The plan underway, it didn't take long convincing the performers into agreeing with it, the moment the brothers told them that they intended on making Livingston and the audience pay for everything they done, the performers sprang into action.
They've dreamed something like this since they've been trapped here, but never had the drive to do it, out of fear of it failing.
Now, with the help of the brothers and Dorothy, at her insistence, they'll have their chance.
It took convincing on Maestro's part, but he used his seniority to broker an appearance with the audience and though it took time, he succeeded in rousing interest in a show that's guaranteed to excite the audience.
The audience's curious about this show and Maestro convinced them that it's something grand that they needed time to prepare it.
With everyone on board, Maestro says it likely helped them, because the audience hesitated for the longest time, until they accepted the request.
He doesn't think they'll risk killing everyone if the show doesn't turn out, else they won't have a show left, and warned that Livingston's skittish.
It's a good thing when Livingston's skittish, because when he's on edge, he'll usually stay out of their way, he'll be afraid of something going wrong.
"I'd try to force his participation, but I didn't want to risk it, so I just stayed the course," Maestro stated that he wanted to get the audience to turn on Livingston right then and there, but out of fear of it backfiring and overextending himself, he followed the script.
"It's okay, we have another way of forcing his hands," Theodore tells Maestro of their ploy in making Livingston's life a living hell that he can't escape out of even if he tried.
Using the tried-and-true method, Theodore and Hammond planned on making the audience question Livingston.
They're going to bully him into performing with them and the audience's surely going to agree with them as they'll want Livingston's performance, with a bit of work, Theodore and Hammond's going to convince the audience they've forgotten what travesty of a performance Livingston performed before ending up as their stooge, that Livingston's at the performer's mercy.
Given his role in the suffering and deaths, Livingston won't get a happy ending in this, he's going to join the audience in the fiery afterlife and then some.
"I hope you know what you're doing, nobody's ever tried this, you know," Daffodil eyed Theodore with his gold eyes as he helped the performers with their costuming.
Couldn't perform wearing a disjointed outfit, so Daffodil saw fit that people wear similar costuming, he found it may help them, and at least they'll look dashing when the audience inevitably murders them all.
"Not my first rodeo," Theodore assured him, but Daffodil eyed him questionably before he elaborated, saying that they have it worked out.
Though, this gave Theodore a chance to reach out to Al and ask how he's doing with his search and Al's happy to report that the audience isn't human by any stretch, they may look it, but underneath it, they're just monsters of a different kind.
There's nothing in his archives detailing what they are, so he doubted anyone from the gallery encountered them, before.
Effectively, he doesn't know what they are, but even then, there shouldn't be any trouble dealing with them.
However, Al went on to mention that they probably shouldn't dawdle with the show and rescue, oh, also avoid looking them in the eye if they're angry and want to dispose them, keep that in mind.
"I'll set up somewhere the performers can run inside, but uh, I'm not sure if I follow what you're planning on doing," Al trailed at the end before Theodore tells him that they're planning on trapping the audience and Livingston.
"Good idea, but how do you mean to do that when you two are the last performers, which would alert the audience they been had, and, you know," Al gestured in his mind, trying to understand the plan that Theodore and Hammond hoped would rid the world of the audience and their influences.
"And when we complete our adventure, you'll have to help us bring them home," Theodore tells him that he needed to find where every performer originated from, which Al scoffed as he informed Theodore that it's his pastime.
Working on her cherry bombs, Dorothy looked up to her mentor, reminding him, "I thought you didn't like it when I made them."
Hammond never liked her cherry bombs, always chided her, wanted her to do something more with explosives that wasn't pranks and destruction of public property, all that.
While Hammond normally showed displeasure with Dorothy creating her cherry bombs using whatever she found, in this situation, he felt there's an exception to the rule, and he helped her find everything she needed to make her cherry bombs.
"Now, remember dear, don't over mix," Hammond reminded her not to over mix the concoction as he's helping her roll them into the red filament paper that Daffodil used for his tricks.
Swatting the air with her free hand and her other on the spoon, Dorothy assured him that she knows what to do, and it gave her pause.
She sheepishly asked, "I can't believe you went out of your way… as much of a problem I was… why?
