Daleks in Manhattan
The Laurenzi Theatre, Manhattan
17th October 1930
"Two minutes to curtain up!" The Stage Manager called, ringing a bell to alert all the showgirls into quick action. One of the showgirls, a raven-haired woman by the name of Myrna, came trotting up along the hallway, dressed in a glittering red costume dress with silver undertones that finished just below her crotch, leaving her legs bare aside from her heeled feet. She also wore tight red gloves that extended straight up to her elbows and had a red feather hair dress that bounced and shifted at her every movement.
"Two minutes to curtain up!" Myrna echoed the Stage Manager, and the rest of the showgirls, which amounted up to seven excluding her, all came rushing out of the dressing rooms, all wearing duplicate costumes just like Myrna's, and all of them were raven haired and fair of face. Myrna walked past a man in a jester's outfit, who was busy talking on a phone by the wall, and then another man in a full clown get up, who was staring sadly at his three juggling balls on the ground. "Come on, Ryan. You'll get your chance soon." Myrna called soothingly, and the clown gave her a smile that did not reach his eyes before he tore his attention away from the girls. Myrna and the rest of the showgirls picked up their only accessories for the event, being two large red feather wing props to be used as…well…wings. "Come on!" She called, and the rest of the ladies quickly fell into line behind her as they were to walk to the backstage. The woman that came up beside her was Lois, and Myrna gave her a bright smile. "Lois!" She greeted.
"You still nervous, Myrna?" Lois returned with a mischievous glance, and Myrna chuckled.
"No." They looked behind them to check that all the ladies had fallen into line, and they did. All except for one. "Where's Tallulah?"
"Where do you think?" Lois retorted sarcastically, and they chuckled as Lois quickly moved away from the line towards a dressing room, one reserved for the star of the show. She knocked thrice on the door and called teasingly, "Hey, Tallulah, leave him alone!" She ended the tease with a giggle as she left to rejoin the others.
Inside the dressing room was Tallulah, a very beautiful young woman with blonde hair and was wearing a different outfit compared to her co-stars. Her outfit was that of an angel, literally so, for it was pure white and silver, with its own attached feather wings and a silver halo tiara upon her head. She also didn't wear complimenting elbow length gloves, but her dress still ended just below her crotch and she only had silver complimentary heels to adorn her bare legs. But none of that was her concern. Instead, it was focused on the handsome young man that was snogging her to his hearts content, both of his hands lying upon her waist, and she had to break away with a giggle, despite her desire to continue with their sweet moment. "It's nearly show time, Laszlo." She said, looking deep into his blue eyes with a sad smile. "I got to go."
"Just promise me you'll come on Sunday, okay?" He asked earnestly, bringing one hand up from her waist to her bare arm. "My mother will kill me if she doesn't get to meet you."
"What if she doesn't like me?" She asked with a blink, and he frowned at her in slight confusion before it turned into a reassuring smile.
"Tallulah, that's foolish thinking." He quipped lightly, and it made her smile. "She'll love you just as much as I do."
Tallulah melted with an "Aww" which made him involuntarily kiss her once more. "You say the sweetest things." She cooed.
"It's true." He said earnestly. "Now, promise me. This Sunday, you'll come."
"I promise." She said, brushing his shoulders before she placed one finger upon her chest just below her collarbone and mimed a "X". "Cross my heart."
Laszlo smiled as he retracted a hand, to which he reached into his pocket and pulled out a white rose. "Here. Take this, sweetheart." Tallulah melted with a smile as she took it tenderly in both hands. "Wear it onstage and think of me."
Tallulah placed it within her dress before she gave Laszlo a puzzled squint. "How am I supposed to remember my song, then?" She asked, and he gave a playful groan.
"You know what I mean." He retorted as she gave him a kiss.
"Tallulah!" Lois called as she knocked on the door again, and Tallulah rolled her eyes. "Hurry up!"
"I'm coming!" Tallulah exclaimed. "Quit yelling!" Then, she turned to Laszlo with her smile returned, and with her arms folded up, she asked, "How do I look?" With that, she began to slowly spin around, and Laszlo took a step back, quickly giving her form an appreciative look.
"Like an angel." He commented.
Tallulah beamed, then she leaned forward to give him one final kiss before she moved through the dressing room door and in the direction of the stage stair. Before she did, she glanced back with a blown kiss and called, "Wish me luck, Laszlo!"
"Break a leg, sweetheart!" Laszlo called as she stepped away, leaving him alone. He wasn't in total silence however, as the calling and cheering from the audience in the theatre quickly came through the backstage, even as Laszlo walked over to Tallulah's dressing desk and mirror with a dreamy smile. However, his moment of gleeful peacefulness was broken as he heard a sudden scuffling noise from the doorway, and if he thought he was thinking straight, a squeal, almost like a pig. "Tallulah?" He called with a puzzled blink, but there was no answer. He moved to the doorway to glance down the hallway, but it was empty. The jester and the clown had long since left, either to go home or into their dressing rooms. Now it was just Laszlo. Except for a shadow, which dashed through into the props room at the end of the hallway amongst the shadows, closing the door shut behind it, as it gave a low grunting growl, once again, just like a pig. Someone is down here when they shouldn't be. Laszlo mentally muttered to himself before he called, "Who's there?" But there was still no answer. He, in what would be called by anyone else as bold foolishness, ran down the hallway and opened the props door, and was greeted by the room, dim of light but not pitch black, yet there was some light shining in through the doorway. "Hello?" He called again, as he walked further into the room, almost coming face to face with a wooden pirate statue when the door suddenly slammed shut behind him. With the absence of the hallway lights, the room fell into a near pitch black darkness, and he could barely see five feet in front of him. Turning sharply towards the door, he saw a figure standing there, but due to the darkness of the room, he could not see their features. "Who are you?" He asked with a clenched jaw despite his suddenly shaking nerves as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of matches. He drew out a single match, struck it against the box and lit the flame. He lifted the burning match up, and the light shined onto the face of the mysterious person. Only, it did not look like a person at all. It looked remarkably like a pig, teeth, ears, skin color, nose and all, but the rest of its body looked quite Human. Then, without warning, the pig man gave a sudden screech and charged straight at Laszlo, who could not defend himself as he was struck in shock from the features of the creature. The pig man grasped its hands around his shoulders and shoved him against the wall, and the impact rattled his brain into a hazy, ringing state of drowsiness instantly. For a few moments after, Laszlo could only remember the bare feeling of being hauled up by the pig man before his mind fell into deep, dreamless sleep.
Liberty Island
1st November 1930
Even over the calling of birds, the sound of the sea, or the ringing of bells upon the ships within the New York harbor, someone would still have been able to identify the strange groaning of an engine, accompanied by a sudden rush of wind, as a large, blue police box materialized out of nowhere right at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Then, a trio came strolling out. One was a tall, skinny man dressed in a blue suit and a brown overcoat, the second was a short woman with brown hair in black skinny jeans and a blue-gray sweater, and the third was a dark-skinned woman in a red leather jacket, a pink shirt and blue jeans. "Where are we?" Martha asked as she stared around at the bright day and the sea with a dreamy smile yet a puzzled look in her eyes.
"Ah! Smell that Atlantic breeze!" The Doctor beamed as he linked hands with Clara. "Nice and cold. Lovely." He commented, and he glanced down at a giggling Clara and asked, "Clara, have you met my friend?"
Clara blinked as he looked up, her and Martha glancing up and right there, looming above their heads, was the Statue of Liberty herself. Martha's jaw dropped while Clara's wide eyes gleamed at the sight. "Hello." She muttered meekly like a shy kid, and the Doctor laughed at her. "Shut up!" She flushed as he kissed her hair.
"Oh my god." Martha breathed out in amazement, not taking her eyes off the statue. "That's the Statue of Liberty."
"The gateway to the "New World"." The Doctor said as his and Clara's attention returned to the statue. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
"That's so brilliant." Martha sighed. "I've always wanted to go to New York." Then, she blinked and held up a hand at the couple. "I meant the real "New York", not the "New, new, new, new" one."
The couple shrugged, turning around with Martha to glance towards the city beyond. "Well, there's the genuine article." The Doctor said, introducing Martha to the sight of the city. "So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was "New Amsterdam" originally." The Doctor added with a sniff. "Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on. "New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam"." His words made Clara giggle, whilst Martha looked out at the sight of the Empire State Building, which was admittedly still a work in progress.
"I wonder what year it is." Martha mused before she pointed out to the building. "Cause look." The couple paused, looking along the direction of her finger towards the spiraling skyscraper. "The Empire State Building's not even finished yet."
"Work in progress." Clara deducted from its obvious incompletion. "Still got a couple floors to go, and if I remember my history right, we would be…somewhere in the 30's." She muttered with a shake of her head, and the Doctor squinted down at her. "What?" She asked, and he just raised his eyebrows at her. "What?" She asked again and he just rolled his eyes as he stared away back at the city. "What?!" Clara asked, her voice border lying on a childish squeak.
"Oh, Clara." He muttered with a sigh, and her jaw dropped incredulously at him.
"It's not my fault I don't know all of history!" Clara retorted with an embarrassed flush. "Do you know where we are?!"
""When"." The Doctor retorted, and she smacked his arm lightly.
"You know what I mean!"
"It would be the early 30's." The Doctor answered, and Clara gave a low growl.
"The actual year, not a rough guess!" Clara retorted, and the Doctor gave a low chuckle in his throat.
"Well, it would be-"
"November 1st, 1930." Martha interrupted suddenly, and they turned with incredulous glares towards Martha, who was looking down at a newspaper she held in her grasp.
"You can't do that!" They whined in unison. "That's against the rules!"
