Daleks in Manhattan (Part 2)
"Where are we going?" Martha looked around frantically as they raced through the sewers.
"This way!" Evy shouted as they turned right and kept running, the pig men chasing after them.
"There's a ladder!" the Doctor shouted, climbing it and using the sonic screwdriver on the lid. He climbed out, followed by Martha and Evy. Solomon hesitated when Frank moved to pick up a metal bar to hold the pig men off.
"Frank!" Solomon shouted as he climbed the ladder. Frank looked over to see the others had made it up and ran towards it, climbing it as well. Once Solomon was up he reached back down and held out a hand for Frank, "C'mon, Frank! C'mon!"
"I've got ya," the Doctor added, "C'mon!"
The pig men swarmed the bottom of the ladder and reached out, grabbing Frank and pulling him back down into the sewer.
"Frank!" Solomon shouted.
"No!" the Doctor called, moving to head back down, when Solomon pushed him aside and closed the lid to the sewer before a pig man climbed up.
"We can't go after him."
"We gotta go back down!"
"We can't just leave him!" Evy agreed.
"No, I'm not losing anybody else!" Solomon glared at them, "Those creatures were from Hell! From Hell itself! If we go after them, they'll take us all! There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."
"Alright then," a showgirl called, jumping out from behind a shelf with a gun in her hand, "Put 'em up!" Martha's hands shot up, "Hands in the air and no funny business," she added, cocking the gun until the Doctor, Solomon, and Evy put their hands up as well, "Now tell me, you schmucks, what've you done with Lazlo?"
"Uh, who's Lazlo?" Martha asked, lowering her arms slightly.
The woman just fell back into a seat, disappointed, the gun still aimed at them, "Lazlo's my boyfriend, or was my boyfriend until two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nothin'. And I'm not stupid," she waved the gun at them, "I know some guys are just pigs but not my Lazlo. I mean, what kinda guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"
"It might...might just help if you put that down," the Doctor nodded at the gun.
"Huh?" she looked down, realizing she was still holding it, "Oh, sure," she tossed it onto a chair, "Oh, c'mon. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."
"What do you think happened to Lazlo?" Martha asked.
"I wish I knew. One minute he's there, the next, zip, vanished."
"Listen, ah...what's your name?" the Doctor began.
"Tallulah."
"Tallulah..." he nodded.
"3 Ls and an H."
"Right," he nodded his head slowly again, "Um, we can try to find Lazlo, but he's not the only one."
"There are more people disappearing every night," Evy added.
"And there are creatures," Solomon added, "Such creatures."
"Whaddaya mean 'creatures?'" Tallulah eyed them.
"Look," the Doctor cut in, "Listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is," he pulled the purple blob out of his pocket, "Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting."
"Yech!" Tallulah said, leaning back away from the blob.
"Well, if we're going to do that," Evy remarked, standing and heading towards the prop room, "Then you're going to need a DNA scanner."
The Doctor's eyes widened as he saw her picking up various items, "You can make one?"
She smirked, looking over at him as she continued scavenging for equipment, "Come now Doctor, I don't just fix things, I can build things too."
"I love you," he said in shock. She just kept surprising him…
She laughed at that and shook her head, "I'm going to need help though, need a few more parts…"
~8~
Solomon walked over to Evy, a radio in his hand, "How about this? I found it backstage."
"That's perfect Solomon, thanks," Evy smiled at him, taking the radio, "I just need the capacitors," she pried it apart, "Just need to rig up a crude little DNA scanner..."
"If we can get a chromosomal reading, I'll find out where it's from," the Doctor added, pointing the sonic screwdriver at the radio's insides, helping Evy along. He did know a thing or two about DNA scanners.
"How about you, Doctor?" Solomon asked, eyeing him and Evy working side-by-side, "Where are the two of you from? I've been all over. I've never heard anybody talk like you and that girl. Just exactly who are you?"
"Oh, I'm just sort of passing by," he mumbled.
"I'm with him," Evy added, taking a piece of the radio and blowing on it.
"I'm not a fool, Doctor," Solomon stated.
