Authors notes: As always, I might make edits after listening to it with the FFNet reader.

In this chapter I just want to say my intention with Hedgy isn't to write him as a person who should be hated (Though that's up to the reader), but as someone with strange ideas and is so rigid in his thinking, his philosophy, and his ideology, that he is not used to having it challenged.

Chapter 84,

Deep Beneath Safe Harbour.

Raven left the TARDIS again and felt relieved as the assaulting heat was much more manageable now. She locked the door, replaced the key under her cloaks broach and made her way back into the colony, determined to find the answer to her question. Was Big Dog evil? Should she have killed him when she'd had the chance?

Reading Big Dog's mind was not an option. There were so many layers to his mind it made his brain foggy to read. When it came to someone motivated by greed, or revenge. Their minds were usually clear and focused. Big Dog's mind was like the Doctors, complex and therefore difficult to interpret.

If Raven was going to find any answers then she'd need to search the colony. She did try reading the minds of the guards around her, but most information was useless junk.

I hope to get off shift early so I can catch the game.

I wonder what Jeremy is cooking for tea tonight?

We may be of two different species, but would it be wrong to love her?

I fancy a shoogle cake when I clock off.

Why can't Hedgy just relax?

Oh Rog, I love you so much I… Raven instantly left the deviant fantasy that guard was having. The guards clearly had their own surface thoughts to deal with. If there were any evil plans they were ignorant of them.

Entering the market, everything looked like it was winding down, everyone was packing things away. She scratched her head and wondered what else she could do to investigate further.

"Excuse me." Said someone across from Raven. "Could you give me a hand with this?" It was a green creature with vivid yellow hair, and four arms. He was standing near a stall selling those cool, refreshing fruits Raven had eaten earlier. "I need to pack up quickly and get out of here or I'll be late for an appointment. Could you help me carry these crates to my vehicle?" It pointed at a hovering platform. "I'll pay you 2 cronks for every crate. I'll give you a bonus if you do it fast."

"Sure, why not?" Raven shrugged, she could do with some money, at least she wouldn't be financially dependent on the Doctor for now. Plus, with her powers this creature didn't know what he'd let himself in for.

"Stop!" Cried someone who seemed to just appear in the area. Oh god, it was hair-ball Hedgy again. "Don't let him trick you. He's just getting you to do his own work!"

"Yeah, that's kind of what I'm agreeing to." Raven raised an eyebrow to him, but he didn't understand that it was her way of telling him to piss off.

"Don't debase yourself by falling into these human concepts of indentured servitude!" Hedgy insisted.

Indentured serv… what?

"I just want help moving these crates of fruit." The green creature insisted.

"You're turning her into a whore!" Hedgy insisted.

"What?" Raven answered, shooting Hedgy a warning look. She knew fully well what a whore was, and obviously, didn't like being called it.

"You're all whores to each other!" Hedgy insisted, "you're all slaves to this human concept called 'industry'!"

"You are very strange, you do realise that, don't you?" Raven stated.

"I'm trying to help de-humanise you all!" Raven had given up going 'what?' all the time. To 'Dehumanise' from Raven's perspective was a bad thing, so what the hell was he talking about? She just shook her head. Either the language had changed in all these centuries, or he didn't understand the proper use of the word at all.

"Hedgy!" The green creature said, it'd clearly had enough. "Why are you here? Why did you come to this colony? Why do you insist in making a pest of yourself?!"

"Because you're slave's, drones to Big Dog and his evil ways. Can't you see it?!"

"No, we bloody well can't!" The green creature said. "We came to Safe Harbour to get away from you lunatics. To find a place were we can work and make something of ourselves. Not be kept in our place and told what values to have by people like you!"

Hedgy opened his mouth, then closed it, like this concept was causing his brain to crash. "I'm here to set you free!"

"We're already free, free from you lunatics! We're here to get away from people like you! Your lot ruined my business on Earth! Caused my ancestor to have a heart-attack from all the stress you people caused us. We're living far better lives here, than we ever did on Earth with your lot in charge!"

"But you're aliens!" Hedgy insisted, "You shouldn't have to live like humans! You shouldn't be humanised. You should live by your own nature, your own culture, your own way."

