Sometimes it was hard for Arthur to decide how to react to his father/mother.

When talking about the Eleventh after Demons Run, the Twelfth and the Thirteenth, the dark-haired man was more open and relaxed with them. They knew Arthur and loved him very much. Their faces lit up every time they met him. Arthur would also respond with a smile, a laugh, and even give them a hug or two (it didn't matter if Twelfth protested against the hug, he was his father, and Arthur needed a hug after jumping from Gallifrey and having to deal with Thirteenth being gone).

But when it came to Nine and Tenth...it was hard for Arthur to explain. Nine clearly didn't like or trust his presence. The man was very disturbing to Arthur because of his bad temper, which could explode at any time. Even though he had been neutral and had never intended to offend him. But Arthur realised that no matter what he did to him, it wouldn't change his mistrust.

The Tenth was more confusing. Arthur knew that in this incarnation he was travelling with 3 different companions. When he was with Rose and Martha, Tenth hated him very much. Why, Arthur didn't know. Delaney was reluctant to talk about it whenever he met them. But with Donna, Tenth was much friendlier and more forgiving. His attitude was very different, as if he trusted Arthur and never questioned him. His wife wouldn't say anything about Tenth's change in attitude either, except to say that it was spoiler territory and that Arthur himself would understand why Tenth became more of a friend.

So Arthur decided not to think about it any more and enjoyed the moment while looking for clues about his 'death' and the mysterious carol.

Currently, he, Claudia, and Twelfth are helping Jim the Fish with his dam. Finally, after all these years, Jim was finally able to complete it.

"That was something else!" Claudia remarked as she, the Doctor, and Arthur entered the Tardis. It's been a while since they had an adventure together as a family without companions.

"Jim's dam is finally finished," Arthur smiles, sipping his coffee and sets the Tardis into the time vortex. "Took him long enough."

"Good thing River didn't pick him up like she used to," the Doctor added, holding a card tray with two takeaway coffees in it. "Poor Jim needs no distraction."

"So, any ideas where to go? I heard there's a planet where there's a lot of free food!"

"Too boring, Sunny," his father replied, waving his hand dismissively as he navigated the Tardis into the time vortex. "Oh, what about planet Ood? It's got such a great view!"

"Come on, Gramps," Claudia grumbled, smirking with the Doctor's annoyance for calling him grandfather. "We've been to planet Ood so many times, we need to visit something new..." her ears notices a beeping voice from the monitor. "There's a distress signal."

The Doctor grins. "Good," he replied while Arthur just deadpanned. Him and distress signal. "Set the coordinate, Clau."

"On it."

"Any guesses on what's going on, Sunny?"

The raven haired man frowns, concentrating. "Two pilots. One already dead, one still alive, piloting the spaceship. Siblings."

"On it." Claudia said, activates the emergency temporal shift to transport the pilot, not wanting to waste more time to save the remaining pilot. The trio watched as a woman in military outfit appeared on the Tardis, lying on the floor, unconscious.

Arthur kneels beside her, checking her condition, while Claudia slowly prepares herself for any hostile actions. "You'll probably feel a bit sick," he said as she opened her eyes, trying to focus. "Just take a moment to lay down."

The moment the pilot notices them, she stands up and scrambles for her hand gun, and keeps pointing it at Claudia, who's grabbing her dagger, simply waiting. "Where's my brother?"

"He's dead."

She shook her head, not believing it, as she looked around the console, still pointing the gun one of the time to the trio. "He was right beside me. Where's Kai?! How did I get here?!"

"Claudia notices your distress signal, materialised a time capsule exactly round you and saved your life one second before your ship exploded, but do please keep crying," the Doctor remarked.

"His brother just died, you're making our situation worse," Claudia reminded him.

"His sister didn't. You're very welcome. Put the gun down."

"Or what?" She dared.

"Or you might anger one of us. Shoot me, my granddaughter will put you down and Sunny will stranded you away. Shoot her, both me and Sunny will kick you out from here. Shoot Sunny…you're dead."

She visibly gulps, not knowing what to do after realising how serious the older man is. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Explorer. That's the Doctor, and she's Claudia," Arthur introduced. "You?"

"I'm Lieutenant Journey Blue of the Combined Galactic Resistance. I demand you take me back to my command ship, the Aristotle, which is currently located—"

"No," the Doctor stopped her. "Hey, not like that."

"You will take me back to my command ship, which is currently positioned—"

"Where's your manners?" Claudia asked, narrowing her eyes. "Just because you're a soldier, doesn't mean you can always order around."

Journey slowly lowers her gun. "Will you take me back to my ship? Please?"

"See? Not so bad, huh?" Arthur smiles briefly and quickly sets the coordinate. "Aristotle's the big spaceship in the asteroid belt, isn't it? We'll take you there, so don't worry. Your uncle will know you're okay."

"It's shielded."

"Maybe," Claudia commented before the Tardis silently materialised inside it, in a corner of a large section. "We're here."

