The TARDIS landed with a small shake, the Doctor's piloting calm for once.
He was actually trying this time around, since he'd chosen a location he knew his tether would enjoy, hoping that maybe it would erase the sadness and grief she still felt at the Face of Boe's death.
Neither of them understood why she'd been so affected. Apart from normal empathy for death, she'd been grieving, as though the passing had been that of someone she knew and loved, not someone she'd never met before.
So he'd chosen the location with her in mind, knowing how much she enjoyed historical visits, as well as wanting her to be surrounded by familiar buildings, and he'd made sure to keep her away from the console at all times, landing their clever machine himself for once.
Grinning happily, he ran behind her, placing both of his hands on her waist, pushing her forward as she giggled, "What's gotten into you? You actually used the stabilisers this time around!"
"Shush, you'll see love." He smiled back, ushering a chuckling Martha to follow them, leading both women outside, the door closing behind them.
The minute Cass stepped outside, a large, wistful smile crawled onto her face. She was home.
"Where are we?" Martha looked around in wonder.
"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely." The Doctor smiled, pointing forwards with a smirk, "Martha, have you met our friend?"
"Is that...? Oh my God! That's the Statue of Liberty!"
The redhead nodded happily, quoting, "Give me you tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
"That's so brilliant. I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new..." She gasped, walking forwards a little, the Time Lords following until they all stood at the shores of the island, watching the Manhattan skyline bustling busily.
"Well, there's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. Now wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam." He nodded, chuckling when his tether sang giddily, "Even old New York, was once New Amsterdam. Why'd they change it I can't say? People just liked it better that way."
"I always forget how good you sound," he mused thoughtfully, and she rolled her eyes, immediately catching onto his train of thought and shooting it down, "nope, not happening."
"But Cassie..." he pouted, only to smile when she pressed a small kiss to his lips, only to then lean her head on his shoulders, sighing happily, "Thank you for this. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed this."
His lips pressed to her hair, curving into a smile against it, "You are very welcome, love."
Noticing Martha's confused look, the Time Lady explained, "I used to live here, a while ago. And we're in the past, which makes this a historical visit, which are my favourites." Her eyes then moved back to the horizon, and she added, pointing, "Look, Empire State Building's over there."
The human's eyes widened at the sight, "I wonder what year it is 'cause look, it's not even finished yet."
The Doctor hummed, "Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around..."
"November first, nineteen-thirty." Both women answered at once, Martha holding a newspaper in her hand, while Cass simply had her head tilted, eyes narrowed lightly in thought.
The young doctor nudged the redhead jokingly with her shoulder, muttering, "Show-off,"
"Can't help it, I'm just awesome." Cass grinned, winking happily.
"Eighty years ago." Martha murmured, handing the Doctor the paper, "It's funny 'cause you see all those old newsreels in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now. Come on, you. Where do we go first?"
His eyes had narrowed on the headlines, and Cass leaned over him, groaning slightly at the title printed in bold, "Our detour just got a lot longer."
She remembered now, exactly what would happen on this particular adventure, and to say she wasn't excited would have been the understatement of the millennium.
Cass was dreading what was to come now, but she knew it had to happen, she could feel how fixed the events were in the timeline.
That didn't mean she wanted to go through them, especially on the heels of recent events, but she knew they had to regardless.
" 'Hooverville Mystery Deepens'." Martha read, planting her chin on the redhead's shoulder, "What's Hooverville?"
"Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the USA, brainless idiot supreme, came to power a year ago. Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then the Wall Street Crash happened." The Time Lady explained, as they strolled through the park.
"1929, right?"
"Yep," she nodded, continuing, "Nearly the whole economy was wiped out overnight. Thousands of people left unemployed, homeless and starving. Suddenly the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So they ended up here," she waved her hands around, gesturing towards the trees and greenery surrounding them, "in Central Park."
"What? They actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?"
They came to a stop at the camp, showing people huddled together, seeking warmth and delegating jobs...just trying to stay alive, and Cass sighed, pity filling her chest, as the Doctor tightened his hold on her hand, finishing sadly, "Ordinary people. Lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go."
