“OPEN UP IN THERE!” shouted Demna as he banged on the lab’s door. “I KNOW A PREFABRICATED LAB WHEN I SEE ONE!”
“He’s not listening,” muttered Sailor Pluto.
“Maybe I can get us in,” said Eric as he pulled out a red handheld device. “QUANTUM POWER!” he called. A red suit and full-face helmet then appeared over him as he assumed his identity as the Quantum Ranger.
“Eric, your Ranger form is overkill!” protested the Doctor. “No, this requires finesse.” She pulled out her sonic screwdriver.
“Well, good thing the door’s not wood,” chuckled Sailor Pluto. The Doctor switched the screwdriver on and aimed it at the door…but nothing happened.
“What?” muttered the Doctor. She buzzed the door again, but still nothing. She checked the readings. “…Drat! He’s deadlocked the door! All right, Eric, go ahead.”
“Quantum Defender it is!” said the Quantum Ranger. He pulled out a red and silver t-rex themed gun and fired at the door lock. The lock exploded and the door opened. The Quantum Ranger mimed blowing on the barrel.
“…You DO realize that’s a laser, right?” asked Tevik.
“Oh, bite me!” replied the Quantum Ranger. “It’s cool!” The group then entered the lab.
“It’s dark in here,” muttered the Doctor. “I really must start carrying a torch!”
“Found the lights,” replied Demna.
“Switch them on,” ordered Tavis. The lights switched on and everyone could see the tubes with what looked like mounds of over-cooked spinach in them…barring one.
“Now that IS peculiar,” muttered the Doctor. She then spotted a recording device. “I wonder.” She then played back what Vrelan had recorded earlier. “…Smaller subjects?” muttered the Doctor. “What-?”
“Doctor!” called Tysar, slightly panicked.
“What is-?” The Doctor gasped when she saw the final tube. Inside it wasn’t a vegetable mound…but a Dalek creature!
“Eugh!” gagged the Quantum Ranger. “What IS that?!”
“That’s what a Dalek really looks like inside its casing,” replied the Doctor.
“THAT’S a Dalek?!” protested the Quantum Ranger. “The most evil life-form in existence?!”
“Then the mounds are-?!” gulped Tysar.
“They USED to be Daleks like our friend here,” replied the Doctor. “But somehow, they came into contact with Krynoid DNA. Not exactly ideal for a Krynoid host.”
“Why would Vrelan want to do that?!” shuddered Tavis. “The Daleks are evil, but we can’t inflict suffering on them! Otherwise we’d be no better than the Daleks!”
“The same kind of thing I said to myself when I found myself at the Daleks’ Genesis,” said the Doctor, recalling the incubation room and the wires she held in her fourth incarnation’s hand and Sarah Jane and Harry trying to urge her, rather HIM, to complete his mission for the Time Lords.
“But why make green bombs, Doctor?” asked Sailor Pluto.
“Tavis, Tysar, are there any on New Davius that would see the Thals return to Skaro?” asked the Doctor.
“The Reclamationists,” replied Tysar. “They think we can somehow push the Daleks off Skaro and retake it, making it a planet for purely Thals to live on. Basically, we should do to the Daleks what they did to us, at least that’s what a Reclamationist would say.”
“Fan out and search,” ordered Tavis. “But be careful. His logs said that the control variable’s still alive.”
“Tysar, Sailor Pluto, Eric, you stick close to me,” directed the Doctor. As everyone left, the Dalek creature looked intently at their retreating forms. Then it focused on the glass imprisoning it and prepared to hurl itself against the glass!
Demna had his side arm in his hand, looking fierce. “No Reclamationist’s gonna make ME move here!” he growled. “I’ll-!”
“Excuse me, but what are you doing here?” asked Vrelan’s voice as he stepped out of the shadows.
“Dr. Vrelan, you’d better not be a Reclamationist!” warned Demna. “If I find out that this whole thing is supposed to ‘reclaim Skaro for the Thal Race’, I’ll-!” Vrelan kicked the gun out of Demna’s hand then stuck a syringe into his neck! Demna collapsed to the ground with Vrelan making it so the impact didn’t make so much noise.
“I’m sorry, Commander,” said Vrelan, “but I can’t let you stop me, not when we CAN reclaim Skaro and drive the Daleks away. …It seems the experiment must take a different course.”
Tysar was bouncing her knee up and down, looking around nervously. “Doctor, are we really safe?” asked Sailor Pluto, verbalizing Tysar’s question.
“Relatively, yes,” said the Doctor. “But this IS Skaro we’re talking about and-.” She was interrupted by a scream.
“That was Demna!” yelped Tysar.
“Come on!” called the Doctor. By now, everyone rushed to Demna’s position. He was convulsing bad. The Doctor knelt down and saw green hives on his hand!
“He’s been in contact with a Krynoid pod!” she warned. “Everyone, keep back!”
“Doctor, are we sure of that?” asked Tysar.
“It’s the only logical explanation!” replied the Doctor.
“Then…why is there a puncture mark on his neck?”
