I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Wasn't the special awesome?- More Evy is on the way! In order to be done by New Year's Day, I'll try to update twice a day. Just a small request- please check back often and review as normal! Love, Wings.
These…humans will become like me," Dalek Sec said slowly, raising a hand to point at the ragged group of prisoners.
"Like hell," Evy muttered. She looked back, and saw the Doctor trying to slip away, unnoticed, behind some machinery. She opened her mouth to ask a question, only to have him put a finger to his lips. Carefully, Evy closed her mouth and arched an eyebrow.
What are you up to?
"Prepare them for hybridization."
The other Daleks swiveled, watching as the pig slaves leapt to obey. The pig men moved closer to the prisoners, grabbing them. The prisoners, stunned by what they had just witnessed didn't react until the pig men grabbed them. Even Martha was to shocked to react until a pig men had her by the arm.
"Leave me alone! Don't you dare!" Martha shrieked.
Evy was absorbed in watching the Doctor, wondering what on Earth he was doing- until another pig men dragged her forward with the others. "Oh, Hell, no!" Evy shrieked, kicking and struggling in the pig men's grasp as she was pulled forward.
Suddenly 'Happy Days are Here Again' began to play and everything stopped dead. Evy's gaze flew to where she'd seen the Doctor disappear.
"No way," She whispered to herself.
Everyone, pig men, prisoners, and Daleks all glanced around, wondering where the music was coming from. Particularly Dalek Sec.
"What is that sound?" He demanded, looking around curiously.
The Doctor ducked out from behind the machinery he'd hidden behind, holding a radio, still playing. "Well…That would be me," he smirked at them, putting the radio down by a lit Bunsen burner.
"Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera."
Evy couldn't help it- she smiled, and smothered a laugh. That was the Doctor she'd come to find- that was who her mother talked about. The Doctor who was sarcastic and funny while staring down an enemy that could and would likely kill him- and them- in an instant.
"Doctor," Dalek Sec acknowledged.
"The enemy of the Daleks," the first Dalek shouted. Evy rolled her eyes, and the Doctor waited patiently, not saying anything. Wasn't this a little redundant for super hating killing machines?
In all of the Dalek stories. Every single one- The Doctor, the enemy of the Daleks. Don't you think they'd get over it and skip to-
"Exterminate," the second Dalek called.
That part. Evy struggled a little more in the grip of the pig slave, hatred resurfacing over her internal sarcasm.
"Wait," Dalek Sec ordered, hands outspread to halt any move the other Daleks might make. Instantly, Evy stopped her futile struggling, caught by surprise. Well, this is new.
"Well, then," the Doctor said, eyeing Dalek Sec as he walked towards him. "A new form of Dalek. Fascinating and very clever."
"The Cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter." Dalek Sec spat.
"How did you end up in 1930?" he asked, raising an eyebrow
"Emergency. Temporal. Shift." Dalek Sec said the words one at a time, as though forcing them out. Evy frowned in concentration, trying to remember exactly what that meant from a lifetime of absorbed technical jargon. The phrase was familiar.
The Doctor scoffed, seemingly amused. "Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, yeah?"
He looked around at their pitiful forms, which had surrounded him, turning around and walking back toward the prisoners. "Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world. But instead you're skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting." He turned to look back appraisingly at Dalek Sec. "All of which results in you."
"I am Dalek in human form." Dalek Sec said hurriedly. Evy furrowed her brow. It almost sounded as if he was trying to convince himself, and not his adversary.
The Doctor stared, darkly and calculatingly, at the figure of the human-Dalek. "What does it feel like?" he asked quietly. "You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now."
"I…feel…humanity," Dalek Sec said after a moment, turning away from the Doctor's penetrating, inescapable gaze.
"Good," The Doctor nodded, sounding surprised. "That's good."
After another moment Dalek Sec spoke again, "I…feel…everything we wanted from mankind, which is ambition, hatred, aggression, and war. Such…a genius for war." As he spoke, the Doctor's curiosity and surprise hardened back into his former expression of concealed hatred and disgust.