"Well, I don't know what rules you're talking about, but I did it anyway. Now, hush." Martha retorted with a half glare as she shoved the paper into their hands, leaving the couple to look down in a silent pouting mood like spoilt children into the paper, whilst she stared back out upon the city again. "That's nearly eighty years ago." Martha muttered to herself before she cleared her throat. "It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. And it's now." She said with an amazed laugh. Martha then glanced at the couple, who were still gazing down at the paper in their hands, but their expressions were unreadable. "Come on then, you two." Martha interrupted, and they broke their gaze away from the paper to look up at her. "Where are we going first?"
"Hooverville." They answered, and Clara placed the paper back into Martha's grasp, before tapping her finger upon the front-page headline.
""Hooverville Mystery Deepens"." Martha read, before she blinked, tilting her head back with a puzzled expression. "What's "Hooverville"?" She asked, but they didn't answer. She turned to look, but she saw them already entering the TARDIS, and she gave a groan. ""Sorry, Martha, we're just big fans of an elongated dramatic pause"." Martha mocked under her breath as she paced back to the TARDIS.
"We heard that." They replied, and Martha rolled her eyes wordlessly as she closed the doors behind her.
Central Park, Manhattan
"Oh, beautiful." Clara commented with a smile as they stepped out of the TARDIS into the park, instantly spotting the leaves falling from the trees upon the path and grass around them. "I love autumn." She said to the Doctor, and he just winked at her as he took her hand. The pair of them, with Martha in tow, began to walk along the path through the park.
"So, Hooverville." Martha said, and the Doctor drew in a short breath as he gazed around them.
"Clara." He said simply, and Clara looked to Martha beside her.
"It's named after Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of America, who came to power about a year ago. Up till then, New York was all a boom town, known as "The Roaring Twenties", and then…" She held out a hand to Martha, indicating that she could finish the sentence by herself.
"The Wall Street crash?" Martha concluded, and Clara nodded. "When was that? 1920…"
"9. 1929." Clara finished. "So, the whole economy got wiped out overnight, leaving thousands of people without jobs. Soon, due to the opportunities of getting paid growing less and less by the day, they couldn't afford to keep their homes. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. All of a sudden, the huddled masses doubled in number and had nowhere to go, nowhere to stay. And they ended up here, in Central Park."
"What, they actually live in the park?" Martha asked, and they nodded. "In the middle of the city?" Martha reiterated, and they nodded again.
"Hooverville." Clara introduced, pointing towards the entrance of a shanty town just up ahead of them as they walked up to its entrance, which fittingly enough, had an entrance archway with an engraved sign saying one word, "Hooverville". The first thing to greet them were men and women huddled together like they were freezing, either in the entrances to their improvised huts of wood or iron or worse, or huddling around fires within large barrels, and some were wondering about, either on their own, in a group, or even with a bike. "It's a shanty town, Martha, and there are places like this all over America right now. Hell, even back home there still is. Places with bad economy, not enough homes, you name it. But right now, it's the money, and no one either will help them or can help them." She said as they walked past two men huddled within their hut, coughing up an obvious illness or cold and refusing to glance in their direction. "You only come to Hooverville when you have nowhere to go." She said grimly.
"You thieving lowlife!" They heard someone snarl to their right. Turning around to look, they saw two men wearing flat caps by a fireplace right in the open, and one of them was throwing hooks and punches at the other man, who kept stumbling to the ground. "I have been waiting all day for a single loaf!" He cried, grasping onto the man's back with both hands even as two men tried to break up the fight, a fight that was already attracting a silent and tense audience, which the TARDIS trio stood within, watching without a word.
"I didn't touch it!" The other man defended as the man kicked him straight in the ribs.
"Cut that out!" A sudden and new voice ordered as a dark-skinned man in a brown suit, a trench coat, and a dark brown hat came up out of a tent and shoved himself in between the men, pushing with both hands to stop the fight. "Cut that out right now!" He ordered, and his voice right in the faces of the two men made them stop, but they still glared threatening daggers at each other as they shifted from foot to foot.
"He stole my bread, Solomon!" The first man accused with a finger pointed right at his opponent, and Solomon gave a sigh and a growl as he looked at the accused.
"Did you take it?" He asked simply.
"I don't know what happened. He just went crazy." The other man tried to defend, earning a snarl from the accuser, who tried to rush at him with his teeth clenched and his fist raised, until Solomon shoved him back again.
"That's enough!" Solomon snarled, before he looked at the accused and growled in a warning, "Now, think real careful before you lie to me."
The man blinked, and for a brief second, his fiery defensive glare turned into a soft pleading whimper. "I'm starving, Solomon."
Solomon just tore his gaze away to stare off into the distance, whilst he held out his hand to the accused and waited. The accused, with his gaze down to the ground in a sudden feeling of shame, reached into his ragged coat pocket and pulled out a single loaf of bread. He then handed it to Solomon, who snatched it out of his hands before he placed both hands upon it's two ends. "All of us are starving." He said simply as he carefully began to create a tear in the middle of the loaf. "We all got families somewhere." Then, he ripped the loaf completely in half, giving one half to the accused and one to the accuser but he held them still in place with a warning finger pointed to their faces. "No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules." He growled, turning away from the pair for a brief moment to look upon the faces of his sudden audience and he took a breath and straightened his back. "Thirteen years ago, I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did." He said, and his sudden address made everyone, including the pair beside him, straighten themselves up as they gave him their attention. "And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together." He reminded, flittering his gaze around the audience, and for a brief second, they landed upon the TARDIS trio. If Solomon's gaze resembled anything like suspicion or puzzled curiosity, they couldn't see it and he returned to his monologue. "No matter how bad things get, we still act like Human beings. It's all we got." Then, he shot a glance towards the pair beside him, and they nodded in understanding. So, swiftly but silently, he waved them away with his hand and the pair, along with their audience, began to disperse.
"Come on." The couple whispered to Martha, and they walked up towards Solomon. "Suppose that makes you the boss around here."
Solomon stopped walking, and he regarded the trio with an ever so slight squint of his eye. "And who might you be?" He asked.
"He's the Doctor." Clara introduced. "I'm Clara, and this is Martha."
"A doctor?" Solomon reiterated, and he gave a slight chuckle when the Doctor didn't deny it. "Huh. Well, we got stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighborhood gets classier by the day." He remarked as he moved to stand by a camp fire and held out his hands into the warmth of the flames.
"Got any teachers?" Clara asked. "Cause if you don't, then…" She trailed off, and Solomon briefly cocked an eyebrow in amusement.
"A doctor and a teacher?" Solomon chuckled as he looked to Martha. "What about you?"
"I'm training to be a doctor." Martha said, and Solomon shrugged.
"I'm a little surprised you can, considering the current state of America, and…" He paused, motioning a finger to their surroundings, "where you are currently at."
"You could say that again." Martha agreed in a mutter as she crossed her arms against the chilly air, and the trio moved to stand beside the fire as well. "How many people live here?"
"Any one time…" He trailed off with a shrug. "Hundreds. No place else to go." He finished with a sniff before he suddenly smiled. "But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society. Black, white, man, woman, all the same. All starving. So, you're welcome, all three of you." He said, and the trio gave him a nod in thanks. Then he gave them a curious look as he added, "Though, I got to say, you don't exactly look hungry."
"No, we're more…sort of visiting." The Doctor said, and Solomon gave a small snarl under his breath as he clenched his jaw.
"Come to see the freak show, huh?" He asked with a bite.
"Don't." Clara snarled as she glared back at him. "We can't offer no money, or food, clothes, firewood, nothing. We can only offer to help as ourselves."
Solomon moved his hands away from the fire and into his coat pockets. "You're not trying to deceive me just to make me feel better?" He asked, and Clara shook her head.
"I would rather do you harm than that, and I'm not here to do anybody any harm." She said, and Solomon just gave a wordless sigh and he relented, allowing Clara to relax her suddenly stiff posture.
"So, tell me, Clara…"
"Oswald."
"Clara Oswald, you any good at teaching?" Solomon asked curiously.
"Yep." She said with a shrug.
"I can vouch for that." The Doctor interjected.
"Same." Martha echoed, and Solomon nodded.
"So, explain this to me." He said, moving away from the fire slightly to point to the Empire State Building. "That there is going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?" Clara said nothing in response, only giving out a grim sigh, and Solomon didn't retort, so he wordlessly moved back towards the fireplace, leaving the trio in silence.
"Mr. Diagoras!" The Foreman, Mason Fifield, called to Mr. Diagoras, knocking four times upon the entrance to the works office. Said man, Mr. Diagoras, an American in his mid 30's, 6ft tall with blue eyes and dressed in a slick dark blue suit, and even his own raven hair was slicked back, groaned to himself in irritation as he tried to look over the blueprints to the Empire State Building. "Mr. Diagoras! The men won't stand for it!" Mason said, entering into the room, and it made Diagoras clench his jaw before he returned his gaze to the blueprints again.
"You said that yesterday." Diagoras said without turning his head, and Mason huffed at his dismissive words.
"Well, I'm telling you again, the men won't stand for it! I mean, are you out of your mind?!" He demanded, and Diagoras rolled his eyes. "I've got 500 men working seven days a week. They're flat out, and you want us to go faster?!"
"The new masters demand it." Diagoras said, trying his best to hold back the urge to just lose it.
"But we're on schedule!" He said, and Diagoras, slowly and as calmly as he could, stood up from his chair and stared at the man with his hands down by his sides. "What's the problem? Another month and we'll be done."
Diagoras gave a smirk at the man. Not a crooked, hollow smile, just a well-practiced smirk. "Perhaps I should reiterate." He said, moving over to the blueprint map stand of the building. "The building can't be completed by tonight, no, it's just the mast. Maybe, should I say, just a little bit more work." He said in a sly tone that Mason did not register.
"We can't complete anything by tonight." Mason said, but Diagoras could tell his new tone was starting to calm the man.
