Martha, Violet and the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, which stood before a white stone wall.
"Where are we?" Martha looked around.
"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely." The Doctor grinned enthusiastically. "Martha, have you met my friend?"
They looked up to see the Statue of Liberty, illuminated by the sunlight that seemed to pour down over her head.
"Is that... Oh my God- that's the Statue of Liberty!" She exclaimed.
"Gateway to the New World." He told her before quoting, "'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to break free…'"
"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 one."
The Doctor nodded, moving to the edge of the island with Violet. "Well, there's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on. 'New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam'."
"I wonder what year it is, 'cause look- the Empire State Building's not even finished yet." She pointed out.
"Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around-" He was cut off by his two companions speaking in sync.
"November 1, 1930." They both stated, Martha with a newspaper in her hand, Violet going by the amount of floors completed on the Empire State Building.
"You're getting good at this." The Doctor approved, nodding at Martha before seeing she had a newspaper in her hand. Still, Martha looked slightly smug that he had complimented her.
"Eighty years ago. 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." Martha went on. "Come on, you. Where do we go first?"
The Doctor looked at the newspaper. "I think our detour just got longer." He told her and Violet.
"'Hooverville Mystery Deepens'." Martha read out loud. "What's Hooverville?" She asked.
The three made their way to Central Park and strolled through it, the Doctor explaining thigs to Martha as Violet listened partially. She was looking around, observing the beauty of the park around them.
"Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then…"
"The Wall Street Crash, yeah? When was that, 1929?"
"Yeah. Whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. Suddenly the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So they ended up here in Central Park."
"What? They actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?"
They arrived at Hooverville- a large group of randomly put-up shacks and tents. Fires were lit all over the place, men sitting at them, warming their bodies in the cold, late autumn air. People gave them looks as they walked past, Violet feeling an extreme pang of sympathy for these people. They had no homes.
"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." The Doctor explained, sympathetic as well.
They saw two men fighting, coming out of one of the tents. From what they could hear, one of them had stolen a loaf of bread. They were beating each other when a black man came out of his tent and broke them apart.
"Cut that out!" He shouted. When they didn't listen he pushed them apart. "Cut that out! Right now!"
"He stole my bread!" One of the men accused.
"That's enough!" The man, seemingly in charge, looked at the other. "Did you take it?"
"I don't know what happened. He just went crazy."
They tried to fight again, but the man stopped them. "That's enough!" He repeated. "Now think real careful before you lie to me."
"I'm starvin', Solomon." The man, apparently named Solomon, held out his hand and the man accused of stealing pulled a loaf of bread out from his coat and handed it to him slowly.
"We're all starvin'." Solomon halfed the bread. "We all got families somewhere." He gave each of the men some bread. "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." The men didn't look very happy, but they walked away nonetheless.
The Doctor, Violet and Martha went to talk to Solomon.
"I suppose that makes you the boss around here." The Doctor approached him.
"And, uh, who might you be?"
The Doctor was going to answer, but Martha beat him to it. "He's the Doctor. I'm Martha." Solomon nodded before raising an eyebrow at Violet.
"Violet." She waved, giving Solomon a wary look.
"A doctor. Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day." He put his hands over the fire they stood by.
The Doctor looked around. "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 bitterly. So you're welcome. All three of you. But tell me, Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me." He pointed at 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?"
"So…men are going missing. Is this true?" The Doctor asked, holding up the newspaper. Solomon moved to go into a tent and the three travellers followed.
"It's true all right."
"But what does missing mean?" The Doctor pressed. "Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register."
"This is different."
Martha frowned. "In what way?"
"Someone takes them." Solomon explained. "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."
"And you're sure someone's taking them?" He asked for confirmation.
"Doctor, 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." Solomon said seriously.
"Have you been to the police?" Martha questioned while Violet sat silently, listening to them.
"Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal." He scoffed.
"So, the question is, who's taking them and what for?" The Doctor concluded, rubbing his face, looking at Violet to see if she had a clue.
She looked up as a young man stuck his head into the tent. "Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here." The man nodded, and they all walked to where Diagoras was standing with two other men.
"I need men. Volunteers. I got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money." He stated condescendingly.
"What is the money?" The young man asked.
"A dollar a day." He told them, making the men grumble.
"What's the work?" Solomon demanded.
"A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel that collapsed needs clearing and fixing." The man said lightly. "Any takers?"
"A dollar a day?" Solomon asked disbelievingly. "That's slave wage. Men don't always come back up, do they?"
"Accidents happen." Diagoras shrugged.
"What do you mean? What sort of accidents?" The Doctor spoke up, curious.
"You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?" When the Doctor raised his hand, Diagoras sighed. "Enough with the questions."