"Stay in our own little groups you mean!" The Green creature stated. "We may be aliens, but that doesn't mean we all think the same, act the same, like the same things, and it doesn't mean we're going to jump right to it when you scream that we're slaves."

"But you are, you just can't see it!" Hedgy insisted. "Just by living like humans, and adopting their ways and culture it means you are slaves to humans." Raven felt her mouth drop open, it was a strange way to define slavery. Surely, by that definition that means Raven is a slave to the Doctor, since she's adopting so much from him.

"We've always lived this way!" The Green creature said. "The Garbbi people have always been store owners and shop keepers long before we knew humanity even existed!"

"Well... you must've gotten the idea from humanity somehow." Hedgy argued back. He looked confused, like he'd encountered something that didn't fit into his world view.

"You people were still struggling with FM radios while we were trading goods. Your lot were just crawling out of the mud when my species was just starting out halfway across the galaxy, you had no influence on us!" The Garbbi said. "You claim our culture has a human origin?! That we just couldn't come up with it ourselves?! And you claim to be on 'our side'? How dare you, you patronising little mud child!"

Mud child? Raven felt like it was an insult to her species origin, but she just shrugged, she'd been called worse. Hedgy wasn't insulted either. But this interaction was clearly upsetting him, like he'd never heard this view before.

"I... I don't... I'm not trying to tell you what to do." He stumbled. "I just want your species to have a choice in what life you want to lead."

This interaction was also attracting the attention of the other stall owners in the market. "We already have choice, we've already made it. If 'humanisation,' as you call it, keeps us in business then that's what we'll do. But here, it is 'our' choice to make, not yours, not Earth Alliances, not anyone's. We're all so sick of your lot trying to 'help us' by removing our free will and treating us like idiots. Forcing us to adhere to your stupid stereotypes of us! The only one trying to rob us of our choice of life, is you!"

"No I'm not!" Hedgy quickly insisted, though from Raven's perspective he sounded like a child who'd been caught in a lie and could only deny the accusation in the slim hope that the adult would magically believe it.

A crowd was gathering, mostly aliens. Hedgy looked around, utterly shell shocked, and confused. He looked to others for support, but no aliens were willing to take Hedgy's side, in fact, they all looked at him like he was the source of all their problems. Which was kind of scary to Raven, and the wrath wasn't even aimed at her.

"You're all brainwashed, so utterly brainwashed by this evil, humanist, Dalek system!" Something splattered into the side of Hedgy's head. An old, rotten fruit.

"SPACK OFF!" Shouted one alien.

"GET THE GROP OUT OF HERE!" Shouted another.

Hedgy raised his arm to shield himself from another fruit being thrown at him. Raven thought of conjuring a shield to protect him, but who was she to interfere with this. Hedgy was a dick, maybe some punishment would be prudent. That changed however, when one alien stepped forward to throw a rock at Hedgy. A black shield appeared instantly, and Raven stood between the rocks owner and the irritating hair-ball.

"That's enough!" Raven said firmly, the crowd did not like that she was shielding him, so she added. "I know he's a dick, but don't hurt him. 'Clean slate', remember." The crowd was still clearly pissed. But they simmered down. Slowly they dispersed as they went back to their stalls, still giving Hedgy a disapproving look.

"Thank you." Hedgy said.

"I didn't do it for you." Raven said, "If they started throwing the fruit from those crates then I might not get paid."

Quickly, Raven did as was instructed of her and used her powers to move the crates in one go. The shop owner was suitably impressed and gave the amount promised, plus a small bonus.

"He should've paid you in fruit, not money!" Hedgy insisted, staring at the coins in Raven's hands like they were evil.

"Somehow I don't think barely ripened fruit has much buying power." Raven rolled her eyes without turning to address him.

"'Buying power'" Hedgy spat, "another human concept." This guy really didn't like humans. Which was weird, considering he was one.

"Hey, what the hell have you got against humans, anyway?" Oh God. Ace had suddenly appeared, her pony tail bouncing as she approached. She also carried a heavy bag on her back.

"Only that humans are one of the most evil species in the universe!" Hedgy insisted.