Across the way, they could hear men yelling, a fight breaking out, and they hurried in that direction, stopping right on the border, watching as the argument rose over a piece of bread.
"You thievin' lowlife!" One of the men yelled, leaping across the way to punch another, "Give me my loaf!"
Another two men jumped into the fray, trying to keep them away from each other.
The one being punched yelled back, "I didn't touch it!"
An older black man stepped out of his tent, looking at the chaos and shaking his head, "Cut that out!"
When they ignore him, he sighed, pushing past those gathered and planting a beefy hand on each of their shoulders, pushing them apart, shouting in an authoritative tone, "Cut that out! Right now!"
"The stole my bread!" The instigator accused, pointing his finger.
"That's enough!" The older man barked, turning to look at the other man, "Did you take it?"
He shook his head vehemently, "I don't know what happened. He just went crazy."
The instigator tried lunging again, only for the older man to push him back, "that's enough!" His eyes returned to the other man, serious and intent as he asked, "Now think real careful before you lie to me."
"I'm starvin' Solomon," he finally confessed.
Solomon held his hand out to the instigator, grabbing the loaf of bread from him, and tearing it in half, "We're all starvin'. We all got families somewhere." He handed each man a half, continuing, "No stealin' and no fightin'. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together! No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."
Cass nodded at the scene, leaning closer to her tether once only Solomon was left and whispering, "I'm thinking this is who we need to talk to."
He nodded slowly, untangling their joined hands, and laying his over the small of her back, smiling lightly when she hooked her elbow through Martha's, refusing to let the human feel left out, and he ushered them towards the man, commenting casually when they reached him, "I suppose that makes you the boss around here."
"He's the Doctor, this is Cass his wife, and I'm Martha." The human introduced.
Solomon scoffed, "A doctor. Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day."
He began warming his hands over an open pit of fire, and Cass rolled her eyes, "Just give it a couple of years man, gets even better."
His eyes swung to her, widening lightly, "You're American."
"Sure am," she grinned, shaking his hand, "Cassandra Oracle, New Yorker, born and raised. At least until I got married and moved."
It wasn't a lie, necessarily. She knew she wasn't born on earth, but her memories of childhood were clear. So she knew that she'd been turned into a child by the chameleon arch, and most of her memories from ages 2 to 13 were spent in New York, before she went off to college, and even then, she'd come back here for vacations and holidays.
So yeah, technically, she had been born and raised in New York.
Stepping back beside her husband, she tangled their hands together subconsciously, before staring at the man, who now seemed more willing to speak to them, and asking kindly, "How many people live here?"
"At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society, black, white, all the same. All starving." He laughed sardonically, shaking his head, "So you're welcome. All of you. But tell me, Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me." He turned around, pointing towards the horizon to the shadow of the Empire State Building, "That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, and we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?"
—
A little while later, once they'd wandered around the camp themselves, trying to gather any information, but finding none, they made their way back to Solomon, finding him throwing coffee dregs onto the fire.
Before they could reach him, Cass looked back towards the Empire State Building, and whispered into her tether's mind, spoiler: we're gonna need to go there. Because this building, it's harbouring pure hatred.
He glanced down at her, eyes narrowed, pure hatred?
It's all I can say. Anymore and I'm risking the timeline, and these events are all fixed. She explained in frustration, one of her hands reaching up to tug at an errant curl, nose wrinkled lightly.
Removing her hand from her hair, he brought it to his lips, kissing it tenderly, "I understand. And we'll be careful. Thank you for telling me."
"Yeah, wish I could be more useful," she grumbled, her aggravation at her own inability to warn them of what was to come rising.
But that was the nature of her powers, she could hold the knowledge, but could only speak it if it wouldn't affect fixed points in time. And the consequences for going against the grain, for forcing the information, were not something she wished to experience again.
The Doctor shook his head, a soft smile on his face as he began leading her towards Solomon again, whispering n her head, Shush Luna. You're everything. Before coming to a stop in front of the man, and commenting, waving the newspaper in his hand, "So... men are going missing. Is this true?"
Solomon nodded, grabbing the paper, and beginning to walk back to his tent, "It's true all right."
