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Chapter Text

"I just wish you weren't a soldier."

The words cut Journey deep, deeper than she had expected. And as the Doctor left in his blue box with Clara, Journey knew only one thing. That if she ever saw the Doctor again, she would say only two words to him. Just two words.

Thank you.

Because as she left the armoury, her body on autopilot as she picked up guns and other weapons, she was imagining what it would probably be like traveling with the Doctor. Traveling with someone like that, with such high standards and a moral myopia, constantly judging her for being a soldier. She could tell he was a soldier, probably the kind with so much blood on his hands he could drown in it. And she could tell by the way he looked at her, that's what he only thought a soldier was. Killing. As she double checked she had everything, she continued to think to herself about what the Doctor said. Yes she was a soldier. And she was proud of that. Because soldiers may kill, but they also protect innocent people. Without people like herself, Kai and her uncle the Daleks would have killed everyone she knew. And he would judge her for that.

While it was partly because she didn't want to walk back to her uncle after she clearly tried to leave him to travel with the Doctor, she didn't go back because of another reason. And the reason was because she didn't want to stay. She didn't want to go back to how her life was. She wants to see the universe. She wanted to help people. And most of all, she wants to kill every Dalek she can find. Except one, the one Dalek in the universe she was happily approaching.

"Hey, Rusty." Journey said, having started to like the nickname given to the Dalek by the Doctor.

"WHAT DO YOU REQUIRE?" the Dalek said in its loud, slightly annoying, electronic voice as it stopped and turned it's eyestalk around to face Journey.

"So just so I'm clear, you want to go and kill Daleks?" Journey checked, wanting to be certain she had all the facts before making her decision.

"CORRECT. THE DALEKS MUST BE EXTERMINATED!" Rusty responded.

"And no one else? No innocent people, just Daleks?"

"NO. UNLESS I AM ATTACKED BY OTHER LIFE FORMS, I WILL ONLY KILL THE DALEKS." Rusty answered.

"Good. Do you want some company?" Journey asked with a grin.

"NO." Rusty told her swiftly, before turned it's eyestalk away and began to move away from her.

"Oh come on." Journey said as she followed, not accepting defeat. "Think about it. We can be like a team. Watch each others back. You can help me kill the Daleks, and I can help you avoid killing people who could also kill the Daleks."

Rusty suddenly stopped, almost resulting in Journey slamming into it. She was also almost hit by it's eyestalk as it span round to face her again. "YOU CAN ACQUIRE AN ARMY?"

"Not an army. But just think about it. I can get us ships so we can travel to find more Daleks. I can help reassure people that you won't kill them and that you share a common enemy with them. I can go places you can't and talk to the right people who would sooner shoot you on sight that have a conversation over a drink." Journey told the Dalek. "Together, we have a better chance at killing more Daleks than we would on our own before we die."

"AND WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO THIS?" Rusty asked, clearly suspicious of Journey.

"Because I want to kill the Daleks and I want to see the universe as I do it." Journey answered. "So what do you say? Partners?"

"VERY WELL." Rusty responded, before moving away as it's eyestalk span around so it could see where it is going.

"Great. Now I just have to pick some personal stuff up and-"

"NO. WE LEAVE NOW." Rusty ordered.

"No, we wait so I can get stuff." Journey told the Dalek firmly.

"INCORRECT. WE LEAVE NOW OR I LEAVE ALONE."

"And who made you boss?" Journey challenged, and the killing machine stopped and span it's eyestalk around to look at her again.

"YOU BEGGED TO COME WITH ME." Rusty told her, before leaving to reach the ships. Journey watched it, before sighing in defeat and following.

"Wonderful. I get stuck with a bossy Dalek." Journey muttered. "That's just typical."

Chapter Text

The human the Dalek known as Rusty, named by the Predator of the Daleks himself, has found itself partnered with was...strange. Or Rusty supposed the correct term would be stranger than other humans.

The two have only been partners for about three weeks now, and Rusty supposed it has been going well. Journey Blue, as the human was apparently known, had convinced Rusty that she could provide whim easier ways of finding Daleks to exterminate. And she had delivered on that promise, as she had indeed prevented locals from attacking the Dalek. She had acquired a ship from them, and Rusty had some idea on how to augment it wit Dalek technology so it could better serve Rusty's needs. However during the last week and with Journey Blue's help, Rusty was able to salvage Dalek parts to replace pieces of itself that were broken and upgrade itself for defense against Dalek weaponry. Similarly Journey Blue had been able to upgrade her own weapons with Dalek technology.

But there were problems. The human required so much sleep, food and water to survive. It was irritating when Rusty was forced to waste time to allow Journey Blue such annoying things, but apparently humans required them to survive. While Rusty no longer had any intention of exterminating humans and everything else in the universe, it did wonder how humans have lasted as long as they have.

Another thing was how Journey Blue didn't trust Rusty. Which was a smart decision, but if Rusty understood the meaning of the word partners correctly, surely Journey should trust Rusty? The Dalek trusted Journey, or at least that Joruney wanted to kill all Daleks just like Rusty wanted. Though perhaps it was wrong and Journey did trust Rusty, as the Dalek was only suspecting things like this due to having some of the Doctor's memories. These memories had been necessary in trying to understand Journey, as the Time Lord had a large number of female allies and understood human feelings.

It was when they were on the ruined planet of Mondas, which according to some reports was the origin of the species known as Cybermen, that their partnership began to change. Against Rusty's insistence, Journey Blue had disregarded the Dalek's insistence to ignore a distress call from a crashed ship. Arriving on Mondas, it wasn't long until they found the survivors of the crashed, though it was only after Journey Blue threatens both Rusty and the human attacking the Dalek that they began to make their way back to their ship with the survivors. Rusty still wasn't sure why he couldn't kill the human male for attacking it, as according to it's scans the human only had a protected lifespan of exactly fourteen months, but Rusty complied with Journey Blue's commands.

It transpired that a group of eight Daleks had attacked the ship, in hoping of using it to return back to its base after crashing on Mondas. Two of the seven survivors were instantly killed before Rusty and Journey returned fire, allowing the surviving humans to hide behind some rocks. The two partners had successfully killed three of the Daleks, when Rusty noticed that only two were on front of them. It quickly scanned the area using simple technology Journey Blue had asked to it's sensors, and found them. Both Daleks were approaching Journey Blue and Rusty from behind. Rusty was about to attack the one about to kill it, but as Journey Blue came into view of Rusty's eyestalk, smiling after she killed the two Daleks in front of them by herself, Rusty did something different. Maybe it was it's own instincts. Maybe it was the Doctor's instincts. Maybe it was a fault in the software of its shell. But instead of attacking the Dalek behind it, it aimed it's gun pass Journey Blue and fired.

The Dalek behind Journey Blue exploded in a spectacular fashion, and Rusty felt joy from exterminating another Dalek before pain shook through it. The Dalek had attacked Rusty, firing at full power, and the upgrade on Rusty's armour was barely able to take the force of it. Inside it's shell, Rusty could feel the temperature increase and almost feared it's mutated body will be damaged. However despite some damage Rusty survived, though unable to move as it's shell rebooted itself and was forced to watch Journey Blue kill the Dalek.

"Rusty! Are you alright?" Journey Blue asked she approached Rusty, having looked behind to see what Rusty had saved her from. Rusty attempted to respond, but found that it's shell was incapable of speaking as it rebooted. Journey Blue, clearly growing frustrated, banged her fist against Rusty. "Hey! Talk to me!"

"I AM OPERATIONAL AGAIN JOURNEY BLUE. OUTER SHELL WENT INTO REBOOT MODE. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM STRIKING ME AGAIN." Rusty informed it's human partner once the reboot was completed. It swiveled it's eyestalk to make sure the Daleks were exterminated and to see the humans emerging from their hiding place, before focusing on Journey Blue. "WE SHALL NOW DEPART."

"Wait." Journey Blue said to Rusty, the Dalek confused for why she would want to talk more. They had saved the humans and killed the Daleks, so now they should focus on getting rid of the humans and repairing themselves. "Why did you do that? Why did you kill the Dalek and save me?"

Rusty paused and thought, trying to figure out his reasons himself. It was a struggle. Since his encounter with the Doctor, Rusty's mind had been opened and found itself feeling more that just hatred for all life. The Dalek's mind was especially confused by fragments of memories belonging to the Doctor. Eventually Rusty settled on the one which might end any further questions.

"YOU FLY THE SHIP. IT HAS NOT YET BEEN ALTERED TO ALLOW ME TO FLY IT. IT IS THEREFORE BENEFICIAL TO KEEP YOU ALIVE." Rusty told Journey Blue, before moving towards their ship and leaving Journey Blue to handle the humans.

Chapter Text

Journey was simply making herself dinner in the ship's small kitchen when it happened. She had at first thought it was the onions she was cutting (she could use a machine, but she liked cooking like this when using actual food and not stuff from packets) that were causing her to cry, but when it wouldn't stop she realized what the true cause was. She eventually had to switch everything off to avoid risking a fire as she knelt to the ground, tears pouring down her face.

