Chapter 22
Treason of the Daleks
Ailia struggled against the grasps of the pig men around her.
"Get off of me," she growled, ripping her arm away and striking towards one of the men.
The pig holding her other side fell back, another one came up behind her and she kicked out, her heel hitting the kneecap of one of them and crushing it.
A flare of fire wormed its way through her foot, but Ailia was too busy trying to escape to notice.
An elbow in one of the pigmen's guts diverted her attention away from the others for a second and she recieved a sock to the jaw. She growled, taking the hand and twisting it behind the pigman's back, now at the front of the group, she pushed the pigman forward, gesturing for Henry to follow behind her. And sprinted down the hall.
She came face to face with another group of pigmen, the leader pushed her into a wall. Her head connected, and spots arranged themself in front of eyes before darkness consumed her.
---
Ailia woke up a while later, Martha and Frank hovering over her.
She sat up slowly, "Wowser, they don't know how to punch but they sure do know how to make you go flying."
Martha and Frank didn't appear to find the comment humorous.
"Don't move you might have a concussion," Martha ordered, hands on Ailia's shoulders.
"I've got a light, you can check if you want, but I doubt it," Ailia muttered, fumbling around in the pocket of her cargo pants, coming up with a lighter a few minutes later.
Frank gave her a look. "Pays to be prepared," she answered, staring at the pigmen who lined the far wall.
Martha waved the light in front of her eyes and sighed, "You're good."
"Alrighty, then," Ailia took Frank's outstretched hand, standing up despite her head still pounding.
The pigmen pushed them forward, making the group move.
"All right! Alright, we're moving," Martha said, hands up in defense.
"Wait. Where are they taking us?" Frank asked.
"I don't know, but we can find out what's going on down here," Martha said.
"Though, I might have a few ideas," Ailia answered, looking down another tunnel off to the side.
She felt a pigman walk closer to her and turned to see Henry, "Henry," she was almost jumping for joy.
He ounked in response, eyes darting around.
"Sorry," she whispered, "You could escape, you know. You're stronger then us, all you have to do is find where we were taken from."
Henry shook his head, "Not," he tried to rasp, ending in a squeak, "Without...You."
Ailia frowned, "I'm serious, Henry. We have a chance at life, but when we get where ever we're going they'll...they'll kill ya, Henry."
Henry's ears seemed to droop, but rose again when he looked down at her, stubbornly shaking his head, taking her hand.
"You sure, Henry? Absolutely sure?" Ailia asked, searching for any wish to leave.
Henry answered with one word, "Yes."
"Thank you, Henry," Ailia said, a sad smile coming over her face.
"What are they keeping us here for?" Frank asked Martha from a few steps ahead.
"I don't know. I've just got a nasty feeling that we're being kept in the larder," Martha stated.
Beside her, Henry tenses, squealing nervously, it only took a split second for Ailia to realize that the other guards were too.
"What are they doing? What's wrong?" Frank asked Martha who said nothing, then turned to Ailia, "What's wrong?"
"Time to meet the masters," Ailia answered omniously, pulling Henry behind her.
A Dalek rounded the corner, and for some reason Ailia's eyes widened just a little. She thought back to when she last saw a Dalek, Rose had almost been killed. Almost everyone on base. But there was something else, something deeper that had nothing to do with Daleks that lunged at her. And very deep down, there was a tiny seed of doubt.
"Silence. Silence. Silence," the Dalek repeated, it's mechanical voice cracking apart each of the words into syllables.
"What the hell is that?" Martha questioned, and this time Ailia gave a straight forward answer.
"A Dalek," she said, her quiet answer quite loud in the now silent tunnel.
"You will form a line. Move," the Dalek ordered and Ailia stepped forward, hiding the pigman behind her gesturing for the people behind her to do the same.
The pig men began pushing everyone in line.
"Just do what it says, everyone, okay? Just obey," Martha said to the people around them.
"The female is wise, obey," the Dalek stated, a second Dalek arriving behind them.
"Report," the second Dalek ordered.
"These are strong specimens. They will help the Dalek cause," the first Daleks answered.
"Dalek?" Martha's question was more to herself as she shared a glance with Ailia.
Ailia somberly nodded in reply.
"What is the status of the Final Experiment?" the first Dalek asked.
"The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete," the second Dalek replied.
"Then I will extract prisoners for selection," the first Dalek said and a pig man made the man step forward. The Dalek held it's plunger type sucker to the man's face and Ailia flinched.
"Intelligance scan. Initiate. Reading brain waves. Low intelligence," the Dalek stated an answer at last and Ailia relaxed.
"You calling me stupid?" the man questioned.
The Dalek didn't answer, "This one will become a pig slave."
Two pig men pulled the guy away.
"No, let go of me. I'm not becoming one of them," the man struggled and the pigmen took him away.
Brain waves, Ailia thought, how do I hide Henry's brain waves?
Expantion.
The Dalek moved to the next person in line, "Intellegence scan. Initiate."
The Dalek got to Frank, it sucker hovering over his face.
Focus your thoughts outward, Ailia, she told herself. No one else needs to become a 'pig slave.'
"Superior intelligence," the Dalek answered, moving onto Martha.