Reluctantly, Journey opens the Tardis door. Indeed, she's already in Aristotle.

"Dry your eyes, Journey Blue. Crying's for civilians. It's how we communicate with you lot," the Doctor stated before he, Arthur, and Claudia stepped out.

Journey also follows, before frowns at the Tardis' exterior. "It's smaller on the outside."

"It's a bit more exciting when you go the other way."

"Hang on," Arthur looks at the medical insignia on the wall beside him. "This isn't a battleship. It's a hospital."

"We don't need hospitals now." An older man with a greying beard speaks. He is backed up by armed soldiers. With his visions, the raven-haired man knows him as Journey's uncle. "The Daleks don't leave any wounded, and we don't take any prisoners."

"We saved your niece before she could become one, Captain Morgan."

"That's true, sir. They did," Journey vouched, stunned that Arthur knows his name.

The man paused. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the Doctor replied. "I wish I could've done more."

"Then you should have."

"No, you should have," Claudia retorted, giving him a warning look not to provoke more people. Not only that, this man ridiculously threw guilt at the three of them, even though it was clear that this man was responsible for his nephew's death for sending him and his sister into a deadly mission.

"But you did save Journey, and for that I am personally grateful," Morgan stated.

"However?" Arthur chimed in, sensing where this might going.

Trying not to be startled by the man's knowledge on how he could know his intention, Morgan continues. "However, the security of this base is absolute. So we're still going to kill each of you."

"Oh, it's a roller coaster with you, isn't it?" The Doctor scoffed.

"You have a patient," Arthur suddenly pointed out, thought he looks...uncomfortable.

Morgan blinks. "What?"

"You have a patient you can't help. We…might lend some help."

"He's a doctor," Journey added, gesturing to the Doctor. "And we have a patient, don't we, Uncle?"

"You told them?"

"No," Claudia answered, knowing that Morgan might think his niece betrayed her. "The Explorer had the ability to know something."

"Are you suggesting that he's a fortune teller?"

"Not a fortune teller," the Doctor huffed, rather offended that this man thought his son as those fakery asshats.

"Shall we see the patient?" Arthur asked.

Morgan looks uncertain, but he gestures to them to follow him.

"Why does a hospital need a doctor?" the Doctor mused.

"The Aristotle wasn't always hidden.," Morgan elaborated. "The Daleks got here before us."

"You don't like soldiers much, do you?" Journey guessed.

"Appreciated soldiers? Sure. Like soldiers? Not so much," Claudia remarked before they—minus the two guards—entered a lab room from door 078. "Is that…?"

"Wow! A moleculon nanoscaler," the Doctor gasped at a large clear tube with bench seats down the inside.

"You know what it does, then?" Journey asked.

"It miniatures living matter," Arthur shrugs.

"What's the medical application, though?" The Doctor questioned. "Do you use it to shrink the surgeons so they can climb inside the patients?"

"Exactly," Morgan answered.

"Fantastic idea for a movie. Terrible idea for a proctologist."

"Are you going to miniaturise us with these?" Claudia frowns. "For what?"

"You're a doctor, aren't you?" Morgan opens a pair of secure doors further along, showing them a Dalek with various cables going into its dome. "And this is your patient."

"No, you don't understand," the Doctor remarked, while Claudia looks tense and Arthur shivers in fear, even if he knows it. "You can't put me in there! You can't put my family in there!"

"Doctor…?"

"You know him?" Arthur whispered. That can't be right. This Dalek shouldn't remember his father. Delaney had mentioned one of Clara's echoes, Oswin, erased all data of the Doctor and his family members in the Dalek Asylum.

"He doesn't. We promised him medical assistance," Morgan clarified.

"Are you my doctor?" It asked.

"We found it floating in space," Journey mentioned.

"You thought it was deactivated, so you tried to disassemble it?" Arthur hypothesised. "Not a good idea."

"We don't…till it started screaming."

"Help me," the Dalek said.

"Why would we do that?" Claudia demanded, holding her dagger very tightly. "Why would any living creature help you?"

"Daleks will die."

"Die all you like. Not my problem," the Doctor growled.

"Daleks must be destroyed."

"Wait," Arthur blinks. "What did you just say?"

"All Daleks must die. I will destroy the Daleks. Destroy the Daleks. Destroy the Daleks!"

The trio looks at each other. A Dalek hated Daleks?

This…this is something new. Something they have never encountered before.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Clara enters the supply cupboard, just finished talking to Second Arthur who introduced her to Danny Pink, the new maths teacher. She nearly walks into the tray of coffees that Claudia's holding out to her. The Tardis just fits the width of the back of the cupboard. "Where the hell have you been?" The girl asked.

The bluenette looks sheepish. "Coffee?"

"Three weeks ago. In Glasgow."

"I know, sorry. There was some urgent matter…it's a dam problem."

"A dam problem?" Clara repeated, not sure if Claudia's pun joke is getting better or worse.