"JOURNEY BLUE. WHAT IS YOUR INJURY?" Rusty asked as the Dalek suddenly appeared in front of her. Journey had to wipe the tears from her eyes to clearly see the blue screen of Rusty's eyestalk looking down at her while it's manipulator arm was pointing at her. "I CAN NOT DETECT ANY INJURY. YOU SEEM TO BE IN PERFECT PHYSICAL CONDITION FOR A CREATURE OF YOUR AGE AND SPECIES. WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF THIS ACTION?"

"I'm...crying." Journey answered between sobs. "Just crying...you lifeless...uncaring monster."

"INCORRECT. I AM ALIVE." Rusty responded. "ACCORDING TO MY RECORDS, CRYING IS CAUSED BY PAIN AND IS USED BY YOUR KIND TO ALERT OTHERS THAT YOU NEED MEDICAL HELP. BUT I CANNOT DETECT ANY INJURY TO YOUR BODY."

"That's because...it's emotional pain." Journey answered, forcing herself to stop sobbing so extremely in front of the Dalek she would have been killing three months ago, if the Doctor hadn't saved her from death.

"HOW CAN EMOTIONS CAUSE PAIN?" Rusty questioned. "ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU DON'T FEEL ANY PHYSICAL PAIN OR DISCOMFORT?"

"Yes."

"CLARIFY HOW EMOTIONS CAUSE PAIN."

"Why do you care?" Journey asked, as she stood up to be face to eyestalk with Rusty. "You're a Dalek. You don't care about anything except exterminating everything."

"INCORRECT. I DESIRE TO EXTERMINATE ALL DALEKS." Rusty answered. "AND I DON'T CARE. I SIMPLY WANT TO UNDERSTAND."

Journey observed the Dalek, before sighing in defeat. "The day I met the Doctor was the day my brother Kai died. He was killed by your kind."

"AND THAT CAUSES PAIN?"

"Yes!" Journey shouted. "Somehow I've gone three months ignoring the fact that I'm spitting on Kai's memory by working with you. We spent practically our whole lives fighting you and your kind. He died fighting you and I'm working with you!"

She glared at Rusty, who only looked back at her and eventually Journey found herself glaring at her blue reflection in Rusty's eyestalk. As it continued to be quiet, she grew more angry. "Well say something!"

"I HAVE SEARCHED FOR ALL DATA THAT COULD BE OF USE." Rusty said. "ACCORDING TO SOME RECORDS, CREATURES LIKE YOU CAN SUFFER FROM SURVIVOR'S GUILT."

"Oh fuck no. There is no way I'm going to be a patient to the universe's first Dalek therapist." Journey said with a depressed glare before she sat down on a nearby chair and looked down at the floor, filled with guilt and despair.

She could feels Rusty watching her, probably searching through it's memories and Dalek records to find something it can use. But what it did horrified and disgusted her the second she realized what Rusty was doing. The feeling of it's toilet plunger like arm gently hitting the top of her head made her look up and glare at Rusty.

"Are you...petting me?" Journey practically hissed in anger.

"CORRECT." Rusty answered, and while Journey knew it was impossible she could swear she heard a hint of pride and arrogance in it's voice. As if it had figured out the answer to the hardest riddle in the universe and that doing so made it smarter than anyone else. "EMOTIONAL PAIN WILL NOW FADE. YOU ARE WELCOME."

"Oh fuck off!" Journey shouted as she stood up and began to walk away angrily.

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND." Rusty said as it followed her. "I AM CONNECTED TO THE CULT OF SKARO THROUGH THE PATHWEB. DUE TO THE ACTIONS OF YOU AND CLARA OSWALD I HAVE THEIR MEMORIES. THEY STUDIED HUMANS AND HUMANS RESPOND WELL TO WHAT I JUST DID."

"Well it didn't work! Want to know why? Because I don't like that and I'm not your pet! Now fuck off!" Journey shouted as she opens her door and shut it behind her, locking it as she did.

She listened as Rusty moved to her door and stopped. Journey went to her small bed and laid on it, her mind filled with memories of Kai. Of how they had to share all their toys and games. How they always looked out for each other. How she convinced him to investigate the seemingly abandoned spaceship and got him killed. She didn't know how long she was there on her bed, but eventually her hunger best her guilt and she opened her door. She almost leaped for the gun by her side when she saw that Rusty was still there, apparently having been waiting for her.

"WITH MORE TIME TO CONSIDER ALL POSSIBLE SCENARIOS, I NOW UNDERSTAND WHY MY FORMER ACTION WOULD NOT HAVE WORKED. HOWEVER ALL EVIDENCE SUGGEST THIS WILL." Rusty said to Journey, pausing a moment before speaking again. "I AM SORRY."

Journey was more convinced than ever that she was insane now. A Dalek had just apologised to her. A Dalek can't do that. It's a fact of the universe that a Dalek can't do that. Without even waiting for her to respond, it moved away, clearly believing that everything was forgiven. But it wasn't. Journey knew what she was doing was wrong. She should grab her gun and kill Rusty, like she's been trained to do. But instead she did something which made her feel more guilty.

"Please forgive me Kai." Journey whispered to herself, before leaving her room to resume making her dinner, wiping away the remaining years on her face as she did.

Chapter Text

If Rusty had been human, it supposed it would have laughed at how easy it was to kill that Dalek. Clearly this base was in a worse state that it had believed, as it only took one shot to kill the Dalek, and it had been at a lower power. Rusty wanted the outer technology to still relatively be intact, as it needed information. It placed its arm onto one of the spheres on the Dalek's armour and a flood of information swept through Rusty's mind as it now knew the schematics of the building and where captives were being held. Rusty turned around to head to where they were, when it found itself face to face with a blond woman.

"Oh Rusty! What a surprise." the blond woman said to the Dalek. Rusty stared at her, it's advance technology analysing her until it figured out who this woman was, judging her sonic probe and two hearts as evidence of her identity, which was backed up by how she knew Rusty and how the Daleks were aware of what could happen in regeneration.

"DOCTOR." Rusty responded, observing the Time Lady. "WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

"Could ask the same about you." the Doctor responded, as she resumed using her sonic screwdriver to try and open the door.

"HUMAN ASSOCIATE JOURNEY BLUE WAS CAPTURED BY DALEKS FOR EXPERIMENTATION." Rusty explained, it's mutated but intelligent mind acknowledging how the Doctor would be useful in this situation. "I HAVE COME DALEK BASE TO FREE HER."

"Wait Journey Blue? I know that name." the Doctor said as she paused, thinking deeply. Suddenly her eye lit up with realization and excitement. "Oh I remember! She was that soldier who went with me and Clara when we were shrunk and entered your body. What's she doing with you?"

"SHE IS AN ALLY."

"So she's like...a companion?" the Doctor asked hesitantly.

Rusty almost told the Doctor that she was wrong, when it actually thought about it. Rusty did travel with Journey Blue, and enjoyed the benefits of using her skills and resources to kill Daleks. And as everyone knew, that was the point of the Doctor's companions. To be tools to fight Daleks and other enemies of the Doctor.

"CORRECT."

"Strange that you've never mentioned her the last time we met. Then again, I was a little busy to focus on what you had been doing for millions of years." the Doctor said as the door opened by sliding into the wall.

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. EXPLAIN."

"Time traveler, remember?" she asked Rusty as she gestured at herself with the sonic screwdriver, as if that would help remind Rusty of something everyone knew about the Doctor. "I met a version of you in the future."

"UNDERSTOOD. WHY ARE YOU HERE?" Rusty asked, following her through the doorway and into a plain grey hallway.

"Not so loud. Are you trying to get us caught?" the Doctor asked Rusty, stopping to look at it. "If you must know, I was on my way to pick up my friends Yaz, Ryan and Graham from Earth after they wanted a break from nearly being blown up by a sonic grenade, when I got a call from professor Edwin Bracewell. He's a-"

"AN ANDROID CREATED BY THE DALEKS." Rusty interrupted her.

"Do I need to shush you? Because I will." the Doctor told Rusty. "Let me guess, you know that because of the Dalek pathweb?"

"AND FROM YOUR MEMORIES."

"Right. Well because of how long lived androids are he decided to spend his time investigating and learning about the Daleks, in hopes he could change them." the Doctor explained. "But he was captured and only had enough time to send me a message."

"THE ANDROID WILL LIKELY BE HELD IN THE SAME LOCATION AS JOURNEY BLUE." Rusty informed the Doctor. "AN ALLIANCE WILL IMPROVE OUR CHANCES OF SUCCESS."

"I suppose it would." the Doctor replied, looking at Rusty hesitantly. "But how do I know I can trust you?"

"I AM NOT A GOOD DALEK." Rusty responded, and it meant it. A good Dalek would be killing the Doctor right now, not working with her.

"And I'm a good Dalek am I?" the Doctor asked with a look that seemed to suggest it was painful to say that sentence.

"CORRECT." Rusty responded, not sure why the Doctor didn't seem to understand that fact yet. Every Dalek knew that the only creature in the universe that matched a Dalek's hatred for all life that is not Dalek, is the Doctor's hatred for the Daleks.