"Oh, no. I'm volunteering." He gestured at his outstretched arm.
Violet grinned. "So am I."
Martha raised her hand too, looking at the Doctor. "I'll kill you for this."
Solomon and the young man raised their hands too.
"Turn left. Go about half a mile. Follow Tunnel 273. Fall's right ahead of you. You can't miss it." Diagoras told the volunteers when they were down in the tunnels. It was- typical for sewers- dark, wet and not-too-pleasant smelling.
"And when do we get our dollar?" The young man, who's name, Violet had learned, was Frank, asked.
"When you come back up."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "And if we don't come back up?"
"Then I got no one to pay." Diagoras said with the hint of a smile in his eyes, which Violet caught.
"We'll be back." Solomon promised darkly.
"Let's hope so."
The others start off down the tunnel, but Violet stayed slightly longer.
"So, I come back up, I get my dollar?" Violet asked for affirmation.
"Sure." Diagoras nodded.
"Good thing I plan on coming back up, then." She grinned.
"Yeah... of course." He said, again with a slightly sinister look on his face. Violet gave him one last look before going to the Doctor, who was waiting for her.
As they jogged down the tunnel to catch up with the rest of the group, VIolet licked her finger and stuck it in the air.
When she noticed the Doctor's curious look, she explained. "If there was a collapse, the air would be at least slowed down by it. Funny thing is, there's a rather strong draft, and I don't think Diagoras is planning on us coming back up."
"You're brilliant." He smiled at her.
"Nope, just Time Lord. Which means you, Theta, are brilliant too." She returned his smile before pulling him towards the group in fron of them.
"You stick with me, you'll be all right." Frank was saying to Martha when they got into hearing range.
"Who is Diagoras?" Violet asked.
"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now it seems like he's running most of Manhattan." Solomon told her.
"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." He explained, but didn't look too sure of himself either.
While walking, they saw a blob lying before them, glowing in a pale, sickly green.
"Whoa!" The Doctor exclaimed. Violet and he crouched down beside it.
"Is it radioactive or something?" Martha came forward as well, but covered her nose and mouth when she came close to it. "It's gone off, whatever it is."
The Doctor slipped on his glasses and carefully picked it up, Violet leaning forward to get a better look at it.
"And you've got to pick it up." Martha continued to complain.
"Shine your torch through it." The Doctor told Martha. "Composite organic matter." He stated before addressing her. "Martha? Medical opinion?"
She scrunched up her nose. "It's not human. I know that."
The Doctor looked at Violet, who nodded. "No, it's not. On another note, we're about 900 yards in... I don't see a collapse. What does Diagoras want us down here for?"
"So where are we now? What's above us?" Martha looked up as if the ceiling of the sewers would hold the answer.
"Well…we're right underneath Manhattan." The Doctor stood up, the blob still in his hands. "Solomon, I think it's time you took these two back." He gestured at Martha and Frank. We'll be much quicker by ourselves."
Martha was just about to protest and give Violet a glare, when they heard the echo of squeal.
"What the hell was that?" Solomon asked, alarmed.
"Hello?!" Frank called out. The rest of them immediately shushed him, but he kept on. "What if it's one of the folk gone missing? You'd be scared, half-mad down here on your own." He argued as another squeal sounded.
"I normally encourage a good dose of optimism and hope, but does that honestly sound human to you?" Violet gave him a look.
The Doctor walked forward a bit. "This way." He motioned in one direction.
Solomon shone his light down another tunnel. "No, that way." His torchlight revealed a figure huddled on the corner of a bend in the tunnel.
"Who are you?" He called.
"Are you lost? Can you understand me? I've been thinkin' about folk lost…" Frank started walking towards the figure, but the Doctor stopped him.
"It's all right, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look." He went to the creature. "He's got a point, though, my mate Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight. If you want to come with us." He squatted down and shone the light into the creature's face, revealing a pig head on a human body. "Oh, but what are you?"
"Is, uh, that some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon asked, not wanting to know the answer.
"No, it's real." The Doctor turned back to the pig man. "I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. "Now, who did this to you?"
"Doctor, I think you'd better get back here." Martha said frightfully, seeing shadows on the wall behind the Doctor as Violet was. He looked up to his side, seeing a group of pigmen approach him. He jumped up and backed away towards Violet, who was standing between him and the rest of the group.
He glanced at the creatures ganging up on them nervously. "Actually… good point."
"They're following you." Martha pointed out the obvious.
"Yeah, I noticed that, thanks." He said sarcastically. "Well then, Martha, Frank, Solomon, Violet…"
"What?" Martha pushed, anxious.
"Um, basically…" The Doctor paused. "Run!" He shouted abruptly, grabbing Violet's hand as he passed her. They raced down the tunnel with Martha in the lead, but they came to a cross-section, making Martha stop.