"Really?" Ace asked coolly, then shrugged and with a sassy smile said, "sorry."

"So you should be." Hedgy said, "Humans and it's society are totally unnatural, and must be dismantled wherever it exists!"

"Half of the clothes you're wearing are unnatural." Ace said, then she looked distant before quietly saying. "I can't believe I just made that argument. I'm getting old."

"The universe needs de-humanising. Humans have spread their cancerous ways around the galaxy, and cause nothing but suffering wherever they go!"

"Oi, we've done some good stuff to." Ace said, smiling, clearly not taking this as seriously as Hedgy wanted.

"Not enough to balance out the hurt they've caused." Hedgy again, insisted. Insisting seemed to be his thing. Raven just sighed, she was only reminded of a certain, rotund woman who also wanted everything done her way. "The none-humans here should rise up, and overthrow Big Dog! Those who remain silent are just as guilty. We need to be unified in this mission. There can be no detractors!" With his arm lowered, he raised his fore-arm up and held his palm up above his shoulder in some kind of salute. "Free the Aliens! Free the Aliens! Free the Aliens!" He repeated, each repetition got louder and louder.

"You know, I agree." Ace said.

"Free..." Hedgy was caught in mid chant. "Wait, you do?"

"Yeah, with your surface message. Too right I do. Free the Aliens." Ace said, mimicking Hedgy's salute, but added. "But the way you go about it, and the weird ideas you have, just makes you sound like a complete, and total prat." Raven felt a tickle in her chest that she let out as a quiet, amused snort.

Hedgy stared at Ace and smiled nervously. It was like his brain was in standby. Like a computer that was given an unfamiliar command. His mouth was flapping as he attempted to formulate a response. But Ace clearly had better things to do than wait.

"Well, fascinating though it's been. But I've got stuff to do today." Ace heaved the bag onto her back. "I am going to go over there now." Ace pointed and moved to leave, but not before looking Raven up and down and saying. "Hey, nice outfit by the way." Was that supposed to be a snarky comment?

Then Ace moved on. Raven watched her go. There was something funny about her. There was a haze of danger. Nothing distinct, but more like vague danger that has yet to become a real danger, yet.

Hedgy was speaking but Raven wasn't really listening anymore.

"Bah, she refuses to give up her evil humanitarian ways because she must profit from it!" or he said something to that effect. Raven didn't know, she wasn't listening. There was something more important happening as she tracked Ace, heaving her heavy bag on her back.

Before Raven left she said one thing that she felt needed to be said.

"'Evil humanitarian' is an oxymoron." Raven said to Hedgy while still tracking Ace. "Which is also what you are." She moved on before Hedgy could formulate a reply, Raven didn't have an ice age to wait for one. She was too busy hunting, and the more she followed Ace it was as if that general sense of danger about her would soon become a certainty.

Ace was very nimble despite the heavy bag on her back. She dodged through the crowds and the passing guards, who didn't even give her a second glance. Probably assuming she was just leaving the market carrying bought goods. But whatever was in the bag had a vague sense of danger about it.

Keeping her distance, Raven floated just behind her, just out of sight, stalking her prey.

Ace approached a rather large building, built into the side of a cliff. It looked to be some kind of command centre. Yet, oddly, it didn't match the design of the prefabricated buildings around it, and it was mostly over grown. It was like the building had been abandoned for years, possibly it pre-dated the original colony. Raven could sense great power coming from that building. Power which went straight down deep underground. It was also occupied by many soldiers.

Ace stopped, looked around and Raven just managed to duck out of the way before she was spotted. The woman dipped into a crevice between the building and the cliff face. Raven moved to follow, but froze, and went back into hiding as Ace re-emerged, heaving the heavy bag onto her back again.

Raven waited a while, then followed. She risked a look into the crevice. There was nothing there. Nothing except for a couple of old, silver deodorant cans with the labels removed. They were silently hissing to themselves, and the general sense of danger was rising, and rising, and rising!

Raven cast a dark shield around herself as a plume of fire and dirt erupted from the crevice as the homemade explosive just went off with an ear shattering bang.