"No," The Doctor said firmly, shaking his head. "That's not what humanity means."
"I think it does," Evy grimaced at Dalek Sec's words as he ran right over the Doctor's. She could swear he was smirking- and it was very grating. The Doctor had a doubtful and waried expression on his face- the sort of look a confirmed believer gets when he talks to an atheist.
"At heart, this species is so very…Dalek."
"Alright, so what have you achieved then?" the Doctor shouted, finally beginning to get exasperated, and allowing his anger through his mask. Evy watched silently. "With this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing! 'Cos I can show you what you're missing with this thing," he walked over to the radio, pointing at it, "Simple little radio…" he said, patting the top of it.
"What is the purpose of that device?" the second Dalek said, watching him carefully; warily. Evy coughed to hide a sarcastic laugh.
"Well, exactly, it plays music. What's the point of that?" He said, sarcasm suffusing his voice and tone. "Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it." He turned to say the last point directly into a Dalek's eyepiece, and Evy felt a stab of anguish. He still mourned her mother as lost- and he didn't have to. For a moment, Evy seemed to feel a great loss, as if a heavy pain in her soul, and she knew how much the Doctor must mourn his lost Rose.
"Unless you're a Dalek of course…" He was saying.
He didn't have to be so lonely- she could tell him right after they got out of this, and he'd go back and find her mum, and then-
"Then it's just noise," the Doctor finished, aiming the sonic screwdriver at the radio.
And then she was struck again by the sense that such a thing, now, would be wrong. Wrong, now- but not- but not-
Evy was jolted out of her particular and sudden sensitively by a horrendous, high pitched wail that emanated from it, causing the Daleks to jerk back and Dalek Sec to cover his ears in pain along with the pig men.
"Run!" the Doctor shouted, leading the group of prisoners through the doors as the Daleks defaulted to protect their creation, leaving the prisoners to escape.
Martha and Evy wrenched themselves free and followed. They ran through the sewers, Martha in the lead till they came to a crossing. She stopped, looking around, unsure. Evy skidded to a stop beside her.
"Oh, not this again," She moaned, when the Doctor rushed past, retaking the lead.
"Come on! Move, move, move, move, move!" Evy grinned and took off beside him. Once again, the running literally, on adrenaline. It was addictive.
Behind them, they could hear the grunts and snorts of the pig slaves and the mechanics of the Daleks- and as they fled around the next corner, they darted past the missing Tallulah.
"Tallulah!" Evy shouted, grabbing for the woman's coat with her free hand but missing. "Run!"
Then she looked down in surprise at her left hand- which was now firmly held by the Doctor, who was seemingly oblivious. When did that-?
"What's happened to Lazlo?" Tallulah shouted, looking around as Martha grabbed her and pulled her away.
"C'mon!" the Doctor yelled, seeing a ladder and motioning for everyone to climb up, as he dropped Evy's hand "Everyone up!"
Evy obeyed, trying not to feel as though she'd been forgotten- or that she had wanted and valued that contact as much as she had. Instead, she focused on climbing, using immediate danger as a bulwark against thoughts she wasn't sure she wanted to think.
Slowly, the band of prisoners made their way back to Hooverville. Once they were there, as the escapees dispersed, the Doctor marched straight to Solomon, Evy, Martha, and Tallulah in tow. The three women sat down by the fire, trying to draw mutual support from each other as the Doctor fuitily tried to explain the situation to Solomon.
Huddled into her much dirtier but still warm coat, Evy watched him intently through the flames.
"These Daleks, they sound like the stuff of nightmares," Solomon remarked as they stood by the campfire. "And they wanna breed?"
"They're splicing themselves into human bodies," The Doctor replied.
"Which is pretty much the same thing," Evy commented from her position sitting on a crate next to Martha and Tallulah. The Doctor shot her another please-shut-up-now look. Evy breathed in sharply and turned away as the Doctor turned back to Solomon, nodding.
