After the Doctor tells her that the Daleks came here miniaturized, that who or what caused them their plight brought them here, for purposes they're unaware, but the fact they're unintentionally masquerading as toys from David's show, Lila's unable to utter more than, "Son of a…!"
Gesturing as she talked, Clara explained to Lila that they're not sure of the motive, but given whoever or whatever done it to the Daleks disabled their weapons and comms, there's a chance that there wasn't anything malicious about miniaturizing them. Maybe it's some twisted humour.
"Humor?! You're telling me a trickster made these killer trash cans small and wrapped them up in a neat package just to have themselves a laugh?" Lila found little solace in the idea that there wasn't a plot to invade on Christmas, but rather someone having a disagreement with the Daleks deciding to turn them into tiny terrors.
Exhaling, the Doctor replied that they don't know what they're looking for, the TARDIS wasn't helpful, causing Lila to snort as she tells him that it's not the first time the machine wasn't helpful. Theirs is barely hanging on by a strand at this rate, should've rented a dozer and grabbed all those gems and minerals from that dig spot with what they have to go through.
"I don't suppose you can help a companion out and tell me how to fix it up, mine's not exactly fond of the idea of going to the source, if you catch my drift," Lila asked the Doctor if he had any luck fixing their TARDIS so it wasn't feigning for power sources and Theodore having to rewire everything just to get them home from an adventure. They don't exactly have the luxury of using black matter every time something goes wrong.
Shrugging his shoulders, the Doctor replied that when the TARDIS showed up into his life, it was fine and dandy, don't know why hers and her 'Doctor' have a worse off TARDIS.
Lila summed the reasoning for the state of their TARDIS as, "Call it an heirloom."
Unfortunately, the Doctor couldn't help her with fixing their TARDIS, his came in a good shape. He doesn't know how to help them other than ransacking Dalek ships for parts and black matter.
Lila revolted at the idea, but the Doctor reminded her that they have the necessities to keep the TARDIS barely functional, with the added bonus that it's "fine" to steal from Daleks. Nobody cares if they steal the whole damn ship from them, so the two have no reason to worry.
"Outside Daleks wanting to kill us," Lila pointed out to him that they're not exactly forgiving as it is and grudge like their lives depend on it. Stealing from them's just going make problems worse. They get very angry when someone steals from them, ironic, Lila knows.
The Doctor conceded and looked at the time, he grimaced as he corralled the women together as he said they needed to hurry and help the Daleks, find whoever or whatever did this, and send them off. He's got plans of his own and he wanted the Daleks gone before he becomes late.
As the Doctor shooed them inside the TARDIS, looking more modern and sleeker than what the cosmetic looked for hers and Theodore's TARDIS, Lila asks if he doesn't want the aide of another Doctor, help get things rolling. Only for the Doctor to tell her that they don't have time and that the TARDIS picked her, so that must mean in the long line of reasonings, that she's available for help, and not Theodore.
"It's his job, why didn't it invade his living room?" Lila balked that the TARDIS came to her when it should've besieged the man who took up the mantle as the Doctor, not his companion.
Weakly shrugging, the Doctor responded that he didn't make the decision, the TARDIS chose where he went, and that's that. Can't change its mind, no matter how much he'd like to.
Sighing, Lila conceded that she's picked for this job whether she likes it or not, considering that she's not with family this year, it made sense why the TARDIS came to her.
No risk when it's only Lila.
"Fine, I'll play third fiddle, how're we supposed to find out who or what did this to them if even the TARDIS doesn't know?" Lila asks the Doctor as he gone over to the console as he prepared to send them away from Lila's flat to somewhere else.
Laughing as he pulled a lever, the Doctor goes, "Oh, that's the fun of it, luv, we follow the trail!"
There's a familiar shift in the air as Lila feels the air chilling and the rotary in the TARDIS activating as it dematerialized from her flat, reappearing elsewhere, and when it stopped the Doctor hurried to the door.
He opened it and poked his head out before giving it the clear, motioning with his hand as he called for Clara and Lila to hurry on and they joined him outside the TARDIS.
"Someone knows a lot about business to sneak the little bastards into the packaging," the Doctor tells the women as he led them from the safety of the TARDIS into an office. More specifically, it's an office that dealt with the contracts for toy lines. If the TARDIS couldn't direct them, maybe the office that filed paperwork on the Daleks' might.
It's worth a shot and even if it's a fake name, they have something.