"It's just a little bit of work. Just a few panels." Diagoras soothed.
Mason gulped, thought about it, but, to Diagoras' inner irritation, shook his head in denial. "No way. It's impossible. We-we-we can't complete it, not tonight."
Diagoras let his smirk slide and gave out a sigh. "Then I suppose…it shall have to be an order to get it done." He said, trying to sound like he was only contemplating it, not already willing to do it.
"You sure?" Mason retorted, and Diagoras just cocked an eyebrow in challenge. "Well, one word from me, just one, and every man on this site stops working. So, go on. Tell your "Masters" that."
Diagoras shifted his gaze in a veiled mask of confusion. "Why would I do that?" He asked rhetorically, and it made the Foreman blink. "I suppose I could, but…wouldn't it be better if you just told them yourself?" He offered.
Mason, for a brief second, looked genuinely surprised, and he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah! I'm not afraid of any man in a suit!" He proclaimed, and Diagoras let out a well practiced chuckle of amusement, but he said no word in response to his proclamation. Instead, he walked over to the elevator at the end of the room and pressed the button to call the lift. "These err…these new bosses. What's their names?"
Diagoras gave a genuine shrug of puzzlement. "Didn't tell me."
Mason blinked at that, and he asked, "What are they like?"
"Um…" Diagoras thrust his hands into his pants pockets and thought for a small moment before he said, "They're from out of town."
"Italians?"
Diagoras gave him a dull glare at his question. "Bit further than that."
Mason moved his gaze back to the elevator doors and shifted on his feet for a moment in a sudden nervous puzzlement. "How much further?"
Diagoras gave out another of his chuckles as he shook his head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Oh, what's that supposed to mean?" Mason retorted, but Diagoras did not respond. "Mr. Diagoras, who are they? Who are we working for?" Mason demanded again, and Diagoras moved away from the elevator, and stood behind Mason.
"Behold your masters." Diagoras introduced as the lift rang out a "Ding" sound and the doors slid straight open.
What came out of the elevator both puzzled and shocked Mason. One single Dalek, Dalek Caan, and two humanoid pigs, and all three were staring straight at the Foreman. "What the hell?" Mason muttered, but Dalek Caan paid him no heed.
"I have been summoned. Explain. Explain." It demanded, and its threatening voice shook Mason to his very core.
"It can talk." He muttered as he began to pace away backwards from the advancing trio. "How does it talk? And what the hell are they?!" He demanded in a higher, more terrified tone as he switched his gaze to the pig men. "You have got to be kidding me."
"My apologies, sir." Diagoras interrupted, and his voice made Dalek Caan move its eyestalk to stare at the man. "I only called because this man," He nodded to Mason, "is refusing to complete the work."
"Then we must replace him." Dalek Caan ordered, and Diagoras gave a silent nod.
"Is anybody going to tell me what the hell is happening here?!" Mason demanded, but they all ignored him.
"Use him. Take him for the Final Experiment." Dalek Caan ordered, and with a few grunts and snorts, the pig men advanced and took a sudden and strong hold of Mason, and led him to the lift, even as he tried to struggle against them.
"No! Let go of me!" Mason protested, but the pig men only snarled in response as they shoved him into the lift. "Let me go, you freaks! Mr. Diagoras!" He called, but Diagoras did not emote anything as the lift doors slid shut and the man's screams were instantly gone.
"The Empire State Building must be completed on time." Dalek Caan reminded.
"It will be, sir." Diagoras reassured. "Labor is very cheap, and that man can be replaced."
"We calculated that the gamma strike has accelerated." Dalek Caan said. "We need more bodies immediately, or else the plan will fail."
"I will get right on it, sir." Diagoras said with a polite nod as he moved from the room.
"Solomon!" Clara called as the man exited his tent, now no longer wearing his trench coat, and he emptied out a jug of tea over the ground, just as the TARDIS trio walked over. "The whole story about men going missing. Is it true?"
Solomon frowned. "Where did you…" He trailed off as the Doctor pulled out the newspaper from his pocket and showed him the headline, which made him sigh in defeat. "It's true all right." He said, motioning for them to enter his tent after him.
"What kind of "Missing"?" Clara asked as Solomon took a seat inside, and the man held out a hand to the seat beside him. Clara sat in the seat, whilst the Doctor stood by Clara and Martha sat in the seat at the opposite end of the tent. "There's a few different ways of interpreting that one word, and it's not like anyone's keeping a register."
"It's a different kind of "Missing"." Solomon explained. "Someone takes them, at night. We hear something, someone calls out for help, but by the time we get there, they're gone like they vanished into thin air."
"Desa got snapped." The Doctor whispered to Clara in a high voice, and she flicked his nose hard. "Ow."
"Shhh!" Clara reprimanded before she looked back at Solomon. "And you're sure someone's abducting them?"
"Clara, when you've got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning." Solomon said, and Clara just shrugged wordlessly.
"Have you been to the police?" Martha interjected, and Solomon nodded.
"Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal."
"So, the question is, who's taking them and what for?" The Doctor mused.
"Not "What". "Why"." Clara corrected, and he nodded.
"Sorry, ma'am." He retorted, and Clara flicked his nose again. "Ow!"
"Solomon!" They heard a young man with a Southern accent call from outside the tent, just as his footsteps came up and pulled back the entrance. He wore similar clothes to the rest of the inhabitants of Hooverville, but he wasn't even in his 30's, and had black hair and a youthful face despite the grim and muck of the shanty town. "Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here."
Solomon immediately stood up and moved to exit the tent, the TARDIS trio quick in tow, and they saw Diagoras, wearing a black coat, matching gloves and hat, and he was already addressing a gathered audience. "I just need men." He called. "Volunteers. I've got a little work for you, and you sure look like you can use the money."
"Yeah?" The young man called out to Diagoras, earning his attention. "What is the money?"
"A dollar a day."
"What's the work?" Solomon asked.
"A walk down the sewers." Diagoras responded, earning a response of groaning and grunting from the audience. "We got a tunnel that collapsed, and it needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?" He asked.
""A dollar a day"?" Solomon quoted back with a scoff. "That's slave wage. And men don't always come back up, do they?"
"You're right." Diagoras agreed, and it made the trio frown. "And it is just because they get into accidents. And accidents happen." Diagoras said dismissively.
"What do you mean?" The Doctor interjected. "What sort of accidents?"
"Just accidents." Diagoras retorted. "And I suppose that if you don't won't the work, it'll mean more for somebody else." He then straightened himself back up again and asked, "Anybody else?"
"Ugh." Clara said mentally to the Doctor as she took his hand. "He's like a poor man's Baelish."
"You are being completely rude today, missy." The Doctor reprimanded, and Clara shrugged with a devious smirk.
"I could say the same about you." She retorted.
"Oi!" But Clara just giggled in his head as she wordlessly raised an arm into the air, and it immediately gained a suppressed look of irritation from Diagoras.
"Enough with the questions!" He demanded, and Clara looked positively confused.
"No, no, no, we're volunteering. Me and him." She said, pointing to an enthused Doctor.
"I am so going to kill you two morons for this." Martha growled into their ears, making them jump a bit in shock as she raised her hand above her head as a volunteer.
"Anybody else?" Diagoras repeated. There was no word in response, but the young man, and a somewhat reluctant Solomon raised their hands in answer.
The Sewers
"Turn left." Diagoras ordered as they jumped off the ladder and landed straight down in the dark, disgusting tunnels underneath the city. "Go about a half a mile. Follow tunnel "273". Fall's right ahead of you, you can't miss it." He said, finishing his order as the group before him turned on a flashlight each in their hands, shining them down the tunnel.
"And when do we get our dollar?" The young man asked, and Diagoras cocked his eyebrows up for a brief moment.
"When you come back up." He said obviously.
"And if we don't come back up?" The Doctor asked, but Diagoras remained silent to that.
"Don't worry, we'll be back." Solomon said to Diagoras before he started to walk down the tunnel with the young man behind him.
"Let's hope so." Martha muttered under her breath as she walked alongside the young man.
"Go on." Diagoras said simply to the TARDIS couple, who stared blankly at him for a few silent moments before they walked off to join the group without a word.
"We just got to stick together." The young man reassured. "It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here." He said as they passed through an open steel gate.
"You know, we never got introduced." Clara said with a smile to the Doctor.
"What's your name?" They asked in unison, and the young man just stared back at them in wide eyed puzzlement for a few seconds.
"They do that. Just ignore it." Martha said simply, and he just gave a slow nod in response.
"My name's Frank." He answered.
"Hello!" They beamed with a wave, and it made Martha roll her eyes in false irritation.
"Clara. Doctor." Clara introduced with a nod to herself and to the Doctor.
"Martha. Martha Jones." Martha interjected.
"Are they from…" Frank trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence.
"From the loony bin?" Martha finished, and he just nodded with a grin. "Nope. Much worse." She said.
"Oi! We're right here!" They retorted.
"Hello!" Martha retorted with a wave as she returned her attention back to Frank, just as the couple audibly rolled their eyes at Martha. "But what about you, Frank? You're not from around these parts, are you?"
"Oh, you can talk." Frank retorted, and Martha just laughed at that. "No, I'm from Tennessee, born and bred."
"So, how come you're here?"
"My daddy died." Frank answered solemnly, and it wiped the smile from Martha's face. "Mama couldn't afford to feed us all, and since I'm the oldest, it's up to me to feed myself. So, I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me, from all over. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a lookout for us." He said, motioning to Solomon.
He got a brief look of shock when they saw Clara and the Doctor walking alongside him as well, but Martha just answered, "They do that when no one's paying attention. They're like hobbits…in a sense."
"What's a "Hobbit"?" Frank asked.
