Chereads / Red Like Roses / Chapter 8 - Dalek

Chapter 8 - Dalek

Game room...

"Okay, now that is what I call cheating." Weiss said, as all of Team RWBY and JNPR are playing Splatoon 2 on the Nintendo Switch. "They just can't take over the tower like that!"

"Well, they can." Jared said, frowning. "It's Tower Control."

"The whole point of this game is to bring the tower to the other side." Ruby said, using the E-Liter 4K Scope to snipe Jaune on the tower from afar. "I'm happy that they have sniper rifles in here."

"But this game doesn't have any swords." Yang said, as she splatted Jaune with the Custom Range Blaster. "At least the guns are good."

"Guns that shoot ink. Why is that even a thing?" Blake asked, using the Bloblobber. "This thing doesn't do a lot of damage to the others."

"It's a range weapon! You're meant to keep a safe distance away from the others." Jared said, watching what is happening on his Nintendo Switch. "The goal is not to get close to the others."

"Nora!" Jaune said, and Nora jumped onto the tower with the Kensa Splattershot Pro. "Good, she made it on."

"Yeah, I don't know how these weapons suit us." Pyrrha said, using the Splat Brella as a shield and she splatted Weiss and Yang with it. "Splat Brella?"

"You and Jaune have shields. It makes sense for one of you to have a shield." Jared said, happily. "Especially from the front."

"Why do I have this gun then?" Ren asked, looking at the gun he has equipped, that being the Aerospray RG. "A Sprinkler and a Baller?"

"Ren, you're stealthy."

"But that doesn't explain why I have a Booyah Bomb!" Nora said, looking at her inventory on her copy of Splatoon 2. "As my special weapon."

"You kick ass when your hammer is all charged up." Jared said, and he felt the TARDIS shake a bit. "Oh, I think I know this adventure. It's Dalek. Let me think as to who should come with us."

"Dalek, they should like aliens." Jaune said. "How about Weiss and Yang?"

"The ice queen and Bumblebee?"

"I'm not an ice queen!" Weiss said, and she is walking out of the game room with Jared and Yang.

TARDIS...

"So what is it? What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"Don't know. Some kind of signal drawing the Tardis off course." The Doctor said, looking at the TARDIS scanner.

"We're not gonna follow it?" Yang asked. "Are we?"

"We are." The Doctor said, looking at Jared, Weiss, and Yang. "So, you lot are ready. Whatever we could be facing, it could be dangerous."

"And we can a salt with a deadly weapon." Yang said, coming up with a bad pun. "We have someone as Weiss as snow to take down whatever we face. With me being the strongest member of Team RWBY."

"We can Schnee ourselves in action against whatever sent out that signal." Jared said, also coming up with a bad pun.

"Kill me now…" Weiss said, sadly.

Museum...

The Tardis materialises in dimly lit area with carpeting and display cases.

"Where are we?" Rose asked.

"Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground." The Doctor said.

"And when are we?"

"Two thousand and twelve." The Doctor said, and he looks at a display case.

"God, that's so close. So I should be twenty six." Rose said, surprised.

"And I'm thirteen around this time." Jared said, smiling. "2012, not the best year for me to remember."

"How come?" Yang asked, intrigued.

"Let's just say that 8th grade ended on a cake walk. And there was a food fight that ended off that year. It was a feeding frenzy that I couldn't get away from. I got trampled on and was one of the victims of said food fight. It was a recipe for disaster that was crammed in like sardines." Jared said, looking over and Yang, frowning.

"I'm sorry." Weiss said, feeling bad for Jared. "We had no idea that happened to you."

"Well, one day if I get involved in another food fight. Revenge is a dish best served cold."

"You are killing it with these puns. Let's celerybrate after this!" Yang said, as she and Jared want to keep it up with the bad food puns.

The Doctor finds the light switch, and things become more clear.

"Blimey. It's a great big museum." Rose said, looking around.

"How about we relish this sight?" Yang asked. "And art theft is a haul of frame. Especially in an alien museum."

"Well, someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship." The Doctor said, walking around with Rose, Weiss, Yang, and Jared.

"That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed." Rose said, looking at the Slitheen arm.

"I do not want another bad pun from either of you for this entire trip." Weiss said, looking at Yang and Jared. "Let's just carry on with exploring this place."

"Oh, look at you." The Doctor said, walking towards an exhibit.

"What is it?" Rose asked, and they're looking at the head of a Cyberman.

"An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old."

"So, is that where the signal is coming from?" Weiss asked.

"No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help." The Doctor said, touching the display case and an alarm goes off.

"How much of today do you know?" Weiss asked, looking at Jared. "From Beowolves to Nevermore. How much will things go badly, if it's dangerous today?"

"I'm saying its on the line of a Grimm Dragon. An Evil-Doer." Jared said, and armed guards rush in from all sides and cut them off from the Tardis.

"So, this thing that's down there is more dangerous than a Grimm." Yang said.

"Way more dangerous. And the owner of this place is collecting alien objects. And aliens themselves." Jared said, looking at Weiss and Yang.

"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A." Rose said, looking at the Doctor.