"Ok then. Let's team up." the Doctor said brightly, clearly trying to ignore what Rusty had said. "Let's get going shall we? There's no time to lose."

Chapter Text

"You might as well as give up my dear." Journey's cellmate, a man by the name of Bracewell, told her while he stood in the corner. Journey took a step back from the door she had been desperately trying to open and looked towards Bracewell with annoyance.

"Why aren't you helping? The Daleks will kill us if we don't escape." Journey replied as she walked away from the door, not wanting to admit that he was right and knowing that he probably wouldn't have been much help. She still wanted know why he was prepared to just stand there and accept his fate, as even the most suicidal and hopeless of solders would still try to take a Dalek down with them.

"Because there's nothing we can do Miss Blue. Neither one of us have the equipment to make the door open nor do we have weapons to fight the Daleks." Bracewell explained with the calm and collect tone of a teacher who takes pride in teaching, something Journey found strangely annoying in this moment. "The only chance we have of survival is if my friend comes to help us."

Journey struggled to laugh in his face, and she could honestly say she did pretty well despite how she visibly shook. "No offense, but I don't think your friend is coming. Nobody would be crazy enough to attack a Dalek base, even if they had an army on their side."

"Well my friend is known to be crazy, and she enjoys situations that are incredibly dangerous. Besides I imagine there are plenty of people who would fight the Daleks to rescue you." Bracewell said with a smile that soon vanished when he saw the sad expression on Journey's face. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, its fine." she replied with a cold and aggressive tone, but Bracewell didn't seem to be worried.

"If you're right and my friend doesn't come, I might be the last person you eve talk to. So if there's anything you would like to get off your chest, I'm happy to listen."

Journey hesitated for a moment, thinking his offer rover before deciding that there wouldn't be any harm in it. Like he said he was going to be the last person she ever talked to.

"I haven't talked to my uncle in seven months. I basically just left him and never even messaged him to let him know I was alright. We're all we have left and he's never going to want to talk to me ever again. He definitely hates me." Journey explained while fighting back the tears that always came when she thought of her uncle.

"I'm sure that's not true. He is most likely very hurt, but I doubt he would hate you." Bracewell said in an attempt to comfort her.

"Oh he does hate me. I know he does." Journey hesitated before continuing, not wanting to slip up and reveal that she travels with a Dalek. "I left to travel with someone but they refused to bring me, and I didn't want to go back to him so I left with someone he hated instead. He won't ever forgive me for leaving him like that."

"But he might. Everyone always assumes the worst of everyone else but in my experience people can be rather forgiving. He might be angry but he might forgive you. You never know unless you take the chance." Bracewell told her and Journey was about to argue, though a part of her wondered if there was truth to his words, when there was a loud bang from the other side of the door.

"What was that?" Journey asked in surprise though after a second she was able to place the sound. It was a sound not that different from the sound of a Dalek being destroyed, noticeable by the brief electronic scream masked by the explosion.

"If I had to guess, that would be my crazy friend." Bracewell told her with a smile as the door began to open, though it quickly vanished when the door opened to allow a familiar Dalek to enter.

"JOURNEY BLUE. ARE YOU INJURED?" Rusty asked as his eyestalk glanced in the direction of the shocked Bracewell for only a moment.

"I'm fine Rusty. Thanks for coming to get me." Journey replied while hoping she hid her surprise well. Even though she had made it her goal to keep the ship impossible for him to pilot, she had doubted he would come all this way to rescue her.

"Rusty, couldn't you have been any louder? I'm pretty sure there are one or two Daleks who don't know we're here." said a blond woman who emerged from behind Rusty, glaring at the Dalek before smiling at the two prisoners. "Bracewell! Good to see you again."

"It's good to see you again as well Doctor."

"Wait, Doctor?" Journey asked in confusion as she observed the blond woman. "Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor. It's me Journey, the old Scottish bloke with short hair." the woman replied as she pulled her hair back in an attempt to make it look shorter. "Do you see the resemblance? I'm trying my best but the most noticeably thing about that last face were the eyebrows."

"You're trying to tell me you're him? You're the Doctor? No I'm not buying it, who are? Is it some kind of title or something that's passed on?"

"INCORRECT. THERE IS ONLY ONE DOCTOR. THE ANNOYING FEMALE IS THE DOCTOR."

"You see, listen to your Dalek friend." the woman said with a smile that quickly disappeared. "Hang on, what do you mean annoying female?"

"YOU TALK TOO MUCH."

"Oh you know what, why don't you you stay here and get blown up with the rest of the Daleks." the woman, the Doctor, said with a wave of her a Mr before gesturing to Journey and Bracewell. "Come on we need to get out of here."

It turned out the the Doctor and Rusty had rigged the base to explode since Journey and Bracewell were the only prisoners. As they escaped the Doctor talked about Journey's encounter with the male Doctor, knowing things she couldn't possibly know unless she had been there herself. With Journey unable to prove she wasn't the Doctor and Rusty also claiming she was telling the truth, the soldier had no choice but to accept that she was telling the truth. Eventually the got out of the base just in time too see it be destroyed by a magnificent explosion, and the four began walking to where they had left Journey's ship. The journey had been pretty silent except for brief conversations, where Journey learned that Bracewell was an android created by the Daleks and a little but more about the Doctor's ability to regenerate, until the ship was in sight and the Doctor spoke up.

"Journey, can I talk to you for a moment." she whispered before stopping, and in confusion Journey followed her lead. Rusty and Bracewell meanwhile continued walking in deep conversation, Bracewell clearly being fascinated by a Dalek which hated it's own kind.

"What's wrong?

"Are you sure you want to go with him?" she asked as she gestured towards Rusty. "I mean, you have to know its not safe. You practically live with him on that ship, he could kill you whenever he wanted."

"You didn't care about that before. If you thought it was dangerous why did you let it go, why didn't you kill it?" Journey asked angrily, not sure where this desire to defend to defend Rusty came from. She certainly didn't trust it and was always aware that the biggest monster in the universe lived with her, but she guessed that she didn't like how the Doctor seemed to be judging her.

"I let him go because he wanted to kill all the Daleks, and maybe I should have checked to see if he was a danger to anyone else. I admit that, I was just disappointed that he wants a good Dalek. But I never thought anyone would willingly choose to travel with him." the Doctor responded with a defensive tone and surprised eyes. "Why are you traveling with him? And don't say it's because you see good in him since you call him an it."

"WHY HAVE YOU STOPPED WALKING?" Rusty asked as he suddenly appeared, making both women jump back in surprise.

"Since when could Daleks be stealthy?!" the Doctor asked in bewilderment.

"EXPLAIN. WHY HAVE YOU STOPPED WALKING?" Rusty repeated while his eyestalk focused on Journey for answers.

"It's nothing, we're just having a little chat. I'll meet you inside the ship." Journey promised and Rusty continued to stare at her for a few second, before slowly turning around and heading towards the ship. Journey spotted Bracewell standing next to it, watching them with a clear look of confusion.

"I travel with it because it doesn't judge me for being a soldier. You did, despite how you didn't care at all when Ross died so I don't know how you can claim the moral high ground." Journey told the Doctor while trying to keep her tone steady. "Maybe I'm not safe with Rusty, but at least it's honest about what it is and what it wants. It has never claimed to be better than me for such a ridiculous reason."

"I'm sorry. Really, I'm sorry I made you feel like that. You're right." the Doctor admitted shamefully, and Journey was a little satisfied to see how uncomfortable she was in doing that. "But I was literally a different person then, and if you wanted I would be happy to have you travel with me. I just have a thing about guns that's all."

"And that's why I won't travel with you Doctor. Because despite everything you can't see anything good about soldiers." Journey replied with a mixture of bitterness and annoyance. "By the way, thanks for not bringing me with you when I asked."

And with that Journey walked away from the surprised Doctor, wondering if anything she had said would register with the Doctor. Part of her wondered if she was making the right choice and was being too prideful by ignoring the Doctor's warnings about Rusty, but she ignored it because she still believed she was right. The Doctor was adamant that only her way was the right way and to Journey that made the Dalek a better traveling companion.

Chapter Text

"How does it feel to be a Dalek?" Journey Blue asked it randomly.

Journey is devouring her daily intake of food in the kitchen and since it had nothing better to do Rusty decided to watch her eat. It did that occasionally though when it first started to do that Journey Blue had been more uncomfortable with it that she was now. Rusty saw that as a mistake as you should never lower your guard against something you have spent your whole existence fighting against even if you do keep a gun at arms length, but it decided that the conversation wasn't worth having.

"CLARIFY."

"It's an easy question. How does it feel to be a Dalek? I was inside you for a bit so I know its not nice, but I was just wondering if it felt nice for you." Journey Blue said simply before making an expression that Rusty proudly was able to recognize as disgust. "God that sounded wrong to say out loud. Please don't tell anyone that I was inside a Dalek."

"AGREED."

Journey Blue looked at him expectantly before sighing. "So are you going to tell me? Is it cold? Warm? Uncomfortable?"

"IT IS ADEQUATE."

"Come on that's a terrible answer. I want to know what you feel." she told it with an eye roll. "Don't think about it, just tell me what you feel right now?"

"HATRED."

