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familyagrestefanblog · 4 years ago

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Analysis of the Family Agreste Portrait

Quarantine strikes again and since the Agreste family portrait has fascinated me for a loooong while now I decided to put my thoughts into words and write another essay x3

The amount of informations we get out if it is amazing and its not only highlighting the absolute TRAGEDY it is that this family is about to face such a horrible fall out, it also hints at the former family dynamic before everything went to hell.

So make yourself comfortable and get something to drink, because we will be here for a while.

Here we go: My analysis of this beauty of a fictional portrait

Let's start with the most obvious one: Hawkmoth.

Its commen knowledge by now that the background makes it seem like Hawkmoth is standing behind the Agreste family like a bad omen waiting for fate to take its course and cause their doom. The portrait is brilliantly designed so the illusion is created that Gabriels body (here in a blue suit closer to Hawkmoths normals dark purple one) overlaps with Hawkmoths and a darker line is connecting the two faces as well, which rest on the same height right beside each other. The very same line grows bigger as it goes further behind Emilie - coloring her entire background - showing us that EMILIE is all Gabriel sees when he becomes Hawkmoth. But notice that Adrien on the other hand can hardly be concidered part of Gabriels “sight” at all.

Its forshadowing 101 and damn beautiful if I may say so. But this isnt what I want to focus on in this post.

I want to elaborate on two other key factors that tell us about the former dynamic of the Agrestes instead and what they tell us about the present and future.

The heart:

This is hitting me on another level because look at the heart these three form with Adrien right in the middle! He was so LOVED. This family may have never been anywhere close to ideal but still, there was LOVE and now he's gonna loose it all.

Adrien already lost his mother which led to his father getting even more distant and cold and now his father is becoming increasingly more abusive as he falls deeper and deeper into villainy. Gabriel was never a good father, the show has already made this clear with episodes like "the bubbler", “the collector” or "Gigantitan" for example but gosh there was hope for their little family! The end scene in "Jackady" portrayed it perfectly and I wrote a whole other post just covering the sigificants of Adriens and Gabriels hug in that episode. Check it out here if you want, it goes hand in hand with this one.

Miraculous is all about love and the completely different ways it can affect us, our behavior and actions. Because love isnt just wonderful, pure and empowering, it also can be twisted, destructive and cause the darkst nightmares. And with this family the writers know how to portray the complex love in an abusive houshold thats destined to go up in flames and they also know how to hint at their troubled past with the family portrait.

But this heart visual tells us even more in connection with the positions of their hands. And with these two key factors, lets start with Gabriel:

His hands convey it so strongly. He loves/d Emilie and Adrien so much and no doubt this love for them was certainly the reason why he started his quest as Hawkmoth. But he is now losing himself more and more in the pleasure of his villainy to the point where he forgets why he's doing it in the first place and becomes a complete monster (of a father). But this turn and spiraling into villainy didn't came out of nowhere - this root already had to be in him to grow like that. And this is also something the portrait indeed hints at as well.

Because Gabriel is the only one of the three who:

1. We see so completely open and without hesitation reach out and hold BOTH his family members.

2. Is visually “cut off” from them as well.

But this doesn't mean he was excluded and the only one who truly cared and loved, it just shows that things were more... complicated...as usual.

This is best explained with Adriens hand placements:

One hand is holding his mothers but the other one is visibly not reaching out for his father. But as we all know, that's not because Adrien doesn't love him. In season 1-3 it is made more than clear that Adrien does not hate his father - he loves him alot and tries to be there for him and be patient because he knows that the loss of his mother brought his father terribly down.

Sure, Adrien gets frustrated and angry with him, literally how could he not?? But Adrien tries his best to reach out to Gabriel so they can bond and come out of this tragedy stronger.

But this loving willingness to forgive his father for the chance of growing a father-son bond with him doesn't change the fact that these two didn't had a bond prior to this. And let's be honest here, does anybody actually think this distance between them was caused by Adrien? I don't think so.

So notice how Adriens hand - not reaching out for his fathers - is the only one in the portrait NOT inside or forming the heart.

When the connection of the hands between the family members symbolise their connection to another, then Adrien keeping the hand for his father away from the display of love is VERY telling. It tells us very directly what this distance did to Adriens side of the relationship. Despite Gabriels hand being right there, Adrien does not meet the gesture. And I cannot believe that he did it out of resentment, nothing in the show indicated such strong negative emotions from past Adrien.

It's much more likely that Adrien not reaching for his fathers hand is meant to show us that Adrien felt that he either CAN'T return the gesture because he fears that it'll end in an unpleasant reaction from Gabriel - that it isn't Adriens "place" to reach out to his busy and distant father like that, like it's demanding something - or Adrien simply didn't took Gabriel laying his hand on his shoulder, in the context of posing for a portrait, as a gesture of love and affection.

The way I interpret the portrait is that prior to Emilies dissappearence Adrien did not exactly try to reach out to his father the same way he did from s1-s3, which, I mean, of course wasn't the case. Not only is it NOT the 13 years olds (or younger) job to form an emotional connection to their absent parent - when that’s the PARENTS job - it also wouldn't be necessarily "needed" for Adrien to do so.

Because Emilie at this point was still in the picture so and she was the complete opposite. She was a (or maybe the ONLY) safe, reliable and loving constant of parental attention, affection and care in his life and because of these two HARSH contrasts Adrien learned from very early on to focus mostly completely on her in that regard while kinda blocking his father out.

That most likely wasn't even an active choice whatsoever - Gabriel proofed to be an unreliable resource so Adrien learned to subconciously treat him that way out of self protection. That doesn't mean he had any kind of dislike or malice against his father it just means that he wasn't able or allowed to connect with Gabriel the way he needed. Several episodes show that Gabriel deadass only parented like 15 minutes tops in his life with one of the worst offenders kinda being “Gigantitan” ngl.

