Right...so, not dead. It turns out that there is a large difference between "written" and "ready to publish", and I am a perfectionist with severe procrastination problems. I have up until the Lazarus Experiment written and ready to publish, though I'm working on inserting a Martha POV in for reasons that will become clear.

In case you've forgotten (like I did) what happened so far and don't want to re-read: April Storm and Harriet Taylor are walking with their friends outside of their high school when Jeremy Rice, the local school bully, hits them with a car. They wake up at the Royal Hope Hospital, where they become involved in the plot of Smith and Jones. Unable to hide their knowledge, they quickly become suspicious to the Doctor. April is scanned by the Judoon, but their scanners say that she's non-human. Due to the butterfly effect, she realizes that the Doctor won't get to the Plasmavore in time and goes in his stead, but the Doctor arrives before it's too late and the Plasmavore is stopped. The Doctor brings Harriet and April to Logopolis, where they are told that both girls' matter is from this universe and that they were likely considered "non-human" by Judoon scanners because of their microorganisms. April doesn't believe this, but agrees not to share her knowledge. Picking up Martha, they visit Shakespeare, but April gets the urge to help the Master of the Revels, whom the Carrionites are supposed to kill. She's unsuccessful, but the Carrionites notice her. They capture her, and when she escapes, she leaves behind a hair which they use to control her. Eventually, she manages to break free with the Doctor's help. April, Harriet, Shakespeare, and Martha are sucked into the Carrionites' rift, which they manage to escape using poetry, and Shakespeare closes the rift. They go to New New Earth, where April and Harriet stay behind in Brannigan's car. They are found by Time Agents, including Captain Jack Harkness, but Jeremy Rice teleports in and stops them, giving April and Harriet two letters, one of which they're only supposed to open after "the sixth". The Face of Boe delivers his last words, and the Doctor agrees to make a quick stop at the original New York. April experiences a weird feeling, but brushes it off, and the group travels to Hooverville. In the sewers, April tries to escape but is pulled down and trapped with Frank and the pigmen.

Disclaimer: Ohw Rotcod nwo ton od I.

Chapter 20: Daleks

One of them grabbed her arm, wrenching it behind her back. She tried to kick at another, but the swarm pressed in on her, holding her in place. The pigmen started to climb up the ladder, and Solomon pushed the Doctor away, closing the manhole behind him.

And then the only light was the thin rectangles shining from the covering. April was trapped.

The pigmen grabbed April and Frank, pushing them away from the manhole and grunting. "What are we going to do?" Frank whispered as they walked down the tunnel.

"Nothing," April whispered back.

"What?" Frank asked.

"I told you," she said. "Just trust me."

"They're going to kill us," he muttered. "And you want me to let these monsters do it?"

"If you fight against them," April warned him, "they will kill you."

"They're going to kill us now!" Frank yelled. One of the pigmen pulled back in alarm, but before Frank and April could take the opening the others grabbed them, leading them further into the dark tunnels.

"Use your head," April said. "If they wanted us dead, we'd be dead already. Don't worry. We'll be fine." Why am I so scared? April wondered. If everything is going to be fine, why am I terrifies out of my mind? She didn't have an answer for that.

The pigmen pushed them forwards, and April forced herself not to try and fight them. It didn't really hurt, them grabbing her arms, but she rarely let even her friends hug her. They'll take us to the Daleks, and then the Doctor will come in and save everyone. Honestly, it's probably better that I'm out of the way right now, so I won't be tempted to change anything at all. Thinking, at least, took her mind off of being shoved down a corridor in a dark, smelly sewer.

"What do you mean?" Frank asked. "What do you know about this?"

"Nothing. I—"

"You do," he insisted. "You and that—"

"Don't!" April said quickly.

"Solomon will come, won't he?" Frank asked. "Him and the others, they'll find where they're taking us."

"That's right," April told him. "Just hold onto that."

"But these…these creatures? What are they?"

"They're…" April began, and then thought better. She really didn't need him panicking.

"They're what?" Frank asked. "The people who went missing? Is this what happens to them?"

"I…I don't know," April lied.

"It is," he said sadly. "And you know it. Poor fellows."

"Yeah," April agreed. They walked in near-silence, trying not to listen to the grunting of the pigmen around them.

"How'd you end up here?" Frank asked. "Your accent's right, but wrong too. You're not from around here. It's strange."

"Oh, I've been travelling," she said.

"How'd get stuck in Hooverville then?"

"We didn't. Came here because of the newspaper. Hooverville Mystery Deepens."

"So, you're like, private investigators?"

"Of a sort," April said. "We see something wrong; we want to fix it."

"You've certainly come to the right place, then," Frank said. "But you're not going to fix all the world's problems."

"That's not what we do," April said. "No one can do that."

"Then what do you do?" Frank asked.

"Whatever we can," April told him. "We do whatever we can."