"Wow, she must be part of the cause after all!" Said someone next to Raven. Hedgy?! Raven had been so focused on Ace she didn't notice this dweeb following her.

"And you're following me, because?" Raven asked with venom.

"I donno." Hedgy shrugged, Raven raised an eyebrow. "Why are you stalking that woman?"

"She might come in handy." Raven said. Like right now, she's clearly caused a distraction so she can gain entry to the command centre. Soldiers were coming and no doubt Ace was around the building trying to gain entry in the confusion.

This was the perfect place to find out if Big Dog had any evil plans, and so Raven entered the building quite easily by casting a black portal and just stepping into it, into the buildings' interior.

"Oh, no you don't!" Hedgy shouted and leapt through after her. Oh Christ, why won't this idiot piss off?

The interior of the building was in chaos as soldiers ran this way and that. But lucky for Raven they were running away from her position, not towards it.

She turned to Hedgy and said. "You can come, but be quiet." The guy might come in handy after all. Yeah, while they're shooting at him it'll give me a chance to get away.

Raven was right. Ace's actions weren't just warrant destruction, as she sensed the girl now inside the building, and moving fast to a room on the far side. Raven followed with Hedgy behind her, and was thankful that the guy was being quiet for a change.

"This is life on the Hedge. Update." Hedgy suddenly said. Oh god, she'd had that thought too soon. He had that silly device in his hands that he spoke into. "Through my means, I've gotten into Big Dogs command base. We're going to find out his evil plans for the alien slaves he has here." The device in his hands glowed blue and happy faces appeared.

They entered a room with a long ramp which descended gently down towards a really big door, one that looked like it hadn't been opened in a long time, so much so there were scorch marks all over the door where someone had tried to gain entry before, but had failed.

Ace had some kind of device in her hands with wires trailing out connecting it to a loose panel. Obviously, she was trying to gain entry, and it was also taking a frustratingly long time going by the expression on her face. In fact, it would never work, as Raven had just used her powers to sever the two wires in their protective plastic sheaves, so it lost its connection.

"What are you doing?" Raven decided to reveal herself and ask. Ace spun around, but didn't draw any kind of weapon like Raven was expecting. The demon girl was ready to cast a shield, just in case.

"Sunshine?" Ace asked, "How did you get in here?"

"I just walked in." Raven said coolly.

"Oh, and you've brought him along?" Ace said, motioning to Hedgy. "Oh, Brilliant…"

"Don't mind the pet." Raven said.

"Hey!" Hedgy sounded indignant.

"What are you doing in here?" Raven asked, "I'm sure the guards will want to know about this."

"I'm… I'm on a big scoop. Okay?" Ace said, "I have no time to explain. But some heavy stuff is about to go down, and this place is at the centre of it." Raven considered. If Ace was investigating the place then maybe they could uncover Big Dog's plans. Maybe even find out if he's really an evil man still.

The goth girl approached the older woman, waved her hand, charged her powers, and cast a black portal over the door. Ace was taken aback a bit by the glowing eyes and the show of power. Raven passed through the blackness and motioned for Ace to follow. Which she did, followed closely by Hedgy.

"Wicked party trick!" Ace laughed when she emerged on the other side, "Do you do kids parties?"

"I hate kids." Raven said flatly.

"Surprise me." Ace joked.

The portal was shrinking and about to close when a fourth person suddenly dived out of it into the room. Drayfus rolled before leaping back up, gun firmly in his hands.

"Don't move!" He hissed. Hedgy instantly shrank behind the two women. "What are you doing here?"

"'What are you doing here?'" Ace echoed, "It's always the same question with these guards. Who are you? Where are you from? What are you doing here? What's your mothers' maiden name?"

"We'll try this again, Warm Blood. Tell me what you're doing here, or I shoot you!"

"Better, but still kind of boring." Ace said cheekily.

"Five seconds." Drayfus said.

"We could ask you the same thing." Ace said, "That's not a uniform for the elite guards that man the command centre, is it. You're not supposed to be in here, are you?"

"Very astute of you." Drayfus' eyes and nostrils narrowed. His tongue tasted the air, but kept his gun level. "I'm with Earth Alliance intelligence. I'm here to assess any threat to the safety and security of the Earth Alliance and it's citizens from the people of Safe Harbour."