Rolling the cherry bombs, Hammond thoughtfully responded with, "Like I've told you before, you have potential, I hate for you to squander it."
If you told Dorothy she would've been mentored by Hammond months ago, she'd call you crazy, but here she was, learning things that she wasn't learning in school, her natural quirks being refined and understood, for once since she was born, she's listening to an authority figure.
"Er, you know this wasn't my idea, right?" Dorothy sheepishly tells Hammond that she didn't run away to join the circus and he tells her that he knows, it'd take more than a circus to have her run towards someone like Livingston with open arms.
Slowly nodding as her hair dripped over her left shoulder, Dorothy thanked Hammond for believing her, and he then went on to tell her that he'll deal with her mother.
How he planned on doing that, it's a work in progress, but it wouldn't be the first time, and Dorothy admitted that she should have a part when he talks with her mother, having dealt with what's going on, it gave her some perspective.
"We'll discuss the details when we get there, hm?" Hammond winks at her before they continued their work in creating enough cherry bombs to stick in strategic corners of the circus.
Typically, Dorothy's blend in cherry bombs caused distress in plumbing, but now, her modified blend could've easily destroyed the plumbing, wall, everything around it, and before she got any ideas, Hammond nixed them, reminding her that they're doing it for the sake of getting out of the circus.
He planned on confiscating any remaining cherry bombs after everything's said and done, so don't get sneaky, he'll know.
Let's say he's a mind reader.
"I don't understand, how's any of this going to entice the audience?" Alyx questioned the choices made and Theodore tells her that they're basing on what the performers told them.
With help from Al, they have everything wrapped up in a neat bow, all they have to do's hand it over to the audience.
Shaking her head, Alyx weary pointed out, "The audience always changes their mind, they can't possibly fall for this!"
Always dramatic, aren't they?
Sucking air through his teeth, Theodore tells her that he and his brother know what they're doing, all they need's Alyx and the others following along the plan.
Do that, they'll be out of here.
It satiated Alyx's concerns before she began scouring for Dewey, preparing him for the performances, but of course, the strange man didn't keep a schedule like they did, so it took time, but she found him stowed away.
He kept telling her that he was being stalked by a silver animal, but Alyx didn't have the time to discuss the matter, they needed to prepare for the show, and that's what they did.
The time finally came to get the show on the road, the performers wearing their new outfits went onto the large stage with a set of props scattered around, there Theodore sees the audience for the first time.
He expected a large crowd, but it's only three people.
A man and a woman with a girl next to them, younger than Dorothy.
They looked normal, but as he stood there, Theodore sees how inhuman they really are, from the way they stiffly move their limbs, digging through their packets of sweets, and their dull eyes.
If he was green, Theodore wouldn't think they're capable of destroying lives, but his father ingrained the warnings of never mistaking anything, even if they looked normal.
Maestro put on his persona, introducing the audience to the new act conducted by the new faces of the circus, putting his all into this, wanting to go home, and take off the makeup that dried his skin terribly.
While he introduced the audience, Theodore saw someone moving among the bleachers, recognizing it as Livingston, the long thimble body with a large head, hands, and a nose to go with it gave it away.
He tended to the audience's needs like a butler, giving them bundles of sweets, cookies, whatever they want, he got it for them, putting on a fake smile, but Theodore sees the dread behind Livingston's eyes.
Well-aware, if the audience grows disinterested in Livingston, they'll get rid of him like they've done to everyone else, that if Theodore had to guess, he's panicking internally due to every performer arriving on stage.
He must be worried that if the audience does away with every performer on the stage, that it'll leave him alone with them, and that can't be good for the mental health, now, can it?
Oh, what sights they'll show Livingston when the performers take their spots at the top of the poles to do their tricks.
Al's got everything rigged that the performers doing the acrobatic tricks won't worry about falling to their deaths, they'll perform as normal, then disappear.
It'll be subtle since there's enough of them to last just long enough for Al to put on the holograms.
Theodore's got his pocket watch rigged to broadcast a hologram of him at the end of the performance, the moment he's done with his act, it'll kick on, and he'll be gone with his brother and the remaining performers.
