A Question of Time

“I think I’ve got something…” the Doctor muttered. While the Doctor, Jack and the Master tried to figure out what the green blob was, as Rachel and Ianto had gone off to watch Talluah’s show. “Here, look at this.”

The Doctor and the Master stared at the results of their experiments to figure out what the green blob was. The Master’s brows furrowed in confusion. “This is artificial. It was engineered,” the Master remarked as Jack leaned down to get a look.

“Whoever did this…” The Doctor whistled. “Boy, were they clever,” The machine the two Time Lords had rigged together beeped and spat out a result, which the Doctor read aloud. “DNA type 467 - 989.” The Doctor froze for a second, before looking over at the Master. “But that means the planet of origin is…”

“Skaro,” the Master whispered, his eyes wide. For the first time that Jack could remember both the Master and the Doctor had a look of absolute terror in their eyes.

“What does that…” Jack stopped mid-sentence as he remembered what race came from Skaro. “You’re sure?” he asked.

Before anyone could respond Rachel came running into the room, her face streaked with tears. “They took Ianto!” she sobbed, latching on to Jack, who hugged his daughter close. “The Pig People took Ianto!”

Jack instantly swept his daughter up into his arms as the Doctor and the Master raced off to try and stop the Pig People, Jack in hot pursuit as they descended into the sewers once more. “Why would they take Ianto?” He asked the Doctor, only to be cut off by the sound of someone approaching the family, which quickly ducked into the shadow.

The shadow which was thrown upon the wall was horribly familiar to the two Time Lords and Jack, the entire family held their breath as a Dalek rolled out and moved in front of the hiding family.

Jack held Rachel tightly, hardly daring to breath as the Dalek passed them by. “Daleks…” Jack whispered, trying to seem brave in front of Rachel.

“They survive… they always survive,” the Doctor angrily whispered, glaring in the direction that the Dalek had gone.

“The Daleks,” the Master sighed, before moving to take Rachel from Jack’s arms “They are creatures born out of hatred, created in the middle of a Civil War. They exist only to destroy that which is not Dalek.”

“Rachel, the Last Great Time War…” The Doctor sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “The Time Lords fought against the Daleks… in order to save everything.”

“But we lost… we all lost,” the Master added, catching the Doctor’s eyes. “Both the Time Lords and the Daleks were destroyed. Of the thousands of Time Lords only the Doctor and I survived---”

“But the Daleks just keep coming back,” Jack growled. “I’m taking Rachel back to the TARDIS,” Seeing Rachel was about to argue, Jack gently pressed a finger to his daughter’s lips. “Rachel, the Daleks are one of two things that I’m scared of and I don‘t want my daughter having to fight them!”

Before Jack could take his daughter away, the tramping of footsteps could be heard. “We can’t get out!” the Doctor whispered, looking back at his family. “The Daleks will sense us… sense that we‘re Time Lords.”

“Jack, the Daleks won’t be able to sense that Rachel is part Time Lord,” the Master told his human mate, before he set Rachel down on the ground. “Ray, stay with Jack and try not to draw attention to yourself… the Daleks should be too busy with the Doctor and me.”

“Why?” Rachel asked, looking up at her fathers.

“Because we’ve messed up their plans before,” the Doctor explained. “They’ll want revenge.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ianto kept his eyes straight ahead as he was marched down the tunnels, surrounded by Pig People who were being led by a Dalek. He’d heard a little about the terrible creatures from Jack and the Master, but he’d thought they were all gone… perished in the last Great Time War or destroyed when before Jack was brought back to life. The group stopped in a large room that was filled with alien technology. Ianto watched as one of the Daleks seemed to quiver and shake before the amour opened, revealing a creature that Ianto had no name for.

The alien was vaguely humanoid, but its head was just wrong with skin that seemed like a lizard’s. “What is that?” Ianto whispered under his breath.

“I am Dalek Sec and I… am a human Dalek!” the creature replied, seemingly proud of that fact. Ianto’s attention was drawn away from Dalek Sec by a strange sort of brushing feeling against his mind.

Jack had recently been helping Ianto recognize mental connections, such as telepathy, so Ianto recognized Jack’s mental ‘essence’ (for lack of a better word) Carefully looking out of the corner of his eyes, Ianto caught a brief glimpse of the Doctor before he had to look back at the Human Dalek, in order to avoid suspicion.

“These humans will become like me,” Dalek Sec said, glancing over the captives. “Prepare them!” The Daleks began to move closer to the captives, only to stop when a nearby radio blared to life.

“Hello!” the Doctor smiled, stepping out from behind the pillar with the Master at his side while Jack and Rachel remained hidden. “Surprised to see us?”

“The Doctor,” Dalek Sec whispered, before looking at the Master in confusion.

“The Enemies of the Daleks!” one of the normal Daleks shouted, his eyestalk and weapon waving around. “Exterminate!”