"Jim needs help. Bunch of Slitheens tried to destroy it."

"And you didn't invite me?!"

"You're busy," Claudia insisted as she opened the Tardis' door. "I didn't want to disturb you."

Clara sighs. "This better worth it," she mumbled. "Hiya, Arthur."

Arthur smiles back at her. Judging by Clara's clothes, this is Clara in the early days, before the Blitz incident. In fact, the dark-haired man is certain that Clara just talked to his second self who introduced Danny to her.

He was still a little hurt by Danny's earlier remark. Of course he understood why Danny had behaved that way. It's just that he didn't expect Danny to say hurtful things to him who had tried to be friends. Maybe Danny was indeed a difficult, sensitive, and quick judgement person to understand since the war.

"Why were you smiling?" Arthur asked instead.

"Was I?" Clara puts her hand on her mouth as she takes a coffee from Claudia with her other hand. "No, I wasn't."

"You were smiling at nothing," the Doctor concluded. "I'd almost say you were in love, but to be honest?"

"Honest?"

"You're not a young woman any more."

"Yes, I am."

"Well, you don't look it."

"I do look it."

"He doesn't mean it," Claudia snorted as she finally took the coffee and drank it.

"Clara, Clara, Clara, Clara. Clara, Clara. Clara, Clara," he called as he walked around the console, then turned back. "I need something from you. I need the truth."

"Okay. Right, what is it? What's—" Clara looks at his face. "You're scared."

"Terrified is the right word," Arthur commented.

"Of what?"

"The answer to my next question, which must be honest and cold and considered, without kindness or restraint," the Doctor said. "And I can't ask it to my son and granddaughter, so it has to be you. Clara, be my pal and tell me, am I a good man?"

Clara went silent. "I…don't know," she replied honestly.

"Neither do I," he agreed. "And for that…no sneak peak to me, Sunny. No matter how much I beg for it."

"Promise," Arthur chuckles, although inside, he's cried, knowing the men his father became during the darkest hours, battling the Cybermen to save a small Mondasian community, without hope, without witness, without reward. A very kind man who did the right thing in the end.

"So…Where are we going?" Clara asked as the Doctor navigated the console to fly the Tardis. "I mean, Clau said that you three just had an adventure without me. Why do you need me this time?"

"Because…" Arthur sighs as he leans on the console. "We…just encountered a Dalek. A good Dalek."

"A good Dalek?"

"There's no such thing," the Doctor argued.

"I agree," Claudia admitted, playing with her hair. "Still…there's no harm to check on this one. But Clara, if you don't want—"

"I'm in," Clara decided. "I can't just leave you three alone. You might need me. Plus, just in case one of us got hurt…"

The Doctor nods gratefully, silently thanking her for trying to be subtle around Third Arthur. "I should give you a raise."

"You're not my boss, you're my friend."

"Come on," he gestures to them to exit the Tardis, where Journey and Morgan wait.

"That was quick," Journey noticed as they all headed back to the lab.

"She's very good, if navigated by the right pilot," Arthur replied and addressed. "Journey, Captain Morgan, this is Clara Oswald. Clara, this is Lieutenant Journey Blue and her uncle, Captain Morgan Blue."

"And she's a sort of boss one." the Doctor added. "Are you the same one as before?"

"Yes," Morgan answered.

"And this is the gun girl. She's got a gun, and she's a girl," the Doctor mentioned, gesturing to Claudia, which Claudia replied by smacking his shoulder in annoyance before they look at the Dalek.

"Doctor," it said.

"Hello again," the Doctor greeted.

"Will you help me?"

Clara glances at Arthur and Claudia before asking him. "Will you?"

"A Dalek so damaged, it's turned good. Morality as malfunction. How do I resist?" the Doctor remarked.

"Daleks must die. Daleks must die," it insisted.

"So, what do we do with a moral Dalek, then?" Clara frowns.

"We get into its head," Arthur imparted. "Using the moleculon nanoscaler."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

They go to the moleculon nanoscaler. Journey gives a brief explanation to Clara while Claudia stands beside Clara. Behind her, the Doctor and Arthur talk privately with their situation.

"How much damage will this whole thing happen?" the Doctor kindly asked his son.

Arthur closes his eyes. "There will be casualties. But—" he frowns. "I…I don't think anything good will happen when it involves Daleks."

"It never will."

"Are you sure you want this? Trenzalore has already passed for me for the last 20 years, but still fresh for you."

The Doctor pattes his son's head. "Don't worry about this old me. I can handle myself." Then, he notices two soldiers that Journey gave the bracelets to. "What are those ones for? I don't need armed baby-sitters."

"Gretchen and Ross are watching over us, in case we're some Daleks' spies," Arthur corrected.

"Well, that's a relief. I hate baby-sitters. None of them are compatible to keep you around."

"I would disagree with that."

