Yay, last part! Yeah, neither of these episodes warranted three parts, but it's okay...it all got covered. And now it's over, and we can move on to bigger and better things. Huzzah! I am glad to hear that people have enjoyed these chapters despite my complaints about the episodes themselves...I did have more fun writing them than I had watching them, and I loved reading your reviews of them, as always :)
oOoOo
"Alright, come on, everyone grab any kind of weapon you can find," she said, picking up a pipe and testing its weight in her hand. "They'll be up any minute."
"The lift's coming up," Martha said as the lift made another ding, and they arranged themselves in a line in front of the lift.
"I shoulda brought that gun," Frank said.
"Tallulah, stay back," Lazlo said, pushing her behind him. "You and Martha too, Rose. If they send pig slaves, they're trained to kill."
"Yeah, well, I've had some training too," Rose said tersely. "And I'm fairly certain that Martha's here's no pushover either."
"They're savages," Lazlo argued. "I should know. They're trained to slit your throat with their bare teeth."
Before they could protest more, Lazlo gasped and collapsed to the floor, Tallulah dropping to his side immediately.
"Lazlo?" she asked, her eyes going over him. "What is it?"
"No, it's nothing," he said, struggling to stand. "I'm fine. Just leave me."
He fell back to the floor and leaned against a wall, and Tallulah put a hand to his forehead.
"Oh, honey, you're burnin' up," she said. "What's wrong with you? Tell me."
"One man down and we ain't even started yet," Frank muttered.
"It's not looking good," Martha said.
"Nope," Frank replied.
"We're gonna get slaughtered," she said.
Rose glanced at them in worry, then heard the thunder outside and turned. "Martha?" she asked. "Remember when you first met us, how we told you about our mate Ben?"
"What?" Martha asked, confused as she followed Rose's gaze, then realization hit. "Wait a minute. Lightning."
They ran together to the other end of the room, Frank following quickly.
"Come on," Rose told him. "These metal rods, if can connect them from out here to the lift, then the lightning strike should take out the lift and anyone in it."
Frank nodded, and the three of them set to work arranging the rods across the room, making sure they were touching each other but not the floor.
"Aw, you'll be all right, sweetheart. Don't you worry," Tallulah was saying sweetly to Lazlo before rounding on them. "What the hell are you clowns doin'?"
"Even if the Doctor stops the Dalekanium, this place is still gonna get hit," Martha explained. "Great big bolt of lightning, electricity all down this building. Connect this to the lift and they get zapped."
"Oh my God, that could work," she said in surprise, and Rose rolled her eyes.
"Then give us a hand," Frank said.
They worked quickly for another few minutes until the rods reached the lift, stepping back to examine their handiwork when finished.
"Is that gonna work?" Tallulah asked doubtfully.
"It's got to," Rose said with a shrug.
"I've got it all piped up to the scaffolding outside," Frank said, and she nodded.
"Come here, Frank," Martha said. "Sit in the middle and don't touch anything metal."
They huddled in a corner of the room, away from the metal as they watched the lift come ever closer...then heard something slip. Rose cursed as they all turned to the rods in horror, jumping up and sprinting over to the one that had slipped out of place.
"Rose, you can't!" Martha yelled at her.
"Won't work if I don't!" she yelled back, pulling the rod back into place just as the elevator dinged open. She started to back away, but the lightening hit while she was still close, blasting her off her feet and several feet across the room. Martha stared in horror at her friend, even as the pig slaves began to fall in the lift from the electric current. As soon as it was over, she scuttled over to Rose.
"Rose, can you hear me?" she asked, looking her friend over and checking for a pulse. "Oh god...if you die the Doctor's gonna kill me." Rose groaned, and Martha let out a breath of relief. "Hiya," she said cheerily, if a little brokenly.
"Hi," Rose said. "We survived, then?"
"Yeah, thanks for that," Martha said weakly.
"All roasted," Frank said from his place at the lift, checking on the pig slaves.
"Mmm," Rose managed, nodding, then sat up straight. "The Doctor."
She scrambled to her feet and rushed outside, Frank and Martha in hot pursuit. She climbed up the ladder and froze when she saw the sonic screwdriver lying on the scaffolding. She shook herself quickly, picking it up and shoving it in her pocket before proceeding to climb up the side of the scaffolding. He had to be alright. He had to be. There was no way he could be—he had to be alright.