"If I'm right, they've got a farm of breeding stock right here in Hooverville. We've got to get everyone out."
Evy gazed into the flames, pride stinging a little. She might not have ever done this before, but it wasn't as if she was stupid, after all. She knew what was going on, and she was scared, she wasn't going to deny it. All she'd been trying to do was dispel a little of her own fear with sarcasm.
"Hooverville's the lowest place a man can fall," Solomon said, shaking his head, "There's nowhere else to go."
Evy overcame her still smarting pride to shamelessly watch the two men's conversation again. Beside Solomon, Frank was doing the same thing, drawn in by Solomon's reply.
"I'm sorry, Solomon. You've got to scatter. Go anywhere. Down to the railroads, travel across state, just get out of New York."
Solomon glanced across the campfire. Now even Martha and Tallulah were watching.
"There's got to be a way to reason with these things…"
"There's not a chance," Martha scoffed.
"You ain't seen 'em, boss," Frank agreed, standing up, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"They won't listen," Evy added, closing her eyes as she sighed, "They never listen. I've only just met one and I know that."
"Daleks are bad enough at anytime," the Doctor confirmed, his eyes intense and boring into Solomon's as he tried to sway the man. "But right now they're vulnerable and that makes them more dangerous than ever."
Just then a man came running into camp, a gun in his hand, "They're coming! They're coming!"
"A sentry," Solomon told them, springing into action and shifting the rifle he carried into a shooting position. "Must have seen something."
"They're here!" the sentry continued to shout, running through camp panicked as an alarm whistle began blowing. "I seen 'em! Monsters! They're monsters!"
"It's started," the Doctor breathed, knowing what was coming next.
"We're under attack!" Solomon turned to the men around him, "Everyone to arms!"
The men began running around, grabbing what guns they could from where they'd stashed them.
"I'm ready, boss!" Frank called, rushing over to them and taking a place next to Solomon, "But all o' you find a weapon! Use anything!"
Evy found herself jostled up and into the center of the circle of guns, along with the Doctor, Martha, Tallulah, and the other women and children. Out of breath from terror, she frantically turned, trying to see the source of the mounting screams.
"Come back!" Solomon shouted as various campers ran off, trying to find more weapons, "We gotta stick together! It's not safe out there! Come back!"
Suddenly, pig men were running through Hooverville, attacking anyone who got in their way or tried to escape. Each one was pushing the people back towards the center.
"We need to get out of the park," Martha looked around in concern, seeing the people being pushed back.
"We can't!" Evy shook her head, realizing where they'd gotten themselves. Smack dab in the middle of a huge trap.
"They're on all sides," the Doctor agreed, "They're driving people back towards us."
"We're trapped," Tallulah realized.
"Then we stand together," Solomon decided, "Gather 'round. Everybody come to me. You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together," the campers crowded around, pressing together near the fire as the pig men surrounded them, "They can't take all of us."
And with that, he opened fire on the pigs, followed by anyone and everyone that had guns.
Martha looked around frantically, watching as the pig men and the campers attacked, "If we can just hold them off till daylight," she muttered hopefully, holding Evy's hand tightly as the other girl squeezed her eyes shut, trying very hard to remain calm.
"Oh, Martha," The Doctor said, the lack of inflection in his voice disturbing. "They're just the foot soliders."
Evy's eyes snapped open, looking up to see a Dalek soaring in the sky, headed directly for them. Martha saw it the same time she did.
"Oh my God." Both women breathed.
"What in this world…" Solomon's eyes widened as he saw the creature flying there.
"It's the devil," the sentry called, terror evident in his posture and shaking voice. "A devil in the sky. God save us all. It's damnation."
"Oh yeah?" Frank glared at it, recognizing it as the metal thing from the sewers, "We'll see about that!" He fired at the Dalek but did no damage.
Evy's hand shot out and shoved the barrel of the gun down, hoping the Dalek hadn't seen who'd shot at it. "Please don't do that," She whispered. "It won't work."
