Doctor Who: The Time Child

"The Dalek's surrounded by a force field." The Doctor explained into the intercom as leant of the microphone, hands planted on the desk either side of it, "The bullets are melting before they even hit home but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through." The soldiers were primed and ready to attack in Weapons Testing, waiting for the Dalek, "Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot."

"Thank you, Doctor," The voice of the commander came back over the communication system, "but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions!"

"We've got vision." Goddard stated meekly, looking at the screen across the room from them that Rose had been on before. Everyone turned to look at it as it showed an image of the Dalek in the middle of the weapons testing area, the soldiers shooting fruitlessly at it.

"It wants us to see." The Doctor said solemnly as the Dalek stared into the camera as if it was looking straight at them. It slowly levitated into the air, right up to the ceiling as it aimed at a fire alarm switch. It shot at it, causing it to explode and the sprinkler system to set off, showering the room in water. It then aimed down and shot at a man on the ground, killing him instantly. The water acted like a conductor, sending the shot through everyone except the Commander and a few of his men who were on the balcony above.

"Fall back! Fall back!" The commander shouted, but before they could leave the Dalek shot at them as well. The screen went black once more and the Doctor looked at Danni, who was stood there with tears in her eyes as she looked at the room of dead men. She had been right; he thought they might have stood a chance but they didn't. No one did.

"Perhaps it's time for a new strategy, maybe we should consider abandoning this place." Van Statten stated, stunned at the scene. Goddard slowly turned to look at him, unable to believe the audacity of the man.

"Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out." She snapped, furious.

"Seal the vault." Danni mumbled, walking over, devastated. She hadn't had any real experience of death before she had shot into this universe, she wasn't too sure how to handle it. Part of her wanted to help them, another wanted to curl up and cry. The third, and what appeared to be more dominant part, wanted to scream and shout at everyone even though it wouldn't do any good. The men were still dead.

The Doctor nodded and she could of laughed. Oh, now he was listening to her.

"You said you could seal the vault?" He asked Van Statten. The man nodded and sat down at the computer, typing.

"It was designed to be a bunker. In the event of nuclear war, steel bulkheads-"

"There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive." Goddard interrupted.

"We've got emergency power, we can re-route that to the bulkhead doors." The Doctor replied.

"We'd have to bypass the security codes, that would take a computer genius!" She scoffed.

"Good thing you've got me, then." Van Statten gloated and Danni turned to face him.

"Oh, now you want to help." She mocked and he glared at her. Yep, angry seemed to best option at the moment.

"I don't want to die, simple as that. Nobody knows this software better than me." The screen showing the Dalek came back on, showing the Dalek stood in the middle of the weapons testing area.

"Sir..." Goddard breathed at the same time Danni called the Doctor, pulling the two men's attention from the computer to the image.

"I shall speak only to the Doctor." It declared. The Doctor tensed, staring at the Dalek angrily.

"You're gonna get rusty." He told the machine.

"I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me." The Dalek explained.

"What's your next trick?" The Doctor taunted.

"I have been searching for the Daleks."

"Yeah, I saw. Downloading the Internet." He walked around the table to stand in front of the screen,"What did you find?"

"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes." The Dalek continued as if he hadn't asked the question.

"And?"

"Nothing. Where shall I get my orders now?" It screamed, sounding terrified.

"You're just a soldier without commands." The Doctor told it.

"Then I shall follow the primary order - the Dalek instinct to destroy! To conquer!" It cried.

"What for? What's the point?" The Doctor asked, exasperated with this Dalek, this reminder of everything he had been through. The Dalek didn't reply, "Don't you see? It's all gone. Everything you were, everything you stood for."

"Then what should I do?" It asked sadly.

"All right then. If you want orders... follow this one: kill yourself." Goddard and Van Statten looked up, surprised at his command. Danni just shook her head.

"The Daleks must survive!" The Dalek retorted.

"The Daleks have failed." The Doctor replied angrily, "Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the Universe of your filth, why don't you just die?" He screamed passionately and full of hate. There was a pause as the Dalek regarded what the man had said.

"You would make a good Dalek." The Dalek told him before the screen went blank. The Doctor stared at the screen, dumbstruck.

"Seal the vaults." He told them quickly, needing to move on.

