Dragon's Claw Part 2

STORYLINE

The discovered Sontarans of course resort to blasting wildly at the Doctor. They only succeed in creating a hole in the wall that the Doctor can escape through. On the other side of the hole, the Doctor bumps into a monk named Chang. Chang has begun questioning all of the strange things going on at the monastery and decides he will stick with the Doctor until he gets an explanation. Still concerned about too much exposure, the Sontarans do not leave their nerve center to pursue he Doctor, but Kuang sends his host of monks after him instead. Meanwhile, upon hearing the commotion, Sharon and K-9 have escaped their own captivity and joined up with the Doctor and Chang. Chang and K-9 fend off the monks' attack, but they will soon be overwhelmed. The Doctor instructs K-9 to blast an opening in the monastery wall, and the foursome escape into the woods beyond.

In the Woods, the group once again finds Abbot Hsiang whose directions lead them to the crash site of a Sontaran ship. From there, the Doctor begins to see what the Sontaran's are planning. Their servant Kuang will take a group of hypnotized monks to the Emperor's court, and once the phony abbot has given the word, the monks will kill the Emperor. Kuang believes he will then be made Emperor, but all the Sontaran's really care about is the large crystal in the Emperor's palace that they can use to contact their larger fleet. With that fleet, they will come back and conquer the planet.

The Doctor and his friends rush back to the monastery to stop Kuang. Kuang uses his trigger word on the hypnotized monks, turning all of them, except Chang, who has covered his ears, into obedient killing machines. K-9, however, has recorded the trigger words and plays them back now, releasing the mesmerized monks. This time Chang isn't so lucky, and the trigger words trigger his homicidal skills. He easily beats down Kuang's loyal lackey and continues into the hall of the bronze men where he easily kills every single Sontaran inside. The old Abbot Hsiang easily puts Kuang in his place and order at the monastery is restored. The Doctor, Sharon and K-9 have only to travel 400 miles back to the TARDIS to continue on their way...

Absolom Daak Dalek-Killer (Parts 2 & 3)

STORYLINE

Part 2 picks up right where Part 1 ended: Daak standing triumphantly among a field of Dalek scrap metal, looking like a man whose laundry bill is 90% “hose off the gore.”

But the universe is never kind to Daak.
Before he can even savor the Dalek-flavored victory, he’s captured by the Galactic Council’s enforcement squad — the people who last saw him and said, “Send this man to kill Daleks so we never have to see him again.”

Their disappointment is palpable.

But they don't kill him (their mistake). Instead, they introduce him to three other criminals-turned-soldiers, because apparently someone with a death wish decided Daak should be on a team. This team is:

• Selene — a cool-headed woman who actually uses strategy

• Bonjaxx — a huge, hulking alien whose hobbies include hitting things

• Grig — the tech guy, because even in murder squads someone has to fix the wifi

This mismatched, ragtag pack is the Galaxy’s new attempt at a Dalek-fighting strike force. Like a suicide squad, but with more screaming and fewer rules.

Daak reacts exactly how you’d expect:
He hates them all.

Unfortunately for him, they’re sent on a joint mission to wipe out a Dalek stronghold on a remote outpost. It’s a stealth mission — a concept Daak understands only in theory, then immediately ignores.

The team sneaks in.
Daak charges loudly in the front door.
The chain-sword revs.
The Daleks panic.
The team facepalms.
It’s spectacular.

But the big twist comes when the Daleks unveil a new asset: a terrifying, experimental battle-tank Dalek, which looks like a regular Dalek but angrier and with even more artillery welded onto the casing. Basically a Dalek who’s been taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Daak and the team barely escape with their lives. The outpost is destroyed behind them, and the issue ends with Daak staring into the burning wreckage, chain-sword dripping, vowing to finish what he started.

The others are beginning to realize they might survive longer strapped to an active volcano.

Part 3 hits the ground running — literally, because Daak and his team are fleeing the Daleks after the previous catastrophic not-stealth mission.

They regroup aboard their stolen ship, where Selene tries to implement something dangerously close to “tactics.” Daak listens for five seconds, decides strategy is for cowards, and then delivers his plan:

“We find Daleks. We kill Daleks.”

Shakespeare he is not, but he has a certain clarity.

The team tracks a Dalek signal to a derelict star cruiser drifting in space — the kind of place that practically screams “Haunted House but in space.” They board it (always a brilliant idea) and quickly discover it was once a hospital ship… now repurposed by the Daleks as a biological testing lab.

Daak's fury reaches new heights — and considering Daak’s baseline emotional state is “volcano in a leather jacket,” that is saying something.

The Daleks arrive and unleash waves of mutated experimental horrors. Tentacles! Claws! Things no one wanted to see before breakfast! The team holds them off in a desperate firefight while Daak pushes toward the control deck like a man legally prohibited from using brakes.

Then comes the big moment:
Daak confronts a Dalek commander who — gasp — tries to negotiate.

Daak responds by revving the chain-sword at maximum volume.
Negotiations end abruptly.

The team sets the ship to self-destruct (standard procedure when things get gross), and they escape in a shuttle just as the vessel erupts behind them like a fireworks finale of poor medical ethics.

But the emotional gut-punch comes afterward.

Daak, sitting alone, remembers his beloved Taiyin, the reason he became this chainsaw-wielding engine of rage. For a brief, astonishing moment, he shows… feelings.

Actual feelings.

The team witnesses this miracle of nature and quietly backs away, because they do not wish to be within swinging distance when he realizes they saw him being vulnerable.

The story closes with Daak gripping his chain-sword and staring into the stars, swearing his eternal crusade against the Daleks — a man with nothing left to lose, nothing left to fear, and absolutely no respect for building codes.