Authors notes; I might make some alterations after listening to this chapter a few times with the FFN Net reader.
Chapter 93
The Powerful and the Stupid.
She watched the small strange creature as it lumbered around on unsteady legs. It had no concept of the danger around it and it looked around in a sort of quiet wonder at the world around it.
It's owner must be looking for it, it's owner must be worried. The creature stumbled and fell on its backside. But it did not cry, it looked around before getting back up again and continuing on its brave journey.
Raven hated kids, she especially hated babies. They were noisy, they were smelly, and they were nothing more than puke machines that demanded attention twenty-four seven. She couldn't understand how she ever could've been one of those stress inducing little time wasters.
Despite only being in her early mid-teens Raven had decided she would never have children. She could barely deal with the grinding noise of the world, never mind a child always needing your attention, your approval, your watchful eye in case it wandered into danger.
Putting the child out of her mind, Raven breathed in and continued to silently meditate.
Raven was well hidden under this bush. She was totally covered and camouflaged. No one knew she was here, no one could bother her, but she could see out onto the world through the criss-crossed branches.
Despite everything going on Raven still focused on the lone baby wandering around without a care. Did no one else see it? Was no one else going to help it? It could hurt itself. They probably assumed its parent was somewhere close by, and frankly Raven thought that too. She could go up to it and help it, try to find its owner, do the nice thing. But she knew the moment the parent saw her with the child she just knew the parent would scream how Raven was trying to steal the child away or something like that. So it was no skin off Raven's nose to sit here and do nothing. If it hurt itself then it was its own fault. In fact, maybe it'd learn to not be so trusting of the world around it.
It stumbled again and walked to the edge of a step. The steps were steep and led down towards the lake. It bent forward as if to get on all fours and try to climb down, but it was so stupid it didn't understand that it was standing too close to the edge. It vanished from view as it fell forward.
It felt pain as its head impacted the first step down, and it began to tumble down like a rag doll picking up speed as it fell so the next impact would be sharper and cause more damage, as would all the other impacts on the way down, and it was a long way down. How many times would it hit its head, knocking sense into it as it tumbled before it came to a stop?
Too many for Raven to be comfortable.
Raven felt the bushes branches digging into her arms as she sharply flung her hand out fingers splayed. She caught the child with her power before its head even smashed into the second step.
The baby appeared over the edge, its legs shrouded in dark energy. Gently Raven set it back down again on the ground, but now the child was about to do the most irritating thing Raven could think of. It began to cry.
Oh god no, not cry. Please don't cry. She hated the noise. She tried to ignore it but it kept screaming, and screaming, and screaming? Did no one else see this kid? Was no one else going to help this child?
Raven was tempted to clamp its mouth shut and seal its lips. Hurt it, hit it, anything to make it shut up. But as she came to do the deed with her powers some deeper instinct told her to stop. Instead she reached out with her hand and mentally she stroked where the pain was. It wouldn't heal it, but if she made the baby feel secure and safe maybe it'd shut up.
It did, the baby fell quiet. It looked around as if sensing Raven's presence but was unable to see it. It was clearly confused, it was almost adorable to watch.
Then it's twisting head snapped back to its front in the soft, jerky way that babies move, then it raised its head up and to its left. It was looking directly at Raven's hiding spot!
Raven froze like she was in the sight of some predator. The baby got up from its sitting position and began lumbering towards her.
No, go away! Raven mentally commanded. GO AWAY! PISS OFF!
It came to the bush, collapsed down and began to crawl under its branches towards Raven.
Please go away.
It emerged into her hiding spot despite all the branches that were poking into it as it came. Raven shut her eyes and attempted to ignore it hoping the child would get bored and go away, she tried to meditate but focus was difficult with this creature so close to her. The baby didn't seem to care, it knew who had saved it.
It collapsed and sat down in front of her, it sat for a while but did not get bored. Instead it crawled up to her and collapsed into her lap like it felt safe with her.
With her? The monster!
Raven was paralysed with fear and dread. She didn't want this little slobber monster anywhere near her, it'd drool and soak her cloak. But it had gotten comfortable and was slowly falling asleep where it was. Raven wanted to sharply push it off of her, but she didn't. Some part of her told her that it's comfort mattered more to her than her own discomfort.
