced to his ways allies, he delivers an analogy.
"Okay, so imagine you're trying to hack into your partner's phone, because you're significantly insecure and dangerously manipulative," the Doctor begins. "Say they have facial recognition on that phone, and you attempt to break it by perfectly cloning your partner's every detail and using that to unlock the Face ID."
Clyde, Rani, Luke and Sky are still incredibly confused by this analogy - it's not like anyone can just clone their partner.
"But you can't clone people?" Rani sarcastically confirms.
"First, untrue. Come on, it's as common as the flu. Second, this is even better. Because like I said, this is a dead straight matching biological receptacle," the Doctor announces. "For this plan though, I'm going to need a second pair of hands."
Nobody puts their name forward, as the Doctor is busy plugging in the eye stalk into the TARDIS console in order to hack into the Dalek mainframe. Not looking up, but noticing no one has said anything, the Doctor sighs.
"Come on! Someone give me a hand. I'm a fantastic genius but I have two arms and two legs like you lot."
Afterwards, the Doctor quickly puts the TARDIS into flight, and has it hovering over London to help avoid Dalek detection.
Clyde nudges Rani and Luke. Both don't seem interested.
"Clyde, I'm clueless. I can't even play games on a computer without a walkthrough!" Rani quickly chucks out.
Luke shrugs his shoulders. "I'm pretty clueless too. Besides, I think there's someone else that should be working with him." He looks over at a nervous Diana, contemplating whether or not she is actually capable of helping the Doctor.
David shares a look with Clyde, Rani and Luke, who communicate with him through their eyes. He takes the hint - they're telling him to give Diana that little bit of encouragement she clearly needs.
"Hey," David whispers, intertwining his fingers with hers. "Give him a hand babe. You're the real genius of this box."
Diana might have been a gigantic help with the TARDIS earlier, but her anxiety is overwhelming. She doesn't answer, but David nudges her forward. "Go on smart ass. Show him how it's done."
This was the little push Diana needed to break out of her anxiety attack. Without a word, she steps up to join the Doctor at the console to help him with his surely elaborate plan. And without even needing to look up, the Doctor knows exactly who has stepped up to help him.
"Nice one, Di. Now, stand over where the keyboard is, I'm gonna need specific things typed at specific times. I will call out things I need typing, probably at a hundred miles an hour, so sorry in advance. Keep one hand down on the geoextender as well, AT ALL TIMES. Got it?" he instructs.
"Of course," she chimes, taking stand exactly where she is required to.
"You five, this is going to be a messy job. I need you underneath the console platform to help contain the damage and keep the TARDIS functioning," the Doctor next instructs, this time to his other allies in David, Luke, Rani, Clyde and Sky who also take their correct positions.
"One powerless Dalek battalion coming right up!" Sky jokes.
A cheer from everyone follows, especially from the Doctor. "Just what the Doctor ordered," he said.
The Doctor begins playing around with the Dalek eye stalk, and using the TARDIS monitor to show lines of coding and control, which he is able to carefully delete or edit. Whenever it needs editing, he calls over to Diana to type the necessary letter in once he has labelled it needed to be replaced. She keeps her hand firmly on the geoextender to keep the coding secretive, and extending its effects all over London to render every Dalek eye stalk blind.
"Change that 6 to 10!" the Doctor commands, and almost immediately that 6 is changed to a 10.
"Now the .exe file, type forward slash false directly next to it," is the next instruction, which she manages just as quickly too.
Beneath the console, Luke, Rani, Sky and Clyde are helping David to minimise the damage to the lower console by pressing several buttons when it is about to overload. The geoextender - so the hack can affect every Dalek in London - is causing great stress and the five of them have a delicate selection of buttons that turn red when they need to be pressed and relieved. It's mostly working, only minimal sparks and damage to the console unit are occurring, and the hack is generally being allowed to continue.
Clyde manages to talk quietly to David whilst the group are doing this. "You are so in love with her bro."
David is taken aback, and as a result fails to press a button when required, causing a spark to fly to the chagrin of the Doctor.
"Yeah, well, there's a reason I want to ask her to marry me," he spits back, before calming down. "I don't know how he up there is gonna take it."
Clyde looks confused. "Who, the Doctor? Has he got the hots for her as well?" He rolls his eyes. One thing Sarah told the Bannerman Road gang about the Doctor was that a lot of his recent companions had some sort of romantic or sexual tension with him.
"What? No no no. Me and her have always been strictly platonic best friends with him. But that's why I don't know, you get it?" he replies. "Because yeah, travelling all around anywhere and anywhen is amazing and always will be, but we had lives. Okay, the TARDIS may have saved our relationship but still, we both miss our normal lives."
