Book 12, Rebirth of the Daleks.

Chapter 85

Evil Awakens.

Starfire and Beast Boy, -whom had discovered he could turn back into a human shape again,- sat open mouthed. Beast Boy, because he was utterly enthralled, while Starfire was in disbelief.

"Friend Raven… You… You were shot point blank… by a Dalek… and survived?"

"Or did she?" Beast Boy added ominously.

"Yeah, she did." Raven answered dryly.

"Hey, for all I know you're a…" Beast Boy halted his mouth, thinking better about going on.

"I'm a what?" Raven gave Beast Boy a warning look. Beast Boy looked nervous. "A ghost?"

"It would explain a lot." Beast Boy laughed, his ears drooping in the way his pointy ears did to indicate sorrow, or submissiveness. Raven gently, but firmly swiped him across the head.

"Do I feel solid enough for you?" Raven said peevishly.

"Dude, okay, calm down. Jeez!" Beast boy's ears stood up again in a sign of aggression. Unfortunately for Beast Boy, it didn't have any affect on Raven's narrowed eyes. Beast Boy, probably in some way trying to steal back some social thunder, took the Dalek sucker plunger from where Raven had set it down and examined it.

"I think she's making it up." Beast Boy said, Raven felt her hackles go up, but she kept calm on the outside and just waited for the opportunity to strike. "No way can this thing do the damage she said it could. It's probably from a plumber robot or something."

Okay, Raven had to admit, that was a sensible conclusion to come to. Unfortunately, it was wrong.

Beast Boy put the plunger end to his face. That's when Raven struck and she pulled on one of the loose cables snaking out of the long thing. It sealed over Beast Boy's mouth. He tried to pull it away with all his might, but the alien artefact just kept its perfect seal around his mouth and nose. Raven wasn't about to let him die, not today at least, but she gave it enough time for him to appreciate how dangerous that sucker was.

He tried morphing into other animals, a small rodent, an octopus, a bear, even a Velociraptor, but the transformations halted when they were half way done, and he was catapulted back to his human form since the Dalek sucker refused to allow his face any freedom to morph. This was kind of interesting. It meant that if one part of him, for whatever reason, couldn't change then the morph was automatically cancelled.

In a panic, Beast Boy began swinging his head wildly, sending the pole end knocking into things. The tiny Police Box on her book shelf was knocked into the side of the bookshelf and began to fall off the shelf. Raven reached out with her hands and just managed to catch it before it hit the floor. She then reached up with her left hand and took the pole of the Dalek sucker. She held it firm so Beast Boy could focus on her.

Raven slowly put the Police Box back on her shelf, and took her time reaching down for the cable that cancelled the suction. When it was released Beast Boy fell backwards onto his trunk seat gasping for breath. The whole thing had taken thirty seconds and Raven knew Beast Boy could survive without oxygen in his human form for much longer.

Beast Boy leaned back on his truck when Raven pointed the sucker vaguely in his direction.

"Okay, I get it, I believe you!" Beast Boy held up his hands in surrender.

"As I was saying." Raven said, sitting back down on the bed again. Starfire retook her seat too.

"I had just been shot by that Dalek. The sensation… was not pleasant." Ravens eyes rolled to Beast Boy and she held up her hand, glowing darkly with power. "Need a demonstration?"

"Nah, I'll take your word for it." Beast Boy held up his hands again. He was wary, because though Raven passive-aggressively threatened him like this almost every other day, he knew Raven would never seriously hurt him, but he was wary, because she certainly had the power to, and there was nothing he could do to protect himself

Pain. Raven remembered the pain that shot through her when that beam hit her, and now there was a new pain that was going through her, a kind of tingling sensation all over her body like pins and needles, an unpleasant numbness. She still felt pain all over her body, but it was more like the sensation of your arm regaining circulation after you've slept on it for too long.

"It is awake!" screamed a voice. Even her ears were more sensitive now. A whirring motor brought something closer and when Raven opened her eyes and focused she found herself staring into her own reflection, her own blue reflection, a reflection in a glowing, blue disk. A blue disk that was looking at her!

Raven felt her body tense up, and it just caused her more pain. She was being held down by clamps and braces to a platform that was tilted down at her feet so she was practically standing up. Even her ankles were braced, and her arms were braced by the side of her head.

