(NINTH YES NINTH BECAUSE NINTH. /ahem/ I’m so sorry it’s late, but I hope you like it!!)

…

2012, somewhere under Utah, America.

Van Statten had a menacing glint in his eye as the Doctor entered the cage, looking around at the torture weapons and computer screens on the table. The Time Lord flinched at them. The door slammed shut, and he turned to the alien who had sent him the message. Poor thing. It must have been terrified – not many people can send a distress signal that powerful.

“It’s alright. I’ve come to help.” the Doctor stepped towards the shadows. “I’m the Doctor.”

There was a long pause.

“Doc…tor…”

The Doctor froze. No. “Impossible!”

“THE Doctor?!”

“NO!” the Doctor yelped.

The lights came on in the cage, revealing a battered and rusty Dalek. It screamed at the Doctor: “EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!”

The Doctor bolted for the door, pounding on the metal with his fist. “Let me out! Let me out!”

The Dalek continued screeching, and adjusted its gun to point at the Doctor. Nothing happened. The Doctor blinked at the machine – even the Dalek seemed surprised.

The Doctor grinned cruelly. “Oh, fantastic. Oh! Fantastic!” he glared at the Dalek. “Look at you. Great big metal-”

“Doctor.” the Dalek whispered.

The Doctor was baffled. How can a Dalek whisper? “What are you?”

“I should say the same for you.” the Dalek croaked. “Your face has changed.”

“What. Are. You?” the Doctor growled.

“Hello, Chin Boy.” Oswin whispered, a tear rolling down her human cheek. “It’s me. Oswin. Soufflé Girl.”

“I don’t know you.” the Doctor gritted his teeth.

“The Asylum. Don’t you remember?” Oswin clenched her fists. “You left me behind. You said you’d take me to see the stars.”

“Why would I take a DALEK to see the stars?!” the Doctor roared. He stepped forward, his eyes flashing dangerously. “You’re nothing but a killing machine! You killed my people!”

Oswin breathed heavily. “I didn’t!”

“No, no, of course not!” the Doctor shouted. “No, you were just following orders!”

“I have never killed anyone!” Oswin yelled. “I’d never kill someone! Not like you!”

The Doctor flinched. “You dare-”

But the Doctor had to stop. The Dalek wasn’t angry – it was crying. The short, snuffly, metallic cries hovered in the air, the Dalek’s eye-stalk lowering to gaze at the floor.

“Doctor.” Oswin gulped back tears. “All these years… I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I’m not the one you’ve been waiting for. You’re waiting for a man that doesn’t even exist yet.” the Doctor bit his lip. “I wonder what I’ll be like…”

“Apologise.”

“What?”

“Apologise for leaving me.” Oswin stared straight into the Doctor’s eyes. “You left me, and I fell to Earth when the Asylum was destroyed. Years of suffering and torment. Apologise.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“YOU ARE A DALEK!” the Doctor roared. He was shaking with anger, his breath stuttering. “You have nothing but hatred inside you!”

“Then how are we different?”

The Doctor froze. “I am nothing like you.”

“We are more alike than you can even imagine.”

The Doctor growled. He bolted to the computer screens, taking hold of one of the levers. “I’ll kill you.”

Oswin felt a flash of fear. “What?”

“I’ll kill you. I’ll kill the last of the Daleks and finally be rid of your filth!” the Doctor spat.

Oswin closed her eyes. “Do it.”

The Doctor frowned. “What?”

“Do it. Please.”

The Doctor’s hand tightened around the lever. “I will.”

“Thank you.” the Dalek lowered its eye-stalk again, and Oswin sat back in her chair, her eyes still closed against the flow of tears.

The Doctor released the lever. Oswin smiled.