Corridor…

"Attention all personnel. Bad Wolf One descending. Bad Wolf One descending." Someone on the speaker said, throughout the base.

"Bad Wolf." Weiss said, looking at Jared, as they're being led through hallways by soldiers. "We've heard that a couple times now."

"What's up with the Big Bad Wolf anyway?" Yang asked. "Why do we keep hearing it?"

"Girls, that's spoilers." Jared said, walking in between Weiss and Yang. "The Doctor and Rose haven't noticed yet."

"But you know what's going on, right?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, I do. And this guy we're about to meet. I don't like him, and neither does the Doctor."

"So, what does that mean, exactly?" Weiss asked.

"You're welcome to tell him how you really feel about this. Since he is a massive jerk."

"Ooo, does that mean I can beat him up?" Yang asked, looking at Jared.

"Uh…" Jared said, rubbing the back of his head, and he stopped to think for a moment. "I don't know. Five us here, instead of just the Doctor and Rose. This adventure and the next, they're not gonna be fun."

"You want to go back to Beacon after this, don't you?" Yang asked, looking over at Jared.

"Yeah, I do. To take my mind off of someone abusing something. And someone else acting like an asshole."

"Jared, are you okay?" Rose asked, and she looked back at Jared.

"I'm not." Jared said, holding Yang's hand. "What's about to come. I don't know what I can do to change things."

"Well, you change things. Even if they're small. You have us, your friends to help you out." Rose said, happily. "Is it possible you can change the future?"

"Rose, I don't think Jared wants to." The Doctor said, looking at Rose. "Even if he could. Saving the wrong life will have major consequences in the future."

Office...

Adam is showing his boss the latest purchases, "And this is the last. Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it."

The Doctor, Rose, Weiss, Yang, Jared and Goddard enter.

"What does it do?" Van Statten asked.

"Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel." Adam said, looking at the object.

"I really wouldn't hold it like that." The Doctor said.

"Shut it." Goddard said, looking at the Doctor.

"Really, though, that's wrong."

"Is it dangerous?" Adam asked.

"No, it just looks silly." The Doctor said, reaching for the item, and firing bolts click all around him. Van Statten hands him the curved, palm sized object. "You just need to be…" He strokes the artefact and it makes a note. "Delicate."

The Doctor plays several different notes.

"It's a musical instrument." Van Statten said.

"And it's a long way from home."

"Here, let me." Van Statten said, and his touch is harsher on the instrument.

"It's like an animal. In terms of touch." Jared said, and not nice sounds are produced.

"I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision." The Doctor said, as Van Statten finally gets the hang of it. "Very good. Quite the expert."

"As are you." Van Statten said, casually tossing the object aside, onto the floor. "Who exactly are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?"

"Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake."

"Pretty much sums me up, yeah."

"The question is, how did you get in? Fifty three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplices. You're quite a collector yourself, these three girls, they're rather pretty."

"They're going to smack you if you keep calling them them." Rose said, annoyed.

"She's English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend." Van Statten said, looking at Adam, then at Weiss and Yang. "And how about you two? Snow White and Goldilocks."

"You really piss me off." Yang said, her eyes glowing red for a moment. "I want to beat you up so badly."

"And you don't deserve to call us they! You're treating us, real life people. Girls in fact, as objects, your possessions. Who are you?" Weiss asked, walking up to Van Statten, angrily.

"This is Mister Henry Van Statten." Adam said.

"And who's he when he's at home?" Rose asked.

"Mister Van Statten owns the internet."

"Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet." Jared said, looking at Adam. "It's free for everyone to use. And the stuff on there is for fair use. In terms of videos, memes, basically anything."

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten asked.

"So you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up." The Doctor said.

"And you claim greater knowledge?"

"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am."

"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?"

"You tell me."

"The cage contains my one living specimen."

"And what's that?" The Doctor asked.

"Like you don't know." Van Statten said, annoyed.

"Show me."

"You want to see it?"

"Blimey, you can smell the testosterone." Rose said.

"Yeah, especially from a smart-ass like him." Weiss said, agreeing with Rose.

"So, I can't punch my way through this mess?" Yang asked, looking at Jared. "With that's in the cage. We could robin our way in there."

"Nah, no temper tantrums this time." Jared said, smiling.

"Goddard, inform the Cage we're heading down. You, English. Look after the blonde girls and this guy with that red sword on his back. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name, Snow White, come and see my pet." Van Statten said.

Outside the Cage...

"We've tried everything. The creature has shielded itself but there's definite signs of life inside." Van Statten said, with the Doctor and Weiss walking behind him.

"Inside? Inside what?" The Doctor asked.

"Welcome back, sir. I've had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting." Simmons said.

"Metaltron?" Weiss asked. "What's a Metaltron? Are you sure you're talking about a robot here."

"Thought of it myself. Good, isn't it? Although I'd much to prefer to find out it's real name." Van Statten said.

"Here, you'd better put these on." Simmons said, handing two pairs of gauntlets to the Doctor and Weiss. "The last guy that touched it burst into flames."

"I won't touch it then." The Doctor said, as he looked over at Weiss. "Will you touch it?"