"No," he paused a moment, realizing how that came across, "Sorry."
Solomon sighed and walked over to the sewer lid, looking at it, "I was so scared, Doctor. I let them take Frank 'cos I was just too scared. I gotta get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we gotta protect ourselves. Ain't no one else gonna help us."
"Good luck," Evy paused a moment, sending him a hopeful smile.
"I hope you find what you're looking for," he nodded at her in thanks, "For all our sakes."
The two watched him leave for a moment before turning back and fixing up the makeshift DNA scanner.
~8~
They finally got it working just before Tallulah's show was set to start. The only thing they needed now was a beam of light to really get it going, which explained why they were cramped on a balcony by the stage with the blob hooked up to the scanner. It was the perfect place to get to one of the stage lights. Evy reached out and moved one of the lights to settle on the blob as the Doctor put on his glasses, getting ready to examine it.
"That's it," he muttered to himself, "Let's warm you up."
A moment later the show began, but neither the Doctor nor Evy paid much attention to the goings on below them as they focused on the blob. There was a reading on the scanner in Evy's hand, "It's artificial," she said.
"Genetically engineered," he agreed, leaning over to read the scanner as well, smirking to himself, "Whoever this is, oh, you're clever."
He reached out and put his stethoscope on the blob, while Evy read off another reading "Fundamental DNA type 467-989," she blinked, her hearts stopping, "989…"
"Hold on," the Doctor looked up in disbelief, not hearing the realization dawning in her voice, "That means planet of origin…Skaro!"
With that one word he took off running, pulling Evy behind him, not noticing the distressed and terrified look on her face.
~8~
They got down to the main level of the stage amidst chaos. The stage girls were running around in a panic, some holding each other as they talked about the strange creature they'd seen at the side of the stage. The Doctor exchanged a brief look with Evy as they split up to look for Martha.
"Where is she?" the Doctor called to Tallulah as he reached her, "Where's Martha?"
"I don't know," Tallulah said, "She ran off the stage."
Suddenly there was a scream followed by someone else shouting 'Doctor!' and he immediately knew that both Martha and Evy were in serious trouble. He ran in the direction of the calls, to the prop room, only to see that both women were gone.
"Martha!" he called, walking into the room and looking around, "Evy!" he looked down to see the sewer lid was moved and grabbed his coat, putting it on and moving the lid.
"Oh, where are you goin'?" Tallulah asked.
"They've taken them," was all he said.
"Who's taken them?" Tallulah shook her head. He didn't answer, just began to climb down the sewer, "What're y' doin'? I said, what the hell are ya doin'? Crazy guy..." Tallulah looked around before finding a long coat to cover her costume and following him down.
~8~
Evy was relieved to find Martha relatively ok, but now she wasn't too sure how long that would last as she and Martha were dragged through the sewers by pig men.
"No!" Martha shouted, struggling, "Let us go!"
They pushed them against a wall as more pig men entered with other humans, one of whom they recognized.
"Frank!" Evy called, spotting him.
"Evy!" he replied, making his way over to them, "Martha!"
"You're alive!" Martha hugged him quickly.
"Hey," he smiled, returning the hug.
"I thought we'd lost you," Martha mumbled before a pig man pushed them to keep them moving along.
"Alright!" Evy shouted, not liking being pushed, "Alright, we're moving."
"Wait," Frank replied, "Where are they taking us?"
"I don't know," Martha shook her head, "But we can find out what's going on down here."
Evy frowned, if that blob really was from Skaro, she wasn't sure she wanted to know what was going on.
~8~
They were shuffled along in silence until the pig men finally stopped pushing them about. Now they were just standing there, waiting, in a section of the tunnel.
"What are they keeping us here for?" Frank asked out loud.
"I don't know," Evy sighed, rubbing her head.
"I've just got a nasty feeling that we're being kept in the larder," Martha added.
Evy suddenly looked up at a turn in the tunnels, just barely spotting the Doctor poking his head around the corner before ducking back. She knew he'd been wandering the tunnels, trying to find them with Tallulah, running into a half-converted Lazlo along the way. She smiled softly, letting out a breath of relief, though her sense of safety didn't last long as the pig men started squealing nervously.