So yeah, when I see that the portrait wants to tell me that prior to Emilies loss, Adrien - a 12-13 year old at most - is THIS used to rely solely on the strong bond he has with his mother and not even really reaching out for his fathers love, then I can't help but interpret it in the way that... Well... Gabriel was so distant and emotionally unreliable to Adrien for all his life, that Gabriel simply... wasn't needed by his son. Not at that point of time at least.

And while this may seem weird, because obviously Adrien only now starts to stop craving for his fathers affection and approval (which is btw a horrible, HORRIBLE thing and not something good. A half orphan losing the last remaining hope he had left of having the chance to finally get to form a bond with the only other parent he has left, just to be crushed by disappointment and abandonment all over again until he let's go, is REALLY NOT as much of a good thing people will make it out to be. This is... plain awful) it's actually quite logical.

Adriens hand outside the heart doesn't mean that his father meant nothing to him and therefore refuses to meet and accept his affection (that's literally the complete opposite of what the show shows us), it means that Adriens and Gabriels father-son relationship suffers from a fatal emotional disconnection caused by miscommunication/ a lack of communication.

And this was caused by Gabriel. How? Let me elaborate on that by going a bit far afield (cuz lbh we all have time for this. I’m writing this in quarantine and youre reading this is quarantine, so lets gooooooooooooo).

In "The bubbler" Adrien says that his father "always forgot his birthday", but I cannot agree with this in true honesty. Gabriel is controlling his sons entire life, calls him "the epitome of perfection" and temporarily truly gave up being Hawkmoth for him, he definitely never forgot Adriens birthday.

"The bubbler" even SHOWS us that Adriens perspective of the situation is actually not the truth:

This is Adriens first birthday after Emilies dissappearence and it's incredibly telling how Gabriel handles the planning.

What this entire little sequence tells me is that Gabriel is completely and UTTERLY used to NOT be the one to take care of anything related to Adriens birthday. So Emilie was always the one who did it but somehow - now without her - Gabriel apparently still hasn't even considered changing anything about that nasty non-involvement and just expected Natalie to pick everything up where Emilie left it.

Because let's be real here, knowing Natalie she would NOT have forgotten to get a present if Gabriel truly had told her to. Natalie is never presented to do mistakes like that but Gabriel on the other hand IS definitely presented to us claiming things about himself as ultimate, blameless and true when they simply do not reflect reality. A great example: Gorizilla

You didn’t even speared a minutes of your time for Adrien and he DID try to! Asshat… It's a problem guys. The lack of self awareness Gabriel displays in moments like this is legitimately concerning when you think about how deeply this man is falling right now.

But back to the topic:

Because even if Gabriel didn't even consider doing anything himself for Adriens birthday - not even taking the time to SEE his son (who just recently lost his mother, come on Gabe, really?) - one thing one cannot hold against him: he sure as hell remembered Adriens birthday like any decent parent would and it wasnt portrayed as a this-year-for-the-first-time thing.

And yet Adriens statement still makes complete sense. Because a big, BIG problem with Gabriel is just how much he takes things for granted. He EXPECTS things to be universally known and to never be doubted, just because that's how HE sees them. I will write 10 essays if it's needed to make people understand that Gabriel DOES truly love Adrien, it's just that Gabriel HIMSELF is such a rotten, twisted and toxic person that he cannot see how much his (oppressing) behavior and the way he (doesn't) express his love hurts Adrien and that HE is the one at fault. (for more, once again, read this)

Gabriel LOVES Adrien but he takes the love he feels as such a matter-of-fact that he just completely... forgets to show it.

And when we take Adriens words and look at the Family portrait it unfortunately seems that...

…. Gabriel ALWAYS forgot to show it.

Adriens hand - that should at least be reaching out to his father - is outside of the heart in accepting certainty. Because that's what Gabriels non-presence was for Adrien while growing up: an unreliable and unreachable certainty he had to accept early on as safer to not try to emotionally depend on too much or else he will get hurt.

So yeah, Adrien is the one in the portrait who is very openly not reaching out but only because Gabriel never gave him the needed affection and stability to be able to create that bond.

But let me correct what I said a little earlier: Adrien ALWAYS needed his father. Every kid, especially one in a bad situation like Adrien, does need their parents/friends etc as support system to become independent and confident in a healthy way. And if they don’t have that they WILL crave and look for it!

What Adrien has been doing up to now IS normal for a teenager - humans NEED affection, belonging and safety. What ISNT/SHOULDN’T be normal is Adriens disconnection towards his father in the portrait and just how much Gabriel fails to take care and BE THERE for his son in BOTH TIMES!

Collector:

Bother Christmas:

One thing I like about the show is that it portrays their young main cast with one very important truth: The psyche of a child/teenager of their age will react and adapt so it SURVIVES, even if it results in unfortunate consequences in other relationships and places. Thats the psyches main concern and it'll try to cope with the limited experience and development it has in whatever way necessary to get itself to the next day. A coping mechanism is not there to make you a better person, it ensures your SURVIVAL, everything else is a secondary concern.

So seeing pre-show Adrien not react to Gabriels touch and even feel completely unloved and disconnected from him is no surprise to me. Kids are incredibly observant. They may lack the needed experience and knowledge to truly understand that they deserve better and to stand up for themselves but they are masters in picking up red flags in people and can put this danger into perspective while comparing the different danger levels of their options of people and places to adjust their behavior.

Feast:

Stormy Weather 2:

So the broken connection between father and son we see in the portrait (that Gabriel doesn't even notice but Adrien fully internalized) isn’t there because Adrien “didnt needed” or wanted his father, its because Adrien NEEDED Gabriel so much in his isolated upbringing but Gabriel didn’t LET him need him - so Adrien had to adjust to that accordingly. Big, huge, ENORMOUS difference.

Honestly the most miraculous thing about Miraculous is that Adrien was able to bring up the strength to stay positive and friendly and to forgive Gabriel in hope for a better future. That boys situation is 7 kinds of depressing and traumatizing...