"Intelligence scan. Initiate," the Dalek said, "Superior intelligence. This one will become part the Final Experiment."
"You can't just experiment on people. It's insane! It's inhuman!" Martha snarled as the Dalek moved on towards Ailia.
It's head slowly turned, "We are not human."
What seemed to be an eternity passed as the Dalek slowly turned it's head towards Ailia, who's eyes were closed and fists were clenched in concentration.
"Intelligence scan. Initiate," the Dalek's voice echoed. "Interference detected. Scan re-initiated."
Ailia opened her eyes to stare at the Dalek's eyestock, "Hello, remember me?"
---
Ailia couldn't sleep, so she found the vortex manipulator and went for a trip.
She saw Rose Tyler again, but it was only in her last moments in the Doctor's world that she realized who she really was.
Ailia was angry, furious really, that she couldn't help. The Doctor's screaming hadn't helped.
Before, however, she had met up with the Daleks, Mickey and Rose and saw the Cult of Skaro. Their voices irked her, so, she stepped forward.
Mickey tried to pull her back, but her long coat slipped from his hands, it was Mickey who remembered her first.
"Don't," she remembered the warning, but she was just so angry at the Daleks, she didn't understand why.
"No," she stared at the metal contraptions and took out something from her pocket. "I know what you're going to do, and I don't like it. You know what happens to things I don't like?"
The Daleks looked as if they were laughing at her, but at her next words they couldn't.
"They burn," she growled, taking a step forward, throwing her lighter at them. Three of them disappeared then and there, but there was still the one in the hall, that was the problem. It was that Dalek combined with Mickey's accidental clumsiness that allowed them to use the Dalek prison thing.
---
"We burned," the Dalek rolled back a few steps.
A small smile passed Ailia's lips, "I guess so."
"Prisoner of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory," the Dalek moved away from Ailia, "This one will burn."
Ailia watched as the Dalek rolled away, then turned, her hard gaze flickering when she looked at Henry, "Let's go, pal. They can't catch you now."
The girl barely noticed the two Daleks convsering as the Doctor steps in line in front of her.
"Just keep walking," he orders softly to Martha beside him.
"I'm so glad to see you," Martha answered, relief in her voice.
"Yeah, well you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want," the Doctor replied them looked back at Ailia, giving a questioning look to Henry and made a gesture to swap spots.
Henry peered at Ailia for an answer, the girl nodded in response.
"You've a new bruise there," the Doctor said, pointing to her jaw.
"You can thank the Dalek's goons over there," Ailia joked, glancing at the pigmen.
"What about your new friend?" the Doctor gestured towards Henry who walked awkwardly beside Martha.
"He doesn't want to be a slave for life. He's just scared," Ailia answered.
"Ah," the Doctor nodded.
"The Daleks," the Doctor began, "Said they burned. What did they mean?"
"Remember when I showed up at Canary Warf?" Ailia asked, the Doctor nodded sheepishly in response, "I may have threw a lighter at the Cult of Skaro."
The Doctor's shocked expression pushed her on, "But I was mad, I know how much she meant to you. And then there was the cybermen added to the equation, it just..."
"No," the Doctor calmed, "No. But...A lighter?"
"Well, they excreet gases," Ailia frowned, thinking back, "'Cause, you know, living things produce waste. Their pepper shaker suits kind of, uh, filter through it. So, it was likely that, you know."
The Doctor nodded, a bemused grin on his face, "Okay."
"Okay," Ailia sighed in relief.
The Doctor put an arm around the girl, "Why do you have to go looking for trouble, Lia?"
"I don't go looking for it, Doc, I just befriend it," Ailia answered, sarcastically, watching the group ahead turn a corner.
The Doctor only chuckled, "Where do you think we're going?" He asked her.
"The Empire State Building," Ailia replied, "But it's just a theory."
---
A lot of walking later almost made Ailia want to keel over. Maybe the Doctor was right, maybe she should just take a breather.
No matter what she decided, they were in the Dalek labs, a group of Daleks surrounding a lit up pepper shaker suit.
"Report," the first Dalek ordered.
"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution," a new Dalek answered.
"Scan him. Prepare for birth," the first Dalek ordered.
"Evolution?" the Doctor questioned.
"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" Martha asked him.
"Ask them," the Doctor replied.
"What me? Don't be daft," Martha shook her head.
"I don't exactly want to be noticed," the Doctor answered, "Ask them what's going on?"
Martha took a deep breath, glancing at Ailia who gave her a thumbs up, "Daleks, I demand to be told. What is the Final Experiment? Report."
"You will bear witness," the first Dalek replied.
"To what?" Martha's bravery was wavering.
"This is the dawn of a new age," the Dalek answered with absolute certainty.
"What does that mean?" Martha interrogated.
"We are the only four Daleks so the species must evolve a life outside of its shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again," the Dalek osounded proud of its plan.
The lights on the pepper shaker shell suddenly darkened and the other Daleks turned there attention to the metal shape in there center.
What came outside of the suit must have been a hybrid of sorts. The Dalek part of the creature was reptilious with an octupus' kind of arms attached to it's face. It wore a human suit and Ailia couldn't help but cringe when she recognized who once wore it. Mr. Diagoras.