"Uh…" Martha blinked, and a brief shake of the head from the TARDIS couple confirmed what she had to say. "It's a spoiler. Sorry."
"Okay." Frank said under his breath with a sigh. "What about you? You're a long way from home."
"Yeah, but I'm…not exactly a hitcher. More of a…walking troupe."
"They the entertainment, you're the boss?" Frank asked, and Martha laughed at that.
"Well, I don't want it to be the other way around." Martha said, and Frank chuckled at her words.
"You know we can hear you, right?" The Doctor called back.
"Yeah." Martha answered as she and Frank entered into a comfortable silence.
"So, this Diagoras bloke. Who is he then?" The Doctor asked Solomon as they took another turn in the tunnel.
"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan."
"How'd he manage than, then?" Clara asked.
"These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way round." Solomon responded.
"Whoa!" The Doctor suddenly exclaimed, holding an arm out in front of Clara and it caused the group to halt.
"What?" Clara asked, and he looked down at the muddy water covered ground. "Eugh!" She grimaced, for what lay on the floor looked like a soft, sickly green brain. It still looked like it was covered in mock flesh and dripping with wet slime.
"Is it radioactive or something?" Martha asked as the Doctor and Clara slowly knelt down beside it.
"Ugh!" Clara grimaced again, holding a hand over her mouth and nose as she motioned for Martha, Frank and Solomon to step back a bit. "Whatever it is, it smells gross." She said, and her grimace turned into a snarling glare as the Doctor placed his flashlight down, equipped his "Brainy Specs" and carefully picked up the mysterious and disgusting flesh. "And you just had to pick it up." She grumbled.
"Quite obviously not Human." The Doctor deducted in a low mutter. "And also organic."
"Can't you just use your sonics to scan it's DNA?" Martha asked, but they shook their heads.
"Whatever this is, its far less than a shadow of a shell of what it should be." The Doctor responded. "The sonic needs more." Then, he suddenly stood straight up, staring down the tunnel with squinting eyes. "And I'll tell you something else. We are at least half a mile in on the right tunnel and I don't see any sort of "Collapse". Do you?" He asked, and it tore the group's attention away from the rotting flesh. Martha, Solomon and Frank stared down the tunnel whilst Clara slowly stood up, her expression mirroring the Doctor's.
"Why would Mr. Diagoras send us down here?" Frank asked.
"Also, where are we exactly?" Martha inputted.
"The first one: No idea yet." The Doctor answered. "Second: We would be right underneath Manhattan." He placed the flesh inside his coat pocket, earning another "Eugh" from Clara, and he gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry." He said as she shuddered in disgust.
"You better." She said as the group continued to move forward, but now with more caution than before.
"And here, the crowning glory of the Empire State Building, the mast itself." Diagoras concluded his dull monologue about the Empire State Building to five men. The man in front, who was bald with very thin hair around his temples and had his arms crossed was the new Foreman, Ford Marks. "One thousand four hundred and seventy-two feet above New York."
"It's a beautiful thing, sir." Ford responded. "Every single one of us is proud of it. My wife says it's like a-like a spire reaching into Heaven."
"Except the gates of Heaven need a little decoration." Diagoras said, and his words made them frown a little in puzzlement. To lift that burden from their minds, he walked over to a small box, opened the lid and pulled out eight plates of Dalekanium and placed them carefully onto the table. "These plates have got to be fixed to the mast, right to the base itself."
Ford shrugged, as if the act didn't mean anything, yet the why did give him some puzzlement. "That's okay. It's not too bad. Shouldn't take too long."
"But it has to be finished by tonight." Diagoras added, and at once, the five men began to protest vehemently against him.
"What?!"
"Are you trying to kill us?!"
"Come on! We're flat out up here-"
"Don't argue with me!" Diagoras snarled, and his wrathful voice silenced the men immediately as he glared at them. "You have a new job to do. Get it done." He said through gritted teeth.
"But sir, men can't work up there at night, it's freezing." Ford protested, but his voice was weaker and more timid than the protest he made mere seconds ago. "Your hands go numb. You lose your grip, you fall."
"You don't get it." Diagoras growled back. "I don't care how cold it is or how tired you are. If you won't work, I can replace you like that." He said, snapping his fingers as he finished his sentence. "I will say this once and once only. Don't ask questions. Just take those panels and get to work." He ordered, and the men, timid and stiff in nervous fear, shuffled forward, took the panels and left the room.
Then, not much to his surprise, the elevator gave a "Ding" and the doors slid open, followed by the hovering and shifting whirring of Dalek Caan. "The conductor must be completed for our plan to succeed." Dalek Caan said as Diagoras took a breath to calm himself.
"Don't worry, sir. Unemployment is such an incentive." Diagoras responded as he walked with Dalek Caan towards the open view of the city below.
"Daleks have no concept of "Worry"."
"Yeah?" Diagoras muttered with raised eyebrows. "Well, you are lucky in that regard."
"This day is ending." Dalek Caan said, and it was true, regarding the soon to be setting sun, and its light over the world beginning to dim. "Humankind is weak. You shelter from the dark. And yet, you have built all this."
"It is progress." Diagoras responded, leaning against a steel pillar. "You have got to move with the times or get left behind."
"My planet is gone." Dalek Caan said. "Destroyed in a great war, yet versions of this city stand throughout history. The Human race always continues."
"We've had wars." Diagoras responded, and he heard the Dalek's eyestalk move to stare at him, but he kept his gaze out upon the city. "I've been a soldier myself, and I swore then that I would survive, no matter what."
"You have rare ambition."
Diagoras got a gleam in his eyes at the Dalek's compliment. "I want to run this city, whatever it takes, by any means necessary."
"You think like a Dalek."
Diagoras tore his gaze away from the city to the Dalek, and he stared at it in some puzzlement. "I will take that as a compliment." He said, though he wasn't entirely sure that it was a compliment.
There was a small moment of silence that fell between them before Dalek Caan suddenly proclaimed, "Your loyalty will be rewarded. Come with me." Then, it turned around on the spot and began to hover back towards the lift doors.
"Where are we going?" Diagoras asked, moving quickly yet timidly in puzzlement as he followed.
"You have been summoned by our leader." Dalek Caan responded simply, and Diagoras gave a nod.
"Oh, and about time, too." He said, suddenly feeling a surge of self admiration at his new achievement as he watched as the doors slid open by themselves. Then, they moved inside, and it slid shut behind them. They waited, and they waited as the elevator left Floor 100 and went all the way down, past the Ground Floor, past the basement to the Lower Basement, a Floor that had no physical access from the elevator itself. The lift stopped, the doors slid open and the sight that greeted Diagoras both amazed and confused him. It was a large laboratory, filled to the trim with science equipment and technology that he did not comprehend a thing about, yet the lighting in the room was mildly dim. It did not make the room dark at all, but it seemed to give it a sudden tense atmosphere that he began to feel within his bones. He shivered as he stepped out of the elevator, pausing only for a moment to pull his favored gloves out of his pocket and slip them on before he walked forward, Dalek Caan following swiftly behind. As he moved past the large stone pillars, he saw some of the pig men slinking about in the shadows, grunting and snorting to themselves as they watched him eagerly.
"I bring you the Human." Dalek Caan proclaimed from behind, and Diagoras watched with a small moment of shock as a black Dalek slid out of the shadows of the room and stood right in front of him.
"I take it you're in charge?" Diagoras asked with a slight timid nervousness.
"Correct." Dalek Sec said. "I am Dalek Sec, leader of the Cult of Skaro."
Right as it finished speaking, two more Daleks, Dalek Thay and Dalek Caan, emerged from around the stone pillars and move to a stop behind Dalek Sec. Their sudden appearance however continued to make Diagoras feel scared. "Then, Dalek Sec, sir, I am honored to meet you." He said earnestly despite his breath becoming a touch shaky. "Ever since you first contacted me, transmitting your thoughts into the corners of my mind, tempting me with such images, such ideas, I have always dreamt that the-"
"Cease talking!" Dalek Sec demanded, and it took Diagoras off guard for a moment.
"I just want to let you know how grateful I am-"
"I said "Cease"!" Dalek Sec repeated, and Diagoras promptly shut his mouth. "Slaves, secure the Human. Dalek Jast, prepare the chromatin solution!"
Two pig men strode forward and took a tight grasp of Diagoras' arms, to which he immediately began to struggle. "But you don't need to do that. I'm on your side. I'm working with you! I'm your partner! I'm your friend!" He rambled in nervousness as he wracked from side to side, unable to escape.
"We're way beyond half a mile now." Solomon said as they continued to walk through the tunnels. "There's no collapse, nothing."
"That "Diagoras" bloke, was he lying?" Martha asked as they moved straight into an intersection in the tunnel.
"Looks like it." The Doctor answered simply.
"So, why'd he want people to come down here?" Frank asked.
The Doctor and Clara exchanged a small look before Clara said, "Solomon, would you please take Martha and Frank out of here?" She asked, but the answer or a protest never came. Suddenly they heard the sound of squealing like angry and terrified pigs echoing all around them, and it made the group dart their eyes around the tunnels for any sign of a source, but there was nothing.
"What the hell was that?" Solomon asked, but no one had an answer for that.
"Hello?!" Frank called out, and the group quickly shushed him. "But what if it's one of the folk gone missing?" Frank asked, his voice now a whisper. "You'd be scared and half mad down here on your own."
"Do you think they are still alive?" Clara asked.
"Heck, we haven't seen no bodies down here or anything." Frank answered. "Maybe they just got lost."
The squealing returned, if only for a few seconds, and the couple decided to creep slowly down the left tunnel of the intersection. "I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that." Solomon muttered.
"Where's it coming from?" Frank asked. "Sounds like there's more than one of them."
"Wait." The Doctor said, holding a protective arm in front of Clara as they stared down the tunnel, his single word re-attracting the attention of the trio behind them.