It's just flabbergasting to me how well this portrait shows how basically non-existent their relationship was at that point. And it's horrible to know that this estranged and unformed bond is all Adrien had left after Emilie dissappeared, just alot worse because after Emilie incident Adrien states that his father changed alot for the worse as well.

So to think that all Adrien had left wasn't even this former basically non-existent relationship with his aloof father - who would only barely show his true affection for his son because he's either not around enough to do so or he thinks it "unnecessary to proof his affection" for/to Adrien because he already thinks it so obvious and undoubtable.

Well he thought wrong. And GOSH, it breaks my heart!

So now comparing the "Gabriel" hand from Adrien with the one representing his connections with his mother conveys a pretty harsh contrast.

Because last but not least, let's take a look at Emilies hand placements:

But here is now an interesting difference to Adrien. Whereas we openly see that Adriens side of the Adrien-Gabriel relationship is completely disconnected from the heart/love - showcasing just how badly Adrien has always been neglected by his father - we don't see Emilies hand in her Emilie-Gabriel relationship AT ALL.

Once again just like with Adrien, this doesn't mean she didn't love her husband and that Gabriel was used and fooled by the woman he so utterly adored. It just means that from Emilies point of view things were a bit more complicated. What exactly this is, the portrait is keeping secret from us. We have no way of knowing if and how Emilie is returning her husbands gesture. All we can say is that if she does she is definitely not doing it in such an open and unconflicted way as she does with Adrien.

But since when has anything with this family been this easy?

One thing the portrait makes very clear, Adrien and Emilie had a strong and good bond. Definitely the healthiest because the Adrien-Emilie connection is the only one depicted without any kind of disruption from both sides. Both mother and son are reaching out for the other ones hand creating a whole half of the heart, showcasing their affection for another openly and without any of the implied doubts the other connections display. And honestly? Comparing all the hand placements, the one connecting Adrien and Emilie just comes across as strikingly pure and true (which makes it even worse that it was HER Adrien lost…)

As I said it's a HARSH contrast to the one Adrien shears with Gabriel. This contrast is highlighted even further by the way these three face on another.

Emilie and Adrien are positioned facing another and so are Emilie and Gabriel. Telling us that Emilie was "face-to-face" aka involved with both her husband and son. It is Adrien and Gabriel were this looks wildly different. These two have no way of seeing each other in the eyes the way they stand now/then, further displaying their deeply rooted disconnection. It's portrays perfectly how important Emilie was in this family dynamic, because even though Adrien and Gabriel bearly had a connection at all they at least had Emilie as a link between them, keeping the family together. But then they lost her and where this left both father and son off we know oh too well...

So to collect all the informations we get out if this portrait:

-Adriens and Emilies relationship was the strongest and purest. Both of their hands connect and reach out for another in the heart, showcasing that they had a loving and positive bond.

-Adriens and Gabriels relationship is heavily scarred by a deeply rooted disconnection leaving Adrien feeling unloved and unwanted by his father to the point where Adriens side of their dynamic is outside the heart altogether. Gabriel may love and adore his son just like he loves his wife and never thought he displayed his love for him in a lacking way, but fact is: this love never reached Adrien the way it should have and Adrien is the one in their dynamic who got severely hurt and damaged by it.

-Gabriel was the only one completely unconflicted and happily at peace with the former Family situation. He's reaching out to both his family members with open love and affection in blissful oblivion that neither his wife nor son could return them the same way (to different degrees for different reasons). Gabriel was the ONLY ONE in the Agreste family who didn't saw problems in their lives and thought them all happy, hence why he's so obsessed with changing the past and bringing THIS state of their family back. He was happy and he had everything he needed and loved right with him, of course he wants THIS back. He's not aware that Emilie and ESPECIALLY Adrien did not feel the same about their former situation and that bringing all of them back to this is not the perfect happy ending for their entire family as he thinks.

-Emilie may not have been as unconflicted with Gabriel as he was with her but she is NOT feeling the same disconnection her son feels and isn't depicted with negative feelings towards Gabriel. Her side in the Emilie-Gabriel relationship is neither shown outright positive as with her son or outright bad as Adrien with Gabriel. Her side of their bond is depicted through her unseen hand placement in the unknown area in between.

-Despite their not so unconflicted feelings towards Gabriel - and Gabriel himself being aloof - neither Emilie nor Adrien are actively trying to cut Gabriel out. They aren't flinching away from his touch or exclude him from the heart whatsoever. He's happily included, obviously feeling loved. They may not be 100% happy and Gabriel doesn't notice it, but they aren't denying him his happiness and make him unhappy. Again, he's the only one truly happy here. Something neither Emilie nor Adrien tried to take away from him.

-Emilie and Adrien are facing each other as do Emilie and Gabriel, implying the presence of communication and a bond. Adrien and Gabriel do not face each other, showing their disconnected bond. If they could see each others face Adrien would have been able to see that Gabriels hand is a gesture of genuine affection and Gabriel could see that Adriens expression does not exactly display pure happiness the way he thinks. This also goes for Emilie. Emilie just like her husband is placed BEHIND her son, so even if she is facing him she would not be able to really see just how much Adrien is not satisfied and truly happy with his life at that point (meaning how unhappy being looked up, friendless and at distance with his father actually makes him).

- This fascinating family makes me sad and I like it lol

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fuckofffuckofffuckoffloveme · 4 years ago

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Runaway - Part Nine

~Masterlist~

Concept: Hazel Richards is a twenty-year-old woman living in London. When she meets a mysterious time-travelling alien known only as the Hunter, she’s thrust into a world of wonder she could only have imagined.

Warnings: swearing, follows S1 of Doctor Who.

Hazel looked around as she stepped out of the TARDIS into a dimly lit area surrounded by display cases. "So what is it?" she asked curiously. "What's wrong?"

The Hunter frowned, sighing. "I'm not sure. Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course."

"Where are we?" Hazel wondered as her friend locked the door.

"Earth," the Hunter answered, sniffing. "Utah, the United States. About..." She tilted her head. "Half a mile underground."