The pigmen pushed them towards a small group of people, making April stumble and catch herself on the wall. There was a young woman in a dirty brown dress, holding the hand of a slightly older man with a grey jacket and cap. Another man was leaning against the wall, shaking. The young woman walked over to them, her eyes searching.

"Arla," she said. "I'm Arla Caldows. Not that it matters much now." Her voice trailed off.

"Do I know you?" April asked. She did, didn't she? Arla was short, with short black hair and large eyes. Her face was familiar, even if her hair wasn't.

"No," Arla said. Oh, April thought. Of course. Of course, of course, of course. Arla Caldows. Clara Oswald. "Should I?"

April shook her head. "You just reminded me of someone. I was wrong."

"Frank," Frank said, shaking her hand.

"This is Mark," Arla said, gesturing to the man whose hand she had been holding. "They took us from the Hooverville. How did they get you?"

"That Diagoras guy tricked us," Frank said.

"And who are you?" Arla asked.

"April."

"Oh, April!" Arla said joyfully, leaning in to hug her. April backed up nervously. How had one of the echo-Claras met her? Did this mean she'd end up a few years before this? Arla wrapped her arms around her, ignoring April's attempt to squirm away. "It's you!" Then, Arla whispered in her ear. "We're gonna attack the pigmen. Signal's 'clever boy'. When more get here." She pulled away.

"Do you know her?" Frank asked.

"Um…yes."

"So, she's also a traveler? Fixer-upper of the world?" Frank asked. The pigmen grunted and pushed the group back towards the wall so that they were closer together.

"Those creatures," said one of the men, shaking. "Jesus, they're awful." Arla stumbled deliberately as one of the pigmen pushed her, falling into Frank and whispering something to him. He nodded solemnly. Two more pigmen came in, pushing a tall Black man with an official-looking hat and a dark scarf. Arla pretended to know him, cueing him in on the plan.

"Yah know," said Mark quietly. "They look almost human if you look close enough at the eyes."

"I think they're going to turn us into them," Arla said brightly. "But don't panic!" There's a Clara echo here, so what do I do? Let her figure it out? Or will I get involved in this no matter what?

"How?" Frank asked, his voice faint. "How do I not panic?"

"Easy. Make a recipe in your head. I always do souffle's."

"Of course, you do," April muttered. Do I attack with them? She wondered. If I do, I could change the way this goes. I could die if I try. It's not worth that. I'll survive if I don't.

But I can't just leave them to attack—they could die!

You're just worried you'll look like a coward.

No. Well, maybe. Well…

That's nothing compared to your life. April took a deep breath. "You know," she said quietly, "I have some friends. They'll be coming for us. So, we've just got to stay alive until they come. Should be easy enough, seeing as how they don't want to kill us yet."

Clara—no, Arla—narrowed her eyes. "Fortune favors the bold," she said.

The pigmen came again, pushing another group of humans. A young boy who couldn't have been more than ten was carried by one of them, kicking his legs, with a middle-aged man and an old man following close behind. Again, April was certain that she recognized one of them. The Great Intelligence, she thought. There was a Clara echo, so there must be the Great Intelligence echo as well.

The plan passed among them in whispers, hopefully out of range of the pigmen's hearing. The boy leaned against the stone wall of the tunnel, trying not to cry. "Hey," Arla said, moving over to him. "Hey, it's going to be okay. We're going to get out of this."

"I'm not scared," the boy said.

"It's alright to be scared," Arla told him. "I'm scared too, you know. But you're going to be fine."

"You don't know," he pointed out. "Daddy says people who tell you that are lying to you."

"Well," Arla said. "I'm not lying. Just you see. We're going to get you home, and then you're going to tell your daddy that sometimes people do really mean it. Hey, what's your name?"

"Roy," he told her. April looked anxiously at the tunnels. How long had it been? Was Martha coming soon? Had she messed everything up? She looked over at the Great Intelligence, his cold grey eyes searching the people waiting in the sewers.

"You know," Arla was saying loudly. "I met this kid once. I used to live in Pennsylvania, before I came here. And I met this kid there. He was such a—" She stopped just before giving the signal as pigmen began pushing the humans up again and forcing them forwards. Arla glared at them as they forced the group forwards.

Is this supposed to happen? April wondered. When will Martha show up? "Arla," April said. She wasn't sure why she said it, it just slipped out. "No."

"What?" Arla asked.

"I just…" April said, frustrated. How could she explain that she knew the Doctor was coming?

"No!" April heard someone yell. She turned around to see a pigman pushing Martha into the line.

"Martha!" Frank said.

"You're alive!" Martha shouted, hugging him. She tried to hug April, who backed away nervously.

"Just…no hugging, please." April said tentatively.

"I thought we'd lost you!" Martha said. A pigman pushed Frank forwards.

"All right, all right, we're moving."

