Puella Magi Madoka Magica is property of Gen Uroubuchi

Doctor Who is property of the BBC.

Time.

Time is eternal.

Time is everywhere.

Madoka stood rooted to the ground. A few minutes ago, she was worried sick that her friend would have to deal with the prospect of living forever. Now it looked like she wouldn't get to live another day.

"Listen here, princess, what I'm giving you is good, honest advice from someone who learned it the hard way." The redhead held the spear in a loose ready stance. "So stop trying to be a hero, and pay attention to someone who fucking knows better, got it?"

Sayaka coughed on the ground.

"I don't give a fuck about what your stupid wish was, but if you think it entitles you to being everyone's superhero, then-"

"Shut up."

Sayaka picked herself from the ground, shining circles materializing near her wounds, healing them.

The redhead blinked. "Wha... that should've kept you down for a month!"

Madoka tried asking Kyubey what was happening, but the creature seemed to have disappeared. Huh...

Meanwhile, Sayaka had materialized another sword, and now held one in each hand.

"Shut up, if you think I'm going to let some selfish prick like you tell me what to do, then you're the one who has something coming." She shifted her stance to something she felt was more suitable.

The redhead snorted. "So what if I'm a selfish prick? All that matters to me, is me. And all that should matter to you, is you. But if you're too boneheaded to have that bit of sense beaten into you, then I guess I'll have to kill you." An arrogant smirk came into her face. "Think of it as an act of mercy: at least you won't get eaten by a witch."

Sayaka responded by throwing the sword on her left hand at her. The spear-wielder sidestepped the projectile, and blocked Sayaka's charge, quickly striking out with the shaft of the spear.

Sayaka seemed to have learned. She kept going, running past her opponent and skidding to a halt out of the range of her spear.

For a moment, both Puella Magi stood still, eyeing each other. And then-

"WH-AT THE TH-AL IS GO-ING ON HE-RE?"

Dalek Sec had seemingly appeared in the alleyway. He approached Sayaka from behind, staring at the other girl.

"I-DEN-TI-FY!"

"Kyouko... wha..." The redhead shook her head to clear her temporary bout of confusion. "What the hell are you!"

"I AM AN IM-PE-RIA-LIS-TIC SPA-CE NA-ZI." The alien deadpanned.

There was a short silence. Madoka blinked, was that supposed to be a joke or something?

Sec turned towards Sayaka. "CE-ASE HOS-TI-LI-TI-ES."

Sayaka had recovered from the shock of Sec sneaking up on them and all but snarled at this "No."

"IF YOU COM-BAT HER, YOU WILL DIE. I CAN-NOT AF-FO-RD TO HAVE YOU DE-AD; THE-RE-FORE, OB-EY!" Sec…well, "screamed" comes close to the tone used.

Sayaka gave the alien only a sideways glance. "No! Stay out of this you pepperpot…thing, this is my battle!"

"TH-IS IS NO BA-TTLE, TH-IS IS AN E-LA-BO-RA-TE AND PRO-LON-GED EX-E-CU-TION! YOU BARE-LY E-VEN KNO-W HOW TO HAN-DLE YO-UR OWN WEA-PONS! O-BEY MY COM-MA-ND, O-BEY!" Sec, it seemed, had no upper limit when it came to how loud he could be. He even shook slightly at his own words.

Sayaka took one last glance at Kyouko before twisting towards the alien. "I said no!" she cried, swinging her sword at the metal alien.

The odd, whisk-like thing on Sec's torso swung to point at the blunette.

"NEU-TRA-LIZE!"

An odd red beam shot out from the implement to hit the Puella Magi in the chest. Sayaka staggered for a moment, and then collapsed into the ground, her costume fading away. She lay there, her chest rising and falling to accompany her breathing.

Madoka took this moment to run towards her unconscious friend and pull her out towards the wall. Her hand brushed the blue Soul Gem on the ground. After a moment's hesitation, she slipped it into Sayaka's pocket.

Sec turned his single, glowing blue eye towards Kyouko. "I COM-MA-ND THAT YOU LE-AVE."

"I don't think so."

Sec's eye narrowed. "I TO-OK HER DO-WN IN A SIN-GLE SHOT. I CAN DO WOR-SE TO YOU. LE-AVE!"

"Yeah, because a two day old Puella Magi is the epitome of combat skills." Kyouko huffed. "This territory is already mine, a weak girl like that can't keep hold of it for much longer anyways. I'm just doing princess here a favor."

"U-SUAL-LY, I WO-ULD A-GREE. HO-WE-VER, I HAP-PEN TO HA-VE U-SES FOR HER. YOU ARE NOT SO FOR-TU-NATE." Sec pointed the whisk-like thing at the redhead. "LE-AVE."

A snort from the redhead.

"Hey, if princess here's gonna get killed, well, better by me than by a witch, right? I don't know, just taking a shot in the dark here." Kyouko hefted her spear, a mocking smirk on her face. "Besides, what're you gonna do about it?"

"I WILL IN-FLICT WHAT IN TECH-NI-CAL TE-RMS IS KNO-WN AS A VIO-LENT-LY PAIN-FUL DE-ATH."

The spear-wielder laughed.

"With what? A plunger?"

Sec seemed to consider this, before he lowered the wisk-like appendage and raised the aforementioned plunger.

"I WILL TA-KE TH-AT AS A CHA-LLEN-GE."

Kyouko's smirk grew wider, and she swung her weapon. The shaft split, chains linking each section extended, and the spearhead flew in the alien's direction.

The Dalek simply strafed out of the way. The spear passed close to the plunger, and with a quick circular motion, he wrapped the chains around it.

Sec yanked, rotating his whole body and propelling himself backwards. The surprised redhead soon found herself being hurtled towards the alien.

*Smack!*

Kyouko collided against the metal armor of the alien, somehow managing to twist herself so that it was her feet, not her head, which took the blow. She dismissed her spear, and jumped off the alien, who didn't move an inch from the impulse.

Kyouko back-flipped in the air, summoning another spear as she did so. The arrogant smirk on her face was gone, replaced by a more serious expression.

She crept around the alien, who turned to follow her, the single blue eye staring into her.

Unexpectedly, she surged forwards, jabbing with her spear. Sec batted the weapon aside with the metal arm of the plunger and quickly extended it, apparently grabbing at the Puella Magi's face. Kyouko immediately jumped out of range, jumped over the alien and swung her spear at the alien's head.

There was a sudden flash of light, and a noise that sounded like a small explosion.

Kyouko was knocked backwards, but quickly recovered, raising her weapon once more…

…And discovered that the entire head of the spear was missing, the shaft where it once was glowed red-hot.