"And when are we?" Hazel inquired, raising an eyebrow with a smirk.

"2012," the Hunter muttered, heading over to look at a display case.

Hazel followed, looking around absently. "God, that's so close. So I should be twenty seven. That's insane." She jumped when the lights turned on, turning quickly to see the Hunter smile apologetically. "Blimey. It's a great big museum."

The Hunter nodded, looking around with the critical eyes of an eagle. "An alien museum. Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust." She pointed over at another case, walking over to it. "That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship."

"That's a bit of Slitheen!" Hazel exclaimed, looking at a second case. "That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed."

When the Hunter next spoke, her voice was tinged with a nostalgic sadness. "Oh, look at you."

"What is it?" Hazel asked, coming to stand by her side as she looked at the metal robot head.

"An old friend of mine," the Hunter replied, before making a face. "Well, enemy. The stuff of so many nightmares reduced to a listless exhibit." She sighed quietly. "I'm getting old."

"Is that where the signal's coming from?" Hazel nodded towards the exhibit.

The Hunter shook her head. "No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help." She touched the glass of the case almost absently, remembering past battles, and an alarm went off. Armed guards rushed in from all sides, cutting them off from the TARDIS.

Hazel bit her lip, looking around nervously. "If someone's collecting aliens, surely that makes you Exhibit A." The Hunter merely flashed her a grin.

***

The pair were escorted into an office as a young man was showing an older man a small device. "What does it do?" the older man questioned.

The young man seemed eager to impress. "Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel."

"I wouldn't hold it like that," the Hunter stated offhandedly.

"Shut it," a female guard, Goddard, ordered, elbowing her in the ribs.

The Hunter snorted, unaffected. "What? I wouldn't!"

"Is it dangerous?" the young man wondered.

The ginger rolled her eyes. "No, it just makes you look like an idiot." She held her hand out expectantly, and raised an eyebrow as she heard all the safeties in the room click off. The older man handed over the device. "You just need to be delicate," the Hunter advised, stroking the artefact gently to play a lilting melody.

"Can I?" Hazel asked, and played a few notes tentatively once her friend handed it over.

"It's a musical instrument," the older man realised.

"And it's a long way from home," the Hunter agreed.

"Here, let me." Hazel grudgingly let him take the instrument, on which he played much harsher notes.

The Hunter raised an eyebrow scathingly. "I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision." She sighed as the man managed to make music of a slightly less antagonistic note. "Well, I suppose that's better. Quite the expert."

"As are you," the man countered, tossing the instrument onto the floor nonchalantly. The Hunter narrowed her eyes a fraction. "Who exactly are you?"

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

The man rolled his eyes, getting up and walking round behind them, making them turn around to keep him in their sights. "Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake."

The Hunter crossed her arms, leaning against his desk. "Pretty much, yeah."

"The question is, how did you get in? Fifty three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplice." The man eyed Hazel with a smirk. "You're quite the collector yourself, she's rather pretty."

"And willing to cut you if you keep calling her she," Hazel put in with a sweet smile.

"English, too!" the man laughed, nudging his younger colleague. "Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend."

The Hunter rolled her eyes and the young man straightened. "This is Mr Henry Van Statten."

"Who's he when he's at home?" Hazel questioned, raising her eyebrows.

"Mr Van Statten owns the internet," the younger man supplied.

Hazel scoffed. "Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet."

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

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

"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten raised his eyebrows.

The Hunter's face didn't give away a thing. "Please, I know how clever I am. Claims are for the lacking."

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

"You tell me," the Hunter challenged, cocking an eyebrow.

"The cage contains my one living specimen," Van Statten stated proudly.

"And what's that?" the Hunter questioned.

Van Statten scoffed. "Like you don't know."

"Show me," the ginger ordered.

"You want to see it?"

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Yeah, lovely, battle of the brains, but can we move on?"

Van Statten nodded at Goddard. "Inform the cage we're heading down. You, English, look after the girl. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Hunter with no name, come and see my pet."

The Hunter lagged behind to whisper something in the young man's ear, something that made him straighten, his eyes widen. Smirking, the Hunter strode off after Van Statten.

***

After a lift ride that had taken them several floors lower, the pair walked out towards an area buzzing with scientists outside a large black room, sealed off. "We've tried everything," Van Statten was saying. "The creature has shielded itself, but there's definite signs of life inside."

The Hunter narrowed her eyes a fraction. "Inside? Inside what?"

A scientists came up to greet them. "Welcome back, sir. I've had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting."

"Metaltron?" the Hunter repeated, raising her eyebrows.

"Thought of it myself. Good, isn't it?" Van Statten smiled proudly, ignoring the Hunter rolling her eyes. "Although I'd much prefer to find out its real name."

The scientist handed the Time Lady a pair of thick leather gloves. "Here, you'd better put these on. The last guy that touched it burst into flames."

"I won't touch it then," the Hunter shrugged, but put the gauntlets on over her own fingerless gloves.

"Go ahead, Hunter," Van Statten said, gesturing towards the Cage's entrance. "Impress me."

The Time Lady walked through it, not flinching as the door closed behind her, plunging the already dim room into darkness. "I'm sorry about this," she said to the creature being held captive, though she couldn't yet see it. "Mr Van Statten thinks he's clever, but that's only one of the many things he's wrong about. I've come to help. I'm the Hunter."

Across the room, a white light blinked on and off next to a circular blue glow. "Hun-ter?" a rasping voice asked, and the Time Lady blanched.

"Impossible," she swore, her eyes wide.

"The Hunter?" the creature asked. The lights came on to reveal the chained-up Dalek. "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

The Hunter ran for the locked door, banging on it in pure unadulterated fear. "Let me out!"

"Exterminate! You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!" It's gun twitched, but didn't fire.

"It's not working," the Hunter realised. She laughed a little in relief, wiping tears of terror from her cheeks. "Fantastic. Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?" she goaded, coming closer to it now she knew it was safe.

"Keep back!" the Dalek threatened, moving ineffectually.