"There's more than one of them!" Martha whispered to the Doctor as a second Dalek joined the first, floating beside it in midair. That was all she had time to say as the pair began to attack, swooping through the air and blasting anything and everything in sight.
Fires sprang up as the Daleks fired at the makeshift shelters, and people screamed in fear or in pain as they were thrown away from the blasts and hit by the Daleks.
Evy clenched her eyes shut, huddling against Martha. It was like one of her terrible visions come to life, to reality. "Please, no," she begged, tears flowing heavily from under her closed lids.
It was just like the visions all over again, the cries of pain and of terror...she shook her head, crying. "Please! Not here…"
Martha noticed Evy sobbing, and looked over at the young girl in concern. She had just touched Evy's arm when the Daleks spoke.
"The humans will surrender!" Evy's eyes flew open as she gasped, and Martha gripped her new friend's arm more tightly, trying to lend her support.
"Leave them alone!" the Doctor shouted at the Daleks, trying desperately and in fury to stop the Dalek's rampage. "They've done nothing to you!" Solomon had begun to step forward from the huddle of people when the Doctor grabbed the man by the arm, trying to prevent him from taking the risk.
"No, Solomon. Stay back."
"I'm told that I'm addressin' the Daleks, is that right?" Solomon ignored him, focusing on the Daleks instead and gripping his rifle tightly, the only outward sign of his fear. "From what I hear, you're outcasts, too."
"Solomon, don't," The Doctor hissed angrily, knowing only to well the consequences of trying to reason with the Daleks.
"Look this is my township, you will respect my authority," Solomon glared at him. "Just let me try," He said, pushing the Doctor back gently.
"Solomon, please," Evy burst out suddenly, tears still streaming from her eyes as Martha held her. "There is no negotiating with Daleks. They don't care- they kill anyone who defies them!"
Evy could care less at this point about the tears she was crying or how she must look. All she cared about was trying to erase the echoes of her visions, to keep anymore death from happening tonight.
Solomon stared at her, his gaze softening just a bit at her concern. "It's alright, missy." He said softly, nodding for the Doctor to join her. The Doctor shook his head sadly and stepped back, giving Evy an unreadable look as Solomon approached the Dalek again,
"Daleks…ain't we all the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin?" He put his rifle down, cautiously laying the weapon on the ground, never taking his eyes off of the Daleks.
"'Cos, see, I've just discovered this past day God's Universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh, yeah. Terrifies me. Right down to the bone. But it's got to give me hope…hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So I…I beg you now if you have any compassion in your hearts then you'll meet with us and stop this fight. Well…what do you say?"
Evy knew what was coming, and sobbed a little as she quickly turned her face away into Martha's embrace.
"Exterminate!" the second Dalek declared, firing and killing him where he stood.
"No!" Frank shouted as the residents of Hooverville began to scream in panic, scattering away from what had mercilessly killed their leader. He ran towards Solomon's body. The Doctor watched, grimacing in rage.
"They killed him," Martha gaped in shock, "They just shot him on the spot."
"It's what they do," Evy replied coldly, summoning her anger once again to force away her tears. Tears had no place on a battlefield, she knew that. As she straightened, unkinking her spine, she stared at she stared at Solomon's prone form, her rage at the Daleks growing.
Not only did they hurt her, then, now- but also those who deserved no part in this. Who were, if not innocent entirely, than certainly undeserving of the Dalek's wrath. She felt her rage grow, consuming her thoughts in a fire of boiling anger and thirst for revenge and retribution.
"Daleks!" the Doctor spat to himself before moving to stand in front of the campers that remained. "Alright, so it's my turn! Then kill me! Kill me if it'll stop you attacking these people!"
That stirred a chord in her mind, shaking her out of a red fog of hatred. No- he couldn't die, she couldn't let him die-
"Doctor!" Evy shouted, trying to step forward, but Frank grabbed her, holding her back. Evy screamed, fighting, trying to get loose. She had only one thought- and that was that her father mustn't die tonight. There was other things that had to come about… the sense she'd felt before tonight trickled into her thoughts as she struggled vainly in Frank's arms, "No! Let me go! He can't!"