"Where are they taking us?" Frank asked.

"I don't know," Martha said, "but we can find out what's going on down here."

"They're going to turn us into those things!" Mark said. The pigmen started squealing and moving around nervously.

"What're they doing? What's wrong? What's wrong?" Frank asked, peering over everyone's shoulders.

"I can't see!" Roy announced, hopping up and down. The Great Intelligence wrinkled his nose.

"Silence," came a mechanical voice from the space in front of them. And in glided a Dalek, a perfect war machine. The Dalek looked exactly like it did in the show, bronze casing with the Dalek eggs in neat rows down its base. But a camera just couldn't capture how frightening it truly was. The light from its eyestalk seemed malevolent in and of itself. If eyes were the windows into the soul, then April was looking at pure hatred, and it was scary. "Silence! Hu-mans will form a line. Move. Move."

The pigmen began to push the humans into a line. April stumbled backwards until she reached the cold stone of the sewer wall.

"Just do what it says, everyone, okay?" Martha said. "Just obey."

"The female is wise," the Dalek screamed in its terrifying voice. "Obey. Obey!"

"Report," said second Dalek, gliding in.

"These are strong specimens! They will help the Da-lek cause."

"Dalek?" Martha muttered.

"What is the status of the Final Experiment?"

"Daleks," whispered the Great Intelligence.

"The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete."

"Then I will extract prisoners for selection." The Daleks dragged forwards one of the original two men. "Intelligence scan, initiate." The Dalek extended its manipulator arm, reaching towards the man's face. He backed away, terrified. "Reading brain waves. Low intelligence."

"You calling me stupid?" Asked the man, affronted.

"Silence! This one will become a pig slave. Next." The pigmen began to drag him off.

"No, let go of me!" He shouted. "I'm not becoming one of them. No! No!" April turned away. She wanted to help him, but these were Daleks. There wasn't anything she could do.

Coward.

I can't do anything to help—there's no point.

"Intelligence scan, initiate," said the Dalek. The other Dalek also began to scan the prisoners. When they reached Roy, he screamed, his voice echoing through the sewers. April was filled with the urge to do something, to save him, to stop—

"Clever boy!" Arla shouted. But it was only her who rushed forwards to fight the Daleks. April grabbed her wrist. Arla turned to her, shaking her head. "Don't you dare."

"High intelligence," the Dalek judged.

"Arla," April whispered. "You have a job, and it's very important. You can't die now."

"Oh," Arla said, raising an eyebrow. "And I can die later?"

"Trust me," April said. "You're going to save the world, if you just survive to do it!" If Arla died now, then she wouldn't be able to stop the Great Intelligence. The pigmen grabbed her, pushing her against the wall as the Daleks scanned her and sorted her into 'high intelligence'.

Then it was April's turn. She knew she was going to be live, nothing bad was going to happen to her, but as the Dalek's plunger extended towards her face, she wanted to scream. I'm fine, she reminded herself. It doesn't hurt, I'm not Mel, I'm fine I'm fine I'm finefinefinefineFINE!

April sighed in relief as it pulled its sucker arm away. "High Intelligence." In a few minutes, the Daleks began to lead the prisoners through the tunnels. The Doctor slipped into line quietly behind them.

"Just keep walking," the Doctor said.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" Martha told him.

"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want." April almost giggled at Frank's startled expression.

"He's just kidding," April assured him. "Well…no, probably not," she amended.

The room was large, with some sort of thin blue piping hung throughout. Small tables were covered in glassware that held strange, vibrant chemicals. What are those compounds? April wondered. I thought most of them were supposed to be boring colors. Although that one over there could be blood. At the front of the room were the Daleks, their metal casings shining in the light. One of them was shaking, its armor glistening black. That's the Human-Dalek one, April them were two large metal boxes with glowing blue circles set into them, screens with spiraling images of galaxies and stars.

"Report," one of the Daleks said.

"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution."

"Scan him. Prepare for birth."

"Evolution?" The Doctor whispered.

"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" Martha asked.

"Ask them."

"What, me? Don't be daft," Martha said.

"You can afford to be noticed," April explained.

Martha nodded. "Daleks, I demand to be told what the Final Experiment is! Report!"

"You will bear witness."

"To what?" Martha asked.

"This is the dawn of a new age."

"What does that mean?" Arla asked.

"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." The shell abruptly stopped smoking, the light behind the eye blinking out. Slowly, the case opened, and a creature rose from it.

It had slimy grey skin, with six tentacles protruding from the middle of its head. Pink brains rose from above the tentacles, kept in place by grey tendrils reaching across the top of it. A single grey eye was set into the front of its face, widening as it surveyed the room. It still wore Mr. Diagoras's suit, immaculate as ever. When it spoke, it whispered, but the sound carried through the room.

"I. Am. A. Human-Dalek. I. Am. Your. Future."