"What the fu-"

In an instant, Sec twisted his midsection and head around like a turret, extending the plunger as he did so. Kyouko managed to block the rubber plunger with the remaining shaft of her spear. The plunger immediately changed shape, wrapping itself around the shaft.

With a powerful jerk, Dalek Sec wrenched the remains of the magically-created spear from its owner and proceeded to beat her with it.

*Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!*

Kyouko managed to dismiss the remains of her spear and scramble out of grabbing range, summoning a third weapon as she did so.

Sec was on her in a heartbeat, surging forward like a bulldozer. Kyouko managed to bat away the plunger, but was brutally knocked down by the Dalek's armored form. Sec grabbed hold of the redhead's neck, lifting her like a sack of feathers, and slammed her against the wall.

*Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham!*

*Crack!*

There was a cry of pain as something audibly broke. Sec released Kyouko, allowing the girl to collapse on the floor. She lay there, motionless before shakily rising to her feet, using her spear like a crutch.

She cast a defiant look at the alien.

"That…that all you got?"

Sec's plunger flew forward, covering her face.

"NE-GA-TIVE."

Kyouko flailed as the suction increased, slowly constricting her skull.

"IT IS A PI-TY, I BE-LIEVE WE WO-ULD HA-VE HA-D MU-CH IN COM-MON." Sec seemed to muse, as Kyouko lost consciousness and was slowly strangled to death. "HO-WE-VER, YOU ARE MY E-NE-MY, SO NO-W YOU DIE."

"Wait!"

Sec's eye swung around to look at her. Madoka recoiled slightly at his gaze.

"EX-PLAIN."

"You don't need to kill her, just…let her go, she's beaten already."

"THAT IS UN-AC-CEP-TA-BLE! IF I RE-LEASE HER, SHE WILL ON-LY CAU-SE TROU-BLE. I CAN-NOT AF-FORD TO PUT MY STRA-TE-GEM AT RI-SK."

"That doesn't mean you have to kill her!"

"YES, YES IT DO-ES. WHY SHO-ULD I NOT KILL HER?"

Madoka was about to say, "Because killing is wrong!", but she managed to stop herself. Dalek Sec was an alien; it was only natural that he would see things in an alien way. Things that seemed like natural explanations to her would not work on him.

Madoka's mind worked furiously. As much as she wanted Sayaka to be safe, she didn't want people to die over her. Even people like Kyouko.

Weren't they all supposed to be on the same side?

Think!

"I AM STILL A-WAIT-ING AN EX-PLA-NA-TION."

"You were wrong, she is useful to you."

Sec's glowing mechanical eye narrowed. "EX-PLAIN."

"Homura told me you needed Sayaka alive, something about Walpurgisnacht." Madoka bit her lip, "I…I don't know why you need her, or what you are planning to have her do but…Sayaka, she's not a very good fighter. You saw that yourself."

"COR-RECT."

"But she is." Madoka pointed at the twitching redhead, "She has more experience in being a Magical Girl…she can train Sayaka into being a better fighter... she can teach her how to survive."

"SA-YA-KA WILL NOT A-GREE WITH THIS."

"Sayaka wants to help people, save them." Madoka recalled her previous conversation with Homura, "She won't like it, but she'll agree, when she understands that she can't save anyone if she dies."

"THE ONE WITH RED HA-IR MAY AT-TEM-PT TO KILL HER."

"Not if you are watching, especially now that she knows how dangerous you are."

"I CO-ULD HA-VE SOME-ONE EL-SE PER-FORM THE TRAIN-ING. THERE ARE ES-TA-BLISH-MENTS FOR THAT."

"But there is no Dojo in the world that will teach her how to be a Magical Girl." Seeing Sec's rebuttal before it happened, she quickly added, "And Homura doesn't seem to be the sort of person who would wish to help her."

Sec stood silent for a moment, before releasing Kyouko, letting her drop to the ground.

"YOU ARE COR-RECT. I WILL BE LEA-VING NOW."

"Wait!"

Sec turned to look at her. The "EX-PLAIN!" went unsaid.

Madoka heaved Sayaka up from the ground, struggling to lift her unconscious friend.

"Can you help me getting her home?"

Time has neither a beginning, nor an end.

-back on itself. It loops-

-does. -believe- -order- –follow- –Does- It- -not- -the- -you- -it-

-happen before you think they do. -simultaneously

Things may- Or they might happen-

Events in the future may affect events of the past.

After partially draping the unconscious Sayaka over Sec's arm, they set off for the blunette's place. They stuck to the alleyways, so as to keep themselves out of sight, stopping only once they reached the park. There, Dalek Sec unceremoniously plopped Sayaka into a bench, Madoka hastily sitting her up.

Despite a rather rough journey (Sec didn't seem to grasp the concept of "Gentle"), Sayaka was still dead to the world, only the constant moving of her chest indicated that she was still breathing.

"Shouldn't she have woken up by now?"

"I US-ED A LOW POW-ERED NEU-RAL DIS-RUP-TOR. IT SHO-ULD WE-AR OFF IN FOUR HUN-DRED RE-LS."

"In how long?"

"FI-VE OF YOUR MI-NU-TES."

"Oh."

They stood in silence for a few moments.

"Sec-san… can I ask you something?"

Dalek Sec turned to look at her, boring into her with an unyielding mechanical gaze.

"THAT IS DE-PEN-DENT ON THE QUES-TION." He said.

Madoka pressed her fingertips together. "I want to know… about this Walpurgisnacht."

"WAL-PUR-GIS-NACHT?"

"Homura told me that you and she were preparing for it, but she refused to tell me what it was…"

"HO-MU-RA A-KE-MI BE-LI-EVES THAT YOU SHOULD DIS-TANCE YOUR-SELF FROM A-NY-THING RE-LA-TED TO WAL-PUR-GIS-NACHT. I AM A-MA-ZED THAT SHE MEN-TION-ED IT TO YOU AT ALL." There was a tinny whine of something electronic inside the armor, "HO-WE-VER, I BE-LIEVE YOU ARE EN-TI-TLED TO KNOW. WAL-PUR-GIS-NACHT IS AN EX-TREME-LY PO-WER-FUL WITCH, CA-PA-BLE OF MA-NI-FES-TING WI-THOUT A BAR-RIER."

"Oh." A Witch…well, what else could a Magical girl be preparing for?

"How powerful?"

"IF LEFT UN-CHECK-ED, IT WILL RA-VAGE THE A-RE-A."