"You will answer our questions, human!" The thing in front of her screamed. It was one of those turrets, like the bronze one, but this one was blue and silver. "You reactivated us. You have transversed the Time Vortex! What are you?"

Raven was still groggy from whatever had hit her that her tongue refused to move in any useful way.

"How did you survive the blast? All power had been diverted from the Dalek units life support machine for maximum extermination! Survival is impossible!"

Again, Raven couldn't answer, because her mind hadn't caught up with what was happening.

The things egg-whisk like gun pointed at her like it seriously considered blasting her again for good measure. Looking up at this tank like machine, Raven got the creepy sensation that it was thinking, like that glowing eye had a soul, an intelligence within, and it was examining her like a scientist would observe bacteria under a microscope.

"Your brain is still paralysed." It reasoned. "We will get no useful information until this creature is awake."

"We should exterminate it now!" Said another one of the tank creatures.

"That would be a waste. Your weapon was set to maximum extermination, and yet this creature survived." The sucker arm of the blue one extended and pushed on Raven's chin to force her head back. "We will find out how it managed this."

"She possesses no device capable of generating such a protective field." Another tank said.

"The shield may be generated from an outside source." Raven heard another suggest.

"Or perhaps, the source is not technological, but biological." Said the bronze one.

"In that case, we will have to investigate further." it paused, then looked at Raven. "By autopsy!"

Raven got the sense that it was disappointed that she was too out of her head to feel any sense of fear.

"We cannot allow an unknown element resistant to our fire power to exist." A new tank, a black one with silver spheres around its base spoke. "The Dalek race will crush any resistance."

"All praise, the Daleks. All praise, the Daleks. All praise, the Daleks!" They chanted while raising and lowering their sucker arms with the chant like a form of salute. "All praise, the Daleks. Daleks are supreme! Daleks are supreme! Daleks are supreme!" It was like a religious chant.

"Take the small, human female." The blue one spoke. Who the hell is he calling small? "I will examine her further." Raven felt the platform swing down so she was laying on it, and a Dalek pushed it away like she was on a trolley.

"Systems are still down. Our rescue party has not arrived. Ion drive systems down."

"Sensors detect lifeforms on the surface."

"We have been invaded. We must investigate further!"

The conversation was lost as Raven was pushed out into a corridor.

So, these were the famous Daleks that the Doctor spoke of. The creatures the Mistress and Hedgy called any people they disagreed with or didn't like. Raven got the sense they were supposed to be intimidating, evil creatures that would terrify her to her core. But they weren't terrifying to look at. They were just creepy, weird, small, tank like things, barely taller than she was. Raven could take them on, no problem.

Later. Her brain said. I… I just want to rest. I... I want to sleep...

She blacked out again.

Walking through the temple, her face hidden under her hood. Raven walked the halls of the temple like any monster would. People stared, they always did. Why, Raven didn't know. Okay, she had a weird hair cut now, okay she had grown quite tall, and she was developing a very feminine body type as she got older, which she thought made a lot of the other female monks jealous. It probably enraged them more that such a curvy body type was inherited by someone who couldn't care less that she had a desirable figure or not.

It was mostly hidden by her Azarathian robes anyway. But a few times she went out in much more shape revealing outfits. The girls thought she did it for attention. Some assumed she did it to attract the male gaze. In reality, Raven just did it to piss them all off.

That being said, she was catching the eye of some cute boys, but they knew to keep their distance in order to maintain their social circle. After all, Raven was the weirdo, to talk to the weirdo and treat her like a person would risk you catching the 'social sickness' that made her weird.

Raven did eventually put her full robes back on, but did so in a way to make it plainly clear that she only did it so as to not receive a lecture about 'not upsetting peoples delicate sensibilities', or some such. As far as Raven was concerned, her mere existence did that, what was the point?

Entering the canteen Raven stood inline to receive sustenance. The monk in front of her looked behind him and spotted her. Curiously, he froze out of fear. Raven shrugged, and went "boo." He took a step away. Raven sighed heavily and with little movement said, "Relax, you're embarrassing yourself."

