Rising From The Ashes (Book Five of the Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Victory of the Daleks

Jessie stepped outside of the TARDIS and raised her eyebrows at the rifles pointed in her face. "Hey," she complained. "Point those things somewhere else!"

There was a chuckle behind the men, and Winston Churchill stepped forward. "You never change," he remarked.

"You're sure?" Jessie looked down at herself.

The Doctor smiled as he stepped out next with Amy behind him. "Amy? Winston Churchill."

"Doctor," Churchill smiled. "Is it you?"

"Oh, Winston, my old friend," the Doctor smiled, but shook his head fondly when Churchill held out a hand expectantly. "Ah. Every time."

"What's he after?" Amy asked.

"TARDIS key, of course."

"Think of what I could achieve with your remarkable machine, Doctor," Churchill coaxed. "The lives that could be saved!"

"Ah, doesn't work like that."

"Must I take it by force?"

The Doctor smirked. "I'd like to see you try," he winked, putting an arm around Jessie's shoulders.

Apparently Churchill didn't like his odds against the woman, because he ordered, "At ease."

"You rang?" the Doctor smirked.

***

"So you've changed your faces again," Churchill said as they walked down the corridors.

"Yeah, well, had a bit of work done," the Doctor nodded.

"Got it, got it, got it," Amy grinned. "Cabinet War Rooms, right?"

"Yep," the Doctor nodded. "Top secret heart of the War Office, right under London."

"You're late, by the way," Churchill added.

"Requisitions, sir," a woman told Churchill, handing him something.

"Excellent."

The Doctor blinked. "Late?"

"I rang you a month ago."

"See?" Jessie whispered to Amy, who giggled. "'S not the first time."

"Really?" the Doctor asked, surprised. "Sorry, sorry. It's a Type 40 TARDIS. It's . . . I'm just running her in."

"So you've been running her in for how long, now?" Jessie teased.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Fine," he grumbled. "I'm late. Happy?"

"Something the matter, Breen?" Churchill asked the woman curiously. "You look a little down in the dumps."

"No, sir," she answered quickly. Too quickly. "Fine, sir."

"Action this day, Breen. Action this day."

"Yes, sir."

"Excuse me, sir," a man said as he walked up. "Got another formation coming in, Prime Minister. Stukas, by the look of them."

"We shall go up top then, Group Captain," Churchill nodded. "We'll give them what for. Coming, Doctor, Bad Wolf?"

"Why?" the Doctor asked as they entered the elevator.

"I have something to show you." He activated the elevator, and they started heading up. "We stand at a crossroads, Doctor, quite alone, with our backs to the wall. Invasion is expected daily. So I will grasp with both hands anything that will give us an advantage over the Nazi menace."