"Okay, listen up," Journey interjected. "Now, remember, do not hold your breath when the nanoscaler engages. You'll feel like you want to, but you must keep breathing normally during the miniaturisation process."

"Why?" Clara asked as Journey and her comrades entered the big capsule.

"Ever microwaved a lasagne without pricking the film on top?" Claudia asked back as the four of them entered as well.

"It explodes."

"Precisely," Arthur denoted as he sits between his father and daughter, while Clara sits beside the bluenette.

Morgan quickly informs them. "Nanoscaler engaging in five four three two…Nanoscaler engaging now."

"Nanoscaling in progress."

They all stay still, trying to breathe normally. Arthur closes his eyes, trying to count down. Claudia smoothed down her jacket, eyeing the gun that Journey, Gretchen, and Ross carried. Clara rubbed the edge of her shirt to calm down. And the Doctor simply gripping Arthur''s arm to ease him.

"Nanoscaling complete."

"Nanoscaling successful. Everyone okay in there?" Morgan asked.

"We made it," Journey realised, relief. "Nobody popped."

"Whoa," Clara chuckled. "I can't believe this."

"No, neither can I," the Doctor agreed before he reached out and the surface wobbled.

"We'll be following you all the way, Rescue One. Good luck all of you," Morgan stated.

The Doctor's arm distorts as he slowly reaches into the blue 'eye' on the end of the stalk. Then they all push their way through.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"That was weird," Clara commented after they're in a corridor.

"You've seen nothing yet," Arthur pointed out.

"What are the lights?"

"Visual impulses travelling towards the brain," Claudia answered.

"Beautiful," she muttered.

"Welcome to the most dangerous place in the universe," the Doctor announced.

"Entering the cranial ledge now," Journey informed her uncle before walking first. "Here."

"Oh, my God," Clara blurted as they looked down from the ledge onto the red tentacled blob that is the organic part of the Dalek. Cables run down into it.

"Behold, the belly of the beast," Claudia shared.

"It's amazing."

"It's really not," Arthur argued.

"It's huge," Ross noticed.

"No, Ross. We're tiny," Gretchen reminded him.

"So how big is it?" Clara asked Arthur. "That living part, compared to me and you, right now?"

"You see all those cables?" He pointed at it. "Let's just say…they're not all cables."

"Does it know we're here?" Ross questioned.

"Sort of."

"It's what invited us in," Journey added.

The Doctor looks at banks of vertical lights around the inside of part of the ledge. "Now, this is the cortex vault, a supplementary electronic brain. Memory banks, but more than that. This is what keeps the Dalek pure."

Gretchen frowns. "How are Daleks pure?"

"Dalek mutants are born hating," Arthur said. "This is what stokes the fire, extinguishes even the tiniest glimmer of kindness or compassion."

"This is evil refined as engineering for Dalek," Claudia concurred.

"Doctor?" the Dalek called.

"Oh, hello, Rusty," the Doctor replied. "You don't mind if I call you Rusty? We're going to need to come down there with you. Medical examination, and all that."

"What, with those tentacles and things?" Gretchen guessed.

"How close do we have to get?" Journey asked.

"Well, you know, we're never going to insert a thermometer from up here," the Doctor responded, to which Journey nodded.

"Ross, don't!" Arthur warned.

But Ross already Ross fires a harpoon into Rusty's ledge.

Claudia quickly grabs the harpoon away. "Are you out of your mind?!" She shrilled.

"We need a way down," Journey pointed out. "The only way—"

"Dalek is also a living being! And you lot just hurt it! You doomed us by getting the antibodies to come here!"

Arthur's eyes glowing golden as little round objects fly into view. "Nobody moves."

"Any attempt to help him, or attack those things, will identify you as a secondary source of infection. Stay still!" the Doctor ordered.

The antibodies open to reveal a big blue eye, then surround Ross.

"But the Dalek wants us in here," Clara recalled. "Why is it attacking?"

"Can you control your antibodies?" the Doctor retorted.

"Ross, stay calm. We're going to get you out of this," Journey averred.

Claudia glances at her father. "Dad…can you…?"

"I can try," Arthur alleged. "When I said 'run,' all of you run to organic refuse disposal, where they dump the bodies."

The Doctor shook his head. That's too risky, even for him. "Sunny—"

"Trust me," the black-haired man pleaded. Taking a sharp breath, he blasts all the antibodies. 'Run!"

They all quickly run, following Arthur as he leads them at a hole in the ledge. "Organic refuse disposal. We need to get in there."

"Why?" Claudia asked, not following, while Gretchen, Journey, and Ross looked out at the antibodies.

"Those antibodies won't give up until we're inside there," Arthur replied.

"I'd rather go in alive than having you three dead," the Doctor insisted.

"You don't know where it goes," Journey argued.

"Yes, I do. Away from here. Now in. In! In!"

Clara jumps down the hole. Arthur next, before Claudia jumps as three of them splosh into liquid gunk. Then, they find Gretchen entering. Then Ross. Then Journey before the Doctor entering the last.