He went inside, the group of three idling by the entrance hesitantly, Cass asking, "But how do you know? I don't doubt that you've got your own record-keeping system, but how can you be sure that they're missing? Transitional living is part of Homelessness."
A moment of quiet emerged, before he waved them in, "C'mon in." Waiting until they'd entered and taken their seats, he continued sadly, "This is different."
"In what way?" Martha questioned softly.
"Someone takes them. At night. We hear something. Someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone. Like they vanish into thin air."
The Doctor's eyes narrowed, "And you're sure someone's taking them?"
"Doctor," the man sighed, "when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning."
"Have you been to the police?" Martha asked, only for Cass to scoff, "Yeah, doubt they'd have been of any help. One more homeless person goes missing, what's the big deal?"
Solomon nodded at her sadly, and she straightened, stating, "So the question is, who's taking them, and why are they taking them?"
A young man, stuck his head inside the tent, "Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here."
They walked out to where a suited man with slicked back hair was talking to some of the residents of Hooverville.
"I need men. Volunteers. I got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money."
"Yeah?" The young man who'd led them here drawled, "What is the money?"
"A dollar a day," the man replied, causing the others gathered to grumble in disappointment.
Cass scoffed under her breath, "That's slave wage." As Solomon questioned, "What's the work?"
"A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel that collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?" Diagoras offered, looking around curiously.
"A dollar a day? That's slave wage." The older man scoffed angrily, "Men don't always come back up, do they?"
"Accidents happen."
"What do you mean?" The Doctor interjected, drawing Diagoras' attention to them, "What sort of accidents?"
"You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?" Diagoras sighed, ignoring them, only for the Doctor to raise his hand, Cass following his lead begrudgingly, Martha doing the same, confused.
"No more questions."
"Oh, n-n-no." The Time Lord grinned happily, "We're volunteering."
Beside him, Martha's eyes widened, and she hissed, "I'll kill you for this."
Cass nodded, adding, "I'll help. I'm sneaky and I know him best."
He ignored them, only squeezing his tether's hand teasingly in reply, as both the young man and Solomon raised their hands as well, curiosity burning in their eyes.
—
"Turn left." Diagoras explained, standing at the top of the ladder leading down into the tunnels, "Go about half a mile. Follow Tunnel 273. Fall's right ahead of you. You can't miss it."
"And when do we get our dollar?" The young man, who's name was Frank, asked.
"When you come back up."
The redhead raised an elegant brow at him, "And if we don't? Come back up, that is?"
"Then I got no one to pay," Diagoras shrugged.
"We'll be back." Solomon stated, as he followed Frank down the ladder.
"Let's hope so." Martha whispered in response, beginning to climb down as well.
Placing his hand on the small of Cass' back, the Doctor gently nudged her towards the manhole, waiting until she'd begun climbing down, keeping his stare fixed on Diagoras intently, before following, the darkness off the tunnels folding over them slowly.
In his head, he could feel Cass' appreciation and attraction, and couldn't help but roll his eyes, a pleased look on his face, Behave, Luna.
Can't help it. You've got a great ass, and I appreciate beautiful things, especially the beautiful things I know only I have access to, she joked back, pressing a small kiss against his mental barriers, smirking when she felt his light shudder waft through her.
Who's the possessive one now? He huffed, feeling the tips of his ears burning.
He heard her light chuckle, right before the smack of her feet announced she'd dropped to the floor, still you baby. I'm just following your lead.
Landing beside her, he tugged her into his chest, lips pressing discreetly to her neck, as they all began walking down the tunnel, Frank saying, "We just gotta stick together. It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here."
Martha shot the young man a smile, "So what about you, Frank? You're not from around these parts, are you?"
"Tennessee, right? Cass grinned at him, "Recognised the accent. Definitely better to listen to than the New Yorkers."
He shrugged bashfully, tipping his cap at her, nodding, "Yes, ma'am. I'm from Tennessee, born and bred."
"So how come you're here?" The young doctor questioned.
"Uh, my daddy died. Mama... couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself, so put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runaways in camp younger than me. From all over; Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas... Solomon keeps a lookout for us." He looked down at Martha, a charming grin on his face, "So, what about you? You're a long way from home."