"What?" Clara asked, and he just nodded wordlessly, pointing his flashlight down the tunnel. There, sitting amongst the darkness, was a figure, someone would be about as tall as the Doctor was, but they could not see his face, even with the flashlights.
"Who are you?" Solomon called, but the figure didn't answer.
"Are you lost?" Frank asked, but the figure did not answer him either. "Can you understand me?"
"It's all right, Frank. Just stay back." Clara said, and Frank nodded, agreeing to keep his mouth shut. "Let's have a look." She whispered to the Doctor, who nodded in agreement, and they started forward, yet their pace was slow and cautious.
"He's got a point, though, our mate Frank." The Doctor said to the figure. "I would hate to be stuck down here all on my own."
"But we know the way out." Clara said as they got closer. "Daylight, if you come with us…" She trailed off as she pointed her flashlight at the figure's face. The figure was a humanoid pig, and it was staring up at them with sad, downtrodden eyes.
"Oh, but what are you?" The Doctor asked softly, him and Clara slowly squatting down in front of the figure, but the figure just gave a small pig squeal, like a mumbled groan.
"Is that a…a carnival mask?" Solomon asked, but they shook their heads.
"No, it's real." The Doctor answered, and the gaze of the pig man flittered down to stare at the ground. "I'm sorry." The Doctor said, and he earned another weak squeal from it. "But I promise, we can help. Who did this to you?"
"Doctor. Clara." Martha suddenly called.
"What?" They asked, looking back towards Martha, who's gaze, and flashlight were pointed down the tunnel and straight past them. They turned to look, and they saw three more pig men standing there, looking straight at them.
"I think you both should get back here." Martha said as more pig men came up behind them, starting to form a large group before them. "Get back here!" Martha demanded as they started to advance, and the couple immediately got up to their feet and began to back away.
"Good idea." They said in unison, quickly rejoining the group as the numbers of the advancing pig men began to increase before them.
"Right then, Martha, Frank, Solomon." Clara said with a small gulp.
"What?" Martha asked through gritted teeth as they all began to back off.
"Err…basically…"
"Run!" They ordered, and they immediately sprinted off back in the direction they had come. The pig men all began to squeal out in loud rage as they raced after them, darting down tunnel after tunnel until it quickly became apparent to the woman in front that they had lost their way.
"Shit! Where are we going?!" She called as they raced past a side passage.
The Doctor and Clara however slid to stop beside it, and they spotted a ladder down at a dead end of the passage. "This way!" They called, and the trio quickly stopped and spun around towards them. "There's a ladder! Come on!" The couple then raced up towards the ladder and the Doctor heaved Clara straight up to the top, and she latched onto it before pulling out her sonic to work on the hatch.
"Come on, come on, come on, come on." She muttered before she heard a "Click" and a "Clang", allowing her to push the hatch straight out the way and she darted up into the room above. "Come here." She said, helping to pull the Doctor up with her as he quickly scaled the ladder and the squeals of the pig men got even closer.
"Frank!" They heard Solomon call as the couple helped Martha through the hole. "Frank!" He called again as he stayed at the bottom of the ladder, staring back down the tunnel.
"Solomon, come on!" The Doctor ordered, and Solomon quickly raced up the ladder, and the TARDIS trio pulled him up and into the room before returning to the hatch. "Frank!" He yelled, and Frank came racing into view as he took a grasp of the ladder, but he spent too long down in the tunnel. Before he could start to scale, the horde of pig men rushed behind him and took a grasp of his body and try as he might to hold on to the ladder, his grasp slipped, and he was pulled away. "No, Frank!" The Doctor exclaimed, right as Solomon pushed him and Clara away from the hole so he could slam and lock the hatch shut, preventing any of the advancing pig men from pursuing them into the room.
"We've got to go back!" Clara exclaimed, but Solomon blocked her from the hatch.
"No, we can't!" He denied as the couple stood up before him.
"We can't just leave him down there!" The Doctor snarled as he tried to advance, but Solomon shoved him back.
"No! I am not losing anybody else!" Solomon snarled back. "Those creatures were from Hell! From Hell itself! If we go after them, they will take us all, and I am not letting that happen!"
"All right then." A new voice entered, and they all spun around to the entrance to see a blonde woman wearing a black dress with a frilly pink collar and she was holding a revolver up in the air, pointed straight at them all. Her face set itself into an ice-cold look of accusation as she cocked the hammer of the revolver. "Put them up. Hands in the air and no funny business." Tallulah ordered, and the group quickly raised their hands up above their heads. "Now tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?"
"Who the hell is Laszlo?" Clara retorted, and Tallulah glared right back at her.
"Laszlo is my boyfriend." Then, Tallulah blinked as she suddenly reworded her phrase. "Or he was my boyfriend until he disappeared two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nothing." She said, and her revolver arm started to wave about as she rambled, and it made the group even more frightened of her. At one point, she pointed the gun straight at herself without even realizing it. "And I'm not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs but not my Laszlo. I mean, what kind of guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"
"Yeah, cool." Clara nodded as she held out one of her hands in front of her. "But it really would help if you could put that down."
"Huh?" Tallulah blinked, and remained still for a few moments before her eyes followed Clara's gaze to the gun and she shrugged. "Oh, sure." She said, and she nonchalantly tossed the gun away into a corner, and the group flinched away instinctively, but it did not fire.
"Jesus fucking Christ." Clara cursed as she glared with wide eyes at the woman. "What the f-"
"Calm down!" Tallulah retorted with a surprised snort. "It's a prop!"
A small beat of silence passed before the group said in sheepish unison, "Oh."
Tallulah, once again, just shrugged nonchalantly. "It was either that or a spear." She said as she leaned against the wall.
"Props." Clara muttered, and the group finally took in where they were. A props room. "Okay. Makes sense."
"Okay." Martha said as the group started to calm themselves down again. "What do you think happened to Laszlo?"
"I wish I knew." Tallulah said truthfully. "One minute he's there, the next, *Snaps*, vanished."
The couple started forward towards Tallulah with their hands in their pockets. "Listen, um…what's your name?" The Doctor asked.
"Tallulah."
They nodded. "Tallulah-"
"Three "L"s and an "H"." Tallulah quickly added, and they stared blankly at her for a moment before they nodded again.
"Right." The Doctor muttered, and he looked to Clara for help.
"We can try to find Laszlo, but he's not the only one." Clara said, and Tallulah furrowed her eyebrows at that. "There are people disappearing every night."
"And there are creatures." Solomon added with a shudder. "Such creatures."
"What do you mean, "Creatures"?" Tallulah asked as if she didn't believe him, but they didn't answer that question.
"Listen, Tallulah, please, just trust us." Clara said, and Tallulah let her disbelieving expression melt away.
"Everyone is in danger, and we need to find out exactly what this is." The Doctor said as he pulled out the rotting green flesh, and Tallulah instantly scrunched her face against it.
"Yuck." She breathed.
"Doctor, put that away." Clara admonished, and he quickly did so with a sheepish flush.
"Sorry." He muttered as he and Clara moved from the room.
"What are you doing now?" Martha asked with an incredulous scoff.
"We just said." The couple retorted in unison as they moved into a nearby room. "Whose room is this?" They called, and Tallulah immediately went to the door to peer inside.
"My dressing room." She said, and they immediately bounded past her and raced out. "What the hell?" She asked with a frown.
"Sorry!" They called as they moved into another room and began to rummage around inside. "Solomon!" They called, and Solomon moved into the room.
"Yes?"
"Can you find us some kind of working device, please?" The Doctor asked, and Solomon wordlessly left the room. "He's a bit grumpy, isn't he?" The Doctor remarked, and Clara just giggled at him before he returned to the work.
"The chromatin solution is ready!" Dalek Jast reported.
"Then our preparations are complete." Dalek Sec concluded.
"What do you mean?" Diagoras blurted out, and the Daleks focused their attention upon him. "Preparations for what?"
"This is the Final Experiment." Dalek Sec said, and it made Diagoras furrow his eyebrows.
"What do you mean? Like these pig men things?" He asked, nodding to the creatures that were restraining him, and it suddenly made him even more terrified than before. "You're not going to turn me into one of those. Oh god, please don't!" He pleaded.
"The pig slaves are primitive." Dalek Sec denied. "The Final Experiment is greater by far."
"But how does that involve me?" Diagoras asked.
"We need your flesh." Dalek Sec said simply before it back away from him just enough to grant some space. "Bring him to me!" It ordered.
"Halt!" Dalek Thay suddenly interjected, and whilst it did not quell the terror inside Diagoras, it did add a substantial amount to his bewilderment. "This action contradicts the Dalek imperative."
"Daleks are supreme!" Dalek Jast protested. "Humans are weak!"
"But there are millions of Humans and only four of us." Dalek Sec reminded, and it made the two fall silent. "If we are supreme, why are we not victorious?!" Dalek Sec demanded, and the two Daleks did not have an answer. "The Cult of Skaro was created by the Emperor for this very purpose. To imagine new ways of survival."
"But we must remain pure." Dalek Thay tried to protest, but it did not dissuade Dalek Sec.
"No, Dalek Thay. Our purity has brought us to extinction! We must adapt to survive!" Dalek Sec shifted its eyestalk down Dalek Thay's side, where some of its panels were completely missing. "You have all made sacrifices. And now, I will sacrifice myself for the greater cause, the future of Dalek kind! Now bring me the Human!" Dalek Sec ordered.
At once, the two Daleks backed off and the two pig slaves started to shove Diagoras towards Dalek Sec, but try as he might, he could not struggle himself free from their grasp. "I don't understand! What do you mean?! Get off of me!" He demanded to the pig slaves, but they did not listen.