Clyde nods. "I totally get you. Maybe have a chat with him. Not just to help get that special gem, but about why you're worried."
This is a good idea to David - he won't let the Doctor talk him out of it, even if he tried, which is unlikely anyway. He just wants to be honest with him.
"No no no, come on!" the Doctor moans. "So close. I literally think it's only one line we're missing..."
The Doctor and Diana have come close to breaking the Dalek coding, but it's just that - close. And the geoextender isn't going to work much longer. They've got to be quick.
"Doctor, wait!" Diana shouts. She remembers one like the Doctor told her to change, and it was between the two numbers 3 and 9 that it had to be changed to. Only one would work, and they went with 9. But maybe it's 3. "That line near the middle, the 9 or the 3, try 3!"
The Doctor's face lightens up, as he finds the specific line, and Diana changes the 9 to a 3... and it works! The eye stalk plugged in suddenly turns off, demonstrating the success of the plan. Diana keeps her hand on the geoextender lever for just a bit longer so it can take effect across the city, but afterwards, the Doctor runs over and swoops her up into a gigantic hug.
"Diana Walker, you absolute star!" he cheers, burying his face in her shoulder. "Now they're going to be in absolute chaos!"
The five from the lower console rush up to join the Doctor and Diana, and in celebration, there is a group hug for the seven, and individual hugs afterwards.
When Diana hugs David, she can feel something in his top left pocket. Initially suspect, she ignores it, and kisses him deeply. Nobody takes any notice, they're all too busy celebrating with each other.
"My beautiful genius. Time Lord? Whatever," David jokes, kissing her on the forehead.
Diana giggles. "I love you."
"I love you too," is the cliched response. But their work isn't over yet.
Breaking away, the Doctor rushes over to the TARDIS doors, and opens the right hand door in order to grab the phone. Carefully dialling it for UNIT, specifically Eliza Jago-Stewart, so he doesn't fall out of the TARDIS, he places it to his ear as he drags the line inside, door still open.
The phone is answered. "Doctor?"
"Ah yes, Eliza! Hello! Oncoming Storm here. Any movement from the Daleks in the last maybe minute?" he asks, raising his voice so she can hear him as they hover over London.
"I can check, why?" Eliza asks.
"My team have been extremely clever here in Blue Box One!" the Doctor declares.
Eliza takes a few seconds, before answering. "They've all disappeared! One heard them to be emergency temporally shifting, whatever that means?" she confirms.
The Doctor takes a very brief moment to think. "I'm going to transfer this call, I have an idea!"
The Doctor transfers the call to David's cellphone. He tells him to throw it over to Luke - the Doctor thinks UNIT are better suited to listen to the son of a former legendary employee than anyone else there, possibly even himself.
"Luke, when I get the code to you, tell Eliza to initiate 'Code: Down Doctor'. She'll know what it means!" he commands, with Luke nodding in acknowledgement. "I've got a date with the Supreme."
Placing the phone carefully back in the holder and closing the door, the Doctor rushes up to the console, and types in a few things into the keyboards and spatial locator input. After, he looks smugly at Diana, before doing the exact same routine she remembered crucially to bring the TARDIS to him the first time around - this sets the TARDIS directly on course to land on the Dalek ship, and upon materialisation, the Doctor turns back to the six humans on board.
"I'm going to need one of you. Any volun-"
Diana steps forward before the Doctor could even finish - she's now sure of her place in the crew with the Doctor and David. So sure, that she's willing to step out and face the Daleks head to head.
"Hurry up then," she sarcastically jeers, half way to the door. The Doctor rolls his eyes, as David puts his hands up to signal 'I don't know' and a laugh from Rani. He catches up with her, to make sure he is the first to exit the TARDIS.
"Exterminate!" is the greeting from the bronze Daleks.
"OI!" the Doctor screams, at the top of his lungs. This causes the Daleks to stammer back for a second - a shout so loud even those in the TARDIS could hear it. "That is no way to greet your guests!"
Diana is astounded that the Doctor just screamed at the top of his lungs. Not only has she never heard the Doctor so loud and unironically pissed off, but he's just terrified what he called the most dangerous creatures in the universe with two letters.
The Supreme Dalek is enraged, yet blinded. Every Dalek has temporally shifted back to the invisibile mothership, where the hack does not take effect. But, the Daleks simply can't fire as they'd be discovered and promptly destroyed. Fleeing is their only option for survival.
In sheer anger, the Supreme Dalek's voice turns darker. "The Doctor and his friends will be punished for interfering with the ultimate Dalek plans!"
Every bronze Dalek on the ship repeats the phrase once. "The Doctor and his friends will be punished for interfering with the ultimate Dalek plans!"