"What for?" the Hunter demanded. "What're you going to do to me? Your people took everything from me already! What could you possibly do to me now? If you can't kill, then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you? You're nothing! Why the hell are you here?!"

"I am waiting for orders," the Dalek stated.

"What does that mean?" the Hunter snorted.

"I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders," the Dalek explained.

"Well, you're never going to get any," the Hunter told it. "Not ever."

"I demand orders!"

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

"You lie!" the Dalek accused.

The Hunter shook her head. "I watched it happen. I made it happen."

"You destroyed us?"

"I had no choice," the Hunter muttered.

"And what of the Time Lords?" the Dalek questioned, its eyestalk shifting.

"Dead," the Hunter stated bluntly. "They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost."

The Dalek regarded her. "And the coward survived."

The Hunter rolled her eyes. "Oh, I caught your little signal. 'Help me!' Poor little thing. But there's no one else coming cause there's no one else left."

"I am alone in the universe," the Dalek realised.

"Yep," the Hunter agreed cheerfully.

"So are you. We are the same."

"We are not the same!" the Hunter protested. "I'm not -!" She paused for a moment, a malicious smirk sliding onto her face as she had a thought. "No, wait. Maybe we are. You're right. Yeah, okay, you've got a point. Cause I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve." She walked over to a nearby console, and flicked a lever, electrocuting the Dalek. "Exterminate," she whispered, smiling as she watched its pain. This wasn't sadism. This was retribution.

"Have pity!" the Dalek screamed.

"Why should I?" the Hunter demanded, glaring at it bitterly. "You never did!"

"Help me!"

Suddenly, the doors opened, and guards grabbed the Hunter, holding her back as she tried to amp up the electricity. In her state, it didn't even occur to her to use her telekinesis.

"I saved your life," Van Statten stated as he marched in. "Now talk to me. Goddamn it, talk to me!"

One of the scientists turned off the electricity, and the Hunter cursed. "You've got to destroy it!" she yelled, even as the guards dragged her out of the Cage.

"The last in the universe," Van Statten marvelled. "And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek." The alien didn't make a sound. "I am Henry Van Statten, now recognise me!" He shook his head. "Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes."

***

As it turned out, the young man was called Adam, and he had a workshop - a very cluttered one, too. "Sorry about the mess," Adam grinned sheepishly. "Mr Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods. What do you think that is?" He picked up a piece of metal about an inch thick.

Hazel shook her head, rolling her eyes. "A lump of metal," she replied, like it was obvious.

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

"That's amazing," Hazel drawled sarcastically, rolling her eyes again when he wasn't looking.

Adam didn't seem to hear her insincerity. "I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe the whole universe is just teeming with life."

"I'm gobsmacked, yeah," Hazel nodded, sounding about as unimpressed as she could possibly could be. "And you, what, sit here and catalogue it?"

"Best job in the world," Adam grinned.

Hazel shrugged. "But imagine if you could get out there. Travel amongst the stars and see it for real."

"Yeah, I'd give anything," Adam nodded. "I don't think it's ever going to happen. Not in our lifetimes."

"Oh, you never know," Hazel smiled, biting her lip. "What about all those people who say they've been inside of spaceships and things and talked to aliens?"

"I think they're nutters," he told her unabashedly.

Hazel blinked, put out. "Yeah." She sighed. "So, how'd you end up here?"

"Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit," Adam explained.

"Oh, right, you're a genius." She rolled her eyes, not bothering to hide it this time.

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

Hazel, who had recently come just a bit too close to World War Three, scoffed. "What, and that's funny?"

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

She snorted, reminded of her travelling companion. "You sound like the Hunter."

"Are you and her...?" Adam checked coyly.

"No," she replied quickly. "We're just friends."

He nodded. "Good."

Hazel raised an eyebrow. "Why is it good?"

He shrugged, looking as if he hadn't meant to say it aloud. "It just is."

"So, wouldn't you rather be downstairs?" she asked, changing the subject as she sat on the corner of his desk, the way the Hunter had intimidated him earlier. "I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but Mr Van Statten's got a living creature down there."

"Yeah. Yeah, well, I did ask, but he keeps it to himself," Adam sighed, before catching Hazel's disappointed look and straightening. "Although, if you're a genius, it doesn't take long to patch through on the comms system."

Hazel grinned, glad her trick had worked. "Let's have a look, then."

"It doesn't do much, the alien," Adam explained as he typed. "It's weird. It's kind of useless. It's just like this great big pepper pot." Suddenly, his computer screen lit up with an image of the pepper pot screeching as a man in a lab coat took a huge drill to its metal casing.

"It's being tortured!" Hazel was horrified. "Where's the Hunter?"

Adam frowned at her sudden outburst. "I don't know."

Hazel made a decision. "Take me down there, now."

***

"The metal's just battle armour," the Hunter was explaining tensely as she, Goddard, and Van Statten entered the lift. "The real Dalek creature's inside."

"What does it look like?" Van Statten questioned eagerly.

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

"Genetically engineered," he mused. "By whom?"

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

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

"Because I'm here," the Hunter told her simply. "How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?"

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

"It must have fallen through time," the Hunter realised. "The only survivor."

"You talked about a war?" Goddard prompted.

"The Time War," the Hunter nodded, her eyes flickering with hurt. "The final battle between my people and the Dalek race."

"But you survived, too," Van Statten pointed out.

The Hunter snorted darkly. "Not through any fault of my own, I can assure you."

"This means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth," Van Statten reasoned. "Hunter, there's you. The only one of your kind in existence." The Hunter looked up at him in horror.

***

Within ten minutes, she had been stripped down to her t-shirt and jeans, and chained to a slanted surface.

"Now, smile!" Van Statten grinned, activating a painful laser scan that ran down the Hunter's body, making her grimace. "Two hearts! Binary vascular system. Oh, I am so going to patent this."

"So that's your secret," the Hunter snarled through gritted teeth. "You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it."