"What is it?" Martha asked the Doctor, but it wasn't the Doctor who answered.
"I am a human Dalek," he pronounced slowly, "I am your future."
---
"Do you, by chance," the Doctor asked Ailia, "Have a radio in one of those pockets."
Ailia held up a finger, patting the pockets, then reaching into one and pulling out a small radio.
"Seriously," the Doctor was surprised.
Ailia shrugged it off, a mysteriously smug smirk pointed in his direction.
"These... humans will become like me," Dalek Sec pronounced slowly.
The Doctor slipped away, leaving Martha, Ailia and the crew waiting for any chance of escape.
"Prepare them for hybridisation," he ordered.
The pig slaves start moving towards the small group of people, grabbing a few of the other prisoners.
"Leave me alone! Don't you dare!" Martha could be heard a few steps away from Ailia, who Henry stood in front shoving away the pig slaves that tried to grab at her while she fought away the people at the back.
A song sparked to life in the chaos and everyone/thing froze, craning their necks for the source. 'Happy Days are Here Again.' Ailia hummed along, listening to her favorite song on the radio.
"What is that sound?" the newly formed Dalek hybrid demanded.
The Doctor peeked around a corner, waving with his free hand as he stepped out from behind the machinary, "That would be me," the Doctor smiled, setting the radio down, "Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera."
"Doctor," the new Dalek tasted the name on his tongue.
"The enemy of the Daleks," the first Dalek alerted.
"Exterminate," the second ordered.
"Wait," Dalek Sec raised his claw like hand.
"Well, then. A new form of Dalek," the Doctor walks forward, getting cocky, "Fascinating and very clever."
"The Cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter," Dalek Sec answered the unasked question.
"How did you end up in 1930?" the Doctor asked.
"Emergency Temporal Shift," the Dalek appeared shamed as if it were bad to turn it's back and flee.
The Doctor scoffed, "Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, yeah?" he walks around the room, picking things up and looking at them, "Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world but instead your skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting," he took a deep breath to finish, "All of which results in you."
"I am Dalek in human form," Dalek Sec pointed out the obvious.
"What does it feel like? You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now," the Doctor ordered.
"I... feel... humanity," Dalek Sec replied.
"Good. That's good," the Doctor nodded.
"I... feel... everything we wanted from mankind, which is ambition, hatred, aggression and war. Such... a genius for war," Dalek Sec said.
"No, that's not what humanity means," the Doctor frowned.
"I think it does. At heart, this species is so very... Dalek," Dalek Sec's eyes rover around, finally landing Ailia, "Just as your friend would know."
"All right, so what have you achieved then? With this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing! 'Cause I can show you what you're missing with this thing," the Doctor had, by then walked back over to the borrowed radio, "Simple little radio." He pats the top.
"What is the purpose of that device?" the second Dalek questioned.
The Doctor nods, "Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that? Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it. Unless you're a Dalek of course. Then it's just noise."
The Doctor pointed his sonic at the radio and a high pitched wailing emits from the grill.
Ailia watched Dalek Sec cover his ears as she did, the other Daleks, spinning around the experiment that they made.
The Doctor turns towards their small group, "Run."
Everyone runs back the way they came, the pigmen just as unable to move, Ailia looked at Henry who squealed in pain.
"Henry," Ailia reached out towards him, his animal eyes just stared back at her, pleading her to take her with them.
The Doctor grabbed her hand, "Doctor, what about Henry?" Ailia asked, trying to pull away.
"Not this time, Ailia Mar, we're going," the Doctor pulled her towards the door.
"Doctor," Ailia stared back at Henry.
The Doctor didn't look back towards her, instead opting to drag her behind him. The girl staring back at her new friend in pain.
All the while in the distance the Daleks could be heard, "Protect the hybrid!"
"Protect. Protect. Protect."
Martha and Frank help the prisoners down into the sewer, the Doctor and Ailia coming up last.
"Go," the Doctor gave her a gentle shove, "I'll meet you down there."
Ailia set her jaw and slid down the ladder, her foot catching the last bar, before she landed in a heap with all her extra downward momentum.
She brushed off Frank's offered hand and nodded towards the group, "We'll be right behind, let's just get these guys safe, first."
Martha smiled in response and Frank reluctantly followed.
They start running again, the Doctor pulling the cover shut and jumping down, reaching out for Ailia's hand.
"Lead the way, Martha's up front. I'll catch the stragelers," Ailia pushed him forward, her tone monotonus.
The Doctor gave her a look, but she pushed him forward again, "Go," she ordered and the Doctor ran ahead.
It wasn't long until they got above ground and Ailia was more than a little releaved, breathing in the city air, a nagging feeling in her chest.
The Doctor wandered over, "We're going to Hooverville."
Ailia nodded her affirmative, "Let's go," she said to the people that hovered near her. "Maybe we can get some rest tonight."
A few of them chuckled uneasily and Ailia brought out her lighter, her gaze following the darkening sky.
"Come on people," she said and led the way to Hooverville.
---
"Who's this?" Ailia yawned, tilting her head towards a blonde haired lady wearing a pink robe.
"Tallulah, with three l's and an h," the woman answered.
"Pleasure to meet you, Tallulah. Ailia Mar," Ailia shook the woman's hand.