~0~0~0~

The Doctor sat on one side of the transparent computer monitor, Van Statten on the other side as they typed furiously, trying to break the code needed to take down the defences.

"I can leech power off the ground defences, feed it to the bulkheads. It's been years since I had to work this fast." Van Statten told the Doctor with a grin. The Doctor paused and looked up at him.

"Are you enjoying this?" He asked but there was no reply. Goddard leant down to the Doctor's eye-level.

"Doctor - she's still down there." She pointed out. He pulled out his phone and chucked it across the desk at Danni.

"Call her." He commanded, not looking up from the screen. Danni rolled her eyes and held it up to her ear as it ran.

"This isn't the best time." Rose told her.

"I know, sorry. Where are you?" Danni asked in reply.

"Danni?" Rose asked, confused, "Where's the Doctor?"

"He's here. Where are you?" Danni asked again.

"Level 49." Rose replied.

"Level 49." Danni repeated to the Doctor, "You need to keep moving. The Doctor's closing off the vault at level 46."

"Why?"

"To trap the Dalek. Rose, if you don't hurry you will get trapped with it. Just keep running and don't let him leave you behind."

"I won't." Rose promised and Danni hung up the phone, sliding it back over to the Doctor.

"She's fine, she's running." She explained and the Doctor relaxed slightly. He had been worried about the blonde, not knowing if she was okay or not settled funny inside him. She was his responsibility, and he wouldn't let her die.

"Done it." Van Statten stated with a purposeful press of a key, "We've got power to the bulkheads."

"The Dalek's right behind them." Goddard pointed out as they watched the blue dot representing the alien travel up the staircases. The mobile phone rang again and Danni picked it up.

"Rose, don't ring just run!" She shouted, "It's right behind you!"

"We're nearly there, give us two seconds!" Rose replied out of breath.

"Doctor, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing." Van Statten told him. The Doctor looked between Van Statten and Danni, who shook her head pleadingly, "Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads." He stared at the screen, watching the little blue dot approach the bulkhead.

"I'm sorry." He said, loud enough for Rose to hear, then pressed the enter key. A beeping began ringing out from the computer as the bulkhead began lowering agonisingly slowly.

"The vault is sealed." Van Statten declared. The Doctor shot out his seat and yanked the phone out of Danni's hand.

"Rose, where are you? Rose, did you make it?" He asked her. There was silence then the Doctor's face began to fall in despair and horror as she told him she hadn't made it. Danni stepped forward and began rubbing his arm in comfort, knowing what was coming next.

"See you then, Doctor." Danni barely heard Rose say down the phone, "It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault. And do you know what?I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"Exterminate!" The Dalek's call echoed down the phone and he chucked it to the floor in anger, smashing it to pieces. Danni grabbed his arm tightly.

"She's fine." She told him and he looked at her, stunned and almost ashamed.

"I killed her."

"No, she's fine, I swear." Danni urged but he wasn't listening, again. She sighed in frustration. He should be listening to her now, if at any point, but this Doctor was so new out of the Time War he obviously didn't want to find the hope in any situation.

"I'm sorry." Van Statten said lamely and the Doctor turned to him, furious.

"I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry? I could've killed that Dalek in its cell. But you stopped me." The Doctor stepped towards him as he mentally shifted the blame from himself to Van Statten.

"It was the prize of my collection!" Van Statten defended, he wasn't to know all this was going to happen.

"Your collection?" The Doctor shouted, "But was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Rose?" Van Statten didn't reply, knowing it hadn't been, "Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore. To be part of something greater."

"Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!" Van Statten replied enthusiastically.

"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground underneath tons of sand and dirt. And label them. Danni was right, you're about as far from the stars as you can get." He snarled back before his face fell, his grief written across his expression, "And you took her down with you. She was nineteen years old."

"Doctor," Danni stated slowly, "She's fine. She's not dead." She strode forward and forced him to face her, "You've not listened to me at all since the moment we met today, but please listen to me now. She isn't dead."

"But the Dalek killed her." The Doctor argued, "How do you know she isn't dead?" Danni growled slightly.