"Not if I don't know what it is." Weiss said, holding her Myrtenaster.

"Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me with Snow White." Van Statten said, and the Doctor and Weiss stepped through the heavy door. "Don't open that door until we get a result."

Van Statten and Goddard go to a desk with monitors on it.

Cage...

It is dark inside. The door clangs shut and locks.

"Look, I'm sorry about this. Mister Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor." The Doctor said, and a white light blinks next to a blue glow.

"And I'm Weiss." Weiss said, aiming her Myrtenaster at the light. "Weiss Schnee."

"Doc..tor?" The Metaltron asked.

"Impossible." The Doctor said, holding Weiss's hand.

"What is?" Weiss asked, looking at the Doctor.

"That shouldn't be here."

"The Doctor?" The Metaltron asked.

The lights come up to reveal a bad tempered Dalek being held in chains.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!" The Dalek said.

The Doctor and Weiss hammer on the door in terror.

"Now I see why Jared said that this is on the level of an Evil-Doer." Weiss said, placing the Myrtenaster on her belt. "This looks bad."

"It is." The Doctor said, looking back at the Dalek. "Let us out!"

"Exterminate!" The Dalek said.

Outside the Cage...

"Sir, it's going to kill them." Goddard said.

"It's talking!" Van Statten said.

Cage...

"You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!" The Dalek said, with its gun arm twitching but nothing happens.

"It's not working." The Doctor said, looking back at Weiss.

"Was something supposed to happen?" Weiss asked.

"Yes, it was supposed to aim a light through you. Your bones and heart would be shown to us. And you would die afterwards. But not today." The Doctor said, laughing as the Dalek looks at its impotent weapon. "Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?"

"Keep back!" The Dalek said.

The Doctor stands inches away, staring into its eyepiece, "What for? What're you going to do to me? If you can't kill, then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you? You're nothing."

Outside the Cage...

"What the hell are you here for?" The Doctor asked, on the monitor.

"I am waiting for orders." The Dalek said, on the monitor.

Cage...

"Doctor, what does that thing mean?" Weiss asked, looking at the Dalek. "What orders?"

"I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders." The Dalek said.

"Well you're never going to get any. Not ever." The Doctor said.

"I demand orders!"

"They're never going to come! Your race is dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race wiped out in one second."

"You lie!"

"I watched it happen. I made it happen."

"You destroyed us?" The Dalek asked, looking at the Doctor.

"I think he didn't have a choice." Weiss said, sadly. "I wish I knew more though. Knew what happened to the both of you."

"And what of the Time Lords?" The Dalek asked.

"Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost." The Doctor said.

"And the coward survived."

"Oh, and I caught your little signal. Help me. Poor little thing. But there's no one else coming 'cause there's no one else left."

"I am alone in the universe."

"Yep."

"So are you. We are the same."

"We're not the same! I'm not…" The Doctor said, pausing for a moment to think. "No, wait. Maybe we are. You're right. Yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cause I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve. Exterminate."

The Doctor pulls a lever on a nearby console and the Dalek is lit up with electricity.

"Doctor…" Weiss said, walking towards the Doctor, and she pulled the lever on the nearby console down. "Stop it…"

"No." The Doctor said, pulling the lever back up for the Dalek to be electrocuted again. "I'm not stopping here."

"Have pity!" The Dalek said.

"Why should I? You never did." The Doctor said.

Outside the Cage...

"Get them out." Van Statten said.

Cage...

"Help me!" The Dalek said.

Guards grab the Doctor as he goes to ramp up the voltage again.

"I saved your life. Now talk to me. Goddamn it, talk to me!" Van Statten said, and Weiss turns off the electricity.

"I think that thing is dangerous." Weiss said, looking at the Doctor. "More dangerous than a Grimm."

"It is." The Doctor said, and he is dragged out, with Weiss following him. "You've got to destroy it!"

"The last in the universe. And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek. I am Henry van Statten, now recognise me! Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes." Van Statten said.

Adam's workshop...

"Sorry about the mess. Mister Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods. What do you think that is?" Adam asked, giving Rose an inch thin piece of metal.

"Er, a lump of metal?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, but I think, well, I'm almost certain, it's from the hull of a spacecraft. The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet, spacecraft, aliens, visitors to Earth. They really exist."

"So, it looks like those two will flirt for a while." Yang said, walking around the room with Jared. "That thing down there. In the cage? Can one of my punches break through whatever it is?"

"I don't know." Jared said, eating some M&Ms. "I never saw you go up against a Dalek before."

"A Dalek. You could say that those M&Ms are Dalek-table." Yang said, coming up with another bad puns. "Do these Daleks bite off more than I can chew?"

"Yeah." Jared said, tossing the bag of M&Ms to Yang. "They do. They're one of the most dangerous aliens we could encounter with the Doctor."

"So, how do we beat this thing?"

"We can't. Not now, at least. It just needs a change of view."

"You can say that Sun's viewing figures just went up."

"Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit." Adam said, as Jared and Yang walked back towards them.

"Oh, right. You're a genius." Rose said.

"Sorry, but yeah. I can't help it. I was born clever. When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defence System. Nearly caused World War Three."