"I will be the destroyer of our greatest enemy," one Dalek exclaimed, raising its weapon. Evy shrieked. No no no no no…..
"Then do it!" The Doctor shouted, beating his chest in fury, "Do it! Just do it! Do it!"
Martha looked at her, alarmed at how hard Evy was struggling, and quickly moved to help Frank. As she did so, she caught a glimpse of Evy's face- and shuddered.
There was something in Evy's eyes- something that was more than the concern for a friend and more than fear of another death that should have been there. There was instead terror, some undefinable emotion, and something ancient and not to be messed with. Martha's eyes widened. Something wasn't right here…
"Extermina…" the Dalek began- only to suddenly stop. Just as suddenly, Evy stopped thrashing. Martha breathed a sigh of relief, and tightened her slipping grip, just in case Evy decided to start again. "I do not understand. It is the Doctor,"
The Doctor looked back at the group, clearly as confused as they were as to the one sided conversation they were hearing. He caught sight of Evy, face tear-streaked and held securely by Martha and Frank, and his confusion deepened.
"The urge to kill is too strong," The Dalek protested. The Doctor turned back to face the Dalek as it lowered its weapon. "I…obey."
"What's going on?" the Doctor demanded as he stared at his enemy.
"You will follow," was all the Dalek said.
"No!" Evy shouted, twisting her way out of her captor's grip and running forward. "You can't go!"
Evy's mind was streaming ahead, racing hundreds of miles fast. She could see things- things that must not happen and could- things that must happen and wouldn't-
Martha sighed and quickly chased after her to the Doctor's side. "He's got to go," she said quietly, knowing it was true, and feeling like everyone could hear her. "The Daleks changed their minds; they never change their minds, right?" Carefully, Martha grabbed Evy's hand again, as she looked to the Doctor for confirmation.
He nodded, eyes narrowing as he looked at Evy. Evy felt a jolt, and suddenly the overwhelming sense of possibility faded into nothing.
"But what about us?" Evy said, slightly confused and slightly pleading as she looked between Martha and the Doctor. Her head felt fuzzy- and she was not quite understanding why she had acted like she had; or why she had seen what she had- or rather, felt it.
"I'll stay with you," Martha said reassuringly, giving the Doctor a meaningful look. His eyes widened, thinking frantically as he looked at the huddled people, begging Martha, and the teenager who looked very confused and very worried at the same time.
Hmm- he'd have to look into that after this mess was fixed. Something extraordinary had happened a few minutes ago, and he had the look on Evy's face and the fading sensation of mental kinesis to prove it.
He turned back to the Daleks. "One condition! If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here! Do you hear me?"
The Dalek was silent for a moment before speaking. "The humans will be spared. Doctor…follow."
"I'm coming with you," Evy said desperately, trying to step up as Martha held her back, the longing to say the same thing in evident to the Doctor in her own eyes.
"Evy, stay here," the Doctor told her " Help Martha do what she does best. People are hurt. You can help them. Let me go,"
Evy hiccupped slightly, voice hitching from her earlier crying as Martha gently pulled her back. The Doctor nodded in approval- but both women could only look on, terrified for him as the Doctor turned to follow the Daleks.
Suddenly he turned and rushed back, "Oh, and can I just say, thank you very much."
He reached out, grabbing Martha's hand in a handshake as he pressed something into it, winking at the two of them before walking off.
Martha and Evy looked down at what he had given her once the Daleks had turned away, content with their captive.
"What..." Martha mumbled to herself.
Evy's eyes widened and she gently took the object as Martha watched the Doctor's retreating figure. "I think," She said carefully and in astonishment. "I actually know what this is."
~8~
Evy sat off to the side, supporting her head on her hands as she watched Martha work with detached interest. This was the least severe wound they'd seen so far- the flow of wounded was slacking off, something for which Evy was glad. The aftermath of violence was something she was familiar with, but it wasn't exactly pretty.