A meeting took place a few minutes later, Tallulah and Martha sitting on crates while the Doctor, Solomon, and Frank sat on the other side. Ailia curled up near that base, trying to suck all the heat she could out of the hot fire barrel.
It was about half way through the conversation she started nodding off.
"These Daleks, they sound like the stuff of nightmares. And they wanna breed?" Solomon questioned.
"They're splicing themselves into human bodies. If I'm right, they've got a farm of breeding stock right here in Hooverville. We've got to get everyone out," the Doctor half explained and half ordered.
"Hooverville's the lowest place a man can fall. There's nowhere else to go," Solomon retorted.
"I'm sorry, Solomon. You've got to scatter. Go anywhere. Down to the railroads, travel across state, just get out of New York," the Doctor pressed.
"There's got to be a way to reason with these things," Solomon wondered aloud.
"There's not a chance," Martha answered, probably thinking back to the Doctor's story.
"You ain't seen 'em, boss," Frank added to Martha's point.
"Daleks are bad enough at anytime, but right now they're vulnerable and that makes them more dangerous than ever," the Doctor said.
It was then that Ailia sat, bolt upright, a jacket sliding off her, "They're here."
Seconds later a sentry comes running past, screaming the warning, "They're coming! They're coming!"
"A sentry. Must have seen something," Solomon said, beginnng to make his way over to the man.
"They're here! I seen 'em! Monsters! They're monsters!" the sentry screeched and Ailia stood up, brushing off her pants and the jacket.
"It's started," the Doctor almost whispered, staring at the edges of the camp.
"We're under attack! Everyone to arms!" Solomon ordered.
The men started passing around guns and other weapons that they collected in the short span of time.
"I'm ready, boss, but al o' you! Find a weapon! Use anything!" Frank ordered.
Ailia watched with a calculating mind as some of the people ran away.
"Come back! We gotta stick together! It's not safe out there! Come back!" Solomon called after them, the pig slaves invading Hooverville, attacking anyone who attempted to escape.
"We need to get out of the park," Martha stated, looking around at the mess of people.
"We can't! They're on all sides. They're driving people back towards us," the Doctor said.
"We're trapped," Tallulah fretted.
Ailia pulled the jacket on, a determined look glazing her face.
"What about your lighter?" the Doctor asked.
"Doc, I'm sorry to inform that a lighter won't work," Ailia said, flipping open the light.
"What?" the Doctor questioned.
Ailia pointed to the fire that the pigs were spreading, "The Daleks are going to be here, why would they be setting fire to things?"
The Doctor didn't say anything in response.
"Then we stand together. Gather 'round. Everybody come to me. You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together," Solomon orders, the pig men forcing them into a tight circle by the fire. "They can't take all of us," He continues, starts firing his gun.
"If we can just hold them off till daylight," Martha wished.
"Oh, Martha, they're just the foot soldiers," the Doctor looks up and one by one people follow his gaze to spot a Dalek hovering above their heads.
"Oh, my God," Martha gaped.
Ailia's eyes slowly moved across the chaos of the newly known battlefield, with the pig slaves circling and the Hooverville residents standing in the center, the whites of their eyes showing just how afraid they were. Then, finally, her eyes rested on the Dalek, those calculating orbs silently solving the problem at hand.
They roved over the crowd and it's components. The pig slaves lack of weapons made up for in numbers and mindless violence, the residents defiant stances backed with some weapons and little knowledge how to use them. The wind speed, resources, time of day... The list went on and on and when it was completed Ailia found that when it came to answers she had none.
"What in this world..." Solomon breathed.
"It's the devil. A devil in the sky. God save us all. It's damnation," the sentry tried to explain, though that definetly was not the logical side of the arguement.
"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" Frank aimed his gun at the Dalek and fired, the bullets doing nothing to penetrate the Dalek's thick metal coat.
"That's not gonna work," the Doctor said, pushing the rifle down.
"There's more than one of them," Martha glanced around in the sky.
And as if that were the Dalek's code, they attacked, setting fire to the tents and ramshackle houses of Hooverville.
"The humans will surrender," A Dalek screeched as it hovered overhead.
"Leave them alone! They've done nothing to you!" the Doctor stepped out of the crowd.
"We have located the Doctor!" the second Dalek screeched.
Solomon stepped past him, and the Doctor tried to hold him back, "No, Solomon. Stay back," he warned.
"I'm told that I'm addressin' the Daleks, is that right?" Solomon asked, paying the Doctor no heed. "From what I hear, you're outcasts, too."
"Solomon, don't," the Doctor tried again, touching Solomon's arm.
Solomon brushed him off, "Doctor, this is my township, you will respect my authority." A short pause elapsed between the two and Solomon tried again, his tone softer, "Just let me try."
And Solomon turned away when the Doctor's look faded, looking, once again, up at the Daleks, "Daleks... ain't we all the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin?" Solomon sat his rifle on the ground at his feet. "'Cause, see, I've just discovered this past day God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh, yeah. Terrifies me. Right down to the bone. But it's got to give me hope... hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So I... I beg you now if you have any compassion in your hearts then you'll meet with us and stop this fight. Well... what do you say?"
