Darkness loomed over the silent rubble fo London as Theodore led the Resistance fighters as they're searching for the command centre of the Daleks in this sector. Once they do, they'll have to find their way inside the areas, from the outside in, and avoid the prevalent guards roaming the parameters.
Clay warned that they have aerial support on top of ground troops, they'll have to watch every corner and skies above as he led his men while Lila trailed behind Theodore.
Pulling on his collar, Theodore walked through the uneven terrain as he felt the wet stones scrap against his trouser legs, the smell of burning rubble overtook his sense of smell as he maneuvered in the darkness, the others behind him.
Without sources of light, it's nearly impossible for them to move, but Theodore kept their spirits up. How that is, Lila assume's part of his strange alien charm, and it worked for the most part. Clay and his men didn't panic as much when Theodore calmed their nerves.
Lila struggled to walk through the darkened area as it felt like the ground gave under her every time, she walked over it, amazing she kept her head, as there's plenty of steel beams and whatever else slanted at their level from the explosions.
Coming over the edge of a steep incline, Theodore halted them as he sees the Daleks flying in the air, they've reached shy of the rim before the inner area where there's heavy presence of Daleks and their brainwashed servants.
Ducking as the Daleks fly over head, Theodore surveyed the darkened area, seeing movement from both Dalek and servant, before he caught sight of someone standing near a pile of rubble at the corner below the edge.
Quiet, slim, it seemingly looked directly towards Theodore, he felt eyes on him, but something about it, it gave him goosebumps. In his mind, he tried to rationalize it as one of the servants for the Daleks, but nothing came to mind, that he needed to go down there, with the others behind him.
He didn't want to initially, but he felt the urge and it's strong enough that he couldn't ignore. Turning his head towards Lila, he asked her if she sees the figure near the rubble, and when she moved ahead to see, the figure's gone.
Now curious, Theodore and them slowly made their way down the incline, trying to avoid the uneven terrain below, and the weakened cement.
Heading towards the pile, Theodore looked around, not seeing anyone around, and he's sure he saw someone standing near it.
"Hey, look!" Clay whispered.
Showing Theodore as he moved the rubble away from the spot, Clay pointed at a hole.
Lila asked where it led, but Clay didn't have an answer, but he thinks it's their shot to avoiding the Daleks and their servants.
Wearily, Lila recoiled, but here's Theodore, so causally jumping into the hole, and there's an audible thud, as he called up to them, telling them that it's safe down there.
Clay and his men went down first, but Lila stayed up top, uneasily looking into the hole.
Oh yeah, because nothing ever goes wrong going into a dark hole that nobody knows where it goes, surely!
… Okay, maybe it's just her heightened senses since it's darker than licorice out, but Lila's feeling a strong feeling that she had to go down there.
Not Theodore, not the Daleks, not their servants, but just a general feeling that something's prodding her to jump into the hole.
Another thing, it felt like it's breathing down her neck, that Lila instinctively turned her head, but there's no one behind her.
That feeling wasn't going anywhere and it's actually causing her heart to start beating quicker, that Lila's forced to do the unthinkable.
She jumped right into the hole and felt someone catching her. When she recovered, she sees Theodore looking her in the eyes.
"Took you long enough," he helped her stand as she looked around as Clay and his men lit lanterns, allowing them to see properly.
They're under another part of the subway system and they're following the tracks up, leading to what presumably's underneath the command centre of the Daleks.
Once they find their way inside, it's a different story. The parameter outside's just a walk in the park compared to heavy security within the compound. There's no doubt every nook and cranny's set with scanners and cameras, that they'll have to twist and turn, hoping to avoid setting them off and causing the guards to come after them.
Difficult, Theodore knows, but years of his father's stories helped give him a clear image of how the Daleks worked. Judging from what he saw, they're just like his father said. Overtly genocidal and terrible manners.
"What'll we do with the braindead?" Lila asked about the human servants of the Daleks, if there's any hope for them.