"Here you go," Tallulah called softly, bringing in a pot of water. "I got some more on the boil."
"Thanks," Martha looked up at her before turning to the man and finishing the knot in the bandage she was tying. "You'll be alright. It's just a cut. Try and keep it clean."
"Thanks," he replied, getting up and leaving. Evy watched him go, saying nothing, and allowing her mind to drift into a hazy fog. She didn't notice the concerned glance Martha gave her.
"So what about us?" Tallulah asked Martha, leaning against the wall. "What do we do now?"
"The Doctor gave me this," Martha said, pulling out the psychic paper and holding it up for Tallulah to see. "He must have had a reason."
"What's that for?"
"It's psychic paper," Evy replied to Tallulah. Both Martha and Tallulah glanced at her, expecting her to continue, but Evy said, nothing, content to let Martha explain, though her eyes remained focused this time. Oh, well, Martha rationalized. At least she wasn't staring off into space any longer. She frowned, trying to explain what the psychic paper was.
"It can be used to get you into places, buildings and things." Martha said. "But where?" She looked at Tallulah, who was trying to follow her. "He must want us to go somewhere, but where?" Martha explained. "What are we supposed to do?"
Martha frowned, and not just in thought. Truth to tell, Martha was starting to feel just the slightest bit annoyed at the Doctor. Yes, there were the Daleks, but she had no idea what he wanted or needed her to do, and she now had Evy to look after, who was starting to concern her.
"Wait a minute," Martha said, remembering something. "Down in the sewers the Daleks mentioned this…energy conductor."
Unnoticed, Evy's eyebrows narrowed slightly in thought. She remembered what Martha was talking about. What exactly had the Daleks said?
"What does that mean?" Tallulah asked. Evy frowned, trying hard to remember-
"I don't know." Martha sighed. "Maybe like a…lightning conductor or…"
Evy found the memory she'd been searching for.
"These are strong specimens," the first Dalek said to the second, "They will help the Dalek cause. What is the status of the Final Experiment?"
"The Dalekanium is in place," the second Dalek reported, "The energy conductor is now complete."
"Dalekanium!" Evy shouted, bolting upright from her crouched position. "They said the Dalekanium was in place."
"In place where?" Tallulah shook her head, just barely following along- and surprised at Evy's outburst after her long apathy.
"Frank might know," Martha said before rushing out of the tent. Evy jumped up and ran after her. "I'll ask him," She told Martha. Tallulah followed after, coming to stand next to Martha, who was waiting patiently while Evy spoke to Frank.
"Frank?" Evy asked gently, sitting down next to him.
"Hm?" he looked up. "Oh. 'S you."
"That Mr. Diagoras, he was like some sort of fixer, yeah?" Evy asked. "Get you jobs all over town?"
"Yeah. He could find a profit anywhere." Evy heard the bitterness in his voice and winced. She wondered if that same bitterness had been in her voice when she had used to talk about the Doctor. Used to? That was barely yesterday.
"But where though? What sort of things?" Evy persisted, trying to think of where the Daleks would be.
"You name it. We're all so desperate for work, you just hoped Diagoras would pick you for something good. Building work. That pays the best."
"But what sort of building work?" Martha asked, impatiently. Evy gave her a look- and then realized something so obvious she nearly smacked herself.
"Can't you guess?" Evy spoke up. They turned to look at her staring at the Empire State Building.
"Mainly building that," Frank nodded.
"That's the energy conductor," Evy replied, looking as though she were staring at it but not really seeing. "I bet their lab was under it." She murmured.
She couldn't understand why the Daleks needed one or what they were going to use it for- but the location fit in with her general observation that the greatest alien plots all seemed to be located under or near monuments. Again, the Universe's twisted sense of humor.
"Well, let's get moving," Tallulah announced, heading towards the tower. From what she understood of the conversation, something about the Daleks, a lab and the building, maybe there was something there that would help change Lazlo back.