"Oh, I'm a hitcher too," she grinned, pointing towards the couple behind them, indicating their were the one's she'd hitched a ride with.
"You stick with me, you'll be all right." He smirked, looking back as well.
Cass chuckled, winking at them happily, only to roll her eyes when her tether interjected with all of the finest of a raging bull in a china-shop, "So this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?"
Solomon cleared his throat, "A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now it seems like he's running most of Manhattan."
"How did he manage that, then?"
"These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way 'round."
The Doctor continued walking, not paying attention to his surroundings, only to stop when Cass pressed her hand to his chest, yelping, "Holy shit! What is that?"
He glanced at her, noting that she was kneeling on the ground, Martha beside her, right in front of a strangely glowing, green blob-like substance.
He knelt beside them, pressing his temple to his tether's, watching the results that popped up from her sonic over her shoulder.
"Is it radioactive or something?" Martha asked, before gagging lightly and covering her nose with her sleeve, "It's gone off, whatever it is."
The Doctor slipped his glasses over his nose, leaning over and picking it up, rolling his eyes when Cass grumbled, "if you lick it, I swear to all that is holy, I'm not kissing you again."
"I won't lick it," he huffed, before glancing at the disgusted-looking Martha and stating, "Shine your torch through it." She complied, and Cass nodded, "Hmm, Composite organic matter." She smirked at the human, "So doc, what's your medical opinion here?"
Martha rolled her eyes, though they could see the small, pleased smile on her face at being included, "It's not human. I know that."
"No, it's not." Cass confirmed, the Doctor nodding and adding, "And I'll tell you something else. We must be at least half a mile in and I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you? So why did Mr Diagoras send us down here?"
"So where are we now? What's above us?"
The redhead looked up, eyes narrowed thoughtfully, "Right beneath the island of Manhattan."
—
"We're way beyond half a mile now," Cass commented a couple of minutes later, coming to a stop.
Solomon nodded behind her, frowning, "There's no collapse, nothing."
"That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?" Martha questioned.
The Time Lady nodded, "Sure as shit looks like it."
"So why did he want people to come down here?" Frank questioned, eyes narrowed in confusion.
The two aliens looked at each other meaningfully, Cass nodding in agreement, as the Doctor turned to the eldest man present, motioning towards both younger humans, "Solomon, I think it's time you took these two back. We'll be much quicker on our own."
Before the man could reply though, a speaking sound reached them from down the tunnel, drawing all of their eyes in that direction.
Cass tensed, quickly pulling on the power laying dormant in her, aware that her eyes had begun glowing lightly, as the Doctor stepped up before her, shielding her slightly with his shoulder.
"What the hell was that?" Solomon gasped.
"Hello?!" Frank yelled into the darkness, taking a step forward.
Martha quickly reached for his shoulder, keeping him in place, "Shh!" As Solomon called out warningly, "Frank!"
The young man looked back at them, "What if it's one of the folk gone missing? You'd be scared, half-mad down here on your own."
"Do you think they're still alive?" The Doctor questioned softly.
He shrugged, hopeless, "Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost."
As more squealing noises reached them, Solomon frowned, "I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that."
The Time Lords took a couple of steps forward, keeping the humans behind them, Cass' eyes now glowing a bright gold, veins beginning to tingle with the vortex that usually laid dormant in them.
"Sounds like there's more than one of 'em." Frank commented, as Solomon swung his light around.
The Doctor pointed to a direction, "this way," only for cass to shake her head, tugging him in a different one, the elder's light shining in that direction seconds later, confusion in his voice when he noticed them there, "No, it's there..."
And in the light, a small figure was huddled, shadowed and dark, as it seemed to try to make itself appear smaller.
"Cass, Doctor..." Martha murmured worriedly.
The Time Lady kept her back, advancing slowly, the glow receding from her veins when she felt no sense of predatory danger from the figure, when she remembered the events, as behind them, Solomon asked, "Who are you?"
Frank added quickly, voice reassuring, "Are you lost? Can you understand me? I've been thinkin' about folk lost..." he began walking forward, only for the redhead to stop him, shaking her head slowly, voice light and airy, "S'okay Frank, we've got it from here." She felt her tether weave their fingers together, holding onto her tightly as they approached the creature, "He's got a point, though, my buddy Frank. I'd sure hate to be stuck down here on my own."