Ailia watched the encounter with interest, deducing what was going to happen next. Her eyes widened when she realized, Daleks are not creatures of compassion, they would not allow a creature they believe to be so ignorant with emotions and the allowance for fear to die and peace to rest to live.
The girl was about to move forward, adreneline already coursing through her veins, taking her first breath for the race to come, when her feet froze. Ailia swore, looking down at her feet and seeing nothing but that blue tennis shoes she put on that day and attempted to move again. Her feet wouldn't budge from their positions.
"Exterminate," the Dalek said, Ailia looking up just in time to see the pepper shaker fire off, a white hot burst of a laser shooting off.
Ailia's eyes widened, standing stock still as the beam penetrated flesh, momentarily showing Solomon's skeleton before allowing the man to fall to the ground, dead within the instant.
"Oh, no," Frank cried, running forward to the best friend he'd ever had.
The Daleks hovered, frozen in the air, watching grief spread across the crowd in a wave, panic ensuing soon after. Watching as if the humans were so much lesser, and in a sense they were, but watching as if the Daleks already ruled, this happening on a much larger scale.
"No, Solomon," Frank choked out, gathering up the man's body in his arms, unaware of the crowd pulling apart around him.
"They killed him. They just shot him on the spot," Martha stated, astonished by the lengths of cruelty these foreign creatures could emit.
The Doctor walked forward, anger seeping out of him, covering the area like a layer of California fog, "Daleks."
"All right, so its my turn. Then kill me! Kill me if it'll stop you attacking these people," the Doctor seethed, stopping only a few yards away from the crowd, his gaze never leaving the Dalek in the air.
"I will be the destoyer our greatest enemy," the Dalek appeared enthusiastic at this turn of events.
Ailia watched on, her feet still immobile, she didn't know what was worse the fact that she knew that the Doctor's stupidity would get him killed one day or the fact that one of the only reasons why she didn't want him to die right now is because he was her ride home.
"You idiot," she almost shouted, her feet frozen in their spot, she was almost certain that the Doctor could hear her.
Then again she could fly the TARDIS.
"Then do it. Do it. Just do it," the Doctor beat his chest, as if it would allow the Dalek to reach a decision any faster, "Do it."
"Extermin..." the Dalek stopped, staring into space for a moment while Ailia tried to jump into action, almost falling on her face in the process.
"I do not understand, it is the Doctor," the Dalek questioned the order. They were ordered. The Dalek was stopped. Dalek Sec is human. Ailia both adored and dispised her train of thought. Oh.
"The urge to kill is too strong," the Dalek informed, it's wisk of death raising to the Doctor's heart once again.
The Dalek paused, "I," it hesitated, as if this was the worst decision it made in it's life, "Obey."
"What's going on?" the Doctor questioned.
Ailia looked between the Dalek and the Doctor, what could be percieved as confusion present on her face.
"You will follow me," the Dalek instructed.
"No! You can't go!" Martha ran closer to the Doctor.
"I've got to go. The Daleks just changed their minds. Daleks never change their minds," the Doctor replied, surprise appearing on his face at the impossibility that just happened.
"But what about us?" Martha asked, whether she meant her and Ailia or the crowded Hooverville, Ailia didn't know.
"One condition! If I come with you, you will spare the lives of everyone here! Do you hear me?" the Doctor questioned.
The Dalek listened back for a moment, "Only if the torch carrier will comply."
"Comply? To what?" the Doctor glanced back at Ailia.
"The torch carrier will come," the Dalek answered.
"No, she stays with the rest," the Doctor shook his head.
"The Doctor and torch carrier will come," the Dalek said.
Ailia attempted to move forward again, this time stumbling with the force she applied, "Yes, we'll come. The others will be left alone."
"The humans will be spared. Doctor...Torch carrier...Follow," the Dalek ordered, turning away.
"Then I coming with you. Both of you," Martha stated moving to come with them.
"Martha, stay here. Do what you do best. People are hurt. You can help them. Let me go," the Doctor ordered.
The Doctor begins to walk away, but Ailia pauses, turning to face Martha, walking over to Martha and giving her a hug, "Might I say, Martha Jones, thank you very much."
Martha stared at the girl, who pressed something into her hand and gave her her signiture smirk, "See around, Martha."
When they arrive, Ailia spun around, zoning out while the Doctor goes on a rant to Dalek Sec.
"Those people were defenceless! You only wanted me, but no, that wasn't enough for you! You had to start killing 'cause that's the only thing a Dalek's good for!" he got closer to the two legged Dalek with every angry word.
Ailia stood in the background, deciding that it might be safer for her to hold her lighter in hand, omniously flicking sparks while sher peered over the plastics sheets to see the bodies underneath.
"The deaths... were wrong," Dalek Sec admitted slowly, each word a new accomplishment in the kindness of Daleks. Or rather Dalek hybrids.
"I'm sorry?" the Doctor was taken aback by how easily admitted the statement was, and the fact that it was admitted at all, especially by a Dalek.
"That man, their leader Solomon, he showed courage," Dalek Sec shared his observations.
"And that's good?" The Doctor asked.
"That's excellent," Dalek Sec didn't appear to know what to make of that fact either.