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

"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten?" the Hunter demanded. "A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species." And after all she'd been through, after what had happened to her mother, and her father, and her brother, she truly meant it when she said, "That creature in your dungeon is better than you."

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

The Hunter made a noise of frustration. "Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!"

"Nothing can escape the Cage," Van Statten insisted, and blasted her with the laser again, making her clench her jaw and squeeze her eyes tightly shut.

As soon as she could talk again, she did. "But it's woken up. It knows I'm here. It's going to get out. Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe. No one on this planet!"

***

"Hold it right there," one of the guards said, stepping in front of Adam and Hazel as they approached the Cage.

"Level three access," Adam stated, flashing his ID at the guard. "Special clearance from Mr Van Statten." They were let through, and he winced slightly as the door slammed shut behind them with a ring of finality. He noticed Hazel was walking forwards towards the pepper pot. "Don't get too close."

"Hello," she said softly, ignoring him completely. "Are you in pain? My name's Hazel Norton. I've got a friend, she can help. She's called the Hunter. What's your name?"

"Yes," the creature creaked, two beaker-shaped lights flickering upon its domed head.

Hazel frowned, confused. "Huh?"

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

"No."

"I am dying."

"No, we can help," Hazel assured it, her eyes widening.

"I welcome death," it told her. "But I am glad that before I die I have met a human who was not afraid."

She frowned. "Isn't there anything I can do?"

"My race is dead, and I shall die alone," the creature stated monotonously, although Hazel thought she could detect hidden sadness. She reached for its head.

"Hazel, no!" Adam shouted, jolting into her. She stumbled forwards, grabbing onto the head for balance. Almost immediately, she hissed, snatching her hand back to reveal a mild burn, and a fading golden handprint on the creature's shell.

As they watched, the creature became more animated, strained at the chains that bonded it. "Genetic material extrapolated. Initiate cellular reconstruction!" It broke the chains as a man in a lab coat ran in, carrying his drill.

"What the hell have you done?!" he demanded, probably worrying about how Mr Van Statten would react. The creature raised what looked like a sink plunger at him. He snorted. "What are you going to do? Sucker me to death?"

Hazel yelped as the creature did exactly that, and Adam dragged her out of the Cage. "It's killing him! Do something!"

"Conditions red!" one of the guards yelled. "Condition red!"

***

The Hunter looked up as sirens began to wail, then raised her eyebrows. "I told you so."

"I repeat, this is not a drill!" another guard shouted, from outside the room.

She made eye contact with Van Statten, whose cool composure had temporarily cracked, and said slowly and clearly, "Release me if you want to live."

***

Hazel jumped as she heard the Hunter's voice, loud and clear, coming through the comms system. "You've got to keep it in that cell," the Time Lady ordered.

"Art, it's all my fault!" Hazel cried, her eyes wide in horror.

"I've sealed the compartment," one of the guards reported. "It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations."

"A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat," the Hunter told him bluntly.

And sure enough, the door swung open. "Open fire!"

"Don't shoot it!" Van Statten's voice commanded angrily. "I want it unharmed."

"Hazel, get out of there!" the Hunter shouted.

One of the guards turned to a younger colleague. "De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?"

She nodded, turning to Adam and Hazel. "You, with me."

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

"It's downloading," the Hunter corrected her.

"Downloading what?" Van Statten questioned.

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

"It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet," the Hunter explained, grimacing. "It knows everything."

"The cameras in the vault have gone down," Goddard stated.

"We've only got emergency power," the Hunter told her. "It's eaten everything else. You've got to kill it now!"

After a moment, the order went through: "All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately."

***

De Maggio shouted ahead of them as they ran. "Civilians! Let them through!" The guards coming in the opposite direction spread to the sides, allowing the three of them safe passage through. Hazel swallowed as she saw people dying, the bullets they shot being absorbed into the Dalek's casing.

***

"Tell them to stop shooting at it," Van Statten commanded.

"But it's killing them!" Goddard protested.

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

The gunfire stopped after only a few moments, but only because there was no one left to shoot.

Goddard bit her lip, bringing up a schematic of the base for the Hunter to see. "That's us, right below the surface. That's the cage, and that's the Dalek."

The Hunter nodded, narrowing her eyes in concentration. "This museum, have you got any alien weapons?"

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

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

"Leaving everyone trapped with it?" the Hunter glared. "Hazel is down there. I won't let that happen. Have you got that?" She sighed, turning back to the schematic. "It's got to go through this area. What's that?"

"Weapons testing," Goddard answered.

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

***

"Stairs!" Hazel exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "That's more like it. It hasn't got legs. It's stuck."

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

They sprinted a flight before looking back down to the Dalek. "Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs," Adam jeered.

"Now listen to me," De Maggio stated firmly, aiming her gun at the Dalek with an unwavering grip. "I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate then I can guarantee that Mr Van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you, and maybe that was wrong, but people have died, and that stops right now. The killing stops. Have you got that? I demand that you surrender. Is that clear?"

The Dalek regarded her for a moment with its lone eyestalk. Then, it said, "Elevate," and began to rise, floating up the stairs.

"Oh my God," Hazel breathed, stumbling back.

"Adam, get her out of here," De Maggio ordered, not looking back.

"Come with us," Hazel pleaded. "You can't stop it."

De Maggio shook her head bravely. "Someone's got to try. Now get out! Don't look back. Just run."

Adam dragged Hazel away, forcing her to run, even when they heard the agonized dying scream of the woman whose name they hadn't even thought to ask.

***

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

The Hunter closed her eyes briefly in annoyance. "What's the nearest town?"

"Salt Lake City," Van Statten replied automatically.

"Population?"

"One million."

"All dead," the Hunter answered bluntly. "If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs."

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

"Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It is the ultimate in racial cleansing, and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose!" the Hunter accused angrily, before checking herself. In a much calmer voice, she said, "The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot."