Martha started to follow her.
"One minute," Evy called, and turned to Frank. "Frank," she said, looking directly into his eyes so he could read the sincerity in her own and hopefully take some comfort from it, "I know you're feeling horrible right now, and I know you miss him. And I know you just met me, and we haven't exactly given you the best of reasons to trust us. But, please come with us. We could use your help."
Frank looked into Evy's blue eyes, vivid and honest, and found himself nodding.
Evy sighed. "Thank you."
They managed to get into the building with little trouble, thanks to the paper, and were on the lift up when Martha spoke, trying to alleviate the tension, "I always wanted to go to the Empire State. Never imagined it quite like this though."
Evy smothered a bubble of hysterical laughter that threatened to burst from her lips.
Oh, Martha, She thought, I'm pretty sure I've got you topped in the 'I never imagined it quite like this' department. And I've had longer to imagine it 'like this'.
"Where are we headed anyway?" Frank asked.
"To the top where they're still building," Martha replied, eyes fixed on the doors of the service elevator.
"How come those guys just let us through?" Tallulah frowned, looking at the paper in Martha's hands, "How's that thing work?"
"The psychic paper shows them whatever the holder wants them to think," Evy replied before Martha could, then shrugged. "At least, it's supposed to. Tricky thing, though." Evy smiled, remembering from Rose's story.
"Two things. One, I've got a friend who uses this, all the time, and two; you just handed me a piece of paper telling me you're single, and you work out."
"What's so funny?" Tallulah asked. Evy coughed, and stopped smiling. "Nothing."
Martha nodded in agreement with Evy, giving the teen an odd look as she handed the paper to Frank for him to look at. "According to this, we're two engineers, an electrician, and an architect."
"Which am I?" Evy asked, attempting to inject some humor of her own into the situation. Martha was spared from answering by the ding of the lift as they arrived.
The doors opened to reveal the top floor of the building, "Look at this place!" Tallulah exclaimed as they stepped out, twirling to admire their surroundings. "Top of the world!"
Martha looked over and saw some architectural plans scattered about on a drafting board. "Ok, now this looks good," she commented, walking over to them with Frank. Evy paused, unsure where she should be.
"Hey, look at the date," Frank pointed out on the top sheet as Martha flipped through a few. "These designs were issued today. They must've changed something last minute."
"You mean the Daleks changed something?"
"Yeah, could be."
"The ones underneath, they're from before," Martha confirmed, checking the labels. "That means that whatever they changed must be on this top sheet but not this one," she reasoned, pulling the two off, "We need to check one against the other."
"The height of this place!" Tallulah commented in the background, "This is amazing!"
"Careful, we're a hundred floors up," Martha warned as Evy drifted over to Tallulah, and Frank put the plans on the floor for comparison. "Don't go wandering off."
"I just wanna see," Tallulah defended, walking over to an open area. Evy followed her moments later. Below them was spread a velvet carpet of lights, made into the towers and buildings of a wonderland. "New York City." Tallulah remarked to Evy, who now stood beside her, awestruck by the view. A soft wind stirred their hair, and Evy cautiously reached one hand to pull the long strands out of her eyes.
"If aliens had to come to Earth, no wonder they came here."
Reluctantly, both Evy and Tallulah abandoned the window and walked back over to where Frank and Martha had spread the sheets on the ground.
"I'll go and keep an eye out," Frank's said, getting up to allow them both a chance to examine the blueprints. "Make sure we're safe up here. Don't want nobody buttin' in."
He walked off as Tallulah and Evy came to stand beside the kneeling Martha. "There's a hell of a storm movin' in." Tallulah commented.
"I wish the Doctor was here," Martha muttered, scanning the plans. "He'd know what we're looking for."
Evy said nothing, just crouched down beside Martha to pour over the documents.
"So tell me, where did you and him first hook up?" Tallulah asked Martha curiously, as if looking for something to talk about. Evy's fists clenched and she reminded herself to keep a hold of her temper- many people in the Doctor's travels assumed he and his companion were a couple. Personal questions went with the territory.