"Is it me or are you just becoming a little bit more human?" the Doctor said, Ailia's eyes immediately glanced around for the other Daleks who watched their master with treacherous eye...stalks.
"You are the last of your kind and now I am the first of mine," Dalek Sec confirmed on the matter.
"What do you want me for?" The Doctor questioned.
"We tried everything to survive when we found ourselves stranded in this ignorant age. First we tried growing new Dalek embryos but their flesh was too weak," Dalek Sec admitted, his newer emotions not entering into his past decisions, apparently.
"Yeah, I found one of your experiments. Just left to die out there in the dark," the Doctor growled.
"It forced us to conclude what is the greatest resource of this planet, its people," Dalek Sec gestured around him.
"And what about her?" the Doctor jabbed his thumb in Ailia's direction.
Dalek Sec and Ailia shared a look before Ailia jumped over one of the bodies and stood in front of the new kind of Dalek, "What's with all the bodies?"
Dalek Sec didn't answer her immediately, catiously watching the lighter that scratch-scratched every time Ailia made the metal pieces click and spark.
The Dalek flipped a switch, making mass amounts of silvery metal tables covered in white plastic film all around them, reaching far up into the rafters of the room.
"We stole them. We stole human beings for our purpose. Look... inside," Dalek Sec pulled back the covering over one of the bodies.
"This... is the extent of the Final Experiment," Dalek Sec sounded only slightly remorseful.
"Is he dead?" the Doctor asked, attempted to pull out his sonic.
Ailia reached into the inside pocket of the giagantic coat and handed it to him.
"Near death with his mind wiped ready to be filled with new ideas," Dalek Sec allowed the intrution of the potentially harmless object.
"Dalek ideas," the Doctor flicked his wrist, the sonic flipping around in his hand.
"The Human-Dalek race," Dalek Sec supplied.
"All of these people. How many?" the Doctor peered up, and Ailia couldn't help but think about how she once did that what seemed forever ago, instead staring up at the stars, so close you could almost catch them, is what it felt. Now you could, but what hung above her was nothing close to stars.
"We have caverns beyond this storing more than a thousand," Dalek Sec answered.
"Is there any way to restore them? Make them human again?" the Doctor questioned, a sad gleam in his eye, already knowing the answer.
"Everything they were has been lost," the Dalek hybrid answered, watching the Doctor's emotions closely.
"So they're like shells. You've got empty human beings ready to be converted. That's going to take a hell of a lot of power. This planet hasn't even split the atom yet. How're you gonna do it?" the Doctor asked, looking away from the zombie like people.
"Open the conductor plan," Dalek Sec ordered, moving away.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Empire State Building. We're right underneath that. I worked that out already, thanks. But what, you hijacked the whole building?" the Doctor asked.
"We needed an energy conductor," the octupus face Dalek answered.
"What for?" the Doctor interrogated.
"Come on, Doc. I've already got this. He is the mold for everyone here, all he has got to do is just slice his DNA into every single human zombie, they become like him," Ailia answered, "But that would still take a whole bunch of energy. Where you gonna get it?"
"I... am the genetic template," Dalek Sec, glanced warily at Ailia, "My altered DNA was to be administered to each human body. A strong enough blast of gamma radiation can splice the Dalek and human genetic codes and wake each body from its sleep."
"Gamma radiation? What are... Oh, the sun. You're using the sun," the Doctor realized.
"Soon... the greatest solar flare for a thousand years will hit the Earth. Gamma radiation will be drawn to the energy conductor and when it strikes..." Dalek Sec trailed off.
"The army wakes. I still don't know what you need me for," the Doctor finished.
"Your genius. Consider a pure Dalek, intelligent but emotionless," the tentacle faced, not so monster, summerized.
"Removing the emotions makes you stronger. That's what your creator thought all those years ago," the Doctor was catious with this explosive change.
"He was wrong," Dalek Sec stated plainly.
"He was what?" Now the Doctor's surprise from earlier appeared miniscule, now shocked would be a better word to describe what he was feeling.
"It makes us lesser than our enemies. We must return to the flesh," Dalek Sec continued.
The other Daleks didn't appear to agree.
"And also... the heart," the kind Dalek finished.
"You wouldn't be the supreme beings anymore," the Doctor pointed out.
"And that is good," Dalek Sec agreed.
Dalek Sec's business partners, however, couldn't disagree more, "That is incorrect."
"Daleks are supreme," a second Dalek stated.
"No, not anymore," Dalek Sec angered.
"But that is our purpose," the first Dalek objected.
"Then our purpose is wrong! Where has our quest for supremacy led us? To this. Hiding in the sewers on a primitive world. Just four of us left. If we do not change now then we deserve extinction," Dalek Sec, explained and the others went silent.
"So you want to change everything that makes a Dalek a Dalek," the Doctor wanted to clear up.
"If... you can help me," Dalek Sec, this time, looked at the Doctor for his approval. "Your knowledge of genetic engineering is even greater than ours. The new race must be ready by the time the solar flare erupts."
"But you're the template. I thought they were getting a dose of you," the Doctor questioned.
"I want to change the gene sequence," Dalek Sec admitted.
"To make them even more human?" the Doctor was, once again, surprised.