The Doctor nodded, "We know the way out. Daylight. If you want to come with us." They squatted before it, the man flinching back when they shone their light on its face, revealing the pig-like features, "Oh, but what are you?"
Cass sighed in pity, hearts clenching in her chest at the turmoil on the man's face, hate and anger rushing through her veins at those who'd caused it.
"Is that uh, that some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon questioned, and she shook her head.
"No, it's real." She whispered, before looking back at the man, a reassuring smile on her face, "It's okay, I promise."
"We can help." The Doctor added, "Now, who did this to you?"
Unbeknownst to the both of them, more shadows had fallen along the wall, marking the arrival of more pig-men.
"Guys, I think you'd better get back here..." Martha warned slowly, only to yell when she began noticing the mass gathering, "Cass!"
The couple looked up, the redhead sighing tiredly as they stood up, her tether commenting casually as they backed away towards their group, "Actually... good point."
"They're following you two," Martha said.
Cass nodded, a little sarcastically, though her hand reached for the woman's, grabbing tightly, "No shit, Sherlock."
"Well, then," the Time Lord began, "Martha, Frank, Solomon..."
"What?" The young Doctor asked.
"Run!" They yelled together, taking off down the tunnels, Cass keeping Martha's hand in one of her own, the Doctor's in the other, as frank and Solomon's pounding footsteps followed behind them quickly.
As did those of the pig-men army.
They raced down the tunnel to a cross-section where Martha stopped in confusion.
"Where are we going?!" She yelled.
"This way!" The Doctor replied, rushing in a direction, tugging both women behind him, their human companions following, the pig-men ending the line.
"There's a ladder at the end," Cass informed him quickly, "My hands are busy, so get your sonic out."
He quickly complied, reaching into his pocket with his empty hand, grabbing onto the probe, as they quickly climbed up the ladder, him taking the lead so he could sonic the lid.
Beneath them, Frank stopped, picking up a metal rod from the ground to fight the pig-men off, and Solomon yelled, "Frank!"
Noticing that they'd already climbed up the ladder, he dropped the rod, running after them, thought right as he'd grabbed onto the first rung, he was pulled back, swallowed by the army of pig-creatures.
"Frank!"
"No!"
Before she could reach for him though, Cass was tugged up by her tether, who'd been pushed up by Solomon, who immediately shut the lid.
"No, we can't just leave him down there!" The redhead yelled angrily.
"We can't go after him." The older man shook his head.
The Doctor snarled angrily, pointing down, "We gotta go back down!"
"No!" Solomon barked, "I'm not losing anybody else! Those creatures were from Hell! From Hell itself!"
"All right then. Put 'em up." A blonde woman stepped up from behind a shelf, a gun held in her hand, pointed at them, "Hands in the air and no funny business." She cocked it menacingly, and they all raised their hands in the air.
Well, all of them except for the redhead, who simply smirked, head tilting lightly to the side, watching as the woman finished threateningly, "Now tell me, you schmucks, what've you done with Laszlo?"
"Who's Laszlo?" Martha whispered, as Cass grinned, chuckling, "Honey, you know it's a prop gun, I now it's prop gun, so please just put it down before you somehow get hurt waving it around carelessly, yeah?"
The blonde's eyes turned to her, widened in surprise, and the redhead shook her head, still smiling as she approached her, reaching quickly for the 'weapon', and spinning it gleefully around her finger, cocking and un-cocking it happily, "haven't seen one of these since I dated a Broadway actor."
—
The Doctor had taken the fake weapon off of her, smirking when she'd pouted adorably, before tugging her into his lap as they all sat around the blonde's dressing room, waiting for her to explain.
When she leaned back against him, he whispered, "I thought you didn't do 'dating'?"
Cass grinned lightly, "I was trying to be delicate. You tend to tense up and growl if I bring up sex with other people. Besides, it does sound better than just saying I was fucking a Broadway actor, no?"
And just as she'd predicted, he tensed beneath her, a low growl crawling form his throat at the image, arms tightening possessively around her, and she couldn't help but giggle lightly, pressing her lips to the junction of his jaw and neck, whispering against the skin teasingly, "That's what I was talking about. Jealous, possessive Time Lord."