“Wait!” Dalek Sec commanded.

“A new form of Dalek… how very clever,” the Master smirked, leaning against a pillar.

“Of course there was a time when four Daleks could have taken on the world,” the Doctor remarked.

“The cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter, through an emergency temporal shift.” Dalek Sec explained.

“So that’s why you’re hiding in the dark,” the Doctor remarked, leaning slightly against the Master.

“But why the sudden evolution? Kinda goes against all things Dalek doesn’t it?” The Master remarked, trying to keep the smirk off his face.

“Tell us, what do you feel?” the Doctor asked.

“I feel---” Dalek Sec shivered slightly as he looked around. “Humanity… I feel everything you wanted for mankind --- ambition, hatred, aggression and war! Such a genius for war!”

“No!” the Doctor struggled not to scream. “That’s not what humanity means!”

“I think it does,” Dalek Sec countered, crossing his arms.. “At heart this species is so very… Dalek.”

The Master frowned. “So what have you achieved with this experiment?” he laughed suddenly, looking over at Dalek Sec as he pulled out his Laser Screwdriver and it let out an earsplitting nosie that incapacitated the Daleks.

“Run!” the Doctor yelled at the humans, who quickly obeyed, leaving the Daleks and Dalek Sec alone in the room with their technology.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The humans were running down the sewers, back to Hooverville, Jack carrying Rachel in his arms so they could move faster. “What now?” he gasped, looking over towards the Doctor, who was talking with Solomon.

“They’re going to make a last stand.” the Master sighed, looking down at Rachel who was clutching at Jack’s coat, shivering more from fright then from the cold. Before the Master could send one or both of the humans back with Rachel to the TARDIS the sound of approaching Pig Slaves could be heard. In seconds the inhabitants of Hooverville were crowded around the Time Travelers, with Rachel and a few women in the center so that they were somewhat protected by the men folk.

“We can hold them off!” someone shouted, but the Master shook his head.

“No, they’re just the foot soldiers!” the Master yelled, moving in front of Rachel as a Dalek appeared in the sky and hovered for a second to look at the humans, before shooting at the camp. Ianto instantly dropped to the ground, pulling Rachel against him as the little girl looked up at the Daleks, pure hatred in her eyes.

“Stop it! They haven’t done anything to you!” the Doctor cried out, stepping forward, despite the Master and Jack trying to stop him.

“We have located the Doctor!” the Dalek cried, its eyes stalk moving to point at the Doctor as Solomon stepped forward and was shot as he stepped in front of the Doctor.

The Doctor stared at the body of the man before glaring up at the Daleks. “So it’s my turn now?” he asked, throwing his arms out. “Kill me! Kill me if it will stop you attacking these people!”

The Dalek seemed to be about to do so, when he was stopped by Dalek Sec, who ordered that the Doctor would live and would be brought back to him, along with the Master--- if they did so then the humans in Hooverville would be spared.

The Doctor pushed Jack back, secretly slipping him the slightly-psychic paper as he and the Master walked away. Jack glanced down at the paper in confusion as he walked back over to Ianto and Rachel.

“That the Psychic paper, right?” Ianto asked, as Rachel took the paper from her mother.

“Where are we supposed to go?” Jack thought aloud, looking over at Ianto. “I know they want us to go somewhere, but where?”

Rachel bit her lip and looked around, taking in the Hooverville, the park and the city beyond. She played with the leather case which held the paper and Jack smiled as he realized his daughter was muttering under her breath, as the Doctor sometimes did when he was thinking.

“Before you came the Daleks mentioned a ‘conductor’,” Ianto remarked. “Something they needed for their experiments.”

“Which must to have something to do with that Human Dalek…” Jack added.

“That’s it!” Rachel stood up and started running off, Ianto and Jack quickly following the young girl. “I know where we’re supposed to go!”

“Where?” Jack asked as Rachel lead the two adults through the park.

“The Empire State Building!” Rachel shouted over her shoulder as she lead Ianto and Jack towards said building.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“What did they think we are?” Rachel asked as the trio road the elevator to the top floor of the might building.

“An architect whose friend and daughter want to see the tallest building in the world,” Jack smirked, putting the psychic paper in his pocket, his hands brushing against a small box he’d been holding for the Master and the Doctor.

Now that might come in handy! Jack thought, patting the box before checking what floor the elevator was passing by. Soon the doors opened and the three stepped out, Rachel moving over to look out the windows.

“Wow…” she whispered before moving to some plans that were on display, which Ianto was also examining as Jack looked around.

“These plans are new today, so something must have changed…” Ianto noted as they flipped between the two designs.

“But what?” Jack asked, looking back at Ianto and Rachel.

“Here it is!” Rachel smiled and placed her finger on a spot near the base of the lightning rod. “They added something here.”

“Whatever they added must be part of the Daleks’ plan,” Jack realized, a smirk on his face as Rachel glanced over at him and he saw her inheritance from the Doctor in her sparkling eyes.