"Doctor, doesn't it seem much that they went through this just to spite the Daleks, why go through the effort?" Clara pointed out the insanity in this bizarre plan to miniaturize the Daleks and ship them out as toys for all the collectors and children alike.
As he searched the office for the filing cabinets, the Doctor replied that it bothered him. Nobody would've gone through the length they did just to get even with the Daleks, makes no sense to him, and he doesn't even like them!
Lila agreed as she helped them search for the filing cabinets, somebody with a chipped shoulder really wanted to hit home with the Daleks, and the amount of planning that went into it, it's insane.
"What if they did this illegally, y'know, what then?" Lila brought up a suggestion as she searched the darkened office with Clara on her left and the Doctor on her right.
It's possible they're wasting time, whoever or whatever the hell it is, didn't go through an office just to sell the Daleks, they probably went through time and effort just to spitefully seal them in their plastic prisons.
"Hm, I thought of that, but, makes even less sense," the Doctor shook his head as he told Lila that he doesn't think this was an illegal job. Didn't want people getting curious or checking their paperwork closely when they see crates of toys that haven't shown up in invoices.
Clara agreed with the Doctor, despite her reservations, as she noted that if they didn't go through the proper channels, someone would've found out about the Daleks sooner.
Seems as though the television show broadcasting currently helped hide the true nature, which Lila admitted that she knew who made the show, and the Doctor promptly asked her for the name.
"Relax, he's one of you," Lila attempted to quell the Doctor as she tells him that the person behind the show's a Doctor, too, and immediately after, the Doctor wanted answers.
Lila summed that she doesn't know David from the hole in the ground, only that he had good intentions when he made the show. Such as, he wanted to give people hope that if something awful happened, the Doctor's not far behind.
The Doctor wasn't necessary angry about the show like Lila thought he'd be, rather he's angry that she even knew David and Theodore's names.
"Didn't they read the book, no names!" Hissed the Doctor as he lamented that the two broke the rule. No one should know the Doctor's name, period, and ranted until Lila hushed him.
As she looked for the filing cabinets, Lila stated that she knew Theodore's name because they work in the library together. David's because, well, can't exactly refer to them as both the Doctor without confusing each other.
"No names!" The Doctor barked at her.
Turning around to face him, Lila replied she doesn't use either name when they're on an adventure. Not good enough for the Doctor as he tells her that nobody can know their names, it'll ruin everything they've worked hard to create.
He uttered, "Next, you'll tell me you're dating one of them!"
Snapping at him, Lila bluntly tells him that even then, it's not his business who she dates or isn't dating.
Whatever nasty experience he had because of a misgiving caused by a previous Doctor, is not her, David, or Theodore's fault. They're trying to follow the book as much as the Doctor's doing and if he doesn't believe her, well, she doesn't care to produce proof.
It's not her burden.
Cutting in, Clara called to them as she opened a filing cabinet, finding an invoice for the Daleks. There's an address and everything, but she doesn't know the validity of the address.
Their argument ending, they went over to the opened filing cabinet as Clara held the folder with documents pertaining to the Daleks.
Looking at the invoice, the three see the address the shipments came from and the company they're produced under, not a company either were familiar with, and the person who sent the invoice's called H.H. Geiger.
"Okay, we have an address the shipments came from, the person of interest, didn't you see an address on the shipping papers from the crates?" Lila asked if they found the address in the papers from the crates the Daleks came in, but the Doctor and Clara informed her the papers kept everything vague to prevent insanity developing from fans. Each paper had a different distribution warehouse the Daleks came from, never the factory they're supposedly manufactured in or what entity owns them. From a professional standpoint, it looked like the paperwork's in good order, which is why nobody suspected anything amiss.
Lila pointed out that the company behind the show's bound to figure out that there's unlicensed product once it comes out and people started buying them up.
Maybe whoever involved fooled the people in the patent office and the people in the toy departments, but the company behind the show's definitely going to notice when they see packaging from a product they didn't give their permission for licensing.
Given what she knows, Lila wonders if there's even a rhyme to this bizarre song.
"Beside that, what's the endgame to all this, everyone and their mother collectively buying them up just so they can wallow as ornaments and decorative set pieces before Fido or little Timmy chews them up?" Lila wondered what the point of this' meant to invoke. Revenge, likely, but this isn't the typical revenge, more like overkill, and someone wanting to make a point.
Whether they're alien or not, Lila doesn't know enough of the details, but they're definitely smart, definitely not Cybermen, and vindictive.