"Behold the true Dalek form!" Dalek Sec proclaimed. There was some clicking and hissing from Dalek Sec, and then the casing opened up before Diagoras' widening eyes. Inside was Dalek Sec, a sickly green squid like creature, and it writhed and contorted its tentacles, glancing up at Diagoras with a single beady eye. "Now, join with me!" Dalek Sec said, and it started to open its body out, and it reminded Diagoras of a hideous reverse birth and it made him horrified.
"No! Get off me!" He protested as the pig slaves shoved him right in front of the casing. "I did everything you asked of me!" He said, and the pig slaves kicked him in the back of his knees, forcing him down to the ground. Dalek Sec's tentacles immediately wrapped themselves around him, and it made him completely still. "No!" He yelled, but Dalek Sec paid him no heed. The Dalek yanked him forward and into the casing before it shot its mouth out and around the top of his head. The last thoughts that ever came into Diagoras' head was that the Dalek's sickly green insides was all he could see before his vision was taken from him. His hearing quickly followed, and he could only feel slimy, wet, and icy cold. All until something had begun to enter his own ears, his nose, his mouth and even his own eyes. He tried to scream, but the strange and cold creature that filled his throat made the action burn, but it only grew worse with every second. He never felt his body change. He never knew when he died. Only something had gotten down his throat, to his heart, wrapped itself around the organ and then began to enter within.
"Doctor? Clara?" Solomon called as he entered the props room, and he moved through to the back, following the source of the clamoring noises, finding the Doctor and Clara hard at work as they tried to assemble…something. "How about this?" He asked, holding up a small radio. "I found it backstage."
The Doctor, who had taken off his overcoat and left it in the props room earlier, took one small glance at it before he quickly took it with a gleam in his eyes. "Perfect. It's the capacitors we need." He said as he opened the back up and began to gently take a couple of wires apart.
"What are you doing?" Solomon asked.
"You know that disgusting piece of a thing we found?" Clara reminded, and Solomon nodded. "We're trying to build a device that could tell us where it's from." At that, she blinked and quickly added, "It's going to be rather crude and may take a while. It may not even co-operate, but-"
"Clara, he gets the point." The Doctor admonished and with a shy flush, she returned to her work.
"But how about you?" Solomon asked. "Where are you two from? I've been all over, and I have never heard anybody talk like you. Just exactly who are you?"
Clara's eyes shifted a bit to the side in a moment of puzzlement. "I'm Human." She said obviously.
Solomon did not have a response to that, so she returned to her work as he looked to the Doctor. "Doctor?"
"Me?" He reiterated as he blew some air upon a piece of the radio he had just taken out, removing some of the dust from within. "Oh, I'm just sort of passing by."
"I am not a fool, Doctor." Solomon retorted with a glare, and that made the Doctor give out a sigh as he straightened himself up.
"No, you're not." The Doctor said. "Sorry."
Solomon's gaze fell to the floor for a second as he clutched a hand at his suit. "I was scared." He admitted after a moment, and their gazes softened at his words. "I let them take Frank because I was just so scared." Then, he took a breath and straightened himself back up. "I got to get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we got to protect ourselves." He said.
"Good luck." They quickly said just as he was about to move away, and for a moment, he stopped and gave them a courteous nod.
"I hope you find what you're looking for. For all our sakes." He said earnestly before he left without another word.
"Tallulah?" Martha asked as she turned back to the woman, who was now completing her angel outfit for her performance.
"Yeah?"
"Why haven't you reported Laszlo as missing?" She asked, and Tallulah gave a scoff.
"Sure. He's just a stagehand, who cares? The management certainly don't."
"Can't you kick up a fuss or something?"
"Okay, so then they fire me." Tallulah retorted with a chuckle.
"But they'd listen to you. You're one of the stars." Martha reassured, but Tallulah shook her head.
"Oh, honey, I got one song in a back-street revue and that's only because Heidi Chicane broke her ankle." She said, and she quickly held up a hand with a glare. "Which had nothing to do with me, whatever anybody says."
"I said nothing." Martha said with a shake of her head.
"Besides, I can't afford to make a fuss." Tallulah said with her glare melted away. "If I don't make this month's rent, then before you know it, I'm in Hooverville." She gave a sniff before she glanced back up at Martha, and said with a shrug, "It's the Depression, sweetie. Your heart might break, but the show goes on. Because if it stops, you starve." She slowly stood up from her chair, her outfit now complete, and she gave Martha a sad look. "Every night I have to go out there, sing, dance, keep going. But…I have to hope that he's going to come back." She said, and for a small moment, there were a couple of tears in her eyes, but she held them back and wiped the two stray drops away. "Hey, you're lucky, though. You got yourself a forward-thinking guy with that hot potato in the sharp suit." She said, and just before Martha could protest, she added, "Plus the gorgeous little minx in the sweater with the big eyes." Then, she swooned. "Oh, those eyes! I just wanna poke them out with hot pincers, they're so cute!" She said, and her sudden sharp tone made Martha back her head a bit with wide eyes. "Oh, sorry." Tallulah squeaked, and Martha let out a gasp of a chuckle.
"For the record, they're together, not me and them…you know." Martha said, and Tallulah's eyes widened.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." She said with a sudden laugh, and Martha involuntarily echoed it. "How did those two meet, might I ask?" Tallulah asked as she walked away from the mirror to her props stall and picked up her white feather wings and placed them on.
"Santa Claus."
Tallulah stopped and looked at Martha with a frown. "Don't be ridiculous." She retorted, and Martha just shook her head without a word, making Tallulah's eyes widen again. "You're joking?"
Martha shook her head. "Nope."
Tallulah blinked once, and then she shook her head with her lips pursed. "Nope. Not getting into that rabbit hole." She said, and Martha gave a laugh as she walked back to her dressing table and picked up a single white rosebud. "Still, you got to live in hope. Whether you're waiting for the right moment to come, or for the right one to come back." She said as she held it up to Martha. "Look, on my dressing table, every day still." She said, and Martha glanced between her and the rose.
"You think it's Laszlo?" Martha asked, and Tallulah nodded. "Why? How would you know?"
Tallulah sighed. "Because before he went "Vamoose", every day he'd wait for me after the show, then he'd walk me home like I was a lady. But he also would leave a single flower for me right here." She said, tapping her dressing table. "Every day, and just one rose." She said as she put the rosebud into her dress. "But that begs the question. If he's still around, why is he being all secret like he doesn't want me to see him?" Martha did not have an answer for that, and Tallulah gave a sigh as she moved to the door of the room. Standing in the hallway, she stared down as her co-star girls came up to greet her, and she let a wide smile spread across her face. "Girls, it's show time!" She announced.
"Lois, you spoil my chasse tonight, I'm going to punch you." Myrna warned as she did a single last check of her hair, only smiling when she was sure.
"Aw, quit complaining, Myrna. Go buy yourself some glasses." Lois retorted as they walked past Tallulah, greeting her with a nod and a smile as Tallulah turned to the door of her dressing room.
"Come on, honey. Take a look. Ever been on stage before?" She asked as Martha leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed.
"Oh, a little bit." She said with a small shrug. "Shakespeare."
"How dull is that?" Tallulah retorted, and Martha gave out a snort at her words. "Come and see a real show." She said as she took Martha's hand and led her to the backstage, stopping her only when they reached the side curtain. "You get a great look from here." She said as she moved onto the stage, just before the curtain would roll back.
"Clara, turn on that light, please." The Doctor said as they sat and worked alone in a silent lighting gallery, it's next door neighbor both occupied and full of noise and life as they knew a show was about to start.
Clara got up from the small table that they had placed the flesh upon and moved up to a "Borrowed" stage light, and she flicked it on, shining the light down onto the flesh. "There we go." She said, popping right back down again.
"We need to insert these in." He said, giving her a few wires with small needles at the end.
"Yuck." She muttered as she slid them into the flesh.
"I know." The Doctor said simply as he pulled up a small console, switched it on, and began to turn some of the dials. His work created a whirring sound from the console, and he glanced over at the flesh with a frown. "Let's see…" He muttered under his breath as he took out his "Brainy Specs". "Clara, any deductions?" He asked as Clara knelt beside him.
"Well…" Clara, even though she didn't like getting close to the pungent and foul flesh, she did so anyway to get a closer look. "Obviously it was going to be some kind of life form, if…" She took a small needle and poked a gentle hole in the flesh, which caused it to spasm for a short moment before it settled, "a nervous system means anything." She finished, placing the needle down as the Doctor placed a hand under his chin with an inquisitive gaze. "I'd say from the color of the flesh being rather…shall we say, light, it would be rather young, but not too young to be THAT recent." She said, and the Doctor nodded. "And the obvious being that it isn't Human." She said, and the Doctor smirked.
"You're getting good." He complimented, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek, and she just giggled.
"Anything from the…" She pointed to the console with a frown, "thing-scanner-thing?" She asked, and he rolled his eyes at her poor naming.
"Well…" He turned a dial, and plugged in a pair of cut stethoscope earbuds and he listened, yet the result made him a bit puzzled. "This is genetically engineered. Whoever made this…" He let out a breath as he suddenly grinned at her, "oh, they were clever. But they must have been working with limited technology, or…they managed to improve." He said with a small shrug. He waited a small moment as he listened to more and he took of his "Brainy Specs" to rub his eyes. "Fundamental DNA type "467-989"." The Doctor said, and he took out his earbuds to place them down. ""989", where do I remember that?" He muttered as he rubbed his cheek. "Planet of origin, planet of origin, planet of origin. That would mean…" Then suddenly, he stopped, and he slowly looked down at the flesh with an expression of utter dread.
"Doctor?" Clara asked, for she did not like that expression on his face.