The man commanding the guards scoffed. "Thank you, Hunter, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions!" Adam and Hazel ran into view, and the man held up a hand, irritated. "Hold your fire! You two, get the hell out of there!" Without pausing even to gripe at the man, they ran to the other side as fast as they could, leaving just after the Dalek entered.

***

"It was looking at me," Hazel worried, gasping for breath.

Adam wasn't that concerned. "Yeah, it wants to slaughter us."

"I know," Hazel growled. "But it was looking right at me."

"So?" Adam shrugged, encouraging her to keep walking at least. "It's just a sort of metal eye thing. It's looking all around."

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

***

"On my mark. Open fire!"

"We've got vision," Goddard noted as the screen flickered into life, showing the guards shooting at the Dalek.

"It wants us to see," the Hunter muttered, frowning. What was it doing? Then she blanched as she saw what the Dalek had in mind. It shot at the fire alarm, setting off the sprinklers. As soon as the floor was covered in a watery sheen, it fires downwards, electrocuting the people.

Van Statten winced slightly as he watched the massacre. "Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place."

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

"You said we could seal the vault?" the Hunter prompted, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

"It was desgined to be a bunker in the event of nuclear war," Van Statten nodded. "Steel bulkheads."

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

The Hunter shook her head. "We've got emergency power. We can re-route that to the bulkhead doors."

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

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

"You want to help?" the Hunter asked, surprised.

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

"Ma'am," Goddard warned, seeing the Dalek was looking up at the camera on the screen, sitting in the pool of water amongst the corpses it had created.

"I shall speak only to the Hunter," the Dalek stated, monotonously as usual.

"You're going to get rusty," the Hunter joked half-heartedly. She hadn't quite expected to be faced with her greatest enemy this soon, if at all.

"I fed off the DNA of Hazel Norton. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me," it explained.

"What's your next trick?" the Hunter asked, trying to gauge its plan.

"I have been searching for the Daleks."

"Yeah, I saw," she admitted. "Downloading the internet. What did you find?"

"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes," it elucidated.

"And?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Nothing," it stated. "Where shall I get my orders now?"

"You're just a soldier without commands," the Hunter goaded, wondering for a second if those words didn't apply to herself.

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

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

The Dalek paused momentarily. "Then what should I do?"

"All right, then. If you want orders, follow this one." She took a deep breath. "Kill yourself."

"The Daleks must survive!" it protested.

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

The Dalek was silent for minutes, and then, "You would make a good Dalek." The screen went blank, and the Hunter swallowed hard, her eyes wide.

"Seal the vault," she ordered.

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

The Hunter raised her eyebrows, unimpressed. "Are you enjoying this?"

"Hunter, she's still down there," Goddard reminded her.

***

Hazel growled when her phone rang as they ran up the stairs. "This had better be bloody brilliant."

"Where are you?" the Hunter's voice inquired tensely.

"Level forty nine," Hazel replied, glancing at a sign as they rounded onto the next sign.

"You've got to keep moving," the Hunter encouraged. "The vault's being sealed off up at level forty six."

"Can't you stop them closing?" Hazel frowned, breathing heavily. She had a stitch, and had done for a while.

The Hunter hesitated. "I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait, and I can't help you. Now run."

***

"Done it," Van Statten announced triumphantly. "We've got power to the bulkheads."

"The Dalek's right behind them," Goddard stated, watching their progress on a monitor.

"We're nearly there," Hazel panted. "Give us two seconds."

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

The Hunter bit her lip. "I'm sorry." She hit enter.

***

Hazel jumped as a loud klaxon sounded, the bulkhead starting to lower at the end of the corridor.

"Come on!" Adam cried, ahead of her. He rolled under the bulkhead with inches to spare, but Hazel wasn't so lucky.

***

Van Statten nodded. "The vault is sealed."

The Hunter lifted the phone to her ear. "Haze, where are you? Hazel, did you make it?"

"Sorry," a small, breathless voice came through, sounding scared. "I was a bit slow. See you then, Art." The Time Lady froze. "It wasn't your fault, so don't fucking blame yourself. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault. And do you know what? I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

The Dalek's tinny voice took over. "Exterminate!"

The Hunter hung up numbly, hearing the other phone clatter to the floor. "I killed her," she whispered, her eyes wide in horror.

"I'm sorry," Van Statten stated, bowing his head.

She tuirned him. "I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry?! I could've killed that Dalek in its cell, but you stopped me."

"It was the prize of my collection!" Van Statten protested.

"Your collection?" The Hunter scoffed. "But was it worth it? Worht all those men's deaths? Worth Hazel? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater."

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

"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt and label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get. And you took her down with you." The Hunter covered her mouth and turned away, choking back tears. "She was twenty years old."

***

Down on level forty six, Hazel stared down the Dalek, trying not to show how utterly terrified she was. "Go on, then. Kill me. Why're you doing this?"

"I am armed," it told her. "I will kill. It is my purpose."

"They're all dead because of you," she accused.

"They are dead because of us," the Dalek corrected.

She shrugged, conceding the point. "And now what? What're you waiting for?"

"I feel your fear," it stated.

Hazel snorted, her voice catching. "What do you expect?"

"Daleks do not fear. Must not fear." It shot at the wall to either side of her, making her yelp, falling to the ground and flinchign with every shot. "You gave me life. What else have you given me? I am contaminated."

***

The Hunter glared as Adam entered, not even seeming out of breath. "You were quick on your feet, leaving Hazel behind."

"I'm not the one who sealed the vault!" the boy shot back.

"Open the bulkhead or Hazel Norton dies." Everyone whipped around to look at the screen as the Dalek's voice emanated from it. The Dalek was looking up at the camera, with its gun pointed towards Hazel, who was standing just in front of it, her eyes wide and scared.

"You're alive!" the Hunter exclaimed, grinning in delight.

Hazel cracked a smile that didn't quite hide her fear. "'S gonna take more than a pepper pot to get rid of me."

"I thought you were dead," the Hunter sighed, her relief obvious.

"Open the bulkhead!" the Dalek ordered.