"What, and that's funny, is it?"

"Well, you should've been there just to see them running about. Fantastic!"

"You sound like the Doctor."

"You do." Yang said, laughing with Jared. "So, how did the turkey win the talent show?"

"How?" Jared asked, looking at Yang.

"With his drum-sticks. Drum sticks, fantastic. Huh, huh?"

"Are you and him?" Adam asked, looking at Rose.

"No, we're just friends." Rose said.

"Good."

"Why is it good?"

"It just is."

"So, wouldn't you rather be downstairs? I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but Mister Van Statten's got a living creature down there."

"Yeah. Yeah, well, I did ask, but he keeps it to himself. Although, if you're a genius, it doesn't take long to patch through on the comm. system."

"Well, lets see whats going down there." Yang said, smiling.

"Seeing a Dalek in person, how that's gonna be scary." Jared said, taking out his Monado to look at it."

"It doesn't do much, the alien. It's weird. It's kind of useless. It's just like this great big pepper pot." Adam said.

They watch the Dalek screaming as Simmons takes a big drill to its casing.

"It's being tortured! Where's the Doctor?" Rose asked.

"And where's Weiss?" Yang asked.

"I don't know." Adam said.

"Well, take us down there now. I hate the Daleks, because in the future. I will lose everything to them." Jared said, looking at Adam. "I do. They were the cause of killing people I will love."

Lift...

"The metal's just battle armour. The real Dalek creature's inside." The Doctor said.

"What does it look like?" Van Statten asked.

"A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except hate."

"Genetically engineered. By whom?"

"By a genius, Van Statten. By a man who was king of his own little world. You'd like him."

"It's been on Earth for over fifty years. Sold at a private auction, moving from one collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?"

"It's because the Doctor is here." Weiss said, crossing her arms. "He could be the Dalek's predator after all. And he does look like an oncoming storm."

"She's right, even if she's a brat. How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?" The Doctor asked.

"The records say it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands. Burnt in its crater for three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane." Goddard said, recalling what happened.

"It must have fallen through time. The only survivor."

"Doctor, you talked about a war. Is it the Time War?" Weiss asked, recalling what Jared talked to her about back at Beacon.

"Yeah." The Doctor said. "The final battle between my people and the Dalek race."

"But you survived, too." Van Statten said.

"Not by choice."

"This means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth. Doctor, there's you. The only one of your kind in existence."

Doctor's cage…

So the Doctor is stripped and chained spread-eagled.

"Now, smile!" Van Statten said, and a painful laser scan runs down the Doctor's body. "Two hearts! Binary vascular system. Oh, I am so going to patent this."

"It always comes down to money." Weiss said, crossing her arms, and she's feeling bad for the Doctor. "Money that selfish people like you would use."

"Weiss, you do have a point there." The Doctor said, looking at Weiss, then at Van Statten. "So that's your secret. You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it."

"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries. All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk. You have no idea, Doctor, Weiss. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater, and do you know what we found? The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course. No need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?" Van Statten asked.

"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you."

"In that case, I will be true to myself and continue."

"Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!"

"Nothing can escape the Cage." Van Statten said, while he blasts the Doctor with the laser again.

"But it's woken up. It knows I'm here. It's going to get out. Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe. No one on this planet!" The Doctor said, and Van Statten runs the laser scan again, just to hear the Time Lord scream.

"Doctor…" Weiss said, sadly. "Oh, things aren't going so well as I thought it would be."

Outside the Cage...

"Hold it right there." Bywater said.

"Level three access. Special clearance from Mister Van Statten." Adam said.

Cage...

"Don't get too close." Adam said.

"We won't." Jared said, and the door closes behind him, Yang, Rose, and Adam. "We'll stay far away as much as we can."

"What could possibly go wrong in here?" Yang asked.

"Hello. Are you in pain? My name's Rose Tyler. This is Jared Shay and Yang Xiao Long. We've got a friend, he can help. He's called the Doctor. What's your name?" Rose asked, looking at the Dalek.

"Yes." The Dalek said.

"What?"

"I am in pain. They torture me, but still they fear me. Do you fear me?"

"No." Rose said.

"Neither am I." Yang said, agreeing with Rose.

"There are two Daleks I'm not afraid of." Jared said, smiling. "You being one of them."

"I am dying." The Dalek said.

"No you're not dying, we can help you." Yang said, holding Jared's hand.

"I welcome death. But I am glad that before I die I have met humans who were not afraid."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Rose asked, looking at the Dalek.

"My race is dead, and I shall die alone." The Dalek said.

"Shit…" Jared said, when Rose reaches for the Dalek's head. "This is bad. Like really bad."

"I've got a feeling that I just jinxed us." Yang said, and Jared lets out a sigh.

"Rose, no!" Adam said, while a brief touch leaves a golden handprint which quickly fades.

The Dalek becomes more animated, "Genetic material extrapolated. Initiate cellular reconstruction!"

"I should have punched it." Yang said, as the Dalek breaks its chains. "We were right there."

Simmons enters.

"What the hell have you done?" Simmons asked, while he goes to the Dalek, carrying his drill. The Dalek raises its sink plunger. "What are you going to do? Sucker me to death?"

