Clark showed Theodore and Lila the operations within the hidden bunker underneath the ruins of London. People wearing tattered clothing as they're trying to survive, huddled around barrels of fire, looks of despair on their faces as they're maligned by the Daleks.
"It's not much, but when we first found the bunker, it wasn't all that great of a shape," Clark explained to them how they came to find what would've become their bunker, their place of operations.
It used to be part of the subway system, but somehow survived the bombings while other parts crumbled.
Supported with whatever the survivors found that fit, the bunker's reinforced, and it made Lila ask questions about how they managed to survive this long, the Daleks must've suspected something afoul.
"Well, we thought about that too, O'Malley's the one who found it, can't believe he was willing to even touch the damn thing, I'll be honest, miss," Clark explained how.
The Daleks wouldn't go near their bunker because they think it's radioactive. Rather, it is radioactive, but not in the way Lila thinks it is.
Clark showed them a blocked off area, heavily marked with warnings, and said that O'Malley obtained plutonium rods, a lot of them, and with them, the Resistance fooled the Daleks.
Theodore remarked, "Well, what if a Dalek fancies some plutonium in the morning?"
Daleks aren't known for thinking ahead, but they're always for obtaining whatever they think they needed to continue their reign over their captured territories.
It surprised Theodore when Clark gave him an answer, O'Malley said the Daleks wouldn't seek the plutonium out.
He asserted that the Daleks instead would've avoided the area because they're simply uninterested in harvesting potential plutonium.
"You wouldn't happen to know where he obtained the plutonium, would you?" Lila inquired where O'Malley found the rods.
Incursion or not, nobody's going to look for plutonium rods on top of getting milk from the store.
Thinking back, Clark told her that O'Malley said something like they're "gifts."
He didn't tell the Resistance much and for a short while, they thought he'd flipped to the Daleks' side, but no, O'Malley stayed true until his death.
"Plutonium rods as Valentine's Day presents, they're not," Lila balked at the thought that O'Malley called them gifts, but Clark shrugged his tattered arms as he said that it was O'Malley's words, not his.
All they knew from the old man's that he found them and since securing them, the Daleks haven't found them, and they've been underground for weeks.
"And he never said where he found them, correct?" Theodore wondered if O'Malley said anything, but Clark affirmed that the old man didn't tell them anything about the plutonium rods.
Cryptic until the end, it'd seem.
When Clark became distracted with someone asking for his help, Theodore and Lila talked to each other privately.
"I'm guessing whoever wanted him to pass along the message gave him the rods," Lila looked up to Theodore as he pondered before nodding.
He agreed with her as he added, "Maybe it was an exchange?"
For whatever reason, desperation perhaps, O'Malley forged a deal with whoever. For the plutonium rods, he passed along the message to the Doctor.
Lila inquired if anything came out mind, but Theodore said that he doesn't know anyone fitting the MO. Maybe it wasn't someone his father encountered, but someone else, it happens.
"What do you think?" Lila wanted his input.
Chewing on his inner lip, Theodore replied as nothing came to mind, no matter how much he tried to think of an answer. His father taught him so much and now he's flubbing every step of the way, he's grateful his father isn't here to see this!
Shoving his large hands in his pockets, Theodore finally admitted to Lila that he doesn't know for her, but it's intriguing him enough that he wanted to know that answer for himself.
Seems generous for someone to give the human Resistance something to hide them from the Daleks for just a simple request, almost like there's something underlying the request that O'Malley didn't initially pick up.
Whatever it is, Theodore doesn't like it, and he wants to put an end to the enslavement of humanity. When everything's said and done, he'll find his answer, because while he hasn't officially decided to become the Doctor, he's taking this is a possible threat.
Better safe than sorry.
Theodore has his father to consider.
They turned their heads when Clay returned, he said that there's movement from the Dalek Empire, they're moving slaves in and out, preparing to excavate another site.
There's more presence of the brainwashed humans, suggesting there's something bothering the Daleks, they wanted extra presence.
"What're we thinking, they're about to have a sibling rivalry?" Lila asked if the sudden increase presence marked the start of a full-blown sibling war where the remaining Dalek alive gets the say in what they're having for dinner.
Clay couldn't help but chortle at this before he informed her that usually, they only do this if they think there's an enemy presence.
"Shite," Theodore realized why they started having a reaction.
The TARDIS.
It locked them out and since they couldn't get inside, they couldn't hide it in a better spot than out in the open. Theodore hoped it'd at least cover since evidently it knew about the Daleks.
He didn't even want to think about the implication it intentionally done it to further force his hand, the evil thing.
No doubt it didn't take a Dalek but a minute to recognize the familiar energy on the scans to know that it's the TARDIS and that their hated enemy's returned, yet again.
They're probably readying for the Doctor's appearance and that meant they'll have patrols everywhere in the husk of a city, ready to fire at will, and they're not going to bring him as a prisoner, either.
Too many times that happened, they learned not to even suggest the idea, they're going to shoot him on sight, on the account he'll look just like their nemesis from before, and that very well can't happen.