"Martha and the Doctor were investigating and picked me up in the back alley of a London club," Evy commented brusquely, appearing to focus on the plans. Carefully, though, she watched Tallulah and Martha out of the corner of her eye.
"It was in a hospital, sort of," Martha said, sitting back as she gazed at the plans herself.
"'Course, him bein' a doctor," Tallulah nodded, kneeling next to Martha and Evy.
"Actually, I'm a doctor," Martha smiled. "Well, kind of."
"You're a physician?" Tallulah's eyes widened and Martha nodded. "Really?"
"I was training. Still am, if I ever get back home."
"You could be doctors together! What a partnership. Oh, it's such a shame. If only he wasn't so…different. You know what I mean?"
Evy stifled a snicker. It wasn't mean spirited- just- the only woman the Doctor would ever really be interested in, right now, at least, was the mother she had left behind.
"Oh, you have no idea how different he really is," Martha muttered. Evy did sicker this time, and Martha winked at her.
"Yeah, he's a man, sweetheart," Tallulah grinned ruefully, not noticing the exchange between her fellows. "That's different enough."
Martha leaned back a bit. She looked over, and, seeing Evy focused on the plans, turned to look at Tallulah again. "He had this…companion a while back. This friend."
Evy's ears instantly perked up. Mum. Randomly, she grabbed a plan and pulled it towards her, stretching her ears to eavesdrop shamelessly.
"And ever since then he's been on his own. But you know, sometimes I say something or do something and he looks at me, and I just sort of think…that he's not seeing me. He's just remembering."
Evy's heart sank. She knew the Doctor missed Rose- but if he even forgot lively Martha for her, than how could he ever notice her as anything other than a tagalong?
Sternly, Evy told herself to quit moaning and dragged her attention back to the plans.
"Aw, listen sweetheart," Tallulah put a hand on Martha's shoulder, "You wanna get all sad? You wanna have a contest with me and Lazlo?"
"No," Martha shook her head. "But listen, if the Doctor's with Lazlo now, there's every chance that he could get him out."
"And then what?" Tallulah sighed, seeing that Martha had misunderstood the underlying issue. "Don't talk crazy. There's no future for me and him. Those Dalek things took that away. The one good thing I had in my life and they destroyed it." she choked up at the end, and stood, walking away to look outside once more, tears in her eyes.
Evy sighed. Poor Tallulah.
"Gotcha! Look!" She heard Martha exclaim beside her, and quickly turned to peer at the woman's discovery. Tallulah hurried back and knelt down beside Evy and Martha. She saw what Martha was pointing at- the base of the building's mast.
"There, on the mast. Those little lines?" Martha said, tapping the lines she meant with her forefinger. "They're new. They've added something, see?"
"Added what?" Tallulah frowned. Then all three women turned to look at each other.
"Dalekanium!" They all exclaimed in unison.
Suddenly, like a shock of electricity, Evy knew what they had to do. Abruptly, she stood up, wiping her hands on her still-borrowed jeans.
"Alright then, we've got to go and take that down."
"What?" Martha asked in confusion as she stood up as well.
"The Daleks put that metal up there for a reason, and that reason can't be good. So we've gotta go up there and take it down!" Evy explained. "I'll do it."
Martha looked at Evy, fully ready to argue- when there was a small ding from the elevator. All of them immediately glanced at it. The arrow was going up. "That'll be the Doctor." Evy said.
"And how do you know?"
Evy grinned. "Isn't it always? Doctor first, Monsters five seconds behind." Then she sobered, shaking off Martha's grip. "Let me do something worthwhile, Martha."
The woman opened her mouth again- and the elevator rose another floor. Evy's eyes flashed to the dial. "Just help him when he gets here!" She yelled, and dashed for the ladder up.
Martha sighed, making a futile grab for the girl as she dashed up the ladder. Above her, Evy gulped. This was high. Very, very high.