Clara winces. "What is this stuff?"

"People," Claudia realised.

"The Daleks need protein. Occasionally, they harvest from their victims. This is a feeding tube," Arthur explained, his eyes shut.

Ross gulps, dreading that he almost became one as well. "Those people…turned into this?"

"Everything in here is dead, and do you know why that's good?" the Doctor asked.

"There is nothing good about that," Journey uttered.

"Nothing is alive in here, so logically this is the weakest spot in the Dalek's internal security. Nobody guards the dead. Mortuaries and larders, always the easiest to break out of. Oh, I've lived a life."

"Do I want to know what that means?" Arthur asked, trying not to think how disgusting their place is right now.

"Inform Captain Morgan we're all here," Claudia suggested as she looked around the wall. "Found it!" She exclaimed and unscrewed the large bolt with the sonic screwdriver.

"He'll get us out of here. The difficult part is not killing him before he can," Clara assured them before Claudia entered the hole.

"Bolt hole," the Doctor mused at the bolt. "Actually, a hole for a bolt." He glances at them all. "Does nobody get that?"

"Also, there's the puns."

"Which can get worse when you know him," Arthur quipped before he entered the hole.

"Better be careful," Claudia warned them. "Decontamination tubes are hot."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"Rescue One to Mission Control," Journey called as they all entered the tubes, crawling as they moved.

"This is Blue, Rescue One. Report," Morgan replied.

"The Dalek has an internal defence mechanism."

"What kind of defence mechanism? That thing knows you're in there to help it."

"Yeah, well, who knows? It's a Dalek. We're going to continue the mission."

"Are you alright back there?" the Doctor asked Clara, Arthur, and Claudia who's at front. "It's a bit narrow, isn't it?"

"I'll manage," Arthur assured him.

"Any remarks about my hips will not be appreciated," Clara alluded.

"Fine by me," Claudia jokes.

"Claudia!"

"What? I said it looks good—"

"Girls, time and place," Arthur groaned while the Doctor tried his best not to snort.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

As Claudia helps Clara down from the tube, she notices something. "What's that noise?" She glances at Gretchen. "Are you wearing a Geiger counter?"

"Standard battle equipment. That's just low level radiation," she noted, where there is tiny light moving at many large printed circuit boards.

"But stronger down here, for some reason," the Doctor noticed as he walked around it. "Gimme." With Arthur, the Doctor sweeps the circuit boards with the Geiger counter. "I've got it. I know what's wrong with Rusty."

"Okay, that's good," Clara said. "Is that good?"

"Well, you know how I said this was the most dangerous place in the universe? I was wrong. It's way more dangerous than that."

Claudia glances at him as they slowly walk into a corridor that leads them into a smaller one. "Why?"

"Old Rusty here is suffering a trionic radiation leak. It's poisoning the Dalek and us. Just as well we're here."

"Really? Perhaps we should get out while we can," Journey suggested. "Why should we trust a Dalek? Why would it change?"

"Good question," Claudia admitted. "Rusty, what changed you?"

"I saw beauty."

"You saw what?" Arthur asked.

"In the silence and the cold, I saw worlds burning."

Ross frowns. "That's not beauty, that's destruction."

"I saw more."

"What? What did you see?" The Doctor questioned.

"The birth of a star," Rusty replied.

"Stars are born every day. You've seen a million stars born. So what?"

"Daleks have destroyed a million stars."

"Oh, millions and millions. Trust me, I keep count. Sunny and my girls see it too."

"And yet, new stars are born."

"Every time."

"Resistance is futile."

"Resistance to what?"

"Life returns. Life prevails. Resistance is futile."

"So you saw a star being born, and you learned that Dalek are evil?" Claudia concluded. "Is that it?"

"Never expect a Dalek to say that," Arthur admitted as they kept moving further.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

They all looked out at a huge circular area. Glowing cables and pipes spread out of it and upwards.

"We're at the heart of the Dalek," Claudia whispered.

"It's incredible," Clara said as she looked at the energy arcs above them. But the conical power cell is venting bursts of gas and sparks.

"Geiger counter's off the scale. Looks like it's about to blow," Journey informed.

"Good," the Doctor remarked.

"How is that good?" Ross asked.

"Well, I like a bit of pressure. Rusty, can you hear me?"

"Doctor?" Rusty responded.

"Rusty, we've found the damage. Claudia and I are sealing up the breach in your power cell," he stated as he and Claudia uses their sonic screwdriver as a welder. "No more radiation poisoning. Good as new. There. Job done."

Clara frowns. "That's it? Just like that?"

"An anti-climax once in a while is good for my hearts."

"Yeah, no need to get stress every 24 hours," Arthur agreed.

"Rusty? How do you feel?" Claudia called.

"Rusty? Rusty? Rusty?" The Doctor shouted.

"The malfunction is corrected," Rusty finally answered.