Madoka fell into a shocked silence. A witch, capable of wiping her town from the map…

- I'm not a hero. I stopped being one so long ago I cannot remember what it was like… –

"But…why does Homura wish to stop it? She doesn't look like the sort of person who would do such a thing…"

"BE-CAUSE THE AR-RI-VAL OF WAL-PUR-GIS-NACHT OFT-EN TRIG-GERS AN IN-CREASE IN THE NUM-BER OF PUE-LLA MA-GI IN THE TAR-GET A-RE-A."

"And she doesn't want anyone to share the fate of being a Magical girl…" It made sense, the appearance of such a monster would have girls making wishes left and right in desperation.

"And you?"

"I HA-VE MY REA-SONS."

Well… that didn't work…

They stood there in awkward silence, trees rustling in the cool night air.

"Aren't you worried? About fighting that thing?"

"DA-LEKS HA-VE NO CON-CEPT OF WOR-RY, TO FILL YO-UR MIND WITH WHAT MIGHT HAP-PEN IS AB-SURD. IN AD-DI-TION, I HA-VE FO-UGHT WO-RSE THI-NGS BE-FORE."

"Really?"

"YES. IT IS HA-RD TO FI-ND A FOE DAUN-TING AF-TER SER-VING IN THE DA-LEK AR-MY FOR TWO HUN-DRED AND FIF-TY THOU-SAND YE-ARS."

Madoka blinked.

What.

"You're how old?"

"TWO HUN-DRED AND FIF-TY THOU-SAND YE-ARS. WH-AT IS THE SOUR-CE OF YOUR CON-FU-SION? I E-VEN USED YO-UR AR-BI-TRA-RY MEA-SURE-MENT SYS-TEM!"

"No it's just…Isn't that a really long time?"

"YES, IT IS." Sec sounded quite…pleased with himself, for some reason.

"How do you cope with that? Living for such a long time?"

There was a soft electronic noise as the iris of Sec's electronic eye adjusted slightly.

"I DO NOT. I AM A SOL-DIER OF THE DA-LEK AR-MY, A LO-NG LIFE-SPAN IM-PLIES EX-PE-RIENCE AND A-BI-LI-TY TO SUR-VIVE. THERE IS NO-THING TO COPE WITH."

"Oh." Of course, an alien mind would think of living forever in an alien way. Apparently, Daleks thought of age as just a measure of experience.

That meant that what he said earlier was him trying to tell her that she shouldn't worry about Walpurgisnacht, because he had a lot of experience fighting… whatever Daleks were supposed to fight.

Madoka steered her thought process away, before she could begin to wonder just what a flying, alien, man sized tank would have two thousand and fifty years of experience fighting.

"Homura told me that Puella Magi didn't age, and I was worried about Sayaka." She sighed, "I was hoping that you could teach her how to cope with it. Fighting for eternity, I mean." A nervous smile crept into her lips, "But that won't work, right?"

"NE-GA-TIVE."

"I'm just afraid, that one day there'll be no one there for her. That everyone around her would grow old and leave her behind, while she goes on; living in solitude for ages, alone."

"Has that ever happened to you, Sec-san?"

Dalek Sec stared at her. His lack of facial features made whatever was in his mind unfathomable. He said nothing.

Suddenly, his head swiveled towards Sayaka, who had roused herself quite suddenly, gasping for air and looking around at the unfamiliar environment.

As Madoka sat down next to her friend and explained what had happened in her absence, she couldn't help but wonder why Sec hadn't answered her last question.

The apartment was, as far as the establishment knew, currently abandoned due to safety concerns and waiting for demolition, something which suited Kyouko just fine, thank you. With any luck, the demolition team would be very late, and she'd have plenty of time to find someplace else.

The place wasn't so bad. Plenty of space, and magic could do wonders in making places livable. A little bit of it, and she had water and electricity running without having to pay a yen.

Of course, the pain in her left shoulder and god-knows-how-many broken bones kinda dulled the small comforts.

Ow! Ow! Ow!

She kicked the door closed and collapsed in the futon lying in what should have been the living room.

What the fucking hell was that thing?

She'd managed to drag herself to her humble abode after that encounter, but only barely. Whatever the hell that was, she was not fucking with it again.

Ever.

Concentrating on her wounds, she sent silvers of magic into them. The pain diminished, but the bones healed slowly.

Grimacing, she applied more magic. The bones knitted together slightly faster, and she waited until the shoulder was reasonably healed before cutting off the process. Checking her Soul Gem, she found it predictably darkened, and drew off the sludge with a Grief Seed fished out of her pockets.

Now that her shoulder wasn't giving her more immediate trouble, she took stock of her situation.

Okay, on one hand, I'm still kicking; which is infinitely preferable to the alternative, because I don't have my excuses for Saint Peter ready yet.

On the other hand, I got myself a broken shoulder… She did a quick estimate in her head. …that's gonna be healed in a week if I push it, and in the meantime I'm going to burn through Grief Seeds like no tomorrow. And that's if Mr. I'm-gonna-kill-you-with-a-fucking-plunger doesn't come back to finish the job. I've also got myself some anime fan with a hero complex that's going to kill me for great justice the minute she gets a chance. And then there's that Puella Magi that Kyubey said he can't remember ever contracting, and if she's smart, she'll be knocking my door down any minute now.

Not bad at all, eh?

And now there's someone in my roo-

…Wait.

"Gah!" She transformed in a heartbeat, and summoned a spear in her good hand. The newcomer didn't even flinch, and Kyouko noticed that she had a gun in her hand, which hadn't been there a moment ago.

This wasn't good, for one thing, Kyouko was on the ground, and that gun could fire a lot faster than she could jab a spear. The girl could kill her without even getting a scratch in return.

She aimed the spear someplace else, "Peace?" she hopefully asked.

The other girl raised an eyebrow, before flicking the gun to point at the roof.

Kyouko lowered her spear –but didn't dismiss it- and sat up, wincing as unhealed wounds protested.

Now, she got a good look at the other girl. Long black hair, purple eyes, Puella Magi outfit…

Oh, this is just great.

"Relax, I'm not here to kill you." The other Puella Magi said, in a voice that didn't sound like she would care either way.

"Lucky me." Kyouko grumbled, "So what are you here for, then? We Puella Magi aren't the kind of people who invite each other for tea, eh?"

"I suppose not." The other girl tucked the pistol into a silver shield strapped to her arm, "I'm here to talk about the terms of your stay."

"And by "talk", you mean "do as I say or else". I'm not exactly in a position to argue about anything."