No, it's because if it starts crying while near me I'll get blamed. Yes, that was it, that was the reason. Raven swallowed. Fine, it can stay a while, until it gets bored... or until its parent arrives.
Raven just watched the slumbering child in her lap with odd fascination. The child didn't fear her like adults did. It was innocent. It didn't have an ideology, it didn't have a society to conform to, it didn't have friends to impress. It wasn't scared of Raven because to it the pale girl was just another human to it, and to it humans mean safety.
What a naïve thought. One Raven was tempted to correct in the child for daring to invade her space. But still, no, she didn't want to. It was a lesson the kid could learn later. When it gets older. Maybe then Raven would be the one to teach that lesson.
The baby had been surprisingly peaceful despite being a baby. Raven didn't know how long she'd spent with the creature until she felt something approach. Some woman appeared on the path looking around calling out for someone called Kiren.
Raven tried to nudge the child awake.
"Kiren!" Raven said to it. "Your moms here."
The baby woke up and yawned. It looked adorable when it did that. It looked out from the branches, saw its mother, then turned its head to look at Raven one last time as if to silently say 'thank you,' before it turned and crawled out.
Raven hoped it'd crawl out without notice, but the mother did notice. She rushed forward, scooped up the child in her arms and hugged it to her like a concerned parent. But then the mothers attention went to the bush, curiosity on her face. She was looking directly at Raven. Raven clambered up and hoped the mother didn't notice her. But the mother moved to investigate. She parted some bushes and the two females made sharp eye contact. The curiosity turned to dread, then fear, then anger.
"What were you doing with my baby?" The woman demanded in a sharp, biting voice.
"What were you doing that was so important that you let your baby wander off." Raven bit back. The woman did not like that. "Your baby nearly died if it wasn't for me, catching it when it fell down the steps." Horrified, the mother checked the baby for damage. "Don't worry, it's fine. Or would you have preferred it if he had fallen into the lake, rather than feel the shame of Kiren being saved by the Monster of Azarath?"
The woman had no answer, but was starting to get angry again. Clearly the woman was conflicted. She teetered on the edge of gratitude, yet Raven could sense she wanted to remain pointedly angry.
"Go ahead." Raven shrugged, "Blame me for it, all of it, any of it. I don't care anymore. But you listen to me..." Raven fixed the woman with a very dark stare from under the shadow of her hood. She took the womans throat in her powers. Not roughly, just enough to stop her talking. "If I find out that child has come to any harm because of your negligence then you will answer to me." Raven threatened. "So shut your mouth, and in future shut your legs, until you can look after what plops out from between them."
She let the woman go and still she did not like Raven one bit, taking the womans throat may have been a step too far, and something told Raven the woman had not learnt her lesson. Maybe Raven had been a bit heavy handed with the message. But what did it matter? Raven knew where this was going to go. The woman wouldn't take responsibility, in her mind she thought she was a perfect parent, it was an image she projected on the world. It was Raven who had to be in the wrong. It would somehow be Raven's fault that she'd allowed her baby to wander off. It always had to be Raven's fault, because if it didn't then fault might lie somewhere more uncomfortable for the accuser.
Strangely, Raven didn't care. What would the woman do exactly, damage Ravens reputation?
But Raven felt more sorry for the baby, though she'd likely never see it again she was worried for its future. After all, if Raven hadn't interfered it'd probably be a bloody pulp at the foot of the steps or at the bottom of the lake.
And then Raven would be blamed for not lifting a finger to help it.
Raven was evil, that was the lynch pin to a lot of people, and everything had to revolve around that little factoid. She was coming to accept that.
Hobbling through the jungle was a chore but Raven kept moving. There was too much to do. There was a river of fire beneath their feet that could burst out at any moment and wipe them out. Rest could wait.
The teen demon collapsed to the ground, no longer able to keep balance with the Dalek sucker under her arm.
"Come on," Ace said, lifting Raven's arm up and putting it around the back of her own neck. She hauled the teen up.