"Not much of a threat, is it?" Ace shrugged, "A colony of farmers and ex-soldiers."

"They're a bunch of evil Daleks!" Hedgy insisted, "They've got aliens slaves. Of course they're a threat, their mere existence is a threat."

"Oh, don't you start with that whole Dalek stuff." Ace rolled her eyes before turning back to Drayfus. "You're in luck, I'm a journalist looking for a good story, and Sunshine here." Ace nodded at Raven. "Is my partner in crime."

"And the third human?" Drayfus' nostrils breathed in and exhaled deeply, like a crocodile would.

Just another mouth to feed. Raven thought.

"He's…. he's my camera guy." Ace said.

"Am I?" Hedgy asked.

"Do you want the reptile Darth Vader to shoot you?" Ace motioned to the lizard creature.

"That's gotta be offensive, OW!" Hedgy tried to say, before Ace gently stood on his toes. "Okay, fine, yeah, I'm her camera guy!"

"Then it seems we all want the same thing." Drayfus said, lowering his weapon. "But no funny business." He instructed. "That explosion. You're handywork?" He looked at Ace.

"Yeah." Ace said proudly, "Nitro-9. Like ordinary nitro, but with a little more pepper added to the mix."

"Fascinating that someone like you could blend that kind of explosive."

"I was a creative kid." Ace said, "You should've seen my arts and crafts work at school. Look at it the wrong way and it'd blow up. Boom!"

"No doubt." Drayfus stared at Ace as if not sure what to make of her. Then he turned, and they all took in the place they were now in. It was large, and dark, and the ramp continued further down into the darkness. The place was only illuminated by orange floor lights, though most had gone out leaving the place in semi-darkness.

Ace produced her own torch and shone it down the corridor. The place was cold, and Raven could feel herself getting colder. She now regretted changing outfits.

As they walked there was a weird musky kind of smell to the place, like the air hadn't been circulated for years. Obviously, this place hadn't been opened in a very, very long time.

"This is Life on the Hedge." Said Hedgy, who'd produced that small device of his and was now recording the whole thing. "I've single handily broken into the vial Daleks underground base. Soon, we'll discover Big Dog's evil, sinister plans for the aliens he's enslaved. I'm joined on this adventure by two girls, and a member of Earth Alliances security force. I'll keep you all updated as to my progress."

"Oi, you're not streaming this, are you?" Ace asked.

"No!" Hedgy insisted.

"Good, because they likely monitor all leaving transmissions, and the last thing we need is them finding out we've broken into this place."

"What is this place, anyway?" Raven asked.

"Some super-secret bunker, hiding Big Dog's plans, or experiments, no doubt!" Hedgy said.

"No doubt." Raven echoed, rolling her eyes.

"In all the time I've been here, I didn't know this tunnel existed." Drayfus said, keeping his weapon at the ready.

"What department of Earth Alliance are you with?" Ace asked him.

"That is classified information." Drayfus answered.

"Oh, right secretive, aren't we?" Ace laughed like this was all some game to her. Drayfus didn't answer. She then turned to Raven. "So what's your interest in all this, Sunshine?" Again with that stupid name?

"I want to know for sure if Big Dog is evil." Raven said.

"Of course he's evil, any idiot can see that!" Hedgy said, "Don't you watch the News?"

"I don't trust any evidence I haven't seen with my own eyes." Raven answered.

"But he fricken' said 'Death to the Invaders!" Hedgy cried.

"Wasn't that during the war, when your lot were fighting an alien invasion?" Ace asked. "When he still had both arms and legs?" The look on Hedgy's face gave the impression he thought saying that was unreasonable.

"Are you brainless?" Hedgy said. "Or are you an uncaring Dalek yourself?"

Ace shot Hedgy a dark look and came to a stop. "Oi, don't you dare call me a Dalek. You don't know what Daleks even are, you've never seen or heard one. Never witnessed one in battle."

"Neither have you! There are no more Daleks. They haven't been seen for thousands of years." Hedgy shot back.