Once everyone's safely stowed away on the TARDIS, it's a matter of pushing a button, sending the audience sky high, even if they look no different than the patrons Theodore and Hammond routinely meet at the library.
For normal people, the thought of exploding a circus with a little girl inside it might not look great on paper, but Theodore sees what Al said to him, the audience weren't human, and only masked as humans, presumably to keep the performers from raising up against them, manipulating them with the little girl.
Normal people wouldn't lay a hand on her, but people who knew the truth, it's a matter of optics, and doing everything they can to make sure the little girl didn't use her looks against them.
The first act of the show began with the acrobats going between the tight wires and swinging in the air, doing death defying tricks without a safety net, everything that OSHA and others alike would've grown aghast at the sight had they been here.
Al kept them safe from accidentally slamming into each other and once the time was right, he began plucking each acrobat from the scene, replacing them with holograms as he went.
He didn't think the audience could tell the difference; they're used to the performers doing what they're told. Didn't suspect that today's the day.
Of course, they could've become suspicious when every performer came out to perform willingly, but Al's got everything covered, he's fixed, pristine, his algorithmic machines do more than a quantum computer in winter.
It's a matter of timing each switch as the performances continued.
"Remember, when you're in the air, he'll catch you," Hammond tells Dorothy that when she's fired out of the canon during the next set of performances, Al'll swoop her from the air and bring her to safety.
Tightening the helmet on her head, Dorothy responded, "But, professor, what about you?"
Smiling as her, Hammond informs her that he isn't a slouch, and once they destroy the circus, he'll reconvene with her.
Nodding, Dorothy gets into position while a few of the performers helped her into the canon, one goes behind the canon and lights it, the other positions it so Dorothy hits the target at the top of the long pole.
Putting on a brave face, as much as a twelve-year old's capable of in her situation, Dorothy readied as she felt the embrace of the cold steel, before the performers struck the matches.
Maestro narrates the scene and Dorothy felt the jolt as she's sent through the air at high speed towards the awaiting target at the top, but it never happened.
Someone plucked her from the air, like that, when her mind caught up to her, she found she's somewhere else.
Seeing that Al taken Dorothy to safety, gave Hammond relief, and he's able to focus as the performances continues accordingly.
Slowly, the performers disappeared from the stage, replaced with their hologram counterparts that accurately mimicked them.
The audience's enthralled, Hammond can tell by the way they haven't touched their bags, unable to focus on anything except the performers.
Time's ticking down and slowly, it's getting to the time when Hammond gives the audience a performance of a lifetime.
When the second to last performers ended up in the safety of the TARDIS, Hammond broke the audience's attention, and loudly proclaimed that he's the best chess master in the entire universe, and willing to make a bet of a century, if the audience cared to take him up on it.
Immediately, Theodore's shocked as his brother demanded the audience play chess with him under the rules that if he wins, they rescind control over the circus.
If they win, Hammond will relinquish all rights, become their pawn for the remainder of his long life.
Reaching out to him, Theodore chewed him out, but Hammond insisted that he knows what he's doing and for his brother to trust him, this one time.
"What if you lose?" Theodore worried that Hammond's bound to get a bitter taste of defeat for his attempt, but the stout man insisted that he has a plan.
Reluctant, Theodore's forced to follow along with the plan, continuing helping the performers escape the circus while Hammond bolstered that the audience's scared of losing to him, so he offered to make it interesting.
He'll play against Livingston and if he wins, he'll play against the audience.
It's hard not to think his brother finally snapped, but Theodore pushed himself to continue, and eventually, in a rare move, the audience agrees with the terms.
Livingston's appalled that he's going to play chess with Hammond, but the silent gazes from the audience's enough for him to force himself down the bleachers, onto the sandy ground, where Hammond sat across from him with a chess board neatly set up.
"Have you gone mad?" Livingston frightfully looked at him as he sat across.
Shrugging his shoulders, Hammond responded that he often is, but now, he isn't. He challenged Livingston into playing chess with him and Livingston's aghast, but he knew that he couldn't displease the audience.
Many years playing chess with his beloved uncle, Hammond sweeps Livingston effortlessly, and the stunned man looked at the chess piece on his side.
"You… you…" Livingston sputtered as he sees that he lost to Hammond and shrugging his shoulders with his hands on the umbrella handle, Hammond tells him that he's good at chess.