Whatever argument they got into with the Daleks, obviously proved that the Daleks chose poorly.
As the Doctor noted the addresses and name on the invoice, he replied that he doesn't know, but when they catch up to whoever or whatever did this to them, they'll get their answers.
Whether they're friendly or not, he doesn't know, considering how they reacted to the Daleks, they can't be too careful, and not to mention the Doctor isn't in the mood for shrinking before Christmas.
Taking the invoice with them, the Doctor made the women clean everything up before they quickly returned to the TARDIS, where the Doctor proceeded to feed it the information.
As he suspected, the information's fake, but there's something to note, that the address for it, doesn't belong to a factory, but a restaurant. A popular one, it seems.
Curious, the Doctor cross checked and noticed the addresses on the distribution are a variant of the restaurant's address.
Clara wondered why no one saw the oddities before, but the Doctor had an idea why. He used knowledge from his previous life to tell her that when invoices are sent in, people don't often check them closely. They see what they need to see and nothing more, only when there's a mistake or problem they'll look closely. When dealing with an influx of invoices daily and limited time, people prioritize what they can to save time.
Something known by the party responsible for the Daleks, surely.
"Why a restaurant?" Lila inquired as the Doctor prepared to send them away from the office and to the restaurant.
Of all places, a restaurant doesn't strike her as someplace that they're expecting to find the party responsible.
"Hm, must be the hungry type," the Doctor suggested why that is before adding that they might've been a fan of the restaurant, enough to use it in the scheme of things. He doesn't think they own it, wouldn't make sense, so he suspects that they'll linger around it, a frequent patron.
Pointing out that every restaurant they passed's closed for the holidays, Clara hears the Doctor mention that she's not figuring in the chance that there's some open for the people who don't have extended family, any sort of holiday plans, or not observing Christmas.
"How do you know this one's even open?" Lila crossed her arms as the Doctor looked at the monitor above closely before he tells her that he can tell with the TARDIS.
As he said, it's popular, and with it open during this time of year, doubly popular.
Turning knobs, flipping switches, the Doctor sent them away from the office, and on the corner near the restaurant.
Styx & Stones
What a name!
The Doctor led the women as they filed out of the TARDIS and headed towards the restaurant filled with patrons celebrating the holidays in their own way. Large windows allowed them to peer inside, but they're unsure who they're looking for. They're all human, as expected, but as Lila noted, she doesn't see any aliens among them. The ones she's acquitted with aren't fond of the cold and hidden themselves away somewhere warmer.
Stepping inside, the Doctor waited with the women near the podium until a waitress came over and led them to an open table.
As they sat with their menus, trying to look less out of place, they hear the banters from patrons.
"I don't know who we're supposed to look for, Doc," Lila looked at the Doctor as he studied the menu.
Studiously looking at the menu, the Doctor tells her to keep her eyes peeled, there's somebody here who they're looking for, and Lila retracts as she begins studying the patrons.
Don't know any of them, Lila's good at picking out people she recognized from the library, but no one's sticking out, just the typical bunch that linger in places like the restaurant at this time of year.
"Tr-udy!" Lila hears someone calling out.
Turning her head, she sees a woman carrying a tray with shot glasses towards a table with an exasperated look on her face as she sat down the tray while someone grabbed each shot glass with her fingers.
The table's covered in the shot glasses and Lila sees the exasperated woman retract the tray as she asked the patron sitting at the table, "Can't you be normal?"
Snorting, the patron, a woman with a dark fitted suit, replied dryly, "Normality is just a term, Trudy. Nature abhors normality."
The woman carrying the tray left as the woman siting in the booth rearranged the shot glasses, drinking three of them but leaving the others filled, like someone would on a map with miniature soldiers.
This wouldn't be noteworthy, but Lila spotted something unusual about the woman in the dark fitted suit. Under low lights, they looked like normal hazel eyes whist when she moves her head and her eyes aren't under the low lights, Lila catches two pinprick yellow discs in her eyes.
She subtly brought this to the Doctor's attention and he subtly looked at the patron in the booth. He sees what Lila sees and notices the pinprick light in her eyes. Clara stretched out her neck to see and the three shared a look with each other.
"Well, what now?" Lila asked what's the next course of action for them, now that they have their person of interest as she's clearly arranging the shot glasses for something.
Mulling it over, the Doctor replied, "Guess we'll introduce ourselves."