If Theodore misses the upcoming meeting, his brother's poised to box his ears bloody red!
"Doctor, we can't live like this forever, eventually our food sources'll run dry, and then what?" Clay begged for Theodore to aide them in their last-ditch effort against the Daleks.
Their rations emptying by the day, it's taking them longer finding more food in the ruins of London than usual, and they can't begin the notion of exiling their own to keep the remaining rations.
Eyes on him, Theodore tried to think like his father, what he'd do in this situation. His father's aloof nature deflected the concerns, but if he'd seen that little girl with her mother, as Theodore's seeing, he'd no doubt lose his aloof nature and take on his brawny nature.
"How many of your people are able?" Theodore asked Clay about anyone able to come with them, ready to risk everything for the chance to destroy the Daleks' stronghold over their city.
He's told by Clay they have about ten men with nothing to lose, as for weapons, they only have what they managed to steal from the brainwashed humans. Not a whole lot, but they kept them aside for emergencies.
"Do you know where the stronghold is?" Theodore continued as Clay walked him through the map of the entire city, showing him the Dalek stronghold, the moment they go near the outer rim of the surrounding area, the guard presence ramped up, and the further they manage, the more they'll see.
Lila inquired if anyone managed to get further into the inner area near the stronghold and flinched as Clay told her, no one's ever done it, nobody lived long enough from even attempting the surrounding area.
"They've got it cordoned, nobody's able to get through it," Clay lamented.
They've lost many trying to break through and get inside, with nothing left, they thought it'd mean something, and it didn't at the end of it. Only it depleted more of their own.
Theodore put on a face as he informed Clay that he'll do his best and ensure that doesn't happen, but he needed everyone's cooperation and then some.
Harkening back to his father's days, Theodore gave his instructions to Clay while Lila watched him, and when Clay went to ready the men and the weapons, she looked amazed.
"What?" Theodore looked back at her as she shifted in her spot.
She told him, "And here I thought Hammond gave commands like he's on deck!"
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore modestly replied he's only channeling his father, which Lila retorted that Hammond channeled him constantly.
"Assuming everything goes according to plan and nothing happens, how're we going to get these damn things off the planet?" Lila asked him as they privately talking while Clay's away.
Since conversing with Daleks won't get them anywhere and they're not the types to call truces, Lila hedged it'll take them weeks to destroy every Dalek in the city. That's just London. There's not telling just how many there are on the planet currently, how many humans still alive total, at least years!
Theodore accounted for that as he explained to her, "There's many ways in dealing with their like, my dear Watson, if there's one thing about them I know. It's that they hate more than just the Doctor."
Lila blinked as she pressed for what he meant and he finally told her, "Each other!"
Daleks' rugged hierarchy always meant there's friction between each other. The mere mention of a Supreme kicking the bucket always caused Daleks to fight among themselves for the coveted title.
There's a reason few ever remain as Supreme for long. The ones long in the tooth got that way for a reason and that's destroying every Dalek imaginable to cement their rule.
"Basically, you're going to stir the pot, loudly on what I'm presuming a megaphone, and watching the ensuring war from that?" Lila summed Theodore's plan.
Shrugging, Theodore said it sounded better in his head.
Lila then pointed out a small problem with Theodore's plan, "How're exactly are we going to get every Dalek on the same page?"
If there's millions of Daleks on Earth at this point, Theodore's going to need more than just a megaphone to get them to war with each other to death. Even then, he doesn't know if the plan worked enough for the Resistance to usurp the Daleks in London. Another thing, there's always the chances of stragglers surviving and they're not going to sit idly in their trash can bodies as one of the few remaining Daleks.
Theodore saw her point as he concluded that he might've missed his mark, but he knows that once they get every Dalek riled up, that their first problem's sorted itself out.
Their second problem, Theodore knows how ugly a Dalek war gets, especially when the coveted title's up for grabs, that there's no chance the Daleks wouldn't go all-out to obtain the title.
The third problem, the remaining Daleks that survived the war. There's bound to be some and they're digging deep into their corners, so that's something he needed to deal with.
Fourth problem, communicating with the remaining humans on earth in order to lead a decisive victory over the remaining Daleks, that's something that Theodore needed to work on himself.
The Daleks communications centre left unmanned, he should in theory, take control of it and communicate with the remaining humans. Tricky, since he doesn't know the reach and if anyone's able to listen.
Work, work, work, and it's his first time as the (unintended) Doctor!
How his father managed, he'll never know.
"Well, all nice and all, but doncha think they're, y'know, on the other planets around the solar system?" Lila poked a hole in the plan as she reminded Theodore that Earth isn't the only planet in the Milky Way.
If Daleks have reach here, they're probably on Mars and then some. Doubt they'll go far as Pluto, though, since it's the furthest one, but hey, things seem to happen, so why not have a dealer's choice?
Theodore bumped her gently with his elbow as he stated, "I have a plan."
Lila responded with a look on her face, "I really hope you know what you're doing, Doc."