The Doctor stood in the shadows of a run-down building watching as a woman in a hooded cloak looked out at the planet below.
He had gotten a message through his dreams from a woman, Darla, the woman wanting his help to save her daughter. Of course he had gone, he never could refuse to help child in need, even if it could easily be a trap.
Which was why he was glad Thea was with Sarah Jane for a few days. If she knew he had come here she never would have let him out the TARDIS, probably with good reason.
"First, there were the Daleks." The woman spoke, "And then, there was a man who fought them. And then, in time, he died. There are a few, of course, who believe this man somehow survived and that one day he will return. For both our sakes, dearest Hannah, we must hope these stories are true."
"I got your message." The Doctor stepped into the woman's view as she turned, "Not many people can do that. Send me messages."
"I have a daughter, Hannah." She got straight to the point, "She's in a Dalek prison camp. They say you can help."
"Do they?" He sighed, "I wish they'd stop."
He really did. As much as he loved to help people, he had spent a lot of time deleting himself from databanks across the universe, trying to remove any knowledge about him.
He was concerned about Kovarian, as far as they were aware, the woman was still alive. He hoped she believed he had died at Lake Silencio but it didn't stop him from worrying what she could be planning in the shadows. He didn't want her to try and find a way to kill him again. Especially with how she had regretted using River, he had seen her watching Thea, eying her whenever they were in the same room. He didn't want her to try and kill him again but use Thea to do so.
No, it was easier to pretend he never existed.
"I love your choice of meeting place." He moved closer, looking out at the ruins.
"They said I'd have to intrigue you." Darla said.
"Skaro." He muttered, "The original planet of the Daleks. Look at the state of it." He turned to her, "Who told you about me?"
"Does it matter?"
"Maybe not, but you're very well informed." He pulled back her hood revealing her straight red hair as he looked at her intently, "If Hannah's in a Dalek prison camp, tell me, why aren't you?"
"I escaped." She said simply.
"No." He chuckled darkly, "Nobody escapes the Dalek camps." He grabbed her wrist, holding it tight, "You're very cold." He reached for her check before stepping back, looking around nervously.
"What's wrong?" Darla asked him.
"It's a trap."
"What is?"
"You are, and you don't even know it." He backed away as Darlas head jerked and a Dalek eyestalk sprouted from her forehead.
She lifted her hand, revealing the Dalek gun extending from the palm as she fired, knocking him out as a Dalek saucer arrived to acquire him.
~.~
Thea hopped onto the near empty tube compartment, glancing at the only other occupant, an older man with his face buried in a newspaper.
She stared at him as the train headed off before shaking her head and speaking back into her phone, "Yeah, I'm on the tube now." She told Luke.
She had been at Sarah Jane's for a few days, mostly helping Clyde and Rani pack for university, but also to help Sky settle.
Sky had taken over her old room, not that she minded, she rarely slept when she stopped over anyway, and when she did, she usually ended up falling asleep in Lukes room from late night talks or on the sofa in the attic. It made sense for Sky to have her room.
She had even helped her redecorate it to the girls preference.
She glanced at the man again hearing the newspaper shuffle as he turned the page. She shook her head, trying to shake of the gut feeling that she should not have gotten on the next train. She knew she should have gotten the next one but Luke was waiting for her and so she had ignored it, but now she was starting to regret that.
"I'll pick up some pizzas on my way over." She called back into the phone, only to stiffen, really regretting getting this train, "I'll call you back when I get closer." She said, trying to keep her voice neutral as she hung up, glancing at the man through the reflection of the glass seeing his head drop.
She gasped as his head lifted to reveal a Dalek eyestalk on his forehead, revealing a Dalek laser gun in the palm of his hand as he fired at her, knocking her out.
~.~
"Thea." Thea groaned, hearing Rory softly calling her name, "Thea."
"Repeating my name is not going to rouse me any quicker," She grumbled, coming back around to see him crouching besides her in a stark white room.
"Told you she's fine."
Thea slowly sat up to see Amy standing a few feet away with her arms crossed, before a window revealing the many Dalek ships outside. She groaned, "Dalek puppet."
"Where's the Doctor?" Amy asked, sounding a lot softer than her stance made her seem.
"He's...nearby." She offered, taking Rorys offered hand as he helped her to her feet.
"So..." Rory glanced out the window at the many Dalek ships surrounding them, "how much trouble are we in?"
Thea opened her mouth to answer when a door slid open and the Doctor walked in, following a Dalek, with one rolling in behind him, "how much trouble, Mr Pond? Out of 10? 11." He strode further into the room, over to Thea and pulled her into a tight hug. "I tried to keep you out of this mess."
"Yeah, well, you know me," she shrugged, pulling back to smirk at him, "Always happy to take down a couple of Daleks. Did I ever tell you the time Luke and I took down a Dalek with a nerf gun and a baseball bat."
The Doctor let out a small chuckle, able to image the pair doing just that, "you'll have to give me the details later."
"Absolutely." She promised as the ceiling above them, like a circle as the floor rose up and they found themselves in a large domed room surrounded by Daleks, there was a White Dalek nearby with the TARDIS having been acquired and a mutant Dalek sat in a glass case on the other side of the room.
"Where are we?" Amy asked, "A spaceship, right?"
"Not just any spaceship." Thea breathed, "The Parliament of the Daleks."
The Doctor turned and glanced at her, a finger to his lips as she nodded understanding his silent communication. Don't let the Daleks know of her abilities, Well, no more than they possibly do.
"Be brave." He warned them.
"What do we do?" Amy looked at him.
"Make them remember you." The Doctor said quietly before facing the Daleks, "Well, come on then. You've got me. What are you waiting for? At long last, it's Christmas!" He threw his arms wide, "Here I am!" He closed his eyes, preparing for their attack...
"Save us." The mutant Dalek called, making the Doctor crack an eye open, "you will save us."