"Count yourself lucky." Ace said, "you'd know true evil when the Daleks come knocking on your door. They hate, that's all they can do, hate. They have no morals, no scruples, just their mission, to exterminate all life that isn't a pure Dalek."

"And that's who Big Dog and Safe Harbour are, a bunch of Daleks! All they know how to do is hate!" Hedgy insisted.

"Even the aliens who live here?" Ace asked. "They're Daleks too?"

"Yes!" Hedgy insisted without missing a beat. There was a silence before Ace spoke again.

"Were you born this brainless, or did it take practice?"

"I'm not Brainless. I went to University!"

"Enough!" Raven shouted. She was getting tired of this bickering bouncing and echoing off the walls. Her shout was enough to shut them both up.

"Why do humans demonise and bicker amongst themselves?" Drayfus hissed.

"Everyone needs a bad guy." Raven said, "if one does not exist, then bored people will make one."

"Hey, are you saying we're just making it up? That Safe Harbour isn't evil? Don't you trust the evidence of your own eyes?" God, did Hedgy never shut up?

Suddenly, Raven had Hedgy's stupid little device, thingy, whatever it was, shoved into her face.

"This girl doesn't believe Safe Harbour or Big Dog are evil!" Hedgy said into the device. Holographic frowny faces appeared around the device as well as thumbs down, the general area around the phone also turned red with disapproval.

"You have five seconds to get that thing out of my face!" Raven warned.

"See how cold and unashamed she is!" Hedgy accused like some kind of witch hunter.

"Four seconds."

"She should beg us all for forgiveness." Thumbs up and smiley faces appeared.

"Three seconds."

"Who do you work for? Where do you live?"

"Two seconds." Raven's eyes began to glow with power. But before any could be released Ace stepped between them.

"Enough!" She turned to Raven. "Sunshine, don't go total Carrie on his backside, he's not worth it." She turned to Hedgy, "Hedgehog, turn that feed off and give the self-esteem team thing a rest."

"Do you think Safe Harbour is evil?" Hedgy asked. The device turned red and angry faces appeared again.

"That's what I'm here to investigate." Ace said. "Now put that thing away, or I'll turn this car around and there will be no investigating for anybody!"

Reluctantly, Hedgy turned off his device and put it away.

With the bickering over the three were now aware they were down one person. Drayfus had ditched them while they were bickering.

"Oi, Doofus!" Ace called into the darkness. "The kids have settled down now."

They advanced on. It kind of worried Raven that Drayfus could sneak away and her not notice it. But she was distracted by Hedgy and his insane arguing at the time. The three carried on, and Raven reached out to sense Drayfus's brain pattern. He was here, he was alive, but she couldn't pinpoint it, but he was ahead, somewhere.

The three came to an area where the path divided into two.

"Alright, we split up here." Ace said, "I'll take the left, you two take the right."

"Why do I have to babysit the pain in the ass?" Raven asked, Hedgy was about to protest at his treatment when Ace cut him off. "Because I can handle myself."

"Sure you can." Raven said doubtfully. Who did this girl thing she was? No powers, no abilities, and she thinks Raven needs support?

Ace turned to them both. "No fighting, okay kids."

"She started it!" Hedgy insisted. How old was Hedgy anyway, twenty five? Thirty? What kind of society produces an adult who acts like a five year old?

Raven stood defiant and pushed past Ace to take the left fork, instead of the right one. Raven held up her hand and used her powers to reluctantly drag Hedgy with her like she would a reluctant dog.

"Hey, let go of me!" Hedgy said. When they were out of Ace's earshot Raven said to him.

"Give me any more trouble, I'll paralyse you and leave you down here in the dark." Hedgy instantly shut up, his bravado was gone. He now knew that if Raven so wished, she could bury him down here and likely no one would ever find him, or for that matter even care.

The two went deeper until they found a large door, it was half raised up to their hips and both Hedgy and Raven had to duck down under it to continue on. The air went from cold, to absolute freezing. So much so Raven wrapped herself in her thin cloak and now really regretted changing back into this attire? She was having no luck today.

The place was dark, and littered with shadows.

"Hardly any dust." Hedgy noted, but when he placed his hand on a dome, shaped thing the dust came away.

