Tyr swore every Dalek curse it could think of. Their progress had been far too easy. Obviously there was an ambush awaiting them. Tyr should have anticipated this, but it had been too excited at their seeming progress.
There was only one chance now: claim ownership!
“Halt! I am Dalek Tyr,” it called out in Dalekese, raising the hands of its undead host and stepping away from the other humans. “I am one of you! I have lured the humans here.”
“Stay calm, everyone. It’s alright,” said The Doctor, ignoring Fiona-Tyr. “This is a fight we can’t win. Lower your weapons.” He put a hand on Cas’s submachine gun. She hardly noticed: she was gaping in disbelief at Fiona.
Ha! Humans were so easily fooled! The Daleks, however, would not be. Somehow Tyr had to make its role in this significant.
But how?
“Bollocks,” snarled Craddock. “They’re not taking me alive!”
Wait. Did that stupid human have something in its hand?
A small metal object—
A tremendous explosion shook the chamber. Thick, acrid smoke puffed out from beneath the south door.
The lighting flickered and went out.
Blackness.
“ALERT!” exclaimed the Red Dalek. Fiona-Tyr could see where all the Daleks were thanks to their glowing blue eyestalk lenses. “SWITCH TO INFRARED.”
There was a loud woosh and flash of light as Ian fired a Phoenix missile into a Dalek by the north wall. It exploded into metal fragments, searing the wall behind it black and leaving a glowing red gouge. Smoke billowed out over the floor.
“UNDER ATTACK!” shrieked the two Daleks on the balcony. A beam of high intensity radiation bathed Ian. Tones inverted, like an X-Ray, and he crumpled, smoking, to the floor. “EXTERIMINATE! EXTERMINATE!”
Red emergency lights snapped on.
Tyr called out again in Dalekese, to no avail. It ran its host over to the wall, to get out of the line of fire.
Craddock ducked behind the transformer, fumbling with his rocket launcher. Sanjay fired a rocket at the balcony, blowing a section apart and taking part of the lower casing of a Dalek with it. The bulky travel machine toppled forward and fell with a tremendous crash to the floor.
There was the loud flash and woosh of Phoenix launchers going off.
“SENSOR OVERLOAD! SENSOR OVERLOAD!” cried one of the Dalek drones, firing wildly.
A stray shot hit an upper transformer ring and it shattered into a shower of glittering metal shards.
“ACTIVATE THERMAL OVERLOAD RELAYS!”
“Get prone!” shouted a voice. “They’re firing level!”
The smoke was now so dense it was hard to see anything.
Tyr-Fiona stumbled forward, trying to reach the Red Dalek, to claim victory. It’s human host was having difficulty breathing, and coughed involuntarily.
As it emerged from a cloud of smoke, it saw The Doctor was now behind the Red Dalek, and had placed his coat over its eyestalk. He’d pulled Cas along with him. She was fumbling in her satchel bag.
“VISION IMPAIRED! VISION IMPAIRED!” bleated the Red Dalek, panicking. It began to fire its weapon randomly. The first shot fried Rueben. The second shot hit a Dalek drone in its rear power dish, funnelling the energy through its power systems and causing a massive cascading overload that shot the turret off with the explosive force of a cannon shell. It clanged against the ceiling and then fell to the floor trailing black smoke.
“I am Dalek Tyr! I have lured the human terrorists here, along with the Ka Faraq Gatri! I claim Right of Victory!” it babbled in slurred Dalekese. Kaq-pui! The humans mouth was not formed for speaking Dalek. Tyr itself could hardly understand! Yet Tyr could not let go of its host, not with such chaos—
The Red Dalek’s third blast caught Fiona at point blank range.
Tyr’s host toppled over and landed against the wall grating, dead.
Tyr was badly burned, but he was far more resistant to radiation than Fiona. Reciting The Hymn of Hate, it pushed through the agony and slithered over to the metal grating. Prehensile tentacles quickly unscrewed the grating bolts, and it slipped into the welcoming darkness of the power conduits.
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