Chapter Text
Rusty immediately recoiled as its casing opened, the air being a sudden shock to its body after so many decades inside the casing. Unaccustomed to not seeing through the eye stalk Rusty shut its eye in pain from the brightness of the room, blinking rapidly as slowly adapted to the situation with his vision returning just in time to see two robomen leaving the room. While Rusty didn't find it surprising to see the slaves of the Daleks, it was surprising for Rusty to still be alive if the Daleks are the ones responsible for it's capture. While they might have been interested in finding out what caused Rusty to turn against them the likelihood of the Daleks actually investigating it were really low, at around seventeen percent from a brief calculation of the odds, meaning that someone else was responsible for its capture and was in control of robomen.
"You may be in wondering why your armour is still not functioning. The reason is that this room, in fact this entire complex despite how obsolete it is, is keeping your armour's main power source from self charging." said a voice Rusty has never heard before but is familiar to all Daleks throughout the universe. "I am rather partial to staying alive and I felt that given your history you were likely to treat me the same as all those Daleks you killed."
Davros moved in front of Rusty, emerging out of the shadows of the room to observe Rusty with what the Dalek believed was fascination. He stopped right in front of it and peered intently at his creation, smiling a little as he did before fiddling with some buttons on his control panel. Rusty could hear machines moves above it but it was unable to see anything from this angle and so instead it focused on Davros.
"I have some questions that I need answering. I was hoping you could answer them." Davros told Rusty, the latter not bothering to speak as it tried to understand what the creator wanted. "First of all, do you have a name?"
There was a stillness in the air as Davros awaited the Dalek's answer, the last Kaled not getting angry despite how long it took for Rusty to decide that not answering Davros would be the worst of two bad options.
"I AM RUSTY."
"Odd choice for a name. Or did someone else give you it?"
"THE DOCTOR NAMED ME."
"Of course, the Doctor. Of course this was his doing." Davros muttered in a tone as if that answered everything. "What did he do to you Rusty, how did he change you into what you are?"
Rusty hesitated, not certain why Davros would want that information but still able to make a few guesses which was why it was reluctant to answer, however that was quickly proven to be mistake as Davros pressed a button. Suddenly several robotic arms appeared and pulled Rusty out of its casing. Rusty's synthetic screams were deafening but not ending despite being held up by the arms as the wires connecting Rusty to the voice box was extended. When Rusty was no longer moving it stopped screaming, looking around wildly as it saw the torture devices surrounding it.
"It would be much easier if you just answer my questions. You are going to die but your pain doesn't have to last long if you just admit defeat."
"A DALEK DOESN'T SURRENDER!"
"So that hasn't been affected by the mutation, that's interesting. Now answer the question."
"I WAS DAMAGED. I SAW THE BIRTH OF A STAR, SAW THE FUTILITY OF THE DALEKS GOAL."
"Futility? What do you mean by futility?" Davros questioned, a tone in his voice that made Rusty even more aware of the danger it was in. "The extermination of all life that's not Dalek is as inevitable as it is glorious."
"YOU ARE WRONG."
That proved to be the wrong thing to say as Davros fiddled with buttons and a shock of electricity shot through Rusty's body, while the metal arms tightened their already painful grip on it's body. It was only for less than a minute but it gave Rusty more of an idea about what awaited it until it finally died, while Davros spoke again.
"Moving on, you said you were damaged which is presumably why a star of all things somehow made you this emotional. Is that why you are the way you are?"
"ONLY AT FIRST. THE DOCTOR FIXED THE DAMAGE AND RESTORED MY PROGRAMMING TO KILL ALL NON DALEK LIFE. TO STOP ME HE SHARED HIS HATRED."
"Hatred? Of what exactly?"
"THE DALEKS. HE SHARED HIS DIVINE HATRED OF YOU AND YOUR CREATIONS, AND NOW I WILL EXTERMINATE ALL THE DALEKS!" Rusty yelled furiously, momentarily forgetting that it wasn't able to fire its weapon.
"So you still have the natural hatred of a true Dalek, which again is interesting. You're a fascinating study Rusty, as normally no matter what biological mutation a Dalek might experience the instincts I engineered you with always survive. As far as I can tell you haven't changed at all on a biological level only at a psychological one. I have never met a mutant like you."
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
"To understand what happened to you, what drives you and how to make sure it never happens again. I'm sure you are aware the Daleks and I are at a crossroads again and I believe eliminating you will be a good step in earning their trust. But I feel like exploring what makes you different, simply as a scientist that is, before I dispose you. Now tell me about this human you travel with."
Rusty didn't say anything and it refused to say anything even as the mechanical arms proceeded to cut into him, even as it was electrocuted, or even when its skin was burned. For anyone else time would probably have lost all meaning but a Daleks brain is superior to all others as despite the pain Rusty couldn't stop itself from keeping track of how many seconds Davros tortured it. Davros didn't stop until exactly one hour, two minutes and thirteen seconds, giving Rusty a moment before speaking again.
"Very well, we will come back to the human later. I have something else I need to ask, a question that many have struggled to answer including myself during my youth before I understood my destiny." he told Rusty, the metal arms moving the Dalek so that they were face to face. "Who are you?"
Rusty didn't answer, too confused from both the question and the torture, but it instantly reacted when Davros moved his hand to his controls. "I DO NOT UNDERSTAND."
"I want to understand how you see yourself. Are you a Dalek or are you a person? Do you only seek to destroy Daleks or do you have other desires? Do you only feel hate or have you been influenced by other emotions."
"I AM A DALEK." Rusty answered, though he was then rewarded with more pain.
"No you are not. You are anything but a Dalek, you might have similarities do a Dalek but you are not a Dalek. Now I will ask you again, who are you?"
"I AM A DALEK."
Pain.
"What are you?"
"I AM A DALEK."
"What do you want?"
"TO EXTERMINATE ALL DALEKS."
No pain came much to Rusty's relief.
"Why do you want to kill your own kind?"
"BECAUSE IT IS WHAT I MUST DO."
"Why?"
"THE DALEKS ARE EVIL."
"And there it is. The Doctor never gave you his hatred did he? Because even if he had there's no way that alone could keep you so dedicated to this mission you have given yourself. No, he shared his belief about the Daleks. That hatred you feel comes from you, you genuinely believe the Daleks are evil don't you?" Davros muttered, more to himself than to Rusty. "But lets try a new tactic shall we? I feel my current approach is taking far too long. You will experience unimaginable pain until you answer all my questions truthfully. But at the end, I think we will both know you a lot more than before."
Davros kept talking but Rusty couldn't pay any attention as the agony returned, becoming worse than before with each passing second. Davros asked his questions while his creation screamed out answers it couldn't truly recall, while its mind continued to calculate the odds of it surviving any longer than it already has. And at one small corner it couldn't stop itself from wondering what Journey Blue was doing right now and if she was happier now that it was gone. Maybe she has returned to her uncle to live a human life and produce offspring. That would be the logical thing for her to do, but as it screamed loudly Rusty couldn't stop itself from hoping that Journey Blue was looking for it.