"Humans are the great survivors. We need that ability," Dalek Sec reasoned.
"Hold on a minute. There's no way this lot are gonna let you do it," the Doctor pointed out.
"I am their leader," Dalek Sec answered easily.
The Doctor turned to the other Daleks, "Oh, and that's enough for you, is it?"
"Daleks must follow orders," the first Dalek answered.
"Dalek Sec commands, we obey," the second Dalek glanced at the first and Ailia felt an uneasy feeling rise up.
"If you don't help me... nothing will change," Dalek Sec told the Doctor.
"There's no room on Earth for another race of people," the Doctor told the Dalek.
"You have your TARDIS. Take us across the stars. Find us a new home and allow the new Daleks to start again," Dalek Sec, didn't grovel, but somehow he appeared to beg.
The Doctor must have seen it as well, "When's that solar flare?"
"Eleven minutes," Dalek Sec answered.
"Right then. Better get to work," the Doctor grinned.
While the Doctor rushed around, brushing her off, saying that she wouldn't understand, Ailia watched the outside edges of the room.
A pig slave was watching her and she moved towards them, a familiar face stepped further out of the shadows and Ailia gasped, then smiled, a goofy grin appearing on her face.
"Henry," She jumped over to hug him, he squealed in surprise.
She furrowed her eyebrows at the pig-ly appearance and frown, something being off.
"You okay there, Henry?" She questioned, but he shook his head, gesturing to the side, showing a young man that didn't appear completley pig.
"Hey," Ailia smiled, glancing at Henry, "What are you in for?"
The pig man didn't appear to understand her joke, his eyes darting back and forth for an answer, so she tried again, "What's your name?"
"Lazlo," he answered, holding out a hand, "And yours?"
"Ailia. Ailia Mar," Ailia smiled, "How do you know Henry?"
"How do you?" Lazlo replied.
"Met him down in the sewers, gave him a helping hand," Ailia mimicking his tone.
"I was the one that got him out," Lazlo answered.
"Well, you should have given him a map or something, he was pretty freaked out," Ailia stated.
"Trust me, he's not as smart as he looks," Lazlo tried to explain.
"You're right, Lazlo, I'm sorry. I'd have to agree, Henry's twice as smart," Ailia nodded.
Lazlo appeared frutrated for all of two seconds, "Tallulah would like you."
"I don't think so," Ailia took a step back, "Met her on the surface, didn't seem quite that impressed... I'm going to go snooping," Ailia turned away from him.
"You really think you should be telling me that?" Lazlo questioned.
"What are you going to do? Tattle?" Ailia only glanced over her shoulder.
Lazlo suddenly froze and spun on his heel, mumbling a faint, "Got to go," under his breath as he left, Henry following behind.
Ailia snorted, and began sneaking around the room, looking for clues.
A while later red lights start flashing and Ailia was the first to pop up behind the Doctor and Dalek Sec, saying, "What the hell did you two do?"
"What's that?" the Doctor glanced around.
"What's happening? Is there a malfunction? Answer me!" Dalek Sec ordered an answer from the other Daleks.
"No, no, no. The gene feed! They're overriding the gene feed," the Doctor exclaimed, dashing over to a pile of buttons, levers, and vials.
"Impossible. They can't disobey orders," Dalek Sec scoffed.
"The Doctor will step away from the controls," a Dalek said, giving orders of its own now.
"Stop! You will not fire," Dalek Sec tried to order.
"He is an enemy of the Daleks," a Dalek stated.
"And so are you," it's counterpart finished.
The Daleks pointed their weapons at Dalek Sec and the Doctor.
"Where is the torch carrier?" the first Dalek interrogated.
"I am your cmmander. I am Dalek Sec," Dalek Sec demanded obediance.
"You have lost your authority," a third Dalek said.
"You are no longer a Dalek," the first Dalek stated.
"What have you done to the gene feed?" the Doctor interogated, wary of these tins that had no respect for human life.
"The new bodies will be 100% Dalek," the third Dalek informed.
"No. You can't do this," Dalek Sec stomped forward angerly.
"Pig slaves, restrain Dalek Sec and the Doctor," Dalek two ordered, stopping Dalek Sec's almost attack, "Find the Torch Carrier."
A pig slave immediately, pulled Ailia up from the shadows behind the three bossy Daleks, the girl mentioned angerly clicking her lighter in one hand.
"Release me. I created you. I am your master," Dalek Sec struggled against his live restraints.
"Solar flare approaching," the second Dalek said, ignoring Dalek Sec's pleas.
"Prepare to intercept," the third Dalek responded.
The Dalek's turned towards the machinery, backs on their prisoners.
"There's the lift," a voice said in response to a dinging noise.
"After you," the Doctor responded politely to his kind pig man escort.
Ailia stood near the elevator, arms crossed while she waited, Henry standing like a bodygaurd by her side.
"The Doctor and Torch Carrier are escaping. Stop them. Stop them," the second Dalek noticed, but too late, the four escapees already closing off the elevator doors behind them.
"We've only got minutes before the gamma radiation reaches Earth. We need to get to the top of the building. Lazlo, what's wrong?" the Doctor stopped his instruction to notice the gasping man beside him.