She made her way onto the platform at the top of the scaffolding, scrambling over to where the Doctor was lying unconscious and kneeling beside him.
"Doctor!" she cried, looking him over, relieved when she still felt the double pulse. "Found your sonic. You should really be more careful. You know you're useless without it. Oh...please wake up..."
She grinned when he groaned, the sound music to her ears. "Oh…my head."
"Hello," she said happily.
"Hello," he said, smiling weakly at her as he raised a hand to brush her hair back, and she held his hand in place as she turned her head to press a kiss to the inside of his wrist.
"God, the pair of you," Martha said in exasperation, shaking her head. "It's like you're not having any fun if you don't risk your life at least once. Also...I can't help noticing….there's Dalekanium still attached."
The Doctor sat up with a grunt of effort, looking at the mast. "Right...had a small problem with that. C'mon," he added, getting to his feet and beginning the climb down the scaffolding, the other three following closely.
"What did she mean, the pair of us?" the Doctor asked suspiciously as Rose hopped down off the ladder next to him.
"Oh...nothing," she said evasively. "Had some trouble down here, but it's sorted."
"Sorted," Martha snorted as she joined them. "I like that. As if you weren't electrocuted and blown off your feet."
"You what?" the Doctor asked, eye widening as his brows shot up.
"It was nothing," she said, shooting a look at Martha. "Was just a bit too close to the metal when the lightning struck is all. I'm fine."
He looked into the room and saw the metal rods lined up all the way to the lift…which was filled with dead pig slaves. That was one way to fix it. But if she had been near the metal…chances were, if someone more human, like Martha, had tried that, she'd be far more injured. Rose had gotten lucky. He shook his head in irritation.
"Rose..." he started in a voice that meant an annoyed lecture was forthcoming, but she cut him off at the pass.
"And that wasn't you unconscious up there, I suppose?" Rose asked pointedly, revealing that although she wasn't yelling at him, she was far from thrilled. "More to focus on at the moment that our mutual irritation at each other's disregard for self-preservation, yeah?"
He let his breath out in a whoosh, running a hand through his hair as he spun back around to look out at the city. She annoyed the hell out of him sometimes…but she also had a point, loathe though he was to admit it.
"The Daleks will have gone straight to a war footing," he explained as the others joined him. "They'll be using the sewers, spreading their soldiers out underneath Manhattan."
"How do we stop them?" Lazlo asked.
"There's only one chance," he said. "I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping though me first."
"But what does that mean?" Martha asked as he went striding back into the room.
"We need to draw fire," he said. "Before they can attack New York, I need to face them." He stopped, scrubbing a hand down his face and then through his hair again. "Think, think, think, think. We need some sort of space, somewhere safe, somewhere out of the way. Tallulah!" he shouted suddenly, spinning around to her.
"That's me," she said automatically. "Three Ls and an H."
"The theatre," he said. "It's right above them, and, what, it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?"
"Don't see why not," she said with a shrug.
He spun around again, taking in the dead pig slaves in the lift. Not gonna work, then. "Is there another lift?"
"We came up in the service elevator," Rose told him, turning and rushing toward it.
"That'll do," he said, following her. "Allons-y!"
They piled into the lift, and Rose turned to Martha, who had her arms wrapped around herself tightly.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," Martha said, a bit too quickly, before glancing up at her. "It's just...those pig slaves. They used to be like Lazlo. They used to be people. And I killed them."
"No, you didn't," Lazlo assured her as Rose put an arm around her shoulders. "The Daleks did that a long time ago."
"He's right, Martha," the Doctor said quietly. "If you hadn't come up with that, they might very well have killed all of you."
"Besides, you weren't the only one who thought of it," Rose reminded her. "Remember, me and my mate Ben?" She paused, rubbing the girl's arm. "I know it's hard, but you can't let the guilt get you too much. They didn't give us a choice...we did what we had to."
Martha nodded, taking a deep breath and standing up straighter as the lift stopped at the ground floor. They bundled out, hurrying out of the building and through the city towards the theater.
oOoOo
"This should do it," the Doctor said, climbing over the seats and waving his sonic screwdriver. "Here we go."
"There ain't nothin' more creepy than a theatre in the dark," Tallulah said, shivering as she pulled her coat tighter around her.
"We could be in a morgue full of ghosts," Rose mused, watching the Doctor scan the theater. "Or an old house being chased by a werewolf. Or in a pit talking to the Devil. Or—"
"Alright, I get it, yeesh," Tallulah said, holding up her hands. "The theater's not so bad." She looked over as Lazlo fell into one of the chairs beside her. "Lazlo, what's wrong?" she asked in concern, sitting beside him.