He opened his eyes, dropping his arms, stunned at their words, "I'll what?"
"You will save the Daleks."
"Save the Daleks. Save the Daleks. Save the Daleks. Save the Daleks. Save the Daleks. Save the Daleks. Save the Daleks."
"Well...this is new." The Doctor muttered, glancing at Thea who looked just as shocked at him.
"Didn't see this coming." She murmured.
~.~
The Doctor paced around the room with the Daleks following with their eyestalks as though waiting for him to attack.
"What's he doing?" Rory asked Thea as she sat, cross legged, on the floor between the two humans, seemingly unconcerned to be surrounded by so many of their deadliest enemies.
But it was Amy who answered first, "He's chosen the most defendable place in the room. counted all the Daleks, counted all the exits..."
"And he's concerned with how far apart you're standing." Thea added with a sigh as she got back to her feet, knowing they would be arriving very shortly. "Not to mention the paperwork in your pocket." She leaned closer to Rory, whispering so Amy didn't hear her, "that you have yet to sign."
Rory shifted at that, he didn't doubt the girl to know he and Amy were going through a rough patch, well, he said rough patch. That paperwork she mentioned was their divorce papers which Amy had signed, only this morning and, as per usual with Thea, she was right, he had yet to sign the paperwork despite he had been about to go and hand them in before being snatched away by Daleks. He didn't know why he hasn't signed it yet, guess, he was still waiting for some kind of miracle, but now he knew one wouldn't come. If Thea knew about their divorce but wasn't saying anything then there must be a reason she wasn't.
"Oh, and look at him frowning," Amy rolled her eyes as the Doctor looked over at them, hearing Thea comment about the papers, "Something's wrong with Amy and Rory, and who's going to fix it? And he straightens his bow tie." The Doctor tweaked his bowtie.
"We have arrived." The white Dalek announced.
The Doctor spun to it, "Arrived where?"
"Doctor..." The mutant Dalek called.
"The Prime Minister will speak with you now." Darla spoke from the side of the room.
The Doctor glanced back to see Thea moving to stand between Amy and Rory and so stepped over to see the mutant, pausing as he passed Darla, "Do you remember who you were before they emptied you out and turned you into their puppet?" He asked quietly.
"My memories are only reactivated if they are required to facilitate cover or disguise." Darla stated.
"You had a daughter."
"I know." She leaned forwards, "I've read my file."
The Doctor stared at her disgusted at what Daleks could do, how easily she had waved off talking about her daughter with no emotion. He headed up the ramp to face the mutant, "Well?"
"What do you know of the Dalek Asylum?" It began.
"According to legend, you have a dumping ground. A planet where you lock up all the Daleks that go wrong. The battle-scarred, the insane, the ones even you can't control. It's never made any sense to me." He looked away.
"Why not?"
"Because you'd just kill them." Thea remarked.
"It is offensive to us to extinguish such divine hatred."
"Offensive?" The Doctor scoffed at it.
"Does it surprise you to know the Daleks have a concept of beauty?"
The Doctor bent over to look in the Daleks eye, "I thought you'd run out of ways to make me sick. Hello again. You think hatred is beautiful." He turned away disgusted.
"Perhaps that is why we have never been able to kill you." The mutant called, making him pause.
"Dad!"
He looked over at Theas shout to see her tugging Amy and Rory back, a hole opening in the floor, revealing a planet below with a force field around it.
"The Asylum." Darla stated, walking over as they peered down to look, "It occupies the entire planet, right to the core."
"How many Daleks are in there?" The Doctor frowned.
"A count has not been made."
"Millions." Thea breathed.
"All still alive?" The Doctor turned to her, knowing her guesses were usually more than just guesses.
"Most of them."
"The Asylum is fully automated." Darla nodded, "Supervision is not required."
"Armed?" Amy asked.
"The Daleks are always armed."
"What colour?" Rory asked as they looked at him, "I'm sorry, there weren't any good questions left."
"What else is down there?" Thea wondered, staring down at the white planet, able to feel the coldness all the way up on the ship, rubbing her arms in discomfort, just knowing why they were being shown the planet.
"I'm sorry?" Darla blinked, startled.
"If something can get in, anything can get out." She looked up at her, "Which the Daleks don't want."
The Doctor started to smile at that. More often than not when Thea abilities came out, they were so random that no one battered an eye at them but sometimes they would come out so easily that you couldn't miss it.
He loved seeing her abilities grow the more comfortable she got with them.
"There is a signal is being received from the very heart of the Asylum." Darla nodded, pressing a button on her wrist device and Habanera from Carmen came over the speakers.
"What is the noise?" The white Dalek demanded as the Doctor closed his eyes, and began to air conduct, Explain! Explain!"
"It's music." Thea told it.
"It's me." the Doctor corrected.
"Sorry, what?" Rory shook his head.
"It's me, playing the triangle. Okay, I got buried in the mix. Carmen. Lovely show. Someone's transmitting this." He walked over to the control panel near the white Dalek scanning it, "Have you considered tracking back the signal and talking to them?"
"He asked the Daleks." Thea joked, seeing them staring at him.
The Doctor shook his head reaching out a pressing a button the music turning to static, "Hello? Hello, Carmen? Hello?
"...hello?"
He blinked, hearing a young woman's voice, "Come in. Come in. Come in, Carmen."
"Hello!" The woman shouted, "Yes, yes, sorry. Do you read me?"
"Yes, reading you loud and clear. Identify yourself and report your status."
"Hello. Are you real? Are you actually, properly, real?"
He chuckled, "Yes, confirmed. Actually, properly...real..." He trailed off slightly, catching sight of Thea frowning at the controls.
"Oswin Oswald," the woman introduced, pulling the Doctors attention back, "junior entertainment officer, starship Alaska. Current status crashed and shipwrecked somewhere not nice. Been here a year, rest of the crew missing. Provisions good but keen to move on."