"I don't need your help." Raven insisted.
"Yeah, clearly." Ace said, "Come on, let's see if Hedgehog has sent that message."
Raven blew out an angry sigh at the mention of that man. Raven kept a hold of the Dalek sucker. She was so exhausted that she couldn't focus enough to use her powers, so it would be a useful weapon, and maybe she could use it on Hedgy's stupid face.
"What is your problem with him, anyway?" Ace asked.
"Are you seriously asking that?" Raven asked, "After what you've said to him?"
"Well, yeah, but I mean, I know he has a weird philosophy, but at the end of the day he's still a human being. I don't get why you hate him."
Raven shrugged. "I'm an evil, demon, human supremacist."
Ace paused before speaking. "Now, I know that's just sarcasm."
Raven fixed Ace with a stare that told her to back off. The older woman looked like she was mulling the concept over in her head. Raven didn't feel like she needed to justify herself to Ace, she doubted the older woman would understand.
The fact was Hedgy knew something about Raven. Something he had no right in knowing, and Raven got the feeling he was going to use it to leverage his position at some point. Threaten to expose her, and Hedgy was so the person to use that information against her. It was like the one person you don't like, -and who in turn doesn't like you,- having a deadly weapon they could use on you, where you had nothing. True, Raven had her powers, but Hedgy had the potential to cause her more widespread and destructive social damage whereas all Raven could do was kill him. To her, that made his knowledge more dangerous to her than her powers were to him.
What does it matter. Who'd believe him?
Someone would, and all it takes is one.
"Still being the mystery girl, huh?" Ace said, hauling Raven over some uneven ground. "Just don't kill him, alright."
"I make no such promise." Raven said flatly.
"I can't tell when your serious and when you're joking."
"Believe me, I wasn't joking."
When they returned to the village they found Hedgy busy actually doing work. He was moving the bodies and setting them down in neat, and ordered rows. They were really well organised, but Raven couldn't help but notice that all the blue aliens were in one row, green in another row, red and so on in another row. Non-humanoids of all different species and shapes were just organised into one pile.
What the heck is the point of this?
Raven looked closer at the colour coded piles of aliens as they passed, even Raven could tell they were of different species too, though the differences were ultimately subtle. Some were reptilian, others had hints of insect like features. It was like the piles were sorted into one of two categories. Species he recognised and grouped together, and species he didn't and just laid out into another pile.
Raven tugged on her arm that Ace had around her shoulders, and Ace released her. Ravens cloak draped over her body hiding her wounds and the Dalek sucker that she was again using as a crutch.
"Oi, Hedgehog!" Ace called, "Did you send a message?"
"Yeah," Hedgy said, before deciding to place the red, lizard alien in a pile of red aliens that were not lizard like. "I found another unlocked comms device and I used it to call for help. They didn't take me seriously, until I showed them the devastation. They're coming now."
Raven was surprised he hadn't cowered in a cupboard until the two women got back, he'd sounded so scared earlier. The wariness with which he looked around told Raven that he was still scared, but felt this little organisating of the dead was worth doing.
"Great, how long until re-enforcements arrive?" Ace asked.
"They didn't say." Hedgy said, he seemed on edge. "I was just told to hold tight."
A ping came from his pocket and he produced the new comms device he'd found. He checked whatever app he was looking it, then he pointed the device at himself, making sure to get the bodies in the background. He then adopted a very sad, distressed look and by the sound effect it produced the device had taken a picture. Once he was done his expression reverted and he typed away at his device.
Ace looked at Hedgy with a morbid look on her face. "What are you doing?"
"Just keeping my group updated on my work." Hedgy said, "The aliens deserve to be organised for easy identification."
So why in the hell do you need to be in the picture? Raven thought. And why did you put on that expression?
Raven put her hands on her hips and sighed. So organising the corpses was just so he could take a photo and show off on social media. It was morbid enough, though he seemd to genuinely care about the fate of the aliens. He just wasn't above using their bodies to show off how 'angellic' he was to his audience, nor was he above adopting a fake expression to sell an image of himself.
