Donna POV
"So where are we today?" I asked The Doctor, pulling on my jacket.
"We're in New York! Real New York this time though." He said, grinning before reaching out his hand to me. I grabbed it and walked out of the TARDIS, we were in the middle of a park somewhere, I looked to my right and saw the Empire State, still being built.
"It's late 1930, right?" I asked, hoping I was right, I saw him frown at me.
"You're getting good. How'd you figure that out?" He questioned and I couldn't help but smirk at him.
"I'm good with modern history, maybe we should go backwards more often, I might actually know what you're talking about half the time." He laughed at me before walking over to a bench nearby, there was a newspaper on it.
"Spot on Donna, It's the first of November 1930. Oh dear...Donna, we might be here for a while." He said before showing me the headline: Hooverville Mystery Deepens.
"Where's Hooverville?" I asked him, we started making our way through the park arm-in-arm.
"Herbert Hoover, 31st president of USA, came to power a year ago. Up until then New York was a boomtown, roaring 20's. And then..."
"The Wall Street Crash, yeah that's 1929 right?"
"Yeah, economy crashes overnight, thousands of people are unemployed and all of the huddled masses doubled with nowhere to go. So they ended up here in Central Park." So it's basically a camp for the homeless. I thought, but didn't say it aloud. We carried on walking until we got to what looked like a large collection of tents - this was Hooverville.
"All ordinary people who just lost their jobs, couldn't pay the rest and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America, no-one's helping them." We were both getting strange looks, some were of disgust, others were just of curiousness. "You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go."
*Follows DIM Storyline up to 11:45*
We walked out of Solomon's tent to see a man stood on top of some crates asking for volunteers. A young boy asked what they'd be getting payed.
"A dollar a day." The man said in a thick american accent. Sullivan asked what the work was. "Just a little trip down the sewers, we got a tunnel collapse, needs clearing and fixing."
"A dollar a day. That's slave wage." Solomon stated. " And the men don't always come back, do they?"
"Accidents happen." The man stated.
"What do you mean? What sort of accidents?" The Doctor asked, I knew what he was going to do, I'd known it from the minute Sullivan said the men don't always come back up.
"You don't need the work, that's fine. Anybody else?" The Doctor raised his hand and I huffed, displeased with his decision to get involved. "Enough with the questions!"
"Oh no, I'm volunteering. I'll go." He said and looked at me expectantly.
"I really hate you sometimes." I said before raising my hand, followed by the young man who'd asked about the money and Solomon.
Doctor POV
After being briefed by 'Mr. Diagoras', we started making our way through the sewers, sticking close together. I found out from Solomon that Diagoras was running the majority of Manhattan, then we came across something on the ground that wasn't strictly human.
I crouched down to look at it and Donna came to see what it was, it definitely wasn't from Earth. We figured that we must be at least half a mile in and I suggested that Donna, Frank and Solomon headed back up. Suddenly we heard a very loud squeal, that wasn't extremely recognizable, we were trying to figure out which direction it came from.
"Doctor." Donna said in an almost whisper, pointing toward something with her torch and I followed the light. "Hello there, you alright?" She asked, in a calm voice that no other human would use if they were speaking to an alien.
"Shh Donna, just stay where you are for a moment." I slowly started making my way towards him or her, I wasn't sure which yet. "We know the way out, would you like to come with us?" I crouched down so I was at the same level and shone my torchlight to see who I was speaking to, it looked like a humanoid-pig. "Oh but what are you?" I asked it, doubting I'd get a reply.
"Is that a carnival mask or something?" Solomon asked, assuming it was fake, I looked back at him before I replied.
"No, it's real." I turned to the being again. "I'm so sorry, but, I promise I can help. Who did this to you?" I asked, hoping that whatever it was, it was capable of speaking.
"Doctor." Donna said behind me, sounding much more alarmed than she usually did around new species."I think you should come back this way...quickly." I looked up to see what she meant and was faced with at least half a dozen more of the creatures.
"Yeah, you might have a point there." I said, slowly backing away, not looking away from them. "Donna, Frank, Solomon, basically...RUN!" I shouted before turning to sprint back the way we came, hoping everyone remembered the way out. We ran all the way back - Donna remembered it perfectly - and she got there ahead of me.
"Doctor, the sonic!" She said from the top of the ladder, I passed her it quickly and she climbed out, closely followed by me and Solomon. Frank was taken and Solomon refused to go after him, Donna still looked scared out of her wits.