"Ah, yes. Dalek Sec was quite…descriptive in telling me what he did to you." The girl hadn't shifted her tone in the slightest. It was beginning to get slightly disturbing.

"Wait, you know that thing? Big, black pepper pot-shaped shouty robot with a plunger?" Maybe she should have gone to Tokyo; at least the Puella Magi gangs there didn't include murderous alien robots.

…Nah. I'd probably be a target for everyone in the entire city after the last time. Never saw all those gangs work together like that before.

"He's an ally, and a rather powerful one at that."

"You don't say. What the hell is that thing anyway?"

"He's a Dalek."

"And just what the hell is a "Dalek"? Is it a robot or something?"

The other girl went silent, her face an impassive mask. Kyouko quietly added her to the "People I don't want to fuck with" list. Anyone with that kind of poker face was not a harbinger of good things.

"I have no clue. I should ask him later."

"Yeah, you do that. Now, just what are these "terms" you were talking about?"

"Quite simple terms: you must train Miki Sayaka in being a Puella Magi, under the supervision of Dalek Sec. In return, Sec has agreed to refrain from killing you, and you'll also receive some Grief Seeds as payment."

"And if I say no?"

"You'll have twelve hours to leave." She checked a wristwatch, "You have five minutes to decide."

A little brusque, are we?

Kyouko thought about it. She'd had better deals than this one; the prospect of training a newbie with an inflated sense of heroism did not look particularly inviting.

On the other hand, the deal also promised Grief Seeds, and in her condition, she wasn't in any position to make a proper counterargument.

Well, she could always leave…

"How many Grief Seeds are talking about here?"

"Four, plus half of whatever Sayaka or Sec can obtain. I'll also give in a bit of information you'll find interesting."

She thought about it some more, and then made her decision.

"I'm in."

The other girl raised an eyebrow. "I was almost certain that you would refuse."

"Can't, every other territory's taken." She allowed herself to lie down, munching a Pocky from an open pack on the floor, "And my old place's gotten short on witches, no matter how many girls I chase off. So I'm in, as much as I hate it."

She left out that she was also a bit short on Grief Seeds. No need to sound that desperate.

"Now about that little bit of info you were saying…"

"Walpurgisnacht is coming. She'll be here in two weeks."

Huh… that certainly caught her attention.

"Walpurgisnacht? Queen of all witches that comes every hundred years?"

"Yes."

"Huh…" She took another Pocky out of the pack. "I'll have to think about that one."

"Do so. Sec will be meeting you tomorrow, at the music store." She turned to leave. "Please be punctual."

"You know, I never did get your name."

"Akemi Homura. And I already know yours, by the way."

And with that, she left, shutting the door behind her with a soft *click*.

Definitely not a people person. Heck, even the other Puella Magi I've known aren't like that. This Dalek Sec isn't hanging around her for her personality, that's for sure.

Now, how the hell am I supposed to get out of this mess?

"Kyouko, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

"Gah!"

Kyubey had seemingly materialized out of thin air and was sitting on the windowsill, red eyes looking at her intensely.

Oh, for crying out loud!

"Can't it wait? I mean, no offense, but I just got myself handed an offer I couldn't refuse, and it kinda fucked over my mood for talking with people."

"I apologize, but I must insist." Kyubey's tail twitched, "It is rather important."

Kyouko muttered a few choice words. The day just kept getting better and better…

"Okay, shoot."

Kings, Emperors, Presidents, Lords and Overlords.

Gods, beings that could destroy one universe after another…

They all obey Time.

To be beyond Time is to be of the Void, where nothing may exist, where infinite power is sucked dry.

"FA-SCI-NA-TING."

Sec reviewed the scans from the souls taken from the Grief Seeds, as well as measurements of Grief Seeds themselves.

The readings form the Grief Seeds were nearly identical, clearly due to mass production. The material was a mystery, but it seemed to be a processing unit, as well as some form of data storage. There were gaps in the information, places in the data that simply didn't make sense.

For example, how could witches create their barriers? There had to be some mechanism for the generation of a bubble universe, yet Sec could find any indication of one.

As for the Soul Gems, the superficial scan of Homura's own had concluded that the gem was a storage crystal, and not much else. Clearly the more complex mechanisms were held in the surrounding structure, which the Incubator recycled into the next Soul Gem.

Following that theory, it meant that every Soul Gem had once been a Grief seed, just like every Grief Seed was once a Soul Gem.

Here the theory moved into shaky ground. Familiars, born from witches, could separate themselves from them and become witches themselves, who also gave Grief Seeds on death…

But of course! That was how the Incubator produced new Soul Gems to add to the system: rather than produce new frameworks to replace lost units or fit an expanding population, the witches themselves would produce new frameworks, using devoured humans as raw materials (Just what those raw materials were stumped Sec. He didn't like being stumped.). The five people a familiar kills to become a witch must provide it with the energy needed to jump start the device, bringing forth a new witch, almost identical to the old one.

The Incubators, or their masters in this "Coalition", couldn't have made more than a few frameworks themselves, after that, the system would supply itself. There must have been two of them per region: one to give to a girl doomed to become the first witch, and a second, given after the original witch had produced enough familiars, to hunt those witches, and give the Incubators the materials needed to expand.

He inspected the sphere of an empty Grief Seed through the disembodied vision of a jury-rigged electron microscope. His casing's systems monitored the security feeds from the outside and the satellite imagery of Sayaka Miki's household, as well as the current location of Kyouko Sakura, where Homura Akemi was currently located. A small program monitored the incoming internet connection, searching for anything related to Puella Magi.

He wondered if the visual appearance of Soul Gems and Grief Seeds varied from region to region. Were they different in other parts of the world? How did the Incubators fit into the mythos of each area? Were the witches different?

This was his element. He may be the last Dalek, alone, shot by his own people and dropped into an alien universe, but as long as he had his laboratory, his research and his science, he didn't care.

He was about to order Jast to obtain a quantum circuit interface, when he remembered that Jast wasn't by his side, watching closely. Jast wasn't even in the same universe, and was most likely dead.

In fact, there wasn't anyone in the warehouse. Only him, and a mish-mash of electronics and computers to keep him company.

He was alone.

-Has that ever happened to you, Sec-san?-

Yes. It has.

He quickly banished that line of thought, shifting his focus into crafting as adequate a quantum circuit interface with what he had, what he could buy, and what he could fabricate.

He checked the surveillance feed, Homura would arrive in a matter of minutes. He readied the equipment necessary for making a quantum circuit interface, putting an online order for the missing material, sending an outraged letter to the companies that had failed to deliver, and settled down to wait.