"Because I've seen the future, all right?" She snapped, "So, I know she's not dead. Deal with it, I'm right Spaceman and you're wrong! It's not the first time and it won't be the last." The lift opened and the Adam, the British man, stepped out into Van Statten's office, rubbing his hand nervously. The Doctor spun around, his attention now diverted as he stormed up to him.

"You were quick on your feet, leaving Rose behind." He snapped.

"I'm not the one who sealed the vault!" Adam retorted indignantly.

"Open the bulkhead or Rose Tyler dies." The Dalek voice stopped them both in their tracks. The Doctor walked up to the screen where the image of the Dalek and Rose had appeared, Rose looking terrified but most definitely alive.

"You're alive!" The Doctor stated happily as he stepped towards the screen.

"Can't get rid of me." Rose replied shakily.

"I thought you were dead." He told her seriously.

"I didn't." Danni pointed out, "I was right all along, but no one ever listens to me."

"I do." Rose told her sincerely.

"Open the bulkhead!" The Dalek demanded, interupting their moment.

"Don't do it!" Rose retaliated.

"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" That sentence and the silence from the Doctor that followed it hurt Danni more than she thought it would. She blinked at her own internal reaction, now was not the time to be jealous. All she seemed to be was jealous lately, there were way too many women in the Doctor's life to keep reacting like that. It was an awful trait and something she always promised herself she wouldn't do. Even in her relatively short life she had seen too many of her friends destroy relationships because of it, and she refused to go down the same route.

"I killed her once." The Doctor told Van Statten as he walked to the computer, "I can't do it again." He reversed the power, opening the bulkhead.

"What do we do now? You bleeding heart, what the hell do we do?" Van Statten exclaimed angrily, rounding on the Doctor who just stared back at him, not regretting his decision.

"Kill it when it gets here!" Adam suggested. Goddard leant on the desk, looking over at him with a glare.

"All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault."

"Only the catalogued ones." Adam admitted, Van Statten looking at him surprised, eyebrows raised. Adam smiled apologetically at him.

~0~0~0~

The Doctor pulled yet another item out of yet another basket of Adam's un-catologued collection, frowning angrily at it.

"Broken." He chucked it into a pile of other useless items before taking another item out, "Broken," He chucked it aside and pulled another one out, "Hair-dryer."

"Mr Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does he wipes their memory. I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day." Adam explained to the pair.

"What, you in a fight? I'd like to see that." The Doctor teased as he checked over another item, discarding it straight away.

"I could do." Adam replied, feeling very offended.

"What're you gonna do, throw your A-Levels at 'em?"

"Play nice, boys." Danni retorted, amused at the Doctor's almost anxious arguing, not wanting the boy to think he had any chance of impressing Rose. The Doctor shot her a look then pulled out an item he seemed happy with.

"Oh, yes. Lock and load." The Doctor ran off without another word, heading up some stairs to Level 1. Danni sighed in exasperation.

"Every time." She murmured before following him, "Wait for me!"

~0~0~0~

Rose followed the Dalek as it headed down the corridor on Level 1, keeping a close eye on it as she tried to work out what it was doing. It aimed it's gun up at the ceiling and Rose jumped back as it shot upwards creating a hole. Sunlight streamed through to them, highlighting the Dalek. Rose sighed inwardly, they were almost on the surface.

"You're out. You made it." She told the Dalek with a smile, before looking back at the hole, "Never thought I'd see the sunlight again."

"How... does... it... feel?" The Dalek asked her slowly, now even struggling to speak. Before she could answer the Dalek opened it's casing, revealing the creature inside the huge robot. One of it's tentacles reached out, feeling the sunlight on it's skin. Rose stared at it, amazed.

"Get out of the way." She jumped, looking up to see the Doctor pointing a huge gun at the Dalek. She stared back at him in shock as Danni ran past and up to her, grabbing her hand and pulling in close.

"Oh thank god you're all right." Danni whispered. Rose patted her back limply.

"Rose, get out of the way, now!" The Doctor commanded and Rose shook her head, still staring at him.

"No! Cause I won't let you do this!" She replied.

"That thing killed hundreds of people." The Doctor explained.

"It's not the one pointing the gun at me." Rose told him coldly, her voice quiet.

"I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left." He reasoned to himself more than her, building up the nerve to kill it.

"Look at it." She moved aside to let him see the Dalek. His aim faltered slightly as he looked at it, confused.