"What're they doing?" Frank frowned, looking around, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Just then a Dalek glided into the tunnel.
"Daleks," Evy hissed, reaching out reflexively to grab the nearest thing to her for comfort, which happened to be Martha's arm. She had been trying so hard to believe that what the Doctor had seen in the tunnels, the familiar shadow and alien he hadn't stopped thinking about, was a figment of his imagination and that the blob was just a remnant of Skaro that just happened to end up in the sewers of New York, but apparently that was too much of a stretch. Of course this would be too far out there but the Doctor managing to find a horse from pre-revolutionary France attached to the inside of a spaceship wasn't.
The Universe had a sick and twisted sense of humor.
Martha looked up, startled by Evy's voice and the grip on her arm, to see Evy staring at the piece of metal with a look that Martha was sure would haunt her. It was a combination of anger, resentment, sorrow, terror, and the deepest pain she'd only ever seen in one person's eyes before, the Doctor's.
"Evy?" she asked softly, "You ok?"
Before Evy could answer the Dalek turned to the people in the tunnel, "Silence. Silence."
"What the hell is that?" Martha glanced at Evy who had yet to look away, clearly she recognized it.
The Dalek moved away from them, speaking to the prisoners, "You will form a line. Move."
As the pig men began to move towards the prisoners Martha leaned over to pry Evy's hand off her, "Evy, what's wrong? What is that thing?'
Evy swallowed hard, "It's called a Dalek. Behind all that metal casing is a hateful creature, born only to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek. It won't stop killing, it never stops…"
Martha looked around at the men trying to resist the pig men, "Just do what it says, everyone," she called out, "Ok? Just obey."
If what Evy said was true, the Dalek wouldn't hesitate to kill the resisters.
"The female is wise," the Dalek replied, "Obey!"
Just then another Dalek entered the tunnel.
"There's more?" Evy's eyes widened as she saw the other one. How was that possible? The Doctor had sent all the Daleks into the Void, hadn't he?
"Report," the second Dalek commanded the first one.
"These are strong specimens," the first Dalek stated, "They will help the Dalek cause. What is the status of the Final Experiment?"
"Final Experiment?" Evy mouthed to herself as she looked up to see the Doctor watching and listening.
"The Dalekanium is in place," the second Dalek reported, "The energy conductor is now complete."
"Then I will extract prisoners for selection," the first Dalek turned to face the line of people, a pig man pushing an older black man forward. The Dalek extended his sucker towards the man's face and scanned him, "Intelligence scan. Initiate. Reading brain waves. Low intelligence."
"You calling me stupid?" the man glared at the Dalek.
"This one will become a pig slave," the first Dalek stated as two pig men pulled him away, struggling as he went. The Dalek barely gave any notice as it moved onto the next man, "Intelligence scan. Initiate."
This continued on until the Dalek made its way to Frank, this time it was Martha's turn to reach out and grab Evy's arm as the Dalek scanned him, "Superior intelligence," Martha wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not but had little time to contemplate it when the Dalek turned to her, "Intelligence scan. Initiate. Superior intelligence."
And finally it turned to Evy. She held her breath as she stared down the eye stalk of the greatest enemy of her people, forcing her hearts to beat one at a time so it wouldn't recognize her as a Time Lady, "Optimal intelligence," the Dalek replied after a moment of scanning.
Evy cursed silently to herself, hoping that the Doctor would just chalk it up to the fact that he thought she was from the 51st century and human brains had evolved a bit more than now. It had been one reason she and Jack had decided to claim she was from the 51st century. She'd proved after her first day at Torchwood that she could never pass as a normal human, not with her knowledge of alien tech and space. Apparently she severely freaked out Tosh and Owen when she started talking and sounded far too much like Jack, Gwen and Ianto though thought it was hysterical when she and Jack would get into debates about what sort of technology the team had found when it was in shambles. She won nearly every time. For her to travel with the Doctor, she wouldn't have been able to hide that much of her intelligence, so they'd come up with her being from the 51st century to make it more believable.