He idly hovered towards the one computer which hadn't been cannibalized. He had done research into human media, most of which he didn't find interesting. There seemed to be a large amount of electronic games, with an emphasis on storytelling and graphics, none of which he could be bother with.

One, however, had caught his attention. It had none of the intricate graphics of the others, but was supposedly ludicrously complex, generating an entire world at random, populating it with unique inhabitants and keeping track of their health down to individual body parts, relationships, and history through long periods. Sec was actually intrigued by those claims, so he acquired it from the developer's website and installed it on the computer.

Having nothing better to do, he decided to try it out.

Opening research file: An investigation on human interactive media.

Loading entries 1-6 out of 69…

Attempt #1

I have successfully integrated the human computer's external interface to my systems and have and reviewed the games instructions.

I have selected an area with a difficulty worthy of a Dalek Supreme, chosen my supplies and am now in the process of-WHERE DID THAT LAVA COME FROM?

Attempt #2

This Fortress has been relocated into a colder climate. I am now in the process of digging a-SWIM YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR AN INTELLIGENT BEING! SWIM!

Attempt #3

WHERE DID THREE MILLION CATS COME FROM? HOW CAN THEY FIT INTO A CAGE! AND WHY DO THE HAVE THE SAME EFFECT AS A THERMOBARIC BOMB! EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN! EXPLAAAIIIINNNN!

Attempt #4

[UNINTELLIGIBLE SOUNDS OF INTENSE RAGE.]

Attempt #5

HOW CAN A CREATURE LIKE THAT EVEN EXIST, LET ALONE SLAUGHTER THESE INCOMPETENTS? WHY IS THERE NO FUNCTION TO EXECUTE MY MILITARY COMMANDERS? AND HOW CAN SOMEONE INGEST FOOD WHILE A MONSTER MADE OF FLAMING VOMIT IS TEARING THEM TO SHREDS! EXPLAAAAAAIIIIIIINN!

Attempt #6

Fortress has been successful, although the denizen's ability to ignore fire is disturbing. This is likely some sort of programing erro- NO! YOU ARE NOT THIRSTY! YOU DO NOT REQUIRE ALCOHOL! OBEY! OBEEEYYY!

Homura heard Dalek Sec long before she reached the warehouse; it was a sound of unending frustration and anger, long ago rendered incoherent and void of meaning.

She continued on her way, reaching the warehouse and giving a polite knock on the steel roll-up door. There was silence on the other end, before the curtain was rolled upwards by electric motors, revealing Dalek Sec, who was in the process of furiously shaking an old monitor.

Homura twitched an eyebrow at this odd display.

"What are you doing?"

Sec made a noise that spoke of unspeakable, horrific and strangely specific violence, before seemingly collecting itself and not-too-gently setting the monitor back on a table.

"I WAS DO-ING NO-THING. THIS DID NOT HAP-PEN."

An eyebrow was raised a millimeter; Homura wondered what this particular outburst had been about. Earlier in the day, she had walked in on Sec having a shouting match with someone on the phone over supposedly defective merchandise.

"…Kyouko has agreed to our terms, she'll be waiting at the park tomorrow." She entered the warehouse, careful not to step on any of the wiring strewn on the floor.

"I'm still surprised Madoka could convince you to keep her alive."

"SHE HAD A CON-VIN-CING AR-GU-MENT."

"I'm still not entirely certain this is a good idea… no matter, what have you discovered so far?"

"FA-SCI-NA-TING THI-NGS; FOR IN-STANCE, WERE YOU A-WARE THAT THE ME-TAL FRA-ME-WORK FOR A SO-UL GEM IS WHAT TRANS-FORMS INTO A GRIEF SE-ED?"

"Yes, but I do not see how this is relevant."

"IT ME-ANS THAT THE E-NE-MY IS RE-PURPOSING GRI-EF SE-EDS GI-VEN TO IT BY PUE-LLA MA-GI AS THE BA-SIS FOR MO-RE PUE-LLA MA-GI." Sec sounded oddly… excited as it said this. The alien made adjustments to some of the machinery surrounding it, "THIS IM-PLIES THAT A GRI-EF SE-ED CAN BE TRANS-FORMED IN-TO A SO-UL GEM, AND A WI-TCH CAN BE-COME A PUE-LLA MA-GI; WH-ICH IS EX-CE-LENT FOR MY PLAN."

Homura opened her mouth to protest, Kyubey had told her that turning a Witch back into a Puella Magi was impossible.

No, that wasn't what had happened. She had asked Kyubey if turning a Witch back into a Puella Magi could be done, not if a Witch could be turned into a different Puella Magi.

Homura had long ago learned to focus on the exact meaning of what Kyubey said, but she hadn't ever thought the Incubator would be doing the exact same thing.

"So, in theory, what you intend to do just went from "Impossible" to "extremely unlikely"."

"YES. THE-RE ARE STILL GA-PS IN THE IN-FOR-MA-TION… FOR EX-AM-PLE, WH-AT IS THIS MA-TE-RIAL MA-DE OF? IT KE-EPS CON-FU-SING MY REA-DINGS… THERE IS AL-SO NO IN-DI-CA-TION OF HOW A WITCH CAN PRO-DUCE A BU-BBLE U-NI-VERSE OR HOW E-MO-TION-AL E-NER-GY CAN BE CON-VER-TED INTO AN-TI-EN-TRO-PIC E-NER-GY…" Dalek Sec jammed his plunger into a makeshift interface, making a cable spark. "THIS EN-TI-TY YOU CALL A "SOUL"… I SHALL RE-QUIRE MORE DE-TAILED REA-DINGS TO E-VEN BE-GIN TO MAKE SEN-SE OF IT."

Homura shrugged. "I suppose magic wouldn't make much sense."

"I RE-FUSE TO GI-VE UP AND RE-DUCE MY-SELF TO U-SING "MA-GIC" AS AN EX-PLA-NA-TION FOR E-VERY-THING." Sec spat out. "THIS IS SCI-ENCE, WHERE A IS E-QUAL TO A, CA-USE HAS EF-FECT AND THI-NGS DO NOT HAP-PEN "BE-CAUSE SO". ONCE I HAVE DE-DU-CED THE FUN-CTIO-NING OF THIS TECH-NO-LO-GY…" Sec made a… disturbing sound, full of static and with a wavering pitch. "I HA-VE IN-TE-RES-TING AP-PLI-CA-TIONS IN MI-ND."

"…I see." Not for the last time, Homura wondered just what she had gotten herself into. "And did you find anything else remotely relevant to what you are planning to do?"