He wasn't having any of it though - in fact, he was even angrier than they were. "Shut up. All of you. I'm sick and tired of you. Born to kill, but today was a STEP. TOO. FAR!" The true fury of the Doctor is exposed to Diana, who is shocked. "Burning humans, or reanimating them to create pathetic excuses for Dalek mutants. Oh, so pure. Made from the womb of an Earth born mother. How very Dalek!"
The Doctor's mocking - and valid point - infuriates the Daleks further. Seeing an opportunity to capture the Doctor, the Supreme Dalek orders a risk to be taken.
"Set course for Skaro! The Doctor will be taken prisoner!" it screams.
This is the moment the Doctor was waiting for, as he turns and rushes himself and Diana back into the TARDIS.
As the ship sets its course, it becomes visible again - leaving it a target.
"Now Luke! Now!" the Doctor shouts, as he and Diana run to the TARDIS console to join the others.
"Miss, Code Destroy Doctor!" Luke demands, not having a clue what it actually does.
The Doctor quickly pulls the dematerialisation lever and sends the TARDIS into the time vortex. Now, he can explain what the code actually means.
"Well, you can't blow up a TARDIS, so the next best bet is to send it to the Void. UNIT have a one off shot to send anything to the Void. So let's use it on this Dalek ship, why not?" he exposits. "It automatically locks onto the last location of the TARDIS on Earth. Right in the middle of the Dalek ship."
"Oh that is clever," Rani admits.
Diana is confused, and pulls the Doctor over for a quick word. "You didn't need me at all did you?"
The Doctor shakes his head to say no. "I think on my own, or with a weak authority, I'd lose my temper and walk into a trap. I wouldn't with you right next to me. You're too clever to let my emotions get the better of me."
Diana takes this real compliment from the Doctor to heart - he really does trust her, literally with his life, solidifying their best friendship and her belonging in the TARDIS team along with the Doctor and David.
Back on the Earth, and the code initiated from UNIT. A sharp black laser pierces the sky, and meets directly with the Dalek mothership, sending it into the Void with the Daleks onboard, never to be seen again.
In the underground bunker, Eliza celebrates with her UNIT colleagues, and even with the Prime Minister and other government members. It's a huge relief - this was a true code red level emergency they faced.
"I must say Miss Jago-Stewart," Prime Minister Kamara begins. "This 'Doctor' is very good."
Eliza nods in agreement. "The best of the best. Earth is very lucky to have a protector like him." She shakes the Prime Minister's hand, maybe as the start of a potential détente in relations between UNIT and the UK government.
It may be to do with Kamara's clear attraction to the rather aesthetically pleasing Elizabeth Jago-Stewart. "Perhaps we could drink to celebrate?"
Eliza chuckles. "I'm teetotal. Sorry, your Right Honourable. I am flattered though." It's not the first time, and certainly won't be the last time, that someone acknowledges how attractive she is.
Remembering that she is actually on the phone still to a member of the Bannerman Road gang, Eliza quickly puts it back to her ear to speak. "Code successful. Can you hand me over to the Doctor?"
"Of course," he obliges.
After a second, a familiar jovial voice is heard. "Well if it isn't my favourite blue haired defender of the Earth!" the Doctor cheers.
Eliza blushes at the greeting - good thing he can't see. "Fantastic work, Doctor. Looking forward to seeing you at UNIT headquarters to report."
"Excited to see you too. Must dash, got some friends here. Toodle-pip!" is his next energetic message, a quick goodbye.
"In a while, spaceman!" she casually flirts, receiving a flattered chuckle from the Doctor before she hangs up.
Excited to see her? She wishes. Elizabeth is finally able to switch on the BBC News channel, covering the extraordinary event in detail, as the people of London begin returning to their homes.
"The evacuation order for south west London has been lifted - an official statement pleads a false alarm, however some claim to bear witness to an unidentified flying object hovering over London for a brief time that mysteriously vanished shortly after. Downing Street denies its existence, but confirms that up to 3,000 of the south London population have either been declared dead or found otherwise from the equally mysterious disappearances of the last few weeks."
Eliza plays with her hair for a moment, knowing exactly what happened - and exactly who saved the day, as he always seems to. Where would the world be without the Doctor and his companions? she thinks to herself with a smile.
The Doctor tosses David's mobile phone back over to him after Eliza hangs up the call.
"You two seemed snug," David jokes, to the absolutely unaware and confused Doctor.
Rani sees this as an opportunity. "Okay, we've seen a few consoles now, but never the whole place! Can we have a look around?"