"A year?" He gaped, "Are you okay? Are you under attack?"
"Some local lifeforms. Been keeping them out."
"Do you know what those lifeforms are?"
"I know a Dalek when I hear one, yeah."
"What have you been doing on your own against the Daleks for a year?"
"Making soufflés?"
"Soufflés?" He laughed, "Against the Daleks?"
"Where'd you get the milk?" Thea wondered, making them look at her.
The Doctor looked at her, confused, her abilities peeking out that they didn't really understand, but he made a mental note to remember it. It did sound impossible, a human crash on a Dalek Asylum and having managed to survive a whole year without getting killed, while making soufflés.
"This conversation is irrelevant." The white Dalek interrupted.
"No, it is not!" Thea argued.
"No!" Oswin yelled as the Daleks cut off the connection, "Hello? Hello?"
"Because a star liner has crashed into your Asylum," the Doctor continued, "and someone's got in. And if someone can get in, then everything can get out. A tsunami of insane Daleks. Even you don't want that."
"The Asylum must be cleansed." The white Dalek declared.
"Then why is it still here? You've enough firepower on this ship to blast it out of the sky."
"The Asylum forcefield is impenetrable." Darla stated.
"Turn it off."
"It can only be turned off from within the Asylum."
"A small taskforce could sneak through a forcefield." the Doctor waved her off, only to glance at Thea to see her rubbing her arms.
"You really think they'd send their own?" She asked him, seeing him looking at her and dropping her arms.
"Oh." He nodded, clapping as he made his way back over to the Dalek, "Oh. Oh, that's good. That's brilliant. You're all too scared to go down there. Not one of you will go, so tell me, what do the Daleks do when they're too scared?"
"The Predator of the Daleks will be deployed." The white Dalek responded.
"You don't have a Predator, and even if you did, why would they turn off a forcefield for you?"
"Because you and your daughter will have no other means of escape."
"What?" Thea blinked, looking at the Doctors, "you're their Predator?"
"Not what I know off..." He began.
But Darla cut in, "May I clarify? The Predator is the Dalek's word for you."
"Me?" He gaped, "Me?"
"You will need this." Darla placed a band around the Doctors wrist with a blue light in the middle, "it will protect you from the nanocloud." She added as two more Dalek Puppets stepped over, placing the bands on Thea, Amy and Rory as well.
"The what?" The Doctor shook his head, "The nano what?"
One of the Dalek Puppets moved over and pulled the Doctor back to the hole. "The gravity beam will convey you close to the source of the transmission." Darla told them, "You must find a way to deactivate the forcefield from there."
"You're going to fire us at a planet?" The Doctor cried, "That's your plan? I get fired at a planet and expected to fix it."
A beam of light shot up through the floor connecting the ship to the Asylum.
"In fairness, that is slightly your M O." Rory offered.
"Don't be fair to the Daleks when they're firing us at a planet!" The Doctor glared at him. "What do you want with them?"
"It is known the Doctor required companions." The white Dalek remarked.
"Oh, brilliant." Rory muttered, "good oh."
"Don't worry." Thea reassured him, "We'll get through this, I promise. Everything will be fine. Don't be scared."
"Scared?" Amy smirked, "Who's scared? Geronimo."
"It'll be alright." The Doctor murmured to Thea seeing her shiver for a moment. As much as she said everything would be alright, he didn't know if that was a feeling or just her wanting to try and comfort the humans. It was his job to comfort her.
"I know." She nodded, "I feel it." She grinned, making him laugh only for a Dalek Puppet to step over and push her down into the beam.
"Thea!" He yelled, not even waiting to be pushed down himself as he jumped down after her. Amy and Rory pushed after him, all of them falling towards the planet.
"Wrong way up!" Rory yelled as he fell backwards.
"Rory!" Amy tried to reach for him, seeing the beam split in two.
"Dad!" Thea gasped.
He reached for her, managing to grab her hand as they fell, "got you!"
~.~
The Doctor awoke to find himself laying in the snow, seeing Thea on her side only a few feet away. He let out a breath, glad he had managed to grab her as they fell, he dreaded to think want would happen if they had been separated.
He frowned, seeing, just past her was a Dalek eyestalk, popping out the snow, retracting and popping up closer.
He jerked upright, seeing it getting closer and pulled Thea onto his lap as she groaned at the sudden movement, "sorry, kiddo." He murmured, kissing her head.
She blinked her eyes awake, squinted at the brightness and turning her head into his shoulder, before the mechanical whirr of the eyestalk reached her and they both stared at it before Carmen sounded over the speaker.
"Sorry, sorry." Oswins voice cut in as the song stopped, "Pressed the wrong switch."
"Soufflé girl?" The Doctor blinked, feeling Thea stiffen as the girl spoke.
"You can always call me Oswin, seeing as that's my name. You two okay?"
"How are you doing that, eh?" The Doctor reached out and tapped the eyestalk, "This is Dalek technology."
"It's very easy to hack."
"No, it isn't." Thea argued quietly.
"Where are you?" The Doctor wondered.
"The ship broke up when it hit." Oswin replied, "Somewhere underground, I think. You coming to get me?"
"Doctor?" They heard Amy shouting.
"Over here!" Thea responded, jumping up to see the woman making her way over a hill.
"Hey!" the Doctor frowned at the eyestalk seeing the connection start to flicker, "Oi! Soufflé girl! Come back!"
"Thea!" Amy yelled, hurrying closer, a black man in a white suit hurrying after her.
"Amy!" They made their way over to her.
"Rory isn't with you." Thea breathed.
"You don't know where he is?" Amy frowned.
"He's... fine." She blinked, knowing that was true.
"There was another beam." The man told them, "There. Over there." He pointed, the trio ran off in that direction, "Are you the rescue team?" He hurried after them, stopping as they came to a dark hole in the ground.