"I HAVE FO-UND A WAY TO CO-PY THE CON-TENTS OF THE CRYS-TAL IN SA-YA-KA MI-KI'S SOUL GEM. IT IS A SIM-PLE QUAN-TUM RE-PLI-CA-TION SCAN; IT AL-LOWS ME TO MAN-TAIN AN EX-ACT VIR-TUAL CO-PY OF AN OB-JECT, PL-US A-NY DA-TA IT MI-GHT CON-TAIN. I STI-LL RE-QUI-RE AN EX-CUSE TO PER-FORM THE SCAN-NING."

Homura nodded, this was good. "I think I can help you with that; Sayaka is not very powerful, she had very little potential at the time of her contract and her burnout rate is very fast. You could say that you wish to help her in that area and she'll happily agree with whatever you intend to do."

"CER-TAIN-LY."

Sec brought up a screen full of extremely intricate nonsense. "I MU-ST AD-MIT THAT THE LIFE-FORM THAT DE-SIGNED THIS SYS-TEM KNEW WHAT IT WAS DO-ING."

Homura unconsciously reached for a gun that wasn't there. Yet at least. "What, exactly, do you mean by that?"

"IT IS IN-CRE-DI-BLY STA-BLE, AND E-NER-GY IS GAIN-ED FROM DES-PAIR GE-NE-RA-TED IN MUL-TI-PLE STA-GES. IT IS AL-SO SELF-RE-GU-LA-TING: A-NY PUEL-LA MA-GI WHO DIS-CO-VERS HOW WIT-CHES ARE CRE-A-TED WILL EI-THER FALL INTO DES-PAIR, OR BE MA-NI-PU-LA-TED IN-TO SER-VING AS EN-FOR-CERS." Sec explained. "A-NY O-THER ME-THOD WO-ULD NOT HAVE BE-EN NEAR-LY AS STA-BLE."

"I see…" Homura brought her arm to her side, where her itchy trigger finger would cause fewer misunderstandings. "The revelation that Puella Magi are but monsters in training would be enough to drive the hope from anyone."

"PER-SO-NAL EX-PER-IENCE?"

"Yes, I've seen it myself. Despair is a death sentence to us."

"YET YOU ARE STI-LL HE-RE, EVEN THO-UGH YOU KNO-W WHAT YOU TRU-LY ARE."

Homura nodded, "Yes."

"THE-N WHY DO YOU CON-TI-NUE?"

"Because I refuse to fall into despair. I refuse to give up and let fate take its course. I have no idea wherever or not this may end this time, or in some distant future, but I'll follow it until the end, even if it takes me a million lifetimes to do so, even if I turn to dust at the end of the road. I promised myself I would protect Madoka from this fate, and until there is no doubt in the world that the Incubator can't touch her, that she'll live the life that has been denied to me, I'll uphold that promise." Homura breathed once, to squash her rising feelings underfoot, "Madoka saved me…and one day, I'll return the favor."

"YOU KE-EP YOUR-SELF GO-ING ON DE-TER-MI-NA-TION A-LONE?"

Homura nodded. There was silence from the dalek for a minute, before it spoke.

"HOW VE-RY… DA-LEK."

Homura pondered those words. Was that a compliment?

She internally shrugged, not truly caring.

There wasn't much to discuss afterwards, Sec had found an appropriate training ground –a bit of deserted space in the industrial sector that hadn't been repurposed as housing yet- and had forged a debit card he could use to withdraw money from a bank, to further bribe Kyouko into service. Homura had left him to his "research" and headed back home, but not before sweeping the area around Madoka's house free of Incubator bodies.

She arrived at her large apartment, and entered her bedroom to prepare some more explosives. There was a time where she would be sweating bullets at the mere thought of the activity, but by now she had become knowledgeable enough in this to afford to let her mind wonder.

Dalek Sec was progressing in his plans as scheduled, and she had already raided the JSDF for the necessary equipment. Mortars, rocket launchers, that decommissioned American warship, mines, claymores, C4…

It was a good thing that her shield allowed her to carry all that stuff undetected; otherwise several hundred court orders would be knocking her door down. She still remembered that one time a police officer had caught her in the act of killing one of the Incubator's bodies. Not particularly pleasant, that.

She poured the mixture into pipes she had made ready earlier, and screwed them shut. It would harden overnight, and be ready to use in the morning.

She stored the pipes in the cupboard (the cookies there having long ago disappeared), and headed over to her computer, firing up her usual information sources. She checked the time, and saw that it was quite late.

She let herself feel the state of her body, and frowned. It seemed to be exhausted.

Sighing, she shut down her computer and headed off to bed, clothes and all. She could straighten the wrinkles with a minimum amount of magic in the morning.

Disconnecting herself from her sleeping body, she kept on thinking, pouring over what she had learned of Walpurgisnacht so far. It wasn't much, so she quickly steered her mind elsewhere.

Kyouko's earlier question came back, unbidden. Just what was Dalek Sec anyways? The metallic appearance pointed towards him being something mechanical in nature, but Homura had doubts that a machine could be as… emotionally unstable as Sec.

Perhaps it was a suit? And if so, a suit for what exactly? Sec wasn't much taller than her, so whatever inhabited that shell couldn't be very large…

She had to ask Sec later, most likely tomorrow. Her body was consuming resources slightly faster than usual, must likely due to her still-healing injuries.

She really had to see Sayaka about those burns.

Time can be manipulated.

It can be tweaked, It can be pushed and prodded.

But to truly control Time.

You must understand Time.

*Vworp!*

*Vworp!*

*Vworp!*

*Thunk!*

*Creeeaaak…*

"Aha! Now we're getting closer! Vladivostok, February 2, 2011, just a few more tries, and I'll get us smack on!"

Neither Amy nor Rory looked particularly comforted. They stayed just inside the TARDIS, where it wasn't freezing.

"Doctor, that's what you said last time. And last time we ended up in England before people got there!"

"Hey! It's not my fault the Time Vortex isn't being very cooperative!"

The Time Lord strode forwards, thinking, "It's almost as if there was a temporal flux zone stretching out across the universe, stiffening the time stream and making time travel almost impossible," he raised a finger, "And there are also these weird spatial distortions dotted about. In fact…" he whipped out his sonic screwdriver, scanning the general area, "There's one around here!" He hurried off, barely pausing to call out to them, "Have a look around and if either of you bump into spatial anomalies, call me!"

With that, the eccentric Lord of Time rounded the corner, before doubling back and re-entering the TARDIS, in search of warmer clothes.