He 'seemed' to care about the fate of the aliens. Her mind reminded her.
"Ever heard of the Organisation for the Ethical Treatment of None-Human Lifeforms?" Hedgy said, "The anti-Dalek group? I'm a part of that, me and my friends set up a cell here to fight Safe Harbours oppressive system."
Ace thought for a second, "OETNHL" She tried to say as if it was a word, "Catchy."
"It's pronounced, E-thal. I sent them pictures of the place and told them there were real Daleks here."
"It's nice to see you have your priorities straight." Raven said in a subtly biting tone. Hedgy stopped speaking and looked like a deer caught in headlights. He looked away briefly before he spoke again.
"I guess you took care of that hole in the ground. I heard the explosion." Hedgy said.
"Actually, that was the work of little Sunshine here." Ace nodded to the goth girl.
Hedgy was avoiding eye contact with her, that didn't improve Ravens mood much.
"So that's it, the Daleks will stop now?" Hedgy asked.
"Not by a long shot." Ace said.
A ping came from Hedgy's comms device. He pulled it out to look at it despite Ace talking to him. His face turned concerned as he scrolled through what the device told him.
"The Daleks have sent an ultimatum out." Hedgy said, "It's all over the Galax-Net."
"Let's hear it then." Ace said, shuffling in closer to Hedgy. Raven had a bad feeling about this as hedgy played the clip.
A large, imposing hologram of a black Dalek appeared in mid air.
"ATTENTION, ATTENTION. HUMAN BEINGS OF THE EARTH ALLIANCE. WE ARE THE DALEKS. WE ARE REBORN. WE HAVE OCCUPIED THE PLANET DESIGNATED SAFE HARBOUR. THIS IS THE START OF OUR INVASION OF THE GALAXY. IF YOU SURRENDER NOW YOU WILL BE SHOWN MERCY, RESIST AND YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED. YOU HAVE ONE HOUR TO SURRENDER BEFORE OUR ARMY BEGINS THE INVASION!"
The clip stopped. The colour drained from Hedgy's face. "This was sent twenty minutes ago!"
Raven's eyes narrowed as her mind mulled something over.
Planet designated Safe Harbour? Something about that didn't sound right for a Dalek to say.
"That doesn't sound like the Daleks." Ace said scratching her head.
"It certainly sounded like them to me." Hedgy said.
"No, I mean they wouldn't announce their presence and their intentions like this." Ace said. "They'd usually lie low, work in the shadows, strike when you least expect them. They'd only be so bold when they have the advantage, but here they haven't. So this is out of character for them. They're up to something, and it's not going to be good for us."
"Safe Harbour?" Raven muttered.
"What?" Ace asked.
"They called the planet 'Safe Harbour'. Not the 'Battle Platform'." Raven said.
"Do you think that's important?" Hedgy asked. Raven gave the man a cold look, she didn't like being questioned by idiotic people who'd mock her for speaking.
"I haven't known the Daleks long, but I know their type." Raven said, "They're possessive. They wouldn't just call it Safe Harbour, because it implies it isn't already theirs."
"Yeah, and no way can this lot be ready for a massive invasion." Ace said. "Not within an hour. With their current numbers they might be able to occupy this planet, but nothing else."
"Why lie?" Hedgy asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Raven said, looking at Hedgy, then the bodies, then at his new comms unit, "they're trying to manipulate people to get something."
"Why in the hell are you looking at me?" Hedgy asked.
"No reason." Raven said, cutting him off just a little too soon to be polite.
"What would the Daleks want Earth Alliance to do?" Ace asked scratching her head.
Any further discussion was interrupted by the high pitched whine of repulsors as over the treetops came several shuttles, floating through the air smoothly as if they were on invisible wires. They came to a stop and landed quickly and smoothly. The shuttles were shaped like a clothes iron.
The sides of the shuttles slid up and out popped several armoured individuals, their armour a patch work of greens to blend into the jungle like forest. They stamped their feet and moved like American football players as they took up defensive positions.
Their helmets hid their features, making them all look exactly the same from a distance. If Raven didn't know better she'd swear they were robots. As they got closer they could see they were all subtly different. They were of a vaguely similar body shape and size though some had multiple arms, one of the beings had a helmet made that accommodated his horns, and so on.