"Skaro." He said finally, and that answer made Clara's eyes widen to match his.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" They heard a man call from the nearby theatre, and the applause and cheering ceased for a small moment. "The Laurenzi Theatre presents "The Dancing Devils" with Heaven and Hell!"
"Martha." They muttered at once as the theatre blew up in applause and cheering, followed quickly by the sound of music and they rushed out of the room and towards the theatre, where they could already hear Tallulah beginning to sing.
You lured me in with your cold gray eyes
Your simple smile, your bewitching lies
One and one and one is three
My bad, bad Angel, the Devil in me!
You put the Devil in me!
My bad, bad Angel, you put the Devil in me!
By the time they had already gotten to the backstage and raced up the steps to see the performance, the song had turned instrumental, to which Tallulah and her co-stars were dancing around in the center of the stage, but there was no sign of Martha. "Where is she?" The Doctor muttered to Clara, but she had a different answer.
"Who's that?" She pointed to the other side of the stage. Standing in the shadows and watching the performance was a figure, who looked somewhat like one of the pig men. Yet, he wasn't. His mouth and nose were, sure, but his hair and especially his eyes were Human, and his gaze was both admiring and sad. Then, his gaze shifted to the back curtain, where the couple noticed that someone was moving behind it. His eyes flittered wide in a sudden shock and he sprinted away and out of sight.
"Wait!" They heard Martha's voice call, and she emerged from the other side of the curtain and raced after him.
"Shit." Clara swore, and she and the Doctor looked at the performance to see the ladies splitting up to dance around the stage. "Got any other ideas?" She asked.
"Nope." The Doctor responded, and quickly they sprinted onto the stage, trying their best to hide behind the ladies as they moved towards the other side. When they reached the half way point, a lady they did not recognize, whose name was Myrna, suddenly noticed them, and in her moment of confusion and loss of focus, she tripped on her own costume tail and fell into Tallulah.
"What are you doing?!" Tallulah hissed under her breath, and the audience began to laugh at the sudden silliness of the action.
"What are they doing?!" Myrna hissed back, and Tallulah looked to see the Doctor and Clara emerging from behind the ladies and onto the other side of the stage. Then, just faintly over the noise of the room, but not too faint so that the couple or even Tallulah could not hear, they heard Martha let out a horrified scream, and it was quickly silenced.
"Martha!" They called, and they raced down the hallway, unknowingly followed by Tallulah, and the sound of a disappointed audience lay behind them. They saw a shadow just behind the door of the props room and they raced after, hearing a clang of the sewer hatch before silence fell. The Doctor and Clara moved to the back of the room and found that the sewer hatch had not closed properly behind whoever had entered with Martha, for there was no sign of their friend anywhere.
"Where are you two going?!" Tallulah shrieked after them as she raced into the room, tearing off her white feather wings as she did.
"They've taken her." Clara responded.
"Who's taken her? What're you doing?" Tallulah asked as the Doctor put his overcoat back on whilst Clara opened the hatch all the way. "I said, what the hell are you doing?" Tallulah repeated, but the couple ignored her completely, and she groaned in irritation. "Crazy weirdos." She growled as she took a large black fur coat and slipped it over her shoulders. Just as she started for the hole, she nearly tripped due to her heels, and she tore them off to replace them with a pair of brown boots before she went down the ladder.
"No, no, no, no, no way!" Clara retorted, stopping Tallulah mid descent. "You're not coming."
"Tell me what's going on." Tallulah demanded, and the Doctor just raised his eyebrows.
"There's nothing you can do, Tallulah. Go back." The Doctor said simply.
"Look, whoever's taken Martha, they could've taken Laszlo, couldn't they?" She asked as she descended down the ladder and stepped onto the ground to face them.
"Tallulah, you're not safe down here." The Doctor said calmly.
"Then that's my problem." Tallulah retorted. "Come on. Which way?" She asked as she started off down the tunnel in front of her.
"Wrong one." They said in unison, and Tallulah turned around with a groan, and she followed them down a different tunnel as they held two flashlights out in front of them.
"Hold on, when you say "They've taken her", who's "They" exactly?" Tallulah asked. "And who are you two anyway? I never asked."
"I'm Clara Oswald." She introduced before nodding to the Doctor. "This is the Doctor."
"A doctor?" Tallulah reiterated with raised eyebrows. "Really?" She muttered before she shrugged. "Mum's always said, "Marry a doctor or a lawyer and you're made for life"." She gave a small scoff however at those words. "It's just my luck. I find a doctor but not only is he already into someone else, he's also into show tunes."
"Shhh!" They quickly hushed, as they both were sure that they saw a moving shadow past a turn just up ahead, but Tallulah just rolled her eyes.
"Okay, okay-"
"Shush!" Clara admonished, and Tallulah briefly blinked at the glint in her eyes. The Doctor and Clara continued to stare down the tunnel until the shadow started to turn into a universally recognizable silhouette.
"I mean, you're both really good looking and all-" Tallulah was cut off as the Doctor covered her mouth with his hand, and with Clara's help, they pulled a frightened Tallulah into a dark service alcove, Clara in front as she braced her arms against the wall. Tallulah struggled for just a moment before an unrecognizable whirring sound came into her ears and she stopped with a frown. She then saw a shadow passing by right in front of her before a Dalek past right in front of their eyes and then was gone. Tallulah's eyes were wide at the sight that had greeted her, before Clara and the Doctor relaxed their guard on her, and they stepped slowly out from the alcove.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." The Doctor muttered as he stared down the tunnel at the Dalek that was leaving them behind. "They survived." He muttered with a grim and bitter tone that made Clara instinctively take his hand in her own. "They always survive while I lose everything." A small tug from Clara made him give a sigh and his tone softened just a bit.
"That metal thing." Tallulah muttered as she stared down the tunnel with them. "What was it?"
"It's called a "Dalek"." The Doctor responded. "And it's not just metal, it's alive."
"You're kidding me." Tallulah scoffed.
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" The Doctor spat out, and Tallulah silenced herself. "Inside that shell is a creature born to hate, whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek too. It won't stop until it's killed every Human being alive."
"But if it's not a Human being, that kind of implies it's from outer space." Tallulah said, and a dull glare from the couple confirmed it for her. "Yet again, that's a no with the kidding. Boy." She breathed out, suddenly feeling a little tense. "Well, what's it doing here in New York?" Neither of the couple, to her slight disappointment, had an answer. However, what she did not expect was that they took her by the arms and started to haul her back in the direction they had come. "What are you doing?!" She demanded, trying to struggle against them, but their grips were tight.
"Every second you're down here, you're in danger." The Doctor answered with a slight spat. "We're taking you back right now." They rounded a corner, and they saw the pig man from the stage earlier coming in their direction. Tallulah immediately gave out a screech, and the pig man darted into a dark corner to hide. "Where's Martha? What have you done with her?!" The Doctor demanded, him and Clara letting go of Tallulah and striding over towards the pig man. "What have you done with Martha?"
"I didn't take her." The creature replied in…a surprisingly Human voice. They lifted their flashlights up to his face, but he kept it hidden away by his shoulder.
"Doctor." Clara said, putting a hand on his own shoulder. "Calm down." She said, and the Doctor gave a sigh and a nod, before Clara asked the stranger, "Can you remember your name?"
"Don't look at me." Was all he said, and it made the couple frown.
"Do you know where she is?" Tallulah blurted out, and she took a few steps forward.
"Stay back!" The pig man demanded, and Tallulah stopped. "Don't look at me."
"What happened to you?" The Doctor asked, and the pig man turned his head just enough for them to see his features at a better angle.
"They made me a monster." The stranger admitted.
"Who did?"
"The masters."
"The Daleks." The Doctor immediately deducted, and the pig man did not rebuff it in the slightest. "Why?"
"They needed slaves." He answered. "They needed slaves to steal more people, so they created us. Part animal, part Human. I escaped before they got my mind, but it was still too late."
"Do you know what happened to Martha?" Clara interjected, and his gaze drifted down in a sudden self guilt.
"They took her." He answered, and he closed his blue eyes with a sigh. "It's my fault. She was following me."
"Were you in the theatre?" Tallulah asked.
"I never…" The pig man started before he closed his eyes, gave a gulp, and admitted, "Yes."
"Why?" Tallulah asked with a frown. "Why were you there?"
"I never wanted you to see me like this." Was all he said, and it just made Tallulah both frightened and a bit confused.
"Why me? What have I got to do with this?" Tallulah demanded, but before the stranger could answer, she followed it up with another question. "Were you following me? Is that why you were there?"
There was a small moment were nothing happened, until the pig man turned around so that Tallulah could see him, and her eyes widened at the sight of his features. "Yes." He finally answered.
"Who are you?" Tallulah asked, and the pig man shifted, as if he didn't want to answer.
"I was lonely…" He tried, but Tallulah cut him off.
"Who are you?" She asked again, starting forward towards him.
"I needed to see you…" He tried, but Tallulah cut him off again.
"Who are you?" She asked, coming to a stop right in front of him, and he turned away from her.
"I'm sorry." He blurted, but Tallulah quickly grasped his arm.
"No, wait." She pleaded, and he turned back around to look at her. "Let me look at you." She said, and he allowed her to push him just slightly back so he could be in the light, coming through the roof of the tunnel. The light illuminated his features and for a brief second, Tallulah could only gaze in confused shock. Then, as she scanned the features that were still Human, the black hair, the blue eyes, it started to click, and her voice was already choking up as she asked in a whimper, "Laszlo?" The man blinked, and his tried his best to smile, but it was crooked and sorrowful. "My Laszlo?" She reiterated, and the man, after a gulp, gave a small nod, and it made her choke out a small sob. "Oh, what have they done to you?" She asked, but he did not answer that question.
"I'm sorry." Was all he said. "So sorry."
The Doctor and Clara just exchanged a somber look before Clara stepped forward. "Laszlo, can you show us where they are?" She asked.