Thea peered down as Amy leaned over from the other side, "Rory?" She called, unable to see anything in the darkness, "Rory! Rory!"
"You got some rope or something, Harvey?" Thea turned to the man.
He blinked in surprise at her knowing his name, "Yeah, the ships this way." He turned and led them off towards a hatch as he stated to clean the snow enough to get it open, "We came down two days ago. There's twelve of our escape pods. I don't know what happened to them."
Amy frowned, wiping the snow off the top, seeing the name of the ship, "Alaska? That's the same ship as soufflé girl."
"Yeah." The Doctor nodded, eying Harvey suspiciously, "Except she's been here a year."
"Who's to say he hasn't either." Thea murmured.
The Doctor stiffened at that. Looking at her to see her staring at Harvey as they man got the hatch open, starting to climb down, "what is it?" He asked quietly.
"No one can survive down here for that long."
He nodded as they headed down after Harvey. Something was seriously wrong here.
"We should have some climbing rope long enough for that hole." Harvey said, moving to a locker of to the side.
Thea gagged at the smell, something a human would miss, but as the Doctor frowned at the crew in their snowsuit, all facing away from them. He could smell it too.
The stench of death.
"Won't you introduce us to your crew?" the Doctor remarked.
"Ah, yes, sorry." Harvey grinned, "Guys, this is the Doctor, Thea and Amy." The crew didn't react, "Guys?" The Doctor placed a hand on the shoulder of one of the crew, it fell forwards revealing a mummified corpse, "Oh, my god."
The Doctor quickly scanned it with the sonic, frowning seeing the results, "They're dead. All of them."
"That's not possible." Harvey shook his head, "I just spoke to them. Two hours ago. We were doing engine repairs."
"You're sure about that, are you? Because I'd say they've all been dead for a very long time."
A year, according to the sonic. Which was concerning as it meant Harvey arrived with Oswin, nearly a year ago. But how had both he and Oswin survived if the rest of the crew were like this?
"But they can't have been..."
"Well, they didn't get in this state in two hours." Amy remarked.
"No, of course." Harvey shook his head, "Stupid me..."
"Of course, what?" Amy frowned, feeling Thea stiffen besides her.
"I died outside, and the cold preserved my body. I forgot about dying." He bent forwards, a Dalek eyestalk growing from his forehead his face going blank as he slowly advanced.
The Doctor grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall behind him using it to force Harvey back as Thea ran over to the door and the Doctor forced the man through it as Thea slammed the door on him.
"Explain.", Amy demanded, "That's what you're good at. How'd he get all Daleked?"
"Because he wasn't wearing one of these." The Doctor explained, holding up the band on his wrist, "Oh, ho, ho. That's clever. The nanocloud. Microorganisms that automatically process any organic matter, living or dead, into a Dalek puppet. Anything attacks this place; it automatically becomes part of the on-site security."
"Living or dead?" Amy tensed.
"These wristbands protect us. The only thing stopping us going exactly the way he did..."
"You said living or dead," Thea pointed out.
"Yes." He said slowly, not sure why she was repeating his words.
She gestured to the mummified crew surrounding them, "we're surrounded by the dead."
"Oh dear!"
"Run!" Thea shouted, kicking the closest corpse away, giving them a chance to run to the door on the other side as she slammed her hand on the button opening it when Amy screamed, a corpse grabbing her as the Doctor grabbed her and pulled her away. Thea quickly shut the door as they leaned against it, panting.
"Is it bad that I've really missed this?" Amy asked, laughing lightly.
"Yes." The Doctor replied.
"Good."
"I know."
"Unauthorised personnel may not enter the cockpit." Oswins voice came over the speakers.
"Shut up." The Doctor huffed, pushing off the door and looking around the room.
"Oh, Mr Grumpy. Bad combo. No sense of humour in that chin."
"Is that her again?" Amy wondered, "soufflé girl?"
"Oswin." Thea corrected absentmindedly.
Which only made Doctor frown at her. Usually, she would be excited to meet someone like Oswin, but she wasn't. Like she didn't trust the girl, and he knew better than to argue with her. If Thea seemed unsure of Oswin, there was a good reason, and he was starting to agree with her.
How had she survived a year here when no one else did?
"Oi," the Doctor frowned as Oswins words hit him, and he turned to the camera, "what is wrong with my chin?"
"Careful, dear." She laughed, "you'll put someone's eye out. I'm scanning you. You're in another of the escape pods from the Alaska, right? Same ship I was on."
"How can you hack into everything?" Thea asked her.
"It should be impossible." The Doctor agreed, "You're in a crashed ship!"
"Long story."
"But...you're human." Thea shook her head, a slight hesitation in her words at the woman's species.
It was a part of her abilities, she was quite good at knowing when people were lying, but it was different this time, like she knew what Oswin was saying wasn't true, but the girl didn't know that.
She could hear the robotic tone in her voice. Which was certainly odd as it sounded like a Dalek with a sense of humour. Which just confused her even more about this Oswin Oswald.
"Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?" Oswin asked.
"Doctor." He grinned, "you call me the Doctor."
"See what you did there."
"And I'm Thea." Thea added.
"And you are simply adorable, Curly Wurly," Oswin laughed. "Check the floor. I'm picking up a breach at floor level. There could be a way out. See you later."
Thea crouched down, moving some debris aside to see the small hatch in the floor, "looks likes someone's already been down." She said quickly catching the Doctors eyes. He nodded understanding who that must have been, "and they've tried to block it off behind them."
Amy glanced back at the corpses banging on the door, "Can't imagine why."
"The lower part of the pod is buried, so this must go straight down to the Asylum." The Doctor reasoned.
"Where Rory is." Amy nodded.
Thea hummed, looking up at her, as the Doctor used the sonic to open the hatch, "you want to explain that?"