"Nothing," he said, wheezing a little. "It's just so hot."
"But…it's freezing in here," Tallulah said, frowning. "Doctor, what's happening to him?"
"Not now, Tallulah," the Doctor said, listening to the frequency on the sonic. "Sorry."
"We'll try to sort him out later," Rose said, but caught the Doctor's look as she turned to him and wondered if he'd be able to help Lazlo at all.
"What are you doing?" Martha asked.
"If the Daleks are going to war, they'll wanna find their number one enemy," he said, raising the sonic screwdriver above his head. "I'm just telling them where I am."
"So the Daleks are coming here?" Rose asked, looking around.
"Yeah," he said, his voice going all squeaky like it did when he was telling really obvious half-truths. Rose looked up at him sharply, and he glanced at her before looking back up at the sonic. "Them...and the human Dalek army they've raised..."
"Oh, that's just...fantastic," Rose said sarcastically. "How're we supposed to fight against them?"
"We're not," he said. "I'm hoping that getting in the way of that gamma radiation will make the whole plan backfire on them...but it could get dicey," he added, stepping down from seat he'd been standing on. "You two should—"
"Don't you dare," Rose said, glaring up at him. "It's one thing to follow Daleks that spared your life or to split up because we can't both be in two places at once, but I am not going to leave you here alone in the middle of a human Dalek army."
"Rose—"
He was cut off as the theater doors burst open and a stream of human Daleks flowed into the aisles on either side of them, flanking them and cutting them off from the exits. The Doctor cursed quietly as he spun around to watch them.
"Well I guess that's them then, huh?" Tallulah asked in a frightened voice.
"Humans," Martha said. "With Dalek DNA?"
Frank moved to attack them, but the Doctor grabbed him quickly, holding him back.
"It's all right," he said. "Just stay calm. Don't antagonize them."
"But what about the Dalek masters?" Lazlo asked. "Where are they?"
"Can't be too far behind," Rose said, glancing around. "Dicey, you said?"
"Could be, yeah," he replied, not taking his eyes off the army.
An explosion from the stage made them all duck behind the seats. Rose peered over the seats at the stage to see two of the Daleks trundle forward through the smoke, Sec chained and crawling on all fours between them. She glanced at the Doctor as he stood slowly and followed suit, the others rising slowly with her.
"The Doctor will stand before the Daleks," one of them ordered. Rose grabbed his hand, and he squeezed briefly before stepping over a chair and walking forward over the backs of the rows until he reached the front row, balancing on the armrests to gain height as he stared them down. "You will die, Doctor," the Dalek continued. "It is the beginning of a new age."
"Planet Earth will become New Skaro," the other Dalek declared.
"Oh, and what a world," the Doctor said derisively. "With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt. That's Dalek Sec," he said, gesturing to the now pitiful human Dalek hybrid. "Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new empire? Hmm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilization?"
"Listen to him," Sec urged, and Rose had enough.
"Bit rich, Sec," Rose spat, standing on a chair herself as the Doctor's head whipped around to look at her. "You're such the martyr now. But how many have suffered the same fate because of you? How many families have been ripped apart for the sake of Dalek supremacy? How many victims have fallen? How many millions have wept in front of the Daleks and been shown no mercy?"
"Rose—" the Doctor started, his voice filled with fear and warning.
"She's correct," Sec gasped out, and they both turned to him in shock. "My Daleks…just understand this...if you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you."
Rose stared. This was the same Dalek that, twice now for her, had been the leader of a plot that had taken nearly everything from her in one way or another. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around the fact that he was now urging change and spouting enlightenment. Judging by the Doctor's rigid stance, he was still struggling with it as well.
"Incorrect," the first Dalek said. "We will always survive."
"Now we will destroy our greatest enemy, the Doctor," said the other.
"But he can help you," Sec said.
"The Doctor must die," said the first.
"No, I beg you, don't," Sec said, crawling in front of one of it.
"Exterminate!" said the other, and the first fired—just as Sec struggled to his feet. Rose's hands went to her mouth as the leader fell, and she let Martha tug her back down to the floor.
"Your own leader," the Doctor said in disgust. "The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him. Do you see what they did?" he asked, turning to the human Daleks. "Huh? You see what a Dalek really is? If I'm gonna die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh? The Dalek-Humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptize them," he said, holding his arms out.