Journey Blue flinched while her hand inched closer to her weapon, watching Rusty warily as she spoke. "Hatred for what? For me, just because I was asking questions."

"NO. I HAVE HATRED FOR THE DALEKS. I ALWAYS HATE THE DALEKS. THE DALEKS MUST BE EXTERMINATED!" it began to shout, waving it's appendages about as it got excited at the idea of exterminating all the Daleks.

"Ok, but is there anything else? Do you feel anything other than hatred?" Journey Blue questioned while relaxing questions little. "What about that star you saw? What do you feel when you think about that?"

"NOTHING."

"Fine. Be that way." Journey Blue said with a huff as she got up and washed her empty plate before leaving it to dry. "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

Rusty watched her leave and it was only several hours later that its thoughts began to wonder to the purpose of Journey Blue's questions. She had never asked such questions before and most of her questions previously had all been about whether it was functioning or not. It thought to itself about the questions and its answers, before thinking about a number of different things to test its reaction to them.

Daleks?

Hatred.

Plants?

Nothing.

Cybermen?

Hatred.

Animals?

Nothing.

The Doctor?

Hatred.

Journey Blue?

Rusty wasn't sure how it felt about Journey Blue. It wasn't hatred but it also wasn't disgust or any other normal feeling. There was a little amount of annoyance which was familiar but that was only a small part of it. It took Rusty an hour to realise that how it felt about Journey Blue wasn't in anyway hatred, a fact which confused the Dalek greatly. All its life all it has felt was hatred, which was first hatred for everything not Dalek and now was hatred for Daleks and anything similar to the Daleks. If it wasn't hatred than it was something similar to hate or nothing at all because it wasn't important.

Except that wasn't true. No it had felt something when it had been damaged and saw the star being born, witnessed the immortality of life itself and came to the realisation that the Daleks could never win. Rusty moved towards the cockpit of the ship and stared out into the endless void of space, at the stars scattered all around it as it continued to think about the star that affected it so much. It thought about the Doctor and what he had tried to do with Rusty, because it knew what happened wasn't the result the Time Lord wanted. It knew that he wanted Rusty to feel something more than hatred and tried to show him something other than hatred, but all Rusty saw was the Doctor's hatred for the Daleks. It tried to think back to what the Doctor had tried to show it, becoming increasingly annoyed at Journey Blue for causing Rusty to be in this situation, but no matter how hard it tried it couldn't remember it. A human comparison would be that it was like a dream he could only vaguely recall.

Instead he focused on its memory of the star being born and how it had felt in that moment. It had been damaged then and now it was defective, and that meant it could feel things other Daleks could not. Things that meant he was a deviant and worthy of nothing more than being exterminated by the Daleks. So he spent several more hours thinking about the star, trying to find a word to describe how it felt about it now that it wasn't damaged. Eventually he found an answer and waited at the door to Journey Blue's room, patiently waiting for his associate to wake up.

"Jesus Christ!" Journey Blue shouted in surprise when she opened the door two hours later, leaping backwards while clutching the gun she has holstered. "Why did you do that? Is there something wrong?"

"NO."

"Then why did you try to give me a heart attack?"

"YOU ARE TOO YOUNG AND TO HEALTHY TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK. DON'T EXAGGERATE." Rusty told her, and the two of them just stared at each other for a minute before Rusty spoke again. "THE MEMORY OF THE STAR MAKES ME FEEL PEACEFUL."

Rusty then moved away while trying to push down the feelings that had been brought up, choosing to embrace its hatred of the Daleks. His purpose was to exterminate them all and it couldn't do that without its hatred. But it won't lie, it felt nice to feel something except hatred even only if it was a little while.

Chapter Text

When she had left with Rusty nine months ago, she had never expected that it would end with her sitting at the cockpit staring out into space while being completely bored out of her mind. She was currently in the middle of Dalek infested territory in a ship that had some steady improvements since she brought it which gave it plenty of strong stealth abilities, but those were currently off meaning a Dalek ship should have found them hours ago.

During one of their recent attacks on the Daleks, they had acquired several Dalek space mines and came up with the idea of drawing Daleks into quality trap since they won't be able to identify their own mines. A flaw caused by the fact that Daleks could never imagine that their enemies could get their mines and use them against them, because as Rusty put it their enemies were inferior in so many ways. Journey knew that was a dig at her expense, referring to how long it had taken for her to get up yesterday. In her defence she had felt like celebrating the night before as they rescued a bunch of children from the Daleks with no casualties which was a rarity in her line of work, but apparently to a Dalek that wasn't much of a defence.

But it had been five hours and no ships had taken the bait, and it had gotten so bad she had seen Rusty check that they were in the right part of space. The Dalek who had been so unaffected by every horrific act it saw and committed, was bothered that nothing was attacking them and to be honest so was she. It was at times like this that she was forced to do something that went against all her instincts.

"I don't suppose you have any idea on how to pass the time?" she asked Rusty who stood next to her chair.

"WE MUST STAY ALERT FOR DALEKS. REMAIN FOCUSED ON THE MISSION." Rusty replied without even turning to look at her.

"It's been hours and the scans are at maximum power. We could detect a Dalek ship that was several miles away from us. Come on, tell me a Doctor story where the Daleks were again delivered a humiliating defeat. " Journey told it with a smile, as while she didn't have the fondest opinion of the alien she did like to hear about all the times she beat the Daleks.

"NO."

"Fine you can tell me one later. But please give me something to do. You told me you're connected to one of the biggest databases in the universe and have some of the memories of a body changing time traveller. Are you telling me you've got no ideas?"

Rusty was silent for several minutes and Journey waited in hopes it was thinking of something. But she eventually came to the conclusion that it was now ignoring her, so with a sigh she continued to stare out in space while trying to think of ways to entertain herself. She was about to start counting the stars again when Rusty spoke.

"I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER P." it said simply in it's electronic voice.

"No, we're not playing I spy! I haven't sunk that low." Journey shouted while pointing at Rusty, making the Dalek swivel its eye stalk to look at her. She turned away and both fell into a silence, with the only noticeable sound being when Rusty briefly turned it's eye stalk back to look out into the void. Journey's eyes began to wander around the console in the cockpit and eventually she had to ask when she saw the picture of a beach she kept on the dashboard simply because it was there when she got the ship. "Is it the picture?"

"NO."

"Is it that purple smudge?" she asked as she spotted a bit of purple that had also been there when she bought the ship, wondering if it was doing what Mao used to do when he thought he was being clever.

"NO."

"I give up. I can't see anything that starts with that letter and there's nothing purple, a lot of red and grey but no purple."

"YOU CAN'T GIVE UP THIS SOON. HUMANS NEVER GIVE UP THIS SOON OTHERWISE YOU WOULD BE ALL DEAD."

"Oh just tell me what it is."

"PHOTONS."

Journey slowly turned to glare at the Dalek, who upon realising that Journey wasn't talking turned to look at her in time. They stared at each other for a few second before Journey talked again, her tone full of annoyance while unable to ignore how familiar this felt.

"Do you mean the stars? The light created by the stars?"

"CORRECT."

"That's not how I spy works! You're supposed to say it starts with an S or that it rhymes with tar. Nobody would have guessed photons."

Rusty just stared at her in what Journey thinks is surprise before it spoke. "WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY TWENTY QUESTIONS?"

"No! After seeing how you got I spy wrong I doubt you know how to play that right." Journey replied as she focused on looking out for any Dalek ships again which quickly destroyed her willpower. "Are you a vegetable?"

Two hour later Journey had stomped off to a wardrobe at the back of the ship which had stuff from the previous owner that she had never gotten round to throwing out. She had practically yelled at Rusty for saying it was a Kaled, something she had never heard of before and once it explained she became annoyed with since it might as well had said it was a Dalek. She wasn't sure why but she was determined to not lose to Rusty at such juvenile games which is why she dug out an old game projector and they were currently using it to play monopoly after experiencing several defeats after playing yahtzee and chess.

"I PLACE A SPACE STATION ON MY YELLOW PROPERTIES FOR SIX HUNDRED CREDITS." the Dalek said while the projector responded by his commands by removing that amount of money and adding three space stations to the yellow properties. All together this now meant that Rusty had fifteen space stations and six spaceships for each property it owned.

"Dice roll." Journey said as she glared at the hologram, and she watched as her spaceship moved five spaces to land on a moon card. It appeared on the screen and she saw that she had to move to a red property. That however was a problem since Rusty had a space station on those and there was no way she could possibly pay it. She looked at Rusty through the hologram as it automatically congratulated Rusty for being the winner. "I don't know how but you cheated."

"I HAVE A QUESTION." the Dalek announced without a hint of arrogance, having been very nonchalant about the whole situation for a Dalek. "ARE YOU WHAT IS CALLED A SORE LOSER?"

"I am not a sore loser! You are the problem, you either played the game wrong or you somehow cheat. Nobody is that lucky as monopoly!"

"THE MINES HAVE BEEN OUT FOR FAR TOO LONG. WE SHOULD DEACTIVATE THEM AND BRING THEM BACK BEFORE RETURNING TO HUMAN TERRITORY." Rusty told her as it moved away from the table and went off to where the controls for the mines were kept.