"I think that's gonna happen." Yang said, and the sucker covers Simmons nose and mouth and the Dalek creates a vacuum inside it. "Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark."

Outside the Cage....

"It's killing him! Do something!" Rose said, angrily.

"It's too late, Rosie." Jared said, frowning. "He had to taunt the Dalek."

"Condition red! Condition red!" Bywater said.

Doctor's cage...

"I repeat, this is not a drill!" The guard said.

"Release me if you want to live." The Doctor said.

"We need to get in contact with Rose, Yang, and Jared." Weiss said, looking over at the Doctor. "Now."

Office...

The scene in the Cage is on a large wall TV.

"You've got to keep it in that cell." The Doctor said.

"Doctor, it's all my fault." Rose said, on screen.

"Actually it's my fault." Jared said, on screen, as he looked at the Doctor. "I saw this coming, I should have stopped it."

"There wasn't enough time to stop her." Yang said, on screen. "To stop Rose, I mean."

"I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations." A guard said, on screen.

"A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat." The Doctor said.

"So, the Dalek is more like a super robot." Weiss said, coming up with a comparison.

Outside the Cage...

And that is precisely what the Dalek uses its sucker to do.

"Open fire!" Bywater said.

Office...

"Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed." Van Statten said.

"Rose, Jared, Yang, get out of there!" The Doctor said, looking at his three companions.

Outside the Cage...

"De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?" Bywater asked, and the woman guard obeys.

"You, with me." De Maggio said.

Outside the Cage...

The Dalek glides up to the wall monitor and smashes it, absorbing the electricity. It's battered armour starts to mend, turning from brown to golden.

"Abandoning the Cage, sir." Bywater said.

Office...

"We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh, my God. It's draining entire power supplies for the whole of Utah." Goddard said.

"I think it's downloading something." Weiss said, coming up with theories. "Don't know what, yet."

"Downloading what?" Van Statten asked.

"Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down." Goddard said.

"It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything." The Doctor said.

"I think Yang's gonna kill me. Since Las Vegas is in the West Coast." Weiss said, frowning. "She might want to party after this."

Outside the Cage...

"The Daleks survive in me!" The Dalek said, and it uses its weapon on its surroundings.

Office...

"The cameras in the vault have gone down." Goddard said.

"We've only got emergency power. It's eaten everything else. You've got to kill it now!" The Doctor said, annoyed.

"Like really! If it can download the entire internet. And it suckered a man to death. It has to be stopped!" Weiss said, agreeing with the Doctor.

"All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately." Goddard said.

Corridor...

"Civilians! Let them through!" De Maggio said.

Rose, Jared, Yang, and Adam, and de Maggio, run through the incoming phalanx of guards.

"Cover the north wall. Red division, maintain suppressing fire along the perimeter. Blue division...argh!" Bywater said.

The guard dies the traditional extermination death, by turning black and white and having his skeleton exposed. The guards open fire, but the Dalek just absorbs the bullets. It kills another man. More guards come up behind it, so it swivels its eyepiece around then its middle section turns to open fire on them. Back and forward it alternates, killing someone each time.

Office...

"Tell them to stop shooting at it." Van Statten said.

"But it's killing them!" Goddard said, looking at her fallen colleagues.

"They're dispensable. That Dalek is unique. I don't want a scratch on its bodywork, do you hear me? Do you hear me?"

The gunfire stops, but only because there is no one left to shoot. Goddard calls up a schematic of the base.

"That's us, right below the surface. That's the cage, and that's the Dalek." Goddard said.

"This museum of yours. Have you got any alien weapons?" The Doctor asked.

"Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them." Goddard said.

"We've got to keep that thing alive. We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there." Van Statten said.

"Put a sock in it!" Weiss said, walking up to Van Statten, angrily. "We're not trapping the Dalek down there with everyone else trapped with it!"

"Yeah, Rose, Jared, and Yang are down there. We won't let that happen. Have you got that? It's got to go through this area. What's that?" The Doctor asked, looking at Van Statten.

"Weapons testing." Goddard said.

"Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it." The Doctor said.

"I'm going down there." Weiss said, holding out her Myrtenaster. "I'll stop the Dalek."

"You can't. You dying here will alter the future of your universe. Things won't be the same if Team RWBY loses you."

"Fine." Weiss said, crossing her arms.

Staircase...

"Stairs! That's more like it. It hasn't got legs. It's stuck!" Rose said, happily.

"It's coming! Get up!" De Maggio said.

They run a flight and look down on the Dalek.

"Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs." Adam said.

"So, what else can a Dalek do?" Yang asked, looking at Jared.

"They can do something they weren't able to do during the 1960s and the 1970s." Jared said, looking at Yang.

"Now listen to me. I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate then I can guarantee that Mister van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong, but people have died, and that stops right now. The killing stops. Have you got that? I demand that you surrender. Is that clear?" De Maggio asked, looking at the Dalek.

"Elevate." The Dalek said, gliding up the stairs.

"Oh my God." Rose said, shocked.

"You never said that they could fly." Yang said.