"Oh no," Arthur realised too late. "He returns to his default."

"His what?" Ross demanded as they heard a whirl noise.

"It's like it's waking up," Journey noticed.

"Rusty, come on, talk to me. What's going on?" The Doctor asked, praying that what his son said isn't true.

"The malfunction is corrected. All systems are functioning," Rusty stated.

"Oh, no, no, no."

"Journey, tell your uncle to defend themself," Arthur ordered. "Quickly!"

"The Daleks will be victorious. The rebels will be exterminated," Rusty declared.

"Colonel?" Journey called, trying to warn him and their soldiers. "What's happening out there?"

"Doctor, what happened?" Clara asked.

"Like my father said, Rusty returns to his default," Claudia elaborated. "The radiation affects its brain chemistry. When we healed it, the Dalek returned back like usual."

"Let me get this straight. We had a good Dalek, and we made it bad again?" Journey summarised. "That's all we've done?"

"There was never a good Dalek. There was a broken Dalek and we repaired it," the Doctor clarified.

"You were supposed to be helping us!"

"I gave it a shot. It didn't work out. It was a Dalek, what did you expect? Ow!"

"That, for instance," Clara remarked after slapping him, angry that he only makes things worse than ever.

"No more talking. You are done!" Journey scowled and talks to her crew. "Okay, new objective. We are taking this Dalek down."

"No!" Arthur suddenly shouted. "We can't do that!"

"Why the hell not?" Gretchen yelled back. "You and your family only made our situation worse!"

"We can still save your people. We just need to change Rusty's mind so his default is going to exterminate the Daleks instead. And yeah, I know. I could have told you before this mess could happen. I wish I could. I wish I could save your brother," he looks at Journey who tried not to burst in tears. "But…there is a way."

"You're nuts!"

"First time someone said that to me," Arthur huffed. "Just trust my plan. We cannot waste this chance. It won't come again."

"What chance? I have my orders," Journey remarked.

"Soldiers take orders," Claudia stated bitterly.

"And I'm a soldier."

"A Dalek is a better soldier than you will ever be," the Doctor denoted, slowly realising what Arthur's planning. "Sunny's right. You can't win this way."

Journey holds up a grenade to pull the pin, then puts it down again, groaning. "So what do we do?"

Arthur smiles. "Something better."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

They climb up to a recess.

"The Dalek isn't just some angry blob in a Dalekanium tank. If it was, the radiation would have turned it into a raging lunatic," the Doctor began.

"It is a raging lunatic, it's a Dalek," Ross scowled.

"But for a moment, it wasn't!" Arthur mentioned. "The radiation allowed it to expand its consciousness, to consider things beyond its natural terms of reference. It became good. Meaning, a good Dalek is possible."

"A+ for Arthur Jonas," Clara quipped.

"But now it's back to its default," Ross pointed out.

"But what it saw, what it felt, is still there," the Doctor added.

"Yeah, I'm not really seeing that," Journey confessed.

"He meant up," Claudia clarified, pointing upwards.

Journey frowns. "You mean in the cortex vault?"

"The evil engineering?" Clara recalled.

Arthur nods. "Every memory recorded. Some suppressed, but all still intact. We need to show Rusty the memory of the star being born again. Recreate that moment, help him see it again."

The Doctor glances at his son. "Good plan," he admitted and looked at Clara and Claudia. "Girls. You need to get up there, find that moment and reawaken it."

"Us?" Claudia frowns.

"How?" Clara asked.

"You'll figure it out," Arthur assured them. "But once you've done it, the Dalek will be open to new ideas.

"It will be open again. And I will show it something that will change its mind forever!" the Doctor beamed.

"What?" Journey asked.

"Not a clue."

"This is crazy. There is no way that we can get back up there in time."

"Yes, there is," Gretchen declared.

"No! You can't!" Arthur disagreed. "The antibodies—"

"Tell me the truth. Is he mad, or is he right?" She cut in, looking at the dark-haired man. "I've come this far. Probably going to die anyway. Wouldn't mind something to do for the rest of my life. Your father…Is he mad, or is he right?"

"Both."

"One question, then. Is this worth it?"

"If we can turn one Dalek, we might be able to turn them all. But listen," Arthur interrupted her before she spoke. "You don't need to sacrifice yourself."

"Do you have any idea, then?"

"I can stay with you. When those antibodies going to harm you, I can use my teleportation—"

The Doctor, Claudia, and Clara quickly shout, "NO!"

"What?" Arthur frowns at their fearful eyes while Gretchen is startled by the sudden shout. It wasn't the first time his father had reacted like that, considering the number of times Arthur had used his powers, but Clara and Claudia's reactions made him uneasy and suspicious. "Why not?"

"You can't use it," the Doctor insisted. His voice was normal, but there was a slight tremble. "Teleportation consumes too much Vortex energy. You get yourself killed!"

