Machinations of a Madman
Title: Machinations of a Madman
Characters: Six, Peri (Six/Peri if you want), Davros
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,332
A/N: Written for miss_s_b for the sixathon. She requested a Six/Davros mindswap. I hope this will suffice!
There was no decision to be made. Either submit, or watch his friend suffer the consequences. The Doctor wasn’t about to let that happen. The thought of just sitting by and allowing a megalomaniac take over Peri’s mind was horrifying, in the least. Peri’s human mind would likely not survive the transfer, and she would be lost forever. Perhaps the worst kind of death, your mind gone, but your body is used to further the machinations of a madman. The Doctor couldn’t even fathom such a thing.
“Very well, Davros,” he said, crossing to the table. Peri stared at him, her eyes betraying her emotions. The Doctor recognized them all; he shared them. Fear. Worry. However, the Doctor knew he had to keep Davros talking. Just a few extra minutes before the procedure would give him some extra time to formulate a plan. At the moment he had nothing. He sat on the edge of the table and laid back. He turned his head to face Peri, flanked by two men with laser pistols, and then he felt the electrodes being applied to his head by two young ladies. “Tell me, why set a trap for me? Surely another genius would do?” It was a bluff, and the Doctor knew it. He couldn’t let anyone be possessed like this, not if he could stop it.
“Oh, the trap wasn’t set for you, specifically. You just happened to fall into it. How convenient for me.” Davros sat in his chair, electrodes already in place on his head and neck.
The Doctor continued stalling. “Why spend all your research time on transferring your mind to another body when you could equally spend your time finding a cure for your condition?”
“Why should I, when there are perfect ones already out there, just waiting for the taking?” His voice was low and menacing. “I grow impatient. Activate!” he shouted.
Peri stared in horror at the Doctor’s body as it began to convulse with the power surging through it. She closed her eyes, not wanting to watch.
???
He wasn’t sure what caused him to wake, either the light or the booming voice in his ear. Either way, he wanted it to stop.
“Ah, you’re finally awake.” Davros was standing over the Doctor, smiling down at him, menace on his face.
Many things occurred to the Doctor simultaneously. His voice certainly did carry, he was a very tall and handsome man, and while he loved his coat, he was beginning to see why some people complained. None of that mattered at the moment. Only getting his body back. And keeping the TARDIS out of Davros’ hands. And saving Peri. “So, now you’ve got legs. What do you intend to do with them?”
“Oh, Doctor, I have so many things planned. I must rebuild my Daleks. I shall make them even stronger and more powerful! They shall rule the universe!”
“Must you shout?”
“Don’t like the sound of your own voice?” Davros teased.
“Nonsense. It is a fine voice. Strong and clear. There’s simply no need to shout with a voice like that. I’ve had plenty of practice.”
“Ah, but I have not. I am quite enjoying this.” Davros looked down at his new body. “I believe a change in attire is first. Then I must begin. I’m afraid I won’t be here to keep you company, Doctor. I have more important things to do than to watch you descend into madness.” Davros left the room, his legs a little shaky, but his stride determined.
???
After only a few hours, Peri was beginning to go stir crazy. She had enjoyed the quiet and rest at first, but after a while she grew impatient. She had access to the computer, and had found a few books, but she grew tired of them quickly. Peri found it difficult to focus on the plot. At least her cell was nice. Unused quarters in a disused section of the bunker. Comfortable, but sterile. By the end of her first day, she was very anxious to get out. Peri had thought that the Doctor had a plan. He always did. But now it suddenly occurred to her that while he may have a plan, he might not have the ability to carry it out. The fact that it took her all day to realize this made her angry with herself.
Sitting back down at the computer, she decided the best thing was to familiarize herself with the bunker. Many of the files were locked, but she could at least get a map of the east residential wing (not much help, since she wasn't allowed from her “cell”) and a list of the crew. According to the computer, the bunker was built in the 31st century during a war that Earth had fought with a neighboring system. When the treaty was signed, the bunker was turned into a research station and used by scientists of both races. At the moment, it was staffed by seven neurobiologists, four astrophysicists, two geologists, a xenobiologist, and a hand full of philosophers. So, Peri didn’t have a chance at going up against them intellectually, and she knew that. But she also knew that after traveling with the Doctor, she was fit and strong. She could run, at least. She wasn’t sure what just running would accomplish, but it was at least a start.
???
After only two days, the Doctor was beginning to see how Davros became so twisted. Boredom. Sitting in this chair was tedious at best. It was easy to see how a brilliant mind could become so warped. The Doctor felt pity for Davros, but it was short-lived. The universe was littered with people who were limited physically, who went on to do amazing things. Now it was up to the Doctor to do something amazing.
Truthfully, the only thing available to him was his thoughts, which was bad news for Davros. The Doctor was infinitely more intelligent than he, and he knew it. Fortunately Davros did not. The Doctor had already found the syringe used on the residents of the bunker, although syringe wasn’t the best description for the palm-sized triangular object. It didn’t deliver a liquid drug, rather an electrical impulse. It would make the subject compliant and subservient. “I wonder if I can reverse the polarity,” muttered the Doctor from his chair.
Davros knew well enough that in that state, the Doctor wasn’t a terrible threat. Stealth was simply not possible. Davros permitted the Doctor to have free reign in the west residential wing of the bunker, another miss-step on his part. It took only a few hours for the Doctor to modify the signal in the electronic syringe. Instead of making the subject compliant, the electrical impulses would stretch across the neurons and restore the connections it originally destroyed. Simple enough engineering, really, marred only by the Doctor’s use of only one hand. Once corrected, the Doctor was quickly able to find his first subject and test his changes.