"What's it doing?"

"It just wants to feel the sunlight." Danni told him gently.

"But it can't..."

"It couldn't kill Van Statten - it couldn't kill me - it's changing." Rose interrupted hurriedly, "What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?" The Doctor studied her for a moment before lowering the gun.

"I couldn't..." He stuttered, tears in his eyes as he looked lost, "I wasn't..." He looked down at the Dalek again, then up at Rose, "Oh, Rose. They're all dead."

"Why do we survive?" The Dalek struggled to ask.

"I don't know." The Doctor replied honestly, because he really didn't know why he had to have survived when there was no one left.

"I am the last of the Daleks." The Dalek proclaimed quietly.

"You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You absorbed her DNA. You're mutating." He explained gently to it.

"Into what?" It demanded, frightened.

"Something new. I'm sorry." He apologised sincerely.

"Isn't that better?" Rose asked them all hopefully, but Danni shook her head.

"Not for a Dalek." She explained gently, "A Dalek is pure, and everything else is wrong."

"I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness... Rose... give me orders! Order me to die." It begged her, closing it's eye, waiting.

"I can't do that." Rose told it sadly.

"This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!" It continued to command. Rose looked back at the Doctor, then at Danni, looking so lost that Danni wrapped an arm around her waist.

"It's okay." She reassured Rose, "It's horrible, but it's okay." Rose licked her lips, steeling herself then nodded once.

"Do it." She commanded.

"Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?" the Dalek asked her and Rose nodded again.

"Yeah." She admitted, tears in her voice.

"So am I." The Dalek replied feebly, "Exterminate." Danni pulled Rose back and up to the Doctor as the Dalek closed it's open armour. It levitated into the air, the golden balls that made up it's skirt flying off and surrounding it in a sphere. The Dalek began to glow, then in a split second exploded, vanishing out of existence.

~0~0~0~

Rose decided that Adam needed showing around the TARDIS before she and Danni caught up with what she had been up to. The way she had said it made Danni believe that Rose knew more about the future than maybe she should have, but as it would have had to be down to her she wasn't overly worried. She had pottered around the machine herself, checking into her room to find it in the exact same state it was in when she had been in it last with Ten, which made her smile. Eleven had been right, it was her one little bit of consistency. She found Nine in the console room obviously deciding where to take Adam to enforce into the man's mind that he was in charge.

"So, where are we off to?" Danni bounced over to him and he eyed her suspiciously.

"How did you know what a Dalek was?" He retorted and she shrugged.

"Cause I've seen them before, and no doubt I'll see them again." She replied vaguely, "It really got to you though, didn't it?"

"Hardly." He snorted and she sighed.

"You're nothing like a Dalek." She told him, "A Dalek is cold and heartless. It kills because it can and it doesn't think why. You do, and it affects you deeply. You do what you have to do because it's right, a very bad thing for a very good reason."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Why don't you go find Rose until you jump again?" He suggested harshly and she sighed, patting him on the arm as she headed back out of the console room.

"You did the right thing. They were going to wipe out the entire universe just to win that war. Most people couldn't have made that decision, let alone follow it through. I'm proud of you."

"Proud of me? For wiping my entire race out of existence altogether?" He snapped back, amazed and angry in equal measure.

"No." She replied, "I'm proud of you for saving everyone else from the same fate." She left him to stew, realising this might be why he didn't like her later on. All because she knew something he never told her. She sighed to herself again as she bypassed looking for Rose and headed straight to her room. She shut the door behind her and flopped backwards on the bed, looking at the ceiling. Way to make a lasting impression. At least he seemed to forgive him by the time he his Eleven. She smiled happily to herself, wrapping her arms around herself. Oh, she couldn't wait to hit Eleven again. The other Doctor's were very lovely, but Eleven was lovely to her. Well... So was late Ten. She really didn't mind which version, but a girl loves to be made to feel loved.

She yawned as she stood and changed into her pyjamas, blue like most of her other clothes and climbed into bed. Oh well, at least she got to spend some time with Nine. After all, he was the first Doctor she's watched on television. The TARDIS dimmed the lights for her and she thanked the box out loud as she reached into her bedside table and pulled out a book, flipping to the end.

"Afterword, by Amelia Williams..."

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