"I can try again. This time I—"

"Dad," Claudia interjected harshly, hand grips the sonic screwdriver tightly. "You can get yourself killed if you use too much Time Vortex. Please don't."

"I can regenerate," Arthur replied. Why are they like this? Arthur is a Time Lord. He could have regenerated to restore himself.

The Doctor lowered his head. "You can't."

Wait, what?

"We're wasting time!" Gretchen groaned and pried her harpoon. "Gretchen Alison Carlisle. Name something after me."

Arthur shook his head as the Doctor and Ross dragged him away. "Gretchen—"

She fires two wires up to the cranial ledge. "Go."

"They're coming. They're coming!" Clara shouted as Claudia and Journey fastened a pulley onto the zip wire on each other.

"Grab hold of the rope. Don't look down," Journey warned.

"Good luck," Gretchen said one last time before Journey, Claudia and Clara flew upwards.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

The Doctor, Arthur, and Ross squeezes between pipes and fights their way between a mass of tubing, finally finding themself on a ledge and looking into the huge eye of the Dalek.

"Well, Rusty, here we are. Eye to eye," the Doctor remarked.

Arthur turned to his father. "Doctor—"

"Later," he said, his eyes blazing with worry. "I promised."

"You cannot save the humans. They will be exterminated. I shall join the Dalek units in the final attack," Rusty exclaimed.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"So what do we do?" Journey asked as they're at the cortex fault, regarding all the lights, bemused.

"Er, a clever thing, quickly," Clara mumbled. "Think, think, think, think, think." She takes a look. "Some of the lights are out."

"Wait. Didn't Dad say how some of the Dalek's memories were suppressed?" Claudia remembered.

"What if the dark spots are hidden memories?" Clara realised. "What if one of those is the Dalek seeing a star?"

"Seriously?" Journey huffed.

"Yeah. Well, maybe. It's either that or the bulbs need changing."

"Better try than nothing," Claudia pointed out, using her sonic screwdriver to pull one of the panels off, then look at Clara. "Be careful in there."

"Watch out for antibodies. Let's see if there's an on switch," Clara said as she went behind, into the memory banks.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"We saved your life, Rusty," Arthur narrows his eyes while Ross helps the Doctor with the equipment they need. "Now, my father's going to save your soul."

"Daleks do not have souls," Rusty stated.

"Oh, no? Imagine if you did. What then, Rusty? What would happen then?" The Doctor proposed as he stood beside his son. Behind them, there's a projection, showing so much destruction because of the Daleks. "Your memories! I'm about to give some back to you."

Ross pulled some fibre-optic cable from within it.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"Are you okay?" Journey asked.

"Clara?" Claudia called, worried.

"Yeah. I think there was some sort of energy charge," Clara replied.

"You got the first lights on."

"Of course, it's a brain. Brains work with electrical pathways linking up memories. It's working. It's working, we're turning the memories back on."

"Good. Keep going!" Claudia encouraged her.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"See, all those years ago, when I began," the Doctor said as Arthur uses his sonic screwdriver to cut through the flexible tubing covering a set of neurons, then he pulls them apart. "I was just running. I called myself the Doctor, but it was just a name. And then I went to Skaro. And then I met you lot and I understood who I was. The Doctor was not the Daleks."

Arthur briefly sees many Daleks flying in space.

"Oh look. It's your memories again," the Doctor realised. "It's like somebody's mucking about up there. Memories, all those memories. Do you remember the star you saw being born?"

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"Hurry up, Clara! Hurry up!" Journey yelled as the antibodies slowly creep in.

Claudia's gripping her sonic screwdriver, ready to cause some diversion to buy more time…when the last set of lights come on and antibodies retreat. "It's working!" She smiles.

"It's rebooting," Journey breathed. "The antibodies have reset."

She looks up. "Better work, Dad, Doctor," she whispered.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"I…I remember," Rusty muttered.

"You saw the truth, Rusty. Remember how you felt. You saw a star being born. The endless rebirth of the universe," Arthur articulated.

"No."

"And you realised the truth about the Daleks," the Doctor chimed in.

"Truth? What is the truth?"

"Let me show you the truth. We've opened your mind and now we're coming in."

The Doctor and Arthur splices the two pieces of cut neuron together with their hands, and screams as the energy surges through their body.

"We're part of you now," Arthur shared. "Our mind is in your mind."

"I see your mind, Doctor, Explorer. I see your universe."

"And isn't the universe beautiful?" The Doctor smiles.

"I see beauty."

"Yes, that's good. That is good. Hold on to that."

"I see endless, divine perfection."

"Make it a part of you. Remember how you feel right now."

"Put it inside you and live by it," Arthur denoted.

"I see into your soul, Doctor, Explorer. I see beauty. I see divinity. I see…fear…hatred."

The Doctor frowns. "Fear? Hatred?"

"I see your fear of the Daleks, Explorer. I see your hatred of the Daleks, Doctor…and it is good."