"Sorry, I forgot." Jared said, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm still getting over what happened during the Vytal Festival."

"We can talk about that later." Yang said. "When we're back at Beacon. Or in the TARDIS."

"Adam, get them out of here." De Maggio said.

"Come with us. You can't stop it." Rose said.

"Someone's got to try. Now get out! Don't look back. Just run." De MAggio said.

Despite the closing range, de Maggio doesn't hit the eyepiece. She suffers the usual fate.

Office...

"I thought you were the great expert, Doctor. If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it needs. Everything needs something." Van Statten said.

"What's the nearest town?" The Doctor asked.

"Salt Lake City."

"Population?"

"One million."

"Something tells me that they'll be all dead. If it's one million people dying, that'll be a whole city wiped out by one thing." Weiss said, her eyes widening.

"If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs." The Doctor said.

"But why would it do that?" Van Statten asked.

"Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose! The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible." The Doctor said.

Loading bay...

"If you concentrate your fire, you might get through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece." The Doctor said, his voice over the speaker system. "That's the weak spot."

Loading bay...

"Thank you, Doctor, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions!" The commander said, while his men take cover behind various corners, packing cases, boxes and up on a catwalk with him.

Rose, Adam, Yang, and Jared run into view.

"This doesn't look Dalek-table at all." Jared said, holding Yang's hand. "I really don't like this."

"Hold your fire! You four, get the hell out of there!" The commander said.

Rose, Adam, Jared, and Yang run past a guard at the entrance. The Dalek enters, turns and zooms in on Rose's face. They get out of the bay.

Outside the loading bay….

"It was looking at me." Rose said.

"Yeah, it wants to slaughter us." Adam said.

"I know, but it was looking right at me."

"So? It's just a sort of metal eye thing. It's looking all around."

"I don't know. It's like there's something inside, looking at me, like, like it knows me."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." Yang said, reassuring Rose. "How could that know you?"

Loading bay…

"On my mark. Open fire!" The commander said.

Office…

"We've got vision." Goddard said.

"It wants us to see." The Doctor said.

"Obviously." Weiss said, stating the obvious. "But why?"

Loading bay…

The hail of bullets is having no effect. Then the Dalek starts to rise straight up into the air. It zaps the fire alarm and the sprinklers are set off. Once the concrete floor is covered with a layer of water, it fires downwards and electrocutes every wet person on the ground.

"Fall back! Fall back!" The commander said.

The Dalek exterminates kills him and the rest of his men with another strategic shot, then continues to hang there, water pouring down its shell, crying in the rain.

Office…

"Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place." Van Statten said.

"Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out." Goddard said.

"You said we could seal the vault. Weiss, did you hear him saying that?" The Doctor asked, looking at Weiss.

"Yes, I did." Weiss said, nodding her head.

"It was designed to be a bunker in the event of nuclear war. Steel bulkheads." Van Statten said.

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

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

"We'd have to bypass the security codes. That would take a computer genius." Goddard said.

"Good thing you've got me, then." Van Statten said.

"You want to help?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't want to die, Doctor. Simple as that. And nobody knows this software better than me."

"Sir." Goddard said.

The Dalek is back on the ground.

"I shall speak only to the Doctor." The Dalek said, on screen.

"You're going to get rusty." Weiss said. "Especially something as metallic as you."

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

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

"I have been searching for the Daleks." The Dalek said, on screen.

"Yeah, I saw. downloading the internet. What did you find?"

Loading bay…

"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes." The Dalek said.

Office…

"And?" The Doctor asked.

"Nothing. Where shall I get my orders now?" The Dalek asked, on screen.

"You're just a soldier without commands."

"Then I shall follow the Primary Order, the Dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer."

"What for? What's the point? Don't you see it's all gone? Everything you were, everything you stood for."

Loading bay…

"Then what should I do?" The Dalek asked.

Office…

"All right, then. If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself." The Doctor said.

Loading bay…

"The Daleks must survive!" The Dalek said.

Office…

"The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct. Rid the Universe of your filth. Why don't you just die?" The Doctor asked.

Loading bay…

"You would make a good Dalek." The Dalek said.

Office…

"It did not just say that." Weiss said, when the screen goes blank. "The Doctor, a good Dalek? Is that actually a thing?"

"Seal the Vault." The Doctor said.

"I can leech power off the ground defences, feed it to the bulkheads. God, it's been years since I had to work this fast." Van Statten said.

"Are you enjoying this?"

"Doctor, Weiss, they're still down there." Goddard said.

Staircase…

Rose's phone rings, "This isn't the best time."

"Where are you?" The Doctor asked.

"We're at the 49th floor." Jared said, running next to Rose and Yang.

"God, this is such a workout." Yang said, running on adrenaline. "For all of us."

Office…

"The three of you have got to keep moving. The vault's being sealed off up at level forty six." The Doctor said.

Staircase…

"Can't you stop them closing?" Rose asked.

Office…

"I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you lot." The Doctor said.

Staircase…

"Now for God's sake, run." The Doctor said, and the Dalek is at level fifty one.

"You know we would be running away from a Dalek." Yang said, looking over at Jared. "Running for our lives."