"But they'll kill you." Laszlo protested.
"If we don't stop them," The Doctor interjected, "they will kill everyone."
Laszlo's gaze flittered between the two of them, then back to Tallulah, and he nodded. "Then follow me." He said, and they followed him down a tunnel. As they carried on for just a short minute, they could hear the squealing of more, proper pig men, and the shuffling of feet and panicked, bewildered voices. Laszlo turned to them, and held up a finger to his lips, and they inched up towards a wall to see a group of people being huddled up together, and among them was Martha and Frank, both, despite being scared out of their minds, were perfectly fine.
"Thank you, Santa." Clara muttered in a light quip, feeling the Doctor stroking her hand with his thumb in agreement.
"What are they doing?" Frank tried to ask. "What's wrong-"
"Silence! Silence!" Dalek Caan's voice called out in order. On instinct, Laszlo hid further into the shadows whilst the Doctor clenched his jaw and glared a gaze of fire as the Dalek came out into view and in front of the group. "You will form a line. Move. Move!" Dalek Caan ordered, and some of the men immediately began to protest and struggle against the pig slaves.
"Just do what it says, everyone, okay?!" Martha called. "Just obey!"
"The female is wise." Dalek Caan commented as it moved to a stop right in front of her, and Martha gulped at its compliment. "Obey."
"Report." Another Dalek voice, that of Dalek Thay, ordered as it came into view, and Dalek Caan turned around to face it.
"These are strong specimens. They will help the Dalek cause. What is the status of the Final Experiment?"
"The what?" The Doctor muttered with a blink.
"The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete." Dalek Thay answered.
"Then I will extract prisoners for selection." Dalek Caan then turned around as a pig man dragged an older, dark skinned man forward in front of him. "Intelligence scan. Initiate." Dalek Caan raised its manipulator arm up towards his face, and began to spin it around. "Reading brain waves." It said, and a tense silence fell for a few quick seconds before it proclaimed, "Low intelligence."
The manipulator was lowered back again, whilst the man just stared at the Dalek with incredulous offense. "Are you calling me "Stupid"?!"
"Silence!" Dalek Caan ordered, and the man kept quiet. "This one will become a pig slave. Next!"
Two of the pig slaves grasped onto his arm and started to drag him away, struggling as he went. "No, let go of me! I'm not becoming one of them! No!" He exclaimed, and his struggling words became incoherent as he disappeared out of sight.
"Intelligence scan. Initiate." Dalek Caan said to the next man.
"What are they doing?" Tallulah asked, just before the Doctor or Clara could ask Laszlo, but he answered anyway.
"They're divided into two groups. High intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become pig slaves like me."
"Well, that's not fair." Tallulah retorted, and the three of them quickly shushed her, as her voice got a little too high, but none of the party up ahead had heard her, thankfully. "You're the smartest guy I ever dated." She whispered, and Laszlo sent her a very grateful look.
"And the others?" The Doctor asked.
"They're taken to the laboratory." He answered, and the couple blinked in puzzlement.
"Why? What for?" Clara asked, and he just shrugged.
"I don't know. The masters only call it the "Final Experiment"."
"Superior intelligence." Dalek Caan declared, and they looked back to see that it had been scanning Frank, to the couple's relief. Then, it turned to Martha, and the Doctor and Clara felt themselves getting tense once again. "Intelligence scan. Initiate." It raised its manipulator arm up to her head, and began its scan. "Reading brain waves." A few small moments passed, fill only by Martha's fearful gaze staring at the Dalek before it proclaimed, "Superior intelligence." The Doctor and Clara gave out a small sigh of relief as Dalek Caan said, "This one will become part of the Final Experiment."
"You can't just experiment on people!" Martha screeched in retort, and the couple found they were both surprised and genuinely impressed with her attitude against a Dalek. "It's insane! It's inhuman!"
"We are not Human." Was all Dalek Caan said in retort, and Martha just glared right back at it as it turned away. "Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory."
"Look out, they're moving!" Clara said, pulling Laszlo away and she shoved him back to Tallulah before she linked hands again with the Doctor. They watched as the two Daleks came up through the tunnel, followed by a thinned line of the prisoners and some of the pig slaves.
"Doctor! Clara!" Laszlo hissed in a hushed voice. "Quickly!"
"We're not coming." Clara hissed back. "We've got an idea. You go."
"Laszlo, come on." Tallulah said, tugging on his arm, but Laszlo did not move.
"Can you remember the way?" He asked, and Tallulah nodded.
"Yeah, I think so."
"Then go, please." He said, and Tallulah's eyes widened as she shook her head.
"But Laszlo, you've got to come with me."
"Where would I go?" He asked in a defeated retort. "Tallulah, I'm begging you. Save yourself. Just run." He said. Tallulah tried to protest, but he slowly yet not forcefully, pushed her away. "Just go. Please." Finally, Tallulah took the message, even if she did not like it, and she disappeared, and Laszlo moved to rejoin the Doctor and Clara. They leant right back as the Daleks came past in front of them, before they moved into the group of prisoners as quick as a flash, with Laszlo right behind Frank and the Doctor and Clara right behind Martha.
"Keep walking." Clara said, and her voice made Martha gasp, before she beamed at the sight of the couple close to her.
"I am so glad to see you." Martha said earnestly as the Doctor and Clara briefly took her hands in reassurance before letting go.
"Yeah, well, you can kiss us later." Clara quipped, and Martha restrained a snort in her throat.
"You too, Frank, if you want." The Doctor said, trading a grin with a relieved Frank before they fell into silence, continuing to walk with the group and after the Daleks until they reached the Dalek Laboratory, filing up into a silent line, where a few of the pig slaves took guard at the entrance.
"Report." Dalek Caan ordered, and the Doctor looked thoroughly confused at the sight of Dalek Sec, who was shifting and shaking on the spot, and smoke was emerging from within its case.
"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution." Dalek Thay reported.
"Scan him. Prepare for birth." Dalek Caan ordered, and Dalek's Thay and Jast turned to Dalek Sec.
""Evolution"?" The Doctor muttered.
"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" Martha asked, but the Doctor just shrugged.
"Ask them." He said, and Martha's jaw dropped.
"What, me? Don't be daft." She retorted, and Clara took her hand.
"No, he meant me." Clara said, and Martha looked at her with concern in her eyes.
"What?" She blinked, and Clara kept her gaze upon the Daleks.
"I don't exactly want to get noticed right now." The Doctor explained.
"But Clara-"
"I know." He said, and he gave Clara a silent hug in reassurance. "You already know what to do." He said in her mind before they parted, and Clara stepped forward.
"Dalek Caan!" She called, and said Dalek spun right around in a fast pace.
"What?!" It demanded, as if it was shocked that she knew its name.
"Yes, I know your name." She retorted with gritted teeth. "Now, whatever Dalek Sec over there is doing, and yes I know his name," She spat out as Dalek Caan was about to interrupt, "but THAT is not normal Dalek behaviour." She said with fierce eyes. "Now, what does this have to do with the "Final Experiment"?"
The two Daleks that were beside Dalek Sec turned their eyestalks and fixed them upon Clara, whilst Dalek Caan demanded, "What is your name?!"
"Clara Oswald." Was all she said, and a small tense silence fell, where their small audience flickered their eyes between Clara and the Daleks, but it was Dalek Caan that broke the silence.
"You will bear witness."
Clara's gaze flittered from side to side before she tilted her head forward just a tiny bit. "To what?"
"This is the dawn of a new age."
"Dawn of a new species? Cloning of Daleks? New Skaro on Earth? What do you mean?!" Clara snarled.
Dalek Caan stared at her for a small silent moment before it reiterated on its words. "We are the only four Daleks in existence, so the species must evolve. A life outside the shell. The children of Skaro must walk again." Once it finished speaking, Dalek Caan turned around and moved out of the way so that Dalek Sec was in full view of the audience.
The shell that the Dalek occupied deactivated, the blue light of the eyestalk turning off completely and the hissing of smoke from the shell stopped. There was another "Hiss" and a "Click", and the shell cracked wide open for all to see. There was a figure, hunched down and bent over, almost looking like it was squished inside. Its breathing was ragged and raspy, and it's two hands grasped onto the shell to heave itself out, but its pace was unsure and very slow. It moved away from the shell to stand in the middle of the still active Daleks before it straightened it's back, and uncurled its fists, yet its head was still down. Then, it slowly raised its head towards the ceiling, and it let out a loud, rasping sigh, and the three Daleks, whether in fear or in wonder, backed away just a little bit, before the creature's head lowered again. The suit that it wore was a Human suit, but it was crinkled and dirty from whatever had happened inside that shell. The skin of the creature was wrinkled and bore a sickly purple pink complexion, that made the audience scrunch their faces in disgust. The head bore no hair, instead it was like an exposed brain, only kept in by a flesh cage like wire that extended down towards the creature's cheeks, and then moved out into six tentacles, yet they were shaped more like fingers. There were three on each cheek, and they moved back and forth, more like a bodily instinct than actual, controllable appendages. The creature also had a mouth, teeth and even a tongue, but it had no lips, just disgusting, wrinkled skin around it, the chin and jaw. And it had an eye. Literally, it only had one eye. A single, blue eye that looked rather Human despite…everything else. The creature took a deep breath and in a very slow pace, and in a rasping voice, it started to speak. "I…am…a Human…Dalek." It blinked for a moment, then it declared for all to hear, "I…am your future!"
AN: To be continued. I will say that, when I was writing this, I immediately thought, "I want to tone down Diagoras a little bit". When I did, I actually started getting flashes of Petyr Baelish, so if you were at all wondering about the character change and the jab, well there you go. XD Anyway, as always, thanks for reading and leave a review if you wish. :)