Arthur gasps as he sees a memory of many Daleks suddenly explode. And in the centre of it…

"No, no, no," the Doctor disagreed, not just to stop himself from sharing what happened at the Crucible. Not the most traumatic and terrible day for him. "You must see more than that, there must be more than that."

"Death to the Daleks," Rusty declared. "Death to the Daleks. Death to the Daleks."

"There must be more than that," Arthur insisted. "There's gotta be."

"Daleks are evil. Daleks must be exterminated. Daleks are evil."

Rusty approaches his former comrades from the rear. The Daleks turn and Rusty shoots them to pieces. He did that to all the Daleks in Aristotle, exterminating them all.

As the Doctor catches his son from putting his face on the ground, he mutters sadly. "Of course they are. That's what you do, isn't it?"

▪︎▪︎▪︎

After they manage to return back to normal size, they quickly reunite with the rest. Arthur watches with a smile as Journey and Morgan hugs each other.

"I have transmitted a retreat signal," Rusty informed. "The Daleks will believe the humans have initiated the ship's self-destruct."

"What about you, Rusty?" Clara asked.

"I must go with them."

"Of course you must. You've unfinished work, haven't you?" The Doctor retorted.

Rusty paused. "Victory is yours, but it does not please you."

"You looked inside the Doctor and you saw hatred," Arthur testified.

"That's not victory," the Doctor alluded. "Victory would have been a good Dalek."

"I am not a good Dalek. You are a good Dalek."

Arthur shut his eyes as the Doctor hugs him, winces at the notion that he and his son are 'good Dalek'. That's so wrong. That's very, very wrong. "Till the next time," he said and went through the door to Med Sec 07, taking Arthur with him.

"Is he leaving? Isn't he going to say goodbye?" Journey asked.

"I don't think he will," Claudia replied before she and Clara went after them.

Just as they are all ready to enter the Tardis, Journey runs to them. "Doctor," she called, stopping. "Take me with you."

The Time Lord takes a glance to his son, who sadly shakes his head. Journey's a good person. But she's too much of a soldier. The last thing they need is another soldier. "Your place is in here, Journey," Arthur kindly told her. "Your battle isn't over."

He quickly enters the Tardis, not wanting to say more.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

After they had changed their clothes, Clara leaves the Tardis and Claudia decides to train in the gym, Arthur decides to ask his father, since they're both alone in the console. "What do you mean," he began, "when I can't regenerate?"

The doctor closed his eyes after setting the navigation to space. He was afraid his son would ask him about it. Lying would obviously disappoint his son. And that was the last thing he wanted to do. "When you were exposed to the sun parasite, you said it had entered your system. Honestly, Sunny, until I saw you again, I thought you were dead at that time."

Huh? "Dead? Why?"

"The parasites destroy the entire body and personality of the body they enter. What makes a being a being...those parasites essentially turn them into lifeless robots. I can feel how vicious the parasites are. And I dare not regenerate for fear of the effects on my body."

"But you're fine. I'm fine too."

"That's right, the parasite left your body...but its effects have been mixed in with your regeneration energy. When you regenerated into your current body, you ate most of the rest of your regeneration in order to survive it. Even then, it's not perfect. Your body is much more tired. Using Time Vortex for a new trick taxed you out."

And the worst part of this? His condition will get worse.

Arthur clutches his chest, looking at the console. "So…this is my last body."

"Yes."

"And I can't regenerate again."

"...Yes."

From afar, a person in a dark robe walks in a hurry. In their hands, wrapped up against the cold, carrying a bundle. A baby.

The adolescent man slowly pointed his finger at him.

A giant clock reaches 12 on a church.

"Sunny! Sunny!"

He gasped, finding himself kneeling on the floor, holding his head while his breathing went wild. His eyes find the Doctor's, clutching him fiercely. "What happened?" Arthur asked.

"You suddenly had a seizure," the Doctor replied, his voice cracking. "What's wrong? What did you see?"

"I…" he gulps. "I'm not sure…"

"You're not sure?"

"The visions…it slipped away. I know I had seen it, but the moment the visions are gone, somehow I keep forgetting it. It's like the Silent did to erase their existence."

"A forbidden vision," the Doctor muttered, slowly putting Arthur to sit down on a chair near the console.

"A what?" Arthur asked, rubbing his neck.

"A vision you should never have, but you had it," the Doctor explained. "It's an old theory in Gallifrey. Visionaries' jobs are to see the past, present, and future. But, there are some situations where they receive a vision that's forbidden. Usually, it's because they had a vision of something personal that they shouldn't get access to. In other cases, some divine intervention had hacked themself. Some even suggested that a forbidden vision was often received because it happened…after the receiver's death."

Arthur frowns. "So, it's like a glitch?" He guessed.

"To simplify it, why not?" The Doctor shrugs as she presses a button on the console. "But, maybe…maybe that vision can be a clue to help you, Sunny! Maybe that's why you can't remember!" He turns around, expecting to see him…

Only to find out that he had jump again.