Unbeknown to them, a little girl no more than fourteen years old watched them from the roof of a blocky apartment complex. Her name was Zoya, and she was clad in clothes too large for her size, an old jacket and patched knee-length skirt over mismatched tights and blouses stacked one on top of the other. She wore a silver ring with an incrusted orange gem on her ungloved hand. Dirty orange hair fell to her shoulders, and a wool cap sat on her head.

She had seen the blue box appear out of thin air with an eerie noise, and the three strangers it contained. Should she tell the Giver about them?

Maybe, but instead of seeking out the white furry creature, she decided to investigate on her own. As Puella Magi of this tiny patch of land in the city, she felt compelled to do so.

And as the child she was, she was curious about these strangers.

She raced down the steps of the apartment complex, and plodded behind the couple –the tall crazy man had long disappeared- keeping a respectable distance.

Who were they? She wondered.

"You don't have to follow me everywhere!"

"YES, I DO."

"Seriously, I can take care of myself!"

"YOU ARE NOT CON-VIN-CING ME."

Sayaka growled, trying and failing to ignore the self-proclaimed "Imperialistic Space Nazi" standing mere inches behind her as she tried picking out a disk to give to Kyousuke. She silently cursed Madoka for talking her into this, and nearly cursed Dalek Sec out loud for not having any concept of subtlety.

She felt a presence just over her shoulder.

"Can't I get a little privacy!" she hissed.

"DA-LEKS HA-VE NO CON-CEPT OF PRI-VA-CY." It screeched.

She delivered a sharp kick to the alien's armor behind her. "What about personal space?"

"DA-LEKS HA-VE NO CON-CEPT OF PER-SO-NAL SPACE."

"Or how about decency? You can't just walk…float…trundle into the girl's bathroom! That's just perverted!" she hissed, recalling an incident earlier in the day.

"YES I CAN. DA-LEKS HAVE NO GEN-DER, THERE-FORE, I VIOLATED NO-NE OF YOUR AR-BI-TRA-RY RU-LES." Sayaka plugged her ears with her fingers, which did absolutely nothing to dampen the ridiculously loud voice behind her, "AND I FI-ND THE CON-CEPT OF HU-MANS BE-ING AT-TRAC-TIVE TO ME AS A-LI-EN AS THIS THI-NG CAL-LED KA-RE-O-KE. I HA-VE RE-SEAR-CHED A-ROUN-D FIF-TY THOU-SAND KI-LO-RELS WO-RTH OF MA-TE-RIAL, AND IT STI-LL MA-KES NO SE-NSE…"

Sayaka, through a monstrous effort of will, ignored the alien behind her. Privately, she was stumped at how bizarre a turn her life had taken. First, it turned out that Magical Girls existed; that they fought freaky abominations called Witches and that one of her classmates was one. Then the mysterious exchange student turned out to also be a magical girl. Then an alien shows up and, surprise! The magical girl exchange student knows… it.

And yesterday, Madoka had told her that she was worried about her safety (-I'm a Magical Girl! I think I can handle myself!-) so she and Sec had arranged for someone to teach her the ropes.

And then her friend told her who would be her teacher…

In the end, Madoka had convinced her that she needed lessons from the redhead –Kyouko-, if only so that she could learn her ill-gotten skills and use them for good for a change. At first she had demanded some other teacher, but had quickly shut up when she realized the only other Puella Magi around was Homura Akemi.

So now here she was, a Magical Girl straight out of a Manga, with a space alien escorting her as if she were a two-year-old, and off to be taking lessons from a lazy, selfish, two-bit prick of a Magical Girl.

"…AND TH-AT IS NO-THING COM-PARE-D TO O-THER ME-DI-A ON YO-UR IN-TER-NET, WHI-CH MA-KES BLO-CK TRANS-FER E-QUA-TIONS LO-OK PER-FECT-LY RA-TIO-NAL BY COM-PA-RI-SON…"

"Could you just shut up? Or at least speak softly?"

"I AM SPEAK-ING SOFT-LY."

Sayaka resisted the urge to forcibly join her forehead with the rack in front of her.

"Do you have anything else to be doing besides standing three inches behind me?"

"AF-FIR-MA-TIVE." she heard the whine of Sec's head turning to look somewhere else. "I SHAL GO GA-THER RE-SEARCH MA-TE-RIAL. WAIT HE-RE." A few moments later she heard it hover away, to look at the movie section of the store.

She sighed in relief. Seriously, why did the alien have to be so insistent on keeping close to her? It wasn't as if she would drop dead the moment it looked away.

She flipped through the music disks, wondering what she should bring for Kyousuke; perhaps something with more violins in it, to celebrate that he could play like that again?

Decisions, decisions…

Something caught her eye, a reflexion on one of the disks. Something red…

"Hello Kyouko."

"…Dammit, how did you know I was there?"

Sayaka allowed herself a smirk as she turned around to face the redhead, who munched on a Pocky. For a moment, they stood there, trying not to glare at each other. It was Kyouko who broke the silence.

"So… music, eh? Didn't think you were the musical type."

More awkward silence followed that statement. Kyouko sighed.

"Look, I'm gonna be honest: I don't want to do this, I don't particularly like you and I'm pretty sure you don't like me either. The only reason I'm doing this is because I'm getting something out of it, so don't be thinking anything else."

Sayaka scoffed. "Let me guess, Grief Seeds." She spat telepathically.

"Yup. That, the territory and a guarantee from that alien robot of yours that he won't kill me as long as I train you." Kyouko shrugged. "I've walked into worse deals."

Sayaka crossed her arms, "So what, you're going to teach me how to let people die horribly so I can farm familiars?"

"Hey! Say what you like, but it works!"

"At the cost of what, five, ten people?"

"Have you seen the sort of people who usually fall into a familiar's barrier? They're all terminally depressed fuckers!" Kyouko rolled her eyes. "Not to sound like an asshole, but people who get killed by familiars were about three seconds away from doing the honours."

Sayaka was having a very hard time pretending to be looking one of the disks over. "Why am I having trouble believing you?"

"Listen, one of these days, I'm gonna show you. It goes like this: Normal Mc Normal-san goes into barrier, shrugs it off, and gets some coffee. Tickle-me-Emo enters into barrier, goes "Waaah!", beats himself half to death and gets 'nommed by Familiar. "

"That doesn't mean you have to sit there while they all die!"

"Then what am I supposed to do? Give them popcorn?"

"You could save them, for example!"

"Did you not hear a word I said? The people who get killed by familiars were the sort of people who were five fucking seconds away from doing it themselves! "

"That doesn't mean they can't be saved!"

"Yes! It does!"