"Don't you bloody dare," Hazel added, shaking her head emphatically.

"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" the Dalek taunted.

The Hunter hesitated, feeling four sets of human eyes on her. Then she shook her head. "I killed her once. I can't do it again." She opened the bulkhead door, and Hazel and the Dalek went through.

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

"Kill it when it gets here," Adam suggested.

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

Adam raised an eyebrow. "Only the catalogued ones."

***

The Hunter made various faces of exasperation as she went through the weapons Adam had yet to catalogue. "Broken. Broken." She frowned, looking at one in particular with a snort. "Hairdryer."

"Mr Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does, he wipes their memory," Adam was saying. "I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day."

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

"I could do," Adam muttered defensively.

"What're you going to do, throw your A-Levels at 'em?" the Hunter snorted absently, before grinning as she found a working weapon. "Oh, yes. Lock and load."

***

"I'm begging you, don't kill them," Hazel pleaded. "You didn't kill me."

"But why not?" the Dalek questioned. "Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?"

The lift doors opened and the pair entered the office where Van Statten and Goddard were standing, looking terrified.

"Don't move," Hazel warned. "Don't do anything. I think it's having an existential crisis."

The Dalek moved up to the man. "Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?"

"I wanted to help you," Van Statten tried. "I just, I don't know. I was trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you. I wanted you better. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!" He backed up as the Dalek approached.

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

Hazel jumped in before the Dalek could shoot. "Don't do it!" she cried, only half questioning whether she was sane, protecting this man. "Don't kill him! You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else, not just killing. What else is there? What do you want?"

Eventually, after a long pause, the Dalek said, "I want freedom."

***

On level one, the Dalek shot a hole in the roof, streaming a shaft of sunlight down upon it and Hazel.

"You're out. You made it." She smiled as she felt the warmth of the sun on her face. "I never thought I'd feel the sunlight again."

The Dalek's eyestalk moved to look at her. "How does it feel?" When she shrugged, it opened its middle and top sections to reveal a one-eyed mutant thing within. It held out one small tentacle into the sunlight.

"Get out of the way. Haze, get out of the way now!" the Hunter shouted, holding up a powerful-looking gun towards the Dalek. Her eyes were hard with hatred.

"No," Hazel shook her head, biting her lip. "I won't let you do this."

The Hunter's eyes flickered towards her, surprise evident. "That thing killed hundreds of people. My brother -" She broke off.

"It's not the one pointing the gun at me," Hazel muttered, raising her eyebrows.

"I've got to do this," the Time Lady implored. "I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left."

"Look at it," Hazel suggested, turning so she could see without giving her room to shoot.

For the first time, the Hunter faltered, her aim dropping. "What's it doing?"

"It's the sunlight, that's all it wants," Hazel explained.

"But -"

"It couldn't kill Van Statten, and it couldn't kill me. It's changing," Hazel tried. "What about you, Hunter? What the hell are you changing into?"

The Hunter recognised the shock in her companion's eyes and sighed, putting her gun down and wiping her hands over her face. "I couldn't - I wasn't -" She bit her lip. "Oh, Haze... They're all dead."

"Why do we survive?" the Dalek asked, almost plaintively.

"I don't know," the Hunter replied, laughing slightly as a tear fell down her cheek.

"I am the last of the Daleks."

She shook her head. "You're not even that. Hazel did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating."

"Into what?" the Dalek wondered.

"Something new. I'm sorry."

Hazel frowned. "Isn't that better?"

"Not for a Dalek," the Hunter answered.

"I can feel so many ideas," the Dalek stated. "So much darkness. Hazel, give me orders. Order me to die."

Hazel looked horrified. "I can't do that."

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

Hazel covered her mouth, sobbing. "Do it."

"Are you frightened, Hazel Norton?" the Dalek asked.

"Yeah," she admitted.

"So am I," the Dalek agreed. "Exterminate." It shut its eye.

Hazel back up to the Hunter as the Dalek closed up its armour and rose up into the air. The balls from its lower body floated out around it, creating a forcefield, in which it imploded, protecting the girls.

When the light died down, Hazel turned and threw herself into the Hunter's arms, breathing heavily. Neither of them said anything for a long time.

***

The Hunter smiled as they found the TARDIS again, patting the old girl gently. "A little piece of home. Better than nothing."

"Is that the end of it, the Time War?" Hazel asked, biting her lip. She wasn't sure she ever wanted to see something like that ever again.

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

"The Dalek survived," Hazel pointed out. "Maybe some of your people did too."

The Hunter shook her head sadly. "I'd know. In here." She tapped her temple. "Feels like there's no one."

"Well then," Hazel smiled cheekily, "good thing I'm not going anywhere."

"Yeah," the Hunter grinned.

"We'd better get out," Adam called as he hurried towards them, making the easy smile slip off the Hunter's face. "Van Statten's disappeared. They're closing down the base. Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed."

"About time," Hazel snorted.

"I'll have to go back home," Adam stated stagily.

"Better hurry up then," the Hunter said cheerfully, checking her watch. "Next flight to heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours."

Hazel bit her lip, then sighed. "Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars."

"Tell him to go and stand outside, then," the Hunter raised an eyebrow.

"He's all on his own, Art, and he did help," Hazel implored.

"He left you down there," the Hunter pointed out.

"So did you," Hazel shot back.

The Hunter narrowed her eyes. "I'm feeling kind of attacked right now."

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

"Plus, he's a bit..." The Hunter made a face. "...Pretty."

Hazel blinked innocently. "Really? I hadn't noticed."

The Hunter sighed, rolling her eyes. "On your own head," she warned, unlocking the TARDIS.

"What're you doing?" Adam frowned. "She said cement. She wasn't joking. We're going to get sealed in." He narrowed his eyes as the girls went inside the TARDIS. "Hunter? What're you doing standing inside a box? Hazel?" Uncertainly, he crept inside the box. The doors slammed shut behind him, and the TARDIS dematerialised.

~~~

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