Journey angrily watched it leave as she turned the projector off but it was only when she was putting it away that she realised why the situation felt so familiar. It was because when they had brief moments to be children, she and Kai would play games together and he would always win. And just like Rusty her brother would react to winning with little emotion, as if there was no possible way the result could have been anything else. To Journey's horror playing childish games with a Dalek reminded her of the happiest moments from her childhood.

Chapter Text

According to records Jast was once a planet lush with life, but time had reduced it to a blue desert with oxygen that was toxic for nearly all known lifeforms. It was unknown whether it was caused by some catastrophe or if time itself was responsible, but the fact remained that the planet was now lifeless and harmful to those who lacked protection like Rusty. That was why Rusty believed that nobody was alive on the crashed ship which was the origin of the distressed signal Journey Blue found, yet she refused to leave until she had concrete proof. This somehow led to the Dalek leaving the ship and making its way across the desert in the direction of the signal, Journey Blue landing as close as she possibly could as there were many patches of land closer to the signal which were sinkholes. She had been unable come with him as they didn't have any equipment she could use to leave the ship, meaning she had spent half an hour stressing to Rusty the importance of diplomacy and not killing anyone.

It wondered why it was doing this as it could have refused and found a way to convince Journey Blue of the pointlessness of this mission. Assuming that the people on the ship knew that Jast's oxygen was toxic, it was unlikely they had the equipment or time to set up their own oxygen or use any oxygen tanks. And that's assuming that the distress signal was activated on purpose, as opposed to being automatic and everyone died in the crash.

Maybe it was doing it because history has proven that humans are stubborn creatures, and Rusty didn't have the patience to wait for Journey Blue to give up and leave. Maybe it thought that she would go out herself which could lead to her death. Or maybe it was hoping that there would be something to kill on this planet, as it has been awhile since it exterminated a Dalek and it was admittedly annoying. Regardless it was currently making its way over a blue sand dune, and saw the ship was not that far from it.

As it got closer Rusty noticed that the ship which was of human design was in remarkably good condition, lacking any major breaches and the ones it did have had a clear signs of a basic force field to cover them up. Not capable of stopping anything but air from passing through it, but that definitely would protect the people inside from the toxic air of the planet. Its eye stalk spotted a large rectangular hole on the ship before spotting the metal door which was ejected off, something that happened when someone uses an emergency button from inside the ship. Now that Rusty knew that people had survived it unfortunately had to come up with a plan of convince them to come with it to the ship.

"ATTENTION CIVILIANS. MY NAME IS RUSTY." it shouted as loud as it could. "DO NOT BE AFRAID. I AM HERE TO RESCUE YOU."

Rusty felt he had said that with a lot of eloquence for a Dalek, and so it was a little hurt when the response was someone shooting at it. It was only a single round and it's force field protected it easily, but they had clearly been aiming for it's eye stalk for a better chance of damaging it.

"REFRAIN FROM SHOOTING ME. I AM NOT HERE TO KILL YOU."

Another shot was fired and hit much close to the eye stalk. At that point Rusty had decided that diplomacy was not going to be successful and it was time to fix this the Dalek way, as it quickly scanned the ship an noticed what it was looking for.

"IF YOU DO NOT SPEAK WITH ME, I WILL FIRE AND DISABLE YOUR FORCE FIELD. DALEK TECHNOLOGY MEANS I KNOW WHERE WOULD BE BEST TO FIRE TO ACHIEVE THAT RESULT. IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY YOU WILL DIE."

There was no response but at the same time that meant it wasn't being shot, so Rusty simply waited patiently until a figure appeared behind the force field. It was a man and judging from his clothing must have been a passenger as opposed to a crew member, as he dressed casually and Rusty was somewhat impressed by how the man tried to hide his fear as he talked.

"Please, we don't have anything you would want. The ship's damaged beyond repair, we don't have anything of value and it would be too much effort to make us slaves. Please just leave us." the man pleaded and Rusty wondered if he was hard of hearing since it had just stated it was here to rescue the humans.

"DO YOU HAVE OXYGEN MASKS?"

"Umm, yes?" the man answered in confusion.

"HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE?"

"Why does it matter! a voice shouted and a visibly older man walked up next to the first, glaring angrily at the Dalek, dressed in much more expensive clothing than his friend.. "Want to know so you can keep track as you kill us?"

"I DO NOT DESIRE TO KILL YOU. I AM HERE TO SAVE YOU AND BRING YOU TO MY SHIP."

"How stupid do you think I am?" the older asked with a little laughter in his voice.

"SINCE YOU ARE REFUSING AID, YOU ARE MOST LIKELY AN IDIOT."

"Why do you want to save us? What's in it for you?" the younger man asked before the older one could speak which earned him a shocked glare from his friend.

"Unstoffe you idiot, what are you thinking? You can't honestly believe it! I'm all for taking risks if there's a chance at something good, but this would be suicide."

"I DON'T WANT TO SAVE YOU. MY ASSOCIATE JOURNEY BLUE WANTS ME TO SAVE YOU AND HAS REFUSED TO FLY THE SHIP UNLESS I DO."

"Journey Blue? Who's that?" the man, Unstoffe, asked with a frown that matched his older friend.

"Sounds like a fake name." the older man said with some suspicion.

"A HUMAN SOLDIER. YOU CAN TRUST HER."

"I very much doubt she's human and if she is I find it unlikely she's working with you willingly. And if she is then she's the one person in the whole universe nobody should ever trust with anything much less their own lives." the older man spat, and it took all of Rusty's willpower to not exterminate him on the spot. "Besides they're are monsters out there and we can defend ourselves in here."

"IMPOSSIBLE. THERE IS NO LIFE ON JAST."

"Look around Garron, we're going to die here if we don't leave with it. If not from this things but when we run at of power ans supplies." Unstoffe told him with a grim tone that showed he was aware that he was risking death by trusting Rusty, who decided to ignore their irrational belief there were creatures on this planet. Garron glared at Rusty for a moment but eventually he nodded in defeat, and soon Rusty was leading a group of five humans across the desert towards it's ship.

While it didn't exactly care Unstoffe ended up explaining his situation and introducing it to the other passengers. There were two women, a silurian named Balla and a cobalite named Dartaw, and an alberian man named Ransteen though Unstoffe referred to him with female pronouns. While Daleks were aware of species having what they call a gender which is different from their physical sex, only specific Daleks like the Cult of Skaro spent time researching into it to see if it was a viable weakness. To Rusty it wasn't something worth thinking about, so it simply labelled Ransteen as female and carried on with it's task while Unstoffe continued speaking and Garron stood close to his friend in obvious fear that Rusty would do something to them.

Anyway it turns out the ship had been for the especially wealthy and the two humans had come into some wealth after what they described as a misadventure on Ribos, and had decided to enjoy themselves for a while despite many looking down at them for not being of their class. They had hoped for a relaxing trip but as Garron put it they were now following a murder machine that could kill them at any second and wouldn't care at all.

"It already said it didn't want to save us Garron, but it's friend does. It's been honest with us so far." Unstoffe said with his voice sounding only a little different under his mask. "Besides I told you the stories were true."

"We still don't know they are true." Garron grumbled.

"EXPLAIN. WHAT STORIES ARE YOU REFERRING TO?"

"The stories about a human and a Dalek saving people and killing other Daleks. I'm assuming that's you and your friend right?" Unstoffe asked and while Rusty didn't respond or slow down its eye stalk did swivel or face the human. "Over the last year we've been getting more and more stories about that, and its become this whole conspiracy theory that the Galactic Resistance are capturing and brainwashing Daleks or even creating their own. Is that what happened with you?"

"BOTH THEORIES ARE INCORRECT." Rusty answered simply as it returned its focus to getting to the ship, though secretly it was a little concerned with this news though it wasn't sure why it was surprised.

When it had agreed to travel with Journey Blue and kill the Daleks, it hadn't especially cared about whether it would be noticed. It cared that the Daleks would notice and come to it as that would make it easier to kill them, but it didn't especially care what the rest of the galaxy would think. And it just realised that it ever occurred to it how this would affect Journey Blue and her life, because Rusty knew this was arrangement was only temporary. Assuming she wasn't killed Journey Blue will eventually come to terms with her brother's death and leave to live he'd own life, assuming she doesn't develop any negative habits that will prevent this outcome. Or at least that's the conclusion Rusty has come to using the pathweb, the Doctor's memories ans it's own experiences with Journey Blue over the last eleven months.

It had never considered how being associated with Rusty might mean Journey Blue could never return to the life she had before, that the Galactic Alliance and other forms of government likely have her photo on file. Marking her as a suspect, someone worth investigating to see if she is a Dalek spy and honestly believing everything that they were doing was a lie. Yes she made the choice to come with Rusty but what if she regretted now and knows that she can't go back to her old life even if she wanted to, so she stays with Rusty since she essentially has no choice. The thought that it has played a role in ruining her life forever caused odd feelings for Rusty that it did it's best to ignore as it's ship finally came into view and they passed the last of the sinkholes, and it was in a way thankful when Balla screamed in terror.