"Must be an armoury." Raven guessed. There were what looked like cannons and gun emplacements hanging from the ceiling. There were also turrets, rows upon rows of turret like shapes. Raven shone a light over them and moved between them towards the back where there was a computer bank. Raven had to gently shove one of the turret things out of the way with her forearm to get a good look at the controls in front of it. There was no keypad, but there was a semi-sphere, which Raven guessed was some kind of mouse. But running her hand over it didn't do anything.

There was a table, no, it was a conveyor belt with a half assembled turret sitting on it. It was like a giant factory, just frozen in time. It was kind of eerie and creepy.

Turning she noticed Hedgy had picked something up. Some kind of long pole with a suction cup on the end. He put the cup to his face and pretended that it was stuck to his face. Raven turned away from him just as he flipped a switch on it. There was a sucking noise which, though quiet, was loud enough in the silent space for Raven to hear clearly.

Hedgy was now waving his arms around, still pretending to have that thing stuck to his face. Raven rolled her eyes. "Boys." She groaned. Hedgy suddenly had his panicking hands on her, making her face him. His eyes were wide with panic and he was pointing at the suction cup thing.

"You're funny, okay, I get it." Raven shook her head, but Hedgy would not let up. He looked like he was pulling with all his might to get it off with no success. Raven took the thing and pulled, indeed, it would not come off, and worryingly, it was covering Hedgy's mouth and nose. He couldn't breathe!

Raven looked for any control that would make it let go. All there was, was just a few loose wires and cables. She tried to pull on them, Hedgy screamed into the suction cup, it looked like his head was being crushed.

With no option left Raven charged her powers, and focused on the edge of the suction cup.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!" She called, and formed a portal small enough to create physical space between the suction cup and Hedgy's face. The suction cup popped off, and Hedgy took great, lung-full's of stale air.

"What the heck was that?" Hedgy asked once he'd gotten his breath back.

"Something you shouldn't play with." Raven said, putting the suction cup thing back on the table he'd picked it up from. Then she noticed something. A small sphere sitting on the table. It was highly polished, had countless wires and cables coming from it, but what was weird was what she could sense inside. Life. The life of something barely clinging to existence. Gently Raven rested her hand on the globe.

A stinging sensation went through her palm, and when she pulled her hand away it left a glowing hand print, which slowly faded away. Something had happened, the creature in the globe was coming back to life! Energy filled it and the lights all over the vessel began to blink on and off.

Raven waited for something to happen. But the life inside just sat there, not like it was in standby, but more like it was simmering. That was the only way Raven could describe it. After a few seconds, Raven thought it was no threat and decided to leave it alone.

"Hello." That was Ace, "Can anyone read me. Sunshine? Hedgehog?" Her voice was coming from the computer. Raven went up, but didn't understand how to operate the device. "Is there a spare sucker there you can use?" Ace asked.

Getting the hint Hedgy picked up the sucker, and Raven snatched it from him. He couldn't be trusted with it. Raven placed the sucker end onto that semi-sphere and pulled on a few cables until Ace's image appeared on the screen.

"Sunshine? I can't see you. The camera must be dodgy at your end."

"How did you figure out how to operate this stuff?" Raven asked, suspicion in her voice. These were very alien controls, clearly not supposed to be operated by human like hands.

"I've seen this kind of technology before." Ace said, "Listen, you didn't touch anything did you? I'm detecting power readings going through the facility." How could Ace detect something like that?

Raven shrugged, "just some weird globe thing with cables coming out of it."

"A nutrient chamber?" Ace asked, Raven shrugged. "You must be in the manufacturing sector. Well, that shouldn't do anything, so long as the mutant is dead." Ace laughed, "And the person handling it isn't a Time Traveller."

"Mutant?" Raven asked, "Time Traveller?" Her eyes narrowed. Clearly Ace knew more than she was letting on.

"Yeah, I know, I sound barking." Ace laughed. "But those blobs can feed off Artron Energy from people who've travelled through the time vortex. But, there's not many Time Travellers around, so don't worry. I promise to keep my hands to myself."

There was a metallic scraping noise coming from Raven's left. Hedgy must be moving stuff again.