She also silently thanked the stars that the Daleks had only scanned brainwave activity and nothing else, the Perception Filter would do little to protect her from DNA or other sorts of scans. Though she doubted the Daleks had the power left for such detailed scanning, they seemed to be on their last legs, a small comfort.
"This one will become part of the Final Experiment," the Dalek continued.
"You can't just experiment on people!" Martha shouted, realizing what they were planning to do with the superior intelligence people, "It's insane! It's inhuman!"
"They're not human," Evy replied.
"Correct," the Dalek agreed, "Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory."
"Transgenetic," Evy whispered to herself, her eyes widening as she realized what was about to happen. The blob hadn't been a remnant of Skaro, it had somehow been created here using the humans. The Daleks were experimenting with human DNA...she couldn't help but shiver, thinking of the last time Dalek and Human DNA had been mixed...the Doctor had regenerated.
She had little time to think past that as the pig men started to separate the groups and push them past the tunnel where the Doctor was hiding. Subtly, or as subtly as the Doctor could, he fell into line with the group, just in between Martha and her while Lazlo walked along side acting like a guard.
"Just keep walking," the Doctor muttered to the two of them.
"I'm so glad to see you," Martha exclaimed quietly.
"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later," he replied, "You too Evy, if you want," he glanced back to see her staring at the back of his jacket, slightly in shock, and frowned, "Are you alright Evy?"
She shook her head and looked up at him, "I never thought I'd see a Dalek ag…" she caught herself from saying 'again,' knowing that not many humans even in the 51st century had encountered a Dalek before, and instead swallowed, "…after what Jack told me about them."
The Doctor smiled in understanding as he reached behind him and took her hand in his. Of anyone here, he figured she would have the best idea of what they were dealing with.
Evy took a breath, steeling herself for what was going to come. She'd have to face the Daleks again. The last time she'd seen one, it had been shooting her father in the chest as her mother pulled her across towards the Untempered Schism before killing her mother as well.
~8~
They were brought into a rather large lab, considering it was in the sewers, to see yet another Dalek standing there.
"Report," the first Dalek commanded.
"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution," the third Dalek reported.
"So that makes four," Evy mumbled, praying there were no more than that and fearing a bit more now that she knew exactly which four they were, they had names. She was now coming face-to-face with the Cult of Skaro.
"Scan him," the first Dalek stated, "Prepare for birth."
"Evolution?" the Doctor frowned.
"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" Martha nodded at the immobile Dalek.
"Ask them."
"What me?" Martha gaped at him, "Don't be daft."
"We don't exactly want him to get noticed," Evy cut in, seeing the logic in what the Doctor said, "Just ask...no, demand...from them what's going on."
"Daleks, I demand to be told," Martha called out after taking a breath, "What is this Final Experiment? Report!"
"Nice," Evy whispered, smiling.
"You will bear witness," the first Dalek replied.
"To what?" Martha asked.
"This is the dawn of a new age."
"What does that mean?"
"We are the only four Daleks," it continued, Evy breathed a sigh of relief, "So the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again."
Dalek Sec's shell began to power down and the casings opened to reveal a human-Dalek hybrid. Evy's eyes widened in shock as she recognized how it was dressed, in Mr. Diagoras's unmistakable clothing. He looked like a Dalek, with a mouth, one eye, and tentacles, but his hands were almost claw-like and he was humanoid in figure.
"What is it?" Martha asked in disgust.
"I am a human-Dalek," Dalek Sec replied, "I am your future."
No one noticed both the Doctor and Evy turn stone faced at that.
To be continued...
A/N: We've got a little start of Evy's talents peeking through in the building of the DNA scanner. This is only the beginning of what she can do. And we haven't even gotten to a secret ability of hers :)
Good news though, I think this is the shortest chapter there will be for a while. And just a note on a question about River...no, here she will not be what she was to the Doctor/Professor in the Academic Series. She is something completely different here, but will be equally as important to them. Exactly what though, I'm not saying :)