"I… I'm not hungry." He then left the line altogether and hurriedly walked away. That was weird. Usually people just ignored her. But he looked utterly terrified.

Raven finally reached the counter where a thick soup was being served from a big cauldron. It was mostly tasteless stuff, but had everything the body and mind need. But on this day the person cooking was one of Raven's more… preferred cooks.

He was a short man with a kindly looking, thin face, with receding hair along his forehead which was decorated with a chakra jewel of power. He also had a very velvety sounding voice that Raven would gladly listen to if it was reading out the Twilight Saga, it was so soothing; and like how his voice could help you swallow that tripe of a novel series he could also make this tasteless stuff from the temple more appetising.

As she approached, Estro, the monk cook, passed Raven a wooden bowl of the almost gruel like stuff, but sneakily added a little of the special ingredient that made it taste better. "Don't let them get to you." Estro said to her. From under her hood Raven made strong eye contact with the short man, it was her preferred way of demonstrating affection since she refused to smile or emote in any other familiar way. Estro nodded kindly and always seemed to understand the gesture that so many misunderstood.

Taking the soup, Raven walked away intending to eat out in the courtyard away from the others.

She nearly found herself falling forwards as she stepped on the hem of her robes' skirt and nearly went flying with the soup. It slipped from her hands. She tried to catch it with her powers, but she was too late. The soup clattered to the floor, making a mess, and Raven came falling down after it.

What made the humiliation worse was that everyone burst out laughing. She could tell some made a bigger scene of it that was necessary by both pointing and laughing; as if to confirm to her that they were laughing at her and not at something else. It was done to push her buttons, and it was working. Raven shot them a warning look and charged her powers, ready to unleash her wrath. But she caught the look on Estro's face. He was shaking his head. Raven looked back at those who'd burst out laughing. They had retreated from her glare, almost expecting and welcoming her to lash out.

Not that Raven cared. If she lashed out they would just run to one of the adult monks and tattle on her, missing out the bits where they angered her, obviously. It would feel good to make them pay, but ultimately it would give them what they wanted. The humiliation she could inflict would be short lived compared to the 'rewards' for being a victim of 'Raven the monster'.

She looked back at the soup cauldron. It was empty. Gently she ground her teeth a little before she stormed out of the hall, her soup stained cloak billowing out behind her. Today she was going to have to go hungry again.

When Raven came to it was to the sound of static in her own head. Or was it some kind of chittering. She wanted to reach up and feel her head but her arms must be too tired to move. Her left arm suddenly exploded with a familiar, unpleasant sensation of pins and needles. Suddenly she could move it, and moving it seemed to make the pain feel better, but it still tingled. As for the other arm, it was numb.

Her whole body was numb!

She was still paralysed, except for her left arm and she had limited motion with just that. She opened her eyes and stared up at the drab, metallic ceiling above her. She used her shoulder muscles to shimmy up to the nearest wall and using both her back muscles and arm she propped herself up against the cold, metallic wall.

The chittering she could hear was not in her head. It was Hedgy. So he was still alive to. Raven felt greatly disappointed by that revelation.

Hedgy looked agitated as he walked in circles and ran his hands through his hair. He was nervous, and Raven couldn't blame him. He'd said he'd hated Daleks, and now he was face to face with some real ones, not his make believe ones. But Raven suspected that was not what was totally aggravating him, going by the way his fingers danced over and invisible device, that his fingers tried to hold quite firmly as if he was trying to summon it into existence with sheer force of will.

He didn't have his comms device, Raven guessed. She just mentally rolled her eyes. He was so attached to such a stupid device. Raven had seen in the early twenty first century how people buried their noses in their mobile cell phone devices like zombies, and she kind of wondered what would happen if she made their devices suddenly disappear. She guessed she was looking at the result.

Pins and needles ran through her body and she had to grit her teeth to hold back the pain. She breathed in and out heavily as feeling came back to her extremities. Even breathing hurt. The pain was so bad she honestly wished the blast had killed her.

Why hadn't the blast killed her? It had gone straight through her shield no problem. There was no way anything she generated could hold back that kind of power.

More pain. It was agony. It was as if Raven had received the full blast, but it was affecting her very slowly. She was sure if she'd gotten everything at once her body would've died unpleasantly as the shock would've fried her brain. As it was she was alive, just living unpleasantly.