"Are we going to do this now?" Amy huffed.
"What happened?" The Doctor asked her.
"Oh, stuff. You know. We split up. What can you do?"
"What can I do?" He repeated quietly.
"Nothing. It's not one of those things you can fix like you fix your bowtie. Don't give me those big wet eyes, Raggedy Man. It's life. Just life. That thing that goes on when you're not there." She sighed, "guess you were wrong, you didn't see us grow up together."
Thea turned to glare at her, "The future is constantly changing," she said tensely, "I can't see everything, but I stand by what I said. You and Rory will grow old together."
Amy rolled her eyes, not believing her. She used to love it when Thea told them that she knew she and Rory would grow old together, it gave them both faith that they would safely end their travels and eventually settle down and have a family, but they couldn't have a family and she wouldn't force Rory to stay when she couldn't give him what he wanted. So she had kicked him out and she hated that Thea hadn't been able to warn them about this.
"It's a stupid reason to give someone up." Thea muttered.
"Like you would understand." Amy muttered.
The Doctor let out a small cheer as he got the hatch open, and they saw a ladder headed down the deep hole.
"Okay," Amy nodded, glad to be off the topic of her and Rorys divorce, "so somebody else got out this way, then."
"Yeah, let's go and find them." He moved to head down first, not wanting either of the girls to go first, with no idea what was waiting at the bottom only to frown, seeing Thea staring back at the door the corpses were pounding on, "Oh, hello, hello, hello. What are they up to?" He moved over to the door, frowning to see the corpses waving something at them.
"What's that?" Amy frowned.
Thea slowly stood, moving to Amy and pulling up her sleeve to reveal her bare wrist. She had a feeling this would happen but hadn't tried to change it. A tiny part of her, an evil, horrible side was nagging that it had to happen and so...she had let it. Putting Amy at risk and trusting her abilities that everything would be alright in the end.
Everyone always told her to trust them and so she was.
"Oh, Amy." the Doctor breathed, taking her arm and examining it.
"Doctor," Amy swallowed, "what's going to happen to me? Seriously. Tell me what."
~.~
The Doctor was climbing down the ladder, heading down first, not knowing what was in the dark as Amy went down after him, Thea following last.
"So, tell me," Amy spoke as they neared the end of the ladder, "what's going to happen to me? And don't lie. Because I know when you're lying to me, and I will definitely fall on you."
"The air all around is full of micro-machines." The Doctor began explaining to her. Again. "Robots the size of molecules. Nanogenes. Now that you're unprotected, you're being re-written."
"So, what happens?" She asked as they reached the bottom and she stepped away to allow Thea to follow, "I get one of those things sticking out of my head?"
"Physical changes come later."
"What comes first? How does it start?"
"With your mind. Your feelings, your memories, and I'm sorry but it's started already."
"How do you know?"
"Because this is the fourth time we've had this conversation." Thea stated.
"Okay," Amy sucked a breath, "scared now."
"Hang on to scared." Thea told her, "Scared isn't Dalek. Any emotion that isn't Dalek, cling too."
It didn't sound that hard, really. Daleks didn't have emotions, while humans were rather emotional, as long as she didn't start feeling hateful, she would be fine.
Right?
This was her fault. If anything happened to Amy it was all her fault.
Oh she really hoped she wasn't in way over her head about this.
The Doctor headed to the door at the end of the corridor as it slid open to reveal an empty room. He didn't step though, able to hear the Daleks in the distance.
"What's that?" Amy asked.
The Doctor backed away from the door which slid shut again, "Keep a look out." He told her, taking Theas hand and pulling him with him to the nearby camera, "Don't open this door. Oswin! Oswin, can you hear me?"
"Hello, the chin." Oswin cheerfully greeted, "I have visual on you and Curly Wurly."
"Why don't we have a visual on you?" Thea asked. "Why can't we ever see you?"
"Limited power, bad hair, take your pick." Oswin sighed, "There's a door to your left. Open it." The Doctor moved to do so, seeing a screen and circuitry behind it, "I'm going to send you a map to that screen. I put your little friend somewhere safe. I can get you to him."
"You found Rory?" Thea grinned at that.
"I call him Nina. Personal thing. Hush now."
Thea let out a small laugh at that. Even if it was highly likely that Oswin was some kind of Dalek, she was a very amusing one at that. It was a shame someone as brilliant as her had been found by the Daleks first.
"How many Daleks directly ahead of me right now?" The Doctor asked Oswin.
It was Thea who answered first, "Double figures at least."
"It's hard to say." Oswin agreed, "Some of them are catatonic but they do have firepower."
"How do we get past them?" The Doctor asked, only for Thea to gasp, cutting him off as she went running back down the corridor. He spun to see why she had suddenly taken off, Amy had opened the door and was slowly walking out into a room full of Daleks. "Amy!"
"Shush," Amy whispered, sounding dazed, "It's okay, it's just people in here. It's just people."
"Amy, it's the nanocloud," the Doctor warned her, "it's altering your perception. Look again. Look again. Those aren't people." Amy turned, her eyes widened as she now saw the Daleks as they actually were, "Amy, come out. Take my hand. Run! Run!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her back down the corridor.
"Not the ladder!" Thea cried as they ran back to it, only to see the corpses heading down after them.
"Intruder!" A Dalek cried behind them.
"This way!" Thea pushed them into a small niche to hide, as they heard the Dalek power up to fire...
The Doctor peeked around to see the Daleks laser gun, twitching but unable to fire, as he stepped out, "It's damaged."
"But not all of them are." Thea whispered.
"Okay, but what do we do?" Amy shook her head.
"Identify me." The Doctor called to it, "Access your files. Who am I? Come on. Who's your daddy?"
"Seriously?" Thea scoffed.
"You...are...the Predator." The Dalek announced.