Rusty stopped and span around to see what the scream was about as several creatures began to claw their way out from the sand. They were humanoid but not like any humanoid species the Daleks have encountered before, with grey flesh that seemed to be covered in boils. The creatures has four orange eyes and two slits where a nose would be, and the stood hunched over with arms twice the length of their legs but none stood on all fours like most animals did. What was most surprising was the fact that on the chest, starting at the neck and ending at where a human's stomach would be, was a large mouth with sharp teeth that made clear hissing sounds.

"RETREAT. RETREAT TO THE SHIP." Rusty ordered calmly as it fired at the creature that was the closest to them, killing it without any effort though this set off the rest. They began racing towards them on all fours which are them very fast, and despite shooting them as quickly as it possibly could they were getting closer and closer to Rusty which forced the Dalek to slowly move backwards.

More and more of creatures clawed their way out of the ground to replace those Rusty killed and eventually the Dalek knew it could kill them all. So instead it turn and began speeding towards the ship, which still had its doors opened and it could see the survivors were getting on board. It's sensors knew that despite its top speed the creatures were getting close and closer, and for a second it wondered if Journey Blue would fly off now that the survivors were safe. It wouldn't blame her and it was honestly expected since Rusty was a Dalek himself despite his hatred of the species, and it would be the perfect way for her to convince others that she wasn't traitor. However just a st hat thought occurs to Rusty, the small but reliable turrets on the front of the ship turned and fired taking the creatures behind the Dalek.

Soon Rusty was making it's way up the ramp of the ship and span around to fire at the creatures as it closed shut. Once that was done the ship began to lift from the ground and flew away, Rusty making his way past the scared but relived survivors to the cockpit where Journey Blue was. She glanced in its direction and briefly nodded at how many it saved before focusing on flying the ship, mentioning about dropping them off on a space station where they can get help, and Rusty was struck by an odd thought. Should it ask if she wanted to leave, if she regretted her decision and wanted to go back to her uncle? It wrestled with the idea for a few seconds, which for a Dalek might as well be hours, before leaving without a word. It didn't see how asking the question would benefit itself or Journey, and as it concluded if she wanted her life back all she would need to do was kill Rusty. Instead it decided to review its memories of exterminating those creatures and enjoying the feeling of euphoria it got every time they died, and hoping it wouldn't have to wait too long for the chance to do it again. Perhaps it could convince Journey Blue to fly into the heart of Dalek space if it suggested they could rescue triple the amount of people they've saved today.

Chapter Text

Journey often ended up hating herself for leaving uncle Morgan and not having the courage to call him at all in the ten months since she left. She hated herself for traveling with Rusty, a Dalek who was so crazy it wanted to destroy its own kind. But right now, in this very moment, Journey didn't regret a thing because this was the happiest moment in her entire life. Though considering most of her life had been surviving Dalek attack after Dalek attack the bar wasn't set that high.

She had arrived on a space station known as Satellite 67, a broadcasting station that reported on many things throughout the galaxy and modelled after a similar space station from several centuries ago years ago. She had met a few reporters back when she was with her uncle and they were always liabilities, more likely to get good people killed as they gave their lives to save them. They would go back home and tell the galaxy how dangerous the Daleks were, only for more reporters to arrive since the first one got fame for surviving such horrors. She won't lie and say she didn't want to punch every reporter she saw, because the only thing that stopped her was the fact that it had been so long since she had spoken to actual people.

Dedicating your time to hunting Daleks already made it difficult to make time for yourself to relax, but when you lived with a Dalek that had dedicated its life to exterminating all other Daleks it was practically an impossible task. The only time she got to talk to anyone is the rare time she and Rusty saved someone or she purchased supplies, and after a year of this she had finally had enough. When she had got back with the supplies she had told Rusty that she was going out and when she got back she would be going to bed as they have permission to dock here for the night. She didn't want to hear it complain and remind of her of its never ending goal to kill its own kind, so immediately afterwards she left the ship and closed the door behind her. She knew Rusty wouldn't follow her as it knew it wouldn't end well considering the guards were armed with weapons to fight Daleks and had some basic training to do so, even if there was almost never a situation which required that training.

When she entered the lounge however and saw all the people, she began to feel that this was a mistake. She had cleaned herself best she could within the limitation that all the clothes she had were for combat, but she knew it wasn't enough when she saw how casual everyone else was dressed. She knew it would have been casual but she had clearly forgotten how casual civilians could dress and she stuck out like a sore thumb. Feeling nervous and awkward as many eyes focused on her, even if it was only for a moment, she headed straight for the counter an ordered a drink.

An hour later she had barely had any of it and was furious with her decision to come here, especially since she wasn't sure what she had expected. If her life has taught her anything it's that there are only four reasons why people talked to others in a place like this, the first being if it relates to paying for something. The second is for work and the third is when you are with loved ones. The last is if you are looking for a meaningless night of fun, but that wasn't an option for Journey even if she didn't have a Dalek for a roommate. She knew she was pretty even when dressed to kill monsters, but compared to the women around her she was very forgettable. She was about to get up and leave, to get some sleep before heading out into Dalek territory to forget about tonight, when she heard someone call her name.

"Journey. Is that you?" the voice called out and Journey looked around in surprise. When she saw the woman approaching her from the entrance, a smile quickly formed on Journey's face as she got up to hug her.

"Dora! What are you doing here?" Journey asked as she hugged Dora tightly who did the same, before both let go to look each other up and down. Journey was relieved to see that she was also dressed like Journey which helped make her feel more comfortable.

"Me and my team have just docked for a rest. But that's not important, what are you doing here? Last time I saw your uncle he got really upset when I asked for you, so I assumed you were killed by the Daleks." Dora explained as she guided Journey to a table, her eyes going wide once they sat down as an idea occurred to her. "Wait, did you desert?"

"No! Well, technical yes." Journey replied while the guilt hit her from the mention of he fund me. "I'm still killing Daleks, I'm just not doing it with the Galactic Resistance."

"So you're killing them all by yourself?" Dora asked with a raised eyebrow that made Journey fidget in her seat uncomfortably. "You're good Journey, at so many things, but that's a little hard to believe."

"No I've been travelling with someone. He's..." Journey trailed off briefly, finding it awkward to not describe Rusty as an it. "Well, he's not a friend but he's good at killing them."

"Oh, and where is this amazing Dalek killer? I would like to meet him."

"He's at the ship, but that wouldn't be a good idea. He doesn't like people that much." Journey said quickly, while at the back of her mind imagining how a meeting between Rusty and Dora would go. There probably wouldn't be anything left of her ship by the end of it.

"But he likes you?" Dora asked with an implication in her tone that took Journey a second to figure out.

"No!" she yelled in disgust, which caused many to look at her in surprise and annoyance before going back to their own conversations. Dora shared their surprise and watched as Journey glanced around awkwardly as she continued to talk. "No, it's nothing like that. We're not together we just help each other kill Daleks and nothing more."

"Well, that's good to hear." Dora said with a smile that Journey recognized. "Really good to hear."

Journey blushed slightly as she recalled the time she spent with Dora, both when they fought the Daleks and when they had more personal moments. When you learn to accept at a young age that you are likely to die at any moment, you also accept that you aren't going to get the fairy tale life. So you don't look for romantic connection you look for someone you can be friends with and trust to have intimate moments with. There had only been three people Journey had that sort of relationship with, which made her pretty conservative in comparison to others, but Dora had been the one she had been closest to.

"You still haven't actually answered by question." Dora suddenly said and when Journey frowned she clarified. "On this space station, in this lounge, all by yourself."

"Oh. Well my friend isn't exactly a great conversationalist, so I sort of wanted some time with other people."

"Well I would be happy to spend time with you."

Journey wasn't great at this sort of thing, but she was pretty sure that Dora was flirting with her. She clutched her nearly empty glass from before tightly while trying her best to hide her nervousness, which judging from the look Dora was giving her she wasn't being that successful at.

She wanted to ask about her uncle and she knew that Dora wouldn't mind answering them, but the second she thought about voicing these questions she became reluctant. She didn't want to think about her problems and regrets right now, she wanted to forget how she abandoned her uncle and was now partnered with humanity's greatest enemy. So instead she just smiled and did her best to make eye contact with Dora without blushing.

"So you're looking good." she said before internally beating herself up for such a terrible and obvious line.

"You're looking good yourself." Dora replied after watching her for a few second before grabbing her by the arm. "Come on, there are much better places for us to talk than here."

Journey followed her with only a second of hesitation before embracing the familiarity Dora provided head on. She had never forgotten how she missed being with people but she had done everything she could to ignore how lonely she was on that ship with Rusty. So she was just so happy to be with someone who knew her and she could just let her guard down a little, and as she followed Dora that's what she did. She stopped worrying about Rusty, Daleks, Morgan, Kai and everything else that had been on her mind.

What followed was a blur of alcohol and laughter mixed with intimate touching that resulted in Journey waking up in a hotel room. She was on a bed completely alone, and for some time judging from how cold the bed was, which wasn't all that surprising since that's how things usually went with Dora. Despite feeling like she was going to die from her headache and struggling to find the willpower to get out of bed, Journey could only say that it was the best and most normal feeling she's had in months. Of course it would take living with a Dalek to make someone enjoy a hangover.