They would have continued their silent argument, if they hadn't been rudely interrupted by the sound of the shopkeeper having an argument with Dalek Sec.

Although to call it an argument would fail to do it any justice. "Verbal mugging" came closer.

"THE WEB-SITE IN-FORM-ED ME THAT THE-RE WAS A DISCOUNT ON THE DA-YS DE-SIG-NA-TED AS SA-TUR-DAYS! HOW CAN IT BE VO-ID, IF IT IS A SA-TUR-DAY! EX-PLAIN!"

"Uh…sir, that offer ended three days ago-"

"THAT IS NO EX-CUSE! I SAW NO MEN-TION OF SUCH A THING ANY-WHERE!"

"It was on the window-"

"THAT IS HARD-LY AN EF-FI-CIENT MEANS OF CO-MU-NI-CA-TION! WHY HAVE YOU NOT BEEN EX-E-CU-TED FOR IN-COM-PE-TENCE YET!"

"…Manager? Could you come here for a moment?"

Kyouko and Sayaka watched in mild bemusement as the manager, a rather fiery-looking woman with purple hair came into the scene to have a shouting match with the Dalek.

"Serously, what the hell is that thing?"

Sayaka shrugged. "I have no idea."

"I'm starting to think it's a robot."

"I don't think robots are supposed to be that emotional."

Kyouko shrugged. "Maybe its brain got stuck on "Always Angry, All the Time"?"

Sayaka suppressed a snicker. "Or maybe it's "Always Shouting, All the time"?"

The redhead gave a smirk at that.

Eventually, something resembling a deal was made between Sec and the irate woman, and the Dalek trundled over to where they were.

"I SHALL DI-RECT YOU TO-WARDS THE TRAIN-ING GRO-UNDS. FOL-LOW ME."

They left the store, following the shiny black metal alien through the streets, towards the industrial sector.

"Let's just get this over with."

Sayaka pressed her lips into a thin line.

"Let's."

And to truly understand Time.

You must BECOME Time.

{The 108841681st meeting of the Coalition will come to order, all present and accounted for.}

/First item on agenda is current progress on Entropic Delay Project. Data confirms that all Emotion Inductor Units have performed according to calculations. We predict that we will have reached our target 7.487958 time units ahead of schedule/

Conditions met. Production is Doubleplusgood. MinEng reports Doubleplusgood params. EstTim to completion is Doubleplusunlate.

{Pur own units are performing according to the General Schedule. We estimate that four planets will complete their quota before the next meeting. The first item has been discussed; the second is current expansion projects. The People will now speak.}

MinEng plans Liberation of 47 NewSpeci. 5LiberSpeci await VolunProg initiation.

/Fleets have completed conversion of 48 planets, and EIU construction has been completed on 38. Current expansion projects are analysing 45 other planets for viability./

{We have located 50 worlds of optimal development stage, Incubation sub processes have commenced cultural steering on 40, and the 10 planets have commenced energy production. We are also evaluating a new energy source, but our research has been inconclusive.}

/So has our own. Data transmission has arrived: current energy quota is ready to be transmitted to the Entropic Delay Propagator./

EngTrans stats ready.

{Transmitor Sub process reports ready. Begin sequence on mark.}

{Mark.}

/Excellent. Meeting concluded, we are severing Data Stream./

CommArr unactivating.

{Logging meeting, confirming communications severance... Confirmed.}

{All is progressing according to the General Schedule. Preparing for next meeting...}

"Cyber-Ambassador 2658 reporting, meeting concluded with Coalition allies."

"Optimal. Has there been data from World 20054879612483?"

"Yes, anomalous readings have been detected, as per the Stratagem written by the Cyber-Planner."

The CyberController flexed its hand, the armoured limb clenching into a fist. Within this room in the Cyber-World, no two members of the Cyber-Race were from the same species, yet their appearance was nearly identical.

A cold light shone from its eyes as it spoke, voice booming with electronic authority.

"Excellent. Advance Cyber-Fleets 45 through 98758 to their designated positions. Proceed as planned, and ready the next Coalition report within 21510 time units."

"Cyber-Ambassador 2254, contact Species 4454. Give them data packet 4474."

"By your Command."

The ship hung in space, the globe of a dead planet looming before it. Not that its occupants would notice, their own concept of beauty and elegance quite different from that of others.

Besides, Dalek Killcruisers had no windows. They were considered a waste of space better used to accommodate weaponry or armor.

A distress signal had come from the planet, from one of their own, it seemed. The Strategist castes had no record of any of their ships being sent here, so the presence of the signal had been treated with extreme caution. An entire section of Drones had been sent to the planet, just in case.

The army was more than a match for any ambush. This was why the section leader was confused when their signals inexplicably went dead. A few scouts were sent to figure out to investigate, only for them to vanish as well.

Orbital bombardment was about to commence when the ship's transmat activated. The Killcruiser captain ordered a task force of Drones to the room, the ID verification notwithstanding.

The Transmat pad crackled, a silhouette forming into the familiar shape of a Dalek. As details emerged, the drones present began to see differences. For starters, the casing was much shorter than themselves, and the individual body parts, while recognizable, were either the wrong shape or the wrong size. The casing's color, a gunmetal grey with gold details, was not correspondent with that of any caste.

If anything, it resembled the inferior models that had been destroyed in the resurrection of their race.

Knowing their job, the drones prepared to fire. They never got the chance.

In an instant, the inferior Dalek propelled itself forwards, gunstick spitting fire. It struck two drones, and the cutting beam of an assault claw, pilfered from its own dead troops, cut through the casing of a third. Grasping the dead Drone with its claw, the inferior model swung it around, using it to shield itself from the remaining Drones as multimodal death rays exchanged fire.

Releasing its impromptu shield, the inferior Dalek burst from behind it, dodging fire as it killed another three drones and bisected two others.

Soon the Transmat room was filled with the wreckage of the red Drones. The not-so-inferior Dalek exited, and proceeded to kill the remaining crewmembers. It was all over in a matter of minutes.

Its job done, the Dalek entered the bridge. These so-called Daleks were a disgrace; their supposedly superior technology could not have hoped to match the might of a true Dalek.

It reviewed its current state. Its current assets consisted of a single Killcruiser full of wreckage, an assault claw, and itself. If the data it was reviewing was correct, then the enemy was composed of ninety six fleets of around forty Killcruisers each, and close to four hundred million troops.

The Dalek Inquisitor General was pleased. It liked those odds.

The ship disappeared into the Time Corridor, off to carry the Devil made Dalek to where it wished to cause terror next.

TEEHEEHEEHYAHAHAHHAHA!