“So we just have to yank it out!” she practically squealed before she froze. “But it’s probably fastened to the building…”

Ianto sighed and sat down, running a hand through his hair. “And we can’t exactly just pull it off, now can we?” Rachel pouted and sat down next to Ianto, resting her head in her hands as she looked down at the designs.

At that moment the elevator opened, Jack turned around, stepping in front of Ianto and Rachel in a fighting stance before realizing that the elevator contained the Master and the Doctor.

“We found what they did!” Rachel said as she stepped forward. “They added something to the mast, take it off and it probably won’t work!”

The Doctor nodded and took off, climbing up to the mast as the Master directed the humans and his daughter to make it so the lightning would be channeled down to the elevator, in order to stop the approaching Pig Slaves.

Meanwhile the Doctor was frantically trying to get the strips of metal off the mast… and having a difficult time. The wind was ice cold and he kept thinking it would blow him off. He’d come close to dropping his Sonic Screwdriver several times… he could hear his family running around underneath him, getting things in place to defeat the pig slaves.

Just as the Doctor thought of his family the Sonic Screwdriver dropped from his fingers, falling to the ground below. In horror he tried to pull the remaining two metal strips off, before quickly climbing up on the lightning rod… and screaming in pain as the lightning bolt went through his body.

The Master smiled as the Pig Slaves were fried, before helping Rachel to stand. “Where’s Daddy D?” Rachel asked, before looking over at the window… and screaming.

Rachel raced off towards the scaffolding, and the others saw what she had seen. Lying on the scaffolding was the Doctor, who wasn’t moving. “Daddy D!” Rachel whimpered, shaking the Doctor as the Master, Jack and Ianto ran over.

“Ow…” the Doctor whimpered, slowly standing up and looking over at the group. “Everyone okay?”

Rachel nodded and hugged the Doctor as the Master picked up the fallen Sonic Screwdriver and handed it to his fellow Time Lord. “The Gamma strike went through,” the Doctor explained as he stood and walked into the building. “But it went through me first…”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rachel looked around the theater as the Doctor fiddled with his Sonic Screwdriver and the Master rummaged in the back to see if he could find anything useful… Ianto and Jack were sitting in the front row, resting since they couldn’t really do anything else at that moment.

“Why does it matter that the lightning bolt when through you?” Rachel asked, sitting down on the stage Indian style, facing the audience and the Doctor.

“Because that lightening bolt was full of gamma radiation,” the Doctor explained and Rachel went over to join Ianto, Jack and now the Master in sitting down in the audience.

“You’re telling them where we are?” the Master asked and the Doctor nodded, as human Daleks walked into the theater and the Daleks appeared on the stage, with Dalek Sec in chains.

Rachel glared at the Daleks with hate in her eyes when the Daleks ordered the Human Daleks to kill the Doctor… after they killed Dalek Sec in front of the group of Time Travelers…

But the Dalek Humans did not shoot… they just stood there, weapons ready as the Doctor fought back a laugh. “They aren’t Daleks,” the Doctor stated, standing on the chairs. “I got in the way of the lightning strike, Time Lord DNA got mixed up… Gave them just a little bit of freedom!”

With that the Dalek/Human/Time Lords began to shoot at the Daleks… destroying both of the Daleks before they were destroyed by the Dalek that remained behind. “They killed them! An entire species!” the Doctor screamed, anger clear on his face.

“Only one Dalek left,” the Master noted, taking out his Laser Screwdriver and tossing it around in his hands. “In all of Time and Space.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Rachel, Ianto and Jack stood in the opening to the Tunnels, the Doctor and the Master advanced on the last Dalek… Dalek Caan. The Doctor and the Master tried to talk to him… but he initiated an emergency temporal shift. Rachel moved over to her fathers, who were staring at the place where the Dalek had been.

“Don’t worry,” she said, looking up at the two. “We’ll find him… someday.”

Jack stepped forward and pulled a small brown box out of his pocket, the Master and the Doctor’s eyes lighting up as they realized what the box contained. “It’s still a little early… but I think we should give you this,” Jack said, holding the box out for Rachel. Rachel tilted her head like a confused puppy, before taking the box.

“It was going to be a present for your eighth birthday…” the Master noted, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

Rachel smiled and opened the box, her face suddenly lighting up as she smiled before quickly moving to hug her parents. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she laughed as she hugged each one in turn.

“What did you give her?” Ianto asked, moving up to stand beside Jack. “I don’t know the last time I see her so excited…”

Rachel held up her present so that Ianto could see it. “It’s a Sonic Screwdriver!” she exclaimed.

“Actually, it’s a hybrid Laser and Sonic Screwdriver,” the Master noted, a smile on his face as the Doctor leaned down and started to explain the different settings to his daughter. “Mostly Sonic but with the better settings from my Laser Screwdriver thrown in.”

TBC