"Mine." He whispered back aggressively, lips grazing the shell of her ear, and she had to hold back the full-body shudders that wanted to erupt at the move, choosing to simply say, "I'm both your tether and your wife. No one else can stake a claim like that, you know?"
He nodded, lips pressing fluttering kisses behind her ear discreetly, voice hissing in her mind insistently, the possessive edge slivering through, still mine.
"Laszlo's my boyfriend," The blonde's voice drew their attention back to her, watching as she paced across her dressing table, "or was my boyfriend until two weeks ago. No letter, no good-bye, no nothin'. And I'm not stupid." She waved her hands in the air as she talked, "I know some guys are just pigs but not my Laszlo. I mean, what kinda guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"
"What do you think happened to Laszlo?" Martha questioned.
"I wish I knew. One minute he's there, the next, zip, vanished."
The redhead nodded slowly, "So what's your name, random blonde who waved a fake gun at my husband?"
"Tallulah," she replied, grinning somewhat apologetically.
Cass smiled, letting her know that she wasn't angry, enunciating, "Tal-lu-lah. H in the end?"
"Uh-huh," the woman nodded, "3 Ls and an H."
"Right," the Doctor cut in, "um, we can try to find Laszlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night."
"And there are creatures, "Solomon added, shuddering, "Such creatures."
Tallulah' eyes narrowed, "Whaddaya mean 'creatures'?"
"Look. Listen, just trust us." He nodded towards his wife, still on his lap, before rising slowly, weaving their fingers together, "Everyone is in danger. We need to find out exactly what this," reached into his pocket with his free hand, removing the green blob they'd found earlier, plopping iii on the table, "is, because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting."
The humans gagged in disgust at the sight, while Cass grimaced, slapping him lightly on the shoulder, "You put it in your pocket? You put that disgusting, slimy, maybe toxic, potentially life-endanderingly poisonous, neon green blob in your pocket? Seriously, honey?"
When he just stared at her sheepishly, she sighed, shaking her head, "Well, if we're gonna try and figure it out, we're gonna need a DNA scanner. I can rig a mediocre one up with what we've got, but we've gotta do a little scavenging first."
He grinned, wrapping his hands around her waist and tugging her happily to him, chuckling when she sealed in surprise, before he kissed her, pulling away to smirk at her blushing cheeks, "I love you, you impossible girl!"
"Yeah...yeah I love you too," she mumbled bashfully, biting into her lip as she grabbed onto his hand, tugging him behind her to the prop room, hoping her face wasn't too red.
—
"How about this? I found it backstage." Solomon stated, holding up a radio.
Cass nodded happily, grabbing it from him, immediately pulling her sonic out to remove the back, taking the parts she needed out, "Perfect, it's got the capacitors I need. Again, it'll be a little crude, but should give us a detailed enough scan to get what we need."
"If we can get a chromosomal reading as well, we'll find out where it's from." Her tether added, looking at her with a challenge in his eyes.
She rolled her own, grinning smugly as she buzzed her sonic over the back, "Challenge accepted honey. Hope you're ready to be impressed."
"I already am." he sang happily, pressing his lips to her jaw as he took up position behind her, watching as she skilfully began building the scanner.
Solomon looked at them with narrowed, untrusting eyes, "How about you, Doctor? Where are you two from? I've been all over. I've never heard anybody talk like you or your wife. Just exactly who are you two?"
"Oh, we're just sort of passing by," the Time Lord mumbled, as Cass pulled a piece of the radio out, blowing lightly on it, adding, "And Martha and I are with him."
"I'm not a fool," Solomon stated gravely, and the redhead' shoulders dropped, turning to look back at him seriously, "No, you're not. We're not lying, we're just passing by, and I really did grow up in New York,. You can't really fake the accent."
He nodded, and she turned back to her machine, the Doctor nuzzling into her temple lightly, as he looked back to the man, picking the conversation back up again when Solomon sighed sadly, walking back to the sewer lid and looking down at it, "I was so scared, Doctor. I let them take Frank 'cause I was just too scared. I gotta get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we gotta protect ourselves. Ain't no one else gonna help us."