Is that what Dalek weapons were like? Raven wondered. She'd read up a little about the Daleks. Weapons that killed you through inflicting just enough pain that your body just shuts down through shock sounded very much like them.

What made the pain almost unbearable was Hedgy's tense mood. He was like a drug addict who hadn't had his fix in a while.

"Oi, Hedgehog. Give it a rest before you wear a hole in the floor, alright?" Said Ace, who was sitting crossed legged on the floor just out of Raven's field of view. It hurt to turn her head to view her.

"Give it a rest?" Hedgy said at last. "We are so screwed. The Daleks are back, the real Daleks. I knew Big Dog was a Dalek agent."

"Certainly looks that way." Ace admitted, "but this lot look more like they've been put through the ringer a few times. I doubt they could control an ear wig."

"But it's obvious!"

"Just because you want it to be true, doesn't make it true." Ace added rather sagely.

"How can you be so blind?" Hedgy said, now rubbing his fingers together. "I need to tell people. Earth Alliance needs to know about this!"

"I think they already know." Ace said.

"They do?"

"Well, think about it. If this place is so bad, why not invade?" Ace explained, "They could easily crush their political opponents and get a holiday planet full of resources added to the mix. So why not do it? Unless, they're aware of a collection of real Daleks hidden within this planet and they dare not attack in case, either Big Dog reactivates them, or they get reactivated in the fighting."

"Then the Alliance are idiots. Safe Harbour is controlled by the Daleks, anyone can see that."

"It would be the obvious solution." Ace stopped short as if there was more to the thought that she didn't say verbally. Gently, she leaned back and crossed her hands behind the back of her head. "Still, all we have to do is break out." She smiled as if such a thing would be easy.

"Oh yes, that'll be so easy." Raven finally spoke up her voice slurring a little as feeling came back to her tongue.

"Morning, Sunshine." Ace looked her up and down, "Congratulations, not many people survive a point blank shot from a Dalek gun, the pain usually fries your neurological pathways. Resulting in a quick, but painful death."

"Knowing that makes me feel so much better." Raven shuffled a little.

"Paralysed?" Ace asked, "Don't worry. Dalek weaponry will do that to you if it doesn't kill you. You'll recover." Raven tried to flex her fingers and it felt like they were fighting to move through concrete. "Hey, I know you're out of commission, but can you still do the whole." Ace waved her hands in a mysterious manner. Raven felt a little mocked by Ace's miming. "The whole 'Hocus pocus' thing?"

Focusing her mind Raven made Ace gently slap herself across the face, or tried to. Ace resisted, but caught the side of her own nose as her hand went sailing past it.

"Oi!"

"Yes." Raven confirmed.

"I get it, you want to be taken seriously. There's no need to be such a bitch about it." Ace bit back.

Using her power Raven made herself sit up. She could easily move herself or things within her general vicinity, even without speaking her chimes. But without the use of her arms any more complex magic such as stuff involving portals, projections, illusions and the like were impossible. That sort of energy needed to be channelled properly through her arms like an artist with a pencil. Without the 'pencil' a pencil artist could not create art.

Raven explained this, but summed it up in fewer words by simply saying. "I can't do much without the use of my arms."

"Damn, I guess we'll just have to wait until the effects wear off. Then we can plan." Ace said, but was coy about the details. Instead she glanced up, above Raven, at some kind of stalk sticking out of the wall. As Raven tried to crane her head around she could see it resembled a Dalek eye stalk. The Daleks were listening, and they were watching. It was only as Raven looked down that she saw the blue eye of another stalk looking directly at her from the opposite side of the room. There were two others in opposing walls, meaning every inch of the cell was being watched and all but the one above her was staring directly at her. The stalks glowed with such light, like there was life within, and it was staring at her, like a scientist observing a specimen.

She wished they would look away. But they just kept staring at her, and staring at her, and staring at her. Raven refused to break eye contact and just stared back at one eye stalk. Somewhere, flowing through the ether, despite having nothing to fear from her, Raven could feel some little blob of matter felt unnerved by her calm, cold staring.

So Daleks could feel fear.

Good.

To Be Continued...