“What?!” The Doctor caught sight of the puncture mark! “…This isn’t because of a pod! The Krynoid DNA’s been administered via a syringe!”
“…Vrelan!” hissed Tavis. “That must be the deployment system he talked about in his logs!”
“We need to get him to sick bay!” urged Tevik.
“Agreed! Come on, Demna!” The Doctor and Tavis helped the infected Demna up.
Demna was tied down as the hives were turning into vines. “I’m going to try and save him, but I don’t have much hope,” said the Doctor.
“The sedatives won’t wear off for a while yet,” reported Tevik. “We need to find Vrelan and make him pay!”
“Doctor, we’ll stand guard here,” offered Tavis. “You just keep my sister and our friends safe as you look for him, all right?”
“Got it,” replied the Doctor. The group then left.
“Sir, do you think there’s any hope for Demna?” asked Tevik.
“I don’t know, Lieutenant,” sighed Tavis. “All we can do is hope the Doctor can prevent his death.”
The group arrived at a locked part of the lab. “Let’s see what’s behind door number one, shall we?” asked the Doctor. She buzzed the door and it opened with ease. They entered the room and took stock.
“Look at all this!” said the Quantum Ranger. “What’s it all for?!” The Doctor examined the notes.
“Militarized terraforming!” she growled. “That’s what this is all about! It’s not just to reclaim Skaro, it’s to weaponize the telepathic control Krynoids have over other plants!” The Doctor then heard the familiar rattling noise Krynoids make! She turned to see a Krynoid in its humanoid shape within arm’s reach of the Quantum Ranger and Sailor Pluto! “Eric! Setsuna! Get back!” The two turned around and jumped back.
“Is that a Krynoid?!” yelped Tysar. The Doctor noticed how brown it was.
“…Yes, but it’s malnourished,” she said.
“Is that…dried blood on its tendrils?” asked Sailor Pluto.
“…Yes. In fact, it’s dried Slyther blood, along with dried THAL blood!”
“Thal?! You mean Vrelan’s fed his team to this thing?!”
“Yes, but it looks like he’s really stretched out the time between meals, watering, and time in the sun for this poor thing.”
“A necessary sacrifice I was willing to make,” came Vrelan’s voice. Everyone turned to see Vrelan with a modified Dalek gun in his hand!
“Vrelan, this is obscene!” snarled the Doctor. “What you’re doing is wrong! You’ve killed your entire team and-!”
“My ENTIRE team, Doctor?” asked Vrelan. “I think you’ll find Varsa is very much alive.” He nodded to the sickly Krynoid. “Though she won’t be for long.”
“Varsa?!” yelped Tysar. “That’s my childhood friend!”
“Demna should serve to be a better candidate for what I have planned,” said Vrelan.
“What, weaponized terraforming?” asked the Doctor. “Careful, that’s a Dalek method.”
“No! It’s different!” insisted Vrelan.
“I see no difference! You tap into the Krynoid’s telepathic field and then what? Command it to kill the Daleks, bring any survivors to you so you can convert them into your green bombs and detonate them to make new jungles, is that it?!”
“The Daleks will finally create something worthwhile through their deaths! And I have the means to control the Krynoids! They’ll be cultivated into something better! All the worlds the Daleks brought under their control? We can restore them! The Daleks never cared about the natural world of each planet they control! Not even Skaro! Well, the Daleks will learn what happens when you anger Mother Nature and-!”
“This isn’t part of the natural world!” argued the Doctor. “Bending plants to someone’s will, especially a Krynoid, will get someone killed!” Then…they heard a crash, like glass shattering. “…Oh no!”
“…Demna?” asked Tysar.
“No! I haven’t fitted the control collar on him yet!” yelped Vrelan. The Doctor then spotted what she initially thought was a red boiler…but upon closer inspection, she saw a plunger, an elongated whisk, black hemispheres, a pair of dome lamps, and an eyestalk.
“…Those Daleks you used,” she said, “were they Paradigm ones?”
“Mere drones, why?” asked Vrelan. Just then, two people outside screamed!
“Tavis?!” yelped Tysar. Tavis stumbled in, trying to get something off of him! The Doctor realized that it was the sole uninfected Dalek!
“GET THAT THING OFF HIM!” she called. Everyone, sans Vrelan, rushed to get the Dalek off Tavis, then the Dalek leapt off and scurried towards the Paradigm Drone casing. It opened the top, then slithered into the casing and closed it! The eyestalk then switched on! It had a yellow light with a blue pupil shaped after a goat’s. The casing’s limbs and eyestalk then twitched and rose upwards until they were level with everything. The dome swiveled so the eyestalk could take everything in. It spotted the sickly Krynoid, then aimed its gunstick!
“EXTERMINATE!” it shouted. It then fired, killing the sickly Krynoid.
“NO! YOU FOOL!” shouted Vrelan. “YOU’RE RUINING THE-!” The Dalek fired its gunstick on Vrelan, exterminating him and taking its revenge. It then looked directly at the Doctor.
“YOU ARE THE DOCTOR!” it screamed. “YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! YOU WILL BE-!” Another scream then cut it off, then a crash!