"Though, more systems are coming back online." Ace said worriedly.

"I've been into the Time Vortex." Raven said, her voice betraying her now guarded stance. Ace's brow fell.

"You didn't feel a sharp sting, did you?" Ace asked.

"Yeah." Raven said slowly with a worried edge.

"Was the sphere connected to anything?" Raven looked back and checked. Wires snaked to a turret with the top removed.

"Yeah, it's connected to a turret with its top removed." Raven said.

"A T… turret?" Again came that irritating, metallic creaking from the left.

"Yeah, there are tonnes of them in here." Raven said.

"Tell me, do they have sink plungers and egg whisk like things attached to them?" Raven turned to examine them further. "With balls around the base, lights on the top, and an eye stalk coming out of the dome on top?"

"Yes." Raven said, her eyes narrowing. There was a pause from Ace. She looked horrified.

"Sunshine. Get out, get out of there!" Ace cried. "I'll meet you at the entrance. Move!"

"Wait, what?" But Ace was gone. Again came that irritating, metallic creaking.

"Will you cut that out, Hedgehog?" Raven hissed.

"I'm not doing anything!" Hedgy was next to her. So what was making that noise? Raven turned towards the noise.

There was a blue light hovering in the darkness. It came closer. There was the sound of breathing, like something coming back to life. With the noise came two lights, either side of the blue one which flashed and dimmed with the tempo of the noise.

It started to drag itself into the light. It was a bronze turret, semi-spheres around the base. It had one of those pipe and sucker things and a domed top.

"Ex-er-ate!" It struggled to say something with a mechanical screech. The lights blinking with its speech. It was like the machine was sleepily waking up. No, not machine, there was life in the heart of it. As that life woke up, one emotion rang in its head. Hatred, pure, red hot, hatred.

"Term...ate!" Said another one from the rows and ranks. The entire bunch of them were twitching and twisting those funny appendages, their domes swivelled like they were stretching their necks from years of none use. Some were even starting to slide across the floor.

"Ex-ter-min..."

"Ex-ter..."

"Exter... min..."

For some reason, Raven's danger sense was starting to light up. She sensed the same hatred from those moving turrets.

The bronze one came up to Raven, she saw herself reflected in its blue eye, then the creature struggled to speak, but managed to utter one word as it took aim with its egg whisk thing.

"Ex-terminate!" What little colour there was, drained from Raven's face as she sensed danger. "Exterminate!" Raising her hands she tried to project a black shield. "EXTERMINATE!" The weapon fired. A lance of blue light blasted through her shield like it was nothing.

The light… was so… bright!

Raven screamed.

Then darkness took her.

To Be Continued…

Authors notes: At last, the famous pepper pots have arrived.

Anyone heard the phrase. "It is important to draw wisdom from many sources. If you draw from only one source, your world view becomes very rigid and stale." Uncle Iroh, -Avatar (2005). Hedgy is essentially the embodiment of that phrase. I've also written him a little like a religious preacher, trying to sell people the cure for eternal damnation in hell while in a community of none-believes. He's also a very, 'ends justify the means,' kind of guy.

Ace in this story is a little older, wiser and broadly travelled than we're used to. She also clashes with Hedgy in that though she never went to university, she's got street smarts and a wealth of experience travelling. They'll probably agree on a lot of issues when it comes to the oppressed and disenfranchised, but while Ace is open to explore and find the best solutions. Hedgy's rigid philosophy won't allow any deviation from his own philosophy. Apart from that, Ace is still the laid back, lovable explosives expert we've come to know and love.

Drayfus is your typical spy like character. Loyal to the Earth Alliance to a fault and again is another member of the 'rigid thinking club'. Though he has his own mind, he's been told there is dirt to dig up, so he's going to dig deep to find out what it is.

Also, a minor note. Hedgy doesn't recognise the Dalek machines, because though he talks about them all the time the pepper pots have been gone for centuries to the point where humans have started to forget them. So Hedgy understands a 'Dalek' as a way of thinking, not an entity in itself. This is going to lead to some interesting interactions. ;)

What's Big Dog doing with a bunch of Daleks in his basement? Find out, next time. ;)