"Yeah." Jared said, squeezing Yang's hand. "I did."

Office…

"Done it. We've got power to the bulkheads." Van Statten said.

"The Dalek's right behind them." Goddard said.

"Come on Yang…" Weiss said, looking at the Doctor. "Jared…"

Level 46…

"We're nearly there. Give us two seconds." Rose said.

Office…

"Doctor, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing. Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads." Van Statten said.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said.

Level 46…

The Doctor hits Enter. A klaxon sounds and the bulkhead starts to lower.

"Come on!" Adam said, as he rolls under the bulkhead with eighteen inches to spare.

Office…

"The vault is sealed." Van Statten said.

"Rose, Jared, Yang, where are you? Rose, did you make it with the others?" The Doctor asked.

Level 46…

"Sorry, we were a bit slow." Rose said, and the Dalek comes round the corner. "See you, then, Doctor. It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault."

Office…

"And do you know what?" Rose asked, her voice over the phone.

Level 46…

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Rose said.

Office…

"Weiss, you were a great friend." Jared said, his voice over the phone. "A really great friend. Despite being a spoiled brat. You were amazing. Take good care of Ruby for us. Blake too."

"Tell Ruby…" Yang said, her voice over the phone. "I love her."

"Exterminate!" The Dalek said, with a zap noise over the phone.

"I killed them." The Doctor said.

"I'm sorry." Van Statten said.

"I said I'd protect them. They were only here because of us, and you're sorry? I could've killed that Dalek in it's cell, but you stopped me."

"It was the prize of my collection!"

"Your collection?" Weiss asked, losing her temper. "Was it worth it? Worth all those lives lost?"

"Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Rose? Worth Jared? Worth Yang? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater." The Doctor said, standing next to Weiss.

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

"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get. And you took them down with you. Rose and Jared were nineteen years old." The Doctor said.

"While Yang was 17 years old." Weiss said, nodding her head.

Level 46…

"Go on then, kill us. Why're you doing this?" Rose asked.

"I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose." The Dalek said.

"They're all dead because of you."

"They are dead because of us."

"And now what? What're you waiting for?"

"The Dalek hasn't killed us yet." Yang said, looking at Jared. "It should have, right? How come it didn't?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon. Bumblebee." Jared said, smiling.

"Daleks do not fear. Must not fear." The Dalek said, shooting at either side of the bulkhead door. "Rose, you gave me life. What else have you given me? I am contaminated."

Office…

Adam enters.

"You were quick on your feet, leaving Rose, Jared, and Yang behind." The Doctor said, looking at Adam.

"I'm not the one who sealed the vault!" Adam said, angrily.

"You're just lucky that there are soldiers are around us." Weiss said, walking up to Adam angrily. "Or I would have froze you by now!"

"Open the bulkhead or Rose Tyler, Jared Shay, and Yang Xiao Long dies." The Dalek said, on screen.

"You're alive!" The Doctor said, looking at the screen. "All three of you!"

"Can't get rid of us." Rose said, on screen.

"I thought the three you were dead."

"Open the bulkhead!" The Dalek said, on screen.

"Don't do it!" Rose said, on screen.

"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman and the friends you love?"

"I killed them once. I can't do it again." The Doctor said, while the bulkhead opens.

Rose, Jared, Yang, and the Dalek walk through.

"What do we do now, you bleeding heart. What the hell do we do?" Van Statten asked.

"Kill it when it gets here." Adam said.

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

"Only the catalogued ones."

"Ruby being here, she would have fangirled over the weapons." Weiss said. "Especially the ones you might have in the vault."

Adam's workshop…

"Broken. Broken. Hairdryer." The Doctor said, looking and tossing items around.

"Mister 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 said.

"What, you in a fight? I'd like to see that."

"Me too, you look like more like someone who's tech savvy than a fighter." Weiss said, studying Adam closely.

"I could do." Adam said, looking between the Doctor and Weiss.

"What're you going to do, throw your A-Levels at 'em? Oh, yes. Lock and load." The Doctor said, picking up a weapon and leaving the room with Weiss.

Lift…

"I'm begging you, don't kill them. You didn't kill us." Rose said.

"But why not? Why are you three alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?" The Dalek asked.

"You're a Dalek." Jared said, smiling. "That's what you are."

"You can't be more simple than that." Yang said, looking over at Jared. "Right?"

Office…

"Don't move. Don't do anything. It's beginning to question itself." Rose said.

"Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?" The Dalek asked.

"I wanted to help you. I just, I don't know. I was trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you. I wanted you better. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!" Van Statten said, while he is backed up against the wall.

"Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Don't do it! Don't kill him! You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else, not just killing. What else is there? What do you want?" Rose asked.

"I want freedom." The Dalek said.

"Then let's give you that." Jared said, happily. "Let's give you freedom."

"Let's make you free." Yang said.

Stairs…

"I can't believe you want to kill that Dalek." Weiss said, holding her Myrtenaster. "Why?"

"Weiss." The Doctor said, holding his honking big gun. "You know why."

"Yes, I get that you're mad at the Daleks. Argh, I had a similar argument with Blake a couple days ago!" Weiss said, while the two are running up the stairs. "I don't want a repeat of that."