Raven could understand why Hedgy viewed Safe Harbour as an oppressive, militaristic force if that was their defence force.
"What happened here?" A soldier asked of the trio. The soldier had stripes running down the side of his armour donating whatever rank he was supposed to be. "We lost contact with this outpost."
"You mean you don't know?" Ace looked at Hedgy. "I thought you told them." Hedgy looked sheepish and turned his head away from her. Ace turned back to the soldier. "It was the Daleks. There's dozens of them underground. One got out and did all this."
"Daleks?" The soldier didn't sound surprised. He turned to another soldier. "Call control, get them to send Dalek buster weapons." He turned to another soldier. "Scan these civilians, we don't want to bring back any Dalek duplicates."
The soldier scanned them with some kind of hand held device, a beam of blue light flashed over them, and a light flashed green for each of them. Presumably if they were duplicates it'd flash red, or something. "They're clean." The soldier announced.
"Good, get them out of here. We'll secure the area."
The trio were surrounded by soldiers and escorted to a shuttle that was prepping for take off that'd take them away from this place and hopefully back to Safe Harbour, and importantly for Raven back to the Doctor and the safety of the TARDIS.
"How come they don't know about the Daleks? I thought you told them." Ace asked Hedgy.
"I did. But I couldn't get through to central control. So the first message I sent was to OETNHL, I told them to let control know about the situation." Hedgy said.
"That was you?" One of the soldiers spoke, female sounding though she was very large, it was the one with horns sticking out of her helmet. The visor stared into the young mans soul. "We could've been here a lot sooner, but we had to deal with a bunch of your lot screaming at our gates trying to break the doors in." The soldier said. "They thought we'd massacred the outpost ourselves and were demanding our blood."
Hedgy looked away, not so much ashamed as embarrassed.
"I told them the place was massacred, yes." Hedgy said, "But I told them that it was the Daleks. Real Daleks! I never said it was you." The soldier reached up and pulled up her visor. She certainly wasn't human. Her face was scaly, rock like and was a shade of rust.
"To your lot, is there any difference between us and them?" Hedgy looked away, he couldn't make eye contact with any of them, especially not Raven nor Ace. Ace was just shaking her head. Raven's eyes were narrowed at him. He'd messed up again. "Get onto the shuttle, and get out of my sight!" The alien woman turned and left the trio to clamber onto the shuttle.
Raven understood that the soldiers delay would've made little difference. After all, the outpost was dead long before any call was sent out, all Hedgy did was delay the arrival of this force that could only count the bodies. But suppose this force were needed urgently somewhere, but they had to deal with Hedgy's friends first, and that delay resulted in the unnecessary death of people who could've been saved.
Raven stared into the back of this stupid mans head.
The guy is dangerous. Raven concluded. Her fingers curled up like claws. But now wasn't the time to use his neck like a stress ball. Too many witnesses. The three climbed onto the shuttle and it prepared to take off.
"Hold, hold!" Shouted a voice from the forest as a being emerged. His clothes were torn and ragged, but his reptile like head was unmistakable. Drayfus, the lizard humanoid they'd entered the Dalek stronghold with. He'd survived, somehow.
He was stopped by a soldier who held out that device to scan him. The man checked the readings, and it flashed green to indicate clean. But the man looked up and down and smacked the side of the device for some reason. Then he looked up and stared at the lizard man as if seeing him for the first time. Raven cocked her head to one side as she watched. Some non-verbal understanding was reached and Drayfus was allowed onto the shuttle with the rest of them.
He collapsed onto a seat and he leaned back against the bulkhead. Some of his scales on his head had been damaged, or torn away leaving bloody, fleshy wounds.
"Hey Dray," Ace laughed a tired laugh. "We wondered what happened to you."
The repulsors of the shuttle screamed as the vessel took off and began to fly along the tree tops.
"How did you survive?" Raven asked, suspicious as always.
"The Daleks are big and bulky." Drayfus snorted, then hissed, "I've had experiences with something similar, before."