Ailia didn't turn away from Henry to glance as Lazlo, her eyes on Henry.
"Out of breath. It's nothing. We've escaped them, Doctor. That's all that matters," Lazlo panted.
"What matters, Lazlo," Ailia turned, surprising the gasping man, "Is that we get you back to Tallulah. That girl is crazy for you."
Lazlo's smile picked up on the side of his mouth and his coughing and wheezing slowed ever so slightly.
"Do you get me?" Ailia asked, tilting her head.
Lazlo was practically beaming with his pig snout, "I get you."
"Good," Ailia said, looking up, "How far does this elevator go up, Doc?"
"I don't..." the elevator doors dinged once again, showing a combination of Martha, Frank, and Tallulah.
"Doctor!" Martha exclaimed joyfully, jumping away from a set of blueprints.
"First floor, perfumery," the Doctor answered.
Ailia just smiled, watching the two. But her attention just as quickly turned to Tallulah and Lazlo.
"I never thought I'd see you again," Tallulah stated, rushing forward to meet the man.
"No stopping me," Lazlo smiled, joy the primary expression on his face as he met her halfway sweeping her into a hug.
Martha started to lead the Doctor over to the plans, "We worked it out. We know what they've done. There's Dalekanium on the mast. And it's good to see you too, by the way."
Ailia was distracted momemtarily from her watching by Frank, "Look at the renunions. Why aren't you over there?"
Ailia rose an eyebrow, "Why get in the way?"
A ding sounded around her and she noticed the doors closing, Frank just outside. He attempted to stop them, but quickly pulled his fingers out when the doors wouldn't stop their closing.
"Oh, shit," Ailia glanced back at Henry.
Henry stared back in response, sympathy on his face.
"Don't give me that look, Henry," Ailia muttered, feeling around the metal container for imperfections.
Henry pointed up and Ailia's eyes followed the direction.
"That might work," Ailia said, to herself or Henry was up to debate, "Could you give me a boost?"
Henry cupped his fingers together.
"Thanks," she attempted to press on the hatch, "Push me up a bit, please."
Henry did as he was told.
"Bingo," the latch swung open and Ailia climbed through, turning around and holding out a hand for Henry.
Henry oinked, shaking his head, "No," he rasped, "Too slow. I'll hold them off."
"Henry you've got to got, I promised," Ailia held out her hands for to pull him up.
He took a step back, moving towards the front of the elevator, "Go."
Ailia could feel that they had almost reached their destination and knew she would get crushed once the elevator went up.
"Thank you, Henry," she called down below her, moving to the wall, grabbing on and feeling the elevator slip away from under her feet. "See you on the flip side."
And she began her climb.
---
Ailia moved fast and fluidly, pretending that she hadn't scaled buildings for years prior would have been ridiculous, because with the ease that she worked her way up with was unimaginable.
Despite her previous experience her breathing was raged when she reached the top, taking her pocket knife and prying open the doors, she fell through, rolling onto the other side.
"Where's the Doctor?" Ailia questioned, standing up quickly, staring around the room and it's makeshift electricity conducting device.
Martha stuttered, only managing to point up.
"We need to get the Dalekanium off, now," Ailia moved at a jog across the area.
"You'll never make it in time," Frank pointed out.
"Watch me," the girl objected, her voice a growl, a stubborn expression on her face hiding haunted eyes.
That's twice that someone would die today because she hadn't fixed it.
Twice.
She didn't think she could manage if that twice became a third.
So, for the second time today she began her climb.
---
Wind whipped at her face while she tried to move forward and did, that is, until a sonic screwdriver hit her in the head.
"Doctor," she hissed out, grabbing the device from the ground, putting it inbetween her teeth as she moved to climb the next step of the structure.
The wind got worse as she got higher, Ailia could honestly say that she had never climbed a building this high before and that was how she snuck into Canary Wharf. But that is a story for another time.
She didn't focus on her breathing, just the constant up, up, up. Grab, release, step. Grab, release, step. Within half a minute she reached the top, the Doctor appearing worse for wear.
"Doc, what're you doing?" Ailia asked pulling the sonic out from between her teeth, seeing the Doctor hugging the mast.
"Go back down, Lia," the Doctor demanded.
"I got your sonic, we can get it off," Ailia moved to the final piece of the Dalekanium.
"No, the lightnings going to strike. Now," the Doctor said, looking up at the wind torn sky.
Ailia felt the scars along her arms spark and knew it was two.
"It'll kill ya, Doc," Ailia shouted to be heard over the storm.
"I'm not human, Lia. But you are. Get down," the Doctor shouted back.
"Too late now," Ailia said, flexing her fingers to un-numb them and pointing the sonic at the already loosened screw on the second panel.
"Ailia," his tone warned.
"I'm too stupid to go down, Doc," Ailia answered, "Let me be."
She ripped the second panel off, feeling the electricity of lightning in the air.
"Lia, hold on," the Doctor said and Ailia didn't pause, wrapping her arms around the beam.
The sizzle and pop repeated through the air, striking minorly around them, but Ailia could feel something bubbling above them, something much bigger than any sizzle and pop New York City had seen in decades.
For a second Ailia thought it wasn't going to come.
Zap.
Teanna Kelsa
age 13