"Where are we going?!" She screamed.
"This way!" The Doctor and Violet caught up and passed by her, turning right. They eventually got to the mouth of a joining tunnel.
"There's a ladder!" Martha noticed. The Doctor saw it too and climbed up the ladder, using his sonic on the lid above it. Violet and Martha followed him quickly once he got it open, but Solomon hesitated, seeing Frank pick up a metal rod to hold off the pig men.
"Frank!" He shouted out while climbing the ladder frantically. The young man turned back, seeing that the others were safe, and ran after them. "C'mon, Frank! C'mon!" He urged for the boy to move faster, not wanting to lose him to the creatures.
He was halfway up the ladder, and Violet held out her hand for him to take. He did, but was pulled back down by the pig men below him. She used all of her strength to pull him up, but she was overpowered by the mass of the pig men- they pulled Frank back down into the sewers.
"No!" She shouted, looking after him. Solomon shoved her away from the hole and closed the lid, sealing it from the pig men.
"We can't go after him." Solomon said regretfully as Violet stood up and Violet leant over a table, breathing heavily, putting her weight on her hands.
"If he's dead, I'm gonna declare war on the entire bloody universe." She growled. It wasn't just about Frank- she barely knew him. Every time it came down to her, she was too weak. If she wasn't physically too weak, she wasn't strong enough to stop her anger from controlling her.
"It's not your fault. They were too many." The Doctor came up and laid an arm around her shoulder, which she shrugged off.
"Whatever." She ran a hand through her hair, doing nothing to calm her unruly, curly mess
Unexpectedly, a blonde woman came around a corner with a gun.
"All right then. Put 'em up." She ordered with a strong New York accent. Martha was the only one to put her hands up, so the woman cocked the gun.
"Hands in the air and no funny business." She glared at them. When the Doctor and Solomon put their hands up, Violet sighed. She grabbed the gun from the blonde and weighed it in her hand.
"Not even a real gun." She threw it away and assessed the woman. "Besides, you wouldn't even dare to shoot."
The woman sighed. "I know, I'm sorry. I just want Lazlo back." She complained.
Martha lowered her hands. "Uh, who's Lazlo?"
"Lazlo's my boyfriend, or was my boyfriend until two weeks ago. No letter, no good-bye, no nothin'. And I'm not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs but not my Lazlo. I mean, what kinda guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?" She asked.
"What do you think happened to him?"
"I wish I knew. One minute he's there, the next, zip- vanished." She gestured with her hands.
"Listen, uh- what's your name?" The Doctor stepped forward.
"Tallulah."
"Tallulah-" He started.
"3 Ls and an H." She added.
"Right. Um, we can try to find Lazlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night." The Doctor told her, a sincere look in his eyes.
"And there are creatures. Such creatures." Solomon unnerved the young woman.
"Whaddaya mean, "creatures"?" She looked back at him.
"Look. Listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this, " He pulled the blob from his pocket again. "Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting.
Tallulah leaned away from the stenching thing being held into her face. "Yech!"
The Doctor and Violet started looking for equipment in the prop room, one more wrapped in thought than the other, running around and inspecting stuff.
Solomon approached them, holding a radio. "How about this? I found it backstage."
Violet took it from him. "You're good- these are the capacitators we need. We need to find out what that think is," She pointed at the blob. "We can use this to rig up a DNA scan, and if we can get a chromosomal reading, we can find out where it's from." She explained, already fiddling with the radio.
"How about you, Doctor? Violet? Where are you from? I've been all over. I've never heard anybody talk like you. Just exactly who are you?" Solomon iterrogated.
"Oh, I'm just sort of passing by." The Doctor said vaguely, and Violet gave him a look.
"I'm not a fool, Doctor." The black man said, annoyed.
The Doctor looked over at Violet, who looked down when he caught her gaze. "No. Sorry." He said genuinely.
"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." Solomon decided.
"Good luck." He told him.
"I hope you find what you're looking for." Solomon looked at Violet. "For all our sakes."
The two Time Lords were on the deserted balcony of the theatre, the blob hooked up to the DNA scanner. The Doctor used a stage light to set a beam on it before kneeling next to Violet.
"Let's warm you up." He put on his glasses and they examined it.
"This is artificial." Violet stated.
"Ladies and gentlemen..." They heard the announcer.
"Genetically engineered. Whoever this is, oh, you're clever." The Doctor praised.
"...with Heaven and Hell!"
The Doctor took a stehoscope from his coat. "Fundamental DNA type 467-989. 989. Hold, that means planet of origin-"
"Skaro." Violet breathed. "They're alive. They're alive!" There was the hint of a smile on her face, while the Doctor's fell. He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him as he rushed off to the backstage area.