Clay informed her that once a human's become one of theirs, there's no helping them, euthanizing them's as humane they're able to, and Theodore unhappily agreed with Clay's assessment of the situation.
The only benefit Daleks have over Cybermen, they're not doing it to upgrade humanity, they're only doing it so they have guard dogs at their beck and call.
Even his father couldn't help these poor individuals, but he found solace that euthanizing's the only way they'll have peace, even if they won't realize what's going on.
"Okay, we just need a dust bowl and we got a stew going," Lila muttered under her breath as she followed the men through the tunnel. The only sound came from their footsteps and the air thick. It's humid and they're starting to sweat more than robbers at an interrogation.
No officer, they're not breaking and entering parliament. Parliament's turned into a Dalek haven, it is, and they're just doing their duties for the Queen and ridding the Daleks, please don't execute them for trying to help!
… Okay, that's just silly, but at one point, Lila lived a blissful uneventful life until a man broke in and ate her pastrami sandwich. Even if he cleaned the dishes, the point stands. Not to mention, a machine kidnapped them because said man didn't help it in a timely matter, and now they're in an universe like theirs with Daleks.
Shaping up to be an interesting autobiography, if Lila may say so.
Sweat dripping off his nose, Theodore felt his hair sticking out in places as the humidity below made it a messy black, curling at the edges, much of it fell over his eyes, and he pushed them to the side as he tried to see with the lanterns as they're going through the tunnel.
At the end, there's a ladder leading up to somewhere.
Clay didn't think it'll lead anywhere, citing the chances the Daleks sealed it or went as far as building on top of it, such as their nature dictated.
"Well, we can't afford not to try," Theodore summed as he climbed the ladder, going towards the red valve. With his large hands, he gripped it and twisted it until he heard a groan and a pop, allowing him to push the heavy cover over.
Poking his head up like he's Bugs Bunny looking for Elmer Fudd, Lila heard him say he doesn't see anyone, as he disappeared through the hole while helping Clay and his men as they're climbing up.
Lila headed towards the ladder as the last of Clay's men climbed up and slowly ascended the red ladder covered with blotches from the humidity causing rust and premature paint wear.
Her boot heels clanked against the ladder as she climbed, as she did, she caught sight of a tall slender figure in the darkness behind her.
When she climbed over the edge and Theodore helped pulled her away from the hole, the figure's gone, and Clay gently closed the lid, keeping it unlocked for when they chance coming through again.
Standing up, Lila glimpsed around her new surroundings, finding they're somewhere unfamiliar, there's gun gray steel walls and flooring, felt the unwavering cold breeze against her skin, dissipating the sweat stuck to her hair.
"Where are we?" Lila asked aloud.
Theodore replied with, "Inside their compound. Tunnel must've led right underneath it."
Lila inquired the chances the Daleks hadn't saw the tunnel underneath their compound during the construction and not realizing that the resistance likely would've found the tunnel, eventually.
That sounded obtuse from what she's told of the Daleks and Theodore gave his theory that it's likely because of the Daleks didn't think the resistance would've found it, given that they risked death coming even close to where Clay found the hole into the subway tunnel.
"Guess they never built over Bugs Bunny's hole!" Lila muttered under her breath as she followed the men as they turned off their lanterns and put them a way while Theodore quietly led through through the gun gray hallway.
His icy blues eyes moved as he's searching for anything that indicated traps or scanners. He stopped when he saw protruding rods on the walls before warning the others as they immediately stopped to see Theodore carefully going towards the protruding rods.
Hammond attempted to force him to return their father's Sonic Screwdriver, but foiled when their father opted for Theodore to keep it with him, on the account it's such a handy tool, Theodore may never know when he needed it, such as now.
The exasperated look on Hammond's face when their father approved of Theodore taking the Sonic Screwdriver with his blessing, he had to ask if their father's certain if that's what he wanted, and their father affirmed it.