"Then shut up then. And let me do my thing. I need to kill the Dalek. I need to end this."

Level 1…

The Dalek blasts a hole in the roof, and a shaft of sunlight streams down straight onto its eyepiece.

"You're out. You made it. I never thought I'd feel the sunlight again." Rose said, excitedly.

"How does it feel?" The Dalek asked, opening its middle and dome sections to reveal the one-eyed mutant within.

"You know, I thought you were scary. Yelling Exterminate." Yang said, and the Dalek holds out a tendril. "But you weren't half bad."

"You're the second Dalek out there that is kind." Jared said, happily. "The other one is Rusty. Man, I can't wait to meet him."

"Get out of the way. Rose, Jared, Yang, get out of the way now!" The Doctor said, looking at three of his companions.

"No. I won't let you do this." Rose said.

"That thing killed hundreds of people."

"It's not the one pointing the gun at us." Yang said, looking at the Doctor. "You are."

"I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left." The Doctor said.

"Look at it." Rose said.

"What's it doing?"

"It looks like it wants the sunlight." Weiss said, looking at the Dalek closely. "I think that's all it wants, and what it needs."

"But it can't…"

"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?" Rose asked, looking at the Doctor.

"I couldn't. I wasn't. Oh, Rose, Jared, Weiss, and Yang. They're all dead." The Doctor said.

"Why do we survive?" The Dalek asked.

"I don't know."

"I am the last of the Daleks."

"You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating."

"Into what?"

"You're mutating into a hybrid." Jared said, looking at the Dalek. "Part human, Part Dalek. It's something new."

"I'm sorry." Weiss said, sadly. "We all are."

"Isn't that better?" Rose asked.

"It think it isn't better for a Dalek. It's against their programming, I think." Yang said, frowning. "When their only function was to kill. Kill living things that aren't them. And to hate them."

"I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness. Rose, give me orders. Order me to die." The Dalek said.

"I can't do that." Rose said, looking at the Dalek.

"This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!"

"Do it."

"Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?"

"Yeah."

"So am I. Exterminate." The Dalek said, shutting its eye.

Rose, Jared, Weiss, and Yang retreat as it closes up its armour again then rises into the air. The balls on its lower body spread out around it creating a forcefield, then it implodes safely.

Corridor…

"So a Dalek." Weiss said, walking next to Jared and Yang. "A salt shaker or a trash can. Which is it?"

"I think it looks like both." Jared said, smiling. "You could say that it sucks...to be one!"

"Oh, good one." Yang said, laughing with Jared. "So, what's next after this?"

"Well, someone is gonna join up with us for an adventure."

"Who?" Weiss asked, intrigued.

"Adam Mitchell."

"Not that guy who left you two behind the bulkheads. And Rose too."

Museum…

"A little piece of home. Better than nothing." The Doctor said.

"Is that the end of it, the Time War?" Rose asked.

"I'm the only one left. I win. How about that?"

"The Dalek survived. Maybe some of your people did too."

"I'd know. In here." The Doctor said, pointing to his head. "Feels like there's no one."

"Well then, good thing we're not going anywhere." Rose said.

"I'm never leaving you!" Jared said. "I'm gonna have some fun with these guys after a couple of adventures."

"Basically he's gonna be more down to Earth. More like someone people can rely on." Yang said. "That's what he wants to become."

"Like Rose said, we're not going anywhere." Weiss said, looking at the Doctor. "Well, Team RWBY, Team JNPR will have to go back to Beacon at some point."

"And I'm coming with them. I want to be a part of the action. Out of all of us, Rose is the most likely not to go anywhere." Jared said, smirking.

"Yeah." The Doctor said.

"We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared. They're closing down the base. Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed." Adam said, walking up to the group.

"About time." Rose said.

"This place really has to go." Weiss said. "It's not good for hoarders like him."

"Especially if they're dicks." Yang said, her eyes glowing red for a moment. "I'm gonna kill that man if we ever see him again."

"I'll have to go back home." Adam said.

"Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours." The Doctor said.

"Make sure you catch it." Weiss said. "You don't want to miss it!"

"Yeah, just go home, Adam." Jared said, and he gave Weiss a low five.

"Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars." Rose said, looking at the Doctor.

"Tell him to go and stand outside, then." The Doctor said.

"He's all on his own, Doctor, and he did help."

"He left you, Jared, and Yang down there."

"So did you and Weiss."

"What're you talking about? We've got to leave." Adam said.

"Why do I have a feeling that this won't end well?" Weiss asked.

"Because it won't." Jared said, rolling his eyes. "I hate what's to come. After today."

"What'll happen?" Yang asked.

"Adam will do something stupid. Can't reveal what yet. But you guys will find out."

The Doctor unlocks the Tardis.

"What're you doing? She said cement. She wasn't joking. We're going to get sealed in." Adam said, while the Doctor, Rose, Jared, Weiss, and Yang go inside the Tardis. "Doctor? What're you doing standing inside a box? Rose? Jared? Weiss? Yang?"

Adam creeps inside the Tardis, and it dematerialises.