"Access your standing orders concerning the Predator."
"The Predator must be destroyed."
"And how are you going to do that, Dalek?" he smirked, "Without a gun you're a tricycle with a roof. How are you going to destroy me?"
"Oh, by the ancients." Thea groaned, "Did you have to ask that?"
"Self-destruct initiated!" The Dalek cried.
"What's it doing?" Amy gasped.
"It's going to blow itself up," the Doctor replied, quickly popping up the Daleks casing knowing it couldn't do much else with self-destruct initiated, "and I with it. Only weapon it's got left."
"Self-destruct cannot be countermanded!" The Dalek stated.
"I'm not looking for a countermand, dear." The Doctor grinned as he flashed the inside and closed the top, "I'm looking for reverse."
"Forward!" The Dalek shouted as it began to roll backwards, away from them, "forward!" And collided with another Dalek as the countdown ended and it exploded.
"Amazing!" Thea gushed, "Oh my stars! That was awesome! For a moment I really thought it had got us then."
"Did you, though?" He raised his eyebrows at her excitement.
"Well, no, but still! Amy!"
The Doctor turned just as Amy took a step to see the damage in the next room and collapse as he quickly caught her, "Come on." The Doctor shifted Amy into his arms, carrying her into the next room as the dust began to clear.
"Oswin?" They heard Rory call though the dust, "what happened? Who killed all the Daleks?"
"Who do you think?" The Doctor asked him as the dust cleared and Thea ran to hug him.
The Doctor carried Amy into the room that Oswin had led Rory to hide and wait for them, gently setting her down on the circular teleport pad in the middle of the floor.
"Will sleeping help her?" Rory wondered, recalling what the Doctor had told him had happened to Amy, "Will it slow down the process?"
"You'd better hope so," Oswin spoke, "Because pretty soon she's going to try and kill you."
"That's not helping." Thea frowned over at the camera nearby.
"Amy." Rory knelt down besides her as she slowly came round.
"Ow." Amy groaned.
"Amy." The Doctor smiled, crouching and lightly stroking her hair, "Still with us."
"Amy, it's me. Do you remember me?" Rory whispered, only to get slapped round the face, "She remembers me."
The Doctor chuckled, "Same old Amy."
"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek?" Oswin called, "Subtract love, add anger. Doesn't she seem a bit too angry to you?"
"Well, somebody's never been to Scotland." Amy grumbled.
"What about you, though, Oswin." Thea questioned, "Why hasn't the nanocloud converted you?"
"I mentioned the genius thing, yeah?" Osein countered, "Shielded in here."
"Clever of you." The Doctor mused, "now, this place. The Daleks said it was fully automated. Look at it. It's a wreck."
"Well, I've had nearly a year to mess with them, and not a lot else to do."
"A junior entertainment manager hiding out in a wrecked ship, hacking the security systems of the most advanced warrior race the universe has ever seen. But you know what really gets me about you, Oswin? The soufflés. Where do you get milk for the soufflés? Seriously." He looked at the others, "Is no one else wondering about that since Thea brought it up?"
"None stop." Thea sighed.
It was all that was running through her mind, where she got the milk...or the eggs.
That was needed for soufflés.
You needed the eggs.
They your stirred the mixture.
Put it in the oven a couple of minutes.
Before you ate it.
Eggs...stir...min...ate...
"No." Rory deadpanned, cutting Thea from her thoughts, "Frankly, no. Twice."
"So, Doctor." Oswin continued, "I've been looking you up. Couldnt find much on you, Curly Wurly."
"Really?" Thea pouted, "Oh."
Oswin gave a laugh at her pout, "but you, Doctor, you're all over the database. Why do the Daleks call you the Predator?"
"I'm not the Predator," he replied, "I'm just a man with a plan."
"You've got a plan?"
"We're all ears." Rory stated, dryly.
"There's a nose joke going if someone wants to pick that one off." Amy muttered.
"In no particular order," the Doctor began, "we need to neutralise all the Daleks in this Asylum, rescue Oswin from the wreckage, escape from this planet and fix Amy and Rory's marriage."
"Okay, I'm counting three lost causes." Amy remarked, "Anyone else?"
Rory slapped his knee in frustration and walked away, knowing one of the lost causes was their marriage.
"Oswin, there's a Dalek ship in orbit." the Doctor called.
"Yes. Got it on the sensors." Oswin replied.
"The Asylum has a forcefield. The Daleks upstairs are waiting for me to turn it off. Soon as I do, they'll burn this whole world and us with it. So, Oswin, my question is this. How fast can you drop the forcefield?"
"Pretty fast. But why would I?"
"Because this is a teleport." He pointed to the pad Amy was sat on, "Am I right, Oswin?"
"Yeah. Internal use only."
"I can boost the power. Once the forcefield is down, I can use it to beam us right off this planet."
"You said when the forcefield is down, the Daleks will blow us up." Rory pointed out.
"We'll have to be quick, yes."
"Fine," Amy huffed, "we'll be quick. But where do we beam to?"
"The only place within range." Thea sighed, moving to sit on the teleport pad besides Amy, "The Dalek ship."
"They'll exterminate us on the spot."
"Ah, so this is the kind of escape plan where you survive about four seconds longer." Rory rolled his eyes.
"What else is on the ship, Rory?" Thea rolled her eyes.
"What's wrong with four seconds?" The Doctor asked, "you can do loads in four seconds. Oswin, how fast can you drop the forcefield?"
"I can do it from here," Oswin replied, "as soon as you come and get me."
"No, just drop the forcefield and come to us."
"There's enough power in that teleport for one go. Why would you wait for me?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"No idea. Never met you. Sending you a map so you can come get me."
The Doctor sighed, moving to the screen as Oswin sent over the map.
Rory looked up at the camera, "This place is crawling with Daleks."