The couple nodded, Cass murmuring, "be careful and good luck," as he shot them a small salute, before leaving through the door, adding before he disappeared, "I hope you both find what you're looking for. For all our sakes."
—
They'd gone up to the balcony overlooking the stage, the ready-made scanner in hand. It needed heat and light to get it fully working, which was why they'd elected to go to the show, hoping one of the stage lights would be enough.
The Doctor had hooked the blob to the scanner, the 'nerdy specs' already on his nose, as Cass reached over for one of the lights, moving it to shine onto it.
"That's it." He murmured softly, "Let's warm you up."
Looking at his tether, he added, remembering the flash of pure hatred he'd felt from her, "Any clues?"
She bit her lip, eyes flaring a sudden, bright gold, before returning to their usual green, indicating her rage, "Hatred. Pure, undiluted hatred." She looked back at him, and whispered, her guilt rushing through him, "You're gonna need to keep calm, and please, don't be angry at me."
The Doctor nodded, trepidation rising in his chest, as he leaned down to observe the blob better, commenting, "It's artificial."
Cass nodded slowly, coming to stand beside him, not touching him because she really didn't know how he'd react once he knew the truth, "It's genetically engineered," she confirmed.
"Whoever this is, oh, you're clever..." he grinned lightly, only for it to drop when he felt how somber she was.
Glancing quickly at her, he murmured, "For the millionth time, nothing could ever make me hate you."
"I know that. Anger's a different story though. Just remember that sometimes I have no choice in the things I keep from you, please." She whispered.
He hummed lightly, one of his hands reaching to wrap around hers, needing her to know that nothing would change, that he understood the burden she held onto constantly.
His other grabbed a stethoscope from his pocket, placing it on the blob, before his eyes widened and he muttered, "Fundamental DNA type 467-989...989, wait, that means the planet of origin is..."
"Skaro." Cass finished gravely, eyes dropped to the green blob, rather than his own, her guilt nearly suffocating as it reached him.
But they didn't have the time to deal with it, as right as this instance, screams erupted from the stage.
Keeping her hand in his, he squeezed it tightly, taking off into a quick run towards the stage.
When they entered the backstage area, one of the chorus girls was sobbing, "It was like something out of a movie show. Oh, that face. I ain't never gonna sleep."
"Where's Martha?" Cass yelled, drawing their eyes to her.
Noticing Tallulah, she hurried to her, tugging her tether behind her, "Tallulah, where's Martha? Where'd she go?"
"I don't know. She ran off the stage." She informed them, right as they heard their human companion scream from the direction of the prop room.
"Martha!" Cass shouted, running in that direction, the Doctor right beside her, the sound of Tallulah's rushing heels following behind.
Entering the room, they came to a stop, finding it completely empty, save for the crooked sewer lid.
The couple kneeled beside it, the redhead grinding her jaw angrily, as the Doctor ran a hand over it, muttering, "They've taken her."
Quickly, he grabbed his coat, Cass pulling her hair into a high ponytail to keep it off her face, as the blonde singer ran to them, yelping, "Oh, where are you goin'?"
"They've taken her," she repeated, furious determination in her eyes.
"Who's taken her?"
She didn't reply, beginning to climb the ladder down into the sewer, the tether following behind, as Tallulah yelled, "What're y' doin'? I said, what the hell are ya doin'? Crazy."
As her feet touched the ground, the Doctor landing beside her, their hands immediately intertwining, two heeled feet landed as well, as the Time Lord rounded on the performer, shaking his head, "No, no, no, no, no way. You're not coming."
She put her hands on her hips stubbornly, "Tell me what's going on."
"Look," Cass tried, "There's nothing you can do. Go back."
"whoever's taken Martha, they could've taken Laszlo, couldn't they?" The blonde insisted.
"Tallulah," the Doctor insisted, staring at her meaningfully, "you're not safe down here."
But she shook her head, stubborn, "Then that's my problem. Come on. Which way?"
The two Time Lords looked at each other, before sighing in unison, Cass beginning to walk into the tunnel ahead, murmuring, "On your head be it. This way."