He did give a caveat that if Theodore acts out line, Hammond has every right to take the Sonic Screwdriver from him and only giving it back when Theodore proves to Hammond that he's stopped, within reason.
Brotherly love, makes Lila thankful her and her brothers aren't that vindictive.
Then again, they're mostly on other bases throughout the world, what're they going to do, email her a loogie?
… That would be something they would, if it was possible. Granted, the navy might not appreciate it very much, much less they used their bandwidth to do it.
Holding the Sonic Screwdriver, Theodore held it as close as he could towards the rods before pushing the hidden button. There's light at the end of the Sonic Screwdriver and the rods receded into the walls.
Once he checked, he ushered the others to hurry with him as he kept his eyes peeled for any more traps.
Plenty, but it didn't deter Theodore at all and he proved his nimbleness as he's able to contort himself to reach all corners of the traps to disarm them.
He scrambled cameras and scanners, ducked out of the way from guards with the others trailing behind as he cleared paths for them as they're making their way through the halls of the compound.
Theodore said that they're going to the command centre, that likely, the head Dalek's going to be there, and if so, prepare for some screeching like nobody's heard before.
His hair's turning back to the messy brow with spots black and his suit crinkled and dirtied with grey soot, five quid says the head Dalek's going to scream obscenities the moment it sets its stock eye on him coming through those doors.
Oh, right, he'll need to ensure he can do that with ease.
Stopping, Theodore began going through the plan.
Clay and his men do whatever it takes to take out the Dalek guards and the servants, prevent them from getting word out that they're there, and Lila, Theodore needed her help.
"With?" Lila inquired.
She's not exactly strong like Theodore, but if given enough motivation and a strong bat, she can dent some Daleks.
Instead, Theodore needed help with rewiring the controls to send out the appropriate messages that'll spark some controversy among the remaining Daleks.
"Can't you use your thingy?" Lila pointed out that Theodore easily could've just used his Sonic Screwdriver since he didn't have problems before, but he informed her that the Daleks have a different setup with their command centre.
They're prone to just commandeering whatever they steal from other species and don't really alter much except to their specifications, but that's seldom rare. Often, they just fix it up enough they can use it and be done with it, which led to Theodore knowing just how to get under their skins.
He couldn't just use his Sonic Screwdriver with it, on the account that he doesn't know how they altered it, if at any capacity. It may look untouched on the outside, but inside, there's tubes and wires that don't make a lick of sense but to a Dalek and then some.
With that said, Theodore needed help with rewiring it, which wouldn't be bad, as long as they have enough time to do it, without the Daleks and their servants trying to kill them or alerting the others of the plot.
"Wait a minute, you can pretty much rewire this place 'cause these things are lazy?" Lila summed what Theodore told her.
That's one way of looking at it, but in all, that's exactly what it is, doing minimal work and only reacting when the Doctor mucks everything up.
Lila asked if there's ever a chance they wouldn't be and Theodore shrugged that they had every opportunity to do so, since his father traveled, but they never did.
"The perks of being know-it alls, they never learnt from their mistakes," Theodore smiled at her.
The plan worked out, Theodore gave his best to Clay and his men as they're hurrying away, prepared to keep the Daleks busied while Theodore and Lila hurried through the gun gray hallways as there's shouting echoing behind them.
Lila followed Theodore as he seemingly knew where the command centre is and she sees the gun gray hallway they're in enveloped in a red light as the sirens started ringing out.
"Hey, you said they weren't bright!" Lila called Theodore out on it.
Meekly, Theodore replied as they're running, "I thought they weren't!"
Rushing through the last corridor, Theodore led Lila to the only thing that looked like it went anywhere and opened it hastily. Lila rushed inside as Theodore closed it behind them and turned around.
Sitting in front of the control's a Dalek. It's larger than the one they saw giving the slaves command and there's what looked like metal scars on the chassis.
"Doc-tor?" Theodore heard it call out to him.
His eyes widened as he sees the top half of the chassis open, revealing…
"You!" Theodore's mystified.