Frightened, Livingston's about to look up to the audience to receive their punishing scowl, but in a rare twist, Hammond wouldn't let him.
"Earn it!" Hammond declared the audience needed to beat him at chess to earn the right to punish Livingston failing them and earn Hammond.
Turned Livingston pale as a ghost when he sees the audience stand up from the bleachers and slowly coming down the stairs to the sandy stage.
"You idiot!" Livingston whimpered as he cowered near the bannister, while he sees the audience standing a mere meter away from him.
Hammond played the part, talking up a storm, getting into their heads, seeing what made them tick, and knew instantly of their tricks, that they couldn't cheat to save their lives.
Chess played by Time Lords aren't the same as chess played by humans, similar, but different, something the audience wasn't familiar with, and Hammond played it by the hilt.
Finding the audience grew more invested, Hammond's surprised when he began hearing the audience murmur audibly, as they insisted on continuing the chess game.
Hammond beat them at every turn until there's nothing left for the audience to offer, before he let them know a secret.
When they grew incensed that they lost, they tried to go after Livingston, but found he's a hologram, when they tried to go after Hammond, he's also a hologram.
Leaning forward on his umbrella as he stood up, Hammond gave the audience his trademark dagger eyes.
"No one kidnaps my student," Hammond hissed at them before he disappeared in front of the audience, leaving them to the mercy of the collapsing tent.
Casually strolling away from the exploding tent with his umbrella used as a walking cane, Hammond escapes the burning inferno, to the waiting TARDIS, Theodore, K9, and Dorothy impatiently waiting for him.
"Are they dead?" Dorothy asks Hammond as he joined their sight.
Raising his finger on his free hand, Hammond pushed the top of the umbrella handle with his other hand, and the earth rocked with might as Hammond ensured that none of the audience survives.
Irritated, Theodore showed displeasure over his brother's plan, only for his brother to throw it back at his face, reminding him that it's much like how he deals with Theodore when he does similar.
Exhaling sharply, Theodore's aggrieved before he says that K9 found its way back to them, so the little tin dog that could didn't get caught in the explosion.
Nodding, Dorothy mentioned that when Dewey and Daffodil saw it, they exclaimed that it's the silver menace they spoken about.
"I tried to tell her, K9 can't bite," Theodore tells his brother that he informed Dorothy that K9 has no usable mouth or means to bite anyone, they're mistaken, but Dorothy said otherwise.
Baffled, Hammond looked down to see K9 situated in between, he never gave those kinds of upgrades to K9, there wasn't a need.
However, Hammond didn't have it in him to continue this, he and his brother corralled Dorothy and K9 back into the TARDIS where they began returning the performers back to their home worlds, until they finally made it back to theirs.
"And, professor?" Dorothy stood outside the TARDIS as Hammond finished cleaning off his face with a wet rag.
Lowering the wet rag, Hammond looked towards her as he asks her what she needed, only for her to say that she knows that he and his brother weren't normal, either, but she won't tell a soul.
A warm smile on his face, Hammond pats her shoulder with his free hand as he thanks Dorothy for her silence in the matter, and Dorothy added that she didn't like the other tutors anyway, that losing him would be detrimental to her work in becoming a productive human being.
Sighing, Hammond shook his head, beads of water dripped from the brown curls, and he had Dorothy wait for him while he spoke with his brother.
"Thank you," Hammond thanks his brother for helping him find Dorothy.
His large hands in his stitched pockets, Theodore responded that it's his job as the Doctor to help.
"I assume your adventures aren't always like this?" Hammond inquired more about Theodore's secondary job and his younger brother nodded, saying that times, he's dealing with the usual suspects.
Slowly nodding, Hammond expressed that he has a new understanding on what Theodore deals with when he isn't working at the library.
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore tells him, "I'm just happy it isn't Daleks, again. Tinnitus day in and day out!"
Excusing himself, Hammond left with Dorothy to the police station to inform the police that she returned and to come up with an explanation on where she's been for a week.
Freed from his second job, Theodore loudly yawned as he scratched the side of his face before returning to the TARDIS, before it disappeared from behind a bookstore.
THE END