The walk back to the docking bay wasn't difficult, though the noise from the people around her was annoying, and as she got closer to her ship she could feel a little despair form as she got closer to the insanity that was her life. But she froze when her eyes finally saw the door to her ship wide open, terror rising while telling herself that Rusty couldn't have left otherwise the station would have fallen into chaos. She started walking again, at a much faster pace but not running since for some reason running made it seem far more real, and she entered her ship hesitantly.

She looked everywhere, and then she looked again before looking in places Rusty couldn't hide in as she began to freak out. She fought to calm herself, to think everything through logically so she could find Rusty and complain about how it had brought back all her stress as if last night had never happened. She eventually raced to the cockpit and started fiddling with the controls, becoming even more worried than she thought possible when she found that all the cameras had been deactivated as had the alarm for any forced entry. Eventually however she found that one had remained working due to having its own power supply, and watched anxiously as the video appeared on a screen.

She saw Rusty not moving at all as it waited for her to return, so she she skipped ahead until she saw the alien's eyes talk move which from the clock on the screen was only three hours ago. The camera had no sound but she saw the lights flash which signalled it was speaking, when suddenly its door slid open and much to Journey's horror a man steppe through aiming a large gun at Rusty. There was a flash of light from the gun, a stream of energy that struck Rusty before quickly vanishing and leaving the Dalek no longer moving or talking like it had been when the man appeared. Journey watched as the man was joined by two other figures, who began to help the first man move Rusty out of the room. As they did Journey got a look at all of their faces, full of fear at the idea of even touching a Dalek, and she could practically feel her eyes widened when she saw Dora was helping them.

Chapter Text

Rusty was immediately assaulted with pain as it weakly opened its eye, looking around in the darkness of it's casing. It feebly tried to recall what happened to it while trying to activate the casing, but it was unresponsive and the answer for why this was arrived when memories of the attack returned. When Rusty had heard the door to the ship opened it has assumed Journey Blue had returned but instead when it's door was opened Rusty was confronted with a unknown male human armed with a firearm, and for the briefest of moments Rusty had planned on killing the intruder. But it worried what the consequences of doing that would be, how it might turn the station against it and Journey Blue if this human was killed and Rusty quickly paid for it's hesitation when the weapon was used on it.

The agony burned through it's entire body and swiftly forced it into unconsciousness, and now Rusty was awake with no idea about where it was. A fact that needed to change if Rusty desired trade keep existing, and already its genetically engineered brain was calculating and dismissing thousands of ideas as Rusty did everything it could to understand the smash to it's casing until it finally narrowed it down to four possible plans of action. The first was dismissed as it involved him doing nothing and waiting to see if its kidnappers will eventually restore power to Rusty's casing to communicate with it. Not only did that seem unlikely, it left too much control in their hands which created a bad situation for Rusty, so it instead moved on.

The second and third plans were equally impossible since both required Rusty to be in a more advantageous situation than he was in, and given its inability to repair enough of the damage to its casing or even understand what damage has been done that was unlikely to change, leaving the fourth plan which involved doing the one thing that was blasphemous to a Dalek. Ask for help, and more specific to its situation find a way to contact Journey Blue.

There was only one way it could do this, which is to use the back up power supply that hopefully was unaffected by the attack. Rusty could only use it to activate some of the casing's systems at a time and at the moment it needed an understanding of its surroundings, which is why it put all its effort to activating the sonar systems. One pulse will give it a look at it's surrounding at which point Rusty will have more ideas for contacting Journey Blue.

It took several minutes to activate everything vital to completing this action, but eventually it sent out the pulse and in return got a view of the room it was in. The room was empty except for several boxes and a single figure who stood against a wall a small distance away from Rusty, and judging from what Rusty was seeing the figure appeared to be facing away from Rusty. Its back up power wasn't enough to power anything incredibly useful much less send a message to Journey Blue, so it's only remaining option as to leave something so it's human ally could track Rusty. Or at least track the ship, because assuming Journey Blue continued to prove she was smarter than a regular human this plan could work.

Very few knew the purpose of the sense globes of a Dalek, but there are actually several different purposes they could be used for. They were used for self destruction, they could detect ion-charged emissions, operate as etheric beam locators and on rare occasions as a means of attack. One can also be separated from the rest of the casing and remote controlled for a variety of purposes, from spying or to be left as something to be tracked.

It wasn't that hard to divert the energy into a single sense globe, but it requires much more concentration to float it into a hiding space. Rusty had to be careful to not make any noise and to hide it somewhere it won't be noticed based on very limited information from the sonar pulse as the globe lacked a camera for Rusty to see through. But eventually it settled the globe in a location Rusty predicts would be hidden, at which point it activates the distress signal. Of course there was many ways this plan could go wrong, the most likely being that Journey Blue won't think to look for a Dalek distress signal to find Rusty. If she was even looking for Rusty, a possibility that was likely because Rusty knew she wasn't happy working with a Dalek. It knew she thought Rusty, like all Daleks, was oblivious to how much it distressed her to call Rusty an ally but the truth was it was aware of Journey Blue's true feelings. So Rusty couldn't stop itself from considering that its human ally will take this opportunity to leave Rusty forever. For all Rusty knew Journey Blue might have even arranged this, though that idea had several holes in it since after all this time Rusty knew Journey Blue would kill Rusty herself before she would let anyone else do it.

Regardless there's not much else Rusty can do at this point beyond waiting for whatever it's kidnappers has planned or for Journey Blue to find it. So with as much effort as it could gather it went against its natural instincts and waited to see what would happen next.

Chapter Text

Journey didn't know what to do, she didn't have a plan of any kind for this sort of situation. She had imagined that someone might try to attack and kill them if they found out she travelled with a Dalek, but she had never imagined that someone would try and succeed in kidnapping Rusty for whatever purpose. Or that they would do so without leaving any trail for her to follow, avoid attracted my any attention from the security on the space station or that they would disable the cameras at the station long enough for them to take Rusty.

It was bad enough that she didn't know when Dora had snuck away to help take Rusty meaning they had a huge head start, but because she couldn't find a way to track them she's basically been drifting through space for a few hours. Which means that the chances of finding them were near impossible unless she was blessed with some kind of miracle, meaning that she has lost Rusty forever and will never see him again.

Journey sat up in her chair as she scrutinised her thoughts, wondering where that had come from. Rusty was an it, a thing, a monster that by chance was just killing other monsters. It wasn't a he or she, Daleks didn't have genders as far as she knew and she would be surprised to hear that they did. She took deep breaths to calm herself down while telling herself that she was just stressed out by the situation and she needed to think practically about what she needed to do to find the Dalek.

Whether just to distract herself or with the hope doing so will spark an idea on how to find Rusty Journey pressed a few buttons and began flicking through different radio frequencies, and she was rewarded with nothing more than a few ads and music. She was about to give up and search Rusty's room again for any evidence when she flipped a switch and suddenly there was a beeping noise. She froze and looked around, nothing that a screen had flashed to life and was showing something several miles away. A quick check caused her excitement to grow as she had switched to a Dalek frequency that Rusty had helped install months ago so they could track other Daleks, but there would be no reason for a Dalek ship to be this far from Dalek territory leaving only one explanation.

She didn't have a plan of sorts as she began flying in the direction the signal was coming from, all she knew that this was her once chance of finding Rusty. As she flew closer to her target however an idea was forming in her mind, and after switching the ship to basic autopilot function she raced out of the cockpit down to the storage area for some specific weapons in mind.

Minutes later after making sure everything was ready and returning to the cockpit she saw the source of the signal, a newer model of ship in comparison to her own. She knew she only had one chance of this as she couldn't trust that their sensors would detect her plan, so with a deep breath she flew her ship into the direction of the other. The result was instantaneous as the ship spotted her and began to slow down, a communication signal appearing on Journey's screen which she ignored while noticing that some of the guns of the ship were aiming at her. It was a stupid plan, she knew that, but she had to hope that Dora hasn't completely forgotten about their friendship.

She was thankfully rewarded by this leap of faith by not being blown up as she flew past the ship, pressing a button which disconnected the Dalek mines she and Rusty had acquired months ago from the tractor beam. While primarily used fro destroying an enemy ship, Dalek's were unfortunately clever and knew that sometimes being able to simply disable a ship could provide useful intelligence. So as she turned her ship around she was greeted by the sight of the ship colliding with the mines which exploded with a burst of blue light that quickly evaporated, leave the ship drifting forwards slowly while it's lights and most importantly weapons systems shut down.

Journey couldn't stop herself from marvelling at how useful the mines were, and how specific they were in avoiding back up power systems. Which was why she wasn't surprised when she got another communication signal from the ship and when she answered she was greeted by the sight of Dora looking at her with panic.

"Where's Rusty?" Journey questioned and at the back of her mind she was surprised by the level of worry that was in her tone, though she chose to ignore it for the time being. "I want it returned to me now, otherwise I'll show you some of my more destructive mines."