"How did you escape?" Raven then asked.
"They're far too busy with something else." Drayfus hissed, "I caused as much damage before I broke the surface. I saw the shuttles and I ran for them." He leaned back and looked totally exhausted. "Enough questions. I am tired."
Raven's eyes narrowed. There was something about Drayfus she couldn't put her finger on. But before any thoughts could bubble up Hedgy spoke. He was looking out of a side hatch.
"Hey, look up there." He pointed outside. "Earth Alliance ships!"
Raven lazily looked out, using her fallen Dalek sucker to leaver her to the side a little. She was so tired now, she just wanted to sleep.
In the sky there were dozens, upon dozens of space ship like silhouettes in the sky. They were long, pointy and intimidating.
"The Daleks are in trouble now. Earth Alliance were always ready for the Daleks return!" Hedgy punched the air in triumph.
The ships were arranging themselves into some kind of circular formation, pointing at each other. But what for?
Raven got her answer, and it was no less horrifying.
Several blue beams fired from each of the ships at each other. The beams met in the centre of the formation, like focused beams of light, before a final beam from above fired down through it. This produced a long, cyan coloured lance which flashed down into the planet. A bright light appeared over the horizon in the direction of Safe Harbours central city. The planet visibly shook from the impact.
Raven froze. She felt it... Millions of lives screaming out in agony.
The beam vanished.
Suddenly an entire area of the planet fell silent. The silence was haunting to Raven. The same silence that followed the extermination of the aliens before. Total eradication, scorched earth. Then a sudden void, like the light bulb of glowing life had been snuffed out.
It made Raven feel cold.
Then came a rain of laser bolts from space, falling down from the sky, all aimed in specific areas. Presumably at outpost or settlements on the surface. More of the 'voids' appeared in the ether, and Raven felt every single one of them pop up like bubbles and grew and grew until they reached a comfortable size, and then it stopped growing, and it was happening all over the planet.
Ace had her hands on Raven's shoulders trying to shake her awake from the images she was seeing. It was horrifying, even for her, and not in a cool, grim and dark kind of way.
Extermination...
Raven gripped onto the side of the shuttle. Something big was coming she could feel it.
"Brace yourselves!" Raven called and she pushed herself backwards into the shuttles seats, gripping onto the rails above her for support. Ace, Hedgy and Drayfus followed her lead.
Then she saw it. They all saw it. It looked like a cloud on the horizon, like an advancing storm cloud, a fast advancing storm cloud, moving faster than the speed of sound. As it got nearer Raven saw it was full of dirt, trees, water, fragments of buildings... corpses.
The blast front from the initial blast, and it was coming right at them!
The shuttled banked to the left and tried to climb higher, and higher, and higher in an attempt to go over or ride the shockwave. But Raven doubted it would do any good. They were going to die.
Throwing down her Dalek sucker Raven threw herself to the floor, straightened herself up while on her knees. Held her hands up in front of her face in a strong pose. Extending two fingers she gently swung her arms in an arc before crossing them in front of her eyes as she charged her powers and her focus. She was still tired, but she'd have to do her best.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She screamed and she willed into existence a black shield just in time. The impact from the blast felt like she'd been hit in the face with a bat, but like someone clinging to dear life on the edge of a cliff Raven refused to let go of her shield, though it did weaken for a brief second, allowing some debris through, striking at the shuttles engines.
They were like a ping-pong ball being battered around as they impacted something so sharply that Raven felt a ringing in her head. It was when the craft began rolling end over end over end did she finally lose both her concentration on her shield, and a sharp impact from either the wall, the floor or the ceiling knocked her unconsciousness.
To Be Continued...
Authors notes:
The title refers to a fourth Doctor story, the Face of Evil, where the Doctor utters one of his more famous quotes. "You know the very powerful, and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter the views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views. Which can be uncomfortable when you happen to be one of the facts that need altering." Most people get hung up on the first part of that quote, but I think the meat of it is in the last line. Powerful and stupid people will always alter facts to fit views. But the powerful and stupid can be capable of monstrous things when it's people who need to be altered so a world view can remain intact exist.