The Doctor looks over at her and the other members of the Bannerman Road gang sinisterly, with rage. This shakes the four of them to the core.
"Yeah of course, Diana and David will show you around," he calmly says. Diana rolls her eyes and heads off with the four of them to give them a whistle stop tour of the places she knows of the TARDIS. David, however, stays behind, remembering his conversation with Clyde earlier.
As the Doctor fiddles with the controls, David clears his throat to gain his attention.
"Go on, go help her. You've really earned a little laugh," he jokes.
David stays with his serious face. "I actually need to talk to you."
The Doctor stops fiddling and looks up at David, who genuinely wants to have a word. He wanders over nearby to him.
"You know how much I am pretty much infatuated with Diana?" he asks.
The Doctor nods profusely. "Oh yes, she's obsessed too. You two can't keep your hands off each other!", followed by an awkward laugh.
"Well..." David begins, pulling out the ring box from his top left pocket and opening it, to reveal the engagement ring. "I've been thinking of her asking her to marry me. It's been three years of me and her, and travelling with you has made it even stronger. Is that okay, though?"
The Doctor swallows hardly. In his head he fears that this is when they'll want to leave, or he'll have to make them leave. It happened with Jo Jones, back in his third incarnation. And when he had a huge chin, being unable to leave Amy and Rory behind was what stranded them in the 1930's.
"Of course!" he over-energetically chimes, in order to remove suspicion. "Why wouldn't I be okay with it? I'm so glad!"
David doesn't take any notice of the Doctor's pretty unsubtle upset. "And I was also hoping, you'd have some special alien gem or something for the ring? So it's truly unique for her."
This request does melt the Doctor's hearts, even if he's worried about their now inevitable engagement potentially ending his travels with his best friends. Thinking for a moment, he clicks his fingers. "Give me a second."
He runs down the stairs of the left hand side of the console, and into a room full of special items he keeps hidden and private. The only way to enter is through proving your binary vascular system, or proving you have two hearts.
About a minute later, the Doctor returns to David, with a clenched fist. Opening his right fist reveals a miniature pure blue diamond, perfectly fit for a ring.
"This comes from the diamond planet Midnight. Went there once, met something. No clue what. But the sunlight is toxic when reflected off the diamonds, so these are amongst the most rare gemstones in the entire universe. Pure diamond. For you," the Doctor smiles, this time not through any pain, but in admiration at how sweet the gesture is. "And if she asks, I just took you to the Marine market. You saw it and bought it." He provides a wink, with the diamond.
David brings the Doctor in for a wholesome, brotherly hug. "Thank you, Doctor. This will have her made up." Placing the diamond into the ring, he puts the box back into his top pocket and heads off to catch up with Diana and the Bannerman Road gang.
When he knows he's alone, the Doctor slumps into a chair at the console, and face palms.
"It was fun while it lasted," is all he says to himself.
The TARDIS materialises some time later in a wonderfully lush forest in Portsmouth. By now, only Diana herself is unaware of David's proposal plans, hence the understanding from the Bannerman Road gang when the TARDIS lands in the forest.
Everyone exits the time machine, with Diana in pure confusion. Closing the door behind him as he exits last, the Doctor quietly tells the Bannerman Road gang that he will take them back home immediately after this event - they asked David to be witness, and he agreed.
Diana notices the place immediately. "I love these woods so much. How did you know, Doctor? I used to escape here all the time when the world wouldn't shut up. And you'd know wouldn't you David?" Scanning the woods, she has her back turned to everyone, and after a lack of response, turns around and her face is replaced with one of utter shock.
He's down on one knee, with the ring box open, and the silver ring and gleaming Midnight diamond alongside it.
"Diana Walker, three years of laughs, love, memories, magic, fantasy and now picking anywhere and anywhen to go to," he begins. "It's been an absolute blast and I wouldn't pick anybody else in history or the future to enjoy it with. So, please. Will you marry me?"
Diana is nearly in tears - such an emotional proposal of marriage from a man she thinks of so highly, as the greatest man she's ever met. And she's met legendary American generals, President, Prime Ministers, many a monster and a man called the Doctor. So that's quite an achievement.
"Oh my god!" she exclaims, holding back tears. "Yes of course you big idiot! Of course I'll marry you!"
David places the engagement ring on her ring finger, before rushing up to his feet and deeply kissing his now fiancée. This cues ecstatic celebration and cheering from Clyde, Rani, Sky and Luke, the latter of which is already married and knows exactly how this feels. After a few seconds of slight and selfish disappointment, the Doctor joins in applauding, but not ecstatically and without the whistling of Clyde.
As he fears that this may be the beginning of the end of the Doctor and his best friends from Pompey, in the TARDIS together.