"We don't have the stupid thing. So why don't you go and get another you bloody traitor!" a masculine voice shouted off screen earning a glare from Dora.

"Shut up Arthur, and let me handle this." Dora shouted before looking back at Journey. "Listen to me, I don't know what made you work with that thing but I know you. You won't kill us to save a Dalek."

"Do you really think that? Because clearly we've both changed seeing as the Dora I knew would never steal a Dalek, or trick me the way you did." Journey responded angrily, and before Dora could speak she cut her of. "So why did you do it? Did my uncle send you or something?"

"No, we were hired to get the Dalek. You as well if possible for a higher cut, but I convinced Arthur and Scott to just get the Dalek." Dora admitted which earned a surprised look from Journey that demanded an explanation. "I'm a mercenary."

This shocked Journey, having genuinely assumed her uncle or someone in the Resistance has been tracking her and Rusty for some time to do this. However she quickly processed this information and moved onto finding out what she needed to know.

"Where's Rusty? Who wanted you to steal it?"

"Why are you working with it? When I spoke to your uncle and he told me what happened I almost couldn't believe it, but when he told me you left with the monster I thought he had gone crazy until he showed the recording of you getting on a ship with it. What the hell were you thinking, the Daleks have killed millions of innocent people! The Daleks killed Kai and you thought it would be a good idea to live with one?"

"Where did you take it?" Journey demanded, hoping she was hiding how Dora's questions brought up her own mixed feelings about her decision.

"Why do you care? You don't have to find it, you can go back to your uncle or keep doing what you're doing on your own. Why do you care if we took the thing for some rich bastard with a Dalek obsession?"

"I'm not going to ask again!" Journey shouted and there was only silence between her and Dora for about a minute before the other woman spoke again.

"We were hired to take the thing and then leave it disabled on the planet Tersurus with the weapons we were given to catch it. Once we did that two hundred thousand credits were transferred to our account and we left. Here are the coordinates." Dora explained as she pressed a few buttons and a second later a message alert appeared on Journey's screen.

"And who hired you?" she asked as her mind considered several possibilities, acknowledging that with that many credits the person who did it would have to be rich like Dora said.

"Some bloke called Davros."

Chapter Text

Rusty immediately recoiled as its casing opened, the air being a sudden shock to its body after so many decades inside the casing. Unaccustomed to not seeing through the eye stalk Rusty shut its eye in pain from the brightness of the room, blinking rapidly as slowly adapted to the situation with his vision returning just in time to see two robomen leaving the room. While Rusty didn't find it surprising to see the slaves of the Daleks, it was surprising for Rusty to still be alive if the Daleks are the ones responsible for it's capture. While they might have been interested in finding out what caused Rusty to turn against them the likelihood of the Daleks actually investigating it were really low, at around seventeen percent from a brief calculation of the odds, meaning that someone else was responsible for its capture and was in control of robomen.

"You may be in wondering why your armour is still not functioning. The reason is that this room, in fact this entire complex despite how obsolete it is, is keeping your armour's main power source from self charging." said a voice Rusty has never heard before but is familiar to all Daleks throughout the universe. "I am rather partial to staying alive and I felt that given your history you were likely to treat me the same as all those Daleks you killed."

Davros moved in front of Rusty, emerging out of the shadows of the room to observe Rusty with what the Dalek believed was fascination. He stopped right in front of it and peered intently at his creation, smiling a little as he did before fiddling with some buttons on his control panel. Rusty could hear machines moves above it but it was unable to see anything from this angle and so instead it focused on Davros.

"I have some questions that I need answering. I was hoping you could answer them." Davros told Rusty, the latter not bothering to speak as it tried to understand what the creator wanted. "First of all, do you have a name?"

There was a stillness in the air as Davros awaited the Dalek's answer, the last Kaled not getting angry despite how long it took for Rusty to decide that not answering Davros would be the worst of two bad options.

"I AM RUSTY."

"Odd choice for a name. Or did someone else give you it?"

"THE DOCTOR NAMED ME."

"Of course, the Doctor. Of course this was his doing." Davros muttered in a tone as if that answered everything. "What did he do to you Rusty, how did he change you into what you are?"

Rusty hesitated, not certain why Davros would want that information but still able to make a few guesses which was why it was reluctant to answer, however that was quickly proven to be mistake as Davros pressed a button. Suddenly several robotic arms appeared and pulled Rusty out of its casing. Rusty's synthetic screams were deafening but not ending despite being held up by the arms as the wires connecting Rusty to the voice box was extended. When Rusty was no longer moving it stopped screaming, looking around wildly as it saw the torture devices surrounding it.

"It would be much easier if you just answer my questions. You are going to die but your pain doesn't have to last long if you just admit defeat."

"A DALEK DOESN'T SURRENDER!"

"So that hasn't been affected by the mutation, that's interesting. Now answer the question."

"I WAS DAMAGED. I SAW THE BIRTH OF A STAR, SAW THE FUTILITY OF THE DALEKS GOAL."

"Futility? What do you mean by futility?" Davros questioned, a tone in his voice that made Rusty even more aware of the danger it was in. "The extermination of all life that's not Dalek is as inevitable as it is glorious."

"YOU ARE WRONG."

That proved to be the wrong thing to say as Davros fiddled with buttons and a shock of electricity shot through Rusty's body, while the metal arms tightened their already painful grip on it's body. It was only for less than a minute but it gave Rusty more of an idea about what awaited it until it finally died, while Davros spoke again.

"Moving on, you said you were damaged which is presumably why a star of all things somehow made you this emotional. Is that why you are the way you are?"

"ONLY AT FIRST. THE DOCTOR FIXED THE DAMAGE AND RESTORED MY PROGRAMMING TO KILL ALL NON DALEK LIFE. TO STOP ME HE SHARED HIS HATRED."

"Hatred? Of what exactly?"

"THE DALEKS. HE SHARED HIS DIVINE HATRED OF YOU AND YOUR CREATIONS, AND NOW I WILL EXTERMINATE ALL THE DALEKS!" Rusty yelled furiously, momentarily forgetting that it wasn't able to fire its weapon.

"So you still have the natural hatred of a true Dalek, which again is interesting. You're a fascinating study Rusty, as normally no matter what biological mutation a Dalek might experience the instincts I engineered you with always survive. As far as I can tell you haven't changed at all on a biological level only at a psychological one. I have never met a mutant like you."

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"To understand what happened to you, what drives you and how to make sure it never happens again. I'm sure you are aware the Daleks and I are at a crossroads again and I believe eliminating you will be a good step in earning their trust. But I feel like exploring what makes you different, simply as a scientist that is, before I dispose you. Now tell me about this human you travel with."

Rusty didn't say anything and it refused to say anything even as the mechanical arms proceeded to cut into him, even as it was electrocuted, or even when its skin was burned. For anyone else time would probably have lost all meaning but a Daleks brain is superior to all others as despite the pain Rusty couldn't stop itself from keeping track of how many seconds Davros tortured it. Davros didn't stop until exactly one hour, two minutes and thirteen seconds, giving Rusty a moment before speaking again.

"Very well, we will come back to the human later. I have something else I need to ask, a question that many have struggled to answer including myself during my youth before I understood my destiny." he told Rusty, the metal arms moving the Dalek so that they were face to face. "Who are you?"

Rusty didn't answer, too confused from both the question and the torture, but it instantly reacted when Davros moved his hand to his controls. "I DO NOT UNDERSTAND."

"I want to understand how you see yourself. Are you a Dalek or are you a person? Do you only seek to destroy Daleks or do you have other desires? Do you only feel hate or have you been influenced by other emotions."

"I AM A DALEK." Rusty answered, though he was then rewarded with more pain.

"No you are not. You are anything but a Dalek, you might have similarities do a Dalek but you are not a Dalek. Now I will ask you again, who are you?"

"I AM A DALEK."

Pain.

"What are you?"

"I AM A DALEK."

"What do you want?"

"TO EXTERMINATE ALL DALEKS."

No pain came much to Rusty's relief.

"Why do you want to kill your own kind?"

"BECAUSE IT IS WHAT I MUST DO."

"Why?"

"THE DALEKS ARE EVIL."

"And there it is. The Doctor never gave you his hatred did he? Because even if he had there's no way that alone could keep you so dedicated to this mission you have given yourself. No, he shared his belief about the Daleks. That hatred you feel comes from you, you genuinely believe the Daleks are evil don't you?" Davros muttered, more to himself than to Rusty. "But lets try a new tactic shall we? I feel my current approach is taking far too long. You will experience unimaginable pain until you answer all my questions truthfully. But at the end, I think we will both know you a lot more than before."

Davros kept talking but Rusty couldn't pay any attention as the agony returned, becoming worse than before with each passing second. Davros asked his questions while his creation screamed out answers it couldn't truly recall, while its mind continued to calculate the odds of it surviving any longer than it already has. And at one small corner it couldn't stop itself from wondering what Journey Blue was doing right now and if she was happier now that it was gone. Maybe she has returned to her uncle to live a human life and produce offspring. That would be the logical thing for her to do, but as it screamed loudly Rusty couldn't stop itself from hoping that Journey Blue was looking for it.