"Yeah. Kind of why I'm anxious to leave." Oswin called, "Come up and see me sometime." She cut the comm.
Thea got up and moved to the Doctor side, "Are we really going to get her?" She shifted. Every feeling in her bones was telling her it was pointless to do so.
"I don't think that we have a choice." The Doctor sighed, looking at her, "Which is why you're staying here."
"No." she refused.
"Thea." He closed his eyes.
"I'm coming with you."
"Absolutely not."
"You can't go after Oswin."
"And why not?"
"Because it's pointless."
He sighed, "what do you think I'm going to find?"
She opened her mouth only to close it again, unable to say as he handed her the teleport control pad.
"Okay," he shook his head. "as soon as the forcefield is down the Daleks will attack. If it gets too explody-wody in here, you go without me, okay?"
"And leave you to die?" Rory gaped.
"If we're lucky we can dodge the lasers and get in the TARDIS." Thea sighed, knowing there was no point arguing, the Doctor was going to find Oswin alone, "Then I can come down and get him."
"Okay," Rory nodded, "love that part of the plan. What about Amy?"
"Keep her remembering, keep her focused." The Doctor told him, "That'll hold back the conversion."
"What do I do?" Amy asked.
"You heard what she said." The Doctor told her, "They're subtracting love. Don't let them." He nodded at them and headed off.
"Thea don't even think about following him." Rory warned her.
"Too late." She grinned, thrusting the teleport controls in his arms as she ran out after him.
Thea smirked as she caught up with the Doctor creeping down the corridors, able to hear the Daleks shouting in the distance.
"Emergency! Emergency! Prepare to be annihilated. Emergency. We are the Daleks. We are the Daleks..."
She was very smug, because of course she was going to not let the Doctor walked through an Asylum of Daleks alone and also because by now she knew the Ponds would have realised she had given Amy her wristband. Nanogenes had absolutely no affect on Time Lords what with all that endurance to the Time Vortex, made them nearly impossible to convert.
She knew Rory would give Amy his own wristband to try and save her and Amy would refuse, resulting I'm the arguing and talking and making up.
She was quite the little matchmaker.
"Oswin," the Doctor whispered as they approached a dooo at the end of the corridor, "I think we're close."
"You are." She replied, "Less than 20 feet away. Which is the good news."
"And the bad news..." Thea breathed, not even needing to be psychic to know that was coming.
"You're about to pass through Intensive Care."
The door slip open showing a room with a few Daleks in individual cells some chained up.
The Doctor frowned at the Daleks, "What's so special about this lot, then?"
"Don't know." Oswin sighed, "Survivors of particular wars. Spiridon, Kembel, Aridius, Vulcan, Exxilon. Ringing any bells?"
"All of them." The Doctor swallowed taking Theas hand and squeezing it tighter.
He really hadn't been impressed she had come after him. He wasn't surprised, just disappointed.
"Yeah? How?"
"These are the Daleks who survived me." He stated.
"We should hurry," Thea murmured, "before they..."
"Doc...tor..." One started to wake up.
"Too late."
"Doc...tor...Doctor!"
"That's weird." Oswin remarked, "Those ones don't usually wake up for anything."
"Yeah, well, special visitor." The Doctor took a breathed, quickly moving to the door at the end, "Okay, door, but it won't open." He flashed the sonic on it, "We can't be far away, though."
"Hang on. Not quite sure...there's a release code. Let me just...anything out there?"
"Not yet." Thea muttered, her eyes on the Daleks as the Doctor stiffened at her words trying to find the right frequency before anything did happen.
"Hang on, I'm trying to thing."
"In your own time, Oswin." Thea breathed, her eyes on the Daleks as they started to break free of their chains, "Dad..."
The Doctor pushed her behind him against the door.
"Doc...tor...Doc...tor...Doc...tor..."
"Oswin, get this door open!" The Doctor shouted as the Daleks began to advance, "Oswin, open this door!"
"I can't!" Oswin gasped.
"Please..."
"Oswin!" The Doctor yelled, tightening his grip in Theas hand as he tried to push her further behind him. "Just get this door open! Oswin, please! Help us!" He closed his eyes bracing himself seeing a Dalek nearing him with its plunger arm.
Thea buried her faced behind the Doctors back, trembling as the Daleks advanced ready to kill them...only for nothing to happen.
"Oh, that is cool." Oswin laughed, "Tell me I'm cool, chin boy."
The Doctor cautiously opened his eyes to see the Daleks rolling away again, "What...what did you do?"
"Hang on, I think I've found the door thingy."
Thea swallowed, carefully peeking round the Doctors side, "you shouldn't have been able to do that."
"What did you do?" The Doctor demanded.
"The Daleks," Oswin began, "they have a hive mind. Well, they don't, they have a sort of telepathic web."
"The path web, yes." He nodded.
"I hacked into it, did a mass delete on all the information connected with the Doctor and the small amount they have on Thea."
"You made them forget us?"
"Good, eh? And here comes the door."
The door started to rise.
"I've tried hacking into the path web. Even I couldn't do it."
"Come and meet the girl who can."
The Doctor glanced at Thea feeling stiffen with the door opening behind them. The only way to hack into the Daleks path web from what he could gather was to already be in it.
Which meant...
"Hey, you're right outside!" Oswin cheered, "Come on in!"
The Doctor turned his eyes widening to see not a girl waiting for them, but a Dalek chained up in the white, honeycombed room. Theas eyes filled with tears at the sight of what the Daleks had done to the perky genius who had helped them, despite what had been done to her.
"Oswin, we have a problem." The Doctor sighed.
"No, we don't." Oswin argued, but there was no perky young woman talking this time, just the Dalek before them, "Don't even say that. Joined the Alaska to see the universe, ended up stuck in a shipwreck first time out. Rescue me, chin boy, and show me the stars!"
"Does it look real to you?"