"What's he doing?" Martha whispered, but Rose simply shook her head, her eyes flitting between the Doctor, the Daleks, and the human Daleks to either side quickly. He said the plan would backfire on them. How was offering himself up to them again going to accomplish that?
"Dalek-Humans, take aim," one of the Daleks said, and the human Daleks collectively cocked their weapons and aimed at the Doctor while Rose watched powerlessly, one hand on her mouth and one held tightly by Martha.
"What are you waiting for?" the Doctor taunted. "Give the command!"
"Exterminate!" the Dalek ordered, and Rose closed her eyes, bowing her head. After a moment in silence, she looked up again slowly to see the Doctor still standing tall. She looked around, confused. "Exterminate!" the Dalek ordered again, but still nothing happened.
"Obey," the first Dalek ordered. "Dalek-Humans will obey!"
"Not firing," Martha said in amazement. "What have you done?"
"He got in the way," Rose said slowly in astonishment, looking back at the Doctor. "And it's backfiring…"
"You will obey," the Dalek screamed. "Exterminate."
"Why?" one of the human Daleks near the front asked, and all eyes snapped to him.
"Daleks do not question orders," the first Dalek said.
"But why?" the man asked again.
"You will stop this," the Dalek ordered.
"But…why?" the man repeated, this time looking up at the Doctor, who slowly lowered his arms, watching the man.
"You must not question!" the Dalek commanded.
"But you are not our master," the man said. "And we…we are not Daleks."
"No, you're not," the Doctor said just loud enough for them to hear. "And you never will be." He turned back to the Daleks, relaxing his stance as he buried his hands in his pockets. "Sorry, I got in the way of the lightning strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom."
"If they will not obey, then they must die," one of the Daleks said, shooting the man who had questioned them.
"Get down!" the Doctor yelled, and they all ducked quickly behind the seats as the Daleks and their creations fired at each other. There were screams as the human Daleks fell around them, then explosions as the Daleks on stage were defeated. When the shooting finally stopped, they cautiously stood up again.
"It's all right," the Doctor said, moving over to the hybrids. "It's all right. It's all right. You did it. You're free." He smiled a little, but then looked horrified as a high pitched whine was heard and all the hybrids clutched their heads. "No!" the Doctor yelled. "They can't! They can't! They can't!"
"What happened?" Rose asked quickly, kneeling next to him beside one of the bodies. "What the hell was that?"
"They killed them," the Doctor said, shocked and furious. "Rather than let them live. An entire species. Genocide."
"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed," Lazlo noted quietly. "One of the Dalek masters must still be alive."
"Oh, yes," the Doctor said, his face hard. "In the whole universe, just one."
He stalked back up the aisle and grabbed his coat, shrugging into it as rage boiled in him. Rose hurried to his side, putting a hand on his arm. He looked down at her briefly, a muscle working furiously in his jaw, before he swallowed hard and turned away, striding out of the theater. She watched him for a moment before going back to help the other girls assist Lazlo up and out of the building, following the Doctor back to the lab. They were silent as they made their way through the city, ending up in the lab in time to hear the Doctor attempt to reason with the last Dalek in existence. Rose's eyes closed when she heard the temporal shift and the Doctor's angry growl. They always survived.
"Doctor!" Martha called, distracting her as the other two girls pulled Lazlo further into the lab. "Doctor, he's sick." Martha and Tallulah gently lowered him to the floor, Tallulah cradling his head in her lap as the Doctor approached slowly and knelt next to the stricken man. "It's his heart. It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it."
"What is it, Doctor?" Tallulah asked fearfully. "What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe? What is it?"
"It's time, sweetheart," Lazlo said softly, and Rose saw the Doctor give him a sad look. She felt a growing sense of dread that this one might be beyond even him.
"What do you mean "time"?" Tallulah asked. "What are you talking about?"
"None of the slaves …survive for long," Lazlo said slowly. "Most of them only live a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on 'cause I had you. But now…I'm dyin', Tallulah."
"No you're not," Tallulah said forcefully. "Not now, after all this. Doctor, can't you do somethin'?"
"Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H…" the Doctor said sadly, then took a deep breath as the fight came back to him. "Just you watch me." He stood quickly, removing his coat and tossing it aside. "What do I need? Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look, I've got one," he said, grinning as he put his arms out expansively before running around the lab, mixing up some concoction. "Lazlo, just you hold on. There's been too many deaths today. Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age-old enemies. And I'm tellin' you, I'm tellin' you right now, I am not having one more death! Got that? Not one! Tallulah, out of the way," he ordered quickly, taking his stethoscope out of his pocket and putting it on. "The Doctor is in."
oOoOo
"Do you reckon it's gonna work, those two?" Martha asked as they once again stood at the edge of Liberty Island, looking out across the bay at Manhattan.
The Doctor had managed to at least stabilize Lazlo, even though he couldn't restore him, and Frank had convinced the people of Hooverville to give him a home. Tallulah had been thrilled, and had been spending all her time cuddling up to him without worry of his appearance now. Love had conquered all, it seemed.
"I don't know," the Doctor said. "Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them, but New York, that's what this city's good at."
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses..." Rose murmured.
"And maybe the odd pig-slave-Dalek-mutant-hybrid too," the Doctor added with a wink, and she laughed, rolling her eyes at him.
"The pig and the showgirl," Martha said with a laugh.
"The pig and the showgirl," the Doctor repeated with a smile.
"Just proves it, I suppose," Martha said, and they looked at her curiously. "There's someone for everyone."
The Doctor looked down at Rose for a moment, his face unreadable, before he swallowed hard and pulled her closer to press a kiss to her hair before looking out at the skyline again.
"Maybe," he said softly as Rose rested her head on his shoulder. The uncertainty of the word confused Martha, making her wonder again what had been going through his mind that day a few weeks ago when he'd looked so sad and thoughtful. She shook herself as the other two turned away and headed back toward the TARDIS, following behind.
"Meant to say…sorry," she said as they approached the ship.
"What for?" the Doctor asked, confused.
"Just 'cause that Dalek got away," she said. "Think you'll ever see it again?"
"Oh yes," he said as Rose unlocked the TARDIS. "One day."
"We always do," Rose said bitterly as they stepped inside. "Oh, by the way…" He turned to her curiously after throwing his coat over a coral strut.
Slap.
Martha's jaw dropped when she saw him stagger back from the monumental slap Rose had given him across the face.
"What was that for?" he demanded, holding a hand to his cheek.
"That was for not once, not twice, but three bloody times doing something monumentally stupid and damn near suicidal you stupid bloody Time Lord git," she growled as she advanced on him, and his brows furrowed as he swallowed hard. Then she grabbed his lapels and pulled him down for a hard kiss. He seemed to freeze for a moment before his arms went around her, holding her tightly against himself as the kiss went on. Martha was about to leave when Rose suddenly broke the kiss, stepping away from him and leaving him looking a little dazed.
"And…and that?" he asked, his voice squeaky.
"That's for being brilliant enough to know all of it would work," she said walking towards the console. He followed her after a moment, casting a slightly embarrassed glance at Martha before maneuvering them into the Vortex, Rose leaning against the console next to him. Martha moved to the jump seat and studied the pair thoughtfully.
"Doctor, how come you're their number one enemy?" she asked suddenly, and the other two both raised their eyes to look at her. "I mean, they said that more than once, and they certainly wanted you dead, even more than anyone else. Why?"
He glanced at Rose briefly before returning his gaze to her. "That war...the one Rose mentioned? The Daleks were the ones my people fought. Those four...well, not just those four, but particularly those four...they managed to escape."
"Like you?" she asked.
He hesitated, looking down at the console. "No, not like me. They fled into the Void."
"How did you escape?" she asked. She didn't miss the way Rose opened her mouth to say something, or the way she shut it again and looked at the Doctor in concern. He was looking at the console, stiff with tension. "Doctor?"
"I ended it," he said quietly. "I survived because I ended it. Everyone else died."
"What did you—" she started to ask, but stopped when she saw Rose's warning look.
"Anyway," the Doctor said loudly, looking up again. "So that was New York, 1930. On the other side of the grand old US of A, fellow by the name of Charles Chaplin has become a big name, and is, right now, finishing production of his film City Lights, due out early next year. What do you say we go see if he wants a hand, hmm?"
"Sounds good to me," Rose said with a smile.
They chattered happily, and Martha shook her head in disbelief. She didn't think she'd ever understand the Doctor's whiplash inducing mood-shifts, or Rose's ability to follow them. As they landed in sunny California, though, she decided that she had better things to think about at the moment than the Doctor's haunted past…which, she realized, was probably exactly his plan.