"Where is she? Where's Martha?" He asked frantically when they saw Tallulah.
"I don't know. She ran off the stage." She informed them.
He was about to speak when they heard Martha scream. Violet and the Doctor ran off, Tallulah following them.
When they reached to prop room, she was gone, leaving only the sewer lid askew.
"Martha!" He shouted after her, before throwing on his coat and climbing down with Violet.
"Oh, where are you goin'?" Tallulah asked, exhausted from all the shock and unusual events already.
"They've taken her." Was the only reply she got.
"Who's taken her?" She pushed.
"No, no, no, no, no way. You're not coming." The Doctor protested.
"Tell me what's going on." She demanded.
The Doctor sighed. "There's nothing you can do. Go back."
"Will you stop arguing! It's a free country, Tallulah can come. If you're so worried about Martha, hurry up and start moving, will you?" Violet yelled at them, exasperated. They looked at her- the Doctor sheepish, Tallulah gratefully- and started walking off in the wrong direction.
"It's this way." Violet told them blandly before trudging off down the sewers, wrapping her jacket around herself tighter.
The two caught up with her and Tallulah started asking questions again. "When you say 'They've taken her', who's they exactly? And who are you anyway? I never asked."
The Doctor shushed her.
"Okay, okay."
The Doctor shushed her again, seeing the shadow of the one creature he never wanted to see again.
"I mean you're handsome and all-" Tallulah started, but didn't get to finish as the Doctor covered her mouth and pulled her into a little alcove of the tunnel they were in, Violet following suit.
The Dalek passed slowly but didn't notice them. Once it had passed, they moved out of the alcove.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. They survived. They always survive while I lose everything." The Doctor said ruefully, and Violet felt bad for him, but she was estatic. She hadn't caused a genocide.
"That metal thing? What was it?" Tallulah looked down the tunnel it had gone.
"It's called a Dalek. And it's not just metal, it's alive." The Doctor spat.
"You're kidding me." She laughed.
"Does it look like I'm kidding?" He snapped. Inside that shell is a creature born to hate, whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek too. It won't stop until it's killed every human being alive."
Tallulah sobered up, "But if it's not a human being, that kinda implies it's from outer space." He gve her a look. "Yet again, that's a 'no' with the kidding. Boy… Well, what's it doin' here, in New York?"
The Doctor was about to answer, but saw Violet wandering off.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
She turned around. "They're alive, Theta. I thought I had killed them, that I wasn't any better than them, but they survived." She looked at him seriously. "They're alone, so I'm going to help them. And I won't mess up this time." She turned back around swiftly, not leaving any room for argument as she stalked off down the sewers, away from them.
Violet watched as two Daleks forced their prisoners into a line, Martha and Frank bemidst them. She listened to the Daleks talk about a 'Final Experiment' and an energy conductor and watched them split the group into high and low intelligence.
Once the Daleks moved away to the 'transgenetic laboratory', Violet fell into line between Martha and Frank, only to be joined by the Doctor, who came from another branch of tunnels.
"I never could get rid of you." She sighed, but smiled a little.
"I'm so glad to see you, Doctor." Martha spoke quietly.
"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want." The Doctor joked. Violet raised her eyebrows, laughing silently.
They were brought to a huge laboratory and a Dalek, which Violet recognised as Dalek Sec, stood before them, smoke coming out of his shell.
"Report."
"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution."
"Scan him. Prepare for birth."
They listened to the conversation, and the Time Lords started worrying.
"Evolution?" The Doctor repeated disbelievingly.
Violet scoffed, "Never mind that- birth?!"
"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" Martha motioned at Dalek Sec.
"It's having a baby." Violet said wth fake enthusiasm.
"Why don't you ask them?" The Doctor suggested, ignoring Violet's comment.
"What me? Don't be daft." Martha tried to say lightly, but was too scared.
"We don't exactly want to get noticed. Ask them what's going on."
She took a deep breath. "Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment?" She paused. "Report!"
"You will bear witness."
"To what?" She demanded again.
"This is the dawn of a new age."
"What does that mean?" She asked as the Doctor and Violet's frowns got deeper.
"We are the only four Daleks so the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again." A Dalek screeched as Dalek Sec's shell powered down. It opened, and when the smoke faded away, it revealed a body- one that wore the suit of Diagoras- with a head that looked like the Dalek body. The former body wrapped around a brain, but it was still seen through the gaps. A few tentacles moved on either side of its head as it stood up slowly, stretching out. Its single eye blinked, seeing the light for the first time.
"What is it?" Martha gasped.
"I am a human Dalek. I am your future."