???
A full day had passed, at least according to the computer a full Earth day had passed. Either way, Peri was ready to at least run. Whenever she got the door open. It hadn’t opened since she was escorted here two days earlier. All of the digging and research on the computer still hadn’t given her a clue as to how to open the door. It was an automatic door with an environmental seal in case the bunker was breached. It meant that once sealed, it couldn’t be opened from the inside as a safety measure. Not until the corridor outside was pressurized. Which was why it came as a shock to Peri when she heard the soft woosh of air flow and the door suddenly slid open.
Peri jumped up at the person entering the room. She stopped herself calling out to her friend, the name stuck in her throat. The clothes were dark and severe. The movements smooth, the eyes malevolent. Peri shrank back from the man she recognized as her friend, but not her friend.
“My child,” he purred. “I am so sorry to have left you here all alone for so very long. I haven’t been a very attentive host.” Davros was slowly approaching Peri, his eyes gleaming.
“Oh … well, um, that’s fine. I … I haven’t needed anything. I, I, I’m okay.” Peri had faced all kinds of evil and danger in her travels with the Doctor. She had been afraid before. But nothing scared her like this. She had only felt frightened like this once before. And it was a memory that she had tried very hard to forget.
“Do I frighten you?” he asked. His voice was soft, but menacing.
“N-… No.” Peri lifted her chin, trying to look defiant. The tremble in her voice gave her away.
Davros had crossed the room and sat next to Peri on the sofa. “I don’t wish to harm you, my child. You have no reason to be frightened.”
Peri had seen that look before, on numerous men. She knew the gleam in their eyes. She hated it. “Don’t I? You’ve killed my best friend!”
“Nonsense. He’s alive and …. Well, he’s not exactly well. I should know. But he’s alive. I would let you see him, but I really couldn’t allow that.”
Peri did not like how close Davros was sitting and slid away. It was disconcerting to be that close to someone you cared so much about, only it not be them. He might look the same, but the movement, the clothes, even the smell were different. His voice didn’t even have the same timbre. “Just go away. Leave me alone.”
Davros looked at her, a grin creeping its way up his face. “You feel affection for the Doctor.”
“He’s my friend,” she whimpered.
Sliding closer to Peri, Davros whispered, “Given time, I’m sure you’ll find the same to be true of me.” He raised his hand and tucked Peri’s hair behind her ear.
Peri jumped up like she had been electrocuted. “Get away from me, you creep!”
Davros sat back in the sofa, looking like the cat that got the cream. “Do you know how long I was in that chair? Years. Decades. To walk, to taste real food, so many things I have missed. Physical contact.”
Peri shuddered.
“Yes, my child. You may recoil now, but after a few years, locked away here, you too will begin to desire … affection.”
Peri glared at him. “The Doctor won’t let you get away with this!”
Davros stood up and walked to the door. “My child, he already has.” The door hissed closed behind him, and Peri heard the rush of air when the room was again sealed.
Falling to the floor, Peri began to sob.
???
The Doctor’s first test subject turned out to be the lone xenobiologist in the bunker. Quite a stroke of luck, really. It seemed that Davros had all the scientists working in a laboratory, trying to develop a cure for the Movellan virus. They were also trying to mutate it so it would attack only those Daleks that were not loyal to Davros. The mutation was trickier, but Davros believed it was possible.
Davros was not in the laboratory at the time, and the Doctor was having a good snoop around while everyone else continued their work, lest Davros catch on to the plan. He would have to be sedated, and then their minds switched back. The sedation would be easy. The Doctor spent a good amount of time with the xenobiologist going over his anatomy and the best way to sedate him. Time Lord physiology was tricky, and many sedatives that worked on humans, a Time Lord would simply metabolize. With the sedative was created, it was up to someone to administer it.
???
With a hiss, the door of her cell slid open, and Peri jumped up, ready to run from whomever it might be. The person she saw made her take three steps before she stopped.
“Doctor?”
“Quickly, I don’t have much time. I need you to get this into his food.”
“What?”
“It’s a sedative. According to the scientists, he’s been visiting you. I’ve heard that he plans on inviting you to eat. Please, Peri. It’s my only chance of getting my body back!”
Peri closed her eyes at the thought of yet another visit from Davros. His advances were becoming difficult to fight off. At his last visit he became physical, and she didn’t want anything more to do with him. He hadn’t forced himself on her, but he had grabbed her. Peri sighed.
“Peri, I’m sorry. But I need you to do this for me.”
“Alright, Doctor.” She took the vial from his outstretched hand, and he quickly turned his chair and left the room. Peri looked at her hand as the door slid closed. Getting close enough to his food would mean getting close to him. Or, at the very least, pretending to give in to his advances and doting on him.
It actually proved more difficult getting the sedative into his food than Peri imagined. Plying him with drink, however, was easy, and Peri just hoped that the sedative was flavorless. Two minutes later, Davros was snoring, his face in his plate.
???
Back in the TARDIS, Peri leaned against the console waiting on the Doctor. When he entered, he was carrying his clothes, but still hadn’t changed out of the black suit that Davros wore. He closed the doors and began flipping switches and pressing buttons. The time rotor began to rise, and Peri let out a sigh.
“Penny for your thoughts?” said the Doctor, not looking up from the console.
“Just glad to be away from there,” Peri replied. After a moment, she spoke again. “Doctor?”
“Mmm?”
“Will you please go change into your normal clothes?”
The Doctor looked up at her and began to laugh.