"Does what look real?"
"Where you are right now. Does it seem real?"
"it is real."
"It's a dream, Oswin." Thea told her carefully, not wanting to break the truth to badly and have the Dalek before them suddenly start to Exterminate them, but Oswin deserved to know what the Daleks had done to her. "You dreamed it for yourself because the truth was too terrible."
"Where am I?" The Daleks Oswin asked, sounding...scared, as it realised something wasn't quite right, "Where am I? Where am I?"
"You're a Dalek, Oswin." Thea told her truthfully, her hearts breaking at what the Daleks had done to her.
"I am not a Dalek. I am not a Dalek! I'm human."
"You were human when you crashed here." the Doctor slowly stepped closer not wanting to get too close to the Daleks but ultimately, they still needed Oswin to drop the forcefield, "It was you who climbed out of the pod. That was your ladder."
"I'm human..." The Dalek insisted.
"Not anymore." The Doctor sighed, "Because you're right. You're a genius. And the Daleks need genius. They didn't just make you a puppet, they did a full conversion. Oswin, I am so sorry, but you are a Dalek."
"Where did you get the milk?" Thea asked her, "The milk and the eggs for the souffles? It never would have lasted this long."
"Eggs..." The Dalek said as softly as a Dalek could.
"It wasn't real. It was never real."
"Eggs. Stir. Min. Ate."
"Oswin?" Thea tensed, seeing the gun arm start to twitch, "Please..."
"Eggs. Stir. Min. Ate. Exterminate!" It cried, starting to strain again the chains holding it back.
"Oswin? No, no, no, Oswin!" The Doctor shouted, quickly pushing Thea behind him closer to the door, "Oswin!"
"Exterminate!"
"Listen. Oswin, you don't have to do this."
"Exterminate!" The Dalek broke free of the chain, advancing on them.
"Oswin, please!" Thea begged, swallowing hard.
Daleks, well, she never really liked the idea of facing one, but something in that metal casing was a girl, lost, alone and terrified and that was how she felt often enough.
Despite all the friends she had, all those people she called family, she often felt alone because none of them could understand how alone she felt being the last of the Time Lords and she was terrified of quite a lot more than she let on.
She didn't want to die, she didn't want to outlive everyone she knew and loved, she didn't want to be a Visionary and she knew Oswin didn't want to be a Dalek.
"Oswin," She stepped around the Doctor avoiding his arm trying to stop her as she reached out and placed a hand on its casing, "I know you're still in there, Oswin Oswald..."
And then they heard crying, a mentally crying coming from the Dalek as the human girl trapped inside sobbed, "Why do they hate you so much? They hate you so much. Why?"
"I fought them many, many times." The Doctor told her, stepping to Theas side, his hand resting on her shoulder.
"We have grown stronger in fear of you."
"I know. I tried to stop."
"Then run."
"What?" Thea blinked.
"I've taken down the forcefield. The Daleks above have begun their attack. Run!"
"Oswin..."
"I am Oswin Oswald." The Dalek stated, "I fought the Daleks and I am human! Remember me."
"No one's going to forget an impossible girl like you, Oswin Oswald." Thea smiled at the Dalek.
"Thank you." The Doctor told her sincerely, taking Theas hand and pulling her off, wanting to waste no more time on the Asylum as it was getting blown up.
"Run!" The Dalek shouted after them, "run, you clever boy. And remember..."
"Come on!" Thea ran ahead of the Doctor, avoiding an explosion that went off besides them as they quickly ran into the teleport room to see Amy and Rory deep in a kiss, "awww!" She stopped, momentarily forgetting they were on an exploding planet, "I want that."
"Not now." The Doctor huffed, not even bothering to try to break up their kiss as he grabbed the teleport controls from Rory and teleported them safely up into the TARDIS console room.
"I know you guys aren't Thea, but you should really have seen this coming." The Doctor grinned over the speakers, his voice transmitting across the Dalek ship as he headed to the doors, needing to gloat to their worst enemies, "The thing about me and teleports, I've got a really good aim. Pin-point accurate, in fact. Or, to put it another way..." He threw the doors open and stepped out, "Suckers!"
"Can't believe you didn't see this coming!" Thea joked from behind him.
"Identify yourself." A Dalek cried, "Identify. Identify."
"It's me." The Doctor grinned, "You know me. The Doctor. The Oncoming Storm. The Predator."
"Titles are not meaningful in this context." Darla stated, "Doctor who?"
"Doctor who?" The mutant Dalek demanded.
"Doctor who?" The white Dalek asked.
"Oh, Oswin." The Doctor smiled, "oh, you did it to them all. You beauty."
"Oh, you impossible girl!" Thea laughed, twirling on the spot, her grin widening to see Amy and Rory were still kissing. Seriously? Were they even breathing right now?
"Doctor who?" the Daleks cried, "Doctor who?"
"Fellas," the Doctor smirked, "you're never going to stop asking." And shut the doors on the Daleks, leaving them to ask the question as Thea pulled a lever to send them off.
~.~
Thea smiled as she leaned against the corner of the TARDIS waving the Ponds back home, their marriage mended, those divorce papers thrown into a supernova.
The Doctor smirked as he caught sight of Rory cheering on the doorstep before sheepishly following Amy inside once she told him she saw him.
"I want that." Thea murmured.
"I know." The Doctor sighed.
There wasn't much more he could say on the matter. She was old enough to be married. On Gallifrey she would have already been married, maybe even had children of her own, but because of the war, because of the Daleks, even because of him, that would never happened.
"One day." She sighed wistfully, heading back inside, "one day I'm going to get a Rory Williams of my own."
"Well, a Rory Williams, I can approve off." The Doctor chuckled, moving to the console to send them off, "I'll drop you off back in London before Luke starts to wonder what happened to you."
"Oh my stars!" She gasped, "I need to get pizza!"